Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share This Dum Week 2025-12-28
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
This Dum Week 2025-12-28
In this comprehensive episode, Dr. RollerGator and Alexandros Marinos tackle the increasingly authoritarian approach to free speech in the European Union, examining how sanctions are being weaponized against dissenting voices through extralegal measures. The hosts dissect the EU's new regulatory framework that allows for punishment of "legal and even true information" when deemed harmful to state interests, drawing parallels to Soviet-era agitation laws and discussing the global implications for freedom of expression.
The discussion centers on the case of Jacques Baud, a Swiss intelligence analyst and former NATO advisor who was sanctioned by the EU for his commentary on the Russia-Ukraine war. Despite residing in Belgium and being a Swiss citizen, Baud's bank accounts were frozen and he was prohibited from transacting with any EU business—not for breaking any law, but for expressing views the EU categorized as "pro-Russian propaganda." The hosts examine how this represents a troubling expansion of state power that operates in what EU documents explicitly call a "gray zone" between legal and illegal activity.
The episode also provides an update on the January 6th pipe bomb investigation, revealing how FBI investigators allegedly spent four years unable to access "corrupted" cell phone data from T-Mobile before a breakthrough led to an arrest. The hosts express skepticism about the technical explanations provided and question why law enforcement didn't simply demand accessible data formats from the telecommunications provider.
Detailed Outline
EU Sanctions and the Attack on Free Speech (00:00:00 - 00:51:00)
Main Topic: European Union's weaponization of sanctions against speech
Opening: Chelsea Clinton Podcast Comparison
The Case of Jacques Baud
Key Quote: "For what infraction, they are effectively unpersoning him to the extent where no bank will or business will transact with him."
The EU's Official Accusations Against Baud
The EU's complete accusation reads: "Jacques Baud, former colonel of the Swiss army and strategic analyst, is a regular guest on pro Russia Russian television and radio programs. He acts as a mouthpiece for pro Russian propaganda and spreads conspiracy theories, for example, by accusing Ukraine of having orchestrated its own invasion in order to join NATO. Therefore, Jacques Baud is responsible for actions or political measures attributable to the government of the Russian Federation that undermine or threaten the stability or security in a third country, Ukraine, through participation in the use of information manipulation and influence operations, implements them or supports them."
Notable Analysis:
US Response to EU Overreach
Alex's Response Tweet to von der Leyen
Alex's viral response (4X ratio on Ursula): "You froze the bank accounts of Jacques Baud, a Swiss citizen residing in Belgium, and banned every EU business from transacting with him, such that he can't even buy bread or pay rent, and your own rationality is that you didn't like what he was saying. You did this with no due process, no right of appeal, and no way to defend himself from your slanderous and ruinous accusations. And he's not the only one. You obviously have no comprehension of your of the terms you use, what their meaning is or what the purpose of the principles you so easily throw around. Unfortunately, EU citizens never elected you, so they can't un elect you. You'll keep turning the EU into USSR until your failed experiment comes crashing down. Until then, spare us the lectures. Your actions are deafening."
The Legal Framework: Operating in the "Gray Zone" (00:51:00 - 00:29:00)
Main Topic: EU's October 2024 regulation enabling sanctions for legal speech
The October 8, 2024 Regulation
Dr. RollerGator reads from researcher Henrika Stahl's analysis:
The Conceptual Foundation
From the EU's 2020 paper "The Landscape of Hybrid Threats":
Key Quote: "Just as reality is shaped by such operations into a gray zone between war and peace, the countermeasures against such operations must likewise operate in a gray zone to neutralize the legal activities weaponized against them, which would otherwise evade intervention due to their lawfulness."
Hosts' Analysis:
The Power Structure
Kallas's Historical Literacy
Brief clip played showing Kallas claiming "Russia and China fought the Second World War. We won the Second World War. We won the Nazis."
Germany's Speech Crackdown: 60 Minutes Propaganda (00:36:00 - 00:48:00)
Main Topic: CBS 60 Minutes glorifies German prosecution of online speech
The 60 Minutes Segment
Dr. RollerGator plays excerpts from a Sharon Alfonse report on German hate speech prosecutions:
Notable Example: The "Pimmel" Case
Green Party Politician Renate Kunast
Hosts' Analysis:
Key Quote from Dr. RollerGator: "Thomas Jefferson wrote in a newspaper or had published in a newspaper that Alexander Hamilton was a hermaphrodite. And so the United States has a long history of talking about democracy."
Historical Context:
Canada's Trucker Convoy: Blueprint for Financial Censorship (00:52:00 - 01:01:00)
Main Topic: Canadian government's use of banking restrictions to crush protest
The Freedom Convoy Context
Alex's Personal Connection:
Financial Warfare Against Protesters
Dr. RollerGator plays audio from Twitter space with Canadian anti-corruption policy expert:
FINTRAC Expansion:
Banking Account Freezes:
Key Quote from Policy Expert: "It is very difficult to survive in a 21st century society if you have no access to banking and no access to domestic instruments to finance your life or to make payments, even if you have money."
Long-term Consequences:
Hosts' Analysis:
The Philosophy of Precursor Crimes and Malinformation (01:01:00 - 01:19:00)
Main Topic: How authorities expand criminal liability backward through causal chains
The Malinformation Concept
The Twitter Files Revelations
Cognitive Science and Framing Effects
Dr. RollerGator explains how policymakers use behavioral science:
Alex's Critique of the "Mind as Battleground" Concept
Key Quote: "The concept of your mind as a battleground where you are a passive sort of, you know, not even observer, you know, like you're an object being thrown around by, you know, these information weapons that are being thrown around like billiard balls."
The Passive Citizen Theory:
The Precursor Crime Problem
Dr. RollerGator articulates the philosophical divide:
The Regression Analysis Problem:
Dr. RollerGator: "You are asserting that you know that if you stop this node, that other node will stop. And the more nodes you go back in this sort of graph of causality, the more side effects you have. And you are not taking any responsibility for any of that."
Example: What about the drug that was not discovered because this precursor was not available for somebody to experiment with?
Response: "Who cares, right? No, this is a war on drugs, man."
The Unfalsifiable Policy Paradigm
Barack Obama 2008 economic stimulus example:
Key Quote from Dr. RollerGator: "You now admit that your previous projections were terrible. You're currently making assertions that have no evidence behind them. And therefore, but yes, Alex, you personally don't have better."
The Trump Card: "You're not an expert."
Wikipedia's Disinformation About "Disinformation" (01:19:00 - 01:25:00)
Main Topic: How Wikipedia misrepresents Jacques Baud's statements to label him a conspiracy theorist
The Wikipedia Entry
Community note attempt on Alex's tweet linked to Baud's Wikipedia page
What Baud Actually Said:
Quote provided: "Even today it is impossible to demonstrate that bin Laden was indeed at the origin of September 11."
Alex's Analysis:
Key Quote: "So he is saying the evidence is not sufficient for me to be convinced of your claim that he was at the origin or whatever. And the way they articulate this is he has stated that Osama was not involved."
The Logical Fallacy:
Parallel to Ivermectin Debates:
Alex: "When I say, like, hey, your claims that Ivermectin doesn't work are based on bad data. And people will be like, oh, you're pro-Ivermectin. I'm like, no, no, your claims are based on bad data."
The Foundation of the Disinformation Accusation:
Hosts' Analysis:
Commitment to Non-Partisan Free Speech Defense (01:25:00 - 01:27:00)
Main Topic: Addressing potential accusations of partisan motivation
Alex's Preemptive Clarification:
The Bipartisan Censorship Reality:
Alex: "Unfortunately, this also means that it's not like one party is, you know, the bad guys and if the other party wins, we're going to do better, which to my shame, I kind of thought maybe it was the case."
Reality Check:
Alex's Core Principle:
Key Quote: "Our primary concern is freedom of speech because that's how we keep all of them accountable. We are not them. We're we, right? We're normal people living our lives and raising our children and wanting a better life for them."
The Fundamental Question:
"Are we going to be able to talk about what we're seeing and what we're thinking and what we are observing and what we are deducing, even if we are wrong? Are we going to be able to have discourse? Or are the people who want us to believe mistruths going to be able to prevent us from refuting them?"
Final Analysis:
Dr. RollerGator: "Censorship comes together with the actual official top-down disinformation, because the false information really can't survive very long in the wild without it being protected by a censorship apparatus. At least that's been my observation."
January 6 Pipe Bomb Update: The "Corrupted" Data Mystery (01:28:00 - 01:40:00)
Main Topic: FBI's alleged breakthrough in pipe bomb case after four years
Background Recap:
The Data Corruption Claim:
Wall Street Journal Account of the Breakthrough:
Dan Bongino's Role:
The Technical "Solution":
According to WSJ: "A tech savvy law enforcement officer wrote a new computer program that finally deciphered the information"
The Arrest:
Hosts' Technical Skepticism:
Dr. RollerGator:
"I'd be curious to know what the level of type of corruption was and what this algorithm supposedly was, because this isn't, you know, completely unfamiliar to me. So the story lacks detail that gives me real intuition as to what they did."
Alex's Technical Context:
Provided example of his co-founder spending months reverse-engineering BTRFS file system after data corruption
The Fundamental Question:
Alex's Critique:
Key Quote: "So there is a telecommunications provider, correct? And you ask them for some information which they provide to you. And your attempts to gain access to that information are unsuccessful for whatever reason. What is the reasonable thing that you as a public servant would do in such a complicated situation?"
The Obvious Solution:
Alex's Assessment:
"My initial reaction is everyone was using off the shelf tools and nobody fucking had any idea what they were doing."
The "Dog Ate My Homework" Theory:
Dr. RollerGator: "I hate my homework type shit, you know what I mean? Like, oh, you know, well, it was, oh, yeah, well, they did give it to us, but oh, it was corrupted. What could we do?"
Conspiracy Theory Expansion:
Alex (tongue-in-cheek): "The data that they got from T-Mobile was corrupted because Mr. Cole himself has people on the inside who made sure that they corrupted it when handing it over to the FBI so that he could get away with it."
Hosts' Analysis:
Notable Detail:
The investigation inadvertently uncovered unrelated concerns, including a teenager in Georgia with weapons cache discovered through Home Depot purchase analysis
View all episodes
By drrollergatorIn this comprehensive episode, Dr. RollerGator and Alexandros Marinos tackle the increasingly authoritarian approach to free speech in the European Union, examining how sanctions are being weaponized against dissenting voices through extralegal measures. The hosts dissect the EU's new regulatory framework that allows for punishment of "legal and even true information" when deemed harmful to state interests, drawing parallels to Soviet-era agitation laws and discussing the global implications for freedom of expression.
The discussion centers on the case of Jacques Baud, a Swiss intelligence analyst and former NATO advisor who was sanctioned by the EU for his commentary on the Russia-Ukraine war. Despite residing in Belgium and being a Swiss citizen, Baud's bank accounts were frozen and he was prohibited from transacting with any EU business—not for breaking any law, but for expressing views the EU categorized as "pro-Russian propaganda." The hosts examine how this represents a troubling expansion of state power that operates in what EU documents explicitly call a "gray zone" between legal and illegal activity.
The episode also provides an update on the January 6th pipe bomb investigation, revealing how FBI investigators allegedly spent four years unable to access "corrupted" cell phone data from T-Mobile before a breakthrough led to an arrest. The hosts express skepticism about the technical explanations provided and question why law enforcement didn't simply demand accessible data formats from the telecommunications provider.
Detailed Outline
EU Sanctions and the Attack on Free Speech (00:00:00 - 00:51:00)
Main Topic: European Union's weaponization of sanctions against speech
Opening: Chelsea Clinton Podcast Comparison
The Case of Jacques Baud
Key Quote: "For what infraction, they are effectively unpersoning him to the extent where no bank will or business will transact with him."
The EU's Official Accusations Against Baud
The EU's complete accusation reads: "Jacques Baud, former colonel of the Swiss army and strategic analyst, is a regular guest on pro Russia Russian television and radio programs. He acts as a mouthpiece for pro Russian propaganda and spreads conspiracy theories, for example, by accusing Ukraine of having orchestrated its own invasion in order to join NATO. Therefore, Jacques Baud is responsible for actions or political measures attributable to the government of the Russian Federation that undermine or threaten the stability or security in a third country, Ukraine, through participation in the use of information manipulation and influence operations, implements them or supports them."
Notable Analysis:
US Response to EU Overreach
Alex's Response Tweet to von der Leyen
Alex's viral response (4X ratio on Ursula): "You froze the bank accounts of Jacques Baud, a Swiss citizen residing in Belgium, and banned every EU business from transacting with him, such that he can't even buy bread or pay rent, and your own rationality is that you didn't like what he was saying. You did this with no due process, no right of appeal, and no way to defend himself from your slanderous and ruinous accusations. And he's not the only one. You obviously have no comprehension of your of the terms you use, what their meaning is or what the purpose of the principles you so easily throw around. Unfortunately, EU citizens never elected you, so they can't un elect you. You'll keep turning the EU into USSR until your failed experiment comes crashing down. Until then, spare us the lectures. Your actions are deafening."
The Legal Framework: Operating in the "Gray Zone" (00:51:00 - 00:29:00)
Main Topic: EU's October 2024 regulation enabling sanctions for legal speech
The October 8, 2024 Regulation
Dr. RollerGator reads from researcher Henrika Stahl's analysis:
The Conceptual Foundation
From the EU's 2020 paper "The Landscape of Hybrid Threats":
Key Quote: "Just as reality is shaped by such operations into a gray zone between war and peace, the countermeasures against such operations must likewise operate in a gray zone to neutralize the legal activities weaponized against them, which would otherwise evade intervention due to their lawfulness."
Hosts' Analysis:
The Power Structure
Kallas's Historical Literacy
Brief clip played showing Kallas claiming "Russia and China fought the Second World War. We won the Second World War. We won the Nazis."
Germany's Speech Crackdown: 60 Minutes Propaganda (00:36:00 - 00:48:00)
Main Topic: CBS 60 Minutes glorifies German prosecution of online speech
The 60 Minutes Segment
Dr. RollerGator plays excerpts from a Sharon Alfonse report on German hate speech prosecutions:
Notable Example: The "Pimmel" Case
Green Party Politician Renate Kunast
Hosts' Analysis:
Key Quote from Dr. RollerGator: "Thomas Jefferson wrote in a newspaper or had published in a newspaper that Alexander Hamilton was a hermaphrodite. And so the United States has a long history of talking about democracy."
Historical Context:
Canada's Trucker Convoy: Blueprint for Financial Censorship (00:52:00 - 01:01:00)
Main Topic: Canadian government's use of banking restrictions to crush protest
The Freedom Convoy Context
Alex's Personal Connection:
Financial Warfare Against Protesters
Dr. RollerGator plays audio from Twitter space with Canadian anti-corruption policy expert:
FINTRAC Expansion:
Banking Account Freezes:
Key Quote from Policy Expert: "It is very difficult to survive in a 21st century society if you have no access to banking and no access to domestic instruments to finance your life or to make payments, even if you have money."
Long-term Consequences:
Hosts' Analysis:
The Philosophy of Precursor Crimes and Malinformation (01:01:00 - 01:19:00)
Main Topic: How authorities expand criminal liability backward through causal chains
The Malinformation Concept
The Twitter Files Revelations
Cognitive Science and Framing Effects
Dr. RollerGator explains how policymakers use behavioral science:
Alex's Critique of the "Mind as Battleground" Concept
Key Quote: "The concept of your mind as a battleground where you are a passive sort of, you know, not even observer, you know, like you're an object being thrown around by, you know, these information weapons that are being thrown around like billiard balls."
The Passive Citizen Theory:
The Precursor Crime Problem
Dr. RollerGator articulates the philosophical divide:
The Regression Analysis Problem:
Dr. RollerGator: "You are asserting that you know that if you stop this node, that other node will stop. And the more nodes you go back in this sort of graph of causality, the more side effects you have. And you are not taking any responsibility for any of that."
Example: What about the drug that was not discovered because this precursor was not available for somebody to experiment with?
Response: "Who cares, right? No, this is a war on drugs, man."
The Unfalsifiable Policy Paradigm
Barack Obama 2008 economic stimulus example:
Key Quote from Dr. RollerGator: "You now admit that your previous projections were terrible. You're currently making assertions that have no evidence behind them. And therefore, but yes, Alex, you personally don't have better."
The Trump Card: "You're not an expert."
Wikipedia's Disinformation About "Disinformation" (01:19:00 - 01:25:00)
Main Topic: How Wikipedia misrepresents Jacques Baud's statements to label him a conspiracy theorist
The Wikipedia Entry
Community note attempt on Alex's tweet linked to Baud's Wikipedia page
What Baud Actually Said:
Quote provided: "Even today it is impossible to demonstrate that bin Laden was indeed at the origin of September 11."
Alex's Analysis:
Key Quote: "So he is saying the evidence is not sufficient for me to be convinced of your claim that he was at the origin or whatever. And the way they articulate this is he has stated that Osama was not involved."
The Logical Fallacy:
Parallel to Ivermectin Debates:
Alex: "When I say, like, hey, your claims that Ivermectin doesn't work are based on bad data. And people will be like, oh, you're pro-Ivermectin. I'm like, no, no, your claims are based on bad data."
The Foundation of the Disinformation Accusation:
Hosts' Analysis:
Commitment to Non-Partisan Free Speech Defense (01:25:00 - 01:27:00)
Main Topic: Addressing potential accusations of partisan motivation
Alex's Preemptive Clarification:
The Bipartisan Censorship Reality:
Alex: "Unfortunately, this also means that it's not like one party is, you know, the bad guys and if the other party wins, we're going to do better, which to my shame, I kind of thought maybe it was the case."
Reality Check:
Alex's Core Principle:
Key Quote: "Our primary concern is freedom of speech because that's how we keep all of them accountable. We are not them. We're we, right? We're normal people living our lives and raising our children and wanting a better life for them."
The Fundamental Question:
"Are we going to be able to talk about what we're seeing and what we're thinking and what we are observing and what we are deducing, even if we are wrong? Are we going to be able to have discourse? Or are the people who want us to believe mistruths going to be able to prevent us from refuting them?"
Final Analysis:
Dr. RollerGator: "Censorship comes together with the actual official top-down disinformation, because the false information really can't survive very long in the wild without it being protected by a censorship apparatus. At least that's been my observation."
January 6 Pipe Bomb Update: The "Corrupted" Data Mystery (01:28:00 - 01:40:00)
Main Topic: FBI's alleged breakthrough in pipe bomb case after four years
Background Recap:
The Data Corruption Claim:
Wall Street Journal Account of the Breakthrough:
Dan Bongino's Role:
The Technical "Solution":
According to WSJ: "A tech savvy law enforcement officer wrote a new computer program that finally deciphered the information"
The Arrest:
Hosts' Technical Skepticism:
Dr. RollerGator:
"I'd be curious to know what the level of type of corruption was and what this algorithm supposedly was, because this isn't, you know, completely unfamiliar to me. So the story lacks detail that gives me real intuition as to what they did."
Alex's Technical Context:
Provided example of his co-founder spending months reverse-engineering BTRFS file system after data corruption
The Fundamental Question:
Alex's Critique:
Key Quote: "So there is a telecommunications provider, correct? And you ask them for some information which they provide to you. And your attempts to gain access to that information are unsuccessful for whatever reason. What is the reasonable thing that you as a public servant would do in such a complicated situation?"
The Obvious Solution:
Alex's Assessment:
"My initial reaction is everyone was using off the shelf tools and nobody fucking had any idea what they were doing."
The "Dog Ate My Homework" Theory:
Dr. RollerGator: "I hate my homework type shit, you know what I mean? Like, oh, you know, well, it was, oh, yeah, well, they did give it to us, but oh, it was corrupted. What could we do?"
Conspiracy Theory Expansion:
Alex (tongue-in-cheek): "The data that they got from T-Mobile was corrupted because Mr. Cole himself has people on the inside who made sure that they corrupted it when handing it over to the FBI so that he could get away with it."
Hosts' Analysis:
Notable Detail:
The investigation inadvertently uncovered unrelated concerns, including a teenager in Georgia with weapons cache discovered through Home Depot purchase analysis