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Join Jim and Greg for the Tuesday 3 Martini Lunch as they discuss Twitch streamer Hasan Piker's love and admiration for Mao Zedong, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's threat to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested, the U.S. Treasury stopping nearly $100 million in payments bound for dead people, and Daniel Ortega scrapping elections in Nicaragua for good.
The duo begin by reacting to a clip of Hasan Piker calling the Chinese communist dictator Mao Zedong "one of the great leaders of this world" and "a man who changed the entire universe," insisting he never has and never will criticize him. Jim and Greg remind us that Mao's Great Leap Forward starved tens of millions of his own people to death in what's considered the deadliest famine in history.
Next, they dig into Mamdani saying on a New York Times podcast that Prime Minister Netanyahu "belongs in The Hague" and wanting to arrest Netanyahu if he visits the city for September's U.N. General Assembly. Jim says the mayor has no legal authority to do so, and President Trump has already said that Netanyahu will not be taken into custody on American soil.
Then, Jim and Greg welcome some good news as the Treasury stopped nearly $100 million in payments to deceased recipients, more than triple what was caught before Trump returned to office. The Treasury says its new verification system could stop up to $350 million in fraudulent payments before the year is out. Jim and Greg agree that while this may be a drop in the bucket compared to the national debt, any improvements should be celebrated.
Finally, they cover Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega abolishing elections, effectively extending his term indefinitely and closing off any path for the opposition to take over. Jim and Greg note the 80-year-old has been around for decades. The Reagan administration famously supported the Contra freedom fighters against Ortega's Sandinista government in the 1980s.
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Greg Corombos
Jim Geraghty