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Hi, everybody.

This is Pivot from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

I don't know what to say, but I'm Kara Swisher.

Scott, are you there?

Let's just call out the elephant in the room.

You are questioning.

You are questioning your sexuality.

No.

You know what's going on?

No, in fact.

You saw my photo and you're thinking, I don't know.

Maybe I'll give this whole outdoor plumbing thing, this hooking up with

guys with Knicks sweatshirts and baseball caps on backwards.

Maybe I made a mistake.

Look at the dog.

It's actually solidified my commitment to lesbianism.

I have to say, I am now a, there is no way I'm going back at this point in my life.

Listen, for those who aren't following everything Scott Galloway does, he posted a photo of himself with the caption unwaxed and waxed, and

he was showing off his gun show.

Gun shows in town.

Boom.

I'm too sexy for my shirt.

Too sexy for my shirt.

So sexy.

I need you to explain yourself because I got...

pummeled last night by people.

Rebecca did.

You're so embarrassing.

So embarrassing.

My 13-year-old boy refused to go to school this morning.

Okay, all right.

Thank you.

Everybody is like, what is the, what the fuck?

Explain yourself, Scott Gallery.

I don't use the term lesbian.

I just say ex-girlfriend.

Okay, excellent.

Excellent.

Listen, Kim Kardashian.

I don't know where to begin.

Jeff Bezos shows off his pecs.

Who else shows it?

You know, Christopher Maloney, Chris Maloney, who's in this new SVU version of whatever.

That guy's in great shape.

Yeah.

Yeah, he is in good shape.

He shows his butt off a lot.

You have yet to do that.

And if that happens, I'm not, I think we're needing to have a divorce.

But explain yourself.

What possessed you?

Because literally, I was slammed.

My texts were slammed.

The Twitter was gone nuts.

Explain what you were doing in that moment.

So this may come as a shock to you, but like many of my tweets, I didn't put a ton of thought into this.

No, like zero, less than, less than.

No, but honestly, Kara, honestly, I think it's important to raise awareness around the role that exercise plays in mental health and how important it is to stay fit during COVID.

That all is a lie.

That all is a lie.

So you want to really know what it is?

I thought about it.

I'm meditating then, but okay.

Well, first off, first off, what's amazing is no one's noticed that in everything I do, I'm constantly in a state of undress.

I love to wear drag.

I constantly wear women's clothing.

Yeah, you do.

I'm constantly taking off my shirt.

You are.

I did it on Vice TV.

I love physicality.

I love

being profane.

And let me ask you this.

Let me ask you this.

So first off, I did the tweet and immediately Stephanie Roll kicks things off with, I just threw up in my mouth.

Yes, I know that because she also tweeted and texted me, but go ahead.

My women's group went crazy.

Oh, my,

there's not enough bleach in the world.

That was one of my favorites, but my favorite was definitely raising a spack.

Yeah,

that was a good one.

But here's the thing.

She just wrote insane as she texted it to me.

Why,

and then someone else was, Amanda was it's a lot.

Hillary Rosen was Bill Mayer influence, question mark.

That's right.

You know, what, what is happening here?

Well, hold on.

Before we deep into it, so let's be honest, I'll break it down for you.

51% vanity.

All right.

40% insecurity.

Actually, it's slipped.

51% insecurity, 40% vanity.

And I've been working out four times a week for 40 years.

I like to signal my fitness.

I like to say to people, I'm a fucking monster.

It makes me feel masculine.

And it's totally vain.

The question I have, though.

You know, Chamoth did this, FYI, Chamoth Polyhopaj.

Yeah, that's everyone was comparing me to him.

Yeah, they were.

And then Bezos, sure, with the shirt off, kind of thing.

I don't mind.

I don't mind either of those comparisons.

Anyway, so let me ask you this, though.

And I'm being serious.

What if I had the exact same thing?

Yeah.

But I posted the same picture, but I was a 56-year-old woman.

How would the response have been different?

I know.

Then I began to think about it.

How would the response be different?

Hot, hot, hot.

You're a queen.

You look amazing.

You look amazing.

And then

we don't have to wonder what happens if a gay man does it.

George Hahn, who's my Twitter friend, and granted, he's more handsome than me and he's funnier than I am.

Within like 10 seconds of my tweet, he put out basically something I thought was going to be banned from Twitter.

I felt basically naked about that one.

And everybody's like, and everyone's like, oh my God, gur.

That's what I'm saying.

He was covering his junk.

He was covering his junk.

But yes,

let's be honest.

Straight white males, there is systemic bigotry we need to root out.

We have the right.

I remember earlier this week, and you were all so sad that white people can't say exactly what they're doing.

We have the right to flex.

Yeah, okay.

But let me just say, let me tell you, so

did defend you to people.

I said, oh, whatever.

I said, everybody posts themselves a lot, and it doesn't matter if

white guys do it.

I am for whatever people want to post, rebody, even Hilaria,

you know, Hilaria Baldwin.

I, you know, she got attacked, interestingly, when she posted those very

in-shape pictures of herself, which is interesting.

Some people get attacked, some people don't.

So I'm for all body showing off, if you'd like.

Look, I was defending.

This is not that.

People are are going to be shocked.

Just so I trigger more people.

Yeah.

I'm disappointed that Fauci and

when we do the forensics around the pandemic and because we're so woke and afraid to,

the virus has not been politically correct.

And 88% of people who have been admitted to the hospital have one comorbidity and 80% have two comorbidities.

And oftentimes those comidities are related to obesity.

All right.

And the nation needs to get serious about the people.

I know you're making this leap, but okay, go ahead.

Oh, go ahead.

Look, the The nation needs to get serious about providing people with the economic wherewithal to eat better and have more time for exercise.

And we don't want to talk about it because the fashion industrial complex pivoted from saying everybody should be bulimic to everybody

should be

have diabetes.

They will totally.

They are so out of control of this part of the world.

Take a look at a supermodel these days.

Take a look at any fashion show.

Take a look at any magazine.

There's messages to women are still just awful.

I agree.

Awful.

And it's not, oh, please be yourself that's just the dove commercial it's just for most part you have to look uh superb

there was an interesting article about how i think in the wall street journal about how uh uh uh plastic surgery is going to come back everyone's going to get plastic surgery let me ask you have you had plastic surgery i'm just curious seriously kara look at my face and and ask that a guet if i decided to have plastic would you have how about would you would you would i yeah uh 100 i would but fortunately here's the thing what would you get done

What wouldn't I get done is a better question.

Okay, all right.

What'd you have lifted?

Here's the fortunate thing for a dude like me and dudes in general.

Women get turned on with their ears.

Men get turned on with their eyes.

Yeah.

So if you are

the number three reasons women mate with men in

third order.

Third order is they're kind.

It doesn't matter how powerful or how smart you are.

You have to be kind.

Number two, and this is all, this is research, not me pontificating.

Number two is intelligence.

Women are drawn to a guy who will make smart decisions and not fuck up their family and do something stupid that gets their kids killed.

But first and foremost, women select mates based on, or men, based on their resources.

And we don't like to admit it, but 80% of divorce filings in America are filed by the woman.

And those filings typically are triggered by three things.

The man losing his job.

The man's business going out of business or the man beginning to show signs of mental illness.

In sum,

the female species of humans selects mates based on who can protect their children.

And we like to pretend that we're equivalent and we pick each other for the same reasons.

It's just not true.

And so the reality is, if you're a young man.

I want to get back to your photo.

Okay, go ahead.

I'm sorry.

Sorry.

Go ahead.

How did you, how did we get that from there to your photo?

I find that shit fascinating.

Okay.

All right.

But you just put it up because you think you look good, right?

Is that really pretty much it?

Pretty much.

Pretty much.

Full stop.

Full stop.

You did look good.

I got to say.

You look good.

Little dog, little half of the dog, little dog in his pound.

Little dog in his pound.

Give me a bone, baby.

Give me a bone.

You just, I don't, what are you going to do next?

Is this going to be a little bit more?

I'm 56 years old.

Do you know how fucking crazy terrible I'm going to look in 10 years?

Probably.

When I'm on my deathbed, and this is how I make every decision, I'm going to look back and I go, yeah, that was stupid, and I'm glad I did it.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Embrace the slothy, vain part of yourself.

That's what I say.

You know what?

If Kim Kardashian can do it, me and Kim.

Me and Kim.

Kim can do it.

All of them do it.

I don't have a problem with people doing that.

I know people go crazy.

And it's a little performative.

Let me just say.

Oh, just a skosh, you think?

Just to weave it.

Just a weed it.

I thought I was going to drag you, but I actually am here for you for this.

If you need this for your mental health, unlike you.

I know that, but then I think that's what I'm saying.

You usually pile on.

Well, it's so easy here to do so.

Don't you think so?

Usually pile.

Usually pile on.

Yeah, I know, but not.

I appreciate it.

I appreciate your defense of my vanity.

I did.

I defended it to everyone who said, what the fuck, Scott?

You need to, you need to dump his ass immediately.

It's like, no.

you need to dump his ass immediately.

It's true.

I know.

I was like, no, not today.

Anyway, what's your next shot?

What are you going to show off?

Your butt?

What are you looking at?

What are we looking at soon?

My next shot has got to be in my book collection.

I can't imagine this has really helped my esteem in the world of academia a whole lot.

Oh, yeah, that's true.

So I literally need to start.

Professors, what do you think they're going to say?

You're lucky.

I already heard from it.

I already heard from the PR department, NYU, and they were like, we're processing this.

You know what, Scott?

You make me feel unsafe, is really what's happening.

Here we go.

Here we go.

I'm thinking a lot.

I still think I was absolutely.

I think, here's what I think about John McWhorter.

This is a lot.

I'm going to tell you.

He is a reasonable person.

That's a pivot.

Defending unreasonable people.

So most of the people, he's sort of a, he's a, Amanda said this, he's a fig leaf for unreasonable people in many ways.

That's what I think of him.

I think he's very smart, but a lot of the stuff is not.

Our biggest problem is not that professors in this country is not that.

I don't think he said, but you're putting words in his mouth.

He didn't say that's the biggest problem.

I get it, but a lot of the stuff

he gave examples of professors who couldn't say different things on tests and whatever.

Anyway, speaking of people who I don't want to see a photo shoot of, Peter Thiel

just announced that Google and Apple and some other companies, not only Facebook was left out of the group, were too woke.

They're all woke and they're too close to China, Google and Apple specifically.

Thoughts?

And that Bitcoin is a plot by the Chinese government to

ruin all fiat currencies.

Here's the Nixon Institute, by the way, which put it in the corner.

Yeah, which is a great brand halo when you start trying to have civil discourse.

And by the way, he was on a panel with Pompeo.

There's a kernel of truth in everything he says.

You should assume any business you do with China, you're doing it with the Chinese security apparatus.

And I think there's real legitimacy to the notion that China has a vested interest in Bitcoin because a huge weapon for us globally is that the dollar is the default currency.

60% of our default currency, but only 16% of GDP is the U.S., which kind of means that the nation or the world using the dollar as a default currency is sort of sitting on a fairly tenuous foundation.

And it provides unbelievable advantage.

If we want to shut off the taps to Russia and Iran, we can do it by basically demanding that they can't engage in the SWIFT network and they can't transfer dollars.

And if you're transferring a commodity, it's so clean and elegant with our existing global financial institution to transfer the default currency USD.

And when you can't do that, you're just immediately a secondary provider of goods.

It is an enormous weapon for us.

So China has a vested interest in delegitimizing the dollars.

And a lot of

Bitcoin is mined there, by the way.

Yeah, it's the number one place for mining.

But to his specific comments, they are engaging, and I love PR, and I'd love to get your buddy Brooke on here to talk about this.

But they are engaging in kind of Trump PR and this very effective warfare.

And what they've said is, okay, it's come out that a hack of a half a billion of our consumers took place.

And rather than give the media time to respond to that, let's create a diversion and accuse Google and Apple of being in bed in China.

Let's point out Peter Thiel's on the board of Facebook and it's constantly.

And it's come out that the half a billion people have their information act.

Apple has a moment here.

Thiel on behalf of Facebook have stuck out their chin.

And the response from Apple should be very simple.

And it should be, we constantly invest and think about national security and work with national security agencies every day.

We also constantly invest in the national defense of our citizens' data, period.

And basically highlight that one of us

takes our users' data very seriously.

That makes you the other guy.

That is what I would try and say very elegantly.

I think Facebook has stuck their chin out, and I think Apple actually should probably probably respond, not mention them by name, but say we take national security interests seriously and we take the security of our consumers' data seriously.

Because all that does is basically say, all right, Facebook,

let's get back to that 500 million consumer data hack.

Yeah.

Anything that comes out of Peter Teal's mouth, you know, there's nine agendas going on.

He's playing Bach chess with everyone.

And he is very smart.

And I often am like, huh, interesting.

He's so persuasive and yet such a

manipulator of information.

He's very self-actualized, though.

The thing that I really respect about Peter Thiel is I generally don't think he gives a shit what anybody thinks.

He doesn't, but he always has an agenda every single time.

And so I think you're right.

And I think this idea, he's been attacking Google and Apple with the Trump administration for a long time because on Face, I think on Facebook's behalf,

he's, of course, has to carry his woke banner thing constantly.

He's tireless and tiresome.

Oh, you mean saying?

Yes, these are woke.

This is like the, let's throw this at them.

They're woke.

Like, give me a break you know and i think what and then he always does indeed always have a kernel of truth that china is a major threat to the united states in many aspects um it'll be in he said he's a maximalist bitcoiner too so he likes to have it both ways right he likes to say you're all a tool of china and and yet this and so i again he's also right the government has to get involved in the regulation of cryptocurrency so it's that's what he does and it's so clever that he he sort of spreads uh truths in with his manipulations, the manipulations.

China's involvement in Apple is really, or Apple's involvement in China's relationship.

Apple now has more employees in China than they have in the U.S.

I did not talk to Cook about this.

It's my regret in that interview.

But go ahead.

The bottom line is nations that do over a certain amount of business with each other don't declare war on each other.

And I think the codependence that Apple represents between China and the U.S.

actually reduces the likelihood that China will ever invade Taiwan or be even more aggressive in the South China Seas.

that China says, everyone says, oh, Apple has to kiss China's ass.

Well, guess what?

China has to kiss Apple's ass, too, because if all of a sudden China, for whatever reason, or decided or Apple could no longer operate in China, you would have towns just, I mean.

entire cities kind of decimated.

And China is very worried about that because they can't just vote one party out.

The thing that makes China so unstable, and I'm channeling

Neil Ferguson here, is that you can't, when you get upset with the party, you can't can't then vote in the Republicans.

And we do that back and forth.

And that's an incredible shock absorber.

It makes our system much more resilient.

If you decide to vote out the Chinese Communist Party, it's not a vote.

It's a revolution.

And so they have to be very, very cognizant and thoughtful about the middle class.

The notion that they don't care about their populace is just not true because they realize if their populace decides to vote them out, they'll do it with pitchforks.

But I do think as a means of control, they're going to increase, you know, they want to have that power of Bitcoin.

And also, they are also, you know, so deeply into AI.

You imagine this is the first country that's going to run entirely on AI because they can run roughshod over issues of bias or surveillance.

You know, one of the things, I did an interesting interview yesterday with someone who's an AI expert.

And one of the things that was interesting to me is someone who's pushing around racial bias in AI and other biases in AI, gender biases.

And they said, one of the, one of the issues is if this, if it's effective in getting these more fair, it also means they work better on everybody, which is not a good thing, right?

So, it's kind of a really unusual.

There's all kinds of issues around what China's doing in AI and facial surveillance.

But, you know, Peter Thiel is a very clever guy, and he definitely is trying to make noise against Facebook.

And that's, he's a, he's a sort of a close-in knife in the chess player.

You know what I mean?

Like, he'll go right in in the way.

You mean like funding a professional wrestler to the tune of $10 million to figure out a way to put a media company out of business?

He just goes right in and just, he doesn't mind.

That is fearless.

It is aggressive.

And by the way, there's a brilliance there.

Yeah, that's how I feel about your shirt pictures.

Let me just go on.

Go on.

Minus the brilliance part.

Aggressive.

Minus the brilliance part.

Anyway, let's get on to the big story.

Go ahead.

Twitch, Amazon's live streaming service is making changes to its conduct policies.

It will enforce its policies on extreme behavior off the platform as well.

This will include policing everything from deadly violence, membership in a hate group, terrorism, threats of mass violence, non-consexual sexual activity, exploitation of children, threats against Twitch staff, and any threats of violence at a Twitch event.

Twitch's rules used to focus on behavior on the platform, but didn't specify the rules to be enforced in other areas.

This is a response to allegations of harassment against women video gamers on the platform and some of the people who are the most popular on the platform.

So, this is really interesting.

Brian Chusky has talked about this when we did the interview, talking about not letting people use his service that are convicted of, say, the capital attacks or use the service.

So what do we think about this?

What do we think?

I absolutely love it.

And I think it gives capitalism a better name.

And that is, I think this is shareholder driven, and it happens to be the right thing to do.

And it's wonderful when those two things intersect, because if you look over the last 12 months, there's been a wildly accretive, what I'll call, move to purity.

And that is Snap and Pinterest have outperformed their peers because they're seen as a safer place.

And Twitter's most accretive action was kicking off the ground zero of misinformation, our former president.

And I think everybody

public, I'm an investor in, is the antidote or the immunity, call it an immune response to the lack of concern for stakeholders and Commonwealth that you hope you get from capitalism.

But public is the immunity to Robinhood.

Neva is going to be the immunity to Google subscription search.

OpenWeb, another company I'm trying to invest in, is going to be the immunity to the toxicity of comments on media.

There is an investor play, a capitalist-driven move of being the immunity to some of these tech companies that are so damaging for America.

You know what's, in my opinion,

one of the most exciting examples of capitalism is Moderna.

You know,

incredibly smart, hardworking, humble Turkish immigrants become billionaires by coming up with a vaccine.

Bayon Tech.

The BioNTech, Pfizer, the Pfizer vaccine.

That was Pfizer.

That was a Moderna.

That was a Pfizer.

No,

thank you for that.

No problem.

But they're billionaires.

They've become billionaires.

Moderna.

They were before.

Stop fucking correcting me with your whole truth.

I did a big interview with them.

I know.

Your whole true thing.

Can you say, I think they're inspiring.

Can you say more about them?

Actually, it's Bientech.

And Bientech did this, not Moderna.

And it's the Pfizer vaccine.

And the founders are a Turkish couple who immigrated to Germany.

And their names are Ugar Sahin and Aslam Turechi.

An inspiration.

And they had previous companies, a number of biotech companies

who I can't recall at the moment, but they're billionaires.

They ride their bikes to work.

They're Turkish immigrants to Germany.

They created the vaccine.

And actually, when I got the Pfizer vaccine, I sent them a photo of myself getting the vaccine.

And I didn't, and I wrote, and I didn't post it either.

It was interesting.

And I think I did later when I had the second one.

But I said, thank you so much.

Thank you so much for doing this.

And they were like, okay, sounds good.

Yeah.

We got to get back to saving humanity.

We got to get back.

And they're using now, they're taking that technology.

It's going to go into a lot of other things, including cancer and other um

and they deserve to be they deserve to be billionaires and i think moderna that's the other moderna's first product was the vaccine

and they have made an absolute shit ton of money for their shareholders and their employees and i think it's wonderful you have

the i i have been thinking a lot about uh because i'm bored and in between shirtless photos i've been thinking about money, my other favorite thing other than my vanity.

And I'm taking money out of the public markets, which I actually think are going to disarticulate from the real economy over the next two years and go flat to down.

I think the markets are just overvalued.

Nobody knows.

We'll see.

But I've been putting money in private companies, and my theme, my entire theme for the next five years of my life around investment strategy is citizenship.

And it's not because I'm a good citizen.

Woke capitalism?

Is that what you're doing?

That's what the Republicans are calling it.

That's not being woke.

I'm not talking about boycotts.

I'm talking about people want.

People want an alternative to Google.

People want an alternative to Robinhood.

People want an an alternative to social media that is a handmade to sedition.

And I think that there's going to be a lot of money in that.

And

power corrupts, and I think there is an immune response.

I think the government's going to go after these guys and make it difficult for them to kill competitors as easily as they have in the past.

The thing about maintaining it, though, that's going to be difficult is sort of monitoring people.

And, you know, some of these things are pretty easy.

Are they, did they participate in the Capitol riots, for example?

Are they a member of a hate group that can be found out?

And so I think it's going to be difficult enforcement with these things, but that I think the behavior, there is no thing, there's no such thing.

You know,

I was told you I was watching this into the storm.

There's people, one of the guys who created 8chan, the guy who created 8chan, Frederick Brennan, I think his name is,

who got sort of, you know, it's a complex story.

In any case, he's the one that freaked out about it, right?

And started raising awareness.

And he said, he said, I thought that online and off, because he had got, they had sued him.

He had to escape the Philippines because of a lawsuit.

And so the people who took over 8chan from them and who are thought thought to be Q.

And one of the things he said is, for years, I thought online and offline were separate things and they're not.

And so

that's a great, I mean, it's a simple but genius insight when you think about it.

And so he was talking about his own situation, but he's absolutely correct.

And what's interesting is what does it mean?

Well, who can, you know, if you do things that are capitalist, it also helps it.

There was just a, you know, Patagonia just gave a million dollars to voter registration issues in Georgia and the voter suppression stuff.

And of course, immediately Ben Shapiro, that guy,

the non-smart version of Peter Deal.

Ben is really smart.

I mean,

I think it's like you said, he brings.

Who is Peter?

No, I think Ben is very smart.

I do not think, I think he's not in any way.

And he actually made a stupid.

I think he's a troll.

I agree with that.

He's also, he's very, very smart.

I guess.

But he made a stupid tweet where he was talking about

that they gave him this this money and then they said, and then here's our $65 shorts.

And of course, everyone pointed out the reason they're $65 is because they have childcare.

They don't use, you know, you can sell them for $10 at Walmart because they get them from places where the work conditions aren't good.

And I wrote, I wrote, who diss new capitalism?

Like, it's so what?

You're against capitalism.

Oh, you just love yourself.

You just took your shirt off.

No, I did not take my shirt off.

No, but I'm saying there are new kinds of companies that are going to be a little different, one hopes, that are going to use capitalism

capitalism.

I think it's a great story.

I think it's a great investment strategy.

Now I'm pissed at you.

Now, the shirt is nothing, Ben.

What's his company, The Daily Wire?

Have you listened to his podcast?

I have listened to him.

I mean, it's like listening to who's that woman, Candace Owens.

You listen, you go, oh my God, I'm so frightened.

Her content is so scary, and she's so,

I don't know.

He is very smart.

His thinking is very foul.

You can walk right through it as a big giant holes constantly.

He just says things like that.

Come on,

look at the podcast world, Dan Bongino and Mark.

Okay.

All right.

You're going to put, that's going to be the bar.

Okay.

Yeah.

He's real smart in comparison.

In any case, I don't want to go on about it because I don't want to spend a minute of my life thinking about this guy.

But nonetheless, it made me think about the idea that there is, you know, Patagonia is a very good example of this.

They've got shareholders.

We should have Ben on.

Would you have Ben Shapiro on the show?

No.

No?

Okay.

100% not.

No.

I don't want to.

I don't.

Life's too short.

In any case,

and he'll make pay out of this for some reason.

In any case, I want to talk about this.

The idea of what it takes, that you can combine capitalism with this and not be a coup's necessarily woke is that it's good for the customer, that customers are expecting this,

and that people do think very hard about their money.

Now, listen, Twitch is owned by Amazon.

So, you know, meanwhile, over here where they're tweeting mean pee things

at reporters who are questioning their work stuff in,

or congressmen in that case,

which is fully valid for Congressmen to do that.

Here they are doing this.

So it's kind of interesting.

Aaron Powell, Jr.: Look, I think Amazon, I think all these companies have recognized that at least the perception of citizenship is now accretive.

And it used to be

just be capitalist, just be Darwinian and harsh and people respect it and it's manly and it's all about shareholder value and all is forgiven as long as the share price goes up.

I do think that the sun has passed, I'd like to think sun has passed midday on that and there's a great strategy.

You are going to see, you know, we call it ESG right now or sustainability, you're going to see a citizenship portfolio that says, we're not doing this to save the whales.

We're doing this because we think these stocks are going to go up because the marketplace is looking for immunities around each of these viruses, specifically the biggest virus, which is Facebook.

And I think Mark Zuckerberg realizes that and is trying to pivot away or trying to diversify.

And I think Jeff Bezos, who is clearly, in my view, going to go down as the clearest blue flame thinker in business history at this point, is saying, okay, any opportunity we have to come across, you know, to starch our hat white and be the sheriff that shows up and acts responsible.

I think they've actually been pretty disciplined around this.

We'll see what they do in Alabama because if they take a really, they the direction they were going in was not a pretty one, I'll tell you, with all those tweets and the aggression.

We'll see where they do.

That was wrong.

They did apologize.

They apologize.

They apologize.

And also,

I.

Pooler heads prevailed.

I wouldn't be surprised.

I wouldn't be surprised.

And I just don't know the situation down there.

But if I had to bet, I don't think the union is going to win because 16 bucks, I went to Kentucky to pick up our puppy and I said, how's the economy here?

I was driving through Kentucky, a beautiful day, and they said, the economy is booming because of Amazon.

And if you have a couple and each is working at the Bessemer factory and each is making $16 an hour plus benefits, that's an upper middle class lifestyle in

Bessemer.

In addition, in addition, what Amazon has done, and this is the key component of any successful company, in my view, is that they have created an internal brand of credible acceleration.

And that is no matter where you start at Amazon, there is a chance you can crawl out.

Because one of the most dangerous things about the cluster of low-paying jobs is that all of us have been in one of those clusters.

Not all of us, maybe you didn't, but most of the middle-class and lower middle-income households, I parked cars, I was a box boy.

And then a lot of young people, 60% of those people make it out of those clusters.

But if you don't make it out of those low-wage clusters within 10 years,

the 40% who remain in them, only 2% escape.

And so

the key to creating better jobs is not that we do away with low-paying jobs.

It's just that we create acceleration and trajectory.

And what out of those clusters?

And Amazon has done that.

Amazon credibly says to anybody on the warehouse floor, if you work your ass off and you're good and you have specific domain expertise and talents, we will elevate you.

You have an opportunity to make a difference.

There's still a credible discussion of how they treat their workers that they need to address.

No doubt.

No doubt.

They absolutely have to address it.

It's their biggest issue, given how many people they've added on.

They've hired half a million people in 12 months.

And also, we're at a different point of what a worker is and what the worker's rights should be.

And there's a lot of political pressure and there's a lot of populist pressure.

And so even though, you know, thank you so much, Jeff Bezos, for $15 an hour.

Some people say those jobs in their warehouse used to be 20.

You know what I mean?

Like, and so Amazon has set the price.

So there's lots of arguments you made but i do appreciate this twitch move so whether it's as you say lipstick on cancer or it's actually a very good move um i this is really great this they crafted this in an interesting way we'll see if they can enforce it i think i have issues around enforcement and we'll see what companies do better and not just they're not just uh virtue signaling but actually um are woke in the way we appreciate you know what i mean that sort of walk the talk and do things um because they mean about it now a lot of people feel this is all bullshit but that

there's a huge, I think there's a real learning here and something that endures from this decision and very little endures about these decisions.

And the enduring feature of this decision is a recognition by the wealthiest man in the world that

you cannot separate online behavior and offline behavior.

And what I would put out to a lot of people, individuals, famous, successful, blessed people on Twitter, it's like, how can you behave that way online and not believe that it's going to impact you you offline?

How can you be this weird, aggressive, toxic online and for some reason think that it doesn't impact your perception, people's perception of you offline?

It just, you would never say that to someone in person.

You would never be this aggressive or thoughtless if you had to face somebody.

And

Jeff Bezos saying that, the recognition, if you know, Mark Zuckerberg,

when he lets anti-vax content run amok, that means in communities of color, they're just less likely to go sign up for a vaccine.

The online content, online behavior should not be distinct or have different standards than offline behavior.

Oddly enough, Mark Zuckerberg, if you had met them in person, is a nicer, isn't it?

Easier person to deal with than Jeff.

It's interesting.

Easier to deal with than what sounds.

Just a little pleasant, earnest,

if you met him in real life.

Really?

Can't imagine saying shitty.

I heard Mussolini was fucking charming.

I mean, really charming, like a great guy to party with.

Yeah, yeah, fair enough.

Incredibly charming.

And he's a nice.

Let's go to a quick break.

We endorse this.

When we come back, we'll talk about YouTube and the videos that violate their policies and a listener mail question.

By the way, most sociopaths are usually very charming.

All right, thank you.

That's it.

You'd know.

That hurts.

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Okay, Scott, we're back.

YouTube is revealing how many views videos on the platform are getting before they are removed for violating guidelines.

They used to just talk about takedowns, which doesn't really give you much of anything.

This week, the company disclosed a new metric they're calling violative view rate, VR.

It calculates the percentage of total views on YouTube that come from videos that do not meet its guidelines before the videos are removed.

And a blog post YouTube said in 2020 for every 10,000 views on YouTube, 16 to 18 were for content that broke YouTube's rules and lets the removal of the video.

The violative view rate has dropped over 70% since it was first tracked in the fourth quarter of 2017.

It adds more data on, certainly.

So what does this tell us about what's going on there on YouTube?

What do you think of this new metric that they're trying to put out there?

And I have some thoughts, but how do you feel about this?

Oh, this is total bullshit.

They've had this metric forever.

Just the moment the metric turned to casting them in a good light, they've decided to make it public.

Basically, what they're saying here is our bad content isn't as damaging as you think are the media reports.

What they're trying to say is...

Well, yeah, they're saying, look, once bad content goes up, we immediately recognize it and take it down.

And that metric, they've been tracking this metric for years, but they haven't made it public because just now it's starting to reflect them in a good light.

This is,

you know, quite frankly, I just think it's, I think it's bullshit.

It has nothing to do with trying to, this is just a plain and simple PR move to say, hey, we're bad, but we're not as bad as you think.

What do you, what are your thoughts?

I think, look, more data, the better, as always.

And I think the ones where they just said we took down this many, I don't even know what it means.

What do you mean?

What kind?

Like, it was so unspecific.

That's just how they do this.

And

so that wasn't very helpful as a metric.

This is a better metric.

So, okay.

But I would love them to allow, along with Facebook, independent researchers to get in there and look at this stuff.

So I can actually hear from them about what matters.

And that we get very different skews on what's happening.

I also don't know, and I think Casey Newton pointed this out in his excellent newsletter, The Platformer,

was that you also don't know

what's the adjacent content that almost got talked, took down and why aren't what it what's the impact of those posts, right?

So there's a lot of stuff that's right on the edge that they that they don't pull down um and so I think their their favorite thing is to give data that is slightly insightful but yet not vetted by people who are not working for YouTube and so great I'm glad to take this one I think a lot of the researchers are but at the same time there's lots of questions on what it means and so

maybe they're moving better to better moderation, but I'd like more much like almost full transparency on how they do these things.

And the excuse they use is that we want to catch the people.

If they know how we catch them,

they'll know.

And I don't know.

I just, you know, we know how cops work.

We know, you know, I mean, there's, of course, there's not enough transparency there either.

But

it's just their take on it.

And I think you're right.

I think they knew this and it looks better.

And the fact that they hadn't done this for a long time seems kind of odd, given all the issues around it.

I don't know.

You're right.

It looks better, but we need more.

Well,

there's a general rule rule in research, and that is if you want to know the conclusion to any research, just find out who's funded the study.

Yeah.

And so, Google is funding

this study or this data.

The data I would love to see.

And of course, Google and Facebook will never work.

I'd love to see an academic, and maybe this research is out there.

And if it isn't, someone forwards it to me.

I'll

struggle with research from Google and all that.

Well, Google has weaponized the academic community because at the end of the day, every academic sits around and asks themself one question: How can I hold myself less accountable and make more money?

Anyways, so

what you have, what would be great, what would be great research from

the strong and still present cohort in academia that is pursuing the truth and trying to make the world a better place and is fearless with data, and data is their valerian steel, is what would be really interesting is to look at all the media consumption

amongst mass shooters and how it's different from other people that don't pick up an AR-15.

And I think what we're going to find, I'm going to go out on a limb here, that YouTube and Facebook over-index among young men who decide to find an AR-15 and go wreak terror on our communities.

That's my thesis.

That's my thesis.

I would love it if it would be great if an academic did peer-review research to validate or nullify that thesis.

Well, what's interesting about that, the other part is how they link with each other.

That's why I want independent researchers is that, you know, a lot of the YouTube videos are seen on Facebook.

So, you know, when they go over there, and so even if they take them down,

you don't follow the train of impact, you know what I mean, and where it is and who's watching it.

Attribution.

It's the hardest thing in the world.

Yeah, exactly.

And so

it's, it's just kind of interesting that there's all these interesting researchers like

Daphne Keller from Sanford's Cyber Policy Center

talks a lot about these issues.

There's, we should have her on because it's a really, it's a really,

you know, you want to say, good, we're getting more data at the same time as can you just let us look at the data?

Can we just have it?

And of course, they have all kinds of excuses not to.

And that makes them vulnerable.

That makes them 100% vulnerable to hand over their thing.

But there's all this

interoperability between these companies that is not clear, right?

Who sees the whole picture?

And so when you're understanding like, where did it like in this in this QAnon video, remember, HM was taken down because that's where he put his manifesto.

But he had been, as it turned turned out, more radicalized on YouTube.

So sort of they went and shut down 8chan, but then they didn't do anything about the YouTube part of the equation.

So I think it's much, much more complex.

And if we could get independent researchers in here, it would be great.

That would be my ideal.

And not funded by these companies.

You know what I mean?

Not funded.

This would be a government thing, too.

100%.

And

acknowledge a difficulty, which

Daphne just wrote.

we imagine that platforms can bring the whole sprawling chaos of human behavior into compliance with the law, make our lives policeable and policed to no degree no government history could have ever imagined.

Not only do we think it's possible, we think it's a good idea.

So it's just, it's an interesting time right now where these companies are, you know, speaking of woke companies, they should give this data and see how we can all figure out how they react with each other, et cetera, et cetera.

Look, at the end of the day, Google won't even tell us how they decide and program algorithms to push content and answer content with a greater veracity than God or Super Bing to 93% of the world.

I mean, so the notion that they're going to release other data,

we don't know how they're making a decision between whether to give someone instructions on how to build a bomb or a voter registration form when they voice intent around changing government.

They won't even let us know how they do that.

So the notion that they're going to put out any data that hasn't been totally starched clean and reflects them in nothing but a positive light is just absolutely

wishful thinking.

I love that QAnon's brand is totally, I love how with the Matt Gates scandal, they're like, well, you can't believe everything you read on the internet.

I mean, all of a sudden they're very thoughtful and measured.

It's like you finally have your child trafficking scandal.

I'm telling you, Scott, if you want to watch a great show, it's like one.

Oh, that's right.

You've been talking about that.

So good.

It's so good.

It's so interesting.

And it's like, it makes you realize like one person can really mess up a world, like, you know, kind of stuff.

And it's not even clear that it might, Punan might have started off with someone else, like Steve Bannon or something.

I always thought it was Steve Bannon, but it turns out that's not the case.

But

at this point, at least, they think many people think it's been haggard.

But what's really sad is all these incredibly sad people gathered around it, making their livelihoods around sad, sad things.

But again,

it comes back to the same place.

When you attach to a job, when you attach to economic prosperity, when you attach to a great relationship, when you attach to learning, when you attach to helping others, you don't attach to conspiracy theory.

And

if we, I,

I think the biggest antidote to all of this is economic opportunity for people under the age of 30.

I think if you're ridiculously, when you, when you get a mate, you, you, you comb your hair, you put on a clean shirt, and you don't go to 8-chan.

Here's what I actually

think.

I know, but this stuff is more, it's more interesting to think about Gates putting a chip in your body and that, and that you got to wait two weeks.

You know what I mean?

Like, it's very creative.

I'll tell you that.

A lot of this stuff is crazy.

I'm talking about the scary stuff where you believe,

where you're inspired, you're inspired to do something really heinous.

I think that is directly.

But the people who pursue this.

One of the things I took away from this, Dr.

Mary is, there's a lot of people who,

if you could channel their intelligence in this way rather than crazy, it would be quite something.

But you're right.

Anyway, speaking of which, here's what we should all do is smoke a lot more weed moving on we're gonna take this where did that go hello hello i know i know i go everywhere this is a this is a wild day just because i'm so uh i'm still reeling from your photo um okay moving on let's take a listener mail question go for it you've got you've got i can't believe i'm gonna be a mailman you you've got mail

hi karen scott my name is adam i live in los angeles california big fan of this podcast and you too i have a question i I own a stock in MedMen, weed retailer, and I've noticed, you know, the stock has gone down tremendously since I owned it.

I mean, it was like at a three, and now it's like 10 cents or something.

And other weed stocks aren't faring well.

With opening up of legislation across New York City and New York State, Pennsylvania, even Virginia,

when do you think stocks will be doing better?

Are these companies will be doing better?

Is this a long-term thing that I should hold on to or just give up?

No.

Thanks.

Bye.

So, Scott, this is interesting.

The lack of these shares not doing well.

I've read the stories and I don't quite understand it because it doesn't make sense to me since I know a lot of people who smoke weed.

And in California and everything,

the stocks and the businesses are much more

problematic.

Do you have any insight?

You know, I don't...

I stop giving advice around stocks.

What I tell people is the stocks I own or don't own.

And I joke a lot about marijuana.

I actually don't smoke that much.

I occasionally take an edible when I need to sleep, but I'm a big fan of legalizing marijuana.

I think it's much less damaging.

You know,

people don't smoke a joint and engage in domestic violence, whereas with alcohol, alcohol is not a good thing.

That's my son's argument, but go ahead.

Well, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I'm just saying.

Yeah, but

marijuana doesn't cause cancer.

Alcohol does.

I mean, if you really look at harm to society, the green wave, we should welcome it and ride it.

And it has medicinal benefits, helps people sleep.

You know, I remember even like growing up, I never did cocaine.

And I was like, when guys use cocaine, they just, or people do cocaine, they just become selfish and weird and predatory.

Whereas when people smoke pot, they want to laugh with each other and watch South Park.

I'm like, okay.

And then when people get drunk, they get in driving accidents.

And I'm not saying you should ever drive in paradigm to marijuana.

But anyway, I'm a big fan of marijuana.

In terms of an investment strategy,

as a general rule, I don't like it because every billionaire baby boomer I know smokes pot and they are investing in marijuana, which says to me the space is overinvested and which drives down returns.

And there's still huge regulatory hurdles.

If I were going to invest in marijuana stocks, I would invest in the mine.

I'd invest in the picks.

I'd find the company that's producing hydroponic or cultivating technologies.

I wouldn't invest in the distribution.

I think MedMen, I was in LA and I wanted to go into a MedMen and I didn't have time because supposedly it's the Apple stores of marijuana.

Whenever I'm in Aspen, I go into, there's this great marijuana store.

I just like seeing the merchandising.

and also buying edible chocolates.

But

I don't like the space and I don't own any marijuana stocks because I think, quite frankly, it's overinvested.

What do you think, Carol?

Well, it's interesting.

The biggest one is actually a company called Cura Leaf.

I did a tiny bit of research on this.

It has 100.

Is that Canada?

Is it a Canadian company?

No, I think it's, I don't know where it is.

In any case,

it's got 100 dispensaries in

half the states, processing facilities, cultivation sites.

So it sort of is a soup to nuts kind of thing, so to speak, sell tons of strains, edibles, everything else.

And it really is growing fast

compared to others, for example.

And so at some point, someone's going to want to own this.

Right now, they consider it about $21 billion legal marijuana market right now.

So

it's going to be a big

taxes, obviously,

people are attracted, states are attracted, more states than ever are attracted to the taxes.

But, you know, it's historic.

New York signed this marijuana bill.

Cuomo's in trouble.

That's the interesting thing here.

Seriously, you know what the best thing

the best thing to happen to best thing to happen to marijuana stocks yeah is these women coming forward against andrew cuomo okay all right well it's been going on look what he's doing do you think he all of a sudden he would he would he would legalize marijuana and legalize gambling if he wasn't trying to create huge distractions right now do you think marijuana would be legal in new york right now which it is no if women had not come forward against andrew cuomo and his staff had said shit we got to distract and govern right now any decision get it done right now Yeah.

And I think there's ultimately, I, they will be very, it's a very good industry.

These stocks that go up and down, and they really do, it's really quite something.

Um, you know, there's, there's not, there's not a lot of, there's no, the federal issues are a big deal.

Um, it needs more institutional backing.

When you see like the way meat did, the impossible, you know, when the big meat purveyors invested, you don't see a lot of people are still sort of waiting on the outside, but there's been investments

like american tobacco uh came into one at one point last year i think and so i think it's what's really interesting is is that it's um

uh it's an interesting area and there's lots like in in this area um

Cura Leaf is one of them.

There's a couple of others.

There's one called AFRIA.

There's a whole bunch of them.

And I think you're just not going to figure out who's going to be, but when the institutions come in, when there's more very clear federal legislation around the uses of this, and there's more than however many states are doing it right now.

It will be a big industry.

I think it's just we've made huge progress, though.

When my mom was suffering from late-stage cancer, one of the few things that ever gave her relief and that she could actually eat was when she smoked pot.

And she never smoked pot in her 69 years before that.

And I didn't want to travel with marijuana.

This is 15 years ago.

I was very scared of being on a plane with marijuana.

So I would literally end up on the Las Vegas Strip trying to score marijuana.

And I remember thinking, how fucked up is this?

You know, unless we can, I can get my mom opioid opiates, no problem.

But in order to stimulate her appetite, I gotta, I'm this 40-year-old dude on the Las Vegas Strip trying to fucking score illegal drugs.

And I'm like, this is just so screwed up.

You know what?

One observation I have right now is that it's clear neither you nor me know what we're talking about.

And we should bring on the story.

You know, actually, I've studied sucks.

I'm writing about it.

I just, I'm really interested in the space.

Do you disagree?

You do know what you're talking about?

I do a little bit.

Yeah, I've been really looking at it.

I do think that it's, you know, because there's so much technology involved in the delivery of this stuff and how to get it.

And if you're not.

You mean an Uber driver?

I'd be fascinated if Amazon got into it, right?

Like delivering it.

No, no, no, they're not going to get into it.

I don't know.

Yet, but at some point they will.

Well, it's a perfect application for droids because the value to weight ratio is incredible.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I just feel like it's they're very small.

Having a small drones, I mean, sorry.

You just hold on to it for the long run.

I think that's how I would.

I'm not a.

That defines every investment.

Say something that means something.

Or a Cure Cura Leaf is where a lot of people think that that's the one.

There's a couple others.

And the focus

has often been on the growers, but there's other businesses around it.

And I think, I don't know, it just reminds me a little bit of Bitcoin.

It reminds me of like a lot of stuff where I don't want to like, just because the stocks haven't kept up doesn't mean they won't.

How's that?

But like, I just feel like there's a big, this is going to be a very strong industry.

And it's sweeping.

If I had to guess, legalization is sweeping North America.

You know, the winners are here.

Companies that make drones because of the value to weight.

And also, I think big tobacco is going to come in here.

I think they understand regulated industries.

They understand how to sell combustibles.

I would be shocked if Philip Morris and Altrio and

BAT and Japanese people.

And they have.

They have made investments.

Yep.

They went into dual things like dual further.

I'll tell you what, you keep writing about it.

I'll keep researching it.

Okay, good.

I think, you know,

there are 16 states plus D.C.

that have legalized recognition.

That was like

nothing, honey, a couple of years ago.

I i just feel like it's one of these things you should keep it hold it don't imagine it's going to be like your biggest thing ever but it's it's a i think it's important thank you okay scott one more quick break and we'll be back for predictions

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Okay, Scott, prediction time.

So we've covered so many areas and I predict there's going to be another photo of you naked.

Go off.

You predicting?

Get you out of jail.

No, I'm not predicting.

I'm just worried.

Get out of jail.

Yeah.

So my prediction, I have a tech prediction and a legislation prediction.

A double prediction.

So what if they're all

LG's handset company was closed down.

It's going to be revived by a big tech platform.

Yeah.

You can't.

Facebook.

Well,

that's the gangster call here is that Facebook buys LG's handset business.

They gotta.

But if it's not them,

you know, the chipsets and sensors that make up a decent phone, that is not easy.

And to have figured that out and figured out the supply chain around the glass and

the sensors and everything, that is real IP.

And they're either going to sell the IP for a lot of money, but I think someone's going to come in with a monster bid and take the handset division.

Because at the end of the day, we're in a gross attention war, and every screen that commands one basis point of humanity's attention is worth billions of dollars.

And if someone says, all right, we have a credible phone, LG actually has a really nice brand around design and industrial design.

They make fantastic appliances.

And I think that that IP and that supply chain is too tempting for one of these platforms or companies to not build.

It might even be a dumb device, just something that streams Netflix really well or something.

Yeah, but Netflix, Disney, Facebook, the companies who, the only barrier between them and a trillion dollars is the fact that they don't control the end appliance.

So it's got to be Facebook, right?

Actually, I don't think so.

You know who'd be an interesting acquirer here?

Who is Roku?

You love that, Roku.

Roku is one of the most...

Roku is arguably one of the two or three most innovative companies of the last 10 years.

Right up there with Shopping.

Many people think so.

But a content company, if they control the interface, I just think my mind spins about the potential around getting that sort of IP and supply chain technology to try and get it.

Nobody can output Facebook.

They got to get a phone.

All this stuff around Apple and

everything else.

I like that one too.

The other one.

The thing is, do you want to buy a Facebook phone?

They didn't, it didn't work last time with Home.

Disasters.

What if they gave it out for free, though?

What if it was an incredible camera and gave it out for free?

I don't know.

We'll see.

I'm not saying it's a good idea.

I'm saying somebody is going to pick it up.

Someone will talk themselves into believing they should pick it up.

All right.

Well, remember we went to Microsoft and Nokia.

And then just as, yeah, and Google bought Motorola and then shut it down.

There's a graveyard of people thinking they can build a handset business, including Amazon.

Which does make you appreciate Apple in terms of how it delivers that product.

It's really most profitable product in history.

Margins of Ferrari production volumes with Toyota.

I've never seen anything like it.

Anyways, my other prediction is that, so just as Janet Yellen recognizes that the arbitrage around taxes leads to abnormal behavior with companies doing these inversions, trying to find it's kind of a lowest, a downward spiral, lowest common denominator problem that is really unhealthy for society.

When Trump was elected, he immediately imposed a tax on blue states because he didn't care about them.

And with salt, he basically said that state and local income taxes are no longer tax deductible.

He basically said to California and New York, I'm going to kick you in the nuts because I don't care.

You're never going for me.

I hate you.

I think Biden is going to do something similar, and that is when we talk about the international arbitrage around taxation, an even bigger anomaly that is creating more externalities negatively is the domestic arbitrage around state taxes.

And that is, Elon Musk is moving to Texas and basically going to take about $15 billion in tax liability to California and get out of it by relocating to Austin.

There is a sucking sound out of the Northeast into Florida of of anybody who sits on a large unrealized capital gain.

And I don't think that's sustainable.

So I wouldn't be surprised if the Biden administration says, okay,

I need to get some of these blue states.

The blue states I like, specifically California and New York,

aren't going to be economically sustainable if we keep letting people make money, and that is build $500 million in unrealized gains sitting on the top of a hedge fund, and they piece out to the Surf Club, which is a four seasons-run property in North Miami.

So just as Janet Yellen is going after international tax treaties, you're going to see the Biden administration propose some sort of intrastate tax treaty.

I think it will absolutely be that way because that was just a ridiculous shot, obvious shot to the nuts by Trump.

Unfair shot to the nuts.

Yeah, but it's just not.

So

I like the fact that states should be, and there's a negative to that.

I think New York and California have to have a reckoning with unions, with bureaucrats, with the way they spend money on public infrastructure it's just become wasteful and there's a certain discipline in states like texas and florida that and they those states those deep blue states could benefit from some of that discipline nice job on the winter storm but texas give me a break come on and the leaking thing in florida they just don't do things they're like the facebook of states

well okay well let me put it another way do you think manhattan do you think manhattan is offering a good value for an incremental 15 taxes relative to

i i agree i agree

the matter is

worth citizens as well.

I think New Jersey is worth 12 or 13% additional taxes?

I agree.

That is a different thing.

I just don't think they're the like, like some of these states that go on and on are the biggest takers, not Florida and in this case.

But like when you see, like, I forget what state was Arkansas, Arkansas is a massive taker.

And there's states that are,

you know, all they do is they take and then they pass shitty laws against intolerant, shitty, cruel laws.

Uh, all the time, intolerant, cruel, shitty laws.

That's not a generalization, that's not a generalization.

They are.

Are you kidding?

I don't know.

If I do nothing about it, if I'm going to cut in Arkansas, I can't, if a doctor decides not to treat me, it doesn't have to because I'm gay.

Fuck that guy.

Like, okay.

The governor tried to veto it, right?

And it was a rude.

He didn't veto that one.

He signed that one.

He tried to veto the trans one.

And of course, it got pushed.

He knew it was going to get passed anyway.

So a big courage for him.

He should have, there's lots of things he could have done and he didn't do.

In any case, we should pivot live from Ark on Arkansas.

Yes, we should.

I'm not going there.

I'm not going to that statement.

I will say in my woke moment of 50.

Spending a dime in Arkansas.

I did cancel our trip.

I was going to take my youngest to the Atlanta Aquarium, and I did cancel our trip.

All right, then.

Good for you.

That'll show you.

I don't want people.

There's all these great people of Atlanta.

You don't want us to be able to do that.

And I wasn't going to wear my shirt.

That's a difficult state.

That's a difficult state because there's all these people who have to tolerate this bullshit legislature crap that they're doing.

In any case, states get the governments they deserve.

They deserve.

That is true, unfortunately.

But in the case of these, you're right.

The taxes are too high.

The delivery of services is not as great.

There's different priorities.

But in general, most of the states you're talking about are givers in this, in this giver-takers.

We should do a whole giver-taker thing of who does it.

And the states that scream the most about don't give people of color all this welfare are the ones that take most of the welfare.

And so in different ways,

but it's the same difference.

I don't think that's a tax thing.

I think that's a law.

I think these should be laws, full stop.

You're right.

They need to stop the that.

The thing that Trump did was entirely unfair, just unfair.

If there's a fair way to do this, that's a different story.

And I think you're right.

They need to eat that.

Anyways, LG's handset division will be purchased.

Good ones.

Facebook is the leader.

I think Roku's a number two.

And we're going to see an intrastate tax treaty mandated at a federal level.

It'll be bad for Florida and Texas because a huge source of economic growth for them is people coming down with their unrealized gains and buying fat houses and

putting money into the economy.

But I don't think it's sustainable.

Anyways, those are my two predictions, Karen.

Yeah, we'll see how that goes.

It'll be interesting to see how that sustains itself, those people moving down to Florida, et cetera.

But all I know is I'm coming out to Florida and you better be casting.

Coming to the doghound.

You better be scared.

By the way, I need your help.

You know, we have this great dame puppy and she's doing great.

And our rescue hound, our little Puerto Rican rescue mutt, who we think is a dachshund, is all freaked out and won't come out of her crate.

I don't know if she's jealous.

I don't know if she's freaked out about

the discipline on the Great Dane, but she's really sad.

It's just weird.

It's like,

I don't know if she misses Zoe, where she had kind of a motherfucker.

Oh, that might be.

You know, dogs have grief.

I've had dogs my whole life.

She's grieving.

My gangster is grieving.

I don't know.

That's interesting.

You should consult some books.

There's lots of books.

Yeah,

they say put her on a leash so she feels safe and then show her a ton of affection.

Yeah, safety is very important to dogs.

Safety and there's so much going on with dogs that are, that is so interesting and complex.

It's really good that you have dogs.

We can't wait to meet those dogs.

Amanda, as it turns out, loves the kind of great Dane you got with the color with the blue steel.

That's right.

I sent her photos.

That's all about it.

I was like, I've never heard of such a thing.

I just want to tell you, I just be prepared.

She's like, that's your favorite dog.

I'm like, really?

This is the most beautiful dog.

This is the most beautiful dog you've ever seen.

All right.

I let this thing sit on my chest and I just stare at it.

I see that.

You sent me a lot of photos.

I am obsessed with this dog.

I am excited to meet your dog who doesn't wear clothes and I'm excited to see you.

There you go.

Yes, exactly.

Anyway, that's the show.

Not bad for 73.

Not bad for 73.

Yeah, okay.

We're going to have a great time.

I don't do it at 73.

We're going to have a great time.

Go to nymag.com slash pivot to submit your question for the podcast.

The link is also in our show notes.

Scott, please read us out.

Today's episode was produced by Rebecca Sinanis, Ernie Andrew Todd, engineered this episode.

Thanks also to Hannah Rosen and Drew Burrows.

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Or if you're an Android user, check us out on Spotify or frankly, wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media.

We'll be back next week for a breakdown of all things tech and business.

Kara, I hope you and your family have a wonderful weekend.

Well, thank you and keep your pants on.