#932 Enes Freedom On The Corporate Profits Behind Human Rights Violations

Enes Freedom is an NBA Player and Activist. In this conversation, we discuss Enes growing up in Turkey, China's human rights violations, speaking up for what he believes in and his recent conflicts with the NBA and Players Association. ======================= Choice is a new self-directed IRA product that I'm really excited about. If you are listening to this, you are likely part of the 7.1 million bitcoin owners who have retirement accounts with dollars in them, but not bitcoin. I was in that situation too. Now you can actually buy real Bitcoin in your retirement account. I'm talking about owning your private keys and using tax-advantaged dollars to do it too. Absolute game changer. https://www.retirewithchoice.com/pomp ======================= Imagine coinmarketcap - decentralized. 3X in valuation is 15 billion dollars from the current price. Cryptotoday.com starts at zero, at fair launch on 7th of March. No VC. No pre-sale. Team tokens locked. For the people, by the people. For decentralized crypto. Visit http://cryptotoday.com and read the whitepaper for the details.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Anthony Pompliano?

  What's up everyone, this is Anthony Pompliano. Most of you know me as Pomp. You're listening to the Pomp Podcast, simply the best podcast out there. Now let's kick this thing off. Enes Freedom is an NBA player who's also been very outspoken about a number of different issues around the world. Heed in this conversation, we talk about Turkey, China, and a number of the issues that Enes has been speaking out about. I really enjoyed this conversation, and I hope that you enjoy it as well. Before we get into this episode, I first want to talk about our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by BlockFi. BlockFi provides financial advice for crypto investors. Those products include the BlockFi Wallet, a US dollar loan collateralized by your crypto, and a no-fee trading product. BlockFi also released the world's first crypto

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• 1:29Anthony Pompliano?

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• 2:13Anthony Pompliano?

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• 2:56Anthony Pompliano?

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• 3:40Speaker 01

  Anthony Pompliano runs Pomp Investments. All views of him and the guests on his podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Pomp Investments. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Pomp or his guests as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only.

• 4:03Anthony Pompliano?

  Enes, I think you're there. How are you?

• 4:05Speaker 02

  Hi guys, how you doing?

• 4:06Anthony Pompliano?

  We're doing fantastic. Dude, I'm so excited to talk to you. I feel like you've got a very unique perspective on the world and a lot of courage as well, which frankly, society is lacking these days, but.

• 4:19Speaker 02

  Thank you for inviting me. It's an honor.

• 4:21Anthony Pompliano?

  Yeah, let's maybe start with you've born in Switzerland, obviously grew up in Turkey, live in the United States. Like, when you think about just the various places you've lived and then obviously with all the international play, etc., you've been to so many different cultures and stuff like. What are the commonalities among the cultures? Like, I think that's actually like a really interesting place to start of like, we always think of these geographic lines on a map, meaning that like you versus me versus somebody else, whatever. But I'm guessing that most of it is like actual, we're humans and we're like pretty common across the board. Is that was your experience?

• 4:55Speaker 02

  For sure, you know, I obviously, I born in Switzerland. I grew up in Turkey and I pretty much like lived in America. I think one beautiful thing in America is like you can find every, you know, culture and religion and all kind of people, all kind of food, actually, in here. That's the beauty of America, you know? But other than that, I mean, obviously there are lots of differences. Obviously politically about, you know, the some people, economy, obviously and stuff. But other than that, I think that what I found in America is just, it definitely brings people together because you have people from all over the world. You know, different cultures and actually,

• 5:36Speaker 02

  some of the Turkish restaurants that I've been to in America is better than the one I, what I had in Turkey.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  I don't know if you guys ever in like LA or New Jersey area especially or New York. It's one especially in, actually there are some really good ones in Miami too. I have not tried it yet, but yeah, so they got some really good ones.

• 5:59Anthony Pompliano?

  Be careful, you're gonna offend all the Turkish people and tell them that the Turkish restaurants in America are better. So I do think that this is a great point though, right of like there's commonalities and obviously America is like this melting pot, people from all over the world. It's kind of a very unique, unique experience. You changed your last name officially to Freedom. My first question is, is it only with all caps? Or, or is it actually lowercase as well? Let's start it with a fun question. How do you, how do you actually write it when you're like filling out a legal document?

• 6:31Speaker 02

  You know, it is, it is all small, but I make it big on like social media. So people like really understand, you know, especially social. No, it's, it's, it's actually, there's a funny story behind it.

• 6:45Speaker 02

  In 2009 was the first time I came to America, right? And I was going to prep school here and one of my teammate criticized the president. And I was like, oh my God, he's, he's about to be in jail tomorrow, right? I was like very scared of him because where I grew up, you criticize the government, you'll be in jail the next day. Anyway, I turned around and I told him, I was like, dude, I saw your post, you know, you just crit- criticize the president. And he was like, so what? He's like, I was like, I was very afraid for him because I thought he was gonna be in jail the next day. And he turned around and said, dude, like, don't worry, this is not Turkey, this is America. And I was like, very like confused, like, what do you mean?

• 7:26Speaker 02

  Well, he tried to explain to me what freedom means, freedom of speech, religion, expression, media. And I was like, really, still really confused because I did not had that growing up, you know? But the more I meet with people, the more I, you know, talk to people and uh uh and experience that I was like, wow, this is something amazing, you know, and then that's why I wanted to uh change it.

• 7:47Anthony Pompliano?

  Yeah, i- it's uh, it's incredible and uh, ob- obviously, you've been critical of a number of different governments. And so maybe in some way, uh, America like red pilled you and you're like, oh, you can do this and you'll uh uh uh be able to uh uh do it on social media, etcetera. But let's start maybe with like the Turkish government. I think that was really the first time that I personally heard uh any of this. Um, wh- you know, maybe what are the issues that are going on there that people should be aware of? And then also like, why did you choose to uh speak out about it, given that, you know, playing in the NBA and kind of having all of these uh things that for most people would be this amazing life and everything going in your favor, like, why even bother with it?

• 8:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'll tell you the whole story, you know, I got drafted in two thousand and eleven. I mean, my first two year in the league, two years in the league, all I cared about was just playing basketball and uh, you know, having fun with my teammates. That's literally all I cared about. Well, then my third year in the league, it was back in two thousand and thirteen, there was a big, corrupt, scandal happened in Turkey. President Erdogan and his family was involved in it. And, you know, as a basketball player, you know, I was like, looking at to see what's happening in my country. You know, this dude was putting innocent people in jail, you know? Police, prosecutors, judges and innocent people.

• 9:09Speaker 02

  And he was going around and shutting down media outlets, whoever talk about this, you know, corruption scandal. And I was like, I don't care who you are, but if you, if you're gonna fight against, you know, free press, and if you're gonna start putting journalists in jail, I'm gonna say something. So I like very simply like tweet something out, right? And because of the NBA platform, it became a conversation here in the United States and uh Turkey. And I was like, even one simple tweet can change this much from now on, I'm gonna start, you know, pay attention about what's going on in my country more, you know? So I was like, my teammates were going out to parties and hanging out and stuff. I was going back home, I started to study about, you know,

• 9:51Speaker 02

  the relationships between Turkey and America, Middle East, what's happening in my country and stuff. And I was like, the more I studied, the more I started to talk and the, the really big, you know, like media outlets in America and newspapers and magazines, uh started to give me a platform. And I started to write op-eds and give interviews and, you know, started to do some panels and discussions and stuff. And obviously Turkish government hated that. Every time I say something, it was becoming a conversation. So the, the things that I talked about affected me and my family. My dad was a genetic professor, he got fired from his job. My sister went to medical school for six years, she still cannot find a job.

• 10:33Speaker 02

  I think the saddest one was my little brother because he wanted to be like his big brother, he wanted to play in NBA. But he was getting kicked out of every team because of the same last name. He was so young, I couldn't really explain him why he was getting kicked out. So they were, they started to get affected so much, they had to put a statement out there and said, we are disowning Enes publicly. I remember going to a practice that they was definitely one of the most like toughest day, you know? And uh Turkish government didn't believe that. They sent police to my house in Turkey and they raided the whole house and they took every electronics away, phones, computers, laptops, iPads, because they wanted to see if I am still in, in contact with my family or not.

• 11:15Speaker 02

  Wish they couldn't find any evidence, but they still took my dad in jail for a while. But we put so much pressure from here to Turkey with media, with politicians, then uh they let him go. They had to. But, you know, then after that, they revoked my passport, they actually tried to kidnap me uh Romania, it's all over the internet. If you guys can uh check it out. What happened there? Uh, so I landed in Romania, right? I give my pass because there was like a big event. I give my uh passport to this uh passport lady. She started to look, she said, hold on a second, she went in the back. She came out uh with the police and said, I'm sorry, you are not allowed to, you know, uh get in a country because your passport has been revoked.

• 12:00Speaker 02

  And so they put my name on Interpol list. So with in with Turkish government, if you're in Turkey and criticize the government, you'll be in jail the next day. But if you're outside of Turkey criticizing the government, they put your name on Interpol list. Right? And then whi- whichever country you're in, they have to deport you back to Turkey because of the uh uh Interpol uh uh arrest one. So they detained us in airport and there was two police was actually uh watching me and one of them was a big basketball fan. He came to me and said, you guys have two hours, it was me and my uh manager. You guys have two, you guys have two hours to leave this country, if not, you guys are gonna deported back to Turkey. And I started to text and call the the senators I know, the congressmen I know, the NBA,

• 12:45Speaker 02

  MVP at the P- Player Association, as even as some of the uh players. Because because because the more pressure you put on the Romanian government, that will be easier easier uh for us to get out that uh detained uh detained. So I'm glad, lo- luckily, many of the uh senators worked and we got out, but it it was very crazy.

• 13:06Anthony Pompliano?

  So like when that happens, you're sitting there and they're like, we're gonna deport you back to Turkey. You probably think that there's bad shit that's gonna happen if that occurs. Uh, wh- what do you do? Like, can you not just go buy a plane ticket and get on the plane? Like, do you have to get the senators to like get a special plane to come get you? Like, what happens?

• 13:24Speaker 02

  Not a special plane, but so like just because of they revoked our passport, we are not allowed to fly. You know, I have no passport. Uh, so I remember texting uh Senator Langford, so back then I was playing for Oklahoma City Thunder. So I texted, you know, Senator James Langford, I'm like, hey, Senator, I'm stuck in Romania. And they detained me and I need to leave here as soon as possible. So he worked with Homeland Security and stuff, so like they brought me back, glad they brought me back. Uh, because if.

• 13:56Speaker 02

  If it was happened to me, if I was going, if I went back to Turkey, it would be a very ugly situation. I didn't want to think about it, you know? Because, I mean, there are so many reports out there saying that there are thousands of people, innocent people in jail right now, getting tortured and raped. And these reports are like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Foundation. So these are some legit reports, you know? So like, it would be a very, very ugly situation.

• 14:23Anthony Pompliano?

  So when you think about this, you became more and more vocal over time. Does your family still live in Turkey?

• 14:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, so last time I saw my family was back in 2015. Unfortunately, there is no communication. I have another brother plays basketball in Poland. So I talk to my brother and my brother talks to my family about like if he ever want to communicate that stuff.

• 14:46Anthony Pompliano?

  Yeah.

• 14:46Speaker 02

  But right now they're scared because I mean, the last four or five years, there's been so many people, media outlets and politicians and stuff behind us. Now, every time like they touch my family, it becomes like international news. So like they're scared.

• 15:03Anthony Pompliano?

  Yeah. And then when you went from the Turkish government, right? I think that people are like, okay, cool. He, he's grew up in Turkey. He understands kind of what's going on there. And then at some point I saw you start talking about the Chinese government. And I think that's when I was like, oh, okay, hold on a second. This isn't just going to be like, I'm going to criticize my own government. This is like, there's a bigger story here. And so walk me through kind of the evolution from just the Turkish government to kind of other, you know, oppressions that are happening around the world.

• 15:31Speaker 02

  So the last 10 years when I was in the league, I only focused on one dictatorship, obviously because of my, my plate was so full because of my family there. My family was stuck. We've been trying to bring him over here for years now and it's been eight years, you know? So and they were, they're having some very, you know, tough times over there. But just past summer, I'm doing a basketball camp, right? And after, we had an amazing camp with the kids, free basketball camp. And after the camp, kids came and we were taking pictures and I was, you know, signing autographs one by one. And I took a picture with this kid. And his parents called me out in front of everybody.

• 16:16Speaker 02

  And he said, how can you call yourself a human rights activist? When your Muslim brothers and sisters are getting tortured and raped every day in concentration camps in China? I was like, and media was there, parents, kids, other people, my friends. I was so shocked, I was just like, didn't know what to say or what to do. Anyway, and I'm still smiling for the picture. Anyway, I turned around, I'm like, I promise I'm gonna get back to you.

• 16:47Speaker 02

  So that day I cancelled everything, right? I went back to my hotel. I started to, you know, study about what Uyghurs are going through. I mean, I grew up as a, you know, Dalai Lama fan, so I looked at what Tibetans are going through. So I already knew about Hong Kong because two years ago when, you know, general manager of Houston Rockets tweets something, it became a huge mess in NBA. I, you know, I already knew about Taiwan because I was, wanted to go to another, another conference between China and Taiwan. And also I started research about Mongolia, so I was like seeing all the human rights abuses one by one, right? I was so ashamed with myself, I'm like, I cannot believe the last ten years I only focused on one dictatorship.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  So I promised myself, I was like, whatever it pays, I'm just gonna go out there and just, you know, speak up. And that's how I started to talk about uh other dictatorships. And it wasn't, it wasn't only China, because there are human rights abuses happening all over the world. You look at, I don't know, like Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, uh Iran, Russia, and we can go on and on. So I wanted to like speak up for all these people, not just for the people that in my uh country.

• 18:02Anthony Pompliano?

  Got it. And so when you think about this, it feels like if you spend enough time studying, you will find this happening in every single country. And people in the United States, this makes it very uncomfortable to talk about, but even the United States has things that if folks were educated on, they would say, hey, I didn't know that was going on. That feels like it's wrong, right? And so when you think about you as one person, you have this platform, right? Having played in the NBA for so long and really caring about the stuff. But is there like a prioritization in your mind of like, if I, can I talk about all of them? Should I just focus on one or two of them? Like, how do you think through,

• 18:45Anthony Pompliano?

  you know, where to focus your time, energy, etc., given that you're just one person?

• 18:50Speaker 02

  So obviously, I was hoping once I started to talk about these issues, you know, others will join me, you know, other players or even coaches or not just the people in the NBA. Because I did this right before the Winter Olympics. I'm like, God, I was praying every day. I'm like, God, please send me one athlete. It doesn't have to be a basketball player. It doesn't have to be an NBA player, anyone to join me to talk about these issues, you know. I mean, I reached out to so many people, so many athletes, so many celebrities. I mean, unfortunately, there's not one person wanted to stand right next to me. You know, I asked them like, like, dude, you know, you talk about all the human rights abuses

• 19:33Speaker 02

  happening here and good, good for you. It's amazing. And I'm with you. But what about there? I mean, human is human, you know? Well, they're like, well, listen, we love you. I think what you're doing is so amazing. We support you. We just cannot do it out loud because, because we have shoe deals, endorsement deals, you know, jersey sales or family defeat and stuff. I was asking one question.

• 20:01Speaker 02

  All to all Olympians, NBA players, athletes, different organizations. I was like, if your mother, if your sister or your daughter wasn't those concentration camps, get in torture and rape every day, would you still remain silent? No one answers. And, you know, when I started to, you know, research and start to study, I mean, obviously on the internet, you can find all kind of news. Good news, bad news, fake news. Cause I called my manager, I was like, I want you to find me a concentration camp survivor. Obviously he was very shocked. He was like, what are you talking about? I was like, I wanna talk to one. So he found me a woman that was in concentration camps a couple of years ago. And she told me about some of the stories that are happening in there.

• 20:44Speaker 02

  I don't know if the kids are watching this podcast or not, but I don't wanna go into details. But some of the things that she told me, it was like my boy. She told me about gang rape and torture and forced abortions, sterilization, and how many people dying in there every day. So like, I was like, I don't care how much money or business or more. If you carry a heart, you have to, you know, say something about these people. You have to support these people. And every time a person who has a platform says something, it becomes a conversation. And actually it helps people over there, you know? So, I mean, unfortunately, there's not one athlete who wanted to, you know, join me. But, I mean, it is what it is.

• 21:24Anthony Pompliano?

  Yeah. Well, one of the things that um I I think is unique about your situation is uh the platform that you've got uh as an NBA player uh also afforded the opportunity to financially make money. And so, once you get to a certain point, I I'm assuming that uh you don't strike me as a guy who uh has seventeen private jets and fourteen yachts and.

• 21:46Speaker 02

  I don't even have a house or a car.

• 21:47Anthony Pompliano?

  Yeah. You don't, you don't have a house or a car?

• 21:50Speaker 02

  I don't even have a house or a car.

• 21:51Anthony Pompliano?

  Alright, so I'm assuming the money you made in the NBA, right? There there's a uh an ability for you to kinda weather the the financial blowback, right? Of you're not playing in the NBA right now, sponsorships, like all these things that uh you were able to do for a number of years. Um, you got the platform and you were able to kinda financially get there. And so i- in some way, in society, there's actually a group of people who have that ability. They have a platform and also they've got enough money where, once they start to kinda speak out, they they anticipate it. They know what is going to be the blowback. Um, and and so I think that it's even more so, like you have more to lose than uh than the average person, which uh makes this whole thing uh kind of a pretty incredible.

• 22:30Speaker 02

  I mean, people always talk about like, dude, was it worth it? I mean, you talk about the, you know, the things are happening in China and you lost your job. But like, I always tell them like, listen, I I want to talk about the issues that happened in my country. I lost my family. Just because of I talk about the issues that are happening in Turkey. I haven't seen my family since two thousand fifteen, you know? But people always ask me that question. I was like, listen, man, my family's only one. There are thousands of families in jail or around the world right now are uh suffering, you know? You look at the numbers, there's actually a really uh good uh uh webpage, it's like uh turkishpersh dot com. And you go there, you you can see all the numbers, you know, it.

• 23:12Speaker 02

  Right now, so for last time I checked, there were there were seventeen thousand innocent women or almost over eight hundred babies and kids are in the jail right now with their mother waiting for help. And these women, innocent women, are worked in a place like uh media outlet or a newspaper or school or whatever that said something against the government. And that's their only crime. That that that's what the what they put my dad in jail. Just because of he was my uh father, you know? So it is this is it did it is bigger than basketball because it is bigger than making millions of dollars or it is bigger than NBA, you know, so I mean, just it it's I hope the people can see that.

• 23:53Anthony Pompliano?

  Yeah, I've got two of my brothers here with me. Uh Joe, John, what questions uh you guys got?

• 23:57Speaker 03

  My question would just be around how you feel the NBA has handled this specifically, right? You've obviously been very outspoken and I think some of the things you mentioned earlier, and I think everyone's aware of that. These are sometimes opic uh topics that they shy away from. What is your general feeling and your general take on just kind of how they've treated the situation with you speaking out against these injustices?

• 24:17Speaker 02

  I would they handled horribly because, I mean, the so let me give you an example. Last ten years, right? I talk about the issues are happening in Turkey. I did not get one phone call. Only phone calls or text message, text message I was getting are support from the NBA. Support from Adam Silver. Adam Silver texted me twice on my phone and said, listen, whatever you need. Let me know when the Turkey stuff was when the Turkish issues were happening. And. So I did not get one phone call. So this China thing happened, right? My phone was ringing once every hour. What are you doing? So I, the, how I did it was very colorful. Because when I was a kid, right, when I, whenever I watched an NBA game, the first thing I was like,

• 25:03Speaker 02

  looking at NBA player was the shoes. What color it is, what bread it is, if it's comfortable, you know, uh, and stuff, so. I wanted to do it in a very unique way where it's going to inspire millions of kids out there. So whichever uh, abuse are happening in the world or in China, I put that abuse on my shoes. I worked with one of the artists that are being oppressed or abused by their government. And we put this hundred percent, you know, American made, no slave labor, no sweatshops shoes. Uh, we created those and then we put the art on it and went out there and played. So to my first game, I wore a free Tibet shoes, right? So I wore the shoes, I went out there to warm up, it was in Madison Square Garden, actually, in New York.

• 25:48Speaker 02

  And we sang the national anthem and we were in a team huddle. While we were in a team huddle, there, there's two gentlemen from the Celtics. You know, Boston Celtics came to me and said, we are begging you, please take your shoes off. Your shoes have been getting so much attention. Then they're calling us from the NBA, you have to, you have to take your shoes off. And I was shocked, because I looked at the rules. There is not one single rule that says that I'm, I'm not allowed to wear those shoes. Anyway, I was like, I'm not gonna take my shoes off, because I'm not breaking any rules. I was like, I don't care if I get fined. And they said, we are not talking about fine, we, we, we, we're talking about getting banned. And I was shocked. I was like, it was the perfect moment, because I was getting, I was just getting ready for my citizenship uh, test.

• 26:33Speaker 02

  And I remember I'm like, okay, there are twenty seven amendments, my first amendment, freedom of speech. I was like, I'm not taking my shoes off, this is my freedom of speech, right? So.

• 26:45Speaker 02

  That game, I played zero minutes. Prior to that game, I played every game. So, at halftime, I went back to my locker room. Obviously, there were thousands of notifications in my phone. And I clicked on my manager's text message. He said, every Celtics game are banned in China. So it took them twenty-four minutes to ban every Celtics game in Chinese television. I was like, wow, that clearly shows that the censorship, you know? Um, so that was like mind blowing to me. But then I was like, after the game, NBA called me, obviously. And they're like, sorry, not NBA, MBPA.

• 27:28Speaker 02

  Because the player association used to work for us. Well, in this situation, they were working for the NBA, you know? So, they're like, NBA's pression us so much, you're not, you cannot wear those shoes every game. I was like, dude, I'm not breaking any rules. Like, you know, they said, we know, but please work with us. You're not, don't wear those shoes every game. They bugged me and, they were bothering me and my manager so much. I was like, sure. I promise you, I'm not going to wear free Tibet shoes every game.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  But the next game, right, I wore free Uyghur shoes. They called me after the game, they're like, you're a liar, blah, blah, blah, right? I was like, I never told you I'm not gonna wear free Uyghur shoes. I just said, I'm just not gonna wear free Tibet shoes, right? And at that point, it was over. You know, it was just, me and them was just like, was not the best friends after that.

• 28:22Anthony Pompliano?

  And is, would you say that the NBA has tried to silence you? Like, would you, is that what you're basically saying? Is that they, on multiple occasions, publicly were saying, hey, we're behind this. Like, we believe in free speech, but behind closed doors, they were doing the exact opposite?

• 28:37Speaker 02

  Hundred percent. They're hypocrites. Let me, let me, let me just tell you this. Two years ago, right? When we were all in NBA bubble. And they were all about social justice. They were all about standing for, standing for freedom, standing for, you know, the things that happen in, in America. And I was like, this is amazing. Cool. You know, finally, NBA is sending something for bigger than basketball. And two years later, this happened. There is not one player. There is not one officials, one coach, or anyone stand right back next to me. And same time, they were, they tried to silence me. So I now, now they've been exposed, right?

• 29:20Speaker 02

  And they hate, they hate that. Now there's not one, we are actually messaging MBPA, the player association, right? Which we pay every month so much money to them and the only thing they, they, they have to do is just protect us. They're not even return on my calls.

• 29:39Anthony Pompliano?

  Are, are there, are there any players that uh, uh, tried to get you to stop talking about it? Like, are, are there any like, uh, conversations you have with other players, uh, that were either very supportive or, uh, or, or very anti this?

• 29:54Speaker 02

  Uh, I don't wanna say, I mean, they were always like silently supporting me. You know, they never be like, I mean, they said, just listen. All I remember, like, the first time I started to talk about this issue, I started to talk about Nike and China, right? They're like, listen, man, I think what you're doing is so amazing, but just know that this is your last year in the league. You're not gonna get another contract. You, you, you're not gonna, you, you're gonna say something Nike, you'll be out of the league. You're gonna say something about the, the things that happen in China, you're gonna be out of the league. I mean, think about this. Just last year, more people watched NBA games in China than American population. So it's crazes.

• 30:38Anthony Pompliano?

  Uh, I, I'm also, uh, inferring from all the things I've read online, uh, you and LeBron don't go to each other's birthday parties? Like, you guys aren't, uh, aren't as friendly as maybe in the past.

• 30:48Speaker 02

  Definitely not, no. No, no, we don't. I mean, I mean, people are. People are thinking that I'm attacking him, right? It's not, it's not just him, right? I, when I, obviously, he is the face of Nike. I mean, he is the face of NBA. So whenever I call him out, it's not just him. It's about, you know, his company that he works with or like, you know, the other players that who is signed with Nike or some other companies who has something to do with their slave labors, right? So, um, it's not just him that I'm calling out. I'm not just picking him and attacking him, but it is all the players out there who pretend they care about, um, social justice or not, not just the players, but the companies, right?

• 31:33Speaker 02

  Uh, so pretend they care about social justice. But when it comes to, obviously, whenever the, the things that they talk about affects their pocket, affects their money or business, they will be silenced.

• 31:45Anthony Pompliano?

  I got one more question. I think John's got a question. We'll let you go. Uh, my question is, um, we are seeing the United States, uh, and other countries, other types of sports, other events. I think Wimbledon just did this and a number of others. All start to, um, attack, silence, ban, um, suspend, et cetera, Russian athletes from participating, uh, given the conflict that's going there. One of the things about censorship or, or, you know, some of these issues that I always think about is like, is it just as long as these people agree with the US, we're cool with it? Or is it that we think it's bad always? And so what are your thoughts in terms of, let's say, Wimbledon not allowing the Russian players to, to participate, given actions that their country is taking, but not necessarily them themselves?

• 32:30Speaker 02

  The question you're asking me is.

• 32:33Anthony Pompliano?

  It is basically like, what, what are your thoughts about these other leagues that appear to be punishing players from certain countries? But again, the NBA, et cetera, you know, there, there's no, uh, uh, there, there's no punishment for players from, uh, China or Turkey or, or any of this type of stuff. It, it's basically almost like ad hoc. Sometimes they want to punish, sometimes they don't. And it's almost like, when are we cool with it? When are we not?

• 32:58Speaker 02

  That's the that's the one thing that I'm asking like the whenever I do an interview or write an op ed. If you know, right now, Russia is attacking Ukraine, right? And then you see all the, you know, players are getting banned or like all the companies or CEOs be being uh get them pulled out, pulled out there. If the China, if it happens to China's attack in Taiwan, with the same CEO, same companies or same people or whatever, will do the same thing? I don't think so, you know? And I hope it won't happen. You never know uh with the uh China, but that is the one question I'm always asking myself or asking for people with the CEOs or companies or other people. Uh will pull out from the China or not?

• 33:44Anthony Pompliano?

  Yeah, it's fascinating. John, what question you got?

• 33:46Speaker 04

  And it it seems that you're trying to inspire education and change.

• 33:51Speaker 04

  We got?

• 33:51Speaker 03

  He's shutting off his phone.

• 33:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm doing an interview. Give me one second.

• 33:59Speaker 04

  Give me one second, I'm talking freedom.

• 34:03Speaker 02

  No, I'm I'm in a hotel, so like they just keep they just keep calling from downstairs.

• 34:06Anthony Pompliano?

  You're a busy man. We got you. We got one more question, then we're good.

• 34:09Speaker 04

  You're clearly trying to ins- inspire change in the world. What does that change look like?

• 34:14Speaker 02

  What do you mean?

• 34:15Speaker 04

  Like, what's your goal? Yeah, it seems like you're trying to help people get educated about the things, people being oppressed around the world. What does the change look like that can happen to uh get the world in a better place?

• 34:26Speaker 02

  I mean, first of all, people are always asking me whenever I do an interview or panel.

• 34:32Speaker 02

  I mean, I don't have an MBA platform or I'm not a politician or an athlete. How can I help? I mean, you might not change the whole world, but you might change someone's world. That is one. And the least you can do is when you see, when you're gonna buy something, when you're gonna, when you pick that item, when you see made in China, put it down. That's the least you can do, you know? I think the for my dream world, I. Just because I'm experiencing from firsthand, I see how this CCP is pretty much controlling so many American-made companies and like Wall Street, Academias, Hollywood, uh, Sports World, some of the, you know, Congress and local Congress.

• 35:14Speaker 02

  So I feel like we need to understand that like they are trying to invade invade us from the inside because they know they cannot try to in they cannot invade us from the outside, you know? So I think for, uh, we just passed a bill, it goes Oyago Prevention Act. I mean, if you have anything to do with slave labor, you're not allowed to step into A- America, you know? So that is actually a plus, but it is happening, but it just happened very slowly, but I just need the people to understand and people to uh, wake up uh, that, you know, they are trying to like, you know, pretty much they are controlling American-made organizations, their companies. And I feel like, you know, people needs to wake up and and they need some courage and

• 35:58Speaker 02

  someone had to open that door because I was experiencing from firsthand. They're talking about all the problems are happening around the world, but when it comes to China, they remain in silence. So I think the my perfect dream is like the all this, you know, things like, you know, Big Tag and Wall Street and Academias or Hollywood and Sports World, you know, to be wake up and not go down to a Chinese government.

• 36:20Anthony Pompliano?

  Appreciate that. It's a great answer. Where where can we send people to find you on the internet or or find out more about the work you're doing?

• 36:25Speaker 02

  Uh, well, I mean, they can follow me on social media, it's pretty much at NSFreedom, or I have a website, NSFreedom.org. Uh, you know, they can just go there and actually they can just go see all the shoes that I've been uh, uh, creating. So uh, it's very simple, just click on it and uh, yeah.

• 36:42Anthony Pompliano?

  Awesome, man. Listen, thank you so much for all the work you're doing. Uh, I think people are uh, are learning quite a bit from you, so uh, so keep going and we'll definitely bring you back as uh, as you continue this.

• 36:53Speaker 02

  Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

• 36:55Anthony Pompliano?

  All right, buddy. Have a great day. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. I really hope you guys enjoyed this one. Make sure you subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. And if you're looking to try to transition to get a new job in the Bitcoin or crypto industry, we've got you covered. Head over to pompscryptocourse.com. We've developed a curriculum with the top teams across the industry. It's a three-week intensive training program with over 50 events packed into that three-week time period. Go to pompscryptocourse.com to learn more and I'll meet you guys for the next episode.