WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.339 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we've got 00:00:03.339 --> 00:00:06.419 quite a stack of sources in front of me. I really 00:00:06.419 --> 00:00:11.119 do. And they seem to show these three sort of 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:13.560 parallel conflicts that are just raging across 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:15.779 the US right now. We're going to go from the 00:00:15.779 --> 00:00:18.199 literal lines being drawn on congressional maps 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:21.960 to this massive corporate fight over media ownership. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:23.960 Right, a high stakes one. And then we're diving 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:26.519 into a, let's say, a deep look at accountability. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.239 or maybe the lack of it at the very highest levels. 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:31.620 Yeah, and this is really a moment of synthesis 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:33.700 for you, the listener. We aren't just reading 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:36.479 headlines here. Not at all. We're trying to find 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:39.399 the operating system that connects all of them. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.810 Our mission is to figure out how... The fight 00:00:42.810 --> 00:00:45.450 for political power, so the maps, and the fight 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:47.890 for narrative control, the media deals. And the 00:00:47.890 --> 00:00:50.189 huge gap between what people are feeling in their 00:00:50.189 --> 00:00:52.509 wallets and the official economic story. Exactly. 00:00:52.630 --> 00:00:55.189 How are all of those things pushing our institutions 00:00:55.189 --> 00:00:57.869 to what feels like a breaking point? We're looking 00:00:57.869 --> 00:01:01.390 for the patterns, the connections, and the ultimate 00:01:01.390 --> 00:01:03.570 so -what of it all. OK, so let's start with the 00:01:03.570 --> 00:01:05.709 political geography first. The fight for the 00:01:05.709 --> 00:01:09.280 map. Let's do it. The sources. They initially 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.079 point to this small, maybe momentary cooling 00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:15.340 off in the redistricting wars. Little bit of 00:01:15.340 --> 00:01:18.159 a pause. Yeah. And this all comes from the news 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:21.500 that Indiana's vote to draw a new house map actually 00:01:21.689 --> 00:01:24.569 failed. Right. Which means they're likely sticking 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:26.890 with their old map for now. And that was the 00:01:26.890 --> 00:01:30.010 signal. Because Indiana hit pause, you had Democrats 00:01:30.010 --> 00:01:32.329 in Illinois saying, OK, maybe we'll cool our 00:01:32.329 --> 00:01:34.950 own plans. And Maryland, too. Maryland, too. 00:01:35.170 --> 00:01:37.510 We saw the state Senate presidents in Indiana 00:01:37.510 --> 00:01:39.430 and Maryland actually talking to each other, 00:01:39.530 --> 00:01:41.810 which suggests Maryland might not redraw their 00:01:41.810 --> 00:01:44.150 map either. For a second there, it looked like 00:01:44.150 --> 00:01:47.140 a de -escalation. But is it really? I mean, doesn't 00:01:47.140 --> 00:01:49.959 a temporary pause like that just give the other 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:52.099 side negotiating leverage? It doesn't sound like 00:01:52.099 --> 00:01:53.900 a real truce. Well, that's the thing. When you 00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:55.640 look at the rest of the country, the fight is 00:01:55.640 --> 00:01:57.980 just intensifying. It's pushing the whole system 00:01:57.980 --> 00:02:02.060 towards this dangerous winner -take -all model. 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:05.180 So a truce only really works if both sides want 00:02:05.180 --> 00:02:08.340 to stop. And that is not happening here. The 00:02:08.340 --> 00:02:10.719 fascinating part is just how aggressive the fight 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:14.400 is everywhere else. It's speeding up this move 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:16.800 to an all or nothing system, you know, kind of 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:18.879 like the electoral college works for the presidency. 00:02:19.139 --> 00:02:21.379 OK, so let's run through the scorecard then. 00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:23.879 Where's the action happening? This whole round 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:25.979 of aggressive redistricting really kicked off 00:02:25.979 --> 00:02:28.520 in Texas, didn't it? It did. Texas started it 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.439 by passing a law that was designed to hand Republicans 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.680 five new seats. Five? Yeah, using a baseline 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:37.620 of R plus 10 in the new districts. But and this 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:40.550 is a big but. The data from recent special elections 00:02:40.550 --> 00:02:44.090 is complicating that math. How so? Democrats 00:02:44.090 --> 00:02:46.750 have been outperforming 2024 results by about 00:02:46.750 --> 00:02:49.469 13 points on average in those contests, which 00:02:49.469 --> 00:02:51.889 could mean the Republican Hall might be a bit 00:02:51.889 --> 00:02:54.270 smaller than they planned. And that Texas move 00:02:54.270 --> 00:02:57.169 immediately set off a reaction. A huge reaction. 00:02:57.310 --> 00:02:59.469 The most direct one came from California. Right. 00:02:59.550 --> 00:03:01.590 Where voters approved a new map, this is probably 00:03:01.590 --> 00:03:04.289 going to flip about five Republican seats. Potentially 00:03:04.289 --> 00:03:07.110 canceling out the Texas games. At least on paper, 00:03:07.289 --> 00:03:10.449 it's a direct counter move. Meanwhile, Ohio was 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:13.689 forced to draw a new map. The old one was just 00:03:13.689 --> 00:03:16.349 too partisan, according to their own state constitution. 00:03:16.569 --> 00:03:19.110 And a new Ohio map. It's projected to give Republicans 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:21.639 another two or three seats. Have Virginia. Oh, 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:23.919 Virginia, the Democratic controlled legislature 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:28.280 there is, let's just say they are dead set on 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:31.319 grabbing Republican seats. They're aiming for 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:35.159 VA01 and VO2 pretty easily and maybe even VA06. 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:38.139 So even with a pause in one or two states, the 00:03:38.139 --> 00:03:40.979 war just continues everywhere else. But the sources 00:03:40.979 --> 00:03:43.960 say the entire political map, especially in the 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:47.400 South, really just hinges on one. one big thing. 00:03:47.500 --> 00:03:49.580 It all comes down to the Supreme Court. Specifically, 00:03:49.900 --> 00:03:52.360 they're ruling on the Louisiana redistricting 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:55.020 case. Okay. If that ruling gusts the Voting Rights 00:03:55.020 --> 00:03:57.599 Act, you can expect Republicans in Alabama and 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:00.240 Louisiana to try and dismantle the two Democratic 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:02.699 -held racial gerrymandered districts in each 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:05.830 state. So that's four seats total. Two in Alabama, 00:04:05.990 --> 00:04:08.250 two in Louisiana. Four seats that are absolutely 00:04:08.250 --> 00:04:10.009 critical to the balance of power in Congress. 00:04:10.250 --> 00:04:12.250 So nothing happens until that ruling comes down, 00:04:12.370 --> 00:04:14.409 but everyone is ready to act the second it does. 00:04:14.969 --> 00:04:17.790 So if you connect all these dots, what's the 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:20.800 big picture? The big picture is that... This 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:23.420 rapid shift to winner take all map drawing is 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:26.240 basically turning house elections into a mini 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.600 electoral college. Where whoever controls the 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:31.000 state legislature just gets all the seats. Exactly. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:33.800 And that makes state level elections just incredibly 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:37.319 important for federal power, which is definitely 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:40.279 not what the founders had in mind. OK, so let's 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:44.220 pivot from the physical fight for districts to 00:04:44.220 --> 00:04:46.240 the corporate fight for content. We're talking 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.139 about Warner Brothers Discovery or WBD. It's 00:04:49.139 --> 00:04:54.199 for sale. And it's carrying a $35 billion debt 00:04:54.199 --> 00:04:56.279 load. A massive debt load. Yeah. And this has 00:04:56.279 --> 00:04:58.779 set up a battle between two enormous corporate 00:04:58.779 --> 00:05:01.199 bidders. And believe me, this is way more than 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:03.300 just a business deal. So on one side, you have 00:05:03.300 --> 00:05:06.819 WBD management. They seem to favor an $83 billion 00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:09.480 bid from Netflix. Right. And it's pretty clear 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:11.620 what Netflix wants. They want that enormous film 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:14.259 and TV library. It gives them a content moat 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:17.120 nobody can cross. And the implication there? 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:20.319 If they own everything, they could just kill 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:22.040 the movie theater business by putting it all 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:24.220 on streaming immediately. That's the unspoken 00:05:24.220 --> 00:05:26.220 threat, yes. But then there's a hostile bid, 00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:28.699 which complicates things. A very hostile bid, 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:31.500 from David Ellison's Paramount, and he's backed 00:05:31.500 --> 00:05:34.120 by some serious money. Larry Ellison, his father, 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:36.819 second richest person in the world. Jared Kushner, 00:05:37.060 --> 00:05:40.420 a group of Arab sheiks, and they're offering 00:05:40.420 --> 00:05:45.519 $108 billion in cash. Wow. They want the movies. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.779 But they've been very clear. They have zero interest 00:05:48.779 --> 00:05:51.480 in the news assets. And that right there is the 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:52.959 political angle. That they're the connection. 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:56.160 Because WBD owns CNN. Exactly. And financially, 00:05:56.379 --> 00:05:59.160 you know, CNN is a microscopic spec in a deal 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:02.399 this size. But politically, it's immense. And 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:04.500 Larry Ellison is a huge political donor. The 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:06.500 source material gets pretty specific here. It 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:08.899 does. It alleges that he lobbied the former president 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:12.339 and even discussed a plan to fire specific CNN 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:15.759 anchors. He named names. Aaron Burnett and Brianna 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:18.379 Keelar first on the list. As a way to, you know, 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:20.899 grease the skids for the deal. The sources are 00:06:20.899 --> 00:06:24.339 not subtle about this. They frame it as an alignment 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:27.519 of, well, oligarchs and authoritarian interests. 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:30.120 It looks that way. The Ellisons want the movies 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:32.699 for business reasons, but the other parties involved 00:06:32.699 --> 00:06:35.139 seem to want control of a major media outlet 00:06:35.139 --> 00:06:38.120 run by cronies. Which raises this huge question 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:40.699 about what our media environment is turning into. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.379 I mean, we're seeing a pattern here. It's a clear 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:46.660 trend of oligarchs consolidating media. Larry 00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:49.540 Ellison already owns CBS. He's being floated 00:06:49.540 --> 00:06:52.939 as a likely buyer for TikTok. Elon Musk bought 00:06:52.939 --> 00:06:56.740 Twitter, now X. It's a pattern where media success 00:06:56.740 --> 00:07:00.120 is tied to being politically favorable to a specific 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:02.319 leader. Right. And that brings us to this little 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:04.620 quiz, the source post. I saw that. Which of these 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:08.920 is different? Pravda, Xinhua, CNN and CBS News. 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:12.160 And the answer, at least for now, is CNN. It's 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:14.620 the only one not widely considered to be state 00:07:14.620 --> 00:07:17.199 -run media, but that could change very, very 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:19.459 quickly under a paramount ownership that's already 00:07:19.459 --> 00:07:21.660 talking about targeting journalists. The stakes 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:23.819 here for, you know, the public conversation, 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:26.220 they couldn't be higher. They really couldn't. 00:07:26.379 --> 00:07:28.300 The source basically says if paramount wins, 00:07:28.579 --> 00:07:30.899 you risk state -run media and democracy gets 00:07:30.899 --> 00:07:33.720 damaged, but... Hey, maybe movie theaters live. 00:07:34.060 --> 00:07:36.519 And if Netflix wins, movie theaters die. But 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:39.399 democracy in this specific context is preserved. 00:07:39.819 --> 00:07:42.120 It puts an enormous decision in the hands of 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:45.600 WBD stockholders. OK, let's shift gears now to 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:48.860 the economy. and the public mood. We keep hearing 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:51.100 official assurances that the economy is strong, 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:55.819 but a new APNRRC poll shows that voters are really 00:07:55.819 --> 00:07:57.779 struggling. The numbers are pretty stark. The 00:07:57.779 --> 00:07:59.439 former president's approval on the economy is 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:02.019 just 31 percent. That's his lowest ever. And 00:08:02.019 --> 00:08:05.220 it's not just one party, 68 percent of all voters, 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:08.600 including 44 percent of Republicans. The economy 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:11.139 is in poor shape. Affordability is the real pain 00:08:11.139 --> 00:08:13.800 point here. Half of Americans are cutting back 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:16.800 on non -essentials, even holiday gifts. And while 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:18.800 you hear administration officials blaming the 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:21.980 media or a Biden economy hangover, polls show 00:08:21.980 --> 00:08:24.079 voters are actually blaming something else. The 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.459 terrorists. The terrorists from the prior administration. 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:28.879 They're connecting them directly to higher prices. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:32.659 And all this economic pain is lighting a fire 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:35.110 under Washington. A legislative scramble, you 00:08:35.110 --> 00:08:37.269 could call it. Republicans are trying to do something 00:08:37.269 --> 00:08:39.370 about rising health care premiums before the 00:08:39.370 --> 00:08:42.129 midterms, but their own hardliners are blocking 00:08:42.129 --> 00:08:44.710 the extension of ACA subsidies. Those are the 00:08:44.710 --> 00:08:47.110 subsidies that keep insurance affordable for 00:08:47.110 --> 00:08:50.490 millions of people. Crucial subsidies. So to 00:08:50.490 --> 00:08:53.070 counter that narrative of inaction, House Republicans 00:08:53.070 --> 00:08:56.730 have put forward a bill, the Lower Health Care 00:08:56.730 --> 00:08:59.289 Premiums for All Americans Act. And what does 00:08:59.289 --> 00:09:02.580 it do? Well, It focuses on expanding health savings 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:06.120 accounts, HSAs, and it tries to lower drug costs 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:08.360 by going after middlemen, the pharmacy benefit 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:10.899 managers. But the key here is what the bill doesn't 00:09:10.899 --> 00:09:13.600 do. Exactly. It's not likely to pass anyway, 00:09:13.980 --> 00:09:16.200 but it deliberately leaves out an extension of 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:18.419 the ACA subsidies. So those aren't extended. 00:09:18.740 --> 00:09:21.139 People who use the ACA exchanges will see their 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:24.200 monthly payments just spike dramatically. And 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:27.039 that's a huge political liability that Democrats 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:29.139 are already getting ready to use as a, quote, 00:09:29.340 --> 00:09:33.559 cudgel. in the midterms. And this theme of a 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:36.460 lack of accountability, it seems to go from the 00:09:36.460 --> 00:09:39.279 legislature right to the executive branch. Let's 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:42.820 pivot to this case of, well, outright defiance 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:45.139 of the judiciary. That's the pattern we need 00:09:45.139 --> 00:09:48.039 to track. You have U .S. District Judge James 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:51.419 Boesberg confirmed unanimously, mind you. He 00:09:51.419 --> 00:09:54.519 issues an order. He demands that officials turn 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:57.539 around planes carrying 130 immigrants who were 00:09:57.539 --> 00:10:00.509 deported to Central America. amid claims the 00:10:00.509 --> 00:10:02.370 destination was basically a place of torture. 00:10:02.730 --> 00:10:04.470 Right. And the Department of Homeland Security 00:10:04.470 --> 00:10:07.429 just defied the order. So Judge Boasberg schedules 00:10:07.429 --> 00:10:10.529 a hearing to find out who specifically violated 00:10:10.529 --> 00:10:14.110 his order, and the DOJ steps in. The DOJ asks 00:10:14.110 --> 00:10:16.350 the D .C. Court of Appeals to block that hearing. 00:10:16.909 --> 00:10:20.350 A divided three -judge panel with two Trump appointees 00:10:20.350 --> 00:10:22.840 paused it. But the judge is pushing back. He 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:25.059 is. He's insisting this isn't, in his words, 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:27.559 some academic exercise, given the very serious 00:10:27.559 --> 00:10:30.279 allegations of abuse. It's a stunning example 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:32.700 of the executive just openly ignoring a direct 00:10:32.700 --> 00:10:35.360 judicial command. This disrespect for the judiciary 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:37.179 is happening at the same time as what our sources 00:10:37.179 --> 00:10:39.519 are calling the greatest griffs. Monetizing the 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:42.320 presidency on a scale that just dwarfs historical 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:44.879 scandals. You look at Teapot Dome, the huge scandal 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.759 of the 1920s. In today's money, that was about 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.659 $7 million. A drop in the bucket compared to 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:53.740 today. The scale is just incomparable. A primary 00:10:53.740 --> 00:10:55.860 example is the former first family's involvement 00:10:55.860 --> 00:10:59.100 with World Liberty Financial. They sell cryptocurrencies. 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:02.549 Including a mean coin, dollar sign Trump. and 00:11:02.549 --> 00:11:05.549 a stablecoin called USD1. And it basically operates 00:11:05.549 --> 00:11:08.210 as a system for selling influence and access. 00:11:08.590 --> 00:11:11.129 The examples are staggering. Let's hear them. 00:11:11.370 --> 00:11:15.809 A UAE state -backed firm bought $2 billion worth 00:11:15.809 --> 00:11:19.190 of that USD1 stablecoin. This happened to coincide 00:11:19.190 --> 00:11:22.190 perfectly with the end of a major SEC investigation 00:11:22.190 --> 00:11:24.350 into the crypto exchange Binance. That timing 00:11:24.350 --> 00:11:26.470 is interesting. And then there's Justin Sun, 00:11:26.710 --> 00:11:29.110 a crypto entrepreneur. He bought 95 million in 00:11:29.110 --> 00:11:31.429 Trump crypto. And what happened next? He gets 00:11:31.429 --> 00:11:33.070 an invite to dinner with the former president 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:36.429 and suddenly his own SEC fraud case gets delayed. 00:11:36.590 --> 00:11:38.409 The source says this is basically making the 00:11:38.409 --> 00:11:40.889 price of a get out of jail card public. It's 00:11:40.889 --> 00:11:43.549 not just crypto either. You have the foreign 00:11:43.549 --> 00:11:47.100 emoluments. The so -called Golden Airplane, a 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:51.899 $400 million $747 allegedly gifted by Qatar. 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:54.559 Rumored to be filled with so much gold, it might 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:58.620 not even be airworthy. And the 23 Trump -branded 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.039 real estate projects around the globe in places 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:04.320 like Oman and Saudi Arabia. And you can't forget 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:08.039 the White House ballroom. The $300 million ballroom 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:10.279 that the National Trust for Historic Preservation 00:12:10.279 --> 00:12:13.919 is suing over. Which 56 % of Americans oppose. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:16.460 And the money was collected from corporations, 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.639 14 of which were facing federal enforcement actions 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:22.600 at the same time. And to top it all off, we have 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:25.179 new material related to Jeffrey Epstein. His 00:12:25.179 --> 00:12:28.580 estate just released 95 ,000 photos to the House 00:12:28.580 --> 00:12:30.299 Oversight Committee. And the polling on this 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:32.980 is pretty clear. 70 % of people think the government 00:12:32.980 --> 00:12:35.559 is hiding information and 60 % believe the former 00:12:35.559 --> 00:12:38.840 president knew about Epstein's crimes. The sources 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:41.919 say these photos give, quote, lie to any attempt 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:44.080 by him to claim they were just business friends. 00:12:44.580 --> 00:12:47.679 Our final thread today is a literal public health 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:50.360 emergency. The comeback of measles. The U .S. 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:53.340 was declared measles free back in 2000. A major 00:12:53.340 --> 00:12:56.000 public health achievement. But we're set to lose 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:00.240 that status on January 20th, 2026, because we've 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:03.080 had 12 straight months of transmission. And we 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:06.480 need to be clear. Measles is serious. This isn't 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:09.120 just a childhood rash. For every thousand people 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.139 who get it, 200 end up in the hospital. With 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:14.899 severe complications like pneumonia or brain 00:13:14.899 --> 00:13:18.340 swelling. And three will die. This year alone, 00:13:18.500 --> 00:13:22.600 we've seen 47 outbreaks, over 1 ,900 cases, and 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:24.960 at least one child has died. And this is happening 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.059 because vaccination rates have dropped? Dropped 00:13:27.059 --> 00:13:29.399 significantly. And it's linked directly to high 00:13:29.399 --> 00:13:31.639 -profile anti -vaccine rhetoric that has just 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:33.980 eroded public trust in basic medical science. 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:36.139 You can see the results on the ground. Absolutely. 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:38.759 In Spartanburg County, South Carolina, for example, 00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:42.120 the vaccination rate is below the 95 % threshold 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:44.220 needed for herd immunity. Which means the virus 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:47.340 can spread easily. And it has. It led to quarantines 00:13:47.340 --> 00:13:51.860 for 354 people in South Carolina alone. It's 00:13:51.860 --> 00:13:54.720 causing widespread panic among parents of unvaccinated 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.940 kids. And what's so wild about this is the contrast. 00:13:58.620 --> 00:14:01.320 We have a safe, effective, cheap vaccine that's 00:14:01.320 --> 00:14:04.120 been around for 60 years. This isn't like when 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:06.820 COVID first hit and we had nothing. This is purely 00:14:06.820 --> 00:14:09.200 a failure of collective action, not a failure 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.440 of science. So after all that, what does this 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:15.139 whole stack of sources mean for you, the listener? 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:17.679 I mean, in short, what we've tracked today is 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:20.139 an incredible consolidation of power. Political 00:14:20.139 --> 00:14:22.419 power through gerrymandering. Corporate media 00:14:22.419 --> 00:14:26.000 power through the WBD sale. And it's just a... 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.840 brazen disregard for constitutional process, 00:14:28.899 --> 00:14:32.580 both with the judicial defiance and the staggering 00:14:32.580 --> 00:14:34.899 monetization of the presidency. And all of this 00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:37.039 is happening while most Americans are struggling 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:39.899 with real economic pain. And we're seeing the 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:42.460 literal return of preventable diseases because 00:14:42.460 --> 00:14:44.820 we can't act together anymore. It points to a 00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:47.399 deep instability across all our major institutions. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:49.840 It really does. Yeah. We talked about that minimum 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.759 95 percent vaccination rate needed to stop measles. 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:54.480 I want to leave you with this thought to mull 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:59.759 over. What are the minimum thresholds in civility 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.159 and accountability and just adhering to basic 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:04.759 norms that are protecting our political system 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:06.740 right now? And which of those fundamental minimums 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:08.899 are showing signs of a dangerous, maybe even 00:15:08.899 --> 00:15:11.500 an accelerated collapse? Something to think about 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:12.700 until our next deep dive.