Tomorrow - 148: We Welcome Your Input

Episode Date: January 20, 2019

On this episode, Josh and Ryan finally introduce you to Independent Media's newest baby: A technology-focused publication called Input. Then, is BuzzFeed wrong about Michael Cohen? Is Elon Musk losing his mind? Is Wear OS going to make a comeback? Is New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe any good? Why are there two Fyre Festival documentaries? Episode 148 has (some) of these answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey and welcome to Tomorrow, I'm your host, Joshua Tupulski. Today on the podcast, we discuss Louis Farrican, Fossil, and InputMag.com. I don't want to waste one minute. Let's get right into it. Ryan. Hi. We're back. Big, big week. So big week.

It's so big we once again are late on recording the podcast, which I think is as testament to our dedication to being really, really late all the time on this podcast. So let's just put, look, let's just discuss the element in the room. We may have an announcement this week that I have a pending court case for a triple homicide. Wow. That's the big news.

Yes. Ryan went on a spree. I'm a spree killer. Kill crazy rampages how I describe it. No, we announced this week that we're doing a new independent media and Ryan and I are obviously working on it. We've sort of been alluding to it, I think, not so subtly. We're launching a new tech-focused news publication called Input, InputMag.com. Check it out. It's got a, it's got a, it's got a strongly worded. I'm like, here's the thing, I am, so I wrote this little manifesto, I'm bored and annoyed with tech news.

And I think with many things that I write, I'm not the most subtle guy in the world. Oh, really? No, I think if I, if I think there's one thing that, it's like, I was kind of like, got everybody sucks. And that's, I didn't mean everybody sucks. I was kind of like a lot of stuff sucks. People took it so literally't mean everybody sucks. I was kind of like a lot of stuff sucks. A people took it so literally, they were like every single person

who's ever wrote about tech news sucks and you were the only one that's like, that's clearly not what I'm saying. But, but there are, but I will say this. So anyhow, so go check it out, sign up for our, we're gonna send you some info and there's other stuff like there's gonna, we have some cool stuff we're gonna do,

leading up to launch and launch is about a long pay. up to launch. And launch has got a long pay. We have a long pay. Well, we have long, all long letters, but we decided to go, we have this logo that actually every letter can stretch in it. And we have some really cool ideas about when the site launches, what we're going to do with that. But we decided that we like the one where, because P is the middle letter. And any of people are like, wow, that's a long P. And it's like, I meant nothing by

it. But then it's like the verge means penis in French. And I'm like, oh, God, what kind of weird trend have I created? What kind of totally not, you know, the dick outline, maybe it's like, I'm a dick. And so this makes it all makes sense, but totally unintentional. But anyhow, now people are going to be able

to not be able to unsee it. With Freud would say, nothing is unintentional. You're going to see long use, you're gonna see long, I'm probably not long tease because I didn't like the way it looked, but I think that the you will probably get long at some point, the end will probably get long at some point. Don't worry, we got long letters,

we kind of cover the bases on long letters. There was a large discussion about P versus N. There really was, and honestly, I was torn, but at the end of the day, we just had to make a decision, and we made a decision. Anyhow, whatever, so we announced this thing, I was a little bit like, hey, I mean, honestly, I will say this, one of the reasons we're doing it

is I look at the landscape, particularly, not the landscape of like, are people like being challenging about Facebook, which is like, yes, now finally, they are after several years of really not being that challenging about Facebook at all because everybody was eating off of Facebook's dime. Now,, suddenly, you know, it's like, I'll say this, I'm suddenly Facebook is in faking your video numbers and you've got a critical length to turn to. I'm sorry, I'll just say this, like, like, like, everybody has to like check themselves a little bit,

okay? Like two years ago when Circuit Breaker or whatever launched the Verge, Launch Circuit Breaker, they were like, we're're gonna this is basically like a Facebook only thing. We're just launching on Facebook And now the verge sells shirts that are like kill Facebook or whatever like they sell t-shirts are like death to Facebook And it's like listen totally hear you I agree with you But let's like all be realistic for a second like it wasn't death to Facebook a couple of years ago with people It was like Facebook how can you help me right like, I don't think Facebook is completely useless, but like, as you know, and as I think the reader and the listener knows, certainly the reader

of the outline and the listener knows, I am no fan of the current state of social media and have not been a fan of the current state of social media for a very long time, long preceding this announcement or anything else. So I'm glad more people are critical of social media and critical of Facebook and all that stuff. But there are many, many, many other places

in technology news. Like, look, everybody wants an interview with Elon Musk and they will do anything to get an interview with Elon Musk including throw bullshit questions his way and not really ask him tough questions and not really challenge him and not really ask the follow-ups that should be asked. And that's really nice, like, for them,

but for the consumer of technology, and for people who live with technology, I think there are other conversations to have and other places to kind of push and question and challenge, not just in the world of Elon Musk, but in the world generally. And I think like, you know, we've got a really interesting concept around how to do that.

And I'll say this for everybody who may be interested in input, like I'm not trying to make like a verge killer or a tech crunch killer or what, I mean, if you can imagine such a thing, it's kind of like I want to make something that has a kind of different vibe, a different voice, a different point of view. And I think that that will be complimentary to a lot of the stuff that's out there. And listen, there is a public, no publication is perfect, but there are fantastic, incredible writers who are writing at many publications. But every publication is, is doing some stuff that we would like to do differently and that we would like to as a cohesive unit to have a different take on everything. Yeah, and I think maybe not everything. Maybe we'll

agree on sometimes. But I just think, but to your point, at least have a, at least have a different take on everything. Yeah, and I think- I mean, not everything. Maybe we'll agree on it sometimes. I mean, I just think, but to your point, at least have a take a shot of the different take, but also, also listen, I mean, I think there's like a lot of, you know, I mean, at the outline, we'll continue to do future coverage at the outline and some of that coverage, I think one of the things that we've done is like,

we look at the sort of like societal, cultural, political sort of sphere of what the future is and means, right? And that stuff is really wonderful and I love how we do it at the outline. I think there's a part of what we're going to do at input that will be less about like, you know, Twitter Nazis. Like I think that's well covered. I think that like, I think that that particular piece of technology reporting is not the piece that I'm talking about.

And in fact, I think that what we kind of started at the verge with this idea of, like, technology and technology culture being sort of like, the culture is now very well understood and well sort of discussed. And I think there's a new sort of, there's a different fringe to look at in technology reporting and conversation. And that's where we're going to be looking. So this is my sort of vague, but not so vague description of what is coming. And you know, listen, I'm excited. I honestly, for a long time, I was very bored by technology. And part of doing the outline was, was one is to talk about topics that I'm excited. Honestly, for a long time, I was very bored by technology. And part of doing the outline was one is to talk about topics that I'm interested and

excited about and don't feel like a lot of them have gotten enough attention. But it was also like just to take a step back from doing what I'd been doing for like, you know, like a decade and go, okay, we've done a lot of this. There's a lot out there. There, you know, since the verge launch, there have been like hundreds of not thousands of new blogs and tech sites and new, like tech reporting teams that have cropped up. And you know, it's become a very noisy space and a very crowded space. And I think that, you know, it took an iPad review or a recap of a Marvel trailer is not

a hard thing to find on the internet at the moment. Let's just say that, let's just say that we're going to be taking a different approach to that stuff for sure. I will say also, I think it takes a bit of taking a step back to think of ways to move forward. When we launched the verge, which I think was kind of, you know, I mean, it's kind of, you'd be hard pressed, I mean, I think, and there have been a few, there have been a few new things that have cropped up that I really like, but you know, when we launched the verge, everybody was like, who needs another tech site?

There's so many of them. I mean, there's, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets,

it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets, it gets do something different. And I think with anything, if you got a different idea, different perspective, a different kind of way of presenting information and thinking about information and giving that information to people, there's a lot of information. If you've got a long pay, no pun intended,

but you know, I think there's always room for particularly in the audience that we wanna talk to, and the audience that I know is hungry for new shit and different shit. And they wanna see like, what's another way to look at this? So I'm excited, anyhow, long and short as I'm excited, probably came out of the gate a little hot as I tend to do. And, you know, I'm not, no apologies.

I have an opinion. Would you rather someone come out of the gate cold? Right, I mean, I'll be honest with you, I'm not sitting here being like, sorry, I'm not no apologies. I have an opinion. Would you rather someone come out of the gate cold? Right, I mean, I'll be honest with you. I'm not sitting here being like, sorry, I was like kind of, you know, said that I didn't think the state of technology reporting was that great. I don't think it's that great right now.

I think there's a lot of people saying a lot of the same things and there's room for improvement there. That is not to say though. And I guess I could have attenuated a little bit by saying there are some people doing great things. But when you're writing something, you're finishing the copy drunkenly in the middle of the night.

No, you know what happens. A couple of Augustos, the next thing you know, I'm making sure you start using the internet. Chase off the internet. Anyhow, so input, input mag.com, go to input mag.com, sign up, follow us on input mag on Twitter, input mag on Facebook. I mean, input mag.com spelled out on Instagram,

which is going to be fun. And we're going to do some fun things with the Instagram account soon. And yes, here we are going like, fuck Facebook, but then also like we're using Facebook and like, yes, we live in society. And yet, listen, fuck capitalism. By the way, I have a prime now delivery.

Right? No, I mean, actually, but I mean, actually, but I think one of the places that's interesting to talk about and that we will talk about is like our, and by the way, like our emphasis will not necessarily be on like using Facebook as a platform that's going to gain us, you know, the following that we want.

I think there are other outlets and other places. We'll talk more about that as we get, you know, towards launch. But we are living in an interesting state of reality where, you know, it's like you sort of are, you can't get out of or can't get away from some of these things, right? And and it's interesting to think about what the future looks like where we are, you know, to your point about prime delivery. It's like, fuck Amazon, right? But everybody I know is like, yes, thank God for Amazon. And so, you know, it's the only way to change the matrix or get out of it is to go back into the matrix with superpowers. So that's the way. Wow, okay, that is very true.

And so, anyhow, we're gonna, what I think we're Ryan is saying is we're gonna, we've been red-pilled and we're gonna red-pill everybody with this new, with this new, alt-right tech baby. Yeah, alt-right. I think Milo already tried that, didn't he? Didn't he?

No, he did, didn't they? At Bright Bart or something, they were gonna be like, it was gonna be like, Breitbart Tech. Yeah, that was their goal was to be like, this tech will help you be whiter. There's like, here's our perspective, more Nazis on social media. Think about it, anyhow.

So anyhow, input, input bag.com, input. Not a place for Nazis. Not a place for Nazis. We'll definitely, we will squash the free speech rights of Nazis if it all possible. Input not a place for Nazis not a place for Nazis will will definitely We will squash the free speech rights of Nazis if at all possible And we will kill baby Hitler by the way I killed you know I killed teenage Hitler to be honest with you I would literally kill any Hitler you know what would have been great if Hitler's mom was What lived in a place with readily available abortions? Yeah, no, listen, here's the thing.

Here's what I would, I wouldn't kill Baby Hitler. I would adopt Baby Hitler. And I would raise Baby Hitler to not be an asshole. So what I would do. I don't want kids, so I just kill it. Right. Do you think, like, do you think like no matter what? Like if Hitler had been raised by like a superl,

or like a super like a woke, like just if we, like I imagine like whatever the w a woke, like just if we like imagine like whatever the woken state of a family was in 19, whatever year he was born, 1919 or something. I think the guy should be able to do a day job with L.I. or whatever. Like what if he was raised at a woke family what Hitler have actually just added up being like more chill

or was he always destined to be a genocidal maniac? I think that that's the question. That's why you don't kill baby Hitler. I think, listen, it's time to reboot back to the future. I think you're really edgy. The plot, the plot doc is like, we have to go back and kill Hitler. Listen, that movie is a slam dunk.

That's a blockbuster if you ask me. Yeah. I don't think you can get away with killing baby Hitler. I think it's got to be like Hitler like somewhere in his rise to power. Yeah, it's got to be like the first time he's like, and they're going to do like a CGI Michael J. Fox. It's going to be weird. Here's the thing. I just saw, I finally saw, and man, Tom Holland was destined for that role. Oh my God.

UDI and Michael. So good. So good. Tom Holland, who I just saw a performance where he does umbrella. Oh, yeah. In like drag, it drag, sort of drag, like half drag, I don't know is there a word for that? But it's like, fucking. It's really, like it whole new Tom Holland. Oh yeah, like I didn't know this time. I didn't know this time. On the set of Spider-Man, like would choreograph dances

and post them to YouTube and they're all amazing. No, really? Is Tom Holland, is he not straight? No, he's straight. He's just very... He's just woke his fuck. He should raise Hitler, actually. He ends up...

Exactly. That's our back, should raise. Yes, that's the movie. He goes back and he teaches him to dance with Zendaya. Zendaya and Tom Holland raise baby Hitler to be a dance sensation He's like input mag calm is going to be our treatment It's like exterior night

Baby Hitler arrives on the doorstep of Tom Holland and Zendaya who are married they turned down They're part of a poly family. They're not married. True. Anyhow, long and short is inputmag.com. Check it out. I finally saw Ant Man in the Wasp, which is a great movie. Yeah, I want to say it's a very charming film

and everybody gives a great performance in it. And where was I going with this? I was really going anywhere with it, except, well, I was on a plane. I was on a bunch of planes this week. And so I watched a lot of movies. I rewatched Infinity War and then angrily tweeted about Star Lord because now I'm like an Avengers fanboy and I have to get mad about the characters. This is gonna change all your fan fiction. I don't know why I brought up. I guess it was Tom Holland.

He's not in Ant Man in the Wasp, but he is Spider-Man. And at the moment, he's the pilot dust. Well, there's a trailer for Spider-Man Far From Home, which is the next Spider-Man. The trailer, Marvel. Yes, this is the thing to me that, when I watch the end of the video, I was like, oh man, next Spider-Man. This is the trailer, Marvel. Yes, well, this is the thing to me that, when I watch the end of the video, I was like,

oh man, they're all dead. But then I was like, wait, Black Panther 2 is definitely slated for 2020 release. So I have trouble believing that they're like, hey, do you know how you love Black Panther? And you love Wakanda that you've just met for the first time, really? Sorry, it's gone now and we will never make another,

oh, it made a billion dollars. No, we don't care, it doesn't matter. It's like, this vision was so important. They're definitely not, please don't mention vision. They're definitely not bringing, they're definitely not killing off Spider-Man and Black Panther. You know, so it's like, I knew that,

I think we all knew what was coming. Yeah, you know, I can't wait for, they're gonna be feeling me so mad when they like reverse time and they bring back almost everybody. When Tom Holland and Doc go back in time. Oh my god. Exactly. Pass with Baby Hitler and the Baby Hitler takes on

Matt Oates as the hero of the universe. I will say though, sorry, I hate to be telling you about the Avengers right now. It's just random because I just want the Avengers and Ben Shapiro. So please change the topic. Yeah, seriously. No, it's good. But I, uh, Thanos really does suck. His whole plot is like so dumb. He's like, oh, if I just kill half

of everybody, then I can finally rest. It's like good for you, fuckface. Like, who cares, who cares if you can rest? Your idea is so dumb. Have you even thought it through? You can rest, your idea is so dumb. Have you even thought it through? I'm just tired of big gray deep voice, like, blobby villains and like, oh, you made him purple, doesn't change the fact that he's basically Doomsday, basically Apocalypse, basically. Like, they're all the same.

I'm so bored. You know what the most interesting villain in a long time was, Cape Lanschette with her multiple swords in Ragnarok. That's pretty good. That Ragnarok's a good movie. I'd like to see, I was thinking what would be great is, I'd like to see an Avengers movie

that's like just the Avengers, like not having to save the world, like maybe just dealing with their relationships. Like they tease like a relationship between Hulk and Black Widow or Black, what is that her name, Black Widow? Yeah. Okay, I'm like, there's so many characters down, I'm like, is that a character?

Did I just make that up? And it's like, how about a movie where you spend like a half an hour on that story? Like I'd be curious to'm like, there's so many characters down. I'm like, is that a character that I just make that up? And it's like, how about a movie where you spend like a half an hour on that story? Like I'd be curious to see like, are you guys, are they in a relationship? What's, do they have to like, are they going to brunch? Like, do they?

Yeah, what's life like when there isn't a thousand alien hoard? It's always like, it's always like, it's, you know, that's the thing. It's like, there's always some like, aliens pouring in from the sky. And that's not what comic books are like. Comic books like sometimes there's aliens pouring out from the sky, but in general there's

other stuff going on. I just like to see a little more like, I'd like to see an extra two hours. I'd like to see a three hour Avengers endgame with an additional two hours of like character development. Yeah. Five hours, split into two parts. We could make it some sort of a digital only series with episodes and they all drop it once and you can watch them

when you want to watch them and they start pen bad. Here's a great. He plays the stalker. Yeah, he plays. His superpower is the most crazy person you've ever met. But still weirdly hot and thin. Yeah, very thin. Anyhow, all right.

So what else? There's a lot of stuff going on. We should talk about other things in the news that have nothing to do with Avengers. Oh, one other thing I just wanna say, and I tweeted about this as well. And I have to say, it's crazy how your brain gets stuck in ideas.

I, whenever I'm on a plane and I'm sitting in my seat and I'm watching people board, cause I always take an aisle seat. All I do now, I mean, it is so automatic. My brain is like, does this look like a weird selection that it's going to crash on a beach, on a deserted island, like lost? Like I look, I'm like, oh there's like,

like there's like kind of an older balding white guy who looks like he might be racist. I'm like, oh there's some like, there's some acidic juice on this of playing. There's a, oh there's a family, like I had it kind of like wasp family with two kids. There's a, oh, there's a family. Like I had kind of like, waspie family with two kids. Like what's the character development and their personal thing?

I'm like, there's a guy with, there's a guy with dreads. I'm like, okay, we're getting now, we're getting like a mixture of people from different walks of life in different worlds. Like they're definitely gonna be fighting on the beach about resources in like the next 24 hours. Like my brain just automatically goes to like, is this like do, like I kind of almost like,

I'm like the plane's gonna crash based on how how like diverse and like friction filled, I think the the members of this flight will end up being. Is that where I do this on the subway where ever since the taking of Pellum 1 2 3 or like a disaster, the John Travolta version. Well, no, the original or like movies where like you get trapped in the subway car or whatever. I look around the subway and I think like how could we pull our resources? This guy just went shopping for food. So that's our source of food. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll give it 24 hours. I think that all the time. I think we talked a little bit. I don't want to actually,

I don't want to actually want to dox your idea because we have a, you have a really good idea for a potential input story that's related to that. Mm-hmm. And I'm very, I mean, I definitely do this like taking stock thing where you're like, I mean, this is like when I lived in, when I lived in, in my first apartment in Brooklyn, actually my second apartment in the same building,

it was like a, we had a, we were on the second floor and then we had access to, we had a skylight and like you could basically, if you wanted to like climb up this big shelf we had in the middle of the apartment and get to the skylight, and I was like, okay, if there's a zombie apocalypse, we'll go through the skylight, we'll get to the roof, we'll jump from this building to the next building,

we can make a pretty clean escape. I was like, plus, it's really hard with the zombies to get up steps, so that gives us a running start. Anyhow, it's totally unnecessary planning, but you should at least have it. But is it? But is it? like, you know, totally unnecessary planning, but you should at least have it. But is it, but is it? Yeah, I don't know anymore, man. I mean, you've seen the news haven't you? The news. Yes. I've seen the news. Yes, let's

talk about the news, actually. What's going on out there? Well, BuzzFeed published a story that they said in which they said that they had evidence that Trump had directed Michael Cohen to lie to the Mueller investigation about context with Russia. And they were very confident and this was published at the same time as the Ariana Grande Seven rings video. So there was a lot of meme mashups happening. People were thrilled dancing in the streets about a possible impeachment. And then in a twist of fate, the Mueller team, very uncharacteristically,

said that they had some inaccuracies in the story. And so, of course, the alt-right, right-wing machine is now saying fake news, fake news, you lied. Yeah, they're like, see, I've never did anything. There's smoke. No, that's it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no're like, see. I've never did anything, there's no smoke. No, that's it. What? No smoke, no fire. Yeah, cancel the investigation, this is it. Buzzfeed got us through.

But here's the thing, here's the thing. So it's super, this is the thing that's crazy. It's really, really fucking unusual for the Mueller team to say anything about anything. Okay, so my brain is like, okay, why do they choose in this case, at this moment, to say this story got it wrong? I feel like there's something else going on that I can't understand, right? Like, I don't... I think Buzzfeed has been, you know, say what you will about Buzzfeed. The Buzzfeed news team has gotten some serious scoops and they have told some really important stories in the Trump era of-

Hell yeah. Of- They heard their pollitzer or whatever. Yeah, I mean, I think that- Do they get one or they nominated? I can't remember. Or in any event they've earned it. Yes, give them one anyhow.

No, but they've done good work, you know, and there are really good reporters there. And Ben Smith knows what he's fucking doing. And Shani Hill knows what she's doing. And I don't believe for a second that, that they would just like, that story was not vetted thoroughly and that they didn't know. So now it's like, they're kind of like,

I mean, I think they're kind of saying now, we'll tell us what you think we got wrong in the story because they're kind of standing by it, right? Yeah, they're standing by it. They're saying we would love to hear what we got wrong because not only would that clarify the story for everybody, but also I think what they're in like insinuating is that whatever they got wrong was not the core part

of the story that maybe there was a detail that was off or something. So yeah, what I wonder is like, is this, I mean, this is like, if you go back and watch all the Clinton docs about the Clinton impeachment, obviously a much different situation with far less world breaking consequences. However, the lot of the reporting at the time was mostly accurate with a bunch of little inaccuracies.

And this to me seems like one of those stories that was like saying, you know, Monica Lewinsky was here on this date and ends up she wasn't, but it didn't mean she didn't suck its dick. Do you know what I mean? Wow. Okay, we just went there. All right. No, I know exactly what you mean, and I'm definitely like, I don't know, I'm not taking anything. It's hard to be together before we have the full story. And yeah, I mean, you can't fault BuzzFeed if they get some detail wrong, but we don't. I mean, listen, people get stories wrong. You know, people have to retract stuff. People just end up not getting it right. But what's that?

Yeah, of course. I mean, nobody's infallible. And one wrong or partially wrong story in a sea of very right stories is like, that should happen. And I don't think people instantly losing, instantly lose all credibility. If it's like a string of bullshit stories, then you're, okay, well, that's a problem, right? Like literally any of the right wing publications

that exist are like string of misinformed, made up, like most of these like alt-right publications are just running stories that are 100% baseless and based on garbage information and inaccurate. And they, you know, like maybe the standards are lower for them, but it's crazy that anybody would ever trust them. Like you have to be kind of brainwashed to trust them. But then, you know, it's like Buzzfeed, you know, the trouble with Buzzfeed is that it's kind of like they're starting from a place of, well, we're Buzzfeed, you know? And you've got to prove that, you know, you're not just doing like,

I mean, if you look at the problem with BuzzFeed has always been the dissonance between like, we literally- Which is a deep princess, are you? Yeah, I mean, literally the other day I was looking at and it was like, I would, you know, for the record, I would definitely let this actor choke me six times a day. And then it was like, and then it was like,

literally this story, and it was like most popular, I was like, would definitely let this actor choke me six times a day. And then it was like, and then it was like literally this story. And it was like most popular. It was like, I would let this actor choke me six times a two to four times a day because he's so hot. And then the story underneath it was like, man arrested for killing his wife and children. And it's like, okay, guys, there's a fucking, this is problematic, you know? I mean, you can't look at their YouTube channel or even am to DM. And you look at the comparison between the like the try guys try taking a Meditation break in the middle of their day and then the next thing that next story they're reporting on is

Government shutdown stuff and you're like hmm, so you're shutting down your mind to reset it for your Wakeful Con Marie method or whatever try guys and then right after that. It's like the government has shut down nobody's working and it's just It's just always all over the place. And so the reality is that does like, when you're trying to separate out the good stuff from the bad stuff, it's really easy for the, for people to go, well, this is the, you know,

they're not real news, right? And like, I mean, but the thing with that is, it's like, if their homepage has to be clickable for every single person in the world who is coming for every kind of story that they do, as opposed to a newspaper, which puts their funnies and their crossword puzzles in a different section, but you know they're there and you're buying in any way,

so they can put the good stories on the front. It's just a problem of like how they message this and how they package. Well, I look, I'm of it's auto generated. I mean, I'm of the mind that like, I understand there's a lot of value to the name Buzzfeed, but I mean, to me, that team is doing something totally different than the rest of Buzzfeed. Like they're not even in the same vicinity of content.

And so it's like, are these really the same business even? You know, I think there's been talk about them spinning it out about it becoming its own thing. Feedbuzz. What's that? Feedbuzz. Feedbuzz.net. But no, I don't know. I don't know the answer to that, but I will say it's like, whatever. I'm not saying that has anything to do with what's going on right now, but I definitely makes it easier for people to poke holes in their storytelling. But I think more importantly, you know, it's one of those like go-tos for the for the right-wing people who want to like discredit them.

It's an easy dunk because these are criticism. Like everyone has made the joke on Twitter about it and it makes it. Yeah, your surprise bulls-free got a story wrong. And it's like, actually, if you look at Buzzfeed news as track record, yeah, I'm surprised if they got the story wrong. Like, you know, say what you will, they've done, they've built a news organization, you know,

shit talk Buzzfeed all you want. And like, I've got lots of problems with Buzzfeed and their business and what it's done to the internet. But on the news side of things, they have worked pretty hard to build a serious news team and they've broken some pretty big stories and you really can't take that away from them. And so it's annoying to see people rehash that. You know, it's like, of course, everybody, again, dunk, you know, in the world of dunk culture,

everybody wants to find the thing that they can take a shot at. And for Buzzfeed, the easiest shot is like, your Buzzfeed, you know? Yeah. But anyhow, if they got the story wrong, that's fucked up. I'd like to know what's going on with the story, because something weird is going on. Well, please tell us. I think I'm going to be very weird.

I don't understand, the Mueller team never says anything about anything. So it's very strange to me that they chose this moment to talk. And it's like, why? Like, what is the reason? I don't want to be like, I'm not trying to be like a conspiracy theorist. But is there a reason it feels like there is?

Like, that's more devious than just like, we're trying to correct like a conspiracy theorist, but like, is there a reason it feels like there is? Like, that's more devious than just like we're trying to correct your story. Because the story is wrong, like, what's the damage to the Mueller investigation if that story is wrong? Yeah. I guess like, you know, when they release the report, people might be like, well, it's not in that part, it's not in there. What gives? And, but they can always say, well, that was just some reporting that we don't, that's not our report. That's just some random Buzzfeed story. I mean, maybe it's something to do with working with Michael Cohen.

So, no, he didn't, so Michael Cohen hasn't tweeted about this, Buzzfeed story, but he tweeted about this Wall Street Journal story, which is that he gave polling data or sorry, had companies rigged polls, online polls for Donald Trump at the direction of Donald Trump. So yeah, so that's, who knows is going on all that. It's all very confusing. I mean, the country is in a bad spot. Look, I'm not going to say things are good.

I'm not going to mone about it, you know, because I get it. Like, look, you know, Trump is president, we're all just living with that. And, but like, we're all dying with that, but yeah. Yeah, no, you don't, I mean, but it's like, is this gonna end? I don't know. Now, of course, now all the fucking Democrats look dumb

because they're like, well, this is true, we must begin impeachment proceedings. And it's like, well, maybe, I don't know, maybe don't base the impeachment proceedings purely on the Buzzfeed story. Yeah. You know, maybe don't get all the things, of all the things that we have evidence-wise

and impeachment-wise, it was the Buzzfeed story that has a real thing. Well, I mean, whatever. It's, it's, it's, it's. Is this because AOC is giving them classes on how to look like human beings? Oh my God. AOC, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

She, um, she like quoted Alan Moore. Did we talk about this in the last episode? She quoted Watchman, okay. I'm like, look, I love it. I'm here for it as they say. It just makes me very nervous, okay? Because I think anybody who quotes Watchman, I just worry there's some nudes out there.

You know what I mean? Well, there was a fake nude spreading. Well, I know there was a fake nude, but it's like, you know, if, and by the way, I don't care. If she has, everybody has nudes out there. You know what I mean? Well, there was a fake nude spreading. Well, I know there was a fake nude, but it's like, you know, that if, and by the way, I don't care if she is, everybody has nudes who gives a fuck. Only the Republicans are like, you know, prudes about the thing. But like, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, they're, they're president who's paying off porn stars is a very conservative, you know, you know, picture of her human body. They're the ultimate pearl clutches, you know, when it comes to anybody else doing it, but them, you know. And by the way, I'm not saying like, I'm not saying like if you read Watchmen, you automatically are doing news.

I just feel like you're so cool, you probably just feel like, I feel like if you read Watchmen, you've probably like sent some pretty racy texts that people had like, listen, I know. Like you're a young normal person. Like, and I'm like, okay, well, like,

what are they? You're not living a life of like purity where you're like, I've never looked at my grind. Yeah, but he didn't somebody actually, wasn't there some weird Republican candidate who said they love watchmen? Was it like Ted Cruz? God, I bet it wasn't.

Hold on, I got a Google. Oh Ryan, it has to be Paul Ryan. Wait, Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio, one of them. No, no, no, and so he said he said his favorite character was like Azimendi has for something who said who he said they like oh He like Rorschach his no right. Okay Ted Cruz yeah I'm in meanwhile by the way polygons like Ted Cruz, Rorschach is not a hero. It's like, actually he is.

I mean, I'm not trying to side with Ted Cruz, but of the, I'm not really sure this opinion holds up. Like, there's a lot of bad people in Watchmen, but like, Rorschach and the original Watchmen, if there can be said to have, if there is like a hero, which is like somebody who's trying to like expose someone who's trying to like kill. I mean, the people saying-

Trying to kill like everybody on the planet. People saying the thing where they're like, guess what? Rorschach's not a hero. Are the same people who are like, yes Walter White. No, I mean, like all I'm saying is- Like that might be a complicated character. Like, okay, he's not a good guy or anything, but nobody's good in watchmen,

but he's definitely better than the guy who wants a wipe out half of the, meanwhile, by the way, I just realized, Thanos' plot is fucking the watchmen plot. Yeah, basically. Yeah, basically. Have we talked about this? Has the world talked about this?

I feel like you need to be talked about. It just kind of dawned on me. I hadn't really thought about it very much. Anyhow, we're really done a rabbit hole on it. What's worrying me with AOC two things. One is that she's testing my ability to not stand a politician because I have had a wide-standing thing

where I have said you have to be able to criticize your own. You have to not get into this culture where you become either a Bernie bro or a hillbot or whatever. You need to be able to say that people are complicated and they'll get things wrong. On the same note, she hasn't yet, and I'm starting to slip into, I love her territory. Also, the minute that she does something wrong, we cannot eat her alive because she compromises or votes for one thing that's controversial that we don't necessarily agree with. We can't, I just feel like we're moments from like devouring her, the internet, like just deciding, you know, she's canceled. And I,

I just feel like anybody at that level of profile is just like minutes from that. Like, I don't want her to milkshake duck over something so. No, that's the fear isn't it? Now we live in the milkshake duck world where you're like I because here's the thing like I'm like a fan I like her I like the fact she's saying shit that other people aren't saying I I mostly agree with her crazy ass like the tweets that are like going for it like the Alan Moore shit I'm like yes I'm here I'm here for this but it does mean that at some point there will be something you don't. But you know what I'm saying?

It just feels like there's a lot of time. It's like too much too fast. It's like so much is happening now and people are like, no, it's like she's a, in the grand scheme of the Democratic Party, she's become like a very big figure, but like she's a brand new to politics, right? Yeah. I'm not saying don't speak, I'm saying speak. It just makes me nervous. It's like, but listen, I was nervous the whole time Barack Obama was president because I'm not saying don't speak. I'm saying speak. It just makes me nervous. It's like,

but listen, I was nervous the whole time. Barack Obama was president because I'm like, someone's going to try to kill him. Like, you know what I mean? Because America's full of racist. It's sort of a similar thing where it's like someone's going to go after this person and make it really bad. Not that she's done anything wrong. I mean, even if there are nudes, those are not wrong, but like someone's going to make it their business to like, like, screw her over by you. I mean, they're desperately trying right now. I know, right. there are noods, those are not wrong, but like someone's gonna make it their business to like screw her over by you. I mean, they're desperately trying right now. I know, right, and that's the thing, it's like, but whatever, but that's the world we live in.

It's like if you become like a person who is like known, you become a target to people who wanna like ruin you. Like that's it, that's it. The whole world now is predicated on like building people up and then destroying them as quickly as possible. You know? Yeah, I mean, it always was, but now we're doing it at such, our parallelism in state.

And now we're losing it in state. Yeah, no, it's like on fast forward. Yeah, we all decided to be like Ariana Grande, and we're also about to decide that we hate her and hope she dies. It's like, yeah. Well, Ariana Grande, I don't know, I saw the most amazing threat.

Somebody was like, everybody's giving Ariana Grande shit for like appropriating, but Mariah Carey has been appropriating. And then people are like, dude, people are like, dude, right? Mariah Carey is a person of color. Like Ariana Grande is not. And I was like, yeah, what's going on with this person?

Like, did they not know this? It's insane. I was like, that's sad. Anyhow. In other news, what is going on with the women's march? I don't know. I don't know. I'm not following what is happening with the women's march.

So the women's march is probably canceling this year because of weather stuff, but the other side of that that they're dealing with at the moment is like rampant claims of anti-Semitism which they have yet to properly resolve, which is so weird coming from like a super woke. Okay. Sorry. What's the anti-Semitic angle here? So they've worked with and employed people who are super pro Lewis Farrakhan. Okay. Well, that's, yeah, some of the people themselves have made some very problematic statements and they have yet to like Properly I don't want to say me a culpa, but like they haven't There's a giant rift in the middle of the women's march sort of organizers Which is on top of the risk of people who are like pink pussy high hashtag resistance is so stupid On top of that there's the rift of

People who are like, we're trying to create an inclusive movement of like different viewpoints in these people like Louis Farrican for XYZ reasons, because you know, he's done a lot for people of color, but at the same side of the coin, it's like, yeah, he definitely has, but he's also like rampantly anti-semitic. Yeah, I think he continues like, propping that up

as if it, as if like he has redeeming qualities make up for the anti-semitism in a movement of people trying to unite women who are being oppressed to just like leave Jews on the table in that way. Yeah. And so they're like dealing with all of this on top of now they're canceling supposedly for weather related reasons, but it's like the women's march is again, like consuming itself. God, everything is so canceled. Everything is canceled. I all I can say is this,

Farrakhan, if memory serves, and I haven't really thought or read about this in a while, is like kind of like down with the protocols of the Alders' Zion, like the Jews are a, I think his belief on Jews is that they're controlling the world, they're like the secret. He thinks it's okay to criticize them because they're secretly like the most powerful people

in the world. Right, which is like, you know, would be interesting if this most powerful people in the world were like had a massive genocide down to them, which is, I mean, maybe, and maybe that's a, maybe that is an argument for the genocide, perhaps. I don't really know. When I think about it, when I think about our Jews

really running the world, I'm like, where is my, how do I get a little of that? How do I get ahold of the levers of the world so that I can twist things in my favor? If Jews are running the world, explain the Nazi rallies. I guess it's because I'm an atheist, explain Trump if Jews are running the world. Maybe you're super duper pro-Israel, which I think whatever version of pro-Israel exists now that is supportive of Trump is actually anti-Israel in the long run because it will create a conflagration in Israel and between Israel and Palestine that we can never...

If you're anti-Palestine, I guess, and basically, you know, if you believe in the genocide of Palestinians, then like, I don't know, whatever, that is the whole other fucking canoer. But I don't think that represents Judaism. I don't think represents the opinion of a lot of Jews in the world and also, it's, anyhow, it's tough to reconcile Farakhan's opinions about Jews with like, I mean, yes, he's done positive things, but you know, he's extremely controversial and imperfect, dude, and has a lot of really bad opinions. And that's sort of like, inescapable bad opinions that have been propagated. And yeah, I don't know.

I don't know enough about the women's march to speak on it, except to say that it's sad if something that I think was generally positive, which is like a lot of women and men getting together to protest like the bullshit way that women are treated in this country, which is like one of the 10 most dangerous countries for women in the world now. It sucks if that can't continue. Speaking of marches and extremely depressing situations, I don't know if you've seen You know, it sucks if that can't if that like can continue. So speaking of Marches and and extremely depressing situations. I don't know if you've seen this video of a Native American elder whose name is

Do we have his name Nathan Phillips and Omaha elder veteran of the veteran the Vietnam War Marine is from the cut Former director of the Native youth alliance. He's like chanting and drumming at this, there's the indigenous peoples marches today, Saturday, and there's a group of disgusting fucking teenage boys wearing fucking magahats, like making fun of him in his face. Yeah, they were attending the march for life, which is on the same day. Yeah, I'm sorry.

Like this to me gets to the root of what really is sad and depressing about the Trump era. Like, we talked about this a few episodes ago. People are not born this way. Like they're not born hateful. They really aren't. Like, and this is maybe a, maybe an argument against my kill baby Hitler.

But like, if you're raising a Nazi teen, like I know that this, maybe this will be a controversial statement. If you're raising a teenager who acts this way towards people of color or who has such hateful, violent views and they're just so awful, like at a certain point, maybe CPS should step in. No, dude, it's child abuse. I think it is. Child abuse. Like, I think at some point, someone has to step in and be like, you're not raising your children correctly. No, I think it's, I think it's child abuse. I think they're putting hate

into the world and they're making, they're making, they're, they're, they're giving their, I mean, it's a kin to brainwashing. I think, but I think some, some religious, I mean, I think it's child abuse. I think they're putting hate into the world and they're making, they're giving, I mean, it's akin to brainwashing. I think, but I think some religious, I mean, I think some of the way that the kids are raised in religions is child abuse. I think the way Hasidic Jews raise their daughters is like basically child abuse, you know? And that's a whole other can of worms.

But any, I think any fanatical doctrine thought, like, you know, set a thought that like, you know, positions you against other people because of like the color of their skin or their religion or frankly any of their beliefs or their fucking- I mean, it's not any of your orientation. If you, if you, if you're,

if you're like position against Nazis, like that's a good thing. Like, but if you're raising your kids to believe that they're them or someone else should be limited, mocked or like, generally harmed because of either what's in their pants or the color of their skin or the way that they like love somebody. At that point, like, I just think you're raising your children. And I don't even want to say incorrectly, you're both harming your children and creating them to harm other people in the world, and it is abuse.

And it's not just any beliefs, because there are things you want to teach your kids or bad beliefs, or things you want to teach your kids about how they should exist in the world in contrast to other people. But it becomes scary when these kids are acting violently and trying to hurt or harm or mock or, I mean, at a certain point,

or just intimidate or just intimidate people. I mean, we're children to be bullies on the basis of race, religion. I mean, go watch the video, go watch the video. It's like, I'll have to say, is this guy, and I'm anti-war, this guy went to fucking war for America. Forget about everything else, forget about him. And he exercising his free speech right. I mean, yeah, I'm saying I'm saying I'm saying forget it

Take all that off right take forget about His right to free speech forget about like the harass like like like like like the fact that he should be able to exercise is ready for You know free speech without being harassed like think about how fucking indignant the indignation how It's like, think about how fucking indignant the indignation, how crass and base it is. I don't care if these kids are fucking teenagers. I know teenagers. I have cousins who are teens, they know better. Yeah, I was a teenager.

I never did this. And I had- It's easy to, you know, you can be, teens always, like teens always suck in some way, okay? I suck to the teen, there's no question. Sure, absolutely. I'm just gonna say, I saw a lot of shitty stuff. I never did anything like this.

But I didn't wear a fucking MAGA hat and like, basically like fucking chant racist shit to like date of American people on video, you know? Like, I didn't do it at all. I mean, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, there's people, there's kids in the background wearing the MAGA hats who are also like filming. Like, cause they think it's funny.

They're laughing, your parents are egging filming like because they think they're laughing. Yeah. Parents are egging them on. Yeah, I'm sorry. These people should be, I mean, these kids should be, uh, CPS, they need, I mean, they need, they need counseling first off. They need to know that this shit's not okay. The school should be held seriously fucking accountable.

Their parents should be held seriously accountable. But more than anything, it makes me really sad for this country because like, to think that like people whose brains are kind of mush, still unformed, still don't really know what's right and wrong, think that this is the way you behave. And that thing is, is it part of me can't hold it against these kids because of what they've been raised to do and like they're still children and stuff. But the other part of me is like, you know what, but I never acted like this. And maybe it's because I was raised better, but I did a lot of shitty stuff. I would never have occurred to me to

like chant racist shit in someone's face and film it. My parents would never egg me on in that way. Something is seriously, seriously wrong. I mean, this is, this is the after effects. This is the ongoing effects of Trump, which is like, he makes behavior that is absolutely reprehensible and foul. He makes it normal. And fuck snooze because these kids go home and they turn on fuck snooze, and they're

being defended for their like right to protest blah, blah, blah, blah blah and being told that they were really the victims in the scenario and then they turn off the TV and the president is doing the same stuff. Like it's just an environment that is like a vicious cycle. By the way, these are not like I'm not even shocked. These kids are from a Catholic school, which makes it, which it's like, you know, Catholic church don't give me started on that shit, but like it does make it all the more fucked up when you think about what a religion like Catholicism should at least be teaching,

it's the children, you know, in these schools and in these churches. When you come here with the Jesuits at Boston College, and what they espouse and how they live their lives with this, it's fucking horrifying. I mean, Jesus definitely wasn't like getting the face of people who have been shit on and make their lives harder. Like, I can say that.

They fight to not get shit on. Yeah, like I think for sure, if Jesus were around, I think he'd be marching with the indigenous people. That's what I think. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like I think that they're exactly the kind of people that Jesus was talking about when he was talking about

what Christianity is supposed to be or whatever the fuck the Bible says he was doing. But you know, like I'm just saying that they're so on the wrong side of everything in this picture. And I'm like so depressed thinking about talking about it, but I will say this. I will say there's people, I've seen people defend, they're like,

who hasn't done dumb things? Like I've seen this fucking idiot from the Wall Street Journal, who hasn't done stupid things when they were kids, but we didn't have video cameras there. And it's like, yeah, like it's good that there are video cameras there, because now we can see how poorly these kids are being raised and the terrible shit that they're up to,

and somebody can intervene and hopefully, like inform them of the error of their ways, you know? Like, because as it stands, it's like, as it stands, Karen Pence just took a job at a school of first kid school. Pivot. This isn't necessarily pivot, it's the same topic. As it stands, she is over there.

The first lady, though, the vice-first lady, second lady, whatever the fuck she's called, is just took a job at a Christian school where gay people are your band from being gay and they're told that it's just like a hateful environment. They're told that like, you're allowed to identify as homosexual, but you're not allowed to express it or act on it or there will be no sex ed, ed, and information. And it's like a bullying, horrible, repressive environment. And when you have that person co-signing that in the White House, it makes it really hard to then turn around and message to these kids what you're doing is hateful at your Catholic school. Like, it's just, it's untenable.

Like, do you imagine if Michelle Obama ever did anything adjacent to this? Like, the, the, the, yeah, just the long term effects of his existence in, in the highest office of the land is like, I don't even know how we, I mean, you know, it's like, I'm scared for Zelda to find out that he exists. You know, I'm scared for my child to look. I'm originally wrote a children's book explaining it on their level, not really holding back a ton of information, but explaining it with context. And I need to look up what it was.

But it essentially is a digestible version of what's happening for kids to give them an understanding. I don't, I would, I'm sorry, I just like, if you can keep your kid away from this for a few years, I'm hoping that we can start to course correct. I just like, I, I do not, I just think it's such a, it's such a dark point in American history. And I hope that like, there's some fucking way that we can in American history, and I hope that like there's some fucking way that we can start to repair it. And I think, you know, I think the only way to repair it is to get better people in power and start to make it clear loudly and clearly that the policies and the ideas and the thinking that this administration has brought to the into the light should be shunned and demolished and push back

on heavily as possible because otherwise, I don't know, we need some actually and there's the AOC, there's the Akhazi Akkortez argument which is, it's like, yes, speak, because we need people who are gonna push back, right? Like, we need people to say the shit that other people aren't saying right now. And I do think maybe in the Trump era, this is why I want her to continue to be outspoken, but worry for the heat that she's gonna take and the scrutiny.

It's like, we definitely need people to who can basically do what Trump does. And like, one of the things that Trump does is he says what's on his mind. We just need better people with better things on their mind to say what's on their mind, you know? Yeah, the children's book that I was yafrancing before in case anyone wants to look it up is called

Unprecedented and it's by Martha Brock and Brow. And I was very interested in a little YA book. I wasn't following Alexandria Acasio Cortez on Twitter. I just realized it while we were talking. And I went to follow her. And do you know what Twitter suggests as the second thing to follow? It's another account that's verified with her name.

Oh wait, I'm sorry. It's a non-verified account with her exact picture and name, which is a parody account That's like designed to like mock her. That's what Twitter recommends is the next follow-up I was like, oh she must have her representative account and her like personal account, which is true But Twitter recommends you follow a fake account Which is fucking insane recommends you follow a fake account, which is fucking insane. Like, absolutely fucking insane. Like, their algorithm should make that account

a fucking peer. I mean, did you see Jack and at Jack and Ashley Feinberg's discussion that was in the Huff-Pow? I saw a little bit of it. He said, I asked whether Trump tweeting an explicit call for murder would be grounds for removal. Just as he seemed about to answer what seemed like an easy question, he caught himself. That would be a violent threat.

He started. We're in constant communication with all governments around the world. So we'd certainly talk about it. Was his response to the president calling for basically a hit on somebody on his platform? Well, he's the president calling for basically like a hit on somebody on his platform. Well, he's the president. So it's a news. They would talk about it. It's newsworthy. Now, look, I mean, Jack Dorsey should not be CEO of the company that is called Twitter. He doesn't know enough about humanity to run a company like Twitter. His like humanity chip has been switched off or whatever. They need a team of ethicists

who actually know how humanity works to make those kinds of decisions. Listen, whatever. I mean, man, I think Trump's already done enough that he should be kicked off fucking Twitter. But like there goes, that's the end of Twitter. That's the end of Twitter, in my opinion. Twitter's a bit over-the-sale.

At a certain point, maybe Twitter's just a bad thing that does bad stuff, and if they stop doing bad stuff, it wouldn't be, it wouldn't exist. Because the good parts of, there are good things about Twitter, and we established that when we started using it. But the bad things seem to really, I mean, I have taken a step off of Twitter

where I came back so I could post about input, but I took a step off of Twitter where I wiped my tweets and basically deleted the apps off of my devices so that in order to use Twitter, I would need to open my laptop load the website, then be ready to do something, which is not something that's usually on hand for me because unless I'm at work, I don't usually have my laptop open. My entire brain is different. Like my depression and anxiety is different, and I can't really explain it in any other way.

Like it was that moment from then on, my entire base level mood has shifted, and the way I interact with people and the way I consume things is different, and I'm less like impulsive, and I'm less loaded with bad like takes and like shit in my brain. And maybe if Twitter was to curve all of that behavior, it wouldn't be Twitter anymore.

And at a certain point, we might be addicted to it and we might see a little bit of value in our ability to have a conversation or promote things or check the news. But maybe Twitter is just a really bad product. And if they tried to change anything about it, it wouldn't be Twitter anymore. And maybe we just should go away from Twitter. Like at a certain point, it's similar to Facebook where like, maybe this is just bad. I'm not saying all social networking is bad. I'm saying maybe V2, which is what we're on, like post-mise-based, maybe version 2 isn't

perfect. And we need to move away from these platforms because they're built at their core, at the bottom, the way they were conceived is bad, and it's broken, and it's not gonna work for us. And maybe V3 or V2.5 is something like Instagram, which is quote unquote, better. It's like a little bit better. Instagram's a little less abusive.

It's not perfect, and it's definitely getting worse. But there needs to be an iteration in a way that, from the ground up, we rethink how we interact and how other people interact and how we get information from these sort of systems. And maybe Twitter can't fix itself because Twitter isn't good at all. Maybe. I mean, I think that this mode of information gathering in these short staccato unverified,

unknown, contextless person. It's a random sentence from your brain, completely unverified from anybody, and even when it is verified, it might be a hack to count or it might have been worded poorly. It's not, that's communication in the world. It's a very bad delivery system,

unless you are Donald Trump, in which case it's an excellent delivery system, which is you have a big platform You want to put a statement out into the world that cannot be vetted or checked really in any meaningful way to the people who see it And you want to do it as quickly as possible And I think that's really great if you're Kanye West or you're Donald Trump or you're Kim Kardashian or you're I think it's a really good platform for celebrities to speak to audiences. And like in a world where we can speak rationally

to each other, like that sounds great, right? It's not a great, I mean, yes, you could say there are pockets of, there are pockets of Twitter that are really fun and useful and helpful and all this bullshit, but it's like the reality is that's overtaken by the shouting. And the shouting comes from the people who have the biggest followings, and those followings are gathered in ways that are about popularity and marketing, not about the quality or value

of what those people have to say. And so, Kanye West sounds like a fucking idiot on Twitter 99% of the time. Kanye West has a huge volume on Twitter. It's like he's a very famous person and that makes a lot of sense. Donald Trump sounds like an idiot on Twitter 99% of the time. Donald Trump has a big following because he's a celebrity and that's really a great platform for them. But for human beings, it's not good. It's not good to be assaulted by those messages and it's not good to be assaulted by the responses to those messages Free of contacts free of thought free of time, you know, and I think that like

It has made us in Facebook has also an Instagram to some degree but maybe to a lesser degree because if it's just sort of It's the nature of what it is has made us feel More anxious more scared more confused more worried more angry and and I don't know what that is. I have to say I feel like a completely different person having just removed it from my impulse life, like having removed the, I got up from the couch and I'm going to go to the thing and make a cup of coffee, let me open Twitter, having removed that from my life. The way that I processed launching input was we could check

like what people were saying and like be excited and see the faves and you know like see the conversation around what we were trying to do. In a way that was like while I was at work, I looked at all of that. I digested, you know, some people's comments were positive, some people's comments were skeptical, some people like whenever you announced something. It's something cool. And I was able to go home, talk to John about how excited I was, how cool it was, and be done with my day. And when I woke up the next day,

it was a different topic. And I didn't sit obsessively looking at every single comment everyone had about this thing that I was working at. Like it was just a different experience. And it's the same with the Trump news. I see something, I read an article. I'll open Twitter if I just want to see what my timeline is saying.

I close it. I don't have to sit up and obsess about it. I have my opinion. I know what it is. I'll get an update tomorrow if there's a big update. If there's no reason to be sitting looking at a thousand memes based on bad news, there's no reason to sit and have it in a cycle

in your brain. And that's what Twitter enables. I agree. I have deleted the Twitter app from my phone. I use Twitter if I want to use it. I go on the web app. And I think, first of not getting notifications, not even from people that I'm,

it's like just not having to see this like instantaneous responses to things. Like listen, everybody's got an opinion. Everybody's gonna share it. And like they're welcome to it. Like, you know, I know something. And it makes for a great chat room during the RuPaul's Drag Race Elimination ceremony

or whatever. But that doesn't mean every moment of your life. But doesn't now, I feel like if you watch things, now where a lot of people are tweeting about it, it's kind of like just a bummer because I feel like everybody's trying to outdo the other person. Yeah, it does become a little competition.

You have to sit back and enjoy the jokes and not try to like win the points. Right, right. But really quickly, while we were, and I have to say I have had Twitter open in front of me while we've been talking and I've seen like tweets start to, because the stuff at the indigenous people's march that happened is starting to pick up speed really quickly. The people, apparently the kids, I haven't watched the video with sound on that apparently the kids are chanting build the wall, which is the most fucked up and insane. To an indigenous person.

Like the most fucked up and insane thing in the world. Like when you think about literally the ramifications of such a statement to a person who literally had people invade this country and take it from them. The actual people who had people invade this country and take it from them to have people shouting build the wall at them. It's like so it completely insane and out of. the actual people who had people invade this country and take it from them, to have people shouting build the wall at them.

It's like so it completely insane and out of control. We are beyond, we are beyond, we are, we are, we are dead in this as hell. I think as the statement you're looking for, speaking of statements, Buzzfeed news has a statement just released. I love breaking news. But breaking news on this podcast,

you're gonna hear in a day or several hours from now. As we reconfirmed our reporting, we've seen no indication that any specific aspect of our story is inaccurate. We remain confident in what we've reported and we'll share more as we are able. So Buzzfeed News doubling down, God, I feel like I feel like a suddenly,

I feel like a TV news guy. Buzzfeed News, very BBC. Buzzfeed News doubling down on a recent story. That was very out of story. Yeah, yours was Australian. I was like, I inhabited the body of Chris Hayes for 10 seconds. Buzzfeed news doubling down on their bombshell report because that's how Chris Hayes talks. I would do a Rachel Maddo impression, but we don't have 17 minutes for me to give you the history of my Syria. Oh my God. I like watching Rachel on TV, but if you listen to her, because you can listen to it on on a series, you can listen to yeah, you really see that as a podcast,

which was big for me for like two months in 2016. And and it's like, wow, you're really going for it on this one relatively small topic. Like let's move on. Yeah. Uh, no, she's great. Anyhow. She is great. So yeah, so about straight news, double down. Anything else that we need to talk about? Anything that you've missed? Any important things? Two things I want to discuss.

Yes. Elon Musk is laying off a ton of people, like 3,000 workers, and he wants to build a gig effectory in China for $2 billion when he's already a billion dollars in debt. And his stock prices are reflecting this latest development. And people are starting to question if he's maybe losing touch with reality. I mean, starting, just now, we're just now opening the question up there.

He's a businessman, okay? I mean, you can't knock the guy for being a businessman. And I gotta say, no, let Elon be Elon. Let Elon be Elon. Well, there was a piece written by Charles DuHig in Wired in December about how Elon is Elon. And if you have any skepticism about Elon Musk as a person or as a manager, I would highly encourage the listener to seek out such peace and see the ways that he

screams at his employees and his weird antics trying to get them to work 24 hours a day. Hey, listen, sometimes you just got to bring down the hammer on those employees, okay? So, I just got to make an example of people put some heads on spikes. Yeah, exactly. Listen, we've all been there, okay? And, you know, they had a comment, all right? But, you know, in all seriousness, I don't think it should be surprising. I mean, he's got to make his business function. And the labor is not going to stay in America permanently. First off, there's the international market to think about, right?

Secondly, I mean, the labor is just cheaper for him. Like, it's just going to be cheaper. And so I feel like, I don't know. I don't want to be negative about Elon, but it's possible he's just a regular businessman who's gonna outsource his work to another country. Yeah, and you know, secure funding and sell his stock price at 420

because the pop star he was dating said that was funny. Right oh, but the other thing is that that um just a regular guy No, but the other thing is hold on a second. We're not even talking about the other deal, which is like There's a report that that grimes and Azalea banks are gonna be like subpoenaed To give testimony about his like in one of in one of these have you seen this story? No, they're gonna be subpoenaed to give testimony about his like in one of in one of these have you seen this story? No, they're gonna be subpoenaed to give testimony in I would love to hear a Zilia Banks and what she has to say in a courtroom. I mean, can you can you imagine? I'm like really into it. I

want to hear it. But like no, I mean that's crime that's gonna get testimony only in high co. Grimes is like, I don't know, dude. It's like, Grimes, like, you had a couple good records, but now, like, what's going on? What's happening? It's going on. And were they that good? I don't know.

I haven't even listened to the new song. I've just, like, so off-grimes. Like, the whole thing with her, like, basically being, like, I don't know, becoming like a spokesperson for Elon Musk. Like, by the way, I'm not saying Elon Musk is like- The dick that good is the dick that good. I mean, it must be, I mean, the dick's that becoming like a spokesperson for Elon Musk. By the way, I'm not saying Elon Musk is the dick that good. I mean, it must be, I mean, the dick's that rich. I can tell you that.

I mean, I'm just saying, you know, you should never have to make another record again. Hang out with Elon. I mean, listen, you know, I get it. I'd love to meet somebody very rich. Maybe he's really interesting. I don't know. Maybe he's just...

I can't even imagine he being very interesting. I mean, definitely a... Yeah, I mean, I could not. But I'll find I'm hanging out with Elon. Uh, I could imagine him being entertaining. And then if you get in a coke, if he gets in a coke being like really, really, really annoying.

Yeah, absolutely. Like once he gets the coke, it's going to be like, uh, please, please, please stop talking. He's like, what we have to do is establish a colony because humanity, okay, so humanity is a problem. No, I mean, he was always willing to cope because that's the way he talks all the time actually. Like what you just said was not like, yeah, it was not like.

He's like, the purest form of democracy is everybody votes. And so while established a moon base and what we'll do from the moon base is we'll create a society that's a perfect society. The way that Epcot was meant to be, but you know, Disney had some issues in his construct. It's like stop talking. Stop talking. Yeah, it's so perfect. That's what his Twitter account is. In other news,

Google just bought a bunch of IP and cut a deal with fossil smartwatches in order to like bolster their Wear OS standings since that's kind of sinking and dying. Yeah. I don't know that that's the move. Why haven't they made an Nexus watch? I don't know that that's the point. I think that's what they're doing. I think that's the point. I mean, it's not a huge deal. They only paid them $40 million.

So I don't really. But I think they must have, they must have some like watchmaking chops that like Google's like, we don't really have that. I mean, if I was making watches forever, right? Yeah, I think it's like, a lot of those outlets just do the design, like the fashion end of it. They don't necessarily do the, like the tech side, they're just buying off the shelf parts and then plugging that into a nightclub.

Sure. Well, but maybe they've got something we don't know about. Maybe. Maybe fossil is secretly great at making EKG sensors. I don't know. I mean, I don't think that's like rocket science at this point, you know? So your guess is as good as mine. Maybe we'll have to get in the way, OS.

Have you seen, this is so super off top. So there's not really a lot to say about that because we don't really know what the deal is. But like, I mean, I don't know. I have tried and failed many times to like wear a smartwatch. I'm basically like, I can't do smartwatches. So I don't have a lot to say about that. I mean, I'm like, I get it.

And there's a part of me that every time I see somebody wearing an Apple watch, I'm like, maybe I should get a new Apple watch. And then I think about all the times I've had an Apple watch and I'm like, yeah, not into it. And then I think about all the other watches I've had. I'm like, yeah, not into it. And then I think, well, if I get an Apple watch,

I have to switch back to the iPhone. I'm like, I'm definitely not into it. And then I think, well, if I get an Apple watch, I have to switch back to the iPhone. I'm like, I'm definitely not into that. And then I kind of like, just, I'm just like, I'm gonna save my money. I spend it on something I really need. I think we need to come to terms of it being like an ambience at it and forget it when you need to use it.

It's there and when you don't, it isn't. And I haven't loved Wear OS, so hopefully this will be the thing. No, it's not good. I actually, the one that looks actually kind of good to me is Samsung's watches. Like, I feel like their interface is kind of gets it more right. I sort of hate this. I mean, I don't, I don't know, whatever.

Apple's watches are fine. You wear an Apple watch, you like it. Yeah, everybody likes it. Everybody's come right on to it. I'm not, I'm not from the rooftop. I'm not sitting around being like, like someone said at some point, and I told you this, it was like a couple of months ago,

someone in some video said, Apple never stopped making the iPod. They just put a band on it and called it the Apple Watch. And that's kind of what it is. Like it's for me to do music controls. Occasionally I look at a text message, it tracks my fitness. I like the health features.

Like it's not like a, if I took it off, I wouldn't, it wouldn't necessarily change my day. Yeah, I think, and even less the Wear OS because it doesn't have those health features and it's basically Google. Well, they have health, no, they have health features. I mean, Wear OS has definitely has like health tracking stuff. But what I use the health features for the EKG stuff, so. Oh, right. Yeah, it doesn't have that.

I, you know, I think, I don't know. Listen, to me, this goes in line with sort of everything that's going on in our lives right now. Like, I don't think I need another thing. I do like the idea of tracking my, you know, but I'll say this, I was, I had, I bought one of the Fitbit versus like the little watch, which I was wearing for a while, and I really liked,

it's just like a kind of like a cheap, weird version of an Apple Watch with like fewer features, which I kind of like, because it's like less stuff. And your battery lasted forever. My battery lasted forever. And seriously, like I could leave it for like days and days and days.

And like, yeah, I remember you being like, I haven't charged this in three days. Yeah, but here's the thing. The EKG on it was really helpful because I was like, okay, cool, look, I can see, like, I can see my pulse, I can get a sense of like where my heart rate is and it gave me like all like the, you know, averages of my heart. And but then that made me nervous. Like, I was like, oh, while my heart's beating really fast right now, like, should I be concerned? And like, I think that that's like, you don't need to know, I guess, yes, like, if there's a

dangerous, like, problem with like the way your heart is beating you want to know Yeah, but it was a set it it's a set it and forget it if there's a problem it will bring to my attention Have you ever had it say anything was a problem of your head twice? I've had it say my heart rate went dangerously high when I was really stressed out and running around and I yeah I stopped so I think that would just but I feel like that would just make me feel worse like more worried I I would just, but I feel like that would just make me feel worse, like more worried. I guess it made me stop for a second and put down what I was doing and take a few deep breaths and like get it to a good head space, which was nice for me. That's happened twice.

And the fall detection is good because I know most people under 65. This isn't a concern, but I am not the most graceful Husky gentleman. And the idea that I would fall down the stairs is not out of the range of possibility. So I do like knowing that it's just there in case something happens. Right. Yeah. Okay. Apple right now wants to wants to get Medicare to pay, like subsidize it so that seniors can get the watch at almost free. Yeah. As a like health thing. Like that's the move to make. I don't know that making them more fashionable through fossils, the thing Google needs to do.

Although, if someone offered me a smart watch with similar features that didn't look like everybody else to stupid watch, which is just a slightly different band, I would be all in on that. Like a round watch that looked better than the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch is kind of, it exists for your eyes to slide over, which is not what I'm looking for out of a fashion device Yeah, I don't know. I'm just like it's good. I want a peacock. I want my watch to really peacock like a poo

I think it's just good to have um I think it's just good to have a watch and just know what time it is and sometimes maybe even that's not so great All right, anything else we should talk about before we log off or. For there is, but let's just move to nice thing. Okay, finally, start crazy Rich Asians. Yeah. That's a really good movie, really fun.

Oh, good. I definitely choked up a bit at the end. It's got everything you're looking for in a romantic comedy. What a return to form for the rom comedy genre. But also a lot like, it goes deeper than most rom-coms. I mean, there's like, there's a lot of,

I feel like there's a lot of like cultural commentary that some of it couched in humor, some of it not humorous at all, very dramatic. That's really interesting. And I feel like I learned something. I mean, maybe this is not the perfect place to learn about Asian culture, but I think I learned a little something about a culture

that I don't necessarily have like tons of access or insight into personally since I'm not from an Asian family. Certainly not a crazy rich Asian family. But you know, it was entertaining. I mean, we ran a piece about like sort of like, you know, like the where the not crazy rich Asians represented in film. And I think that's really a valid point. But I will say, it's just a little bit of escapism, just purely as a film with a really amazing cast that's super entertaining and as a bit of escapism.

And as an entertaining hour and a half romcom, it's definitely is very good and I highly recommend it. The second good thing is car heart. definitely is very good and I highly recommend it. The second, my second good thing is car heart. I just want to, I want to, first of all, I don't know if car heart is a good brand or a bad brand. Like if you go on the car heart website, I just want to say like, there's like a lot of hunting stuff

and I feel like maybe they're like, Maga, like I don't know. Like are the car heart people like Trump supporters? I kind of don't want to find out. My brother got me a car heart jacket from my birthday last year, like I think it was last year, not this birthday, but the one before. And I've been wearing it a lot this winter,

and I really love it. It is like so, this is not an ad, by the way, I'm just talking about something that I have become very affectionate and fond of. It's just so heavy and indestructible and practical. And I just think it's a, I don't know, it kind of is like the watch conversation we have in.

It's like, it's basic. And I know car hearts kind of trendy or whatever, but I think basic is good sometimes. I think unadorned is good. I think anyhow, whatever I like my jacket, I guess that's what I'm saying. Sort of a wack good thing, but I'm just telling you that it's a I think anyhow whatever I like my jacket. I guess that's what I'm saying sort of a whack good thing But I'm just telling you that it's a great gift that only gets better with time

You were talking about this jacket in the office. So this is genuine. I love it I love the jacket I really do and I've now that it's winter. It's the first winter I think I've really worn it in and now that I can wear it every day because it's cold as shit I just find it to be just super practical and useful and built really, really well. And by the way, it's made in Mexico. So I'm down with, you know, car-hard being a brand that relies on labor from around the world. But I gotta say, great stitching, great materials beautifully put together. Nice and warm.

Very warm, yeah. All right, my nice things are, I've, so I watched both the Fire Fest documentary. Oh God, did you? Oh, I was gonna bitch about that. Yeah. What were you gonna say? I'm just gonna be like, why the fuck do we need to?

I mean, I'm sure they're of interest, but seriously, two documentaries about Fire Fest will seem excessive. Anywho, go ahead. Both of them are ethically dubious. One of them was produced by one of the companies involved but seriously, two documentaries about fire fest will seem excessive. Any go ahead. Both of them are ethically dubious. One of them was produced by one of the companies involved in fire fest, which is that Fuck Cherry Twitter,

or Instagram account, which sucks and blows and steals from content. I mean, Fuck Fuck Cherry, that's my, yeah, fuck fuck Cherry for life. I like Gabrielle Bluestone, but like, why did you work with these people? Was it to get the footage out of them? Because they're not sympathetic characters.

Nobody in the doxies sympathetic besides the people who live on Xuma Island and were exploited and robbed. Very sympathetic people, everybody else, people who wanted to go to this, people who organized this, the performers, besides Blink 182, everybody was reprehensible and should go away.

But the documentaries were fascinating. Billy McFarland is a sociopath and his constant weight fluctuations are a wonderful thing to keep an eye on. Oh, no. He's weight goes up like 50 pounds and then down. It's insane. I taught my body was weird, but ends up,

it's just northern European. So there's that. I really enjoyed those. I liked that they were similar and the ways that they were different. And I actually enjoyed the fact that there was way too much discussion and way too many pieces about it. But I did enjoy that opened up a line of discussion about ethics and making a documentary and you got to see what's done. Ethics and games journalism which is good. Which is very needed when Nobody's ever done that. And I liked

that it opened up for people to see what stuff a documentary highlights or doesn't highlight based on what the two documentaries wanted to or didn't want to highlight, which in an era where we're all like, oh my god, have you seen the staircase? It's good to remember that the editor of the staircase is now dating Michael Peterson, the murderer at the center of the staircase. So keep that in mind when you watch documentary. It's very dark. So I kind of, maybe it's not a nice thing, I don't know, but I liked it.

So there's that. Wait, so which one, which one should I watch? I kind of think you need to see both, but the Netflix one is definitely better. Like the better me. The better me. The real one. The not controversial one. The who the one is less controversial one for the hula one is like the not Controversial one. Oh the hula one is less controversial

They did pay him for his involvement and he doesn't really say much But you get to see him squirm, which is the fun part and it's a little more comprehensive But the Netflix one is more cinematic. It has Gabriel Bluestone who I really like And I did like some of the Commentary that they had about millennials and the people who bought into this more So I kind of say watch both if you're if you can binge you you can binge this the next thing commentary that they had about millennials and the people who bought into this more. So I kind of say, watch both. If you can binge you, you can binge this.

The next thing I like was you. Yeah, you. You was great. Wait, don't we talk about you already? Yeah, but we did not. I do you. A nice thing for me. So I'm doing you.

Okay. You're doing you. I'm doing you. And then I got other you. I got super new Super Mario brothers you, Deluxe for the Switch. Mario's getting a little bit stale at this point. Definitely isn't the A plus that Tropical Freeze was for Donkey Kong, but it is very nice to have a beautiful

Mario game to play multiplayer with John and to get frustrated and scream at each other when we follow the platforms. Wow. It's great and fun and I'm glad that it's there. Those are my nice things. That's everything that's nice in the world. All right, well, look, that's the show.

We gotta go. I gotta get out of here. I gotta get a play. We're gonna have a huge snow storm. So I gotta get materials like wood and food and I can get my car heart jacket on. I was gonna say you gotta get more car heart. Now we gotta get into it right now. Well, that is our show for this week. We'll be back next week with more tomorrow, and as always, I wish you and your family

the very best, though I've just been informed that your family has reinstalled Twitter on their phones.