Lovett or Leave It - Rudy does all of his own stunts!

Episode Date: August 4, 2018

Facebook is still a target for election interference. Giuliani is not making much sense. And even the “feel good” segments on local news are secretly sad now. Plus we talk about wildfires and climate change, Manafort’s expansive wardrobe, Tom Cruise dangling from a helicopter, and more. Lucia Aniello, Fatima Asghar, and Andrew Ti join Jon to break down the week’s news and the dedication of certain movie stars who are the perfect height. And thanks to KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis who stopped by to lead a game.

Hello, Los Angeles. We are at the Dynasty Typewriter on the very cusp of downtown. So close to downtown you can see it. Usually I only come down here for protests. But this is nice, it's nice. They have something called a Subway here. It's like a big Uber, I don't know.

We are back at the improv next week on thursday and then the week after that on tuesday so you can get some tickets for that now before we get to the show there is something i don't know if you there was a bit of a debate about kirsten gillibrand that was bothering me so there was an article in the Huffington Post. Here's the headline. Kirsten Gillibrand pays the price for speaking out against Al Franken. It was written by Amanda Turkle, who's a great reporter.

And there was a bunch of quotes from Democratic donors. And here were some of the quotes. George Soros said he absolutely will not be supporting her, to which Gillibrand responded, that's on him. That was cool. Another donor said, I viewed it as a self-serving, as opportunistic, unforgivable. Since then, I have not purposely attended any fundraiser where she was there, and there is absolutely

no way I will support her. A Clinton donor said, I think it was a big mistake. I was not that impressed with her to begin with. I think she certainly had potential, but as for many people this kind of sealed the deal. And then one more called her a ruthless opportunist. That's the knock on her by you in this article. She saw an opportunity be out front and regardless of the ramifications, she took it. So this is what people were saying to the Huffington Post about Gillibrand calling on Al Franken to resign and I found it infuriating. There's like the obvious sexist part of it which is that men are dispassionate

and women are disloyal and men are tough and women are ruthless but that's boring. That's normal, I'm a guy I don't see it but I assume the women know about it um but what bothers me about it is that Al Franken came on Pod Save America and I did a terrible job because I was starstruck and I don't usually give a shit like I really loved Al Franken I looked up to Al Franken he was somebody I admired but Al Franken was credibly accused of groping eight women. And so I see this argument about, oh, you know, Gillibrand shouldn't have done that. Now we don't have Al Franken. Yeah, I'm sad they don't actually say what their position is. Do they think Franken didn't do it? Well, then why did he resign? Because what that says to me is if Kirsten Gillibrand is so powerful, that seems kind of cool. Like she can get senators to resign even though they shouldn't.

I don't think that's right. No, I think the actual position is that Al Franken did it, and it's bad, but not so bad. But the other side gets away with this shit, so why are we holding ourselves to a higher standard? And I hate that. I hate that because Democrats have lost a thousand seats, and we didn't lose a thousand seats know this but Democrats went through a phase when we kind of held our nose and backed a politician who harassed and mistreated women out of partisanship in a genuine fear of the alternative. It was called the 1990s. Anyway, I'm not making a comparison

between Franken and others. I'm just saying that the idea that we should be listening to sort of the donor class who says oh, the answer to Republicans having low standards is to lower ours is bullshit, right? If you have a problem with there being two different standards, fight to raise theirs and not lower ours. But also, it is so cynical and so stupid. You know, in a recent poll, according to the Times, men intended to vote for Republican candidates 50 to 42, while women intend to vote for Democratic candidates 58 to 33. So setting a high bar isn't

just the right thing to do. It's what we have to do because women are the base of the Democratic Party. And if Democrats don't draw the line, then no party draws the line. We talked to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Pod Save America today, and she's incredibly impressive. But one of the things we talked about is this argument that, oh, she may appeal in New York, but she doesn't appeal in the Midwest. Some of the most conservative voices in Democratic politics all live within walking distance of Central Park. And I'm glad Jill Arrend didn't take any shit from them, and neither should we. That's all I wanted to say about that. And neither should we.

That's all I wanted to say about that. Al Franken. Let's talk about it for a second. It's a weird fucking thing. Al Franken groping people. I love that guy. He was so smart and so good at hearings. He was so good at hearings because all the other senators get up there and say,

my talking points say to say these eight points so that I can make the local news in my state. And Al Franken would ask questions. But then he got gropey. And now he's in Me Too heaven. Let's start the show. We have an awesome panel. She is the co-creator of the Emmy-nominated series Brown Girls and the author of the debut poetry collection If They Come For Us, which goes on sale next Tuesday, August 7th.

Please welcome Fatima Asghar. How you doing, Fatima? I'm good. How are y'all doing? Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. I'm super excited. She was the writer-director of Broad City, Rough Night, and Time Traveling Bong. Please welcome Lucia Agnello. How are you, Lucia?

I'm good. I'm great, thanks. Thanks for having me. He is a writer and host of the Yo! Is This Racist podcast, which is a fantastic show. You can see it live at the Detroit Improv Festival, so you can get tickets for that right now. Please welcome back to the show, Andrew T. I gotta do the handshake. I gotta do it. Hi, Andrew. I almost died on the step.

I'm struggling. Hey, guys. Hey. What's up? Let's get into it. What a week. Okay. A lot of weird. What a week. Okay. Okay.

A lot of weird stuff happened this week. It started with Rudy Giuliani going on a media tour where he did everything he could to make sure Donald Trump goes to jail. Then Paul Manafort's trial started where we learned he bought a $15,000 ostrich jacket, which is the coolest thing Paul Manafort has ever done. I think we're going to talk about it later, but

I think I have some counterintuitive positions. And we'll all remember the moment when Donald Trump demanded on Twitter that his Attorney General shut down the investigation looking into him because he's innocent. And on top of that, the National

Archives announced they wouldn't be able to release all of Brett Kavanaugh's records until October, but Senate Republicans say it won't slow down his nomination hearing they hope to have in September. Yeah. Gasp. Gasp. We live in an unfair fucking hellscape. There's no justice. Unbelievable. And the Trump administration announced a freeze on anti-pollution and fuel efficiency standards for cars, significantly weakening one of President Obama's signature policies to combat climate change.

Then earlier today, the NRA announced that they are potentially heading towards bankruptcy. But you know what? How many of you have been paying attention in the past year and a half and you think shit like this that sounds too good to be true isn't bullshit. You know they just need money and you know they're going to be fine. Just brace. NRA running out of money. That's not this timeline.

That's not this world. To be like, oh yeah, turns out we were about to click the bankruptcy button and then oil shot up from under our headquarters. But tonight, I want to talk about something that's been a little bit under the radar. This week, we learned a lot about Facebook and the way Facebook will be utilized for politics in the midterms and beyond.

First, Facebook announced this week it had identified an ongoing coordinated political influence campaign aimed at influencing the 2018 midterm elections through the use of eight fake Facebook pages, 17 fake Facebook profiles, and seven fake Instagram accounts. Those aren't very big numbers. But still,

at least they found them this time. Anyway, Facebook told Capitol Hill this week that the company has not confirmed that Russian agents are running the campaign, that the activity resembles propaganda Russians used to sow discord and help Trump in 2016. On top of that, several of Trump's top lieutenants, including National Security Advisor John Bolton, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who seems like he doesn't really like lying, which is cool. I don't know how much he's still lying, but he's a little bit

more honest than he should be for his own safety, and I think that's nice. I like that he went to Aspen Ideas Festival and said, I don't know what the fuck's going on. As well as FBI Director Christopher Wray and National Security Agency Chief went out into the White House briefing room and warned that Russia was actively working to undermine and influence the 2018 midterm elections through Facebook and other channels. FBI Director Wray went as far to say that Russia attempted to interfere with the last election and continues to gauge in malign influence operations to this day.

But Trump, at a rally, almost immediately contradicted his own White House, calling the Russia influence campaign a hoax. Facebook also finally took steps to ban Alex Jones from their platform after years of peddling conspiracy theories and wacko violent bullshit and racist nonsense targeting the victims of mass shootings. However, he's only suspended

for 30 days. How much fucking stock value does Facebook have to lose before Mark Zuckerberg figures this out? 30 days for sicking morons on the parents of dead children? 30 days? for sicking morons on the parents of dead children 30 days? That's not a long sentence. Fatima, why do you think so many people who work for Trump are directly contradicting him now? What do you think? Because he's lying. I mean, I think folks are kind of like not wanting to go down with that.

And like if they're standing up now, I feel like it's kind of late. But it's also like this moment of people just being like, we can't continue to maneuver these lies in whatever way possible. Yeah. I mean, Andrew, it seems like there's this running thread, which is, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's crazy, ignore him. That's what the people that work for Trump say behind the scenes. Listen to what we're saying and what we're doing. Disregard what the president says,

whether it's in Helsinki standing next to Trump, next to Putin, or whether it's on his Twitter feed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's just blowing off steam because he's a lunatic. Right. That seems like it's not actually an acceptable answer. The craziest thing to me is that he doesn't vet the lies with the team.

Like, just get on the same page. Like, clearly Republicans will get in line. It does seem as though there's a number of people who work for Trump who'd like to keep their credibility after they leave the White House, and so their hope is if they said the right things while desperately avoiding questions about

why the president is lying and claiming what they're saying is a hoax, maybe they'll get out of this thing with a book deal at the end. It kind of also just feels like they're just, like, not on the they'll get out of this thing with a book deal at the end. It kind of also just feels like they're just not on the text chain. You know, they just are like, wait, wait, wait, what? Like, you heard what? They just don't know what's going on.

And then when they find out, it's like, oh, you just didn't know this lie. Like, you didn't know the hottest new lie on the block or whatever that you have to like. It's like we were going to add you, but when we add you, the whole text chain becomes green. Yeah, exactly. So let's talk about the Facebook piece of this. We know that Facebook has not only been a tool of propaganda from other countries, it's also become a pretty effective vehicle for conservative propaganda of the domestic sort. Lucia, what makes Facebook such a sort of vector for these crazy ideas, conspiracy theories?

What do you think? It has become, like, I mean, I haven't been on Facebook in, like, years. I'm bragging. But, like, you just, like, look at, like, the template or whatever, and there's just so much going on that you're like, I can't vet all of this. I can't fact check all of this. I'm just going to assume that things that are here are somewhat true. And then if you're friends with crazy people, then all of a sudden you're kind of forced to become a crazy person

in a weird way because they're liking stuff, and it becomes part of your feed. So everybody's on it. Everybody's friends with some crazy person that believes this stuff. And so you're kind of forced to be like, this is my reality, and I can't fact-check it. Mark Zuckerberg giving an interview where he's like, I don't know, Holocaust denial?

Maybe they're cool. I mean, it's because we've somehow glorified this idea of seeing both sides and incentivized insanity. Like the Fox News ex-slogan, x slogan like by definition balanced isn't fair because one side is willing to lie and one side is way less willing to lie yeah also i think i mean so my kind of experience with social media is often more of a from a social justice like uh standpoint and there's ways in which that space was really critical in

getting out a lot of information around social justice issues and organizing and it was like a real it's it is still continues to be a space of organizing and what's really disheartening is that like when you are organizing across online spaces and like social media people will just put up fake profiles there's kind of this trust that's being asked of you when you enter these spaces of like well we're here and we're organizing and whatever and then there's people who are like basically just like trying to infiltrate that trust and then like fuck everything up and it's really really unfortunate because it's like it can be such a great way of spreading information especially when like national outlets won't

pick up certain stories and that's such a power in order to be like these are people's voices and this is what they're seeing and this is really important and then it's like really really disheartening when you're like having russian bots kind of come in and do the exact opposite of that yeah no it's there sort of seem to be like two big. One is Facebook, Twitter, other tech companies feel as though they were genuinely caught off guard by the fundamental truths of human nature. Like, oh, human beings are going to use these services? We did not account for that in our models.

This algorithm was not built for humanity. It was built for our ideal version of humanity where, by definition, everyone being together brings everybody closer. And then it turns out, actually, you know, I don't know if you're paying attention to like 100,000 years of history, but a couple bad apples can spoil the whole whatever apples come in. It's why it's a saying about apples. So there can be you understand the apple saying, you know, it's a saying about apples. So there can be, you understand the apple saying. You know, it's like, for example, if one Nazi walked in through that door right now,

it would change the energy in this room. Like if a Nazi walks into this room in full Nazi regalia and says, Heil Hitler, and then takes a seat, vibe fucked. You know? Yeah. But on top... Is that the special guest

tonight? One Nazi, please. You know. Next show. Get tickets. But on top of that, so that's an inherent problem. And you see that with what Facebook has done for a long time, just being totally caught off guard by what human beings do when given this power.

And it's what it is. It's giving all people more power, which is why it's been a tool for organizing and a tool for hate. But then on top of that, they have also been so delinquent in dealing with the fact that not only were they not ready for what people will do inappropriately with their tools, but also for the fact that they have built something that makes people worse. There are people who spend all day tweeting hateful shit that would have had a different life if that wasn't an option. I'm not saying they're Rhodes Scholars. I'm not saying they're running the PTA meeting. But they have a different existence when they don't start out by seeking an outlet for their anger and then realizing that actually venting doesn't make them better. Yeah, they get a dopamine rush every time, you know, one of the other bots gives them a like or something. Like, it is a, technically it's a virtuous circle because it's you know

increasing but it is like this look bonkers race to the bottom of like when racists get a little bit of support bigots of all kinds sorry i deal in racism all day but uh it's that the additive effect of just like a little bit of encouragement a little bit of encouragement it's a the fucking nightmare we're in now yeah and i think one of the hardest things for us to admit is, yeah, there's Russian propaganda on Facebook, and it's a problem, but they're exploiting a weakness and brittleness in us and availability for a lot of people for that kind of bias confirmation, which exists on both sides but far more on one than the other,

and that's the part nobody wants to deal with. We're like, oh, you know, there's a Russian propaganda effort. I'm a little bit more worried about Russia influencing our election systems directly, because there's also a domestic propaganda effort that reaches millions of people every single night. Tucker Carlson has gone full white nationalist, and it's like not even a big deal anymore. Like from 8 to 11 on Fox News, millions of people watch truly American fascism. There's just no other word for it. And I'm not quick to the fascism word. Lately.

Last question. Conservative memes are some of the most shared content on Facebook. Some of them do involve minions. If you were to create a minions meme to spread the truth, any pitches?

Well, there could be like a Minion reboot of Schoolhouse Rock. People would maybe watch that and actually be like, what the heck is this constitution they're talking about? And they'd be like, I don't know.

No, that's good. That's good. But it's like, okay, if you see a news source, click on it, and then you have to decide whether that.info website is actually real. And doesn't this tell you everything you actually wanted to hear already? And then it's, oh, there's no, yeah. And then you go, wee! Yeah, wee!

Does one of them say banana? Is that a thing? I only know that because Travis said that to me about Minions, but I don't know about Minions. I'm an adult. Is it possible? I have no idea if they go wee. They just look like they would go wee.

Aren't they bananas? They do. That must be what they are. See, the thing about Minions is at their heart, they're anarchists. And actually, they are tools of the revolution. If you were to use them correctly instead of these conservatives memes they're actually going to be I have no idea if you're joking

or not. No I'm serious. I'm so serious like minions that's what they are they're tools they're like very they go against the grain of like society they're like out here you know welcome to the revolution I think so

when we come back okay stop hey don't go anywhere there's more of Love It or Leave It coming up don't they work for evil Steve Carell

aren't they very much aren't they sort of aren't they followers at heart is that right they switch sides. They're... They're the proletariat? Yeah.

They're anarchists. It's 1984. Minions is 1984. Everything can't be 1984. I looked out my window and I saw below me a haggard old minion singing a song and I thought, she'll save us?

Just proving that I know 1984. I guess we're in the show. And we're back! Now for a game we call OK Stop. Here's how it works. Roll a clip and the panel can say OK Stop at any point to comment. This week, America's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,

went on a media blitz, to convince the world Donald Trump knew nothing about his campaign manager's son and son-in-law's meeting with Russian agents about influencing the election. But let's just say Rudy, he doesn't lawyer too good. You know?

Decorated Vietnam War vet. FBI director. Highly respected. Among Congress, among Republicans, among Democrats. I think that you respected him. I know. For a long, long time. Do you still respect him?

We'll see. We'll see what happens. Okay, stop. Watching somebody just be like kind of hesitating because you know what he thinks which is that of course he respects Robert Mueller and of course he respects

James Comey, but he knows that it's his job to not do that and he's like how much of my soul is left in here? How much of the soul sh left in here? How much of the soul shaker should I spill on CNN today? How much should I save? How much should I save for death?

How much of my soul should be with me on my last day? I'll see what happens. Do you respect Bob Mueller? I guess the judgment's out. You don't know if you respect this man anymore who has all these credentials that I just read. I don't respect credentials.

I respect performance. You only can investigate an innocent man so long. See, if the guy didn't commit the bank robbery... He just said you can only investigate an innocent man for so long, which is true. Donald Trump's super guilty. Just keep going. It's so basic.

It's also sort of like, yeah, we know you want him to stop before he gets to the crimes. But that's why he can't. Because it's his job to find the crimes. It used to be your job to find the crimes. And then something happened to your brain. And to find the crimes. And then, something happened to your brain. And you think he did, and you keep investigating him, you're gonna do it forever. You're gonna keep coming up with Coens and Horowitz's instructions.

I understand, and we have due process, I understand all of that, but the investigation isn't done yet. I mean, you know how long these things take. Yes it is. Of course it's done. If they're looking at his tweets, the investigation is done. If they are in ve-'re going to do obstruction by tweet? Okay, stop. So, this is, I think, actually going to be important. So, there's been a few articles recently that say that

Robert Mueller is looking at Donald Trump's Twitter feed. Now, that actually does make me nervous because this shit can't hang on tweets. But it is quite reasonable to say I'm trying to understand the frame of mind of this loose-talking narcissistic maniac we have in the white house oh good every morning on the toilet during his morning shit he tells us exactly what he thinks and he's so unabashed such a free

spirit that he literally gets out of meetings with his lawyers and then tweets angrily about what his lawyers told him in the meetings. I've done that after my lawyer meetings, though, too. To be honest. But, I mean, when you said it can't all hang on tweets, though, it does establish what he knew when he says X and Y thing that can be cross-referenced against a different non-Twitter timeline, right? Is that how that works?

Paul Manafort's trial is starting tomorrow. Right. And he has no information incriminating of the president. I know that for a fact. They can squeeze him. Paul Manafort

does not know anything. He was never involved in any of this. Let's say you're an innocent person. And someone who worked for you is on trial for a bunch of very funny financial crimes. Would you say, squeeze him all you want, the guy doesn't know a thing? That doesn't sound innocent.

That's so specific. He doesn't know anything? Doesn't that suggest, doesn't that imply that there's a basket of things to know relationships with donald trump i mean that's just four months they're not going to be colluding about russians which i'm not even know if that's a crime colluding about russians okay you start you start analyzing the crime the hackett colluding about russians that's not a crime ain't no rule that says you can't colluding about russians that's not a crime a no rule that says you can't colluding about russians also gotta let the dog play ball i also don't think it's good for your

lawyer to say i don't know if it's a crime i want you to know i want you to know for certain you're my TV lawyer. As we know in America, you are innocent until proven not available for CNN New Day. That certainly is the original problem. Well, the president didn't hack.

He didn't pay them for hacking. And as you know, it has led other places. The meeting with the Russians. If you got the hacked information from the Russians here at CNN and you played it, would you be in jeopardy of going to jail? So that's a really interesting journalistic question. And actually, it's been answered, right? Journalists can use information gleaned illegally as long as they didn't participate and didn't solicit it, right?

Because someone comes with the Pentagon Papers. Someone comes with Donald Trump's tax returns. Where are you? And gives it to a journalist. They're free to publish it. But you know what is illegal? A journalist meeting in Trump Tower with a bunch of Russians saying,

hack her emails and leak them to me. That would be a conspiracy, even if that journalist didn't do any hacking. Even if that journalist was named Donald Trump Jr. and is now dating a lady from Fox News, which is odd. The whole thing's odd and makes us uncomfortable. And that's okay. Stop.

When we come back, we're going to play a game. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. And we're back! Now, I don't know if you've noticed, but the news can be hard to watch lately. But it's not just the awful stories, like Trump getting away with felonies and the end of plastic straws. There's something else awful, too, and it's the human interest stories. The supposedly heartwarming stories about communities rallying around people in need or a dog saving a goat from drowning.

A lot of these feel-good pieces are actually super depressing. And we're going to highlight this in a game we're calling Spot the Sadness. In this game, we're going to share a real story that was printed on TV as something heartwarming and beautiful. At the end of each story, you'll need to tell us how many sad things were mentioned. And here to help us play, we thought it would be fun to get a real journalist in here to read

these stories. He's the afternoon news anchor for KCRW, which is my favorite NPR station that also plays house music. Please give it up for the voice of the city, Steve Chiatakis. Hi, Steve. Hi, Steve. Hi, John. Would you mind saying, I'm Steve Chiatakis.

And I'm Steve Chiatakis. That's so cool. Would anyone out there like to play? Hi, what's your name? I'm Matthew. Matthew. That's it. Matthew, do you watch the news?

I do. Have you seen some of these heartwarming stories that actually have an undercurrent of sadness? Yeah, usually the last story of the night. Usually what? The last story of the evening on the news. Do you have an accent? No, you do.

Do I have? Everyone here has an accent but me. All right, Matthew. So here's how it works. Steve Chiatekis is going to read a news story that's supposedly positive. You will have to count in your mind how many sad things you heard

and then give me the number and we'll see if you're right, okay? Yep. Aww. Story number one from the bag fees to the tiny seats to the terrible meals we all know air travel is just the worst but recently one chicago woman had the best flight ever charter school teacher kimber bermudez was on a Southwest Airlines flight to Florida

when her seatmate asked her what she does for a living. A known talker, the 27-year-old began to gush about her first graders and how much she loves her job. She told him that working in a low-income school was heartbreaking, that even some of the children are homeless. It was at that moment when a kind stranger sitting behind them tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a large wad of cash. He apologized for listening in, but also said that money is for her to do something amazing. Cha-ching! The kindness didn't stop there. More strangers who overheard the conversation also handed her money. Overwhelmed with emotion, Bermuda says she plans on using the money

to buy her students books and whatever she can to help her community. Layover? That's more like payover. How many sad... It was perfect. How many sad things, Matthew? I got six, including somebody who talks to you when you're sitting on an airplane. Oh.

talks to you when you're sitting on an airplane. Oh. Matthew, you got it. One, she was on a Southwest flight to Florida. Two, the teacher thought it was okay to talk to the neighbor on her flight who was trying to listen to the wilderness out from Crooked Media. Three,

that children are allowed to be homeless in this country and are not given a place to live on housing first model that has proven to stop homelessness. Four, that a stranger overheard a conversation and joined in. Five, that in order to get textbooks and school supplies for her students, she needed literally

a random stranger to offer her cash. And six, Travis, when he was writing this game, decided pay over was a good enough joke, and he left it in. And our final story. They say hard work pays off, and in the case of an Alabama

college student, it can really pay off. Check this. Walter Carr was in quite the jam. His car broke down, and he had to be at his moving job at 8 a.m. the next day. With no ride available and not enough money for a cab, he left his house at midnight to walk 20 miles in the dark, just so he could be on time at work. When he arrived, the customer immediately offered to let him rest, but he declined and said that he had plenty of energy to finish the job. Now, blown away by his commitment,

she started a GoFundMe campaign to help with Walter's car trouble. And, oh, yeah, that baby went viral. The CEO of his moving company saw the campaign and drove down all the way from Tennessee to Alabama so that he can personally give him his own 2014 Ford Escape to Walter. The lesson? Bosses rule. Carr, who moved to Alabama from New Orleans after he and his mother lost their home in Hurricane Katrina, said he hopes to be a Marine someday. And yeah, buddy, don't we all.

How many sad things, Matthew? I think seven in that one. Incorrect, it's ten. The phrase check this was used. In 2018, there are still working people who make so little they cannot afford a taxi to get to their job. Three, American cities and suburbs are designed in such a way that car ownership is required to find work. Four, so many American cities and suburbs have zero public transportation.

Five, someone needs the money so badly that even though they've been trudging through the dark for eight hours, they insist on working despite being offered not to. Six, that news, Steve Chiatekis used the phrase, and oh yeah, that baby went viral. Seven, instead of offering his employees a living wage, he just gave a car to somebody. Eight, GoFundMe's for anything that is required to live. Nine, the phrase bosses rule. And ten, the icing on the cake,

this kid moved to Alabama after his family lost their home in Katrina. Matthew, you lost. Fine, Matthew, you won the game. Matthew, you won the game. Matthew, you won the game. Thank you. Thank you for playing. And guys, give it up for Los Angeles' own Steve Chiatakis.

Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. When we come back, we're going to play a climate change-themed game. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back! You remember

when Scott Disick was an awful boyfriend to Kourtney Kardashian, and for a long time, Kourtney put up with it, but finally she reached her breaking point and called it off, and then Scott realized he made a huge mistake, but it was too late, and they could never fully repair the damage that was done. Well, that's pretty much what's happening with climate change. We treated the Earth like shit for a long time, and now, well, the Earth is starting to treat us like shit, and now we may have to live with our mistake for the rest of human history. Travis, who are those people?

What's a Scott Disick? So as you may know, climate change has contributed to massive fires here in California and around the world, and we thought we'd highlight just how bad climate change has gotten in a game we are calling I Fell Into a Burning Ring of Fire. Well, no, I guess I was actually pushed into a burning ring of fire by climate change deniers. You guys each have your cards. Would someone out there like to play? Hi, what's your name? Hi, I'm Emma.

Emma. Yes. Thanks for being here. Are you from LA? No, no. I'm from Alabama, actually. You're from Alabama. Are you familiar with climate change? Yes. Cool. All right, Emma, question number one. Climate change conditions have made fires around the globe so bad that according to the National Interagency Fire Center, officials no longer refer to fire seasons, but instead call them what? Is it A? Fire years.

Is it B? And he doth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men. Or is it C? They call them Alicia Keys because this world is on fire. What do you think, Emma? I'm going to go with A. You're right.

And I want to apologize to Lucia because the joke was so strange, she thought it was a mistyping thing. Yeah. Go for it. I don't know. We'll see what happens. We were all surprised it worked. Question two.

2018 has been so hot that we saw the occurrence of what unprecedented event? Is it A? Jeff Sessions patted his face with a folded handkerchief and exclaimed, Well, I do declare a record 27 times in one day. Is it B? Earlier this month, temperatures inside the Arctic Circle reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit. And the Arctic Circle even saw its first wildfire.

Or is it C? We're doing singing now. Nelly changed his famous lyrics to, it's getting hot in here, so please call on your reps. What do you think, Emma? You think it's the one where everyone gasped in horror?

I'm not referring to the Andrew singing. I mean, I am from Alabama, so the first one is honestly, that might happen. Jeff Sessions technically is one of mine, so I'm sorry. But I'm going to go with B. You got it.

Question three. This summer, London had to shut down trains because of the heat. California is having its worst wildfire year on record. Waco, Texas hit 114 degrees. Algeria hit 123 degrees. 65 people were killed in Japan from the heat. 70 people have been killed in Canada.

And more than 80 people were killed in Greece from one of the worst wildfires in history. Why didn't we see it coming? Is it A? Because we've been trying to upload this Insta story forever, but the Wi-Fi in here sucks. Just give me a sec once this goes up, and then we can talk about all that climate stuff you want to talk about. Or as it be. Because no one listened to Paris Hilton.

That's right. Little did we know when Paris was saying, that's hot. She was actually referring to the Earth's climate. That's why they call it the Paris Agreement. Or as it C?

Obviously, we did. In 2007, the UN Panel on Climate Change found that each degree Celsius of global temperature increase will likely result in a 200% to 400% increase in the total area burned by wildfires in the Western U.S. every year. I'm going to go C. Yeah, yeah, it is C.

Yes. It is C. Because I didn't sing. Do you guys want to hear some of the alt jokes? Because I put them on a card because they were good. The Atlantic warned us in a 15,000 word feature, but we left it unread in a forgotten browser tab for the last 20 years.

Question four. Which of the following is a real quote from our leader? No. From someone some people call a leader. President Donald... Oh my god. Anyway, which of these is a real quote from Trump? Is it A? The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese

in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. Or B? Just out. The polar ice caps are at an all-time high. The polar bear population has never been stronger. Where the hell is global warming? C. Give me clean, beautiful,

and healthy air. Not the same old climate change. Global warming bullshit. I'm tired of hearing this nonsense. What do you think, Emma? Jesus Christ, is it all of the above? It is. It's all the above.

I like that last one. Give me clean, beautiful, healthy air. Not this climate change bullshit. What are you talking about? What are you mad about? Talking about climate change doesn't make the air bad. Fucking asshole. How is he an asshole on 100% of things?

Like, one time. One time. How is he an asshole on 100% of things? Like, one time. One time. How is it possible? How is it possible that we elected this person president? He is an asshole 100% of the time, 100% of the issues, 100% of the days. How is that? How is that? Like, I get that he is a narcissistic prick who doesn't care about anything but himself. But even then, wouldn't you think once in a while, even to preserve his own ego,

it would mean you have to do the right thing. What are the odds that it's always the wrong thing? How? Is this the world? Emma, you won the game. Give it up for Emma. When we come back, the rant wheel. Hey, don't go anywhere.

There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Now for the rant wheel. Here's how it works. We spin the wheel, rant on whatever topic it lands on. This week we have James Gunn, Tom Cruise stunts, 3D printable guns, movie pass, Comedy Central roasts, Crazy Rich Asians, Manafort's fashion sense, and Hollywood reboots. Let's spin the wheel. It has landed on Tom

Cruise stunts. Tom Cruise is amazing. Tom Cruise is amazing. He's a wonder. We're all lucky to have him. Mission Impossible Fallout is great. He's climbing around on a helicopter.

He broke his own fucking leg. The man tries for us. He puts his heart out there for us. And if there were buses outside with somebody handing out Dianetics, after that fucking movie, I'd have grabbed a book and gotten the fuck on. Man's a goddamn legend. He is my height.

He is a five-foot, seven-inch man who has been a movie star in four decades. Four decades. And he looks amazing. I don't know if he's gotten work done or not. I don't want to know. And if he is, I think it's cool because he's aging so well, you know, so dignified. And also the fact that his getting older

is now part of the movie. There's a great part of the movie where he's like, I gotta fight a young guy? I don't think so. And I'm like, you know what, Tom Cruise? I appreciate the confidence that you bring to your own life. That you're willing to have that be part of this story. People criticizing Tom Cruise. Yeah, yeah. He is

very much involved in the leadership of a dangerous cult. Very true. Let's spin it again. It has landed on Paul Manafort's fashion sense, which I believe was suggested by Lucia. Ooh. Okay. I don't know if everyone's gotten a chance

to see all the jackets, but this is about the jackets. about the jackets. So many jackets that are so fucking ugly. Like, okay, I get it. You're going to like, you know, get your money wire-transered to you

from like, I don't even know, somewhere in Russia or whatever. And it's like all being laundered and washed and whatever. But the audacity to take that money and spend it on such tacky shit. somewhere in Russia or whatever and it's like all being laundered and washed and whatever but the audacity to take that money and spend it on such tacky shit is actually the thing I have an issue with I'm like there's like this tackiness to all this disgusting administration that will never actually wash off of this country like I honestly feel that way. The fact that Trump is making the Oval Office

gold and yellow, I assume. And I think he's also redoing Air Force One. There's just this kind of, we'll never be able to undo the reality of this tackiness. And I think it weirdly does to me, all the jackets, because there's like 50 of them. I think that's the perfect metaphor for spending so much money

on the ugliest shit having absolutely no taste or class. There's an Italian word, caffone, which means basically like tacky, which I really feel like, of course, Italians called this shit earlier because they've been living in a fascist state forever. the pasta's good, but the the fascism it's a little

sour um but in any case it's just and he also i think uh manafort has like a garden in like his like hampton's home or whatever that has like flowers that make a huge m in his backyard, I've read. I kind of think that's tight. But it's like this richy rich, like Donald whatever, the rich screws with duck, kind of like richness that is like, it can only be funneled through true evil. So you have no sense of reality except for that you like ugly shit,

and that's annoying to me. If I could peel back the curtain a tiny teeny bit. Lucia and I have known each other for over 10 years when we were 23 years old. And I feel like that ostrich skin jacket is exactly the kind of shit you would have wore

would I bet. Andrew, I'm glad you said that. I'm glad you said that because I'd like to offer a counterpoint. I think the ostrich coat looked cool. I also think Paul Manafort wears the hell out of a

fancy suit. Yeah, deal with it. Those are some cool old school big ass lapel suits for tall men and I think they're cool. They look like they're out of expense. Like navy blue you can't get that navy blue without putting down $5,000 on the table

from another country. Don't you just imagine like Mike Pence like quietly putting on the cool jacket and like looking at himself in the mirror for a second and realizing he can't do it. Just puts on that Astro Jack and he's like, you're naughty. Let's spin the wheel. It has landed on Crazy Rich Asians, which was suggested by Andrew Tu.

I sure did. I'm annoyed that I have to be excited for Crazy Rich Asians. It happens that I am excited, but I'm annoyed that I have to be. I'm annoyed that it's just like there's so little shit for Asian people out there, or starring Asian people, blah, blah, blah, so little shit for Asian people out there, or starring Asian people, blah, blah, blah, that I have to get behind a thing that there is a 0% chance I would watch

if it were all white people and all rich people. I'm already like... No, I hear you. I feel that way about gay movies, because it's like... It's about Gaza, alright you know it's like can't they just

and they don't make another movie about a gay couple that life got in the way oh well I think that seeing the trailer of Crazy Rich Asians reminds me so much of all the things I love about Bollywood, which is just opulence, right?

It's like so much opulence and decadence. And it makes me really excited because I just love watching movies like that. I think that, yes, we should be tired of rich people. We should not always be watching things about rich people. tired of rich people. We should not always be watching things about rich people. But there is a part of myself that gets genuinely excited about richness, just about that kind of

flyness that's just there, and it makes me want to have that one day, to just be able to be like, I'm on set with all this gold. I'm over here with these jackets. I think you are speaking to the reason that they make them. Yeah, I think so.

The fantasy of it. I am probably the target audience. Let's spin it again. What a perfect transition into the topic of Hollywood reboots, which was suggested by Fatima. Every single day, I feel like there's a new article that's like, here's this reboot. And while I love Buffy, like I loved Buffy growing up, I just feel like we don't need Buffy in 2018 right now. And so there's kind of this thing that I feel like is happening where I see that a lot.

It really bothers me because while often the reboots will be like,'s this old story and now we're just gonna insert like person of color, we're gonna insert like gay person, we're gonna insert this stuff and it just feels like super recycled material rather than it's like a shortcut into diversity or into kind of talking about these other things rather than being like there's all of these creators with original content why not just go find all of these other stories that haven't been told yet? And it just feels like a really easy way of doing that, and so it's been bothering me a lot.

I think that's a very, very fair concern. However, I did see a poster image for a female Terminator film. I don't even know if that poster was real. I didn't click on it. poster image for a female Terminator film. I don't even know if that poster was real. I didn't click on it. But Linda Hamilton was in it, and she looked cool. I think it's a weird reflection on like, where we wish we were right now, or what we would like to be.

As an extremely lazy writer of color, I'm really counting on being able to just take old white ideas and insert myself in them. Please don't kill that gravy train for a couple more years. I really need it. But I actually think, ironically, just to bring it back, using

non-white guys, non-straight white guys is something new and then also you want it to be a new concept, all new, and it's a little bit like sticking Tom Cruise falling off a helicopter in every movie. It's like, yeah, there's a woman

on the poster, but it also says Terminator on it. Remember Terminator? Okay? There's not going to be true equality until there's female Terminators that like female robots

You seem to have forgotten a little film called Terminator 3 where she used computers to drive cop cars via wifi so that's a technology that is coming Let's spin it one more time. It has landed on MoviePass.

What's going on? They just run out of money? What kind of cut? I was like, here's our business model. Free movies for everybody. Oh no, they caught on to it. Also, you're like a big company. You can't say that you're out of money for 20 minutes.

You know? You can't just be like, go to the movies tomorrow. So I couldn't see Tom Cruise's stunts because MoviePass wouldn't let me watch it. They basically were like, you can't watch certain movies until later. And that was really sad. But I do love the idea. MoviePass is a great example of once in a while, whether it was the Groupon thing or a few others,

where it's just like, hey, there are some venture capitalists who are going to do a wealth transfer to you so that you can see 50 movies in a month because shit's fucked up and some people bet on something stupid. What was the plan with MoviePass, though? What were they going to do? It was...

It's not totally... I think they underestimated just how many movies people would see in a day. I think that basically MoviePass's financial woes could have been avoided if any person involved in the financing of MoviePass had been to a Sizzler. Or like a Bob's Big Boy? Because like, it's not 2X. It's 10X.

You can go in there with bags. It's wild. It's like MoviePass is like rent for the day. Like you can just live in the movie theater. Yeah. That's dumb. Especially during the heat wave. My friend would, on her Instagram stories, just have her in the theater watching movies on MoviePass,

eating Tupperwares of all the food that she had packed with her for the day. So she was like, cool, this is what I'm doing all day because it's hot. I'm about that. One time a friend and I snuck Chipotle burritos I'm not a hero on this story I'm going to end with this story even though, is it a story? so

we snuck in to see a movie with two Chipotle burritos, we thought the movie theater was going to be empty, we thought like, oh it's a Thursday, the movie's been out for a week and a half, the movie theater was basically full. And so just two honking, stinky Chipotle burritos. We are, again, not the heroes in this story. And there was an empty seat here, the two of us, and then the row was full. And the guy sitting to the left of my friend actually for the it was Spencer and the mystery he sort of turns to Spencer and

he goes hey man you guys are eating burritos they kind of smell you guys mind moving over and Spencer goes now we're good. I always love that. What are you, yeah, you're good. Now we're good. We're good here. Not the heroes in this story.

All right. You know what? Fuck it. And that's our show. I want to thank our panel, Fatima Asghar, Lucia and Yellow, Andrew T, and Steve Chiatekis. Thank you to Dynasty Typewriter for having us. Thank you all for coming out. Good to see you guys.

Have a great night. Thank you.