We Need Space w. Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein - podcast episode cover

We Need Space w. Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Apr 23, 20261 hr 46 min
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Summary

Erin and Alyssa delve into the latest political drama, from Trump cabinet scandals and Cash Patel's defamation lawsuit to the Nancy Mace-Corey Mills feud. They critically examine tragedies linked to male entitlement and discuss Planned Parenthood's innovative new services, as well as skepticism around celebrity AI endorsements. The episode features an insightful interview with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, who shares her new book on space-time, advocates for diversity in science, and offers cultural commentary through Star Trek and Octavia Butler.

Episode description

Erin and Alyssa check in on the latest Bravo-level drama from Trump’s wack job cabinet, two recent chilling tragedies in Virginia and Louisiana, Planned Parenthood’s foray into cosmetic offerings, Reese Witherspoon’s suspicious call for women to use more AI, and more. Then professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein drops by to talk about her new book, The Edge of Space-Time, what people are getting wrong about the Artemis II mission, and what Star Trek and Octavia Butler can tell us about our current political moment.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

The FBI Director Is MIA (The Atlantic 4/17)
FBI director Kash Patel files $250M defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic (CNN 4/20)
Labor Dept. Investigates Texts Among Secretary’s Family and Staff (NYT 4/15)
Feud between Mace and Mills flares as the Republicans trade barbs, expulsion threats (CNN 4/21)
Ex-Virginia deputy governor kills wife and himself, police say (BBC 4/17)
Haunted by ‘Dark Thoughts,’ Louisiana Father Kills 8 Children (NYT 4/19)
The Shreveport Mass Killing Isn’t Just About ‘Mental Health’ by Brittany Cooper (The Cut 4/20)
A Planned Parenthood Clinic, in a Pinch, Turns to Botox (NYT 3/11)
The Woman Who Knows Too Much: An Interview with Amanda Ungaro (Courier 4/18)
Reese Witherspoon Declares “It’s Time” For Women To Embrace AI: “Want To Learn With Me?” (Deadline 4/17)
We Need Space w. Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Transcript

Intro / Opening

Hej, det är jag som är Bellboy från Hotels.com. En tilljobb resa. Med hotels.com ger tio nätter med jobbet en bonusnatt för bara kull. En mini retreat. Från hotels.com. Vilkår för loalitetsprogrammet gäller, besök webbsidan för mer information. Hello and welcome to Hysteria. I'm Erin Ryan. And I'm Alyssa Master Monaco.

Tucker Carlson's Contrition and Cabinet

Uh this week our friend Tucker Carlson. I guess I guess we're on the same side of this war thing with him. Some things, disliking Lindsey Graham being against this war. Um Tucker Carlson seemed kind of contrite when he talked about his former support for Donald Trump. He is so incensed by the state of America in the world and the fact that we're at war and the Strait of Hormuz is still not open and we're But it's close. But it's not, but it is Um

He's sorry though. He he seem he sounded like he was authentically contrite. I think he's authentic he's been broken. His his heart is broken. His heart is broken, but he's being honest about his role in bringing us to this point. A Alyssa, I have two questions. A do you think he reads my substacks? Because.

I did re- I did write about them like, okay, dude, you gotta take some ownership over this thing that you're mad about. B, what penance do you think people who are now realizing that they got us into this mess? but are sorry, what penance do they need to do before they sh can make money off of being sorry? Well Erin, it's like they've been making money. Do you know what I mean? Right. I mean do you think they should just donate stuff to like anti war candidates? I would like to see them donate.

I don't know, maybe you know, they've been pretty bad to women. Like he's only mad because of the war. You know what I mean? He's not mad because of immigration. I mean he was a little mad, he thought things went too far. But he's really just mad because Trump broke his heart about Bombs. Not how he was even treating people in this country. So like, do we even care that he's sorry about this one thing?

I think that you don't get to be a thought leader after exhibiting extremely poor judgment multiple times. So I think maybe lead with curiosity would just be my Love that. My tip. Lead with curiosity, not know it all ism. Because like clearly you don't know what you're talking about. Right. The proof is. Maybe. Ha ha ha. Yeah, he just shows up and just wearing tape over his mouth and he's just like, Come here and talk at me guys. I wanna hear it. Tell me what I've been missing.

Today we check in on the latest Bravo level drama from Trump's liquor cabinet, Planned Parenthood's foray into cosmetic offerings, and Reese Witherspoon's suspicious call for women to use more AI. We also get into two recent Chilling tragedies out of Virginia and Louisiana and analyze a new interview with Amanda Ungaro, where she alludes to even more shady business and abuse.

From Trump's inner circle. Maybe that's why Melania was so worried the other week. Then a cosmic mind-bending chat with Dr. Chonda Prescott Weinstein. And of course, we wrap up with Sani Petty.

You're listening to Hysteria, the podcast for people who think that if the Trump administration can just unilaterally change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War That I think the people should be allowed to change the name of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the Federal Bureau of Inebriation. I agree with that. I also think that they can they should start calling it the liquor cabinet. Trome's captain.

Vibe. It's a liquor cabinet, although one of the bottles is is missing now after this week, apparently. We'll get into that in a second. But first I wanna talk about d the Department of War.

Pete Hegseth's Anti-Science Stance

Had some like busy, busy doing busy dumb shit that doesn't matter. Not like we're at war, but uh Tuesday. Let's take a time out to make a video though. Yes. A a very suspiciously smooth looking video. It's I got into a debate about this yesterday at work with one of my coworkers. I was like, this looks like it was like AI enhanced. It do it a hundred percent does. The background looks like he's not actually in the background. Like the background's not real.

Yeah, like the lighting is weird. He's his coloring is enhanced. It looks like AI. But one of my coworkers is actually like a photographer is like, No, no, no, you can make a picture look like this. I don't know though. Maybe It r regardless, it was a weird video. It was a weird video. Very strange. content of the video was weird too because in it Pete Heggseth is like soldiers don't need flu vaccines anymore.

Okay. So, you know, this is great news for the influenza virus. Um who in a tearful press conference yesterday announced that they were so grateful to the secretary for acknowledging their heritage. as a germ that was able to thrive and kill fifty million people in nineteen eighteen and nineteen to nineteen twenty, thanks to crowded conditions in army facilities. So it's really getting the influenza virus back to it.

Back to its roots. Um, right on the cusp of World War Three. We're we're paying homage to World War One. Um influenza getting another shot at American soldiers. Right now, this moment in history feels like it it feels like Celine Dion doing her comeback shows in Paris. It's like a homecoming in a way. Like I know she's French Canadian, but it just like She sings in front she's a fr a French speaker. It just feels like welcome home, you know?

Yeah. This is this is Pete Heggseth welcoming influencers. Welcome home to the American soldiers. Yeah. This is where it started and this is how it's going. Um so I I wanna just remind everybody uh that soldiers are getting public health and hygiene advi advice from Pete Heggseth. Who is the person responsible for this great bit of hygiene and public health advice? Let's listen to this clip.

As I told you, my n twenty nineteen resolution is to say things on air that I say off air. I don't think I've washed my hands for ten years. Really, I don't I don't really wash my hands ever. I I inoculate myself. It's just not germs are not a real thing. I can't see them, therefore they're not real. Okay. I can't see them.

Can't see that. I mean it's real it is very ironic that a guy that's always harping on God is like things that I cannot see are not real. Like germs have been observed under microscopes. Yeah. God has not. Um, but whatever, Pete. He's he's not really a a bastion of moral consistency. Again, you'd never know there were there was war based on how the Secretary of War War. Yeah. Yeah. The the not well that is that's a clip from twenty nineteen.

No, but I mean the original video about the flu vaccine. Yeah. This one, did you I wonder like when did he have time to set this up? Are they just giving him little side quests so that he doesn't interfere in the war? Also, can I just say something? Like if you look at the picture of him in the video from when he's at Fox uh Fox and Friends weekend and then now Objectively a bit of a glow-up.

And I don't understand it because when we worked in the government, we worked so hard, we looked broken. There's not one person. You should look at pictures of when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and literally grew her hair out so she could put it back in a scrunch. Like because it was just easier. It's a true story. So like watching these people, everyone, if you look at pictures of the Obama administration, people Biden administration, people look fucking tired.

And these people look oddly refreshed every day that they're making their social media videos. I mean you know my theory that Pete Hagseth did not actually quit drinking. Like he pr he promised he would quit drinking, but I don't think he actually did. Maybe this is a counter argument. Because he does look better than he did in twenty nineteen. Like not better like Like I wanna sit on his face'cause gross. Better like so early in the morning for me to say that. Better like he looked Yeah.

'Cause Yes, he's he d his inflammation seemed to have gone down. Yeah. He got a new fresher haircut and his suits because of the I think bloat and inflammation, f he's his suits are fitting better. His suits are fitting better. Yeah, that's true. Um, but yeah, I mean, let's talk about someone who, according to reporting that has been contested, what us is not drinking any less. Alyssa.

FBI Director Cash Patel's Scandal

Well, Aaron, let's start with something delicious, only a little hint of existential terror. FBI director Cash Patel announced on Monday that he was suing the Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick over her blockbuster piece from last week detailing an alleged alleged pattern of heavy drinking and all its attendant professional drawbacks. This was incredible. I do not know how he is still the FBI director.

Uh the article titled The FBI Director is MIA, Fitzpatrick spoke to dozens of current and former FBI intelligence and law enforcement officials, as well as hospitality workers, members of Congress, lobbyists, former advisors. In other words, this was sourced as follows. Back. Mm-hmm. Can we talk about sourcing for a second? Please. Do we think Bandy was a source? A hundred five. She she did not like him. They were the Amy and Pete of the Trump administration.

Absolutely, like on the debate stage, like if I'm going down, you're fucking coming down with me. Mm-hmm. And I feel like Bondi is I don't want to hand anything to her'cause she's just like an empty, like morally empty vessel. But she's more intelligent than Cash Patel and had. More qu was more qualified to be AG because she was an actual lawyer and not just like a podcaster who liked to wear like butch insignia to try to pretend like. Be roided out.

And be roid it out. Yeah. And like it anyway, so so Patel When we did our um we did our this fucking guy video on him, my read was that he just like desperately wants to be this like bro, this like fr big muscle frat guy Chad, like giga chad bro. But he's like my high. He's just this little like this like mousey little guy and like he's Come on guys, let me in. Yeah.

Oh oh you know, he's he's just like this kind of little dude who wants to be something that he's not, you know, like a kitten looking in the mirror and being like, I wanna be a lion. It's like you're never gonna be a lion dude. You're a kid. It's fine, just be a kitten, you know? There can be something charming about being just being a kitten. Good. No, he reminds me of like the kid on the softball team who's like Come on, coach, pull me in. Put me in.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean I have to say also the reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick has a good reputation of being thorough and she's working for the Atlantic, which does not have a like it's not the Atlantic isn't a rag, you know? No. I think it's arguably the the best

magazine in the game right now. I would put it in the case. Oh, I agree. I would put it up against the New Yorker in terms of the quality of writers and reporters that are working there. I think it's it's right up there. So I didn't approach this article like I would approach like a Daily Mail article. No. This was I mean this is real. This is like When wasn't the Atlantic uh the Atlantic was who was in the small group Yemen chat?

Right? Yes. Yes. That was uh that was Hootie Hoothi's small group chat too or something like that. Yeah, that was the god, another Another reason that Heg Sus should be gone. Like im but anyway, we're that's neither here nor there. Um the article Claim that Patel was drinking, quote, to the point of obvious intoxication in many cases at the private club NEDs in Washington DC. This is like the third time I think that NEDS has come up in just like in the in my life.

It's like it's a membership club. Sounds terrible. Is it cool? Okay. Well, they're at a private club called Ned's in Washington DC, while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. Uh this is unsurprising behavior from the guy pathetically and openly trying to bro out with the US men's hockey team. It's not like he's just this little like church boy. You know what I mean? There's No, he's been trying to make fetch happen for years.

Yeah, there's footage of him like slamming beers in the locker room. Like he just you know, like he's a little Saint Jude's hospital kid who just got his wish granted as he's you know, before he goes into treatment. FBI directors at the poodle room errand. Um where he frequently spends parts of his weekends with his uh Girlfriend. Well but he also like is roommate with this really rich guy and it's very odd. Oh that's right. That's right. That's right. He's heals. Yeah.

developer guy. And it's just kind of like, okay, everyone's just accepted that. Earlier in his tenure, um, meetings and briefings would have to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol fueled nights. Outrageous. Outrageous. Alyssa, have you ever called into work because of like alcohol? I have in my twenties and I remember I did it the day after

like a work happy hour. It was like Merrill Lynch. So like whatever. That's different. It was yeah, but I did it the next day'cause I was just like I was like hung over and was like, I don't wanna walk to the blue line. What is this? Yeah, I'm not gonna you know, I'm too pretty for this.

Um and then the day that I came back after that, my boss was like, Aaron, sometimes you gotta play hurt. If we know that you're out the night before, if your coworkers know you're out, you have to play hurt the next day. Well I had a when I was in high school and I did call it out sick once to kill Merz IGA because we'd had a party the night before and my boss said if you're gonna hoot with the owls, you gotta scream with the eagles. And so...

I always think of that and when we were in the White House, one of our friends I never went out. I for first six years I didn't go out. And someone turned forty. And they had the birth their birthday at a speakeasy, which Aaron, I was like, what's a speakeasy? Like, what does that even mean? I had no idea. I was drinking like blindingly strong alcohol. I was so drunk.

that I had to like call a friend to come pick me up because I cr I did had no idea how to get home. I picked up an entire pizza on the way home, ate it on the bathroom floor because I was convinced I was gonna barf. Ultimately did, still went to work the next day. And you weren't even the director of the FBI. And it was a Saturday I went to work.

Cash Patel's Defamation Lawsuit

It was okay. So Cash is really mad about this this argument. He's That makes him sound l like exactly like the person that we think he is. Yeah. So he's suing the Atlantic for defamation and seeking two hundred and fifty million dollars in damages. His lawsuit is claiming that the Atlantic wrote the piece with actual malice, which is the legal standard for you to get sued if you're a member of the media.

So you basically uh it's a defamation thing. Basically in order to meet the definition of defamation for legal purposes, if you are a journalist in America Um you need to prove that statements made were false uh and a and were acted under uh reckless disregard. So you have to know they were false and you have to like have intention when you publish the false things.

The Atlantic called the lawsuit meritless, and a lot of people have pointed out that this means that Cash Mattel is gonna have to go through discovery and the Atlantic is about to get access to a bunch of FBI related. Shit. Incredible. Incredible. You know this lawsuit's gonna go away. This is just like classic Trump playbook.

That's like we're just gonna say we're gonna sue. Everyone will think that there's maybe, you know, something up with the story, and then we'll just move on. Because he's not gonna, I mean, it would it would be. You're gonna go through with this, Cash? Like this is I don't know. I mean we've already seen some of his emails and some of the things Him like uh you know, posing with cigars like he they just got engaged on a romantic trip to Cuba or whatever. Like he's so

Such a dork. Does he really want everyone to see the full rainbow of dorkiness? Like one of the stories in the article that really, really was funny to me was Cash tried to log in to his work computer at the end of the day and he couldn't log in. And so he started being like that's it. I'm fired. I'm fired. I'm fired. Calling people up, freaking out like Nothing. Do you know who He is.

Who? Because we have both been watching this. It is like in the podcast Love Trapped. It's like Laura Owens is the FBI director. I mean a little bit. The text messages, I'm just saying it's A little bit. I mean, it's it's really crazy. I mean also that thing something not going right. There's a technical issue, immediately thinking the worst thing has happened and freaking out is something that a drunk person would do.

That is a hundred percent a way that a drunk person would r r like would react to a problem, would react to something not working. Um, one time I came home this was also in Chicago, I was I was young, whatever. And like I like use the wrong set of keys. Like I had a a p a pair of like my boyfriend at the time's keys and I was trying to use them to open my door and they won't work. And I was like, they changed my locks the shit for like full five minutes and I was like, oh wait, I was using

The wrong. Yes. But anyway, it turns out Patel wasn't fired. He should have been fired. And he's not the only one in the liquor cabinet. No. Daydreaming. Let's do it. The third cabinet member and the third woman in the Trump administration has resigned in a mess of a scandal. This is messy. I swear to God. Like what?

All of the Trump cabinet officials remind me of like they're their own little Lisa Vanderpump. They're all starting a summer they're instead of trying to run their respective departments, they are launched in their own summer houses. Or They're doing a they're doing a Vanderpump villa, the fuck cabin or whatever. Like they're just they're not concerned with doing the business of the American people. It seems like they're just trying to create little dens of

Labor Secretary's Resignation and Misconduct

Yes. And it's not a good thing. Well, because none of them have ever run anything before. So now they have a big office building and staff and money, and they're cosplaying what they've literally seen on The Real Housewives and other some such shows and like acting it out like with as the first time they've had. Power. Now no but bear in mind, power. They're not exercising responsibility over anything. But they've got the means and they're just going with it.

Well uh according to a Vox write up of this latest Frack. Mess. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez de Ramer resigned Monday amid an internal investigation into her conduct. Um so here are some things that the former labor secretary was doing. She was instructing staff to buy her bottles of Sauvignon Blanc on work trips, which I get the inclination to ask them for that. During the day. During the day though.

Sauve Blanc on a work trip during the day. Mm. That better be alongside a big restaurant size Caesar salad, you know? And it better be uh It's gotta be a A social glass doing diplomacy. Yes, yes. But saw Blanc in the office on work trips. She also allegedly stashed liquor in her office, which okay, I've worked in the media. Yeah. Whatever. At the Daily Beast everybody had a like emergency bottle of booze in their file cabinet.

Even in the White House I had a bottle of something in my bottom drawer. Right. It's like it just had it, you know. It wasn't nipping at it during lunch. Right. So this is like low on the total it asking to buy bottles of Sauve Blanc, don't do that. Stashing liquor in the office.

Where else are you supposed to stash it? I don't know. Right. Um but then it gets really bad. She also encouraged young female staffers to pay attention to her father and her husband's flirtatious overtures. Some some of these texts were really bad. Disgusting. The texts were like when are you in like the her dad being like, Are you in town? Like texting Let me know. Let me know private. Where are you staying? Ooh. She also allegedly had an affair with a member of her security detail. I'm in.

Don't do it. No. It's that's a real Former Senator Kirsten Cinema move. Um, she also arranged work travel to visit family and friends, which I think is par for the course for this administration. They're all doing work travel for their family and friends. Like I do. It's it wasn't the case for other administrations, but for this it seems like the lowest hanging of their offense.

Yes. What my favorite story of the former Labor Secretary was that she had a birthday party for herself in the office. Do you remember this story? No. Oh my gosh. She had a birthday party for herself in the office. that involved people coming together and singing Happy Birthday to her.

Which is like not you're not supposed to do that in the govern you're like that's not something that she was supposed to do. She also like served liquor there or something. Um and when she was asked about it, she was like, That wasn't a birthday party. But they sang happy birthday. It wasn't a birthday party, but they sang happy birthday. Yeah, Santa came, I sat on his lap, I asked him for things, he gave me some presents. It was December twenty fifth, but it wasn't Christmas.

Um according to the New York Times, the texts about bringing Chavez de Ramer wine were sometimes sent in the middle of the day. Yep. One of the creepiest parts of the story though was uh how her husband was kind of like creeping around the grounds. I don't know, I'm picturing him like I don't understand. I'm picturing him like cartoon sneaking, like Like lurking. Like lurking so he's lurking around the grounds of the Department of Labor and he is uh harassing and pestering female staffers.

Yeah. It's so strange. I was looking into her background because I was like, Who is this lady? I I well I f I tell me what you found,'cause I was looking her up too. She started her career at she was like a receptionist at a Planned Parenthood early in her career. See that. Interesting. She's done a bunch of odd jobs. She was the mayor of a small town in Oregon. Um, and she has run for office a bunch of times. She's like lost as many offices as she's.

One. She's only she'd only served for I think one or two terms as a member of Congress from Oregon and then was given this appointment because the head of the Teamsters told Donald Trump to appoint her. So she was like, in terms of the secretaries in the Trump administration, like not bad on paper. Yeah, right. But like as a boss and uh coworker, colleague, leader, kind of a nightmare. Yeah, not rising to the occasion.

not rise. I mean, but again, I would challenge anybody to put up the allegations against Travis DeRamer. I would I would encourage anybody to put those allegations up against what has been alleged about other members of the Trump administration. Like cash Cash Patel. Like Pete Hegsath even even if let's just say he really did quit drinking.

Um there are still like InfoSec concerns, his like treatment of the the the InfoSec, the way he's spending money on lo Remember this reports about the lobster and all the like incredible, like just gross waste of taxpayer dollars? If any if IGs still existed in this cu in this uh government, it would uh everyone would be under investigation.

Yeah. It they they all should be under an investigation. And honestly, I here's something I haven't really seen from Democrats when we're talking about like what happens on the other side of this if we have a country on the other side of this. I really think that Democrats in twenty twenty six and twenty twenty eight, especially twenty twenty eight, should run on clawing some of this shit back.

They should have a bill called like the clawback bill, which is where like any ill gotten gains that were that were gotten during the Trump administration will be clawed back by the government. Will be clawed back and redistributed to taxpayers, will be redistributed as like scientific grants, will be redistributed in ways that actually benefit the American people instead of just enhance and enrich the lives of these Tacky ass motherfucker. Totally tacky.

Political Tacky Behavior and TMZ's Role

Cash Patel should have to work for the rest of his life to pay back what he has siphoned from the taxpayers. the plane that he uses for like it like as if he is this is the thing. He they all think that because they have become cabinet secretaries or administrators, that everything is just

Like par for the course. It's like, oh no, I now have car service to go wherever I go. No, it's for official duties. Like, oh, I have a plane. I want to use a plane. Remember Christy Gnome before she got ousted. was outfitting a new plane for DHS, which like guess what? When I was there, the DHS secretary used the plane to go to disasters. Not on like

you know, personal uh I'm gonna go on a personal vacation, I'll make a stop that's official on the way, but then the plane's gonna take me the rest of the way. It is so fucking broken and gross. It is tacky. It's Beverly Hillbillies level. It is Hill Billy Shape. And I think that we've we've discussed this before, but I think that that is why TMZ's presence in DC

Is essential right now. These people are acting like fucking like out of control celebrity, like brat pack child. I don't know if the brat pack were like wild at clubs, but they're like out of control. Rappack we're wild at club.

Yeah, they're like out of control celebrities like uh you know, puking all over the bathrooms of the Viper Room in D you know, in in in Hollywood. They I feel like And and as culture becomes more fractured and bec as our celebrities become just very, very specific to different groups, they're not like really very many big stars anymore.

Yeah, true. The only people that every American like is kind of compelled to know about are people that are elected officials because whether or not we like them, they impact our lives. And whether or not we really are excited about that, whether or not we're fans of their work, um, they are fucking our lives up and they're running around like they're stars. Like they all wanna be stars. They all want to be famous.

But this is what it is to be famous guys. You got paps chasing after you and I and I feel like they're also kind of stoking it in the opposite direction as well. Like they like it.

Nancy Mace Versus Corey Mills Feud

I I think that they m might not like it once they are getting photographed doing things they don't want to be photographed doing by T M Z But I think two of the people that are really into like being a a celebrity VIP, um, Nancy Mays. Our girl Nancy Mace. Be famous so bad. Corey Mills, both Republicans, they are in a fight to the death. Theoretically or uh metaphorically. Um Cory Mills is currently being investigated for allegations of sexual and financial misconduct. Like multiple.

Yeah. I I'm glad that Nancy actually raised this because I was not aware of what an absolute just swamp creature that Cory Mills was. Oh, we've talked. You know what? Roger Sollenberger has done really good reporting on him. There's a super long piece about Corey Mills on his Substack.

free promo for that. Um it's really good. If you wanna know who Corey Mills is, like you should probably read the sub stock. Also Roger Stone was tweeting about Corey Mills a couple days ago. Was like there's big things coming out about Corey Mills. On Monday, now we didn't really get the big things, but he said that it would make Eric Swalwell look like nothing basically. Oh. Um. But we also know Roger Stone is a rat fucker.

So he might just be putting something out there to hype a story to make it seem bigger than it actually is. So when the actual story breaks or to make it seem like there's something out there that isn't. So like take that with a grain of salt. Um but here's Nancy Mace's fighting words. So good. Quote. The swamp has protected Cory Mills for far too long and we are done letting it slide.

We tried to censure him and strip him from his committee assignments. Both parties blocked it, but we are not backing down. The evidence against Mills is overwhelming, beating women and telling them to lie about it. This is something that actually is alleged to have happened. There is uh there is uh Body cam footage of Corey Mills instructing a woman that he allegedly beat.

To to tell the cops that she's okay. So just wow just as an aside. The evidence against Mills is overwhelming, beating women and telling them to lie about it, cyberstalking women, lying about his military service, and profiting off his seat. Any member who votes to keep him here is voting to protect a woman beater and a fraud. He needs to be expelled immediately. I did not come to Congress to watch powerful people abuse women and cover it up.

Corey, your days are numbered. Start packing. Okay. I think a lot of Republicans actually did come to Congress to watch people abuse women and cover it up. I think that's actually one of the platforms or one of the one of the planks in the Republican Party platform at this point. I mean it all started with grabbing by the pussy.

Grab him by the pussy and you know, how many people has Trump appointed or stood by that have allegations of violence or or like really gross disrespect toward women? Just misconduct aimed at women. It seems like it's a feature, not a bug at this point. And so I don't know how I don't know if Nancy Mace is s stupid or Being willfully disingenuous here because we're also in the age of Epstein.

Um what do you mean you didn't you didn't come to Congress to watch powerful people abuse women in cover like she's been on the right side of most Epstein things, but she also isn't speaking out against like Trump Trump? Ever? No. Like. I mean we'll talk more about this later in the show, but Amanda Ungaro Yeah. Who ap apparently has some dirt on Trump and Melania or is trying to make it seem as though she has has dirt on Trump and Melania. Alleges that are

Trump was a lot more involved in the Epstein thing than people know about. Uh but you know, Nancy, go off. Go off sis. I I I can appreciate when a chaos muppet chaoses in a a way that helps. Right. Corey Mills should be gone. Cory Mills should be gone. Like Why the enemy of my enemy. There are people who can better represent Corey Mills' Florida district than Corey Mills. Like surely there is somebody who Right. Hasn't been a d a domestic violence incident or who hasn't been like Cyberstop.

Oh yeah, he's cyber stalked and threatened to release nude photos of the girlfriend that he was or the fiance he was cheating with when he was accused of domestic violence. So he was accused of domestic violence by a woman that was the other woman to his main woman who he also threatened with like revenge point. It's crazy.

crazy. And she's like a former Miss Florida. It is so again, again, everyone is their own little Lisa Vanderpump here. I'm tired of these Vanderpump rules. Let's go back to the Constitution. In true petty fashion, it's been reported that Corey Mills is now deciding whether or not to fight back and introduce a resolution to expel Mace, who is also currently under investigation over claims of inappropriate reimbursement practices, and she's running for governor in South Carolina.

And she's being sued for some things that she said on the floor of the US House. Remember that? She went completely ham. She was like speech and debate clause means I get a get out of slander free card. I can say whatever Yeah. She really did some slanderin'. some slam. She did some real slander in and uh I'm not sure How that's all gonna play out. But for now, she's just she's still out there swinging. She's not putting her head down.

She literally is like somebody who goes home, plugs herself back in, gets recharged, comes out swinging, doesn't know what What is going to motivate her the next day? Something will. Something eventually will motivate her to be chaotic. Mm-hmm. We'll talk about a liquor cabinet. Some people say that that also contributes to Nancy Mace's uh I let's say unevenness. Ha ha ha. All right, we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we've got more news.

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Tragedies of Male Entitlement

And welcome back. Tired of reading the same story over and over and over again. We're just as tired of talking about it as you guys are of hearing about it, but it keeps happening, so we have to talk about it. We can't just pretend it's not a big deal. Right. I'm talking of course about violence toward women. Okay? Mm-hmm. So I wanna talk about two stories that unfolded just days apart. They're horrible. So please listen to this part of the show with care.

In both cases, they involve men who were reportedly consumed with dark thoughts and fear of their marriages falling apart, who took extreme measures to end their torment. Now, I just have to say so much coverage of family annihilators, men who kill members of their own family. Seek to find like sympathy for the men.

Oh yeah. Uh Kate Mann, the the philosopher and writer calls it hympathy, which is like an attempt to rationalize oh like oh he was in so much pain, he was feeling so dark, rather than being like some women and children died. Like do you know? Like these people talked about having mental health issues. First in Virginia, the former Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax. Mm-hmm. Their two kids were home when he did it. So fucked.

Multiple outlets, including the Washington Post, reported that Fairfax's life had quickly unraveled after his political career was derailed by accusations of sexual misconduct. Since then, according to court documents, he'd been obsessed with clearing his name and began showing patterns of erratic and emotionally withdrawn behavior. He and his wife were separated at the time but still living under the same house.

Horrible. It's just such a tragedy. Those children don't have a mother. Parent. They don't have parents anymore. Right. And they will never be the same. No. It will never be okay after being in the house. I don't care honestly what a person is going through an act that selfish betra betrays.

a soul rot that is irredeemable. Like I don't I don't care what he was going through. Like, honestly, I don't care. Uh second, over the weekend Our country experienced the deadliest mass shooting since twenty twenty four when a man in Shreveport, Louisiana allegedly killed eight children, seven of which were his kids, and shot two women, one of them was his wife, in a shooting spree that spanned three locations.

And reports say the gunman Shamar Elkins had been struggling with his mental health and expressed his distress to family members and his wife. His wife was trying to leave him. And that's why he did. So we talked a little bit o about hympathy. There was a really good piece written on the cut. Yeah. By Brittany Cooper. And Britney Cooper's piece um is a must read I think for for any

For this time that this happened, for the next time that this happens, because it's not ever going to be the last time that it happens. I'm going to just read a quote from that piece. Um quote, patriarchy offers a better explanation for this violence. Patriarchy teaches men that women and children belong to them, that they are property that men get to have as a male rite of passage.

Men are taught in what Bell Hooks famously called a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy to measure their worth and value by the size of their bank account, the size of their genitals, and the size of their families. These are forms of toxic self value predicated as they are on women and children having no agency or dreams of their own. What do you make of that, Alyssa?

It's absolutely true. I mean, it's like, look, especially in these two cases, these were two men who thought they were going to lose their family. And this is how they decided to not lose their family. Yeah. By killing them. I saw um a study recently that thirty percent of Gen Z men believe women should just do what their husbands tell them. So you could in a wor like it's like you just

It's like the white Christian nationalism, the like women should be subservient to men. Like this is it's like taking hold. I mean, it's always sort of been percolating, but it's really like you can see it. These men are like, no, just because

You know, in the case of Justin Fairfax, who had been accused of sexual misconduct, I mean clearly like outside of his marriage, and then it's like his wife wants to leave him and he's like, Well fuck that you don't leave me, you know, we'll leave this earth together. And that's It's really, you know, I hadn't until I read Britney Cooper's piece, I hadn't in thought about it in this way, but it's so fucking true. Yeah. I mean th the idea of ownership being something uh an entitlement

is something that you see in all of these like family annihilator situations. Um, of course there are some people that are honestly having like a psychotic break with reality. Right. And that happens with mass shooters, mass murderers. you know, that's that's not an uncommon thing. But setting that aside, um, when violence is aimed at a family, it tends to be an extension of like an entitlement to those people.

And I I read something really interesting about the profile of family annihilators. Now both of the men that we're talking about this episode um are black men, but the vast majority of family annihilators in the US are white men. And that is I think Uh Cooper, you know, would point out that this is an extension of what Bell Hook said, which is that in a society arranged around the entitlement of a group of people.

to whole other groups of people is eventually going to lead to a dehumanization of the people that they feel entitled to and a sense of ownership. I feel like there's a lot of that just in kind of baked into American society. The concept of taking your husband's name when you get married and the concept of giving your children your husband's name is like i it's a it's a sign that they are his His you know you're I mean and I I and it's not nearly as insidious as

violence that's inflicted on people because of a sense of entitlement. I'm just pointing out that there is just this baked in sense that a woman and children belong to a man when they are in a family unit with that man. And um it's just really horrifying. Alyssa, can you guess who represents the Shreveport district in Congress? Is it my job? Johnson? It's Mike Johnson. Oh. I have not seen anything as of press time. Um anything that I haven't seen that he said anything. No, I might he might

still say something. Do you think Mike Johnson really gives a damn about the impact of this sort of toxic cultural messaging and how it might contribute to violence against women and children. I'm gonna go with no. Do you think he's gonna say anything? Like what should he say? Uh he'll s he'll say that uh mental health is a terrible plague. Yeah. Because that's what they always do now.

That's all it is. There's there's no there's no critical thinking about why some of this stuff wants to happen. They're like mm. Good Sounds like an acceptable thing for them to say. And so now they're just like, we're just gonna stand behind mental health. It's terrible. There's a crisis.

Well something should be done. They'll throw it in like do you ever sometimes when I'm cleaning I have like a box that I take with me where I just am like everything where I don't know where it goes, I throw it in the box just to like get it out of the room. That's smart. Yeah. I feel like mental health is that for Conservatives, but they never want to put it away. They're never gonna put the stuff in the bo they're just like, Okay, mental health and then they don't do anything about

Mental health, not guns, right? Like that was the original They're like, well, it can't be the guns. So it has to be that the people who have the guns have had a mental break. Yeah. And not that it was something predictable that we still could have helped or seen or, you know Or they're not going to be able to do that.

It's male entitlement to women and children and that needs to change because otherwise men are still going to feel entitled to kill women and children when they fear that they mo might no longer be their possession. Like they just You know, uh he's never gonna say that. But I think it's really important for us to think about these things when we have to think about them. as an extension of a system that dehumanizes a large part of the population. Um and it's just it's such a huge tragedy.

Planned Parenthood's New Ventures

I wanna um we're gonna pivot a little bit, talk about some changes that are happening in uh the way that Planned Parenthood is doing business, you know. Yeah. Planned Parenthood has been stripped of federal funding. I think a lot of people lose track of that because there's so man so much other stuff going on. And it has been, you know, forced to figure out creative ways to make up some of that funding.

last year they had to close fifty of their six hundred clinics. That's dangerous because in a lot of places it's the primary point of care for women. Right. Yeah. I mean, honestly though, like OBGYN care, my OBGYN knows way more about me than my I don't think I even have a regular doc. No, I always for years, my for for a very long time, my OBGYN was my was essentially my primary care physician. Like he knew everything about me.

Right. And so the source of like OBGY on care for women like Planned Parenthood, it it t it takes away their access to medical care. So it's very dangerous when these places are closing. I have to respect the hustle here. Um the Marmonte affiliate of Planned Parenthood includes thirty clinics in the Nevada and California area. And they are gonna start to offer

And cosmetic procedures for patients to pay out of pocket. So you can get like Botox or like an IV drip or something. You know the like LA nightmare things that when you first come out here you're like, oh, that's crazy. But then after three years, you're like lining up to get them. That worked. Apparently a good deal. It's a good deal. It's cheaper than the normal range, which is like from ten to thirty bucks. I get Botox. I have for like a long time. I love it. It works. Get mad at me.

I don't care. Enjoy yourself. I get about forty units when I get it. I get it every four months and I get forty units and it's like crows' feet, forehead. So it's not like a ton of units, but that's just just so people know like how much cost. Not cheap. Nine dollars a unit's pretty good. That's competitive. That's competitive. Um they're also offering laughing gas gas for pain management during I think insertions. Um

Gotta say, I don't do well with any form of pain management. So I I've been raw I'm I'm gonna raw dog my next IUD insertion, I think, after I had like Oh yeah. Yeah, remember I like got really sick and my doc and my yeah, I had to be taken out in a wheelchair. But anything that helps with the pain, if you're not gonna rot dog it, um, laughing gas sounds like a good option. They are also introducing a telehealth perimenopausal care program. Ten out of ten.

And possibly offering GLP one medication for weight loss. Enjoy. Yeah, do it. Honestly, so smart. Like when I first saw this article, I was like, wait, what? Planned parenthood and Botox? But you know what else is kind of nice about it is that a lot of times when you go to the doctor, you have like A negative you're y if you're usually going most people when they go to the doctor, they're going for something bad.

Something has happened and it prompts them to make a doctor's appointment. I feel like I like this because like normalizes going there and that like you don't always have to have a problem and it's like more of a positive like When I finally found a dentist that didn't terrify the shit out of me, I didn't mind going to the dentist anymore. You know what I mean?

And so I feel like this is it's like, oh, you know, you go for your Botox, you go talk for GLP one, you're like, I'm having like my perimenopause symptoms and I'm gonna have a telemed and then I'm gonna go get my PAP. It's like I don't know, I just feel like it's nice to have more on It's like the it's like a mini mall of lady services. Yeah. You know? Um I yeah, I have to say I don't know if I would

I love Planned Parenthood. I support them. Um, I don't know. I'm very devoted to my Botox lady. Like I've been seeing her for six years. That's fine. I'm not I'm not gonna mix it up. But I would say if you're like a Botox virgin or you wanna like give it a try, why not? Give it a whirl.

Ungaro's Allegations Against Trump/Epstein

Give it a whirl. All right. Um we talked a little bit about Amanda Ngaro earlier. Yeah. Yeah, Amanda Ungaro, just for people who don't know, she is a former model who was linked to uh a band named Paolo Zampoli for years and has a child with him. She also was close with Melania and Donald Trump because they ran in similar circles in New York City. So

Earlier this year, Ngaro was held in ICE custody for three months and ultimately deported to Brazil. New York Times reporting revealed that her ex Paolo Zampoli, who is Trump's former business partner and special envoy for global partnerships,

um, is the one who kinda like egged ice on to get her out of the country. They've been in a custody battle for their kid together for a long time and Zempoli reportedly, um yeah, he made the call and was like, get her out of here and they She was a teenager when she was first brought up. She was fifteen. She was a fifteen year old model from the middle of Brazil.

Flown here from Paris literally on the Lolita Express, Jeffrey Epstein's plane with Jean-Luc Brunel. I sound crazy. I sound like I sound like Candace with the with the Egyptian planes. But this is this is documented. She flew with Jean Luc Brunel. Jean Luc Brunel was the co owner of Jeffrey Epstein's modeling agency, and at the time he was Angaro's modeling agent.

Um Jean Luc Brunel in twenty twenty two was arrested for crimes related to this Epstein stuff and was found dead in his cell in uh apparently by his own hand, but who knows? Um, but yeah, he was he was also Epstein's. Brunel, Epstein, Zampoli, they were kind of all in similar circles. There's been some reporting that Zampoli and Epstein tried to work together to purchase elite model management.

At one point it didn't succeed. Zampoli denies having a business relationship with Epstein, but it's kinda like, Come on, dude. Like Okay. Come on. So the courier published an interview with Ngaro over the weekend where she contradicted elements

of the Melania Donald story. The Melania Donald story is that Paula Zempoli introduced the two of them. Right. Ungaro has implied heavily that it was Jeffrey Epstein. Yes. And has suggested that Zempoli was involved in recruiting girls for Epstein, which he denies.

And she also alleged in the interview that he was abusive to her ever since she was a teenager. Because Nampoli and Amanda met when she was sevente they got together when she was seventeen. Apparently he'd been courting her for years. He was like in his late thirties. It's gross. Yeah. Yeah, since she was like fifteen. Yeah. It's when they met. Yes. And then they got together when she was seventeen, which is Yeah.

Yuck. She also said Zampoli was not the one who introduced Trump in Melania and that everybody knows who it really was. I think Amanda Ungaro kind of coming out and dangling some juicy knowledge is what might have been behind that weird millennia press conference the other week. When Melania came out and was like, I would not friends with Jeffrey Eptein like Yeah, so this this interview was with our girl Nina Burley who

We love. Um, she's a great writer. I keep every time I come up, like I come across a story of hers, I'm like, ah, it's Nina again. Another one. There she is. Um but anyway, Nina Nina landed this. It was a great interview, a great get. At the end of the interview, Ngaro said that she would absolutely testify in front of the House Oversight Committee. Why isn't this story getting more attention, Alyssa? Well, Aaron, because no one cares. Oh like Yeah.

No, we care, but this is look, she has said, she has said, I will testify before the House Oversight Committee. Where are they? Where are they? Mm-hmm. I mean, I hope Harvey Levin and T M Z get in on this because maybe maybe it will get more traction. But her interview was pretty fucking Depress it was both depressing. It was also inflammatory. Like she's saying.

That Melania and Donald Trump know so much more than they're letting on about a case that everyone's been fixated over for how many years now? So it's like why is she why is she not set to testify next week? It doesn't make sense. I think that it it's pretty clear and she's kind of like wink, wink, wink like

Democrats take over Congress and start, you know, in early next year. She's kind of like your move, guys. You know, it's pr it's not gonna happen with a Republican majority. I think we can all admit that. But It might. It might with a democratic majority. Fingers crossed. I think it'd be pretty interesting and messy because Melania's pr uh Mel Melania's press conference was so weird. She was clearly spooked by something.

clearly spooked by something. You wouldn't come out and be like, Uh, I'm not a pedophile like Especially it was like The whole war in Iran had wiped the Epstein story off the news entirely, and she was like, Let me re-up this one for good measure. I feel like right now it's a perpetual motion machine though. It's like Epstein war. Right. Epstein war. I guess we could throw in Greenland and have like a three ball juggle where it's like

Greenland's like leave us alone. He's forgotten about us for now. Yeah.

Celebrity AI Endorsements Debunked

Keep our name out of your mouth. All right, one more quick hit before we take a break and get to our interview. Um, I guess women, girls, g are we bossing hard enough with AI? I don't know. I don't know. But Reese Witherspoon had thoughts. Um, so Reese made a formal announcement on her Instagram that she's ready to embrace Okay, Eric. Wait, I had a hard time hearing it. She like made a video announcement, right?

Yes. I kept hearing the sound in the background, like a beeping of a dump truck full of money from an AI company backing up to her house. Yes, yes. Ha I don't know what she thought. I mean, like, look, I get, so she's like, women should embrace AI, that she was at a book club and that not hardly any of the women understood AI or had ever used it and that women need to embrace it. And it's like and that and that we especially need to understand AI because it's gonna take all of our jobs.

Right. She cited this really strange statistic. She said FYI, the jobs women hold are three times more likely to be automated by AI, yet women are using AI at a rate twenty five percent lower than men on average. Okay. That came from somewhere. Citation needed, but also like in a lot of the discussions on AI, I think that there's something really huge missing, which is that care work cannot be automated. Exactly what I was gonna say.

We're conditioning automated. What the fuck are you talking about? Like, are we gonna use AI to replace nurses? Right. No. Uh teachers? Teachers? They're trying, but like we saw what happened when we tried to replace teachers just human teachers when we tried to put them on screens for kids for less than All the kids are super dumb. We can't teach kids with we cannot replace teachers with videos of teachers, with streams of teachers. Kids need to be

in a classroom with a human teacher who eighty percent of the time is going to be a woman. Seventy five to cent or eighty percent of the time is gonna be a human woman. Like CNA is Home care workers. Like what are you talking about? Good thing. On the one hand, yes, AI is a huge issue. Women should know how to use it, should understand it so they can be competitive, also so they can't be weaponized.

I totally disagree, Alyssa. I don't think you should have to learn it at all. I've tried to use it and it is a drain. It is a drain on my psyche and a drain on my time. My point is if that was if she was just making that point okay fine but it just felt sponsored It did feel like SpawnCon. I've I am very anti-AI. And if I wanna go have something told to me that is incorrect with a lot of confidence, um

I will go to a golf course and talk to the first old white man I see and ask him a question about history. You know what I mean? Like I No, and don't get me wrong, I've never, I don't think I've ever used AI. I I used to try to use it for sometimes I'll have very I've I've talked about this before, but I've I'll have a very specific question and because Google is ass now.

And duck duck go, which I normally use, sometimes has, it doesn't give me the results that I want and I know exactly what I'm looking for, so I'll ask AI. And AI does a super annoying thing where I'm like I'll say something like, um, what did here's an example. What did Lindsey Graham say? About

Iran's nuclear capabilities in nineteen ninety nine. I'm looking for a very specific thing. Right, right, right. It'll come up with an article that references another it'll be like this is what he said and it'll leak to an article that isn't the original reporting and it's so dumb. It is so dumb, Alyssa. Oh I agree.

We need to learn the limits of it. And we need I think You know, if search engines engines are bad and this is the new search engine, then I I can see it being justifiable to learn how to navigate how shitty it is. You you have to use AI what are you talking about, Reese? I'm sorry. I like your work, but like what are you talking about? Well and Sandra Bullock got on the bandwagon too. Wow, what a coincidence. Mm. Somebody's writing some checks, I think. Ha ha ha ha. Yeah, curiously.

She shared a cautiously pro AI attitude after fans were creating AI generated scenes and trailers for the new Practical Magic sequel. She said we have to lean into it. We have to use it in a really constructive and creative way, make it our friend. Okay. Why are we using the word lean in given what we why are we using that phrase given what we know about what

But here's the thing. Look, I love Sandra Bullock. It's so strange because I haven't seen her make a statement on anything in like a hundred years. So that's like the other reason. Like, She tends to be someone who's really not on social media, who's very private. So, like when she did it too, I was like, what? What is happening? What is happening? I don't know. Maybe uh AI companies are overvalued as these like multi-bajillionaire

things and every single day we are being bombarded with all of this messaging that like AI is the future. You gotta learn AI. Blah blah blah blah. And honestly it feels like I'm being proselytized to by religious zealots because I can't see like I can't see the future. This is all based on belief. This is all based on like a need for everyone else to believe in it in order for it to work. It's fucking Tinkerbell.

in Peter Pan where the audience has to clap and clap and clap and then the flashlight moves out of the little thing and she's alive. Like I don't believe that what AI is promising us will ever, ever come to fruition, the good or the bad. I think that there's going to be like bad effects, but it's just gonna be like mildly shitty, like or a letdown, you know? Mm-hmm. It's like again you know, like going to Knott's berry farm after you've gone to Disneyland. You're like, What is this? Okay.

Okay. Okay. I guess I get it. Do you think women need to learn AI? Like what for what purpose? No, I mean I think that like I think it's worthwhile just knowing what it is. Like, you know, so that you don't get tricked by it. Do you know what I mean? That's kind of, you know, so that you know it exists, you know what AI is capable of, so you can be aware of it in your own life. Not that you necessarily have to use it, but I think like knowing what it is capable of.

How to not be tricked by it, how to not fall for scams that may be AI related. I think all of that is like worthwhile. But I don't need an influencer to tell me after, you know. It just they've maybe gotten some money. I mean it just feels so like Girl Boss two point oh, but this time shittier. Like what are you talking about? I you know, all y you have to AI creates a different kind of.

Like remember back in the day this was a while maybe a year or so ago I think at this point, when Natasha Leon came out and said that her production company was gonna like embrace AI and it's like but Okay. So you're just you're if if that's what you're saying then like you're putting people out of work. Yeah. Why is that good? Yeah. I don't know. People would rather pay tons of money for robot software than use that money to pay human beings.

Right. And it's gross. I hate it. It's anti human. It's anti human. Okay. Before we take a break, I wanted to let you all know that there's a new episode of Pod Save America. Only friends. I love that name. With me, Aaron Ryan. And what it is, Jane Coaston out now. Only Friends is the Friends of the Pod subscription exclusive show where crooked hosts unpack the stories that didn't make it to the main pods.

Subscribers also get bonus content like Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer where he breaks down the latest polling. And what it means as the midterms approach, terminally online where crooked hosts and staff reveal the unhinged rabbit holes their algorithms drag them into this week and more. Subscribing to Friends of the Pod supports everything we do at Crooked and helps power independent progressive media.

Hit pause and subscribe now at crooked.com slash friends. Now a quick break, and we'll be right back with a special interview. Hysteria is brought to you by Auraframes. With an aura frame, you can capture and relive mom's magic every day. Aaron, do you have a picture of your mom that always makes you smile? Yeah, but the ones that make me smile are the ones where she's like mad. ME TOO! Ha ha ha ha.

My favorite mad picture of her is like we're on vacation. I think we're in at the Gettysburg site. All three of us are standing there. My si my brother's probably acting wild. My sister's probably whining and I'm just being a jerk because I was like a teenager. And my mom is just Oh it looks like the life forest has been drained out of her. My picture that I just thought of the minute I read this was the four of us. I think Lauren, my sister, was like four or five, and I was

eight or nine and we went to Disney World. My sister and I are very sadly and hotly eating a dull fruit and juice bar because it was the 80s and we were not allowed to have ice cream, obviously. Lauren's got her Figment hat on and my mom has just like given up. She's just Hang on this white bench. Ha ha ha. Both arms out, she's like, I'm getting a tan on my face. And she was so annoyed by us. With Aura frames you can integrate reminders of your favorite memories into your day to day.

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Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Hysteria is brought to you by Babbel. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the idea of learning a new language, you're not alone. Studies show that seventy to ninety percent of people trying to learn a new language give up.

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Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein: Book and Physics

And welcome back. You're listening to Hysteria, the podcast for people that never realize that slowing down and really thinking about particles is actually kind of a good stress reliever. Today, joining me in the studio, we have Dr. Chonda Prescott Weinstein, a professor of physics and astronomy. She works on a wide breadth of research from theoretical physics to black feminist science. I'm in the middle of reading her new book.

The Edge of Space Time, and it's blowing my mind, just like your first book did. Um, it's wonderful. It's mind-bending. We're so glad you're here. Um, welcome. Thank you for having me. So congrats on the book. I uh I've seen some rumors on social media that it's doing pretty well. How's it going? Yeah.

So so far it's made two bestseller lists. Really? It's made the USA Today best-selling books list and it's also made the indie bookstore best-selling list, which is very exciting. I'm so pleased that people are supporting indie bookstores. That's amazing. And it's a book it's a science book. It's a book about science.

It's very exciting for people to be supporting a science book so well that it could actually appear in the top 150. So it was 62 for USA Today, it was number nine for the indie bookstores. And that means people are going into indie bookstores and being like, yeah, I will totally pick up a book that talks about quantum field theory in it. Ha ha. Awesome. That's great. Well so in the book you claim that your party trick is coming up with limericks. On the flight? Oh no.

Okay, can you I know I'm really putting you on the spot, but you're like the smartest person I know. Um, can you describe your book for our audience in limerick form? No fucking way. And I guess it's hard to like Once there once was a physicist from East LA. I'm going to teach quantum field theory today. That delightful black queer physicist from East LA. But it's like an Edward Lear style limeret.

I love that. Oh my gosh. I I put I knew I was gonna put you on the spot, but you came through, Chanda. Um, as a primer, and I know it's a big question. What is particle physics? Like how would you explain it to somebody who sees words like particle physics and cosmology and their eyes start to glaze over because they think it's beyond what they can grasp?

So I think the traditional way to answer this question is to say that particles are subatomic phenomenon. All atoms are made out of particles. So an electron, which you've probably heard of is a particle. protons and neutrons that are also in atoms are particles. Protons and neutrons are actually made of something called quarks. So those are the smallest particles inside of them. So it could give you a kind of this like taxonomy answer, but I don't think that really gives you a feel for it.

So what I wanted to do in the edge of space-time was give people a sense of what does it mean when I tell you something is made out of quarks, like what's a quark, what's its relevance, and what's the mathematical structure that this is made from. So the mathematical formalism that we use to describe particle physics is something called quantum field theory. And this is the idea that there is basically something that's pervading throughout all of space-time.

that is causing particles to manifest in different locations. So basically you take empty space and empty space has energy in it that can manifest into particles. That's a much cooler way of talking about particle physics, right? So I have a chapter in the book called You're an Abstract Contraption Made of Nothing. And that's basically the idea is that we're all made of these particles that come from n what

Seems like nothing. And it's a cool mind bending thing to think about that I think can be really freeing for your mind.

Teaching Science, Diversity, and History

Yeah, you write with a lot of clarity. Um, I'm not a science person. I majored in English. Um, but you're really good at distilling complicated concepts for people who might be shy. Um, and you tie in like pop culture references and history references. How has your experience teaching college students informed the way that you write about these complicated subjects? So I will say that when I started working on this book, I had just finished teaching a graduate course on quantum physics. And in

The process of preparing that course, I started thinking a lot about one particular quantum physics experiment called the Stern Garillach experiment. And got really obsessed with it. The fun thing about this experiment is that when you fully explain it to people, it's something that actually doesn't make sense. And that's actually kind of the point. It's the thing that pushes you out of your Newtonian classical everyday sensibility into the weird world of quantum physics.

And so actually at the core of this book, I really wanted to write about that particular experiment. And I was at a workshop with a bunch of theoretical physicists in Santa Barbara last year. and was like, yeah, I'm writing this section about the Stern Garalog experiment for the book. And literally everybody at the table stopped and looked at me like I had broken something. They were like, you don't talk to people about the Stern Garlock experiment. So

But my attitude about it was like this was fun to teach my students because I taught it to them three times throughout the course. And then the third time I had someone raise their hand and say, That doesn't make any sense. And I was like, Yes, now you get it. Okay.

And I think that's the experience I want people to have is realizing that the universe is fucking weird. Mm-hmm. And that's actually a good thing. And it's a reminder that Whatever we're being told is normal or there's some boundary that we can't go past, whether that's like a physical boundary in terms of like being able to leave East LA and go pursue my dreams of doing physics.

or whether that's like a political boundary of it's not possible to build a society where bodily autonomy is simply respected that we can imagine past that because the universe is fucking weird. So why not? Mm-hmm. Right. There's nothing natural about the way that things are right now. And the way that things are is they don't it doesn't follow rules anyway. Um you're a big advocate for more diversity in science. Um

Not a good time for that. Um how has the second Trump administration impacted that goal for you? You know, my first book was called The Disordered Cosmos, A Journey into Dark Matter, Space Time and Dreams Deferred. And that dreams deferred piece was like a really important part for me because a lot of the book was about what's wrong with physics and specifically in terms of inclusion and how people are treated in the field.

And at the time that I wrote the book, I had a lot of criticisms, but I also felt like we were starting to put things in place to protect people, and things were definitely better than they were when I was a graduate student. Over the last year it's really been watching like dreams deferred come to life, come roaring back.

Yeah. As we watch all of the protections we put in place get taken away and It can be hard for the general public to appreciate the long-term impact of that if, you know, for example, black women graduate students are pushed to the margins or black women don't get admitted to graduate programs now.

In twenty years that means no black women faculty. So we don't necessarily feel it immediately, but the long term consequences are enormous and it kind of sends us back to square one, which is what they want. This is like what Karitha Mitchell calls know your place aggression. They're basically telling us to go back to where we belong and we don't belong in physics departments in their view. Mm-hmm.

Well, one thing I appreciate about your work is you challenge the narrative that all important scientific discoveries originated from European men. And you write a you wrote a lot about that in your first book. Um

But you also, you know, you touch on a couple of those uh challenging that narrative in this book as well. Can you go over an example or two in your latest book that spotlights the way that people outside of Europe were kind of ahead of the curve when it came to scientific breakthroughs.

Oh yeah, so I definitely made a lot of my friends nuts for a good like two or three weeks while I was working on the edge of space-time because I was trying to figure out how I was gonna talk about Newtonian physics and one a lot of there are a lot of books out there that go over like Isaac Newton and his contributions to na what was called at the time natural philosophy.

And I was like, okay, I don't want to just do what everybody else did. And also I actually found that class kind of boring in college. So I was trying to figure out how do I make it interesting to me? Because if it's not interesting to me, why should my audience care? And in the process, I saw a tidbit somewhere that basically a millennium before Newton was alive, that some Zhao Kingdom philosophers had already started to think through some ideas that are very similar to one of Newton's laws.

Oh interesting. So I chased down the only three English language translations of the text, the Mo Ching, and realized that there were like all of these incredible examples that were written in what we would call ancient Chinese, but this is before China, Imperial China formed. And they were doing all of these amazing things, trying to figure out how do I explain the difference between extent and space and duration and time. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

And saying things like, An ox is not a horse. So I ended up using that as an example in the book. I have this delightful drawing of an ox and a horse so that you can be reminded Oh yeah. There's pictures in the book. pictures. Sharif Azyno Williams did an amazing job w with the figures in the book. But that's an example of realizing that these things that get framed as being from a very particular intellectual moment in European history.

were actually long part of the conversation in different parts of the world. There are other examples. I talk about Taki Yal Din, who was an astronomer in the Middle East. um, who was Muslim and was thinking about a mechanistic universe and the idea of mechanism well before that becomes popular in European discourses. And for me that was challenging to kind of reframe my understanding of what is the lineage of these ideas. And whose story is physics actually? Mm-hmm.

This Fucking Guy: Newton and Oppenheimer

Well, here at Hysteria we have a series called This Fucking Guy, where we spotlight one series. Thank you. Uh we pick one person we think make is making America worse, and we talk about why they suck. Um, we've done tech bros, as you know, we've done Elon Musk, Peter Teal, we've done Jeff Bezos. If there was a science this fucking guy, who would you choose? Oh man, actually I would go with Isaac Newton. That dude was a total fucker. What did he do?

I mean, so he was like a cop. He was in charge at one point he was basically the cop for the mint and he was like into I think People's people lost fingers. What? He was also invested in the enslavement trade. Oh no. He was invested in colonialism. He was he was I don't think he was a nice man. He was like kind of an asshole.

Yeah. I I I mean I also would say if the film Oppenheimer hadn't come out, he would be my second choice because for a long people a long time people didn't know about the poison apple thing, where he tried to poison his teacher at Cambridge. Yes. And the part that's not in the film is that his parents sailed to England to basically clean up that mess. Like the only reason Oppenheimer got out of that is because he was a rich kid.

oh my gosh yeah also that movie wasn't that good can I just say it it wasn't that Good. I didn't like it. The film bros were so mad at me about it. And I actually I write about Nolan's work in the book because there are things that I think Nolan does really, really Oh absolutely. He's he's this is no no shade on him as a filmmaker. I personally just did it I just didn't think the film was well done. And I just I it's nice to know that it's not about a good dude anyway.

And I really I find Oppenheimer as as a Jewish person and as a Jewish physicist to be very fascinating, particularly because he came from a German Jewish family. And that particular community in New York actually opposed the immigration of Eastern European Jewish families like mine. Oh. And he was also a student of the Ethical Culture School. And so some of that doesn't really make its way into the movie, but I found

David Krumholtz's performance in that film is like the best thing about that film. That's that's a positive thing I can say about the movie, as Isidore Robbie, because Robbie had this theory that Oppenheimer not dealing with his Jewishness was his problem. So I think that that would be a really interesting thing to talk about.

Space: Commercialization and Militarization

Mm-hmm, for sure. Um, well, space has been in the news quite a bit these last couple of weeks. Um, given how awful the news is on Earth, I I totally get why people would be like, Oh, I really want to embrace this story. It's never you know, the the astronauts and the new tele and the space hugs and the beautiful, like, flowing sentences about like the beauty of the earth or whatever. But I understand you've got some notes for the way that the media has been covering um the Artemis mission and uh

Is the public getting the whole story? What should people know? The Nutella moment is actually a really interesting one because I've been thinking a lot about that Brad Pitt film at Astra, where on the moon there's like a freaking Applebee's, and you're like, what the fuck did you guys do to the moon? And the Nutella moment was like this.

Incredible advertising. Like, I don't think they could have dreamed at better advertising for like Nutello's so good that the astronauts took it on a giant around the moon, right? And at the same time, the Artemis mission, the media hasn't really talked about the fact that it's a commercialization and militarization mission. So this is a mission, it's not about going out and being curious and seeking out new life and new civilizations as

we trekies might say it is absolutely about going and launching capitalism into space. And it's a decision that's being made by a very small number of people on behalf of the entire planet. And so just coming back to the Nutella Applebee's thing. We actually have to worry about what will happen a few generations from now. Will the next generation or two generations from now be able to look at the moon and see the same thing that we see?

And I don't think that that's a small thing. Our species has only ever seen the moon in one way, basically. And we might be making the decision that for the rest of all time, our species will have a very different experience. That's a big Spiritual decision in addition to a big scientific decision. The other thing is that the reason that we were able to see that Nutella in such high resolution.

is because of a technology that was developed primarily by the Department of Defense and NASA in collaboration at the Department of Defense's Lincoln Lab. Mm-hmm. Just sometimes in the press called MIT's Lincoln Labs, but MIT is just paid by the Department of Defense to manage it for them. Hm. These are like the little things that get left out. And so basically in watching that Nutella not ad, I was about to say Nutella ad, the Nutella video, we are watching

an experiment and participating in a military technology experiment. Mm-hmm. And so we need to be honest. And I think that the science media has done a really bad job. I think the policy media also Increasingly, people who cover policy are going to get need to be well versed in science policy because that's clearly a very important thing right now.

Star Trek, Butler, and Afrofuturism

Mm-hmm. You mentioned being a trekkie. Um I have weirdly, I keep running into Trekies. Like I have my one of my best friends here is a Trekkie. Like We're awesome. We have a trekkie. Well, Kendra here is a Trekkie. Kendra James, who works here, is a Trekkie. Um, how has being a Trekkie Influence the way that you see science and poetry and culture. How how has that influenced the way you see those things intersect?

You know, I think one of the things that's important about Star Trek is that Gene Brownberry, the creator of the franchise Was obviously a huge literature and Shakespeare nerd and believed in the power of classical literary storytelling. And so a lot of that is in the original series. You also see this in The Next Generation. I mean, he literally cast Patrick Stewart as his captain on The Next Generation. So deeply classical. He believed in the power of drama and storytelling to tell.

critical stories about society and civilization, he understood Star Trek not just as a projection of what our future could be if we learned to take care of each other and make sure everybody's basic needs are met. 'Cause he basically crafts a socialist utopia in Star Trek, but it's also a warning sign because first in the Star Trek universe, before they get to that socialist utopia, there is a third world war, there's a eugenicist war. And the 2020s in Star Trek are actually quite bad.

Oh no. Are they lining up with the real 2020s? We're I mean, it's an interesting question because one of the famous m incidents that's portrayed in Star Trek Deep Space Nine is something called the Bell Riots that happened that supposedly happened in twenty twenty four in San Francisco. Mm-hmm.

And in that version of San Francisco, the rates of homelessness are very high. There is a big distance between these high tech authoritarian bros who have everything in San Francisco and then these homeless people that they're trying to keep distance from. And it's much more extreme than the San Francisco of 2024, but there's clearly a lot of overlap between them. And there's also been a lot of unrest because people are not happy with their social conditions.

I think the decision that a lot of voters made in response to that in twenty twenty four was obviously like atrociously wrong. But there's a reason that populism speaks to people. And I do think that that story about the Bell Riots taps into that. Mm-hmm. Yeah, you talk a little bit about Afrofuturism in the book. Just a comment. It's just interesting to read you talk about her in the book as well. Yeah, I mean... She's hard to read right now, right? Because like

the parable series opens and there are these fires and it's 2024 and then 2025, right? And it's set in Los Angeles. And it's literally like I wrote about our time. And I think that there is a real lesson there. Octavia Butler is sometimes talked about as being kind of like a seer or a visionary. And really what she was doing is she looked at Ronald Reagan's campaign.

Where their slogan was, Let's Make America Great Again, and just projected what happens if that slogan takes hold and keeps coming back. And so she was a really astute student of history. And I think that when we read Butler, that's part of what we should be paying attention to.

And in the edge of space-time, the argument that I'm making is that we should go back and know our history, including our cosmic history. And so I think that that's the connection is that she was also saying, if you know your history, then you can start to think about what the future might be. But she also says in her her nonfiction writing to not count out the surprises. So she's not saying we're doomed, we're destined for this.

Crap. She's also saying that we have to be ready for things to go differently than we expected because maybe we make a different choice.

Dr. Chanda's Guilty Pleasure: Twilight

All right. You're one of the smartest people I know. I have a dumb question. What's the dumbest thing you're into right now? Wait, I have to think about this. I mean you used to be in real into reality TV. I used to be a little bit of a. Okay, okay, I have it. Okay. I have been watching the vampire diaries. Okay. Is it like currently making new episodes? No, no, no, no, no. So you're watching an old vampire.

I'm I'm like marathoning the vampire diaries, which is basically like a soap opera with vampires. And it's I got into it because I finally saw the Twilight movies for the first time a few months ago and became completely obsessed. I am super into Twilight now. Wait. Like ironically or you're just like this is good and I like it. Bird?

So I definitely think that you will for anyone who hasn't watched Twilight, you should. And the reason that you should watch the first movie at least is if you watch it as if it's camp. It is like perfect campy filmmaking. Like I just like they're there's they're so good. Yeah. I mean and you're a baseball fan, so I'm immediately thinking of how you're receiving the like scene where they're playing they have to play baseball in the thunderstorm'cause they're so good at playing baseball.

So funny. That said, and there are so many things. I've read the first book. I haven't gotten through the second one. I will say I don't think Stephanie Meyer is the most amazing writer of all time. But She's a great world builder, what I would say, a great universe builder. She just decided I am making vampires totally unlike vampires have ever existed before, like they glisten like diamonds. And they are hard like rocks and so when they have sex they make clanging noises, I guess. This is

I I've heard there's a lot of discussion on Reddit about the clanging sex thing with the the vampires. Uhhuh. And I am just so impressed by how intensely driven she was to just create this thing where she was like, I obviously really want to have this deep sensual clanging diamond. sex thing with blood and biting. Yeah. And there is a little bit of a feminist element to it, even though it's sort of weird about premarital sex.

It is a representation of teenage girls being horny and that being totally normal. And I love that for teenage girls. Uh you know what? I did not expect that answer to this question, but I will take it. In my next book, I will. You know, I had to read all three of them for an assignment at Jezebel like whatever, fifteen years ago now. And just beware, because after I read all three of them in a short period of time, I Felt like No, there are four.

Oh well, I read all of them in a short period of time. Right. See, I felt myself get dumber with the end of it. Like I felt myself like my writing was like bad. Like there's some writers I can read and I'll and I'll be so inspired you're one of them. I'll be so inspired by how good the writing is that it like makes me better. It gives me a little boost for a little while. But this is like opposite. So don't

Don't read it right before you have to write something. Um because it won't be as easy as writing normally is. Yeah. Doctor Chanda Prescott Weinstein, thank you so much for joining us and you can get Thank you for having me. Thanks for coming. Hysteria is brought to you by Fast Growing Trees. Did you know Fast Growing Trees is America's largest and most trusted online nursery with thousands of trees and plants and over 2 million happy customers?

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Prince's Legacy and Community Spirit

And welcome back. You're listening to Hysteria the podcast for people tempted to blow all their cash on the Diane Keaton auction. Do you have your eyes on anything? I haven't even looked at it. Not yet. Not yet. No, I'm gonna look. I it was gonna be my uh you know, my sit down, have a glass of wine before dinner and browse the auction. I love that. I love that for you. Mm. You did good, kid. R. Oh it was the ten year anniversary of Prince dying on Tuesday. I saw that.

I walked into the Keep It studio where Lewis was preparing to record Keep It. and announced it to the studio and he was like, Okay, maybe we should have you on the show every week just coming in and announcing really sad facts and that I talked about how much Prince loved the WNBA because he was really into tall, strong women.

And how he had the Lynx, the Minnesota Lynx, over to his house after they won the NBA WNBA championship and he did a private concert for them that lasted like all night long and he's amazing. He was amazing. Amazing. He was the celebrity that when he died I was like he was my Diane Keaton. I get it. I get it. He's a good man. And he loved Minnesota and he loved his town. Like he just, and he was like a good person.

I feel like if Prince had been alive when Ice was raiding the town, he would have like sent purple drones Yes. I totally agree. Take out like his own private ar he would have become like a paramilitary like ruler of the independent state of Minneapolis, Saint Paul. Yeah. And he would have like prote I think he would have marched with armies. That's Just a little imagination flight of fancy I've been doing today. Before we get to Sandy Petty, some announcements for the class.

If the latest ice raids, police crackdowns, and law and order talking points feel like they're everywhere and somehow never explained, Empire City is where it starts to make sense. Host Tangeri Kumanika breaks down how these systems were built, who they were built for, and why they keep showing up in every headline. Now he's taking Empire City off the feed and onto your screen for a live conversation with journalist Matt Cat.

and Yale Professor Elizabeth Hinton, two people who've spent years reporting on and studying policing from completely different angles. They'll dig into how we got here and what comes next. Join them live Tuesday, april twenty eighth at five PM Pacific, eight PM Eastern Time. Sign up at crooked ideas dot org slash empire city.

Spring is all about fresh starts, new t shirts, and terrifying new reasons to call your reps. The Crooked Store's Call Congress line has been a best seller since it launched years ago, and now it's available in new spring colors like butter yellow and chocolate brown. Alyssa, you know who came up with the Call Congress shirt? You did? That was me. That was an er Aaron Ryan original back in the fucking day. That was me. My baby will outlive me.

Plus all the pieces got a quality upgrade so your favorites can stay in rotation for even longer. Calling your reps has never been more important, so why not make spreading the word as easy as throwing on a comfy t-shirt, crew neck, or hat. Head to crooked dot com slash store to shop. Now let's get to Sandy Petty. Alyssa, what are you feeling this week? Sanity. Sanny. Okay. Sanny. Erin, I know I shared it with you, but I really was just

Tickled, warmed, loved an article about uh the cookie house at Carleton College in Minnesota. Oh yeah. This to me was so lovely. So going back Decades there has been a house at Carlton College that is always stopped. so that people can show up and make chocolate chip cookies. Now you can bring your own ingredients. You can make whatever you'd like, bake whatever you'd like. They have space for people to study and have quiet time.

But at the end of the day, when you have c baked something, you may eat what you eat, but you have to leave the rest for people who then come to the house. And Erin, in this brainbroken world that we live in, reading about a place where you could just go and bake a cookie or whatever you want and the stories that they had about like kids who would go there after like being in the library and they would try their grandparents' recipes and would

teach each other like how to make biscuits and how to make different doughs and they were like really into it. I was like if we had this every if there was if every town had a house where you could go make cookies and just like take some, you know, take what you want, leave the rest.

I thought it was lovely and community and how the people had taken care of the house for all of these years, the students in the university from the woman whose idea it was originally. It was just fucking lovely. I loved it. I love that. Also, just shout out to Carleton College. It's a great school. It's in Northfield, Minnesota. If you ever wanna have like a really good time on Zillow, Northfield is so cute. It is a cute technique.

Saint Olaf is also in Northfield, so there's like it's like a little college town. Famously where Rose Nylan from the Golden Girls was written. from yes. Famously where my sister in law graduated from also um and my brother went there for a year. Before he transferred. But um but yeah, no, St. Olaf, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, just like Um yeah. I love it. Ten out of ten.

It seemed charming. I loved the story. I shared it with like a million people because I'm like, you should read this today. Yeah, North is great. It is great. And Northfield itself is like Hallmark movie set looking. Like it's so cute. I don't wanna like It felt that way. I don't wanna blow up its spot, but it's so cute. I

The I I haven't been to Northfield in a while, but it is like so cute. It's as cute as Stillwater in my opinion. Stillwater, Minnesota is also one of the cutest places I think I've ever been. It's so cute. Minnesota. Minnesota's got some cute ass towns, guys. And it's got prints. Well, the ghost of Prince. The ghost of prince. But they have prints for a long time.

Petty: Bad Accents and Male-Dominated Films

They've had prints for a long time. Um, okay. Here is a thing I'm feeling petty about. This is also like midwestern based. Um I recently I I've been trying to like kind of when I have the bandwidth I try to fill in the blind spots in my like pop culture history. Okay, fair. And um the other night I had the energy to stay awake for long enough to watch a movie and I wanted to put on a simple plan, which is a movie from like I've watched.

Yeah, the late nineties. It's like uh Bill Paxton, uh Billy Bob Thornton, and it's a movie about these like guys in rural Minnesota who come across a plane that's crashed in the woods and the plane is full of c of cats. And they take the cash and then everything kind of like goes sideways from there because they're anyway. So here's my petty and I've I've harped on this before, but I I really need to keep harping on it. Two things. Um I had to just piece out of the movie.

Okay. And the reason that I had to piece it's like well written, it's well paced, it's well shot. Some of the some of the scenes were shot like very close to where I grew up. So I was like, Oh yeah, it's Ashland. That's outside of Ashland. So anyway. Um it it's you know, and the winter scenes are beautiful. It just feels like there's not a lot of movies that feel or look like that anymore. Well act it was well acted except for one thing.

Just because a movie takes place in a rural area does not mean that Billy Bob Thornton's accent is appropriate. A local person in Minnesota would never have a drawl. We just because there are tractors in town that you sometimes have to share the road with doesn't mean people have a fucking southern accent. It drives me absolutely bananas. That's funny. There are plenty of transplants in Los Angeles in the film industry that came from the Midwest. I know that you know better.

I know that you know and you should have known better in the late nineties too. The Cohen brothers were a thing. The Cohen brothers don't get it wrong because the Cohen brothers are actually from Minneapolis, St. Paul. And so when they make movies that are set in the Midwest

People speak appropriately. They're not drawing. If someone were drawling in my hometown, it would be like, What is this person doing? Everyone else talks like the mom from Bobby's world. Like there is not a world where people

Just because it's a small town doesn't mean there's a southern accent. And this is why I hated the movie Three Billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouri. I hate that movie with a fucking passion and I will like yell at anyone who likes it. Nobody in this small town in Missouri has the same accent. What? What? You all are in this same insular little area and you talk to each other all day. That's why they people like that's how accents form. People don't just like come in. Some of them are like

Oh y'all, I gotta get this cash out of this airplane here in Minnesota. Like that's not how it drives me nuts. I had to piece out. And then I tried to go back to it and I was like, okay, can I set this aside? Just whatever. Bill Paxton is at the height of his powers, and I love Billy Bob Thornton. That's Wait, but you know what's funny? So when you set a simple plan and I was like, Oh yeah, I've seen that movie. No. I saw a simple favor with Blake Lively.

Oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's a totally different. I was like, oh yeah, I saw this. I was like, this it was shockingly good. And then I was like, wait a minute, hard laugh. Yeah.

Here's the thing. Like I tried to go back to it and I was like, Oh, you know what? Actually I just I don't wanna watch a movie where only men talk to each other. I just can't. It fails the Betzel test so hard that I was just like, I don't actually care. And then the other night I tried to put on Tropic Thunder to like relax. 'Cause it's so silly. And I was like, I don't need to hear all these men talking to each other.

I just I don't care for this. I don't care for this at all. I don't think I can do it anymore. I don't think I can watch movies where it's just men talking to each other. That's fair. I just don't uh it doesn't mean that all movies where men talk to each other are bad. It just means I had a set amount of patience. For that type of media, and it's gone. I've used it up, I've spent it. I don't have anymore. Maybe it'll replenish, maybe it'll respawn, but I can't. Can't do it anymore.

Like it's it's like so yeah, I guess it's like a two pronged petty. I can't do like you gotta get the accents right. Can't do bad accents, but also movies with only men talking. in Anatomy of a Fall, which was a European film, it takes place like in a border region and they're so like exactly on what everybody's accent and linguistics should be. That like people are speaking different versions of French and like switching into English and French and German. Right. And it's like

In America we can't we can't even get like regional accents right. And that's half of the fun of doing movies set in other places is like getting giving actors a chance to like work with a linguistics coach and get it right and like that's fun. Anyway, so yeah, I can't do the bad accents movies anymore. Cass. I can't do movies where it's only men talking to each other or only boys talking to each other because they just don't care what they're talking about. I'm done. Done caring.

You know what? I recommend just a nice little palate cleanser of Steel Meg. Ooh that's a good that's a good idea. all women talking to each other except for um what's his name? The husband whose hat I have. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I was like, wow, I have a fishing hat from the nineteen eighties. But that it's like you listen to Shirley McLean and Olympia Dukakis and Sally Field, who was like way younger than I am when that movie was filmed, and Julie Roberts

It is Daryl Hannah, you know, way before Ryan Murphy did the hatchet job he did to her in his latest show. But like it is. It's really enjoyable. I watched it last week and I was like, this is the kind of person All right. Well I will try to find a palette cleanser. I mean, luckily now there are more options of entertainment where it's just women talking to each other than I think ever before. Right. So that's a that's a good thing for me.

Episode Wrap-Up and Listener Feedback

All right, that's all the time we have for this week's episode of Hysteria. We want to thank Dr. Chonda Prescott Weinstein for stopping by. Smartest person we know. So smart. She's literally a theoretical astrophysicist, uh amazing. By her book. It's available in your local independent bookstore. If you want to get in touch, hysteria at crooked dot com is our email address. I want to thank everybody who got in touch about the book Sophie's Squash.

When I said that my little one was carrying a potato around, a lot of people got in touch, a lot of librarians and people like in the know were like, Check out this book. It's about a little girl that has a friend that's a squash and the squash dies. I'm like, Okay. Oh god, it's like the velveteen rabbit but with a squash. It is, it is, it is. But I'm I'm definitely gonna try and check it out from uh the Los Angeles library and read it to my little one, see if it resonates.

Um I found it in her purse the other day. She has a purse. So cute. Yeah. So I'll let everybody know how that all goes. Um, that's the show. We'll be back with more hysteria next week. Don't forget to follow us at Crooked Media on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subscribe to Hysteria on YouTube for access to video versions of your favorite segments and other exclusive content. And if you're as opinionated as we are, consider dropping us a nice review.

Hysteria is a crooked media production. Caroline Restand is our senior producer, our executive producer is me, Aaron Ryan. And Alyssa Master Monaco is our co-producer. Claire Fogarty is our associate producer. The show is engineered and edited by Jordan Cantor. We get audio support from Charlotte Landis. Our video producers are Rachel Gayevsky and Claudia Shanks.

Matt DeGroat is our head of production. Adrian Hill is our head of news and politics. Kendra James is our executive producer of culture and entertainment. And thank you to Daisy Cruz and David Tolles for production and marketing support every week. А продукціоста унізвут з гіл в Америка Ест.

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