All the crap you never needed

December 15 2023 Bestie mullet Friedberg Holiday Party Epic Games vs Google Google App Store $50B/year revenue Apple App Store $85B/year revenue Google apparently did sweetheart deals with other developers Epic didn’t press for damages Google apparently deleted employee chat logs that were relevant Epic went after them direct because Google would win in anti-trust court OpenAI deal with Alex Springer AI models being sued for using copyright material Deal isn’t about fair use and training - its able to access data behind a paywall FCC vs Starlink Brendan Carr dissented Sitting member of the FCC is telling the public about this political harassment - unprecedented FCC is pre-emptively judging the service 3 years ahead Nixon was attacked for having an enemies list This country is engaging in political harassment Look at actions Biden says something like “we need to look into this guy” Elon wasn’t invited to the EV summit Biden is a union guy and won’t support a

December 7 2023 Tucker episode feedback was great Ivy League antisemitism hearings Harvard has abysmal record on free speech (see FIRE survey results) Victim groups vs oppressor groups Donors were OK to donate to universities when they didn’t realize whether they were in the oppressor or victim group What if other ethnic groups were targeted? Can be traced back to when USNews and World Report started ranking schools - these schools started chasing asset management - learning became secondary Mission of these universities has been lost Color blindness is now considered racism Was the civil rights movement’s basic tenet TBD if these leaders will get fired Kids and parents have to decide whether they want to go to these schools State of the economy Only in the US is feeling tied to politics but not reality Are wages keeping up with inflation? If there is a quarter point interest rate cut, $1T out of $5.7T sitting in money market accounts will become active SaaS

December 1 2023 Tucker joins the Pod! Not sure why he was fired from Fox News Doesn’t remember ever being told to not cover something against a particular company, etc Acknowledges it was their company and they had the right to do that Doesn’t really feel he has anything to complain about regarding his experience there - he felt like he had a lot of freedom Views on state of American society Doesn’t regard it as a real democracy Feels a small class of people have disproportionate influence on society conversations become more inane as the problems get bigger From personal experience can see that society is focusing on small problems that it thinks it can control instead of the real issues Priorities for America National cohesion - can we all agree on what does it mean to be an American? Thinks too much change too fast is not healthy for society Some people can deal with it but most people can’t Admires how China resists change due to this philosophy That’s why soci

November 17 2023 Dean Phillips joins the besties JCal is back Dean Phillips Running for President Represents Minnesota’s 3rd district Origin story Ran Talenti Gelato Lost dad in Vietnam war when he was 6 months old Created Belvedere Vodka - sold the business Jay Z helped launch it Started trend of influencers Joined politics after Trump election - 2018 Time in congress Democrats and Republicans in congress kept separate Senators and House members spend 10000 hours per week fund raising Legal corruption stories Problem solvers caucus Complimentary of Biden’s work but looking forward Apparently Vice President also has some ownership in some of the issues Affordability is hard for american people right now Biden has lowest approval ratings in presidential history Losing to Trump in 5 out of 6 battleground states Biggest line item in Dean’s budget is security 21 people have signed up for Presidential candidate from Democrats New Hampshire has best proc

 November 10 2023 Sacks clapping back on Twitter Jared Kushner on the pod - no JCal again Senior Advisor to Trump presidency 2017-2021 Worked with Mexico and Middle East during the presidency Then started Affinity Partners Raised $3.1B Use investing and government experience for company building, growth, etc Raised in riches Entrepreneur dad NJ upbringing Dad had legal troubles Dad was a big democrat donor Gave Corey Booker his first campaign donation Knew Chuck Schumer and Hilary Clinton early Was registered democrat then started changing since Obama Was struck by Trump’s appeal to people and realized there’s more to the world Had Upper East Side view earlier and then expanded Media at the time was deriding his rallies as crazy whereas on the ground it was different and more mainstream Trump was a strong candidate on his own Did Lex episode because his wife has a good friendship with him Podcast format is where people want to give their information from - e

November 3 2023 No JCal - Friedberg moderating! AllIn CEO 240 applicants so far Might sell goods - tequila, etc Might do a tour of 5-10 cities, etc Shaan Puri applied with video on X He will get a call! Chamath started his newsletter and subscription service for research Sacks also producing more content since Pod started Ukraine War “Cronkite” moment Cronkite basically went to Vietnam and came back said the war is not winnable - and that helped turn public sentiment against the war in 1968 - which still took 5 years to end Now recent developments in Ukraine - Zelenskyy’s own inner circle is saying the war is lost (see Sacks articles and posts about the Time magazine article) Simon Shuster is the guy who profiled Zelenskyy for Time magazine of the year He has given favorable coverage to Zelenskyy in the past - so this is now a legit source War will still take a long time to end Now its up to the US govt folks to stop the war Apparently people in Ukraine are steali

October 27 2023 Besties putting their cabinet together Sacks Twitter Space Vivek Elon Col. Daniel Davis Alexander Mercouris Vivek had the idea to do it Elon is also hearing this kind of concern from leaders he speaks with Ukraine war needs to end - counter-offensive started in June has not worked - need to stop the war Continuing war just withers the flower of Ukrainian youth 😟 US should not be in a proxy war with Russia This should not continue with what’s happening in the middle east Middle East crisis, 3 possible scenarios Israel wants to go in but being asked to wait by Americans so they can get ready 1 - Successful Israel, Hezbollah and Iran can’t get in 2 - Attack doesn’t really work, muddle way to ceasefire after public outcry 3 - Backfires - west bank as 3rd front and hezbollah in the north activate, so fighting wars on multiple fronts Republican neocons like Lindsey Graham wants war with Iran They wanted to invade Iran back in

October 20 2023 Sacks has crazy security camera apparatus Israel Hamas war Friedberg missed last week because it was hard for him - very emotional being a parent Terrible what’s happening to children and families in Israel and Gaza Both sides entrenched in their positions as well as partisans on both sides Seems leaders on both sides know what the stakes are Apparent hospital bombing story is also lost in fog of war - not sure who is responsible Not sure what political maneuvering is happening in the background - how it affects Israel’s choice of actions to enter Gaza or not, to work for the release of the hostages or not, etc Israel has had 5 elections in the last 4 years Politics around Al-Aqsa mosque is very complicated/charged Could be the end of Israel if something destructive happens here Hard to pick a side - people are being asked to pick a side Whether intentional or not - it seems the peace process between Israel and the Arab states is now disrupted Obama and

October 13 2023 Friedberg out 😟 Hamas terror attacks in Israel Attack is similar to 9-11 Lets hope and pray for not more escalating wars Hamas didn’t attack uniformed Israeli forces - they attacked civilians 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza - half are kids Seems like Hamas strategy is to leverage the civilians to foment outrage against Israel if they attack US politicians who are braying for escalation by Israel seem to not have done a full accounting of the mistakes of America going to war over the last 2 decades One of the intentions for this action seems to be to ruin any chances of peace between Israel and the rest of the middle east Trump administration wins Abraham accords was a big win Almost accord between Israel and Saudi Trump Derangement Syndrome is causing more damage than he ever did And TDS is now causing issues He was right Border wall - he was right Long term interest rate refinancing - he was right Structural peace in the middle east - he was righ

October 6 2023 Besties and colonoscopies Airtable correction More likely in ~$500M ARR range with decent growth Kevin McCarthy ousted as Speaker of the House Multiple folks lost faith in him Was apparently telling Republicans and Biden administration different things Omnibus bills vs individual spending bills was a point of difference Congress is allowed to legally pass 12 spending bills a year US debt went up $275B in 1 day - we are in a fiscal crisis He cared too much about people liking him He was supposed to just follow the law like he said he would Rising Interest rates mean deficits finally matter Long term rates are also going up in addition to short term rates Immigration crisis Texas and Arizona were suffering and being ignored - now NYC which was acting smart previously has been humbled Elon and RFK Jr showed through separate videos and locations that the border is being overrun Now Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul are both complaining too Mayorkas is saying

September 29 2023 Coleman Hughes in the house His girlfriend put him onto the Pod - she’s also a big fan of Sacks (Chamath too!) Coleman’s talk on TED caused controversy Advocated color blindness - proposing to use class instead of race in public policy Lot of blowback from within TED and even some folks at the event - though at the talk itself he got a standing ovation from a bunch of folks in the audience Tim Urban noticed the lack of amplification for his talk TED released his talk only on the condition that he do a debate and they release a video of that too Friedberg has always been a big fan of TED - but noticed some degradation of quality with a narrative they wanted to sell instead of questioning ideas, etc Chris Anderson even spoke to him about it This seems like the ultimate end game of what Friedberg has seen with TED over the years It seems TED has been captured from the bottom up by people who have infiltrated the organization A lot of perceived racism is

Sep 22 2023 Jason in cold plunge Cold, warm, cold GOP primary Vivek hitting the right notes He might be clear #2 4-8 weeks from now Affluent voters seem to like Vivek Friedberg seems impressed Chamath also seems impressed Democrats seem to not be giving RFK Jr a fair chance Sacks has acceptable-unacceptable framework - he thinks folks pushing the war are unacceptable If something can’t go on forever, it won’t restraint will be imposed on us eventually AIS 2023 recap People are saying its the best content from a conference ever IPO and M&A Cisco acquires Splunk for $28B - all cash Instacart, Klaviyo and ARM all IPOed in the last week These IPOs weren’t great - because of the way the banks structure them All are kinda down We have been in a software recession for a year now or B2B recession B2C part of economy has been strong But this could come down because credit card debt and interest on it is at all time high Real estate tran

September 8 2023 Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odWe7qsrrGk Governor Chris Christie on the pod Friedberg and Governor sang karaoke on stage together at a bar in Idaho some time ago Debt Trump added $8T, Biden added $4T Has experience with dealing with deficits when he comes into office Removed almost 700 programs - didn’t raise taxes It was unpopular - approval rating went down < 40 in the first 6 months - had been elected with 48% of the vote Consider raising retirement age (for entitlements) Social Security and Medicare could be cut in 11 years Look at all the programs that were ramped up during Covid - bring them back to pre-covid levels and then examine more closely Would look at school spending Wouldn’t cut military spending Ukraine, Taiwan, etc Christie listens to the pod - his son Andrew listens all the time (RFK Jr’s son also got him on the pod) Voted for Iraq war because he was misled about WMDs Endorsed Trump because he thought he was a b

Sep 1 2023 Friedberg has red eye Chamath poker stories Chamath Man in the Arena comments Chamath as Gladiator AI meme Biden administration targeting Elon’s businesses Tesla for building a glass house SpaceX for not hiring refugees and asylum seekers SpaceX is a rocket company so advanced weapons style regulations - already governed by export control laws - not allowed to hire those kinds of people - only US citizens and green card holders Even DOJ can’t hire these people Seeking unprecedented remedies - anyone who was screened out is owed backpay - assuming they could have got a job Apparently Biden himself was using a pseudonym as Robert Peters to email businesses Comer investigation Wouldn’t invite him to EV summit because they are not a union shop Biden praised GM CEO for starting EV revolution All because they can’t control Twitter When he bought Twitter, the biggest psy-ops operation run by the Democratic party was taken away Stretching every law they can

August 25 2023 Friedberg NASA chat Astro Woody Berkeley PhD, MIT prof, now astronaut, leading Artemis mission, All in Fan! Uranus jokes Besties want to make their own Tequila People said they’d pay ~100 Index towards quality instead of price Example 21seeds Diageo bought it The Rock can play the volume game so his tequila’s price is a little less Chamath recommends Villa D’Este at Lake Como Candidate for AIS 2025 Nvidia smashes earnings Incredible performance Closing in on Amazon and Google in valuation $1.4T Board is approving a $25B share buy back Very large Tesla making their own supercomputer (Dojo) Everyone is spending all they can on compute Similar to fiber expenditure during dotcom era? There was a telecom collapse in 2002 Nvidia is the dominant shovel provider Computational biology could leverage this 2015 Chart - product of gold rush was state of California OpenAI released fine tuning for their models (GPT

August 18 2023 Sacks partying and alcohol stories Snow White Disney movie controversy Disparaging the OG Disney movie Rich Men North of Richmond Channeling people’s voice People are justifiably angry about the failure of the elite and the coverup by the media A lot like Solzhenitsyn line about brazen lying Bottom 80% earnings have been flat for 60 years Too much red tape preventing lower income people from becoming entrepreneurs and earners The truth is that we don’t want the government to bring down the dashed black line or the blue line - this is natural - it proves economic supremacy of US GDP - so the answer is simply that this is a hard issue and we want the government to stay out of our way Problems are in addiction to wars, military industrial complex draining the country of resources and elite corruption (example covid) Whenever government steps in to help people, it actually creates bad incentives Think about how hard is it to move up It wo