Elon Musk spoke at one of the events on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th 2025. During his speech he invoked a gesture that looked like the salute Nazis used to make and that Neo-Nazis use today. As is often the case in today’s divided world, people lined up on opposing sides; either defending Musk or excoriating him. I try to take a balanced look at the issue and a broader look at Musk.

Video of Musk’s gesture

https://youtu.be/-VfYjPzj1Xw?si=wi9LRh2yeBUUrPUX

Musk’s follow up joke Tweet

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1882406209187409976

Musk’s Tweet in support of AfD

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1869986946031988780

Article about ADL responses

https://www.axios.com/2025/01/23/elon-musk-nazi-joke-adl

Musk interview with Ben Shapiro

https://youtu.be/JGdbFGANapk?si=b1SwXIGwvFAH2sES

Statement of woman who toured Auschwitz with Musk

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B6VDrrayB/

Musk speaking at AfD rally

https://youtu.be/-Gogvdy1frw?si=KD4fJQ_8r5a63RFGArticle about simulation theory

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50/

“Hogan’s Heroes” clip

https://youtu.be/8jeLtnRjQPw?si=AnkYUPuNseOfjWLy

I recorded this on January 20, 2025. It’s a day after the first 3 hostages were released from Gaza as part of the recently brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. It’s also the inauguration of America’s 47th president Donald J. Trump. Between the emotional high of the return of 3 young women from captivity in Gaza, concerns about freed terrorists, the future in Gaza and trepidation about a second Trump presidency it’s a real emotional roller coaster.

My Article - “Innocents in Gaza”https://mslipkin.substack.com/p/innocents-in-gaza

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib on Twitter and Facebookhttps://x.com/afalkhatibhttps://www.facebook.com/afalkhatib

Isaac Saul’s Newsletter - “Tracking Trump’s Promises and Key Metrics for America”https://www.readtangle.com/tracking-trump-promises-state-of-america-2025/

TDS 2.0 (The Maslow article) https://substack.com/home/post/p-155183824

Doctor’s comment on last episodehttps://mslipkin.substack.com/p/health-insurance-vs-healthcare

Having lived in the US for many years and now another 20 years in Israel I have a perspective on the differences in how healthcare is viewed in both countries. I now believe that it’s important to view healthcare as a service that the government should provide or pay for rather than as insurance one needs to purchase in case something goes wrong.

Some links:

US Health Care System Ranks Last Overall Among Other High-Income Countries

$2 million device to replace MRI scanner broken by negligent cleaner

Overview of Israeli Healthcare System

After all that talk in the first episode about buying and then procrastinating setting up the microphone, I dumped the whole setup this week and just talked into my phone. Find out why.

I also talked about the advantages of having conversations via voice messages on WhatsApp. Sometimes it’s better and more effective to be able to process what the other person is saying before responding.

After I did the podcast I found a couple of articles on the subject. Apparently voice notes are quite the rage. WhatsApp handled about 7 billion a day as of 2022!

See below:

Why I hate texting, and why I love voice memoshttps://dailyfreepress.com/2022/12/06/why-i-hate-texting-and-why-i-love-voice-memos/

To my horror, gen X is turning to voice notes – I don’t want to hear your mini-podcasthttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/29/gen-x-voice-notes-podcast-phone-message

I was deeply troubled by the invective and discrimination that the Trump campaign hurled at transgender people leading up the election. I understand that treatment, especially with regard to adolescents, is controversial even among medical professionals, but people’s mental health and welfare should not be the stuff of political point-scoring fodder.

Here, I try to imagine a future world where things could be different. I may be totally off-base and would appreciate feedback as to why. Please know that my intent is not to hurt anyone.

An example of an anti-transgender Trump campaign ad.https://youtube.com/shorts/VVU7pYq3WHw?si=-KpUTrfjWsgZXemn

A New York Times article that takes a deep dive into the issue.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/health/puberty-blockers-transgender.html

In a couple of previous episodes I referred to myself as both a “white man” and a “Jewish American”. In some corners both of those descriptions can be seen as controversial. I discuss why I see myself in those terms and more broadly how I believe we form our identities.

I start off the episode discussing some good feedback I received on last week’s episode. I then go on to talk about the holiday of Thanksgiving, what it means to me and how I celebrate now that I no longer live in the U.S.

Movies of my family Thanksgivings from 1956 - 1961

Video of a Thanksgiving Day football game with friends - 1983

My “fall” tree - Chinese tallow (Safyon Hashaava in Hebrew)

The recent U.S. election really brought out the worst in a lot of us. Understandably, people feel there’s a lot at stake. All too often we either ascribe nefarious intent or lack of intelligence to those who didn’t vote like us. I delve into these issues with a few real world examples.

Some links refenced in the podcast:

TED Talk by Jonathan Haidt

Substack article I wrote after the election

My op-ed published in the Jerusalem Post

Time of Israel article about orthodox Jews voting for Trump

Subscribe to my Substack

You can email me at: michaelscott.outloud@gmail.com