The Daily Zeitgeist - Trump Made Cohen Do Lies? THE Personality Test 1.22.19

Episode Date: January 22, 2019

In episode 313, Jack and Miles are joined by Disgraceland host Jake Brennan to discuss FiveThirtyEight's personality quiz, Democrats' 2020 nominees, Trump directing Michael Cohen to lie to congress fo...r him, William Barr's confirmation hearing, the speculation on what will end government shutdown, a study that links opioid overdoses and doctors who received gifts for their work, a police department in Pennsylvania asking for drunk people to train with, Netflix using real train crash footage, and more! FOOTNOTES:1. Most Personality Quizzes Are Junk Science. Take One That Isn’t.2. Could Dems’ 2020 nominee be someone you’ve never heard of?3. Why Trump’s Directing Cohen, Others to Lie Would Be Far Worse Than Watergate4. President Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project5. Klobuchar: "A president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction. Is that right?"6. @LindseyGrahamSC: "If there was some reason to believe that the president tried to coach somebody not to testify or to testify falsely that could be obstruction of justice?"7. Waiting for a Shutdown to End in Disaster8. Study Links Drug Maker Gifts for Doctors to More Overdose Deaths9. Police Seek Volunteers To Drink To Excess10. Netflix Won't Remove Footage of Real-Life Train Crash From 'Bird Box'11. lac megantic train crash12. WATCH: UNKLE - Bloodstain 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 Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearthed 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 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Mori Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:01:02 There's so much beauty in Mexican culture, like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even lucha libre. Join us for the new podcast, Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of lucha libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, emperor of lucha libre and a WWE superstar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar.
Starting point is 00:01:26 Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the president of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson. 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nicknamed Squeaky. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore.
Starting point is 00:01:56 The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus, only on Apple Podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to Season 66, Episode 1 of The Daily Zeitgeist, the podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness using the headlines, box office reports, TV ratings, what's trending on googs and so she
Starting point is 00:02:25 means it's tuesday january 22nd 2019 my name is jack o'brien aka potatoes o'brien and i'm thrilled to be joined as always by my co-host mr miles gray okay now when i do this this is more of a concept aka now this was written by somebody this is a this if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley are talking about how they just got appointed to the House Financial Services Committee. Here we go. To the tune of Release Your Doubt. And this takes an hour. Yes, here we go. When we first stepped on the scene, centrists were petrified.
Starting point is 00:02:58 Bled back to the hill like they were being chased by homicide. Our ledge style does you right, Maxine. And it will never steer you wrong. And all you bitch ass Republicans in D.C. Your careers won't be lasting long. Boom. What's that rhythm? What's that sound?
Starting point is 00:03:18 Anyway, so thank you to Infinite Content and Soul Brother 215 for that one. Because look, if there's any time I can do a release, Yodelf inspired AKA aka i will do it that album's great because he has the bangs in the grills yeah but like he can't really he's not used to it so he's like baby cool moving baby keep it moving ah well we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat by the host of the amazing podcast disgrace land mr jake rennan what's up man how you doing guys happy to be joined in our third seat by the host of the amazing podcast, Disgraceland, Mr. Jake Brennan. What's up, man?
Starting point is 00:03:46 How you doing, guys? Happy to be here. Welcome. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. All the way out from, do you say where you're from? Baston. Baston. Okay, good. I didn't know if you were disclosing. Secret layer.
Starting point is 00:04:00 Yeah, from a non-disclosed location. All right, 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 the things we're talking about. Today, we're talking about the personality test on FiveThirtyEight's website, supposedly scientific personality test. Miles and I took it, and yeah, we'll just talk about our extremely personal results, reveal a lot of things about ourselves. No.
Starting point is 00:04:24 Yeah. We're going to talk about, there's an article out from the AP wondering if the Dems 2020 nominee is going to be someone you've never heard of. So we're going to check in with who those people are. Make sure you've heard of them so you don't feel stupid at cocktail parties. I don't know what you people do. We're going to talk about the big story right now. Trump allegedly
Starting point is 00:04:46 instructed Michael Cohen to do lies about Russia. I don't buy it. Yeah. I mean, as people on the right are repeatedly pointing out, I mean, this is from BuzzFeed, the people who published the dossier, and that has been repeatedly corroborated. So we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about how the richest 1% own 50% of the stocks held by American households. People are now assuming that a plane crash or terror attack or food poisoning outbreak will have to end the shutdown, which is just very relaxing for those of us who have to travel in the next week. But Jake, first, we like to ask our guests, what is something from your search history that is revealing about who you are?
Starting point is 00:05:28 How to succeed without being a complete and total asshole in life. Ooh. Wow. Wow. Big questions for Google. You're going deep. What was the answer? There is no answer.
Starting point is 00:05:38 Yeah, right? Yeah. There is no answer. Zero results. You ever see that in movies when somebody does a search and it's like, Google, zero results. It's like, that's not how Google works, guys. They just suggest something else. Well, I mean, unless you type in total garbage gibberish, then it'll be like, what the fuck?
Starting point is 00:05:55 Are you okay? But okay. So you're finding yourself torn between success and just wanting to like push people down that you pass in the street? Well, no. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I'm trying to like tamp down my just wanting to crush people vibe. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:15 But yeah, just trying to figure out like is there a roadmap? Like there's all these things like how to succeed, but what happens if you actually get there? Not that I'm there or going there, but it's just a natural intellectual curiosity that isn't porn. And I didn't want to talk about that. There you go. Yeah. Some people have just been like, yeah, so I was looking for this very specific and type of pornography. So do you guys ask this question because you fear that in 10, 20 years, our search histories are going to be made available for our children? Yeah, it's also like a getting to know you thing. Getting to know what you don't know.
Starting point is 00:06:50 Or what's happening immediately in your life. Yeah, I think people's curiosity is a good question. But yeah, also that. We're all, you know, Google is keeping a detailed record of us. We're all doomed. Yeah, they'll be able to basically recreate us based on what they know about us. I think just Google just has Compromat over the entire universe. Right.
Starting point is 00:07:08 Like, okay, well, do you remember what you were browsing in 2013? You sure you want to make that critique of our privacy policies? Interesting. What is something you think is underrated? Marriage. Okay. Yeah. Like the convention of marriage?
Starting point is 00:07:22 Yeah. I mean, you know, my wife is my best friend. I know this is going to sound totally traditional and maybe lame, but when I became, when I got married, there was sort of all those conversations at the beginning. Oh, your life's over from all your friends. You know, you're never going to be the same. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:36 And it's kind of been the opposite. It's not kind of, it's totally been the opposite. So I thought long and hard about this question. And I was like, you know, as traditional as that sounds, that's about as honest as I can get. Yeah. Wow. That's good, man. I don't want to get married because for the same reason your life is over. You ain't never going to be the same. Miles takes all life advice from his drinking buddies. And by that, it's my one friend who thought he was going to go to Michigan for a football and got hurt. And then that sort of informed his life view ever since.
Starting point is 00:08:05 You know, I could have been in the league, right? Anyway, dude, don't get married, bro. He's single, right? Yeah, yeah. And he keeps asking if he can crash in my car. He's like, can I just sleep in there, man? And I'm like, your parents can take you. He's like, yeah, but my mom's a stepmom.
Starting point is 00:08:21 She's a fucking bitch. He's like, okay, dude, I got to go. But that's good to know. Because I feel like a lot of people, I mean, as I get older and my relationship goes longer and I'm inevitably like, yeah, I probably should get married. But I have like, you know, just past bullshit in my life where I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to get married. Right.
Starting point is 00:08:40 But I like the idea of being with somebody, you know, for your life. For your life. To have your partner. I guess it's like the idea of marriage. I think maybe, you know, it is, I think it's the cost of a wedding that's putting. Oh, you can just do it. One of the best weddings I've ever been to was just, uh, my buddy went to city hall in New York and just all showed up there and then went and partied the whole night. And it was a lot of fun. And then y'all picked up the bill? Yeah. Perfect.
Starting point is 00:09:05 Nice. Okay, so there we go. How was your wedding? It was great. It rained, but it didn't matter. It was awesome. We got married at my wife's aunt's house in her backyard. There you go. So it was pretty low-key.
Starting point is 00:09:16 Now, was that ironic, though, based on the song? Right. Ironic. Rain on your wedding day is supposedly ironic. I don't see the irony. I don't consult the Queen Alanis Morissette as much as I should. She really is great, though. Let's face it.
Starting point is 00:09:31 Yeah. I mean, yeah. Might I refer you to the book of Jagged Little Pill? How long have you been married? Seven years. Oh, okay. Yeah. So you're at the point where you can confidently say marriage is great?
Starting point is 00:09:45 Yes. Oh, is there like a – Well, you don't want somebody to be like, yeah, somebody's been like three months, man. We just got back from Bali, man. We're still riding that high. Got a good feeling. Just feel real good about this. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:02 Our surf teacher was so cool. My wife was really into him he was a really cool guy like he was taking her out for like other surf trips so i could just relax by myself yeah man i love bali anyway uh perfect uh what is something you think is overrated uh hamilton is okay hamilton reminds me of uh i don't know how old you guys are, but if you remember sort of like when hip hop kind of really broke into the mainstream, so like late 80s, all the sitcom dads all of a sudden would have a rap in the show and you'd start to see like the dad on Growing Pains or Bill Cosby. And it was just the lamest, whitest thing you could possibly hear.
Starting point is 00:10:44 That's what Hamilton sounds like to me. Wow. Oh, wow. The actual, and I'll say nothing about the story. Right, right. I haven't seen it. But I've seen enough clips of the actual music. And it's just like this redundant, repetitive, lack of soul sounding thing to me.
Starting point is 00:11:01 Do you like musicals in general? I don't like music at all. No, just kidding. Damn. You're just angry as fuck on your podcast. It's just this weird, there's like these weird noises behind him while he's trying to talk. I just want to hear the words.
Starting point is 00:11:18 Why are you talking like this? And why do they rhyme? Yeah, exactly. No, I'm not a big musical fan, but I can appreciate it. I've watched Bye Bye Birdie. I get it. But yeah, just not riding for Hamilton. I've never seen Hamilton, and everyone I know is like, oh my God, it's so good.
Starting point is 00:11:37 It's so good. But also, I just don't like musicals. Right. Or not that I don't like them. They don't appeal to me. Right. And I think for the kind of same way just somehow breaking down to song and dance
Starting point is 00:11:48 out of nowhere just feels a little trite to me but look not to say that yeah but you know sure you guys obviously have not been hanging around my household because that is still how we conduct our daily business breaking down to song and dance I mean I love Music Man though
Starting point is 00:12:04 you know what I mean what's Music Man? Man, though. You know what I mean? What's Music Man? Oh, man, 76 Trombones. You know what I mean? I don't know. Oh, man. What is this? Yeah, I have no idea either.
Starting point is 00:12:11 No, the musical. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Music Man is a musical. That's as far as I know. That's all I know, and that's what I used to say in college to look like I liked musicals. Oh, you know what?
Starting point is 00:12:21 I like Grease, the movie. I like Grease. That's a whiz. The whiz is cool. Yeah. Man, what the fuck? Man, I don't think I... Then I do like musicals. I like Grease, the movie. I like Grease. That's a whiz. The whiz is cool. Yeah. Man, what the fuck? Man, I don't think I... Then I do like musicals.
Starting point is 00:12:27 I like very specific musicals. Blues Brothers, now that I think about it, is a musical. They break out in song. Ray Charles. Yeah. Yeah. James Brown. Well, I just stepped on my own dick.
Starting point is 00:12:38 I think what you said is you like good musicals. Oh. Yeah, I guess I'll have to see. Maybe all this to say is i'm put off by the cost and how hard it is get tickets to hamilton so look if somebody has the wild hookup then yeah like great i'll be your plus one quit taking me i think hamilton's good moving on to myth have you seen it yeah i've seen oh look at you maybe that's what it is it just seems so exclusive that's part i think partially my, like, I'm not feeling it.
Starting point is 00:13:06 But I knew all the words before I saw it because of the soundtrack. Because the soundtrack is just like, if you're thinking about spending the money, listen to the soundtrack because it's the whole thing. There's like nothing that is not wrapped. So you hear the entire story. And if you like the soundtrack thing, you'll musical but if you don't yeah don't don't spend the money what is a myth what's something people think is true you know to be false that the russian investigation is a witch hunt okay and that sounds like something you guys go deep on yeah well we do occasionally i mean but never too early to start my myth because i've been saying
Starting point is 00:13:43 it's a witch hunt the whole fucking time. More specifically, I can put a finer point on it because you could go in a million different directions on this huge subject, but this idea that the new Attorney General, Barr, is going to be in the bag for the president, I think it's actually the exact opposite. I think Barr is an instrument of Rosenstein and Mueller. Oh, interesting.
Starting point is 00:14:02 I think that memo he wrote was written on purpose to get the job and to get in there and provide a sacred. Like Barr, despite what you think of his politics, is an old boy, blue blood, Washington, D.C. guy just like Mueller, just like Rosenstein. And they knew that Sessions was leaving months and months and months ago, and they had to have been gaming this out. Wow.
Starting point is 00:14:26 So my prediction is that he will be the downfall. He will be the stopgap when the shit hits the fan. He gets to be the hero? Yeah, and from him selfishly, from his point of view. He's 69 years old. He kind of said it in his confirmation hearing. He doesn't give a fuck. He's there.
Starting point is 00:14:42 And he probably saw this as a role. Well, I can actually do something good here. And his history will look kindly on me. So the idea that he's there because he believes in absolute executive privilege or any of that, I think that's crap. I think that was for him to get the job.
Starting point is 00:14:58 He'll be like, if I do this, they'll forget that I told Bush to pardon all those people from the Reagan administration. Which is insane. They'll forget that I wrote the book on mass incarceration. Right. All these other things before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.
Starting point is 00:15:08 Yeah. Kind of. Yeah. That nobody's mentioning because it's all about Russia now. Yeah. All right, guys, let's talk about personality tests. Have you guys ever taken personality tests before I made you take this one, Miles? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:20 The Myers-Briggs one. Yeah. Like, you know, I'll buzzfeed things like, which Power Ranger are you? Yeah. Blue Ranger. Nice, nice, nice. No personality. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:15:32 When I was like sixth or seventh grade, the guidance counselor gave you a test to figure out what you were going to do for a living. Yeah. And I don't know what my result was, but basically the response was, you're never going to have a boss. Oh, really? Oh, wow. Which kind of messed with me as a kid. Yeah. I don't know what that says about my personality.
Starting point is 00:15:52 Right. I'm a prick. You were fired from every job you had early on. You're like, you're not my fucking boss, Rick. You're like, I'm the manager, Jake. Rick. Everybody has to have a boss named Rick at least once. Or an uncle who's a little too handsy.
Starting point is 00:16:07 Has that held up? Have you never had a boss? No, I've had a boss. How'd that relationship go? He's in the back here. I hired him for the podcast. Oh, there you go. Nice.
Starting point is 00:16:18 There you go. I'm joking, Brady. I'm joking. So this is 538 making a big claim here. They say most personality quizzes or personality tests are bunk. Try one that's actually scientific. And the things that it kind of judges your personality based on are openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, which does not mean what I thought it meant in this context, negative emotionality, and extroversion. Which, yeah, Myers-Briggs, I think, has the extroversion thing, and it has, like, all these different...
Starting point is 00:16:54 But they're trying to more put you in a bucket. Right, Myers-Briggs. And I think that's what they're... Like, the Myers-Briggs is like, you are this kind of person. You are the explorer, or you are the whatever. And this is more like here's how you rate in these five dimensions and i think maybe that's probably an easier way because they acknowledge like you can't just lump you can't just put people in buckets so cleanly yeah you
Starting point is 00:17:15 just have a score of one to a hundred on all these different continuums and that seems like a more accurate way than being like you are a baller you are a worker bee yeah like well i don't know you have boss mentality wait yours didn't say that you're a baller because mine said mine said terminal ballerness so i'm terminally balling or wait no this is balding that's so weird that they called that. Yeah, it has nothing to do with personality. Damn it. I knew when it was like, do you wear hats all the time?
Starting point is 00:17:49 I was like, yes. Yeah, and Myers-Briggs, which I think a lot of people have taken, has been widely debunked. And so I think this 538 survey is acknowledging that and acknowledging that a lot of other personality tests have been debunked and that this one is not as flashy, but it also does seem to have like some sort of indicator of the type of person that you are. But yeah, I mean, we scored pretty similarly in a lot of categories. Yeah, a couple categories. I scored the lowest in negative emotionality,
Starting point is 00:18:22 21 out of 100. Yeah, I think I was in the 20s as well. So what does that mean, negative emotionality? So they say low negative emotionality, people who score on the higher end of this trait are plagued by anxiety, sadness, anger, and conflict, but not you. You whistle while you work. Even if the rest of the office is glaring
Starting point is 00:18:38 into their fourth cup of coffee, there is such a thing as to be too cheerful because sadness and anxiety are things that help us learn from our mistakes, but low negative emotionality is generally associated with good things. So yeah, job satisfaction, things like that. There's another side of that coin. Abe Lincoln was a terminally depressed person. He had chronic depression. And I read a book that speculated that his depression actually made him a better leader because they've found that people who are
Starting point is 00:19:05 depressed are actually in closer touch with reality. And so they're more willing to acknowledge like negative things around them. Whereas people like me who score 25 out of 100 on negative emotionality, we have to block out things. And so we're just not. So basically, it's good to have somebody who is high on negative emotionality to keep you aware of the negative things going on. Oh, interesting. I mean, I don't think but even as you say that, I do the opposite. Like I don't try and block things out. Like if something bad is occurring, it's like a binary choice to either accept the reality of the situation or resist it by being in denial about it so i think by accepting whatever reality is helps me to not be so jarred by i'm like okay
Starting point is 00:19:51 well that's happening yeah so that's what it is now let me just maneuver now you can't resist it it's gonna find its way into yeah exactly somehow and you're gonna have to deal with it yeah you burn more energy trying to be like no get this get this shit away than being like, okay, what's up then? Let's figure this out. Yeah. Something I saw that like where this test immediately jumped into my mind while going through last week's headlines was openness to experience, which Miles and I scored like really high. Scored 100. Miles scored 100. I got a 96, which is aesthetic sensitivity, intellectual curiosity, creative imagination.
Starting point is 00:20:28 And they say that you're basically motivated by new experiences and a danger is that you might abuse drugs or end up with a substance use disorder so people in trying to debunk this report about trump telling cohen to lie about russia one of the reporters had been shamed in the past because he like lied or like did some shady things journalistically, the BuzzFeed news reporter. And he was explaining that like he used to be a drug user and has since gotten sober. But he said like he basically described it as being part of the same thing. He was like, I love the score. So maybe there's this druggish thing in me that still exists.
Starting point is 00:21:21 Maybe that was always part of my personality. I love the score. I love the score, particularly when it's from the government. I just got you to give me your own documents, you know, which is like he crawled back to respectability using like FOIA. Right. You know, and so. Now I'm just hooked on Freedom of Information Act. Yeah. But that's one of the things, the two sides of the coin of openness to experience that they list are like dangerous drugs on the bad side versus like being a really good
Starting point is 00:21:45 investigative journalist or lawyer. I'm just really good at drugs. Right. You are the best. I'm the best. Yeah. So other categories, agreeableness, which is pretty self-explanatory. Conscientiousness is more just like being aware of your surroundings, being productive,
Starting point is 00:22:03 responsible, and organized, which it's not like. Scored not too high on that one. Yeah. And then extroversion is where we really were different, Myles. Yeah, right. Yeah. I scored a 79.
Starting point is 00:22:15 And I scored a 38. See? That balances out, you know? Yeah, exactly. We're on it together. Together, that's 107. That's right. We're off the charts.
Starting point is 00:22:25 But yeah, so I don't know. Yeah, take it. I mean, it's 107. That's right. We're off the charts. But yeah, so I don't know. Yeah, take it. I mean, it's interesting to take. And then when you actually read through, I'm like, there are more than other ones. I'm like, that's a pretty good description of how I see things or whatever. So when they test, what's that thing called? The Q rating? Where they test the likability of stars, where they ask other people.
Starting point is 00:22:44 Basically giving a personality test for a third party to the they ask other people right basically giving a personality test for a third party to the public oh right right familiarity and things like that i wonder how those questions yeah exactly i wonder how those questions line up with why yeah that's interesting uh the public always a good judge of character for instance bill cosby was the most trusted man in America up until like 2007. It's like, yo, what were we doing? All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist
Starting point is 00:23:21 who on October 16th, 2017 was murdered. There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia. I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhurts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country
Starting point is 00:23:45 into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. Listen to Crooks everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden.
Starting point is 00:24:12 We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions.
Starting point is 00:24:35 Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do. Like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah. I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss a hundred percent of the shots you never take? Yeah. Rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:25:10 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
Starting point is 00:25:47 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. Substance use disorder and addiction is so isolating.
Starting point is 00:26:14 And so as a black woman in recovery, hope must be loud. It grows louder when you ask for help and you're vulnerable. It is the thread that lets you know that no matter what happens, you will be okay. It grows louder when you ask for help and you're vulnerable. It is the thread that lets you know that no matter what happens, you will be okay. When we learn the power of hope, recovery is possible. Find out how at StartWithHope.com. Brought to you by the National Council for Mental Well-Being, Shatterproof, and the Ad Council. And we're back and uh there's an ap article out asking the question will the dems nominate someone uh you've never heard of what what are the chances of that they list uh julian castro tulsi gabbard and then they have eric swalwell of californ, and they list Beto O'Rourke for
Starting point is 00:27:05 some reason. I guess people you hadn't heard of two years ago. Yeah. And then Pete Buttigieg is the... I don't even know if I'm pronouncing his name right, but Pete Buttigieg is kind of the first person I talk about. He is a decorated Navy veteran who was elected mayor of South Bend, Indiana, when he was 29, I think. He's 36. He's just over the limit to be old enough to run, but he's openly gay, Rhodes Scholar, decorated Navy veteran, and he's a pretty compelling dude.
Starting point is 00:27:41 I've known about him for a couple years, but he's definitely worth checking out. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. I mean, Tulsi Gabbard, I'm still really kind of shocked that she even threw her hat out because she has, like, a real penchant for embracing strongman dictators. Yeah, I don't know anything about her except that Steve Bannon was into her. Yeah, and she was like, guys, I think Assad is pretty cool. Like, essentially, she's like an Assad stan, which is very odd.
Starting point is 00:28:08 And then she also had like a ton of anti-LGBT stuff, which she has since like cleared up and been like, my dad was basically like, she sort of said, my dad, he was into all that wacky shit. But then she tried to walk that back. The way she's disavowed it is by saying that she doesn't think the government should dictate those sorts of things, which still is like, but your personal political views. What do you think, though? Well, she said, I've changed a lot, and I thank people for helping me grow or whatever. But, you know, it's early days, so we're seeing all kinds of people jump in. But I think, yeah, it's interesting. There's a lot of dimensions to, I think, how the Democrats think they might be able to win the White House back, like whether fielding a female candidate is good because clearly like women are like much more engaged than men are in politics right now.
Starting point is 00:28:58 If they're going to try and consider that as some kind of force multiplier. But I don't know. I mean, it's going to be interesting because i feel like the the base is going to move towards a female and and someone of color ideally but i feel like if you're just looking at them all objectively like policy aside better o'rourke is the most skilled politically to me like just in his like retail politics thing. Right. It's going to be interesting to see like if the momentum catches up behind someone else, how will political skill actually combat that or trumpet.
Starting point is 00:29:34 Right, right. In a field of 75 candidates or whatever it is. Yeah. And we'll also see how Beto does as a national figure. Because, you know, we have fairly limited experience with him in that role. Yeah. Who's posting about how he's all emo right now? Yeah. He's like, I've been in a funk, man.
Starting point is 00:29:55 He was in a hardcore band. Yeah, exactly. Foss. Yeah. I mean, you can see it in his stage presence. Like literally, he parades the stage with his mic like he's leading Rage Against the Machine or something. Right. I do wonder how that translates because we are now – we can no longer claim that we haven't had a completely emotionally unstable president of the United States. But I do wonder if going from angry to super confident scans as more presidential than going from competent to down in the dumps. Right, right, right.
Starting point is 00:30:29 Just not saying that that should scan one way or the other. Yeah, well, I'm sure conservatives will jump on that. Look, he's a human being who has emotions that fluctuate. Here's a question. Who do you think is going to be the Republican nominee? For real. That brings us to our next story. I mean, yeah, who?
Starting point is 00:30:47 Setting you up, Jack. John Kasich? Who? Right. Or, no, who is it? If it's not Trump, wouldn't it just probably be? It's going to be Nikki Haley. You think?
Starting point is 00:30:57 That's my money. Yeah, Nikki Haley. Because I feel like Pence is going to get caught up in this. Yeah, because he was the head of the transition team. Exactly. A lot of people say, like, Larry H was the head of the transition. Exactly. A lot of people say like Larry Hogan, who's the governor of Maryland. I would like to point out
Starting point is 00:31:09 our governor in Massachusetts is the most popular governor in the country. 80% approval. Republican in a highly Democratic state, which is insane. He can't do anything without compromising. Charlie Baker. What was
Starting point is 00:31:25 Mitt Romney's numbers like? Romney, I don't know what his numbers were, but he always kind of had the... His rep has been the same. Waffle will do anything. Just put your finger in the wind to find out where his politics are. I think he kind of got elected because of the
Starting point is 00:31:41 sort of tactician nature of what he could do. He's a competent business guy, and I think that kind of got elected because of the sort of tactician nature of what he could do. He's a competent business guy. And I think that's why people elected him. I'm still kind of shocked that they elected him. Right. He tried unseating Kennedy for the Senate seat. He lost there.
Starting point is 00:31:53 And then he won the governor. Right. Well, I will state the unpopular opinion that Trump is undefeatable and invincible and is just going to keep powering through. Do you believe that or are you just like... I worry that. I tend to be in competitive things. I tend to be very pessimistic. Don't you see it cracking now though?
Starting point is 00:32:15 Like with the support from the Senate? I do, but I've seen it cracking for years and nothing has been able to unseat him from his like kind of base that protects him yeah and we're actually in san francisco it's miles and jack did you want me to say something yeah yes it's miles yes that's me hi uh yeah we just uh just shelled the show. Crushed it, bro. Yeah, but we realize the news has changed over the last few days. And the following section of the show, we may have to ignore or possibly, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:32:54 I don't think you have to ignore it. I think a lot of what we say is still valid. Okay, so let's tell people what's going on. So we're about to talk about the BuzzFeed report that stated that Michael Cohen had lied to Congress at President Trump's direction, that Trump had specifically directed him to lie. And then after we recorded what you're about to hear, the special counsel's office came out and said specifically that that hadn't happened. I'm going to read their refutation word for word. They said, BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the special counsel's office and characterization of documents and testimony
Starting point is 00:33:37 obtained by this office regarding Michael Cohen's congressional testimony are not accurate. Michael Cohen's congressional testimony are not accurate. And BuzzFeed then shot back and said, we stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the special counsel to make clear what he's disputing. So BuzzFeed's response seems to suggest something that jumped out to me about the special counsel's statement, which seems to be that they're mostly disputing specific statements like wording and characterization of how the special counsel confirmed that detail. So it does seem like maybe they're getting into the weeds with regards to specific details, but the facts could remain the same,
Starting point is 00:34:25 that Cohen was directed to lie by the president. Yeah, I mean, on some level, it's hard for me to think that Michael Cohen's lying didn't have some level of coordination with the administration. Yeah, and I mean... Unless he's just like a legit criminal, which he is, and he's just never going to tell the truth. That's just sort of how the code of the criminal, to criminal to be like i'm not gonna air him out yeah but uh yeah i i i
Starting point is 00:34:51 think yeah there's you know especially the pushback from buzzfeed too like they're doubling down and being like no we still stand by this like our reporting is solid now i don't know if they're just doing that because they don't want to avoid just looking totally foolish. Right. I mean, it makes sense. They went out on a very far ledge on this one, a very far branch. And, you know, they might be out over their skis, as the saying goes. As ski dad say. Yeah, as ski dad say, yeah, ski dad says at the same time, I think, you know, the conversation
Starting point is 00:35:25 that you're about to hear is about what would be true if the Buzzfeed report is true, which I still think there is a chance it is. Um, it's just, we don't know, you know, what specifically the special counsel is saying is or isn't true. We don't know if they're pissed because the buzzfeed story is you know messing with some specific aspect of some piece of information they're trying to corroborate yeah or they don't want we don't know or they don't want to have their hand shown to the world because maybe they're trying to make a play without having the administration knowing they
Starting point is 00:36:00 know this stuff because like we said uh as you'll hear that would be massively uh terrible for the administration because that's like the most concrete uh form of obstruction yeah so either way uh it's a mess yeah uh buzzfeed you burned us uh you burned me buzzfeed but at the same time miles you were pointing out woodward and bernstein fucked up yeah they also fucked up early on and it nearly derailed the watergate investigation because the nixon administration jumped on them the second they found out like there were some details about their reporting that wasn't right and they used that to try and shift the public opinion of this whole investigation and it nearly did work uh but watch the washington post they did a good job of sort of identifying what went wrong, making sure it didn't happen again and sort of like letting people know where things went.
Starting point is 00:36:50 Right. Wacky. Yes. So, you know, again, as we've seen since that Mueller statement has come out, everybody in Trump world has used that to jump on BuzzFeed. But like you say in the thing, you know, the guy, one of the right of one of the journalists has had a few oopsies before. He has. Journalistically. So I think there's a version where what the special counsel's office is saying is true. Right. And then there's also a version where maybe they were a little overzealous in characterizing certain details. Right. But again, I think just take this with a grain of salt and we'll just use this as a thought exercise into a hypothetical situation still a great conversation. Uh, and thanks to all the Zeit gang who came and hung out last night.
Starting point is 00:37:47 The live show is so much fun. Yeah. Uh, you gotta, you gotta catch the next one if you didn't catch this one. Uh, all right guys, enjoy.
Starting point is 00:37:55 Well, let's, let's talk about that guy. Uh, so, uh, he allegedly instructed Michael Cohen to lie about Russia. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:07 To lie about the, Hey, we were never doing business with Russia during the campaign. Right. You know, saying, Oh, like that was nothing,
Starting point is 00:38:13 you know, we don't, I mean, it was a thing we talked about and it was really nothing. So don't worry about that. Nothing really happened. And that was the lie that he copped to. So Buzzfeed has a report that says they,
Starting point is 00:38:24 after speaking with people who are in the special counsel investigation or people around it who have heard Michael Cohen's testimony and things like that to Robert Mueller, they're like, oh, so yeah, Trump told him to lie about it. And also Robert Mueller has plenty of evidence to back this up, whether it's through emails and other documents where everyone's hands are on it, where it's clear to be like Donald Trump instructed him to lie to Congress about all of this to obscure the facts and to throw the investigation off a little bit. Yeah, I think we're discounting the fact that whatever Trump's political instincts may be that have gotten him to this point and help him to stay Teflon, when you get down to it, he's not a smart guy. when you get down to it, he's not a smart guy. Right.
Starting point is 00:39:08 When it comes down to skirting authority, he's just – this isn't New York real estate. And that's how he's treating it where he can just lean on a guy who works for him to go and lie for him to Congress and perjure himself. I mean he's the exact type of guy who would leave a paper trail or leave an email trail or talk to somebody on a hot mic and not know about it. So I think we're going to see a ton of physical evidence that we're just not even thinking about right now. Yeah. This would be evidence of obstruction, though, right? Which has been the thing. Like, it's not collusion, which is the main thing that he's said all along. So it's still not the thing, right?
Starting point is 00:39:44 It's still not the stake in the vampire's heart. Well, it all depends. I mean, the Russia investigation is also about obstruction in general. It's the same thing. What if the obstruction is the collusion? Right. You guys up on this theory? Exactly, yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:57 And just the very fact that Russia interfered in the election, and then he gets in and they're like, well, you've got to obstruct this for us. Like, that is collusion. You've got to cover our gotta cover our backs because what you want us to you know we have the thing over your head too that we can do right and i think that's what makes this revelation if true okay because we're we pretend to be journalists on this show um that if it is the case then that is like exponentially worse than any watergate fuckery. Oh, yeah. Let's listen to like what the fuck the opponents are talking about. Right. We're talking about opening up like administration officials to actually being blackmailed by Russia also.
Starting point is 00:40:33 Yeah. And changing policy. Right. Withdrawing from Syria. Exactly. And saying that ISIS is over and a week later, four American soldiers are dead because of it. Like this is just insane. We're trying to be like, oh, yeah, fuck NATO.
Starting point is 00:40:44 We don't need NATO. Really? The thing, everything that Putin wants or even just like with the sanctions that are going to be lifted on Oleg Deripaska's companies, like everyone was like, what the fuck are you doing? Go ahead and invade Montenegro. What the hell was that? Right.
Starting point is 00:40:58 Who told you about this? How do you even know that's a country? I did read a centrist account of the lifting of the sanctions saying that uh there was a lot of european nations pressuring the u.s to do that because it had fucked with the european economy quite a bit the sanctions that we had put on der pasco so but uh yeah the montenegro thing doesn't make any sense and also i, I am not like a Trump supporter. I'm just trying to play the devil's advocate. No, no, absolutely. And of course, and, you know, having those kinds of sanctions on any business entity has a knock on effect on anyone else who is, you know, not
Starting point is 00:41:34 have anything to do with that. But, you know, the thing that I've heard Trump supporters say is, oh, BuzzFeed News is the people who reported the dossier, and that's not been corroborated. And I think that BuzzFeed News is actually, they've been the ones who have broken details about the Mueller report months before it's released to the rest of the media. So BuzzFeed News actually would be the outlet that you would probably have the most faith in when it comes to breaking details about what's happening in the Mueller report. Do you follow Louise Mensch? Do you know about her?
Starting point is 00:42:11 Yeah. Have you discounted her? Kind of, yeah. But I don't understand why, because it's the same thing. It's like six, seven months ago, she's reporting these incredibly salacious things like Michael Cohen in Prague, and you're starting to see these things come to fruition in the mainstream press. Yeah. No, there are definitely things that I think were discounted from her. I think there are also things that she said that were
Starting point is 00:42:32 out there, but I don't have specific details to back that up. One thing about the attacks about this article have been, yes, BuzzFeed, they printed the Steele dossier. Newt Gingrich was like, it's been debunked and discredited. Again, not a single thing has actually been debunked. There have only been things that have been confirmed and corroborated. Also, the other tactic is like, Michael Cohen's a liar. You're going to believe this guy? They never said in the article that their source was Michael Cohen.
Starting point is 00:43:02 Their sources are people in the special counsel's office and people that are working on this investigation. So it's not, that's like such a fucking weird misdirection. Um, it's, it's, it's effective.
Starting point is 00:43:15 Right. I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn bridge. That was Giuliani. And I would love someone to be like, all right, then give me a deal on the Brooklyn bridge. Yeah. And he'd be like,
Starting point is 00:43:24 okay, shit. But the reporter has said that Cohen wasn't a source for the story, let alone the source for the story. He's not even one of their sources. They're going off of things that the Mueller investigated. And I mean, clearly this is patently false, this report in BuzzFeed, because when was it Hogan Gidley, the deputy press secretary for the White House, he went on Fox and friends to to just totally deny all these accusations and just listen to the confidence in this man's voice and his unequivocal like the way
Starting point is 00:43:57 he answers makes me sort of believe in the White House again. Let's just hear this. This is just another in a long line of ridiculous charges without any corroboration or credibility whatsoever. You're saying the president did not tell Michael Cohen to do that. I'm telling you right now, this is exactly why the president refuses to give any credence or credibility to news outlets because they have no ability to corroborate anything they're putting out there. Instead, they're just using innuendo and shady sources. That was not a denial of my question. No, but the premise is ridiculous. Jeez.
Starting point is 00:44:30 Dude can't even lie. He's like, look, man, don't make it hot for me. I can't lie. I'm going to go to fucking jail. That was on Fox and Friends? That was on Fox, yeah. Fox and Friends is fucking sticking it to this guy. Well, because I think at some point, too, as much as they like to troll and shit, I don't know, it's weird.
Starting point is 00:44:47 There are certain things that people on Fox are not willing to do. Like suddenly, like Judge Napolitano is acting like he knows the law. But yeah, it just shows you like it. Like you're saying, Jake, like there's even what you normally Fox would have been like, yeah, this is total bullshit, whatever, blah, blah, blah. And what you normally Fox would have been like, yeah, this is total bullshit, whatever, blah, blah, blah. Like even the fucking anchors are like that. They're not even being like, OK, thanks for that. And now our story, our whales having sex with our children.
Starting point is 00:45:14 You know what I mean? Like how they would normally do it. Right. But now they're like pressing people in the White House to be like, that's not an answer. Yeah, that seems like a tonal shift. Where does that come from? Because they're totally ratings driven. Right.
Starting point is 00:45:29 You know, like they know their audience is riding for Trump. So there must be some data they're getting that is pointing them, that is giving them the okay. I think it's the popularity ratings of Trump that they're seeing that he's becoming less popular because of the shutdown. And I think that has to figure into how they go into these interviews. And, you know, I don't think it can be just the shutdown. Yeah. Yeah. And Sir Prus or Ana Jose was pointing out that directing people to lie for him was one of the first articles of impeachment or the first article of impeachment for Richard Nixon, who did get in trouble,
Starting point is 00:46:11 I think, in the end, if memory serves. Well, yeah, but now Democrats are pissed about this reporting and they're like, look, Trump, resign or be impeached. Now, sure, they're always going to say that. But like to your point about William Barr, it's interesting because earlier last or last week when he was during his confirmation hearings, he was being asked directly about this kind of behavior from the president. So allow me to play a clip of Amy Klobuchar trying to get William Barr to articulate what he believed obstruction of justice was. You wrote on page one that a president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction. Is that right? Yes. Okay. Or any, well, you know, any person who persuades another. Okay. You also said that a president or any person convincing a witness to change testimony would be obstruction. Is that
Starting point is 00:46:59 right? Yes. Okay. And on page two, you said that a president deliberately impairing the integrity or availability of evidence would be an obstruction. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. And you wrote on page one that if a president knowingly destroys or alters evidence, that would be obstruction. Yes.
Starting point is 00:47:20 So what if a president drafted a misleading statement to conceal the purpose of a meeting? Would that be obstruction? Again, I'd have to know the specifics. That got too specific for him. He's like, you're talking about that note. Oh, the Russian meeting? No, no, no, no. On Air Force One?
Starting point is 00:47:37 On Air Force One. Hey, come on, Amy. Don't make it hot for me. I was asking the question of whether BuzzFeed News tipped her off, but you were saying that Lindsey Graham also was kind of pushing along. Yeah, so even Lindsey Graham is pushing her for the same answer, but he does it with a different motivation. But again, even Lindsey Graham, Trump's number one pet in the Senate,
Starting point is 00:47:58 is also not helping his case. So if there was some reason to believe that the president tried to coach somebody not to testify or testify falsely, that could be obstruction of justice. Yes. Under that, yeah. Under an obstruction statute. Yeah. So if, if there's some evidence that the president tried to conceal evidence, that would be obstruction of justice potentially. Right. See that, that, that tells me they're, they're looking, Graham is looking for the off-ramp. How do we get rid of this maniac but maintain our base? Right.
Starting point is 00:48:30 So it's all about like we're trying with this guy or whatever the calculation is. Like these guys, despite what we think of them, they're not stupid. Right. We're not talking about the House. We're talking about the Senate. Right. It's a little higher intellectual bar. They're not idiots.
Starting point is 00:48:45 They just play one on TV. Yes, exactly. Yeah, they just have their own selfish motivations in mind, which make them appear to be idiotic. Yes. I mean, I think, but even with Lindsey Graham, his questioning was sort of going in the direction of sort of, well, firing James Comey is an obstruction, right? Was he was trying to walk him down that path to be like, well, you know, the Comey firing is fine. Right, because it's not clear cut. I think inadvertently, yeah, he's like, okay, you know, the Comey firing is fine. Right. Because it's not clear cut. I think inadvertently, yeah, he's like, okay, but asking people to commit perjury.
Starting point is 00:49:09 Okay, cool. So we'll see, you know, I think as things progress and the shutdown gets worse and the numbers for the GOP get worse and worse, you figure somebody has to realize like this thing is going to eventually like smash into a wall. Right. Pun intended. That, you know, and we can't come back from it but i don't know that these people also might really think that they're able to just you know conduct business like this and people will just get right back on board
Starting point is 00:49:36 no matter what happens which is insane yeah uh all right we're gonna take another quick break we'll be right back Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was murdered there are crooks everywhere you look now the situation is desperate my name is Manuel Delia I am one of the hosts of crooks everywhere a podcast that unhearts the plot to murder a one woman wikileaks daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state and she paid the ultimate price listen to crooks everywhere on the iheartartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jackson Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is
Starting point is 00:50:56 my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Sanner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app,
Starting point is 00:51:35 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. 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.
Starting point is 00:52:22 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. Substance use disorder and addiction is so isolating. And so as a black woman in recovery, hope must be loud.
Starting point is 00:52:51 It grows louder when you ask for help and you're vulnerable. It is the thread that lets you know that no matter what happens, you will be okay. When we learn the power of hope, recovery is possible. Find out how at StartWithHope.com. Brought to you by the National Council for Mental Well-Being, Shatterproof, and the Ad Council. And we're back. And speaking of the shutdown, people are now just openly talking about the fact that this shutdown is not going to end without some sort of massive disaster. They're like, well, Democrats are dug in, the president's dug in, and some bad shit's going to have to go down for anybody to change their mind.
Starting point is 00:53:37 Yeah. Well, you know, I heard it more euphemistically on the news. Someone said that some kind of external event or factor will probably bring people to the negotiating table. And that same guy, Hogan Gidley, I think, was the one who said, well, we might have to postpone the Super Bowl if the shutdown continues because we can't secure that. I mean, that would be the biggest disaster of all. Does he think that Democrats would be like, you're right, because the Super Bowl is above
Starting point is 00:54:03 all this other shit we've been pushing against. It was really weird. And also when you take into account that Kirstjen Nielsen of Homeland Security was like, oh, we have enough people to do the State of the Union if we wanted to. Like, that's fine. So anyway, yeah, I don't know. I think, I mean, it is true. The Democrats don't look like they're going to budge. The Democrats don't look like they're going to budge. And the Republicans, at least there's more pressure on them to change because as the optics get like, you know, more and more people are now holding the Republicans and specifically Trump responsible for this.
Starting point is 00:54:35 You know, like Mitch McConnell is like having people like show up at his office more and more now, which wasn't really the case. So, yeah. Let's not forget this is what Putin wants. Yeah. No, 100%. He wants the disruption, you know,
Starting point is 00:54:48 in a terrorist attack or a plane going down or God forbid, something awful like that. I mean, that's, that's what our enemies want. That's what this whole thing was about from their standpoint. And it's working. It's chaos.
Starting point is 00:54:57 Yeah. And also like it lessens people's confidence in the government as an institution, especially if you work in it, that's the same thing. And some people, there was like an op-ed, I forget where it was, where some like anonymous White House official was like, well, you know, it's probably good that a lot of people aren't going to work because we can sort of trim the fat on like the bureaucracies that we have. I mean, that is kind of how he has thought about the government all along and how
Starting point is 00:55:23 Republicans have claimed to think about the government for years, even though they end up spending more than Democratic presidencies. The president doesn't give a fuck about people who he can't see or touch. And he's like insisting on getting that money. And like other people suffering is not going to impact his decision. Right. The only thing that's going to impact his decision is something changing in his world, which is just a bunch of TVs tuned to conservative media. So, yeah. And I mean, people like the mainstream media is saying, you know, that some external event, but people on the Hill, like the Atlantic had an article at the end of last week where they talked to, you know, Capitol Hill aides and people anonymously. And they were all like, yeah, so it's either going to be a terror attack, a food safety crisis, or, you know, planes just
Starting point is 00:56:14 falling out of the sky. Like it's the fucking rapture. So the group that represents all the air traffic controllers are saying like every week you're, you're raising the risk of something bad happening because we have people who are coming in with low morale or working overtime or things like that to cover for people who are calling in sick and the the likelihood of someone slipping in their job increases with every day this goes on and like when you think about how much concentration that job requires like that's not something you want anybody to have any stress like you want them to be like getting a massage yeah fucking just saging the room of essential oils, whatever the fuck you got to do to keep these people working.
Starting point is 00:56:51 But yeah, it is a real scary thing to think about, and especially because they're just using this government shutdown as a bargaining chip when their stakes are so fucking high, man. Yeah. Let's talk about a couple of big picture stories about America. First of all, with the opioid crisis, there was a report in the New York Times last week that stated that basically doctors that received gifts from big opioid and pharmaceutical companies that manufactured opioids were more likely to have ODs in their area.
Starting point is 00:57:31 Right. Yeah. So it said the industry spent about $40 million promoting opioid medications to nearly 68,000 doctors in 2013 to 2015. And so they're saying like things like buying dinners or meals or trips or consulting fees. And it said for every three additional payments that companies made to doctors per 100,000 people in a county, overdose deaths involving prescription opioids there a year later were 18% higher. Now they attach the caveat that they say they have no way of actually discerning between prescribed painkillers and ones that were obtained illegally or on the street. But they also go on to talk about that they found that counties where doctors received more industry marketing also saw an increase in both the number of opioids prescribed and opioid-related deaths. And they also found that the meals were a greater contributing factor than even trips or money, actual dollars spent, the more dinners they went to.
Starting point is 00:58:23 It's brutal. I wonder if that's because they get the people drunk and then they like commit to doing something yeah i don't know i don't know why meals would be more persuasive than trip i think maybe if it's a meal you're it's it's more intimate and maybe the doctor feels more beholden to not disappoint that person right like a personal connection whereas trips kind of have the out where a lot of times they'll have like cadavers that you can, you know, experiment on or work with on a trip. They'll be like, you know, the Vegas convention where you get to like practice injections or something like that. Wait, they do that?
Starting point is 00:58:56 Yeah. Whoa. That's insane. That's how one of the ways pharmaceutical companies get people to come to various things is. They're like, we got some bodies you can fuck with? Yeah. Where do they buy those? Do they buy them or someone who just...
Starting point is 00:59:10 Up the street here. Yeah, right? Oh, man, I can get you a body. Thanks, Rudy. When do you need a body? But yeah, another detail that came out in the past couple weeks is that the Sackler family,
Starting point is 00:59:23 who we talked about last year in great detail because of a New Yorker report on sort of their background of that they're the family behind Purdue Pharma, and Purdue Pharma is the company that manufactured OxyContin, and the Sackler family and the founders of Purdue Pharma, these two brothers, the Sackler brothers, were the first people who basically created the idea of marketing drugs to doctors in a way that suggested the marketing was actually scientific. And so they would be like, nine out of 10 studies agree. And they would do marketing in the Journal of American Medicine and, you know, like the New England Journal of Medicine. So they kind of revolutionized the whole way that you market your drugs to doctors.
Starting point is 01:00:14 And it's been discovered now they're mostly known as like this philanthropic family that, you know, has wings of museums and has like entire hospitals named after them uh but they specifically misled uh investigators on their role in the marketing of the opioids oh right and those early videos yeah or like they're like oh my god i'm not addicted and all my pain's gone and cut to like a lot of those people who gave testimonials like their lives either ended tragically or they went through some kind of substance abuse issues. Yes. The chickens are coming home to roost for that family.
Starting point is 01:00:51 Let's talk about... So, Miles, there's a story on our doc that says Pennsylvania police need you to get fucked up. Yeah. Can you explain that one to us? So the Kutztown or Kutztown Borough Police Department in Pennsylvania, they put a Facebook post up and it says, The Kutztown Police Department is looking for three volunteers to assist us in training officers to administer standardized field sobriety tests during suspected DUI traffic stops. The volunteers must be available on April 4th between 2.30 and 7 p.m.
Starting point is 01:01:22 Alcohol will be provided. However, you will not receive any compensation for your time. In order to be eligible, you must meet the below criteria. One, be in good health between the ages of 25 and 40 with no history of drug or alcohol abuse. Yeah, let's forget that last part. Two, clean criminal history. Three, be willing to drink hard liquor to the point of inebriation. Four, sign a waiver releasing the borrower of any liability and have a sober responsible party take care and control after the training.
Starting point is 01:01:51 So they basically just need some stooges to get super fucked up and see if you can trick their police officers. And I don't know. I mean, just be like, we got real live fucked up people here for you to figure out you know i guess just to administer all your tests like the lean back and do the rock away or i mean lean back and close your eyes on one foot i can't even do that sober yeah you ever been pulled over while driving drunk no no no i just assume you drive drunk you just seem like that oh yeah i mean i got that yeah i mean before uber right i think we all did uh no i'm not i'm not proud of that. I don't condone that. But yeah, I think in my younger days, I took some risks.
Starting point is 01:02:29 But I'd never been pulled over. Usually I'm pulled over for real bullshit stuff because I'm in a neighborhood. A cop doesn't think I should be in. They're like, hey, yo, roll through that stop sign. You on probie? You got any guns, bombs, knives? I'm like, no, bro. I'm here to pick up my girlfriend. But yeah, it's a, it's a
Starting point is 01:02:46 very, yeah. Like the, after this post went out, the community responded. I mean, they only needed three people. They said 1400 times it was shared and they got like over like hundreds of people leaving comments. Almost a thousand were like, yeah, I'm down to do it. This is for a borough of 5,000 people. So most towns are like, yeah, I'm down to do it. Oh, my God. This is for a borough of 5,000 people. Huh. So most towns are like, yeah, yeah. Sign me up. A quarter of the fifth of the people.
Starting point is 01:03:09 Yeah. Crazy. A fifth. No pun. Yeah. Boom. I just, yeah. I feel like, is this a normal thing? Is that a thing you can sign up for?
Starting point is 01:03:18 I'm looking to get involved in helping the police identify inebriated people. Do they have alcohol there? I think it's part of Trump's new furloughed federal worker plan. Right. For them to make extra bread on the side. There you go. But according to that plan, they'll be like, it's BYOB though. Right.
Starting point is 01:03:34 Yeah, yeah. Pull up fucked up. Right. We don't have money to help you. We need you to come fucked up. Rubbing alcohol will be provided. Oh, Jesus. You can't drink that.
Starting point is 01:03:44 That is good. I'm glad you've mentioned that. Well, without cutting it with water. Right. Jesus, you can't drink that. That is good. I'm glad you've mentioned that. Well, without cutting it with water. It'll just burn your stomach. And then finally, Netflix just had a bad week last week. We talked about how they raised prices, and now there is a controversy because they have used the same real train crash footage
Starting point is 01:04:02 multiple times in their movies. Wait, really? Yeah, in Bird Box and in some other show that I had, Travelers. They've used footage of a Quebec train crash from July 6, 2013, where an unmanned runaway train carrying millions of gallons of crude oil derailed and its contents caught on fire and it claimed 47 lives and destroyed more than half of the downtown area of this town. And they've just, I guess there's some gnarly footage of it
Starting point is 01:04:36 and they're like, well, that works for Bird Box. So people watching Bird Box noticed that, you know, one of the TV news clips from when shit is going haywire around the world because of the birds, the mind birds. I don't know. I haven't seen the show. How many birds are in this? The hypnotism birds that trick you into doing crazy stuff. One of the things they trick people into doing is footage from this actual
Starting point is 01:05:05 real life disaster. And I'm sure the outrage, what Netflix did, were they just like, sorry, man, it's in there. Like, what are we going to do? It's one of the best shots in the thing. Yeah, no, they, uh, I, I'm pretty sure they are not removing it. Yeah. They spent a lot of money producing that, killing all those people. Right. Or they're like, dude, like, you know how expensive that clip was to license from that from iStock yeah 40 bucks yeah by the time you listen to this they'll probably have come to their senses but the fact that there was any resistance at first uh is pretty wild yeah i mean that's you know if you got the budget like don't make people
Starting point is 01:05:42 relive an actual tragedy because you're too lazy to like just be like yeah just use that terrible tragedy as some abstract thing for fun if the Avengers had used like 9-11 footage for cutaways at the end it's like what the fuck guys that is dark yeah the Thanos snap yeah like oh look
Starting point is 01:06:00 A-bomb footage alright well Jake it has been a pleasure having you, man. Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Where can people find you and follow you? At DisgracelandPod on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And tell people about the podcast a little bit, too.
Starting point is 01:06:17 Yeah, what is Disgraceland? It is a music and true crime podcast. So musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. So Jerry Lee Lewis getting away with murder and behaving very badly. So Jerry Lee Lewis getting away with killing his fifth wife, James Brown getting high on meth and blazing through the countryside with a shotgun, Tupac and Biggie, TK-47, Kurt and Courtney, Rolling Stones, sleeping with Justin Trudeau's mom, all kinds of stuff like that yeah exactly Rolling Stones so real quick in the 70s Keith Richards get caught at the border when they were gonna record in Montreal with a bunch of heroin oh and they were
Starting point is 01:06:55 doing two club shows and Mick and Ronnie slept with Justin Trudeau's mom and she seen she was caught by the paparazzi and she basically basically was like, it was her anniversary with her husband, who was the premier at the time. And she was like hanging out at the Ritz Carlton with Mick and Ronnie. And they were open about how they slept with her. And it was like, it was huge, huge, huge, huge. I thought Justin Trudeau had a big looking mouth. Right.
Starting point is 01:07:21 Yeah. Does the timing line up? Justin Trudeau's dad is fidel castro like google that google image the two of them and then go back and then go back and listen to justin trudeau's comments when castro died it makes some sense that's all wow that should have been your myth no that that shit is that's next level. That's crazy. That is Castro. All right. And is there a tweet you've been enjoying?
Starting point is 01:07:52 Whatever our fearless leader's last pile of bullshit that came out of his Twitter account was. Yeah, you could just distill that down to him saying, I eat pieces of shit for breakfast. I'm like, oh, okay, cool. That makes sense. Yeah. So there you go. All right. Miles, where can people find you i find me on twitter
Starting point is 01:08:05 and instagram at miles of gray uh let's see a tweet i like uh is from uh there's one from uh ben rosen at ben underscore rosen it's a photo of tucker carlson from his tv show uh with a chiron underneath so it's tucker carlson looking very serious, like a screen cap. And he has a face like he's trying to ask something. And the chyron reads, what does the vagina look like? Because he is really something else. And one more, just like the construction of this, it's an old Todd Glass tweet, but it said,
Starting point is 01:08:40 I want your honest feedback. What do you think of this for a bumper sticker? Get off my shit, asshole, and don't forget to watch my Netflix special Act Happy, and I'll be at the Helium Comedy in Philly, January 24th through 27th, and in Springfield, Missouri at the Blue Room the week after. Just a great little
Starting point is 01:08:56 joke. Anyone who's had standout comedians on their podcast can identify. Yeah, with that effect. And find me at this place and this place. Uh-huh. And you can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien. A few tweets I've been enjoying. Sarah Beatty responded to a variety tweet.
Starting point is 01:09:15 Variety tweeted, R. Kelly dropped by Sony Music. She tweeted, hopefully from a fucking plane. Shireen Laniunas, co-host of Ethnically Ambiguous, great sister podcast on this here network tweeted wait so you're telling me that I have to read the text people send me and respond to them which I totally identify with and atsuko okatsuka
Starting point is 01:09:35 tweeted my husband just asked for chopsticks to eat with instead of a fork I think it's safe to say my work here is done send me another white guy I wonder what they're eating. Yo, if he did that to eat some Western food, then I would be like, yo, mission accomplished. A bagel with cream cheese. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:52 Yeah. No, but some things like I just can't, like as a Japanese person, like I cannot eat with a fork. Just like, it's, I hope it was pizza. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien. you can find me on twitter at Jack 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
Starting point is 01:10:11 and a website DailyZeitgeist.com where we post our episodes and our footnotes where we link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode as well as the songs that we ride out on miles with that this is actually an oldie uh from the 98 album from uncle science fiction which is a collab between james lavelle and dj shadow uh it has one of my favorite drum samples like drum breaks uh samples in it it's bloodstain
Starting point is 01:10:38 uh from alice temple and i think the actual drum break that's in it is from a band called Head West. If you have all those Dusty Fingers sample records I don't know. But anyway this is Bloodstained from Uncle UNKLE from Science Fiction. Alright we're going to ride out on that. We will be back tomorrow because it is a daily podcast. We'll talk to you then. Bye!
Starting point is 01:11:02 Bloodstained on a blue vein taken Bloodstained on a blue vein Taken with no shame Love tracks on a loose train Bloodstained No game Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th, 2017, was assassinated. Crooks everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture
Starting point is 01:11:47 of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 01:12:10 Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There's so much beauty in Mexican culture, like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even lucha libre. Delicious cuisine and even Lucha Libre.
Starting point is 01:12:47 Join us for the new podcast, Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before,
Starting point is 01:13:16 try to assassinate the President of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson, 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nickname Squeaky. The other, a middle-aged summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeartTrue Crime Plus, only on Apple Podcasts.

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