Theo Von's empathy lacks accountability; Congress blocks AI regulation; Elon ruins the neighborhood; Verizon disconnects from DEI – NEWS ROUNDUP w⧸ Francesca Fiorentini
00:01:41.860is a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative.
00:01:48.640I'm Bridget Todd, and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet.
00:01:54.160This is another installment of our weekly roundup where we dig into stories that you might have missed on the internet so you don't have to.
00:02:00.020And I am so thrilled to welcome my guest co-host for our conversation today, Francesca Fiorentini, journalist and host of The Bituation Room.
00:02:10.720Hey, thanks for having me, Bridget. So good to be back in a different era, but really the same era, a continuation of the awfulness.
00:02:20.860Really happy to be here. We need more shows like yours.
00:02:23.440We need more voices like yours. I'm happy to see you everywhere. The Bituation Room is fantastic. Also, you've got a live show coming up, right?
00:02:31.380Yes, yes, yes. If you're hearing this next Friday in Los Angeles, and you are in Los Angeles or want to get to Los Angeles, yeah, Friday at the Elysian Theater, May 30th.
00:02:41.700um we're gonna fix la bridget la post fires pre-olympics it's it's increasingly unlivable
00:02:51.720here but uh council member unicis hernandez john idarell of the damage report um someone from the
00:02:57.320rent brigade which has been blowing the whistle on all the price gouging that real realtors have
00:03:01.000been doing um and rachel reyes of the la podcast which is an excellent podcast if people don't
00:03:07.520people want some local politics podcasts but yeah it'll be good it'll be good sometimes we
00:03:11.480got to laugh to keep from crying when you're tuning into our political landscape these days.
00:03:16.400Indeed. So with that, are you ready to talk about some stories that are happening across the
00:03:21.920internet? So ready. Okay, so the first one is not even really a story. It's more just I want
00:03:27.120people's takes. This was blowing up in my kind of podcaster group chat. So I was like, you know
00:03:32.520what, I'll bring it to the podcast. Are you familiar with the podcaster Theo Vaughn? Yes.
00:03:37.960so for folks who don't know Theo Vaughn is a super popular podcaster he rose to fame on MTV's
00:03:45.180road rules and like competition shows like the challenge he hosts a super popular podcast a
00:03:50.920podcast that like I could have a million podcasts in my life and it will not equal as popular as
00:03:55.640his show is um I would say that I personally believe that he is one of the reasons why Trump
00:04:01.240was re-elected Trump kind of agrees with me like he shouted out Theo Vaughn from his victory stage
00:04:06.880and like thanked him by name he is like a pretty vocal supporter of trump he's had him on the
00:04:12.500podcast and everything but was he at the inauguration bridget he was he was oh and
00:04:19.380what's funny is that he kind of is doing like a if you if you watch that show the royal gemstones
00:04:24.640he kind of favors keith like he wears like a mullet like that's kind of the so like seeing
00:04:29.800him at the inauguration was like huh that's interesting but keith keith is a good person
00:04:35.920Yeah, Keith's a good guy. I don't know that I would qualify Theo Vaughn. Well, that's sort of the question that I'm bringing to the podcast. So on his podcast, this week, he was talking about Gaza. Here's what he said on the podcast. Quick heads up, though, that we did edit this clip for length.
00:04:56.020There's been something that's just been kind of on my heart,
00:04:57.780and so I feel like I should bring it up.
00:05:01.460There is, you know, we've had people on the podcast in the past to talk about it.
00:05:09.020And there's just a conflict that's been happening in the Middle East.
00:05:15.380People know about it between Israel and Palestine
00:05:20.340and some of the areas over there, the Gaza area they talk about.
00:05:23.940And, uh, and I just think it's, it feels to me, I don't know if I, it just, it feels to me like it's a genocide that's happening while we're alive here in front of our, in front of our lives.0.60
00:05:40.980Um, and I, I don't, sometimes I feel like I should say something.
00:05:47.680I'm not a geologist or geographer or anything like that, you know, so I don't know a lot
00:05:57.000Like I know the basics of the issues over there, but for me, it's just like how I feel
00:06:02.140like you see all these photos of people, just children, women, people, body parts, just
00:06:12.440people like putting their kids back together um and i just can't believe that we're watching that
00:06:19.980and that more isn't said about it you know just like what are we doing so i'll stop it there um
00:06:26.340when i so when i saw this my friends my like podcaster friends know that i deeply dislike
00:06:34.140this person i deeply dislike the ovon and people were dropping this clip in the group chat being
00:06:39.440like oh it's so good that he said something you know this clip got 20 million views so they say
00:06:45.680on x and i guess for me i fully don't know what to do with this because on the one hand i obviously
00:06:51.280support anybody who's using a platform to speak out against genocide but this guy is like all in
00:06:56.540for trump very vocally and so i have a hard time kind of understanding how somebody can make a
00:07:02.360statement like this and seemingly not have the tiniest bit of like self-reflection on their part
00:07:08.200it. And so this rapper, Zach Fox, wasn't having it. He said, don't let Theo Von fool you. He'd be
00:07:14.760blowing hookah smoke and doing key bumps with Trump, his family, and the literal architects
00:07:19.020of the genocide he spake crying about. Then he posted a picture of Theo Von with Ivanka Trump
00:07:23.340and Jared Kushner partying in Miami from Ivanka's Instagram just a few days ago and said, what do
00:07:29.160you mean what we are doing? Ask them, which I have to admit is like a pretty funny burn.
00:07:34.820Yeah. And like literally a few days before recording this, Theo was with Trump doing an opening set at a military base in Qatar. And so like this actually turned into a bit of an argument because I, on the one hand, totally understand how some of my podcast, my like leftist podcaster friends were like, anybody who's using their platform to speak up is doing a good thing.
00:07:56.500If 20 million people are getting eyeballs on this and he's making a different subset of the population think about this, that is a good thing.
00:08:03.640I can understand that point of view, but I just don't buy it.
00:08:08.140Yeah, I mean, first of all, I love the receipts that were brought against him by that rapper.
00:08:14.660Like I love and you're like, oh, I'm waiting for this to be really old.
00:08:17.760No, no, no. It's it's from like a week ago, him sitting down with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
00:08:23.700I mean, Jared Kushner, who spearheaded in part the Abraham Accords, which effectively completely cut out the existence of Palestinians from any kind of peace process in the Middle East, which is kind of it's actually just an oxymoron to even say what I just said, because there can be no peace without, you know, Palestinians involved.
00:08:45.800And so that, I think, was really important. And also Jared Kushner stands to gain should Trump's ethnic cleansing of Gaza succeed and the Trump of, you know, the Riviera of the Middle East comes to pass.0.95
00:09:00.620That's Jared Kushner, as openly said, this is beach from property. I mean, this is truly on the bones of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Again, official death toll stopped back when, you know, there was any kind of infrastructure to account for all the dead.
00:09:17.420but I really I hate to come on this show and be like I really agree with the host
00:09:24.400because I want to make it spicy and interesting but Bridget I super agree with you like I really
00:09:30.140come down on like very very similar to you on all of this and I will say two things about it like
00:09:36.660I do think that the issue of Palestine is and the issue of Gaza and the genocide that's happening
00:09:43.600is so bipartisan it's so blanket it's almost cultural in terms of how much people are against
00:09:52.720this and in ways that i think really supersede any party loyalty or any right left situation so i
00:10:00.820think that just has to be named that like people who are against genocide are also people who are
00:10:04.660like i don't know i don't vote who what is a congress like there are people who are just like
00:10:08.360you know, there's nothing to do with party. And clearly from Theo Vaughn dumbass talking his way0.94
00:10:14.180through that, like, I'm not a geologist. Like, bro, what are you talking about? You were going0.99
00:10:17.320to like stalactites here. Like, what do we like geologist? I mean, a geographer, none,
00:10:22.660neither of those things actually relevant to this issue. I'm not a geologist or a geographer.
00:10:27.980And then, you know, saying what he said. So I feel like it's like, it's both. It's good that he said
00:10:33.260this to his massive audience. But you're absolutely right. If you have private audience with Donald
00:10:39.120fucking Trump, which he does, say something to his ass. Say something to that. Instead,1.00
00:10:46.980it kind of feels like I feel like he probably got he's got comments on it, people talking about it
00:10:52.280around him. He just wanted to address it. And then he can kind of go on about his way and not do
00:10:57.800anything, activate his community, talk about how Trump is making it worse, talk about all of the
00:11:04.700genocidal things, the removal of Palestinians to what Libya is the new proposal, receiving a0.95
00:11:11.800fucking $400 million jet that now we know Trump solicited from Qatar, you know, just like just to0.99
00:11:19.160have. Yeah, it's pretty sickening. And so, no, I don't. You know, I have to come back to the like,1.00
00:11:26.640it's not for us Bridget like there's a little bit of a like it's not for us and so hopefully
00:11:33.040people who don't listen to Theo Vaughn listen to our shows listen to you listen to this podcast
00:11:38.960and are like we don't got to go to war against these people but I'm not trying to take time out
00:11:43.500of my day to like you know give them a bunch of flowers when they're very much in bed with just
00:11:50.160fascist at this point yeah i feel very similarly to you so like my this is like my roman empire
00:11:58.240i think that theo i think a lot of these like bro podcasters but theo in particular i think
00:12:04.440they are playing a character i think that he plays this kind of like uh shut stoner every man0.97
00:12:09.900like i'm not a geologist or nothing but this seems bad i don't think that he's a stupid person or an0.98
00:12:15.400uninformed person i think that he's making a ton of money from his association with the trumps0.97
00:12:19.680with the Kushners I think he is seeing that like the situation in Gaza is a genocide and it's quite0.93
00:12:26.140bad and as you said it's like not a left-right issue it's like a right wrong like I can see0.95
00:12:31.400what's happening and I can see that it's very bad and very wrong I think that he's like oh shoot I
00:12:36.280need to speak to this but I want to do it in a way where I don't have to I can still sort of enable
00:12:42.400it I can still sort of make money from my my participation with the people who are architecting
00:12:46.560it. I don't want to have to, you know, I want to get to perform sadness about it while also
00:12:53.900continuing to basically say nothing about it. And so, yeah, I don't, I, I, it's hard for me
00:12:59.840to, I mean, maybe I'm cynical. It's hard for me to take this as a, a win when it's like, yeah,
00:13:05.300what do you mean what we are doing? You have audience with the people who are doing this.
00:13:08.620Talk to them. Don't talk to me. Well, it's, uh, you know, I have a lot of, I have a lot of thoughts
00:13:14.160and I was like, when we started the show, I was like, I got to leave soon. But then now I'm like,
00:13:17.280oh no, an issue that I really, really want to talk a lot about. It's interesting. It's ironic.
00:13:22.040Trump also said this same line. He's sitting in front of Netanyahu in the Oval Office going,
00:13:28.200it's terrible, all the killing that's happening there. And you're like, oh my buddy, right next
00:13:34.340to you is the guy who was doing it. And of course he knows, right? But it's much easier to sort of
00:13:38.540New York Times headline this whole thing. Like Palestinians died on their own. There is no1.00
00:13:43.780culprit. Like, and, and then you cover your ass cause you said something and then you get to move0.99
00:13:48.740on and you don't have to actually talk about who is doing the thing. But the other thing that0.97
00:13:53.040happens here, and this is what I think the podcast bros, because when you said podcast bros, it
00:13:56.980reminded me of another interview this week that Bernie Sanders did with Andrew Schultz on the
00:14:01.800flagrant podcast in which Schultz tries to say, they call us podcast bros the way they called
00:14:10.200your supporters bernie bros we're the same and i was like no no no you're not and i was very
00:14:17.220disappointed on you know as someone who likes bernie sanders super disappointed by his performance
00:14:22.480there i did a whole breakdown on my show about it if you want like way too many thoughts of mine
00:14:27.320however um what's crazy about like the right wing um podcast comedian rise which i think you're
00:14:35.260totally right. There is a character there that they are all playing. Um, and they're doing it
00:14:40.200for money, you know, uh, like, but I was having this conversation. This is what is crazy for me.
00:14:47.340Like every time you ask a liberal, excuse me, a liberal comedian, doesn't matter, podcast or
00:14:52.420whatever, uh, John Oliver, John Stewart, Bill Burr to name three of them. And you say, Hey,
00:14:58.380you seem to have like lots of thoughts about the world and you know, everything that's happening.
00:15:02.520And, you know, do you feel like your role is almost larger than just a comic? It's like you're having an impact. They all go like, no, no, no, no, no. Don't listen to me. I'm just a comedian. I shouldn't be the person leading this conversation. What do you want to talk to me for?
00:15:19.520And I do agree with that in a way because what happens when we deify comedians as sort of thought leaders is your Theo Vaughn Andrew Schultzes. And those two guys have no problem saying, oh, I am an intellectual leader. I do speak to like, you know, the voice, the voice of the voice, the voice of the canceled, you know, white male. Like that is who I'm speaking for.
00:15:45.840And so you have this moment where it's like, oh, the right is fully embracing the line between comic and politics and the so-called left, I don't know, not really left, but the liberals are completely abdicating it almost out of responsibility, but also leaving this huge gulf where maybe we should be filling.
00:16:08.520I don't know what your thoughts are on that.
00:16:09.640I had never put that together, but that's such a good point. And it's very frustrating to watch because then the voices who get to be amplified and grow are the ones who are spouting nonsense and also spouting nonsense in a way where it's like they want to be intellectuals with it.
00:16:26.300Like, I think that's the thing that gets me is, listen, nobody appreciates a hustle and a grift more than I do.
00:16:33.120Like, get your money, do what you got to do.
00:16:35.340But then, like, don't pull us into it and make it be like, oh, yeah, I'm an intellectual for thinking this.
00:16:41.360If you want opinions on, you know, trans identity, I'm your guy, me, the comedian.
00:16:49.680And I think it's also the death of the expert.
00:16:51.460I mean, the internet as a show that talks about it, you know, the internet in its most beautiful periods and iterations is like, okay, you're listening to or seeing someone who you feel speaks in plain language, is, again, personable, and isn't necessarily an expert, but giving you kind of their gut, you know, reaction, which can be good or bad.0.99
00:17:15.040but then we get into a lot of trouble when it's like yeah we're gonna listen to non-trans people
00:17:21.940talk about trans stuff we're gonna listen to non-black people talk about you know issues that
00:17:26.500affect black community we're gonna like like all the and you're just like no no okay well now
00:17:30.680now you're literally elevating and again this is not to say that identity gives you that0.99
00:17:35.240edge but we're not going to listen to i don't know a fucking you know like ethnic studies scholar0.98
00:17:40.260whose department is being obliterated0.99
00:17:42.960through different Trump executive orders.
00:17:45.020Like, those are the experts that we should be listening to.
00:17:47.960Instead, it's like the worst of the internet1.00
00:19:32.620It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is a Trojan horse.
00:19:40.520Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place.
00:19:49.700Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:21:06.440Okay, speaking of dumbasses, we have to talk about this legislation. The big, beautiful bill. I know0.99
00:21:13.620you've been thinking about it and talking about it. Something that I don't feel like is getting
00:21:17.340enough shine is the fact that this big, beautiful agenda bill has a rule baked into it that if passed
00:21:22.940would prohibit states from enforcing any law or regulation regulating AI for 10 years. I mean,
00:21:31.740that does not seem like a good thing to me. The advocacy organization Demand Progress organized
00:21:37.020a bunch of academic and like civil society organizations, 141 of them to sign a letter,
00:21:42.540including organizations like the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology,
00:21:46.120the Southern Poverty Law Center, and employee coalitions like Amazon Employees for Climate
00:21:50.600Justice, basically being like, this is bad. The letter reads, this moratorium would mean that
00:21:56.300even if a company deliberately designs an algorithm that causes foreseeable harm,
00:22:01.000regardless of how intentional or egregious the misconduct or how devastating the consequences,
00:22:05.840the company making or using that bad tech would be unaccountable to lawmakers and the public.0.99
00:22:11.060i mean it's beyond ai right because you know every day we're finding out about some new shit0.94
00:22:17.920that meta did uh deliberately what was it targeting young girls who i forgot what the0.84
00:22:25.760story was it was girls who delete who took a selfie of themselves and then deleted it because
00:22:31.100they were unhappy with it they have technology that's like oh self-esteem issues huh let's get
00:22:37.300Oh, God. And then market them with whatever. Totally. Totally. Face creams. And yeah, there was like some other study that was like, you know, like children are using like anti-aging cream. Like, oh, my God. Yeah, man, this is so bald faced. Like, it is so clear what they're trying to do.
00:22:56.420And this is when kind of like the tech oligarchy really is showing its whole ass.0.98
00:23:04.840Like, this is like, OK, this is what you wanted.0.98
00:23:06.960Trump is enacting it and the Republicans are enacting it for you.
00:34:04.660just the beginning of the reporting. Totally. And to your point about what this looks like,
00:34:09.800so Representative Pearson, who is a lawmaker there, he said that it's pretty much what you're
00:34:15.320thinking. He said, it's an actual gas plant in the middle of a neighborhood and you don't need
00:34:20.020any permitting to do this. Something that's failed drastically and significantly on our
00:34:24.480system of checks and balances which like yeah that wouldn't be people who like complain about
00:34:30.420like well when are they going to clean up our sites that wouldn't be happening in a community0.54
00:34:33.940that was not economically disadvantaged and majority majority black like i'm sorry this
00:34:37.700would not be happening in a in a in a wealthy predominantly white community that's that's why
00:34:43.540it's happening there no of course not and so i have to give it up to some of the residents who
00:34:49.400were quoted in this cnn piece uh because the residents of this area of memphis have been
00:34:53.900fighting this kind of fight for a long time. They spoke to Kashawn Pearson, a resident who said that
00:34:58.660they see their area as a, quote, sacrifice zone where companies put facilities that sicken residents.
00:35:05.740They, in 2021, residents successfully fought off a crude oil pipeline that would have crossed
00:35:10.420Boxtown and multiple other predominantly Black communities in Memphis. In 2023, they successfully
00:35:16.140campaigned to close a medical sterilizing facility, which had been there since the 70s,
00:35:20.360which was pumping out toxic pollutants linked to breast cancer.
00:35:23.820So, like, they have been fighting this fight for a very long time.
00:35:27.000And something that I thought was really interesting is that even though Memphis' mayor, Paul Young,
00:35:31.980is very supportive of this facility and says, like, oh, it's going to bring new jobs and economically revitalize the area,
00:35:37.560the residents there are smart enough to be very skeptical of that claim.
00:35:41.200They're like, oh, you know, even though they're making it seem like there's going to be training for, like, white-collar jobs and, like, tech jobs,
00:35:48.480the residents are like, it's my understanding that data centers do not typically need large
00:35:53.360numbers of workers. And I think that we're being sold a false promise. And the only jobs that might
00:35:57.720possibly manifest for us are like janitorial jobs. And he is right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No,
00:36:03.840I think that's really important. And I also think it's a challenge for, you know, on a local level,
00:36:09.080on a statewide level, like we need better, we need better representatives. We need folks who
00:36:14.700We're actually going to fight this. Not, sadly, this week, senators like Kirsten Gillibrand or, you know, Ruben Gallego, who voted in favor of basically a cryptocurrency, you know, so-called, you know, like regulation bill.
00:36:30.700But it absolutely does not regulate crypto or stablecoin and allows Trump to continue his meme coins and everybody else.
00:36:37.960So, like, again, it's all kind of part of, like, the tech oligarchy getting their way.
00:36:43.220Um, the other thing that's important to know, and I'm not sure if this is part of the story
00:36:48.700is also that in order to cool down the data centers to do the generative AI, you, which0.93
00:36:56.520is just so funny, like generative, like, like who the fuck is generating it?0.97
00:37:23.460So, it's, I mean, it's truly pillaging local communities like this one.
00:37:30.060Yeah. And I really, it broke my heart, but was so accurate to hear that resident describe his own community as like a sacrifice zone that people just take and take and take and exploit and exploit and exploit. And they do so for these, you know, so-called innovations. And they're just supposed to be okay with it. They're supposed to be okay with being deprived, taken from having their resources taken and sickened in the process.
00:37:57.180They're meant to be like, thank you for these opportunities to do this. It's really just a toxic dynamic. And it's one that I think we really need to change. It makes me angry that lawmakers who are meant to be representing the folks who put them in office have just abdicated their responsibility on this and thrown up their hands and said, oh, maybe there'll be a janitorial job in it for you. It's just very deeply insulting.
00:39:45.620Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable.
00:39:50.140I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me.
00:39:54.620I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming.
00:40:02.220They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.
00:40:06.120But these aren't stories about what's taken from them.
00:40:09.540They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive.
00:40:13.200Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:40:20.980If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home.
00:40:27.880This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse.
00:40:40.040I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having.
00:40:47.180I'm going to have to look up this story.
00:40:50.200from best-selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments
00:40:55.180nothing is off the table it's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling
00:41:01.740characters and that is a trojan horse whether you're looking for literary deep dives smart
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00:41:11.760you're in the right place listen to pro society on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever
00:41:18.240you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. Let's get right back into it.
00:41:32.220So Elon Musk was interviewed and he said that he's going to spend a lot less money and time
00:41:37.400in politics. He said, I think I've done enough. We'll see if I have a reason to do political
00:41:41.860spinning in the future. I don't really see a reason. He's also talking about politics a lot
00:41:46.700less. He used to post about politics nonstop, but now it's mostly just about his companies,
00:41:51.820according to the Post. In February, more than half of Musk's posts and reposts on X were about
00:41:56.620Doge. About 13% of his February posts mentioned Trump by name, nearly double that proportion
00:42:01.960named one of his companies. So far in May, those numbers have reversed. Now under 20% of his posts
00:42:07.760are about Doge or politics, and more than half are about his business ventures. So yeah, this is a
00:42:14.220pretty big shift. And I have heard people say like, oh, because his companies are taking a hit,
00:42:19.500he's super unpopular. What he's doing in government is unpopular. So he's retreating.
00:42:24.040But I actually see it differently. I think what he's actually saying is like,
00:42:27.580I've got what I wanted. So now I can be done. I have like, you know, grifted my grift. I have
00:42:34.160gotten rid of the voices who would have regulated my companies. I have made some cushy, lucrative
00:42:39.760contracts. I've got a little money in my pocket. I think the government grip has paid off for him.
00:42:44.400He has personally enriched himself, and now he can back off. That's what I think.
00:42:48.640Again, I really want to disagree with you here, Bridget. But I think it's, yes, I think it is
00:42:54.180that. But I also do think that the amount of Tesla takedown protests, which, I mean, hats off
00:43:03.640to the continued protests that are taking place on all different kinds of dealerships and whatnot,
00:43:09.760as well as the Wisconsin, you know, judge seat loss after he poured however many millions and0.98
00:43:16.240millions of dollars into that and got his ass handed him handed to him by the people of Wisconsin0.93
00:43:20.520is amazing. Like those two things are huge. And so he even just on a PR level knows that he's not0.97
00:43:29.200helpful to the MAGA brand. But you're I do think you're right that the behind the scenes,
00:43:34.260If you have gotten all of our IRS information, our social security data, you know, if you have now allowed for sharing between federal agencies of our private information, in addition to, according to whistleblowers, possibly foreign governments, you've got a fuck ton of leverage and a fuck ton of way to make even more money than you already have.
00:44:03.960So he might have a little dip right now. You know, he obviously borrowed or he bought Twitter on some Tesla stock. That's not doing very well. But give him some time when, you know, big balls and some other little Pepe meme can develop some new payment system for federal workers who remain and and or sell our data to a foreign company.
00:44:30.300I mean, like, then he's like, we also know that he's strong arming other nations into using Starlink to get their Internet.0.96
00:44:37.460So, like, bullshit that he's going away.1.00
00:44:51.040I mean, we talked about this on the show before, but when he was doing his sort of woe is me tour, being like, I'm losing so much money.
00:44:58.840and I'm only all I'm trying to do is point out waste and fraud and what like I've not I'm not
00:45:02.920a bad guy he cried nearly cried like I I wish that people like he in my mind he is like the
00:45:11.040ultimate welfare queen of like he is actually the person who was like scamming and personally0.99
00:45:16.600enriching himself at our dime he is taking from me brokies who live in fucking one bedroom0.97
00:45:21.660apartments like myself to enrich himself and he's the richest man on earth three children0.90
00:45:25.820he's he's definitionally a welfare teen to a t and so it just is is wild to me i don't know i i
00:45:33.400when he's when he's talking about like retreating from politics i completely agree i don't think he
00:45:37.500i don't think he's retreating at all i think he's like it's just getting he can do more behind the
00:45:44.020scenes than he can in front of the scenes because i think that when he's publicly attached to stuff
00:45:48.860it doesn't like people don't like him like yeah he's toxic he's got the opposite effect i mean
00:45:53.860he should have never been in the public eye. They prove that he also, you know, in Oval Office
00:45:58.420meetings, you know, he would get into big fights with different agency heads. And, you know, he
00:46:03.400was not a pleasant person to be around. Dude was like sleeping on couches in the White House and
00:46:08.400not showering and wearing the same shit over and over again. Like, you know, all for the American1.00
00:46:13.440people. Like, no, all for for massive security breaches. And again, stealing our information. So
00:46:21.020So I'm here's my thing is like. If and when Democrats ever regain control, to me, the damage that Doge has done is probably the biggest thing that needs remedying.
00:46:36.080um and if there is not accountability if there is not a restoration of both jobs but also our
00:46:43.600data privacy of you know security protocols i mean it's really sick too bridget because like
00:46:51.920you know we're in a moment where like the oligarchy is such where like the lines have been drawn if a0.89
00:46:56.120lot of tech people are just like well i'm in it for the money fuck democracy and all the sort of
00:46:59.800veneer of we are an innovative, future-looking, democratic, multicultural, da-da-da-da. Oh,0.95
00:47:07.180that's bullshit. It's been bullshit. But I'm like, I know there are good people in Silicon1.00
00:47:13.400Valley and in tech. I know there are. They're not in power, but I know there are. And I know
00:47:19.160there are people who could work with the federal government to help us. Shit. So this is me and1.00
00:47:24.980sort of like think you know future tripping about like how do we get all of this back how do we rest
00:47:30.860this control back from these ghouls yeah I firmly believe that I mean there was a time where you had
00:47:37.860more thoughtful ethical voices in tech who genuinely were interested in using technology
00:47:44.160to build a better future and I think that you know a lot of those voices got sidelined erased
00:47:49.420pushed out those happen to be diverse voices as well and so i those people are there they exist
00:47:55.460i think that people like elon musk and other tech leaders have really been able to flip the script
00:48:00.080and make it seem like one technology only gets built at a handful of companies by a handful of
00:48:04.960people that's so not true two that the only people who are doing anything or the only voices worth
00:48:10.600listening to in tech are the most unethical not thoughtful paranoid like delusional like not with
00:48:20.260it people like megalomanias it truly is and it's like like we have gotten mixed up and are being
00:48:27.140taken along for the ride of these horrible people who are telling us this is the way it has to be
00:48:31.740and i know i firmly believe that that is a lie it does not have to be this way it was not always
00:48:36.660that way and they're banking on us like memory holding the fact that it used to not be that way
00:48:41.160that when you thought there was a time when you thought about technology it was exciting you had
00:48:45.860apps that you loved when you thought about what the internet was it was like lots of weird little
00:48:51.020sites that people were running just because of the fun of it or just because they they cared
00:48:54.380about something or it was a community of people gathering you know around one idea or one passion
00:48:59.660and i think we have forgotten we have allowed these tech leaders to memory hold that and make
00:49:04.740us forget what it used to be like it used I don't want to get too nostalgic because like it definitely
00:49:09.480had its problems back in the day as well but like it used to be better than this and it can't it
00:49:14.320it has been better than this and it can be better than this like we deserve better than this yes0.90
00:49:18.740and and actually the height of freedom I mean what's so I mean they're they're open hypocrites1.00
00:49:23.780Elon and you know the rest of the Peter Thiel's like they're all full of shit I mean they're all0.99
00:49:29.640like, oh, free speech and free society. And it's like, yeah, but the old Internet was the freest0.99
00:49:37.320we've ever been. You know, like the Internet being run by 10 companies, tech being run by like
00:49:44.520three companies is not freedom at all. So I think that's the other thing is like we also have to
00:49:51.600reclaim this mantle of freedom and free speech. And it's just wild to me that and it's such a
00:49:59.260failure of the democratic party too that like we can i start to get really sick to my stomach when
00:50:05.240i think about all the things that we could have what it should have but like democratic party
00:50:09.780could have been the party of privacy and you know ending you know surveillance and of course
00:50:16.820obama did a lot of good things but obama also went after edward stern and it's like no we could have
00:50:22.140actually planted a flag on that and been like we protect your data there's nothing more important
00:50:26.720than protecting your data. You have the freedom to, you know, use the internet as you want. And
00:50:31.500it shouldn't be just a bunch of conglomerates. And Biden's antitrust, you know, FTC started doing
00:50:36.700some of that. So I just, it's like, God, it makes me so terrified because this is one thing where
00:50:43.140also Democrats still believe in that old culture of tech and they use it again as like a shield
00:50:51.420to still raise money from actually really villainous people i think that democrats get
00:50:57.520to sort of in in ways that are unearned in my opinion get to enjoy like being a little bit
00:51:02.920better on the issue even though like they're not really doing much on it and like i if if we could
00:51:08.020go back in time and have the democratic party yeah as you said make privacy and internet freedom
00:51:16.480part and parcel of what it meant to be a Democrat, imagine where it would be today.
00:51:21.340Things would be so different. Right. And actually, I do think the grift of,
00:51:26.640oh, I'm a forward-thinking, pro-democracy, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious,
00:51:33.280support DEI programs, company, I think that grift was kind of meant to pull the wool over on,
00:51:41.960I think some liberals eyes and that, you know, the final form really is monopoly and control.
00:51:48.680And, you know, now Mark Zuckerberg, God to be Sheryl Sandberg, which is just so funny and rich.
00:51:53.980And I just good. I just like this. I need I could write like a 10 episode podcast about
00:52:00.600the rise and fall of lean in, you know, because it's like, no, man, the final form is0.98
00:52:07.260we're in control we're the oligarchs fuck you you allowed us to get this big ha ha ha we just0.93
00:52:14.040played with some you know lightweight DEI programs which are good again but we just0.99
00:52:19.700you know we don't actually care about real equity or real inclusion or you know actually doing you
00:52:28.240know making sure our spaces are not actually hotbeds of racism and misogyny so anyway first
00:52:36.760of all I have met Sheryl Sandberg in person and I don't know if I've told this story in the podcast
00:52:42.740before but I was like barely invited to a book launch she did and I will never forget it was
00:52:48.420sort of like it was right after Trump got elected and it was like it was a very different time and0.75
00:52:55.300I remember it was all of these like journalists and like women media like rah-rah women in media
00:53:01.080and this was right when we were starting to learn more about like Cambridge Analytica and what the
00:53:06.520role that Facebook had in getting Trump elected. And Sheryl Sandberg is there doing a very kind of
00:53:13.560like puffy Q&A about her new book about grief, option B. And somebody asked, she was like,
00:53:20.360oh, I've been reading about the way that Facebook has been perhaps illegally using all of our data
00:53:26.760to help get, you know, to help get Trump elected and meddle in our elections. And I'll never forget,
00:53:30.800she was like, today is about women's empowerment. Let's stay on focus. Like that's how she answered0.87
00:53:36.000the question today's about the women let's let's let's keep our focus on that i i have i have so0.57
00:53:43.900many words but that is truly disgraceful it was and i have to say you you're it's almost like you
00:53:51.580are a mind reader with the whole companies kind of limply embracing dei and then just using it to
00:53:58.820gobble up more power because did you hear about verizon and dei so basically in 2020 verizon
00:54:05.220claimed to be like all in on dei they put out statements after the death of george floyd that
00:54:11.500was like diversity and inclusion are our greatest superpowers yada yada cut to this week verizon
00:54:17.740sends a letter to the fcc stating that it is ending all dei policy so no more dei teams or
00:54:23.720roles they're taking all the all the references to dei from their training materials no more
00:54:29.220workforce diversity goals and they're taking it further because they're basically like
00:54:33.240memory holding it they scrubbed the fact that Verizon was ever involved in any of this from
00:54:37.820their website when you go to the DEI pages online it just redirects to generic Verizon content and
00:54:44.540oh my god Verizon said that this was because of like Trump's executive orders and Supreme Court
00:54:50.700and federal mandates but like there's no Supreme Court ruling banning DEI or you know those kinds
00:54:56.780of goals and you know at certainly other companies like Costco when Trump was like you need to stop
00:55:02.360DEI. They were like, kick rock, we'll do what we want. And the timing of this is very suspicious
00:55:06.900because Verizon announced this just a day before the FCC approved Verizon's $20 billion acquisition
00:55:13.260of Frontier Communications. The FCC's approval emphasized that Verizon had gotten rid of their
00:55:19.580discriminatory DEI policies. And it really does seem like Verizon was like, fine, we'll abandon
00:55:26.340in all of our commitments to DEI if you were, if we're able to get this merger. And the FCC was
00:55:32.220like, bet. Sure. Great. Dude, that's exactly what happened. It's not, it's not even there.
00:55:38.240That is exactly what happened. It's like, there's no mystery here. That is so terrifying and
00:55:45.360disgusting. I mean, and you see the same thing with, um, you know, CBS, right. Paramount is
00:55:50.900trying to what is it work with like sky net news one i don't know where the fuck is sky something0.87
00:55:58.120and they're trying to get their merger and it's like yeah oh we can just do this by getting rid
00:56:03.300of all of these policies um these are going to have massive impacts on workers i mean that's i
00:56:09.460think the other thing that we need to remember about the anti-dei backlash is it's it's really
00:56:15.120it's a workers fight it's a fight on an attack on workers everything we're seeing is an attack
00:56:20.760on workers. And we have to like, again, whatever, you know, it's like the working class is women of1.00
00:56:25.900color, predominantly women of color. That is just what it is. The amount of black Americans in
00:56:32.240federal jobs. What is it like 20% of the workforce or something or 20%? I forgot what the 20% was,
00:56:38.080but it's a huge percentage. This is deliberate. It's an attack on workers. It's a racist attack
00:56:43.840on workers absolutely but yeah that's that's so sick god i mean i'm so glad verizon has0.99
00:56:51.040shit service in my neighborhood and we had to switch to at&t i'm sure at&t is up to no good0.97
00:56:55.780and i'm gonna be a t-mobile bitch at some point it's gonna have to happen0.99