Tomorrow - 196: Stoned to Death

Episode Date: July 3, 2020

On this episode of Tomorrow, Josh and Ryan mispronounce a horrible person's name and then leave it in the edit because who cares? The COVID-19 infection rate is climbing, VC guys are losing their minds, and you can get weed delivered to your house. America will not be great until it gets its own Super Mario World theme park. But enjoy the fireworks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey and welcome to Tomorrow on your'm your host Josh Wittepolsky. Today on the podcast we discuss legal weed, clubhouse, and patriotism. I don't always want to minute. Let's get ready to do that. Alright Ryan, we're back. We're back. Right on time, right on schedule. We did it. We did it. Tony, we're here for you. We hear for you. And mission accomplished.

And, uh, yeah, big week, big week. July 4th leading up to the July 4th weekend. You know the celebration. America's strong, baby. America's surging again, once again, surging towards great. Please stop. It's too much winning. We can't take all this winning. We're just surging hard and fast towards

a peak of greatness, an explosion of greatness, you might say. I just saw a story, just saw a story. Florida announced 10,109 new COVID cases today. Go and into July 4th weekend for the party. More than China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, and the European Union combined. So yeah, I mean, fucked up shit.

Here's a story. Alabama students hold COVID-19 parties with prize for first person to get sick. I gotta tell you folks, I gotta tell you, the dumb American thing is not working that great for us. We might want to think about using our fucking brains for just a second. You know, like, I don't really know what to say at this point, except we're just in, we're, the entire country is just embroiled in mass stupidity.

Anybody who is not wearing a mask and not following very closely along with what the profession of the health professionals say is just absolutely a fucking idiot. And I wish, I only wish that the disease could just infect the people who were acting dumb, you know, because honestly, like, wouldn't be so bad. But the reality is your dumb behavior kills other people. So.

I kind of can't help but feel like that everyone's gonna get mad. This is poetic justice for all the stuff we've been doing wrong for like 50 years. Like, you didn't want anyone to have healthcare or education, you wanted, you know, you thought that making one group of people super rich would insulate them from having any consequences no matter what happens to poor people. And now we have a viral pandemic, which is like

the exact like you spent 50 years drilling individualism and bootstrap stuff into people and making them absorb this like Darwin style fucking Anne-Rand bullshit and now like The exact thing that would be ruinous for anyone who followed all of that any country with no health care where people had rugged individualistic ideas about how screw the poor, like, ends up, ends up, we should have did the opposite. Well, I mean, it's, it's as far as the rich and powerful go, you know, things are sort of going according to plan. I mean, you look at the stock market, surging. I mean, you know, in defiance of reality,

you know, what is the market doing right now? Let me take a look. Up, it's up, market's up. The market is up. But it's not going to last. The thing is, reality will come crashing down when like, I mean, when you can't kill three million Americans, which is like the low estimate of what we're going to have, and not destroy the American economy.

And even if you surge your numbers, but there's, but there's, but actually, it's funny. But I mean, this is exactly the point. There's the American economy for Americans, and then there's the economy for the people who control, who make money off of and control the stock markets. And that is a different economy, you know? And I think that like, the reality is, like, if anything, to your point,

like, we should have done all the other stuff, you know, done the opposite. I mean, it is this perfect, it's a perfect summation of what is wrong, not to just focus on the economy, but to say that like, if things are bad for people, but somehow good for the economy, there's something really, really broken about that system, right? If people are losing jobs and people are dying and people are sick and people are scared and worried, and the economy is surging on that. That's something really fucking broken there.

But also, the idea that all of the things we could have done leading up to this, like healthcare is a really great example, having a really good public healthcare system that was serving like everyone. But I mean, yeah, obviously at this moment would be huge, not paying, as they find treatments for this, not paying crazy gouged prices for the treatments, but like, which are all preventable,

all something that a functioning government could actually- Something that a functioning government could actually fix. Something that a functioning government should have reigned in during the AIDS epidemic and invest in guillotines, I guess, is the point of what I'm saying. Yeah. Well, I mean, if you want to come out of this on top, start producing giant blades. Well, here's the thing. It's funny. You say that because I'm just about to get a table saw, which I will definitely

promptly chop all my fingers off with. It's truly like a great fear of mine. But here's the thing. What really is happening, I mean, what really all of this moment boils down to and I truly hope people understand this. I really too. They're, they're, it did not have to be this way. Like, this was preventable. Think, this was preventable. It was one, one, we could have greatly reduced the transmission of this disease in this country with a functioning government in leadership that understood complicated problems

and had teams and people around them to deal with those complicated problems. This, there are countries that did it badly, there are countries that did it well. We are at the top of the list for countries that have done it badly. We are at the top of the list, like no mistake about it. We've handled this worse than pretty much any other country in the world. And we are supposed to be like the shining star on the world stage of countries. Okay. So just keep in mind that like this didn't have to be this way, but it is and it is squarely and solely on the shoulders of Trump and his administration and their fucking complete either failure to lead or stupidity about what direction to go in.

I mean, you've got some of the dumbest people making some of the biggest decisions, not listening to experts, not telling people to wear masks. I mean, now you've got the fucking Republicans with their little tails between their legs, going like, oh yeah, masks are good, you know? It's like, fuck off, you know? I mean, this was months ago, people knew that wearing a mask would greatly reduce transmission. Months ago, many, many people, certainly professionals,

certainly epidemiologists and doctors who are employed by the government to talk on this subject were like, wear a mask, you know, and then you've got these fucking people, like the governor of Florida, who's like, who cares, we don't care what, I don't need that, we don't need to wear a mask, you know? And then you've got these fucking people, like the governor of Florida, who's like, who cares, we don't care, I don't need that, we don't need to wear a mask, we don't need to follow these measures, let's open up. And it's like, yeah, well, you reap what you're fucking. So, but it is about leadership, you know?

It is absolutely about leadership and make no mistake about it. Like, I don't know where you were in 2016 and where your head was at, not you, but the general public. If you thought they're all the same, if your ideas, all these politicians are the same, if you think their decisions don't matter, if you think their influence,

their people they surround themselves with, the ideas they have about the world and about science and about people, if you think that actually doesn't matter, well, you're living in the greatest like reality check of all time. Because it definitely fucking matters. And who we put into office makes big decisions

about how we live. And you may not like, by the way, we've talked about this a lot. Biden would not have been my first choice or top choice for the Democratic candidate. And you may not like Biden. I'm not that fond of him, but comparatively speaking, comparatively speaking, we should be so lucky to have somebody as old as Seenisles Joe Biden running the country at this point,

because we just need to, we need to put an end to this like this, this, this absolute bankruptcy of leadership, you know, say what you will about Trump and him being racist, which he definitely is him being supportive of neo-Nazi and Nazi ideas and, and slogans and fucking history, which he definitely is as evidence in his merch, which we can talk about if we want. Forget all the cultural stuff. Forget that he's a racist. Forget that he's a xenophob. Forget that he's a serial sexual abuser.

He's bad at leading. He's just bad at being the boss. He actually sucks at it. Like, just bad at being the boss. He actually is he sucks at it like There are ways that even a guy you hate could have handled the situation better There are ways that a racist person could have handled it better It's not like the people who are getting sick in Florida are not all you know black and brown people They're not all immigrants You know, it's probably a lot of his fucking base. In Tulsa, the people who

are getting sick are his fucking base, you know? So like, the reality here is just like, forget, I mean, even if you don't like, even if you agree, even if you hate, if you're a fucking neo-nazi, okay? Got it. You think Trump is like good for you, but I got news, like this situation is bad for everybody. Neo Nazis and non-Nionautes alike. Having a rampant virus spreading out of control in the country is not of benefit to anybody no matter what you think. So like, take all the shit aside that we all feel about Trump, right? That he's a xenophobic racist racist sexual assault, you know, serial sexual assaulter who fucking sucks.

He also is just bad at like running the country. And so the tough thing is that these people who liked him before and couldn't see this are going to be the exact same people who are like, actually, you know, this is China's fault. And actually, it's also a hoax. And also the Democrats released the virus. And the masks are to make us docile so they can give us vaccines, which will be good. Yeah, but I think the vast majority of Americans

are following, I mean, the vast majority are actually trying to follow the rules, you know. But the problem is, but the problem is that you've got, I mean, listen, my parents were out to eat two weeks ago, you know, in Pennsylvania where they used restrictions because they had a low infection rate. And, but like without comprehensive rules around this stuff, you know, it's obvious that like, and without really understanding the spread of it, and with the way that Americans have been kind of treated to this both sides concept of a virus.

To your point, we're literally being told, some Americans are hearing a message that's like, this is like you said, it's a conspiracy or whatever the mask caused this or whatever But like there's leadership that can stop that if trumpet gone out and said Yeah, you have to wear a mask like don't be it an idiot, you know, just wear a mask Like those people would be wearing masks They just would they wouldn't think it was a conspiracy So I don't I don't just see him. This is part of the why what makes him such a bad leader He can't even like do what's right for his base.

We're preaching to our choir. We really are, Tony feels this way, he feels the way we do. But the thing is, it's like, like I can't sleep at night because I'm so mad. Like, why is this my life? Like, I know it sounds extremely, I don't know, privileged or myopic or something,

but like I don't understand, like it's so stupid. Like I can't believe how many stupid decisions everyone around us has had to have made for it to get here. And it's like, this isn't what I wanted to be doing. I'm about to turn 31 and I'm like trapped in my home and like slowly putting on weight because like I've mental illness and like an inability to like exercise, go out socialize. I'm like, you know, the height of my week is like a TV show dropped on streaming and like my weed delivery came.

Like it's so pathetic, but I have no way of like changing that. You know what I mean? Like I feel like I spent my whole life clawing my way towards success, clawing my way towards like creativity and like health and a good social life and healthy like relationship and it just feels like I just feel like so screwed over and I feel like you know people especially like right now it's really hot to be like Gen X and Gen Z high five over how much they hate millennials

and it's like I get it, but also like, you know, I came out of school with a record amount of debt. You know, we lived through one financial collapse only to like go into another one. Like it just feels like we're constantly screwed over and we're supposed to be like really, really thankful because we have iPhones and gay marriage. But like, I mean, I would give those two up. This is like when the kid in school who's been at being an asshole

is like you end up getting a test. Every has to do like an extra fucking, you know, homework assignment or something because like somebody was being an asshole, right? It's like, I mean everyone keeps saying like that this, this whole thing feels like when you're assigned a group project and nobody else does any work. And it really does feel like that. Like we're going to fail even though I've been fucking stuck in my home. Like what was the point of me staying in my home if you're all going to

go have a fucking barbecue. Right. Well, I mean, this is the problem with the with the disease, isn't it? With the virus. You know, it's it's everybody else. It's like you're subject to, I mean, actually, you know, in a way, it's interesting because the coronavirus has never, you know, there's never been anything, I think, that has made it so clear how reliant we all are on each other and how much we actually have to think about and care about the people who we don't know and that are part of our society, that are part of our communities, that are part of our country, that we don't have any interaction with and that we don't have any relationship with, it's side from sharing like spaces. And I think that like, it's interesting to think about

the doctrine of certainly, I mean, it's for as long as I've been alive, the Republican doctrine and its methods and concepts about governing. And what the democratic position is, which again, I will say certainly flawed, certainly leaves much to be desired, but I do think it from a general, just in a general way, you know, Republicans govern from the standpoint of, I gotta get mine

before anybody else gets theirs, they govern from a standpoint of, you know, sort of, might makes right. They certainly govern backed by, you know, insane and archaic religious concepts of how people should be, like literally shit from a book made thousands of years ago about how people should interact with one another, most of which are like really retrograde, outdated sort of insane ideas, you know. And like, you know, this is, this is like, we are experiencing what it feels like to live in a world where everybody is a selfish,

piece of shit, who is only concerned about what, about their family and what's happening to them and how they feel and what they get and not thinking at all about the rest of the world and not thinking at all about how their presence in the world affects other people. You know, this is like, I don't know what to do with my anger about this and I don't know what to do with my like, I feel like this despair, not just for myself, but just I don't understand how other grown adults who like have had life experiences for 30 years

and had to, I mean, at bare minimum, watched television and saw other people and at maximum, had had large life experiences with friends and family can walk away and have absorbed none of that and not have any empathy and not feel like they have to do things for other people or like not feel any like duty to help the world in even the The lack of information, the lack of media literacy. What do people do? Well, like, not to be a shitty. What do people do with it? Did no thoughts cross your head? You just walk from the fridge and you make a peanut butter and jelly,

and you walk back over to your desk where you just stare out the window and nothing crosses through your head? Like, how does nobody absorbing anything? Yeah, I don't think so. I don't think so. There's also a lot of misinformation. I mean, we have an entire network. Like, I don't think so. I don't think so. There's also a lot of misinformation. We have an entire network. Like, I don't even think that I'm that smart.

Sorry, but like, you're not. You're actually quite stupid. But the entire network that is spewing misinformation, we have the president of the United States who, whether we like it or not, is a voice that a lot of people hear and listen to, spouting bullshit all the time. And, you know, I think it's like we have to,

I mean, we have to change the way people behave and the way they think. I mean, to me, there's a lineage of this, right? It's like dumping toxic waste and creating mountains of garbage for no reason and you know going online and and and and harassing people and terrorizing people and being shitty to them even in small ways even just being shitty. Like all of this is like this this entire frame of existence where you can be however you want. You can act however you want. You can do whatever you want.

Everything is yours to kind of crumble up and toss to the side. Every space is yours to completely own. Everything is secondary to your personal needs, right? This is like the way that America has been certainly over the last 50 years or so has really been kind of like sharpened into this idea of just unbelievable selfishness, you know? And I do think there is a divide, you know? I think there are people, there are people who have a, who have a, who have a generosity, you know, to grab later, greater and lesser degrees.

There are people who, generosity never enters their fucking viewport, you know, to grab later in lesser degrees. There are people who, generosity never enters their fucking viewport, you know, it doesn't, is not a thing that they think about. It is not a thing they think about when they think about like how other people, there's no empathy, right? Or a lack of empathy, but that shit is taught. It's not just people are born with, you know, missing a gene, an empathy gene or whatever.

It's taught, you know, and it's taught, it's being taught by what I see is like this lack of empathy exists primarily within the right wing of the political parties in America. It certainly exists elsewhere. There certainly are Democrats or progressive people without empathy. But what I'm saying is that it's a taught,

it's a learned behavior. And the roots are fucking deep. I mean, it's like what we're seeing right now with the Black Lives Matter movement and this fight for racial equality and justice that has re-emerged in a way that I don't think we've seen since the Civil Rights Movement, you know, in the 50s and 60s.

I mean, it's re-emerged and what is so interesting and so clear and what has been eye-opening to me is how ingrained at the deepest level of American history in grain at the deepest level of American history, these acts of violence are, and this feeling of not understanding or caring for another person are so deeply ingrained. I mean, think about it, okay? Republicans are the party of slavery.

They are. The people who want the fucking Robert E. Lee statues up, the people who want to fly the Confederate flag, they're fucking Republicans. Yeah, well, they're not. There may be a few damn black. A few damn black men had an R next to him. Yeah, we can't talk about, we can't,

we can't, right, we can't talk. I'm not talking about the 1800s political affiliations. I'm talking about the here and now, and who, the people who are owning slavery as a legacy, and owning the confederacy as a legacy, are 99.9% fucking Republicans, okay? And think about like any even remote celebration of the concept, right?

Like at the core, you're talking about ownership of people, you're talking about abuse of people that you consider property, you're talking about people, human beings, the same fucking brains and organs and everything else that you have as it perceived as fucking like cattle, you know, by these people. And, and, and like, think about how that, how that echoes and emanates through to today. And it is not, it is this fucking deep seeded thing that like we have to excavate, that we have to like dig out. Like it is, it is, it is, it is fucked up. Like it is really like,, I think we've taken it way too lightly. This idea that it's like a cultural,

like a social sort of like trend that we can eradicate these feelings of like insane violence towards other people and disrespect and lack of awareness and understanding and empathy. Like, it really is something that needs to be excavated and exposed and fucking like blown up, like, like, like killed violently.

You know, I don't mean people, but I mean the fucking ideas. And there are people now what you're seeing with Trump and his Nazi merchandise and these fucking, you know, lynchings, string of lynchings that have happened in the country, the fucking people driving their cars into protesters. This is like, This is the violence, this is American violence that is directed at human beings that have done nothing wrong that all they do is fucking exist.

And there's something really broken in the psyche of like at the core of American thought that we need to fucking figure out. And like it is being, it's not, does not want to be looked at by the Republican Party. They want to embrace it. They want to fucking, they want to like, it's like comfort food for them.

It's comfort food to feel like some other race is somehow inferior to you. It makes you feel safe and protected to think that you're on top and that you'll always be on top. And like what we're seeing, this is like, these are the beginnings of the death throws of this like entitled white, largely male position of viewing the world. Like I do think it's gonna be a lot longer and a lot uglier than we could have imagined.

But I do think Donald Trump is a reaction to this process of excavation and killing of like these like deep seated fucking,seated fucking problems in our humanity. I just think it's like, but it is like, your problem is fucking own it. You guys are embracing it. It is like, you're fucking, you know, your Casper mattress. That is like, it's like your safe space. I don't know what to say about it, but it's fucking bad.

It's bad for everybody. And that is the same shit that leads to feeling like you can go out of your fucking house without a mask on in the middle of a pandemic and walk into a grocery store where they say the fucking rules are you have to wear a mask and you throw a fucking fit like a baby, like an entitled fucking bitch baby because you think the universe is fucking there to serve you and revolving is revolving around you

and everybody else is secondary to your concerns. Like, I understand a lot of time you have to put yourself first, but you have to learn to put other people first sometimes too. And these people are just emotionally incapable, mentally fucking and emotionally incapable of doing it. And it's insane. And then we need to break it. The wheel needs to be broken. But this is why I can't abide the whole Lincoln project thing, which if you don't know what it is, it's like a group of conscientious conservatives who are like anti-Trump and wanna return their party

to like civility. What bothers me is it's like, what you're saying is like you missed having the mask on. You missed the like, like having a philosophy of individualism without carrying it to its most like, to its final statement, the final thesis of rugged individualism and Darwinism, which at the end of that is basically eugenics. And like if you don't like what Donald Trump is saying, maybe wonder what in your philosophy would lead people

who agree with you to agree with him. And it's not a matter of like changing what they agree with. It's a matter of like changing your philosophy so something like Donald Trump wouldn't abide within it. Because like, the extremist version of the things that I believe is like a commune that has no self-defense, because it's non-violent. And like, I get that that's also not ideal to some people, but I would prefer that version of extremism to the version of extremism that is like fascism. And I don't know. I guess what I mean to say that I'm talking around is that it feels to me like things are moving in waves

like you get waves of social change and social action. But I guess my worry is that because we haven't set up anything societally to support these waves of change, that they come weaker and weaker each time. And I hope that what I'm seeing from the Black Lives Matter movement, which I think I am, and it gives me some hope, is an understanding that like It's not enough to like want to defend the police like the kind of thing that we're fighting against is so it's it's beyond like a hydra

it's It is like it's the roots of a thousand year old tree like snake through all the ground and you can plant seeds to other stuff But they're all gonna be choked up by this thing and we all have to like We have to uproot it and we have to spend multiple years up rooting it and start over and like and create a foundation from which Ideals and and swings of social progress have the space to move and move the needle rather than what I feel like happened in my lifetime, which was everything was sort of a little right.

And then the Obama years was like, everyone being like, there's so too far right. Let's, you know, let's move that needle to the left and then it moved to the middle and then it moved way right again. And it's like, it just feels like we're like slowly being pulled. Like, I guess people have talked about this,

which is just like the, what is centerism has changed. And like if you were to go to Europe or any Sanders is essentially a centerist in America, he's like a far left communist. And I guess what I'm saying is that like, I think everyone's finally realizing that like, we're never gonna win the terms of a debate as it was in 2016.

And we need to get through, we need to get Trump out of office. And then we need to change like what the debate is and change the rules of the game that we were playing. Because like, it, not beyond it just being economically rigged. It's philosophically and rhetorically rigged. Like when you, when you play the game and where you have to be a quote unquote patriot, you bathe yourself in the flag and everyone has to have fields each of the troops. And we have to talk about the founding fathers as if they're sacred and America's history as if it, you know, just, just having it there will speak for itself.

Like, no, we need to tear down the statues and we need to stop worshipping the military and we need to stop worshipping the police and taking for granted their place in society as having a monopoly on violence and the state as fundamentally eventually falling in the right. Like, I've been rewatching a bunch of television from the 2000s like alias and the west wing and all of these shows that have this philosophy that like Ultimately, there's bad actors, but the American ideals at the end of the day will win out and maybe they will But I don't think like we are in some inevitable march of progress. Like I think eventually the American ideas might win out because we all realize that we aren't living up to those ideals and we all realize that some of those ideals need to change.

We need to add to those ideals and then maybe America succeeds because like that in the long term that like some seed was planted of a good idea. And I think that that is the belief that like we don't need to say the founding fathers were good people to say a seed of a good idea was there, which is that like everybody, more people should have dignity than currently do.

And like we can keep expanding that until it's everybody. You know what I mean? Even though they were just like for white dudes, I think now we're understanding that we have to tear all this stuff down, and we can't play the game like, like, progressives, people who want peace cannot play the like, I support the military more than you do game. Like, that's not a game we can play.

We have to just stop. We have to say like, we can support soldiers and we can support individual families, but we can't be like, we're more for war than you are. Like, I mean, I just think, I just, by the way, I mean, I hear you on that. It's like, but is even, is the use of military at this moment? I mean, I'm with you, of course, you know, I'm anti war. I understand the need for the, for a country like America to have an army.

But the, I mean, we're not even, we're not even in the zone. We used to be, we used to be worried about things like going to war. No, I'm just using that as an example. Right, right. It also applies to like healthcare. Like instead of saying, I need freedom of choice to decide if I want to pay for healthcare this month

because I might need the money and you know, that's a tax and we need to stop having that debate and say, I deserve freedom from worrying that I will get skin cancer and it will be the end of my husband's financial future. Like I need freedom from that. That's the conversation we need to have. We need to stop having this debate of like, you know, a lot of Americans like their health

insurance company. Like no, they don't. Just stop saying that. Like, yeah, I mean, that's partly why Donald Trump won in my mind is that he stopped having the debate on normal terms and he was just Unhinged and I'm not saying we need to be unhinged But I do think that the strength of his winning was that he just Decided not to engage with a bunch of stuff that Americans know is bullshit and whether or not he took us to Kuku banana

Grampsland it the thing they found refreshing was Like Hillary Clinton should have just been a bitch. She should have just been like, Donald, you're disgusting. She should have said that on the debate stage. She should have been like, you are repulsive. You are everything that I have worked my entire life to stop, which is an entitled brat who says things people want to hear. But instead, we keep going back to this Lincoln project, Joe Biden thing. We're like, the folks of the future in the dreams

of our children need to be inspired by the freedom and independence of the beloved country. Like what? Well, well, well, also, I mean, not to go down this rabbit hole, but you know, people don't really in this country aren't really that good at hearing a woman talk the way like Donald Trump talks. I mean, they like it when our Trump talks that way.

And when a woman does it, they're like, how dare you? How dare you? I guess, but I think for the country responds more to mean mommy than they do to like fake business talk. Yeah. Well, at any rate, look, the point is, the point is getting back to the point so we can probably get off this top and get onto another one.

We have a, you know, we really need to rethink the way that we are in the world to each other and the way we think about who is running things and like really, and how we think about who is running things. And like really, and how we think about their, what their job is, you know? Like what their job is and who they work for. Because the reality is like their job is to make things better for the people who live in this country.

Like what is America? What is America? What is any country, right? It's like the people there. It's the citizens of the country and their lives. Like a country is like, what's the point of it if you remove those people? You know, land. I do believe the like, in our ideal version, there's something that I do believe from the Obama era is that America is an idea and that we should be happy when people want to join in that idea and it is a set of ideals and We don't always live up to them and in fact we need to change some of them or evolve them, but I do think that that is ultimately what I would like America to be is like a belief in progress, a belief in democracy,

a belief in like the future and moving in that there is something better. Like that is the core idea that the country has found it on that I think is good. Like do I think manifest destiny and fucking Christopher Columbus, we're good people are good ideas. Like of course not, but I do think that a lot of people came here over a sustained period of time, and the biggest part of that for them was that like the future could be better if we worked at it. And I do hope that that is the thing that we can not only

get back to, but the thing that we can unite around. And I, Black Lives Matter gives me a lot of hope, but I'm also not speaking to my parents. So you know what I mean? It's hard because you're like, you're like, wow, I feel this surge of hope, but I guess there's a core of anger in me and a core of frustration that I don't feel is softening.

Yeah, I think, well, I think, yeah, I hear that. I think that one of the things that we, that I've been sort of ruminating on is the need for, it's like really good right now that people are mad and that they're out and that they're saying, like enough of this bullshit. I think what's really key is that they keep doing that, that we all keep doing that when,

hopefully when someone else is in office. Like, you know, and I do think, maybe the tone of it is less angry or maybe it's like, we have more access to real conversations, but I do think it's important to like, you know, I think everybody gets really comfortable. I mean, I think we all got like, to some extent we all got pretty comfortable during Obama.

Like, I mean, that was the whole, that was the whole, the inevitable march of history. Like you're on the wrong side of history, progress is coming. Like that whole belief that we took for granted, that like, yeah, well in 20 years, these Republicans are going to look like ding-dongs. And it like ends up in order to make them look like ding-dongs, you have to keep working at showing that they are ding-dongs.

Right. And I think that the, it's like with Bush, like what has happened with Trump in the last, over the last three or so years, feels like what, you know, it took Bush to do in roughly eight, right? Which is like, we had like, we had a, I mean, I think it's double-dead. Oh no, no, it's like accelerated and doubled, like it's just a compounding thing.

But like, the Clintineers were for most, for a lot of people, not everybody. There were pro, I mean, I'm mean, these were not like perfect times ever. But there was a economically speaking things were going well. There was a period of sort of, there was mostly calm. It felt like more progressive policies were moving forward. It was less about retrograde shit like, let's ban abortion. It was like, that wasn't the conversation.

Then it's like Bush, right? And Bush just collapses all of it, just undues like whatever feeling of movement we had. And like, you know, we're in crazy wars that we'll never end and just like, and then it's like Obama shows up. And so then when it's Obama shows up and things start to feel calm again,

I feel like we all went, all right, it's things are gonna be fine now. Like we forget how quickly it can change. How easily it can happen. It's a bond. From like, we're moving in the right direction. Not everybody feels like they're getting what they want, but at least that we're having the conversations

versus like you're in a death camp now or whatever, which is like kind of where we went to. So, you know, I think that like what we need to do is not forget how this feels. If we end up with a different president, God willing, if we have a different president, we need to not forget how it feels to be as angry and as worried and as stressed out as we are right now.

Oh, hopefully. Well, I will say I do think that people are traumatized in a way that for some reason, I don't know why they weren't by George W. Bush. I don't think people were, I feel at this moment in my life, I feel, yeah, maybe it's the internet, but I do feel, I was thinking this last night

as I fell asleep finally. Sometimes I worry that more of myself is scar tissue than not at this point because of this stuff. And I do think that maybe that's not so bad if it means that the next few generations, like not to get all holocausty, but like the next few generations, we will not let them forget what happens

when you elect idiots and you have this anti-intellectual populist, nationalist, fascist. Like when you let this shit run rampant, even if it's just to be edgy and ironic. Like we're not gonna, I don't feel like in my lifetime, I will ever be okay with like someone doing an ironic racism. Like Sarah Silverman pretending that, you know, she said the N word because she's making fun of people

who say the N word like no We're not doing that ever again like I'm never gonna stand for that again after I what I've seen happen to black people in my lifetime I mean, it's yeah, I mean I also I Do you think you're right about the kind of psychological the deep scarring that's happening? I I've never felt more anger and hatred and stress. Like, I feel so, I feel, I mean, I hate Donald Trump so much. Like, I didn't think it was possible to feel such a strong,

like, I'm not a person who hates, I'm like, I just miss a lot of shit. I know, I don't like what it's doing to me. I can hear the way that I talk about things that aren't him now. And I can hear people being turned off by it because it's vitriolic and it's dismissive. But I feel this frustration that comes from him

that I just don't have patience anymore. You know what I mean? And I would say this is, this is, right. I mean, it's like, Trump and his supporters are hateful people. They're really hateful. And you can combat that as much as you can try with, reason and calmness and intellect

and all the other things that we try to apply that one tries to apply in situations like this. But at the end of the day, it's like, when somebody's like abusing the people around you and abusing, you know, I'm not listening. I'm in a position where, for the most part, you know, in trumps, I mean, until they can start coming after Jews and trumps world, I'm like, I'm okay.

But like, when you see the abuse around you, it's hard to not feel violent in a way about it. You know, when you see people that you care about or communities you care about, or you think about me, for me of course, I think about Zelda and I think about the future and I think about the way people treat each other in this country. And I just feel so filled with,

and this is like, by the way, I love that when the fucking right-wing people hear this, they're like, yeah, he's driving the lips crazy. It's like, yeah, we're being driven crazy because we believe in people being kind and good and decent. And you're acting in the opposite way. You're not kind, you're not good, you're not decent. And it is like, yeah, it's fucking angering

because you don't wanna see constant injustice and abuse of people. Well, that's the false equivalency between Obama and Trump, which is just like, well, Trump's driving you crazy the way Obama drove me crazy. It's like, no, you guys pitched a fit because you didn't get what you wanted, which was a different, you wanted lower taxes

and you wanted to see more, to see more like, or people, yeah, but it was more like good people. We're doing crazy because he was black. I mean, let's just, yeah, yeah, yeah, but that's like saying, people were driven crazy by Obama, weren't because, I mean, he was a fucking centrist president. They weren't driven crazy by his policies. They're driven crazy by the color of his skin.

And that's really what it was. I know, and I'm saying, I'm saying that they threw a fit because of those things. And it was a hissy fit at the, it was a hissy fit in the grocery store. And what we're upset about is where the mother who's like grieving a belief in like humanity and right, grieving the future of our children. It's not the same as like a hissy fit because your president was black. Right. No, I mean, this is, and this is, I mean, anyhow, we should, I want to, we should get off this topic and be involved. I think we accidentally stumbled into a beautiful

fourth of July discussion. Wow. Well, at any rate, I mean, I'm just saying it's like, I, you know, I, I just want, I just want, I just want good leadership. I want, I want, actually, I don't even want good leadership, okay? Here's what I will now accept, relatively competent leadership. You don't even have to be really good. You just have to be somewhat competent and you have to surround yourself with people who are somewhat competent. And I'll take that for the next few years as we figure out our way out of this to something

better. And I know there are a lot of politicians, young politicians, and a lot of people who are now engaged in politics that are going to bring wonderful things for the future in how we govern. I'm fine with just okay for right now, but we can't have, we cannot keep having absolutely fucking awful because well, absolutely awful has been absolutely awful for us. So it's like, I think my biggest hope is just, is just representative government, just that everybody gets a say.

And even if the people get it wrong, I would rather feel like the people are in control than whoever controls the gerrymandering of districts. Right. I mean, that's, yeah, I mean, feel like the people are in control than whoever controls the gerrymandering of districts. Right. I mean, that's, yeah, I mean, don't even get me started on the voting stuff. Anyhow, but that's my bare minimum. From the hope for the future of for the next four years, my only hope is that we figure out how to make the government accountable to voters again and like fix citizens united

and gerrymandering. That's really like my only, that's the only thing that I can hope for because I don't see a way of fixing all the other stuff if we don't do that first. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway. I agree. I fucking agree. Other things happening in America.

We've arrested another pedophile. We got, we got a, Gislain, Gislalane, how do you pronounce it? Gislane? Gislane Maxwell. Jeffrey Epstein's secretary. I mean, what was her role? She was like, is like,

aspiring partner. She was like his like chief operating officer. I don't know. Anyway, anyway, she's been arrested by the FBI, according to my Twitter trending bar. And so, you know, that's going to be interesting. I think a lot of people are getting pretty excited about what she has to say. I mean, she may be secretly killed. I mean, that could happen. I suppose. Yeah, she's definitely going gonna like mysteriously have a tumor that kills her over the course of a few weeks.

So that it looks different. Maybe, maybe not, it's hard to say. But, you know, it's obviously like there are many very powerful people who are connected with Epstein and, you know, Trump being one of them, Bill Clinton and fucking Alan Dershowitz, like what's his name, Prince Philip?

Is it not Philip? It's Andrew. Andrew, Prince Andrew. You know, who's part of the Royal Good Old Royal family in England, those chuckleheads. Those hilarious folks at any rate. So like, yeah, I don't know. Look, I have, I have, I mean, I don't have a lot of thoughts

about Jeffrey Epstein except to say that I hope that the people that he abused can find some sort of justice through this person or other people. I hope that anybody who is involved in any kind of fucked up shit around Jeffery Epstein is fully exposed and brought to justice for it. I don't give a fuck if it's Bill Clinton or Donald Trump or anybody in between. It's like, you know, really nefarious, really gross shit. And like, I just hope that there is some relief now

because the reality is that like with him being killed or committing suicide or whatever happened, you know, it's sort of like put a little bit of a, of a, you know, it's sort of like, oh, this guy's like a fucking absolutely evil person who's been involved in really, really awful things with very powerful people. And now suddenly, somehow all of that just dissipates like being able to, you know, being able to find justice there dissipates because he's dead. So hopefully this is a line to some form of justice for the people that were abused by this fucking guy and his

Whatever weirdo fucking compatriots You know, but it's it's kind of just the whole thing's a fucking downer You know, I just wish that it was less about the celebrity of it all and more about Like the pizza gate people are complete fucking idiots and morons obviously and anyone who thinks that like Hillary Duff is selling her child on Instagram needs to, you know, go talk to their dad and get a grip. But I human trafficking in this country is an epidemic slavery modern slavery probably out numbers historical slaves. Worldwide, like the amount of women and girls, especially, who live a life of trafficking and exploitation, like the estimates would, you wouldn't believe them, because it's so well hidden and it's so lucrative. And I hope I wish that this whole thing put a spotlight on the more mundane kinds of human trafficking

and the kind of like, I mean, what happens when people get immigrant visas, like a lot of that ends up being like a scam in order to make money off of those people. So they come here with the hope of having a job and starting a new life because, you know, we need X, Y and Z. We need, you know, tutors or whatever. And they sign contracts that put them in basically indentured servitude. I mean, you've got adoption trafficking is, I mean, it's horrifying.

Look into the divorce family and the kind of like, what they do in order to, in order to procure children and the kind of money they make on re-homing children. It's horrifying. And like, I wish that the discussion was about how like, this is the tip of a giant iceberg

that we like really need to manage. Like we need to know where undocumented children go and they need to be like, we need to understand bare minimum what ice is doing with them and where they're going and let alone like they shouldn't be in custody at all. Like I wish that that kind of stuff extended, but I mean, maybe this is like the first of many things that get the public's attention on an issue like this.

It's just, it's such an, it's hard because I don't wanna talk about Jeffrey Epstein. I don't wanna think about it, like it's stomach turning, but I guess I feel like this, like, for a long time, I felt like this, like, duty to try to educate myself on what's happening. And it's really hard and painful. And I worry that because it's so disgusting and revolting, that will, it'll never like take our full focus. Because I think think something most people whether they're racists, whether they're Nazis, whether they're anything like most of us can't handle seeing, like found

a physiological level, seeing children and especially young girls exploited and hurt. We like, can't keep space for it in our head because it's so overwhelming. And I worry that we never deal with this issue because nobody wants to think about it for too long. And sometimes I feel like I'm creeping people out when I talk about it, but I feel like we need to talk about it more. There has to be something that can't, I mean, how many people looked the other way?

Like on Epstein or fucking Gisley, how many pictures of Gisley hanging out with like, people you know, like that should be the thing that shocks you, not the celebrity angle of like who was in on it. Like think about the number of people who never even heard about it and were hanging out with him and nobody ever brought it up to them. You know what I mean? Like, there was definitely a faction of people who would see him at a cocktail party did not know that he, everything that had gone on or the suspicions or the rumors, even though

lots of people did, because people were uncomfortable bringing it up. It's just importase to bring up the pedophilia, you know. Yeah, I guess it is importase, but that shouldn't, you know what I mean? Like, I wish that that meant that it feels gross, but it's a joke, but it's also true. Like, I don't know. I don't know. So like, I don't know.

I see this Gisley thing and I'm like, yeah, I definitely do think that there's some credence to like the conspiracy theories of it all that should be like bummed off by powerful people. I like do think that that's probably true, but I also think like, but so what? Like if this issue bothers you, let's start where we can make some real difference

because I don't think that like any of us have the ability to keep her alive and get the truth out of her. You know, I don't, I think it would be, I mean, I don't know. I think the truth is that she'll probably not be bumped off, but I mean, it would be a little bit, I think it'd be a little bit fucking suspicious at that point, like in a real way, not like in a, you know, we can debate whether Jeffrey Epstein committed

suicide or was murdered. Like, that's like, okay, that's really fucking weird, everybody. And you know, it seems like maybe he could go either way on that one. But if she were to suddenly die in custody, I think there would be like a much louder, much bigger, much more like cohesive investigation from a lot of different places. And I don't think that, I don't think that, I think it's like, unless we're really talking about like,

fucking, she's got pictures of Donald Trump, you know, like raping somebody, which maybe they do, which maybe they do. Yeah, maybe they do. Like, like, I don't know, but I think it would have to be that level of stuff we're talking about for like this now hurt to like actually like disappear. Yeah, you know, hopefully. Yeah, really quickly, before we, we've already spent a lot of time on really dark topics,

but we should talk a little bit. I've actually been watching this. I don't know if you've been following this Taylor Lorenz shit on talking about journalism and technology and VCs for a second. Game of A2? Game of A2. Well, it's like worse than Game of A2 actually,

because it's actually, so Taylor Lorenz is the journalist who works with the New York Times. He's been on the show. These people, yes. A long time ago. It was a while ago. Yeah, so it's a bit like an everything. people know her. A long time ago, it was a while ago. Yeah, it's a bit like an everything. She's great, Taylor's wonderful.

And she reports largely on TikTok stuff in Instagram. And sort of a weird like. The use, but also just cultural trends in around social media and the internet. And she's a person who writes the the article that's like teens are putting bread up their nose and they're calling it, you know, bread nosing and you're like, oh, and then like a year later bread nosing is like what a senator has to do to get an office.

Like she's always really on this weird exactly. So anyhow, so she like posted some stuff about Steph Corey who is the, I mean honestly some stuff about Steph Corey, who was the, I mean honestly this is like a weird, she posted some stuff about Steph Corey, who was, is the away CEO, who was like, there was a big verge story about her, about how she was really abusive to her employees,

and then she quit, but then she came back, anyhow, and then so she's now embroiled in this, in this like, Twitter slash this Twitter battle with this VC who I need to find, need to find his name now. Where is it? I'm like a down and I'm like way in the rabbit hole on this thing. And his name is, uh, uh, uh, Bellalogy S, I'm going to mess up this pronunciation of his last name, Serena Vassen. Serena Vassen, probably wrong. Um, he's a, I guess a VC, I don't know, he posted this thing about her, about what she said about Steph Corey, the, um, again, CEO of a way. And it started this whole thing where like these fucking VCs

are like piling on her in a really gross way. Like really gross, like gamer gateway. People like Paul Graham and Ben Horowitz from A16, you know, Andreson Horowitz, big, big fucking investors that are just like relentlessly kind of attacking this reporter over nothing, because they're mad because people report negatively about their companies that they invested.

The public has turned on tech and they have turned, they have a suspicion of people like Mark Zuckerberg where they used to have an implicit trust and an implicit hope for the future and the public has realized that tech's CEOs will not be our saviors and these VC funds are not perfect and they're not the hope the great American hope and they blame the media for this because the media us, it's a very reporting on it. Right, right. It's great when you do shit that sucks

and nobody says anything. I actually, many, many years ago, we had a meeting with Mark Andreessen, I don't know if I ever talked about this in the podcast. We had a, we went out to, we went out when we were raising money for the outline, like our second round, we went out to talk to Mark Andreessen and some of his people.

And I'm Mark and I got into this big argument about how the outline was like a Marxist publication. So you know, Mark has like, if you look at his past comments and his Twitter and stuff, like he's basically kind of a right leaning, very right leaning. He comes up a libertarian, I think, but he's pretty right leaning in his thoughts. Yeah, free market. Anyhow, he was like very mad about, he was like,

he was like the outline is anti-tech and you've written all these stories about how, you know, tech is bad and these companies, you know, we had just written something about Uber and I was like, dude, I was like, I've been doing, I've been covering tech for a decade and we've been so fucking generous. You know, like you guys have gotten so much generosity from journalists about because they're excited about it and they're interested in it. And like there's been such a long, I mean,

these, everybody got so fucking used to it. And also, by the way, they're all sort of trained on tech crunch, which is basically, you know, has been, had been for a long time an apparatus of the VC, has been had been for a long time an apparatus of the VC culture essentially. But you know, they got so comfortable with this like favorable coverage that it's like alien to them. He was so shocked and surprised that all of these people were suddenly writing about Travis and his horrible behavior and he was so scandalized and upset about it. And it's like, you know, it is that is interesting to see people who have all the money and all the power in the world, unable to hold themselves up to a bright light

and say, hey, you know what, maybe we actually can do better here, you know? And I remember saying to him in the meeting, I was like, the stuff we're writing, so much of it is not because we want to hurt and attack the the world of like tech and VC culture or whatever. It's because like you guys are supposed to be the new guard All of this stuff that's happening in technology is supposed to be the new guard This is supposed to be a better way of doing it. You're not the fucking robber barons of the 1800s You guys are the you know, you're the you're the fucking Netscape guy.

You're supposed to fight against the bullshit and bring something better and be better to women and people of color and be more fair and all this shit. And it's like, you're just doing the same things that everybody's always done once they get money in power. And I said this to him and we had this like, actually, I had a really heated, I would say Virginie to an argument and he let's just say they didn't invest in the outline.

But like, he also was like upset because he felt we were like a left leaning mark, he called it like a Marxist publication because we had like, you know, left leaning articles and you know, I was like, yeah, we're monetizing liberal tears. That's our business model. But like, you know, it's like. But the fucking conversation was interesting to me because it was like he was upset and hurt and angry that he felt people were being unfair to tech companies and tech CEOs when

what was actually happening was for the longest time they've been essentially getting a fucking pass or had very little scrutiny. when what was actually happening was for the longest time, they've been essentially getting a fucking pass or had very little scrutiny. And now people are starting to go, wait a second, this does seem like they're kind of doing the same shit that all of the other fucking assholes CEOs do and all these other companies do, where they abuse their workers and take advantage of their audiences

and all this other shit. And it's like, again, VCs just absolutely self-destruct under any kind of pressure from what I can tell. And like this Taylor Lorenz thing is a good example where, you know, it's this old boys club, a lot of white guys, not all, but a lot of white guys feeling very protective over their little fiefdom and their little privacy. You know, they're on this app clubhouse apparently, which is like a, um, you know, it's like an app where people where VCs are all talking in like chat rooms or something. It's basically like fucking party, party lines for VCs or something. And apparently they're shit talking her on there.

And it's like, you know, they're not even just shit talking her. The thing that really worries me is they're like, they're literally saying, what gives the press the right to investigate a private company that should be illegal? Or like, you know, they're saying like, you know, who is Taylor Lorenz? Why does she have the right to decide who's right

and who's wrong? And it's like, she's a reporter, Like, at a, in the free press, at part of the fourth estate, like, why? You don't think we should have freedom of press. You don't think anyone should scrutinize your work or your ideas. Like, the idea that they are the victims

because they had to hear something not glowing for once. Like, there's this like fury that tech journalism isn't people magazine. And I actually find it very worrying in the way that I found gamer gate worrying, which is like, you're pretending that this is about journalism,

but really what it's about is you don't want any accountability or criticism. And these are really powerful people to have that opinion. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And it was a lot of money. And I don't know. It's like, what's happening to Taylor is really gross and bad. And I hope that I truly hope that people more powerful and more well placed than her step in between this and fucking like course correct. I mean, what's weird is like you certainly don't see anybody from the New York Times.

You certainly don't see any people with major roles of power at the New York Times stepping into it, which is classic New York Times, but it would be nice to see. And I assume they are there, some other VCs, and I know there are good ones, by the way. Like I've met the good ones, they do exist. Like they're not all pieces of shit. There are some great VCs who are investing for the right reasons and actually trying to do the right things.

But it's, I mean, I'm seeing a lot of support for her from journalists, which is great, but I would like to see the executives at the New York Times or VCs who have large, you know Yeah, I want to hear some tech people say you do have a right to report on us and you should hold us accountable Right and honestly, honestly, I wrote a piece critical last year I'm not gonna name who because I don't want everybody to dunk on them But I wrote a piece last year year. I'm not gonna name who because I don't want everybody to dunk on them, but I wrote a piece last year that was highly critical of a product that was getting glowing praise around the internet

and the person behind it, Deampion, they were like, what the fuck, dude? And I said, I am so excited about the thing you're making. I am so stoked on it. I'm fascinated by it. I think it's the future, but you're doing some stuff that's really wrong and worrying, and that's why I'm saying something. You know what I mean?

I'm a fan, I'm critical because I love what you do. It's sort of like when everyone was pissed, the whole internet was always pissed at me in 2016. If I liked Hillary Clinton dead, or if I dislike what Hillary Clinton did. But at the end of the day, if I'm criticizing you in good faith and trying to ask you to be better, it's not from a place of contempt.

Usually it's from a place of like, be better because I'm rooting for you. You know what I mean? Like I want you to do this better. And I think that the tech community needs to realize that like an attack on one of you is not an attack on all of you and a criticism is not an attack. Yeah, I think one of the things that I always had had conversations with like people like at Apple, like the PR people at Apple or at Microsoft or a lot of like larger companies

when we would do something, you write like at the verge or at end gadget, we do review and it was, you know, negative or harsh or whatever. And, and, you know, people would get very upset. I mean, people, the companies would get very upset, you know. Cause obviously you work on these things and you try really hard and then you put it out into the world and then some fucking asshole journalists is like, this thing is fucking, you know. This is unethical.

But like it was always coming from and I try to structure any fucking review I've ever done or any critique of anything really. Typically, if I have, if I care enough to talk about it, you know, like it means that I care about it, right? Like I'm going to spend my time writing about it. It's not because like I want to get the clicks. It's because like it's something I'm legitimately interested in. I I think you will agree, Ryan, I tend to pursue things I'm legitimately interested in and ignore things that I don't care about.

So it was always this conversation where it's like, look, I'm criticizing this and I'm upset about this and I'm like my rage over it, not working the way I think it should or as good as it could is not because I'm like, fuck you guys, I want to see you burn burn it's like I want to see it better you know I want to see it improved and this goes up and down the line I think this is what we're talking about I think like you've got to be self critical you have to be self critical if you can't look at yourself and go yeah we can do better then you you're failing you're

absolutely failing like I my position is always like, if today was good, I can definitely find a way it could be better tomorrow. And so you should never get comfortable and never feel like you've got it and never feel like everything you touch is fucking gold. And if people don't like it, they just don't understand. You know, sometimes that's true.

And you can see where that happens. But a lot of times it's like, people don't like it because it's like, you know, you did, you know but a lot of times it's like, people don't like it because it's like, you know, you did, you know. A lot of times it's like, especially with products, of course. It's like, you, you know, got close to it, but you didn't go all the way and people can see it, right? When it comes to like how people behave,

how they treat, you know, journalists or how they think of themselves, I mean, I think you have to be self-critical. I think you have to feel instinctually that what you do is right. But you also have to be self-critical. And so when you're self-critical, it tends to improve what you do and make it better and make your work stronger.

And so for all these fucking people, like learn to fucking take the criticism and to process it and to consider it. Like I'll tell you what's a great experience, having been an editor of several publications and been in rooms full of people who are often smarter than me or who know just to have different sets of knowledge

than I have in different experiences. The greatest thing in the world that you can do is be in that room and have an idea and have that idea get ripped apart by those people. Nothing makes you better and smarter than putting your ideas to the test around people who don't share the same world view that you have and don't have the same background as you, and don't have the same internal dialogue that you have. And letting them sort of like, you know, rake it over the coals, like, it's really fucking, that's a really powerful thing to do. And all everybody, all these people from the Coddle, you know, white Republicans who want to think they don't need to wear a mask up to the fucking rich vcs.

Everybody could do a lot more self, you know, self some introspection and work on themselves and listening to and watching the feedback of other people, not just about them personally, but about their particular position, their place in the world. I think we could all stand to hear and take to heart criticism and critique more, because I think it makes you a better person, and it makes you better at what you do, and it makes you smarter, and it makes you more aware. I think that's really important, and I think awareness is something we could all work on right now in a big way. Awareness of what is outside of ourselves.

And a good place to start would be to go to inputmag.com and read everything on it. Read everything on inputmag.com, much of which we did not discuss at all. Anyhow, we should wrap up. We were like, I'm going to do, again, once again, I was like, tight 45 today, Ryan, we're just going to get in and get out. Have you had a day? Got errands to run? Nope. We're like hour and 11 minutes deep in this motherfucker All right, well, we should we should do nice things and get to get out of here. Don't you think? Yeah, you got it

Go you go quick nice things. I'm really excited about We have a post on the site about Super Nintendo World, the theme park that's coming to Universal Studios Japan, and it looks so awesome. And in a year where we had to kill JK Rowling and all of her creations and tear down her theme parks, I am so happy that there will be something else for me to go to. I am so excited to jump around with the Koopa Troopers and do a Mario Kart and it looks so cool. I, uh, uh, until Mario gets canceled. I mean, I got a assist.

Transplant. Um, yeah, I tried exactly. Um, you didn't know he's a turf. You didn't realize that? You didn't get the memo? Um, it looks so sick. Go look at it. It looks like a, like a GameCube game.

It's so great. It's disturbing. I the video I watch the video several times and there's honestly several parts of the video where they pan over parts of the park and it looks so much like this uncanny valley between like the video game in real life that it kind of messes with my brain It's so we feel like makes me feel like sort of insane. And, you know, I don't know if that's good. I love video games.

I love being parks. I can't wait to leave my apartment. It's a perfect storm of like beating me. You ready for my nice thing? Nice thing. I got my medical marijuana license in New York. Welcome. Welcome.

I've been having, you know, I injured my knee, I have a torn meniscus, which supposedly needs surgery, but I've also had a lot of back pain recently, a lot of like, just sort of ongoing, in fact, I'm going to the doctor soon to have him look at my back, but I was like, you know what, I might need is like a ton of legal weed

to solve my pain. Because I don't really wanna take like percussette or whatever, and Advil doesn't help. And also, I like to be high. So I went through the process, actually not that difficult. You know, you do have to have like fairly real reasons, like you can't just be like, I like to get high. That's not that won't pass, Master. I have like MRIs of my knee and stuff. So that was helpful. Anyhow, and I got to say, really interesting night and day experience between like, and I gotta say, really interesting night and day experience between like,

and by the way, there's fine illegal weed all over the place, but, and there's nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned, go get it, enjoy yourself. But, the experience of buying stuff online and having it delivered to my house, and having it be in proper packaging, obviously I've been to California in Seattle and have bought legal weed before or whatever.

But doing it here at home and having like, oh, I've got like, they have like capsules. Which by the way, I found for me, that's my thing. Like I don't really like smoking that much. The capsules are good. I mean, they're good for- And the action-

Do help with my knee and back pain. Like that's the hilarious side effect of this is like, it's cool, but also like they have greatly alleviated the pain that I'm experiencing. But yeah, so that's, I'm sort of like, you know, I've never really been into wheat. I've never been like, I've never really enjoyed smoking. It always kind of makes me feel insane.

I'm saying that this actually, the difference is like pretty striking and good. And I recommend it. I hope that there's a day in the future where it's not such a big deal, you know, for people to go and get like a little bit of recreational marijuana or even like medicinal marijuana because it seems like a very,

at least so far to me seems like a very innocuous and ultimately pretty helpful thing. It's very exciting time. Can't wait for this to be legal for everyone. Yeah, and on that point, I think we should, uh, you know, go and get stoned right now. Hell yeah. Well that is our show for this week. We'll be back next week with more tomorrow. And as always, I was you and your family the very best. And I've just been informed that your family is completely stoned out of their minds and watching the secret fireworks in New York right now.

So it seems like everything's going right.