Netflix wants to swallow Hollywood’s crown jewels. In this episode of Filtered with TJ Walker:

• We break down Netflix’s $72 billion plan to acquire Warner Bros and HBO and what it means for competition, movie theaters, and the future of streaming.
• We examine how a frustrated homeowner and his RATGDO device became the symbol of a larger fight over who really owns your “smart” devices, you or the companies that can brick them and charge endless subscriptions.
• We dive into Bitcoin’s latest price volatility and lay out the full case against crypto: speculation, scams, money laundering, password risk, and why the “fiat is worthless” argument collapses on contact with reality.
• We look at the sentencing of Matthew Perry’s ketamine doctor and how authority bias, halo effect, groupthink, and motivated reasoning can warp medical judgment.
• We cover why a federal grand jury refused to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, and what that says about Trump’s efforts to weaponize the Justice Department.
• And we close with Trump’s kill-on-sight boat campaign against alleged drug smugglers, which legal experts say may violate both U.S. and international law and could amount to murder at sea rather than wartime operations.

Chapters:

00:00 – Netflix–Warner Bros–HBO mega-deal

16:04 – Smart garage doors & tech ownership

27:20 – Bitcoin volatility & crypto’s broken promises

43:14 – Matthew Perry, ketamine & cognitive bias

54:27 – Letitia James and the failed re-indictment

01:04:45 – Trump’s boat attacks & war crimes questions

Botox and Ozempic on Zoom calls. Pentagon gag orders on the press. Kim Kardashian versus the California bar exam. Trump’s Ukraine “deal” with Putin. And a Supreme Court case that could give billionaires even more leverage over U.S. elections.

In this episode of Filtered with TJ Walker, TJ walks through five major stories and filters them through communication, media, and personal development:

• How “being hot” has become a quiet job requirement in many industries, driven by Botox, fillers, GLP-1 drugs and AI-polished headshots – and what you can do with simple, low-risk tweaks instead of extreme procedures.
• Why the New York Times is suing the Pentagon over new rules that would effectively let the military decide what reporters can ask and what they can publish – and why even Fox News refuses to sign.
• What Kim Kardashian’s bar-exam struggles reveal about bar exams, law schools and licensing as a government-protected cartel, just as AI starts to handle routine legal work at associate-level quality.
• Thomas Friedman’s argument that Trump is acting as Putin’s “useful idiot” in Ukraine, treating invasion like a real-estate negotiation rather than a war of conquest and democratic survival.
• NRSC v. FEC and the Supreme Court’s continued march toward unlimited political money, in a system already far looser than Canada, France or the UK when it comes to corporate and billionaire influence.

TJ closes with a trainer Q&A on how to help people understand complex topics fast:

• Keeping groups small where possible
• Giving everyone a front-row seat
• Asking participants to restate key ideas in their own words
• Using stories, examples and simple visuals instead of walls of bullet points
• Checking understanding in real time rather than just “covering content”

Chapters: 00:00 – Teaser & market update 02:00 – Workplace beauty pressure: Botox, Ozempic & Zoom bias 20:46 – New York Times sues Pentagon over press gag orders 29:06 – Kim Kardashian, the bar exam & the legal cartel 38:18 – Trump, Putin & Ukraine: the “useful idiot” debate 45:27 – NRSC v. FEC & the rise of billionaire politics 56:59 – Trainer Q&A: Teaching complex topics clearly 1:02:20 – Outro & where to find TJ online

If you enjoy the show, follow the podcast, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who cares about media, politics, and how power really works.

A deep-red House district in Tennessee that Donald Trump won by more than twenty points just fell to a single-digit margin in a special election. Is this a red-alert for Republicans, a blue wave for Democrats—or just normal midterm gravity doing its work?

Next, we go to America’s campuses, where artificial intelligence has become the hot new major. From MIT’s “AI and Decision-Making” to UC San Diego’s AI program, universities are racing to rebrand and specialize. We look at what this means for students, traditional computer science and the job market.

In San Francisco, the city files a landmark lawsuit against food companies over ultra-processed products, arguing they knowingly fueled an epidemic of obesity and chronic disease. Is this smart public-health accountability or overreach into personal choice?

We stay in San Francisco to examine Mayor Daniel Lurie’s social-media strategy: a highly produced Instagram and TikTok presence built around small businesses, civic clean-ups and a relentless “Let’s go, San Francisco!” message. Is this a model for modern leadership or a distraction from governing?

Finally, we unpack Donald Trump’s latest tirade in which he calls Somali immigrants “garbage” and targets Rep. Ilhan Omar by name. We explore why this kind of dehumanizing language from the presidency matters and how it can increase support for real-world violence.

Chapters: 0:00 – Tease, markets & intro 2:32 – Tennessee’s “safe” red seat and what the swing really means 13:52 – AI gold rush on campus: majors, jobs and hype 27:40 – San Francisco vs. ultra-processed food giants 46:05 – The Instagram mayor: Daniel Lurie’s influencer-in-chief playbook 54:50 – Trump’s Somali “garbage” rant and the politics of dehumanization 1:07:24 – Closing thoughts & listener call to action

Starbucks is forced to pay nearly $39 million in New York City’s largest-ever worker protection settlement after officials say the company shredded baristas’ rights to stable schedules. In Switzerland, voters crush a proposed 50% inheritance tax on fortunes above 50 million francs, sending a loud message about how tightly democracy still hugs billionaires.

In New Jersey, former Governor Jim McGreevey, once driven from office in scandal, asks voters for a second chance as he runs for mayor of Jersey City. On the racetrack, Michael Jordan’s NASCAR team is taking the France family’s empire to federal court in an antitrust showdown that could rewrite who controls stock car racing and who gets paid.

At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces allegations of possible war crimes after a deadly two-strike boat attack in the Caribbean. Even some Republicans and President Trump himself are now trying to distance themselves from the controversy.

In this episode of Filtered with TJ Walker, we explore:

• How the Starbucks settlement shifts the balance of power between low-wage workers and big brands
• Why Swiss voters rejected a dramatic inheritance tax on the ultra-rich
• Whether Jim McGreevey’s record deserves a political “second chance”
• How NASCAR’s charter system looks a lot like a protected cartel
• Why the allegations against Pete Hegseth fit textbook definitions of war crimes
• Practical tips to look and sound more confident on Zoom

Listen in for a deeper look at who really holds power in 2025, and how communication, narrative, and law shape that power every day.

A deep dive into five major stories shaping politics, technology, and society:

• Why “rage bait” is the Word of the Year, and what it says about online manipulation
• The science behind why early smartphones harm kids
• Why young workers are heading back to the office
• Bipartisan warnings that Pete Hegseth’s Caribbean strikes may be war crimes
• Oregon’s governor threatens to prosecute federal agents enforcing immigration laws

Plus grab bag stories including Steve Bannon’s Epstein ties, Netanyahu’s unprecedented pardon request, and the “gray rock” method for defusing holiday conflict.

In this episode of Filtered with TJ Walker, we connect five big stories under one theme: how powerful people and institutions dodge blame while everyone else absorbs the cost.

1. NYC’s progressive surveillance state – Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani inherits and embraces one of the most expansive camera networks on earth, built in partnership with tech billionaires and defense contractors. Crime is down; civil-liberties questions remain.
2. Brexit’s economic faceplant – Seven years on, the numbers are in: weaker growth, stagnant trade and lost investment. Yet almost nobody in the political class says, “We were wrong.”
3. E-bikes and the quiet crash epidemic – Trauma doctors are seeing injuries that look like motorcycle wrecks, not bike falls. Fatality risks, head injuries and kids riding 30+ mph “e-motos” with no helmets — we dig into the data and the regulatory vacuum.
4. Trump’s AI & crypto czar – Venture capitalist David Sacks is simultaneously a major AI/crypto investor and a central figure shaping Trump’s tech and crypto policy. We examine what that means for regulation, antitrust and democracy.
5. Wall Street Journal on Trump’s brand collapse – From DJT (Trump Media) to Trump-themed meme coins and family crypto ventures, many Trump-branded bets are down hard, leaving die-hard supporters with steep losses.

In our grab-bag segment, we turn to two more under-covered trends: new AP reporting on teenagers’ deep mistrust of the news media, and the growing wave of GOP retirements following Marjorie Taylor Greene’s decision to leave Congress — including what that says about Trump’s “lame duck” status on Capitol Hill.

We close with listener Q&A on PowerPoint and slide design: how to stop inflicting text-heavy decks on audiences and start using visuals that actually reinforce your message.

If you’re listening on Podbean or any podcast app, please follow, rate and review — it genuinely helps more people find the show.

In this episode of Filtered with TJ Walker, we analyze a week of extraordinary political turbulence and public money waste. From LSU paying Brian Kelly $54 million not to coach, to Speaker Mike Johnson admitting he’s overwhelmed and not really in control, to Scott Bessent’s inflation denial, JD Vance’s fading 2028 prospects, Trump’s Russia-friendly Ukraine proposal, and a presidential Thanksgiving meltdown filled with slurs and misinformation.

A full breakdown of accountability, leadership, and the direction of American democracy.

This Thanksgiving, Filtered with TJ Walker steps back from the daily news cycle for a data-driven reality check on the state of the world.

TJ tackles the negativity bias, our tendency to focus on dramatic, recent bad news, and contrasts it with long-term global trends that rarely make headlines. Using data from major international sources, he walks through four massive improvements since 1962:

1. The collapse of extreme poverty worldwide
2. A huge jump in life expectancy and a plunge in child mortality
3. A global surge in literacy and education, especially for girls
4. A long-term decline in violent deaths from war and homicide

In the final segment, TJ reflects personally on how his own life has exceeded anything his teenage self in 1979 could have imagined: on-demand media, global information access, smartphones, ride-hailing, and the ability to broadcast and teach to millions from a laptop.

If you want less doomscrolling and more perspective, this episode explains why, by most historical measures, there has never been a better time to be alive, while still recognizing the work left to do.