James. What's going on, man made?
Yeah, I'm doing well. How are you guys looking good?
Look at look at the hair getting longer you and your forest gump.
Baby, I'm just not getting a hair cut, and it's sad. It's done Korea very nicely by itself.
God damn, bro. I felt like your your hair was like way shorter last your hair you got, you got wonderful hair manles do what those fuckles do?
I work on it once a year, whether I need it or not, and get a haircut.
Yeah, when's your annual haircut?
Right right before it gets hot, you know, like April May, and then you're good through the summer, and then it keeps you warm through the winter and.
Then oh yeah, so we got a couple of months left. I gotta be looking like fucking Hosier out here, man.
Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm hoping for. I tie it up. You know, once you get to a point you gotta you gotta tie it up.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're right right on the cusp of having to do a man done right now.
Don't do it, man, let those fluss let it.
I like to let it ride as long asidea get when you're running.
It feels like a yeah, put a couple of beets in there, you know what I mean? Oh yeah, yees, you got a yeah, get a problematic hair braid and that's gonna say, Yeah, you're doing it all Duane's Rosta colors.
Okay, Yeah, I was kind of kicking that up.
Yeah.
Red is for the blood. Black is for the people you're like, hold on, hold on, Pan African.
Ones who did them, the ones who did the braid for me.
The one who did the braid for I.
Hello the Internet, and welcome to season four to twenty one, Episode two.
Of Dalis I guys.
It's a production of by Heart Radio. It's a podcast where we take a deep dive in to America's shared consciousness through the day's news. We also have a weekly history version where we look at a different icon. We've done Miss Piggy with Jamie Loftus, Arnold Schwartzenegger with Gabriis, and we just did Elvis Presley with one Chris Crofton That dropped yesterday. Go check that out.
Chris said me, so many videos after we recorded that Elvis videos, I didn't get to it. This is this other Memphis Mafia video. Dude, you got us. Oh my god, they are they are wild true true, Like I was like, these people are mental.
The karate displays by Elvis or some of those videos that I've ever seen of anyone, it's it's truly Steven Segal esque, where like there's people like throwing punches into his midsection but like pulling the like visibly pulling the punches, and Elvis is just acting like he's just standing there. Yeah, or as I say motto in Japanese, I really wish he had just like gotten into a real fight at one point and just had his whole his whole world rocked.
I mean, bro, when you go, when you reach the I'm doing like a like displays a physical power. But everyone is a paid actor and helped me feel good about yourself. You're cooked, You're wat you are the bad guy now.
But out Hey, but you can look for the episodes on Monday or go back through there Evergreen.
That that one's out.
That one's out though that one is out. Currently it's Tuesday, January thirteenth.
Tuesday, it's National Rubber Ducky Day and also Korean American Day. Hey in the area, Hey, shout out everybody from everywhere in this place called hell. But however, Korean Americans, it's your day today.
Congratulations to my Korean American friends. Yeah, my name is Jack O'Brien AKA. Look that that guy he's rolling down that hill just trying to get some food. Yeah, that guy is Jay Leno. That one courtesy of First Blood
five twenty two, Little Coldplay Yellow jay Leno. We how soon we forget about the good stories, like when Jay Leno showed up ass fully beat in public and his excuse was that he tried to go to a restaurant next to his hotel, but it was down a hill and he just like fell and landed on his face, like just at every trip, he just like tumbled and landed on his face fifteen times in a row. Might have been the mob, I don't know. We're still looking into it, the black Eye cult or whatever that's called.
I'm thrilled to be joined as always by my co host mister Miles Gray, Miles.
Ray, Hey, the show gun with no Gun, the Lord of Lankersham, just you know, just hanging out doing my thing. I wish I had another AKA, but in the existential dread that was this morning, I failed to search the discord for AKA, but I will find one because I just saw some. Finally, someone did a Jesse's Girl AKA because of the news of how I told my child that a picture of Jesus is actually called Jesse. Oh yeah, as Jesus is known in this home as just that dude,
Jesse and Jesse's everywhere. But yeah, I.
Guess the nuns. Nuns would be Jesse's girls, Mary Magdalen, Mary Magdalen.
You never know, you never know, depends on depends on where you look at it from.
And anybody wearing one of those promise rings, you know, Jesse's Girl.
Oh you want to Jesse's girl. He starts saying that shit older, They're like, what are you talking about? I know the type.
Miles were thrilled to be joined in our third seat by a journalist and historian from Kool Zone Media who you know from his reporting on it could have happened here. He's reported for Esquire and that Geo, The Nation Slate, among many others, and his new book is now available for pre order. It's called Against the State. Anarchists and Comrades at Warren Spamimar and Rajava. Please welcome James st. James.
Wow, that was a great introt, like, I prey feel better about myself now.
Oh no, you're I mean, look, the reputation precedes.
You, James. What a weird subject to cover in this American moment. Yeah, no, I want to be.
I pitched his book in like twenty twenty two, so yeah, here we are, right, yeah, nearly four years later.
But yeahsing buzz marketing by the Trouble administration. Yeah yeah, gyal marketing.
Yeah you got it in at DHS or something.
Absolutely not moist pity. I have not interacted with DHS in any way apart from the way so everyone else has, which is you know, them shouting at me, deploying chemical liritons, et cetera.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they love to do that.
They do.
It's really out right.
Now, Yeah about chemistry, you know.
Show vapors, smokes, particulates.
Yeah yeah. I think Greg Abbott was like recently saying something about like just with like Glee talking about all the pepper balls that were being like fired at protesters.
Like cool, yeah, very unpleasant and peppable.
But I mean I have to assume that they're recruiting a lot of you know, chemical engineers people like that and to be like interested in chemistry. So are we yeah, come through or maybe not?
Yeah, I think they are. I think that they're recruiting in other areas if anything. Yeah, or like.
Like amateur geneticists. Yeah, that's probably pretty hot right into like phenotypes and stuff.
Skull shape.
Yeah, come on, we've got some Calipa guys who do the phrenology. Yeah.
Well, James, we're thrilled to have you. We're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're going to tell the listeners a couple of things
we're talking about on today's episode. We are going to talk about the the Trump administrations continued attempt at I was gonna say damage control, but you can't really call it damage control because they're like, they're doing this while releasing Hitler quote posters from the Department of Labor, So they're trying to control the narrative by putting it in an illegal choke hold. I think is probably the best
way to describe what they're doing. We'll talk about Christy Gnome on CNN and just other attempts from them to put what happened last week in Minneapolis and context and we'll of course talk about the upcoming you know, the NFL playoffs kicked off over the weekend, which to me just means that we're one step closer to that turning point. USA halftime Show. Yeah, so we we're going to see what the latest is on that, and then we'll also talk about Soron's first week in office, what he's up to,
all of that plenty more. But first, James, we do like to ask our guests, what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are?
I was thinking about this. First of all, I didn't think you should use a search engine that keeps history in twenty twenty six in the American moment. But I looked at some ship I searched. I've been buying some really niche tomato seeds recently, So.
No wonder, no wonder.
You're on the love right, Yeah, you want to keep it on the d L. Yeah, but the VP browser niche tomato seed sounds so funny to me. But also hold on, what is a niche tomato seed?
To begin, You've got your like mainstream tomatoes, right, we go to the garden center, you get your tomato. It's red crown to cherry whatever.
Yeah, you take it to the ones. I know, I know cherry, I know vine ripened.
That's not actually variety, Yeah, of course.
Yeah, yeah, an heirloom yep is what I was assuming we were talking when we get to the world of niche to.
Me, Yeah, when I was a lot younger, I worked in it in a tomato growing facility, So I've been exposed a lot of types of Tomorrow. Yeah, man, you want to chip job, go and work. Was just marveling at the way you say tomorrow. It's the one I ride for the American accent. I'm like, it's not that much better. The British accent that much better. But you guys, you got our ass on tomato. It's much better that one. So we've had a few l's over the years.
It's we're trying to condense all of ours into a real umultuous twenty years. That really Yeah, takes the focus under the heirloom umbrella.
Under the umbrella. Yeah, but then you're more niche types, right, Like this one I like called orange Strawberry. I've been going that one.
Not actually, James, I.
Was going to say, yeah, those are fruits.
That is Tomorrow is a fruit, right ya.
Okay, so you got me there. So are you just talking about oranges and strong think of them as tomatoes?
I think a lot of people didn't have frames of reference back in the day. That's just they either call it that or like they just call it like after their friend. Paul Robison is the other tomato I've been been ordering Paul, Yeah, like the guy like they just went to went to the Spanish Civil War, the poet.
Yeah, wait, and it's he has a tomato named after him.
He does. Yeah. I thought that was tweet, you know, like like somebody, somebody like created this this tomato variety. Right, they went to the greenhouse, they did the work, and they were like, what am I going to call it? I'm not gonna call it after myself. I respect this dude. Let me give this tomato to his legacy. And I thought that was nice.
So what a what a momo tato? Tomato also be considered one of those niche tomatoes or is that mainstream still?
I know that is?
Oh that's a Japanese like hybrid. Okay, like farmers at farmers markets too that I'm yeah, I.
Think if it's a farmer's market only thing, if it's not its like supermarket, right niche. It's when you can't buy them as plants, when you have to buy them as seeds. That's when you know you're really deep in Like is it is.
It illegal to get the seeds from abroad? Like it's all it's all above board.
I'm going to inside the US. It might be illegal. You do sign that form right, Like do you have any seeds fruits that I know? Yeah, when you come back into the US that.
Like what that's what I say, I say, not that I know of. Meanwhile, my old jack, my whole jacket is made of tomato seeds.
Smart.
Yeah, it's like it's like one of those bird feeders all stuck together.
Seeds those lodge you covered yourself in loud and then rolled into my ship kind of birds.
Also fun, These aren't my birds, man, Tell me I don't want them with me, Tell me get out of here.
They just attract birds man.
Yeah.
So, and the more niche tomatoes are we are we dealing with different flavors. They have anything that approximates the cotton candy grape. I love when they're like oh yeah, okay, yeah, this is the sweet fruit. Can we make it candy though, But do they have a pizza tomato?
I bet they do? What this pizza tomato are gano built in and like middle not that I'm aware of. You could growe them next to each other though, you know, like you know, in the same pot, like a companion planting. Yeah. You can't do basil. Yeah, I've got a good basil plant going. You can't do like you know how you can do with citrus where you graft different citrus onto the same tree and you can have like a yeah two t fruity tree. Never seen that done.
With Well you can do that with us.
Yeah, yeah, man, you can.
Have like a definite they call them fruit salad trees. Oh, you get them, get them grafted together. But that's that's not really possible. Cheese by the nature of it, you know, it's coming from it coming from a different place.
Cheese plants have all failed. YEA sad, no matter what what brand.
I take a baby, I take it out of their wax and I bury it and I water it.
What is something that you think is underrated?
Underrated? I was thinking about this. I think it's it's sock gifts, you know, like we just had Christmas right or hanakah or ponto or whatever people are doing. They get gifts, and people always like rag on getting socks as a gift.
Oh sure, sure, sure, I'm actually.
A high quality sock. Appreciate it. Last year I received a full like right same size, right right size form my feet, but in different thicknesses. Oh sock brand. And it's great, man, because I can just adjust, you know, get a bit warmer, get a bit cold's boots, a little bit loose, go thick a sock. Great gift. I really I love use them all the time. You didn't touch them every day?
I mean you. I have to say, if I was gonna trust someone's opinion on socks, it would be you someone who runs a lot, who has like to run traversed quite harrowing kinds of geography through the course of their journalistic career. Wait, what, so, what's like? What what are we talking here?
Like?
If you need a good sock, it's not where we're talking marino wool. It's had to be woolf Okay, So okay, it's got to be wool, or we're not talking to James about socks. Okay, Yeah, remember what's okay, what's the next.
Marino wool and our pack a wool both pretty good. Okay, so these are like wolves again. Wolf socks are nice because they keep they say warm. When they're wet, they get less funky, they get less smelly, and then they gotta they gotta fit right right there. Do you want me to name brands?
We don't know?
I mean, if paying you, you know what I mean. I'm just need to know. I guess that was a big thing is because I always know people who are like, Bro, you gotta wear wool socks, like all the people you're serious about socks, Like, what the fuck are you doing if not wearing wolf socks?
Yeah?
Man, And then you've got to get the ones with a lifetime warranty so you can you can wear them. You can run eight hundred miles in them. They wear out, you send them back, they send you new socks. Oh my, it's an investment.
Though, man. I have Yeah, the way the way I walk, like I really use my big toe to like balance myself. That like I feel like I really wear out the big toe real quick.
Okay, yeah, they get you got to get invest in some lifetime warranty socks and you'll be sucking forever.
Well, the gas station I buy him at. The guys always coming to get the fuck out when I show. But whatever, I will invest the wool.
Yeah, so wolf socks even even like when you're playing sports.
Woolf socks. Yeah, yeah, like thin ones, you know when I'm talking like thick, hairy, fluffy ones.
Right, yeah, especially when I'm playing sports.
Like I've run some ultramarathons, and it's nice because you're going to go through a river at one point or other, right, and then you you want the sock that doesn't sort of oh yeah, you get get funky, get old, get your feet cold. And I feel like Will does much better with that.
Wow.
I am not going to be going through a river, by the way. You may be, but I will not be running America. I come upon a river, you're like, oh no, at the end of the America finish line, there's only like there's only like six hundred meters left.
Yeah about this river, dude.
And the river is a gift man. I remember I did a few has to go to two hundred mile bike rades, very hot, really hot day, and there was a river crossing. I just got off my bike, went in there, bathed.
Yeah.
I felt great after that, sat there for a while. It's wonderful thing. Embrace the river.
Bathing.
Yeah, I fell into one in Iceland that was not not an enjoyable experience. That was very cold.
Are you a cold plunged person? Do you know?
I don't do any of that. I mean not consciously. I go in the sea and uh in San Diego, so it's it's cold quite a lot. It's cold right now.
Yeah, but you're not doing the thing of like I gotta get into this body of ice water. Yeah.
No, I'm not whim hoffing.
Yeah you're not.
And how on the socks that go thick to thin? Is the thinnest sock the equivalent of those little pantyhose things that they put over your feet when you're trying on shoes.
It's pretty thin. Yeah. Maybe maybe maybe a smudge, maybe a smug stick of it that I can't see through it.
Yeah, you can't use it as a mask to rob a b No, do an immigration rate whatever you're doing.
Or socks not for ice?
What are something you think is overrated?
The song fairy Tale of New York Okay Okay by the Pogues. I love the Pokes, right. I think Shane McGowan's generational talent to objection to that song right, has a homophobic slur and expresses positive sentiments about NYPD.
It does.
Yeah, we don't need either of those. Rainy Night and Soho is a much better Christmas e pokes song if you know that one?
What is it? I don't know. I don't know either these songs.
You haven't heard fairy Tale in New.
York let me see as big as bars. They got rivers, that's all I got.
No, I don't know this.
I don't know this really well. Okay, well you've got to fund YouTube half hour after we're done. I mean, what's Shane McGowan singing it? Because his ability to turn up absolutely think of a broadcast word. He's off his face, he's drunk, ship fist. Yeah, rat asked? Is the word I was going to use? Yeah?
Yeah, yeah?
Is there is there a specific performance I should watch for the rat assery.
Most of them?
Yeah? If you had asked the opposite question, is there is already together?
Yeah?
Right?
Right?
Oh?
Okay, is that was that?
So?
The that is that kind of the legend of this group is just sort of him as front man and his antics or there's more to the I mean, I've heard that name of the band, but I don't. I'm completely ignorant as to like what their work.
Is, like Irish folk punk. I would say, no, they're great. They have some really great songs. I think they've done good things and like documenting Irish folk music and I struggle of Irish people being colonized by British people. Yeah, and yeah, they're they're they're a good band. I like the Pokes a lot. Everyone should listen to the Pogues.
They haven't, but that song they feel like it's like how everyone likes Rock the Casma, but it's the worst clash song right right, right right, Okay, it's a similar similar feeling I have.
I see, I see, you got it.
All right, let's uh, let's take a quick break while Miles watches a bunch of Pogues videos and uh, we'll be right back, and we're back, We're back and yeah, so this weekend was a weird mix of we talked about the video that was released where they were like, check and mate, we got the video from the shooter's perspective, and I think you're gonna see some ship here that's gonna change your mind, And it was like worse than the other angle.
Yeah, yeah, it it's one of my colleagues mentioned this when we were talking about it, like I'll work chat it is start of think that your lawyer would fight to keep out of disclosure in court, right, and just they just tweeted it. Let's put out there.
Yeah yeah, yeah, not a lot of thought going into it. But I think it's also interesting too, Like it I was saying yesterday's episode that on some level maybe they think that would help justify it to their base, which is like, well, there's at least you got this angle of the wife saying something back to the ice officer, which in their mind because that a lot of people jumped onto that details like why she getting out of the car trying to confront the ice officer and like
what do they think is going to happen? So in some way, I think they were trying to take it from the headline, which is like this mother who was killed to like someone who was protesting ice who was also a mother who was killed, to try and give people just sort of like that weird logical, you know, bit of something that like MAGA needs to completely contort
their brains and be like, that's not what I saw. Actually, it's this other thing now, and that's okay now, and I don't have to talk about it because it makes whatever uncomfortable or maybe not.
Backtalk is a capital offense, it was kind of the implication. Yeah, yeah, And so Christynome attempted to go on CNN and then Jake Tapper was just like, so, if anybody gives any sort of pushback at all to the Homeland Security they should be killed. She's like, yes, absolutely, and then he was like, here's the video of January sixth. Yeah, how are we making sense of that? And she didn't really she didn't really know what to say to that. No great answer.
No, So here's a Tapper just playing the you know, all the body cam footage we've seen from January sixth and just sort of narrating to be like, okay, so interfering with law enforcement is a capital offense, and how about this plea attack?
By this standard, would any of those officers being justified and shooting and killing the people causing them physical harm?
Every single situation is going to rely on the situation those officers are on. But they know that when people are putting hands on them, when they are using weapons against them, when they are physically harming them, that they have the authority to arrest those individuals, every single one of those less and make sure that they're getting justice for their actions going forward rosident.
Trump pardoned every single one of those and every.
Single one of these investigations comes in the full context of the situation on the ground, and that's.
Okay, it's just again it becomes a bunch of words the whole time. Yeah, well, it's all in the context of the the context of people beating them with we just said beating with weapons, and we just saw a clip of that, smushing them indoors, punching them using bear sproll. I thought she was gonna say, do these people be deserved the arrested? I said, every single one of them,
every single one of them. See, when every single one of these situations is a case by case thing, which again, this is just I'd imagine the hallmark of any authoritarian regime to be like, no, what you're seeing is not what you're seeing, and in fact, everything we do is justified, and if you disagree with me, you you are actually the bad one. Yeah, there was more like it goes on to where he keeps insisting, like, you know, like this guy, the person who this ICE agent who shot
her was he's doing a defense. We know that he was justified in doing it. And Jake Tapper pretty quickly is like, I feel like you just there's no investigation. We still don't know what's going on in the investigation. You've clearly made up your mind. Is that is that a benefit or is that a disservice to this ICE agent that you so clearly care so much about. And it's interesting because here she does like another word salad thing that like causes Jake Tapper to just audibly groan
because again it's another non answer. It's just a bunch of what about isms and deflections.
I think obfuscation is his kink, and I think he's actually coming a little bit.
But go, oh, well, well, do you let your be the judge? Yeah, yours to say through.
I'm wondering if you're not doing a disservice to the officer by reaching a conclusion before the investigation.
Things heard you say once, what a disservice it's done for may Or Fry to get up and to Ice to get the f out of his city. AOC to stand up before she had any of the facts and call this officer a murderer. Your individuals, well call them out, Jake, spend as much time calling them out. I have provided you with facts and information to back up every single word that we have said and every single part of
this investigation. And if you don't like it, that's fine, but we're going to continue to do the right thing to keep the American people safe.
And that was not us coming up that during that answer, that was Jake.
That was Jake groaning, because again, it's just like a stone wall. You're talking about something this consequential, and it's just you get just fucking nonsense, just chest passed right back to you. And yeah, it doesn't bode well too.
That.
Then you then have Tom Homan, who's the you know, borders are He also had to go on the Sunday Shows two to do their whole like presentation to mainstream media about why this is okay. Christian Welker pretty much point blank was like, look the way you're talking, the way Christy Nome's talking, she called good a domestic terrorist. Can we just define what that is? Are you saying anyone who doesn't like ICE or is protesting and this is you get this very eloquent answer back from Tom Homan.
Terrorist.
Just to be clear, is anyone who protests ICE a domestic terrorist in the eyes of the administration. I can't say that. You know, it's a case by case basis. But you know, if you look up definition of terrorism, is there violence? Is there a threat of violence based on an ideology that wants to change the way the government does what we do? Look on the definition terrorism.
With Secretary Nome correct to label her a domestic terrorist.
Mister Homan, look, we don't.
Know what I don't know. If Secretary Nome knows what I know, I can tell you is what they did. It's all legal. And if you look up this definition of terrorism.
Here he goes goes right back to it very narrowly. If you again, I mean like that that term terrorism is made to sort of used by the States to describe people that are like against me not And but again in American culture, it's like that means the boogey man al Qaeda nine to eleven, And you're one of these people. Now because what you're just again purely off the definition of like they are against what we're doing and trying to change.
The put like through a political ideology. Therefore you're allowed to do that. Yeah, in America, you're allowed to do that, right, try and change what we're doing. Yeah, voice just what?
Nah? Is it cool if I sound a little bit drunk while I'm making this point?
Is that?
Ye?
Because are really loose? Yeah, let me sound a little bit.
That's it sounds like a drunken barn cat. You gotta understanding, do we, Chris No, I gotta put my Danjerts in a little bit better to the Uh. Yeah, it's it's wild, James. I'm curious too, Like, in the context, especially in your book, you're talking about people who also find themselves in quite extraordinary situations. You know, people living their lives and then they come up against a state that is violently trying to upend their way of living, deeming everything they believe
in or their way of life illegal. What is where do you kind of put the this this situation right now sort of in the context of a lot of the things you've seen in terms of you know, people led revolutions and things like that.
Yeah, man, it's not a good situation that we're in right now.
No, no, no, fuck I actually I know you were saying, they're like when they say anybody who protests against them as a terrorist, I was hoping you said that that's actually the the that they're usually going to call it off. Yeah, that's their last step before the before they give we're we're good here at.
I remember in twenty twenty two, early twenty twenty two, I was speaking to this young guy who was part of the unit called the gen Z Army in Mianma and really like really nice young man, right, Like he was kind of one of the reasons I wanted to write this book because the way he talked about how they organize themselves lines up with what I would consider
to be anarchism. Right, they didn't have authority structures, say, they obtained consensus before doing stuff, and that he was like, Yeah, for years, we'd hear the government talk about terrorists and we'd be like, well, shit, that's awful, hope those guys die. And then we saw the government, we saw the military seize like the power from the elected government. Right, not a great election, but election nonetheless, and now they call us terrorists and we're not terrorists like, and we realized
that that's just that's just shit that they say. They are the ones who are trying to make people afraid and to execute political change through fear. And I thought it was really interesting to see him and that word in Burmese that he was using is very loaded rights. It's a word that I wouldn't I wouldn't want to use to describe them still, and I sometimes don't even use rebels because I know it can be translated in that way and people can feel like it's it's disrespectful.
But for him, he's like, yeah, I give a shit and call me what they want. They're out there killing people like they're doing worse stuff and calling me names, and like it's very clear which one of us is a bad guy here?
Right? Yeah? I mean again that especially in American culture, it's such a thought killer as a description when you just say terrorists, yeah and bad, instantly bad, no further
analysis needed. If you say domestic, oh, domestic terrorist means a person that lives here and is bad versus the other one, which most people just go they just think like Islamic extremism or something like that, and just yeah, straight to isis and yeah, because they use the same sort of language that in rhetoric they've used for the last three death three four decades to describe like other kinds of extremist terrorism, like it's a whole network, okay,
that they're part of a network, you understand, and like they're there in a cell of other terrorists in this network, rather than I think what most people saw I feel, which is like this is just a person who again is in their community saying what the fuck is going on? I'm going to record this And sure, maybe getting being in the road maybe quote unquote illegal or a violation, but in terms of that leading to a summary execution
or just being shot just without any kind of anything. Yeah, yeah, I think that's where most people are like, yeah, but that's this is a lot. And yeah, I'm I'm wondering too, how when it will help, Like how quickly American people also see, like how cheap this this sort of descriptor or like just casting anyone as getting in the way as terrorism or terrorist will kind of hold up because they seem to really think that that is their like
sort of rhetorical strategy here. It's keep saying this person is a terrorist or anyone that is not doesn't like Ice is a terrorist, and maybe we have enough logical cover to keep doing this.
Yeah, and it's I mean, I was I'm thinking. I think a lot about like the situation in Meanmar, right, Like how it began. It's like these big, peaceful protests and it became a revolution that now has liberated half the country from the government, and like there were little they are little rubicons they crossed all along the way.
Another river crossing reference, but uh this time, like I remember the first time the cops shot somewhat and people were just like shit, Like these are the stakes, right, Like this is a game we're playing and there's a choice there that people have, right, It's like do And this happened in the Syrian revolution that have not all across the Arab spring, right, it's happening in Iran right now. People were like, well, are we willing to play game where the stakes are our lives? Or are we willing
to live the rest of our lives subjected? And obviously in the US and theory we have elections coming up, but that's not necessarily the case. But that wasn't the case in in Membar, in Sirior, and it's not in Iran, and people were like, you know what, fuck you, We're all going to come out now, Like more of us will show up, tens of thousands of US will show up at this young woman's funeral in Memmar, right and
be like we're not afraid of you. And those little rubicuns that they crossed, Like what made their movement what it is today because they weren't they considered it to be worth it, I guess, And like that's what every every movement has to face. And like it's pretty pretty disturbing to think that that's what we're facing in the US.
But yeah, if you can be executed for a traffic infraction, right, it's kind of where we're at, right, Like people can be killed in the street and the government is going to investigate and find themselves innocent in five minutes on Twitter.
Right, right, Yeah, Yeah, that's pretty bleak. What's wild? There's like you know a lot of people I say, like it's all of these weapons we use abroader coming back home to roost, you know, the same, this is the same justification the US military will use to kill innocent people and other quot war zones, and like, well, that was a terrorist and like that looked like a family. But that's your just description to kind of keep things moving along to not you know, to not bring people's
attention to the humanity of it. And yeah, I mean I think that's where seeing all that is really Yeah, it's it's it's alarming, which is like it doesn't even suffice in terms of like a word to I feel like Susan Collins right now, it is alarming right now to see what is happening.
But yeah, we're going to ask questions and wait for the investigation that them. And it feels like the DHS crossed like three rubicons in the last week basically love. They're just skipping over those motherfuckers. They're skipping the rubicons.
Yeah right. And I'm also curious, like because rhetorically too, you see out of the administration more and more of this like ethno nationalist propaganda come out from official channels as like these like you know, very Nazi inspired posters or phrases and things like that. But do you see that as sort of them trying to like shore up support from people that will be receptive to seeing that kind of message or do you think that's them projecting onto the viewing public. This is what this is the
hymnal we're singing from. Now you can get in line, like what or is that just trolling? I mean, how do you look at that and sort of like the larger power picture of it all.
Yeah, And I think some of it's just trolling, right. Some of it's just like they get a little little excited thrilled because they've got some like someone who's probably like twenty one years old, it's manning that Twitter account right like that that, and so some of it's they they've been doing it for years and now they're doing it on a government website and it's very exciting for them.
But yeah, I think some of it is trying to tie that narrative to their narrative, right, or to try and like gradually move their base towards this open blood and soil position, which like they haven't really been that subtle about to begin with r right, Like that's where they're at now, Like it moved and the Overton you know, you know about the Overton window right at the window of acceptable political discourse, Like it's it's like the Overton windows blown out the wall in terms of like it's
a hole in the building, right, Yeah. Yeah, the outside of the building has gone now.
Expanded, the overton window of the Oklahoma City Federal Yeah they yeah. And I feel like because nothing sticks to them that they can just be like, yeah, we're gonna do that, but yeah, why not. It'll it'll reach the audience that we wanted to reach, and it'll piss off other people. But the pissing off other people doesn't have any consequences, right, so we're just going to keep going.
Right yeah, Or it's just owning the Libs, right, which is a goal and an end in itself.
It's just it's funny, right, which is odd because I mean not odd, I mean like if it's such a fundamental misreading of America from like the MAGA politicians, because like you even see quotes or like like from DHS spokespeople other politicians are saying, like, people, you gotta quit protesting, like saying it like, knock it off, like quit protesting DHS and ICE guys like let them do their jobs.
And you're like, what quit protest? What as if you didn't expect this to be the natural reaction of human beings to see people just kidnaps by armed goons or entering people's homes like that. That it's like, guys, quick, prote what's going on? What's with all this protesting now?
And I'm curious. That's the other part is do you see anything in sort of the actions of the current administration is like sort of like the hallmarks of a truly like sort of weak regime trying to project as much power as possible, or how do you how do you look at their actions in terms of like what you know, how the structural integrity of their movement is right, yeah, yep.
I mean what they're going for is like there's this thing at the end of chapter seven of nineteen eighty four that I think about a lot, where these or Well says, people fucking love to be wrong about all Well. I guess I should just start that, like the amount of people who like to cite all Well whilst also being the sort of people who all Well signed up to kill in the Spanish Civil War, like in.
Nineteen eighty four was written about the Biden administration.
Just want to be yah, yeah, yeah, mostly concerned vaccines and your kids not going to school, having to be in the same space as your kids and you hate them and they hate you, and yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what It's a book about divorced dads. In Wrotdown, he says, the party told you not to trust your eyes and ears.
It was their final, most important command. And like that is where we are at this week, right, Like that is, but that is a ten year project, Donald Trump writing down at an escalator ten years ago, shit talking Mexican people eleven years ago, right, and they have gradually been stacking bricks since then to get to this place where they can, like you said earlier, right, they can post a video of a dude who is for some reason filming on his personal phone whilst doing copshit, who then
shoots a lady three times in the face and be like, see, seems totally cool, because they're going to tell you it's totally cool, and you're going to watch it and believe them. And that is the totalitarian project, right, that they can intervene in between the external world and you drawing conclusions from the external world, and have you draw the conclusion that they want, right, Like, I there's that's scary, right if whatever percentage of people will buy that, and it's
it's not just a problem. I guess with Republicans. There's like a sort of conspiratorial wing of Democrats who do the same thing. But it is overwhelmingly a problem right now because the government is using it to justify murdering people. Right, that is what we should be focused on. And that's pretty scary, man. Like, I mean, any state there resorts to violence, like deliberately does it because that is the
nature of the state. It doesn't mean that they're threatened, right, like that, the state at its core is the entity that controls violence in a geographical area. Sure, sure it always has been, right, that's what it is.
They aren't allowed to use violence.
Yeah, right, they have the molopoly on legitimate violence, the verbarian definition of the state. Right, So I think them
using violence is not an indication of weakness us. But like them having to resort to violence so much, it's not great, Like that's why they've gone so hard on this blitz, right they get they straight up murdered a white lady in the middle of the day, and like it probably does matter that it's a white lady in this country still, right, because a lot of suburban folks can see themselves in the late dragon the mini bad enough to dropping herself from school, dropping her kids at school.
And if they can do that and walk away from it without consequences, that's pretty bad, right, It's pretty bad for any any any checks on power. So I guess we're going to find out in the next few days.
Here, Yeah, America the place where it's like, well, I have to see it happen to someone exactly like me before.
Right now, Yeah, she don't look that much like me, actually, right, yeah, But do you see anything in the very beginnings of nascent US resistance that kind of you've seen elsewhere that you know, you've talked about kind of resistance witnessing some of these resistance groups like the gen Z Army, But like you know, I think a lot of people in the US feel helpless or like, well, what can we do? And you know there's also people who are protesting and resisting.
But what just how do you how do you view like the state of American resistance?
Yeah? I think so. Like the reason I write the book like it's not it's not like to be clear like a guide book or explaining how to do things, But I hope it reminds people that really beautiful things can happen out of really dark times. And like again, if I go, if you go back to the early Arab spring, or perhaps the early protests in mem is
a better example. Right in twenty twenty one, after the coup, first everyone went out with like funny signs like what I can remember one person had one that said say no to dictatorship, yes to relationship, and like stuff like.
That, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There was like a lot of a lot of like young adult sexual tension, like don't fuck my country, fuck my friend and has a little arrow and stuff. But they were doing that because they thought that if they were funny and peaceful, the world would be like, these guys are cool, we should help them. And the world did not do shit, right, And for months people adhere to the idea of peaceful protests because they genuinely thought
it would help. And like people are hero are doing to peaceful protests because they generally believe that it will make a difference. And I hope it does.
But like.
One potential direction, it's a direction I guess at them, I don't think that's a direction that US will go in necessarily, right, Like I think's quite likely that US will fragment in the way Meandmark has done because we don't have many of the factors that they had. But every one of these revolutionary movements starts like this, and some of them end up in open armed conflict. Right, Like the Arab's ring was the same. Right, it was thousands of people coming out into the street, like we've
seen in Minneapolis. Right, Like, that is how these movements that result in change, or they all begin that way. Right. Nobody wants to be fighting against the government because it's hard, lots of people die, and so everything, I guess begins where we're at. Not everything, by any means ends where
they are at. But right, I can see and I think so much of the young people in the m are especially, so much of their discourse on politics was informed by having the Internet, learning English and learning from people in the US. So they just assumed that the same tools would work there. Right, But you had a different to take calculus there.
Right.
If they can kill one hundred and fifty people in a single day at a protest that they did in Myanmar, right, that's a whole other scale compared to what we're dealing with in the US. And it's understandable why things have gone in the direction of people fighting back that.
Yeah, it is interesting, like the tone of the signs. I feel like we're a little bit different this weekend, Like.
Yeah, no one's trying to be funny anymore.
Yeah, La, definitely We've had some real, you know, funny sign I mean like every American city too, but this weekend felt it was truly about like like saying like Renane Nicole Good was murdered. Ice are murders a ball? Like just a lot of the it became less about who has the best SpongeBob meme, and it translated like not to say that every sign was like that, but when now that you say that that that was an observation I had from the.
Yeah, yeah, I mean you saw that in twenty twenty as well, right, Like I didn't think anyone was trying to be funny about the murder of George No, No, people were fucking mad.
Yeah, Like the funniest things were just like insulting cops like that's yeah, oh, that was a creative insult to for a police officer. But that was like the extent rather than like, what's I quip about this unjustified police killing.
Yeah, and those skit skits where they like dressed up as cops and like kept like slipping on ice and like we're like slipping and then their gun would go off and.
That was That's a real video jacket, like ice sky slipping. There's like a whole mixtape that I felt like, I've seen like five different videos on people just being like I'm going to run on this icy sidewalk. Okay, genius. Yeah, I mean the vest doesn't protect your cocktics. Okay, just so you know, let's.
Take a quick break.
We'll be right back, and we're back, all right, real quick.
Let's take a little sidebar over to the world of pop culture popular culture. The super Bowl is in sight. The NFL playoffs kicked off this weekend, and is that all?
Anything good happened in the NFL play I saw it the Eagle game.
Did the Eagles lose? The Eagles lost?
I saw people celebrating.
Champion Eagles lost. Josh Allen, husband of the actress from Singers whose name is Escaping Me, had a bit had a big game. Big wait second win, just wait?
What the state? What singers?
The Sinners singers? Yeah, Hailey Steinfeld, Hailey Steinfeld's husband.
Oh, Hailey, ste Wow, bro, I don't know anything about anything, Okay anyway, so they're okay.
So the big football weekend. Big weekend for those of us who can't wait to see what turning point USA has cooked up the Super Bowl show.
Ever since Bad Bunny, one of the most listened to artists on the planet, was announced at the halftime show, obviously, the MAGA freakouts began because A they don't know that Puerto Ricans are American and b that doesn't matter because they're racist.
But and that people don't actually listen to music. Man, come on, that's that's inflated. It's all bots, dude, that's bots, dude.
There's not even a billion people to listen to Bad Buddy that many times.
Man, that's right.
You know, you know, countries outside the West grossly infliation.
Do you see the new conspiracy theory that the world population is vastly overstated and that countries from outside the US are just inflating their numbers to get aid from the sake. Yeah, this one. I feel like this one's going to be real powerful. I feel like people, oh, they're gonna love this one. That we're actually like that, there's like only like a couple thousand people.
All right, So here's my thing. What's the most people you've ever seen in one place at once? Maybe what sixty thousand at the Rose Bowl? But yeah, so true turning point in true reactionary fashion. Right at the top after the bad Buddy thing was like, what an American are artist who's really popular for a global sporting event
is doing the halftime show? Well, I think we will announce ourselves of the true keepers of white American football halftime show and said that they would have their own competing halftime show that will stun audiences with how white and boring it is. And like you said, Jack, we're getting closer to the game and many are asking in the press, Hey, toilet paper USA, what's the deal with your shit? Dude? Are you guys like, who's fucking performing?
So a spokesperson confirmed a few things for us to TMZ.
Okay, the show is death. The show is.
Definitely happening, sweet, but you'll have to tune in to find out who's performing.
Oh really okay.
And then they were asked, do you even have performers booked? This is the turning point? Spokesperson Oh, there's performers booked, but we can't reveal who they are or even what kind of performer they are.
Happy to ventriloquist. I do like they're taking a different direction.
I think they might go like ventriloquist, like, yeah, there's gonna be some like NBA halftime show type people, you know, like the like spinning a plate on a stick and like people who ride multiple unicycles. You know, well that thing keeps getting bigger. This guy's incredible.
Where will the show be taking place? The answer yes, mm hmmm, oh okay, will it be airing live? Or their answer, uh huh yeah, yeah sure. There's a lot of tvvs UH to to actually get here. I do wonder if Nicki Minaj just fully throws herself into the Maga mount Doom fires and gets it over with, because she was on stage at a turning point event and it's clearly been like, look, I don't know if you've read anything about my husband or any but I might
need a pardon. So I'm gonna start, you know, sipping the Maga kool aid with everybody. She's I think the only person that comes close to being quote unquote considered like considered quote unquote mainstream who has actually even been to a turning point event or although quote unquote popular right right, and even now, I mean so many fans have been like, geez, y'all, we were trying to ride with you through all this stuff.
Yeah, what has the response been to that appearance? Like, because they know she has famously like die hard fans, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
And a lot of people were like, this, this whole thing's become a joke. Makes sense whatever I was done with her after, you know, just all the other shit that she's been doing the last couple of years. Other people are just kind of like maybe not talking about it. But most of the response from like the you know, black audience have been like okay, and you can go sit all the way the fuck down over there with them, goodbye.
But the other it does feel like this would be ripe for some AI company to be like, hey, hey, hey, you know, I can get fucking Elvis to perform at the show, just so you know, I can get Elvis, I can get fucking Johnny Cash, and I can get Francis Scott Key to do that. One verse of The Star Spangled Banner where they talk about the slavery and stuff.
You know, well, yeah, I mean Johnny Cash and Elvis, They're still gonna need to pay some money, Like they're gonna write some budget those people have. I'm wondering, like how far back they're gonna have to go to get like some public Maybe it is Francis Scott Key, Yeah, and Andrew Jackson gives a speech about the trailer tears.
Or something fucked up ship and they're like, and this is entertainment.
Yeah, Al Jolson.
I'm just saying, God, I honestly don't It's just so hard to picture what this is gonna be and how they could claim this as any kind of like win for them, but they will obviously no matter what state the show is in. But wow, I can't.
Wait, truly can't wait to see after the fact, like what what they've put out there, because it's as we've seen, like as they try and take over even things like the Pentagon Press Corps, and they're just like, yeah, those those are now influencers. There's just a bunch of influencers. It like it, it looks like it. It looks like a high school journalism class out there, you know, not not the age of the people, but just like the type of questions and the level of professionalism, So like,
what are we going to see? I mean, the one thing that we've seen they're able to do is buy a lot of fireworks. That seems to be their ones their one strength. So maybe maybe it's going to be just like a lot of fireworks and you can't really tell who's up there.
It's Eric Kirk, Erica Kirk setting off a pile of fireworks and a fucking parking lot in Tucson.
Maybe that's like San Diego did that one time, you know, set them all off at once, like yeah, giant explosion.
Catastrophic explosion. Well, look, don't tune in because I'm sure we'll talk about it once it happens.
Let us no need whatsoever. I certainly won't be watching it live, but I can't wait to see how it goes for them.
Yeah, firefest all over again.
Yeah, because there is there. They had the poster that was like kid Rock.
Is another one. Yeah, yeah he could be there. Yeah, but that was the like, is he capable of doing a live show? Kid Rock? Yeah?
I mean I don't think I wouldn't recommend it as he is doctor, but as somebody who thinks he sucks. I think you should give it a go.
You know, you.
Know how like you look at old pictures of like the dust Bowl or the Depression, and it'll look like to us as like a fifty eight year old man, like this guy is thirty five, yes, you know what I mean, And then like over time, you like look people as look at now, they're like, damn our thirty five year ols look like babies now and shit like that kid Rock for being fifty four looks like a
dust bowl ear of fifty four year old dust. Like he's maintained that like stress and lack of proper health and I'm sure drinking beer and cigarettes and all that has uh yeah, I'm like when I look at him, yeah he's fifty four, and I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah you look yeah, you look like dried up dog shit yep there yeah yeah yeah yeah.
So he's see but everything above the hat band he looks super young yeh. Never you know what I mean Above his hat band, which is he hasn't taken his hat off. It's been crafted onto his head. Everything up there, he looks like a newborn baby. He looks like he looks like one of the pre cogs, Like he's been bathing in a milk bath for the.
Past you know he's got Yeah, he's doing the Bret Michaels thing where it's like, bro, the hair is attached to the hat just so you know, so this thing is not coming. I don't know if you've seen a picture.
Of Lega seeing hard.
Yeah, if you see me in a backwards trucker hut the ship, you're going to look in there. It looks like a field that is lying fallow.
Well, James, such a pleasure having you on the daily side. Guys, where can people find you? Follow you, hear you all that good stuff? Yeah?
Absolutely, I can find me on It could happen here. It's the Cool Zone podcast. You can find it anywhere. Good podcast given away for free. We also have a bunch of different feets. If you just want to listen to our immigration stuff, you can find that. If you want to listen to stuff about Meanma, you can find that. If you want to listen to other things that we've covered, you can find those all on the Cool Zone media page. If they want to read my book, they can pre
order it from akpress dot org. It's called against the state, and I sometimes go on social media. I'm trying not to can make it makes me so angry, but you can search my name.
It's designed to do that. Actually, James know.
That so many many people are saying it. But yeah, I will occasionally need tweet or skeep or there's a bus.
Whatever you need to do.
I do ye. I want to yeat my telephone into the sign every time they go on those websites.
While listening to Is there a work of media that you've been enjoying?
Man?
Uh, there are a couple.
Yeah, you know.
Recently I did a podcast It's not my podcast series, just so unclear. I did a podcast series about the people I met in the Daddi and Gap a year ago and like where they are now, where they're at. And in that series, I talked about a Woody Guthrie song he wrote as a poem about these people who were killed in the lost Gattospanion Canyon plane crash. You're
familiar with that, mm hmm. Forty eight people died just outside of I think outside of Asalia there up in sort of central California in the valley, and the press only named the immigration officer the pilot, the flight assistant, essentially only the white folks in the crew, right two, pilot's flight assistant, immigration officer, and when you got three years or something radio and he's like, damn, it's pretty fucked up. All those other people died. You didn't say
shit about them. So he wrote a song about it, and thos people have covered the song. So Johnny Cash covered it actually, so maybe, oh.
Well, he's not going to be doing Turning Point USA. Yeah, yeah, I just I just heard about Johnny Cash. I don't know if he's good for this show, sir.
He's gone.
Yeah, yeah, So I recently been watching some videos of that, and it makes me happy to think that there was a point when even like, yeah, Johnny Cash was like, yeah, man, it's pretty fucked up how we treat those people. We shouldn't do that to migrants. It's wrong. All these people here ender the Bracero program, right, So they were like quote unquote guest workers, and they were deported home at the time that the plane crashed, and yeah, they weren't
even mentioned. It wasn't until like two years ago that somebody built a memorial for them where the plane crashed and this happened in nineteen forty eight.
Jesus.
Yeah, so I've been enjoying listening to people singing what do you go? Three songs? What do you gu three? Chaeremany there you go?
I listened to you all right, miles Where can people find you? As there a workI media you've been enjoying?
Yeah, find me everywhere at Miles of Gray. Catch the new footy podcast Ain't It Footy? Where I talk about the English Premier League, the FA Cup all kinds of shit. Latest episode with Jamel Johnson and Chris Martin. You get two Americans and a brit talking that shit about our favorite international sport. Now a couple works. I like, Yes,
there's one from at lol on weed. He's got our social posted just a quote, just a screencap of the subreddit are no stupid questions and it says, quote if the wealthy can buy up all the computer memory and drive prices through the roof, what's stopping them from doing the same thing with stuff people actually need to survive? And the account of their quote more quote posts at
half of the top. You reply, I start with brother, my friend, and homie, and then one more I like is from obviously a lot of people saw the great slip and fall of that ice agent in Minnesota who really flanded on his key Star at digitalgeist dot Com on Blue Sky posted that photo with this old screencap of a tweet from twenty fourteen from at Mike Fossey.
It said, check this shit out, motherfucker.
Parenthetical I slide one foot out from under me and fall on my ass. It's not clear what kind of move I was trying to do along with it. Check this shit out, motherfucker.
Check this shit.
The way he had to like scurry his little ass back into that car, it must have been half concussed or something he did not.
He must be in pain. Yeah, I like.
To tweet from Mark on Twitter at Ranch, who said, if you walk up to the counter at Trader Joe's without any grocery items, they'll have no choice but to compliment your body. Hey nice.
Arms, arms, Yeah, grands.
You can find me on Twitter at jack under Score of Brian on Blue Sky at jack ob the Number one. You can find us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist. We're at the Daily Zeitgeist. On Instagram, you can go to the description of this episode wherever you're listening to it, and they're at the bottom you will find the footnote, which is where we link off the information that we talked about in today's episode. We also link off to
a song that we think you might enjoy. Miles, is there a song that you think that people might enjoy?
Yes, yes, this is a track from Temporary Blessings, which is like an instrumental band from Australia, because all the cool instrumental bands are on like Melbourn. Now this track is called Goblin Mode. But this band's cool. I just like it, Like just a group of musicians are like man, I love like Anny O Morecone's like compositions and like that's kind of like vibe the instrumental music they used to be in like seventies sixties film. Why don't we make a band that does that? That's kind of like
what this band does. So Temporary Blessings with Goblin Mode feels very much like something your favorite hip hop producer would probably sample.
But they're making it now, so Goblin Vega go all right. We will link off to that in the foot note for the Daily Esai Guys at production by Heart Radio. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the Heart Radio, app, Apple Podcast, wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That's going to do it for us this morning, yep, back this afternoon to tell you what is trending and we will talk to you all then Bye bye.
The Daily Zeit Guys is executive produced by Catherine Long, co produced by by Wang.
Co produced by Victor Wright, co written by j m mcnapp, edited
And engineered by Justin Connor.