On episode 43 of Salt of The Streets podcast Don and Offie cover as much information as they have on the closed door Senate briefing given by CIA Director Gina Haspel about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a deeper look into the positive and negative take aways from the life of George H W Bush, the Miami Miracle is caught on audio with Don’s reaction, discussion about honesty in all its forms, and in the grab bag Paul McCartney draws emotion from a late night host, The White House demands decorum, France rebels against fuel taxes and as always, SPORTS!!

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It’s been like, 18 or so weeks that I’ve been doing this series. I decided to do away with the formality. These blog posts won’t be anywhere as casual as the language on the show so I won’t be saying ‘fuck’ every fifth word, but these ARE blog posts and especially in the spirit of this week I want to be as true to myself as possible.

Rule 8 in Dr. Peterson’s book is ” tell the truth- or, at least, don’t lie”. I love that. I may have said some variant of this before but this rule is one of my favorites, but in the sense that it’s one that I implement the most in my life. This idea is part of what got Offie and I to Salt of The Streets. The search and attempted execution of the truth.

I used to lie ALL the time. For no reason. This is by NO MEANS an excuse but possibly a partial explanation, my sister is 7 years older than me and she STILL lies constantly. Primarily to herself. She was a big influence in my life pretty much through high school and so were all the people she hung out with. Some of those people turned into my brothers, like David who I talk about all the time, and others never taught me a positive thing.

I lied, I cheated, I stole pretty much any time I had the opportunity. For no reason. Not always, but I probably started lying regularly the same time I started smoking pot which was 12-13 years old. Not something I’m proud of, but just a fact of my reality. I started stealing regularly around age 15. From random people mostly but some from family which was the worst part of all. Never money or valuables, just drugs or alcohol or cigarettes. Which doesn’t make it any better, except maybe to me. Once I started to sell drugs to support all of my habits, I started lying to and stealing from anyone I could or had to to make a little extra money or just make myself look better.

One of the points Dr. Peterson makes in this chapter is that all big lies are made of smaller ones, and ever if you only tell small lies they will culminate in a large one. I found that so incredibly true. I remember when my sister and mom discovered I had been stealing weed and cigarettes from them. I had been lying about it for so long, but just little lies every time. Eventually they came together in a lie large enough to sever the relationship I had with my sister and her friends because they were just that. HER friends. They didn’t want to hang out with a kid who was stealing from his family. My mom couldn’t trust anything I had said from the moment she started to suspect someone was taking her stuff, and then questioned everything I said afterward, with good reason.

I also lied about homework and assignments I had done which only culminated in a struggle to graduate. Not being honest with myself when I finished school led me to trying to marry a girl I didn’t love because I was going to join the military and didn’t want to be alone. That’s wrong for so many reasons, including the fact that my lies to myself were about to ruin the life of some girl who barely knew better. Lying is wrong. We all know that. But lying to yourself can be some of the worst lies of all.

That’s something else I took from this chapter is how much Dr. Peterson focuses on lying to yourself, or self deception. People most commonly lie to themselves about what they want to do with their lives – part of that is accepting that sometimes your truth changes. You don’t always know what you want. People, especially kids in college, spend X-amount of dollars going to school for X-amount of years and then if they come out on the back end with a degree in science but end up wanting to be an artist, they have so much invested already in what they thought they wanted that they will lie to try and convince themselves that’s indeed what they want. No one will ever be happy living in self deception.

But part of what Dr. Peterson said in this chapter is that sometimes being honest with yourself is understanding that you are wrong. It is a lie to try and convince yourself that what you have now is better than what you could have. It is a lie to live your life doing something that makes you unhappy. I don’t know if cutting neoprene is what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I know right now that it makes me feel fulfilled. It provides for my family, I have learned an incredibly specific trade, (but a trade none the less) and I get to improve peoples lives everyday.

Until a few weeks ago I thought I might cut neoprene for the rest of my life, which halfway scared me and halfway made me feel secure. I know (or at least feel extremely confident) that I could be employed at this company for the rest of my life. I feel comfortable at this job and seem to be fairly good at it. But nothing makes me feel as happy as seeing someones face light up when I just helped them connect some dots. Nothing makes me more passionate, as my wife likes to call it, than identifying something that reads to me as an injustice to even a small group of people.

It scares me sometimes to think about not working or even about the thought of telling my bosses that I am going to go and do something else after they have invested so much time in me. But, especially after reading this chapter, I understand that even if the place you are feels like it couldn’t get any better, that’s ignorant. Ignorant of the possibilities that await or even the possibility OF possibilities. You have to stay open to the world around you to truly be honest with yourself.

My favorite thing I read in this chapter was about identifying a lie. Dr. Peterson said after a certain amount of time he was able to connect lies he was telling with a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, which I agreed with completely. I have said a thousand times that I follow my stomach. It’s how I run my life and how I decide what is right. Once you identify what it feels or looks like when you lie, you can do your best to avoid it. When I made a conscious decision to stop lying, my life got much much better. I got a series of increasingly improving jobs. I got together with my wife. I met Colin. My wife got pregnant. All of these things would not have come to fruition had I not begun to just be honest.

This is something I advocate to EVERYONE I know. Just be honest. All the time. If someone says something you don’t think is true, say that. Don’t be a dick about it, but say something. If you don’t know what you want to do with your life, consider all options no matter the stigma that you have established around them. Be true to yourself about what matters to you and what doesn’t. Pick the hills you are willing to die on. Pick your battles, but know which ones are really important to you. Live your life the best way you can, the first step to that is the be honest- or, at least, don’t lie.

We are 42 episodes in and we couldn’t be anymore excited! Movember ended on Friday and with everyones help Don was able to raise $330! Everyone was an AMAZING help and we are looking forward to next year!

On this episode 42! Don and Offie provide insight into the advances in the Yemen situation, updates around Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen and what this means for the Mueller Probe, and the growing tensions between Russia and the Ukraine, and in the grab bag Don expresses more love/hate for Ben Shapiro, the signing of the USMCA at the G20 Summit, is killing the virtual KKK wrong? Why Don can understand people not liking him, and of course SPORTS!! w/ some updates from last week!

HERE you can find the episode in which we first talked about Michael Cohen

HERE is where you can find the original episode about James Comey

HERE you can find the first episode about Jama Khahsoggi

and HERE you can find the episode where we detailed the Saudis and Yemen.

THIS podcast, the ones we listed and ALL of our other can be found directly on our SoundCloud or ANYWHERE else you can get a podcast. The video from the live pre show can be found on our YouTube with the rest of our videos and the full episode video will be up tomorrow afternoon.

We also have hand crafted, artisan made T-shirts now available for purchase. Inquiries can be made through ANY of our social media and you WILL receive a response. Leave us a review wherever you listen to the pod, send us a screenshot and you will get $5 OFF YOUR FIRST T-SHIRT!

If there are ANY topics you want to hear us cover, let us know. If you have any thoughts or feelings about our show that you are holding back or choosing not to express? DON’T. Let us know what you think, WE WANT TO KNOW!

This week Don and Offie take it back to their political roots and go over the latest on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi (which we covered originally in Episode 36), the CIAs findings and the Presidents response to it, in Trumpy Things the recent subpoenas of James Comey and Loretta Lynch and why this is happening now, and in the Grab Bag; how the Russians DID have their hands in your pie, Shapiro is better on other peoples shows, the new NASA Mars rover, 6ix9ine and why he is stupid, and of course SPORTS!!

White House Statement from the President of the United States

Every single one of our pods can be found on our SoundCloud and where ever else you can get a podcast. The pre show is available now on our YouTube along with all of our other videos and the full episode video will be up tomorrow afternoon. T-Shirts are available now and can be inquired about through ANY of our social media. Leave us a review on your podcast platform, send us a screen shot and you will get $5 OFF YOUR FIRST SHIRT.

MOVEMBER is going on for a few more days and ANYTHING helps. The Movember Foundation fights for mens health to work to eradicate testicular cancer, prostate cancer, and suicide among men along with many others. The mustaches that Don and Offie are wearing are to show unity with men and spread awareness. Search for either of our names on Movember.com to donate in our names or just follow the links below.

Don’s Movember

Offie’s Movember

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving. On account of the holiday, which is one of my favorites, I decided I would take a break from my 12 Rules for Life series and go over something that has been on my mind for the last few weeks.

As cliche as it is, we have about a million things to be thankful for and the holiday season is for celebrating family and all that you have to be thankful for. Now I love my family more than anything, but that’s not what I want to talk about today. The thing I am thankful for today, is free speech. That’s a pretty general idea, because free speech can cover so many different things and is used differently by so many people that share this inalienable right.

I have talked on the show before about a particular line from Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s  book, “12 Rules For Life”, the book I have been doing my blog post series on the last few months. The line is ” When you have something to say, silence is a lie. And tyranny feeds on lies.”, and when I read this line, it genuinely almost brought me to tears. I have never heard or read a single idea that I hold more true in my life, and I was then filled with overwhelming pride and patriotism for living in a country where free speech is guaranteed and protected for every human being born in this country, or legally immigrated and nationalized here.

I wouldn’t be where I am if I wasn’t honest. And I don’t mean just in the sense of not lying, but I am honest with myself. I am and always have been the type of person to follow my gut. Everything from a conversation with a superior at work to a mushroom trip, if it doesn’t feel right in my stomach I don’t do it. All of my actions and choices are things I will have to live with from the moment I execute them through the end of my life and I take that very seriously. Guilt is a fuel for my life. It’s a feeling I have never found a way to eradicate once it has infected my soul so I do everything to lead a life where I can avoid it, even by not leaving things unsaid.

That’s the part that I think I took most from this particular line from Dr. Peterson’s book, don’t keep yourself silent. That isn’t to say that there isn’t a place or time to have certain conversations, but they should be had and in an expedient manner. Having a family fight at your place of employment is not a good idea if you would like to continue to be employed there. But if you had a friend, or even worse a family member, who is treating you poorly then what do you have to lose by speaking up? Nothing. And at the end of the day YOU are the one that will have to deal with the feelings that resulted from that mistreatment. If your husband/wife is short and snappy when they get stressed out and YOU don’t like it, why should you not speak up? Why should you be subject to mistreatment? These are feelings that YOU will have to deal with.

Injustices is a word I use often, which sounds probably a little bit douchey. But for me it is an umbrella term that I use to describe anything that violates my fairly well-defined morals or gives me that stomach-sinking feeling I have only ever been able to relate or compare to guilt. That can be anything from poor treatment by a partner or family member like I was talking about, to blatant and disgusting corruption in the government, to being kicked out of Dave and Busters because Justin Bieber wanted to rent the place out. It’s things like these, Injustices, that I don’t think people should be silent about. That’s the ideal that got Colin and I into this podcast. That’s the ideal that leads people to be very selective of the time and subjects in which they ask for my opinion. It’s the ideal that leads me to not get along with people who speak with little insight or information into what they are speaking about.

A lot of people I have come across may enjoy this quality as an idea but not exactly the way it looks or feels when done. It’s almost never easy. To this day even when I get that guilty feeling and know I have to do or say something, I feel conflicted. It is simply a matter of self preservation to not want to have conversations with people that they probably won’t enjoy or to put yourself in an uncomfortable position, but that doesn’t make it right. The right thing to do is almost never easy. If it was, everyone would do it.

I’m not saying this is the right thing to do because it probably isn’t for everybody. It isn’t going to make you friends all of the time. A lot of times it is really really frustrating to identify and be bothered to care about the injustices you see in the world, but keep your eyes open makes it easier to see what you can do to help correct them, and that’s what honesty is to me. It’s not only something I can do to keep myself sane and guilt free, but I’m becoming increasingly certain that it’s what I can do for other people. So on this day of thanks I am going to break the mold and ask for something from everyone reading this; Be honest with someone today. If someone is rude to you because of an event you didn’t cause, be understanding but tell them that is not acceptable. If you hear someone say something you KNOW is incorrect (especially politically) say something. Correct them because it could change their mind. If you feel strongly that Saudi Arabia is not a place where America should have money and that The President is wrong, tell someone who challenges that idea.

People are surprisingly accepting of almost anything you tell them, as long as you say it the right way. Say it with confidence and care and concern, not with anger or spite. Be honest not to prove someone wrong or put them down, but for self preservation. YOU are the one that has to live with your choices and feelings. YOU have to decide if you were true to yourself and your morals. Honesty in all areas of life is liberating. And so I will leave you with the same line that has inspired me so deeply before I had even read it, but once articulated and presented to me I knew was to be my mantra for life. “If you have something to say, silence is a lie. And tyranny feeds on lies.”

On a very special Episode 40 Don and Offie and are joined by Old Man Dave Z to discuss his legacy in the neoprene world, the differences in being in school in the 60’s compared to today, simple rules to live your life by, why you should ALWAYS be nice to people your are on the phone with, halfway claustrophobia, the roots of MAD and National Lampoons magazine, Asian Pears are far superior to regular ones, culture shocks as a child, and of course, SPORTS!!

This podcast and every other one we have done can be found on our SoundCloud and ANY where else you can get a podcast. This full video for this episode will be available Tomorrow afternoon on our YouTube page where you can find ALL our other videos. Give us a rate and a review where ever you are listening or watching, send us a screenshot and you will get 5$ OFF YOUR FIRST T-SHIRT, which are available now. Inquiries for the shirts can be made through the website or ANY of our social media. Your WILL hear back from us.

Movember is still rolling and Offie and Don are still in full participation. Don is about halfway to his fundraising goal and will be donating more from every pay check he receives during the month of November. The links to donate can be found here (Donavan & Colin) and also on the Salt of The Streets Facebook. Help us do everything we can for Movember and for Mens health.

Don is out sick on this episode 39 of Salt of The Streets and to help Offie fill in he is joined by the ginger ninja herself, Morgan. The two go over the recent ousting of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General (0:48:00), the outcomes of the midterm elections both local and nationwide (0:07:00) and a quick trip into the SPORTS arena to honor their fallen friend.

This podcast and all of our others can be found on our SoundCloud or ANY other place you can get a podcast. All of our videos can be found on our YouTube page including the pre-shows and full episode videos. Salt of The Streets T-shirts are now available and can be inquired about through this website or any of our social media. Give us a rate and review wherever you listen to the pod, send us a screen shot and you will get $5 OFF YOUR FIRST SHIRT.

Don and Offie are participating in Movember to support men’s health and suicide prevention. It’s an incredible cause that can impact anyone and does impact tons of people. Don is donating money from all of his paychecks during the month of November and if anyone else wants to donate the link is HERE and can be found on our Facebook.