0:01All right, but like I said at the [snorts] beginning, CIA director to Russia with love.
0:07What do you make of this, Troy beef?
0:08>> Um, he's uh, you know, just paying his uh, homage.
0:13>> respects.
0:13>> Paying his respects to Putin.
0:15>> Let's pull up this article, try to get to the bottom of this, but obviously the Ukraine war is coming up on 5 years at this point. Obviously the United States has been funding the [ __ ] out of this for a long time. Obviously millions of people have been killed or are casualties of this war. Obviously it's a bad look, and obviously we have also now seen an escalation to where Danny Jones and I talked about it yesterday, he brought it up. But now Zelensky launched a drone attack in the Caspian Sea that affected the Iranians, which could, perhaps back, but seems, you know, 1 + 1 usually equals 2, which could be an
0:54effort to tie, link the Iran war with the Ukraine war, which would would by definition start to turn this into a world war type scenario. Very, very bad. It's like it's all [ __ ] simmering in all the wrong ways for all the wrong reasons, and now APAC John Ratcliffe spawns in to Russia.
1:20And so, to be clear, he did not meet directly with Putin, but he did meet directly with his counter bar his counterpart, who is the head of Russia's FSB, which is like their CIA and formerly what was the KGB when it was the Soviet Union. So, this is from Barry Weiss's CBS News, "CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Russian intel counterparts on a secretive visit to Moscow, the Kremlin says."
1:45News of his trip came after a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III. What a name, by the way. A US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III. Say that one four times fast. Transport plane was spotted flying into a Moscow airport Tuesday morning, and then a US diplomatic motorcade was seen driving through the city. The CIA did not comment on his trip, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday that Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials during his visit, but that he did not meet with President Vladimir Putin. Peskov told reporters Putin was briefed on the talks, but he
2:24said it was too soon to predict whether US officials meeting might help get bilateral US-Russian relations out of what's what he called, quote, "a deep crisis," unquote, more than four and a half years into Russia's war on Ukraine.
2:38It wasn't immediately clear if Ratcliffe had left Moscow on Wednesday after his first known trip to Russia as CIA director. He has maintained contact with Russian intelligence counterparts during his tenure.
2:49According to CBS News sources, ahead of his trip, the US told Ukrainian officials that a senior delegation would be traveling to Moscow and asked Kiev to suspend strikes until the delegation's departure from Russia. It's like, let's get a little intermission on this war. I know we're doing a lot of drone-on-drone crime, but the boys are rolling through town. We're going to have a few drinks, little little vodka thrown back with the boys, and then when we leave, y'all can start [ __ ] bombing each other again.
3:14That's not dark at all. Anyway, recent US intelligence assessment indicates Putin's risk calculus may be shifting, with the Russian leader potentially increasingly willing to authorize provocative actions against NATO members, including hybrid operations and other deniable measures short of conventional military action in order to test the resolve of the alliance and the Trump administration, which is kind of in rocky rocky waters right now, so to speak. And Donald Trump did come out and say yesterday with full assurance that he's not going to attack NATO. Putin's not going to do that. He He seemed very
3:46sure. So, deal with that what you will. See, Don.
3:50But, with the last time a CIA director had traveled to Moscow was William Burns in 2021 ahead of the war when he was, you know, it was reaching a crisis point and they were trying to like, allegedly, unless it's all show and tell, which that's probably what it is, trying to de-escalate the situation. So, this has not happened, but it's notable that there's such a, you know, calm, seemingly regular little meeting of like the top intelligence officials in the middle of a war [snorts] that they're on the opposite sides of. It's so strange that something like this is normalized. My hope, your hope, all of
4:26our hope is that some cooler heads are prevailing and that they're going there to actually try to talk about winding this down because it's bad for biz at this point. Unfortunately, that's probably very optimistic thinking.
4:38>> Yeah.
4:38>> Right? You know, few more bodies to drop, nice excuse to have, few more weapons to fund. Lindsey Graham's not here, but we can do it in his memory.
4:46>> Do it in his honor.
4:47>> Do it in his honor.
4:48Do it in his honor. He loved this.
4:52This This was his meaning of life.
4:56>> Yeah, it was his fetish, some would say.
4:58>> Some would say it was his fetish.
5:00>> It was.
5:00>> That and trans escorts.
5:03>> Yeah, he wanted to watch the boys perish.
5:06That's what got him going.
5:08>> That's what got him going. Died doing what he loved.
5:10>> Yeah.
5:11>> He did die doing what he loved.
5:13>> He's paying the piper now, I'll tell you that.
5:15>> that's a pause.
5:17>> [laughter] >> I'm just saying.
5:18>> What are you doing?
5:19>> What?
5:20>> Paying the piper?
5:22>> Yeah.
5:23>> He's down He's down in hell just paying it to old Lucifer.
5:28>> I think he might like that.
5:30>> [laughter] >> Paying the piper?
5:33>> Yeah, I don't know, dude.
5:34>> He was He was getting a lot of pipes.
5:36>> Yeah, but now down there, it's like an eternal pipe >> Eternal pipe? It's very hot.
5:41>> It's just Yeah, it's torturous.
5:43>> It's torturous.
5:43>> You're not supposed to enjoy it. If you enjoy it, I think even Lucifer's like, "Jesus Christ, what the [ __ ] am I going to [laughter] do with this guy?"
5:49>> Oh, he's dropping a Jesus.
5:50>> am I going to do with this guy?"
5:51>> Like, "What am I going to do with him?
5:52Send him upstairs."
5:53>> I think we should just send him to purgatory. I think that's the worst place for this guy cuz he'll just float around.
5:57>> He'll float around.
5:58>> be floating and thinking about it.
6:00>> You just got to think about it. Yeah.
6:02There's nothing to do.
6:03>> Yeah, that >> That might be where Lindsey Graham is.
6:05>> Honestly, dude.
6:06>> Yeah, purgatory.
6:06>> He's in purgatory.
6:07>> And then hell is like, "Yo, >> Yeah, they're like, >> Sorry, fam. He likes us too much.
6:12>> Like, this guy too much.
6:14>> He's too excited >> to be here.
6:16>> Too much.
6:16>> It was not immediately clear if the CIA had any role in another exchange that a Russian official said took place on Wednesday. Reuters quoted Russian Human Rights Commissioner >> That's a job.
6:27>> Russia has a Human Rights Commissioner.
6:29[laughter] >> Wow.
6:31>> Yana Lantratova as saying 10 prisoners of war from each side were exchanged during a holdover in Belarus, which would be a relatively low number compared to previous swaps.
6:44>> Imagine that. Like, what do you do? You put on LinkedIn, "Congratulations.
6:49You're the new Human Rights Commissioner of Russia." So, is it like, >> "Well, yesterday we did not electrocute the balls. We simply dip in ice for long periods. It's better that way."
7:01>> Yeah.
7:01>> Like, that's the job. The job is like, >> And then they're like, "Don't worry about that."
7:05>> And then they're like, "How do we celebrate the CIA director coming to town? I think we should do a quick swap." Quick swap. 10 for 10.
7:13>> 10 for 10.
7:15>> And that'll >> Leave them with a mark on the way out.
7:17>> Yeah. You know?
7:18>> Oh, dude.
7:18>> Little branding to remember their time by.
7:20>> Life is crazy.
7:21>> Life is crazy.
7:23But, Trump said this was {quote} a semi-routine trip.
7:28>> Mhm.
7:30>> Whenever you have to put the word semi in front of it, it's already a big hedge. That That's a That's a big telltale sign.
7:37It's also a lie.
7:40There's nothing routine about this. This has not happened. Like we said, this has not happened since before the war. It's still a war that's being actively funded, and it's happening at a time where the Ukrainians did try to escalate this and tie to the Iran war.
7:53>> Yeah, I don't I think calling it a routine is actually a terrible look for them with all the Russia talk over the years. Oh, so this is it's routine for you.
8:02>> Yeah.
8:03>> are over there often.
8:04>> Yeah, what do we What did you just pull up, Joey Dief?
8:06>> This was just Mario's roundup.
8:08>> Oh, Mario N Awful's roundup of it. Is there anything we didn't cover in there?
8:11>> No, it looks um Yeah, it looks like that was everything we covered. Yeah.
8:17>> All right, well I think what they're going to have to do to get This This is potentially some extra press that he wasn't looking for.
8:25This was a real sleek 10,000 mi flight into Russia to just try to slide this one in there.
8:30>> Harlem Globetrotters 75,000.
8:33>> And the Harlem Globetrotters 75,000.
8:35Very, very important jet. That's definitely what it's called. But like, you know, then the Russians, if you notice, they're the ones who are coming out like, "Yes, we can confirm this.
8:42Yes, this happened. Yes, he was here."
8:44>> Yeah, they like that.
8:45>> Whereas the US was like, "Fuck. We're trying to do this under the [ __ ] table, fellas."
8:48>> down low. I thought Russians were the ones who said, "Don't talk or you die."
8:52Like, what the [ __ ] are you doing?
8:53>> was the three they brought home from the bar. They're like, "Why are you going around murmuring?"
8:57>> Yeah, you don't have to talk about this.
8:59You were a seven by the time I was looking at you.
9:02>> Yeah, this is our thing. Don't tell everyone about it.
9:05>> them about this. But then Russia went and told everyone about it. So, I think as a good like, you know, we're the optics experts apparently here, Joey Dief. For good optics, they should go look to try to finish the job on these fishing boats that apparently they couldn't finish the first time around. Nothing like a good drone strike in the Galapagos to get people's minds off the war in Russia and the CIA director meeting with the counterintelligence officials on the other side, right?
9:30>> Yeah, even just seeing the picture of the headline, it's like not someone from the Middle East or Eastern Europe, and it already throws you off.
9:38>> It throws you off. You're like, "Where is this?"
9:40>> "Wait, we're doing stuff here, too?"
9:42>> Yes. Has anyone talked to Eric Prince in the last 12 months? Do we know?
9:46>> Is he working?
9:46>> Do [laughter] Do we Yeah, I think he's working.
9:49>> He's working.
9:50>> Yeah, they were I could say this after the fact because when Eric Prince was here for episode 305, we recorded that May 2025. Very interesting guy. But like 3 days afterwards, like when we were putting up the episode, the New York Times reported that Eric Prince had been commissioned to like bomb all these trap houses in Haiti on behalf of the US government.
10:14>> Yeah.
10:14>> But we got off that wasn't public when I recorded with him. And we got off camera, we went over to take a picture and he's like, "You want to see something cool?"
10:24I was like, >> Sure.
10:25>> Like Alessi, that was like right at the end of the time when Alessi was on the board. I was It's like, "Yeah." And Alessi's like, "Oh god." And he takes out the phone and it's just like a it's a security camera like eyes in the sky drone footage and you just see like some moving heat signatures in like this house and nothing's happening for like 15 seconds and I'm like, "What am I looking at?" He's like, "Just give it a minute." And then and then you just see like doosh heat [snorts] map die, heat map go this way and he goes, "It's a Haitian trap house."
10:58[ __ ] awesome. I was like, "Oh."
11:01>> That's great, Mr. Prince.
11:03>> That's very cool.
11:04Yeah. I hope I hope they were really bad.
11:07>> I >> [laughter] >> I hope all of them were bad cuz >> I'm sure they were.
11:10>> I don't know if we could run that back.
11:12>> like, "Yeah, I got I got to sweep this place at this point."
11:16>> Very interesting guy, though. So, I guess I guess in Tim Dillon's parlance, you could say Eric Prince, friend of the show.
11:23>> Well, I was going to say in his parlance, too. Or I guess I think Putin says this, "A job is a job."
11:28>> A job's a job.
11:29>> A job's a job, I guess.
11:30>> You wish him well.
11:31>> Yeah. You wish the people the heat signatures there well.
11:35>> Yeah, don't not planning a trip to Haiti anytime [laughter] soon.
11:38>> I don't think I'm going down there.
11:40>> Yeah.
11:41>> Yeah, I've heard I've heard enough about I mean we had Arab in here talking about being kidnapped in Haiti. Hey, you know.
11:46>> I mean shout out to my Haitians, you know, they >> Shout out to the I love the Haitians.
11:50>> Yeah.
11:51>> Yeah, the Haitians are great. All the Haitians I know are great. It's just the you know, tough time down there >> Yeah.
11:57>> A lot of a lot of things going on.
11:58>> Send them strength.
12:00>> Yeah, the Clinton Foundation's been down there a bunch. That's never a good look.
12:03>> Cannot.
12:04>> Sure they're down there for humanitarian purposes, Joey Dief.
12:08It's what the lawyers would want us to say, right?
12:11>> I just imagine Hillary Clinton coming out and doing like a dance with all the >> We're going to feed them to the sharks.
12:17>> Yeah, all the village kids gathering as they all dance with her.
12:21>> Yes, that's that's probably how it looks, right? She doing Is she doing the the little snaps up high?
12:27>> Yeah, yeah, and there's like lots of jazz hands.
12:30>> Lots of Oh, yeah, yeah, give them a little swing.
12:33>> all wearing little USAID t-shirts and they're all like >> [laughter] >> They're like, "Can we Can you Can we get >> Three of them are trans.
12:41>> And they're just like, "Listen, one one more hour and then you get lunch.
12:44>> One more hour.
12:45>> And a few more shots.
12:46>> You get lunch and a few more shots.
12:48>> Ugh.
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13:25>> That's terrible.
13:25>> Can we pull up this article because this was they missed. That's why this can't be Eric Prince cuz they missed. Some of these [ __ ] lived. I I have it already archived and I asked right there. I have I have the link. Like Eric Prince, say what you want, dude don't miss a lot, right? Like >> I guess.
13:46>> When he takes a shot, he hits. So, >> Oh, [sighs] no.
13:49>> Yeah. Covert this from Washington Post.
13:52Covert CIA program said to be behind mysterious attacks on Galapagos boats.
13:57They're going right for Darwin.
13:58>> Wait, this is what I said I did earlier at the beginning of the episode when you're like, "Oh, I didn't do this. This wasn't me."
14:04>> denying it?
14:05>> No, I'm denying it, dude.
14:07>> You wouldn't You wouldn't want to hit the Galapagos.
14:09>> No, no.
14:10>> Do you even know who they hit, Joey D?
14:11>> Uh >> Don't deny it before you find out who they were targeting.
14:16>> Yeah, well >> I'm going to find out with you.
14:17>> I got some biz with them, maybe. Let's see.
14:19>> Definitely definitely some biz. So, the mysterious strikes targeting multiple Ecuadorian fishing boats near the Galapagos Islands this year were were carried out as a part of a covert CIA program. Is there any other kind? Is there a CIA program that's like not covert?
14:33>> Public.
14:34>> Yeah, like a like a public CIA [ __ ] campaign. All right.
14:38>> Yeah, there is.
14:38>> While many details about the agency's involvement were not clear, one person with knowledge of the matter said the strikes were part of a covert action program, a type of secret operation overseas that is approved by the president, but where the role of the US government is not publicly acknowledged until they tell the Washington Post about it. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. No agency or government has claimed responsibility for the incidents, including the disappearance in January of a fishing vessel and eight of its crew members.
15:05The CIA's involvement adds a new and secretive dimension to the Trump administration's otherwise highly publicized campaign against alleged drug traffickers at sea. Let's go down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They declined to comment, of course. The strikes are separate from the Pentagon's campaign against alleged drug boats that began last fall, if you remember in the build-up to Venezuela, there was a lot of things going on.
15:25Those strikes have been fiercely criticized by human rights groups and some Democratic lawmakers who say they are extrajudicial murders. The administration has justified the strikes by equating narcotraffickers with militants assaulting the United States.
15:37Again, they use terms like that to justify it when they've called the [ __ ] cartels in Mexico narcotraffickers and terrorist organizations.
15:46And they're funding them and they're inside of them and they haven't [ __ ] bombed the [ __ ] out of that country, which I'm not asking them to.
15:53Please don't do that. I mean, I'd say I'm very glad you haven't bombed them, but it's just interesting because they were acting like they were going to do that.
15:59>> the logic.
16:00>> It's very It's very pick and choosy. You know what I mean?
16:02>> Yes. Yes.
16:03>> So, the eight missing Ecuadorian nationals were aboard a 52-ft longline fishing boat called the Fiorella.
16:11The men on two boats that were struck in March Ah, the the golden rule was broken, Joey Dief.
16:18You can't leave witnesses. The Negra Francisca Duarte II and the Don Maca all survived.
16:26>> Oof.
16:27>> And you know what they did, Joey Dief?
16:29>> They chirped.
16:30>> They went to the Washington Post.
16:32>> Yeah.
16:32>> In interviews with the Post, survivors said the small quadcopter drones either dropped munitions on the vessels or detonated by crashing into them, full-blown kamikaze drones.
16:44>> Wow.
16:45>> The men said they were taken aboard a nearby ship, hooded and cuffed by armed men. You mean they captured them and then let them go and talk to the Post and transported to El Salvador only to be returned They went to the [ __ ] guys pri- that crazy prison in El in El Salvador, probably.
17:05Or were supposed to go there, but they were only to be returned later without explanation to Ecuador.
17:10>> Huh.
17:10>> Somebody [ __ ] up the paperwork.
17:12>> Yeah.
17:13>> Someone got real chewed out for that at at They're like Even at Langley they're like, yo, you kidnapped a [ __ ] priest or something. Like they did they these something happened.
17:23>> like, what so I should just kill him?
17:25And they're like, no, damn right >> No, you can't kill him now. You had to kill him on the boat. THAT'S WHAT THE DRONES were for.
17:30>> He's like, all right, well, we could we could do this GPS >> take him out back, shoot him, no one will ever know.
17:35And they're like, no, no, no. Now, let him go. They already someone already chirped. In each of the incidents, a high-end business jet equipped with specialized surveillance technology flew from El Salvador in the direction of the fishing vessels on the days of the strikes and in the days prior, according to flight and ship tracking data.
17:54Details about the plane and the pattern of its flights before the incident suggest it may be linked to a secret CIA program.
18:01Could we read that I want to read that quote again? Go up real quick.
18:06A high-end business jet.
18:09>> A bizjet.
18:10>> A a bizjet equipped with specialized surveillance technology.
18:16What's a business >> Palantir.
18:18>> Yeah. Yeah, you see you see what I'm You're picking up what I'm what I'm looking at.
18:23>> plane, a PP.
18:24>> A >> [laughter] >> little little PP. A little PP flying around El Salvador. [laughter] What do you know?
18:31>> You got to hit him. The drones miss.
18:34>> It's actually It's actually the largest PP we've ever seen. It's actually a huge PP, not small.
18:41>> That's that's the only thing we do here.
18:43>> All right, so what does this map look like, Joey Diaz?
18:45>> Yeah, let's see. It's like a map.
18:46>> boat locations and surveillance plane pass.
18:50Oh, they're out there.
18:51Yeah, they're out there.
18:53They're headed for [ __ ] Japan.
18:56They're doing something.
18:57>> Yeah, they're doing >> And the surveillance planes all coming from El Salvador. That's an interesting relationship we got there.
19:02>> Mhm.
19:02>> Right? He's like the cool dictator.
19:05>> Powered by Bitcoin.
19:06>> What's that guy's name again? [ __ ] I always forget.
19:08>> Um Mr. El Salvador.
19:10>> Yeah, the Mr. Bukele. Nayib Bukele.
19:13He's a dictator.
19:15But he's like the cool dictator. That's It's not my words. That's just what people say.
19:19But he like, you know, seized power in Congress like right when he got in there. But he's like, "But we're going to do Bitcoin." So people are like, "All right, now He's based. Cleaned up crime.
19:29He suspended some civil liberties.
19:32>> [laughter] >> YOU GOT TO CRACK A FEW EGGS TO MAKE AN OMELET.
19:37Bitcoin's legal, crime is down, people are locked up, nothing to see. What's a few human rights violations, right?
19:46It's It's like that's the old pendulum, Joey D. For every action, there's an equal but opposite reaction. And when that [ __ ] gets violent in those actions and reactions, [ __ ] gets a little out of whack to create equilibrium.
19:57>> Yeah.
19:57>> That's kind of >> That's physics.
19:59>> where it is there. I'm glad their streets are safer. I'll give them that.
20:02You got You got to got to give them that. I'm just saying, you know, I got I got no love for the MS-13 guys, to be clear. But like maybe don't create a dystopian [ __ ] Orwellian prison.
20:15Just saying. I'm not saying prison should be a Marriott. I'm not like that.
20:19But you got to be reasonable. Geneva Conventions, you know?
20:23>> Society only functions with a benevolent image.
20:29>> Who's Who said that?
20:31>> Um a Slavoj Zizek. He was talking about The Dark Knight.
20:36And like the Joker and Batman.
20:39>> Did he really say that?
20:40>> Yeah, and he and he pretty He was saying like that movie is pretty much showing how like society needs a benevolent image to function.
20:48>> Yeah, Nolan was cooking in that trilogy.
20:50That was an He's another guy.
20:52He saw ahead.
20:53>> Well, I I was going to say it before, Kubrick is like a is a more brilliant version of the like he's not I don't think he's as brilliant as Kubrick. He's more like gets something like deep in the roots of like you're thinking about [ __ ] like that, I don't think Nolan gets that as much. He gets it.
21:12>> He gets it. He's he's he's up there for sure. Like he's tapped into something, but that that trilogy of a literal like superhero story, like this fictionalized outlandish kind of thing said so much about society to come >> Mhm.
21:30>> that perhaps the more I think about it, movies came out '05, '08, '12, so they're filmed in like '04, '07, '11.
21:38>> Yeah.
21:40>> I think about this a lot as to whether or not he was already showing us a mirror of what already existed and we just didn't notice it yet or if he was just a little ahead of the curve and saw what was about to exist.
21:53I'm torn between the two.
21:54>> the former. Yeah.
21:56>> I think you might be right. I think you might be right, but I'm torn between the two.
21:59So, I think about that a lot.
22:01But we we got to talk about the hack that you were >> that I conducted with China.
22:06>> Yeah, oh, so you're admitting it.
22:08You're admitting that you conducted this hack of the DOJ.
22:11>> All I'm admitting is >> Traitor among us.
22:12>> All I'm admitting is the obvious that I am Chinese.
22:16>> Professor Jang a CCP agent and it's pure projection.
22:21>> I don't actually.
22:22>> I think I You've called him that many times.
22:24>> [laughter] >> I think he's I think he's >> lie like a mattress.
22:27>> I think he's clean-cut, man.
22:29>> Okay.
22:29>> [laughter] >> But this is the CCP agent. So, I got to take a leak real quick and then we'll come back and talk [laughter] about it.
22:35We'll be right back.
22:37All right, we're back. So, Deep Throat already got it up. This is from USA today today.
22:43US says Chinese hackers broke into the DOJ, NASA, Federal Reserve, and Senate.
22:49That's a [ __ ] mother lode right there. Like whoever whoever did that on your end, like they got a raise.
22:55>> Yeah, they >> They got a raise for sure.
22:57>> Yeah, they were cooking.
22:58>> get like a company email from Xi Jinping? Like, "Yo, nice work, fam."
23:01>> He's like, "Boys, we did it.
23:03>> We did it.
23:03>> We're in.
23:04>> They hacked into NASA. I wonder if they got the moon files on that. Justice Department said August 26th that it has disrupted Well, now it's disrupted. A Chinese hacking operation that it believes is responsible for cyber break-ins at the DOJ as well as NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Senate, and other sensitive US government agencies.
23:23But wait, there's more. In a statement that the Justice Department announced that it had seized internet domains used by two hacking platforms dubbed dubbed which it said were used in the penetration campaign.
23:35>> Oh.
23:36>> Oh.
23:37>> As described in court documents unsealed in the Southern District of California, a People's Republic of China state-sponsored group known as QT5 employed by China-based Nanjing Jinwei Network Technology Company created Don't nod your head along like you like this.
23:52>> No, your pronunciation was very good.
23:54That's why I nodded.
23:55>> created and operated It's not Mom Donny level, though. I got to say that. I don't know. He's He's good.
24:00>> That was not the first time you spoke Chinese. I'll say that.
24:03>> he's definitely spoken that [ __ ] before.
24:05>> It was nice.
24:06>> He did cook on the accent. It's kind of an interesting [laughter] way to cook on.
24:10>> [snorts] >> created and operated by the two hacking platforms. Among the victims of QT5's computer intrusion activity, we already listed those out, but there was also the Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services. Ah, they hit RFK, too. National Institutes of Health and the US Senate. USA Today is reaching out to the Chinese Embassy in Washington for comment, which I'm sure they'll give. In the past, the Beijing government has denied responsibility for any US-directed hacking activity. Quote, "State-sponsored malicious hackers preying on America's critical infrastructure will be stopped and
24:40prosecuted. here to ensure security for the American people and will use every tool we have to keep that promise," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. Not exactly a sign of confidence that it already [ __ ] happened. Sounded pretty prototypical, that statement.
24:54Sounds like a lawyer wrote that one.
24:56Yeah. FBI Director Cash Patel is on the case and said the bureau played a key role in the disruption of Can you scroll down, Droid? Do you >> Yeah.
25:03>> of a global botnet and hacking platform used by Chinese state-sponsored hackers to target US critical infrastructure in support of President Donald Trump's cyber strategy for America, which doesn't seem to be working out very well. Patel said the FBI is surging efforts to shape adversary behavior and defend the homeland in cyberspace.
25:22>> Cash money.
25:24>> Part of great defense is preventing, you know, the the goals before they happen, not after you're already down six to nothing.
25:32>> Imagine what it would be like working in the Chinese embassy, too, in Washington.
25:35You're like, [ __ ] dude. Like >> Imagine. I feel like you've been there.
25:39>> You just got to like they're walking in like you guys do this [ __ ] and you got to be like, uh, no. What do you mean?
25:45No.
25:45>> No. No. No. No, wasn't us.
25:47>> I can't I don't speak. And they're like, [ __ ] >> Yeah, that's right.
25:50>> Pulling that card.
25:51>> They did I I will say though, they China China had a tough one this week, too, on their end.
25:56>> Oh, dude.
25:57>> We got the video right here.
25:58>> Dude, that [ __ ] >> I don't even know if we can play this on on YouTube because it shows people getting hit.
26:06>> This was the first thing I saw when I woke up.
26:09>> Yeah, I know.
26:09>> Whenever this was yesterday or the day before, first thing I saw.
26:12>> this was Wednesday. So >> Should I put it on the screen?
26:16>> This is Let's stick it on screen real quick before we play it. This is the border of China and Nepal. Essentially, what's been discovered now is a glacier, a part of a glacier came loose on the mountainside. Like it gave way, which created a massive dam that basically unloaded of water. And there's nothing This is a stark reminder that there is absolutely [ __ ] nothing more powerful in any way, shape, or form than Mother Nature.
26:48And when it wants to [ __ ] you, it will.
26:51And this flood was released down the mountain. It's effectively an avalanche except it's water.
26:58So, you can imagine it moves faster and is just absolutely it just blows everything away in its sight. And so, you just see all these people they finally hear it coming and they're running for their lives and I can I'm willing to say this all the people you see in that video are dead. Uh it's very sad. They're They're There is This is an unsurvivable event. You cannot live through something like this. But let's let's hit play on it and we'll kind of roll the dice here.
27:31But you see them all running and you see the water come up from behind >> Oh my god.
27:35>> and everything this is everything's just gone.
27:39The whole I mean that is that's a surge.
27:42>> Holy [ __ ] >> What was the surge for Hurricane Katrina like 12 ft?
27:46>> Yeah, I I don't know.
27:48>> out that whole city.
27:49>> That is literally >> That's some Zeus [ __ ] >> No, it's like the it's like um >> Poseidon [ __ ] >> tsunami type >> Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. That's beyond a tsunami.
28:01>> It's still going. It was still going.
28:02>> Still going. All those people are gone.
28:05>> That's crazy.
28:05>> That's horrible. That's see you hate to see something like that. It was It was absolutely terrible. But you know, that's stark reminder life is [ __ ] life is fragile.
28:19Very fragile.
28:20But we did say at the beginning we were going to talk about this Meta lawsuit.
28:23>> Mhm.
28:23>> That happened. So, Meta has been told they got to pay out over 17.1 billion to victims in a class action lawsuit.
28:32So, there's a landmark settlement over media social media addiction claims.
28:38So, we've seen how social media has affected everyone down to your boomer grandparents and everything.
28:46But we have particularly seen how the youngest generations who grew up with a lot of it, which includes our generation and everything, and now the kids all coming up, have been affected by what they see on the screens and >> [clears throat] >> some of the things that they shouldn't have to be exposed to and then also get addicted to the dopamine loops that are part of the business product >> Yep.
29:09>> on these platforms where the product is us, people. And so, with kids, they are extremely malleable and you know, it was finally It's been [clears throat] brought up many times before. There's been cases over stuff like this, but there was a massive lawsuit that has had some success. And, you know, $17.1 billion Meta is going to survive that. That's not It's not putting an enormous dent in them, but the precedent of what it could set here, as we were saying at the beginning of the episode with new rules, is interesting because I've always cited this in different contexts on the podcast over the years.
29:44Since the beginning of the show, the earliest episodes. It's like, you know, I think communism's terrible.
29:51Unfortunately, when you are a a totalitarian system like that, you You don't have the Constitution. You You don't You don't have rights to get around, so you can make some decisions that are good for the intellectual capital of the state sometimes. And one of the things that China has done for a long time is that TikTok, which, you know, until the Ellisons bought it, was a Chinese company, was brought into America and all the 12-year-olds were seeing [ __ ] titty videos all day.
30:17>> Yep.
30:18>> And watching it all hours of the night cuz there was no limit on it because in our open democracy, you could do whatever the [ __ ] you wanted. More on that in a minute. Whereas in China, their kids on their version of TikTok were limited in the time they could watch it during the day. It turned off at like 8:00 at night every night for kids. And instead of titty videos, they were getting [ __ ] math videos and science videos and nature videos, and things that could actually stimulate learning, and things that are positive Yeah. for them to, you know, get interested in in the kind of stuff that's going to be useful in society
30:52instead of starting a [ __ ] OnlyFans page 10 years later or something like that.
30:56>> Yeah.
30:56>> Or subscribing to one, I guess.
30:58But like now there might be some new rules. So, let's let's go down here. This was in 47 states the settlement. Meta on Wednesday reached a landmark settlement with 47 states, the District of of Columbia, and US territories agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties and make major changes to its products over claims that endangered children with addictive social media platforms. In a dramatic capitulation, the owner of Facebook and Instagram agreed to the financial penalty penalties for violating federal child privacy and state's consumer protection laws, the states announced. Meta also agreed to
31:33limit how long teenagers can spend on its platform and to ban features that stoke mental health issues, striking at the heart of the company's business of engagement for advertising. One quick question I'm going to have here to monitor moving forward though is where the line is drawn on mental health issues stuff. I'm all for that, but can that then be used as a tool to propagandize kids in the future by saying, "Oh, this could be mental health, so you can't see this." when it's something that maybe they need to see.
32:03Right? Like I I [clears throat] don't know.
32:06Again, I like the sound of that, but you have to play out like where this could be misused now.
32:14"The focus of this case was to protect our kids. Stopping notifications and alerts at night and when they are in school, encouraging them to take breaks from social media, protecting them against harmful features," said Colorado's Attorney General Phil Weiser in a statement. "The agreement exceeded what most courts might order," he added.
32:29"The settlement effectively ends a bellwether federal trial in the US Northern District of California in Oakland where California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey were seeking roughly 200 billion over accusations that Meta harmed children.
32:41>> Oh, yeah.
32:42>> The states filed their agreement with Meta on Wednesday morning in that court where Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is is expected to approve it. Separately, Meta said on Wednesday that it settled with Texas for almost 1 billion over similar allegations. The company still faces numerous other lawsuits. So, the stock price went down I want to get down to some of the All right. So, the settlement could signal an inflection point, yada yada yada.
33:07In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Meta's legal team said the company negotiated the terms of its settlement to require the other companies to join setting industry standards that would not single out Meta. Meta wants to ensure teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms and it partnered with state attorneys general.
33:23I love how they say that. Partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard. Partnered for a cost of 18 billion.
33:30>> Mhm.
33:31>> He implored other companies to settle.
33:33This framework will only work if all our peers join us because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps.
33:39We need an industry-wide solution.
33:42So, I want to go down some more to get to some of the actual actionable items that they could add here. Keep going.
33:54The settlement will effectively force Meta to make major product changes for all US teen users. The company agreed to interrupt endless scrolling and to impose a 2-hour daily time limit on Instagram and Facebook. To avoid addictive use and sleep interruptions, the company will limit usage between midnight and 6:00 a.m. and silence notifications during school hours of 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. I'm assuming this is all time zone sensitive as well. Meta will also limit features that psychologists link to negative social comparisons such as beauty filters, good, and a tallying of the like button clicks. It will also
34:30strengthen age verification tools and parental controls. Many of the changes are similar to ones that Meta has made in the last year. The company has for years committed to enforcing age requirements and creating technology that figures out if teenagers are lying about their age, but as part of the settlement, Meta said it would invest more in that effort. The changes are significant but not totally revolutionary, said Violet Joralemon, the director of Life Sciences Law and Policy Center at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, adding that some of the restrictions already exist in Europe. I do think
35:04that using these platforms as a minor will start to look pretty different than it did 5 years ago, Mr. Joralemon Joralemon added. They're going to They're going to be a lot more restrictions.
35:18So, again, I'mma stick by what I said. I I like the idea of this.
35:23>> Mhm.
35:24>> You just don't want to see it translate into other things cuz like as an example, and this is really going down the slippery slope, the EU, they just mentioned they already have rules like this. In the EU, there's all kinds of free speech issues with what goes on for adult users over there.
35:38>> Big time.
35:38>> Like I know like even Elon Musk was fighting with them over things on Twitter, and like there's a lot of things obviously that are controversial about Elon Musk and things to criticize as well, but I do appreciate the fact that like X, Twitter, whatever you call it, is way more wide open than it used to be, and I I have to give credit to the fact that that has also happened and dragged over to platforms like Instagram and and and Facebook. Things that would have gotten you banned over there now are common parlance on those apps, and some of it is very ugly.
36:14That's how it works, though. That's how free speech has to work. You have to see the great and the bad, and you got to let the great win over time.
36:23It's just how it is.
36:25So, this is going to be interesting to track. Obviously, Meta was financially and lawsuit incentivized to really take action. Like, it does seem like there was a little PR put in that article of like, "Well, they were already taking a lot of actions to to try to get ahead of the story."
36:40>> Yeah, like we were working on this actually.
36:41>> Yeah, yeah. We're And And like, New York Times didn't seem to really fight that one and push back on that. But, you know, neither here nor there. Maybe there's a little conversation that has that happens behind the scene on the PR front there. But, it's just it's an interesting development that should be good for our kids, but does not need to be a Pandora's Box opening the door to a lot of other things that could happen, including to adults on these apps. I'm just I'm always going to look at free speech first and be like, "As long as that's still protected."
37:16But, it's an interesting constitutional question that I am not qualified to do more than speculate on cuz I am not an attorney by any stretch of the word there. It's an interesting constitutional question when you talk about the rights of a minor.
37:31Right? Like, they live in the country, they're born in the in the country, they live under the same constitution, but do parental guidelines are they able to limit >> Mhm.
37:43>> maybe the broad scope of constitutional rights? Like, for example, a kid can't own a gun.
37:48>> They shouldn't have >> Right? Like, that one's I know that one.
37:50So, that one's easy.
37:52But, like, when it gets to speech, >> Mhm.
37:55>> how is that policed? And which is a very dangerous word.
38:01>> politicians to handle children's rights.
38:03>> That's right. Yeah, yeah. Make some child politicians.
38:06>> For every position in US government, there's a junior position, and it's a child.
38:11>> Yeah. Just you know, that'd be funny as [ __ ] >> That'd be funny as [ __ ] I kind of need that for the comedy.
38:17>> That would be really funny.
38:18>> Yeah. Yeah.
38:19But, I I know. Maybe some of my lawyer listeners and viewers out there can chime in in the comments about the constitutionality of being a minor and how that how it could be constitutional with things like speech or access to things being limited cuz this sounds really positive to me. Like there's a lot here that sounds very positive that I'm like pumped about. I just want to make sure it's not opening the door to bigger problems.
38:52>> Yeah, I'm going to get conspiratorial for a second but like, you know, um when Faust was in here and we were talking about the AT&T bill in the '90s.
39:01>> Yeah.
39:02>> I just [snorts] wonder if like and then for people who don't remember or don't know, it was like the pretty much monopolized phone use and sort of the internet as it was just kind of taking off. Does that sound about right? Am I kind of blowing that? Okay.
39:17>> But I just said like something like this, I wonder if we'll >> come back to >> in like 5 years from now or even like in a couple of years from now and being like, "Dude, [ __ ] remember this?" And they said it was for the [ __ ] kids and it was to help them and protect them and now, you know, I I like to tweet about this and I'm in trouble just for liking a tweet. I don't know.
39:37>> That's why and I hope this isn't the case.
39:39>> Yeah, maybe maybe even that.
39:40>> we are not rolling the tape of us talking about this >> Yeah.
39:43>> on August 28th, 2026 in 5 years where they're like, "Damn, those [ __ ] knew." Cuz that means it was a bad outcome.
39:51>> Yeah.
39:52>> Like I hope we're rolling it back and going, "Good on us to make sure but it all worked out."
39:56>> Yeah, cuz it's like as we get ready for like a three-front war and we all [laughter] It's like, "Oh, look at they're taking all the preliminary actions to really um silence dissemination when the time comes."
40:09>> That's right. Surveillance state.
40:11>> Yeah, I don't know.
40:11>> even try to transition there but you got to have the transition on point and flat.
40:15>> Cuz I'm Cuz I'm trying to >> You thought You thought we going to forget about you fam.
40:19>> Come Come on kid. I would never forget about you Garrett Langley. Now I do want to say this.
40:29To the to the people who were doxing this guy online.
40:34I'm never going to condone that.
40:37Okay, hear me out here.
40:40That's you're you're giving someone like Garrett Langley the CEO of Flo exactly what he wants. You're giving him chaos in the masses where now the doxing his address and stuff like that and putting it out there and and you know, potentially causing bigger problems there. And I never want to do that. It is very easy to beat a weak effeminate power hungry wasn't bullied enough clearly guy behind a keyboard who's taking advantage of all of us right now is way easier to beat a guy like this on the facts.
41:12And that's where we got to keep it. Now that said, since the doxing has already happened again, don't condone it.
41:21I do hope I do hope I and I don't have high hopes for this, but I have hope.
41:29I hope that this can be a learning moment for Garrett.
41:34To see who I used to call Craig or Greg cuz I thought that was his name, but it's Garrett.
41:39I hope that this can be a learning moment for him to see what it feels like to get have the shoe on the other foot.
41:47And to see what it's like when your privacy is invaded without your consent.
41:55And to see what it's like when you know, to quote Garrett, Americans got to compromise a little bit on this privacy and safety thing which he said completely unironically even though it's one of the most ironic quotes ever said.
42:09Or I I say in recent memory that's been said given the history of our country and guys like Ben Franklin who quite literally warned about people like Garrett Langley and what they're trying to do. But I hope Garrett, who probably will never appear on this show even though we've talked about that publicly now a few times, I hope you will use this as a learning moment to see what it feels like.
42:29You know? Kind of like Remember that old show Undercover CEO? Where the CEO would go undercover and have to see what it's like in the rank and file and they'd be like, "God damn, fam. I didn't know I was doing this to these motherfuckers."
42:39>> Yep.
42:39>> Right? And then they they they'd be like, "Wow. All right, I'm going to think about this differently."
42:43This is your Undercover CEO moment, you know? And again, I I don't want to see people ever ever dox anyone, no matter how badly you dislike them and everything, you know? We I I we've taken precautions on that in the past like even when we talked about Howard Lutnick. Obviously, his place is full-blown public knowledge where he lives and all that, but we were even careful with that as much as we don't like him, you know? We we shouldn't do this. But I do want to run that the See where it says Rand Paul right there?
43:15>> Mhm.
43:16>> So, let's let's click that tweet because this week Garrett Langley went viral again for some [clears throat] softball [ __ ] interview on Fox News.
43:26Cuz that's where he's going. He's going to friendly places where he's got to answer a few [ __ ] probably pre-prepared questions for 5 minutes that he somehow still manages to [ __ ] strike out on.
43:36And you know, try to do a little PR press here with all whatever little might he has. But let's play this clip first.
43:45And then I'll get to the context of the tweet right here. Can we make it full screen, D?
43:48>> Yeah.
43:49>> Thank you.
43:51All right. So, this was on Fox News.
43:53>> I value my privacy. My family values their privacy. My employees value their privacy. But what we're talking about is safety as well. And so, I think when people talk about just one of these, privacy or safety, they're prioritizing the wrong thing.
44:06What we have to prioritize as a country is compromise. How do we have our safety and how do we balance privacy? And so when I think about legislation that would ban that's like banning vehicles. That that that would never have made sense.
44:18Instead, what we did is we introduced laws against drunk driving. We introduced laws around seat belts, laws around airbags.
44:25>> Those weren't invading your privacy.
44:28Garrett Langley, those were simple like rules of the road.
44:33You know, like you drive drunk, you get arrested. It's pretty simple. You know what I mean? You you can't operate a vehicle well with that.
44:41At at at at a blood alcohol level like that. You know, you you don't wear a seat belt, you get ejected from a car even during a routine collision and you die.
44:52It is there for your own safety without invading your [ __ ] privacy. Now let's go to the tweet you had, Joey Deef. So this video went very viral and Rand Paul, uh Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky among many other people had something to say about it. He said, "Flock CEO @GLangley wants you to quote compromise unquote away your Fourth Amendment rights. Our founding fathers are rolling in their graves at this suggestion." And this unself-aware [ __ ] Garrett Langley, actually slid in on the replies here and said, "Senator, that was not my comment. We believe in the Constitution at Flock. I hope you
45:30can agree that Americans deserve to be safe."
45:33>> Oh.
45:35I hate that.
45:35>> There's literally a video of him saying that bar for bar, word for word. That was quite literally your comment, Garrett. You are that stupid that you come in and respond and try to try to cuz it didn't have Look at the ratio here, Joey Deef. Scroll down. It had no effect on people like I in the way you intended it, Garrett.
45:57Like you try to get people to actually believe that what they saw and what they heard was not what they saw and what they heard, which they can press play on above there in full 32-second context to see that that's exactly what you said.
46:11And then he follows it up with a line that says, "I hope you can agree that Americans can deserve to be safe to get exactly back to the talking point he had at the beginning, which was to compromise >> [laughter] >> privacy for safety.
46:28I just can't believe how [ __ ] retar this guy is.
46:31>> Yeah.
46:31>> Like I Listen, I knew he was a weak guy, but it's not even from a PR perspective.
46:37I think he genuinely is just not the brightest bulb.
46:40Like go away. Don't talk. The best PR for you right now, Garrett, is to go the [ __ ] away. It won't work. I mean, you trust me. Like guys like Ben Jordan are still going to be coming after you. But like It That just blew my mind. And And the way you know, the [ __ ] AirPods in the ears, the weak voice, the effeminate delivery, asking questions at the end of a [ __ ] statement. You know, who the [ __ ] are you, pal?
47:10Who the [ __ ] are you?
47:17You got anything, Joey Dief?
47:18>> No, I checked his Twitter to see how many followers he had that he had, but he has more than me. I was going to I was going to [ __ ] on him for that.
47:26>> Not for long. Follow @tokemalone.
47:28>> have any [ __ ] motion this guy.
47:30>> That's right. He's got no motion. Follow Follow @tokemalone, Joey Dief.
47:34>> Yeah, help me get more followers than Garrett so I can start ratioing his ass.
47:38>> That's right. Joey Dief Joey Dief's got no chill on Twitter. He's a low-key like very good dark Twitter follow.
47:43>> Yeah.
47:44>> So.
47:44>> I'm a I'm a good twit I'm a good tweeter.
47:46>> He's a good He's a good tweeter. But this has gotten so crazy that even Ron DeSantis in Florida is like, "This is out of control."
47:53>> Yeah, that's that's probably true.
47:55>> almost like, "Yo, they're [ __ ] What What are there, over 10,000 flight cameras now in >> over 10,000 flat cameras now in Florida?
48:12I had to tell Danny Jones about that the other day. He called me before he came here. He called me because he was listening to the podcast we did last week. He's like, "Wait, this shit's in Florida?" I'm like, "Danny Jones, look around."
48:23And actually, shoutout to Alessio Alemanno, who's been on He's like the original guy who's been with me forever, who handles the content on the second and third channels. I talk about him all the time. He has his own channel, Alessio Alemanno, where he does a lot of cool documentaries.
48:37But he was onto this cuz he lives down in Florida now and he put all this out publicly where he went to the city council meeting in in Ocala because in Ocala, Florida, a lot of flat cameras were popping up and there was this big argument over it and laid out the facts beautifully to the council right there and was actually pulled aside by I think the sheriff afterwards, who was like trying to shill the cameras. And Alessio's like the sweetest guy ever, but he told the guy, I think it was the sheriff. It was that or the deputy sheriff.
49:10He told the guy, he's like, "Look, dude, if you can't see the irony of what you're saying here, you know, you're here to uphold the law, which includes the Constitution of the United States.
49:20I'm glad that like you're happy that you're catching some more bad guys with these cameras, but at what cost? Like, that's not the country we live in."
49:32And I'd said it last week. I had some nice conversations with some different law enforcement guys over the past couple weeks who have reached out. And I That's the one thing that's like a little frustrating. I I don't think any The people I've talked to haven't talked to me in bad faith about it, which I appreciate, right? It hasn't been like nasty, like, "Fuck you.
49:49You have no idea what you're talking about." I appreciate that cuz I'll give it right back to you if you [ __ ] talk to me like that about in their claims. And I really am trying to lay it out for them because I want them to be able to do their jobs well.
50:01Just not at the cost of our constitutional rights. That's how this country's supposed to work.
50:06So they Ben Ben Jordan who does amazing work on this stuff and we've been trying to get a podcast together with him. He's a really on the ground busy guy. He made a great documentary with my friend Tommy G on this whole thing. They really blew the whole thing open. You know, Ben's been talking about this a while and then you know, Tommy looked at the work and was like, this guy's amazing and then brought him in on the documentary and the rest was history right there. But Ben I I think I put that video there Deep, right? The investor meeting one?
50:37>> Let's see here.
50:38>> Ben decided that he would attend a Flock investor meeting cuz you know, if if [snorts] if you if it's publicly available, you be able to do that. You should be able to do that especially on your own dime. So we'll we'll play this video real quick.
50:51He Let's just say that Ben was disinvited from this event after paying for the hotel and travel out of the goodness of of his heart. He just wanted to hear what they had to say and Flock didn't like that too much. You know, they're very private about these meetings and and who can get there which is quite ironic. But Ben did not let his travels go to waste in any way.
51:17Let's let's queue this real quick. This was awesome.
51:20>> I was excited to go to Flock's big police convention, Flock Forward. I bought a $350 ticket and booked a hotel room at the Hilton in Atlanta. But then Flock said, "No journalists allowed."
51:31Which is really kind of weird considering that your tax dollars are usually paying for the tickets your public servants buy. Then a Flock employee contacted the hotel on my behalf and canceled my room without notifying me. So I couldn't even be in the building.
51:44>> Hello, I see this email from a Shannon Jones.
51:47>> Shannon Jones. Shout out Shannon.
51:49>> be canceled.
51:50>> Flock could keep our bodies out of the convention, but they couldn't block our electromagnetic frequencies. We captured packets from every single Wi-Fi channel we could find using dozens of Wi-Fi adapters in monitor mode. Then we used a 2.4 GHz parabolic dish antenna to passively capture the Bluetooth information of just about everyone >> Perfectly legal.
52:10>> Then we used a log-periodic dipole array and multiple SDRs to demodulate the wireless microphones used in our stage and camera production.
52:19>> Yes.
52:19>> Silly gooses even forgot to turn the microphones off when they weren't presenting or recording. So we captured some of their mingling. Then I flew my drone with a zoom lens over the convention as it was letting out. Cool.
52:32Looks like lots of police and politicians got tons of free swag. Do you recognize these attendees? If not, that's okay. We can just use facial recognition.
52:42Oh my god. I can't believe >> Listen to Tide tables turning.
52:47>> Senator Julianne Ortman. This little drone flight allowed us to find out that Senator Ortman [snorts] is a managing partner of Public Safety Strategies Group, which is led by Rich Stanek, the former Sheriff of Hennepin County covering Minneapolis. And guess what?
53:01Flock pays them as consultants to find confidential leads to new police contracts around [music] the country.
53:07This is just the tip of the iceberg. So thank you, Flock, for banning journalists from your dumbass convention.
53:14>> Yes.
53:14>> We had more fun out here and learned a whole lot more. Stay tuned.
53:19>> Everyone go follow Ben Jordan on YouTube if you are not already. He his amazing work. Amazing work on the Flock thing. And Tommy G will he'll tell you that even stronger cuz he got to see it up close. But that is so [ __ ] over the top and amazing. And again, when you can turn their own tools and their own ideologies against them and prove how much they don't like it, which Tommy G also did in the documentary they did. They They didn't like when he was recording them.
53:53There's nothing You can't beat that argument. Once that happens, you cannot beat that. But what's even worse is that somehow the dark money the dark money dark dark dark money behind Flock according to Joey Deef is is is a little deeper tied >> Mhm.
54:10>> Peter Thiel >> It is.
54:11>> than we thought. So Joey Deef, yeah, I'm I'm looking at your research right in front of me where you have all the series rounds and amounts that were raised throughout Flock's history, which goes dates all the way back to 2017. But they just in March 2025 before right when they were ramping up all the cameras going across the country when the Trump administration came in, they had a series F for $275 million at a valuation of 7.5 billy.
54:397.5 billy >> Yep.
54:41>> valuation. This was led by Andreessen Horowitz.
54:44>> Mhm.
54:45>> Which, you know, everyone knows Marc Andreessen at this point. He's all over the place. And Marc has never, as far as I can tell, been like partners with Peter Thiel or anything like that, but they are long-time friends and invest on a lot of things together. And Marc talks about how he constantly I think he's talked before about how he constantly has like the voice of Peter Thiel on his shoulder, which isn't weird at all, you know, to conduct out whatever he's thinking about and and try to hash it out because Peter Thiel's so smart, which actually never underestimate your enemy. Peter Thiel's a very smart guy.
55:16He's very evil guy, but in my opinion, respect, but very very smart guy. But when Joey Deef took a look at all the companies that were here, there were a few other ties.
55:25So among the companies that lead backing of this $275 million raise were Green Oaks, Bedrock, Meritech, Matrix Partners, Sands Capital, Founders Fund, which is Peter Thiel's company right there. So, boom. Kleiner Perkins, Tiger Global, and Y Combinator. And so, Y Combinator, which also is in the middle of a second little controversy this week that I won't get into right now. Maybe we'll talk about that in a future episode. Y Combinator is run by Garry Tan, who was an early employee at where Joey Dief?
55:56>> Palantir.
55:57>> That's correct. So, good friend, long-time early employee of Peter Thiel's CIA-backed Palantir, which was literally backed by the CIA. And the founder of Bedrock, one of the other companies in there, is also a long-time Thiel associate named Jeff Lewis.
56:15And it's like, I know it's a little club and a lot of these guys know each other and there's a lot of incestuous nature to it, but it's not helping the optics when you continue to see some of the people running these companies, the people who founded these companies, the fact that Peter Thiel himself is in these things and in these companies, and they're pumping so much money into this guy, Garrett Langley, who had had a failed app in the past and then somehow got like a $200 million sellout in his second app that I don't even know what the [ __ ] it does, and then is suddenly like the golden boy of the federal
56:46government to be able to go get these Flock cameras everywhere backed by all the Silicon Valley titans. It's weird.
56:51>> Yeah.
56:52>> It's weird. He's not exactly charismatic, doesn't seem like a real [ __ ] innovator when you look at it.
56:57He's got a camera company.
57:00You know, how innovative we talking?
57:03Right here.
57:04So, Joey Dief, I'm I'm seeing there there's some more research we're going to have to get to next week.
57:08>> Oh, yeah.
57:08>> On some on some of the other companies as well, cuz like I've said, I know like James Lee has talked about this as well online, like there are other companies here that want to see Flock fall from the skies. They want to see this flock of birds fall from the skies cuz they're just going to come right in and do the same thing and act like they're the good guy. And I suspect they are not. But, you know, as final note to Peter Thiel this week, I don't know if you saw this, Joey D. It seems to be roughly confirmed, like not all the way across the finish line, but pretty much confirm what was his suspicion,
57:41which is that Peter Thiel may have >> [snorts] >> I actually thought for a second you were going to say that like he's getting married or something. I'm not even lying.
57:53>> married, Joey D.
57:53>> Oh, good for him.
57:55Uh, sure it's a >> For for people I I wish The thing I was going to say is that Peter Thiel probably has some money behind Clovie Killer, which >> Oh, yeah, I've been seeing that. Yeah.
58:06>> So, do with that what you will. Someone who's making people hate themselves and doing all this weird [ __ ] to looks max and try to ruin a younger generation clearly has some mental issues and stuff like that being funded by Peter Thiel. That's not weird at all, but I wish all of you could have been in the steakhouse with us >> [laughter] >> after we recorded with Lee Cronin.
58:33There'll be another Lee Cronin episode coming in in a couple weeks. Had a good time with him, the British scientist and chemist who was on my show back in episode 289.
58:44Really enjoyed Lee, fun guy. But I wish you could have been there at the table when Joey D had to explain to Lee Cronin why Peter Thiel is so shiny.
58:56I put the reaction on my Instagram story that Lee had. Basically, his head was in his steak.
59:03I'm not going to say it. Maybe in a future episode Joey D will go there. You guys can try to guess. I'll give you a hint. It's not cuz he's a reptile.
59:09>> Yeah.
59:11It's not.
59:12>> The delivery. I've heard this joke about, I don't know, 12 times before when D goes to deliver it.
59:18>> Yeah.
59:18>> And it's it is funny. It is It is hilarious every single time because I know I'm going to get some crazy reaction >> Yeah.
59:26>> from whoever you're doing it to. It's a real It's misdirect.
59:28>> It's a real misdirect. It It hits you out of nowhere. Pause.
59:33You know. And I just wish you guys could have been there for that. But that all said, we got to hit the road, Joey B. We got to get the [ __ ] out of here. Danny Jones coming back over. He'll do a road trip for the day. But everybody else, thank you as always for subscribing and liking these videos. The likes are a big, big help on YouTube now. And thank you for sharing it with your friends. I appreciate all of you who do that. That said, give it a thought, get back to me.
59:57Peace.
59:58>> Peace.
59:58>> Thank you guys for checking out this clip. If you haven't already subscribed, please subscribe and hit the like button on this video. It is a huge, huge help.
60:05And if you'd like to check out this clip's full podcast episode, that link is in the description below or right here. And finally, you can follow me on Instagram and X by using the links in my description below.
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