The Daily Zeitgeist - Learn Or Die, “Op-Ed” 7.9.20

Episode Date: July 9, 2020

In episode 668, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian Charla Lauriston to discuss Trump's approval rating going down in cities where the virus is spreading, Trump trying to force children back to scho...ol, and more!FOOTNOTES: Trump Support Withering in Areas Where Virus Cases Are Rising Trump Threatens to Cut Funding to Schools That Don’t Reopen in Fall DeVos blasts school districts that hesitate at reopening IS AMERICA HEADING FOR CIVIL WAR? OF COURSE IT IS… This Little Girl Was Caught Red Handed Stealing Snacks And Tried To Get Away With It By Pretending To Be Asleep WATCH: Blockhead - What That Dictionary Do? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, fam, I'm Simone Boyce. I'm Danielle Robay. And we're the hosts of The Bright Side, the podcast from Hello Sunshine that's guaranteed to light up your day. Check out our recent episode with Grammy Award-winning rapper Eve on motherhood and the music industry.
Starting point is 00:00:16 No, it's a great, amazing, beautiful thing. There's moms in all industries, very high-stress industries that have kids all across this world. Why can't it be music as well? Listen to The Bright Side from Hello Sunshine on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist
Starting point is 00:00:39 who on October 16, 2017, was assassinated. Crooks everywhere unearths the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere starting September 25th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams.
Starting point is 00:01:29 Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Starting point is 00:01:37 your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso
Starting point is 00:01:49 as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. america's shared consciousness and say officially off the top fuck the coke brothers fuck fox news fuck rush limbaugh fuck box sexton fuck jk rowling we're rolling uh fuck ben shapiro it's thursday july 9th 2020 my name is jack o'brien aka no family is safe when I throw shade.
Starting point is 00:02:54 That was courtesy of Perfume Genius, and I'm thrilled to be joined as always by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray! Cut my life into pieces. This is my last resort. Reparations, no bail. Release all prostitutes from jail. Okay, now you probably should have said sex workers, but that was a tweet that Jessica Hill, at underscore
Starting point is 00:03:14 Jessica Hill, she said, look at this tweet because I think it's an AKA. And that came from at BFA Home. But anyway, thank you. We all love those those, what was that? Who did that song? P.O.D.?
Starting point is 00:03:29 No. Wait, Papa Roach. Damn. Wow. One of those P words. Mine was really courtesy of Perfume Genius. He just was like, yeah, that was a dope line that I wrote, and he rewrote it on Twitter today.
Starting point is 00:03:45 No family is safe when I sash it. He was like, yeah, remember, just a reminder, no family is safe when I sash it. Well, we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat, all the way across the pond. She is the hilarious, the talented
Starting point is 00:04:04 Sharla Lorister! It's me! Sharla, guys, seriously, I'm sitting here in awe of your level of energy. I just got back on cold brew coffee. Oh, good for you. I haven't had a cold brew since March until Monday
Starting point is 00:04:20 and I skipped a day. I'm back. Cold brew is low-key heroin slash cocaine. It's incredibly energizing. A speedball, if you will. Yeah, it really is. It really goes right to my veins. And Jack said you were across the pond
Starting point is 00:04:36 because you were coming with that accent. Guys, I've been watching I May Destroy You and I can't help but do the British accent every time I talk to anyone. And you know what? My most embarrassing thing is when someone who actually has a British accent starts talking to me. And this is in real life.
Starting point is 00:04:54 In real life, regular conversation, I will start doing a British accent and they'll look at me and they'll be like, did you just start doing a British accent? And I'll be like, yeah. Is that bad? Should I not do it? I'm not trying to make fun of you. I promise. bad? Hold on a tick. Should I not do it? I'm not trying to make fun of you. I promise. I just love it so much.
Starting point is 00:05:09 I want to do it. I want to be British. Yeah. I think any, look, I think it should not be offensive to do a British accent if you come from a colonized country. That's just badass. That's free.
Starting point is 00:05:19 Do any accent you want. What if I'm also coming from a good place in my heart? Is that enough? Is that enough? Is that enough? I don't see race or accents. I don't see race. I'm not making fun of you. I love you.
Starting point is 00:05:32 But I love this one. I bloody love this accent. I'm going to tell you what. I try to be respectful. I try to be respectful and shut it down. Do you do a thing where you hear someone speaking in the accent and in your mind you go, Charlotte. So that comes like 10 minutes later.
Starting point is 00:05:50 That realization comes 10 minutes later. Literally, if it's someone with an Irish accent, Australian accent. Irish is tough for me. If it's a Jamaican accent, I can't even do a Haitian accent. I'm Haitian, born and and raised and i cannot do one because i just don't hear it because it just sounds like regular it's right it is funny like when you especially you have an example too of your parents like you've been raised hearing an accent like i had i have to work thank you thank you people will be like why can't you do a haitian
Starting point is 00:06:20 accent i was just like i don't even know where to start. I don't know how to do it. I don't know. I can talk like this because this sounds crazy. You know, you started off, you started off the call talking like that and I legitimately
Starting point is 00:06:33 took a beat to be like, wait, did, wait, like it's been a while since she's been on. Like,
Starting point is 00:06:39 was, has she always had, is she English? No, no. This is what happened. She was on this show. Her career blew up.
Starting point is 00:06:45 She came back with an English accent. Yeah. You may have seen me on literally nothing. No one knows who I am. That's great. Yeah. Charlotte, we're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're going to tell our listeners a couple of things we're talking about today.
Starting point is 00:07:02 Donald Trump is the president he is losing most of his support it's it's wild man it's still wild uh he's losing most of his support in places where people are dying which shouldn't be surprising but uh somehow i don't know it. We're going to talk about his policy towards opening the schools. It's time to open those schools back up. These kids got to get back to work. I mean, school. Hmm. Ugh.
Starting point is 00:07:35 There is an article that's like fifth article down on the front page of the Drudge Report today. It just says, Civil War Inevitable in America. today it just says civil war inevitable in america and it's just this basically an opinion piece from a far-right person who doesn't realize they're far right just thinks they're like at the center uh but essentially the thesis is they're going to have to kill us all pretty soon uh at who's gonna have to kill who the the right the right is going to have to kill who? The right. The right is going to have to kill the rest of us. And they're just very matter-of-fact. I mean, it's the only reasonable thing to do. People are going to totally be on our side.
Starting point is 00:08:15 But yeah, Civil War is coming because the left is funded by George Soros. It's very just the matter-of-fact way. I don't know if this has been going. Man, does the Drudge Report realize that they're distributing this kind of information? Probably. Probably. Not information, inciting violence, essentially.
Starting point is 00:08:37 Matt Drudge kind of might have thrown some people off the scent because he has been pretty critical of Trump, but he's still pretty far right. And this article is actually critical of Trump. Yeah, yeah. And we're going to do a little, might comment on the surge in Karen-dom that we've been seeing as a nation, all of that, plenty more. But first, Sharla, we like to to ask our guests what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are hilarious um guys my search history lately
Starting point is 00:09:11 has been how to move to canada how to move to netherlands how to move to germany um and has there ever been a black writer on the simpsons those are the things that i recently searched for there hasn't been a black writer on The Simpsons. There has actually. I don't think there's ever been a black woman. Michael Carrington is a black writer on The Simpsons. And I'm pretty sure Mark Wilmore is also, I don't know if he's currently,
Starting point is 00:09:35 but I'm pretty sure he did write on The Simpsons. But anybody in those first eight seasons? I don't know. Right. I don't know. And I highly doubt it. I highly doubt it. highly right yeah but yeah interesting yeah you're and so you're also looking at some some cool getaway options some cool
Starting point is 00:09:52 getaways um some refugee situations um because americans have been blocked from going to other countries you're not going anywhere i'm not going anywhere um but i just want to be prepared because to me like i'm not looking at it just because of what's happening right now. Because I've been black this entire time and it's been dangerous the whole time. So I'm just like, I just think long term, do I want to be in? And I'm thinking like this because of the response that America has had to a lot of these crises. because of the response that America has had to a lot of these crises. And I,
Starting point is 00:10:31 it just feels like overall America doesn't seem to have the political will, at least not yet. And I'm like, I don't know how bad it needs to get for there to be like, you know, every fucking mayor in America, every fucking governor in America, like, you know,
Starting point is 00:10:43 standing up and being like, this stuff needs to be passed right now. so it's that kind of mindset that long-term mindset that's getting me to google these things yeah until the class of people changes that are right politics right it's never going to change because we have people who are operating in a completely different realm of existence and their antennae are are tuned to a completely different frequency than the human beings that are their constituents so they're so oblivious to everything and nothing is pressing it's only like they're so oblivious even in the midst of crisis even in the midst of everyone in the country becoming enlightened to what's really going on and they're oblivious to their own bias and they're oblivious to their own ability
Starting point is 00:11:28 to like they're still very much tied to these these um the politics of six months ago you know what i mean like i'm just like like the way that the los angeles in particular has put up such a fight to defunding police doing anything it doesn't show any real moral reconciliation it doesn't show any real like apology like holy shit we're sorry holy shit we're racist and so are our policies and here's what we're gonna do to change it it is an emergency and it's like and also everyone here is poor um and you. And there's too much income inequality, and we need to fix it right now. What can we do? So I just feel like, girl, I'm tired.
Starting point is 00:12:10 I'm just like, you know what? Let me go. Let me go somewhere that is not trying me mentally constantly. Did you find out? What's the easiest place to move to that's not America? At this point, you're going to have an easier time getting into Holland, Texas. None of them are easy. None of them are easy.
Starting point is 00:12:30 My husband has some family in Canada, which is why that's the first option. But otherwise, none of them are easy. And I don't have any skills. I'm like a television writer in Hollywood. And I don't have any skills. I'm like a television writer in Hollywood. Like a lot of these for high skilled workers, you know, you can if you get a job there, you have to get a job. And also it's just this is like a very I'm very privileged. Like I don't have ties.
Starting point is 00:12:56 I don't have children. I don't have things that can make me that can make it even harder to move. But it's hard to move anyway. So I just started looking into it especially when you look at that covid map of north america and you look at the like that border wall up north they're like bro you must be out your mind yes we let a single one of you assholes in here right now and i totally get it i totally get it you know i'm an immigrant to america so i i get it but those were the an immigrant to America so I get it but
Starting point is 00:13:25 those were the days huh no problem wanted to get in here instead of the fuck out the Mexican border also yeah yes they have said no to us as well I mean not officially though right have they done it officially there's definitely stories like
Starting point is 00:13:41 border towns are like on alert please yeah as they should be you know as they should be America has a completely There's definitely stories like, yeah, border towns are like on alert. Yeah, please. Yeah. And as they should be, you know, as they should be. America has a completely incompetent response to this crisis. And if anything, I'm just like, you know, I don't know, man. Like when Trump won in 2016, it wasn't to me like a Trump thing. It was just like an America thing thing like i didn't look at like i still that's why i would still leave you know even if joe biden wins you know this is an
Starting point is 00:14:12 american problem like this this is not trump individually and the response to this crisis has shown how incompetent our systems are you know structurally foundationally how racist they are and how hard like i an executive the other day i was pitching a show about a black family and um you know one of the things that i was talking about was like how they're gonna how they experience racism and he's like but is that gonna be relevant you know because the world has changed and the thing is like this person very innocently said it because they they don't realize right they don't realize really and and it is like that to me is so quintessential of the american problem yeah well we had that we had that march
Starting point is 00:14:59 so isn't it yeah we had the march yeah people saw People saw the video. Right. They painted Black Lives Matter on some streets. That was done by a company that cuts trailers for movies. Right. It was. That one on Hollywood Boulevard. Oh, I didn't realize that. They cut a deal with the city where they were like, and you can power wash that shit off in 24 hours.
Starting point is 00:15:18 Oh, nice. And it's like, okay, so this was just a branding exercise. It's just a gesture. Yeah, it's a gesture. Yeah, it's empty bullshit. And I'm sure the people on that company were like, we didn't publicize it, but we paid for that there. There's an article in The Atlantic that people should check out
Starting point is 00:15:34 called The Three Weeks That Changed Everything that is by an amateur pilot. And it compares, it tries to do, I guess every time there's a plane crash, the National Transportation Safety Board does a deep investigation. And so it tries to do that same sort of investigation into what went wrong with coronavirus and the American response. And it's pretty enlightening. It does suggest that it really is basically we had all the systems in place.
Starting point is 00:16:00 uh, suggest that it really is. Basically we had all the systems in place. We just had the wrong, uh, administration in, uh, no way. I'll read that.
Starting point is 00:16:11 Yeah. It's worth, it's worth checking out. Uh, what is something you think is underrated? Um, I hate these guys, honestly.
Starting point is 00:16:21 I think profit sharing is underrated. You know, I'm just throwing it out there. I don't know. I think, I think underrated. You know, I'm just throwing it out there. I don't know. I think particularly in Hollywood, this is a place where corporations take our stories and then you don't own your, even if you get a TV show, you don't own it.
Starting point is 00:16:36 And I'm just like, people should talk about that more. Because even when you bring it up, they talk about how there's no precedent for it. But in the UK you know if you create a show um there is precedent for owning a copyright to your show um but in America that is not the case so I think if we start a conversation here about it and you know here you know when I've tried to bring it up before there's a lot of gaslighting that happens that you know, here, you know, when I've tried to bring it up before, there's a lot of gaslighting that happens that, you know, that you're asking for too much. There's also that, like, you're a poor artist, you know, and this is your shot.
Starting point is 00:17:11 So you don't want to fuck up your shot. And that's how they get you to not ask for a thing. It's a manipulation tool. And it's how they get you to not ask for what you should get, you know, because if they give you a percentage of your copyright or you own your copyright what does that mean for everybody else now we're not going to make it as much money and i'm just like instead of gaslighting us into thinking that it's impossible and you're everybody does it your lawyer your manager everybody does it um i don't see why profit sharing if we really want to change the structures of this country if we really want to change the structures of this country, if we really want to distribute wealth, then let's give people, let's give artists
Starting point is 00:17:47 what they rightfully deserve. So, you know, I'm like, that's mine. I mean, I think every game is built on some person who is the boss or the employer holding some kind of infrastructure over the creator's head and being like, well, how are you going to do it without this? so if you want to do this then i get 60 percent or i get 70 or i get a hundred percent or i get yeah that's like that's a fantasy version or it's like yeah like we'll put
Starting point is 00:18:15 your name on it yeah and then you know you get your created by and then you can walk around town with that but uh and this is part of what the wga yeah i don't know if you guys i mean this is part of what the wga has fought over with the agencies and things like that. It's because agencies became production houses who owned portions of the show and you didn't have to, and they told you, Oh,
Starting point is 00:18:36 you don't have to pay us 10% cause you know, it's packaged. And it's like, of course, completely, you know, not in the best interest of the client. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:46 You know, it's not a sound business practice to own something that belongs to your client and then, you know, tell them, you know, placate them by telling them that you don't have to pay 10 percent, you know, get out of here, dude. So you mean that you and this studio and this network gets a profit off of the life of this show and I just get a paycheck? Oh, yeah. Is that what we're doing? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I'm sorry, Sharla.
Starting point is 00:19:10 I realize you're not from this country. What we do here is we take your labor and we exploit it exponentially. So what ends up happening is you, the person who did all the work and spent a lifetime of putting these experiences together and educating yourself to the point that you could even verbalize or articulate these experiences into script form. We take that and we say, we have cameras, though. And that's why it's ours. And then you get your little check and then we get everything else. What a deal. And then I'm poor again in like two years after I paid off my massive student loans and bought a house.
Starting point is 00:19:44 You know know thank you look at what happened to the people who wrote the original Lion King script they like I think they got maybe a hundred no like seventy five thousand dollars in the first place and nothing else no rights to anything didn't and it was a script that they worked on with Disney for, I think, three or four years. So it ended up being below poverty wages. The Lion King script? The Lion King. The original? They wrote it.
Starting point is 00:20:12 No residuals. Nothing. Are you kidding me? Completely uninvolved. And then didn't get any residuals for the live action version. Are you kidding? That was a shot for shot remake. That is their copyright this is you know what
Starting point is 00:20:27 this is and then on time last time i brought it up i'm like and then they ripped off japanese ip to even come up with simba that was a character named kimba in japan that's unbelievable who was the kimba the white lion and like pride rock and shit all looked at anyway whatever but see this is this is the thing everyone has to think about like at every level right you don't have to work in the entertainment industry it's like you could work at a job where you are on a factory line and you are putting dude your body is aching you're the person doing all this work you're the person waking up early the people who how is it that the people making the most money are doing the least amount of fucking work yeah like realistically yeah that's how this that's how this whole game works is like the
Starting point is 00:21:09 smarter people like look bro eventually it gets to a point where you get so rich you just figure out how to never work and just move shit around so these checks just keep stacking up and you don't give a fuck what the fallout is for the people you quote-unquote employ yeah i'm so angry this is why i need to leave or maybe it's why i need to stay because i'm so angry i continue to be angry but i'm tired i think we just need to get to a tipping point where people are able to make sense of what is happening more than just being like oh this sucks like most people just it ends there it ends there yeah like that versus or or you're too poor you're struggling too much you're too busy taking care of your kids,
Starting point is 00:21:47 doing your full-time job that pays part-time wages to even think about this thing. Or finding out that you're paid a living wage through unemployment and not even working. Yes, and not even through regular jobs. Aren't you embarrassed, America? Aren't you ashamed? Like, what a shame, dude. Well, that's the difference, right? People like, you know, like us or who listen to our show,
Starting point is 00:22:14 like we're trying to look at it objectively and be like, this can't be the best thing because I'm looking at other countries where, you know, the GDP on paper is lower, but the life expectancy is way higher. What the fuck is that? Yes, but you know the gdp on paper is lower but the life expectancy is way higher what the fuck is that yes but you know what this is challenging our culture right because we have a culture of individualism we have a culture of billionaire worship we have a culture of pull yourself up by your bootstraps a culture of shaming the poor and feeling ashamed i remember there have been the first time i applied for unemployment, I was ashamed to apply for unemployment
Starting point is 00:22:46 because I felt like it was a personal failure and not something that is a societal safety net. Like what is wrong with kindness? What is wrong with taking care of each other? What is wrong with making sure your neighbor has somewhere to sleep? Like Los Angeles, California is one of the richest places in the world it has a glittering hollywood and we have the most embarrassing disgusting homelessness
Starting point is 00:23:11 problem i've ever seen in my life koreatown is is like ground central everywhere everywhere everywhere you look aren't you embarrassed gavin newsom aren't you embarrassed garcetti you put again you took you took the money and you brought in the fucking National Guard when we were protesting, but you can't take that money and house some people? No. Why the fuck should we? It's the class of people. It's the class of people.
Starting point is 00:23:36 Yeah. Garcetti is a career. He comes from a dynastic political family. He really does. What are you? Yeah, I'm sorry, Miles. I'm mad. I feel like this. I are you yeah i'm sorry i'm mad no i mean like you
Starting point is 00:23:45 should i feel like this if you have if you have not felt the pain of hunger or the confusion or stress of not knowing where a paycheck is going to come from and balancing your own checkbook your own needs with the needs of your family if you do not have that experience you have no place telling people what it's like to live in this country i'm sorry no place at a basic level i'm not saying every person has to be destitute at the very least though you can't you can't you should not be able to step into the halls of power on some like well i don't know i never really had a job because my dad don't sign companies number one person he should resign watching garcetti suck the dick of the police while the
Starting point is 00:24:24 people are sitting while he's kneeling with us like this is some sort of some sort of bullshit empty gesture don't give people empty gestures people are are angry people are scared people are hungry people are worried we we have food insecurity financial insecurity job insecurity get the fuck up and resign and say i didn't do a good job i don't get it i don't get it okay i'm racist sorry that's the best actually the best shit anybody could say any white person right now who fucks up publicly all your apology needs to be like fuck this bullshit i'm listening because that's something that some pr company has come up with lately where white people are like i'm'm listening. We're listening.
Starting point is 00:25:05 We're listening. We weren't listening. You know what would be a better apology is to be like, I'm racist. Right. I'm racist. And I didn't realize it until just now. Or maybe I did. And I've never had to pay consequences for it.
Starting point is 00:25:18 You know what I mean? Whatever it is. Turns out, you know what? Fuck it. I'm racist. I'm backwards as fuck, y'all. I gotta go. That's the only apology that I can imagine responding with a thank you thank you honestly
Starting point is 00:25:30 that could be one like trump wins a re-election if trump gets you know what i've realized i've been on some fuck shit i've been on some bullshit racism i'm sorry you know i was completely fucking up i gotta go i'm gonna take i'm gonna take a breather real quick people be like damn the fuck i mean we still voted but anyway i said he resigned please you're you're in all of us so many people it's not even just him it's so many of these politicians pretty much everybody except a handful of uh bureaucrats in the city i think are yeah worth it yeah a handful maybe literally I mean like five I think yeah yeah even the people who now are like
Starting point is 00:26:10 okay with defunding the police I'm just watching them because I'm just like I don't trust you yet and nor should I you know nor should I all right let's take a quick break and we'll be right back with your overrated image
Starting point is 00:26:25 in 1982 atari players had one thing on their minds sword quest this wasn't just a new game atari promised 150 grand in prizes to four finalists. But the prizes disappeared. And what started as a video game promotion became one of the most controversial moments in 80s pop culture. I just don't believe they exist. I mean, my reaction, shock and awe. That sword was amazing. It was so beautiful. I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for The Legend of Sword Quest, a podcast about the fall of Atari and the disappearing Sword Quest prizes. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades.
Starting point is 00:27:13 It's almost like a metaphor for the industry and Atari itself in a way. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today. And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson.
Starting point is 00:27:58 I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer. This is Rip Current. Available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you.
Starting point is 00:28:28 I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session. 24 hours. BPM 110.
Starting point is 00:28:45 120. She's terrified. Should we wake BPM 110. 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it. That was live audio of a woman's nightmare.
Starting point is 00:28:59 This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:29:25 It was December 2019 when the story blew up. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, former Packers star Kabir Bajabiamila caught up in a bizarre situation. KGB explaining what he believes led to the arrest of his friends at a children's Christmas play. A family man, former NFL player, at a children's Christmas play. A family man, former NFL player, devout Christian, now cut off from his family and connected to a strange arrest. I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. I got swept up in Kabir's journey. But this was only the beginning.
Starting point is 00:30:01 In a story about faith and football, the search for meaning away from the gridiron, and the consequences for everyone involved you mix homesteading with guns and church and a little bit of the spice of conspiracy theories that we liked voila you got straight away i felt like i was living in north korea but worse if that's possible listen to spiraled on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And Charlie,
Starting point is 00:30:34 we like to ask our guests, what is something that you think is overrated? Hollywood. Okay. Hollywood girl. What about it? What about it? Girl,
Starting point is 00:30:44 you know what? I came to Hollywood you guys the glimmer in your eyes you know I just been sitting in my house you know looking around and you know I came to Hollywood I was born in Haiti came to America when I was four you know I never imagined
Starting point is 00:31:00 that I could come here and work here and do this I felt like oh my god the American dream. And you know, when you like the first time I ever came to Hollywood, it was on a first class flight. I had never gone first class before. I was just like,
Starting point is 00:31:14 you know, like, right. What, what an amazing blessing. What, how amazing that I land. And then the racial segregation,
Starting point is 00:31:23 the economic segregation, when you get here, the homelessness, the crumbling highways. You're just like, hmm, interesting. And then you get into the writer's room. And then you start to meet, you know, the execs. You start to meet, you go on these generals. You start to meet people. You sit in a writer's room.
Starting point is 00:31:42 And maybe you're the only black person. Maybe you're not. You know what I mean? But your boss certainly isn't black none of them are like um and then you start to go man this place is literally exactly like the rest of this place you know hollywood is exactly like the rest of america and the thing that is so disappointing is that it claimed it espouses to be something else. It espouses to be something different. And just to see how not different it is, and not even just Hollywood, California, the entire place.
Starting point is 00:32:12 You know, I thought I was coming into like a liberal bastion, into like a hippie paradise. And you're just not, you know, like this is still very much corporate America. Hollywood is, you know, just as greedy as the rest of the country, as every other corporation. And, you know, I just I just feel like it's overrated as fuck. Yeah. Overrated or that needs to be rated. I mean, when you really take a second to think about it, it's the epicenter of like our insidious media complex you know all the messaging we send out to our own
Starting point is 00:32:48 children us growing up the rest of the world at large it starts mostly out of here you know like with the move the way we portray each other the way we put the shit really is coming at all it really is this is from here we are the propaganda capital of the world and we have a responsibility um to do things behind camera i remember like when that um oh my god what was that like it was like effie what's her name like she started talking about uh she was one of those producers that started talking about how there's no black people behind the camera you know like how you put you put these black stories on but they're written by white writers and that was such a huge every brown yeah yeah and that was such a huge deal yeah because hollywood was like it was like you know drama you know and i was just like girl
Starting point is 00:33:35 it's so much work like i had and i wasn't i didn't live here yet i don't think and so i hadn't experienced what she was talking about because i was just like oh that's so weird you know because hollywood not weird but no one talked about it before she really talked about or not as publicly not to matt damon's face so i mean yeah you think you think uh name calling is bad telling a white liberal they're racist yes that uh in the karen story there there was that incident where a woman and her husband were threatening to call the police on somebody for writing black lives matter on their own oh yeah the woman who had like the guy fox masks eyebrows yeah yeah but she was like she seemed so amused and that somebody would even consider her racist.
Starting point is 00:34:29 Yes. That just summed up everything about LA to me. Yes. Just this idea, this smugness of like... Yes. Yeah, okay. I'm definitely not racist. Yeah, I live in Hollywood.
Starting point is 00:34:41 Right. I have a black maid, okay? Yeah. Or nanny or maid, okay? Yeah. Or nanny or whatever, you know, insert. And she's family. She's family. Honestly, I give her all my clothes. I give her all my clothes.
Starting point is 00:34:53 They're nice, too. They're nice. So don't tell me I'm racist. No, no, no. Not today. Guys, that brings me to my myth. I know you're leading this, it is oh yeah yeah it is that liberals aren't racist that is a great myth um that you know i can debunk any minute you need
Starting point is 00:35:11 me to i can debunk any day you know yeah i mean i can only imagine too you know the coming to la right because you think of like of all like it's all like, it's chilled out. Yeah. It's like different than other cities you've been to. But yeah, there is this thing of where I think people in this city pat themselves on the back even harder for this shit. Yes, they do. Like really to the point where they don't realize how far gone they actually can be. Yes, yes. Because every step you take, every turn you take you can see
Starting point is 00:35:45 just sort of there's a lack of real awareness like if you really saw the city for what it is you're like man this thing's been redlined to fucking hell uh and it's you there's like five there's five different las that you can experience um and but they're the one that is constantly sort of you know projected outwardly is the one where everybody's like you know at nice bars on the sand in santa monica everything looks like a fucking stock photo it's like all inclusive and we're lgbtq friendly and we're poc you know all this other stuff and you know what but i do think that um the democratic party is exactly like that the democratic party is very racist and doesn't again like most liberals just don't understand their bias they don't see their unconscious bias
Starting point is 00:36:33 in their own racism so right and i want to say this because some people have come for me when i've talked about the democratic party i'm not here to do fucking anyone's bidding when I say that. I'm looking straight up at something and I'm saying, this is not purpose. This is politics. Because purpose is pulling up for people and funding the community. The second you start watering shit down
Starting point is 00:36:55 because you give a fuck about what a lobbyist told you, that's not the real shit. And I think that's what is happening, right? With all of this, these ideas are starting to crumble a bit. I think those are going to be the, hopefully the positives we come out of here is we abandon that bootstrap shit. We abandon the shaming of the poor.
Starting point is 00:37:13 We abandon the billionaire worship and can move on to something really substantive because seeing all this lack of caring and lack of humanity around is only inspiring people to be like, hold on man like we should not be doing shit like this and that's why i look at a party i've been told to vote for familially uh and culturally for a long time telling me what side of the fence i'm on but now i'm i've well i've been at a point for a number of years since leaving politics where it the purpose has to be the really the real driving force behind everything and rather than like well it's if you're doing that then biden could lose
Starting point is 00:37:52 i don't yeah that's not what i'm looking i'm looking at people getting killed and lynched in the street i'm looking at people getting left behind because they can't afford to live that's what's fucked up to me not who if it's a d or r in the white house and this is the same shit they do every time right like they always like it's again that south park episode there's a south park episode where you have to vote between a turd sandwich and a piece of shit or something like that and like this is the kind of fear that they instill in us but without they instill this kind of fear that if we don't vote for the democratic party, then we're, you know, then we're splitting the vote.
Starting point is 00:38:30 We're doing all these other things. But then I'm just like, isn't the onus on the democratic party to put up candidates that we actually want to support? Like when we watched the democratic party actively disenfranchise Bernie, actively not support him, even if he's getting the votes to garner that support. Should I give a fuck about who you want me to vote for? Like, should I even give a fuck? Like, like, how do I think that's a difference as a party? You're because some people are moving past politics and towards purpose. You know, I think it was easier in the from 2007 for a good nine years. It was like, yes, you know what?
Starting point is 00:39:08 I know I trust this machine to do the equitable thing. Then we sort of look and we're like, I don't know if it was doing really the best thing. It couldn't have been, actually, when I look at it, when I think about it, because I'm measuring that against what I see in my own community. And I don't think things are getting better. And I think people have to, you know, obviously, I don't, and I don't, I'm not critical of the Democratic Party, because I'm trying to, you know, deflate enthusiasm to blow Trump out in November. And absolutely not. When I'm trying, I say this because I feel like as Americans, people really need to begin re-examining
Starting point is 00:39:44 how this political thing works because if we're just here because of d or r yeah get fucked in the end either way if we're not demanding real like purpose-driven legislation yes and it's for nothing i don't just want their game yeah i don't just want purpose-driven legislation i want thoughtful smart leaders i want people who yes i want people the thing is to me it's like our racism problem that is in this country is a capitalism problem it just is it's a cap like all of these problems are capitalism problem why can't i have thoughtful smart leadership because capitalism has taken over our politics because money has taken over our policy. It is never going to be equitable and real democracy until,
Starting point is 00:40:31 until these people aren't doing the bidding of, you know, whoever's paying them, you know, it's really hard to have any kind of integrity. It's really hard for me to respect any of my legislators when, I mean, honestly, honestly like i i support and i donate to candidates who don't take corporate PAC money if that's if that's a little thing that i can do and i'm not waiting for these people to legislate socialism you know what i mean i'm i'm gonna start doing it little by little bit on my own if i have a little bit you know i help my friend i help my family like i'm not i'm not waiting like the culture can't wait for them we gotta do it ourselves people are dying people are dying people have been murdered people been dying that's the thing
Starting point is 00:41:17 people been yes and now we're at a point where we look at our politicians are like come on like right now really right now because everybody's seeing it in the most everybody's we might need more assistance i mean one of the first things they should be doing is when the second they saw that some people are living a better life because their their actual job is paying less than the support they were getting from the government the first thing we like we got to change the minimum wage because there should be nobody out here being like it actually makes more sense for me to be on unemployment. Yes.
Starting point is 00:41:47 And states can do that on their own, right? But it's a capitalism question. It's a capitalism question. Then that means the employer has to take less, and that means there's less revenue to split up at the end, and then the shareholder value goes down, and then you're stuck with people doing wage or tip augmented income at you know at a restaurant things like that like all this shit is meant for the rich people to not have to dig into their top
Starting point is 00:42:10 pockets too much yeah people who people who are saying that like we're doing we're helping trump by criticizing biden like there needs to be something beyond it i feel like that's a a very outdated viewpoint that like well you just have to swallow the medicine and support biden without like thinking about like connecting that to that larger purpose like what are we gonna do because it just feels like it's way too easy for people to be like yeah but it's better Trump. And then somebody said that like people, a lot of like the liberal class wants Biden to win so they can stop paying attention to politics again. And like that's that needs. That's why I'm moving. Right.
Starting point is 00:42:57 Exactly. It's like that. Because you need to be engaged. You need to be engaged the whole time. And unfortunately, at a certain level of engagement you begin to see a lot of things that will disgust you and you will begin to completely rethink things so it's really depending on your level of engagement i don't i'm not out here saying don't everybody fucking let's hope trump gets another thing because the whole i'm not an accelerationist
Starting point is 00:43:21 necessarily i think on some levels clearly we need this shit needs to get popping a little bit quicker but not to the point where like a second trump administration is going to be absolute absolute disaster more so than just getting another smiling capitalist in but it's yeah i mean the stakes are the stakes are very clear to everyone but at the end of the day, we will. What we're saying is the real, at least from my perspective. That's what I look at, because if you're if you're out here saying you understand if you're going to wear a Kinte cloth and take a knee and you say you understand that black lives are at stake, then really put some legislation forward that actually communicates to me that you understand the problem. Because the only legislation I saw shows me that you want to not piss the cops off that's what that's what you didn't you don't give a you don't want to piss your wallets off you don't want to piss your
Starting point is 00:44:14 wallets off you don't want to piss anything off and it's just like that's why you guys need to go that's why we need and and the thing is like i'm not done criticizing the democratic party i'm going to criticize whoever comes into office because that is what you ask for when you be when you come into public office you ask to be criticized um good or bad you know what i mean like i i don't want to just clap for the good things you do but i want to i want to engage i feel like they in they are condescending to us the democratic Party is condescending to us as a voter base and they want us to clap because
Starting point is 00:44:50 they're not as bad as the Republicans but they're just as bad I think because of that bullshit kneeling with the can't take cloth because of the complete disconnect between who they are and what they believe and what they espouse to be to
Starting point is 00:45:07 us for to make us vote for them so i'm just like yes i will vote you know according to my own survival but i would like it to get to a point where i can vote making a smart decision and not just emotional decision right a decision based off of whether or not they like black people i would like to legislate the shit out of this to the point where it's like it's not about if you have a black friend if you know a black person if your daughter is half black i don't give a fuck like it's not about your personal connection to me whether or not you like me it's about people being able to live happy and free and safe and and not giving a fuck about your feelings yeah yeah no but that's and again much there's too much work to do to sit around like clapping for yeah
Starting point is 00:45:56 yeah and it's stupid it's just it's really disingenuous and it's lazy to just say well you're being critical because you want trump to win no the fuck are you talking about i'm critical because i'm looking at real fucked up problems in this country and i think we need to change them so i'm i will speak i will you know i'm i'm i will i will advocate on behalf of what i believe the direction is that the country can move towards that can be more inclusive and humane to people of all backgrounds and classes that's what it's all about it's not because i want don't what the fuck you talking about it's because i think we can i think we can treat each other with a base level of humanity that we've still not been able to get there that's that's step one is like can we get to
Starting point is 00:46:40 humanity people are fucking stupid like america you know is stupid frankly you know like and i'm a part of that american culture of you know not a part of it but like people here are anti-intellectual they're anti like they hated obama because he was too smart he thinks he's too smart. And I'm like, do you know what you sound like? You're shooting on somebody because they're educated. And the idea that education here is something that is, you know, associated with the city, associated with
Starting point is 00:47:15 being like hoity-toity, like uppity. You know what I mean? And it's just like, go to school. Make your schools better. Put books in your schools. Like, have people read. People don't read. And we're distracted. Like, there are just so many.
Starting point is 00:47:30 This is, you know what? Like, I just feel like I'm too tired to focus on the problems anymore because they're so deep. They're so entrenched. I feel like all I can do is what I said before, which is I'm not waiting for these people to legislate. Um, I, I want to start in my community amongst my friends, amongst my family to help, to distribute wealth, to redistribute wealth. You know what I mean? Like if somebody needs help, I want to help them. I want, I'm starting like a writers on fire group to help writers and artists learn about financial literacy. Like, I just feel like what can I do that small right now?
Starting point is 00:48:11 What can we do that small right now? And I feel like a lot of us have been doing it. We've been donating to those bond jail bond funds, bail funds. I mean, I've been donating to like politicians like we showed up at protests. Those things have given me hope. Those things have given me like they've reinvigorated me they've made me love my fellow human you know because people realize we're all in this together but i i just feel like it is it is an emergency to get these these politicians the fuck out like i just hate them so much it's just tough i mean we get nihilistic and it feels like nothing's gonna change and yeah naturally your solution
Starting point is 00:48:52 be like well if i'm in a situation where i have there's a high risk i could be murdered purely based on my race um and i have to wait for legislators to put that into law or change the rules around it or change the oppressive systems around me that I can feel safe. Like, yeah, then naturally be like, yeah, why the fuck am I going to wait for that? If you have the ability to, because obviously that is like you acknowledged earlier, the very privileged position to be able to say like, well, I could take my ass to another country if I so wanted to. If they are accepting me. Yeah, right. Yeah. Eventually, hopefully they will be you know borders will open i feel like this is like years into the future who knows when that stuff will happen who knows if america will ever get the coronavirus under control
Starting point is 00:49:36 i just feel like i need for my own personal mental health like some sort of a exit plan um and not even just an exit plan it's just like me just being very i'm very tired of the culture i'm i'm tired of the the infighting you know like every time one of us has to answer to a ridiculous racist sentiment you know like um like that anti-intellectualism that you were just talking about miles i'm just like why do i even have to answer this bullshit this is so stupid there's so there are emergencies and we're sitting here you know arguing about a flag arguing about well i don't know the republicans actually freed the slave okay yeah i'm sorry sir please yeah over there to the to the left please yeah or the Drudge Report posting that fucking
Starting point is 00:50:25 call to a civil war. Like, this stuff is dangerous. And it ain't a game. It is very dangerous. It's not a game. And yeah, I don't think it's, I think it's, like, we can't dismiss it. Like, it's easy to just be like,
Starting point is 00:50:43 ah, that's fear-mongering me the guy in the article even says like well i'm gonna be accused of doom-mongering but it's like they i don't know it seems very real and very like they're spending a lot of time thinking about killing us all didn't didn't tom didn't the tom cotton article get the New York Times editor like five? Didn't he leave? Didn't he resign after that? Why would the Drudge Report not take a page from that book and be like, you know what? Because it's one guy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:15 Because it's one guy. Oh, I see. And he's a huge conservative. Yeah. And the format of the website, you know, not a lot of people, not a lot of staff for that thing. Right. I get it. And it's, yeah, it's just, I mean, he's traditionally been very conservative.
Starting point is 00:51:32 And the fact that he's critical of Trump doesn't change anything. It's because white supremacy is a death cult at the end of the day. And that's the call to arms is not because of whatever they're saying it is. It's because the people who are most energized in this sort of existential fight for their lives are racists. Their biggest fear is the inversion of racial status and power in this country. And that is the final battle to be fought in this country. final battle to be fought in this country and you can tell when because there are yes racist people are getting much more aggressive uh there is there are more and more incidents because they see the change they see the change and they're scared and i understand that they're they're scared but it's
Starting point is 00:52:18 interesting when you compare like what the existential dilemma to a comfortable white person is who just doesn't like that you know bubble wallace got nascar to ban the confederate flag versus people who are being killed in the street terrorized by police uh being you know very much systematically uh gutted of any kind of social services or welfare uh access to income those are also real stakes for people too yeah um and i think yeah there's just a definite that all of this inequity is i i i'm not sure i'm not certain how it ends in a nice way without there being real real change or upheaval on some level yeah you know what's the most um sad thing about white supremacists it's not only is it a death cult but it's like don't you
Starting point is 00:53:06 guys realize that everybody or at least to me you're just screaming about the fact that you think you're inferior or that you know you're inferior you're afraid of the fact that you're inferior so it's just like so so you literally would rather die than be equal or, or whatever it is. It's just like such a, it's such a pitiful mindset to me. It's such a, it's,
Starting point is 00:53:32 it's, it's just a mindset that I just find so sad. I'm just like, it's, it's just so sad. I'm just like, so you just are so afraid that you are inferior. I mean,
Starting point is 00:53:44 so that you would rather kill yourself. I'd hate to extend any empathy towards any white supremacist. But in terms of their ideology, they've been fed all these things that they thought really made them better. That were all illusory and not real. So they were like, well, yeah, maybe we're not doing hot in this case, but at least the presidents are white. Oh, shit. Then obama came along well you know at least that but we can at least the gop can maintain control of these state houses and you know they people know what time it is oh wait now that's even crumbling yeah well now at least we got you know the police force and that's a way
Starting point is 00:54:18 we can terrorize people oh wait more people are catching on to that and that's crumbling well at least we got these statues like it keeps getting whittled down to bullshit to now they're just like well at least we have these statues and now that that's coming down of course you would be like oh shit it's the fucking fourth quarter and i'm on the bench i gotta get up out i gotta suit up yep and i i do think it's a myth that they're all stupid like i yeah i think that i think that uh in the same way that like people are always surprised to find that like when you look at cult members they actually score higher on uh intelligence tests than uh the average person and it's no way because they're able to be true because they're able to argue thinking they're able to argue. Contrary thinking.
Starting point is 00:55:07 They're able to make the argument in their own head to whatever is convenient for them to believe at that time and whatever keeps them comfortable. And so I think we underrate their intelligence and also underrate how they know what they're doing. They believe in white supremacy and they're protecting that. They're using their faculties, uh, and what's available to them to,
Starting point is 00:55:28 to protect that. Um, you know what, then I take it back. I mean, I just feel like it's just a pitiful state. Like it just is like you screaming about how pitiful you are. Um,
Starting point is 00:55:38 yeah. Oh, totally. It's it's. And, but even worse is how they're reinforced or upheld by our legislators. I remember when the Charleston shooting happened and Bree Newsome, I think her last name is Newsome, Bree Newsome took the Confederate flag down from the Charleston state capitol or South Carolina state capital.
Starting point is 00:56:07 And she was arrested because it was a protest. But just the fact that they wouldn't take that flag down after those nine church members were murdered by a white supremacist. Yeah. Just the fact that, you know, like when white supremacists come to march, like or the fact that that conservative white supremacist views are talked about as something that are both sides of the argument. You know, there are good people on both sides or, you know, reach across the aisle, you know, reach across the aisle to what? To a white supremacist? What the fuck are we talking about?
Starting point is 00:56:43 Like, this doesn't make any sense you know the fact that hates me yeah right the fact that you know the drudge report can even put up this argument as an argument and not something that is just a danger to the safety of the american people is what upholds these things this is what i mean about the culture like the or the fact that like when we talk about police you know defunding the police i have not seen any articles about white fear you know like like let's address the fact that white people are afraid of the fact that there might not be a police right and i'm and i'm just like let's talk about it because it's a legitimate fear you know i've called then they could connect with how irrational that is and begin to see objectively that maybe these alternatives that people are talking about may be worth listening to.
Starting point is 00:57:33 Maybe they're worth listening to. That's where the hand the media plays because they could be like, hey, man, white people probably scared. You should actually probably know about this phenomenon sociologically that you're going through it's not just because this idea is bad or whatever whatever you think of it first there your limbic system is being taken over and your flight your fight or flight response has kicked in and that is what's determining what's happening you're not taking a second to actually look at something think about it review the facts review the history but that's not what it is it's always, is defund the police too aggressive and radical? Are black people asking for too much again?
Starting point is 00:58:09 Yeah. But I'm just like, you're watching these really chilling murders, you know, and let's address the fact, let's address your own bias, which you should absolutely have because of the way that the country works. Like, of course you have bias. Of course you're racist, you know, like you just are. Like that is the way that the country works like of course you have bias of course you're racist you know like you just are like that is the way that america works so it's just like if you're afraid let's talk about it let's let's let's debunk those fears um that the you know whatever
Starting point is 00:58:37 fears you have that black people are coming as an army you know black people are really busy they're not coming for you like i promise promise they have things to do people have been systematically reduced to not be able to have the time to we don't have time working low-income jobs we don't have time and our poverty is your poverty racism is a capitalism problem so it's just like we all poor girl ain't nobody coming for you like let's talk about the fear when when black armed protesters were like marching last week that was you those photographs of that were on the front page of the drudge report okay they want yeah because to stoke that white fear you like white people should be afraid of these black people who are demanding equality who are demanding equality who are armed because it's legal right in the state that they are
Starting point is 00:59:28 for white people it's legal that's also the trick is also recontextualizing the fight for equality as violence yes you know oh why are they looting or what's that look what happened I mean look we get it these people are being murdered by the police but that's not how to do
Starting point is 00:59:44 that or whatever that's not how to do that or whatever. Yeah, that's not how to do it. It's completely disingenuous to even look at something like that when you should be like, things are so bad. There are people in this country who will burn shit down because they are...
Starting point is 00:59:58 I know it's hard to believe from your place of comfort and mine as a media analyst slash anchor slash news presenter, we know nothing of the strife and struggle of a media analyst slash anchor slash news presenter, we know nothing of the strife and struggle of, of a person of color in this country. So we'll look at it that far removed and then be like,
Starting point is 01:00:12 Oh, well I wouldn't do it like that. You wouldn't do it like that. Cause you've never even been in a situation like that. So how could you, you don't even have the wherewithal to even begin to, to analyze what you're seeing. And then we get these like mixed messages out that then every other person's like,
Starting point is 01:00:28 you know, I agree with the protests, but I don't know if it has to happen like that when it should be like i didn't realize it was burn shit down bad for some people yeah and i can't believe and it's so abstract to me that i've never known burn shit down angry yeah what does that mean for me as a white what does that mean for me as a white person in America that it's burned shit down bad? And this is not the first time shit has been burned down. What does that mean? And your position as a white person is based on advantages and privileges that have contributed to things being that bad for other people. And it does not mean that you should feel guilty about guilty about this this is not about you individually being white like i'm just like if i hear another white guilt shit as like there is no time for this you do not have time
Starting point is 01:01:17 to stroke your you know your realization that you're white like it let's get over this and move on this is not about an individual issue this is not about you it's about the country is burning down i remember it's easier i think it's easier to look at that as a solution is to be like we should acknowledge our hand in this and then and then what better and then what no it ends there no it ends it ends it ends that i feel guilty great yep i did the work i did the i did the work that I connected with how bad it could be for a moment. And now I've felt a requisite amount of discomfort. I will now push that away and keep it moving. But I did feel it, though.
Starting point is 01:01:54 So don't get me wrong. I did feel it. But I just didn't choose to keep thinking further, which is, yes, now put some action in. Because it's not the tears that people are after. It's these laws that are going to keep knees off of necks and no-knock warrants and people mysteriously getting murdered and the cops having the power to be like, I don't know.
Starting point is 01:02:13 We're living in a dystopia. And it has been that way for so long. I was going to say, I remember in 2016 when Trump won, a magazine reached out to a bunch of Brooklynoklyn comics asking if we can you know you know how are we gonna make fun of this how are we gonna make fun of trump and i just remember as a black ass person just being like why would we make fun of this this isn't
Starting point is 01:02:37 funny we can't just everything can't just be hilarious it was one of the things that made me like question do i want to even do stand up anymore if this is the way that we that i'm viewed you know what i mean like as someone who is not who is first and foremost a jokester who when they are presented with an existential threat first thinks about how is this hilarious you know what i mean and it's like i was just like america you're fucked because if you think, and there were so many articles like that about like, how are comics going to make fun of this? How are we going to make fun of this on TV?
Starting point is 01:03:10 LOL. Isn't it funny that Trump just won? And it's like, no, it's not funny. It's not funny. White supremacy. And it's not going to be funny for a long,
Starting point is 01:03:23 even if, even when Biden wins, if there's no tampering with the election and there's not some sort of coup or whatever that trump does if any if anybody is with him by that point um it's going to take so long it's gonna take so long because struck to undo this shit these are at the very foundations you know like this is since reconstruction like this appeasing of white supremacists of the south of confederate flags of this bullshit this appeasement this hand-holding of white bullshit well yeah see what happens to smash out the racists in the civil war and they're like all right sorry guys you want okay
Starting point is 01:04:03 here you go we could let you have your little flag over here and we'll name some of these military installations after these people like braxton bragg that fought against you know people like william sherman who he knew personally before but anyway it doesn't let's it it i think and there could be a second moment right we're like there you know there will be the coddling of Democrats to Trump Republicans who have seen the light now. Yes. And we're like, no, we got to be. No, you got to be able. Even though they fully showed their entire ass for four years or however many years and they let everybody know what it was.
Starting point is 01:04:39 Yes. Let's pretend. Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell. That's not going to happen. How many? Hey, man, Lindsey. Lindsey Graham's a good friend of mine, man. He's a good guy. Lindsey Graham's about face was hilarious.
Starting point is 01:04:54 That was hilarious. I mean, that was funny. Just seeing people have no integrity. People are giving him credit for disagreeing with the president on one thing. Yeah, because he had the lukewarm take that the Confederate flag is bad for business. Right. Oh, my God. Give him the Nobel Prize, man.
Starting point is 01:05:11 I never heard deep thinking like that ever in my life. Yeah. Oh, my God. And the thesis of that statement is that capitalism will fix all this, which is the exact opposite. All right. Let's take one more break, and then we'll come back and run through a few of the stories real quick. In 1982, Atari players had one thing on their minds,
Starting point is 01:05:38 Sword Quest. This wasn't just a new game. Atari promised 150 grand in prizes to four finalists. But the prizes disappeared. And what started as a video game promotion became one of the most controversial moments in 80s pop culture. I just don't believe they exist. I mean, my reaction, shock and awe.
Starting point is 01:05:58 That sword was amazing. It was so beautiful. I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for The Legend of Sword Quest, a podcast about the fall of Atari and the disappearing Sword Quest prizes. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades. It's almost like a metaphor for the industry and Atari itself in a way. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 01:06:28 This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today. And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore.
Starting point is 01:07:13 The story of one strange and violent summer. This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you.
Starting point is 01:07:36 Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session, 24 hours. BPM 110, 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it. That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people.
Starting point is 01:08:10 There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share doctor-approved insights about all of that and more.
Starting point is 01:08:54 We're tackling everything. Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Oh, and if you're as sore as I am from pickleball, we'll help you with that too. Most importantly, it's information you can trust. Everything is vetted by experts at the top of their field, and you can write into them directly to have your questions answered. So sign up for Body and Soul at katiecouric.com slash body and soul. Taking better care of yourself is just a click away.
Starting point is 01:09:32 And we're back. So Donald Trump is losing support, according to recent polls from Pew Research Center. He's losing support fastest in the 500 counties where the number of cases have been more than 28 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 people, which shouldn't be surprising. This may be the answer to the question I raised yesterday, like who voted for him in 2016 that won't now.
Starting point is 01:10:01 It's like people who are dying or seeing people who who died or know people who died um but uh fortunately the for his electoral chances the president is doing the only thing he knows how to do which is double down and uh in really like i i don't know what sentence went through his mind that said the the way to win people back is to tell them they have to put their children in schools like where they can die in a problem that i created like that seems like the very that's what we're so yeah because again we're in such like that late stage of capitalism where it's just being like yeah i know before we used to be able to like come up with these fancy ways of talking about how we kill you but now it's straight up like look um we can't get this shit
Starting point is 01:10:55 going if our workers have to teach their kids at home so in order for that to happen you need to order you need to open these schools which frees up my work and labor force to get their ass into these offices because i need to reopen and start making money like though it's so dark because there's nothing about this that has any concern for children like right to your point charla and look what we see on the show the problems in this country the answer is either white supremacy or capitalism or both sometimes you get both in one and this is clearly a capitalism uh problem because we the the fucking desire to reopen everything because of because economy because the alternative is to help people and you know maybe that but empathy costs money that alternative just doesn't
Starting point is 01:11:41 really hold up here and the way it's even the way he's even positing it right like he starts off by saying uh he's trying to even say that the the democrats want schools closed because they want to score political points he's saying yeah uh we hope that most schools are going to be open we don't want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons they think it's going to be good for them politically so they keep the schools closed no way we're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools to go get them open it's very important it's very important for our country it's very important for the well-being of the student and the parents so we're going to be putting a lot of pressure on open your schools in the fall um threatening
Starting point is 01:12:22 funding basically i mean other countries are opening their schools uh yeah that's true ignoring the fact yeah ignoring the fact that we are we have the worst outbreak and in the world it's like he lit one of the schools on fire and is like you still have to go to school because the school down the street that i didn't light on fire is people are open and that's fine yeah the whole thing yeah when you look at even those examples he cited there are a lot of experts who are like rebutting that very specific take he had on the schools that are the or the countries that had schools beginning to reopen and mind you this was like with limited class size they're doing a lot to even open it looks nothing like back to 2019 shit um they're
Starting point is 01:13:04 saying a responsible strategy for reopening schools starts with controlling the community spread of COVID-19 through distancing and the use of face masks, as well as robust tracing isolation and quarantining as all countries that have opened schools without spikes in cases did before resuming instruction. And we, we have nothing like that. The things I've heard about the tracing programs
Starting point is 01:13:26 have been really lackluster. Not to say that these people aren't trying, but whatever it is, we're just not, there's just no leadership able to do that. We've already talked a little bit about that Drudge Report article. But yeah, I mean, you kind of have to read it. I don't want to go through it too much but just the certainty that the person talking speaks with about the fact that
Starting point is 01:13:54 basically the 2020 election is going to cause a war because Trump will delay or cancel the election the left will riot Biden will win via mail-in ballots which he claims are constantly used to steal elections but have never been uh and the right won't accept it and they will riot and either way there's going to be a war and the just calm certainty that uh this writer has that
Starting point is 01:14:20 they have the moral high ground and the left is part of a conspiracy funded by George Soros. To what end isn't clear, but it just is funded by George Soros. He is just like, yeah, we're going to start killing everybody. And it kind of reminded me of that cop in Wilmington, North Carolina,
Starting point is 01:14:42 who left his body cam on while he was talking about indiscriminately shooting black people in the street. Yeah. Yeah. And how he can't wait. There's like a giddiness to it. It's fucking terrifying. Yeah, it's very scary. You know, that's why I would help to have laws, you know, that like look at our police departments to make sure there aren't sure there aren't people on these race war murder fantasies working there.
Starting point is 01:15:07 Right. Or we can wait till we vote the right people in and then hope and pray that the bodies pile up high enough that it reaches their penthouse level of the building they live in. And they go, whoa, what was that? Right. Something's going, uh-oh. Okay, maybe we'll do something now. That's why I'm like i'm where i feel like it feels like the country is waiting for the election and i'm just like i'm like this can't this can't
Starting point is 01:15:33 wait you know like the political will to do a lot of these things like needs to happen with or without trump and it just feels like if people keep using trump as this symbolism of like what's wrong with everything and him going away is going to be the end of what's wrong with everything. Like I think Americans don't have like stamina when it comes to actually fighting because no so much of this country hasn't had to do that for so long. Well, yeah, I mean, it's a country built on slavery. Yeah. So not a lot of hard work yeah real chill um but i'm just like it's gonna take so much it's gonna take so much um just wearing down our representatives that we have now who are useless until you know like to make changes right now i don't know why we have to wait months people are gonna be evicted people are going to be out on the street now you know so i'm just like what are we doing right now i hate it
Starting point is 01:16:30 yeah it's no i mean it's it's this thing where it's it's about ignoring the that the house is burning down until you're that the hair even like right now like the hairs on our arms are being singed by the radiant heat of the fire in the other room and it's like nah it ain't that bad it's like sir everything's fine my arm here my arm hair is singeing from this heat we have to it's it's in the next room what happens when it breaks through and it's like i don't know man fuck it we waited too long yeah we are the everything's fine meme this country yes uh and i'm just like but we have but we have vr goggles on so we're like no i look pretty cool because i got v i might the house
Starting point is 01:17:10 may be burning but i have vr on and i am actually in narnia right now yeah it's chill so what should we do jack about this uh judge report article i don't know i i uh i dm'd my uh friend jason pargen uh because he's like sort of a you know he comes from a conservative town and i was just like what like help me make sense of this like what do you uh so i i don't know what we can do do other than just like be aware of it read it and know that that that is out there and know that when I was just what I was reading skimming through they're like saying
Starting point is 01:17:53 his preferred scenario would be that the optics are that the Democrats stole the presidential election to inspire the will to rebel from people on the right well shit this has been a great episode Sharla inspire the will to rebel from people on the right. Right. Well, shit, this has been a great episode, Sharla.
Starting point is 01:18:11 It's been wonderful having you on. Where can people find you and follow you? I literally just deleted my Instagram this morning. Because I was like, I'd like some mental peace nowadays to you yeah it was like pretty hard actually which i feel is um important to remember that like we're really attached like genuinely attached to these things and i and i am and i was scrolling yeah too much doom scrolling exactly so i got on scroll check yourself yeah i'm still on twitter at charlotte larson sure follow sure follow me
Starting point is 01:18:45 you know i'm sure i'll tweet about the judge judge report trying to get that shit shut down or some something or at least you know you know it's a violation articles hate speech yeah put it up there that's what i do you know yeah so you can find me at charlotte larston that's it girl i don't have any shows i don't have anything is there a tweet or some other work of social media you've been enjoying um there was this tweet um by i think it was bossip where this little black this little black baby um stole snacks and then she when her mother catches her she pretends she's asleep and that was she's like just standing up holding the snacks and she
Starting point is 01:19:29 closes her eyes and then it was so cute and then finally she opens her eyes and she just laughs like I'm cute what are you gonna do and it's like yeah you're cute babies had some great baby recommendations straight up I just found out about the uh
Starting point is 01:19:46 the uh thank you baby who who thanks it's just super cut of him thanking his mom for food adorable the chubbiest cheeks in the history oh i saw that so cute i love it uh miles where can people find you and what's a tweet you've been enjoying? Oh, man. Twitter, Instagram, Miles of Grey, my other podcast, 420 Day Fiance, where we just get high, talk about 90 Day Fiance. Check that out. A new episode came out today. Let's see.
Starting point is 01:20:15 A tweet I like. First one is from Caroline Moss, at Caroline Moss. Friendly reminder that phase three doesn't mean it's safer to go to the movies or get your nails done than it was in March. It just means that both the state and federal government don't care if you die doing it right so keep that in mind that's what i'll talk really i mean until i'll come out my house when i
Starting point is 01:20:35 hear about some like real treatments that isn't hydroxychloroquine like where that young 17 year old girl died because her mom was like trump told me to get uh tragedies unnecessary death um and the other one i like is from at jurassic park to go uh just great tweets from this account just all kinds of weird jurassic park updates like a comedy bit uh this one that i like it says warning a t-rex has been spotted wearing Joker makeup. That's a new account, right? I started seeing this pop up maybe in the last three weeks. More and more and more.
Starting point is 01:21:12 Oh, yeah. Well, actually, no. Joined July 2020. So super new. Jurassic Park updates. We have developed a velociraptor that smokes cigarettes was another one I liked. But yeah, it's all just... You can find me on Twitter
Starting point is 01:21:27 at Jack underscore O'Brien. I really like this thread. Anna at VerySmallAnna tweeted, What's the thing you think everyone is exaggerating? I'll start. No way is everyone so afraid of fucking clowns. And then
Starting point is 01:21:43 some other ones that people suggested were I think everyone is exaggerating on being horny and nobody dislikes the word moist until about five years ago now everybody claims they hate it I think those are actually good
Starting point is 01:22:00 you can find me on twitter you can find us on twitter we underscore O'Brien you can find us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist we're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram we have a Facebook fan page and a website DailyZeitgeist.com where we post our episodes and our footnotes where we link off to the
Starting point is 01:22:17 information we talked about in today's episode as well as the song we ride out on. Miles what are we going to ride out on today? This is going to be just new vibes from Blockhead. A great producer. Makes a lot of the beats for Aesop Rock. So if you're a big Aesop Rock fan, Blockhead is typically the producer.
Starting point is 01:22:39 The reason I like Blockhead is that he's one of these producers who uses samples. But he really does no proper musical training. He just knows how they work, and I always think that's interesting when producers aren't using keyboards. They're just purely taking these palettes of sounds and just their intuition always guides them to fire tracks. And this is a new one called What That Dictionary Do.
Starting point is 01:23:02 It's upbeat, and it's just a little, again, a little, again, you know, a little background music to keep the vibe going. All right. We're going to ride out on that. The Daily Zeitgeist is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Starting point is 01:23:17 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That is going to do it for this morning. We'll be back this afternoon to tell you what's trending. And we'll talk to you then. Bye. Bye. Bye. Hey, fam, I'm Simone Boyce.
Starting point is 01:24:06 I'm Danielle Robay. And we're the hosts of The Bright Side, the podcast from Hello Sunshine that's guaranteed to light up your day. Check out our recent episode with Grammy Award-winning rapper Eve on motherhood and the music industry. No, it's a great, amazing, beautiful thing. There's moms in all industries, very high-stress industries, that have kids all across this world.
Starting point is 01:24:29 Why can't it be music as well? Listen to The Bright Side from Hello Sunshine on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16, 2017 was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearths the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere starting September 25th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 01:25:11 Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister, or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Starting point is 01:25:40 you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals.
Starting point is 01:26:04 You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday.

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