Musk’s $5 Million Bet, Secret Biden Tapes, and Criminalizing Homelessness | TMI Ep 425

Elon Musk pours $5 million into Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for Ohio governor, Joe Biden fights to keep private recordings from becoming public, and Tennessee tests whether homelessness can be prosecuted out of existence. Plus, an appalling online subculture is turning sexual assault inside discount stores into monetized internet content.On today’s TMI Show with Ted Rall and Manila Chan:Elon Musk’s $5 Million Bet on Vivek RamaswamyMusk has donated $5 million to a super PAC supporting Ramaswamy’s campaign for Ohio governor, signaling that whatever tensions existed during their brief partnership at the Department of Government Efficiency have not ended their political alliance. With tens of millions already flowing into the race, Ohio is becoming another example of how a single billionaire can transform a statewide election with one check.Tennessee’s Solution to Homelessness: Make Sleeping a FelonyA homeless Nashville man was arrested, shocked with a Taser and initially charged with felony camping after refusing to leave a public park. Tennessee says its law protects public spaces. Critics say jail, fines and criminal records only make housing and employment harder to obtain—punishing homelessness with consequences that help make it permanent.Biden’s Private Recordings May Soon Become Public PropertyA federal appeals court has rejected Joe Biden’s attempt to block the release of recorded conversations with the ghostwriter of his 2017 memoir. The recordings later became evidence in the classified-documents investigation, although Special Counsel Robert Hur declined to prosecute. Their possible release raises difficult questions about government transparency, personal privacy and the partisan machinery waiting to turn every pause, stumble and recollection into political ammunition.“Dollar Store Gooning” Turns Sexual Assault Into Internet ContentWomen shopping at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores have reportedly been targeted by men who assault them, secretly record the acts and distribute the footage online. The disturbing practice exposes an internet economy that rewards humiliation, criminal behavior and cruelty with attention and subscription revenue. This is not an edgy sexual trend. It is assault packaged as content.Smart analysis. Bigger questions. Stories that matter.New episodes weekdays at 10:00 a.m. ET.