Podcast appearances and mentions of walt hickey

This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. Not long ago virtual assistants and VR gaming were the makings of science fiction. But today, as we see developers across the board incorporating these technologies into apps and other tech, including for people who are blind or have low vision, these breakthroughs aren't just possible, they're part of the fabric of everyday life. In this episode Dr. Cal talks with Steve Ewell, Executive Director of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation (CTAF). Together they discuss how rapid advances in tech have made previously unimaginable products like self-driving cars, smart homes and virtual reality gaming an attainable, everyday reality for millions of people, including for those who are aging or have low vision. They talk about CES, the CTAF's annual trade show and the increasing number of consumer companies presenting accessible tech.  They also discuss Steve's work with AARP, and how technology designed for older users is also accelerating… and how those users are keeping up with the pace of new tech. The episode also features an interview with Walt Hickey, the executive editor at Sherwood News and the author of “You Are What You Watch - How Movies and TV Affect Everything.” Walt discusses how scientists and engineers consume the same media as everyone else, and how the ideas from science and science fiction have fed back on one another for millennia to build our modern world. With technology for the blind and low vision community increasingly easy to build and access, companies like Amazon and  XBox are making accessibility more of a priority with every new development. In other words, when it comes to accessible technology, the future may have finally arrived.   The Big Takeaways The Simplest Tech Can Make a Big Difference: Steve discusses the rise of smart homes, and how something simple like a voice-activated assistant can transform the living space of someone who's blind or low vision. He talks about the natural evolution from there to doorbell cams, and the possibilities that has opened for people with low vision to maintain their privacy and security while at home. Are Self-Driving Cars Finally Here?: It can seem like self-driving cars have been on the horizon for decades. But with Waymo and other major technology companies recently unveiling breakthroughs, people who are blind or have low vision might finally be able to hop in a car by themselves and go wherever they want. Steve discusses what these breakthroughs mean, not just for activities like visiting the doctor, but for improved opportunities for social interaction. All Fun and Games: Steve talks about his work with AbleGamers and Oak Hill, two organizations dedicated to providing an accessible video game experience for people who are blind or have low vision. Gaming can combat social isolation, he says, but it can do more than that. When paired with wearables, Steve credits accessible gaming (and a healthy dose of competitiveness) with motivating people who are aging or have disabilities  to stay active. Old School: It might be surprising to see the words “technology” and “AARP” in the same sentence. But tooday, they are indeed connected.  Steve discusses the CTAF's partnership with AARP, and how recent developments along with a savvier population of seniors has led to increased rates of development and adoption for accessible tech.   Tweetables “One of the important things that I've seen that's changed over the last dozen years is the awareness on the company side of the needs of older adults and people with disabilities. That was one of the big challenges, companies recognizing this as a market to engage… and what we've seen is more and more companies are actively engaging this space.” — Steve Ewell, CTAF Executive Director “Technology and movies and pop culture are ways that we express our wants and goals” — Walt Hickey, Author, “You Are What You Watch” “I went to one senior center and a gentleman had come up to me and he said ‘I know you're going to assume I don't use technology, but I want to let you know I'm over a hundred years old and I built all the technology that your technology today is based on.'” — Steve Ewell, CTAF Executive Director   Contact Us: Contact us at podcasts@lighthouseguild.org with your innovative new technology ideas for people with vision loss.   Pertinent Links Lighthouse Guild CTA Foundation

Andrea Jones-Rooy! Comedian! Scientist! Podcaster! Circus performer! Friend! Delight! More! Want more information? Well, you've come to the right place: ABOUT ANDREA JONES-ROOY Ph.D.: Andrea Jones-Rooy is a unique voice who combines science with comedy to empower audiences of any education level to utilize data and tools accessible to all. AJR helps people learn to cut through the noise, better understand our world, and emboldens them to act. AJR holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. Formerly a professor of data science at NYU and a quantitative researcher at FiveThirtyEight, Andrea speaks and trains globally at organizations that include Fortune 500s, tech companies, and the UN, on how to apply data science to their toughest problems. She currently hosts the podcast Behind the Data, and previously hosted the podcast Majoring in Everything. AJR is also a stand-up comedian and circus performer, although she has done neither at the UN (yet). ABOUT THE PODCAST "BEHIND THE DATA" (SEASON 2 COMING SOON) Data is all around us, and it powers a lot of our world, but where does it come from? Who collects it? How do we know if it's any good? Each week data scientist and standup comedian Andrea Jones-Rooy, Ph.D. brings you a new story about the humans and decisions behind important data that influences our lives - from political polls to measures of democracy, from tracking happiness around the world to powering AI. Join us on a journey to understand why making sense of the world depends not just on our ability to analyze it, but on the data we source in the first place. At the heart of any data that matters are real human stories about why we care about what we do.  For example, crime data describes ‘reported crime', which is different from (and less-than) ‘actual crime'. The two deviate to differing extents for different crimes - auto theft has a high rate of reporting due to insurance claims, while rape is horrifyingly underreported. Andrea Jones-Rooy will discuss how to navigate this churning ocean of data in which we are all swimming (whether we want to or not). Joined by weekly expert guests, Andrea will bring her signature engaging style to investigate the ways data on polling, crime, jobs, movies, fitness, medicine, democracy, and happiness are created, and help us to understand what we can and cannot (yet) learn from it. If you are affected by ANY of these subjects (you are), you're not going to want to miss this podcast! Season 1 guests include: Dhrumil Mehta, Journalism professor at Columbia University, formerly database journalist at Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight Ben Casselman, New York Times economics and business reporter Christie Aschwanden, science journalist and author of the NYT bestselling book, Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Discovery Dr. Steven Novella, clinical neurologist and host The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast Walt Hickey, pulitzer prize winning data journalist, author You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything, creator and writer Numlock News And more! Behind the Data is produced as part of the Daily Tech News Show (DTNS) network, which is dedicated to providing news about technology that is easy to understand. With a unique blend of ‘smartypants' comedy and actual science, Andrea seeks to help listeners understand how data shapes the world, and to teach everybody (not just scientists) to use data to inform their thinking. Remember, data doesn't have to be a four letter word! ABOUT THE PODCAST CONVERSATION BETWEEN ME AND ANDREA: It is fun! Please enjoy! And this is only the first HALF of our conversation. For part two, subscribe via Apple Podcasts OR just head on over to Patreon!

We're closing out our 80s Cult Movies lap and welcoming in Lap 15 in our mechanic-prescribed Lap 14 Tune-Up. We kick things off with one last (for now) conversation with Walt Hickey and Kim Bhasin, who joined us all lap long. After reiterating their blood oath to us, they share what they learned in this lap as well as their picks for the Most D&D and Most Wrestling Moments from the entire franchise. We talk about truly learning to view this franchise as a saga (and its links/ties to Norse mythology). We discuss where we go from here and who they want to see return. We get their franchise rankings — and our final train fact. (It's a big one!) Then, we're joined by Michael Moser and Josh Buckley to talk about their reaction to our lap, who picked what (and why), their original idea for the lap, and their picks for the Most 80s Moment… across all of cinema. Lastly, we wrap things up by announcing next lap's theme — and our brand new format! Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

Fast X is our final Fast & Furious movie this lap and our final episode (at least for now) with Walt Hickey and Kim Bhasin! Also joining us is Brian Rodriguez (Coastal Grand Bros), who is pulling double duty as both guest and our unofficial producer. After Joey falls down another physical media rabbit hole, Walt and Kim share a train fact that is close to Joey's heart (in a way). We discuss the current status of the franchise, what will happen at the start of the next movie, Jason Momoa as Dante, and “Bargain Bin Pat McAfee.” We make our picks for the Most 80s (and Most 90s… and Most 2000s??) Moment before Kim shares his Most Wrestling Moment (and a list of wrestlers using their actual finishers in films) and Walt shares his Most D&D Moment (which impacts the future of the franchise). We ask: do the Torettos' neighbors like them, at all? Is Eteon an insurance company? What is the Toretto family legacy? What is the world's awareness level of the family? Kim breaks Walt. Walt makes another plea for Vin Diesel's Hannibal movie. Brian tries to pivot our podcast. Kim plugs a story, which has an amazing real-life update since we recorded. Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

Walt Hickey is the Deputy Editor for Data and Analysis at Insider News, and the author of You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything. His book explores the power of entertainment to change our beliefs, how we see ourselves, and how nations gain power.He joined Eugenia Lostri, Lawfare's Fellow in Technology Policy and Law, to talk about how we use media to express our societal apprehensions, the ways in which the military, NASA and the CIA collaborate with Hollywood, and the soft power of media productions.Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Isabelle Kerby-McGowan and Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Walt Hickey is the Deputy Editor for Data and Analysis at Insider News, and the author of You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything. His book explores the power of entertainment to change our beliefs, how we see ourselves, and how nations gain power.He joined Eugenia Lostri, Lawfare's Fellow in Technology Policy and Law, to talk about how we use media to express our societal apprehensions, the ways in which the military, NASA and the CIA collaborate with Hollywood, and the soft power of media productions.Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Isabelle Kerby-McGowan and Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Walt Hickey and Kim Bhasin join us once again to talk about F9 with a big ask: stop giving us details! ("If they're explaining, they're losing.") After years of watching this movie, Joey is finally happy that the flashbacks are set in 1989 (as it nicely fits into our 80s Cult Movies lap). Joe shares the name for this movie in Japan and Kim shares a train fact. We talk about the two separate timelines, whether it works to give Dom a brother this late into the franchise, and why people seem to hate the Fast and Furious. We get Kim and Walt's picks for the most wrestling and D&D moments and discuss how they watch these movies. Would you rather take a Pontiac Fiero or a Boeing Starliner to space? Is it Project Ares or Project Aries? Walt talks about history being made in F9. We look ahead to "The Randy Cut" and the complications this movie brings that endeavor. Walt suggests a new way to watch the Fast and Furious movies. Kim wonders: why are prisons in this universe so poorly guarded? Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

The "unnicknamed" Walt Hickey and Kim Bhasin return to the podcast as we hack and fly our way through The Fate of the Furious! It's been four weeks since our last train fact, so we scratch that itch before discussing how this movie begins to show the cracks behind the scenes. We wonder where F. Gary Gray is in this movie and our two New York resident guests weigh in on the NYC geography in The Fate of the Furious. Joey has a question about sex appeal in the franchise. Walt breaks down Hobbs's soccer strategies. Joe asks about the "Tay Tay" situation. Kim shares the most wrestling moment and Walt shares the most D&D moment. We miss an opportunity to call out Dom for "daddy jacking" the movie. Does Cipher have long-term plans for Dom? Why are we seeing so much technology and hacking in movies today? What's the Most 80s Moment? Could you live in Elena's prison nook? Is Dom... not fully human? Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

Writer and journalist Walt Hickey joins Dylan for a conversation about the different ways film and television have impacted us and our real world surroundings, a topic that's the subject of his new book You Are What You Watch.

Walt Hickey and Kim Bhasin return to the podcast to talk about Furious 7, and why it means so much to each of them. First, though, we must talk about our return to Race Wars and Walt's plan to monetize and televise it. We make our pick for Most 80s Moment (of which they are many!), talk about the seeming obviousness of the film's tax incentives, and (of course) No Knees Denise. Kim shares the Most Wrestling Moment (it isn't what you think!) and Walt talks about how the Most D&D Moment shows an intentionality. Do the streets always win? If so, what does that mean? Does Deckard have friends? Which other older women would we cast in the franchise? We talk about what it's like to live at 1325 and 1329, how to properly grip a beer, and the Kuleshov Effect. Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

The train owners are back in town: Kim Bhasin and Walt Hickey return to talk about The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift! Kim explains why Tokyo Drift is the rare coming of age story that he can relate to, we get new thoughts (and a brand new take) on the "Sean's dad dilemma," and we question an element of Sean Boswell's wardrobe. We talk about how "the wrong kid died," what this movie does that's rare in the franchise, and a pop culture reference that still works today. We cover all the usual segments (Train fact! Most 80s moment! Most wrestling moment! Most D&D moment), talk about "machete order" in franchises, and wonder if Tokyo Drift was a gateway drug to turn car boys into weebs. We lay out potential universal/F&F crossovers. Walt pitches a F&F Broadway musical. Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

Walt Hickey and Kim Bhasin return to the podcast to talk about Fast & Furious 6 because "this is London, baby." After learning one (and only one) train fact, we discuss the most '80s thing in any Fast & Furious movie. We talk about Fast & Furious 6 as a pivot point for the franchise, cars being used in new ways, and a ton of time spent in hideouts. Walt hits us with many D&D-themed elements and Kim does the same with wrestling moments. Joe wonders if there's any security at 1327 (like, at all). Walt dares talk about physics in the Fastiverse. Joey has a thought no one has ever had about a particular line from Hobbs. Kim comes to terms with the fact that this franchise never calls anything back. Walt gives advice on what to do if you run into a wrestler in the wild and offers criticisms of the film's score. We talk about Furya (will it shoot this summer, for real?) and Kim waxes poetic about Riddick (2013). Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

In the runup to Memorial Day, we're bringing you some stories from the archives about war and the cost of war. We'll be back with new episodes next week!It's January 7th. In 1970, the New York Times published an article with the headline “Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random.”Jody and Niki are joined by data reporter Walt Hickey to talk about how statistical analysis exposed that people born in December were more likely to be selected for the Vietnam War draft than those born in January, and what that tells us about randomness, trust, and more.Walt's most recent book is “You Are What You Watch” — check it out now!Sign up for our newsletter! Get your hands on This Day merch!Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.comGet in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Follow us on social @thisdaypodOur team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at RadiotopiaThis Day In Esoteric Political History is produced by Jody Avirgan's Roulette Productions.

We need two precision drivers, so Walt Hickey and Kim Bhasin return to the podcast once again as we head back to Rio de Janeiro to talk about Fast Five! After honoring Walt for the 2F2F history that he set, we talk about the movie's Most 80s Moment, which is a more difficult task than any other movie so far this lap. We discuss the sweat in this movie (and the smell in all movies), admire the train heist (and the movie's other big setpieces), and talk about the prominence of Mia in both the plot and the heist. We analyze Hobbs's late arrival, Dwayne Johnson's newfound reliance on swearing, and the many career leaps he's made. Kim shares his most wrestling moment, Walt shares his most D&D moment, and they combine to surprise us with a new segment. We admire Brian's unusual mental money math, pinpoint the pivot moment for "family," and debate how much money is the right amount of money to get from a heist. Kim goes to the charts! We talk about Dom Toretto vs. Danny Ocean (re: trustworthiness), speculate about Roman's failed garage, and tease a few new cinematic crossovers. Walt discusses the literal bodily changes he tracked while watching this movie. Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

Hi friends, Penn here. As some of you know, I am obsessed with all things sci-fi. This traces way back to my childhood during the Star Wars and Star Trek days that sparked a lifelong fascination for all things space. It's the main reason that I always wanted to be an astronaut. Fast forward to today, you can see that life took me in a wildly different direction. (Plus I have terrible vertigo so I would have made a horrible astronaut.) Dashed childhood dreams aside, the impact these movies and shows had on me got us thinking. Turns out, the stuff we consume has a greater impact than you think. Walt Hickey wrote a fascinating book called You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything that discusses just that. In it, Hickey dives into (among many other things) the power of entertainment, how it can have an actual physical effect on us, and how it can greatly shape who we are as individuals and as society. So we invited him on this week's podcast! Also bonus–after the interview, Kim and I test our 90's pop culture knowledge with our producer, Ann Marie. (And I remain the champ of Britney Spears knowledge…IYKYK.) Special Announcement: We launched a 3-part bonus podcast series about ADHD! You can listen to the Part 2 now and pre-order our new book ADHD Is Awesome!Play Our GamesShop Our MerchJoin Our NewsletterKim and Penn are online content creators known for their award-winning videos, including original music, song parodies, and comedy sketches. Their videos have resulted in over 2 billion views and 8 million followers across their social media platforms since they (accidentally) went viral in 2013. They have a best-selling book on marriage communication, a top-rated podcast, a fun-filled family card game, and most recently, they were the winners on Season 33 of The Amazing Race.The Holderness Family Podcast is edited and engineered by Max Trujillo of Trujillo Media and produced by Ann Marie Taepke, Julie Frahm, and Sam Allen.Follow us on YouTubeFollow us on InstagramFollow us on TikTok Follow us on Facebook Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kim Bhasin and Walt Hickey return to the podcast once again to talk about both Los Bandoleros and Fast & Furious! After discussing a weird timing coincidence, we explore Los Bandoleros: why it exists, why it's all vibes, and whether or not we want more like it. We make our picks for the "most 80s moments" of the movie, talk about action movies vs. heist movies and criminal vs. fugitive movies, and debate why the DoJ would hire Brian. Kim gets surprised by Fenix's incredibly visceral death. Walt totally trolls Joey. They make their picks for the most D&D and wrestling moments of the movie. We talk about the lack of comic relief in Fast & Furious, Walt compares the emotional release of these movies to Disney musicals, and Kim explains why this movie feels smaller than its predecessors. We wonder: are any other franchises "built in the air" the way this one is? Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

It's time to kick off Lap 14, our '80s Cult Movie lap, and we're joined by Walt Hickey and Kim Bhasin to talk about The Fast and the Furious! After getting a refresher of their history with this movie, we kick things off by talking about the most '80s elements of this movie -- and the associated weirdness of this ask. Walt already starts connecting this franchise to D&D. We look at The Fast and the Furious as both the start of a franchise and as a standalone movie, we admire the second unit directorial work, and we wonder if this franchise is now a unicorn in Hollywood. We talk about Dom's skills (or lack thereof) as a party host, we analyze the cops at play in this movie, and we talk about where we would have expected a sequel to this movie to have gone. We try to make sense of Race Wars. Walt determines the one place this franchise has not gone. Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

What we see on screen has this way of influencing our perception of the world, which makes sense because the average American spends 2 hours and 51 minutes watching movies and TV each day. That's a whopping 19 percent of our waking hours. Walt Hickey is a data journalist and author of a new book called You Are What You Watch. In it, Walt makes a case for how much film and television shapes us as individuals and as a society, far beyond what we give it credit for.You Are What You Watch

Journalist Walt Hickey uses data to understand how culture works. He and Steve talk about why China hasn't produced any hit movies yet and how he got his own avatar in the Madden NFL video game.  SOURCE:Walter Hickey, author, journalist, and data expert. RESOURCES:You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything, by Walter Hickey (2023)."France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They're Buying Comic Books," by Aurelien Breeden (The New York Times, 2021)."How I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp," by Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col, and Josh Adams (Business Insider, 2021)."Why You Should Stop Binge-Watching," by Alan Jern (Psychology Today, 2021)."China Wants Soft Power. But Censorship Is Stifling Its Film Industry," by Eduardo Baptista (CNN, 2019)."The Economic Impact of On-Screen Tourism: The Case of The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit," by ShiNa Li, Hengyun Li, Haiyan Song, Christine Lundberg, and Shujie Shen (Tourism Management, 2017)."A Lazy, Out-Of-Shape Amateur Won Two More Super Bowls Than Tony Romo," by Walter Hickey and Jody Avirgan (FiveThirtyEight, 2015)."How Madden Helped a Schlub Like Me Make It Into the NFL," by Walter Hickey (FiveThirtyEight, 2015)."'Kung Fu Panda' Prompts Soul-Searching in China," by Simon Rabinovitch (Reuters, 2008).Numlock News, by Walter Hickey. EXTRAS:"Nate Silver Says We're Bad at Making Predictions," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023)."Adding Ten Healthy Years to Your Life," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023)."David Epstein Knows Something About Almost Everything," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021)."Professor Carl Hart Argues All Drugs Should Be Legal — Can He Convince Steve?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021)."Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021)."Sue Bird: 'You Have to Pay the Superstars,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).

It's January 7th. In 1970, the New York Times published an article with the headline “Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random.” Jody and Niki are joined by data reporter Walt Hickey to talk about how statistical analysis exposed that people born in December were more likely to be selected for the Vietnam War draft than those born in January, and what that tells us about randomness, trust, and more. Walt's most recent book is “You Are What You Watch” — check it out now! Sign up for our newsletter! Get your hands on This Day merch! Find out more at thisdaypod.com This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Follow us on social @thisdaypod Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia This Day In Esoteric Political History is produced by Jody Avirgan's Roulette Productions.

It's time for another Life in the Fast Lane, and this one reminds us of an iconic line: "Cars can't fly, Dom." (Hey Brian Rodriguez, if you're reading this, I hope it's okay that I used your trademarked word.) We kick things off by covering Minute 96 of 2 Fast 2 Furious, where the car is in the air! (But not yet on the boat.) We explore Carter Verone's bar setup, and we wonder: how is this movie going to wrap up in just four minutes? Joe shares an update on Turbos for Tots, and Joey shares a great F&F anecdote from Walt Hickey's Numlock News and Jeff Yang's new book The Golden Screen. We cover the second episode of Icons Unearthed, which is all about 2 Fast 2 Furious and features some absolutely wild connections to things we love. We open a great mailbag, which includes rankings, clarifications, justifications, misplaced confidence, wonderful fan art, and more. We close things out with a recent TV and movie roundup in Extracurricular Activities. Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, Aaron Woloszyn, and Randy Carter for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and data expert Walt Hickey talks with Matt about his new book, You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything.

This week I'm joined by Walt Hickey, the author of You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything. Among the many topics discussed on this show: the surprisingly durable effect of Warner Bros.'s merchandising efforts aimed at adults; how identity and pop culture become hopelessly (and negatively) intertwined; and how violent movies can help stop violence from occurring. If you find this podcast interesting, I hope you check out Walt's book; it has tons of charts (one of which is reproduced above) and many fascinating nuggets I simply did not have time to dig into with him today. And make sure to share this episode with a friend!

Walt Hickey is a Pulitzer Prize-winning data journalist and also a real pop-culture-impersonated peruser. His new book is You Are What You Watch, How Movies and TV Affect Everything, and he makes a good case. Plus, when it comes to cease fires, casualties, and rules of engagement in Gaza, meanings are fluid.  Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara  Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com  To advertise on the show: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist  Subscribe to our ad-free and/or PescaPlus versions of The Gist: https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/  Follow Mike's Substack: Pesca Profundities | Mike Pesca | Substack  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Guest host Alissa Wilkinson speaks with Walt Hickey about his new book, You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything. They discuss how entertainment affects the physical and mental states of viewers — from blood coagulation during horror movie screenings to an increase in Dalmatian adoptions after 101 Dalmatians was released in theaters — and why our responses to what we watch are worth celebrating. Host: Alissa Wilkinson (@alissamarie), senior culture writer, Vox Guest: Walt Hickey, (@walterhickey) author, You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything References:  You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything by Walt Hickey (Workman Publishing Company, 2023) “How to Use Math to Crush Your Friends at Monopoly Like You've Never Done Before” by Walt Hickey (Business Insider, Jun. 2013) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by:  Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You can search online for information on just about any topic. Recently there was an interesting article posted on the Reader's Digest website regarding some topics you probably shouldn't search. This episode begins with a fun look at some of those topics that might be better the less you know. https://www.rd.com/list/things-never-google-search/ You likely have a sense that when you watch TV or a movie, it has an impact on you. What you probably didn't realize is how big a deal those influences are. They not only affect you mentally and emotionally, they can cause physical changes in your body. TV and movies also influence the culture at large as well as the economy, science and even the future. To discover how, listen to my guest Walt Hickey. Walt is a Pulitzer prize winning writer and author of a fascinating book called, You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything https://amzn.to/3Qpymgs) What goes on in your mouth can make a big difference in your overall health and happiness. How you brush, the way your tongue sits in your mouth, if you have your wisdom teeth removed – all these things matter more than you might realize. Here to explain how is Tersa Yang, DDS. She is an award winning dentist and educator who has taught clinical dentistry at the UCLA School of Dentistry, and she is author of the book Nothing But the Tooth (https://amzn.to/490LQGq) Listen and you will discover new things that are going on in your mouth you never knew. It may just be a good idea to set an alarm to go off every work day at 2pm. Why? Well according to one time management expert, there is something you can do then that can make your whole day more rewarding. Listen and I'll explain what that is. https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/time-management/how-to-stop-procrastinating-00000000055280 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Go to https://HelloFresh.com/50something and use code 50something for 50% off plus free shipping! BetterHelp is truly the best way to make your brain your friend. Give it a try. Visit https://BetterHelp.com/Something today to get 10% off your first month! Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Let's find “us” again by putting our phones down for five.  Five days, five hours, even five minutes. Join U.S. Cellular in the Phones Down For Five challenge! Find out more at https://USCellular.com/findus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's October 22nd. This day in 1927, Americans are flocking to the theaters to watch “The Jazz Singer,” the first major “talkie” film. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Walt Hickey to discuss how Hollywood became a major economic and political force in the aftermath of WWI, and how it the soft power of American entertainment started to shape the world. Walt's new book is “You Are What You Watch” — preorder it now and get a free poster! Sign up for our newsletter! We'll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. Find out more at thisdaypod.com This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

Popular culture, movies, TV shows & books affect us in profound and surprising ways. Pulitzer prize winning author & data journalist Walt Hickey joins us to talk about his fascinating new book 'YOU ARE WHAT YOU WATCH. Entertainment affects our biology, geopolitics and everything in between. Did you know that girls participation in archery doubled after 'The Hunger Games' came out or that watching a scary movie affects our bodies? Walt Hickey talks about the Pentagon's involvement in films like Top Gun, how Manga helped lift the Japanese economy and much more. ‘You Are What You Watch' is out on October 24th, 2023. Follow on X: @WaltHickey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a culture, we spend a lot of our time watching tv and movies and reading and popular fiction, but we rarely stop to reflect on the influence these forms of entertainment have on our lives. In his new book, You Are What You Watch, data journalist Walt Hickey takes deep, fun, rambunctious dive into all the ways that movies, television, and other forms of pop culture are fundamentally important to how we experience the world, how we see ourselves and the kind of the values that we embrace. He explains how Jurassic Park inspired him to study math in college and got people interested in paleontology while also increasing funding for the field. He graphs how movies drive tourism and influence what kind of dogs people want. Best of all, the book contains an entire chapter exploring what stories do to their creators. Turns out, writing fan fiction puts a rocket on someone's ability to write. Walt Hickey is the Deputy Editor for Data and Analysis at Insider News. He  works on cool stories and supports the newsroom through data journalism. In 2022, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting. In Spring of 2018, he launched his creator-owned daily morning newsletter Numlock News. It's all about the cool numbers buried in the news. It's funny and makes you smarter. He also predicts the Oscars in the Numlock Awards Supplement, a seasonal pop-up spinoff of Numlock. He's the author of the new book You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everyting. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Somehow Tony got Pulitzer Prize Winner Walt Hickey to come on the show and talk about his new book You Are What You Watch. Honestly. Really. Pulitzer Prize Winner. Yeah. Not a typo. You should totally listen AND buy this book. It is exceptional. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/comics-in-motion-podcast/message

We're taking a little journey on a little boat named the Titanic, and joining us on this expedition is Walt Hickey! After hearing about Walt's new book, You Are What You Watch, we talk about non-cars that matter to him (cinematic and otherwise) before reading some truly pathetic crazy credits (and being reminded about IMDb's humble origins). Joey recounts the tale of PCP in this film production's clam chowder, we all remember watching this movie on VHS, and we talk about how young is too young to watch Titanic. We discuss James Cameron's ability to make you forget this is all taking place on a boat, the flair (or lack thereof) of the title card, and how good Kathy Bates is as the Unsinkable Molly Brown. Walt praises James Cameron for his subtle ability to state the movie's theme and offers up a nice new definition of what makes a vehicle. We talk about “the Celine Dion of it all,” Cameron's ability to articulate the geography of the Titanic, and the meaning / interpretation of the ending. We watch the shockingly terrible (!) trailer for Titanic. Email us: family@cageclub.me Visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/2fast2forever.  Show your support at the 2 Fast 2 Forever shop! Extra special shout-out to Alex Elonen, Nick Burris, Brian Rodriguez (High School Slumber Party), Michael McGahon, Lane Middleton, Jason Rainey, Wes Hampton, Mike Gallier, Josh Buckley (Whole Lotta Wolves), Michael Moser, Christian Larson, Terra New One, and Aaron Woloszyn for joining at the “Interpol's Most Wanted” level or above! Intro music by Nico Vasilo. Interlude and outro music by Wes Hampton.

Data journalist Walt Hickey looks deep into the numbers behind movies, TV shows, and all types of popular culture.Walt's new book is You Are What You Watch - https://amzn.to/3F8SwVoWalt's Website - https://walthickey.comNumlock News - https://www.numlock.comDr Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park - https://jurassicpark.fandom.com/wiki/Ian_MalcolmDoes Hollywood ruin books? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUD8h9JpEVQ

Math and Movies (Animation at Pixar) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX0NB9IyYpUThe problem in Good Will Hunting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW_LkYiuTKENumberphile is supported by Jane Street - https://www.numberphile.com/jane-streetWe also work with the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute - https://www.slmath.org You can support Numberphile on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/numberphileHere are our Patrons - https://www.numberphile.com/patrons

FiveThirtyEight's Walt Hickey drops by with more James Bond numbers than you can possibly handle. Everything from villains to gadgets are ranked and discussed!More from Walt - https://fivethirtyeight.com/contributors/walt-hickey/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Walt Hickey (creator & writer of numlock.com & Senior Editor for Data at Insider) is not only an insightful and hilarious guest, he is Failure to Adapt's first Pulitzer Prize winning guest. Who better to kick of our SEASON of Jane Austen adaptations? Walt joins Maggie & Red to discuss Jane Austen's 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice, and it's adaptation into the 2022 Andrew Ahn film, Fire Island. Buy Maggie's newest book, Love in the Library If you like us, you'll also enjoy: Following the pod on twitter: https://twitter.com/FailureAdapt Supporting Failure to Adapt on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FailureToAdaptPodcast

Ryan and Jasmine run through all the new books hitting shelves this week including our picks this week (02:02) including CAPTAIN MARVEL #38, BLACK PANTHER #6, X-MEN '92: HOUSE OF XCII #2 and more! Tune in as we hand out the “Just Stick a Pen in His Eyeball” Award (10:20) — our weekly award named after a phrase pulled directly from an issue in this week's pull list! Think you know which issue this name came from? Let us know by sending us an email at PullList@marvel.com or by tweeting at us using #MarvelsPullList! Just make sure to mark it “Okay to read”!And finally, for this week's reading club, writer Walt Hickey joins us to talk about the Infinity Comic “Hulkling and Wiccan: Possibilities.” (23:56)  What we're reading with Walk Hickey: Hulkling and Wiccan: PossibilitiesAs always, shout out your local comic shop or send us your questions or comments by emailing us at pulllist@marvel.com or tweet using #MarvelsPullList. Make sure to mark it "Okay to read!"  Follow us at: @agentm, @jasmiest, and @KaraMcGuirk New comics this week (6/1)ALIEN #12AVENGERS FOREVER #6BLACK PANTHER #6CAPTAIN MARVEL #38CARNAGE #3GHOST RIDER #3KING CONAN #5KNIGHTS OF X #2MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #38STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS #23STAR WARS: DARTH VADER #23STRANGE #3X-MEN '92: HOUSE OF XCII #2 New Weekly Infinity Comics: X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC #37 5/30/2022         PATSY WALKER INFINITY COMIC #4           6/2/2022           ALLIGATOR LOKI INFINITY COMIC #7        6/3/2022

Graphic novels have been around for a long time, so why have graphic novel sales skyrocketed suddenly in the last year or two? Is that growth representative of a possible trend away from reading text-only books? Do animated movies and TV shows allow for greater suspension of disbelief than their live-action counterparts? Does animation make it easier for movies and TV shows to push the boundaries of what's culturally acceptable? What is "soft" power, and why is it so important? How important has America's soft power been relative to its hard power over the past century? How is America's soft power affected by Americans' own views of their country? What's lacking or misguided in the ways most people think and talk about probabilities and statistics? Is it better to report predictions with very specific probabilities (e.g., "It's 67.5% likely to rain today") or with looser, more casual probabilities (e.g., "I think it'll probably rain today")?Walt Hickey is a data journalist who founded and writes Numlock News, a daily morning newsletter about fascinating numbers buried in the news. His primary interests are in pop culture data journalism and how journalists can better integrate stats into stories. He's currently writing a book about how pop culture impacts its consumers and is the senior editor for data at Insider. He previously worked as the chief culture writer at FiveThirtyEight and has written for Marvel.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @WaltHickey and subscribe to his newsletter at NumlockNews.com."If You See a 40% Chance of Rain, This Is What It Really Means""Weather 101: What does a 30% chance of rain really mean?"

Read the full transcript here. Graphic novels have been around for a long time, so why have graphic novel sales skyrocketed suddenly in the last year or two? Is that growth representative of a possible trend away from reading text-only books? Do animated movies and TV shows allow for greater suspension of disbelief than their live-action counterparts? Does animation make it easier for movies and TV shows to push the boundaries of what's culturally acceptable? What is "soft" power, and why is it so important? How important has America's soft power been relative to its hard power over the past century? How is America's soft power affected by Americans' own views of their country? What's lacking or misguided in the ways most people think and talk about probabilities and statistics? Is it better to report predictions with very specific probabilities (e.g., "It's 67.5% likely to rain today") or with looser, more casual probabilities (e.g., "I think it'll probably rain today")?Walt Hickey is a data journalist who founded and writes Numlock News, a daily morning newsletter about fascinating numbers buried in the news. His primary interests are in pop culture data journalism and how journalists can better integrate stats into stories. He's currently writing a book about how pop culture impacts its consumers and is the senior editor for data at Insider. He previously worked as the chief culture writer at FiveThirtyEight and has written for Marvel.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @WaltHickey and subscribe to his newsletter at NumlockNews.com."If You See a 40% Chance of Rain, This Is What It Really Means""Weather 101: What does a 30% chance of rain really mean?" [Read more]

Read the full transcriptGraphic novels have been around for a long time, so why have graphic novel sales skyrocketed suddenly in the last year or two? Is that growth representative of a possible trend away from reading text-only books? Do animated movies and TV shows allow for greater suspension of disbelief than their live-action counterparts? Does animation make it easier for movies and TV shows to push the boundaries of what's culturally acceptable? What is "soft" power, and why is it so important? How important has America's soft power been relative to its hard power over the past century? How is America's soft power affected by Americans' own views of their country? What's lacking or misguided in the ways most people think and talk about probabilities and statistics? Is it better to report predictions with very specific probabilities (e.g., "It's 67.5% likely to rain today") or with looser, more casual probabilities (e.g., "I think it'll probably rain today")?Walt Hickey is a data journalist who founded and writes Numlock News, a daily morning newsletter about fascinating numbers buried in the news. His primary interests are in pop culture data journalism and how journalists can better integrate stats into stories. He's currently writing a book about how pop culture impacts its consumers and is the senior editor for data at Insider. He previously worked as the chief culture writer at FiveThirtyEight and has written for Marvel.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @WaltHickey and subscribe to his newsletter at NumlockNews.com."If You See a 40% Chance of Rain, This Is What It Really Means""Weather 101: What does a 30% chance of rain really mean?"

Hello folks, welcome to the relaunch of the Inside The Newsroom podcast! It’s been a while since I got the microphone out, but I’m back and will be podcasting with a top journalist at least monthly from now on. What better way to get back on the horse than have Glenn Greenwald on the airwaves, who the New Statesman recently described as among the greatest journalists of all time. We talked about what it’s like being Glenn, the mental toll of having the U.S. and Brazilian governments after you, the corporatization of journalism, where to start when writing a New York Times bestseller, and Glenn’s best advice for today’s journalists.Say what you like about Glenn, but it’s hard to match his achievements. He believes what he believes, and will quite literally risk his life to defend his position.“You go into journalism in order to do stories like this. If you want to be universally beloved and applauded by people in power, journalism is not the profession to choose.”Earlier this month we celebrated the one-year anniversary of our subscription model. Read all about everything we’ve done so far, and everything we plan to build over the next 12 months. And be sure to check out my Q&A with Walt Hickey, senior data editor at Insider and founder of the Numlock News newsletter. Walt was incredibly candid about what it takes to build an audience and run a profitable business.And lastly, we relaunched Data Corner and Election Dissection last week! Read about how the top newsrooms covered the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan from a data viz angle, as well as the latest on the consequential recent elections in Morocco and Norway.Okay, let’s do this thing! Podcast is up top, and my post-game analysis and Job Corner are down below… Enjoy!Job Corner ✍️We have more than 2,500 jobs and more than 300 internships listed in 1,000+ cities across the U.S., UK and Canada. Below is a preview of the openings you’ll have access to when you subscribe. If you’re a paying member, your jobs sheet link remains the same each week. Interested in a free week’s trial? Reply to this email and we’ll hook you up!Who Is Glenn Greenwald?Glenn is a journalist, former constitutional lawyer, author of four New York Times bestsellers, and co-founder of the Hope dog rescue shelter. In 1996, Glenn co-founded his own law firm in New York City, concentrating on First Amendment and civil rights. In 2005, he became bored of being a litigator and travelled to Brazil to “figure out what I wanted to do with my life”. He immediately fell in love the country and met his now-husband: Brazilian congressman for the Socialism and Liberty party David Miranda. They currently reside in Rio de Janeiro.Around the same time, Glenn started his own blog and began writing about mass surveillance and the changes around civil liberties in the aftermath of 9/11. In 2007, he was hired as a columnist by Salon, and then joined The Guardian in 2012. It was there that he, along with fellow friend of the podcast Ewen MacAskill, broke arguably the most impactful scandal of this generation: The Edward Snowden CIA leaks.From there Glenn co-founded The Intercept in 2014, but resigned in October 2020 over editorial freedom. You can read all about why Glenn did so here, as well as a rebuttal from The Intercept’s editor-in-chief, Betsy Reed. Today Glenn writes about a myriad of topics on Substack, and is always an engaging follow on Twitter. Oh, he and David currently have 26 rescue dogs too.Securing Democracy and Car Wash ScandalGlenn’s latest book, Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Brazil, was published earlier this year. It details the events that led to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro indicting Glenn for his involvement in the Operation Car Wash scandal, arguably the biggest corruption scandal in history. The scandal saw former Brazilian president and clear favorite in the 2018 presidential election Lula da Silva imprisoned, which allowed Bolsonaro to sweep to victory.In 2019, Glenn was contacted by Manuela d’Ávila, a centre-left candidate for vice-president in the election. D’Ávila had been approached by a source who had hacked a trove of phone calls between some of Brazil’s most powerful judges and prosecutors. One of those judges oversaw the Operation Car Wash anti-corruption probe that dominated Brazilian politics for the five years prior. The impact of Glenn’s reporting was explosive.Video: Glenn Greenwald on the Leaked Brazil Archive Exposing Operation Car WashA judge ultimately dismissed the indictment against Glenn, but made clear that he would have accepted it, had it not been for an earlier Brazilian Supreme Court ruling. The ruling stated that any attempt to retaliate against Glenn for his reporting would be barred by the Brazilian constitution and the press freedom guarantee it provides.In our podcast, Glenn talked about how in 2013, Brazil’s parliament was favorable towards him after he exposed the U.S. government’s spying efforts on Brazil amid the fallout from the Snowden CIA leaks. But as Glenn’s husband poignantly pointed out, the Car Wash scandal was completely different and presented more dangers. Aside from now having a truly authoritarian president after him, this time around the folks coming after Glenn were on his doorstep. Having not one but two national governments after you is pretty terrifying, and one can only wonder about the mental toll that will have. The book is a timely reminder of the fragility of democracy.Corporatization of JournalismGlenn’s been a writer for the better part of three decades. As anyone who’s followed his work will know, he argues vehemently against the corporatization of newsrooms — the move toward an increasingly corporate ethos and structure. That’s why he co-founded The Intercept — to become an adversarial newsroom and not a subservient one — and is why he’s now completely independent on Substack. But you haven’t had to be in the game as long as Glenn to witness what he’s talking about.Large corporations have taken advantage of overall falling revenue in journalism, and have applied their ideology of cutting costs to boost profit. The Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the total number of newspaper owners has declined by 32 percent since 2004, or at an average of 100 newspaper companies per year. More than 2,000 newspaper titles are now owned by the largest 25 companies.I have a whole newsletter worth of thoughts on this, so I’ll spin them into a separate edition in the future. As you know, I experienced this corporatization first hand through my time at the Wall Street Journal. After slaving away for years building myself a voice and trying to help the journalism community, WSJ gave me a choice: shut down Inside The Newsroom or leave.As Glenn put it, journalism isn’t a profession as much as it is a tool for anyone to fight injustice. There shouldn’t be a credential system whereby only those from the richest and most established media organizations have the privilege to cover the most important stories. And inside newsrooms, journalists’ voices shouldn’t be silenced because of hierarchy. Journalism is, and should continue to be, accessible to everyone.Glenn’s Advice For JournalistsWe’ll finish with some advice from Glenn for today’s journalists. I asked what his top piece of advice is to navigate today’s industry, and have paraphrased his answer below.There are a lot of easier ways to earn a living other than being a journalist, especially with the industry’s economic struggles. So make sure you’re entering journalism because of passion. Whether that’s politics, culture, sports, social movements or whatever your thing might be. But passion alone won’t necessarily bring you the success you’re looking for, and along the way you’ll inevitably have to sacrifice something. For many, that means working for an institution. That’s okay and is just something you have to do while you build your audience and pay the bills. But no matter what you do, make sure you always remember and preserve that passion that animated your choice to enter journalism. And even in those dark times of sacrifice, safeguard that passion with everything you have to keep that flame alive and to keep feeding it. Your time will come, so be passionate and prepared for when that time does come.Thanks for making it to the bottom. If you enjoyed today’s newsletter and podcast, please consider supporting what we’re building at Inside The Newsroom. 🙏 This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidethenewsroom.substack.com/subscribe

Walt Hickey is the author of Numlock News, a daily newsletter with tens of thousands of subscribers. Hickey started working in newsletters as a data journalist in 2014, before creating his own platform on Substack in 2018. Here, he shares his writing process, growth strategy, and more.

This is the second episode of A Couple of Goons. Walt Hickey's journey into hockey continues led by the inimitable Neil Paine as we hit week two of A Couple of Goons!Topics of conversation include:Peacock and You: How to cope with the forthcoming death of a pretty good television networkDallas is really good! The Montreal-Columbus trade, or, why centers are good.A Bunch of Lines, With WaltMailbagOffsides: Why Does That Occur?EndgameWe plug our GithubsNeil is on twitter @neil_paine, Walt is @WaltHickey, and this podcast is @GoonsPod. We are now on Apple Podcasts, find us there, and consider throwing us a rating. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goons.substack.com

Listen to this PREVIEW of the 21st episode of On Second Thought, a special bonus series you can hear on the And the Runner-Up Is Patreon exclusive feed! On Second Thought is a series in which Kevin is joined by TWO special guests in breaking down another Best Picture nominee not reviewed on the regular show that could have still been the runner-up. In this episode, Kevin speaks with Michael Domanico and Walt Hickey of the Not Her Again podcast about Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting," the possible runner-up that lost Best Picture to "Titanic" in 1997. This episode includes a review of the film itself, its awards run, and another fun quiz!   You can listen to the full episode of On Second Thought by going to patreon.com/andtherunnerupis and contributing at the $3 per month tier. Follow Kevin Jacobsen on Twitter:     @Kevin_Jacobsen Follow Michael Domanico on Twitter: @mjdomanico Follow Walt Hickey on Twitter: @WaltHickey Follow And the Runner-Up Is on Twitter:      @OscarRunnerUp Music included on this episode:     "Main Title" - Danny Elfman

Interview Special: Walter Hickey This week Petros sat down with Walter Hickey to discuss his work in data journalism and how that led him into the weird and wonderful world of Nic Cage. Having Stumbled across the twitter page, @NicCagePlotBot then traced back to the mind behind it. Here’s a list of articles and projects Walt has worked on from the FiveThirtyEight piece that started all this to a daily news letter with interesting stories with fascinating numbers, Numlock News. The Five Types Of Nicolas Cage Movies  https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-five-types-of-nicolas-cage-movies/ Marvel: Daredevil’s Huge Medical Costs https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/the-healthcare-costs-of-fight-related-injuries-inflicted-by-daredevil Numlock News https://numlock.substack.com (https://numlock.substack.com/) Walt Hickey’s Website http://walthickey.com (http://walthickey.com/) Follow Walt on Twitter: @WaltHickey (https://twitter.com/walthickey) @NicCagePlotBot (https://twitter.com/NicCagePlotBot) Want to get in touch with the podcast?  Facebook & Twitter: @CagedInPod (https://twitter.com/cagedinpod) Instagram: @PetrosPatsilivas_ (https://instagram.com/petrospatsilivas_) Email: cagedinpod@gmail.com

We invited Walt Hickey, author of Numlock News, to share with an audience of Substack writers in New York how he thinks about spinning off multiple newsletters for fun and profit. Walt started off with Numlock News – where he writes about the numbers behind the news – then added paid subscriptions, an Oscar Awards supplement, and a book club.This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.TakeawaysMultiple newsletters are a lightweight way to experiment with new ideas.Use your main newsletter to create spin-offs, so you never have to deal with the “zero subscriber” problem again.Get creative with your paid subscriptions. You don't just have to send one free and one paid post. Depending on your topic, you might consider publishing paid content during a peak season, quarterly in-depth reports, or more.I run a newsletter called Numlock. It's a daily morning newsletter about the numbers inside the news.I started it after working at FiveThirtyEight for about five years, where I'd started a newsletter called Significant Digits. As a guy with a math-y background, I realized that my biggest liability as a person in journalism was that I needed to get better at writing, and doing something every day was a really effective way of practicing.I really enjoyed writing that newsletter, and then it hit a point where the scuttlebutt was that FiveThirtyEight was going to be sold. I looked at where Sig Dig was and realized there was more value in there than we were currently unlocking. The open rate was great. People enjoyed receiving it. In building the case for why FiveThirtyEight should keep me, I actually built the case for why I should leave and start my own newsletter. I did that, and it's been great.How he started multiple newslettersMy main newsletter is Numlock, it's my bread and butter. It's what I've been doing for more than two years now. I have a product that I think is good, and that my audience thinks is good. As a result, I have a good “in” with people who enjoy reading my work. If I were to describe Numlock in Uber-for-pizza terms, what I think of is, “It's Good Morning America for nerdier folks.”This being Substack, at a certain point, it came time to monetize, so I launched a Sunday edition. For $5 a month, I talk to either a writer who wrote a really cool story that I put in the main newsletter, or I talk to an author who's got a good book out. This is a really fun way to add value.If you think about traditional media ecosystems like late night shows, there's a reason they have written jokes in the beginning and then an interview at the end. It's because interviews are easy to book, and people tend to like them a lot. It's a nice way to have something that's less work than the newsletter itself, but gives people more insight into the stories that we find.But I've also started a couple of other spin-off newsletters, one of which is the Numlock Awards Supplement.I'm a culture writer, and I love predicting the Oscars using math. It's a good time. I started about two years ago and wanted to keep doing it. I think we learn a lot about ourselves, and how we can predict things, through this institution that is very obscure. It's a fun little puzzle.So I started a pop-up award season newsletter. It runs from November-ish, or whenever I feel like starting it, until Oscar night and the week after. It's a nice opportunity to talk about a thing I'm really passionate about, but not have to throw it at my traditional people who just want to watch Good Morning America and never talk to me again.That spawned another idea. I love engaging with audiences, and discussion threads are such a cool feature that Substack has built. I wanted a way to tap into that without compelling people who just enjoyed the passive nature of newsletters to participate.So I thought, again, having interviewed a lot of authors and seeing the response that that gets, my audience is one that enjoys reading things, learning new things, cool ideas, cool books and stuff like that. I figured one way to expand that was through a book club.The Numlock Book Club is kind of a democracy, and it's also kind of an experiment. The idea was we're going to vote on books to read, and then we're going to vote on these books. Whatever book you pick, we're going to read, then it's basically just going to be a managed reading thing.We've gone through three so far. We're in the middle of our fourth, and it's really fun. You get a chance to cover things that you wouldn't normally cover. You get to engage with readers that you might not normally be able or willing to, based on how you normally interact with your newsletter.Spin-offs make it easy to try new thingsHere's the real reason that you should make spin-off newsletters. Who's having fun in media anymore? I think about this question constantly, because I'm having fun in media, but many other people are not. So I made this list of all the people I could think of that are currently having fun in media:Top TV talentPrivate equity capitalists extracting enormous quantities of wealth for a style of business operation not entirely unlike the episode where Tony Soprano busted up that camping storeWalt DisneyPeople who make a living directly from their audiencePeople that get residuals from NBC television shows that aired in the '90s and early 2000sJake PaulI can't be any of these except for one, but it's really fun. To give you an example of other people who've tried this, I'd like to highlight the example of the McElroy brothers, which is a family of brothers who have podcasts.They started with a podcast called My Brother, My Brother, and Me. Then they tried to do one episode about Dungeons and Dragons, and it went well. So they spun that off and made a podcast called The Adventure Zone, which ended up becoming a lot more popular than the original podcast. Eventually, they started adding some other weird spin-off podcasts. Some of these then turned into other opportunities to cross-promote.The idea is, if you like The Bachelor, you can listen to Rose Buddies. If you like medical history, you can check out Sawbones, which promotes everything else they have. Everything they do internally plugs into one another.So if I'm a person who likes the first thing, I can eventually wind my way to other things that I like. Maybe you don't want to listen to Sawbones, but you might be really down for The Adventure Zone. And this also turns into other opportunities like a book, or a graphic novel, or the fact that they had a podcast called The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2 and eventually it happened – they're in Trolls 2.Spin-offs are great. They address a lot of things that are annoying about starting a newsletter from scratch, namely that you know the people who like you the most already. They're the ones who currently subscribe to your newsletter. So you can reach the people who are most likely to subscribe to your other newsletter.Spin-offs are great. They address a lot of things that are annoying about starting a newsletter from scratch, namely that you know the people who like you the most already.The Golden Rule I've found is that every new subscriber is slightly easier to get than the previous subscriber, because networks scale. It's very difficult to go from zero to one. Going 10 to 11 is easier. Going 99 to 100 is easier than that, and so on. So you never really need to relive the “zero-subscriber newsletter” that really takes guts to send.As long as you come into it like that, you can say, “I don't know if this is going to last forever. This is just a fun little thing I'm going to do on the side.” But your spin-offs have an opportunity to bolster the way that you interact with your audience. You might get that hit. You might make a sidebar newsletter that ends up being bigger than your initial one. Nobody really knows what's good anymore, but experimenting a lot is a good way to try that.Also, collaborations are great. I do my Oscar Awards one with the person I'm dating, who knows much more about the Oscars than I do.Get creative with paid subscriptionsThe internet spent a lot of time figuring out how to really optimize ads. We know a lot of ways to make money off advertising to people. We also now know that, yes, subscriptions are great. Last night I wondered: what is the average frequency with which a paid newsletter sends out paid posts?I pulled the top 25 Substack newsletters and found that 14 of the 25 were sending about even amounts: one paid post for one free post. Some were more like me, where you do five free, one paid. And then some were the opposite direction, where you get five paid and then one free per week.So we know what tends to do well when it comes to subscriptions, but I want to point out a few other business models that I think people should try. There are different ways to use subscriptions that are not simply, “Half my posts are behind a paywall and the other half is free.”For instance, you can use what's almost like demand-based pricing. If there's an election going on, in October lots of people are going to be interested in that stuff. And so maybe you have something that's like, “We're an elections newsletter. In October, only paid subscribers get the really timely material.” On the other hand, you could have a paid-only edition that arrives quarterly or yearly. You just have to figure out what you need to promise and then deliver on that. It doesn't need to be once a week. It doesn't need to be twice a week. It doesn't need to be once a month. As long as you figure out your social contract with your readers, you can do whatever you want. It can come in the form of, “I cover an industry and once a year, you're going to get a big report from me and that's what the money's for.”You can promise to do 20 paid-only editions per year and only send them when there's actually news on your beat. I'm not going to monetize my Oscars newsletter, but maybe I have one that's awards all year-round, and then I only send the paid editions when the news is hot, which is going to be in January and February. There are all sorts of ways that you can use ancillary newsletters to both experiment with content and experiment with delivery formats.For more advice on growing your newsletter, check out “How to build community around your publication.”Photo by Bess Adler Thank you for subscribing. Share this episode.

We invited Walt Hickey, author of Numlock News, to share with an audience of Substack writers in New York how he thinks about spinning off multiple newsletters for fun and profit. Walt started off with Numlock News – where he writes about the numbers behind the news – then added paid subscriptions, an Oscar Awards supplement, and a book club.This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.TakeawaysMultiple newsletters are a lightweight way to experiment with new ideas.Use your main newsletter to create spin-offs, so you never have to deal with the “zero subscriber” problem again.Get creative with your paid subscriptions. You don’t just have to send one free and one paid post. Depending on your topic, you might consider publishing paid content during a peak season, quarterly in-depth reports, or more.I run a newsletter called Numlock. It’s a daily morning newsletter about the numbers inside the news.I started it after working at FiveThirtyEight for about five years, where I’d started a newsletter called Significant Digits. As a guy with a math-y background, I realized that my biggest liability as a person in journalism was that I needed to get better at writing, and doing something every day was a really effective way of practicing.I really enjoyed writing that newsletter, and then it hit a point where the scuttlebutt was that FiveThirtyEight was going to be sold. I looked at where Sig Dig was and realized there was more value in there than we were currently unlocking. The open rate was great. People enjoyed receiving it. In building the case for why FiveThirtyEight should keep me, I actually built the case for why I should leave and start my own newsletter. I did that, and it's been great.How he started multiple newslettersMy main newsletter is Numlock, it’s my bread and butter. It’s what I've been doing for more than two years now. I have a product that I think is good, and that my audience thinks is good. As a result, I have a good “in” with people who enjoy reading my work. If I were to describe Numlock in Uber-for-pizza terms, what I think of is, “It's Good Morning America for nerdier folks.”This being Substack, at a certain point, it came time to monetize, so I launched a Sunday edition. For $5 a month, I talk to either a writer who wrote a really cool story that I put in the main newsletter, or I talk to an author who's got a good book out. This is a really fun way to add value.If you think about traditional media ecosystems like late night shows, there’s a reason they have written jokes in the beginning and then an interview at the end. It’s because interviews are easy to book, and people tend to like them a lot. It’s a nice way to have something that’s less work than the newsletter itself, but gives people more insight into the stories that we find.But I’ve also started a couple of other spin-off newsletters, one of which is the Numlock Awards Supplement.I’m a culture writer, and I love predicting the Oscars using math. It's a good time. I started about two years ago and wanted to keep doing it. I think we learn a lot about ourselves, and how we can predict things, through this institution that is very obscure. It's a fun little puzzle.So I started a pop-up award season newsletter. It runs from November-ish, or whenever I feel like starting it, until Oscar night and the week after. It's a nice opportunity to talk about a thing I'm really passionate about, but not have to throw it at my traditional people who just want to watch Good Morning America and never talk to me again.That spawned another idea. I love engaging with audiences, and discussion threads are such a cool feature that Substack has built. I wanted a way to tap into that without compelling people who just enjoyed the passive nature of newsletters to participate.So I thought, again, having interviewed a lot of authors and seeing the response that that gets, my audience is one that enjoys reading things, learning new things, cool ideas, cool books and stuff like that. I figured one way to expand that was through a book club.The Numlock Book Club is kind of a democracy, and it's also kind of an experiment. The idea was we're going to vote on books to read, and then we're going to vote on these books. Whatever book you pick, we're going to read, then it's basically just going to be a managed reading thing.We've gone through three so far. We're in the middle of our fourth, and it's really fun. You get a chance to cover things that you wouldn't normally cover. You get to engage with readers that you might not normally be able or willing to, based on how you normally interact with your newsletter.Spin-offs make it easy to try new thingsHere’s the real reason that you should make spin-off newsletters. Who’s having fun in media anymore? I think about this question constantly, because I'm having fun in media, but many other people are not. So I made this list of all the people I could think of that are currently having fun in media:Top TV talentPrivate equity capitalists extracting enormous quantities of wealth for a style of business operation not entirely unlike the episode where Tony Soprano busted up that camping storeWalt DisneyPeople who make a living directly from their audiencePeople that get residuals from NBC television shows that aired in the '90s and early 2000sJake PaulI can't be any of these except for one, but it’s really fun. To give you an example of other people who’ve tried this, I’d like to highlight the example of the McElroy brothers, which is a family of brothers who have podcasts.They started with a podcast called My Brother, My Brother, and Me. Then they tried to do one episode about Dungeons and Dragons, and it went well. So they spun that off and made a podcast called The Adventure Zone, which ended up becoming a lot more popular than the original podcast. Eventually, they started adding some other weird spin-off podcasts. Some of these then turned into other opportunities to cross-promote.The idea is, if you like The Bachelor, you can listen to Rose Buddies. If you like medical history, you can check out Sawbones, which promotes everything else they have. Everything they do internally plugs into one another.So if I’m a person who likes the first thing, I can eventually wind my way to other things that I like. Maybe you don't want to listen to Sawbones, but you might be really down for The Adventure Zone. And this also turns into other opportunities like a book, or a graphic novel, or the fact that they had a podcast called The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2 and eventually it happened – they're in Trolls 2.Spin-offs are great. They address a lot of things that are annoying about starting a newsletter from scratch, namely that you know the people who like you the most already. They're the ones who currently subscribe to your newsletter. So you can reach the people who are most likely to subscribe to your other newsletter.Spin-offs are great. They address a lot of things that are annoying about starting a newsletter from scratch, namely that you know the people who like you the most already.The Golden Rule I've found is that every new subscriber is slightly easier to get than the previous subscriber, because networks scale. It's very difficult to go from zero to one. Going 10 to 11 is easier. Going 99 to 100 is easier than that, and so on. So you never really need to relive the “zero-subscriber newsletter” that really takes guts to send.As long as you come into it like that, you can say, “I don't know if this is going to last forever. This is just a fun little thing I'm going to do on the side.” But your spin-offs have an opportunity to bolster the way that you interact with your audience. You might get that hit. You might make a sidebar newsletter that ends up being bigger than your initial one. Nobody really knows what's good anymore, but experimenting a lot is a good way to try that.Also, collaborations are great. I do my Oscar Awards one with the person I’m dating, who knows much more about the Oscars than I do.Get creative with paid subscriptionsThe internet spent a lot of time figuring out how to really optimize ads. We know a lot of ways to make money off advertising to people. We also now know that, yes, subscriptions are great. Last night I wondered: what is the average frequency with which a paid newsletter sends out paid posts?I pulled the top 25 Substack newsletters and found that 14 of the 25 were sending about even amounts: one paid post for one free post. Some were more like me, where you do five free, one paid. And then some were the opposite direction, where you get five paid and then one free per week.So we know what tends to do well when it comes to subscriptions, but I want to point out a few other business models that I think people should try. There are different ways to use subscriptions that are not simply, “Half my posts are behind a paywall and the other half is free.”For instance, you can use what’s almost like demand-based pricing. If there's an election going on, in October lots of people are going to be interested in that stuff. And so maybe you have something that’s like, “We're an elections newsletter. In October, only paid subscribers get the really timely material.” On the other hand, you could have a paid-only edition that arrives quarterly or yearly. You just have to figure out what you need to promise and then deliver on that. It doesn't need to be once a week. It doesn't need to be twice a week. It doesn't need to be once a month. As long as you figure out your social contract with your readers, you can do whatever you want. It can come in the form of, “I cover an industry and once a year, you're going to get a big report from me and that's what the money's for.”You can promise to do 20 paid-only editions per year and only send them when there's actually news on your beat. I'm not going to monetize my Oscars newsletter, but maybe I have one that’s awards all year-round, and then I only send the paid editions when the news is hot, which is going to be in January and February. There are all sorts of ways that you can use ancillary newsletters to both experiment with content and experiment with delivery formats.For more advice on growing your newsletter, check out “How to build community around your publication.”Photo by Bess Adler Get on the email list at on.substack.com

Recorded: October 9th 2019Published: October 10th 2019GUEST: Walt Hickey, Senior Editor for Data @ InsiderFounder @ Numlock News newsletter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Recorded: October 9th 2019Published: October 10th 2019GUEST: Walt Hickey, Senior Editor for Data @ InsiderFounder @ Numlock News newsletter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on TIFF Long Take, in the second of two parts, Rob and Geoff look back on stories and themes that shaped the year in film and television by revisiting some of their favourite conversations from 2018. Excerpts include: - FiveThirtyEight’s Walt Hickey, Ella Koeze, and Rachel Dottle on whether it’s time for a new Bechdel test - #OscarsSoWhite’s founder April Reign on her plan to make to make the industry more diverse - Actor Steven Yeun on representing Asian Americans onscreen - Activist Isabel Amor on how the film A Fantastic Woman has advanced transgender rights in Chile - Actor Ben Foster on how he builds his character - Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley on how he gets great performances - Annihilation director Alex Garland on his approach to adaptation - Mudbound director Dee Rees on how she puts together her film crews - Chef’s Table creator David Gelb on revolutionizing the food documentary

People in power tell us constantly that China is a threat but... Why? In this episode, we explore the big picture reasons why China poses a threat to those in power in the United States and what our Congress is doing to combat that threat. Spoiler alert: There's a another U.S. military build-up involved. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD116: TPP - The Environment Chapter CD115: TPP - Access to Medicine CD114: Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Investment Chapter CD095: Secret International Regulations (TPA & TPP) CD060: Fast Track for TPP CD053: TPP - The Leaked Chapter CD052: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Bills/Laws H.R. 5105: BUILD Act of 2018 Became law as a part of H.R. 302: FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 BUILD Act text from FAA law Purposes for which support may be provided The new bank “may designate private, nonprofit organizations as eligible to receive support… to promote development of economic freedom and private sectors” and “to complement the work of the United States Agency for International Development and other donors to improve the overall business enabling environment, financing the creation and expansion of the private business sector.”  Powers of the new development bank The bank “shall have such other powers as may be necessary and incident to carrying out the functions of the Corporation” S. 2736: Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 Sec. 101: Policy “Promotes American prosperity and economic interests by advancing economic growth and development of a rules-based Indo-Pacific economic community”  Sec 102: Diplomatic Strategy To support the “Association of Southeast Asian Nations”, “Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation”, and the “East Asia Summit” #1: Emphasize our commitment to “freedom of navigation under international law”  #7 : "Develop and grow the economy through private sector partnerships between the United States and Indo-Pacific partners" #8: “To pursue multilateral and bilateral trade agreements … and build a network of partners in the Indo-Pacific committee to free markets”  #9: To work with Indo-Pacific countries to pursue infrastructure projects and “to maintain unimpeded commerce, open sea lines or air ways, and communications”  Sec. 201: Authorization of Appropriations Authorizes $1.5 billion for each fiscal year 2019 through 2023 to be divided among the State Dept., USAID, and the Defense Dept.  Congressional Budget Office: The total authorization is almost $8.6 billion The money is allowed to be used for “foreign military financing and international military education and training programs”  The money is allowed to be used “to help partner countries strengthen their democratic systems”  The money is allowed to be used to “encourage responsible natural resource management in partner countries, which is closely associated with economic growth”  Sec. 205: United States-ASEAN Strategic Partnership Sense of Congress expressing the value of “strategic economic initiatives, such as activities under the United States-ASEAN Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement and the United States-ASEAN Connect, which demonstrate a commitment to ASEAN and the ASEAN Economic Community and build upon economic relationships in the Indo-Pacific region." Sec. 209: Commitment to Taiwan “The President should conduct regular transfers of defense articles to Taiwan”  Sec 213 Freedom of Navigation and Overflight; Promotion of International Law “It is the sense of Congress that the President should develop a diplomatic strategy that includes working with United States allies and partners to conduct joint maritime training and freedom of navigation operations in the Indo-Pacific region, including the East China Sea and the South China Sea, in support of a rules-based international system benefitting all countries.”  Sec. 215: Cybersecurity Cooperation Authorizes $100 million for each year (2019-2023) to “enhance cooperation between the United States and Indo-Pacific nations for the purposes of combatting cybersecurity threats.”  Sec. 301: Findings; Sense of Congress Free trade agreements between the United States and three nations in the Indo-Pacific region have entered into force: Australia, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea  According to the National Security Strategy, the United States will “work with partners to build a network of stated dedicated to free markets and protected from forces that would subvert their sovereignty.”  Sec. 304: Trade Capacity Building and Trade Facilitation (a) “The President is encouraged to produce a robust and comprehensive trade capacity building and trade facilitation strategy, including leveling the playing field for American companies competing in the Indo-Pacific region.”  Authorization of Appropriations:“There are authorized to be appropriated such amounts as many be necessaryto carry out subsection (a)."  Sec. 305: Intellectual Property Protection The President “should” take “all appropriate action to deter and punish commercial cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property” and orders a report on the government’s efforts to do so.  Authorization of Appropriations: “There are authorized to be appropriated to the United States Trade Representative such amounts as may be necessary  to sponsor bilateral and multilateral activities designed to build capacity in the identified priority areas” in the report  Sec. 306: Energy Programs and Initiatives Orders the President to create a strategy, updated every 5 years, to “encourage” Indo-Pacific countries to “implement national power strategies and cooperation with United States energy companies and the Department of Energy national laboratories”  Authorization of Appropriations: $1 million per year from 2019 through 2023 Sense of Congress: “the United States should explore opportunities to partner with the private sector and multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to promote universal access to reliable electricity in the Indo-Pacific region, including Myanmar (Burma)" Sec. 409: Authorization of Appropriations $210 million each year (2019-2023) to “promote democracy” and the money can be given to “universities, civil society, and multilateral institutions that are focusing on education awareness, training, and capacity building.” This money can be spent to “promote democracy” in China.  Sec. 411: Young Leaders People-to-People Initiatives Authorizes $25 million per year (2019-2023) to support the “Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, the ASEAN Youth Volunteers program, and other people-to-people exchange programs that focus on building the capacity of democracy, human rights, and good governance activities in the Indo-Pacific region.”  Sec. 412: Savings Program “Nothing in this Act may be construed as authorizing the use of military force.”  HR 5515: John S. McCain National Defense Authorization for Fiscal Year 2019 Sec. 1252 Amends the NDAA for 2016, which authorized the South China Sea Initiative providing military equipment and training to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, to change the name of the program to the “Indo-Pacific Maritime Security Initiative” and expands the authorization to include the Indian Ocean in addition to the South China Sea and the countries of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Adds India to the list of countries allowed to be paid for expenses, along with Brunei, Singapore, and Taiwan. Extends the expiration date from September 30, 2020 to December 31, 2025.  Sec. 1253 Changes the name of the military build-up authorized in NDAA 2018 from the “Indo-Asia-Pacific Stability Initiative” to the “Indo-Pacific Stability Initiative”. Changes the activities authorized to include an increase in “rotational and forward presence” of the US Armed Forces and adds the prepositioning of “munitions” in addition to equipment. Expands the options for funding by removing the requirement that funding come “only” from a section 1001 transfer authority. Requires a 5 year plan be submitted to Congress by the Secretary of Defense by March 1, 2019.  Public Law 115-91: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 Sec 1251  Authorized the “Indo-Asia-Pacific Stability Initiative” to “increase the presence and capabilities” of the United States Armed Forces in the region by building new infrastructure, “enhance the storage and pre-positioning in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region of equipment of the United States Forces”, and with military training and exercises with allies.    Sound Clip Sources Hearing: Democracy Promotion in a Challenging World Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, June 14, 2018. Transcript Watch on YouTube Witnesses: Carl Gershman - National Endowment for Democracy: President Daniel Twining - International Republican Institute: President Kenneth Wollack - National Democratic Institute: President Timestamps & Transcripts  1:43:38 Representative Michael McCaul (TX): I had a briefing yesterday in a classified setting on ZTE and Huawei, and their efforts to conduct espionage in this country. I’ve also seen them in Sri Lanka where they have burdened them with so much debt that they had to turn over a strategic port to the Chinese. We see the Chinese now in Djibouti for the first time, and we see them leveraging the continent of Africa into so much debt that they will be able to eventually take over these countries. They exploit them. They bring in their own workers—they don’t even hire the host countries’ workers—and they export their natural resources in what is this One Belt, One Road policy. 1:45:00 Carl Gershman: In March, The Economist magazine had a cover story on China, and the bottom line of the cover story was—and this is a direct quote—‘‘The West’s 25-year bet on China has failed.’’ The bet was that if China was brought into the World Trade Organization, was encouraged to grow economically, it would become a more liberal society and be part of the liberal world order. 1:46:26 Carl Gershman: It’s a problem with the Belt and Road Initiative, which is not just an economic expansion. This is intimately tied to China’s geopolitical and military strategy precisely to get strategic ports in Sri Lanka or in Maldives because countries fall into the debt trap and pay back by leasing their ports. 1:58:05 Representative Ted Yoho (FL): They’re a form of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and, as we all know, that’s communism. Our form of government empowers the people. Empowered people reach their full potential. China empowers the government where the people are suppressed for the benefit of the government. 2:00:10 Daniel Twining: It’s the surveillance architecture. This Orwellian total surveillance state they’re building with artificial intelligence and facial recognition and all this stuff. It’s very attractive, as you say, not to people but to leaders. 2:07:52 Representative Ted Poe (TX): Globally, what do you personally see is the number-one entity that is a threat to democracy worldwide? Is it China? Is it Russia? Is it North Korea? Is it ISIS? Is it Iran? Pick one. Pick the one you think is the threat. Carl Gershman: China. Rep. Poe: China. Gershman: China. Rep. Poe: Mr. Twining. Daniel Twining: China. Rep. Poe: Mr. Wollack. Kenneth Wollack: Russia. Rep. Poe: Russia. Russia and China. Hearing: The China Challenge, Part 1: Economic Coercion as Statecraft, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity, July 24, 2018. Witnesses: Dan Blumenthal: Director of Asian Studies and Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Ely Ratner: Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security Timestamps and Transcripts  33:49 Chairman Senator Cory Gardner (CO): This hearing will be the first hearing in a three-part series of hearings titled The China Challenge and will examine how the United States should respond to the challenge of a rising China that seeks to upend and supplant the U.S.-led liberal world order. 34:12 Chairman Senator Cory Gardner (CO): According to the National Security Strategy, for decades U.S. policy was rooted in the belief that support for China’s rise and for its integration into the post-war international order would liberalize China. Contrary to our hopes, China expanded its power at the expense of the sovereignty of others. According to the National Defense Strategy, the central challenge to U.S. prosperity and security is the reemergence of long-term strategic competition by what the National Security Strategy classifies as revisionist powers. It is increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model: gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions. 35:28 Chairman Senator Cory Gardner (CO): The question before us now is identifying the tools the United States has at its disposal to counter the disturbing developments posed by China’s less-than-peaceful rise. This is why Senator Markey and I and a bipartisan group of co-sponsors in the Senate joined in introducing the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, or ARIA, on April 24. The legislation sets a comprehensive policy framework to demonstrate U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region and the rules-based international order. ARIA provides a comprehensive set of national security and economic policies to advance U.S. interests and goals in the Indo-Pacific region, including providing substantive U.S. resource commitments for these goals. I’m joined in this legislation on the committee by Senator Kaine, Senator Coons, Senator Cardin, Senator Markey, by Senator Rubio, and Senator Young, as well as Senators Sullivan and Perdue and Graham. 38:12 Chairman Senator Cory Gardner (CO): Our first witness is Senator—is Dan Blumenthal—I almost gave you a demotion there, Dan—who serves as director of Asian studies and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Blumenthal has both served in and advised the U.S. government on China issues for nearly two decades. From 2001 to 2004 he served as senior director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the Department of Defense. Additionally, from 2006, 2012 he served as a commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, including holding the position of vice chair in 2007. 38:54 Chairman Senator Cory Gardner (CO): Our second witness today is Ely Ratner, who serves as the vice president and director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security. Mr. Ratner served from 2015 to 2017 as the deputy national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, and from 2011 to 2012 in the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the State Department. He also previously worked in the U.S. Senate as a professional staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and in the office of Senator Joe Biden. 42:01 Dan Blumenthal: I have to state that the era of reform and opening in China is over. It’s been long over. It’s been over, probably for 10 years. And China is back to being run by state-owned enterprises that are related to the party. The private sector is diminishing. That provides the Chinese state with a lot more control over economic coercive policies. 49:27 Ely Ratner: First, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should hold hearings on the cost and benefits of rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Rejoining TPP is among the most important things we can do to advance our economic position in Asia and erode the effectiveness of China’s economic coercion. By contrast, U.S. withdrawal has done substantial damage to our standing in the region and is facilitating the development of a Chinese sphere of influence in Asia and beyond. Rejoining TPP would renew confidence in the credibility and commitment of the United States, help to re-route supply chains in the region, open new markets for U.S. companies, and ultimately reduce China’s economic leverage. 56:28 Senator Ed Markey (MA): And through its Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, China is burdening countries receiving infrastructure loans with debts so extreme that they begin to undermine their own very sovereignty. According to a recent New York Times report, this Belt and Road Initiative amounts to a debt trap for vulnerable countries around the world, fueling corruption and autocratic behavior in struggling democracies. 59:30 Senator Cory Gardner (CO): Mr. Blumenthal, you mentioned in your opening statement, you talked about the economic opening in China being over. Could you go into a little bit more detail of what you mean by that? Dan Blumenthal: So, the period of reform and opening, which Deng Xiaoping began in 1978 and allowed for the great growth of China, the great growth of the private sector, private-sector entrepreneurs and brought so many Chinese out of poverty and benefitted the world, ended, probably 10 years ago, the Chinese we now know. The Chinese have gone back to the state sector dominating, taking out room for entrepreneurs to grow. They’ve gone back to things like price controls. They’ve gone back to things like lending on the basis of non-market, non-profitable lending but rather through patronage from the party to state-owned enterprises. They certainly haven’t moved any further than they were 10, 12 years ago on market access, things that we’ve been pressing for. They haven’t stopped subsidizing. In fact, they’ve doubled down on subsidizing their state-owned enterprises, which is probably the single biggest cause of probably the WTO stalling as much as it has. And Xi Jinping is certainly not taking China down the road of another round of market reforms—quite the contrary. He’s a statist and favoring state-owned enterprises and the subsidization of state-owned enterprises over the private sector. 1:11:42 Ely Ratner: China is going to use its economic clout to try to achieve its geopolitical aims, which include dividing American alliances and eroding the influence of the United States in the region. So I think that was a very important episode. It was very revealing. I think we can talk about trying to incorporate China into a rules-based order. I don’t think that’s where we’re going to be in the next several years. I think what we have to do is pull up our socks, get more competitive, slow down Chinese momentum in its efforts to develop this sphere of influence. That’s a much more urgent task than a long-term goal of developing a rules-based order. 1:13:44 Senator Todd Young (IN): Mr. Ratner, thanks for your testimony. As I reviewed your written statement, you seem to be making a pretty simple argument with very serious implications. In short, you seem to be saying we’re in a high-stakes competition with China, that China does not accept this rules-based international order we had hoped to welcome them into back in 2000. The legitimacy of that order and the institutions that were stood up to oversee that order are not respected by China. China, instead, respects power. And we as a nation have insufficient leverage, it seems, to be able to affect the sort of change we want with respect to intellectual-property theft, joint-licensing requirements, dumping, and so many other things. What we lack—and this is language you employed—is a comprehensive strategy. Is that a fair summary of your viewpoint, Mr. Ratner? Ely Ratner: Yes, sir. 1:21:05 Ely Ratner: When it looked like the United States was going to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership and that agreement was going to pass, the Chinese were starting to ask questions quietly at senior levels, with American officials about what they would need to do down the road to improve their practices to join that agreement, and obviously, those conversations are no longer happening today. 1:22:30 Senator Jeff Merkley (OR): Mr. Ratner, under WTO, is China allowed to offer subsidies to its businesses? Ely Ratner: Senator, I’m not a trade lawyer, so I can’t get into the weeds of WTO law, but I think the answer is no, and there’re several other dimensions in which they’re not in compliance with the agreement. Sen. Merkley: Under the WTO, China is required to do an annual report of all of its subsidies to different enterprises. Does it do that report? Ratner: I believe not, Senator. Sen. Merkley: So, when it fails to do the report, we are, under the WTO, allowed to do a report on their subsidies. I did an amendment a few years ago that said if China doesn’t produce a report, our trade representative will be directed to produce our report. And before that amendment, the ink could dry on it, our trade rep under President Obama produced a list of 200 Chinese subsidies, subsidies we’re well aware of but rarely kind of articulated. So that’s—so we certainly have an understanding of massive Chinese subsidies that are not allowed under WTO. How about to offer loans at non-market rates? Ratner: I believe not, sir. Sen. Merkley: Or to provide land for free as a form of subsidy? Ratner: I think that’s right, as well as forced technology transfer and a number of other practices. Sen. Merkley: And how about being required—for our companies to be required to locate in a particular part of China where the infrastructure is inferior to other locations? Ratner: Correct. Sen. Merkley: A couple years ago, when I was a part of a delegation to China, we were at a meeting of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in which many of these practices were highlighted, but one company in particular stood up and said, and I won’t name the exact company because they probably didn’t want it too much publicized at the time, but they said they were basically told, we have to put our manufacturing center in this far-western city, far from the port infrastructure; we are told we cannot build any size of item that is in direct competition with the Chinese items; they were told they only could build larger versions that the Chinese weren’t yet building, or they would be shut down and shut out of the country. Is that type of activity by the Chinese legal under the WTO? Ratner: No, sir. Sen. Merkley: And what about requiring American companies to do joint-venture arrangements in order to be able to locate in China? Ratner: Also, not part of the agreement. Sen. Merkley: So, and you’re familiar with how these joint-venture agreements are often used as a way to drain U.S. technology? Ratner: Yes, sir. Sen. Merkley: So, what does one say to the American citizen who says, “China is violating all of these rules, and the WTO has no mechanism by which we appear to be able to hold them accountable. Why shouldn’t we work intensely to create an ability to hold China accountable to the structure of the WTO?” Ratner: I think that was the intention of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. 1:45:22 Senator Cory Gardner (CO): In recent writings in the Wall Street Journal, quotes from President Xi, China has its own ideas about how the world should be run, and as he put it, “to lead in the reform of global governance.” Another quote, or another statement, “in at least eight African countries, as well as some in Southeast Asia, Chinese officials are training their counterparts in how to manage political stability through propaganda and how to control media and the Internet,” and that the China model provides “a new option for other countries who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence.” And finally this: China has committed to train 10,000 political elites in Latin America by 2020. All of this speaks to the need for what you have described, Mr. Ratner, what you have described, Mr. Blumenthal, is U.S. leadership and U.S. response, whether it’s the BUILD Act, whether it’s legislation that Senator Young has described, the legislation that we have co-sponsored together—the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act. This is a time for U.S. leadership, and it’s a time to stand boldly for our values that have empowered the world to be a better place, that has lifted up hundreds of millions of people around the globe up and out of poverty through a system of rules and standards that don’t favor one country over another but that give people a chance to participate in global governance and that global rise. Hearing: The China Challenge, Part 2: Security and Military Developments, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity, Septemer 5, 2018. Witnesses: Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro: American Enterprise Institute Abraham Denmark: Director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Timestamps and Transcripts  27:50 Chairman Cory Gardner (CO): Our first witness is Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro, who is the Jeane Kirkpatrick visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute where she focuses on Chinese military and security policy in the Asia Pacific. She is also assistant professor of Security Studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and serves in the United States Air Force Reserve as a political-military affairs strategist at Pacific air forces. Previously, Dr. Mastro was a fellow in the Asia-Pacific security program at the Center for a New American Security. 28:25 Chairman Cory Gardner (CO): Also joined on the panel by Abraham Denmark, who is director of the Asia program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, Mr. Denmark served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, where he supported the secretary of defense and other U.S. senior government leaders in the formulation and implementation of national security strategies and defense policies toward the region. Mr. Denmark also previously worked as senior vice president for political and security affairs at the National Bureau of Asian Research, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and held several positions in the U.S. intelligence community. 42:40 Oriana Skylar Mastro: What China is doing is they’re exploiting gaps in the order. So, we talk about the U.S.-led international order and whether China is challenging it or not. But in reality, there’s many areas of the order that lacks certainty, or ambiguous, don’t have consensus. So I would label cybersecurity as one of these areas. And so what China does is it’s trying to build consensus or work on the periphery of the order. So, for example, when they did One Belt, One Road, and they initially moved to the central Asia, they weren’t challenging the United States, because the United States was not there. And so I would say that in addition to strengthening our relationship with traditional partners and allies, the United States needs to think more broadly about its relationships with countries around the globe. Also, in terms of the security initiative, I would recommend that we think more about demand not supply, in kind of business terms. You often, at least in my experience, you think about what the United States has to offer in terms of security assistance, and then we try to put together packages, whether it’s visits, port visits, or a rotation of a squadron or what have you, instead of looking at what those countries actually demand. And so we should move away from this model of increasing advertising and hoping that countries around the world will decide they want what we have to offer, and instead try to look at what they actually want and start supplying that. 1:05:45 Senator Ed Markey (MA): Should the United States abandon the rules-based international system, and what would the concessions be that we would try to extract in order to take such a step? Dr. Mastro. Oriana Skylar Mastro: So, sir, I don’t think we should abandon it. Instead, what I’m arguing for is an expansion of that system. I think that actually the international, is very limited. If you look at the definition, the party to that order, the amount of countries that actually might be involved in certain treaties, it’s not every country possible. For example, India has very different views on things like cybersecurity than the United States does. And so I think if we could manage to build consensus in these areas of uncertainty, we could actually shape China’s choices. And to that end, that gives the United States a lot of political power because the bottom line is one of the main differences between today and maybe 10 years ago is for the United States, the security benefits that we give to our partners, allies, in the region are no longer enough to outweigh the economic benefits that they get from interacting with China. And so we need a security-benefits-plus type of strategy in which we think also about the economic benefits, which is difficult under the current administration, given the trade policy, but also those political benefits by building new international institutions and building new norms and consensus around areas where that consensus has failed to date. 1:07:08 Chairman Cory Gardner (CO): Going back to the question I started to talk about, just the investments that China has made in South America, the investments China is making in Central America. If you look at investments in Panama, El Salvador, and at least apparently in El Salvador, as perhaps part of an agreement as it relates to the decision El Salvador made on Taiwan. Look at the sale of submarines to countries—Thailand—do we see that as continued opportunity for China’s military expansion? Will we see military basing affecting U.S. operations in Thailand? Will we see, perhaps, an opportunity for military entrance into Central America, into South America, China, basing, even, perhaps? Mr. Denmark. Abraham Denmark: Well, I think there’s a lot that remains to be seen. I don’t think there’s a definitive yes or no answer to that question, but I do expect that Djibouti be the first overseas base that China has established. I fully expect that that will not be the last. Where additional facilities may pop up remains to be seen. I personally would expect more facilities to be established along the trade routes from the Western Pacific, through the Indian Ocean, into the Middle East. I would expect to see more there than before I’d expect to see them in Latin America, primarily because of China’s economic interests, but it remains to be seen. 1:20:00 Senator Ed Markey (MA): In September of 2013, China began a concerted effort to build artificial islands in the South China Sea by crushing coral reefs into sand. It built land features where none previously existed. On top of that, China expanded small outposts into military bases capable of conducting operations. Admiral Philip Davidson, the commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, stated this year that China’s militarization of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea means “China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios, short of a war with the United States.” Ms. Mastro, what considerations or challenges do these bases pose for other claimants and the United States in peacetime, in the gray zone, or in conflict? In other words, what are the implications of China’s military bases in the South China Sea? Oriana Skylar Mastro: So, militarily, sir, they expand the range of Chinese capabilities. And so I think I made the point previously that it’s difficult for us to conceive of fighting a war with China using our bases in Korea and Japan, and that’s primarily because of the range of conventional precision-guided munitions that China has that can reach those bases and render them inoperable. In the South China Sea, which is about the size of the United States, China’s power-projection capabilities historically have been quite limited. And in the report, for example, one thing that was highlighted was the H-6K, when it has ______(01:37), now China can extend its range to 3,300 kilometers. But if you actually have bases there, coupled with carriers, then China’s able to sustain combat sorties, for example, for longer periods of time and at farther ranges than it was before. And this is what allows it to be able to control, as the quote suggested, large areas of the South China Sea, the air, and the sea. I would just mention on the gray-zone side, that China can engage in gray-zone activities only because the United States allows it to. There’s nothing that, as far as I understand it, there’s nothing that tells us that, for example, if China says, “Well, this is a Coast Guard,” that we can’t respond with the use of the U.S. Navy. We are too concerned about escalation, and China knows this. They don’t believe in miscalculation and in inadvertent escalation, and so they use this to their advantage. And we should start being very clear about what our redlines are and, obviously, being then able to follow through with that. 1:42:30 Senator Ed Markey (MA): I just have one final area of questioning, if I may, and that just goes back to the Belt and Road Initiative which has resulted in a very generous policy by China of loaning money to countries, which they then can’t pay back, which then results in China being able to extract huge long-term concessions from those countries. Sri Lanka, just a perfect example where they’ve now had to give up a 99-year lease to the Chinese company, which is partially owned by the Chinese government, 15,000 acres of land. And now it appears there are more countries that are deciding to reconsider how far in debt they want their countries or companies to be to a Chinese entity. But at the same time, President Xi, just in the last few days has announced a new $60 billion program—grants, loans—around the world, on top of the $60 billion program that they’ve had in the past that now has these consequences. So, what are the implications for the United States, for global security, of these Chinese strategies in country after country to gain access, or control over, ports in countries? And what would you recommend to the United States that we do to try to make sure that we minimize the ability of this Belt and Road program to build economic and security relationships with companies in a way almost giving them offers they can’t refuse so they become deeper indebted and more entangled into Chinese foreign policy objectives? 1:48:09 Abraham Denmark: The initiative announced several weeks ago by Secretary of State Pompeo in this vein to enhance U.S. engagement, economic engagement, in these areas I thought was a good indication of seeing the problem and trying to address it, not trying to copy the Chinese system, but playing to American strengths of the free market and American corporations. Hearing: The China Challenge, Part 3: Democracy, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity, December 4, 2018. Watch on C-SPAN Witnesses: Laura Stone: Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the US Department of State Scott Busby: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights and Labor at the US Department of State Gloria Steele: Acting Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Asia at USAID Timestamps and Transcripts  01:23:05 Senator Ed Markey (MA): Around the world, all countries, including the United States, rely on the rules-based international order to underpin security and prosperity to help provide a level playing field, to provide the maximum opportunity for the greatest number of people, and to defend and protect certain fundamental rights. So it is of the utmost importance that we do everything in our power to ensure that this system remains. 01:30:00 Senator Cory Gardner (CO): Our first witness is Scott Busby, who serves as deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of the Human Right, Democracy, and Labor. Previously, he served as director for human rights on the National Security Council in the White House from 2009 to 2011, where he managed a wide range of human rights and refugee issues. 01:36:20 Scott Busby: My bureau, DRL, is implementing $10 million of FY 2018 economic support funds to support human rights in China, just as we have done for the past several years. Nevertheless, such programs are increasingly challenged by the difficult operating environment in China, including the new and highly restrictive foreign NGO management law. 1:59:58 Senator Marco Rubio (FL): And then you see sort of what the global reaction has been to it, and there’s reason to be concerned that this post-World War II, pro-democracy, pro-human rights, global norms are being eroded and reshaped and that China is using its geopolitical heft and its economic power to push it in that direction. Meeting: Press availability at the 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and related meetings, August 4, 2018. Speaker: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Timestamps and Transcripts  1:15 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: "Throughout my ASEAN-centered engagements these past days I’ve conveyed President Trump’s commitment to this vital part of the world that continues to grow in importance. Security has been a major focus of our conversations. As part of our commitment to advancing regional security in the Indo-Pacific, the United States is excited to announce nearly $300 million in new funding to reinforce security cooperation throughout the entire region.” 4:50 - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: "As I said earlier this week, the United States practices partnership economics; we seek partnership, not dominance. Earlier this week at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum hosted by the United States Chamber of Commerce, I outlined the Trump administration’s economic strategy for advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific, and I talked about why U.S. businesses’ engagement in the region is crucial to our mission of promoting peace, stability, and prosperity. There is no better force for prosperity in the world than American businesses. When nations partner with American firms, they can have confidence they are working with the most scrupulous, well-run, and transparent companies in the world. As a down payment on a new era in American economic commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, I announced at the forum $113 million in new U.S. Government resources to support foundational areas of the future: the digital economy, energy, and infrastructure. In addition, the Trump administration is working with Congress to encourage the passage of the BUILD Act. It recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives and now before the United States Senate. Under this bill, the government’s development finance capacity would more than double to $60 billion to support U.S. private investment in strategic opportunities abroad." Meeting: Beyond NAFTA and GATT, National Association Southern Center, April 20, 1994. Speaker: Arthur Dunkel - Director of the UN Wrote the “Dunkel Draft” in 1991, a 500 page general outline of what became the WTO 3 years later - it’s basically the WTO’s Constitution “Retired” from GATT in 1993, became a “trade consultant”, and served on the board of Nestle Is a registered WTO dispute panelist Transcript  Arthur Dunkel: If I look back at the last 25 years, what did we have? We had two worlds: The so-called Market Economy world and the sadly planned world; the sadly planned world disappeared. One of the main challenges of the Uruguay round has been to create a world wide system. I think we have to think of that. Secondly, why a world wide system? Because, basically, I consider that if governments cooperate in trade policy field, you reduce the risks of tension - political tension and even worse than that." Additional Reading Article: Disney sets out international leadership team post-Fox deal by Stewart Clarke, Variety, December 13, 2018. Article: IMF delays Sri Lanka's loan discussion on political crisis, Reuters, November 20, 2018. Annual Report: U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, USCC.gov, November 14, 2018. Article: Sri Lanka's political shake-up is a win for China by Bharath Gopalaswamy, Foreign Policy, October 29, 2018. Article: Sri Lanka to secure sixth tranche of $250 million IMF's EFF, Press Reader, Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) October 14, 2018. Article: The BUILD Act has passed: What's next? CSIS, October 12, 2018. Article: Power play: Addressing China's belt and road strategy by Daniel Kliman and Abigail Grace, CNAS, September 20, 2018. Article: Taiwan's monthly minimum wage to increase by 5% in 2019 by Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, September 6, 2018. Fact Sheet: U.S. security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, U.S. Department of State, August 4, 2018. Article: Treasury weakens donor disclosure requirements for some nonprofits by Michael Wyland, Nonprofit Quarterly, July 18, 2018. Article: China is doing the same things to Sri Lanka that Great Britain did to China after the opium wars by Panos Mourdoukoutas, Forbes, June 28, 2018. Article: Chinese firm pays $584 million to secure 99-year lease of Sri Lanka port by Reuters, GCaptain, June 26, 2018. Article: How China go Sri Lanka to cough up a port by Maria Abi-Habib, The New York Times, June 25, 2018. Article: China's use of cercive economic measures by Peter Harrell, Elizabeth Rosenberg, and Edoardo Saravalle, CNAS, June 11, 2018. Article: China's military escalation by The Editorial Board, WSJ, June 4, 2018. Article: China owns US debt, but how much? by Investopedia, April 6, 2018. Article: China's military facilities in South China Sea 'almost ready' by Raul Dancel, The Straits Times, February 6, 2018. Report: China's economic rise: History, trends, challenges, and implications for the United States by Wayne M. Morrison, Congressional Research Service, February 5, 2018. Article: U.S. leadership needed in the Asia-Pacific by James W. Fatheree, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, November 17, 2017. Article: China's new island-building ship raises the stakes in South China Sea by Dan Southerland, Radio Free Asia, November 10, 2017. Report: Taiwan: Issues for Congress, Congressional Research Service, October 30, 2017. Article: Inside the fight for OPIC reauthorization by Adva Saldinger, devex, February 21, 2017. News Release: Charles A Kupchan and Ely Ratner join CFR as Senior Fellows, Council on Foreign Relations, February 15, 2017. News Report: PG&E receives maximum sentence for 2010 San Bruno explosion by Kate Larsen, ABC 7 News, January 26, 2017. Article: Lockheed Martin scores $395M DHS security operations center contract by Billy Mitchell, Fed Scoop, September 9, 2016. Article: Terror in Little Saigon by A.C. Thompson, ProPublica, November 3, 2015. Article: Taiwan multinationals serving a broader role by Molly Reiner, Taiwan Business TOPICS, October 28, 2015. Article: China's island factory by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News, September 9, 2014. Article: Why was the Dalai Lama hanging out with the right-wing American Enterprise Institute? by David Rose, Vanity Fair, February 26, 2014. Article: The secret foreign donor behind the American Enterprise Institute by Eli Clifton, The Nation, June 25, 2013. Article: Inside the secretive dark-money organization that's keeping the lights on for conservative groups by Walt Hickey, Business Insider, February 12, 2013. Article: How Beijing won Sri Lanka's civil war, Independent, May 23, 2010. Article: The one-year review: Obama's Asia policies by Daniel Blumenthal, Foreign Policy, November 3, 2009. Article: Former high-ranking Bush officials enjoy war profits by Tim Shorrock, Salon, May 29, 2008. Report: ChoicePoint sold to LexisNexis parent, Atlanta Business Chronicle, February 21, 2008. Article: Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study by Ian Sample, The Guardian, February 2, 2007. Article: The man who said to much by Michael Isikoff, Newsweek, September 3, 2006. Article: Put a tiger in your think tank, Mother Jones, May/June 2005 Article: What I didn't find in Africa by Joseph C. Wilson, The New York Times, July 6, 2003. Article: Armitage is ready to step into ring by Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, February 14, 2001. Article: Advocacy and lobbying without fear: what is allowed within a 501(c)(3) charitable organization by Thomas Raffa, Nonprofit Quarterly, September 21, 2000. Resources About Page: The CNA Coporation About Page: Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP About Page: The National Bureau of Asian Research About Page: Oriana Skylar Mastro AEI Scholar List: Dan Blumenthal AEI Scholar List: Oriana Skylar Mastro Alexander Hamilton Society: Our Principles American Enterprise Institute: Annual Report 2017 American Enterprise Institute: Board of Trustees American Enterprise Institute: Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellowship and Scholars Program American Enterprise Institute: Leadership American Enterprise Institute: Scholars Armitage International: Our Team Biography: Scott Busby, Deputy Asst. Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Cambridge University Press: Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise Center for New American Security: About CNAS Center for New American Security: Victoria Nuland, CEO CRS Report: U.S. Security Assistance and Security Cooperation Programs Center for Strategic & International Studies: Richard L. Armitage, Trustee Interactive Map: China Belt and Road Initiative IRS: Exemption Requirements - 501 (c)(3) Organizations LinkedIn Account: Oriana Skylar Mastro LinkedIn Account: Scott Busby LinkedIn Account: U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Lockheed Martin: Board Members - Daniel F. Akerson OpenSecrets: American Enterprise Institute Park Hotels & Resorts: Board of Directors ManTech: Mission, Vision, and Values Report to Congress: U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, November 2018 Right Web: American Enterprise Institute Search Results: Paul | Weiss Professionals Security Cooperation Programs: Fiscal Year 2017 Handbook Special Emergency Authorities Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative SourceWatch: American Enterprise Institute Ties to the Koch Brothers SourceWatch Infographic: Donors Trust Infographic Tesla Investors: James Murdoch Biography Website: American Enterprise Institute Website: Chartwell Strategy Group Website: CNAS Website: U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Website: Wilson Center Whitehouse Publication: National Security Strategy of the United States of America, December 2017 Wilson Center: Abraham Denmark Wilson Center: Corporate Council World Trade Organization: Overview and Future Direction, updated Nov 29, 2018 Community Suggestions See more Community Suggestions HERE. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Walt Hickey is a data journalist who launched a newsletter for numeric nerds several months ago. He's worked for Business Insider, FiveThirtyEight, and, currently, Insider (a sister company to BI), often writing about the intersection of culture and data: How we can understand movies, books, and social trends better through a filter of numbers, or how numbers help us understand the world around us better. Numlock News is an outgrowth of something he did at FiveThirtyEight, giving him a leg up—with that publication's support—in creating a freemium newsletter with bite-sized nuggets delivered daily to everyone, while paid subscribers get a weekly extra. We talk about his approach and the tools he uses. Sponsors This week's episode sponsorship was donated by Filip to support refugee relief. At a time when tens of millions of people have had to flee their homes, the greatest number since World War II, refugees need your help. To find the best-run groups offering direct aid, consult Charity Navigator. To assist Syrian refugees and others in the region, consider giving to the International Rescue Committee (rescue.org), Oxfam America (oxfamamerica.org), Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org), Save the Children (savethechildren.org), and Mercy Corps (mercycorps.org). This episode is also brought to you in part by Disruptor-level patrons Philip Borenstein, Rob McNair-Huff, Bryan Clark, Ready Chi, and Patrick Weyer. You can become a patron of the show on a one-time or recurring basis, and get rewards like an exclusive enamel pin and being thanked in this fashion! Show notes Walt's stories at Business Insider, FiveThirtyEight, and Insider Numlock News Open Secrets Sabermetrics Money Ball My story on gendered rejection of technology for The Ringer Walt's Best Stuff page How much cod does Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson eat? Ben Thompson's Stratechery Jessica Lessin's The Information Substack, the company Hickey uses for his newsletter and collecting subscription fees

To celebrate our second trip down to Brazil, we welcomed in Walt Hickey of Numlock News to chat about his favorite film in the franchise. As a former writer for FiveThirtyEight, Walt dove deep into the four types of Vin Diesel movies as well as the three types of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson movies, so we chat about where these movies fall in these actors' careers, find out who had creative control over this movie, and why Vin Diesel's method of making movies is so radically different from everyone else in Hollywood. Plus, we find out which member of the family Walt is and shoot for the moon in everyone's favorite game, Boy, Do We Have a Podcast for You! Got a thought? Want to share a picture of a car so Joey can make Joe guess what it is? Email us at family@cageclub.me.

When friend of the show, former writer for 538, and current mind behind Numlock News, Walt Hickey, asks to guest and cover Maniac, you have him guest and you cover Netflix’s Maniac. Walt, Ivan, and Red cover Justin Theroux’s acting choices, Norwegian comedies, and of course New York Public Transit!!! Support Ivan & Red!->patreon.com/boarsgoreswords Follow us on twitter->@boarsgoreswords Find us on facebook->facebook.com/BoarsGoreSwords

After her Oscar win, Julia slowed down a bit. In addition to the first Ocean's movie, she took a small, scene-stealing part in pal George Clooney's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. But she was clamoring for another go at Oscar glory, so she went the route all respected actors must go at one point or another: an unorthodox teacher whose most important lessons happen outside the classroom. In Mona Lisa Smile, Roberts plays an art history professor who opens the eyes of her students and then, in an emotionally resonant ending... leaves for Europe?  Either which way, she earned $25 million for the part, awards be damned. She followed it up with Mike Nichols' Closer, featuring an ensemble cast of Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen. Join us as we discuss To Sir With Love, whether Helsinki is a romantic getaway, and some of Wellesley's more conservative traditions.  Hosted by Michael (@cateblanchetttt), with Ryley Trahan (@TheRyleyTrahan) and Walt Hickey (@walthickey). Please let us know your thoughts on the new miniseries by leaving us a review on iTunes!  Subscribe here: http://apple.co/2xNuu0Q Thank you to Lyanne Natividad for our new podcast artwork!

Following her Oscar win, Julia engaged in some lighter fare. In 2001, she was the sole woman in the Ocean's Eleven ensemble. She reprised her role as Tess Ocean in the film's much more meta sequel three years later. Join us as we discuss Julia Roberts playing Julia Roberts, why Steven Soderbergh is the Rembrandt of our time, and how to cash a check for $198 million.  Hosted by Michael (@cateblanchetttt), with Red Scott (@red_scott), Drew Murray (@drew_murray12) and Walt Hickey (@walthickey). Please let us know your thoughts on the new miniseries by leaving us a review on iTunes!  Subscribe here: http://apple.co/2xNuu0Q Thank you to Lyanne Natividad for our new podcast artwork!

It’s hard to get 20,000 people to sign up for your email list, but Walt Hickey has done it with his daily newsletter Numlock, which tells the news by numbers. When I asked him how, he kept coming back to three big ideas: write every day, deliver via email, charge readers directly. Get on the email list at on.substack.com

Once upon a time, there was some data. And that data cried out to be extracted and analyzed and packaged up like the most exquisite of gifts and then presented gloriously to an eager and excited group of stakeholders. But, alas! Will this data story have a happy ending? Perhaps. Perhaps not! And that’s the subject of this episode. Sort of. Our intrepid hosts ask the question, “How can we communicate more effectively by applying the tricks of the data journalism trade?” To answer that question, Walt Hickey, late of fivethirtyeight.com and now the founder and curator of the daily Numlock Newsletter, joins the gang to chat about how he combined an education in applied mathematics with an interest in news media to become a data journalist. Along the way, the discussion explores how Walt’s insights can be applied to business analytics. And there’s a terrible analogy about meat that gets butchered along the way (thanks, Tim!). For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

On The Gist, those beacons of honesty—retiring Republican members of the Congress. Cremation has the carbon footprint of a 1,000-mile road trip, your average bee has nearly 1 million brain cells, and only 3 to 4 percent of gossip is actually “malicious.” Those are all statistics relayed in Walt Hickey’s Numlock News, the daily newsletter he started after four years at FiveThirtyEight.  In the Spiel, graduation songs over the years.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On The Gist, those beacons of honesty—retiring Republican members of the Congress. Cremation has the carbon footprint of a 1,000-mile road trip, your average bee has nearly 1 million brain cells, and only 3 to 4 percent of gossip is actually “malicious.” Those are all statistics relayed in Walt Hickey’s Numlock News, the daily newsletter he started after four years at FiveThirtyEight.  In the Spiel, graduation songs over the years.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kevin Jacobsen welcomes FiveThirtyEight reporter and Not Her Again co-host Walt Hickey to talk about Martin Scorsese's 3D family film 'Hugo,' the likely runner-up in the 2011 Oscar race that lost to 'The Artist.' 0:00 - 1:05 - Introduction 1:06 - 24:59 - 'Hugo' review  25:00 - 40:56 - Why 'Hugo' lost Best Picture 40:57 - 52:24 - Shoulda been a contender 52:25 - 1:01:04 - Did 'Hugo' deserve to win? Go to FilmTrophies.com or email at filmtrophies@gmail.com to vote for which film you think deserved to win Best Picture. Follow Kevin Jacobsen on Twitter: @Kevin_Jacobsen Follow Walt Hickey on Twitter: @WaltHickey Follow And the Runner-Up Is on Twitter: @OscarRunnerUp Theme/End Music is "The Virtue" by Jonathan Adamich

Jolenta and Kristen unpack their tarot experience from last week.  They hear form listeners about decks, scary cards, and ADHD.  And the ladies are joined by special guest Walt Hickey (Chief Culture Writer at the blog 538) to talk about the statistical accuracy of tarot readings.For more on Walt Hickey, visit his twitter page:https://twitter.com/WaltHickeyWalt's article on tarot:https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tarot-card-prediction-statistics/We love hearing from you! Reach out at 419-869-BOOK; email us at bythebook@panoply.fm; Tweet us @jolentag, @kristenmeinzer, @bythebookpod; and follow us on Instagram @jolenta_g, @k10meinzer, @bythebookpod. And if you haven't already, please join our By The Book Facebook community! https://www.facebook.com/groups/116407428966900/?source_id=475465442806687Also be sure to check out our website, created by the great Cameron, here:https://www.bythebook.panoply.fm/Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the early 1980s, the Bechdel-Wallace test (often just called “The Bechdel Test”) has helped call attention to the gender imbalance in Hollywood by asking two simple questions of a film: Does it have at least two named female characters? And do those characters have at least one conversation that is not about a man? But nearly 40 years since its creation, is the test in need of a successor that could better influence Hollywood’s decision makers? To find out Rob and Geoff speak with Walt Hickey, Ella Koeze, Rachael Dottle of FiveThirtyEight.com. The three recently published a study where they interviewed a number of women writers, directors, actresses and producers, and asked them what they thought the next Bechdel Test should be. They then ran these new tests on the top 50 films of 2016 to see how they stacked up. Hickey, Koeze and Dottle discuss how the opinion of the Bechdel test has evolved since 1980, why the time seemed right to find a replacement for the test, and the glaring need for female representation behind the camera, in addition to onscreen. They also point out the distressing lack of Latina representation in top grossing films, and wonder how this year’s crop of potential Oscar nominees would fair when taking these newly imagined tests.

Over the last decade, ratings aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB have surpassed individual critics as the most influential arbiters of taste in the film world. And while many of us trust these sites to curate our moviegoing experience, most don’t fully understand how these hugely persuasive scores are calculated, or where the data informing them is coming from. To get the full picture, Rob and Geoff sat down with Walt Hickey, Chief Culture Critic at FiveThirtyEight.com. Hickey discusses the influence of ratings aggregators on the 2017 box office, why the scores of controversial films and mediocre films end up being so similar, and why these sites need to adjust their scores to better reflect their audiences. He also talks about the implications of displaying data that’s predominantly collected from male users, how trolls can sink a film with poor ratings before it’s even released, and why, despite the rise of ratings sites, he still finds himself looking to Peter Travers.

Walt Hickey from FiveThirtyEight is our guest for a special bonus episode. We talk about how Adam Sandler got to this point and the three types of movies he makes.- CONTACT US - Text or Voicemail: 405-418-6273E-mail: AdamSandlerPleaseStop@gmail.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/SandlerPlsStopFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandlerPlsStop- RANKINGS -MARIE - https://www.imdb.com/list/ls026539083/BACON - https://www.imdb.com/list/ls026092168/

We have an unbelievable amount of useless knowledge about The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. But today we're stepping into new territory for the podcast and diving deep into the data. We're joined for this bonus episode by Ella Koeze and Walt Hickey from FiveThirtyEight.com. They recently analyzed all 33 seasons of the franchise and shared their findings. Nerd out with us! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Well, Nobody's Perfect is winding down, but fear not, Rob and Geoff are moving on up to a shiny new podcast, 'TIFF Long Take'. https://soundcloud.com/tifflongtake On the inaugural episode, Rob and Geoff sit down with Walt Hickey, FiveThirtyEight.com's Chief Culture Writer, to find out how you can use data to win your Oscar Pool this Sunday. The three discuss the data model that Walt has built to find the probable winners (3:55), why the Golden Globes aren't a great indicator of Oscar success (6:45), why 'La La Land' is a shoe in for Best Picture (10:35), what categories are primed for an upset (17:00), and why an Oscar nomination doesn't always translate to box office success (23:40).

Is putting together a perfect Oscar ballot really all in the numbers? On the inaugural episode of 'TIFF Long Take', Rob and Geoff sit down with Walt Hickey, FiveThirtyEight.com's Chief Culture Writer, to find out how you can use data to predict the winners on Sunday night. The three discuss the data model that Walt has built to find the probable winners (3:55), why the Golden Globes aren't a great indicator of Oscar success (6:45), why 'La La Land' is a shoe in for Best Picture (10:35), what categories are primed for an upset (17:00), and why an Oscar nomination doesn't always translate to box office success (23:40). Theme Music By The Passion HiFi http://www.thepassionhifi.com

Another day, another BGaS. Ivan & Red are joined by Walt Hickey to talk about Westworld, episode 3, "The Stray". Support BGaS and hear our GBBO eps!->patreon.com/boarsgoreswords Follow us on twitter->@boarsgoreswords Find us on facebook->facebook.com/BoarsGoreSwords

Hilary and Roger invite Walt Hickey of FiveThirtyEight.com on to the show to talk about polling, movies, and data analysis reproducibility (of course!). Show notes: FiveThirtyEight’s polling methodology: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-users-guide-to-fivethirtyeights-2016-general-election-forecast/ Walt Hickey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/walthickey The 20 Most Extreme Cases Of ‘The Book Was Better Than The Movie’: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-20-most-extreme-cases-of-the-book-was-better-than-the-movie/ Matthew Butterick Typography: http://typographyforlawyers.com/fonts.html Hopp: http://www.hoppstudios.com

Ricciotto in trasferta, prima puntata: registrata a casa di Giorgio Fontana, il cui nuovo libro esce l'8 settembre, Aldo e Matteo parlano di «Ghostbusters», il reboot del franchise a cura di Paul Feig con Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones e Kate McKannon. Nonostante quello che si è detto, non è un brutto film: manca forse di coraggio.Matteo ha anche visto «Star Trek: Beyond», di cui abbiamo parlato nella scorsa puntata assieme a Omar Serafini: è sicuramente più bello dei primi due film del reboot di JJ Abrams messi assieme.La recensione di Mark Kermode sulle colonne dell'«Observer».https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/17/ghostbusters-2016-review-misfiring-remake Il pezzo scritto da Violet Ramis, figlia di Harold Ramis, per «Splitsider».http://splitsider.com/2016/07/on-my-dad-harold-ramis-and-passing-the-ghostbusters-torch-to-a-new-generation-of-fans/ In memoria di Harold Ramis: il pezzo scritto da Michael Schur per «Grantland».http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/a-particular-kind-of-genius-remembering-harold-ramis/ Rick Moranis racconta all'«Hollywood Reporter» perché non ha voluto tornare nel nuovo «Ghostbusters».http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/rick-moranis-reveals-why-he-829779 Non fidatevi delle medie voto su Internet: il pezzo di Walt Hickey su «Five Thirty Eight».http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ghostbusters-is-a-perfect-example-of-how-internet-ratings-are-broken/

Ricciotto in trasferta, prima puntata: registrata a casa di Giorgio Fontana, il cui nuovo libro esce l'8 settembre, Aldo e Matteo parlano di «Ghostbusters», il reboot del franchise a cura di Paul Feig con Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones e Kate McKannon. Nonostante quello che si è detto, non è un brutto film: manca forse di coraggio.Matteo ha anche visto «Star Trek: Beyond», di cui abbiamo parlato nella scorsa puntata assieme a Omar Serafini: è sicuramente più bello dei primi due film del reboot di JJ Abrams messi assieme.La recensione di Mark Kermode sulle colonne dell'«Observer».https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/17/ghostbusters-2016-review-misfiring-remake Il pezzo scritto da Violet Ramis, figlia di Harold Ramis, per «Splitsider».http://splitsider.com/2016/07/on-my-dad-harold-ramis-and-passing-the-ghostbusters-torch-to-a-new-generation-of-fans/ In memoria di Harold Ramis: il pezzo scritto da Michael Schur per «Grantland».http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/a-particular-kind-of-genius-remembering-harold-ramis/ Rick Moranis racconta all'«Hollywood Reporter» perché non ha voluto tornare nel nuovo «Ghostbusters».http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/rick-moranis-reveals-why-he-829779 Non fidatevi delle medie voto su Internet: il pezzo di Walt Hickey su «Five Thirty Eight».http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ghostbusters-is-a-perfect-example-of-how-internet-ratings-are-broken/

Walt Hickey's been trying to crack the tricky data problem that is the Oscars. He talks about his reporting, and we host the first ever WTP data debate.

Doug and Justin dive into the rise and fall, and potential rise again, of M. Night Shyamalan’s film career.  They take a look at his filmography and discuss what they liked and didn’t like about each one.  They start off with The Sixth Sense, then they talk about the hilarity of the protagonist's weakness in Unbreakable, then they reminisce on the horror aspects of Signs.  Doug questions the practicality of the twist in The Village (surprise), then Doug and Justin debate the sanity of Lady in the Water, briefly mention The Happening, and Justin challenges Doug to a viewing party of The Last Airbender.  Things are wrapped up with a throw-down between Juggernaut vs. The Blob. Article by Walt Hickey: http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-death-spiral-of-m-night-shyamalans-career/ Be sure to check out Class Act’s final New New Show performance at The Playground Theater on Wednesday, Dec. 30 at 8:00pm for some sweet improv!  Class Act features former Mind Gap guests Maureen Boughey, James Rayhill, Daryl McSweeney, Chris Vellucci, and Doug Cochrane.

Walt Hickey recently discovered that Fandango's movie ratings are weirdly inflated. What he learned says a lot about trust online and the wisdom of the crowd.

Kate Fagan, Neil Paine, and Chadwick Matlin preview the NFL season, challenge you to win Madden with Walt Hickey as your QB, and take a listen to our U.S. Open mini-podcast.

Kate Fagan, Neil Paine, and Chadwick Matlin preview the NFL season, challenge you to win Madden with Walt Hickey as your QB, and take a listen to our U.S. Open mini-podcast.

Maria's back! We talk Game of Thrones with our favorite stepmother and chat about HBO's new Silicon Valley and the return of Veep. Plus Walter Hickey from fivethirtyeight.com breaks down the numbers on women in film. Plus homework from Tricia's trip down a Steve Jobs-related Netflix rabbit hole and Greta wants you to read The Leftovers.