Group Chat News is back and it's birthday week around here. Dee just turned 46 and, in his words, his body is weary. That kicks off a conversation about hitting the back half of life, why time doesn't feel precious until friends start passing and your kids start growing, and whether younger people are actually living their lives or just watching everyone else live theirs. Then it's BTS selling out four nights at SoFi, Kanye in Chicago, and the argument that some artists get so big nothing can touch them, plus a whole generation of kids discovering Michael Jackson for the first time. With Anand's birthday landing on September 11th, the guys get into the new Netflix documentary about how a generation that wasn't alive for it understands that day, whether it was the last time this country was actually unified, and how much of what we live with now traces back to it. That leads into surveillance. Flock cameras solving crimes in cities across America, Joe Rogan sounding the alarm about cops abusing access to them, and the uncomfortable truth that most people will trade their privacy for a shorter airport line. On the money side there's a real enrollment crisis. LAUSD is down 50% in a decade, Syracuse now costs $69,000 a year, and the argument here is blunt: let the colleges fail. Then a pitch for the tech elites. Build the modern campus, charge 1995 prices, give them a football team, and earn back some trust while you're at it. Plus Nike gets removed from the S&P 100 after eighteen years, Nvidia is now 8% of the entire S&P 500, and everything that isn't AI is getting punished even when sales are up. And of course: fantasy football, whether data ruined the draft, NIL, and why you should fire the dean if you lose your quarterback. Group Chat News, every week. If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review on Apple or Spotify. It helps more than you know.
