Thailand Ladyboys, The Tupac Effect, ESPN’s Ryan Clark

In this 8th solo episode, I talk about a few topics surrounding former NFL star Ryan Clark, including how the media spun his Westbank upbringing into a rags-to-riches story. As someone who grew up around him, I knew better.

My brother ran into Clark at the airport, and they started chatting about the epic basketball games we played as kids. Not surprisingly, Ryan remembered it all—he even remembered the nickname he had for me: “Popeye.”

I also dive into media personalities and politics. How I believe political talent is discovered based on their acting skills as much as anything else.

And I share a never-before-told story from a trip to Thailand, where me and few friends had a run-in with ladyboys reminiscent of The Hangover II.

Here are other topics covered in this episode:

• New viral Volvo commercial & its impact on fathers/aspiring dads
• Acquiring a “new” car by assuming the lease payments of a friend’s car
• Gell-Mann amnesia effect
• Former NFL players transitioning to TV roles
• Ryan Clark’s NFL journey
• Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor & his tragic death
• Absurd leniency of punishments for murderers
• Ryan Clark’s resilience & health challenges
• Trash-talking in sports
• Modern politicians & media personalities relying on acting skills to manipulate public perception
• How “kingmakers” leverage acting ability to push political agendas
• How acting skills can lead to public perceptions of intelligence i.e. Matt Damon
• Actors in political activism (like Robert de Niro)
• LGBTQ+ community as a political bloc
• Elon Musk’s view on goodness
• Actors vs doers
• Why most of the mouthpieces of propaganda are gay or effeminate
• Rise of transgender issues in America
• Bangla Road in Phuket, Thailand
• Thailand as a haven for transsexuals
• Suge Knight’s prison interview about Diddy, Bieber & Usher
• Tupac was a “theater kid” who adopted the gangster image for a reason
• Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation (80s hit)
• Peter Thiel’s theory that gaining power in America often involves being “compromised”
• Sexual misconduct allegations: Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump & Pete Hegseth
• Rejecting cultural groupings like “Latinx”
• America’s prosperity enabling ‘diverse’ representation in power
• Actors supporting leftists due to shared interests
• Teaching my kid to say “oily” but learning “ratchet” instead