WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600 Hello. I lost my mentor at the height of Act 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.720 2. But stuff still happens. So what's up? Today 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:11.279 I'm going to do my best broken record impersonation. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.779 Today I'm going to do my best broken record impersonation. 00:00:15.019 --> 00:00:16.440 That was it. Because we're going to talk about 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:19.339 the Iran War and - Lo and behold we're still 00:00:19.339 --> 00:00:22.160 doing it. The US and Israel are still bombarding 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:25.160 Iran and Lebanon because reasons primarily because 00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:28.280 Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to. The death tolls 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:31.059 are rising and at this point I just I don't I 00:00:31.059 --> 00:00:33.719 don't really know what to do with regards to 00:00:33.719 --> 00:00:35.759 talking about this so here's just kind of where 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:38.119 things are right now. The current focal point 00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:40.740 is the disruption to oil trade as there's a whole 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:42.859 bunch of ships waiting to get through the Strait 00:00:42.859 --> 00:00:44.799 of Hormuz. This is a critical shipping route 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:48.500 that isn't just some canal that Iran put some 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:51.539 sort of like sorry we're closed sign on. At its 00:00:51.539 --> 00:00:53.700 thinnest the strait is still more than 20 miles 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:55.840 wide and so what Iran is doing is basically saying 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:58.159 hey we're not gonna let any of these ships through. 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:01.079 They're using munitions and naval drones which 00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:04.379 are basically ships with bombs that and they've 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:07.840 already hit multiple tankers like it sucks. This 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.200 very obvious retaliation from Iran was very obvious 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.400 before we went to war. But that didn't stop us 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:16.640 from going to war and causing the very obvious 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:19.159 outcome. And so those skyrocketing oil prices 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:21.939 have stayed skyrocketed and it doesn't look like 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:23.859 it's gonna come down in time soon. Which is why 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:27.060 people are paying like four, five, six dollars 00:01:27.060 --> 00:01:29.379 at the pump in the US and they're like, what's 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:32.180 going on here? Now the White House was posturing 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:34.040 as if we were gonna send out ships that would 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:36.620 escort these oil tankers through the strait as 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:38.980 if that's a thing that we can do. That didn't 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:41.439 happen. So instead we're just bombing a whole 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:44.500 lot more and oh, would you look at that? We've 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:46.819 dispatched thousands of marines to the region. 00:01:47.140 --> 00:01:49.980 Now, to be clear, these aren't boots on the ground. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:53.459 Yes, they are being sent to a war zone wearing 00:01:53.459 --> 00:01:55.519 boots which will be on the ground, but that's 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:57.799 not what boots on the ground is. Boots on the 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:00.640 ground is something else entirely, but not this. 00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:02.780 Why are you asking for clarification on what 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:04.700 boots on the ground is? No, I think you should 00:02:04.700 --> 00:02:08.500 be satisfied with the answer that... I gave you 00:02:08.500 --> 00:02:12.319 already. Hey podcast listeners, I just did kind 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:14.819 of like a gag where I ran out the door while 00:02:14.819 --> 00:02:16.819 saying that. If you imagine, if you will, me 00:02:16.819 --> 00:02:18.680 running out of a door. Of course, they want to 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:20.360 avoid acknowledging putting boots on the ground 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:22.719 because that would just acknowledge our continued 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.439 failure in Iran. All we've truly managed to do 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.060 is kick up dust and kill a guy that was going 00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:31.099 to die probably this year anyway, as well as 00:02:31.099 --> 00:02:33.699 thousands of civilians. Oh, and that girls elementary 00:02:33.699 --> 00:02:37.180 school that we bombed? There's been more investigation 00:02:37.180 --> 00:02:39.460 into it and it really does look like we just 00:02:39.460 --> 00:02:42.639 kind of struck a girls elementary school with 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:45.979 a tomahawk missile now again broken record I 00:02:45.979 --> 00:02:48.000 keep talking about the elementary school that 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:50.900 was hit by a missile But I do that because it 00:02:50.900 --> 00:02:54.259 feels like hey guys We just hit a girls elementary 00:02:54.259 --> 00:02:57.659 school with a tomahawk missile, which is possibly 00:02:57.659 --> 00:03:00.759 the most recognizable US munition in the world 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:02.659 That seems like something I should probably keep 00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:05.759 talking about. Meanwhile, Russia's kind of digging 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.159 this. You know, one of the big reasons that we're 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:09.979 over there in the first place or that we have 00:03:09.979 --> 00:03:12.919 any interest in Iran is because Iran works with 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:16.020 China and Russia, specifically in oil and also 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:17.900 military stuff. Russia's been fighting their 00:03:17.900 --> 00:03:20.680 own war with Ukraine. for a while and so like 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:22.379 they aren't really able to jump in and be like 00:03:22.379 --> 00:03:25.819 hey we're gonna side with Iran here but it does 00:03:25.819 --> 00:03:28.460 seem like they are pretty happy with this war 00:03:28.460 --> 00:03:31.000 because they are now able to sell their oil for 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:33.900 a much higher price because of the geopolitical 00:03:33.900 --> 00:03:37.280 disruption Russia is now in a position to sell 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:40.259 more oil in more places at a higher price, which 00:03:40.259 --> 00:03:42.819 they can use to fund their war. The US has claimed 00:03:42.819 --> 00:03:45.300 that Russia is sharing intelligence with Iran, 00:03:45.740 --> 00:03:47.919 and while I don't tend to take what the US says 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:52.979 as fact, duh, why wouldn't they? Not only does 00:03:52.979 --> 00:03:55.159 Russia get more money as this war goes on, but 00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:58.120 they've already got prior relationships in economics 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:01.900 and war shit. Makes sense to me. I want to say 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:03.819 one more thing for this before we move on, and 00:04:03.819 --> 00:04:05.740 I want to preface by saying that it's generally 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:08.539 my policy to not have segments where I just talk 00:04:08.539 --> 00:04:11.580 about what some politicians said that's repugnant. 00:04:11.780 --> 00:04:14.340 These politicians are repugnant, and they say 00:04:14.340 --> 00:04:17.300 and do a lot of repugnant things. And if I talked 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:19.040 about all the things that they posted on Twitter, 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:21.519 I would never talk about anything else. And constantly 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:22.860 calling them out for being repugnant doesn't 00:04:22.860 --> 00:04:25.019 really do a whole lot because they don't care. 00:04:25.860 --> 00:04:28.069 At all. And I could be spending my time trying 00:04:28.069 --> 00:04:30.709 to get everybody to pay attention to said repugnance, 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:33.350 but most people stop once they hear politician 00:04:33.350 --> 00:04:35.269 being bad and they're like, yeah, duh. Which 00:04:35.269 --> 00:04:36.910 is why I tend to focus on other things, but with 00:04:36.910 --> 00:04:39.709 all of that said, there has been a sharp uptick 00:04:39.709 --> 00:04:45.490 in blatant, overt racism being proudly posted 00:04:45.490 --> 00:04:47.930 by members of Congress. Now, members of Congress 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:52.089 in the US being racist is as far from new as 00:04:52.089 --> 00:04:55.279 you can get. But in recent years, they've largely 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:57.480 felt that they've had to use dog whistles and 00:04:57.480 --> 00:04:59.879 coded language to give themselves benefit of 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:03.199 the doubt. And now they're just saying, no, I 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:06.019 meant the hard R. Granted, instead of being a 00:05:06.019 --> 00:05:11.060 hard R here, it's them saying Islamism is incompatible 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:13.819 with the West. Specifically, most recently, we've 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:16.579 got Andy Ogles and Randy Fine posting things 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:18.819 to Twitter and saying things on video of them 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:21.240 basically just being like, Muslims don't belong 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:23.060 here and they're the enemy. I'm not going to 00:05:23.060 --> 00:05:24.620 quote their exact stuff because I do not need 00:05:24.620 --> 00:05:26.519 to replicate their bile, but the point is that 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:28.920 they are feeling comfortable just saying this 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.439 and doubling down to clarify that they mean it. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:35.060 They didn't accidentally insult a large group 00:05:35.060 --> 00:05:38.420 of people by accidentally misinterpreting what 00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:39.879 words they said. They were like, no, I meant 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:42.519 that. Get them out of here. And I want to be 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:45.209 clear that they're saying this. because there 00:05:45.209 --> 00:05:47.329 is a contingent of people that support them in 00:05:47.329 --> 00:05:49.790 saying that, and they're trying to capture that 00:05:49.790 --> 00:05:51.990 group. Trump is going to fucking beef it soon, 00:05:52.129 --> 00:05:53.990 and a lot of people are trying to be the new 00:05:53.990 --> 00:05:56.709 big crazy guy in the room that'll get everyone 00:05:56.709 --> 00:05:59.649 behind them. I have a very strong suspicion that 00:05:59.649 --> 00:06:01.430 no one's gonna be able to recapture the lightning 00:06:01.430 --> 00:06:03.230 in a bottle that Trump had. Do I think that him 00:06:03.230 --> 00:06:05.189 going away will fix all of this? No, absolutely 00:06:05.189 --> 00:06:09.170 not. But I do not think that right now the best 00:06:09.170 --> 00:06:13.000 strategy is to publicly go on record being as 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.680 awful as you can possibly be to large groups 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:18.000 of people around the world. That worked for Trump. 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:21.240 It's not gonna work for you, Randy Fine. Moving 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:25.300 on. What has ICE been up to? The usual. Abducting 00:06:25.300 --> 00:06:27.740 people, killing citizens. It's what they do. 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:30.139 ICE recently abducted a Spanish -language journalist 00:06:30.139 --> 00:06:32.579 from a local news station in Tennessee. Estefany 00:06:32.579 --> 00:06:35.740 Rodriguez Flores was abducted on March 6 after 00:06:35.740 --> 00:06:38.990 doing a few pieces at her network. critical of 00:06:38.990 --> 00:06:42.110 ICE. What a fucking shocker that not long after 00:06:42.110 --> 00:06:44.470 she started being critical of ICE, her car, which 00:06:44.470 --> 00:06:47.129 was marked as a work vehicle for the station 00:06:47.129 --> 00:06:49.910 she worked for, was accosted while she was driving 00:06:49.910 --> 00:06:52.750 by multiple other vehicles. Vehicles full of 00:06:52.750 --> 00:06:55.170 ICE agents cornered her and abducted her and 00:06:55.170 --> 00:06:58.009 she is now being held away from her husband and 00:06:58.009 --> 00:07:00.569 daughter. They never showed a warrant. Flores 00:07:00.569 --> 00:07:03.230 has been working in the US legally for over five 00:07:03.230 --> 00:07:07.029 years. She has a visa and is here legally. According 00:07:07.029 --> 00:07:09.430 to her lawyers, ICE never showed any warrant 00:07:09.430 --> 00:07:11.569 and there's no legal precedent for them to hold 00:07:11.569 --> 00:07:14.250 her, which is exactly what we've seen from ICE 00:07:14.250 --> 00:07:17.750 all over the place. But ICE responded, and they 00:07:17.750 --> 00:07:19.790 cleared everything up. They said that their detainment 00:07:19.790 --> 00:07:23.589 of her is, quote, not in violation of any laws 00:07:23.589 --> 00:07:28.209 or regulations. I guess that clears it up. Work 00:07:28.209 --> 00:07:31.649 here is done. Meanwhile, or rather, not meanwhile, 00:07:31.990 --> 00:07:34.629 last year in March, it turns out, ICE killed 00:07:34.629 --> 00:07:38.139 another US citizen. Ruben Ray Martinez was 23, 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:40.839 and he was driving his car slowly through an 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:43.920 area that ICE officers were, like, directing 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:47.500 traffic. Originally, ICE put out the exact statement 00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:49.800 you would expect. They killed someone who was 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:52.339 in a car. They claimed that that car was coming 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:55.180 right at them with deadly intent, just as we 00:07:55.180 --> 00:07:58.420 heard with Renee Good and... basically anything 00:07:58.420 --> 00:08:01.379 that involves a vehicle and ICE officers discharging 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:03.459 their weapons. The body cam footage that's out 00:08:03.459 --> 00:08:06.860 now shows that he was driving slowly past a few 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:09.579 officers. There didn't appear to be any officers 00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:12.240 in front of his car. They started to yell, stop 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:14.709 him! and then they unloaded bullets into him. 00:08:15.029 --> 00:08:16.810 DHS originally claimed this was self -defense 00:08:16.810 --> 00:08:19.110 and didn't originally identify the officers as 00:08:19.110 --> 00:08:22.170 ICE, and it's pretty clear as to why. There wasn't 00:08:22.170 --> 00:08:24.970 any evidence recorded by onlookers to prove them 00:08:24.970 --> 00:08:27.470 wrong. This body cam footage came out, it's blurry 00:08:27.470 --> 00:08:30.290 and it's not great and still doesn't fully prove 00:08:30.290 --> 00:08:32.929 them wrong, but it's pretty clear that their 00:08:32.929 --> 00:08:34.870 story doesn't add up. I will say that one of 00:08:34.870 --> 00:08:36.649 the wildest parts of the story for me is that 00:08:36.649 --> 00:08:39.700 Martinez's mother voted for Donald Trump. and 00:08:39.700 --> 00:08:41.620 said that she doesn't blame Trump for her son's 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:43.100 death because Trump didn't pull the trigger. 00:08:43.379 --> 00:08:45.779 She said that something's got to be done to reign 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:49.179 this in, but I can't think of a more concise 00:08:49.179 --> 00:08:51.960 example of the mindset of a Trump voter than 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:55.220 that. 2025 was the deadliest year on record for 00:08:55.220 --> 00:08:59.139 ICE since the early 2000s, and 2026 is on pace 00:08:59.139 --> 00:09:02.559 to beat that. With disease, torture, and suicide 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.580 rampant in these ice concentration camps, things 00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:07.639 are pretty fucking bleak right now, and I'm not 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:09.899 gonna sugarcoat that. But I wanna call out that 00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:13.159 all is not lost. I know that a lot of the things 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:15.960 I talk about are really horrific and bad. It's 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:18.840 not good right now, but people care. If people 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:21.340 didn't care, it'd be a whole lot worse. But people 00:09:21.340 --> 00:09:24.100 care, and they are making moves. One example 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:26.440 is Kansas City, Missouri, which recently passed 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:29.409 a law saying... No, ICE cannot make any more 00:09:29.409 --> 00:09:31.690 of their people warehouses here. They are far 00:09:31.690 --> 00:09:33.570 from the only municipality doing that. There 00:09:33.570 --> 00:09:36.629 is real, meaningful pushback happening constantly 00:09:36.629 --> 00:09:39.309 all around this country every single day, and 00:09:39.309 --> 00:09:41.649 I do not want to dismiss the effort that people 00:09:41.649 --> 00:09:44.230 have been putting in to push back against all 00:09:44.230 --> 00:09:46.639 of this bullshit. So thank you to everyone who 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:49.820 has been going out and chasing down ICE officers 00:09:49.820 --> 00:09:51.980 and getting in their faces, blowing their whistles, 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.059 helping protect our neighbors. Because you have 00:09:55.059 --> 00:09:58.879 more grit in your pinky than any of these fucking 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:01.539 basement dwellers that sit around talking about 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:03.919 how happy they are that people they've never 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:07.279 met in towns they'd never visit are being killed 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:09.740 by federal agents. Hey, so I want to take a second 00:10:09.740 --> 00:10:12.279 and just say I know that a lot of this is real 00:10:12.279 --> 00:10:16.240 rough. Trust me. I know. Thank you for being 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:18.039 here. Thank you for sticking it out with me. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:21.419 And I want to be clear that it's not your job 00:10:21.419 --> 00:10:24.120 to fix everything. You should have good values, 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:26.519 you should try to participate however you can, 00:10:26.580 --> 00:10:29.820 but this is not all your fault and it's not your 00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:32.460 job to fix it all. Let's talk about anything 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:35.379 else. Valve did not leave the New York Attorney 00:10:35.379 --> 00:10:37.700 General on red. A couple of weeks ago, I talked 00:10:37.700 --> 00:10:39.580 about how Letitia James, the New York Attorney 00:10:39.580 --> 00:10:42.440 General, is suing Valve Software, the video game 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:44.879 company that makes Steam, Counter -Strike, and 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.960 Dota, over loot boxes. The argument is essentially, 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:51.000 loot boxes are gambling, and it also allows children 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:54.220 to gamble. That's illegal. Valve has now responded 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:57.659 with a pretty rare statement on their part. They 00:10:57.659 --> 00:11:00.220 posted a rebuttal, more or less, on their help 00:11:00.220 --> 00:11:02.289 website. And so I want to go through sort of 00:11:02.289 --> 00:11:05.049 what they've said, how they are responding to 00:11:05.049 --> 00:11:06.870 this claim, and then I want to give some more 00:11:06.870 --> 00:11:09.070 of my own thoughts here because I feel like I 00:11:09.070 --> 00:11:11.549 didn't really clarify how I think about this 00:11:11.549 --> 00:11:13.590 last time. Let's start with their blog post. 00:11:13.830 --> 00:11:16.809 It's very lawyer -friendly, I would say that, 00:11:17.110 --> 00:11:19.110 but one of the first things it does is it kicks 00:11:19.110 --> 00:11:21.970 off by making the argument that loot boxes are 00:11:21.970 --> 00:11:24.570 basically the same as booster packs for a trading 00:11:24.570 --> 00:11:26.820 card game. Quote, we shared with the New York 00:11:26.820 --> 00:11:29.399 AG that these types of boxes in our games are 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:31.779 widely used, not just in video games, but in 00:11:31.779 --> 00:11:34.200 the tangible world as well, where generations 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:36.980 have grown up opening baseball card packs and 00:11:36.980 --> 00:11:39.940 blind boxes and bags, and then trading them and 00:11:39.940 --> 00:11:41.879 selling the items they receive. But then the 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:45.519 post pivots to being like, except also, the stuff 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:47.059 that you said is against our terms of service. 00:11:47.289 --> 00:11:49.169 Quote, in the process of cooperating with the 00:11:49.169 --> 00:11:51.889 NYAG's investigation, we have shared with them 00:11:51.889 --> 00:11:54.309 our efforts over many years to shut down accounts 00:11:54.309 --> 00:11:56.610 found to be using Valve game items on gambling 00:11:56.610 --> 00:11:59.649 sites in violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement. 00:11:59.990 --> 00:12:02.490 I too violate the Steam Subscriber Agreement. 00:12:03.549 --> 00:12:05.210 It's up to you to figure out how. After that, 00:12:05.269 --> 00:12:07.509 they go on to be like, okay, also the changes 00:12:07.509 --> 00:12:09.210 that the New York Attorney General wants us to 00:12:09.210 --> 00:12:12.610 make would themselves be consumer hostile. Valve 00:12:12.610 --> 00:12:14.649 pushes back saying that if they implemented these 00:12:14.649 --> 00:12:16.529 changes, they would make it so that items couldn't 00:12:16.529 --> 00:12:18.710 be transferred, which would be anti -consumer 00:12:18.710 --> 00:12:21.970 and fair. They also go on to say that they would 00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:24.529 have to start collecting more information to 00:12:24.529 --> 00:12:26.789 specifically adhere to the law in New York by 00:12:26.789 --> 00:12:28.909 doing more like geolocation stuff and trying 00:12:28.909 --> 00:12:30.850 to catch people who are using VPNs to get around 00:12:30.850 --> 00:12:33.230 certain laws and whatnot. Essentially tapping 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:35.309 into the current fear of like age verification 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:37.570 and surveillance on the internet, which is a 00:12:37.570 --> 00:12:39.779 fair fear. They end by calling out the New York 00:12:39.779 --> 00:12:42.600 Attorney General for her use of the video games 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:45.019 cause violence line, which I'll go ahead and 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:46.629 read you that quote. This is from the New York 00:12:46.629 --> 00:12:48.309 Attorney General press release regarding the 00:12:48.309 --> 00:13:04.769 lawsuit, quote, Valve basically replied saying 00:13:04.769 --> 00:13:06.590 that's bullshit, and there are studies that say 00:13:06.590 --> 00:13:09.759 that's bullshit, and I agree. That's bullshit. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:11.399 And there's been a lot of studies that say it's 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:13.539 bullshit. Ultimately, this is just an initial 00:13:13.539 --> 00:13:15.980 response that this isn't like they've done anything. 00:13:15.980 --> 00:13:17.519 We're gonna have to see how this all plays out 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:19.740 in the legal system. But as for how I think about 00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:22.240 this, are loot boxes gambling? I don't think 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:24.279 I can answer that question. Not because I can't 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:26.860 see the arguments one way or the other, but because, 00:13:27.059 --> 00:13:29.419 one, the legal definition of gambling changes 00:13:29.419 --> 00:13:32.120 wildly between countries, let alone states in 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:35.539 the US. And two, I don't think that it really 00:13:35.539 --> 00:13:37.679 matters whether or not it's gambling because 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:40.970 I think this is all the wrong entry point into 00:13:40.970 --> 00:13:43.990 the problem. Said another way, I think that focusing 00:13:43.990 --> 00:13:46.830 on loot boxes and trying to target the regulation 00:13:46.830 --> 00:13:49.710 around loot boxes specifically misses the forest 00:13:49.710 --> 00:13:52.029 for the trees. What we really need are comprehensive 00:13:52.029 --> 00:13:54.649 consumer protection laws, especially in tech 00:13:54.649 --> 00:13:56.610 and gaming. If I'm a game developer and I was 00:13:56.610 --> 00:13:58.769 told that my loot box system is now too much 00:13:58.769 --> 00:14:00.509 like gambling, I would just figure out a new 00:14:00.509 --> 00:14:03.590 way to hide all those mechanics in other systems. 00:14:03.750 --> 00:14:06.169 Do that enough and bring on a lawyer and you've 00:14:06.169 --> 00:14:09.399 suddenly got, at the very least, another court 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:11.659 case before you have to do anything. But unfortunately, 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:14.720 the US is pretty much the worst country to ask 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:17.259 to put in consumer protections for basically 00:14:17.259 --> 00:14:19.779 anything. Because we are already watching as 00:14:19.779 --> 00:14:22.360 age verification is being layered into everything, 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:24.580 and the second that we start saying, oh, this 00:14:24.580 --> 00:14:26.659 is gambling and also targets children, think 00:14:26.659 --> 00:14:28.820 of the children, the think of the children is 00:14:28.820 --> 00:14:31.600 a huge alarm bell for me. Should kids be gambling? 00:14:31.879 --> 00:14:36.309 No. Should we have to verify our age with official 00:14:36.309 --> 00:14:38.929 documentation to play a video game? Also, no. 00:14:39.190 --> 00:14:41.169 For now, vote with your wallet, inform your friends, 00:14:41.429 --> 00:14:44.129 and continue to complain about bullshit patterns 00:14:44.129 --> 00:14:46.509 in game design. I say game design. It's not really 00:14:46.509 --> 00:14:49.309 game design. It's just like market design. Just 00:14:49.309 --> 00:14:51.149 nickling and diming people with microtransactions. 00:14:51.509 --> 00:14:53.409 Lightning round. Atlassian has laid off 10 % 00:14:53.409 --> 00:14:54.870 of their workforce, citing that they're gonna 00:14:54.870 --> 00:14:57.909 invest in AI. I'll be back next week with a different 00:14:57.909 --> 00:15:00.639 company doing the exact same thing. The sexting 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:03.340 feature for ChatGPT has been delayed. OpenAI 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:06.360 was planning to release an adult version of ChatGPT 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:10.240 that you could... Fuck? Digitally? But that's 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:12.639 being delayed. Washington state has passed a 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:16.639 9 .9 % income tax on personal income over a million 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:18.600 dollars. Washington's one of the only states 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.320 that doesn't otherwise have income tax. Some 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:25.350 business leaders are like... That was that was 00:15:25.350 --> 00:15:27.610 me being a business leader The US has dropped 00:15:27.610 --> 00:15:29.830 dramatically in its ranking among countries in 00:15:29.830 --> 00:15:32.429 the Americas with regards to free press went 00:15:32.429 --> 00:15:35.730 down from 4th to 11th in a year number one is 00:15:35.730 --> 00:15:37.669 the Dominican Republic Sonic the Hedgehog may 00:15:37.669 --> 00:15:39.409 have been ahead of his time scientists believe 00:15:39.409 --> 00:15:42.769 that some hedgehogs may be using inaudible communication 00:15:42.769 --> 00:15:44.929 frequencies while other scientists believe that 00:15:44.929 --> 00:15:47.389 they are simply rolling around at the speed of 00:15:47.389 --> 00:15:50.340 sound And finally for today, five drivers in 00:15:50.340 --> 00:15:55.019 Maryland owe over $600 ,000 of unpaid traffic 00:15:55.019 --> 00:15:59.379 violation fees in DC. Maryland and DC, they share 00:15:59.379 --> 00:16:01.799 a border. DC's kind of like cut out of Maryland. 00:16:02.539 --> 00:16:05.120 And Maryland drivers are known for being among 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:10.799 the worst. But one dude accounts for $284 ,550 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:14.340 in unpaid traffic violations in the city of Washington, 00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:17.659 DC. He somehow has a car. Thank you so much for 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:19.539 listening to today's episode of Stuff Keeps Happening. 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.620 Head to SKH .News for sources, bonus content, 00:16:22.860 --> 00:16:25.539 and a button to print your own traffic violations 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:27.659 that you can just kind of play around with yourself. 00:16:28.379 --> 00:16:30.100 My name is Endeavorance. We'll talk again soon. 00:16:30.259 --> 00:16:31.759 Take care and be well.