On tonight’s show from the Asylum Studios in Eagle Pass, I kicked off a packed program with returning guest and friend of the show, artist and author Julian Raven. Julian delivered a major update on his ongoing legal battles with the Smithsonian Institution, arguing the Smithsonian is a private charitable trust—"an independent entity"—and not a federal government agency, a distinction he says was underscored by recent leadership turmoil and public statements by the Board of Regents. He laid out his motions now before the D.C. District Court to vacate a 2018 ruling and align the record with law and history, while revisiting the origins of the Smithsonian, James Smithson’s will, and the Institution’s long, complicated funding path. We also explored Julian’s new lawsuit against New York State’s DEC over alleged contamination claims at his Elmira studio, his principled approach to law and citizenship, and why the Declaration of Independence remains his blueprint for civic action.
In hour two, Danny Mendoza joined to preview Eagle Pass Pop-con developments. He announced a free “Mini EP Pop-con” planned at the Eagle Pass Mall (targeting January 31, 11 AM–6 PM) featuring pro cosplayers, Star Wars cosplayers, a Hello Kitty appearance, a wrestler signing, and preliminary cosplay contests for kids, teens, and adults. Danny also unveiled early-bird sponsor and vendor opportunities (including steep, limited discounts) that roll into the larger Eagle Pass Pop-con 3, with the full date and theme to be revealed at the mini event.
Special thanks to surprise drop-in guest and original EP Pop-con MC, Ruben Camarillo, for sharing on-the-ground perspectives from Pop-con 1 and 2. If you missed Julian’s powerful July 2 appearance, cue it up—his immigration journey and love for America’s founding principles are a must-hear.
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(00:00:48) Cold open and mic checks
(00:03:46) Live from Asylum Studios: show kickoff
(00:04:08) Host intro, Monday blues, week preview
(00:05:11) Guest lineup lands late: Julian Raven and Danny Mendoza
(00:05:41) Catching up with Julian: legal updates teaser
(00:06:43) Weekend recap: Bible study on dispensations
(00:10:51) Housekeeping and contact info before guests
(00:11:00) Earl Grey salute and bringing on Julian Raven
(00:11:49) Rewinding Julian’s journey: art, activism, and the Trump portrait
(00:13:56) Smithsonian showdown: lawsuits, motions, and June’s ‘independent entity’ moment
(00:17:37) Who was James Smithson? Origins, will, and the trust
(00:26:08) Congress, the gold, and funding the Smithsonian
(00:30:26) Taft’s clarity and the private trust vs. government fog
(00:33:38) Art, politics, and the National Portrait Gallery dispute
(00:37:42) Odious and Cerberus: Julian’s book and allegory of law
(00:41:32) Status quo bias and public confusion about the Smithsonian
(00:41:37) Segue to New York DEC case: studio, brownfields, and PCE/TCE
(00:51:42) Court fireworks: pro se battles, motions, and sanctions talk
(00:56:58) Principles over comfort: Declaration of Independence as blueprint
(01:03:54) Wrapping hour one with Julian and break
(01:11:02) Hour two: debrief on Julian and local sponsor shoutouts
(01:13:13) Introducing Danny Mendoza and Eagle Pass Popcon
(01:17:55) Popcon sizzle: guests, teasers, and mini-event idea
(01:21:42) Cosplay lineup, Star Wars groups, and contests
(01:27:40) Sponsor roll call and ‘grandfathered’ vendors
(01:32:37) Surprise drop-in: Ruben Camarillo joins
(01:39:37) Special sponsor deals and mini Popcon details
(01:46:57) Community tie-ins: local giveaways and charity support
(01:52:26) Merch plans and building the Popcon brand
(01:57:07) Final plugs, scheduling teases, and closing credits
- Wayne Rankin
- Rosanna Rankin
- Carolina Jimenez
[00:00:49]
Unknown:
My fans, I have arrived.
[00:03:46] Unknown:
A wrap. Transmitting live from the asylum studios deep in the bowels of Southwest Texas. It's the Joe Rouge Show. The show where we talk about anything and everything. Where nothing is sacred, nothing is watered down, and nothing is PC. Alrighty. Hey, folks. This is Joe Roos, and it is great to be with you once again transmitting live tonight from the Asylum Studios from the pimple on the backside of Texas, the beautiful city of Eagle Pass, and doing the very best that we can to bring you the best quality talk radio we could muster without all the bluster.
Welcome to the Joe Root Show. Hey, folks. It is Monday. No joyful shout for that one. It's Monday, and, man, was it ever a flipping Monday. Good grief. But that's alright, that headache is out of the way, now we have another one. We have a show to do tonight. No, I'm kidding, the shows are never a headache, I actually look forward to this more than anything else. It's all I got. It's my life for the show, and you guys. Love spending my time with you guys, it's always a pleasure. And we got a busy, busy week ahead of us. Now, I know yesterday, we, did a a rundown of what lays ahead for the week, and we said we had no guests for today.
And lo and behold, before the night was over, we had Julian Raven and Danny Mendoza both checked in for a show tonight. So that's great, and we're excited about that. We really are. We haven't spoken to Julian since July. I think it was July 2. I know it was around Independence Day. And, Julian has some updates on some of the legal matters that he has been contending with, and that we talked about very very briefly, really, the last time we were together. So we're looking forward to getting some updates from Julian in just a few minutes. And then, of course, in the second hour, we're gonna have Danny Mendoza talking to us all about Eagle Pass Popcon three, and some updates on that event that we talked about when he was actually here in studio.
So got a packed show for you tonight, and then, and then we'll be moving on. Alright. But, I hope you guys had a great weekend. I hope you're able to check out the shows this weekend. I think Saturday show was fantastic. We had a DePaul Fleming on. If you didn't catch that one, go back and check it out, episode number two zero four. We had a great conversation. Incredible guy. You need to talk to him, need to listen to him, and check out his books. Great stuff. And then on Sunday, of course, we had our usual Sunday bible study show, where we got into the dispensation of the patriarchs, which is it's not technically a dispensation if you if you follow the chain of dispensationalism.
It's really part and parcel to, the dispensation of the conscience that we talked about the week before. But just for our purposes, I just I separated the two, made it a little bit easier to follow. And, so we talked about Abraham, we talked about the land grant that Abraham was given, we talked about the Balfour Declaration, we talked about, oh, quite a few things, quite a few things, and, and next week we'll be getting into the law, the dispensation of the law that's gonna take us about six weeks, Five to six weeks to get through that particular dispensation. And, it's gonna be, it's gonna be a good one. It's gonna be a good one. I I remember I've taught this before, and, the law is always a lot of lot of, interesting things that comes up when we discuss the law.
But, with all of that said, I don't wanna keep our guests waiting too much longer, so let's get into some of the housekeeping that we have to do. Alright. So folks, as always, tonight's show is brought to you by podholm.fm. Podholm.fm is my host audio platform. It's a fantastic pod podcasting platform to be a part of. It's the most modern and easy to use podcast hosting platform you're gonna find. You can use it to publish your your episodes, enhance your audio, automatically generate chapters, titles, show notes, transcripts, chapter art. You name it, you can do it on podhome.fm.
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That's always easy to do. You can, especially if you're on rumble, just put it right down there in the comment section. It stays there in perpetuity, and we'll read it, and we'll respond to it. Alright? So make sure you do that. Also, excuse me. While you're on the website, take a look at the support page. And if you, you know, remember this is this is a value for value show, and all that simply means is that, if you are receiving anything of value from the content we're putting out, all we're asking is that you return that value to us in the form of a donation. And of course, that donation could be your time, your talent, or your treasure, and, we'll go into all of those amazing details at the end of the show, because I wanna make sure we get to our guests, and we have plenty of time for them.
Alright. I think I think we've covered pretty much everything there. Before I bring in Julian, I am going to take a sip of my Earl Grey tea hot. See, I remember Julian. He he's I know he's there watching. Salute. Yes, sir.
[00:11:06] Unknown:
Mhmm.
[00:11:08] Unknown:
I remembered. Alright. Let's, let's bring in Julian. So tonight is a real treat for me, and that's basically because we're bringing back a good friend. The one and only Julian Raven. Now, again if you were back with us back in July of, in July 2, we had a conversation, man, that just took us through an incredible, incredible journey. From from Julian's days as a missionary, crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge, to discovering America through the constitution, the building of life, and a family here in New York, and then we kinda stepped into the story behind this massive and now legendary Trump portrait. We talked about the the the grass country the the cross country grassroots campaign in Iowa, and the dead of January, RNC, and then and then that that that showdown that he had with the Smithsonian, which was incredibly personal, passionate, and downright cinematic. Now tonight, we're gonna kinda pick up where the story left off. A lot's happened since then. I know there's an echo, right? Let me fix that. I just heard it.
And I keep on forgetting to do this, so my apologies folks. There we go. That should fix it. I I keep forgetting I have to change the setting from echo cancellation to to stereo, otherwise the audio sounds terrible for the music and everything. So sorry about that folks. Alright. So tonight, like I said, we're gonna pick up where we left off. But a lot of stuff happened since you were here with us last, Julian, back in July. A lot of things happened in the country, for the the fight for, for free expression, in in in in art and politics, institutions that claim to preserve our history.
And, you know, and we are looking forward to getting caught up. Julian, how are you, bud? Great to see you. Good evening, Joe. And,
[00:12:57] Unknown:
great to be back. And thank you for having me on once again. I wanted to say this as a as a precursor. First of all, you can you hear me well? I hear you beautifully. Okay. Fantastic. Yeah. Your your, future discussion of the law is, pro appropriate for my little bit of, information I'm gonna share with you today because, again, a whole new chapter. And this is not technically new. It's been going on sort of parallel with my Smithsonian journey, but it has not yet blossomed until now. Brief update on the Smithsonian. I I have pending litigation, which is my third lawsuit that I don't know if I had filed when we spoke.
No. I think you you said you were in the process of of building it in order to file it. Right. That is being and so I presently, I'm in a very, very interesting situation. I have presently four motions before the district court for the District of Columbia. Mhmm. But what is very interesting is that I have, because of the extraordinary circumstances of May, June this year, when the president attempted to fire Kim Saett, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, she went back to work the next day demonstrating one of two things.
Either the Smithsonian Institution has more power than the president of The United States, or the Smithsonian Institution is simply a private organization that the president has no power and authority over. And it's like him trying to fire a pastor of a church. Right. And the extraordinary circumstances is that the judge in my case in 2018, judge Trevor McFadden, he stated in order to deny me my first amendment free speech rights, my fifth amendment due process rights, all of the rights that I had, in order to do that, he had to claim that the Smithsonian was the government through and through. He had to claim that it was an agency of the federal government that when the government acts as an agency, you don't have free speech because the government is exercising government speech, and there is no free speech. Mhmm. But this is baloney. That was my the source of my appeal all the way to the sue the US Supreme Court, the court demanding the court to explain and to answer exactly what is the Smithsonian Institution, and they rejected my petition Mhmm. My, for for certiorari.
So now you see, once that happened, those extraordinary circumstances because when the Smithsonian defied the president, oh, how could you do this? You know? It's it's like, well, because the Smithsonian is a private organization. And on June 9 this year when they had their annual or biannual, board of regions meeting and present was the chief justice, who is the chancellor, the vice president, JD Vance, three members of Congress, three members of the Senate, and nine members of the vote I mean, the elect the public. Mhmm. That I have there was a story came out that included my story in the New York Times that said, one of the congressmen that was there that's on the board was like banging his fist sort of on the table demanding that John Roberts fire Kim Saet.
And he said, we're not firing Kim Saet. We've got that. So there was this there was this battle and defiance inside the Smithsonian. It's documented in this New York Times article. And once again, demonstrating that this it cannot be a government organization. You can't have the legislature and the judicial I mean, the legislative and the judicial and the, the I had now I'm are you I'm missing the third part there. I just had a a brain fog. You can't have the three members of the tripart government sitting at the same table acting The executive, legislative, and judicial. Executive. Sorry. Yeah. Thank you. You can't have those three components sitting at the same table and acting in one singular voice as the federal government. It violates the separation of powers. It's the most stupid, un unlawful decision that judge McFadden made. But because of the prestige and the controlling status quo bias that the Smithsonian exercised on people's minds, most people think, oh, it's the government. It is the go it's not. That's it's called the Smithsonian because it's named after a British gentleman named James Smithson. It's a private charity. It's a it's a it's a simple private charitable trust. Right. And when the members of the government sit down as members of the board of regents, they don't sit down as officials of the government. They leave their robes at the door, and they sit down as citizens.
And they're just trustees or like of a church. That's it. And yet the judge in my case made that ruling. So my present motions right now in the district court, one of them has reopened the 2018 case. Mhmm. And it is a motion under rule 60 b to vacate that judgment that I'm giving the judge a pathway to correct this error of law that he made, that he can vacate that decision. This I don't go back into the damages and not the whole rigmarble, but just vacate that decision, and then three motions in the present case that can bring over those issues that were unresolved, that are identical to the issues in my present case, giving him a pathway to actually rule legitimately and allow the rule of law to be accurate on the docket. Because the extraordinary circumstances of June year prove without a doubt because the Smithsonian, after June 9, they came out with a statement.
And this is a statement from the board of regents, from chief justice John Roberts, the the vice president of The United States. They made a statement and said the Smithsonian Institution is an independent entity. Yeah. Hello. That I so I've been arguing for 10 Exactly right. Yeah. It's an independent private charitable trust that the government of the United States is the trustee of the private charity. That's it. They they they they exist to allow that James Smithson's voice of a private citizen and a foreign private citizen is carried out. His will is carried out.
It is not the will of the federal government. So I hope, and maybe this is the time ten years later, it's like, you know, coming in nine years in the litigation, ten years of the story, that this judge is going to have the honor and dignity to humble himself in the presence of God and the law of this country and the clear clear statutes and even the even the the the separation of state of of so it's a separation of powers doctrine that it is impossible that the three members of the of the federal government, three branches can sit together. And the only you know the other only other time when the three branches of the government sit down together in the same room? You know when that is?
State of the union. Yep. That's the only time. And they they're not sitting there deliberating together. They're there in this sort of, you know, interdependent parts sort of sitting there with arms folded. You know, it's it's and so I am hoping, Joe, that this might be the time that judge McFadden says you can't argue with what happened in June. And mister Raven has been right for nearly ten years, and it's time for me to fix it now. I hope and pray that could that could happen. Those those motions have been now sitting there because of the shutdown. Everything has been pushed back over whatever it's been, six, five, six weeks.
So I'm thinking I'm gonna start getting I've got a response in the DOJ already, but I'm thinking about the follow-up response to be somewhere maybe mid December, or they'll find an excuse to push it off until January because of the holidays, that type of thing. So we're going to see very soon what happens there. So that's the Smithsonian
[00:21:30] Unknown:
update. Okay. Now before we get into anything else, for for some of the audience who who might not know, because we we we kinda intimated it, how the Smithsonian actually came into existence, and I know we kinda covered it in detail, back in July, but, we have a bunch of new people watching, listening. Can you just kinda give us the history of the Smithsonian, how it came to be, and why exactly it is, like, a a, in a trust with the government?
[00:21:57] Unknown:
Eighteen eighteen hundreds, I think James Smithson I think he died 1829. It was like in the eighteen thirties, 1835 when the money came. What what happens interesting is that, you know, James Smithson was a bastard. Meaning, in Victorian England, he was a bastard son Mhmm. Of two royal dynasties that, obviously, they had an affair. She got pregnant, and he was born in Paris because under in Victorian England, you know, bastardry, there was and and in The US, there were bastardy laws. So he was a persona nongrato his whole life. He couldn't be an accepted member of society. Probably he was born in secret. No one ever knew about him as he grew up. But he lived in Europe. He he spent his whole life in Europe, not in The UK. Born in in Paris, and he died in Genoa, Italy.
Obviously, his parents were very wealthy royal British royalty. Mhmm. And so he had money. Nobody knows exactly where it came from. He was professionally he was, a sort of amateur scientist. Right. The only real accomplishment that James Smithson ever accomplished, and this was named, I think, posthumously was that he discovered a mineral that they named after him, and it's called smithsonite. Okay. That's the the scientific accolade. Smithsonite. But when he died in his will, he actually was trying to give his money to his family. He wasn't married, didn't have children, but he had sort of relations in different places.
But the will is very interesting because his money and his person were dying outside of England had to be taken back to England. But his his gold, nobody wanted his gold because he was persona non grata, and he couldn't build an institution in England because no one would build it. And that wasn't even in his will. He tried to give it to different different parts of the family, and it kept, like, defaulting. No. Nope. Nope. And at the end of his will, one little sentence basically said, if if nobody can get my fortune there's a there's a there's a gardener who got, like, a stipend.
He got a stipend. And, but he said, if nobody can basically if if it all falls through the cracks and there's no heirs and no recipients of my will, then he says, then I give my whole estate to The United States Of America so that at Washington, specifically Mhmm. They would build an institution called the Smithsonian Institution, that's what it says in the will, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. So that was his will, and it's very interesting. If you read my book, Odius and Cerberus, an American Immigrants Odyssey and his free speech legal war against Smithsonian corruption, if you read the book, it's it I have a lot of fascinating details, historic details. That's a that's a multilayered book, but the history is fascinating.
The United States had to sue The United Kingdom in order to get the money, the gold. This was back then, it was 400, 541,000 US dollars back then. There was I think it was a thousand gold British sovereigns. You know? So it was it was like 11 sacks of gold coins. And this guy, Robert Rush, was the envoy from under Andrew Jackson. He was sent to the to The United Kingdom to litigate for two years. It took him to sue them in the courts and sue in order to actually demonstrate that The United States was the beneficiary of the will and then bring the money back to the and he did. So he got his 11 sacks of gold, and he got on a ship, and he traveled back to to The United States. And they were they were in crates. They were they were they were substantial sacks. You know, whether I I I don't know if it was, like, a 111 sacks. It was I can't remember the specifics. It was very interesting details of the transport of the gold back to The United States, and he did. Mhmm. And what did Congress do immediately with the money?
[00:26:12] Unknown:
Spend it.
[00:26:13] Unknown:
But they borrowed it. There you go. They borrowed Smithson's money. And in the in the act of the Smithsonian from 1846, because it took them ten years of of deliberations, ten years back then, to decide what they had what and when they were and who could do the Smithsonian thing, but they borrowed the money. So in the act of the Smithsonian, it says, yeah, we've borrowed the money, and we're gonna pay a annual interest payment of 6% on this amount and 6% on $541,000 in that time, and they estimate it's probably about 60 to 80,000,000 US dollars today. Mhmm. 6% is a lot of money.
And so but they said in the in the act of the Smithsonian that that would pay for the establishment of the museum. So the Smithsonian was built not with Smithson's money. It was built with the interest payments that the government promised based upon them borrowing his gold. So, yeah, you could dig into that one. Right? Yeah. And that that's that just yeah. And it's right there in the it's right in the black. It's black and white. You can read it. It's like, oh my goodness. But what you see, that's part of the problem, though, of what happened, Joe, with how the Smithsonian has drifted into the unconstitutional and illicit area of not being private and suddenly appearing to be the government. Because at some point in the '19 early nineteen hundreds, because there were controversies around it, it's as if that the 6% payment and I cannot I couldn't find the specific documentation.
It's either that the 6% payment was no longer large enough to operate the expanded museum by them. I have if you go to my website, www.7 oh, not 7fourteen. Www.smithsoninstitution.com. Smithson, not Smithsonian. Smithsoninstitution.com. You will see newspaper cuttings and stories from the nineteen hundreds. And one of them there is the Washington, Daily Star, asking the public for donations. They said, we need we need the Smithsonian was begging for money from the public. And and that was the time where its activities and research and mission and vision, which are all legitimate, they're all good.
It's as if that was exceeding its economic power under its either donations and the 6% amount. Now that's a real problem because, originally, that eighty, sixty to eighty mil if that was used specifically for the institution and and and invested properly for the institution, it would have had ample funds to run it and always operated within budget and expanded as the money grew and as the institution grew, it would have still but it didn't. So at some point, they began to appropriate taxpayer dollars to fund now the shortfall.
So at that point, the minute the government and these different people came along and sort of say, well, we'll just take some tax dollars and just funnel it in. That's the moment when people begin to think that this is no longer private. It's now a government agency. So, anyway, that gets into a whole other story, which is fascinating. It's part of how the the the erroneous notion that the Smithsonian Institution is a government agency happened. And at that time, I have a wonderful quote. It's in my book. It's all documented. It's a whole chapter I wrote about him, William Howard Taft.
I mean, if I don't know. The story of that man was absolutely remarkable story of a simple guy from, I believe, it was Upstate New York. Simple humble beginnings, how he became the most remarkable politician, I think, in American history. He held so many different offices, so many different tie he became president. He was chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. That's right. And the chief justice, he was chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution. So if anybody on earth knew what the Smithsonian Institution was, it was William Howard Taft.
And what did he say that it was? It's right there in black and white. He says the Smithsonian has never been a government bureau. He says it is a private institution under the guardianship of the government. It's a very clear
[00:30:49] Unknown:
statement. Which shouldn't lead to any question whatsoever.
[00:30:52] Unknown:
It's like what? And and and the thing is this is the weird part that there there may be and, you know, when a government when the government privatizes or nationalizes what you know, there's a process that goes through. So they, you know, they could be grounds if they were try oh, well, we're going to turn the Smithsonian into a national museum, and they dissolve the trust and they, you know, pay back the the will or the the the the the actual trust, the the Smithson trust. They return the funds. Okay. Oh, I don't there's some legal process that they could have enacted to legitimately made the Smithsonian Institution a national museum.
[00:31:32] Unknown:
Mhmm.
[00:31:33] Unknown:
But they never did. They never paid back the 600 or $541,000. They just absorbed it into the federal government, basically. And it runs now on close to a billion dollars a year budget with seven 70% being tax appropriations and about $300,000,000 being private donations annually. So it's still this hybrid now, messy, corrupt, corrupt institution. If you read the history again in my book, you'll be fascinated the juicy stories of corruption. It's just it's like unbelievable. It's just it's stunning. It's again, it's all in black and white. It's documented right there. Yeah. And and a lot of that has happened, Joe, because the confusion about the legal status is a like a fog that allows a lot of very illicit movement to happen inside there because nobody really knows, and nobody is questioning, and nobody is saying. They're just going and do inertia institutional inertia is pushing it forward and people so here I come along, and I'm like, hold on a second. Let me hit the pause button here maybe or someone like I wanna just I wanna poke the fog and get inside there and see what's going on. And and oops. Sorry. And so that's their little background for the listener to to really it's a fascinating story. It's a great story. It's an amazing institution. Joseph Henry, the first Smithsonian secretary, and I met the greatest American scientist of the day.
Remarkable man. Thirty seven years of his life. Thirty thirty seven years of his life, he dedicated to building the Smithsonian Institution from scratch. He was the visionary. He was the guy that that that founded it. So it is an amazing institution. What has happened, it not only become this sort of quasi government hybrid until we get a definitive ruling from the Supreme Court, but it's also was hijacked by agendas where people just took over the institution and used it for political purposes to drive their
[00:33:36] Unknown:
agenda. And it's very clear the agenda that's in there. Right. And that's and that's where your story comes in too, because you you your the the whole background, the reason why you got involved in this in the first place is because of a portrait that you painted of president Trump that the Smithsonian refused.
[00:33:51] Unknown:
Yeah. Too too political. Too it's all there's no politics in it. All it is is is a is a is a candidate. It was a candidate post painting with sim American symbols. And this woman who now you see, the woman who he Trump rightly tried to fire, but didn't have the authority to do so, she eventually resigned. Because on his list of 17 reasons to fire her, my my case was number four, which was great. I was, alright. That's good. It should have been number one, which it was, but there are reasons for that. Because I'm today, I'm not a Trump apologist. I am politically homeless. I am I, I've walked beyond that right now. Mhmm. That's part of my story. But the the issue, the core issue that's at the heart of that is that the painting, the symbolism is it's just the it's a sim it's a surreal dream image of that's really what it is. It's a vision. It's a vision what's trying to be depicted in this man's head, but it contains America, the flag, and the eagle in a in a sort of surreal dis description.
And this snooty Australia, this woman was not and is not even an American Joe. This is what got me so sick. I'm an immigrant. I'm an immigrant. I came to this country. I fell in love with this country. I fell in love with its laws, its history, its incredible people, this this this remarkable story that America is, and I wanted to become one. And I was able, and I became I swore the oath, and I became an American. So here I am, an immigrant who had just become a citizen at that time, even though I've been here for many years. I was a resident, and then that ran out, and then eventually became a citizen. Mhmm.
[00:35:34] Unknown:
Which, by the way, your your story is an incredible story. I I've told I've retold your story so many times to so many different people.
[00:35:41] Unknown:
Oh, thank you. Just And I hope I hope it serves its purpose. You know? But but the point here, Joan, and I don't wanna cut you short on that, but just so I finish this thought is, I turn up at the Smithsonian Institution. Again, it's not a national museum, but I didn't I didn't even know what it was when I turned up there. I just knew it was some important place in DC. And and there's this Australian woman who's not even an American objecting to an image that depicts the story of Americans from a certain position, their values, their vision, their hopes, their dreams, this beautiful it's like this this drama that's unfold. And her snootzy Australia, when she picked up when she picked she called me. She's like, oh, is your painting the one with the the eagle and the flag? You know, there's there's a there's some people in this country that despise the symbols that America has and are precious and essential to understanding what we are as Americans. And they just they just and it's like, you know, it's it's so to me, it's so discouraging because you're either gonna be faithful and loyal to what you believe, you know, as a believer, as a Christian, as a follower, as a as a citizen. You pledge. You you you you wanna be you wanna live as a husband. You know? You you you swear an oath for goodness sake, and you stand and you believe and you those are the character the character components that this country was build on built on. And this person has the gall to object to those things as disqualifying when for for two inaugurations prior, they had hosted the Obama the hope poster, which was red, white, and blue, Obama, blah blah blah hope. Fine. Beautiful. That's great for them. That was And hardly apolitical.
Hardly apolitical. And and the and the political campaign poster. So but that story is still ongoing. Thank God. Mhmm. I have not given up. Thank God. I have many times wanted to, many times been like, I can't believe this journey is just horrible that your deal was I mean, I don't know if you got if you managed to read the book, but please read the book if you want to see the journey. The book is an allegory. As I talk about history and the law and the facts, which can be very, you you know, to a lot of people. Oh my goodness. You're going into all this. So, yeah, I said as I wrote it, I said, man, I gotta tell that story. I gotta tell I gotta put the facts in there so you read it. But then I wove an allegory into it. So I'm climbing a mountain called Mount Justlaw.
From the beginning of the book, it's my journey of climbing this mountain and battling these beasts. That's why it's called odious and cerberus, you know, this three headed beast, which the judge called in the court that the Smithsonian is this hellhound, this three headed hellhound. It was bizarre, his ruling was. But that's the the the story, and you get to see the adventure that it is. And so but at the end of it, the disappointments and the tragic, just heartbreaking dis when you're like, it's right there in black and white. I am not making it up. It's like it's it's right there. Can you can you and status quo bias, Joe, that can lead us to what we're dealing with even now in my in my current case.
[00:39:06] Unknown:
Which we're gonna come to in a second now. Yeah. If you
[00:39:10] Unknown:
if you are controlled by the status quo bucket of beliefs and ideas that are they're not based in fact. And most people don't spend their life trying to actually work out what it is they believe or what, you know, what's true around them. Most people live in a bubble. They live in a bubble of they've just been, like, boiled into it like a toad, you know, like a frog in a pot. And the status quo bias is so strong over the Smithsonian that people and me and I've spoken to people for nearly ten years about the Smithsonian, and I know this for a fact. There's only probably one person that I can remember, one person who immediately said to me, oh, no. It's not the government.
And they knew it. Mhmm. Other than that, everyone else I've spoken to from standing outside the Smithsonian now on two different occasions with a microphone, and I've interviewed people. And I'm like, so what do you think it is? Oh, yeah. It's the government there. Oh, yeah. It's the this is the it's American government. This is the and they they don't know, but they're just sort of parroting. Yeah. And it's it's a and it's amazing too how many people actually consider
[00:40:22] Unknown:
the, the Smithsonian, the the National Museum. Because you've heard you you hear it referenced that way many, many, many times in many different circumstances.
[00:40:32] Unknown:
Yep. And that and and, again, you can see why that happened because of the proximity, the physical proximity. The story that's on my website, again, on the front page, it shows another story from the Washington star, the Sunday star from 1927. And the front page story was describing a family came from the Midwest walking down the mall in Washington and, oh, the buildings in the White House and these and then they see the Smithsonian Castle. Like, oh, look at this building and and the sport and the story says and then they go on to discover that this building is not the government, but it is the private and it's right there. It's right quoted on the opening page of my website because it's like and it's this it's the same pervasive error. And I'm like, I'm like, come on. At some point, you've got to look at what it says in writing and and base what you believe upon what's actually in the law, And that goes back to your conversation that you're gonna have in a few weeks about the importance of the law. And that can maybe segue to the law that I'm dealing with now in New York state. It just might. Yes.
[00:41:40] Unknown:
Yeah. So, I'm gonna I I actually have, I have the the article that you sent me, the link to the from was it EIN Presswire?
[00:41:48] Unknown:
So Yeah. I I have had, like, I I sent you that just
[00:41:52] Unknown:
yesterday, today, recently because I've got a bunch of them. I might have I think you sent me this one last week, and then I have another one, from your substack that you sent, that I got. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So so this this is the article here. Artist and author Julian Raven files lawsuit against New York State DEC over property contamination dispute. Alright. Fill us in. What is this all about now?
[00:42:13] Unknown:
That's my art studio. It's where I'm standing right now. I'm in that little door on the front there. I mean, that's my office. And, this is a building that has been in this town, I don't know, since it I think it was built in 1953. I've known about it since I've been here. It was a like, a condemned blighted building. It's right on the main thoroughfare of the city. And I didn't I had another one for years, and I was away. And then I came back from Spain, for an art show and in '19 in 2014. And the other building that I had, we lost because of the crash of two thousand and eight. That was the I had another setup here, which was wonderful, and that all fell apart because the guy the owner was greedy. The economy crashed, and then we we got that was another story. But, anyway, this one, I was like, wow. You know, I'd been in Spain painting these large paintings and came back, and I went to find out why is this still blighted.
[00:43:16] Unknown:
Upstate New York, Joe, I think you knew it somewhat. Right? You were from the city, was it? Yeah. I'm from Downstate, but I I used to go up I used to go Upstate many, many times. It was a it was a nice little vacation from the the the hectic lifestyle of the city. Yeah. And and Upstate New York is absolutely beautiful. I mean, it is such a beautiful state. Yeah. You know, a lot a lot I don't mean to interrupt you, but you know, a lot of people don't realize that New York's is New York is not just New York City. You know?
I thought it was when I came here. Yeah, I know most people do, like when I came down here to Texas people just tend to think that New York City is just Manhattan and, you know, in the five boroughs, but no. It's a master New York State. New York State is a beautiful state. New York State, you have apple orchards, you have horse ranches, you have dairy farms, you have forests, you have, I mean it's a beautiful beautiful place. It truly is, too bad it's being run like crap, but it's it's Oh my goodness. It's a it's actually a beautiful place. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't being run like crap ten years ago
[00:44:16] Unknown:
when I first came here to Texas, I probably would've when I retired, I probably would've moved upstate. Upstate. Wow. But but, yeah, that's that's that's one of the the the big issues that we have in this. That's, that's really what I'm dealing with now. Because what I what the way that God works in my life, Joe, is, like, I don't, you know, I don't go looking for these things. I'm following my destiny. I come to this this I've come by faith. I'm I'm a I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I have a, my life is Christ. My life is my commitment to my faith and my lord and savior. And so the way that I live my life is always through the lens of faith seeking and trying to to know the next step and pursue it that way. And so he god has always led me without even most of the time, I'm oblivious. Most of the time, I'm sort of, you know, you're happy go lucky like a kid. You're just like, oh, you know? And you and you end up in a situation, and then he he, like, begins to to draw to draw your attention and make you look at something. And you're like, okay. I start looking. And then before long, you're looking and, and the the your sort of gifts kick in, and then you're like, oh, oh my goodness. So it's like this.
I had no idea what I was walking into. I, the reason why I submitted my paintings to the Smithsonian because I met people across the country who said to me, oh, this painting should be in the Smithsonian. And I was like, oh, so what is that? Right. I didn't even you know? So it it was all new. And and I think as perspective that is very, very unfiltered and I'm sort of prejudiced. And so you go in and you see it very differently than the American mind sees it. So here I am in New York State, and I buy this building. And the building I knew before I bought it, the reason why it was all blighted and nobody full of it was rundown and decrepit and vandalized and gutted, and it was like a bomb went off in this thing. It was unbelievable.
The reason why is because it was a supposed brownfield. There was all these rumors about, oh, the the the, contamination and all because I'm in a very industrial area where there is massive contamination in soil, etcetera, etcetera. So I researched it, and I spoke to the DC, which is the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. And they have a legitimate mandate to to go around and investigate and find real polluters. And there's some people that are just indiscriminate in the way that they have dumped poisons and toxins and things into the into the string into the roof. Un unbelievable. The Hudson, we know the New York State, you know, for years in the eighteen hundreds.
Just people just dumping. Like Yeah. So I knew this. I did the research. And once I did the research and I spoke to the DC back then and I read the reports, I saw, you know what? This is there this is their reports are inconclusive. The everything was like question mark. And I across the street from us, 300 feet, there was a a former dry cleaner. And dry cleaners use, PCE and TCE, which is known as PERC. The stuff that, you when you you know, if you've had a shirt dry cleaned, it has that smell to it. Yeah. It's a chemical smell. That's what that's that's TCE or PCE.
It's usually the PCE, perk is the name. It's the stuff that if you go to the the auto auto zone or or or buy brake cleaner fluid, have you ever bought a can of brake cleaner? Same thing. Big can and just blast that stuff. That's usually perk. Straight straight perk. That's that is the chemical that you use to clean clothes with. And, dry cleaners are called dry cleaners because they don't use water. They it's called dry cleaning because they're they're washing your clothes in a big washing machine full of this chemical. And this chemical has such incredible cleaning powers. It can get to such microscopic fibers and clean and just dissipate dirt.
And then after they've done the cleaning and the the chemical loses its power for fifty years, forty years, 1970, they started using it. Before it was regulated in the nineties, you know what people did with it? They dumped it in the drains. Mhmm. They dumped it out the back door of their building. And this chemical just drops through the ground, and it's a, you know, vodka volatile organic compound. And so the dry cleaner is 300 feet from me upstream, up, up gradient in the water table. And I could see from the plant on the map. I said said anything that's in this property this property was never a dry clean. This is a warehouse. Anything that was here has migrated because the water they showed that the the migration or the movement of the groundwater flowed directly to my building. Mhmm. And so I could see all these inconsistencies.
And I said back then, I said, I said, they cannot conclude because it's not I could see it. I said, I can buy this knowing that maybe one day I'm gonna have a have to have a lawsuit to fight this out, but I know that there is not there is no smoking gun here. And they it's in their reports. It's like I read it in black and white. Once again, go back. You gotta read the stuff. You gotta read it and read it and get to know what it says. And I did, and I then bought the building. I got it for a very good price. The the previous owner paid a dollar for it, and, that's how nobody wanted it.
Wow. Then they they found out the condition of it because they were a massive company from Missouri. They found out when I got involved, I sent them pictures that the place is complete they bought it sight unseen. And once they saw it, they wanted to get rid of it. And I bought it from them for $3,300, and this is 6,000 square foot warehouse. Nice. So it's a it's a it's I got it. I got it. But I got I got I I walked into the potential of what I'm in now, and that was 2014. It's eleven years ago. So it's been a long journey. And the long and the short of it is this.
Not only now, this is this is where it gets into the political possibility once again. And, again, I don't I'm not a conspiracy theorist. The the Bible is very clear to me. Second Timothy chapter two verses twenty two and twenty three is, you know, refuse foolish and ignorant speculations for they just produce quarrels. Mhmm. Refuse foolish and ignorant. So I don't get into the attributing definitively that this is what it is. But in 2017, at the height of my, support of of then president Trump because he'd been elected, and my lawsuit had begun in January, three months before. Right at that time, I get this very heavy handed demanded demanding letter from the DEC, and that's when my fight started. That's eight years ago.
It didn't become a lawsuit till six weeks ago, and I've been in this battle already going on now eight years. The remarkable thing about it is that, you know, I'm either dealing with now, and there's a lot of details that I don't wanna I know my time. I know you're gonna your guest is probably coming on at at you know, ten minutes. What have we got? We got about ten, fifteen minutes. Yeah. So it's a fascinating I I had a I had a my first hearing on Friday, and that it blew up. The the the the attorney general of The United States is defending the of the of the of New York is defending the Department of Environmental Conservation. I have sued governor Hochul, commissioner Lefton, this project attorney Lowe, and this project manager, Bruno. There's four people.
This is the this is the state of New York. This is New York state defending itself from the attorney general and assistant attorney was there. In the court, they accuse me of doctoring documents without any substantiation, without saying and suddenly, they then oh, yeah. You saw it. And then and then they this guy you I cannot tell you, Joe. I I was so shocked. And how somebody this I had already slammed this attorney general in the response to and you can read all those at 714 Baldwin Street. The response, if you go to that and tap, the the the tag, which is I mean, the the drop down menu of Raven versus NYS DEC.
Joe, you I cannot I I just I don't know. Maybe I'm just, like, stupid in this world that you just can't believe that people can behave like this, especially people who hold such significant office. The the it's just lying. I mean, in the legal world, you have to call it, you know, that's just factually incorrect or that's just not you know, you don't go into court and you say, you're a liar. You it it would be nice if you could. I mean, you could. You you'll you'll get walked out in handcuffs, but you could. I'm a pro se well, no. I'm a pro se litigant, so I I have a lot of latitude, and I can and I was are you should've heard the judge say, be quiet, mister Abe, and let him answer. I'm like, I object. I object. And he's, like, shutting me up. It was it was a spitting fight in this little court.
And I now, since then, over the weekend, I have filed, I think it's seven motions for referral, this guy, to, disciplinary committees, to sanctions, to adverse inferences. I've motioned the court now to vacate their ruling to because the judge sat there, and this was so stunning to me. The judges naturally will defer to a state agency. Like with the Smithsonian Mhmm. Judges will defer to the attorney or to the DOJ because the even judge McFadden, he was a DOJ prosecutor, young man, 37 years old when he became judge. 37. He's like a kid in a robe. And I write about that in my book. It's like I mock it. Like, so I say, this is a little kid. He's sitting on the bench as a federal judge. He's 37 years old. It's not that age is the issue, but you know what? You 37 and to be a federal judge, and he was from the Department of Justice, and he's now got his colleagues defending the Smithsonian from the Department of Justice.
These people defer even if it's by status quo bias. They just have an inclination to decide. How how can this pro se self represented artist from Elmira, New York know anything? I mean, he doesn't even have a lawyer. It's just him. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? It's like this this is this guy. Who who in the world who's gonna pay him any attention? Well, that's my story that they they it might just take ten years. Did you ever see that movie? And and this is a great recommendation to you and your audience if you have not. It's called Flash of Genius by it's about Robert Kearns. Did you ever hear of this about the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper? No. I've heard of that. Oh, it's an amazing movie. And God used this years ago in my life to encourage me to hang in there because he another story, and I won't share the the gold because you gotta see it. Alright. But he is this is a true story, the inventor of the intermittent windscreen wiper, how he his designs were stolen by Ford, and he then tries to sue Ford, and no one would sue Ford because everyone's afraid of Ford.
And they're saying, don't sue them. They're too big. And, well, there's always fear. It's always fear. And Robert Kearns is like, you know what? I'm gonna sue them myself. And he sues them himself as a pro se litigant like myself for years, and the result was remarkable. And, basically, the story for me is just hang in there. It might take you a long time. Well
[00:56:58] Unknown:
But it's it's worth it. One of the things that I've I I admire about you from the first time we started our our conversations back in July through all this and, you know, following the things that you're doing, is one of the things that I've admired about you is that, you really don't shy away from confrontation if it's tied to principle.
[00:57:16] Unknown:
Amen. And, I What what what do we Joe, what do we have what do we have if we don't have that? What do do and and and then I this is the thing from my mind. I'm like, but this is America. This is this is what America this is this is why America happened. Mhmm. I I read the declaration of independence, and it's the most glorious expression of exactly that. And if we don't have that, if I don't have that, well, what type of a man am I? What type of a man am I if I do not know what is true and right and if I don't stand on it with my life no matter what? Because if I deny those principles, Joe, then what what do we have left?
You have nothing. You really don't? You have no oh, a bunch of stuff? That's better. Shiny stuff? Yeah. A pile of gold or is that is that is that really or, you know, fame or fortune and prestige? And is that is that really see, I I I forego all of that stuff, Joe. I don't know if you could see that, but I I keep this.
[00:58:23] Unknown:
It's probably because it's washed out. Yeah. Oh, there it is. Man, that's it. I keep this I carry this thing with me wherever I go. I've had this for years. I can't tell you how many times I've read it. You know? And you're right. It it it this is this is our founding document. This is this is Core to me, it's core American Yeah. DNA. This is a this is what you call a principled stance on liberty.
[00:58:47] Unknown:
On liberty. And with that and without it, you are not free. Without it, you may wave an American flag. You may have all the trimmings. But if you're not that, then you do not have the freedoms that you think you have and proclaim because that is the basis of freedom. When Jefferson says after bringing the indictment against king George and he says, now let facts be submitted to a candid world, and he then lists off the whole indictment against king. Boom boom boom. Fact written we as an American people, and this is what to in today's world and sadly in the political world on both sides. And that's why I just I just walked away from the whole thing. Conspiracy and distortion and lies and slander and mis we need to be a people of facts like that deck that declaration to me is the blueprint of political activism as an American, and it's based upon that fundamental idea that you use every lawful, legitimate process to fight for your rights. Like, revolution is is is always in the American DNA. That's right. It's always there. But it is at the very, very end having exhausted every single legitimate process and some before you even consider that type of exercise of power to get your political rights. And so what I saw so so much to this, so much so many people are on lot there's so much vile, unprincipled people who are doing and saying what they do for money, for followers, for prestige, for fame.
When I read that declaration of independence, I'm like, I I wanna weep. I wanna weep. I this this is so beautiful. Yeah. It's so righteous. And it says at the end, you know, we appeal to the god of the whole world. You know, it's this it's this call to the righteous judge Amen. Of the whole earth Amen. As the source of our truth as we know what is true. And and do you know You know, for action, the basis for action. Yeah. And do you and do you know why it's it's so easy today
[01:01:09] Unknown:
for, for the average American citizen to get caught up in the conspiracy theories? Not not everything is a conspiracy theory. There's something that's are are conspiracy facts, but Sure. To get caught up in in in the conspiracy theories, the emotionalism, and you you said it before. I'm trying to remember how you phrased it, but, just just generally just being able to get the wool pulled over their eyes Yeah. By by by narratives that really don't make that much sense when you really break them down and look at them is because things like this are no longer taught
[01:01:46] Unknown:
Right. In the education system. It's it's right. Because those are the tools of freedom. It's the it's the knowledge. Mhmm. The truth will set you free. It's the truth of the identity of the American d I DNA, which is found which is in those Absolutely. And if we know those and they are part of the fiber of who we are, it's the guiding framework about what we do. And and the declaration of independence for me is just it is it is exactly that. It's the blueprint for action. It's the it's the political activist manual. Do this. Follow these steps. Here it is. Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. That to me is if we, Joe, we will succeed as a people and as a nation and as citizens, we the people, we will succeed when we all individually and corporately take those documents, make them known to not just all. I'm just I have it. I know it.
I know what it says. I understand what he was saying, why he was saying it, and what they did, and the steps that they took, and the long winded then we will see massive change. And, unfortunately, it's all about principle, as you rightly said, and we must be a people who are immovable and unbendable Agreed. When it comes to principle. These are eternal, nonnegotiation nonnegotiable principles that transcend our world and are anchored in eternity, and they give us the freedoms that we enjoy. That is the roots of, I believe, of American d I DNA. And I hope that maybe through this show and broadcast that someone may be encouraged to say, yeah. I I need to dig into those things. Focus on the turn off all these show. Turn them all off and open those books and those documents and those people and their words and their thoughts and their writings and let that become your identity.
Yeah. And then open then turn on the rest, and you'll see, oh my goodness. This this I don't recognize half of the stuff that's out there. Absolutely. Absolutely. Julian, we gotta get on to our next guest here. So, where can, you know, what's next for you? Books? Any any more books coming out? Any exhibitions coming up? And where can you No paint. No paint. I haven't painted six months. I've been I'm in a I'm in a legal war mode. I can't paint. My mind is Yeah. I can't I can't I can't photograph. I do my photography, but I just it's you have to be in a certain mind frame. It's just not there. But it's good because I'm painting with words. Yeah. And that's what I that's what I love to do as well. But, yes, 714 Baldwin Street is where you can find out about that. You've got, smithsoninstitution.com for that. You've got julianraven.com for my art.
And, books, I have my prequel to my odious and cerberus book that I've been working on as well for about ten years, and that's gonna come out maybe in the spring. And that count that's a lot of my Christian journey as well as well as coming to America and my experience here. So, lot lot going on. Very busy. And, yeah, if you keep if you keep in touch, with those sites and Facebook. You know, Julian Raven, USA on Facebook. I don't like social media at all. I do use it Me too. And I have to. I am not very good at it. I don't I don't I don't care. I don't people like or not. I have no idea. I'm just like, well, there it is.
[01:05:06] Unknown:
That's that's that's exactly like I am. I tell the audience all the time. I have all these social media things. They're all for the show. I really don't spend any time on it, to be honest with you. If you follow me, great. I'll follow you back, but, don't expect much because I really don't have time to play with it. Yeah. It's no it's not it just I don't I don't I don't I I you know what I think it is?
[01:05:25] Unknown:
I don't know how to manipulate. I don't know how to try to coax people. Oh, look at it. I'm the type of person who's like, look. Here it is. It it's in black and white. You read it. Just that if if the truth of what I just said is not sufficient for you, I don't know how to make it all sparkling to make you more convinced to see it because I I just don't know how to do that. I'm not that's probably why I don't have a successful social media thing because it's I've tried, and I suck at it. So Yeah. I do post. But what I'm doing is I'm there in the in the trenches
[01:06:01] Unknown:
and in full battle mode right now, which is very exciting. And thank you, Joe, once again for having me on. Anytime, brother. You know, you're welcome. Anytime you wanna come on the show, just let me know, and we'll make it happen. I appreciate it very much. Alrighty. I'll I'll, I'll shoot you a text later on. Alright? Got a couple of things I wanna throw you away, get your opinion on. Alright? Thank you. Alright, brother. God bless you. Julian Raven, folks, thank you so much for being with us tonight, Julian. I really do appreciate it. Thank you, Joe. Alright. Talk to you soon. Alright, folks. What we're gonna do here is we're gonna take a little bit of a break, just to gonna freshen up the Earl Grey tonight. And, when we come back from the break, we will, we'll have Danny Mendoza, joining us, and, find out what is new in the world of Eagle Pass Popcon, and what's coming down the road. Alright folks, don't forget, this is a live show weeknights, 7PM central time.
Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share with your friends, your family, your followers. And, you know, because when you do that, it helps with the algorithm that people find us and, you know, we can do all that neat stuff that we're trying to do. Alright. Well, with that said, don't forget also to check out the website joeroos.com. Send us over a question, comment, care, concern, whatever it is on your mind. Drop a comment down below, and, stick with us. We will be back, shortly, probably about, maybe three minutes. Four minutes. Alright? Alright. Be back.
[01:11:00] Unknown:
Alrighty.
[01:11:03] Unknown:
Hey folks, welcome back. This is Joe Roos. Welcome to the Joe Roos Show. Hour number one, safely tucked away and put to bed for the night. Hour two gonna get started here momentarily. So, Julian Raven folks, I hope you guys got something out of that. Julian's a great guest. I I I thoroughly enjoyed having him on back in July, and if you haven't checked out that show, you need to. Great show, and and honestly, and I I I was true to the heart when I said that I do tell his immigration story to a lot of people, because it's really truly an inspiring story, and you need to check it out. So, you can go back to the July 2 show that we did with Julian and, check that thing out, because it's, it's it truly is a, a a a an inspiration to listen to. It's what and what comes out of it is is it is the love of country.
The love of the country. The love of of the the the principles and the value, the core values of what America really is. And that comes through so clearly when you hear him tell his story. It it just man, I wish Americans felt the way they did. I wish Americans felt the way Julian does about this country. So it's it's a great story. It's a great story. You need to check it out. So the July 2 show, you should check it out for sure. Folks, Pro HVAC r Solutions leverages over thirty years of expertise to provide premier HVAC sales and repair services, specializing in both residential and commercial installations. Pro HVAC's team of skilled technicians is dedicated to providing efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions for your home or business with a focus on quality workmanship and customer satisfaction. Pro HVAC solutions ensures your comfort all year round. Contact Pro HVAC R Solutions today for reliable HVAC services tailored to your needs.
Link's right there on the screen. Prohvacrsolutions.com. Check out prohvacrsolutions.com. Alright. Now, with that said, I think it is about that time where we're gonna bring in, Danny Mendoza. Danny is the, what did you say, the founder, Danny, of, Eagle Pass Popcon? Yes. I'm actually, one of them. One of the one of the founders. And in case you're wondering where but I I I am the current
[01:13:37] Unknown:
working founder.
[01:13:39] Unknown:
Okay. I gotcha. In case you're wondering where where Danny is, Danny's in hiding right now. He's in his super secret bunker. So, The bat the bat cave. The bat. Cave. He's in the cave. He's he's he's making sure that, that he keeps his location secret. That's why we only have the little little image for him. No. Seriously, he's having a problem with his camera, so it's it's alright. Yeah. My camera's not here at the moment. Listen, I've I've spoken to to I've spoken to cartoon cats, so I can talk to a little flashing circle for a little bit. Hey. That's a little we like that. We like that here. There you go. So, Danny, what's going on? What's up? What's what's new? How are things how are things on the solar business first before we get into everything else?
[01:14:19] Unknown:
Oh, pretty good, man. So we actually have a program for vets that we're that we're currently pursuing. We actually had a we were part of the movement for the first, food drive for vets, only for vets, and it was, Eagle Pass, Popcon, Taney Energy. We helped with the market. We actually brought over 240 people to the event. So it was a it was a good success, not what I would consider top tier success, but it was still pretty decent. Alright. So never before done here. First time ever. They were actually forecasting 20 to 50 vets, so I think we did well in our marketing. Yes. Since we didn't have a lot of support, I think we did pretty good. Alright. Alright. And when was that event? It was, last week.
It was on the, it was the third wait. Was it it was actually a few days ago. It was yeah. I know, man. It feels like it's been so long because I've been moving with this EP Popcast thing. No. No. It it was last week. It was Thursday. It was on a Thursday. Alright. So but it's taken a few days ago.
[01:15:22] Unknown:
So it's been a weekend. Was it It feels like a What was it was it on Veterans Day by any chance?
[01:15:27] Unknown:
No. Veterans Day, I believe, was the twelfth. It was the day after. Okay. Yeah. Well, no. Veterans Day is the eleventh. Oh, the eleventh. Yeah. Yeah. My bad. Yeah. So it was the day after, or two days after that. So Alright.
[01:15:38] Unknown:
So, let's see. So so you so you you set up this this event called Eagle Pass Popcon, and I know I know we've talked about it in the past. You were here on the show, one one evening. We had a great conversation about it, and, but but for the folks that might be tuning in for the first time, maybe never heard the other show, didn't know don't know much about Eagle Pass Popcon, why don't you give us a a quick rundown of what it actually is and, what the goals of Eagle Pass Popcon is?
[01:16:06] Unknown:
So Eagle Pass Popcon started off as an idea for marketing for businesses that are local here in Eagle Pass and to get a bigger presence and audience for Eagle Pass. So, you know, bringing extra eyes and views and saying that Eagle Pass is not just a regular place. I don't know if you can pull up my Instagram, but on there, you can see the the video that we did for this past popcorn.
[01:16:30] Unknown:
Let me see. Let me see. Would be good if I turn the mic back on. I'm over here I'm over here having a coughing fit. I'm sorry.
[01:16:36] Unknown:
No. You're good. No. If, if you it's better to show the people what they kinda missed on the first one. You don't have to show the full thing. You can kinda just show the intro. They the people can go watch it on my Instagram. Yeah. One second. But, yeah, that that's kinda what it started off as.
[01:16:54] Unknown:
It's gonna be marketing. It's gonna make me log in, and it has, like, the 14,000 different levels of security to get into the thing. I'm not gonna be able to pull it up. Is fine. So,
[01:17:04] Unknown:
can I send you the link? You can. Yeah. Yeah. Drop it in the chat, in the private chat. Okay. Let me yeah. Maybe that'll work better anyway. So and then the people can click on the link too. So we'll only showcase, like, a few the the the kind of the intro. And then, let me drop that right here. But, yeah, it started off with that, and then it transformed into something completely different. It actually transformed into, kinda bringing hope back to the community. It it moves people. It it makes them believe that Eagle Pest can be better, and it makes people, you know, have hope again.
And so I mean, obviously, it also makes us, you know, decent amount of capital, but I think the bigger payoff was that one that was unforeseen and unplanned on.
[01:17:54] Unknown:
This one you're talking about?
[01:17:56] Unknown:
Yeah. That one. You take a look at
[01:18:03] Unknown:
Ladies and gentlemen, everybody who's just now joining us, welcome to the twenty twenty five Eagle Pass Popcon. Thank you so much for talking about that. We wanna give all of you guys the announcement of our special guests. We have Alfred Ramirez. You know him as Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. We also have Johnny Wong, Eagle Pass Pop Culture Con two. Enjoy.
[01:18:48] Unknown:
Alright. We could put pause. I can watch the rest. Yeah. That's the intro for the thing. But, yeah, that's that's what we brought to Eagle Pass, the the second year. The first year, we actually brought Peter Danson. There's also a link that I can send you for that one, but I don't know if you saw that part, but, literally, you get to see the you get to feel the emotion. You get to feel the difference, and you can't believe that that's actually here in Eagle Pass. It's at the ITC. So a lot of people missed the first one. A pretty good number of people still missed the second one, so we're doing the third one. And this might be the final one that we do on bringing in the Ninja Turtles.
So if if they missed them the first few times, this is gonna be the last time for them. And it, what's it called? The we're we're doing a very special, tribute this year. It's the theme's actually very and it's kinda fitting to what we're trying to do, so I'm not gonna say what it is. But, I think I mentioned a little bit on the previous one. So if everybody saw the previous one, they kinda have a gist or idea what it is. Is. But at we're gonna make a miniature event now. That's actually the secret announcement that I that I had to say today, setting it all up is we're gonna make a mini EP pop cut.
So it's gonna be a little small one, kinda like a preview to the bigger one. So that way, if people, wanna see what it's all about, they go to this one. And it's actually gonna be located in the Eagle Pass Mall.
[01:20:15] Unknown:
Alright.
[01:20:16] Unknown:
Yeah. So we're gonna be hosting it, if everything goes well, January 31 from 11AM till 6PM. And, yeah, it'll be at the at the Eagle Pass Mall. And we're gonna have it, it's free to the public like we always do. Mhmm. We're gonna, we're gonna be bringing in new stuff, but it's it it's supposed to set up a preview for the Eagle Pass Pop Con three, because this Eagle Pass Pop Con three is setting up to be a really, really big thing. Now now when is And so now when is Popcon three gonna be? Oh, I'm gonna say the date at the mini EP Popcon.
[01:20:49] Unknown:
See, I I was trying to trick you into into dropping it here. You know? Yeah. I know. So we could we so we can break. To a few people. Yeah. I mentioned it to a few people, but that way, we're gonna hold that. Like I said, at the preview there, we're gonna showcase
[01:21:01] Unknown:
kinda what the main theme or main attraction is gonna be at the Eagle Pass, Polycom three. Okay. But on this one, like so we're doing a miniature one, so people get the feel of it, and they kinda understand what we're gonna be doing. Outstanding. Because yeah. Yeah. Because, I think people, don't know how big these things can get. And, this little mini EV Paco, we actually have a hell of a lineup for it too. And this is actually small compared to what we do on these on on the bigger one. So for those that missed the first and second one, they get to go to this one, and, obviously, our fans are gonna go to this one too. But our lineup consists, of some pro cosplayers that we're bringing in.
So we're gonna have some legitimate pro cosplayers. Nice. Yeah. We're gonna bring back curve four bunny that was in the in the first one that we actually have video on that one that you showcased about him. Then we're gonna bring in a a k pop cosplayer because they're very hot right now. And so they I don't understand k pop. I I I I really don't. Well, I mean, the kids do, and like I said, this event is Like why? For stuff like that. Like
[01:22:06] Unknown:
Well, I I don't get it either, but the kids love it. So I I could I could I could trash this stuff because my my demo is not kids. My demo is older. So I so, you know, I I can get up here and say, what the hell is wrong with you people? K pop. Well well, we got something for them too, but we gotta piece, you know, everybody here. So yeah. So we got k pop.
[01:22:26] Unknown:
We're also bringing Hello Kitty, a Hello Kitty cosplayer, professional cosplayer.
[01:22:32] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. So Would they? There you go. People
[01:22:35] Unknown:
who do, like, the Hello Kitty cosplay, would would they be considered, like like, do they call them furries?
[01:22:42] Unknown:
No. That's not the same thing. That's like
[01:22:45] Unknown:
but I like Harry Thank you, but, no, that's not that's not it.
[01:22:49] Unknown:
And then, we're actually gonna have an actual Hello Kitty, like, a suit. So, like, one that actually looks like Hello Kitty. Are you gonna dress up like Hello Kitty? Oh, no, sir. I don't do the dressing up. I've never done it, and I actually don't plan on ever doing it. No no face painting either? No. None of that. No. No. If I go dressed up as anything as myself and as Bruce Wayne, that's about it.
[01:23:13] Unknown:
So no. Not even the bat suit, bro. It's just, you know, me in the suit. That's that's as good as it's gonna get.
[01:23:18] Unknown:
I I love that I love that you call yourself Bruce Wayne.
[01:23:23] Unknown:
Well, I mean, that is the mask is what they say. I got it. I I understand. The hero's behind the the curtains. So I I totally got you. And then, we're also bringing Peter Piper's Rocky. Peter Piper's gonna be there too already. So Rocky, the, you know, little purple dinosaur that we actually showcase at the actual event, they're gonna be there. So, yeah. And then we're also gonna be bringing one wrestler appearance. We're gonna have one there. He's gonna be giving autographs.
[01:23:52] Unknown:
And who's who and who do you wanna share that, or is that a big secret too? No. That that's also a secret. You gotta go to the Then why are you on the show tonight? You're not telling us anything.
[01:24:02] Unknown:
Yeah. Well, no. No. No. Because we're bringing out the the word out there because we got we got big promotions going on. So, that that we're gonna have, like I said, a wrestler, appearance that's gonna be doing autographs. It's from a local wrestling group that we got here. So he has, you know, amateurs and pro wrestlers, so we're gonna be bringing one in. Okay. And we're gonna showcase it on the flyer. We're gonna showcase it on our social media as time goes on. So they better, you know, be on the lookout for that. So, yeah, we have we have a pretty good, a pretty good lineup.
And, you know, like, it's it's plus, we're gonna have our vendors there, so our top vendors. And so that's you know, because we like I said, most people don't know what a Comic Con is. Ours is a Pop Con, by the way. Pop Con is for pop culture. This is why we're able to bring in all this stuff. We're also bringing this is for the adults. Star Wars cosplayers. So and we're actually given a VA tribute. By the way, VA I noticed that, since we gave the tribute to the VA, there are a lot of Star Wars, I guess you could say, fanatics. So we're we're bringing that to the to the table. And we're actually gonna have preliminaries for, cosplay and tournaments. We're gonna have three. It's gonna be one for kids, ages from, you know, little to, 12.
Then we're gonna have, like, a young adolescent, you know, teenager, cosplay, which is gonna be from 13 to 17. And then we're gonna have the adults, which is gonna be, you know, 18 and above. And so you're gonna be able to showcase this is preliminaries for the actual EP pop kind of event. So if you pass these, we might have really big prizes for those that pass the preliminary, part of it. You'll still get a prize when you get here, So we'll have first, second, and third. But at the event, you know, you're gonna be, you know, already, you know, showcased in there. You don't have to go through the prequalifications to get there. You automatically make it to to the cosplaying tournament finalist.
So, and the ones that are gonna be Judd
[01:26:08] Unknown:
Well, looks like we lost Danny. Alrighty. So we'll we'll wait for Danny to reconnect. Not sure what happened there. I didn't do anything. I promise you. It was not me. So, oh, here he's back. Let's bring him back in. I didn't do anything.
[01:26:28] Unknown:
That wasn't me. It kicked me out. It kicked me out. No. So like I was saying, yeah. So we're gonna have those cosplay tournaments, and they're gonna be judged by, our professional cosplayers. So the pro cos players that we're bringing in, they're gonna be doing the judging, and they'll do the criteria. And so we'll have all that available, you know, as time goes on. They're gonna be noticing it from it. And so we're actually gonna be marketing to Mexico. Okay. Pia de los Negres, you know, all that area, and here in Eagle Pass all the way to the Rio Uvalde. So it should be a pretty big event for it being a mini one, and it should get packed. And we we want that. So, like so we're also gonna have our top vendors there. Okay.
Our sponsorships are actually now open for the EP Popcon three, and those that join already actually get benefits. We always are in a first come, first serve, but, the rates are gonna be established depending on what we had discussed, prior to these, some of these vendors. So, just giving you a heads up on this. The rates are different for, almost every vendor. Like, there's tiers for every vendor, but, we also have our grandfathered rates. I know you don't know this, but those that are hearing out on this, some some of these vendors from last year had asked why do they get different, quote, special rates Okay. Or grandfathered rates. And those were the ones that helped us build the very first one.
So when nobody else wanted to join in, when everybody said that it was gonna fail, when, you know, nobody wanted to take the risk, these vendors took the risk. So those that are grandfathered in literally keep the first pricing that we did that initial time, which is crazy pricing, man. Like, they won big. It is super low. So, they get dibs on obviously, it's the first come, first serve. And so those rates are still locked in for them since they've been showing their support for us since the very beginning. Okay. And I'm gonna mention some of these already right off the bat so people know who they are. Yeah. Go for it. So yeah. So so these ones are and I'm gonna thank each each and every one of these because these were the top ones that helped me build it from the ground up. And some of these were actually founders.
So we got Chorche's Barbecue, obviously. Could never dinner without Chorche if it wasn't for him, you know, saying, hey. Back this crazy guy up with this idea. City of Eagle Pass because they helped us with the venue even though they had a big bomb happen that same year, and they they were wary about letting anybody else, you know, get on board. So give a big old shout out to them for trusting me on that first year, which we crushed it, by the way. T and L Nutrition, Sabino Vierma. Never forget him. Sabino Vierma the third. He helped me run the first one from the inside. Could've never been able to do it without him. And then real beta, Clay Fisher.
Have to give all the video, all the content. He was the first one to, you know, step up in line and do everything. And then you've met the guy already that, was the first, emcee for, you know, our event, which was Now You Know Eagle Pass. Mhmm. Ruben Camarillo. So give him a big old shout out to him too because if it wasn't for him with that voice at that event, it wouldn't have matched. So great stuff. Yeah. These guys were kinda like the solid foundation. They were like I don't wanna say founders because not all of them were really the founders were really Chorches and T and L Nutrition. And, you know, the City of Eagle Pass helped, with the venue there initially, you know, to allow us to use it. Right.
But, you know, if it wasn't for them and the push they gave me, I would've never dropped the capital needed or, you know, I I don't think I'd have been able to do a poll by myself either. So I have to give them all a big shout out. But then we also had other grandfather vendors that helped out and said, you know what? We're gonna give this crazy man a shot, see what this is all about. And believe it or not, peanut butter pizza was one of them. So that's why they stuck around. They saw the marketing initially. Bigger companies kinda understand that marketing is the way to go, and they see what good PR is. And I know you know this, Joe Ruse. Any one of these bigger companies, if if they get eyes, the money flows there. That's right. Yeah. And if yeah. And if it gets great PR, it has to be eyes of great PR. And then, obviously, returns on investment, which that's the last part that goes in it. But that's what marketing's for, is to be for eyes and positive PR.
Blue Bonnet Bakery, Jackie became a big solid believer with us, and she's helped us out. And I've been wanting her to succeed in her business because she's a big believer in it. Treats by Dawn, it was their first, year, that they came out there. New bakery place in town, and they decided to join us. Mask, which they do face paintings.
[01:31:10] Unknown:
They were there too on the first one. I still think you should do the face painting.
[01:31:14] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it it made sense too. They made they they made a killing on the first one. They made a killing on the second one too. No. And I mean no. I mean, you should get face painted. No. No. No. I'm good on it. I don't do I just And then, a cat's freeze dried candy, they also on the first one, they actually upgraded their sponsorship on the second one. Alkalive, the water place, they were there helping out on the first one, and they became our, like, exclusive water for the second one. They literally gave out free water to all the people that went there. All of them. So not only our volunteers, but all the people that walked in there. They can get a a yeah. So, they're gonna be there for this next one already.
So big shout out to them. And I personally use them. I love that water. That water, I think, the best one in Eagle Pass. The Pop Shop EP, they were there in the beginning. They were there again the second time frame. Figurs and Anime Shop, like I said, they were the same thing. Snack time was there the first time. They were there the second time. They were awesome. And SC collectibles. So I'm giving a big shout out to them, and they get dips. And I'm letting them know right now if they put a 50% deposit, they get to go to this new event at no extra cost. Hey. Yeah. Any of Hey, Danny. I I don't mean to interrupt you, but,
[01:32:30] Unknown:
somebody that you gave a shout out to is, is gonna join us right now.
[01:32:35] Unknown:
Really? Yes. Interesting. Okay. Here we go. I'm down. I'm down. Oh, what's happening?
[01:32:44] Unknown:
I'm supposed to come out on your podcast this coming week.
[01:32:47] Unknown:
When? I didn't know. I didn't get an invite on that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, now you did. Showcasing. Wow. Big Bruce, thanks for having me on, man. I I I was I was putting on that chat. You know what? I really wanna invade this show. I don't know what
[01:33:02] Unknown:
You know, one of the great told me Reuben told me on the outside too, brother.
[01:33:09] Unknown:
You no. I didn't. Alright. You didn't know. You didn't know. Well, look. I, I, you know, when you, when when you said that, I was thinking that, you know, with Rumble, that they have a feature on there called a raid, where you could set it on your end and my end, and then we could just cross into each other's shows at at certain points. Oh, wow. Yeah. Totally. I didn't know that. I've seen it I I see them do it a lot, like on, like some of the main, content providers, and they they do it it's looks like it's a lot of fun, but I don't know. We gotta play with it one day. We'll figure it out. Well, joining us here right now is Ruben Camarillo. You may remember Ruben, he joined us here in the studio, not too long ago, and we had a great, was it three hours? We did three hours. Right? Yeah. It was three hours. It was great. We had a three hour show, and it it that was fantastic. We had a great time, and, we are gonna be doing some stuff together, down the road at one point, And, we're so we're working on that stuff. But but this is Danny's spot here, so we don't wanna we don't wanna step all over Danny. So What's that for? I actually wanted to ask Ruben. I was like,
[01:34:10] Unknown:
you heard me give you the shout out. Right? I did. I did. I was I've been watching. I've been watching the whole time. It's great, and I'm I'm having fun listening. So I appreciate it. Steal the spotlight. I just Well, no. No. No. No. Most most people don't know the effort that you give, man. And I wanna I wanna say it right now. Political things aside, I feel like you're American first just like Joe. I was like, and I feel like all these things that we do for the community, you know, we take our time and effort to do it. And like I said, you were a Black Card sponsor since the beginning. You helped, you know, with the event. You've been there every time I've asked you to be there. You step up when you can.
So, yeah, when I said that you're, you know, one of the things that held this whole thing together, I really meant it, man. And I actually wanted you to tell people what you thought of the first one and the second one so people know. Firsthand premiere.
[01:35:01] Unknown:
Oh, you want me to do that right now?
[01:35:03] Unknown:
Yeah. I'm a give you a little bit of time before I go with the rest of the vendors.
[01:35:08] Unknown:
I mean, the first one was great. I mean, it it was it was very, it was a very magical experience, especially for the kiddos. I know, Joe, you said that your your demos not children, but, like, I mean, this was something that, you know, not a lot of kids are are not everybody's into sports. I think we had this conversation on your show last time, Joe, when, you know, there's there's such a big demographic of kids that that love comics and they're huge nerds like me. And it was just it was very thrilling, you know, for the first one. You know, we had the Ninja Turtles. We had Johnny Wong come in. We had Peter Dante. You had grown ass adults, fainting or, like, about to faint because they see a a a celebrity. You know? It was it was pretty amazing. Yeah. Second one was pretty good too. We had a lot of fun with that.
I'll I'll I will just give a good a little, experience. I was not supposed to be the MC for that. I was just actually practicing on the mic, just like my announcing skills and everything. And I was like, you know, why not? And I was just like, welcome to Eagle Pass Popcon. And then I see Danny, like, his eye little little eyes glow through his eyes. I'm just like, oh, what did I do? You know, the voice. He's like, you're the guy. You're the guy. I want you there. I was like, okay.
[01:36:22] Unknown:
Yeah. I know. We had a we had a DJ. I just literally fired him there.
[01:36:27] Unknown:
I didn't even know that. I had no idea, man. I was just like, I I thought I was just, you know, having fun. And and I did. I had so much fun, and it was but, man, being an emcee was tiring. Good lord. I I mean, my voice was gone. I was up there wearing a coat and sweating my ass off, and I was just like, why is this hot in here, man? And they how do you take this coat off? And, it was great. No. Great experience on both ends. The the the second one was great too. We had pizza. We had cosplay. No furries or or
[01:37:01] Unknown:
just great pop.
[01:37:02] Unknown:
Like, I you know, by the way, Danny, I was I was secretly along here with Joe, like, k pop.
[01:37:08] Unknown:
Yeah. This is brand, and it's pretty big. And the cosplayers are really into So Really? Yeah. I gotta I gotta pull it out, out of the bag. So I've I've seen a lot of, you know, since I've been a little bit more involved with the Eagle Pads Independent School District because, you know, we're trying to change the food for the kids, you know, make it American again.
[01:37:26] Unknown:
Okay. You mean raise it up from the level of dog food?
[01:37:29] Unknown:
Yeah. No more dog food for them. You know, actual legitimate food. Yeah. Because we're still doing that push. Yeah. I got to meet a little bit more of the kids, and I've been kinda around them a little bit more, hearing what they speak. And, k pop is just a big thing right now with them. So we're gonna bring one there so that way they can go see how Pro cosplayer does it. And it's like bringing their character to life, man. So, you know, that should be another mind blowing experience, for the kids, which is the idea. You know? You want them excited. You want them, you know, looking forward towards life. And, you know, they they all have they all have different venues, man. Not everyone's, like, the same fit. So, you know, I I think that's gonna be awesome. But, yeah, that's that's actually why we're bringing the the k pop. By the way, that's part of the I have an event coordinator now, so we were planning on that. Yeah. Yeah. So we were planning on that. Big old shout out to, Paco Ramirez.
He's our our event coordinator now for the Eagle Pass Popcon. And,
[01:38:25] Unknown:
he's the librarian?
[01:38:27] Unknown:
He's the librarian guy. Yep. He's the one that actually hosted the downtown Halloween one. Oh, that's right. That's right. Yes. Appreciate it. That was his idea, by the way. He's been wanting to do that for years. So Fine. We got to it. That's great. Yeah. So but going back to the to the sponsored part, yes, our grandfathered ones, automatically get their rates, locked in. 50% down is the same thing for the grandfathered rates, and they get first dibs because, you know, I can only host so many in there. This the, because, remember, this is gonna be at the mall now. So usually where we have the Santa yeah. This is a mini one. This is a by the way, I don't know if you were here, but this is a mini one. So it's supposed to be a small version of what we're gonna be doing at the e b popcorn. It's to set the precedence for that.
But, for last year's sponsors, our top sponsors, they get second dibs. So all platinum, black card, gold card, they'll get dibs from last year. And, right now, what I'm doing is a special secret announcement. Those are hearing this from the Joe Rose Show can get to say it. Joe who show? Is, the Jeroo Show. There you go. And that's what I said. Did I pronounce it wrong? I think I pronounced it. You did. You said Jorose. I am not Jorose. Okay. Okay. Jorose.
[01:39:49] Unknown:
Or or in that time I think it was that time when you we were all watching that. Was it, omnipotent? Yeah. Is that right? Yes. Sorry, man. I had to give you crap for that one, man. I was No. No. No. You're good. You're good. I was like,
[01:40:03] Unknown:
so, yeah, the the I'm gonna be given one tier from as long as they lock in ASAP, starting as of today until, you know, each one of them gets sold, I'm a give one tier an 80% discount. Oh. So yeah. So not the grandfather rates because the grandfather rates are already really they're actually cheaper than that. So I'm like, but it's gonna be for the last year sponsors. They're gonna go for this goes to you. You get to upgrade now for almost the same price that you had before. So that goes to Fred and Rick. You guys better jump on this. But, last year's, top sponsors, you guys get first dibs on a black card, diamond, plat, gold, silver, bronze, whatever ones you guys want, but it'll be at a 80% discount. It's only for one for one of each, and it's to set it going already the momentum.
This will be for EP Popcon three, but any sponsor or any vendor, that already commits beforehand will get a booth at the mall event at no cost. So the idea is to showcase to the kids, hey. This is kinda little small taste. So you can't bring your whole thing because, there's not a lot of space there. It's only gonna be, like, a one table, two two chairs sort of thing. But it'll be at the mall, and it'll be with these professional cosplayers. And like I said, we'll have an actual wrestler there, appearance made there, and then we'll have Rocky, and we'll have the the Star Wars Cars players too. So it it should be really, intense right off the bat. It'll be something very unique and very different besides that we're gonna have the the cosplayer, preliminaries there. So like I said, it's gonna be for kids, for teenagers, and adults.
So all three are gonna be there. But yeah. So the black card sponsors usually are running for 10 k. For the first one that calls in and says, hey. I wanna be a black card sponsor. They'll get all the benefits that comes with it. It's for two k, and we're willing to reserve it for 50% down. So Mhmm. Yeah. I know. That goes with each and every now, by the way, now you know the EP, you're already locked in, bro. You're grandfathered in. So you you don't have to worry about it. You're you're you're a 100% in. So, Diamonds I like the clap.
Yeah. Yeah. I know. Diamonds
[01:42:22] Unknown:
I'm honored. I am honored. I like it. I like it. So,
[01:42:26] Unknown:
Diamonds is 7,500, but, you know, for right now, for the first 80% off, a thousand $507.50 to lock it in. Platinums usually go for 5,000, which we had a few last year. We also had a few black card. So, plat are 5,000, but right now they're going for 1,000. You lock it in for 500. Gold is going for 2,500.0. So you can lock it in right now. For the first one, it's it's $500, which is kinda crazy. I was like, and, you can lock it in for $2.50. Silver, same thing. It's 2,000, per booth. But right now, 80% off. So $400. You can lock it in for 200. And then bronze is just 1,000.
But right now, 80% off for the first one, it's $200. I I'm not gonna half that one because if you don't have $200, then yeah. Like, that's the only one that doesn't get half. But, literally, what you're looking at right now is for the first one, black card is 2,000, 1 k down. Diamond, 1,500, 750 k down or 700 oh, 50 k. My bad. 700 goodness. 50 yeah. No. $750 down. Platinum Wow. 1 k, but it's 500 down. Gold, is going right now for the first one, 500, but 250, down. And then silver and bronze are literally 200 down, but, the silver is 400 in total. So any one of those that get locked in automatically goes into the Eagle Pass pop or the the mini Popcon. No additional charge. Ruben, you're gonna be there. No additional charge.
Technically, Chargers, same thing. TNO Nutrition, they wanna show up there. Real Beta is gonna be there, and, obviously, the city of Eagle Pass is gonna be there. Because you guys are technically the main core group that helped me start off the whole thing. So like I said, if it wasn't for you guys, there's no way this thing would have became what it became. So I wanna thank you guys for that. Yeah. And then like I said, for our grandfather vendors, they know their pricing. Each pricing is different for every one of them. So but 50% deposit, they get to go, to that event. And then so if you want to test this out, let's say you don't wanna get a sponsorship tier for the EP popcorn. Everybody say, hey. I wanna see what this is all about. By the way, just giving you a heads up, seven brews will be there.
Already? Already, baby. Yeah. I know that. I already got to talk to the to the main guy, and, believe it or not, they're giving us a lot of insight already. They're actually gonna be part of I'm making the announcement right now. They're gonna donate to the vets. Already got them donating for you, Ruben. They didn't even know there was a BMW. I had to tell them about it. So they're gonna be, donating next week on a Wednesday. Just giving you a heads up. So you might wanna be there, Ruben. Oh, wow. Yeah. I got them to done it now. Short notice. I told you I was gonna I told you I was gonna help you guys as much as I can. The vets need a bunch of help, and it's I don't wanna say it's easy for me, but, you know, it's it's simple to go out and ask for help. So yeah. And then what he told me to mention by the way, his name is Jacob.
Already became good friends with him. What he told me to mention is that this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, this is for you, Joe, too. You can go to this. We, they are hosting, free drinks for friends and family. Alcoholic drinks? Now now now why Now there's seven brews. There's seven brews.
[01:45:55] Unknown:
Okay. Okay. Alright. I just want I mean, you think I'm an alcoholic?
[01:45:59] Unknown:
No. No. No. I'll I'll do this thing. I'll do this. He's like, what are you trying to say, brother?
[01:46:04] Unknown:
I'm gonna send you the link. So they're they're actually gonna be a That's for me. That's more for me. I I get it. They're choosing their they're choosing their package as we speak, to see what tier they're gonna be joining us, for the event. So, yeah, just giving you a heads up. Yeah. Seven Brews is actually, gonna be, part of the Eagle Pass, Popcon three, and they're already gonna be at the, at the mall, at the Mini EP Popcon. So but they are going they are, giving away, it's for friends and family. It's gonna be Friday, November 21 from 7AM to 10AM and from 4PM to 7PM, and then Saturday, November 22 from 9AM to 12PM, 3PM to 6PM, and then Sunday, from 10AM to 2PM. So friends and family, free small drinks.
Come by for seven brews. Nice. Yeah. And so yeah. I know. It's actually kinda crazy that, you know, the EP Popcon is able to bring in the community like that. And, like I said, we bring in the love towards everyone, including our vets. So big shout out to Travis, for, you know, allowing me to help the vets out. Right. And then, yeah. Yeah. Big old Mikey. But, yeah, if you wanna test this out, any new vendors, they wanna test this out before they make the the big jump to the EP PopCon, you know, tiers, it's a 100 boot it's a $100 per booth at the mall. So but right now, once again, since we're starting early and we're wanting to kinda pack it up and fill it up before we even, you know, bring out the flyers and stuff like that for it, it's 50% off.
So it's only $50. $50 per booth. Yeah. And it's a it's a one table, two chairs. So it's gonna be from now, seventeenth to December, twenty first. And it's gonna be only for the first 10. So the first time to lock this in I mean, because I don't know how much space they actually have there, but I have a feeling I'm already packed it with vendors. So even though we're saying it's a little mini one, it's gonna look nice. If you look at the lineup plus the vendors plus the marketing that we're gonna have on there, I mean, it's gonna be kinda insane. So, I don't even think the mall has had a big event like this, that we're bringing in. So it's it's gonna be, something to behold and kinda bring what I wanted to do is bring life back to the mall too.
So I gotta give a big old shout out to Pat Salcedo for, you know, partnering up with us for with EP Popcon three. But that is what EP Popcon was meant to do. It's market all the businesses that we have here in Eagle Pass. And those that understand marketing and that are fit to do the marketing can lead the way. And then we can help out as many other businesses that, you know, decided to join in the fray.
[01:48:52] Unknown:
Alright.
[01:48:53] Unknown:
So, yeah. So it's a big old event. They can PM me. Ruben, you're part of the deal. They can PM you. Joe, technically, you're part of the deal. I actually want you there too. So, you know, I want to showcase you there. You noticed on the afterthought. Right?
[01:49:08] Unknown:
Yeah. Well, so no. No. That's alright. This is right? We had talked about this last time. I know. I'm just I'm just twisting you a little bit. Calm down. Okay. Well well, I know you and Ruben love to do that too.
[01:49:20] Unknown:
So Do you know why? That's what I'm saying that's what I'm saying, Danny. What have you done by putting us together, man? You have created a monster.
[01:49:26] Unknown:
I know. This is what I do. I create monsters. But do you know why we like do you know why we like to do it? To defend America.
[01:49:32] Unknown:
To defend America?
[01:49:34] Unknown:
No. No. Because it's so easy. Oh, so rude. You are so you're you're very easy to twist. So it's Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Oh, we love it. I can take the pain. I I love it. Is that why you're not on camera right now? Is that you're just trying to hide your facial features? What's going on here? Oh, oh, you didn't hear that part? No. He's he's he's in hiding. He's he's he's hiding in his bunker. Oh, the bat cave. Excuse me. The bat cave?
[01:49:57] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I gotcha. I gotcha. Yeah. Well, my next moves up. By the way, just giving you a heads up. He's gonna come to PopCon like a like a furry Batman. Never. Never. So but, by the way, just giving you a heads up. He's soups. He's soups. I call him soups. So we're building the lead. You're gonna have to come up with one for you, Joe. We're gonna have to the Flash T shirt today. Yeah. Yeah. And the you you can't see me hat too. So Yeah. Which is perfect because I'm actually bringing a wrestler. Just giving you a heads up. So Did you did you say who? No. Not yet. No. No. That's a surprise.
[01:50:32] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So so he come he comes on the show to make these announcements about EP Popcon three, and he won't tell us anything because
[01:50:39] Unknown:
he's hiding it all. Really? You jumped on the show to not say anything? Is that you're just teasing?
[01:50:44] Unknown:
I jumped on the show to kinda say what we're doing and that, you know, the mini pop kind is the big one that I'm coming up with now, and it's the new one. So, like I said, that's gonna be to showcase this stuff. But at the event there, that's where we're gonna reveal all these things. So especially you kinda Ruben, you kinda know what we have already set for the theme for this next one. So you can't say nothing.
[01:51:06] Unknown:
I think I forgot. Okay. Good.
[01:51:10] Unknown:
You said, well, you lost me at furries and Popcon and stuff like that. So it was like, well Oh, actually, talking about talking about losing you there. We're actually bringing up our our EP Popcon merch back. Oh, okay. Be available at this, mini event. It'll be like We didn't we didn't have merch shirts for number two, did we? No. We had it for the first one. We only had shirts, but we're actually bringing that back this time. We're gonna bring in a hat, a shirt, a mug, believe it or not. Oh. Yeah. I know. Stick Dinger Joe and something for your coffee, weapon to your repertoire. Yeah. Yeah. And a and a tote That's my list up there. So we're gonna have a I'm gonna get my own first.
Yeah. We're gonna have a, what's it called, an actual merch line, for, you know, our fans. So it'll be, with our logo, and, obviously, every year, it'll be a little bit different because it depends on, you know, whether we end up doing that year. So but it'll be, you know, a staple line that we're gonna be bringing out. And we're gonna be bringing out the the the what's it called? The the sample line here shortly, see how people react and if they love it. And then, you know, hopefully, it it makes it to the final cut, which would be at the actual event. So those that get early might be showcasing it early before it ever even pops up. So yeah. Yeah. No. These are these are all things that we missed out on the first one, but, we actually are poised to make it really big this this third time around. And that is why we're doing the mini popcorn. It's to not only help our vendors create more capital on multiple showings, but it's to be the staple, of Eagle Pass to showcase. This is who we are. This is Eagle Pass Popcon. Because I know, Ruben, you know that there's been I don't wanna say copycats, but there's been people that have been trying to showcase what we do, and they just don't do it right. And so we want to show the people this is how you do it. And so and this is ours. This is, like, the Eagle Pass Popcon. This is for the people, and like I said, it's free to them. So that's that's the big kicker. We wanna keep it like that as far as much as we can, and as far as possible.
But yeah. So the the mini one's gonna be at the mall. Like I said, big shout to Pascal Settle for letting us do it. It is, are right now set to the thirty first from eleven to six. The reason I say it's set is because literally tomorrow, we're gonna go see what the venue has to offer and all the little details that go into it. So but it's already been talked about. We already have it kinda set, and it looks like that might be, what we're gonna be going with depending, like I said, on on the location. There's a specific location we want in there. If we can use it, we're gonna use it. So, but yeah. No. Any any other questions you guys got for me or anything like that for this one?
[01:53:56] Unknown:
Just when was the date of the popcorn again?
[01:54:04] Unknown:
Damn it. He was the fuck dude. He was the fuck dude. He was the fuck dude. I know. It's gonna be at it's gonna be said at the mini pop time.
[01:54:14] Unknown:
I tried. I tried. I tried. First. Yeah.
[01:54:16] Unknown:
Good job, dude. Good job. There is gonna be a lot of marketing for this one. So those sponsors that jump in early are gonna have full, almost year round sponsor, marketing. So those that jump in now are literally gonna get marketed from now all the way till the date that, you know, the Eagle Pass popcorn three is gonna be showcased. So jump in early, jump in at the discounted rate, get let's get this ball moving. I already got a few of them. Like I said, they already said yes, so we're gonna we're gonna start popping these out here shortly. But yeah. Yeah. It's gonna be I have a very strong feeling that this little mini one's gonna be actually pretty big. I don't know if you heard, but they they hosted, the the mall, or the mall Halloween one.
Did you guys hear that one? No. What about you, Ruben? Did you hear about that one?
[01:55:10] Unknown:
You mean that's coming in the few like, you mean that happened last year? Like, not this year, but, like, the year before that? No. No. It happened this year at the mall. They did a Like a costume competition?
[01:55:20] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. For a whole week. No. I didn't I didn't even know about that. Yeah. No. They actually got packed.
[01:55:24] Unknown:
So I had no idea.
[01:55:26] Unknown:
Yeah. I know. I I had an idea because Pat told me, but it was two last seconds, so I I couldn't even go to it either. But it's showcase that a lot of people, you know, want to cosplay. They do they do wanna do that. And Eagle Pass, I think, has a pretty big following on that. And then, like I said, we're actually marketing to Mexico now too. Because believe it or not, Piedras does come down over here, and they do buy a lot of our stuff, and they do support us. And they do love these type of events. So, we're we're getting, marketing. We have actually we actually partnered with a marketing firm that markets to Mexico and the surrounding cities here, not only here in Eagle Pass. So and they actually work with the city, and they work with Maverick County.
So we're gonna have great marketing for any one of our sponsors that decides to join in. And we're gonna be doing these videos early for them too. So yep. So y'all get ready because, I feel like, this is gonna be the new staple for Eagle Pass, hopefully, for years to come. So we keep making it better. We keep, you know, sprucing it up, and I don't know where the top's gonna be, but it looks like right now, it's pretty high ceiling. I can't even reach it yet, to be honest.
[01:56:38] Unknown:
There there's not much you can reach, buddy.
[01:56:42] Unknown:
Well, see, that's what that's what they said about the first one. And then I noticed on the second one Right over the second one. There's a And it. Yeah. Oh, well, not. And I got it, though. You know, I had to keep it Like most things go right over the head. Well well
[01:56:55] Unknown:
no. No. I got it. But to our viewers, I didn't get it. I had to keep it in context. Okay?
[01:57:03] Unknown:
Okay. Sure. Good save. Good save, Dan. Oh, I got it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Alright. Listen. I got I got three minutes left to the show, so I gotta I gotta start wrapping up here. So is there anything else, Danny, you wanna pass on to us? How can we find out more information about this? Do you have any websites or anything like that set up yet? Yeah. Yeah. So they can go follow me on Instagram,
[01:57:20] Unknown:
Facebook. We have an EP PopCon on Facebook. We have an EP PopCon on Instagram. You can just follow my personal one on Facebook or Instagram. And then like I said, you guys can be the outlet too. So they text you with information or anything like that, as long as you guys, promote or anything like that, you guys can actually send them my way. So
[01:57:39] Unknown:
Alright. Is that on my end or your end? That's Danny. Okay.
[01:57:43] Unknown:
Is that Danny and dog?
[01:57:45] Unknown:
Well, the mic muted and then no more sound. So Oh, okay. Yeah. That had to be. Alright. So I'm, so I'm I'm we're guessing that, that Danny made his his last pitch there. So I'm gonna start closing out the show here. You're welcome to stick around while I do it. That's fine. If not, you you can bounce around. Thank you so much for for, letting me invade. Oh, yeah. Anytime, man. Anytime you wanna come on, you just let me know. You know that. Alright. Folks, don't forget. So Danny Mendoza, thank you so much for being here. Reuben, again, thank you. Really appreciate you jumping on here. Lot of fun. It was a lot of fun tonight. I think it was a pretty good show. Julian Raven, fantastic guest. He's somebody that you should check out too, but you should check out. I think it was great. I saw that. It was it was awesome. I'll send I'll send you the link to his profile. He he's fantastic, man. He's he's really a good talk.
And, so we wanna say thank you, of course, to Julian. Make sure we all check out his book. Check out his website. Check out everything that he's been working on. He's been doing great work great work. And again, like I said, when I came back from the break, you know, one of the great things about him that which is to me it's it's inspiring a lot of ways of the fact that here he is. He he's somebody who was not born in this country. He came the right way, the the the proper way of doing it. He went through citizenship, got his citizenship, and loves this country, so much so that the first thing he did when he got here, he started suing the government. So I mean, that's that's, which is, you know, which is great. You know, and I know I say it tongue in cheek, but I you know, that that means a lot. It really does. He that he loved the country so much that he sees something wrong going on. He wants to get involved with it right away. So, so we really appreciate him. And, like I said, Danny, great. Reuben, thank you again. Now, folks, don't forget. Head over to the website, joerus.com, and, sign up for the programming announcement email list. Alright? It's it's not a list. I'm not saying I'm not selling you an $80 cup. Okay? Just, this is programming information. Just about the shows coming up, any changes to the schedule, any any adjustments we have to make, any cancellations, which we hope we don't do any cancellations, reschedules, whatever it might be, head over to the website, sign up for the for the program announcement email list. Alright? That's number one. Number two, it's free, which means it doesn't cost you anything.
And, we're not gonna sell your information, share your information, give it away, or anything like that. It all stays with us, and it's the best way for us to keep in touch with everybody because like I said earlier, I suck at social media. So the email list is the best way to do it. So, get yourself on the list and stay in the know. And folks, listen, if you are listening to this or you're watching this and you're a podcaster or, or maybe you wanna be a guest on a podcast, head over to podmatch.podmatch.com. Use my link podmatch, join podmatch where is it? I have a banner for it somewhere. There we go. Join podmatch.com/jorooz and, use my link, referral link, sign up for it. Get yourself on there and maybe you never know. If your profiles match, we might hook up and we can do a show together or hook up with Reuben. Reuben's new to pod match as well. And, he's looking for folks to, to fill his schedule, so make sure you get over there and check it out. Alright. Also, if you wanna follow us on the socials, on Twix, at Joe Ruse, Twitter x, Twix, Joe Ruse. Truth Social, Joe Roos Mines. Don't forget, minds,minds.com on Friday, the twenty first.
We will be hosting Bill Ottman, who is the, CEO and cofounder of the Mines social media platform, so he'll be on the show. Looking forward to talking to him. I have a couple of cheeky questions to ask that have been sent to me by people who are Minds users that want me to ask. So I hope he's ready for that. If you wanna follow us on Facebook, it's, Joe Ruse Show. Instagram is not Joe Ruse. TikTok, joe. Roosgetter, joe roos. Don't forget to follow us there. And then, of course, as always, shout outs to our executive producers, Wayne Rankin, Rosanna Rankin, Carolina Jimenez, Marissa Lee, and the inestimitable anonymous Angela. Thank you guys so much for all the work that you do, for the your contribution, through your time, your talent, your treasure. Couldn't do this stuff without you, so thank you so much for it. And especially to Angela, I gotta give her a shout out because, you know, Danny and and, and Julian, they jumped on last minute, like, ultimately last minute. So, and she was able to put all this stuff together for us, and I really do appreciate that. And, you know, she put a lot of work into it today, and I'm incredibly grateful for her and what she does.
Let's see. And if you wanna help us out, you wanna be a part of the team here, you can send us a one time donation of any amount, recurring donation in any amount. If you wanna be part of the producing team, you could sign up to be an associate producer for seventeen dollars and seventy six cents a month. You could sign up to be a producer for $18.36 a month, and executive producer for $25 a month or more, depending if you're how risky you wanna be. You could do that. But also, the producers get the shout out on every show just like you just heard. Executive producers get an opportunity to come on the show with us. That's why we do our Wednesdays with Wayne, because Wayne comes on the show with us, and he hangs out for like a half an hour to an hour or so, and we get to hear about all the wonderful things that he's doing up there in the People's Republic Of Washington State. So, check it out. He should be back on the show prop not this weekend. Not this not this Wednesday because he's still recovering from his surgery, so probably next week. So we're looking forward to getting him back on. If you wanna contribute cryptos, you could do that too. We have our crypto wallet information. It's all up there on the website.
And if you wanna check out the modern podcast apps, you could do that by visiting modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org. And, I think that should just about do it for us. So with that said, Ruben, thank you. Appreciate it. Danny, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Alright folks, again, and thank you for taking the time to be with us tonight. Don't forget to head over to the website, joeroos.com, let us know what you think. And folks, make Texas independent again. Go podcasting, keep a steady stride, and keep talking.
My fans, I have arrived.
[00:03:46] Unknown:
A wrap. Transmitting live from the asylum studios deep in the bowels of Southwest Texas. It's the Joe Rouge Show. The show where we talk about anything and everything. Where nothing is sacred, nothing is watered down, and nothing is PC. Alrighty. Hey, folks. This is Joe Roos, and it is great to be with you once again transmitting live tonight from the Asylum Studios from the pimple on the backside of Texas, the beautiful city of Eagle Pass, and doing the very best that we can to bring you the best quality talk radio we could muster without all the bluster.
Welcome to the Joe Root Show. Hey, folks. It is Monday. No joyful shout for that one. It's Monday, and, man, was it ever a flipping Monday. Good grief. But that's alright, that headache is out of the way, now we have another one. We have a show to do tonight. No, I'm kidding, the shows are never a headache, I actually look forward to this more than anything else. It's all I got. It's my life for the show, and you guys. Love spending my time with you guys, it's always a pleasure. And we got a busy, busy week ahead of us. Now, I know yesterday, we, did a a rundown of what lays ahead for the week, and we said we had no guests for today.
And lo and behold, before the night was over, we had Julian Raven and Danny Mendoza both checked in for a show tonight. So that's great, and we're excited about that. We really are. We haven't spoken to Julian since July. I think it was July 2. I know it was around Independence Day. And, Julian has some updates on some of the legal matters that he has been contending with, and that we talked about very very briefly, really, the last time we were together. So we're looking forward to getting some updates from Julian in just a few minutes. And then, of course, in the second hour, we're gonna have Danny Mendoza talking to us all about Eagle Pass Popcon three, and some updates on that event that we talked about when he was actually here in studio.
So got a packed show for you tonight, and then, and then we'll be moving on. Alright. But, I hope you guys had a great weekend. I hope you're able to check out the shows this weekend. I think Saturday show was fantastic. We had a DePaul Fleming on. If you didn't catch that one, go back and check it out, episode number two zero four. We had a great conversation. Incredible guy. You need to talk to him, need to listen to him, and check out his books. Great stuff. And then on Sunday, of course, we had our usual Sunday bible study show, where we got into the dispensation of the patriarchs, which is it's not technically a dispensation if you if you follow the chain of dispensationalism.
It's really part and parcel to, the dispensation of the conscience that we talked about the week before. But just for our purposes, I just I separated the two, made it a little bit easier to follow. And, so we talked about Abraham, we talked about the land grant that Abraham was given, we talked about the Balfour Declaration, we talked about, oh, quite a few things, quite a few things, and, and next week we'll be getting into the law, the dispensation of the law that's gonna take us about six weeks, Five to six weeks to get through that particular dispensation. And, it's gonna be, it's gonna be a good one. It's gonna be a good one. I I remember I've taught this before, and, the law is always a lot of lot of, interesting things that comes up when we discuss the law.
But, with all of that said, I don't wanna keep our guests waiting too much longer, so let's get into some of the housekeeping that we have to do. Alright. So folks, as always, tonight's show is brought to you by podholm.fm. Podholm.fm is my host audio platform. It's a fantastic pod podcasting platform to be a part of. It's the most modern and easy to use podcast hosting platform you're gonna find. You can use it to publish your your episodes, enhance your audio, automatically generate chapters, titles, show notes, transcripts, chapter art. You name it, you can do it on podhome.fm.
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Alright. I think I think we've covered pretty much everything there. Before I bring in Julian, I am going to take a sip of my Earl Grey tea hot. See, I remember Julian. He he's I know he's there watching. Salute. Yes, sir.
[00:11:06] Unknown:
Mhmm.
[00:11:08] Unknown:
I remembered. Alright. Let's, let's bring in Julian. So tonight is a real treat for me, and that's basically because we're bringing back a good friend. The one and only Julian Raven. Now, again if you were back with us back in July of, in July 2, we had a conversation, man, that just took us through an incredible, incredible journey. From from Julian's days as a missionary, crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge, to discovering America through the constitution, the building of life, and a family here in New York, and then we kinda stepped into the story behind this massive and now legendary Trump portrait. We talked about the the the grass country the the cross country grassroots campaign in Iowa, and the dead of January, RNC, and then and then that that that showdown that he had with the Smithsonian, which was incredibly personal, passionate, and downright cinematic. Now tonight, we're gonna kinda pick up where the story left off. A lot's happened since then. I know there's an echo, right? Let me fix that. I just heard it.
And I keep on forgetting to do this, so my apologies folks. There we go. That should fix it. I I keep forgetting I have to change the setting from echo cancellation to to stereo, otherwise the audio sounds terrible for the music and everything. So sorry about that folks. Alright. So tonight, like I said, we're gonna pick up where we left off. But a lot of stuff happened since you were here with us last, Julian, back in July. A lot of things happened in the country, for the the fight for, for free expression, in in in in art and politics, institutions that claim to preserve our history.
And, you know, and we are looking forward to getting caught up. Julian, how are you, bud? Great to see you. Good evening, Joe. And,
[00:12:57] Unknown:
great to be back. And thank you for having me on once again. I wanted to say this as a as a precursor. First of all, you can you hear me well? I hear you beautifully. Okay. Fantastic. Yeah. Your your, future discussion of the law is, pro appropriate for my little bit of, information I'm gonna share with you today because, again, a whole new chapter. And this is not technically new. It's been going on sort of parallel with my Smithsonian journey, but it has not yet blossomed until now. Brief update on the Smithsonian. I I have pending litigation, which is my third lawsuit that I don't know if I had filed when we spoke.
No. I think you you said you were in the process of of building it in order to file it. Right. That is being and so I presently, I'm in a very, very interesting situation. I have presently four motions before the district court for the District of Columbia. Mhmm. But what is very interesting is that I have, because of the extraordinary circumstances of May, June this year, when the president attempted to fire Kim Saett, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, she went back to work the next day demonstrating one of two things.
Either the Smithsonian Institution has more power than the president of The United States, or the Smithsonian Institution is simply a private organization that the president has no power and authority over. And it's like him trying to fire a pastor of a church. Right. And the extraordinary circumstances is that the judge in my case in 2018, judge Trevor McFadden, he stated in order to deny me my first amendment free speech rights, my fifth amendment due process rights, all of the rights that I had, in order to do that, he had to claim that the Smithsonian was the government through and through. He had to claim that it was an agency of the federal government that when the government acts as an agency, you don't have free speech because the government is exercising government speech, and there is no free speech. Mhmm. But this is baloney. That was my the source of my appeal all the way to the sue the US Supreme Court, the court demanding the court to explain and to answer exactly what is the Smithsonian Institution, and they rejected my petition Mhmm. My, for for certiorari.
So now you see, once that happened, those extraordinary circumstances because when the Smithsonian defied the president, oh, how could you do this? You know? It's it's like, well, because the Smithsonian is a private organization. And on June 9 this year when they had their annual or biannual, board of regions meeting and present was the chief justice, who is the chancellor, the vice president, JD Vance, three members of Congress, three members of the Senate, and nine members of the vote I mean, the elect the public. Mhmm. That I have there was a story came out that included my story in the New York Times that said, one of the congressmen that was there that's on the board was like banging his fist sort of on the table demanding that John Roberts fire Kim Saet.
And he said, we're not firing Kim Saet. We've got that. So there was this there was this battle and defiance inside the Smithsonian. It's documented in this New York Times article. And once again, demonstrating that this it cannot be a government organization. You can't have the legislature and the judicial I mean, the legislative and the judicial and the, the I had now I'm are you I'm missing the third part there. I just had a a brain fog. You can't have the three members of the tripart government sitting at the same table acting The executive, legislative, and judicial. Executive. Sorry. Yeah. Thank you. You can't have those three components sitting at the same table and acting in one singular voice as the federal government. It violates the separation of powers. It's the most stupid, un unlawful decision that judge McFadden made. But because of the prestige and the controlling status quo bias that the Smithsonian exercised on people's minds, most people think, oh, it's the government. It is the go it's not. That's it's called the Smithsonian because it's named after a British gentleman named James Smithson. It's a private charity. It's a it's a it's a simple private charitable trust. Right. And when the members of the government sit down as members of the board of regents, they don't sit down as officials of the government. They leave their robes at the door, and they sit down as citizens.
And they're just trustees or like of a church. That's it. And yet the judge in my case made that ruling. So my present motions right now in the district court, one of them has reopened the 2018 case. Mhmm. And it is a motion under rule 60 b to vacate that judgment that I'm giving the judge a pathway to correct this error of law that he made, that he can vacate that decision. This I don't go back into the damages and not the whole rigmarble, but just vacate that decision, and then three motions in the present case that can bring over those issues that were unresolved, that are identical to the issues in my present case, giving him a pathway to actually rule legitimately and allow the rule of law to be accurate on the docket. Because the extraordinary circumstances of June year prove without a doubt because the Smithsonian, after June 9, they came out with a statement.
And this is a statement from the board of regents, from chief justice John Roberts, the the vice president of The United States. They made a statement and said the Smithsonian Institution is an independent entity. Yeah. Hello. That I so I've been arguing for 10 Exactly right. Yeah. It's an independent private charitable trust that the government of the United States is the trustee of the private charity. That's it. They they they they exist to allow that James Smithson's voice of a private citizen and a foreign private citizen is carried out. His will is carried out.
It is not the will of the federal government. So I hope, and maybe this is the time ten years later, it's like, you know, coming in nine years in the litigation, ten years of the story, that this judge is going to have the honor and dignity to humble himself in the presence of God and the law of this country and the clear clear statutes and even the even the the the separation of state of of so it's a separation of powers doctrine that it is impossible that the three members of the of the federal government, three branches can sit together. And the only you know the other only other time when the three branches of the government sit down together in the same room? You know when that is?
State of the union. Yep. That's the only time. And they they're not sitting there deliberating together. They're there in this sort of, you know, interdependent parts sort of sitting there with arms folded. You know, it's it's and so I am hoping, Joe, that this might be the time that judge McFadden says you can't argue with what happened in June. And mister Raven has been right for nearly ten years, and it's time for me to fix it now. I hope and pray that could that could happen. Those those motions have been now sitting there because of the shutdown. Everything has been pushed back over whatever it's been, six, five, six weeks.
So I'm thinking I'm gonna start getting I've got a response in the DOJ already, but I'm thinking about the follow-up response to be somewhere maybe mid December, or they'll find an excuse to push it off until January because of the holidays, that type of thing. So we're going to see very soon what happens there. So that's the Smithsonian
[00:21:30] Unknown:
update. Okay. Now before we get into anything else, for for some of the audience who who might not know, because we we we kinda intimated it, how the Smithsonian actually came into existence, and I know we kinda covered it in detail, back in July, but, we have a bunch of new people watching, listening. Can you just kinda give us the history of the Smithsonian, how it came to be, and why exactly it is, like, a a, in a trust with the government?
[00:21:57] Unknown:
Eighteen eighteen hundreds, I think James Smithson I think he died 1829. It was like in the eighteen thirties, 1835 when the money came. What what happens interesting is that, you know, James Smithson was a bastard. Meaning, in Victorian England, he was a bastard son Mhmm. Of two royal dynasties that, obviously, they had an affair. She got pregnant, and he was born in Paris because under in Victorian England, you know, bastardry, there was and and in The US, there were bastardy laws. So he was a persona nongrato his whole life. He couldn't be an accepted member of society. Probably he was born in secret. No one ever knew about him as he grew up. But he lived in Europe. He he spent his whole life in Europe, not in The UK. Born in in Paris, and he died in Genoa, Italy.
Obviously, his parents were very wealthy royal British royalty. Mhmm. And so he had money. Nobody knows exactly where it came from. He was professionally he was, a sort of amateur scientist. Right. The only real accomplishment that James Smithson ever accomplished, and this was named, I think, posthumously was that he discovered a mineral that they named after him, and it's called smithsonite. Okay. That's the the scientific accolade. Smithsonite. But when he died in his will, he actually was trying to give his money to his family. He wasn't married, didn't have children, but he had sort of relations in different places.
But the will is very interesting because his money and his person were dying outside of England had to be taken back to England. But his his gold, nobody wanted his gold because he was persona non grata, and he couldn't build an institution in England because no one would build it. And that wasn't even in his will. He tried to give it to different different parts of the family, and it kept, like, defaulting. No. Nope. Nope. And at the end of his will, one little sentence basically said, if if nobody can get my fortune there's a there's a there's a gardener who got, like, a stipend.
He got a stipend. And, but he said, if nobody can basically if if it all falls through the cracks and there's no heirs and no recipients of my will, then he says, then I give my whole estate to The United States Of America so that at Washington, specifically Mhmm. They would build an institution called the Smithsonian Institution, that's what it says in the will, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. So that was his will, and it's very interesting. If you read my book, Odius and Cerberus, an American Immigrants Odyssey and his free speech legal war against Smithsonian corruption, if you read the book, it's it I have a lot of fascinating details, historic details. That's a that's a multilayered book, but the history is fascinating.
The United States had to sue The United Kingdom in order to get the money, the gold. This was back then, it was 400, 541,000 US dollars back then. There was I think it was a thousand gold British sovereigns. You know? So it was it was like 11 sacks of gold coins. And this guy, Robert Rush, was the envoy from under Andrew Jackson. He was sent to the to The United Kingdom to litigate for two years. It took him to sue them in the courts and sue in order to actually demonstrate that The United States was the beneficiary of the will and then bring the money back to the and he did. So he got his 11 sacks of gold, and he got on a ship, and he traveled back to to The United States. And they were they were in crates. They were they were they were substantial sacks. You know, whether I I I don't know if it was, like, a 111 sacks. It was I can't remember the specifics. It was very interesting details of the transport of the gold back to The United States, and he did. Mhmm. And what did Congress do immediately with the money?
[00:26:12] Unknown:
Spend it.
[00:26:13] Unknown:
But they borrowed it. There you go. They borrowed Smithson's money. And in the in the act of the Smithsonian from 1846, because it took them ten years of of deliberations, ten years back then, to decide what they had what and when they were and who could do the Smithsonian thing, but they borrowed the money. So in the act of the Smithsonian, it says, yeah, we've borrowed the money, and we're gonna pay a annual interest payment of 6% on this amount and 6% on $541,000 in that time, and they estimate it's probably about 60 to 80,000,000 US dollars today. Mhmm. 6% is a lot of money.
And so but they said in the in the act of the Smithsonian that that would pay for the establishment of the museum. So the Smithsonian was built not with Smithson's money. It was built with the interest payments that the government promised based upon them borrowing his gold. So, yeah, you could dig into that one. Right? Yeah. And that that's that just yeah. And it's right there in the it's right in the black. It's black and white. You can read it. It's like, oh my goodness. But what you see, that's part of the problem, though, of what happened, Joe, with how the Smithsonian has drifted into the unconstitutional and illicit area of not being private and suddenly appearing to be the government. Because at some point in the '19 early nineteen hundreds, because there were controversies around it, it's as if that the 6% payment and I cannot I couldn't find the specific documentation.
It's either that the 6% payment was no longer large enough to operate the expanded museum by them. I have if you go to my website, www.7 oh, not 7fourteen. Www.smithsoninstitution.com. Smithson, not Smithsonian. Smithsoninstitution.com. You will see newspaper cuttings and stories from the nineteen hundreds. And one of them there is the Washington, Daily Star, asking the public for donations. They said, we need we need the Smithsonian was begging for money from the public. And and that was the time where its activities and research and mission and vision, which are all legitimate, they're all good.
It's as if that was exceeding its economic power under its either donations and the 6% amount. Now that's a real problem because, originally, that eighty, sixty to eighty mil if that was used specifically for the institution and and and invested properly for the institution, it would have had ample funds to run it and always operated within budget and expanded as the money grew and as the institution grew, it would have still but it didn't. So at some point, they began to appropriate taxpayer dollars to fund now the shortfall.
So at that point, the minute the government and these different people came along and sort of say, well, we'll just take some tax dollars and just funnel it in. That's the moment when people begin to think that this is no longer private. It's now a government agency. So, anyway, that gets into a whole other story, which is fascinating. It's part of how the the the erroneous notion that the Smithsonian Institution is a government agency happened. And at that time, I have a wonderful quote. It's in my book. It's all documented. It's a whole chapter I wrote about him, William Howard Taft.
I mean, if I don't know. The story of that man was absolutely remarkable story of a simple guy from, I believe, it was Upstate New York. Simple humble beginnings, how he became the most remarkable politician, I think, in American history. He held so many different offices, so many different tie he became president. He was chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. That's right. And the chief justice, he was chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution. So if anybody on earth knew what the Smithsonian Institution was, it was William Howard Taft.
And what did he say that it was? It's right there in black and white. He says the Smithsonian has never been a government bureau. He says it is a private institution under the guardianship of the government. It's a very clear
[00:30:49] Unknown:
statement. Which shouldn't lead to any question whatsoever.
[00:30:52] Unknown:
It's like what? And and and the thing is this is the weird part that there there may be and, you know, when a government when the government privatizes or nationalizes what you know, there's a process that goes through. So they, you know, they could be grounds if they were try oh, well, we're going to turn the Smithsonian into a national museum, and they dissolve the trust and they, you know, pay back the the will or the the the the the actual trust, the the Smithson trust. They return the funds. Okay. Oh, I don't there's some legal process that they could have enacted to legitimately made the Smithsonian Institution a national museum.
[00:31:32] Unknown:
Mhmm.
[00:31:33] Unknown:
But they never did. They never paid back the 600 or $541,000. They just absorbed it into the federal government, basically. And it runs now on close to a billion dollars a year budget with seven 70% being tax appropriations and about $300,000,000 being private donations annually. So it's still this hybrid now, messy, corrupt, corrupt institution. If you read the history again in my book, you'll be fascinated the juicy stories of corruption. It's just it's like unbelievable. It's just it's stunning. It's again, it's all in black and white. It's documented right there. Yeah. And and a lot of that has happened, Joe, because the confusion about the legal status is a like a fog that allows a lot of very illicit movement to happen inside there because nobody really knows, and nobody is questioning, and nobody is saying. They're just going and do inertia institutional inertia is pushing it forward and people so here I come along, and I'm like, hold on a second. Let me hit the pause button here maybe or someone like I wanna just I wanna poke the fog and get inside there and see what's going on. And and oops. Sorry. And so that's their little background for the listener to to really it's a fascinating story. It's a great story. It's an amazing institution. Joseph Henry, the first Smithsonian secretary, and I met the greatest American scientist of the day.
Remarkable man. Thirty seven years of his life. Thirty thirty seven years of his life, he dedicated to building the Smithsonian Institution from scratch. He was the visionary. He was the guy that that that founded it. So it is an amazing institution. What has happened, it not only become this sort of quasi government hybrid until we get a definitive ruling from the Supreme Court, but it's also was hijacked by agendas where people just took over the institution and used it for political purposes to drive their
[00:33:36] Unknown:
agenda. And it's very clear the agenda that's in there. Right. And that's and that's where your story comes in too, because you you your the the whole background, the reason why you got involved in this in the first place is because of a portrait that you painted of president Trump that the Smithsonian refused.
[00:33:51] Unknown:
Yeah. Too too political. Too it's all there's no politics in it. All it is is is a is a is a candidate. It was a candidate post painting with sim American symbols. And this woman who now you see, the woman who he Trump rightly tried to fire, but didn't have the authority to do so, she eventually resigned. Because on his list of 17 reasons to fire her, my my case was number four, which was great. I was, alright. That's good. It should have been number one, which it was, but there are reasons for that. Because I'm today, I'm not a Trump apologist. I am politically homeless. I am I, I've walked beyond that right now. Mhmm. That's part of my story. But the the issue, the core issue that's at the heart of that is that the painting, the symbolism is it's just the it's a sim it's a surreal dream image of that's really what it is. It's a vision. It's a vision what's trying to be depicted in this man's head, but it contains America, the flag, and the eagle in a in a sort of surreal dis description.
And this snooty Australia, this woman was not and is not even an American Joe. This is what got me so sick. I'm an immigrant. I'm an immigrant. I came to this country. I fell in love with this country. I fell in love with its laws, its history, its incredible people, this this this remarkable story that America is, and I wanted to become one. And I was able, and I became I swore the oath, and I became an American. So here I am, an immigrant who had just become a citizen at that time, even though I've been here for many years. I was a resident, and then that ran out, and then eventually became a citizen. Mhmm.
[00:35:34] Unknown:
Which, by the way, your your story is an incredible story. I I've told I've retold your story so many times to so many different people.
[00:35:41] Unknown:
Oh, thank you. Just And I hope I hope it serves its purpose. You know? But but the point here, Joan, and I don't wanna cut you short on that, but just so I finish this thought is, I turn up at the Smithsonian Institution. Again, it's not a national museum, but I didn't I didn't even know what it was when I turned up there. I just knew it was some important place in DC. And and there's this Australian woman who's not even an American objecting to an image that depicts the story of Americans from a certain position, their values, their vision, their hopes, their dreams, this beautiful it's like this this drama that's unfold. And her snootzy Australia, when she picked up when she picked she called me. She's like, oh, is your painting the one with the the eagle and the flag? You know, there's there's a there's some people in this country that despise the symbols that America has and are precious and essential to understanding what we are as Americans. And they just they just and it's like, you know, it's it's so to me, it's so discouraging because you're either gonna be faithful and loyal to what you believe, you know, as a believer, as a Christian, as a follower, as a as a citizen. You pledge. You you you you wanna be you wanna live as a husband. You know? You you you swear an oath for goodness sake, and you stand and you believe and you those are the character the character components that this country was build on built on. And this person has the gall to object to those things as disqualifying when for for two inaugurations prior, they had hosted the Obama the hope poster, which was red, white, and blue, Obama, blah blah blah hope. Fine. Beautiful. That's great for them. That was And hardly apolitical.
Hardly apolitical. And and the and the political campaign poster. So but that story is still ongoing. Thank God. Mhmm. I have not given up. Thank God. I have many times wanted to, many times been like, I can't believe this journey is just horrible that your deal was I mean, I don't know if you got if you managed to read the book, but please read the book if you want to see the journey. The book is an allegory. As I talk about history and the law and the facts, which can be very, you you know, to a lot of people. Oh my goodness. You're going into all this. So, yeah, I said as I wrote it, I said, man, I gotta tell that story. I gotta tell I gotta put the facts in there so you read it. But then I wove an allegory into it. So I'm climbing a mountain called Mount Justlaw.
From the beginning of the book, it's my journey of climbing this mountain and battling these beasts. That's why it's called odious and cerberus, you know, this three headed beast, which the judge called in the court that the Smithsonian is this hellhound, this three headed hellhound. It was bizarre, his ruling was. But that's the the the story, and you get to see the adventure that it is. And so but at the end of it, the disappointments and the tragic, just heartbreaking dis when you're like, it's right there in black and white. I am not making it up. It's like it's it's right there. Can you can you and status quo bias, Joe, that can lead us to what we're dealing with even now in my in my current case.
[00:39:06] Unknown:
Which we're gonna come to in a second now. Yeah. If you
[00:39:10] Unknown:
if you are controlled by the status quo bucket of beliefs and ideas that are they're not based in fact. And most people don't spend their life trying to actually work out what it is they believe or what, you know, what's true around them. Most people live in a bubble. They live in a bubble of they've just been, like, boiled into it like a toad, you know, like a frog in a pot. And the status quo bias is so strong over the Smithsonian that people and me and I've spoken to people for nearly ten years about the Smithsonian, and I know this for a fact. There's only probably one person that I can remember, one person who immediately said to me, oh, no. It's not the government.
And they knew it. Mhmm. Other than that, everyone else I've spoken to from standing outside the Smithsonian now on two different occasions with a microphone, and I've interviewed people. And I'm like, so what do you think it is? Oh, yeah. It's the government there. Oh, yeah. It's the this is the it's American government. This is the and they they don't know, but they're just sort of parroting. Yeah. And it's it's a and it's amazing too how many people actually consider
[00:40:22] Unknown:
the, the Smithsonian, the the National Museum. Because you've heard you you hear it referenced that way many, many, many times in many different circumstances.
[00:40:32] Unknown:
Yep. And that and and, again, you can see why that happened because of the proximity, the physical proximity. The story that's on my website, again, on the front page, it shows another story from the Washington star, the Sunday star from 1927. And the front page story was describing a family came from the Midwest walking down the mall in Washington and, oh, the buildings in the White House and these and then they see the Smithsonian Castle. Like, oh, look at this building and and the sport and the story says and then they go on to discover that this building is not the government, but it is the private and it's right there. It's right quoted on the opening page of my website because it's like and it's this it's the same pervasive error. And I'm like, I'm like, come on. At some point, you've got to look at what it says in writing and and base what you believe upon what's actually in the law, And that goes back to your conversation that you're gonna have in a few weeks about the importance of the law. And that can maybe segue to the law that I'm dealing with now in New York state. It just might. Yes.
[00:41:40] Unknown:
Yeah. So, I'm gonna I I actually have, I have the the article that you sent me, the link to the from was it EIN Presswire?
[00:41:48] Unknown:
So Yeah. I I have had, like, I I sent you that just
[00:41:52] Unknown:
yesterday, today, recently because I've got a bunch of them. I might have I think you sent me this one last week, and then I have another one, from your substack that you sent, that I got. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So so this this is the article here. Artist and author Julian Raven files lawsuit against New York State DEC over property contamination dispute. Alright. Fill us in. What is this all about now?
[00:42:13] Unknown:
That's my art studio. It's where I'm standing right now. I'm in that little door on the front there. I mean, that's my office. And, this is a building that has been in this town, I don't know, since it I think it was built in 1953. I've known about it since I've been here. It was a like, a condemned blighted building. It's right on the main thoroughfare of the city. And I didn't I had another one for years, and I was away. And then I came back from Spain, for an art show and in '19 in 2014. And the other building that I had, we lost because of the crash of two thousand and eight. That was the I had another setup here, which was wonderful, and that all fell apart because the guy the owner was greedy. The economy crashed, and then we we got that was another story. But, anyway, this one, I was like, wow. You know, I'd been in Spain painting these large paintings and came back, and I went to find out why is this still blighted.
[00:43:16] Unknown:
Upstate New York, Joe, I think you knew it somewhat. Right? You were from the city, was it? Yeah. I'm from Downstate, but I I used to go up I used to go Upstate many, many times. It was a it was a nice little vacation from the the the hectic lifestyle of the city. Yeah. And and Upstate New York is absolutely beautiful. I mean, it is such a beautiful state. Yeah. You know, a lot a lot I don't mean to interrupt you, but you know, a lot of people don't realize that New York's is New York is not just New York City. You know?
I thought it was when I came here. Yeah, I know most people do, like when I came down here to Texas people just tend to think that New York City is just Manhattan and, you know, in the five boroughs, but no. It's a master New York State. New York State is a beautiful state. New York State, you have apple orchards, you have horse ranches, you have dairy farms, you have forests, you have, I mean it's a beautiful beautiful place. It truly is, too bad it's being run like crap, but it's it's Oh my goodness. It's a it's actually a beautiful place. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't being run like crap ten years ago
[00:44:16] Unknown:
when I first came here to Texas, I probably would've when I retired, I probably would've moved upstate. Upstate. Wow. But but, yeah, that's that's that's one of the the the big issues that we have in this. That's, that's really what I'm dealing with now. Because what I what the way that God works in my life, Joe, is, like, I don't, you know, I don't go looking for these things. I'm following my destiny. I come to this this I've come by faith. I'm I'm a I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I have a, my life is Christ. My life is my commitment to my faith and my lord and savior. And so the way that I live my life is always through the lens of faith seeking and trying to to know the next step and pursue it that way. And so he god has always led me without even most of the time, I'm oblivious. Most of the time, I'm sort of, you know, you're happy go lucky like a kid. You're just like, oh, you know? And you and you end up in a situation, and then he he, like, begins to to draw to draw your attention and make you look at something. And you're like, okay. I start looking. And then before long, you're looking and, and the the your sort of gifts kick in, and then you're like, oh, oh my goodness. So it's like this.
I had no idea what I was walking into. I, the reason why I submitted my paintings to the Smithsonian because I met people across the country who said to me, oh, this painting should be in the Smithsonian. And I was like, oh, so what is that? Right. I didn't even you know? So it it was all new. And and I think as perspective that is very, very unfiltered and I'm sort of prejudiced. And so you go in and you see it very differently than the American mind sees it. So here I am in New York State, and I buy this building. And the building I knew before I bought it, the reason why it was all blighted and nobody full of it was rundown and decrepit and vandalized and gutted, and it was like a bomb went off in this thing. It was unbelievable.
The reason why is because it was a supposed brownfield. There was all these rumors about, oh, the the the, contamination and all because I'm in a very industrial area where there is massive contamination in soil, etcetera, etcetera. So I researched it, and I spoke to the DC, which is the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. And they have a legitimate mandate to to go around and investigate and find real polluters. And there's some people that are just indiscriminate in the way that they have dumped poisons and toxins and things into the into the string into the roof. Un unbelievable. The Hudson, we know the New York State, you know, for years in the eighteen hundreds.
Just people just dumping. Like Yeah. So I knew this. I did the research. And once I did the research and I spoke to the DC back then and I read the reports, I saw, you know what? This is there this is their reports are inconclusive. The everything was like question mark. And I across the street from us, 300 feet, there was a a former dry cleaner. And dry cleaners use, PCE and TCE, which is known as PERC. The stuff that, you when you you know, if you've had a shirt dry cleaned, it has that smell to it. Yeah. It's a chemical smell. That's what that's that's TCE or PCE.
It's usually the PCE, perk is the name. It's the stuff that if you go to the the auto auto zone or or or buy brake cleaner fluid, have you ever bought a can of brake cleaner? Same thing. Big can and just blast that stuff. That's usually perk. Straight straight perk. That's that is the chemical that you use to clean clothes with. And, dry cleaners are called dry cleaners because they don't use water. They it's called dry cleaning because they're they're washing your clothes in a big washing machine full of this chemical. And this chemical has such incredible cleaning powers. It can get to such microscopic fibers and clean and just dissipate dirt.
And then after they've done the cleaning and the the chemical loses its power for fifty years, forty years, 1970, they started using it. Before it was regulated in the nineties, you know what people did with it? They dumped it in the drains. Mhmm. They dumped it out the back door of their building. And this chemical just drops through the ground, and it's a, you know, vodka volatile organic compound. And so the dry cleaner is 300 feet from me upstream, up, up gradient in the water table. And I could see from the plant on the map. I said said anything that's in this property this property was never a dry clean. This is a warehouse. Anything that was here has migrated because the water they showed that the the migration or the movement of the groundwater flowed directly to my building. Mhmm. And so I could see all these inconsistencies.
And I said back then, I said, I said, they cannot conclude because it's not I could see it. I said, I can buy this knowing that maybe one day I'm gonna have a have to have a lawsuit to fight this out, but I know that there is not there is no smoking gun here. And they it's in their reports. It's like I read it in black and white. Once again, go back. You gotta read the stuff. You gotta read it and read it and get to know what it says. And I did, and I then bought the building. I got it for a very good price. The the previous owner paid a dollar for it, and, that's how nobody wanted it.
Wow. Then they they found out the condition of it because they were a massive company from Missouri. They found out when I got involved, I sent them pictures that the place is complete they bought it sight unseen. And once they saw it, they wanted to get rid of it. And I bought it from them for $3,300, and this is 6,000 square foot warehouse. Nice. So it's a it's a it's I got it. I got it. But I got I got I I walked into the potential of what I'm in now, and that was 2014. It's eleven years ago. So it's been a long journey. And the long and the short of it is this.
Not only now, this is this is where it gets into the political possibility once again. And, again, I don't I'm not a conspiracy theorist. The the Bible is very clear to me. Second Timothy chapter two verses twenty two and twenty three is, you know, refuse foolish and ignorant speculations for they just produce quarrels. Mhmm. Refuse foolish and ignorant. So I don't get into the attributing definitively that this is what it is. But in 2017, at the height of my, support of of then president Trump because he'd been elected, and my lawsuit had begun in January, three months before. Right at that time, I get this very heavy handed demanded demanding letter from the DEC, and that's when my fight started. That's eight years ago.
It didn't become a lawsuit till six weeks ago, and I've been in this battle already going on now eight years. The remarkable thing about it is that, you know, I'm either dealing with now, and there's a lot of details that I don't wanna I know my time. I know you're gonna your guest is probably coming on at at you know, ten minutes. What have we got? We got about ten, fifteen minutes. Yeah. So it's a fascinating I I had a I had a my first hearing on Friday, and that it blew up. The the the the attorney general of The United States is defending the of the of the of New York is defending the Department of Environmental Conservation. I have sued governor Hochul, commissioner Lefton, this project attorney Lowe, and this project manager, Bruno. There's four people.
This is the this is the state of New York. This is New York state defending itself from the attorney general and assistant attorney was there. In the court, they accuse me of doctoring documents without any substantiation, without saying and suddenly, they then oh, yeah. You saw it. And then and then they this guy you I cannot tell you, Joe. I I was so shocked. And how somebody this I had already slammed this attorney general in the response to and you can read all those at 714 Baldwin Street. The response, if you go to that and tap, the the the tag, which is I mean, the the drop down menu of Raven versus NYS DEC.
Joe, you I cannot I I just I don't know. Maybe I'm just, like, stupid in this world that you just can't believe that people can behave like this, especially people who hold such significant office. The the it's just lying. I mean, in the legal world, you have to call it, you know, that's just factually incorrect or that's just not you know, you don't go into court and you say, you're a liar. You it it would be nice if you could. I mean, you could. You you'll you'll get walked out in handcuffs, but you could. I'm a pro se well, no. I'm a pro se litigant, so I I have a lot of latitude, and I can and I was are you should've heard the judge say, be quiet, mister Abe, and let him answer. I'm like, I object. I object. And he's, like, shutting me up. It was it was a spitting fight in this little court.
And I now, since then, over the weekend, I have filed, I think it's seven motions for referral, this guy, to, disciplinary committees, to sanctions, to adverse inferences. I've motioned the court now to vacate their ruling to because the judge sat there, and this was so stunning to me. The judges naturally will defer to a state agency. Like with the Smithsonian Mhmm. Judges will defer to the attorney or to the DOJ because the even judge McFadden, he was a DOJ prosecutor, young man, 37 years old when he became judge. 37. He's like a kid in a robe. And I write about that in my book. It's like I mock it. Like, so I say, this is a little kid. He's sitting on the bench as a federal judge. He's 37 years old. It's not that age is the issue, but you know what? You 37 and to be a federal judge, and he was from the Department of Justice, and he's now got his colleagues defending the Smithsonian from the Department of Justice.
These people defer even if it's by status quo bias. They just have an inclination to decide. How how can this pro se self represented artist from Elmira, New York know anything? I mean, he doesn't even have a lawyer. It's just him. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? It's like this this is this guy. Who who in the world who's gonna pay him any attention? Well, that's my story that they they it might just take ten years. Did you ever see that movie? And and this is a great recommendation to you and your audience if you have not. It's called Flash of Genius by it's about Robert Kearns. Did you ever hear of this about the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper? No. I've heard of that. Oh, it's an amazing movie. And God used this years ago in my life to encourage me to hang in there because he another story, and I won't share the the gold because you gotta see it. Alright. But he is this is a true story, the inventor of the intermittent windscreen wiper, how he his designs were stolen by Ford, and he then tries to sue Ford, and no one would sue Ford because everyone's afraid of Ford.
And they're saying, don't sue them. They're too big. And, well, there's always fear. It's always fear. And Robert Kearns is like, you know what? I'm gonna sue them myself. And he sues them himself as a pro se litigant like myself for years, and the result was remarkable. And, basically, the story for me is just hang in there. It might take you a long time. Well
[00:56:58] Unknown:
But it's it's worth it. One of the things that I've I I admire about you from the first time we started our our conversations back in July through all this and, you know, following the things that you're doing, is one of the things that I've admired about you is that, you really don't shy away from confrontation if it's tied to principle.
[00:57:16] Unknown:
Amen. And, I What what what do we Joe, what do we have what do we have if we don't have that? What do do and and and then I this is the thing from my mind. I'm like, but this is America. This is this is what America this is this is why America happened. Mhmm. I I read the declaration of independence, and it's the most glorious expression of exactly that. And if we don't have that, if I don't have that, well, what type of a man am I? What type of a man am I if I do not know what is true and right and if I don't stand on it with my life no matter what? Because if I deny those principles, Joe, then what what do we have left?
You have nothing. You really don't? You have no oh, a bunch of stuff? That's better. Shiny stuff? Yeah. A pile of gold or is that is that is that really or, you know, fame or fortune and prestige? And is that is that really see, I I I forego all of that stuff, Joe. I don't know if you could see that, but I I keep this.
[00:58:23] Unknown:
It's probably because it's washed out. Yeah. Oh, there it is. Man, that's it. I keep this I carry this thing with me wherever I go. I've had this for years. I can't tell you how many times I've read it. You know? And you're right. It it it this is this is our founding document. This is this is Core to me, it's core American Yeah. DNA. This is a this is what you call a principled stance on liberty.
[00:58:47] Unknown:
On liberty. And with that and without it, you are not free. Without it, you may wave an American flag. You may have all the trimmings. But if you're not that, then you do not have the freedoms that you think you have and proclaim because that is the basis of freedom. When Jefferson says after bringing the indictment against king George and he says, now let facts be submitted to a candid world, and he then lists off the whole indictment against king. Boom boom boom. Fact written we as an American people, and this is what to in today's world and sadly in the political world on both sides. And that's why I just I just walked away from the whole thing. Conspiracy and distortion and lies and slander and mis we need to be a people of facts like that deck that declaration to me is the blueprint of political activism as an American, and it's based upon that fundamental idea that you use every lawful, legitimate process to fight for your rights. Like, revolution is is is always in the American DNA. That's right. It's always there. But it is at the very, very end having exhausted every single legitimate process and some before you even consider that type of exercise of power to get your political rights. And so what I saw so so much to this, so much so many people are on lot there's so much vile, unprincipled people who are doing and saying what they do for money, for followers, for prestige, for fame.
When I read that declaration of independence, I'm like, I I wanna weep. I wanna weep. I this this is so beautiful. Yeah. It's so righteous. And it says at the end, you know, we appeal to the god of the whole world. You know, it's this it's this call to the righteous judge Amen. Of the whole earth Amen. As the source of our truth as we know what is true. And and do you know You know, for action, the basis for action. Yeah. And do you and do you know why it's it's so easy today
[01:01:09] Unknown:
for, for the average American citizen to get caught up in the conspiracy theories? Not not everything is a conspiracy theory. There's something that's are are conspiracy facts, but Sure. To get caught up in in in the conspiracy theories, the emotionalism, and you you said it before. I'm trying to remember how you phrased it, but, just just generally just being able to get the wool pulled over their eyes Yeah. By by by narratives that really don't make that much sense when you really break them down and look at them is because things like this are no longer taught
[01:01:46] Unknown:
Right. In the education system. It's it's right. Because those are the tools of freedom. It's the it's the knowledge. Mhmm. The truth will set you free. It's the truth of the identity of the American d I DNA, which is found which is in those Absolutely. And if we know those and they are part of the fiber of who we are, it's the guiding framework about what we do. And and the declaration of independence for me is just it is it is exactly that. It's the blueprint for action. It's the it's the political activist manual. Do this. Follow these steps. Here it is. Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. That to me is if we, Joe, we will succeed as a people and as a nation and as citizens, we the people, we will succeed when we all individually and corporately take those documents, make them known to not just all. I'm just I have it. I know it.
I know what it says. I understand what he was saying, why he was saying it, and what they did, and the steps that they took, and the long winded then we will see massive change. And, unfortunately, it's all about principle, as you rightly said, and we must be a people who are immovable and unbendable Agreed. When it comes to principle. These are eternal, nonnegotiation nonnegotiable principles that transcend our world and are anchored in eternity, and they give us the freedoms that we enjoy. That is the roots of, I believe, of American d I DNA. And I hope that maybe through this show and broadcast that someone may be encouraged to say, yeah. I I need to dig into those things. Focus on the turn off all these show. Turn them all off and open those books and those documents and those people and their words and their thoughts and their writings and let that become your identity.
Yeah. And then open then turn on the rest, and you'll see, oh my goodness. This this I don't recognize half of the stuff that's out there. Absolutely. Absolutely. Julian, we gotta get on to our next guest here. So, where can, you know, what's next for you? Books? Any any more books coming out? Any exhibitions coming up? And where can you No paint. No paint. I haven't painted six months. I've been I'm in a I'm in a legal war mode. I can't paint. My mind is Yeah. I can't I can't I can't photograph. I do my photography, but I just it's you have to be in a certain mind frame. It's just not there. But it's good because I'm painting with words. Yeah. And that's what I that's what I love to do as well. But, yes, 714 Baldwin Street is where you can find out about that. You've got, smithsoninstitution.com for that. You've got julianraven.com for my art.
And, books, I have my prequel to my odious and cerberus book that I've been working on as well for about ten years, and that's gonna come out maybe in the spring. And that count that's a lot of my Christian journey as well as well as coming to America and my experience here. So, lot lot going on. Very busy. And, yeah, if you keep if you keep in touch, with those sites and Facebook. You know, Julian Raven, USA on Facebook. I don't like social media at all. I do use it Me too. And I have to. I am not very good at it. I don't I don't I don't care. I don't people like or not. I have no idea. I'm just like, well, there it is.
[01:05:06] Unknown:
That's that's that's exactly like I am. I tell the audience all the time. I have all these social media things. They're all for the show. I really don't spend any time on it, to be honest with you. If you follow me, great. I'll follow you back, but, don't expect much because I really don't have time to play with it. Yeah. It's no it's not it just I don't I don't I don't I I you know what I think it is?
[01:05:25] Unknown:
I don't know how to manipulate. I don't know how to try to coax people. Oh, look at it. I'm the type of person who's like, look. Here it is. It it's in black and white. You read it. Just that if if the truth of what I just said is not sufficient for you, I don't know how to make it all sparkling to make you more convinced to see it because I I just don't know how to do that. I'm not that's probably why I don't have a successful social media thing because it's I've tried, and I suck at it. So Yeah. I do post. But what I'm doing is I'm there in the in the trenches
[01:06:01] Unknown:
and in full battle mode right now, which is very exciting. And thank you, Joe, once again for having me on. Anytime, brother. You know, you're welcome. Anytime you wanna come on the show, just let me know, and we'll make it happen. I appreciate it very much. Alrighty. I'll I'll, I'll shoot you a text later on. Alright? Got a couple of things I wanna throw you away, get your opinion on. Alright? Thank you. Alright, brother. God bless you. Julian Raven, folks, thank you so much for being with us tonight, Julian. I really do appreciate it. Thank you, Joe. Alright. Talk to you soon. Alright, folks. What we're gonna do here is we're gonna take a little bit of a break, just to gonna freshen up the Earl Grey tonight. And, when we come back from the break, we will, we'll have Danny Mendoza, joining us, and, find out what is new in the world of Eagle Pass Popcon, and what's coming down the road. Alright folks, don't forget, this is a live show weeknights, 7PM central time.
Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share with your friends, your family, your followers. And, you know, because when you do that, it helps with the algorithm that people find us and, you know, we can do all that neat stuff that we're trying to do. Alright. Well, with that said, don't forget also to check out the website joeroos.com. Send us over a question, comment, care, concern, whatever it is on your mind. Drop a comment down below, and, stick with us. We will be back, shortly, probably about, maybe three minutes. Four minutes. Alright? Alright. Be back.
[01:11:00] Unknown:
Alrighty.
[01:11:03] Unknown:
Hey folks, welcome back. This is Joe Roos. Welcome to the Joe Roos Show. Hour number one, safely tucked away and put to bed for the night. Hour two gonna get started here momentarily. So, Julian Raven folks, I hope you guys got something out of that. Julian's a great guest. I I I thoroughly enjoyed having him on back in July, and if you haven't checked out that show, you need to. Great show, and and honestly, and I I I was true to the heart when I said that I do tell his immigration story to a lot of people, because it's really truly an inspiring story, and you need to check it out. So, you can go back to the July 2 show that we did with Julian and, check that thing out, because it's, it's it truly is a, a a a an inspiration to listen to. It's what and what comes out of it is is it is the love of country.
The love of the country. The love of of the the the principles and the value, the core values of what America really is. And that comes through so clearly when you hear him tell his story. It it just man, I wish Americans felt the way they did. I wish Americans felt the way Julian does about this country. So it's it's a great story. It's a great story. You need to check it out. So the July 2 show, you should check it out for sure. Folks, Pro HVAC r Solutions leverages over thirty years of expertise to provide premier HVAC sales and repair services, specializing in both residential and commercial installations. Pro HVAC's team of skilled technicians is dedicated to providing efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions for your home or business with a focus on quality workmanship and customer satisfaction. Pro HVAC solutions ensures your comfort all year round. Contact Pro HVAC R Solutions today for reliable HVAC services tailored to your needs.
Link's right there on the screen. Prohvacrsolutions.com. Check out prohvacrsolutions.com. Alright. Now, with that said, I think it is about that time where we're gonna bring in, Danny Mendoza. Danny is the, what did you say, the founder, Danny, of, Eagle Pass Popcon? Yes. I'm actually, one of them. One of the one of the founders. And in case you're wondering where but I I I am the current
[01:13:37] Unknown:
working founder.
[01:13:39] Unknown:
Okay. I gotcha. In case you're wondering where where Danny is, Danny's in hiding right now. He's in his super secret bunker. So, The bat the bat cave. The bat. Cave. He's in the cave. He's he's he's making sure that, that he keeps his location secret. That's why we only have the little little image for him. No. Seriously, he's having a problem with his camera, so it's it's alright. Yeah. My camera's not here at the moment. Listen, I've I've spoken to to I've spoken to cartoon cats, so I can talk to a little flashing circle for a little bit. Hey. That's a little we like that. We like that here. There you go. So, Danny, what's going on? What's up? What's what's new? How are things how are things on the solar business first before we get into everything else?
[01:14:19] Unknown:
Oh, pretty good, man. So we actually have a program for vets that we're that we're currently pursuing. We actually had a we were part of the movement for the first, food drive for vets, only for vets, and it was, Eagle Pass, Popcon, Taney Energy. We helped with the market. We actually brought over 240 people to the event. So it was a it was a good success, not what I would consider top tier success, but it was still pretty decent. Alright. So never before done here. First time ever. They were actually forecasting 20 to 50 vets, so I think we did well in our marketing. Yes. Since we didn't have a lot of support, I think we did pretty good. Alright. Alright. And when was that event? It was, last week.
It was on the, it was the third wait. Was it it was actually a few days ago. It was yeah. I know, man. It feels like it's been so long because I've been moving with this EP Popcast thing. No. No. It it was last week. It was Thursday. It was on a Thursday. Alright. So but it's taken a few days ago.
[01:15:22] Unknown:
So it's been a weekend. Was it It feels like a What was it was it on Veterans Day by any chance?
[01:15:27] Unknown:
No. Veterans Day, I believe, was the twelfth. It was the day after. Okay. Yeah. Well, no. Veterans Day is the eleventh. Oh, the eleventh. Yeah. Yeah. My bad. Yeah. So it was the day after, or two days after that. So Alright.
[01:15:38] Unknown:
So, let's see. So so you so you you set up this this event called Eagle Pass Popcon, and I know I know we've talked about it in the past. You were here on the show, one one evening. We had a great conversation about it, and, but but for the folks that might be tuning in for the first time, maybe never heard the other show, didn't know don't know much about Eagle Pass Popcon, why don't you give us a a quick rundown of what it actually is and, what the goals of Eagle Pass Popcon is?
[01:16:06] Unknown:
So Eagle Pass Popcon started off as an idea for marketing for businesses that are local here in Eagle Pass and to get a bigger presence and audience for Eagle Pass. So, you know, bringing extra eyes and views and saying that Eagle Pass is not just a regular place. I don't know if you can pull up my Instagram, but on there, you can see the the video that we did for this past popcorn.
[01:16:30] Unknown:
Let me see. Let me see. Would be good if I turn the mic back on. I'm over here I'm over here having a coughing fit. I'm sorry.
[01:16:36] Unknown:
No. You're good. No. If, if you it's better to show the people what they kinda missed on the first one. You don't have to show the full thing. You can kinda just show the intro. They the people can go watch it on my Instagram. Yeah. One second. But, yeah, that that's kinda what it started off as.
[01:16:54] Unknown:
It's gonna be marketing. It's gonna make me log in, and it has, like, the 14,000 different levels of security to get into the thing. I'm not gonna be able to pull it up. Is fine. So,
[01:17:04] Unknown:
can I send you the link? You can. Yeah. Yeah. Drop it in the chat, in the private chat. Okay. Let me yeah. Maybe that'll work better anyway. So and then the people can click on the link too. So we'll only showcase, like, a few the the the kind of the intro. And then, let me drop that right here. But, yeah, it started off with that, and then it transformed into something completely different. It actually transformed into, kinda bringing hope back to the community. It it moves people. It it makes them believe that Eagle Pest can be better, and it makes people, you know, have hope again.
And so I mean, obviously, it also makes us, you know, decent amount of capital, but I think the bigger payoff was that one that was unforeseen and unplanned on.
[01:17:54] Unknown:
This one you're talking about?
[01:17:56] Unknown:
Yeah. That one. You take a look at
[01:18:03] Unknown:
Ladies and gentlemen, everybody who's just now joining us, welcome to the twenty twenty five Eagle Pass Popcon. Thank you so much for talking about that. We wanna give all of you guys the announcement of our special guests. We have Alfred Ramirez. You know him as Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. We also have Johnny Wong, Eagle Pass Pop Culture Con two. Enjoy.
[01:18:48] Unknown:
Alright. We could put pause. I can watch the rest. Yeah. That's the intro for the thing. But, yeah, that's that's what we brought to Eagle Pass, the the second year. The first year, we actually brought Peter Danson. There's also a link that I can send you for that one, but I don't know if you saw that part, but, literally, you get to see the you get to feel the emotion. You get to feel the difference, and you can't believe that that's actually here in Eagle Pass. It's at the ITC. So a lot of people missed the first one. A pretty good number of people still missed the second one, so we're doing the third one. And this might be the final one that we do on bringing in the Ninja Turtles.
So if if they missed them the first few times, this is gonna be the last time for them. And it, what's it called? The we're we're doing a very special, tribute this year. It's the theme's actually very and it's kinda fitting to what we're trying to do, so I'm not gonna say what it is. But, I think I mentioned a little bit on the previous one. So if everybody saw the previous one, they kinda have a gist or idea what it is. Is. But at we're gonna make a miniature event now. That's actually the secret announcement that I that I had to say today, setting it all up is we're gonna make a mini EP pop cut.
So it's gonna be a little small one, kinda like a preview to the bigger one. So that way, if people, wanna see what it's all about, they go to this one. And it's actually gonna be located in the Eagle Pass Mall.
[01:20:15] Unknown:
Alright.
[01:20:16] Unknown:
Yeah. So we're gonna be hosting it, if everything goes well, January 31 from 11AM till 6PM. And, yeah, it'll be at the at the Eagle Pass Mall. And we're gonna have it, it's free to the public like we always do. Mhmm. We're gonna, we're gonna be bringing in new stuff, but it's it it's supposed to set up a preview for the Eagle Pass Pop Con three, because this Eagle Pass Pop Con three is setting up to be a really, really big thing. Now now when is And so now when is Popcon three gonna be? Oh, I'm gonna say the date at the mini EP Popcon.
[01:20:49] Unknown:
See, I I was trying to trick you into into dropping it here. You know? Yeah. I know. So we could we so we can break. To a few people. Yeah. I mentioned it to a few people, but that way, we're gonna hold that. Like I said, at the preview there, we're gonna showcase
[01:21:01] Unknown:
kinda what the main theme or main attraction is gonna be at the Eagle Pass, Polycom three. Okay. But on this one, like so we're doing a miniature one, so people get the feel of it, and they kinda understand what we're gonna be doing. Outstanding. Because yeah. Yeah. Because, I think people, don't know how big these things can get. And, this little mini EV Paco, we actually have a hell of a lineup for it too. And this is actually small compared to what we do on these on on the bigger one. So for those that missed the first and second one, they get to go to this one, and, obviously, our fans are gonna go to this one too. But our lineup consists, of some pro cosplayers that we're bringing in.
So we're gonna have some legitimate pro cosplayers. Nice. Yeah. We're gonna bring back curve four bunny that was in the in the first one that we actually have video on that one that you showcased about him. Then we're gonna bring in a a k pop cosplayer because they're very hot right now. And so they I don't understand k pop. I I I I really don't. Well, I mean, the kids do, and like I said, this event is Like why? For stuff like that. Like
[01:22:06] Unknown:
Well, I I don't get it either, but the kids love it. So I I could I could I could trash this stuff because my my demo is not kids. My demo is older. So I so, you know, I I can get up here and say, what the hell is wrong with you people? K pop. Well well, we got something for them too, but we gotta piece, you know, everybody here. So yeah. So we got k pop.
[01:22:26] Unknown:
We're also bringing Hello Kitty, a Hello Kitty cosplayer, professional cosplayer.
[01:22:32] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. So Would they? There you go. People
[01:22:35] Unknown:
who do, like, the Hello Kitty cosplay, would would they be considered, like like, do they call them furries?
[01:22:42] Unknown:
No. That's not the same thing. That's like
[01:22:45] Unknown:
but I like Harry Thank you, but, no, that's not that's not it.
[01:22:49] Unknown:
And then, we're actually gonna have an actual Hello Kitty, like, a suit. So, like, one that actually looks like Hello Kitty. Are you gonna dress up like Hello Kitty? Oh, no, sir. I don't do the dressing up. I've never done it, and I actually don't plan on ever doing it. No no face painting either? No. None of that. No. No. If I go dressed up as anything as myself and as Bruce Wayne, that's about it.
[01:23:13] Unknown:
So no. Not even the bat suit, bro. It's just, you know, me in the suit. That's that's as good as it's gonna get.
[01:23:18] Unknown:
I I love that I love that you call yourself Bruce Wayne.
[01:23:23] Unknown:
Well, I mean, that is the mask is what they say. I got it. I I understand. The hero's behind the the curtains. So I I totally got you. And then, we're also bringing Peter Piper's Rocky. Peter Piper's gonna be there too already. So Rocky, the, you know, little purple dinosaur that we actually showcase at the actual event, they're gonna be there. So, yeah. And then we're also gonna be bringing one wrestler appearance. We're gonna have one there. He's gonna be giving autographs.
[01:23:52] Unknown:
And who's who and who do you wanna share that, or is that a big secret too? No. That that's also a secret. You gotta go to the Then why are you on the show tonight? You're not telling us anything.
[01:24:02] Unknown:
Yeah. Well, no. No. No. Because we're bringing out the the word out there because we got we got big promotions going on. So, that that we're gonna have, like I said, a wrestler, appearance that's gonna be doing autographs. It's from a local wrestling group that we got here. So he has, you know, amateurs and pro wrestlers, so we're gonna be bringing one in. Okay. And we're gonna showcase it on the flyer. We're gonna showcase it on our social media as time goes on. So they better, you know, be on the lookout for that. So, yeah, we have we have a pretty good, a pretty good lineup.
And, you know, like, it's it's plus, we're gonna have our vendors there, so our top vendors. And so that's you know, because we like I said, most people don't know what a Comic Con is. Ours is a Pop Con, by the way. Pop Con is for pop culture. This is why we're able to bring in all this stuff. We're also bringing this is for the adults. Star Wars cosplayers. So and we're actually given a VA tribute. By the way, VA I noticed that, since we gave the tribute to the VA, there are a lot of Star Wars, I guess you could say, fanatics. So we're we're bringing that to the to the table. And we're actually gonna have preliminaries for, cosplay and tournaments. We're gonna have three. It's gonna be one for kids, ages from, you know, little to, 12.
Then we're gonna have, like, a young adolescent, you know, teenager, cosplay, which is gonna be from 13 to 17. And then we're gonna have the adults, which is gonna be, you know, 18 and above. And so you're gonna be able to showcase this is preliminaries for the actual EP pop kind of event. So if you pass these, we might have really big prizes for those that pass the preliminary, part of it. You'll still get a prize when you get here, So we'll have first, second, and third. But at the event, you know, you're gonna be, you know, already, you know, showcased in there. You don't have to go through the prequalifications to get there. You automatically make it to to the cosplaying tournament finalist.
So, and the ones that are gonna be Judd
[01:26:08] Unknown:
Well, looks like we lost Danny. Alrighty. So we'll we'll wait for Danny to reconnect. Not sure what happened there. I didn't do anything. I promise you. It was not me. So, oh, here he's back. Let's bring him back in. I didn't do anything.
[01:26:28] Unknown:
That wasn't me. It kicked me out. It kicked me out. No. So like I was saying, yeah. So we're gonna have those cosplay tournaments, and they're gonna be judged by, our professional cosplayers. So the pro cos players that we're bringing in, they're gonna be doing the judging, and they'll do the criteria. And so we'll have all that available, you know, as time goes on. They're gonna be noticing it from it. And so we're actually gonna be marketing to Mexico. Okay. Pia de los Negres, you know, all that area, and here in Eagle Pass all the way to the Rio Uvalde. So it should be a pretty big event for it being a mini one, and it should get packed. And we we want that. So, like so we're also gonna have our top vendors there. Okay.
Our sponsorships are actually now open for the EP Popcon three, and those that join already actually get benefits. We always are in a first come, first serve, but, the rates are gonna be established depending on what we had discussed, prior to these, some of these vendors. So, just giving you a heads up on this. The rates are different for, almost every vendor. Like, there's tiers for every vendor, but, we also have our grandfathered rates. I know you don't know this, but those that are hearing out on this, some some of these vendors from last year had asked why do they get different, quote, special rates Okay. Or grandfathered rates. And those were the ones that helped us build the very first one.
So when nobody else wanted to join in, when everybody said that it was gonna fail, when, you know, nobody wanted to take the risk, these vendors took the risk. So those that are grandfathered in literally keep the first pricing that we did that initial time, which is crazy pricing, man. Like, they won big. It is super low. So, they get dibs on obviously, it's the first come, first serve. And so those rates are still locked in for them since they've been showing their support for us since the very beginning. Okay. And I'm gonna mention some of these already right off the bat so people know who they are. Yeah. Go for it. So yeah. So so these ones are and I'm gonna thank each each and every one of these because these were the top ones that helped me build it from the ground up. And some of these were actually founders.
So we got Chorche's Barbecue, obviously. Could never dinner without Chorche if it wasn't for him, you know, saying, hey. Back this crazy guy up with this idea. City of Eagle Pass because they helped us with the venue even though they had a big bomb happen that same year, and they they were wary about letting anybody else, you know, get on board. So give a big old shout out to them for trusting me on that first year, which we crushed it, by the way. T and L Nutrition, Sabino Vierma. Never forget him. Sabino Vierma the third. He helped me run the first one from the inside. Could've never been able to do it without him. And then real beta, Clay Fisher.
Have to give all the video, all the content. He was the first one to, you know, step up in line and do everything. And then you've met the guy already that, was the first, emcee for, you know, our event, which was Now You Know Eagle Pass. Mhmm. Ruben Camarillo. So give him a big old shout out to him too because if it wasn't for him with that voice at that event, it wouldn't have matched. So great stuff. Yeah. These guys were kinda like the solid foundation. They were like I don't wanna say founders because not all of them were really the founders were really Chorches and T and L Nutrition. And, you know, the City of Eagle Pass helped, with the venue there initially, you know, to allow us to use it. Right.
But, you know, if it wasn't for them and the push they gave me, I would've never dropped the capital needed or, you know, I I don't think I'd have been able to do a poll by myself either. So I have to give them all a big shout out. But then we also had other grandfather vendors that helped out and said, you know what? We're gonna give this crazy man a shot, see what this is all about. And believe it or not, peanut butter pizza was one of them. So that's why they stuck around. They saw the marketing initially. Bigger companies kinda understand that marketing is the way to go, and they see what good PR is. And I know you know this, Joe Ruse. Any one of these bigger companies, if if they get eyes, the money flows there. That's right. Yeah. And if yeah. And if it gets great PR, it has to be eyes of great PR. And then, obviously, returns on investment, which that's the last part that goes in it. But that's what marketing's for, is to be for eyes and positive PR.
Blue Bonnet Bakery, Jackie became a big solid believer with us, and she's helped us out. And I've been wanting her to succeed in her business because she's a big believer in it. Treats by Dawn, it was their first, year, that they came out there. New bakery place in town, and they decided to join us. Mask, which they do face paintings.
[01:31:10] Unknown:
They were there too on the first one. I still think you should do the face painting.
[01:31:14] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it it made sense too. They made they they made a killing on the first one. They made a killing on the second one too. No. And I mean no. I mean, you should get face painted. No. No. No. I'm good on it. I don't do I just And then, a cat's freeze dried candy, they also on the first one, they actually upgraded their sponsorship on the second one. Alkalive, the water place, they were there helping out on the first one, and they became our, like, exclusive water for the second one. They literally gave out free water to all the people that went there. All of them. So not only our volunteers, but all the people that walked in there. They can get a a yeah. So, they're gonna be there for this next one already.
So big shout out to them. And I personally use them. I love that water. That water, I think, the best one in Eagle Pass. The Pop Shop EP, they were there in the beginning. They were there again the second time frame. Figurs and Anime Shop, like I said, they were the same thing. Snack time was there the first time. They were there the second time. They were awesome. And SC collectibles. So I'm giving a big shout out to them, and they get dips. And I'm letting them know right now if they put a 50% deposit, they get to go to this new event at no extra cost. Hey. Yeah. Any of Hey, Danny. I I don't mean to interrupt you, but,
[01:32:30] Unknown:
somebody that you gave a shout out to is, is gonna join us right now.
[01:32:35] Unknown:
Really? Yes. Interesting. Okay. Here we go. I'm down. I'm down. Oh, what's happening?
[01:32:44] Unknown:
I'm supposed to come out on your podcast this coming week.
[01:32:47] Unknown:
When? I didn't know. I didn't get an invite on that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, now you did. Showcasing. Wow. Big Bruce, thanks for having me on, man. I I I was I was putting on that chat. You know what? I really wanna invade this show. I don't know what
[01:33:02] Unknown:
You know, one of the great told me Reuben told me on the outside too, brother.
[01:33:09] Unknown:
You no. I didn't. Alright. You didn't know. You didn't know. Well, look. I, I, you know, when you, when when you said that, I was thinking that, you know, with Rumble, that they have a feature on there called a raid, where you could set it on your end and my end, and then we could just cross into each other's shows at at certain points. Oh, wow. Yeah. Totally. I didn't know that. I've seen it I I see them do it a lot, like on, like some of the main, content providers, and they they do it it's looks like it's a lot of fun, but I don't know. We gotta play with it one day. We'll figure it out. Well, joining us here right now is Ruben Camarillo. You may remember Ruben, he joined us here in the studio, not too long ago, and we had a great, was it three hours? We did three hours. Right? Yeah. It was three hours. It was great. We had a three hour show, and it it that was fantastic. We had a great time, and, we are gonna be doing some stuff together, down the road at one point, And, we're so we're working on that stuff. But but this is Danny's spot here, so we don't wanna we don't wanna step all over Danny. So What's that for? I actually wanted to ask Ruben. I was like,
[01:34:10] Unknown:
you heard me give you the shout out. Right? I did. I did. I was I've been watching. I've been watching the whole time. It's great, and I'm I'm having fun listening. So I appreciate it. Steal the spotlight. I just Well, no. No. No. No. Most most people don't know the effort that you give, man. And I wanna I wanna say it right now. Political things aside, I feel like you're American first just like Joe. I was like, and I feel like all these things that we do for the community, you know, we take our time and effort to do it. And like I said, you were a Black Card sponsor since the beginning. You helped, you know, with the event. You've been there every time I've asked you to be there. You step up when you can.
So, yeah, when I said that you're, you know, one of the things that held this whole thing together, I really meant it, man. And I actually wanted you to tell people what you thought of the first one and the second one so people know. Firsthand premiere.
[01:35:01] Unknown:
Oh, you want me to do that right now?
[01:35:03] Unknown:
Yeah. I'm a give you a little bit of time before I go with the rest of the vendors.
[01:35:08] Unknown:
I mean, the first one was great. I mean, it it was it was very, it was a very magical experience, especially for the kiddos. I know, Joe, you said that your your demos not children, but, like, I mean, this was something that, you know, not a lot of kids are are not everybody's into sports. I think we had this conversation on your show last time, Joe, when, you know, there's there's such a big demographic of kids that that love comics and they're huge nerds like me. And it was just it was very thrilling, you know, for the first one. You know, we had the Ninja Turtles. We had Johnny Wong come in. We had Peter Dante. You had grown ass adults, fainting or, like, about to faint because they see a a a celebrity. You know? It was it was pretty amazing. Yeah. Second one was pretty good too. We had a lot of fun with that.
I'll I'll I will just give a good a little, experience. I was not supposed to be the MC for that. I was just actually practicing on the mic, just like my announcing skills and everything. And I was like, you know, why not? And I was just like, welcome to Eagle Pass Popcon. And then I see Danny, like, his eye little little eyes glow through his eyes. I'm just like, oh, what did I do? You know, the voice. He's like, you're the guy. You're the guy. I want you there. I was like, okay.
[01:36:22] Unknown:
Yeah. I know. We had a we had a DJ. I just literally fired him there.
[01:36:27] Unknown:
I didn't even know that. I had no idea, man. I was just like, I I thought I was just, you know, having fun. And and I did. I had so much fun, and it was but, man, being an emcee was tiring. Good lord. I I mean, my voice was gone. I was up there wearing a coat and sweating my ass off, and I was just like, why is this hot in here, man? And they how do you take this coat off? And, it was great. No. Great experience on both ends. The the the second one was great too. We had pizza. We had cosplay. No furries or or
[01:37:01] Unknown:
just great pop.
[01:37:02] Unknown:
Like, I you know, by the way, Danny, I was I was secretly along here with Joe, like, k pop.
[01:37:08] Unknown:
Yeah. This is brand, and it's pretty big. And the cosplayers are really into So Really? Yeah. I gotta I gotta pull it out, out of the bag. So I've I've seen a lot of, you know, since I've been a little bit more involved with the Eagle Pads Independent School District because, you know, we're trying to change the food for the kids, you know, make it American again.
[01:37:26] Unknown:
Okay. You mean raise it up from the level of dog food?
[01:37:29] Unknown:
Yeah. No more dog food for them. You know, actual legitimate food. Yeah. Because we're still doing that push. Yeah. I got to meet a little bit more of the kids, and I've been kinda around them a little bit more, hearing what they speak. And, k pop is just a big thing right now with them. So we're gonna bring one there so that way they can go see how Pro cosplayer does it. And it's like bringing their character to life, man. So, you know, that should be another mind blowing experience, for the kids, which is the idea. You know? You want them excited. You want them, you know, looking forward towards life. And, you know, they they all have they all have different venues, man. Not everyone's, like, the same fit. So, you know, I I think that's gonna be awesome. But, yeah, that's that's actually why we're bringing the the k pop. By the way, that's part of the I have an event coordinator now, so we were planning on that. Yeah. Yeah. So we were planning on that. Big old shout out to, Paco Ramirez.
He's our our event coordinator now for the Eagle Pass Popcon. And,
[01:38:25] Unknown:
he's the librarian?
[01:38:27] Unknown:
He's the librarian guy. Yep. He's the one that actually hosted the downtown Halloween one. Oh, that's right. That's right. Yes. Appreciate it. That was his idea, by the way. He's been wanting to do that for years. So Fine. We got to it. That's great. Yeah. So but going back to the to the sponsored part, yes, our grandfathered ones, automatically get their rates, locked in. 50% down is the same thing for the grandfathered rates, and they get first dibs because, you know, I can only host so many in there. This the, because, remember, this is gonna be at the mall now. So usually where we have the Santa yeah. This is a mini one. This is a by the way, I don't know if you were here, but this is a mini one. So it's supposed to be a small version of what we're gonna be doing at the e b popcorn. It's to set the precedence for that.
But, for last year's sponsors, our top sponsors, they get second dibs. So all platinum, black card, gold card, they'll get dibs from last year. And, right now, what I'm doing is a special secret announcement. Those are hearing this from the Joe Rose Show can get to say it. Joe who show? Is, the Jeroo Show. There you go. And that's what I said. Did I pronounce it wrong? I think I pronounced it. You did. You said Jorose. I am not Jorose. Okay. Okay. Jorose.
[01:39:49] Unknown:
Or or in that time I think it was that time when you we were all watching that. Was it, omnipotent? Yeah. Is that right? Yes. Sorry, man. I had to give you crap for that one, man. I was No. No. No. You're good. You're good. I was like,
[01:40:03] Unknown:
so, yeah, the the I'm gonna be given one tier from as long as they lock in ASAP, starting as of today until, you know, each one of them gets sold, I'm a give one tier an 80% discount. Oh. So yeah. So not the grandfather rates because the grandfather rates are already really they're actually cheaper than that. So I'm like, but it's gonna be for the last year sponsors. They're gonna go for this goes to you. You get to upgrade now for almost the same price that you had before. So that goes to Fred and Rick. You guys better jump on this. But, last year's, top sponsors, you guys get first dibs on a black card, diamond, plat, gold, silver, bronze, whatever ones you guys want, but it'll be at a 80% discount. It's only for one for one of each, and it's to set it going already the momentum.
This will be for EP Popcon three, but any sponsor or any vendor, that already commits beforehand will get a booth at the mall event at no cost. So the idea is to showcase to the kids, hey. This is kinda little small taste. So you can't bring your whole thing because, there's not a lot of space there. It's only gonna be, like, a one table, two two chairs sort of thing. But it'll be at the mall, and it'll be with these professional cosplayers. And like I said, we'll have an actual wrestler there, appearance made there, and then we'll have Rocky, and we'll have the the Star Wars Cars players too. So it it should be really, intense right off the bat. It'll be something very unique and very different besides that we're gonna have the the cosplayer, preliminaries there. So like I said, it's gonna be for kids, for teenagers, and adults.
So all three are gonna be there. But yeah. So the black card sponsors usually are running for 10 k. For the first one that calls in and says, hey. I wanna be a black card sponsor. They'll get all the benefits that comes with it. It's for two k, and we're willing to reserve it for 50% down. So Mhmm. Yeah. I know. That goes with each and every now, by the way, now you know the EP, you're already locked in, bro. You're grandfathered in. So you you don't have to worry about it. You're you're you're a 100% in. So, Diamonds I like the clap.
Yeah. Yeah. I know. Diamonds
[01:42:22] Unknown:
I'm honored. I am honored. I like it. I like it. So,
[01:42:26] Unknown:
Diamonds is 7,500, but, you know, for right now, for the first 80% off, a thousand $507.50 to lock it in. Platinums usually go for 5,000, which we had a few last year. We also had a few black card. So, plat are 5,000, but right now they're going for 1,000. You lock it in for 500. Gold is going for 2,500.0. So you can lock it in right now. For the first one, it's it's $500, which is kinda crazy. I was like, and, you can lock it in for $2.50. Silver, same thing. It's 2,000, per booth. But right now, 80% off. So $400. You can lock it in for 200. And then bronze is just 1,000.
But right now, 80% off for the first one, it's $200. I I'm not gonna half that one because if you don't have $200, then yeah. Like, that's the only one that doesn't get half. But, literally, what you're looking at right now is for the first one, black card is 2,000, 1 k down. Diamond, 1,500, 750 k down or 700 oh, 50 k. My bad. 700 goodness. 50 yeah. No. $750 down. Platinum Wow. 1 k, but it's 500 down. Gold, is going right now for the first one, 500, but 250, down. And then silver and bronze are literally 200 down, but, the silver is 400 in total. So any one of those that get locked in automatically goes into the Eagle Pass pop or the the mini Popcon. No additional charge. Ruben, you're gonna be there. No additional charge.
Technically, Chargers, same thing. TNO Nutrition, they wanna show up there. Real Beta is gonna be there, and, obviously, the city of Eagle Pass is gonna be there. Because you guys are technically the main core group that helped me start off the whole thing. So like I said, if it wasn't for you guys, there's no way this thing would have became what it became. So I wanna thank you guys for that. Yeah. And then like I said, for our grandfather vendors, they know their pricing. Each pricing is different for every one of them. So but 50% deposit, they get to go, to that event. And then so if you want to test this out, let's say you don't wanna get a sponsorship tier for the EP popcorn. Everybody say, hey. I wanna see what this is all about. By the way, just giving you a heads up, seven brews will be there.
Already? Already, baby. Yeah. I know that. I already got to talk to the to the main guy, and, believe it or not, they're giving us a lot of insight already. They're actually gonna be part of I'm making the announcement right now. They're gonna donate to the vets. Already got them donating for you, Ruben. They didn't even know there was a BMW. I had to tell them about it. So they're gonna be, donating next week on a Wednesday. Just giving you a heads up. So you might wanna be there, Ruben. Oh, wow. Yeah. I got them to done it now. Short notice. I told you I was gonna I told you I was gonna help you guys as much as I can. The vets need a bunch of help, and it's I don't wanna say it's easy for me, but, you know, it's it's simple to go out and ask for help. So yeah. And then what he told me to mention by the way, his name is Jacob.
Already became good friends with him. What he told me to mention is that this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, this is for you, Joe, too. You can go to this. We, they are hosting, free drinks for friends and family. Alcoholic drinks? Now now now why Now there's seven brews. There's seven brews.
[01:45:55] Unknown:
Okay. Okay. Alright. I just want I mean, you think I'm an alcoholic?
[01:45:59] Unknown:
No. No. No. I'll I'll do this thing. I'll do this. He's like, what are you trying to say, brother?
[01:46:04] Unknown:
I'm gonna send you the link. So they're they're actually gonna be a That's for me. That's more for me. I I get it. They're choosing their they're choosing their package as we speak, to see what tier they're gonna be joining us, for the event. So, yeah, just giving you a heads up. Yeah. Seven Brews is actually, gonna be, part of the Eagle Pass, Popcon three, and they're already gonna be at the, at the mall, at the Mini EP Popcon. So but they are going they are, giving away, it's for friends and family. It's gonna be Friday, November 21 from 7AM to 10AM and from 4PM to 7PM, and then Saturday, November 22 from 9AM to 12PM, 3PM to 6PM, and then Sunday, from 10AM to 2PM. So friends and family, free small drinks.
Come by for seven brews. Nice. Yeah. And so yeah. I know. It's actually kinda crazy that, you know, the EP Popcon is able to bring in the community like that. And, like I said, we bring in the love towards everyone, including our vets. So big shout out to Travis, for, you know, allowing me to help the vets out. Right. And then, yeah. Yeah. Big old Mikey. But, yeah, if you wanna test this out, any new vendors, they wanna test this out before they make the the big jump to the EP PopCon, you know, tiers, it's a 100 boot it's a $100 per booth at the mall. So but right now, once again, since we're starting early and we're wanting to kinda pack it up and fill it up before we even, you know, bring out the flyers and stuff like that for it, it's 50% off.
So it's only $50. $50 per booth. Yeah. And it's a it's a one table, two chairs. So it's gonna be from now, seventeenth to December, twenty first. And it's gonna be only for the first 10. So the first time to lock this in I mean, because I don't know how much space they actually have there, but I have a feeling I'm already packed it with vendors. So even though we're saying it's a little mini one, it's gonna look nice. If you look at the lineup plus the vendors plus the marketing that we're gonna have on there, I mean, it's gonna be kinda insane. So, I don't even think the mall has had a big event like this, that we're bringing in. So it's it's gonna be, something to behold and kinda bring what I wanted to do is bring life back to the mall too.
So I gotta give a big old shout out to Pat Salcedo for, you know, partnering up with us for with EP Popcon three. But that is what EP Popcon was meant to do. It's market all the businesses that we have here in Eagle Pass. And those that understand marketing and that are fit to do the marketing can lead the way. And then we can help out as many other businesses that, you know, decided to join in the fray.
[01:48:52] Unknown:
Alright.
[01:48:53] Unknown:
So, yeah. So it's a big old event. They can PM me. Ruben, you're part of the deal. They can PM you. Joe, technically, you're part of the deal. I actually want you there too. So, you know, I want to showcase you there. You noticed on the afterthought. Right?
[01:49:08] Unknown:
Yeah. Well, so no. No. That's alright. This is right? We had talked about this last time. I know. I'm just I'm just twisting you a little bit. Calm down. Okay. Well well, I know you and Ruben love to do that too.
[01:49:20] Unknown:
So Do you know why? That's what I'm saying that's what I'm saying, Danny. What have you done by putting us together, man? You have created a monster.
[01:49:26] Unknown:
I know. This is what I do. I create monsters. But do you know why we like do you know why we like to do it? To defend America.
[01:49:32] Unknown:
To defend America?
[01:49:34] Unknown:
No. No. Because it's so easy. Oh, so rude. You are so you're you're very easy to twist. So it's Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Oh, we love it. I can take the pain. I I love it. Is that why you're not on camera right now? Is that you're just trying to hide your facial features? What's going on here? Oh, oh, you didn't hear that part? No. He's he's he's in hiding. He's he's he's hiding in his bunker. Oh, the bat cave. Excuse me. The bat cave?
[01:49:57] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I gotcha. I gotcha. Yeah. Well, my next moves up. By the way, just giving you a heads up. He's gonna come to PopCon like a like a furry Batman. Never. Never. So but, by the way, just giving you a heads up. He's soups. He's soups. I call him soups. So we're building the lead. You're gonna have to come up with one for you, Joe. We're gonna have to the Flash T shirt today. Yeah. Yeah. And the you you can't see me hat too. So Yeah. Which is perfect because I'm actually bringing a wrestler. Just giving you a heads up. So Did you did you say who? No. Not yet. No. No. That's a surprise.
[01:50:32] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So so he come he comes on the show to make these announcements about EP Popcon three, and he won't tell us anything because
[01:50:39] Unknown:
he's hiding it all. Really? You jumped on the show to not say anything? Is that you're just teasing?
[01:50:44] Unknown:
I jumped on the show to kinda say what we're doing and that, you know, the mini pop kind is the big one that I'm coming up with now, and it's the new one. So, like I said, that's gonna be to showcase this stuff. But at the event there, that's where we're gonna reveal all these things. So especially you kinda Ruben, you kinda know what we have already set for the theme for this next one. So you can't say nothing.
[01:51:06] Unknown:
I think I forgot. Okay. Good.
[01:51:10] Unknown:
You said, well, you lost me at furries and Popcon and stuff like that. So it was like, well Oh, actually, talking about talking about losing you there. We're actually bringing up our our EP Popcon merch back. Oh, okay. Be available at this, mini event. It'll be like We didn't we didn't have merch shirts for number two, did we? No. We had it for the first one. We only had shirts, but we're actually bringing that back this time. We're gonna bring in a hat, a shirt, a mug, believe it or not. Oh. Yeah. I know. Stick Dinger Joe and something for your coffee, weapon to your repertoire. Yeah. Yeah. And a and a tote That's my list up there. So we're gonna have a I'm gonna get my own first.
Yeah. We're gonna have a, what's it called, an actual merch line, for, you know, our fans. So it'll be, with our logo, and, obviously, every year, it'll be a little bit different because it depends on, you know, whether we end up doing that year. So but it'll be, you know, a staple line that we're gonna be bringing out. And we're gonna be bringing out the the the what's it called? The the sample line here shortly, see how people react and if they love it. And then, you know, hopefully, it it makes it to the final cut, which would be at the actual event. So those that get early might be showcasing it early before it ever even pops up. So yeah. Yeah. No. These are these are all things that we missed out on the first one, but, we actually are poised to make it really big this this third time around. And that is why we're doing the mini popcorn. It's to not only help our vendors create more capital on multiple showings, but it's to be the staple, of Eagle Pass to showcase. This is who we are. This is Eagle Pass Popcon. Because I know, Ruben, you know that there's been I don't wanna say copycats, but there's been people that have been trying to showcase what we do, and they just don't do it right. And so we want to show the people this is how you do it. And so and this is ours. This is, like, the Eagle Pass Popcon. This is for the people, and like I said, it's free to them. So that's that's the big kicker. We wanna keep it like that as far as much as we can, and as far as possible.
But yeah. So the the mini one's gonna be at the mall. Like I said, big shout to Pascal Settle for letting us do it. It is, are right now set to the thirty first from eleven to six. The reason I say it's set is because literally tomorrow, we're gonna go see what the venue has to offer and all the little details that go into it. So but it's already been talked about. We already have it kinda set, and it looks like that might be, what we're gonna be going with depending, like I said, on on the location. There's a specific location we want in there. If we can use it, we're gonna use it. So, but yeah. No. Any any other questions you guys got for me or anything like that for this one?
[01:53:56] Unknown:
Just when was the date of the popcorn again?
[01:54:04] Unknown:
Damn it. He was the fuck dude. He was the fuck dude. He was the fuck dude. I know. It's gonna be at it's gonna be said at the mini pop time.
[01:54:14] Unknown:
I tried. I tried. I tried. First. Yeah.
[01:54:16] Unknown:
Good job, dude. Good job. There is gonna be a lot of marketing for this one. So those sponsors that jump in early are gonna have full, almost year round sponsor, marketing. So those that jump in now are literally gonna get marketed from now all the way till the date that, you know, the Eagle Pass popcorn three is gonna be showcased. So jump in early, jump in at the discounted rate, get let's get this ball moving. I already got a few of them. Like I said, they already said yes, so we're gonna we're gonna start popping these out here shortly. But yeah. Yeah. It's gonna be I have a very strong feeling that this little mini one's gonna be actually pretty big. I don't know if you heard, but they they hosted, the the mall, or the mall Halloween one.
Did you guys hear that one? No. What about you, Ruben? Did you hear about that one?
[01:55:10] Unknown:
You mean that's coming in the few like, you mean that happened last year? Like, not this year, but, like, the year before that? No. No. It happened this year at the mall. They did a Like a costume competition?
[01:55:20] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. For a whole week. No. I didn't I didn't even know about that. Yeah. No. They actually got packed.
[01:55:24] Unknown:
So I had no idea.
[01:55:26] Unknown:
Yeah. I know. I I had an idea because Pat told me, but it was two last seconds, so I I couldn't even go to it either. But it's showcase that a lot of people, you know, want to cosplay. They do they do wanna do that. And Eagle Pass, I think, has a pretty big following on that. And then, like I said, we're actually marketing to Mexico now too. Because believe it or not, Piedras does come down over here, and they do buy a lot of our stuff, and they do support us. And they do love these type of events. So, we're we're getting, marketing. We have actually we actually partnered with a marketing firm that markets to Mexico and the surrounding cities here, not only here in Eagle Pass. So and they actually work with the city, and they work with Maverick County.
So we're gonna have great marketing for any one of our sponsors that decides to join in. And we're gonna be doing these videos early for them too. So yep. So y'all get ready because, I feel like, this is gonna be the new staple for Eagle Pass, hopefully, for years to come. So we keep making it better. We keep, you know, sprucing it up, and I don't know where the top's gonna be, but it looks like right now, it's pretty high ceiling. I can't even reach it yet, to be honest.
[01:56:38] Unknown:
There there's not much you can reach, buddy.
[01:56:42] Unknown:
Well, see, that's what that's what they said about the first one. And then I noticed on the second one Right over the second one. There's a And it. Yeah. Oh, well, not. And I got it, though. You know, I had to keep it Like most things go right over the head. Well well
[01:56:55] Unknown:
no. No. I got it. But to our viewers, I didn't get it. I had to keep it in context. Okay?
[01:57:03] Unknown:
Okay. Sure. Good save. Good save, Dan. Oh, I got it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Alright. Listen. I got I got three minutes left to the show, so I gotta I gotta start wrapping up here. So is there anything else, Danny, you wanna pass on to us? How can we find out more information about this? Do you have any websites or anything like that set up yet? Yeah. Yeah. So they can go follow me on Instagram,
[01:57:20] Unknown:
Facebook. We have an EP PopCon on Facebook. We have an EP PopCon on Instagram. You can just follow my personal one on Facebook or Instagram. And then like I said, you guys can be the outlet too. So they text you with information or anything like that, as long as you guys, promote or anything like that, you guys can actually send them my way. So
[01:57:39] Unknown:
Alright. Is that on my end or your end? That's Danny. Okay.
[01:57:43] Unknown:
Is that Danny and dog?
[01:57:45] Unknown:
Well, the mic muted and then no more sound. So Oh, okay. Yeah. That had to be. Alright. So I'm, so I'm I'm we're guessing that, that Danny made his his last pitch there. So I'm gonna start closing out the show here. You're welcome to stick around while I do it. That's fine. If not, you you can bounce around. Thank you so much for for, letting me invade. Oh, yeah. Anytime, man. Anytime you wanna come on, you just let me know. You know that. Alright. Folks, don't forget. So Danny Mendoza, thank you so much for being here. Reuben, again, thank you. Really appreciate you jumping on here. Lot of fun. It was a lot of fun tonight. I think it was a pretty good show. Julian Raven, fantastic guest. He's somebody that you should check out too, but you should check out. I think it was great. I saw that. It was it was awesome. I'll send I'll send you the link to his profile. He he's fantastic, man. He's he's really a good talk.
And, so we wanna say thank you, of course, to Julian. Make sure we all check out his book. Check out his website. Check out everything that he's been working on. He's been doing great work great work. And again, like I said, when I came back from the break, you know, one of the great things about him that which is to me it's it's inspiring a lot of ways of the fact that here he is. He he's somebody who was not born in this country. He came the right way, the the the proper way of doing it. He went through citizenship, got his citizenship, and loves this country, so much so that the first thing he did when he got here, he started suing the government. So I mean, that's that's, which is, you know, which is great. You know, and I know I say it tongue in cheek, but I you know, that that means a lot. It really does. He that he loved the country so much that he sees something wrong going on. He wants to get involved with it right away. So, so we really appreciate him. And, like I said, Danny, great. Reuben, thank you again. Now, folks, don't forget. Head over to the website, joerus.com, and, sign up for the programming announcement email list. Alright? It's it's not a list. I'm not saying I'm not selling you an $80 cup. Okay? Just, this is programming information. Just about the shows coming up, any changes to the schedule, any any adjustments we have to make, any cancellations, which we hope we don't do any cancellations, reschedules, whatever it might be, head over to the website, sign up for the for the program announcement email list. Alright? That's number one. Number two, it's free, which means it doesn't cost you anything.
And, we're not gonna sell your information, share your information, give it away, or anything like that. It all stays with us, and it's the best way for us to keep in touch with everybody because like I said earlier, I suck at social media. So the email list is the best way to do it. So, get yourself on the list and stay in the know. And folks, listen, if you are listening to this or you're watching this and you're a podcaster or, or maybe you wanna be a guest on a podcast, head over to podmatch.podmatch.com. Use my link podmatch, join podmatch where is it? I have a banner for it somewhere. There we go. Join podmatch.com/jorooz and, use my link, referral link, sign up for it. Get yourself on there and maybe you never know. If your profiles match, we might hook up and we can do a show together or hook up with Reuben. Reuben's new to pod match as well. And, he's looking for folks to, to fill his schedule, so make sure you get over there and check it out. Alright. Also, if you wanna follow us on the socials, on Twix, at Joe Ruse, Twitter x, Twix, Joe Ruse. Truth Social, Joe Roos Mines. Don't forget, minds,minds.com on Friday, the twenty first.
We will be hosting Bill Ottman, who is the, CEO and cofounder of the Mines social media platform, so he'll be on the show. Looking forward to talking to him. I have a couple of cheeky questions to ask that have been sent to me by people who are Minds users that want me to ask. So I hope he's ready for that. If you wanna follow us on Facebook, it's, Joe Ruse Show. Instagram is not Joe Ruse. TikTok, joe. Roosgetter, joe roos. Don't forget to follow us there. And then, of course, as always, shout outs to our executive producers, Wayne Rankin, Rosanna Rankin, Carolina Jimenez, Marissa Lee, and the inestimitable anonymous Angela. Thank you guys so much for all the work that you do, for the your contribution, through your time, your talent, your treasure. Couldn't do this stuff without you, so thank you so much for it. And especially to Angela, I gotta give her a shout out because, you know, Danny and and, and Julian, they jumped on last minute, like, ultimately last minute. So, and she was able to put all this stuff together for us, and I really do appreciate that. And, you know, she put a lot of work into it today, and I'm incredibly grateful for her and what she does.
Let's see. And if you wanna help us out, you wanna be a part of the team here, you can send us a one time donation of any amount, recurring donation in any amount. If you wanna be part of the producing team, you could sign up to be an associate producer for seventeen dollars and seventy six cents a month. You could sign up to be a producer for $18.36 a month, and executive producer for $25 a month or more, depending if you're how risky you wanna be. You could do that. But also, the producers get the shout out on every show just like you just heard. Executive producers get an opportunity to come on the show with us. That's why we do our Wednesdays with Wayne, because Wayne comes on the show with us, and he hangs out for like a half an hour to an hour or so, and we get to hear about all the wonderful things that he's doing up there in the People's Republic Of Washington State. So, check it out. He should be back on the show prop not this weekend. Not this not this Wednesday because he's still recovering from his surgery, so probably next week. So we're looking forward to getting him back on. If you wanna contribute cryptos, you could do that too. We have our crypto wallet information. It's all up there on the website.
And if you wanna check out the modern podcast apps, you could do that by visiting modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org. And, I think that should just about do it for us. So with that said, Ruben, thank you. Appreciate it. Danny, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Alright folks, again, and thank you for taking the time to be with us tonight. Don't forget to head over to the website, joeroos.com, let us know what you think. And folks, make Texas independent again. Go podcasting, keep a steady stride, and keep talking.
Cold open and mic checks
Live from Asylum Studios: show kickoff
Host intro, Monday blues, week preview
Guest lineup lands late: Julian Raven and Danny Mendoza
Catching up with Julian: legal updates teaser
Weekend recap: Bible study on dispensations
Housekeeping and contact info before guests
Earl Grey salute and bringing on Julian Raven
Rewinding Julian’s journey: art, activism, and the Trump portrait
Smithsonian showdown: lawsuits, motions, and June’s ‘independent entity’ moment
Who was James Smithson? Origins, will, and the trust
Congress, the gold, and funding the Smithsonian
Taft’s clarity and the private trust vs. government fog
Art, politics, and the National Portrait Gallery dispute
Odious and Cerberus: Julian’s book and allegory of law
Status quo bias and public confusion about the Smithsonian
Segue to New York DEC case: studio, brownfields, and PCE/TCE
Court fireworks: pro se battles, motions, and sanctions talk
Principles over comfort: Declaration of Independence as blueprint
Wrapping hour one with Julian and break
Hour two: debrief on Julian and local sponsor shoutouts
Introducing Danny Mendoza and Eagle Pass Popcon
Popcon sizzle: guests, teasers, and mini-event idea
Cosplay lineup, Star Wars groups, and contests
Sponsor roll call and ‘grandfathered’ vendors
Surprise drop-in: Ruben Camarillo joins
Special sponsor deals and mini Popcon details
Community tie-ins: local giveaways and charity support
Merch plans and building the Popcon brand
Final plugs, scheduling teases, and closing credits
