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Speaker 1: Cable news is ripping us apart, dividing the nation, making

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Speaker 1: it impossible to function as a society and to know

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Speaker 1: what is true and what is false. The good news

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Speaker 1: is that they're failing and they know it. That is

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Speaker 1: why we're building something new. Be part of creating a new, better, healthier,

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Speaker 1: member today at breakingpoints dot com. Your hard earned money

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Speaker 1: is going to help us build for the midterms and

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Speaker 1: the upcoming presidential election so we can provide unparalleled coverage

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Speaker 1: of what is sure to be one of the most

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Speaker 1: pivotal moments in American history. So what are you waiting for?

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Speaker 1: Go to Breakingpoints dot com to help us out. Good morning, everybody,

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Speaker 1: Happy Monday. We have an amazing show for everybody today.

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Speaker 1: What do we have, Crystal? Indeed, we do many wonderful

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Speaker 1: interesting stories to ho Of course we're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about CNN. Plus we have Sarah Fisher on and not

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Speaker 1: to give it away, but we do have a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a surprise something that we've purchased on behalf

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Speaker 1: of the entire Breaking Points community, so stay tuned for that.

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Speaker 1: We also have election results in France that are actually

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Speaker 1: really interesting to unpack. On the one hand, mccron wins

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Speaker 1: re election, so it's sort of status quo and by

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Speaker 1: a much more sizable margin than what had initially been

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Speaker 1: predicted by the polls. However, Lapenn did better than the

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Speaker 1: far right has ever done before, so we'll dig into

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Speaker 1: all of that. Also, looking like Elon Musk is in

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Speaker 1: fact going to take over Twitter. Amazing. Yeah, I mean, well,

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Speaker 1: so this is you know, reports as of this morning,

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Speaker 1: but we'll break it all down. Yeah, we'll break it

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Speaker 1: all down for you. We also have now a movement

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Speaker 1: from the CDC and the DOJ on mass They are

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Speaker 1: going to appeal that ruling. Sager was right, I was wrong,

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Speaker 1: but they did it, of course in the worst possible way,

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Speaker 1: So we'll give you all those details. We also have

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Speaker 1: starting this morning, workers on Staten Island at an their

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Speaker 1: Amazon facility are going to be voting on union election.

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Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders and AOC were at that location yesterday for

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Speaker 1: a big rally, So we have those details for you

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Speaker 1: as well. And very excited to announce yet another Breaking

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Speaker 1: Points partner, Jordan Sheridan and Status Kup. They're going to

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Speaker 1: be providing us with exclusive on the ground footage. He

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Speaker 1: was there And by the way, Jordan was there from

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Speaker 1: the beginning with regards to Amazon Union election, one of

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Speaker 1: the only reporters and news outlets that actually took the

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Speaker 1: chance seriously that they could actually prevail there. He was

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Speaker 1: there on the ground at the rally yesterday and sent

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Speaker 1: us some exclusive footage that we're going to take a

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Speaker 1: look at in the show. So very excited about that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we've been relying on Jordan for years. One of the

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Speaker 1: things that we've heard from you and then we want

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Speaker 1: to make sure that we're spending your hard earned money

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Speaker 1: correctly on is having an on the ground presence at

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Speaker 1: some of the places that are completely undercovered and that

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Speaker 1: you care about. So Jordan will be doing this for us,

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Speaker 1: you know, basically on a continual basis, not just on Amazon,

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Speaker 1: but on whatever story strikes everybody's fancy across the So

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Speaker 1: there we go, all the administrative stuff out of the way.

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Speaker 1: We got actually more even more free tomorrow. We can't

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Speaker 1: overwhelm everybody. Yeah, we have to party going on out,

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Speaker 1: But I do want to say about Jordan. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm really excited about the whole ecosystem that we're building

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Speaker 1: out here and all the partners and relationships that we have,

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Speaker 1: and I hope you guys seem to have really enjoyed

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Speaker 1: the content. I know Maximilian Alvarez put his first piece

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Speaker 1: up over this weekend that people seem to really love,

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Speaker 1: Max being such a thoughtful person. Jordan adds another whole dementsion. Yes,

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Speaker 1: because for the first time now we'll have capability to

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Speaker 1: have actual on the ground reporting, exclusive footage. So that's

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Speaker 1: something we've been looking for and we're really excited to

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Speaker 1: add into the mix to make this a more complete

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Speaker 1: and holistic experience for you. Extending Universe is expanding soon

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Speaker 1: we'll have our own shootoffs. Okay, let's start with Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: So Ukraine, I know it seems like it never ends,

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Speaker 1: but there's some bigger news that came out this morning.

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Speaker 1: Let's put this up there on the screen, which is

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Speaker 1: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Anthony Blank

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Speaker 1: and both visited Kiev this morning and they came out

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Speaker 1: with this very significant statement. So the Secretary of Defense

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Speaker 1: in particular making some big news where he says specifically

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Speaker 1: that he wants to see in the United States policy

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Speaker 1: is that they want to see the Russian military weekend.

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Speaker 1: Here's a direct quote. We want to see Russia weekend

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Speaker 1: to the degree it cannot do the kinds of things

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Speaker 1: that has done in Ukraine. It has already lost a

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Speaker 1: lot of military capability and a lot of troops, and

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Speaker 1: we want to see them not have the capability to

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Speaker 1: very quickly reproduce that capability. So that is military speak

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Speaker 1: for we want to continue to see the Russian suffer

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Speaker 1: as much as they possibly can in Ukraine. Now, look,

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Speaker 1: obviously I agree with the sentiment. However, whenever it comes

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Speaker 1: to official statement of US policy, it cuts against what

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Speaker 1: we have been been speaking about Crystal, which is that

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Speaker 1: the United States is not currently offering any sort of

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Speaker 1: hope or even really want of a peace process. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: obviously we have to support Ukraine. If Ukraine doesn't want peace,

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Speaker 1: then like that's what it is. But in terms of

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Speaker 1: what we should want, we should want an end to

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Speaker 1: the conflict. And the US is now pretty much explicitly

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Speaker 1: declaring this as a proxy through which they want to

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Speaker 1: see as official statement of US policy by the Biden

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Speaker 1: administration to quote unquote weaken the Russian military. What does

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Speaker 1: that mean, Well, it means, as we have seen what

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Speaker 1: accompanied their visit, hundreds of millions of more dollars that

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Speaker 1: have been sent to the Ukrainians in terms of military aid.

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Speaker 1: That's right, It means that it also means making Russia

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Speaker 1: a permanent pariah status. You know, keeping these incredibly onerous

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Speaker 1: sanctions on that of course, are wildly indiscriminate, not just

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Speaker 1: targeting Putin and his Kremlin leadership and his oligarchic Bret buddies,

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Speaker 1: but the entire population. And so what the official policy

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Speaker 1: of the United States government, which has been clear for

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Speaker 1: a little while, but you know, this makes it even

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Speaker 1: more official, is basically, we are going to make Russia pariah.

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Speaker 1: We're going to try to bleed them dry. And what

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Speaker 1: Biden had said originally that Putin cannot remain in power,

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Speaker 1: and what Aids had been leaking and saying privately that

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Speaker 1: basically the only end game is to push amount of

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Speaker 1: power that is now becoming very close to official US

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Speaker 1: government policy and the impact of our actions. Look, it's

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Speaker 1: not all about us, but you know, we're kind of

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Speaker 1: a big player at all of this and have significant

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Speaker 1: influence of the over the direction of this conflict. We

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Speaker 1: have never been further away from any sort of negotiated

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Speaker 1: settlement and to these hostilities. Yeah, and that means for

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Speaker 1: civilians in Ukraine, it means continued decimation, destruction, and death.

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Speaker 1: And that's what's so sad about this whole situation one

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Speaker 1: hundred percent. And you look at it in the context

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Speaker 1: of the war, it looks like Putin is also responding

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Speaker 1: very much in kind. Let's put this up there on

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Speaker 1: the screen. Michael Kaufman, the military analyst who we really respect.

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Speaker 1: He put up that map that those who are watching

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Speaker 1: can see in terms of where the front line in

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Speaker 1: the battle is. But the real end result that you

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Speaker 1: can say from Michael is that he says that this

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Speaker 1: is very likely the decisive period of the war, beyond

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Speaker 1: what happened in the first three weeks, and that the

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Speaker 1: Russian military here is basically exhausting what remains of its

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Speaker 1: offensive potential. I want to emphasize this. They're exhausting their

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Speaker 1: emphasis offensive potential in the context of how they're selling

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Speaker 1: the war to the Russian population, absent a full scale mobilization,

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Speaker 1: absent bringing in, you know, troops from other parts of

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Speaker 1: the country in a full blown war footing a kin

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Speaker 1: to basically what the Ukrainians are. They're calling it like

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Speaker 1: a special action at home, not war, although apparently sometimes

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Speaker 1: the Russian anchors slip up and they're like, it's a war.

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Speaker 1: You're like, no debate the war. Yeah, yeah. In the heat,

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Speaker 1: in the heat of battle, everybody acknowledges it's a war.

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Speaker 1: But within what they have, what Kaufman and others are

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Speaker 1: pointing to is that they're very likely the last of

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Speaker 1: the offensive capability, which look, I mean we should not underestimate. Yes,

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Speaker 1: they've made a joke of themselves on the world stage,

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Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean that they're not going to be

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Speaker 1: able to put up a fierce fight and a court

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Speaker 1: increasing Western intelligence assessments. You take that of what you

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Speaker 1: will you know in terms of what they assess, in

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Speaker 1: terms of what Putin is thinking. Let's put this up

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Speaker 1: there on the screen, they say, and this is from

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Speaker 1: the Financial Times, which first broke the news. So this

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Speaker 1: is from British intelligence. Vladimir Putin abandons hopes of Ukraine

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Speaker 1: deal and shifts to a land grab strategy. This would

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Speaker 1: make sense given the complete basic breakdown of talks over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks. The Turkey talks basically went nowhere.

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Speaker 1: Escalation on the grounds continued. You saw the strategic withdrawal

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Speaker 1: from the city of Kiev, and now you basically see

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Speaker 1: a full scale war for the eastern part of the

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Speaker 1: country and of control that Putin is now looking at

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Speaker 1: this as a pure land grab in order to try

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Speaker 1: and grab as much land as he possibly can, which

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Speaker 1: is going to ensure an intense amount of death and

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Speaker 1: unfortunately an intense amount of fighting on the parts of

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Speaker 1: the Russians, because if this is the last of their

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Speaker 1: offensive capability, you can be sure that they are going

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Speaker 1: to be grabbing as much as they possibly can before

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Speaker 1: we even try to reach a negotiated settlement. And in

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Speaker 1: terms of the parts of the Ukrainians, they've put up

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Speaker 1: a fierce and a fierce, fierce resistance, but we did

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Speaker 1: see you know, one of the major cities there in

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Speaker 1: Ukraine already fall and who knows how much longer they

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Speaker 1: can hold out in that part of the country, which

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Speaker 1: is already at in a civil war for the last

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Speaker 1: eight years. Yeah, Kaufman, really, he's very clear he doesn't

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Speaker 1: want to hazard a guests as to what happens in

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Speaker 1: eastern Ukraine and which side is ultimately going to get

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Speaker 1: the upper hand. And by the way, to your point

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Speaker 1: about you know, will there be a broader military mobilization

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Speaker 1: from Russia where they actually are telling their populations warn't

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Speaker 1: preparing for that. There's a very ominous sign this morning

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Speaker 1: that you know, I'm not going to hazard a guess

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Speaker 1: as to what exactly is going on there, but there

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Speaker 1: are reports of explosions at a gas facility inside the

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Speaker 1: Russian porters. Wow. So you know, they could spin that

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Speaker 1: as this was a Ukrainian attack, perhaps it actually was

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Speaker 1: a Ukrainian attack, and say this is a direct attack

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Speaker 1: on our soil. Now it's time we have to fully

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Speaker 1: mobilize and fully go to war again. Don't know that

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Speaker 1: that's the direction it's going in. I'm just saying those

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Speaker 1: are the reports that are out there this morning, and

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Speaker 1: it's a very ominous development with regards to Putin and

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Speaker 1: this report that you know, he was kind of interested

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Speaker 1: in a deal with going back and forth and now

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Speaker 1: has sort of decided that no, we're just going to

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Speaker 1: go for this land grab strategy. I mean, part of

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Speaker 1: what he has always wanted as a key priority here

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Speaker 1: is not just the Eastern region, but also this land

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Speaker 1: bridge to Crimea. So that seems to be the direction

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Speaker 1: that they are ultimately moving in. And the fact that

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Speaker 1: the deal is effectively off the table, now, I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's just an extremely sad state of affairs, and I

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Speaker 1: think it's an indictment of US policy and US actions

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Speaker 1: with regard to Ukraine. They said there was hope for

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Speaker 1: a deal. This is one of the sources who were

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Speaker 1: speaking to the Financial Times. Putin was going back and forth,

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Speaker 1: he needs to find a way to come out of

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Speaker 1: this as a winner. And then you contrast that to

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Speaker 1: run Clain saying, no, we have no interest in giving

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Speaker 1: Putin any sort of face saving off ramp and the

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Speaker 1: administration's increasingly clear posture that their official policy is basically,

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Speaker 1: you know, cold war with Russia to the end, and

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Speaker 1: it is a it presages a new and very sad

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Speaker 1: and dangerous, frankly world order that we're moving into. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you know, whenever you have a situation where one

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Speaker 1: side needs to save face, who knows what that looks like,

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Speaker 1: Like you said, maybe there's some attack that they have staged.

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Speaker 1: Maybe it's even a Ukrainian attack. These longer the hostilities

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Speaker 1: go on, the longer that this type of situation in

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Speaker 1: the worst case scenario can unfold. Who knows how Putin

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Speaker 1: views the US policy saying we want to see Russia weekend.

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Speaker 1: I can guarantee you they're gonna be playing that all

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Speaker 1: over their TV all day long. This is exactly what

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Speaker 1: they want. They want to humiliate us, they want to

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Speaker 1: destroy US, which is definitely going to consolidate their population.

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Speaker 1: In terms of US policy, we shipped hundreds of millions

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Speaker 1: more dollars in military aid over just the last week,

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Speaker 1: you know, several different appropriations of weapons that are heading

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Speaker 1: over there. So look, this is entering a new face, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: one we basically predicted from the beginning, which is we're

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Speaker 1: very likely to see a massive stalemate. You know, World

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Speaker 1: War One people thought the same thing. They're like, well,

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Speaker 1: we've lost enough people now, so now we got to

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Speaker 1: come out of this thing on top. We have to

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Speaker 1: go and grab this land. You know, Alsace Lorraine was

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Speaker 1: a really worth two hundred you know, two million people

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Speaker 1: who have died over that soil. Pretty much everybody agrees

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Speaker 1: not but the same traps of war, the same leaders,

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Speaker 1: in the same hubris. We are sadly in the same

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Speaker 1: situation as we found out then and in almost every

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Speaker 1: war since. Now. It's all a game of attrition and

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Speaker 1: we'll see how it works out, but it's sad. That's

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Speaker 1: where we are this morning. All right, let's update you

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Speaker 1: on the election results out of France, because I find

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Speaker 1: this really fascinating and based on your response, you all

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Speaker 1: are pretty intrigued by it as well. So this was

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Speaker 1: the second and final round of the French presidential runoffs,

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Speaker 1: and it pitted Emmanuel mackerel, who of course is the incumbent,

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Speaker 1: against Marine Lepen who is a far right president. She

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Speaker 1: and her father have been running for president for quite

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Speaker 1: some time now. So there was a lot of nervousness

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Speaker 1: among establishment types because the polls were really quite tight

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Speaker 1: there for a while, and there was a big question

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Speaker 1: of who melon chon, who was the third place sort

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Speaker 1: of lefty candidate, kind of like France's Bernie sand To,

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Speaker 1: you know, make a very casual comparison here, Who would

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Speaker 1: his voters go ahead and support or would they show

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Speaker 1: up to vote at all? Because there were protests in

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Speaker 1: the street among students in particular, saying basically, we don't

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Speaker 1: want either of these candidates, we hate both of these people.

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Speaker 1: A sentiment that I think us here in America can

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Speaker 1: very much understand with regards to the type of choices

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Speaker 1: we have been offered in our presidential politics as well.

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Speaker 1: So we have official results, to go ahead and put

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Speaker 1: this first element up on the screen. From the Wall

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Speaker 1: Street Journal, Emmanuel Macrone has in fact won a second

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Speaker 1: term in the presidential election. You know. They go on

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Speaker 1: to say, he's now under pressure to unite millions of

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Speaker 1: French who cast ballots for his rivals in the election's

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Speaker 1: first round of voting. Because it's very important to note

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Speaker 1: that when you combine the vote for the far left

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Speaker 1: and far right candidates, more than fifty percent of the

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Speaker 1: vote went against the sort of establishment neoliberal direction of France.

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Speaker 1: So that's the first part. Let's put this next, this

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Speaker 1: next tear sheet up on the screen. From Lamont, they

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Speaker 1: talk here about you've got the official results, fifty seven

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Speaker 1: point four percent for mccron, fIF forty two point six

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Speaker 1: percent for Lapenn, so not particularly close in the end.

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Speaker 1: But they talk about here how large the numbers of

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Speaker 1: abstentions actually were. The extension rate was on course for

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Speaker 1: about twenty eight percent. That means people who just said

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Speaker 1: neither right, I don't want either of these people. I'm

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Speaker 1: staying home. I'm casting a blank ballot. I'm not picking

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Speaker 1: either one of these candidates. Twenty eight percent. That would

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Speaker 1: be the highest in any presidential election second round runoff

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Speaker 1: since nineteen sixty nine. So clearly voters not in love

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Speaker 1: with these choices. And by the way, perhaps part of

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Speaker 1: the reason why is because they report. High on mccron's

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Speaker 1: to do list once he's you know, back in office

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Speaker 1: is pension reform, raising the French retirement age, so cutting

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Speaker 1: back on social benefits. This has been, there been, you know,

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Speaker 1: his tenure has been already racked with protests. They had

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Speaker 1: the Yellow vest movement against guests tax increases. He's been

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Speaker 1: in terms of economics, you know, just standard neoliberal and

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Speaker 1: very dissonant from some of the social welfare traditions in France.

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Speaker 1: It's go ahead and put this next piece up on

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Speaker 1: the screen. That just has the margin fifty eight forty two,

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Speaker 1: so again not that close end you can see. Go

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Speaker 1: ahead and put the next tweet up on the screen.

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Speaker 1: You can see as we got closer to election day

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Speaker 1: that the area where it was sort of like the

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Speaker 1: tightest there on the screen. April tenth. That was right

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Speaker 1: during the first round of voting, and ever since then,

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Speaker 1: McCrone has been gaining and gaining and gaining. So his

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Speaker 1: message of basically like, listen, you may not like me

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Speaker 1: all that much, but we got to be a bulwark

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Speaker 1: against the right seems to have worked. I know also

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Speaker 1: that there were a lot of attacks from him on

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Speaker 1: La Penn over her ties to Russia, you know, as

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Speaker 1: the Ukraine conflict continues to unfold. So that's what the

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Speaker 1: lay of the land looks like there. It's pretty fascinating. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: in terms of Macron, I mean, he was an incredibly

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Speaker 1: unpopular politician, but that's actually kind of par for the course. Now, Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: some US people are trying to read into this, one

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Speaker 1: of them being the White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain,

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Speaker 1: put up this tweet. He says, quote an interesting observation.

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Speaker 1: Just fyi, President Macrone appears to have secured a double

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Speaker 1: digit victory over La Penn at a time when his

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Speaker 1: approval rating is thirty six percent. Now that's incredibly low,

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Speaker 1: iq and dumb for a variety of reads. Number One,

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Speaker 1: last time I checked, we live in an electoral college,

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Speaker 1: not a direct democracy. In terms of national popular vote,

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Speaker 1: and I think Biden would have to have a fifty

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Speaker 1: two to a fifty four percent margin just to win

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Speaker 1: the electoral college. So that's number one. Number two, we

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Speaker 1: don't have a runoff system a lah what we happened previously,

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Speaker 1: so that might actually cut across. But third, you really

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Speaker 1: want to celebrate the fact that the guy won. And

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Speaker 1: you know, look, on the one hand, Macron it was

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Speaker 1: a blowout. On the other, I mean he comes into

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Speaker 1: a much weaker position. His party does not look well

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Speaker 1: poised when the upcoming parliamentary elections. France is obviously know

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Speaker 1: insconsin turmoil, So you really want to celebrate a win

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Speaker 1: on that and just acknowledging how unpopular you are looks

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Speaker 1: completely ridiculous. Now, in terms of the election itself, you

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Speaker 1: were talking about with the crossover vote, let's put this

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Speaker 1: up there, forty two percent of first round Melanchon voters

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Speaker 1: actually backed Macron in the election. Now forty two percent

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Speaker 1: could be looked at as a lot or it could

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Speaker 1: be looked at as really not that much, given the

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Speaker 1: fact that Melanchon actually said nobody should vote for Marine

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Speaker 1: La Penn, so a high level of abstention, and this

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Speaker 1: was the lowest rate forty two for Melonchon voters packing

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Speaker 1: Macron and seventeen percent backing Lapenn. So many more went

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Speaker 1: with Macron, but you can see quite a number just

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Speaker 1: said nah, yeah, blank, none of the above. I think

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Speaker 1: that's what's really nuts. And like I said, in terms

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Speaker 1: of his National Assembly, what he looks poised to win.

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Speaker 1: Who knows in terms of how this works out, But

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Speaker 1: the polls there seem more accurate. Let's put this up there,

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Speaker 1: which is sixty six percent say they do not want

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Speaker 1: him to obtain a majority of seats in the National Assembly,

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Speaker 1: which would all but spell doom for that pension reform

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Speaker 1: and all of that. Now in terms of the in

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Speaker 1: terms of deeper in terms of the election get in

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Speaker 1: the context of Lapenn, there's a lot going on here.

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Speaker 1: Let's put with Taniel who we had on the show.

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Speaker 1: I actually kind of disagree with his point here. He

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Speaker 1: says important one of caution is the highest that the

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Speaker 1: far right has gotten in two thousand and two, Jean

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Speaker 1: Marie Lapenn got eighteen percent. Five years ago, Lapenn got

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Speaker 1: thirty four. This time, Lapenn gets forty one to forty three. Now,

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Speaker 1: I guess you could say that it is an accomplishment

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Speaker 1: in order to get to forty one to forty three.

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Speaker 1: But in the context of any other politics getting beat

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Speaker 1: by fifty you know what is it, fifty six to

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Speaker 1: forty three, that's terrible. I mean, that's a complete blowout.

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Speaker 1: So really, the story to me is what we said

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Speaker 1: from the beginning. The story is that the center left

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Speaker 1: and the center right in France are dead. There is

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Speaker 1: a weird neolib constituency in Macron, but he still created

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Speaker 1: his own party. He's got elements of the right, he's

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Speaker 1: got elements of the left, he's got elements of the center.

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Speaker 1: He destroyed the center left Lapenn also, so it just

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Speaker 1: remains really just a complete non starter figure for a

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Speaker 1: large portion of the French population, they're willing to begrudgingly

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Speaker 1: vote for him. And in terms of the right, the

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Speaker 1: gaullest center right party which ruled France for I don't

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Speaker 1: even know for decades, yeah, dead God. That's the story

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Speaker 1: to me, which is that you see these two independent

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Speaker 1: candidates which are now assembling new coalitions, and how that

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Speaker 1: shakes out in the history of France. This is we're

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Speaker 1: going to look back on this period and say this

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Speaker 1: was a big, big moment in their history as to

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Speaker 1: how a new coalition and a new center is evolving.

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Speaker 1: It's really fascinating and it is. There's a lot of

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Speaker 1: temptations to make analogies with American politics, and I think

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Speaker 1: some of them are apt. Certainly we can see it

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Speaker 1: in you a reflection our own politics of having these

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Speaker 1: two choices that you know, there's a lot of people

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Speaker 1: who aren't terribly excited about having, you know, the message

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Speaker 1: of basically like, look, you may not love me, but

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Speaker 1: you got to be super scared of this person over here,

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Speaker 1: So you got to suck it up and suck it

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Speaker 1: up and vote for Cron in this case, right, and

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Speaker 1: ultimately that won the day. So similar to Biden versus Trump,

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Speaker 1: that message was compelling enough for Macron not just to win,

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Speaker 1: but win here by a comfortable margin. I think there's

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Speaker 1: also something to be said about the fact that his

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Speaker 1: political strategy looks sort of like what Biden's political strategy

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Speaker 1: looks like right now, which is basically to piss off

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Speaker 1: your own base. So Macroln since he's come into office,

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Speaker 1: has on cultural issues in particular, decidedly moved to the right,

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Speaker 1: thinking like this will be a bulwark against the Penn

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Speaker 1: and against other right candidates. But instead what he did

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Speaker 1: is just pissed off everybody on the left, so that

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Speaker 1: you ended up having this, you know, large abstention among

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Speaker 1: the left wing that you know would want to stand

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Speaker 1: against the right, and so it ended up making the

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Speaker 1: election closer than it might have been had he not

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Speaker 1: gone down that path. And then I also think that

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Speaker 1: you see, you know, this hollow neoliberalism that everyone hates.

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Speaker 1: I shouldn't say everyone, but many people really hate. That's

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Speaker 1: basically rejected by the population. That leads Macron to have

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Speaker 1: thirty six percent approval rating, very similar again to Joe Biden.

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Speaker 1: But that message of yeah, but the alternative is worse

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Speaker 1: is enough for people to sort of suck it up

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Speaker 1: and deal with a lot of things that they ultimately

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Speaker 1: don't like. The story below the presidential level, at the

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Speaker 1: national assembly also super fascinating because at the presidential level,

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Speaker 1: you're right, the center right in the center left parties

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Speaker 1: that dominated French politics for decades are like they got decimated.

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Speaker 1: They weren't even a factor in this president either of

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Speaker 1: the presidential runoffs. Now at the national assembly level, it

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Speaker 1: is a little bit of a different picture. But you

431
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,680
Speaker 1: see melon Seawan. The left in France quite emboldened right

432
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: now too, because even though they didn't make the runoff,

433
00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 1: he didn't make the runoff, he came a lot closer

434
00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,360
Speaker 1: than he was ultimately being predicted. And because you have

435
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,760
Speaker 1: this large sentiment in favor of sort of a bulwark

436
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:04,840
Speaker 1: against Macron and some of the economic policies that he

437
00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,119
Speaker 1: wants to pursue, they're really hoping to make some big

438
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,880
Speaker 1: gains at the National Assembly level. So I do think

439
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 1: it's really interesting. I think it's very telling that clearly

440
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,960
Speaker 1: ron Klain is taking you know, Biden chief of staff,

441
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,440
Speaker 1: ron Klain is taking something from this basically saying like, look,

442
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:23,320
Speaker 1: we don't have to do any better, We don't have

443
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 1: to deliver on material politics for people, or you know,

444
00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 1: stop pissing people off or actually governed. Well, you all

445
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:33,880
Speaker 1: can really not be too into Joe Biden and think

446
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:35,879
Speaker 1: he's doing a terrible job and we still think we

447
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,080
Speaker 1: got a decent shot to win the election because Trump

448
00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:41,760
Speaker 1: is that much worse. That's a very very depressing state

449
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 1: of politics that, frankly, we've been living in for quite

450
00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,840
Speaker 1: some time. I've been living in this for a while.

451
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,800
Speaker 1: You know, in terms of what plagues the West, that

452
00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,960
Speaker 1: looks to be basically the same story Germany, France, the

453
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,320
Speaker 1: UK and here. It's not like Boris Johnson is super

454
00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:58,960
Speaker 1: popular either. No, no, he's nice. What a sad state

455
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: of affairs that we live? It really actually is, I mean,

456
00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 1: when you think of it, it really is an indictment

457
00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 1: of the whole neoliberal project over the past forty years

458
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:10,800
Speaker 1: that you know, we're I don't know if you guys

459
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,199
Speaker 1: saw this news item. Bernie Sanders is still thinking of

460
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,879
Speaker 1: maybe I should run for president, and God bless him.

461
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 1: I mean, I certainly support like the program and the

462
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,600
Speaker 1: agenda and what he has meant to the movement. But

463
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 1: the fact that you have no standard bear that can

464
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,720
Speaker 1: follow us, that you have no bench that you would

465
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,439
Speaker 1: that you would seriously look around and be like, I

466
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,600
Speaker 1: guess I gotta do it again is also in that

467
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,520
Speaker 1: you know, on the neoliberal side, the best they think

468
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,639
Speaker 1: they can do is Joe Biden, I mean, Kamala Harris

469
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 1: completely disaster. So it is kind of an indictment of

470
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:44,600
Speaker 1: the whole project that we've been engaged in here for

471
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 1: number of decades. And look over on the I mean

472
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,199
Speaker 1: after Trump, like, who is it? Right? It's like a

473
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 1: clown car of a bunch of people who want to

474
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 1: try and fill his shoes. So you know, it's an

475
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:57,880
Speaker 1: ever present story, unfortunately in a spot of potential eat

476
00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,920
Speaker 1: good news depending on how you feel about it. Let's

477
00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:02,560
Speaker 1: go and move on here. Elon Musk, So there is

478
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,000
Speaker 1: breaking news this morning. This is what we had last night.

479
00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,919
Speaker 1: Cut let's put it up there on the screen. Twitter

480
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:09,920
Speaker 1: is re examining Elon must bid and it may be

481
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,600
Speaker 1: more receptive to the deal. Now since that time, we

482
00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 1: actually have some breaking news that came out this morning

483
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,880
Speaker 1: that a deal could be signed as soon as today.

484
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,080
Speaker 1: Now what they say is that the Twitter is very

485
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 1: likely to accept Musk's forty three billion dollar offer. Now

486
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:29,960
Speaker 1: this came after Elon actually secured funding officially per an

487
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,800
Speaker 1: SEC filing. Let's put that up there on the screen. Now,

488
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:35,920
Speaker 1: what they said is that he secured the forty six

489
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,560
Speaker 1: point five billion dollars in funding. He was meeting with

490
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 1: activists and bigger investors all over the weekend. Reports Crystal

491
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,360
Speaker 1: that over the last couple of hours that they had

492
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:48,359
Speaker 1: been on the phone in the wei hours of the

493
00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,520
Speaker 1: day that they were negotiating the fine points of the deal.

494
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,040
Speaker 1: In terms of what the deal actually looks like, we

495
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,159
Speaker 1: still don't one hundred percent know. The reason that this

496
00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,520
Speaker 1: is significant is that the big question mark around was

497
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,439
Speaker 1: does he actually have the dollars? And that question was

498
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,959
Speaker 1: of course solved whenever he put forward the SEC filing

499
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,560
Speaker 1: officially saying that he had the money. And then you

500
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 1: point to the fact that a deal could come as

501
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: soon as today with serious negotiations that are happening, the

502
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,080
Speaker 1: original poison pill appears to have been tossed out the window.

503
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 1: I think what this comes from is that they were

504
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: very skeptical, and I think rightfully so given his past

505
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 1: actions on Tesla. They're like, we don't think that he

506
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:28,679
Speaker 1: has the money. So when he came forward with that

507
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,640
Speaker 1: letter saying, look, here's forty six to five, I've got

508
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,480
Speaker 1: the cash, let's go, then I think they were forced

509
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,400
Speaker 1: from a fiduciary responsibility in order to actively consider the deal.

510
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 1: And given that their stock is not doing all that

511
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:43,960
Speaker 1: well and this is a significant premium upon their stock,

512
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 1: they have really no choice without facing a massive amount

513
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,440
Speaker 1: of lawsuits. That's the analysis that we basically gave everyone

514
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 1: at the top we're like, look, I mean, from a

515
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,360
Speaker 1: shareholder perspective, you can't not do right by the shareholders

516
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,240
Speaker 1: by giving them a twenty percent premium. And this would

517
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,359
Speaker 1: make it so that Usk outright owning the company, keeping

518
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,639
Speaker 1: it private, and then being able to enforce whatever content

519
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 1: policy he wants without the whims of the public markets.

520
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:10,879
Speaker 1: It really is, I mean, it's going to be extraordinary

521
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 1: if it actually goes through. Well, the one potential legal

522
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:17,200
Speaker 1: avenue that they had to argue that we could reject

523
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:20,439
Speaker 1: this deal that yes, it's at a premium, but it

524
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,840
Speaker 1: may not be in the best interest of the shareholders

525
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,879
Speaker 1: because ultimately he has values that are separate in apart

526
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,159
Speaker 1: from just the financial performance of the company. So that

527
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,560
Speaker 1: was one thing that people had floated of basically how

528
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,679
Speaker 1: they can get out of this bind of their legal

529
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:37,200
Speaker 1: requirement to act in the best interests of the shareholders.

530
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 1: I think you're correct though that, you know, that just

531
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 1: became sort of untenable once the money was on the

532
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,360
Speaker 1: table and it was this significance of a premium over

533
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,760
Speaker 1: where the stock price has been. I just, you know,

534
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,200
Speaker 1: at a macro level, I think we should always keep

535
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,000
Speaker 1: in mind with this story, what a dim state of

536
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 1: affairs it is that are sort of public square and

537
00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: speech is subject to the whims of a small handful

538
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: of elite overclass, right like in whatever their whims are

539
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 1: good bad in dem of whether you have to agree

540
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:09,719
Speaker 1: with this one or that one or the other one.

541
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,200
Speaker 1: That's not a good place for us to be in

542
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,719
Speaker 1: that we have to like hope that this particular billionaire

543
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,359
Speaker 1: and what they feel like doing today is going to

544
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: be ultimately good for the functioning of our democracy. I

545
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 1: think that's a sad state of affairs with regards to

546
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:26,840
Speaker 1: Musk himself, you know, I mean, I am hopeful that

547
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,159
Speaker 1: his content moderation policies will be more in line with

548
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,720
Speaker 1: the healthy functioning of a democracy less censorious less in

549
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 1: that direction, especially the direction Twitter has moved in since

550
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:41,159
Speaker 1: Jack stepped down as CEO, which has been very troubling. So,

551
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:43,960
Speaker 1: you know, am I hopeful that this particular billionaire might

552
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 1: be a little bit better on those things. Yes, there

553
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 1: may be some other decisions that we ultimately don't like.

554
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 1: I personally am not a fan of the idea of

555
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: adding the edit button, something that he has purportedly I've

556
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,000
Speaker 1: been interested in. The edit button is a terrible idea

557
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,439
Speaker 1: everybody has gone viral, well okay, anybody who was in

558
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 1: the game this business has gone viral and has misspelled something,

559
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:05,879
Speaker 1: perhaps done something wrong. Guess what, you know what the

560
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 1: best thing to do is. And this is my policy

561
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:09,920
Speaker 1: if I tweet something which is wrong or I did incorrect.

562
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,479
Speaker 1: Anytime I delete a tweet, I delete it and then

563
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,879
Speaker 1: I screenshot it and I say, this is why I

564
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 1: deleted it. Because if you just reply and be like, hey,

565
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 1: I got this wrong, the fake news or the fake

566
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 1: part of it could still go viral. And with an

567
00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 1: edit button, it will make it so that we could

568
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: potentially have a tweet that goes viral for one hundred

569
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,199
Speaker 1: thousand somebody edits it and you look at it and

570
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,200
Speaker 1: you think that the edited version is why it went

571
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 1: or if somebody gets dunked on, look this is very

572
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,920
Speaker 1: or like what if you retweet something yeah, and then

573
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,080
Speaker 1: it gets already I guess that is something that you

574
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 1: don't agree with exactly that you don't want to endorse

575
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 1: if your retweets equal endorsements. So I'm not a fan

576
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 1: of that at button. I also just like the like

577
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 1: humanizing aspect of seeing all of our fuck ups and

578
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,959
Speaker 1: like spellings and auto corrects and all that stuff. So

579
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,400
Speaker 1: that part of it I'm very opposed to, but I

580
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 1: would say that's a smaller issue. So then you know

581
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 1: the speech issues because Twitter. Why this matters so much

582
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 1: and why we followed it so closely, and why there's

583
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 1: been such a panic and freak out among a large

584
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,720
Speaker 1: set of sort of elite journalists in particular, is because

585
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 1: Twitter really is disproportionately powerful in terms of impacting elite discourse.

586
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 1: It is not, by far, it is not the most

587
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 1: widely used social media platform, but when you're talking about

588
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,280
Speaker 1: journalists and opinion makers, this is where they go to

589
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 1: say their piece. This is where they go oftentimes to

590
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 1: like gap which maybe they should do a lot less,

591
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 1: but to gather information about how people are feeling about

592
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: different things. So that's why it matters so much to

593
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 1: the functioning of our democracy. It's funny too, in terms

594
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 1: of what you're saying. You know, snapchats earnings and reports

595
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 1: came out they have one hundred and fifteen million more

596
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 1: daily active users than Twitter. Really, Yeah, ask yourself, does

597
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: Snapchat punch at the same level of cultural relevance as Twitter? No?

598
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,120
Speaker 1: And actually it fits really with our show as well.

599
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 1: People ask me all the time, They're like, how come

600
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 1: you guys aren't more active on Twitter. I'm like, dude,

601
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 1: I don't care about Twitter. The majority of the people

602
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: who watch our show and consume our content do so

603
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 1: on YouTube, to a limited extents on Instagram, and then

604
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 1: to a far more limited extent on TikTok, where we

605
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 1: have those channels. That's it, that's where the vast majority

606
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 1: of people actually are as in I care about reaching

607
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 1: the maximum amount of people people, not necessarily being you know,

608
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:27,520
Speaker 1: amongst elite cachet because that's a much smaller audience. And

609
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 1: for this show, we talk about populous things and about

610
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:31,959
Speaker 1: things that are affecting real people's lives. Majority of real

611
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 1: people are not on Twitter. Many people don't even have

612
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:36,800
Speaker 1: a Twitter account. The only time that we really engage

613
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 1: on Twitter is either a in order to make an

614
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 1: announcement just because it's sufficient, or B in order to

615
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 1: you know, penetrate the in order to penetrate elite discourse.

616
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,960
Speaker 1: When I talk about media and stuff like that, I'm

617
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: doing it very pointedly at the specific media elites who

618
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 1: I know shadow follow me or follow me because I'm

619
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: subtweeting them, whereas here on the show, I don't care

620
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 1: about any of those people. I know they're gonna watch anyway,

621
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:02,920
Speaker 1: and fine, Free Country. What I want to do is

622
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:04,960
Speaker 1: reach the majority of the people, and that's what we

623
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 1: do here. So in terms of the usages of social

624
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,080
Speaker 1: media platforms, it's just important to note Twitter is important

625
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 1: for elites, and the reason why that that matters is

626
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,840
Speaker 1: because elites run your life, my life, and all of ours.

627
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: So the content policies on that platform have an outsize impact.

628
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 1: At the same time, it doesn't matter for a lot

629
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:24,720
Speaker 1: of people because not even on the platform in the

630
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:26,840
Speaker 1: first place. I would just say I really hope that

631
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: it works out from a content perspective. Musk's strategy saying

632
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 1: I don't care about the economics at all, really, in

633
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: my opinion, is the only way to run Twitter. Twitter

634
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: is not a very good business. It's probably a couple

635
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 1: billion dollars a year profit based upon advertising, but it's

636
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 1: long term prospects of adding daily active users and changing

637
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:46,440
Speaker 1: the product. The core product is what it is. There's

638
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 1: not a lot of innovation really to be had, and

639
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:50,360
Speaker 1: I think that's fine, but the problem is that doesn't

640
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: work with the stocks right you could have a situation

641
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 1: where your product could grow by twenty percent or something

642
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:57,959
Speaker 1: like that, your stock still goes down because it's, oh,

643
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,440
Speaker 1: Wall Street expected twenty five percent. So keeping it private,

644
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 1: in my opinion, probably the best move possibly. I mean,

645
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 1: I personally would like to see like total government takeover.

646
00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 1: So if we have, you know, I mean, because honestly

647
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 1: that at least that at least you have some democratic accountability.

648
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:15,520
Speaker 1: I Mean, what I'm really interested in with all these

649
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 1: platforms is I think the more neutral they can be,

650
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: the better. And I mean that both from a content

651
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 1: moderation standpoint. You know, you have a set of rules.

652
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 1: They should be as hands off as possible, and then

653
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:33,000
Speaker 1: they have to be religiously applied consistently, and there isn't

654
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 1: a single platform out there that meets that standard right now.

655
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 1: And then the other piece, which is less relevant for Twitter,

656
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 1: but still relevant, is what content is being served to people,

657
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 1: and you know, seeing and having transparency of how those

658
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 1: algorithms ultimately work, because that shapes what you see and

659
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,440
Speaker 1: how people communicate, how they even how their brains work.

660
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 1: That shapes all of that so incredibly. And so the

661
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,600
Speaker 1: fact that on YouTube, for example, we have no insight.

662
00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:06,760
Speaker 1: That is just a total black box, zero insight into

663
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,520
Speaker 1: how they're picking content to serve and what that recommendation

664
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 1: algorithm looks like. I think that's really damaging as well.

665
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: So you know, on Twitter, they move to this system

666
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 1: where you know, they used to just show you whatever

667
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 1: came up in your feed next, and now you have

668
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:25,520
Speaker 1: to choose, like actively, you have to choose that option

669
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: because the default is we're going to pick for you

670
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 1: what we think you'd be into. And you know, the

671
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 1: fact of the matter is they're actually pretty good at that.

672
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 1: Like oftentimes I find that feed that they sort of

673
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: curated for me to be very useful. But it also

674
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,000
Speaker 1: makes the platform less neutral and makes it so that

675
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:45,640
Speaker 1: they have more control over what things are getting seen,

676
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,920
Speaker 1: what things are going viral, what things you feel like

677
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 1: are most central and most important, And ultimately, I think

678
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 1: that's a direction that is a problem for democracy. Yeah,

679
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,520
Speaker 1: on at least one thing in musk cap, he is

680
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 1: saying he wants to make the algorithm trends, and I

681
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 1: think that would be great. That would be great. I

682
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:04,560
Speaker 1: want to see that on I would love to see

683
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 1: that on every platform, because then at least you have

684
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,879
Speaker 1: the information and it would be better if we had

685
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 1: sort of democratic accountability and had these things run more

686
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 1: like public utilities, because I do think that they are

687
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 1: critical infrastructure in terms of the function of our society.

688
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,200
Speaker 1: But at the very least, just like with the Stock Act,

689
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,480
Speaker 1: if you have that transparency, then people can do the reporting,

690
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,640
Speaker 1: they can expose what's really going on, and then you

691
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:35,680
Speaker 1: can have some sort of populist democratic backlash to demand

692
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,720
Speaker 1: things be moved in a different direction, to demand, for example,

693
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,759
Speaker 1: that you don't have CNN and Fox News and MSNBC

694
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 1: propped up to the extent that they very clearly are

695
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 1: by YouTube. It's an interesting conversation around tech two. I

696
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:48,760
Speaker 1: was talking with the friend of mine, Shri Ram Krishnan.

697
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:50,560
Speaker 1: He's a venture capitalist. He actually used to work at

698
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:52,560
Speaker 1: Twitter for Jactors Dorsey and one of that he put

699
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,319
Speaker 1: out a video we put a recommendation on which is

700
00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:58,160
Speaker 1: that if we could control our own algorithm more, What

701
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:00,319
Speaker 1: I mean is, you could opt as a U user

702
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,399
Speaker 1: into the default recommendation algorithm give me the stuff that's

703
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 1: going to make me engage the most. But now that's

704
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:08,359
Speaker 1: the default because of advertising. But if you move away

705
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,200
Speaker 1: to a different business model, or if you just give

706
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 1: that up altogether. Let's say that we wanted to choose

707
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,440
Speaker 1: the consecutive timeline. You and I work in news. I

708
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,560
Speaker 1: don't care about the recommendation algorithm. I want to know

709
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:20,680
Speaker 1: what's happening right now, so I could I could opt

710
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,880
Speaker 1: into that. You could also opt into, like an entertainment algorithm.

711
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 1: You could opt into different ones that the company could

712
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,920
Speaker 1: select and give you different options over your user experience.

713
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 1: I think that would be a lot more empowering for

714
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:34,120
Speaker 1: the user, and it moves more in a direction of

715
00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:36,280
Speaker 1: like the tech should work for us, not we should

716
00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:40,880
Speaker 1: work in the tech. Well. The other big central problem

717
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:45,160
Speaker 1: that was written about in the book Stolen Focus is

718
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 1: the advertising driven model. Yes, because that makes the whole incentive.

719
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,239
Speaker 1: How do we not to how do we satisfy you

720
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:57,239
Speaker 1: and make you have a good, pleasant, edifying experience. How

721
00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:02,560
Speaker 1: do we keep you here, keep you clicking, keep you agitated? Rights,

722
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,960
Speaker 1: that's the whole ecosystem because it is driven by ad dollars.

723
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 1: The more time you're there, the more emotions like good, bad,

724
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 1: are and different that you're having about the content that

725
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,319
Speaker 1: you're serving, the better it is for sort of the

726
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 1: capitalist advertising system and so which is again why we

727
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 1: thought really carefully about our business model to move it,

728
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:26,920
Speaker 1: you know, away from depending on ad dollars and tours

729
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 1: depending on membership fees, because that just gives you a

730
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 1: different set of incentives than if you're just wanting people

731
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:38,760
Speaker 1: to click and be mad or be disgusted or be fearful.

732
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:43,080
Speaker 1: So I think that, like super advertising driven model, is

733
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:46,279
Speaker 1: another really pernicious problem at the core of all of

734
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,600
Speaker 1: these social media play If we were just straight YouTubers,

735
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,319
Speaker 1: our only goal would be to put out videos with

736
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,759
Speaker 1: as much clickbait or whatever as possible and just keep

737
00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:57,840
Speaker 1: time on platform and the retention rate as high as possible.

738
00:36:57,880 --> 00:36:59,400
Speaker 1: Sometimes you do a clip that's only three minutes, you

739
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:01,320
Speaker 1: know why, because Freeman is worth the stuff to say,

740
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:03,680
Speaker 1: Dragging it out for a long period is not good

741
00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:05,440
Speaker 1: for the user and it's not good for us. It's

742
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,160
Speaker 1: worst content. But that's what the incentives actually look like.

743
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:10,600
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, just gives you a good behind

744
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 1: the scenes into what that would look like with an

745
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,960
Speaker 1: alternative funding model, with the direct subscription, we can give

746
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:16,960
Speaker 1: you the best product that we want to give, right,

747
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:22,759
Speaker 1: And I think the distance between what YouTube promotes and

748
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 1: what actual human beings would choose for themselves was really

749
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:30,319
Speaker 1: demonstrated by when we asked our premium subscribers, what do

750
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:32,680
Speaker 1: you want us to talk about? Yeah? Right, and it

751
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,759
Speaker 1: was wildly different than what you know, the YouTube sort

752
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:39,640
Speaker 1: of algorithm would push to people and would ultimately reward.

753
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:43,000
Speaker 1: So for me, I think that says it all about

754
00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:46,560
Speaker 1: the distance between what these platforms are actually serving you

755
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:51,240
Speaker 1: and creating and incentivizing, versus what people would actually enjoy

756
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,759
Speaker 1: and find to be useful in their lives. Okay, let's

757
00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:55,800
Speaker 1: go ahead and move on, Crystal. I don't want to

758
00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 1: take too much of a victory lab unfortunately for myself

759
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:00,800
Speaker 1: and for the entire world. I would right, let's go

760
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:04,080
Speaker 1: ahead and put this up there on the screen. The

761
00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:08,280
Speaker 1: Justice Department will be appealing the travel mask mandate after

762
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 1: the CDC says masks will still need it on public transportation.

763
00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:14,960
Speaker 1: They just won't give this one up, Crystal. They are

764
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 1: into demanding possible way. Yeah, they really did, which is

765
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,200
Speaker 1: they were like, well, we need to appeal the mask

766
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:23,200
Speaker 1: mandate because we need to preserve the ability of the

767
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:27,080
Speaker 1: CDC to make all public health decisions. Here's the thing

768
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 1: with the CDC. They have never been a organization that

769
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:36,000
Speaker 1: makes law. Their job is to issue a public health advisory,

770
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 1: not to set national policy. So, for example, we've talked

771
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,719
Speaker 1: about this, CDC says that you should cook all your

772
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:46,200
Speaker 1: meat to one hundred and sixty degrees internal temperature. How

773
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,359
Speaker 1: many people out there like rare stakes? Every time you do,

774
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:52,400
Speaker 1: you are doing it in violation of CDC guidance. We

775
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:55,319
Speaker 1: take their advisory. Sometimes we abide by it, maybe if

776
00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 1: you're at a sketchy burger place. The other times you're like, hey,

777
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:00,320
Speaker 1: I have confidence in my ability and I'm going to

778
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,800
Speaker 1: make free choices for myself. So if they can issue

779
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:05,640
Speaker 1: an advisory. But as they are saying that the CDC's

780
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:09,480
Speaker 1: basic authority was trumped over and thus the Justice Department

781
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,360
Speaker 1: is acting on that, behalf. Well. The charge that irritating

782
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,200
Speaker 1: was how the administration was clearly all over the place, right.

783
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:18,160
Speaker 1: I was about to get to that, Yeah, we can

784
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 1: go to D three because I think this is like

785
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 1: so ridiculous. So at one Jensaki was like, we would

786
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:28,000
Speaker 1: advise all Americans to wear masks on aeroplanes. Then at two,

787
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,600
Speaker 1: Joe Biden himself said wearing a mask is up to

788
00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:35,719
Speaker 1: individuals and then at three, the HHS Secretary was like,

789
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: we're likely going to appeal the federal ruling striking down

790
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 1: the mass mandate. And they did it in this weird

791
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:44,920
Speaker 1: way too, where they were like, we're not going to decide,

792
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:46,840
Speaker 1: We're going to leave it up to the CDC what

793
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,160
Speaker 1: they're going to do. And then ultimately, so if you

794
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:54,280
Speaker 1: genuinely feel like, either you know, this is really important

795
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,759
Speaker 1: for public health, okay, then you appeal to ruling. Or

796
00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:00,160
Speaker 1: if you feel like this is an infringement on you know,

797
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:04,239
Speaker 1: the federal government's ability to promulgate rules based on their

798
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:07,680
Speaker 1: authority granted to them by Congress, then in that case too,

799
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:10,080
Speaker 1: you would appeal. So it was sort of weird that

800
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,880
Speaker 1: they were like, DOJ defer to CDC and we just

801
00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 1: want hands off, which I think reflected the fact that

802
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,360
Speaker 1: inside the administration there were a lot of there was

803
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,360
Speaker 1: a fierce debate over what exactly to do here because

804
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 1: politically you still have a majority that supports the public

805
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,880
Speaker 1: transit mask rule, but the people who are most animated

806
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 1: about it are the people who are well also. I

807
00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 1: can tell you I flew over the weekend. I would

808
00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 1: say eighty percent people on the planes not wearing masks,

809
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,200
Speaker 1: maybe ninety actually even in the airports, on the plane itself,

810
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:43,680
Speaker 1: it was like, yeah, about twenty percent of the people

811
00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:47,240
Speaker 1: were wearing masks. So that's just my experience over the weekend.

812
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:49,320
Speaker 1: And that was literally the day of the mass mandate

813
00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:52,960
Speaker 1: getting struck down. Small obviously sample group. I think this

814
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,239
Speaker 1: is revenge of the bureaucrats. I think that the bureaucrats

815
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,239
Speaker 1: inside the CDC and Fauci and them specifically could not

816
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:00,879
Speaker 1: take the idea that the mass and ate was struck down,

817
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:02,920
Speaker 1: that they don't get to decide that. You saw a

818
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: little bit of a preview from Fauci himself in one

819
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:08,960
Speaker 1: of his first and probably only appearances on CNN plus

820
00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 1: let's take a content. Well, it's surprised and disappointed because

821
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:15,360
Speaker 1: those types of things really are the preview of the CDC.

822
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 1: This is a public health issue and for a court

823
00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:22,080
Speaker 1: to come in and if you look at the rationale

824
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 1: for that, it really is not particularly firm. And we

825
00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:29,240
Speaker 1: are concerned about that about courts getting involved in things

826
00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,560
Speaker 1: that are unequivocally public health decisions. I mean, this is

827
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 1: a CDC issue which should not have been a court issue.

828
00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 1: Ah CDC issue so this is I think this is

829
00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:41,400
Speaker 1: a ludicrous. It's not a CDC issue. It's up to

830
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,680
Speaker 1: the president. The president can take the advisory of the

831
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,799
Speaker 1: CDC in the Yes policy and in that vein, it

832
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:49,239
Speaker 1: actually is a court issue because executive action is under

833
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:51,759
Speaker 1: the purview of the federal judiciary. Well, that's what I

834
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:53,759
Speaker 1: was going to say, is you know, you do hear

835
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:56,799
Speaker 1: a lot from the right about like unelected judges and

836
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,440
Speaker 1: making lawn whatever, and it is a pro that's a

837
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,359
Speaker 1: whole system and checking balances is you know, there can

838
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:05,080
Speaker 1: be tension between trying to figure out what is the

839
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:08,760
Speaker 1: purview and authority of the executive branch, the legislative branch

840
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:12,319
Speaker 1: versus the judiciary. And so you know, I don't just

841
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:15,279
Speaker 1: like dismiss out of hand. Oh, it's ridiculous that the

842
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:17,719
Speaker 1: CDC would think that they have some authority granted to

843
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,400
Speaker 1: them by Congress. So I don't think that that's the

844
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:23,719
Speaker 1: big problem here. To me, though, The issue is the

845
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:27,600
Speaker 1: sort of meta issue is that you know, you have

846
00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:32,120
Speaker 1: this whole direction in politics of basically value free We're

847
00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:36,120
Speaker 1: just going to outsource our thinking and outsource our principles

848
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:39,719
Speaker 1: to the bureaucrats. We're gonna let the peak bootageges of

849
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 1: the world with their spreadsheets, crunch the numbers, and we

850
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:45,320
Speaker 1: don't have to do any real thinking for ourselves. We

851
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:47,440
Speaker 1: don't have to do any real governing for ourselves. We

852
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,759
Speaker 1: don't have to weigh competing values and competing priorities. We're

853
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,839
Speaker 1: just going to let the number crunchers ultimately decide. And

854
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:57,000
Speaker 1: that's exactly what they did here. I respect it more

855
00:42:57,200 --> 00:42:59,799
Speaker 1: if the White House just directly came out and said, no,

856
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:03,640
Speaker 1: we think number one, it's we weigh the risks as

857
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:05,840
Speaker 1: more important than the benefit of being able to not

858
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:07,920
Speaker 1: wear a mask at this point. And here's the data

859
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:10,520
Speaker 1: that backs that up, and why we value that over

860
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:12,640
Speaker 1: being able to, you know, choose whether or not you

861
00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 1: wear a mask. And here's what we think about our

862
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:18,360
Speaker 1: authority and why we want to preserve the ability to

863
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,400
Speaker 1: next time there's a pandemic require people to wear a

864
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:23,959
Speaker 1: mask in public places. I would respect it a lot

865
00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:26,600
Speaker 1: more if they actually owned it and gave their own

866
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,359
Speaker 1: reasoning run saying like, we don't know, we'll just let

867
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,880
Speaker 1: Faucci in the CDC ultimately decide on the science. I

868
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:34,919
Speaker 1: don't think they can do that because look, the only

869
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:38,880
Speaker 1: way it would really be efficacious is this, everybody strap

870
00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:41,600
Speaker 1: an N ninety five to their face the entire time

871
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:43,879
Speaker 1: that you're on the plane. That's not the policy. You're

872
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,400
Speaker 1: already using this, you know, cloth mask that you get

873
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:49,080
Speaker 1: to pull down whenever you're taking it Italy, when you're

874
00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,840
Speaker 1: having your pretzels on the place, and suddenly COVID doesn't

875
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:55,920
Speaker 1: matter anymore. Mass policy on planes has been fake mostly

876
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:59,440
Speaker 1: forever and also especially since omicron So, like I said,

877
00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:02,280
Speaker 1: if you are afraid and if you find yourself I compromise,

878
00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:03,799
Speaker 1: or if you're fat obesi you don't want to get

879
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:07,040
Speaker 1: vaccinated whatever, strap an N ninety five. Don't take that

880
00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:09,719
Speaker 1: sucker off one time. Although I do love this. When

881
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 1: you're over at TSA and you have to give them

882
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,320
Speaker 1: your ID, they're like, pull your mask down. Every single

883
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:16,760
Speaker 1: time one of these things happens, you're creating a vector

884
00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:19,960
Speaker 1: through which it could spread, only showing you even more

885
00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:23,960
Speaker 1: that it is theater. It is absolutely indefensible whenever it

886
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:26,920
Speaker 1: comes to the science of it, which is and that's

887
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:29,719
Speaker 1: why I find it ridiculous from the first place. So

888
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:32,560
Speaker 1: we either have an absolutist policy like China. Guess what

889
00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 1: we don't live in China, or we have to let

890
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:37,160
Speaker 1: people leave it up to themselves. Funny part is telling

891
00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:39,319
Speaker 1: you on the phone. On the planes, now they have

892
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:43,239
Speaker 1: to say, Okay, everybody, mass are optional, please respect the

893
00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:48,200
Speaker 1: decision of your neighbor. So telling the Karens don't freak out.

894
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,520
Speaker 1: Previously it was the people before who were extremely annoying

895
00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:53,320
Speaker 1: and didn't want to wear masks that are the problem.

896
00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:55,839
Speaker 1: Now we have the opposite issue. Yeah, I'm sure we'll

897
00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:58,920
Speaker 1: see tons of like cringe content around that of everybody

898
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:01,279
Speaker 1: put your headphones in and leave your neighbors alone. I

899
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:04,160
Speaker 1: don't understand. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess the one

900
00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:08,480
Speaker 1: reason that I could see the appeal as being justified

901
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:12,640
Speaker 1: is preserving that ability to be able to institute public

902
00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:15,520
Speaker 1: health regulations in the next pandemic. Because I agree with

903
00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:17,440
Speaker 1: you on the science, like at this point, with how

904
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:22,920
Speaker 1: contagious omicron is, with the wide availability of vaccines, and

905
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:25,160
Speaker 1: and the fact that it is you know, cloth mask

906
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:28,000
Speaker 1: or whatever anything goes and you can basically take it

907
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:29,680
Speaker 1: off for as long as you sort of sip and

908
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,319
Speaker 1: nurse at your drink. It really is more theater than

909
00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:35,400
Speaker 1: actual science at this point. Complete BS all right, guys,

910
00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:38,880
Speaker 1: some good news, Okay. As I previewed before, we have

911
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:44,120
Speaker 1: election number two at another Amazon facility on Staten Island.

912
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:48,239
Speaker 1: That voting begins this morning. My understanding is it will

913
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:50,839
Speaker 1: complete this week, so we may know by the end

914
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:53,680
Speaker 1: of the week whether the new Amazon labor union will

915
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:55,719
Speaker 1: go two for two. I do think this is you know,

916
00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:57,880
Speaker 1: I don't think we should take this for granted whatsoever.

917
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,560
Speaker 1: It's a very different facility. Chris Mall's told me and

918
00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 1: has told said publicly it's the sorting facility. You have

919
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:06,960
Speaker 1: a lot more part timers, so the concerns are different.

920
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:11,080
Speaker 1: That's a much more difficult workforce ultimately to organize. Also

921
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:14,239
Speaker 1: because this may not even be their main bread and butter.

922
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:17,279
Speaker 1: They may have two other jobs, but another job, you know,

923
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:19,720
Speaker 1: something else that is their sort of main source of income.

924
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:22,160
Speaker 1: So there are a lot of challenges here. Not to mention,

925
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:25,719
Speaker 1: of course, Amazon's over the tough union busting, which reportedly

926
00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:31,160
Speaker 1: they ramped up considerably after the stunning victory at JFK

927
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:36,040
Speaker 1: eight the Staten Island warehouse. So big news from yesterday

928
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:40,120
Speaker 1: is now the left politicians are fully engaged in the

929
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:42,440
Speaker 1: fight now that they have seen that this is a

930
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:44,960
Speaker 1: live issue and that Chris Malls and Derek Palmer and

931
00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:46,800
Speaker 1: all the rest of the folks at Amazon Labor Union

932
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:49,239
Speaker 1: are in fact capable of winning. Let's put this up

933
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:52,480
Speaker 1: on the screen. We had Bernie and AOC. They're on

934
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:57,680
Speaker 1: the ground in Staten Island, still not in her district. Interestingly, Sorry,

935
00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:02,279
Speaker 1: I couldn't resist, but listen, just say this because obviously,

936
00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:04,160
Speaker 1: you know, I got into a back and forth with AOC,

937
00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:06,360
Speaker 1: who was sort of trying to, you know, take a

938
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,239
Speaker 1: little bit of credit for the initial when when she

939
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:11,680
Speaker 1: had not only not been involved, but she'd actively stood

940
00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:14,040
Speaker 1: these workers up. And she pushed back of like, this

941
00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:17,239
Speaker 1: isn't even in my district. This is all I wanted. Look,

942
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,520
Speaker 1: I'm glad to see her show up and engage in

943
00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:23,760
Speaker 1: the fight now, and we have to provide some accountability

944
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:25,960
Speaker 1: to these politicians. And this is not coming from me,

945
00:47:26,040 --> 00:47:30,000
Speaker 1: This is from Chris Mall's. Typically, the only consequence would

946
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:32,560
Speaker 1: be on the other side. If she did show up

947
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:34,880
Speaker 1: and then it ended up in some sort of like

948
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:38,080
Speaker 1: embarrassing defeat, that would be the concert she'd be worried about.

949
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: You know, does this damage my credibility and my strength

950
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:43,759
Speaker 1: and my brand all of those things. So if you

951
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:45,640
Speaker 1: push back when they don't show up, you have to

952
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:48,760
Speaker 1: have some consequences and some costs on the other side

953
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:52,680
Speaker 1: for failing to back workers and stand up and support

954
00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:54,880
Speaker 1: them in the first place. So I am very glad

955
00:47:54,920 --> 00:47:58,319
Speaker 1: to see that she has joined this fight. And you know,

956
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:01,719
Speaker 1: they they said ultimately, Derek Palmer had a great quote

957
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:04,400
Speaker 1: here he says, starting this movement, in the beginning, we

958
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:06,200
Speaker 1: did not have the support that we do now, and

959
00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:09,160
Speaker 1: now that we've won, I'm just glad that everyone's finally

960
00:48:09,200 --> 00:48:12,239
Speaker 1: waking up and realizing the power that we have. We've

961
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:14,480
Speaker 1: woken the country up, and I want us to continue

962
00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:17,120
Speaker 1: on this journey. Sugar. Yeah, and luckily, thanks to our

963
00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:20,320
Speaker 1: new partnership with Jordan Sheridan, we have some exclusive footage

964
00:48:20,320 --> 00:48:22,919
Speaker 1: of an interview with Derek Palmer. Let's take a listen.

965
00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:24,520
Speaker 1: You know, after the win, you know, it's been a

966
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:27,400
Speaker 1: historical win. You know, a lot of workers are now motivated.

967
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:31,360
Speaker 1: You know, they've come to me congratulating me, texts, email calls,

968
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:34,000
Speaker 1: you know, so I think the todd is definitely shifting

969
00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:36,960
Speaker 1: after that win. You know, the labor movement, you know,

970
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:39,840
Speaker 1: was kind of sleep, and now it's definitely awakened for sure.

971
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:42,520
Speaker 1: And now we're getting that support from the community as well,

972
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:46,600
Speaker 1: and workers actually want to get involved with organizing them,

973
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:50,120
Speaker 1: which is the goal. So I only see it's spreading

974
00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:52,640
Speaker 1: like wildfire throughout the United States. I wanted to ask

975
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:56,880
Speaker 1: you because Bernie had mentioned when he spoke that before

976
00:48:56,920 --> 00:49:00,719
Speaker 1: he spoke, you guys privately met and he was surprised

977
00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:03,280
Speaker 1: he didn't know the full extent of the union busting.

978
00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:05,560
Speaker 1: Uh do you know, do you think a lot of

979
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:09,160
Speaker 1: the politicians kind of like maybe know some bad things

980
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:11,200
Speaker 1: are going on, but don't know like how bad in

981
00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:13,960
Speaker 1: terms of the threats retaliation. Yeah, you know they hear,

982
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:16,439
Speaker 1: you know, they hear the stories, but you know, it's

983
00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:20,000
Speaker 1: nothing like being on the grounds talking to workers, you know,

984
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:21,719
Speaker 1: so they can really get the full scope of what's

985
00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:25,480
Speaker 1: going on here. And obviously there was some criticism of

986
00:49:25,520 --> 00:49:29,239
Speaker 1: AOC kind of flaked on you during the campaign. What

987
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:31,000
Speaker 1: does it say to you that she showed up Because

988
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:32,879
Speaker 1: obviously a lot of people are saying now she's trying

989
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:35,320
Speaker 1: to ride their coat tails. But I think it's helpful

990
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:37,680
Speaker 1: to actually winning to have her out here to her Yeah,

991
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:40,040
Speaker 1: I mean, you know like AOC gets a lot of scrutiny,

992
00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:41,719
Speaker 1: but you know it was it was all the politicians,

993
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,200
Speaker 1: Let's be real, who didn't show up. But you know

994
00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:47,759
Speaker 1: now that they're here, you know they're they're motivated, and

995
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:51,080
Speaker 1: you know, ultimately AOC once was best for workers as

996
00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:54,799
Speaker 1: well as Bernie Sanders. So their support here means a lot.

997
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,440
Speaker 1: And moving forward, you know, they're they're all, they're all in.

998
00:49:57,520 --> 00:49:59,600
Speaker 1: You know, we we had a nice conversation back there

999
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:02,440
Speaker 1: that he'll and you know they want to support one

1000
00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:05,640
Speaker 1: hundred ten percent. Hey, I'm with Charles. You're a supporter

1001
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:09,560
Speaker 1: of Amazon Labor Union. You know, I've covered this for

1002
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:12,560
Speaker 1: about a year. I've never seen so much press and

1003
00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:15,520
Speaker 1: support here. Can he kind of talk about what got

1004
00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:18,319
Speaker 1: you involved in supporting the workers here and what did

1005
00:50:18,360 --> 00:50:21,040
Speaker 1: you think of Bernie and AOC speaking. I think this

1006
00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:24,560
Speaker 1: speech was right on time for me. I am a

1007
00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:27,920
Speaker 1: union called the EUI UN Electrical ringom Machine Works as

1008
00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:30,640
Speaker 1: in America. I'm based in Virginia, So we came all

1009
00:50:30,640 --> 00:50:33,000
Speaker 1: the way up here on two on Thursday of this

1010
00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:35,200
Speaker 1: past week, the health Sport. So we've been doing a

1011
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:36,959
Speaker 1: phone bank and we've been out in the parking lot

1012
00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:40,080
Speaker 1: talking to workers and all that. And right now for me,

1013
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,840
Speaker 1: I'm actually helping organize city workers down there. So the

1014
00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:46,640
Speaker 1: show goles around, it's across the board. So we recognized

1015
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:49,279
Speaker 1: that a victory for Amazon is a victory for the

1016
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:51,520
Speaker 1: label moved as a whole, saying with Starbus and all

1017
00:50:51,560 --> 00:50:55,759
Speaker 1: these other places. Andy Jasse, who's Amazon CEO, don't full it.

1018
00:50:55,880 --> 00:50:58,759
Speaker 1: Bezos is still driving the bus. But Andy Jassey was

1019
00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:02,720
Speaker 1: on CNBC after the victory. Here he said, a place

1020
00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:06,799
Speaker 1: like Amazon empowers employees. If they see something they could

1021
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:09,880
Speaker 1: do better for customers or for themselves, they could just

1022
00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:12,520
Speaker 1: go meet in a room, decide how to change it

1023
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:14,960
Speaker 1: and change it. You guys, you didn't have to do this.

1024
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:16,200
Speaker 1: All you had to do was go meet in a

1025
00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:20,920
Speaker 1: room and change it yourself. No, I mean, that's that's ridiculous.

1026
00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:24,160
Speaker 1: It's bullshit, Frankly. I mean, we had a number of

1027
00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:29,680
Speaker 1: meetings with Felipe, with assistant managers to try to get

1028
00:51:29,680 --> 00:51:32,360
Speaker 1: things changed. I mean, this whole thing started right with

1029
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:36,400
Speaker 1: Chris's walkout. Before he led the walkout, he was trying

1030
00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:38,960
Speaker 1: to meet with managers every day. He was in HRST

1031
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:41,560
Speaker 1: every day trying to just get them to make changes

1032
00:51:41,560 --> 00:51:43,960
Speaker 1: about COVID or just tell people that COVID was being

1033
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:48,080
Speaker 1: spread around, and they wouldn't do it. So I mean

1034
00:51:48,160 --> 00:51:51,080
Speaker 1: these CEOs and bosses like they can go on the

1035
00:51:51,120 --> 00:51:52,799
Speaker 1: news and spread all the wives they want, but the

1036
00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:57,080
Speaker 1: workers know the truth. Yeah, I mean that idea that, oh,

1037
00:51:57,200 --> 00:51:59,640
Speaker 1: you could have just talked to us, we would have

1038
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:04,000
Speaker 1: totally listen and address you. Come on. That's so silly

1039
00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:06,839
Speaker 1: and ultimately ridiculous. Great footage from Jordan, by the way,

1040
00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:08,359
Speaker 1: and if you guys miss the beginning of the show

1041
00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:11,360
Speaker 1: when we announced this, so Jordan's status COO knew Breaking

1042
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:14,520
Speaker 1: Points partner, He's going to be giving us more exclusive

1043
00:52:14,520 --> 00:52:16,600
Speaker 1: footage from his trips on the road. He also does

1044
00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:20,680
Speaker 1: great investigative journalism. Very excited about being able to add

1045
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:23,279
Speaker 1: that piece to the ecosystem here and you can see

1046
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:26,440
Speaker 1: how valuable it ultimately is to actually hear from the

1047
00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:29,440
Speaker 1: workers who made this victory possible in how they feel

1048
00:52:29,520 --> 00:52:32,000
Speaker 1: ultimately about all of this. There's been a lot of

1049
00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:35,880
Speaker 1: debate over maybe it wasn't a bad thing ultimately that

1050
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:38,359
Speaker 1: the politicians didn't show up the first time around. They

1051
00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:40,520
Speaker 1: were able to kind of sneak under the radar was

1052
00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:42,919
Speaker 1: able to not be a partisan thing. But we also

1053
00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:44,840
Speaker 1: have to respect the fact the workers themselves see this

1054
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:48,120
Speaker 1: is very helpful and very energizing. Look, it's up to them.

1055
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:50,160
Speaker 1: They get to decide what they think is helpful and

1056
00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:52,440
Speaker 1: what is not helpful. I do think personally it was

1057
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:54,439
Speaker 1: a benefit to them in the first one. This one

1058
00:52:54,480 --> 00:52:56,080
Speaker 1: is going to be different. We'll see how it goes.

1059
00:52:56,320 --> 00:52:58,680
Speaker 1: I think voting start right now. Yes, that's right. Voting

1060
00:52:58,719 --> 00:53:01,200
Speaker 1: starts right now, literally happening right now. Right. We'll find

1061
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:04,120
Speaker 1: out it's nine oh one when we're filming this, so

1062
00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:06,240
Speaker 1: you guys can get a little peak behind the scenes,

1063
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:09,120
Speaker 1: so we will see how it plays out. In terms

1064
00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:11,239
Speaker 1: of the tech side of this, Crystal, this is really nuts.

1065
00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:13,399
Speaker 1: So let's put this up there on the screen, which

1066
00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:17,760
Speaker 1: is that the largest subreddit for Amazon workers has banned

1067
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:21,840
Speaker 1: the word union and it has forty three thousand, five

1068
00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:26,319
Speaker 1: hundred members who decided to censor union related posts for,

1069
00:53:26,480 --> 00:53:30,160
Speaker 1: according to them, due to an influx of spam and

1070
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:34,480
Speaker 1: outright malicious posts. Very interesting, isn't it that censorship is

1071
00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:38,360
Speaker 1: always yielded based upon protecting the community whenever it's the

1072
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:42,160
Speaker 1: word union. Well, and so some members of that community

1073
00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:45,759
Speaker 1: because they have it on basically like autosensorship, So if

1074
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:48,479
Speaker 1: they just see the word union, then a bot takes

1075
00:53:48,520 --> 00:53:51,400
Speaker 1: it down automatically. So some of the members have started

1076
00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:55,279
Speaker 1: using onion instead of union to get around it, so

1077
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,560
Speaker 1: they're not going to be stopped. But yeah, this is

1078
00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:00,960
Speaker 1: really significant because obviously, listen, when you're working for Amazon

1079
00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:03,400
Speaker 1: in those warehouses, I mean you can ask Chris or

1080
00:54:03,440 --> 00:54:08,600
Speaker 1: any of these folks. It really is relentless the pace,

1081
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:11,600
Speaker 1: so you have very little time to talk to your

1082
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:15,279
Speaker 1: co workers. You know, you've got bosses and supervisors and

1083
00:54:16,200 --> 00:54:20,080
Speaker 1: multi thousand dollars a day paid union consultants listening, listening

1084
00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:22,600
Speaker 1: over your shoulder to every word that you're ultimately saying.

1085
00:54:22,880 --> 00:54:27,480
Speaker 1: So online spaces like this are really important for organizing

1086
00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:30,600
Speaker 1: and building solidarity. So for them to decide, oh, this

1087
00:54:30,680 --> 00:54:33,040
Speaker 1: is too controversial, we have to take it down, it

1088
00:54:33,160 --> 00:54:35,920
Speaker 1: really is very unfortunate. And I thought there was a

1089
00:54:35,960 --> 00:54:39,360
Speaker 1: good quote in this article from Vice Too, speaking to

1090
00:54:39,680 --> 00:54:42,439
Speaker 1: one of the pro union Amazon workers who said, listen,

1091
00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:45,080
Speaker 1: when you ban the discussion of unions at a place

1092
00:54:45,120 --> 00:54:49,399
Speaker 1: with no unions, you are anti union because you're preserving

1093
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:52,640
Speaker 1: the anti union status quo and I thought that was

1094
00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:55,239
Speaker 1: a really good way to put it here. Ultimately, and

1095
00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:57,760
Speaker 1: by the way, don't forget we saw something very similar

1096
00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:00,840
Speaker 1: when Verizon workers who now basically, by the way, have

1097
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:03,719
Speaker 1: been successful some retail Verizon worker has been successful and

1098
00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:07,160
Speaker 1: ultimately unionizing. But we saw the same thing with a

1099
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:11,239
Speaker 1: significant Verizon worker forum where they also said, ah, this

1100
00:55:11,320 --> 00:55:14,399
Speaker 1: is we can't talk about this ultimately anymore. So this

1101
00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:16,399
Speaker 1: is a disturbing trend that we're seeing in a number

1102
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:19,799
Speaker 1: of spaces as the worker momentum gain speed. Yeah, I

1103
00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:21,719
Speaker 1: just think when you put it together and you really

1104
00:55:21,800 --> 00:55:24,600
Speaker 1: think about how exactly this works out. I've warned so

1105
00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:28,160
Speaker 1: long that content moderation policy will always be used by

1106
00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:30,440
Speaker 1: the establishment in order to push back in this distance

1107
00:55:30,840 --> 00:55:33,400
Speaker 1: every time. But I remember during the fact checking you

1108
00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:35,120
Speaker 1: know era, and it was like, oh, we need fact

1109
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:37,880
Speaker 1: checks on Trump tweets. I was like, Okay, just wait

1110
00:55:38,040 --> 00:55:41,120
Speaker 1: until AOC runs against Chuck Schumer or something in a

1111
00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:43,399
Speaker 1: debate and then she tweets something about Medicare for all

1112
00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:46,480
Speaker 1: and somebody at Twitter or you know previously before Elon

1113
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:49,080
Speaker 1: must possibly own it that they go and tend to

1114
00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:51,080
Speaker 1: slap a fact check on it. That literally happened with

1115
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:53,640
Speaker 1: the Washington Post, just so you're aware. So do you

1116
00:55:53,680 --> 00:55:56,120
Speaker 1: want them to set fact checking policy for the entire nation?

1117
00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:58,640
Speaker 1: I don't. So whenever it comes to this content moderation,

1118
00:55:58,920 --> 00:56:00,800
Speaker 1: as long it is, as long long as it's within

1119
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:03,000
Speaker 1: the first bounds of the First Amendment, I think it's

1120
00:56:03,080 --> 00:56:05,800
Speaker 1: ludicrous to try and crack down because it will always

1121
00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:08,160
Speaker 1: be used in this type of environment. People really need

1122
00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:09,800
Speaker 1: to be wary of it. It always comes for the

1123
00:56:09,800 --> 00:56:12,520
Speaker 1: people who are dissidentced. Yes, that is exactly right. There's

1124
00:56:12,560 --> 00:56:16,239
Speaker 1: also some big news with the Starbucks unionization drive, which

1125
00:56:16,280 --> 00:56:18,759
Speaker 1: has just been picking up steam by the day. It

1126
00:56:18,760 --> 00:56:21,600
Speaker 1: really is pretty incredible. Let's with Stephen Greenhouse's tweet here

1127
00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:25,040
Speaker 1: up on the screen. So Burisa's out of Starbucks in Leesburg,

1128
00:56:25,120 --> 00:56:29,560
Speaker 1: Virginia voted overwhelmingly twenty three to one to unionize. According

1129
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:32,720
Speaker 1: to the NLRB's count, this means that despite starbucks fierce

1130
00:56:32,760 --> 00:56:36,880
Speaker 1: anti union efforts, the union's overall record increases to twenty

1131
00:56:37,080 --> 00:56:41,600
Speaker 1: nine wins versus three losses. So they did suffer one

1132
00:56:41,880 --> 00:56:45,560
Speaker 1: very close defeat down in Florida, it was fourteen to thirteen.

1133
00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:50,359
Speaker 1: Other than that, the Starbucks workers United Movement has been

1134
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:54,760
Speaker 1: just racking up victories one after another after another since

1135
00:56:54,840 --> 00:56:57,680
Speaker 1: the very early days. There were a couple of early losses,

1136
00:56:57,719 --> 00:56:59,520
Speaker 1: and since then they seem to have just picked up

1137
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:02,040
Speaker 1: tremendous this speed, in spite of the fact they brought

1138
00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:05,279
Speaker 1: back Howard Schultz, and you know, they're clearly upping the

1139
00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:09,080
Speaker 1: ante in terms of their union busting firing workers. That's

1140
00:57:09,080 --> 00:57:11,400
Speaker 1: the other big piece that happened here is the NLRB

1141
00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:14,840
Speaker 1: has now gone to court to demand that some of

1142
00:57:14,880 --> 00:57:19,160
Speaker 1: the fired workers be reinstated immediately because they're you know,

1143
00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:23,200
Speaker 1: they're saying this was done illegally. They're continuing to they're

1144
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:25,520
Speaker 1: continuing to look into a number of these firings which

1145
00:57:25,520 --> 00:57:29,200
Speaker 1: seem to be direct retaliation for union organizing. But it's

1146
00:57:29,200 --> 00:57:32,400
Speaker 1: pretty extraordinary. And you know, a number of these victories

1147
00:57:32,440 --> 00:57:35,560
Speaker 1: to SAGA have been unanimous. Yes, like this one is

1148
00:57:35,560 --> 00:57:38,400
Speaker 1: twenty three to one, so it is very close to animous,

1149
00:57:38,440 --> 00:57:41,240
Speaker 1: but a number of these have been one hundred percent

1150
00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:44,160
Speaker 1: of the voting workers said yes, we want a union

1151
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:46,960
Speaker 1: in spite of everything they've been subjected to, which I

1152
00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:50,400
Speaker 1: think is just extraordinary and also speaks to how a

1153
00:57:50,440 --> 00:57:52,960
Speaker 1: lot of these union busting tactics right now in this

1154
00:57:53,040 --> 00:57:56,240
Speaker 1: climate are just not working and completely backfired. It's pretty

1155
00:57:56,320 --> 00:57:59,160
Speaker 1: interesting to me because what I see is that Starbucks

1156
00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:01,320
Speaker 1: is kind of the perfect you know, I hate to

1157
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:03,080
Speaker 1: say about on Amazon, like you were saying, with a

1158
00:58:03,120 --> 00:58:05,880
Speaker 1: high turnover workforce, which is already company policy, and then

1159
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:07,960
Speaker 1: you have short term contract worker, it's going to be difficult,

1160
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:10,320
Speaker 1: right especially in order to keep it sustained. But Starbucks,

1161
00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:11,880
Speaker 1: from what I can tell based when you told me,

1162
00:58:12,120 --> 00:58:13,880
Speaker 1: they have longer term employment, they don't have as much

1163
00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:16,360
Speaker 1: of turnover in terms of the workforce, more educated, more

1164
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:19,040
Speaker 1: sympathetic toward union, and could make it so that the

1165
00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:22,120
Speaker 1: company's values, which always sold itself as like progressive, yeah,

1166
00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:25,200
Speaker 1: backfire because their workforce is disproportionately more likely to be

1167
00:58:25,240 --> 00:58:27,800
Speaker 1: receptive to that message. It seems like it could be

1168
00:58:28,360 --> 00:58:30,840
Speaker 1: and is taking force as a national wide move. I mean,

1169
00:58:30,920 --> 00:58:35,320
Speaker 1: any food service is going to have high turnover, including Starbucks.

1170
00:58:35,600 --> 00:58:38,280
Speaker 1: But what you see, I think with the Starbucks workers

1171
00:58:38,400 --> 00:58:41,920
Speaker 1: is a disproportionate number of Bernie Burrows and Bernie Gals.

1172
00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:45,320
Speaker 1: There was an article early on I think, by the

1173
00:58:45,360 --> 00:58:48,760
Speaker 1: New York Times that interviewed a number of the early organizers,

1174
00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:51,680
Speaker 1: and quite a few of them said, I volunteered for

1175
00:58:51,920 --> 00:58:55,480
Speaker 1: the Sanders campaign and that changed how they were thinking

1176
00:58:55,880 --> 00:58:58,400
Speaker 1: about this. I mean, it just was like raised awareness

1177
00:58:58,480 --> 00:59:00,840
Speaker 1: around what they could do and they could push back.

1178
00:59:00,840 --> 00:59:03,720
Speaker 1: And of course Bernie throughout his career has been strong

1179
00:59:03,720 --> 00:59:07,480
Speaker 1: supporter standing with labor. On that note, we do have

1180
00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:09,880
Speaker 1: a little bit of footage at Bernie of Bernie at

1181
00:59:09,880 --> 00:59:11,920
Speaker 1: the rally for Amazon. I have to say, I don't

1182
00:59:11,960 --> 00:59:13,520
Speaker 1: know if you guys saw there were some pictures. I

1183
00:59:13,520 --> 00:59:16,840
Speaker 1: posted one of them to my Instagram shameless plug Crystal Ensall,

1184
00:59:18,240 --> 00:59:23,440
Speaker 1: but these incredible photos of Chris Mall's with Bernie Sanders,

1185
00:59:23,640 --> 00:59:27,720
Speaker 1: which really were, you know, pretty extraordinary to see. And

1186
00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:29,919
Speaker 1: you'll see the sort of like warmth between the two

1187
00:59:29,920 --> 00:59:31,560
Speaker 1: of them at the rally. Let's take a look at

1188
00:59:31,600 --> 00:59:34,200
Speaker 1: a little bit of that. But I'm so proud to

1189
00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:36,040
Speaker 1: be standing here with my brothers and sisters and my

1190
00:59:36,120 --> 00:59:40,800
Speaker 1: comrades in the community, US here to support. Without further ado, though,

1191
00:59:40,800 --> 00:59:44,320
Speaker 1: I want to bring up Senator Standers from Vermont who

1192
00:59:44,400 --> 00:59:47,280
Speaker 1: Joe who came here to stand aside there with these

1193
00:59:47,280 --> 00:59:55,080
Speaker 1: Amazon workers today. Thank you, Senator. And Bernie seemed to

1194
00:59:55,120 --> 00:59:57,120
Speaker 1: be very well received there, but you just love to

1195
00:59:57,120 --> 01:00:01,320
Speaker 1: see that, like across the generations, across religion, all of it.

1196
01:00:01,360 --> 01:00:04,240
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a labor movement at its best, and

1197
01:00:04,280 --> 01:00:06,880
Speaker 1: that's what solidarity really means at its best. So listen,

1198
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:10,560
Speaker 1: these politicians were late showing up, but better late than ever.

1199
01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:12,560
Speaker 1: They showed up. Yeah, and I think that's what matters.

1200
01:00:12,560 --> 01:00:16,640
Speaker 1: We'll see how it turns out on the vote, Crystal,

1201
01:00:16,640 --> 01:00:18,400
Speaker 1: what are you taking a look at? Well, guys, there's

1202
01:00:18,440 --> 01:00:22,280
Speaker 1: a big political flight fight down in Florida, pitting conservatives

1203
01:00:22,280 --> 01:00:25,640
Speaker 1: spearheaded by Governor Ronda Santis, against liberals and the Walt

1204
01:00:25,720 --> 01:00:29,560
Speaker 1: Disney Corporation. Honestly, it is the sort of brain rotting

1205
01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:32,520
Speaker 1: culture war meth that we typically stay away from here,

1206
01:00:32,760 --> 01:00:35,520
Speaker 1: but it is worth digging into because I actually think

1207
01:00:35,520 --> 01:00:38,800
Speaker 1: it kind of says everything about the sorry principle free, reactionary,

1208
01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:41,880
Speaker 1: pointless nature of a lot of our politics. It's a

1209
01:00:41,920 --> 01:00:46,040
Speaker 1: fake fight with fake stakes simultaneously about everything and nothing

1210
01:00:46,080 --> 01:00:49,480
Speaker 1: at all, and it has scrambled brains across the political spectrum.

1211
01:00:49,600 --> 01:00:52,960
Speaker 1: This fight has got free market bro Ben Shapiro simping

1212
01:00:53,080 --> 01:00:56,080
Speaker 1: for big government. I am the most free market person

1213
01:00:56,360 --> 01:00:59,800
Speaker 1: on the right. I'm an extraordinarily pro free market person,

1214
01:01:00,080 --> 01:01:02,360
Speaker 1: don't believe that generally the government should crack down on

1215
01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:05,800
Speaker 1: the operations of businesses. I think more freedom for businesses

1216
01:01:05,960 --> 01:01:08,760
Speaker 1: are good. I think that lower taxes for business are

1217
01:01:08,760 --> 01:01:11,240
Speaker 1: good for the economy of Florida, for the company, for

1218
01:01:11,680 --> 01:01:16,600
Speaker 1: the economy of the United States. More broadly, however, however,

1219
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:20,479
Speaker 1: corporations have to stand up for their own free market

1220
01:01:20,520 --> 01:01:23,120
Speaker 1: bona fides, and they have to not become tools of

1221
01:01:23,160 --> 01:01:25,920
Speaker 1: the people who wish to destroy freedom in this country

1222
01:01:26,040 --> 01:01:29,160
Speaker 1: on behalf of leftist group think. If you decide to

1223
01:01:29,320 --> 01:01:32,640
Speaker 1: just become a woke corporation that does the bidding of

1224
01:01:32,680 --> 01:01:35,840
Speaker 1: your democratic task masters, don't be surprised when you get

1225
01:01:35,840 --> 01:01:38,840
Speaker 1: clocked with the legislative two by four f around and

1226
01:01:38,880 --> 01:01:44,200
Speaker 1: find out f so, basically, yay corporate power and less

1227
01:01:44,200 --> 01:01:47,160
Speaker 1: corporations happen to do something I don't personally like, in

1228
01:01:47,200 --> 01:01:50,640
Speaker 1: which case, yay government power sounds like a really solid

1229
01:01:50,680 --> 01:01:53,960
Speaker 1: and principled ideology. You got there. It's also about liberals

1230
01:01:53,960 --> 01:01:56,040
Speaker 1: who have railed against the notion that corporations should be

1231
01:01:56,080 --> 01:01:59,840
Speaker 1: given civil rights, suddenly sounding like Mitt Romney declaring that

1232
01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:03,080
Speaker 1: corporations are people. To my friend Here's the intercept exploring

1233
01:02:03,080 --> 01:02:06,400
Speaker 1: whether Disney's First Amendment rights to free speech have been violated.

1234
01:02:06,720 --> 01:02:09,480
Speaker 1: Here's T and R gloating about how progressive tolerance is

1235
01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:12,680
Speaker 1: now a profitable posture embraced by companies as a market strategy.

1236
01:02:12,680 --> 01:02:15,280
Speaker 1: They're right in that assessment, by the way, but they

1237
01:02:15,320 --> 01:02:17,280
Speaker 1: never quick get around and the piece to saying that

1238
01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:20,040
Speaker 1: even when the free market happens to line up with

1239
01:02:20,080 --> 01:02:25,280
Speaker 1: liberal ideology, corporate personhood and control over government still really bad. Okay,

1240
01:02:25,360 --> 01:02:27,120
Speaker 1: so let me give you the outlines of what is

1241
01:02:27,160 --> 01:02:30,120
Speaker 1: happening here. Florida Governor Rond DeSantis obviously wants to run

1242
01:02:30,120 --> 01:02:32,520
Speaker 1: for president, and his strategy to endear himself with the

1243
01:02:32,520 --> 01:02:35,280
Speaker 1: conservative base is to pass a whole bunch of culture

1244
01:02:35,320 --> 01:02:38,760
Speaker 1: war legislation and tended first and foremost to own the Libs.

1245
01:02:39,040 --> 01:02:41,479
Speaker 1: In response to Black Lives Matter protests, he passed laws

1246
01:02:41,520 --> 01:02:44,400
Speaker 1: restricting the right to protest, which got rather awkward when

1247
01:02:44,440 --> 01:02:47,080
Speaker 1: protests against the Cuban government broke out, violating the new

1248
01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:50,360
Speaker 1: laws that DeSantis had just passed. After restricting speech with

1249
01:02:50,440 --> 01:02:53,760
Speaker 1: those anti protest laws, he then supposedly took a stand

1250
01:02:53,800 --> 01:02:56,360
Speaker 1: for free speech by passing tech legislation the impact of

1251
01:02:56,400 --> 01:02:59,400
Speaker 1: which likely negligible, but send all the right signals that

1252
01:02:59,440 --> 01:03:01,760
Speaker 1: he is against censorship, at least when it's applied to

1253
01:03:01,800 --> 01:03:04,960
Speaker 1: ideas that he happens to support, proving how limited his

1254
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:08,120
Speaker 1: commitment to free speech is. Ultimately, though, he then passed

1255
01:03:08,120 --> 01:03:11,240
Speaker 1: an extremely broad law in line with the latest conservative

1256
01:03:11,280 --> 01:03:14,560
Speaker 1: moral panic over critical race theory. That law has led

1257
01:03:14,600 --> 01:03:18,520
Speaker 1: to dozens of math textbooks being banned for controversial ideas

1258
01:03:18,680 --> 01:03:23,160
Speaker 1: like encouraging kids to disagree respectfully. Apparently not wanting kids

1259
01:03:23,200 --> 01:03:26,160
Speaker 1: to be jerks is now part of woke ideology. But

1260
01:03:26,200 --> 01:03:28,600
Speaker 1: the latest culture war brushfire is over a law that

1261
01:03:28,640 --> 01:03:31,480
Speaker 1: has been dubbed the Don't Say Gay Law by its critics.

1262
01:03:31,880 --> 01:03:33,360
Speaker 1: The portion of the law which has gotten the most

1263
01:03:33,360 --> 01:03:36,400
Speaker 1: attention bans teaching of sexuality and gender in grades K

1264
01:03:36,520 --> 01:03:39,320
Speaker 1: to three. For older grades, such learning must be quote

1265
01:03:39,360 --> 01:03:43,360
Speaker 1: age appropriate. Of course, sex said is already banned through

1266
01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:46,480
Speaker 1: fifth grade in Florida, so this seems basically to be

1267
01:03:46,480 --> 01:03:49,520
Speaker 1: nothing more than meaningless culture war posturing once again. On

1268
01:03:49,560 --> 01:03:51,560
Speaker 1: the other hand, the law does open up avenues for

1269
01:03:51,640 --> 01:03:53,680
Speaker 1: parents to sue school districts if they feel that the

1270
01:03:53,760 --> 01:03:56,320
Speaker 1: law is being violated because the language of the law

1271
01:03:56,400 --> 01:03:59,160
Speaker 1: is extremely vague. This is spark fears that active as

1272
01:03:59,200 --> 01:04:02,120
Speaker 1: parents back by con servative legal infrastructure, could target school

1273
01:04:02,120 --> 01:04:06,000
Speaker 1: districts for infractions as trivial as potentially a child mentioning

1274
01:04:06,000 --> 01:04:09,040
Speaker 1: their same sex parents and a classroom discussion, or perhaps

1275
01:04:09,040 --> 01:04:11,400
Speaker 1: a teacher having a picture of their same sex partner

1276
01:04:11,480 --> 01:04:14,120
Speaker 1: on their desk. Now, I honestly don't know if that's

1277
01:04:14,200 --> 01:04:17,080
Speaker 1: realistic fear or not, but nobody else does either. But

1278
01:04:17,120 --> 01:04:19,160
Speaker 1: what is absolutely clear here is that the main intent

1279
01:04:19,240 --> 01:04:21,640
Speaker 1: of the law is to serve as an anti gay

1280
01:04:21,720 --> 01:04:24,959
Speaker 1: virtue signal bill framed as a parental control bill, pass

1281
01:04:25,040 --> 01:04:28,040
Speaker 1: for one reason alone, and that's to further Ron DeSantis's

1282
01:04:28,120 --> 01:04:31,640
Speaker 1: political ambitions. DeSantis can signal that he's tough on gay

1283
01:04:31,680 --> 01:04:34,240
Speaker 1: and trans people to his base while painting it in

1284
01:04:34,240 --> 01:04:37,920
Speaker 1: inoffensive terms of parental control to the majority. It's vagueness

1285
01:04:37,960 --> 01:04:40,920
Speaker 1: allowing him to portray it however he wants, depending on

1286
01:04:40,920 --> 01:04:43,520
Speaker 1: the audience. Now, the language is so mushy as to

1287
01:04:43,560 --> 01:04:47,560
Speaker 1: both be meaningless and all encompassing, and as such, it

1288
01:04:47,640 --> 01:04:49,919
Speaker 1: is absolutely fair for gay and trans people to feel

1289
01:04:49,920 --> 01:04:52,320
Speaker 1: attacked by the law because it seems increasingly clear that

1290
01:04:52,360 --> 01:04:54,800
Speaker 1: the GP hasn't so much embraced gay people as full

1291
01:04:54,880 --> 01:04:58,360
Speaker 1: human beings as beat a temporary culture war retreat, given

1292
01:04:58,400 --> 01:05:00,480
Speaker 1: that support for gay marriage and basic res for gay

1293
01:05:00,480 --> 01:05:04,040
Speaker 1: people has gained overwhelming mainstream acceptance. So instead of being

1294
01:05:04,200 --> 01:05:06,440
Speaker 1: upfront about their desire to roll back gains like a

1295
01:05:06,480 --> 01:05:09,920
Speaker 1: Berga Fele, they're reaching for coded language about sexual deviance

1296
01:05:09,960 --> 01:05:13,200
Speaker 1: and about grooming, attempting to return to a prior generation's

1297
01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:16,880
Speaker 1: framing of non hetero people as perverts and pedophiles. The

1298
01:05:16,920 --> 01:05:19,640
Speaker 1: lips of TikTok account. They were into this. This is

1299
01:05:19,680 --> 01:05:21,880
Speaker 1: kind of their stock in trade, showing some random teacher

1300
01:05:21,920 --> 01:05:24,480
Speaker 1: talking about their pronouns and then accused them of grooming children.

1301
01:05:24,840 --> 01:05:27,520
Speaker 1: It's a clever slide of hand. Frankly, you're not opposing

1302
01:05:27,560 --> 01:05:30,760
Speaker 1: gay rights or trans rights per se. Instead, you're posing

1303
01:05:30,760 --> 01:05:34,440
Speaker 1: things everyone hates, things like pedophilia and targeting and vulnerable children.

1304
01:05:34,720 --> 01:05:37,400
Speaker 1: Of course, if Republican Party elites really hated such things,

1305
01:05:37,400 --> 01:05:39,520
Speaker 1: and they probably wouldn't have been cool with Roy Moore

1306
01:05:39,600 --> 01:05:42,880
Speaker 1: as their nominee in Alabama, with Conservatives firmly in control

1307
01:05:42,920 --> 01:05:45,080
Speaker 1: of the Supreme Court, in position to hold a trifecta

1308
01:05:45,120 --> 01:05:47,680
Speaker 1: of federal government control come twenty twenty four. It is

1309
01:05:47,720 --> 01:05:50,520
Speaker 1: absolutely reasonable to see this as a trial balloon for

1310
01:05:50,560 --> 01:05:54,320
Speaker 1: further attacks on previously established rights. All right, so that's

1311
01:05:54,320 --> 01:05:57,680
Speaker 1: the law. In response to that law, Disney, Florida's most

1312
01:05:57,880 --> 01:06:01,600
Speaker 1: iconic business, denounced the law and usually paused all political

1313
01:06:01,680 --> 01:06:05,320
Speaker 1: contributions to Florida politicians, who were typically showered with Mickey

1314
01:06:05,360 --> 01:06:08,600
Speaker 1: mouse cash. Now, that move came after Disney's own employees

1315
01:06:08,640 --> 01:06:11,840
Speaker 1: protested and staged a walk down over Disney's initial lack

1316
01:06:11,880 --> 01:06:14,440
Speaker 1: of response to the bill. Let me pause for a

1317
01:06:14,480 --> 01:06:17,840
Speaker 1: moment and just remind everybody, especially my friends on the left,

1318
01:06:17,960 --> 01:06:20,800
Speaker 1: that Disney is actually bad if you were on the left,

1319
01:06:20,880 --> 01:06:23,480
Speaker 1: while Disney Corporation is not and will never be, an

1320
01:06:23,520 --> 01:06:26,320
Speaker 1: ally in any fight. Their products have been made in

1321
01:06:26,320 --> 01:06:30,040
Speaker 1: inhumane sweatshops. Take a look at this. Their American workers

1322
01:06:30,040 --> 01:06:33,120
Speaker 1: have been routinely used and abused. A twenty eighteen report

1323
01:06:33,200 --> 01:06:36,120
Speaker 1: found that eleven percent were paid so poorly they were

1324
01:06:36,120 --> 01:06:40,240
Speaker 1: actually homeless, two thirds were food insecure, and a majority

1325
01:06:40,320 --> 01:06:44,120
Speaker 1: worried about facing eviction. Disney is taking this stance in

1326
01:06:44,160 --> 01:06:46,160
Speaker 1: this fight because they think it's going to help their

1327
01:06:46,160 --> 01:06:48,840
Speaker 1: bottom line, aligning them with the values of the affluent.

1328
01:06:48,880 --> 01:06:52,360
Speaker 1: PMC it's that simple. It's a vague gesture towards progressive

1329
01:06:52,400 --> 01:06:55,600
Speaker 1: principles intended to bolster market position with the tolerant majority.

1330
01:06:56,000 --> 01:06:58,920
Speaker 1: In response, DeSantis and the Republicans decided they were going

1331
01:06:59,000 --> 01:07:01,160
Speaker 1: to do something to show how tough they were about

1332
01:07:01,200 --> 01:07:05,200
Speaker 1: standing up to Disney's fake progressivism. So they passed a

1333
01:07:05,240 --> 01:07:09,960
Speaker 1: bill provoking Disney's special text tax district, something called Reedy Creek.

1334
01:07:10,400 --> 01:07:12,600
Speaker 1: Now this sounds like it's bad and like it's going

1335
01:07:12,680 --> 01:07:16,160
Speaker 1: to really hurt Disney, but the reality is actually quite different.

1336
01:07:16,440 --> 01:07:20,000
Speaker 1: A local reporter dug deeply into the likely consequences, and basically,

1337
01:07:20,320 --> 01:07:23,120
Speaker 1: the primary benefit Disney gains from the Reedy Creek district

1338
01:07:23,160 --> 01:07:26,200
Speaker 1: is the ability to govern themselves. This makes it easier

1339
01:07:26,240 --> 01:07:28,920
Speaker 1: for them to launch new infrastructure projects and build new

1340
01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:32,120
Speaker 1: hotels and the like, but actually comes with a higher

1341
01:07:32,200 --> 01:07:35,360
Speaker 1: tax bill for Disney. They tax themselves to the tune

1342
01:07:35,360 --> 01:07:37,560
Speaker 1: of hundreds of millions of dollars and use it to

1343
01:07:37,560 --> 01:07:39,919
Speaker 1: then pay for essential services things like police and fire

1344
01:07:39,920 --> 01:07:44,560
Speaker 1: and sewer. Essentially, Disney has accepted higher taxes for the

1345
01:07:44,600 --> 01:07:48,560
Speaker 1: ability to flexibly self govern without the special tax district,

1346
01:07:48,720 --> 01:07:52,280
Speaker 1: that tax burden that was previously shouldered by Disney is

1347
01:07:52,280 --> 01:07:56,440
Speaker 1: now instead going to be passed to local county residents,

1348
01:07:56,440 --> 01:07:59,320
Speaker 1: not to mention responsibility for the debts that Reedy Creek

1349
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:03,880
Speaker 1: has accrued. So the likely overall impact of ending the

1350
01:08:03,920 --> 01:08:08,080
Speaker 1: Reedy Creek Special Tax District is to cut Disney's taxes

1351
01:08:08,280 --> 01:08:12,440
Speaker 1: and to raise taxes on ordinary Fluoridians. In other words,

1352
01:08:12,720 --> 01:08:15,840
Speaker 1: the GOP's attack on Disney is fake. It won't really

1353
01:08:15,880 --> 01:08:18,800
Speaker 1: hurt Disney, but it feels like it'll hurt Disney, and

1354
01:08:18,840 --> 01:08:21,920
Speaker 1: in the culture war, the show that's all that ultimately matters.

1355
01:08:22,439 --> 01:08:24,400
Speaker 1: So let me just try to sum up here this

1356
01:08:24,640 --> 01:08:27,439
Speaker 1: brain melting series of events. You got a fake ally

1357
01:08:27,479 --> 01:08:30,599
Speaker 1: in Disney making a fake stand over, a likely meaningless

1358
01:08:30,680 --> 01:08:33,760
Speaker 1: law with fake consequences devised by a culture warrior who

1359
01:08:33,760 --> 01:08:36,120
Speaker 1: is really just using this whole fake fight to fuel

1360
01:08:36,160 --> 01:08:39,920
Speaker 1: his own political ambitions. Meanwhile, the polutocrat class can just

1361
01:08:40,040 --> 01:08:43,320
Speaker 1: look on and laugh as the heated battlegrounds of politics

1362
01:08:43,360 --> 01:08:47,080
Speaker 1: are increasingly focused on these theatrical displays of divisive cultural

1363
01:08:47,080 --> 01:08:51,120
Speaker 1: signaling instead of a material politics that could actually rebalance

1364
01:08:51,160 --> 01:08:54,800
Speaker 1: the scales and provide basic dignity to American families in

1365
01:08:54,840 --> 01:08:58,519
Speaker 1: the macro. Nothing is better for Disney and Apple and

1366
01:08:58,560 --> 01:09:01,519
Speaker 1: Google and all the rest than the public being consumed

1367
01:09:01,560 --> 01:09:04,919
Speaker 1: by these culture war brushfires while the status quo poverty

1368
01:09:04,920 --> 01:09:08,519
Speaker 1: and despair and plutocracy continues unabated. If the GOP or

1369
01:09:08,520 --> 01:09:11,800
Speaker 1: anyone else is really interested in humbling the Disney executives,

1370
01:09:12,000 --> 01:09:13,600
Speaker 1: they use the power of the government to make it

1371
01:09:13,640 --> 01:09:17,000
Speaker 1: easier for Disney's long mistreated employees to unionize and have

1372
01:09:17,040 --> 01:09:19,320
Speaker 1: a say in the day to day running of their workplace.

1373
01:09:19,640 --> 01:09:22,760
Speaker 1: That's why, without a doubt, the most important political fight

1374
01:09:22,800 --> 01:09:24,320
Speaker 1: in the country is the one that's being fought that

1375
01:09:24,360 --> 01:09:27,160
Speaker 1: we just talked about by workers at Starbucks and Amazon

1376
01:09:27,200 --> 01:09:31,080
Speaker 1: and elsewhere. It's the correct battle with the correct divide,

1377
01:09:31,320 --> 01:09:34,639
Speaker 1: and it's not the confused people into thinking that Ben

1378
01:09:34,680 --> 01:09:38,599
Speaker 1: Shapiro is against corporate power, or Disney is a progressive ally,

1379
01:09:38,880 --> 01:09:40,960
Speaker 1: or that we should fight to defend the sanctity of

1380
01:09:41,040 --> 01:09:44,960
Speaker 1: corporate civil rights. Everything about this drove me a little

1381
01:09:44,960 --> 01:09:47,080
Speaker 1: bit nuts. Yeah, I mean it should. And if you

1382
01:09:47,120 --> 01:09:49,880
Speaker 1: want to hear my reaction to Crystal's monologue, become a

1383
01:09:49,920 --> 01:09:55,759
Speaker 1: premium subscriber today at Breakingpoints dot Com. All right, Sagar,

1384
01:09:55,800 --> 01:09:58,560
Speaker 1: are you looking at well? Barack Obama is at a crossroads.

1385
01:09:58,560 --> 01:10:01,160
Speaker 1: He and Michelle have milked their post presidential fame for

1386
01:10:01,160 --> 01:10:03,439
Speaker 1: one hundred million dollars or so that it's worth his

1387
01:10:03,560 --> 01:10:07,160
Speaker 1: terrible podcast not getting picked up by Spotify. His Netflix show,

1388
01:10:07,240 --> 01:10:09,840
Speaker 1: by all accounts, a complete joke and a failure. He

1389
01:10:09,920 --> 01:10:12,880
Speaker 1: is fading from the spotlight, something that an egomaniac like

1390
01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:15,920
Speaker 1: him simply cannot handle. At the same time, he can't

1391
01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:18,280
Speaker 1: do what he actually does best, which is involve himself

1392
01:10:18,320 --> 01:10:21,920
Speaker 1: in politics, both because he literally cannot run for office again,

1393
01:10:22,120 --> 01:10:24,040
Speaker 1: and second because if he steps up too much in

1394
01:10:24,080 --> 01:10:26,480
Speaker 1: culture wars like he did when he was a politician,

1395
01:10:26,560 --> 01:10:29,160
Speaker 1: it would be bad for business. The sad truth is

1396
01:10:29,160 --> 01:10:31,720
Speaker 1: that Obama he's just in run of the mill celebrity now,

1397
01:10:31,880 --> 01:10:34,120
Speaker 1: so he's fishing around for what an elder statesman like

1398
01:10:34,200 --> 01:10:38,400
Speaker 1: himself can latch onto. Something like political but not too political,

1399
01:10:38,600 --> 01:10:40,960
Speaker 1: something that seems like he's still singing the tune of

1400
01:10:41,040 --> 01:10:44,160
Speaker 1: change but doesn't actually challenge the status quo. And over

1401
01:10:44,200 --> 01:10:47,400
Speaker 1: the weekend we got our glimpse into Obama four point zero,

1402
01:10:47,439 --> 01:10:51,240
Speaker 1: possibly the most dangerous iteration yet. Obama recently appeared at

1403
01:10:51,280 --> 01:10:54,000
Speaker 1: a Stanford university for a speech to decry the crisis

1404
01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:57,240
Speaker 1: of disinformation on the Internet. He blamed the Internet and

1405
01:10:57,280 --> 01:11:00,160
Speaker 1: the drop in shared facts amongst the US population for

1406
01:11:00,200 --> 01:11:02,760
Speaker 1: our current social strife, and he ended his speech with

1407
01:11:02,880 --> 01:11:06,559
Speaker 1: a thunderous new call for regulation of speech online. Now

1408
01:11:06,600 --> 01:11:10,000
Speaker 1: he didn't say anything specific, but Obama is completing the

1409
01:11:10,000 --> 01:11:12,680
Speaker 1: final stage of the cope tour since the election of

1410
01:11:12,720 --> 01:11:15,759
Speaker 1: Donald Trump in twenty sixteen, which served as a rebuke

1411
01:11:15,840 --> 01:11:18,720
Speaker 1: of his entire legacy. What you see here is that

1412
01:11:18,760 --> 01:11:20,960
Speaker 1: on the day that Trump won the election, it was

1413
01:11:21,000 --> 01:11:23,519
Speaker 1: not an accident. The immediate thing that was blamed was

1414
01:11:23,600 --> 01:11:26,479
Speaker 1: quote unquote fake news. It was not conceivable to the

1415
01:11:26,479 --> 01:11:29,559
Speaker 1: American elite that sixty five million people could have voted

1416
01:11:29,640 --> 01:11:33,040
Speaker 1: for the guy from freaking Apprentice. They simply must have

1417
01:11:33,120 --> 01:11:36,200
Speaker 1: been duped. The answer was not possible that Hillary Clinton

1418
01:11:36,400 --> 01:11:38,400
Speaker 1: is one of the worst possible people to ever run

1419
01:11:38,439 --> 01:11:40,880
Speaker 1: for office. The answer could not be that millions felt

1420
01:11:40,880 --> 01:11:44,040
Speaker 1: betrayed by Barack Obama himself as the country fred under

1421
01:11:44,040 --> 01:11:46,760
Speaker 1: his leadership. The answer could not be that the neoliberal

1422
01:11:46,840 --> 01:11:50,120
Speaker 1: dream and the cultural left politics pushed institutionally by Obama

1423
01:11:50,160 --> 01:11:53,480
Speaker 1: had ripped the country apart and made it borderline ungovernable,

1424
01:11:53,680 --> 01:11:56,160
Speaker 1: made it susceptible to vote for Donald Trump as a

1425
01:11:56,240 --> 01:11:58,679
Speaker 1: true screw you to the system in the first place.

1426
01:11:58,960 --> 01:12:02,519
Speaker 1: All those answers would indict not only Obama's presidency but

1427
01:12:02,600 --> 01:12:05,679
Speaker 1: the oligarchic elite that Obama promised to challenge and became

1428
01:12:05,720 --> 01:12:07,960
Speaker 1: a part of instead. It is not an accident that

1429
01:12:08,040 --> 01:12:10,320
Speaker 1: the very first thing that he did after leaving office

1430
01:12:10,520 --> 01:12:13,120
Speaker 1: was to go to Richard Branson's private island to hang

1431
01:12:13,160 --> 01:12:16,120
Speaker 1: out with billionaires. Now you might think I'm editorializing, but

1432
01:12:16,240 --> 01:12:18,720
Speaker 1: Obama himself is all but admitted to this. In a

1433
01:12:18,720 --> 01:12:21,800
Speaker 1: New York Times story previewing his call to censor's speech online,

1434
01:12:21,840 --> 01:12:25,240
Speaker 1: his advisor said quote, looking back at his administration's approach,

1435
01:12:25,439 --> 01:12:28,000
Speaker 1: mister Obama has said he would not pinpoint any one

1436
01:12:28,040 --> 01:12:31,080
Speaker 1: action or piece of legislation that he might have handled differently.

1437
01:12:31,240 --> 01:12:34,040
Speaker 1: So there it is nothing to do with his handling

1438
01:12:34,120 --> 01:12:37,560
Speaker 1: of the housing crisis, nothing to do with the Transpacific partnership,

1439
01:12:37,680 --> 01:12:42,280
Speaker 1: nothing to do with illegal immigration. No Obama cannot fail.

1440
01:12:42,439 --> 01:12:45,679
Speaker 1: He can only be failed. Obama's assault on free speech

1441
01:12:45,720 --> 01:12:48,559
Speaker 1: is thinly veiled. Ironically, it is the exact same logic

1442
01:12:48,560 --> 01:12:51,160
Speaker 1: for which Elon Musk is trying to buy Twitter companies

1443
01:12:51,200 --> 01:12:53,439
Speaker 1: need to have a north star other than making money,

1444
01:12:53,479 --> 01:12:57,120
Speaker 1: he says. Elon agrees. That's why he wants free speech online.

1445
01:12:57,200 --> 01:13:00,000
Speaker 1: But Obama and his ILK no, they want the office.

1446
01:13:00,320 --> 01:13:02,280
Speaker 1: When Obama and the media tell you that they want

1447
01:13:02,320 --> 01:13:05,160
Speaker 1: to protect democracy, what they really mean is they want

1448
01:13:05,200 --> 01:13:08,400
Speaker 1: to protect their power. Democracy is legitimate when they get

1449
01:13:08,400 --> 01:13:11,599
Speaker 1: elected and they win. It's illegitimate and flawed when they lose.

1450
01:13:11,920 --> 01:13:14,519
Speaker 1: Got it. It's that simple. It's the ability of people

1451
01:13:14,560 --> 01:13:18,320
Speaker 1: to freely talk online. Consider the far reaching consequences also

1452
01:13:18,400 --> 01:13:22,000
Speaker 1: of Obama's pronouncement. Obama claims in his speech that algorithms

1453
01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:24,879
Speaker 1: are responsible for the death of trust in American society,

1454
01:13:25,080 --> 01:13:27,760
Speaker 1: that those are what should be regulated, and you know

1455
01:13:27,880 --> 01:13:30,720
Speaker 1: there is something to that. But also consider this, Under

1456
01:13:30,760 --> 01:13:33,519
Speaker 1: the presidency of Barack Obama, a fifth of Republicans in

1457
01:13:33,560 --> 01:13:36,520
Speaker 1: America believed that he was a secret Muslim born in Kenya.

1458
01:13:36,560 --> 01:13:39,800
Speaker 1: And guess what that wasn't algorithmically spread. In fact, the

1459
01:13:39,840 --> 01:13:44,120
Speaker 1: Birther conspiracy was entirely fed by email forwarding. Now, look,

1460
01:13:44,160 --> 01:13:47,840
Speaker 1: obviously that theory is fake. But under Obama's framework, should

1461
01:13:47,840 --> 01:13:50,400
Speaker 1: the government be able to regulate what people are emailing

1462
01:13:50,479 --> 01:13:53,400
Speaker 1: each other? The obvious answer to me seems no, and

1463
01:13:53,439 --> 01:13:55,599
Speaker 1: it highlights what I'm trying to get at. The crisis

1464
01:13:55,640 --> 01:13:58,160
Speaker 1: of trust in America is not the fault of technology.

1465
01:13:58,320 --> 01:14:02,479
Speaker 1: Technology only exacerbates makes obvious the wounds that already exist

1466
01:14:02,560 --> 01:14:05,439
Speaker 1: with an existing body politic. The job of people like

1467
01:14:05,520 --> 01:14:08,960
Speaker 1: Obama is to try and restore that trust by making

1468
01:14:09,000 --> 01:14:12,360
Speaker 1: their lives better, and when they don't, people fall prey

1469
01:14:12,560 --> 01:14:15,280
Speaker 1: to all sorts of crazy stuff. It's not the fault

1470
01:14:15,320 --> 01:14:17,519
Speaker 1: of the theories. It is the fault of the leaders

1471
01:14:17,600 --> 01:14:20,799
Speaker 1: who betrayed their trust given to them by the American

1472
01:14:20,840 --> 01:14:23,880
Speaker 1: public and have been doing so for decades. Obama's turn

1473
01:14:23,920 --> 01:14:27,760
Speaker 1: on tech is ironic also given that his administration, more

1474
01:14:27,800 --> 01:14:31,640
Speaker 1: than anyone, allied itself with Silicon Valley. His former staffers

1475
01:14:31,680 --> 01:14:34,120
Speaker 1: are all over the c suite executive rooms of some

1476
01:14:34,160 --> 01:14:37,040
Speaker 1: of the top tech companies in America. He famously played

1477
01:14:37,040 --> 01:14:40,320
Speaker 1: buddy buddy with Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brinn and Larry

1478
01:14:40,320 --> 01:14:43,439
Speaker 1: Page while he was in office. His current turn against

1479
01:14:43,439 --> 01:14:46,400
Speaker 1: tech is the same as the entire liberal elites project.

1480
01:14:47,200 --> 01:14:50,520
Speaker 1: They cannot stomach the idea that they do not control

1481
01:14:50,680 --> 01:14:53,720
Speaker 1: what people think, so they must blame somebody else and

1482
01:14:53,760 --> 01:14:57,000
Speaker 1: then seize the current means of information distribution to ensure

1483
01:14:57,200 --> 01:14:59,840
Speaker 1: they are not embarrassed or challenged, as when Donald Trump

1484
01:14:59,880 --> 01:15:03,439
Speaker 1: w the election in twenty sixteen. You would think Barack Obama,

1485
01:15:03,520 --> 01:15:06,080
Speaker 1: of all people, would understand this. Think back to the

1486
01:15:06,120 --> 01:15:08,360
Speaker 1: ancient times of two thousand and seven. During the two

1487
01:15:08,400 --> 01:15:11,680
Speaker 1: thousand and eight Democratic presidential primary, Hillary Clinton was the

1488
01:15:11,720 --> 01:15:14,400
Speaker 1: Democratic elite and she was poised to win. A skinny

1489
01:15:14,520 --> 01:15:18,240
Speaker 1: Kenyan senator named Barack Obama wanted to challenge her. He

1490
01:15:18,280 --> 01:15:21,000
Speaker 1: did not have the power, but he did have his voice,

1491
01:15:21,120 --> 01:15:23,639
Speaker 1: and he took to the Internet. He hired a former

1492
01:15:23,960 --> 01:15:26,559
Speaker 1: Facebook founder to run his website and for the first

1493
01:15:26,560 --> 01:15:30,519
Speaker 1: time in modern American politics, raised hundreds of millions of

1494
01:15:30,560 --> 01:15:34,240
Speaker 1: dollars online. He got his message out to eventually win

1495
01:15:34,439 --> 01:15:37,720
Speaker 1: the presidency of the United States. Barack Obama would not

1496
01:15:37,760 --> 01:15:40,519
Speaker 1: be president without the Internet. For that matter, almost nobody

1497
01:15:40,560 --> 01:15:43,880
Speaker 1: who was prominent today who challenges existing power would also

1498
01:15:43,960 --> 01:15:46,240
Speaker 1: do so. But he is the power now, so he

1499
01:15:46,320 --> 01:15:48,719
Speaker 1: is turning his back on the ability of a future

1500
01:15:48,760 --> 01:15:52,120
Speaker 1: Barack Obama to get elected. The crisis of American society

1501
01:15:52,160 --> 01:15:55,840
Speaker 1: today is one of a defunct leadership class like Obama

1502
01:15:55,920 --> 01:15:58,920
Speaker 1: that refuses to acknowledge its own failures, and then rigs

1503
01:15:58,960 --> 01:16:01,240
Speaker 1: the rules to make sure that nobody can supplant them.

1504
01:16:01,439 --> 01:16:04,280
Speaker 1: When the revolution comes, it will not be because people

1505
01:16:04,320 --> 01:16:07,040
Speaker 1: read a Facebook post or watch the silly YouTube video.

1506
01:16:07,360 --> 01:16:10,040
Speaker 1: It will be because maybe they are someone my age

1507
01:16:10,120 --> 01:16:13,200
Speaker 1: who watch their beautiful country throw itself into two wars,

1508
01:16:13,320 --> 01:16:16,160
Speaker 1: give up its manufacturing capacity which made it great in

1509
01:16:16,200 --> 01:16:18,960
Speaker 1: the first place, let itself get mired in ridiculous culture

1510
01:16:18,960 --> 01:16:21,519
Speaker 1: war fights while the edifice holding all of us up

1511
01:16:21,760 --> 01:16:25,599
Speaker 1: crumbles without any attention from the leadership class. My message

1512
01:16:25,600 --> 01:16:27,880
Speaker 1: to them is the only way to avoid a bigger

1513
01:16:27,880 --> 01:16:31,040
Speaker 1: confrontation is to allow free speech on the Internet, to

1514
01:16:31,160 --> 01:16:34,400
Speaker 1: allow a new generation and a dissonant class a chance

1515
01:16:34,479 --> 01:16:37,320
Speaker 1: at speaking to the people, seizing the reigns of power,

1516
01:16:37,520 --> 01:16:40,519
Speaker 1: and correcting the follies of those who came before us. Now,

1517
01:16:40,560 --> 01:16:42,640
Speaker 1: I'm not naive. I know they're not going to do it,

1518
01:16:42,760 --> 01:16:45,040
Speaker 1: So buckle up, people, because the war for the Internet

1519
01:16:45,160 --> 01:16:47,519
Speaker 1: has really only just begun, and I think it's crazy

1520
01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:49,880
Speaker 1: when you consider it. In the Obama coon and if

1521
01:16:49,920 --> 01:16:52,719
Speaker 1: you want to hear my reaction to Cyber's monologue, become

1522
01:16:52,760 --> 01:16:58,280
Speaker 1: a premium subscriber today at breakingpoints dot com. Joining us

1523
01:16:58,280 --> 01:17:01,479
Speaker 1: now is the great Sarah Fisher of CEOs. Sarah, welcome

1524
01:17:01,600 --> 01:17:05,080
Speaker 1: to the show. We really appreciate joining us. Hey, thanks

1525
01:17:05,160 --> 01:17:08,000
Speaker 1: for having me. Love this show. Thank you very thank you.

1526
01:17:08,280 --> 01:17:10,679
Speaker 1: Appreciate your reporting. You were one of the best, Sarah.

1527
01:17:10,720 --> 01:17:12,240
Speaker 1: You're one of the first to really give us some

1528
01:17:12,280 --> 01:17:14,599
Speaker 1: insight into the downfall of CNN. Plus, let's go ahead

1529
01:17:14,600 --> 01:17:16,800
Speaker 1: and put this up there on the screen. You first

1530
01:17:16,800 --> 01:17:19,960
Speaker 1: had the instance that they were inside the chaotic collapse there,

1531
01:17:20,240 --> 01:17:23,440
Speaker 1: you first had the reporting that they were suspending marketing operations,

1532
01:17:23,640 --> 01:17:24,960
Speaker 1: and then you were one of the first of the

1533
01:17:24,960 --> 01:17:27,840
Speaker 1: story in terms of talking about the demise. Sarah, I've

1534
01:17:27,840 --> 01:17:31,000
Speaker 1: always respected you as just a great analyst of inside

1535
01:17:31,040 --> 01:17:35,200
Speaker 1: media companies and what's happening here? What exactly happened with

1536
01:17:35,320 --> 01:17:38,960
Speaker 1: the death of this product that they poured three hundred

1537
01:17:39,040 --> 01:17:44,040
Speaker 1: million dollars into. Yeah, it's a great question. So about

1538
01:17:44,080 --> 01:17:47,960
Speaker 1: two years ago, CNN executives thought, we really need to

1539
01:17:48,000 --> 01:17:51,519
Speaker 1: get ahead of the linear TV decline. Let's launch a

1540
01:17:51,520 --> 01:17:54,759
Speaker 1: bigger foray into streaming. Now, you have to remember CNN

1541
01:17:54,800 --> 01:17:58,000
Speaker 1: has experimented with streaming for a really long time. They

1542
01:17:58,160 --> 01:18:02,120
Speaker 1: started CNN Pipeline and the thousands. They had CNN Go,

1543
01:18:02,320 --> 01:18:04,599
Speaker 1: which is an app that still exists, but it really

1544
01:18:04,680 --> 01:18:08,040
Speaker 1: just allows you to stream the live cable network through

1545
01:18:08,360 --> 01:18:12,519
Speaker 1: authenticating your cable log in. They had Great Big Story,

1546
01:18:12,560 --> 01:18:14,920
Speaker 1: which ended up shutting down a few years ago, and

1547
01:18:14,960 --> 01:18:18,120
Speaker 1: so they never really nailed a smart streaming direct to

1548
01:18:18,160 --> 01:18:20,960
Speaker 1: consumer app, and so executives said, we're going to do it.

1549
01:18:21,360 --> 01:18:23,120
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty one, they start to make a lot

1550
01:18:23,160 --> 01:18:27,080
Speaker 1: of moves towards that. At this point, they hired Alex McCallum,

1551
01:18:27,120 --> 01:18:29,839
Speaker 1: a product whiz from The New York Times. They acquired

1552
01:18:29,880 --> 01:18:33,799
Speaker 1: an app called Canopy, which sort of supported news aggregation apps,

1553
01:18:34,000 --> 01:18:36,920
Speaker 1: and they were ready to build. But the one thing

1554
01:18:36,920 --> 01:18:40,080
Speaker 1: they may not have seen coming was that their parents'

1555
01:18:40,240 --> 01:18:43,400
Speaker 1: parent company, AT and T was being straddled with so

1556
01:18:43,560 --> 01:18:46,479
Speaker 1: much debt from its media acquisitions that it was looking

1557
01:18:46,560 --> 01:18:50,320
Speaker 1: to spin off WarnerMedia, which is CNN's parent, and in

1558
01:18:50,360 --> 01:18:52,800
Speaker 1: May we found out that the decision was made to

1559
01:18:52,840 --> 01:18:55,320
Speaker 1: spin it off and merge it with Discovery, which is

1560
01:18:55,400 --> 01:19:00,959
Speaker 1: run by David Zaslov. The challenge here became Discoveries Bet

1561
01:19:01,320 --> 01:19:06,160
Speaker 1: was to build one giant general entertainment app by combining

1562
01:19:06,400 --> 01:19:10,160
Speaker 1: HBO Max and Discovery Plus, but they didn't really have

1563
01:19:10,479 --> 01:19:14,640
Speaker 1: in their long term vision standalone, smaller subscription apps, and

1564
01:19:14,680 --> 01:19:18,479
Speaker 1: that's because they've tried that. Before Discovery had launched Golf TV,

1565
01:19:18,880 --> 01:19:21,440
Speaker 1: they had a food network app that were all subscriptions

1566
01:19:21,479 --> 01:19:23,920
Speaker 1: and they were tough to build. And so when it

1567
01:19:23,960 --> 01:19:27,160
Speaker 1: came time for the merger to close, you had a

1568
01:19:27,200 --> 01:19:30,320
Speaker 1: bunch of different things that made Discovery very wary about

1569
01:19:30,360 --> 01:19:35,479
Speaker 1: introducing CNN Plus. First, in February, CNN's longtime leader Jeff

1570
01:19:35,560 --> 01:19:39,479
Speaker 1: Zucker had to resign in a shocking resignation, and that

1571
01:19:39,560 --> 01:19:43,040
Speaker 1: really put Discovery executives on edge. He was the person

1572
01:19:43,080 --> 01:19:44,960
Speaker 1: that would be leading the charge. He's no longer going

1573
01:19:45,000 --> 01:19:47,360
Speaker 1: to be there. And then leading up to the merger,

1574
01:19:47,800 --> 01:19:50,479
Speaker 1: at and T was very conservative. They didn't want to

1575
01:19:50,520 --> 01:19:54,040
Speaker 1: talk to Discovery because they were afraid of regulatory's scrutiny,

1576
01:19:54,400 --> 01:19:57,320
Speaker 1: and so Discovery didn't have great visibility into what was

1577
01:19:57,360 --> 01:20:00,280
Speaker 1: happening at CNN Plus. And by the time they did

1578
01:20:00,360 --> 01:20:03,880
Speaker 1: in April when that mercer closed, what they saw was

1579
01:20:04,400 --> 01:20:07,479
Speaker 1: CNN had poured hundreds of millions of dollars into an

1580
01:20:07,520 --> 01:20:11,000
Speaker 1: app that they worried would not become profitable within the

1581
01:20:11,040 --> 01:20:14,439
Speaker 1: four year timeline. That CNN had sketched out, and instead

1582
01:20:14,439 --> 01:20:17,000
Speaker 1: of waiting to make the decision whether or not they

1583
01:20:17,000 --> 01:20:20,559
Speaker 1: were going to support this effort or not, Discovery execs

1584
01:20:20,560 --> 01:20:22,920
Speaker 1: thought that what would be safest would be just to

1585
01:20:23,000 --> 01:20:25,960
Speaker 1: pull the plug early and that way they could stay

1586
01:20:26,000 --> 01:20:28,519
Speaker 1: heartache down the line. And so it's an unfortunate thing.

1587
01:20:28,560 --> 01:20:31,080
Speaker 1: You know, hundreds of jobs are likely going to be lost,

1588
01:20:31,520 --> 01:20:34,280
Speaker 1: a lot of hundreds of millions of dollars were already

1589
01:20:34,360 --> 01:20:37,479
Speaker 1: spent and wasted. But I guess the silver lining here

1590
01:20:37,560 --> 01:20:40,519
Speaker 1: is that Discovery took quick and decisive action as opposed

1591
01:20:40,560 --> 01:20:42,840
Speaker 1: to dragging this thing on a few more months. Yeah,

1592
01:20:42,840 --> 01:20:44,439
Speaker 1: I mean, you sort of have to respect the fact

1593
01:20:44,479 --> 01:20:46,280
Speaker 1: that they, you know, looked at the writing on the

1594
01:20:46,320 --> 01:20:49,800
Speaker 1: wall and the early numbers which are reported by you

1595
01:20:49,840 --> 01:20:52,519
Speaker 1: and others, which were very poor, you know, fewer than

1596
01:20:52,560 --> 01:20:55,360
Speaker 1: ten thousand people watching in a day, which is you know,

1597
01:20:55,479 --> 01:20:59,040
Speaker 1: really pathetic, especially when you have that level of spend

1598
01:20:59,439 --> 01:21:03,679
Speaker 1: on market. But why did CNN push forward with this

1599
01:21:04,120 --> 01:21:06,320
Speaker 1: and decide to keep the launch date where it was

1600
01:21:06,439 --> 01:21:09,080
Speaker 1: to start with? When you know it wasn't a secret.

1601
01:21:09,120 --> 01:21:10,840
Speaker 1: We talked about it here. I know you reported on

1602
01:21:10,960 --> 01:21:13,960
Speaker 1: as well that Discovery preferred to go in this direction,

1603
01:21:14,080 --> 01:21:17,200
Speaker 1: that it was likely that the CNN Plus streaming service

1604
01:21:17,240 --> 01:21:21,680
Speaker 1: would be bundled inside of a larger streaming offering. So

1605
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:25,479
Speaker 1: why did they push forward anyway knowing that you know

1606
01:21:25,560 --> 01:21:29,200
Speaker 1: this was very much a possibility. Well, I think you

1607
01:21:29,240 --> 01:21:31,360
Speaker 1: have to look at the number. We reported that there

1608
01:21:31,360 --> 01:21:33,840
Speaker 1: were one hundred and fifty thousand people that decided to

1609
01:21:33,920 --> 01:21:36,160
Speaker 1: pay within those two and a half weeks. I don't

1610
01:21:36,200 --> 01:21:39,760
Speaker 1: think CNN executives saw that as a huge failure. I

1611
01:21:39,800 --> 01:21:43,479
Speaker 1: think the challenge is, like any type of subscription streaming,

1612
01:21:43,800 --> 01:21:46,759
Speaker 1: you have to inject a lot of capital upfront before

1613
01:21:46,760 --> 01:21:49,240
Speaker 1: you can get the payoff later, and that includes marketing,

1614
01:21:49,520 --> 01:21:51,639
Speaker 1: and so it wasn't necessarily that they thought this thing

1615
01:21:51,760 --> 01:21:54,360
Speaker 1: was going to be so awful, Although you're right some

1616
01:21:54,400 --> 01:21:57,840
Speaker 1: of the daily viewership numbers were low. I think it

1617
01:21:57,880 --> 01:21:59,640
Speaker 1: was just that the amount of money that would need

1618
01:21:59,680 --> 01:22:01,800
Speaker 1: to can continue to spend to get the numbers to

1619
01:22:01,840 --> 01:22:04,680
Speaker 1: go up would be exorbitant, and that's what Discovery was

1620
01:22:04,720 --> 01:22:08,360
Speaker 1: afraid of. Remember, they're running what is a legacy, profitable

1621
01:22:08,400 --> 01:22:11,760
Speaker 1: cable business. It's a different model than something like Netflix

1622
01:22:12,160 --> 01:22:14,479
Speaker 1: or even like an uber, where you can afford to

1623
01:22:14,479 --> 01:22:17,240
Speaker 1: inject a lot of capital upfront for some sort of

1624
01:22:17,280 --> 01:22:19,920
Speaker 1: payoff late, and so I think that's the reason why

1625
01:22:19,960 --> 01:22:23,519
Speaker 1: there is a discrepancy. CNN wanted to move forward one.

1626
01:22:23,600 --> 01:22:25,479
Speaker 1: I think there was a little bit of you know,

1627
01:22:25,600 --> 01:22:29,120
Speaker 1: sort of emotional decision making there, right, they wanted to

1628
01:22:29,200 --> 01:22:32,240
Speaker 1: stake a claim in CNN's digital future before the merger.

1629
01:22:32,520 --> 01:22:35,000
Speaker 1: But I also think too is that they thought that

1630
01:22:35,080 --> 01:22:38,880
Speaker 1: this was probably successful in a white Discovery just did not, right.

1631
01:22:38,960 --> 01:22:42,240
Speaker 1: I mean, Sarah, what does the broader cable industry look

1632
01:22:42,280 --> 01:22:44,880
Speaker 1: at this and what's their takeaway? I mean, this is

1633
01:22:44,920 --> 01:22:46,479
Speaker 1: something which is a big problem for them, and I

1634
01:22:46,520 --> 01:22:48,400
Speaker 1: talk about it all the time, which is that their

1635
01:22:48,439 --> 01:22:51,519
Speaker 1: main value add on linear is live TV, which they're

1636
01:22:51,560 --> 01:22:53,680
Speaker 1: not allowed to put on streaming, and a lot of

1637
01:22:53,720 --> 01:22:56,400
Speaker 1: their content on streaming. I mean, I'll say editorially, you

1638
01:22:56,400 --> 01:22:57,880
Speaker 1: don't have to say it. I don't think it's very good.

1639
01:22:58,160 --> 01:23:01,679
Speaker 1: So what exactly are they trying to do to plan

1640
01:23:01,840 --> 01:23:04,280
Speaker 1: for their future? Because I'm not a genius, you know,

1641
01:23:04,360 --> 01:23:07,800
Speaker 1: anybody can look at the upcoming negotiation for live TV,

1642
01:23:08,000 --> 01:23:10,919
Speaker 1: streaming and linear and say they're in a real problem

1643
01:23:11,000 --> 01:23:12,680
Speaker 1: in terms of what their future is going to look like.

1644
01:23:14,479 --> 01:23:18,240
Speaker 1: So everyone's obviously going about streaming as their future, but

1645
01:23:18,280 --> 01:23:22,799
Speaker 1: they're doing different strategies. So one strategy is that direct

1646
01:23:22,800 --> 01:23:26,320
Speaker 1: to consumer subscription model, and some cable networks have been

1647
01:23:26,400 --> 01:23:30,720
Speaker 1: absolutely brilliant about spinning that forward, most notably HBO. You know,

1648
01:23:30,920 --> 01:23:33,320
Speaker 1: HBO was a premium cable network that they're been able

1649
01:23:33,360 --> 01:23:36,600
Speaker 1: to spin into a smart direct to consumer subscription. The

1650
01:23:36,680 --> 01:23:39,880
Speaker 1: other option is free and ADS supportive, and I think

1651
01:23:39,880 --> 01:23:42,760
Speaker 1: it's notable that Netflix said this past earnings that they're

1652
01:23:42,800 --> 01:23:45,960
Speaker 1: going to experiment with an ADS supported tier. And that's

1653
01:23:46,040 --> 01:23:48,639
Speaker 1: just because if you take a look at consumers spend,

1654
01:23:49,160 --> 01:23:52,360
Speaker 1: consumers have said consistently over the past two years, even

1655
01:23:52,360 --> 01:23:55,240
Speaker 1: throughout the pandemic, they're only willing to spend around forty

1656
01:23:55,320 --> 01:23:58,479
Speaker 1: dollars a month on subscription streaming services. Other than that,

1657
01:23:58,760 --> 01:24:01,080
Speaker 1: it's going to have to be free, ADS supported, and

1658
01:24:01,120 --> 01:24:02,640
Speaker 1: so I think what's going to be the future for

1659
01:24:02,720 --> 01:24:06,280
Speaker 1: CNN Discovery is actually probably going to double down on

1660
01:24:06,400 --> 01:24:10,080
Speaker 1: CNN's free AD supported app. You have to remember CNN's

1661
01:24:10,080 --> 01:24:12,800
Speaker 1: core digital app is one of the most widely consumed

1662
01:24:13,080 --> 01:24:14,960
Speaker 1: news apps in the world. It's one of the most

1663
01:24:14,960 --> 01:24:17,920
Speaker 1: widely trafficked, so they'd actually be wise to put some

1664
01:24:18,040 --> 01:24:21,320
Speaker 1: video on there, sell some premium video ads against it.

1665
01:24:21,720 --> 01:24:24,679
Speaker 1: I think for other major cable networks, it really depends

1666
01:24:24,720 --> 01:24:27,840
Speaker 1: on sports or not. If you're really invested in lat

1667
01:24:27,840 --> 01:24:30,320
Speaker 1: oft sports, this is a tough one. I think ESPN's

1668
01:24:30,320 --> 01:24:33,320
Speaker 1: done a pretty good job. You put some rights on streaming,

1669
01:24:33,400 --> 01:24:35,040
Speaker 1: some on linear, and you kind of have to do

1670
01:24:35,080 --> 01:24:37,559
Speaker 1: a balancing app. But if you don't have sports at

1671
01:24:37,560 --> 01:24:40,519
Speaker 1: this point, the pretty much the biggest strategy is get

1672
01:24:40,560 --> 01:24:42,919
Speaker 1: as much of your content as you can on streaming,

1673
01:24:43,120 --> 01:24:46,680
Speaker 1: whether it's through an ad supported streaming venor or subscription,

1674
01:24:47,000 --> 01:24:48,920
Speaker 1: And even if it's not the most profitable part of

1675
01:24:48,920 --> 01:24:51,599
Speaker 1: your business net right now, what you will have done

1676
01:24:51,720 --> 01:24:55,080
Speaker 1: is you will have planted the seeds, have consumer familiar acity,

1677
01:24:55,280 --> 01:24:58,240
Speaker 1: have advertised relationships, so that one day when that cable

1678
01:24:58,280 --> 01:25:02,280
Speaker 1: bundle sort of does collapse, ready to take on the future. Yeah.

1679
01:25:02,320 --> 01:25:04,320
Speaker 1: I think that's well said. I mean, one of the

1680
01:25:04,320 --> 01:25:06,840
Speaker 1: things that irritated me. I saw some hot takes that

1681
01:25:06,880 --> 01:25:10,360
Speaker 1: were like, oh, you know, subscription based streaming news just

1682
01:25:10,400 --> 01:25:13,200
Speaker 1: doesn't work, and I think we're here to tell you

1683
01:25:13,240 --> 01:25:16,160
Speaker 1: that that's not the case. But you know, it is

1684
01:25:16,240 --> 01:25:21,240
Speaker 1: noteworthy that look, CNN, Fox and MSNBC all have their

1685
01:25:21,240 --> 01:25:24,519
Speaker 1: own streaming efforts. CNN Plus was the highest spend and

1686
01:25:24,560 --> 01:25:26,600
Speaker 1: the splashies roll on, so it got a lot of

1687
01:25:26,600 --> 01:25:30,040
Speaker 1: attention that the numbers weren't, you know, very impressive, and

1688
01:25:30,160 --> 01:25:34,240
Speaker 1: of course it collapsed almost instantly. But the MSNBC streaming

1689
01:25:34,240 --> 01:25:36,759
Speaker 1: service and the Fox News streaming service also don't seem

1690
01:25:36,760 --> 01:25:39,559
Speaker 1: to be exactly doing Gangbusters. So what do you think

1691
01:25:39,600 --> 01:25:42,720
Speaker 1: it is about their formulas that just doesn't seem to

1692
01:25:42,760 --> 01:25:46,439
Speaker 1: have much consumer repeal. I don't know the answer to that,

1693
01:25:46,479 --> 01:25:48,920
Speaker 1: because I don't know the numbers. Like Fox has never

1694
01:25:48,960 --> 01:25:52,640
Speaker 1: revealed many people subscribe to Fox Nation, I don't know

1695
01:25:52,680 --> 01:25:56,120
Speaker 1: how many people are viewing MSNBC's Peacock portal. But what

1696
01:25:56,160 --> 01:25:58,280
Speaker 1: I will tell you is you bring up a good point,

1697
01:25:58,360 --> 01:26:01,840
Speaker 1: which is we sort of have the Barbell phenomena. On

1698
01:26:01,840 --> 01:26:07,360
Speaker 1: one end you have massive scale and really general interest services,

1699
01:26:07,800 --> 01:26:09,880
Speaker 1: and then the other you have Niche And I would

1700
01:26:09,880 --> 01:26:13,680
Speaker 1: put breaking points in Niche Niece is doing excellent. If

1701
01:26:13,720 --> 01:26:17,760
Speaker 1: you can cater to a very high, highly engaged audience,

1702
01:26:18,400 --> 01:26:20,200
Speaker 1: they're going to spend a lot of time with you,

1703
01:26:20,280 --> 01:26:21,800
Speaker 1: They're willing to give you a lot of money, and

1704
01:26:21,800 --> 01:26:23,720
Speaker 1: they're going to be very engaged because they like the

1705
01:26:23,840 --> 01:26:27,439
Speaker 1: very specific thing that you're providing for them. The problem

1706
01:26:27,479 --> 01:26:29,639
Speaker 1: is when you try to hit the middle. If you're

1707
01:26:29,680 --> 01:26:33,200
Speaker 1: not super broad and scaled, or you're not super niche,

1708
01:26:33,360 --> 01:26:35,400
Speaker 1: you're going to have an issue. Now when it comes

1709
01:26:35,400 --> 01:26:40,240
Speaker 1: to intertainment or leisure, it's pretty understandable where that barbell lies.

1710
01:26:40,400 --> 01:26:43,760
Speaker 1: They're going to be very, very very niche entertainment subscription

1711
01:26:43,840 --> 01:26:46,840
Speaker 1: services that do well. My favorite example is Cruntry Role,

1712
01:26:47,160 --> 01:26:50,360
Speaker 1: which is bought by Sony Theater to anime fans. Great

1713
01:26:50,400 --> 01:26:53,000
Speaker 1: example of the niche service that does well. The problem

1714
01:26:53,080 --> 01:26:55,880
Speaker 1: with news is Niece is really hard to figure out.

1715
01:26:55,960 --> 01:26:59,760
Speaker 1: You either lean into personality programming, which you guys aren't

1716
01:27:00,000 --> 01:27:04,360
Speaker 1: necessarily political personality programming. You don't have necessarily a political take,

1717
01:27:04,680 --> 01:27:07,680
Speaker 1: but you do have very strong personalities. I mean, your

1718
01:27:07,720 --> 01:27:09,960
Speaker 1: brands are ones that I've been following since the hilt,

1719
01:27:10,320 --> 01:27:12,880
Speaker 1: and people know you as two distinct people, and so

1720
01:27:13,000 --> 01:27:15,160
Speaker 1: that was why I would put you in Niece. In

1721
01:27:15,200 --> 01:27:17,680
Speaker 1: the news sector, if you're not B to B, you know,

1722
01:27:17,760 --> 01:27:21,280
Speaker 1: catering to someone's professional news. If you're not sort of

1723
01:27:21,320 --> 01:27:24,040
Speaker 1: personality programming like you guys are, then you have to

1724
01:27:24,040 --> 01:27:27,600
Speaker 1: be massive and broad. And the challenge with CNN is

1725
01:27:27,640 --> 01:27:30,439
Speaker 1: they actually should have been could have been massive and broad,

1726
01:27:30,960 --> 01:27:34,320
Speaker 1: but the way that the subscription streaming service was rolled out,

1727
01:27:34,720 --> 01:27:36,799
Speaker 1: I don't think they had the broadest a feel possible.

1728
01:27:36,800 --> 01:27:38,720
Speaker 1: You could blame that on marketing. You can bring them

1729
01:27:38,720 --> 01:27:41,040
Speaker 1: that on competition. I don't know what it was, but

1730
01:27:41,360 --> 01:27:43,040
Speaker 1: it didn't go as broad as it probably would have

1731
01:27:43,080 --> 01:27:47,120
Speaker 1: need to have gone. I think that's really very interesting analysis. Sarah,

1732
01:27:47,240 --> 01:27:49,120
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Thank you for the great reporting

1733
01:27:49,160 --> 01:27:51,000
Speaker 1: that we have relied on here on this show many

1734
01:27:51,040 --> 01:27:53,040
Speaker 1: many times. Appreciate it. We rely on you a lot.

1735
01:27:53,040 --> 01:27:55,160
Speaker 1: Everybody go subscribe to Sarah's newsletter will have a link

1736
01:27:55,160 --> 01:27:57,160
Speaker 1: down there in description. I read it all the time.

1737
01:27:57,200 --> 01:27:59,559
Speaker 1: So thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you.

1738
01:27:59,640 --> 01:28:01,439
Speaker 1: I was going to say, I feel the same way

1739
01:28:01,560 --> 01:28:03,920
Speaker 1: like when I have a question about how real people

1740
01:28:03,960 --> 01:28:08,760
Speaker 1: are thinking about things, I call you Siggert, and so

1741
01:28:08,840 --> 01:28:13,120
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Well, the appreciation goes both ways. Appreciate

1742
01:28:13,120 --> 01:28:15,640
Speaker 1: it very much. Take cares, Sarah. Thank you guys so

1743
01:28:15,720 --> 01:28:18,160
Speaker 1: much for watching. We really appreciate it. I just think

1744
01:28:18,200 --> 01:28:20,160
Speaker 1: that this is an important time to highlight, you know,

1745
01:28:20,200 --> 01:28:22,760
Speaker 1: we just had that conversation with Sarah, which is look,

1746
01:28:22,800 --> 01:28:24,920
Speaker 1: we're trying to build out something new. You know, it's

1747
01:28:24,960 --> 01:28:27,720
Speaker 1: true what she said original show, it really was just

1748
01:28:27,760 --> 01:28:30,200
Speaker 1: you and me. But now we've got Jordan Sheridan as

1749
01:28:30,200 --> 01:28:33,200
Speaker 1: somebody who's on the ground. That's a real big foray

1750
01:28:33,240 --> 01:28:36,160
Speaker 1: for us on the ground, actual reporting. We now we've

1751
01:28:36,160 --> 01:28:38,640
Speaker 1: got Maximilian Alvarez. You'll also be doing some traveling. He's

1752
01:28:38,680 --> 01:28:41,640
Speaker 1: breaking down labor phenomenon for us. Matt Stoller, I mean,

1753
01:28:41,680 --> 01:28:43,920
Speaker 1: I can't even tell you, guys, I can't tell you everything,

1754
01:28:43,960 --> 01:28:47,439
Speaker 1: but we're getting some real notice in Washington, and we're

1755
01:28:47,479 --> 01:28:50,080
Speaker 1: going to be having a real effect. The ability of

1756
01:28:50,080 --> 01:28:52,679
Speaker 1: our audience in order to make comments on the FTC

1757
01:28:53,520 --> 01:28:56,479
Speaker 1: and the DOJ to blow out the record is crazy.

1758
01:28:56,560 --> 01:28:59,920
Speaker 1: The fact that we had that level of impact. Marshall's Interview,

1759
01:29:00,040 --> 01:29:02,479
Speaker 1: US and Kyle's Clubs, like, all of this stuff is

1760
01:29:02,640 --> 01:29:05,600
Speaker 1: going and building something that all of you enables. So

1761
01:29:05,680 --> 01:29:07,160
Speaker 1: I just want to thank you all very much. Yes,

1762
01:29:07,280 --> 01:29:09,639
Speaker 1: if you can help us, we really appreciate it, because

1763
01:29:09,680 --> 01:29:12,160
Speaker 1: every day when we look at that balance sheet, we're like, Okay,

1764
01:29:12,160 --> 01:29:14,320
Speaker 1: how can we add even more value to the people

1765
01:29:14,360 --> 01:29:18,960
Speaker 1: who pay We also did make a small investment on

1766
01:29:19,040 --> 01:29:24,439
Speaker 1: behalf of the Breakingus Right community due to interests from

1767
01:29:24,520 --> 01:29:27,640
Speaker 1: all of you. I had pointed out on Twitter. You

1768
01:29:27,680 --> 01:29:31,000
Speaker 1: may recall that at the launch of CNN Plus, which

1769
01:29:31,040 --> 01:29:35,679
Speaker 1: they hailed as the most historic moment in CNN history

1770
01:29:35,720 --> 01:29:38,799
Speaker 1: since the launch of the network, head turner, back and whenever.

1771
01:29:39,520 --> 01:29:43,400
Speaker 1: So in honor of that historic occasion, they actually sold

1772
01:29:43,479 --> 01:29:47,919
Speaker 1: a limited number of NFTs. That's right, capturing those first

1773
01:29:48,320 --> 01:29:51,599
Speaker 1: historic moments, Soger, So tell the people what you have done.

1774
01:29:51,680 --> 01:29:54,160
Speaker 1: I am happy to announce that on behalf of Breaking

1775
01:29:54,160 --> 01:29:57,120
Speaker 1: Points Incorporated, we have made an investment that all of

1776
01:29:57,160 --> 01:29:59,439
Speaker 1: you own. It's not just us breaking Points in it's

1777
01:29:59,479 --> 01:30:02,760
Speaker 1: the technical the benefit of the entire community. Let's put

1778
01:30:02,760 --> 01:30:05,479
Speaker 1: this up there on the screen. We are now a

1779
01:30:05,600 --> 01:30:10,479
Speaker 1: proud owner of the CNN Plus NFT. I wanted to

1780
01:30:10,520 --> 01:30:14,280
Speaker 1: make sure that we, all of us, were proud owners

1781
01:30:14,400 --> 01:30:17,439
Speaker 1: of one of the most embarrassing failures in the history

1782
01:30:17,479 --> 01:30:20,240
Speaker 1: of CNN. So as you can see, right, yeah, they

1783
01:30:20,240 --> 01:30:22,439
Speaker 1: were historic. As you can see, we are number one

1784
01:30:22,479 --> 01:30:24,519
Speaker 1: hundred and forty eight out of two hundred and fifty.

1785
01:30:24,640 --> 01:30:27,240
Speaker 1: The best park Crystal is that they were still marketing

1786
01:30:27,280 --> 01:30:30,600
Speaker 1: and selling it on their NFT site even after the

1787
01:30:30,640 --> 01:30:34,320
Speaker 1: thing had completely failed, and guys, they hadn't even sold

1788
01:30:34,920 --> 01:30:37,120
Speaker 1: all of them yet, there was still like eighty three

1789
01:30:37,280 --> 01:30:39,280
Speaker 1: left in order to be purchased. I want to meet

1790
01:30:39,320 --> 01:30:41,519
Speaker 1: the one hundred and forty or so people that purchase

1791
01:30:41,600 --> 01:30:44,240
Speaker 1: these in honest to God good faith. They might be like, yeah,

1792
01:30:44,240 --> 01:30:46,440
Speaker 1: they might probably are like us, right, this is hilarious

1793
01:30:46,920 --> 01:30:49,880
Speaker 1: in terms of its cringe. But look, now we own it.

1794
01:30:49,960 --> 01:30:52,679
Speaker 1: They can never take it away, they can never hide

1795
01:30:52,960 --> 01:30:55,599
Speaker 1: their failures. So for the rest of all time, perhaps

1796
01:30:55,640 --> 01:30:57,759
Speaker 1: will roll it out, you know, every once in a while,

1797
01:30:57,880 --> 01:31:00,120
Speaker 1: the fact that we are the owners of this. Thank

1798
01:31:00,160 --> 01:31:02,599
Speaker 1: you for this non fungible token. As they say, it's

1799
01:31:02,800 --> 01:31:07,800
Speaker 1: ingrained in the blockchain now forever, forever your failures. We

1800
01:31:07,880 --> 01:31:09,960
Speaker 1: are now a part of it. At the community, you

1801
01:31:09,960 --> 01:31:12,719
Speaker 1: can really just feel us all coming together and making

1802
01:31:12,760 --> 01:31:15,280
Speaker 1: sure that we make sure that we can remind them

1803
01:31:15,280 --> 01:31:17,439
Speaker 1: of their failure for all times. And can I just

1804
01:31:17,520 --> 01:31:19,760
Speaker 1: address there was a criticism of like, how can you

1805
01:31:19,840 --> 01:31:22,960
Speaker 1: celebrate this failure? Oh yeah, the workers, I'm glad. No, yeah,

1806
01:31:23,479 --> 01:31:25,920
Speaker 1: nobody wishes ill for like the you know, low level

1807
01:31:25,960 --> 01:31:29,800
Speaker 1: producers and the crew and any Yeah, absolutely listen no

1808
01:31:29,800 --> 01:31:33,200
Speaker 1: one wishes them ill. I think about CNN the way

1809
01:31:33,280 --> 01:31:36,840
Speaker 1: I think about any industry which is damaging to the

1810
01:31:36,880 --> 01:31:40,639
Speaker 1: country or the world or the climate, which is Listen,

1811
01:31:40,720 --> 01:31:43,679
Speaker 1: the workers should be protected. They deserve a just transition.

1812
01:31:44,000 --> 01:31:46,400
Speaker 1: But ultimately, if your commitment is to the workers, not

1813
01:31:46,479 --> 01:31:49,479
Speaker 1: to the industry, then you can view this dispassionately and

1814
01:31:49,520 --> 01:31:53,360
Speaker 1: say CNN and CNN plus are bad for the country.

1815
01:31:53,720 --> 01:31:56,439
Speaker 1: So yes, I cheer for them to fail, and I

1816
01:31:56,479 --> 01:32:00,720
Speaker 1: do that unapologetically. Also, spare me your crocod tears. You

1817
01:32:00,760 --> 01:32:03,160
Speaker 1: people don't care. If our show had failed upon launch,

1818
01:32:03,200 --> 01:32:04,599
Speaker 1: they would have loved it. They would have laughed their

1819
01:32:04,600 --> 01:32:06,840
Speaker 1: asses off if you were talking about this. If Daily

1820
01:32:06,880 --> 01:32:09,400
Speaker 1: Wire goes down tomorrow, they would love it. If Joe

1821
01:32:09,439 --> 01:32:11,880
Speaker 1: roban it, they definitely wouldn't be like, oh, the poor work, right, Yeah,

1822
01:32:12,680 --> 01:32:16,400
Speaker 1: it looks for you. Yeah, CNN is also an ideological project, right,

1823
01:32:16,439 --> 01:32:19,880
Speaker 1: so you know, I mean it's again, I definitely am

1824
01:32:19,880 --> 01:32:22,439
Speaker 1: not like cheering for the workers to struggle and fail.

1825
01:32:22,479 --> 01:32:24,360
Speaker 1: And they got a decent like CNN's they got to

1826
01:32:24,400 --> 01:32:27,160
Speaker 1: be nine month payoff, treating them decently well in terms

1827
01:32:27,240 --> 01:32:29,040
Speaker 1: of you know, what their future is going to look

1828
01:32:29,080 --> 01:32:31,719
Speaker 1: like going forward? But do I cheer for the collapse

1829
01:32:31,800 --> 01:32:34,360
Speaker 1: of an industry that is bad for the country. Yes, yeah,

1830
01:32:34,479 --> 01:32:36,320
Speaker 1: I do cheer for it. I don't want to see

1831
01:32:36,320 --> 01:32:39,160
Speaker 1: people who are unemployed if have no in terms of

1832
01:32:39,160 --> 01:32:42,200
Speaker 1: the workers, the multimillionaires, Chris Wallace and Casey Hunting, all

1833
01:32:42,240 --> 01:32:44,400
Speaker 1: them who got fat stacks in order to go over there.

1834
01:32:44,600 --> 01:32:46,479
Speaker 1: You know that's on you. Casey, you had a show

1835
01:32:46,479 --> 01:32:48,479
Speaker 1: on MSNBC. You gave it up for your fake little

1836
01:32:48,479 --> 01:32:50,760
Speaker 1: gig over at can n Plus. Chris, you were host

1837
01:32:50,760 --> 01:32:53,120
Speaker 1: of the most popular Sunday show, and you gave it

1838
01:32:53,200 --> 01:32:56,400
Speaker 1: up because you thought that your show interviewing Dolly Parton

1839
01:32:56,760 --> 01:32:59,680
Speaker 1: was going to be so great. I know you love

1840
01:32:59,760 --> 01:33:03,040
Speaker 1: Doll but would like to that. Okay, she could come

1841
01:33:03,080 --> 01:33:05,160
Speaker 1: on and we can all watch for free. Okay, But

1842
01:33:05,840 --> 01:33:08,040
Speaker 1: do you think that they're going to give Chris Wallace

1843
01:33:08,080 --> 01:33:12,920
Speaker 1: the hour? No? I don't think so that slot needs opinion.

1844
01:33:13,080 --> 01:33:15,479
Speaker 1: He doesn't do opinion. I don't see it. It's possible,

1845
01:33:15,920 --> 01:33:18,920
Speaker 1: but don't you. But don't you think because the new

1846
01:33:19,040 --> 01:33:21,800
Speaker 1: bosses seem to be leaning more into we don't want

1847
01:33:21,800 --> 01:33:23,600
Speaker 1: to do opinion as much anymore. We want to do

1848
01:33:23,640 --> 01:33:26,240
Speaker 1: more hard news. It could it could fit into that.

1849
01:33:26,640 --> 01:33:29,200
Speaker 1: It's a big personality, right, I mean, I think, as

1850
01:33:29,240 --> 01:33:31,280
Speaker 1: we learned with sand n plus it's actually have a

1851
01:33:31,439 --> 01:33:33,720
Speaker 1: big Yeah, he doesn't have a big following, but he

1852
01:33:33,800 --> 01:33:37,080
Speaker 1: has a big elite name. Yeah, I guess I could

1853
01:33:37,160 --> 01:33:39,479
Speaker 1: see it probably would be the best. They wouldn't have

1854
01:33:39,520 --> 01:33:41,000
Speaker 1: to spend any more money, right in order to go

1855
01:33:41,080 --> 01:33:43,160
Speaker 1: and hire somebody, since they have somebody here on the bench,

1856
01:33:43,200 --> 01:33:45,800
Speaker 1: So I guess that would make sense. Casey obviously will

1857
01:33:45,800 --> 01:33:48,280
Speaker 1: also probably fit into that. But I think it's incredibly

1858
01:33:48,320 --> 01:33:50,680
Speaker 1: embarrassing for them in order to fail on such a

1859
01:33:50,760 --> 01:33:53,720
Speaker 1: national scale and so publicly, they should have stuck where

1860
01:33:53,720 --> 01:33:56,360
Speaker 1: they were and they would have been absolutely fine. Like

1861
01:33:56,400 --> 01:33:59,080
Speaker 1: I said, have feeling for the actual workers who are

1862
01:33:59,080 --> 01:34:01,960
Speaker 1: affected by this and some multimillionaires for them, I have

1863
01:34:02,040 --> 01:34:05,360
Speaker 1: no sympathy whatsoever. Yeah, I cheer the death of the industry,

1864
01:34:05,479 --> 01:34:07,840
Speaker 1: not for the workers themselves. I believe in all of

1865
01:34:07,840 --> 01:34:10,000
Speaker 1: them fighting dignity, and hopefully maybe we're big enough one

1866
01:34:10,040 --> 01:34:12,800
Speaker 1: day we can hire them. But in terms of the

1867
01:34:12,840 --> 01:34:16,960
Speaker 1: talent and the ideological project, no, I have no sympathy whatsoever. Also,

1868
01:34:17,000 --> 01:34:18,559
Speaker 1: in terms of the NFT, I thought it was only

1869
01:34:18,600 --> 01:34:21,840
Speaker 1: fair that given that they bought those dynamically inserted ads

1870
01:34:21,840 --> 01:34:24,160
Speaker 1: which ended up on our podcast that we show the Love.

1871
01:34:24,240 --> 01:34:27,400
Speaker 1: We fuddled back a bit of the fifty dollars, so

1872
01:34:27,600 --> 01:34:30,120
Speaker 1: I think we're even CNA. Yeah, there you go, there

1873
01:34:30,160 --> 01:34:32,800
Speaker 1: you go. I'm sure those ads are really paid. Sure,

1874
01:34:32,960 --> 01:34:36,200
Speaker 1: really good return on investment there, guys, a lot of

1875
01:34:36,360 --> 01:34:38,599
Speaker 1: brainy acts over there. Thank you for minding those ads

1876
01:34:38,640 --> 01:34:42,000
Speaker 1: and for funding our ability in order to keep building

1877
01:34:42,040 --> 01:34:43,880
Speaker 1: this and in order to take you down. So we're

1878
01:34:43,960 --> 01:34:45,519
Speaker 1: very happy about it, and thank you all for watching.

1879
01:34:45,560 --> 01:34:47,200
Speaker 1: We really appreciate. Love you guys, See you back here

1880
01:34:47,200 --> 01:34:47,599
Speaker 1: tomorrow