The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Michael Kosta Reports On The U.S. House Speaker Race & California Believes Bees are Fish | Emily Oster

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

Daily Show guest host, Michael Kosta, tackles Biden's visit to Israel, how congress struggles to choose a new house speaker, and he travels to California to find out why the state officially categorizes bees as fish. Plus, Kosta sits with economist, data expert, and author, Emily Oster, to discuss how data can help ease anxieties parents may feel raising children and helps parents retain control in their households.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. Let's start in the Middle East. The war is now in its second week and shows no sign of stopping, but today, President Biden landed in Israel to try to help out.

He made it all the way down the stairs. on its second week and shows no sign of stopping. But today, President Biden landed in Israel to try to help out. He made it all the way down the stairs. Mission accomplished already, off to a great start. And while he was there, he had some important advice for a country going to war in response to a terrorist attack. Justice must be done. But I caution this while you feel that rage. Don't be consumed by it.

After 9-11, we were in rage in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes. Wow. Wise words from President Biden. Anytime an American president admits a mistake, it's a big deal. So Israel, please learn from us, don't stay in Afghanistan for more than 20 years toss. But Biden's right. America made some serious mistakes after 9-11. Iraq, Guantanamo, frosted tips. By the way, I'm sure his visit is appreciated, but as someone who has a parent roughly

the same age as Joe Biden, sometimes when they fly into help, it ends up being a little more of a burden than hell. Don't mind me, don't mind me. I'm not even here. Just write down all the steps for how to get Hulu on the TV and I'll be fine. Hey, I'm happy to do the steps for how to get Hulu on the TV and I'll be fine. Hey, I'm happy to do the laundry. Just tell me where everything goes and where everything is. That's kind of what I feel like is going on right now.

All right, let's move on to domestic news and talk about the speaker race. The Sonos won. Meanwhile, in the Congress of the United States, the House is having its own speaker race, and it continues to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be the to be the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the Congress of the United States, the House is having its own speaker race, and it continues to be an absolute disaster. The House remains speakerless. Congressman Jim Jordan's second bid to become speaker was defeated on the House floor. He actually lost some of the support he had in the first round. The people that are involved don't actually know what's going on. It is, frankly, embarrassing.

The biggest circle jerk at the history of circles or jerks. Apparently you can just say circle jerk on TV. What's next? Congressional leaders met today and what can best be described as a violent Bukaki. But that's right. Jim Jordan lost by 20 votes yesterday, spent all night meeting holdouts one-on-one, trying to win them over, and then lost by 22 votes this afternoon. I crunched the numbers, and it turns out 22 is more than 20. So he's doing even worse. So at this point three Republicans have

tried and failed to get the votes for speaker with no end in sight, which is why now there's a growing movement to just let the temporary speaker, Patrick McHenry, keep the job. And he seems qualified. I mean he's wearing a bowtie. A bow tie says a lot about a man. It says that every morning he spends 20 minutes watching a YouTube tutorial on how to tie a bow tie, and that's the kind of focus you want in a speaker. But more importantly, Congressman McHenry is perfect for the job because he's already there. Sometimes you just got to go with the guy who's already sitting in the chair. I mean, why keep looking? He's not fucking up. He's maybe even crushing it. Some people are saying.

Maybe he doesn't have as many Instagram followers as some of the other guest speaker candidates, but let's not over-complicate things. He's right there, just give him the fucking job already, all right? Let's move on to a heartwarming story. New Yorkers get a bad rap for not caring about strangers. And it's true, when tourists ask me for directions, I stab them. But, thankfully, there's still good people out there. Firefighters responding to a call about a serious blaze

inside a Manhattan high rise. A New Yorker is watching from an apartment down the street, can't believe his eyes. From a distance, he thinks he sees out of control flames. I called 911 and within minutes the streets were echoing with fire engines. But wait, those aren't real flames. It's the Yulog video. Turns out the video was being played on a big screen TV, which made the illusion of a fire all the more real from that window. Oh man, how embarrassing for that guy, especially after last week when he called the police

to report that shark Nato. Anyway, what a heartwarming story that cost the city a quarter of a million dollars. And it was nice to see this man looking out for his neighbor's safety. Although it did make me wonder why he was staring at this particular neighbor's window in the first place. It was Allie Lyons' apartment. Oh, I see what's going on here. Go on.

It was a rainy Saturday and I had to work a little bit, so I got my laptop, I made some tea, I put on some candles and the fireplace. I'm new. Welcome. Inside Edition brought the neighbors together. So this is where the fire happens. I was having a cup of tea here. The one thing she's learned. I really do need to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get to get curtons curtons curtons to get to get curtons the curtains curtains the curtons the curtains the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. Yeah. The one thing she's learned, I really do need to get curtains now.

Yeah. Yeah, you do. And maybe some pepper spray while you're at it. For more on this Yulog and or possible stalker story, we go live to Midtown with our very own Desi Lydick. Desi, Desi, are you actually in that lady's apartment? Oh, no, no, no, I'm at my place. It's crazy. I've got a dangerous fire in here, too. Just, you know, waiting for a super tall European snack to come rescue me. But, okay, but that guy who saw the fire was looking into her apartment.

That's creepy. Costa, were you not listening to me? He's tall. I mean, did you see him? He's like if Timothy Shalamey took his vitamins. But if a guy is basically stalking through his window, that's not someone you want to date. For me, this guy's got the two most important qualities. He's interested in me, and his apartment has a window. I mean, did you...

Did you... Did you see that guy? Like if Timothy Shalame had a window? Look, even if you're into the idea of a guy noticing you from his apartment, it's just not practical. This was a one-off incident. Guys don't just stare into random windows looking for fires. You'd be better off thinking about...

Excuse me, little lady. I thought I saw a fire. Ah, jackpot. Jackpot. He's Paul. I can't wait for the wedding. Desil-Elydick everybody. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls.

What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're gonna be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. We all love bending the law, whether it's going five miles over the speed limit or adding five extra children to your tax return, but I found an organization that was bending the law for good. Check it out.

California has successfully turned drugs into medicine and raisins into people, but this time, they've gone too far. Bees are now legally considered fish. Bumblebees are now considered fish. Bumblebees. Fish in the state of California. What the fuck is California up to now? To find out, I went to meet environmentalists, Serena Jepson, who, with the conservationist group the Zercy Society, petitioned the state to turn bees into fish.

Serena, are bees fish? No, bees are not fish. Okay, few. I was like, so almost certain that they weren't. You don't fish for a bee, you be for a bee, right? Bees are not fish, but the California legislature decades ago defined fish to include several different animals, including invertebrates. And bees are unquestionably a type of invertebrate.

So according to California state law, bees are fish. You just said that bees are not fish and also bees are fish. Do I look dumb to you? No. We've just utilized the definitions under the California Endangered Species Act to seek protection for four species of bumblebees that are close to extinction. And to make things even more confusing only some bees are now fish. Bombasoxox in Talas, the western bumblebee. The bombas oxen and talus? Yeah, that's the western bumblebee. Franklin's bumblebee, the suckly cuckoo bumblebee.

We can't really say that on TV, but okay, go ahead. Bombus crutch, which is the one that occurs here, that's crutches bumblebee. What's that in college. Does it really affect my life that the borealis, oxytallis, cock-eyed bumblebee is gone? If we let enough species go extinct and we no longer have a diverse suite of native pollinators, we're gonna start seeing problems with pollination of crops and pollination of our native ecosystems.

So calling bees an endangered fish is a way to protect them under California law. Problem solved, right? I don't think bees are fish. I knew it. I just don't think that's the case. Next thing you're going to tell me that the tomato is a fruit. As a member of the Almond Alliance of California, Stuart Wolf sued, along with agriculture and pesticide groups to exclude bees from the endangered species act, because protecting these bees would hit him, right, the the th, th, th, the th, th, th, th, th, the th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi- thease, thees, the, the, thease, thees, thees, thees, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, and the, and the, and the, and the, and thee, and thee, and thee, and thee, and thee, and the, and theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, the, the, from the Endangered Species Act because protecting these bees would hit him right in the nuts. Whenever you have more risk and you have the possibility of more regulation then ultimately you have higher costs. There'll be more insects and there'll be more protections. It will simply grow from here. I mean, what are they going to protect

all in vertebrates? Slugs, worms, bears? When does it stop? Then you can't just go changing the names of stuff, even if it benefits you, right? Right? I'm okay with this whole nut juice being called milk. But calling a bee a fish, feels pretty California to me.

I can't argue with that. Yeah. Yeah. Is it milk? Is it almond milk? Well, you're talking to an almond grower, and so I believe almond. there is such a thing. Others, like dairymen, believe it has to come from a mammal.

Right. But that again will likely be figured out in the courts. In the end, the fate of the bees was decided with the help of a much more resilient and dangerous species. Lawyers. Law students Sam Joyce and Professor Matt Sanders at Stanford's environmental law clinic successfully lawyers the bees into fish. And I had a pretty good idea why.

Let's be honest here. Who's making the big bucks? Is it the lawyers? We represent our clients on a pro bono basis. Pro bono, what's that mean? For free. For free. I've actually been paying money to be here.

You actually paid money to call bees fish. And this is the problem with today's campuses and universities. So these suckers fought a legal battle to save the bees just because they love the environment? Okay, but how did they pull that off? Explain to me how the Bees are fish. The California Fish and Game Code, section 45, defines fish. And it says that a fish is a wild fish, or a crustacean, or a mollusk, or an invertebrate, or an amphibian.

Bees are invertebrates, so bees fall within the definition of fish in this law. This is like Christians, you know, finding a way to have sex before they're married, you know, hand stuff or whatever. This is a legal loophole, right? Come on. If anything, the loophole here is trying to play on the definitions or the terms within the Endangered Species Act and say, sorry, this can cover plants, it can cover other animals, but it can't cover insects. That sounds like a loophole. I guess with legal advice, you really get what you pay for.

And with that, I'd studied the issue from almost every angle except the most important one. Okay so I think I get it. It doesn't matter if bees or fish or bees. Those are just labels. And everything deserves a right to exist and to pollinate and to reproduce and be happy. That's what this is about. More or less, yes. I think I get it. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. One more thing. So are bees fish? No. No. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're

going to be talking about ingredient-to-bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. My guest tonight is an economist at Brown University, an author of several books on data-driven parenting. Please welcome Emily Oster. Hello. All right. Exciting, huh?

I'm excited. Data. And parenting. And babies. Yeah, I mean, what does parent data mean? There's data on parents? Yes, there is data on parents, and I am a firm believer that data is the key to making your parenting easier

and happier and more relaxed. Are you very relaxed? Oh, right now, very relaxed. But you've actually made our family more relaxed because some of the data, some clip somewhere. But you might have even our family more relaxed because some of the data, some clip somewhere. Might have even been in this book, expecting better, which maybe 10 year anniversary now? This book? Wow, amazing. I'm paraphrasing, but it was there's two preschools or two daycares.

They're both of equal, credible value. Which one should I go to as a parent and your answer was go to the one that's closesttwo preschools or two daycares. They're both of equal credible value. Which one should I go to as a parent? And your answer was go to the one that's closest to your house. Yeah. So for me, that's really a mnematic of what I think is hard and often overthought about parenting, is we have this idea that there's a right way to do it. There's a correct day carear. And you. And you. And you. And you. And you. And you. And you tha. And you can. And you can can can the rabbit hole, well, these teachers have this qualifications and this bad things. And in the end of the day, there are a lot of right ways to do this.

And those kind of considerations are most of the time so much less important than what works for your family and what makes you happy, and usually what makes you happy is driving less. So that's why you should go I push the stroller there, then I fold the stroller up and I lock it to a telephone pole outside. And then my wife, who picks up, has to unlock the stroll. I mean, this is like, and I'm a celebrity. You know what I mean?

This is what it's like in New York City. But data parenting is nice. I like the term. It sounds good. But when my three-year-old is punching me in the face on Father's Day, for the three times that day, and I'm about to lose it, I'm not thinking about data. So there are some problems.

Or what's, okay, yeah. There are some problems for which data isn't necessarily going to fix the problem. But I think there's another piece of data in parenting, and I think this is really true that like we can use data to feel less alone. And that's like part of parenting is hard, right? Your kids hit you in the face, it's painful. And it hurts. Yeah, it's painful. It doesn't matter how old they are. But what the data will tell you is 100 percent of other people were also hit on Father's Day. And in some sense, I think that tells us that we're doing okay.

There's nothing wrong with your kid. They just hit sometimes. Where is this data coming from? Survey. That's like, yeah. Okay, survey. So data comes from a lot of place. Actually, when I teach an economist, they teach a Brown, one of the big things I teach people is like, where does data come from?

And the answer is, it comes from surveys. We ask people, and data has its limitations. We don't always ask the most representative set of people. And we don't always analyze it in the ways and what they do and by collecting information on how their kids do. Let's start with pregnant women. Are we in a time where there's more fear associated with eating sushi, drinking alcohol, or is it always been this fear? And here comes Professor Auster to offer these guidelines that help us?

I mean, are you a product of there being an excess amount of fear now? Fundamentally, yes. I mean, I think, you know, if you look at the broad swath of history, you know, certainly there are medieval times. We were not concerned about sushi. That wasn't like the primary worry. I would not eat sushi in the plague. And then sushi was lowe the the the the th th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, times, the plague and then sushi was low on the list. But I do think in the last, you know, 15, 20, maybe 30 years, there has become this

culture of kind of achievement in parenting and the idea that you have to do it right. Like, and I think some of that comes from demographic shifts from the fact that people are parenting older, that maybe they've done more and so you get th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. thi and, thi and, the and, thi and, thi and, thi and, thi and, the thi and, thi and, thi and, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thin, thin, the and, the and, thean, thean, thean, thin. thean, thean, thean, thin. the and, thi. th an idea that, like, there's a right way to do this. I'm going to achieve this. I'm going to just kill this pregnancy. I'm going to do all this stuff, and I'm going to get it right. And of course, when you have the baby or before that, you realize a lot of things are out of your control. And in fact, many of these small these small these small thi small thi small the small small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the small, the, I, thin, I, I, I'm to, I'm to just, I'm to just, and I'm to just, I'm to just, I'm to just, I'm to just, I'm to just, I'm to just just just just just, I'm to, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, and, and, and, and, and, and, to.. to. to. to. to. to. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the th stuff that's important and not think so much about the things that are less important that are just causing you to be anxious and not get to eat delicious fish. Well, because if you're creating this world where everything has to be perfect, invariably something will go wrong and that creates stress, which stress can be good and guilt. It's not just stress.

I mean, I think there's hard to recognize that sometimes things go wrong for reasons that are not something we did, but that's actually pretty important thing to recognize if you want to be able to move forward. I did a little bit of my own data research. Wonderful. Okay. And like Kyrie Irving. Because it was driving me crazy during both my wife's pregnancies how every doctor, everyone we said was like, you can't eat a deli meat. Don't eat a turkey sandwich. You can't eat because of Listeria. This was the

big thing. And I know you talk about Listeria in here. But so I said, okay, I'm curious, how many pregnant women in the United States even got Listeria last year? And according to Google, I don't know if Google is a reputable source, it says 200 pregnant women last year got Listeria. 200,000 pregnant women got in a car accident. So I'm thinking by that standard they should be saying pregnant women don't get in a car. It's considerably worse. Am I amazing parenting data science? But it speaks to like the fear and trying to make some sense of it. So I think I want to separate a little bit.

There's a lot to unpack. Yeah, I mean, a lot to unpack in your analysis. I mean, I think one thing that is that is true is that many of the risk, theyme. that theyre's a lot of a risk that we're taking all the time and for good reason I wouldn't tell people not to get in a car but just to recognize life contains a background level of risk. Yeah. We talk about something like Listeria. You want to be careful. There are some things which you do probably want to avoid. Yeah. Raw milk soft cheeses being a good example because it is a relatively small thing to avoid that and it is more common

that list theory isn't it? It's easy to skip that. It's easy to skip that. But as we think about things that are harder to skip, you do want to get into like well actually is this really an important risk relative to many of the other risks I'm taking every day like getting in a car. I didn't realize I didn't realize how much my parents parenting me was going to turn me, excuse me, I thought I would parent differently. Better. I had great parents, but I thought I would do things differently. Am I, are we just doomed?

Is there data on this? Okay, there is data on some, there are some things differently. Am I, are we just doomed? Is there data on this? Okay, there is data on some, there are some things you probably do do differently. And so, and sometimes because we've advanced our data, you know, you probably put your babyty sleep on their back and your parents probably put you to sleep on your stomach because we learn more about data. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. But I think it is, of course, true that we're all products of our own parenting, but also that many of the things our parents did are great. And in the end, there's a lot of right ways to do this. I think we always want to like move away from our parents, but you probably don't. You're an economist. Your husband's an economist. Are your kids like, don't hit your brother. data on that mom. My kids could not be less interested in economics or my parenting work. You know it's one of the great things about being a parenting expert is that you can say that a lot at home like I'm a parenting

but they don't think that. Right. Your new book it's coming out you can pre-order it. What is your new book about? The new book is called the Unex, and it is about navigating pregnancy after complications. So for about 50% of pregnancies, they end with, in a complication, a loss, or pre-eclimpsia, or something. And the book is really an attempt to help people work through in a later pregnancy, how to avoid those complications, what you can do about them, and how to navigate conversations with your provider. So, that's the idea.

Okay, great. One of the things I read that you said that I really enjoyed was studies say versus all studies say. Do you know what I'm talking about? I do because studies always show. So when people tell me this study, a studies, studies show everything. Everything can be shown in a study. And the question is often, what does the bulk of the evidence say? Because when we look at most of the problems in this book,

in all of the space of pregnancy and parenting, there's almost always many different pieces of evidence, which we need to look at altogether. And so when somebody comes up and they say, well, this one study said that I want to be like, well, is that the only study we have? And it almost never is. I mean, you can find anything on the internet. Yes. It's like you can Google and find your support. So how can parents, the kids crying, or you got punched in the face on Father's Day,

or you can't eat deli meats. Where do we go? So I would like people to go people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people to go to go to go to go to go like people to go to parentdata.org, which is the website where we put together sort of the whole broad range of the stuff I've written in these books and then in my newsletter about what the data says about many of these kind of questions. And I think it's part of a general effort to basically when you wake up in the middle of night and you're like, why is my kids poop this color? Is that an okay color? That the website will be like, here's a little color-coded graph of the appropriate colors

and you can look and then you be like, oh, that's a fine color. Green is cool, I'm gonna go back to sleep. It's waynets. All the non-parents are like, data, um, vasectomies? Bisectomies are amazing options. Okay. Besectomies are a great form of birth control, and they're an outpatient procedure. You just need a little ice pack down there and it works great.

So it's worth considering. Um, Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show wherever you get your podcast. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. this has been a Comedy Central podcast.

Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the Weekly Show with John Stewart, wherever, every every every every every every every every every th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. the th. th. the th. th. th. the th. th. to thi. to to to the the, thi, the the the, to to to the, the, the the, the the, the the the, the the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, th. th. th. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. to the th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. the. the. to to to to to to tea. to tea. to tea. thea. thea. thea. thea. the. to the. to to