Episode 577 · Thursday, 26 December 2013

Scripted Fat Talk

National security officials double down on surveillance as global conflicts in South Sudan and corporate data breaches at Target dominate the year-end news cycle.

By The No Agenda Show | 3h 2m listen | 55 chapters
Scripted Fat Talk cover
The No Agenda Show · No. 577

About this episode

National Security Advisor Susan Rice and former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell appeared on major networks this week to reject amnesty for Edward Snowden. Rice, speaking on 60 Minutes, dismissed the possibility of a deal despite admissions that the intelligence community provided false representations to the FISA court. The administration maintains that Snowden must return to the United States to face trial, while media narratives increasingly frame the whistleblower as a Russian provocateur.

Congressman Mike Rogers defended the NSA Section 215 program following a White House advisory report, while President Obama used his final press conference of the year to sidestep questions on the efficacy of metadata collection. In the private sector, CleverSafe is emerging as a primary candidate for third-party data storage under new surveillance proposals. Meanwhile, the FBI conducted a raid on the Kenilworth Charter School in Baton Rouge, signaling a federal crackdown on the Turkish Gulen movement. In South Sudan, UN Ambassador Samantha Power announced the deployment of 5,500 additional peacekeepers as violence escalates near Chinese-owned oil pipelines.

Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak deconstruct the "vagina logic" of modern software design seen in the Windows 8 interface and Kellogg’s latest Special K marketing blitz. The duo also explores the historical oddity of New York’s FDR Drive being constructed from World War II rubble from Bristol. Sir Robert Tennant joins the No Agenda Roundtable as the latest knighted executive producer during this year-end broadcast.


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CHAPTER 01 / 55 Discussion

Skype Performance Issues, Windows 8 Interface Critique

The hosts critique the performance and design of Skype on a new Windows 8 machine, noting that the application's full-screen layout is inefficient for large monitors. They discuss the transition of Skype from a peer-to-peer service to a Microsoft-integrated product. Technical difficulties with audio quality are attributed to the operating system's handling of the application.

skype· windows 8· microsoft· user interface· fiber optic

00:00 And it's lame. It's just lame. Adam Curry. John C. Dvorak. It's Thursday, December 26, 2013. Time for your Gitmo Nation Media Assassination Episode 577. This is no agenda. On the case, when the mainstream isn't. From FINAL REGION VI, Travis Hines, Austin Tejas, in the morning everybody, I'm Adam Curry. And from Northern Northern Northern somewhat Northwestern Silicon Valley, I'm John C. DuBois. Yeah, this is not sonic.net. No. This is fiber optic that Really good This is this Google fiber is this what we can look forward to as Verizon currently Verizon fiber. Oh, it's horrible

00:56 Yeah, well, I mean so is Comcast. You sure it's not this machine? This is your Windows 8 machine? It's a brand new machine. It sounds good when I talk to the Skype call testing service. Yeah, but you know the Skype call testing service lady is probably in the Skype itself. It's probably not even some service anyway. It's just a little routine that fires up. It's a funny idea, but it's called someone. I don't know what it does. Skype used to be interesting where it was that kind of peer-to-peer thing. I think Microsoft got rid of that. I'll tell you this much, this is a Windows 8 machine and Skype on this thing is a joke. Really?

01:36 Yeah, because you have the entire, so I got a 27 inch monitor, I got two of them in front of me, and you load Skype, it takes up the whole monitor, and so what you have is a giant blue screen with a giant icon, and you don't even put an image up, so it's a giant useless icon, it doesn't even say anything, and then it says Watchtower Studio in the upper left hand corner, 90% of the real estate is just blank. You can't minimize it? No, no. Full screen apps. We went on, what was it, Tuesday? The girls are here. We went shopping and we went to a place here called The Domain. Have you ever been to LA, The Grove?

CHAPTER 02 / 55 Discussion

The Domain Austin, Urban Lifestyle Developments

A visit to "The Domain" in Austin, Texas, is described as a "Stepford Wives" type experience featuring a mix of high-end retail and residential condos. The development is compared to "The Grove" in Los Angeles and Disney's "Celebration" community. Observations are made regarding the identical aesthetic of the Apple Store and the nearby Microsoft Store, specifically noting the responsiveness of Windows 8 touch devices.

the domain· austin· urban lifestyle· apple store· microsoft store

02:24 I don't know that I have. Okay, so it's really it's kind of a weird sick experience this place because it's essentially a whole bunch of shops set out in a in kind of a Disney like setting in a way with little streets and it's all cute and little you know little street lamps and everything is just and you know rocks that play music But people actually there's more condos and houses here than shops so people actually live in this compound which is outside of town and it's just Condos and all of them are the same Shops and restaurants and so you pretty much don't have to do anything you there's a school for kids You live in this Stepford Wives type place and it's kind of creepy, but of course called the Grove and

03:14 No, that's that's the the Los Angeles version. This is called the domain and it's in Boston Yes, right outside of this of the town. Well, they have ever been a celebration Well, it's not quite like Disney celebration, but it borders on that vibe for sure Anyway, this is where they have an Apple Store And so they have other you know H&M is there so all kind of the stores that you can't really get inside Austin are there and they had a window store which is now opened up and Microsoft store you mean? Well I call it the Windows Store. And it is... Stop a second, tell me what's the name of this place again? The Domain. The Domain, okay. Go on.

03:53 And so it's maybe one street away from the Apple Store and and it's it's completely the same idea I don't know if you've probably seen these stores. I haven't said I actually went into one that took photos that reviewed it and the whole thing right and so it's exactly the same except the people aren't really dressed in there in kind of like all the the uniform hipster thing so at the Apple Store they usually in blue now they're all in red for Christmas and So they kind of have a hodgepodge and no set uniform, but the whole idea is the same with the, you know, kind of contemporary wood tables that everything is displayed on. You move in and of course there's 15 people. Hey, how you guys doing? Need any help? Hey, hey, how you doing? Need any help? No, no, we're just looking. So we played around. I had not played around with any of these Windows machines, any of these laptops with touchscreens, any of the tablets, nothing. Not even a Windows phone. And I have to say,

04:46 responsiveness of these devices just just playing with it's fast and the phones and the tablets this and it's all I guess that's all kind of the Windows 8 thing it's fast John it's really you touch something boom it's like there so you know yeah it's it's very responsive feels very robust I have to say Okay. But when you have a full screen Skype app, and it takes up the whole screen and it just has just your name, it's unbelievably stupid. In fact, the... Now, do you have a touch screen to go with this? Because I think that's the cool thing, is the touch screen. What would be cool is just a big empty screen with nothing on it. Why don't I get a touch? Touch my name! Touch my monkey!

05:35 Defining the urban Austin lifestyle for the next 100 years. Yeah, see how creepy it is? They got pictures of people. Yeah, thanks to incomparable cuisine diverse local artists and eclectic shopping Austin is known as one of the most unique destinations in the country. It's the domain Is bringing the best of Austin to a single urban location? It's crazy is one and two of the domain are now open It's so creepy Phase one is open. Enjoy your time. Enjoy your stay. Enjoy your life. Yeah, that's not really for us. All right, so yeah, no, I get it. I saw the big screen filling thing. I don't know why is it so stupid? I mean, I don't know. What do you mean why is it so stupid? You think it's worthwhile? Here's another thing. You want to look at your contacts?

CHAPTER 03 / 55 Discussion

Windows 8 Design, Vagina Logic Concept

The discussion focuses on the perceived "dumbing down" of software design in Windows 8, specifically the use of large tiles and the inability to easily resize windows. A specific design philosophy is jokingly labeled "vagina logic" to describe an interface that prioritizes aesthetic simplicity over technical utility. The hosts contrast this with the efficiency of traditional terminal windows.

windows 8· user interface· design· productivity· software

06:35 Skype with this big full screen so they there's a huge icons are like one inch by one inch and again you only get a few of them on the screen so he has a constantly to get them to the W's okay I got a student hit it and hit it and hit it and hit it and hit it so you can't have multiple windows open at the same time on one screen is that what you're saying well apparently with 8.1 you can have a couple of these full screen apps Half the screen it's still stupid. I want to be able to resize Okay, I see the problem my wife seems. You know that I thought she was gonna hate me Windows 8 so she's not that bad Yes, this is what I'm thinking. This is the this is the dumbing down of the populace well There's definitely a dumbing down aspect, but she think it because you know this is done by the

07:24 This woman who did the ribbon interface and she got promoted. She does a woman that is behind this design of course and I am my wife says ah She says that makes no that makes nothing but sense to me. It's vagina logic Okay, there's your show title right there. Let me just write that down. Yeah, I That makes sense to me. I said yeah, I guess I Well, I've gone back in time. I have one, two, three, four, five, six, I have eight terminal windows open all running something very specific and all very closely located and really handy and easy to give me information. It just doesn't have pretty big boxes to click on. These big boxes are idiotic. Yeah. This window is really, this is the downfall of the company.

CHAPTER 04 / 55 Discussion

Susan Rice Interview, Edward Snowden Amnesty Debate

National Security Advisor Susan Rice appeared on 60 Minutes with Leslie Stahl to discuss the potential for granting Edward Snowden amnesty. Rice maintained the administration's position that Snowden must return to the United States to face trial, despite suggestions from some intelligence officials that a deal could prevent further document leaks. The hosts analyze Rice's demeanor and her professional background as the daughter of a Federal Reserve governor.

susan rice· edward snowden· amnesty· leslie stahl· national security

08:17 Vaginologic or no vaginologic, I don't care. They're all gonna come down eventually. So how was your Christmas? It was good. This is one of the first years where we're doing the show after Christmas. Typically, I think the past couple years, Christmas has fallen on show day, either a Sunday or a Thursday, and I found this much harder. Mmm, why? Because then you can kind of be prepping, you're doing everything and then on Christmas morning we do the show and then we have the rest of the day off and that's kind of like pfft. You know, last, we had our family Christmas and we're hanging out and we're having fun and we're eating, we're drinking and I'm like, oh man, I gotta prep for the show. It was hard.

09:06 I just did it in the morning. In the morning. Yeah, well I have a lot of stuff I gotta do. So I took some time. Around 10 o'clock last night I started. And I'd already of course, you know, I have the entire system already filling up with information and things that are happening and some interesting clips. Something weird kind of happened with the Snowden messaging, which is interesting to say the least, but could turn into something bigger. This Bart, is it Bart Gelman? Is that his name? uh... well i think that i mean yeah i've you know bart gilman yeah he did an interview for the washington post with edward snowden uh... right that thing yeah and and what i would start and says yet and i'm not already mission accomplished which is that is not good for pierre and and laura and glenn that this could ruin their whole their whole their whole company their whole business

10:06 Snowden say no it's over. It's done with we don't have to do anymore. I think there's a rift something something something changed something Yeah, stay got 250 million, and he got a ball kind of a bowl of beet soup. I mean that's worse difference borscht borscht Hey enjoy that borscht, dude Exactly and everybody was out in full force Susan Rice. I hadn't seen her do an interview ever since her Benghazi round on the Sunday shows and everyone's talking the same thing. So we had the question, for some reason the mainstream media and we can probably figure out the agenda behind this, have decided to focus on the Edward Snowden

10:53 amnesty program which everyone's saying no no we can't have it one of the junior guys at the CIA said well yeah I think that's something we could talk about and then his boss said no we can't have that and then Susan Rice is all cagey. Would you, would the president consider granting him amnesty in exchange for him never releasing any more documents? Well Leslie, we don't think that Snowden deserves amnesty. We believe he should come back, he should be sent back, and he should have his day in court. But if what he's released so far has been so damaging, and he has a million and a half more documents, how important is it that he not release those? And what would we do?

11:36 offer him. Leslie, you know I'm not going to get into a negotiation with you on camera about something that sensitive. On camera? What a dig. But the position of the United States is that he ought to come back and face justice. Has he in either directly, indirectly, in any way proposed such an arrangement? Not that I'm aware of. This was an interesting interview with Susan Rice, who is now, she was the United Nations, the ambassador to the United Nations, now she is the director of national, the national security director, I think, is that her official title? Something like that. It's a title she shouldn't have. She's even sitting in

12:19 Henry Kissinger's old office or at least that was the way it was of course other people have been in that office But that's the way she portrayed it. She wanted to make sure everyone knew that she was in in Henley Yeah, that would be her. Yeah a couple things I noticed one in this interview She does seem a lot more relaxed than she used to be and this was kind of a profile piece Wow you're in a mood From time to time, she would smile, which, I, you don't see Susan Rice smile a lot. She has a creepy smile. No, I thought she actually has quite an endearing smile. Well, it looks creepy on the Wikipedia. Well, when she was smiling in this interview, and it was, it's in such contrast to the way she normally looks, you know that, eugh, I'm gonna piss on you. And that's her actual voice, by the way. It's such contrast, and yeah, she kind of looks a little, almost cute, really.

CHAPTER 05 / 55 Discussion

Intelligence Community Misrepresentations, Tech Company Complicity

Susan Rice's admission that the intelligence community "inadvertently" made false representations to the FISA court is scrutinized. The discussion shifts to a media meme suggesting that major tech companies are upset about government surveillance. The hosts argue that these companies are actually complicit, maintaining entire departments dedicated to facilitating government data requests.

fisa court· nsa· tech companies· prism· surveillance

13:11 And of course she had to tow the party line, which I think, just like the Benghazi, this was not an act of terrorism. This will come back to bite her as well. Officials in the intelligence community have actually been untruthful. Both to the American public and in hearings in Congress and to the FISA court there have been cases where they have inadvertently Made false representations and I Inadvertently made false rep you and risk misrepresentations about taking the cookies from the cookie jar. I'm so sorry how how

13:52 And she gets away with it by the way with saying this Leslie She gets away with it amongst who most of the person doing the interview of course with Leslie Stahl who did this interview just as all you know just inadvertently Misrepresented they didn't mean to misrepresent anything have actually been untruthful. I both to the American public in hearings in Congress and to the FISA court. There have been cases where they have inadvertently made false representations and they themselves have discovered it and corrected it. When you have so many phone records being held, emails, heads of states phone conversations being listened into, has it been worth

14:40 our allies being upset. Has it been worth all the tech companies being upset? Now this meme, the tech companies are upset, I heard this on, I didn't pull it, I should have pulled the clip from this. I was listening to This Week in Tech and at a certain point, I'm not quite sure if it was Leo who said it or one of the panelists, This is now all of a sudden a meme. The tech companies are all upset about what they've been forced to do and they went to the president and complained and said you've got to stop. How do these guys get a free pass yet again? The tech companies are upset. We saw them sitting around yucking it up with the president. I didn't see anyone even remotely upset. No, but this has now become the meme because God forbid the news media say anything negative about, oh I don't know, Apple or Microsoft or anyone who advertises big. Any of the advertisers, they're all advertisers. Yeah, and it's funny because as I'm thinking about this,

CHAPTER 06 / 55 Discussion

Advertising Budgets, Media Silence on Major Corporations

The hosts observe a lack of critical reporting on major companies with large advertising budgets, such as GoDaddy, Carbonite, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They argue that significant PR spending effectively buys media silence. The current lack of news is attributed to PR departments being closed for the holidays, leading to a reliance on "best of" retrospectives and celebrity clickbait.

godaddy· carbonite· bill and melinda gates foundation· native advertising· pr

15:44 I'm thinking, when is the last time we saw a story, a news story, any story, positive or negative, about GoDaddy, Carbonite, Audible, Berkey Water Filters? I mean, any story, positive or negative. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? Really? I mean, a serious story about them? No. It's all just press releases, and when you watch Any program where you're listening to a program, even if you read about it, you know, you people go into these, you know, the native advertising, the advertorial, whatever the pitch is, you know, Drobo is another one of these companies. And for a while there, even Ford, certainly in the podcast realm, everyone was doing something for Ford because they had the money. But you never see even after their 2013 budget was spent, there's never any reporting on these companies.

16:45 I mean GoDaddy is a huge multi-billion dollar company that fucks its customers over all the time, but has never reported on. I don't think people realize how big advertising budgets, what they really do for your PR, it's really the way to go. Yeah, it is. If I was running a company, that's what I'd do. Right, but I guess I hadn't really stood still and thought about that for a while. How there are so many companies that you just never hear an article about ever and then I hear all of these Pundits talking about well, there's no news this time of year. I'm like what? Oh, you mean no press releases Yeah, the PR departments, they're all closed down. So there's no news which is why you get all these retrospectives everyone's doing their best of 2013 because there's no news

17:39 Right, John? There's no news. I never heard of any news. In fact, when I opened up Bing today, and all there was was just a... not only was there nothing... there was a... here's a typical story. Actresses without their makeup. This is the top of the Bing news? This is the kind of Bing news. Let me go to Bing for a second here. Let me see what Google has as news because there's news. Google has their news is just old. Well let me see what they have. Let me see what their lead is. Uh... This is the worst Congress ever! Okay, that's the top of the Google News. UPS FedEx scramble to deliver delayed Christmas packages. That's news. Wow. White House extends insurance enrollment deadline for second time. Miley Cyrus adore you video. Leaked! Oh boy. Leaked. Leaked.

CHAPTER 07 / 55 Discussion

Prism Slide Fallout, Tech Industry Reputation Management

The tech industry's reaction to the Prism slide leaks is characterized as a massive cover-up effort to protect overseas business interests. The hosts dismiss claims that the initial reporting on Prism was debunked, asserting that tech companies were fully integrated into the government's surveillance apparatus from the beginning.

prism· tech companies· surveillance· reputation· media

18:36 So anyway, so just when I'm a little disgusted that this meme is now cropped in, that the tech companies are all upset. No, no, they're complicit. They have entire departments whose job it is to hand off information to the government, which has been deemed legal under or not to breach the Fourth Amendment by the Supreme Court. Well, you know, I think I have a theory on this. When this whole thing broke, the tech companies were put in between a rock and a hard place because they were mentioned in that prism slide one after the other when they knuckled under and became government agents. The rest of the time has been spent covering this up in any way, shape or form because it was a huge embarrassment. So what do we do? Because now we're losing business overseas and they are losing business overseas.

19:31 hand over fist. Yeah, exactly. And they are trying to do anything they can and they're the ones who started the meme. Oh, we're upset by this. They were the ones who signed on to it. Yeah, that's exactly the way to look at it. This is a Google wash. Yeah. Now, you're exactly right and I even was, I can't remember where I saw this or read it, it doesn't matter because the meme is out there, is that the report, no this was also on This Week in Tech, that the reporting, that initial reporting of the Prism slide was so poorly done because it immediately implied that the tech companies were all in and that is not true.

20:09 Well, I didn't hear this. My fingers. I didn't mean to do that. It was an automatic response. The machine is taken over. It knows it was right. But yeah, no, this is this. I should pull some clips off of that show. It was very it wasn't Leo saying that it was one of the one of these quasi reporters who's on the panel. And it was just like, oh well, the reporting was really poor and it was really bad and it was all debunked. I'm like, what? It was all debunked? It was never debunked. No, not at all. All that happened is that these companies said, oh, that's not true. Yeah. Anyways, here's something I didn't know about Susan Rice, or maybe I did. I just didn't pay attention to it. And I always thought she was a lesbian, quite honestly. Is that weird that I thought that?

CHAPTER 08 / 55 Discussion

Susan Rice Background, Affirmative Action Comments

Biographical details of Susan Rice are discussed, including her marriage to former ABC News producer Ian Cameron and her upbringing on Embassy Row in Washington D.C. Rice's public resentment toward the idea that her success was due to affirmative action is analyzed. The hosts suggest her elite background as a Rhodes Scholar and daughter of a Fed official makes the affirmative action debate irrelevant to her career path.

susan rice· ian cameron· affirmative action· rhodes scholar· federal reserve

21:01 She's not? Her husband Ian Cameron used to be an executive producer at ABC News. Oh yeah, okay. That's right. Now I remember. Of course he was. He used to run This Week with Christiane Anampour and later with George Stephanopoulos. He only quit two years ago to run the family. What's his name? Let me see. Well, listen to the rest of the thing I'll look at. Ian Cameron. Hey, how are you? Nice to see you. Nice to see you. Thanks for coming out. In the middle of everything, her BlackBerry went off and so did she to confer with Secretary of State Kerry calling from Abu Dhabi. You're never not working. I mean, you always have your BlackBerry and you have to be accessible.

21:50 Even if the phone doesn't ring, you better be checking your email from time to time. Ian, you actually have stopped working. Yeah. To take care of the kids. Yeah. We were in a situation, you know, financially that one of us could step out of the working world. Man, loaded. Loaded! Rice 49. Now, listen to her background. I don't know if I ever looked this up. I certainly didn't remember it and it's interesting how she goes off on on why she is where she is today, upset that people think it might be affirmative action. Grew up in the nation's capital on Embassy Row. DC girl, through and through, born and raised. Her father was a governor of the Federal Reserve Board. Her mother, a leading figure in education policy. And Rice herself had a distinguished academic career, Stanford and Rhodes Scholar.

22:44 There were those who wanted to suggest as I was growing up that any success I might have had was because of affirmative action. And that didn't sit well with me. And so... That must have hurt. Well, I resented it. I don't know if it hurt because I didn't think it was true. This is interesting. Why would she be so firmly against affirmative action? And for some reason, isn't the whole point of affirmative action is that you can be successful? And she's saying, oh, I was really, you know, I didn't, I hated the fact that, resented that people thought I got to where I was because of affirmative action. Why is she, why would she be against that?

23:22 I thought that we're all in on affirmative action. You've actually brought something of this kind of interesting, an interesting interpretation. I don't know, I have no idea. She should need, why did she bring it up at all? She's the one who dropped it in there, it wasn't asked to by Leslie. Well, the whole thing is, you know, the interview is clearly tightly scripted and everything is slotted in, there's a lot of editing going on. But then of course, you know, we learn that... By the way, her husband looks like the goofball of the decade. And then we learn that, you know, she is the daughter of a Fed guy. Well, yeah, I don't need no affirmative action. I've got my own corrupt way of getting to the top. Exactly. It's like, wow, what are you upset about? I wouldn't deem, I wouldn't stoop so low to take advantage of that when I have, I have my family to take advantage of. I'm thinking she, that was thrown in to distract from the fact that that's where she comes from. And a Rhodes Scholar. Well, you know what that's all about.

CHAPTER 09 / 55 Discussion

Mike Morell Interview, Edward Snowden Patriotism Challenge

Former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell appeared on Face the Nation to argue against amnesty for Edward Snowden. Morell challenged Snowden's claim of being a patriot, suggesting that if he truly wanted a debate on civil liberties, he should return to the U.S. to be judged. The hosts mock Morell's physical appearance and his dismissal of Snowden's attempts to use internal whistleblower channels.

mike morell· cia· edward snowden· whistleblower· face the nation

24:22 The Rhodes Scholar. Yeah, well that's one of those. That's no good. Agency. Let's see, so there were a couple other little mini things that, well everyone was out on the talk show. Mike Morrell, the guy who'd never done an interview ever as he's leaving the CIA after 33 years, now he's everywhere and he needs some help from the Curry-Dvorak Consulting Group. But I can give him the tip right now. Mike, before you do the interview, A, either don't smoke weed so you get this cotton mouth or drink some water. Listen, you'll just hear it. You know how someone has all that just gooey, white, stringy, sticky mouth? Yeah, a lot of that's, you know, at one time I was,

25:08 I was in New York with a book agent friend of mine and he knows everybody in town. So we walked past some guy who starts yakking about something or other and he's talking to him and every time he opened his mouth there was strings of gobs. It was horrible. It was like every time he opened his mouth there was like 40 strings between his lips. And so I commented on this and he says to me, eh, heroin. What? That's what he said. The guy said, uh, heroin? Oh, there you go. But the agent says heroin. He says that's common. You see that all the time with a lot of heroin users. Okay, well maybe Mike Morell... Now this seems unlikely with a CIA guy, but... Who knows? Maybe Morell's riding the white horse, the white pony, the big H.

25:58 You should never have gobs of goo between your lips when you're talking as though it's like, it's just, it's pretty disgusting to watch. Have a listen. Do you think the president should give him some sort of amnesty? No, I do not. And I feel strongly about that. He violated the trust put in him by the United States government. He has committed a crime in my view. Where's all that racket? That's his, that's his strings. It's his string mouth. this is a whistleblower doesn't run on a whistleblower has not disclosed information that it's dying. So did you notice the other thing that happened it was Snowden says hey I went through channels I already tried doing stuff. And not only that but all of these so-called great avenues the president has put in place are only now only I think this month coming into

26:54 Do I need to know there's no he and I believe snowed when he says he tried to you know to point these things out to the to the channels and they said I get to get out of here contractor. I don't know why you treated contractors treated like crap I don't know what to believe but I find this an interesting thing for morale to say with his 40 white gooey strings a whistleblower does not disclose information that has nothing to do with what he says his causes which is the privacy and civil liberties of Americans You know if I could talk to Mr. Snowden myself Why and I wonder why can't he? Yeah, I'm sure Mike Morell can pick up a phone somewhere and say get me Snowden I'm sure that he can get Snowden on the phone I'm sure I can and I'm sure Snowden would take the call. Yes. What say is Edward Edward Edward? You say you're a patriot

27:48 You say you want... Throw yourself in! Yeah, that's exactly right. ...to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. You say that you wanted Americans to have a debate about this and to make up their mind about what to do about this. Well, if you really believe that, if you really believe that Americans should be the judge of this program, then you should also believe that the Americans should be the judge of your behavior in this regard. So if you are the patriot that you say you are, you should come home and be judged. Woo! Bullcrap! Kangaroo court? What is he kidding me? Yeah, no, he's dead serious. I'll judge him, I think he's fine, let him go. I would say, hey, you know, Mike, why don't you grab a couple ounces of scope and I'll consider it. Disgusting, man. I've seen that. I read the transcript. Then we had Mike Rogers.

CHAPTER 10 / 55 Discussion

Mike Rogers, NSA Surveillance Report Defense

Congressman Mike Rogers defended the NSA's Section 215 program on ABC's This Week, claiming a recent advisory report found no evidence of scandal or illegal surveillance. The hosts dispute Rogers' characterization of the report, noting that the panel consisted of insiders like Richard Clark and Mike Morell. They argue the report actually recommends shifting data storage to private third parties rather than ending collection.

mike rogers· nsa· surveillance· richard clark· section 215

28:45 So I'm sorry, so Morrell was on Face the Nation, Mike Rogers went on the Stephanopoulos show, and this of course is ABC and we know the Ian Cameron, there's so many ABC connections between this particular White House, but the press corps in general and the administration, administrations past the Clintons, et cetera, the Bushes, everyone. It's one big incestuous pool of goo Here's Rogers spouting his Christmas cheer. He went to the press, then he went to the bastion of internet freedom, China, and then Russia to lay claim, claims that by the way this individual report dominated by law professors just said... I love dominated by law professors.

29:35 This is the report that was written by Mike Morrell, who was the deputy CIA director, Richard Clark, who I don't think is a law professor. There's one law professor in this bunch, but now this report that was written by the total insider shills, which no one ever mentions by name in the mainstream, has now become dominated by lawyers, by constitutional lawyers no less. I'm sorry Mr. Rogers. What? Yeah. This guy is a horrible person. How does he get re-elected over and over? He's not the only one claiming this. You'll hear it come back. There was no scandal, no surveillance under the 215 program. All of the things that he's been saying have, I think, been repudiated by this report. And by the way, Rogers is telling the truth in this regard.

30:23 Most of the headlines you're reading are, report says reign it in Mr. Obama. That's not true. We read the report for you here on the show. You could still find it in the show notes two episodes ago. It's nothing of the kind. Nothing at all. All it says is, hey, why don't we make some other people rich and all that data will have to be stored privately by a third company. That's the only thing. Yeah, that'll save us some money. Finally... All of that, I think we need to take into consideration. Finally, you've warned that the terror threat may be increasing again, Al-Qaeda, on the rise again. And we know that they have targeted the Christmas season before. Do you have any more reason to be especially concerned? Now, let me ask you a question. Why is it that whenever there's a holiday,

CHAPTER 11 / 55 Discussion

Holiday Terror Threats, Al-Qaeda Affiliate Growth Claims

George Stephanopoulos and Mike Rogers discussed potential terror threats during the Christmas season, citing the rise of Al-Qaeda affiliates in the Maghreb and Arabian Peninsula. The hosts criticize the lack of evidence for these claims, characterizing the rhetoric as a tactic to terrorize the American public. A brief tangent mentions the inclusion of "Festivus" in holiday greetings on Southwest Airlines.

mike rogers· george stephanopoulos· al-qaeda· terrorism· festivus

31:06 We get this, George Stephanopoulos, a Democratic operative, the Clinton operative, saying, we know they target Christmas and holiday seasons. What is that? Is that true or is that just made up? Well, it's true in some parts of the Middle East. But in this country, there's no evidence of it. I mean that unless you want to count that phony baloney Crocker bomber guy was that now three years ago four years ago? So why three or four? I don't know Just the framing of this by Stephanopoulos was very unjournalistic and I'll cut on the rise again down the rise again I thought it was decimated and we said it were

31:50 They were decimated. How is it on the rise again? It's on the rise again. Targeted the Christmas season before. Do you have any more reason to be especially concerned right now? Is the threat level going up around this holiday season? Threat level. Well, I think any national holiday that we would experience here like Christmas is something that we are concerned about. Why? Why Mike Rogers? Why? You're not. You're terrorizing the American people is what you were doing. You sir are a terrorist in the purest definition of the word. You're terrorizing people with absolutely nothing to back it up. There's no evidence that we... Oh, it's a national holiday. And by the way, what is this festivist bull crap?

32:35 Well I think it's funny that it's been cropping up as a... What is it? As a common meme. What is... Festivus, well Festivus is a little bit like Kwanzaa. It was created on the Jerry Seinfeld show. Oh yes, okay, I remember what it is now. Oh, okay. Ah, so when someone says that I'm supposed to laugh, it's supposed to be in the nose. Oh, okay. Alright. They did it on the flight up here. I was taking Southwest and they said happy... and we're going to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Kwanzaa and a Happy Festivus. Yeah. Ha ha ha. I don't think I see any other threat stream that I wouldn't say is out of the norm.

33:12 But again, and the reason we say that is because there are more affiliates more al-qaeda affiliates. Oh get a pen John We got it right down the org chart. They're more affiliate from around the world al-qaeda in the Maghreb in the Arabian Peninsula Al-shabab now claiming some al-qaeda affiliate out All of these groups want to have and have the aspiration to commit acts of violence against Westerners and and why Could you explain that, Mike Rogers? Why? Why do they want... they just... they wake up and they just hate us? I think they need to get back to explaining why. In the United States. That's why this threat has grown and we have more chances to miss something and we have just less opportunity not to pay attention to every single clue we can find to make sure that we protect

CHAPTER 12 / 55 Discussion

FBI and NSA Cooperation, Surveillance Report Shortcomings

Mike Rogers expressed frustration that the presidential advisory panel on surveillance did not sufficiently consult the FBI. Rogers argued that the FBI relies on NSA data to stop terrorists, while the hosts suggest the FBI avoids the "NSA goop" to protect their own methods of entrapment. The segment concludes that the report serves to validate the spying program rather than reform it.

fbi· nsa· surveillance· mike rogers· intelligence

34:01 citizens of the united states and by the way we can do that in a way that protects privacy and civil liberties but you have to be arguing about the same sets of data points and i would hope that this report stops this inflammatory language of surveillance and scandal devastating none of that this report i think concluded was true and some of the shortcomings of this report real quick george they didn't talk to the FBI when it came to section 215. this is another thing about the report And I've heard Rogers about this several times. He's pissed off. that the panel did not communicate with the FBI because the FBI of course is always you know they they take whatever information comes from the NSA and they go and arrest terrorists but the FBI is not interested in giving the NSA any credit because let's face it these guys sit around and honeypot guys for months they don't want to give the NSA credit for that and this is and you can hear Rogers is all teed off about it

35:00 Oh, they didn't talk to the FBI. They wouldn't solve a single case without the NSA spying on everybody, which is just not true. And the FBI doesn't want any involvement in, doesn't want any of that NSA goop on them. Because they've got their own ways of duping the people. about the value of certain programs that they recommended against and by the way including 215 they never had a sit down long conversation with the federal bureau of investigation who does these investigations that's an unfortunate shortcoming in this report and we'll be I think talking about that in the days ahead yes some good things in this report see this is these messaging little telegraph moment there from Mike Rogers say we're gonna have to drag the FBI in here to show some proof

35:45 some proof that uh... that it works things that are concerning in this report recommendations of things that the government should do that they are already doing and things that the government shouldn't do that they're not doing and so i think this is not the holy grail of reports but i do think it crossed a very important milestone in saying hey no scandal no law breaking now let's just have an honest debate about Where we think we ought to go in trying to stop terrorists from blowing up American citizens here in the United States You're gonna get blowed up American citizen. This guy is a terrorist John does he is terrorizing people? Yeah, no, he should be arrested for as a terrorist so this this is quite the Quote I would was a lot who got blowed up in the last five six. Oh, I blew it up last year the Boston bombers. Oh

CHAPTER 13 / 55 Discussion

Obama Press Conference, Skip Town Lingo

President Obama's final press conference of 2013 is analyzed, specifically his use of the phrase "skip town" to describe leaving Washington D.C. for the holidays. The hosts interpret this as "criminal lingo" that reflects a negative attitude toward the capital. They also note Obama's avoidance of direct questions regarding the lack of results from the NSA's metadata program.

barack obama· press conference· surveillance· washington dc· lingo

36:35 They blowed people up. You saw the guy with his leg blowed off. Just some guy. This could happen before 9-11 and these sorts of things. There was always a pipe bomb once a year in front of a bank. You heretic you. So here's what's happening. The word is out that the NSA, certainly this metadata program, has not really resulted in anything. And now they're scrambling because Leahy is on the warpath and everyone's saying, hey, you know, maybe, maybe one case where something the NSA discovered resulted in us nabbing a guy who was sending money to someone in Yemen, which of course immediately is equated to financing terrorism against Americans who will get blowed up.

37:20 And it could all be bullcrap too. Did you see the President's press conference? His last press conference of the year? Yeah, of course I did. I have a couple of clips I want to get to. The one clip I was going to clip but it was too long. It was a guy actually asking Obama about 215 and then about the reports he says the Obama the report says that there was nothing that came of any of this what is what is your reaction to that and Obama goes well let me answer that second part later and let me tell you this and he talked for 10 minutes yeah and then he never did he skip the second we never said anything he goes you saw that yes so here's the thing that got me look at this clip here and this what I thought was weird this is the last press conference pre-opener

38:05 I'm sorry. Hold on a second. I had the wrong one pre-opener. Okay. Good afternoon everybody I know you are all eager to skip town and spend some time with your families Not surprisingly I am too Okay, skip town. Yeah, like you're all what kind of Street are got is this this is this is way criminal criminals talk that way yeah We skip town. We're gonna skip town This is criminal lingo. It's his hood lingo. It's like this is the president nice This is gonna skip town, and I know I want to skip town. Oh

38:46 Well, I thought that I was just taken aback. No, but this is another part of this is another meme Washington is evil and we all know it Washington is really a horrible place and we all know it. We're really doing the best we can we can't wait to get out of here. No, I And I caught the criminal angle, but I'm These people are this guy works for me I These people work for me and for you and for every American in here. And this is the way they talk about it. They say, can't wait to skip town, blow this popsicle joint, make like a banana and split this place, blows! Well then why don't you not come back and we'll get someone who's really interested in doing some work. Yeah, no, I reacted very negatively to that comment. I hear you. And here's the opener. This is the, you know, then he begins and it's like,

39:41 Dennis who tries to be funny and he gets then the woman he first picks on she nails him with a good question it irks him yeah so before I wish a merry Christmas to all and to all a good night I will take yes from the night before Christmas book some questions Jay prepare to look is that does that mean he's Santa Claus The way he says that or does he think he's Santa Claus? Before I bid to all a farewell and to all a good night, which is what Santa Claus says at the end of the night before Christmas. I didn't think of that but it could be. He probably thinks he's Christmas. So before I wish a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night, because I'm Santa Claus, I will take

CHAPTER 14 / 55 Discussion

White House Press Corps, Camera Noise Theory

The hosts discuss the technical aspects of White House press conferences, specifically the loud clicking of cameras that often drowns out journalists' questions. They propose a theory that the noise is intentionally permitted to make the audio of poignant questions unusable for broadcast, allowing the administration to control the narrative by only airing the President's scripted answers.

white house· journalism· media· audio· cameras

40:28 Some questions Jay prepared a list of who's naughty and nice so we'll see Yeah, that's right. We set up we said it all that reaffirms the Santa Claus meme Yeah I'm Santa Claus, and I'm going to give a couple of you the opportunity to ask me a scripted question If you were nice. That's not at all like a propagandistic thing that's going on there, is it? And you can joke about it all you want, but it's really not that funny. I'll make it. Thank you, Mr. President. Despite all of the data points that you cited in your opening statement, when you look back at this year, very little of the domestic agenda that you outlined in your inaugural address and your State of the Union has been achieved. Healthcare rollout obviously had huge problems, and your ratings from the public are near historic lows for you. When you take this all together, has this been the worst year of your presidency? Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Why don't they do something about these cameras?

41:29 There is no reason. You can barely hear the question. This is a broadcast and all you hear, how many pictures do these guys have to take? I have a theory on this. This is, first of all, you never see, you never hear the question asked when you're watching the news. The news will, because it's totally irrelevant for the framing of the messaging. So even on PBS NewsHour, they'll say, the president today responded to questions about this being possibly the worst year of his presidency. And then they go to his answer. They never have the question. And I think the reason is that they have the, that they don't, or either they don't mind it, or they certainly don't do away with the loud camera clicks, is they don't want you to hear the question. When you hear the questions, you will hear the context in which the answer comes. And it's always subtle.

42:17 But it is different. I think it's meant so it's unusable. Definitely with that one question that the president never answered, which he does a lot by the way. You know, they ask him a poignant question and he doesn't answer it. He just lectures them about something. Yeah, but think about it. That makes so much sense. It's unusable audio. They rarely have the shot of the journalist on time. if they'd have it at all. And where are they picking up this sound from? They don't have these guys mic'd. No, no, there's a person who sits up front to the left, if you're looking from the podium down, and has a little directional microphone and points it at the person.

42:59 And they pick up all these clicks in the meantime. Of course. I mean, yeah, I mean you could easily have everybody mic'd, you could have all kinds of, you know, you could have a boom mic being put into someone's face. They don't want that. They don't want you to hear the question in context. Certainly not if the president's not going to answer the question. Certainly not. I'm not gonna disagree with the theory so it clicks are annoying in the UK by the way you could put a rule and you can't bring in one of those loud shutter yeah but these are digital days we can shoot without the bang bang bang bang bang I think I've answered your question yeah I'm just bitching go on put the rest of that in here we've tried weasel out of this question

CHAPTER 15 / 55 Discussion

Edward Snowden Alternative Christmas Message, Channel 4

Edward Snowden delivered an "Alternative Christmas Message" on the UK's Channel 4, produced by Praxis Films. Snowden warned that children born today will grow up with no conception of privacy due to mass surveillance, referencing George Orwell's 1984. The hosts criticize the poor audio quality of the recording and the scripted nature of the speech, which they suggest was written by a professional speechwriter.

edward snowden· channel 4· christmas message· george orwell· privacy

43:45 I gotta tell you, Julie, that's not how I think about it. I have now been in office five years. Yeah, right. Did you see Edward Snowden's alternative Christmas message? No, I did not. Okay, in the UK, and this, actually I have a little bit of a clip explaining what that is, so we have the Queen, she does her Christmas message, Then channel that's on the BBC then channel 4 always has an alternative Christmas message in the past. They've had I'm Marge Simpson You know, it's a kind of a joke

44:22 But this year it was different. It was kind of a joke. It was Edward Snowden delivering his Christmas message to the world via Channel 4, via Praxis Films. So this is Laura Poitras. I have to say, really needs to work on her miking skills because the audio is crap. I don't know what this shot is. This is like, this is the worst possible setup. So she may not have even done it, but it's running through her Now, a company has the copyright on it. They're copywriting the news once again here. And God knows how, you know, what the deal is that they cut with Channel 4. But here's Edward Snowden's message, which I found to be wholly disappointing. Hi, and Merry Christmas.

45:06 I'm honored to have a chance to speak with you and your family this year. From a bucket? Pretty much. He's in a hotel room. Well, they take the microphone and throw it in a bucket. And then, okay, you can talk now. It's seriously... No, I think someone tried to do some processing to make it sound a little decent, but it's crap. Recently, we learned that our governments, working in concert, have created a system of worldwide mass surveillance, watching everything we do. Now, just, I want you to really Concentrate John because I know you'll pick it up. This is not this is written by some this is written by a speechwriter Yeah, no, this already sounds like it's written. In fact, it almost sounds like it was written by a presidential speechwriter when you really

45:49 Think about it recently we learned you know this is not Edward Snowden the personable guy I'm gonna actually gonna start it over again not that you know like I hey here's what I'm doing I had to blow the whistle no this is we and the world and it's it's it bothers me I'm honored to have a chance to speak with you and your family this year Recently, we learned that our governments, working in concert, have created a system of worldwide mass surveillance, watching everything we do. Great Britain's George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information,

46:26 The types of collection in the book, microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us, are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person. A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves. This is a little only going a little overboard ed and unrecorded unanalyzed thought Okay, so first he brings in 1984 George Orwell, I don't know if this was a smart there's a I'm sure there's a reason for it doesn't feel like the smart way to go in Explaining it makes him sound like a crackpot quite honestly. I

47:21 You know what I mean? It's like if I were going to write something that was serious and I really want to say something to people, I wouldn't be bringing up the Orwell book. I just, I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. The thing was definitely written. It's a little bit off topic actually, to be honest about it. Yeah. Well there's another 40 seconds. And he's also now saying any child born that's born today will never have an independent, unrecorded, unaudited thought. That's not true. Of course you can do that in your head.

47:57 But okay. And that's a problem because privacy matters. Privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be. The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. Together, we can find a better balance and mass surveillance. and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying. For everyone out there listening, thank you and Merry Christmas. Asking is always cheaper than spying. Is he...

CHAPTER 16 / 55 Discussion

CNN Reaction to Snowden, Selective Leaks Narrative

CNN's coverage of Snowden's Christmas message is analyzed, with the network characterizing him as a "provocateur" rather than a whistleblower. The hosts highlight the media's focus on Snowden's presence in Russia and the use of the term "so-called proxies" to describe the journalists reporting on the leaked documents. They argue the media is attempting to frame the leaks as damaging to U.S. prestige.

cnn· edward snowden· media· russia· proxies

48:45 advocating that the government just pick you up and grab everybody in a locked room beat him and ask him take you downtown for questioning maybe so that's what he's advocating that's what I heard downtown yeah and that we have a few questions for you got some now here is a response from CNN then of course we had the B team on which is Carol Carol, Carol CNN, facebook.com slash Carol CNN. That's all I remember her name.

49:22 And you want to, this is actually for Mimi, here's your vagina logic right here. So Carol, a very positive message from Edward Snowden about the world we live in today. But I think that over the years he's obviously been a very controversial figure and so he has gone from kind of revealing this NSA surveillance program... Wait, wait, wait, stop, stop, stop. Did she say over the year or over the years? I first thought she said years but I think it's year is what she's saying. Well listen again. So Carol a very positive message from Edward Snowden about the world we live in today but I think that over the years he's... Yeah I think she says year. Obviously been a very controversial figure and so he has gone from kind of revealing this NSA surveillance program I think to being more of a provocateur and getting a dialogue going.

50:12 provocateur. What? A provocateur? It's a French word for a-hole. Provocateur. Programs that are going on right now. You know, it just enters my mind he probably taped, he did tape that in Russia, right? Because he can't leave and Russia is not exactly, you know, a place where freedom of speech flourishes and if he said anything against Russia, Russia probably wouldn't let him release this message and he's He's just a complicated guy and it's a complicated issue and I don't know how to feel about it. No, because my brain is all scrambled. I can't think. It's a...

50:51 Well, I think it's it's interesting and there's a bit of hypocrisy going on as you say because in Russia She didn't say that she didn't say any of oh, I guess this is cuz Russia is a hypocritical There's there's a very little freedom of expression and you've seen over there little no freedom of expression really President Putin cracking down even further opposition and walk the game the gays. And so you've seen these selective leaks over the years and officials say they really have no idea how much over the years Oh, yeah, and she's saying selective leaks and which is not selective leaks is selective reporting information He really has and it could be just the tip of the iceberg. So I'm very selective

51:45 moments it seems to inflict kind of maximum controversy. Yeah, who's doing that you dits? Maximum damage to US prestige over the world. We could see in the coming weeks and months even more programs. We really have no idea how much information he has or what's going to be linked by his so-called proxies. What's going to be linked... His so-called proxies? Why are they so-called? They're proxies. I love this, what's going to be linked Linked by his so-called proxies how much information he has or what's going to be linked by his so-called proxy It's interesting this so-called proxy. Why is it so called their proxies? No? It's interesting so-called because they're not proxies at all they're Agents of the US government spying mechanism. I mean you got what you indicating you got me man. You got me. This is I was intrigued by that

CHAPTER 17 / 55 Discussion

CleverSafe, Third-Party Metadata Storage

CleverSafe, a Chicago-based data storage company with ties to In-Q-Tel and former intelligence officials, is identified as a likely candidate for storing NSA metadata under new third-party storage proposals. The company uses information dispersal algorithms to slice and distribute data across multiple geographic locations. The hosts express concern over the centralization of intelligence data with a private entity that also handles commercial data.

cleversafe· nsa· data storage· in-q-tel· chicago

52:37 Now I can tell you where all the data is going to go. That's pretty much clear now. There's a Chicago company called Cleversafe. Cleversafe is one of its main investors, you can already imagine, Incutel. Oh, yeah, which of course is the intelligence arms Venture capital company on the board of a clever safe. We have former NSA former CIA This is this is where it's all going to go. So everyone's already on the board everything's all ramped up and ready to go and you can just you can just wait for this to happen and

53:25 Which by the way is not that I don't think there's anything above or below board with that. It's just what it is But again, it's a Chicago connection it's a whole bunch of intelligence people and that's where they're going to store your info and a lot of This clever safe outfit. They already have a lot of public data running on their system. They're the ones that can do the the 10 exabyte storage I've ever read about these guys Oh yeah, they've got, let me see. I don't know anything. This is an interesting operation. Let me see what it says. Yeah, so here's... What's it called again? Clever? CleverSafe. Now CleverSafe doesn't really do direct-to-consumer themselves, but they work with, for instance, they are the data storage for Datatility. Datatility has all... Oh, I like Datatility. Has all of Symantec's business. Has, well, there's Weatherbug and you know, there's a lot of customer

54:27 Centric stuff, NetApp. Let's see who else do they do business with. They do business with Panzura. So they really are a wholesale data storage company. And they sell off to, let's see, okay, so California State University, Healthcare Realty, DreamWorks Animation, Relativity Media. So they got a lot of data already. And you have to ask, if you're going to centralize all of the metadata and you're going to have it with a third party, do you want it to be someone who has all this other data as well? I would say no if it's intelligence data. I don't like mixing these things up like that. And also the way their technology works is they split up the data and then ship it to data centers in different physical locations encrypted.

55:26 Yeah, data is expanded, virtualized, transformed, sliced. Ooh, it's sliced. And dispersed using information dispersal algorithms. Yeah. Uh-huh. Slices are distributed to separate disks, storage nodes, and geographic locations. Yeah. Yeah, what happens when one of the locations goes down? Well, this is kind of my thought is you know how well I don't know and then how much redundancy is there there can't be more than I don't know I mean is it triple redundancy that would be okay, but I doubt it. I don't know I don't know I'm just say I'm just pointing it out. You'll be hearing about clever safe It seems like those will be the guys Meanwhile grant green robbed on Rav. He is going to deliver the keynote at the computer chaos club in Germany coming up in January

CHAPTER 18 / 55 Discussion

Chaos Computer Club, Intelligence Community Non-Disclosure

The upcoming Computer Chaos Club meeting in Germany is noted as a gathering spot for figures like Jacob Appelbaum and Laura Poitras. The discussion moves to the legal constraints on former intelligence officials like Dennis Blair, who are bound by lifelong non-disclosure agreements. The hosts explain that these officials must legally pretend leaked documents do not exist, even when they are in the public domain.

chaos computer club· glenn greenwald· dennis blair· non-disclosure agreement· berlin

56:15 This is where all the spies hang out now. This is what Applebaum was a part of, this is what Poitras is a part of, this is what that little hottie from Wikileaks, they're all over there in Berlin, all hanging out in Germany, all part of the Chaos Computing Club. Glenn Greenwald also slated to keynote at South by Southwest. Oh, you can go over and get his autograph. Yeah, yeah, I could. All right, to wind it up, here's Dennis Blair. Dennis Blair was the director of national intelligence for, I believe, for the Obama administration prior to Clapper. And of course, Blair, by definition, you really can't interview him.

57:03 because of his lifelong non-disclosure agreement, which all of these guys have. So why he's even being questioned on the air is beyond me, because he can't... if he says anything, if he even acknowledges classified documents that have been leaked, he can go to jail. Yeah, let's go over this again. And we actually both looked over one of the typical spy documents, which are out there that you have to sign if you want to do any business, even as a contractor. And it is a lifelong commitment. And you can be arrested and thrown in a slammer if you violate this non-disclosure. And there is one way out, the head of the CIA or one of these operations can sign a letter and absolve you of your commitment. I don't know that that's ever been done. I don't think it's ever happened, no. But it's in there. And so essentially, we have to remind people of this simple thing, and you hear it when you listen to C-SPAN a lot.

57:59 If Glenn Greenwald reveals something that's classified like the slide that shows Microsoft and all these guys in bed with the NSA, and it remains classified even though it's in the public domain. So in other words, you know about it, I know about it, but the guy who signed that document still has to pretend he's never seen it. And he's not even allowed to go to the website that portrays it. Right. He can't do any of that. So he can't ask smart, intelligent questions because as far as he's concerned, by law, that is all not to be discussed, you're not even supposed to know about it. Well in this case Dennis Blair is not the journalist like John Miller who by the way is going to the New York Police Department.

58:44 Right. Nice little revolving door. Miller's just a signed off security cleared cop that shouldn't have ever done that piece. Blair is on with Fareed Zakaria. Oh God. Yes, and so just bear in mind that Dennis Blair cannot tell the truth. Let's remind the public, listeners, that Fareed Zakaria does not like the Constitution, says we should have a constitutional convention and redo the whole thing. Yes, and he always has private meetings with the President, one-on-ones, just to discuss strategy.

CHAPTER 19 / 55 Discussion

Fareed Zakaria Interview, Najibullah Zazi Case

Former DNI Dennis Blair appeared on Fareed Zakaria's program to defend the NSA's metadata program, citing the 2009 Najibullah Zazi subway bomb plot as a success story. The hosts argue that the Zazi case was actually an FBI sting and that the intelligence community is scrambling to find any example of the metadata program thwarting an attack to justify its constitutionality.

fareed zakaria· dennis blair· najibullah zazi· nsa· metadata

59:20 I don't see anything wrong with putting in additional checks and balances on the FISA court along the lines that have been suggested. But, you know, Farid, the main thing that I looked for in the program was whether actual harm was done to an innocent American by the by the program. Has anybody lost a job, been harassed by the FBI, been barred from doing something as a result of the program? Any innocent American? And the answer is no. Isn't that unbelievable? No, no, it's unbelievable how violating your constitutional rights is just seen as, oh you weren't hurt were you? What was the problem? You weren't hurt. Ugh.

1:00:04 What about the people that were set up with various entrapment schemes? They're hurt. They either have to go to court or their lives are ruined. There's plenty of evidence that this has happened over and over. Now they're claiming this has never happened? Well, if you were Fareed Zakaria, I'm sure you would intervene immediately and say this, right? Yeah, I would. None of those have come to light. All the concern is about the possibility of misuse of this information by the National Security Agency and the intelligence communities. My experience is that information is not misused and that having it available to efficiently check to see whether a foreigner who has been identified as a

1:00:50 identified as a potential terrorist has called an American phone number is a useful check and in fact has helped us thwart some attacks. Senator Wyden says that it's pretty clear now that the phone logging program that the NSA uses this big data mining program did not in fact stop any terrorist attacks that the the committee's the advisory panel's report makes that clear. All right pay attention. Before you go on, the other guy, what's this guy that's talking to Zakaria again? He, you notice the way he talks, it's this stop and go

1:01:31 borderline stutter only there's silence because he's choosing his words. He's plugging in words. Yeah, he's choosing his words very very carefully. He's choosing his words very carefully. For some reason he also didn't want to say NSA. He said National Security Agency. Right, he was going to say NSA and then he decided to say National Security Agency. Not sure why. For a reason. Anyway, so here he's not now. He's going to start the new narrative because this we all now know that this metadata program resulted in no thwarting of terrorist attacks And he is now going to say it did your reaction. I think that's incorrect. I would cite the Najibullah Zazi

1:02:07 plans to set off a number of bombs in the New York City subways in 2009 on the pattern of the 2005 London attacks and I know that the information gathered by NSA under this program was a key factor in tipping us off as to what Zazie was up to and he was subsequently stopped before he could do it. So I just think that's incorrect intelligence and this is an FBI sting and so let's go back to think about what Rogers was saying about how pissed off he was that there was no they didn't talk to the FBI in the report this is what they're now doing there's going to be an amendment to this report or something's going to happen because they need to prove

CHAPTER 20 / 55 Discussion

Attorney General Warrant Exceptions, Scale vs Principles

The hosts discuss a provision in the surveillance advisory report that would allow the Attorney General to bypass warrant requirements in cases of "imminent harm." They argue this creates a loophole for high-frequency surveillance approvals. Dennis Blair's comment that the program is a "question of scale, not principles" is highlighted as a dismissal of constitutional concerns in favor of big data capabilities.

eric holder· nsa· warrants· surveillance· big data

1:02:52 that this NSA metadata program does result in saving the American people from being blowed up and so they are recruiting, it's going to be this, certainly this specific instance and where he gets away saying modeled on the London 7-7 bombings, really? One guy versus like seven guys and there happened to be a drill with the exact same pinpoint locations, really? That's what you're going to pin this on Dennis Blair. So you watch this you watch this this this come to the forefront a lot of different indicators put together when done well to Find what's going on and this program has contributed to that and I believe it's constitutional So I believe it should continue now I'm not sure if he says it in this next clip but the whole idea of the recommendations of the report which of course the no agenda show is one of the few actually read the report and told you was really in it is

1:03:50 There is a provision if so the idea is all the all the metadata will be stored by a third party a private third party because that's really what they're pushing for not for everyone keeping it themselves. So that would be clever safe. then you would they would have to get a warrant in order to do anything with this metadata unless oops unless of course there's imminent harm to the American people being blowed up then the Attorney General can sign off on it and they can get the warrant later the Attorney General of course being Eric Holder by himself can see you can just say yeah go ahead go ahead go ahead go ahead go ahead and they can do it almost like high-frequency high-frequency trading

1:04:32 and then they can go back and get the warrant later. It's just solidifying the entire spying program, making it easier, and giving some Chicago boys some nice coin at the same time. I do believe, and I tried when I was director of national intelligence to talk more openly about this program. I think we can do that without without talking about specific details which are what have to be kept secret. And I think that this administration has done a bad job of explaining it. And had we done it from an early stage, from the time that I was DNI on, then these revelations would have been less shocking. You shouldn't have fired me, Beau. I think a couple of things are worth mentioning though.

1:05:17 The scale of these programs is large because the scale of communications is large and there are billions of phone calls, emails, twits and other forms of communication being made. Look out for them twits! The twits could be dangerous! All over the world. So in order to try to find ones that are being made by those hostile to the United States, it will require big programs, large computers, lots of data. Is a question of scale, not a question of principles. It's just a question of scale, not principles. Yeah, screw principles! You and your twits can go twat off. It's not about principles, it's about scale, baby! Get those Chicago boys in here, Cleversafe, woo! Yeah, so that was my pre-Christmas roundup of douchebags.

CHAPTER 21 / 55 Discussion

No Agenda Episode 577 Introduction, Artist Credit

Hosts Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak officially open the donation segment of Episode 577. They thank artist Eric Zempel for the previous episode's artwork and encourage listeners to submit art for the current show. The hosts acknowledge the international audience, particularly those celebrating Boxing Day in Europe.

no agenda· adam curry· john c. dvorak· eric zempel· podcast

1:06:11 Well, I kind of stayed domestic in my little job of research and came up with a very, it turned up a very interesting couple of things. Well before we do that, if you don't mind since we're going to switch gears, I would like to, of course, in one of our last shows of 2013, sincerely John, like to thank you. Wait a minute, isn't this actually our last show? Wait, we have a show on Sunday, no? Oh right, Sunday. Right. Sunday will be our last show. Sunday of 2013. But regardless, I just want to

1:06:50 Thank you for your courage and say in the morning to you join the morning to you and thank you for your courage Mr. Adam Curry yes Also, I'd like to say in the morning all the boots on the ground feed in the air subs in the water and all the dames and all the nights as a matter of fact out there Yes, and in the morning to everyone in the chat room who showed up no agenda stream calm no agenda chat net Thank you especially people over there in Europe who do celebrate the second day of Christmas as if it's an actual holiday or boxing days you might have and get more nation East Boxing Day! Thank you also to our artist Eric Zempel who provided us with the art for episode 5, 7, 6. Highly appreciate it. It was a good one with a little mac and cheese Christmas ball. Everybody liked that little Christmas ornament. That worked out very well.

1:07:32 And, uh, NoahGenerator.com is where we'll be looking for the art for this episode, which, with a little luck, should show up when you play the show on your computer. And we're not going to run any of the art that has a vagina or anything. You know... Did that already come through? There's always some guy that does some lewd art. Did that already start to come through? No, it hasn't, but I can see it. I can see a guy designing something like that. Well, we might save it. Is it evergreen? Yeah, sure. Evergreen, yeah. I like the idea of green and vagina being the same sentence. We do have a few people to thank for producing this show. Everyone helps produce the show, but we do have executive producers and associate executive producers.

CHAPTER 22 / 55 Discussion

Executive Producer Credits, William Hague Clip

The hosts read donations from Executive Producers including James Dobler, Sir Gene Natuliev, Sir Hank Meanwell, and Baron Dr. Sharky. A clip of UK Foreign Secretary William Hague is played, in which he claims British intelligence exists only to "protect freedoms." The hosts use this clip to grant "karma" to donors, mocking the irony of Hague's statement.

executive producers· donations· william hague· intelligence· karma

1:08:18 for $5.77. We have three, four executive producers and it all came in with the exact same amount of money which is always weird but part of the random number theory and a couple of associates and we'll start with James Dobler from Wiley, Texas for $333.33. Hi John and Adam, first time donor here, figured it'd be a good time to toss some of my Christmas bonus your way. Oh wow. Thank you for your courage in another year of deconstruction. He needs a de-douching and a dose of karma. Absolutely. Thank you for your support. You've been de-douched. You've got karma. Nice. Thank you. I like a first time guy coming in as the executive producer. Nice.

1:09:02 Your buddy down the street who's actually looking at you with binoculars as we speak, Sir Gene Natuliev. Ah, the Baron de Marriott, the Viscount, I keep forgetting his titles. Yes, he has some titles. He's in Austin, like I said, watching as we speak. Happy holidays, go buy some ammo. Atlas Shrugged. We're going shooting on Friday with the girls and Sir Gene is... Oh, the accidental shooting. I knew it was gonna end somehow. But now I see what he's doing. He's like, yeah, I'll go shooting with... Accidental shooting. Thanks. No, no. He even wants me to buy the ammo. And ammo's expensive.

1:09:49 Oh, especially on some of those big guns. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good way. I'd love to go shooting if somebody buys the ammo. Yeah, I'm buying. He can't be won't buy his own ammo. So you're the 333 you're gonna have to spend 200 of it buying ammo. Hey girls, some of those bullets are $1 a piece. I know. Oh, at least say girls, we're gonna go shooting. We all get to shoot once. Sir Gene Baron de Marriott, Sheriff of Texas. There we go. Sheriff of Texas. Sir Hank Meanwell from Kew Gardens, New York, also 33333. He's topping up his monthly $33.33 monthly donation, which a lot of people have by the way. They do. To reach baronethood. Yep, and credited as such. Happy holidays. Thank you for your courage. Karma, please. Absolutely. You've got karma.

1:10:44 Girl John White in Jackson, Tennessee 333 33 I have decided to make a final end of the year non tax-deductible donation which is what it is correct yeah we're not a phony baloney operation. We pay our taxes. Best podcast in the universe. Inspired by a numerological 12-25-13 donation by the Grand Duke on 12-22. I was going to donate in kind using the European date system of 25-12-13, but then I thought, meh. Nah, I don't want to copy the Grand Duke so instead of giving $2,500 So you have to settle for the small donation I want to wish karma to both of you and your families like to wish a no conflict for 2014 Thank you for your courage in the morning sir Barry, so he needs to thank you for your courage no conflict and in the morning Baron dr. Sharky yes protector of the Great Smoky Mountains now we don't have a

1:11:45 Thank you for your courage. We just have a no conflict in the morning and I'll give him some karma for us just for good measure. There's no real conflict! You've got karma. There we go. Where do we get thank you for your courage if we don't have a clip? I think we just were talking about how everyone says that and then we just started picking it up. It was like, thank you. No, everyone said thank you for your service and we're just gonna say thank you for your courage. There's no clip. It's just one of those things that Cropped up on the show. I don't know. Sir Michael Miller $201

1:12:23 Viscount of Marin then he has a donation note because he gave us also gives $111 and 11 cents so he can call out one of his Friends to the stage are we doing that today? Are we doing a make it rain segment? I yes, I do have there's enough of them to do it I've got four. Okay. I got a couple from last week. I'm just teasing this Tracy and Inga may Also, Lily said to nice. It's actually a anime poster and then Sabine oh, yes, of course uh... they're all gonna come up in strip we wish finally nicolas princeton in raleigh north carolina beautiful town two hundred dollars in the morning y'all's dedication to the show during no matter what deserve some christmas slash new year's donations your dedication to show no matter what all that mean no matter what in other words we working on them should be a holiday if possible i'd like some william haig protect their freedoms karma

1:13:24 Oh, there you got it. That's great. Yeah, play that. Okay. Intelligence work takes place within a strong legal framework. We operate under the rule of law and are accountable for it. In some countries, secret intelligence is used to control their people. In ours, it only exists to protect their freedoms. Protect their freedoms. Protect their freedoms. You've got karma. There you go. If there was a clip of the year, that would be it. I love that clip.

CHAPTER 23 / 55 Discussion

No Agenda Infrastructure, Professor Russ Stanford Appointment

The hosts discuss the show's value proposition as an alternative to holiday media retrospectives. They announce that the show's "official brain professor," Russ, has accepted a tenured position at Stanford University. Despite the new role, Russ intends to keep his No Agenda title on his LinkedIn profile. Listeners are directed to the show's websites for more information.

no agenda· stanford· professor russ· brain professor· linkedin

1:14:00 Someone's and by the way, this is actually this is William Hague the secretary of the foreign state secretary minister of foreign minister get Mo East Spun I just but I spun him down like 8% and added the a little bit of echo there just to show you how easy it is to make him really creepy I didn't think you had to do that much. Someone suggested that we do like a clip of the year, a donation note of the year and all this. That is the clip of the year right there. Right. But I said we don't have time to do this. This is why when there's no news because there's no press releases coming out because all the PR firms are closed for the holidays, that's why you get all these retrospectives.

1:14:43 But not on the best podcast in the universe. There's always there's always something going on that we can report on Yes, all right. So these are very real credits. They are executive producers and associate executive producers That's why you get mentioned at in a separate spot at the top of the show Well kind of the top of the show but still in a separate spot the notes are always read in full and we highly appreciate the support that we receive and of course these credits are usable and valid anywhere that credits are taken and are accepted. And we hear that putting them on your LinkedIn account works very, very well. And as this kind of, it's kind of bittersweet news, Professor Russ, the official brain professor of the No Agenda Show, he has accepted a job and tenure at Stanford.

1:15:40 He did he took the Stanford job. He did yeah, and he said he said and I got a great deal And I didn't need a stupid agent which was you know obviously a poke in our eye Because I'm trying to negotiate for but he said he might would have gotten a better deal with an agent But that's okay, but he says he will continue to list official brain professor of the no agenda show on his LinkedIn profile So he's got that on there really so he says I don't He said actually there's something I got to talk about later on that he sent me which is kind of mind-boggling so we will have a Thank you segment coming up We think everyone over $50 or more as as to protect the identity of those who do not wish to be known and of course our Weekly and monthly donors. Thank you again to our executive producers social executive producers. That is very nice

1:16:32 Very nice as a little Christmas gift to have some 33's in there. You want to tell people where they can find out more about the show? You know, I think if they go to noagendashow.com, noagendashow.com, there's a button you can push, but also the main site, dvorak.org slash NA and alternatively channeldvorak.com slash NA and you can help us for the next show which is 5-7-8 and if that's not an important number, I don't know what is. dvorak.org slash NA. And of course we always appreciate you going out there spreading the word by propagating our formula. Our formula is this.

CHAPTER 24 / 55 Discussion

Forensic Science Skepticism, DNA and Chimeras

A document provided by Professor Russ highlights growing scientific skepticism regarding traditional forensics like fingerprints and ballistics, labeling them "junk science." The discussion explores how these methods are often used to impress jurors rather than provide scientific certainty. The hosts also touch on the complexities of DNA evidence, including the phenomenon of chimeras where individuals possess two sets of DNA.

forensics· junk science· dna· fingerprints· chimeras

1:17:08 We go out, we hit people in the mouth. Order! Shut up! Shut up! There you go. Yeah, Professor, so we had a little get-together, a little meet-the-kids type party on Thursday. No, Sunday, I'm sorry. What is today? Today is Thursday. Yes, Sunday. After the show. Okay. And it's just, you know, the friends who were in town came by, so the professor came by and he said, oh, we got news. Oh, okay, thanks.

1:17:49 He also gave me a document which I He was he just was well first of all everyone was drunk, so I'm like what is he talking about? He says that there's a and this document from a couple years ago put it in the show notes 577 dot na show notes calm and it shows how the scientific community is in agreement that forensics are not really admissible in court when it comes to fingerprints, ballistics. Yes, junk science. He says it's complete junk science. I didn't know this. Oh yeah, in fact, J.C. Buzzkill Jr. This was about a year ago and he's working on, of course he's now a coder, but he likes to write, and we've been working on detective story

1:18:37 style write stories. Yeah. And so he read, so he got all these different books about all kinds of, you know, how the police stuff's supposed to be done, how you're not supposed to touch anything at the crime scene and all the rest of it. And he ran into the documents that said this is bull crap. None of this stuff is, it's just a, it's just dog and pony show just to impress the jurors. Which is why no one's ever called out on it. Which is why you rarely see an actual scientist testifying In court, I'll just read a couple of the whole thing is marked up. It's about five pages written by Michael J Saxon Jonathan J cooler converging legal and scientific forces are pushing the traditional forensic identification sciences towards fundamental change the assumption of discernible uniqueness that resides at the core of these fields is weakened by evidence of error in proficiency testing and in actual cases

1:19:28 And of course this is pushing towards DNA typing, which is modeled as a scientifically defensible approach, and is questioning and driving older forensic sciences out. Courts almost never excluded testimony. Cross-examination rarely questions the foundations of the asserted expertise or the basis of the analyst's certainty. Today, the once complacent corner of the law and science interface has begun to unravel The news carries reports of erroneous forensic identifications of hair, bullets, handwriting, footprints, bite marks, even venerated fingerprints. Scientists have started to question the core assumptions of forensic sciences. And this is from 2005. Yeah.

1:20:15 Legal and scientific forces are converging to drive an emerging skepticism about the claims of the traditional forensic individualization sciences. As a result, these sciences are moving towards a new scientific paradigm. And of course, this is all moving towards DNA, which I've always understood DNA to have its issues as well. Well, especially if somebody's a chimera. Which means that one during in the womb before birth one of the? Little eggs or it's what becomes when it becomes some but viable eats the other one hmm So you have two sets of two two sets of DNA that same family resemblance But you can take the DNA from somebody and it won't match right some DNA that was these are the gap another was an individual I think this accounts for a lot of the

CHAPTER 25 / 55 Discussion

LGBTQQI Terminology, Social Dynamics in Gay Bars

The hosts discuss the expanding LGBTQQI acronym and share observations about social dynamics within the community. They mention the frequency of transgender women identifying as lesbians and report on claims of internal bullying between different subgroups, such as lesbians in gay bars.

lgbtqqi· transgender· social dynamics· gay bars· bullying

1:21:05 People who you know say they've got a woman inside them. I think it's literal I think I don't see I can I've seen you've seen people that look like they should be female and they're not You know this is this is this is interesting the girls word we were talking about oh, it's officially now LGBTQQI so I got the acronym down I would say LGBTQQI because it would be lesbian, gay, bisexual, bi-curious, questioning queer, and intersex. And I learned two important things in my conversations with the experts who are residing here. One, it often happens that a transgendered person, so let's say we have a gay guy who wants to become a woman,

1:21:52 and he becomes a woman and then becomes a lesbian. Yeah, that does happen a lot. But apparently it happens a lot lot. Like it's very common, which is interesting. Does that mean that homosexuality in some way is marrying yourself or I don't have an answer obviously. It's too confusing for me. Smoke's coming out of John's ears at the moment. I don't understand it. And the other thing I learned is that gays and lesbians are huge bullies against each other. So if lesbians go into a gay bar there'll be more bullying against these lesbians in the gay bar than anywhere else. Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me. Doesn't surprise me either. But it's just interesting to note

CHAPTER 26 / 55 Discussion

Russian Anti-Gay Laws, Media Propaganda Analysis

The hosts analyze the Western media's portrayal of Russian anti-gay laws, suggesting that the situation is exaggerated for propaganda purposes. They argue that Russian laws specifically target the promotion of "non-traditional lifestyles" to minors rather than criminalizing homosexuality itself. The discussion touches on the Pussy Riot case and the difficulty of discussing these nuances with people influenced by mainstream media narratives.

russia· vladimir putin· anti-gay laws· pussy riot· propaganda

1:22:47 There's probably more gay hatred going on in a gay bar in America than there is in Russia, which by the way Holy crap, John we went to a Christmas drink. Oh, here we go. Yep Yeah, yeah, and this was at the at the Obots house who could never have a Republican at the dinner table not that John and I are but I'm just framing it for you and and all of a sudden We were talking about Russia and I was like, well, you know, boy, they really hate the gays. And I was tired. And so, you know, I kind of I went, well, let me just say that's not true. Oh, my God. When the host of the party is walking away from you in disgust, that's when you know that it's a problem. Because, you know, it's it's it's you know, there's a white paper and I'm going to get this to you. And it's really there's there's more anti-gay

1:23:44 shenanigans going on in the US than in all of Russia. In Russia you don't have to, you know, there was no don't ask don't tell. You could be gay in the military, it's no problem. You can adopt without going through some rigorous, you know, training or questioning to see, oh if you're gay can you adopt? There's none of that in Russia, none of it. but you've been duped by the media and it's mainly to soak the American media of $30,000 for every violation and by the way it's only of minors under 13 to prop to propagandize and untraditional or non-traditional lifestyles

1:24:21 This is not like, you know, you can't say you're gay. It's not true. They don't want to believe it. People don't fucking want to believe it. And then it's like, whoa, but that pussy riot stuck for two years! Two years pussy riot! I was like, don't you see what's going on? Don't you understand the propaganda of all of this on both sides? Russia's horrible! No, it's these are smart smart people Apparently not. Well, it's it's a it's a mind control thing. Although I did hear luckily at this dinner Multiple people say yeah, I'm really tired of MSNBC and and specifically Rachel Maddow. Oh good Yeah, I was very encouraged by that

1:25:08 And then of course, they said, well, you know, Fox is run by Democrats, so you can watch that. And then they just like, the eyes roll back in the head and then they keel over and... What? I really did not do a good job of, uh... I got to work on it. You were tired. You weren't on your A game. No, I was not. No, I was on my D game. Oh, well that's no good. It was really bad. You could have just shut up. That's what I should have done. I should have just smiled and go, yeah, whatever you think, idiot. Now I got to start emailing articles. This is the same guy who said, when the towers came down I knew we had the NSA is doing important work. And now you know, you're gonna see he's gonna, oh look at this, the 1995, 2001, whatever, the Haka Makalaki modeled on the London bombing. It's a losing proposition.

1:26:02 Well, anybody who comes out of the blue and the first thing you learn from them is they won't have dinner with a Republican is an obvious bigot. and bigots have a mind that doesn't work right no matter how smart they are. There's plenty of smart bigots as it were, but their mind is twisted to begin with. It's like a damaged brain and so certain things you don't unscramble part of it. It just kind of freaks them out. They get a little weird. I mean that's one of the things that's great about No Agenda listeners is they're open Some of them sure they're kind of crackpot if you listen to them and we get the email But for the most part they'll listen to reason yeah, yeah, I'd been there skeptical. Yeah, I didn't sound like he's skeptical He's just a lock stays a Nazi Yeah, there we go that's all done end of show you called him a Nazi whether we Might as well quit while we're ahead

CHAPTER 27 / 55 Discussion

Freedom Club of the United States, Debt Relief Pitch

An investigation into the "Freedom Club of the United States" reveals what appears to be a pyramid scheme. The organization lures individuals with claims that credit card debts and mortgages are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash that never needs to be repaid. The hosts examine the "ambassador" model used to spread these financial offers.

freedom club· debt relief· pyramid scheme· credit cards· financial freedom

1:27:04 I went down a little, do you want to do something because I got a little rabbit hole back in my head. This is a little lengthy but I'm going to do it. So I'm going to give you how I got into this. The first thing is going to involve four clips that got me into what I'm going to reveal which is a Showing again the media companies and many famous websites that we compete with Completely dropping the ball on this but so I we got an email from a guy says oh, you should look into the freed Freedom Club of Berkeley because they do lie detectors as a bunch of spooks or you were able to read that email I looked at that email and went what?

1:27:44 I decided I'm in Berkeley so I decided to type in Freedom Club. There's nothing on the internet about this at all but I did run into the Freedom Club of the United States. This is in, because he referenced Ted Kaczynski. Yeah. The Unabomber and he said, but the email was weird John, it was like, don't propagate Kaczynski, Freedom Club, Berkeley, blah. Yeah, yeah, it was weird but I did a little, at least I looked into it but then I stumbled onto something completely different. So it triggered, because you're going to wonder, what were you even doing on these websites? I got it, I got it, okay. So the Freedom Club of the United States of America appears to me to be a pyramid scheme of some sort. But they have all these interesting come-ons, and these come-ons fascinated me. And I've got four different things here. First of all, here's the main come-on, which is the clip FC USA.

1:28:36 Free yourself from debt with this limited time special offer. Do you know that every credit card you've ever had is worth $150,000 cash and you never have to pay it back? And every auto loan or student loan is also worth $150,000 cash and you never pay it back. And every mortgage is worth $375,000 cash. Cash for your debt, paid off or not. Think what you can do with financial freedom. Find out how by getting back to the ambassador that sent this to you. This will change your life forever. Wow, that sounds like a bargain.

1:29:11 Wait a minute, so if I got a credit card that's worth $150,000, this is good? Yeah, no, you should cash it in. So apparently they got this, it's really a pyramid scheme if you look at it, but they got all these pitches and I've heard these pitches before and they're all nonsense, but they're interesting. And it's perfect for our show and a lot of our listeners, I'm sure there's many of our listeners who are actually At some point or another bought into some of this, no offense listeners and producers, but this one here, you'll have heard this before, this is the straw man clip. It must say something else. No, it says straw man. I don't have a straw man clip. Is it in the second part of this stuff I sent? I got all your stuff. Hold on a second, I'm sorry. How does this work? Yeah, clips two. Hold on a sec.

CHAPTER 28 / 55 Discussion

Strawman Theory, Sovereign Citizen Concepts

The hosts deconstruct the "Strawman" theory, a staple of sovereign citizen movements, which claims that every individual has a corporate twin created at birth by the government. The theory suggests that legal names in all capital letters refer to these corporations rather than the living person. While acknowledging the internal logic of the theory, the hosts dismiss it as a dangerous path that leads to legal trouble.

strawman· common law· admiralty law· corporation· legal entity

1:28:36 Free yourself from debt with this limited time special offer. Do you know that every credit card you've ever had is worth $150,000 cash and you never have to pay it back? And every auto loan or student loan is also worth $150,000 cash and you never pay it back. And every mortgage is worth $375,000 cash. Cash for your debt, paid off or not. Think what you can do with financial freedom. Find out how by getting back to the ambassador that sent this to you. This will change your life forever. Wow, that sounds like a bargain.

1:29:11 Wait a minute, so if I got a credit card that's worth $150,000, this is good? Yeah, no, you should cash it in. So apparently they got this, it's really a pyramid scheme if you look at it, but they got all these pitches and I've heard these pitches before and they're all nonsense, but they're interesting. And it's perfect for our show and a lot of our listeners, I'm sure there's many of our listeners who are actually At some point or another bought into some of this, no offense listeners and producers, but this one here, you'll have heard this before, this is the straw man clip. It must say something else. No, it says straw man. I don't have a straw man clip. Is it in the second part of this stuff I sent? I got all your stuff. Hold on a second, I'm sorry. How does this work? Yeah, clips two. Hold on a sec.

1:30:07 I don't have anything with an S. I go from P to Q. Well that's not good. This is an important clip. It's not in the second bunch of clips. Well I'm gonna have to send it to you again. Yeah, let me check part one. Maybe I missed it here. It's possible. Hold on. I believe it would be in part two. No, you did not attach it my friend. Well, can you attach it now? Can you send it out real quick? I can okay? Yeah, I'm looking at unless it's named something else. I have GM. No no no it's named straw man is sitting here Do you have the clip? I may have to send you did you have where money comes from I have that one and you have quantum Energetics I do well, that's weird Can we play them out of order while you're sending that or you know actually I want to do them in order because it's actually kind of important you send it yet I

1:30:59 I'm- well, I can't talk and chew gum at the same time here. It's so- it's so incredibly hard. Woo! By the way, I'm back on Firefox. I decided I've had enough. I was using Chrome for a while because, you know, just Firefox was just- can't handle Flash for some reason, and then- and then Chrome became a nightmare. Really? Just, ugh, spinning wheels of death and it slowed everything down and at least Firefox doesn't seem to be grabbing on the Mac. All the resources seems to be doing somewhat better. But man oh man, it's, uh, we need a new browser. You know, I was thinking about that.

1:31:44 Maybe we could do a yes with a startup thing and and a browser that's there is a couple of browsers out there But they're always based on Firefox. There's a Mozilla. Yeah, pretty much all our webkit Mozilla would probably Mozilla. Yeah, yeah, okay So I sent you the strawberry straw man. What were you thinking? We were gonna do it you when you say a startup you mean a Kickstarter I just have to yeah, that's what I mean, buddy. Yeah, you were gonna do a Kickstarter. All right, what do you think it would cost? What to do what to build a browser? Yeah, it's expensive if to do it people say it's not expensive you get that that one that one core was using and then you have the one that's in What's so great? What's gonna be different about it? Well, they would they make it better. Okay. We have a guy knows what he's doing I got straw man ready. Sure. You roll it. Okay, so let's play straw man and now tell me you haven't heard this pitch it's a common like bullshit pitch that you a lot of people

1:32:40 Promote, here we go. Nor legally. Your sweat equity is collateral for the US corporation to Federal Reserve Banks. USA is a private foreign corporation incorporated in England in 1871. I know, I've heard this. IRS is a private corporation contracted as a bill collector to repay the interest on the national debt. Residing in Puerto Rico, they are not a government agency. Corporations can only do business with other corporations. Upon their birth, all individuals are given a twin known as your Strawman, which is a corporation owned and controlled by the government beginning in 1933. Your Corporation Strawman name is your name in all capital letters, such as John H. Doe or Mary A. Doe.

1:33:34 Black's law states a capitalized name refers to a corporation Yeah, before you go on because you said some of our producers probably had been a part of this I've looked at this many many times and I've seen many seminars lots of speeches lots of documentation and it's a common law I think it's like common law of the sea or Admiralty. I forget exactly what the term is And it totally makes sense to me I always think that people forget that we also have a police force that will arrest you and throw you in jail if you try to go around this system and

1:34:12 But there's always a claim that there are people who know how to do this and are living outside of their legal twin entity. And it's the way you answer questions and it's things that you do or do not acknowledge. I've, you know, yeah, so I've seen the seminars. I've always thought, wow, that would be cool to do, but I would probably wind up in jail. Yes, as anyone else would by the way, because this is all nonsense, but let's go on. You think it's not true? None of this is true? What, that we were bankrupt in 1933? No, no, no, no, no. And you got it, and when you're born, you're born as a corporation? Yeah. Don't think so. You don't think so? No, I don't think so. Find me your corporate record that with all Adam Curry, all caps. Where does this all caps thing come from? Yeah, no, I've, okay. No, no, no.

CHAPTER 29 / 55 Discussion

Fractional Reserve Banking, Birth Account Value Claims

The discussion covers claims that fractional reserve banking creates money from a "birth account" using an individual's signature as collateral. The theory posits that every American is assigned a value of approximately $9.2 million at birth, which the banking system then exploits. The hosts explore the idea of the United States being registered as a legal business entity rather than a traditional government.

fractional reserve banking· birth accounts· human resources· banking fraud· legal entity

1:35:01 Don't don't even think it's any this is realistic Okay, where money comes from is another one that we as we move along with this is a pitch You've heard this too. Yeah, and this I just think I like these because they got a little music in the background I guess some nice graphics. They're very professionally done and the guys got a nice voice Didn't and didn't wet wasn't Wesley Snipes a Freedom Club guy didn't know or maybe it's what would you mean the guy in jail? Where money comes from? Fractional banking creates money from your birth account using your note signature. Banks are loaning you your own money. Your signature gives them implied authority to take the money from your birth account. They then pretend it was their money they loaned you. You pay principal and interest to the bank for money they did not loan you. That is conversion. And therein lies the fraud.

1:35:59 Yeah, I've heard this too. And this is where the $9.2 million of value comes from that each of us is assigned. And what I have always understood... Now listen to me. I'm telling you my deepest heartfelt secrets. I have always understood that there is a part of America's value is the number of human resources at birth times $9.2 million. That's adjusted for inflation, of course. And that is what we bank upon. And that is the true value of the United States. And that indeed, the banking system banks on that, on the legal entity that we are, outside of the personal entity that you are.

1:36:46 You know, it's the United States is registered as a legal entity that way. So are cities, and particularly fractions of cities, the City of London, you know, it's all this stuff. Yeah, cities are incorporated, these are all businesses. Yeah, but so is the United States. Where? Where's the incorporation papers? Well, you catch me a little off guard, but I have... Send me a copy, I'd like to read the articles of incorporation. All right, onward. You can do that later. Meanwhile, of course, you go on with this stuff and you end up with finally, you know, besides the scheme that they have, if you give them $5,000, you get a check for $150,000. Well, this sounds like a great idea. Yeah. Okay. But they also do this, which is like, why is this in here? And this is the quantum energetics, which is also on the site.

CHAPTER 30 / 55 Discussion

Quantum Energetics, Emotional Damage Clearing

The Freedom Club also promotes a program called "Quantum Energetics," founded by a "Reverend Tom." The program claims to clear away emotional damage and negative experiences from past lives through a unique clearing process. The hosts find the inclusion of this spiritual program alongside financial schemes to be a curious combination.

quantum energetics· reverend tom· emotional healing· past life· therapy

1:37:44 With being free emotionally, we're tied to our past in some way. Even today's emotional distresses can be traced back to triggers from our past. The good news is that there are ways to release these negatives and help you let go of the past. Our Quantum Energetics is a unique program designed to clear away emotional damage. It is the work of Reverend Tom, our founder, putting together in his own way the work of many people in a simple and very effective program. As he says, it takes a lifetime to get over your childhood. Come get clear with us. The Quantum Energetics Program is a program we offer that is a powerful and very effective way to deal with those past life negative experiences that bind us to our current emotional distress. It can be relieved from the comfort of your own home. The release of emotional distress is freeing and life-altering.

1:38:37 I don't know where that came from. That's the same outfit? Yeah. Yeah. All right. So the thing that got my attention was this bankruptcy in 1933, where supposedly some bankruptcy took place. And so I ended up with a, with a, I read this article about the bankruptcy and so I did one of my classic, you know, let me take the weirdest sentence I could find and then Google that to see where it came from. I couldn't find where it came from but it's interesting to see where it ended up. And it's essentially what they've done is let me just read you part of this. They're all say the same thing. It starts with these pieces. This is an article that has been pieced together to convince you of some sort of bankruptcy that took place in 1933 and it starts with a

CHAPTER 31 / 55 Discussion

1933 Bankruptcy Myth, James Traficant Quote

The hosts debunk a widely circulated internet article claiming the U.S. government went bankrupt in 1933. The article relies on a quote from Congressman James Traficant that was taken out of context; Traficant was speaking facetiously about a budget rule, not declaring a legal bankruptcy. The misinformation has been used to support theories about the U.S. becoming a socialist democracy under a secret governor.

james traficant· 1933 bankruptcy· emergency banking act· congressional record· misinformation

1:39:31 supposedly a quote from the congressional record from James Traficant Jr. in Ohio addressing the House and he says, now I'm going to have to read this, Mr. Speaker we are now here in chapter 11 Members of the Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any bankrupt entity in the world history, the US government. We are setting forth, hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner's report that will lead to our demise. Then in the same article, now that's got a quote mark at the beginning, there's no quote mark at the end after the word demise, so that makes you think it's a continuation.

1:40:13 It is an established fact that the United States federal government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act of March 9, 1933, 48, Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719 declared by President Roosevelt being bankrupt and insolvent. It goes on and on and on. So if you look at the congressional record and actually look at it, you find the Traficante thing. They're debating a bill, I think it's H.1303, and he says this, Mr. Speaker, we're here now in Chapter 11. He goes on and on and on. This was facetious because after the word demise, he doesn't go on with, he doesn't say it's an established fact, blah, blah, blah. He says,

1:40:58 I am going to support the rule. I am not sure if it will support this budget. I want to hear an awful lot more. Not being a member of this committee, and if I'm not getting to vote for things I do not, and it goes on. It never did. The rest of it is all bullcrap. What are you talking about? So everything that's been floating around, this little document has been floating around saying it goes on about we dropped the gold standard, we're in bankruptcy, it all happened in 1933. This has got nothing to do with what he was doing and then they cite that it was a congressional wreck. It's bull crap. It's just a lie. So I googled, the little phrase I ended up googling, let me find it here, I'm gonna do my Google search.

1:41:41 Within this document it says, this new form of government is known as a democracy. Which is the argument that we're not a republic anymore, we're a democracy. And it goes on, it says, this new form of government is known as a democracy being an established socialist slash communist order under a new governor for America. There's a governor running the place. So, and this is all just part of this script or this one document. So I googled this new form of government known as a democracy to see who ran this thing and they ran it full cloth with the same missing quote

1:42:17 as though traffic and the bro or traffic on brought this up in congress when he didn't he was just joking around actually site say you know it's like saying hey adam well how you doing this weekend i'm bankrupt man i got nothing and then all of a sudden the bradham's career is bankrupt all right so okay so i'm not me just follow this but you're really relating this to the federal reserve nineteen thirty nineteen thirteen No, if you did the whole thing is about this one phrase the US went bankrupt We actually filed and went bankrupt in 1933 that is the assertion

CHAPTER 32 / 55 Discussion

Alternative News Echo Chambers, InfoWars and Rense

The 1933 bankruptcy myth is traced through various alternative news sites, including InfoWars, Rense, and Before It's News. The hosts express frustration that these platforms run the same unverified articles "full cloth" without performing basic research. They highlight how a single joke in Congress can become an established fact within the conspiracy theory echo chamber.

infowars· rense· before it's news· misinformation· echo chamber

1:42:53 that, and when people bitch about the 19th, the Federal Reserve Act, they usually drop that in after, they say we're already bankrupt and all that, and we got a new form of government nobody's talking about, and we have a governor that runs things, and we don't know who he is, there's a shadow government running everything. It's not that this is like, oh well, this is another piece of crap, it's when you Google this, it's who printed this article in exactly full cloth, That is shocking. What does that mean? What does that mean full cloth? Everything is exactly the same article. Yeah, there's no editing. They only edited was the headlines the editing. There's no editing of this thing and we go from

1:43:36 We go from the republic of the united states dot com, we go to beforeitsnews.com, we go for awakenedvideo.org, we go to true democracy, henry mackow ran this thing, the daily paul ran it, republic of arizona ran it full cloth, slavery is the news ran it full cloth, liberty beacon ran it, I mean these are all pushing this bull crap and then you get into some interesting ones. It shows up in Facebook all over the place, The Gathering Spot, Bakersfield Talks, freedomforallseasons.com and then you get farmguardiansovereinamerica.com, jesusisavior.com. It goes on and on and then we get to, here's the ones I wanted to get to which are on page three, Rumor Meal, Noosh, Soda Head, Joe Bird, Freedom Club. Then it shows up in Watchtower.

1:44:30 It shows up in rents, which people always say, oh, rents, rents. And then it shows up and guess who? Your buddy down the street ran it full cloth. Info Wars? Yes. It goes on and on, a chemical center. And so it is based upon a throwaway line that was a joke and it's a lie and it never happened that way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and you're surprised? No, what I was surprised by was it's such a piece of crap little article and it's talking about that we have a governor now and it's a socialist country and we've changed we had these secret papers everywhere. What surprises me is not that we see this all the time. Is that no one does the research to take a look at what's really going on? No, I know. And it runs in rents and it runs in infowars. Well, I've been trying, I've been trying. These people.

CHAPTER 33 / 55 Discussion

Fukushima Lawsuits, Media Manipulation of Science

The hosts examine sensationalized headlines regarding U.S. sailors suing the Navy over radiation exposure at Fukushima. They argue that many of these stories are manipulated by interests in the gas and supplement industries to sell products like iodine drops. They also point out that a widely shared "toxic cloud" map was actually a NOAA map of ocean currents, not atmospheric radiation.

fukushima· us navy· t. boone pickens· iodine drops· radiation

1:45:22 I know. I've been tracking something recently, which is blacklisted news, Zero Hedge, Rens, Breitbart, Infowars, all of this about this lawsuit. And when you really look into it, it's quite different. But here's the headline. U.S. sailors dying of cancer. They were at Fukushima suing the United States Navy. And then when you look into it, it's a husband and wife. who tried this a year and a half ago, judge threw it out of court, they've now tried to amend something. They don't, they're not actually dying yet. You know, it's like it keeps getting worse and worse and worse and worse and then they actually come out and they're suing for a hundred million dollars and then they, and then the statement is well some people think we're doing this just for the money. Oh no, no, I didn't think that at all. But the way the headline morphs and you know my, I mean I've, I hold back on

1:46:21 All of these Fukushima stories because I'd rather wait five years and go Oh, are we all dead yet? Because you know, it makes no sense for me to say it's not true. You're being lied to you're being manipulated You're specifically being manipulated by the gas industry specifically T Boone Pickens has got more brains than we do and every and and the whole solar and wind and it's all about gas but you but you know Of course, these are the same people selling iodine drops, etc. And then this map that's been going around, look here's the toxic cloud, it reached California within four days when that map is actually from NOAA and that map is of currents from the aftermath of the tsunami. Not at all about nuclear cloud or anything.

1:47:14 And this, you know, I was extremely annoyed by this besides the humorous clips from the Freedom Club. Yeah. When this 1933 thing came up and then I said, well, I'm going to look into it the way you would do normally. And then when I saw it linked. to every crackpot and alternative news sites. But John, that's because they're not doing... It's just annoying as hell that you can't get good news anywhere. Because they're not doing the work. They're not doing the simple work. And how long did it take you? 40 minutes? It took me... it didn't take long. No. But the... No, I get it. I get it. I told you... Okay, it brings me... I might as well... if I want to bitch about the media, I might as well go to the mainstream media for a second.

CHAPTER 34 / 55 Discussion

Justine Sacco Tweet, Today Show Reporting

The Today Show's coverage of PR executive Justine Sacco's offensive tweet about AIDS in Africa is criticized for its lack of detail. The hosts note that the media failed to mention Sacco's employer, IAC, or the specific text of the tweet, focusing instead on the "powerful" internet reaction. They question why a person with only 100 followers became a global news story, suggesting the outrage was manufactured.

justine sacco· twitter· today show· iac· barry diller

1:47:52 And I got an Ask Adam here. Now take yourself and make yourself like a journalist that you're like, you know, you're asking questions. Wait, wait, wait, I have to get into character. Don't ruff, don't reruff. Okay, I'm ready. Okay, now I'm going to play a clip from the Today Show. And as a journalist, you're going to ask the who, what, when, where, and why. So I'm going to ask you questions about what you learned from this clip. And you're going to tell me based on what's in this clip, What this clip is all about essentially it just run the ask and this is a today show clip wanted to know more about his Google technologist Daniel Sieberg This is a story that we were just talking about in the break up Justine Sacco a lot of people may not know the name if they weren't you know immersed in Twitter over the weekend. A most offensive tweet would certainly come up. It was heard around the world eventually and the idea is that she sent out this

1:48:48 offensive tweet that had to do with AIDS in Africa. She got on a flight from London to South Africa. By the time she landed, the internet had exploded with reaction to this and everybody was of course very upset. She was fired as a result and just this kind of you know mentality of everybody reacting to it online was very powerful. She was a PR person for a major company which is why it drew so much attention. And she didn't apologize for it we should say. Yeah. She's got a statement I'll read it. Words cannot express how sorry I am how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet. I'm very sorry. for the pain I caused. Perhaps the only good that came out of this were some sites that redirected people to donate money to AIDS charities, so at least that's a small positive but obviously a lot of negative reaction. Horrible story. Horrible, horrible story. Alright, so my question would be, what company? That would be question number one. They didn't say why. They didn't say what, you know what company it is right?

1:49:52 Barry what's his name? IAC. Barry Dillers Corporation. Barry Dillers Operation. Well that's a roll up. There's a whole bunch of companies in IAC. Yeah, well she was one of the PR people I think for the holding company. Whatever the case. Why didn't they say who that's the question I what was the name of the company? What did you learn from that clip you learned these guys like to laugh yuck it up at the oh-ho-ho And is it an offensive tweet? What was the tweet? No we don't need to know what the tweet is that would be wrong We would it's offensive one person says it's offensive the other one says it's really offensive. It's really offensive Sure, what was it? What kind of reporting is this yeah well

1:50:35 It was, that was pretty bad reporting. Now I've looked at it now. It's funny because someone did, at the party, at our party, someone, you know, I was laying down my smack about Duck Dynasty and Target, about that being the cover-up. And then someone who was listening, who had no idea what we were talking about, went, obviously, Wow, did you hear about that tweet from the PR lady? And I had... By the way, this PR lady had 100 followers. Yeah. Who cares what she tweets, but okay, go on. And I was like, no, and that's where I first heard about it. And I guess if she said, I'm going to Africa, hope I don't get AIDS because I'm white or something like that? No, no, she says, I'm going to Africa, hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding, I'm white. Ah, right, yeah.

1:51:30 So this is a this is very very very offensive so offensive extremely offensive extremely offensive to the point where they couldn't even Say what it was that she said and I looked at I said, this is just dumb. It's not offensive stupid Just stupid. So what interesting why why did we know what the story was behind that? Oh Of course that's the whole point is to... Somebody picked it up and retweeted it. Isn't this offensive? You know, nudonic out there. I guess I think it was somebody trying to get this woman. And they... They're in the PR business, right? So they got it out there and boom, she's fired. She drops into the center of attention when she lands in South Africa. She has a hundred followers. Who cares what she says? It's like this guy's ankle bite. I think the way I, the way I, when I read this and I do recall reading it, I kind of took it like kind of her way of saying, uh,

CHAPTER 35 / 55 Discussion

Dallas Buyers Club, AZT and FDA Critique

The film "The Dallas Buyers Club" is discussed for its portrayal of the FDA and the drug AZT during the early AIDS crisis. The hosts argue the movie supports the theory that high doses of AZT were toxic to patients, but criticize the film's final disclaimer which claimed low doses of the drug eventually saved millions. They view this as a legal move to avoid lawsuits from pharmaceutical companies.

dallas buyers club· matthew mcconaughey· azt· fda· hiv/aids

1:52:26 Apartheid is alive and well, and no one cares about black people in South Africa and the AIDS problem. And it seemed like a kind of like a tongue-in-cheek, not a great joke, but I kind of got it like, okay, you're going to South Africa, I hope you don't get AIDS, but just kidding, you don't because you're white. It's like, yeah, there's a huge problem with AIDS amongst the black population in South Africa. It's not a great way of trying to bring attention to it, but that's how I read it, and I think that was the intent. Probably was I don't know but this is yeah, this is machine man The machine likes to be fed at the end of the year just wants more put more crap into that Well, you know the machine run about the machine as you can pick it you we have this thesis on the show that people always tell the truth at some point. Yeah

1:53:09 They can't not people can't lie forever. So I found Matt Lauer Curiously telling the truth during a stupid segment that I watched and went this is this is the dumbest thing I don't even know how it became a segment how it became before you before you do that Can I just say something about the AIDS thing in Africa? Yeah. You know, Mickey's, she's SAG, so now we're getting all the movies for the SAG Awards that she has to vote on it. And we got the Matthew McConaughey movie, The Dallas Buyers Club, which was almost outstanding.

1:53:45 Because it completely legitimizes my theory that the AZT was killing people and it was the FDA and the whole thing is up until the very end of the movie, the last line to stop the lawsuits, they put a one line in there that says, later the AZT in very low doses and it was given to patients and saved millions worldwide. End of movie. The whole thing was about how people were living for years without AZT, with just HIV virus, not having full-blown AIDS because they weren't taking this unapproved cancer drug, the rejected cancer drug. And at the very end of the movie they ruin the whole thing by a little throwaway line like, oh but in very low doses, yeah which would be nothing, it saved millions of people so they don't get sued anyway. Well that's what you have to do. Yeah.

CHAPTER 36 / 55 Discussion

Photoshop in Media, Matt Lauer Truthfulness

A Today Show segment on extreme airbrushing in magazines leads to a rare moment of transparency from Matt Lauer, who stated that viewers "cannot believe anything you see in print or television." The hosts highlight this as an admission of the media's inherent unreliability, even as the show continues to run viral YouTube content as news.

photoshop· airbrushing· today show· matt lauer· media skepticism

1:54:39 That's just the way it works. Ruin the movie. Okay, yes. But anyway, so we're going back to that. So the media sucks and so we want to now, they do tell the truth once in a while and they bring it out that they suck. So there's this piece floating around about, and it was just a lousy piece. It was, and I saw it on the internet and I saw it here and they did it on the Today Show because apparently the Today Show nowadays is essentially just running crap off the net. It's the news. the news. So this is that airbrushing story that became a rage. Oh look they airbrushed this girl and they made her legs longer and they did all this stuff. Another story I know nothing about. Photoshop okay. I don't know anything about it. Did I just play it?

1:55:20 No, I'm gonna get the setup. So if you went to any of these website news websites they have all this stuff at the bottom now which is all paid for advertising that's done in the form of news stories and they Photoshop quick photo for the Photoshop thing remarkable Photoshop YouTube video and it's a It's just a piece of shit. It's useless, but they picked it up on the today show and they decide to go with it What I'm not understanding is it showing how women are for you? It's a girl's picture and then they photoshop her and they put makeup on her and they make her legs longer And they put it in high speeds right got it got it, and it's it's lame. It's just lame Mm-hmm. It's part. So why are they running? Yeah?

1:56:03 Why are they running this as news on the today's show, on the Yuckin' It Up? But what's interesting is that they give a little insight, they give us a little bit of truth at the end that you'll catch, I'm sure. And I just said, ah, this is a great clip. Trending from YouTube, Photoshopped to perfection. Take a look at this. It's no secret that the glamorous images we see in magazines are heavily airbrushed, right? Now a dramatic new video is illustrating just how much work goes into that process. This time-lapse video shows a makeup-free model becoming a blonde bombshell. Photo editors enlarge her eyes and shrink her nose. They tighten her tummy, they stretch her neck and legs, and finally, they lighten her skin, giving it that certain glow. The final result looks like a completely different woman. You don't even need the model. No. I mean, it's like weird science. You could just make up

1:56:53 the girl let's be clear she started as a blonde bombshell so I don't know what she needed all those improvements it is amazing you cannot believe anything you see in print or television I think a little airbrushing a little bit here and there but that's extensive a little here and there is okay but that's crazy the line is you cannot believe anything anything you see yeah now that's the line and then he says oh and tell of a true He says television too. But he kind of... Oh, television! Yeah, so he pulled back a little bit. Well, there is something going on. It's an advertising opportunity. It's really big and it revolves around... This is maybe partially part of it, but this is about fat talking. And this is a meme. This is Vaginalogic. John, since Mimi brought it up, I feel very confident and comfortable using this phrase over and over again.

CHAPTER 37 / 55 Discussion

Special K Fat Talk Campaign, Vagina Advertising Logic

Kellogg's Special K launched a PR campaign titled "Fight Fat Talk," which encourages women to stop self-deprecating comments about their weight. The hosts characterize this as "vagina advertising logic," where a brand sells diet products by co-opting a social empowerment message. They note that the campaign has been picked up by major media outlets like the BBC and the Today Show.

special k· kellogg's· fat talk· advertising· pr campaign

1:57:49 It is vagina advertising logic and I want you to tell me now what you're gonna. This is a video and it is an ad The product is not mentioned in the ad but you're going to tell me what it is and in this there's a clothing store and These women it's fake and these women are all actors, but it looks reality. So you're gonna believe it and And they come in and everything on the clothing, on the articles has a little tag that says, boy, I will look fat in this or I'm too bloated to wear this. And then they have a, all of a sudden they're all in this store and they have a conversation about it. You tell me what is the advertising motive behind this new fat talking bullying meme?

1:58:41 93% of women fat talk. We believe it's a barrier to managing their weight. It happens everywhere, especially when shopping for clothes. To show how damaging words can be, we created a store filled with actual fat talk. Hi, good morning. Welcome. This is cute. Very cute. What? I have a muffin top. The highlight is in my DNA. Hashtag cow. Oh, I mean that's awful. It's perfect. I'm like starting to sweat. What is this? The sun? I mean these are all things that I've said. This is like looking at the inside of my head. It kind of makes me feel nauseous. I feel sad. I didn't realize how bad it was. It's like you're bullying yourself. You bully yourself? An instant great weight gain. A little bit of filler.

1:59:41 It's kind of bewildering to me to think that someone could do this and say this and feel this way about themselves. It was definitely eye opening. It's damaging. I can't talk about myself that way. I teach young girls to dance and I don't want a fat talk because I want to be a role model to them. Promoting more positive thoughts within myself as well as with my friends. No more fat talk. I don't want to hear it anymore from anyone. We need to shut it down. We are all doing this and we're all in this together. We need to be each other's support. Reversing the fat talk, making it positive talk. Reversing the fat talk, shut it down, don't be fat talking. Now, first I will say this is a real issue and women are programmed to do this. Just look at television, turn on television, you'll see nothing but this.

2:00:38 And so it's very sad because it is of course true that this fat talking is all a part of Female popular culture and it's programmed right into the box. But this is a commercial us and stop was it fight fat talk org is Brought to you by Kellogg's special K because you know, you might as well die it it's disgusting Kellogg's special K is trying to help you stop fat talking by not being fat. And we can't use the word fat and the BBC has entire hour-long programs about fat talking. Yeah, it's... I know, it's almost clip of the day. It wasn't... Yeah, it's video of the day. If you saw the video, you'd be like, wow, it's really good. But it's not great as a video. I can't get anything off of fightfattalk.org. Fight... Oh, come on.

2:01:40 Fight fat talk maybe it's fight fat talk calm. Let me see I'm seeing it right here shut down fat talk Shut down fight here. You can find it with under special K comm English fight fat talk Here it is from joking about cankles to deacons to destructive self-deprecation Fat talk has become part of ordinary conversation spoken without a second thought yeah, I Yeah, absolutely true. But come on, you guys are jumping on this bandwagon to sell your cardboard sugared flakes? Please. Products. There's their cereal bars and their treats and their cracker chips and everything. Yeah. You can get some coupons on this site. Oh yeah. Why don't we take a little break here for a second, John? I'm gonna show my support by donating to No Agenda. Imagine all the people who could do that. Oh yeah, that'd be fab.

2:02:40 some people who have i'd like me a a rubin s woman i would i would say this uh... this is a p r driven initiative yes that's not the s not advertising agency was one of those agencies as both well it's a bit it's because this is a a gimmick that is on a high order of of the higher order gimmick that's all i can say but it is ultimately advertising and got people did Yeah, I'm sure people are saying, talking about it. It'll be on the Today Show shortly. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Fat talk. It's more anti-First Amendment stuff, as you asked me. Yep. Cankles is cankles. Cankles ain't fatness, it's just cankles. Yeah, it's not fat. It's just cankles. It's like, how did you get cankles?

CHAPTER 38 / 55 Discussion

International Donations, Macon Georgia Anecdote

Donations are acknowledged from listeners in Australia and New Zealand. A donor from Macon, Georgia, prompts an anecdote about the city's massive bug zappers and the resulting piles of dead insects. The hosts also prepare for a "make it rain" segment to honor specific donors.

donations· australia· new zealand· macon georgia· bug zappers

2:03:33 So let's thank a few people. Sir Funk, Josh McDonald, 150 bucks in Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. Merry Christmas, lads. If possible, I'd like to hear why you raffing. I love... Why you raffing? Yeah. Why you raffing? Don't raff! Why you raffing? Yeah. Shut up. Don't raff. Shut up. Shut up. Why you raffing? And across the water there from our Australian friend is Robert Tannant, $144.44 in Wakato, New Zealand. He's listed at $475. $575. $575 and he's dropped his money to get the $999.99. Oh! And then we...

2:04:21 We kick in the extra penny so he'll be neither today. Nice. No, it's gonna happen. Norman Pearson $125 from Macon, Georgia. I went to Macon once. It's a really interesting old town. It's depressed. And they had a, I was there in this, it was a funny time of year where there's a lot of bugs. And I went to a gas station to get gas and they had those electric bug killers. They had one on every corner all over the, there were like hundreds of them. Not hundreds, maybe 20. And there was a pile of dead bugs that was at least a foot high to two feet high underneath each one of these things where the bugs would get zapped and they'd pile up. It was pretty gross.

2:05:07 What was I? Gee, thanks for that visual. Sorry. Stephen Schultz, $160. Hold on a second. Norman has something to say. Well, eat the kale then donate. Eat kale then donate campaign. It's mostly eat kale then throw up. Yeah, you know what Mickey gave me as one of my Christmas presents Yeah, kale well almost you know what a Yale shirt looks like t-shirt from Yale University says kale Yeah, I've seen that shirt I Shall wear it with pride you should Steven Schultz again in cities in South Korea

2:05:49 uh... he says god bless you you follow mouth malcontents may go i think that's what we are yet michael miller and to run eleven dollars eleven cents uh... we has a call out for uh... in the main will have a minute my michaela garber is equal washington Jays $111.00 to no call. Do you want to do this now these call they want to do the the call I could do the call out now if you want yeah, do you ready? Do you have everything set up? Do you have the I got to I got to yeah, I get everything I get Okay, okay ladies and gentlemen all right here we go all right gentlemen

CHAPTER 39 / 55 Discussion

In the Morning Club, Strip Club Parody

The hosts perform a scripted parody of a strip club announcer to acknowledge female donors Tracy, Inga Mae, Lily Satou, and Sabine. The segment features exaggerated voice acting and humorous descriptions of the "performers" as an "exit strategy" for the hosts' careers.

strip club· parody· voice acting· entertainment· donors

2:06:31 Welcome to the in the morning club where you can witness beauty on parade all day at night. No touching, please Let's start things off by bringing to the main stage Tracy This gorgeous gal likes to knit fly kites and mountain climb get a load of her peaks. It's Tracy On stage to put your hands together for anger made this lovely lady has that is the 2011 winner of the pole dancing national Nationals held yearly in Pensacola. She's into bookbinding and fishing. Let her lure you into a private dance. Inga Mae. Next on the No Gender stage comes everyone's fantasy girl, Lily Satou, the anime poster girl. Those eyes are huge. Give it up for Lily.

2:07:15 Look you over here coming up to stage three make her welcome put those hands together and give it up for Sabine this princess recently won an amateur night competition at the club rendezvous But as you can see there's no way she's an amateur. Chill on with hard-earned gratitude boys. It's Sabine Is that it? Yeah, that's it. Good. Good work. Good work. My modulation back to normal. You were pretty hot there. Good. Yeah, it's my exit strategy. I'm gonna work one of these places. Good script. I like the script. The writing was good this time. Very nice. I like her lure you in. Yeah, that's a good line. That's a good line. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, but DJ. Yeah, you take your work seriously. I appreciate that. I do.

CHAPTER 40 / 55 Discussion

Year-End Donor List, Birthday Shoutouts

A long list of donors is read, including those contributing $111.11, $100, and the "69 dudes" category. The hosts give birthday shoutouts to Paul Darling, who turned 50 on Christmas Eve, and Norman Peterson. They emphasize the importance of year-end support as listeners often face financial constraints in the new year.

donations· birthdays· 69 dudes· year-end· community

2:08:09 uh... we just did michael of mckale actually garburn is a quote washington on eleven dollars eleven cents started growing on me says jays who called a hundred dollars los angeles california mark lincoln's could be sick al mark lincoln mounds view minnesota nuts and it also has a air hard in namur belgium she said is the first donation was a strap southern edge of on tells markers belgium but this is the message is trevor Vanessa best regards Trenton best regards Trevor says Trevor Vanessa is Trevor I guess he is I don't know that's good Paul darling Westfield Massachusetts nuts $100 sir Stephen Vanderhaef two donations from their house 99.99 each well in that case I think he

2:09:04 He deserves a 999. 9999999! Nice. Two 9er-9ers. 9er-9ers. 9er-9ers. Poop Feast 420. 75 bucks. That's an actual PayPal name? Poop Feast, apparently. Poop Feast 420? Yeah. He says we ride together or we die tonight. Hold on. Let me check this. Poop Feast 420. Hey, Poop Feast 420. Peter Goodall, 75 bucks from Crestwood, Missouri.

2:09:44 a long time boner he says Chris Fah... Friendthway, Frenthway I guess Fox Point Wisconsin 75 and here we go with a little short segment yeah it's gonna be pretty short today 69! 69 DUDES! the donors that gave us 69 69 which is Eric McCar- McCar-wit-wits? McCar-wits? McCar-wits? McCar-wits, maybe. David Galloway and John Porter, that's the end of that. 60 bucks from James P. Mann in Louisiana. Carl Dietrich, could be Dietrich, but I think it's Dietrich. Dietrich!

2:10:24 Karl Dietrich in Lakeland, Florida, 5770. Richard Bowerstocks, really? Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Paul Hargent in Hayes, Kansas. Hayes. Nicholas Ott in Berlin, Deutschland. Scott Olson, 5533, San Diego, California, with Nicholas came in with 5555. All fives, so did Paul. Douglas Kuhlman in Shevlin, Minnesota, 5510. Eric Huckel in Berlin, 52, Deutschland. Erics Harjo in Cardiff, nice. 5151, Baron Jeffrey Gerlach in Lincoln, California. And he's in Lincoln, California. Makes a point. These are the last ones, they're 50 bucks each from Marcus Kazmarek. Shows up a lot in Kenai, Alaska.

2:11:21 Chad Rich in Seattle, Washington, Gary Wiley in Sequim, Washington, which is just on the road for me as a matter of fact. Sir Todd Brink in New Berlin, Wisconsin, Peter Colvin in Ballymena at UK somewhere. James Bonchek in Plains, Pennsylvania, Christopher Anderson in Valencia, California. Oh nuts! Macy Stolowski. Yeah, Macy. Macy Stolowski in Calgary. Joseph Marcelli's in Dallas. That's nice and that concludes our list of donors for says show 577 remind people to go to DeVorek.org slash na Yes, thank you all very much. I did want to point out that Paul Darling's 50th birthday was on Christmas Eve and he was all bummed out about that So we're gonna make sure he's on the list for the birthdays along with Norman and we do have let's see we have one nighting

CHAPTER 41 / 55 Discussion

Knighting Ceremony, Sir Robert Tennant

Robert Tennant is knighted into the "No Agenda Roundtable" after contributing over $1,000 to the show. The ceremony includes the traditional recitation of humorous and eclectic items associated with the knighthood. The hosts remind the audience of the final show of 2013 scheduled for the following Sunday.

knighting· robert tennant· no agenda roundtable· ceremony· donation

2:12:17 We have Sir Dr. Sharky, Viscount of Tennessee Valley, Sir Hank becomes a baronet, Sir Michael Miller becomes Viscount of Marin County, and Robert Tennant will be knighted today. But a reminder, we have one more show before the end of the year. We'd like as much support as we can get to round out the year a little bit ahead of the game if possible, because it's always hard once we get into the new year. Everyone's broke. Right. From festivals. Including us. Yeah, including us, exactly. So vorac.org slash N-A-R-C-T. And there we go, Norman Peterson celebrates today. Happy birthday along with Paul who turned 50 on Christmas Eve. And well, we're happy you're with us, Paul, and only one year ahead of me, but don't be too bummed out about celebrating on Christmas Eve. Happy birthday from all your mothers!

2:13:05 And now I'd like to what who hold on you get your your blades yeah, I brought it very good up there in the in the Seattles and the Washington's wherever you are yeah, yeah Yeah, I'll bet Robert Tenet, step forward my friend, thank you so much. We threw in the extra penny as you have now contributed to the best podcast in the university, amount of $1,000 or more. Well as I said, we kicked in the extra penny, so I hereby pronounce the Sir Robert Tenet Knight of the Noah John Roundtable for you my friend. Cannabis and Cabernet, Hot Librarians and Jager Bombs, Opium and Warm Orange Juice, Hookers and Blow, Three Geishas and a Bucket of Fried Chicken, Rent Boys and Chardonnay, Hot Pants and Booze, Rubinette's Woman and Rose, Geishas and Sake, Vodka and Middle

2:13:50 I received a note from someone, and I don't like to dance on the dead. But that said, but it was fine. You know the once there's somebody's dead you can you can You can you can libel them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well this actually led me into something else which is why I want to go through the Through the process that I that I went down so there was this again on a lot of websites and there was this video of Paul Walker Paul Walker of the fast and the furious who died along with his

CHAPTER 42 / 55 Discussion

Paul Walker Charity, Reach Out Worldwide Analysis

Following the death of actor Paul Walker, his charity "Reach Out Worldwide" is scrutinized. The hosts argue that a viral video showing Walker's work in Haiti was a high-end PR production. Financial filings suggest the charity was used to stash car collection investments tax-free, with very little actual cash reaching those in need. Most expenses were attributed to travel and accounting rather than direct aid.

paul walker· reach out worldwide· haiti· charity fraud· celebrity foundations

2:13:05 And now I'd like to what who hold on you get your your blades yeah, I brought it very good up there in the in the Seattles and the Washington's wherever you are yeah, yeah Yeah, I'll bet Robert Tenet, step forward my friend, thank you so much. We threw in the extra penny as you have now contributed to the best podcast in the university, amount of $1,000 or more. Well as I said, we kicked in the extra penny, so I hereby pronounce the Sir Robert Tenet Knight of the Noah John Roundtable for you my friend. Cannabis and Cabernet, Hot Librarians and Jager Bombs, Opium and Warm Orange Juice, Hookers and Blow, Three Geishas and a Bucket of Fried Chicken, Rent Boys and Chardonnay, Hot Pants and Booze, Rubinette's Woman and Rose, Geishas and Sake, Vodka and Middle

2:13:50 I received a note from someone, and I don't like to dance on the dead. But that said, but it was fine. You know the once there's somebody's dead you can you can You can you can libel them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well this actually led me into something else which is why I want to go through the Through the process that I that I went down so there was this again on a lot of websites and there was this video of Paul Walker Paul Walker of the fast and the furious who died along with his

2:14:43 friend and partner actually in their classic car collection venture in that fiery crash in Los Angeles. And the video showed Paul Walker, it was a very well cut video, it makes no sense to play the audio but you'll find it in the show notes, And it's about his Reach Out Worldwide charity. And in this video, John, it's Paul Walker and he's helping people in Haiti. This of course what immediately got my attention. I'm like, well that didn't work out too well if you were helping people in Haiti. What did you actually do?

2:15:22 And the caption of this video which has been floating around is, wow, you know, if only the news played this. You know, this is what celebrities really can do and this is how fantastic they are. And so I wanted to know what they had done in Haiti. And now this video, by the way, was produced by a high-end reality television production unit who produce the Motorcycle Chop Shop reality show. And I think they also do the... what's the... the shrimping, the crab, the lobster boat, whatever. That dangerous catch. So these guys, you know, you give them a budget of

2:16:05 Well, actually the budget is here listed in their form, $90,000, $23,000, and they can make a great video of you. And it was irksome, A, because I was like, wow, am I really going to see if this guy was for real with this charity or not? And yeah, I am. And then of course what I found out is, now even $15,000 or $23,000 for anything, if it's going to help someone, I think is a good thing. So I'm not trying to negate that, but all of this stuff in this video is bullcrap. So what he and his, the other guy wrote us, I think his name was, what they wound up doing is they put a share of this, so they formed this non-profit in 2000, let me just see here, I think 2009, and put 20 grand into it.

2:16:58 And then in 2010, when they got all the publicity, it was like, oh, 700, almost $700,000 was put in. But it wasn't cash, it was a share of their classic car collection, which they trade on, and which this guy who was a money manager, well, the guy who was driving, you know, he sold that as a diversification of your investment portfolio. So this is a great way to put, you know, to stash some money tax-free by putting it into your charity. And if you look at this, they received $7,000 in gifted rescue equipment, which they gave away. And I think this is what they gave away maybe to the people in Haiti. And the year after that, there's no money going in. Nothing at best in four years time, $15,000 was handed out. The majority of it was in travel expenses, probably for Paul Walker and his buddies to go shoot this video.

2:17:56 So it's kind of this whole idea of a celebrity front is a little disturbing. Oh, I'm sorry. There was $50,000 put in by I think the water the Davidoff cool water for the commercial that he did for Cool Water. But then that subsequently went to $12,000 of accounting. I mean, I could do this accounting on a spreadsheet for this operation. So here's how it works. You get a bunch of lawyers and accountants. They say, oh, you know what's a good idea? You need to start a foundation and you can put your car investment into the foundation so that's all tax-free and just keep that in there and then, well of course we're going to charge you $12,000 for setting this all up and filing all the paperwork and then you do this one commercial with these guys and then you look great and it's all legit!

2:18:49 So as I'm looking at that, I'm thinking, okay, these things, there's so much bull crap going on with this. It's just front, just pretending. And quite honestly, a little despicable when you see the video. You'd think the guy was single-handedly saving the world. And then I thought, hey, wait a minute. Where's George Clooney in all of this? We've got the Sudan blowing up. What exactly is going on with his non-profits? So I start to go look in. But before you do, you have to play it. Well, I was planning on playing it, but if you want to hear it now, sure. George Clooney! George Clooney! George Clooney is a spy! Well actually, I was thinking of the Carl Clooney one. Oh, well, we can do that one too. I mean, it's all good. I love this. Someone's getting cornholed today.

CHAPTER 43 / 55 Discussion

George Clooney, Satellite Sentinel Project Funding

The "Satellite Sentinel Project," publicly fronted by George Clooney to monitor Sudan, is revealed to be funded by the Center for American Progress (CAP) via the "Enough Project." CAP was founded by John Podesta, a top advisor to President Obama. The hosts argue that Clooney is not spending his own money on the project, which serves as a tool for the administration's foreign policy agenda.

george clooney· satellite sentinel project· enough project· center for american progress· john podesta

2:19:55 Okay, so this is very similar. George Clooney's organization is Not On Our Watch Inc. and also, so it seems like Not On Our Watch Inc. put in a lot of money, six million dollars back in 2009. This is the six guys. This is Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Clooney, Don Cheadle. So they throw some real money in here. And if you look at their website, After the initial announcement and I didn't go back and look and coordinate, you know, collaborate to see what it was overlaid with. I'm sure there was something that was beneficial. They really have not done anything since 2010. So I love going to these websites and looking at, you know, the press list. So we'll go to Not On Our Watch. Oh, I see Jerry Weintraub's in there too. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

2:20:54 So not on our watch project.org slash press the last press they have list bothered to list on their website was April 20th 2010. So that's a dead charity there's nothing going on and if you look at their filings of the 990s it's defunct there isn't it's dead there's nothing happening anymore it's pretty much closed. But then you see that one of the donors to the Not On Our Watch Inc. is the Enough Project. Now the Enough Project is actually what is funding the Satellite Sentinel Project, which is what Clooney is claiming as his eye-in-the-sky project.

2:21:36 But it literally says on their website, the Satellite Sentinel Project or SSP is a partnership between the Enough Project and Digital Globe and it conducts monitoring of the border between Sudan and South Sudan. So this is not coming out of George Clooney's pocket, this is coming out of the Enough Project. And you can only guess who is in the Enough Project. Who do you think runs that? I don't know, but I'm sure that when one name comes up I can associate all the rest of them. John Pendergrass. Yeah, Pendergrass to get Clooney's handler. I would have guessed that. Okay, now, but here's where I... so the money comes from Pendergrass's charity goes into the Sentinel project and I'm tracing it back now. Where does the money come from for the Enough Project?

2:22:35 Again, I'm looking at all IRS forms and filings the form 990s Where do you think that comes from who also happens to be a paid director at a hundred and seventy five thousand dollars? What nonprofit could that be from John with? 33 million dollars in takes over the 2012, you know, it's not Clinton, isn't it? Center for... Clinton Foundation? Center for American Progress. Oh, those guys. Right. The Center for American Progress, founded by John Podesta, who is now a special advisor to President Obama, they are directly funding George Clooney's satellite Eye in the Sky project.

2:23:14 Well there you have it. I think this gives a very different spin on everything and Pendergrass... Doesn't give a different spin to us. Yes it does. I've always wondered where this Pendergrass guy comes from. He is a director at the Center for American Progress. Which... Okay. So did you know that? I don't think I did. No. No, and they gave, so if you look at, and it's really, so if you look at the Center for American Progress, they spent 14 million on policy programs, which is basically lobbying. They spent 4 million on communications, whatever that means. And then the next on the list, 3.5 million dollars is for the Enough Project.

CHAPTER 44 / 55 Discussion

John Pendergrass, South Sudan Genocide Warnings

John Pendergrass, a former National Security Council official and director at the Center for American Progress, is identified as the handler for George Clooney's activism. Reports from South Sudan suggest an imminent "Rwanda-like" genocide between the Dinka and Luo tribes. The hosts note that Clooney has been quiet about the current violence as he promotes his new film, "Monuments Men."

john pendergrass· south sudan· dinka· genocide· national security council

2:24:00 and the satellite itself costs $900,000, $870 something thousand dollars a year. And then Pendergrass takes another $60,000 from the Enough Project as the sole director. Everybody's taking money and it's all run through this, well, the Center for American Progress. This is an extremely left-wing outfit. I mean, what do you know about this? Because they keep cropping up, these guys. Yeah, it's a big left-wing operation that's used to Front for a lot of these other things going on. It's fun looking at his Here it is I'm looking at his wiki page American human rights activist author and former director of African affairs for the National Security Council Mm-hmm. Hello. Yeah. Well, yeah, he's co-founder of the enough project is non-profit human rights organization of Philly with the Center for American progress is pretty it's right in the front and

2:24:53 It's not like a... we may have known this, we just didn't pay attention. I didn't know this. I never saw the money flows. But we've looked at the wiki page before. Yeah, but we've never seen the money flows like this. I thought George Clooney was paying for this out of his own pocket. But it's not true. The Center for American Progress is paying this through the Enough Project and Pendergrass then puts it, the $800,000, you know, $900,000 for the Sentinel Project into the other, Clooney's other non-profit. He's not spending a dime of his own money and he's very quiet right now and I bet he's pissed off because he's trying to launch his Monuments Men movie. He doesn't need any of this Sudan crap sticking to him.

2:25:37 That's why he's not talking. He definitely doesn't want the negative thing going on in Sudan. Got a note from the economic hitman who is floating around Africa. He says there's about one minute away from the Dinka's which are the dominant tribe in South Sudan and the president, the guy wears the cowboy hat is a Dinka. And he has, that guy has, what does he have the 11 people he's holding hostage? I don't know who's holding who hostage, but he says there is a... they're two minutes away from a Rwanda-like genocide. And curiously the Luos, which are one of the two tribes, which is an over kind of a...

2:26:25 a meta tribe that were partly it's kind of the dinkins aren't that far away from the Rwandan head choppers and the why don't you say spear checkers while you're at it that's better head choppers they chopped hands off with their machetes they didn't chuck spears. You sure? I'm pretty sure and it turns out one interesting thing about the dinkas even though the term makes them sound funny dinkas they're actually the tallest tribe in Africa. Huh. The average height is 5'11", 6 foot. We have a couple, at least one NBA player from this group. But he says unless something's done there's going to be a genocide like it or not in South Sudan. And that's it. He clearly doesn't want to have anything to do with it. I'm seeing a complete replay of Libya regardless of what's happening on the ground. We're taking it through the security, the United Nations Security Council process. First year's

CHAPTER 45 / 55 Discussion

Samantha Power, South Sudan Troop Deployment

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power discussed the deployment of additional peacekeepers to South Sudan following reports of mass graves and atrocities. The hosts criticize Power's performance, noting her use of "ums and ahs" and her description of military intervention as a "product." They suggest she is out of her depth and disconnected from the realities of war.

samantha power· south sudan· un· peacekeepers· atrocities

2:27:23 Here's a notification to Congress that the president sent. President Obama notified Congress by letter today that he sent 46 US troops yesterday to evacuate Americans from the town of Boer in South Sudan, a place that appears close to civil war. Mr. Obama told Congress he may take further military action under the War Powers Act to protect Americans in South Sudan. In fact, he's already done that and has sent an additional approximately 150. We had a presidential proclamation about the African Growth and Opportunity Act. So we're really, really cranking up the heat. And here is our brand new ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Powers, wife of Cass Sunstein, who was one of the co-authors of the document that apparently had nothing but constitutional lawyers looking at it, except for, of course, the CIA guy and the, let's

2:28:18 Infiltrate the conspiracy theory groups, people guy. And she has a lot of ums and ahs to say about the Central African Republic and Sudan, but one thing's for sure, we're sending in more troops, more troops, more peacekeepers. Finally, as you know, I just returned from the Central African Republic, where I had the chance to witness just how dire the situation is on the ground. And even as we discuss the situation in South Sudan, and of course discuss Syria, I want to just say that the situation in Karr begs the world's attention. Terrible atrocities have occurred. Terrible atrocities are occurring. We met with one woman whose husband had been stabbed in front of her. His body then doused in gasoline and then set on fire in front of her very eyes. You know what? All I'm missing is the incubators with babies. Throw that one out, Susan. Samantha. Part of what those who have survived violence of this nature are crying out for is justice.

2:29:16 And one of the worries that we came away from the Central African Republic with was that those who are not seeing justice be done are increasingly tempted to take matters into their own hands. And that you're seeing a cycle of retribution and violence that is very, very alarming. But again, over the last year, overwhelming consensus overwhelming desire to move quickly you know very significant alarm on the part of council members by uh... the accounts by admins uh... and and others uh... possibility of imminent uh... now she's going to start to lose it she's going into the sudan talk now of course the united nations she's talking about central african republic and then sudan in the same breath yes

2:30:02 Oh yeah, she's completely confused. That's why she goes, um, the United Nations had to retract their story about this mass grave apparently in South Sudan and they're killing children, chopping their heads off. Now, it may be true, but the It's not coming out very well with good old Samantha here. Confrontations at UN bases where civilians are gathered. I mean, there is... This was not a politicized or ideological or editorial meeting. This was a meeting where everybody was scratching their heads to see how can we... and rolling up their sleeves to see how can we help as quickly as possible. That pipeline that goes from South Sudan all the way to the north into the Red Sea, any idea who owns that pipeline? I don't know. Soros? Chiners?

CHAPTER 46 / 55 Discussion

UN Peacekeeper Realignments, South Sudan Oil Interests

The UN Security Council authorized an increase of 5,500 peacekeepers for South Sudan. The hosts highlight the strategic importance of the oil pipeline running from South Sudan to the Red Sea, which is largely owned by Chinese interests. They suggest the U.S. intervention is motivated by a desire to control oil prices and regional influence.

south sudan· un peacekeepers· oil· china· red sea

2:30:51 Oh, okay. That makes sense. And we recognize that it's not even when the Security Council has authorized this increase in troops and this intermission cooperation. Intermission cooperation, five and a half thousand troops of peace keepers. the delivery on those sort of force realignments will not be immediate. And so that's again another reason for the urgency, both the gravity of the situation on the ground, the sense that worse could come, and the recognition that it's going to take at least a few days to actually move resources. Well, there's no resolution yet. We're still negotiating it, and we actually got some... She is so out of her depth here.

2:31:37 She does not know, she does not understand, she does not know what's going on, she does not belong in this job? No, not at all. When you see her, she looks like a scared little girl. She does not know what she's, she does not know the real agenda that's going on here? That's the thing that bothers me. She doesn't know what's really happening. She's not read in because no one can trust her. Some, I thought, very thoughtful comments from a number of delegations, so we'll need to incorporate them. Again, everyone's on the same page, so it's just about creating the best product possible. What do you mean best product? This is where she's all it's about creating the best product. What is she talking about? The best I don't know I think she's maybe she's trying to sell like bitcoin or something I don't know it's the best product I think that what she means by best product is

2:32:26 Either the best product that we can steal from there or best product to kill people with. So it's just about creating the best product possible, recognizing that we're eager to move this ASAP. Well, best products so we can recognize we need to move this ASAP. One of the questions that is on the table is how quickly we would wish the Secretary General to report back to the Council. And I think one of the things that we're all in agreement of is both in terms of the ground situation and whether these redeployments themselves will provide this sufficient reinforcements in order to perform civilian protection in order to ensure that UN peacekeepers themselves are also not isolated and vulnerable in the way that some of them have been. What I hear when she's talking like this

2:33:09 is someone who has no idea what war is really like. No idea what dead people really look like. Can't really... She's been isolated from reality. And she talks about troop deployments as a product. This woman is insane. Well, not insane. She does not belong in this position. Because she really doesn't understand it. And with this black hat guy, the hat that was given to him by George Bush, he is indeed detaining 11. So he's not necessarily the good guy, but I think Akir is his name. I have a feeling that he's got some of the goods and that's why we're on his side for some reason. I'm not claiming to understand this at all myself, but it's very obvious what South Sudan has.

CHAPTER 47 / 55 Discussion

FDR Drive Rubble, World War II Ballast

An interesting historical anecdote reveals that the FDR Drive in New York City was built using rubble from the city of Bristol, England. During World War II, American supply ships used the bombed-out remains of Bristol as ballast for their return trips. The rubble was eventually dumped as landfill along the East River to create the drive.

fdr drive· new york city· bristol· world war ii· rubble

2:34:07 And that's all the oil that the North wants and goes all the way up with the Chinese pipeline to the Red Sea. And either we want to get the prices up by, you know, intervening and creating crap, because I can only smell us all over that, John. I'm smelling us. Well, you know what the end result will be? What we're looking for? Rubble. Someone sent me a thing about rubble. What was that? About your rubble theory. Oh, I see.

2:34:47 The FDR Drive in New York City apparently was built from World War II rubble from London. Why? Didn't we have enough of our own rubble? Apparently not. So they're shipping in rubble from London? During World War II, the Luftwaffe savagely bombed the city of Bristol and England, a major port for American supply ships. After the supplies were unloaded, the American ships had no British goods to replace them on the return trip and needed ballast for stability. So they loaded up rubble from Bristol's bombed out buildings. Back in New York, the ships dumped the ballast from 23rd to 34th Street as landfill for what would become the East River Drive, now the FDR Drive. That's a fascinating anecdote. Well, it's interesting. Next time you're on the FDR, you can talk it, you can bring it up and be just the insufferable bore.

CHAPTER 48 / 55 Discussion

Gulen Movement, FBI Raid on Baton Rouge School

The FBI raided the Kenilworth Charter School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is tied to the Turkish Gulen movement. The raid follows a split between the Gulenists and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. The hosts note that the movement operates hundreds of charter schools in the U.S., particularly in Texas, and suggest that more federal investigations into these institutions are likely.

gulen movement· fbi· baton rouge· charter schools· turkey

2:35:45 Learned that on the No Agenda Show. Well, this isn't going to end well. No, it's not. It can't end well. No, because it wouldn't be in our best interest for it to end well. No, unfortunately. And oil is going down. Oil is down to, what are we at? 89 bucks, I think now? That's not necessarily good for the oil people. Well, it should only be 40 bucks. Yeah, that'll happen. I got an email from my buddy who's keeping an eye on Turkey and there was now what's happened here is the Gulen movement has parted ways with Erdogan. The Gulenists. The Gulenists have parted ways with Erdogan and everyone there's all kinds of people are getting arrested. No, no crude oil is 99.55. Oh really? I'm sorry. Still high.

2:36:40 Okay, go on. The gulenists have kind of split off from Erdogan and they used to be backers from what I can understand and crap is happening. Now the leader of the gulenist movement lives in Pennsylvania and was brought in by the CIA and the State Department and there's at least a hundred of these gulen schools in America, 600 worldwide, they're all over the place. And the fear is that there is teachings going on that are not necessarily in line with our American culture and our values.

2:37:21 And it looks like in Louisiana they're on to something. A man on his knees appears to be praying as the FBI raided a school in Baton Rouge. The feds took off with a vanload of stuff but won't say what they're after. Good evening, I'm Michael Marsh. Tonight, the latest scandal involving a crippled charter system. You're looking at what the FBI spent the evening doing at Kenilworth Charter School. That's near the intersection of Highland Road and Kenilworth in South Baton Rouge. They were coming and going with boxes of stuff. The school's run by Pelican Educational Foundation. That organization is tied to a family from Turkey. That would be the Gulen guy. And it was a trip to Turkey that got a former member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in trouble earlier this year. BSEE member Linda Johnson was fined for breaking the law since she didn't pay a dime for that trip. So there's something going on. There's movements afoot.

2:38:13 Now this is a pure Gulen-financed operation, this school. And they're taking out administration, and there's something going on. I think we've said that in the last show, there's something going on. Right, but this is... We just don't know what it is. Yeah, but this is new. This is a new piece of information. Yeah, no, this will keep happening if we pay attention. This is the first raid that I think we've seen on the Gulen charter school. So we may see more. And we have no details. Well, the only details we have is what's going on... No, we don't. We have no details. We really don't. No, but there's something's up so we can figure it out. Texas is the stronghold where most of these places are. A lot of them, yeah. They're called Harmony or something like that? The Harmony Schools? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Well, I picked up a clip, you know, one of these retrospectives.

CHAPTER 49 / 55 Discussion

C-SPAN Call-In Pranks, Target Data Breach Update

A retrospective of C-SPAN call-in pranks is briefly mentioned before shifting to an update on the Target data breach. A technician's email suggests that Target was replacing all point-of-sale units nationwide just before the breach. The hosts speculate that the new units, manufactured in China, may have had skimmers pre-installed, which would implicate the manufacturing process in the theft of customer data.

c-span· target· data breach· point of sale· china

2:39:14 Yeah, I just changed the topic here. This is the from the best of C-Span. It's a couple years ago This clip is the best of C-Span call-ins I thought it would be worth sharing phone calls of one of three lines our next call Newark, New Jersey Go ahead. Yeah. Hi. I got myself into really bad that I was paying one credit card off with another for over four years It just went on and on, and you know, I mean, I'm like really broke right now about the file bankruptcy. You know, I'm trying to get a penile implant. I need to enlarge my package, pick up the chick these days. Knoxburg, North Carolina is up next. Good morning. Why didn't it like a no agenda show? Something, anything. Yeah, we get, this guy gets on, but no agenda people don't care. Okay. That was dubious.

2:40:09 No clip of the day? No, you don't get clip of the day for that. No! I did get an email from one of our producers. I was listening to the latest episode and putting everything together. I'm a freelance technician for a company, which I'm not going to mention. They're a company that finds gigs for techs locally. Recently, I've been involved in a push to replace all of the point-of-sale units at all targets nationwide. For obvious reasons, Target needed all of this done by the Christmas season. I'd forgotten all about it until John started in about the different point-of-sale systems. Since Target specifically said the theft happened inside the store, it stands to reason the new point-of-sale system had skimmers installed and that would implicate China, since all of the units were manufactured and assembled there. That's news I didn't have.

CHAPTER 50 / 55 Discussion

Walmart vs Target, Beyonce Promotion

The hosts discuss a potential "war" between Walmart and Target, noting the Obama administration's close ties to Walmart. They contrast this with the Justice Department's investigation into Target for negligence following the data breach. A promotional appearance by Beyonce at a Massachusetts store is also mentioned, which the hosts view as a dubious media-driven event.

walmart· target· beyonce· justice department· data breach

2:41:04 That wouldn't be reported anywhere. I didn't hear, well of course no one's going to report it on Target. Because it's Target, you know, no one wants to talk about it. I think the point you made in the last show, which is that this is a big cover-up story because Target is a huge advertiser, especially during Christmas. Someone took it a little bit further, which intrigued me. Yeah, I saw this email. That is a... That the, if you look at, so if you look at Target's competitor, Walmart, Walmart, Hillary Clinton was on the board of Walmart, the Obamas always launch everything with Walmart. Wasn't it the first lady who was caught, the paparazzi got her shopping at Walmart, remember that? No. Yeah, remember she was in the checkout line, she's like, yeah, sometimes we like to sneak away at night. Oh yeah, you remember that. Yeah, bull crap. Right. And the Let's Move campaign and all the healthy eating, it's all Walmart, Walmart. And then Beyonce comes out

2:42:02 and promotes Walmart where... Well, you know, I have the funny thing about the Beyonce thing. I do have a clip when she went to the Today, on the Today show they went on and on about Beyonce. This is a promotion for her album and it shouldn't have been run at all. But they ran it because, you know, they made some, there's money to be made. But apparently Walmart never anted up because they never once mentioned again like the Today show does. They didn't give us the fact there was a Walmart that this happened in. And sometimes waiting until the last few days to do your holiday shopping does pay off after all because Grammy-winning pop star Beyonce stopped by a store in Tewksbury, Massachusetts to do some shopping and to promote her new album. And when she got out to the checkout stand, she had a surprise for everyone. For everyone in the store right now, the first $50 of your holiday gifts are on me.

2:42:57 Merry, merry Christmas from Beyoncé. Making friends and fans everywhere. That's right, Beyoncé picking up the first $50 of the tab for everyone there. So, and picking up the baby as well. So cute. So I thought that was another dubious report. By the way, chatroom corrects me. Michelle Obama was snapped at Target, not at Walmart. So that kind of blows... Ah, the Target-Walmart wars. That blows the... Well, there is a Target-Walmart war for sure. But the Justice Department is investigating Target to see if they can nail them for negligence. I find this the lack of reporting on this thing in general just really troublesome. Yeah, yeah, no, I didn't hear that either. Wow. Yeah. Negligence. Yeah.

2:43:49 Negligence. What about the Bank of America? What about all these other data breaches? I've never heard anybody suggest negligence. Well, that's why I think our producer was saying, you know, maybe this is a Walmart target thing. Why does the Justice Department investigate data breach? There's already a number of lawsuits. We should get in on that. I can get in on that lawsuit. Yeah, I think Buzzkill Jr. got hit. He got hit too? I called the bank, or mechanics bank, and they asked him, and apparently there was a memo going around. She said, well, why don't you just look it up, see if there's any strange charges. I said, I don't believe in bank by computer. So she said, well, let me see. And she says, ah, you didn't buy anything from, you bought something from Target the other day, which I did because everything was on sale. And she says, but you didn't buy anything from Target after Thanksgiving.

2:44:52 Yeah, but it was up until December 15th. No, I know, but I didn't... Between Thanksgiving and December 15th, she knew these dates. She specifically looked to see if there was any activity at Target within the proscribed dates, which would have made... It could have been... My card could have been stolen. And so she said, don't worry about it. So they apparently... You know, their customer service people are given the information about that if you look for this. Right. I thought that was at least they're doing their job. Well, I think I'm gonna go back to as much cash as possible I found the entire experience very annoying, you know, Mickey still doesn't have a you know a card back a new card Yeah, we're sharing a card which has been limited. The whole thing is just yeah, I don't know I don't know. Where's where's my great cyber force? Where's this? Where's the cyber? Where's the NSA? They should have got nailed us before it happened. Where's the stormtroopers?

CHAPTER 51 / 55 Discussion

Cynthia McKinney, Military Viagra Expenditure

A 1998 clip features Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney criticizing the Department of Defense for requesting $50 million to $100 million for Viagra. McKinney argued that the military should focus on readiness rather than "sex drugs," especially in the wake of various sexual scandals within the administration and the armed forces.

cynthia mckinney· viagra· department of defense· 1998· congress

2:45:52 Yeah, we should be saving our ass for all of this. No, no, none of that. I want to little clip blitz Are you I got a couple things I can get rid of yeah, let's Do a little back we're gonna back up to 1998 1998 and it's a C-SPAN clip another retrospective one of the great little moments in the history of Congress. Pardon me but today I rise because I am outraged by a New York Times report that the Department of Defense has requested between 50 and 100 million dollars for Viagra the new sex drug designed for impotent men. Instead of offsetting this request from its 265 billion dollar budget

2:46:39 Secretary Cohen has requested an increase in the 1999 Military Readiness Bill. When the military brass was on Capitol Hill saying that our reasonable belt tightening had resulted in an impotent military, I guess I didn't fully understand the scope of the problem. With $50 million worth of Viagra, the entire military industrial complex will be locked, cocked, and ready to rock. Pretty scary, huh? But you know, Mr. Speaker, they just don't get it. With Monica Gate, the Aberdeen Proving Ground sex scandal, and widespread sexual assaults throughout the military, our Commander-in-Chief and his Secretary of Defense concocted this idea that our military needs this extraordinary expenditure. Let's have no more talk of this expanding malfunctioning missile salvation operation. Who was that?

2:47:32 It was a congresswoman from Georgia, and I can't quite remember her name, but she was a loudmouth. I don't think she's in Congress anymore. I like that. Yeah, it was very funny. She had a couple one-liners in there, especially at the end. Lock, cock, and ready to rock and roll. Nice. That was during those... we don't see these as much as we used to. We get more good clips from them, which is the one-minute sessions. We have one minute or so to get away. Who was that? Georgia Congress. She sounded familiar. Yeah, you've heard her before. But is she out? I think so. I haven't seen her before. I don't remember seeing her recently. This was in 98. So, it's a while ago. That was back in the good old Clinton days. Yeah, no wonder everyone was on Viagra. Hey, Audrey's pulling the train. Gotta be ready.

CHAPTER 52 / 55 Discussion

Postage Rate Increase, Transatlantic Trade Deal

The U.S. Postal Service announced a postage rate increase to 49 cents to recoup financial losses. Meanwhile, negotiations continue for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), though the hosts are skeptical that a deal will be finalized before the European elections. A brief mention is made of the "Ready for Hillary" campaign gaining early momentum.

postage· t-tip· trade deal· hillary clinton· europe

2:48:23 So I ran into a, well here's a quickie, a postage going to 49 cents. Oh, oh. Next Christmas it'll cost you a little more money to send that letter to Santa. Stamp prices are going up by another three cents. The total 49 cents a pop. This new price goes into effect next year in January. Later Santa will help the Postal Service recoup some of its nearly three million dollars in losses. Three million dollars in losses? That's like three billion or something. Three million somebody could just write a check. They really don't know what they're talking about anymore. Do they? Negotiations are ongoing in the third round of the transatlantic trade and investment partnership the t-tip that continues They're desperately trying to get something done before the election season in Euro land Desperately trying to get that going I'm not gonna happen. You don't think it's gonna happen. I don't think anything done by the election season Yeah, they may not it's very sad

2:49:29 Because I don't know any other way out. We really have to we have to do something. We have to we have to get a way out John. I mean do we seriously have to wait for Hillary? Well you know I'm still dubious about Hillary getting in. Really? Yes, really. You think she's not going to? I think it's because they're pushing it too soon. Well you think... I think it's timing, timing, timing. You know there's so many of these guys that get in real early. They got that you know this thing on the you get the emails somebody here can remember the name of the program already you know make Hillary oh yes it's a golden again it we just how bad it's become elect Hillary now or get her in head start and Hillary Hillary do it do Hillary in the backyard Cynthia McKinney yeah yeah her that was who was talking about the Viagra

2:50:26 Right, that's exactly that's right. Yeah, yeah, and she She's she's been like hiding out in her house I think people want to kill her why Because she is all over the scams that are going on if you if you look at Cindy McKinney. She's a very outspoken Let me see she's also a truther I think if I'd if I'd not mistaken. Let's see it wouldn't surprise me I Yeah, that's her. Yeah, she's had a lot of interesting things to say. She kind of got run out of DC the way I've always seen it. Criticized Al Gore, criticized 9-11. Yeah, she criticized Clinton. She was not on his side there. Katrina. Yeah, she's probably right on the money with just about everything.

CHAPTER 53 / 55 Discussion

General Motors IT In-Sourcing, Data Center Reduction

The former CEO of General Motors discussed the company's efforts to in-source its IT operations after years of costly outsourcing. The company plans to reduce its 23 leased data centers to just two to improve performance and reliability. The hosts reflect on how GM lost its competitive edge by dismissing data analytics as a core competency.

general motors· it· data centers· outsourcing· chevrolet

2:51:24 Yeah, I'm not kidding. Well, this is Viagra. She's the only one who brought it up. Yeah. A hundred million dollars? Yeah, that's crazy. Okay, 2008, the Green Party. That's right. She was a candidate for the Green Party. I remember that. Yeah. She was opposed to the military invention, intervention in Libya. Yeah, she's more good than not, I'll tell you that. That's why she's out. That's why they got her out. She's annoying. Too much truth here. Stop that. Stop. Play the GM mess and I'll be done with my little clips. Okay. This is an information clip. ...city was everywhere in the business. Just a few short years ago, General Motors had more than 30 different vehicle architectures supporting sales of about 9 million vehicles worldwide. And then, they're ridiculous. Hold on a second. This is about General Motors, right?

2:52:24 Yeah, this is the guy, this is CEO General Motors before he turns it over to this woman. Right. And he's telling stuff out of school about how dumb the company is and some of this he's like, okay, what have you done for the company? But am I mistaken or did I not see that they, I'm seeing all these, well maybe that was AIG. Yeah, no, I saw an AIG commercial just before the holidays And like we repaid the American bailout money with profit and of course the same was said for GM although they didn't they just turn around and take a loan from somebody else that was cheaper? I don't know that it did that they did but if you've definitely taking out loans commonly so it wouldn't be a surprise. The company had almost 70 different advertising agencies around the world just to support the Chevrolet brand. Wow! It's staggering

2:53:17 but it also shows how we lost focus and we lost our advantage economies of scale. In another move, GM leaders outsourced nearly all of the company's information technology. We effectively dismissed data capture and proprietary analytics as a core competency just as the internet was about to transform all modern business models. Timing is everything. We also ended up with 23 leased or partially owned data centers which is not only costly but risky. We are now insourcing RIT, growing it as a core competency. Those 23 data centers will be reduced to two.

2:54:06 which will increase our performance, our reliability and our cost. What were they doing with 23 data centers? I don't know, the company seemed out of control. What are you doing with your... I mean, yeah, I understand you want some cloud computing, but 23... I mean, how big were these data centers? Well, they got rid of them, so they must not have been important, you know, that much. Can you go to a... I want you to comment on this. Go to the link I sent you in your email. the whitehouse.gov page is a deep page I had to do it this way and tell me what you think of this photo of Obama. Okay, is this from the... okay 2013 in review that's when it's loading up here White House is not a very fast site to load for some reason. In 2000... There's a picture of Obama right? It hasn't loaded yet I'm seeing in 2013 our economy grew

2:55:04 Our deficit shrunk, we're great. It's above that. I have an empty page and it's loading slowly. I have now the White House banner. I'm telling you this White House site doesn't load very well for me. I wonder why that is. Flash. I don't know if it's a flash site. I still don't have it. Hey, let me finish this GM clip while that's loading. Okay. At one point in time we could barely close our own books in a timely manner. because various units in the company were on different general ledgers. And for those of you that are financially trained, that's finance 101. The list goes on. We all know what happened next. The company that topped the Fortune 500 when it first was listed in 1955 and stayed there for 35 years fell into disgrace. Something even more sobering, GM had lost sight of its customers and what they truly valued.

2:56:12 quality, compelling design, and reliability. In my heart of hearts, I knew GM was fixable if the new leadership team played team ball and systematically addressed the company's shortcomings. So I made a promise to myself and to the board to deliver on three important initiatives in my tenure. The first was the restoration of GM's good name. Second, the transformation of the company's basic operations. My third goal was to put quality and the customer back at the center of every decision we make. Yeah, you can kill this thing. I don't know why that was left on there. But, um, I can't load this website, John. It's now I've got spinning beach ball.

CHAPTER 54 / 55 Discussion

White House Year in Review, Obama Bus Photo

The White House "2013 Year in Review" website is critiqued for its heavy use of Flash and slow loading times. The hosts find the photography of President Obama to be "megalomaniacal" and propagandistic, specifically noting a photo of him sitting on a bus to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Rosa Parks' birth.

white house· barack obama· rosa parks· propaganda· website

2:57:02 Oh, that's a shame because there's this picture of Obama on the 2013 year in review that I don't know that it's just horrible. It's the most ominous, creepy picture ever and then of course the rest of the site's got all kinds of cool stuff. We'll talk about it on the next show. The whole browser is frozen now. It looks like this page is like 12 months of flash. Do you have is like a whole calendar seven okay? It's like a million embeds on this page. What are these people thinking? There's there yet. There's a vacuum the other guy I'm telling you it's it's nothing but YouTube and skip skip logic all kinds of good. Yeah speaking in binary That's the problem. Oh, it's the whole my browser is completely frozen and my whole computer is now frozen. Oh

2:57:56 This is sorry. It's not funny. I can't do it Nothing will move wow well. I think we're done. Yeah, well. I can't play anything well I'm sorry didn't mean to crash here. It is the white house. It's finally loaded the picture of him Profile pinching his chin yeah year in review is that a creepy picture. It's propagandistic Yeah, say Hitler And we started with Nazis and ended with Hitler. I don't know about that, but it definitely does not exude confidence. It's kind of a, you know, it's like, oh, I'm thinking about all the American people. Well, if you want to scroll down, get down to the 100th anniversary of Rosa Parks' birth and you see Obama sitting in the bus.

2:58:51 No, really? That's pretty funny. Well, there's all kinds of crazy. Yeah, there's a crazy, crazy sight. Yeah, I have like, there's him on a, standing on a GoDaddy car. Where's that one? The White House Correspondents Association dinner. Well he is uh... This is a megalomaniac site man. Oh you know it's above the GoDaddy car where you see him in the bus. This whole thing is... This looks like no agenda art. It does with his hair with the bangs and everything.

CHAPTER 55 / 55 Discussion

Erik Prince, Blackwater Defense and Washington Police

Blackwater founder Erik Prince defended his company's record, comparing the Nisour Square incident to a 2013 shooting in Washington D.C. where the Secret Service killed an unarmed woman after a traffic altercation. Prince argued that his men were unfairly maligned for actions in war zones while domestic police face little scrutiny for similar incidents. The hosts note that Blackwater's successor company was eventually purchased by Monsanto.

erik prince· blackwater· monsanto· washington dc· secret service

2:59:28 That's a little okay Officially creepy now I'll wind it up then with Eric Prince who has written a book to tell you that Blackwater was not bad Blackwater was just doing what the American Armed Forces had contracted it to do literally and if you really look at what's going on Washington DC is worse than anything. He's ever seen in all of his years at Blackwater. You killed civilians look 41 of our men were killed doing the missions. And we did more than 100,000 protective missions between Iraq and Afghanistan. No one under our care was killed or injured, fortunately.

3:00:04 Unfortunately, dangerous things happen in war zones. I mean, we're much maligned for Nissara Square. That event started with a car bomb and a lot of incoming rounds were received as well. I just want to draw a parallel even to October 3 right here in Washington, D.C. There was a 34-year-old woman driving her car, got into a bit of a traffic altercation outside of a federal building. The Secret Service opened fire on her. She moved to another location. Again, they fired on her. At the third location, she was finally gunned down and killed. When they went to her car, there was no weapons, no explosive material, nothing. Just a fortunately uninjured baby sleeping in the back seat, although the woman was killed. Dangerous things happened. And that was in Washington, D.C. There was no shots fired. There was no car bombing. There was no war zone that day. And yet federal police officers open fired and killed an unarmed innocent woman. Yeah. And we loved it. It was great.

3:01:00 The media loved it. Media loved it, fantastic. The bullcrap, she's nuts! No follow-up, no nothing, and there's Erik Prince telling you right there that they fired on an unarmed woman after a traffic altercation. Good for him. He defends himself, at least he's, you know, not trying to BS anything. I gotta read his book. Yeah. He's very specific about being pissed off about the bad rap he and Blackwater got. Now owned by Monsanto Corporation. Is that right? Yeah. Z was purchased by Monsanto. Yeah, we gotta keep those farmers in line, John. You can't be like, replanting your seeds without paying for it and send in the helicopters. Yes, I'm filled with all kinds of groovy trivia like this. Last show of 2013 will be on... Sunday. Sunday. Sunday.

3:02:03 Looking forward to that. I'll have a little bit of time to work on some stuff during the week because there's always news Even though everyone else is on PR hiatus. We're at work here in FEMA region 6. In the morning everybody, I'm Adam Curry. On San Obis Blackwater. I'm up in the Pacific Northwest Valley, which is really not a valley at all. It's kind of a hill. I'm John C. Dvorak. And we'll talk to you again on Sunday right here on No Agenda. The best podcast in the universe!