Video summary
The podcast opens with a discussion regarding the proposed "Stop Nick Shirley Act" in California, legislation designed to prevent individuals from publicly posting personal information or images of patients and healthcare providers online if it is intended to incite violence against them. While proponents argue this law protects designated groups, such as Somali daycare centers mentioned in previous investigations, critics on the show view it as an extreme measure that effectively criminalizes investigative journalism aimed at exposing fraud. The speakers express concern that by making these disclosures illegal, the state is attempting to shield fraudulent entities from scrutiny rather than addressing the root causes of potential violence through stopping the underlying misconduct. The conversation expands beyond California to highlight similar legislative trends in Puerto Rico, where a financial board established under Obama's approval has funneled approximately $2 billion in taxpayer money off the island to Wall Street consultants and executives for bankruptcy proceedings involving PREPA, the government power authority. The hosts detail how this process led to the privatization of electricity services with LUMA Energy, resulting in unreliable power grids and some of the highest rates in the country despite billions spent on consulting fees. They argue that these financial maneuvers have severely impacted residents, citing examples of individuals living without roofs or electricity for years while millions are diverted to external consultants connected to Wall Street firms. A significant portion of the dialogue focuses on how authorities in Puerto Rico are actively trying to obstruct investigative efforts by revoking parts of their transparency act within the last four to five months. The speakers explain that previous laws allowed citizens to request information without revealing their identities, but new restrictions now enable officials to see who is making requests and subsequently deny them access based on those identities. This shift mirrors the intent behind the California bill, creating a chilling effect where watchdogs face penalties for exposing fraud or releasing investigative videos, effectively placing journalists at risk of harassment while allowing systemic corruption to continue unchecked. The hosts also touch upon their own experiences with these issues, noting that Gary Faust has been vocal about his frustrations regarding these obstructions in Puerto Rico and California alike. They reflect on the broader implications for freedom of speech, arguing that both major political parties are complicit in passing such restrictive measures despite public backlash from opponents like Republicans who might criticize Democrats for similar actions. The discussion underscores a growing pattern where legislation is crafted to preemptively silence critics before they can expose significant financial malfeasance or safety hazards, leaving little room for the kind of deep-dive journalism required to hold powerful institutions accountable. Throughout the segment, there are brief interjections regarding personal recovery and mitochondrial health using urolithin A from Timeline as a sponsor read, which interrupts the flow but does not alter the core narrative about legislative overreach. The speakers conclude by emphasizing that while protecting individuals from immediate physical harm is valid, passing laws that broadly restrict public disclosure of fraud undermines democratic oversight. They suggest that if such acts were applied universally to all investigative journalism, it would prevent professionals in their fields from doing their jobs effectively, ultimately allowing corruption and unsafe conditions to persist without consequence.
Read the full video transcript
Did you guys hear about the Stop Nick
Shirley Act in California?
Dude, this is crazy. So there was cuz
he's trying to do the same thing he did
in Minnesota in California, right? He
needs to do that in Puerto Rico, dude.
Seriously. I mean if you get a list of
the places that So California has this
act now? Who's Who's This is it. This is
the bill right here. They basically put
put together this legislation that says
it's called the Stop Nick Shirley Act.
>> What is it like a draft? What
>> Existing law prohibits a person,
business, or association from knowingly
publicly posting, disclosing, or
distributing on internet websites or on
social media the personal information or
image of any designated health care
services patient, provider, or
assistant, or other individuals residing
at the same home address with the intent
to incite a third person to cause
imminent great bodily harm to the person
identified in the posting or display or
to a co-resident of that person as
specified or to threaten the person
identified in the posting or display or
a co-resident of that person as
specified.
>> So it's basically an extreme fascist
bill that they're trying to pass to
prevent people from exposing fraud.
>> So you think that they're getting out
ahead of
having exposing California what was
exposed in Minnesota? And by making it
essentially this kind of investigation
illegal.
>> Yeah. And that's um
of interest to me given all the
the financial stuff I've exposed down in
Puerto Rico, but
the and on a if you extrapolate like
that and map it on to freedom of speech
as a whole, uh this is a big problem. I
mean I
I don't know what to
>> is [ __ ] gnarly, dude. Having to read
this thing like the Here we go.
>> This guy, yeah, he explains it a little
bit better here. It warns that it would
restrict the release of investigative
videos and impose penalties on watchdogs
who expose fraud. Uh it's a I mean I
don't really believe in the two-party
system. I think they're all just two
Everybody's full of [ __ ] but it is a
Democrat that put this out, and of
course there's you know the backlash
from this guy is probably a Republican.
>> so sounds like what they're saying is
when he exposed the Somali learning
centers that then creates
you know sort of hostile potential
violence against the Somali people. So
in order to protect threats of violence
against immigrants uh here's this act.
>> Right, right, right. And which is
totally like a load of [ __ ] because
the real way you would protect from
somebody being harassed like that is to
stop the fraud in the first place from
happening.
>> Yeah, or just separately prevent like
violence in the way that we prevent
assault.
>> or I mean I'm just saying that yeah,
there's a number of other ways to handle
it. But yeah, it's crazy, right? Yeah. I
I was looking at this the other day. I'm
I'm kind of interested in how it plays
out. You know?
>> You'll you'll you do a lot of
investigative journalism, right? You
were down in uh Palisades almost
immediately after the fire exposing a
ton of stuff around FEMA. Uh
you've done the Puerto Rico thing. What
are the like big ones have you done
recently?
>> Um
well
after going to Puerto Rico like I kind
of uh
was uh shelved the the deep dive
investigations because it's so much work
to look through all the
just everything, dude. It was also
really it was [ __ ] up, man. Like
people in Puerto Rico don't have we we
met a guy who doesn't have a [ __ ]
roof still.
He's He hasn't had electricity for 8
years. It's crazy, dude. I You got to
watch it. I don't know if I ever sent it
to you. It's pretty crazy.
>> Yeah, it's um
it's insane. I I in theory I mean I can
give you the the layout real fast.
Basically, in 2016
Congress with Obama's approval signed
off on a financial board that more or
less acts like the shadow government of
Puerto Rico now and they've funneled
around $2 billion of taxpayer money,
Puerto Rican taxpayer money, off the
island to Wall Street
consultants, executives, uh attorneys to
consult on the bankruptcy down there
because the whole island is bankrupt.
And part of that process is to resolve
the PREPA bankruptcy, which is the
Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority.
It's the government power company. And
then it was privatized with this company
LUMA and yada yada yada. The power is
horribly unreliable down there. It's one
of the most expensive in the entire
country. And they're basically having
money funneled
off the island. Like and they're all
more or less connected to Wall Street.
But it's crazy. And the reason I bring
that up in relation to this is because
um
you know, the Somalian daycare thing,
sure there's there's some some stuff
going on there. But Puerto Rico has been
basically getting [ __ ] on forever. And I
think this is a possibly an even worse
situation that's going on down there.
And they just revoked some transparency
act down there, too, recently. In the
past like four or five months.
>> They're going to try and get out ahead
of people that are doing investigative
journalism.
>> I mean, that's what it seems like to me.
They don't want They wanted to be more
difficult for people to to FOIA request
stuff, essentially. Like one of the
things they revoked on the transparency
act down there in Puerto Rico was
when you when you request information,
it doesn't show who you are
specifically, right?
To to the to the people that you're
requesting it from. But they they're
changing that so that they can see. So
they'll be like, "Oh, Gary Faust, the
guy that's been talking a bunch of [ __ ]
about us is requesting this information.
We're going to, you know, deny that."
>> Yep.
>> It's crazy. But this is similar to that.
And I think this is actually
>> branded as the transparency act cuz who
can who can say transparency
>> It was an exis- It was existing
legislation that was put in place
>> Transparency equals good.
>> Yeah, yeah, they're
yeah. Um But yeah, this is this is
crazy. I don't even know what else to
say about it cuz not much has
transpired, but in my field of work I
mean
that would that would basically prevent
me from doing my job.
>> Before we continue, most people in their
30s are still training hard. Their
protein is dialed in. They sleep better
than they did in their 20s. Discipline
is not the issue, but recovery feels
somewhat different. Strength gains take
a little longer. The margin for error
starts to shrink. And that is why I'm
such a huge fan of Timeline. You see,
mitochondria are the energy producers
inside of your muscle cells. As they
weaken with age, your ability to
generate power and recover effectively
changes, even if your habits stay
strong.
the only clinically validated form of
urolithin A used in human trials. It
promotes mitophagy, which is your body's
natural process for clearing out damaged
mitochondria and renewing healthy ones.
In studies, this supported mitochondrial
function and muscle strength in older
adults. It's not about pushing harder,
it's about actually supporting the
cellular machinery underneath your
training. If you care about staying
strong into your 30s, 40s, and 50s and
beyond, this is foundational. Best of
all, there is a 30-day money-back
guarantee plus free shipping in the US,
and they ship internationally. And right
now, you can get up to 20% off by going
to the link in the description below or
heading to timeline.com/modernwisdom
and using the code modernwisdom at
checkout. That's
timeline.com/modernwisdom.
And modernwisdom at checkout.
Congratulations, you made it to the end
of a clip, and the full-length episode
is available
right here.
Go on.