Episode 1024 · Thursday, 12 April 2018

Poop Particle

A royal lunch in Amsterdam meets the digital interrogation of Mark Zuckerberg as the Syrian conflict reaches a fever pitch over contested chemical weapon reports.

By The No Agenda Show | 3h 13m listen | 1 chapters
Poop Particle cover
The No Agenda Show · No. 1024

About this episode

Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak break down the geopolitical theater of the Syrian conflict following a suspected chemical attack in Douma and President Trump's subsequent 'smart missile' rhetoric. Former UK Ambassador Peter Ford challenges the official narrative on the BBC, suggesting the White Helmets staged the event to prevent a U.S. military withdrawal. The hosts analyze the strategic interests of the Qatari Amir and the underlying natural gas pipeline wars involving Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

Mark Zuckerberg faces a congressional grilling where Senator Ted Cruz questions Facebook's status as a neutral public forum and Senator Richard Blumenthal alleges violations of an FTC consent decree. The discussion details the California Consumer Privacy Act, the intrusive nature of Google's EU privacy reminders, and the technical reality of 'shadow profiles' that track non-users via Wi-Fi data. Additional reports cover Uber's use of machine learning for predictive pricing and the FBI raid on Michael Cohen regarding a home equity loan used for the Stormy Daniels payment.

Adam Curry recounts his formal lunch with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima at the Dutch Royal Palace, detailing a menu of smoked dove and a breach of protocol involving a royal hug. The program features a study from the American Society for Microbiology on fecal particle dispersion from bathroom hand dryers and a linguistic mishap at Acer involving a pocket computer nearly named the 'Hand Job.'


Loading show notes…
Loading clips…
CHAPTER 19 / 33 Discussion

State Department Briefing, Heather Nauert, and Matt Lee

The hosts review a State Department briefing where reporter Matt Lee questions spokesperson Heather Nauert about a Palestinian journalist killed by the IDF. Lee points out that the individual was allegedly a Hamas captain who had been vetted and approved for a USAID grant.

heather nauert· matt lee· state department· usaid· hamas· journalist vetting

1:46:48 Yes, we're entering executive mode ladies and gentlemen just so you know Yeah, I good to go for that. We actually get we got another one here from someone else Yes, you know what you should have an ab yeah you guys did that do an exit we have an exit Ha! That's standing by. Yes, of course, Sir Chris. Of course he has an egg. We're in executive mode. She's got to watch her resting bitch face, which is a term I didn't come up with. Women call it this. And when she's unhappy with what's going on and her mouth starts to droop and it really doesn't make... It's not attractive. She has a nice smile. She has a jolly... She has a jolly face, don't you think?

1:47:38 She's pretty. She has a pixie like demeanor. Her head is too big to be pixie. She has kind of a square head. She looks like Betty Boop. Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, that's that. Yeah, otherwise very simple. But she was so happy about it. She started off her press briefing the other day. Oh, I think we can exit. Now entering. Oh, no, no, no, no. I did exit, damn it. Why are we exiting? I thought we were still going to stay in the mode. Okay, I'm sorry. Yeah, what am I thinking? Let's stay in the moment. What are you talking about? I'm crazy. You're still talking about her. Yeah, I forgot. Okay, so she would she he flirted with her she no no we're getting to the flirting's coming But first she walks in she's back from vacation She's super happy then she clunks her book down on the table And what are we always bitching about in these in this book is the biggest book in the world in world history? huge giant voluminous book Yeah, I'm gonna Replay that for you because she she plops the book down Damn it

1:48:40 Sorry, I'm failing here. Here we go. Hi, good afternoon. Nice to see you all. Do you notice anything different? Yeah, the book's bigger. This little book. I went on vacation and the book went on a diet. Her book was- Oh, she shrunk the book. Yeah, the book was really thin. I mean, you know the binders that they are. Maybe somebody listens to our show. Maybe Heather listens to our show. Oh, damn it. The boys didn't like my outfit. Crap what am I gonna do about the book size about my book? Okay? I did something about it. You all would enjoy that so we'll see how this works today Quality has replaced quantity. Oh, there's Matt quality has replaced quantity Heather Mm-hmm, but he's so smooth. We got a drink beer with this guy

1:49:33 Quality has replaced quantity. I don't know about that It's kind of like when my kids go to school and I use that opportunity to clean their rooms and they don't notice That's exactly what I do past week. Ha ha ha. Oh, yes, so nice here is a now this what happened here and Matt kind of gets into it with her there was a A reporter was killed by the Israeli defense forces, and there's a lot of crap going on now at their border wall if you haven't followed it. And this reporter who was wearing a press flak jacket, apparently he was from Hamas.

1:50:13 And they shot him. And so you have Saeed and he asks a question like, you know, what happened here? And, you know, how come you guys haven't recognized this? And how come you're not talking about it? How come it's, you know, yeah. And she's like, oh, well, you know, yes, I'm aware of that report being very sketchy about it. But Matt's ready to pounce. I'm sorry. You said you were aware of reports that a journalist was killed. Yes. You haven't been able to confirm it. But the guy was buried over the weekend at a funeral that was quite You know, it was attended by a lot of people. Yeah, and I'm aware of that. Yes, but not just of reports I mean, you know that this guy was correct. Yes, and I think you you might know a little bit more maybe maybe not but because this the company that he worked for that he co-founded and Co-owned had last month gotten been vetted and was approved for a grant from USA ID now

1:51:13 Well, first of all, can you say that that is true, that that is correct? My understanding is that he was vetted according to U.S. government guidelines, but I don't have anything more for you on that. Okay. Would – the U.S. Government guidelines would allow for a member of Hamas to get unfunded funding from the U.S. Saudi? I don't know the specifics of the case. I've not been involved in any of that, but if I get anything for you on that, I'll be happy to bring it to you. Okay, well, if you – the Israeli defense minister has said that although he was wearing a bulletproof vest with the word press clearly bladed on it.

1:51:48 He was a member of Hamas, a member of Hamas's armed wing, with the equivalent rank of captain, and that he was disguising himself as a journalist. And I want to know, I mean, if he was in fact vetted and approved by USAID for a U.S. taxpayer grant, Either the USAID vetting process is not very good, or it allows for a possible Hamas militant to get U.S. funding, or the Israeli defense minister is wrong. All I can say is that we're looking into that. What do you think? No, they're not. No. She is now. Yeah, was it spook or how did that happen? That seems... I don't know, but I think Matt nailed something here. Oh yeah, he laid the trap. He sucked up to her. I haven't seen this on the WAPO. WAPO, WAPO, WAPO, WAPO, WAPO. No, why would you? I'm just a podcaster.

1:52:42 Now, it's like the guy was Hamas. Captain. He somehow got a USAID American taxpayer grant to be a journalist in the field or something. And the Israelis apparently had enough on this guy. They knew who he was. He was a captain. And they decided to gun him down. Yes, from 1200 feet. Well, as a sniper, you can do that. 12 hundred feet's not that far from a good guy. The point is the press had been told you're safe up to 500 feet. Anybody closer than 500 feet is in trouble. So he was back 1,200 feet. So yeah, they picked him off, obviously. Let's see. Let's send Ivan over there to shoot him.