← Real Coffee with Scott Adams
Real Coffee with Scott Adams
The Scott Adams School - 05/12/26 HOME TEAM: Jimmy Lai. Fraud.Tesla
01:00:51
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- [00:00]
Host
We are live.
- [00:01]
Marcella
We're live. We are alive, and we are live. Good morning, everybody.
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Host
Owen's here. Marcel is here. I'm here. And I know you guys had time to come in because we had the pre show going. So I'm only going to wait a few more seconds for the rest of the people to file in, and we are going to sip tastic. We. I have a couple of clips for us. Owen and Marcella have stories for us. And that's it. Let's sip. Ready, guys?
- [00:36]
Scott Adams
Well, you know, if you want to enjoy coffee with Scott Adams, you need to also enjoy the simultaneous sip. And you don't need much to enjoy it. No, you don't. All you need is a cup or a mug or a glass, a tank or chalice or stein, a canteen, jug or flask, a vessel of any kind. Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee. And join me now for the unparalleled pleasure. The dopamine hit of the day, the thing that makes everything better. The simultaneous sip. Go. Breathtaking. I know you feel the same.
- [01:19]
Host
Yeah, that's my new thing, is to play the same clip twice. Do you like that feature? Sorry, guys. Sorry, not sorry. We don't mind seeing the same clip of Scott twice. That is for sure. So, you guys, I've got some clips. You know, I like to get mine out of the way, but I'm not gonna, like, go racing through them. But I must start with an animal clip. You guys. I've seen this clip before. Okay? This also. This also stalls, you guys, for the other people to in, so we're just waiting. Oh, and I like how we have double of everything. Okay, so you guys, there's this animal called the maned wolf. Not maned. Maned. This thing is so freaking big. Just tell me if you wouldn't, like, have a heart attack if this thing came walking by you. Oh.
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Marcella
Oh, how cute.
- [02:15]
Host
My God.
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Marcella
Oh, I saw this. The monks.
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Host
Yeah, the monks feed him. This is in Brazil, and he is. Does not pose any threat to humans. I'm like, oh, my God, I would die if this thing walked by me. But he's beautiful. All right. How many people want one for their house? I do.
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Owen
You're saying this is a. This is a. A wolf?
- [02:41]
Host
Yeah, it's called the maned wolf.
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Owen
Looks more like a fox, right?
- [02:45]
Host
It's got the little foxy feet, but he has that wolf body, like that tall, lanky wolfie head. I love that.
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Marcella
Yeah, that's true.
- [02:57]
Host
A jackal. I feel like we need music playing in the Background sometimes, like just of our show. Yeah, like, just like some kind of like ambient music. I don't know.
- [03:09]
Marcella
Very nice.
- [03:10]
Host
Lovely. Okay, so now that that's happening, now this is what I'm calling for me. Maybe I want to see if you guys feel the same way. I feel like this is like our cringy video of the day and it's featuring President Trump and Cheryl Atkinson. They had a sit down interview. She's amazing, you guys. Cheryl, if you don't follow her on X, start immediately. But so remember when Elon came in and we were like, you know, Fort Knox and the gold and this and that. And then a lot of us here were like, you know, did they find it? Did they find it? I just want to play this and then chat about it after, but. Oh, it's cringy for me. Okay, here we go. What happened to the audit of Fort Knox?
- [03:58]
President Trump
Which one are you talking about?
- [03:59]
Host
There was, I think when you first got into office, you and Elon Musk told, talked about auditing.
- [04:03]
President Trump
Well, we wanted to go knock on the door, Fort Knox, very thick door. And to see whether or not we have any gold in there, because we take a look at it. It's a very interesting question. Yeah, we played with that. I wonder if they left the gold in Fort Knox because they steal a lot.
- [04:20]
Host
No need to really do that, though.
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President Trump
Well, I don't know. I think it's. I do want to go to Fort Knox sometime. I want to see if the gold is there, which I'm sure it will be.
- [04:34]
Host
Hello. Knock, knock. Fort Knox. Oh, and come on, isn't that bizarre?
- [04:42]
Owen
Excuse me. It is, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, it was kind of a mystery as to how he, he made a big deal out of saying, we're going to Fort Knox, we're doing this audit, we're going to actually see the gold there. And then all of a sudden it just got aborted. And I'm kind of wondering if. I was wondering at the time, like, did somebody tell them, sir, you don't want to do this because it would cause a lot of problems.
- [05:02]
Host
Was there ever gold there? Is there gold there? Is the gold gone? Where'd the gold go?
- [05:08]
Owen
Marcel, I've seen stories that other countries, at least a couple of them, I think, have pulled their gold out of Fort Knox. And so I'm wondering if they're also thinking maybe I don't want to leave my gold there. And I'm not sure what, what's happening over there.
- [05:21]
Host
Do you think it went to like, William Devane and all of his Gold commercials, that. That's where they were taking it from?
- [05:29]
Owen
I don't know. Good question.
- [05:31]
Host
Liberty Gold. I am just kidding. Liberty Gold. I don't even know who you are. I just hear your name. Marcel. I mean like, did. Weren't we all like waiting to see this?
- [05:42]
Marcella
Well, that's interesting that he, he was, you know, President Trump is usually, you know, able to answer questions very well. And this question he did not answer very well. So at least to, in my opinion, and to me, it makes it even more suspicious. Now it was suspicious before when they didn't actually follow through, but now with his answer, it's like, yeah, now I
- [06:10]
Host
want to, I really want to know. And like, I think Geraldo should go there with his camera and watch them knock on the door at Fort Knox. I'm picturing like this whole big vault out in the middle of the desert, just like with a big wheel for a doorknob. Anyway, I didn't like that. I felt like it was cringy. I don't know about you guys, but now I want to know even more. Thank you. Oh, Marcella, this clip is for you. So you know, we always would tell you guys how when we went to California and Marcella was, was so kind to drive us everywhere in her self driving car. What do you call it? Full self driving. So my now my friend Mindy, who you've all heard about, she's like, my next car, I'm going to get a Tesla or you know, something similar so it can drive me everywhere. And Mindy, we all strongly suggest you get the Tesla, not a different brand because we support Elon. All right, so look at this grandma. She goes for her first full self driving experiment. And this is what it looks like. And this is what freaked me out, Marcela, is because we were, you know, in your car during the day and at night, but at night there's like no dash lights, there's like no dashboard happening. It's really strange. Like there's nothing in front of you. But here's, here's the cutest grandma. This is amazing. She's like, do I touch the wheel?
- [07:46]
President Trump
Drive.
- [07:49]
Host
Now also, let's just say God forbid there was an incident. She cannot reach the gas pedal or the steering wheel, but that's okay. That makes me nervous. Marcella, what mode did you have yours in?
- [08:06]
Marcella
Mad Max.
- [08:07]
Host
Mad Max. If grandma was in Mad Max, she'd be like, oh my God.
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Marcella
She's probably in standard mode, but it's very safe. People think I'M always driving and at a stop sign they like go, go. And I'm like, my car doesn't go just because you say so.
- [08:29]
Host
So. And it's, it's pretty amazing. So now Marcela, is it true that
- [08:34]
Marcella
if you're, let me just lower, look, it's going faster?
- [08:38]
Host
Yeah. She's kind of scared.
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Marcella
She's kind of scared.
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Host
She's like, oh, gonna hold the door. So isn't it true or is it true if you have a Tesla like you don't always need the new Tesla because it's the software that updates, right?
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Marcella
Yeah. Like that particular one is the new model Y and that one at night they have a light all over the car that you can change the color so you'll like that. The, the old one that I have doesn't have that. So it's completely dark, right? Yeah. So that's the good thing about it is that once you buy a Tesla, even if you have an older Tesla, they, once you buy, you have to buy fsd. So you do have to buy it separately from the car to, you know, while you're, when you buy it or you can pay a monthly fee. I think it's like a hundred dollars a month, but don't quote me on that. But basically it, it gives you the updates for free. Sort of like you only have to buy it once, you don't have to keep on paying anything, which is great. So an older car will have the new updates as well.
- [09:56]
Owen
Well, but I think they do give updates. But I think I, I have seen stories that say that older models don't they, they aren't capable of the actual full self driving, like unsupervised full self driving. So I think there is a cutoff there where some of the newer models have the full, the real full self driving, but some of the older ones are kind of not quite as capable. So I think there is a difference. But you know, there, I'm sure to some extent what you're saying is true that there are some, you know that there are software updates and a lot of the capabilities could be upgraded after you buy it so you know it'll keep getting better as you go. But again I think there is some, I don't know what, I don't know what the cutoff is or when they changed over to new hardware, but I think it's based on the AI chip capabilities or whatever it is that some, some of them are more capable than others.
- [10:48]
Host
Yeah, so Lang was saying here, different number of cameras on old Teslas. Prohibit it. So obviously it needs, like, many, many cameras. So anyway, if you. If you bought a Tesla in the last couple of years with full self driving, you should be set and fine for updates. The older ones, you probably can't just add it, but you know, if you bought one now, moving forward, you're good to go. And if the software improves, it's just a matter of, like an update on your computer, Right, Marcella?
- [11:15]
Marcella
Yeah.
- [11:15]
Host
Download the update. So pretty interesting. So everyone make sure Mindy gets the message that it must be a Tesla and not like a Toyota or something.
- [11:26]
Marcella
I like Mindy now. I really like Mindy now.
- [11:29]
Host
If only if she gets the Tesla.
- [11:31]
Marcella
Me. Me.
- [11:32]
Host
Yes. See, Mindy, friendships are riding on it. So I just thought that was interesting. I like seeing her, you know, like an older woman, like a grandma in there. So sweet. All right, so we're gonna get on with, like, the newsy news. And Marcella is. Has been out on assignment, and she knows, like, she's like. I was like, all right, Marcella, we had like, a newsroom meeting. Cap on, like, with the pen in my ear and, like, the pad and the paper cigar. And I was like, your beat is California. You got California. You want to know about the governor, the mayor. We want to know about making me
- [12:10]
Marcella
want to move states.
- [12:13]
Host
So Marcello is definitely covering for us. Oh, my God. The fraud. Like, this crazy fraud. Not that the fraud's so shocking, but are we going to get paid back? Let's play a little clip. And then, Marcella, I want to get paid back. I know you do. I want to get paid back for all the fraud we've ever had. Okay, let's hope that this is the right clip, you guys. You know how it goes. Here we go. In California, the Trump administration says the state owes the federal government more than $1 billion for health care given to illegal immigrants. William Lajeuness has a story from L. A. Hi, William.
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William Lajeuness
Well, Dana, there are two stories here, right? One is how rising costs have forced blue states to roll back health care for those without legal status. The other is the White House crackdown on eligibility. If states can't confirm those getting care are US Citizens, they have to pay the feds back.
- [13:08]
Host
We are auditing aggressively, and we don't like what we see.
- [13:12]
William Lajeuness
In March, the Trump administration began auditing states that provide illegal immigrants with routine health care paid for by American taxpayers. Their findings, seven states and the District of Columbia owe nearly $1.4 billion for using federal, not state, money for immigrant care. Topping the list, California Followed by New York and Illinois.
- [13:36]
Marcella
Oh, Illinois.
- [13:39]
Host
Listen, it was almost the three of us represented, but New Jersey, good for you. You're probably fourth. So, Marcella, what the heck is happening?
- [13:52]
Marcella
I mean, it's. I hope they, they have money to pay for it. There's budget issues in California. So basically what it means is that CMS is really cracking down on them using Medicaid funds to pay for non emergency for illegal immigrants. So they have a program where federal funds can be used only for emergency services for non, non citizens. But they were using it for regular. Allegedly, they were using it for regular services. So one of the things that came out is that, like he said, CMS preliminary audit identify California as the largest offender. But Illinois, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, D.C. with over 1 billion in question total across states was. So California was the 1 billion, but across states it's about 1.3. 1.3 billion.
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Host
Wow. California.
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Marcella
I know, Geez. Yeah, it's quite a lot of fraud. I think we can like, you know, maybe balance the budget
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Host
with the payback.
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Owen
Yeah, so not after you pay back the government billion dollars.
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Marcella
Well, the crackdown is also for future items. CMS and HHS have increased oversight, which does not allow further, you know, craziness with.
- [15:29]
Owen
Yeah, but if the federal government was paying for it, then they're not going to pay for it anymore. So that would be budget neutral. And then you got to find that billion dollars to pay back the federal government that you already paid out to people. So seems like you've got a bigger budget hole to deal with.
- [15:43]
Host
So the billion has to go back into the tax coffer, so to speak. Right. Yeah. So. Oh, boy, oh, boy.
- [15:52]
Marcella
I think this is great because they'll limit the fraud. You know, people are going to be afraid.
- [15:57]
Host
Well, I like how they want to try to worry about the future for all that they know is coming, too.
- [16:02]
Marcella
So this is why I voted for Trump, finally.
- [16:08]
Host
Oh, and what do you want to say anything more about that? That's pretty brutal.
- [16:12]
Owen
I mean, I think it's ridiculous. It seems like California is by and far the worst offender. You know, certainly Illinois is number three on the list. I'm not defending them at all, but it's not nearly the magnitude.
- [16:23]
Host
Yeah.
- [16:23]
Owen
Of what we're seeing in California. So I think it's, it's pretty incredible with the level of fraud and the amounts in places like Minnesota. But it seems like California may be the worst in the country for fraud based on all the stories we're seeing.
- [16:37]
Host
Do you think this fraud being brought to light stemmed From Nick Shirley. I need.
- [16:47]
Owen
I think he definitely played a role in it. I know after he was done in Minnesota, he headed out to California, and then they found all these hospice centers and things that were going on. I think you could argue that the, the Medicaid to illegal immigrants, you know, I guess you could call it fraud. I don't know that it was necessarily fraud because it wasn't necessarily, like, it was a totally fake service in all cases. I mean, maybe it was in some cases that people were just faking it and submitting Medicaid claims that never were given to anybody. That would be fraud. But I think some of it might just be that California decided we're just going to give everybody eligibility when that's not really allowed by the law. And so, you know, it's breaking the law. But I don't know if I would necessarily call it fraud. But I think it does seem like even the hospice fraud and all the other kinds of fraud seem to be much bigger in California than anywhere else.
- [17:36]
Host
Yeah. So you have Dr. Oz, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and J.D. vance. I guess they're all like, so Dr. Oz is working on the Medicaid fraud. Vance is working on fraud in general. So. All right. I mean, I like that because the only people working on fraud before were the fraudsters. So this is, this is a good turnabout.
- [18:03]
Marcella
Just to Clarify, this particular 1 billion that California would owe to the federal government is not fraud. It's just they didn't follow the rules, but it wouldn't be fraud like Owen said. But the other thing is that they started this preliminary audit. So CMS started it in the middle, late to 2025, before the nick Shirley stuff. So it was an ongoing thing. It's just, I think it was always ongoing, even under Biden. It's just nobody cracked down.
- [18:35]
Host
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just like, yeah, I like, you know, I want to say so many things, but it doesn't matter. It's just my personal emotions again, so. Well, this is good. I mean, I think one thing will lead to another to another. It will have a snowball effect and, you know, exposing it is good. All right, so, Owen, I want to toss over to you for one of your news stories that you're covering for us today.
- [19:04]
Owen
Sure. So there's a story about an angry mom that defeated a data center. This was in Wisconsin, and apparently she was an activist, had did some organizing before relating to environmental things and multiple sclerosis and things like that. But she learned about this data center proposal that was 12 miles away from where she was living and didn't like that idea and decided to try and fight it. She started some kind of Facebook group to inform people about it. And it got like 2,000 members within the first two days. And as of now, it's like 3,700 people. And she got a bunch of publicity and then the facility got shut down. The place, I think it's a development firm. Cloverleaf withdrew its plans, said they had a lack of support from local officials. So it seems like this woman made a big difference and got rid of the AI data center that was planned for Wisconsin.
- [20:01]
Host
You know, it makes a difference. The pushback's uncomfortable for these people. And I know we have one scheduled to go in in Marlboro, New Jersey. So if anyone lives over there, there, I know they're making a big stink about it. Join in on the stink. Because, look, this woman, you know, because she just wouldn't give up. They gave up. So make a stink if you need to. Go ahead, Owen. Sorry I cut you off.
- [20:24]
Owen
No, I mean, and I think for people who might be interested in this or fighting it, I think a lot of it has to do with power costs in terms of the energy costs of these data centers, that it might be borne out by the taxpayers or by the people using, you know, utility payers where it can certainly jack up the energy prices. And also, you know, there is a water concern in terms of how much water it's using. So depending on how much water supply you have in your area, that may be an issue as well. I think it's maybe less of an issue for people like me near Chicago because we've got this big lake right next to us of fresh water. But in many parts of the country, it's much more scarce and might be a bigger issue to say if they're using a bunch of the water, that means they're taking it away from someone else. So, you know, I'm not necessarily anti data center, but I, you know, totally understand why someone might not want one in their backyard and. Well, yeah, might not want to pay for it.
- [21:18]
Host
Let's talk about that, Owen, because I see people in the chat saying, like, you know, why do you want to kill our future and whatever. You have to understand, you guys, they're building these data centers basically on the edges of neighborhoods. The noise, the light pollution, the noise pollution, and like Owen said, like draining of resources, like the, you know, the one place they wanted to put it, you know, cuts off like a natural water flow, you know, Like a stream that delivers water and well water and this and that. Like it's really, it's really a disruption. It's not like you're just putting in a building, you're like creating like this like small city in one building is the way I'm seeing it. And all of the pollution. So now these people live there, they're like, oh my God, the, like they can't even go out in their backyard. So now there goes their real estate. Right? They can't even sell and get out. They're not going to make any money. So they either live with it, they lose their money in their real estate. So it's a big disruptor. There's got to be a better way, a better place, a better design. I mean people are creative. So you know, if anyone's out there and they're like, wait, I want to come up with a better design, but oh, and you know, don't you think that's the gist of what's happening? It's like where they're building them and then all the infrastructure problems are causing.
- [22:37]
Owen
Yeah, I mean, you know, the Trump administration has at least tried to get some agreement with these different data center providers or with the hyperscalers, the AI companies that they should provide their own power and not, you know, just keep, take it from the people around and make everything more expensive. I'm not sure if that's always happening. So that's one question. I do think it makes sense that the, whoever is building or using the data center should be the ones bearing the brunt of the cost and not putting it on the people that live there. But I think, you know, there are all sorts of technological developments coming. I post stories on a regular basis. I think I posted at least one today about some new technology. I think it was some kind of copper tubing or something for heat exchange that would potentially reduce the energy cost by like 98% or something. So there are potential developments that might make it much less of an issue from an energy perspective. And I personally don't put as much stock in the water issue just because people treat water when they talk about it like that, like it's a one time resource, like as if the water goes away, it's like, no, the water is recycled and it goes back into the environment and but I do understand that, you know, if they're taking millions of gallons of clean water out of the treated water, then that is a limited resource and you need to take that into account to say you can't just allocate a whole bunch of it to a new data center and not have any impact on what was happening before. And again, in many areas of the country, they are having droughts, they're having problems with water supply. And so it's a much bigger issue. And so you may need to just pick the right places to say where is there plenty of water like Chicago, where you can say, there's a big lake, we can just pump more of it and it's not such a big deal and it's not going to raise the price a lot. But I do think all these things should be taken into account. Account. And I think we should certainly be prioritizing whatever technological developments we can to make it energy efficient and to make it not impact people. And to your point, if there is noise or light pollution or other things, then those should be taken into account as well. Yeah, where you don't want to impact someone's, you know, lifestyle or joy of life just by putting this big data center right next to where they live
- [24:48]
Host
and their real estate value too. That just sucks. It's like, you know, so many people are impacted by one of these buildings. And I'm not saying they're not important, but, you know, I feel like I always want to propose to our New Jersey politicians, whoever, that you can't. You, you, you have to stop tearing down forests and all this stuff to put new plazas in, of all things, or new condos. I feel like you should have to take a dilapidated place that has like one store open in the whole plaza. You have to take that place, knock it all down, rebuild, do something like that. So do that like with a data center like somewhere that's already commercial property, you know, even if you have to make like two smaller ones instead of one giant one, then do that. But it's the way they're infringing just kind of stinks. You know what, you guys, because like, we complain about, you know, half the people complain about pollution, the environment, whatever. And then other people are like, you know, we want to go back to the old days like me and be more nostalgic. But yes, like, the world keeps moving forward, but, you know, we can't just pollute everything because time's marching on. You know, we, I think we just have to take a beat. And I just think that there's really, really, really, really smart people who could come up with a better way to do these data centers before they all get plopped in, in places and then they'll never be taken out. I don't know, I think we are going a little too fast, personally. Marcella, do you want to say anything about this?
- [26:18]
Marcella
Well, I, I want more data centers. I want data centers everywhere. But I, I think Wisconsin, that lady, a lot of these data center issues that you're talking about, I feel like China would, would benefit from us not building as many data centers. But, you know, there are issues, I give you that there's noise issues. There is not all of them have the noise issue, but there are some that do. They're just businesses that trying to do business in different places and every, you know, it's local. You know, they get to decide whether they want it there or not. But one of the things that they need is power. And nuclear should be an option. You know, that hasn't been open to them. You know, I, maybe Owen has more information on that, but that it probably would be the solution to this water issue or, you know, how to power them.
- [27:18]
Owen
Yeah, I mean, again, I, I'm all for technological solutions, wherever we can get that and reduce the, the energy impact, the water impact, other things. I think many of those things are possible. And again, I'm not against data centers. I'm not like fighting for stopping all new data centers.
- [27:34]
Host
Same partly.
- [27:35]
Owen
I'm just reporting the news. This is not just an isolated case. This is happening all over the country where people are fighting back against these data centers. And I think it's something like 40% of them have been either delayed or canceled. So this is a huge trend that people are fighting back against these things. So even if you're a pro data center, you should at least be aware that there's a lot of pushback being generated against these things. And there are a lot of people that are fighting back and saying, I don't want it in my neighborhood, I don't want it in my state, or I don't want it at all. But it is a big impact and it may be a factor in terms of even how much we can scale AI and how competitive we can be compared to other countries. Because I doubt we have these same issues in China. China just decides what they want to do and they build a whole bunch of stuff and nobody gets the right to push back the way they can in the United States.
- [28:23]
Host
Okay, well, I'm looking at, you know, the, the comments are completely all mixed, which they should be. You know, they should be because everybody has different interests and different information and we all live in different parts of the country. And I, you know, I see some people have water issues. I kept Said put them in all the public schools that need to be shut down. You know, I love it. I love it.
- [28:47]
Marcella
But there's. There's areas in the United States that have no one in it, you know, and has water. So I don't know why they're trying to put it in certain areas where there's people or whatever, you know?
- [29:00]
Host
Yeah. And they don't.
- [29:01]
Marcella
Alcatraz. Put them in Alcatraz.
- [29:03]
Host
And there's not many people, Right, Owen, in a data center, like, there's not, like, employees, like, two people in each one or something.
- [29:09]
Owen
I mean, that may be one of the arguments about why they want it to be in a particular area. They want it to be near people so they can find people to work there. But I think I saw a metric recently that there was something somewhere around $50 million of spend to generate one job in a data center. So it's a limited number of jobs. And now, again, that doesn't mean there's only one person in the data center, but it does mean it's not like this massive army of people. It's not like a factory where you have assembly lines full of people doing things. It's basically a pretty low touch from a human perspective. You set it up once, and then it runs for a whole long time, and you need a few people to swap out whatever breaks, but otherwise, it pretty much operates 247 on its own. And so it's a relatively small impact from a jobs perspective relative to the amount of investment that you're making.
- [29:55]
Host
Okay, well, this is like a perfect little segue for me. So I'm doing a news story. No. So I. A lot of you that have known me for a while know that I was speaking of China, that this is, like, a very important issue to me. And I don't know how many people here know who Jimmy Lie is. You spell the last name La. I, Jimmy L. So I asked Chester to help me write up, like, the things I want you to understand about him. And then I want to play a clip. Okay, so this is Jimmy Lai. He was born in mainland China in 1947 and fled to Hong Kong as a stowaway at age 12. Escaping poverty and political turmoil during the Mao era, he worked in factories, built a successful clothing business with the Giordano retail chain, and later founded Apple Daily, which is a newspaper. In 1995, the newspaper became widely known for investigative reporting and for criticizing corruption, abuses of power, and the growing influence of Beijing over Hong Kong, while advocating for free speech and democratic freedoms. So what you need to know, too. So if you don't understand, I mean, I did not know all this before. I was invited to a private screening of the documentary about Jimmy Lai a couple of years ago, and I met some of his family and people who, you know, he was their mentor and people that are in the documentary. But what. All right, so he says, as China. All right, so. As China's government increased its control over Hong Kong, many residents believe Beijing was violating the original handover agreement. I want to. I just want to tell you guys, let me just see if I have this here. Okay, so this is what I want you to know, because this is what I did not know at first. Okay, so Hong Kong was controlled by Great Britain for more than 150 years after the British took it from China during the opium Wars. In 1997, Britain handed Hong Kong back to China under an agreement called one country, two Systems, which promised Hong Kong could keep its own courts, free press, open economy, and civil liberties for 50 years until 2047. The agreement was intended to preserve Hong Kong's freedoms while still making it part of China. So Hong Kong went from like this, like, old world, you know, just kind of very, very poor area, into like, almost like a Dubai. So they, they got these freedoms, they turned into like a Dubai. I mean, I have family and friends. It was on my bucket list to travel there. Gorgeous, like whole, like, metropolitan amazingness. So, so as China. So then the last part. As China's government increased its control over Hong Kong, many residents believe Beijing was violating the original handover agreement. Tensions escalated, and in 2019, over a proposed extradition law that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China for trial, millions protested, viewing the law as a threat to Hong Kong's judicial independence and civil liberties. So, you know, China just started, like, creeping back in, and these people were living like, in a freedom, like almost like America. Like, they had. Whatever Britain had, they had, they had like, you know, free speech to an extent. I mean, they did. And civil liberties and all that stuff. And so when Jimmy Lies started this paper in 95, he was just, he's telling the truth about everything, criticizing China if he had to, whatever it was. So then China starts creeping back into Hong Kong. And now they're saying, like, well, maybe we're going to take you from Hong Kong now and bring you to China and put you in our courts and see what we think about you. So I remember this during the pandemic that these uprisings started in Hong Kong and there was protests in the street. And they were, you know, very brave, Very, very brave to be in Hong Kong and say, like, f you to China. You know, we want to, you know, we're, we're supposed to be here at least till 2047. That was the agreement. So, anyway, so Jimmy Lai openly supported the protest movement. And after China imposed the national security law in 2020, Apple Daily, his newspaper was forced to shut down. And Lai was arrested multiple times. And he remains in prison today under the security law. But it's so much worse. I mean, you guys, I'm definitely going to ask you to please help me amplify this message, because President Trump is going to China. He promised before he got elected. So many people said to him, please, you have to get Jimmy Lai out of prison. He's, he's old now. He has diabetes. Not only that, they've had him in solitary confinement for five years. Like, solitary confinement for five years. He has a family, he has a wife. And, and if you ever cared about freedom or like somebody that you see that cares the most about democracy and freedom, he is the poster man of this, what he risks. So I want to play you a little clip. This clip is from his documentary. It's just kind of edited together. And let's talk about him on the other side.
- [35:35]
Jimmy Lai
I was one of the few guy who was very controversial, who was very outspoken.
- [35:42]
Owen
Living in the truth is an effective tool against totalitarian power. Speaking truth to power is something that powerful dictatorships are terrified by. And I think Jimmy understood that.
- [35:57]
Scott Adams
That's why he started the paper.
- [35:58]
Owen
That's why he kept it. That's why he made it into essentially
- [36:01]
Host
a part of the movement.
- [36:03]
Jimmy Lai
Everybody was so chicken out, so scared that they went into self censorship to avoid offending the communists.
- [36:16]
Owen
So many businessmen keep quiet because they have investments in China. So Hong Kong people always have a soft spot for a guy willing to speak out as Jimmy does.
- [36:28]
Jimmy Lai
It's almost certain that they could be.
- [36:31]
Owen
When he was arrested, he was shackled and perp walked through his own offices.
- [36:35]
Jimmy Lai
Anything I have is this place. This place is freedom. I owe freedom my life.
- [36:55]
Host
This man is so amazing, you guys. I remember when I was invited to this documentary, I called Scott. I'm like, okay, I'm going to see this thing with these people. I'm like, really excited. And then we talked about. He didn't know about Jimmy Lai at that point. And then after, I was just like, like, we have to do whatever we can. And it's just, it's amazing because if you go on to X or Google, and you start to look him up, you will. A lot of people are really rooting for him. There's a lot of very big voices. They asked President Trump about Jimmy Lai, I think, again yesterday in the Oval, and, you know, he said, I'll, you know, I'm going to look into it. Yeah, you know, he's a great guy. I'll look into it. I'll look into it, but I just don't feel like it's urgent enough. This man literally did nothing but stand up to communism and stand for truth and freedom. So I will also. Maybe Sandy in the chat, you can help me. But there's an amazing documentary. It's free. It's on YouTube. It's called the Hong Kongers. And it's the story about what's going on with China and Jimmy Lai. And if you want to watch a great documentary, it's free, and just click play on it, and, you know, it's really fascinating. So please help me amplify this message about Jimmy Lai. There's other journalists and. And reporters that were also imprisoned, but they wanted to really make an example out of him. So please help me help Jimmy lie. And let's get a message to President Trump while he's negotiating for things. Get this man out of prison. It's disgusting at this point. All right, thank you for your attention to this matter.
- [38:32]
Jimmy Lai
I was one of the refuse.
- [38:34]
Host
Okay, so that was that. Now I'm gonna move back over. I don't know if you guys want to say anything about him or just go on to the next story. Either way is fine.
- [38:44]
Marcella
Just President Trump release. Make Chi release Jimmy Lai. You know, that's what we want. We want him to be released.
- [38:54]
Host
Yeah.
- [38:55]
Marcella
And also possibly to leave that Hong Kong area. I don't know. Because that's the thing is, once he's released, this is. Are things going to change for him? I don't know.
- [39:08]
Host
Yeah, he has a wife and kids, and, you know, like, you just saw Bill McGurn on there from Wall Street Journal. Is he Wall Street Journal or the po. I forget. But anyway, I'm friends with him on X and a couple other people that were in his documentary, and we're just, like, rooting and praying and whatever. But when you see this documentary, and I think some of you will watch it, I hope you're. You're gonna just be so outraged that this injustice is happening.
- [39:35]
Marcella
So please.
- [39:36]
Host
Thank you. This is like a personal plea from me to you, Owen, anything about this.
- [39:42]
Owen
I mean, I support what you're saying, and I don't know if I have much to add. I think, I hope he is released. And I think it's a big injustice. And I'm hoping that the Hong Kong people can maintain their sovereignty as best they can. I think it's a tough situation given how big China is and how much influence they have. And I'm not necessarily optimistic about that front, but I, you know, I can certainly hope that things will get better for them.
- [40:04]
Host
Yeah. And you know what? Great Britain, like, get it together, you know, like, what are you doing? All right, so let's move on. Marcela, let's come to you with your next news update. Thanks, you guys.
- [40:20]
Marcella
A news update? Well, like we were saying, Trump is going to visit China. He said about Jimmy Lai, he's gonna race it to the Chinese leadership. But not only that, he's leaving today for the summit to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. And sorry if I mispronounced that. Anybody in the chat. You're good. Reuters reports that Elon, Tim Cook, and Boyne CEO Kelly Ertberg. Gosh. Are joining President Trump's 16 CEO delegation to China for trade. Trade talks. And the visit will highlight US Companies. The elephant in the room, or the lack thereof, is the Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is notably absent and uninvited. The White House says that the reason is because it's going to center its CEO talk or business talk with agriculture and aviation. But Tim Cook is there, so. And so is Elon, so who knows?
- [41:29]
Host
Yeah, Elon's there, too.
- [41:30]
Marcella
Huh. So I don't know why Huang. Maybe Owen knows more, but about why he was not invited, I don't know.
- [41:38]
Owen
I mean, I know they've had controversy around the exports of the Nvidia chips, so there may be some reason why they didn't want to do it. I know there's been back and forth on that. It seemed like the way it played out was originally there was restrictions on Nvidia chips being sold to China, and then that was relaxed. But then China just turned around and said, we're not buying them. So it seemed like they were going their own direction and developing their own chips. And so it seemed like it was going in a weird direction. So maybe there just isn't as much opportunity there on the Nvidia side. But I think certainly it does seem like the technology front is front and center as one of the issues, given that Elon and Tim Cook are invited. So I would imagine that's going to be a big part of the agenda.
- [42:25]
Host
Yeah. And Elon does a lot of business with China, so it's good for him to show up, I suppose. I don't know. Good for who? But it's good. All right, so we're looking forward to see what happens with that, with that visit to Chi. Okay. Oh, and what do you have for us?
- [42:48]
Owen
So, apparently there are kids that are bypassing online age verification checks with fake mustaches. This is a trend that a lot of governments around the world are cracking down on age verification. I think it's bigger in the UK than it is here. I think it became law with their Online safety act in 2023 over in the UK, but it is happening here, too. I think Louisiana passed something. It's more specific to online content, like our adult content, meaning, like porn sites and things like that. But I think this is a trend. But apparently the kids are onto it, and they're just using eyeliner pencils from their parents to draw on mustache.
- [43:26]
Scott Adams
And.
- [43:26]
Owen
And it's fooling a lot of the online age verification.
- [43:29]
Host
Oh, my God.
- [43:31]
Owen
They're also using, like, video game characters and other things to try and fake out these things, but it seems like they're outsmarting the. The AI left and right with some of these things. So I just find it kind of funny.
- [43:43]
Host
That's hysterical.
- [43:46]
Owen
Yeah. So, I mean, you know, there's obviously different perspectives on whether or not we should have this kind of policy or whether or not it can work. I think in the United States, certainly, there's a lot of pushback around it just to say we shouldn't have restrictions. I mean, that, again, can go both ways. I think most people would say we don't want kids seeing offensive adult content. But given the nature of age verification, what that really means is you have to identify who you are to all these websites. And so it basically de. Anonymizes the Internet, which is a huge issue in itself. So, you know, that I think is gets a lot of pushback, especially in the United States. And, you know, there's a lot of things on both sides of that, but it seems like it's. The kids are kind of outsmarting them with all these things in terms of just being able to find ways to get the online systems to think that they're older than they are. And so it's not really as effective as they were hoping it would be at this point.
- [44:46]
Host
That's amazing. So can you two indulge me with another story? Look at me jumping all in on the news today.
- [44:54]
Marcella
The LA mayor. I don't know if you want to talk about the LA Mayor race, the California gubernatorial race or the Katie Mayor?
- [45:01]
Host
Let's do Governor and mayor. Just kind of like quick little updates on that. So we know for Cal this is California, guys.
- [45:08]
Marcella
Yeah, of course it's calm Fornia LA Mayor race. It looks good for Spencer Pratt. Now he's 28 implied probability of winning. And this is just some poly market. However, on Poly Market, Karen Vass is 50 to 53% probability of winning on the June 2 primary. The last polls I tried to find any polls that are current, they were from March and it had Karen Bass at 53 and Spencer Pratt at 31. Very similar to what, what Polymarket is saying in regards to the California gubernatorial race. We have better news? Well, it's not so good news in the poly market predictive prediction markets. But in regards to the poll, a poll just came out having Hilton, Steve Hilton the Republican 22%, Becerra the Democrat at 20%, Stier Democrat at 14% and Bianco the other Republican at 13%. Newsweek highlighted in regards to the governor race. They highlighted that Becerra seems to be the favorite right now at 49 on Polymarket and Cali while Styer is. Is behind. But Steve Hilton in regards to the primaries is also. I didn't understand this. So in regards to the regular race, Becerra was above Steve Hilton. But in regards to the June 2 primary, Steve Hilton had 83% chance to advance. So that's very good. So the. I. I'm happy that Steve Hilton is leading.
- [47:05]
Host
He's doing great.
- [47:07]
Marcella
He's doing great. We need to see him more, you know, in California. Maybe, maybe it's. Maybe he shouldn't be. I mean, it's working. Whatever he's doing, keep doing it. And then Arcadia, California, I think some of you know about the story. The mayor of Arcadia, California, where I kind of like lived in that area for a long time, she was. She pled guilty. I. Her name's Eileen Wong and she pled to being an illegal agent for the People's Republic of China. China Grace after. I mean, it took a while because this was disclosed yesterday, but her fiance had. Had been found guilty. No, I'm sorry, he had. He faces. He already had been serving four years.
- [48:10]
Host
It doesn't.
- [48:10]
Marcella
The story didn't say whether he. His. Her fiance was. I would just say had pled guilty or was found guilty. But that was back in 2024, 2025. So the FBI was already on her about what had occurred. So one of the things that was Being that came out is that the China would tell her sort of tell her what propaganda to put on the daily newspaper for Acadia. Like any kind of bad press on China, they would not put it. They would put good press about China. And that's one of the things that she was paid for. She was actually released on bond for. For 25, 000. So she's out on bond right now, and she faces 10 years in prison, federal prison. So.
- [49:10]
Host
Good, good. And she should. And California has a Chinese spy problem, Diane.
- [49:17]
Marcella
Yeah.
- [49:18]
Host
Finds.
- [49:19]
Marcella
And the UK too. I hear there's an issue with the ambassador of China. Of China in the UK So strange.
- [49:27]
Host
It's so strange, isn't it? I mean, who would have thought that China would be infiltrating with spies? Odd. Yeah. What was her, Diane Feinstein, rip and wall. Well, who I hear might be getting 40 years in jail if, you know, blah, blah, blah. Marcel. I know allegedly opinion law, court trials, but I was like, what, 40 years? I saw 40 years somewhere for some of the stuff he's done. I'm like, I'm not shedding a tear for him. But anyway. Oh, and do you have a spy? We don't know. Are you a spy?
- [50:05]
Owen
I don't think so, but we met
- [50:07]
Host
Owen and we would always say, no shade people, but Owen might be Chinese. I'm just saying, go ahead.
- [50:14]
Owen
As far as I know, I have no Chinese in my background. I've been to China one time, so I guess you can count that against me.
- [50:20]
Host
Oh, yeah. Nobody goes to China, Owen. Okay, one time just to get your orders.
- [50:26]
Owen
Yeah. But it does seem like it's a big problem. It seems like it's been infiltrating our government all over the place. And I think, again, California seems to be the worst. So congratulations, Marcella.
- [50:37]
Host
You go, Marcel.
- [50:39]
Owen
You know, it does seem like there California seems a lot friendlier towards China than most other states and has a lot of things going on there that they shouldn't. And I think it's a big problem in our universities. I think we have a lot of people spying on us through all of all the graduate research and things that are going on with the. I think they call it the Thousand Talents program, but it's essentially a way of just scooping up all of our research and getting it back to the Chinese government. So I think we should put a stop to all of it.
- [51:06]
Host
I agree. Stephen Lang, you've been to China over 40 times. And yes, as Steve Cortez pointed out on this show and his documentary about all of the students from China booting out the American students chances of getting into even their state colleges. It's just. I don't know. I don't know why we. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Let's see what happens after this visit. I just don't know. Oh, my gosh. All right, Owen, give us.
- [51:36]
Marcella
Us.
- [51:36]
Host
Give us a tidbit, would you? Would you?
- [51:40]
Owen
Keir Starmer is in a lot of trouble, apparently. You know, he's been under a lot of pressure for a variety of reasons. I think partly is the whole mass, you know, mass immigration issue and just a lot of activists and marches and things going on against what he's been doing there, letting all these foreigners in. But then more recently, there was the whole Epstein thing where he had appointed somebody that was a friend of Epstein and got in a lot of trouble for that. So it seems like. And then more recently than that, they had an election and the Labour Party just lost massively at the ballot box. So they lost a bunch of positions. And I think at this point they're thinking he's about to quit. But he came out and gave some speech about this specter of far right extremists and things, trying to treat it as this big threat and it's dangerous. And he said, we're not. We're not just facing dangerous times, but dangerous opponents, very dangerous opponents. So he's trying to save himself by calling out the far right as if that's the problem. So. But again, there's speculation that he might be resigning sometime soon.
- [52:47]
Host
Wow.
- [52:47]
Owen
I can't think. I think it can't come sooner.
- [52:50]
Host
I agree.
- [52:51]
Owen
Net negative for that country and for us.
- [52:53]
Host
So I agree and good. And good riddance. I hope so. To Marcella and Owen. I'm just throwing this out there because somebody mentioned it in the chat and. Yes, you guys. So the clock ran out for Fauci. Right. For the statute of limitations for him to be charged for all of his wrongdoings. And I'm not going to say allegedly because it's true. So I don't know what. Yeah. What does happen now? Do either of you. Did either of you happen to read any of that? I mean, I. I saw that, like, now people are going to be having, like, whistleblowers coming out and talking about things from behind the scenes, you know, Great. That's really courageous now that the time ran out. But what do we think is going to happen next with. With everything we know now about the vaccines and Covid and The lying Stella just took a header right on to me.
- [53:52]
Marcella
Well, I mean, you hope something happens, but I, I feel like, you know, Ran Paul is all by himself, like, hopefully something does happen and so this doesn't occur again. I. But can you prosecute him under that statute? No, but you can make him come to, to testify again and maybe he, he can lie again. Allegedly.
- [54:19]
Host
Well, somebody was saying, and I've seen this also, that you actually, I forgot, you can be prosecuted for murder. So if there are murder charges, that's, that's a workaround. And I would say that that happened.
- [54:33]
Marcella
But, yeah, I mean, you still have that pardon issue, but then you have the auto pen capacity issues. So then you'd have to bring Biden and the Democrats down from there to show that he had no capacity, which I don't know if President Trump is ready to do.
- [54:50]
Owen
I mean, I did post a story today or yesterday about how the DOJ is still considering starting a criminal investigation against Fauci. There's, of course, potential for state offenses that are not, you know, covered by the federal pardon. So it may be something that could be done at the state level. And I think there, there is from a statute of limitations standpoint, he could still be charged for lying to Congress in 2024 because there he said he didn't use his personal email for NIH business, which was a lie. So there's still some potential that he could be prosecuted, but I'm not really hopeful. Just. And I think the pardon thing might be one of the factors that, you know, I mean, I do think we probably should test it and see if we can get it done. But it could be something that some people don't want to test because they don't want to necessarily open the door to saying, you know, now we have legitimacy tests for pardons. Or on the other side, they could say we don't want, you know, to potentially open the door for all sorts of other pardons to be questioned in the future. So I, I unfortunately don't think it's going to happen, but I would certainly like to see it happen.
- [55:59]
Host
Yeah, I know. It's, it's, I'm curious just because I did hear, like, now that that ran out, there'll be whistleblowers, let's say. But I'm like, he should have blew your whistle a long time ago, people.
- [56:14]
Owen
Interesting timing if they come out now.
- [56:16]
Host
Yeah, of course.
- [56:17]
Marcella
Well, I mean, he could still be prosecuted in, in a state, you know, depending on the state change the, they can change no criminally oh, criminally. I mean, I remember New York changing statute limitations for certain essay stuff for Trump and just so that they could prosecute him
- [56:42]
President Trump
or.
- [56:42]
Marcella
No, I guess it was civilly. But I, I know somebody mentioned Florida. Sorry, I'm laughing because somebody posted a picture of Owen as Chinese. Florida DeSantis. Governor DeSantis did say that he was looking into prosecution for Fauci, but has not been done. This is before the Attorney General. The new Attorney General in Florida was appointed, so maybe they are still looking into it. I don't know.
- [57:17]
Host
What comment did you guys want me to see? I see you telling me to look at it, but I don't know which one it is. Let's see. Didn't DeSantis have a legal case against Fouchy in Florida?
- [57:30]
Marcella
According to Grock, he does not.
- [57:32]
Host
Okay, I never heard that. Dang. Marianne said, dang.
- [57:37]
Marcella
The criminal unleashing criminal wise.
- [57:40]
Host
Okay. All right, you guys. So. Yes, Andy, right on time. I'm, I'm, I think. I think we're good. Unless either one of you want to add anything to anything about anything, feel free to do it now.
- [57:54]
Marcella
Yeah, just check out the Hong Conners by for with regards to Jimmy Liquid and then post on X or wherever you post. Blue Sky. I know a lot of you do post things about Jimmy Lai and.
- [58:08]
Host
Thanks.
- [58:09]
Marcella
See, See the. You know, you know, we can make a change. Just like that Wisconsin lady made a change.
- [58:15]
Host
Yeah. I mean, he's going over there and you guys, when. When you watch the Hong Kongers on YouTube for free, even repost the movie into your feeds and tag people that, you know, it's. It's such a. It's such a well done documentary and he's such an incredible man and it breaks my heart every day when I think about him and his. His faith and his religion. And he's drawing. He's just drawing religious pictures all day in solitary. Never goes outside. Nothing. They don't like that. They don't like religion. Well, he's just like drawing like Mary and the crucifix. Just anything to, you know, that's all he has is paper and pens and that's. And little pencils and that's it. Oh, boy. Owen, it's getting deep in there for you in the chat with the pictures.
- [59:14]
Owen
Oh, I was in China for less than 24 hours and.
- [59:18]
Host
Yep. But now look at you.
- [59:20]
Marcella
Come di Di Netflix.
- [59:22]
Host
I love you guys. Okay. You guys are the best. We thank you so much as always for being here. Start saying your goodbyes, you guys. And I think I'll be on again tonight and potentially with a friend who I think I could best describe as like an AI attorney. Marcella, if you're around, pop on with us. So that'll be on Scott's Locals later. And thanks to everybody who came last night for the locals. You guys are the best. So we will be back tomorrow morning bright and early for some and we thank Scott and Shelley for allowing this show to go on. And let's just go. Let's just go get it all. Let's like, you know, do things keeping in mind Jimmy Lai and all of your goals and everything else and let's just be so useful today that, like, we can't even stand ourselves. Okay. And as always, a. What time tonight, Goldie? I don't know, maybe like six or seven Eastern time. Okay, you guys, let's have a final sip. To Scott and we'll see you in the morning. To Scott.
- [60:30]
Owen
To Scott.
- [60:35]
Host
Bye, guys. Thanks, owen. Thanks, marcella.
- [60:39]
Owen
Bye.
- [60:45]
Marcella
Bye.