The Daily Zeitgeist - All Roads Lead To The MotherTrend 3/10: Republican Infighting, FAA, Gene Hackman, Israel/Twitter

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

In this edition of All Roads Lead To The MotherTrend, Jack and Miles discuss their respective weekends, the Republican infighting begins, the TRUTH about Gene Hackman, Israel announcing their latest war crime on Twitter and much more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South by your buck. When you when you hear how funny this shit's going to be, bro. Forget it. We have yet to make our pilgrimage to the comedy mothership. Where I wonder where that is. I don't want to go, man. Just like, you know, we work in comedy. We got it. That's like like fucking Graceland for us.

I'm pretty sure all roads lead to the mothership Follow any road you're gonna end up at that mother He'll just roll down like gravity to the mothership like shit It'll pull you in Yeah, I know. Maybe we should go with Jamie One that would that would actually be incredible. I don't think I could subject me, her, you or anyone or even the subsequent story I would have to I guess it depends on who's there.

Oh, who's at the mothership tonight? So, I mean, the ship South by Southwest is. Bonkers is just such a weird like just all these people walking around with pink lanyards with just hungry eyes looking to. So the pink lanyards, Brian, are the ones that are for the interactive. And so it's all just like online marketing people just like looking around with hungry eyes, looking to make connections.

So dude, it's killed Tony tonight. It's killed Tony tonight. It's killed Tony tonight. There's no way in kill Tony. Well, guess what? Guess what? We're we're not going to be able to get tickets to that man. No, that shit was sold out. This show was sold out on inauguration day, man.

I mean, but what if you walk up and you tell them that you guys are podcasters? Hey, man, I get it. I'm a podcaster. What percentage of the male population in the city of Austin, Texas, do you think has podcasts? Probably like 87%. I don't know. There's some pretty normal people. It's just hard because it's ever just surrounded by pod. Like people just descend on like, you know, on Austin from like the digital media world right now, there was two people sitting at like the most crowded

hotel bar that I've ever seen recording a podcast with like mics on the table. I was like, how is that? Are you just getting room for like a bar scene? Was this here? Yeah. Yeah. This was like the first day when we got here. It's called podcast verite, Jack. Verite. It's good because you can't hear shit that anybody's saying. Dishes clanging against each other and then the occasional words, like buzzword, like synergy get dropped in. Yeah, yeah, you can hear that. Do you remember what you said

the first night I came over here? How goes lower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. And Santi was gone. I've been spending all my time looking for answers

about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Hmm, pillow talk. The most unwelcome window into the human psyche. Follow our out of his element hero as he engages in a series of ill-conceived, investigative hookups.

Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. And as I was about to learn, no amount of showering can wash your hands of a bad hookup. Now, take a big whiff, my bra. ["I Heart Radio"] Listen to the hookup on the IHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,

or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. September, 1979. Virginia's top prison band, Edge of Daybreak, is about to record their debut album, Behind Bars, in just five hours. OK, we're rolling. One, two, three, four. ["BARS"]

I'm Jamie Petrus, music and culture writer. For the past five years, I've been talking to the band's three surviving members. They're out of prison now and in their 70s. Their past behind them. But they also have some unfinished business. The end of daybreak, eyes of love, was supposed to have been followed up by another album. It's a story about the liberating power of music, the American justice system,

and ultimately, second chances. Listen to Soul Incarcerated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional wellbeing at soundedouttogether.org.

That's soundedouttogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. Hey y'all, it's your girl, Cheeky's, and I'm back with a brand new season of your favorite podcast, Cheeky's and I'm back with a brand new season of your favorite podcast Cheeky's and Chill. I'll be sharing even more personal stories with you guys. And I know a lot of people are going to attack me.

Why are you going to go visit your dad? Your mom wouldn't be okay with it. I'm going to tell you guys right now, I know my mother and I know my mom had a very forgiving heart. That is my story on plastic surgery. This is my truth. I think the last time I cried like that was when I lost my mom. Like that, like yelling.

I was like, no. I was like, oh, and I thought, what did I do wrong? And as always, you'll get my exclusive take on topics like love, personal growth, health, family ties, and more. And don't forget, I'll also be dishing out my best advice to you on episodes of Dear Cheekies. So my fiance and I have been together for 10 years and the first two years of being together,

I find out he is cheating on me, not only with women, but also with men. What should I do? Okay, where do I start? That's not love. He doesn't love you enough because if he loved you, he'd be faithful. It's going to be an exciting year

and I hope that you can join me. Listen to Cheekies and Chill, season four, as part of the My Kultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this week trend edition of Your Daily Zeitgeist. Yeah.

This is a production of I Heart Radio. It's a podcast where we take a deep dive into American shared consciousness and this is the one where we tell you what was trending over the weekend, what's trending this morning and we let you get to know us a little bit better by telling you some things. And by the way, you're welcome for letting you do that. Telling you some things we think is overrated, underrated. I am Jack O'Brien and that over there is my cohost, Mr. Miles Gray.

Come on. Yeah, we're here. We're here in Austin. It's a road game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're on the road.

Just on the road from two separate workers. We're gonna write the sickest, the sickest ballad about how hard life is on the road. Just on the road, dude. Again? Everybody keeps giving me weird looks because I got long hair and shit. Oh man. It's because of the Confederate flag bandana I think you're wearing. The answer to keying in on.

Um, I'm like, I'm kind of like a rocket man. I feel like in a way, like I'm just like out here in space. I miss my wife. I miss my kills. Is that some shit he says in rocket man. In fact, it's cold as hell. Uh, the, the, um, everybody's looking at me cause I have long hair is turn the page there's a whole genre of like Really like, you know sad rock songs about how hard it is to be the loneliness of road life Mm-hmm. Just a couple road dogs out here miles at South by Southwest

Weird place trying to make sense weird Weird place. Trying to make sense. Weird energy. Yeah. Trying to make sense of, uh, we haven't really seen any, um, the, the, the area that we're staying in doesn't have like, I think last year when we were down here, we talked about the fact that there were like these, uh, you know, it's, it's mainly like a marketing, an online marketing event. You know, it's mainly like a marketing, an online marketing event. And last year there was like Tide House,

Tide brand detergent had taken over a house. I mean, to be fair, we've barely left the hotel because we are laying down sleeping most of the day. It's so nice to sleep. Just indulging in the luxury of like a quiet room. Then being like, I don't want to walk outside. It's so nice to see just indulging in the luxury of like a quiet room. Um, and then being like, I don't want to walk outside. It's windy. It's, it is windy as hell down here. I gotta say, man, tough, tough times for those of us with comb overs, you know? And little toupees just blown right off.

A little two pages blew the hell off. Uh, let's let the people get to know us a little bit better. Tell them something we think's underrated, overrated. You want to kick us off with an underrated? Underrated. Oh man, just how shook the Dems really are right now. I think it's like there's a lot of talk of like what's gonna what's the next move or whatever but the the fear that is just coursing through this party, I think is actually really underrated. And because they're trying to talk about like, they're scrambling to do new things

in appeal to voters. I'm like, no, these people are shook. They don't know what to do. And they're revealing, they're just taking the masks off in the most obvious way. So again, they've been actively shitting the bed for some time now. And they know they don't know what to do. That's why you see like, I see those things like those leaks of the third way kind of retreat talking points coming out as a way to sort of see how the like the real power struggle is going to be from like centrists trying to insist that they just have to appeal to independent voters and Republicans to get this thing back on track. And then they don't because they don't want it to be the people who are like, we need

small dollar donors and not open oligarchy. But again, in this scrambling to appeal to voters, they're also revealing that they never believed in a fucking thing. They have said exactly for example Gavin Newsome's new podcast Where he's now just and just all of his comments I just like throwing trans people under the bus now and yucking it up with Charlie Kirk on his podcast I think your smack is so fresh Charlie that that stuff that smack that you talk dude. That's so jive Yo, I can just see it in your stance out there man. You're crouched over you're angry Marinara you is like in cook

The way he took he's talking Charlie cook is like the problem with Charlie cook is saying the problem Democrats is they can't go in A podcast because they can't do the long-form content podcast is just way too intense. They require authenticity It's too masculine, and Democrats just aren't able to hang with that. Wow. It's like, yeah, that's true, man. That's true. Exactly.

And you're like, what are you fucking doing? But again, I think it also reveals how quick he is to just backpedal on marginalized community shows. It's not that they ever cared. It's just that they just know the Democrats are more the party of like saying the right things at the right time. But still sort of hiding that much better than Republicans are. Then also like Hakeem Jeffries admonished other Democrats that were disruptive during Trump's address saying he's like, you're making it about you and not Trump. Very frightening to hear this.

Yeah, like leadership would have had that conversation ahead of time and then figured out a strategy that would work because that what they did did not work. He's not wrong about that, but I feel like, uh, I don't know. That's, that's your job. It's just to get everybody on board with something that makes sense and suggests that you guys aren't with this shit. Guys duck and cover. That's what we're doing.

Okay. Everyone duck and cover and if you don't do it then it's going to look worky. But again, the authenticity thing, I'm seeing a lot of headlines about authenticity this weekend and Dems struggle with it. I just think the difference is that Republicans are fine embracing their backwards views in public. Like that's the whole thing. Democrats have to hide them.

They have to spend time hiding it until they emerge, like those views emerge in how they legislate and the causes they get behind. And then you're like, wait, what the fuck? So anyway, they're shook. Yeah, they're going to have to like kill the current version of the Democratic Party, and it's not going to go easily. No, no. And they're certainly not going to be the ones to do it. But yeah, yeah, it will have to be a like, you know,

Trump in 2016, Bernie in 2016 level, like, OK, just nobody is like all the energy is elsewhere. In the past, they have responded to that by being like, and we still don't give a fuck, we're going to like force it in this direction. Um, and that's because that is what they, they are a machine for, you know, turning things centrist and the centrist just just shit the bed like so evidently. It is like the thing, the only thing that all of Americans are united against right now is like that shit doesn't work. The like neoliberalism doesn't work,

but the party is that thing in its current iteration. So they're going, that thing is going to have to die for in some way for them to have a future. But they're just, again, they're just so vulnerable to some other option acting as a release valve for people's frustrations because it's not happening with them. And I think that's the thing they're trying to figure out before that option presents itself. Yeah.

All right, speaking of yeah, oh yeah, the Theo Von ad lib. That's his podcaster ad lib. So we had to look at that Theo Von interview for a thing. We're doing another thing we're doing. And I just, I think, I know it's old news. The Theo von interview that he did with Trump. This is so funny.

You don't even, like we don't even watch this show. It's just this clip. No, not at all. It's just this one clip. Keeps fucking you up. Where Theo von interviewed Trump and talked to him about cocaine and it the thing like I got distracted by and this these two things are really

funny but the show have you like an owl homie be out there like your own dang porch light out there which are great moments but the thing that I had underrated is that he's also doing like inside baseball cocaine user talk to Trump. He's like talking about he's like, yeah, man, I don't know what they were putting in American cocaine back then. Like, I guess a few years back, but it had like a almost had a rattle in it. I made you feel like a damn mechanic. It's the sort of thing you would only talk about on a podcast like cocaine talk.

Yeah, right, right. By and for people who do a lot of cocaine. And if not, you don't know what the fuck they're talking about. Yeah, like a cocaine sommelier. It's like the sort of shit that he was talking to future president Donald Trump, about having me feeling like a damn mechanic. Damn mechanic. What?

So fucking stupid. Fucking Theo, dude. This guy is so stupid that he says stuff like this and then also becomes a useful Putin idiot. Yeah, yeah. Like last week, he was tweeting shit. He was like, hey, we'll never know the truth about what happened in Ukraine when someone's talking about how Russia invaded Ukraine Yeah, and they're like dude, you cannot be this uncritical like black this kind of critical thinking he deleted it poor guy

And then he deleted it. Yeah. Yeah, he's just like feeling like a mechanic man All right miles what's something you think is overrated? Expensive tacos and room service breakfast. Guess what I have ate in the last 24 hours. I just again, every time I see tacos and this goes for ramen too. These are like affordable working people foods in the countries that they come. These are not like, we're going out fancy for ramen or something like that. They're like, it's meant to just be a thing that it's affordable, accessible. And I think we're hitting that like stride of like overpriced,

artisanal type tacos, like not the simple shit like stuff where they can get away with charging you a ton because they're like giving like proper noun name ingredients and everything and same with like ramen I feel like that too. So I just feel like that's a bubble as the economy continues to go in the direction it is. It's like, I don't know if I need to pay $20 for a bowl of ramen or you know, $8 for one taco $10 for one in some instances. How you know it's good then if you're not paying $20, you know, like that's only that's yeah

Yeah, no, that's true. That's true. You should do that. It tastes better when it costs $20 But I'm like, I've got some I've got some artisanal pencil shavings to sell you too that you're gonna love But the flavors are fantastic. Tell the chef. And then just the other thing room service breakfast I'm sorry to I heart because you guys are footing the bill for this because we're out here on a work trip. But the idea I think of room service breakfast sounds so much better than what you actually get and the state you're in. It's like, again, it's really it's mediocre at best. But in your mind, you're like, yeah, and I'll be like Kevin McAllister in Home Alone

I'll wear a bathrobe and I'll eat it in the bed No, I'm like stressed out like writing for the show or this other event that we're doing and I'm just like My sausages my sausages are cold they're not even fantastic Yeah, the idea of it so much better one that like I feel like the food that travels, the meal that travels the worst, right? Like it's just, there's not really a version of most breakfast food that's going to hold for more than like five minutes. No, especially like you think of like a sunny side up egg, the thin ass whites

of the egg, those things are like ice gel packs by the time they get to you. And that's on me. Like I should just take my ass down to a restaurant so I can just go have it passed directly to me. And also, I know, man, just talking to the people that are working at the hotel, they're like, it's a fucking hell right now. Like everyone is screaming about their how they're not getting shit in time. Like we're at like capacity.

Yeah. The service workers, God bless. Yeah. The it's a, it's a, it's an all the time. I'm talking about the concept of this fucking breakfast. The shit does not hit as good as it does. Yeah. I was at a restaurant yesterday where we were talking to the waiter and they were like that yesterday was like the busiest day we've ever had. It's fucking nightmare. We're hanging. We're hanging in there. All right. Another, uh, hotel based, uh, overrated, uh, this I'm going to say overrated the way we watch media now,

the a la carte menu way that we watch media where you have to choose what you're a la carte menu way that we watch media where you have to choose what you're gonna watch you gotta start it at the beginning finish it or you know like you got to figure it out there's a there's just just watching things linearly yeah so I I've had a couple nights of being like I don't know too tired to connect my hotel TV to my Netflix account and also the remote doesn't really work in my room. It's like the only thing it's like mostly out of batteries. You ever have a remote that's mostly out of batteries. And so like the only it like loses most of the functions and it can just do

like channels. Squeeze it really hard. You got to squeeze it really hard. The only thing you can do is like channel up channel down basically and volume up volume down like even turning the power on and off takes like and you famously will not advocate for yourself and ask for a new remote helmet. Be like, ah, I'll make this work. They're busy. And so near the top of, you know, the hotel TV, like when it it turns off it turns back on and it's at like a channel

A thousand my numbing loop video. Yeah Yeah, the my numbing loop video is just an ad for like like some marketing thing. Yeah, it's so weird I'm sure this is prime real estate right now. Yeah. Yeah, cuz usually it's Mario Lopez Yeah, usually it's Mario Lopez telling me about all the fun movies that I can order in my room. He really talks about the porn a lot. Yeah. No, but yeah, so right up there that is just a whole run of like all the HBOs and Cinemax's and I've just been like watching what's on man.

This, you know, just old school. Old school. Like this is how, this is, I would just, when I was in high school, middle school, I just had Comedy Central on and I would just let it ride. Oh yeah. You know, it was just whatever movie Comedy Central decided to show me, I would catch a half hour of that movie here and there. I caught 45 minutes of speed, the first 45 speed the other day, which I was like, wow. Like really not the part you

remember where it's like a, it's, it's not a bus movie yet. It's an elevator movie, but it's fucking rips man. And, and then I got to the the the bus part where the population of people riding buses in LA are like an elderly couple a tourist Sandra Bullock who by the way also like the amount of smoking that because I'm catching a lot of like older I also watched the end of scream 3 everybody's just ripping butts it's amazing Sandra Bullock's character in speed like runs up to the bus just like smoking a cigarette for no reason right right yeah it's just what like completely out of line with her so she did man but it just like gives the I think it gives the actor a little

business to do mm-hmm anyways all the people on the bus in Speed would have in reality just been people with suspended licenses from DUIs. That's who actually rides buses in LA. Yeah, I don't know, man. I caught End of Scream 3. Not great, but I'm sure I would have appreciated it more if I caught the first half hour. Then I caught the first half hour of final destination to the log truck. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's just nice to not have to make a decision. And it, it also is bad for time. Like you just lose a half hour. You know,

is it real, real easy when you, when it's like such a passive medium? You're just you just lose time because it's just like you get pulled into some shit Whereas like if you're having to like make choices about like Playing pausing. I don't know. There's something about it. That's been nice and soothing very inefficient But who the fuck needs efficiency? I'm advocating for people going out and lifting heavy rocks you know that's what I think we should be doing. Watching movies in little 15 minute increments. Yeah, watching movies in 15 minute increments you catch you kind of get the gist but then I don't know I've never seen the rest of

Final Destination 2 maybe maybe it goes in the direction I had I was not expecting. People just talking about the log truck scene anyway, dude. Yeah, exactly. Don't worry about it. That scene is wild. Anyways, those are some things we think are overrated and underrated. We are going to take a quick break

and we'll come back and talk about the news. We'll be right back. Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How goes lower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. And Santi was gone.

I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Pillow talk, the most unwelcome window into the human psyche. Follow our out of his element hero as he engages in a series of ill-conceived investigative hookups. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. And as I was about to learn, no amount of showering can wash your hands of a bad hookup. Now, take a big whiff, my brah. Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to

your favorite shows. September, 1979. Virginia's top prison band, Edge of Daybreak, is about to record their debut album, Behind Bars, in just five hours. Okay, we're rolling. One, two, three, four. ["Bars of the Dead"] I'm Jamie Petrus, music and culture writer.

For the past five years, I've been talking to the band's three surviving members. They're out of prison now and in their 70s. Their past behind them. But they also have some unfinished business. The end of daybreak, eyes of love, was supposed to have been followed up by another album. It's a story about the liberating power of music,

the American justice system, and ultimately, second chances. Listen to Soul Incarcerated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. podcasts. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional wellbeing at sounditouttogether.org. That's sounditouttogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal.

Hey y'all, it's your girl, Cheeky's, and I'm back with a brand new season of your favorite podcast, Cheeky's and Chill. I'll be sharing even more personal stories with you guys. And I know a lot of people are gonna attack me. Why are you gonna go visit your dad? Your mom wouldn't be okay with it. I'm gonna tell you guys right now, I know my mother.

And I know my mom had a very forgiving heart. That is my story on plastic surgery. This is my truth. I think the last time I cried like that was when I lost my mom. Like that, like yelling. I was like, no. I was like, oh, and I thought, what time I cried like that was when I lost my mom. Like that, like yelling. I was like, no. I was like, oh, and I thought, what did I do wrong?

And as always, you'll get my exclusive take on topics like love, personal growth, health, family ties, and more. And don't forget, I'll also be dishing out my best advice to you on episodes of Dear Cheekies. So my fiance and I have been together for 10 years. In the first two years of being together, I find out he is cheating on me, not only with women, but also with men. What should I do?

Okay, where do I start? That's not love. He doesn't love you enough, because if he loved you, he'd be faithful. It's going to be an exciting year, and I hope that you can join me. Listen to Cheekies and Chill, season four, as part of the My Kultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And we're back. We're back. And, you know, we talked about the Democrats not being able to get their shit together The Republicans are also starting to show little little cracks little fissures. Yeah I mean they were fighting this was never a solid thing and we're like when's the in fighting gonna start in the cabinet and now We're getting we're starting to get the real reports of the big fucking Car ride to Disney World and the family full and the family station wagon that is the Trump administration. Yeah.

But also a lot of fighting. So look, aside from total chaos, I think the one thing that's also a certainty in any Trump administration is bitter in fighting. And the thing about getting a bunch of power hungry maniacs together is that none of them will ever be powerful enough for their own liking and it then thus creating a bit of finger pointing and anger. So Elon Musk has basically been dictating as we all know, like pretty much all the business of the government.

But all the bootlickers that got in line for Trump are now starting to get pissed that Mark Musk is getting all the attention while also basically telling them what to do at their own fucking agencies in terms of firing people. So the New York Times has some reporting about just how shit blew up at a cabinet meeting, you know, between like transportation secretary Sean Duffy, you know, the guy in charge of the plane crashes not happening, and Marco Rubio, how they were particularly pissed with Musk in this meeting. But apparently like Musk started coming at Rubio for not firing enough people. And then Rubio's response was like, well, I got 15 people to take an early retirement.

That should count. And then at this, this is their description of this back and forth. And then Rubio asked, didn't they count as layoffs he asked sarcastically whether Musk wanted him then he owes then he goes he asked sarcastically whether Musk wanted him to rehire all those people just so he could make a show of firing firing them again then he laid out his detailed plans for organizing the State Department and Trump had to de-escalate things and be like okay just hold on so from now on if you run agency, you are the one who does the firing.

Not Elon. Do you hear that, Elon? You don't do the firing. You are the advisor. You just advise. Okay. Okay. Like had to fucking just set those rules.

Who knows if those will hold. Um, then Sean Duffy, the guy again again in charge of avoidable plane crashes, he started getting pissed because he's saying the Doge people were just trying to lay off all these air traffic controllers and Duffy said, what am I supposed to do? I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers? Then Duffy said he's been having to stop these kids like personally intervening to like stop these firings from happening. And then again, Trump had to intervene and then say this quote, the exchange ended with

Mr. Trump telling Mr. Duffy that he had to hire people from MIT as air traffic controllers. These air traffic controllers need to be quote, geniuses, he said. So he's like, okay, Sean Sean here's what you gotta do. Get the people from MIT, they're very smart. Make them air traffic controllers. It's that easy, we're playing the Sims, go. That's the one that I need him to like stand up for. Not let Doge completely fuck everything up

and instead he's like here's a completely unreasonable demand that I'm gonna make of you. You have to hire MIT employees. MIT grads. What kind of Elmer Fudd ass thinking is that when you're like, oh the problem is they're not geniuses. Right. And if then.

Super geniuses. It's true his brain is just TV. It's just like he has everything. You solve everything by like getting the guy from numbers to do the job. You know? It's just like you gotta find... Get me a Doogie Howser on the phone. Get me Bones. Get me Bones. Now. Get me a Bones. I need Bones to solve all these unsolved mysteries. I need geniuses for the air traffic controllers, maybe even baby geniuses. Have you seen that movie? These babies are geniuses, folks. I bet they're pretty talented now.

I mean, before this administration, we had gone so many years without a major plane crash. And now, like, yes, I think that is very specifically the one area that we're seeing that like institutional knowledge like it, you know, having on the job experience really matters. Like we started seeing the really dangerous like near misses during the Biden administration happened after the pandemic, when they did did like they kind of pushed people to retire early. And so they lost a big chunk of the workforce who had the experience doing the job. And then once air travel started up again, they were like unprepared and like a little understaffed. And it's just like this idea that you come in and just like completely flip the fucking gameboard over

and just, you know, it's, it doesn't work. And in particular, like there, there was this article in the Atlantic over the weekend about just the, like we, we had covered the fact that they fired a bunch of like FAA leadership right before that deadly crash, like weeks before the day after we all remember when Trump had that press conference where he blamed the plane crash on DEI. That same day, the day after the fucking plane crash, FAA employees, including air traffic controllers, safety inspectors, and mechanical engineers, according to this article, quote, received an email advising them to leave their job under a buyout program announced just two days before.

And this is from that email. The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector. So that's their plan. Right. It is to get rid of the people currently doing the job that are literally keeping planes from fucking falling out of the air. That's a low productivity job.

And then put low productivity and then add employees. But like you can't you can't get rid of them without having the next plan in place. And yeah, just the shit sounds so first of all, that email sounds like a spam email, which makes sense. Yeah, right. It's just taking that asking you for your log in information. Yeah. Your FAA credentials or something. Yeah. But like the the report from inside the FAA is just like people are fucking Leaving because it's such a nightmare like more than 1300 FAA employees replied to that email and Selected yes, I confirm that I am resigning retiring. That is the day after the plane crash

So that's what you know, we're in a worse place than we were heading into the plane crash. That it seems bad to me. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, they're, they're doing the merry-go-round of hiring, refire. It's just all again. That was Marco Rubio kind of ate with that one with the, uh, with the, oh, do you want me to fire everybody and then rehire them again so I can fire them again? Is that, would that make you happy, Elon? But also Marco, you know he's trying to do this so then they can privatize everything

because everything goes to shit then they can come in for the fucking scraps and that's what's so wild. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like one of the details is this. That's also pretty obvious. Yeah, one of the details of this report is that one of the problems that FAA does have and like air traffic does have is like

they're using old outmoded technology. Like early 2000s technology. But they had signed a contract with Verizon in like 2023. They're in the process of like building out this massive upgrade. And Elon Musk basically came in and hired somebody from SpaceX to like take over and infuse like Starlink as the system that it all runs on.

So again, just completely disrupting a process that's already in place in order to put one of his companies in a more advantageous position That like like you can like hold the country hostage Once he's no yeah in charge of all of our flights like it's it's so wild It's a yeah, just to think of the guy who who can't even get his own cars to not just fucking drive Completely out of control into something or just his lack of consistency with anything that he has in terms of like how stable the product is Then be like, yeah, let's put all air traffic control

Let's I mean air traffic was just rusted this weekend because one of his rockets just fucking exploded and rained debris Across Florida in the Caribbean. That's cool though. It looked cool as hell, dude. That shit looked awesome. There was a video, I think it was someone at like maybe the Tallahassee Airport or one of the airports nearby and it was like someone was filming inside the airport of all the debris falling and then one, you can tell this one dude thought he was being so funny goes ladies and gentlemen the aliens have arrived okay folks they have arrived and this guy keeps saying it over and over in this video clip oh he's like narrating over the video no he's

just trying to say like this guy he's there he's just in the airport somewhere and he's just clearly trying to get everybody's attention. He's just not getting the laugh that he's expecting to keep saying it. Dude, just shut up. That's incredible. The aliens have arrived. All right folks, let's be calm. They have arrived. And like, you've been waiting years for this.

Like if he's spending his own money on a private space program and that, you know, he's riding on great. But when it's like fucking with air travel and he's also the person who's like in charge of just single handedly reshaping how air travel, domestic air air travel happens in this country. It's pretty fucking terrifying. Yeah. I would say. Yeah. But anyways, really fun report to read as we're about to have to fly and less than a day to be like, yeah, people inside the FAA are not even focused on their normal jobs.

They're just so worried about being fired and like all the people on their team who've been fired and yeah, it sounds, it sounds like they're absolutely nailing it. Um, so I'm glad that Trump stood up for Marco Rubio, but did not stand up for the guy who's in charge of like not having all the planes crash. Yeah. I mean, it's, it'll be funny cause they'll always be like, well, we got rid of DEI and then, but if you get rid of all the scapegoats, you're going to have to blame white guys eventually, Donald. That's the problem here. Something.

And then they'll just pivot again. Like it was actually the immigrants again this time. What? Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Okay.

To quote our dear leader after his COVID address. Okay. Okay. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll talk about the truth about Gene Hackman's cause of death. The truth. The truth. Hackman truthers here. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. And Santi was gone. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Hmm, pillow talk. The most unwelcome window into the human psyche.

Follow our out of his element hero as he engages in a series of ill-conceived investigative hookups. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. And as I was about to learn, no amount of showering can wash your hands of a bad hookup. Now, take a big whiff, my brah.

Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. September, 1979. Virginia's top prison band, Edge of Daybreak, is about to record their debut album, Behind Bars, in just five hours. Okay, we're rolling.

One, two, three, four. I'm Jamie Petrus, music and culture writer. For the past five years, I've been talking to the band's three surviving members. They're out of prison now and in their 70s. Their past behind them. But they also have some unfinished business. The end of daybreak, eyes of love,

was supposed to have been followed up by another album. It's a story about the liberating power of music, the American justice system, and ultimately, second chances. Listen to Soul Incarcerated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear?

I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at SoundItOutTogether.org. That's SoundItOutTogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. with a brand new season of your favorite podcast, Cheeky's and Chill. I'll be sharing even more personal stories with you guys. And I know a lot of people are going to attack me. Why are you

going to go visit your dad? Your mom wouldn't be okay with it. I'm going to tell you guys right now, I know my mother and I know my mom had a very forgiving heart. That is my story on plastic surgery. This is my truth. I think the last time I cried like that was when I lost my mom. Like that, like yelling. I was like, no. I was like, oh, and I thought, what did I do wrong? And as always, you'll get my exclusive take

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Okay, where do I start? That's not love. He doesn't love you enough because if he loved you he'd be faithful. It's going to be an exciting year and I hope that you can join me. Listen to Cheeky's and Chill, season four, as part of the My Kultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And we're back. Mm. And Gene Hackman's cause of death has been revealed and it is less mysterious and you know planned out, less conspiratorial than I think a lot of people seem to be hoping for. So since he and his wife passed away at their house, the true crime slop factory has been working overtime churning out ridiculous theories. We've got here a YouTube video from law and crime network,

five theories on Jean Hackman's suspicious death investigation. Five. Five. Holy shit. Wait, what could you even come up with? There's a little racism in this, by the way. Do you do you feel like with the it's always like, I don't know, something about her. She seems suspicious. I feel like she seems. Is that something you've gone to?

Is this something you've gone scrutiny on your relationship, Jack? I've not experienced it to this degree where people are like, Jack, I think she's trying to murder you. But yeah, that's interesting. At first there always was like, what was going on with her? Did she do something? And then, I don't know. I mean, everything, I guess I didn't even really look at it

that way because I think I was so checked out from whatever the headlines were after I read the initial thing of like, oh shit, Gene Hackman died. But what the fuck happened with all the dogs and stuff? So, yeah. Hollywood insider reveals how Gene Hackman was, all caps, murdered.

That one came from Benny Johnson. Yikes. And then the mysterious deaths of Jean Hackman and Betsy Arcawa. Um, it's so funny to like just claim mystery when an investigation is in its infancy and you act as if this has been something that's been basically considered a cold case now. Yeah.

The police started out being like, it's not mysterious, and people are like, seems mysterious to me, and they're like, I mean, I guess it's kind of, like, depends on your definition of mysterious. They were like, it was a murder! Yeah. We knew it! No, mysterious in that, like, we are uncertain

of what exactly happened. We're still trying to figure out what the causes were. Yeah, yeah. Some people speculated that it was no coincidence that Hackman was found dead the same week that the Epstein files were to be released. It's also no secret why we haven't seen Van Vaught. It's no big secret why Van Vaught doesn't work in Hollywood anymore. God, the ones that people had already seen. What was supposed to be revealed? They were like, it's the list of names and then they like...

It was just a fucking stunt for Pam Bondi to give it to Republican influencers to be like, look at the transparency and it was nothing. It was nothing. Yeah, even the Republicans were disappointed. Yeah, because it's going to fucking incriminate if they would go all in on real full-on transparency like it'll bring I'm sure they're like, oh just do the parts where it's bad for the people like the liberals and it's like, man, buddy, you know, bad when Alex Jones was busting the Epstein connection.

That doesn't that doesn't actually make sense. That doesn't hold water for me. Somebody who holds a ton of water. Yeah, I've seen I look like these days. So the causes of death for Hackman and his wife are very tragic. It's just a random tragedy. His wife passed away from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, an illness transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents. And then Hackman lived for another week, possibly unaware of what had happened because he was in an advanced state of Alzheimer's and she was his only caregiver.

It's like, this is actually darker than if it were just like a murder. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like you have someone dying suddenly, tragically, who was the person's sole caretaker, and then they're in such an advanced state of Alzheimer's that then it's just like a week of just, God knows what. Yeah. Like when you're just unable to take care of yourself,

it's like, oh my God, dude, just please, what's theory number seven? Can it be that one? Right. Gene Hackman got too close to an alien conspiracy theory. Yeah. But, um, God, this is why we need people, you know, this is why we need sort of these programs that help. We need as many people points of contact for these kinds of situations when some one person is the caretaker or not at all. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the, so the boring lesson of this story and like the tragic

lesson is like, you know, be in touch with your neighbors, be in touch with the people around you and you know, don't, don't be over overly reliant on like one person like that. Just don't, don't cut yourself off. Like we need community, we need the people around us. But that got just erased from the narrative as quickly as possible. Because that's not what we're trying to hear. We're trying to hear about some conspiracy theories.

All right, on to news from abroad. Israel has announced their latest war crime on X.com, the everything app. Truly is, it gives you access to everything. Just not financial transactions yet, shame. Not yet, I'm waiting though, I'm ready. Keeping my money in a shoe box until I can find a stupider thing to do with it.

Yeah, it just, honestly, I'm sorry, Elon, but like everything app just doesn't hit. If you can proclaim you're about to do violations of international law before I can send the homey fucking five bucks for some Pipe Rock Theory videos. Thank you. So less than a week after Israel blocked entry for all humanitarian aid in Gaza,

Israel's energy minister announced that they're cutting off the electricity supply and he made the announcement on X, which just a great platform for announcing war crimes. Some right-wing publications have like tried to downplay it. The Canada's National Post published an article saying Israel was merely trimming electricity in Gaza as if it were a hairdresser Just do a little trim little snip here and there they're merely cutting off a single facility And anyways Gazans mainly rely on solar panels and fuel power generators to produce electricity that was from the

Ministry of Energy That was from the Ministry of Energy, I think, saying that. Yeah, they're just using, they're fine. They can use a little bit of light or not light, just like less light, less electricity, I guess is the point here. Yeah. Where the reality is that the facility they're cutting off is a vital desalination plant. So cutting off that power means that half a million people are not going to have access to drinking water. Oh, and the fuel for those generators is being blocked.

So yeah, they've also just the on the solar panel thing. Israeli forces have been confiscating and destroying Palestinian solar panels for years. Like there was an effort by a Dutch funded solar project to finally give them around the clock power to refrigerate food or do like laundry. And Israeli military administrators in the West Bank sent soldiers with assault rifles in and they shut down the project, ripped out its electrical components and drove away with 96 solar panels. So just in case we thought that was an actual option going forward, it is not, thanks to Israeli forces.

Yeah, but it's basically, you know, Israel has decided they don't want to move into phase two of the agreed upon three phase ceasefire deal and Instead yeah sabotage those efforts. Yeah, it's I mean god this thing is continuing continuing continuing Yes, there's like then you have like the people who are doing We're talking from the Trump administration with Hamas and like, it all seems, I'm not sure how any of this is gonna play out,

but it definitely feels like it's gonna play out in favor of whatever Netanyahu wants. But yeah, this is just wild too. Like it's on its face such an obvious, like violation of human rights to be like, well, we're not like cutting, well, I guess we're cutting off water because we're cutting off electricity, but it's not we're intentionally cutting off the

water. It just happens to be a byproduct. This other decision that we've made. It's so fucking craven. It is. We shall see how this continues to unfold. It's not going to be good, would be my guess. No, no. The action was condemned by groups including the Council on American Islamic Relations And even the UK government who noted that this breaches international humanitarian law. So Okay, you can go maybe by breaking free of the American relationship the UK will start saying things that are true. Oh, let's see. Let's see. I just feel like the whole Trump thing is just playing.

It's just it's like a power up for neoliberalism. You know what I mean? Like they were like the tiny Mario. Yeah. And if you get bonked one more time, but a fucking shroom just came down and they fucking were like, oh, okay. Okay. We're feeling it. Everyone's like, I guess you don't like this. You don't. Yeah. I think we can all rely on the British to be good guys and on on the historical stage. I think that's usually a safe bet. Alright, those are some of the things that are trending on this Monday morning. We are back tomorrow with the whole last episode of the show.

Until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourselves. Yes. Get your vaccines while you still can. Get your flu shots. Don't do nothing about white supremacy. No. And we will talk to you all tomorrow.

Bye. Bye. Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How? Go slower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all-new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. I've been spending all my time looking for answers

about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Listen to The Hook Up on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Are you hungry? Colleen Witt here, and Eating While Broke is back for season four every Thursday on the

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Come hungry for season four. I'm Mary Kay McBrayer, host of the podcast The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. This season explores women from the 19th century to now, women who were murderers and scammers, but also women who were photojournalists, lawyers, writers, and more. This podcast tells more than just the brutal,

gory details of horrific acts. I delve into the good, the bad, the difficult, and all the nuance I can find, because these are the stories that we need to know to understand the intersection of society, justice, and the fascinating workings of the human psyche. Join me every week as I tell some of the most enthralling true crime stories about women who are not just victims, but heroes, or villains, or often, somewhere in between.

Listen to the greatest true crime stories ever told on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, Chairman and CEO of iHeart Media. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast, Math & Magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reached the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the way that everyone can use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like Chairman and CEO of Elf Beauty, Tarang Amin.

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