August 17, 2026 • 39 mins
AI data centers are facing growing political backlash—and the fight is spreading deep into Republican territory.
On this episode of It’s a Numbers Game, Ryan Girdusky breaks down the changing politics surrounding AI data centers as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott moves to scrutinize new projects amid concerns over electricity demand, water usage, tax incentives, noise, infrastructure, and the impact on local communities.
Ryan examines why opposition to data centers is growing among Texas voters, why Loudoun County, Virginia—the heart of America's data center industry—is considering additional restrictions, and why Republicans may be rethinking their once-unquestioned support for rapid AI infrastructure expansion.
Then, Ryan turns to one of the most controversial Republican congressional candidates of 2026: Brandon Herrera. After Rep. Tony Gonzales dropped out, Herrera emerged as the GOP candidate in Texas' 23rd Congressional District—but his provocative past as a gun YouTuber is attracting national media scrutiny. Ryan explains how Republicans ended up in this position and what it could mean for control of the House.
Plus, Ryan answers listener questions about Trump, Netanyahu and the Kurds during the Iran conflict, as well as Madonna's refusal to let AI companies train on her music and the larger battle over artists, music catalogs and artificial intelligence.
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to a numbers Game with Ryan Gradsky. Happy
Monday everyone. I know you have a lot of choices
on where to be for your Mondays, and I'm glad
you're with me on today's show. I have two main
topics I want to include for you guys. One is
on the most controversial new Republican running for Congress this year,
but the first about data centers, and the story is
coming out of Texas and Virginia. Let's get started. So,
(00:23):
I've done a lot of episodes on data centers and
AI you know, it's one of my passion projects, I
guess you would say. And I brought on a journalist
a few episodes back, maybe like a few months ago,
to give me specific information on data centers because there's
a lot that I don't even know, and I've tried
to keep a hold of it. And basically, what she
emphasized strongest is that data centers aren't all the same.
(00:48):
And I think that's very important because on the internet,
you know, to quote Haley Stevens, it gets crazy here sometimes.
And I asked her just basically, what are facts and fictions?
Do data centers get qualified immunity? Said no, I asked
the data centers to get special tax breaks. She said yes.
I asked the data centers bring any permanent jobs. She
said some do, but not many. I asked the data
(01:08):
centers are bad for the environment and local wildlife. She
said there hasn't been enough data and research done. I
asked do local communities quality of life suffer in some
areas from data centers, and she said some people do,
but it depends on how they've been kind of organized
and built out, which, by the way, is a perfectly
acceptable answer. It's okay to say there's not enough information.
(01:29):
It's okay to say things are different in different communities,
and that a one size fits all answer isn't really accurate.
Some data centers are big strains on the local grids.
Some are not even using water as a form of
cooland which is a big concern for a lot of people.
They are major revenue generators for local communities, and it
(01:50):
doesn't look like they're driving energy costs in many places.
A big reason they're driving energy costs in some areas
is because there's a lot of regulation on energy, So
like in blue states with tons of regulation. Yeah, they're
generating more costs for everybody. It's okay that this issue
is very individualized to the particular data center, to the
(02:12):
particular state and the particular accounty. This is the type
of politics where local government really should be at their
strongest clarifying information, bringing up information. And what we've seen
is is that this piece of critical infrastructure not only
(02:32):
has done an absolutely horrific job with their own PR, which,
by the way, as a whole the tech industry, the
AI industry, has probably the worst pr I've ever seen,
and they are completely solely responsible for it. It's not
like other people have paid to oppose them. I'm sure
there's some who have, but they have done an absolutely
(02:53):
horrific job of promoting themselves. But much of the people
opposing the building of AI data centers are oversimplifying the concerns,
and that has led to a lot of misinformation at
times out there, Sometimes misinformation I have fallen for as well.
I'm always trying to get as much new data as possible,
not only to clarify for myself but for everyone else.
(03:15):
At the other side of the coin, the pro AI
data center people are putting out a lot of nonsense,
and not only is it not moving the public on
data centers, but it's not even working in the communities
that they're citing as examples. Is why these data centers
are brilliant and they're so great. So let me explain.
(03:36):
An early argument against AI regulation and against data center
regulation was coming out of California. They said a lot
of conservatives were saying it's a liberal idea to want
to regulate AI, and that it's only California's doing it,
and if you allow California to do it, then it
ruins it for everybody. We can't have fifty different states
with fifty different regulations, something that's very easy to understand.
(03:59):
It was said to galvanize Republican support around AI and
data centers. However, here's the problem. It didn't. According to
Emerson University, they found that sixty percent of Texans, including
a plurality of Republicans, oppose the construction of a data
center near their home. The intensity against data centers is growing.
(04:23):
It's growing among rural Texans, it's growing among Republican Texans.
These are not groups who were supposed to oppose it.
These are supposed to groups who were going to reap
all the rewards and none of the problems and the
pushback even from Republicans is clearly being felt not only
in the polls but among politicians. So last week Governor
(04:46):
Greg Abbott, who's been very supportive of data centers, made
a big announcement He's putting a temporary moratorium on data
center construction for the three hundred sites currently under construction
in the Lone Star State until they are audit by
the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliable
Council of Texas. Abbott called for an agencies to collect
(05:07):
information on water and power usage at these facilities and
to pause data center's ability to connect to the Texas
grid until the audit is complete. Now, remember there are
three grids in America, the West Coast Grid, the East
Coast Grid, and the Texas Grid. Texas has its own grid,
which means it also has its own problems. Abbit has
directed the two agencies to collect the following information on
(05:28):
all new AI data centers. One they have to be
financing each project, including any government funding or tax incentives,
to projected power usage for each facility, and steps taken
to reduce the facility's reliance on the Texas power grid,
including on on site electric plants used to power the
data centers, Each facility's water usage and the extent to
(05:50):
which it will reuse water and other cooling systems that
don't rely on local water sources, Any efforts to mitigate
impacts on nearby communities such as noise mitigation, light control setbacks,
traffic improvements, emergency response coordination, and details about each project's
ownership and controlling interests. There are currently eighteen hundred projects
(06:11):
currently waiting those two or just the Electric Power Grids
approval to join the state grid. Around ninety percent of
them are data centers, and the project would collectively use
four hundred and seventy four gigawatts of electricity. That's according
to the Governor's office. The project's demand is more than
five times five times the grid's peak record. That's according
(06:36):
to the Texas Tribune. President Trump criticized Greg Abbott and
what he's done when it comes to data centers. Companies
including Amazon, Cipher Digital, and Lasium. Those are big companies
with data center interest in Texas have all said they're
going to go along with Abbot's regulation, and in my opinion,
Abbot is completely right. Republicans need to stop acting like
(07:00):
these companies that control data centers, that are building data
centers are some kind of mom and pop startups. These
are the wealthiest companies in the world. They don't need
special privileges like tax breaks. They don't need in any
way to have personalized profits with socialized costs. In other words,
(07:22):
they're reaping billions dollars of profits. Of course, they're paying
some taxes. But the burden on electricity, or on water,
or on traffic, or on a million other things is
being felt negatively by the people living there, including light pollution,
including noise pollution. All those things matter to someone's quality
of life. You don't want to live next to somewhere
where you can sleep at night. And also you can
(07:43):
never resell your house at the value you bought it
if one of those monstrastras noisy data centers were built
right next doore and something else. I have told people,
and I don't know why this is not being considered.
Why aren't these data centers being built and hollowed out
menu factoring areas in much of the Ross Belt because
(08:03):
those areas are already zoned for that type of heavy production,
that kind of noise level, that kind of you know
that space, there's a lot of it. They're not typically
next to residential areas, and they have a huge amount
of land. I feel like that's a no brainer that
hasn't really been moved on much. I mean, there's a
lot of hollowed out factories throughout the United States that
(08:25):
could easily converted to data centers, and they're not right
next to someone's home. But Texas is not the only
place where data centers are receiving a pushback from elected officials.
Loudin County, Virginia, is the nation's wealthiest county and home
to the most data centers of any county in the country,
and the county is often cited by proponents of data
centers like how wonderful they are. They're a huge economic boom.
(08:48):
They generate between seven hundred to nine hundred million dollars
a year in revenue in just that one county. However,
even though Louden County is being heralded as a giant
proponent of day data centers, the county Board of Supervisor
has put on their calendar a September fifteenth vote to
create a contemporary moratorium on new data centers that have
(09:10):
already been approved. While the county completes a new phase
of developing its AI data center standards and regulations. Loud
In County currently has two hundred and fifty data centers,
with one hundred new projects underway. The county has already
put a stop to basically any new data centers after
that one hundred since twenty twenty three. And this is
(09:32):
where supporters of data centers need to understand they are
losing the battle of hearts and minds. People have tons
of videos of data centers being loud and bright and
causing disruptions of people qualitififed. They have concerns over health issues.
They have questions over tax breaks to these sometimes trillion
dollar businesses who are at the same time firing Americans
(09:56):
and hiring h one b's and sometimes using the government
to seize private land. I mean, it's negative story after
negative story after negative story, and we're supposed to somehow
feel sympathy for these companies. It begs a big question
and a lot of the biggest and a lot of
supporters saying, you can't do this, or we're going to
lose to China. All do business in China, sometimes in technology.
(10:19):
If China is that big of a concern. Why is
Kevin O'Leary doing business in China really makes no sense
at all, and I think that people can sniff out
the BS. Some regulations to protect people's quality of light
and ensure that people that the grid that the water
supply are not being disturbed is important. Heck. I also
(10:42):
think it's really important to clarify data centers and break
them up into which kind they are. Some data centers,
as I said before, don't use water at all to
cool their machines, So like, why are we calling them
the data centers and they're being lumped. Of course they
are data centers, but there should be a clarification that
they're not the same ones that even use water. They
call one a hydro cool data center versus an air
(11:04):
cool one. I don't know what the correct answer is,
but clarifying the language is really important for people to
kind of understand what's going on in their local community,
and it kind of propels, not propels, but it reduces
anxiety and fear, and I think more information when it
comes to this is actually better for people to fully
(11:25):
analyze what's happening, rather than running to their imagination of
what they assume is going to happen. That is never
good for anybody. The politics is changing on this, and
it's changing fast, even on the Republican side. Look at
Wisconsin's governor's race. Republican Tom Tom Tiffany is accusing Democrat
David Crowley of being too liberal when it comes to
(11:47):
data centers. In other words, he wants to build too many.
Republican Zach Lane, who is running for governor of Iowa,
he's calling for a moratorium in the state. The politics
on this are real, and even Republicans running in these
local offices, in these governor's offices are changing how they're
sounding right now. And the people in think tanks and
(12:08):
the people doing pr and the people doing all this
other stuff are pretending like it's not real, like it's
not happening. If you go on social media, you will
see them say, you know, lawed, everything is being positive
and nothing is being negative, and not only dismissing but
also mocking people who have fears, are saying that they're
all tools for China. It's a favorite of Kevin O'Leary's.
(12:30):
Be clear in your language as to the information or
surrounding each individual data center in each area. This is
what the local politicians should be doing. How much power
does it use, where does the power come from, how
does it cool it systems? This may slow down construction,
but right now the alternative is it's not going to
be built at all. That's really where we're headed around
(12:53):
data centers and the real fear, anxiety and loathing of them.
And it's partially because people don't have a lot of
information and people proponents of it. Leaders in that industry
are horrible at their own pr They treat people like
their computers, not like their people. It's very important. People
(13:15):
are very nervous because these companies need land, they need
infrastructure to create this, and they need to create it
very very fast. And Republicans over the last few years
have bent over backwards, saying, come to my area, come
to my area, come to my area. I'll give you
tax works, I'll give you land, i will seize other
people's private property and let you build there, all to
generate this promise of endless tax revenue. But they've forgotten
(13:39):
about people's quality of life and people's you know, just
fear of change, which is totally normal and natural, and
it doesn't have to be this way. That we, you know,
have one extreme or the other. We could take things
at our own pace. They can also not mock the
people who are concerned and saying they're just you know,
(14:01):
they're just ludites who are falling for propaganda for China.
They are not luddites, they are not Chinese assets. They
are voters. And you can see right now with what's
Greg Abbott's doing, what loudin County is doing, these people
who were gung ho greenlit for data centers, how things
are changing on the ground. Eventually that will be felt
(14:23):
in Washington, but right now we're already seeing it in
state capital races and in local races. Okay, next up,
let's talk about the most controversial Republican running for office
this year. That's coming up next. Texas's twenty third district,
which stretches across the border from Mexico and Texas, was
rock by scandal earlier this year, and I covered on
(14:43):
the show many many times. I dedicated full episodes to it.
Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez was having an affair with the staffer.
Things went south. I covered all the horrific details on
a previous episode. You can go back if you want
to really hear everything. Long story short, though, after the
affair was over, he ended her life by setting herself
on fire in front of her mother. Well, Gonzalez came
(15:04):
in second in his primary, ended up dropping out of
the race rather than facing off voters in the runoff,
and almost certainly guaranteed to lose that race. Despite having
the backing of the established Republican Party, the Texas GOP,
and President Trump, he lost his primary to a popular
gun YouTuber named Brandon Herrera. The New York Times over
the last few days spent not only one, but two
(15:27):
features and opinion section articles slamming Brandon Herrera in a
way that I think that they smell blood in the water.
They open the not the opinion piece by Michelle Goldberg,
but the feature piece. They opened by talking about Mike
Johnson is raising money and campaigning for Herrera, which the
speaker should do he wants to maintain his majority. Herrera
is a former popular gun YouTuber who has made some
(15:49):
very spicy comments in the past. He's remember, he's only
thirty years old. Not that that's an excuse, but I
think that that's context for when he said these comments
and how old he was when he said them, because
he was in his sometimes mid twenties, and I'm not
endorsing these comments and just explaining them. He said that
a Nazi era submachine gun was quote Hitler's a street sweeper.
(16:10):
He referred to children as ejaculation trophies, and mocked the
looks of women who were on the pro gun control side. Now,
these are not comments that he said on the campaign trail.
I think that's very important. Some things he said recently,
he was in his sometimes mid twenties to late twenties
when he said them, and he said them in the
context of trying to grow an online gun fan base
(16:33):
on social media and on YouTube. His campaign has actually
been very mild this election season. He's been running really
on veterans benefits, water scarcity, and actually guardrails on data
centers just to bring it up all over again. But
he's the good news is he's grown from a YouTuber
to an actual candidate who's really kind of trying to
(16:53):
deliver for the district and speak like an adult. I'm
not going to defend things he said in the past,
or am I going to say that they should really
be overly scrutinized because a lot of times that's how
guys on the Internet in these kinds of communities speak.
Doesn't mean that they are They may say terrible things,
but don't mean they're all terrible people. They're just kind
(17:13):
of like guys in their early to mid twenties, sometimes
just right up for their prefrontal cortex lobe has fully formed,
or even before it has, and they're trying to make
each other laugh like it is kind of what it is.
It's not the same thing as what other people have done.
I think it's important to note that because I've been
very hard on grand Platner. The difference is grand Platner
(17:36):
was in his late thirties calling himself a communist and
saying things about women and saying things about other things.
He wasn't in twenty seven, twenty six. There is a difference.
Twenty six year old man isn't a full grown man,
could serve in a war. He could you know, have
a family. He is not a child. I'm not saying
he is a child, but there is a difference between
(17:59):
your mid twenties in your late thirties. I'm just like,
I'm going to be clear on that. I think is.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Brandon Herrera the ideal candidate, not by a long shot, right,
and voters kind of knew that he never got fifty
percent in any primary he ran in by Texas Republicans,
the most he ever received was forty one percent.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
And while the district voted for Trump by fifteen points,
it's really a tough race this go around, especially in
this environment for Republicans, there is a chance he could
lose his seat. And with all that said, with the
New York Times writing new stories and with him kind
of becoming a contract with himself, I think it's important
to say, how did we get here? How did we
end up with the candidate like Brandon Herrera. It wasn't
(18:39):
like an organization like the DSA was working to elect
him like the Democrat side is when they have these
extreme candidates or these controversial candidates. We got here because
Mike Johnson had no bulls. I'm going to speak very
honestly right now, Speaker Mike Johnson should have turned to
Tony Gonzalez during the primary and said, you've disgraced your
office that you've held. There is a dead girl because
(19:01):
of it. You cannot run for reelection, and if you do,
I will find someone else to run against you. I
will support them, I will fundraise for them, I will
get President Trump to support them opposing you, and you
can feel the rest of your term. But that's it.
You're not going to run for this reelection. You disgrace
the office. It's the same story he should have said
to Chuck Edwards in North Carolina, or to Corey Mills,
(19:23):
who insanely is still running for reelection in Florida tomorrow.
If you live in his district, do not vote for
Corey Mills. Just I'm not going to go any further.
Just do not vote for Corey Mills. I know in
the age of Trump, there is this perception and this
assumption that all bets are off when it comes to
politicians and the weathers that they can storm. That voters
are just too partisan and too they have seen and
(19:46):
heard too much, they don't care about scandals anymore. And
like perfect example, look at the Attorney General of Virginia
who won his election even after he said he wanted
to kill Republicans' children. But for every story of a
man like that who should not serve in public office,
who's a disgrace of the office that he olds, you
have Tony Gonzalez. You have Chuck Edwards who did announce
(20:08):
that he's not running for re election. You have Eric
Slowell who resigned. You have Shila McCormick who resigned in
Trent Franks and Al Franken and Graham Platner and Tim
Murphy and Duncan Hunter and George Santos and Madison Catherine
and Katie Hill and Bob Menendez where either voters or
the law caught up to them and forced them either
into resignation or electoral defeat, or their colleagues did in
(20:31):
the case of Santos. Americans still want some kind of
ethics from our politicians, and it is really up to
party leaders to enforce that, and it stops a lot
of heartburn from happening in the future. I don't think
Brandon Herrera being spicy on the internet is the same
as when you know, it's not the same as DSA
(20:54):
candidates who are promoting policies that ul wreck America. And
it's not the same as as people who did things
when they were older. As I said, but this is
an important election and we needed a really a cant
who was ready for prime time to run in this
race and had Mike Johnson had the courage, Republicans may
(21:14):
have had that stronger candidate whose name wasn't Tony Gonzalez,
who didn't play head games with a young, impressionable woman
and mother and wife that ultimately led to her to
her losing her life hopefully in the future. And I
think that this, especially if Parrera loses the race, which
I hope that he wins. But because I don't think
(21:34):
this is I don't think that these jokes on the
internet are worth canceling because they are clearly jokes, and
he's if you listen to them in context, he's laughing,
and they're all joking and laughing, not saying that they're appropriate.
But there's a much difference. You know, not everything is
for everybody in every room. If you know your future
employer is going to be somewhere, in this case, the voters,
you don't say certain things that I think that he
(21:57):
never imagined he would do or safe he was running
for office. But if party leaders have a little more
backbone and stand up to the most egregious members of
their party, in this case Tony Gonzalez, we would have
a better politics, We would have better candidates and Republicans
(22:17):
in this case and Democrats in many cases would not
be in a position where they're scrambling at the very
end voters. I know it seems like voters don't expect anymore,
but they actually do, and most importantly, they deserve more,
and so does our country. Okay, Ask Me Anything is
coming up next. Stay tuned now it's time for the
Ask Me Anything segment. If you want a part of
(22:38):
the Ask Me Anything segment, email me Ryan at Numbers
Gamepodcast dot com. That's Ryan and numbers lital Numbers Gamepodcast
dot com. First question comes from Hillary. Hillary says, I
listened to every episode of your podcasts and recommend it
too many. I believe you are I think she meant
rational and you're irrational. She actually qualified, she said she
meant to say irrational. I believe you are irrationally, have
(22:59):
good ideas and give us backs. That is why I
am concerned when you blame netn Yahoo for being wrong
about the Kurds helping us in Iran. After listening to
Dan Senior's podcast, it makes makes much more sense that
Trump didn't green light the Kurds to move because he
got a call from Turkey's president Aragon, saying that he
didn't want the Curds involved because he hates the Curds.
Given all the propaganda and hate against Israel, I beg
(23:20):
for the sake of the Western world to make sure
you have the facts before you blame Israel. Okay, let
me let me go into what she's talking about. So
there is claims by multiple news outlets, not by many
Western news outlets. The only Western news outlet that I
found to make these claims was I twenty four News.
It's actually a network I've appeared on many times in
the past, they claimed. On July fifth, at the Turkish
(23:44):
president pressured Trump into a last minute cancelation of an
alleged plan to Eggs to use exiled Kurdish fighters. Remember,
the Kurds live in both Turkey and Iraq. Sometimes people
assume that it's only like one area or not the other,
but the courage stretch across large regions of the Middle
East to use exiled Iranian Kurds as there were used
(24:04):
to be a lot of Curds in Iran to fight
a ground war and invade Iran while American bombing was happening.
According to I twenty four News, the scheme call for
a joint operation in Israeli's US and Iraqi based Iranian
Kurdish forces. The parent goal was to launch a granduvation
in irand cut a path directly to Tehran and breach
the presidential Palace as part of efforts to topple the
(24:26):
Islamic Republic. Separately, public broadcaster Khan News, which is a
Middle Eastern news outlet, so a reporter that reported that
a senior Israeli intelligence and security officials are saying that
the Turkeys. The Turkey had communicated to Washington and Israeli
intermediaries that viewed that any empowered, armed Kurdish forces at
the border as an existential threat. Turkey has had a
(24:49):
long issue with the Kurds, as the Iraqis have. As
Saddam Mussein used to have. There's a lot of hatred
towards Kurds among those leaders. And also there are just
for fact based are Curds that have used terrorist methods
to fight for independence over the time. I'm not going
to go into a history of the Curds, but it's
very complicated. It's not all one side and the other.
(25:12):
There's just one other thing I want to add about
this story it may. Trumplemented that the US had during
January twenty twenty six unrest and Iran sent weapons intended
for the Iranian anti government protesters to get to the
opposition groups. Notably, he said he was going to arm
Kurdish intermediaries. However, the US president claim that the arms
never reached their final destination, saying they were very disappointed
(25:35):
because the curd intermediaries were supposed to deliver the weapons,
but they kept them. That's what according to that's according
to the American sources. Trump added, the Curds take take,
take and only fight hard when they get paid. Iraqi
Kurdish political parties and a ranting Kurds armed groups strongly
denied the allegation. So the bigger question is were Kurds
(25:55):
even properly armed for this ground invasion. There's a lot
of he said. He said, these various groups, and who
can you trust? And in the Middle East say that
you really can't trust many people. Trump also they publicly
stated though, that he did not want the Kurds involved
in the warning round. I just want to clarify that,
so I'm not saying that the call never happened. With
Aragon I'm not saying that that nen Yahoo was telling
(26:21):
him just complete falsehoods. The call likely did happen in
some case, or there at least a pressure campaign happened
in some cases enough news outlets from the Middle East
to make those kinds of claims. I wish like the
New York Times or the Washington Post or Associated Press
and made those verify that, but I couldn't find that anywhere.
(26:41):
I think that it's also important one other thing to
say that those the claims that be being made to
Trump in their meeting in the White House that was
reported in the New York Times, according to Maggie Harman and
John and Swan who were on this podcast, was they
did Phoebe did sell Trump on a lot of promises
(27:05):
of how easy this invasion would happen. And it was
our own CAI, Secretary Radcliffe and Secretary Mark or Rubio
who were saying that these promised that he was over
selling them, which is not an accusation that the Israelis
have never had in the past, right a lot of
intelligible I've always said Israelis have overpromised and under not underdelivered,
(27:30):
but over promised how smooth things would go in the
Middle East. This is not the first time that's happened.
So this is all the information that she was Hilary
was talking about the email and I wanted to give
some background. I will say this, Hillary, I don't know
if you are Jewish or if you are just a
supporter of Israel. I want you to understand with two things. One,
(27:50):
my brain sometimes worked faster than my mouth, so I
don't fully explain things that I think are being said.
Sometimes my brain's moving so fast, so sometimes I'm missing things,
and you guys hold me to account. And I actually
love that. I love when I can further go through
things and explain them. And I also want you to
understand that my criticisms of BB in the context of
(28:13):
this war in Iran and that meeting in the White
House are one not criticism of BB alone, because BB
didn't force Trump to do anything in Iran. That's impossible.
I know that some podcasters like to say that he
was forced. No one forced Donald Trump to do something
at like gunpoint. Donald Trump chose to do this war
(28:34):
with Iran. It is Donald Trump and only Donald Trump
that can take credit for it when it's good, and
a blame for it when it's bad, right, I think
it's very important to say and not be around the bush.
And likewise, there are many people who are supportive of
the war who like to bash the negotiations that Vice
President Vance has led with Iran and act as if
(28:57):
Trump has nothing to do with him. That's also untrue.
Right at the end of the day, if you like
this war, credit goes to Trump. If you don't like
this war, blame goes to Trump. If don't like anything,
it goes to Trump. Trump is the final decision maker.
But when I make criticians about BB and when I
make criticians about Israel, it is not in malice. It
is not for me to propagate conspiracies that they're somehow
(29:20):
controlling the United States. I do not believe that. I
do not like conspiracies to begin with. I'm very opposed
to most conspiracies. There are a couple that are fun
that I like to engage in, but those are very
few and far in between, and they are not on
serious matters. They are on like stupid matters. I think
that I understand why anyone who is Jewish or a
(29:44):
deep support of Israel feels under constant criticism and attack
in this moment. It is purposely why I very rarely
engage in any conversation surrounding the Middle East. I kind
of can't avoid it around. I run right now because
it's just it is the news. What is But I
(30:04):
want you to know and and I know I don't
know you, but I really do care that people like yourself,
Hillary feel like you have an ally in this podcast,
in how I'm speaking to you, I'm not there to
create any hatred or any divisiveness, especially against fellow Americans
(30:26):
who are Jewish or who are deep supporters of Israel.
I've taken a lot of heat over time for being supporting,
supportive of Israel. And I think it's very clear and
it's I I have. This is very long story short,
but a personal note. My my mom's dad Italian Italian Italian,
(30:48):
right from the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His family
was all mobbed up, like all mobbed up, and his mother,
my great grandmother, did not want her sons to fall
into that lifestyle. So what do they do. They move
to a Jewish neighborhood and my grandfather grew up with
basically only Jewish friends. I don't know how he married
the only Italian girl in the area, but he married
(31:09):
my grandmother. It was also Italian, and we grew up
with his Jewish friends. We had a Hanka celebration. I
grew up in New York City. I did not grow
up in everywhere. I never met a Jew in my life,
and I went to a college where the college was
like a third Jewish one to Queen's College before I
didn't graduate. I say that to say there is a
(31:30):
special place where I feel sensitivity towards this community more
than others, in part because of my history with them,
And so I didn't mean to create animosity or hatred
or conspiracy against Israel. I'm trying to report as much
of the facts as I possibly can and give you
(31:51):
guys context. Sometimes it's very nuanced, and that's not always
positive news for Israel. But nothing is all positive le negative.
I don't try to cheerlead any which side. I'm just
trying to explain the facts. So but please understand it's
not coming out of a place of hatred or conspiracy
or animosity or wanting people to hate Israel or American Jews.
(32:13):
I don't want any of those things. I want people
to have as much information as possible and come to
their own conclusion. But you're not going to get what's
happening around the world from me or around the country,
especially from other people desperate for clicks, desperate for listenership,
and willing to engage in horrific conspiracies. From me. It's
(32:34):
just not going to happen. So Hillary, apologize if you
took it the wrong way. I hope this clarified the
answer a little bit greater and people walked away with
more information. Okay, last question is from Ricardo. Ricardo says Ryan,
I saw on accent you chimed in about your support
from a common This is not a political question, which
I love. I love getting a non political question every
once in a while about your support of a comment.
(32:56):
Guy O Siri made that Madonna, the singer. Madonna would
not it was her birthday. By the way, sixtieth birthday
would not authorize AI companies. I assume this means companies
like Suno to use her music to train their models.
My question is this, how do logically differentiate between a
young songwriter sitting by the stereo listening to the catalog
of say Madonna, Amy Winehouse with the Rolling Stones, typic
(33:17):
up trends, vibes, rhythms, and vocal tendencies to learn for
purpose of development of that songwriter's own talent and work product,
and a programmer playing the music of those artists too.
An AI platform that is likewise being trained to the
platform can later be the tool of a young human
songwriter who utilizes the platform to produce and publish music
(33:38):
without the need for the power a capacity of big
labels to get their work und distributed. An incredibly smart question,
by the way, I'm having a hard time getting my
arms around the concept of artists having the power to
authorize someone to listen to that music, artist music and
appreciate their work, dance to it, learn from it, whether
someone is human or a machine. That's a great question.
(34:02):
And I will say this, So there's some thing, and
I'm not an expert in the music industry, but I
do read up a lot about it. I'm very interested
in it. So there's something happening in music right now
aside from AI, and that is really the mass commercialization
of catalogs in a way that we haven't seen it before.
So music catalogs is basically the music of the artist rights.
It's existed forever and for a long time, music artists
(34:26):
did not even own their catalogs, going back to like
the forties, the fifties, the sixties. That started changing a
lot later on around seventies and eighties where artists were
really taking control of their catalogs. And famous story was
from like the early nineties where Michael Jackson bought the
catalogs the Beatles and it ended his relationship with Paul McCartney.
Very very famous story if you want to look it up.
(34:47):
What we're seeing right now with artists catalogs and artists
ownership of their own music is this mass commercialization where
companies and corporations are purchasing huge catalogs of artists. So
for instance, like Katie Perry and Justin Bieber, they sold
their entire music catalog. They don't know any of their
music anymore. Maybe the new music that people don't listen to,
(35:09):
but the songs that everyone listens to, they don't own them.
Other artists like classic artists fleet with Max Sol their catalog.
I believe Lisa Marie Presses sold Elvis's catalog and then
uh uh uh Freddie Mercury Queen Queen sold their for
I think a billion dollars. I think it was the
most ever. And what's happening is we're seeing as those
(35:32):
that mass commercialization of catalog selling to companies is happening
to the tune of like hundreds of millions, if not
billions of dollars in the case or billion dollars in
case of Queen. The music is being altered digitally, The
music is being remastered digitally. The music is being remixed digitally,
and the music doesn't really sounding like the artists. No,
(35:53):
if the artist doesn't care, they ats gonna do whatever
whatever they want with their own music. There are artists, though,
that refuse to sell their catalogs, like famously Elton, John, Billy,
Joel and Madonna will not sell their catalogs for however
much money is being offered them. They want to own
their music and the likeness and image of it. That
is much different than because they can change your sound.
(36:15):
They could change your voice. That is much different by way,
not only to train other people, but to then use
for a commercial. They could do it for you know.
They could take uh, they could take candle in the
wind and make it into a dance song. And it's
a song about someone dying like they could do whatever
they want to your music, and if you have a
(36:35):
strong affiliation and ownership of your music, you do not
want that. So I think that that's great that you
know some of these people their music means everything. Like
you know, Bruce Pringsty doesn't carry sold his catalog. Madonna cares.
She really says, this is my ownership, this is my voice.
I don't want anyone to take it now. Obviously for
these huge artists like like Madonna, like Elton John, like
(36:58):
Billy Joel who have changed pop music and you know,
piano rock or whatever in their time. Yeah, everyone's kind
of listened to it and copied it. There's absolutely influences
of Madonna in Lady Gaga, but it is not It
is not the same as a machine copying it. So
(37:21):
for instance, like and artists like Lady Gaga will sound
like Madonna at times and will sound like Bruce Springston
at times and infuse both sounds together. And that is
different from a company being able to take it change. Oh,
not only alter and learn from the way you sound
to train other people, but the way you sound to
do things and make your music and make your voice
(37:42):
do things you would not do. So I respect. It's
not a matter of like I agree or I'm like
saluting somebody. These are all people who are fabulously wealthy,
and I don't like, I'm not personally invested in what
they do with their music catalog. It's just I think
it's great when people say that this is more important
to me than just money. I feel deep connection to
(38:02):
my art and my my name and my voice, and
I don't want it to be manipulated by anybody, by
the highest bidder. I kind of think that's pretty that's
pretty great in a time when everyone is selling out
for the highest bidder and that's their right to do so.
It's a capitost country. God bless them. You know, if
Bruce Springsteen can get you got like seven hundred million dollars,
you get some undred mine hostream music and you want to,
(38:24):
you know, watch the sun set on the beach, good
for you. If you want to say, no, this is
not how my voice is going to be changed or
altered or whatever, then I think that that's pretty pretty cool.
I don't know, that's all it is. It's not really
a uh, it's not really a like statement of like
this is this is really where it's at anyone can
do anything. But I do think it's pretty cool when
people say, you know, I have FU money and I
(38:46):
don't need to sell out for something I that I
that's that's part of me. That's all that was. But
that's a great question. I love getting questions like this,
and I do know a surprising amount of the music
industry that I could answer that. And I didn't do
a ton of research for that question. I just kind
of knew it all Alp the Fly. So thank you
for writing that question, Ricardo, and thank you all for
listening to this podcast. I hope you like it. If
(39:07):
you liked this podcast, please likensubscribe to the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast, or we get this podcast and on YouTube
and I will see you guys on Wednesday.
Welcome back to a numbers Game with Ryan Gradsky. Happy
Monday everyone. I know you have a lot of choices
on where to be for your Mondays, and I'm glad
you're with me on today's show. I have two main
topics I want to include for you guys. One is
on the most controversial new Republican running for Congress this year,
but the first about data centers, and the story is
coming out of Texas and Virginia. Let's get started. So,
(00:23):
I've done a lot of episodes on data centers and
AI you know, it's one of my passion projects, I
guess you would say. And I brought on a journalist
a few episodes back, maybe like a few months ago,
to give me specific information on data centers because there's
a lot that I don't even know, and I've tried
to keep a hold of it. And basically, what she
emphasized strongest is that data centers aren't all the same.
(00:48):
And I think that's very important because on the internet,
you know, to quote Haley Stevens, it gets crazy here sometimes.
And I asked her just basically, what are facts and fictions?
Do data centers get qualified immunity? Said no, I asked
the data centers to get special tax breaks. She said yes.
I asked the data centers bring any permanent jobs. She
said some do, but not many. I asked the data
(01:08):
centers are bad for the environment and local wildlife. She
said there hasn't been enough data and research done. I
asked do local communities quality of life suffer in some
areas from data centers, and she said some people do,
but it depends on how they've been kind of organized
and built out, which, by the way, is a perfectly
acceptable answer. It's okay to say there's not enough information.
(01:29):
It's okay to say things are different in different communities,
and that a one size fits all answer isn't really accurate.
Some data centers are big strains on the local grids.
Some are not even using water as a form of
cooland which is a big concern for a lot of people.
They are major revenue generators for local communities, and it
(01:50):
doesn't look like they're driving energy costs in many places.
A big reason they're driving energy costs in some areas
is because there's a lot of regulation on energy, So
like in blue states with tons of regulation. Yeah, they're
generating more costs for everybody. It's okay that this issue
is very individualized to the particular data center, to the
(02:12):
particular state and the particular accounty. This is the type
of politics where local government really should be at their
strongest clarifying information, bringing up information. And what we've seen
is is that this piece of critical infrastructure not only
(02:32):
has done an absolutely horrific job with their own PR, which,
by the way, as a whole the tech industry, the
AI industry, has probably the worst pr I've ever seen,
and they are completely solely responsible for it. It's not
like other people have paid to oppose them. I'm sure
there's some who have, but they have done an absolutely
(02:53):
horrific job of promoting themselves. But much of the people
opposing the building of AI data centers are oversimplifying the concerns,
and that has led to a lot of misinformation at
times out there, Sometimes misinformation I have fallen for as well.
I'm always trying to get as much new data as possible,
not only to clarify for myself but for everyone else.
(03:15):
At the other side of the coin, the pro AI
data center people are putting out a lot of nonsense,
and not only is it not moving the public on
data centers, but it's not even working in the communities
that they're citing as examples. Is why these data centers
are brilliant and they're so great. So let me explain.
(03:36):
An early argument against AI regulation and against data center
regulation was coming out of California. They said a lot
of conservatives were saying it's a liberal idea to want
to regulate AI, and that it's only California's doing it,
and if you allow California to do it, then it
ruins it for everybody. We can't have fifty different states
with fifty different regulations, something that's very easy to understand.
(03:59):
It was said to galvanize Republican support around AI and
data centers. However, here's the problem. It didn't. According to
Emerson University, they found that sixty percent of Texans, including
a plurality of Republicans, oppose the construction of a data
center near their home. The intensity against data centers is growing.
(04:23):
It's growing among rural Texans, it's growing among Republican Texans.
These are not groups who were supposed to oppose it.
These are supposed to groups who were going to reap
all the rewards and none of the problems and the
pushback even from Republicans is clearly being felt not only
in the polls but among politicians. So last week Governor
(04:46):
Greg Abbott, who's been very supportive of data centers, made
a big announcement He's putting a temporary moratorium on data
center construction for the three hundred sites currently under construction
in the Lone Star State until they are audit by
the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliable
Council of Texas. Abbott called for an agencies to collect
(05:07):
information on water and power usage at these facilities and
to pause data center's ability to connect to the Texas
grid until the audit is complete. Now, remember there are
three grids in America, the West Coast Grid, the East
Coast Grid, and the Texas Grid. Texas has its own grid,
which means it also has its own problems. Abbit has
directed the two agencies to collect the following information on
(05:28):
all new AI data centers. One they have to be
financing each project, including any government funding or tax incentives,
to projected power usage for each facility, and steps taken
to reduce the facility's reliance on the Texas power grid,
including on on site electric plants used to power the
data centers, Each facility's water usage and the extent to
(05:50):
which it will reuse water and other cooling systems that
don't rely on local water sources, Any efforts to mitigate
impacts on nearby communities such as noise mitigation, light control setbacks,
traffic improvements, emergency response coordination, and details about each project's
ownership and controlling interests. There are currently eighteen hundred projects
(06:11):
currently waiting those two or just the Electric Power Grids
approval to join the state grid. Around ninety percent of
them are data centers, and the project would collectively use
four hundred and seventy four gigawatts of electricity. That's according
to the Governor's office. The project's demand is more than
five times five times the grid's peak record. That's according
(06:36):
to the Texas Tribune. President Trump criticized Greg Abbott and
what he's done when it comes to data centers. Companies
including Amazon, Cipher Digital, and Lasium. Those are big companies
with data center interest in Texas have all said they're
going to go along with Abbot's regulation, and in my opinion,
Abbot is completely right. Republicans need to stop acting like
(07:00):
these companies that control data centers, that are building data
centers are some kind of mom and pop startups. These
are the wealthiest companies in the world. They don't need
special privileges like tax breaks. They don't need in any
way to have personalized profits with socialized costs. In other words,
(07:22):
they're reaping billions dollars of profits. Of course, they're paying
some taxes. But the burden on electricity, or on water,
or on traffic, or on a million other things is
being felt negatively by the people living there, including light pollution,
including noise pollution. All those things matter to someone's quality
of life. You don't want to live next to somewhere
where you can sleep at night. And also you can
(07:43):
never resell your house at the value you bought it
if one of those monstrastras noisy data centers were built
right next doore and something else. I have told people,
and I don't know why this is not being considered.
Why aren't these data centers being built and hollowed out
menu factoring areas in much of the Ross Belt because
(08:03):
those areas are already zoned for that type of heavy production,
that kind of noise level, that kind of you know
that space, there's a lot of it. They're not typically
next to residential areas, and they have a huge amount
of land. I feel like that's a no brainer that
hasn't really been moved on much. I mean, there's a
lot of hollowed out factories throughout the United States that
(08:25):
could easily converted to data centers, and they're not right
next to someone's home. But Texas is not the only
place where data centers are receiving a pushback from elected officials.
Loudin County, Virginia, is the nation's wealthiest county and home
to the most data centers of any county in the country,
and the county is often cited by proponents of data
centers like how wonderful they are. They're a huge economic boom.
(08:48):
They generate between seven hundred to nine hundred million dollars
a year in revenue in just that one county. However,
even though Louden County is being heralded as a giant
proponent of day data centers, the county Board of Supervisor
has put on their calendar a September fifteenth vote to
create a contemporary moratorium on new data centers that have
(09:10):
already been approved. While the county completes a new phase
of developing its AI data center standards and regulations. Loud
In County currently has two hundred and fifty data centers,
with one hundred new projects underway. The county has already
put a stop to basically any new data centers after
that one hundred since twenty twenty three. And this is
(09:32):
where supporters of data centers need to understand they are
losing the battle of hearts and minds. People have tons
of videos of data centers being loud and bright and
causing disruptions of people qualitififed. They have concerns over health issues.
They have questions over tax breaks to these sometimes trillion
dollar businesses who are at the same time firing Americans
(09:56):
and hiring h one b's and sometimes using the government
to seize private land. I mean, it's negative story after
negative story after negative story, and we're supposed to somehow
feel sympathy for these companies. It begs a big question
and a lot of the biggest and a lot of
supporters saying, you can't do this, or we're going to
lose to China. All do business in China, sometimes in technology.
(10:19):
If China is that big of a concern. Why is
Kevin O'Leary doing business in China really makes no sense
at all, and I think that people can sniff out
the BS. Some regulations to protect people's quality of light
and ensure that people that the grid that the water
supply are not being disturbed is important. Heck. I also
(10:42):
think it's really important to clarify data centers and break
them up into which kind they are. Some data centers,
as I said before, don't use water at all to
cool their machines, So like, why are we calling them
the data centers and they're being lumped. Of course they
are data centers, but there should be a clarification that
they're not the same ones that even use water. They
call one a hydro cool data center versus an air
(11:04):
cool one. I don't know what the correct answer is,
but clarifying the language is really important for people to
kind of understand what's going on in their local community,
and it kind of propels, not propels, but it reduces
anxiety and fear, and I think more information when it
comes to this is actually better for people to fully
(11:25):
analyze what's happening, rather than running to their imagination of
what they assume is going to happen. That is never
good for anybody. The politics is changing on this, and
it's changing fast, even on the Republican side. Look at
Wisconsin's governor's race. Republican Tom Tom Tiffany is accusing Democrat
David Crowley of being too liberal when it comes to
(11:47):
data centers. In other words, he wants to build too many.
Republican Zach Lane, who is running for governor of Iowa,
he's calling for a moratorium in the state. The politics
on this are real, and even Republicans running in these
local offices, in these governor's offices are changing how they're
sounding right now. And the people in think tanks and
(12:08):
the people doing pr and the people doing all this
other stuff are pretending like it's not real, like it's
not happening. If you go on social media, you will
see them say, you know, lawed, everything is being positive
and nothing is being negative, and not only dismissing but
also mocking people who have fears, are saying that they're
all tools for China. It's a favorite of Kevin O'Leary's.
(12:30):
Be clear in your language as to the information or
surrounding each individual data center in each area. This is
what the local politicians should be doing. How much power
does it use, where does the power come from, how
does it cool it systems? This may slow down construction,
but right now the alternative is it's not going to
be built at all. That's really where we're headed around
(12:53):
data centers and the real fear, anxiety and loathing of them.
And it's partially because people don't have a lot of
information and people proponents of it. Leaders in that industry
are horrible at their own pr They treat people like
their computers, not like their people. It's very important. People
(13:15):
are very nervous because these companies need land, they need
infrastructure to create this, and they need to create it
very very fast. And Republicans over the last few years
have bent over backwards, saying, come to my area, come
to my area, come to my area. I'll give you
tax works, I'll give you land, i will seize other
people's private property and let you build there, all to
generate this promise of endless tax revenue. But they've forgotten
(13:39):
about people's quality of life and people's you know, just
fear of change, which is totally normal and natural, and
it doesn't have to be this way. That we, you know,
have one extreme or the other. We could take things
at our own pace. They can also not mock the
people who are concerned and saying they're just you know,
(14:01):
they're just ludites who are falling for propaganda for China.
They are not luddites, they are not Chinese assets. They
are voters. And you can see right now with what's
Greg Abbott's doing, what loudin County is doing, these people
who were gung ho greenlit for data centers, how things
are changing on the ground. Eventually that will be felt
(14:23):
in Washington, but right now we're already seeing it in
state capital races and in local races. Okay, next up,
let's talk about the most controversial Republican running for office
this year. That's coming up next. Texas's twenty third district,
which stretches across the border from Mexico and Texas, was
rock by scandal earlier this year, and I covered on
(14:43):
the show many many times. I dedicated full episodes to it.
Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez was having an affair with the staffer.
Things went south. I covered all the horrific details on
a previous episode. You can go back if you want
to really hear everything. Long story short, though, after the
affair was over, he ended her life by setting herself
on fire in front of her mother. Well, Gonzalez came
(15:04):
in second in his primary, ended up dropping out of
the race rather than facing off voters in the runoff,
and almost certainly guaranteed to lose that race. Despite having
the backing of the established Republican Party, the Texas GOP,
and President Trump, he lost his primary to a popular
gun YouTuber named Brandon Herrera. The New York Times over
the last few days spent not only one, but two
(15:27):
features and opinion section articles slamming Brandon Herrera in a
way that I think that they smell blood in the water.
They open the not the opinion piece by Michelle Goldberg,
but the feature piece. They opened by talking about Mike
Johnson is raising money and campaigning for Herrera, which the
speaker should do he wants to maintain his majority. Herrera
is a former popular gun YouTuber who has made some
(15:49):
very spicy comments in the past. He's remember, he's only
thirty years old. Not that that's an excuse, but I
think that that's context for when he said these comments
and how old he was when he said them, because
he was in his sometimes mid twenties, and I'm not
endorsing these comments and just explaining them. He said that
a Nazi era submachine gun was quote Hitler's a street sweeper.
(16:10):
He referred to children as ejaculation trophies, and mocked the
looks of women who were on the pro gun control side. Now,
these are not comments that he said on the campaign trail.
I think that's very important. Some things he said recently,
he was in his sometimes mid twenties to late twenties
when he said them, and he said them in the
context of trying to grow an online gun fan base
(16:33):
on social media and on YouTube. His campaign has actually
been very mild this election season. He's been running really
on veterans benefits, water scarcity, and actually guardrails on data
centers just to bring it up all over again. But
he's the good news is he's grown from a YouTuber
to an actual candidate who's really kind of trying to
(16:53):
deliver for the district and speak like an adult. I'm
not going to defend things he said in the past,
or am I going to say that they should really
be overly scrutinized because a lot of times that's how
guys on the Internet in these kinds of communities speak.
Doesn't mean that they are They may say terrible things,
but don't mean they're all terrible people. They're just kind
(17:13):
of like guys in their early to mid twenties, sometimes
just right up for their prefrontal cortex lobe has fully formed,
or even before it has, and they're trying to make
each other laugh like it is kind of what it is.
It's not the same thing as what other people have done.
I think it's important to note that because I've been
very hard on grand Platner. The difference is grand Platner
(17:36):
was in his late thirties calling himself a communist and
saying things about women and saying things about other things.
He wasn't in twenty seven, twenty six. There is a difference.
Twenty six year old man isn't a full grown man,
could serve in a war. He could you know, have
a family. He is not a child. I'm not saying
he is a child, but there is a difference between
(17:59):
your mid twenties in your late thirties. I'm just like,
I'm going to be clear on that. I think is.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Brandon Herrera the ideal candidate, not by a long shot, right,
and voters kind of knew that he never got fifty
percent in any primary he ran in by Texas Republicans,
the most he ever received was forty one percent.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
And while the district voted for Trump by fifteen points,
it's really a tough race this go around, especially in
this environment for Republicans, there is a chance he could
lose his seat. And with all that said, with the
New York Times writing new stories and with him kind
of becoming a contract with himself, I think it's important
to say, how did we get here? How did we
end up with the candidate like Brandon Herrera. It wasn't
(18:39):
like an organization like the DSA was working to elect
him like the Democrat side is when they have these
extreme candidates or these controversial candidates. We got here because
Mike Johnson had no bulls. I'm going to speak very
honestly right now, Speaker Mike Johnson should have turned to
Tony Gonzalez during the primary and said, you've disgraced your
office that you've held. There is a dead girl because
(19:01):
of it. You cannot run for reelection, and if you do,
I will find someone else to run against you. I
will support them, I will fundraise for them, I will
get President Trump to support them opposing you, and you
can feel the rest of your term. But that's it.
You're not going to run for this reelection. You disgrace
the office. It's the same story he should have said
to Chuck Edwards in North Carolina, or to Corey Mills,
(19:23):
who insanely is still running for reelection in Florida tomorrow.
If you live in his district, do not vote for
Corey Mills. Just I'm not going to go any further.
Just do not vote for Corey Mills. I know in
the age of Trump, there is this perception and this
assumption that all bets are off when it comes to
politicians and the weathers that they can storm. That voters
are just too partisan and too they have seen and
(19:46):
heard too much, they don't care about scandals anymore. And
like perfect example, look at the Attorney General of Virginia
who won his election even after he said he wanted
to kill Republicans' children. But for every story of a
man like that who should not serve in public office,
who's a disgrace of the office that he olds, you
have Tony Gonzalez. You have Chuck Edwards who did announce
(20:08):
that he's not running for re election. You have Eric
Slowell who resigned. You have Shila McCormick who resigned in
Trent Franks and Al Franken and Graham Platner and Tim
Murphy and Duncan Hunter and George Santos and Madison Catherine
and Katie Hill and Bob Menendez where either voters or
the law caught up to them and forced them either
into resignation or electoral defeat, or their colleagues did in
(20:31):
the case of Santos. Americans still want some kind of
ethics from our politicians, and it is really up to
party leaders to enforce that, and it stops a lot
of heartburn from happening in the future. I don't think
Brandon Herrera being spicy on the internet is the same
as when you know, it's not the same as DSA
(20:54):
candidates who are promoting policies that ul wreck America. And
it's not the same as as people who did things
when they were older. As I said, but this is
an important election and we needed a really a cant
who was ready for prime time to run in this
race and had Mike Johnson had the courage, Republicans may
(21:14):
have had that stronger candidate whose name wasn't Tony Gonzalez,
who didn't play head games with a young, impressionable woman
and mother and wife that ultimately led to her to
her losing her life hopefully in the future. And I
think that this, especially if Parrera loses the race, which
I hope that he wins. But because I don't think
(21:34):
this is I don't think that these jokes on the
internet are worth canceling because they are clearly jokes, and
he's if you listen to them in context, he's laughing,
and they're all joking and laughing, not saying that they're appropriate.
But there's a much difference. You know, not everything is
for everybody in every room. If you know your future
employer is going to be somewhere, in this case, the voters,
you don't say certain things that I think that he
(21:57):
never imagined he would do or safe he was running
for office. But if party leaders have a little more
backbone and stand up to the most egregious members of
their party, in this case Tony Gonzalez, we would have
a better politics, We would have better candidates and Republicans
(22:17):
in this case and Democrats in many cases would not
be in a position where they're scrambling at the very
end voters. I know it seems like voters don't expect anymore,
but they actually do, and most importantly, they deserve more,
and so does our country. Okay, Ask Me Anything is
coming up next. Stay tuned now it's time for the
Ask Me Anything segment. If you want a part of
(22:38):
the Ask Me Anything segment, email me Ryan at Numbers
Gamepodcast dot com. That's Ryan and numbers lital Numbers Gamepodcast
dot com. First question comes from Hillary. Hillary says, I
listened to every episode of your podcasts and recommend it
too many. I believe you are I think she meant
rational and you're irrational. She actually qualified, she said she
meant to say irrational. I believe you are irrationally, have
(22:59):
good ideas and give us backs. That is why I
am concerned when you blame netn Yahoo for being wrong
about the Kurds helping us in Iran. After listening to
Dan Senior's podcast, it makes makes much more sense that
Trump didn't green light the Kurds to move because he
got a call from Turkey's president Aragon, saying that he
didn't want the Curds involved because he hates the Curds.
Given all the propaganda and hate against Israel, I beg
(23:20):
for the sake of the Western world to make sure
you have the facts before you blame Israel. Okay, let
me let me go into what she's talking about. So
there is claims by multiple news outlets, not by many
Western news outlets. The only Western news outlet that I
found to make these claims was I twenty four News.
It's actually a network I've appeared on many times in
the past, they claimed. On July fifth, at the Turkish
(23:44):
president pressured Trump into a last minute cancelation of an
alleged plan to Eggs to use exiled Kurdish fighters. Remember,
the Kurds live in both Turkey and Iraq. Sometimes people
assume that it's only like one area or not the other,
but the courage stretch across large regions of the Middle
East to use exiled Iranian Kurds as there were used
(24:04):
to be a lot of Curds in Iran to fight
a ground war and invade Iran while American bombing was happening.
According to I twenty four News, the scheme call for
a joint operation in Israeli's US and Iraqi based Iranian
Kurdish forces. The parent goal was to launch a granduvation
in irand cut a path directly to Tehran and breach
the presidential Palace as part of efforts to topple the
(24:26):
Islamic Republic. Separately, public broadcaster Khan News, which is a
Middle Eastern news outlet, so a reporter that reported that
a senior Israeli intelligence and security officials are saying that
the Turkeys. The Turkey had communicated to Washington and Israeli
intermediaries that viewed that any empowered, armed Kurdish forces at
the border as an existential threat. Turkey has had a
(24:49):
long issue with the Kurds, as the Iraqis have. As
Saddam Mussein used to have. There's a lot of hatred
towards Kurds among those leaders. And also there are just
for fact based are Curds that have used terrorist methods
to fight for independence over the time. I'm not going
to go into a history of the Curds, but it's
very complicated. It's not all one side and the other.
(25:12):
There's just one other thing I want to add about
this story it may. Trumplemented that the US had during
January twenty twenty six unrest and Iran sent weapons intended
for the Iranian anti government protesters to get to the
opposition groups. Notably, he said he was going to arm
Kurdish intermediaries. However, the US president claim that the arms
never reached their final destination, saying they were very disappointed
(25:35):
because the curd intermediaries were supposed to deliver the weapons,
but they kept them. That's what according to that's according
to the American sources. Trump added, the Curds take take,
take and only fight hard when they get paid. Iraqi
Kurdish political parties and a ranting Kurds armed groups strongly
denied the allegation. So the bigger question is were Kurds
(25:55):
even properly armed for this ground invasion. There's a lot
of he said. He said, these various groups, and who
can you trust? And in the Middle East say that
you really can't trust many people. Trump also they publicly
stated though, that he did not want the Kurds involved
in the warning round. I just want to clarify that,
so I'm not saying that the call never happened. With
Aragon I'm not saying that that nen Yahoo was telling
(26:21):
him just complete falsehoods. The call likely did happen in
some case, or there at least a pressure campaign happened
in some cases enough news outlets from the Middle East
to make those kinds of claims. I wish like the
New York Times or the Washington Post or Associated Press
and made those verify that, but I couldn't find that anywhere.
(26:41):
I think that it's also important one other thing to
say that those the claims that be being made to
Trump in their meeting in the White House that was
reported in the New York Times, according to Maggie Harman and
John and Swan who were on this podcast, was they
did Phoebe did sell Trump on a lot of promises
(27:05):
of how easy this invasion would happen. And it was
our own CAI, Secretary Radcliffe and Secretary Mark or Rubio
who were saying that these promised that he was over
selling them, which is not an accusation that the Israelis
have never had in the past, right a lot of
intelligible I've always said Israelis have overpromised and under not underdelivered,
(27:30):
but over promised how smooth things would go in the
Middle East. This is not the first time that's happened.
So this is all the information that she was Hilary
was talking about the email and I wanted to give
some background. I will say this, Hillary, I don't know
if you are Jewish or if you are just a
supporter of Israel. I want you to understand with two things. One,
(27:50):
my brain sometimes worked faster than my mouth, so I
don't fully explain things that I think are being said.
Sometimes my brain's moving so fast, so sometimes I'm missing things,
and you guys hold me to account. And I actually
love that. I love when I can further go through
things and explain them. And I also want you to
understand that my criticisms of BB in the context of
(28:13):
this war in Iran and that meeting in the White
House are one not criticism of BB alone, because BB
didn't force Trump to do anything in Iran. That's impossible.
I know that some podcasters like to say that he
was forced. No one forced Donald Trump to do something
at like gunpoint. Donald Trump chose to do this war
(28:34):
with Iran. It is Donald Trump and only Donald Trump
that can take credit for it when it's good, and
a blame for it when it's bad, right, I think
it's very important to say and not be around the bush.
And likewise, there are many people who are supportive of
the war who like to bash the negotiations that Vice
President Vance has led with Iran and act as if
(28:57):
Trump has nothing to do with him. That's also untrue.
Right at the end of the day, if you like
this war, credit goes to Trump. If you don't like
this war, blame goes to Trump. If don't like anything,
it goes to Trump. Trump is the final decision maker.
But when I make criticians about BB and when I
make criticians about Israel, it is not in malice. It
is not for me to propagate conspiracies that they're somehow
(29:20):
controlling the United States. I do not believe that. I
do not like conspiracies to begin with. I'm very opposed
to most conspiracies. There are a couple that are fun
that I like to engage in, but those are very
few and far in between, and they are not on
serious matters. They are on like stupid matters. I think
that I understand why anyone who is Jewish or a
(29:44):
deep support of Israel feels under constant criticism and attack
in this moment. It is purposely why I very rarely
engage in any conversation surrounding the Middle East. I kind
of can't avoid it around. I run right now because
it's just it is the news. What is But I
(30:04):
want you to know and and I know I don't
know you, but I really do care that people like yourself,
Hillary feel like you have an ally in this podcast,
in how I'm speaking to you, I'm not there to
create any hatred or any divisiveness, especially against fellow Americans
(30:26):
who are Jewish or who are deep supporters of Israel.
I've taken a lot of heat over time for being supporting,
supportive of Israel. And I think it's very clear and
it's I I have. This is very long story short,
but a personal note. My my mom's dad Italian Italian Italian,
(30:48):
right from the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His family
was all mobbed up, like all mobbed up, and his mother,
my great grandmother, did not want her sons to fall
into that lifestyle. So what do they do. They move
to a Jewish neighborhood and my grandfather grew up with
basically only Jewish friends. I don't know how he married
the only Italian girl in the area, but he married
(31:09):
my grandmother. It was also Italian, and we grew up
with his Jewish friends. We had a Hanka celebration. I
grew up in New York City. I did not grow
up in everywhere. I never met a Jew in my life,
and I went to a college where the college was
like a third Jewish one to Queen's College before I
didn't graduate. I say that to say there is a
(31:30):
special place where I feel sensitivity towards this community more
than others, in part because of my history with them,
And so I didn't mean to create animosity or hatred
or conspiracy against Israel. I'm trying to report as much
of the facts as I possibly can and give you
(31:51):
guys context. Sometimes it's very nuanced, and that's not always
positive news for Israel. But nothing is all positive le negative.
I don't try to cheerlead any which side. I'm just
trying to explain the facts. So but please understand it's
not coming out of a place of hatred or conspiracy
or animosity or wanting people to hate Israel or American Jews.
(32:13):
I don't want any of those things. I want people
to have as much information as possible and come to
their own conclusion. But you're not going to get what's
happening around the world from me or around the country,
especially from other people desperate for clicks, desperate for listenership,
and willing to engage in horrific conspiracies. From me. It's
(32:34):
just not going to happen. So Hillary, apologize if you
took it the wrong way. I hope this clarified the
answer a little bit greater and people walked away with
more information. Okay, last question is from Ricardo. Ricardo says Ryan,
I saw on accent you chimed in about your support
from a common This is not a political question, which
I love. I love getting a non political question every
once in a while about your support of a comment.
(32:56):
Guy O Siri made that Madonna, the singer. Madonna would
not it was her birthday. By the way, sixtieth birthday
would not authorize AI companies. I assume this means companies
like Suno to use her music to train their models.
My question is this, how do logically differentiate between a
young songwriter sitting by the stereo listening to the catalog
of say Madonna, Amy Winehouse with the Rolling Stones, typic
(33:17):
up trends, vibes, rhythms, and vocal tendencies to learn for
purpose of development of that songwriter's own talent and work product,
and a programmer playing the music of those artists too.
An AI platform that is likewise being trained to the
platform can later be the tool of a young human
songwriter who utilizes the platform to produce and publish music
(33:38):
without the need for the power a capacity of big
labels to get their work und distributed. An incredibly smart question,
by the way, I'm having a hard time getting my
arms around the concept of artists having the power to
authorize someone to listen to that music, artist music and
appreciate their work, dance to it, learn from it, whether
someone is human or a machine. That's a great question.
(34:02):
And I will say this, So there's some thing, and
I'm not an expert in the music industry, but I
do read up a lot about it. I'm very interested
in it. So there's something happening in music right now
aside from AI, and that is really the mass commercialization
of catalogs in a way that we haven't seen it before.
So music catalogs is basically the music of the artist rights.
It's existed forever and for a long time, music artists
(34:26):
did not even own their catalogs, going back to like
the forties, the fifties, the sixties. That started changing a
lot later on around seventies and eighties where artists were
really taking control of their catalogs. And famous story was
from like the early nineties where Michael Jackson bought the
catalogs the Beatles and it ended his relationship with Paul McCartney.
Very very famous story if you want to look it up.
(34:47):
What we're seeing right now with artists catalogs and artists
ownership of their own music is this mass commercialization where
companies and corporations are purchasing huge catalogs of artists. So
for instance, like Katie Perry and Justin Bieber, they sold
their entire music catalog. They don't know any of their
music anymore. Maybe the new music that people don't listen to,
(35:09):
but the songs that everyone listens to, they don't own them.
Other artists like classic artists fleet with Max Sol their catalog.
I believe Lisa Marie Presses sold Elvis's catalog and then
uh uh uh Freddie Mercury Queen Queen sold their for
I think a billion dollars. I think it was the
most ever. And what's happening is we're seeing as those
(35:32):
that mass commercialization of catalog selling to companies is happening
to the tune of like hundreds of millions, if not
billions of dollars in the case or billion dollars in
case of Queen. The music is being altered digitally, The
music is being remastered digitally. The music is being remixed digitally,
and the music doesn't really sounding like the artists. No,
(35:53):
if the artist doesn't care, they ats gonna do whatever
whatever they want with their own music. There are artists, though,
that refuse to sell their catalogs, like famously Elton, John, Billy,
Joel and Madonna will not sell their catalogs for however
much money is being offered them. They want to own
their music and the likeness and image of it. That
is much different than because they can change your sound.
(36:15):
They could change your voice. That is much different by way,
not only to train other people, but to then use
for a commercial. They could do it for you know.
They could take uh, they could take candle in the
wind and make it into a dance song. And it's
a song about someone dying like they could do whatever
they want to your music, and if you have a
(36:35):
strong affiliation and ownership of your music, you do not
want that. So I think that that's great that you
know some of these people their music means everything. Like
you know, Bruce Pringsty doesn't carry sold his catalog. Madonna cares.
She really says, this is my ownership, this is my voice.
I don't want anyone to take it now. Obviously for
these huge artists like like Madonna, like Elton John, like
(36:58):
Billy Joel who have changed pop music and you know,
piano rock or whatever in their time. Yeah, everyone's kind
of listened to it and copied it. There's absolutely influences
of Madonna in Lady Gaga, but it is not It
is not the same as a machine copying it. So
(37:21):
for instance, like and artists like Lady Gaga will sound
like Madonna at times and will sound like Bruce Springston
at times and infuse both sounds together. And that is
different from a company being able to take it change. Oh,
not only alter and learn from the way you sound
to train other people, but the way you sound to
do things and make your music and make your voice
(37:42):
do things you would not do. So I respect. It's
not a matter of like I agree or I'm like
saluting somebody. These are all people who are fabulously wealthy,
and I don't like, I'm not personally invested in what
they do with their music catalog. It's just I think
it's great when people say that this is more important
to me than just money. I feel deep connection to
(38:02):
my art and my my name and my voice, and
I don't want it to be manipulated by anybody, by
the highest bidder. I kind of think that's pretty that's
pretty great in a time when everyone is selling out
for the highest bidder and that's their right to do so.
It's a capitost country. God bless them. You know, if
Bruce Springsteen can get you got like seven hundred million dollars,
you get some undred mine hostream music and you want to,
(38:24):
you know, watch the sun set on the beach, good
for you. If you want to say, no, this is
not how my voice is going to be changed or
altered or whatever, then I think that that's pretty pretty cool.
I don't know, that's all it is. It's not really
a uh, it's not really a like statement of like
this is this is really where it's at anyone can
do anything. But I do think it's pretty cool when
people say, you know, I have FU money and I
(38:46):
don't need to sell out for something I that I
that's that's part of me. That's all that was. But
that's a great question. I love getting questions like this,
and I do know a surprising amount of the music
industry that I could answer that. And I didn't do
a ton of research for that question. I just kind
of knew it all Alp the Fly. So thank you
for writing that question, Ricardo, and thank you all for
listening to this podcast. I hope you like it. If
(39:07):
you liked this podcast, please likensubscribe to the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast, or we get this podcast and on YouTube
and I will see you guys on Wednesday.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com