Fucked-up Friday returned in peak form this week: technical chaos, existential dread, climate collapse, Elon Musk taking credit for Andrew Yang’s UBI idea a decade late and acting like it was his own, and an incredible conversation with one of our favorite guests, Qasim Rashid, Esq.
The show opened with the loss of Stephen Colbert’s late-night platform and a larger discussion about free speech, authoritarianism, and why even someone as universally beloved—and frankly as mainstream white Catholic American as Colbert—is no longer safe from political retaliation. From there, things escalated quickly into the actual Fucked-up Friday stories.
Qasim brought data from a story he wrote called Who Is Igniting Antisemitism in America? It highlights a study by the Anti-Defamation League showing that out of more than 41,000 documented antisemitic hate incidents over two decades, only three were tied to leftists or Muslims — despite the nonstop narrative blaming campus protests and Muslim communities for rising antisemitism. The conversation expanded into white Christian nationalism, propaganda, Gaza, Islamophobia, synagogue and mosque violence, and the dangerous ways disinformation is making both Jewish and Muslim communities less safe.
Lawrence tackled Elon Musk suddenly championing Universal Basic Income while simultaneously helping build the AI systems most likely to eliminate millions of jobs in the first place. That spiraled into a conversation about tech billionaires, patriarchy, Andrew Yang being accidentally right too early, and why Jeff Bezos and Musk suddenly sound weirdly progressive now that the pitchforks are aimed in their direction.
And I brought the climate horror: a new study recommending that relocation from New Orleans begin immediately because the city may have already crossed a point of no return due to sea level rise. Which led us back again to parenting, children, collective trauma, and the fact that America keeps forcing entire generations to grow up inside overlapping crises while pretending none of them are connected.
Our audience voted, and while I captured a fair number of votes, today’s winner was clearly Qasim.
Thank you Mandy Ohman, Courtney, Noble Blend, Jeanne Elbe, Cheryl Jones-Head, and many others for tuning in, with special thanks to our amazing mods, Karen Marie Shelton and Yanni Hamburger.
Thanks for listening!
We’re Dana DuBois and Lawrence Winnerman, lifelong BFFs and co-hosts of The Daily Whatever Show — our independent home for smart, irreverent conversations about culture, politics, media, creativity, relationships, aging, and whatever else is shaping modern life this week.
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