Christopher Paul Meyer speaks with James A. Gagliano, Ayman Kafel, and Charlie Faint about the Prince Harry/Meghan Markle interview with Oprah. Where others see the Royals’ soap opera through the lens of celebrity culture, we wonder if Harry is just another military vet without a mission. In true Havok Journal fashion, we use the interview as a jumping off point to talk about toxic masculinity, the loss of purpose, and calls to defund the police.
Show Alibis
- What I'm about to tell you is something I've never told anyone before. And it is absolutely, 100% true. Ever since I got back from Vietnam, I've been on the run from my former comrades in MACV-SOG. It's a long story that involves heroin shipments, chemical interrogation, and a plot to kill a sitting US Senator. They caught up with me just as I was driving to the studio to record this episode. I used my 5th Dan aikido skills, but there were just too many of them. I ended up locked in the trunk of my car. But since Jimmy Gagliano had gone out of his way to pause his mayoral campaigning to be on the show, I was damned if I wasn't going to do the episode. So I open up my laptop and use some crappy headset I found under the spare tire. Fortunately, the two guys assigned to guard me were driving me to a safehouse somewhere near the Canadian border, so I had just enough time to do the full hour. Just as I signed off, they opened the trunk and I used the crappy headset to gouge one of their eyes out, while knocking the other out with my laptop. I picked up the car keys and said "Thanks for the ride," to no one in particular. Just then, about 15 state police cruisers showed up, lights and sirens going. "Freeze!" they ordered me. I raised my hands and gave them a world-weary look. "No!" screamed my wife, who had gone along with them and is also a plucky journalist and a lingerie supermodel. "He's innocent!" And they walked up to me and said sorry for the misunderstanding and something along the lines of "I'm glad our country still has heroes like you." And I nodded wearily because I've seen this all before, and my wife ran up and hugged me and we walked over to the bad guys' car and drove off as the credits began to roll. So that's why my audio just absolutely sucks throughout the episode. But when you consider all that I did that day to make America safe, I think we can still chalk it up as a win. (NOTE - none of this is even close to the plot of Above the Law).
- When talking about how Dean Stott met Prince Harry, I say that they both attended the British equivalent of our JTAC training, which I label "Joint Tactical Air Control." I meant "Joint Terminal Attack Controller." I was not Air Force. It showed.
- In the episode, I make a comparison between the "defund the police" movement and the anti-Balaka militias of the Central African Republic. I meant to use the Selekas/ex-Selekas as an example. As everyone knows, the anti-Balaka are the enemy of the Seleka (and ex-Seleka). I'm sure you all noticed and are appropriately offended. I join you in your outrage.
Havok Journal
Project Sapient
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund
Second Mission Foundation
"False Reporting: A True Epidemic in Policing" by Ayman Kafel
"Living with a Mobster" by James A. Gagliano
James A. Gagliano website
Savage Wonder
