Snapshot · Pod Save the World
Saudi Arabia led a diplomatic blockade of Qatar — closing the only land border into the tiny peninsula — that only ended in 2021, making their newfound camaraderie at the World Cup all the more striking.
Where this was said
At 26:41 · chapter starts 25:50
Mid-episode brings three sponsor reads delivered with the hosts' characteristic wit. Tommy plugs AG1 Athletic Greens as his daily nutritional staple, offering a free year's supply of vitamin D and travel packs at athleticgreens.com/corrupt. Carvana's ad takes the form of a bedtime story. ThirdLove rounds out the break with a pitch for its half-cup-size bras. The Hysteria podcast from Crooked Media also gets a cross-promotional mention. Roger's tangential observation — wondering if 'AG1' is Merrick Garland's personalized license plate — keeps the tone light before the conversation returns to more serious territory.
Gianni Infantino opened the World Cup with a 57-minute rant claiming to feel gay, disabled, and a migrant worker — a speech universally condemned by journalists. Tommy argues Infantino's only goal was to signal to Qatar's trillionaire Gulf Arab sponsors that he'll take every bullet for them.
Gianni Infantino gave a 57-minute speech on the opening day of the World Cup in which he declared 'Today I feel gay, today I feel disabled, today I feel a migrant worker.'
FIFA projected $7.5 billion in revenue from the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which Tommy and Roger cite as the core financial incentive behind Infantino's defense of Qatar.
A total of 8 states have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including an ongoing case in Tennessee, using product liability and public nuisance theories to seek accountability.
France built 56 nuclear plants in the 1970s and now has the cheapest energy in Europe, making it independent of Russian or Middle Eastern energy geopolitics.
Estonia has a single tax form, a law preventing the government from asking citizens for the same information twice, and a flat rate of tax — enabling competitive taxation.
Portugal's Lisbon, once a city with a major heroin problem, legalised drugs and redirected enforcement spending into rehabilitation and housing, dramatically reducing crime.
The first Boland Amendment banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras passed the House unanimously — yet the Reagan administration ignored it.
Over just two years, Saudi Arabia alone donated $32 million to the Contra rebels, giving loosely affiliated factions millions they had no way to spend on arms.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
Richard Secord and Albert Hakim marked up their arms shipments to the Contras by as much as 300%, making enormous personal profits from the covert operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
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