1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,360 Speaker 1: Hey, guys, thanks for listening to Breaking Points with Crystal 2 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: and Sager. We're going to be totally upfront with you. 3 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: We took a big risk going independent to make this work. 4 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: We need your support to beat the corporate media CNN, Fox, MSNBC. 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: They are ripping this country apart. They are making millions 6 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: of dollars doing it to help support our mission of 7 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: making all of us hate each other, less hate the 8 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: corrupt ruling class more support the show. Become a Breaking 9 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: Points Premium member today, where you get to watch and 10 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: listen to the entire show ad free and uncut, an 11 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: hour early before everyone else. You get to hear our 12 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: reactions to each other's monologues. You get to participate and 13 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: weekly ask me any things, and you don't need to 14 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: hear our annoying voices pitching you like I am right now? 15 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: So what are you waiting for? Go to Breakingpoints dot 16 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: com become a Premium member today, which is available in 17 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: the show notes. Enjoy the show, guys. All right, guys, 18 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: we are getting more details of exactly why Jeff Zucker 19 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: was removed from CNN as their head. This comes from 20 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: Rolling Stone and basically the details that we learn here 21 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: of what was going on behind the scenes with Zucker 22 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,399 Speaker 1: and his mistress, gallist viz A Vi, the governor of 23 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,400 Speaker 1: New York at the time, Andrew Cuomo are exactly what 24 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: you probably expected. We just have some more specifics that 25 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: we can layer. Yeah, We've got some text messages and 26 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:20,559 Speaker 1: some specifics here that we can bring you. So let's 27 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: go ahead and throw this tear sheet up on the 28 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,400 Speaker 1: screen from Rolling Stone. The headline here is Cuomo w 29 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,919 Speaker 1: Trump l How CNN's Jeff Zucker and his cronies manipulated 30 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: the news. Text email exchanges and thirty six sources tell 31 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: the true story behind the downfall of TV's ultimate operator. 32 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: And before I give you some of the details reported 33 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: out here, just recall that when he was pushed out 34 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: as head of CNN, there were Jake Tapper held a 35 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: morning at his like awake at his house. They were crying, 36 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: they were emotional distress. All these audio is being leaked. 37 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: They were upset not because of his journalistic malpractice, but 38 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: because their protector had been removed. So with that being said, 39 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:08,799 Speaker 1: let's dive into some of the details here. So one 40 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: of the exchanges they got their hands on was on 41 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: a day when in the morning, Cuomo had done one 42 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: of his press conferences and Trump had just floated the 43 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: idea of potentially shutting down travel from the New York 44 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: New Jersey area, and so he gets asked about it, 45 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: and at the presser he gives us kind of like, well, 46 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: we'll see what happens, rather milk toast response. By that 47 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: evening on CNN, he's coming out firing. He gets asked 48 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 1: this question that they describe as seemingly tailor made for him, 49 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: what would this mean for the stock market? Would it 50 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: have to shut down? And he says, oh, it would 51 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: drop like a stone that would drop this economy in 52 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,399 Speaker 1: a way that wouldn't recover for months, if not years. 53 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: So much more forceful response on CNN Primetime that evening. 54 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: What they uncover is that in the meantime he had 55 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: texted Cuomo had texted to Alison Gallist and said, ask 56 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: Jeff to call me please. Then, about thirty minutes before 57 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: that actual appearance on CNN, Gallis had emailed a program 58 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: programming staffer, copying Zucker and saying, hey, let's get the 59 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: governor on as a last minute guest to talk about 60 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: Trump's proposed quarantine. Then he does the segment sort of 61 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,919 Speaker 1: breathing fire about Trump and the quarantine and the stock 62 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: market and all of this. And when the segment ends, 63 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: Gallis texts Cuomo and says, well done, Cuomo w Trump 64 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: l this from the supposedly neutral journalists at CNN. There's more, though, 65 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 1: in terms of galliss relationship with Cuoma. Remember she had 66 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: been for a short time one of his aids. They 67 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: were apparently close buddies and kept in close contact. She 68 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: had asked him to help her friend cut through some 69 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: bureaucratic red tape to open a birthing center in Manhattan. 70 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: She also asked him for something involving Billy Joel, who'd 71 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: once hosted a Cuomo campaign fundraiser, and she prefaced that 72 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: request by saying, I never ask you for favors, but 73 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: to which Cloma replied, yes, you do ask me for favors, 74 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: and that's okay. It's usual. One democratic operative says. It 75 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: was clear she levered the relationship with him. There was 76 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: a consistent exchange of favors between them, So there you go. 77 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: I think all of this matters though, once again, because 78 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: this is the veneer through which you are getting so 79 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: much of your news and your information are the people 80 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,479 Speaker 1: who ran these networks and do control empirically domestic politics 81 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,919 Speaker 1: to a very large degree. So the machinations behind the 82 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: scenes and the way that they posture themselves, market themselves, 83 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,600 Speaker 1: create themselves into the story, it matters immensely to the 84 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: information environment. And I think it matters even more because 85 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: elite corruption, what's allowed and is okay and overseen, and 86 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: then what is reported on supposedly scandalized and put in 87 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,240 Speaker 1: front of you, it's all selective. And when you look 88 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,720 Speaker 1: behind and you see how they're doing all of this 89 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: stuff behind the scenes in such a corrupt and ridiculous manner, 90 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: it just taints all coverage, all of their editorial direction. 91 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: And it also shows us how what they claim to 92 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: be true and to not is very much suspect in 93 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: and of itself. And I think that's why when we 94 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: spend so much time on this story, it's you have 95 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: to remember how important CNN is as an American institution 96 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: when you go abroad, like when I'm in India, CNA 97 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: in India and International is always on in a lot 98 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,039 Speaker 1: of people's TVs. CNN is one of the most trusted 99 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: brands in news even today, at an all time low. 100 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: It still means in a matter something, Oh I saw 101 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,480 Speaker 1: that on CNN, and to see how exactly that's all 102 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: run and the background of it just pulls back the 103 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: curtain as to who the exact people are who are 104 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: delivering you this product that I think matters a lot. 105 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: It just reveals i mean, all their like high minded 106 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: rhetoric about journalism. Yeah, I know, that's what I mean, 107 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,239 Speaker 1: that's not what they're doing there. That's a business, right, 108 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: and they're just running it as like however they can 109 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: sort of short term profit maximize angle in their own 110 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: little game of thrones, internal posturing in power plays and 111 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: those sorts of things. She points out in this article. 112 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: The reporter that wrote this that there was kind of 113 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: actually a similar relationship between Zucker and Trump originally when 114 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: Trump first starts his campaign. I mean, they have a 115 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: longtime relationship. They were kind of buddies going back and forth. 116 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: And so originally Zucker is, you know, kind of propping 117 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: up Trump and certainly during the campaign giving him tons 118 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: and tons of exposure. And then when that flipped into 119 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: this sort of like adversary relationship, well that was also 120 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: great for CNN. No one benefited more from the Trump 121 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: years as they positioned themselves as part of the resistance. So, 122 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: you know, even if you think about before the Trump years, 123 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: the type of programming decisions that they would make under Zucker, 124 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,040 Speaker 1: they went all in on that. Remember that, like cruise 125 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: ship that was stranded and the missing flights and that 126 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,839 Speaker 1: sort of stuff, which was more it was like tabloidy. 127 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: Not to say that it wasn't important the lives that 128 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: were lost, but in terms of like global geopolitical affairs, 129 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: there were certainly other stories that were worthy of coverage 130 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,479 Speaker 1: as well, and they spent days and days and days 131 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: and days going all in on these certain stories. Why 132 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: because it's not ultimately about like bringing you the best 133 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: journalistic product and helping educate you in informat about the world. 134 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: That's not the game these people are playing, whatsoever. And 135 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: so you see it very clearly exposed in text messages 136 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: like this, that's the least of their concerns. And then 137 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: it shows you also in the reaction of their talent 138 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: to this all being exposed that they're not like sad 139 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: that there was all this journalistic malpractice going on in 140 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: outright corruption. They're sad that the guy that was their 141 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 1: guy and who was protecting this resond It's all just 142 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: a fake team sport and we should all just wake 143 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: up to that reality. Well said. Got an update for 144 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,960 Speaker 1: you on the case against Julian Nosanja and the attempt 145 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: to extradite him to the United States. Of course, you 146 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: guys know the background here. This prosecution was started under 147 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: the Trump administration, has been continued under the Bibe administration. 148 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: Julian has been going through and trying to exhaust his 149 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: appeals to stop this extradition. The very latest is this, 150 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and put this up on the screen 151 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: from Kevin Gostolla, who has been following this very closely. 152 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: He says UK Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal from 153 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange an extradition case. It goes to 154 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: British Home Office for approval. No statement from Massange's defense, 155 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: but it's likely his team appeals prior district court decision, 156 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: which could keep him in the UK. Kevin wrote a 157 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: longer piece on this. I'm going to read from a 158 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: little bit of it because the legal mechanics are different 159 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: from here and they're a little bit complex. So he says, 160 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: the Supreme Court maintained that the appeal did not quote 161 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: raise an arguable point of law. That means they sent 162 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: the case back to the Westminster Magistrate's Court. That district 163 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,599 Speaker 1: court initially blocked the United States government's extradition request on 164 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: January fourth, twenty twenty one. By refusing to grant assanja hearing, 165 00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: the US government effectively won their appeal. Prosecutors can convinced 166 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: the British courts to disregard concerns that he may be 167 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: subject to treatment in a US jail or person that 168 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: would be oppressive to his mental health. Now there are 169 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: additional appeals that Julian can engage in. We'll see whether 170 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: those ultimately pan out. In particular, what Kevin points to 171 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: here is, you know, the question that was a play 172 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: here was just this question of whether the conditions in 173 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 1: US prisons were ultimately too cruel. So, according to Kevin, 174 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: he has an opportunity to submit an appeal on the 175 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: issues of freedom of the press that have not been 176 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: addressed by the High Court yet. So that's likely the 177 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: next direction that his legal team goes in. Yeah, okay, 178 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: if we were talking about this before, Brits, your legal 179 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: system is whack. I mean, I'm sure Ours is equally confusing. 180 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: From the answer ours, we're more used to it. I 181 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: will display my US chauvinism. Ours is not based upon 182 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,719 Speaker 1: a thousand years of British common law. Okay, ours is 183 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: rooted in a much bettered the British common law. Yeah, 184 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,079 Speaker 1: we've evolved past their idiocy. So Brits, get your stuff together, 185 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: sugabut get a bunch of hate mail for that. That 186 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,960 Speaker 1: being said, there are still some avenues through which this 187 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: could go. But I think that this, still at this 188 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: perilous time, just highlights the threat to press freedom. If 189 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: you prosecute him, then you set the standard that releasing 190 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:20,839 Speaker 1: classified information in and of itself, which is an active journalism, 191 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: is a crime, and we can't have that, especially at 192 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: a time like this with Russia. What kind of Pedagon 193 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 1: papers are there inside of the Pentagon that could leak 194 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 1: eventually five six years from now about the real intelligence 195 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: assessments or whatnot. Would they criminalize that because it's certainly possible. Yeah, 196 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 1: and if that's true, then I'm against this. And by 197 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 1: the way, take the marits out of it. WikiLeaks, we 198 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: obviously focus a lot in the US on what has 199 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: been leaked about the US but WikiLeaks has leaked on 200 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,199 Speaker 1: you know, major governments all around the world. They really 201 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: don't discriminate in that way. But even putting aside how 202 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: you feel about what they put out and how they 203 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: put it out, the Obama administration they wanted to very 204 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: much much to go after Julian. They hated him too, 205 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,319 Speaker 1: but they could not see how to build a case 206 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: that did not also implicate other publishers, New York Times, anybody, 207 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: and so they said, we can't do it. Trump under 208 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 1: bar took this much more aggressive stance and posture. Reportedly, 209 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: even you know, considering assassinating m these insane plots, they 210 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:27,200 Speaker 1: decided to prosecute him. That was the wrong move, and 211 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: now the Biden administration is continuing it and continuing to 212 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,559 Speaker 1: push for his extradition. And the toll that has been 213 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: taken on Julian as a human being, on his family 214 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: is insane and outrageous. And they really do I mean, 215 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: we've obviously talked to his brother here a number of times. 216 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: They really do fear for his well being and his 217 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: life if he extra dieded to the US. His mental 218 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: health is extraordinarily precarious. So you know, on a personal level, 219 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: for them. This is outrageous. But obviously you know there 220 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: are massive implications here for freedom of the press. And 221 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: I think, as you said, Zager, as we see the 222 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:11,440 Speaker 1: crackdown on all sorts of media and the bands and 223 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:16,320 Speaker 1: the censorship and that direction moving forward with increasing velocity 224 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: among the American public, that makes this particular case even 225 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: more vital than it was before. Yeah, I completely agree. 226 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:25,560 Speaker 1: At this time we need to do everything we can 227 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: to set the standard on press freedom, and this is 228 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: a case where that's just simply it's antithetical to that. 229 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,080 Speaker 1: And unfortunately, a lot of the people crying about the 230 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:37,439 Speaker 1: rush of the law, misinformation law, they're not going to 231 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: say a word about this one. You can't be consistent 232 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: in that regard. Yeah, no, that's exactly right. And you 233 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 1: know your adversaries will throw this right back in your face, 234 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: and we've seen it before to point out your hypocrisy. 235 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: All right, guys, we'll continue to stay on it. Definitely 236 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 1: follow Kevin Costolla, who has been really keeping track of 237 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: all of the developments here, and we'll have more for 238 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 1: you later. Interesting story for you at the intersection of 239 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,319 Speaker 1: basketball and politics. So for those of you guys who 240 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 1: are NBA fans or even I was aware of this one. 241 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:07,960 Speaker 1: I was aware to. There's been a whole situation this 242 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,960 Speaker 1: season with Kyrie Irving, star player for the Brooklyn Nets, 243 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,679 Speaker 1: who can't play in any of the home games at 244 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: the Barclay Center because he is unvaccinated. So this has 245 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:22,959 Speaker 1: been ongoing. Well, the very latest is Eric Adams, the 246 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 1: new mayor of New York City, has loosened some of 247 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: the vaccine restrictions, but not all of them. So now 248 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:34,719 Speaker 1: you have this really bizarre, stupid situation where Kyrie can 249 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: be there at the game, but he can't play in 250 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: the game and apparently also can't be in the locker room. 251 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: So his fellow player on the team, Kevin Durant, had 252 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,199 Speaker 1: some things to say about that. Let's take a listen. 253 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:52,679 Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. I don't understand it all. I mean, a 254 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: few people in Irena it has unvaxed, right, Like they 255 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:58,680 Speaker 1: lifted all of that in arena, right, So it's the 256 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: I don't get it. It's a second mandate that says 257 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: he can come in but can't play. Yeah, I don't 258 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:05,959 Speaker 1: get it. It just feels like at this point now 259 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: somebody's trying to make a statement on a point to 260 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: flex their authority. But you know, everybody out here looking 261 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: for attention. And that's why I feel like the the 262 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 1: mayor once right now some attention, you know. But he'll 263 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: figure it out soon, he better. But it just didn't 264 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: make any sense, Like it's unbacked people in it's a 265 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: building already, we got a guy who can come into 266 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 1: the building. I guess are they fearing our safety with 267 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: like I don't get it? So, yeah, we're all confused. 268 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,480 Speaker 1: Pretty much everybody in the world is confused at this point. 269 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: Early on in the season, you know, people didn't understand 270 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 1: what was going on, but now just looks stupid. So 271 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 1: hopefully Eric, you got to figure this out. Yeah, he's right, 272 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: I mean right, so he gets fined fifty they got 273 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: fined fifty grand for letting him in the locker room, 274 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: but he's allowed to sit there alo nearly courtside and 275 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 1: allow them to play. Yeah, so the deal is, this 276 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: is so silly and it just shows you. I mean, 277 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: just like the theater around this that Kevin Durant is 278 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 1: pointing to there, like this makes no sense. You're trying 279 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: to protect our safety. But he can be here, but 280 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: he can't be in a locker room. How does this 281 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 1: make any sense? So apparently the reason that they're drawing 282 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: this distinction is because he's banned from anything that would 283 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:22,200 Speaker 1: be considered a workplace. So being on the court, yes, 284 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: or even I guess from the best is workplace, locker room, 285 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: workplace two feet away, And you know on the sidelines 286 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: there sitting courtside is not workplace. And so that's how 287 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: you end up with this ridiculous, utterly ridiculous situation. I mean, 288 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: the other piece of this that I think is interesting 289 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: is there was all this kind of like right of 290 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 1: center excitement about Eric Adams, like, oh, because you know 291 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: he was very against defund the police and he sort 292 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: of like stood up in these certain ways to the 293 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: the of the Democratic Party. But then not only does he, 294 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: as we've covered with Ross Barkin, like just shamelessly weaponize 295 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: the most hollow form of identity politics for his own ends, 296 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:15,360 Speaker 1: but he now has maybe the dumbest COVID policies in 297 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: the entire countries is now ridiculous, especially in the days 298 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: of in the days of Omicron, and given where we 299 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: are right now, enough, this is the thing about the MLB. 300 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: You know, whenever we're considering laying off opening day or sorry, 301 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: not having opening Day. It's like, let people just be. 302 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: We have been through a bad time. It's not great. 303 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 1: The price is high. Let people play and enjoy basketball. 304 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: I just, you know, I cannot. I just cannot get 305 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: over the fact that we're not allowing These guys are 306 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: also some of the healthiest people on the planet. If 307 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: they feel comfortable letting Kyrie play, then let it be. 308 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: You know. It's just the absurdity of this policy just 309 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,800 Speaker 1: really gets me. And it's ruining sports for no other reason. 310 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:08,360 Speaker 1: As Kevin Durant says, it's just really and arbitrary. It's 311 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: billy and arbitrary. I will say. I mean, listen the 312 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: other side of this, I wonder if there's been I 313 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: wonder if there's been tension in the locker room of 314 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:19,919 Speaker 1: his because Kyrie is a really important part of that team, 315 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,399 Speaker 1: and they at least a little while ago. I was 316 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,639 Speaker 1: looking at their record. Normally, of course teams play better 317 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: at home than they do on the road, and it 318 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:31,800 Speaker 1: was the opposite for the Nets, because at home they 319 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: don't have the benefit of Kyrie. So I wonder if 320 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 1: there has been tension in the locker room like, come on, dude, 321 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,040 Speaker 1: just get the freaking vaccine and let's be done. It's possible, 322 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: you know, right, But I will say I Kyle and 323 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 1: I went to a Wizard's Nets game here and he 324 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: was very Kyrie was very sweet how he interacted with 325 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: the fans. So that kind of with like this one 326 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,040 Speaker 1: little boy, so that kind of like warms my heart 327 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:59,760 Speaker 1: towards him. Yeah, we forgive his weird anti vax obsession. Here. 328 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,639 Speaker 1: Got some new polling that breaks down how Americans really 329 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: feel about a no fly zone when it's actually explained 330 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: to them what that really means. Let's put the tweet 331 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 1: up on the screen. I think this is extremely important. 332 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: So this new poll from Yahoo and Yugov includes a 333 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: split form test of no fly zone and support plummets 334 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,919 Speaker 1: when respondents are told no fly zone means quote, the 335 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: US military would shoot down Russian military planes flying over Ukraine, 336 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: possibly triggering a war between the US and Russia, which 337 00:18:33,760 --> 00:18:36,680 Speaker 1: is just an accurate description of what a no fly 338 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: zone actually means. So keep this up on the screen 339 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: so we can see the numbers here. When you just say, hey, 340 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 1: do support a no fly zone, You've got a plurality 341 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,919 Speaker 1: support forty percent say yes, twenty five percent say no, 342 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:53,359 Speaker 1: the rest are unsure. Then when you say the whole 343 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: thing of hey, this could mean war, support plummets only 344 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: twenty three percent then support a no fly zone, and 345 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,440 Speaker 1: forty three percent are opposed. So once again, I think 346 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:09,639 Speaker 1: this exposes that the media has done a very, very 347 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: poor job of educating people on the consequences of the 348 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 1: actions that have already been taken and the actions that 349 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: are ultimately being proposed. Everybody's instinct, as created by the media, 350 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: is like, do more, do more, do more, no fly 351 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,160 Speaker 1: zone jets, whatever, Sure, let's do it. But then there's 352 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: no explanation of what that actually means. And when you 353 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: provide it, people are like, oh hell no, no, thank 354 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: you to that. People are like wait what No, I 355 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,879 Speaker 1: don't support that at all. I just think this again 356 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,919 Speaker 1: comes down to education, and look, these things are complicated. 357 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,199 Speaker 1: I do not blame people for not knowing. It's not 358 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:47,520 Speaker 1: your job. It's our job to accurately explain it to you. 359 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:49,880 Speaker 1: That is why when we talk about no fly zones, 360 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: we say world War three, because that is what it 361 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: means empirically. If these are situations, or if these are 362 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 1: policies we're going to put into place. It requires a 363 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,680 Speaker 1: war between the United States and Russia. There is no 364 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: other way in order to describe that. It's just something 365 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,960 Speaker 1: where I find that we've massaged language to not mean 366 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:10,439 Speaker 1: what it really means. And this is all stuff that 367 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 1: comes from our hawkish past. You know, when was the 368 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 1: last time that the United States implemented a no fly zone? 369 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: Most people probably don't know this. It was Iraq in 370 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:21,640 Speaker 1: Saddam Hussein. In order to say, oh, well, Saddam Hussein 371 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: can't use chemical weapons against his people. Sound familiar. Look, 372 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:30,199 Speaker 1: these were a noble policy. He was massacring individuals. But 373 00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:32,920 Speaker 1: that no fly zone and all the resolutions and the 374 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: hawkishness in the posture towards regime change and an outright 375 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,719 Speaker 1: breaking the seals, so to speak, in terms of use 376 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 1: of force against Iraq set the stage to box lou 377 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: US lawmakers in for the two thousand and three invasion. 378 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,439 Speaker 1: A lot of people forget that, which is that it 379 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,760 Speaker 1: was a bipartisan support to institute this no fly zone 380 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 1: and it actually caused Clinton a lot of problems. There's 381 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,679 Speaker 1: a famous quote where Clinton says, quote, I wish I 382 00:20:57,680 --> 00:20:59,680 Speaker 1: could just call the son of a bitch and talk 383 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 1: it out to Hussein, but he couldn't because he knew 384 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: he would be crucified by the press and that the 385 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,160 Speaker 1: Biparsan hawks would destroy him. Because a Iraq had actually 386 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: shot back, I think we might even shot down one 387 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,640 Speaker 1: of our planes, had triggered like a whole international crisis. 388 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,120 Speaker 1: People forget all of his history, but that's how it happens, right, Yeah, 389 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,600 Speaker 1: think back to if Clinton could have just called him 390 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,560 Speaker 1: not a nuclear power. Yeah, exactly, This is a non 391 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: nuclear powergraphy. Yeah, So, you know, I think cable news 392 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: is just in a certain sense, they are built for 393 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: moments like this because they got the reporters on the 394 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: ground and like alive and it's breaking news all the time, 395 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: all day, every day. But in the most important sense, 396 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 1: they are not built at all for an actual discussion 397 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: that is serious minded, that educates people about what our 398 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: possible directions are right now, the actions we've already taken, 399 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,159 Speaker 1: and you know what the consequences might be. There's just 400 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: none of that. The only direction is in favor of escalation. 401 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: And I mean it's in certain ways heartening to see 402 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: how little support there is, only twenty three percent, a 403 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,080 Speaker 1: little bit to me is still too high, but only 404 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:11,639 Speaker 1: twenty three percent when people actually are told what it means. 405 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:14,119 Speaker 1: But it's also very depressing that you have such a 406 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 1: large percentage of the population that obviously doesn't know the 407 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: term no fly zone. It's very passive, right. It doesn't 408 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: indicate no fly zone. It's just like a thing that exists. 409 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: It doesn't indicate any of the actual activities that would 410 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,439 Speaker 1: have to be undertaken in order to create that no 411 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:35,600 Speaker 1: fly zone. And so you end up with numbers that 412 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: look like this. Some breaking news here on the Hunter 413 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: Biden investigation. So a couple of top line things from 414 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: the New York Times. Number one, A federal investigation into 415 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: Hunter Biden continues. Let's put this up there on the screen. 416 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,440 Speaker 1: He had a significant nearly one million dollar tax bill 417 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: that he had to take a loan out in order 418 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: to pay and squash some irs questions about some of 419 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: his financial liabilities. But the most important one is that 420 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: emails that were taken off of the Hunter Biden laptop 421 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:08,439 Speaker 1: were authenticated by the Justice Department and are being used 422 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 1: in this federal investigation for violations of the Foreign Corrupt 423 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: Practices Act, of Foreign lobbying and all sorts of shady 424 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: stuff that he was up to. Here's the thing. Everybody 425 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,400 Speaker 1: knew who everyone who had a brain knew this laptop 426 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 1: was real, and yet during the election. I know it's 427 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:26,520 Speaker 1: been two years. I don't like talking about it, but 428 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 1: guess what we have to because now the president's son 429 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,640 Speaker 1: is under federal investigation. The reason is that whenever they 430 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:34,960 Speaker 1: never denied that the laptop wasn't real. That's how you 431 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: knew it was real. Y knew, and yet the media 432 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: this has all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation I'll 433 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,720 Speaker 1: never forget that would oh the hallmarks hallmarks. So it 434 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: looks like a Russian disinformation op, except that the underlying 435 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:51,359 Speaker 1: material is true. And now the Biden's Justice Department is 436 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:55,399 Speaker 1: authenticated that laptop and using it as part of their investigation. 437 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,240 Speaker 1: Now the really interesting stuff here. As recently as last month, 438 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: a federal jury heard testimony in Wilmington, Delaware, one of 439 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: whom was a former employee for Hunter Biden, in regards 440 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: to money that mister Biden received from a Ukrainian energy company. 441 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,359 Speaker 1: The investigation, which began as a tax inquiry under the 442 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: Obama administration, widened in twenty eighteen to include possible criminal 443 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: violation of tax law as well as foreign lobbying and 444 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: money laundering rules. Now, remember we already know from the 445 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: Ron Johnson report out of Congress, which again was never denied, 446 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,600 Speaker 1: as well as open source information that Hunter was taking 447 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: money from all sorts of shady regimes, the Romanians, the Ukrainians, 448 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: the Chinese, all of these very convoluted tax structures clearly 449 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 1: designed to skirt us tax law. Which is also it 450 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,720 Speaker 1: shows us another thing. If he needed a loan to 451 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: pay his bills, he could be broke. That's another issue 452 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: that he's had, which may explain why he was auctioning 453 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,640 Speaker 1: his fake art for hundreds of thousands of dollar pulled 454 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:02,679 Speaker 1: some cash on that. I love how we all just 455 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,399 Speaker 1: brushed over that, right, which is the president's son is 456 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,480 Speaker 1: selling you know, high dollar art in a clear corrupt 457 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:12,880 Speaker 1: move where we don't get to know who the buyer is. Yeah, 458 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: but he does like, oh, it's going to be anonymous, 459 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 1: and then it totally wasn't. Well, it was anonymous to us, 460 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,600 Speaker 1: it was not anonymous to him. So actually the worst 461 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: of transparency. Look, I'm not saying the most important story 462 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:28,879 Speaker 1: in the world, but it's very clear here that the 463 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: mainstream media is going to ignore this one completely. And 464 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: if one of Trump's kids was under investigation, which given 465 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,720 Speaker 1: Jared probably should be, uh, it would be front page news. 466 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 1: And instead, you know, all of this is buried at 467 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,399 Speaker 1: least the very at the very least props Ken Vogel. 468 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 1: It was such a down the line reporter at the 469 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: New York Times. He doesn't give a crap what people 470 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,320 Speaker 1: in the Democratic Party say about him or vice versa. 471 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: And he's a true I would say, one of the 472 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,680 Speaker 1: last true, you know, dogged reporters in Washington New cares 473 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:02,440 Speaker 1: about corruption. He follows corruption and doesn't matter if it's 474 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,359 Speaker 1: sons or the last president's daughter, it doesn't matter. He 475 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 1: really does does stay on top of it. I mean, 476 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,680 Speaker 1: I think everybody's expectations in terms of whether there will 477 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: be likely be charges out of this, probably not, you'd 478 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,120 Speaker 1: have to say, because it's difficult to prove these sort 479 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 1: of FARA type charges. So you know, I don't want 480 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: to have like a walls or closing in on hunting. Yeah, 481 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: we're not saying kind of a moment, but it's extremely 482 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: newsworthy and noteworthy that the presidence is under investigation. Someone 483 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,040 Speaker 1: who is admitted to basically trading on his family name 484 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:40,119 Speaker 1: in his you know, shady ass business dealings. And then 485 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,320 Speaker 1: the other part of it that is we should not 486 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,879 Speaker 1: let go is the way that the media treated this 487 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 1: information at the time. You will recall, I mean, there 488 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: was a mass censorship of the original New York Post 489 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:56,919 Speaker 1: which was reporting on this laptop, which was completely insane. 490 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,600 Speaker 1: Not only could you you know, not only was your posts, 491 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,399 Speaker 1: they were taken down off Twitter, you couldn't link to 492 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:07,360 Speaker 1: the article. It really was completely overwhelming, and you could 493 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:09,920 Speaker 1: see the way that the Democrats and the Biden administration 494 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: basically threaten them within an inch of their life to 495 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,520 Speaker 1: make sure that this information was pushed down to the 496 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:18,159 Speaker 1: public square. Now, ironically, I think it actually made it 497 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: more of yea, yeah, it got more attention because of 498 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,919 Speaker 1: that reaction. But you also this also likely led to 499 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:32,080 Speaker 1: those new Twitter rules about using hacked materials that they've 500 00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: implemented under their new CEO. So this continues to be 501 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 1: extremely significant in terms of how social media handled these 502 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,680 Speaker 1: claims and how the regular press ultimately handled these claims. 503 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: So so anyway, President sign under investigation, we should definitely 504 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,120 Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on it and the other thing 505 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:52,639 Speaker 1: that they say here is that it may help his 506 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,120 Speaker 1: case that he was able to pay off the tax 507 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: set because juries tend to look favorably on people who 508 00:27:57,920 --> 00:27:59,719 Speaker 1: have paid their bills. Even though he had to take 509 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,200 Speaker 1: out a Here's the next question, where that loan come from? 510 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 1: Where the money based upon? What as? What was the 511 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:08,960 Speaker 1: underlying thing? Was it your art? Yeah? Who was who 512 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: was it? Did they have any business in front of 513 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:12,879 Speaker 1: the Bible? Who were the visiting call? So? Was it 514 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: a bank or was it an individual? So these are 515 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,720 Speaker 1: all great questions that the Justice Department should ask. Anyway, 516 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: that's the latest on Hunter Biden, and we'll keep you 517 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:28,399 Speaker 1: guys updated. So Reuters has an really amazing article here. 518 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: Let's go through this. Israel's Kanesse passes law barring Palestinian 519 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 1: spouses March tenth, twenty twenty two. March that's the date 520 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: that this came out, March tenth, twenty twenty two. Let's 521 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,000 Speaker 1: go through some of this. Israel's parliament on Thursday passed 522 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 1: a law denying naturalization to Palestinians from the occupied West 523 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,600 Speaker 1: Bank or Gaza married to Israeli citizens, forcing thousands of 524 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 1: Palestinian families to either emigrate or live apart. The so 525 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,400 Speaker 1: called citizenship law passed just before the Kannesse disbanded for 526 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: a holiday recess by a forty five to fifteen majority 527 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: vote that crossed coalition opposition lines forty five to fifteen 528 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 1: Man Holy Cow. It replaced a similar temporary order that 529 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,080 Speaker 1: first pasted during the height of a Palestinian uprising in 530 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: two thousand and three and was renewed annually until it 531 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: expired last July when the Cadessia failt to a secure 532 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:18,720 Speaker 1: simple majority needed to extend it. Proponents say the law 533 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:23,719 Speaker 1: helps ensure Israel's security, their security, their security, and maintains 534 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:27,040 Speaker 1: its quote Jewish character. So think about that. They're saying 535 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:29,960 Speaker 1: this is to maintain our security. Well wait, it's just 536 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: a matter of logic. Then to say that your argument 537 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: is Palestinian spouses are by definition a threat to security. 538 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 1: They are undermining the security of Israel. Well, how are 539 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:43,440 Speaker 1: they undermining the security of Israel? Does every single Palestinian 540 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: spouse pick up a gun and try to go attack 541 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:50,200 Speaker 1: the Kanesse. No, so what are you talking about, Well, 542 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: they admitted in the next sentence there, Well, we're worried 543 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: about the quote Jewish character. Of our nation or are 544 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: you or are you? So let's draw parallel here. What 545 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: if in the US somebody said I'd like to to 546 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: maintain the European character of the United States of America, 547 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:07,760 Speaker 1: You'd be like, whoa, that's weird, that's like ethno state, 548 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:10,840 Speaker 1: ee right. Or if somebody said, you know, I'd like 549 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 1: to maintain the Christian character of our nation. So you know, 550 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 1: we'd like to ban any American citizen from marrying a Buddhist, 551 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: a Hindu, a Muslim, a Jew, et cetera. You can 552 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: only marry Christian. So we're we're dealing with admissions here 553 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 1: of an ethno state, or at the very least some 554 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: sort of a religious theocratic state. So this is, without 555 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:41,480 Speaker 1: a doubt, not a belief in freedom, democracy, human rights, equality. 556 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: It's a it's spitting in the eye of the idea 557 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: of equality. You know, hey, if all people are equal, 558 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: you can marry whoever you want. And it is what 559 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:52,680 Speaker 1: it is, totally right. No, they're saying you're not allowed 560 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,719 Speaker 1: to marry a Palestinian. We're gonna ban that, they say. 561 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: Some Kannescant members said it was intended to prevent a 562 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,800 Speaker 1: gradual right of return from Palestinian refugees who were driven 563 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: from their homes or fled during the nineteen forty eight 564 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,280 Speaker 1: war surrounding Israel's creation, all while Israel prepares to take 565 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,719 Speaker 1: in thousands of Ukrainian refugees. Wow, would you look at that. 566 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:09,960 Speaker 1: The state of Israel is Jewish and so will remain, 567 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: said Simsha Rothman of the far right Religious Zionism Party, 568 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: a member of the opposition who brought the law forward 569 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 1: with Interior Minister Ilet Shakid. Quote, today, god willing, Israel's 570 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: defensive shield will be significantly strengthened, he told the Kannessit 571 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: hours before the vote. However, critics say the law discriminates 572 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: against Israel's twenty one percent Arab minority. You don't say 573 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: who are Palestinian by heritage and Israeli by citizenship by 574 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: barring them from extending citizenship and permanent residency to Palestinian spouses, 575 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 1: this is okay. This is like an anti misigenation law 576 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,120 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two. That's what this is. So that's 577 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: when you know they say, oh, white people and black 578 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:50,479 Speaker 1: people can't intermarry. We're against intermarriage. That's what this is. 579 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: They're saying. Look in Israeli and a Palestinian, a Jew 580 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,240 Speaker 1: and the Muslim can't have it, not going to allow it. 581 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: And again what's astonishing to me is so you know, 582 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 1: I saw this article on Twitter talking about it, now 583 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: covering it. This this gets like no reaction, you know, 584 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:09,880 Speaker 1: like I don't see much outrage over this. I don't 585 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 1: see much talk about this. People are just like, yeah, 586 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 1: that's Israel doing Israel things. Yeah, but maybe that's a problem, 587 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: especially when you have Israel and the US and the 588 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,080 Speaker 1: West in general. We love to suck ourselves off and 589 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,200 Speaker 1: talk about just how much we believe in democracy and 590 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:23,880 Speaker 1: human rights. And I mean they say, the only democracy 591 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 1: in the Middle East? Does this look like the action 592 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: of you know, a democracy that believes in freedom and 593 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,239 Speaker 1: equality and justice is all? This looks like? No, this 594 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: is you know, laws that exacerbate the current state of 595 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 1: apart tide that we have there. I mean, we're talking 596 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,160 Speaker 1: about second class citizenship, that's what we're talking about. We're 597 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 1: talking about you don't have the right skin tone, you 598 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,120 Speaker 1: don't have the right religion, you don't have the right ethnicity, 599 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: background and upbringing in order to be considered inequal here. 600 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: And so we're going to codify that into law into law, 601 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: so I don't want to hear anything about, you know, 602 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: the US and Israel and the West sucking itself off 603 00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:56,720 Speaker 1: about just how high and mighty we are when this 604 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,000 Speaker 1: stuff is happening right underneath our noses and basically nobodys 605 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: talking about it. We're the only pople. We're talking about 606 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: it and understand something, guys, because they frame it all 607 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,120 Speaker 1: from security and a defensive posture. That's how they talk 608 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,920 Speaker 1: about it. Every single aggress excuse me, I just hit 609 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:14,280 Speaker 1: the camera and shook it. Every single aggressive and imperialist 610 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: and offensively violent nation in history always plays the victim 611 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 1: as they're doing it. Always. It always happens, It always happens, 612 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:25,440 Speaker 1: It always happens. In fact, that's one of the only 613 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 1: ways you can mobilize to get people to back such 614 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:28,880 Speaker 1: atrocious things, because if you look at them for what 615 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 1: they are, it makes you feel like you're a piece 616 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 1: of shit, so you cloak everything in. Well, we have 617 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,479 Speaker 1: to do this for defensive reasons and for self protection reasons, 618 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 1: and that's why we have to be disgustingly against equality, 619 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: and we have to support modern day anti misagenation laws 620 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: because if we don't do that. We won't survive as 621 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: a people again, any authoritarian nation, any fascist dictatorship. They 622 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: always cloak themselves in this language of justice and being defensive, 623 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 1: when in reality this is in aggressive thing to do. 624 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 1: So just incredible, just absolutely incredible. Man. It doesn't get 625 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:10,239 Speaker 1: any worse than this. And again I don't see much 626 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:12,319 Speaker 1: talk about it. Hey, guys, our friend Marsha Kossof he's 627 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: going to be conducting interviews with experts and newsmakers for 628 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: us here on the Breaking Points channel. We're really excited. Yep. 629 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:21,279 Speaker 1: Here it is, hey, Breaking Points Marshall. Here we are 630 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,720 Speaker 1: joined by Jules Taapak. She's a TikTok creator who last 631 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: week was invited to attend a briefing the White House 632 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,799 Speaker 1: put on for TikTok creators to talk about the war 633 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: in Ukraine, disinformation and all those broader topics. This got 634 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,080 Speaker 1: a little controversial after the fact because some people thought, 635 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:38,839 Speaker 1: on the one hand, it's a little silly to talk 636 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:40,800 Speaker 1: to TikTok people and not people in the news media. 637 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:43,399 Speaker 1: On the other hand, some defended the ideas, saying, hey, 638 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: we should talk to people who could talk to different audiences. 639 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:50,200 Speaker 1: As Breaking Points people know everyone is watching CNN. So Julia, 640 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,680 Speaker 1: let's just start by, what did you think about, at 641 00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:57,120 Speaker 1: a background level, the idea of talking to TikTokers about 642 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: a literal war. Yeah, so when I got the email, honestly, 643 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 1: it was less than twenty four hours before the meeting. 644 00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: There were no security measures and there were no much vetting. 645 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: So when I got the email, I mean to me, 646 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,120 Speaker 1: it was a no brainer. I am on TikTok a 647 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:13,840 Speaker 1: ten of hours per day. I know. That's how my 648 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:16,239 Speaker 1: siblings are. I know that's how people within our generation are. 649 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,239 Speaker 1: It's kind of like the first general media source, to 650 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:21,520 Speaker 1: be honest, that's what it's become that a lot of 651 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:24,839 Speaker 1: young people click first when they unlock their phones. So 652 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,440 Speaker 1: to me, it was a no brainer. But the headline 653 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: to those who don't have that is definitely more sensational 654 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 1: than people Younger people will consider it. But to me, 655 00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:37,439 Speaker 1: I think basically what you saw maybe the SNL skit 656 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 1: or Tim Dillon did a conversation about it. People have 657 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 1: this preconceived notion of what TikTok is. Maybe it's prank 658 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,360 Speaker 1: videos or maybe it's dance videos. But every single person 659 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,839 Speaker 1: of the thirty there except me, for maybe two are 660 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:53,799 Speaker 1: those who are doing commentary or reporting like content on 661 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: current events and culture. It wasn't like fifteen year olds there. 662 00:35:57,719 --> 00:36:00,279 Speaker 1: Even though like age doesn't necessarily matter, I think the 663 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: median age was probably closer to thirty. And there were 664 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:08,319 Speaker 1: freelance journals there who utilized TikTok, Like probably ten to 665 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,520 Speaker 1: fifteen of those were freelance journalists utilized TikTok. So definitely 666 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:16,680 Speaker 1: the things like SNL and Tien Dilan's take were they're funny, 667 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 1: but it's definitely not the situation of the crew that 668 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,920 Speaker 1: was there. And like you said, there were thirty people 669 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:25,040 Speaker 1: who were invited. So what do you cover and what 670 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,600 Speaker 1: do you think interested them about your coverage and perspective 671 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,279 Speaker 1: that made you worth inviting to this. Yeah, so what 672 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 1: I do is mostly commentary content and it's on digital 673 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 1: culture as a whole. One of my most recent videos 674 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 1: that I think was really got me into there was 675 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: about gen z and misinformation something like infographic Instagram is 676 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: really tied to how gen Z consumes basically world news 677 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,279 Speaker 1: and current events and kind of I did a take 678 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,560 Speaker 1: on that about how that's harmful in a lot of ways. 679 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: It's you know, a lot of high schoolers behind these 680 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,920 Speaker 1: accounts who aren't vetting the information, and how still, even 681 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,960 Speaker 1: though we are digital made and think that we know all, 682 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,440 Speaker 1: when it comes to how we intake information on the Internet, 683 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:08,440 Speaker 1: it's definitely not the case exactly. And that was my 684 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:11,400 Speaker 1: biggest point there, is why I went it was wanting 685 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:14,960 Speaker 1: to hear their takes on misinformation, disinformation and how to 686 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: approach that. Yeah, speaking about what was the White House's 687 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 1: take that they gave you and who from the White 688 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:23,239 Speaker 1: House acually spoke to you. Yeah, So the White House 689 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,359 Speaker 1: Press Press Secretary Jensaki was there as well as the 690 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:30,480 Speaker 1: National Security Council Advisor Matt Miller. Jensaki wasn't originally supposed 691 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:31,759 Speaker 1: to be there. She was like, I heard about this 692 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 1: and I wanted to jump in, which is which, of course, 693 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. So there wasn't as much of an 694 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,040 Speaker 1: emphasis I mean, of course there was on misinformation and disinformation, 695 00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 1: but throughout the entire thing they were actually kind of 696 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 1: going to three key points, circling back within every question, 697 00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:52,040 Speaker 1: kind of pushing them. So the first was, of course 698 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,680 Speaker 1: that they want to de escalate the situation and that 699 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,400 Speaker 1: basically all decisions are being made based off of the 700 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: one to put it into this war as soon as possible. 701 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: The second was more so that two hundred and fifty 702 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:06,879 Speaker 1: million dollars in aid has been sent over the past 703 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:11,080 Speaker 1: two weeks, so that's economic, military, humanitarian, and that's going 704 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:13,480 Speaker 1: to continue. And the third point that they continue to 705 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,399 Speaker 1: push was that Russia is obviously having a tougher time 706 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:20,040 Speaker 1: than they anticipated. That's one duing part to Ukraine being 707 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 1: better equipped than they thought, and also just fighting harder, 708 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,800 Speaker 1: just much in part due to their partners and allies. 709 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,719 Speaker 1: Also that Russia is having their own problems in terms 710 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: of logistics, mechanics, and also even which I found really interesting, 711 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:37,760 Speaker 1: soldier morale, because they don't necessarily understand why they're invading fully, 712 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:39,840 Speaker 1: and also it's a friendly neighbor that they're invading, so 713 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:42,920 Speaker 1: there's on a human level, there's basically it's just a 714 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,120 Speaker 1: mess on all human levels. And they were kind of 715 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:50,680 Speaker 1: really pushing those points. In terms of misinformation and disinformation, 716 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:53,960 Speaker 1: there was definitely a question on that and they were 717 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,360 Speaker 1: basically just like, that's kind of like why we're talking 718 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:58,640 Speaker 1: to you guys. They weren't giving us any information that 719 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 1: wasn't necessary already on the table like again, they didn't 720 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:06,120 Speaker 1: vet us, there were no security clearances. Everything's public, there's 721 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: a recording of it that people can reference. But they're basically, 722 00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:12,799 Speaker 1: we want to equip you guys with this information. It 723 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:15,440 Speaker 1: was an open and casual question and answer, like they're like, 724 00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:18,080 Speaker 1: ask us what you think your audience wants to know 725 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,480 Speaker 1: and what we can equip you with that information. But 726 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:22,560 Speaker 1: like I said, they kept going back to those three 727 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,399 Speaker 1: key points and did you get a chance to ask 728 00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:28,480 Speaker 1: a question? I did not have the chance to ask 729 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:31,120 Speaker 1: a question. My question was going to very much be 730 00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:35,560 Speaker 1: on the disinformation on TikTok, So what happens on TikTok 731 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:38,960 Speaker 1: is And a critique that I think it was, like 732 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:42,839 Speaker 1: Hassan Piker had a pretty good critique, is that even 733 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,680 Speaker 1: if you're meeting with thirty of those who are kind 734 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:49,920 Speaker 1: of have a bigger platform in terms of the commentary 735 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:52,880 Speaker 1: and reporting realms on TikTok, there are still issues and 736 00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:55,480 Speaker 1: just the nature of the platform when it comes to 737 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,120 Speaker 1: a random user who has never had a viral video 738 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,880 Speaker 1: can still get a viral video on TikTok within hours. 739 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,400 Speaker 1: That's true on every platform, but on TikTok, it happens 740 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,960 Speaker 1: like hour by hour that is the norm, and there's 741 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:08,880 Speaker 1: a lot of dangers to that. So he's like, even 742 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:12,919 Speaker 1: consulting with these thirty TikTokers isn't going to have much 743 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 1: of a impact. But I would critique that with the 744 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:20,600 Speaker 1: comment section on TikTok is a huge thing. Like if 745 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,720 Speaker 1: you're watching more than three seconds of a video on TikTok, 746 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:26,239 Speaker 1: you're looking at the comment section. So when it comes 747 00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:28,640 Speaker 1: to the comment section, what the people who are at 748 00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:31,160 Speaker 1: the top are those who you follow. Just how the 749 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:33,400 Speaker 1: algorithm works. If you follow someone and they comment on 750 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:35,680 Speaker 1: a video, they're going to show up at the top 751 00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:38,640 Speaker 1: of the comment section. So if there's these viral videos 752 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:42,400 Speaker 1: that happen hundreds even like fifty kviews, one hundred thousand, 753 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:46,319 Speaker 1: up to a million views even more, it kind of 754 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:49,960 Speaker 1: gives us more confidence and like we can comment on 755 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:54,080 Speaker 1: these and our following is going to see them. Honestly, 756 00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:56,480 Speaker 1: it can be even stronger than us posting a video, 757 00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:58,880 Speaker 1: because if you post a video with the algorithm can 758 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:01,160 Speaker 1: only get to a small percent of your audience. You know, 759 00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: if you comment on that video and if your audience 760 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,759 Speaker 1: is seeing it, they will all see your comment because 761 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:08,880 Speaker 1: they will be at the very top. Whether it's this 762 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:12,520 Speaker 1: like referencing them to a more valid source, or you 763 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:15,239 Speaker 1: straight up knowing and saying like this is an out 764 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:18,880 Speaker 1: of context video, it can be really really powerful, to 765 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,520 Speaker 1: be honest, And something I'm curious about this is the 766 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:26,719 Speaker 1: breaking points audience. So when people hear the words disinformation misinformation, 767 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:29,440 Speaker 1: it's probably going to trigger thoughts of wait, this is 768 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,239 Speaker 1: like when they said from the White House that Spotify 769 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,200 Speaker 1: should fact check Joe Rogan or engage in other acts 770 00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,080 Speaker 1: of censorship. I know that you have like thoughts on 771 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,359 Speaker 1: that specific issue too, but are a little like, I think, 772 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:43,080 Speaker 1: separate from how the White House es the issue. How 773 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:48,319 Speaker 1: would you differentiate misinformation and disinformation in a war context 774 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,720 Speaker 1: from the US centric culture wars that we just wrapped 775 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:55,640 Speaker 1: up last month. Yeah, so, and it kind of ties 776 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:57,680 Speaker 1: into the last question you asked because I didn't hadn't 777 00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:01,040 Speaker 1: fully answered, but like on to talk what I see 778 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:04,160 Speaker 1: as the biggest problem are these videos of violence that 779 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:06,440 Speaker 1: are out of context. These aren't you know, these aren't 780 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:10,239 Speaker 1: takes necessarily, There definitely are those, and but what it 781 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:12,759 Speaker 1: seems to be the biggest problem as all of this 782 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:14,960 Speaker 1: is unraveling online and we're all learning to deal with 783 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:18,160 Speaker 1: seeing a war unravel online. Are these videos of violence 784 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,680 Speaker 1: that are kind of framed as if they're happening within 785 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,520 Speaker 1: this war, but they're actually from a completely different timeframe, 786 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:27,200 Speaker 1: and so there's not a question of really subjective like 787 00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:30,560 Speaker 1: morale in these videos. It's like is this actually happening 788 00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,000 Speaker 1: or is it not? And this is actually a huge 789 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:35,080 Speaker 1: problem on TikTok right now, and in the common sections. 790 00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:38,279 Speaker 1: Of course, the demographics are more so young, even though 791 00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:41,960 Speaker 1: on TikTok the users are are definitely the age demographic 792 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:46,000 Speaker 1: is growing, but at any age even freelance journalists, journalists 793 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:47,480 Speaker 1: as a whole, or kind of like, how do we 794 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:50,279 Speaker 1: decipher what is really big? The common sections aren't really 795 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:55,640 Speaker 1: helping with that right now, And that's the biggest misinformation 796 00:42:55,800 --> 00:43:00,760 Speaker 1: disinformation that I am concerned about. There are definitely takes 797 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:05,320 Speaker 1: on it too, but I would say that's the biggest 798 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:09,280 Speaker 1: problem on the platform that we need to hit. Another 799 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,239 Speaker 1: question is, and this is a controversy that love you 800 00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,799 Speaker 1: to talk about, how do you get access to white 801 00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:19,319 Speaker 1: house resources? Which is genuinely important that this is a 802 00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:22,440 Speaker 1: huge step for independent media slash independent creators. How do 803 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:26,280 Speaker 1: you prevent yourself from just being used as a talking 804 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:28,600 Speaker 1: points receptacle. It's easy to say, oh my gosh, Jen 805 00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:31,799 Speaker 1: Saki's here, I'm siying to repeat whatever she says about skepticism. 806 00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:34,279 Speaker 1: So I hear that if it's some controversy about that, 807 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:36,239 Speaker 1: could you explain the controversy and then say, how do 808 00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:39,480 Speaker 1: you personally think creators or just anyone in general should 809 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,560 Speaker 1: think about that. Yeah, I mean we all need to 810 00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:45,480 Speaker 1: use our critical thinking. We went in with wanting to 811 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:48,399 Speaker 1: represent our audience. In terms of the questions, I think 812 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,680 Speaker 1: the answers that they gave us were again, they weren't 813 00:43:51,719 --> 00:43:54,440 Speaker 1: very subjective. It's like, we sent this much money and 814 00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,440 Speaker 1: this is what it is for for economic, military, humanitarian aid. 815 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:00,640 Speaker 1: They made very clear that they just want to de 816 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:04,400 Speaker 1: escalate the situation, and maybe more subjective in terms of 817 00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:07,480 Speaker 1: why Russia is having a tougher time. Maybe that was 818 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:10,000 Speaker 1: a more subjective approach. But at the end of the day, 819 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:12,600 Speaker 1: how all of us approach our I mean I can't 820 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:15,400 Speaker 1: speak for everyone. How I observe many of those that 821 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:19,240 Speaker 1: were there. You approach their content is that we're putting 822 00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:21,560 Speaker 1: hours of research into a lot of these one to 823 00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:24,000 Speaker 1: two minute videos, that we're putting up. Not everyone I 824 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:26,160 Speaker 1: will say that, and I don't know everyone, but I 825 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:28,480 Speaker 1: would say I know half of the people there, and 826 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:32,080 Speaker 1: all these people are very much I don't know if 827 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:34,240 Speaker 1: I want to say, like independent thinkers, but very critical 828 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:36,799 Speaker 1: in their content. You note, you have the responsibility of 829 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,880 Speaker 1: an audience, and at the end of the day, like 830 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:43,440 Speaker 1: just still approaching this White House briefing and the information 831 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:45,279 Speaker 1: we learned there as you would every day with your 832 00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:48,880 Speaker 1: content on the platform, because yeah, you have a responsibility 833 00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,640 Speaker 1: to your audience, and it also of course pushes back 834 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:54,920 Speaker 1: on you if you are not putting correct information out 835 00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:58,239 Speaker 1: there as it should. Yeah, and just to wrap this 836 00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:01,640 Speaker 1: with something bigger, you know, we know each other in 837 00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:06,799 Speaker 1: real life off camera, and you're exciting because you're a 838 00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:10,359 Speaker 1: seemingly random person who has just started putting up tiktoks, 839 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:12,239 Speaker 1: and then a few years later, because you're doing well 840 00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:13,880 Speaker 1: and you have a real audience, you're getting brief for 841 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:17,279 Speaker 1: the White House. So that's that's exciting for me. It's 842 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:20,200 Speaker 1: exciting that independent people could be there. At the same 843 00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:24,480 Speaker 1: time we're recognizing that hey, like it's helpful that Cable 844 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:26,680 Speaker 1: I know breaking points you I don't like this, the 845 00:45:26,719 --> 00:45:30,279 Speaker 1: cable is there and they're actually filming on the ground. 846 00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:33,560 Speaker 1: You know, reporters are actually literally dying and being injured 847 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: covering the story. How do you think the proper mix 848 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:42,080 Speaker 1: of independent persons like yourself or by themselves, people like 849 00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:45,000 Speaker 1: me at breaking points slash the realignment, who are slightly 850 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:47,359 Speaker 1: more resourced than you are, but are still once again 851 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:50,560 Speaker 1: not credentialed. But then actually the CNN and the actual rest. 852 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:52,680 Speaker 1: How to see all this mixing together in a way 853 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,240 Speaker 1: that can maybe be healthier for us as a society, 854 00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:58,279 Speaker 1: because I think that's what the optimistic point would be. Yeah, 855 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,880 Speaker 1: So I mean I grew up watching like NBC Nightly 856 00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:03,680 Speaker 1: News of Brian Williams like an elementary and middle school, 857 00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:05,160 Speaker 1: like with my dad every night. And then I think 858 00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:07,440 Speaker 1: it's like when I got into high school and like 859 00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:10,239 Speaker 1: social media started growing more, that kind of died out. 860 00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:12,920 Speaker 1: So like when I was watching NBC Nightly News, it's 861 00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,480 Speaker 1: like I always associated with Brian Williams with an individual. 862 00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:19,200 Speaker 1: I was always referring to this individual. And then as 863 00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:23,880 Speaker 1: social media grew and how these legacy media, legacy media 864 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:27,040 Speaker 1: used these platforms was interesting because it was less of 865 00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,960 Speaker 1: uplifting individuals and even just like, yeah, just like when 866 00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:34,000 Speaker 1: news articles come out, they weren't really tagging the individuals. 867 00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:36,440 Speaker 1: It was just like to me, I was psychologically was 868 00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:38,960 Speaker 1: looking at all of this information is coming from the 869 00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:42,160 Speaker 1: Washington Post, not like I was kind of dehumanizing the 870 00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:45,839 Speaker 1: process and not really thinking about all of the hard 871 00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:48,600 Speaker 1: working journalists day in and day out that go behind this. 872 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:53,600 Speaker 1: So once people were individuals were able to start growing 873 00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:55,520 Speaker 1: more of a platform on social media, it was really 874 00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:58,520 Speaker 1: interesting because it humanized the experience more for me and yeah, 875 00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:01,480 Speaker 1: I was flocking more to individuals for my information, and 876 00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:05,600 Speaker 1: as we're seeing most do now, and there's good and 877 00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:10,120 Speaker 1: bad to this, so like algorithms kind of make it 878 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:12,480 Speaker 1: good in the way that yeah, like me, someone random 879 00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:15,480 Speaker 1: who I didn't go to school for journalism, but after 880 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:17,680 Speaker 1: college really figured out I had a passion for like 881 00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:21,440 Speaker 1: just research and digging all these things and just making 882 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:23,680 Speaker 1: sense of things and presenting it in a simplistic way 883 00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:27,640 Speaker 1: to people. Traditionally, it would have been extremely hard from 884 00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:30,399 Speaker 1: where I was at healthcare supply chain to get into 885 00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:32,960 Speaker 1: a field like this. It's kind of beautiful that, yeah, 886 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:37,080 Speaker 1: social media can allow this for people breaks those barriers 887 00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:42,239 Speaker 1: but it also there's within legacy media, and yeah, those 888 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:45,640 Speaker 1: who are more equipped with resources have the barrier that 889 00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:48,239 Speaker 1: is actually good when it comes to checks and balances, 890 00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:51,640 Speaker 1: which is a lot of those on whether it's on 891 00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:55,040 Speaker 1: TikTok or on YouTube or on Twitter whatever, don't necessarily 892 00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:57,439 Speaker 1: have those checks and balances. And it's good and bad. 893 00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:01,760 Speaker 1: Like mostly I would say good, it can be bad 894 00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:05,480 Speaker 1: in the way that there's authenticity taken out throughout the 895 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:08,880 Speaker 1: course that can obviously be politics involved, especially with legacy 896 00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:11,840 Speaker 1: media and those who own it, and like all maybe 897 00:48:11,920 --> 00:48:14,200 Speaker 1: the ads and everything, but I still see those issues 898 00:48:14,239 --> 00:48:16,839 Speaker 1: are prevalent within independent media when it comes to trying 899 00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:22,120 Speaker 1: to play into an algorithm. And also yeah, like you 900 00:48:22,600 --> 00:48:24,840 Speaker 1: have to get sponsors as well to sustain yourself and 901 00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:28,360 Speaker 1: it can be tough, so to me, I think when 902 00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:32,520 Speaker 1: you want more relatability and approachability, these individuals are great, 903 00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:35,480 Speaker 1: but you also have to remember that these entities with 904 00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:39,160 Speaker 1: resources are still very very important because they are more 905 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:42,440 Speaker 1: so yeah, on the ground really experiencing these things. And 906 00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:46,520 Speaker 1: also yeah, going through the very harsh checks imbalances, which 907 00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:49,319 Speaker 1: again can be good or bad, but there's it's complementary 908 00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:52,840 Speaker 1: to each other. Really and I have been getting a 909 00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:55,439 Speaker 1: lot more respect for legacy media over the past year, 910 00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:59,360 Speaker 1: not that there's still a lot of mess within all areas, 911 00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:02,400 Speaker 1: but I look at it more as a complementary relationship 912 00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:04,120 Speaker 1: rather than it has to be one or the other. 913 00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:06,560 Speaker 1: And before this past year I was more so like 914 00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:10,840 Speaker 1: only individuals. But again I think it's complimentary for sure. 915 00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:13,880 Speaker 1: Well said Jules, thank you so much for joining us 916 00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:16,560 Speaker 1: on breaking points. Could just shout out your social media handles. 917 00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:18,160 Speaker 1: People should go take a look at it, and and I'd 918 00:49:18,239 --> 00:49:20,240 Speaker 1: love you to reference the Google doc you put together 919 00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:22,680 Speaker 1: of the actual call out if people want to learn more. Yeah, 920 00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:25,640 Speaker 1: so you can find me at Jewles Turpac on all platforms. 921 00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:27,920 Speaker 1: And yeah, I have a Google doc of all the 922 00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:30,040 Speaker 1: notes from the White House briefing. You're able to comment 923 00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:32,960 Speaker 1: on it so when people are reading the consider can 924 00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:36,239 Speaker 1: consider your point of views. No propaganda, don't want like 925 00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:39,520 Speaker 1: those narratives push like if you feel that way, comment 926 00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:42,319 Speaker 1: on the dock and you know, correct what anyone said. 927 00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:49,560 Speaker 1: So yeah, thank you. Yeah. Well, remember the Air of Spring, 928 00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:52,720 Speaker 1: which happened a little over ten years ago. It started 929 00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:55,600 Speaker 1: in Tunisia, but really it was supercharged when an Egyptian 930 00:49:55,640 --> 00:50:00,200 Speaker 1: street vendor burned himself alive to protest police corruption. The 931 00:50:00,239 --> 00:50:03,799 Speaker 1: protests spread, the US was sort of involved, and by 932 00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:07,600 Speaker 1: twenty twelve there were new rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen. 933 00:50:08,040 --> 00:50:11,240 Speaker 1: There were protests that had rocked a dozen more countries 934 00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:13,840 Speaker 1: and really kind of changed the politics of the Middle East. 935 00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:16,880 Speaker 1: It was, you know, it was hopeful, it was tragic, 936 00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:20,160 Speaker 1: it was also cynical all at once. And the war 937 00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:23,560 Speaker 1: in Syria that came out of it is still going 938 00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:25,799 Speaker 1: on today. So it was you know, a lot of 939 00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:29,479 Speaker 1: optimism at the start, but a pretty ugly, pretty ugly 940 00:50:29,640 --> 00:50:34,200 Speaker 1: ending and really quite disastrous in fact. Now, the Arab 941 00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:36,799 Speaker 1: Spring had a lot of causes. There was you know, 942 00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:40,920 Speaker 1: there's like an angry new generation. Basic stuff we understand, 943 00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:45,600 Speaker 1: like people wanted a more responsive politics, frustration with corruption. 944 00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:51,960 Speaker 1: But one I think really important factor often goes unmentioned, 945 00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:57,920 Speaker 1: which is food and in particular food prices. So in 946 00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:01,759 Speaker 1: the second half of twenty ten, mole food prices increased 947 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,319 Speaker 1: by about a third, and there were a lot of 948 00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:08,200 Speaker 1: reasons for this. So in food producing countries there were 949 00:51:08,239 --> 00:51:10,680 Speaker 1: a bunch of problems, like there were fires in Russia, 950 00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:16,000 Speaker 1: heavy rains in Canada, Australia had floods, Argentina had a drought, 951 00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:19,240 Speaker 1: and all of these things drove down crop yields, which 952 00:51:19,320 --> 00:51:23,200 Speaker 1: in turn drove up food prices, including food prices across 953 00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:30,720 Speaker 1: the Middle East. The consequence was the Arab spring. Food matters. 954 00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:34,080 Speaker 1: So that's what I'm going to talk about today, food prices, 955 00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:38,200 Speaker 1: the geopolitics of food, and the food business. I'm Matt Stoler. 956 00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:41,359 Speaker 1: This is another big breakdown. Now, I want to start 957 00:51:41,360 --> 00:51:43,319 Speaker 1: with a quote from Lester Brown, who's the president of 958 00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:46,160 Speaker 1: a think tank called the Earth Policy Institute. If you 959 00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:50,440 Speaker 1: want to predict where political instability, revolution, coup de ata, 960 00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:53,920 Speaker 1: or interstate warfare will occur, the best factor to keep 961 00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:56,280 Speaker 1: an eye on is not GDP, the Human Development Index, 962 00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:58,560 Speaker 1: or energy prices. If I were to pick a single 963 00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:02,400 Speaker 1: indicator economic, political, social that I think will tell us 964 00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:05,719 Speaker 1: more than any other, it would be the price of grain. 965 00:52:06,160 --> 00:52:08,359 Speaker 1: He's an old white guy, so you know you should 966 00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:11,239 Speaker 1: listen to him. Seems very authoritative, right, Actually, if you 967 00:52:11,239 --> 00:52:14,040 Speaker 1: want someone more authoritative, you can pick Henry Kissinger. Now 968 00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:18,160 Speaker 1: that guy was super cynical and he actually knows how 969 00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:21,960 Speaker 1: to wield power in a pretty brutal way. My theory 970 00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:26,919 Speaker 1: is actually that he's immortal. But but he, you know, isn't. 971 00:52:26,920 --> 00:52:30,040 Speaker 1: It was an enormously powerful, influencial guy in the American 972 00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:33,640 Speaker 1: and global foreign policy establishment, and he said that is 973 00:52:33,680 --> 00:52:35,880 Speaker 1: reported to it said that if you want to know 974 00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:38,840 Speaker 1: how to run a country, run a region, to wield 975 00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:42,480 Speaker 1: geopolitical power, he you know, he let me just give 976 00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:47,120 Speaker 1: you a quote quote. If you control food, you control 977 00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:53,560 Speaker 1: the people. So that's Henry Kissinger. When people don't have food, 978 00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:59,280 Speaker 1: they riot and government's fall. We've noticed that Biden's polling 979 00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:02,720 Speaker 1: ain't doing too well, and that's with just slightly higher 980 00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:08,440 Speaker 1: prices for food and gasoline. Most countries produce enough calories 981 00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:12,760 Speaker 1: to feed their population, but some are actually reliant on imports, 982 00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:15,600 Speaker 1: so it's not always just prices. Sometimes there's a deficit. Now, 983 00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:18,800 Speaker 1: the largest wheat importers, and wheat, of course is bread, 984 00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:26,440 Speaker 1: right makes bread. These are Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey, China, Algeria, Bangladesh, Iran. 985 00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:30,400 Speaker 1: These are big important countries. Egypt controls the Sioux az Canal, 986 00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:33,640 Speaker 1: China is the world's factory, and Iran has a lot 987 00:53:33,680 --> 00:53:37,640 Speaker 1: of oil and is in a very important geographic position. 988 00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:40,279 Speaker 1: And it has the ability to basically shut down oil 989 00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:43,839 Speaker 1: flows from the Middle East if things get really bad. Now, 990 00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:48,120 Speaker 1: food rides in these countries can be pretty dangerous, and 991 00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:50,080 Speaker 1: that's of course not to speak of the suffering that 992 00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:54,239 Speaker 1: will go on when people go hungry globally, especially in 993 00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:58,399 Speaker 1: poorer countries. So with that, let's talk about the war 994 00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:03,680 Speaker 1: in Russia and US, and that war has driven wheat 995 00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:07,239 Speaker 1: prices to a record high. Ukraine is known as the 996 00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:10,479 Speaker 1: bread basket of Europe. The European Union gets over half 997 00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:14,600 Speaker 1: of its corn imports, around a fifth of its wheat imports, 998 00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:18,800 Speaker 1: and almost a quarter of its vegetable oil imports from Ukraine. 999 00:54:18,920 --> 00:54:22,120 Speaker 1: Vegetable oil goes into lots of processed foods, so it's 1000 00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:25,440 Speaker 1: pretty important. Ukraine and Russia account for about thirty percent 1001 00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:28,279 Speaker 1: of the world's traded wheat. Now that's not all the 1002 00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:30,720 Speaker 1: wheat in the world. A lot of countries grow wheat 1003 00:54:31,480 --> 00:54:35,200 Speaker 1: domestically and then they consume it domestically, but some wheat 1004 00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:39,920 Speaker 1: is traded for countries that have a calorie net calorie 1005 00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:42,600 Speaker 1: deficit in terms of what they produce. That is traded wheat, 1006 00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:46,600 Speaker 1: and that traded wheat has been taken off the market. Now, 1007 00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:49,080 Speaker 1: it's not just that sanctions in war are stopping the 1008 00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:53,080 Speaker 1: purchase of these crops. It's also that ships just can't 1009 00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:56,080 Speaker 1: move the crops. With a war on the ports are closed. 1010 00:54:56,600 --> 00:55:00,840 Speaker 1: You know, people are shooting at ships. It's a problem now. 1011 00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:04,319 Speaker 1: Aside from wheat, Ukraine is a key exporter of all 1012 00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:10,640 Speaker 1: sorts of grains and basic food stuffs like corn, sunflower, oil, oil, barley, 1013 00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:15,640 Speaker 1: and Russia is a significant producer of inputs to food 1014 00:55:16,120 --> 00:55:20,680 Speaker 1: fertilizers like potash, as well as natural gas, which is 1015 00:55:20,719 --> 00:55:25,360 Speaker 1: a large input for nitrogen fertilizers. Producing fertilizers is almost 1016 00:55:25,400 --> 00:55:30,640 Speaker 1: like it's almost like refining natural gas. Now. The US, 1017 00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:33,960 Speaker 1: for example, like we import about a fifth of our 1018 00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:37,359 Speaker 1: nitrogen fertilizers and eleven percent of our potash fertilizers from 1019 00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:40,600 Speaker 1: Russia and Belarus. And Belarus is an ally of Russia. 1020 00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:45,120 Speaker 1: It recently announced that it won't be exporting potash for now, 1021 00:55:45,160 --> 00:55:48,800 Speaker 1: thank you very much. There are alternative sources of supply 1022 00:55:49,719 --> 00:55:54,440 Speaker 1: for food and for these fertilizers for countries that import it. 1023 00:55:55,200 --> 00:55:57,880 Speaker 1: Russia and Ukraine aren't the only exporters of grain, you know, 1024 00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:00,920 Speaker 1: thirty percent of traded wheat, but there are others. There 1025 00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:07,319 Speaker 1: is the US, Canada, Argentina, Australia, India, Brazil. They all 1026 00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:09,760 Speaker 1: grow a lot of wheat, as does China, though China 1027 00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:13,160 Speaker 1: is actually a net importer. But across the world in 1028 00:56:13,360 --> 00:56:15,680 Speaker 1: a bunch of these grain growing regions, there are problems. 1029 00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:20,800 Speaker 1: Everyone's dealing with high fertilizer and energy costs. Obviously, Russia 1030 00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:23,120 Speaker 1: and Ukraine are in a war. Argentina is in a 1031 00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:26,600 Speaker 1: severe drought, which causes problems both for growing crops but 1032 00:56:26,640 --> 00:56:31,680 Speaker 1: also transporting them through rivers. Canada is recovering from a 1033 00:56:31,719 --> 00:56:34,800 Speaker 1: drought and it's tight on reserves. There's a dry conditions 1034 00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:37,160 Speaker 1: in Kansas, which is sort of the important wheat growing 1035 00:56:37,200 --> 00:56:40,520 Speaker 1: region in the US. And this is not a headline 1036 00:56:40,560 --> 00:56:43,800 Speaker 1: that you want to see right now. China is having 1037 00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:48,120 Speaker 1: trouble with its winter wheat production, and you don't want 1038 00:56:48,160 --> 00:56:53,160 Speaker 1: to see news like this either. Basically, we're headed for 1039 00:56:53,239 --> 00:56:57,960 Speaker 1: high food prices and potentially even shortages. But all is 1040 00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:02,120 Speaker 1: not lost. China, for example, has stockpiled one hundred and 1041 00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,120 Speaker 1: fifty million tons of wheat, which is about half of 1042 00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:08,880 Speaker 1: the global reserve, and that's enough for eighteen months of 1043 00:57:08,920 --> 00:57:11,600 Speaker 1: demand or to satisfy eighteen months of demand nowadays to 1044 00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:13,359 Speaker 1: give you a frame of reference, because these are just 1045 00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:15,239 Speaker 1: big numbers and if you do if you're not on 1046 00:57:15,239 --> 00:57:18,960 Speaker 1: an agriculture, they seem sort of random. But the USDA 1047 00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:21,439 Speaker 1: projects that the war will only take four million tons 1048 00:57:21,480 --> 00:57:24,840 Speaker 1: of Ukrainian wheat off the market, So you know, that's 1049 00:57:25,160 --> 00:57:28,160 Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty There's two hundred and eighty one 1050 00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:30,919 Speaker 1: million tons of global reserves. China has about half of them, 1051 00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:34,000 Speaker 1: so the Chinese could actually distribute some of that reserve 1052 00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:36,560 Speaker 1: if there is a famine, and other countries have reserves 1053 00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:40,920 Speaker 1: as well. We have reserves, Canada has reserves also. I mean, 1054 00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:42,760 Speaker 1: let's not forget about this, and this is probably the 1055 00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:47,440 Speaker 1: most important part of the story. Other nations, including the US, 1056 00:57:47,880 --> 00:57:50,320 Speaker 1: can actually put more land under the plow to grow 1057 00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:53,720 Speaker 1: more grain. The US, we're a big exporter of grains, 1058 00:57:53,760 --> 00:57:58,720 Speaker 1: the number two export of wheat after Russia, and we 1059 00:57:58,800 --> 00:58:01,360 Speaker 1: can put a lot more like and under cultivation if 1060 00:58:01,560 --> 00:58:03,480 Speaker 1: we want to do that, But it's not clear that 1061 00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:06,760 Speaker 1: that's happening. First of all, the winter wheat plantings are 1062 00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:13,840 Speaker 1: largely done winter's over. But more importantly, farmers are beset 1063 00:58:13,920 --> 00:58:17,480 Speaker 1: with high costs and so they know when they plant 1064 00:58:17,480 --> 00:58:19,760 Speaker 1: that they have to pay for a bunch of stuff. 1065 00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:24,640 Speaker 1: But a season takes a while, and though prices might 1066 00:58:24,680 --> 00:58:27,280 Speaker 1: be high now, they don't know how long those high 1067 00:58:27,360 --> 00:58:32,240 Speaker 1: prices will last. The war could end tomorrow and prices 1068 00:58:32,560 --> 00:58:38,439 Speaker 1: could tumble. So to really increase land under cultivation, we'd 1069 00:58:38,480 --> 00:58:41,560 Speaker 1: have to take on some key challenges. We'd have to 1070 00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:45,840 Speaker 1: fix this financial problem, and notably, we'd have to address 1071 00:58:45,840 --> 00:58:49,360 Speaker 1: the reason that farmers have trouble making money these days 1072 00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:52,560 Speaker 1: by farming and growing food. And that is something that 1073 00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:55,880 Speaker 1: I think a lot about, which is corporate consolidation. Over 1074 00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:58,760 Speaker 1: the last forty years, American farmers have been just killed 1075 00:58:58,800 --> 00:59:02,040 Speaker 1: by the roll up of power or in the American economy. 1076 00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:03,919 Speaker 1: So to give a quick stat and this is kind 1077 00:59:03,920 --> 00:59:07,240 Speaker 1: of a broad stat about you know that encompasses everything 1078 00:59:07,280 --> 00:59:12,480 Speaker 1: from uber to peanut butter, to food to technology. So 1079 00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:15,200 Speaker 1: this isn't just agriculture, but seventy five percent of industries 1080 00:59:15,240 --> 00:59:18,120 Speaker 1: have gotten more concentrated just in the last twenty years. 1081 00:59:18,840 --> 00:59:22,280 Speaker 1: Corporate markups, which is, you know, the amount of money 1082 00:59:22,320 --> 00:59:27,360 Speaker 1: that firms make when they're above cost goes, have gone 1083 00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:31,120 Speaker 1: from about twenty percent to sixty percent from the nineteen 1084 00:59:31,160 --> 00:59:35,480 Speaker 1: eighties to today. And this is largely concentrated in large businesses, 1085 00:59:35,600 --> 00:59:39,040 Speaker 1: businesses with market power, So it's not a function of 1086 00:59:39,040 --> 00:59:41,840 Speaker 1: technology or anything like that. It's small businesses and labor 1087 00:59:42,480 --> 00:59:47,000 Speaker 1: have been suffering. And small businesses include farmers. So the 1088 00:59:47,120 --> 00:59:51,280 Speaker 1: consolidation crisis is as bad in agriculture as it is 1089 00:59:51,360 --> 00:59:54,360 Speaker 1: anywhere else. So, for example, i was lost almost a 1090 00:59:54,400 --> 00:59:58,080 Speaker 1: third of its farms since the late nineteen seventies. Missouri 1091 00:59:58,160 --> 01:00:01,080 Speaker 1: had twenty three thousand independent pig farm in nineteen eighty five. 1092 01:00:01,160 --> 01:00:05,200 Speaker 1: It has just a few thousand today. If that. Broadly speaking, 1093 01:00:05,240 --> 01:00:07,960 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety, smaller farms accounted for about half of 1094 01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:11,160 Speaker 1: all agricultural production. Now it's less than a quarter. In 1095 01:00:11,200 --> 01:00:13,600 Speaker 1: smaller farms, you know, they can be a little more flexible, 1096 01:00:13,600 --> 01:00:16,920 Speaker 1: they can put more land under cultivation or pretty quickly. 1097 01:00:17,920 --> 01:00:20,360 Speaker 1: The basic problem is that the profit that used to 1098 01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:23,200 Speaker 1: go to the farmer for growing food now goes to 1099 01:00:23,480 --> 01:00:27,919 Speaker 1: the middleman corporation that manipulates the farmer. So to give 1100 01:00:27,960 --> 01:00:32,200 Speaker 1: you some stats on how consolidated this whole space is, 1101 01:00:32,640 --> 01:00:34,840 Speaker 1: and I'm not even getting to the retail sector, which 1102 01:00:34,920 --> 01:00:38,000 Speaker 1: you know, supermarket consolidation is out of control. And that 1103 01:00:38,120 --> 01:00:41,400 Speaker 1: kind of sits on top of everything. But four corporations 1104 01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:44,600 Speaker 1: supply seventy five percent of the nitrogen fertilizer in the 1105 01:00:44,720 --> 01:00:48,920 Speaker 1: United States. Two corporations supply all of North America's potash, 1106 01:00:49,240 --> 01:00:51,840 Speaker 1: which is the potassium based fertilizer that you also need 1107 01:00:52,160 --> 01:00:56,760 Speaker 1: for growing crops. So the number of fertilizer producers in 1108 01:00:56,800 --> 01:00:59,200 Speaker 1: the US has dropped from about forty six to thirteen 1109 01:00:59,320 --> 01:01:04,280 Speaker 1: since the nineteen eighties. For chemical firms control sixty percent 1110 01:01:04,280 --> 01:01:08,280 Speaker 1: of the world's seeds. This used to be like Mensanto, 1111 01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:10,560 Speaker 1: but Monsanto got bought by Bear and there's just been 1112 01:01:10,560 --> 01:01:13,840 Speaker 1: tremendous roll ups of power in that space too. For 1113 01:01:14,120 --> 01:01:17,520 Speaker 1: grain trading firms, this is you know, Cargill and AIGHTM 1114 01:01:17,520 --> 01:01:22,440 Speaker 1: and firms like that control about ninety percent of grains. 1115 01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:26,440 Speaker 1: These dominant corporations are, of course, immensely profitable, and they 1116 01:01:26,520 --> 01:01:29,400 Speaker 1: are doing really well. EIGHTM Stock for example, just to 1117 01:01:29,400 --> 01:01:31,760 Speaker 1: pick one. And I like AIGHTM because they were caught 1118 01:01:31,800 --> 01:01:34,480 Speaker 1: for price fixing years ago and they actually made a 1119 01:01:34,520 --> 01:01:37,720 Speaker 1: movie with Matt Damon On. It not that great a movie, 1120 01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:42,120 Speaker 1: but people know of AIGHTM for that reason. Archer's Daniel Midland, 1121 01:01:42,240 --> 01:01:44,640 Speaker 1: so ADM stock has gone up by about twenty percent 1122 01:01:44,720 --> 01:01:48,240 Speaker 1: this year alone, and that's largely because of the war 1123 01:01:48,360 --> 01:01:51,520 Speaker 1: in Ukraine, which is about a ten billion dollar increase 1124 01:01:51,560 --> 01:01:55,920 Speaker 1: in value. Agribusiness giants make money by selling to farmers, 1125 01:01:56,960 --> 01:01:59,920 Speaker 1: or they make money by buying from farmers, or both. 1126 01:02:00,680 --> 01:02:03,560 Speaker 1: So basically, farmers are surrounded on all sides by firms 1127 01:02:03,560 --> 01:02:06,920 Speaker 1: with market power. Whether farmers are trying to buy seeds, chemicals, 1128 01:02:07,000 --> 01:02:10,280 Speaker 1: or besides fuel, fertilizer or farm equipment, or whether they're 1129 01:02:10,280 --> 01:02:14,840 Speaker 1: trying to sell wheat, barley, cattle, pigs, other forms, other 1130 01:02:14,880 --> 01:02:18,080 Speaker 1: types of commodities. Now, it's true that the price of 1131 01:02:18,120 --> 01:02:20,920 Speaker 1: what farmers are selling is going up, but is it 1132 01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:23,800 Speaker 1: going up enough to cover the cost of what it 1133 01:02:23,880 --> 01:02:29,840 Speaker 1: takes to actually produce these crops or animals, or are 1134 01:02:29,880 --> 01:02:32,560 Speaker 1: the monopolies in the middle taking all the profit margin 1135 01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:36,640 Speaker 1: that should have gone to the farmer. I'm going to 1136 01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:39,040 Speaker 1: put my money on the monopolists because they have a 1137 01:02:39,080 --> 01:02:41,240 Speaker 1: lot more information about the market and they have a 1138 01:02:41,240 --> 01:02:44,760 Speaker 1: lot more bargaining power. So with high costs for what 1139 01:02:44,840 --> 01:02:48,000 Speaker 1: it takes to produce crops, it's hard to make it. 1140 01:02:48,120 --> 01:02:52,800 Speaker 1: Even with higher prices, the middleman with market power is 1141 01:02:52,840 --> 01:02:56,640 Speaker 1: taking all the margin. Now. Farmers are responding in a 1142 01:02:56,720 --> 01:03:01,480 Speaker 1: number of ways. Some are experimenting with ways of producing 1143 01:03:01,480 --> 01:03:05,400 Speaker 1: crops that use less fertilizer, Like there's something called precision agriculture, 1144 01:03:05,440 --> 01:03:08,320 Speaker 1: which involves taking very detailed maps of their farms and 1145 01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:11,960 Speaker 1: very specific ways of applying chemicals. Of course, this relies on, 1146 01:03:12,840 --> 01:03:17,120 Speaker 1: you know, buying data from dominant firms as well, so 1147 01:03:17,560 --> 01:03:21,560 Speaker 1: you know there's monopoly or market power involved here. And 1148 01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:24,960 Speaker 1: farmers are increasingly trying to grow cover crops that these 1149 01:03:25,000 --> 01:03:29,400 Speaker 1: are plants that maintain fertility in the soil. They can 1150 01:03:29,480 --> 01:03:31,480 Speaker 1: kind of be a little bit of a substitute for 1151 01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:39,240 Speaker 1: using lots of fertilizers. And but the thing is is 1152 01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:44,240 Speaker 1: it these these sort of stop gaps probably won't be enough. 1153 01:03:44,400 --> 01:03:48,000 Speaker 1: We have, like it or not, an industrial food system, 1154 01:03:48,240 --> 01:03:51,240 Speaker 1: and you just need fertilizer and pesticides to grow the 1155 01:03:51,280 --> 01:03:54,720 Speaker 1: food that we need, and it's really expensive to buy 1156 01:03:54,720 --> 01:03:57,560 Speaker 1: the inputs to do that. Right now, the net effect 1157 01:03:57,600 --> 01:04:00,800 Speaker 1: is that some farmers are losing money at the extremely 1158 01:04:00,880 --> 01:04:03,640 Speaker 1: high prices they are getting for their crops, and that's 1159 01:04:03,760 --> 01:04:07,520 Speaker 1: a problem. High prices should be a signal to produce 1160 01:04:07,560 --> 01:04:10,560 Speaker 1: more and if you're losing money despite high prices, you're 1161 01:04:10,600 --> 01:04:13,040 Speaker 1: not necessarily going to produce more even when we need it. 1162 01:04:13,840 --> 01:04:18,480 Speaker 1: So the Department of Agriculture expects farm income to drop 1163 01:04:18,840 --> 01:04:21,400 Speaker 1: seven point nine percent this year. That's down nine point 1164 01:04:21,480 --> 01:04:24,520 Speaker 1: seven billion dollars. That's basically it's off of a one 1165 01:04:24,600 --> 01:04:26,920 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty billion dollars something like that in total 1166 01:04:26,920 --> 01:04:31,480 Speaker 1: farm income. And that drop is happening because, among other things, 1167 01:04:31,600 --> 01:04:35,120 Speaker 1: higher fuel and input costs. So even though you would 1168 01:04:35,200 --> 01:04:38,080 Speaker 1: think that farmers could put a lot of land into 1169 01:04:38,120 --> 01:04:42,760 Speaker 1: growing food to stop starvation, with high prices, monopolistic business 1170 01:04:42,760 --> 01:04:46,000 Speaker 1: practices means that it sometimes isn't worth it for the 1171 01:04:46,080 --> 01:04:48,320 Speaker 1: farmer who is trying to figure out what to plant. 1172 01:04:48,480 --> 01:04:51,480 Speaker 1: And while I've talked about the US, these agribusiness giants 1173 01:04:51,480 --> 01:04:55,000 Speaker 1: are global, so the story isn't necessarily that different in 1174 01:04:55,040 --> 01:05:00,800 Speaker 1: other countries. Now, the final problem has to do with 1175 01:05:01,400 --> 01:05:04,360 Speaker 1: not what's on the farm, but getting that farm product 1176 01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:08,400 Speaker 1: to other countries. So it's shipping the supply chain mess 1177 01:05:08,480 --> 01:05:10,400 Speaker 1: that we've been dealing with for the last few years. 1178 01:05:11,160 --> 01:05:14,200 Speaker 1: The big shipping firms who control the export and import 1179 01:05:14,240 --> 01:05:18,200 Speaker 1: trade don't think it's profitable enough to carry food from 1180 01:05:18,240 --> 01:05:23,400 Speaker 1: the US to other countries. It's so bad that steamship 1181 01:05:23,480 --> 01:05:28,919 Speaker 1: lines simply refuse to carry food. Boxes of agricultural commodities 1182 01:05:29,040 --> 01:05:33,280 Speaker 1: aren't moving, and that's angering farmers and food processors. Now, 1183 01:05:33,320 --> 01:05:36,800 Speaker 1: why wooden carriers want to bring us exports, I mean, 1184 01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:38,600 Speaker 1: that's what they do. That's what a carrier is. They 1185 01:05:38,680 --> 01:05:41,520 Speaker 1: move things and they charge a fee for it. Well, 1186 01:05:41,600 --> 01:05:45,520 Speaker 1: this also has to do with consolidation. The ocean carrier 1187 01:05:45,560 --> 01:05:49,440 Speaker 1: industry is insanely concentrated, and just three carrier alliances manage 1188 01:05:49,440 --> 01:05:54,040 Speaker 1: eighty percent of global container ship capacity and ninety ninety 1189 01:05:54,080 --> 01:05:58,000 Speaker 1: five percent of the pivotal East West trade lines that's 1190 01:05:58,000 --> 01:06:02,400 Speaker 1: basically going from chip to the West coast of the 1191 01:06:02,480 --> 01:06:07,520 Speaker 1: United States. Now, because of this consolidation, prices for carrying 1192 01:06:07,920 --> 01:06:11,080 Speaker 1: containers are extremely high, up to fifteen to twenty thousand 1193 01:06:11,080 --> 01:06:15,000 Speaker 1: dollars per container, particularly on the lucrative route from China 1194 01:06:15,080 --> 01:06:17,560 Speaker 1: to the West coast of the United States. And that's 1195 01:06:17,560 --> 01:06:20,520 Speaker 1: because the value of what they're carrying is basically it 1196 01:06:20,560 --> 01:06:25,240 Speaker 1: determines the price of the container of moving the container. 1197 01:06:25,280 --> 01:06:29,040 Speaker 1: So carrying electronics or other forms of high value machinery 1198 01:06:29,120 --> 01:06:32,160 Speaker 1: from China to the US is quite profitable, but carrying 1199 01:06:32,280 --> 01:06:37,880 Speaker 1: bulk commodities from the US. Bulk commodities like food isn't actually, 1200 01:06:38,040 --> 01:06:40,480 Speaker 1: you know, it's not that profitable. Exporting a box from 1201 01:06:40,480 --> 01:06:42,960 Speaker 1: the US full of grain is just one thousand dollars, 1202 01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:45,880 Speaker 1: five hundred dollars something like that. Now, normally this wouldn't 1203 01:06:45,920 --> 01:06:47,280 Speaker 1: be that big a deal, right, I mean, if the 1204 01:06:47,280 --> 01:06:50,600 Speaker 1: price is different, who cares? You have to both import 1205 01:06:50,640 --> 01:06:52,760 Speaker 1: and export. You can take a box from China the 1206 01:06:52,880 --> 01:06:55,440 Speaker 1: US and then you unload it. You want to take 1207 01:06:55,480 --> 01:06:57,960 Speaker 1: that box and load it full of something when you're 1208 01:06:58,160 --> 01:07:01,240 Speaker 1: carrying it back, and you make less money carrying it 1209 01:07:01,280 --> 01:07:04,080 Speaker 1: back on the export side. It's not that big a deal. 1210 01:07:04,320 --> 01:07:07,520 Speaker 1: But the asymmetry is so big right now. It's so 1211 01:07:07,680 --> 01:07:10,120 Speaker 1: much more profitable to bring something from China to the 1212 01:07:10,200 --> 01:07:12,720 Speaker 1: US that's than these bolt commodities from the US to 1213 01:07:12,760 --> 01:07:16,320 Speaker 1: the rest of the world. That the time it takes 1214 01:07:16,840 --> 01:07:20,000 Speaker 1: to turn these ship around, these ships around and put 1215 01:07:20,040 --> 01:07:22,480 Speaker 1: these move these containers out to the Midwest and load 1216 01:07:22,520 --> 01:07:24,560 Speaker 1: them full of grain, it's just not worth it to 1217 01:07:24,600 --> 01:07:28,480 Speaker 1: do it. So these carres have been turning around immediately 1218 01:07:28,880 --> 01:07:32,400 Speaker 1: after dropping their cargo in Los Angeles Long Beach and 1219 01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:35,600 Speaker 1: they just take a bunch of empty boxes to get 1220 01:07:35,640 --> 01:07:38,160 Speaker 1: back to China as quick as possible so they can 1221 01:07:38,200 --> 01:07:41,840 Speaker 1: grab another load of electronics. And the net effect of 1222 01:07:41,880 --> 01:07:45,040 Speaker 1: this is that the US can't really export the food 1223 01:07:45,040 --> 01:07:48,000 Speaker 1: that we're growing. This is also actually true in Canada. 1224 01:07:48,120 --> 01:07:51,720 Speaker 1: It's basically an integrated market in the US and Canada. 1225 01:07:51,960 --> 01:07:54,320 Speaker 1: If there were a bunch of smaller steamship lines, you 1226 01:07:54,360 --> 01:07:58,760 Speaker 1: would assume that some of them would have would have expertise, 1227 01:07:59,080 --> 01:08:04,000 Speaker 1: and they would differentiate themselves by being agricultural bulk commodities exporters, 1228 01:08:04,040 --> 01:08:06,160 Speaker 1: and they would use some of the smaller ports and 1229 01:08:06,200 --> 01:08:09,400 Speaker 1: maybe smaller ships to do that. And this is in 1230 01:08:09,440 --> 01:08:11,760 Speaker 1: fact what we used to have. We had different steamship 1231 01:08:11,800 --> 01:08:14,720 Speaker 1: lines that did different things, but now we basically just 1232 01:08:14,760 --> 01:08:17,200 Speaker 1: have three alliances and they all want to do the 1233 01:08:17,200 --> 01:08:20,400 Speaker 1: same thing, which is bring electronics back from China. So 1234 01:08:20,720 --> 01:08:23,120 Speaker 1: this is actually a fundamental problem with the structure of 1235 01:08:23,120 --> 01:08:26,040 Speaker 1: the industry. It's also a problem with regulation, which I'm 1236 01:08:26,080 --> 01:08:31,080 Speaker 1: going to get to. Now here's the good news. Policymakers 1237 01:08:31,240 --> 01:08:34,920 Speaker 1: are actually noticing the problem and they are starting to act, 1238 01:08:35,800 --> 01:08:38,160 Speaker 1: and I would I would say, actually the series of problems, 1239 01:08:38,160 --> 01:08:41,439 Speaker 1: not just one problem. The USDA, for instance, just put 1240 01:08:41,439 --> 01:08:44,160 Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty million dollars into grants for new 1241 01:08:44,160 --> 01:08:47,920 Speaker 1: fertilizer production. So they want to, you know, one way 1242 01:08:47,960 --> 01:08:51,560 Speaker 1: of getting more competition is just to finance new competitors. 1243 01:08:51,800 --> 01:08:53,720 Speaker 1: And that is actually similar to what they did a 1244 01:08:53,720 --> 01:08:55,759 Speaker 1: few months ago, where they said we're going to provide 1245 01:08:55,800 --> 01:08:59,559 Speaker 1: grants for new meat packers to challenge the dominant meat packer. 1246 01:09:01,160 --> 01:09:03,280 Speaker 1: They also put out a request and this is where 1247 01:09:03,320 --> 01:09:05,439 Speaker 1: actually you come in if you want to help. The 1248 01:09:05,520 --> 01:09:08,200 Speaker 1: USDA put out a request for input from farmers or 1249 01:09:08,240 --> 01:09:11,320 Speaker 1: anyone else in public on the consolidation problem. So the 1250 01:09:11,400 --> 01:09:14,599 Speaker 1: USDA said, tell us whether you think there's a problem 1251 01:09:14,680 --> 01:09:19,840 Speaker 1: with retail, with seeds or with fertilizer. Now anybody can comment, 1252 01:09:20,080 --> 01:09:21,639 Speaker 1: doesn't matter who you are. You could be a farmer 1253 01:09:21,720 --> 01:09:24,640 Speaker 1: or not, whatever you do. You can eat food. If 1254 01:09:24,680 --> 01:09:27,040 Speaker 1: you eat food, you can offer a comment. I've put 1255 01:09:27,080 --> 01:09:29,880 Speaker 1: a link to the USDAY request in description of this 1256 01:09:30,000 --> 01:09:33,160 Speaker 1: video and you can just follow that and there are 1257 01:09:33,160 --> 01:09:36,200 Speaker 1: instructions on how you can weigh in. So if you 1258 01:09:36,240 --> 01:09:39,080 Speaker 1: want to give the government some of your thoughts, you 1259 01:09:39,120 --> 01:09:40,920 Speaker 1: want to give the government a piece of your mind, 1260 01:09:41,200 --> 01:09:42,920 Speaker 1: you should go ahead and do that. Don't be shy 1261 01:09:43,120 --> 01:09:46,040 Speaker 1: and on shipping. There's legislation in Congress that would actually 1262 01:09:46,120 --> 01:09:49,200 Speaker 1: fix this situation. That's called the Ocean Shipping Reform Act. 1263 01:09:49,320 --> 01:09:52,240 Speaker 1: There's a couple of pieces that's kind of the main one, 1264 01:09:52,960 --> 01:09:56,880 Speaker 1: and this law would mandate that carriers have to carry 1265 01:09:56,920 --> 01:10:01,040 Speaker 1: both imports and exports. It's already the House, it's sitting 1266 01:10:01,080 --> 01:10:04,519 Speaker 1: in the Senate. It'll probably move in some form or fashion. 1267 01:10:05,240 --> 01:10:07,400 Speaker 1: Everyone kind of knows that we have a really big 1268 01:10:07,439 --> 01:10:11,720 Speaker 1: problem with our supply chains, and so it's kind of 1269 01:10:11,760 --> 01:10:13,800 Speaker 1: like behind the scenes, not behind the scenes, but it's 1270 01:10:13,800 --> 01:10:17,599 Speaker 1: one of those bills that isn't isn't a culture war 1271 01:10:18,320 --> 01:10:21,000 Speaker 1: soccer ball that people can kick around, but it's super 1272 01:10:21,040 --> 01:10:23,400 Speaker 1: important and so no one's paid attention to it. But 1273 01:10:23,479 --> 01:10:29,160 Speaker 1: it is moving now. There are other, like really obvious 1274 01:10:29,160 --> 01:10:32,200 Speaker 1: things to do, like, for example, we could stop turning 1275 01:10:32,280 --> 01:10:38,240 Speaker 1: corn into ethanol, which is stupid expensive and it's wasteful. 1276 01:10:39,040 --> 01:10:42,519 Speaker 1: It's especially stupid right now when you can make a 1277 01:10:42,520 --> 01:10:45,800 Speaker 1: lot of money selling corn right Like, ethanol is kind 1278 01:10:45,840 --> 01:10:50,160 Speaker 1: of a subsidy to farmers, particularly in Iowa, but they 1279 01:10:50,160 --> 01:10:52,120 Speaker 1: don't need the subsidy right now because they could just 1280 01:10:52,160 --> 01:10:55,800 Speaker 1: sell their corn. But more broadly, we actually need to 1281 01:10:55,840 --> 01:10:58,960 Speaker 1: look back at our food supply system and you know, 1282 01:10:59,040 --> 01:11:01,720 Speaker 1: kind of in total and find ways of making sure 1283 01:11:01,760 --> 01:11:05,880 Speaker 1: that family farmers get reasonable prices for crops without having 1284 01:11:05,960 --> 01:11:10,200 Speaker 1: to deal with agribusiness monopolists interfering in the market and 1285 01:11:10,240 --> 01:11:14,639 Speaker 1: creating so much volatility. We need to make price signals 1286 01:11:14,720 --> 01:11:17,840 Speaker 1: actually mean something, so that when prices go up, there's 1287 01:11:17,920 --> 01:11:22,000 Speaker 1: more land put under cultivation. Now, during the New Deal, 1288 01:11:22,040 --> 01:11:24,000 Speaker 1: we had such a system. So this was in the 1289 01:11:24,040 --> 01:11:26,840 Speaker 1: kind of the nineteen thirties to roughly the nineteen seventies 1290 01:11:27,920 --> 01:11:31,160 Speaker 1: before that, we had a similar dynamic where the agricultural 1291 01:11:31,160 --> 01:11:34,840 Speaker 1: system wasn't particularly rational and we had overproduction and underproduction, 1292 01:11:35,600 --> 01:11:39,639 Speaker 1: lots of waste of land. So in the New Deal 1293 01:11:39,680 --> 01:11:43,759 Speaker 1: we created something called supply management, and supply management basically 1294 01:11:43,800 --> 01:11:48,479 Speaker 1: had the government managed swings in commodity prices and make 1295 01:11:48,479 --> 01:11:51,160 Speaker 1: sure that farmers could make a reasonable return by putting 1296 01:11:51,240 --> 01:11:56,080 Speaker 1: land under cultivation but wouldn't overproduce and wouldn't actually like 1297 01:11:56,160 --> 01:11:59,960 Speaker 1: they would have incentives to make sure that they manage 1298 01:12:00,120 --> 01:12:02,920 Speaker 1: the lands so it could it could continue to produce crops, 1299 01:12:02,960 --> 01:12:06,360 Speaker 1: and we can return to models that worked like that. 1300 01:12:06,400 --> 01:12:11,000 Speaker 1: We know how to do this, so to summarize the 1301 01:12:11,040 --> 01:12:15,320 Speaker 1: global food supplied problem. We're in a really dangerous position 1302 01:12:15,439 --> 01:12:18,400 Speaker 1: right now, and in the next year or two, we 1303 01:12:18,479 --> 01:12:22,879 Speaker 1: actually could have famine all over the world, maybe political 1304 01:12:22,920 --> 01:12:26,120 Speaker 1: instability as well, certainly political instability. If you have famine now, 1305 01:12:26,160 --> 01:12:28,160 Speaker 1: it's not going to happen in the US we'll face 1306 01:12:28,920 --> 01:12:32,479 Speaker 1: higher prices, but elsewhere it could be really awful, and 1307 01:12:32,800 --> 01:12:35,439 Speaker 1: as we know elsewhere, it does often doesn't stay elsewhere 1308 01:12:35,479 --> 01:12:38,160 Speaker 1: for that long. But the thing is, none of this 1309 01:12:38,200 --> 01:12:42,479 Speaker 1: is inevitable. We don't have to let millions starve or 1310 01:12:42,520 --> 01:12:46,200 Speaker 1: see political instability due to food shortages. We don't have 1311 01:12:46,320 --> 01:12:50,280 Speaker 1: to see farmers go bankrupt when they could make a 1312 01:12:50,280 --> 01:12:53,519 Speaker 1: lot of money growing crops. We know how to fix this. 1313 01:12:53,560 --> 01:12:56,920 Speaker 1: We know how to prevent famines. We have reserves. We 1314 01:12:56,960 --> 01:12:59,880 Speaker 1: can also produce more food, and if we break up 1315 01:13:00,000 --> 01:13:03,919 Speaker 1: agricultural monopolies and make it profitable for farmers to grow crops, 1316 01:13:04,320 --> 01:13:08,160 Speaker 1: they will. If we make it possible to export more 1317 01:13:08,200 --> 01:13:12,200 Speaker 1: food instead of sending ships full of empty containers that 1318 01:13:12,280 --> 01:13:16,120 Speaker 1: could otherwise be carrying grains, then that's what our ocean 1319 01:13:16,160 --> 01:13:21,280 Speaker 1: carriers are going to do. We'll export food. It's really 1320 01:13:21,360 --> 01:13:25,240 Speaker 1: addictive to imagine catastrophe. I see this a lot. There's 1321 01:13:25,280 --> 01:13:29,000 Speaker 1: going to be a huge famines and on the brink 1322 01:13:29,000 --> 01:13:31,759 Speaker 1: of what could be nuclear war, with scenes of shelling 1323 01:13:31,800 --> 01:13:37,280 Speaker 1: and chaos all the time. It's easy to imagine catastrophe 1324 01:13:38,080 --> 01:13:40,120 Speaker 1: as social media doesn't make it any better. It makes 1325 01:13:40,160 --> 01:13:43,840 Speaker 1: it a lot worse. It's polarizing. If it bleeds, it 1326 01:13:43,960 --> 01:13:49,920 Speaker 1: leads supersized times a thousand. Right. Remember though, throughout history, 1327 01:13:50,000 --> 01:13:53,719 Speaker 1: things only seem to be falling apart. Right in the fifties, 1328 01:13:53,760 --> 01:13:55,760 Speaker 1: people were, you know, little kids had to hide under 1329 01:13:55,800 --> 01:13:58,360 Speaker 1: desks and drills to see if there was going to 1330 01:13:58,360 --> 01:14:01,920 Speaker 1: be an atomic war. So it always kind of seems 1331 01:14:01,960 --> 01:14:06,320 Speaker 1: like things are falling off the edge. But you know, 1332 01:14:06,360 --> 01:14:09,799 Speaker 1: we always seem to be able to muddle through. In fact, 1333 01:14:10,880 --> 01:14:16,640 Speaker 1: often we're able to address problems before they become catastrophes. 1334 01:14:16,680 --> 01:14:22,559 Speaker 1: We're a fantastically wealthy country with magnificent technology and enormous 1335 01:14:23,479 --> 01:14:28,280 Speaker 1: state capacity, so we can address really bad situations like 1336 01:14:28,680 --> 01:14:30,720 Speaker 1: the one we're in today or the one the goal 1337 01:14:30,880 --> 01:14:33,600 Speaker 1: was in today. And that's what I think about the 1338 01:14:33,600 --> 01:14:38,080 Speaker 1: food situation. It's really dangerous, it's not looking good, but 1339 01:14:38,160 --> 01:14:40,960 Speaker 1: we don't have to panic. We should just use this 1340 01:14:41,000 --> 01:14:46,280 Speaker 1: moment to grow more food temporarily and more broadly, to 1341 01:14:46,439 --> 01:14:50,160 Speaker 1: look back and think about how to fix our food systems. 1342 01:14:51,560 --> 01:14:55,559 Speaker 1: If we do, then you know, we won't have a 1343 01:14:55,600 --> 01:14:58,640 Speaker 1: famine over the next couple of years, and besides that, 1344 01:14:58,680 --> 01:15:03,439 Speaker 1: we'll have flourishing world towns once again. If we don't, well, 1345 01:15:05,760 --> 01:15:08,040 Speaker 1: you know it could be like the Arab spring, only 1346 01:15:08,080 --> 01:15:10,400 Speaker 1: this time that's not going to even be with the 1347 01:15:10,439 --> 01:15:16,360 Speaker 1: optimistic beginning. Thanks for watching. If you'd like to know 1348 01:15:16,479 --> 01:15:19,519 Speaker 1: more about big business and how our economy really works, 1349 01:15:20,120 --> 01:15:23,559 Speaker 1: sign up for my market power focused newsletter, Big which 1350 01:15:23,600 --> 01:15:25,920 Speaker 1: you could find below in the description of this video. 1351 01:15:27,040 --> 01:15:28,639 Speaker 1: Have a good one,