June 20, 2025

Golden Thumbs, Blitz Weddings, and TikTok Visas: What Just Happened T

Show Notes
Transcript

A provocative golden statue crushes Lady Liberty on the National Mall and draws crowds—and fire. Netanyahu compares his son's postponed wedding to the London Blitz, and the internet explodes. Meanwhile, foreign students must now share their social media to get U.S. visas.

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Callaroga Shark Media from Washington, DC, where we have a

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cool new statue. This is ballad, that's right, and welcome

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to Schrodinger's Weekend where I both have to work, but

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maybe not. Let's hit this. A new statue has popped

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up on the National Mall, and this one's got people talking.

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Someone installed an eight foot tall sculpture called Dictator Approved,

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a giant golden hand giving a thumbs up while crushing

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the crown of the Statue of Liberty. Now this is

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the same crew that brought us the poop statue last October.

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You remember that masterpiece, A bronze pile of excrement sitting

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on a replica of Nancy Pelosi's desk. Classy stuff. The

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artists are really establishing their brand here. We do political

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commentary and we do bodily functions. The new statue features

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quotes from world leaders praising Donald Trump. We've got Putin

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calling him very bright and talented, Victor Orbond saying he's

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the most respect the most feared person, and Kim Jong

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Un referring to the extraordinary courage of President Trump. The

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only thing missing is a Yelp review five stars. Would

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Autocrat again the White House responded with all the grace

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of a defensive teenager. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, if these

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Democrat activists were living in a dictatorship, their eyesore of

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a sculpture wouldn't be sitting on the National mall right now,

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which is essentially saying you should be grateful we'd let

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you make fun of us. That's some next level spin

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right there. The permit allows the statue to stay up

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through Saturday, and tourists are already flocking to it. One

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eighty year old visitor from Australia said he was amazed

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that whoever dreamed this up could put this here, and

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that it reminded him of animal farm. When your political

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art is making people think of dystopian literature, you might

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be onto something. Two college students from Cleveland stumbled upon it,

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and one said, if all these authoritarian politicians approve of

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our president, then maybe people will see a pattern recognition

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and see where democracy is headed. That's some pretty sophisticated

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political analysis from someone who probably spent last weekend doing kegstans.

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The mysterious artist behind these installations remains anonymous. When contacted

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by the Washington Post, he denied involvement, this time, writing simply,

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I have heard about it, but not me. He also

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declined to meet in an Arlington parking garage, which honestly

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sounds like the beginning of every political thriller ever made.

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Benjamin nettan Yahoo just compared his son's wedding postponement to

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the London Blitz, and the Internet is having a field

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day with this one. The Israeli Prime Minister stood in

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front of a missile struck hospital and solemnly declared that

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his family no sacrifice too. His son Abner has had

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to postpone his wedding twice now due to missile threats. Now,

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for those keeping score at home, the London Blitz killed

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forty three thousand civilians. Abner's wedding has been postponed twice.

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I'm no mathematician, but I'm seeing a slight difference in

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scale here. Netta Yahoo channeled his inner Winston Churchill while

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explaining this tremendous hardship. Each of us bears a personal cost,

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and my family has not been exempt, he said, with

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all the gravity of a man announcing d Day. He

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went on to praise his wife Sarah as a hero

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for bearing this personal cost, and look, I'm sure Sarah

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is disappointed. She probably already ordered the flowers and everything.

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The Prime Minister's timing was particularly tone deaf, considering twenty

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four Israeli civilians have been killed, and human rights activists

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estimate two hundred and sixty three Iranian civilian deaths. But sure,

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let's talk about the catering deposits. The Hebrew language Internet

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erupted with mockery, which tells you something. When even your

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own people are rolling their eyes when you're getting roasted

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in Hebrew, you know you've really stepped in it. This

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comes after more than seventeen years in office, leading critics

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to suggest Net and Yahoo might be a bit out

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of touch with reality. And honestly, when you're comparing wedding

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planning to the Nazis bombing London, you might want to

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recalibrate your perspective. Justice Smidge, the whole thing feels very

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let them eat cake, except it's let them postpone weddings.

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Marie Antoinette would be proud. At least she never compared

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her lifestyle to the Black death. The State Department just

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announced they're restarting student visa interviews, but with a twist. Now,

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foreign students have to make all their social media accounts

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public so officials can screen them for hostility toward the

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United States. So basically, we're asking eighteen year olds from

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around the world to hand over their TikTok passwords so

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we can judge them by their worst posts. I don't

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know about you, but if I had to get a

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visa based on my social media history, I'd be denied

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entry to my own apartment. The new rules apply to

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all student visas, academic, vocational, and cultural exchange programs. Officials

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will be looking for anyone who shows hostile attitudes toward

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our citizens, culture, government institutions, or founding principles, which sounds

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reasonable until you realize they're asking college kids to keep

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their Instagram stories perpetually appropriate for government review. One policy

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expert said, I don't think any American would want to

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be judged by their worst tweet, and he's right. Half

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of Congress would be deported based on their Twitter activity alone.

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The Cable acknowledges this will be a serious burden on

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consulates and suggest they might need to schedule fewer visa

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interviews to accommodate the new social media deep dives, so

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we're potentially accepting fewer international students because we're too busy

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reading their old posts about not liking cafeteria food. And

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if students refuse to make their accounts public, the Cable

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says officers should treat that as any other where an

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applicant fails to provide certain information on request, and consider

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whether such refusal reflects evasiveness or otherwise calls into question

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in the applicant's credibility. Translation, if you value your privacy,

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you're suspicious. Portions of today's show were made with the

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help of AI