Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

I recommend to that book The Bomb by Fred Kaplan yesterday.

What they point to in the book is that nuclear annihilation is a core military tenant of both the United States and Russia not only in terms of deterrence but at it's reflecting the the mindset of what you just pointed out there which is that what's the point of living if we can't exist and in that state we are going to annihilate not only Russia but make Europe unlivable again

This morning I was reading a book called 'The Bomb' by Fred Kaplan and actually what's very important I highly recommend the book by the way it's a history of nuclear deterrence by the United States is very readable.

I recommend to that book The Bomb by Fred Kaplan yesterday.

This morning I was reading a book called the Bomb by Fred Caplan and actually what's very important I highly recommend the book by the way it's a history of nuclear deterrence by the United States is very readable what they point to in the book is that nuclear annihilation is a core military tenant of both the United States and Russia not only in terms of deterrence but at it's reflecting the the mindset of what you just pointed out there which is that what's the point of living if we can't exist and in that state we are going to annihilate not only Russia but make Europe unlivable again this is why the fact that you know Putin is things aren't going well and he's backed into a corner his economy is collapsing he's cut off from the world the the military campaign is not going as quickly as he had thought even though they maintained vast military superiority that's why this is also dangerous that's why the the hawks that are you know beating their chests and floating no fly zones and all of this in total insanity why we have to very strongly push back against them and why even when it comes to the sanctions we have to walk very very carefully because you do not want to create a dangerous escalatory situation

This book is like a tour of a once majestic 18th century wooden house now burned to its foundations that focuses solely on and rejoices in what's left amid the ashes the two singed bathtubs the gravel driveway and the mailbox.

Kushner's fealty to Trump remains absolute. Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog's I go.

Jared Kushner did more damage to the presidency and the Trump agenda during his four year reign of error at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue than anyone.

His neutered the boss role quickly became a source of friction between us. He believed that I more than anyone inside the West Wing could rile up the president to take actions that were in fact totally consistent with Trump's central campaign promises. But as this particular Wall Street transactionist like to say and it always made me cringe that was the campaign. This is reality.

Kushner may be the single most mediocre and yet powerful figure in modern American politics.

Jared Kushnerhas a new book coming out.

it is already being panned in spectacular fashion like across the spectrum from the right to the left times

This book is like a tour of a once majestic 18th century wooden house now burned to its foundations that focuses solely on and rejoices in what's left amid the ashes the two singed bathtubs the gravel driveway and the mailbox.

Kushner's fealty to Trump remains absolute. Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog's eye.

Jared Kushner did more damage to the presidency and the Trump agenda during his four year reign of error at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue than anyone.

Kushner may be the single most mediocre and yet powerful figure in modern American politics.

One of the most shameless grifters in modern memory to ever like come to Washington. And one of the most egotistical figures who writes these shameless books celebrating his fake achievements.

That book was like number one on Amazon after his model called the 2012 election.

That book was like number one on Amazon after his model called the 2012 election.

I'm actually reading Nate's book right now and I highly recommend it.

47 is very high.

Like you should be afraid.

Sheldon Adelson used a 20 million dollar donation to a super PAC to pressure then-President Donald Trump to adopt the highly controversial decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Adelson's singular focus was Israel, wrote Haberman, effectively acknowledging the foreign president's biggest funder was most interested in promoting the interests of a foreign country.

Maggie Haberman who I think was one of the more solid reporters during the Trump administration, it has a new book coming out this fall called Confidence Man about his rise and about his presidency.

They say well President Trump was in office, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper.

a mostly fictitious book by the way that uh he apparently like cooperated with yeah sat down with her he just can't he just can't resist canny.

Well, President Trump was in office, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper.

a mostly fictitious book by the way that uh he apparently like cooperated with yeah sat down with her he just can't he just can't resist canny

Sheldon Adelson used a 20 million dollar donation to a super PAC to pressure then President Donald Trump to adopt the highly controversial decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Adelson's singular focus was Israel, wrote Haberman, effectively acknowledging the foreign president's biggest funder was most interested in promoting the interests of a foreign country.

Well, President Trump was in office, staff in the White House residence periodically discovered wads of printed paper clogging a toilet and believed the president had flushed pieces of paper.

He says that the allegations are another fake story, call some categorically untrue, simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book.

a mostly fictitious book by the way that uh he apparently like cooperated with yeah sat down with her he just can't he just can't resist canny

It's actually fascinating. It's called 'His Very Best'. Highly recommend it.

That came out last year that Biden really is Jimmy Carter except honestly worse in many respects

If anyone's interested, I read Jonathan Alter's biography of Jimmy Carter. It's actually fascinating. It's called 'His Very Best'. Highly recommend it.

I wrote this book in 2020 late at night like reflecting on my journey and what I had experienced and what I thought the real problems were and in that process I learned a lot and I read books by Jonathan Haidt and Lawrence Lessig and Ezra Klein and Catherine Gale and Michael Porter and all of these other books because I was trying to put my finger on something that had been nagging at me through the process.

I do write a chapter about this but I think the biggest problem is when someone shows up in DC and even if you're raring to go and you want to change things you're looking at a seniority system and people who've been there for 20 25 30 years who are in power and so the natural approach you're going to end up with is to bite your time and to be there for a while and say yeah you know it'll be my time eventually.

Corruptive systems overcome good individuals with ease and and that's what we're seeing over and over again and we're wondering why it's now working.

I now think that full word and this diagnosis of our problems in our democracy just to let you all know that you're not crazy what's crazy is to look at our system and think it should be working like it's set up not to work.

I thought to myself this could be my greatest contribution ever and I would die happy like you know if I managed to advance the understanding of the automation of our economy and universal basic income and that is my legacy you can put that on my epitaph and that is a okay with me.

I wrote this book in 2020 late at night like reflecting on my journey and what I had experienced and what I thought the real problems were and in that process I learned a lot and I read books by Jonathan Haidt and Lawrence Lessig and Ezra Klein and Catherine Gale and Michael Porter and all of these other books because I was trying to put my finger on something that had been nagging at me through the process.

I'm for health care for all I think it's common sense and we need it I'm obviously for universal basic income

I do write a chapter about this but I think the biggest problem is when someone shows up in DC and even if you're raring to go and you want to change things you're looking at a seniority system and people who've been there for 20 25 30 years who are in power and so the natural approach you're going to end up with is to bite your time and to be there for a while and say yeah you know it'll be my time eventually

Corruptive systems overcome good individuals with ease and and that's what we're seeing over and over again and we're wondering why it's now working

I now think that full word and this diagnosis of our problems in our democracy just to let you all know that you're not crazy what's crazy is to look at our system and think it should be working like it's set up not to work

I know in your book, your new book Forward which is the reason for this conversation you talk about how they would always introduce you in like the Vegas possible way as businessman.

despite being ignored and written off by mainstream media no 2020 candidate had more of an impact in changing our political conversation than Andrew Yang

I wrote this book in 2020 late at night like reflecting on my journey and what I had experienced and what I thought the real problems were and in that process I learned a lot and I read books by Jonathan Haidt and Lawrence Lessig and Ezra Klein and Catherine Gale and Michael Porter and all of these other books because I was trying to put my finger on something that had been nagging at me through the process.

corruptive systems overcome good individuals with ease and and that's what we're seeing over and over again and we're wondering why it's now working

I thought this could be my greatest contribution ever and I would die happy like you know if I managed to advance the understanding of the automation of our economy and universal basic income and that is my legacy you can put that on my epitaph and that is a okay with me

So we knew that he had a book coming out. It's called Forward, Notes on the Future of Our Democracy, full disclosure. I blurb the book and includes a lot of sort of prescriptions, things like ranked choice voting and his view of the types of reforms that our democracy needs, many of which I am certainly supportive of.

It's called "Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy"

And includes a lot of sort of prescriptions, things like rank choice voting and his view of the types of reforms that our democracy needs.

Now here's what he says and this does sound like my kind of book. In the movement of America's Arab institutional failure introduces to the various priests of decline. Including politicians who's incentives have become divorced from the people they supposedly serve.

He is author of the great book The Work of Living which is sort of like an update to Studs Turkle in a lot of ways in the modern economy great great book highly recommended

I think it's a great question. I mean, obviously, it's it's kind of a continuation of the work that I've been doing at working people and now that I'm honored to do at the real news, talking to working people about their lives, jobs, dreams and struggles, right?

So, this book, I think, really grew out of a two-part episode on working people that I did in the late spring of 2020.

I wanted to preserve this moment in time through the voices of the people who were living through it, because I knew that we were gonna quickly forget about that, and I knew that we were going to be told to misremember it by people who didn't want us to feel that visceral disgust with how workers were being treated, with how employers were ripping quote-unquote 'hero pay' away from actual heroes in hospitals and so on and so forth.

I think that everyone here has a unique story, and that's really the overarching takeaway point, right? Is that even just 10 people spoken to for an hour and a half, two hours reveals I think in this book, right, just how deep and complex and beautiful every human life is.

And when you recognize that, you recognize how incalculable of a loss the past two and a half years have been, right? I mean, when we look at the numbers of millions of people around the world who have died from this, as the great labor organizer Cooper Caraway told me once in my podcast, he's like, 'These are not just numbers, these are fellow parishioners, these are co-workers, these are parents, these are T-ball coaches who are suddenly gone.'

I think it's a great question. I mean, obviously it's it's kind of a continuation of the work that I've been doing at working people and now that I'm honored to do at the real news, talking to working people about their lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles, right?

This book, I think, really grew out of a two-part episode on working people that I did in the late spring of 2020.

I wanted to preserve this moment in time through the voices of the people who were living through it because I knew that we were gonna quickly forget about that and I knew that we were going to be told to misremember it by people who didn't want us to feel that visceral disgust with how workers were being treated with how employers were ripping quote-unquote hero pay away from actual heroes in hospitals and so on and so forth.

Everyone here has a unique story and that's really the overarching takeaway point, right? Is that even just 10 people spoken to for an hour and a half, two hours, reveals, I think, in this book, right, just how deep and complex and beautiful every human life is.

I think a lot of people brave people, working people, have answered affirmatively, yes, we do, and I think that that is connected to the number of strikes we've seen, the mass amounts of people who have been quitting, people staying at their jobs and fighting, organizing together to demand better working conditions, better pay, so on and so forth.

He's giving us an update in the ongoing negotiations...the media has sort of moved on and acted as though they're totally over. The negotiations with the railway workers are completely over but Max knows better than that and will give us some insights on everything as it pertains to those negotiations.

and is author of the great book The Work of Living which is sort of like an update to Studs Turkle in a lot of ways in the modern economy great great book highly recommended

I think it's a great question. I mean obviously it's it's kind of a continuation of the work that I've been doing at working people and now that I'm honored to do at the real news talking to working people about their lives, jobs, dreams and struggles right and talking in depth about who they are, how they came to be the people they are, how they experience the world, how what they go through at work and stuff like that.

So this book I think really grew out of a two-part episode on working people that I did in the late spring of 2020.

I started to see in real time how quickly we were becoming accustomed to the things that had horrified us just months before, right, how easily we slipped into acceptance and resignation of the unacceptable response that that we had to this pandemic.

I wanted to preserve this moment in time through the voices of the people who were living through it because I knew that we were gonna quickly forget about that and I knew that we were going to be told to misremember it by people who didn't want us to feel that visceral disgust with how workers were being treated with how employers were ripping quote-unquote hero pay away from actual heroes in hospitals and so on and so forth.

It's a real honor to be lifting that up with you on Breaking Points.

What it tells us is that our health care is very fragile and that the covid epidemic pandemic has stressed our health care but the decrease in longevity for Americans over the past couple of years is not entirely due to Covid at all. It's largely due to the weakness, not the greatness, of our health care system.

In countries like France and Germany and Canada they negotiate the price of drugs on the front end based on the effectiveness of the drugs but we have no mechanism for determining the effectiveness of new drugs compared to other drugs and we let drug companies charge whatever they want.

Two-thirds of the profits from the drug global profits from the drug companies now come from the United States and this system not only pulls money away from Americans either out of their pockets or through their tax tax dollars but it allows the drug companies to promote drugs that are no more effective than older therapies as if they were so it's distracting our health care.

The key fact here that's being covered up by the inflation reduction act is that limiting insulin copays to 35 dollars is going to be a good thing for insured folks who require insulin who don't have enough money to pay their copays. That's a good thing, but the bad thing is that as the California project comes online or the Michigan project comes online and makes 35 dollar insulin 35 dollar analog insulin what's going to happen is the drug companies, the brand-name drugs, are going to say, 'Hey, don't let your doctor shift you down to an inferior generic product when you're doing well on the brand-name insulin, stay with us because it's only going to cost you a 35 dollar copay.'

The real issue underlying this that nobody talks about because I've got a chapter on this in my book is that 80% of the insulin that's used in the United States is used by people with type two diabetes and there is no evidence that the insulin analogs that cost 300 dollars a vial are superior than the first generation of bioengineered insulin, recombinant human insulin, which does cost 35, 25 dollars a vial when it's bought efficiently.

We both heard him on the Joe Rogan podcast. The racist Joe Rogan podcast. Which is where we will start this morning.

Really excited to read the book haven't had that chance yet but we have Dr. Abramson here in order to break some of this down.

This is something where he appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience and Krystal and I were absolutely stunned by how good of an episode it was.

We've been working on getting him on the show for a while. He wrote a book called Sickening. We both heard him on the Joe Rogan podcast.

This is something where he appeared on the Joe Rogan experience and Krystal and I were absolutely stunned by how good of an episode it was. Really excited to read the book, haven't had that chance yet, but we have Dr. Abramson here in order to break some of this down.

What it tells us is that our health care is very fragile and that the COVID epidemic pandemic has stressed our health care but the decrease in longevity for Americans over the past couple of years is not entirely due to COVID at all. It's largely due to the weakness, not the greatness, of our health care system.

The key fact here that's being covered up by the inflation reduction act is that limiting insulin copays to $35 is going to be a good thing for insured folks who require insulin, who don't have enough money to pay their copays. That's a good thing, but the bad thing is that as the California project comes online or the Michigan project comes online and makes $35 insulin, $35 analog insulin, what's going to happen is the drug companies, the brand name drugs are going to say, 'Hey, don't let your doctor shift you down to an inferior generic product when you're doing well on the brand name insulin. Stay with us because it's only going to cost you a $35 copay.' So what's going to happen is that that $35 limit to the copay is going to largely neutralize the market benefits of California or Michigan selling insulin analogs at cost.

We both heard him on the Joe Rogan podcast. The racist Joe Rogan podcast.

This is something where he appeared on the Joe Rogan experience and Krystal and I were absolutely stunned by how good of an episode it was.

Really excited to read the book, haven't had that chance yet, but we have Dr. Abramson here in order to break some of this down.

He was assassinated sadly over the weekend in Japan.

In terms of world politics, in terms of Japanese leadership.

He was a state builder. Abe looked at the long arc of Japanese history both up until the time he entered politics but then also looking ahead to the future and wanted a strong top-down centralized government in a way that Japan, the Japanese government hadn't been after 1945, that was going to be able to have a proper national security establishment that would be able to respond to crises effectively that would really be able to meet the challenges that Japan was going to face in the coming decades.

He was persistent about it. It was something that he always made clear.

I think of all the major U.S. allies, Japan is the one which people probably know the least about here in America, but he still had a deep amount of affection, at least amongst the U.S. elite.

I mean there's been no Japanese figure probably for for a generation or two who's loomed as large as he has.

Abe was a state builder. Abe looked at the long arc of Japanese history both up until the time he entered politics but then also looking ahead to the future and wanted a a ability strong top down centralized government in a way that Japanese Japanese government hasn't been hadn't been after 1945.

He was very clear about this, he was persistent about it, it was something that he always made clear.

He very much saw education in fact you look at the book he wrote back in 2006 which I really I mean really lays out his philosophy and his way of thinking quite clearly.

Of all the major U.S. allies, Japan is the one which people probably know the least about here in America.

I mean there's been no Japanese figure probably for for a generation or two who's loomed as large as he has and you know ever since he entered Japanese politics in the early 1990s you know almost through force of will completely changed the direction I think of Japanese politics of the Japanese state was just a tremendously influential figure for a very long time.

He was a state builder. Abe looked at the long arc of Japanese history uh both up until the time he entered politics but then also looking ahead to the future and wanted a a ability strong top down centralized government in a way that Japanese Japanese government hasn't been uh hadn't been after 1945 that was going to be able to have a proper national security establishment that would be able to respond to crises effectively that would really be able to meet the challenges that Japan was going to face in the coming decades.

He very much saw education in fact you look at the book he wrote back in 2006 which I really I mean really lays out his philosophy and his way of thinking quite clearly uh you know education to him was also part of state building.

I personally I I don't think you need to downplay historical atrocities to make people feel proud of your country and I think lots of I think frankly lots of Japanese people felt proud of what was built after 1945 and the country that Japan came to be.

Of all the major U.S. allies Japan is the one which people probably know the least about here in America but he still had a deep amount of affection at least amongst the U.S. elite.

Duff mcdonnell who wrote the book The Golden Passport harvard business school the limits of capitalism and the moral failure of the MBA elite asserts that quote the school is a force for good in a sense that hbs grads are good at what they do but they rarely do good rather than producing businesses physicians who vow to do no harm harvard business school has become the west point of capitalism producing business mercenaries driven by self-interest beholden to no one believing in nothing

the school is a force for good in a sense that HBS grads are good at what they do but they rarely do good rather than producing business physicians who vow to do no harm Harvard Business School has become the west point of capitalism producing business mercenaries driven by self-interest beholden to no one believing in nothing

the school is a force for good in a sense that hbs grads are good at what they do but they rarely do good rather than producing businesses physicians who vow to do no harm harvard business school has become the west point of capitalism producing business mercenaries driven by self-interest beholden to no one believing in nothing

Duff mcdonnell who wrote the book The Golden Passport harvard business school the limits of capitalism and the moral failure of the MBA elite asserts that quote the school is a force for good in a sense that hbs grads are good at what they do but they rarely do good rather than producing businesses physicians who vow to do no harm harvard business school has become the west point of capitalism producing business mercenaries driven by self-interest beholden to no one believing in nothing

the school is a force for good in a sense that HPS grads are good at what they do but they rarely do good rather than producing business physicians who vow to do no harm Harvard Business School has become the west point of capitalism producing business mercenaries driven by self-interest beholden to no one believing in nothing

I didn't even know about a lot of this until I read Anthony Bourdain's book.

I didn't even know about a lot of this until I read Anthony Bourdain's book.

I didn't even know about a lot of this until I read Anthony Bourdain's book. And I remember being like, oh my god! I'm like what are you people doing back there?

I highly recommend the Jonathan Haidt book. I think he's got a phenomenal list there of things, how you should think of a parent around smartphones and specifically with schools.

I highly recommend there's a bunch of New York Times and Jonathan Haidt write ups about schools that have banned smartphones.

he's a fairly well-known social psychologist whose works includes the coddling of the american mind and also The Righteous Mind why good people are divided by politics and religion and his course you know quite honestly was super cool very interesting discussions but he was also extremely brief lasting you know just a few sessions over the course of two weekends which does kind of show the priorities of the curriculum right it like i said i found the discussions to be really interesting but unfortunately the course design itself felt more like i think compliance maybe even call it theater more than anything else

he's a fairly well-known social psychologist whose works includes the coddling of the american mind and also The Righteous Mind why good people are divided by politics and religion

I mean his, The Autobiography of Malcolm X is one of the craziest things they'll ever read.

It's very accessible. I really recommend anybody throughout there, especially if you're a young guy, go out and read that.

Malcolm had some real struggles in his early youth and if you're trying to get disciplined or try to change your life, reading that book no matter how you feel about racial issues because it's really not what he's been about at all is going to be really important to you.

I mean his, The Autobiography of Malcolm X is one of the craziest things they'll ever read.

It's very accessible. I really recommend anybody throughout there, especially if you're a young guy, go out and read that.

Malcolm had some real struggles in his early youth and if you're trying to get disciplined or try to change your life, reading that book no matter how you feel about racial issues because it's really not what he's been about at all is going to be really important to you.

I mean his, The Autobiography of Malcolm X is one of the craziest things they'll ever read.

It's very accessible. I really recommend anybody throughout there, especially if you're a young guy, go out and read that.

Malcolm had some real struggles in his early youth and if you're trying to get disciplined or try to change your life, reading that book no matter how you feel about racial issues because it's really not what he's been about at all is going to be really important to you.

And I think Frederick Douglass had it right that power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will. Remember, the first spoiler parties were labeled as such before the Civil War and the spoiler parties were those who were fighting for the abolition of slavery.

And because the agency tangles with a lot of powerful wealthy interests, it was intentionally designed to be insulated from day-to-day political pressure so it could not just be captured by partisans or industry allies or quietly defunded and zombified. Specifically, rather than being subject to the yearly appropriations process, the agency is funded through the Federal Reserve, which provides funds up to a set cap of $600 million a year. This funding structure is now being used to try to attack and destroy the agency by its specifically the aforementioned ghouls in the payday loan industry.

Ryan, now that everyone else has sort of put themselves on the spectrum, where would you describe yourself?

Ryan, now that everyone else has sort of put themselves on the spectrum, where would you describe yourself? I write in the book toward the end of it that if you don't take regulation seriously and if it's just a complete free for all, that the history of American drug policy shows that it is not a one directional thing.

Ryan wrote a book called "This Is Your Country on Drugs."

This Is Your Country on Drugs right behind us.

That's a great book.

Is it your best-selling book? Buy them both? We've got people...

It was my best-selling book.

Okay, but that one the problem the problem with that one for sales is that it really appealed to like 22 year old men.

If I were an expert on the history of getting high in America, Buy This Is Your Country on Drugs by Ryan Grim for the expert tape.

Coming Apart by Charles Murray, same book, same thing. I highly recommend it.

That one's a little more controversial.

No, no, Charles Murray's controversial for separate things that he wrote, not for Coming Apart.

Coming Apart is one of Joe Biden's favorite books.

I know. Did you know that? That's why I was, you should, I mean, it doesn't show in some of his politics, but I mean, I guess we can take it.

There's an interesting, there's an interesting point to be made about the fact that we have sort of come apart to borrow the language from the book Coming Apart in socioeconomic ways and that people who are at very different ends of the socioeconomic spectrum are basically living in different worlds within our own country at this point.

Where was Hillary Clinton when Coming Apart came out?

I remember reading Yuval Noah Harari's book, Homo Deus. And I remember I was reading that like, you know, so almost seven years ago, I think when it came out, I was like, oh my God, this is going to change everything. Even crisper and gene editing.

They're Instagram influencers at their best Michelle Obama's doing arena tours for her book, Becoming.

At their best Michelle Obama's doing arena tours for her book, Becoming and I don't begrudge them.

If you read between the lines of Obama's book and Michelle Obama's book, there's some pretty brutal admissions of Obama being like, I'm running for office and Michelle's like begging him, like, please don't do it.

governor Cuomo has been ordered by the new york state ethics board to turn over millions of dollars in profits from his pandemic memoir giving him 30 days to comply which totals 5.1 million dollars

he never actually sold that many books we actually sold more books than he did whatever we wrote one wasn't even close and uh wasn't even close but he received unlike us five million dollars in a uh advance from a publishing company essentially a little bit of a payoff

he used state resources and actually siphoned off state resources and employees to write that book for his five million dollar book deal and some justice is being served here the man now has to turn over five million

this was early days of the pandemic when new york i mean he had no idea how this was going to go yeah the worst of everything for new york which i mean you guys remember that was horrific there were you know trucks parked on the street with dead bodies in them it was terrible all of that was still to come when he's out there signing a multi-million dollar book deal and then using the same government employees who are supposed to be dealing with this absolutely catastrophic and devastating crisis

he's distracting them instead with helping him write his freaking book like it just shows you the ego of this man the narcissism of this man the callousness of this man

Have your father's book right behind me actually. That's an original that I found very interesting.

governor Cuomo has been ordered by the new york state ethics board to turn over millions of dollars in profits from his pandemic memoir giving him 30 days to comply which totals 5.1 million dollars

he never actually sold that many books we actually sold more books than he did whatever we wrote one wasn't even close and uh wasn't even close but he received unlike us five million dollars in a uh advance from a publishing company essentially a little bit of a payoff

and then he used state resources and actually siphoned off state resources and employees to write that book for his five million dollar book deal and some justice is being served here the man now has to turn over five million

they had previously ruled that Cuomo had received authorization for the deal under false pretenses and they decided on tuesday that he was not entitled to keep any of the profits from it

this was early days of the pandemic when new york i mean he had no idea how this was going to go yeah the worst of everything for new york which i mean you guys remember that was horrific there were you know trucks parked on the street with dead bodies in them it was terrible all of that was still to come when he's out there signing a multi-million dollar book deal and then using the same government employees who are supposed to be dealing with this absolutely catastrophic and devastating crisis he's distracting them instead with helping him write his freaking book

governor Cuomo has been ordered by the new york state ethics board to turn over millions of dollars in profits from his pandemic memoir giving him 30 days to comply which totals 5.1 million dollars

he never actually sold that many books we actually sold more books than he did whatever we wrote one wasn't even close and uh wasn't even close but he received unlike us five million dollars in a uh advance from a publishing company essentially a little bit of a payoff

and then he used state resources and actually siphoned off state resources and employees to write that book for his five million dollar book deal

they had previously ruled that Cuomo had received authorization for the deal under false pretenses and they decided on tuesday that he was not entitled to keep any of the profits from it

this was early days of the pandemic when new york i mean he had no idea how this was going to go yeah the worst of everything for new york which i mean you guys remember that was horrific there were you know trucks parked on the street with dead bodies in them it was terrible all of that was still to come when he's out there signing a multi-million dollar book deal and then using the same government employees who are supposed to be dealing with this absolutely catastrophic and devastating crisis he's distracting them instead with helping him write his freaking book

I read Michael Shellenberger's book and it's the only book that's ever, I was not for drug legalization. I still think I'm complicated on it.

It well the argument is that the point that we i start with is just that putin was not deterred by europe or the west from invading ukraine the he did not obviously fear economic sanctions and he would turn out to be right not to fear them because they carved out energy exports which is the main way that russia gets hard foreign currency so yes we've heard a lot about sanctions on banking but as long as europe as long as russia can sell its coal oil and natural gas to europe in the world it's going to continue to build a finance its war finance its economy and the reason for that i point out is that you know just 15 years ago europe produced three times more natural gas than russia currently exports those fortunes have shifted climate activists in europe prevented the expansion of natural gas production including by fracking turns out there's actually quite a bit of shale in europe that it could have been using and it just grew heavily dependent on russia and so in fact the role that russia has in its control over european energy supplies is only going to increase i believe that in the coming months i think it's possible if not probable that president biden will restrict oil exports if he does that that will further strengthen the hand of putin to be able to reward nations that are neutral or supportive of him with oil exports

the west's green delusions empowered putin

putin was not deterred by europe or the west from invading ukraine

climate activists in europe prevented the expansion of natural gas production including by fracking

putin is focused on real politic and i think europe like many in the west were caught up in delusions utopian fantasies of harmonizing human societies with nature through renewables

the whole world is reverting back to national to nationalism and national trading blocks

Michael is written a book Apocalypse Never it's about climate change energy policy and he just wrote a really interesting piece for beria wyce's substack called the west's green delusions empowered putin

I think that we're at the end of an era not just the end of the post-cult war era but really the end of the post-war era and i think putin saw that coming and the west did not