Do you have We don't have a cold. We gotta do. What's something funny that happened too? Mm hmmmm? Oh dude, I bought turntables this weekend.
Oh mids my own airs coming back.
I used to be a DJ when I were young.
I don't when I were young. I don't believe you.
What do you mean you don't believe that I bought turntables?
No, I actually do believe all of this.
I bought CDJs. So what are you gonna do? Is this? Was?
This?
Was it something that was destroyed in elf in cinema.
Because all of my musical equipment was destroyed, I needed a way to be musical again. Yeah, this felt like the lowest barrier to entry because I'm already I already know how to like DJ, like sort of basically I used to. I'm so old, I was mixing vinyl. So like with all this digital ship is so much more fun and it's a way for me to have fun.
Do you ever want to just DJ your own party? But you can't because that would feel like corny? I don't know, like.
When you DJ, you kind of get off on DJing anyway that like you kind of are partying except you're control freak and you're in charge of all the music.
My DJ friends who still do it? I mean I had one and he's so talented, but he was like last in l A and.
He's like, yeah, come through.
I go on A three and I'm like, I'm sorry when in the morning, Yeah.
Good for you to get that spot.
WoT exactly what you can have is started three like whenever one. Yeah, dude, I'm ready to stay out of it. Yeah, and you're like, hello the Internet, Welcome to this Monday morning edition of NPR. I'm Miles Gray. Oh I'm sorry. No, this is the daily Zeitgeist, and this is time for us to tell you what has been trending over the weekend. I forget how Jack does the intro, but guess what, he's out on a little break. So we go and do it my way like mush okay. So anyway, here
we are. It is Monday, March thirty. First, no fooling here. Maybe tomorrow though. Buckle up, and it's twenty twenty five. We're great, fantastic. There's such a flawless start, but this is how this podcast works. We're open, we're transparent, and we are flawed. Human beings. I'm Myles Gray, and I am thrilled to be joined by my guest co host who you might be here and here and there throughout the next two weeks. The brilliant and talented. I don't
even multi hyphen it, just throw anything. Fucking Buenos aidas party, animal, discount, how in the club before four am? Fantastic parent, partner, activist, journalist, comedian, what the fuck us? What else do you do?
Podcast?
Podcasterbituation Room. You heard it off, Francisca frent teeny, Thanks.
So much, Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to fill in for Jack for the next little bit. I'm excited to dig into everything with you.
You know, I don't know. Starting a Monday morning with Miles Gray is.
Like A really that's a rare treat. That's exciting and I'm so wow.
Thank you. Oh well, and I feel the same. The feeling is mutual for Tesca because I'm like, yeah, we get to talk, we get to be Asian people on Mike.
Yes.
Anyways, saw that clip you on Jenny Yang's podcast. I was like, oh man, I started listening to that episode. It was really good, really really good.
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, Jenny Yang had a very real moment. Listen to her podcast just like calling in you know Asian influencers and content creators. She knows if you are an Asian doing in entertainment or online, she knows you. She will trap you into her awesome web of like solidarity.
But you know, as we're.
Going through this moment of real fascism and the Alien Enemies Act, which somehow is still on the books.
Yeah, yeah, funny, we just let that one cook still need it again?
Yeah, I mean this is the whole thing is like can we get rid of it? Not? No, okay?
And you know she's she's basically like, look, this helped intern you know, hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans. So maybe it's time to speak out about what is going on, even if you personally are not being impacted. And that's that's hard for someone who's like I think Jenny and a lot of folks like they don't want that smoke.
They don't want to talk about yeah, political shit, and I get it, you know, you want, you want opportunities, you don't want to And also Zegler and you're like, yeah, queen, you know.
Yeah, yeah, but I think also culturally too, like knowing a lot of Asian immigrants and what that process is like assimilating, and like just culturally too of like keeping your head low. There's a lot of shit you have to break through to kind of arrive at that point where you're like, now, this is the only way to fucking be talking about shit. Yeah, but anyway, yeah, very very good. Talk. Also found out that her one of her favorite professors is like my aunt in law. That's that checksa so wild.
Yeah.
Yeah, anyway, here we are telling you what's strended, but first we got to tell you what is happening in our hearts. What's over rated and underrated in our hearts? Francesca, I'm gonna ask you first, what is something you think is overrated from your personal life? What's going on with you?
Uh, if you've made this mistake, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But the litter robot, which is an automatic cat litter bot.
Which sounds a little robot.
Yeah, yeah, it is completely overrated.
Okay, Well, what's going on with yours? Because my school is doing it?
Kick in really yeah, I.
Had to get I did have to send one in though before because one was fucked up.
They are really expensive, number one, We're talking like seven hundred dollars. But then you think about it, right, you think about the time, you think about the smell, you think, and it's worth it. And when it works, it's good. But when it breaks down, which is frequent, it.
Is like upside out. Your cat doesn't want to go inside the litter and then just shits outside of the box. And so we got to a.
Point where like the cat was poison billed against the litter because it kept on like turning, like being upside out when she wanted to go inside of it.
Oh what the fuck, that's way fucked up her second litter robot, and so we've bad juju.
And like we got the warranty, so they're like, oh, we can replace a part, but like this bitch has already.
Been poisoned against it. So now she's just shitting outside the box even when it's working. So we had to go now get a regular litter, like you know, peasants and scooping.
Just bending over and scooping and terrible.
Wouldn't be me.
So I'm really glad that you've had good experiences, but telling you it's a swing because I had so much money.
It's funny, like I had one that one of the sensors was working and it kept being like it's full, it's full. I'm like, it is not full, you fucking fool. Look at it. There's one turd in here. Do your damn job.
No. But that's what I love about it is that it does turn it over. When it is one turd. You can't smell it, you like, keep it the it's good it m No.
I get it though, because cats are so like particular, because that shit goes. Man. One time the door was too closed into like the closet area where the litter box was, and my cat was like, fuck this, I'm shipping everywhere. Fuck you, And so I get how the cat frustration works. But anyway, look, this is this, it's it's chaos out here.
It's chaos. Cats or ship a lot of shit, you know. And the kid isn't potty trained yet.
So I'm like, oh my god, dude, the guys child did his first pee in the toilet.
Amazing.
But then like it's like once a week he'll be like, yo, I want to pee in the toy I'm like okay. Before I would be like to do what. I'm like, you're there, yeah, and then now you think you've grown. Oh, and part of me is like just purely in denial because I don't want him to be potty, like you're still baby, and I will I will inhibit your growth for my own personal needs. But yeah, yeah, yeah, it's.
It's yeah, there's just a lot of poo happening and.
Yeah, yeah, my overrated is paying for case ida is I'm just now, like the more I think about it, because like, you know, kids like simple shit and something. I was out somewhere and I'm like, oh, mainly eat a caesadea, you know what I mean. And then I'm like, why did I pay eight dollars for this? Right now?
I could have what kind of case ofia you're getting? You're getting like a kid's casadia. That's it.
It was like just straight up just scrape cheese. It was like it wasn't a kid's one. It was just a plain case idea like at a like a.
Mass that's your mistake. What are you doing well?
Because the case doesn't like it too. He doesn't have the demandibular strength to chew through proteins. It's that can't be chunky steak. Kid. He can't do all that shit, so I have to get them the regular one. But I'm like, this is way too much. It's like this is this feels foolish. Like we live in California, we live in La. All of these ingredients are so readily available and it just takes a second to make it feels like one of those things like you kind of feel foolish, but like.
Buying total I mean, so, Matt, my husband loves buying casadias out and I get it.
I like it.
It's funny these This is not why he likes it, but I'm like, I get it because it's like almost a healthier burrito doesn't have tons of rice and beans and no, but you got pico and you can you know whatever.
I had a horrible.
Mexican food experience over the weekend that made me so sad. But the burritos in San Francisco just can't be beat. Like they are their own thing, like they've been around. I don't care if they were developed for an American palette. They were developed was developed by Mexicans. And I had the saddest burrito at a spot this weekend. It made me want to cry. And it made me think of Anthony Bourdain. Sorry to make it weird, but like Bourdaine,
he was depressive. Obviously we know that. But everything he had, like a bad meal, he said it. Sometimes it would just throw him into this like depression, or he'd be just sad.
That's what eating a bad burrito does to me.
I'll be like, wait, what was bad? Like was it the ingredients all stale?
Yeah, it was just no, no, no no, it was just like unflavorful and unenjoyable. Wow.
That sucks. And especially San Francis, the home of the Mission burrito, like what.
I used to live, like up the street from the best burrito and the love, like the love they put it.
You gotta have melted on the tortilla.
What you can't just throw cold cheeses, no cheese onto the.
The fucking play I hate fucking I'm gonna sound the alarm on that one. Sorry, we can't do that, Okay. What's anything is underrated?
Francesca underrated is getting involved locally. Over the weekend, I volunteered with Centro Cso, which is a long time immigrant rights organization in Boyle Heights in Los Angeles, and we distributed know your Rights flyers outside of like different grocery stores and like door knocking and me and like a crew rolled deep and we like it was like fifteen of us and we're just kind of like, you know,
some of us spoke Spanish, some of us didn't. And it was so nice to just like get offline start actually.
Doing real work.
I mean, you know, I'm not saying we change the world, but you know, informing you that if ice is in their neighborhood, they have rights. They don't have to open the door, they have to see certain things, make sure these people are for real. I mean, we're in such scary times and there are great organizations that are already fighting back. And even if you can't personally go those organizations Central Cia so definitely can use your your dollars as well.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I mean yeah, it is like such a sort of like breaking that inertia of panic right now is like really hard, and I think of like you have to just start small, like I think a lot of like because the task seems so gargantuan in front of you. You're like, all right, so I'm gonna learn how to make napalm?
Right?
Is that what I need to start. It's like no, not easy easy, Let's take steps though. Let's say you can work your way up to that if you need to, But right now it is so beneficial to either whether it's donating your time or just energy or expertise or whatever, there's always something you can offer if it's not you know, X, Y or Z.
That's why I love the Tesla protests because like, on the one hand, I feel like, you know, they they're both simultaneously like lightweight and not lightweight.
They're lightweight and that they're just we're just going to a dealership, super accessible, holding out some signs, people honk, but.
Also like they are getting under Elon's skin. Yeah, and you know it's awful. Like a woman was what was it, charged with a felony for putting God on a cyber truck. Yeah in Florida, mind you. But like still it's like, okay, we know these actions piss them off. So if you ever think that like protesting does not have an impact, it definitely does.
Yeah. Yeah. My underrated is the active pursuit of joy. Look, this is a lot's happened with the fire, Okay, and I'm.
You're you're you're giving up joy. Is that we're saying the actual pursuit of.
Joy joy no longer brings me joy. So I'm Marie Condo that no, I'm saying it's underrated to actively pursue it. So like a lot of the times too, I find myself just trying to be in a state of gratitude and to be like, oh wow, like that. There they are these simple pleasures that I'm surrounded with, and I think we take for gre in it all the time, which is very easy to do. But you can be like, oh, you know, the laughter of a child, like a scrumptious meal, whatever,
These small things add up. But then there's also things I think deep within us that are specific to things that bring us joy. For me, it's very specifically is music. And over the last few years I've completely like lost touch with like making music, and that was something huge part of like what I did all the time. And with the fire too, lost all my musical equipment, I lost all the music I ever recorded, I lost all
these creative projects, like nothing to make music with. So over the weekend I picked up some digital turntables and I'm like getting back into djaying, which is something I did in high school and college on vinyl because I am washed and I realized too, like it was something I always knew I wanted to do, but shot out my therapist, who was like, then go like, move towards it,
even if it's small, even if it's incremental. And the fucking joy that washed over me, just like firing up music and like playing with it again was so fucking life affirming again. And I remember when alec Herritotsanas was on recently, he was talking about, like it's so central to like a resistant like having a good energetic fuel tank for resistance, and part of that is filling yourself with joy and reminding yourself what is worth fighting for, what,
like what makes you happy? Yeah, and that was that played a huge part of me being like music, I gotta figure out how to keep doing it. I don't need to necessarily get into a band or start making beats, but I need to like engage with it again and that actively not passively. Yeah, actively and whatever you need.
Look, I think the rebuild needs to include a little music den for yourself. My brother is like a public school teacher in Oakland, but he like is also a musician He's been a musician since high school and has always like tried to carve out time and it's kind of his happy place. Granted he doesn't have kids, but the point is is, like, yeah, I have a lot of like music. We're taught to kind of give up stuff that doesn't make money in this especially in this country.
If you live abroad, there's more of a balance on like oh yeah, you can just be a hobbyist.
On some shit.
Yeah, but especially if you have the ability to either play or make music. As someone who doesn't have those abilities, I'm like, that's like a fucking magic trick, Like you need to do that.
Yeah, man, just get ready for these Madonna remixes.
And first of all, I'd be very excited.
One of my favorite oh No, that's not Madonna's a Janet but keitro Nada's Janet Jackson remix of oh Yeah, like one.
Of my favorite. So wait, there's no Miles Gray SoundCloud like from years ago.
There is. There is a Miles Gray SoundCloud. Now a lot of people know about it. I'll let you know about it. There's like some tracks I made when I was This was like I was like twenty six or something. That's on there. There's like three songs on them. But that was like such a drop in the bucket, Like I just had a hard because I used to make music purely for myself, like I had I when I
was working at politics. That was like my job and I sort of was able to soothe my wounds of being like being part of like the machine that like a democratic politics. And I was like, ah, like I was drinking and making music to like be able to do my job every day. And that was just purely for that, and I miss I just miss making things for the pure joy of it. Anyway, I encourage everyone, whatever it is, it's drawing, it's cooking, it's whatever, just
fucking like just actively do it. You'll be surprised, because I certainly was. With this simple trick. I'm overcoming depressive bouts. Okay, here we go. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back to talk about the news. Ay, way back. What a fucking weekend man. Donald Trump is saying, oh kinds of wild shit we have? Did you see that clip of him when they're talking about the tariffs and he's like, what about the fifteen He's like, who said fifteen countries.
Did you hear from your own countries?
It's all countries? What what are you? Okay? Like a pure like angry grandpa who feels like they're out of control? Did you hear me say it? Well? Guess what for me to be in control again? Now I'm saying this brand new different thing, like.
Who is this Trump guy?
Oh?
This Trump guy think he knows everything? I'll show him. Sure you are Donald Trump? Who? Yeah, says who you the line press? You're like, oh my god, we are so for gone right now?
Did I say I was Donald Trump? What a fuck? I guess not. Never heard of it exactly. I am, I'm iron man. Okay, great, well here's your McDonald's, sir, go into your room. But another thing that he's talking about over on the weekend was on NBC News. He called into NBC News on Sunday and basically was like, I am he was quote not joking about seeking a third term in twenty twenty eight. He said, it's it's far too early to think about, but there are methods
for doing so. Yeah, yeah, I mean like there's like very putent type methods to keep doing this. I mean, god, I hate I hate how much. Now we're like according to the constitution, like as if like this is our only defense or like, but the twenty second Amendment prevents this.
How we I mean this is we walk ourselves into these corners and we're like, well, as long as you don't touch social Security been touched, you know, you don't touch medicare like and.
The same thing with this third term.
It's like you got people already like and even just having the discussion is a sign of weakness, you know what I'm saying, where it's like, no, there will be no third term. We have checks and balances. We don't worry about it, like we got this, you know what I mean.
Yeah, exactly. In the media, it's so do you think.
There will be? And he, of course is what he wants.
I think I do think because the question is like my mom's like, you know, well, so do you think there won't be elections? And it's like, no, there will definitely be election. Whether to the extent that they are free and fair is the question. I mean, Putin has elections, you have to maintain some sort of Vernier right orbon has elections. Yeah, they want the illiberal democracy. They want people to still suspend belief that they're living in democracy.
It's like, hey, I went into the booth and I marked up a piece of paper and I had handed it in. Ah, I guess I was on the losing team again for the last twenty five fucking whatever the fuck. It's wild. On NBC News, they're like, like, what the fuck is this guy talking about? And they brought up there like are you talking about Like we've heard a theory, like a plan be floated where JD. Vance would run for office and then if he won, then passing the
role to Trump. And then Trump said yeah, that's one way, and he's like, but there are others too, And then when they ask yeah, thank you, yeah, and they're like, okay, well what are those other ones? Do you mind sharing? He's like no, So whatever you take from that what you will. It's bone chilling and hilarious at the same time. It's really it's really disorienting.
I mean it's again, it's like, stop giving him I mean number one, stop giving him ideas and stop pretending like this is at all like normal.
I mean, it's the same.
We're in the same shit, We're in the same spiral. We've never gotten out of this.
Spiral of like, well, I want to build a wall. Well, you know that's actually illegal. You can't do that.
You know, it would require you know, seizing a bunch of private property.
Bulb b blah.
Anyway, next, next, next discussion, it's like, oh, how do you want to make the wall?
Like how high do you want to build the skulls?
You know, yeah, right exactly. It's just will there be decapitated heads every twenty feet or every mile? Yeah?
Heads on pikes?
Yeah, thinking about real crocodiles Like this is the kind of way we see these discussions.
But again, I mean it's it's.
Like the media is so fucking hard up for like real fascism, and it's I think that's the one thing. You know, we've talked about it since the re election, but like the one thing I had not truly seen coming was how much news organizations to say nothing of like universities and law firms are kind of like you know, folding over and.
Well, that class of people are just they're they're far too wealthy, they're far too comfortable, they're insulated from any of the real horrors that like people experience at the margins of society. So to them, it's like abstract enough where they can like pearl clutch, but also complete be completely reckless with how they discuss these things and be like, this isn't us. There was a piece Daniel Besner wrote in Jacobin last week which was I think a good
exercise in reminding ourselves that this is us. Actually, these are We're using our own laws to do everything we are doing now. We are using agencies that have been created by the United States government to do all these terrible things. And we have a track record for many years of disappearing people, of displacing people, of throwing people out of the country for being quote political radicals. So I think that's an interesting.
University going after students for protesting Nazis, Yeah, which is amazing to learn that history.
Right, It's it's just truly, I think, and I think it's important, I think for people to really understand. It's like that's we have to really address this as being like an actual American issue rather than like, what is this fucking like Nazi Germany. It's like, no, this is America, actually, yeah, and that we have to reckon with our own laws in a way that you know, doesn't give cover to people like like Marco Rubio, who's using this.
You know again these ancient not ancient, but like you know, these whatever law from the fifties. That's like, yeah, you can just unilaterally revoke someone's student visa.
It's like these should not be on the books.
And that's what we mean by like trump proofing or fascism proofing the White House and the Executive It's like Biden didn't do any of this stuff. If you truly were afraid of fascism, you would, you know, make sure that.
We are, and the entire Democratic Party.
It's like, let's make sure you cannot operationalize some of the worst, you know, pieces of legislation that have done the worst crimes against Americans and none whomever in our history.
I mean, you know, it's the same shit where you're like, oh, California didn't vote to abolish slavery and prisons.
Cool?
Cool? Cool?
Yeah? Yeah. I mean well also too, like it gives people like Liz Cheney the ability to like act like they're on the side of good, like this is not us and like full are you for real? List? Come on now, you don't just because the Overton window has been blown open, doesn't mean you're suddenly like a force for ethical treatment of people. So anyway, we'll see what happens.
Here's the thing. If they try to do it constitutionally to give Trump a third term, let's let's all remind ourselves as a basic civic lesson, the constitutional amendments require two thirds of fucking Congress or two two thirds of the states agreeing to a constitutional convention, and then needs to be fucking ratified by three fourths of the states if they wanted to do it legit on paper, and
that shit ain't happening. So we will see uh elon fucking handing out million dollar checks over the weekend in Wisconsin to try and tip that state Supreme Court race, because right now there's a liberal majority of four three liberal majority and fucking everyone liberals conservative, they're putting there's, like I think they said, the most money that's ever been spent on a race of this kind in like
by margins of like by huge numbers. Musk has already put in around twenty million of his own twenty million.
Insane.
Yeah, I thought he was initially he and and now the court's the current court ruled that he could still buy voters off right.
They were like, I think the court just didn't decline to hear the case that was brought by the state attorney general against Musk. They're like, eh, you know, we don't. We'll see what happens. Yeah, yeah, it's I mean like he's got obviously cases in front of Wisconsin because they're like, nah, no more dealer no more Tesla dealerships for you. So and labor, I mean you think about everything too, like what Wisconsin is as a very purple state and how
thin the margins are every presidential race. This is like a very consequential state Supreme Court to have, you know, in control of the right wing because all this stuff like abortion, like those decisions are made at that level too. So you want in labor. Like, there's just so much that both parties see that it's like we have to maintain the majority or we need to regain this majority for X, Y or Z.
And if you're in Wisconsin, you can do same day voter registration. Voting is tomorrow, I mean yeah tomorrow, yeah, yeah.
Tomorrow or officially the poll.
Yeah.
And you know, I was looking into it because I'm like there's always a reason that Elon puts a bunch of money into something. It's really self serving. Yeah, I don't even really think it's about kind of the broader like MAGA project. I think it's just about himself. And then you look into it, and Wisconsin barred Tesla from owning both a manufacturing plant, so having a manufacturing plant and having dealerships because they saw that as consolidation in
the car industry. Right, And I don't believe every state has this law, but Wisconsin does. So he currently has an active case before the Supreme Court, and he wants that role in his favor. I mean, and it's wild to think, but this is what we have to be fighting for. It's like breaking up these big companies and whether it's in media, whether it's in tech, whether it's in the car industry. Of like, look, you can't just run both the manufacturing and the dealership and you know
the distribution and the creation. Now obviously media is completely destroyed that look at the streaming services, look at tech, look at everything. But like this is if we did get into clawback corporations control over our lives. That's where it happens.
If you really believe in like capitalism, like competition, you know, like all the medium you know, small businesses, Well, dealerships can be small businesses, dealerships can be medium sized businesses. You have to be supportive of those kinds of things. So there's always an angle for Musk, and it's never believe in the broader project.
No, he's like, I got cases.
Exactly.
It's I got cases I need ruled in my favor, so I'm gonna buy a fucking judge.
It's funny. Do you see Jim Kramer over the weekend. He's like, I hate the free market. I hate free trade. I'm pro teriff. It's like, you just shut up full like you are. My god, you fucking humiliated yourself fucking seventeen years ago. Let's not forget.
Yeah, and every day since he's still on air, I mean he's yeah, he has such a fetish for that.
Yeah. So I don't know, Elon go fuck you, uh a fuck off, I guess, but yeah, it was wild. He just started off this fucking thing, handing out two one million dollar checks to people and like the new I don't know, it's like Tammany Hall or some shit all over again. Yeah, exactly. Um, so we shall see
their signal Gate got a little bit dumber. I don't know if you saw Michael Waltz's latest defense of what happened like this, everything's been like it got stupid when he's like, we got elon looking into this and I said this last we like looking into your fucking thumbs to what end is there? Does there need to be any kind of like forensic digital analysis on how you added someone to a group chat?
He might be a good person to look into it, though, only because he wasn't included in the signal chats, so he's probably pissed.
What did you guys talk about? Were guys talking about? Were guys talking about me?
At one point?
Yeah?
Am I not part of they are? It's amazing how they are defending the use.
Of signal and all of this stuff. Yeah, and anyway, but what did walt say, Well, it's.
Also kind of funny too to see like Republicans like kind of having a really hard time where they're like this kind of was like a thing we ran on. It was like getting mad at people for not doing security right. But anyway, here he is on Laura Ingram's can show. I'll just I'll just play this. It's like mind blowing what he's now. He's like, he's like, I
just don't know what the heck happened. You you added him and you know him, so even stop saying this shit about I never met the guy, because you guys are in four K together in Paris, amongst other things. So anyway, here's Michael Wallas defending the indefensible.
I'm sure everybody out there has had a contact where you it was said one person and then a different phone number.
But you've never talked to him before. So how's the number on your phone?
I'm not an expert in any of this, but it's.
Just how's the number on your phone? Well, if you have somebody else's contact and then and then somehow someone that it gets sucked in.
Sucked in?
Why is it?
This is like classic, Like, first of all, I'm not so like I'm not saying Laura Ingram's a victim here, but it is very classic, like man's plain wrong, you know, man explain lie, Like, well, you know when things get suck sucked in?
Yeah, sucked off, So that's what happens.
And he's like sort of looking at her like this is the line. You know what happens, and you yeah, go along.
Was sucked in? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all the time.
And it's like, the question still stands, how was it even sucked in? This person's number was on your phone, which is fine. You people have journalists numbers on their phones all the time. And then you can't simultaneously say that he is a liar and he's a piece of shit and he's no good. So they're caught between this.
Yeah, yeah, you can't be he's trying to do the Mariah Carey. Oh I don't know her. All of a sudden, you know, you know him? Okay, So he denies knowing the guy ever talking to him, even knowing who he is. His number got sucked in through the fucking matrix or some shit. Kristen Welker had Jeffrey Goldberg on her show to be like, what what what dost thou say to that? What do you make of those explanations? Well, this isn't the matrix.
Phone numbers don't just get sucked into other phones. I don't know what he's talking about there. You know, very frequently in journalism, the most obvious explanation is the explanation my phone number was in his phone because my phone number is in his phone. He's telling everyone that he's never met me or spoken to me. That's simply not true. I understand why he's doing it, but you know, this has become a somewhat farcical situation.
Yeah, yeah, to put it lightly, but especially like when now we're like Jeffrey Goldberg, the biggest cheer one of the biggest cheerleaders of the Iraq War. We're like, yeah, Jeffrey, tell him, and then like, what the fuck's going on? Where are we?
But I mean, this is the thing.
It's like, it's like everyone has their limits. Jeffrey Goldberg is a square neo conservative, you know, probably very pro Israel, probably completely.
On board with the you know he was he was He was a prison.
Guard, the idea.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, wild. He wrote a book okay that was about like his time as a prison guard, where he I have to pull it up because it's the quote he uses is very very freaky to describe this book this like memoir.
We might have to read this horrible thing.
Yeah. So he was Okay, so he was there, he said during the time he met this devout Muslim in a refugee camp. And he described this because like this whole book is about him talking to this guy and like them exchanging ideas, and it was meant to be like a feel good thing about the prisoner and the prison and the and the and the jailer sort of having this relationship. He described this guy as quote the only Palestinian I could find in ked Ziacht who understood
the moral justification for Zionism. That's the person that he like parrated around in his book. Anyway, it is so many layers.
That is so fucking evil. I don't even have words for that.
Like, yeah, no, it's terrifying. It's terrifying. Like and this book, like when it came out, everyone was like, this is fantastic, obviously because no one had the no one was really openly being critical of.
But like that's like the kind of that honestly just points to like the sort of sickness that is a Zionist colonial mentality of believing that no matter what, even when you are the literal prison guard overseeing perhaps atrocious, you know, illegal behavior in that prison, you are actually still the victim and it justifies anything and that you I mean, you're trying to have this like co equal discussion with the one prisoner who you think maybe maybe this guy gets it, you know the rest of the
animals don't. I just like the thing is like, this is someone sorry, what's the book called.
It's called prisoners a Muslim and a Jew across the Middle East. Dice the fuck up?
Yeah, that's the stop it because already that Muslim in a Jew blank. It's that is like again, this is whitewashing language when it comes the occupation. It's always like, so long as this one Muslim and this one Jewish person get along, that's all you need to understand about about this issue. And once they can like break brad and be brother.
It was like, ugh, but but yeah, in terms of the like you know, signal Gate stuff, it's just it shows you the lengths of like this person would be completely on board if you did your war planning then had a separate text and told him about it, and he could write a little fluff piece about like how.
Incredible you were and how much better you were than Biden.
Even though Biden also struck the Houties five times, even though they don't give him any credit if any is due for that. So it's like, but you know they didn't they did it the dumb ass way, and now they're losing the people who would otherwise whitewash their crimes.
Yeah, I know. It's like you need people like him, and you need the Atlantic to be able to raw raw the militarism like it's it's anyway, it's odd odd enemies when they should be strange guys should be friends. Okay, let's take another quick break and come back to check in with the Democrats who are also too chicken shit
to face their constituents. And we're back. So we've heard a lot about town halls with the Republicans and people getting real upset with the GOP members of Congress, but also Democrats have also faced crowds that were raucous and they try to do their best to be like, no, we're fighting, and they're like, no, you're fucking not. What are you talking about. They're like, okay, well gotta go.
Thank you so much. It's been real. But the latest sort of sort of opt out of facing your own constituents comes to us from the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where both Senators David Dave McCormick and John Fetterman like teamed up together. Okay, this is the Republican senator from from from Pennsylvania along with They were doing a paid group appearance to talk about the power of mentoring. And it was during a promotional event for the book that
McCormick and his wife wrote together. They were supposed to appear in Pittsburgh and they caught wind of the fact that people obviously have issues with them, both of them, actually McCormick obviously for just being like a rubber stamp for anything Trump does, and then Fetterman for also being a rubber stamp, I guess for whatever Trump does now because because they wanted to see both of their Republican
senators and get mad at them. So this whole event there was a thirty two dollars entry fee and you got a free copy of the book. But then the senators moved it to another location when they saw that there were plans for protesters to show up, and then they said, oh, actually we need to postpone it. They said it less than twenty four hours before the event started. They said, quote dude to an unforeseen logistical issue.
But I love that he even thought this would be somewhat within like the realm of a good idem was gonna get protested no matter what because he's a Republican. But Fetterman also because he is a Republican. So imagine you're in Pennsylvania, you're anywhere within a stone's throw of this event.
You're like, oh, this is a this is a two four one. I'll be two dollars. I'll go to heckle both of these fools in one place.
Yes, mm hmm, yeah, it was funny. One of like in pen Live like News, they spoke to someone who's like, I can't even pay thirty two dollars to see my fucking legislators, and you're like, wow, that's true story, true story. But yeah, I think when you have all this going on, like just the attacks on like academic institutions or like professors there who are also like, what are you gonna hello, what do you do when they start disappearing us?
Yep?
Are you going to fight? Or are you guys acting like none of this is fucking happening? Uh? Just crickets. They both offices for the senators declined to comment.
They were just like, I'm sorry, I saw some video of Fetterman screaming at some people outside of an event.
Is that was that him effacing his people.
Really, he's always outside an event, chastising people for you know, the crime of being committed to human rights or something.
Usually that betterment is like the one of the biggest disappointments. Like I guess you know, I was thinking this over the weekend, just sort of like cause I saw some footage of him, Yeah, like chastising a.
Crowd, and you know, just of all the people.
It's one thing to be a turncoat, like for to be you know, oh, I'm a progressive, I'm for labor rights, but then JK, I'm not.
Don't. I don't care about what you think.
I don't care about the progressive cause you know, ya yay genocide. But I just feel like the fact that he went through a stroke during the campaign and one of the most difficult periods I'm assuming of his life, and like the base that he builds and people around the country pouring out support for him, you know, just taking a social media standing up for him.
Even though he literally quite literally could not speak and being like, no, he's still our guy. And then to turn around and say, yeah, it's okay to defund Medicaid. That's going to take you know, a healthcare away from disabled children or stroke victims like myself, right, or you know it's okay to bomb children in refugee centers or
in hospitals or wherever. Like, to then have such little empathy for other vulnerable people is is so sick, Like I can't And it doesn't make me regret standing by someone who like obviously was going through a massive, you know, health crisis. It just makes me realize, like, yeah, does that shit not change you? I guess. I guess it can make you more evil if the price is.
Right, absolutely absolutely, yeah, I don't know. I mean, like you look at some of the the votes. He was like for some of these confirmation votes, and like, what did you fucking think was gonna happen?
Yeah?
Well, I mean, and that's on so many senators, you know, I guess she was just betterman. But like every senator vote for Marco fucking Rubio, who's like, no, I relish in disappearing students off the street.
It's that's like the biggest l for all of them, when unanimously they're like, yeah, man, we know Marco cut to what the fuck did you guys think? What you? I mean? It also makes sense Chuck Schumer is out here saying that he thought they were gonna fucking figure it Like the Republicans are just going to figure it out all of a sudden and rectify the situation on their own. Like, dude, you're so old, please go away.
Make way for people who are actually going to be alive when all the decisions you make affect us.
Bernie should be honestly the most conservative edge of the Senate right now. I'm serious, Yeah, should be the most conservative edge because Bernie's not going hard on Schumer. Bernie's doing his fight oligarchy tour. But notice how he gets real mad when somebody mentions, do you think AOT should primary Schumer?
He's he's sticking loyal with his boy. I'm not gonna talk about that.
Bernie should be the conservative voice and everyone else should actually be, you know, to the left of him, it might been.
God, everyone's hey, you know, Senators Fiorentini and Gray have a nice ring game, and I'll get primary. I don't give a fuck, bro, waste your money. I'm not here to I'm not here to stay in office. I'm here to fuck it up.
Okay, Now, once you become a senator, you're just like you're just stuck.
It's like what a fish file at does to your dig.
I'll be like, actually, be what they thought Fetterman was gonna be. Like this dude's in a hoodie and reeks like blunts, Like what is he doing? And then he casted the tie breaking vote to protect Medicaid, Like yeah, sorry, bro, is what I fucking do? Anyway, there's another just for some fun story and I don't know, fun fucked up? Hey,
aren't police really fucked up? People? There's did you hear the new Jersey police chief, this guy Robert Farley, who he was sworn in as chief about a year ago, and now he has all of these terrible accusations coming out about his leadership as police chief, like pooping by people's desks and spiking people's fucking coffee with like adderall and viagra. Yes, yes, the fucking chief. Okay, it really?
I mean police departments are honestly just like they're like deputized frat houses.
With guns, with guns, and like truly it'd be like I will threaten you with violence if you try and fucking blow the whistle on this party.
It is a it is a crossover between I mean the venn diagrams. Kamalo would say between yes, a frat house and a gang.
Yeah, yeah, they're all here, they're all here. So five officers filed the complaint. They're planning on suing the north Bergen township because they're like, what the fuck, like, what do you like? What is this guy fucking doing? So he also did things like put firecrackers under people's chairs. I'm like, okay, very bart Simpson whatever, like stupid, But then jabbing a needle into an officer's penis, Oh my god.
So Michael Darren, who's an administrative duty officer, said Farley chased him around and used the hypodermic needle to draw blood. He also said he saw Farley do things like shave his body hair and put it on people's food. Then Lieutenant Alex Guzman said Farley exposed himself, harassed them verbally, pooped on the floor and in garbage cans as a joke.
And then there's another officer, Rashid Siam, who said he was punished by Farley for exposing the hostile work environment when another officer was calling him racial slurs.
Mmm, this is this is just like a day in the life of working with Steven Crowder, I feel like this is like this guy in Crowder need to get together.
Is he pooping on stuff too? Does he poop?
I mean Stephen Crowder is like, Oh, I'm gonna t bag my employees, like that's what he would. Yeah, a lot of dick displaying.
But like I this goes deeper than just obviously not all cops, but like, what the what's going on?
You know what I mean, Like, what's what issue is this? Is this?
I think about a guy who I know who became a cop on my school and he was the littlest guy on the football team, okay, and he didn't play much okay, and he, like what his social media looks like now was like the power that he wished he could. He was projecting as like an adolescent or something. That's my very armchair sighte Was he bullied?
I mean, because this is just like someone who is because who was bullied and now he is he.
Was like I think he felt inadequate because he knew he was the tiny one on the football team and everyone was like like you know, kind of like not like fucking his life up, but like when you're juxtaposed like these other massive fucking freak kids who are playing football and you're like the little guy. It's just everyone be like, oh, like it was kind of like that kind of shit, you know, like, oh he got in the game. Oh oh he got fucked up? Oh shit, oh fuck? Yeah no I'm a cop. I don't know.
I mean, like that's I'm like.
That's not anecdotal like you think. It's like, oh, that's just Miles telling his story about the guy he knows who became a cop.
It's like we all have those stories.
It's always the kid that like was a little bit weird or a little or like kind of a bully, or in my case, it was just someone who was like very sweet but very dumb, a kid I grew up with and I knew he then became a cop, and it was just like that's it's nice. I don't imagine him like hurting people, but I definitely imagine him not handling evidence well and like not knowing how I'm too basic.
Yeah, oh well, look it's hard out here. It's hard out here. It really is. Bless his heart, bless his.
Hard but you know, yeah, I know, I mean, uh, it seems like they might get rid of him.
Yeah, oh well we'll see, we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. Okay. And then finally, just want to touch on Idaho because they fucking passed another very stupid transphobic bill. So Governor Brad little there signed House Built two seventy into law, which updates these states indecent exposure laws. So the law already banned public exposure of genitals, but now adds quote female breasts, male breasts altered to look like female breasts, oh my god, official breasts, and toys
or products that resemble genitals. But it leaves exception for breastfeeding. But again, very clear what this is about.
Shit bullshit first of all, and breastfeeding.
They don't give they hate that shit too public public breastfeeding.
Oh, they couldn't put it in there legally, so I think that's how they're like, look, you know what this is. This is clearly this is us going after the around one percent of the entire population to try and make their lives absolutely unbearable.
There is such a policing like of womanhood in this, you know, like there's something beyond like the anti trans legislation is also like at some point they're going to be like, you know, also, if you're a woman, you wish like I mean, it's it's basically like you know, going back to like you shouldn't be wearing pants who work. It's all a policing of gender, not just identity presentation. And I think, yeah, because trans women aren't like built necessarily for the pleasure of a straight.
Cis man, Like they don't like them. They're like, you know what I'm saying, Like, it's like it's so fucked up. They're like, that's not I get to say who and what is a woman based on how my dingling feels, you know, I know.
Or it makes me more Maybe it's making me a few things I didn't think about it, and I don't like there.
I mean, then there's the Chappelle line who definitely got duped by, you know, a trans woman and probably fell deeply in love and then made five Nightflix specials about it.
But yeah, basically yeah, right. So there's a guy, Sebastian Griffin who is a Nampa City council member, so he put the help put the bill together because he was at a Lakeview Park Pride celebration and saw a topless woman and he went up to the officer and was like, versus de brests are out and the officer was like, they aren't doing anything illegal because the officer said, quote, that's because it's not illegal for a man with breast
enhancements to walk around topless. And then he said, oh, now I'm gonna figure out a way to do legislation against this specific thing. But it's all the other side of this bullshit.
That's that's I totally don't buy that.
But again that's his version of like figure like trying to make it seem as if this story yeah, yeah, and you're and that was so off putting, like what do you and you were there because you were celebrating this community.
Now I can't do anything because uh, those technically aren't real tips, so doesn't count.
I was there. I was there to thumbs down everyone. I was at the pride celebration of thumbs down everyone. Okay, that's that's what was happening.
Bryan's Brian makes a good point. Who the fuck calls the cops on.
Boobs like a deeply fucked up set of human being. Yeah exactly. Anyway, so the Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintro. She she was like, well, hold on, not on this bill, fucking vite it late. It's the first Amendment first off, But then also saying that, like what about truck nuts then, because you're saying it would also ban toys or products that resemble genitals. She said, truck nuts are quote, they're gross,
they're offensive, and kids on the road see them. So why wouldn't the police get a call say that offends me, pull it off the truck because now this bill will allow it. And she goes and I talked to police and they said, quote, indeed, it would.
I love First of all, I actually maybe this is the first anti trans legislation I agree with, because anything to get truck nuts off.
The road, fucking true trucks shouldn't really be illegal.
They're disgusting, and I don't know what like the kind of people who have them, Like I remember my a buddy of mine's like cousin had him and he was like why do you have them? He's like cause they're fucking funny, man, Like that was sort of like the thing is like they're fucking hilarious to me. It's like and I'm like that. You see a fucking nutsack on the back of your.
Car, Dude, I want preas laby. You know what I'm saying, Like, uh, go on flapping off the back?
Great? Yeah, what would you have to build it out of? I don't know, it would be very fun.
Yeah. My headlights now have a literal hood and that's how when it's time to turn out, just pull them up and there you go. I hope y'all like this, but most men probably won't even know what the fuck they're looking at. So there we are. Those are new ideas for you if you want offensive things for your car that you know just also gets people upset about truck nuts. Francesca, thanks for joining mem I guess listen where do people find you? Uh?
YouTube dot com, slash frannifio f R A n I f I. Oh, subscribe to the Situation Room podcast or listen to wherever are your podcasts?
What else are you got going on?
What do you mean?
Oh?
I also have a show called America Unhinged streams Tuesdays and Thursdays on zip Heyo on their YouTube show with w jahat Ali and you know it's cooking. We hope we last longer than one hundred days because it was just the first hundred days. But thanks to your support, maybe we can continue it. So yeah, America Unhinged, five pm, eight pm Eastern Tuesday, Thursday.
How many days? And are we into this president?
We're like sixty four?
Yeah, felt so fast and so slow at the same time. I know anyway, you can find me at truck nuts everywhere. Check it out. All right, y'all, we will see you tomorrow for a fantastic episode and you know it's gonna be a banger. You're going to hear these two voices yet again. Have a great day. We'll see you suit Bye.
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