WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:04.440 Has anybody, has anybody watched Three Body Problem? But me? I have 2 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:16.039 really Rob Oh, Rob show, you're out of order, I know, 3 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:20.079 and I show you out order. You don't know what out all it is, 4 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:24.239 mister trash. I'd show you, but I'm too old, I'm too 5 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:28.519 tired, I'm too blind. If I were the man I was five years 6 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:41.119 ago, I take a fame through to this place. Here we are at 7 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:44.200 the end of March, and this is Gloff Culture. I am John Podhortz, 8 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:46.320 New York. Elsewhere in New York, Rob Long, Hi, Rob, 9 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:50.600 Hi, John, And in his basement redoubt in Washington, Jonah Goldberg, 10 00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:54.880 Hi, Jonah, Hello John. It is a basement with doubt right 11 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.320 like there, you are sort of like below ground level with the window. 12 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:02.439 I am, although it's weird. So we're on a hill. I guess 13 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:04.519 you've never been in my house. So we're on a hill. So in 14 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:11.000 the front door of everyone is one floor up, but the backyard I'm at 15 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:15.560 ground level with the backyard. So it's Yes, it's like a ground apartment. 16 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:19.000 What do you call those garden apartment? Garden apartment. Yeah, now's 17 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.879 a nice. It's a nice you know, people who don't know Washington. 18 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:26.239 I have one interesting Washington is not a particularly eccentric city, but there is 19 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:30.040 one eccentricity that I was always amused by based on where I lived. I 20 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:34.760 lived in a lot of places when I lived in Washington over like fourteen years, 21 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:38.840 and it is that there are a bunch of buildings that are essentially built 22 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:46.040 into the side of Rock Creek Park. Yeah. And so I lived in 23 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:52.239 a building on which I lived on the sixth floor, and when I got 24 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:56.719 into the lobby, I had to go down on the elevator to get to 25 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:00.760 the sixth floor. At an office where I was on the third floor, 26 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:06.280 again had to go down in the lobby. And so that is aside from 27 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:12.199 the fact that apartment buildings in Washington are often very wide but not very tall 28 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.240 because of the building height restriction that said that you couldn't have a building taller 29 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:20.159 than the top of the Capitol Dome. They built them out instead of up, 30 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:23.039 which is what we would normally associate with large apartment buildings. And so 31 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:27.719 they all had shining halls, like the halls in the Shining with the girls, 32 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:34.120 you know, Danny going down on the yeah exactly. Yeah. Yeah, 33 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:38.960 So Jonah, you're being in a house of of interesting levels in the 34 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:42.080 side of a you know, in the side of a hill. That is 35 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:52.159 much of mid century Washington apartment building construction life. Yeah, Souse is actually 36 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.719 kind of interesting in that we put a lot of money into it because we 37 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:00.000 practiced the real estate advice buy the worst house on the best block you can't 38 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:05.599 And it was built by an admiral in the Navy during World War Two. 39 00:03:06.199 --> 00:03:10.759 And when we did the first round of renovation, we would come visit it 40 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:16.000 and see how the construction was going or reconstruction, and we would find these 41 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:20.560 booze bottles, these empty booze bottles, like lots and lots of booze bottles, 42 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:23.680 and are like, Jesus, are these construction workers just getting lit every 43 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:28.000 day? And I would look at one of the bottles and it would it 44 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:30.919 said it was like some rum company, and it said their headquarters were at 45 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:35.599 two hundred Madison Avenue. And I know where two hundred metis. That's where 46 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:37.879 Putnam used to be. I don't know if it's still there, but that's 47 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:40.039 a nice building. And I was like, there's no frigging way this cheap 48 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:45.759 rum is it out of there? And until we realized the guy who built 49 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:51.280 it was this crazy alcoholic and he had been hiding bottles and every floorboards and 50 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.800 nooks and crannies every day to hide him from his wife apparently, and the 51 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:59.400 construction workers would just find them everywhere. And I wish we had saved them 52 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.080 because people call them like that stuff, yeah, like ninety year old bottles. 53 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:04.039 And we didn't. We just didn't put it together. But like the 54 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:08.879 label, the label art is always amazing. Yeah, And there were hundreds 55 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:10.639 of them. I mean at least a hundred of them. I mean, 56 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:14.639 it was great. What I loved about those build apartment buildings in d C 57 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:17.759 is that they used to have They still have the old fashioned amenities. You 58 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:23.360 know, the the the zinc line drawer where you would get your ice delivered 59 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:29.480 every day. They would connect to that potato, yes, potato cooler for 60 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:35.079 vegetables below the window that was open to the air right closed with a hard 61 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:40.800 metal door there. And then so the external the outside the hallway closet so 62 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:45.040 that your your dry cleaning could be returned to you, but not no one 63 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:46.399 would enter your home. They would just put it in a closet that had 64 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.600 two doors, one opening the hall one opening to the to the pantry or 65 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:51.920 whatever, and I love that stuff. Yeah, and before there was air 66 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:56.279 conditioning, I knew this. I know this particularly in Baltimore in the eighties 67 00:04:56.759 --> 00:05:00.839 when I dated a couple of women who lived in Baltimore in like, you 68 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:06.480 know, Midcenter Baltimore Twins and they they Baltimore, they had they had draft 69 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:12.639 doors. Do you guys remember before there was air conditioning, you would have 70 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:15.600 two doors and one door was your front door that you could lock, and 71 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:19.800 then you could open your door and have a door that was steel sometimes yeah, 72 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:26.160 but that was you know, open, had slats so that air could 73 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:29.959 come in from the window and you could get a draft in your apartment and 74 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:34.120 keep cool when it was incredibly hot. So also the built in the built 75 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:41.040 in uh what ironing board that was? That was another big feature in the 76 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:46.120 kitchen. You would have a sort of like flat handle, you'd open the 77 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:50.600 handle and an ironing board. Yeah, come down, shing. How even 78 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:55.959 to my old apartment I grew up in, right of course. Yeah, 79 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.639 so that apartment, which is a great apartment, couldn't afford it on market 80 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:05.439 prices, but rent stabilization was our friend. And uh, it was built 81 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:10.240 back in the days where you didn't mind having a tiny kitchen because that's where 82 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:15.600 the staff you were never there, right, And in the dining room we 83 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:23.480 had a button on the floor, yeah, for ringing the Yeah, your 84 00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:26.319 kitchen was small. Your kitchen was small, but you had a pantry. 85 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:30.040 There was a butler's pantry, Yes, that always connected the kitchen to the 86 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:33.319 dining room. So the bedrooms off of the pantry in my yeah, we 87 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:35.480 have that too. So we grew up in a building. I grew up 88 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:41.240 in a building very much of the same era as as yours. Interestingly, 89 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:48.519 on the site of the Strouss mansion. Strauss owned Macy's. And the Strouses 90 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:54.639 died on the Titanic. Yeah. Uh, they're actually depicted in the movie 91 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:59.959 Titanic. They're the couple he refuses, she refuses to go on the lifeboat, 92 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.839 and you see them lie down on their bed together in their stateroom, 93 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:08.360 and that's the last you see of them. So the Hornges are going to 94 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:15.240 get our apartment. So the Stressing Stresses had a mansion at one hundred and 95 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:19.240 fifth and Broadway, and they died on the Titanic, and their mansion was 96 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:24.519 purchased, and this very grand apartment building that, like the one you grew 97 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:29.560 up in, by the time my parents moved in, was rent controlled and 98 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:33.639 had seen better days, but had all of these features, had the button 99 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:38.279 on the floor you could summon maids from any room. Two major rooms and 100 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:42.560 two interesting features of my building. One there had been a rooftop restaurant, 101 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:47.240 and by the time I end but that that sadly did not. But there 102 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:51.319 was a was a very big physical plant, and so there was a rooftop 103 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:56.399 restaurant that had closed, you know, god knows when, and you know 104 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.279 this I'm talking about now in the sixties, early seventies, but it must 105 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:03.639 have closed in the thirties. But there were still poles up that hadn't been 106 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:11.680 taken down, that had probably had overhanging cupolas or you know, like vinylis 107 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:16.439 and to keep you you know, exposed, you know, not susceptible to 108 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:22.040 the elements. And it was advertised as the world's first fireproof department building, 109 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:28.399 which meant that there was an internal staircase off the back hall that was the 110 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:37.039 fire staircase that was lined with asbestos in the walls. Safe asbestos, yes, 111 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:39.879 what can we just say for a minute, asbestos actually is perfectly fine 112 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:43.799 as long as long as you don't leave it, as long as you leave 113 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:46.440 it alone. Yeah, they announced that. You know, when they announced 114 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:50.360 that you had to mitigate asbestos. If you were in a building with asbestos, 115 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:54.679 that meant that you were disturbing the asbestos in the walls. You were 116 00:08:54.720 --> 00:09:00.600 spreading it out. And people were going to inhale inhale the fire years ago 117 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:03.919 left it in the wall, it would be fine. Years ago, I 118 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:09.039 was looking at a house in Venice, Venice, California. Yeah, and 119 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.639 it was really cheap. It was a beautiful, old, beautiful building, 120 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.600 a beauti house, old, great old neighborhood, super cheap. And I 121 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:20.879 was like, a real why is so cheap? As well? It's covered 122 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.639 in its best as tile. Now wait a minute, when I basically turned 123 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:28.559 with no, wait a minute. Yeah, uh, here's what you do. 124 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:31.279 You can do two things. You buy the house and then you gotta 125 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:33.879 hire hire. The guys come in spacesuits, They tent the whole thing. 126 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:37.039 It cost one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and it takes six months and then 127 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:41.960 your neighbors all know and then you get suited anyway, or you just come 128 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:45.000 into the house and every time you leave the house, you just pull a 129 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:50.559 tile off the wall, off the side of the house, and at nighttime 130 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:52.759 you pull like you know, just do five a day, ten to day. 131 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:54.519 Nobody notices before you know what the house needs to get, you know, 132 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:58.000 Resha, nobody knows. Just throw it out. Just throw it out, 133 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.919 Just throw it out in the garbage. And I said, that's outrageous. 134 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:03.720 I'm going to get caught. That's the first of all. It's illegal 135 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:05.960 because I'm not telling you to do it. I'm telling you to embrace the 136 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:13.759 possibility. I'm telling you to embrace the possibility of embracing the possibility of doing 137 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:18.000 this. And I didn't do it. And in retrospect, it would have 138 00:10:18.039 --> 00:10:20.600 been this, that would have been the smart move. And now that house 139 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:28.879 is owned by Nicole vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan. But I'm bummed out by 140 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:31.480 this because I loved the image of you smoking a cigar, coming up with 141 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:37.039 scripts for cheers or whatever, walking on the beach like Andy Dufraine in the 142 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:45.399 Shoshang prison yard, scattering the tile like like Stalog seventeen or whatever. Yeah, 143 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:48.799 yeah, yeah, the Great escape. Yeah, that's the Great escape 144 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:54.720 of dirt. From the tunnel. But it is true that when it's inert 145 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:56.320 it's fine. It's sort of like, you know, I was a friend 146 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:01.480 of mine. It tells this great story. He grew up in a Long 147 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:03.799 Island. He's a New York native, and his dad and his family company 148 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:07.919 and they make Geiger counters and they make a radiation stuff and he's just a 149 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.840 super brain and they make all sorts of stuff now. And he remembers as 150 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:16.360 a teenager, in the middle of the night, state police come in to 151 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:20.840 his house, knock on his door and saying to his father, we need 152 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:26.559 you. And it was three mile Island and I said, oh wow, 153 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:28.480 so you guys, goes yeah, and I in three miles, I was 154 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.519 Basically, we happened. A lot of it happened in our living. He 155 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:35.399 didn't live up there, he lived in like that's what they talked about all 156 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:39.919 day. And he said, and just just for the record, there was 157 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:46.879 no disaster there. There was no leakage, there was no disaster, nothing 158 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:56.399 happened. It was all fine. And because of this systeria, crazy overreaction 159 00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:01.639 and I'm Jon, yes, yeah, we don't. We we our left 160 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.360 America. We gave we be giving the Saudi's a trillion dollars, some of 161 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:11.720 which they used to support the crackpot al Taia. Yeah, so Jane Fonda, 162 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:16.000 in many ways is responsible for nine to eleven. I knew it. 163 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:20.879 I know it. For years. I used to say, uh that, 164 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:28.080 uh, Ted Kennedy's car killed more people than the nuclear power, but then 165 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.039 the Fukushima thing happened. Yeah. My favorite Ted Kennedy one was. It 166 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:35.279 was the Boston Globe writing in an assessment of his time in the Senate, 167 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:39.679 this is before he died, saying that you know, had she lived, 168 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:43.600 Mary Joe Capekti would be sixty five now, and she would be the beneficiary 169 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:48.200 of many of the programs that Ted kenn centeror Ted Kennedy spearheaded. That was 170 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:52.200 if you Will. That was if you Will, written by Charles Pearce. 171 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:58.360 Oh, I remember it very well. It was the winner of the first 172 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:07.200 annual Favor in Media Worst Sentence in American History. It was a great It 173 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:11.720 may well have been that Jonah's own mother, Lucy Ann, was the master 174 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:18.360 of ceremonies at the banquet at which Charles Pearce won the War Sentence in History 175 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:24.600 award. It is a great sentence, great it was an astonishing sentence. 176 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:30.960 Yes, yes, she would have been comforted in her old age by the 177 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:37.519 social net that Teddy Kennedy constructed for her, had he not killed her and 178 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:43.679 frowned her. So swim them away. There's a lot of pushback on it 179 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:46.679 from him, right. He always thought he was being unfair because he did 180 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:52.480 have his to be sure sentence in there. Yes, she did die, 181 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:56.360 but he did write it, and it was the kicker. It was supposed 182 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:01.559 to be the line that you took away from the piece, which you will 183 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:07.399 say, had she lived, Sharon Tate might have been able to play Squeaky 184 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:11.960 from in the TV movie they made about the Manson family in the late seventies. 185 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:18.320 Yes, had she lived, she could have recorded Charles Manson's song that 186 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:22.759 he had sent to Terry Melcher that Terry Melcher had rejected from the Beach Boys, 187 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:30.960 thus making Charles Manson a successful songwriter and Sharon Tate the original Taylor Swift. 188 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:33.559 We can do this all day. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna 189 00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:35.879 say, I'm sure someone has done something similar with Jews in the Autobahn, 190 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:41.600 but let's not go there. Yeah. Oh my god, oh my god. 191 00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:52.279 Okay, so we want to favor our producer Scott Immergut with paying him 192 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:56.440 heed for things he thinks that we should talk about in the realm of popular 193 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:00.559 culture. I think there is one that we can talk about that its current, 194 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:05.159 which would be nice. So we're not talking about Wow, real estate 195 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:09.080 in nineteen sixty or is anybody in nineteen seventy two? Is anybody ready for 196 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:16.399 that? I don't think so. Okay, So last week Netflix premiered three 197 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:22.559 Body Problem, the first television program produced by David Benioff and David Weiss, 198 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:28.879 who had made well Game of Thrones John, Yes, brace yourself. Yes, 199 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:33.200 I watched it. No, I watched a lot of it. You're 200 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:35.320 not going to snore. You're not going to snore? Well, I have 201 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:39.759 some thoughts about that. I have some thoughts about no spoilers passed, like 202 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:45.440 the first couple of episodes, okay case that, Yeah, okay, I 203 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:50.120 the only way I could I could. I won't spoil it, but I'll 204 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:56.559 make a generic complaint that I think is true. And I also say this 205 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:02.519 is that the crawl on that show, the above the line names, I 206 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:03.759 mean, you say it was produced by what's his name and what's his name? 207 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:10.120 From Game of Thrones, but I mean the credits include Brad Pitt and 208 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.000 people like that, like it's a big, big production. I don't know. 209 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.360 I would love to see there above the line budget, meaning that everybody 210 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:21.679 in the whatever he's getting paid above the production line, because it must be 211 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:27.559 astronomical the amount of money that that is going out just for names on the 212 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:32.039 crawl who probably showed up to one meeting. I mean, right, I 213 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:38.679 get my guess, and I loved the idea of it. I think they 214 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:44.759 throw away the coolest thing about it too soon. I think they fall in 215 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:49.360 line this. Eventually all these things become a Star Trek episode. The big 216 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:53.679 turn in the movie, the in the show. I just found myself just 217 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:59.039 almost getting up and turning it off. Was essentially it felt like Captain Kirk, 218 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:03.599 the Captain Kirk episode. It looks fantastic, I mean just gorgeous. 219 00:17:03.640 --> 00:17:07.079 It's a gorgeous production. I mean it's one of those things where you watch 220 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:08.799 it and you think, okay, I'll bet you'll A lot of money was 221 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:14.400 on this. It has a kind of it feels like guys who spent a 222 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.480 whole lot of money on Game of Thrones thinking well, what if we spent 223 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:22.519 real money. Uh, and and they it's it's really really visually stunning. 224 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:26.839 I just I just ultimately find it. It is the interesting things about if 225 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:30.640 they throw away too quickly, it ends up being too quickly. About the 226 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:36.680 international groups grew working group with the physicists together in a remote manner, coming 227 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:38.559 up with ideas like that is like I'm out. I'm out. This is 228 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:42.960 so boring. So but the rest of it is okay. So there I 229 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:47.640 saw so well, hold right, I have to say, And it had 230 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:49.680 not occurred to me because I didn't realize Brad Pitt was part of this. 231 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:56.920 So maybe this is his revenge for getting screwed by the Chinese after seven years 232 00:17:56.920 --> 00:18:03.039 in Tibet. But the depiction of the Chinese Communist Party, particularly the Maoist 233 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:07.759 Chinese comedy in nineteen sixties, as being as crappy and evil as it was, 234 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:12.240 is really welcome and kind of courageous. Agreed. Agreed, yet now 235 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:22.160 so that fantastic. So so what you're saying. The show opens in Red 236 00:18:22.200 --> 00:18:30.039 Square with a humiliation session during the Cultural Revolution in like nineteen sixty six of 237 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:38.319 a physics professor who is accused of believing in physics and an evolution and in 238 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:44.440 various other matters of science, and holding out the possibility that God could exist. 239 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:48.319 Right, and then he is beaten to death by the Red cadre while 240 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:55.920 his daughter looks on in the From what I can tell, is either the 241 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.359 first, the only, or or if it is not the first, the 242 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:06.880 only, the most compelling portrayal of the cultural revolution that has ever been shown, 243 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:12.200 certainly in this country and probably in China, and therefore maybe anywhere. 244 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:19.440 It is a It reaches the level of the scene of the massacre in Chindler's 245 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:23.960 List in the Ghetto. I mean, it is that powerful, It is 246 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:30.480 that precise and almost documentary, I have to say fiction. It has a 247 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:41.319 fantastic, fantastic called a coda to that scene that's super powerful. That that 248 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:45.400 was really, really, really great. So the thing is this is not 249 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:51.119 three Body Problem is based on a novel by a Chinese science fiction writer named 250 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:56.440 Hinjinlu. And one of the reasons that all of those all of those names 251 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:02.319 are above the title is that the book, I think, was published in 252 00:20:02.359 --> 00:20:06.839 the United States in two thousand and eight or two thousand and nine. Translated 253 00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:12.400 into English, it became a sensation. Barack Obama said that he had read 254 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:17.039 it, and he thought it was the most imaginative work of science fiction he'd 255 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:22.119 ever read, and so Hollywood snatched it up before realizing since whoever bought it, 256 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:27.759 I'm sure didn't read it, realizing that it is unfilmable, and therefore 257 00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:33.279 I'm sure it passed from hand to hand and company to company, and options 258 00:20:33.319 --> 00:20:37.480 expired and people still held this part of the rights or something else, and 259 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:41.799 everybody gets money. By the way, it is three novels in sequence. 260 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:48.160 This show is takes aspects portrays the first, and takes some aspects of the 261 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:53.039 second and into integrates them into the first. And the novels, which are 262 00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:00.880 incredibly brilliant, are very difficult to follow. So and they're very hard science 263 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:06.160 Like this is hard science fiction. And when I say hard, I mean 264 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:11.160 hard. I mean we're talking about dimensional folding and how spaceships would fly and 265 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:15.079 what would happen with this and that, and it's it's very hard to follow. 266 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:18.759 And the adaptation, this is what I have to say about it. 267 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:22.599 You think it's boring and all of that. As a work of adaptation, 268 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:30.640 it is as remarkably concise, precise, and accurate as anything I have ever 269 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:34.519 original sources that could be that could be just better. You either like it 270 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:38.920 or you don't like it. But I see, like you know cch Pounders 271 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.880 now the UN Secretary General and the Secretary and the UN comes in. All 272 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:48.359 of this stuff just reminds me of it just becomes all these all of these 273 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:52.960 productions become the same one where it ends up being essentially Independence Day, which 274 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:56.400 is fine. But Independence Day took two hours of my life and it was 275 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:57.920 fun. I had a big thing at the end. But the ludicrous part 276 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:00.559 of Independence Day, which is you recall, was that that I think Will 277 00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:04.920 Smith was going to upload a virus into the computer of the invaders is not 278 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:10.160 any more ludicrous than what's going on in this show. I so okay, 279 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:15.599 I totally disagree in this sense. The whole brilliance of the plot of Three 280 00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:18.440 Body Problem, which again is very hard to follow, is the idea that 281 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:30.039 an alien intelligence many light years away has determined that its own atmosphere they're going 282 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:37.319 to die. They have an unstable atmosphere, and Earth is the place they 283 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:42.720 should go. And what they realize they need to do is it's going to 284 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:47.519 take them hundreds of years to get to Earth, and they need to make 285 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:53.240 sure that Earth doesn't progress technologically so that by the time they get there, 286 00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:59.720 Earth has the means and the resources to stop them from taking over Earth. 287 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:06.160 And they figure out because they are more technologically advanced than Earth, but Earth's 288 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:14.920 technological advancement proceeds so rapidly that they need to do something to slow innovation on 289 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:19.319 Earth down. That's new. That is, But that's kind of my point 290 00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:23.240 is that that's really interesting, and it's over in the second episode, and 291 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:26.799 then it just becomes the un is convened the thing and they're going to do 292 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:29.759 a thing to stop the thing. It's just that that the most interesting thing 293 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:33.039 about it. It's becomes a detective story they solve. Okay, I can't. 294 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:38.839 I can't answer your complaint without spoiling it. And I can't answers your 295 00:23:38.920 --> 00:23:48.519 complaint is incorrect how it works and co host can finish it. Yes, 296 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:53.920 I think exactly. Okay, So all I want to say is it's an 297 00:23:53.960 --> 00:24:02.720 amazing job of adaptation of an unbelievably difficult source material. You know what I 298 00:24:02.759 --> 00:24:04.880 hate about it? Yeah? Cut, Yes, I also hate this part 299 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:11.519 about it. It's this cliche thing where there's a character saying, you know, 300 00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:14.680 the people have failed, the earth has failed. We can't do we 301 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:21.799 we we were declining. We can't possibly uh our our our society. And 302 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:23.839 I'm not gonna sput away. So once you have that, like and and 303 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:30.400 and that, that is demonstrably not true by any measure of the human experience 304 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:33.599 on the globe. It isn't even true internally. It has no internal logic 305 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:38.920 in the show, which totally wait, let me finish, let me finish, 306 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:47.559 as its premise is that human science is so rapid and our adventsment is 307 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:51.559 so quick that will overtake aliens. And then and I just I just to 308 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:56.559 me, I'm just I'm just so bored of that has taken out his headphones 309 00:24:56.599 --> 00:25:00.039 so that he doesn't hear the spoilers. I was not spoiling. Okay, 310 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:07.000 anyway, we can talk about this offline anyway, back on Jonah, what 311 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:10.240 do you think of it thus far? Thus far? I like it. 312 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:14.599 I am not up to where some of the stuff Rob has said, but 313 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:17.880 I could see some of that coming. But that doesn't necessarily bother me. 314 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:22.680 But how they do it, I uh, I figured out the stuff with 315 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:29.319 the game. I get that. I know where that's going, But what 316 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:33.319 I've been dreading and don't tell me that it doesn't sound like it's. Think. 317 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:37.880 One of my biggest peeves in so many of these movies is the sort 318 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:45.079 of weak tea, you know, popularization of Marxist colonial theory that explains why 319 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:49.759 aliens would conquer Earth right here for our water, you know, that kind 320 00:25:49.799 --> 00:25:56.400 of stuff. And I'm dreading that because like the idea there, Yeah, 321 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:00.559 okay, that's that's the idea that aliens, like an independ say, they 322 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:03.119 raise this. There's that that movie, that one about La being invaded. 323 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.240 Yeah, there are a bunch of the movies, and they always talk about 324 00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:08.160 like they're here for our natural resources. It's like, if you can do 325 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:11.480 faster and light travel, there are a lot of planets out there you can 326 00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:15.440 mine without the bother of killing all these you know, yes it was Abes. 327 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:18.559 Yeah. Well, first of all, they can't do faster than light 328 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:21.920 travel, which is one problem for them. And the other problem is that 329 00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:25.759 they have an uninhabitable They live on it on a planet that they have figured 330 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:30.960 out how to adapt to, but that is fundamentally uninhabitable. And the uninhabitability 331 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:36.720 and yeah, because there are there are three sons and it turns out that 332 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:41.720 if you that this is a classic problem in physics, that you cannot plot 333 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:51.240 a consistent pattern if three objects are moving independently of each other, you canlop. 334 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:55.440 Thank you, Thank you very much. Anyway, I think it's great. 335 00:26:55.880 --> 00:27:00.000 I've been so disappointed by television over the last I think we even talked 336 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.880 at this the last time, like nothing has excited me. I very much 337 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.519 admired these books, particularly the first one when I read them like four or 338 00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:11.200 five years ago, and they by the way, they have this planet where 339 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:19.039 they have this problem. It was so uncanny because when we started with COVID, 340 00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:26.000 because the conceit in the book is that the people who live on this 341 00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:32.799 planet, when it becomes uninhabitable, have the capacity to dehydrate themselves and turn 342 00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:37.960 themselves into sort of human husks and go into kind of a hibernation state until 343 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:44.559 things repair themselves cool. And it was like what we were being asked to 344 00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:48.680 do when COVID happened, that the lockdowns, that this was the perfect literary 345 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:53.160 analogy to the lockdown culture. It'll be fine, you just go inside. 346 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:56.519 You don't see anybody, you don't see your parents, your kids don't go 347 00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:00.559 to school, you're not a ll Let's go to a playground, can't walk 348 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:04.359 on a beach, and then we'll let you know when you can breathe oxygen 349 00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:10.759 outside of your house. I would have just assumed, knowing you and your 350 00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:15.079 prior is that you would have said the perfect literary problem for this literary solution 351 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:18.160 to this was that the Anthiens needed to invent Fred McMurray because he knew how 352 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:22.119 to handle his three sons just fine, exactly right. He was pretty good. 353 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:26.400 Now we are going back, I thought we were. Let me let 354 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:32.400 me say this, say this television, Let me say this. Are you 355 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:36.039 gonna talk about Fred McMurray and the plumber? Because I can't. I can't 356 00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:41.240 go raise of three body problem. I will say this, It's not as 357 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:48.519 stupid as a lot of crap like it. You know, Rob, you 358 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:52.400 have praised very any That is the highest praise I think you will ever given 359 00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:57.720 anything in years in the science fic fantasy realm, in the science fiction fantasy, 360 00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:03.759 not just there practically ever, did you not like Battlestar Galactica the remix? 361 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:10.880 You know? Like you know, I was told I never watched it. 362 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:11.799 I was told to watch it, and I should have. I'm sure. 363 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:18.759 I'm sure. I First, when people talk about when people acknowledge and 364 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:22.920 hear me and are and witness to me the things that I don't like about 365 00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:26.359 science fiction, they almost always say, I hear you, you should watch 366 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:29.079 Battlestark, like I just haven't brought myself to do. Okay, I was 367 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:33.079 thinking about why I like to watch streaming science fiction when I'm actually not that 368 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:37.319 big a science fiction fan, and I was thinking about it in these terms, 369 00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:41.880 which is, like these shows, they they're very elaborate, right, 370 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:45.440 They spend tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars on them, 371 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:52.119 and you watch them and somehow the stakes are misallocated, and you're watching 372 00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:57.200 something that you know was unbelievably difficult to produce and took all this time and 373 00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:03.799 immense amounts of money, and it's just not popping because somehow it do. 374 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:07.440 You don't get invested in what's going to happen to any of these people? 375 00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:14.839 Right that? And so science fiction, because every most things in science fiction 376 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:18.359 end up being of the in the way they're structured, being of the very 377 00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:22.400 highest stakes possible. Right, the Earth is going to blow up, the 378 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.839 universe is going to blow up, You're going to you know, ten billion. 379 00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:33.599 How many people die in Dune sixty billion people die after Paula Tredes takes 380 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:40.119 over the universe and Dune Messiah whatever. So the stakes are automatically very high, 381 00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:45.160 and therefore it's kind of easier to say, well, this is kind 382 00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:48.839 of compelling, like they're playing for all the marbles, as opposed to some 383 00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:55.279 show where someone's grief stricken because they they kid died drowning and now they're trying 384 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:59.200 to rebuild their lives. And ordinarily I would love that in a movie or 385 00:30:59.240 --> 00:31:03.119 in a drama or something like that, but I'm not going to spend twelve 386 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:11.680 hours watching something like that because it just doesn't seem to deserve the time invested. 387 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:15.039 Does that, Jonah? Does that make sense to you? Yeah? 388 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:22.720 I just I if these things can hold my attention past the second episode, 389 00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:26.960 I'm grateful because I'll just walk away from them otherwise at this point. And 390 00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:32.119 so like this clears that bar for me, it clears another bar that it's 391 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:36.680 maintained my wife's interest, which is, you know, difficult for a lot 392 00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:40.799 of sci fi stuff. So I am not, I'm not. I'm again, 393 00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:45.160 I'm I am on the fifty yard line between Rob and Pod here and 394 00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:48.920 that I I like it. I have not fallen in love with it the 395 00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:52.680 way you have, but I don't hate it the way Rob does. Well, 396 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:55.720 you've got to get to you got to get to the fifth You got 397 00:31:55.720 --> 00:31:59.480 to get to the fifth you got to get to the fifth episode, really, 398 00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:05.440 because that's where that's what it's building to, this five hours into your 399 00:32:05.480 --> 00:32:07.799 life. If you don't like it, don't watch it. But if you're 400 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:10.640 liking it, I'm telling you it actually gets better as it goes on. 401 00:32:10.839 --> 00:32:15.279 That's that's all that would be. That was you know, I think that's 402 00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:21.039 probably my fundamental problems to be Okay, well that's a problem. And uh 403 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:24.279 and I I I fully acknowledge that that's a problem. That's the thing about 404 00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:29.400 I just watched the show on Apple TV called Constellation, and it did it 405 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:31.519 to me again. It's another one of these things where it's an astronauts. 406 00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:36.880 She's in space, she comes back and everything is a little different, and 407 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:39.240 and meanwhile she saw things in space that didn't happen. And it's a puzzle 408 00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:45.720 box and it's eight hours and guess what, they don't resolve it. You 409 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.599 know what it's like. It's still well every everything that was posed in the 410 00:32:49.640 --> 00:32:54.279 first episode is still posed in the eighth episode with no explanation. And that's 411 00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:59.519 one thing about this that I have to say. It doesn't do that good. 412 00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:05.480 You hang what Reacher? I like Reacher. Yeah, I liked the 413 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:08.359 first season of Reacher. I did not like the second season of Reacher because 414 00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:12.799 I don't want Reacher with a gang. I want Richer to come into a 415 00:33:12.839 --> 00:33:15.400 town to kill everybody and then leave. That's what the novels are like. 416 00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:20.440 Yeah, and suddenly he has a gang and he has friends and they're they're 417 00:33:20.440 --> 00:33:24.119 they're like trying to joke around with he's having sex with a former colleague. 418 00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:30.119 Like, I don't need that. He's the lone ranger. He's the lone 419 00:33:30.200 --> 00:33:35.839 ranger. He's not supposed to have a crew. Everybody. Everybody's a title 420 00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:38.559 to relax, John, Okay, you know what you shouldn't relax about, 421 00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:44.200 though, Rob, You should not relax about life insurance. That's true because 422 00:33:44.200 --> 00:33:45.640 if you're anything like me, I have a certain tendency to put things off 423 00:33:45.720 --> 00:33:49.440 until the very last minute. 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So I mentioned when al 441 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:02.840 Pacino appeared on the The Oscars and just sort of announced that Oppenheimer had won 442 00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:09.880 Oppenheimer. He said, my eyes, my eyes see Oppenheimer. I believe 443 00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:14.960 is what he said, My eyes the Oppenheimer. He was supposed to apparently 444 00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:17.639 have done that as a two as a two hander with Michelle Pfeiffer, but 445 00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:21.880 she had to cancel because of a family emergency, so they sent him out 446 00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:24.480 alone. They said, don't name all ten pictures because we've named them through 447 00:35:24.519 --> 00:35:29.639 the show, just you know, say who won. And then he was 448 00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:31.760 having trouble reading the teleprompter and they just opened the envelopment and said, my 449 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:38.639 eyes see Oppenheimer. And I have to go to the envelope for that and 450 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:50.320 I will, so I said fun on Twitter, I said, and Joe 451 00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:55.679 fun fact. Al Pacino, at the age of eighteen, was the office 452 00:35:55.719 --> 00:36:02.239 boy at Commentary magazine, and this is entirely true. In nineteen sixty one, 453 00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:07.039 I think for eighteen months he started working at Commentary as the office boy, 454 00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:13.960 a job that no longer exists in but that every office had and he 455 00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:16.760 was the gopher, you know, the the have an office boy at seatpack. 456 00:36:17.400 --> 00:36:30.280 Oh now, I have a non disparage clause here for four hundred and 457 00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:37.000 eighty thousand dollars. Jonah. Anyway, I'll give you ten minutes off my 458 00:36:37.079 --> 00:36:44.559 crutch. I want to throw a flame throwing in his place. Anyway, 459 00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:50.639 you're out of order. So he was sounded like that. He was so 460 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:55.559 Michael Corleon. Yeah, so he was eighteen and he you know, he 461 00:36:55.800 --> 00:37:00.719 got the mail from the mail room and he handed it out and he would 462 00:37:00.719 --> 00:37:07.599 go get sandwiches for lunch. Yeah at a male room. Yeah yeah, 463 00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:14.239 yeah, yeah. Anyway, and so when okay, so when I was 464 00:37:14.280 --> 00:37:20.400 thinking things like a we're all part of the same hypocrisy, Norman, Yeah, 465 00:37:22.039 --> 00:37:27.320 you're out of order. Ye're that you win is out of order. 466 00:37:27.880 --> 00:37:30.760 The Congress is out of order. Everybody's out of oid. Okay, what 467 00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:36.599 is this fire? Next time? Crap? He So, I will tell 468 00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:40.239 you two stories that I know from when he suddenly became famous. So he 469 00:37:40.679 --> 00:37:44.760 had become a working actor in the mid sixties in New York. He won 470 00:37:44.840 --> 00:37:49.519 a tony but he know hadn't made it big. He was in start in 471 00:37:49.559 --> 00:37:53.400 one movie called Panic and Needle Park. But so the Godfather comes along in 472 00:37:53.480 --> 00:37:58.199 nineteen seventy two, nineteen seventy three, and of course turns al Pacino into 473 00:37:58.199 --> 00:38:00.599 al Pacino. And around that time I went to work, like as a 474 00:38:00.599 --> 00:38:07.119 summer job, as like as the office boy when I was fourteen, And 475 00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:14.159 there were people then who did things like when subscription cards came in, they 476 00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:16.039 had to be put in a you know, there was a hard database, 477 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:20.679 like you put them in a file folder and you stamped them, and you 478 00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:23.760 had to type them into something and send it off to the fulfillment house which 479 00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:28.199 sent out the magazines. And you had to answer the phone and do customer 480 00:38:28.239 --> 00:38:32.239 service and all this. And there were three or four relatively elderly women who 481 00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:37.880 worked in the back and did all that, and they had been there when 482 00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:43.400 al Pacino was the office boy. And one of them Freda, who said 483 00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:49.599 he was I He was very, very, very a lovely boy. But 484 00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:54.159 his mother, his mother gave him all kinds of trouble. He gave them 485 00:38:54.199 --> 00:38:58.000 all kinds of trouble. And we would tell him, al you got to 486 00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:01.400 move out, you gotta move out of your ow an apartment because your mother 487 00:39:01.519 --> 00:39:08.880 is nothing but trouble trouble l So that was one. It was one one 488 00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:15.760 story. It doesn't sound like somebody named Freda. Freda Agalof was her name. 489 00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:22.519 Okay, so there you go. And the other story was that when 490 00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:28.280 he was interviewed, I think by the New York Times in a preview profile 491 00:39:28.360 --> 00:39:30.920 of him before the Godfather came out, and he was you know, he 492 00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:32.800 said, well, I had a lot of jobs. I you know, 493 00:39:34.440 --> 00:39:40.239 waved a lot of tables and uh and I I worked at commentary, and 494 00:39:40.280 --> 00:39:45.920 I played chess with Norman pop Horns. And I can testify to the truth 495 00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:51.239 of this. My father said, I never played chess with him. I 496 00:39:51.320 --> 00:39:54.960 never played chess with anybody. I don't play chess, and this is absolutely 497 00:39:54.960 --> 00:40:00.199 true. He never He was not. I think he just got confused to 498 00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:07.320 think de Niro played chess with Irving Crystal and he was the exactly it was 499 00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:09.079 all it was all. It was all mixed up, that's right. So 500 00:40:09.280 --> 00:40:15.280 anyway, that is the al Pacino as office boy, I would have it. 501 00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:17.320 I was the office boy a commentary. I got fired as I banged 502 00:40:17.320 --> 00:40:22.239 a chick named Frida in the office. They fired me. There's of course 503 00:40:22.280 --> 00:40:25.159 the great Woody Allen line, right, which is that he went to n 504 00:40:25.239 --> 00:40:30.599 y U and he was thrown out because he cheated on his metaphysics final. 505 00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:32.880 He looked within the soul of the boys sitting next to him. Okay, 506 00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:37.920 so I don't take anyway. He was remembered fondly, I think, although 507 00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:40.760 maybe no one would ever remembered him at all if he didn't get famous. 508 00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:45.880 That's the one thing you just never know. Okay, So the commentary remembered 509 00:40:45.920 --> 00:40:49.159 fondly, he wasn't fond old. It's a different thing. Different now. 510 00:40:49.639 --> 00:40:54.920 Now we're right now and the American Conservative Union, and I want to point 511 00:40:54.920 --> 00:41:02.039 out, I want to point out that it was all a misunderstanding that the 512 00:41:02.119 --> 00:41:07.559 head of sea pack might have been handled someone, and on the other end 513 00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:14.119 was also a misunderstanding that he didn't. They both agreed that there was a 514 00:41:14.159 --> 00:41:20.320 misunderstanding in both directions. And then one person paid another person, or the 515 00:41:20.360 --> 00:41:24.440 insurance company paid another person four hundred and eighty thousand dollars. And it wasn't 516 00:41:24.440 --> 00:41:30.679 Matt Slap who got paid the four hundred and eighty thousand dollars. It's Shortinger's 517 00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:35.199 pants, it's you know, it's it's all perspective. So I think what 518 00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:45.039 the misunderstanding was is that he asked the kid to watch Jerry Falwell's wife with 519 00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:49.519 the Cabana boy with Jerry Fowell Junior. Now we're getting into the Roberts. 520 00:41:49.719 --> 00:41:55.440 That was Roberts. It's a singularity, the singularity, rob Do you have 521 00:41:55.519 --> 00:41:59.519 spots? I do, but you know you mean do I have adds? 522 00:41:59.519 --> 00:42:06.440 I have plenty of spots I do. As you know, I am a 523 00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:10.639 longtime customer and longtime user of Athletic Greens one AG one they call it. 524 00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:15.480 Back in the day we owe gag years called it just Athletic Greens, but 525 00:42:15.519 --> 00:42:19.360 now it's a little bit slicker as AG one, and I've been taking it, 526 00:42:19.920 --> 00:42:22.519 drinking it for about I don't know, ten years, maybe eight ten 527 00:42:22.599 --> 00:42:25.519 years at least I started drinking. I think I heard about it on the 528 00:42:25.719 --> 00:42:30.760 Tim Ferriss podcast, and I instantly felt a difference in my daily health and 529 00:42:30.880 --> 00:42:34.000 more energy. If I will relax, if I will focused better gut health, 530 00:42:34.079 --> 00:42:37.440 that's for sure. And it was much easier to do, much more 531 00:42:37.480 --> 00:42:40.039 pleasant to do than, frankly than a multi item in which can give you 532 00:42:40.079 --> 00:42:45.079 a stomach cake and the reason of this is because AG one is a foundational 533 00:42:45.199 --> 00:42:50.280 nutritional supplement that supports your body's universal needs like gut optimization, stress management, 534 00:42:50.280 --> 00:42:54.079 and immune support. Since twenty ten, ag one has led the future of 535 00:42:54.119 --> 00:42:59.599 foundational nutrition, continuously refining its formula to create a smarter, better way to 536 00:42:59.679 --> 00:43:02.480 elevate your baseline health. So I said, I learned about it from Tim 537 00:43:02.519 --> 00:43:06.559 Ferris. I would drink it. I drink it in the afternoon. They 538 00:43:06.559 --> 00:43:07.199 say drink in the morning, you can do that. I do it in 539 00:43:07.239 --> 00:43:12.320 the afternoon and it is fantastic and I travel with it, and if you 540 00:43:12.679 --> 00:43:17.239 travel, you know traveling is also very difficult on the digestion. It solves 541 00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:22.119 all those problems. It is the supplement I trust to provide the support my 542 00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:24.440 body needs daily. And that's why they have been a partner. Not for 543 00:43:24.559 --> 00:43:27.960 loot, but I've been a customer for so long. If you want to 544 00:43:27.960 --> 00:43:30.480 take ownership of your health, it starts with AG one. Try a G 545 00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:32.519 one and get a free one year supply of Vitamin D three, K two, 546 00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:37.159 and five free H one travel packs with your first purchase. If you're 547 00:43:37.239 --> 00:43:39.519 like me, you'll end up buying it through. In the travel packs they're 548 00:43:39.519 --> 00:43:45.280 really super easy to use. Go to drink ag one dot com slash glop 549 00:43:45.320 --> 00:43:49.440 that's drink hg one drink ag and then the number one dot com slash glop 550 00:43:49.559 --> 00:43:52.920 check it out and we thank ag one for their support and their terrific product. 551 00:43:53.559 --> 00:44:01.519 So Christopher Nolan wins the oscar for Oppenheimer. Both I say, oh, 552 00:44:01.559 --> 00:44:08.280 your eyes say your pants say up. Okay, that's how my pants 553 00:44:08.280 --> 00:44:17.599 are saying. Producer wins. Producer wins for a director capping a twenty year 554 00:44:17.760 --> 00:44:22.760 career a more than twenty year career. But that really began with the release 555 00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:30.480 of his movie Memento, which made his reputation. The strange thriller about the 556 00:44:30.880 --> 00:44:37.360 man with extraordinary short term memory loss who has to write things on his hands 557 00:44:37.400 --> 00:44:40.199 and his body to remember what was going on, and then is used as 558 00:44:40.239 --> 00:44:45.840 some kind of a I don't know what you would call it, as himself 559 00:44:45.960 --> 00:44:51.239 he's the mcguffin in a murder plot or something like that. Everybody was kind 560 00:44:51.239 --> 00:44:54.559 of blown away by that. Then he made a remake of with al Pacino, 561 00:44:55.559 --> 00:45:00.599 the great Swedish movie Insomnia, set in Alaska, a serial killer and 562 00:45:00.719 --> 00:45:07.320 al Pacino is a cop who is can't get to sleep during the white Nights 563 00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:12.159 in Alaska, which we've all experienced on various magazine cruises that I guess none 564 00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:16.079 of us is ever going to go on anymore. Then he made a movie 565 00:45:16.159 --> 00:45:21.559 called The Prestige, and then he hit it big right. He made The 566 00:45:21.679 --> 00:45:24.719 Dark Knight, he made The Dark Knight, he made Batman Begins, he 567 00:45:24.800 --> 00:45:29.280 made The Dark Knight, he made The Dark Knight Returns. He became one 568 00:45:29.320 --> 00:45:32.480 of the superstar directors. Then he made Inception, Then he made Interstellar, 569 00:45:32.920 --> 00:45:37.000 Then he made Dunkirk, then he made Oppenheimer. Scott Immerget is asking us 570 00:45:38.360 --> 00:45:44.199 what we think of his career as a director and as a creator. He 571 00:45:44.360 --> 00:45:46.239 is now a brand. He is one of now the three or four directors 572 00:45:46.840 --> 00:45:52.039 that people whose names people know, who can make a movie that reliably will 573 00:45:52.079 --> 00:45:55.000 make hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, and who has a 574 00:45:55.079 --> 00:46:01.480 distinctive style and a distinctive interest in rambling time and re and and trying to 575 00:46:01.559 --> 00:46:07.119 tell stories in a different way. Uh, Jonah, what is your favorite 576 00:46:07.880 --> 00:46:14.760 Christopher Nolan movie? Well, I mean I gotta say, I mean this 577 00:46:14.920 --> 00:46:17.679 is a little difficult. I think it is indisputable. He made the single 578 00:46:17.800 --> 00:46:27.239 greatest, uh, the single greatest superhero movie. Yeah, comic book movie 579 00:46:27.480 --> 00:46:30.039 with the with the with the Dark Knight, the second one, you know, 580 00:46:31.559 --> 00:46:36.280 and that's got to count for something. So that's the one with Heath 581 00:46:36.400 --> 00:46:42.280 Ledger as the Joker, Right that Heath Ledger got a posthumous oscar for Which 582 00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:45.639 is the moral which is the moral drama of the superhero? Right, that's 583 00:46:45.719 --> 00:46:50.039 the point of that movie is there's he is supposed to be order, there's 584 00:46:50.199 --> 00:46:55.159 chaos. Chaos is represented by the Joker, and he is he Batman faces 585 00:46:55.199 --> 00:47:00.840 a series of moral riddles and difficulties that are posed to him for no reason 586 00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:06.840 other than the distinction between order and chaos. Yeah, and there are and 587 00:47:06.960 --> 00:47:08.519 the I mean, there are a lot of people who, I think, 588 00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:15.119 for legitimate reasons, thought that you know, the War on Terror deeply informed 589 00:47:15.760 --> 00:47:21.360 those movies about you know, some there's some lines that were that worked their 590 00:47:21.400 --> 00:47:22.679 way into those debates. You know, some people just want to see the 591 00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:29.880 world burn, you know, live die a hero, or live long enough 592 00:47:29.880 --> 00:47:34.159 to see yourself become the villain. You know, these were like acknowledgments of 593 00:47:35.440 --> 00:47:40.159 the moral costs of doing the right thing outside the lines. And I just 594 00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:46.800 think it's they're great. I really am a big Phantom Memento. I didn't 595 00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:52.280 like Prestige, I thought. The thing I like about Nolan I really liked 596 00:47:52.320 --> 00:47:54.599 Interstellar. I'm one of the few people I know that really really liked Interstellar. 597 00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:00.519 The thing I like about Nolan is that he is He's a little bit 598 00:48:00.639 --> 00:48:04.480 like the Coen Brothers in so far as he makes the movies he wants to 599 00:48:04.639 --> 00:48:08.039 make, and so even when I don't necessarily love it, I like to 600 00:48:08.159 --> 00:48:14.840 see the coherent vision play out, and I give him respect for like not 601 00:48:15.199 --> 00:48:17.400 just thinking what we'll work at the box office. This is the movie I 602 00:48:17.519 --> 00:48:22.360 want to make and expects the audience to respect him for it, and I 603 00:48:23.239 --> 00:48:25.920 do. I like that. You know, I did not like Insomnia very 604 00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:31.079 much, but that's mostly because I didn't like al Pacino in it. Stellin' 605 00:48:31.119 --> 00:48:37.119 stars Guard is in the Swedish version of Insomnia the original. It's the movie 606 00:48:37.119 --> 00:48:42.239 that made Stellen stars Guard's reputation as an actor internationally, and that is a 607 00:48:42.400 --> 00:48:49.280 fantastic movie. So I strongly recommend. I think Insomnia the remake is okay. 608 00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:52.559 Yeah, Pascino is not good in it, really, but that's one 609 00:48:52.760 --> 00:48:57.360 recommendation. That's interesting, Like you can go find it. I'm sure it's 610 00:48:57.559 --> 00:49:01.039 somewhere available on streaming, and it's sensationally as a serial killer movie. It's 611 00:49:01.079 --> 00:49:08.920 incredibly good. So, uh, do you have an opinion on Christopher Nolan 612 00:49:09.599 --> 00:49:15.440 Rob? Yeah, I do. Actually I like the mento a lot, 613 00:49:15.760 --> 00:49:21.079 and I even like the one What's the one that bread that where Leond DiCaprio 614 00:49:21.199 --> 00:49:24.199 was walking was like in your reception, Exception Exception, I look beautiful. 615 00:49:24.239 --> 00:49:29.440 It was really kind of thoughtful and interesting and stylish, and I have no 616 00:49:29.480 --> 00:49:30.840 idea what happened in it, but I I enjoyed it. I thought it 617 00:49:30.920 --> 00:49:35.519 was different, and I like that. I like the I like, like 618 00:49:35.639 --> 00:49:39.079 Jonah said, I think the singular kind of voice you get from somebody like 619 00:49:39.119 --> 00:49:44.239 that. I think it's almost it's worth it. Even when they make a 620 00:49:44.360 --> 00:49:46.679 stinko movie that you don't like, it's worth it because it's like, at 621 00:49:46.760 --> 00:49:51.360 least they're swinging for the fence, you know, so you're doing a movie 622 00:49:51.400 --> 00:49:53.800 should do, Like that's what a movie should That's a fact. I think 623 00:49:53.920 --> 00:49:58.559 it is a very good example. What what's a movie now when everything's streaming? 624 00:49:58.760 --> 00:50:01.360 Like that's a very good exam. It's a very strict contract you're making 625 00:50:01.400 --> 00:50:05.440 with the audience. You come in, you you pay your you buy your 626 00:50:05.480 --> 00:50:07.960 ticket, you buy, you know, twenty dollars worth of die coke at 627 00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:13.320 Jujubi's, and you're gonna leave this theater tonight, you know, the next 628 00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:16.360 couple hours or so, and we're gonna have given you a full story and 629 00:50:16.719 --> 00:50:20.559 it's gonna be interesting, it's gonna be transporting, and then you're done. 630 00:50:21.199 --> 00:50:24.480 And I think that that is, in fact, the way the movie business 631 00:50:24.519 --> 00:50:30.039 can reclaim itself, I think if it wants to so. Howard Hawks, 632 00:50:30.119 --> 00:50:35.400 the great producer director who made westerns and comedies and musicals and everything over a 633 00:50:35.480 --> 00:50:38.039 forty year career, you know, the guy who made His Girl Friday and 634 00:50:38.239 --> 00:50:44.320 Rio Bravo and To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep and everything good 635 00:50:44.559 --> 00:50:47.800 that was ever made, once said, all a movie really needs is three 636 00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:53.280 good scenes, because all anyone's gonna remember three good scenes. It's interesting because 637 00:50:53.280 --> 00:50:57.320 he made better movies than that that weren't just three good scenes, but that 638 00:50:57.559 --> 00:51:00.880 was something that he had in his head that if he knew that he had 639 00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:05.159 delivered like three good scenes. One thing you can say about Nolan is like 640 00:51:05.280 --> 00:51:08.880 or dislike his movies. In every one of them, there are three scenes 641 00:51:08.920 --> 00:51:14.159 where he does something that you've never really seen before. I agree with that, 642 00:51:14.480 --> 00:51:17.599 and like an inception. It was the fight where the walls start curving 643 00:51:17.760 --> 00:51:23.519 and they're fighting insane by ways, and right in the Dark Knight returns, 644 00:51:23.599 --> 00:51:27.039 which I kind of like more than The Dark Knight, which I know is 645 00:51:27.119 --> 00:51:31.679 a probably like a heretical opinion and I'm not really right creatively, but the 646 00:51:31.800 --> 00:51:38.239 fact that he goes there with this idea that Gotham City is actually taken over 647 00:51:38.880 --> 00:51:45.840 by Robespierre and the Jacobins, and what would happen if a city in a 648 00:51:45.880 --> 00:51:50.880 contemporary time were taken over by a radical mob, and what would happen to 649 00:51:51.280 --> 00:51:55.840 ordinary Americans living under that kind of tyranny. That was kind of a dazzling 650 00:51:55.960 --> 00:51:59.920 turn, like you didn't know what was coming and you had no idea. 651 00:52:00.079 --> 00:52:05.360 Yeah, yeah, and it's going there. The football stadium thing was that's 652 00:52:05.360 --> 00:52:07.760 a scene you remember, Yeah, there's a scene even if Batman begins, 653 00:52:07.800 --> 00:52:13.039 which I think is not very good. Yeah, there's Christian Bale figuring out 654 00:52:13.079 --> 00:52:16.280 how to climb out of this prison in the middle of I don't know where 655 00:52:16.519 --> 00:52:22.400 Afghanistan or something where he's two hundred feet in the under the ground and there's 656 00:52:22.480 --> 00:52:25.000 no ladder, and how you know this is the great task that is actually 657 00:52:25.079 --> 00:52:30.639 going to turn him into the great crime fighter that he is. Again unbelievably 658 00:52:30.719 --> 00:52:37.519 meant with all that and everything said, Oppenheimer is probably the best American movie 659 00:52:37.679 --> 00:52:40.280 of the last decade and maybe of the last twenty years. And therefore he 660 00:52:40.400 --> 00:52:44.800 made Oppenheimer. And whatever you can say about everything else, and whether you 661 00:52:44.960 --> 00:52:47.920 like it or not, Oppenheimer, which I have problems with ideologically and problems 662 00:52:47.960 --> 00:52:52.880 with formulaically, there just hasn't been an American movie to compare with it, 663 00:52:52.679 --> 00:52:55.920 you know, since I don't even know when. So you know, that's 664 00:52:57.360 --> 00:53:00.199 that's a statement about a statement that cannot be proved. It shows to certainty. 665 00:53:00.480 --> 00:53:04.239 And there's a lot of uncertainty now in the world, John and Jonah, 666 00:53:04.280 --> 00:53:07.440 including market uncertainty. And you ask yourself, what do I gotta do. 667 00:53:07.480 --> 00:53:09.039 I'm in an uncertain world and certain market. Where would I go? 668 00:53:09.480 --> 00:53:15.000 How about something like a tangible asset like like moss and silver, which has 669 00:53:15.079 --> 00:53:20.079 historically been considered a safe avan during times of market volatility, when uncertainty rises. 670 00:53:20.159 --> 00:53:22.760 Investors often turn into precious metals like silver to preserve wealth and hedge against 671 00:53:22.800 --> 00:53:29.599 economic instability. And what about what about the idea of coins? Coins hold 672 00:53:29.639 --> 00:53:32.840 both intrinsic and numismatic value. You stack silver in the form of bars or 673 00:53:32.880 --> 00:53:36.519 rounds and the whole and in the intrinsic value of the metal. Coins, 674 00:53:36.559 --> 00:53:40.599 particularly certified coins, holds the additional numismatic value of being a collectible. Right, 675 00:53:42.079 --> 00:53:45.679 so let me introduce you to CSN Mint brand see CSN Mint has been 676 00:53:45.719 --> 00:53:51.199 providing certified US MINT collectible coins and pressures meedtals for over twenty years and they 677 00:53:51.239 --> 00:53:57.000 are one of the most trusted names in numismatics. CSN Mint's extensive catalog of 678 00:53:57.039 --> 00:54:00.519 bullion, bars, coins and numismatic collectibles you could explore on the website. 679 00:54:00.559 --> 00:54:04.360 Whether you're a seasoned investor or a passionate collector, you'll find a diverse range 680 00:54:04.400 --> 00:54:07.400 of products of super needs and preferences At CSN Mint. Trust is the most 681 00:54:07.440 --> 00:54:12.440 important thing. Rest assure that every product you purchase includes the original certificate of 682 00:54:12.480 --> 00:54:15.960 authenticity or is certified and graded by a third party greater to ensure origin and 683 00:54:16.039 --> 00:54:21.440 purity. 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So Sam bankmanfreed was set to twenty 692 00:55:00.679 --> 00:55:07.800 five years in prison for his fraudulent handling of the money that was invested with 693 00:55:07.960 --> 00:55:15.880 him in cryptocurrency a not tangible asset. Yeah exactly, yes, speaking of 694 00:55:15.920 --> 00:55:21.360 an on tangible asset crypto, I wanted to share with you guys if I 695 00:55:21.440 --> 00:55:27.239 can find it the quote. So in the last month or so, members 696 00:55:27.280 --> 00:55:30.199 of his family and friends and all this have been writing to the judge seeking 697 00:55:30.280 --> 00:55:36.639 a more lenient sentence because the prosecutors had asked for one hundred and ten years. 698 00:55:37.679 --> 00:55:42.639 His lawyers were arguing for six years. Eventually the judge gave him twenty 699 00:55:42.719 --> 00:55:50.639 five years. And these letters are very interesting because various people in his ambit. 700 00:55:50.760 --> 00:55:53.679 I mean, it's a hard thing to argue that he since everybody around 701 00:55:53.760 --> 00:55:58.920 him said he did it. And then he testified in his own defense, 702 00:55:59.079 --> 00:56:02.920 and when was being cross examined and kept saying he didn't remember things that had 703 00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:07.119 happened three years earlier, you know what I mean, like or four years 704 00:56:07.159 --> 00:56:13.639 earlier, or two six months earlier, that kind right, Okay, So 705 00:56:14.119 --> 00:56:15.960 they said you got to leave him alone. He has two things. He 706 00:56:16.039 --> 00:56:22.519 has autism. One of my favorites is he has Anne Hodonia, which is 707 00:56:22.559 --> 00:56:27.440 of course the Pleasure, which was the original title of Annie Hall. But 708 00:56:27.599 --> 00:56:32.159 I digress. So his mother, his parents famously are professors of law at 709 00:56:32.960 --> 00:56:37.480 Stanford, and his mother, Barbara Freed, wrote a letter to the judge 710 00:56:37.559 --> 00:56:42.480 asking for leniency, and this is how the Wall Street Journal puts it. 711 00:56:43.119 --> 00:56:45.639 In her letter to Kaplin, she said her son had sought to do good 712 00:56:45.679 --> 00:56:46.800 in the world from a young age. When he was four years old, 713 00:56:46.920 --> 00:56:51.440 she said he tried to help a fall in toddler, He was precocious as 714 00:56:51.519 --> 00:56:54.880 well. In high school he counseled classmates were depressed, despite that battling depression 715 00:56:54.920 --> 00:56:59.559 himself. But this is not just a personal tragedy, she wrote to the 716 00:56:59.639 --> 00:57:05.159 judge. The ease with which we consign young lives with so much promise to 717 00:57:05.320 --> 00:57:13.559 the trash heap is a societal tragedy as well. So, according to Barbara, 718 00:57:14.079 --> 00:57:20.400 do we want to understand why Sam bankuinfreed has no moral sense? His 719 00:57:20.639 --> 00:57:27.360 mother just said that sending somebody convicted of a crime who did very wrong and 720 00:57:28.039 --> 00:57:32.599 had lost eight billion dollars and misused, mishandled and screwed around with eight billion 721 00:57:32.679 --> 00:57:38.400 dollars of his investors' money, we're just consigning that person to the trash heap. 722 00:57:39.159 --> 00:57:47.920 And it's a tragedy. It's unfair that person raised somebody who either knew 723 00:57:49.039 --> 00:57:52.480 right from wrong and decided to do wrong, or didn't know right from wrong 724 00:57:52.639 --> 00:57:58.880 and didn't know that what he was doing was wrong, because nothing has any 725 00:57:58.960 --> 00:58:05.880 moral consequences except whether or not society gives you things. Am I over Do 726 00:58:05.960 --> 00:58:07.960 you think I'm overreading this? Or is she just a desperate mother who you 727 00:58:08.039 --> 00:58:12.360 know, was just trying to come up with any argument to save her son 728 00:58:12.480 --> 00:58:16.199 from purgatory. I don't I don't know, but I'm fascinated by this family, 729 00:58:17.239 --> 00:58:22.280 you know, because because they raise this kid and he, you know, 730 00:58:22.679 --> 00:58:25.280 goes off. He goes off to work on Wall Street, even though 731 00:58:25.320 --> 00:58:30.480 they're like leftists. He's making money to be an effective altruist. And then 732 00:58:30.559 --> 00:58:34.239 the whole idea is he's going to spend all his money helping the world. 733 00:58:34.880 --> 00:58:37.760 And then he moves the he moves to the Bahamas. He has a polycule 734 00:58:37.960 --> 00:58:44.840 with his friends. He he targets celebrities. It's a polycule. You never 735 00:58:44.880 --> 00:58:49.559 had a polycule. No one ever gave John It's a polycule, all right, 736 00:58:49.639 --> 00:58:54.400 So am I overreact? That's where you have sex with lots of different 737 00:58:54.440 --> 00:58:59.440 people. It's like an orgy household. Yeah, I got you, Okay, 738 00:58:59.519 --> 00:59:00.760 Yeah, I just haven't heard the word polycool. I've been invited to 739 00:59:00.760 --> 00:59:06.039 the wrong parties. Yes, definitely. Anyway, am I reacting because she 740 00:59:06.199 --> 00:59:10.440 just had to say something? Or am I onto something? I think it's 741 00:59:10.480 --> 00:59:15.199 probably both right. It seems to me like she is going to write whatever 742 00:59:15.679 --> 00:59:20.880 if if her lawyers had said or his lawyers had said, write a letter 743 00:59:21.000 --> 00:59:25.000 explaining on how you know, he he always loved unicorns. She would write 744 00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:30.719 about unicorns. Right, So they're they're trying to make you know, they're 745 00:59:30.719 --> 00:59:36.000 trying to polish a turd here, you know, And and so there's only 746 00:59:36.119 --> 00:59:38.519 so much, you know, there's only so much the written written word can 747 00:59:38.639 --> 00:59:43.760 do, you know, to make a plausible case that this you know, 748 00:59:44.239 --> 00:59:50.800 pasty faced, arrogant piece of crap can be you know, can you can 749 00:59:50.840 --> 00:59:55.679 find sympathy for him? And at the same time, like it does feel 750 00:59:55.880 --> 01:00:00.840 like the kind of thing that people in these weird bubbles who have this sort 751 01:00:00.880 --> 01:00:05.840 of Russoonian view that civilization itself is the real crime. And you know, 752 01:00:07.199 --> 01:00:09.599 he was just being his authentic self, and how can you punish that? 753 01:00:09.960 --> 01:00:13.840 Does seem to be that that's their lingua franca. And I agree with you, 754 01:00:13.960 --> 01:00:16.360 I have contempt for all of them, and except you know, like 755 01:00:16.800 --> 01:00:21.000 like I would write all sorts of ridiculous things if someone told me that's how 756 01:00:21.039 --> 01:00:23.280 I would keep my daughter out of prison. But I don't think that's what's 757 01:00:23.320 --> 01:00:27.320 going on here, you know, entirely. Well, I would you say 758 01:00:27.320 --> 01:00:34.800 two things about One is that he's thirty two years old, and you could 759 01:00:34.840 --> 01:00:37.920 just see. Part of the problem is that these parents are like deeply, 760 01:00:38.079 --> 01:00:42.519 deeply they keep referring to him as like a little boy. It's like a 761 01:00:42.599 --> 01:00:45.920 boy's he's thirty two, he's a grown man. He did grown man things. 762 01:00:47.559 --> 01:00:50.760 Second thing is that if you wanted to stay out of prison, what 763 01:00:50.880 --> 01:00:53.639 you do is you say, I'm really sorry, I broke the law and 764 01:00:53.719 --> 01:00:59.039 I did break it, and I broke it for stupid reasons, but I 765 01:00:59.119 --> 01:01:01.360 knew I was breaking it and I'll never do it again, and I accept 766 01:01:01.480 --> 01:01:06.440 and I admit what I did. And I think that's the one thing that's 767 01:01:06.519 --> 01:01:09.800 really missing in the Sam Banquent free story. And his parents are saying, 768 01:01:09.840 --> 01:01:13.400 yes, he broke the law, Yes he did in bezel money, Yes 769 01:01:13.440 --> 01:01:15.400 he did that, and he knew he was doing it, and he did 770 01:01:15.440 --> 01:01:20.400 it anyway. Instead there's all this little weasel wording and like my poor boy, 771 01:01:21.480 --> 01:01:24.280 poor autistic boy, genius. And I think that's, you know, 772 01:01:24.400 --> 01:01:28.599 eventually that we're going to do. But you know, he is, he's 773 01:01:28.639 --> 01:01:30.000 a thirty two year old man, and they're treating him like he's just this 774 01:01:30.159 --> 01:01:32.840 college kid who just made a couple of mistakes. And that's kind of creepy. 775 01:01:32.880 --> 01:01:38.760 And weird for somebody who was extremely privileged as a little boy. At 776 01:01:38.800 --> 01:01:43.920 some point you got a you know, man up. Look, the judge 777 01:01:44.039 --> 01:01:46.039 sentenced him the way he sentenced him, because he said, if I let 778 01:01:46.119 --> 01:01:49.480 you out, or if I do this or I do that, I have 779 01:01:49.599 --> 01:01:52.880 absolutely no faith. Then you're not going to go out and defraud other people. 780 01:01:53.239 --> 01:01:58.000 You haven't admitted wrongdoing, you haven't said that you did anything wrong. 781 01:01:58.480 --> 01:02:02.639 You lied on the stand and and and when you were out on bail, 782 01:02:05.199 --> 01:02:10.119 you were using your computer to threaten people, you know, indirectly by saying 783 01:02:10.159 --> 01:02:13.440 you had this about them, and you knew that about them. You were 784 01:02:13.480 --> 01:02:15.800 sending them emails. And we had to revoke your bail and send you to 785 01:02:15.960 --> 01:02:22.960 jail at the Brooklyn Correctional Facility for a year because we told you you couldn't 786 01:02:23.039 --> 01:02:27.679 use a computer, and you went home to your parents' house and used the 787 01:02:27.760 --> 01:02:32.239 computer. And moreover, you were doing things that you were legally forbidden to 788 01:02:32.320 --> 01:02:37.880 do. So how can I give the boy a break? We're throwing him 789 01:02:37.920 --> 01:02:43.719 on the trash heap. He should be on the trash heap. That's why 790 01:02:43.880 --> 01:02:46.280 we had prisons. This is what I have prisons, So people like this 791 01:02:46.480 --> 01:02:52.599 can't get out and steal eight billion dollars more money. You know it's weird. 792 01:02:53.840 --> 01:02:59.719 Here's what you probably don't know is that Sam Bankman Freed was the office 793 01:02:59.800 --> 01:03:07.719 boy at National Review for many years. So I just want to say. 794 01:03:07.760 --> 01:03:10.920 I know we have listeners who don't like it when we talk about Trump or 795 01:03:12.119 --> 01:03:15.199 not Trump or all this kind of stuff, But I just want to say, 796 01:03:15.519 --> 01:03:20.280 like, remember that scene in Contact where Jodie Foster is like they should 797 01:03:20.280 --> 01:03:25.079 have sent a poet. When I see the sentence this is the only Bible 798 01:03:25.320 --> 01:03:36.039 endorsed by President Trump, I just I lose, like I lose the ability 799 01:03:36.119 --> 01:03:45.239 to construct sentences, to capture the awesomeness of the ability to an ironically say. 800 01:03:45.239 --> 01:03:52.800 I mean, take that Council of Nicea on Mandy Thursday, of all 801 01:03:52.000 --> 01:04:04.760 days, endorsed that office boy. But at least he's holding it right side 802 01:04:04.800 --> 01:04:09.880 up in the unlike but he did it in front of the Saint John's in 803 01:04:10.239 --> 01:04:13.599 d C during the riots. You know this, I will say this that, 804 01:04:15.920 --> 01:04:21.280 uh I I do. The church I go to is upper Upper east 805 01:04:21.280 --> 01:04:26.239 Side pysical church St called Saint James. Lovely place, lovely people. I've 806 01:04:26.360 --> 01:04:31.880 never been happier, but I do want to buy ten copies of the Trump 807 01:04:32.000 --> 01:04:39.480 Bible and aud slip them in the pews and just you know, some Sunday, 808 01:04:40.559 --> 01:04:45.440 just here's somebody's head explode, because it would be it would be a 809 01:04:45.440 --> 01:04:47.239 horrible thing to do, and I won't do it. But but it's sort 810 01:04:47.280 --> 01:04:49.079 of like in rock and roll high school and they play the rock and Roll 811 01:04:49.119 --> 01:04:56.800 in mice and they explode. Everybody wants to get their hands on that Bible. 812 01:04:57.000 --> 01:04:59.480 We all want to see that Bible. I do A lot of us 813 01:04:59.639 --> 01:05:02.480 is going to buy that Bible. Am I right? We cannot do it. 814 01:05:02.800 --> 01:05:06.679 We cannot do it. But like Matt Kottnetti yesterday on my podcast said 815 01:05:06.719 --> 01:05:12.280 something like I need to buy that Bible, and then we were all, 816 01:05:12.440 --> 01:05:17.719 you cannot. Here's the thing. The only other virtuals of the Constitution and 817 01:05:17.840 --> 01:05:24.000 the Decrivation God and the and the sheet music to God Bless the USA by 818 01:05:24.239 --> 01:05:28.519 Greenwood. Right, it's the Lee Greenwood Bible. The only thing that compares 819 01:05:28.559 --> 01:05:31.679 to this that I can think of is that in nineteen whatever, nineteen eighty 820 01:05:31.760 --> 01:05:38.519 nine, when the or when the Soviet Union officially collapsed and there was sort 821 01:05:38.559 --> 01:05:42.079 of a power problem, the power vacuum in these in the former Central Asian 822 01:05:42.119 --> 01:05:47.000 republics, that one of the Soviet apparatchicks forms of the Operaticks, took control 823 01:05:47.079 --> 01:05:51.559 of a country, culture Menistan, and he renamed himself. His name is 824 01:05:51.599 --> 01:05:58.199 Sapoov Novs. He renamed himself Turkman Bashi, which means leader of all Turkmen. 825 01:05:58.920 --> 01:06:01.400 And he changed some of the names of the cities to Turkmenbashi. This 826 01:06:01.519 --> 01:06:05.119 turk Mbashi Dad. And he renamed one of the months of the year, 827 01:06:05.199 --> 01:06:10.960 I think, a name in honor of his mother. And he wrote a 828 01:06:11.119 --> 01:06:17.079 sequel to the Quran that was in had to be in every mosque. You 829 01:06:17.239 --> 01:06:20.719 had the Quran and then you had the Turkman Bashi Koran. This is the 830 01:06:20.800 --> 01:06:25.840 closest thing to that I've heard, although at least he's give this a Trump. 831 01:06:26.280 --> 01:06:28.280 I'd say two things about Trump. One is, at least he's not 832 01:06:28.400 --> 01:06:35.519 doing that yeah yet. Yeah, he's going to make Christian Yeah exactly, 833 01:06:35.639 --> 01:06:42.360 yeah, Macca. And at least it isn't this which is happening tonight in 834 01:06:42.480 --> 01:06:46.880 New York City, one night only an evening, This is literally happening. 835 01:06:47.079 --> 01:06:53.079 Mandy Thirsty, by the way, an evening with President Joe Biden and Presidents 836 01:06:53.119 --> 01:07:00.159 Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in conversation with Stephen Colbert. Wait for it gets 837 01:07:00.239 --> 01:07:05.079 you know, as if that doesn't drag you in with special guests Cynthia Arrivo, 838 01:07:06.000 --> 01:07:14.880 Queen Latifa, Lizzo, Leah Michelle, and Ben Platt, hosted by 839 01:07:15.000 --> 01:07:21.320 Mindy Kayley. Now you had a choice, you gotta either buy the Bible 840 01:07:23.480 --> 01:07:28.920 or go to that is. I think you know I'm voting. I'm buying 841 01:07:28.960 --> 01:07:34.719 the Bible. Either way, though you might end up probably having a night 842 01:07:34.760 --> 01:07:38.960 where you might overindulge. And if you do, I have to tell you 843 01:07:38.960 --> 01:07:42.039 about this game changing product I use before a night out with drinks. It's 844 01:07:42.079 --> 01:07:45.000 called z biotics. Because let's face it, after night with drinks, I 845 01:07:45.039 --> 01:07:46.559 don't bounce back the next day like I used to. So I have to 846 01:07:46.559 --> 01:07:50.239 make a choice either gonna go to that event, or you're gonna buy the 847 01:07:50.280 --> 01:07:53.559 Bible, or you're gonna have a great night or a neck great next day. 848 01:07:53.599 --> 01:07:56.880 You can't have vote, that is until I found z biotics. And 849 01:07:57.000 --> 01:07:59.679 let me tell you. If it's a short fire way to wake up feeling 850 01:07:59.719 --> 01:08:03.760 fresh after a night of drinking, it's with z biotics. Z biotics pre 851 01:08:03.880 --> 01:08:09.039 alcohol probiotic drink is the world's first genetically introder your probiotic which is bettered by 852 01:08:09.119 --> 01:08:12.880 PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. And here's how it works. 853 01:08:12.920 --> 01:08:15.880 When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut, 854 01:08:15.960 --> 01:08:19.960 and it's this byproduct. It's not dehydration like people say that's to blame for 855 01:08:20.039 --> 01:08:26.000 your rough next day. Z Biotics produces an enzyme that breaks this byproduct down. 856 01:08:26.119 --> 01:08:29.439 So just remember to make z biotics your first drink of the night. 857 01:08:29.800 --> 01:08:32.399 Drink responsibly, of course, and you'll feel your best tomorrow. Look, 858 01:08:32.840 --> 01:08:35.520 every time I have a z Biotics for drinks, I do notice the difference 859 01:08:35.520 --> 01:08:39.279 the next day, even after a night out. I can confidently plan on, 860 01:08:39.520 --> 01:08:42.800 you know, working, writing, delivering the next day without worrying. 861 01:08:43.279 --> 01:08:45.640 And you know, I'll tell you what I was. I did think it 862 01:08:45.800 --> 01:08:47.119 was, did sound too good to be true, but I did try it, 863 01:08:47.279 --> 01:08:51.520 and when I tried it, it totally worked. Now this year, 864 01:08:51.640 --> 01:08:58.840 I want to form a slightly more sustainable and better uh you know, habits. 865 01:08:59.720 --> 01:09:01.279 And of course it's not going to be all or nothing. I am 866 01:09:01.359 --> 01:09:05.119 going to go out and z Biotics allows me to enjoy nights out in moderation 867 01:09:05.239 --> 01:09:10.359 while working towards that goal. So go to z biotics dot com slash blop 868 01:09:10.880 --> 01:09:14.319 and get fifteen percent off your first order when you use glop at checkout. 869 01:09:14.560 --> 01:09:17.359 That's z Biotics the letter Z and then biotics dot com slash clop. It 870 01:09:17.479 --> 01:09:21.399 is backed with a one hundred percent money back guarantee, so if you're unsatisfied 871 01:09:21.479 --> 01:09:25.680 for any reason, they refund all of your money, no questions asked. 872 01:09:26.000 --> 01:09:29.239 Just go over to z biotics dot com slash blop use the code glop at 873 01:09:29.319 --> 01:09:34.039 checkout for fifteen percent off. We thank zbiotics for sponsoring this episode and our 874 01:09:34.159 --> 01:09:39.199 good times. Look, I before we go, I have to make a 875 01:09:39.279 --> 01:09:44.920 special announcement to glop listeners and indeed to my co panelists, a surprise special 876 01:09:44.960 --> 01:09:54.000 announcement. Uh Rna McDaniel will be joining glop as a commentator. And I 877 01:09:54.039 --> 01:09:58.159 don't know if you uh and uh. In fact, I didn't tell you 878 01:09:58.319 --> 01:10:01.800 about it. And when you get angry at me, I'm then going to 879 01:10:01.840 --> 01:10:04.399 go tell the press that I had nothing to do with it, which is 880 01:10:04.439 --> 01:10:09.960 what NBC's leadership did. They said, maybe you should come on. She's 881 01:10:10.039 --> 01:10:11.600 like, I don't know. They said, hey, you can go on 882 01:10:11.800 --> 01:10:15.000 MSNBC. She said maybe. They said, how about three hundred thousand dollars 883 01:10:15.000 --> 01:10:18.119 a year? She said, okay. They announced that she is on, 884 01:10:18.680 --> 01:10:24.880 that they are hiring her. The entire staff of NBC News has a cow 885 01:10:25.640 --> 01:10:30.319 and then the head of MSNBC says, I didn't know anything about this, 886 01:10:30.560 --> 01:10:33.239 And the head of NBC News, Rebrecca Blumenstein, says, I didn't hire 887 01:10:33.279 --> 01:10:41.359 her. And then somebody close to the negotiations let it be known that this 888 01:10:41.600 --> 01:10:48.039 was all their idea. So in the annals of sniveling, lying cowardice, 889 01:10:48.800 --> 01:10:51.720 I, by the way, wouldn't have hired her if I were NBC News. 890 01:10:53.359 --> 01:10:58.319 I think she's an untalented and uninteresting person who supported an insurrection, So 891 01:10:58.399 --> 01:11:03.479 I wouldn't have hired her. But for them to go around saying, somebody 892 01:11:03.720 --> 01:11:08.600 does that guy over there? I didn't have anything to do with it. 893 01:11:08.920 --> 01:11:13.079 When when? What did they think? Ronal McDaniel wasn't going to tell all 894 01:11:13.119 --> 01:11:18.159 the reporters that they came after and offered her all these jobs. My brain 895 01:11:18.439 --> 01:11:24.960 is exploding. In fact, yes, ronal McDaniel was the intern at New 896 01:11:25.000 --> 01:11:30.159 Criterion. The Poetry in turn yeah, fun, Yeah, exactly. Okay, 897 01:11:30.239 --> 01:11:33.039 So obviously you guys have nothing to say about this, so I will 898 01:11:33.079 --> 01:11:39.800 be leaving Glop in protest of our higher McDaniel, you knew nothing about it. 899 01:11:39.920 --> 01:11:44.039 I Am not going to stand here and let you guys hire Ronal McDaniel. 900 01:11:45.479 --> 01:11:49.680 This is just I just did a forty five minute conversation about this for 901 01:11:49.720 --> 01:11:54.600 the Dispatch podcast because we're all worked up about it. Sarah Isger had her 902 01:11:54.640 --> 01:11:59.760 experience in CNN. Steve was on set when Chuck Todd last Sunday when you 903 01:11:59.800 --> 01:12:02.840 know, started all this, and and we just all had our takes. 904 01:12:03.039 --> 01:12:09.920 And the only thing I'll just from that long conversation I'll add here is look, 905 01:12:10.399 --> 01:12:13.880 when I left Fox, I did not know I was going to have 906 01:12:13.920 --> 01:12:16.319 another contract anywhere. I got a contract. You know, both CNN and 907 01:12:16.560 --> 01:12:24.039 MSNBC or NBC were interested. I ended up going to CNN, Steve went 908 01:12:24.039 --> 01:12:27.399 to NBC. Steve is not on MSNBC. He does not do MSNBC. 909 01:12:27.560 --> 01:12:31.960 That was part of his contract. But like I'll just tell you, like 910 01:12:33.720 --> 01:12:39.840 the people who were talking to us, they went and called various on air 911 01:12:39.920 --> 01:12:43.520 talent and we're like, what do you think about bringing Jonah Goldbriot, what 912 01:12:43.560 --> 01:12:45.840 do you think about bringing Steve Hayes and you know that kind of stuff. 913 01:12:46.319 --> 01:12:50.359 The idea that they didn't do that for Rona McDaniel I find really amazing. 914 01:12:50.520 --> 01:12:54.199 So like, and maybe they didn't, right, because I have a hard 915 01:12:54.239 --> 01:12:56.520 time. I don't think Chuck would lie. I kind of trust Chuck on 916 01:12:56.600 --> 01:12:59.000 this. Chuck Wing why And I say that, by the way, not 917 01:12:59.159 --> 01:13:01.399 I ironically, he's a friend of mine. I like him. I think 918 01:13:01.439 --> 01:13:05.760 he's being totally earnest. And he also was angry at NBC News because they 919 01:13:05.880 --> 01:13:09.840 ousted him from Meet the Press, so well, I'm not sure, Well 920 01:13:09.840 --> 01:13:15.800 we're gonna talk about that off air, but like so he he but he 921 01:13:15.840 --> 01:13:20.800 also doesn't have a show. But like, yeah, like Scarborough said, 922 01:13:20.840 --> 01:13:25.880 he didn't, No one asked him about this. Rigel Maddow said it, 923 01:13:26.119 --> 01:13:28.840 and so like, if that's true. And again I'm not using anybody of 924 01:13:28.960 --> 01:13:32.399 lying, but it's so bizarre to me that they wouldn't say, hey, 925 01:13:32.479 --> 01:13:35.039 what do you think about this? Would you use these people? Use this 926 01:13:35.119 --> 01:13:42.399 person? That the failure to sort of just run the traps and think forty 927 01:13:42.439 --> 01:13:46.640 eight hours ahead of the announcement is so spectacularly stupid. And if some of 928 01:13:46.680 --> 01:13:50.199 these people did know and they're pretending that they didn't, then shame on them, 929 01:13:50.800 --> 01:13:54.279 you know, for having this tantrum. Yeah, because they're captured by 930 01:13:54.279 --> 01:13:58.600 an audies. But it is just it was so unbelievably badly. I think 931 01:13:58.640 --> 01:14:00.920 it was wrong to hire. I think it was wrong to fire. But 932 01:14:01.840 --> 01:14:05.560 I gotta say I like Nicole Wallace. She's a nice person. I mean, 933 01:14:05.560 --> 01:14:09.039 I actually don't know where personally, I just I think she comes acrost 934 01:14:09.039 --> 01:14:15.319 as a nice person and all that when she says she when she literally uses 935 01:14:15.399 --> 01:14:25.079 the phrase our sacred airwaves that Ronald McDaniel would sully our sacred airways, airwaves 936 01:14:25.399 --> 01:14:30.000 that are sullied by Al Sharpton every brigging day, right, you know what 937 01:14:30.039 --> 01:14:32.640 I mean? Like the idea, like the sanctimony of all of it is 938 01:14:32.840 --> 01:14:36.800 just a static to me, you know. Yeah, I would say. 939 01:14:36.840 --> 01:14:43.600 The other takeaway is that if you are in Trump world, you can never 940 01:14:43.680 --> 01:14:46.319 leave Trump World. You can never. You're not going to go to the 941 01:14:46.359 --> 01:14:51.039 airport and convert your currency back to dollars. You just gotta You're living in 942 01:14:51.079 --> 01:14:54.960 Trump world now. Whether you live in Trump World, whether you go to 943 01:14:55.119 --> 01:15:00.560 MSNBC as a representative from Trump world. You can't not be Trump world. 944 01:15:00.720 --> 01:15:02.680 That's good. Well, I'm not sure I agree. Entyler like McK malvaney, 945 01:15:03.039 --> 01:15:05.239 you know, they do. He fit at CBS, you know, 946 01:15:06.000 --> 01:15:11.079 and because of mcmonlvaney worked for Trump, they were he fitted CNN under the 947 01:15:11.119 --> 01:15:15.359 other regime about Sarah is ger read nothing to do with January sixth. Malvaney 948 01:15:15.359 --> 01:15:17.880 had nothing to do with January six right, Kevin Williamson had nothing to do 949 01:15:17.960 --> 01:15:20.640 with anything. And you know, the Atlantic, I guess what I mean 950 01:15:20.920 --> 01:15:24.439 there is that that if you're if you're I guess what I mean to I 951 01:15:24.479 --> 01:15:27.239 Trump world, I mean the Trump message world. Yeah, if you were 952 01:15:27.479 --> 01:15:30.319 think I think Jonahs got it though, Yeah, I think Jonah's got it 953 01:15:30.399 --> 01:15:35.079 though. I think January sixth is a is a hinge point. And if 954 01:15:35.119 --> 01:15:38.760 you were you were Mick mulvaney, you didn't have anything to do with January 955 01:15:38.800 --> 01:15:41.319 six If you're Mark Meadows, you had somebody to do with January sixth, 956 01:15:42.239 --> 01:15:45.720 you know, if you're I don't know who Jeffrey Johnny, Johnny what he's 957 01:15:45.760 --> 01:15:49.199 getting right, Yeah, exactly, like that's a hinge moment. And Sarah 958 01:15:49.359 --> 01:15:54.920 wasn't that person. And they complained about Sarah at CNN. And the interesting 959 01:15:55.039 --> 01:16:01.039 thing is, again, uh, there is this idea abroad in the higher 960 01:16:01.279 --> 01:16:06.000 ranks of these places that have to think about things like stock prices and you 961 01:16:06.079 --> 01:16:10.640 know, the board and stuff like that, where they're like, you need 962 01:16:10.760 --> 01:16:14.560 somebody who can talk about X, Y or Z. And the truth is 963 01:16:14.600 --> 01:16:17.720 that the gut feeling of the people who staff these networks is no, we 964 01:16:17.840 --> 01:16:23.479 don't Trump. No one should speak for Trump, no one should say anything 965 01:16:23.560 --> 01:16:26.960 good about Trump ever. And if it happens on our right now, I 966 01:16:27.039 --> 01:16:30.760 think there's an argument to be made. You hire Ron McDaniel, you're Joe 967 01:16:30.800 --> 01:16:34.640 Scarborough and you bring her on every week and you have a two minute hate 968 01:16:34.720 --> 01:16:39.239 with her. You just say, tell me what the line is on this? 969 01:16:39.399 --> 01:16:42.199 Oh really? Oh you're you're so full of it, Like just and 970 01:16:42.399 --> 01:16:46.520 torture her for her for her three hundred dollars a year because she can't say 971 01:16:46.560 --> 01:16:49.880 no because she's under contract. So I don't know that would be my that 972 01:16:49.920 --> 01:16:54.039 would be my idea of how to handle this and actually make good television. 973 01:16:54.359 --> 01:16:59.720 But this is now, you know, guild subscription audience driven stuff, right, 974 01:16:59.800 --> 01:17:02.800 So they are terrified of losing their audience to anybody else and so, 975 01:17:03.159 --> 01:17:09.199 and they can't bear to hear it, They cannot stand it to go into 976 01:17:09.279 --> 01:17:13.640 their ears. What they want to do is just yell about it and fine. 977 01:17:13.800 --> 01:17:16.239 So that's it's yea, I will say, but this is a problem 978 01:17:16.399 --> 01:17:20.479 across cable, it's across media. Right, Audience captures a problem for The 979 01:17:20.479 --> 01:17:26.359 New York Times, An NPR audience capture is a problem for Fox. I 980 01:17:26.439 --> 01:17:30.680 mean the sanctimony from people at Fox about how, oh they don't value intellectual 981 01:17:30.760 --> 01:17:34.439 diversity any algy University. Fox paid eight hundred million dollars under the thought while 982 01:17:34.479 --> 01:17:38.159 that they had to respect the audience. Yeah, right, I mean, 983 01:17:38.279 --> 01:17:42.560 everybody has got mud on their shoes and all of this. But I'll tell 984 01:17:42.560 --> 01:17:44.640 you one other thing, which is there is this idea, and I think 985 01:17:44.680 --> 01:17:48.039 it's a fair idea somebody in the world of when when you have the ideological 986 01:17:48.119 --> 01:17:50.800 changes in the country, and you have things happen that you don't understand, 987 01:17:50.840 --> 01:17:55.680 you want interpreters who are sympathetic or from that world to be able to explain 988 01:17:55.720 --> 01:17:58.039 it. Right. That's one of the reasons that he'll Billy Elergy was such 989 01:17:58.079 --> 01:18:00.760 a hit and if Jdvans hadn't go into politics and lost his soul, he 990 01:18:00.880 --> 01:18:05.279 might have been such a commentator. But the problem with Trump World is this. 991 01:18:05.560 --> 01:18:10.600 I have read in the last two weeks three different books that our attempts 992 01:18:10.680 --> 01:18:15.600 to make a synthesis between Trump and old Republicanism and Reaganism and this and that. 993 01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:17.920 Here's a new synthesis, and here's a book, and it's two hundred 994 01:18:17.920 --> 01:18:23.520 and fifty pages long, and the person has a respectable academic credentials, And 995 01:18:24.720 --> 01:18:27.159 all three of them, I'm not going to name them, are garbage. 996 01:18:27.600 --> 01:18:32.600 They are factitious, they're false, they are incredible. They make claims about 997 01:18:32.840 --> 01:18:38.359 Trump and what he believes that are manifestly not true because they're trying to shoehorn 998 01:18:38.479 --> 01:18:42.680 him into a posture that he does not fit. And this is a really, 999 01:18:42.760 --> 01:18:46.520 really hard job. Like I'm not sure I wouldn't publish somebody who was 1000 01:18:46.560 --> 01:18:51.279 a Trumper, you know, if they made a good argument. I just 1001 01:18:51.479 --> 01:18:56.439 don't get I get articles every now and then that are efforts to do just 1002 01:18:56.520 --> 01:19:00.399 what I'm talking about, and they're insupportable, they're intellectual supportable. So this 1003 01:19:00.560 --> 01:19:04.600 is a really hard challenge because this is a personality cult. It is not 1004 01:19:04.720 --> 01:19:09.960 about ideas. It is not about the future of America. It is about 1005 01:19:10.199 --> 01:19:13.119 one man and this man and what he wants and what he wants from you 1006 01:19:13.399 --> 01:19:17.079 and the fealty that he demands. And there's just no way around the problem. 1007 01:19:18.119 --> 01:19:20.239 Yeah, So, like I agree that this is what I was talking 1008 01:19:20.239 --> 01:19:25.760 about today too. But like like in the old days, when we were 1009 01:19:25.800 --> 01:19:30.880 growing up, we would call people like Rob a squish or a rhino because 1010 01:19:30.920 --> 01:19:34.199 he was weak on abortion or defense, or taxes or something like on a 1011 01:19:34.880 --> 01:19:43.600 Arle inspector Republican. Right now, the very weekend, the only real definition, 1012 01:19:43.960 --> 01:19:47.640 which Trump has asserted time and time again, of what defines a rhino 1013 01:19:48.880 --> 01:19:54.199 is insufficient loyalty to Donald Trump. I mean he calls Chip Roy a freaking 1014 01:19:54.279 --> 01:19:59.760 rhino, right, Like Chip Roy from our definitions of what rhino used to 1015 01:19:59.800 --> 01:20:03.079 me is the opposite of a rhino, right. And and so the problem 1016 01:20:03.199 --> 01:20:10.479 is you can't bring people on to articulate and defend the conservative position. If 1017 01:20:10.560 --> 01:20:14.920 the conservative position in our two party system is defined by the cult of personality 1018 01:20:14.960 --> 01:20:17.640 that you're talking about, that's the that's the fundamental problem. And like Roni 1019 01:20:17.720 --> 01:20:24.239 McDaniel had to go on and sort of like the poor physicists at the beginning 1020 01:20:24.319 --> 01:20:29.439 of three body problem. You know, they wanted her to recan't the January 1021 01:20:29.479 --> 01:20:32.319 sixth stuff, that she supported, the hostage stuff, that she supported all 1022 01:20:32.399 --> 01:20:39.039 of those things because, to Rob's point, you can't convert your currency at 1023 01:20:39.039 --> 01:20:41.640 the airport. Like, so she said, I was lying, taking one 1024 01:20:41.680 --> 01:20:43.720 for the team because I was the head of the RNC. Yeah, well, 1025 01:20:43.840 --> 01:20:47.239 like that's really problematic if you're supposed to be an honest, an honest 1026 01:20:47.279 --> 01:20:50.600 commentator. You know, Also this world at which people say, okay, 1027 01:20:50.640 --> 01:20:54.520 you know what, there are too many the revolving door and it's terrible. 1028 01:20:54.920 --> 01:20:59.079 And I sort of agree, like there's something gross about the world in which 1029 01:20:59.159 --> 01:21:03.720 people are on the White House podium one day and then there were and then 1030 01:21:03.720 --> 01:21:08.640 they're hosting a show on a news network the next day, sometimes with the 1031 01:21:08.720 --> 01:21:13.560 administration they worked for still in power, which is really sorry, right exactly. 1032 01:21:14.079 --> 01:21:15.399 But on the other hand, you have to say, at the same 1033 01:21:15.520 --> 01:21:20.000 time, one of the two or three best columnists of the last fifty years 1034 01:21:21.079 --> 01:21:26.399 was a Nixon hack, right, was William Sapphire, who went from being 1035 01:21:26.560 --> 01:21:30.039 a Nixon speech writer and strategist and all of that to the New York Times 1036 01:21:30.119 --> 01:21:38.640 where he wrote an astonishingly brilliant column for many decades and George Stephanopolis, however 1037 01:21:38.680 --> 01:21:43.920 you feel about George Stephanopolis in your way. George Stephanopolis left the Clinton white 1038 01:21:43.960 --> 01:21:48.560 House and wrote a book called All Two Human, which was about his own 1039 01:21:48.760 --> 01:21:55.760 ambitions and the failures and mistakes and errors committed by the Clinton white House during 1040 01:21:56.000 --> 01:22:00.119 the first term when he was serving. And that was a moment kind of 1041 01:22:00.359 --> 01:22:04.039 like the ronom. It wasn't a recantation, but as a moment in which 1042 01:22:04.119 --> 01:22:08.199 he said, I am now willing to be honest about what I did and 1043 01:22:08.359 --> 01:22:13.279 what happened and what I think went wrong. And that's something no Trumper can 1044 01:22:13.359 --> 01:22:16.119 do, right. That is something we what we've seen is people go anti 1045 01:22:16.199 --> 01:22:19.920 Trump and say everything was crazy and it's terrible and I you know, he's 1046 01:22:19.960 --> 01:22:24.279 a monster, and that was this. But we haven't had somebody who said, 1047 01:22:24.319 --> 01:22:28.159 you know, I believed in this. I believed in that, here's 1048 01:22:28.239 --> 01:22:32.920 what happened in the White House and that and that was so crazy or whatever. 1049 01:22:33.479 --> 01:22:39.159 And nobody can do that for reasons that elude me, or maybe they're 1050 01:22:39.199 --> 01:22:43.359 not good enough or they're not talented enough, but no one has done it. 1051 01:22:43.439 --> 01:22:46.840 No one will do it because the cost, the threat. Maybe Bolton 1052 01:22:46.960 --> 01:22:48.960 you can say, did it. I didn't read Bolton's book, I have 1053 01:22:49.000 --> 01:22:53.800 to confess, but the threat of what Trump will do to you is too 1054 01:22:53.960 --> 01:22:59.840 terrifying to attempt to play that game with him. That's how I look at 1055 01:22:59.840 --> 01:23:02.359 it. Therefore, they'll never be able to change their currency at the airport 1056 01:23:03.359 --> 01:23:08.319 for that, for that very reason, like they're they're taking a huge risk 1057 01:23:09.520 --> 01:23:12.479 and the likelihood of the return is very small. Okay, we got to 1058 01:23:12.560 --> 01:23:16.239 go. Anybody have anything to recommend that isn't three body problem the show that 1059 01:23:16.960 --> 01:23:26.119 Rob is wrong about. Hmm yeah, I like slow, oh yeah, 1060 01:23:26.159 --> 01:23:30.479 do you I haven't finished it slow Okay, that's it has one ridiculous thing 1061 01:23:30.520 --> 01:23:33.399 in the end. You want to just like throw your throw your drink at 1062 01:23:33.439 --> 01:23:39.720 the at the screen. Do the aliens want to steal our resources? And 1063 01:23:39.760 --> 01:23:45.720 at the end it's actually worse. Yeah, yeah, it's actually it's actually 1064 01:23:45.760 --> 01:23:49.359 worse. Okay, Okay, yes, okay. So that's Monsieur Spain on 1065 01:23:49.439 --> 01:23:54.760 AMC. I am in the middle of reading a novel that I doesn't need 1066 01:23:54.840 --> 01:23:57.399 any recommendation for me, because I just read in the New York Times that 1067 01:23:57.479 --> 01:24:00.279 it's sold, it's sold a million copies this year. But that's The Heaven 1068 01:24:00.319 --> 01:24:04.079 and Earth Grocery Store by James Bride, which is about a small town in 1069 01:24:04.159 --> 01:24:13.039 Pennsylvania and a little world of seventeen Jewish families that lives side by side on 1070 01:24:13.119 --> 01:24:17.439 a hillside with black families in the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties, and so 1071 01:24:17.640 --> 01:24:25.920 far halfway through it is a glorious piece of all near folklore, American folklore 1072 01:24:26.079 --> 01:24:34.319 about you know, a Jewish immigrants and up from up from the South African 1073 01:24:34.399 --> 01:24:39.439 Americans, you know, for whom slavery is either a living memory or something 1074 01:24:39.479 --> 01:24:44.079 that they were born into and escape from. Anyway, it's a beautiful book 1075 01:24:44.279 --> 01:24:48.159 so far. So if anyone is looking for a novel like that, as 1076 01:24:48.199 --> 01:24:51.840 I say, what's wildly popular. It's called The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store 1077 01:24:53.760 --> 01:24:56.560 and it's the best selling novel this year. So, like I say, 1078 01:24:56.600 --> 01:25:00.960 it's hardly something that I need to you know, like surface an obscurity for 1079 01:25:00.039 --> 01:25:04.239 you to enjoy. But but I really really do do love it. So 1080 01:25:05.279 --> 01:25:11.479 so I guess that's it for us. Yeah, that's it. Uh as 1081 01:25:11.680 --> 01:25:16.800 as as Misieur Spade would say, you know adieu. Well, he'd say 1082 01:25:17.199 --> 01:25:21.960 see ya, but yeah, he'd say see you in a fake American accent 1083 01:25:23.079 --> 01:25:26.359 because he's Clive Owen and he's not an American. But he's got the good 1084 01:25:26.359 --> 01:25:31.680 Bogart haircut. All right, I'm gonna try it. See ya next time 1085 01:26:00.479 --> 01:26:00.800 at comping from