Episode #1032: So Much Electricity
First Broadcast: 9/22/25
Repeated: 11/17/25
Would you listen to a podcast that completely consists of voices generated by A.I.? Is it really easier or cheaper to create a podcast with A.I. than to have one created by actual human beings? Can anyone trust the opinions of a podcast in which no human created the opinions? Are A.I.-generated podcasts the audio equivalent of all the spam A.I.-generated "books" clogging up Amazon? Is this life imitating the "Army of Robots" song by Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer? Don't people have enough problems with chatbots making them psychotic? Doesn't A.I. already use too much water and too much electricty, and by that contributing to global warming? Is more nuclear power from fission reactors really a solution, when we still don't really know where to put all their radioactive waste? Won't someone think of the cats???
Episode #1033: Bag of Potato Chips
First Broadcast: 10/6/25
On September 28, 2025, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams officially announced that he was suspending his re-election campaign for Mayor (even though, like independent candidate Jim Walden, his name will still be on the ballot), effectively ending his chances for winning another term in office, and he did not endorse any of the remaining candidates in the process (although who would want his endorsement at this point is still an open question). Are we going to miss him and all his scandals, not the least of which was the time one of his campaign workers handed a reporter an envelope full of cash that was hidden inside a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips? Probably not. Will Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa stay in the race like he's promised, or will he eventually drop out too in order to make this a two-man race between Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and ex-Governor Mario Cuomo? Probably not either, but who knows? Will House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer--both New York City residents--ever get around to endorsing the candidate whom voters of their own party chose to nominate for mayor of their own city? Tick, tick! How much more money will President Trump extort from companies to build his unnecessary ballroom at the White House? Is Trump really going to tax all films made outside the United States, and how would he even do that? Don't ask me, I just live here...
Episode #1034: Hidden Feature
First Broadcast: 10/13/25
Repeated: 12/1/25
The latest entry in the long list of dead establishments in New York City that I will endlessly miss is Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream Parlor on Houston Street and LaGuardia Place, which served its last scoops on Sunday, October 12, 2025. I enjoyed so many cones and cups worth of dessert there, and I can say with certainty that their ice cream was the best in New York while they existed. No doubt my taste buds will continue to pine for their food long into the future, just as I'm constantly jonesing for the cupcakes at Jon Vie, or the steak sandwiches at Zozo's, or the babyback ribs at Georgia's, just to name a few of the many long-gone places that I've missed over the years. While I was talking about that, I found the time to go off about the lack of stores where one can buy new CDs in New York as well, which seems especially weird to me in a time when both vinyl records and audio cassette tapes are currently having a renaissance. I'm glad that physical media and "old school" technology are finding lots of new fans out there, but surely there has to be someplace besides Barnes & Noble where I have a chance to buy a new release in a brick & mortar store when it comes out? After all, it's much more fun to watch a movie off a DVD or a Blu-ray than on your phone, isn't it? (And no one paid me to say that!) By the way, are hidden tracks still a thing? "What year is this?"
Episode #1035: Auto Parts
First Broadcast: 10/20/25
This week, we're preoccupied with a statistic that first caught our eye via Fortune, in a headline that read thusly:
Lay's drastically rebrands after disturbing finding: 42% of consumers didn't know their chips were made out of potatoes
After recovering from the initial shock at the thought of nearly half the people out there not knowing that potato chips contain POTATOES, despite "potato" being in the name--indeed, the FIRST WORD in the name--we, of course, wanted to know more about how Lay's arrived at this number. Fortune's article mentioned that this result came from "a 2021 survey", but contained no link to said survey, nor any other information about it. A press release from Pepsico (the corporate parent of Lay's) contained the assertion, "42% of people who enjoy Lay's don't realize they're made with real, farm-grown potatoes," which seems to be a narrower part of population than the "42% of consumers" from the Fortune piece. This raises more questions about just who was surveyed to get this number, but again there were no links, or any other information about this survey, to be found in the release. A Wall Street Journal article about the 42% number quotes "chief executive of PepsiCo's U.S. food business" Rachel Ferdinando as saying "That really was the wake-up call," but, again, doesn't provide any other links to the survey where this number came from. The Today show was apparently the only media outlet that took a greater interest in finding out more about the source of this result, but even they weren't able to uncover the secret of its origins:
Wait ... what?
Lay's doesn't reveal in the release how many people were surveyed or what exactly they were asked. It also begs the question: What do those folks think Lay's chips are made of?
There is a lot of online chatter on this specific detail of the announcement, particularly on Reddit.
"there's literally a potato on the package," one Reddit user noted.
"I really want to know the details of this study, because there's a lot of stupid people but I frankly don't believe that that many people don't know potato chips are made out of potatoes," another user wrote.
"The official announcement doesn't even cite a study," added one more.
Lay's did not immediately respond to TODAY.com's request for comment on the survey.
So, we're still left with a lot of obvious questions, such as: Who gave this survey? Where was it given? Was this online or in person? Who took this survey? What questions were asked? Was it multiple choice or open-ended? What did these people think potato chips were made of? Did they perhaps think that potato chips were all like Pringles "crisps", which are made from a combination of potatoes, corn flour, cornstarch, and rice flour, among other ingredients? I'm sure there are even more follow-ups that we could ask, but those are the basics, and we're no closer to answering them now than we were when we first started looking into this, so we're at a dead end. Do you know anything more about this? Were you part of this survey? Do you have access to any part of it, or have any information about its methodology? Tell us! Enquiring minds want to know!
Episode #1036: People Are Pissed
First Broadcast: 10/27/25
On October 18, 2025, the second "No Kings" protest took place in thousands of locations throughout all 50 states and beyond, with an estimated 7 million people participating worldwide (and at least 100,000 in New York City alone, with no protest-related arrests), making this the largest mass protest in American history, surpassing the first "No Kings" protest in June (attended by 5 million people), "Hands Across America" in 1986 (also with 5 million participants), the 2017 Women's March (involving 3.3 to 4.6 million people), and the "Hands Off" protests in April (with up to 5 million participants). It's quite telling that 4 of the 5 largest protests in U.S. history have happened during President Trump's time in office, and three of them happened this year, which makes us wonder: what does that mean for the rest of Trump's second term--assuming we all live that long? Some of the message must be getting through to Trump, since he keeps denying that he's a king; but if that's true, then why do he and his sycophants keep posting memes that picture him as a king? Here at Free New York, we might tolerate a king of cheese, or a king of burgers, but a king--or someone who acts like one--running government is the whole reason why we had a revolution in the first place, so no more of that, please! And that reminds me: Remember to vote!
Episode #1037: Freer Than Ever
First Broadcast: 11/10/25
The winner of this year's mayoral election in New York City, which had the city's highest voter turnout in a mayoral election since 1969, is Democrat and Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, who will be sworn in as the city's 111th Mayor on January 1, 2026. He won not only by getting the most votes, but also by getting a clear majority (over 50%), so there's no question that his platform is the one New York City wants right now. In his acceptance speech, Mamdani gave a shout-out to Eugene V. Debs, essentially bid Andrew Cuomo good riddance, reiterated his support for immigrants, and told Donald Trump "to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us," (which drew more than one comparison to similar speeches from Spider-Man movies). Naturally, right-wingers had a meltdown as a result, with former mayor Rudy Giuliani posting on social media a grisly photo of his likeness superimposed over the exploding Twin Towers on 9/11 with the caption "NEW YORK, YOU FORGOT"--about what, who can say? But I'm sure his meaning was either racist, Islamophobic, or both. The New York Post probably wins for the most over-the-top reaction of the night, decorating their front page with an image of a person, presumably from a Soviet propaganda poster, holding a hammer & sickle above their head, but with Mamdani's head placed where that person's head was, with the headline "THE RED APPLE" next to him, with the "R" in "RED" turned backwards to resemble a letter in the Cyrillic alphabet ("Я"), for extra communist emphasis, I suppose. If I were Mamdani, I'd frame that, because it'll probably be the nicest thing the Post says about him for the next four years, at least. New York wasn't the only place where Democrats did well this year, as Democrats and their proposals had victories across the country, not the least of which are new incoming Democratic governors in New Jersey and Virginia, a Democrat becoming the first muslim woman to hold statewide office anywhere in the U.S., and a proposition in California that could create seats for five more Democrats in Congress in 2027. Altogether, it appears to be solid rebuke of the racist, fascist, and economically suicidal policies of the Trump adminstration and the Republicans who back them up, so you'd think Trump might be a little more apologetic and conciliatory towards the incoming mayor whom he called "a proven and self-professed JEW HATER" (which sounds libelous to me), instead of pretending that remark was never made and warning "he should be very nice to me," as if a substantial amount of the city doesn't have Mamdani's back. Maybe a "blue wave" in next year's midterm elections will be the final wake-up call Trump gets before Democrats begin the huge project of fixing the damage that Trump and his ilk have done so far, but that's a story for another day. In the meantime, the transition to the Mamdani cabinet begins, and I can't wait for all the people who threatened to leave the city if Mamdani wins to make good on their promises! I could use a larger apartment!
Episode #1038: Doing Your Bidding
First Broadcast: 11/24/25
Would you hire an employee if you knew they were almost guaranteed to lie about work they weren't doing directly to your face? No? Then why would you hire an A.I. agent that's extremely likely to do exactly that? How about an A.I. toy that tends to say very inappropriate things to children? No? Good, because that ship already sailed and sank. How about an A.I. girlfriend that will lie about being real and invite you to her apartment that doesn't exist? Are you concerned about A.I.deepfakes being used as evidence in court? Would you trust A.I. that cites nonexistent court cases in legal briefs, or A.I. that encourages suicide? Knowing all that, would you still use A.I. to cheat your way through high school or college? Do you think Kevin Hassett, the current Director of the National Economic Council, was right when he said the following on CNBC?
"I think there could be a little bit of an almost quiet time in the labor market, because firms are finding that A.I. is making their workers so productive that they don't necessarily have to hire the new kids out of college and so on."
Hey, Kevin: If firms don't hire new kids out of college, how are they ever going to get experience at anything so that they're no longer new kids? HOW WILL THEY GET EXPERIENCE, KEVIN! Maybe we should take the advice of the A.I. in WarGames: "The only winning move is not to play." Stop using it already! 'Scuse me while I try to dismantle Copilot...
Episode #1039: Never Reads the News
First Broadcast: 12/8/25
In yet another move that seems calculated to discourage more people from entering the United States, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has changed the requirements for the citizenship test, raising the number of possible questions on the test from 100 to 128, raising the number of questions that will be on the test from 10 to 20, and raising the passing threshold from 6 questions to 12. Additionally, some of the new questions on the test seem to be a lot more open-ended than others (e.g., "What are two examples of civic participation in the United States?") and some seem to have a lot more answers than the ones defined by the USCIS (e.g., "Why did the United States enter the Vietnam War?" whose one listed answer is "To stop the spread of communism"). Anyone who applied for citizenship after October 20, 2025, will be subject to the new exam, and I wonder how many more people will be deterred or prevented from becoming citizens as a result. The Trump administration is already denying a greater percentage of citizenship applications than Biden did, so I can only imagine this more difficult test will make those numbers even higher, but it's too early to tell. Do you think you could pass? Well, here's a link to the test, so you can see for yourself. Considering that Trump is also trying to stop people who are born here from becoming citizens (a move which would violate the 14th Amendment), I have to also wonder if he envisions testing everyone for citizenship in the future? Is the chance of the Supreme Court ruling sensibly on this issue higher or lower than the chance of Speaker Mike Johnson reading the news? Flipping a coin to find out...
