Noah Cohen joins Will Naff to detail delivering 40 tons of medical supplies to Cuba, exposing how U.S. sanctions cause blackouts and empty pharmacies despite luxury hotels funded by foreign currency. The conversation broadens to critique U.S. intervention in Haiti and Puerto Rico, while also analyzing OpenAI's Sora shutdown due to unsustainable $3,000 monthly computing costs and questioning the ethics of AI-generated celebrity videos that cater to crypto losers. Ultimately, the episode highlights systemic failures ranging from corporate greed in the airline industry to the devastating human cost of economic blockades. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
|
Time
Text
Hardships and the Muslim Illuminati00:14:18
I wait.
Did you have something?
Well, he just mentioned.
I'm just going to finish saying I have topics.
He has a bunch of.
Go ahead.
No, no, Austin.
This is your show, man.
Go ahead.
No, no.
Actually, Will.
If you notice, like, that's a nice army.
No, you might have noticed civil rights at Del Taco.
Yeah.
I'm supposed to be autistic.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Fear and Podcast.
Today we've got a very special guest.
It's Noah Cohen, everybody.
Yeah.
Begging me to have, he wanted to introduce you because he's like that.
No.
He wanted to introduce you to the channel.
Exactly what you do and where you're.
No, you're in a state of panic because you have no idea who Noah is.
Are you kidding me?
Noah and I are great friends.
Old friends.
You're a journalist.
Yes, that's right.
Yeah, he's a journalist.
Noah Cohen, former senior editor.
You just say editor, former guy.
Former editor Jewish Currents worked at Vice News, has a fantastic podcast that I always recommend called Blowback.
Go check their episodes out.
They had a wonderful one on Cuba, season two, which has been very relevant as of late.
And my good friend, someone who's been on my stream probably a million times at this point, someone who just kind of comes to Los Angeles and stays in my house.
So I was like, hey, you're in my house.
You do podcasts.
You know how to yap.
Come on the show.
Must be really nice going on his stream every once in a while.
How is that?
I mean, you know, it's, I like the attention, but I don't like a song.
Oh, so it's like, I love the attention.
I love the feedback.
Oh my God.
I love getting the text like, Noah, you look so good on the stream.
Yeah.
Who's that fucking bozo next to you?
Why do you get that Uggo in there with you?
It's weird.
So it seems like we maybe if we have that disposition towards him, maybe he would like us more.
Yeah, yeah.
You're not mean enough to me, though.
He doesn't.
So did he ask me?
Or maybe you stay here?
Did he ask me to no, I invite myself every time exclusively.
I only invite myself.
I say, I'm going to be in LA this, like, get the bed ready.
Yeah, I like, I'm not even going to be here.
He's going to be in my house.
Like, really?
I'm not even here tonight because I'm flying out to New York.
To literally where I live.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're all of my New York friends are here right now, or they're in, well, I guess Brace is in CPAC.
But which CPAC is where are they doing CPAC this year?
Like one of those layers of hell.
Yeah.
Regardless.
The frozen one.
Yeah, you know.
I'm going to what Noah called the Muslim Illuminati dinner.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
With like, with like Muslim Illuminati.
Yeah, Zoron and all the Muslim celebrities.
Well, Illuminati Aid, we call it.
It's a great event that I'm sad I'm probably not going to be able to make it.
Yeah, I wasn't invited.
Well, well, you're not in like.
They have standards.
Yeah.
Muslim Illuminati.
You're Lebanese.
Yeah, I know.
Yeah.
And not even she.
Did you know that?
No.
Well, we learn something every day.
Yeah.
Did you assume that when I walked in, or you're like, oh, that's a white guy?
I, I mean, well, you know, look, race is a tricky thing.
Well, that's correct.
It is.
You know, I, you know, and judging by your white skin, yeah, I did kind of assume.
Well, a lot of people, a lot of people.
A lot of people.
Judging by the white skin.
A lot of people assume that, but what you wouldn't know is I'm white passing.
No, you're just white, dude.
You can't say you're.
I say someone wouldn't know you're white passing.
Austin.
Austin.
I say I'm white, and that's you know contested by others.
Yeah, isn't it black or white, the most heated forum debate of all time, locked?
Yeah, but no one has ever questioned whether you're white or not.
No one's like, Yeah, that guy, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a hate crime on him.
Oh, no, that's true.
I have a tremendous amount of privilege.
I feel like you can hail a cab pretty easily.
Wait, is that not a bad thing?
No, you're just so funny.
You, you still, you're like mentally stuck in like 2016 era woke.
What?
Or you're just still there all the time and it's awesome.
He's still with her.
Well, I'm not with her anymore.
Oh, no, I'm not with you.
You don't want a woman to lead?
No, I think that women can lead.
Too emotional?
Is that what you're going to say?
I think women can lead.
Just not on their periods.
What he told me off camera, by the way.
I mean, she clearly, she was through menopause.
But regardless, that doesn't matter.
That doesn't matter.
That's crazy.
I mean, I'm stating the obvious here.
She's like, no period problems there.
But a woman, even if she was having her period, then she could lead.
And I'd be happy with it.
But the thing is, is what I've learned is, you know, I don't care if you're a woman.
I just don't want you to be, I just don't want you to be bought and paid for by the establishment.
So you hate girl bosses.
All right.
We have a lot of stuff to cover.
Oh, yes.
One of the topics that I obviously have to bring up.
I know some people might not like it.
It's a little political, but not really.
I went to Cuba.
No one's been to Cuba.
You've been to Cuba.
Austin has never been to Cuba, which is why this conversation will be very interesting.
And Austin will be blocked out of it.
But yeah, I just got back from Cuba.
We did a humanitarian aid mission alongside Progressive International, Code Pink.
We brought in 40 tons of medical aid on the island.
I conducted a bunch of back-to-back interviews.
And, you know, it's been pretty devastating to see.
I just didn't expect you to go in and suck up all the electricity like Retro from Spider-Man 3, man.
Well, that's the real reason.
Yeah, no, it is.
It was, listen, after it was like, I thought it was going to be an issue when, like, you know, I got a call actually from like a Cuban diplomat and he was like, listen, like, look, we get it.
Like, one gaming PC.
I understand.
Two gaming PCs.
Like, look, we can kind of get it.
It's this thing.
But, like, listen, at three gaming PCs, like, we're going to have to turn off another hospital.
Yeah.
You know, they were like, I specifically was like, well, at least turn off the baby hospital because that uses less electricity than the adult hospital.
So I can use it for myself.
I'll be honest with you.
I saw you in your cardiac glasses and your $600 shirt and the five-star hotel.
I was like, why didn't I go?
It's interesting.
Noah and I were talking about this, and we, I think, kind of all went to Cuba at like three different phases, even though even I would say I went at a different phase of the sun.
Because I went there, I think 2013, 2014, which is like kind of the, you know, Castro is like dead for all intents and purposes, but they haven't really talked about it yet.
He's like hidden away in his tower and the United States isn't fucking with them yet.
And so it's kind of like Cuba is independent.
And then he was there, what, a month ago, two months ago?
Like two months ago, end of January.
Yeah.
And then you were there.
It's like very most peak worst conditions.
Yeah.
And I've talked to people that have been in the past as well.
Like, dude, remember when you were like, it's so beautiful?
Like, I totally, you, you land and you're like, oh my God, this is like one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.
It's unlike anything else I've ever experienced.
Partially because like I haven't really traveled to the Caribbean or Latin American countries at all.
Like I've been to Mexico.
That's it.
It's North America.
Right.
I was taken aback by like how sick everything is, like how cool, how wonderful the people are, how beautiful the island is, how beautiful the architecture is.
And then like right after when you start like moving outside of the airport and you start like getting into the city and you're like, oh, look at these cool buildings.
And you're like, oh my God, they all are like emptied out.
Like they're hollowed out.
Like bombs exploded inside of them.
And you're like, how the fuck does this, like, how do people live like this?
How did this happen?
And that was a big part of like what I wanted to figure out because everybody's always like, oh, it's the government, it's the government's doing this and that.
And then, you know, obviously, it's something that I've read quite a bit about as far as like the blockade, the sanctions.
And you really feel it.
Like when you get there, you're like, damn, we have really fucked this place up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's crazy for me because it's, I, I don't know if you know this, but my dad lived in Cuba as a kid for years and years and years.
What?
Yeah.
I did not know that.
Argus, my, my grandfather was one of the mobile gas oil guys that was delivering oil to Cuba before they pulled everybody out.
And my dad was there when they pulled everybody out.
And he talks about like how crazy that was to experience like going from a Cuba that was like so vibrant and loving that community and those people so much to like seeing them kind of the beginning of them being choked out by, you know, American imperialism.
I mean, well, it's also been a very like one of the things that has been really kind of jarring, at least on the trip that I took, was, you know, they like there's still like a semblance of normalcy.
Like I was there when the Havana Jazz Festival was going on, which was incredible.
And that's some hot jazz.
Oh, it's incredible.
It's sick.
I saw, and like, these are bands that like tour in the United States, by the way.
Like, it's since the, you know, since the Obama thaw in relations, there has been more like communication and people go back and forth between the island and the United States and more money from relative families in the United States makes it into Cuba.
Yeah.
And it's like you meaning that you can kind of see like a plausible, you have like a plausible idea of like, oh, here's what like what life here could be like.
Yeah.
If we didn't have this, if we didn't have these cycle restrictions, if we didn't have like the idea of like a vibrancy, like being on the streets of that city and in that country is not that difficult to imagine.
It's just that like you go and there's trash all over the streets.
You know, there's no money for anything.
The pharmacies are empty.
It's a really, I mean, it's, it is, it's, there's no, there's, I've, I've, I wouldn't say that like in the spectrum of travel to, you know, like fucking like global like traveler expert or whatever that I'm anywhere near the ladder.
But like I have seen a few different countries in the world.
I've been to the West Bank.
I've been to Latin America and I'd never seen anything like it.
Never seen anything like it.
Have you ever been to Puerto Rico?
Yeah.
Okay.
Because I was looking at some images and it's like, like, I feel like there's a couple, there's a couple different methods in that, in this region, right?
That like, there's a cover, a couple different levels of like American intervention.
Like you have Haiti on the maximum side, right?
Like where it's like completely destabilized.
You know, it's almost like a, like a, like different warlords competing for power at certain points.
And then at other points, you have like a corrupt puppet that America's installed.
And then you have Puerto Rico, which is like territorialized and their grid is also failing as well.
And that's like, you can see that like, you know, it's, it's not like a capitalism versus communism, you know, systemic issue because like Puerto Rico is an American territory, right?
And we've like caused tremendous hardships for regular Puerto Ricans.
And then you see Cuba, which is like our intervention from afar.
No bombs, no guns, no bullets, just economic warfare, pure economic warfare.
And it's crazy because like, you know, there's, there's materials on the island.
They, they had a robust industry for sugar.
And very quickly after the revolution, America was like, we're not buying sugar from you guys anymore.
It's over.
Like, you, you fucked up.
And it didn't stop there, obviously.
Like, they have so much.
What really frustrated me, aside from like the immediate hardships that I saw, you know, people having people experiencing hardships with getting food.
Everything is so expensive and their wages are so marginal, so minuscule.
But it was the potential.
Like we have robbed this 10 million person Caribbean island of like so much potential, whether it be arts, whether it be in the field of sports, where they're still like thriving in spite of those odds, right?
Bio biomedical research.
But like, I just wish we could live in a world where we could see exactly what they would be able to accomplish if we just weren't constantly like restricting everything.
Well, it's so amazing that you highlighted this because a lot of people don't fucking know what's going on.
In fact, I got some messages from people being like, I had no idea what was going on here.
Americans are completely oblivious to what's happening on a huge scale.
I think it's a weird, I will never bet against American obliviousness or ignorance of what happens outside America's borders.
You know, it's just like it's our way of life.
We don't know what goes on elsewhere.
I do think, though, I have a little bit of sympathy for us American cattle, though, because there's a lot of, like, it's like part of what Cuba's problem is right now is that it's competing in the news cycle, so to speak, against, I don't know, like World War III.
Like it's this, like, it's, it's, we have, we're at a historical inflection point with Cuba.
There's never been anything like this, whatever.
And it's like, if you turn on the news, quite reasonably, there's a lot of other stuff that's taken precedent for like an American viewer.
Cuban Baseball and Razor Details00:02:32
Right.
And so, which makes this kind of work, this drawing this kind of attention that much more important.
Right.
But it's, it's such a fucking like I it feel one of the challenges that I felt like I've had in the last few months last year has been trying to get people to pay attention to it because of how crazed everything is.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, you got, you got Cuba, you got Iran, you got trans people in women's sports.
I mean, it's just, there's so many things.
Three issues of equal and weight and, you know, like terrorists.
I mean, existential threats.
Yeah, I mean, all around the world.
Well, you know, I'm really glad that the Olympic committee hasn't done, seemed to do shit about the fact that like they're going to, the Olympics are getting hosted in a country that like, you know, will deport anybody for looking at a nice officer funny.
But you know what?
They've made sure the sanctity of women's sports is protected.
So all people that place fifth and sixth place can finally get first.
They have a chance.
I have treats.
Gosh darn it.
That is a quality razor.
I tell you what, Will, I happen to agree with you because I'm a hairy guy.
You are a hairy guy.
And I only use Harry's.
That's right, folks.
Harry's is a quality German razor that's been making their product in the heartland of Germany for over a hundred years.
Wow.
I know.
It almost sounds impossible.
That's tremendous.
I know.
Well, you know, what I love about Harry's razors is they control the entire process, unlike those other razors.
Yeah.
Right.
That's just all over the place from steel to shelf.
The costs are low.
That's right.
And also, this is a substantial razor.
Oh, yeah.
It's heavy.
It's got a nice balance.
You can feel the detail of the German engineering.
Yes.
When I'm using other razors, it just feels like they're going to fly away.
That's right.
No.
Heaviest razor handle ever made.
Did you know that?
I didn't know that.
Never made out of plastic designed to fit comfortably in your hand.
You can just feel the quality in every stroke.
Right now, I'm shaving.
Oh, getting a quick thigh shaving.
That's right.
For a limited time, our listeners can get Harry's Plus trial set for only $10 at Harry's.com slash fear.
This set includes all new Harry's Plus razor, one refined five-blade cartridge, a two-ounce foaming shave gel, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go.
Just head to Harry's.com slash fear to claim this offer.
And after you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them.
Please support our show and tell them we sent you.
Burnt Images and German Engineering00:10:40
I was going to ask you.
Did you stop at this?
Did you stop at the, do they have a souvenir shop?
They did, yeah.
I got the craziest airport markup of all time.
Like, I've never experienced anything like it.
But you got us matching glasses.
Well, I got, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, Noah, you get nothing because you were already there.
And I actually, I had bought some of these same things and your boss saw the same things, I suspected it.
Including for me.
This is a baseball.
Did you play stick ball like I asked you to?
No, I didn't.
Bro, I, because I literally, first of all, I landed and I was just gaming on my gaming.
He was landing and we just landed and played league.
Here.
This is a baseball, like Cuba baseball from Cuba for you.
Who's that?
And then this is a Cuban cigar for Austin.
No, I think that's for you, man.
You shouldn't have.
Dude, that was one thing I did when I went to Cuba is I brought like 30 baseballs with me.
Oh, fun.
And everywhere I went, I would like to.
Bro, was on a scouting mission.
Yeah, no.
He was like, this is for the future.
I was like, I'm taking you to the Dominican Republic and we're going to put you in the MLB.
I was doing a blind side mission.
I was on my Sandra Bullock.
No, it's like for a kid.
It's like the butterfly effect where you're like, you never know.
You're just passing them off.
Well, now, that gives me the idea.
Like, I would love to see a Kenny Powers going to Cuba scouting mission.
Yeah.
And then, you know, now you have some incredible baseball players that Will Neff has brought to the rest of the world as a gift.
No one knows.
They don't even know.
Will doesn't know either.
They're like, one day there was these white man.
He came up to me in the streets.
I'm a little child.
He said, take this baseball.
And he garnished my wages for the rest of my life.
Well, son, this means a lot to me.
Thank you.
I'm going to cherish it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I got you a smoking.
I love a cigar.
I can't smoke them, but I love a cigar.
Do you know?
Well, you know, the rumor about Cuban cigars is that they're rolled on the thighs of beautiful women.
Yeah, that is some of her.
You know, I've never heard that.
Oh, yeah, I've heard that.
No, no, hasn't.
You know, as somebody who, like, like, I admittedly didn't enjoy a cigar at all until like I tried until I went to Cuba and had a good one.
You really had me in that first half.
No, because it was like, I like, you know, I had cigars and it never like clicked for me.
You know, like, oh, like, I'd be in the mood for this.
But then somebody gave me a Cohiba and I was like, ooh.
Yeah.
I just, I didn't even.
I can't smoke in general.
I just, I didn't, honestly, I didn't do shit.
Like, I. Did you smoke a Cuban cigar?
No, I didn't do anything.
I didn't even, if you're going to get canceled for exorbitance, at least have a fucking cigar.
No, it's crazy.
Like, I straight up, I didn't even fucking eat food.
Like, I had, I had food twice.
Yeah, I had that one tiny cafecito and everyone made a big deal about that, which is so crazy because like that was just at my friend's house.
I was literally at my friend's house and they made me like a Cuban coffee.
That's it.
And everyone was talking about it.
Like this was so extravagant, which is crazy.
When I went to Cuba, I purposely, I was really on my fucking dictator shit.
Like I had a huge beard.
I was smoking cigars every single day.
Yeah.
I was tossing baseballs to show you.
Remember these.
Do you think I would have been remember my face?
Do you think I would have enjoyed it?
No.
You would have, you would have killed yourself.
What?
Dude.
First of all, like, I love that.
Oh, shit, it broke.
I'll explain it like this.
That does that.
God damn it.
Hassan.
Hassan?
What do you mean?
What if I did it?
He gives it to you and immediately breaks.
You broke the gift that I brought to you from a fairly restricted, not often traveled to place for Americans.
I think this would be fine.
What does that mean?
What does that even mean?
I don't know.
It's not a chain anymore.
It's just going to be, I'm going to have to put it in your mouth.
Yeah.
No.
Choke on it.
Anyway, I wouldn't have.
I liked it.
You would have hated it.
March and I talked about this, actually.
Because we were like, thank God, Austin, they didn't come.
And honestly, I think Will wouldn't have enjoyed it either, to be fair.
Cause like it is, I think I would have just kind of split off and it would have made me sad to go from what I experienced in my 20s to what I experienced in my 30s.
I think that would have been tough for me.
Yeah.
It's first of all, like there's just blackouts all the time.
Yeah.
The telecommunication system fails all the time.
Like you have, like we got CubaCell, right?
Yeah, you get like eSIMs.
We got the ESIMs and stuff, but it just like doesn't work, right?
And it doesn't work throughout Mass Bars of the Day.
So like there's no communication.
Like it makes logistics very difficult.
Like if you want to go, like I went actually, Hassana's story is like the one I'm about to tell, but when I went in January, I was like, all right, I'm going to go meet.
I was going to meet our friend Marta, you know, an older woman who lives in Havana, who we interviewed for our show years ago and was going to get to finally meet her in person.
And I was like, all right, I'm going to go to your house at like 6.37.
I'll be there then.
And it's, I assume, you know, in the middle of the day, I'd had pretty good luck so far getting a cab.
Let me tell you, at a certain hour of the day, that is not the ease with which you are able to get around.
And it's not like you can call anything.
It's, you know, you can like, it's the, the, you know, you have to, I mean, it's, you have to, if you want to like make sure that you have a ride to the airport, for example, like you've got to make arrangements with like whoever last gave you a thing and like try and plan ahead.
There's no, it's, I mean, it's very, it's desperate.
I spent, I spent like 45 minutes looking for a ride and I ended up getting like a guy on like a moped.
I think, you know, I think if I would have had the expectations of that going in.
No, no, it's unlike anything you've ever experienced in your life.
One of the most burnt images of for me in Cuba was we took a ride with a guy and it was the craziest shit I've ever seen.
He had a 19, I don't know like oh, like a 50 Chevy, exactly one of the craziest old cars.
I'm not a car guy so I don't know, but like right before he started driving, he's like hold on, and he had like a thermos of water that he held out the window while we were driving, with a line to the radiator, so he could, so he could keep it.
Like they can they keep those cars running?
Oh yeah yeah, they do.
So they have those old cars.
And then the other car that you see um, we this, the guy who gave me and Brennan a lift to the airport and who uh, we had run it.
We met in a van on the street.
He had um, he was from Holland, he or he had been living in Holland for many years and he came back to Cuba to take care of his mom and like his big passion project, it seemed, while he was back in Cuba, and probably how he, how he brought, got some income, was he had an old Soviet Lada like uh, like you know, an old car from the Soviet Union.
Yeah, and it look it was awesome.
Like you know you, it the it's like very stiff and I felt like if I gotten an accident I would have been like bisected, but it was legitimately like it's.
It's the like they they have such ingenuity in the cars they restore because the parts are replaceable or they can find one, you know, because these were so mass produced and also because they're like 70 years old and they have no other option to none, so they have to find a way.
But there are, there are a lot of like that.
That was surprising to me.
Like there's a lot of modern vehicles yeah, as well.
Like it's not.
I thought it was like for the whole population yeah, of course, and um there's, there's no, there's no.
Like there's very limited gas on the island yeah, so at this point, it's been three months, no oil tankers have actually entered Cuba, with the exception of like this is how up the American government is.
The American government has allowed oil transfers to take place for private businesses.
So there's private businesses on the island.
Like some of the hotels there's like four, I believe right, that the American government allows Americans to stay in any other hotel you stay in inside of Cuba and there's, you know, thousands of hotels in Cuba under potential military interference.
Yeah yeah, you're like they say you're aiding and abetting a foreign sponsor of terror so you can go to prison for 10 years.
And uh, the only yeah, the one of the four hotels that we stayed in um, that was the big uh thing.
Like everyone was like these hotels have uh, these hotels have power when the hospitals don't.
It's like yeah, who do you think made that happen?
Do you think the Cuban government's like oh, we love we, we love making sure that our babies are dying?
When people from abroad come to Cuba, they bring dollars, they bring euros, they bring, they bring foreign exchange and foreign currency that like needs to circulate in Cuba so that the like where, like how the exchange makes it in can then be used to buy the other things from abroad that people need.
So there is also like, like obvious, like you know, you can like, when you go there, this becomes very visible, but I can see it from from the outside.
People like oh, my god, you're going stay in a luxury hotel while people starve, and it's like there's a reason the power is on there and there's a reason that they try to keep these businesses going, because it's like one of the only functioning sectors of the economy.
You know barely at this point yeah, and and like the, the Cubans themselves like uh, whether they're uh a A fan of the government or not, it doesn't really matter.
They are very excited at the prospect of like tourists coming in because it's like literally the only time where they can make like a tremendous amount of money for themselves.
Even if Cubans you talk to on the street, don't love the government, and there's plenty who don't.
Yeah, they and they'll tell you, like the thing that is so jarring, at least to me, is the extent to which, and I had this, I did have this thought when I was there.
Like, all of them are saying, like, come back, please come, you know, please spend your money here.
Like, please just be present in some form.
Because it also feels like for a lot of the people who live in that country, they feel like the world has left them by.
They feel like the, you know, like they've been, that's part of, you know, like they have insanely high emigration rates so that people can go abroad and work to send money back home, et cetera.
And it, and for many people, you know, it's a very, like, it weighs on them, like, as human beings.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, it's a very philanthropic thing you did.
And I'm glad it was met with such ubiquitous praise.
Yeah.
No.
Well, I mean, I don't really give a shit about, I don't really give a shit about people being like, you're such a nice guy or whatever.
Fuck that.
My goal was to address some of the major problems that people were experiencing and then, you know, talk about who's actually responsible for it.
90s McDonald's and Emigration Dreams00:02:37
Right.
Because it's like designed in this invisible way where it is designed to invoke this kind of response from the population where they're like, well, what the fuck is going on here?
Like the government is so incompetent.
I don't have food in my, if, you know, if I, if I'm not able to purchase food, yeah, eventually I'm going to blame the government for it.
And it's like, it's super insidious, bureaucratic, sanctioned terror that they've, that they've brought about this island.
Well, Trump needs a win.
So ultimately, I think, you know, in a few months, they'll throw a McDonald's in there and call it a victory.
Yeah, hopefully.
I mean, I don't, I, I, I mean, we've talked about this on the stream a bunch, but in general, I do believe that like the biggest thing going for the Cubans is that, like, yeah, exactly that.
Like, Trump probably ramped up this Cuba shit just like he did in Venezuela because the last year he's been taking such a beating in the public and it was like, well, I need some easy dubs.
And when presidents need to be, we're going to put a McDonald's in there.
It's going to be great.
Yeah.
There is actually a great movie.
It's on Netflix called The Wasp Network.
And there's like a Cuban defector scene and it's Wagner Mora.
He washes ashore at Guantanamo Bay and they take him inside and they're like, oh, what do you, you know, like they're, they're, you know, like they're welcoming him because he's a Cuban refugee, et cetera.
And so they bring him a McDonald's and he's like, I always wanted the McDonald's.
Like we dream or like we dream like it was, and he's, you know, it's they do have a McDonald's at Guantanamo Bay, which is crazy.
Really?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Bro, wow.
We are no symbol more than the Miko.
Well, no, do you remember when we are the fattest imperialists?
OG 2010.
OG 2010's digital content memory, Benny Johnson's photo essay about Fort Hood.
This was like a, it was a BuzzFeed story from years and years ago.
And he did like a photo ess that was like, did you know they have fast food on American military bases?
And it was like, he's like, they got Taco Bell.
They got chilies.
Like, isn't that nuts?
Oh, my God.
It's still got the OG.
Oh, it's still got the OG roof and everything.
Classic barbed wire in front of them.
They are so.
Okay, that's not the OG roof.
That is a photo from the 90s for sure.
No, no, but I'm saying like...
Are they still driving those cars around there?
What's going on?
Dog, the 90s is OG now.
Because the McDonald's now doesn't have that any longer.
That's like the 90s McDonald's.
So that's why I'm calling it the OG because we are OGs.
I mean, we literally ship.
We drop ship Burger King trucks to forward operating base.
Like in the 1940s, we would like leaflet Japan and Germany and be like, you know, like, welcome democracy.
OG Roofs and Poverty Safaris00:08:54
Like, reject your overlords.
And now we're just dropping happy meals.
Go home, G.I. Happy Meal Seat.
The coffee's here.
Oh, man.
Will, I cannot wait to go see the Rolling Stones.
The Rolling Stones.
Step me up.
Step me up, America.
It's one of my favorite bands.
And I've been looking on SeatGeek.
Oh, you have the app on your phone.
That's right.
I love SeatGeek because it's really hard going through and looking for your favorite seat.
Thank God with SeatGeek.
All the seats are rated one through 10, so you know what you're getting.
And you know if you're getting a good deal or not.
Right?
Right.
So when you buy your one seat, you know that you suck.
Well, what?
I got friends.
Oh, okay.
No, no, I meant on one through 10.
Oh, a seat with a bad rating.
You know that you're going to be sitting behind a post or something.
I'm not saying that you're going to the Rolling Stones by yourself.
I would never do that.
Is this a crime for you?
I kind of need somebody to go with me.
I'll go.
But you know what?
There's a tremendous amount of things that you can find on SeatGeek.
I was looking, I saw Demi Lovato, the Backstreet Boys, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen, Alex Warren.
The new year means new artists are on tour, folks.
Yeah, new artists like the Rolling Stone.
To make it even better, you can use code Fear10 for 10% off your SeatGeek tickets.
That's 10% off tickets with promo code FIAR10.
That's Fear 10.
Well, we're not going to spend too much time on the, you know, more time on the Cuba thing.
I mean, he did.
He did.
He did a wonderful thing.
I know, but I didn't bring Aid.
No, I went for the clown.
I went for the clout.
I just went for the matchup.
You know what I think it is, though?
Aside from the interest in the American government and whoever is more sympathetic to American government's interest in the media to be like, to disparage this thing, to change the conversation away from the on-the-ground conditions to like, look at these guys.
They're doing like a, almost like a safari, like a poverty safari, whatever, to belittle it.
I think that the reason why there was so much like anger towards it is because a lot of people have just gotten used to not doing things.
So when they see someone doing anything, they go, oh, that's weird.
And then they feel a little odd about it.
Like they feel like they, there's like a sense of feeling immoral about like someone else that's just like, you know, doing something.
So they immediately assume there's got to be some sort of cynical purpose for this.
There's ulterior purpose.
And I'm just going to disparage him so I can feel better about myself and my lack of doing things.
And I think that I also think they just fucking hate you.
There's that, dude, for sure.
There's that.
I think they're.
I mean, it's a, you know, porque no los dos.
Like, I, it's, you know, I, uh, the hatred also comes from that.
It's Spanish.
Yeah.
I think the hatred also.
Definitely not from a Pepsi commercial.
Did you speak any Spanish while you're over there?
Uh, no.
I do not.
I am, I don't speak any Spanish whatsoever.
Well, I do.
So yeah.
Well, yeah, you would have been great.
Anyway, let's talk about something that Austin wants to talk about.
All right.
Well, I have a great story for all of you.
This ties back to something that we talk about pretty much every apartment.
Did you be the fucking airport?
No, there's a plane.
There definitely was a plane crash, but there is something else.
I was going to bring up airports for sure.
You can bring up the airports and we can talk about my story later.
This is your story.
Oh, no.
I had a specific story.
Okay.
Well, regardless, airport travel is almost come to a complete halt at this point.
Yeah.
Partially because of the price of jet fuel increasing.
It's like perfect storm, jet fuel and the TSA shit.
And the TSA is under the Department of Homeland Security.
Yeah, looking forward.
And there's this like gridlock in Congress as there always is about like the funding vehicles for the DHS.
They don't want to fund ICE.
They want to fund TSA, but they don't want to fund ICE.
So the Republicans have just been holding out on it.
Maybe we can just have ICE do TSA.
Well, that's what they're good idea.
What a great idea.
We're sending the agents.
They're the vitals we've got.
Yeah.
And the images have been insane because these are like the only people that are getting salaries at this point that haven't been fired from their federal government.
Also, this is the only time I've been seeing all these photos of ICE people and they don't all have masks.
I don't know why they're not masked in this situation, but it means that we saw that school shooter looking at some of those guys.
Yeah, seeing like seeing like 20-year-old like ICE agents that aren't fat yet was a shocking image.
That is true.
It's like in my, I should, when I see that, I should actually in the future.
Thank you.
I should in the future be like thinking like, all right, you're 20 years old now, but I got to imagine you with like a stomach, you know, the size of the Gulf of Mexico.
Yeah.
So as you all know, I travel every single week.
This is your drip coffee.
That's your cappuccino.
I handed it to you.
This is your ice.
I got you this.
This is vanilla oat.
That's me.
Is that the cappuccino?
No, I don't remember ordering.
Oh, okay.
Great.
Wow.
Awesome.
Well, delicious.
As you know, I travel every week.
I fly on a plane every week.
And I have been noticing a huge rise in airfare.
I mean, it's suffocating.
It is absolutely suffocating.
Obviously, you know, I have to do it because I don't live here and I have to fly as a means of transportation.
And you could.
You could live here, but there's not a lot of people.
Where do you live?
I live in Portland, Oregon.
Oh, wow.
And so anyway, I fly.
I've been noticing the rise of air prices and the increase in wait times at security.
But one thing I will say is that what's interesting is it is very much on an airport to airport basis.
This is not being, airports are being affected disproportionately.
You know, like Atlanta's seeing a lot of JFK, LaGuardia are bad.
Newark, however, for those listening, Newark has been solid.
I'm from Portland, the Portland airport.
Yesterday, I had an incident where I couldn't find parking.
I was driving around for 25 minutes trying to find parking.
I had to send Christian in with bags because I couldn't find a parking spot because the entire parking garage was filled to the brim with spring breakers.
But security lines empty.
But regardless, yeah, the DHS won't fund ICE, right?
Or they don't want to fund ICE, which is great.
We don't want to fund ICE.
Well, it's like the Republicans are kind of, this is, it's for the first time in a long time, Chuck Schumer's doing what he should be doing, where it's like, they know that essentially everybody's blaming the Republicans for this.
And so there's some Republicans who are trying to negotiate like a TSA-only funding package.
What?
He's just, he's eating my fucking bagel.
Your bagel.
I'll have some bagel.
You'll have some bagels.
No, would you like a bagel?
Actually.
How'd you know?
I'm Jewish.
I love bagel and cream.
I mean, this is the worst.
In LA?
No.
You're Jewish?
Buddy, you don't even know the half of it.
Oh, I mean, I think that's wonderful.
No, he was, he was.
Did you hear the publication that he was at Ron?
Yeah, you were not even listening to what I was explaining.
I heard the publication.
I heard the publication where you're an editor.
It's called Jewish Curse.
Jewish Christian.
Yeah, I don't let him say it.
And I was letting you say it.
This is the only time he's allowed to say it because I'm King Anthony.
Maybe, I don't know.
I don't know.
Maybe you weren't.
It's true.
No, no.
If I was an editor at Super Gay Magazine and I was a stray man, you'd be like, what the fuck inside are you going to do?
I mean, I don't know.
I always think that like you could be just because you're not gay, though, you'd be a great coach.
You'd be a great gay coach.
But I'm not going to be an editor at all.
Yeah, but that's different.
Like coaches, there are plenty of coaches that we see on football sidelines who are like, you never played football.
It's like Affinity Magazine or something, like a black lifestyle magazine.
You got to coach the Jewish community.
I didn't want to assume you're.
All right.
So today we're going to practice taking it easy, not getting upset when we're cut in line.
That is a great character, though.
The Goym coach.
Yeah.
Well, it's like a better version of the Shabbos.
Once upon a time, Jews needed somebody on Shabbos.
The Shabbos go away.
Yeah, no, to turn out the lights and light the oven, whatever.
Now we need, it's more like a life coach situation.
It's like, we need you to learn how to count to 10, you know, not blow up that village, you know, not yell at Hassan on the internet.
That's not working.
Insider Trading and Vegas Craps00:05:34
Nobody, they, that hasn't stopped.
Well, he hasn't started yet.
We got to get Will on it.
Yeah.
You got to get him certified.
Hi.
I'm Will Naff.
Back to airports.
The Republicans want to pass the thing.
They're eating themselves alive for it.
I think that the big tell, though, like the sign that this will not go on for eternity is that Delta this week.
So airlines have specific congressional help desks.
And Delta said, because of this thing, we have to shut down our specific special Congress helpline.
So get ready.
Get ready.
There's going to be some chuds from flyover country who are going to have learned some hard lessons.
That shit's going to pass so quick.
Why the fuck do they need a help desk?
I call and I get on the line immediately.
Brother, you understand that the American politician is one of the most pampered animals on the planet.
In addition, in addition, actually, but you know, we should, we should, we know this about people in Congress.
They're all very smart.
Yeah.
And they're very patient and conscientious people who absolutely, when presented with a line or a service situation, don't immediately say, I deserve special treatment.
If there's anything we know about people in American politics, it's not that they demand favors for themselves every turn.
They do in a not so subtle way, I guess it's like invisible to the average person, but they do kind of live like the way we perceive like a corrupt Latin American dictatorship to exist where they got like platinum healthcare and they deny regular citizens that room that that amenity, right?
They they get to travel like this.
They can hire whom literally they ever they want.
Also, Congress immune to FOIA.
You know, they they're, you know, which is a not, you know, like, I mean, we've seen how effective some, well, look, I'll also say this.
You know, who's to say there's a causation?
But also when you get into Congress, you magically get really good at trading.
Yeah.
It's it's remarkable, really.
They just, they're, they're, they're trading all the time.
Speaking of trades, you know who the greatest trader is, obviously.
Benedict Arnold.
Well, no, no.
Nancy, Nancy.
Nancy Pelosi's got nothing on the Trump family.
That's true.
That is, well, we insider trading.
I love the, like now, how when there's like something horrible that's happened in the world, I'll, I'll get a rush of like positive feeling because I'll learn from the news that somebody out there was able to make some money on this horrible thing that happened.
Yeah, this is one of the craziest ones because like, obviously the war in Iran is unfolding in ways that the American government could not have perceived would be so poor.
Like it's been, it's not been going well.
No.
Let's just say that, to say the least.
Okay.
The stroke of hormones that is responsible for 20% of all energy flowing through it is shut off by the Iranian government.
And there's a lot of instability in the markets.
However, in all of this instability and this crisis, there's someone out there making a lot of money.
The other day, 15 minutes prior to Donald Trump's announcement that the Strait of Hormuz had been opened and that like they were going to mediate and their talks were going to begin signaling that de-escalation is imminent.
Someone put in $538 million in oil futures and made we don't know how much money they made, but just one guy 15 minutes prior to that announcement from Donald Trump became like, you know, a couple billion dollars wealthier.
Genuine question.
Obviously, that's insider trading, but how do you prove it?
That's exactly right.
No, I mean, it is.
No, I mean, it is true.
You know, this is insider trading is also like insider trading is also one of these crimes that like, you know, like Steve Cohen, the guy who owns the Mets, he got got for it in the, like, years ago.
But on the whole, it is like, like, what's the difference between insider trading or just being really good at your job and having, you know, an idea of what's coming down the pike?
Well, let me tell you guys a little thing called the SEC, a federal regulatory agency that has a bunch of lawyers and a bunch of investigators, like, you know, really smart guys who look at not only these unusual trades, which this would be.
What I'm saying is, if Vegas can figure out when you're playing Advantage and Blackjack, they can figure out when people are fucking bad at all.
Oh, they can.
They can and they choose not to.
Exactly.
But what about, what about, like, what if I'm using an encrypted messaging service or something and I'm still.
Have you been doing insider trading?
I feel like you're, are you like a billion dollars richer after this past week's event?
What's going on?
We just find out he was in the room randomly.
He pulls out one of those old school brick phones, burn everything, burn the hard time.
Look, I'm not saying I would inside trade, but I don't know how you'd get caught.
You absolutely would do it.
Definitely inside trading.
Me?
Also, it's always the people who are.
It's like, what I love is that when you do read, because you know, they happen, like the insider trading prosecutions and stuff that do happen, it is like when you read the blow-by-blow in an indictment or something, it's awesome.
It's always like, so this guy was told by his like cousin who works for a company about something happened, and then he told all of his friends and they all opened $50,000 positions.
What am I supposed to do with that information?
I get told, well, something's going to happen.
What am I supposed to do?
Just sit on it?
Well, and it's illegal.
If you do inside trade, how do they prove that that wasn't my intention?
Make sure that your language is ambiguous.
Discount Burritos and Corporate Cuts00:07:02
Make sure what's you say something like, what's your level of confidence?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
That's what I say to them.
It's like taking notes.
It's taking mental notes.
I don't intend to inside trade.
How should I phrase it in an email?
No, I'm never inside trade, but money seems to be made.
You know what actually I would make sure to do is like, not just on like ChatGPT or Claude, but on like all of them, ask these questions.
Right.
Like repeatedly.
Yes.
How do I get rid of a bomb?
Yeah, yeah.
And make, you know, maybe even like in your Gmail, like type it out in drafts and don't send it, but like let it to draft save so you can refer to it later.
Right.
Yeah.
Well as being a bad friend, right?
Yeah.
I'm being a good friend.
I'm giving you, I'm actually, this is harm.
This is harm reduction.
I make plenty of money and I don't need any more.
That's why I look at these people and I say, look, you have billions of dollars.
And I say, give me some.
No.
No, like I, I, I am, um, gay.
No.
Lebanese.
Satisfied.
No, I'm.
I'm.
Oh, man.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
It is springtime.
That it is.
Which means more movement, trips, eating out.
Means you got to stay more consistent with your health.
That's right.
And you have a man friend who is famously fruit and vegetable phobic.
That's right.
So how's he getting all the things he needs in his diet?
Great question, Will.
Yeah.
He uses what I like to call and what they like to call AG1.
All right.
It's a daily anchor.
The habit that shows up even when you don't feel like it.
Oh.
All right.
All you got to do with one scoop, 20 seconds, put it into your water, mix it into your coffee.
Right.
And let it run through your system.
Clean it all out.
Right.
Wow.
Providing you with multivitamins, pre and probiotics, superfoods, and antioxidants, all in one single scoop.
It's so frustrating when you're having a scoop over here and a scoop over there and a scoop over here, but you can just scoop it all in one.
I'm telling you, it's fantastic.
I do it every morning.
Every morning.
Every single morning.
Oh, my God.
Sometimes I do it as an afternoon snack.
Well, you could too.
Go to drinkag1.com slash fear to get an AG1 flavor sampler and a bottle of vitamin D3 plus K2 for free and your AG1 welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription order.
That's a $72 value.
Yours free only while supplies last.
Go to drinkag1.com slash fear.
I'm a millionaire.
You're a millionaire.
And I don't understand how these people, they have so much money.
What else?
I have lived such a great life.
I do everything I'm supposed to want to do.
There's nothing that I can't do.
And these people have billions.
What the fuck more could you want?
Why can't you just, you know, spread the wealth around a little bit more?
Above.
Others love.
You know, I guess.
I don't know.
Anyway, speaking of, speaking of immense wealth, corporations, right?
And a specific corporation I go to quite frequently.
It's a fast food restaurant.
I won't say it there because I want to protect the workers.
But I just wanted to share a story.
The world.
I'll get to it.
I want to share a story that my message to the working class is starting to resonate.
Okay.
And my message has always been to do what you can and fight every transaction, fight against exploitative consumer practices, et cetera, et cetera.
I went to a...
Wait, can I clarify something for Noah?
Because you're using some words that don't actually align with what you're doing.
He thinks that the most revolutionary act.
Not the most, but that he's going to be disputing a charge.
Yes.
So he is like, he's Mr. He's Mr. Calling the Manager.
Well, and he thinks that every time he calls the manager over some sort of dispute, like, I don't know, he didn't have the swoop.
Sorry, have you ever had an undercooked steak?
Yeah.
I just, you act like these aren't problems.
I just aren't problems.
If he doesn't have like the proper origami swan towel perfectly positioned on the corner of his bed.
That's a lawsuit.
He's exaggerating.
He's exaggerating.
This is the one.
No, no.
He's exaggerating.
And he participates in what I like to call a shame culture.
Well, we're going to let you tell the story and then we'll judge.
We have a shame culture around consumers advocating for themselves.
And it is perpetuated by the capitalist pigs.
All right, Lena Conrad.
What did you do?
Okay, so I went to this fast food place.
It was a Mexican place, a Mexican restaurant, fast food where they dish up food for you, like burritos and cubos.
Could be anything.
So I go to this place and I'm getting a burrito bowl for myself.
I'm getting a burrito bowl for Christian.
I'm getting a burrito for my friend.
I'm paying for everybody.
And I get there and I'm starting to make my food.
And the guy goes, Austin Show.
Right.
And I went, how are you?
Good to see you.
He's like, I'm such a fan of Fear Ann.
You know what I'm going to do?
I'm giving you my employee discount.
Nice.
I said, 50% off?
That's crazy.
I told him, I said, you know what?
You don't have to do that.
This is like $70 worth of food.
You don't have to give me 50% off.
He said, no, you know what, Austin?
Wait, hold on.
Two breedables, $70?
Have you been to?
I think you said a three.
Three, three.
Chad's still.
Well, you got chip squash, soda.
I'm assuming that's what I'm saying.
That's unbelievable.
Well, but that's how much it is.
God.
Damn.
So he goes to me, he says, Austin, I'm going to give you this 50% discount.
Sure.
I said, you know why?
Because you taught me to stick it to the man.
Nice.
So I just want to say that my message to the working class has always been stick it to the man at every corner.
Find a moment where you can stick it to the man and cut into corporate profits.
And that's what this guy did.
And he said, every time you walk through that line, I'm giving you 50% off.
Wow.
That's, I mean, that's big.
That's huge.
So I just want to know, you know, Hasana, is there anything that you're doing on a day-to-day basis that would have that sort of impact?
You know, marginal stuff, obviously, like boosting unionization efforts, you know, working with labor unions in general, offering them broad awareness and also support, fundraising for them, things like that.
But see, which are utterly irrelevant.
United Airlines and TSA Money Spreads00:15:04
How many burritos have you gotten discount?
I have gotten zero burrito discounts.
I do genuinely have a theory that if you're not sure what you calculate how much impact you're having.
If consumers, if everybody was like, we could all get the employee discount.
No, no, forget about the employee discount.
But if everybody was like me and they advocated for themselves in a respectful way, I'll never inconvenience anybody that's working.
If you advocate for yourself, I think slowly but surely we'd chip away at those corporate profits.
The only thing corporations respond to is a drop in profit and a drop in revenue.
I mean, that and like really annoying emails.
Yes.
Which is what I has been typically been my method.
Right.
Yes.
Like United Airlines, like they hate to see an email from me coming.
But United Airlines, I think, is notorious.
And I've started to, and United Airlines actually just, there's news.
They just dropped a new product.
Oh, I saw that the whole row thing.
Yeah, they have a new airline.
Did you see this?
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
United Airlines.
This is so cool.
I confess they kind of, I'm glad I'm a United customer when I saw this.
United Airlines introduced a new product.
I don't know what they're calling it.
Just call it like a new couch product or something.
Relax.
Relax row.
Yeah.
A new relax row where you can turn three economy seats into a bed.
Airlines is a new option for travelers who want to get more comfortable when they fly.
Starting in 2027, passengers on certain flights can purchase a row of economy seats.
That row will transform to a lounge after takeoff.
It's called the United Relax Row.
It comes with three seats designed for travelers who want more space than families with small children, maybe couples as well.
The row includes a custom-fitted mattress pad, larger blankets, and extra pillows.
Pricing will be released at a later date.
Yeah, so here's the deal.
Here's the deal.
This is what happened.
This is how this came to be.
All right.
Oh, you were in the room.
No, but I know what the room sounded like.
United got together.
And by the way, this has been done before already with another airline.
I think it was an Air New Zealand already did this.
Air New Zealand's been doing this for years.
They got in the room and they were in the middle of the day.
They were such a plain office.
This is crazy.
They said, hey, we have these transatlantic, trans-Pacific flights that fly sometimes 20% empty.
So the back of the plane has rows of seats empty.
Why don't we find a way to up, you know, fill these seats or make more revenue on these seats?
Why don't we sell some of these rows?
They're going to be empty anyway.
Why don't we just up also the traveling with kids thing?
I mean, that's why they're like in the marketing, they're like showing like, hey, kids, do you see kids?
Because you have to buy seats for them anyway.
And it, no, it's now the thing with United Airlines is they may be making product improvements with this particular product.
They've also made a product with their business class product.
But until they start to treat their employees better and address that, their product will always be shit.
I flew United recently to China.
We flew to Beijing.
From the moment we walked to the airport, got to the front of the airport, the service was atrocious from top to bottom.
And I will tell you, that's not the people that work their fault.
They are working for a company that does not treat them well.
And the way that they, because they're not treated well, sometimes the customers face the brunt of that.
And that is a reflection of how the company is treating them.
So United, until you treat and pay your employees well, your product will always fall short.
He's a Delta booster, by the way, just so you know.
I mean, he has a dog in his head.
And as a lifelong United member, my dad is a premier 1K member.
I'm a diamond medallion with him.
So I've mostly just loaned United my life.
I had the, I will say, this wasn't so much about United so much as I had this experience like not this past weekend, weekend before.
I was in Chicago for my sister's wedding.
And there's, you know, crazy weather, you know, a bunch of airport bullshit.
And I had to stay over for a day.
And, you know, the TSA stuff was starting to get hairy.
The whole thing was nuts.
And so I was in O'Hare for, you know, probably like a total of like, I don't know, like 12, 14 hours over a course of two days, maybe even more.
And I was like blown away at how good all the airport staff was, including airline staff, security people, whatever.
It was one of those situations where it was like, I kept thinking if I had this job, I would be the worst person.
I would be such an asshole.
I'd be so grouchy.
I'd be so, you know, I would not want to be pleasant to the thousands of like really, because like obviously people who are traveling are often like really aggro and annoying.
I was, I was like, I, I give a lot of credit.
I think airport, I think the quality of airport worker these days is very high.
They're all Hasan Avias.
TSA has the highest density of fans that I've ever encountered in any other sector.
Marge and I talk about this all the time.
Really?
Anytime I pass through, it's like, oh my God, what are you doing here?
When I was going to Cuba from the Florida airport, from Miami-Dade, I brought obviously wads of cash as you're supposed to do.
I had like, I think like four grand in my hand in a plastic bag and it was in small bills.
And it looked very suspicious.
Okay.
Yeah.
It looked like a mission accomplished.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It looked like I was a, it looked like I was, you know, trafficking drugs or something.
I walk up, I have it in my hand when I go through the, you know, crazy x-ray machine.
Can you put it in your hand?
Yeah, because the guy told me, like, oh, yeah, you can hold your cash in your hand.
I was like, all right, fine.
So I walked through it.
The guy goes, oh my God, Hassan, like a big fan.
Right.
And then he sees my hand.
He goes, what the fuck is that?
He goes, why do you have so much cash?
I was like, well, I'm going to Cuba and, you know, they tell you to bring cash.
Don't worry.
It's under like the legal limit.
And, but it didn't look like it was under the legal limit because it's small bills.
He's putting it to my ear and going, hello.
Yeah, so it was so fat.
And he's like, well, I have to, he's like, I'm sorry.
I have to look at this.
And I was like, sure, that's fine.
And he looks at it and he sees those like small bills.
And I think in his mind, he was like, do I call this in?
Well, it's Hassan.
And he just let me through.
I mean, well, now I have an idea of, I just want to go to the airport so I can money spread at TSA.
Yeah, just yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Oh, oh.
Yeah, I flexed on my fans like that.
That's going to be the next New York Post headline.
Caviar communist Hassan Piker flexes on poor TSA worker who hasn't been paid in months.
I do think there is like the TSA thing, though, it kind of does make sense where it's like, all right, well, if you're, if you work at an airport, that airport has to be near a population center.
So that removes like all the cletuses in the country.
And then it's like, also, if you go through a TSA line, you look at the gender and racial and age composition of who works for TSA.
And it's like, yeah, that's a lot of potential hostanobias.
Yeah.
There are a tremendous amount.
I've met some of them.
I like TSA agents, except for the one whose job it is to scream, take your shoes off, no hoodies, no coats.
I feel like some of that's a choice.
I think, I don't know if they have to do that.
I think there's some people that it reminds me of like a prison camp just listening to that on Loop.
Your clothes will, your luggage will follow you.
I know, I know.
Yeah, there is a very like, you know, feeling of being cattle when you're in that, when you're in that process.
Especially now that they've done, they figured out all the new airport terminals that they like, you know, when they when they debut or they open like a LaGuardia or whatever or Newark, they they've now figured out how it's like, oh, you just make the route, like the halls and the lines really winding and big so people are constantly moving so that that way they're not getting mad.
Like that's like the way it's, I mean, right now it's not how it's working because of the fucking lines are still so cool.
But like you go and it's like they're made, they've set it up so you're supposed to go like zig, The lines are getting so bad that I saw a video of them doing live entertainment.
No.
Yes.
Swear to that.
Actually, wait, you could probably live entertainment.
If you are like a street, if you like busk on the streets and play music, like actually playing for people in TSA lines is probably like a good best thing.
It's what they're doing.
That's going to happen in Portland.
Absolutely.
No, the lines aren't that bad there.
Nobody wants to go to Portland.
That's the thing.
Nobody wants to.
We're going to want to have a tourist destination.
Noah, you're our guest.
Let's open it up to you.
Do you have anything spicy you want to talk about?
I have some other topics if you just want to.
No, I'm just going on for the ride.
I wanted to bring something up that I haven't mentioned before.
Oh, sure.
I'll go myself.
Wait, did you have something?
Well, he just mentioned.
I just finished saying I have topics.
He has bunches.
Go ahead.
No, no, Austin, this is your show, man.
Go ahead.
No, no.
Actually, Will.
If you notice, like, that's a nice army.
No, you might have noticed you did civil rights at Del Taco.
If you notice, like, the show is anchored around Austin's immediate needs, and we are constantly in a state of panic.
That's why I was like, oh, Cuba, maybe we can talk about that briefly.
And then I had to.
And then Austin's like, no, no, no.
And then I had to do 35 minutes on airport terror.
You had a pressing topic.
No, there wasn't anything pressing.
I was just going to bring up something that I've been thinking about.
But it's not even a topic.
Please jump in.
It was going to be about clavicular, and I didn't want to talk about that.
Oh, that's not.
No, let's skip that for now.
All right.
Wait, what happened?
Did he do a salute recently or something?
I deeply don't care about clavicular.
I just don't think he's in that great a shape.
Okay.
Okay.
He's doing the topic.
Ladies and gentlemen, we had some good news this week.
What's that?
Sora is closing its doors despite the billion-dollar investment and IP investment from Disney, which is so baffling because if of all the potential foils to AI, if you had told me that the one that would finally kill the AI machine was they just can't make money on it.
It's so fucking awesome, dude.
It's so awesome.
Well, they also had like, they figured out that there's not like there's obviously like, there's just no world in which somebody's going to sit down and be like, well, you know what?
Like, I really need to spend, like, pay like a gazillion dollars for.
Like, I need to have the ability to generate like Mickey Mouse hitting golf, hitting, like, you know, like hitting and using a nine iron.
Yeah.
Like, like, that's what I, like, uh, hanging out on the street or, I don't know, like going with Homer Simpson to Mars.
Right.
Like, all of that kind of level of really advanced creativity.
Yeah.
It just turns out there's not as much of an audience for it.
Or at least OpenAI can't spend the commit the resource.
Dude, my, my favorite quote of all time, what you made with Sora mattered.
That's awesome.
Sorry.
That is amazing.
That was the epitaph on their gravestone for Sora.
Yeah, bro.
That's it.
It's sorry.
That is, I did not see that.
That is amazing.
It's the exact opposite.
It's like, that's, it's like, that is like, I can't think of something that would have mattered less in human history.
Like, other than like, yeah, so your censored video of Minnie Mouse is, it was important.
It's like Lockheed Martin shuttering its operations and being like, so many lives were saved.
Every time I saw one of those fucking videos, I just scrolled past because none of them were entertaining.
Although I did get duped by a few, which was the, which was the, which was the deer jumping on the trampoline.
Oh, but that's like the cat music.
Well, I got like no, no, I got fucked up with the deer jumping on the trampoline.
I was like, oh, oh my God, that's crazy.
And then I started sending it to all my friends.
Oh, and then, and then I realized it wasn't real when I kept scrolling and then there was an elephant jumping on a trampoline.
And it was like, well, this is a message.
And then you had to send a file message to his friends like, ha, isn't it crazy that a computer can do this?
LOL.
Saving shit.
Backtracking.
There was only one AI video that ever really did it for me.
And it was grandma's going to the chiropractor where like the chiropractor would like snap them in half.
I couldn't help but be like that shit.
No, no, for me, it's Boulder.
When we had Fat Lady Glassbridge Boulder.
Yes, that was awesome.
That was an awesome selling.
You don't remember this?
It was like this, this whole like beat.
What up, Gabe, you got it?
It was like a week-long thing where it was like this genre video or the guy jumping in the infinity pool and then it breaks.
Oh, right.
Like, because you using AI to just like take this thing that like you, you, you think for like a half second.
Oh, I've seen this.
And I don't know why this was just like so popping because there was a million craziest parts.
She's wearing Hasanabi merge.
And then everyone is just like perishing.
What I also liked was the Disney learned about OpenAI shuttering Sora like after it was announced.
Like they'd been, because they had like this billion dollar partnership and they were working on it.
And I think it was Reuters had a story yesterday that was saying, yeah, they were actually working on this pretty much right up until it was afterward it was announced and like everybody was taken by surprise, which suggests, by the way, that like OpenAI, they had to close it because they just don't have the money to keep shoveling into it.
What I have heard is that it came down to the equation that they, the highest model that they could factor was charging someone $300 a month for Sora, right?
Like that was the idea of their platinum and their average computing burn on Sora, like regular Sora users was upwards of $3,000 a month.
So typically you're supposed to be per regular thing.
This is actually good business.
To make money.
Yes.
To make money, you got to spend money.
Right.
We all agree on that.
To make money, you got to spend money.
So if you're spending $2,500 a month per user, per user?
Think about us.
Think about how much money you are spending to make money.
It takes a lot of money.
Fat lady dropping.
No, it's crazy because like, yeah, their revenue model is non-existent because there's this, there's two different factors here, right?
Like they have to get a lot of aura and hype moments, right?
Because the entire business revolves around getting unlimited fundraisers, like going to Microsoft, going to all these other tech companies and being like, this is the future.
Give us $7 billion.
And at first they were like, okay, fine, let's do it.
But in order to keep that momentum going, they had to deliver like a consumer-facing product.
Slinky Dogs and Early iPhone Days00:06:20
And that's the reason why they're doing a lot of this generative AI shit.
Ultimately, the goal here is to obviously train it as much as possible on as many users as possible, but you could open source it in that situation.
And that would probably be more reliable.
But they wanted as many users as possible.
And users don't give a shit about like using rerouting their telecommunications to a chat GPT assistant, right?
Because the average person doesn't have that.
That's B2B.
So they were like, all right, we'll just do this, you know, generative AI bullshit.
Problem is, it's horrible for the environment.
And not only is it horrible for the environment, it's insanely expensive.
So then the fundraising, the reason why they started this was for fundraising purposes, right?
But then the fundraising took a necessity on its own because they had to keep spending billions of dollars just for people to use the product.
And also, and now they're all, it's also like, they all have to, they're all competing.
And like, there can only be, like, the math works out so that like only a couple of these things can survive as businesses.
My, my two thoughts that really, really tickle me.
Yeah.
Is the first one of all the people on Twitter who were like, Hollywood shaking in its boots.
I made this.
I made this version of Dragon Ball Z IRL for 30 bucks.
And it's like, no, no, you made a two-minute trailer that looked like shit that was so expensive that you bankrupt a company with a billion dollar Disney investment within the year.
A, that's the first one.
Second thing that I cannot stop thinking about is what Disney characters did Disney license as the sacrificial lambs to Sora when they were going through their IP list.
Which ones do you think Disney was like?
Song of the South.
We'll give them Chippendale.
We'll give them Chippendale.
Yeah.
And they can fuck those squirrels every which way but lose because we don't give a shit about them anymore.
Like, which, which characters do you think?
They went, they like ran the numbers.
I'm like, all right, who's the least, who's like the Toy Story character that everybody cares about the least?
It's like, all right, it's the slinky dog.
Slinky dog, you are.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're all yellering you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is it AI videos of slinky dog with cavicular mulging?
My favorite version of that was this was another like trend on Twitter.
It's always Twitter, by the way.
It's always like the profile of a guy who really loves Sora and generative AI is also like, he's into cryptocurrency schemes and he's, he's caught the bag numerous.
He's held the bag on numerous occasions, okay?
Constantly getting scammed.
And he thinks he's going to fuck other people.
He's still never been able to do that.
Yeah.
So that guy will then place himself in a movie set in a fictional movie set.
Yeah, that was the Dragon Ball Z one.
Yeah, the one where he's like, he's going around and taking selfies.
I know.
Everyone on set.
And it's like, what goes on in your mind when you are posting this?
Like, do you think your friends from back home are going to look at it and be like, wow, what a cool guy.
To me, it's like, okay, this is next to Batista.
This is Tom Cruise.
This is like how much America, like American celebrity culture has fallen.
Cause like we used to be a country where there were people, you know, and there still exists where it's like they go, they collect autographs.
They're obsessed with celebrities or whatever, but like they're obsessed with like a version of, you know, reality.
Like they don't, it's like imagine.
It's like, all right, well, now we've made a technology so that you don't actually have to like carry out your obsession or exist in the real world.
You can just like hit rewind on this video of you posing with Robert Downey Jr. and Sim Brad for like fucking, you know, like for eternity.
I just don't understand who that's for in general.
Well, you described it.
It's for like the guy who's, you know, like been holding the bag like five years.
But she's like, but like, I want to know what's the thought process.
We're like, does he think he's going to fool people into thinking that he actually went on this set, this Hollywood set where celebrities keep materializing out of nowhere?
And it's like always, it's so funny because the set changes immediately as soon as the frame changes.
And it's like, it's so obviously not a real video.
There's going to be, I believe that like a lot of this stuff, right, is like, there's, there's a bunch of it that has this uncanny valley stuff where it's like, all right, well, this is like too weird or unseemly.
You know, like when we saw like, why does that guy have seven fingers?
Why does that woman's mouth like go vertical?
Whatever.
But then there's this other kind of category where it's like the photorealistic stuff and that people, he's describing like, what impulse does somebody have to do this or whatever?
And I genuinely think that there is part of the way that this AI stuff has been marketed is that people believe that they are doing, if not something virtuous, something cutting edge.
It reminds me a lot actually of like the early iPhone days and how like Apple made people feel like if you bought an iPhone and you dicked around on it, like you were in Tron, bro.
Yeah.
Like you, you know, and, you know, granted, that was the beginning of like a legit paradigm shift and how people like use technology or whatever.
Whereas this stuff, it's like you're just fucking with Rufus.
You're just messing with this.
What's real tech?
Geiger counter is how well you can get Will Smith to eat pasta.
That's exactly.
Dude, that was the test.
That was like, I mean, that was like you just been the longest time.
They're like, look at how improved it is.
This is looking for a lot of people.
Look at Frick actually twirls his fork in the pasta.
And now we're, yeah, in like 20 years, they're going to be like, look, like, Will Smith is like eating pasta and we've never seen him eat pasta this way.
Like, Will Smith has been dead for five years.
Yeah, well, I mean, that and also the state of Israel is using it to make it seem like Benjamin Ninyahu is still alive.
Ah, yes.
And on that note, if you ever see, see Slinky Dog.
I will say I've never had more people ask me a question like that, like an AI verification thing.
Like, yo, is Benjamin Ninyahu?
Yeah, well, they're getting crazier by the moment.
We will speculate all of that and much more.
Behind the paywall.
Behind the paywall.
Thank you so much.
Noah, thank you so much for joining us.
Is there anything you'd like to shout out?
Blowback Podcast.
Walking Backwards and Will Smith Pasta00:01:11
It's what I make.
It's what I do.
If you liked this podcast, you will love Blowback.
So go listen to it.
All right.
We'll see you guys on the Patreon.
Thank you.
Patreon.com slash fear and thank you.
And he's like yelling from afar.
He's like, you better stop.
You better stop doing it.
And I went real jersey on him for a second.
He's like, I was like, I was walking.
I was walking to my gate and I heard him yelling from afar, like, you better stop doing what you're doing.
So I just turned around and said, what are you going to do about it?
Yeah.
I was like, what are you going to do about it?
And he came up to me.
I was like, what are you going to fucking do about it?
Stop me.
I was like, stop me.
Come on.
I'm right here.
I was like, stop me.
What are you going to fucking do about it?
I didn't even put my bags down.
I was holding it on purpose.
I was like, come on, swing at me if you want, pussy.
Anyway, was he recording that?
Yeah, he was.
And then he backed away.
And then he backed away again.
So I was like, ah, yeah, that's what I thought.
And then I kept walking to my gate.
And then as soon as I kept walking, he tried to get another clip to be like, he's running away.
You know what I mean?
Like he was trying to film something that would look favorable to him, right?
So from afar, he was like, yeah, you love him, Os.