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Matt promotes the Crisis Investing newsletter and VIP private placements, citing past returns and highlighting Midnight Sun's gains and the free Experts Roundtable featuring Arizona Eagle Mining. Doug and Matt discuss Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy and criticize a proposed government bailout as state capitalism, then argue the FAA and TSA should be abolished or privatized. They question Trump's claims about saving eight Iranian girls from execution, debate marijuana reclassification, and emphasize personal responsibility and cultural causes of drug use. In listener Q&A, they cover the importance of economics and psychology, skepticism about modern psychiatry, the value of intrapreneurship, risks of invading Iran, defining the deep state, best healthcare abroad (Switzerland, Thailand, Argentina), where private gold is concentrated (China), property vs self-investment, Roth IRA asset choice, private placement minimums, border interrogation, shareholder voting, helium investing limits, tungsten's strategic value, skepticism on South Africa REITs, and the film Barnum World's critique of political rhetoric.

00:00 Newsletter Pitch and Returns

01:21 VIP Deals and Roundtable

02:50 Spirit Airlines Bailout

04:44 Abolish FAA and TSA

05:48 Iranian Girls Tweet Controversy

08:12 Marijuana Rescheduling Debate

12:02 Economics vs Psychology Discipline

16:28 Intrapreneurship at Work

17:47 Invading Iran and Deep State

19:40 Best Healthcare Abroad

21:22 US Healthcare Reality

21:55 Where Gold Is Hoarded

23:33 Property Or Self Investment

27:06 Roth IRA Asset Choices

29:45 VIP Deal Minimums

30:27 Border Tech And Customs

31:55 Shareholder Voting Skepticism

33:13 Helium And Supply Limits

34:40 Tungsten And Critical Metals

36:56 South Africa REITs Debate

40:05 Barnum Statements In Politics

41:58 Wrap Up And Next Week

In today's episode: Good news broke this morning: the Strait of Hormuz is officially open again — assuming you believe what you read in the papers, which Doug emphatically does not. Oil dropped toward $80, gold crept toward $5,000 (a combination Doug calls "a little bit counterintuitive"), and meanwhile C-130s keep flowing into the Middle Eastern theater around the clock. As Doug puts it, "chances are this is just a pause in hostilities — everybody's taking the opportunity to reload."

From there the conversation goes exactly where you'd hope it would.

We get into Pete Hegseth's now-infamous "prayer breakfast," where the Secretary of Defense appears to have lifted Samuel L. Jackson's Ezekiel 25:17 monologue from Pulp Fiction and delivered it to a room of bewildered military brass as scripture. Doug's review was not kind: "It was kind of weak and mealy-mouthed the way Hegseth delivered those lines." His proposed fix? "Next time he ought to put a red bandana around his forehead à la Rambo, strip his shirt off to expose his war-like tattoos, and then deliver it with proper fervor."

Elsewhere in a wide-ranging episode:

• Why coin collecting is dead and what that says about how we think about money

• Doug's characteristically diplomatic take on Ireland's troubles

• The Argentine citizenship-by-investment program that was, then wasn't

• Whether traveling as an American is about to get uncomfortable again (Doug remembers the Vietnam-era Canadian-flag-on-the-backpack trick)

• Human cloning, Multiplicity, and the curious case of Adolfo Cambiasso cloning his best polo ponies — which rather settles the question of whether someone, somewhere, has tried it on people

• An honest look at our private placement track record: the big winners, and the ones that aren't

As Doug reminds us near the end: "We're just leaves drifting down the river of time. We shouldn't concern ourselves with these things — they're above our pay grade anyway."

Have a great weekend,

Matt

Doug and the host discuss how a gloomy zeitgeist has flipped inspirational "hard work pays off" stories into reminders that most people aren't Will Smith, reflecting young people's uncertainty and widening social division that could escalate beyond clashing ideas. They argue an "information war" now relies less on narrative control than flooding the public with competing, plausible, comforting, and gratifying stories that can't be proven, deepening confusion and polarization. The conversation centers on the escalating conflict with Iran, heated disagreements among investors and military professionals, and the market implications of a U.S. blockade and a Strait of Hormuz shutdown, which they warn could trigger fuel shortages, rapid economic contraction, bankruptcies, more money printing, inflation, and a potential bond-market panic, while noting potential geopolitical winners like Israel and possibly China.

00:00 Confusing Times Setup
01:05 Pop Culture Gloom Shift
03:05 Youth Outlook And Civil Strife
05:57 Iran Conflict Sparks Division
07:19 Markets View And Escalation Risks
11:40 Narrative Warfare Flooding
14:18 Why We Believe Stories
18:12 Extraordinary Claims Need Proof
20:31 Iran Narratives And Religion
22:25 No Shared Western Story
23:13 Heroes and Moral Vacuum
24:19 Drug Boats and Rules
25:48 Iran Blowback and Propaganda
30:36 Blockade Escalation Scenarios
33:38 Strait Closure Economic Shock
35:40 Markets Mispricing the Crisis
38:23 Trump Knew the Stakes
41:01 China Advantage and Bond Panic
43:44 Wrap Up and Prepare