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Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2023 10:59 am
by yankees60
After KBG listed several Lex Fridman podcasts as being useful to understanding what is going on in Israel I've made a concerted effort to listen to ALL his podcasts since the last time I'd listened to one. I've been able to do so because with the change in weather I'm now almost exclusively indoors and I've been getting a lot done on this computer which does not require me to read or write.

It seems like I'd not listened to once since last March - #364.

Since then I've listened to all from #365 to the one I have on now - #390. He is currently at #400 which means that soon I will be caught up on all his podcasts and will be in a position of waiting for new ones to come out. Which will then allow me to listen to other podcasts.

Currently the only other podcasts I listen to are the five Sunday news talk shows, which I listen to twice.

Please let me know which podcasts you listen to with regularity, meaning you rarely miss listening to one of them.

Here are the Lex podcasts I've consumed over the last few weeks (https://lexfridman.com/podcast/):

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Comments on some of them (keeping in mind that the frequent discussion of AI is not one of my particular interests):

#369 Paul Rosolie - interesting on a level of so different discussion than the "average" Lex

#375 David Pakman - political discussion is going to be more interesting to me than AI discussion

#377 Harvey Silverglate - A one topic extremist person who has a high opinion of himself and a low opinion of others

#378 Anna Frebal - Fascinating facts presented

#379 Randall Kennedy - One of the best Lex's I've ever experienced

#380 Neil Gershenfield - Far more interesting to me than I'd anticipated that it would be

#382 Bert Kreischer - One of Lex's more low brow interviewees

#383 Mark Zuckerberg - Such a contrast to the prior interviewee. Incredibly intelligent and talented person.

#384 Matthew McConaughey - Another contrast but in the other direction. It was painful and work to listen to it in its entierity. I was grateful it was a 2 hour Lex and NOT a 4 hour Lex

#386 Marc Andreeessen - A good one

#387 George Holz - An incredibly intelligent person who is completely down to earth

#388 Robert F Kennedy - What a mix of intelligence and crackpotism. His Saint Uncle John was our only infallible human.

#399 Benjamin Netanyahu - This week was my first real exposure to him with this following up me listening to his two Sunday News interviews twice. He sways me with his arguments.

#400 Yuval Noah - Started one of his books, which was excellent (Homo Sapiens) but which I put down and have never gone back to. So far I've been able to do this and half listen to him without feeling like I am missing a lot.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2023 12:17 pm
by Smith1776
yankees60 wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 10:59 am After KBG listed several Lex Fridman podcasts as being useful to understanding what is going on in Israel I've made a concerted effort to listen to ALL his podcasts since the last time I'd listened to one. I've been able to do so because with the change in weather I'm now almost exclusively indoors and I've been getting a lot done on this computer which does not require me to read or write.

...
Lex (Led) Fridman has quickly become my absolute FAVOURITE podcaster. I've said it before, but I really think he's like Joe Rogan but better in every way. At first he was only interviewing people in the computer science field, but he's quickly grown to interview people from all walks of life - even Joe Rogan himself!

Lately I've grown to listen to audiobooks that I've been checking out for free from my local library. The interface is a bit clunky, but well worth the free content.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2023 12:23 pm
by yankees60
Smith1776 wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 12:17 pm
yankees60 wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 10:59 am
After KBG listed several Lex Fridman podcasts as being useful to understanding what is going on in Israel I've made a concerted effort to listen to ALL his podcasts since the last time I'd listened to one. I've been able to do so because with the change in weather I'm now almost exclusively indoors and I've been getting a lot done on this computer which does not require me to read or write.

...


Lex (Led) Fridman has quickly become my absolute FAVOURITE podcaster. I've said it before, but I really think he's like Joe Rogan but better in every way. At first he was only interviewing people in the computer science field, but he's quickly grown to interview people from all walks of life - even Joe Rogan himself!

Lately I've grown to listen to audiobooks that I've been checking out for free from my local library. The interface is a bit clunky, but well worth the free content.


I would rarely ever listen to an audiobook since it is so inefficient for me to get through a book. The average speaker speaks about 200 words per minute while I can read 900 words per minute.

Therefore I'm not going to listen to a book. But I do now have time to listen to podcasts.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2023 12:37 pm
by Smith1776
yankees60 wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 12:23 pm
I would rarely ever listen to an audiobook since it is so inefficient for me to get through a book. The average speaker speaks about 200 words per minute while I can read 900 words per minute.

Therefore I'm not going to listen to a book. But I do now have time to listen to podcasts.
For me it really depends on what I'm in the mood for. Right now I'm listening to an audiobook about the history of internet commerce. Interesting stuff.

Podcasts are definitely my go-to medium. Even more so than music. When I was taking my flights to and from Hong Kong they were a life saver!

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2023 2:12 am
by boglerdude
Vinny after listening to these podcasts, what have you been wrong about. ie who has changed your mind and about what

Econtalk is good

to add content to this post, Aunt age 64 had mild heart attack 3 days after 4th booster. Even the traditional flu shot needs another look, they guess which strain is going to be prevalent each winter and get it right 40% of the time. If the jab gave you antibodies against the wrong strain, that might make things worse.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2023 9:05 am
by yankees60
boglerdude wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2023 2:12 am
Vinny after listening to these podcasts, what have you been wrong about. ie who has changed your mind and about what

Econtalk is good

to add content to this post, Aunt age 64 had mild heart attack 3 days after 4th booster. Even the traditional flu shot needs another look, they guess which strain is going to be prevalent each winter and get it right 40% of the time. If the jab gave you antibodies against the wrong strain, that might make things worse.


1) I am not able to precisely answer your question.

2) This caught my eye and will be one I will listen to: https://www.econtalk.org/nassim-nichola ... and-scale/

Thanks for the recommendation. I don't think anyone besides you has made any other podcast recommendations. Means either no one is listening to any on a regular basis that they recommend, or we have quite low participation here or some degree of both.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2023 9:19 am
by Xan
Issues, Etc is a good one for me.

Of the most general interest here I think would be the regular interviews with Terry Mattingly, who is an old-school journalist and always has a good perspective on the news that we're hearing. He'll critique coverage, going through questions that should be asked, what's being left out, etc. He'll explain where the reporters are coming from on different issues and how that affects things. Sometimes he says they're doing things wrong and sometimes he says they're doing things right.
https://issuesetc.org/tag/terry-mattingly/

A recent one was the case of the cross-dressing Alabama mayor, where the media narrative was that the guy was outed by a conservative website because conservatives like to persecute sexual minorities. It turns out that the website did pretty much everything right, IIRC because multiple women had accused the mayor of using their names and likenesses inappropriately, so you have a criminal accusation against a public figure which can't be discussed without revealing the cross-dressing. They even talked to the guy before publishing to get his side of the story.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2023 10:31 am
by yankees60
Xan wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2023 9:19 am
Issues, Etc is a good one for me.

Of the most general interest here I think would be the regular interviews with Terry Mattingly, who is an old-school journalist and always has a good perspective on the news that we're hearing. He'll critique coverage, going through questions that should be asked, what's being left out, etc. He'll explain where the reporters are coming from on different issues and how that affects things. Sometimes he says they're doing things wrong and sometimes he says they're doing things right.
https://issuesetc.org/tag/terry-mattingly/

A recent one was the case of the cross-dressing Alabama mayor, where the media narrative was that the guy was outed by a conservative website because conservatives like to persecute sexual minorities. It turns out that the website did pretty much everything right, IIRC because multiple women had accused the mayor of using their names and likenesses inappropriately, so you have a criminal accusation against a public figure which can't be discussed without revealing the cross-dressing. They even talked to the guy before publishing to get his side of the story.


Thanks.

However, your link led to errors.

Is this the correct location?

https://issuesetc.org/

https://issuesetc.org/archive/

The Terry Mattingly link did work.

I will let you know what I think once I get all caught up on Lex (He is on #400 and I am at #392). I will be doing a lot of work on this computer over the next three days that will not be fully occupying my mind so I will be getting far in finally getting caught up.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2023 10:43 am
by Xan
Sorry, fixed the link.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2023 11:08 am
by Smith1776
I didn't realize Spotify had an ad-supported plan that is free. Huh.

I guess I'm back to listening to Joe Rogan. First up is his interview with Elon Musk.. they're eating pizza on the podcast lol.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2023 8:03 pm
by boglerdude
> I am not able to precisely answer your question

Either he is AI or I am. Hope its me, studied gerontology for a while. Maybe I could upload myself to the cloud and troll for centuries

Also https://www.thisamericanlife.org/archive

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2023 5:54 pm
by geaux saints
Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. I've never learned more from any one source than I have from Bart.

https://www.bartehrman.com/podcast/

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:00 pm
by Mountaineer
geaux saints wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 5:54 pm Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. I've never learned more from any one source than I have from Bart.

https://www.bartehrman.com/podcast/
I hope your eternal future is not compromised by learning from an atheist.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:27 pm
by dualstow
geaux saints wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 5:54 pm Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. I've never learned more from any one source than I have from Bart.

https://www.bartehrman.com/podcast/
Nice! (no offense, Mountaineer. I do like his books)

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:28 pm
by dualstow
Smith1776 wrote: Sat Nov 18, 2023 11:08 am I didn't realize Spotify had an ad-supported plan that is free. Huh.

I guess I'm back to listening to Joe Rogan. First up is his interview with Elon Musk.. they're eating pizza on the podcast lol.
I didn’t either. 2024 project (Do I sound like Vinny?)

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:42 pm
by geaux saints
Mountaineer wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:00 pm
geaux saints wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 5:54 pm Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. I've never learned more from any one source than I have from Bart.

https://www.bartehrman.com/podcast/
I hope your eternal future is not compromised by learning from an atheist.
I also meant no offense by this. Before I started listening to Bart I was one of those people who would tell you Jesus was a mythical figure (definitely don't believe that anymore), so while I can't claim to be a believer now, I am closer than when I started.
dualstow wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:27 pm
geaux saints wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 5:54 pm Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. I've never learned more from any one source than I have from Bart.

https://www.bartehrman.com/podcast/
Nice! (no offense, Mountaineer. I do like his books)
Good man! I hope you and yours are well.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 5:55 am
by Mountaineer
geaux saints wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:42 pm
Mountaineer wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:00 pm
geaux saints wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 5:54 pm Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. I've never learned more from any one source than I have from Bart.

https://www.bartehrman.com/podcast/
I hope your eternal future is not compromised by learning from an atheist.
I also meant no offense by this. Before I started listening to Bart I was one of those people who would tell you Jesus was a mythical figure (definitely don't believe that anymore), so while I can't claim to be a believer now, I am closer than when I started.
dualstow wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 6:27 pm
geaux saints wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 5:54 pm Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. I've never learned more from any one source than I have from Bart.

https://www.bartehrman.com/podcast/
Nice! (no offense, Mountaineer. I do like his books)
Good man! I hope you and yours are well.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Re the Bart Ehrman books comments - no offense taken at all: Several years ago my wife and I watched a (on DVD I think) series of lectures by Bart Ehrman and Amy-Jill Levine. Interesting but reinforced our beliefs in the truth of Scripture and the authority of God's Word that is recorded and revealed in those Scriptures. The more I study the more I am amazed at how well the various Books of the Bible fit into a harmonized coherent God-inspired whole even though it was written over a period of a thousand plus years by a variety of human writers. It's Word is a river of life that will never run empty. One of my more important learnings was to read the whole Bible (the Old and New Testaments) from a Christocentric perspective: the pre-incarnate Christ is throughout the Old Testament, and of course the incarnate Christ is all over the New Testament. A second key learning is to pay attention to direction; is it from us to God or from God to us? Basically, everything good comes from God to us, every thing bad comes from ourselves and the devil; the only thing we have to offer God is our sin and our thanks and praise for what Jesus did to save believers in His promises.

A word for geaux saints: Awesome screen name and a double entendre. You are half-way there! ;-)

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2023 9:07 am
by yankees60
As of yesterday got up-to-date on listening to Lex Fridman podcasts. Over the last few weeks listened to #365 to 401.

That will allow me to start listening to the ones that each of you have recommended. Thanks for the recommendations.

However, before then I am again going to listen to #401. While listening my attention was drawn elsewhere several times. Plus it had so much substance in it. I also hope to read all of his books.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4wLXNydzeY

John Mearsheimer: Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, China, NATO, and WW3 | Lex Fridman Podcast #401


1,376,511 views Nov 17, 2023 Lex Fridman Podcast
John Mearsheimer is an international relations scholar at University of Chicago. He is one of the most influential and controversial thinkers in the world on the topics of war and power.

TRANSCRIPT:
https://lexfridman.com/john-mearsheim...

EPISODE LINKS:
John's Website: https://mearsheimer.com
John's Books:
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics: https://amzn.to/3FWrqkX
How States Think: https://amzn.to/3udaWST
The Great Delusion: https://amzn.to/3syXKXS
Why Leaders Lie: https://amzn.to/3ucs4rU
The Israel Lobby: https://amzn.to/47fxrVU
Books Mentioned:
Leviathan: https://amzn.to/49zCFgu
The End of History and the Last Man: https://amzn.to/47wTVBf
Who Are We: https://amzn.to/3QXDk44

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
Full episodes playlist:

• Lex Fridman Podcast
Clips playlist:

• Lex Fridman Podcast Clips

OUTLINE:
0:00 - Introduction
1:29 - Power
24:43 - Hitler
42:09 - Russia and Ukraine
1:38:22 - Israel and Palestine
2:39:13 - China
3:21:34 - Life and mortality

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2023 5:18 pm
by yankees60
boglerdude wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2023 2:12 am
Vinny after listening to these podcasts, what have you been wrong about. ie who has changed your mind and about what

Econtalk is good

to add content to this post, Aunt age 64 had mild heart attack 3 days after 4th booster. Even the traditional flu shot needs another look, they guess which strain is going to be prevalent each winter and get it right 40% of the time. If the jab gave you antibodies against the wrong strain, that might make things worse.


Just starting to listen to Econtalk. Last episode October 23, 2023? Should be due for a new one any day now?

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 6:55 am
by yankees60
boglerdude wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2023 2:12 am
Vinny after listening to these podcasts, what have you been wrong about. ie who has changed your mind and about what

Econtalk is good

to add content to this post, Aunt age 64 had mild heart attack 3 days after 4th booster. Even the traditional flu shot needs another look, they guess which strain is going to be prevalent each winter and get it right 40% of the time. If the jab gave you antibodies against the wrong strain, that might make things worse.


I listened to the about the first 20 minutes of the latest Econtalk before a basketball game started.

Was not holding my attention so I will not force myself to listen to the rest.

This is the topic:

Andrew McAfee on the Geek Way
Nov 20 2023
41Jtz9opfL._SY445_SX342_.jpgWhat's different about companies that accomplish amazing things? Perhaps surprisingly, says Andrew McAfee of MIT, it has nothing to do with being agile or with better technology. Instead, they've developed what he calls "geek" cultures, which emphasize intense cooperation, rapid learning curves, and a lack of hierarchy. Listen as McAfee talks about his book The Geek Way with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and how focusing on company norms, as opposed to organizational charts and structure, is a key to realizing big ambitions. They also discuss the role that data and evidence play in geek companies' decision-making and why the willingness to embrace failure is a winning strategy.



I will now go there and listen to a new one if it is there. If not, I will move on to the next recommended one in this topic.

Went there and nothing new so will go on to the next recommendation.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 7:02 am
by yankees60
Xan wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2023 9:19 am
Issues, Etc is a good one for me.

Of the most general interest here I think would be the regular interviews with Terry Mattingly, who is an old-school journalist and always has a good perspective on the news that we're hearing. He'll critique coverage, going through questions that should be asked, what's being left out, etc. He'll explain where the reporters are coming from on different issues and how that affects things. Sometimes he says they're doing things wrong and sometimes he says they're doing things right.
https://issuesetc.org/tag/terry-mattingly/

A recent one was the case of the cross-dressing Alabama mayor, where the media narrative was that the guy was outed by a conservative website because conservatives like to persecute sexual minorities. It turns out that the website did pretty much everything right, IIRC because multiple women had accused the mayor of using their names and likenesses inappropriately, so you have a criminal accusation against a public figure which can't be discussed without revealing the cross-dressing. They even talked to the guy before publishing to get his side of the story.


I officially have this one on. By Lex's long form interview standards these are extremely short!

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 7:54 am
by yankees60
Xan wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2023 9:19 am
Issues, Etc is a good one for me.

Of the most general interest here I think would be the regular interviews with Terry Mattingly, who is an old-school journalist and always has a good perspective on the news that we're hearing. He'll critique coverage, going through questions that should be asked, what's being left out, etc. He'll explain where the reporters are coming from on different issues and how that affects things. Sometimes he says they're doing things wrong and sometimes he says they're doing things right.
https://issuesetc.org/tag/terry-mattingly/

A recent one was the case of the cross-dressing Alabama mayor, where the media narrative was that the guy was outed by a conservative website because conservatives like to persecute sexual minorities. It turns out that the website did pretty much everything right, IIRC because multiple women had accused the mayor of using their names and likenesses inappropriately, so you have a criminal accusation against a public figure which can't be discussed without revealing the cross-dressing. They even talked to the guy before publishing to get his side of the story.


Finished listening to the interview you recommended.

I'll first start off with the Bad.

1) For me ... the overall shortness of the podcast. I've been spoiled by Lex by being able to put on one of his podcasts and then listen for hours on end without having to spend time engaging in another podcast. I'm always aware of the ratio of [overall content / time spent getting to the content]. I always seek as high a ratio as possible.

2) It was a quite confusing beginning. I several times thought I'd not clicked on the correct podcast. For the first few minutes there was a hodge podge of unrelated items before we were finally brought to the topic interview with Mattingly.

3) Then in the middle and end we got more minutes of a hodge podge of various items. Again spoiled by Lex where he starts an interview with someone and that is all you get for the entire podcast. Him and the interviewee. No breaks in it for various unrelated items.

The Good.

Mattingly was quite good. I would definitely listen to more of him. He was quite fair in his analysis.

So, while there were more Bad points than Good points ... overall it was quite a worthwhile listen.

Since these podcasts are so short (am I being inconsistent?) and I'm already at the web site I will now listen to selected subsequent podcasts.

Finally, you did an excellent job above describing Mattingly and the contents of this particular podcast.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 8:26 am
by yankees60
Xan wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2023 9:19 am
Issues, Etc is a good one for me.

Of the most general interest here I think would be the regular interviews with Terry Mattingly, who is an old-school journalist and always has a good perspective on the news that we're hearing. He'll critique coverage, going through questions that should be asked, what's being left out, etc. He'll explain where the reporters are coming from on different issues and how that affects things. Sometimes he says they're doing things wrong and sometimes he says they're doing things right.
https://issuesetc.org/tag/terry-mattingly/

A recent one was the case of the cross-dressing Alabama mayor, where the media narrative was that the guy was outed by a conservative website because conservatives like to persecute sexual minorities. It turns out that the website did pretty much everything right, IIRC because multiple women had accused the mayor of using their names and likenesses inappropriately, so you have a criminal accusation against a public figure which can't be discussed without revealing the cross-dressing. They even talked to the guy before publishing to get his side of the story.


Instead of going forwards I did go backwards as the topic is of interest:

https://issuesetc.org/2023/10/18/3001-s ... -10-18-23/

2911. Social Media, Journalism and the Israel-Hamas War – Terry Mattingly, 10/18/23

Same Bad. The beginning hodge-podge is confusing, causing one to wonder if you chose the correct podcast. Then a break after only 10 minutes of interview to go into what can be likened to commercials, promos for other items. It hampers the flow of the interview. Again. I'm spoiled by no-commercials, no promos Lex.

Same Good. Mattingly is quite good.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 8:55 am
by Xan
I'm certainly glad you enjoyed the good parts! You're right, the Israel/Hamas interview with him was also a good one. Was that the one about the changing headline and the challenges of writing headlines?

Issues, Etc is a radio show, 10 hours a week. What we've linked to is the "on-demand archives" which are segments of the show. You can also listen live online or on a handful of radio stations. Does that context help with the "hodgepodge"? The first segment of the day's show usually starts with a rundown of what's coming up. There are commercial breaks but they're easily skippable.

Re: Favorite Podcasts?

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 9:05 am
by yankees60
Xan wrote: Fri Nov 17, 2023 9:19 am
Issues, Etc is a good one for me.

Of the most general interest here I think would be the regular interviews with Terry Mattingly, who is an old-school journalist and always has a good perspective on the news that we're hearing. He'll critique coverage, going through questions that should be asked, what's being left out, etc. He'll explain where the reporters are coming from on different issues and how that affects things. Sometimes he says they're doing things wrong and sometimes he says they're doing things right.
https://issuesetc.org/tag/terry-mattingly/

A recent one was the case of the cross-dressing Alabama mayor, where the media narrative was that the guy was outed by a conservative website because conservatives like to persecute sexual minorities. It turns out that the website did pretty much everything right, IIRC because multiple women had accused the mayor of using their names and likenesses inappropriately, so you have a criminal accusation against a public figure which can't be discussed without revealing the cross-dressing. They even talked to the guy before publishing to get his side of the story.


Just finished this one:

https://issuesetc.org/2023/10/25/2981-a ... -10-25-23/

2981. A Los Angeles Times Story about Hollywood and the Israel-Hamas War – Terry Mattingly, 10/25/23

Same Bad -- the initial confusing hodge-podge plus the commercials / promos to interrupt the flow of the interview.

Two minor criticisms of Mattingly.

Over 35 years ago it was brought to my attention that the word "very" is the weakest descriptive word of all and its use should be avoided. For the most part I've succeeded in self-censoring its use by me in either writing and speech. Therefore I was quite surprised to hear Mattingly, a journalist (with journalists generally having the widest of vocabularies in the general population) use the word "very" at least three times in his speech in this interview. It's close to a nothing word that adds little descriptively.

Also, he seemed to accept the plausibility that October 7th could have been an attempt to derail the recent Israel / Saudi Arabia talks. He seems to not understand that that attack had been planned well in advance of these recent talks which meant he should have been dismissing their plausibility rather him taking part in propagating it.

I'd give grades of A to his two other interviews I'd listened to. This one was only a B.