Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Nashville School Shooting; Ukraine Peace Plan; Trump’s Anti-DEI Push; Prince Harry Settlement; CNN Layoffs; Netflix Hikes Prices

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Starting point is 00:02:24 I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. Hi, this is Moe Swannunu. The Moe from Moe News, if you're familiar with us on Instagram or our podcast, I'm a longtime TV news producer who launched an independent news brand just a few years ago. As you know, Nicole is on maternity leave. So this week, my co-host Jill and I are guest hosting Money Rehab. Each day we're going to be sharing the latest episode of Mo News right here on the Money Rehab feed.

Starting point is 00:02:58 So you guys get the news you need to know every day this week. Here's today's episode. Hey everybody. you need to know every day this week. Here's today's episode. Hey, everybody, it is Thursday, January 23rd. You're listening to the Mo News podcast. I'm Moshe Nounou. And I'm Jill Wagner. This is the place where we bring you just the facts. And we read all the news and read between the lines.

Starting point is 00:03:18 So you don't have to. Jill, with that whole expression that one man's trash is another man's treasure. Fun story I was reading about out of Greece, where somebody apparently threw away a statue, a headless statue that they thought was just, you know, garbage, put in a garbage bag in the city of Assalineke. It turns out a resident was walking by and was like, this might be worth something, this headless statue. It turns out the statue, 31 inch statue, so just a couple of feet tall, is 2000 years old.

Starting point is 00:03:53 You gotta watch out there, I guess, especially in Greece, if you find something in your backyard or something kind of sitting around, you might be sitting on like ancient treasure, even if it is a headless statue. Apparently police have an open investigation. They talk to the person who threw it away. They have not been charged with anything.

Starting point is 00:04:10 Nonetheless, this is from the Roman era in Greece. So just a heads up. Don't quickly. Well, I guess in Greece, this is especially important. But even here in the US, you might be sitting on something valuable as you clean out your garage. I don't think you're at that risk on Long Island as much, but be careful what you throw out, right?

Starting point is 00:04:29 Be careful what you throw out. I mean, listen, you're not going to have millennia old stuff in the backyard on Long Island or anywhere else, but you might have something that's really valuable from a hundred or a couple hundred years ago, you know, here in American historical terms. My mom loves to throw things out. Okay, so she's like the opposite of a hoarder. And she still lives in my childhood home. And so I was there over the summer

Starting point is 00:04:52 and I'm looking at the street where all the garbage is and just like plain, not even wrapped in anything. Were my favorite cups, like in the shape of an ice cream cone. And I'm like, what are you doing? How can you throw those out? And I grabbed them. I brought them back into the house. And now they're my daughter's favorite cups.

Starting point is 00:05:10 You need to go. Well, I don't know what's left there, but you probably should go do inventory ASAP, Jill, before mom gets rid of some more stuff. I was like, please consult me before you clean out the house. All right. To the news here, let's start as we have all week with politics. We're getting an idea of how Donald Trump plans to end the war in Ukraine, but will it work? Plus the White House orders government DEI employees

Starting point is 00:05:33 to be placed on leave as a major shift in the federal workplace takes effect. Making a lot of changes very quickly there as his team has been taking over. Another day and tragically another school shooting in America, this time in Nashville, the site of a different school shooting last year. Overseas, the ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas appears to be holding. Negotiations are starting on phase two of the deal ahead of schedule.

Starting point is 00:06:01 Prince Harry has settled a lawsuit with Rupert Murdoch's News Group newspapers. CNN reportedly laying off hundreds of employees as its post inauguration transformation begins. A lot of pain right now at some of the legacy media companies. And Netflix, hiking prices as it adds subscribers and sees wins with its live sports strategy. Made it harder to steal someone's password

Starting point is 00:06:25 and raising the price there over at Netflix. And Moshe's on the stay in history. Your clue today, of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine. Okay, let's start with politics. President Trump said during the campaign that he could stop the Russia-Ukraine war

Starting point is 00:06:42 in just 24 hours. Well, no one really believed that deadline. Even his own officials said they'd probably needed 100 days to get talks in motion. Nonetheless, on Wednesday, he may have taken the first step toward that goal to end the war. So he called out Vladimir Putin by name, writing on his true social platform that he would impose high levels of sanctions on Russia and tariffs on imports from there if the country did not reach a settlement to end its nearly three-year-old war against Ukraine. He wrote, quote, if we don't make a deal and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions

Starting point is 00:07:19 on anything being sold by Russia to the United States and various other participating countries. Let's get this war, which never would have started if I were president, over with. We can do it the easy way or the hard way. And the easy way is always better." He then wrote, it is time to, in all caps, make a deal. No more lives should be lost. Most Trump up until now hadn't said how he would end the war, which started in February of 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Starting point is 00:07:47 It is now though looking like he'll be trying to use economic pressure. But the question is whether this will actually be effective. This comes, Jill, as the war still extremely deadly, Ukraine claiming that Putin's forces suffered nearly 2000 casualties in a single day. It would be the worst casualty total in 24 hours since the war began. There's a lot of estimates going around. In fact, Trump sort of, it appears, has talked about some classified numbers, several hundred thousand Ukrainians and Russians killed in this war, waiting on confirmation on that.

Starting point is 00:08:19 Nonetheless, Trump, not surprisingly, taking a very different approach from Biden here, direct engagement of Vladimir Putin. That's something Biden was not up to. He says he actually wants to meet with Vladimir Putin here. And as you mentioned, he took a harder line there saying, we're going to, you know, we can do this hard, Vlad. He had said earlier in the week that Zelensky appeared to be more open to a deal than Putin. So he's pushing back on Putin here.

Starting point is 00:08:42 The significant change, though, is that as far as the Biden administration was concerned, it was about Ukraine winning, even if it was totally unrealistic that they would win. They've been basically along the same battle lines for three years now, but the West and the US strategy was to basically bleed Russia out. In talking to NATO officials, they found that to be extremely successful, that this has really been a suck for Putin, that he's reliant on some technologies and weapons from the 1950s on the Iranians, on the North Koreans.

Starting point is 00:09:12 Nonetheless, the Trump approach is different, not to basically have this war go on in perpetuity here, but to end it. He sees himself as a dealmaker, looking for talks here between Zelensky and Putin. Now, what's unclear is what sort of deal he can come to here. Remember Putin claims that all of Ukraine is his. He occupies 20% of Ukraine. He's reluctant to walk back on any of that territory,

Starting point is 00:09:36 in particular these regions he's taken over that are very Russian speaking regions of Ukraine. And then you have Zelensky, who doesn't wanna give up an inch of territory here, but is probably willing to, if he gets security guarantees, like he gets to be part of NATO, which means in the future,

Starting point is 00:09:52 if Putin tries to invade Ukraine again and take even more territory, NATO would come to bail him out because he'd be part of the Alliance. Now that's not something Trump is keen to do either, and certainly not something Putin would allow. So what is going to be the magic deal here? What's going to be the compromise here as he tries to apply pressure on both the Ukrainians

Starting point is 00:10:11 by giving them less in the way of weaponry and aid, but then also put pressure on the Russians by promising tariffs, sanctions and other threats. What is rhetoric here? What's the final deal going to look like? In terms of these economic sanctions on Russia, particularly tariffs, in the first 11 months of last year, the US imported less than $3 billion worth of Russian goods. That's one-tenth of 1% of US imports coming from Russia. Now, that is down significantly over the last couple of years since Russia first invaded Ukraine. So, it's not clear how much of an impact tariffs and these

Starting point is 00:10:45 other measures would have on Russia here. Now remember, Putin and Trump have a unique relationship, interesting relationship. According to Bob Woodward reporting, they spoke a number of times while Trump was out of office here. Putin has congratulated Trump for his victory. He says he wants long-term peace, but what are the terms? And so ultimately, we'll see what goes down here. Zelensky spoke with reporters recently. Trump spoke with Zelensky. Trump says, again, Zelensky appears to be more open in negotiations here, but it takes two to tango.

Starting point is 00:11:22 Hence the message for Putin. And now to a major change when it comes to the federal workplace. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, all federal officials overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI efforts were placed on paid administrative leave. Department and agency heads were given the instructions on Tuesday evening, saying that they should prepare for workforce reductions by the end of January. Agencies were also ordered to remove DEI-related language and advertisements, shut down DEI offices and question employees about any remaining DEI efforts in disguise through coded language.

Starting point is 00:12:00 They went so far as to tell federal employees to report on colleagues who defy orders to a special email account. So Trump's broader stance on DEI initiatives is that they restrict and divide people by race and actually discriminate against white people rather than promote opportunities, which is different from former President Biden's policies where he was looking to expand representation, trying to lift up groups that have faced systemic barriers. Biden expanded DEI protections to include broader groups such as pregnant women, military spouses, rural communities, and caregivers. Tuesday's memo from the White House Office of Personnel Management claimed that DEI policies undermine our national unity by discrediting traditional American values like hard work and individual achievement. And it goes beyond just federal agencies and directs

Starting point is 00:12:51 the attorney general within 120 days to submit recommendations for enforcing federal civil rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end legal discrimination and preferences, including DEI? Yeah. In particular, the focus there, Jill, beyond the government is going to be higher education because remember, student loan programs, there's a number, there's a lot of funding that comes to education at all levels, but in particular, higher education through the federal government. So they're looking to hit institutions that have endowments of over a billion dollars for compliance

Starting point is 00:13:26 here. And so they have a couple months to figure it out, identify state and local educational institutions that receive federal funds and grants who participate in the student loan program here. So that's going to be a focus here. This comes all in that aftermath of that 2023 Supreme Court ruling we told you about that overturned affirmative action in college admissions. And that has been interpreted, extrapolated out

Starting point is 00:13:48 by a number of organizations to potentially have more far-reaching ramifications for any race-based program, race-based hiring program. And you have seen companies in the last year, Metta, McDonald's, Walmart, all ending their DEI programs here, partially due to their legal concerns about that Supreme Court ruling.

Starting point is 00:14:08 And as you mentioned, completely different philosophy from the Biden administration. They came in looking to reverse decades of systemic inequity, make the federal government look more like America. Trump says this socially engineers race and gender into public life. We're hearing from people, Jill, who were involved in planning Black History Month events and other events in the coming months here, who are canceling those or fear that they have to cancel those because of what it might mean for their jobs. A lot of these DEI programs came out of the Black Lives Matter movement, the killing of George Floyd. And there is acknowledgement, both in the corporate sector and the government sector, some of these DEI programs not as effective as some had hoped, that some had gone too far, that some

Starting point is 00:14:50 of the companies that are brought in here to do DEI are not really accomplishing their goals at the same time. There is a feeling among some that some aspect of this is a necessity, but it really boils down to the debate that's being had societally in this election in the government about equity and equality. Those who advocate for equality, which is equal treatment of everyone, versus those who believe in DEI equity. Equity as in elevating the needs of minorities to get to equality. An equity versus equality fight continues here. We did

Starting point is 00:15:27 see that Trump signed an executive order that we mentioned, declaring there are only two genders that has its own ramifications here. But when it goes to all the things Trump is up to, this has been key as he looks to remake the workforce here and knock out a lot of the priorities and programming that has been implemented over the course of the past few years under Biden. And quickly, another change coming to the federal workplace. Donald Trump requiring millions of federal employees to return to the office. He issued an order on Monday instructing all U.S. government departments and agencies

Starting point is 00:16:01 in the executive branch to end remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work on a full-time basis. Department heads can give some workers exemptions, but there is likely to be a lot of pushback from federal unions, some of which have remote work written into their contract. A lot here, Jill, both the DEI stuff that we were talking about, this stuff, there's going to be a lot of lawsuits here back and forth when it comes to these changes and what they mean. And so look for a variety of those cases that are probably already being filed as we record this.

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Starting point is 00:17:46 Nutrifol.com, that's spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com, promo code money rehab. That's Nutrifol.com, promo code money rehab. Time for the speed read. Let's start with a school shooting in Nashville from CNN. A female student has died and another student was wounded in a shooting Wednesday morning at Antioch High School in Nashville. The male shooter then killed himself after killing that female student and wounding the

Starting point is 00:18:17 two students. A police spokesperson says a 17 year old that was armed with a pistol fired multiple shots in a school cafeteria at around 11.09 a.m. Vanderbilt University Medical Center confirms that one of the females had died in the shooting. Another female is in stable condition with what's being described as a graze wound to the arm and then a male with a facial injury was also wounded but not shot. This is a pretty large high school, Antioch High School, home to approximately 2,000 students

Starting point is 00:18:48 from grades 9 through 12 there, about 10 miles southeast of downtown there in Nashville. It definitely brought back memories of that covenant school shooting that took place less than two years ago, where three nine-year-old children and three adults were killed at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville led to a huge debate in regards to guns in the state. Notably one of the most prominent people in that debate, one of the three state reps that became controversial, one of whom was booted, Justin Jones. His district includes parts of Nashville. He says, the fear reverberating around the Antioch and Nashville communities today is a chilling reminder of the human cost of inaction and the senseless tragedy of gun violence.

Starting point is 00:19:31 Gun violence perpetuated by leaders who have prioritized firearms and the profits of the gun industry over the lives of our students. A reminder that Republicans there in Tennessee have a super majority in the state legislature. So not much has been done when it comes to gun reform efforts in the state, but this certainly will revive the debate there. Internationally, a quick update on the ceasefire hostage deal in the Middle East. From the Times of Israel, top officials from the US, Israel and Egypt were reportedly already moving on the second stage of the Gaza hostage ceasefire deal on Wednesday, about two weeks ahead of

Starting point is 00:20:10 the scheduled date for the discussions to begin. Remember the discussions were supposed to start 16 days after phase one began. The report comes as the prime minister of Qatar said that he was ready to start mediating talks on the second stage of the three phase deal as soon as possible. The US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said he is committed to reaching the second phase. As we've talked about here on this podcast, there's been a lot of concern that the first phase was actually the easy part and that this deal wouldn't make it past that initial six week ceasefire, which would see the release of 33 host hostages but would leave more than 60 others still in Gaza.

Starting point is 00:20:49 According to the latest numbers, 91 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7th are still in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. So the deal continues. This Saturday, Hamas has confirmed that four Israeli female hostages will be freed in exchange for what is likely to be based on the numbers we've seen, more than 100 prisoners that we haven't gotten the hard numbers yet from the Israelis on their side. Now, we don't have the names of the four women who will be released after more than 470 days in captivity.

Starting point is 00:21:24 We'll await those details here. of the four women who will be released after more than 470 days in captivity. We'll await those details here. Still, this next stage, as you mentioned, Jill, going to be much more challenging as Hamas rashes up the demands on how many prisoners they're going to be looking for for every individual hostage that's left. The hostages that are left are mainly men of fighting age, soldiers. So typically, Hamas asked for even more, including senior leaders of the terror group

Starting point is 00:21:47 in exchange for them, at least they have in the past. Now, how this is all gonna go down and continue is super important to Trump here, though even he's acknowledged that he's not confident that all of this will be upheld. Notably, Jill, there was a conversation in the last 24 hours, the first foreign leader to hold a phone call with Donald Trump, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Now,

Starting point is 00:22:11 Trump has expressed a desire here for the Abraham Accords, the deal that was signed between Israel and several Arab countries, creating peace there. This is Bahrain, UAE, Morocco, several others. He wants to expand that to Saudi Arabia, which is the big prize here if the home of Islam and the home of Judaism can sign a deal here in the Middle East. Now, Salman is looking for certain guarantees for the Palestinians as part of that deal, but still notable that Trump held this conversation. There's a huge military deal probably in the offing here between the US and Saudi Arabia

Starting point is 00:22:44 as well. The US sells the US and Saudi Arabia as well. The US sells the Saudis a lot of equipment. They're part of an alliance against Iran, even though they've sort of softened their stance against Iran of late. So we'll see what happens. Things are still pretty precarious in the region. There was a Moroccan national with a US green card, incidentally, who stabbed and wounded four people in a terror attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. We also saw in the West Bank, this is the other piece of land the Palestinians have

Starting point is 00:23:09 some control over that they're looking for a future Palestinian state in. A group of Israeli settlers, a group of Israelis who live in the West Bank rampage through Palestinian villages, targeting homes, businesses, and vehicles. There's been a lot of back and forth violence there over the course of the last year and a half. So we'll continue to watch the region here for how this ceasefire hostage deal unfolds. From Reuters, Prince Harry reached a last minute deal on Wednesday with Rupert Murdoch's UK based newsgroup newspapers after suing them for alleged illegal activities by journalists and private investigators working for the newspapers. NGN, the publisher of The Sun,

Starting point is 00:23:48 offered a full and unequivocal apology for the serious intrusion into Harry's private life from 1996 to 2011. Harry's attorney read a statement in court emphasizing the tabloids' profound impact on Harry and his family. It is the first time that NGN admitted to any wrongdoing by the son. The statement also acknowledged the son's intrusion on the life of Harry's mother,

Starting point is 00:24:11 the late Princess Diana, including for phone hacking, surveillance, and misuse of private information that impacted his family. Harry, along with co-defendant and former Labour Party member Tom Watson, accused NGN of perjury and cover-ups, including deleting 30 million emails and relevant other records. interviewed by Andrew Russo Orkin over there at the New York Times Dealbook Conference in New York just last month. And he's talked about how passionate he was, how important this was. So the fact that he took a settlement here, not insignificant. The settlement reportedly an eight figure sum. They weren't specific here, but you can do the math.

Starting point is 00:24:58 Somewhere between $10 million and $100 million if we're going with an eight figure sum here. Probably more significant than they would have been made to pay in court. NGN, the news group owned by Murdoch here has previously settled with 1,300 other individuals. Payouts have exceeded $1.2 billion for a variety of things that they were accused of doing. Prince William, Harry's brother, actually privately settled just a few years ago for a seven figure sum for a few million dollars with NGN. Now, based on the way the law works in the UK, Harry could have been stuck with a big bill if he didn't win the case. In fact, he would have had to pay the legal bills for Murdoch here.

Starting point is 00:25:38 So, it appears Harry took the safe bet here, taking the money. He also got a rare apology from the news group for what they did. And again, for Harry, this has been an issue going back to his childhood, what he believes the paparazzi and the media did to his mother, leading to her death, as well as what they've done to him his entire life. This has been a huge thing. Of course, him and Meghan Markle have talked about this as well. So pretty significant day for Harry yesterday. Okay, now to some media business news from CNBC. CNN planning to lay off hundreds of employees as it refocuses the business

Starting point is 00:26:12 around a global digital audience. The layoff comes as CNN is rearranging its linear TV lineup and building out digital subscription products. The cuts are said to help CNN lower production costs and consolidate teams. Certain shows that are produced in New York or Washington may move to Atlanta where production can be done more cheaply according to sources. For the most part, the job cuts won't affect CNN's most recognizable names who are under contract. Yeah, though we have seen a number of

Starting point is 00:26:42 people not get renewed or take buyouts or leave, the Chris Wallaces and some of the other correspondents and anchors they had. CNN trying to figure out its future here because they got this boost during Trump won, a lot of the media did, with a lot of interest, a lot of subscribers. You saw The Washington Post get a boost, The New York Times got a boost, The Atlantic get a boost here, CNN and The Cable's got a boost. The interest not as high this time around among members of the public. Nonetheless, CNN in the fall launched a paywall. You might have noticed this over on CNN.com. You hit a certain number of articles and then you got to pay $3.99 a month.

Starting point is 00:27:20 CNN's hoping that that could bring it up to a billion in revenue annually from its heavier users of CNN.com. A lot of these companies, and I lived and breathed it as I launched the digital streaming channel at CBS, trying to figure out their future here as cord cutting becomes more prevalent. Fun fact, Jill, the median age of a cable news viewer today, 70 years old. Half the viewers of a CNN or MSNBC or Fox News are over the age of 70. And they're not getting replaced significantly by younger folks. And so they're trying to figure out their digital strategies here. CNN not alone, NBC News also

Starting point is 00:27:56 planning cuts later this week. Their job losses estimated to be about 50, according to CNBC reporting here. And so people are transitioning, right? We're discovering this at MoNews, they're coming to podcasts, they're coming to Instagram. But the revenue isn't quite there for these organizations. They're all figuring it out. They're all recalibrating here. Still at CNN, you have like 3,500 employees worldwide, significant organization, but they're all being asked to do more. And in some cases, do more for pay cuts or keeping their pay flat as they figure it out and they've gone through various iterations. Certainly a storyline we'll be watching here in the new media space, how legacy media pivots

Starting point is 00:28:35 and adapts to the ever-changing environment. And finally, from MarketSnacks, Netflix added nearly 19 million new customers at the end of last year. That's more than double expectations, and it's also its biggest quarterly growth ever. So it topped 300 million global subscribers for the first time. Fans are tuning in for Squid Game 2, Carry On, and also live sports like WWE. Netflix also hiked its sales forecast for the year as it preps for the return of hits like Wednesday

Starting point is 00:29:09 and the final season of Stranger Things. And with that Netflix hiking prices for both its standard ad free tier and its cheaper ad plan, which has fueled subscriptions and profit growth since it launched in 2022. So the standard account with ads now costs $7.99 a month. Let's just pause there. You pay eight bucks a month and you still get ads.

Starting point is 00:29:30 Remember when they were charging that for no ads? Yeah, it's kind of lame. Hey, they can get away with it, right? They're charging you for a subscription and they're double dipping, right? And they're getting the ads. But the ad free subscription is 18 bucks and the premium plan is 25 a month. So those prices include the hikes of a dollar, 250 and $2 per month respectively.

Starting point is 00:29:56 Yep. It adds up. It adds up. You're getting the ad tier for eight bucks a month, the ad free for 18 bucks a month and the premium plan where you can do multiple streams at the same time for 25 bucks a month there. And yet they feel what they're offering there at Netflix is valuable. All these new live events, right?

Starting point is 00:30:15 You might've seen the recent NFL games there, the Paul Tyson fight, and they're seeing huge numbers as they add in more live events here. Disney trying to stay competitive here with Disney Plus, they acquired the sports streamer Fubo TV. And sports is going to be key here to these streamers as they look to charge more and more. Last month Netflix, back to Netflix here, they got exclusive US rights for the next two FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments. But certainly, Jill, as these numbers go up, it's going to be harder and harder for people as they look at their numbers to subscribe to multiple streamers, right? So it's going to lead to some hard decisions of like, do I keep the Disney+, do I keep

Starting point is 00:30:53 the Netflix, do I keep the Paramount+, or the Peacock? But all of them, when you add them all up, are going to get pretty pricey. All right, now time for On This Day in History. We begin in 1849. Geneva Medical College bestowed a medical degree on Elizabeth Blackwell. She was the first woman in the US to receive a medical degree. At the time, she was facing, and women were facing, near uniform opposition from male students and medical professionals about women and medicine. Blackwell would go on to set up a clinic for the poor in New York City, and she was determined to treat as many patients as possible despite all of the pushback she was getting.

Starting point is 00:31:34 Notable years later, 2017 is the year for the first time that a majority of medical students in the US were women. And studies have actually found that women surgeons get better results than men. Yes, because it turns out that women don't go in there thinking they know everything. They ask more questions. And that's turned out to be effective, especially when surgery is happening. So keep that in mind if you have to go in for surgery at some point. No insult to the great male surgeons out there just passing along the data that we saw recently. On this day, in 1941, Charles Lindbergh testifies before

Starting point is 00:32:09 Congress and suggests that the US negotiated a neutrality pact with Hitler. Charles Lindbergh, despite being a national hero for flying nonstop solo across the Atlantic, was very into Hitler, was very friendly with Hitler. They had lots of conversations where they shared their mutual hatred of Jews and other issues. In fact, Henry Ford, the founder of Ford was in those conversations. And there was actually a scenario, Jill, where Charles Lindbergh was considering

Starting point is 00:32:37 running for president against FDR and might have won to keep the country isolationist. So a moment there in American history, again, before Pearl Harbor, when the U.S. was having a serious conversation and there were advocates like Lindbergh saying, you know what, just make a deal with with Hitler. Let's not plan to go to war with him. I highly recommend for anyone who is interested and has not read yet Philip Roth's The Plot Against America. It's an alternative history where FDR loses the presidential

Starting point is 00:33:05 election in 1940 to Charles Lindbergh and how that just alters life for one Jewish boy in New Jersey in particular. Yeah, scary, scary alternate history there. Fast forward to 1957 on this day, the Whammo toy company introduced these new aerodynamic plastic discs they called frisbees. Now to a bit of pop culture history, to the clue from the beginning of the podcast, here's looking at you kid, of all the gin joints in the world, you walk into mine, Casablanca premiered on this day 82 years ago, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, a classic Hollywood film. Turning 41 years old today. ["Thriller"]

Starting point is 00:33:47 Another classic, but in this case, music. Michael Jackson released Thriller on this day in history. And turning 40 years old today. ["Material Girl"] You know that we are living in a material world. And I am a material girl. Material Girl, not Madonna herself, her song, Material Girl, released on this day in 1985. And would you believe that my daughter actually knows every word to it because it was one

Starting point is 00:34:13 of the songs that was in her Barbie show a couple of weeks ago. Material Girl living in a material world, makes sense. I'm like, oh no, we are in trouble. Listen, another generation memorizing Madonna lyrics. All right, that is it for today. Thank you guys for listening to the Mo News Podcast. If you like what you hear, share this with your friends. It will help us grow.

Starting point is 00:34:33 Follow us and subscribe so you don't miss an episode and review us in the App Store. Yeah, leave us those five star reviews. They matter, they help, they help us grow. They help expand reach here. So appreciate all of you who can leave us those reviews over in the Apple podcast store. But thanks for listening. We are getting through the week here. Happy Friday Eve and we'll see you tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:34:56 Thanks for listening to the Mo News Podcast. Bye!

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