The Ben Mulroney Show - The liberals go from selling a policy as being the most important ever to dumping it when it's politically expedient

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Guests and Topics: Guest: Mohit Rajhans Mediologist and Consultant, ThinkStart.ca  Guest: Adam Zivo, National Post columnist and Executive Director for the Centre For Responsible Drug Policy If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BedMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BedMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BedMGM. Download the app today and discover why BedMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BedMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM. A sportsbook worth a slam dunk. An authorized gaming partner of the NBA.

BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. TD Direct Investing offers live support, so whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA

stands for total fund savings adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. And if you're like me, you rely in some way, shape or form on the platform X on Twitter. I use it as a news source. I get immediate updates on a number of fronts, which I then turn into information that I I put into the show. And yesterday, as we were building the show, we noticed as so many

of you did, that there was something wonky with Twitter. And it turns out, according to Elon Musk, the owner of the platform, that he was dealing, and the platform was dealing with a massive cyber attack yesterday. I mean, I heard some news sources that said that there were as many as three separate cyber attacks yesterday, which paralyzed the platform for the better part of a day.

To discuss that and a heck of a lot more, we're joined by good friend Mohit Rajan's, a Mediologist and Consultant with ThinkStart.ca. Mohit, did you feel the impact of the Twitter downage yesterday? I did. And, you know, we're so loyal to Twitter that we don't even call it X. But X.com, yeah, definitely was the victim yesterday. And it's amazing because I, you know, despite the, any political stance you have about the platform or whatever, or, or the person that runs it, the truth is it is delivered consistently for a large amount of time in the promise of being

able to get timely news, information and discussions, even though you and I both have a love hate relationship with it. The tricky thing right now, Ben, is if Elon is going to sort of continue to be in this political sphere the way he is, I think he might be victim to more of these sort of occurrences on his platform. Well, and look, we know famously that when he took over, he fired so many people at the company, including a number of people on the cyber security side. And I got a wonder, and this is just a good faith question, could he have weathered yesterday's storm a little bit better if he had the boots on the ground to help him? A great point, but I also think the sophistication that's happened within those three years of cyber

attacks is something that we're constantly fighting and hearing about. Let's just put it this way. If we hear about just the fact that this coordinated effort was successful, think about how much he's actually fighting off on a daily basis on X. And so I think we're in a new phase of cyber warfare, truly. I think it'll also cause a few different types of people to pause about what they really rely on X4. One thing I did notice is that no users complained about their posts being hijacked.

And I think that's the next phase that it's gonna become very tricky to be able to combat. Yeah, well, let's talk about deep fakes. It's an increasing concern as the sophistication of them is getting to the point where our eyes and ears can no longer differentiate between what's real and what's fake. And now there's this new volley in this scam

of celebrity AI deep fakes. They're flooding the internet and celebrities who are being, essentially their images and likenesses are being hijacked, are the celebrities are pushing Congress to fight back. Give us a little bit of a download on what this is all about. I've been following synthetic media and the way it's being created. And so I refer to this as synthetic media, sort of the Hollywood wanted best of both worlds,

right? They wanted the ability to actually up convert some classic material and do some great things with some legends and recreate movies once somebody passed and use the same technology that's being used by people on their phones now. And you and I both know in some cases, it's pretty cool to let your kids sort of make their own version of a Simpsons episode, but at the same time, it's also going to bother Scarlett Johansson when she's used, you know, nefariously. Where you and I might find it a little difficult to sort of understand is

celebrities aren't going to lead the charge in this regulation. This is something a technology companies are working on daily to actually improve. Hollywood I don't think is going to save us from deepfakes. Instead, I think it's really going to take some rigorous actual legal standards in order for people to understand what's legal and what's not legal. Well, yeah, I mean, there are companies that are building out the tools to build deepfakes. And so, I mean, they exist. We know that that they are in operation, and they're they're making money and going after like the the biggest ones right now seems seems like the smartest easiest play you go

after the the most successful ones, and hopefully the smaller ones will fall in line to make sure that they don't run afoul of what is right. But I guess we'll have to see how that works out. Hey, so a lot of parents think that if they keep their kids off social media, if they keep their kids off of platforms like the Snapchats and the Facebooks of the world, that that is somehow going to protect them from being, from being leveraged as, as, as, and data mined. But now we're finding out, oh, if your kid, if it's as innocuous as playing a simple game,

I guess I'm like, I don't know if it's Candy Crush, but that's the first one that popped in my head. That could be enough for these companies to build profiles on our kids. 100%. Now, this is where it becomes tricky. Our terms and conditions that we're signing up for or letting our kids sort of get away with the fact

that they might be just slightly under 12 and want to download a game. All of that is at play in this conversation. This idea that on one hand, children are protected under Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. On the other hand, we're starting to see apps that are finding very creative ways to actually skirt issues like, for example, can track one transaction that was made perhaps at a 7-Eleven and then where the child went after a postal code radius of where kids live and where the high density population is. This might not be specific data about your kid, but it creates a generalization that

is really creepy and has information about our kids that's in play for marketers. Yeah. I mean, like, come on, we just, well, we just want our kids to play a game so that they can be there and quiet while we while we cook dinner. That's all I'm looking for. I'm not looking for a company to build data, a data set on them so that they can then leverage it to make money. Okay, we you know, we've talked about AI, the fear of AI, how has that turned into AI FOMO? Yeah, so it's very interesting. We're talking about this a lot, this idea that more and more employees are AI smuggling. They're smuggling AI into their workplaces and they're starting to use it unbeknownst

to their companies and especially their IT departments. So definitely a generational thing. There's many people who are willing to work with AI tools to see if it'll help their life and maybe either work, be a little bit more manageable. And you're seeing Gen Z and millennials starting to experiment a little bit more, but there's still not a lot of guidelines at work and in workplaces about the dos and don'ts. And so what's happening is people don't want to feel left out. They don't want to feel like they're being less efficient at their jobs. And so now we're in this phase of AI FOMO, they're calling it. So it's a call to arms for companies to be on the lookout

because you gotta train your employees for what they need for the future. Are we talking about situations where employees are using AI in places where they are explicitly not supposed to as a way of like lessening their workload? Or is it a case of, you know, more technologically savvy employees, trying to use tools to make work more efficient and optimal, despite perhaps dinosaurs running the company?

Ah, well, I think you're talking about both, right? You're talking about an accounts receivable department that knows there's an easier way to understand the spreadsheets by using AI to actually study them. And then you're also talking about, you know, graphic designers that understand that doing five versions of something should be as simple as a prompt and not having to redesign the same thing several times. And I think all of this goes to show that there is an actual utility in some of the AI that's being used on a daily basis that unfortunately is still feared. And that and to that note, if you're an agency or somebody and you're dealing with your clients information and all of that, it's still a security mess out there when it comes to using this AI.

So you can be reprimanded for using the wrong tools in the wrong environment. Well, absolutely. I mean, if you're if you are, if you're dealing with a client's IP, and you're using AI, then technically you are sharing confidential information with a third party in order to, you know, get back information that you would then get paid for like that. That to me is a is a blatant disregard of confidentiality. As one example, and it's, and it's, it's in subordination at the end of the day, you know, the same reason why, you know, you had those big disclaimers at the end of the email for the longest time about what this transaction or information doesn't mean is the exact same reason why you

shouldn't be using AI tools, nefariously within your work environment. Mohir Rajan's, Medi and consultant with thinkstart.ca. Thank you very much, my friend. Hope you have a great week. Always a pleasure, Ben. Take care. Walk with us.

Connect to the land that connects us all. Grow with us. Come together and make space for each other. Eat with us. Taste the many flavors of our cultures, laugh with us, smile, joke and bring each other joy. Come, walk with us, Indigenous Tourism Alberta. We knew it was going gonna come at some point. Donald Trump was not going to just sit and let Ontario Premier Doug Ford tax electricity

going into the States at 25% without doing something. And that something happened today where he said, based on Ontario's placing a 25% tariff on electricity coming into the United States, I've instructed my secretary of commerce to add an additional 25% tariff to 50% on all steel and aluminum coming into the United States from Canada, one of the highest tariffing nations anywhere in the world. This will go into effect tomorrow morning, March 12th. And then he goes on to talk about supply management in dairy.

I will shortly be declaring a national emergency on electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the US to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada. If other egregious long time tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase on April 2nd the tariffs on cars coming into the United States. And he goes on and on.

And then he also threatens to annex the country. So look, here's my perspective on this. With every single public statement that Ontario Premier Doug Ford makes on this subject, he begins the statement with, I love America, I love Americans, Canadians love America, Canadians love Americans. We don't want to do this, we never did. But until you alleviate the situation and give the markets and give investors

and give entrepreneurs the stability that comes from a world without the threat of tariffs, my action will stand. And here's the difference with what's going on in Canada versus what's going on in the United States. It's about expectation. The people of Canada have expected the pain associated with these tariffs. We have decided as a nation collectively

that we are prepared to feel the pain and the pinch of these tariffs because we know they are unfair and we are willing to go to the mattresses on this as is the expression from the Godfather. Donald Trump was elected on the promise that the very day that he came into power, America would be great again, that everything would be great, that money would be flowing and jobs would be created and the stock market would be at an all time high. The stock market has lost over a thousand points, over three thousand points this month. Look, it's not unreasonable to think it's going to shrink by 10%

because of these decisions by his administration. So on one hand, you got people are saying, bring it. We know it's going to suck. Heck, it's sucked to be an entrepreneur in Canada for the past 10 years because of the Liberal government. We can take it. We don't want to. You're forcing this on us, but we will do it. On the other hand, you've got people who voted for him who are expecting the cost of their life to go down. They're expecting the value of their 401k to go up. And in both those cases, the opposite is happening. So he is feeling the pinch in terms of his the support by Americans generally, the markets are telling him that this is a boneheaded move and he is trying to do everything he can so that when the midterm elections come up,

he doesn't lose the House and Senate, both of which are in peril because of these decisions. So he is in far less of a position of strength than would be indicated by the size of his economy versus the size of ours. And so while I do not like seeing this, and while it certainly makes me nervous when I hear Donald Trump making moves like this,

I can't believe that our approach and the approach of the Ontario government is the wrong one. I think that this is, if we keep going this way, and all things being equal, the stock market will respond to Donald Trump as it has thus far with saying, stop what you are doing. You claimed it was about fentanyl.

You got your win at the border. Take your GD win and move on. So I do not personally think that the decision by the Ontario government is a bad one. In fact, I think they should keep going on this course. And I don't know how long it's going to last. You can never understand what's actually going on in the mind of Donald Trump. But at some point, this indicator that means so much to him, the stock market,

I think it's going to make him say, look, maybe we change tactics here. Maybe we get around a table and start renegotiating NAFTA sooner rather than later. Anyway, one of the ways that you could alleviate pressure on Canadians immediately today, right now, would be the abolition and excising completely of the job killing, wallet killing, wallet emptying carbon tax.

And BC Premier David Eby hates that the carbon tax was politicized, but he is prepared to get rid of it. First of all, if I can take a step back, I think it's unfortunate that a policy that existed between governments for a long time in British Columbia, a successful policy in driving down our carbon pollution that had support ultimately on both sides of the legislature was politicized and accelerated in the face of a cost of living crisis in a way that cost public support across the political spectrum for it.

I think that's really unfortunate because it was an important tool here in British Columbia. With that said, we made an unambiguous commitment to British Columbians that we will get rid of that carbon tax. We will move as quickly as we can following the removal of the federal law that requires us to have it in place and ensure that we're able to move forward. We're going to continue to make sure that big polluters pay in the province. And for the people who are filling up their cars, who are peeding their homes, for the residents of British Columbia,

we're gonna make sure that the carbon tax is not there for them. Look, I take the win. If you got a provincial leader saying he's gonna get rid of it, take the win. Don't necessarily get into the details of why, but is it possible, Premier E.B., that the cost of living crisis that we're enduring had something to do with the carbon tax? Me thinks perhaps. And you're going to make big polluters pay? Okay. Who

do they pass that cost on to? And did the carbon tax really help reduce greenhouse emissions? I haven't seen the data to say that that is 100% a certainty. And so anyway, I'll take the win. Thank you very much. Moving on. Meanwhile, the architect and father of the carbon tax, Stephen Gilbo, the federal minister of the environment, had this to say about abandoning the carbon tax. He said yesterday that he wanted to get rid of it. We're looking into how that could be done and how rapidly it can be done. Do you expect this to happen though before the election is called? As I said, we're looking into it. I don't have like time to give you. We're looking

into different options. Do we need to change legislation Can we go at the regulatory route? Like what are the options and I don't have an answer for you yet Well there I mean he said that he wanted for example to Work on the industrial carbon pricing system that gives us three times more emission reduction So make sure that big polluters do their fair share when it comes to reducing emissions. And you should remember that our climate change plan doesn't rest on one or two measures. It's more than a hundred measures that we've deployed.

I mean, I think at this point, we all just assume that the liberals will be willing to jettison any policy to make themselves electorally relevant again. But this isn't normal. This shouldn't be normal. A party that was so hell bent on a policy like the carbon tax, so willing to cast it aside,

should not be normal. And yet it is with liberals. And I'm not the only one saying it. Here's a NDP spokesperson, I think that's Brad Levine, on this very point. I think that these policies, I think most liberals, if the cues that we can take from those in the room are any indication, that these are policies that the liberals would easily, easily throw aside in an effort to make themselves more palatable. Now again, I'll share with you, David,

that this is consistent with decades, if not centuries, of liberal party posturing, where they'll claim that a particular policy is the most important thing ever, yet they will throw it out in a heartbeat. And if you don't like these policies, these values, I've got other values that you'll also may appreciate. Classic liberalism. Yeah, 100%.

They are the most successful political brand in the world because they are willing to do and say anything to get reelected, including turning their back on things and policies of the past. There are some days where I wonder what is going on in the United States. And obviously the terror floor is one of those perplexing issues. But right next to that is what is going on in the world when Vladimir Putin is being talked about like a level-headed adult in the room and a democracy like Ukraine is denigrated

and besmirched as some sort of bad actor in the area. I mean, accessory to that is why is Canada a bad guy and Russia a good guy? So to talk about how Putin has written a master class on hoodwinking American conservatives, I'm joined by Adam Zeevo from the National Post. Adam, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Good morning. Yeah. What this didn't happen overnight, I have to assume that this

this switching of the dynamic and this complete reversal of a historic dynamic didn't happen by accident and it didn't happen overnight. No, this actually has a really long history that goes back to the early 2010s. So Vladimir Putin essentially managed to stay in power for the first 10, 12 years of his regime by promising Russians economic prosperity in exchange for curtailed rights. But starting in the early 2010s, the Russian economy began to stagnate and there were massive anti-government protests

after a rigged parliamentary election in 2011. So that was suppressed after 18 months. And following that, Vladimir Putin basically rebranded his government as a defender of traditional values. And this was very effective at basically portraying Russia as being anti-West, right? He was able to create this permanent sense of besiegement within Russia saying the West is trying to pervert you, trying to make you into degenerates. We are against them. And he was able to direct anger towards his government outward at Europe and the United States.

So on top of that, you know, he was able to use this to effectively build alliances with social conservatives in Western Europe and in the United States. And by the late 2010s, he was able to win over the European far right. And then eventually over time, he was able to win over the American right, even though when you look at the data, Russia is not really a bastion of social conservatism at all. Their abortion rates are high. They are very religious and they have a large number of divorces plus domestic violence and alcoholism is endemic in the country. Yeah, it's it's it's I still struggle to understand how there

is on the Venn diagrams of the priorities of Russia and the priorities of the American right, that there is any overlap where what counterpoint are the American are American conservatives seeing in Vladimir Putin's government where they say, No, this is somebody with whom I can find common cause. Well, I think there's a lot of ignorance about the realities of Russian society, but I want to give a bit of extra historical context here. So let's keep in mind that for decades, conservatives in the United States mostly followed a neo-conservative

foreign policy. Essentially, they believed in exporting democracy abroad. They were very confident in their values. But then of course, the forever wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, which can both be considered failures, discredited neo conservative foreign policy. And the Republicans were never able to really define a replacement framework with which to understand this issue. And so there was a void and ideologically destitution led them to subsume foreign policy under domestic policy. And so their foreign policy positions became an extension of the American culture wars. And they allied with Russia, an adversarial nation that wants to undermine American power across

the world simply because they bought into this myth that Russia is allied with them against quote unquote, woke culture. So in in Trump 1.0, there was at least a belief on the outside looking in that Donald Trump believed that on some fundamental level, he could work with Vladimir Putin. They had many bilaterals and there was a lot of effusive language coming out of the Oval Office towards the Kremlin. What is different today about that dynamic? I think that many of the power brokers within the Republican Party that checked Trump's

more destructive impulses have now been removed. And so we're looking at Trump, uh, acting without any constraints and surrounded by sycophants. And now, uh, Republican influencers are buying into pro-Russian propaganda much in the same way how in the 20th century, pro-Soviet leftists glorified the Soviet Union. And I think that's dangerous because as of now, Trump is still somewhat iconoclastic with his foreign policy views. Many Republicans find his beliefs

and his approach to be outrageous. But when you have a large number of media influencers and political influencers in the Republican party saying that Russia is defender of church and the family, then that might start to change. And I know that Trump is trying to create some kind of Russo-American alliance against China, which I don't think is gonna work at all.

And I think we're getting into really dangerous territory with all of that. Well, yeah, and Adam, I'm talking to you with Adam Ziva from the National Post and we're discussing his article, how Putin hoodwinked American conservatives. Let's not forget, lost in the conversation that we've thus far been having,

is that caught in the middle is a democracy struggling for its very survival after an invasion by Russia, Ukraine. And you've got very vocal, very influential people in the United States, reimagining this conflict in a way that does not subscribe to any reality I've ever lived in. Well, the problem here is that people live in these echo chambers. And I know the term disinformation is used a lot and often abused, but I think that they often consume just that. So you have people, for example, who think that Ukraine is run by neo-Nazis. You think that you

have people who think that Ukrainians are clamoring for a ceasefire, uhfire if it means giving up NATO and all of their occupied territories. And the problem is that these people have never stepped foot inside Ukraine, yet they feel very strongly that they understand Ukrainian society. I myself have spent almost two years living in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. I understand Ukraine very deeply. And yet I find myself constantly lectured to, you know, by these very opinionated, uh, North American influencers who just see Ukraine through a screen whose political understanding is through short little YouTube videos, fringe websites and tweets. conservative journalists to Ukraine so they can see what it's actually like and appreciate the struggle for Ukrainian democracy, which I want to clarify. Ukraine democracy has its flaws, of course, like many European countries, but they're trying so hard and they value their freedom.

And we need that real world experience to dispel all of these lies. If actual facts and images and voices from Ukraine is not changing the minds of these influential Americans who control the powers of the purse and the ability for Ukraine to defend itself with the weapons and the funding that it needs, what is going to change that? Once again, I think it's just real world experience. And I know from some of my work

that there have been congressmen and staffers who have bought into Russian propaganda, and then they've gone to Ukraine and they've realized that everything they heard on Twitter was a lie. And I know that on my end, but the conservative journalists that I work with, the ones who have real world experience in Ukraine

know what's going on versus the ones who are very opinionated who have never set foot inside the country. So I think that we should invest into creating real world interactions with Ukrainian community, with Ukraine so that people can see with their own eyes what is happening. I've been in conversation with Adam Zivow.

Not only is he one of the foremost good faith voices on responsible drug policy here in Canada, but he knows what he's talking about as it relates to Ukraine. Adam Zivow, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me on the show. His article in the National Post is called How Putin Hoodwinked American Conservatives and I urge everyone to read it. We as a nation have to look at Donald Trump and his administration as an opponent right now. That's just a fact.

He has decided that we are the enemy and therefore that is incumbent upon us to look at him with apprehension. But that doesn't mean he doesn't say funny stuff. That doesn't mean we can't laugh. In good hearted laughter at some of the stuff that comes out of this guy's mouth. And I went digging for audio gold so I could share it with you because every now and then you got to smile. You just have to life is too serious. And sometimes the stakes are too high that you just got to cut the tension with a little bit of humor. Here's Donald Trump

discussing those two astronauts that I think Boeing sent up into space that SpaceX is ultimately going to have to bring back down. They were supposed to be there for a few days. They've been up there for the better part of a year. Here's how he imagines life is for these two stranded astronauts. But this president won't let it happen. We're going to get them out. We're coming up to get you. I've authorized Elon. I said, can you get them out? Because, you know, they've been left up there. I hope they like each other.

But maybe they'll love each other. I don't know. But they've been left up there. Think of it. And I see the woman with the wild hair, good, solid head of hair she's got. There's no kidding. There's no games with her hair.

But, and you know, there's a danger up there too. It can have some failures up there that would be very bad. You've got to get them out. So I've authorized Elon a week ago. I said, you know, we have two people up there that Biden and Kamala left up there, And he knows it very well. I said, Are you equipped to get him? He said, Yeah, he's got a starship. Maybe maybe they'll love each other. And she's got great hair. And this is Biden's fault. This

was Boeing's fault. Boeing sent them up in a in a in a space vehicle that was not ready for prime time. And talk was always that SpaceX was going to bring them back at this point. But sure, if he wants to take credit for it, more power to him. Look, we know that Donald Trump loves golf. We know that it is a passion of his. And we also know that he is a man who is prone to hyperbole and exaggeration and it is not against the realm, out of the realm of the possible, that he will express himself in very glowing terms as one of the world's greatest golfers.

His granddaughter, Kai, apparently is quite a good golfer as well. And here's some audio of her talking to her grandfather about a course that she just played. Anyway honey so are you out there now in Bedminster? Yeah I am I'm here for another day and then I'm heading back to Florida. So what's your best score on the new course on the front nine? Because I'll just tell you after I hear yours I'll tell you what I just shot. I would say my best would be 32 maybe. That's a tough nine. tell you what I just shot. I would say my best would be 32 Maybe that's a tough nine. All right. Well, I just I just shot four under two. So I just shot 32 as well What do you think of Bryson's clubhead speed compared to my clubhead speed? I don't know

I think yours is a little faster. Honestly, I think I think you hit a way farther than him Okay, so Bryson DeChambeau, that's who she's referencing, the PGA player, champion, who has one of the fastest club heads and speeds on the planet, but a president pushing 80 has a faster club speed than him. Okay, sure. I mean, that to me is a granddaughter who knows how to flatter her grandfather. That's what that is.

And you know, part of me thinks it's cute, and part of me thinks it's adorable. And no, I know I am not normalizing Donald Trump. If anyone's gonna at me for that, go at me for something else, not for that. But Sugar Sammy, who we've had on the Ben Mulroney show, is one of the great standup comics that this country has ever produced.

And he knows just how to weave current events into his crowd work. Let's listen to him find a way to make this trade war funny. Toronto, welcome. Welcome, thanks for coming out. This is the 12th stop on my 51st state tour. If you didn't like that one, it's gonna be a long night. Any Americans here, give a big applause,

be proud of your Americans. There's $25 on the way out. There's a tariff to exit the building. See, that made one of my producers laugh. Like we need to laugh sometimes. In order to understand this better, you have to explore it from all angles, including from the comedic angle.

So thank you, Sugar Sammy. I appreciate that. Look, you know how they say even a broken clock is right twice a day? Well, US Representative Jasmine Crockett says some pretty outlandish stuff. I'm not, I do not subscribe to her world worldview, or her values or her priorities. But every now and then, even people who are desperately wrong almost all the time, say something that is absolutely correct. Here's what Jasmine Crockett said about why America

is fighting certain countries. This is not what we should be doing. I don't know why we fight with Greenland. Why we fight with Greenland? We fight with Canada. We fight with Mexico. Yet we in love with Putin. What is happening? Like this is not America. This is a terrible nightmare. Somebody slap me and wake me the f**k up because I'm ready to get on with it. Yeah, hear, hear Jasmine Crockett. Just make it make sense, as our prime minister said a few days ago. You're closing up to Putin and you're treating Canada

like we are the Soviet Union in the 1980s. This doesn't make any sense. And every now and then somebody in an exasperated voice needs to say it as clearly as Jasmine Crockett did there is a the appearance of wealth and of consumerism is Pervasive in a big chunk of hip-hop culture and so you see in the hip hop videos,

the planes and the cars and the stacks of cash and the opulence and the decadence. It's what you come to expect from, it's on brand for a number of hip hop artists. And singer T-Pain was on a commercial flight recently and he was asked why he doesn't fly private. This is how he explained it. To take a private jet from Atlanta, from Atlanta to Vegas, and then back to Atlanta, is $126,000. is a hundred and twenty six thousand dollars and y'all are asking me do you understand what I'm saying are you okay now you feel like it

no private jet what you're not taking a private jet you What? You're not taking a private jet? You're not spending all this money to go make money? How about you do that? In what world is that smarter than y'all are? Are you going broke again? Yeah, look, if somebody else is paying for it, or if it's for a music video, sure, you're a performer. Perform as if. But, and like I said, if it's on somebody else's dime, take a private jet for sure. But otherwise, if you're on your way to go make money, why would you spend more money than you're about to go make? I commend T-Pain for that rational assessment of the situation. A lot of us loved the Amazon Prime show, Beast Games, starring the world's biggest YouTuber,

Mr. Beast. It was shot in Toronto, huge production. It started with a thousand competitors. It was the biggest reality show in history. And how big was it? Well, here's how expensive the first two episodes were. Episode one, we spent over $15 million on those towers, building them all.

Like that was the most towers ever built, the most hydraulic press or whatever used. I mean, that set was fucking crazy, man. We had to build a thousand towers that were 10 feet tall, safety test them all, get it where they actually work. We had to literally hard wire them all and build our own software where we could drop people, we had to put up all the screens.

I mean, that's arguably one of the largest sets ever built in history. That was just episode one. And that's just the construction of the set. That's not including, like you said, we gave away over $20 million. I think over $2 million was in episode one. And then episode two, we have the city, which that was a $14 million set built. And that was huge. I mean, because that was a real city that they were living in, you know? And then I go, but just between the 20 whatever $2 million we gave away plus

those two sets, I mean, already right there, you're at over $50 million. Yeah, I work in Canadian radio. I can promise you, the budgets that we use to put our show on the air are not the budgets of Beast Games. But I am glad that that show was on because it was one of those shows that I enjoyed so thoroughly with my kids. And I really do hope they make a season two.