Season 6, Episode 1 July 30, 2023

Hello! Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube! It’s season six! Thanks for hanging in there with me. I’m your host, Bob Woodley. Luckily, I’m not AI or on strike! On this episode, we’ll hear about drunk Russian soldiers losing a battle, when the government trusted God, driving on the wrong side of the street, and following in the wrong footsteps. But first, (Not the Headlines!).

Speaking of AI, there’s been a lot of talk on the radios and televisions of America about how AI, or Artificial Intelligence, will have a profound effect on our lives, and how we need the government to find ways to regulate it so that it can’t be used for nefarious purposes. The United States Government has been listening to creators and asking questions of those who are heavily involved in the progress of AI for their own purposes how it should be regulated. None of that is “Not the Headlines” material. But while all that’s going on, Intel has been working on a way to tell the real from the fake, when it comes to video’s of people saying things.

A BBC story by James Clayton says that while the tattle-tale technology is pretty good, it, too still has some work to do to keep up with the times, or, more precisely, to keep up with the past. While the system, which the company calls, “FakeCatcher” has more than a ninety percent success rate telling the difference between a real video and a deepfake, it seems the more pixilated the video, the less accurate it becomes! Why? Because of the method it uses to tell the difference. You see, the Intel FakeCatcher uses an analysis of the blood flow in the face of the person on the video to tell if it’s real or not. It’s called Photoplethysmorgraphy, and it detects changes in blood flow in the face. Deepfake videos of faces don’t create those signals. Eye movement is also analyzed, as deepfake videos haven’t yet perfected imitating that part of our behavior.

While I’m telling you this, I’m realizing that none of what I’ve said so far would in any way prove that I’m not a deepfake, as you don’t see my face or my eyes. So here’s what I’m gonna do: I’ll send a five-second video of me saying these very words right now to anyone who writes to the Listening Tube e-mail address, which my booth announcer will tell you later in the program, and you can analyze it for yourself, or give it to Intel to see what result they come up with. It’ll be a brand-new video, so they should get accurate results, since the more pixilated ones seem to be the ones that give them the most trouble. Otherwise, you’ll just have to trust me and your own judgment as to whether or not I’m real.

Whether or not I’m real isn’t the issue facing the world today. Props to Intel for looking for a solution, but some of the testing that was done on the system claimed some the videos that were real as fake. Now, there’s a big difference between a system that can find more than 90 percent of fake videos and one that mistakes real videos as fake. What happens if a message from the President of a country, a message that may include vital information, is deemed to be fake, when it’s real? The question of who has the final say is irrelevant. What’s relevant is who will the people believe? What if the FakeCatcher says it’s fake, but the government says it’s real? Who will you believe? What if the FakeCatcher says it’s real, but the media says it’s fake?

It appears to me that the ruling party in the United States at the moment, as well as their mainstream media lackeys have chosen a very bad time to erode the trust Americans have in either. Trust in the federal government and the media are at all-time lows, just when we need them to do the work of separating the truth from the lies for us. In this critical time, when technology has given us the ability to create anything and make it look real, the two institutions that we rely on most have left us adrift in an ocean of potential fraud, and more often than not, that fraud is coming from those same two institutions. More on that later.

The Hollywood strikes by the writers and actors and other support personnel has brought the industry to halt. The major networks are already planning which re-runs they’ll be showing this fall, while the streaming providers will have to rely on independent creators to provide content. One Hollywood bigwig predicts the entire industry could collapse if the strike isn’t ended soon. One of the issues is people are worried about being replaced by Artificial Intelligence. You can’t blame them. We’re practically at the point where a Hollywood producer can say, “Hey, Siri. Write me an Emmy winning sitcom.” And you’ll get one. Or something that resembles one. The current writers don’t want to be the real people who are tasked with correcting the scripts and story lines after the computer spits out whatever it came up with. The writers want to keep the origins of our television shows organic. They also want to be able to support their families. As it turns out, the entire industry may be simply sucking the life out of the minions who help create the projects that pay the stars in them millions of dollars. A story on CNN Business says only 12.7 percent of the Screen Actor’s Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, have enough income to qualify for the Union health-care plan. So, what is the minimum income needed to qualify? $26,000. In Los Angeles today, that might get you a tent just outside the fence on Muscle Beach. So, 87 percent of SAG-AFTRA members can’t even really afford to live where most of the work is. Plus, it costs $3,000 to get into the union in the first place, and then they keep 1.575 percent of your annual earnings up to the first million dollars, and the annual fee to remain a member is $231.96. That is according to the SAG-AFTRA website. If you do the math, a member who’s lucky enough to make a million dollars in a year will pony up $15,981.96 for the privilege of working. That’s most you have to pay, even if you make 10-million dollars a movie, like Jim Carey, or, I don’t know, there’s probably another guy. Maybe if the other 9 million was subject to union fees, they could afford to give more of their members health coverage.

But as it stands right now, the writer’s and actor’s strike could completely change the entertainment landscape as we know it. For decades, the independent film makers have been battling the big studios. The little guys had to rely on the big guys for distribution, if nothing else. Paramount, Warner Brothers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Universal, and other major players find themselves at a turning point. They’re already losing money to streaming, even though they own streaming services. Production costs are skyrocketing, unions are demanding more concessions, peoples entertainment options are growing and so are their viewing and listening habits.

So are our habits when it comes to the consumption of news. So, while the Hollywood actors and writers are on strike, the media industry overall has cut more than 17,000 jobs as of May of this year. An outplacement firm (I didn’t know that was a thing) called Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc. keeps track of such things. They say that’s more job cuts in the media industry than there were in the pandemic year of 2020! News departments alone lost more than 37-hundred jobs since the beginning of 2022. The New York Times recently let go of its entire sports department, replacing it with a publication it bought. That publication then cut 20 journalists. It’s not just the entertainment names you know, like Disney, and the ones I mentioned earlier, but on-line companies like Amazon and BussFeed and ViceMedia are also making cuts. While our news-consumption habits are evolving, the cost of gathering the news is rising, due to inflation and the lower return on investment for the news-gathering companies.

There was a time when a single television event could draw an audience of 75 percent of the United States. Those days don’t exist anymore. We have so many choices and have been so divided by the very media that need us to gather in large groups that no single event can grab the attention of most of us at the same time. Our desire to have more entertainment choices may have led to us having less news sources. Let’s face it, most news is local. It was the responsibility of local newspapers and local radio stations to find that information for us. A lot of that is gone already. The major networks can’t put a correspondent in every town, so now, a lot of news goes unreported. Does what we’re missing effect our everyday lives? It might, if there was a serial killer in your town and you didn’t know it, or if your city council was selling a local park to a development company that planned on opening a ten-dollar store (you know, because of inflation). The major networks aren’t interested in local news, even though all politics is local. Your Mayors and your City Councils and your School Boards have a lot more power than you might realize, and there’s barely anybody left to keep an eye on them. Gone are the days of headlines like, “Too Hot to Fish” or “Local girl’s grandfather is President of the United States but he won’t admit it.” I know the latter headline was a bit labored, but to omit the conjunction could have been misleading. The Los Angeles Times let go of 73 newsroom people just last month. The Wall Street Journal, owned by the same parent company as Fox News, is planning to let go of a thousand employees this year. 

I could say, “America has a choice to make: Either support local news or lose it forever. That would be ironic, because it’s because of the endless choices Americans have when it comes to entertainment and information that has separated us into smaller and smaller groups. The variety of programming that we’ve demanded, at our convenience, able to stream 24 hours a day, has split us up into so many subdivisions that advertisers don’t know where to put their money. Cord-cutting has caused a panic in the advertising world, causing large sums of money to be shifted from one medium to another, causing instability in a variety of markets. News divisions and their personalities, with their partisanship now exposed, are not only targets of cost-cutting by the top brass, but have also contributed to the divisions that dilute the audience.

The United States is currently planning another manned moon landing. Today’s scientists and engineers are finding it to be much more difficult than they thought, considering all the computer power now available. Apollo 11 landed on the moon with little more computing power than a pocket calculator. We’ll get there again, but the spectacle and fascination of the event will pale in comparison to the last time we were there. A majority of Americans and people around the world won’t be glued to the television sets as it was when I watched man first walk on the moon. Back then, you couldn’t watch something at your convenience. If you missed it, you missed it. While today’s technology is having a hard time replicating what we did over 50 years ago, it also gives us the freedom to watch history being made whenever we get around to it. That’s the problem today’s media has to deal with. They can’t sell the time on a live event if half the people watch it later. Paying the people who bring you the live events has become more of a challenge. That’s why personalities on ESPN were let go, that’s why the New York Times dropped their sports department. That’s what the writers and actors are worried about. Artificial Intelligence has made it possible to replace those people. Without guarantees of gainful employment, the entire industry could default. The unions would dissolve and the hub of movie making will relocate to Georgia. 

Before we go back, there’s one more thing I’d like to address. I recently saw a social media meme that said something like, “Having a child doesn’t make you a parent. Raising that child and being there for that child through the good and the bad is what makes you a parent.” All of the comments agreed with various emojis and supportive words. Personally, I found it to be an insult to every woman who had their first baby today. Congratulations, mommy! You’re a parent now, no matter what other people may think.

Let’s go back liner

This week in 1377, Russian troops are defeated in the Battle on Pyana River because of drunkenness. Yea. Russia had an army as far back as 1377. You’d think they’d be better at it by now. They did great in the sacking of Berlin to end the European part of World War II, and they were certainly a threat to be reckoned with after the war, right up until 1990 and the fall of the Soviet Union. The dismal display of military might in the battle for Ukraine has demonstrated that the Russian Army wasn’t what we thought it was, and it’s even more depleted now. Estimates are that the Russian military has lost about 50,000 troops so far, including high-ranking officers and Generals. Russia has a long history of invading neighboring countries. Their attack on Ukraine has resulted in a quagmire the tyrant Putin is now trying to maneuver his way through. Time will tell to what extremes he might go to safe face, since it’s obvious he’s not going to save Ukraine from the so-called Nazis he used as an excuse to launch his “special military operation.”

1527

The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John’s, Newfoundland. John Rut was put in command of an expedition by King Henry VIII to find a northwest passage through North America. Today, we know that none exists, but back then, they didn’t. They endeavored to find one anyway. The first letter ever sent from North America was to the King, to inform him of the progress being made. According to wikipedia, It says, “Pleasing your Honourable Grace to heare of your servant John Rut with all his company here in good health thanks be to God. ...the third day of August we entered into a good harbour called St. John and there we found Eleuen Saile of Normans and one Brittaine and two Portugal barks all a fishing and so we are ready to depart towards Cap de Bras that is 25 leagues as shortly as we have fished and so along the Coast until we may meete with our fellowe and so with all diligence that lyes in me toward parts to that Ilands that we are command at our departing and thus Jesu save and keepe you Honourable Grace and all your Honourable Reuer. In the Haven of St. John the third day of August written in hast 1527, by your servant John Rut to his uttermost of his power.”

Instead of continuing the search up north, John Rut headed south, past the Chesapeake Bay to Florida, where I assume they did some more fishing. He returned to England in 1528, without having found a northwest passage. Telling the King he failed in his mission could not have been easy. I don’t know how long it took for the first letter from North America to get there, but his side-excursion to Florida would insure the letter got to England before him. Despite all the ass-kissing in the letter, once he reported back to the King, no further record of him remains. 

This week in 1735. more than 50 years before the Constitution of the United States and the First Amendment, New York Weekly Journal publisher John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel. He had been arrested in November of 1734 because he published a newspaper that was critical of the royal governor of New York. He didn’t write the articles. They were written by opponents of the gov’na. Without by-lines. So, they did the only thing they could do to stop the stories from being circulated to the public: arrest the guy who was printing the newspapers! Now, I’m inclined to say something stupid like, “Thank goodness for freedom of the press in America today!” But I might be wrong. But this case against the publisher in 1735 took some legal wrangling to be successfully defeated. I won’t get in to all the details here, but the guy was in jail for 10 months before he was brought to trial. One of the legal maneuvers of the defense used was to get a jury trial instead of one decided by a judge. The jury ultimately determined that the stories published in the paper were true, therefore libel did not occur. Since then, determining if a story is true or not is the first hurdle of a libel case. Long before the First Amendment of the United States, guaranteeing the freedom of the press. 

Today, the press often abuses their freedom, and there’s a very flexible line as to who’s the press and who isn’t. Am I the press because I’m a trained journalist and have a podcast? Or do I have to be a part of a larger organization to claim press credentials? Who decides? Well, I don’t think the federal government can decide, because that might be a violation of the First Amendment. So, that would also rule out States and municipalities. You do need an FCC License to broadcast on radio or television, but not on satellite feeds or on-line. In theory, if I had a guarantee that one other person was going to share this podcast with others, I could call myself the Listening Tube Network. And you don’t have to worry about me getting arrested for libel, because, first of all, if it’s the spoken word, it’s slander, not libel, and second, I’m not going to lie to you.

1925

Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out. So, how’s it doing today?

I’m going to look that up liner

According to wikipedia, the 2021 census showed that 17.8 percent of people living in Wales over the age of 3 still spoke Welsh. If that sounds like a low number, it is. It means that just over half a million people speak the language. In Wales. Out of over 3-million people. Other estimates say over 100-thousand speak it in England, up to 5,000 in Argentina, and somewhere over 3,000 in Canada. Almost 75 percent of people in Wales have no skills when it comes to speaking Welsh. So, if you’re a college student looking to start a study of dead languages, you might want to start with Latin and work your way up to Welsh.

1932

The NSDAP, or the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, wins more than 38% of the vote in national elections. Adolph Hitler is their leader. Two years later, in...

1934

Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany. There had never been a Fuhrer before. To become supreme leader of Germany, Hitler combines the offices of President and Chancellor. Two years after that, in...

1936

Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics. I had the opportunity to attend a High School Graduation ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Only about 40 graduates of the Berlin American High School, Class of 1985. While there, I looked around to see if I could spot the place where I had seen Adolph Hitler sitting at the games on newsreel footage from the time. I could have been wrong, but I may have found the spot, or somewhere near it, and walked over to that part of the stadium. I got as close as I could to the spot where I thought Hitler was when Jesse Owens defeated Metcalf. I wanted to share the same view of the stadium Hitler had when his philosophy of aryan superiority was humiliated by an American. There’s a man in Berlin today who shares my blood. Born and raised there with blond hair and blue eyes. But he was more of a swimmer than a sprinter.

1939

Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan project to develop a nuclear weapon. Gee, well, it seems like Oppenheimer’s getting a lot of the credit right now, seeing as there’s a movie about it called Oppenheimer. I haven’t seen it. Anyway, the Manhattan Project was fruitful. Two bombs that resulted from the project ended World War Two. But not before...

1943, When the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. President, saves all but two of his crew. The Kennedy’s served in America’s military proudly. John survived his ordeal. His brother Joe wasn’t so lucky. Joe was a Navy pilot in World War II. I don’t know if they had such a thing as “Top Gun” back then, but because of Joe’s patriotism and skill, he was on a top-secret mission in 1944 when he was killed. He was the eldest son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, and was heir apparent of the Kennedy dynasty. Raised to become President some day. His little brother John may have turned out to be a historical footnote had it not been for his passing. Instead, John went on to become what Joe was meant to become. 

Today, only one of the candidates for President of the United States has served in the nation’s military. The only one? Ron DeSantis, the current Governor of Florida. 

1956

A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto. I’m not sure something like this would happen today. Even politicians who believe in God might not support such a measure. Because the press makes it look like we are so divided today, many representatives in the federal government might just have to pass on anything endorsing or even recognizing God. Who’s god are we talking about? What powers do they have? What pronouns does God use? Have we been getting it wrong all this time? Does God increase the value of the currency? American currency is the most widely accepted currency anywhere in the world. I can tell you that from personal experience. But maybe it would be more widely accepted if it didn’t have the word God on it. Do we care? Well, they did in 1956, and that’s why it’s on there.

1957

American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage “baby-boomers” by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network. A man from Philadelphia named Dick Clark would become the host. Allow me to digress. I knew I wanted to be a disc-jockey by the time I was 8 years old. I became one before I got out of high school, at my home town radio station, on a part-time basis. But even before that, I knew where my destiny lie. I would be the guy who replaces Dick Clark on American Bandstand! There were enough years between us that when he was ready to retire, I’d be right there, another Pennsylvania boy, ready to take the helm. Well, I became that disc-jockey, and after 20 years of it, I realized Dick Clark was never going to retire. Just my luck, the one man on the planet that I prepared myself to replace turned out to be the world’s oldest teenager. Good plan there, Bob!!!

1962

Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990. I remember watching his release on television, marveling at the fact that he’d been in jail since I was about a month old, and I thought of all the stuff that happened to me in the last 27 years, and I felt pain for this man, this political prisoner. When you consider how much you will miss about the world when you’re locked up for 27 years, it’s mind-boggling for somebody who is 28. When you’re 60, maybe the last 27 years weren’t so profound. But when you look back at what happened since you were born, it might have a little more impact. Four years after his release, Mr. Mandela went on to become the leader of South Africa, and along with President F.W. DeKlerk, eliminated the government that put him in prison. He would serve only one term, then turned his attention to larger-than-domestic issues, becoming an elder statesman, if you will.

1974

During the Watergate Scandal, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the United States Supreme Court. It’s ironic how evidence against President Nixon began to slowly mount until the dam broke. What we’re seeing today seems to following a similar path. Just like Watergate, the key to cracking the case was following the money. 

1978

Okinawa changes its traffic patterns from driving on the right-hand side of the road to driving on the left-hand side. Imagine waking up one Sunday morning and getting dressed and leaving the house to go to church or a diner, maybe a little hung over from the night before. You back out of your driveway, and just miss hitting the curb on the other side of the street, like you do every day, and you put it in first gear (or Drive) and hit the gas pedal. You’re headed toward the traffic light at the corner just like you did yesterday. Something seems a little different. You can’t quite place it at first. Why are the “No right on red” signs on the other side of the street now? By the time you realize what happened, somebody else made a left on red because they just about got killed a little earlier, and they’re headed right for you, and you still aren’t sure why.

Suddenly, it dawns on you. “Oh, yea!” you think really loud. Today’s the day they’ve been telling us about for six months now! And you can’t wait to make your first left turn on red and scare the crap out of somebody else.

Phone and email liner 

I recognize that Donald Trump is staring down two indictments, and possibly a third, for having classified documents and his actions on January 6th of 2021. There are a lot of people who believe that these indictments are proof that the Biden administration has weaponized the Department of Justice, including the FBI. Many consider it a badge of honor, and the proof is in how Trump’s popularity and fundraising both increase with every indictment.

As it turns out, those people might be on to something. While our current President hasn’t been indicted, his son has laid the groundwork for his epic fall. Hunter has been the subject of investigators for almost a decade. I did an entire episode about it back in Season Four. The Senate did an investigation back in 2014 that raised all kinds of red flags about this guy. But his dad was vice president, and a former Senator, so although the Senate released a comprehensive report on all the suspicious activity by Hunter Biden when it came to making money from foreign countries, no action was taken. So how did Hunter get past the Trump Presidency? The department of justice kept him so busy defending himself that they didn’t have time for Hunter Biden. Sure, Trump appointed the Attorney General, but the DOJ already has favoritism to the Democrats baked in. That was made evident on numerous occasions. 

When the New York Post published a story about the now-infamous Hunter Biden laptop, news and social media organizations were instructed to quash the story; keep it from circulation. While Joe Biden was on the debate stage with President Trump citing a letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials claiming the laptop was a Russian hoax, the FBI had it in their possession, and did nothing to correct the disinformation Joe Biden was spreading.

Two Senior IRS investigators testified in front of a congressional committee as to all the road blocks put in front of them when it came to investigating Hunter Biden’s taxes, and his unwillingness to pay them on the millions of dollars he made from foreign businesses while having nothing to offer them except his dad’s influence.

On Wednesday, a federal judge rejected the plea deal the prosecution offered Hunter Biden for not paying his taxes, and for lying on an application to purchase a gun. Hunter was prepared to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for the plea deal, which was carefully worded to also grant immunity to Hunter for any other crimes related to the ones to which he agreed to plead guilty. In other words, if he plead guilty to tax evasion, he couldn’t be charged for anything related to the income in question. Much of that income is being investigated by two different House committees. The plea deal would have prevented Hunter from being held responsible for anything related to that money.

I commend the federal judge in Delaware for recognizing the slight of hand attempt by President Biden’s Department of Justice. I commend this judge for rejecting this plea deal, which resulted in Hunter Biden pleading not-guilty to the tax charges. The gun charge was kept separate from the plea deal. Two reasons for that: One, there is no diversion program for gun offenses, and two, the charge would be dropped as long as the President’s son doesn’t own a gun or do drugs for two years. That guilty plea, however, is merely a stop-gap measure to give the Biden team some time to figure out its next move. They’ll have a couple weeks to do that, according to a story in USA Today. The judge may choose to accept an amended plea agreement, or may simply reject it as well. The Biden team is already in overdrive, as the Chairman of the House Ways and Means committee is claiming somebody from a lawfirm connected to the Bidens called the federal court and claimed to be from his office, asking for certain evidence to be removed from the record. That prompted the Judge to command that all communication related to the case be directed to her, rather than the court clerk.

I’m sure Hunter is praying to whatever he worships that the federal judge in Delaware accepts the next plea deal. At least that way, he’ll get himself out of a little trouble. Plus, since the FBI and the DOJ slow-walked all of his other alleged offenses, he just might walk away scott-free. And he’ll be happy that he did. His dad, on the other hand, may face a different fate. Hunter Biden is, and always was, a private citizen. He doesn’t answer to the voters, unlike how his dad has for most of his life and livelihood. 

The President has already begun to distance himself from the son of whom he says he’s very proud. That was pointed out by a reporter in a press conference with the President’s Press Secretary. He asked why the official White House statement changed from, “I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings” to “I have never been in business with my son.”

By “in business” I’m guessing he means he had nothing to do with the 20 shell companies linked to the Biden family to accept and allegedly launder millions of dollars of payments to Hunter and “The Big Guy” from Ukraine, China and Russia. Hunter is about to realize his dad is willing to hang him out to dry. Hunter will go on offense, maybe even turn on his dad to get the immunity he was denied when his plea deal was rejected by the federal judge in Delaware. Maybe the charges against Hunter Biden will play out, and his dad will pardon him if he’s found guilty. If he’s still President by then.

A lot of people make a big deal out of the way Donald Trump transformed the Supreme Court. Today, it seems like the most important appointment he made was when he chose the judge who would preside over Joe Biden’s home state. I’m not saying the judge is playing favorites. What I am saying is that if this wasn’t a Trunp-appointed judge, what now seems like it could be just the tip of the iceberg may have been swept under the judicial rug. 

What would have been considered a brilliant maneuver by Hunter’s legal team had it worked may now open the can of worms the plea deal was meant to seal forever, or at least past the next election. 

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly. Copyright 2023. Thank you for putting your ear to The Listening Tube. Subscribe today. I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.