Grubstakers - Episode 58: Sheldon Adelson

Episode Date: March 18, 2019

This week Sheldon Adelson is in our hot seat! He is the richest casino owner with most of his money coming from a casino in Macau China, which he has claimed in court that casino is not connected to organize crime. At one point he robbed his own kids for their own protection, and lastly spends hundreds of millions on the GOP and newspapers to further how he thinks the world should be. Enjoy!

Hey everyone, welcome to Grubstakers, the podcast about billionaires. This week we're covering the deformed face of Sheldon Adelson. Find out how the boy from Dorchester became a casino mogul profiting off the addictions of millions, who also steals from his own children and uses his own media companies to punish those he dislikes. All this and more, coming up on Grubstakers. Get lost, please. Thank you. grub stakers get lost please thank you i can tell you that every job has its ups and downs and a union can't change that fact i mean it is the magic elixir of our of our age and of all ages what it does for prostate cancer is amazing you get 200 million dollar profit you didn't have to

pay any tax isn't that true listen yes is that true or not? Yes or no? You do not pay a tax when someone makes or sells assets. Maybe that's why you become Secretary of Treasury so you didn't have to pay the tax. Not like we have a deadline or anything. Hello, welcome back to Grubstakers, the podcast about billionaires. I'm Sean P. McCarthy. I'm here. I'm joined by my friends. Steve Jeffers. Yogi Poyol. Andy Palmer.

And you know what? We're recording here St. Patrick's Day 2019. 12.51 p.m. There's nobody we would rather want to be talking about this week than a man named Sheldon Adelson. Bazinga. That's right. Sheldon Adelson. And look, we had to get this episode out because Sheldon Adelson will be dead soon.

We have a strict deadline that he could die at any point during this recording. So we have to get this episode done. Wait, now hold on. One of the most optimistic takes of 2019. Hold on. Now I think before we go into this

mobility scooter diarrhea machine. He's not a machine, Andy. Come on. He's still a human. He's half and half. He's a halfsy. Cyborg. Before that, though, I think we need to go into some housekeeping because recently we got in trouble. We thank a fellow by the name of Notch, Narcdonus, for putting some Drake at the end of an episode about the same said Notch.

But he seems so busy. I can't believe he had time to do that. In between posting 400 times a day on Twitter about how we need to talk about IQ differences in racial demographics. Well, I mean, if you play Minecraft, that's all clearly in the text, the subtext and the original text. I mean, why does he got to beef with Drake? They both love kids. I don't see what the problem is. Well, so we realized that as long as we have music on here, we are vulnerable to getting shut down. And so my first thought was,

okay, well, what if we just kind of replace all the music with covers? And I looked that up. It turns out you can still get your channel, get some strikes against your channel and eventually get shut down on SoundCloud. Thanks for informing our enemies going. But, no, they can't get us

because if you do parody, that is protected by a supreme court decision that's good so covers are out uh but quote parody is in so as long as we kind of switch up the tracks we can have everyone's like favorite songs in is like our outro music so you're saying as long as andy is high enough when he is playing the music messes with distortion effects i'll have you know we can claim that it is parody. Yes. Yes. So I prepared one track for us. And we can play

we can just play a little bit now and then you know play the whole thing when we do the outro. Mm-hmm. The person I was down My M&M and Fido Who tells on our episode About Notch the guy who made Minecraft We had a Drake song

And we think we listened to it and reported it And we had to take it down But if you replace the lyrics of a song on SoundCloud, it is protected by the Supreme Court's parity. Because you've created a new kind of creative work, and therefore they can't take you tracked down according to law. Chapter one, the commodity. Oh my God. Turn it off. The world of societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails appears as an immense collection of commodities.

The individual commodity appears as its elementary focus. You know what, Andy? I will say it was very brave of you to not pretend you were microdosing when you made that. To just admit that's where your mind goes when it is perfectly sober. And if you want more of that, we're going to be selling it on iTunes for $8,000. I can't wait for Andy to be completely wrong about the copyright law and for that to be our second strike. Oh, have you know I consulted two whole websites about this.

Oh. Yes. I think that... And one of them had law in it and they said Supreme Court and then had a link to the Supreme Court case that I didn't click on. That was a law and order episode. Sounds like the attorneys that are hired

by billionaires will be no match for us and our two websites. Oh, shit. We can't fuck with those guys. Oh, shit. We can't fuck with those guys. Look, man. If there wasn't a Supreme Court decision, why would they put the link in?

Yes. That's all I'm saying. Looking forward to the Dino State Who would put a fake link in their thing? You know the United States Supreme Court and how it famously just upholds the law and doesn't make political interpretations. Hey, man, they're out there for the little guys.

Based on who has more money. The Supreme Court. Supreme in all red text. I just watched. Look, they always take the side of the worker. There's a documentary on Amazon. It's a PBS POV documentary called Dark Money. And it talks about Citizens United.

You might all be familiar with. But essentially, like. Is the POV from called Dark Money. And it talks about Citizens United you might all be familiar with. Is the POV from the money? And then it's just a blank screen because it's dark money? It's POV and it ends with the money coming on the workers. And then this man's dirty hands touched me and then this man's dirty hands touched me.

But it talks about Montana. And so essentially what happened in Montana, there's like a super fund site from copper mining. Because in the early, at the turn of the 20th century. Super fund, you say? Yes. The copper miners basically bought the entire Montana state government. Yeah, I call it ted turner state so there was a citizen law you know passed by ballot initiative in 1912 that essentially said no corporation can donate money to politicians

you have to donate as an individual and this law was on the book since 1912 and then was overturned by citizens united so it's a hundred years on the books and then they suddenly say oh yeah the first amendment means bribery is legal okay but let's get on topic. We're talking about Sheldon Adelson. Who has nothing to do with dark money. Sorry for that wild digression, everybody. But yeah, so Sheldon Adelson is the topic this week and Sheldon Adelson is a man who hates online gambling as much as he hates Palestinian birth

rights. Well, he doesn't know how to log into his computer. Yes. Wait, say Palestinian rights. Palestinian rights. And look, it's something where it's kind of unavoidable when you go through Sheldon Adelson and the Israeli right wing. An obsession of them is demographics, Palestinian birth rates, the idea that the Palestinians are going to breed and then take over the Israeli Jewish state. And of course, if you've been following the news, the tragic shooting in christ church in new zealand no don't

play it god damn it auntie get your finger away from that drops keyboard um but but so look if you i looked at like the manifesto that psychopath released literally the first sentence is if you take one thing from this manifesto just because he's a white guy, he gets off on being called crazy? Yes. If you take one thing from this manifesto, it's the birth rates, the birth rates, the birth rates. And so it is kind of an obsession of ethno-nationalists of all stripes. And you just can't really avoid that conclusion. And Sheldon Adelson has used his fortune to literally sponsor genocide as a u.s court has

just affirmed a palestinian organization has sued sheldon adelson among others for their uh for funding the settlements in the west bank which are again ethnic cleansing they're pushing palestinians out to have uh it's just a cleansing sean jewish settlers settlers come in and displace them on their land. Who wants to know a fun ethnic cleansing fact? What's that? Steven? So... Yeah, go ahead.

Do you have it in the form of a MIDI song? What is this? Bazinga. The term ethnic cleansing is fairly unique amongst war crime terms because it was made by the people perpetrating it. Sure, that makes sense. That's the people who are dealing with the crime. That's why it sounds pleasant. It's one of the gentler terms.

Introducing ethnic cleansing by L'Oreal. Ethnic Cleansing, the new selection at Spa de Casino de Adelson. It's a hair straightener called Ethnic Cleansing. But on to the man of the hour. Sheldon Adelson. And look, you know, you might be familiar with the fact that he gave the Trump inaugural committee about five million dollars. There is an ongoing investigation into the fact that millions of dollars are just totally unaccountable for from the Trump inaugural committee. So it could have totally ended up in his pocket, his family's pocket.

Could have did, Sean. Come on. Sheldon Adelson donated another twenty five million to Donald Trump during the 2016 general election. He donated another $100 million. Him and his wife donated $113 million to congressional Republicans in the 2018 midterm. You might recognize him as the guy on the news who's tooting around the halls of Congress in his scooter like the kid from The Shining in a tricycle but um the point is he's they even have a term for this the adelson primary where republicans go to his fucking casino and kiss his ring and look at all the things he was able to buy with his uh uh trafficked macau prostitute money um no let's not get ahead of ourselves we'll get to that but But the point is, essentially, he has extreme... Also, it's trafficked Macau sex worker money.

Yes. Sorry. We want to use proper terminology. So the point is, essentially, he has extreme control over Republican politics, but also he's been the subject of numerous Department of Justice investigations. So there's a clear conflict of interest when he's giving hundreds of millions of dollars to the very government that's supposed to be investigating his criminality. Guys, but let's start talking about young Sheldon, you know?

If it's funny, it's Bazinga. Interesting. Andy was explaining the origin of the term Bazinga to us. You see, young Sheldon had a moment in his life where he realized that if he did not have a normal childhood, he would grow up maladjusted. And basically a theater nerd that showrunners think embodies the spirit of a physicist. Andy, Andy, obviously our listeners know where the term bazinga comes from. That's that's worldwide knowledge right there. Come on. I'm just saying I think it's funny

that showrunners decided that his depiction of a physicist is just a theater nerd. It is pretty depressing that a majority of American households who watch television know where Bazinga came from, but nobody in this room did before today.

Yeah, that's a fair point. We're just not connected with the middle America reality that is Bazinga. I have to say, we've certainly become the worst drop show. I'm hoping people will recognize the keyboard as the moment we drop the shark. Jump the shark. How many people who listen to this are like, they're getting those billionaires. They're like, finally, they're taking down Sheldon Adelson, one of the biggest pieces of shit.

And it's just us like. Well, we have to make it very difficult for their lawyers to tolerate and listen to the entire show. I just want to make this podcast as embarrassing as possible to recommend to your friends buzzing let's just level out at 2 000 ish listeners because everybody's too ashamed to suggest their friends listen to it yo there's a great business podcast really smart tons of facts like yeah i listened to this podcast about billionaires oh yeah do they have an episode about Sheldon Adelson? No.

People will skip the first, like, two minutes of Marin. With our podcast, it's the first 55 minutes. Bazinga. The last five, we really nail it down. Sheldon Adelson. Bazinga. Sheldon Adelson was born in 1933 in boston um his father according to the new yorker his father was a lithuanian immigrant who was a cab driver in

boston his mother ran a knitting shop from their home in dorchester massachusetts um which was uh it was like a tenement sheldon lived in like one room with three siblings so essentially he has the kind of billionaire poor story where you grow up poor and you always talk about how you grew up poor, but you had a rich uncle the entire time. Right, right. What if Sheldon Adelson got his idea of ethno-nationalist identity from shithead Boston Irish guys? Well, on that point... And that's what drives all of his like insane Israel funding well on that point Andy uh one sentence I want to share with you um from the New Yorker

profile uh Sheldon Adelson and other Jewish boys in the neighborhood were beaten up by Irish youths oh he totally allegedly funded money uh to the uh Tories uh squads in the Troubles. Allegedly. I just made that up now. Allegedly. I just want to say I know who I'm hoping is having a happy St. Patrick's Day right now. Shout out to the Irish youths

in Sheldon Adelson's neighborhood. Hope you're having a Guinness. Hope the crack is flowing. Marauding Catholics. Beating him down every day at school. But so essentially like when you talk about Sheldon Adelson's rich uncle,

the story, and this is right on his Wikipedia page. Imagine hearing that's good crack and having a PTSD flashback. Yeah. They're the ones who put him in the mobility scooter. So, Sheldon Adelson... He just can't leave the house the week of St. Patrick's Day.

He hears bagpipes and he hides. He, like, hits the floor. Oh, no, they're coming. Hit the deck. Protesters like set up a jukebox and play Clancy Brothers outside his house because he like starts shaking and curls up in a ball.

Got the Ballad of Sergeant Peppers. He tried to get flogging Molly, labeled a hate group. Not the song about Finnegan's Wake. I was repeatedly dunked in a toilet while that was playing. But so, Sheldon Adelson starts his business career at the age of 12. He borrows $200 from his uncle, which is $2,740 in 2017 money. At the age of 12 to purchase a license

to sell newspapers in Boston. And according to the Morris County Library website, the historic prices in 1945, a used Pontiac Coupe rumble seat was listed as $195. Nice. The amount of money... 12 years old.

You could buy a used car. You could buy a used car. I mean, apples are 23 cents. But remember, he grew up poor and was self-made right a toothbrush is 47 cents gas is like 18 cents milk is 40 cents so this is a day and age where this kid's getting you know nearly like three in 2019 i think it was 3 600 right milk was 40 cents yeah i guess that scales yeah so that's like $4 Nevermind Thanks for checking that out Thanks for cross checking my reading

Gas was like $0.08 I love that one of the side effects As you start doing math out loud Right now there's like equations Like floating around In Andy's vision Andy's mind looks like an episode of Young Sheldon Just like random differentials

Playing around If any co-workers are listening They're talking about CBD I had some CBD He's very relaxed right now From a bodega But not the kind that was just banned The legal guy

No, no But so the kind that was just banned. The legal guy. No, no. But so, and you know, we just mentioned he gets this money from his uncle to start a newspaper business at 12. At age 16, he gets even more money from his uncle. In 1948, age 16, he gets $10,000 from his uncle, which is in 2017 dollars, $102,394. So he gets a six figure loan from his uncle at age 16 to start a candy vending machine business. Yeah. Well, friends and family LLC,

they, uh, they support all the business, the rich uncle strategy of growing up poor and becoming a billionaire. Um, but it is interesting, like at this point where he's running these vending candy vending machine businesses in Boston,

uh, there was a book written, which we'll maybe get back to called sharks in the desert and it alleges that while he was running this candy it alleges that uh while while he was running this candy vending machine business in boston he was either extorted by or worked with uh the patriarca crime family which is is the Boston Mafia, and the Winter Hill Gang, which was, of course, Whitey Bulger's gang. And he actually sued the author of this for libel, and the case was thrown out, but the author had to declare bankruptcy while he was taking care of his daughter who had brain cancer.

Oh, wow. So that just shows you how libel courts work in this country. And we would just like to say all of that is allegedly. We think that Sheldon Adelson actually smashed the Patriarcha group. He's woke. But, you know, like suing about the winter hill gang is something that would only happen before the movie departed came out because now that the movie departed came out it's like hollywood and cool to say that you were shaken down by the winter hill gang but before the movie

departed you know he's the hipster and getting shaked down by that gang it's such a fucking new england name for your gang winter hill yes oh Yes. Oh, yeah. Out in Dorchester. It's like, I'm going to sip some Chardonnay with the Winter Hill gang. Hey, what should we name our gang? Sugar? No, it's taken. What else is around here? They were in a diner and it was snowing, and they looked at the sugar, and then they looked outside.

They needed to be something white. Yeah. We're white. We're on a hill. We can't be the White Hill Gang. Winter Hill Crab Shack. No, the Winter Hill Crab Shack's taken. But so after all the white people come up with the name Winter Hill Gang.

Let's just say, okay, so we had to start over because the car died for a second. But we're back. We're talking Winter Hill Gang. We were worried we lost our great riffs about how the Winter Hill Gang was named after sugar and a diner and the fact that they're all white. And then looking outside and seeing a hill in the winter. Yes. They were on a hill and they thought we're white. You know I was walking and it was really slippery and I was worried I'd slide down

this hill out there. Just imagining them being in the diner and they're like okay well we're a New England gang what about the crab guys and then they look over and there's just a gang of like Boston shitheads but they're also crabs. Damn it it's taken oh shit all the good names always taken i'm gonna kill any of these summer flatland motherfuckers i see uh so um after he allegedly but we don't want to provoke a lawsuit, may or may not have been extorted by the Winterhill gang,

he does actually leave this business and he joins the United States Army. Sheldon Adelson joins the Army. What do you think is going to be a bigger lawsuit bait? The organized crime connections or the fact that we outright accuse him of funding a genocide? I think the Dino track that you parodied. That's the angle he gets us on. There's a Supreme Court case. They have not proven to be

funny to me, so I don't believe it's parody. You know the Supreme Court. It's like a sovereign citizen defense. At this point. It's a parody. Under the articles of Confederacy. Yeah, you start referencing the Federalist Papers. We start getting really technical in the courtroom.

It's like, are you doing parody? No, sir, we are speaking. Speaking is protected under the Articles of Confederacy. You see those Sovereign Citizen videos, right? I watch the First Amendment audits every night to go to sleep. The funniest shit is when... I watch it always. The funniest shit is when the officer will say something like,

so you're driving this vehicle? And they'll go, no, sir, I'm traveling. Chickmeat. There was one I was watching recently and it was the First Amendment audit, which is where they film public places and cops don't cut it out

because it's like a private area. Right. Or it's a public government facility. They don't want people filming. Anyway, the cop at one point just went, why don't you guys get like nice cameras? Because you use like $200, $300 phones. And the guy behind the camera just goes, $300? This is a Galaxy S8.

This is a $900 phone. So good. So good. By the way, a legal tactic that sovereign citizens use that I respect a lot. Oh, so good. So good. By the way, a legal tactic that sovereign citizens use that I respect a find out a bunch of fraudulent liens have been filed against their house. Just to fuck with people and tie up the court system. There's one where it was a First Amendment audit, and it was going on for 45 minutes. Yeah. And at minute 36, he gets back in his car, and the cops are surrounding him.

And you just hear him go, now you see that, son? This is exactly why we've got to stand up. For 36 minutes, the son has said nothing. And then at that point, you realize there's been a kid in the situation the entire time. Last one, my favorite Sovereign Citizen video. You think that was a weird day for the kid or a normal day for the kid? That's every day for that guy's life, man. That was a good day for the kid or a normal day for the kid? That's every day for that guy's life, man. That was a good day for that kid.

The Australian equivalent is the free men on the land movement. And there's one of the videos, the YouTube compilation of Sovereign City videos, funniest shit on YouTube. Better than any stand-up video ever will be. It's so true. There's nothing you can write that is just funnier than these people. So my favorite video, it opens with these Australian people driving in a car, and you hear police sirens behind them,

and the first thing the guy says is, so we just drove through a DUI check point. We just drove directly through without stopping. And then it's like, he goes, free men on the land. And there's these cop cars chasing him and then they pull him over and smash the window funny oh and they film all of that for our entertainment i mean they're they're national and international heroes but um yes uh the uh our favorite free man on the land of Palestine is Sheldon Adelson. And so Sheldon Adelson, he joins the army.

He attends trade school to be a court reporter, court stenographer. We should mention what his dad was doing when he was a young Sheldon. He was a taxi driver. He was a taxi driver, and he was also suffering from a borderline gambling addiction. That was kind of soaking his family. He said he would go to the horse races in the day and the dog races at night. It reminds me of the rat

race in the morning. I wonder if there is any sort of Austrian psychologist who would have something to say about this. That reminds me of the Vince McMahon episode. He grew up in trailer parks with his family in beatings and then now runs the WWE. Yeah, it's like whatever afflicts your father is like how you make your empire. Right.

Afflicting other people's fathers. And Jeffrey Epstein. But so Sheldon Adelson, he joins the army and he's like a court stenographer there. It's interesting, like he talks about he was actually involved in kind of the aftermath of the army, the Joseph McCarthy hearings, speaking

of St. Patrick's Day heroes. But so like a lot of like physicists were essentially disbarred from working on the nuclear program or getting government grants because they were alleged communists or socialists or whatever so sheldon sheldon adelson actually talks about he took down like the court testimony of some of these people trying to like get their license back you know in the aftermath of the army mccarthy hearings um and he actually tells like some weird story about like being at some soiree

with physicists and they're like talking about you know know, what's the meaning of life? And he goes like, you know, these, these, these eggheads are, he said something like these eggheads are supposed to be like the smartest people on earth. And they're debating this stuff that it's like, well, humans have wondered that for all time. You'll never know. And at that moment I realized the meaning of life is happiness. But if I make other people happy, that makes me happy. And at that moment, I realized the meaning of life is happiness. But if I make other people happy, that makes me happy. And that's the meaning of life. And I've never looked back.

And I'm paraphrasing, but he gave kind of his talk. It's like, it's just kind of a weird life philosophy. But it's also the underpinnings is he has convinced himself that by making billions, he is helping people. Sure, sure. By making billions off, you know off trafficking prostitutes and gambling. Yeah. Allegedly on the prostitutes' part.

Right. But not allegedly on the gambling. Yes. I mean, you're fueling gambling addictions. You're union busting. And he's convinced himself that he is making himself happy by making other people happy. I mean, I've got to say with the resources he has,

he probably has the most high-tech diaper money can buy, which I'm sure is making plenty of people who have to be in his presence happy. It's just cashmere. It's just a cashmere diaper. Hey, what do you think is worse for society? Gambling or tobacco industry? Probably tobacco. Though it is interesting. Sheldon

Adelson, the majority of his money right now, I think 60-ish percent of his revenues come from his casinos in Macau, the Chinese colony, which is the only place in China where gambling is legal. And opium and gambling actually both have a very taboo history in China because, of course, colonizers, European colonizers used both of those things to control the population. You don't have to say European. We knew. Yeah, I mean. Also Japanese. Let's not erase their history.

If you're a mainland Chinese person and you go to Macau and you gamble, does that help your social credit score? Or is it worse? But so, Shel Nadelsohn... It really depends how you do. Right, right.

You win three blackjack hands. They're like, all right, probs. Plus 10. They find out you're counting cards. Okay, going down. So Adelson's a court reporter, court stenographer for the U.S. Army. He leaves.

And then he founds like a ton of businesses, essentially. He speaks a lot about being an entrepreneur you know this entrepreneur mindset so uh sheldon adelson starts a business is from the new yorker where him and his brother packaged toiletries he was on his uh words doing what other people said he couldn't do okay go on sean he was packaging toiletries uh they were packaging toiletries to be distributed to hotels. Oh, so brave. They started a business called De-Ice It, which sold a chemical spray to help clear frozen windshields. That I'm sure had nothing to do with the decline of eagle populations in the United States. Think different.

He sold ads for a financial trade publication. He advised companies looking for financing. He invested in real estate. He ran a charter bus tour business. This guy is breaking all the rules. He said that by his mid-30s, he had a net worth of about $5 million, but he lost a fortune twice.

But I just like that he has founded businesses equivalent to the number of ongoing lawsuits he currently has. So that's why we're all just getting by by the string of our teeth. I don't think any of us have lost our fortunes ever. We're two down. Yeah. But, I mean, essentially he uses his rich uncle's startup capital to fund a ton of businesses during boom time in America. And he's successful in some of these, but again, loses his fortune twice.

He's got the luxury to fail. That's all it is. Yeah. You know. Hey, how many risks can you take before you've, how many risks could we take before our lives would crumble? Two? How many uncles we got?

Uncle Sam, Uncle Tom. Essentially, his big break is in 1979, where he founds comdex which is a computer trade show in uh las vegas this is what moves him to las vegas originally he's not originally there for gambling he essentially founds one of the first computer trade shows in the country and this is just where computers are really starting to take off, 1979. So the idea is essentially businesses will have junkets out to Vegas to see different computer models and think about buying them for their business, and then these businessmen will come out for the junkets.

So Adelson kind of starts getting on the back end too, where it's like, okay, I can get in on the hotels for the businessmen, I can get on entertainment for the businessmen. And Comdex is really what makes him a multimillionaire in Las Vegas. I thought you just went for that pussy dog i thought shell was trolling it was like you want i want a house out here son no that was my cow they see me scoot

so it's it's essentially this um this get me gambling nerdy so it's he sets up uh with some other investors what's called the interface group is the controlling company that owns comdex and um in 1989 shell natelson uses this money that he's made from this computer trade show, trade convention, to essentially buy the Sands Casino, the Las Vegas Sands, which is a famous casino. You know, the Rat Pack, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra carried out several murders there. Oh, yeah. You know, so it's a famous Las Vegas casino that he buys in 1989, which again, you know, he's really gambling on, he builds, he also around this time- How many times do you think Dean Martin used the N-word in that building? And he demolished it.

And our historical preservation society did nothing to stop him. How dare they? Yeah. I want it to be in the halls where Dean Martin called somebody a jigaboo. But so... Sean, why did that word come so naturally?

I'll just say, if you watch the old Dean Martin roasts are on YouTube. Yeah. And there's one where Muhammad Ali's there. And they're doing, let's just say, era appropriate jokes. And Muhammad Ali is just glaring at them the whole time because he could just very easily knock the shit out of all of them real quick. And probably should have. But so essentially Sheldon Adelson, he builds also the country's largest exhibition center right next to the hotel.

The, you know, oh, so it's the Sands Hotel. Excuse me. He buys the Sands hotel and then he bought builds this giant exhibition center right next to it and people you know kind of like and this is where he sets up the company that he still owns the las vegas sands and it also incorporates the macau sands later but so he builds this giant exhibition center next to it and he's essentially again grant gambling successfully on this uh trade show corporate junket market and this kind of expands where you know lots of businesses will have these business junkets in las vegas because you know they can party and they can do business you know

so slanderous to say that he had uh organized crime ties well it is like an buying a rat pack casino in las vegas the winter hell gang only showed up to one trade show but so weird thing about his character that happens around this time um he screws his uh children out of um shares in his company like yeah he fucked them over on stocks right yeah so he has three children, I believe, or he has five children altogether. One of them's passed away. But three children at the time from his first marriage, two sons and a daughter.

In 1989, he had arranged for each of them to receive... I like to say worst marriage. In 1989, he arranged for each of them to receive like uh 2900 ish shares of the company that owns this uh computer convention center or this computer the interface group which uh owns the independent trade shows in vegas about computers you know um in 1989 he gives them these shares. But in 1994, the Japanese SoftBank approaches him about buying him out of this position. And just before this... Sounds like they're playing hard bank. Right.

So 1994, he's going to get bought out. But just before he gets bought out, he approaches his children. I thought the appropriate thing to do was move on. Steven covered his eyes. i i had to i it was too good yeah but so that was so great yeah but so the point is just before this sale he approaches his children about buying the shares back that he'd given them the stock in 1989 1994 there's uh he buys the stock back from them he gives them about five million ish dollars each but the thing is he buys the stock back from them at a valuation of the company at about 400 some million and then just a couple weeks later he

sells it to softbank for 800 million dollars more than 800 million so essentially he undervalues it by about half right when he buys the stock back from the children and screws them out of at least $5 million each. And this is his own children. I think he claimed later, because I watched

an interview with him, an hour-long interview, and these things are rarely very enlightening, but you can kind of get like an idea for someone. He claimed that because one of his kids died of an overdose, he was keeping money from them for their own protection

yeah well and like the other fucked up thing is so both uh two of his sons sue him over this the lawsuits are eventually thrown out like i think the court said something like he's acting like a really shitty father but he didn't technically defraud them so um but so two of his wait really because it sounds like he had good insider trading well the thing is like they could with his children right they couldn't prove that he was aware of the sale before he bought the stock back so it could have conceivably been a coincidence that he undervalued the company by just half and then immediately sold it but it's just such a weird thing to do by your children. During the trial, he had like a Mr. Magoo style forgetfulness. Right.

The jury was just like, I mean, who knows if this guy remembers anything? Yeah. Walking into the walls. Scooting into walls. His two sons sue him. His daughter doesn't sue him. The lawsuits are thrown out. But one of his sons in 2005 dies of a drug overdose.

You know, he had a heroin and cocaine problem and it's just kind of fucked up where like Sheldon Adelson has been a big opponent of marijuana legalization. He spent a lot of money to keep it from being legalized ostensibly because he says it's a gateway drug and he talks about his own son dying of overdose. And it's like, well, you're skipping the part where you screwed him out of $5 million and maybe perpetuated a downward spiral that might happen if your own fucking

father fucks you out of money. You know, like your own family. It's just fucked up. So what are the kids' net worth instead? Is it like, what, a couple million dollars? It said each child, the three of them received just under $5 million. And they should have received over $10 million if it had been valued at what SoftBank actually bought it for.

Right, right. Which was double what he valued at. But regardless, so 95... But his second wife is lovely. 95, he sells this trade show company to SoftBank Japan, and then he uses this money in 1996. He demolishes the Las Vegas Sands Hotel. And again, this is a historic monument,

but he opens the Venetian in 1999, which is still there. So essentially he demolishes this old hotel, builds this new luxury one, but important point... It's got a red tower. Important point is the Sands Hotel, like lots of Las Vegas hotels and casinos historically,

was unionized. Right. It was union workers. So he demolishes in 1996 this unionized hotel, and then in 1999 he opens a non-union hotel. And this is what brings him into Republican politics, is essentially he starts a long battle with the unions, and they start picketing him, and he starts funding Republican politicians specifically to break the back of the unions, and they start picketing him, and he starts funding Republican politicians specifically to break the back of the unions. And fun fact, people don't know this,

but Sands Hotel, not made out of sand. Also fun fact, at the little red Venice Tower, you can reenact the last scene from Young Pope. Oh, really? Yeah. What? Yeah. So it's in particular in uh did he die i don't

know it's like the antisopranos in las vegas uh and in nevada the culinary union is a very uh is a relatively strong union of course they're all under assault but um so he's had this long-running battle with the culinary union and this is just from the new yorkers uh the new yorker profile um so adelson has said that the benefits he gives his employees are superior to union benefits which is of course true because uh why would people unionize to make their own lives worse right why would they risk being fired and retaliated against just to get worse benefits um but so there was a uh in early uh the early aughts that every job has its ups and downs and a union can't change that um but so essentially in the early aughts there was a rally in which a thousand union supporters picketed in front of the newly built venetian

hotel uh adelson tried to have them was that Oh, is that named after Venice? Yes. He went on a trip to Venice with his wife, and then he tried to build a hotel to recreate the experience. Adelson tried to have the protesters removed by the police. You know what would be great about this vacation? If I didn't have to fly to get to fucking here.

I just want to scoot on over a couple of blocks and get a more generic version of it. There's no water. You know what I like about this place? It seems like it would really be a good place to wrap up a one-season narrative about a young pope. I like the water, but not so much the wops. Can we do the one without the other? I can't take all the water out of here,

but maybe I could build one without the water. Apparently, yeah, they have some canal in or attached to the Venetian Hotel, and he was really micromanaging. He ordered it drained and then refilled to get the water the perfect degree of blue. Oh, he at least tries to recreate right the canals okay yeah it's like you can do it cheaper with dye let's do it with no water in a lit lock desert and you're already

in a you know lifeless patch of hell so you're not going to poison the fish there's no fish but so in the early aughts there's this rally a thousand union supporters pick at his hotel he tries to have the police remove them. When that failed, he goes to court, arguing that the sidewalks outside the Venetian were private property and not subject to the First Amendment. He lost in the district court. Then he lost in the appellate court.

Sir, are my sidewalks being detained? Yeah. That was some suffering. And then in 2002. Anything I can see from a public place I can film. my sidewalk's being detained. Yeah. That was some sovereign. Yeah. And then in 2002... Anything I can see from a public place, I can film. In 2002,

the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case. And Adelson is, again, very explicit about this. Like, he doesn't say it publicly, but according to former employees, again, his family was all Democrats. But he explained this to a former employee that he has a long-running feud with that, quote, old Democrats were with the union and I wanted to break the back of the union.

Consequently, I had to break the back of the Democrats. And this is according to a lawsuit alleged by a former... Why do you have to break anyone's back? He stepped on too many cracks. That's from a lawsuit by a former employee named Shelley Berkeley, who later became a congressman. And he has this long-running feud with her where she lost her Senate run, partly because Sheldon Adelson spent millions funding her opponent. But he would also dump millions into her safe Democratic district just to be spiteful and try to get her to feed it um but yeah like she says that uh his uh her relationship with him began to sour the moment i urged him to hold jobs open at the venetian for former sands workers

so he demolishes this union hotel he fires all the union workers and then he hires scabs and doesn't make jobs available to former union workers So it's it's a very clear connection of what gets him involved in Republican politics in the 90s I mean, I'm sure he made a lot of jobs for Italian Americans But so and then just kind of like jumping through his life we can we can go to Macau where he's Really just literally two days before the recording. He's settled an ongoing lawsuit based on what happened in Macau where he's really just literally two days before the recording he's settled an ongoing lawsuit based on what happened in Macau but in 2001 he created an iconic piece of architecture that's what I learned from the interview with him that I watched but so in 2001 Adelson meets with

the vice premier of China and the Hong Kong businessman named Richard Suen, S-U-E-N, had set up this... You'll be putting on Ms. Suen. Drop. Got it. Basically, this Hong Kong businessman had set up the meeting

because he had connections to the Chinese government officials and he had set it up. I don't remember the exact conditions, but I think it was like he wanted a 2% cut of whatever deal they got or something like several million and so he sets up this meeting with the chinese government adelson gets his uh hotel and casino and then adelson just walks away

and doesn't give him anything wow and then that's been tied up in court since 2004 um the 15 years yeah he because they kept appealing and this guy He initially got like a 40 million Then a 70 million award And then they kept appealing And as of two days ago They settled it But we don't know the terms Oh

But Adelson finally paid this guy Some amount of money After all this time Fucking him over For helping him set up The bribery connections With the Chinese government But so like

This Macau story. I'm not saying he's doing anything illegal. I'm just saying I deserve more money for the thing I helped set up. But so he's, I believe he is actually the first foreigner to get a license to set up a casino in Macau. He opens the Sands Macau in 2004.

As we mentioned, now Macau is 60 some percentage of their revenue. They have like another, I think they have the Macau is 60-some percentage of their revenue. They have another. I think they have the Macau Venetian as well now. And Macau, this is a small island nation that is under Chinese control now. Yes. And it actually has a... Was it under Dutch control? Portuguese.

Portuguese. Oh, okay. Yeah. Portuguese. From 1554? Something like that, yeah. It was like Hong Kong was British, Macau was Portuguese. Just to give a bit of background.

Man, talk about a downwardly mobile country. Yeah, well, it has a higher inequality than most of the mainland China. Right. Yeah. Oh. Hong Kong has significant inequality, too. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, it's an interesting thing where it's like, again, as we mentioned, the

only part of China where gambling is legal. So, like, there's like a one one hour speed boat from Hong Kong to Macau that's like regular for gambling trips and these sorts of things so it's like um what if they just like in a couple years just do pure Maoist shock therapy to Macau and Hong Kong you mean

we find out in a couple years but so I'm just saying they just go whole like you know just the the most extreme aspects of Maoism they just bring them, like, you know, just the most extreme aspects of Maoism. They just bring them right into, like, you know, the Red Army just marches in. They're like, all right, landlords in prison. But so, again, we, as usual...

I knew this was in New York. We only have an hour in this episode, so we can't really get to all the shit that Sheldon Adelson did, but we've mentioned the Foreign corrupt practices act it is illegal for u.s companies and officials and businessmen to bribe foreign officials what uh in february 2013 the las vegas sands in a regulatory fire filing admitted that it had likely violated this law by bribing Chinese officials to allow Adelson to build his Macau casino. Right, right. So he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In 2015, he settles this for about $9 million. Nobody goes to prison. And as we've mentioned, you know, he's donated all this money to Trump and the Republicans, and there's also allegations in his Macau casinos that historically Macau has been controlled by the Chinese triads. Gambling there has been. So there's lots of allegations that Chinese triads are involved in the VIP rooms, in prostitution.

Sean, what's so funny about the phrase Chinese triads? Why are you laughing while you're saying Chinese triads? Wait, could we, I would just like to say the name of a triad that is reportedly linked to his company. The Wu Hop 2 Triad. Please don't kill me. What are the rest of their names? Sheng Shi Ta, a Hong Kong born leader of the Wu Hop 2 Triad. This is from the guardian can i just say that like even when a country doesn't have wops they still invent them uh sheng is banned

from entering the united states because of quote his affiliation to organized crime this is from the liner notes of the martin shirkelly wu- album. Come on, I know what you're reading here. This is from The Guardian. So basically, this is another ongoing lawsuit is that one of Sheldon Adelson's floor managers in Macau said he tried to get prostitutes and loan sharks and triads off the floor of the casino and was fired and told this policy comes directly from Sheldon Adelson. Don't interfere with it. And that's another kind of lawsuit that was tied up.

And according to his lawsuit, Jacob says that Adelson accused him of, quote, squealing like a pig to the government. I'm so glad we've moved away from the organized crime history of Las Vegas to respectable businessmen like Sheldon Adelson. I somehow managed to not look at Sheldon Adelson's face this whole time and now looking at it. It's just...

The beginning of Return of the Jedi with Jabba the Hutt's face mixed with the end of Return of the Jedi with the Emperor's face. Like, just this melting... Jabba the Hutt was founding the farming colonies on Tantooine.

Displacing the Jawas. But so, again, Adelson denied in court knowing this triad leader and said, oh, he's just a gambler. We don't know him. But according to these court documents, happens is in these vip rooms and casinos the triads will like control prostitution and drug running there and they'll even bring high rolling businessmen there and in exchange they get like a 10 cut or whatever the case may be and so what

happens is adelson denies it and then in 2008 documents show that in 2008, one of the Sands casinos in Macau extended $32 million in credit to this triad junket company. So he extended a $32 million loan to organized crime triads, the WooHop2 triad. Like in Revenge of the Sith, when Samuel L. Jackson's holding up his lightsaber to the emperor and his face starts melting, Sheldon Adelson looks like if you dragged that scene out a few more minutes. There's like one other weird thing that I want to say from this episode. Before he actually gets approval for this casino, Sheldon Adelson meets with the mayor of Beijing. At this point, China was trying to get approval to host the Olympics. There was some generic resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives that was saying, condemning China hosting the Olympics for human rights violations.

The mayor of Beijing mentions this to Sheldon Adelson. Sheldon Adelson calls Tom DeLay directly. Then the Republican was either the majority leader or the whip. I forget what he was at the time. to Sheldon Adelson. Sheldon Adelson calls Tom DeLay directly. Then the Republican, was he the majority leader or the whip? I forget what he was at the time. Tom DeLay from Blink-182. Yes, Tom DeLay. So Sheldon Adelson calls him directly.

Tom DeLay calls him back and says, quote, you're in luck. We're not going to be able to move the bill. So you tell your mayor that he can be assured this bill will never see the light of day. So it just kind of tells you the axis that Sheldon Adelson has. Like another funny thing from the New Yorker thing is apparently Sheldon Adelson's wife, Miriam, found a CD or put together a CD on the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. And she brought it directly to the White House and said,

President Bush needs to see this. So some fucking like PowerPoint presentation she put together about some like terrorist group that she had Googled was brought directly to the president's desk. You know another funny thing from the New Yorker? Yeah. The comics. Didn't she win?

There's like a dog in a therapist's office. And? didn't she win there's like a dog in a therapist's office and yeah it's like sometimes uh i wonder if the cars are chasing me um and that's the time to go you'll find in the new yorker yeah only 9.99 for in limited episodes episodes but so well we're not going to get to everything but uh i did want to mention i guess dogs don't chase cars anymore now with leash laws being what they are before we run out of time i want to mention israel and i want to mention important yes i want to mention israel and i want to mention sheldon adelson in 2015 buys the las vegas review journal which is apparently the nevada's largest media outlet and this kind of ties into something we've seen, which is the death of local news outlets.

You know, again, like classified advertising revenue has been destroyed by Craigslist and the internet. So a lot of local reporting is being phased out. And of course, Sheldon Adelson buys the Las Vegas... One of the less

consequential mass deaths that Sheldon Adelson is involved in. He buys the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015. In 2016, it becomes the only major paper in the country to endorse Donald Trump for president. But interestingly enough, he buys it for $140 million, which is a lavish overpayment. And like immediately... Was he funneling money into it? Right. Hiding money?

Yeah. So immediately after the sale... Well, he probably just like wanted a propaganda outlet. And the Las Vegas Review-Journal has occasionally looked into his business practices. Immediately after the sale, it comes down through the publisher in the pipeline. Do not mention Sheldon Adelson.

Do not mention his businesses without direct permission from the publisher. So that immediately happens. And they even tried to hide the sale from their own newsroom. And then so the reporters had to, within a week, figure out that Adelson had bought it.

And then like, I think 20 to 100 of them were either laid off or just quit. Because Sheldon Adelson turned it into a propaganda rag, like almost immediately. And this is something we see a lot of billionaires doing.

He's done the same thing in Israel, where in 2007 he founds a free newspaper that's like a bb netanyahu supporter also their review of captain america winter soldier very phoned in oh but it's like basically just wrote off the marvel press release yeah but so uh uh one other thing from this las vegas review review This guy he had sued for libel For writing the book Sharks in the Desert Was a guy named John Smith who was a regular columnist For the Las Vegas Review Journal

And as we mentioned Sheldon Adelson Sues him for Sheldon Adelson sues him for 15 million dollars In damages For this book And then apparently the guy says that sheldon adelson had a rabbi as an intermediary call smith and say he will put six figures in your bank account for your daughter's medical bills which is of course his daughter's dying

or has a brain tumor i think she's still alive but okay he's generous yeah he'll put six figure sum in your bank account as long as you acknowledge in court that you libeled me wow and again this is like a book that's like like a small house right uh and he has to file for bankruptcy because this billionaire is suing him for libel the case is later dismissed because it's completely without merit right but it just shows you how you can throw money around and then unsurprisingly this columnist who did occasionally mention sheldon adelson as you do after a guy bankrupts you while your daughter is dying uh he did occasionally mention sheldon Adelson as you do after a guy bankrupts you while your daughter is dying. He did occasionally mention Sheldon Adelson. And of course, immediately he's told you cannot mention Sheldon Adelson anymore.

And he leaves the newspaper. So it's like, yeah, just hunt your enemies and buy their source of income. Journalism isn't dying in this country. Okay. Yeah. Well, I think we're safe because we don't have any daughters. Not yet. But Adelson has, since 2000, him and his wife have donated over $140 million to Birthright Israel.

So, you know. That is a lot of hand jobs. Yes. And, in fact, speaking of demographic problems, this is from the New Yorker. Adelson paid like three million for a dinner like where Shimon Perez, who's Israel former prime minister. He had a dinner to like speak with, you know, Israeli leaders and influencers and global problems and stuff. And so according to the New Yorker, Thought Fluencers. Yeah. So he, Shimon Perez asked the guests what they considered the biggest challenge

facing the Jewish people. Adelson said, quote, I think Jews should have lots of sex. This is the solution to our demographic problem. So that's why you fund $140 million of birthright Israel. Just get a bunch of horny Adam Friedlands in the room. Come in and eat each other.

Don't give them condoms. And you can turn them into settler colonialists. I think if two Adam Friedlands come in each other, they don't make... You'd be surprised. They don't reproduce. It's very potent. I'll say, because you said influencers, I'm just imagining like someone who usually hops like lip gloss on Instagram being like, the Palestinians' homeland is in Jordan.

Look, it's not our fault that the best places to grow oranges happen to be where they're living. And you know, the fun thing about this joke is that it's absolutely true. Yeah, there are people who do that. But so, according to The New Yorker, Adelson has recounted how his father yearned to set foot in Israel,

but was too poor to travel there, and then later too ill to go. After his father died, Adelson traveled to Israel and wore his father's shoes as he disembarked from the plane and kicked over a settlement. Kicked over someplace that they were displaced to. I like when they pride billionaire stories where they have heart.

Because then it makes every other crime they do just that much more treacherous. You know what i mean like he has a soft part is for his dad's fucking raggedy ass shoes and yet is still willing to fuck over everyone else what if he just went to a dog track and like was like yeah fuck you dad i can do both and then just put it all on the shittiest dog how do you think of the 140 million but so he uh divorces his bed on the pups and go to the homeland sean nadelson divorces his first wife sand pups and go to the homeland sheldon adelson divorces his first wife sandra he marries his second wife miriam who is an israeli citizen um and she's allegedly the one who really pushes him right on israel but i do want to mention by right you mean correct

sheldon adelson has filed a lot of just sheldon adelson has filed a lot of just i have money libel lawsuits sure the one that he actually won and got damages on was against the Daily Mail. So I want to be clear that this is the Daily Mail saying it. I am not saying it. What is the coupon book people? The Daily Mail suggested that Sheldon Adelson notified his first wife of his intention to divorce the day before she started chemotherapy. Oh my God. And again, that is the Daily Mail who had to pay damages for saying that.

I am not saying that. Bazinga. But so he marries his second wife Miriam in 1991. They have two children, both born in the 90s. So Sheldon Adelson has children younger than we are. Of course he does. Two Zoomer Israeli kids. You know, Jews need to have lots

of sex to fight the demographic problem um but importantly and this is just something i want to mention here when we talk about what when we talk about israel we are talking about a violently right-wing ethno state where even the nominal left that supports the two-state solution supports the two-state solution because of the demographic problem where supports the two-state solution supports the two-state solution because of the demographic problem where uh the former prime minister olmeir who uh sheldon adelson waged a vicious campaign with his media empire to displace with netanyahu olmeir came around to supporting the two-state solution precisely because of this demographic problem he said you know the palestinian birth rates are going to overwhelm the Jewish state, so we have to cordon them off in their own separate state. Sheldon Adelson is even more

extreme where he doesn't think they should have a state. They should have a little Bantustan where you have like a South Africa situation where they have no rights and are just completely at the mercy of the Israeli government and are eventually just completely pushed off all of the arable land and all of the decent resources and area that the Jewish people can settle and exploit. Okay, but what's the downside? I don't see any negatives to this, Sean. Yeah.

And also, this is like, Adelson has funded AIPAC since the 90s, but this is another place where he has publicly criticized AIPAC and funded even more extreme groups, where AIPAC, again, supports the two-state solution for these demographic reasons. I'm sure he got a lot of kickback for publicly criticizing APAC. Obviously. I mean, you know, when a 6'6 male

decides to criticize APAC, I mean, they pounce on him quicker than a tiger pounces on meat. I mean, nobody can criticize APAC. How dare they? Yeah. The fact that we're even seeing APAC and the word criticize in the same sentence, we could be sued. Chelsea Clinton will be on our ass. Well, Adam Friedland thinks she's unattractive, and she responded.

By the way, those kids were right. There's some shitbag on Twitter who was like, can you believe that this lady who accosted Chelsea Clinton put up her Venmo? And then you go to that guy's Twitter and the pinned tweet is his PayPal. He supports Elon. Here's my hot take on that. I don't think Chelsea Clinton had anything to do rhetorically with the New Zealand massacre, but you do get nervous when there is a Donald Trump Jr., Greg Gutfeld coalition with liberal blue check marks to attack and dox a college student who dares criticize Chelsea Clinton in public.

I mean, it's like, yeah, this is what power is at the end of the day. These people, these millionaires and billionaires and these corrupt people who do control our government will join hands to attack anyone who dares even mildly criticize them or hold them to account that is what bipartisanship is

but I do want to just close out our Israel stuff so we can run to the movie essentially the free newspaper we mentioned is Israel Hayom, which... Do you know they take a spaceship to the moon in the movie? I don't want to spoil anything.

Israel Hayom. Israel Hayom. Adelson opens it in 2007. Again, it's a free national newspaper. Adelson spends more than, I think, $140-150 million on this thing, where he's just running it at a loss as a propaganda outlet where other newspapers have to charge money but he's just like hey this

shit's free it's propaganda for netanyahu uh again as andy mentioned it's called bibby's paper and their journalists are strictly under strict orders not to speak publicly about the paper and they just receive marching orders it's a rag, and Adelson has an extreme amount of control over Israeli media and Israeli politics, to the point where one news channel in Israel, it suggested that he had undue political influence to get his casino license in Las Vegas, which is a ridiculous suggestion, because in Las Vegas,

you are not supposed to be able to get a casino license if you have any organized crime connection and Sheldon Adelson of course has no organized crime connection so it would be ridiculous to suggest that there is any unfair political forces protecting his casino license I love that they think that they can maintain the idea that you can operate that they can effectively enforce a law banning people from getting a casino license in las vegas who have organized crime connections yes a city that was founded on organized crime but so i watch both godfathers because because of this allegation this television channel it had to this television channel had to issue a public apology to adelson

then its news chief resigned itselson. Then its news chief resigned. Its news editor resigned. Its news anchor resigned. I'd just like to say that I would like to apologize personally to Mr. Sheldon Adelson for everything that's been said on this episode. And as soon as this is released, Sean will be resigning. Really? The Irishman can't take it anymore?

And so, you know, again, we can't get to everything Sheldon Adelson has done with his dark money, but it should be noted he ran like $15 million worth of ads supporting Bush's surge in Iraq. So he really does support U.S. war against Iraq, U.S. war against Iran, anything, you know, to, again, protect Israel's national security US war against Iraq US war against Iran anything you know to again protect Israel's national security or

be belligerent against other potential powers in the region what a fun time that was where you would watch commercials and it would be like we should kill more people the honey nut cheerio bee and the surge in Iraq you're like well I wonder what cereals

I should buy and also what uh war crimes i should support the bee tells you that it agrees with sheldon yeah basically that we should we should nuke drop a nuke just outside of tehran to show show them we mean business tony the tiger is dropping white phosphorus on the frosted flakes kids the flakes are savages before we apply the white phosphorus Lucky's funding malicious Lucky had some experience from the 90s

but so last thing I want to last thing I want to share personally on Sheleldon adelson in iran um in 2013 he was criticized but he was he was speaking before a discussion at yeshiva university sheldon adelson in 2013 said u.s policy should be quote you pick up your cell phone and you call somewhere in nebraska and you say okay let it go and so there's an atomic weapon that goes over ballistic missiles in the middle of the desert that doesn't hurt a soul and maybe a couple of rattlesnakes and a scorpion or whatever.

Or whatever. And then he says, if you, Iran, if you want to drop your nuclear program, we will nuke Tehran next. I mean, honestly, like Sheldon Adelson probably prioritizes the life of, what was it, a couple of rattlesnakes and a scorpion over the average Iranian. Yes. He went on to say that after this show of force, any threat to also drop a nuclear bomb on Tehran. And then right after, he'd be like, well, now that we've got that out, and they just cut off because the entire world is launching nukes, because we just launched a nuke at a country for no reason. And Adelson... As the nuke's going up, he looks at the sky and thinks of its beauty, and he says... Bazinga! and adelson also funds

orgs that are again to the right of apag he funds the um uh adelson institute for strategic studies which um and just like one more revealing quote from this you know of course they're very belligerent very hawkish i'm pretty sure though that's just a mobility scooter so apparently adelson uh this is from the new yorker adelson was dismissive of the son of the former shah of iran because um adelson said quote he doesn't want to attack iran unquote uh adelson referred to another iranian dissidents at the conference more positively saying he would like to support him because quote i like because he says that if we attack iran the iranian people will be ecstatic so essentially adelson supports uh the dissidents

and people who are essentially saying yeah you should go to war with iran and he doesn't like the son of the former shah because he is not representative of the entire country. And that the ones that Americans see are typically more hawkish. I get it. And align with American international power interests. Well, before we get out of here, unless you guys have anything else we didn't get to on Adelson. Miriam got like an award from Trump and it was clearly bought by the fucking money that he gave

the GOP the Medal of Honor or Freedom or some shit Medal of Freedom fuck her and I bet Sheldon Adelson doesn't eat ass calling that and so Adelson has a peripheral neuropathy since 2001 which is

why he has to use the scooter to get around. And then just in February... Oh, now you're making me feel bad. In February 2019... In February 2019... How do you feel now? In February 2019, the Las Vegas Sands announced that he was receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

And I think his lawyer said that he was in dire health straits. But it should be noted this was around the time that he was being called for deposition. So it's very possible they were just saying he was in dire health straits to get out of a deposition. But they've just settled the case as of two days ago. So he could very well be dying of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Probably is. You look at a picture of him today and you're surprised that he's alive.

In the prime of his life. It is like that... Baronon her conan yeah it looks like his jowls are more mummified than uh some of the uh items in the mat like the ark of the covenant indiana jones the melting face scene but just like the first few seconds of the face yeah he just stopped after one second he looked away he like peeked at the guard and was like I can't I think it's a couple more seconds than that okay but we'll see how the rest of the ongoing lawsuits with

Sheldon Adelson shake out we'll see if his donations to Donald Trump protect him from the federal government and the Department of Justice and we'll see if he's able to live long enough to see that sweet sunny sight of a mushroom cloud over Tehran and if he's able to live long enough to see that sweet sunny sight of a mushroom cloud over tehran and uh if he gets his way uh with uh john bolton's help but um we better not be in israel because

that emp will probably fuck up the scooter of course uh it's uh hard to do a comedy podcast because our good friend a comedian raghav metta uh passed away at the age of 31 years old he's a co-host on our we can say affiliate podcast pod damn america it was a very funny comedian podcast sister podcast um and you know i really encourage uh go back through pod damn america's archives listen to rogov he's great he's very funny so smart and uh it's very tragic you know like i want to do this at the end because i don't really know how to be funny about it because essentially we had him on our old podcast where we didn't know how to do podcasting democracy later and we're gonna cut it up and maybe release a snippet of that

maybe this week as a bonus and we just kind of assumed that Raghav would come on grub stakers you know you just assume your friend's gonna be around forever and he just like a week ago had a profile in vulture I was even thinking like oh his stars on the rise up you know this guy's gonna be like big and i can't wait to like see him again and talk to him again and then you find out that he that he died and it's just really devastating and uh so you know uh rest in peace to raghav but i mean one other thing i want to say and then you guys can say whatever it is you want to, is Raghav and I have talked, and Raghav, and I don't think I'm speaking out of school about this, Raghav was, for a period of his life, addicted to OxyContin. And we talked about my brother.

My brother's a drug problem ongoing. He's still fighting it. And Raghav was clean for the longest time. And we talked about that. And Raghav, you know, died. We don't know the exact circumstances. But his death, assuming it was an overdose, it was murder. And that's something that really frustrates me. And you can go back and listen to the Sackler episode that we did talk about Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family and the deliberate campaign to get Americans addicted to opiates that has killed over 200,000 people. And you know, my friend is dead. And Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, Amerisource, Bergen, McKesson, Cardinal Health, Johnson and Johnson, all of these

companies, they are responsible. And our federal government, the DEA, the FDA, they go back and forth from these companies, they leave their government jobs to go work there, or vice versa. Nobody's held accountable for the almost quarter of a million Americans are killed by this evil campaign. And it's just so fucking frustrating that, that Raghav is not here because you know, I just, I want to talk to the guy and see him and,

and he makes me laugh and smile and just hear about what he is thinking. And I can't do that because of what happened and our fucking corrupt government. We'll never hold people accountable for this unless we are out in the streets demanding that they do it won't such a yeah uh go ahead oh you're fine i mean it's like you know we joke about these people in their um you know dumbass melting faces but also they are murdering us. Like, make no mistake. For profit.

For profit, yeah. The average life expectancy in America dropped because of opiates. And suicide, which they're also playing a part in. And they, you know, made a killing off of it. And they, I mean, these people, it's not they're not a benign force in American society. They are an actively malicious force. And that's something that maybe that I don't know if it necessarily gets lost in what we're doing, but like it, it just needs to be emphasized that these people. Yeah. Yeah. Don't let the bazinga drops for you. We actually really hate these people yeah it's very frustrating because uh raga was one of the few people i knew that like did comedy and

was east indian who i didn't think was ever would be a hack uh in an industry where people are constantly profiting by um exploiting a stereotype raga of uh exemplified the anti that and uh it sucks to lose him because you regret every time you don't spend time with him and you think what you could do and all that shit. But if you go through his Twitter ACLU official,

it is an archive of some of the best tweets from a mind that lost too soon. And I would just like to say the last thing Raghav said to me is, Sean, you're actually totally right and Andy is wrong about Venezuela. And if Andy disputes this, he's actually arguing with my last words, which would be disrespect to my legacy.

So I'm glad he was able to leave us with that wisdom. Yeah, yeah. Actually, this might be the wrong time to do it. Andy, don't disrespect his legacy. But I've been working on this character called Guy who makes fun of people for losing their dear friend

what are you going to cry nerd? I just like that Sean got a plug in his fucking eulogy at the end there you can check out these other episodes we did that talk about what we're talking about. All right, I think we're good here. Look, Raghav would want us to continue doing our 2,000 listener podcast for free. If he was here right now, he would say,

you know, I know you guys are sad, but the show must go on, and your relentless quest for self-advancement must continue. I will say say one of the funniest things but actually I mean this genuinely is like that a lot of his friends are retweeting this reductress article where the picture is Raghav and the headline is

short man has enormous dicks and Raghav just has this like great smile fuck man well anything else to say about our friend in addition I only met raghav like a few times and as you know as you can tell by me mispronouncing his name but um you know in addition to being fucking hilarious uh he also had an impression on me like as like a fellow dsa member

yeah uh because like that guy helped organize thousands of dollars worth of fundraising. Right, he did the show, Paid Protest. For all of our campaigns. Yeah, through Paid Protest, as they call it. And yeah, I'll definitely miss him. I wish he was here to get mad at you for mispronouncing his name. Yeah. And with that, this has been Grubstickers.

I'm Yogi Poggle. Bazinga. I'm Andy Palmer I'm Sean McCarthy Steve Jeffers and we miss you Raghav rest in peace Because on our episode about Notch, the guy who made Minecraft, we had a Drake song. And we think he listened to it and reported it, and we had to take it down. But if you replace the lyrics of a song on SoundCloud, it is protected by the Supreme Court as parody Because you're creating a new kind of creative work And therefore they can't take you tracked down According to the law

Chapter 1. The Commodity The two factors of the commodity. Use value and value. The wealth of societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails appears as an immense collection of commodities. The individual commodity appears as its elementary form. Our investigation therefore begins with the analysis of the commodity. The commodity is, first of all, an external object, a thing which through its qualities satisfies human needs of whatever kind. The nature of these needs, whether they arise for example from the stomach or the imagination, makes no difference. Nor does it matter here how the things satisfy man's needs, whether directly as

a means of subsistence, i.e. an object of consumption, or indirectly as a means of production. Go fuck yourself, Notch We found a loophole So you can't get us cancelled I mean, maybe you could if you Filed a frivolous lawsuit But, you know, everyone would say you're an asshole And you're already not invited

To the billionaire parties Cause you're a weird guy and a... Every useful thing, for example, iron, paper, etc., may be looked at from the two points of view of quality and quantity. Every useful thing is a whole composed of many properties. It can therefore be useful in various ways. The discovery of these ways, and hence of the manifold uses of things, is the work of history.

So also is the invention of socially recognized standards of measurement for the quantities of these useful objects. The diversity of the measures for commodities arises in part from the diverse nature of the objects to be measured and in part from convention. The usefulness of a thing makes it a use value, but this usefulness does not dangle in midair. It is conditioned by the physical properties of the commodity and has no existence apart from the latter. when I started it, but now it seems pretty dumb. But I want just to commit to it, so I finish the whole thing. Cause it's still kind of fun to sing like this and get the nitty from Stan.

Dear Mr. I'm-Too-Good-To-Call-Or-Write-My-Fans, it is therefore the physical body of the commodity itself, for instance, iron, corn, a diamond, which is the use value or useful thing. This property of a commodity is independent of the amount of labor required to appropriate its useful qualities. When examining use values, we always assume we are dealing with definite quantities, such

as dozens of watches, yards of linen, or tons of iron. The use values of commodities provide the material for a special branch of knowledge, namely the commercial knowledge of commodities. Use values are only realized in use or in consumption. They constitute the material content of wealth, whatever its social form may be. In the form of society to be considered here, they are also the natural material bearers of exchange value. Exchange value appears first of all as the quantitative relation, the proportion, in which use values of one kind of exchange for use values of another kind. This relation changes constantly with time and place.

Hence, exchange value appears to be something accidental and purely relative. And consequently, an intrinsic value, i.e. an exchange value that is inseparably connected with the commodity inherent in it, seems a contradiction in terms. Let us consider the matter more closely. A given commodity, a quarter of wheat, for example, is exchanged for X boot polish, Y silk, or Z gold, etc. In short, it is exchanged for other commodities in the most diverse proportions. Therefore, the wheat has many exchange values instead of one. But X boot polish, Y silk, or Z gold, etc.

each represent the exchange value of one quarter of wheat. Therefore, X boot polish, Y silk, Z gold, etc. must as exchange values be... Oh, I'm interrupting myself, cause I didn't time it right. And now this is the last chorus, because it's the end of the song. And so I hope this was a fun little music gag. And if it wasn't, well, you probably already turned off the podcast anyway. Must as exchange values be mutually replaceable or of identical magnitude. It follows from this that firstly, the valid exchange values of a particular commodity express something equal and secondly exchange value cannot be anything other than the mode of expression the form of appearance of a

content distinguishable from it let us now take two commodities for example corn and iron whatever their exchange relation may be it can always be represented by an equation in which the given quantity of corn is equated to some quantity of iron for instance one quarter of corn equals one CWT of iron. What does this equation signify? It signifies that a common element of identical magnitude exists in two different things, in one quarter of corn and similarly in one CWT of iron. Damn.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, please, but we're making a scene. You guys are filming on $300 phones. If you want to film professionally and you want to get a good scene, why don't you have good equipment and film? This a Galaxy S7, buddy. This phone's $900. But what's your purpose, bro?