The Pennsylvania Supreme Court blasts Democrats for ignoring state law in the U.S. Senate recount. John Fetterman rips Nancy Pelosi for shoving Joe Biden out of the 2024 campaign. And Joe and Mika tried to make up with Trump after eight years of demonizing him. I'm Greg Kourambas. Join Jim Garrity of National Review and me each weekday for the Three Martini Lunch Podcast. We'll give you the good, bad, and crazy news of the day, and hopefully a lot of laughs too. Join us, follow the Three Martini Lunch on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Dana Lashes of Sir Truth Podcast, sponsored by Kel-Tec. It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
All right, so first up here, I've got to pull this. An FBI arrested a homeless Florida man in an alleged plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange. Okay, Harun Abdul Malik Yener, you have too many names, made a series of audio recordings that he wanted to send to NBC around the time of the bombing, according to the complaint. So he wanted to force a reset of the US government. He came under scrutiny after someone tipped off the FBI that he was storing bomb making schematics in a storage unit in Coral Springs. And they got his permission, they searched the unit, and they found all this stuff of drawings with landmines and explosives, missiles, all kinds of IEDs. And yeah, he said he was creating rockets and volatile chemical mixtures that would explode if they were mixed incorrectly.
You know what he kind of sounds like? So when I was a kid, I was little, I was like four, I would make, I always try to be a scientist and I would mix up my mom's shampoo and conditioner and all kinds of weird stuff, her makeup and the little bowls. And I was like pretending that they were, it was my lab, but I didn't want to get caught so I would shove everything under my bed, right? I had all this weird stuff under my bed because it was my lab, right? I'd pull my lab out and I would be a scientist. I'm not even kidding you. And she was vacuuming my room one day and she was like, what is this mess under your bed?
And I feel like it's Yener's little storage thing. That's the, and I was, I'm mixing up stuff, mom, because I'm doing some science. That's what I was doing, I was doing, I was doing science. Anyway, so yeah, he's, this guy's in trouble. Mine actually couldn't blow up. I didn't really have a goal in mind, you know, and I was mixing up her various household like cosmetic items.
I didn't have a goal in mind. It was just, you know, so yeah, they, they, he was charged with the attempted use of an explosive to damage or destroy buildings, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He's going to, he's in, he's in trouble. He's in trouble.
A Florida man found a $40,000 engagement ring and returned it. That's really nice of him. How nice is that? That's like so nice. That never happens. He, yeah, he found this, uh, he actually returned the thing.
Isn't that nice? I'd read this story to you, but the central Oregon daily news where it is, is such a horrible website with their stupid pop-up ads that their web team needs to be fired and dragged publicly behind horses through the streets because this is horrible. I mean, don't, don't, don't make a site that has so many pop-up ads and everything else that nobody can find the story.
You morons. Anyway, that's nice that somebody found that. It was a Florida man who found a $40,000 engagement ring. Another Florida man is suing Netflix because of the buffering that was taking place over the Paul Tyson fight. Thousands of people were upset and now they want Netflix to pay up.
There's a class action suit that's been filed. Maybe they shouldn't have spent so much money on that game show dealer, suitcase chicken, that ginger spare. How much, how many millions did Netflix spend on those two losers that didn't even fulfill their contractual obligations or actually put any effort into accords towards creating content for Netflix? Maybe they could have used that, those funds, I don't know, to better stream the Mike Tyson, Jake Paul fight. So they, yeah, they, they had major issues.
So this lawsuit has been filed against them. And someone was saying it should have been on Amazon and not Netflix. I actually was surprised that it was on Netflix.
Can I be honest? How did that happen? Netflix ended up getting it. It's wild. I don't know. But yeah, interesting. Also, let's see here.
Got a few others for you as well to hit. So this Florida man said he was just being stupid. He got in trouble for allegedly shining a laser at a sheriff's helicopter. And if you asked me, was this Florida man shirtless, Dana?
Why, yes. Yes, he was. He was shirtless out into the woods, just randomly shining these green lasers at a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office helicopter.
Aerial video shows Cody Goodenoff, 36. He was hiding behind a mobile home wearing a pair of red shorts and nothing else. And when deputies were guided to his location and asked why he did it, he said he was quote, just being stupid. Now he's getting facing a count of misuse of a laser lighting device. I mean, he's, who does that? You're out there just out there in your red britches, you know, out there seeing it hiding behind, hiding in the woods, and you're going to point up your laser device to the sheriff's chopper. Who does this? Plus, we've seen how many stories that we had of this where they, the end result is always to get arrested. Always, always, always like you're never not going to get arrested for that.
I don't know like why it just, I don't know. It amazes me. If you don't have great credit, could a Trump policy cancel your credit card? The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day, Chris helps unpack the connection between politics and the economy and how it affects your wallet. Trump and Bernie want to collaborate on capping credit card interest rates, but credit card debt is a non-recourse loan.
They can't repossess your dinner or your vacation. Whether it's happening in DC or down on Wall Street, it's affecting you financially. Be informed. Check out the Watchdog on Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. I have to tell you this story because I'm just blown away by this.
Then we're going to get into some of this other stuff. Do you guys remember this story about the art festival that takes place in Miami? It's called Art Basel.
Basel in Miami. So back in 2019, there was this, I don't know if you want to call it artwork. Is it artwork or performance?
I don't know. This dude duct-taped a banana to just a plain white wall of the museum and it just sold for six point something million at auction. It sold yesterday at auction. So the art installation, so to speak, was just a banana duct-taped to a wall.
And Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian is what they called it. A banana stuck to the wall with a strip of silver duct-tape. And they thought it was going to sell when it went to auction.
It debuted at Art Basel in Miami in 2019 and they thought it was going to sell for one and a half million, according to Sotheby's. I don't know. I can draw better than the banana up-taped to a wall.
And it doesn't even have to be the same banana. Listen to this. This is how they describe it over at Sotheby's. Ready?
Okay. No other artwork from the 21st century has provoked scandal, sparked imagination, and up-ended the very definition of contemporary art like Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian, whose debut at Art Basel in Miami Beach in December 2019 captivated the world. Now with an estimate of one to one and a half million dollars, this viral sensation is making history once again as it heads to auction at Sotheby's now and contemporary evening sale. Would you like to know about your potential purchase?
It is comprised of a banana fastened to a wall with duct tape, hung exactly 160 centimeters from the floor. Comedian belongs to the rare league of artworks that need no introduction. Yeah, I think they do. Oh, my gosh. You know why it's controversial? Because it's stupid.
And they can sit here and subscribe all they can describe all these things to it. Oh, it's sardonic. It's this or that. It's money laundering. It's money laundering.
That's what this is. So it didn't sell for 1.5 million. This thing sold for 6.24 million. So it didn't sell for 1.5 million. So how do you know it's?
What are you buying when you buy it? Couldn't you just get your own duct tape and tape your own banana to the wall in your own home? How would anyone know that it's not Maurizio Cattelan's comedian? Right?
He didn't. It's like a literal banana. An actual real banana and just some duct tape.
One that will go bad. Well, yeah, they got to keep replacing it. Why couldn't you just do this in your own house? Because think of it, the components to the piece are already there. There's no way that the banana is affixed to the wall. There's no way in which the duct tape is applied that changes any kind of movement or mood to the piece.
None at all whatsoever. In fact, even where it's located makes it entirely arbitrary as to how it's to be viewed because it's on a white wall in a brightly lit museum. What if it's in your what if it's in your home on your wall and you have all the other different, you know, mood lighting? Then it changes, right? Does it not change?
It becomes more ludicrous, I think, even in that context. So this is dumb. This is so dumb. If you want to give someone a great gift and you can tell them that it's a replica of a six and a half, you know, almost million dollar piece of art, you can say this is a replica of Maurizio Cattelan's comedian and just give someone, guys, this is your naughty Santa gift right here. I'm helping you all out. All y'all that go to these Christmas parties and you guys do these goofy gifts. We do them in our family. You get a banana and you get some silver duct tape and you can be like, no, this is a replica of a six point two four million dollar piece of art by Maurizio Cattelan called comedian. And literally this do it, get a piece of like a styrofoam board and tape it to the styrofoam board, an actual banana with duct tape, and then just like put a little label and like glue it in the corner. Look, I got your naughty Santa gift for you right there.
It actually does work. It's a piece of art, right? It's expensive. Is it white elephant or naughty Santa? I don't know. We've only ever done naughty Santa. I don't think naughty Santa is the thing. Yeah, it's like the naughty Santa game.
OK. Why? I'm just saying. Isn't that what it's called?
I'm just speaking out loud. What is it called? I thought it was like a white elephant.
I don't understand what that is. It's like there are no white elephants. They're all gray.
Just like there's no real art that involves a real banana. What what is this piece of oak tea in you? What are your thoughts when you look at this piece? Banana pudding and morons. That's what I think. Smoothie ingredient. How is this not money laundering?
And also Hunter's probably going, damn it. Under Biden's out there just kicking himself that he didn't tape some fruit to a wall. Please tell me you read. Please tell me you read the follow up that in the reply that NBC story put under it in their words.
Please tell me you saw that. Oh, that's next. So I'm sorry to jump the good. Sorry. Oh, no, no, no. I'm glad you're reminding me of that because I was getting ahead of myself. I'm glad you said I'm glad you brought that up.
So so here we go. So the guy who bought it, his name is Justin Sun. He's a cryptocurrency investor. What?
Everything just screams money laundering. He spent six point two million dollars on a regular banana duct taped to the wall. Right.
You could say that the artwork is appealing. I hate myself now. So what does this do to the price of bananas, by the way? Right. Anyway, so he bought it. And it's again, Maurizio Cattelan's comedian. He battled six other morons to launder their money through this banana tape to a wall thing.
And he paid in crypto, of course. And he said, quote, in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique autistic experience. He is going to eat the banana. He's going to eat it. What in the world?
I'm I don't know, man. I'm so he's going to eat it. That's what he's spending all that money till he's laundering. Let's see what we get for a dollar.
Dollar 20. So what if I can make you a banana duct taped to the wall and only charge you two million for it? I'm saying it's the exact same thing, the exact same tape, the exact same manner.
Right. And so I was looking at this is how lazy this is, because obviously they have to change the banana outright in some of these installations because they got the banana rots and it's just nasty. They the stem of the banana is cut differently. Sometimes it's a slanted cut. Sometimes it's cut straight across like the image that one is showing on the simulcast. That's not even consistent. They're not even being consistent in the stem or even the angle of the tape.
It's literally just half ass tape and fruit to a wall. I hate everything. But this is money laundering because there's no other reason. There's no other reason for this. This is why I hate modern art. I really do. I reject modernity embrace tradition.
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It's the P15. Tell them Dana sent you. And now all of the news you would probably miss.
It's time for Dana's quick five. So Walmart is saying that prices are going to get more expensive. They're talking about the tariffs. They're like trying to saber rattle about this.
And I mean, I think there's a lot to we're going to talk more about this as we get closer towards, you know, January and the new administration. And but they're expressing concern, apparently Walmart, that the president elect his tariff proposal is going to impact consumers wallets. They don't want to raise prices, they say, but they're warning people that it may happen. We're going to talk more about this coming up, but that's just the latest from Walmart.
The this. So this Italian village is offering there's a million of these villages that are doing this. They're saying if you're trying to leave the country, like, for instance, if you're upset about the election, come here and you can buy a house for a dollar. But there's a lot of caveats attached to it because the building materials usually you have to spend X amount to rehab your property and you have to do it in a certain time. Otherwise, it's all forfeit. Yeah. But there's like there's some Italian villages.
They're saying over at ABC, they're like some of these there. Some of these villages are offering, you know, accommodation and you can stay here and you get your house all fixed up or your property fixed up. But there's always a catch. And then just say nothing about the taxes over there.
I mean, I love Italy, but the taxes are kind of crazy. I didn't realize this. Uh, so apparently Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey, they both have their their homes burglarized and their invest. The authorities are investigating it, but they're saying that it looks like this wasn't just like a random even it was both of them break in that it was a very sophisticated kind of like a cartel of people doing this. So the FBI is involved now. They said it's a very sophisticated crime group and it's part of a spree of robberies in the Kansas City area. Very interesting.
So, I mean, this would be the first time didn't the bling ring wasn't that like kind of the same thing? Yeah. So they're saying it's there. So the FBI is investigating it. A Michigan medical examiner is urging hunters to get checkups after three so far were they died.
They died from heart attacks. So the medical examiner saying go undergo a doctor's evaluation before you come out. And so that, you know, in the wild in search of game, because they said that, you know, you want to the end, they said that these are preventable.
Just make sure that you're healthy because you don't want to, you know, be out there in the woods and then go through this and et cetera. And it's very interesting. He was also talking about cardiac disease and people that he had not seen it before unless they were elevated in age. He said, for instance, I'm seeing cardiac disease and arteries that I only saw 20 years ago in 65 to seven year olds.
Now I'm seeing it in 40 to 45 year olds. That's wild. I'm behind on this and I really wanted to get to it. I first saw it from our friend Chef Groll. He owns a restaurant out in Los Angeles. And he had said we just ran payroll. The payroll taxes were 2000, 2k higher than calculated.
We called the payroll company. They summarized, they explained in summary that California has a budget shortfall and that the federal government wants money back that it lent California for UI that it lost. They're making up for it by having business owners pay it. Keep in mind that it was about 10% of our total payroll. And when people say, he adds, why isn't California business friendly?
Remember this. So the state defaulted on their loan. And apparently businesses were the co-signers and they were unaware of it.
This is one of the craziest things. So they've had, they had this 18 and a half billion dollar federal loan that was supposed to be for UI, unemployment insurance, right? And so because they've had, they've had all these financial difficulties, they, well, they apparently signed on, they had these business owners, all these business owners, they did not know that they were co-signers on this loan. That was supposed to, it was the unemployment insurance that was supposed to cover California during the pandemic, right?
And when the state decided to stop making payments on the loan, that's when these businesses were hit with us. That's one of the craziest things I've ever heard in my life. Their payroll taxes, 2000 times higher than calculated. That's nuts.
That is nuts. They did not know. I mean, remember, they had a bad IT system that appropriated and distributed these funds from the employment and development department. And they were one of the states that had some of the highest levels of fraud with getting these funds. So they said they had somebody who impersonated, a person impersonating a one year old, someone who impersonated Dianne Feinstein, $30 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic.
And they said a single residential address got checks for 60 separate individuals filing from that one singular address. So they, they had a $100 billion state budget surplus last year because of the state's top earners. They got $27 billion in federal aid for the pandemic. They had a $300 billion plus 2022-2023 budget. All of this could have gone into dealing with this debt. And even after they defaulted, they could have still paid off and offset the burden on businesses.
That's what they were planning on doing in their 20-24 budget. But now they're instead, they're making businesses do this with these taxes. I can't even imagine your business and that happens to you.
And Chef Gourl, he's in the restaurant industry. And it's already tough in the food industry. It's even tough.
It's still tough for restaurants. They haven't entirely bounced back, I think. Some of them have. Some of them haven't. By and large, I don't think you can the majority of them have.
But this is wild. You know the system that helped them to default on this because it allowed all these fraud payments? It's from the 80s, Kane. The software's over 50 years old.
That's the employment and development department. The software literally is over 50 years old. And the IT system is from the 80s. And they've said that their IT people tried patching the system. They tried fixing it for years and they couldn't.
They said it's just inadequate. They got a grant in 2013 from the Obama administration and they were supposed to get this new software. And the software costs $2 million a year. Yeah.
Yeah. It was supposed to be a very effective software that, quote, searches over databases and uses proprietary AI algorithms to identify fraud and abuse. And they discontinued its use in 2016 for some reason. The grant, they it was $2 million. Well, the reason they couldn't continue it is because the grant ran out.
It's $2 million a year to run it. I'm not even kidding you. This is the stupidest thing.
It's like it is like a knot of yarn trying to get through this. This is crazy. Nobody. So what, you're telling me that you switched to the software that's $2 million a year and then you have to discontinue it because the grant money came out? No one anticipated that that would happen? Are you telling me that no one in EDD in California anticipated that they would run out of money knowing that they had a certain amount of funds for a grant to implement the to implement the system and it costs X amount per year? Really? No. So now that's what's happening in California. It is one of the craziest things. How could how do people live there? I don't know the weather. That's not good enough for me. Thanks for tuning into today's edition of Dana Lash's absurd truth podcast. If you haven't already made sure to hit that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-11-21 16:47:25 / 2024-11-21 16:57:08 / 10