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On this “The Weekly Show” podcast with Jon Stewart, the show writes, “As Elon Musk stands to become the world's first trillionaire through the SpaceX IPO, Jon is joined by Quinn Slobodian, co-author of the new book "Muskism," to understand how we arrived at this moment of tech oligarchy. Together, they explore how Musk built a trillion-dollar empire on government money and then used that empire to capture the government itself, and discuss how we can renegotiate the balance of power between public interest and private wealth. Plus, Jon answers listener questions about Trump’s amazing and enthusiastic boo-cheers, CNN, and Taco Bell, yet again! “ The show provides a "breakdown" of when specific topics are covered during the conversation, so you can jump to the sections that most interest you. These time codes are hyperlinked to the video and will jump you automatically to the right spot. 0:00 Intro 3:38 Quinn Slobodian Joins 21:35 The Rise of SpaceX and Tesla 33:38 The DOGE Ideology 38:40 The Stock Market as a Social Contract 51:30 Effective Altruism and "Longtermism" in Tech 57:50 X's Importance to Musk 1:05:00 Grass Roots Resistance to Muskism 1:20:50 Wrap-up
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On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest contestant is New York Times bestselling author and editor-at-large of America magazine Father James Martin. His conversation with guest host Tom Papa is entertaining and often pretty funny, as they talk about his new book on the many jobs he had before becoming a Jesuit priest. As well as telling the Wait, Wait… audience in Chicago stories about having met the new pope from Chicago. This is the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts at the 20:00 mark. On this week’s Naked Lunch podcast, co-hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild talk with John Foggerty. As the show writes, “Put us in, Coach! Naked Lunch is thrilled to welcome the legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Famer John Fogerty -- who this week received the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award, the Songwriters Hall of Fame's highest honor -- along with our mutual buddy Brad Paisley for a great conversation, including a few questions sent from Phil. Brad and David have recently been collaborating on a new liner notes essay for the upcoming ‘Hall Of Fame’ edition of John's classic Centerfield solo album. They discuss the impact of John's music with Creedence Clearwater Revival and beyond, baseball, and how Centerfield was one of the greatest comebacks of all-time, and started an ongoing revival in John's life and musical legacy. The other day, the BroadwayHD.com website had a recorded live streaming performance of the current hit comedy, Fallen Angels, written by Noel Coward in 1925. Yes, 101 years ago. It stars Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara, both of whom got Tony nominations as Best Actress. I was very interested in seeing it, and I've been interested in signing up for BroadwayHD for a while, at least for a month, since they have a few things I'd like to watch. But I didn't want to sign up right now, since I not only have a long list of things to see, but also it's the baseball season that takes up a huge amount of my viewing time. But -- this was a special streaming production, so...I figured, might as well.
I know that Amazon Prime has a BroadwayHD channel, but I thought that as long as I'd be signing up, I might as well do it directly on the BroadwayHD site. My mistake. I did a little search first, though, to see if there was a free trial period, since there was that "baseball season" hurdle thing -- and though I couldn't find a definitive answer on the website, I did see articles that said they did have a 7-day trial, and Amazon Prime said there was a trial. So, I signed up. And if I decided to stick around, it would be $19 for a month afterwards. As I said, my mistake. First, though it cost $20 for a month, on Amazon Prime -- which has the exact same site -- it's only $9 a month, for some reason. Also, I noticed that I'd already been charged the $19 before the free trial period was up. So, I wrote to the company to find out if, in fact, there was a 7-day trial. No, it turns out, there isn't. Though, yes, there is a free trial on Amazon Prime. But no, they won't refund the $19 fee. In fairness, it's my fault not finding out beforehand about the trial period. And for not realizing that the Amazon Prime was half the price. And has a 7-day trial. So, I'm not mad at them at all. (If anything, I'm annoyed at myself.) I just think it's terrible customer service. They certainly could override their "policy" about no refunds if they wanted to, rather than annoy potential customers (I'm certain I'm not alone in my confusion.) Though, of course, they're under no obligation to do so. And if people decide to cancel, so be it. And at the very least, as I explained them in my reply from my experience in reviewing tech for the Writers Guild and working in movie PR early in my career, they should make note on their site that they do not offer a free trial, so as to clear any confusion and avoid upsetting customers (which is the case I read on many social media posts). Not doing so only serves to give the impression (rightly or wrongly) of being intentionally deceptive, since most such streaming services – like Amazon’s BroadwayHD channel – do offer a free trial. Stating this clearly upfront would eliminate any possible uncertainty and sense of being misled, which most services try to avoid. But it's their site and their decision. I did cancel my subscription, and will watch the few things on my list and leave it at that. A lot of their catalogue is on other sites, and may can be found for free on YouTube. However, they do have productions unique to them, periodic streaming events, and it's well-organized. If I ever do decide to check back to see if their library has increased with things of interest to me and consider whether or not to re-subscribe, though, it will be on the Amazon Prime channel, and not their own website. Doing so at double the price would be foolish. I pass this along for anyone who does ever have interest in checking out BroadwayHD. Rising in the world of hobnobs, this is far better than hearing from Roger Stone. A longtime reader here, Douglass Abramson, graciously sent me a link this morning, which I've embedded below. It’s a five-minute video from the excellent “Occupy Democrats” group about criticism of Trump’s UFC cage-fight match. It’s very good and well-worth watching, but that's not the point here, and you don’t have to watch the whole thing. Just jump to the 3:45 mark. That’s because, for reasons unknown to Man, they quote one of my tweets. Take that, Roger Stone! The other day, I replied to a tweet by Roger Stone, who I said had been convicted of seven felonies, including lying to Congress, tampering with a witness, and obstruction of justice. He was later pardoned by convicted felon Trump. Last night, I got the following response --  I wrote back -- Thank you for taking the time to read my note on you convicted of 7 felonies, including making false statements & witness tampering. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to repeat it! Nothing was "debunked." You only got a pardon which is considered an admission of guilt. |
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 
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