From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A production of iHeartRadio.
Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, my name is Noel.
They call me Ben. We're joined with our guest superproducer Max the Freight Train Williams. Most importantly, you are you. You are here that makes this the stuff they don't want you to know. It is Thursday, August seventh, No August eighth, as you are hearing this this evening, and we're so glad that you joined us. Folks, this is where we get to hear from the best part of our show, our fellow conspiracy realists. We're going to We're
going to learn about bugs, big bugs. We're going to have a discussion about factories, a little bit about dangers, dangers that we clocked a while back in private industry and DNA before we get to any of that. Boy, howdy, as they say in the US, we've received a lot of response to our concerns about speed limits or limits governors. Yes, indeed, and.
We will get to that after just a quick word and we're back, and boy, Ben, did you nail it. We got a lot of response from our EU listeners about a story that Matt brought to the table about technology potentially on the table to be added to vehicles that would limit the maximum speed of cars, of consumer cars, much like the governors that are placed on commercial vehicles like trucks or.
I believe they're called lories over there school.
Buses, well, school buses one hundred percent, and the term there is governors.
I think that's what they're still referred to.
We did get a couple of messages saying we have we didn't quite nail the geography around that conversation. I think we may have even already printed or spoken to that in terms of you know, it was the difference between Scotland and Ireland.
And that the United Kingdom is not the EU exactly.
But this one specifically comes to us from an Irish listener that goes by see hey guys. Unlike what Luke from the Netherlands said, unfortunately, some people in Ireland aren't happy about the speed limit regulations. Ireland doesn't have a great public transport system like mainland Europe. The majority of people drive as it is unfortunately necessary. I don't drive
and it does limit me a lot. I live in Cork City and can walk or get the bus most places, but limited by the terrible bus service where you don't know if the bus will show up or even go to your destination, as they have a habit of just stopping in the middle of the routes. At times there is no connection either, so if you need to get somewhere that could be less than thirty minutes away by car,
it could take ninety minutes by bus. The speed limit changes for cars instituted by the RSA Road Safety Authority are changing speed limits on the roads. Mainly, what people are annoyed by is that they are decreasing rural roads from eighty kilometers an hour to fifty kilometers an hour, and roads closer to towns and villages from fifty kilometers
an hour to thirty kilometers an hour. This is really needed on rural roads, as some of them are literally big enough to fit one small car and would have grass growing on them. It is the fifty to thirty that is annoying everyone, as some of those roads are newer and wider and don't need to be reduced for Matt. Yes, grocery shopping can be a real pain without a car,
but maybe it's different in the US. A lot of Irish would do a main shop once every four to six weeks and a smaller one weekly which can easily be carried by bus or train. I get my main food shop delivered once every six weeks. And grocery delivery I just want to point out like has been much more of a thing in other parts of the world and in bigger.
Cities, perhaps in the United States.
Than the advent of things like instacart have kind of created. So it's become a lot more common for folks that I know and myself included to get grocery delivery. But in Europe and places like New York, for example, grocery delivery has.
Been a thing for a lot longer.
Also, just to note, Ireland is very car centric and Cork they were looking at changing the whole bus networks to bus connects, which prior to public intervention, would have vastly improved the service in Cork, but it was destroyed by people who don't use public transit, and now it's basically back to where it.
Which is pretty much useless.
I absolutely love the show and you guys' best ce so you know, And there's also I'm gonna maybe save this last little bit if we wanted to talk about something else, but I did want to throw to you, Matt, since it was your story that you brought. Does this change your perspective at all on this type of legislation or is it still kind of a matter of, like, you know, this this should be something that's left up to individuals.
I don't know.
I'm still trying to process how I feel about the government changing speed limits.
Ben.
I would defer to you a little bit just because we've I know you've talked extensively about the types of roads that get certain speed limits, basically the standards I guess at least here in the US, where you know, depending on how many lanes, depending on what type of street or road or what highway or whatever it is, it gets their own standardized speed limits. And like coming through with this Road Safety authority coming through and nerfing
basically the speeds on all of the roads. I can imagine that maybe happening in the US and maybe having a little more safety, But I also know directly the experience right after getting home driving forty five on a thirty five because I'm trying to keep up with traffic and still having vehicles behind me, like a giant ram truck trying to get like through my vehicle somehow, because somehow, if they got.
Through my vehicle, they could get through all the other ones.
So yeah, I appreciate that really quickly. Did I screw up? Is there no technological aspect to this conversation?
For some reason, I thought there was also conversation maybe just came up, you know, as a part of the conversation that the idea of technology that could limit yeah max speeds, This isn't.
Okay, Okay, that's inherently part of it. Making sure, that's a huge part because it's been an ongoing debate. And you can go check out earlier episodes of Car Stuff wherein you can see the history of this discourse on the American continent Canada, US, Mexico or North American continent. We've received some great correspondence that shows us how regionally different parts of Europe and well Europe entire, the UK and the EU can be in some places it is
almost American. It is very difficult to live without your own personal transportation. In other places, a car, weirdly enough, does seem to be a burden, right, and you run into that in some large conurbations here in the US, like Boston or New York City. It's kind of why would you own a car if it wasn't your job to somehow have a car. The technological aspect is fascinating because history proves it is somewhat inevitable, especially in countries
that are already highly developed. This is seen as a number one way to prevent unnecessary death.
Yeah, and I mean, you know, it's actually a friend of the show, Andy who's written into us. He's in a band called Sky Trumpets, and I believe he actually grew up in County Cork and I had the privilege of hanging out with him on a European trip a few years ago in Berlin, and he talked a bit about life in the village. I mean, this is kind of a much more rural area, and I can see how the public transportation aspect could be really iffy, you know.
I mean, even like in my hometown Augusta, Georgia, it is nearly impossible to get an uber when you actually need it because the infrastructure is just not there. And Augusta is actually the second largest metro area in the state of Georgia, second to Atlanta, and Georgia, of course, is largely pretty rural.
So even a.
Place that is considered a pretty big metro area, it just isn't the demand for it, or there aren't the drivers, or whatever the case might be. And very similar the buses in Augusta. They just don't run predictably and you really can't bank on them to get places on time. And I've you know, been out with friends and Augusta drinking or whatever and tried to get a lift or an uber and it just it just won't come. It'll say, looking for a driver, you'll find one, and it'll say
fifty minutes before the car will come. And so it's just you can't really depend on stuff like that.
But the bus system, I would say here in the US, especially in the South, there's not the necessary amount of political will for the infrastructure of public transportation, and a lot of that is unfortunately tied up in historic racism.
M you know, that makes me think of the whole concept of the other side of the tracks, you know, like development, you know, on the other side of like a rail thoroughfare for you know, a movement of goods. That term has inherent racism to it as well, the idea of you know, having a community that was on the other side of the train tracks that would often be a more impoverished and minority community, and so that term probably even a little problematic, And it hadn't occurred
to me until recently. Here in Atlanta, in the city of Decatur, there was a pretty racist, i believe, lawmaker who made a big deal about, you know, developing properties like only on one side of the train tracks there. And I think there was a middle school that was named after him, but then they changed the name Renfro But that was probably a conversation for another day.
Yeah, I think these are very good points. And see again, thank you so much for taking the time to give us this invaluable perspective. We know that one of the one of the biggest issues with the idea of public transportation, or the idea with a bunch of people driving their own vehicles together, is that it requires a public covenant, It requires a level of trust, right, And this idea of a speed limitter is you know, ideology aside. It is the idea of reinforcing that covenant of public trust.
Part of the reason there's not a lot of public infrastructure or transit, I should say here in the US, is because that level of trust is simply not there yet. However, always forward to the future. One thing I really like about C's letter here, Noel, is that it's not just about the speed governors, is it. Yeah.
I left out the final paragraph of the letter from C, and I think we'll bring it up here now. Lastly, Se says, it is crazy to me how much targeted ads are happening. I have been going to talk therapy and we've been discussing childhood trauma and learning to love and listen to the inner child to help overcome a lot of emotional the neglect in childhood. The week after starting and using this language, Instagram has been showing me ads for apps and therapy groups for childhood drama and
reconnecting with the inner child. It's actually kind of funny and sick all at the same time. Presumably not sick in the parlance of like Surfer Talk. I absolutely love the show, and you guys, see, so we've talked about this,
the idea. I think it came up recently about someone in a therapy type situation making notes in their phone about like improvements or things that they wanted to change, or keeping maybe a diary about medication or something like that, and that once they stopped doing it in their phone and put the phone aside and started writing it down on pad and paper, they stopped getting these bizarrely intrusive targeted ads that were relating to very very personal stuff.
So I really do fully believe that there's listening going on and that you know it is interpreting it and actually feeding you targeted ads. I would argue that's probably not the best thing in the world to have your
phone anywhere near you when you're doing talk therapy. But that does bring up the question about what about online therapy where maybe you're using your phone or your computer, and like, how is Google or Instagram or Meta or whatever keyed into that, Because we also know that Chrome, you know, from from a recent discussion on Google's kind of shady search engine optimization practices and the murkiness behind that, and you know the idea that they're potentially even using
Chrome as a key logger in a way to you know, feed you more accurate advertising, you know, from your Gmail terms and your search terms and all of that. Does that extend to audio? And like, do we need to be in a quiet room where there's no access, you know, for these devices to listen in, you know, because again in the conversation we had Ben in the previous Strange News episode about the porn tokens or whatever you know in Spain, the promise by these government entities that they're
going to delete this stuff about you. And that's similar promise that comes from these giant, you know, conglomerates, these corporations that are you know, in the tech trade, in the in the data mining trade.
Their promise that they will delete this stuff.
The promise of the TSA that they will delete those photos they take of you that matches your face, your biometrics to your passport, that those will be deleted. I don't want to like be scare mongerie, but I just have a real hard time believing that that's happening unless it's like absolutely forced, you know, like like an adult in the rooms and show me you put throwing that in the in the trash and then hitting empty trash.
You know, I just I don't believe it. Man. The EU does have legislation in this regard that has the kind of teeth and bite, the tooth and claw that simply would not be allowed to exist in the US to lobbying. One thing I really like about your note there see if you haven't checked it out, please check out an earlier conversation I outline part of why this has become modern folklore. It's not so much the idea
of your phone entire listening to you. It's the implicit privacy permissions you give to any app on your phone. That's a big part of it, and it's often obscured purposely. I would argue within the TOCs or within the sorry, the terms of use and the terms and conditions, and that kind of stuff. You know, the thing you scroll past because it's purposely written to be nigh unreadable. One other thing that can happen without being too redundant. Here,
one other thing that. One other way this process occurs includes Wi Fi spots. The ISPs are able to monitor this and you are. That's why your ads may change depending upon the Wi Fi you are using. And it can be an interesting thing because if you leverage it correctly, it's a way to learn about other people around you. Nothing weird.
Yeah, see, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I think your phone's not listening. Everything's fine.
What you need.
Just can give you a quick recommendation. Head on over to the black Market on Monahan Road, pick yourself up a fromo one of their signature mixes of slushies and ice creams. It'll be delicious, and then just take a quick walk over to the black Rock Castle Observatory. It's I mean, come on, you're not getting get anything better than a sixteenth century castle home that's also home to a science center and observatory. It's open from ten to seventeen o'clock.
Well, gee, that sounds delightful. I want to go to there.
Just if you happen to find yourself in Cork.
Thanks, targeted ads.
All right, we're gonna take a quick break and then come back with another piece of listener man.
And we've returned just as I have recently returned from Ohio. Guys, and we all saw this in our email inbox, a message from Lauren. So it has to do with Ohio. So we're gonna get to it. Lauren says, Hey everyone, my name is Lauren, and I live in the Dayton, Ohio area. You're all over Ohio these days, Matt, I am so skippity Ohio.
A big local news story. This is Lauren again.
A big local news story this week is a giant Homeland Security investigation into a local factory called fu yow I think that's how you would say it, fu Yao fo yow hm. Nearly thirty houses and the factory were rated the other day as a part of a criminal investigation involving labor exploitation and financial crimes. There's also a
possibility of money laundering and human smuggling. If Fuyao seems familiar, it's because this factory was the one featured in the Academy Award winning film American Factory from twenty nineteen.
I'm sorry, I'm laughing just because I'm not familiar with this film. That's also a really dull name for a film that decids what is this about?
Well, it's I watched the trailer that was available on Netflix because that's where it was, and it looks like a story of investors coming in from another country who basically turn a factory around because of this small area or the small town is basically dependent for jobs on this one factory that was just going to go under, and some investors came through and changed it.
But changed it means they also get it for a song, yesite a few tax incentives and they story as old as time, very American.
Oh yeah, they changed it a lot and brought a lot of people over that replaced a lot of the factory workers that were existing in there.
So it's an.
Interesting story of like, what is the whole job dependent life thing that we all exist on?
Right? What is this?
What does it really mean to have a dependable job and be a good old battery going to continue? Lauren says, just thought this was an interesting connection. There's definitely some fishy stuff going on with the whole place. People who lived near the houses rated said there would be like ten to twenty men living in there, keeping to themselves except when they left the house in vans to apparently
go to work. I would say, guys, we have seen stories about that before in several other specific businesses and in situations of you know, human smuggling, human trafficking, where people are kept in places, oftentimes in factories and then basically shuttled to work and shuttled back.
In agricultures and others.
We've seen that time and time again. So we're going to find out here as we continue a long if that's actually happening. Just to finish out Lauren's message, they say it also seems to be that many of the houses were owned by the same LLC, according to the local news. Then Lauren gave us a link to a whio dot com article that, well, I guess we can just pull that up right now. It is titled Fuyau Plant nearly thirty other area locations rated in massive homeland
security investigation. It was posted by the Whio staff on July twenty sixth. Guys, should we just go ahead and dive into it and see what the see what the news is saying. Sure, so they are saying HSI, which is Homeland Security in collaboration with IRS, criminal investigations and other law enforcement agencies, executed federal search warrants at Fuyau
Glass America. They are, by the way, a factory that produces automotive class so glass for all types of different vehicles of all shapes and sizes, and twenty seven other locations in Dayton, Liberty Township, Miamisburg, I didn't know that was a place that.
Sounds made up New York'sville.
Yeah, Moraine, and West Carrollton. That all occurred, I guess, very soon before that was posted on July twenty sixth. The search warrants were part of a quote ongoing criminal investigation looking into the very things that Lauren told us, financial crimes, allegations of labor exploitation and the like. They were also investigating allegations of money laundering and specifically human smuggling. Is that's how they refer to it here on WHIO the news center seven crews.
I guess, I'm not.
Sure who they are with regards to WHIO, but they are Channel seven, so we're assuming it's their cruise. They reported seeing members of the US Border Patrol at several locations, in addition to Homeland Security investigators and yeah, they were on the scene in several locations as it was happening. They did they confirmed, I guess that it is happening.
They saw agents detain people at several homes. So these are like residential houses where they searched the house and they brought people out with zip ties, like their arms clasped you can imagine and about a dozen people at a home in Dayton, Ohio. Gosh, I don't know, guys. Homeland Security apparently would not confirm if anyone was taken into custody because.
Sh this is not going investigation.
But again, they are attempting to identify in the case of the human smuggling aspect of whatever's going on here. They're trying to identify victims, right, people who are being exploited by some one, who are either being kept or forced, you know, into a labor situation, or you know, often people whose passports and other travel documents get taken when they arrive into the US from another country. That's a very common thing. I'm assuming that's what this is all about.
And again that's an assumption on my part. When WHO News Center seven was reaching out to the people who run the factory, the people at Fuyao, they did not respond to requests for comment, but they did respond a little while later. On July twenty ninth, the AP News carries a story titled Chinese glassmaker says it wasn't the target of raid at US plant featured an Oscar.
Winning film Q Shacky. It wasn't me, It wasn't me. I'm just I'm just a glass. I can't do it. I can't do it.
Then they caught me on the assumably all right, the factory floor.
Yeah, caught me on the factory floor.
It was I got it. But that is the important part, is the blanket denial that we are not the target of this thing, right.
Yes, because it did have to shut down all of its production at its factory, a huge factory you can see pictures of on Google Maps. You can also see it in that documentary, massive plant that is producing this glass. They are saying, fu out Glass America. That is that they were told by authorities that a third party employment company was at the center of the criminal investigation.
Hmm, similar to, for instance, the provable cases of child labor yep in America's abbatois.
Yeah, the idea that, Okay, you're a company that owns a factory producing a good, you need cheap labor. Well, you as the factory, as the company, aren't going to hire that labor. You're going to hire a third party that helps you get that labor. And if this is the way, and if anything goes down, those are the guys they get raided, and those are the guys, they get blamed for all of it, even though you're benefiting as the company in the factory.
Yeah, with a little vigorous all around to grease the wheels. But the idea that vigor is just for retreat, right. The idea then here just to outline the process, and and Lauren, I think I think you will find it darkly surprising how often and how widely this process can be applied to any given industry. The idea is that your subcontractor your third party will be able to create a Matroshka doll of other sub subcontractors, and each time that occurs, some portion of the hot potato of legal
responsibility and blame gets tossed to the next team. So really, what you're paying people for is just as much in dimnification as it is ease of service and finding people. Mmm.
There you go, Hi, guys, I'm gonna give you a little more context on here about the documentary and about the factory itself. According to the AP, this factory was originally a General Motors factory. Over ten years ago. It was going it was shuttered, like it was shutting down. They also got a ton of incentives from the state and local government, and according to Fuyo, the Ohio plant is the largest autoglass production facility, Like the largest, that's what you say.
Because aren't they the second largest overall glass manufacturer.
They're massive. Yes, and guys get this. Don't want to get too conspiratorial, but the please do. But the documentary titled American Factory that came out in twenty nineteen and won a twenty twenty OSCAR for Best Feature Length Documentary, it was it was produced by a production company that's backed by Barack and Michelle Obama.
And that's our show. Thanks for tuning a What was that well done?
There was Obama's There was a huge There was a lot of conspiratorial talk, at least on our conspiracy in a couple other places about some movie that came out. I can't remember the name of it. I think it was on Netflix and it was backed by one of these production companies that is backed by the Obamas, and it was about the technology and the world shutting down. I specifically remember this shot of all these teslas that were like automated and just running into each other on
the road. Can't remember the name of it. Somebody write to us and remind us what that was and what was about. But it was a bunch of hubbub about the Obama's basically putting money into telling a narrative.
Also, yeah, I vaguely recall what you're speaking about there, matt let us. Also note something, and this happens on all sides of the political aisle most often. When you hear, oh, this powerful political figure finance this thing, what that usually means is that a very wealthy person who is active in politics has some sort of financial portfolio, right, and
that touches on the thing. They might not know what they are actually funding, right, They might think, oh, Vanguard has their fingers and all sorts of bags of badgers. And then you know, when you find that connection, then you can say, ooh, you know insert insert political figure I already didn't care for is clearly planning to make these weird toilets or you know, whatever the weird thing is. Also, you know, to be completely fai, sometimes yes, there is a concerted effort at an agenda.
Yep.
In this case, I don't know, I don't know that agendimen.
I don't I don't know, I mean, like, can't can these individual This is a question, can the these individuals really keep their eye on every falling financial Sparrow, I guarantee you that in many I feel like that guy who sold the suits. I guarantee you that in many of these cases, the people being accused of conspiracy are not really aware of where their money's going. They're aware of the percentage of money that comes back to them
in terms of quarterly profits. I don't know, But then again, I'm arguing against myself here because guys, the Clinton's got into some really sketchy stuff during Bill Clinton's governorship, right, I don't know, It's a pickle.
I want to end the segment here, guys, with a quick word from one of the people that worked at the factory and was there when all this went down. His name is Miles Smith. He, at least as of the time of this reporting on July twenty sixth, had worked as a forklift driver there at the factory for two years. And this is what he had to say. I seen the FBI, like Homeland Security. They said, go back in the building. We got a warrant to search the place, and so he spoke with some agents. Then
he said, we couldn't do nothing. We couldn't go nowhere. They said, you got to go to the bathroom. Well we got to escort you to the bathroom. Basically, they had us lockdown, shut down and sweating. And then he said, a couple of weeks before they came some of Homeland I believe came in and got some of the immigrants that were working here. Then he said, I saw them going through lockers, going through the equipment, checking the bathroom. And then according to Smith, the agents made everyone fill
out cards to identify themselves. So not just whatever your picture ID that you have on you, as like, actually fill out your information. Then they had to get in four lines, and these agents took all the cards. They id'd everyone basically to verify who everyone was there.
Also too, Also that's a very brilliant countermeasure. Uh, not only like, Okay, anybody can have fake paperwork, right, but can you yourself replicate that paperwork when asked?
Yeah, exactly in the moment they're doing when you're in their stress. M yep, that's a big deal. But Smith said he watched several people get detained from those lines after everybody you know, was trying to prove their identity. Guys, I don't have a bunch more on this, uh, Lauren, if you hear anything more, please let us know. We hope all else is going well in the Dayton area
and where you are. And uh yeah, just to enjoy Ohio, gotta say, guys, went I went to a place called put In Bay and I had never been there before. I didn't know anything about it. According to the locals, it is a big old party island that people go to just to get nice and schwasty.
But it was lovely. Ohio was lovely.
My son who is caught up in the Ohio thing like using Ohio, I guess in some kind.
Of shrugatory progatory.
Yeah, I mean, he was like, I'm going to tell all my friends Ohio is amazing.
And I again, I want to do this on air accountability moment. I apologize for bugging you about both pictures. I'm just very excited by boats and water and you're an excellent photographer.
Oh I got some great stuff. If you haven't seen it yet, I will send it your way. Also got some interior cave footage, guys, that I tried to replicate some of the seventies eighties, like shooting a model of a train station or a city, you know, where you have a little camera and you'd move it over the little model and make it look like it's a huge city.
I did it.
I did that upside down in a cave interior, and I made it look like it's the ground of the cave. But it looks like I have an unending like helicopter shot over a canyon or something.
It's awesome, beautiful. Please send it, oh I will.
All right, that's it for now, Thanks Laren. We'll be right back with more messages from you.
And we have returned shout out to our guest producer Freight Train, who, as a michigan or himself, notes that he regards Ohio as the frozen swamp of America. Okay, hey, all right, I got family from there also. I don't like this anti swamp rhetoric. So unless you meant it as a compliment, which perhaps you did, here we go. We've got We've got an email, and then we've got a letter from home, and we need all hands on deck for this one. If you are hearing this, that
applies to you as well. Our next piece of correspondence arrives to us from sc bug Geek that's all one word, s C. Bug Geek. We're kind enough to begin your letter with the following, Hey, guys, I love the show. You all have explored Big Sugar, Big Death, and such, but you all have yet to discuss Big bug slight editorial note here. As my colleagues know, I am incapable of saying certain contractions in this language. I am paraphrasing you a bit sc bug Geek. SC bug Geek continues.
I am an associate certified entomologist and a master termite technician in South Carolina. I have been in the bug biz pest control for going on ten years. There is an ongoing technique where large think global pest control companies buy up smaller companies and mom and popshop like me. The new parent company keeps the original name and forward facing workers, much like Big Death. And here here are pal.
The bug Geek is referring to our earlier episodes on the funeral a mortician industry, wherein we discovered that unfortunately, monopoly laws don't seem to apply to that industry. They're buying up all these supposedly mom and pop funeral services or funeral homes, and they're letting them keep their original branding, but they are essentially franchises and subsidiaries of a larger hidden hand. So apparently the same thing is happening with
the pest control industry. And I didn't look through the entirety of our episode catalog, but guys, I know we have discussed this in the past, the serious problems with the modern pesticide industry overall, and a lot of our fellow listeners are in that industry or have had some pretty disturbing experiences with it. Right.
Oh, yeah, that's a little I'm trying to apply it to the same context here, right, So, when these larger companies in the funeral business are buying out the smaller ones there, I kept trying to I remember thinking about that, like thinking about the profit motive for all of those and in my head, I swear it goes back to the McDonald's thing we talked about, where it's buying up the property, and the property was the thing. It wasn't even the funeral services or the company or the people
that's generating some kind of profit. It's just now they own a crap ton of pretty big property. If you think about a funeral home, I wonder if that's happening here. But you know, these pest control companies must be generating quite a bit of profit.
Yeah, very much so, especially when we consider that just like how the big boys in the funeral industry can control resources, right, kind of like how Walmart can set the prices or dictate prices for supplies and lower costs for everything just so yeah, and also operate at a loss if they need to drown the local mom and pops.
And that seems to be what bug geek is arguing is occurring in the pesticide industry, which I honestly find unsurprising, and I believe this may be worth an episode because we know that we know that the American public will have concerns when it comes to visible monopolies, right someone says, hey, Google does kind of run a lot of stuff, or like, hey, why can't I have a different internet provider here? Oh?
Exactly.
It makes so much sense now in some of that contact, because I can imagine, especially if you're talking about investor money rather than like an arrow exterminators, which is a really big one here at least in our section of Georgia. Like if you imagine them, this is theoretical but imagine them buying up a mom and pop store, right, That doesn't make much sense, I guess unless there are major investors in a company that are making money by somehow a publicly traded.
Price going way up.
If they are expanding, right, and they're making acquisitions and all that stuff, that makes sense to me.
Yeah, And I actually want to save some of what bug geek is telling us here, because you have hit upon something that most people don't know, and I think it's a thing this industry in particular would rather the public not know, because it's not a sexy thing to talk about, you know what I mean, It's not as fun as as on as pop culture conspiracies, because it is monopolization is an actual conspiracy. And we have to remember a lot of the substances getting supplied here are
provably carcinogenic. Well, with that note, Buggy, please be safe. You're obviously a professional in your field. We'd love to hear your war stories. And Matt, I think you absolutely nail it in terms of the danger of private equity. Just like Unilever really is a corporate chameleon. You know, its tentacles are so disparate and unidentifiable until you get to the hive brain and then you go, oh wait.
Yeah, it's you guys all along, and it's just got a giant mouth like a whale though that kind of combs through the ocean of companies and some of them go in and some of them it spits right out.
With its bailing plates. Yes, private equity, Yes, that seems to be what is happening. And here then is a and call right now, This is kind of a think of this, folks. As ats. We get a lot of episodes from strange news and listener mail, from your suggestions, from your input. We want to hear from anybody's worked with Big Bug in one capacity or another. We also want to hear about people who have had dangerous experiences with pesticides. And also their lobby is huge, the power
the pesticide lobby. It is a sleeping giant, and there's a reason it's not in the press all that often. So that's the downer. But we don't want to leave you without some good news to step to, or at least something interesting, So we will end tonight's exploration with a letter from home. This one is a little bit different. I'm putting the spotlight on you guys tonight and all our fellow listeners. Do you know how I have like I don't want to say mental dysfunctions. I got quirks, right,
you know, I get a little obsessive about stuff. That's you know what. We all go a little mad sometimes.
Ben, It's fine, well, Ben, as I will. I just I'm gonna give context if you don't mind.
Ben.
Ben's name currently in our recording session is Ben in an accent.
That's it's for a different show, a different thing for Ben. Thank you, Matt, thank you Blackstone Enthusiast, which we'll get to next week. By the way, that's a really juicy one. And uh Noel, I give you so many monikers and nicknames. I like to think you take some of them. Oh I dig them all? All right? All right, back man shovel so here as they call him in the Eus Spade. Yes, yeah, Here is our our letter from home again. This is a spotlight on you guys and freight Trainer. I hope
you joined this conversation. One of my new obsessions, and I've been talking with a lot of people about this on social media and on different shows that we do. Famous Last Meals. Context while back, went to a weird museum in New York called the Museum with two MS at the front, two ms at the back, and they had an exhibit entirely about famous last meals. And I have to ask you guys, starting with you first, then
we'll get to the listeners. If you had a fame it if you had a last meal defined as the last thing you eat noel holds barred before a state or powerful entity executes you, what would that be? And freight train for you. Since this is a thought experiment, you do not have the condition in this scenario, So what would be your dream last meal?
Well, if I'm going to jump in, uh, this is very much not a thing I can't I can eat with the condition. It would just a Caesar salad, a small one of big a big Caesar salad, no chicken or hunt.
That just that could be the death salad. That would be the execution and of itself, it would kill you dead.
I also, like you know, because the condition, I haven't been able to eat caesar salad for almost two years now, so I really eencrave in one right now.
So thank you for date. It is delicious.
Just the case, I gotta.
There's one in my fridge that I'm going to eat immediately following this recording.
You bastard. We need you to have Fomo max.
Yeah, I can FaceTime you while I consume it if you want.
There's a fetishy internet name for that map. Yeah, it's like that lady who makes millions of dollars just rolling her face and bread. Hm you know, bang right bang. Yeah, it's similar. Yeah, it's heavily in that genre.
I've been looking to diversify my revenue streams boys, so hey, it's a big economy.
Yeah, I don't know. Bread Lady might have been first to the post on that. Uh, but the so it's weird. I've been fascinated with the history of last meets. It actually dates back our earlier conversation about the Olympics, right, and the pseudo controversial Paris opening game ceremony. Last meals are kind of an ancient Greek thing, and they predate the idea of probably the most famous last meal in the West, which is, you know, the Last Supper of Jesus Christ.
Uh.
The that's the most famous last meal right now. But when I'm looking back through the history of this, it's quite common throughout the world for people to give someone a last meal. And we're going to have a hopefully fascinating episode on this for Ridiculous History coming up pretty soon. But I just I immediately thought of you guys. I was so fascinated. I've been thinking through what you all's like based on my understanding of your favorite foods, what
your favorite what your last meal would be. Uh, there's no holds barred. Let's pretend that, like, there's no budget, there's no cutoff. It could be anything. I think the gold should be barred, choke hold should be you want to eat a choke hold?
Well, I told you a joke that I stole from the I guess that was on the Adam Friedland podcast where he said he had this is like a whole like hack. He said his last meal, he would choose to eat the electric chair every time, and and then they have to, you know, eat the electric chair. Then it wouldn't function and they'd have to, you know, give him a stay of execution and then presumably a new last meal, and then he'd do it again every time.
I thought this cute. There's the all you can eat buffet hack. The intent right, like I'm getting you know, all you can eat crab legs in case dias, I'm just never quite done. I'm taking a break.
Uh.
The execution apparatuses of the world are hipped to that one. Unfortunately, a lot of people wait, so are you saying you're joking or would you you would try to do that? I couldn't. I couldn't get down any any part of an electric chair. Just think of the fiber in the minerals and the minerals. Think of the minerals. There's also
this goes state by state here in the US. But the one thing that's really heartbreaking that you may find is that typically when people are on death row, whether or not they were guilty of the crime that they're being executed for, typically after they've spent that much time in lock up, the things they want become relatively simple. I was talking about this on Daily Zeitgeist. You know, you might imagine something opulent like ortilon, or you know,
give me a tiger. I want tiger meet Most people are like, I want a burger and fries and some ice cream, or I'd like a three piece fried chicken.
But maybe I really like a double double animal style from In and Out that'd be good. I think i'd request. I think I'm finally on board with the idea that in and out fries or trash. I always try to defend them, but they really aren't that good, like the crispy bits at the bottom of the fry bag. So I think i'd ask I request fries from outside a different place. Yeah, some nice seasoned fries.
All right? So uh, in and out double animal style seasoned fries from somewhere else TBD. Caesar salad for freight train, Matt, Do you have a pick? Oh?
Yeah, sure, green curry tie, hot stinged rice and jasmine. Need some spring rolls in there, for sure. The kind of haves shrimp in them, like the.
Like the like the fresh spring rolls or the fried spring rolls. Fresh spring rolls, Yeah, with the nice papery kind of sticky.
The rice paper all day.
And I'm gonna need tofu in that green curry as it will absorb the deliciousness. And we gotta make sure it's not that runny watery. No, you's gotta have some got some body and the tofu. Do you like a little seer on your tofu? Ye?
Yeah, exactly, thank you? What are we playing otherwise now sometimes kind of like a custardy tofa. Sometimes I don't need to see her for the last meal.
Oh no, I get a really rad dish from There's a place called High Chinese here that does this thing called Mapo tofu. Yeah, it's fabulous, but the tofu is this custardy consistency. It's not fried at all, and I love it, But for the most part, I would prefer a little a little crispiness on my tofu.
I'd be worried if you're eating slovenly tofu. It's it holds together. It's custardy. Custardy. That's a pleasant that's a pleasant mouth feel, guys.
But if you feed that to me, you can just take me away. I'm good to go there.
They are also tragic stories because this gets into the larger conspiracy and problems with the death penalty. Like there there's at least one case I know of a mentally impaired person who, upon being led to their execution, saved their cake for afterwards, and they asked the guard to keep an eye on it because they didn't understand what was happening to them. Wow, But in good news, in
good news, there are for a while. It seems there were no limits on what people could order, and our buddy Miles from Daily Zeitgeist and Jack from Daily Zeitgeist they pointed out, maybe this was a show of conscience on the part of the prison staff or the executors. You know, I think they have empathy, you know, especially when facing down the reaper.
Yeah.
It's a little too late, too little though, maybe so I'm just you know, just be a devil's advocate. Yeah, I think that's appropriate. But it's like, hey, sorry, we're going to kill you, even though the state has serious questions about whether you did the crime. Here is a cheeseburger. Best we can do as long as it's a double double animal style baconator baconator, right, because you don't have to worry about the calories. Oh boy, that went dark.
This is This is a fascinating thing to me because food is such a fundamental part of human culture, and this would be your last chance to participate in that universal interest. And this is where we throw it to you, folks. We want to hear your story, not even your stories. What is your ideal last meal? Please? Please do tell us, take all the time, all the detail, you need check
out earlier conversations about this in different shows. Stay tuned for our Ridiculous History episode that dives into the origin story of Last Meals, along with notable episodes in the future. I hope you are never in this situation, but please do remember Last Meals in the US do go state by state. For instance, in Florida, you have to have local ingredients and it can't be over forty dollars. In Oklahoma, it can't be over twenty five dollars. In Louisiana, the
warden sits down and eats with you. Oh damn, which bothers me. It's a little weird. I feel like that's I would I would request that I would give a pass on that. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. And in Texas they don't do it anymore.
What if there was a thing in Texas, like an episode of King of the Hill where you have to eat the biggest giant t bone steak and if you finish the whole thing in less than thirty minutes, your whole meal is free. Oh and you don't get executed. That Okay, that would be such a Texas thing. Man, wouldn't that be like a man? And then you get your picture up on the board too.
You know, Oh my god, he's got a picture of the board. Yeah, we want to hear your stories about this, folks, and as always, we greatly appreciate your time. Big thanks to Laura and big thanks to See, big thanks to sc bug Geek. Let us know, seriously, tell us in detail last meal. You will be referenced on on a future show perhaps And you might be thinking, Hey, that sounds like a fantastic idea. I'd love to tell you I've been thinking about this, But how do I get
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