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John C. Dvorak
She's all jacked up about the action hoe.
Adam Curry
Adam Curry, John C. Dvorak, it's Sunday, May 17, 2026. This is your award winning Get My nation Media Assassination Episode 1869. This is no Agenda doing the Bangaranga and broadcasting live from the heart of the Texas hill country here in FEMA region number six in the morning, everybody. I'm Adam Curry.
John C. Dvorak
And from Refinery Row where everybody's happy that Bill Cassidy's finally out, I'm John C. Dvorak.
Adam Curry
It's Craig. Hey, man, the gloves are coming off. Gloves are coming off. I don't care how, how, you know, if they cut your, your chest open, the gloves are off. I cannot believe that for 18 years, one thing has been my segment. One thing. Oh, no. You need to come in with a series of four clips about Eurovision.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. After you poached and poached and poached, I got sick of it.
Adam Curry
What did I poach?
John C. Dvorak
You know, everything.
Adam Curry
Well, we do this every single year. We're always very.
John C. Dvorak
And we nailed it again.
Adam Curry
We did. I think we forgot to nail it. We completely forgot to predict.
John C. Dvorak
That is a good thing.
Adam Curry
But okay, I will. Yes, because we probably would have corrected, predicted incorrectly. But I will relent. I will allow you graciously to roll out whatever you think is important about this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
John C. Dvorak
Well, it's funny you should ask. Now, first of all, this is the 70th anniversary.
Adam Curry
Big deal. I mean, 75 would have been better, but. Yeah, yeah, yep, 75 is better.
John C. Dvorak
100 is even better, but 70, you know, you know, it's.
Adam Curry
Since you're doing the segment, first of all, did we have any transsexuals this year in the, in the contest?
John C. Dvorak
Oh, I was fed. They were all transsexuals.
Adam Curry
Yeah.
John C. Dvorak
So let's say that this is a PBS report or. I'm sorry, NPR report. So I thought it was good, kind of entertaining because they actually, in an offhanded way predicted the winner, even though it was the long shot in the way it was presented. But let's listen to. And the guys very, they're very enthusiastic. Let's go with Eurovision 70 years as clip number one.
Adam Curry
Okay, Vienna, let the grand final of the Eurovision song contest begin. 70 years old, still as glamorous as ever. The final Eurovision Song Contest is in full swing in Vienna. You heard three of the early entries. Denmark, Germany and Israel. It's said to be the non sporting event with the biggest global audience. So if you're not listening to News Hour, you Are probably watching it. Or maybe. Is this npr?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
With a British guy.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
You're doing both at the same time. Let's speak now to someone who is going to do that. William Lee Adams, BBC journalist, founder of Wee Wee Blogs, which is the world's most followed independent Eurovision channel on YouTube. What kind of blog?
John C. Dvorak
Wee Wee Blogs.
Adam Curry
Wee Wee Blogs. Okay. He's in Vienna. Hi, William.
John C. Dvorak
Hey, good evening, James.
Adam Curry
Good to have you on the program. What, nearly two hours since it all started. What are the high so far?
John C. Dvorak
Oh, wait a minute. The room is. This is the BBC World Service. Of course.
Adam Curry
Yes. Thank you. I knew it couldn't be npr.
John C. Dvorak
I just thought it was so lame they had to be npr. But now that I think about it, you're right.
Adam Curry
Yeah.
John C. Dvorak
Okay. Onward.
Adam Curry
Whenever you bling in, bring in the guy who writes the Wee Wee blog.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, the Wee Wee Blog is, I think, even beneath npr, very bouncy and very buoyant. A lot of that is down to Australia. Delta Goodrum. She is going gold.
Adam Curry
Yes, yes. I'm stopping. Oh, my God. We're never going to get through this.
John C. Dvorak
Australia. They're in Europe.
Adam Curry
Oh, we go through this every year. You might as well add Israel and say Israel.
John C. Dvorak
They're not in this, are they? Because they're not in Europe.
Adam Curry
Yes, but is the Euro the Eurovision?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, Euro standing for Europe.
Adam Curry
No, that. That just means Eurovision. Like, you can see Europe. You have a vision of Europe. It doesn't mean that you have to be in Europe.
John C. Dvorak
Well. Oh, then how did the United States do in this competition?
Adam Curry
We don't. Look, we have the voice. We invented all of these things.
John C. Dvorak
Okay, well, they dropped the United States. We'll drop ourselves. How about South America? How did Brazil do?
Adam Curry
Every year we go through this. What, every year? They could. Everyone can participate if they want. They just have to join the European Broadcasting Union, which costs money.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, there it is.
Adam Curry
This thing. It's like the Olympics, you know, it's like, then your country wins and then it's all hosted in your country and there's a lot of money involved. Sponsors, all kinds of stuff everywhere.
John C. Dvorak
7,000 Swarovski crystals.
Adam Curry
She sort of looks like liquid champagne
John C. Dvorak
walking down the stage.
Adam Curry
Now, I will say this is the commentary that I expect from Eurovision. 7,000 Swarovski crystals. She looks like champagne coming down the steps is wonderful.
John C. Dvorak
Now, her song is called Eclipse. This is about alignment.
Adam Curry
And we can take some notes here because this is how the Podcast award should run. That you were going to organize, that we were going to be the, the,
John C. Dvorak
the still in play connection that two people have, that's really special and can lead to sort of romantic entanglement.
Adam Curry
Now, she herself is a cancer survivor.
John C. Dvorak
She's raised more than $120 million for cancer research. And so this song is about timing,
Adam Curry
you know, and she told me, when
John C. Dvorak
I sing, I'm singing for all the struggles I, the struggles I've endured and survived. And it's just beautiful. She rises into the air on an elevator borrowed from Beyonce. The American pop star.
Adam Curry
Oh, no.
John C. Dvorak
Emerges from a piano.
Adam Curry
So she's in the air in gold. There's the sun behind her. She looks like a gorgeous Renaissance painting with the sun being that halo. It's just stunning. Well, you've painted the picture on the radio, which is what we. Yes, that was pure theater of the mind. Thank you, Wee Wee Blog. We'd like you to have done, which is wonderful. But tell us about the other favorites. I mean, she's one of them. Finland, Greece, although I think you had a kind of Bulgaria have come in at the last minute for you, have they?
John C. Dvorak
Oh, absolutely.
Adam Curry
The contest really is a two horse
John C. Dvorak
race between Australia and Finland.
Adam Curry
Oh, how wrong he was.
John C. Dvorak
Well, he did mention Bulgaria.
Adam Curry
We should have sent Spencer Pratt to the Eurovision. He would have. He would have swept it.
John C. Dvorak
He would have. All right, now we go to the ugg clip. I put ugh. Because this is a real groaner, this clip. But Bulgaria is lurking on the outside. Now, the Bulgarian singer Dara, she used to suffer from a compulsion where she couldn't leave her house unless her makeup was perfect.
Adam Curry
And I don't say this in a
John C. Dvorak
joking way, it was clinical.
Adam Curry
If her eyebrows weren't painted on perfectly,
John C. Dvorak
she would experience so much anxiety, she
Adam Curry
would just stay home.
John C. Dvorak
There is a traditional ceremony in Bulgaria,
Adam Curry
Kurkurai, I believe, and they expel evil spirits.
John C. Dvorak
So on stage she has people with bad make sitting in chairs. There's plastic on their face and they perform a dance to drive out the anxiety, to drive out the evil.
Adam Curry
But she does this within a box
John C. Dvorak
that looks like an office.
Adam Curry
You're not aware of the audience even though there are tens of thousands of people out there.
John C. Dvorak
It's creating a music video universe on a stage. It is remarkable.
Adam Curry
And then just to close up off
John C. Dvorak
the circle about the favorites, you've got Finland, my Finland. If Australia is about emotional connection with the singer and the audience, Finland is about emotional disconnection because you have a man and a woman on stage. The woman is 56 year old violinist Linda Lampineas and she's deliberately icy. She doesn't look at anyone. She's avoiding Pete. She says that she is like a flamethrower. Likahitan in Finnish. Because, you know, she'd warm up and
Adam Curry
people would be drawn to her, but
John C. Dvorak
then she would just get cold as
Adam Curry
ice and walk away. And so their dynamic, his fire, her
John C. Dvorak
ice, it creates smoke.
Adam Curry
Why are you torturing us with this? I've never done this. Can I get some of President Trump's bleach to drink, please?
John C. Dvorak
Well, I think it's about time we got to the nitty gritty of this piece of shit. Okay, and this is this. Is it that ridiculous over analysis of. Of stupid acts? Oh, the woman has anxiety attacks because her makeup is incorrect and she's the one who won.
Adam Curry
Yeah. Yes.
John C. Dvorak
Because of bad makeup. I mean, this whole thing is ludicrous. And every year we talk about it, we do normally predict with some accuracy, I might say, even though we would have missed it this year, because who.
Adam Curry
I know we were too busy looking at the news.
John C. Dvorak
Well, we were excised from the prediction by the cosmic forces because it was impossible for us to predict. Okay, that's my thinking.
Adam Curry
All right.
John C. Dvorak
And that's in line with the kind of stupidity that we're listening to now. So let's go on with clip three.
Adam Curry
Well, you talked about anxiety earlier. There was a bit of anxiety, quite a lot of anxiety, I guess, around Israel's participation. Five countries boycotting it. How did their entry perform? How did it all go down?
John C. Dvorak
Indeed, Israel's participation remains a major flashpoint for fans, for performers, and for delegations from rival broadcasters. In the past two editions of Eurovision, we heard a lot of booing.
Adam Curry
Yeah. I think.
John C. Dvorak
What does that even mean?
Adam Curry
Here's what I think. If I'm not correct, if I'm not mistaken, the euro. If I'm not. If I'm not corrupted, if I'm not correct. If I'm not correct, then I'll be correct, because that's rule one. I'm always correct. I believe that these broadcasters are all public broadcasters. I think that's part of the hook and that's why you've got. Israel has public broadcasting, Australia has public broadcasting, Canada. Are they in this thing? Wouldn't surprise me. They've all got public broadcasting and I think you have to be a public broadcaster. So this is kind of. This is their super bowl, where they all get to, you know, get drunk and hang out and party, because it's kind of their party. I think that's what's behind all this.
John C. Dvorak
But. So how does that make him competitive and jeering in the audience? But this year, we didn't have the same amount of booing, if any.
Adam Curry
Certainly in the final.
John C. Dvorak
I didn't hear any this evening. A lot of that comes down to the subject matter. The song that The Israeli act, no. 1 Betton, is singing is Michelle. Michelle is a woman, and they had a toxic relationship. And you can't really read that politically. Whereas in the past years, people imbued meaning into the songs. For instance, in 2024, the original title of Israel's entry was October Rain. Many people interpreted that to a story
Adam Curry
about the October 7th attacks.
John C. Dvorak
And the following year, their singer, she actually survived the October 7th attacks. She herself hid under dead bodies.
Adam Curry
Now, that's not a political statement. That's what she's endured.
John C. Dvorak
But people imbued it with meaning, suggesting, oh, Israel chose an act because they wanted to court sympathy on the international stage. But again, we need to remember, art is one of the times of the Zeitgeist. You know, what is personal, what is political. These subjects are often very gray.
Adam Curry
Hold on. I have to subscribe to the RSS feed of the Wee Wee Bl. Now. This is so awesome.
John C. Dvorak
Unbelievable.
Adam Curry
Yes, it's unbelievable. You could have done one clip of this guy.
John C. Dvorak
I'm sorry that I could be laboring it, because this. I hope this is the last time
Adam Curry
we ever talked about it. No, I mean, here's. I was gonna do one clip and then play the. Play snippets of the two songs, the 1 and 2. That's all I was gonna do. That's what we do with this.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. Well, you got. You got usurped.
Adam Curry
Indeed. You got poached. I don't know if it's a good thing for the show. I think it's hurting the show. Indeed. And probably is the voting. Because for a lot of people, that's always been one of the highlights. Not just the singing, but the voting. And it's changed this year to give a better balance between the musical juries and the general public.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, you're right. There were two big changes. One change is that the professional juries in each country, they've been increased. So last year there were five jurors. This year there are seven jurors. And they have to include more people
Adam Curry
under 30 or 25, basically making them
John C. Dvorak
younger and more diverse. The other big change is that rather than voting 20 times per person, which was allowed in previous years, you can
Adam Curry
only vote 10 times.
John C. Dvorak
Now. This is off the back of the Revelation following last year's Eurovision that an
Adam Curry
Israeli government agency was involved in buying
John C. Dvorak
ads, YouTube and other social media platforms
Adam Curry
calling on voters to vote for Israel 20 times.
John C. Dvorak
Now, the reason multiple voters can vote. I pulled this, by the way. I pulled this stunt at a. At a chili cook off for the People's Choice Awards.
Adam Curry
Wait, you bought. You bought votes?
John C. Dvorak
Well, we had a couple of. Of chorus girls at the booth and talking everyone into turning all their votes into our. Our jar so they would sweet talk these guys. And you. How many votes you guys got? Yeah, we got 10 votes. We can just give us all 10 votes. Oh, it would be so nice. And so we ended up getting a lot of extra votes using that trick. But it's idiotic if you think about it. You should have one vote. You get to vote for the one you think is the best. You don't get 10 votes. You give them all to one guy.
Adam Curry
I can't even discuss this with you.
John C. Dvorak
European Broadcasting Union wants to spread the love.
Adam Curry
It wants people to engage with all cultures, all musical cultures. Whether I'm letting it play out out of respect for you. 18 years of respect.
John C. Dvorak
Those.
Adam Curry
Those that music comes from friends or from foes.
John C. Dvorak
But it seems to have backfired on
Adam Curry
the last edition where you had advertisements
John C. Dvorak
saying, no, don't spread the love. Give it all to us.
Adam Curry
So this year that's been reduced to 10. We'll have to wait and see if that has any sort of impact on the results. We're almost at the end, I think. 21st group at the moment, five ladies from Cyprus performing. Any sort of surprises, any artists that you. That stood out for you? That's among the favorites. No, no, all the way.
John C. Dvorak
Performing next to last in 24.
Adam Curry
The song is called Choke, which is
John C. Dvorak
very provocative and a lot of people were offended. There was a petition to have it removed, but the singer has explained through her staging, she is saying, choke me to a phantom.
Adam Curry
Oh, choke me. How come Choke Me didn't win? Let's just listen very quickly to the Israeli entry, Michelle. We'll just listen to a little bit here. We'll jump around. I'm doing this so that Spotify will take this episode off of their podcast features. Here we go. Okay, that's rejected. And here is the winner, Bangaranga. Let's see if we can. If I would have voted for this. No, I can see a drop. Yeah. All right, Bangaranga. Here we go. Oh, I see a little bit of. A little bit of Bollywood in there. Yeah, I get it. Kids like that. It's great. All right. Fifteen minutes of the show. Very good. Very good.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
Very, very good.
John C. Dvorak
Okay, well, that's the end of that.
Adam Curry
It is. Let me, let me, let's go into some Trump hate. Ooh, yeah. We haven't done some proper Trump hate recently.
John C. Dvorak
That's true. We have. I, since I stopped getting the tick tock clips.
Adam Curry
Well, this is a semi mainstream media Trump hate. And it started with, let me see, with the chattering class, as we call it. The chattering class. Listen to how Megyn Kelly introduces her guest. All right, we're gonna bring in our very first guest, very first guest ever here on the MK Show. That's the podfather of our show, Glenn Greenwald, I speak of. He's a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and host of System Update on Substack. Help me understand this. I mean, it's one thing never to ask me back on the show. I mean, it's pretty.
John C. Dvorak
Well, you were, you were, you were, you. I thought you were an ungrateful guest.
Adam Curry
What do you mean ungrateful guest? So she has Glenn Greenwald on the
John C. Dvorak
show and now's the pod father.
Adam Curry
Somehow he, well, he's her pod father. I used to be her pod. I'm. No, I can be the pod father, but I'm not her pod father.
John C. Dvorak
Okay.
Adam Curry
And, and so Megyn Kelly captured by her audience Glenn Greenwald. He's, he never got uncaptured. I think he's, he's always been kind of the same self hating Jew. They, they just have to lay into it. I, I thought this was career ending. Career ending.
John C. Dvorak
I know this took place, but I'm glad you got this.
Adam Curry
Oh, no, she had Tucker on. She got Glenn Greenwald, Don Raf on. It's fantastic. There was an admission on the Iran war which jumped out at me and it might to you too. Here it is in slot seven, by the way. So that show, Here it is in slot seven and then you get a three second pause. Please appreciate your no Agenda show. When you hear these things, you know, this is, this is not pro me and it might to you too. Here it is in Sat 7 1.
John C. Dvorak
We're doing it to help Israel and to help Saudi Arabia and to help
Adam Curry
Qatar and UAE and you know, Kuwait and other countries, Bahrain. It also helps China. We're actually, I told him today, I said, you know, we're helping you and
John C. Dvorak
we're helping you in another way because
Adam Curry
I don't think they want, I don't
John C. Dvorak
think China wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon either.
Adam Curry
I said, I Said, just don't go crazy.
John C. Dvorak
You don't need them having a nuclear weapon.
Adam Curry
What did he say? Well, he's not going to respond to my chair.
John C. Dvorak
He's a pretty cool guy.
Adam Curry
He's not going to say, oh, gee,
John C. Dvorak
that's a good point. I think he might. What's he going to do?
Adam Curry
What a wonderful point.
John C. Dvorak
You think he agreed?
Adam Curry
That was the impression.
John C. Dvorak
I don't think he wants him to have. No, he would like to see it end, but he's been good about it,
Adam Curry
you know, so there it is. I mean, lest there was any doubt, it's the first thing in the answer. We did it to help Israel. We're doing it to help. Is renamed other countries. He has said the world can't have Iran having a nuclear weapon. But just to say that is so controversial that we're doing it to help Israel. We know, we know that. We've said that many times. And then you get called an anti Semite. But that's not anti Semitic. It is a fact. You heard it from the President of the United States himself. He thinks it's also helping some of the Gulf Arab states. Fine, that's not controversial. You can say that. But prior to the president saying it himself explicitly, you weren't allowed to say that other piece of it, or you were called an anti Semite. Why? She's so. What? She's so uptight about this. Call me an anti Semite. You couldn't say this because you call it mjc. You're a podcast. You can say whatever you want to say. Why do you care?
John C. Dvorak
I don't know. It's weird.
Adam Curry
Here comes Greenwald. This was a movement that was calling itself America first. And then you have Trump saying, oh, yeah, this war. Yeah, it's kind of helping us. We don't want to have a nuclear weapon, but, you know, yeah, we're helping Israel get rid of their big enemy. I think he editorialized that a little bit. These people are insane about this stuff. And so the way they take the president's statement is, oh, it's about Israel. Oh, yeah, they're just helping Israel get rid of their big enemy. Of course, Trump mentioned a whole bunch of other countries, but Glenn Greenwald has an answer for that, too. And also when we talk about these Persian Gulf states, what we mean are Persian Gulf dictatorships, Arab dictatorships that have extreme levels of human rights abuses that we claim to be so offended when they appear in Iran. You think protesters fare any better in Dubai or in Riyadh or in Doha or There's no one protesting in Dubai. I think they're all pretty happy with things in Dubai. Riyadh, are they protest. Should they be protesting? Am I missing something?
John C. Dvorak
I don't know. Maybe they should in any.
Adam Curry
In Bahrain or Kuwait. No, they. Or then Iran. No, they don't. And this idea, you know, we're. And also the Strait of Hormuz. Trump himself said at the beginning, out of frustration, look, if you're not willing to go to a war with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, we don't have to do it. We don't need the Strait of Hormuz. Which is true. We don't get oil from the Strait of Hormuz. China does. And the Gulf states need the Strait of Hormuz to sell oil. But Trump is in bed with these Persian Gulf dictators. He loves them too. They're extremely rich. They have a kind of shared aesthetic with this very ostentatious, gold laden kind of. Trump is now a Middle Eastern dictator. You see, this is where it's come.
John C. Dvorak
But I do have the taste for gold, I have to say.
Adam Curry
Yeah, totally. I mean, if you go look at that BBC video of me and in 2004, I had the same thing, but yet I never felt like a Middle east dictator was my style. This gold laden kind of, you know, wealth expression. He loves them. His, his family's in bed with the, with, with the Persian Gulf state in bed. And he's very close to them. He listens to them, obviously to Israel. And I don't think these are good things for our country. Why are we, why are we prosecuting a war that's harming Americans for the benefit of Israel or these Persian Gulf dictators? And on the question of China, yeah, I mean, opening up the Strait of Har is far more in China's interest than ours. The problem is, is that the only reason the Strait of Hormuz is closed is because Israel is, because the United States joined Israel and attacking Iran. It was perfectly open. The Strait of Hormuz was, prior to this war, for forever, perfectly, forever closed now because it was a response to the attack on Iran. And I think the rest of the world is like, you caused this problem, it's your responsibility to fix it. And I think it's a reasonable view for most countries to have. So I played these clips, first of all, I thought it was kind of funny. But second of all, they are now so much like the mainstream media, you know, they just, they don't really look at anything further than the surface I think they're watching Ms. Now and CNN and Fox probably to, to get their, their, their talking points almost. I mean, this, this whole trip to China as you. I mean, it was ridiculous. It made no sense. Everything was wrong. It's stupid. Trump came back with nothing. Let's go to Ms. Now. When Donald Trump was running favorite Jim Psaki for president, you may remember this, he had a question he loved to ask a particular thought experiment about a ted a tete between Vice President Harris and President Xi. And it went like this. Kamala Harris is so incompetent.
John C. Dvorak
Can you imagine her dealing with President Xi of China? Can you imagine her dealing with President Xi? Can you imagine with President Xi? Can you imagine her negotiating with President Xi of China? Can you imagine her standing with President Xi of China?
Adam Curry
By the way, nice supercut.
John C. Dvorak
I don't think so.
Adam Curry
Can you imagine he said that so many times. I mean, Trump spent that campaign railing about China's influence in the world and he repeatedly insisted that he alone was the only candidate tough enough to go toe to toe with President Xi of China. He was the only person who could show Xi who's boss. Well, he finished his first state visit to China in his second term. And how did it go? Did big bad Donald Trump stand up to the Chinese leader? I mean, this is exactly the same as Meghan and Glenn. There's no analysis. They're just doing hot takes, like punchlines.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, it's a good point. That's just a hot take.
Adam Curry
Yeah. And so let's.
John C. Dvorak
That's the exact right word for it.
Adam Curry
Ambassador McFaul. Let me start with you, Ambassador McFaul. Here we go. This guy's good. Outlined some of the biggest issues that were at stake during this visit. It. We talked about this late last night when it was. The trip was still a bit ongoing, but as you looked, it's now over. What did Trump and really the United States get out of this trip? Well, what do you think, John? What do you think they got out of this trip? They get anything out of this trip? Anything at all? Anything? Anything.
John C. Dvorak
I think they got something out of it. I think the Boeing possible sale of Boeing jets was a big deal, especially if it's going to be 200 of them or more. Yeah, well, that was about it, seems to me.
Adam Curry
No.
John C. Dvorak
And they got to meet and then Trump got to show off to all these our own business guys that he knows. This guy she. And they can introduce him to. Hey, you can meet the guy here. Here, you meet him and shake his hand. And we're all good to go. Well, I think that's, that's a big deal.
Adam Curry
There's actually more. But yeah, there was that. There was some soybeans. Always some soybeans. Oh, there's always got to do some soybeans. But let's hear what Ambassador McFaul thinks. Chad, you just summarized it brilliantly. That was a fantastic lay down. And I'm so glad you remind everybody about what he said he was going
John C. Dvorak
to do with China.
Adam Curry
Remember when he first ran for president,
John C. Dvorak
it was all about China.
Adam Curry
China's eating our lunch.
John C. Dvorak
China's taking our jobs.
Adam Curry
They're doing all these horrible things to us. And he used in that phrase, that clip you just said you showed Communist China. Right. You never heard him use the word communist once on this trip. And I just think this flip is remarkable. And I hope his voters noticed it. I hope Republicans noticed it because for decades notice what the Republican Party was always saying. Democrats are weak on China. We're going to be tough. And now he is completely flipped. You could not do a big bigger flip. So again, what did he do? Well, he was just nice. He didn't say you're. Wait a minute.
John C. Dvorak
They're always bitching and moaning that he's not nice and he has no decorum and he goes over there and he becomes nice. And now they're complaining about that. All they do is complain.
Adam Curry
It gets better. I think an acronym you could use to summarize not just this meeting, but everything leading up to it is Make China Great Again. When you look at the impact of the Trump president, Make China Great Again. This Trump screwed it up. Only made China stronger. The real winner has been China, and the loser has been America's allies and America itself. And what's really extraordinary about it, Ali, is President Trump was elected beginning in 2016 in large part because he was really one of the first U.S. leaders who recognized the way that China's entry to the WTO was contributing to the hollowing out of the US Middle class. Wow. The very same people who told him, told him that he was racist and he was going to kill people by withdrawing from all of these organizations. All they do is counter programming all the time. One of his promises to American Rust Belt workers was he was going to fix it. But instead, what we see he's doing is bullying reporters, beating up on America's closest friends and allies. Oh, no. And frankly, seeming cowed by China again.
John C. Dvorak
No.
Adam Curry
Well, let's go. Let's go to the. The liberal intellectual elites. An acronym we'll Go to the liberal intellectual elites who everybody listens to because their pod is by far one of the most important and, and smart, smart tech pods. It also, I mean it's a reminder of the stark contrast in the first Trump term. I'm sorry, this isn't the pod, but it's one of the hosts of the pod for the.
John C. Dvorak
What are we talking about?
Adam Curry
We're talking about the pivot pod and how the business. Kara Swisher, you see, she gets to be on CNN now that she has a show on cnn. You see, that's how it works.
John C. Dvorak
She wants to live forever.
Adam Curry
We're seeing now. I mean so many people were critical of that inauguration seating chart, but this is kind of evidence.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Adam Curry
Probably a big factor for that. So they could go on trips like this. This. Well, well, as I said, it's a coin operated presidency and they figured out very quickly that you put money in and you get coin operated presidency. She's going to explain it.
John C. Dvorak
That's cute.
Adam Curry
She's going to explain it.
John C. Dvorak
It's a co. That's going to catch on.
Adam Curry
Yeah, everyone's. All the kids are talking about it and see and they figured out very quickly that you put money in and you get stuff out like Andreessen Horowitz spending the most money towards the midterms. They understand it's a very small amount of money to spend 115, you know, million dollars because they get so much more. They get billions and billions out of it. And so they've sort of figured out it's a cheap way to get what you want. And that's what they're doing. And they will, they will continue to do that because shareholders, as I've said over and over again are their biggest goal. And that, that's fine. I suppose shareholders are pretty explicit. No, she's, she's just waffling. She's, you know, without Galloway, she's no good. She really isn't. Then she's just, she is the. Just. She is,
John C. Dvorak
she's gone and she's like a single now. She's, you know, she's like one of the people that were in the Rolling Stones decided to become a single act.
Adam Curry
Yeah.
John C. Dvorak
And so she's.
Adam Curry
When Charlie Watson is his jazz album, she quit.
John C. Dvorak
So she quit the group to become a single because she's such a demand for it. And so this, this dog of this I want to live forever thing, which is overproducing cost a lot of money is going to, is going to cost CNN you. She's going to disappear from the scene after that thing. After they caused. Analyze that sucker. So we'll see what happens.
Adam Curry
All right, so now here they are together on the pod. He brought 17 CEOs with him and three diplomats flying billionaires on a plane to China to get shit. Seems. Oh, by the way, she has a really foul mouth in this one. Problematic. Hi, everyone, this is Pivot from New York magazine and the Vox Media podcast network. I'm Kara Swisher. And I'm Scott Galloway. President Trump. Oh, could you, can we start the show like that? I'm Adam Curry. And you go. And I'm John C. Dvorak. I think we should start. Yeah. Okay. Everybody's doing the Bangaranga and broadcasting live from the heart of the Texas hill country here in FEMA region number six in the morning, everybody. I'm Adam Curry.
John C. Dvorak
And I'm John C. Dvorak. Perfect. In the morning.
Adam Curry
Excellent, Excellent. I'm Kara Swisher. And I'm Scott Galloway. President Trump and Chinese President Xi have met for a little over two hours right now and attended a state banquet to start off their two day summit in China. In G's opening toast at the banquet, G said achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand.
John C. Dvorak
Snickering at Trump behind his back.
Adam Curry
Though the White House said both sides agree that the strait of her moves must remain open. Xi warned Trump that mishandling Taiwan would cause clashes and put the entire relationship in great jeopardy. What just happened? Oh, it ended. Oh, well. One more, one more from these Jim Oaks. It's short. President Trump, however, does not appear to be overly concerned. Let's listen to how he answered a reporter's question as he left the White House for his China trip. When you're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President,
John C. Dvorak
to what extent are American financial situations
Adam Curry
motivating you to make it feel. Not even a little bit.
John C. Dvorak
The only thing that matters when I'm
Adam Curry
talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon.
John C. Dvorak
I don't think about American financial situation. I don't think about anybody.
Adam Curry
I think about one thing.
John C. Dvorak
We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
Adam Curry
That's all. That's the only thing that. Oh, wow. That was, that was some quote. That was like an ad. Like they just. He cut an ad for them. It was, was. That was astonishing, I have to say. I mean, it's what I, it's what I think he thinks. And this nuclear weapon thing, we're less safe now than we were during the Obama days. When we had most of the enriched uranium and a deal and the Strait of Hormuz was open. So any thoughts about what he's doing here?
John C. Dvorak
Why?
Adam Curry
Or he's just, just an old battled man who just says whatever is on his mind. So this was indeed the ad and all of the M5M jumped on this. Oh, he doesn't care. In fact, there's always one guy in the troll room who always. Who basically should be on the pivot pod. Yeah, screw Americans, right? You don't care, but you don't care. They all did this. They all jumped up. He doesn't care about your money. He only cares about nuclear war. President Trump is back at the White House and back to the reality in the United States of gas prices which are now averaging $4.53 a gallon nationally. If you thought that after a couple of days away during his trip to China and when asked exactly what he meant when he answered that question, that he was going to rephrase or clarify what he said about Americans financial situations when it comes to the impact from the Iran war, you would be wrong.
John C. Dvorak
Hold on a second. That sounds like Ms. Now.
Adam Curry
That's cnn.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, that's cnn.
Adam Curry
That's Kaitlan Collins.
John C. Dvorak
Okay. It seems to me, yes, the Democrats who have been fighting against fossil fuels forever and would love a ten dollar a gallon gas price to keep people from using gasoline should be happy about this. How come they're bitching about it? Could you, can you answer me that question?
Adam Curry
Because this is all about the midterms. That's all that it is. Everything, everything in the world is about the midterms. One of my things, midterms. The contact context in the question itself was pretty clear. But also in the subsequent interview that the President did while he was in Beijing with Bret Baier. And in fact, during that interview, the President continued doubling down on this sentiment. When you tell somebody you're going to have to pay a little morenot that much more, a little more for gas
John C. Dvorak
saline for a very short period of time because we want to stop the threat of being, being blown to pieces by a lunatic, by a crazy person
Adam Curry
and they are crazy using nuclear weapons.
John C. Dvorak
Everybody says that's fine.
Adam Curry
And that question was a fake question.
John C. Dvorak
And they didn't put my full answer.
Adam Curry
I totally care. Of course, to people struggling to put food on the table or who are
John C. Dvorak
grimacing when they go to fill up
Adam Curry
their tank vote Democrat. There was nothing fake about the question. And as far as the President's answer, we've played the entire thing for you since he said it as he was departing the White House earlier this week. But just for good measure, you can listen to the entire thing. Okay, good measure. Here we go. Mr. President, to what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make a deal? Not even a little bit.
John C. Dvorak
The only thing that matters when I'm
Adam Curry
talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about American's financial situation.
John C. Dvorak
I don't think about anybody.
Adam Curry
I think about one thing.
John C. Dvorak
We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all.
Adam Curry
That's the only thing that motivates. So it's subtle. It's very subtle. Chopping off the front end of it. But I think it matters. So anyway, let's find out exactly what the, I don't know, financial people think of the trip and if they felt it was any good. This is cnbc. I like CNBC because they kind of have to tell the truth. It's difficult for them sometimes, especially for the Sorkin kid, but they have to tell the truth because, you know, people invest on it and otherwise people won't watch the stupid network anymore. So here we go. President Xi has already issued a warning to President Trump saying that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in the China US Relation. And if not handled properly, these two countries could have clashes and even conflicts. What do you make of this warning? That's a very good question and that's probably the biggest concern for people like myself live in Taiwan in a summer. There are three subjects Trump I want to talk about. Number one is Iran and war because they want to reduce inflation with most supply of oil. Number two is trade. That's why Trump got all the CEOs, Nvidia, Apple, etc. To China about trade. Number three is Taiwan. But from SEAS perspective, the order importance is reversed for SEAS personality. Now Taiwan is number one subject, number one importance. So if you listened, and I'm just going to think it's true, I don't know, it could be total bullcrap. But if you listen to some of interviews, it seems like some other deals were made that are relevant to our relationship with China. Let me ask you this. The issue, and you've been asked about
John C. Dvorak
it and you've spoken about it, and that is China's support of Iran. How big a discussion was that today? We discussed it. I mean, when you say support, they're
Adam Curry
not fighting a war with us or anything. No, he's.
John C. Dvorak
He said he's not going to give military equipment. That's a big statement. He said that today.
Adam Curry
That's a big statement.
John C. Dvorak
He said that strongly. But at the same time, he said,
Adam Curry
you know, they buy a lot of
John C. Dvorak
their oil there and they'd like to keep doing that. He'd like to see Hormo Strait opened. I said, well, we didn't stop it. They did it. Then we stopped them. You know, sort of interesting, he joked. He said, you know, sort of if they stopped it, then you stop them,
Adam Curry
but they'd like to see it opened,
John C. Dvorak
but they actually closed it.
Adam Curry
He didn't like the fact that they're charging tolls.
John C. Dvorak
I don't know if they are or not. I don't know who would pay him. I mean, where do they put the money? The country's decimated. You know, they're charging tolls. Where's the money going?
Adam Curry
Do you think President Xi and China
John C. Dvorak
have the ability to influence the Iranians,
Adam Curry
considering they are one of their biggest. I love how he's not going to give an truthful answer. You can hear. He's like, I'm not going to tell you that.
John C. Dvorak
Look, look, he's not coming in with guns.
Adam Curry
He's not coming in with rifles and
John C. Dvorak
not coming and shooting. You know, he's been.
Adam Curry
He's been very good.
John C. Dvorak
They get a lot of their oil, 40% of their oil from that location. So what has happened? And one thing I think that we're
Adam Curry
going to make a deal on. He's. They've agreed they want to buy oil
John C. Dvorak
from the United States. They're going to go to Texas. We're going to start sending Chinese ships to Texas and to Louisiana and to Alaska.
Adam Curry
All right, let's go to CNBC with our Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright. You said short term. Should we. Should the. The world get prepared for maybe a longer supply disruption than some initially suspected? Because. Give us your view on where we stand in the Strait of Hormuz right now, if you would, Mr. Secretary. And also, what are your estimations about how long things might take to return to normal? And I hate that term, but I think you know what I mean. Yeah, but a lot of that's up to Iran. One way or the other, we will see an end to the Iranian nuclear program and we will see free flow of traffic through the Straits of Hormuz. That could happen relatively rapidly with an agreement with Iran. Every nation in the world is standing against what Iran is doing, including, including China, who's a major buyer of Iranian oil and other oil from the Arabian Gulf. Do you think they'll swap that out for us?
John C. Dvorak
Oil.
Adam Curry
It's kind of what I asked you at the top of the interview. Yeah, certainly in the short, certainly in the short run, they're, they're going to do that. They'll continue to buy and I think growing amounts of U.S. oil. You know, you see that Chinese ships are getting through the Straits of Hormuz because I think we control it. I don't think Iran controls it. I think we're just sitting there like, oh, this is great. Until you want to buy our insurance and use our, our new shipping infrastructure, you can do whatever. You come to Louisiana, come to Texas, best price, everything's going to be good. And in the background we've got UAE and their pipeline and eventually this thing will open up and I think you're going to see the price of oil go. Just, just. You okay?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, sorry.
Adam Curry
Just dive bomb. It seems so clear even looking at the futures.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, but don't we want to sell them oil at a little higher price to make a little extra money?
Adam Curry
Well, yeah, and we also want to do the insurance. We want, we want, take this away from the British guys. We want to run that. We've seen Saudi Arabia go full flow to the Red Sea with their port of Yambu. Do you think that the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Gulf are going to become permanently less important? They're still massively important, but less important
John C. Dvorak
than they have been.
Adam Curry
Oh, absolutely. I mean, Iran, this is a card you can play once. You can play once. We'll, we'll see more pipe pipeline capacity through Saudi, through uae. You know, there's an Iraqi pipeline that goes to Chehon in Turkey. We could see a Turkey going to Jordan. They'll be. Maybe that's why Turkey tried to get involved. Remember Turkey was trying to get involved in the, in the conversation.
John C. Dvorak
They. Yeah, they were actually not.
Adam Curry
Yeah, I think we got a pipeline. Send it down our way. This is good. Saudi through uae. You know, there's an Iraqi pipeline that goes to Chehan in Turkey. Turkey, we could see a pipeline going to Jordan. There'll be other routes for energy to get out of the Persian. Persian Gulf. I prefer to call it the Arabian Gulf, but yeah, we're renaming it. Think we will see it. How about the Gulf of America? Yeah, the Persian, Persian Gulf. I prefer to call it the Arabian Gulf, but yeah, I think we will see a decreasing importance from the Strait of Hormuz, but not a decreasing importance of those nations and energy production and energy supply. Yeah, they're great allies of the United States. They're key Energy suppliers to the world. Yeah, I think they have. They have some kind of plan that they're executing on and Rubio's lubio, I'm sorry, President lubio is aware of it. Is there anything you can. You can show? Well, I think the details will be announced later today. I don't want to get ahead of the actual announcement by the trade representative, but there's going to be some agricultural purchases which are important and important for our growers and yes, those things we hope in the future to expand it to energy purchase. You know, the United States is a net supplier of energy now to the world. We're one of the world's, if not the world's largest energy supplier at this point. Obviously, when it comes to the airplanes and the engines, those are American factories and American workers that are making that. And so anytime you can gain access to a market as large as this one, that's a very positive thing. Yeah, I still believe in the ark model. America, Russia, China, look, you can buy some from Russia. We're not going to make a problem out of it. We're not going to sanction the ghost ships. Just do it. Do it legally. Yeah, you're gonna have to pay more, but, you know, just get on board with everybody else and then that straight will eventually open up. It could take another four or five months for all I know.
John C. Dvorak
I don't think it's going to take forever. You know, there may be something to the. You know, our basic thesis on the show was always, there's a back channel in Iran.
Adam Curry
Yes.
John C. Dvorak
We were working with them in some way, shape or form. Has that disappeared or are we still. Is it possible that we're still working with him and all this is part of a giant scheme.
Adam Curry
Completely possible.
John C. Dvorak
And they would. And they're getting rid of the Ayatollah guys was part of it. Because, you know, the real powers in Iran didn't want them around because they were annoying.
Adam Curry
It was super annoying.
John C. Dvorak
Well, they're very annoying, you know, and this way, they were the Turk, remember the Turks, turban knockers. The guy. The kids go on bicycles and knock their turbans off.
Adam Curry
Yeah, I forgot about that. Well, we already know that there's more hijabs on the streets of Amsterdam than the streets of Tehran.
John C. Dvorak
Yes. Right. You got that information from a Boots on the Ground report.
Adam Curry
Yeah. So, you know, things are. By the way, I got a Boots on the ground from one of our producers. He says, everybody, let me just find it here. Everybody is, yeah, bugging or he says, boogie Boogieing out of Kuwait due to imminent action Sunday was what we have been told and why we bugged out. All contractors plus non essential personnel evacuated. This has to do with all GCC countries. Quote, trump is done effing around. Xi is handled. Oil being sold from the US CIA, Mossad insurgency.
John C. Dvorak
Hmm.
Adam Curry
We have served as the sheriff of the world here. Yeah, well, he's a military guy. We've served as the sheriff of the world. We're cleaning up European colonia, so there's a lot in here. But there's supposedly something might be happening today and everybody's getting out, so I don't know, maybe this will come to a quicker end than we thought.
John C. Dvorak
Well, it has to, in my opinion, because we still have to have the problem with the fourth of July.
Adam Curry
Yes, yes.
John C. Dvorak
We don't need anything. The sort of Damocles hanging over our heads on the 4th of July in our celebration of 250 years as a country.
Adam Curry
You know, speaking of Greek references, Chris, the Knight of the Iguana, he said that he had a slight correction to the thyroid. Thy. Yes.
John C. Dvorak
We can't pronounce it.
Adam Curry
He says the Thucydides trap warns the upcoming power, not the dominant one. Athens was the rising power. Sparta was gunning for him. If you take the Thydides trap, as it was originally, thus Thucydides.
John C. Dvorak
Thucydides.
Adam Curry
It's impossible to say.
John C. Dvorak
I know.
Adam Curry
Let's just call it T trap. If you take the T trap, which kind of cool with China, China is in danger. China is in danger of the trap, not the USA. So even this phony baloney thing that the M5M was bantering about, they didn't even get it right. Although I'm sure.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, they did. What?
Adam Curry
What? Although I'm sure in a future dictionary, the Thucydides trap will be reversed, just like decimate.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah,
Adam Curry
it'll just be reversed. Meanwhile, Cuba on deck. You recall the president said that on our way home from Iran, we'll park off the shore of Cuba and we'll say, hey, we're taking you over. And they'll say, okay, we're good. We're ready.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, I got a couple clips on this.
Adam Curry
Oh, okay, let's play your clips.
John C. Dvorak
Well, let's start with the blackouts one and two.
Adam Curry
Okay, Cuba blackout. Yep, up today. Cuba. This week, the island ran out of oil, causing massive blackouts across the country and a night of protest. Havana protest. What is. Who is this? Is this. That's.
John C. Dvorak
What's her name? That black chick that works on the Weekends at npr? Yeah, at npr. And she just. I don't know, she just doesn't want to pronounce words correct or.
Adam Curry
Got a visit from the CIA director. He was there for negotiations, starting with a tough choice for Cuba's leaders. Change or the U.S. will act. NPR international correspondent Ader Peralta is following it all and joins us now. Good morning, Ader. Hey, good morning, Alyssa. So let's start with more details from what looks like a week with a
John C. Dvorak
lot going on in Cuba.
Adam Curry
Yeah, I mean, we're reaching summer there,
John C. Dvorak
so it's really hot.
Adam Curry
And it so happens that the lights
John C. Dvorak
went off for more than 24 hours this week. So on Wednesday, very unhappy people took to the streets of Havana.
Adam Curry
They banged on pots and pans, demanding
John C. Dvorak
that the government turn the lights back on.
Adam Curry
And the government didn't offer much hope.
John C. Dvorak
The country's energy minister, Vicente de la Olivi, came on TV and said that
Adam Curry
the 100,000 tons of Russian crude that
John C. Dvorak
arrived in April has been used up
Adam Curry
and that the grid is now operating essentially without reserves.
John C. Dvorak
And remember that Cuba has received precious
Adam Curry
little oil because the US Is running a de facto oil blockade. Cuba has been investing in solar power, but the grid is so old, so
John C. Dvorak
frail, so lacking in maintenance, that it
Adam Curry
can't handle the voltage fluctuations that happen with solar energy.
John C. Dvorak
So that means that the long blackouts that are making life miserable on the
Adam Curry
island are here to stay. No, because we're coming to the rescue. Is that what you have in clip two?
John C. Dvorak
No, clip two is a little different, I think. Clip three, maybe, which is a different clip, but yeah.
Adam Curry
And while all this is happening, the director of the CIA lands in the country.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
Cuba says that the US Asked for
John C. Dvorak
a high level meeting and a delegation headed by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Adam Curry
By the way, when the CIA director comes to visit your country, typically not a good thing. Why? Why is he there? There? Last time a CIA director visited a country, we got Ukraine.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, I'm wondering this myself. They say, well, they want a high level meeting. Why don't they send Rubio? Rubio is the obvious choice. He's Cuban or any number of people. Rubio, of course, would be the top guy. But they send a CIA director because they want to highlight what this means. There's something's up.
Adam Curry
Yeah, I don't like it either. It's very suspicious. Landed in Havana.
John C. Dvorak
Well, I mean, I don't dislike it because something's up and maybe it should be, but okay.
Adam Curry
The Cubans say they made it clear
John C. Dvorak
that they don't pose a security threat
Adam Curry
to the U.S. they say they don't
John C. Dvorak
host any foreign military or intelligence bases on the island. The US Readout of the visit came out from a CIA official speaking to NPR on condition of anonymity. And that official said that Radcliffe came with a message for Cuba and that's that the US Wants to, quote, sympathize seriously engage on economic and security issues,
Adam Curry
but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes. I've spoken to Cuban officials and they have been fairly consistent in saying that they are open to economic reforms on the island.
John C. Dvorak
They're even open to US Investment, they say, but that they will not, especially not under pressure from the United States, give up their president or change their
Adam Curry
one party system or for that matter, their socialist ideology. I think the question is whether those
John C. Dvorak
things are the changes that the US Considers fundamental.
Adam Curry
So what, I mean, does this point to a stalemate? Neither side is going to budge. I think you could read it that way.
John C. Dvorak
And that's consequential because President Trump has threatened military action. But I had a conversation with Julian
Adam Curry
Guerra, a Cuban historian. Has he, has he threatened military action?
John C. Dvorak
I'm wondering, I don't remember that.
Adam Curry
I don't. I mean, not nothing to the, of the likes, you know, like we're gonna remove a civilization. I don't recall that. Neither side is gonna budge.
John C. Dvorak
I think you could read it that way. And that's consequential because President Trump has threatened military action. But I had a conversation with Lilian Guerra, a Cuban historian at the University
Adam Curry
of Florida, and she sees both sides softening. The Vatican, for example, has been instrumental in bridging gaps between the US And Cuba. And it's notable that Secretary of State
John C. Dvorak
Marco Rubio met recently with Pope Leo.
Adam Curry
The US has also offered Cuba $100
John C. Dvorak
million in aid, and Cuba has said
Adam Curry
they would take it.
John C. Dvorak
And importantly, Cuba also released a high profile prisoner on Thursday. Guerra's read is that the situation is so dire in Cuba that both sides are afraid of an explosion.
Adam Curry
Do you mind if I just insert one clip here?
John C. Dvorak
Go ahead. Because, but I want to mention something which is the fact that it didn't make a lot of sense that Rubio is going to meet with the Pope. You thought, well, maybe he's a Catholic. But now it makes a little sense that part of the scheme.
Adam Curry
Yes, I have.
John C. Dvorak
And, and, and by the way, that kind of reconfirms the fact that a communist system really should get rid of religions if it wants to succeed. Because I mean, the thesis in Russia was, let's get rid of the Russian Orthodox Church. Let's, you know, put it into the background, because we don't need outside influence, which the Pope is telling people how to think, how to behave, because it hurts the communist system. I just found it kind of ironic that they screwed up that part of it.
Adam Curry
Well, so I just put a couple things together in my tiny brain. So we've got Rubio talking to the Pope. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church. What is the original acronym for CIA?
John C. Dvorak
Are you talking your tiny brain or the brain in your head?
Adam Curry
No, that's a tiny brain. In my head, it's very tiny. That other tiny brain is somewhere else. It has a mind of its own.
John C. Dvorak
Okay, sorry, I was.
Adam Curry
Rubio talks to the Pope. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church. What is the original acronym that we always laugh about for the CIA, of which the director was just there?
John C. Dvorak
Catholics In Action.
Adam Curry
Catholics In Action. Now, listen to this. Just go to Jen, because, you know, Jen, Patrick and I were talking yesterday about the possibility, of course, of this offer of $100 million dollars that we're hearing now that the island appears willing to accept. Do we have a sense from this meeting, the CIA, what you are hearing as well, what kind of reforms they're likely to see. Right. They want to see. And how quickly? Well, in addition to those security reforms that Patrick laid out that came up in that meeting with the CIA director yesterday, they are also pushing what they describe as economic reforms on the island, essentially opening it up to private investment. This was something that was a key focus of a different visit by US Officials last month to the island, where they met with senior Cuban officials, and they were saying they needed to make these economic reforms in addition to those security reforms in the near term, or else they would continue to face a catastrophic situation. Now, it is clear here that these. These economic restrictions are going to remain in place unless these alleged reforms are taken by the Cuban government. However, the State Department says that they are willing to offer this $100 million in humanitarian aid only if it is given through the Catholic Church or independent organizations on the ground. They say that this is the key string that is attached to this offer, that it has to be distributed through these independent organizations. Now, a senior State Department official said that they have been in touch. They have reached out to the Cuban government through what they described as a senior channel between the State Department and senior leadership in Havana about this aid. Cuban officials have indicated that they would be willing to accept it if there weren't conditions on it. So now Take what you just said. So the State Department says, Rubio goes to the Pope and says, hey, Pope. Hey, Leo, you're from Chicago. You know how to deal with me. We can talk. We can talk business. So we're going to give 100 million for Cuba. We want you guys to be in charge of doling it out because there's nothing more embarrassing towards a communist system than the Church coming in and telling them what to do. That's actually kind of genius. I love that.
John C. Dvorak
My donations clip, which is the third clip I've got on Cuba, has a similar kind of. They bring the UN into it and how they do it. We don't want to deal with them. It's kind of interesting. It's similar to your clip, but to play it anyway.
Adam Curry
The United nations is trying to raise more money for food, for aid to Cuba, where a major energy crisis threatens health care and food production on the island. But NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. The United States says it won't contribute to the U.N. s efforts. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs says it has raised only 30% of the $94 million it needs. Needs for Cuba. Fuel shortages have created what one top official called a multifaceted emergency. The State Department tells NPR that the US Will not give any money to the UN in Cuba, stating the UN in Cuba has long colluded with the regime. The statement goes on to explain that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has offered $100 million in goods to be delivered by the Catholic Church or other independent and respected organizations. This is. This is like a huge fu. Like, okay, you need some diesel. Clearly you need some diesel. We got some. We got a. We got a Jesus boat with, with some diesel on it coming your way. But, you know, we gotta have the. The Catholic guys run everything now. I mean, it's such a slap.
John C. Dvorak
It's quite funny.
Adam Curry
It is funny. And also, you know that they're gonna. That they're gonna do the right thing, because you know what? The whole point is, stop the Communists. If, you know, if Rubio goes and said, well, you can't be Commies anymore, like, no, we don't want to do that. You know, that'll be a huge problem. But now you just bring in the Catholic Church and, like, well, you know, you know, we owe you one. I think it's funny.
John C. Dvorak
It's a very strange situation. And out of the blue, I mean, this whole Cuban thing was not part of the campaign that Trump ran, and it wasn't even discussed. It's like a whole new idea somehow. I think it, you know, to be honest about, has to be Rubio behind the whole thing. He's the Cuban in the administration.
Adam Curry
And the Catholic.
John C. Dvorak
And the Catholic and a friend of the Pope.
Adam Curry
Buddy, Buddy.
John C. Dvorak
Trying to iron things out between him and Trump and this phony baloney feud that they really don't have.
Adam Curry
Yeah, yeah, precisely.
John C. Dvorak
But the media loves that because, oh, Trump hates Catholics. Well, what's Rubio doing there? It doesn't make any sense. I think. Isn't JD Vance a born again Catholic? Didn't he join the Catholic Church late in life or something? No, no.
Adam Curry
Is he a Catholic or is he. I think he is born again Christian.
John C. Dvorak
No, I think he's a. Look it up. I think he's a Catholic.
Adam Curry
No, we don't. We don't look things up on the street.
John C. Dvorak
No, that's right. You can ask your buddy.
Adam Curry
We consult the Book of Knowledge. Here we go. Is J.D. vance a Catholic or just a regular Christian?
John C. Dvorak
Regular.
Adam Curry
Let's find out. All right. Book of Knowledge. Searching through all the pages. According to the Book of Knowledge, JD Vance is a Catholic of a very specific type. Having converted to the Catholic Church in 2019. He grew up loosely, evangelical Christian, identified as an atheist as a young man, then reconnected with Christianity during law school before his formal conversion. Thus it has been written. Well, I guess he is a Catholic then.
John C. Dvorak
Yes, exactly. Right.
Adam Curry
Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so that'll be fun. That'll be fun to see. But the big thing is investment in the island. American investment.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, it's about time. I mean, think about what the Canadians have been investing there for a long time. It's getting on our nerves.
Adam Curry
Nerves.
John C. Dvorak
You know, they're putting money in. They got property.
Adam Curry
This is a great place for. For. It should be a vacation paradise. It's a new island, right near Florida.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. 90 miles away.
Adam Curry
Jamaica. Jamaica's getting old. You know, Virgin Islands, Epstein Island. You know, everyone's been to all the islands.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. Cuba's always been big. It's always been. And it's got cigars.
Adam Curry
Cigars.
John C. Dvorak
And not only that, but the cigars are quite remarkable.
Adam Curry
Don't they have. Don't they have a drink, too? They have some. Some kind of drink that they're good at.
John C. Dvorak
A Cuban.
Adam Curry
Okay, thanks. Very helpful.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, no. Very helpful. Mojito? I have no idea.
Adam Curry
Yes, the mojito. All right.
John C. Dvorak
Okay.
Adam Curry
Where do you want to go now?
John C. Dvorak
Well, I got a couple of shorties here that are. That are interesting, but let's. I've been Wanting to get this out of the way, CBS did a special on trolls.
Adam Curry
On trolls.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. The psychology of a troll.
Adam Curry
Wait a minute. Did they interview anybody from our troll room?
John C. Dvorak
No, they didn't interview any real trolls. But the whole thing, if you. The. The subtext is that Trump is a terrible person because he's a troll.
Adam Curry
Oh, I see. So they're trying to deconstruct Trump by doing a story about trolls.
John C. Dvorak
That's my guess. But here's the. Here is a two part two clips. They're very short, but entertaining. Listen up, everybody.
Adam Curry
Arthur Brooks can eat a plate of hot trash.
John C. Dvorak
Huh?
Adam Curry
That was the first comment the CBS News contributor got one of his online columns and his earliest experience of Internet trolls.
John C. Dvorak
One of the things that we have
Adam Curry
seen since time immemorial is people with a pitchfork. Pitchfork setting fire to people they don't like. That's right. Perhaps the main difference now is that they'd have to come back to their families and communities, and now they can hide behind the anonymity of an anonymous Twitter handle. It's the perfect ecosystem for people who. That we call trolls today. And if you spend any time on social media or any time in the comments section after a news article, you're going to find that it gets really toxic really quickly. So, as a behavioral scientist and also
John C. Dvorak
as a writer in public, I wanted
Adam Curry
to know, who are these people?
John C. Dvorak
And I started to do a little
Adam Curry
bit of research into it. And it turns out they're not like just you and me. It turns out they're different. They're from the 7% of the population that have sociopathic characteristics. They're disproportionately drawn from what we call dark triads, people with narcissism, Machiavellian alienism, meaning I'm willing to hurt you, and even psychopathy. They have psychopathic traits, mean they feel no empathy or remorse, and they enjoy hurting you. And this is why we can't say that these are ordinary people. Well, maybe these trolls are actually awesome people, now that the way he described it. These are our people.
John C. Dvorak
These are narcissists.
Adam Curry
Yeah. These are our people.
John C. Dvorak
Psychopaths. This is an offhanded attack on Trump.
Adam Curry
It's still our people. 7% are inoculation.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, well, that's true.
Adam Curry
It's our people.
John C. Dvorak
We have a people. Lot of.
Adam Curry
Lot of.
John C. Dvorak
We do have a disproportionate number of people that would qualify.
Adam Curry
Yes.
John C. Dvorak
And they should be proud of themselves.
Adam Curry
Yeah, they should be. 7% is actually fewer people than I expected. Yeah, but you're disproportionately drawing from that population. They're the ones that are actually trying to start Internet conflict. They're the ones who are actually insulting other people. They're the ones who are actually trying to get you all fired up because they enjoy seeing the emotional turmoil.
John C. Dvorak
Yes.
Adam Curry
Yes. That is exactly them. I love you people. This is what you're doing. Yeah. The jig is up. We're onto you now. We figured you out. CBS is on to you. Trollery. Trollery about you. They're getting their thrills from it. Now. There are others who say they don't. We actually have studies that ask Internet trolls why they're trolling. Some of them say for social justice. But guess what else? We find people who are activists, political activists. They tend to be psychopathic as well.
John C. Dvorak
This is one of the things we
Adam Curry
need to keep in mind on either side of the. On either side of the aisle. If you're a real activist and you want to fire people up and get
John C. Dvorak
people angry, there's a reason you like
Adam Curry
people to be angry. So there are some parallels there. There are. Wow. So that kind of reminds me of that Twitter post you made.
John C. Dvorak
Which one?
Adam Curry
It was some video about a guy explaining how psychos get to the top of political.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, yeah, the psychopaths taken over the world. Yeah, that was a good. That was a very interesting analysis. But Spencer Pratt falls into this category.
Adam Curry
Yeah. You know. You know what's interesting is now other people are making videos for him.
John C. Dvorak
No, most people have made. He hasn't made very. He's made very few videos. The only ones he's made involve him. And he says this is, you know, by. He basically doing an interview. No, they're all made by third parties. There's about six or seven groups that do a lot of them, and there's a bunch of independents doing a bunch of them. They're all done by outside people. Not. Not just one or two, all of them. That's why the style is so different from one to the other.
Adam Curry
So, you know, Tina is very enamored by this, and she's kind of given up on. On news. She's given up on our show. She doesn't even listen to our show anymore. Well, she's like. She's. She's watching dogs on TikTok on Instagram and people cooking with cheese.
John C. Dvorak
We do. That's our competition.
Adam Curry
But what?
John C. Dvorak
People cooking with too much cheese and cats that play the piano. Yeah, that's basically our group.
Adam Curry
Yeah. Yes. And we're losing. We're Losing here.
John C. Dvorak
Well, we're losing now and again. Yeah, I'd say now.
Adam Curry
But the Spencer Pratt stuff, she sees that. She says, you know, this could spark a revolution and many more people could do this. What do you think?
John C. Dvorak
Well, I think that's what everybody. I mean, what she says. There is a commonplace place as far as I'm concerned, which is that Pratt is doing what the future of politics.
Adam Curry
Right.
John C. Dvorak
Is what he's doing. The. The issue, it seems to me, is that there's going to be some legal action taken because of likenesses.
Adam Curry
Oh, but if you're famous, you can't do that.
John C. Dvorak
I'm thinking there's going to be some. There's going to be some changes made in the law, because there has to be at some point, because there's a lot of the kind of defamation that is part of his videos or the ones that are being done on his behalf, let's say, because that's what the situation is. Even though many of them identify what group is doing them at the end, there's usually an identification. Not always, but a lot of times.
Adam Curry
Okay, this is interesting that you bring this up, because I think we're seeing the law change in many different ways. And you identified one early on about where parents are going to be penalized for things their idiot kids do.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
Which is.
John C. Dvorak
I mean, if you Sneaking up on us.
Adam Curry
But it's really quite insane. I mean, if you look at the American laws, most of them were written based upon biblical laws, and this is the exact opposite. You know, Scripture says, you know, no parent shall be responsible for what his child does or the other way around. And so this is such a diversion from US law and the origin of it from a long, long time ago. And so I was very surprised to hear Jeanine Pirro, Judge Jeanine, who is now the Attorney General for District of Columbia, when she said this. And as we grapple with this problem, there is one area that hasn't been discussed. Parental involvement has been a noted gap in any discussion. And I am here to say, as a United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, that ends today. Starting today, my office will aggressively prosecute parents under DC's curfew law. And the specific statute that we will use is a violation of DC Code 22, 811, and it involves contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
John C. Dvorak
This statute makes it unlawful for an
Adam Curry
adult to enable, facilitate, or permit a minor to engage in delinquent acts. The penalty is up to six months, months imprisonment.
John C. Dvorak
So if the evidence shows the parent
Adam Curry
knew or should have known or permitted or failed to prevent participation. We're going to charge them.
John C. Dvorak
And if you drop your kid off
Adam Curry
and you fail to supervise them or you let them skip school to join the chaos, you are going to face fines, court ordered classes and possible jail time. This, I'm against this.
John C. Dvorak
Why? You don't think there should be any parent responsibility whatsoever for delinquent kids who gone nuts and, and they're unsupervised because their parents are lack lacking some certain skills?
Adam Curry
Yes. However I think the kids need to be penalized otherwise they get penalized too. No they don't.
John C. Dvorak
Well if their parents are taken away they sure do because they're going to be locked up in a foster care home.
Adam Curry
I think you put these kids into tase them first so but there's things changing in our laws and I just, I'm not, there's a lot of things I don't agree with. I'm just, I'm not entirely on board with that one. She's at least she's not clear about the kids. It's like you know, everything is now the parents fault. So Rob Carty, our constitutional lawyer suits some boots. He was so jacked up this week. Week. This is huge and for his business it is huge. But I think it also is going in a direction that we would like to see. This is a change in liability from a court ruling by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously to allow a man who lost part of his leg in a trucking crash to sue a major legit company that hired that truck. The man's attorneys argued that the truck driver had been cited for careless driving in another crash months earlier and that the broker C.H. robinson should share liability. Last month CBS News Chief Investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod spoke to families who lost loved ones in similar crashes who could also be impacted by this ruling. This is what Ohio state troopers confront grunted responding to a crash outside of Cincinnati the day before Christmas 2022. Can you hear me? A tractor trailer heading north on I75 crossed the median and slammed into two vehicles. They were texting me throughout their drive saying that how close they were where they were and then I heard nothing. Amy Ross had planned to host Christmas for her family that year year in those two cars. Her mother Kimberly, a sister Lauren, another sister Karen and brother in law Jeremy Bayney. And that's when we got in touch with the police and the police said they're all gone and there was nowhere to go. There was no hospitals to go visit them. At the driver of the truck, a Cuban national with a green card had left Miami two days earlier in a truck that police said had a stolen federal registration number. A toxicology report showed elevated levels of cocaine and methamphetamines in his system. After the crash, the driver fled back to Cuba. How does a guy like this end up hauling goods for Walmart?
John C. Dvorak
I don't think that this driver or many others like him end up on
Adam Curry
the road, but for the broker turning a blind eye. So now the brokers are going to be liable for these crap drivers that they hire. Here's this is this guy is that he does a YouTube the Mother Trucker. It's just short but a little color to it.
John C. Dvorak
To put it plain and simple.
Adam Curry
A lot of owner operators saying this
John C. Dvorak
is a big win because the Supreme Court just had a unanimous ruling saying
Adam Curry
that broker are pretty much accountable for
John C. Dvorak
negligency when hiring any motor carrier. Right. That is unsafe. You know, and they are including illegal alien truck drivers in this.
Adam Curry
So is this a big win because when you look at this and you're trying to book loads, the shippers, they
John C. Dvorak
want to pay top dollars at times, novel bad times. And then they have the broker that's supposed to make sure that happens. And what do the they do? They pick really crappy carriers to haul their loads and they don't care. They just want that extra money going to their pocket and get some random carrier to do the job and then that person gets into an accident and
Adam Curry
when they do, there's no accountability on the broker.
John C. Dvorak
But now that changes.
Adam Curry
Yeah, not only does it change for subpar truckers, haulers, loaders, whatever you want to call them, them, but how about autonomous trucks? And with this type of liability change by the Supreme Court, could we see perhaps vaccine manufacturers coming up soon?
John C. Dvorak
Well, something's got to give on the
Adam Curry
vaccines or pharma providers in general, which
John C. Dvorak
is one of the reasons I'm glad to see Bill Cassidy came in third in a three man race and got kicked out of his Senate seat in Louisiana. This is the creep who wasn't going to vote for Bobby Kennedy. He's a big promoter of the vaccine for hepatitis B for babies. He is one of the top 10 recipients of pharma money. He's also the guy when he was hassling Kennedy, demanded that Kennedy see him twice a month to confirm that he wasn't going to change the schedule for 86 vaccines for infants. I mean the guy was just a bad actor and he finally, you know, Trump wanted him out and he got out because he's also voted for Trump's impeachment on the second go round of the impeachment when Trump wasn't even president anymore. The guy's a total creep. I mean, why was this guy even in office?
Adam Curry
Oh, this brings me to hantavirus. So this is the. What is this guy? Admiral. What is that guy's name? Admiral. Admiral. He's the admiral. Here's just him saying everything's okay. 0Americans are sick with hantavirus. Brian Christine is his name. It's linked to that cruise ship docked in Spain. US Health officials confirming for the first time no Americans are believed to be infected with the Andy strain, including the passenger who ended up replacing the ship doctor who initially tested positive. Further tests actually show he may have never been sick with the disease. In total, health Authorities are watching 41Americans for the virus, including 16 who were never on that ship but were potentially exposed to one of the cruise ship passengers who got on a plane. That's the report. Here's the Admiral himself.
John C. Dvorak
Let me be crystal clear. The risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low. The Andes variant of this virus does not spread easily and it requires prolonged close contact with someone who is already symptomatic. Even so, we have taken this situation very seriously from the very start. We've taken it seriously across HHS and particularly through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And I'm proud to see many of my U.S. public Health Service officers have
Adam Curry
been actively engaged in the response.
John C. Dvorak
The CDC rapidly activated its Emergency Operations Center. It deployed medical teams to assess passengers
Adam Curry
and coordinated closely with international partners. They have notified state health departments.
John C. Dvorak
They have initiated monitoring of potentially exposed individuals and they have issued clinical guidance
Adam Curry
through the Health Alert Network.
John C. Dvorak
And they have also brought together national partners through coordination calls, they've developed tools and resources to support public health decision making.
Adam Curry
Well, the point being for that clip is the guy sounds like he's a typical boring guy and he's just, you know, he's going through the motions, but he has it kind of covered and he's not, he's not hair on fire, like we're all gonna die.
John C. Dvorak
But then I thought this was gonna blow over in two days and this has been like two weeks already. Isn't it it?
Adam Curry
Oh yeah, it's not going to blow over. But then I been then. So this is the new guy, Admiral Christine. So now we go to cnn. Now listen to this. Tonight we have a CNN exclusive, K File uncovering new details about one of the Trump administration's top public health officials who led the public federal response this week on hantavirus. Dr. Brian Christine stood before reporters promising response grounded in science and grounded in transparency. But before joining the administration, Christine was an Alabama urologist with little experience in federal public health. He specialized in penile implants and once hosted a YouTube show called the Erection Connection on you coughed over to. Want to make sure you heard about it.
John C. Dvorak
I'm sorry.
Adam Curry
Yeah, I want to make sure you heard about his YouTube show Penile Implants and once hosted a YouTube show called the Erection Connection which I need an end of show mix someday we'll find it. Erection Connection. Anyway, so. So they're burning.
John C. Dvorak
Do it.
Adam Curry
They're burning this guy. The Erection Connection on his procedures. K file also found a history of far right commentary and conspiracy, including comparing the Biden administration to Nazi Germany, questioning the 2020 election and suggesting the COVID vaccine did little to stop the pandemic. So, okay, that's funny. I think the Erection Connection is a great find. But here's CNN burning the admiral over at hhs. The previous admiral over at hhs, of which they never said anything bad was literally a dude in a dress.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. Rachel.
Adam Curry
Rachel Levine. Rachel Levine. Literally a guy in a dress. Oh, Never, never a bad word about her. Him. It. Come on.
John C. Dvorak
You nailed it.
Adam Curry
Yeah.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. Well, meanwhile, it doesn't make any difference because Ebola's back.
Adam Curry
Yeah. Woo. Finally. Yeah. Yeah. When it rains, it pours people.
John C. Dvorak
Two clips, one from comparative the CBS clip and a BBC clip. You can play either one.
Adam Curry
How about CBS first? There are growing concerns over yet another deadly virus outbreak. Doctors are monitoring an Ebola epidemic in Africa that may be to blame for dozens of deaths so far. CBS's Lilia Luciano has the alarming developments and speaks to a US ER doctor who survived the virus survived. In Congo's Ituri province, health officials are battling a new Ebola outbreak. The Africa CDC says there are 246 suspected cases and at least 65 people dead, the highest death toll from the disease in years. The World Health Organization is concern very well that the country has experience. But the region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation going on and the population moving around from South Sudan to Uganda and other parts. Government officials confirmed the outbreak has now spread to Uganda. Medical professionals seem very concerned about the possibility or the ability to contain this. Why is that compared to other times? It's already a big outbreak. At the point that we're hearing about it, there have already been of a number, number of Deaths and this is a strain of Ebola for which we have no treatment, no vaccines. The virus spreads through direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids. Dr. Craig Spencer contracted Ebola while working in guinea in 2014.
John C. Dvorak
Healthcare workers are the group that I'm
Adam Curry
really concerned about because they have very
John C. Dvorak
close contact with people when they're most contagious, particularly around the time of folks deaths.
Adam Curry
And the US has been the single largest external player in Ebola response in the past. Now experts are worried that the dismantling of USAID and the U.S. withdrawal Health Organization could have an impact in the global efforts to contain the virus.
John C. Dvorak
The World Health Organization do it. Bill Gates why does USAID have to do everything they.
Adam Curry
They can't because they don't exist anymore. Anymore.
John C. Dvorak
Well good, good.
Adam Curry
The Democratic Republic of Congo's health minister has said the strain of Ebola which has broken out in recent days has a very high death rate. Samoa Roger Kamba said there was no vaccine or specific treatment available. The outbreak has caused 80 deaths out of nearly 330 suspected cases. Shinganyoka Rupert the numbers of the dead and sick have been rising rapidly since this outbreak was declared mainly in two gold mining border towns where it's feared that high population movement could spread the disease further. The African Union's public health agency has called for an increase in cross border monitoring after Uganda confirmed its first fatality. The 59 year old man had recently traveled from the DRC. Officials have called for international assistance to contain what is now the DRC's 17th outbreak. World news from the BBC. I think I have one clip from CBS that has something additional in here. This is the Democratic Republic of Congo's 17th outbreak of the deadly viral disease and it's unfolding against the backdrop of a deepening security crisis where clashes between rival militia groups have killed dozens of civilians, billions in recent weeks. Abdi Rahman Mahmoud is with the World Health Organization. Well we know very well that the country has experience but the region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation going on and the population moving around. So our response is to stand with the regional government, with the regional government and the country neighbor in terms of solidarity to show again that they can control this outbreak. And Ebola was first discovered back in 1976 and what is now the DRC and is thought to have spread from bats. Now this morning health experts are warning. Bats? Those Africans are eating bats. Yeah, it's a problem. Yeah. We've. How many times have we been through an Ebola outbreak on this show in 18 years. Years. I think it's four at least. And then we had two Zikas, four Ebolas, two Zikas, one Covid.
John C. Dvorak
And now no, we had three SARS. We had GARS or whatever that other one was.
Adam Curry
We had the swine flu, MERS, MERS, SARS and flu.
John C. Dvorak
19. COVID 19.
Adam Curry
And. And now hantavirus, which is kind of cool. Got a new one.
John C. Dvorak
Well, he had. This is the second we had a second. I think we've had three incidents of Hanta. We had the current one, we had the one with what's his name's wife. And then we had one earlier, maybe 10 years ago. There was a haunted discussion.
Adam Curry
I don't remember from 10. I don't think we've ever had a discussion on the show about Hanta. I looked it up at beingit IO. I couldn't find any. I did promise I would look into the resignation of McCarrick over the flavored vapes. You remember this? You've muted yourself. I don't know how that happens. I mean that has literally never happened to me.
John C. Dvorak
But I think I can tell you how it happens.
Adam Curry
I think Tina would love for me to mute myself sometimes. But not on the show.
John C. Dvorak
Not on the show, but beside the point. What happens is I get these pop ups. Pop ups? Sometimes, yeah. Pop ups.
Adam Curry
What world are you living in? What happened to a blocker?
John C. Dvorak
Blockers don't work anymore. I mean I have, for example, I got my AVG antivirus free.
Adam Curry
There's your problem, right?
John C. Dvorak
Your AVG antivirus free expires in six days. This is a pop up.
Adam Curry
Renew it man.
John C. Dvorak
So I click on it, but instead of clicking on it, I click on the mute button button because it is overlaying it and it just misses. I don't know all. It's an accident.
Adam Curry
Okay, well it's okay. So I promise I would look into this resignation from the FDA director administrator. I think it is over flavored vapes. So let's get the full story. And I think I've figured out what this was really about. Children's national in D.C. is sharing its concerns after the FDA's decision to authorize Sunrise fruit flavored vapes. And that move played a role in the leaders resignation yesterday. Sunrise's Max Marcilla joins us live. Morning Max, what does this authorization really mean and why is it driving this pushback?
John C. Dvorak
Well, Hillary, this authorization means that one company called Glass can now market two of its flavored E cigarette products.
Adam Curry
Their blueberry and mango flavor. Listen to this. Listen to this.
John C. Dvorak
Device there called Gold and Sapphire. And while advocates of this move are hopeful that it could help adults transition away from traditional cigarettes, there are many
Adam Curry
concerns being raised, especially for young people. So look, big picture, teen vaping is
John C. Dvorak
at its lowest point in several years. And these new devices will have a digital age verification system. But we spoke with Dr. Susan Walley, the chief of hospital medicine at Children's national, and she's concerned that teenagers could still find a workaround to the new preventative technology. Look, she says these fruit flavored devices are extremely addictive and oftentimes are young
Adam Curry
person's first experience with tobacco. We certainly are concerned as public health advocates, pediatricians and teachers that, you know, our young people will get the idea, oh, well, maybe this means that it's okay if the FDA has authorized it and it couldn't be further from the truth. So, so one, I followed this because I'm a vaper and I totally disagree with all these Chinese crap vapes that who knows what's in them? That'll probably kill you. And then they came up with, it'll cost you a million dollars per flavor that you want to have the FDA approve. And then this glass company, which is some outfit in Los Angeles, they came up with, oh, well, you have to link it with Bluetooth to your phone. And then with a government id. I'm like, come on, this is all nuts, but there is something going on here. Two sides. One is the president who promised this to young Maga. I can't remember it, but I think he did like, oh, we're going to let you vape kids vote for me. And he also was having a meeting at one of his golf courses with the big boys from tobacco who are now switching from combustible products to nicotine, just pure nicotine products. And they've spent a lot of money on his election campaign and they wanted, you know, they want this, they want the vapes to be legal. And Durbin was talked about this in the Capitol.
John C. Dvorak
Tobacco companies have donated generously to Donald Trump's election, his inauguration, his Great Gatsby
Adam Curry
Ballroom, with the expectation of favorable treatment
John C. Dvorak
President Trump's administration has delivered for tobacco.
Adam Curry
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration. And I just have to say it has nothing to do with tobacco. Nicotine is nicotine. It's not tobacco. And, you know, there's all kinds of studies that say it can be good. Having too much of anything is probably never good, good, but it's not necessarily going to kill you. Chinese vapes will probably kill you. Bad vapes can yeah, it can create formaldehyde. You can get pieces of.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, the problem. Yeah. And the problem with cigarettes themselves is the tar.
Adam Curry
Yeah. So. But. But Durbin makes it sound like it's all about tobacco, which it's not. But it is true that the tobacco industry has been moving to nicotine, and they certainly did support. This president did something it had never done before.
John C. Dvorak
After pressure from President Trump, the FDA
Adam Curry
authorized the first ever flavored E cigarettes. Why is that important? That's what lures the children into this deadly habit. Notice e cigarettes. We're not calling it vapes. We're calling it e cigarettes. Deadly habit. Scientists, doctors and parents, even the FDA's own studies all acknowledge sweet and fruity flavored E cigarettes are essential responsible for addicting our children. Health experts I've spoken to believe the
John C. Dvorak
true number of high school kids vaping
Adam Curry
is at least 40%. 40% of our kids vape? Yeah, the same 40% who ate nicely colored Fruit Loops. I mean, it's. None of it's good for our kids numbers.
John C. Dvorak
Bull crap.
Adam Curry
Of course, teachers, principals, and students acknowledge the.
John C. Dvorak
These are not kids vaping to quit cigarette smoking.
Adam Curry
These are kids who first became addicted to nicotine because of flavored vaping. Why would an administration supposedly committed to making America healthy again unleash this new wave of addiction on our children?
John C. Dvorak
Formaldehyde, chromium, heavy metals like nickel and lead, all are present in E cigarettes. A recent study foundation found that vaping
Adam Curry
is likely to cause cancer. Oh, yeah. We should not trust Big Tobacco when they promise they won't market to kids. We know better. All right, so obviously this was kind of funny, and Kimmel made some jokes about it. And then you have the reported beef between the president and his head of the fda. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump spent this weekend angrily bullying FDA Commissioner Marty McCary, seen here moments after he graduated from the school of stock footage. Doctors berated him for delaying approval of flavored electronic cigarettes. You may remember Trump promised young Maga that he would save vaping, which is as noble a cause as there is. And so, like a kid giving up his lunch money, the FDA finally authorized cotton candy flavored E cigarettes. This is what's important to him. Vape pens. He's definitely been in Florida too long. All right, so. So I got no argument. I like vaping. I think it's great. I think it should be easier for people to make safe vapes. That's not the point. This guy was pushed out for very different reasons. And it surfaced on an interview on CNBC you know, to put it kind of bluntly, you've been getting some not great press lately. And you know, I'm curious, just today, paranoia, turmoil and backlash inside the FDA under Marty Makary. President Trump's Marty Makary problem. These are very recent stories. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. A lot of it does stem from frustration with patient populations and physicians, which what they say is inexplicable. Decisions by the FDA to not approve drugs, Replimmune, for example, being a key one. How do you respond to this overall criticism that I mean, continues to this very moment? Yeah, yeah. I think that article in the Wall Street Journal is the ninth article they've posted in that opinion section begging for Replimune approval. I don't work for Replimune. I work for the American people and I stand by the scientists at the fda. Three independent teams arrived at the same conclusions on my watch. We have not done corrupt sweetheart deals. What we have done is followed the science. So every accept or reject decision at the FDA on my watch watch has been the accept or reject recommendation of the primary review teams at the agency. And you know, I've spent my whole career taking care of cancer patients. To suggest that we want cancer patients to die is a little offensive. So it's about Rep. Limoon. Repp. Limoon has all the big boys behind it. I mean, you've got blackrock, you've got. Everyone is invested in this one company. Company to make Replimune. And it was supposed to be Replimmune. Isn't it Repli. Well, Repl. Immune. Yes. Rep. Limune. Are you familiar with it? Because it doesn't. It's not on the market. I hope you're not using it.
John C. Dvorak
I'm sure that they'd love to pass it along.
Adam Curry
Well, no, he was saying there's a
John C. Dvorak
whole group called the Rep. Limune Group.
Adam Curry
Yes, but he was saying, no, this thing is no good. And. Yeah, and these guys got not one, not two, not three, but nine articles in the Wall Street Journal opinion editor pushing for this drug. Well, final question, because you reference. You use the word corrupt when you describe sort of corporations. I'm just curious as to what you're talking about. I'm talking about. I'm talking about a small set of companies have a trial that doesn't go their way. They call you, they call cnbc, they call Wall Street Journal. They're running ads on your network nonstop and they say, hey, this is wrong. The drug actually works when the trial shows it didn't work. And they dial up tremendous pressure the media to drum up. People spin them up on results that don't match the data that we see. And what you see as a result are nine articles by a couple editors in the opinion desk at the Wall Street Journal pushing for one drug. What do you call that? I know. Well, they would call it being compassionate to the 8,000 people with melanoma who frontline treatment. I'm a cancer surgeon. I mean, if there's anything that will help cancer patients 100%, we're going to get it to them. So, final clip about what was wrong. You do that.
John C. Dvorak
Wait, he's a cancer surgeon? I thought he was a dick surgeon.
Adam Curry
No, this is a different guy. This is the FDA. Okay.
John C. Dvorak
I get him mixed up.
Adam Curry
You're still 15 minutes behind.
John C. Dvorak
I am? Yeah. All right.
Adam Curry
Well, if you do that, I mean, I, I just want to go through it because to the extent that I've been exposed to one story, it has been this one.
John C. Dvorak
I've talked to the CEO as well
Adam Curry
and any number of other people. I mean, they would say they're granted breakthrough designation, the basis of putting what, a third of patients into multi year remissions? The original review team recommended approval. And you've got a lot of oncologists out there who focus on melanoma patients who seem to be begging for it. So again, what is it? Can you explain? What is it you saw that is different from what they see? Look, I'm not going to talk about an individual product, but if you read our, what we call, our complete response letter, you will see the details of the FDA's logic and you will see some of those things shown not to be correct. Can you give me something here to hang on to just understand what the details would be? We publish all of it. Right? So, for example, if you want to see whether or not a drug adds a benefit to cancer patients, you run a control group where patients, patients don't get the drug. The FDA clearly recommended that control group. The company clearly did not do that control group. And so by law, we can only approve drugs with, quote, substantial about that. Didn't they say that that would be unfair to those patients, given the efficacy of the drug itself? With almost every company that brings products before it, the recommendations of the FDA were clear misrepresented in the media. How they did this. Well, saying that they changed the goalposts. They don't change the goalposts. So when we're talking about how hard it is for RFK Jr to do stuff, this is exactly What? This guy got pressed out. They threatened him. Who knows? There's.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, that's why they came up with the vape thing.
Adam Curry
Yes, exactly.
John C. Dvorak
No, that's what you do. You're pounding. You're pounding. You pound, say, well, hell with it. Let's go after him some other way.
Adam Curry
Yep. And there it is.
John C. Dvorak
Dream some. Some scheme up here. And they will go with this. He's. Was it. What side is he on here? Well, that's what Trump wanted to do. Okay, well, let's go. Go after him.
Adam Curry
Call Kimmel. Call Kimmel. Get him to make some jokes.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, you just keep doing it until the guy gives up. This happened with a woman who just quit the. The. I think she was the CDC or fda. And I don't. I had a clip. I didn't have a clip, but I was going to discuss her. And she was. She was drummed out, you know, the same way. Because they did. This is major that if you didn't have the pharmacy companies. So big empowerment. Shocking to me that Cassidy didn't get in because he's supported by them and.
Adam Curry
Right. And you even hear this guy saying, hey, they're running ads on your network. Yeah. That's why our CNBC guy is like, whoa, what's wrong with you? I mean, you know, it was a perfectly good drug. Everyone, the CEO says, everyone said so. The Wall Street Journal, nine opinion pieces. There was money behind this, this big money. And it was probably just for some stock win. I don't think they have care about 8,000 melanoma patients.
John C. Dvorak
Well, there was a stock play. There was a stock at play.
Adam Curry
There had to be. So that's what. That's.
John C. Dvorak
No, it was. It was called Rep. Limune.
Adam Curry
Okay. And that's what all this.
John C. Dvorak
It's down to five bucks a share now.
Adam Curry
Ah, there you go. Everyone lost. Everyone lost their shirt. So out you go. Vape. We'll do something. We'll do something. We'll make you look stupid. Yeah, I don't think Trump. I don't think Trump even knew about this part.
John C. Dvorak
No, he can't keep up with this stuff.
Adam Curry
He.
John C. Dvorak
Kennedy can barely do it.
Adam Curry
So. Stephen Colbert had his last show. Don't know if you saw it.
John C. Dvorak
No, I'll go back and look at it.
Adam Curry
Eventually, they had David Letterman on and they threw stuff off the roof for the CBS building.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, I did see that. They clipped that and put it online.
Adam Curry
Yeah, yeah, saw that. And we discussed this offline after the show one or two shows ago. I'll just play this little brief bit about his replacement. Meanwhile, fellow late nighter Jimmy Kimmel joked at Disney's annual upfronts about CBS replacing Colbert with Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed quote, it's bad enough to lose your job. Imagine getting replaced by the owner of the Weather Channel. So, so Byron Allen will be replacing him. Our initial thought was. Go ahead.
John C. Dvorak
Pretty embarrassing.
Adam Curry
It's an insult.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, it's an insult. I mean, Byron Allen's something of a genius entrepreneur, billionaire. And he's been doing the same kind of schlock programming forever. Although he does when it comes to the food stuff. He has a number of foodie productions that he does that are extremely well produced. But most of his stuff is just because Byron Allen, who's a black guy, is a wannabe comic who's not funny, but he's got a knack for producing kind of low budget, mid quality material and he's been doing it forever. Way before we started this show he was doing stuff and he has this Comics Unleashed show which is terrible. I mean it's just not well done. But it's cheap. It's super cheap. Here's how he's made his money leverage.
Adam Curry
Here's the kicker. CBS didn't replace Stephen Colbert with Byron Allen. He is paying for the time slot.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, that would make sense.
Adam Curry
He bought the time slot. That makes total sense.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
And he's pro. It's probably going to be more profitable than any of the other late night shows because. Yeah, because it's what he does. And he's going to make good money off of that.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, it's like an infomercial.
Adam Curry
Yes, exactly.
John C. Dvorak
You buy those slots.
Adam Curry
Exactly. And then everyone else is going to go, you know, you'll see.
John C. Dvorak
NBC, the network actually, instead of losing $40 million a year, will be making money doing nothing.
Adam Curry
Yes. For something that almost no one watches anyway. Yes. Infomercial level, A couple million people, of which none are in the demo. No. You want to sell medical devices, you want to sell. That's your own.
John C. Dvorak
I didn't know that, but now that you mentioned genius.
Adam Curry
Right.
John C. Dvorak
That's why Byron Allen is a billionaire. He's something of a genius in terms of, of tv. It's, it's schlock, but it's still. What are you gonna do?
Adam Curry
What TV is good? I mean, it's all schlock.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
Ever since Dana Brunetti stopped producing shows and you know, it's just gone downhill.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
I'm doing this to get out of a lawsuit, by the way.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, he's good old Dana. Yeah, that guy. I heard that he's, he hates Hollywood.
Adam Curry
I love telling my church people. Yeah, you know Danny Brunetti, big Hollywood guy. He's, he listens to the show. He's kind of a friend, you know. What did he do Fifty Shades of Gray? What? That's pornography. No, that was Fifty Shades of Grayer. That was the bad one. Yeah. House of Cars.
John C. Dvorak
There was a trilogy.
Adam Curry
There was three.
John C. Dvorak
Money.
Adam Curry
Yeah, three moneymakers. Yeah, of course.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, of course.
Adam Curry
That's why he has a fire truck and a fire farm. Yeah, the fire truck and a farm. And we're podcasters.
John C. Dvorak
I'm just, you know, we got cash flow.
Adam Curry
I'm. All right. You got anything else you want to do?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, let's see before we have any. Yeah, I want to do with the Sharia law clip is always good. Sharia law in the usa, big threat. I find this to be kind of, kind of hopeless, but let's play these clips and lawmakers warn that groups in support of Sharia law have long term goal of widespread influence here in the U.S. warnings of Sharia's authoritarian nature and
Adam Curry
social class divisions based on sex and religion.
John C. Dvorak
They point to already existing Sharia based tribunal courts happening in Texas and the United Kingdom. Entity correspondent Jason Blair brings us that story.
Adam Curry
People do not have protection from imposing a foreign legal system or code that overrides or replaces U.S. civil or criminal law, nor the Constitution.
John C. Dvorak
House Republicans warn that stronger action needs
Adam Curry
to be taken to curb the rise of Sharia law tribunals and acting courts in the U.S. political Islam silences dissent, prohibits religious freedom, allows barbaric punishments and treats women, children and non Muslims as second class citizens. At a congressional hearing Wednesday, one witness said many Islamic groups have openly stated their long term intent of gradually making the US and Islamic society.
John C. Dvorak
They've written it down in the project in a 12 point plan.
Adam Curry
You can read it for yourself.
John C. Dvorak
They've come to make this country like they've made countries all across the world Islamic.
Adam Curry
Amy Meckelburg, founder of Rare foundation usa, says there are Sharia based tribunal services operating in America, all across different places throughout the United States from birth to death. They now have full operational societies. So within these societies they have their courts. Subcommittee chairman Chip Roy says that the
John C. Dvorak
UK has 85 Sharia law courts operating in the country.
Adam Curry
Muslims are increasingly turning to Sharia courts to settle disputes rather than the UK's legal system. He said UK yeah, yeah. So it's called arbitration. That's what that is, arbitration.
John C. Dvorak
Well, whatever it is, it's in the uk. It Seems to be somewhat popular with
Adam Curry
certain groups amongst the Muslims.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, well, that's what they do.
Adam Curry
Well, if you want.
John C. Dvorak
It's just like the nature that this go is going to take over the US and we're going to do this. Please, this is nonsense. That's what I'm saying.
Adam Curry
This is like midterm, midterm. Fear mongering is what this. Vote for Chip Roy. Vote for Chip Roy.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, Chip Roy, he's your buddy. He's a Texas boy.
Adam Curry
I'll stop the, I'll stop the. The Muslim compounds in Texas. And whenever I say this, people are always like, look at this man, this happening. It's real. Yeah, maybe, but we're a little different.
John C. Dvorak
Just look at the percentage of Muslims in the United States and what their influence is. Most Muslims in the United States are not for this stuff.
Adam Curry
No. And we don't have open borders where crazy Muslims are coming in. And we don't have a society where we allow, at least we should not. Not where we allow them to fire up their loudspeakers five times a day and have them stop and bow in the middle, you know, in the middle of the street. Now you may see some videos about that, but that, that kind of stuff usually doesn't fly in America. And this is different. Europe is like, oh no, this is multicultural. We have to be nice to everybody. And it took 25 years if not almost.
John C. Dvorak
Actually the praying in the middle of the street doesn't fly in Saudi Arabia either.
Adam Curry
But you know, people are online that oh it's happening and if it's happening in your town then you should put a stop to it. That we can do. But that didn't happen in Europe. I saw this in the Netherlands. I saw when. And look, they did a great job. When Pimfortin was running for election and his party won after they killed him to assassinated him two weeks before the election. Election he was saying do not allow the Islamification of the Netherlands. And he got killed. And then everybody shut up, went, oh, I should, I probably shouldn't say anything about Islam. And it still took 25 years to get to where it is today. We have a lot of Runway to stop anything nefarious. But you are being played. You are being played. And I think it's, you know, there's these geofencing operations. You heard about this?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, I have.
Adam Curry
Apparently Israel has been paying companies in America to pop up ads and manipulate algos geofenced around churches. Particularly in California, but also in Texas, in the Dallas area, Austin and part of Their geofencing is Israel great. And part of it is. Is Islam no good. Be careful, be afraid. So you're being played on all sides. But I agree with you, the influence is not that great. Oh man, the amount of people this is. This is our next, our Next Waterloo Part 2.
John C. Dvorak
Part 2. Rep. Jamie Raskin argues that no special
Adam Curry
laws, Sharia law are necessary because of the existence of current US Law. Murder is against the law in America whether the parents are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu or anything else. Another witness who's a high school student in Texas says his Republican student club faced hostile scrutiny and censorship by school officials, in stark contrast to pro Sharia groups. While the Republican student club faced denial, censorship, post removal and hostile oversight, an outside organization was given easy access to distribute Sharia related materials directly to students. Administrators not only allowed it, they actively promote Islamic events.
John C. Dvorak
Throughout the hearing, Democrats argued that existing
Adam Curry
US Law is enough to deter any threats, while Republicans called for urgent action, citing Sharia based tribunals and early warning signs in Europe and Texas. Reporting on Capitol Hill, Jason Blair, NTD News.
John C. Dvorak
Next Today is world fallen DAFA day.
Adam Curry
So if you ask anyone what is Sharif Sharia law, wait for the answer. What is the. What is Sharia law? Everyone thinks that somehow, well, it's going to supersede American law. No, and I have to agree with Raskin on that case. It's not going to supersede American law. You can't go killing people. But that's also not what Sharia law is like. You stole my chicken. You know, I get to take some
John C. Dvorak
beads, I get to chop your hand off.
Adam Curry
It's not stoned. Yeah, I haven't seen that take place yet. Have we seen a good stoning in America yet? A good Sharia law?
John C. Dvorak
There's been a lot of people that have been stoned, but not in that way.
Adam Curry
If Sharia law suddenly and then you can go stone a girl because she kissed a boy, that is against the law in America. You can't go stoning people. But it's a meme now. Oh, Sharia law, Sharia, Sharia law. Please tell me, what is Sharia law? Trolls.
John C. Dvorak
What?
Adam Curry
Because the trolls are all into this. What is Sharia law? They can't tell you it's fear mongering to get your vote for Chip Roy and Ken Paxton and a bunch of other guys.
John C. Dvorak
So we have, we got a couple of things here. I do have a three by three. We can do that and get out of here.
Adam Curry
Oh well, three by three is always fun. Now it's time for three by three. Yes, especially experiment by jcd comparing stories from abc, CBS and NBC. The never ending. That's right. He's got the big three. And it's a story that will probably sound exactly the same on all three networks, but there's always a twist. You never know what these CIA broadcast systems will do.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, that's where we leave them for last. And we start with the ABC people about the terrorist attack.
Adam Curry
Tonight, an Iraqi national is in US custody accused of orchestrating terror attacks like these taking aim at American and Jewish targets around the world in retaliation. Retaliation for the war in Iran. Federal prosecutors charging Mohamed Al Saadi with a slew of terror related crimes, alleging he coordinated 20 terror attacks in Europe and Canada in the last three months and eyed additional attacks in the US identifying targets in California, Arizona and New York City. He has been trying to inspire jihad around the world through the Internet. Prosecutors linked Al Saudi to this stabbing in London that left two Jewish men, including an American citizen, seriously injured
John C. Dvorak
to
Adam Curry
this attempted arson at bank of New York Mellon in Amsterdam and this firebombing of a synagogue in North Macedonia. Al Saadi was apprehended this week in Turkey. In court today, he claimed he's a political prisoner being persecuted for his ties to Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the military commander killed by a U.S. airstrike in 2020. He's essentially being subjected to a political prosecution, that he's a prisoner of war treated as such. But when federal prosecutors portrayed Al Saudi as a terrorist mastermind who they said successfully coordinated attacks overseas and paid undercover agents to carry out more attacks in this country. Undercover agents.
John C. Dvorak
This guy's powerful, sketchy story.
Adam Curry
Powerful. Very powerful. NBC tonight, the FBI and NYPD saying they foiled potential terror attacks against Jewish sites in New York, Louisiana and Scottsdale, Arizona. Arizona plots they say are all tied to the Iranian regime. This man, Mohammed Al Saadi, now held in a New York jail cell, is an alleged high ranking member of the mysterious terror group called Ha Yi.
John C. Dvorak
What?
Adam Curry
Authorities say they've already carried out 18 terror attacks in Europe primarily targeting the Jewish community, including this suspect tackled by British police after a stabbing rampage outside a London motor mosque and the group carrying out the firebombing of this Belgian synagogue. Tonight, the FBI says Hayi is a front for the Iranian backed terror group Hezbollah. And they say Al Saudi's ties go right to the top of the Iranian regime. Multiple photos show Al Saudi with former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Kassim Soleimani killed in a US drone strike during President Trump's first term. Ah, there it is. This is Trump's fault. Al Saudi has specifically threatened to kill President Trump on social media. He is certainly a. In this terrorist organization, and he was directing and inspiring terrorist attacks. These photos, exclusively obtained by NBC News, show his arrival in New York last night after he was taken into custody by Turkish authorities. According to prosecutors, they say since April, he's been communicating with an undercover officer offering to pay tens of thousands of dollars to attack Jewish sites in the US Oh, Tom. These are alarming developments. The suspect was in court to today. He appeared briefly in court. His attorney says he thinks he's a prisoner of war. Meanwhile, authorities believe the case underscores the wide variety of threats for events like the World cup starting next month. Ooh, yes. Now, let me ask you some questions about this.
John C. Dvorak
That was cute getting the World cup in there.
Adam Curry
Yeah, yeah, Let me ask you some questions. So was he communicating with an undercover officer on our side, like one of our FBI guys? Is that how they nailed it, this guy?
John C. Dvorak
Well, clearly explained in the report.
Adam Curry
No, I didn't think it was. Clearly. They keep talking about he had. He paid agents around the world to do stuff. He was linked to Suleimani Trump's, Trump's trophy. So I'm just waiting for this to be Trump's fault. And that synagogue in, in Amsterdam, they, they locked off a whole part of the city. You can't even drive in certain directions because of that. But I didn't hear anything about this to, like, some nut jobs, but I didn't hear any connections to this guy.
John C. Dvorak
I don't know. This whole thing is fishy.
Adam Curry
Appearing in a federal court in Manhattan today, Muhammad Aladdin, cbs. Yeah, cbs. Appearing in a federal court in Manhattan today, Muhammad Al Saadi smiled as a judge read off the list of terrorism charges. Arrested in Turkey in the last 24 hours and extradited to New York, Al Saadi is accused of trying to hire someone who happened to be an undercover officer to now it's clear, carry out attacks in Los Angeles, Scottsdale, Arizona and New York City. Well, the system worked. Then we stopped him. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said we disrupted a plan to attack a Manhattan synagogue and in partnership with
John C. Dvorak
the synagogue's leadership, ensured its security.
Adam Curry
When the threat was elevated, Prosecutors say on April 3, Al Saudi sent maps of a New York synagogue and Jewish centers in LA and Scottsdale to the undercover officer, agreeing to pay him $10,000. In the next day, Al Saudi is
John C. Dvorak
to allowed alleged to have sent 3,000
Adam Curry
in crypto as a down payment for
John C. Dvorak
the New York attack. Texting I want to see good news
Adam Curry
tonight, not tomorrow, bro. Prosecutors say Al Saudi is a commander of Qatar Hezbollah. Bro. Wait a minute. Is it. Where is this guy? Is he New Jersey, bro. He is alleged to have sent 3,000 in crypto as a down payment for the New York attack.
John C. Dvorak
Texting I want to see good news
Adam Curry
tonight, not tomorrow, bro. Prosecutors say Al Saudi is a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran backed terrorist group with ties to the Iranian revolutionary. He's pictured here with the late Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, killed by a US drone strike in 2020 on orders from President Trump. His defense attorney said Al Saudi is being punished for his ties to Soleimani. This case is a political case and it's a political prosecution and we're going to be litigating it as such. Prosecutors also say after the war began, Al Saudi helped launch. Wait a minute, wait a minute. He called it a political case.
John C. Dvorak
Well, that's what he calls it.
Adam Curry
Well, isn't that just terrorism?
John C. Dvorak
It's an interesting point for his ties to Soleimani.
Adam Curry
This case is a political case and it's a political prosecution and we're going to be litigating it as such. Prosecutors also say after the war began, Al Saudi helped launch 18 terror attacks across Europe, including on a synagogue and a Jewish school in Belgium and the stabbing of two Jewish men in London last month. CBS contributor Sam Vinograd said retaliatory acts of terrorism could become more common even when drones, missiles and more stop flying over Iranian airspace. It is more than likely that these military campaigns have inspired a generation of individuals to continue to try to wreak havoc. And El Saudi is facing multiple terrorism charges, including providing material support for acts of terrorism.
John C. Dvorak
If convicted, Major, he could face up
Adam Curry
to life in prison. Yeah. Whenever we have like he hired an undercover cop of f. It doesn't even mention if it was FBI or not an agent. And then he sent him some crypto and used bro. I'm like this guy was some. Probably some schmuck and then. And they found a picture of him with Suleimani. It sounds sketchy to me.
John C. Dvorak
Well, maybe you could be right, but I think it's just a mania. Maniac. Yeah. And he's got a boatload. He's got a bunch of cash and he's crypto traveling all over the place. Like he goes to Macedonia, then he's in Turkey, then he's in Holland and then he's in.
Adam Curry
Well, no, no. He hired people to do that stuff.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, but he's been floating around too. He didn't do it from Turkey. He's not hiring anybody to blow up a ma. A synagogue in Arizona from Turkey. There's nobody. There's no connection. It's not possible. Well, the good's got to come over here to do some of that, Stu.
Adam Curry
Good news is he's off the streets. The FBI has done it again. We're safe. Sleep well. Go back to playing your harpsichord, citizen. Everything is well.
John C. Dvorak
And by the way, my last clip. No Harvey Weinstein. We're not safe because he's going to be out of jail.
Adam Curry
To the Index now. A judge declared a mistrial in Harvey Weinstein's rape retrial. The decision after a jury in Manhattan could not reach a unanimous verdict following three days of deliberations. This was the third time Weinstein was tried on accusations he raped an aspiring actress in a hotel room in 2013. Weinstein's lawyers argued the sexual encounter was consensual. A hearing next month could determine if there will be a fourth trial. That is odd, isn't it?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
Well, then I have two clips just to wind it all up because we're going to reopen Epstein trials. More trials coming. And the Democrats.
John C. Dvorak
Great, that. That's terrific. How many people have gone to jail so far?
Adam Curry
Well, the one person is they want blood. And one. They have a target on one guy. Okay, here's Ms. Now setting us up on the committee. Heard dramatic testimony from survivors at a field hearing this week in Balfield county, where many of Epstein's crimes took place. When I was 14 years old, I was abused by two. Jeffrey Epstein. He abused me until I was 17 years old. What happened to me was terrible. But what happened after that by our own government changed my life just as much. I came here today to ask for one simple thing to make sure this never happens again.
John C. Dvorak
I kept my identity protected as Jane Doe.
Adam Curry
I woke up one day with my
John C. Dvorak
name mentioned over 500 times.
Adam Curry
While the rich and powerful remain protected by reduction. My name was exposed to the world. Okay, so both of them say that they were abused by the US Government. You wanted to say something?
John C. Dvorak
No, I was going to say they got outed by the US Government.
Adam Curry
Yeah, but it was. I think the first one said it was worse. Worse.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah.
Adam Curry
So there's. The Democrats in this case want blood. And they're gonna. And I think they'll get it. I think they'll get it. And it's about one guy and one guy only. But let's turn now sir, to the Epstein investigation, because all House oversight Democrats are calling for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to resign over his Epstein testimony. What should the American people know about his interview and how it fits into the overall probe? Look, no one should be serving the American people, certainly not as a Cabinet secretary, when you are essentially a known liar and unwilling to tell the truth. When you lie to the public and when you're not honest. In a deposition in front of the Congress. We all have seen Howard Lutnick in multiple times say that after 2005, he had no interaction with Jeffrey Epstein, that he didn't know him very well. And now we just know that that wasn't true. We know that he went to the island, that he went into business with Jeffrey Epstein, that he communicated, his wife communicated with him. And so then to them, him go into this interview with Congress and not admit to that and evade. Look, he needs to resign or be fired. He has lied to the American people and that is nothing. That's not something a Cabinet secretary should be doing. And beyond that, this points back to this massive cover up. Howard Lutnick has been involved at the White House continue continuing to cover up for the doj, telling lies. And he's got to go now. I think he will. I think that's, that's the scalp they want. Now, one side.
John C. Dvorak
Why?
Adam Curry
Just to do it.
John C. Dvorak
Ludnick's just a nudnik by the. He's a commerce guy. Who cares?
Adam Curry
Yeah, he's important to Trump because of the usdc. He's the big stablecoin guy.
John C. Dvorak
Okay.
Adam Curry
Yeah, he's a big stable coin guy.
John C. Dvorak
So this I know he's the guy that, that Musk wanted to be Secretary of the Treasury. He's a big Lutnick fan.
Adam Curry
Oh, I'm glad we got General Patton on the down low. That guy's much better. Yeah, yeah, much better.
John C. Dvorak
More fun.
Adam Curry
Speaking of treasury, this podcast runs value for value. And you've listened up to this point, you might want to listen a little bit further because you're going to find some very hilarious notes that people send into this podcast. Podcast outstanding and interesting services that they provide to no Agenda Nation and collaborate together. We have quite an amazing community, which is why I want to thank you for your courage and say in the morning to you, the man who put the sea in the Cuban blackouts. Say hello to my friend on the other end, the one, the only, Mr. John.
John C. Dvorak
Well, in the morning. Morning to you, Mr. Adam Curry. Also in the morning, our ship is the sea boost and the Grand Feet in the air so there's no water. Natives nights out there in the morning.
Adam Curry
To the trolls in the troll room. When you count for a second. Here we go. 1681 on the troll counts. Wonderful trolls. Good to have you here and congratulations with your profile on cbs. It's amazing. Now everybody knows how you operate and what you are. Now, of course, a lot of these trolls are just listening patiently. They're just listening to the show. So they like doing that because they got alerted by their modern podcast app, which I think you all should be using. If not, then you need to go to podcastapps.com these apps are fantastic. When we go live, many of the no Agenda Nation shows go live and we have the live stream and we have the troll room. You get notified and you listen to that live in your actual podcast app. It's a new form of radio, I tell you, because you if. If you don't have an opportunity, it is. We're reinventing radio. Do you know that podcasts have now surpassed talk radio?
John C. Dvorak
Well, that doesn't surprise me.
Adam Curry
There's still like some obscene number, like $40 billion in advertising going to radio. It's unbelievable how much money they spend.
John C. Dvorak
Well, that's going to disappear one of these days.
Adam Curry
Yeah, but it doesn't seem to be going to potential podcast. You notice how the pivot. The pivot pod. They thought that they were going to sell their show. I don't think so. They're just still sitting with the same
John C. Dvorak
old thing to sell it for 10 million, 100 million rogan money.
Adam Curry
They were talking. Yeah, Rogan until it turns out. Nah, not really. And really isn't all that. So get one of those modern podcast apps and then consider supporting the show. It's value for value. You can do that in three ways. Time, talent, treasure. We love all of it. Of course, treasure is extremely important for us to keep our home fires burning. But people do fun things. They do a lot of cool stuff for the show. Send boots and boots on the ground, jingles, clips, end of show mixes, organize meetups, and sometimes just, you know, just troll us. That's also a form of time and talent, I guess. And then we have the artists who prompt away and make art, artwork for our album, art, which is critical to the success of the show because it looks really great on social media. People love it and we always can. It's kind of a feedback mechanism for us as well. When we really hit on something, then we see a whole bunch of art pieces that show up about that one thing. And Then we know that we succeeded in our mission. We made you laugh, we made you cry. We made you think about something. And this was very prevalent with the number Numb Nuts, which is the artwork done by Francisco Scaramanga. Numb Nuts is what I called some members of our intelligence agency the. Of the central one. And it was a great piece. We love the candied macadamias. And then did you see what he did on X? Yeah.
John C. Dvorak
Got you. Is looking like some sort of a thug. Smoking, smoking, smoking stuff. And yeah, it was good.
Adam Curry
It was fantastic. You know, I'm like, can we get. Can we get animated art for album? See if we can make that. That should be something that the modern podcast apps do. How cool would that be to have a little video playing instead of.
John C. Dvorak
That would be cool. You have to make that part of the podcasting 2.0 spec.
Adam Curry
I'm on it. Both. I'm on it. Let's take a look at what else was submitted at no Agenda Art generator dot com. A lot of value in that operation from Sir Paul Couture. Let us take a look here. We had some butts. We had butts. That's comics for blogger. Oh, we had a lot of. Of Pomp and ceremony. There's another one. Got a lot of Pomp and ceremony art pieces. A lot of poop on the marble. Man, that really hit, huh? Poop on the marble. And then the mouse trap with the cheese and the chocolate. Did you see the note that came in that someone said the mask finally slipped and you're actually a sadist and a very, very evil human.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, yeah. I was talking about. I got one of those notes too. I just. Two of them. That I'm a terrible person for crushing a mouse. Now, the fact is that that was just a joke. If you want to know what really happens when I get a mouse in a glue trap, because I'm, like, fearful of getting mouse fleas that hit me. I actually take a plastic bag and slowly kick the mouse in the trap into the bag and then seal the plastic bag and throw it in the garbage as fast as I can.
Adam Curry
So he's alive in the garbage. And he die slowly in the garbage.
John C. Dvorak
Dead already. Usually they're dead already. They die in that. On that little thing.
Adam Curry
So this morning I was up at
John C. Dvorak
5 as I saw the guys who made these comments. I think there's a couple of them. They're idiots, okay? It's just that simple.
Adam Curry
This morning, I'm sitting in the kitchen at 5am and it's kind of half dark. And I see something out of the corner of my eye, and I'm telling you, a mouse walked right across the floor. Wow. I can't wait to use John's glue trap system. It's great.
John C. Dvorak
Well, you know, these. Some of these mice have a lot of nerve.
Adam Curry
Oh, he was bold. Yeah, he was very bold. I'm gonna get him now.
John C. Dvorak
You'll get him. You have to be careful because they start to multiply pretty quickly.
Adam Curry
Yeah, but I know how to get them. I know how to get them. And then, you know, just like the ants, I always leave them in the trap for half a day so everyone can smell them. So they know this is death over here. People don't come near this one.
John C. Dvorak
Well, that's an interesting theory.
Adam Curry
Well, it's. Your theory is what you want to do after you torch the ant ants.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. How about you do that?
Adam Curry
You want to leave that smell, that torch smell a lot of people like on the blueberry tip, man. The blueberry in the hallway. That got a lot of art. None of it was really fantastic, I have to say. Yeah. Which is. We thought the number.
John C. Dvorak
A lot of submissions, though.
Adam Curry
Yeah. Which is good. We like that. So people are keeping busy, keeping the AI companies unprofitable. So thank you very much. Scaramanga Francisco, you know, did I tell you his wife is some supermodel or some, like, model?
John C. Dvorak
No, I never heard this.
Adam Curry
Yeah. Comics or blogger told me he's seen a picture of her. He says he like a model. This kind of makes sense.
John C. Dvorak
Good for him. Yeah.
Adam Curry
Yeah, the guy's lucky. He could be a podcast caster. He's probably doing. He's probably. He's probably independently wealthy. You know what I mean? One of those guys.
John C. Dvorak
We can dream up whatever we want.
Adam Curry
That's right. With a name like Scaramanga, it could be anything. So now we would like to thank the people who supported us with Treasure. We thank everybody. $50 and above. And if you are fortunate enough to be able to Support us with $200 between 203, 300, not only will we guaranteed read your notes, but we will also give you a Hollywood title of Associate Executive Producer. Just like Dana Brunetti, big Hollywood bigwig. You can find his name@IMDb.com with that credit and you will be there as well. And you can use that on your resume. That gets results. You can use it in your social media profile, LinkedIn. It always worked. You can even become a consultant, I think on some movies, if you want. Or podcast podcasts. $300 or more. The same deal. We'd read your note and you'll get a credit of executive producer. We still have a few
John C. Dvorak
order of
Adam Curry
the heart Red Knights available, which is just that beautiful package that you get. And that was kind of a promo to welcome you back to the world of the living. And I think we'll have one, if not two of them today, because we start with Samuel Montgomery from our very Nevada, Colorado, who comes in with $1,000 plus fees. So that's 1,030 and 26 cents. Thank you for saving us the fees. And he says ITM John and Adam, first time donor. I'm a registered cardiovascular invasive specialist. I've been that for 20 years. I'm going to give him a deduce. You've been de. Douched. I assist with performing cardiac cath procedures, which I assume John had prior to his open heart surgery. It is an honor to a Red Knight. Did you have a cath? Cardiac. Cardiac. Cardiac cath.
John C. Dvorak
They run this thing up your leg.
Adam Curry
Oh, in your leg?
John C. Dvorak
Well, they start in the leg, the top of the. Part of the lane. Then they run this thing up the veins or something with a. And they just run it up there to check it. And then they send some. Some horrible dye into your system that then toxic poisons your kidneys. And then I could go on and on about this. And then they. And then you had. I had to go on dialysis for like a month and a half to get this poison out of the system.
Adam Curry
Does dialysis. Does that hurt? Does it suck? What's that like? Actually,
John C. Dvorak
not being on it is nice. Yeah, but. But. But when you're on it, it's like you can nap through it. Oh, so it's dozed off, but it's. No, it doesn't hurt at all. It's actually. It's just annoyingly wasted time because it takes forever.
Adam Curry
Jay, Jay, please get a picture of John napping during dialysis.
John C. Dvorak
Too late.
Adam Curry
Oh, you don't have to do it anymore.
John C. Dvorak
No, no, I haven't done it for a month now.
Adam Curry
Oh, good. I'm good. I'm happy to hear that. How about the fluids? Is that. Is that over now? Because we really.
John C. Dvorak
No, I still had some fluids drained the other day. Yeah, I'm actually kind of clear right now. So I have a more sonorous voice.
Adam Curry
You do.
John C. Dvorak
I can make deeper sounds, and I don't know when that's gonna end. That's getting annoying because they have this one guy who's actually pretty good at it, doing these thoracentesis. Where they. They. They stick. Here's what. What's. So this guy's really good at. It doesn't. It doesn't hurt, and it's actually quite pleasant. So the time before last, the guy. This guy's. His name's Hans. He's excellent at this. And he's. His name is Hans.
Adam Curry
Hans.
John C. Dvorak
Hans, Hans. It's actually in. It's more of an Asian. But anyway, so he says, I have a resident here who wants to observe, so he can do this too. And would you mind having that happen?
Adam Curry
And you being a nice guy, he went, yeah, sure, no problem.
John C. Dvorak
I went, sure, yeah, no problem. And that was a mistake because instead of the normal, you know, the way he normally soothes, the way he does the whole. Shivs you with the needle to drain you. It goes like this. Okay, here's what I'm doing now. I'm going between the third and fourth rib. And notice that it's going as it goes into the, you know, the cavity with the. Between the ribs. And he's describing this, the whole process, and it's just. It's disconcerting at the say the least. So that's. So people out there don't have an internal or a resident watch anything. It was disgusting.
Adam Curry
I'm so sorry. But it was it less fluid than normal. Are we on the. On the.
John C. Dvorak
On.
Adam Curry
Are we on the uptake here? Are we doing better with this?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, I think barely.
Adam Curry
Yes, because I. Because, you know, I don't want to have to have an operation for that.
John C. Dvorak
No, there's just. The whole thing is just annoying.
Adam Curry
Yeah. Yeah. But are you going to go home soon? Are you going to.
John C. Dvorak
Back home? Yeah, I can probably get there now. I mean, I. But, you know, it's some. It's kind of comfortable being waited on, you know, so.
Adam Curry
Oh, my back hurts.
John C. Dvorak
Somebody get me an aspirin.
Adam Curry
I'm with you. I hear you. It's comfortable. Nice. All right,
John C. Dvorak
all right. Onward with Steve Sleep Slocum, who also came in with a thousand dollars. Hello, Adam and John. My name is Steve Slocum from Columbia Station, Ohio. Long time listener, first time donor. I started listening.
Adam Curry
Let's deduce him. Let's de douche him. I mean, he didn't ask for it, but you've been de douched.
John C. Dvorak
I started. Yeah. Good. I started listening after Adam's first Rogan appearance.
Adam Curry
Oh, Rogan donation.
John C. Dvorak
Rogan. This information is a bit late, but I felt it was relevant to the show. I'd worked in one of the country's largest VA health care facilities before and during and after Covid. The messaging this country received during that period of time was dramatically different than what was happening in these facilities. Veterans with active Covid diagnosis were forced to isolate in patient rooms together for extended periods of time when social distancing, distancing was arguably at its worst. It was sickening to witness the lies firsthand. Thanks to the two of you and all the producers during that time for providing grounded, relevant information to keep some sanity in the world. Well, thank you belatedly with my $1,000 bitcoin donation. Didn't come in well, I guess it would became okay.
Adam Curry
Yeah.
John C. Dvorak
I would like to claim an instant knighthood of the Order of the Heart to assist with John's recovery. I'd like to claim Sir Steve as my official title request. Reverend Manning. Bitcoin jingle as well as health Karma for all. Thanks, gentlemen.
Adam Curry
This ended. All hell is going to break loose and you're going to need a bitcoin. You've got karma. Lovely. There you go. A lot of people forget what we did during COVID They forget what we told you about Ukraine. They forget all these things and then they'll yell at us for things, and then in five years we'll be like,
John C. Dvorak
come back a couple years late.
Adam Curry
Yeah, it's all right now.
John C. Dvorak
That's all right.
Adam Curry
It's all right. We can handle it.
John C. Dvorak
20, 26.
Adam Curry
What do you say we make this show an even 20 years?
John C. Dvorak
20 years.
Adam Curry
There you go.
John C. Dvorak
Getting there.
Adam Curry
Sir E61 black sheep. Ah, now this is time, towns and treasure all in one. He's the guy that I was talking about earlier.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. He's gave us sir E61. Is that some rank?
Adam Curry
No, I think that's a Nokia phone, but maybe it is. I don't know. He's in Johnson City, Tennessee, but he's not because he's boogieing out of Kuwait, he says. I sent Adam an Update which is $343.75, which might have been 333.33 with fees, we evacuated. You get real time here, fellas. So now, there you go. Treasure, talent and time all in one. Thank you very much, Sir E61 Black Sheep.
John C. Dvorak
Michael Trumbull in Morris, Minnesota. 333.33. Here's a much overdue donation of the best podcast in the universe. Your efforts and insights are indispensable and since COVID have been under supported. Under supported, I tell you in the treasure area. Thoughts and prayers for you both, Mitch Trumbull.
Adam Curry
Thank you, Mitch. Dennis Cadle coming in from Tampa, Florida. We recognize the name 33333 itm John and Adam, just to give you some background, I actually have a history of correspondence with John going back to 1999, though I'm sure he doesn't recall. Let's find out.
John C. Dvorak
Oh, I recall every note.
Adam Curry
Let's. Let's see if John remembers this. I was a Mac guy and an Apple employee that would ro take offense to his articles where he would suggest Apple shut the doors, sell the stock and give it back to the shareholders or that Jobs return would do absolutely nothing to bring the brand back to prominence, etc. After wait, wait wait. After a few beers, I sent some aggressively curt emails to John suggesting that he find a new position in life that probably went something like fu. But I was amazed when he actually would respond to my rantings and would be ever so gracious and sweet. Sweet. Okay. Do you remember this?
John C. Dvorak
Oh yeah, I'm a sweet guy.
Adam Curry
No, no, I'm sure he wasn't the
John C. Dvorak
only There's a bunch of people that ran because I okay, so I was hired this really became mostly during the Mac era when I was hired as the anti editor of Mac User yes by the publisher Felix Dennis who got who I knew. He says would you like to be the like to put you on the back inside back cover but your job is to just say bad things so we can balance the magazine.
Adam Curry
And you went heck yeah, I'm in.
John C. Dvorak
Oh yeah, I can do that. No problemo. And so they I began and I was on the masthead as the anti editor and I wrote these columns at the back which were always critical and but I was also critical in PC magazine and Elstic where especially when I wrote the column which I think Steve Jobs put up in a frame which was Steve Jobs good riddance when he quit was a classic. But yeah, I got a bunch of guys like this that were irked by my rantings.
Adam Curry
That's funny. He says speaking of sweet like John, we invite everyone in Gitmo Nation to try our Manuka Gold honey with lemongrass ginger and chicken turmeric. Visit us@manukagold.com that's Manuka with a K for our wonderful line of wellness products. Be well@manukagold.com so this is an Apple guy who sold this stock and bought some bees and I love that story and I love your product, Dennis. Dennis Catle Tampa, Florida thank you Eli
John C. Dvorak
the Coffee Guy in Bensonville, Illinois 20517 Cheers to Bulgaria winner of the 70th Eurovision Contest. As the boy boys in the millennial media offensive say the Black Sea is in play. Wouldn't surprise me to hear more from Bulgaria and Romania. As European nationalism shifts further east, that sea matters more than most realize for the energy needs of the West. Fortunately, none of the current world turmoil has touched the coffee supply yet. Get some fresh roasted coffee and visit gigawattcoffeeroasters.com and use the code ITMP20 for 20% off your order. Stay caffeinated. Eli the Coffee Guy then coming in
Adam Curry
with $200 another associate executive producership for a dot farmer from Uden in the Netherlands and he wants to hear a boogity boogity Mac and cheese. Shut up slaves. And a yak karma. And he says or traveling yak karma. Bless me podfathers for I have sinned. I would like to thank you you both for your time and talent. After eight years of listening here by some treasure, I would like a deduce. Oh yeah, it's time for that.
John C. Dvorak
You've been de douched John.
Adam Curry
I love your view on the world, the stories you tell about the different jobs you had and situations you were in. By the way, my smoking hot wife really likes your voice. Adam, thank you for inventing podcasting, providing the bi weekly crisp and perfect sound quality and making the show so much fun to listen to. I'm the fun one. My kids know your intro by heart, reproducing it every time a new episode starts. You guys are the best. The no Agenda show truly is the best podcast in the universe. Now to Business Message for the first Ukrainian Clogs on the Ground meetup. Hear ye, hear ye. To all farmers, shill spooks and members of the Gitmo nations. You are warmly invited to join us for burgers and beers as we celebrate the birthday of our favorite former mink farmer, now a dude named Ben. We all raise a glass to knee high corn. To 1,563 days of Russian peace and freedom. And to the honest and non corrupt Ukrainians. The honest and non corrupt Ukrainians. All while supporting the Ukrainian economy. Join us. This is the first. Join us on Saturday June 6th at 6 o' clock at the Fat Moose in Bilak Circle in Ukraine. Man, I need a meter purport. Wow.
John C. Dvorak
That would be great if anyone shows up.
Adam Curry
That's awesome. We look forward to seeing you there. Please RSVP Kind regards A farmer. End of message. And he sent me a very long and beautiful boots on the ground about farming in Ukraine. That was extremely informative and he also said everything. Yes, drones fly. Most of them are shot down. The Russian drones, one of them exploded in one of his fields. A 10 by 10 foot hole 3ft deep, he says. And yes, some people die. And the cemeteries in Ukraine are unbelievably full. Just people. They're just throwing bodies on top of one another. It's flags everywhere. But he also says the front has pretty much been stagnant for weeks. There's not a lot going on, which makes sense because we haven't heard much.
John C. Dvorak
Much.
Adam Curry
There's a we haven't heard much going on anyway report. That is a very good report. Let me give you your, your jingles.
John C. Dvorak
You slaves can get used to Mac and cheese, Mac and cheese, macaroni and cheap cheddar melted together.
Adam Curry
Mac and cheese, Mac and cheese, Mac and cheese. You've got karma.
John C. Dvorak
Linda Loopatkin in Castle Rock, Colorado. $200 jobs, karma. Your resume has about 10 seconds to make an impression and most don't. For a resume that gets results, go to ImageMakers Inc.com Linda helps professionals and executives turn their experience into a clear story of leadership, results and impact. That's Image Makers, Inc. With a K with Linda Liu, duchess of jobs and writer of winning resumes.
Adam Curry
Jobs, Jobs, jobs, and jobs. Let's vote for jobs. And we have one, one final. Associate executive producer Lois Forrestal Forestall in Bellingham, Washington. $200. We did not receive a note from Lois.
John C. Dvorak
No, we did get a note.
Adam Curry
We did. Where's the note?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, it's a note that says no
Adam Curry
note, but I'm still gonna give Lois a double up. Karma, if you don't mind. You've got karma. And with that, we thank our executive and associate executive producers For Episode Episode 1,869 of the Best podcasts in the universe known as the no Agenda show. And again, these are credits that you receive and can use anywhere where Hollywood style credits are recognized. Thank you again for supporting us, you executive and associate executive producers. Our formula is this. We go out, we hit people in the mouth.
John C. Dvorak
Order.
Adam Curry
Order. Shut up, Slade.
John C. Dvorak
Shut up, Slade.
Adam Curry
Now I want to thank the rest of our $50 and above supporters, value for value, which includes Mike Duffy from Blenheim New Zealand, 194.61, which is that
John C. Dvorak
should probably be bumped.
Adam Curry
That's right. He's gonna be bumped up. It's a $333.33 New Zealand Bucks and wants business karma. The last round worked so well. We've quit our jobs. Now we're hot dogging for full time. Thanks. Florida's hot dogs. The best hot dogs in the. Flora's. Flora. Flora. Flora's hot dogs. The best hot dogs in the universe. That's interesting.
John C. Dvorak
Is he a hot dog maker?
Adam Curry
He's a hot dog maker. Send us some product, bro. You've got karma. Product. We want product, bro. Bro. Boob donation from the boob man himself, Kevin McLaughlin, the Archduke of Luna, lover of America and boobs. $80.08. As always, he says. God bless America and boobs. Sir Kevin O', Brien, Chicago, Illinois, with a small boob, $60.06. $6.06. You can see for yourself how that works. Along with Les Tarkowski from Kingman, Arizona. $60 from David Arellanos from Escondido, California, Steve Banstra. Ah, yes, Steve Banstra. He is our Southwest spot. Southwest. I used to love Southwest, but they are now the most expensive area airline there is. If you want to go to Nashville, what do you think a round trip to Nashville costs?
John C. Dvorak
Love would probably normally be $69, $700. What?
Adam Curry
Yes. And that's not even before you get like, you know, early boarding, because they have. They've changed it. Now you don't have that cool boarding that I like. Now they have boarding groups and you still have to pay extra for your luggage. It's insane. You can fly Delta or You United for 399. I don't. I don't see why people still. I think people are using up all of their. Here's what I think happened.
John C. Dvorak
I know what happened. The CEO changed.
Adam Curry
Yeah. The bean counters came in. They said, let's have everybody use up all of their points and miles at these exorbitant prices, and then we'll lower it down again. I think they're just trying to get rid of all those point people because I can't believe that they're paying that kind of money. Anyway, Steve has nothing to do with the organization other than he flies for them. And I hear he's a great, great pilot. And he says, have some more eggs. Steve Banstra. 59.93. Thank you, Steve. Sir Shelfwood. I'm out in the Netherlands. 59.86. That's a 5-678-donation. And I'm picking up the fees. Keep on keeping on, he says. He's from Gitmo. Lowlands. Mark Dunford, $58.56, sir. Commodore Crummy. El Cajon, California. 57.98. James Edmondson, South Plainfield, New Jersey. Double nickels on the dime. 5510 same for anonymous. Neil from Elm City in North Car. And Dean Roker, also with double nickels on the dime. Andrew Young, 52.72. Baroness Monica Drayton, Valley, Alberta, California. 51 and 11 cents. And she says, boy, the exchange rate on dollaroos is atrocious. Sorry about that, Baroness Monica, but thank you for the support. Viscount, sir economic hitman, Tomball, Texas. $50 and one penny to stay out of that 50 group. And here they are. Pamela Bradley. Bradley, Tecumseh, Oklahoma. I'm sure I did that wrong. Chris Cohen, Austin, Texas. Jason Guile. In Holland, we say Kyle, which is the Dutch people will be smiling. Lake Oswego, Oregon. Michael Sikora, Lake Elmo, Minnesota. Noah McDonald, Traverse City, Michigan. Scott Lavender, Montgomery, Texas. Patrick Bowmer in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. And he says hello for the best podcast from the universe. Yes. Cheers for Yao and for John. Yes. And our last $50 donor is Dame Rosie Posey. And she is just saying that she's very glad to hear how each episode John's voice is getting stronger.
John C. Dvorak
Yes, she wrote a cute card. Thank you. She has really pretty handwriting.
Adam Curry
And she also wants to put Paul Lincoln, Sir Mama's Boy of the Arc Welders on the birthday list for May 22nd. And we will take care of all of that. Thank you. $50 and above. We never mention anyone under 50 for reasons of anonymity and that is critical, so we don't do that. But we do see you. And we thank you very much for all of the support that you have given. I do have an extra karma request I'll take for take care of Sir Bob. And we do break for nights once. Job and F. Cancer. Karma for himself and for his family. Jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs. Let's vote for jobs. You've got karma Support the best podcast in the universe. Go to no Agenda donations dot com. You can support us any way you want, even with Bitcoin. I think we even take Stablecoin. I think it's on there through, through stripe. But we like dollars. We like PayPal. Whatever you want to do, whatever amount, whatever.
John C. Dvorak
We love the checks.
Adam Curry
We love the checks. Yes, we do. Because there's $0.15 processing fee. Checks are the best. Absolutely. And you can find all of the information for that@noagendadonations.com you can even set up a recurring donation if you feel like it. Any amount, any frequency. It's all up to you. Because we give it all to you with no expectation other than at one point in your life and maybe even More than once, maybe even weekly or monthly. You will return some value to us. Noagendadonations.com. And at the top of the list we see Eric Mackey, who we haven't heard from in a while. And he celebrates on the 18th tomorrow. Happy birthday, Eric Brennan Lawton, huh? On the 18th as well. This is a family affair. And then, as we just heard, Dame Rosie Posey wishes Sir Mama's boy of the arc welders a very happy birthday. He celebrates on May 22. We lift you all up and say happy birthday from everybody here. The best podcast in the universe. And here we go. Behold the Order of the Heart. Pure of purpose right from the start. In the morning, brave and smart, the Order of the Heart. Very proud to bring to two new Orders of the Hearts into our family. And in fact, they will be knighted momentarily. But we like to do this right up at the top. Samuel Montgomery and Steve Slocum, both of you gentlemen will become Red Knights Order of the Heart momentarily and we thank you so much for your insta night donations. Behold the Order of the Heart, pure of purpose from the stars in the morning, brave and smart, the Order of the Heart. Now let's bring these guys up on the podium. There is my blade. We need to make them official if you can. There you go, out of the scabbard there. Very nice. That's a handsome one. I like that one. Samuel Montgomery and Steve Slocum, gentlemen pop up here on the podium as it is time for you to become official as I very proud to pronounce the Kate V as Sir Samuel Montgomery and Sir Steve, both knights of the no Agenda roundtable. With that, we give you a host of goodies including hookers and blow rent boys and chardonnay, Polish potato vodka, fish pie and fellatio. Hey, that's what we have. Harlots and haldol, redheads and ryes, Ruben esque women and rose geishas and sake, vodka and vanilla bong hits and bourbon, sparkling cider and escorts. Ginger ale and gerbil, breast milk and pablum. And of course, we've got the mutton and the mead right here for you. Head over to noagentrings.com gentlemen and you will be astounded by the beauty of those rings. They are signet rings, which means you can use them to seal your important correspondence. And we do that by giving you some sealing wax, little sticks of wax that you can just melt down, just like in the movies. It's really quite efficient and beautiful and as always, you get a certification, an official certification, a certificate, as it were, that shows that this is the real deal and you are now a knight of the no Agenda Roundtable. That's right, the meetups, the Erection connection. As we just heard earlier on in the show, this is where you can find people who listen to the show, even in Ukraine, everywhere around the we are truly worldwide. It's an amazing community that you are a part of and you should solidify that relationship because this connection will give you protection. The people who meet at the meetups will be your first responders in any emergency. And sometimes people send in meetup reports and I'd love to play one from the Resist We Much meetup in Los Banos. This is Sir Robert Sarah of Two Sticks at the Resist We Much Meetup
John C. Dvorak
honoring Armed Forces Day.
Adam Curry
Sir Montauk here enjoying delicious pizza and excellent conversation
John C. Dvorak
in the morning.
Adam Curry
All right, we have a written meetup from Leiden where the folks met in the Netherlands on 8 May. Adam and John, 10 producers met in Leiden. Thank you for your courage. Zobim, El Dudarachi, Black Knight, El Duderace, Yoop, Andy, Ruby, Arnault, Roland, Sebastian, Anita and Pedro shout out to Yoop and Andy for coming to their first no Agenda meetup, says Baron Robb. Next meetup will be in Rotterdam on June 26th in Cafe Ha Blif. Pending Mivi's approval on no agendameetups.com I'm sure she will approve it. We also have a meetup taking place today. This is the big 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The May the Road rise to meet you meetup that is underway as we speak at St. Joseph's Brewery and Public House in Indianapolis. Damaria and Sir Mark of the Greenwood hosting that of course next show day on Thursday, Charlotte's 33rd. Thursday Monthly Meetup 7:00 Ed's Tavern as always in Charlotte, NC for the rest of this month in May on the 22nd hello Frenchies. Molazun guerres in France. Go look at it on noagendameetups.com we have a dame over there and she will show you you a good time. I mean she has wine, she has cheese, she has everything. That's on the 22nd, the 23rd Wilmington, Delaware, Los Angeles, California, Hickson, Tennessee, Franklin, Tennessee and the 24th Keyport, New Jersey, Vancouver, British Columbia on the 24th, Sequim, Washington on the 25th with Mimi attending and Anchorage, Alaska on May 30th. No agenda meetups no agendameetups.com head over there and find one near you it's very easy to start one yourself if you can't find anything. It's a great time. I guarantee you love it. You will not regret it. Noagendameetups.com it's very simple to start one. And always a party. Feels the same.
John C. Dvorak
It's like a party.
Adam Curry
John. John's tip of the day is coming up shortly, and we also have some really good end of show mixes. I'm excited to play those for you. But first, for some reason, for a long time, we've been doing the ISO selection at this part of the show, and we don't even remember why, but it's always fun. And I will start since that's how it usually runs. John never wants to go first. You never want to go first. You notice that?
John C. Dvorak
Of course I notice it.
Adam Curry
Okay, well, I'll go then. I love your perspective. You're absolutely, absolutely right. A little long. Here's another one. We are good to go, buddy. Oof. Maybe this one.
John C. Dvorak
That was good.
Adam Curry
Okay. And I think this. This one's the best. It was quite impressive. I like that one.
John C. Dvorak
It's okay.
Adam Curry
What you got?
John C. Dvorak
Let's start with a douchebag.
Adam Curry
God, I'm a douchebag. Is that from Family Guy?
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, that was the Vaping Ex episode.
Adam Curry
I'm a douchebag.
John C. Dvorak
I thought we should just keep that
Adam Curry
as a regular high contender.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. All right. Let's go with G willikers.
Adam Curry
G willikers. Gee whillikers, What a great show. No, reject it. I reject that one out of hand. You can do. You can do better. You can do better.
John C. Dvorak
Top show.
Adam Curry
Wow. Top that show, you chumps. Yes. That's what I'm talking about. We have a winner and we have John's tip of the day. Great advice for you and me. Just the tip with JCD and sometimes Adam.
John C. Dvorak
Okay, so we get some. It's time to start planting gardens.
Adam Curry
Is it now?
John C. Dvorak
Yep. We're in April.
Adam Curry
May.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah. So everybody should go out, get a stirrup hoe.
Adam Curry
We had those in Amsterdam in the red light district.
John C. Dvorak
Aren't they great?
Adam Curry
They are fantastic. What is?
John C. Dvorak
No, I'm not bad. It's also called a. There's another name for these things. They're called. Called. What's the name? I got it.
Adam Curry
I don't know. I'm.
John C. Dvorak
I don't even get it. I'm gonna get it.
Adam Curry
I don't know what a stirrup hoe is.
John C. Dvorak
Look it up. A stirrup hoe is like a hoe.
Adam Curry
Yeah.
John C. Dvorak
Only instead of being a Flat surface thing. It's got a loop and it allows you to.
Adam Curry
Oh. Put your foot in it and jam it in.
John C. Dvorak
No, it's good for. It is. It is the greatest weeding tool you can imagine. Oh, you can. It just basically pulls the weed. Weeds out. It's also called some other kind of hoe, which is funnier. I don't want to get the name. So hang on.
Adam Curry
Well, we're. We're at the. At the edge of our seats here.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, these are available at pastime and all the big hardware stores. Let me find it here.
Adam Curry
Stirrup ho, Tally ho, Hula ho. Stirapo.
John C. Dvorak
Yeah, hold on.
Adam Curry
I'm. I'm holding on. I'm just sitting here waiting, watching the meters go silent.
John C. Dvorak
I'm sorry, but I.
Adam Curry
You're under prepared.
John C. Dvorak
Closed. I closed one of the windows that has it. It's called a. It's also called an action hoe. An action hoe, which is really the more the. The animal Amsterdam.
Adam Curry
It's. It's a show title is what that is.
John C. Dvorak
Action hoe. Action. So, yeah, Home Depot has them. They Husky. Makes a good one of 54 in one wood handle. Action hoe with grip. These are just terrific products for gardeners. I used to have one years ago I forgot all about until Jay and Brennan brought one. They have a garden house here and they're gardening. Yeah, they got a big garden in the backyard. And so they're using this thing as. She's all jacked up about the action hoe. And I said, yeah, well, there's a lot of punchlines there with that word action hoe, but it's really technically a stirrup hoe. Everyone should get one. They're about 25 bucks max.
Adam Curry
Go get your action hoe, everybody. That's a tip of the day you will only find@noagendafund.com tipoftheday.net. And sometimes Adam created by Dana Burnetti. Aren't you glad you waited? Aren't you glad. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, look it up. This show is good to the last drop.
John C. Dvorak
I wonder how many people listen to the tip of the day.
Adam Curry
Oh, I'll do an analysis one day. Ask.
John C. Dvorak
I bet you about half the. Half the.
Adam Curry
Oh, no.
John C. Dvorak
Maybe half.
Adam Curry
No, no. 20%.
John C. Dvorak
20%. You think we'd fall off that much
Adam Curry
for tip of the day? Yeah, I think so. Most podcasts fall off pretty substantially after a while, but there's always that group that just hangs in there all the way, and they're the ones there's the good guys. Yeah, of course. And they learn about all the fun stuff that everybody else misses. Your loss. End of show mixes from just Baker and mvp. Love those guys. They're prompting away. They're doing good things now. It's. I mean, it gets better every single time. End of show. Let's see after the show we have the Millennial media offensive coming up with Hans Von Spankowski. Oh yeah, that makes total sense. Sounds like those guys. And we will return on Thursday. We hope you join us. And I am coming to you from the heart of the Texas Hill country right here in Fredericksburg, Texas in the morning, everybody. I'm Adam Curry.
John C. Dvorak
And from Refinery Row, I'm John C. Dvorak.
Adam Curry
And please remember us atnoensafe donations.com until Thursday. Adios mo fos a hooey hooey and such. Beijing lights the great hawk glows red Trump grins wide she nods his head Fantastic deals better than never he said why? The dragon whispers Taiwan's the thread pageantry thick as the Beijing Smog CEO's bow when the cameras are fog no big break through just the it of fog but the straight stays open that's the real they chose a rice wine we choke on the spin Legacy media already casing it is the shadows the deal never shown I ran in the process the virus alone HIV virus creeping off Antarctic boats Cuba blacked out why does folks take notes More priz and the war power joke it's all connected man no addenda flow Donate right now or the signal goes dark Independent voice in this corporate arc housetop the war powers dance I ran on life support another
John C. Dvorak
chance they keep the forever machine in
Adam Curry
advance While the cruise ship coughs up his deadly romance in the CIA director sips coffee in Havana energy collapse but the real banana is the quiet handshake behind a banana rain regime change Tango in the candle lit drama so let the shadow the deal never shown Fear porn rising while the real seeds are sown Media spins it pretty we cut through the bone no agenda army that's the only throne Donate right now Hit the link make the call no sponsors, no masters just truth for us all Keep the show breathing keep the matrix small or the next summit script writes us all. The flower stick to the sun Silicone trees in the valley where the air feels thin John's locking the doors Falling down to his knees While the typhus is scratching to get in the screens
John C. Dvorak
are all glowing a ghost light blue
Adam Curry
in a house that feels like a cage the silence is heavy the shadows are new in this lonely fevered age all the distance is a jagged line between the fear and the foam Adam's out chasing a fever design While John is dying alone at home cross the sea where the dykes hold fast Adam walks through the Dutch lowlands Looking for a shadow from a hollow pass with the hammer reaching for his hands no comfort in the travel no peace in the flight Just too hot speeding out of time One staring at the ceiling in the dead of night the other
John C. Dvorak
in a cold and rhythmic climb the
Adam Curry
fever's coming for us all so far apart
John C. Dvorak
so afraid
Adam Curry
we're all gonna die we're all gonna die. Not by day May 15 strikes carve Gaza sky women and child civilian cars targeted the anchors lie scholars need my cleansing slow west bank march is crushed again 7 under protest flame but the camera spins the end the show wins down Bunker nation never sleeps Dustin deals and endless water cycle never weeps from the keys lost in 48 to the
John C. Dvorak
deals they signed today Keep the signal
Adam Curry
clearer the machine will have its way Trump Trump and Cheetos in Beijing trade jets for soy and peace House ties the Iran Voltite Centcom denies the deceased Powell's chair goes cold all ghost line up for the list are connected in the fog same hands same twisted twist. Producer this signals alive because you keep it free no sponsors, no agenda just the truth you help us see hit the notes any coin, any name executive or dime Knockbutt dust rising no agenda in the morning.
John C. Dvorak
The best podcast in the universe adios
Adam Curry
mofo dvorak.org na wow top that show you chumps.
Episode 1869 of the No Agenda Show, "Trollery," continues Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak’s signature style of media deconstruction, blending political analysis, media criticism, and tangential banter with a focus on current global and domestic events. The episode moves through an in-depth, irreverent breakdown of the Eurovision Song Contest's 70th anniversary, heightened tensions around Israel's participation, Trump’s foreign policy (notably his China trip and Iran strategy), Cuba’s blackout crisis, the nature of online trolls, evolving U.S. legal frameworks, and other contemporary topics, all while interacting with their dedicated community.
| Timestamp | Topic | |---|---| | 00:30–15:55 | Eurovision Song Contest deconstruction, voting, geopolitics | | 15:55–43:49 | Trump, Iran, China, media hot takes, trade deals | | 47:08–59:35 | Cuba blackout, Vatican/CIA action, U.S. aid diplomacy | | 60:37–66:34 | CBS on trolls, psychopathy, meme politics | | 66:34–75:38 | Parental liability/DC laws, Supreme Court trucking decision | | 75:01–98:24 | FDA, flavored vapes, pharma/media lobbying, Hantavirus, Ebola | | 100:23–101:18 | Byron Allen buys Colbert's slot—media industry commentary | | 102:32–109:42 | Sharia law hearings, U.S. legal paranoia | | 110:05–117:50 | 3x3 Media Watch: Terrorist plots & skepticism | | 151:12–158:35 | Community: Donations, birthdays, meetups |
This episode is a textbook example of No Agenda’s “media assassination”: critically unpicking contemporary headlines, inviting skepticism of institutions (media, government, pharmaceutical, and even activist movements), all while fostering a lively, engaged producer community. The banter, recurring inside jokes, and meta-commentary on their own show’s structure add to the experience for long-time listeners and new producers alike.
End-of-Show ISO:
"Wow. Top that show, you chumps." — John (159:10)