LOMÉ, Togo – “They Call Me Renegade” is a 1987 film about the most basic challenges we all struggle with during our daily life, no matter which part of the world we come from: bullies, corruption, sex, land, police, lawyers, death, prison, family, guns, religion. And Nature. In this road movie, Terence Hill stars as Luke, the loner petty con artist with no real responsibilities, and his real-life adopted son, Ross Girotti Hill, stars as Matt, the rebellious teenager with a particular skill: hitting any target with any instruments, knives, spears, or a simple sling. Luke and Matt begin a journey across Arizona against their will. They travel in Luke’s Jeep CJ-5 carrying Jow Brown (a colt) in the back. A piece of land is waiting for them somewhere. Moose (Norman Clifford Bowler), Matt’s father and Luke’s best friend, won that vast ranch during a poker game, and Luke is the only person he trusts to take care of his son and land. 

Moose is forced to await his time in prison after he’s been framed by a greedy businessman, “Mr. Lawson” (played by the late Robert Francis Vaughn), for a crime he didn’t commit. Both Luke and Matt face the dangers orchestrated by Mr. Lawson. He wants to kill them to appropriate the land for his own interests. He sends after them armed men, two angry truck drivers and a motorcycle-group, all paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to eliminate the two protagonists. After quite a few scuffles to overcome their predators, Luke and Matt start to appreciate each other along the way and eventually get to Green Heaven Valley together. The final scene (15 minutes before the end of the movie) is probably one of the best, “goose-bumping” final scenes in Hollywood’s history. 

Born in 1973 in Munich (Southern Germany), Ross Hill grew up between Italy and the United States. He was fluent in German, Italian and English. As a teenager, Ross attended the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts. He was going to become our “German-Italian-American River Phoenix”. In early 1990, though, he tragically died in a car accident next to a close friend of his (Kevin Lehmann) while the two were driving back to school after the holidays. Ross was 16 years old. “They Call Me Renegade”, his second and last movie with his father, “was filmed in English on location in Phoenix, Glendale, Sedona and Flagstaff in Arizona. Cast and production crew were primarily American and Italian and include local notables such as Phoenix sculpture artist and custom trike builder Al Banks, then the leader of the Arizona ABATE motorcycle activist group.”  

No movie it’s just a movie. I remember when “The Constant Gardner” came out, filmed by one of the best directors (Fernando Meirelles) and based on a book written by one of our best writers (John le Carré): the endless discussions with my humanitarian friends in Nairobi (Kenya), some of which have actually participated in the movie as extras. A year ago, I was trying to explain with my first “Local Ohio” how the JRE podcast, and the world in general, could really benefit from a broader and more professional international vibe and series of guests that would help boost more realistic discussions. 

Because of the impressive JRE reach, Donald Trump and many others suddenly decided to embrace the main passions of the biggest podcaster on earth. Since then, so many people seem to love Comedy, the UFC and Jiu Jitsu (except for Joe’s books, though). One UFC fighter even went to fight in the Democratic Republic of Congo for Erik Prince’s mercenary group, Vectus Global (he was apparently wounded in an “ambush” last month…Africa is not for everyone). Trump was even able to organize the UFC Freedom 250, a great move for quite a number of people, a very silly one for the rest of the world. The event was in the powers-that-be’s minds since probably the first Trump’s administration. Surely before the much ado about the White House ballroom, a ridiculous operation that functioned as a simple distraction and that, mark my words, will never get finished.

In the previous “Local Ohio” I chose not to go into “The Riyadh Comedy Festival” propaganda operation, fueled (literally) by US, Saudi and Israeli interests. But after this latest series of attacks at the same airport facility that was graced by the comedians’ comfortable shoes just a year before, I feel I need to. The “RCF” was the real deal. The strategy was well thought and perfectly executed. Much of the public didn’t even know about the festival, only a few weeks before we realized we were duped, when the posters were released with an incredible list of comedians. Their beautiful faces on a Trump-orangish-brochure.  

All in all, I wonder about the costs of that operation: if Dave Chapelle, the biggest, got at least 10 million dollars, Kevin Heart probably similar, all of the others got less, flights, accommodation, food, etc…let’s say 367 million dollars for the whole RCF. To put into perspective: the same amount of Saudi Aramco’s oil profits in a year. No, sorry: in a day (in 2023 the Saudi main oil company reached the peak with 668 million dollars in a day). It seems that certain comedians are very easily bought. But something tells me that Riyadh didn’t pay a penny, the US taxpayers did, they just don’t know how. Another smart move by the RCF’s organizers was not inviting Joe. If someone you never met organizes a super birthday party and everybody is paid to come but the birthday-person’s best friend, what does that tell you?

Anyway, I’m sure there were a lot of laughs and jokes and everybody there must have had a very good time. Comedians got paid, elites got what they needed and the public at the event was satisfied. But now, one year later, we’re all paying the real price. For all the comedians with minimum levels of sympathy, that money now probably doesn’t smell as good as when it was initially offered. Aries “Show-me-the-money” Spears seemed to be the one that enjoyed it the most and his podcast is now blowing up. Dave Chapelle, instead, will probably leave Ohio after Trump recently announced that his administration has picked that State to house a new “U.S. Navy submarine component repair center”.

But of all the comedians that attended the RCF, Bill “BB” Burr was the only surprise for me. I digitally got to know him just a year prior, following many of his stand-ups on YouTube, I laughed so hard at many of his jokes, cheered, and totally agreed with him when he slammed the journalists for their lack of courage. But then things started to turn in a weird way. I did some research and, looking at Burr’s career evolution, it feels like he’s been groomed by the industry for quite some time. The movie with Kevin Costner about racism, the other one with Pete Davidson about the 9-11 attacks (!), he worked with friend, colleague and “alibi” Dave Chapellle, etc. And then comes Howie Mandell that reveals a family secret: Bill is Billy Corgan’s step-brother. Burr didn’t look to happy. I’m quite suspicious about Howie too, by the way, from afar and leaving all the jokes aside, it feels like this supposed Canadian comedian has actually been an intelligence asset for decades. But I might be wrong.

I couldn’t believe Bill’s picture on the Saudi poster. And once he came back from Riyadh, well, we know how he reacted to the backlash: he called many of us “racists” (as a “black-Italian”, I sometimes wonder if these comedians understand how far their voices spread all over the world, even in small African villages). Rainn Wilson stars in the movie “The Rocker”, produced by Shawn Levy (!) and Bill had a similar idea that maybe they stole from him. As his star was rising, BB finally made it into a movie directed by Shawn Levy, out in 2010. Then he gets a part in a Paul Feig (Blake Lively best director) movie in 2013. Then "Black or White" with Costner where BB’s character is named "Rick Reynolds" (instead of Ryan Reynolds) with, again, Mike Binder, in 2014. “Binder chose me when he saw me on Conan O'Brien – BB once told Kevin Pollak – One of those times that I felt it was too easy…”, and I believe his instincts were right, that’s how a proper grooming develops. He’s now trapped, caged in a movie that must be the lowest point of Aaron Sorkin’s wonderful career.

A comedian friend of Bill’s, Whitney Cummings, actually “liked” an Instagram reel I posted about the first airport attack in Riyadh. I thought it was a joke of hers but no, she did click on that small red heart. Did she even understand that mine was a critique towards all the comedians that have been paid for that gig? She is quite courageous, though, the only one highlighting Kevin Spacey’s accusers’ demise (3 of them in a short period). But just like with BB, she got the money and my admiration for her went down fast. Chapelle, Hart, Jimmy, and all of the others were no surprise, unfortunately.

COMMON EVIDENCE

The first time Luke and Matt meet, they couldn’t seem more different from each other. But Matt’s father saved Luke’s life, therefore the two strangers had at least one very important factor in common: Moose. That’s similar to what I felt by watching Filippo Biondi, an Italian telecommunications engineer, on the JRE (episode #2443). Biondi has one thing in common with Joe, the passion for discovering the reality about the Egyptian pyramids (and other similar structures around the world). It took me a while before watching it. I was in Milan, winter time, cold almost everywhere, and I was working at the table of a Chinese restaurant with my lap top. I kept looking at the JRE’s thumbnail’s title and all I could think of was that that name seemed “Italian-American”. 

After a few days I finally decided to click play and I discovered that Biondi was actually “Italian-Italian”. I admit, I felt a little proud. Not so much because of my country man talking interestingly about pyramids (a subject I don’t care too much about) but because the JRE expanded its global aperture by inviting a foreign expert to talk about one of Joe’s passions. I even thought that my first “Local Ohio” might have contributed to that, silly me. After a few weeks, I was back in Dakar (Senegal) and an American living in Amsterdam told me that Biondi was already on Danny Jones and the JRE was probably eager to have him on its podcast too. My “Local Ohio” piece had nothing to do with that. Ok, fair enough.

As predicted, these were some of the comments from the Biondi episode: “I’m an Italian tlc engineer and it all makes sense to me. I was expecting to read many comments on his sloppy English or hard Italian accent, but what I found is appreciation, understanding and focus on content. The audience of JRE is natively educated to debate, open mind and, in general, tolerance. That's America. Kudos to you guys”; “His broken Italian accent makes everyone pay extra attention to every word he says, keeping us fully focused at all times.”; “One of the best episodes ever. One of the most important episodes ever.”; “Before he started talking, I was undecided. But, after hearing him for 10 minutes, I'm definitely having lasagna for dinner.”; “This is so much more interesting to watch than just having famous celebrities. This guy clearly needs to be heard and it is insane how gives such accurate detail about his finding. Probably top 5 Joe Rogan podcasts in my opinion,” and a comment to this comment: “Sucks these don’t pull the views. These episodes are why I love the podcast.” These comments are not coming from bots nor haters and the views are just over 1.5 million, that’s what I was talking about: a JRE smaller but more professional.

Then came Italian Theoretical physicist and author Carlo Rovelli (episode #2554). This time I checked right away and there he was, another Italian. He discussed how nothing is objective. Everything is the result of a different perspective. Here too the comments would have been very complimentary but the episode was hijacked by the public reaction towards another video produced by “The Elephant Graveyard” that criticizes Joe and his so called “handlers”. Comments where mostly about Peter Thiel, the Bildeberg group, and “walled gardens”. Rovelli was probably disappointed. Between the two Italian experts, though, another “foreigner” came along in episode #2464. Somebody that I never heard of. A super-celebrity that actually seemed quite normal, authentic. One of those rare earth elements we desperately need.

Priyanka Chopra. “We have such random things in common”, Priyanka said one hour and twenty minutes into the conversation before bursting into a big laugh with Joe. While promoting “The Bluff” (with Temuera Morrison of “Once Were Warriors”), she seemed happy to be chosen by Joe for her unique perspective as an Indian actress that moved to the US years ago and made it into Hollywood. Both her and Joe went to the same school: she went to Newton North High School (in Newton, Massachusetts) while Joe went to Newton South High School. But maybe the funniest thing they have in common is “Fear Factor”: they both pass through that “baptism of fire”.

While they were talking about worms as a delicacy in Zimbabwe and auditions where casting directors would tell her to be “more Indian” (!), Priyanka said to Joe one very important secret about life: “I like the origins of things”. Miss World 2000 is actually quite smart and has a clear mission: “Be able to create an impact and I feel I’m on my way there”. She surely is, and not just in Cinema. She talked about her profound experience in Kenya with: “The Great Wildebeest Migration, a continuous, circular movement of more than 1.5 million wildebeest, alongside hundreds of thousands of zebras and gazelles, traveling across Tanzania's Serengeti and Kenya's Maasai Mara in search of fresh grass and water.”

By the way, we all heard the latest American President comments: “She really likes Africa”, Trump said a few days ago in the oval office while not listening to a question coming from Hariana Verás, an Angolan reporter he seems pretty much attracted to. “She really likes Africa…”. He said it while pointing his finger towards the reporter and at the same time leaning towards someone next to him as if he were in a classroom and he didn’t want to be caught by the teacher telling silly jokes. But mostly, he seemed so surprised that an African would love Africa. I burst into a laugh myself. Trump seems actually really curious about the African continent even though few years ago he would label African States as mere “Shit-holes”. 

When he met Joseph Boakai, the President of Liberia, Trump was really surprised that he was able to speak “such a good English”. Fortunately, the JRE hosted Tim Dillon three months ago (episode #2518 at 57’27”) and now at least 3.6 million people know a little bit more about the historical relationship between the US and that particular West African country, not just the story of former rebel and now Christian preacher, “General Butt Naked”. But Dillon was especially funny when he misunderstood the Gulf States’ geography and that cost him the job at the RCF.  The 11-minute clip he made after he received the Saudi-Apprentice version of “You’re fired!” was pure comedy. He went to another level with it: “I’m with Iran now! You’ve pushed me into the bozoom of Iran, you understand that?! Saudi is Sunni and Iran is Shia. You’ve fired me and created a shiiiat problem, now, biaaatch!” 

Quite a prophecy.

POLITCAL BULLISM

I’ve underestimated pageantry shows for years until I learned how much this industry is actually infiltrated by professional “intelligence” agents. Movies like Sandra Bullock’s “Miss Congeniality” are meant to numb us to the possibility that the various secret services all over the world might use the same strategy, the “Erika Kirk strategy” (a very strange Mata Hari version). Anyway, life goes on. Candace is having the 5^th child, Russell Brand is in more trouble than we thought (Billy Bush is planning to go after the trial like a terrier drawn by Frederick August Wenderoth), the Tate Bros…we’ll see, Pras Michel and Michael Whalberg who knows what their cooking up with Erik Prince, “Ambassador” Paolo Zampolli just got his “You’re fired!” (will he survive…?) by Trump and Melania, Skydance Group is doing whatever it’s doing to the cinema, and so on. A lot is happening to a lot of people in a lot of regions at the same time. It’s nothing new. It’s always been this way, we can simply observe it better now through technology and thanks to the people that were at the right place at the right time.  

I’m glad to see Theo Von ok, in really good shape. His latest podcast with Zohran Mamdani it’s not about right, left or center, Muslim, Hindu, Jew, or Christian, it’s about the past and the future. A future where nationalities won’t be as valued and borders will tell a different separation story. In Italy we’re starting an election campaign that will determine how far the human race has gone awry. We don’t even have a date yet, we’re less organized than many of the African countries I lived in. “Political bullyism” is the real “fear factor” and very few people have the guts to fight it. In Italy, despite the number of political parties, we often find ourselves fighting the hypocrisy of the left, the ignorance of the right and the apparent neutrality of the center. General Roberto Vannacci and his people are trying to instill fear in their own countrymen and women in order to win the elections (and they probably will). 

In “Local Hollywood”, I wrote about how propaganda works and how we can all fall victim to it. There was propaganda (Israeli, in this particular instance) even in the movie “Go for it” (Nati con la Camicia, in Italian), with Terence Hill and his life-long companion, Bud Spencer (Carlo Perdersoli), another icon in Italy. Wrongly taken for two CIA operatives, the two vagabonds are debriefed by their boss who stands in front of an Israeli flag: quite a message. Render Gerber’s death seems quite a message too. I believe that his death has got nothing to do with drugs but that might be connected to the Angelina and Brad’s ugly post-divorce war, where even Russian billionaires are involved. Michael Douglas went to rehab and he had all sorts of people trying to get pictures, audio or video of him. Journalists, agents, detectives, maybe some fans, able to infiltrate any rehab facility to get what they need.

ZERO-DARK-25

Talking about interests, Megan Ellison is apparently much more dangerous than her big brother. In 2011, she seemed ready to kidnap Jessica Chestain in order to have her in the movie “Zero-Dar-Thirty” even if Megan was only 25 years old. That makes me very suspicious about the “official narrative” of the Saudi terrorist’s death, and of all those soldiers on TV and Podcasts claiming they killed him (I wonder if Osama, from wherever he was, did enjoy the RCF). Megan involved in this type of movies and stories at 25 years old it’s like adults giving the keys of their Ferrari to their 11-year-old kid. Normally a human brain develops completely between 27 and 32 years of age. If “Zero-Megan-25” was the real engine behind a film on one of the most important days in US history, why should we be surprised about anything that’s happening in this world? I actually met quite a few experts over the years that believed Osama bin Laden was eliminated within the first few days of the Battle of Tora Bora, but who knows. I’m afraid that if Zero-Megan-25 continues on this path without being told “NO” every once in a while, her big brother will feel the need to replicate with even crazier ideas.

Megan was apparently in touch with Mark Boal, who had legal problems after “The Hurt Locker” came out. I don’t know him but, according to Wikipedia: “Boal was embedded with troops and bomb squads in 2004 during the Iraq War. He wrote an article about one of the bomb experts, Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver, in an article entitled, ‘The Man in the Bomb Suit’, published in September 2005 in Playboy magazine”. Of course… Let’s go on: “Boal went on to write an original screenplay, titled The Hurt Locker, about a fictional set of characters and events based on his interviews and observations in Iraq. He was also a producer for the 2009 film adaptation set in Iraq, about a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) bomb squad. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, his business partner and co-producer. In March 2010 (five days before the Academy Awards ceremony), Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver announced he was suing the producers of The Hurt Locker because Boal allegedly based the main character and ‘virtually all of the situations’ in the film on events involving him. Sarver also claimed to have coined the phrase ‘the hurt locker’.”

Boal wrote “Zero-Dark-Thirty” and the film was released (!) in December 2012. “The film opened to much critical acclaim. Some commentators criticized its implication that torture revealed evidence that strongly contributed to the capture of bin Laden”, the torture scene was just one of the many controversial issues surrounding the making of this excuse for a movie, “Others, who deemed the production design inaccurate and oversimplified, criticized the film for its depiction of Pakistan, and found the Arabic–speaking locals in the film (Pakistan's national language is Urdu) to be problematic. Boal was – of course – nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He lost to Quentin Tarantino who was nominated for Django Unchained.” I rest my case.

We need to reconstruct a lot of historical events. It looks like a mission impossible but it isn’t. It’ll only take some time.

HUMAN PERSPECTIVES

Towards the end of the movie (spoiler alert) Luke finally faces Mr. Lawson and twenty armed-bodyguards, the causes of all of his recent troubles. He’s alone, he sent Matt off to call the police while being chased by Mr. Lawson on a helicopter. The ultimate stand-off scene was shot in an isolated region of the Arizona desert. As they were finishing talking and Luke was ready to accept his faith, a fearful roar begins brewing in the far distance. Intense clouds of dust slowly advance like waves from three separate dirt roads. The earth is trembling. Luke, Mr. Lawson and the bodyguards turn their attention towards the horizon. They can’t see nothing but dust. The noise is getting stronger and stronger, though, the small black dots are becoming bigger and bigger. Hundreds of motorbikes of the ABATE motorcycle activist group slowly approach. Matt, who saved a friend of the group in a fight months before, is in the seat behind the leader. Luke is smiling. They finally reach their destination and the roar stops with a scared Mr. Lawson pleading for an escape. “Weren’t you supposed to call the police?”, Luke asks Matt. “These guys are quicker”, the young renegade responds. 

So, dear Joe, a lot of people are trying to help you in this fight. The fight for real information. In just one year not much has happened, right? Right… Well, if you decide to take that road, I can assure you that just like with Candace Owens, Justin Baldoni, Johnny Depp and many others you're never heard about, you’ll start to see little black dots coming slowly, slowly your way to support you. From what I learned, the people that inspired the Joe Rogan Experience podcast are in the likes of Howard Stern, Tom Green, Duncan Trussell, Phil Hartman, etc. Very funny people and eager to share their views online, talking through the social network like other comedians around the world. But we also need more realistic and globalized discussions about this small planet we all live in. They didn’t and don't have the instrument you do.

Dear Priyanka, I don’t know if you've ever heard of Nicolette Larson. She had one of her great songs featured in the movie “They Call Me Renegade”. It’s a beautiful song. But mostly, hers it’s a beautiful story. I know you’re taking all the right precautions but I watched the Amanda Hirsh podcast (“Not Skinny But Not Fat”, whose “brand focuses heavily on embracing real-world connections, authenticity, and confidence”…ok) and I was wondering if the over editing and manipulation of your words, especially in the “pageantry segment”, was concerning for you. It is for me. Let me know if I can help. Anyway, keep up the good work, because as you well explained on the JRE:

“A lot of times…we’ve been giving a platform to talk with social media. Everyone can talk. And there’s a power to that. But there’s also a big misuse of that where you really don’t know and you’re not the authority on perspective, at all, because there’s so much that probably you don’t know of history, geography and why people behave the way they do. So, unless I’m the expert on something which I’m not on anything except my job, that too limited, I just try to kind of have a larger understanding from a human perspective.”

Matteo Fraschini Koffi