Venezuela oil exec takeover, Musk’s child exploitation, rich people are richer, and blowhards predict stuff

What this episode covers

Pick the headline that best describes the story: Venezuela Trump’s Hint to Oil Executives Weeks Before Maduro Ouster: ‘Get Ready’ Maduro overthrow could help these U.S. oil companies recover assets seized by Venezuela Trump makes it clear shocking Venezuelan regime change is largely about oil: ‘They stole our oil … We’re going to make a lot of money’ US oil giants mum after Trump says they’ll spend billions in Venezuela US oil companies gain after capture of Venezuela's Maduro A group of about 20 US investors is already planning a trip to Venezuela in March Maduro falls, Bitcoin rises: The 1,671% surge that hit before Wall Street woke up AI-generated content spreads after Maduro’s removal — blurring fact and fiction Elon Elon Musk’s X faces probes in Europe, India, Malaysia after Grok generated explicit images of women and children Elon Musk’s X faces regulatory probes in Europe, India and Malaysia after its Grok chatbot began generating deepfake explicit images, some depicting child sex abuse. Elon Musk After His Grok AI Did Disgusting Things to Literal Children: “Way Funnier” Elon Musk's Grok AI faces government backlash after it was used to create sexualized images of women and minors Musk's xAI faces backlash after Grok generates sexualized images of children on X Woman felt 'dehumanised' after Musk's Grok AI used to digitally remove her clothes Elon Musk plans 'high-volume production' of Neuralink brain chips and says he wants to automate the surgical procedure Tesla Loses EV Crown to BYD After Second Annual Sales Drop AI Children Tech Giants Pushing AI Into Schools Is a Huge, Ethically Bankrupt Experiment on Innocent Children That Will Likely End in Disaster Children Falling Apart as They Become Addicted to AI OpenAI’s child exploitation reports increased sharply this year Psychosis Doctors Say AI Use Is Almost Certainly Linked to Developing Psychosis Woman Suffers AI Psychosis After Obsessively Generating AI Images of Herself Man Describes How ChatGPT Led Him Straight Into Psychosis AI Godfather Warns That It’s Starting to Show Signs of Self-Preservation Disturbing Messages Show ChatGPT Encouraging a Murder, Lawsuit Alleges OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT “Prioritize” Advertisers in Conversation Billionaires The world's richest people just had their best year yet AI boom adds more than half a trillion dollars to wealth of US tech barons in 2025 There are more self-made billionaires under 30 than ever before—11 of them have made the ultra-wealthy club in the last 3 months thanks to AI Jamie Dimon made $770 million last year. 2026 could be even better for banks Easing rules and a rebound in dealmaking are reshaping the landscape for U.S. banks, with bigger profits likely ahead Threat of California Billionaire Tax Draws Criticism From Ultrawealthy Bill Ackman slams California wealth tax as ‘expropriation’ of private property Bill Ackman Blasts Ro Khanna For Defending Billionaire Tax: 'Lost His Way' Peter Thiel and Larry Page are preparing to flee California in case the state passes a billionaire wealth tax, report says Tech billionaires threaten to flee California over proposed 5% wealth tax Bari Weiss yanking a 60 Minutes story is censorship by oligarchy Speed Round Dumb or Good Rating (1-10) Dumb 2 former Hinge execs are building an app to make it easier to plan hangouts with your friends 10 Boeing (BA) CEO “is a Nonsense Guy,” Says Jim Cramer 2 Some men may downplay climate change risks to avoid appearing feminine 0 New research provides evidence that men who are concerned about maintaining a traditional masculine image may be less likely to express concern about climate change. The findings suggest that acknowledging environmental problems is psychologically linked to traits such as warmth and compassion. These traits are stereotypically associated with femininity in many cultures. Consequently, men who feel pressure to prove their manhood may avoid environmentalist attitudes to protect their gender identity. The study was published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. CEO of local public company to step down after nearly 10 years 9 Malcolm Gladwell tells young people if they want a STEM degree, ‘don’t go to Harvard.’ You may end up at the bottom of your class and drop out 6 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he is ‘envious’ of Gen Z college dropouts who have the ‘mental space’ and time to build new startups 9 This 22-year-old college dropout with an AI powered YouTube empire makes $700,000 a year and works just 2 hours a day 1 Trump Mobile says its first-ever smartphone is delayed, and the government shutdown is to blame 3 The college-to-office path is dead: CEO of the world’s biggest recruiter says Gen Z grads need to consider trade jobs with no degree required 4 ChatGPT gets ‘anxiety’ from violent user inputs, so researchers are teaching the chatbot mindfulness techniques to ‘soothe’ it 7 Good? Minimum wage just went up in 19 states—workers in one state are getting a $2 an hour raise 8 Judge says Trump administration must continue funding consumer watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 5 Angry town halls nationwide find a new villain: the data center driving up your electricity bill while fueling job-killing AI 8 Bernie Sanders and Ron DeSantis speak out against data center boom. It's a bad sign for AI industry 9 Mitt Romney says the U.S. is on a cliff—and taxing the rich is now necessary ‘given the magnitude of our national debt’ 7 Microsoft CEO Begs Users to Stop Calling It “Slop” 10 Man Operating Robot Accidentally Makes It Kick Him Directly in the Nutsack 9 MATT1 WE MISSED THE PREDICTIONS: Crypto: Tom Lee Predicts $250K Ethereum Price as BitMine Adds to $13 Billion Stash, Grayscale Predicts Bitcoin Will Reach New All-Time High by March 2026 Stocks: Every Wall Street Analyst Now Predicts a Stock Rally in 2026 - EVERY! AI: ‘Godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton predicts 2026 will see the technology get even better and gain the ability to ‘replace many other jobs’, Amazon’s Alexa chief predicts an end to doom scrolling: the next generation is ‘going to just think differently’, In 2026 CFOs predict AI transformation, not just efficiency gains As millions of Gen Zers face unemployment, CEOs of Amazon, Walmart, and McDonald’s say opportunity is still there—if you have the right mindset - I PREDICT NOT HAVING A JOB IS YOUR OWN FAULT Oily oil: Oil experts predict slight rise in gas prices as global tensions mount Blowhards: Elon Musk predicts double-digit US growth by 2026, Treasury Secretary predicts historic merger could make 2026 a ‘very good year’ Trump advisor predicts Miami will dethrone NYC as financial capital under new progressive mayor OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman says in 10 years’ time college graduates will be working ‘some completely new, exciting, super well-paid’ job in space