US Captures Venezuelan President Maduro | Jan 6, 2026

Summary

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Macrodosing: US Captures Venezuelan President Maduro | Jan 6, 2026

Overview

This episode of Macrodosing (released January 6, 2026) dives into the bombshell story of the US military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and what it means for the US, Venezuela, and international relations. The conversation pivots to the fallout and comparisons to the Iraq war, complexities of foreign intervention, possible consequences for US policy, and the current state of Venezuela. The crew also dissects viral news about alleged welfare fraud in Minnesota, debates on modern streaming culture, the third Avatar film, and more.

Hosted by Arian Foster and his cohosts Big T, Cook, and others, the episode features a mix of serious policy discussion, skepticism, humor, and signature tangents—maintaining that Macrodosing brain-tickling blend of the analytical and the irreverent.

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Main Discussion: US Captures Maduro in Venezuela

[05:29] Setting the Stage: What Happened?

• Big T steers the crew to the week’s biggest story: the US arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, bringing them to the US for trial on drug and weapons charges.
• [05:46] Arian Foster recaps what’s publicly known:
  • CIA had Maduro under surveillance for months.
  • Limited military strikes in Venezuela led up to a major US military air operation late Saturday night.
  • Delta Force helicopters, with F-22s, F-35s, Growlers, AWACS radar planes, and more, supported the extraction.
  • “No aircraft were shot down, I don’t think anybody died from the United States …a couple dozen, maybe more, people that died in Venezuela…most of them…his guard or in the military.” – Arian Foster [07:18]
  • Highlights the “flawless” military logistics and use of stealth/air superiority.

[13:40] Skepticism: How Did It Go Down So Easily?

• Foster raises doubts about the ease of the operation: “I don’t understand how they just walked in and arrested he and his wife… He had a safe room …giant steel doors…”
• Theorizes a possible inside job or negotiated surrender, perhaps involving Maduro’s Vice President.
• Foster: “Maybe he’s a very sound sleeper.” [13:40]
• Big T: “I slept through an earthquake one time…” [13:41]

[15:39] Show of Force for Iran?

• Discussion on the US government’s unusually open post-mission briefing.
• Big T: “It’s like using a trick play and you want to put it on tape…you want your opponent to have to prepare for that.” [15:27]
• Foster suggests the US wants “Iran to see” its capabilities as a form of deterrence.

[17:05] Iraq Parallels and Policy Concerns

• Cook calls out the “glaring parallels” to the Iraq war—power vacuum, military dominance, questionable post-war plan.
• Foster: “We did everything on a 10x speed for Venezuela that we did with Iraq…Bush and Cheney [had] a year of PR…here it was like a week…‘they stole some of our oil.’” [17:37]
• Concern for what happens now in Venezuela—militias, instability, refugee crisis.
• Foster: “We break it, we bought it…we’re responsible for, like it or not.” [30:58]
• Noted that Venezuela is “very close to the United States”—potentially magnifying consequences.

Key Quote:

“If Venezuela did not have oil, there is a 0.0% chance that we were doing this.”
– Arian Foster [23:39]

[25:21] Checks & Balances, War Powers

• Question on legality and the bypassing of Congress.
• Cook: “My argument is I don’t want to set the precedent that we can bypass Congress for an act of war… checks and balances in a democracy.” [33:40]
• The group debates what defines an act of war and if the process for international interventions is being eroded.
• Big T repeatedly states whether the action is “good” or “bad” depends on what happens next.

Notable Dialogues:

• Big T: “…for the last several years, everyone has agreed this guy is…a terrorist dictator…now that Trump has gone and gotten his ass out of bed and taken him, like now that’s bad…”
• Foster: “There’s a middle ground…don’t give the dictator money. And also…invading a sovereign country and stealing their leader…is a bad thing.” [22:41]

[29:59] Long-Term Blowback and Historical Lessons

• Drawing lessons from US involvement in El Salvador, Iraq, and elsewhere: “There’s refugees, there’s power vacuums, there’s bad people that end up taking power.” – Arian Foster [29:53]
• Concerns about increased refugee migration due to destabilization, rise of militias, and lasting anti-American sentiment.

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Segment Timestamps and Highlights

[03:31] Lighter Moments – Arian’s Golf Report

• Cook is late due to a golf game: “I shot an 83, which I’m not mad at…my game is trending upwards…” [03:31]
• Crew discusses California weather, Super Bowl week plans.

[38:39] Military Tech Talk

• B2 bomber stealth flyovers at sporting events, new B-21, aviation geekery.
• Cook: “Those are the coldest looking planes, in my opinion.” [39:51]

[42:38] Pivot: Domestic Focus – Viral Minnesota Daycare Fraud Video

• Background: Minnesota governor Tim Walz resigns amid welfare fraud scandal; viral video alleges daycare fraud.
• Crew investigates the facts:
  • Some federal and state probes ongoing, but video lacks direct evidence.
  • Foster: “If you’re stealing welfare money, you are the lowest of the low and you should be sent to prison.” [87:52]
• Cook and Foster raise warning flags about viral outrage aimed at Somali/Muslim immigrant communities, right-wing media amplification, and lack of transparency/transparency in pseudo-journalism.

Notable Exchanges

• Foster: “He’s not a journalist…He is known as a journalist. People think that he’s a journalist…which is part of the problem.” [106:04]
• Cook: “Why not present that to be the case in the documentary rather than make it look like, oh, there’s nobody here?” [99:55]
• Big T: “Do you think a real journalist would uncover fraud?” Foster: “Anything that dabbles in government contracts, you will find evidence of fraud.” [101:11]

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[56:07] Streaming Culture, Social Media, and Unhealthy Trends

• Rant about popular streamers engaging in dangerous or outlandish antics for attention.
• Cook: “It’s a cancer to us…I think all of them should get slapped.” [54:30]
• Discussion of ‘looksmaxxing’ (surgery trend for jawlines), online meme and beauty cults.
• Foster: “They’re giving themselves body dysmorphia…it’s super unhealthy.” [58:50]
• Anecdotes about living without Internet for a few days—“internet detox” with kids.

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[65:06] Diddy Documentary & Music Industry Gossip

• Foster shares his reaction after watching the Diddy docuseries; floats the conspiracy theory that “he killed Biggie” [64:08], which the crew debates.
• Cook: “I find it hard to believe he would kill Biggie…I do think Diddy dirty as shit though.” [66:38]
• Deep dives into Diddy’s alleged abuses and the weirdness of his inner circle.
• Cook: “That is a direct result of…you ain’t never had nobody around you tell you no.” [71:44]

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[119:16] Avatar 3 Review (Spoilers at [123:22])

• Cook (lifelong Avatar fan) and guest Jeff Lowe break down the new film:
  • Gorgeous visuals, strong world-building, but “dogshit” writing.
  • “If you were to write a script from ChatGPT, it would come out like that.” [124:32]
  • Frustration at missed opportunities for deeper themes: “There’s no substance to any dialogue.”
  • “I appreciate the series…but if they don’t up the dialogue it’s just going to be like a Kanye album…I’ll listen out of respect…” [130:51]
  • Jeff Lowe: “James Cameron’s not a great dialogue writer…this was easily his worst.”
  • Ongoing discussion of world-building vs character/dialogue.

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[140:16] Pop Culture: Stranger Things Final Season

• The hosts and Jeff Lowe break down the divisive Stranger Things finale (minor spoilers).
• General agreement: entertaining, crowd-pleasing, but “a safe ending” lacking the ambition/risk of shows like Game of Thrones or The Sopranos.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Air Power:
  “This is your tax dollars since, like, 1995…like, 30 cents out of every dollar went towards this operation…” – Arian Foster [08:32]

• On Plan for Venezuela:
  “I don’t want to set the precedent that we can bypass Congress for an act of war.” – Cook [33:40]
  “There’s a lot of legal gray areas that I think we’re getting into.” – Arian Foster [33:40]

• On Iraq Parallels:
  “The difference now is like…We’re fucking up this country, and they’re very close to us.” – Arian Foster [32:46]

• On Media and Fraud:
  “He’s not a journalist…he is known as a journalist…” – Arian Foster [106:04]
  “Anything that dabbles in government contracts, you will find evidence of fraud.” – Arian Foster [101:19]

• On US Intervention:
  “Every president has done it…it’s not, in my opinion, a good idea.” – Arian Foster [114:52]

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Structure and Additional Segments

• [43:39] – Diddy docuseries theories and music industry anecdotes.
• [66:42] – “Diddy dirty as shit though…”
• [73:54] – Minnesota daycare fraud scandal breakdown.
• [123:17] – Avatar 3 (spoiler section).
• [140:16] – Stranger Things final season postmortem.

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Final Thoughts (Summary)

The episode provides an in-depth, highly opinionated, and multifaceted discussion on the US' capture of Maduro—highlighting the military, legal, and ethical issues, strong skepticism about US motives in oil-rich nations, and real concern for long-term fallout. The crew consistently calls out the media environment that shapes public perception, urges critical thinking, and returns to the need for checks and balances in US interventions. There’s also a clear through line: Power vacuums beget chaos, and history tends to repeat when the US forcibly fills them.

The show’s characteristic asides, humor, and pop culture pivots keep the tone lively and authentic to the personalities involved—making it as much an episode about media literacy, skepticism, and societal self-reflection as about headline geopolitics.

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Table of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | Key Speaker(s) | |-------------|--------------------------------------------|---------------------------| | 05:29 | Venezuela/Maduro Operation Breakdown | Arian, Big T, Cook | | 13:40 | Inside Job or Surrender Speculation | Arian, Big T | | 15:39 | US Military Messaging to Iran | Arian, Big T | | 17:05 | Iraq Parallels & Policy | Cook, Arian | | 25:21 | Checks & Balances in Military Action | Cook, Big T, Arian | | 29:59 | Intervention Fallout & Refugee Flow | Arian, Cook | | 38:39 | Aviation/Air Force Chat | All | | 42:38 | Welfare Fraud Scandal in Minnesota | Arian, Big T, Cook | | 56:07 | Streaming/Internet Culture Discussion | All | | 65:06 | Diddy Doc/User Conspiracies | Arian, Cook | | 119:16 | Avatar 3 Film Review | Cook, Jeff Lowe | | 140:16 | Stranger Things Final Season (spoilers) | Big T, Jeff Lowe |

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For Listeners Who Missed It

• The Maduro operation is explored in depth—militarily, legally, and ethically.
• The show is skeptical of the legality and morality, compares it to Iraq, and warns of unintended consequences.
• The team calls for Congressional oversight and stresses “no new forever wars.”
• Entertaining tangents on military tech, welfare fraud, Internet culture, and pop culture keep the show lively.
• The episode is essential Macrodosing: brain tickling debates, contrarian hot takes, and a world-weary sense of humor about the circus of US power.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Arian Foster]

Hey, Macrodosing listeners. You can find us every Tuesday and Thursday on Apple podcast, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[Big T]

Yeah, he actually, you know, he has Nadu lore.

[Arian Foster]

I did not know that.

[Big T]

Oh, you don't?

[Cook]

What's Nate? What's Nadu?

[Big T]

So, Jeff Nadu. Oh, now we got to give you a barstool history lesson. Jeff Nadeu is a character who exists in the barstool universe on the. On the outer rings of the atmosphere. He was employed here for a short time. He is a. He's re. You know, Rico, the one that threw the. Yeah. Tried to kill me. So. Rico.

[Arian Foster]

Three, two, one.

[Cook]

Welcome back. Damn, I'm ready now.

[Arian Foster]

Three.

[Cook]

I said I was ready and you said no, I had something.

[Arian Foster]

No, I just had some in my eye.

[Cook]

Well, I had some in my ear.

[Arian Foster]

Three, two, one. Welcome back to Macrodosing. It is Tuesday. It is January 6th. Happy holidays, big T. And today's episode is brought to you by our great friends over at DraftKings. DraftKings. The crown is yours. The DraftKings sportsbook. They are an official sports betting partner of the NFL. They make every moment feel bigger. A running back cuts through the line. Strip sack flips of field. A tight end hauls in the kind of touchdown grab that you're going to be talking about for years. Post season games shift Fast, and with DraftKings live betting options, you can stay right in the moment. Plus, DraftKings has your back. They've got early exit protection. If the player in your eligible NFL prop bet goes down at any point in the first half, you still get paid in cash. I love the early exit. If you have a parlay going and let's say you've got a running back to go over 70 yards for the game. If they get knocked out of the game in the first half, that leg goes out of your parlay. You don't have to worry about an early exit that way. It's a good thing that DraftKings does. Not every sportsbook does that, but DraftKings does. New customers bet just five bucks. If that bet wins, you get 300 bucks in bonus bets instantly. 300 bucks. They're serious about the playoffs. DraftKings sportsbook. Every drive, every play, every moment. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app now. Use code macro. That's code macro. And you can turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours.

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[Big T]

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[Arian Foster]

All right. Welcome back to Macro Dosing.

[Cook]

Hey, it's good to see everybody, man. It's been a while.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, it's good to see you, too, Aaron. I missed. I missed all you guys. I missed chopping it up. Lots going on in the world since we last spoke. We were just saying it's December 17th was the last time that we. We all sat down and visited. And. Yeah, we're back. It is January 6th. It is Tuesday. It is Nano dosing. I don't know where to start. There's been so much that's happened in the last month. Where do you guys want to start? Big T, where do you want to start?

[Cook]

Let's start with while I'm late today.

[Arian Foster]

Okay.

[Cook]

I was at Memorial, and the round was a little longer than I thought because I thought they was gonna let us ride in carts, but we had to walk. So it was a long. And then by the time I realized I should have told y' all earlier, but, like, I was so thicking it around. Yeah, I was balling right there, dog. I'm. I'm seven over, and I got five holes left, and I'm balling like. I'm like, yo, Today's. I'm breaking 80 today. Nope. I just. I just. The bed. I. I go bogey, double. No, I go. I go par. Bogey, double, double par. And so I ended up plus 11. I shot at 83, which I'm not mad at. It's a good score, but, like, I was right there. My game is trending upwards, but I'm excited about the game but apologetic about making y' all late, so my fault.

[Arian Foster]

That's all good. That. That went up and down, up and down. You were like, yeah, sorry I'm late. I was at a memorial. And then I was like, oh, no. And then it was a golf course. I was like, oh, good. And then you're like, but my round was bad. And I was like, oh, no.

[Big T]

I could tell the second he got on camera, the way he was dressed, where he. Why he texted at 11:53. Can we push it from noon?

[Arian Foster]

I am jealous of the weather that you have down there. It's, it's been cold as up here and you have, you have nice outdoor weather. You can play golf.

[Cook]

It's Southern California weather right now. It's 75. Nice little breeze. It's gorgeous, dog.

[Arian Foster]

Oh, I am looking forward very much to super bowl week out in, in, I guess that's Northern California, the San Francisco area. There's a couple nice golf courses out there. That's what I hear. Hank and I might be playing.

[Cook]

I might pull up on you, man. I got some, I got some work out there, dog.

[Arian Foster]

You want to come to San Fran for the super bowl week?

[Cook]

I don't want to do nothing involved with the super bowl, but I'll go play golf with you.

[Arian Foster]

Okay.

[Cook]

All right.

[Arian Foster]

That could be fun. Big T and Non Golf News. Where, where would you like to start? There's just so much stuff to get into.

[Big T]

I mean, Maduro's the most pressing, right. So we have to start there.

[Arian Foster]

Do we want to. Do we want to just kick things off in 2026 with a little PFT playing corner?

[Big T]

Yeah, yeah.

[Arian Foster]

All right. Because I watched, I watched the, the briefing from General Raisin Kane.

[Big T]

Hell, yeah.

[Arian Foster]

That got up there and gave the breakdown. I'm doing again. I am, I am a casual as far as the war, as far as experts go, if they hear me talk, I'm a casual playing guy. I know enough to, to sound like I know what I'm talking about sometimes, but I'm probably going to screw some stuff up when I, when I give the plane corner here. But far as I can tell, this is what happened. So with Maduro. He was the leader of Venezuela. He's been arrested by the Department of Justice. He is standing. I believe he pled not guilty this morning.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

To charges including importation, exportation of drugs, machine guns. Yeah, there's weapons, possession of machine guns. He and his wife. And his wife wasn't charged until after, I think they arrested the two of them. She was like a late addition to the charge, but she's also in custody right now. And so we've been, we've been targeting Maduro. Feels like for the last like four years, he's been at the top of a lot of people's list of dictators that the United States would like to see vanquished from their leadership role. And back in the spring, we started putting him under CIA surveillance to try to figure out what his patterns were, where he went during the day, where he would lay his head at night, the protection that was around. Figure out kind of like, what, what is. What does this guy do every day? What does he repeat? What's his pattern of life? And then how could we, in theory, get access to him if we had to? So we. We've been part of putting him under surveillance for a long time, and we've been doing some limited strikes in Venezuela for the last couple months. And on Saturday, late night. Saturday night, we sent like, our entire military arsenal, in terms of, like, airfare, aviation, up into the skies to try to take this guy out. And we ended up getting him out at like 2am we arrested him, his wife. No aircraft were shot down. I don't think anybody died from the United States. There were probably, you know, a couple dozen, maybe more people that died in Venezuela. Most of them, I think, worked either in his guard or in the military. And what happened was we sent up everything that we've been spending billions of dollars on for the last 30 years. It was in preparation for this moment, and it seemed like it worked perfectly. Jess, I'm talking from a depreciator of. Of air. Of aviation warfare, aeronautical warfare. Everything seemed to work right. So we sent up, here's what we had. You ready for this arsenal?

[Big T]

Yes.

[Arian Foster]

And again, this is your tax dollars since, like, 1995. This is where like, 30, 30 cents out of every dollar went towards this operation and making it possible. We had our E18 growlers, EA18 growlers, which are electronic warfare planes. So they're these. They're like Super Hornets, but they're just stacked to the gills with, like, different forms of radar detection countermeasures. So they can, like, send jamming signals out. They also have these HARM missiles that they can shoot at the air defenses. So we send the EA18 growlers up in the air. We send the F35s out there. The F35s, they're going to be just killing everything on the ground, as well as shooting missiles at any planes that would try to take off. We send the F22 Raptor up in the air. The F22 Raptor, I believe it's only killing. Only confirmed kill was the Chinese air balloon. Remember that?

[Big T]

Yes.

[Arian Foster]

But it's like the best airplane in the world, and it can't be seen on radar. And it's got these AMRAAM missiles that are on it that can probably shoot. The ones that it carries probably shoot like 80 miles, 100 miles. We send those up there, too. We send up the Super Hornets up into the air. We send up the. The overwatch planes, the ones, you know, that had the Satellite dishes on top of them, the radar planes, they call them AWACS planes. And so they're looking out onto the ground on the entire country of Venezuela, seeing if there are any airplanes taking off, seeing if there are any air defense systems on the ground, like radar systems, little like, you know, shoulder mounted rocket launchers. Essentially. They're looking for everything out there. Then they're sending that information to the F30 fives. Then the F30 fives are taking those things out on the ground. And they're also telling the F22s if there's any airplanes that launch from Venezuela, because they do have some SU 30s that they could have sent up, which are decent planes. Basically, we send every airplane that we have up into the air. We also send a shitload of helicopters because Delta Force is on the helicopters that are going to take Maduro out. The United States military technology is so advanced that we, I think for the last like two months we've been sending planes along the coast of Venezuela, sometimes flying over Venezuela, just begging them to turn on their radars to try to spot our planes. Because when the radars come on, then we know where their radars are. And then we write those down, keep them in a file, then we know where to strike. So we knew where all their shit was. We blow it up. They don't even think about launching a plane. Like no planes took off because that, that's actually what you spend your money on. If you're asking like the F35, we've paid so much money and there's been so much written about it, what a waste of money it is, et cetera, et cetera, for the F35 and the F22. They earned their keep in the fact that Venezuela didn't even try to have a plane take off because they knew once that plane took off it was gonna be spotted and it would be shot down before it had time to do anything. So they didn't even try to shoot us down or defend themselves. So that worked perfectly. The helicopters go in, they go to his compound, and with the help of the F35s that are shooting stuff on the ground, radars, anyone with a machine gun, etc. Etc. The helicopters get in, they go into the compound, they find Maduro and his wife, arrest them, put them on a helicopter, fly about 100ft off the ground, get out of the country and nobody gets hurt. From the United States. Pretty, pretty incredible operation when it comes to just like, logistics and all the shit that had to be going on. Now I am A little bit skeptical about the way that he was arrested. Big T, you are a skeptic in general.

[Big T]

Sure.

[Arian Foster]

Right, right. I don't understand how they just walked in and arrested he and his wife.

[Big T]

Yeah, we don't really have details on that. Right.

[Arian Foster]

There's a couple theories that I've been reading about, one of which is that his vice president sold him out, that his vice president was, like, working with the United States, gave us all the information about where he stayed, all the details that still, to me, doesn't explain, like, how easily they got in and out of the compound and arrested him. Because he had a safe. He had a safe room that was set up like a panic room in this compound that had, like, these giant steel doors that if he heard commotion going on, he could go into there, lock the doors. The Delta Force did bring, like, giant saws with them in case they had to get through this door. But he didn't even try to hide in there. And I feel like with all the gunfire and stuff, he would have known that. Some. They said that. I read one report that said that he was sleeping when we got him. I don't. Maybe he's a very sound sleeper.

[Big T]

I slept through an earthquake one time, so.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, maybe so. You never know. I think that Maduro might have, like, negotiated his own surrender and that he knew that they were coming.

[Big T]

Well, that is interesting, because he. They said, and I don't know that this would have mattered anyway. It said he and his wife weren't seeking any bail.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Big T]

Which I don't even know. I assume if the US Government comes into your house as the leader of a foreign country and takes you. I didn't know bail was an option.

[Arian Foster]

I didn't know that it was an option for the United States military to come into your house and then arrest you and then bring you back to the United States and then.

[Big T]

As if you shot somebody here.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. Put you on trial in the United States.

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah.

[Big T]

I mean, I guess we can kind of do whatever we want.

[Arian Foster]

We could. I.

[Big T]

You can just do things.

[Arian Foster]

Apparently. Now, it was just from strictly my appreciation of military aviation. I found it very interesting. It was like a flawless operation that was carried out.

[Big T]

Sounds like it.

[Arian Foster]

You can't. You can't design it up any. Any more seamlessly than what we did, at least from the initial reports. I also think that it's weird that we got, like, our generals getting up and giving presentations. I told you about the India and Pakistan air skirmish a couple months ago where they had guys that got up and like, explained everything that they did. I feel like to a certain extent we don't need to stand up and be like, here's what we did, here's what we used. Like, that might be stuff that's better kept close to the vest. So then I got to thinking, why did they do that? Why would you send somebody up to like, talk about how dominant we were? And setting aside the fact that I think a lot of people in the, in the government right now, their main job is to say cool stuff on TV that Trump's going to see and be like, that's awesome.

[Cook]

Good job.

[Arian Foster]

They like to do that.

[Big T]

It's like a, it's like using a trick play and you want to put it on tape. It may seem, it seems a little counterintuitive. Maybe you want to save that for like a critical moment, but you want your opponent to have to prepare for that.

[Arian Foster]

Right. So along those same lines, I think that we're given this, this whole, like, PowerPoint of how we just absolutely dog walked Venezuela's military. And we're hoping that Iran sees it.

[Big T]

Look at what we can do.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. That Iran is like, that was very easy for them. Like, what happened in Venezuela was a much bigger operation than the bombs that we dropped on Iran a couple of months ago when we flew the B2 bombers like halfway around the world. Still very impressive.

[Big T]

The, the Top Gun mission.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, yeah. So what we did in Venezuela, there were like, I think 150 planes that launched and we're all doing their part of the mission, which is pretty crazy to say, but knowing, like putting that out there on tape, Iran's looking at it like we, we're not prepared for this.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

Like we're going to get our ass kicked if, if we try anything. So that's strictly from, like, from the logistics of what we did in Venezuela seemed like it was carried out just about perfectly. I, I still think that anybody that's ever studied anything about United States foreign policy is going to have a lot of questions about now. What do we do? Because Venezuela is without a president, without a leader, there's a bunch of different armed, I want to say, militia type groups in Venezuela that right now are going to be competing for the power vacuum that's there. We say that we're going to be running the country.

[Cook]

So when this first happened, I immediately thought of you because of how eerily similar this is to how and why we went into Iraq. Yep. The parallels are glaring. And so I was, I wanted to get your thoughts on it because you very strongly oppose and have articulate feelings about the Iraq war and the things leading up to it. It's just very, it just looks so similar. I wanted to get your, your thoughts on it.

[Arian Foster]

I think that there's a lot of parallels there, except we did everything on like a, a 10x speed for Venezuela that we did with Iraq. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney saw value in like trying to create a narrative and trying to sell the war to the American people before they did it. So they.

[Cook]

Sorry, go ahead.

[Arian Foster]

I'm just saying, like they, they sent Colin Powell to the U.N. they gave a lot of speeches detailing what they thought about Saddam Hussein, what we needed to do. It seemed like they, they tried to get a PR campaign behind the movement to invade Iraq to get public support for the invasion. And with Venezuela, it was like a week of, yeah, Maduro's a bad guy, we're gonna take him out, and they stole some of our oil.

[Cook]

Well, see, I thought it was a little bit more than that, but it was. To me, it's how far we have been removed from like normalcy or what we considered normal politics back in the day was where at least they felt like we have to lay the groundwork in order to do this.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Whereas today they're like, and let's bomb some boats, tell them that they were bad and fuck it, now we got a reason. And like, that's, that is the, that's, that's the, that's, that's the, that's the only thing we have to do now. It's like, it's like we're living in this. It's like a social media world. Like, let's create a couple of highlight reels. Bad guys. Bad. Fuck it. Yeah, I'm riding with you now.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, it was like a, it was like a year of PR that Bush and Cheney did for Iraq. And then it was like, okay, Maduro stole some of our American companies oil like 5 years ago when he kicked them out. Also, these boats might have fentanyl. This boat would kill 50,000 people even though fentanyl doesn't come from Venezuela. So we bombed that. And if they don't shut the fuck up, we're going to bomb them and steal their leader. And there's a lot of similarities. Like when we invaded Iraq, from a military perspective, we just dominated them. Like night one, we bombed like all their missile defense systems. By the way, this thing against Venezuela, the attack, that's also bad news. Excuse me, Bad news for the Soviets because they had a bunch of really high end Missile defense systems that they've been selling all around the world being like, this is the, the cream of the crop. If you want any sort of radar detection and missile launching capabilities to shoot down enemy airplanes, you want to buy our stuff. And then we just shut all that down. We also hacked into their power grid and turned all the electricity off.

[Big T]

You just showed your age a little bit.

[Arian Foster]

What do you mean?

[Big T]

You called them the Soviets, that they.

[Arian Foster]

Were originally Soviet designed, but yeah, Russia, the Russian missile systems.

[Big T]

So we can still call them, we.

[Arian Foster]

Can still call them that. Yeah. But yeah, Aaron, you're right. It was like we're just going to say that they're bad and then we're going to take them out and then that's, that's that. So with Iraq, it's like we, we dominated their military. Most of them just gave up and surrendered right off the bat. We bombed all their enemy radar systems. We just rolled into Baghdad. Everything was fine. We tore down that huge statue of Saddam Hussein and everybody was clapping and it's like, mission accomplished. George Bush gets on the aircraft carrier with a giant banner behind him. Look what we did. We got him. And then the next 20 years happened. And if you don't, they, they tried to have a plan for what happened in the post Saddam regime. It didn't work for a lot of reasons. Number one, we stop paying their entire military and then you've got hundreds of thousands, if not millions of like 23 year old men on the streets that are trained in armed combat, that don't have a job anymore and then they join militias. It, it seems like we don't have any plan whatsoever for what we're going to do or what's going to happen in Venezuela after the fact. And that could go a number of different ways. I hope it goes well, but history tells us that it doesn't.

[Big T]

So I have some genuine questions for you and I don't know if you can answer them because I, I don't know a ton about this guy and I am vehemently opposed to any prolonged military intervention anywhere really, but particularly Venezuela. But it seems like, like for the last several years we have, everyone has agreed this guy is like a terrorist dictator, he's bad guy. And Trump was criticized harshly in his first term for supposedly like strengthening this guy's power. But now that Trump has gone and gotten his ass out of bed and taken him, like now that's bad. So I'm genuine, like I don't know enough about this guy to know if this turns into a thing Like Iraq, obviously nobody is in favor of that, but it does seem weird that, like, everybody hated this guy and now we've gone from no kings to please let the dictator go.

[Arian Foster]

There is. I think there's a middle ground where it's like, don't give the dictator money. And also, like, unilaterally invading a sovereign country and stealing their leader and bringing them to the United States and putting them on trial in the United States without authorization from Congress is a bad thing. I think there's a pretty wide middle.

[Big T]

Ground in some instances. Sure. Is this one of those?

[Arian Foster]

I think in a lot of instances.

[Cook]

In all instances, it's how the US Is supposed to be ran to make sure it's not an authoritarian regime is we have checks and balances. You're supposed to go through Congress for acts of war.

[Arian Foster]

Maduro. Maduro's a very bad guy. He caused a lot of suffering in his own country. He stole food from people. He made his entire country poor. There was hyperinflation because of him. There's a lot of stuff that he did that was not good. If Venezuela did not have oil, there is a 0.0% chance that we were doing this.

[Cook]

That's the, that's the thing you need to focus on. Big D is There are over 60 authoritarian dictatorships in the world right now, and we don't have interest in going to all of them for reasons. And so nobody's upset that he's removed. They're upsetting the reasons as to why he's removed. The, The. The track record America has of going in over, overthrowing governments and, And. And leaving people there. And, and it. It never goes well.

[Big T]

And that's certainly true oftentimes.

[Arian Foster]

The.

[Cook]

More oftentimes not. It doesn't go well.

[Big T]

That's certainly true. But did you see the. The interview with the guy on the street in Venezuela? He's like, well, why do you think the Chinese were here? Did they want the recipe for a rapist? Like, yeah, the. The oil is an interest of the United States. Like, that's not a. And Russia and China had a huge interest in Venezuela for much the same reason.

[Arian Foster]

Yep.

[Big T]

So I'm not, you know, that's not justification for going in and stealing the leader of any, you know, country that has oil. But, like, this guy is a guy who has been adversely affecting the interests of the United States terrorizing his own people.

[Arian Foster]

Yep.

[Big T]

It just doesn't seem as. As cut and dry as.

[Cook]

And again, you're right, it is nuanced because there are people who he has affected in a negative way. The Venezuelans. And there are Venezuelans that are like, yes, get him up out of here. Right. But there is a way to do things under American law. This is not it.

[Arian Foster]

Like Saddam Hussein.

[Big T]

Sure. I, my only, and this is just me hypothesizing, I would say that that to me seems more likely if we go through Congress, hey, can we go take this guy? Right? And maybe they say yes, maybe they say no, whatever, and then that turns into a weeks, months long deal that seems more likely to generate a prolonged military intervention than, hey, we're going to go get this guy and just bring him back over here and dare them to. You know, if you want to do something after that, best of luck.

[Cook]

Well, so I would say flip, flip the roles. Biden does this.

[Arian Foster]

Right.

[Cook]

Biden does this. And, and there are past questionable business transactions with Biden. Right. You're going to say you have personal interests in this along with like, like business interests for, for us, for, for the United States.

[Arian Foster]

So.

[Cook]

I, I don't. You're also have fringe weirdos saying weird on both sides, right? Look to the rational people, or at least the people that can coherently form a rational argument as to why they disagree. Like I said, there's over 60 dictatorships in the world right now. Should we now just play world police and go in and overthrow every regime?

[Big T]

Of course not. I'm opposed to that very much so.

[Cook]

It's irresponsible. So the reason why we would want congressional approval, because having a plan to do this, the reason why we want to do this, we, we don't want to just displace a government. That's chaos. We've seen what that does. So that's what it is. So I don't think you're going to find any rational person to the left say this is bad because Trump did it, and if they do, don't talk to them. But for the most part, people are like, we have a blueprint on how to do this and this is not it. This is overreach.

[Big T]

I guess I would just say my opinion on this is very predicated on what happens from here on out.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that can happen after the fact. That's the other thing. It's like, yeah, we got the bad guy. And for some reason, like the FBI and the doj, they were involved in the raid, like arresting him. That, that's weird to me.

[Big T]

The sick jackets.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, you want the windbreakers.

[Big T]

I thought the DEA was there.

[Arian Foster]

I think, yeah, that's how you know.

[Cook]

Oh, speaking of which, my quarter zip came. Oh, I'm wearing it in Congress. Oh, shit. I didn't see it.

[Arian Foster]

Big T, but okay. So to kind of tie this into what we've been talking about for the last couple years with Ms. 13, Ms. 13 has been a problem in the United States. They're a violent gang. They were born in El Salvador. They established a couple different outposts in the United States. I'm very familiar with MS.13 because they were on my block. They were in my hometown. Growing up, it was like Los Angeles, California. Fairfax County, Virginia. Those are. That's where MS.13 is. I'm very familiar with them. MS.13 exists because of a power vacuum that was left in El Salvador, due in large part to the United States military and covert operations destabilizing their country in the 1980s and weakening their government to a point where there was a civil war that happened that not only formed a power vacuum in El Salvador where they formed the gang, but also displaced millions of people from El Salvador that had to get out of the country and move to the United States. There's a lot that happens when we fuck with a foreign government like that. There's refugees, there's power vacuums. There's bad people that end up taking power. And now we have a problem in the United States where we have a very violent El Salvadorian street gang that has a lot of power in some places. And then for people who don't want immigrants to come to the United States, guess why a lot of immigrants came to the United States over the last, like, 30 years from south of the border. It's because their countries were destabilized. What do you think is going to happen in Venezuela? There's going to be a lot of people that don't know what to do. There's not a government there right now, or at least a functioning one. They're going to be looking for something to do, somewhere to go. They're going to come, they're going to move to other countries. There's going to be a crisis. There's going to be potentially Venezuelan civil war. I hope not. But these are all the things that history tells us happens when you overthrow a government using military force and agree a thousand percent.

[Cook]

And the other side, big T, is what people don't. I don't think it's hard to put yourself in other people's shoes a lot of time, but if you have a destabilization of a government, and that means the education system lacks. There's a lot of malnourishment going on. Like a lot of things that happen. So all of that gets tied back to the US Invading. So now you have generation after generation feeling a certain way about the United States of America. Then you have combatants. Now let's do something about it. That is also prime. That's what's going to happen in Gaza, right? Or I would say good reasons. But it's, it's, it's going to have, anytime you have destabilization, you're going to get pockets of people saying, fuck that, you ruined my life. And you, and you and you want some get back.

[Big T]

That's it seems like in this case though, like everyone is in Venezuela for the most part is thrilled about this.

[Arian Foster]

No, I don't think everybody is thrilled about it. I think that there are a lot of people that did not like Maduro. I agree with that. I'd say the majority of Venezuelans did not like Maduro. But to have like the United States come in in a military operation and take him, I think you, you probably find some Venezuelans that are like, do not appreciate the way that this happened. But it's, it's less about Maduro being gone. That's where I think, like the argument that I'm making is not that Maduro is a good guy and he should have been allowed to rule Venezuela forever. The argument I'm making is we have now a giant project in front of us that we break it, we bought it, we're kind of responsible for like it or not. And depending on how we manage that in the coming months and years, it could create a lot of blowback, could create a lot like so many unforeseen bad situations for the United States and things that we've, we've should have learned in the past when we do this to countries that this shit happens. The difference now is like Venezuela had, they've got a big military, they spent a lot of money on their military and granted it did not perform well against our like stealth airplanes and shit, but they've got a lot of weapons and they've got a lot of people that are in their military and they don't have a leadership right now. And there's a lot of bad ways that that could go from this point forward. And also big difference with Venezuela, they are very close to the United States. When we did this in Iraq, that's halfway around the world. Good luck Syria, good luck Lebanon, good luck Saudi Arabia. Good luck Iran. Like we're fucking up this country, but at Least they're not our neighbors. We're fucking up this country, and they're very close to us. So there's, like, a big difference there, I think.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Cook]

And none of that for me personally. Like, you're right. Like, I mean, I'm not gonna know whether this is a good or bad move for a while. Like, we'll. We'll never know. Like. Well, I was like, never. But, like, it's gonna take a while to understand all the nuances behind the intelligence that they have. Maybe some nefarious motivations they had. We're not gonna know. My. My argument is I don't want to set the precedent that we can bypass Congress for an act of war. And I guess the language on act of war is a bit. It can get gray, so you'll have people arguing it wasn't an act. Either way, I feel like it's a good thing to have checks and balances in a democracy. So my thing is, I don't care who's at the helm. I want them to go through Congress. I think that's a reasonable request from a citizen.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, I would agree with that. I don't know how the trial is going to shake out with, like, him standing trial in the Southern District of New York for, like, his crimes as a. As the leader of Venezuela. There's a lot of legal gray areas that I think we're getting into.

[Cook]

I mean, yeah, this is out of our pay rate.

[Arian Foster]

And also, do you think that it's possible, like, if we're able to conduct an operation where we land inside their president's fortified bunker and extract them in. In the middle of the night, we might be able to, like, stop the. The boats that are in the Caribbean and be like, hey, pull over. You're under arrest. Okay, you got drugs on here? All right, we're taking you to jail. I think. I think. I think it might be possible. Now, there is a difference in. If you're from, like, looking from a military perspective, target value, a couple guys on a boat, as opposed to the leader of a sovereign country. You're probably not going to spend, you know, however many millions of dollars it cost to. To get this operation underway, you're probably not going to spend that on a boat that you are claiming has coke on it, that probably not the same amount of, like, care being taken, but it is possible to not just, like, blow it up. But I just think. I think I've been pretty consistent about this, too, where it's, like, doing unilateral military operations as impressive as they might be from the planning perspective and as, like, seamlessly as they get carried out. There's. There's a lot of problems that can happen. I mean, the only successful time that I can think of in modern history that we've done this and it's worked out well is Japan. And in Japan, we blew that country up through the firebombing of Tokyo, which, arguably a war crime, to dropping atomic bombs on two cities, arguably war crimes. We spent so much money and so much time rebuilding that country from the ground up.

[Cook]

It's kind of crazy.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, we had people that were like living generals. We had so many troops that just stayed in Japan for the next, what, 10, 15 years rebuilding that entire country, spending a shitload of money to make sure that they didn't turn into our sworn enemies. That's another thing is like, I would like to see that money not spent raising Venezuela from the ground up and instead spent at home on stuff that can benefit the United. Like whose life in the United States is going to improve because we took Maduro out. Is our life going to get better? Are we going to pay like $0.20 less per gallon for gas? I think that's probably the best argument you could make is like, yeah, I'm going to be, yeah, 20 cents less per gallon.

[Big T]

I think the argument would be that plus, like, less drugs coming into the country. There's people, potential future adverse effects negated.

[Arian Foster]

People are going to figure out how to produce drugs for sure. It's not this. No matter what you do in Venezuela or Colombia, like, short of burning the entire country to the ground, destroying every. Every plant that's there, somebody's going to figure out how to make coke and send it to the United States. That's just a fact. It's true.

[Cook]

I don't think somebody is going to figure out how to make coke.

[Arian Foster]

At the end of the day, I don't know how our lives get better in the slightest by the fact that Maduro is gone. And that's another part of the equation that you have to weigh.

[Cook]

Yeah. I don't think me and yours do. I do think that.

[Arian Foster]

There, there may.

[Cook]

Be some relief from Venezuelans there who may have some family members here.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

You know, but again, that goes back to the plan going forward and how much that our or lack of planning will cause chaos. So jury's out.

[Arian Foster]

But also, since when does the United States government give a about Venezuelan immigrants that live in the United States?

[Cook]

Oh, it's got nothing to do with them. Yeah, that's what I'M saying, like I said, There's 60, 60 authoritarian regimes, bro, if we really care, would be on it. But we don't. There's a reason why we're there.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. A lot of it has to do with the oil. A lot of it has to do with. I mean, there are some politicians that have been making a case to invade Venezuela for a long time and everybody's been like, no, no new wars, no new intervention. And I've agreed with that. Like, he just got the peace war, didn't he? Yeah, that might be. I don't know if he's going to go back to back. We'll see.

[Cook]

You can't redact that, can you?

[Arian Foster]

No, that's his, that's his award. You'd have to fly in. You have to fly in Apache helicopters to the White House to get that award back from him.

[Cook]

But speaking of which, is this new? I see a, I seen a stealth plane flying over one of these football games. Is that a thing? Has that always been a thing?

[Big T]

Oh, they had the, the B2 go over the Rose Bowl.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, they do that every year with the third quarter.

[Cook]

Okay. I didn't. That's the first time I've seen that. I was like, that is crazy, bro.

[Arian Foster]

It's usually pre game. They typically do it before kickoff.

[Cook]

But this is that you're like, like you are just a plain guy.

[Big T]

You've seen flyovers, though. I mean, not playing in plenty. No, yeah, that, that's that. They're generally not beat.

[Cook]

I saw the stuff and I was like, that's new. I haven't, I hadn't seen any. I could, you know, I don't watch a lot, a lot of football nowadays, but like, that was new. That's kind of crazy.

[Big T]

That may be a Rose bowl thing because I remember a picture. It's a sick picture. You should try to find. It may have been Wisconsin, Oregon. It's maybe 10 years ago. Someone was in a plane above the flyover and took a picture. It was stealth bombers going over the Rose Bowl. It's the sickest picture ever.

[Cook]

Yeah, no, I hadn't, hadn't seen that.

[Big T]

I'll try to find it and send it to you.

[Arian Foster]

They, they typically do a pregame. There's cloud cover and shit. So they, they decided to do at the start of the third quarter.

[Big T]

Look at that. Oh, it was Oklahoma, Georgia.

[Arian Foster]

That's so awesome.

[Cook]

Those are the coldest looking planes, in my opinion.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, we've got a new one coming out too, the B21.

[Cook]

The B21.

[Arian Foster]

It's like the B2. OK.

[Cook]

I know you want to.

[Arian Foster]

Come on.

[Cook]

I know. You tell us, man.

[Arian Foster]

It looks like later on us, Big dog. It's smoother.

[Big T]

It's.

[Arian Foster]

It's more stealthy. Spent. I, I don't know how many billions of dollars developing this thing. Yeah. So that's Venezuela, I guess. Good luck to the western hemisphere. We'll see what happens.

[Big T]

What are we trying to do with this guy? Just keep him in prison forever?

[Arian Foster]

I don't know. Maybe we are pardon him. We might.

[Big T]

Oh, I did want to go. I did want to go back to. So is it your hypothesis that he surrendered himself?

[Arian Foster]

I don't, I don't know if it's a hypothesis. It's a theory.

[Big T]

Those are synonyms.

[Cook]

No.

[Big T]

Or I guess. I guess it's a hypothesis is a theory that you endorse.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

I think that he was definitely sold out by somebody if it was his vice president, if it was his own wife, or if it was himself. But I think that somebody on the inside was working pretty closely with their people.

[Big T]

So if that's the case, you would assume he's going to. I don't understand.

[Arian Foster]

Flip on himself?

[Big T]

Yeah, well, no, that he would get like a sweet deal. But I don't understand what happens to you if you're the leader of Venezuela. You get arrested and extradited to the United States and then you're, you get released. Like, where do you go? Like, what happens?

[Arian Foster]

I don't know. I don't know. There's a lot of stuff. What about this? If I'm really thinking conspiracy.

[Cook]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

Really thinking conspiracy. Yeah.

[Cook]

Let's do it, man.

[Arian Foster]

They, he negotiates his own surrender. They fly him to New York. He testifies in court that he hacked the voting machines back in 2020 to give Biden the election.

[Cook]

And then they.

[Arian Foster]

Send him off to, like, Monaco to live in a castle under house arrest for the rest of his life.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

That would be. That would be something. I don't think that's what's going to happen, but I do think that somebody, somebody flipped on him. He might have flipped on himself and gave himself up, but it seems like there was, there was some help on the inside.

[Cook]

So.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, that's Venezuela. I hope we don't fuck it up. But I think we're. I think we're running the country right now. Right? That's what, that's what Trump said. We're running the country. I don't know if that means that we're going to send in our own person. He Seems kind of lukewarm on the lady that might take over. We'll see. Good luck to everybody involved.

[Cook]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

Except Maduro. Bad guy.

[Cook]

Totally off topic. I commented under an NFL post yesterday, and I quickly got reminded why I should not talk football with people that don't know football. So, Bobby Wagner.

[Arian Foster]

Yep.

[Cook]

The NFL posted a clip of Bobby Wagner. He was rushing. I don't remember the running back's name. He played for the. It was the Eagles. No, no. Who? They play the green team.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, yeah. The commanders played the Eagles.

[Cook]

Okay. So he was rushing the quarterback. And the clip shows the. The running back kind of like, squatting and then kind of like pancaking Bobby, but. And everybody like, you know what I'm saying? So I just looked at the comments, like, do they think that this was a bad thing? And of course they did. They was like, oh, Bobby need to retire. Oh, he sat him down with the boot. But I'm like, he 100% won that rep. Why did he win this rep? Because he pushed the running back into the quarterback. The quarterback had to reroute, right? And he had to get out of the pocket. And I think they called Bobby for face mask or whatever. But as far as, like, the rep itself, Bobby won that rep. Right. The only reason why he squatted was because the quarterback was there. Like, if the quarterback not there, you getting you on your back. And so when I did that, man, I got all of these responses about just. People had no idea what they're talking about. Like, zero idea what they're talking about. And I got quickly reminded I should not talk football with people that don't know football. And then there was one dude that wanted to take it somewhere else. Like, he was, like, ready to die about this. And I was like, all right, man. That's when I was like, all right, I need to check out, dog. Like, this is nothing. I'm not going to fight nobody over Instagram comment, man. So I was like, yo, out of my instant. I'm on Instagram a lot.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

I got reminded why I don't need it. I know. They need a dabble.

[Big T]

I found the clip. So Wagner pushes Tank Bigsby so far into. Is this Kenny Pickett? The only.

[Arian Foster]

That's Tanner McKee.

[Big T]

Tanner McKee. The only reason Bigsby is, like, able to get up under him and pancake him is because he's getting his ass pushed so far into the quarterback. The quarterback stops him and, like, gives him momentum to go back at Bobby Wagner. He pushes him into the quarterback. Yeah, I'm Trying to find your comment.

[Cook]

And my point. My point was like, no, I deleted it because I want. No, I don't. I don't even want people to have access to me like that anymore. Like, it's just. It's just like I. I realized quick. I was like, why am I sitting here having conversation with people who have never played football before about this play? I don't. I don't know. But, like, if you look at all the comments, all the majority of them, like, oh, he got sat down. And I was just like, no, like, that's not what happened. He won that rep. Like, I guarantee today was the running back name, Bigsby.

[Arian Foster]

Yep.

[Cook]

He's like, yo, you gotta be more physical at the point of contact. He dogged you. I guarantee you he probably got an MA for that.

[Arian Foster]

What's an ma?

[Cook]

Misassignment.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, I think. I think what I learned today from.

[Cook]

This, maybe not an ma, but you lost that rep.

[Arian Foster]

The bond between Unks is stronger than the bond between running backs of a different generation.

[Cook]

Wait, say that again.

[Arian Foster]

You had. You had Bobby Wagner's back because he's a fellow Unk, like you and him, kind of same generation coming up together through the NFL. You said.

[Cook]

You said. You say, I'm. I'm pleading my case. But you don't think he won that rep?

[Arian Foster]

No. It sounds like you're. I think some people might have been disappointed that you sold out a fellow running back. It's like they're. I thought there was a bond, like, good job at least trying on pass protection.

[Cook]

No, he got sat back. He got pushed back, dog. Like, look, it's not even against Bigsby. Like, we all.

[Arian Foster]

Bro.

[Cook]

I remember one time, Paul Pusney Pasoski.

[Big T]

Pusney.

[Cook]

Pusney, bro. I had him a pass pickup one time. He made my legs go dead. He didn't get to the quarterback. Cuz I fell. But when he popped me, my whole body got shocked. Like, he knocked the out of me. And he didn't get to the quarterback. But we in the room, he's like, dog, you got popped. Like, you gotta get lower, son. You gotta. You gotta stop. Kind of initiate contact. I was like, yeah, you're right. We all take Ls, you know what I'm saying? What Marshall say, The great philosopher Marshawn Lynch. Everybody gonna get got, but I'm gonna get mine more than I get. God, though, that's. That's great wisdom from. From a guy.

[Arian Foster]

Yep.

[Big T]

But if the quarterback wasn't there, Tank Bigsby would have been on his ass.

[Cook]

100.

[Arian Foster]

And I. I agree with you, Arian. I think, obviously, if you're going to talk about something like pass protection from a running back perspective, I will. I will listen to that.

[Cook]

Thanks, man.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

If you're gonna talk about mullets, I will listen to that.

[Arian Foster]

Thanks, man.

[Big T]

When you brought up unk, have you seen the new thing these kids are trying to pull now that I. I guess these are mostly younger zoomers and such are now. I think it's. I think this is a meta prank. Okay. Meta as in the original form of the word, not the. The Facebook company. They're trying to say that unk means uncool.

[Cook]

No, not uncle. These kids.

[Arian Foster]

No.

[Cook]

No.

[Big T]

And so I think it's like, he didn't invent on. So I think it's a thing to try to actually make people. They're calling unk seem even more. Yeah. Out of it. By saying you don't even know what unk means. You think it means uncle. It means uncool.

[Cook]

This is. Does that. How does that make you feel? Big. You see that live. And how does that make you feel? Like.

[Big T]

I mean, I just think it's dumb. I don't know that it makes me.

[Cook]

Well, I mean. Yeah. I don't know. Actually. You don't wake up in the morning, but, like, when you see. You're like, get the out of here. Yeah, that's how we feel. We're woke. That's right there. But to even higher D. That's exactly what happened. A whole bunch of just started saying, that's woke. Like, what. That's not what that means. But now it's.

[Big T]

If you and I could come up with a new word for woke that I felt could be used throughout society, I would love to do that.

[Cook]

You didn't hear anything. You made up what it meant. It used to mean something totally different.

[Big T]

I understand. So let's.

[Cook]

Woke means uncle. Don't mean uncool. Woke means aware.

[Arian Foster]

I think that the Zoomers out there that are listening, you guys are creative. You can do better than that. Come up with your own shit. You don't have to try to rewrite history, use your own language. Every generation does it.

[Cook]

There's only one way to do this. You gotta start hitting motherfuckers, bro. You start slapping them. Somebody say unk means uncool. Wow. Shut up. Yeah, that's how.

[Arian Foster]

That's what's pro.

[Cook]

That's what. You know what? Big T, it's too woke now. There were consequences for our actions. When we was younger, we. You Couldn't just say what you want to say. So I'm gonna pop you now. You can say it because nobody.

[Big T]

Because you had to say it to somebody's face.

[Cook]

I'm kind of for violence. I ain't gonna lie, dog.

[Arian Foster]

Just moderate violence.

[Cook]

Yes, moderate. I don't want nobody dead. I just want. I fight, you know, legal fights. Sanction legal fights. I want nobody dead. I just want everybody to understand that you say can happen to you. You know what I mean?

[Arian Foster]

Yep.

[Cook]

That's what's going on on my side of Twitter right now. He was on a podcast, your boy, Big D. Glasses. Glasses Malone.

[Big T]

Oh, yeah.

[Cook]

He was the Chris I never get. He said, what do Crips do on Tuesday?

[Big T]

I forgot about that too.

[Cook]

All time. Funny thing. So Aiden Ross. You know who Aiden Ross is? Yep, Aiden Ross. And so Dochi is a really dope rapper. I think she's amazing. She made that song anxiety. Like her to love it. She's really talented, I think.

[Big T]

Anyway, those are your two options, huh? Like it or love it.

[Jeff Lowe]

Be.

[Cook]

Be neutral, you know, anywhere along that spectrum. But anyway, so. So Aiden Ross is a super. Like a Drake stand. Like, he loves Drake. Drake been on his stream like, right? So anything tde, which is top dog entertainment that comes from Kendrick's camp. Aiden Ross talk shit about. Which is fine, you like a streamer, whatever. But the way in which Aiden Ross is talking about Dolce, he's like, yo, she's such a bitch. She's a dirty bitch. Like that type shit, right? Which is like, I had nothing to do with her music, right? Stankhole, we call it Stank ho. And so Glasses is like, you're not going to keep doing that. Like, because you know he from out there, that's his people or whatever. And he said. And he. He's like, yo, you keep doing it, we're gonna press you, period. Period. You keep doing that, we're gonna press you. And so Aiden. And it's starting to get in like LA politics. Aiden called some gang member that he know and Glasses, like, I'm gonna. Who you call. He's like. He said he put this on. I don't know where he from. Some crap. He's like, I put it on that. I'm gonna press you if you don't keep talking about that black sister like that. It's interesting. That's been fun to watch because I don't like Aiden Ross. Like, I can't stand that motherfucker though. I blocked him. I don't like none of his shit. Popping up on my shit. He's just stupid, is he?

[Arian Foster]

He's trying to get, like, rival gang members to be his own personal security.

[Cook]

Not that. So he. So he. There's A dude named Whack100 and I don't understand they relationship that much, but Wack100 is a known street cat out there who, like, is involved in entertainment, right? And so, like, what it looks like to me, I can't verify. But what it looks like to me is ADA Ross probably paying for protection, the way he moves sometimes. Or at least he giving Whack some kind of kickback to be like, hey, make sure nobody fuck with me. That's what it looks like. Because he called him on the stream. My kids sent me all this shit. So he called him, and Whack was like, oh, no, I know Glasses. Like, you know what I'm saying? I'll call him. And then Glasses came back, and I know, like, Glasses, that's the homie. So I hit him up. I was like, what's happening with this shit? So he told me the whole rundown, and he's like, I don't give a fuck who you call. You can call anybody. Big U's another dude out there who. He's like, you can call Big U. You call Whack. I don't care who you call. You disrespect again, we gonna press you is what it is.

[Arian Foster]

I have no choice but to be on team glasses here 100%. I like glasses.

[Cook]

I'm with Glasses Dog. Like, and it's very simple. He's like, he wasn't saying, you can't criticize her music. He's like, that's what you're supposed to do. Talk about the music, say it's bad.

[Arian Foster]

That's what's up.

[Cook]

He's like, but keep calling a. Keep calling out a name. We're gonna press you. I mean, it's a little. It's a little music industry gossip type boss, but I'm with him. I'm with Glass.

[Big T]

Does anyone other than small children like these streamers? Because the only things I ever see in media are them being lambasted for whatever their most recent stunt is.

[Cook]

Yeah, there's one dude. I don't watch him, but, like, anytime he pops up on my feed, I'm like, that's cool. I show speed, speed, speed.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Like, I don't think he does anything from my.

[Big T]

Yeah, I don't think people hate him.

[Cook]

Yeah, that. That's a streamer. To me, it was like, if a kid Watched him and they were like, hey, watch this. And he's like doing. He like travels and like tries different foods and shit like that. To me, that's cool. That's like, do you remember this show? It was a hottie Jones does the world or something like that. So he used to like, go dehoney Jones was the linebacker. He played for the Bengals. And he used to go to like, different countries, try different foods, try different cultural shit. That's dope to me. That's what ishowspeed kind of does to me. I think he just raced a cheetah or some shit, which of course you got dusted. But like, that's dope. He's doing cool, creative, wild. That's dope to me. But like, like you said, it's like the gossip blogosphere type shit. That's the type of shit I think is a disease. That's a cancer to us. And I think all of them should get slapped. Yeah, I'm kind of. It's very hypocritical from my worldview that I feel like that. But the duality of man, sometimes you gotta slap dog.

[Arian Foster]

I also think that, like, there's so much competition in that world, and it's competition between a bunch of people who are all supreme narcissists and attention whores, that there's never going to be any, like, true collaboration that comes from most of these people. Because at the end of the day, every other person out there doing the same thing is. Is their competition. And like, in the. In terms of music throughout, like, modern history, in the United States, you get bands that come up together, that are friends, that tour, create together, they develop scenes together. There's healthy competition sometimes. But at the end of the day, like, yeah, they're working on each other's sides. In the streaming economy, it's like every man for himself. I got to think of the next crazy to do. So inevitably, in the life of any streamer, they're going to have to apologize for some because they just keep pushing things and pushing things and doing more and more outrageous things until they break some law, hurt somebody, put somebody in danger, or really step on a big rake and hit themselves in the face. Then they have to like, okay, I'm sorry for anyone who was offended by it. I didn't mean to be offensive. And then they go back and then like, shit, okay, I got to keep pressing and pressing, pressing, and then they do it again. It's like a life cycle of a streamer.

[Cook]

Facts. There's a dude I don't know who it was. Like, I said it was on my. For you jump. I get. I guess he's a known streamer. There were, like, people jumping on his car and, like, one of the kids was on his car and, like, they were recording it, so they were, like, trolling him and really, I mean, it's a little bit harassy. He stepped on a gas, ran him over and killed him.

[Arian Foster]

Whoa.

[Big T]

Who is this?

[Cook]

I don't know. I just saw it. I was like, that's crazy. And kept scrolling.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Desensitized. We are as a people, though.

[Big T]

Oh, I did see this. This guy is. He's tr. Have you heard of this looks maxing thing?

[Arian Foster]

Yes.

[Big T]

It's like a trend with kids where I think it's guys and girls, but it's a lot of guys who are, like, getting surgery to make their jawline, like, really square.

[Cook]

That was a meme that's just actually happening.

[Big T]

Yes. No, people are legit doing like that. And this cut. This kid is one of those guys.

[Cook]

I would slap my kid.

[Big T]

Do we think this is real?

[Cook]

I don't know. I just seen it. Maybe it's not. I could have got.

[Big T]

Got it says he was banned from Kick, which is like, the streamer website.

[Cook]

That's crazy.

[Big T]

But, yeah, his whole thing is, like, looks maxing and doing a bunch of stuff to make yourself look like a meme, I guess.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, look.

[Cook]

Maxing.

[Big T]

Yeah, maxing out your looks.

[Cook]

Okay, I see how they got there.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, I hope. Yeah, I, I. The whole streaming thing is like, I understand why some of the clips are interesting to watch. It seems, it seems like a very unhealthy relationship with their own lives and with the Internet that they have.

[Cook]

You know that meme where there's that little character holding a stick and he has the thing on a leash and it says, like, do something. Yeah, that's what it is. You want when you watch streamers, you're like, do something. Yeah. Just want them to do something. I guess that's all entertainment, really, huh? Yeah, something.

[Arian Foster]

But, I mean, we're not. We're not like, oh, yeah, man, tell.

[Cook]

Them how we're better.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, we're not on all the time.

[Cook]

We create a. Create a little scarcity.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, I. Yeah, if you're just like, constantly. Anyways, this is very much old man yelling at Cloud that I'm doing. I don't understand the streamers slap. I don't get them. They're bad.

[Maddie]

If it helps that we don't get.

[Arian Foster]

It either, and we're younger yeah, that does help. Thank you.

[Maddie]

I think they're weird.

[Big T]

I can't tell if this tweet is, like, supposed to be sarcastic or real. I think it might be real. This guy said the tragedy of clavicular, which is the guy who ran over the guy, is that his entire Persona is a fraud. He isn't a looks maxer, he's a face maxer with subhuman narrow shoulders and inward tilted, vulgar knees. It's physically impossible for him to overcome his inferior genetics without his whole body reconstructive surgery.

[Arian Foster]

They're just. They're giving themselves body dysmorphia. That's all. That is super unhealthy.

[Cook]

But, yo, this kind of goes in line. So Friday, the Internet goes out, and we don't know what's going on. I reset the modem, found out the little dog I have, he chewed through the. The. The. What is that called, Ethernet? No, it's not, E. It's. It's fiber wire. Oh, so it chewed through the fiber wire, and it's their fault because they didn't bury the wire. But still, like, a wire should be cool in your backyard, but no, little Django chew through that. So I. I got my kids. We didn't have Internet for, like, three days. And having children without Internet for three days, it was an interesting experience, man. The first half a day or so was actually kind of like, a little bit of withdrawal they were having, like, yo, we got to do something. And so we ended up doing like. I was like, yo, let's get board games. Let's get board games. Let's play some board games. Go take walks. Let's go do regular shit. And like I said, we ended up playing board games. We took some walks, we went swimming. It was really dope. It had been a while since I had not had Internet, and it was dope to experience that with jits, man. It was dope.

[Arian Foster]

Got a little cleanse. How's the dog doing?

[Cook]

He's amazing. I sent a picture in a group to y' all this weekend. It's to the point where I really like him. Don't love him yet, but I really like him. Right? He's. It's trending towards that, though.

[Big T]

He's like, say that for you. That's. You loving him.

[Cook]

That's a lot. No, I don't love him because there's. Sometimes I'd be wanting to pop him.

[Big T]

You can. You can want to pop somebody that.

[Cook]

You love to say, you could tell. Now he knows that I'm. I'm the big dog, right? Because like everybody else, he still kind of with. He did not feel. Don't with me because I sat him down a couple times, right? I don't beat my dog, everybody, but I make sure he know he can't beat me.

[Arian Foster]

Yep. That's smart.

[Cook]

So. So like. So like now it's like he'll. I guess, you know, you don't have kids, but like when your kids doing, like reaching for something that he ain't supposed to reach it, and you go, ah, hey. And they. They kind of like jumping like, okay, that's. We're getting there. We're getting there. We're getting there. Getting to the point where it's like if he's tired, he'll come and he'll, you know, do a little circle dance and then he'll nestle right by me. That's cool. And he'll.

[Big T]

Three spins.

[Cook]

Yeah. He tries to kiss me. I said, ah, that's wrong complexion. Not doing that.

[Arian Foster]

Making him work for it.

[Cook]

No, I'm not. He's not. You're never gonna kiss me in the lips. I see you lick your balls and your booty and you sniffing and. And no, you're never gonna kiss me. No. Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

I'm very glad that you got a dog. And I'm very glad that. That you like him.

[Cook]

I do like him. And you can tell he's going to be a good dog, but he's fighting through this velociraptor stage where he has to destroy everything in his path. But he's doing a good job, man.

[Arian Foster]

It's gonna be a nice moment once you reach a point where you can walk out of a room and leave the dog in that room and then walk back in knowing that nothing's going to be destroyed. But it might take a while to get there. Yes.

[Cook]

It's like, it's. We're gonna have to cut his balls off and get him trained, but I think we won't get there. He.

[Arian Foster]

Does he have sharp little puppy teeth?

[Cook]

He does.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

He does it so he doesn't bite me anymore? Yeah, he still does. Everybody else, not as much, but he. He'll, like, he'll try you, right? And then.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

Puts the teeth on you. Doesn't like, take a full bite?

[Cook]

Yeah. No, he's not trying to eat you. No, no, no.

[Arian Foster]

It's like. Like we use our hands. That's how they use their mouths.

[Cook]

Yeah. So like, the trainer told us to just redirect him. So, like give him a chew to it when he's when he's real biting. You just put that in front of him and he'll redirect to realize it's not okay to bite human skin.

[Arian Foster]

He's going to start losing teeth soon too.

[Cook]

They, they do that?

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, they lose. You're going to find puppy teeth around your house.

[Cook]

Damn.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, they, they lose those puppy teeth and the big ones come in.

[Cook]

I'm gonna put it in a locket, in a necklace around.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, I'm very, I'm very happy for you, Aryan. We'll get back to nano dosing in a second. It's brought to you by Kraken, the official crypto partner of barstool sports. It's 2026. You're researching quantum consciousness and reverse time theory, but you're still using a sketchy crypto app. Make that make sense. Kraken is the real deal. It's trusted by over 13 million users. It's secure. It doesn't fold when things get weird. Whether you're buying your first satoshi or trading like a psyop day trader, Kraken has the tools. What you get 350 plus cryptocurrencies to trade. You can do recurring buys. You can get rewards for holding assets depending on your geo. And you get up to 200 bucks when you refer your friends. Terms and conditions apply. Right now Kraken has given stoolies 25 bucks in free Bitcoin. Go to kraken.com barstool use code BARSTOOL25 and boom, you get 25 bucks in Bitcoin. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. It's offered to US customers, excluding New York and Maine through Payword Interactive Incorporated. Over the break, I finally got around to doing it. I watched it. The Diddy doc. Okay, so all the episodes of it, the. The opinions expressed by me right now are my opinions. He killed Biggie.

[Big T]

Wow.

[Cook]

See, I don't think so.

[Arian Foster]

I think he set that up.

[Cook]

Yeah, I don't think so.

[Arian Foster]

And I think that afterwards he was doing the big tour. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm gonna make a video. I'm gonna make my career about missing Biggie Smalls. I think that's, that's all Diddy being a mastermind. Oh, I do.

[Cook]

This is what I don't get about if he killed Biggie. Biggie was your biggest cash cow. He was your superstar. And if your, if your goal is to cash in, why would you kill the main horse?

[Arian Foster]

Because Biggie was getting too much of the publicity and Diddy in his mind is always the biggest star. He's the top dog. Biggie's just a vehicle that he's using to get money. Also, Biggie was renegotiated his contract and Diddy was like, I don't want to, I don't want to do anything differently. You work for me, I'm the big dog.

[Cook]

I, I don't know. I know this is what I know about 50 Cent. There's a lot of claims in that. And the part that I saw, I only watched the one where he allegedly got Tupac set up. Right. Which I know of information that I've known for because Tupac was my favorite artist of all time. Right. That it's conflicting with what the documentary is kind of spin spinning the narrative. Right. And so I, when I look at like, like that, like diddy, I mean 50 trying to bury Diddy. Yeah. Whatever beef they got, he's trying to bury him. And so, and there's been a lot of people that came out that were there like especially like so for the, the Tupac shooting when Tupac was in New York. That I don't think that had anything to do with, with Diddy. But 50 spin the narrative like it did. Tupac believed it did. But there are, there are cooperating sources that don't agree. And like I said, I don't know exactly. But I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna put my, my opinion in a jar that I just can't verify. You know what I mean? There's just no way for me to know. But I find it hard to believe he would kill Biggie. That don't make no sense to me. You could be a star with Biggie. You was a star with Biggie.

[Arian Foster]

I think Biggie was getting too big and Diddy didn't want to redo his contract.

[Cook]

I do think Diddy dirty as shit though.

[Jeff Lowe]

Don't get me wrong.

[Cook]

He's a dirty ass dude.

[Arian Foster]

It's also. It was weird seeing the people that were in the documentary that Diddy did bad stuff to. Still really struggling to say Diddy's a bad guy.

[Cook]

That's probably his reach is that big.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Is this true? I don't know if this is true, but dirt. When the doc dropped like two, three days later, 50 put flowers that came from Diddy on his Instagram.

[Arian Foster]

Oh, I don't know about that.

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah.

[Cook]

And he was basically saying like that he was basically the funeral flowers. Like there was a, it was a funeral arrangement. And 50 was like, yo, I'm a 90s like you. He said, you better. You gotta come see about me. So basically Diddy was threatening.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, I didn't, I didn't.

[Cook]

I didn't get that corroborated, but that's what 50 was saying. But again, knowing 50, I don't. 50 was one of the dudes who, like, you know how a lot of rappers talk about being from the streets. You. You won't find a soul that will say, 50 is not, like, about what he was rapping about. He really was. That was his life. Right. So he's with that. But he's also an entertainer to the utmost. So, like, that. The flower shit could have been promotion. He's good at promoting. Like, so, like, I. I don't. I don't know. That's why I take what 50 says was grain of salt, because he's. He's always constantly trying to promote shit.

[Arian Foster]

He's also hilarious.

[Cook]

He's comedy, bro.

[Arian Foster]

50 Cent is one of the funniest dudes in the world.

[Cook]

He's hilarious. I like Riddy a lot, but, like, sometimes I don't like what he does. Like, yeah, he's a menace, man. You know, I wish he would use that power for good.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Uber capitalist, though.

[Arian Foster]

So much shit in that Diddy doc. That's just so weird. So weird about how he operated. Like, when he was making. What else?

[Cook]

I only saw one.

[Arian Foster]

So he's making the album. Was it called Love? Yeah, the recent one that he did, he had a producer that. That lived with him that didn't really have anything going on for himself in terms of his. His professional life. He was like a struggling musician. He competed against, like 50 other would be producers that, like, basically lived in Diddy's house in California to try to get the nod from Diddy to be like, yeah, you're going to produce my next album. And this one dude ended up being the guy that was chosen. Then he lived with Diddy in Miami while they made the album for like, I think about a year, eight months to a year. And Diddy just kept drugging him, like, every night. And he'd wake up in the morning, like, sore. Like, he got possibly sexually assaulted and never got paid from Diddy for doing all this work. Also, when he was living in Diddy's mansion in la, he said that there was a shooting that happened in the basement while he was working. And Diddy and his son went into the bathroom. Gunshots went off. There was a dude that was shot. The cops came, they pulled the guy out to the street. Never heard anything. About the guy anymore. And Diddy was never, like, investigated for it. The relationship between Diddy and his son is also very, very strange.

[Cook]

Hold on. I'm not past the fact that he drugged the dude every night and woke up his booty was sore. Is that what you're saying?

[Arian Foster]

That's what he implied in the documentary. Yeah.

[Cook]

Not laughing at that, but I'm laughing at. You drug a dude and rape him every night. Like, what is wrong with you, bro? Like, weirdo.

[Arian Foster]

I. It wasn't clear, like, if Diddy was the one that was doing everything personally or if it was like, oh, so.

[Cook]

He doesn't know who we're gonna take.

[Arian Foster]

Drugs, and then there's gonna be a big party or a small part. Maybe a small party. But they were, like, thick as thieves. They were, like, living together, working out together, making music together every day for, like, nine months.

[Cook]

Oh, man, that's a weird. That's a weird life. I was just never in that life, man.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, I. I. Diddy and his son, though, that's a. It's a strange relationship. His son's, like, always around. Always.

[Cook]

Yeah, give me more. I don't know. I don't know enough about.

[Arian Foster]

He's, like, very privy to the details of. Of Diddy's life and seemed like a very, very strange relationship. I don't want to say anything beyond that because it's all, like, speculating, but.

[Big T]

Right.

[Cook]

Right.

[Arian Foster]

His son has definitely been present for a lot of the weird that Diddy's been accused of doing to other people. Whether that's giving them drugs, making them pass out sex stuff. Like, his son has been around for that.

[Cook]

Damn. The. The most sinister is Diddy was filming a documentary for himself before he went in, and somehow 50 got the footage for this.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

What the. That is crazy.

[Arian Foster]

They got clips of, like, Diddy talking to his lawyer. Like, stuff that's like, lawyer client confidentiality. And 50's got the full footage of it.

[Cook]

And then I seen this one part where he's, like, in the mirror talking to his lawyer. He got his shirt off, and he's, like, staring at himself, talking to issues, man. Like, mad issues. That is a direct result of. You ain't never had nobody around you tell you no. You had a bunch of yes men around you. Like, it's just extreme narcissism and no kind of self awareness.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. And they dive into some of the. The past they had at Bad Boy, like, with. Who's a. Russell Simmons and then some of the people that he. He founded Bad Boy with. Some of whom are, like, homeless right now because Diddy took their money from him and, like, forced them. Allegedly took a bat into an office and made this dude sign over 25 of bad boy Entertainment.

[Cook]

Damn.

[Arian Foster]

After they started together, there's. Yeah, there's just a lot of. To get it. There's a reason why there's so many episodes of the thing because he goes through, like, you can see how he evolves from, like, the ground up, getting started in the business to becoming that narcissist with power to just, like, taking advantage of everybody. The kitty. The Kid Cudi part is weird, too, about how he rolled over to Kid Cudi's house, like, in the middle of the night because he thought Cassie was there and he brought a gun and he was going to kill Kid Cudi. And then that's. That's how he got the. His assistant. What's her name? Capricorn, his personal assistant that's, like, been around him for the last 15, 20 years. She finally turned on him because he, like, kidnapped her and made her go with him to Kid Cudi's house in the middle of the night to kill Kid Cudi. And then finally she was like, you kidnapped me. And then they interviewed her, and she was still like, kind of not all the way out on Diddy still. She. She still got something in the back of her head that's like, I. I still love the guy. What can I say? But that was. I couldn't.

[Cook]

You can't kidnap.

[Arian Foster]

You kidnapped me. I gotta draw a line.

[Cook]

Yo, man. Yeah, this is. That's. Yeah, that's an entirely different world, man. I'm glad I ain't in that. Holy.

[Arian Foster]

Yo, what else we got, Big T?

[Big T]

We have Tim Walls dropping out after the fraud scandal.

[Arian Foster]

Tim Walls is dropped. He's no longer running for a third term for governor.

[Big T]

Correct.

[Arian Foster]

In Minnesota. Yeah. That. That video came out. I want to say the.

[Big T]

Maybe right before Christmas.

[Arian Foster]

Right before Christmas or right around Christmas. Maybe the day after Christmas.

[Big T]

It was 26th. Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, day after Christmas. So the Nick Shirley video came out and immediately went everywhere. Minnesota's been dealing with a lot of fraud in some of their welfare administration for, like. I think they've been investigating it for the last, like, two years. Something like 80 people have gone to jail for it. Was the feeding or future. What was the name of the organization that they. They took down?

[Big T]

I'm not sure.

[Arian Foster]

So, yeah, they've been. They've been investigating it for a while, and then this guy, Nick Shirley, made a video where he went up to a handful of daycares in Minnesota and learning centers and. And learning. One leering center.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

And stood outside asking to see if there were kids that were in the. The daycares. And it went super mega viral, like, instantaneously.

[Big T]

This tweet, now, the way Twitter does views now, is fugazi. And. But this. Not this many people have watched the full video. But do you know how many views the tweet has? Oh, but probably like 20 million, 138 million.

[Arian Foster]

Shit. Yeah. A lot.

[Big T]

242,000 retweets. 671,000 likes.

[Arian Foster]

All right, so I did. I watched the entire video.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

Was it 41 minutes long?

[Big T]

Almost exactly, yeah.

[Arian Foster]

Okay, here's my takeaways from the video. You tell me where you agree, where you might disagree. Minnesota has a fraud problem.

[Big T]

Strong agree.

[Arian Foster]

They've been dealing with it. Because I also did some research after the fact. They've been dealing with the fraud problem for a while now.

[Big T]

Minnesota or the federal government?

[Arian Foster]

Minnesota. They've been investigating. Like, there's a reason why, like, 80 people have gone to prison.

[Big T]

I think that was a federal investigation, whatever it is.

[Arian Foster]

Like, there's.

[Big T]

I think the federal government has been looking into it. I don't know that I agree that Minnesota has.

[Arian Foster]

I think Minnesota has. I'd have to do more research and see, like, how involved the state of Minnesota was. They have a fraud problem there. Watching this video, I was like, who is this guy that's doing the reporting? He's not doing a very good job.

[Big T]

In what sense?

[Arian Foster]

In the sense that he was rolling up to a daycare, and then, like, he had a very thin story about why he wanted to get inside. And most daycares would be like, no, you're not coming in. And a daycare that I dropped my kids off at, I would want them to not let five guys in that didn't have kids.

[Big T]

There were no kids there. That was the whole point, though.

[Arian Foster]

But then I think you and I.

[Big T]

Agree this should not be his job. Somebody else should have done this. That's like a real journalist.

[Arian Foster]

So there have been investigations that other journalists have done into this. They've shown some places that are not what they purport themselves to be. Afterwards, they went back and they. Some journalists talked to the. The owners of those daycares, and they did have kids there at the time. They just didn't want to let this guy in, which I agree with from a daycare perspective. Like, don't let some kid in because he's got, like, a camera with him.

[Cook]

Did he find anything? I haven't watched his video and I haven't seen. But I've seen the back and forth over. He's lying, they're lying, whatever. But mean, I don't know. Like, has he. Did he actually find fraud?

[Arian Foster]

No, he didn't find any. So the fraud has been under investigation in Minnesota for a long time already. There have been investigations that are ongoing there. And so he took that information. He's like, I'm going to make a video with it with this guy, concerned citizen, who I believe is a lobbyist in Minnesota that gave him some of the information about which ones he should stop by and go to. Now, if. If there are some that don't have kids there ever that are getting money, that's welfare money, those people should be in prison 100%. They should be locked up. But I think most people watching this video would be like, this is very flimsy journalism that he's doing.

[Big T]

Well, yeah, I wouldn't even necessarily call it journalism, but I think it speaks to something that, like, he's the first.

[Arian Foster]

Guy to do it, but he's not. There been. There have been investigative reports done by lots of journalists in Minnesota.

[Big T]

I guess I would ask. So we know for a fact that we've been told there's at least $9 billion in welfare fraud in Minnesota.

[Arian Foster]

We don't know that for a fact. The 9 billion figure is not known for a fact at all.

[Big T]

What did he ask?

[Cook]

What did he actually.

[Arian Foster]

No, the 9 billion figure came. The Department of Justice just said it like three, four weeks ago. Oh, but it's not. Okay, no, but it's not tied back to anything. Not tied back to any of the legal proceedings that have gone on. Like, there are lots of legal proceedings that have happened in Minnesota where they've investigated the fraud and, okay, they put people on trial.

[Big T]

Federal prosecutors allege there is at least $9 billion in fraud in Minnesota.

[Arian Foster]

But they don't. That's not even for, like.

[Big T]

Well, what I just said. What I just said is a fact.

[Arian Foster]

I don't know that it's a prosecutor that said it or if it's simply.

[Cook]

Where did they press release who said it and where did they say it?

[Big T]

The federal government is suing Minnesota or prosecuting Minnesota for this here. This is from.

[Cook]

I genuinely don't know. I'm trying.

[Big T]

This is from CBS News. As national attention focuses on the growing fraud scandal in Minnesota, which federal prosecutors estimate could top $9 billion, the state's Democratic governor, Tim Wallace, has announced he is dropping his reelection campaign. So the federal government says it's $9 billion. That's not disputable. You can dispute if you think that's true or not. I guess, but it is not disputable that that is what they allege.

[Arian Foster]

It's. It's not disputable in terms of the 92 charges that they filed. That does not add up to anything close to $9 billion.

[Big T]

Okay. I'm just telling you what they. Again, you can think that's not true if you want. Yeah, I'm just telling you what they said. But you.

[Arian Foster]

Feeding our future was the name of the.

[Big T]

You did start this off by saying you seem to agree that there is. There has been some wide scale fraud in the state of Minnesota. Correct?

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. Yeah, I would not dispute that at all.

[Big T]

Okay. But then you find it implausible that that extends to this daycare operation or no.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, because $9 billion out of this daycare operation. There's a couple reasons why.

[Big T]

Well, nobody said the daycare accounts for $9 billion.

[Arian Foster]

What are you talking about? Just like fraud in general in Minnesota?

[Big T]

Well, there was the huge Medicare fraud.

[Cook]

Yep.

[Big T]

That's most of it.

[Arian Foster]

Okay.

[Big T]

And then. And I'm saying you seem to say that that could not extend to this daycare thing.

[Arian Foster]

No, I'm saying that I don't think that daycare would add up to $9 billion with front.

[Big T]

Nobody thinks that.

[Arian Foster]

Okay.

[Big T]

The overwhelming majority of it was the Medicare fraud that we already know about.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. So I. We'll see. Once they release, like when there's anybody that's charged and details that come out in court for the $9 billion, we'll see about that. But with this program in particular, like the daycare programs, I think that there's. There's a few reasons to be skeptical. One is the record keeping that they have to keep in daycares, especially if you're getting federal money for anything like the daycares have to keep track of all the kids that are coming in. They have to keep track of the parents income to qualify for those daycares. I think that based on this video, it's hard to say like that's what he had. There was evidence of massive fraud. I think that there's prob. There were probably like three daycares that he went to where you're like, that seems like a very light day for that daycare. If they're licensed for up to like 40 kids and they don't. There doesn't appear to be any cars in the parking lot. But like the way daycares work, people drop their kids off, they leave. So it's not like if the place is filled with kids, they've got all their cars there all day. There's a lot of stuff that was not seen in the video that was very heavily implied that I think most people that watched it would be, like, not necessarily evidence of any fraud, just like an interesting viral video that went on that could lead itself to a conspiracy.

[Big T]

So. Okay, so. But you're not aware of the Medicaid stuff.

[Arian Foster]

No, I am aware of the Medicare. I'm aware of.

[Big T]

Well, that's where the 9 billion figure comes from. Minnesota, not the daycare thing.

[Arian Foster]

Okay.

[Big T]

A top prosecutor suggested on Thursday, this is from December 18th, that the total amount of fraud in Minnesota could be 9 billion or more. According to First Assistant U.S. attorney Joe Thompson, 14 Medicaid services under audit and. Under audit and deemed, quote, high risk for fraud have cost the state $18 billion since 2018.

[Arian Foster]

Mm.

[Big T]

Thompson said a substantial amount of money built across those programs is fraudulent, but the exact amount is still under investigation. So that's where that $9 billion figure comes from.

[Arian Foster]

Right.

[Big T]

Is the Medicaid fraud. This daycare thing is separate.

[Cook]

Right.

[Big T]

But you seem to think that the 9 billion was from the daycare.

[Arian Foster]

No, we were having a conversation about daycare. Okay, and then you said $9 billion. There's. They.

[Big T]

Because you. You seem to agree that there is a fraud problem in Minnesota. Yes, there has been, and there is. The alleged $9 billion from Medicaid fraud.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. So DHS said that they had not seen data showing that the fraud reached multiple billions. What they've seen is tens of millions in fraud at this point. That was John Connolly. He's the Deputy Commissioner of Department of Human Services and the Medicaid director. We don't have evidence in hand to suggest that we have 9 billion in fraud in these benefits over the last seven years. If there is evidence, we need to see that so we can stop paying it. That's a very alarming number. So there is dispute within the United States federal government right now.

[Big T]

Sure of that.

[Arian Foster]

And it sounds like John Connolly is saying, like, that is a shocking amount that I have not seen any evidence of whatsoever. So that's why I'm saying, like, let's wait and see what. What is alleged in court.

[Big T]

So what. What did you think of the daycare video? You think those places are like, well run and what.

[Arian Foster]

No, there's a. There's a couple questions that I had about them, but, like, I think if you're watching that video and you should not believe everything that you see in a video that somebody puts out.

[Big T]

Sure.

[Arian Foster]

There's a lot of questions. One, what time of day did he go to the daycares? The daycares have different hours of operation for each one. Some of them are closed down in the middle of December around the holidays for certain days. If you have kids in daycare, you know that. Two, how many kids do they usually get? Three, how many kids are they not only, like, licensed for in terms of capacity of. Because there's a difference between capacity of the daycare and also how many kids that they say that they have coming in on a daily basis, which you have to have paperwork for. So you want to see the difference in that, then you want to see, okay, all the inspections that the Minnesota government has already done on these daycares. You can look those up online and you can see. Yeah, sure. There's a lot of examples of daycares in general that have violations.

[Big T]

I guess.

[Arian Foster]

Well, that's very common in the daycare industry. It's like when somebody comes in for an unannounced visit, which they have paper trails of evidence for in Minnesota is like the government visits these places, surprise visit, see what's going on. Is it safe? Are they up to code on everything? Because when you're looking after people's kids, you have, like, a very. It's a very high barrier. Like, there's a lot of rules and regulations that you have to follow if you're getting federal money to take care of other people's kids.

[Cook]

So they haven't. So they haven't proved anything yet.

[Arian Foster]

So.

[Big T]

Not in the daycare.

[Cook]

No, no. And none of this. They, they, they, they, they have what they call in their audits like, like patterns. There's patterns of extrapolated patterns, things that have been sampled, cases. So not a complete audit has been done. So this is why there's been no direct evidence linking this. This is just what, like, I'm looking for the evidence. This is why, like, the, the viral video, to me is. Is kind of funny, because he doesn't prove anything. Right? There's nothing he actually proves, which to me is nefarious for other reasons. But I'm gonna. If there's fraud, get him up out of here. Right. But there has been no, like, direct evidence. There's just been like, okay, this is. This is odd. This is. This is. So I guess they're building the case.

[Big T]

Yeah, I think they said it was.

[Cook]

This is why I think that's why I think it's bullshit. Not because they're investigating fraud. If there's fraud, like I said, there's fraud. Get them up out of here. But it's interesting that like we're just like, so get the fraud. Like, Trump has pardoned people that have been convicted of fraud. Trump has been convicted of fraud. Like, I just find it, I guess. What's the word I'm looking for? Not in good faith. Right. Because they're directing it towards an immigrant group in Minnesota and that's what it seems. More life. And I know that has nothing to do with them being Somalia. It's only because there's fraud. Hey, there's fraud everywhere. There's fraud all the time. Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

I think if you're stealing welfare money, you are the lowest of the low and you should, you should be sent to prison.

[Cook]

Agree. I don't know, but agree. Fraud is bad. Get him out of here.

[Arian Foster]

If this guy, if this guy was trying to do journalism, he would have gone a couple extra steps instead of just like showing up on a day unannounced and be like my son, little Timmy or little Johnny or whatever he said.

[Big T]

Well, that's why I'm saying I would like some journalists to do an in depth thing on.

[Arian Foster]

But he, he presented himself as a journalist.

[Big T]

I think you can call yourself whatever you want. I think you and I agree this guy is not a journalist in the traditional sense of the word. I think he did something that people who are, should be doing.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

And they, they have like there's, it.

[Big T]

Doesn'T seem like anyone has gone in depth on this to the scale that you're doing.

[Arian Foster]

You're doing the thing where you're like, how come the media isn't talking about, about this? If you look it up, the media.

[Big T]

Has been talking about in the wake a lot.

[Cook]

And this is, this is, this is what I've noticed about the patterns of what you find interesting. It's always hits the, the cycle, the circle of the right wing media stratosphere. Every time something comes up you're interested in or it's bothersome to you. But again, I don't think this was.

[Big T]

The biggest story in America.

[Cook]

I don't think you actually care about fraud though. I don't think you care about fraud. If you care about fraud, like you would see the massive fraud that, that goes on in our government.

[Big T]

I, I think the government as a whole is a fraudulent institution.

[Cook]

I mean, I just, I just don't see you ever bringing it up from that side. I Just don't see it like, Trump has been convicted of fraud. He's pardoned people that have been convicted of fraud. Like, like I said, so is Biden who have. But I don't give a. I don't know how many times. I don't give a fuck about Biden. Whoever and whatever is, is, is, is being convicted of fraud. Get them up out of here. I just, I just find this not.

[Big T]

I agree with you.

[Cook]

I don't think you do, but if you do, that's what's up. But sure I do. I got good faith in me.

[Arian Foster]

There were just. When I watched it and I did, I watched.

[Big T]

That's the reason I don't. I, that is my whole view on the taxes we pay in this country. A large percentage of it is either actually or in some sense fraudulent. Like Lord knows what half of our money goes to.

[Cook]

You said Biden got convicted of fraud.

[Big T]

No, I said he pardoned all of his family members who were.

[Cook]

Who got convicted of fraud.

[Big T]

Well, Hunter would have. Slash did. He was what fraud? His whole Ukrainian deal, I don't think was fraud. I don't, I shouldn't. I don't know what the exact charges were.

[Cook]

I don't think it was fraud.

[Arian Foster]

I think that when I watched this, I want to watch the entire thing because everybody was posting about and talking about it. I want to see exactly what was going on. I, I was surprised after watching the whole video that people were just like taking this at face value as journalism because of all the stuff that wasn't on there. And listen, if he went to like 12 daycares and managed to find out that there were zero kids and they were claiming there were kids there, that is a big story. He did none of that though. Like, he did absolutely none of it. He didn't get into any of the places. He didn't see anything from the outside. Some people were like, please leave. And then he's like, isn't that suspicious that they're asking me to leave? I don't think that's suspicious at all.

[Big T]

So you think it is all a coincidence?

[Arian Foster]

I didn't say all a coincidence. I said that fraud is a, is a problem and it's been a problem in Minnesota. Some of those there might be. There might be like some of the examples that he went to that are over reporting kids that go there. It should be investigated. I don't, What I don't think is the. Well, first of all, it was also a little suspicious that everybody started posting this video out of nowhere, like straight to the top of like Elon Musk and all those guys.

[Cook]

That's my point.

[Arian Foster]

That was, that was, that was a little suspicious, wasn't it? Like for the quality of the video.

[Big T]

That it was, okay, that's, that's fine.

[Cook]

This is how this shit works. And I don't think it's on accident. Call me conspiracy theorist, but I feel like this is a very well funded, oiled machine that happens on the right that doesn't have happen on the left. And I say that because I think the right is extremely well organized. I do. I think it starts from the lobbyists onto the right wing talking heads and they all echo the same messages. And it's very well organized and it's, and it starts the dialogue. And this is why, like I said, I'm like, if you, if you, if you're, if you're, if you're convicted of fraud, if you're, if you're, if somebody suspects you of fraud, that's investigated and if they are, get them out. I don't care who it is. I don't give a fuck. I don't have allegiance to people who are bad people. But why I find nefarious is it's directed to this group, this immigrant group in Minnesota that people have been. I've heard about Somalians in Minnesota for a while and how. I hear it from the right wing echo chambers. How about how Somalians are ruining the culture and yada wudu. I've heard that before. So when I hear the story, oh, there's fraud, there's Somalian fraud. Like that shit, my antennas raised up like, okay, what's, how did this, how did this originate? And so like, while there may be fraud. Get them up out of here. I feel like directing it towards the community is the opposite of what the right wing claims that they care about. Contented character. Not. But, but again, I think this is a, I think this is a, an ushered echo chamber that's going on. I think this is on purpose. I did see that, but I feel like it is.

[Arian Foster]

There was at least one news station that went to some of these daycares after the video went viral. And then the owners of the daycare were like, here, I'll show you. And then they played the surveillance video for them of this guy Nick coming up. And also on that same day showing kids being dropped off and picked up at the daycare. And then you got, you can have the conversation. Well, how many did they claim to have that day? How many kids were actually there? But then that's a different conversation. About what? What Nick was claiming.

[Big T]

What do you think of the daycare that had a break in where someone stole all of their documents right after the video came out?

[Arian Foster]

That's kind of crazy.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

I hope they find out who did that, and I hope that whoever it was gets punished for it.

[Big T]

Okay, me too.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. I mean, that could go one of two ways. That could be they're covering their own tracks because they know that they're about to get fucked and. And the jig is up. It could also be somebody that is pissed off at the daycare because the video went so mega viral.

[Big T]

I guess I would just ask did. Did those places seem to. Let's say they're all 1000% legitimate. Did those places seem like places that should be getting seven figures each in, like, funding? Let's see, like the leering center.

[Arian Foster]

Okay, so the learning center.

[Big T]

Let's say the leering center is a thousand percent legit. Kids go there every day.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Big T]

And that's getting a million dollars of taxpayer money.

[Arian Foster]

Mm.

[Big T]

That feels like a mistake. Even if it's legitimate, what.

[Arian Foster]

What would the expense breakdown be? Let's say the leering center in this case had 50 kids.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

That they took care of. What would the expenses be for that type of daycare? You probably have to get. If you got 50 kids, you probably need like at least what, nine, 10 people working there whenever there are kids there.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

So you probably have. If they're not all full time, maybe you have like, that feels like a lot, but okay, five to one for like little kids. I don't know. I don't know what the right, like staff either way, but we can say, we can say like around 10ish people, maybe. Maybe a little bit less. So you're gonna have some people that are part time, a couple people that are full time. You have the facilities that you have to pay for, including, like all the bills. You've got the learning materials, you've got the food, you've got some sort of medical training or medical people that have to be either on call or nearby, you've got regulations that you have to keep up to in terms of keeping your building up to code on things. So if it's a million dollars, that doesn't seem like it's astronomical to keep that place afloat for a year.

[Big T]

If I guess I would just say. And I. Maybe this, maybe this makes me. Is a left wing position. If the government is. If the government is already giving these individual places seven figures in funding, then that should Just be. You shouldn't have to pay for it. You're already paying for it.

[Arian Foster]

It. Yeah, no, it's. I think that they're daycares for low income families. You have to, that's what I'm saying. You have to qualify for these type. That, that's why I want to see more that comes out. Because if it is, if, if Nick is right and these places are completely fraudulent, that means that they have to have stacks and stacks of fraudulent paperwork claiming kids from families that are showing proof of income to qualify for these places that are all fraudulent top to bottom. And that also means that every state regulator that was in charge of overseeing these things knew about it and turned a blind, blind eye to it. And so now we're talking about like a much, much bigger fraud than we had expected.

[Big T]

I guess I just can't square your. You said you, you seem to think there's a fraud problem in Minnesota, but then each of the instances of alleged fraud, you're like, well, that not happening.

[Arian Foster]

Well, they have, they have tried people and convicted them for fraud.

[Big T]

Correct. Which would seem to indicate there might be like a widespread issue that is.

[Arian Foster]

A, that's a issue that people are already in prison for and are being punished for. Now, if, if the problem expands to the point where you've got dozens upon dozens of child care facilities that have just faked everything from top to bottom that are still operational, it would also mean that all the surprise visits that the government has done to check up on all these places have been faked, where they write down the things that need to be fixed and they write down that they went to these facilities on these days. There were kids there, but the kids weren't separated correctly. The bathrooms were not up to code. All those notes were entirely fake. So now you've got state regulators that are also willing participants in this fraud. So that's a. Yeah, that's a much, much bigger fraud that would have to be happening. That's why I'm saying, like, if you see this video, it should, it should like pique your interest, but there should be a lot of questions that you would ask about the way that he did. I won't even call it an investigation. It's like he went up outside of a daycare and he's like, where are the kids? And they're like, I don't know who you are. And they were scared.

[Cook]

So hold on. He went to some of these things and he went there when they weren't open. That's what I'm saying.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, like, outside of There were. I'm not saying he did this for every single one.

[Cook]

I'm saying for some of them.

[Arian Foster]

For some of them, it was outside the. The hours of operation.

[Cook]

See, I don't know, man. Like I said, I ain't see the video, but I'm like, if. If that's true, and it seems to be. I just questioned his motive. To me, your motive isn't fraud, then.

[Arian Foster]

I think if he was doing journalism, he could have looked into the histories of the daycare facilities or when they're open, there's paper trails. Yeah, I could have looked for when they're open.

[Big T]

Are you positive about that?

[Arian Foster]

What do you mean?

[Big T]

I mean, there were people. There were employees there.

[Arian Foster]

Yes. I'm not saying for every single one. I'm saying that for at least one of them, it was outside the hours of operation for kids to come by.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

But why not present that to be the case in the documentary rather than make it look like, oh, there's nobody here?

[Arian Foster]

Well, because he was. He was just a guy with a camera that was going up to these facilities and trying to make a video for YouTube, and he's not a journalist. And so he obviously had point of view that he was trying to get across.

[Cook]

That's. That. That's why I'm like, the. The motive. To me, if your motive is truth, be transparent. He's. He. He was not transparent. I don't know. I'm not gonna watch this. I don't give a. But I just. I could just see the. Yeah, I think it's unraveling, and I haven't even really dug into it.

[Arian Foster]

His motive was outrage. And to be fair, if, like, there's this massive, massive fraud going on on scale that none of us at the thought you should be outraged by it because you're taking money from our tax dollars that are supposed to go towards, like, most vulnerable people in our communities, and you're stealing from them, and that should be outrageous.

[Big T]

I guess my final question to you would be, you and I both agree, Nick Shirley is not a journalist. Take whoever your favorite journalist is. I don't know, whoever you think is the best in the business and say they do a full scale, widespread investigation on the daycare thing. Thing.

[Arian Foster]

Florio. Okay.

[Big T]

Okay. Do you think they would uncover fraud or not?

[Arian Foster]

I think.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

Any.

[Cook]

I think if you do that for any business at a large scale, you will find fraud.

[Arian Foster]

I think anything that. That dabbles in government contracts, you will find evidence of fraud. Yes.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, there is. There is always going to be an unquantified. Unquantified. I can't say that unquantifiable amount of fraud that happens and you have to do your best to regulate it and to try to get that out of there. But I don't think that it's like the. Here, here's. Here's what I don't think. I don't think that the problem is. I don't think that people are being served correctly. If the solution to this video without any like follow up investigations is to withhold all child care funds. Funds.

[Big T]

Okay. I don't think anyone is suggesting that.

[Arian Foster]

Was that what the government did?

[Big T]

I think they're doing in, in the. While they do the investigation they're holding something. I don't know if it's the full amount or I.

[Arian Foster]

They froze also is.

[Big T]

I think that's the federal government, not the Minnesota state government.

[Arian Foster]

Right. So the, the federal government is freezing child care funds to all states now.

[Big T]

But a lot of. Was that all federal funded or there was Minnesota funding as well.

[Arian Foster]

I don't know how much money Minnesota was getting like these daycare centers were getting from the state of Minnesota as opposed to federal money.

[Big T]

I don't either. But I would imagine it's not all federal.

[Arian Foster]

They were probably getting money.

[Cook]

Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm trying to like wrap. Not like you know, put a bow on this so that I understand it because I'm, I honestly I'm not gonna look, I don't care enough. But this is what I'm reading. There is fraud in. In Minnesota, but the video conflated the fraud with that with real cases to a lot of these daycare cases. And he never linked that. Correct or incorrect? That's what I'm saying.

[Big T]

What do you mean never linked it?

[Cook]

He never linked any fraud with the daycare. With the daycares he was alleged.

[Big T]

Yeah. I don't think he like had a smoking gun at all.

[Cook]

Got you the, the, the ones that, that went. That he went to managers provided security footage showing that people were dropped off the same day and then one had like an outside operating the operating out operating hours outside of it.

[Arian Foster]

That's what I've seen. Yeah.

[Cook]

Okay. Yeah. Like so. Like I said so. So there, there may be fraud but it seems like a hit piece to me.

[Arian Foster]

Like I, I do, I do put like a little stock in the neighbors that are like I've lived here for 10 years. I've never seen a car pull up to this building. I think like, some of. Some of those people know their neighborhoods pretty well. They're like, I don't even know that there was a child care in there. So, yeah, I'm not saying that there's no fraud. I'm saying that from that video that I watched, I had a lot more questions, like, why is this. Why is this the biggest story in America right now based on this video?

[Big T]

I think, you know, I think it is both fair to say he went into that with a position and was trying to justify his position, but also that it. I.

[Cook]

Journalism.

[Big T]

Yeah. Again, I wouldn't. I don't think you can even call him a journalist.

[Cook]

The YouTuber. Does he have a bunch of other videos and shit? I bet he.

[Big T]

Yeah, he actually, you know, he has Nadu lore.

[Arian Foster]

I did not know that.

[Big T]

Oh, you don't.

[Cook]

What's Nate? What's Nadu?

[Big T]

So Jeff Nadu. Oh, now we got to give you a barstool history lesson. Jeff Nadu is a character who exists in the barstool universe on the. On the outer rings of the atmosphere. He was employed here for a short time. He is a. He's. You know, Rico, the one that threw the. Yeah. Tried to kill me. So Rico in and this guy are mortal enemies. So Jeff Nadu exists to pester Rico, and he's just kind of a. I. I don't know the. The correct adjectives to describe him. He's an interesting guy. This guy made a video. I. I don't know if it was commissioned by someone here or how it came about, but he made Jeff Nadu think he was being cast in a mob movie. And he did, like, a zoom interview with him and filmed it, and it was like a fake interview for this movie that didn't exist. And he got in a. Dude to think he was being cast in a movie.

[Arian Foster]

That's kind of crazy.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. I have no idea.

[Big T]

Yeah, he's not a journalist.

[Cook]

He's a content creator.

[Arian Foster]

No, but he. He's not a journalist. You're right, but he is known as a journalist. People think that he's a journalist, which is. Which is part of the problem.

[Big T]

I think you can call him a vigilante journalist if you want to do that.

[Arian Foster]

He went to Ukraine back in 2024, and he was like, I went to Ukraine. There's actually no war. And then people are like, dude, why did you do that? He's like, it was satire.

[Big T]

What?

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, he. He went to. He went to Ukraine and was like, I'm on the front lines of this alleged war. It seems pretty peaceful here. Look, there's a lot of nice cars around Kiev. I don't know what this money is or where it's going, but it's not going to any war that I can see.

[Cook]

Was there like a, I guess a conspiracy theory going around that there was.

[Arian Foster]

No war, that the war was massively overblown and that all the money coming from the United States was just going to.

[Cook]

I know exactly what type of dude this is. He's just a little dweeb. Well, he's trying, he's trying to get hits. He's trying to get impressions, man. And it worked.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. I was also surprised just based on this guy's whole demeanor, that, that he, that this video went so viral.

[Big T]

Crazy.

[Cook]

No, you're not, you're not that impressed.

[Arian Foster]

I, I, I was, I was surprised. Like, I kept watching and being like, when are we going to get to, like, the teeth here? When is he going to be able to form a sentence?

[Cook]

Once every, I would say three or four months. There is something that the right is afraid of. One day, three, four months, maybe, maybe a little bit more than that. But there's, there's something that they're like, we gotta stop this. Like clockwork crt, Transgender.

[Big T]

Would you not say the same of the left?

[Cook]

No.

[Big T]

Well, we've gone from Ukraine flags. Then it was Mexican flags for a little.

[Cook]

Who's afraid of Ukraine flags?

[Big T]

Well, the left adopts a new cause every few months to. Now it's Venezuela. We have to get the dictator back to Venezuela.

[Cook]

Nobody wants.

[Arian Foster]

Who say, what's that?

[Cook]

Why would somebody.

[Big T]

There were protests in cities all over America. Free President Maduro.

[Cook]

I can't, I can't speak for those people. I don't know. But maybe, maybe, maybe you're right. Maybe we're exactly the same.

[Arian Foster]

But okay, so like, to tie this back to Iraq when, when the invasion of Iraq happened, and I was like, hey, this is kind of up. We're not really thinking this through. People were like, oh, you love Hussein. Why do you love Saddam Hussein so much? It's like, that's not what, that's not what I'm arguing with. Maduro.

[Cook]

There was protest saying, free Maduro.

[Big T]

Oh, there were some good videos. I'll find them for you. My favorite one was. I'm looking for it.

[Cook]

Hang on.

[Big T]

Oh, here, this one.

[Cook]

Hands off Venezuela.

[Big T]

That was my favorite part. When he went into, like, a full Spanish sentence and nobody could copy him. So they just kind of cheered.

[Cook]

I didn't hear, I couldn't hear anything.

[Arian Foster]

They also kind of stopped chanting along when he said free Maduro. There was significantly fewer people chanting along to that. Yeah, it sounded like a few, few people might have dropped out at that point. I don't see, I don't see widespread calls for Maduro.

[Big T]

I mean there were, there were protests like this all over the.

[Arian Foster]

I didn't, I, I have not seen many of those protests.

[Big T]

Well, I know you're a big time. It's not happening guy. You never get to. You never quite get to. It's happening and it's good. You always just stay at it's not happening.

[Arian Foster]

No, I think that the amount of people that want Maduro to like that are pro Maduro in this country is very, very, very small.

[Big T]

In actuality, yes. But I was countering Aryan's point that every few months the right takes up something. I think the same thing happens.

[Cook]

That was your words of the left. I think that the right is afraid of something.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Cook]

Every three or four months. So, so the left taking up something is. I would say it would, it would be a fringe thing. So you're gonna find somebody saying free Maduro when that's not like an actual position, like a, a moderate or even leftist would, would say. Well, I say the right. I mean, I more mean like politicians advocating for these things. That's what that, that's what I think. Me and you disagree. You be arguing friends thoughts. I be arguing what they're. The right is trying to establish policy wise like banning CRT in schools. Right. When it never was right. Trans, transgender rights. Right. Like shit like that. Like shit that is actually trying to get legislated. That's what I argue against. I don't argue against people saying Hitler was good. Right. Because that's fringe. Right. That's a fringe thing that I don't think the right holds. I argue against policy ideas. Nobody's. You can find me a left politician that's advocating a free Maduro. I don't think there is one. I think they'll. I think you'll, you'll hear him say, yo, you should probably go through Congress like the law says. That's a, that's a rational response to that. But I don't think that's why I feel like you gotta log off sometimes.

[Big T]

I do care a lot about what the electorate says. That's true what I was gonna say.

[Cook]

When I say that the right has something to be afraid of right now, that's what I'm talking about. But when you say the left, you bring it up like some guy on Twitter.

[Big T]

You saw there were big Protests across the country about.

[Cook]

Again, you could protest about whatever you want. I'm talking about people who push legislation.

[Big T]

I understand.

[Cook]

All right.

[Arian Foster]

I also, I would speculate that the vast majority of the protests are about taking military action. Venezuela, and not specifically about Maduro. That's our guy. Put it back.

[Big T]

I don't know that I agree with you, but.

[Arian Foster]

I would like to see.

[Big T]

I think it, Well, I think it is purely an adversarial position to anything Trump does. I don't think it mattered who or what happened.

[Arian Foster]

I think there's, there's probably kidnapped a.

[Cook]

A leader of a country without congressional approval. I guarantee you would bring that up on this program and say that is overreach. You don't think you would.

[Big T]

If Joe Biden put out the picture of Maduro in handcuffs and a Nike tech and, and put a cool filter on it, I would have said, you know what? Credit to Joe.

[Cook]

Okay.

[Big T]

Also he did. We got.

[Cook]

But you're. That you're the no war guy.

[Big T]

No, as I said, we share. As I said, if this leads to any sort of prolonged military intervention in Venezuela, bad. I'm, I'm not necessarily in favor of it. I'm just not inherently opposed to it because Trump did it, which I think a lot of people are.

[Cook]

But I don't understand how you could say that and, and have any kind of respect for the rule of law like you say you do.

[Big T]

Well, I mean, Obama drone struck schools all the time without congressional approval. This isn't a.

[Arian Foster]

And I, I've been, why does Obama.

[Cook]

Get brought up here?

[Arian Foster]

I've been saying that's bad since he did it.

[Big T]

Right.

[Arian Foster]

I remember Obama.

[Big T]

Unilateral military intervention is not a problem unique to Donald Trump is my point.

[Cook]

Who said it was, who said it was. America is founded on that.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Imperialistic idea ideology. I'm saying I like, I'm saying like brother, instead of you saying, yeah, it's not that bad because he was a bad guy. Like nobody. Like Maduro is horrible. Yeah, for sure.

[Big T]

But I'm saying we don't know yet. It depends what happens.

[Cook]

No, there's a process. You cannot do this. It is illegal. It's not legal to do this.

[Big T]

It's illegal to declare war without Congress. It's ambiguous whether this is illegal.

[Cook]

Yes, it is very ambiguous. The, the, the language into which what an act of war is. I would say taking a leader is an act of war.

[Big T]

I would imagine if some. I would tend to agree with you.

[Cook]

Okay. So in this instance, I'm not saying like Because I don't know how many times me and PFT been on this program saying we disagree with Obama's overreach with drone strikes. But even then, I think the legality is arguable. Right. But still, I think all presidents are war criminals. I do.

[Arian Foster]

It was up when Obama did it because. Well, especially because he campaigned on being like a peace president, stopping all this overseas. And then he did that. And Trump did the exact same thing, campaigned, no new wars. I'm a peace president. And then he does this, and then he's about to. He's making threats to Cuba and Colombia and Mexico right now, like, you might be next. Clean your up. So I. Well, the protesters, I think, for the most part, are saying this is a fucked up way to go about foreign policy and it should stop. And I tend to agree with that, no matter who the president. And I'm fortunate that I'm able to say I've been consistent about that. Because if it's Biden that does it, if it's Obama that does it, if it was Clinton that did it, if it was George W. Bush that did it, it's not, in my opinion, a good idea. And I don't see a world where we just like, take Maduro and then we have absolutely no blowback whatsoever in Venezuela.

[Big T]

Also, I suppose it's a little different because we waited until immediately after he left office. But Biden did arrest the former president of Honduras for basically the same thing.

[Arian Foster]

Yes. Yeah. And Bush senior did that with Noriega, a guy that used to be his buddy, Manuel Noriega convicted him of trafficking cocaine. It's straight out of the playbook that's existed for a long time, and just about every president has done it. And I don't think that it's good. And this is money that could be spent in the United States. America first, right?

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

I think that's what I'm arguing is.

[Cook]

Or does daycare and healthcare. Yeah, we agree.

[Arian Foster]

All right, good talk. Anything else?

[Cook]

Well, there's came across my. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

[Big T]

No, you. You go.

[Cook]

A song came across my feed that I just want everybody to tap back into and cleanse yourself from all this madness. Everybody wants to rule the world. I mean, if you say that across.

[Maddie]

My desk recently, if you say that's.

[Cook]

A top five song of all time, you're not gonna get an argument for me. That song is magical. It makes me feel so good on the inside. And I feel like if that was the last. Last song I heard when I. Before I died, I'd be happy. I'd be okay with that.

[Big T]

You go to Disney World often? Have you ridden the Guardians of the Galaxy ride?

[Cook]

I have not.

[Big T]

Oh, dude. So it's a. It's a sick roller coaster, and there's like six or seven songs that play while you're writing it, and it's like a different one each time. And the time I wrote it, it was that song. It's awesome. I can't believe you haven't been on that sick roller coaster.

[Cook]

There's a lot to do over there, man. You gotta. You know what I'm saying? You gotta plan it out. What I usually do is I get one of those tour guides. You know how to get in and out with the times and. Good stuff, though. Yeah.

[Big T]

You gotta ride Guardians of the Galaxy and hope you get that song.

[Maddie]

Arian, that song is having a bit of an uptick because it is a needle drop in Marty Supreme.

[Big T]

Can we talk about Marty Supreme?

[Maddie]

I saw Marty Supreme.

[Cook]

You just said two words. Needle dropped, Marty Supreme. Know what all those words mean when you say them together?

[Maddie]

Do you know the movie Marty Supreme? It's a. It's a movie that is making. It came out on Christmas, but it's a big contender for awards this season, and it has Timothee Chalamet in it.

[Big T]

Have you seen Marty Supreme?

[Arian Foster]

I have not seen it, but I plan on seeing it.

[Big T]

All right, so we'll do a spoiler free.

[Maddie]

Did you see it?

[Big T]

Big T? Yeah, that show.

[Cook]

Speaking of which, put a pin in this. I'm gonna let y'.

[Arian Foster]

All.

[Cook]

Cook, I gotta give you all my Avatar 3 review.

[Big T]

Oh, I meant to ask you about that.

[Cook]

Yeah, yeah, but go ahead, Cook.

[Jeff Lowe]

Cook.

[Cook]

Go ahead. I'm sorry.

[Big T]

We'll do Avatar real quick.

[Cook]

You sure? It's not gonna be real quick.

[Big T]

Okay. Okay, so this Marty supreme that Jeff Lowe. And can we call Jeff Lowe? Let me. Let me see if we can get Jeff low on Jeff Lowe. And everybody else is talking like, this is the greatest movie that's ever graced the big screen.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

94 rotten tomatoes.

[Arian Foster]

It's.

[Big T]

It's. It's a fine movie that I would never watch again.

[Maddie]

It made me very nervous. I don't want to watch it.

[Big T]

It's.

[Arian Foster]

It.

[Big T]

Did you like Uncut Gems?

[Maddie]

I hated it.

[Arian Foster]

Oh, you talking about, like, the anxiety that some people got from it.

[Big T]

I. I don't even necessarily mean that, but it's the exact same movie as Uncut Gems.

[Arian Foster]

Just like Safety Brothers.

[Maddie]

Yeah, it's Josh Safdie directed, and when.

[Big T]

I say exact I mean, every single plot is exactly the same, which is fine. They found a formula just instead of.

[Maddie]

Diamonds, it's ping pong.

[Arian Foster]

Okay. Yeah.

[Big T]

And it's just not as good as uncut gems. And it's. It's fine. It's a fine movie.

[Maddie]

See, I hated uncut gems. And I really liked Marty supreme, so there's a flip flop there. But I also am a very big.

[Big T]

Fan of Timothy Chalamet, so I'm seeing if Jeff Low can hop on because. Does anyone watch Stranger Things?

[Maddie]

I didn't watch the last season yet.

[Cook]

No, I stuck after season three.

[Big T]

I got to talk about that too.

[Maddie]

I've heard not great things though.

[Big T]

It's the worst thing I've ever watched. That's really. That's a stretch.

[Maddie]

I heard it's a big downgrade.

[Big T]

It's. It's really bad.

[Arian Foster]

I like the first season.

[Big T]

First season was incredible.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Big T]

Second season, not that good. Third season, awesome. Fourth season, pretty good.

[Cook]

I liked it. I liked what, what I saw. It was. It was cool. I binge watched it with my kids. They were like. They loved it.

[Big T]

Yeah. The news, the last one, it was just. There's actually a huge. It sucked so bad. Here's how bad it was. Pft. There's a huge theory on the Internet right now that the whole last season is actually a meta. Like it was bad because there's stuff missing and the audience is actually a character in the show that's under the spirit spell of the villain. And a new a real last season is coming out later.

[Arian Foster]

Some cope. This sounds like some Taylor Swift shit.

[Maddie]

Yeah, I was just gonna say.

[Big T]

Mackenzie, can you send Jeff the zoom link?

[Maddie]

I also watched the Taylor Swift documentary over the break to lock that down.

[Arian Foster]

What I get cut off on. I saw watch Pluribus so I stopped.

[Big T]

Watching that in the middle of the season. I retract what I said about it being good.

[Arian Foster]

There were two episodes in the middle of the season that could have been zero episodes.

[Big T]

I think that's probably when I stopped watching.

[Arian Foster]

Nothing happened but it picked up at the end. Last two episodes were good.

[Big T]

So you liked it?

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, I powered through cuz I've heard.

[Big T]

From people who finished it that didn't like it.

[Arian Foster]

I liked the last two episodes but yeah, there were. There were a couple in there that was. That are very, very skippable. I saw ah, this listen as a podcast we've been trying to get Tom DeLonge on for a while from Blink 182. I saw the documentary about aliens, the new one that came out. It's on Netflix, I believe. Why am I forgetting the name of the. It was in theaters the. The Age of Disclosure. And it's got interviews with like, Marco Rubio, people from the United States military, very, very high ranking people from the military, the Secretary of State. It raises a lot of questions about the aliens. The aliens are here. I need to talk to Tom because there are some people from his organization that were in that documentary. Tom, I DM'd you on Instagram. I don't do that. I don't. I don't cold DM people that I don't have relationships with that much anymore.

[Cook]

That's how this podcast started. You DM me said, you want to start a podcast. I said, sure, fam.

[Arian Foster]

That is true. I said, any more though.

[Cook]

Okay, you true. My fault.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, yeah. But Tom, come on, Macrodosing, discuss. We have much to discuss about the aliens. Thank you, Tom. I've said my piece.

[Big T]

While we wait on Jeff Low, why don't you do Avatar?

[Arian Foster]

Okay.

[Big T]

I've been.

[Cook]

You haven't seen it?

[Big T]

Not yet, no. But you can say whatever you want. I'm not.

[Cook]

Okay.

[Big T]

Pins and needles.

[Cook]

Matt and Maddie, I need y' all to. I am spoiling. If you don't want to know what happens, don't listen. From here until whenever the next time stamp is. If it matters to you. Right. I don't want to hear you spoil it. I'm telling you. Yes. Make it a chapter. Aryan's spoiling Avatar. Fast forward if you don't want to hear it. That's the name of the chapter. I've been a fan of this series since 2009.

[Big T]

I don't like where this is going.

[Cook]

It's one of my. I used to fall asleep to the first one because it was so calming. The world immersion was just so unique in my opinion and how they built the world. And I never thought the story was well written. I never thought the story was groundbreaking or even unique. Right. But I thought it was. It was good enough to complement the amazing visuals and the world building that they did. James Cameron did an amazing job building that world. They built an entire language that they really speak and they stay true to. I'm giving. Django is getting trained, right? And one of the commands I'm giving him is a navi command, right? When they say my way, that means calm, Calm yourself, calm down. My way. So when he. When I want him to lay down, I'm going to say my way. My daughter's idea. I was like, cool. I say all that to say they spent all this time, energy and resources in building the world making sure the graphics are amazing. In which they are. They still are. And the, the writing is dog shit. And then the third movie, it's just glaring. Jeff, welcome to the program. I'm spoiling Avatar, so if you haven't seen it, earmuffs, you're a huge fan. If I am, I am in the middle of ex. I'm in the middle of explaining why they lost me now. This is why. Because you have a great opportunity. So one thing that I loved about like Star Trek, right, Star Trek was amazing because of the storylines mirrored what was going on in society, right? You have a very real opportunity. So there was in the original series, there was this one called, where they meet with the people called the Loki people, where they were half black and half white, right? Like literally they split down the face, half black and half white. Now people on. I don't remember exactly which side it was, but like people that had white on the left side of their face didn't like people that had white on the right side of the face. Which is like a ridiculous notion to somebody meeting that being. Because it's like, you guys look the same, you're made of the same stuff. Like, why are you arguing? It was an obvious depiction of what was going on in society at the time. Was like in the 60s, 70s, which was racism, right? In America, black and white. But they did it in a really dope way. The writer was cool. It was, it was a dope way, right? And all of Star Trek's themes in each episode was very unique. And they did, they did a unique way to like talk about societal. A right. Avatar had that opportunity, right? There's a, there's a part in there where this could have been a real conversation where Natiri, who is the wife of Jake, he's an avatar body that AWA gave his soul to, his human soul, to his avatar body. So now he's fully Avatar, right? He's immersed in that body. That's his body. Now she feels resentment because her son died in number two. She feels resentment from the humanness in her kids. That's a real emotion that can be talked about in a dialogue that can be related to with people in interracial relationships that feel that from both sides of the family, different cultures, different countries. Like that's a real thing that you can have that conversation. It was a two minute dialogue and he was like, hey, we can't fight about this. And they just left it alone. And I was livid in the movie that I was like, there's no way. They just skip past that. There's no way. And there were moments in that entire movie where they could have had real dialogue and had good conversations about what's going on because they did an okay job of building the world right now. I will say the graphics and stuff, to me, that those are amazing. The world that they build, the fact that they give, like, culture to different species, like the whales, like those. Those. They have their own music and language and culture and like, and how they can connect. It's beautiful. Like, I love all of that stuff, but it's like, again, there's no substance to any dialogue. It is all like, if you were to write a script from ChatGPT would come out like that. And I feel like there's so many talented script writers out there. You could have find. You spent all this time building this world, spent billions of dollars on production. You couldn't find a script writer that could make you feel something. It was just. It was just very poorly written, in my opinion. And that said a lot. Because to dissuade me from liking Avatar is hard. I've been here since 2009, and I just feel like they dropped the ball and they revamped the same story from the second one. Bad guy. Bad guy miraculously reappears. He's trying to find Jake. They find each other. They have a moment where they kind of fuck with each other. Cause they're kind of the same. And then we off again. It's the same storyline. And I'm like, how? Why wait two years and write the same shit?

[Big T]

Imagine if one year ago on January 6, 2025, I told you Arian Foster in 365 days will be a dog owner who hates Avatar.

[Cook]

I don't hate Avatar. I hate what they've done to it. Right. I feel like there's a possibility to bring it back, but they have to get rid of this. The. The character of.

[Arian Foster]

Again.

[Cook]

They had a. They had an amazing, I felt like antagonist in theory. They had a tribe of people that didn't believe in awa. You could have explored atheism versus theism in a real way to have that dialogue. And they didn't do it. They didn't do it. And it's. It was frustrating because I am an atheist. And I was like, okay, I see this plague. You know, who had a better atheist versus theism dialogue than. Than Avatar, the fucking kids movie, Smallfoot. They did a great job of exploring that topic with with, with depth and nuance and humor. They did a great job with it. And Avatar missed the mark and it's, it's insane to me because they spent so much money and resources on this film, you would think that they care about the storyline. And to me it just feels like they didn't. They cared about the production, production, production and action. That's what they cared about. It was the same movie. Taruq Maktou came back and I'm like, dog, you can't. They introduced a whole nother species of neutral people that came in balloons. Didn't explore that at all. And I'm like, I don't understand. I just don't understand. I'm genuinely confused as a film lover of that film in particular, that they had all these different, like, variables that they could have traveled through those world and they just didn't. They didn't. They stick with the same shit. They ran the same play and they got stopped at the goal line in my opinion. Not even go on these fuckers on a 50. And so I say all that to say I, I appreciate the series, you know, saying. But I do think that they missed the mark in a very real way to explore character development. And I'm not totally off it because apparently they're. They're up for six movies. Six of these things. I don't know if that's the thing, but if, if they don't up the dialogue, it's just going to be something that, you know, it's going to be like a Kanye album. I'm going, I'm going to listen off of. Out of respect for what you did for me. Yeah, Autumn years. But you just ain't got it no more, you know, he just ain't got. That's it. That's my review.

[Arian Foster]

What are your thoughts, Jeff?

[Jeff Lowe]

That's a good review. It's. He's kind of saying everything I said when, when I did mine. James Cameron's not a great dialogue writer, but this was like. This was easily his worst. This was.

[Cook]

This was.

[Jeff Lowe]

They say bro and they call each other bro and cuz in the first minutes and we. About 900 times. Nothing like having those tall blue people be like, hey, cuz. Hey, cuz.

[Big T]

Like, is the. Is the picture I saw of an Avatar person with like a fade. I thought that was a joke, but is that real?

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah, no, that's.

[Arian Foster]

He's.

[Jeff Lowe]

He's got like the broccoli haircut, but he had in the last one too. But not that, that.

[Cook]

But yeah, Yeah.

[Big T]

I don't remember that because I saw the second one. I haven't seen.

[Cook]

He was, he was, he was the antagonist that, that he, they brought back.

[Arian Foster]

What is it?

[Cook]

Colonel Torch. They brought him back.

[Jeff Lowe]

I agree there you've said. I mean it's, it's a shame because I actually like the second one more than the first. I loved it because they world built, they expanded, they showed you some new stuff, a new type of navi like all that stuff. And then this one, they kind of tease you with it. And then they, I mean like the new people that they bring in, they just kind of go away in the final battle, which like Aaron said is, it's not like a complete copy paste the last one. But I'll tell you what, it sure feels like, it feels a lot like it, it's, it's very, I'm like, I like Jim Cameron. I think his like big dropping his dick on the table stuff is cool and all and he makes a lot of money and it's going to make, you know, it's going to make a billion and a half again, probably not going to cross two. But like at some point it's like if you're going to be this big swinging dick in Hollywood and like act like, you know you're better than everybody and like talk about Marvel and dc, like you're, you kind of just did what they did, but you just have a better looking movie. Like that's really like what it boils down.

[Cook]

He was sitting across from me, I would say dog care. Like, why do we like art as humans? Why do we like film as humans? Because it takes us out of our reality and it puts us in a world in which we can get lost in. And you did that. But you, but you, you don't care about that world. You just care about putting us there. You don't care about the world. That's what I feel like, you know what I mean?

[Jeff Lowe]

And as he likes the, he likes the experience that you're, he's like, you're going on this visual experience and like, and my thing is this. I've had people like, and I just said it like he's never been a great dialogue guy, but like, I don't know, at the same time, like he also has made movies with some balls too. Like in Terminator movies, the Alien, like even movies I have have, like, you're like, oh, like that movie that, that's doing something where even like the last one I felt that way, but this one, I, I, I had a good time with it. But it was like. It was a huge step down from the last one. I thought. Huge.

[Cook]

I just want this to care. Like, I want him to care about it like I care about it. I think that's what the frustrating. I think you.

[Arian Foster]

You.

[Cook]

I think he just got too big for his britches. Like any I could throw at the wall. And these people are gonna come see it. He used it.

[Jeff Lowe]

He was like, this is like a talking hour the last couple weeks. He just loves talk. It's like, all right, well, okay. It's like, I mean, you. You made a theme park ride. Like, you say, Marvel and DC are. So yours is just like a little prettier.

[Cook]

So earlier we was. Earlier talking about. Earlier we was talking about how I have. There's a duality man inside of me. I'm a very peaceful. I'm an advocate for peace. I'm anti war, but sometimes you got to slap a motherfucker. I feel like somebody slapped James Cameron, dog. Just slapping up out of his, like, is little. Little whatever the fuck. He's like, yo, wake up, dog. Hire a writer. Hire somebody. Hire a team walking.

[Big T]

If you go to the.

[Jeff Lowe]

If you go to the theme park in Disney World, if you ask the workers there about the Avatar movie, they say, oh, you mean the documentary about Jake Sully? That's how, like, deep in character they are.

[Big T]

So it's a sick ride.

[Jeff Lowe]

I love that.

[Cook]

I'll keep it a B. I've been to the Avatar Jones twice.

[Arian Foster]

It's cool.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's very cool.

[Big T]

You don't love the ride?

[Cook]

The best ride in that amusement park. There's two Tron and the Jurassic Park. Jump.

[Big T]

That's a universe. Jurassic park is universal.

[Cook]

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. Which one. Which one is the Avatar?

[Jeff Lowe]

I've never been to that one. The Avatar is like the Animal Kingdom.

[Cook]

Then that must be Animal Kingdom.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Okay. I don't remember if there's anyone better than Animal Kingdom.

[Big T]

Expedition Everest is good.

[Cook]

Yep.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's cool.

[Cook]

I don't think I went to the Guardians one. Man.

[Jeff Lowe]

I really need my boss. Take me to Disney again. That was such a good time last time we did that.

[Big T]

Jeff. I'll go if. I'll go to Disney World. If anybody. If you ever want to go, I go every summer. This could be a hell of a trio. Go to Disney World. Jeff and Aryan, do a little reconnaissance.

[Jeff Lowe]

Let's do a great time anyway.

[Big T]

Jeff, I. We have to talk about two things. We'll do a non spoiler Marty supreme and a spoiler. You can't do Stranger Things without talking about what happens.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's strange. Stranger Things for all intents and purposes is over at this. Like, it's, it's.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Jeff Lowe]

Like I'm. Well, if you're someone, like, hold on, hold on. It's like. No, no, no.

[Big T]

Some people seem to think it's not, but this Marty supreme. You seem, you're, you're, you're on board. Like, this is one of the greatest movies ever.

[Jeff Lowe]

I don't. Greatest movie ever. I mean, of this century. I think it's one of the best movies of century. I think it's really, really good.

[Big T]

Can you explain to me.

[Jeff Lowe]

I love Safdie movies though. Well, not Smashing Machine, but can you.

[Big T]

Tell me, like, what makes it so great for you?

[Jeff Lowe]

1.

[Cook]

It's.

[Jeff Lowe]

There is an, there's an energy and, and this is clearly a Josh Dafy thing because they, they split up for their movies this year and Benny made Smash Machine, which was a dud, but there's an energy with the way Josh Safy writes a movie and takes a protagonist who is unlikable, who you probably shouldn't want to root for, but yet you find yourself rooting for him. He did that with Good Time, they did that with Uncut Gems and they did again with this one. It's snappy, quick like dialog. All the characters. Like, everything is so rich in the environment of what he creates, which is New York. All three been New York. I just love it. Like, it's, it's. I hate using the word experience with movies because, like, it just feels like a cop up. But that is literally what their movies are to me. Like they, they, they enrich you in their worlds and they take you on a ride that never stops, start to finish. It makes you root for characters you don't want to root for. Subvert expectation. I just love that. Like, I just think it's just, it's. It's a unique. Now they've done it three times and here if you can do something else, if you can do something else outside this formula. And then Chalamet was awesome. Charlie was just awesome. So it's Mr. Wonderful. Kevin O'.

[Big T]

Leary.

[Cook]

Shout out Kevin O'.

[Big T]

Leary. He actually. Yeah, I was, I was shocked when I saw him. It was a fine movie to me that I don't think I would ever watch again.

[Jeff Lowe]

I loved it even more the second time. Like, it just, it just rips. It's just like, man, you have this. It's just this guy who. And like it's. This one's a little more relatable to me than uncut gems because uncut gems. He's a little more on like the scummy side where you're like, this guy's, this guy's a real piece of. And then Marty is to an extent as well. But like there is that, like that, that endless desire to just want that success of that one thing you want and like kind of stepping over and on things to get there, kind of facing the adversity. I just loved it.

[Cook]

I don't know.

[Jeff Lowe]

I just, it's, it's, it's one of those ones that like, I get not loving safdie movies, but for me it's like, it's so aggressively my shit and right up my alley.

[Big T]

I, and this is maybe my age starting to get to me as well. I can't do two and a half hour films anymore. We got to cut that down.

[Arian Foster]

I agree.

[Big T]

The dog thing did not need to be in that movie. We could a big part of a.

[Jeff Lowe]

Big part of him needing the money.

[Big T]

We could cut the whole dog, get rid of the whole dog thing.

[Jeff Lowe]

He was trying to use it to get some money too. Because not, not every, not every quest or plot thread needs to be successfully achieved, but it was a big part of him trying to, to get the money to advance and further on and, you know, go to Japan and all that.

[Big T]

Yeah, I guess story got to be, we can need that movie needed to be 210. There's a lot going on.

[Cook]

Ah.

[Jeff Lowe]

Thought it was tight. I loved it. Yeah, I didn't, didn't feel the time at all on that one.

[Big T]

Okay, so Stranger Things I do get.

[Jeff Lowe]

Not loving safdie Like I, I, I do.

[Big T]

I feel the exact same about Uncut Gems. Like it was a fine movie that I enjoyed watching once and I don't think I'd ever watch it again.

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah, I think if you're someone who didn't love Gems, you're not going to love Marty Supreme. And it's the exact opposite side too. If you love Gems, you're like Marty supreme. And I think I'd say with good time as well, which less people have seen.

[Big T]

So I seem to be the only person in here that seen the end of Stranger Things. But I just have to talk to somebody about it because it drove me insane. Did you like or not like it?

[Jeff Lowe]

I thought they landed the plane. Like would be like me stretching it. Like I thought it was a nice ending.

[Big T]

Okay, I agree. But like that shouldn't have been put aside what happened because like, I don't know, I don't know what I wanted to happen. It was just like the, the logistics of like this villain that can put his hand out and just kill a dozen US army soldiers, but then a fat 11 year old like overpowers him to get. And it's just like, it was just.

[Jeff Lowe]

You want to talk about world building, you talk about James Cameron. The Duffer Brothers are very good at character building and world building, but someone needs to be able, they need to have someone in the room to be like, enough. No more characters.

[Big T]

Yes.

[Jeff Lowe]

Like, like you don't.

[Big T]

I didn't know what was happening.

[Jeff Lowe]

Too many like.

[Big T]

And they're just zipping you back and forth. This one guy is four dudes. And now there's all these other. I forgot all the characters on the show. Then you obviously have the, the coming out scene which I've just come to expect. That's whatever to the whole town. Many of whom these people he hasn't talked to in years. And then so they get to the final episode and those, those previous three.

[Jeff Lowe]

Before the were completely unnecessary, by the way. There should have been one episode, not three.

[Big T]

Oh, nothing happened.

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah, I would, I agree completely with you on that misstep.

[Big T]

So now we have finally infiltrated this third other world that we didn't know about until just now. And there's the Mind Flayer. This thing that's been the, you know, it can destroy the world all of a sudden it's just, you can actually just go right into it and it looks like fucking Shark Boy and lava girl from 2003 on this Mars like planet. And you can actually just run right into the middle of it and you're completely fine and nothing happens. And it was just. Oh, by the way, Nancy Byers or Wheeler. Nancy Wheeler becoming like a US Sniper Rambo assassin. It's just like. I don't know. I, I really did.

[Jeff Lowe]

I, I, the final battle was whatever to me. Like I enjoyed some moments of it. Like, like the, you know, like the, the crowd pleasing moments. But it kind of looked like doo doo a little bit as well. Like it didn't look great. I thought the, the epilogue thing at the end probably a little long was like nice though, right? Like, like that's as much as. I'll say it's a weird thing though.

[Cook]

Because.

[Jeff Lowe]

Like, I don't know how much I want to congratulate them on not pulling a Lost or Game of Thrones. Like congrats.

[Cook]

Like.

[Jeff Lowe]

And it's not complete dog. And everybody doesn't hate you like that's. Basically what it comes down to. And I get why they did it. There's very few shows now. I. I'm at a point, I'm at a place with Stranger Things, where to me, it's a very entertaining fantasy monster show. That's it. Some people wanted to be the Sopranos. They wanted to be Game of Thrones. They wanted to be this big. Now, the. The size and reach of the show is that way. But, like, let's not kid ourselves that, like, like, when Game of Thrones was like, like, clicking, it was elite. Like, the Sopranos of the world. The whatever you mad, whatever you want to bring in Breaking Bad. Like, those are elite. Incredible, like, de. Like shows with incredibly dense writing and characters. Stranger Things is fun. And at times, Stranger Things does peak into great, but, like, just a fun show for kids, right? That, like, anyone can kind of, like, that's what it is to me. Some people are not viewing it that way, and it's putting their brain into a pretzel. But it ended nice. And they knew they couldn't do what Lost did. They knew they couldn't do a Game of Thrones did. Those Game of Thrones guys, man, they made a Show that is 90 great. And they're only going to forever be known for that dog finale. Like, that's unbelievable. That's like Michael Jordan only being known for playing for the wizards. Like, that is, like, kind of crazy. It's a little deserved. Like, they ended it. It was a terrible ending, but it is kind of nuts. It's like, what they're known for.

[Cook]

I appreciate them.

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah, the show is great.

[Cook]

It was amazing, man. It was. It was amazing.

[Jeff Lowe]

But like that. But like, you Game of, like, their people are talking about Stranger Things. Like, what they're saying it was Game of Thrones. They're like, stranger Things landed the plane. At least it wasn't Game of Thrones. Like, that's crazy.

[Big T]

I guess my thing with Stranger Things is I. I expected there to be something other than, oh, yeah, they killed the monster. It was fine. Like, yeah, I expect. And they. They. They teased. They were like, there's. There's a massive twist that you'll never. What was that? There was. There was no massive twist, I would like to say.

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah, they had a couple things, too, where they said. Where they're like, like, man, like, you know, this. These three. The ending is a heartbreak. And then the last, it's like, well, that didn't really happen.

[Cook]

It's like, I didn't.

[Jeff Lowe]

No, like, that didn't. Don't Yeah, I, I, I didn't expect it. I expected a very safe ending because I knew they didn't want to do with what these other shows did that are known for bad finales. But I also wish we lived in a world where the yes, they could have made, like a big swing and done something different. Instead, they, they took the easy, you know, bloop single, Get a man on base, you're happy, you're not mad. You know, I wish they would have gone for the home run.

[Big T]

Like, if in, if in the final scene, like Will teamed up with Vecna or something and they, like, killed everybody, I'd be like, that's awesome. Yeah, like, that would have been something. Like, they just, that would have been crazy.

[Jeff Lowe]

But it's never gonna happen. It's like, I mean, I'm not saying that. I'm not making that as an excuse. Just one of those things where it's like, yeah, like, I, that wasn't gonna happen.

[Big T]

But I do think a lot of people are mad because there's a large contingent of people who seem to think that the shitty final season was actually not the final season. And there's a real one coming.

[Jeff Lowe]

I think Netflix has a significantly different and larger, broader announcement. I don't know what it is, but I know they teased something that's coming on Wednesday. I think has nothing to do with Stranger Things because it's very broad. It's like, it's not. I think people are reading way too.

[Arian Foster]

Much into that part of my take. In 3D. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah, we're doing.

[Jeff Lowe]

That's a big one. I heard. I think, I believe. Archie, aren't you dubbing all of the shows on Netflix? Personally? Like, you're playing every role in the West Wing. Yeah, Mad Men. You're going to do every role.

[Arian Foster]

It's called your new project TV and I'm doing it multiple languages. ASMR.

[Jeff Lowe]

Like, did you watch 30 Rock, Seinfeld Vision? Do you ever watch that?

[Arian Foster]

I didn't see that.

[Jeff Lowe]

Like, that's going to be PFT Vision. You're just going to pop into shows.

[Arian Foster]

It'll be wonderful. Jeff, while we have you on here, can you give us a 30 second postmortem on the Kevin Stefanski era in Cleveland? And then, and then give me, give me, like, your three top choices for head coach.

[Jeff Lowe]

That second question is actually way harder than the first one because I, I honestly don't know. But I, I'll give them my. I, I'm appreciative for the, the good things Kevin Savansky did. But I'll tell you what, there's a lot of other people to blame that organization. I'm sure you can blame Haslam, I'm sure you can blame Andrew Berry. But Kevin Stefanski was on the forefront of run Baker out of town. And all people want to talk about last couple of years is running Baker out of town. And he was right there for the meeting with Deshaun Watson. He was there breaking down film for an hour. And those two like, you know, went back and forth how much they loved it. He kind of made his bed like the offense got worse every year. He was a big part of getting the QB out of town who people say you know, was the better choice they should have gone with. And he's a big part of bringing in Deshaun Watson. That's kind of what happened. Also he kept Joe woods around, the defensive coordinator he just made. Just too many things piled up over the years. I just glad, glad he took him to the playoffs twice. He kind of won a playoff game. Do you count this as an unbiased fan? Did he, would he, did he win a playoff game? He wasn't there.

[Arian Foster]

He was in his basement with COVID right?

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah, I mean he was definitely, he was, you know, game planning all week and stuff. So you got to credit there. But he, does it count?

[Arian Foster]

I think Baker beat the Steelers.

[Big T]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

I think he gets credit for the win. I don't know that you can give it to Stefanski.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's crazy they didn't fire Andrew Barry, the GM as well. And I know Andrew Beer had a very good draft this last year. But like, does one draft save you? I made some good trade. The Malik Collins thing was good as well. I think Tyson Campbell trade was good. They made, I don't, I don't know because like I like Jim Schwartz. So like, I don't know if I'd even think of a defensive minded coach like Brian Flores would be great. But, but like you bring in Flores, like Schwartz is gone.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Jeff Lowe]

But do you really want to, do you really want to mess with the defense too much? That's a defense that was elite all year despite the fact the offense on the field for like a minute every quarter.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Jeff Lowe]

So I, you know, I, I don't, I, I really don't know. I, I, I truly don't know because you're also gonna have someone come in. You have a lame duck quarterback situation. So.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Jeff Lowe]

So I don't think Shedeur is the guy I'm gonna Come out and say that take.

[Arian Foster]

I'm gonna look up real quick, see if DraftKings has odds on the Browns next coach.

[Jeff Lowe]

I don't want Mike McDaniel that's gonna let go.

[Cook]

DeSean, is that. Is that.

[Jeff Lowe]

I don't think so. I think. I don't know if he'll play next year, but I mean, I don't think so. I mean I don't know what you do with that contract. And like now it's like really hasn't played in a while. I think you probably play Shador next year. You played yourself out of the top two. So you can't take Dante Moore Mendoza next year. The class for QB might be a little better. I know has obsessed with Arch Manning has him as like a through and through Tennessee, you know, like the roots of Tennessee. Like Mannings loves them. I don't know.

[Arian Foster]

All right, so Jeff here is. Here are the odds on Kelsey which we know is a very reputable source for this type of thing. The top two names are Cliff Kingsbury, Mike McCarthy.

[Big T]

Oh my. Oh my God.

[Cook]

That would be.

[Jeff Lowe]

If you hiring Mike McCarthy would be. I don't even. I don't even know what I would do. I like, I think like a name like Joe Brady. Like, I don't know, like, I think they need a. I think they need a young offensive mind. I think that is. That is the thing to do.

[Arian Foster]

All right, so here.

[Cook]

Here buddy from Tampa Bay, the offensive corner. Tampa Bay. I love him.

[Jeff Lowe]

So his name thrown around a little bit.

[Arian Foster]

The new one there. So yeah, we've got the. The rest of the names are Chris Shula, Jesse Mentor.

[Jeff Lowe]

Saw that name.

[Arian Foster]

Deion Sanders, Joe Brady, Brian Flores, Clint Kubiak.

[Jeff Lowe]

If you told me the Dion thing was a one year thing, I would say do it like it's like it's a one and done no matter what. I'd be like, yeah, let's just say like they're not. They're not gonna be good next year anyway.

[Big T]

Jeff, I know you don't need any reminder, but just keep in mind the guy making this higher. Well kind of is the same guy who was pretty instrumental in Tennessee coming off of Butch Jones deciding that Greg Shiano needed to be the next head coach. So if.

[Jeff Lowe]

If Jimmy Haslam ran Bucky's instead of Flying J, I'd feel so much better.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Jeff Lowe]

But he doesn't.

[Arian Foster]

No.

[Big T]

In what sense though?

[Jeff Lowe]

Wait, say it again.

[Big T]

Why would you feel better? Oh, because you're saying Bucky's is a much better business.

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah.

[Big T]

When you said that in my mind, I was like, well, Bucky's would be shittier, so it probably would be. I'm glad he doesn't.

[Jeff Lowe]

Bucky's anti trucker. People say.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, well, it's for the people. Pilot Flying J.

[Jeff Lowe]

Have you, have you. Have you seen the. The viral trucker guy on Tick Tock and Instagram, he talks about all the snacks he gets for his trip.

[Arian Foster]

I have not seen.

[Big T]

No.

[Jeff Lowe]

I have to say he is. He is my. It's my favorite video.

[Big T]

Send me that.

[Jeff Lowe]

He goes through all the different. He's like Jack Lanks. Gotta have Jack Links. He's like, Emmys, kitty, kitty for kitty for Kit Kats, Gummy bears. You gotta watch it. You're gonna be you. You will love him. But he, but he talked on Bucky's the other day. He's like. He's like, they're anti trucker. That is true. They do have big signs that say no trucks.

[Arian Foster]

I mean, Pilot Flying J famously was. Was found liable for fraud because they, they took like millions and millions of dollars from truckers. Yeah, it's.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's really bad. Like, it's just. It's very depressing. Rooting for the, for the Brown, it's just, it's a bizarre.

[Arian Foster]

They.

[Jeff Lowe]

They win when you don't want them to win, they lose when you want them to win.

[Cook]

It just.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's a terrible combination.

[Arian Foster]

I like where Big T's heads at, though. Greg Shiano, Cleveland BROWNS HEAD coach.

[Big T]

Oh, well, I was just saying that you should.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Big T]

His prior decision making does not inspire confidence. No, the people put a stop to that.

[Arian Foster]

They did. One thing I'll say though, Jeff, I cannot wait if Kevin Stefanski ever gets to the point where he feels like he can be 100% honest and do like a long sit down interview or write a book about his time in Cleveland. I would like to hear all the stuff that happened behind the scenes with the Baker, the. The desean stuff, drafting Shador. Will you play him? Will you not play him?

[Jeff Lowe]

Should Door. I definitely want to hear. I don't know what you'll. You would hear with. I talked to Che about it a little today because Che was like, you think he'd ever be a baker And. No, like, by all accounts, Baker and Stefanski was a disaster at the end. They hated each other. Hated each other. And Stefanski was the one who, like made the call. I saw, I saw today from your guy. What's this CBS guy? His shorts were falling down. Either the combo. Pete Prisco.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Yeah, he was he was.

[Jeff Lowe]

He was. He was a big Stefanski mouthpiece day. Something about, like, him not wanting to Sean. I'm like, if he didn't want the Sean, he definitely didn't tell the organization because he was right there in Houston with them.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah, right there. I mean, maybe he just didn't want to pay to Sean what they ended up paying him.

[Jeff Lowe]

Maybe. Breaking down film for an hour. I would like to hear the. The Shador Gabriel stuff is what I love to hear. The real. The real story on that would be fascinating.

[Arian Foster]

Yeah. And why they.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Arian Foster]

Why they drafted him to begin with. I have to imagine the Browns got a call. If the Ravens got a call from Shador and his camp being like, hey, don't draft me. You have a quarterback. I imagine that the Browns probably would have had a similar message when they get Dylan Gabriel.

[Cook]

I.

[Jeff Lowe]

If. I just hope I never see Dylan Gabriel throw a football for the Cleveland Browns ever again.

[Cook]

I agree with that.

[Arian Foster]

Or.

[Jeff Lowe]

Or hurl the football to the sidelines is probably the better way to do.

[Arian Foster]

I agree with that. The Browns deserve some happiness. I hope you.

[Big T]

I just.

[Jeff Lowe]

Two head coaching searches. For me, my football team is just like. It's just sad.

[Arian Foster]

Congrats on Miles.

[Cook]

Sad existence.

[Arian Foster]

Congrats, Miles. All right. Thank you, Jeff. Thanks for. Thanks for breaking down film with us.

[Jeff Lowe]

Of course.

[Big T]

Anything else we need to be watching right now?

[Jeff Lowe]

I mean, no, it is. It is the absolute worst time of year for. For new movies, but there's still some. If. Like, if you didn't. If you didn't see some of the big ones this year, obviously. Now the time to catch up with the Oscars right around the corner. We just did our. We just did our top 20 of the year. I like the bunch. Some foreign things as well, but, you know, I love Marty Supreme Love, Sinners, Love One Battle, Sentimental Value. I saw a recent movie, which it is the.

[Cook]

You.

[Jeff Lowe]

You could make a mo. You couldn't make a movie in a lab less suited for me that I love called the Testament of Ann Lee. It's about the shakers.

[Arian Foster]

Oh, yeah.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's a period piece about religion, and I loved it. It's got, like, a musical element to it. Amanda Seyfried's in it. The most fun movie of the year, though. Did everyone see F1?

[Arian Foster]

No.

[Big T]

Yes.

[Jeff Lowe]

That's the most fun movie of the year.

[Cook]

That's good.

[Jeff Lowe]

That is such a cliche sports movie. It's not gonna do anything. Blow your mind, but just a good time.

[Big T]

Yeah. Good. And I would never watch it again. I Feel the same as Marty Supreme.

[Jeff Lowe]

You're just a one and done guy.

[Big T]

But there are movies I love watch. I. If. If I'm flipping through TV and Moneyballs on I will watch the rest of it regardless of what else I have to do. Social Network. I will watch as many times as you want.

[Jeff Lowe]

Like movie the century.

[Big T]

Oh, was that Bill Simmons thing?

[Jeff Lowe]

No Bill Simmons thing. Have you seen the Bill Simmons thing?

[Big T]

That's the.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's the funniest discourse on a list. Take every Mount Rushmore you've done. Take any list you've ever tweeted out anything you've never seen discourse like this because the Ringer account posted The Bill Simmons fifth. He did the 50 movies he re watched the most. This from this century.

[Cook]

He.

[Jeff Lowe]

That's a spreadsheet. He hits sort by most viewed. That's it. No quality nothing. Because he talked. He's like, I watch some of my family. I watch him with my. My daughter. It's not about what he likes, but the Ringer posted. It's like Bill Simmons Top 50 Movies of the century. It's unbelievable because like he has Limitless in there. People are losing their mind. And all it is him just reading like, yep, watch this more than this. Watch this more than this.

[Big T]

That's it.

[Jeff Lowe]

It's unbelievable.

[Cook]

We don't like Limitless.

[Jeff Lowe]

Oh, I like Limitless. But people seeing it like as number 11 for Bill Simmons top 50th century. People going crazy over it.

[Cook]

It's a good movie.

[Arian Foster]

I like Jeff. I guess I have an announcement to make. There's no better time than right now. I'm working on. I'm working on a movie.

[Jeff Lowe]

You're working on a movie?

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Jeff Lowe]

What's the movie?

[Arian Foster]

I have decided to start writing the movie. So I am working on the movie.

[Jeff Lowe]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

Yep, yep. Me. Me and the beef are worked workshopping something.

[Cook]

Oh.

[Arian Foster]

We used to do some writing back in the day. Getting back in.

[Big T]

Is it the same story I would.

[Jeff Lowe]

Love to hear more about.

[Arian Foster]

Well, I can't tell you because there's a lot of. There's like some national security implications to the source material that I'm working with.

[Jeff Lowe]

Oh, you've also famously had ideas stolen in the industry. So I have.

[Arian Foster]

I'm. I'm under NDA with the people that I'm working with to not discuss the content of the script at this time. But if you have any advice for me about. About cracking the knuckles, getting back into the writing game.

[Jeff Lowe]

I love that. That's great. Darrow. We will have to talk much more about that. As much as you're allowed to talk.

[Arian Foster]

I'm very excited about the premise. The premise is. I think.

[Big T]

Okay.

[Arian Foster]

I think. I think we're something. Yep. Yep. A movie that's never. I've never seen a movie like this before, and I would like to see this movie.

[Jeff Lowe]

I Love that. Avatar 4. You're calling it Avatar 4?

[Arian Foster]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Jeff Lowe]

I'll give.

[Big T]

I'll give. I'll give.

[Jeff Lowe]

One more movie wreck before I go here, because it's on Netflix. Company man. This one. I don't know if this is like a repeat viewing, but I thought this is incredible. And it's. It's kind of climb up charts called Train Dreams on Netflix. Slow drama, but it's. I think it's. I think it's fantastic. Has not been receiving as much love as I think it probably should. So you can stream that. It's on Netflix.

[Arian Foster]

Okay. Train Dreams.

[Cook]

All right, folks.

[Arian Foster]

Thank you, Jeff.

[Cook]

Oh, man.

[Jeff Lowe]

Thanks for having me.

[Arian Foster]

See you, buddy. Amy Winner.

[Big T]

You'd never know.

[Arian Foster]

I don't know if you saw the little Easter egg in the background. I love Jeff.

[Big T]

You'd never know.

[Arian Foster]

Jeff is the best. Also, new season of the dozen starting soon. Just got that text from Jeff today.

[Maddie]

I'm still a free agent.

[Big T]

When's opening day?

[Arian Foster]

Super Bowl Returning champion.

[Cook]

You got a squad, Biggie.

[Jeff Lowe]

Yeah.

[Big T]

What?

[Cook]

Oh, Maddie, we can't. We can't do that.

[Big T]

Wait, what's the. What's the surprise?

[Arian Foster]

He just.

[Cook]

He moved on. Okay.

[Maddie]

No, I. No, no.

[Big T]

I actually.

[Maddie]

I know that we're not doing trivia.

[Big T]

Anymore, to be totally honest with you. I was planning on retirement, and then Jeff.

[Cook]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

I thought you were retiring.

[Big T]

Jeff texted me, would you be on this team? And I just didn't want to say no. So I am on a team? Yes.

[Maddie]

Are you allowed to reveal who's on the team with you?

[Big T]

I don't know, but I'll do it. It is myself, Jack, Mac and Dante. Wow. We are called the Red Team, and I think we have a pretty good cast of characters.

[Cook]

I'm happy for you. You deserve better than I was.

[Big T]

No, but you were. You were. You were a good. You made the show.

[Cook]

I was probably funny. Yeah. Vibes. Vibes guy. I don't. I don't know a lot of. About sports, though. You catch me in five years, I'm gonna know a lot more about baseball, though.

[Big T]

I love that.

[Arian Foster]

We actually.

[Big T]

We have some baseball business to handle when the show's over. I have to ask you about something.

[Cook]

I don't probably. This is how much we missed each other. This is probably the longest nano dozen of all time.

[Big T]

We we. A lot of show today. A lot of show.

[Arian Foster]

Do we want to do we want to cut some of this out and put it in on Wednesday?

[Cook]

No, Let it ride. This for Let it ride. All right, people.

[Arian Foster]

Okay. Well, we will see you guys in that case, on Thursday. We love you guys. We had a lot to talk about today. Lot to get into. See you guys Thursday. Love you guys.

[Cook]

Peace.