The Ben Shapiro Show Review

This is my 37th podcast. This is currently ranked number 29. The episode I listened to was "Episode 2381-BOOTS on the GROUND in Iran." This episode was released March 5. Ben Shapiro started the show by calling Chuck Schumer a pathological liar which is an insane thing for a Trump supporter to say. He criticized Europeans saying "Leave it to the Europeans to whine" because they oppose the war in Iran. Labeling all opposition as "whining" is actually not an argument. He mentioned Spain criticizing the war and refusing to support it by mentioning Spain's GDP being low. As if that is an argument. It reminds me of Pam Bondi saying why would we care about the Epstein files when the DOW is over 50,000. Side note: Since she said that the DOW is now below 50,000 so I suppose we can care about the Epstein files. Similarly, if Spain can just get their GDP up, their argument against supporting war in Iran will have more merit according to Trumpian logic. Shapiro mentioned many possible outcomes to the Iran war and said the worst outcome would be a strengthened ayotollah regime and this is also the most unlikely. He did not elaborate on how it is the most unlikely outcome when Trump says this is going to be a short war and 86 year old Khamenei has been replaced by 56 year old Khamenei. Shapiro talked about arming the Kurds in Iran. He had a guest from the American Friends of Kurdistan. Shapiro did mention how the Kurds are pro-American but have been betrayed by the U.S. many times in the past including the 1st Gulf War and in Syria. Of course, when he mentioned how the Kurds were betrayed during the Gulf War he dared to mention that he was betrayed by George Bush. But when he mentioned Syria it was He Who Must Not Be Named who betrayed him. Shapiro is classic MAGA commentator who dares to criticize some thing Trump does but won't use his name so his audience won't know that it was Trump who did it. It seems even more relevant that Trump already betrayed the Kurds than the fact George Bush Sr. did when Trump is our current president. The Kurdish guest says the Kurds want to help the U.S. but they are trying to get some long term commitments first because they don't want to be betrayed. The Kurds got to do what they got to do but I hope they understand they will be betrayed, especially with this president. Any decision they make about the accept U.S. weapons or actions they take should be made in the context of understanding that any long term agreement they make with Trump will surely be violated. In 2019, the Kurds were doing the hard word of fighting ISIS on behalf of the U.S. and Trump made an agreement with Turkey to remove U.S. forces so Turkey could attack the Kurds. None of Shapiro's pro-Iran war commentary mentions how this is an illegal war that has not been declared by Congress. Shapiro treats Trump as a rational actor with strategic goals when there has never been any evidence of this. I give this podcast 0/5 for intellectual dishonesty.

PBD Podcast Review

This is my 36th podcast. The PBD Podcast is currently ranked number 30. This podcast is titled "'China's Cognitive Warfare'- Palantir Co-Founder On Iran Threats, AI PSYOPs & CIA Funding." It was released on March 2nd. This podcast was hosted by Patrick Bet-David and he interviewed Joe Lonsdale, one of the founders of Palantir. Joe had some lofty rhetoric about why he founded Palantir. He said it was founded to help save the west, to fight Islamist terrorism, and protect civil liberties. The name Palantir comes from the Lord of the Rings and they had a motto of "Save the Shire" meaning to save innocents. He said the government wasn't doing technology right so he wanted to start a company to achieve these goals. He also responded to criticisms of Palantir's involvement with ICE by saying Palantir isn't responsible for policy. That in a republic there is a mechanism for change and the government should be directing policy, not Silicon Valley. I thought this was contradictory with his stated mission. He said Palantir was set up to protect civil liberties but in reality he has no problem with Palantir assisting the government in violating civil liberties. He puts all of the responsibility on the government and none on Palintir. He said that what he really fears is if the republic elects a very bad person who uses technology and power in ways they shouldn't. That's what is scary to him and why we all have to be a part of the political process. To me, this is an insane hypothetical in that he is speaking the current reality as what he most fears but he is pretending it is not happening. He talked about bot farms trying to push the extremists. All his focus is on the extremist left. He completely ignores the reality that there are a massive amount of pro-Trump bots poisoning social media. Joe says his economic thinking comes from Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman's arguments for free markets I have found very persuasive and he has heavily influenced my economic thinking. So you would think that I could be united with Joe. But of course, Joe is just being hypocritical again. When asked about tariffs he could not condemn them. He danced around the issue like a politician. Here is what Milton Friedman thought about tariffs:

This used to be mainstream Republican thinking. But Republicans have done a complete 180 on many of their core beliefs without even acknowledging it. Joe seems to be of this camp of Republicans who might still believe this possibly but refuses to say it out loud. Joe also referenced the Department of Defense incorrectly many times according to the Trump cult given nickname of "Department of War." He says in Iran he would go Roman in Iran. Kill the leaders and see how the ones are that replace them and keep killing them until you get the ones you want. Of course the person who would be deciding who we want is the utterly amoral Donald Trump. Joe voiced support for "taking" Greenland because if you are not growing you are getting weaker. As if the United States has been getting weaker in the post World War II world where expanionism by military force has been against international law. I was bothered throughout this podcast by the hypocrisy of Joe. His rhetoric is inconsistent. The host of the podcast left all these inconsistencies unchallenged. I give this podcast 0/5 for the unchallenged intellectual dishonesty and the promotion of immoral ideas.

Giggly Squad Review

This is my 35th podcast. Giggly Squad is currently ranked number 25. The episode I listened to was titled, "Giggling about testosterone, mullets, and spray tans." The episode was released February 27th. This is a podcast for women so I am obviously not the target audience. I did not like this podcast at all. Not because it was directed toward women but because of how anti-man it was. They had some legit complaints I thought such as women's hockey team being pointlessly disrespected and one said men and women are different but they should be treated equally as far as respect. Then one said, "The men see us as second class citizens. They don't see us as equal. None of them." I know this is false as I don't feel that way and I think this kind of talk is harmful and spreads hatred to men. They felt the need to put the sexes against each other throughout the show. Not a fan. I give this podcast 0/5.

Smartless Review

This is my 34th podcast. It is currently ranked number 24. The episode I listened to is from "Staying Alive: Will Arnett, Part 1!" This is from February 26th podcast. This was kind of strange because "Staying Alive" is apparently a different podcast but it was posted under Smartless because it is a SmartLess show. The podcast's description says it is hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. I thought that would be cool since two out of three were on Arrested Development. But the episode I listened to didn't have Jason Batement. It did have Will Arnett as a guest and not a host. It was hosted by Jon Gabrus and Adam Pally who host Staying Alive. In reviewing this I am going to treat Will Arnett as more than a guest because he is listed as a host for this podcast. Will Arnett started the podcast talking about a controversy where he said on a different podcast in Britain that people with tattoos were boring. He said it was a big controversy and a lot of people got mad. He said he didn't mean it and he thought it was weird that all these people cared about what he said on this when he didn't even care what he said about it. The Staying Alive podcast has some health focus so they were asking him about health. He said he used to eat whatever he wanted and exercise and wouldn't gain weight but now that he is in his fifties, he still gains weight even if he exercises if he eats whatever he wants.He said every day for him was like a kid's birthday party because he loves eating ice cream. He hired some nutritionist that gave him a plan on what to eat. His diet seemed pretty high maintenance but I think it was easy for him being a wealthy guy with a nutritionist. I find myself in a similar situation where I used to eat what I want and exercise. I do eat the ice cream frequently as Arnett did before the nutritionist stopped it. I am trying to work on portion control. Not a big fancy plan but just eating smaller portions of all my meals and getting a smaller portion of ice cream for my nightly ice cream treat. We'll see if that works or if I will have to cut down on the ice cream more. I hope not. Will Arnett talked about preparing for a movie where he played a stand up comedian. He had never done stand up comedy before so to prepare, he did actual stand up comedy at real locations but under his character's name and using his character's material. He said it was a serious movie about comedy. And that it was tricky to be serious in interviews talking about a serious movie about comedy because he always wants to do jokes. The movie he was in is called, "Is This Thing On?" I did like this interview, and I do like Will but have no plans on watching this. I thought this podcast was interesting. I give it a 4/5, minus one point for profanity. Below is perhaps my favorite GOB moment from Arrested Development:

The Rewatchables Review

This is my 33rd podcast. It is now ranked number 28. I also listened to this one on the drive down to Utah. The title of the podcast is "'Crazy, Stupid, Love' With Bill Simmons, Van Lathan, and Mina Kimes." It was released February 24. This podcast was interesting because it was sports reporters talking about movies. This was the second podcast I have listened to where Bill Simmons is the host. They talked about this movie "Crazy, Stupid, Love" that I have not seen. They talked about this movie and the actors in it and other movies they were in. It was kind of funny how they would compare different actors to different NFL players since they are all sports people. Steve Carell is in this movie so I am sure it has some funny moments but I have no plans on watching it. They did have conversations about different movies, the most interesting thing to me during the podcast is when they talked about the new "The 'Burbs" TV show because they mentioned it was based on "The 'Burbs" movie with Tom Hanks. I have seen this several times and really liked that movie so I will put this on my list and check it out. I will give this podcast 3/5.

Two Hot Takes Review

This is my 32nd podcast. As of this writing, it is ranked number 11. I listened to "Episode 257: Odd Layers. Ft. The Basement Yard." This is hosted by Morgan Absher and she interviewed these two guys who apparently have a different podcast called The Basement Yard. The episode I listened to was released the same day I listened to it, that is yesterday. I listened as I drove to Utah in my van. This kind of reminded me of Smosh Reads Reddit Stories Podcast because they read a bunch of stories from Reddit and elsewhere and analyzed it and told jokes. I thought the funniest story was about this guy who always wore the same "Where's the Beef" shirt. He had an estimated 30 of them in his house (I suspect exaggeration). But he had one for every day. Morgan said it was a red shirt with yellow writing so I suspect it was this one:

I did enjoy listening to this podcast. I thought it was funny and agreed with most of their conclusions when analyzing the stories. Though I think sometimes they jumped to too big of conclusions when maybe not having enough information about something. I give this 4/5 for the entertainment and minus one for profanity.

Spotify Presents Review

This is my 31st podcast. It is ranked number 2. I am not sure how this is even considered a podcast, but I am getting my podcast from the top 100 podcasts list put up by Spotify so they get to determine definitions. The title is, "Spotify Presents: Robyn Live from Los Angeles." It was released today and in unprecedented blogging speed I am writing this post right after I listen to it. I am driving to Utah and will be listening to podcasts on the way so I wanted to write this up when it is fresh in my mind. This is how it should always be done if I always had the time to do it that way. This "podcast" was just a concert. The concert was performed by Robyn, apparently according to the description this was her long-awaited return, but I haven't heard of her. I was wondering what her full name was so I Googled it and apparently it is Robin Miriam Carlsson, she is a Swedish singer who changed the spelling of her first name because I think a y in the name is probably cooler. She didn't talk at all. This is the third Spotify music promotional podcast that didn't really seem like a podcast but the others were closer because they had talking in it. The other ones were the Billions Club and Directed By. The music was okay. Not really what I go for because I didn't understand the words most the time. I am not big into music but when I do listen to it I really like to be able to understand the words. I rate this podcast 3/5. It gets minus one point for not being a podcast, no fault of Robyn's and minus one point for me not understanding words, again no fault of Robyn's as clearly other people don't care about understanding the words.