The Daily Zeitgeist - Brett-Ghazi, The Worst Candy Ever (Has Been Saved) 9.27.18

Episode Date: September 27, 2018

In episode 240, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian and Go Fact Yourself co-host's Helen Hong to discuss the real reason Bradley Cooper decided to make 'A Star Is Born,' Necco Wafers and Sweethearts being saved from candy extinction, Rod Rosenstein's big meeting with Trump, a new accuser coming forward about Brett Kavanaugh plus his weird calendar, an elite class spy giving us a view into rich folk's world, details about the film 'Life Itself,' and more! FOOTNOTES:1. Bradley Cooper reveals Eddie Vedder's surprising influence on 'A Star Is Born'2. Necco wafers and Sweetheart candies saved from dusty extinction3. Rod Rosenstein’s Job Is Safe, for Now: Inside His Dramatic Day4. Avenatti client says Brett Kavanaugh was present while she was "gang raped" during high school5. Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell is GOP choice to question Kavanaugh and accuser at hearing6. Kavanaugh’s 1982 calendar, annotated7. Judicial Crisis Network chief counsel Carrie Severino responds to new allegations against Brett Kavanaugh8. Beware Rich People Who Say They Want to Change the World9. Life Itself10. WORST WIDE OPENINGS11. Melodrama Life Itself Died Gruesomely at the Box Office12. Experts explain how Amazon movie 'Life Itself,' from the creator of 'This Is Us,' became the biggest box-office flop of 201813. ‘Life Itself’ Review: We Have Now Seen the Worst Movie of 201814. Film Review: Life Itself is So Bizarre It Has To Be Seen To Be Believed15. From a Woman: Life Itself Sucks16. Life Itself is a disaster of a movie, caught in a web of its own privilege17. WATCH: DJ Harrison "Erykahs Gun" Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing.

They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts what happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on i am going to share my journey of how i went from christianity to now a hebrew israelite for some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church. Voila! You got straight away. They try to save everybody.

Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the president of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson. 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nickname Squeaky. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore.

The story of one strange and violent summer this season on the new podcast Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive

bonus content by subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes and I'm so excited about my new podcast rebel spirit

where i head back to my hometown in kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot the rebels into something everyone in the south loves the biscuits i was a lady rebel like what does that even mean it's right here in black and white and prints they lie bigger than a flag or mascot listen Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to Season 50, Episode 3 of The Daily Zeitgeist for Thursday, September 27, 2018. My name's Jack O'Brien, a.k.a.

Jark O. O'Brien, that a.k.a. courtesy of Mark Judge, the author of the pen name Bart O. O'Brien That aka courtesy of Mark Judge The author of the pen name Bart O. Cavanaugh And I'm thrilled to be joined as always By my co-host Mr. Miles Gray It's fun to stay at the Miles M. Seagrave

And that's all I want to do And that's from at Chapman Rice Went back into the archives Well we are thrilled To be joined by the hilarious comedian. And Finn, my dog, is getting in on the action. He's also excited to be joined by Helen Hong. Hi.

What's up, Helen? I can tell that Finn is excited because he's lipstick out right now. Yes. Oh, yeah. His genitals have been the talk of the Zeitgang. Yeah, they've become famous. We put him in a picture and people were like, oh, look, his little foot. And then they zoomed in

and it was not his foot. He has a five-footed dog. I just looked over casually and he was on his back with his wiener out, lipstick fully out, and I was like, oh, nice to meet you. He's painting the town red is a penis forward dog uh helen we're gonna get to know you a little bit better but first we're

gonna tell our listeners what we're gonna be talking about today uh it is the moment of truth thursday that we've been looking forward to for a week now i don't know about looking forward to but it's been on people's radar but we're're going to first talk about Bradley Cooper and what made him want to make A Star is Born and Necco Wafers and Sweethearts. Then we are going to talk about just a preview of what's at stake in the Rosenstein meeting. What are the potential outcomes? What are the different ways we will be screwed after this? And then we're going to talk all sorts of Kavanaugh stuff. New stuff is emerging. There is a third victim who has come forward, and he has started changing his tune a little bit.

And he's no longer being like, I was just too busy helping old women cross the street and going to church. He's now acknowledging that he actually drank once or twice in high school. We're going to look at the female assistant who is going to be questioning Dr. Blasey Ford. And then we are going to talk about the new book, Winners Take All by Anand Girihardas. Probably fucked that up, but a really interesting book that I talked about a couple weeks back. We're just going to take a little bit more detailed look at what that book is talking about and revealing about the elite classes who run our country. And then we're going to look at the just bizarre movie Life Itself from the creator of This Is Us that came out last weekend. But first, Helen, we'd like to ask our guests, what is something from your search history

that is revealing about who you are? Oh, okay. The latest thing that I searched is something called bee pollen throat spray, which I actually sprayed into my face before I even came into this building. Right before we went on, too. Right before I went on, because I'm touching all these germs. I'm totally a germaphobe. I get it from my parents, who are like hardcore germaphobes.

And I have a horrible immune system because their germaphobes, when I was a kid, they would wipe down everything. Oh, so you weren't introduced to many other vicious cycles. I was not allowed to pet dogs. I wasn't allowed to touch anything. As soon as I put my hand on anything, they would come over and wipe it with a Lysol spray or whatever. And so because of that, I am now a total crap immune system. I get sick all the time. And I discovered this thing.

It's like B. propolis and a mixture of honey. And because of the honey, it's a thick viscous. And you spray it into your throat. It coats the inside of your throat so germs can't get in. Oh, what? And I haven't gotten sick all winter. And I'm like, hallelujah. Is that one of the first winters you've gone through cold free? Totally. Wow. I mean, I am so susceptible to getting sick. I get sick all the time. And this is the first winter. And so I'm like telling everybody about it. So your throat is very

susceptible to that kind of bacteria. Well, that's how the bacteria gets in. It gets in usually through your mouth or your nose. And then it somehow enters your system through your throat, I guess. And the bee pollen kills it? No, it just catches it. So you have a whole ring of germs in your throat by the end of it? Yeah, yeah. We're going to have to have a ton of that come the next month, basically, just to have that.

So everyone stays 100% healthy. When you sprayed honey and bee pollen into your throat right before we started recording, I assumed you were just going to sing the entire podcast. And then you gave us that glorious hallelujah. And I have not been disappointed. Were you in the choir? I actually was not in the choir, but I do sing some freaking karaoke, which I sang last night.

What's your song? Hallelujah. I love singing F.U. by CeeLo Green. Oh, yeah, you can say fuck you. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. Because sometimes at the karaoke, they call it forget you or whatever. The radio edit was called.

And I'm like, fuck that. Yeah, fuck you. So every time the words come up and it says forget you, I'm like, fuck you. So I sang that. It's fuck you. So every time the words come up and it says forget you, I'm like, fuck you. So I sang that last night. And then I also sang a new song, which I've never sang before, which is by Robin. I love Robin.

And I sang. Call Your Girlfriend. No. I keep dancing on my own. Yeah, also a great song. I keep dancing on my own. Did you dance on your own? I sure did.

Nice. Which karaoke spot did you go to? Brass Monkey in Koreat on your own? I sure did. Nice. Which karaoke spot did you go to? Brass Monkey in Koreatown. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it was awesome last night because it was kind of dead. Oh, okay. So I was with my friend who's like a diehard karaoke girl.

And every time we hang out, she's like, karaoke? And I'm like, yeah, you know it. Yeah, why not? So we went to karaoke and the KJ was late and we were pissed. Oh, really? They were like, the KJ is running late. And we were like, who is this KJ? Wow. That's the first time I've heard someone referred to as a KJ was late and we were pissed. Oh, really? They were like, the KJ is running late. And we were like, who is this KJ? Wow.

That's the first time I've heard someone referred to as a KJ. Yeah. You're in the scene. Oh, yeah, man. When you got the KJ. Yo, where's the karaoke jockey at? Yeah. And he showed up like 30 minutes late.

So we had to actually sit and talk. And I was like, what is this bullshit? But you were saying talking. I don't like you. Talking? Jesus. Why aren't we picking songs? What is something you think is overrated?

Any restaurant where you have to stand in line. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Any restaurant. There is no meal. Speaking of Koreatown. Yeah.

There's no meal that is so good that requires you to stand there hungry for 20 minutes while your table opens up. I am Korean. This is a very un-Korean thing to do. Koreans, this is how Koreans eat. You walk into the restaurant where they only specialize in one dish. Right. So they know exactly what you want.

And you walk in and as you're walking in, you go two or three or four, whatever that dish is. And then they start cooking it before you're even seated. Right. So that by the time you sit down, that shit is on the table. Right. You eat like wildfire and then you jet. So Korean restaurants seat probably four times as many seatings in a night right as american restaurants because nobody sits

in loiters like nobody hangs out and like chit chats after the meal like you jet and you go chit chat elsewhere and so the concept of like oh there's a 20 minute wait for your table i'm like what no are you out of your mind? I came here because I was hungry. What's your favorite restaurant in LA? Is there anything you would wait for? Or just generally, you're like, my time is too precious. My time is valuable.

And there's very few things that I've eaten that I have freaking – I'll tell you the one thing that I've eaten that I almost missed a flight for. Oh, okay. I'll tell you the one thing that I've eaten that I almost missed a flight for I was in Montreal and I ate a croissant at like a legit French bakery a boulangerie it was called Les Copains d'abord legit and I could tell it was legit

because everybody in there was French somebody's dick out and wheezing dick out wheezing my dick is out We gonna do something With this dick That's how he gets attention Personified your old ass dog

He's being very loud Wait so you were in line For this croissant Or you just ate it And you just had a Experience and time Still still And I was like

I took it to go And I was walking back Cause I was like Oh I gotta get back To my hotel And like catch a cab or whatever and get back to my hotel because my flight is soonish. I actually turned around, went back, walked all the way back like six blocks or whatever. Wow.

Got back in the line to get another croissant. Holy shit. And then had to run to catch my flight. Was it a plain croissant? It was a plain croissant. Holy shit. And I could tell, this is how legit it was. They probably used a stick of butter

per croissant because the second they put it in the paper bag, the paper bag started greasing. It was soaked in grease and I was like, oh yeah. My dick was out. What is something you think is underrated? Bucket lists.

Like being really specific in your bucket list. Because I have a really cool story. I wrote into my bucket list 10 years ago one thing that was a career goal, which is that I wanted to be a panelist on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me on NPR. Oh, yeah. You're one of my favorite panelists on that show. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

And then I realized I've been a panelist for three years on that show. Blessings. Hello. and then I realized like I've been a panelist for three years on that show right blessings hello and then

this past year they asked me to guest host it one day when the regular host was on vacation and I was like I can't believe this is happening

and I thought about that I was like this is because I wrote this shit into my bucket list and I was super specific right because the other things you know

the other career goals I have like I don't know I just want to be rich and famous universe just help me that's not specific enough I don't know, I just want to be rich and famous. Universe, just help me. That's not specific enough? That's not specific enough. No, you have to be.

I go, money, please. Yeah, no. Find a big bag of money. Yeah. So my new thing that I wrote into my bucket list is I want to be on the new Star Trek with Patrick Stewart, the one that they're rebooting. Oh, shit. Oh, wow. I'm like, I must be.

I must be a recurring character on the new Star Trek with Patrick Stewart. Please, universe, please. But not the other one, not Discovery. I mean, I wouldn't be mad at it if they called me and was like- No, you have to be specific to your vision, Helen. I mean, I want to be with Sir Patrick motherfucking Stewart. Well, maybe the universe will make it so. Oh, come on.

Hello. What does that mean? Oh, wait, I do want to talk one thing just to follow up on that. Yeah. The list writing thing really is a good thing because you're being very specific

with what your intention is for something. I have the same kind of thing of like when I've written something down, it's really amazing even if I just passively was like, this is something I need to do, how much easier it would be to achieve that or attain something

versus something you just have in your head floating around. Yeah. There's something that really makes it concrete when you put a pen to paper with it and really write it down. And it's not the same thing as typing into my phone because I type shit into my phone all the time. But there's something about putting a pen to paper and just in your handwriting, you know, because I think there's something really intentional about that act that makes it, I don't know, it solidifies it. Because I just remember when I got asked to guest host on Wait, Wait, I was like, I just remember it was crystal clear. I was like, this shit is happening because I wrote this into my bucket list like 10 years ago. Is this the secret?

Is this the same thing that the secret is about? Yeah, it's similar concepts for sure. Is this the same thing that The Secret is about? Yeah, it's similar concepts for sure. Yeah, it's about sort of, yeah. But I think in general, the idea of being clear like about what your intention is and something that you want to manifest or whatever, but holding that.

And I think when you do that, you begin to see that where like the opportunities could arise to achieve that thing. And you're suddenly like, oh, wait a second. My confirmation bias is working in a different way to achieve this thing that I wrote down. Yeah, and I've been listening to a lot of self-help A second. My confirmation bias is working in a different way now to achieve this thing that I wrote down. Yeah. And I've been listening to a lot of self-help by Wayne Dyer and Louise Hay, who are these old school self-help people.

And they both talk about the power of your words and the power of your intention and your words create your reality and all that stuff. And I totally believe in that stuff. Yeah, perception is reality. One thing from Wayne Dyer that I think I took away too is the idea that when you ask for things constantly, like, why don't I have this job or why don't I have this? You're asking the universe that you want to take from it. So the universe will only take from you in response because your energy is saying, I need it, I need it, I need it. And the universe will say, I need it, I need it from you now.

But if you put yourself in a mindset of how may I serve? How may I accommodate? Then the universe will begin to reflect that information back to you. Now the universe is like, oh, how can I hook you up? Yep. What do you need? Yeah. And it's also just like the worst thing to do if you have writer's block is to stare at a blank page and not actually start something.

But if you actually write a sentence, even if you're writing a sentence that isn't that good or you're rewriting someone else's sentence or something you're getting started you're getting you're putting something out there this is the way to start like write the first sentence of the rest of your life okay what is a myth what's something that people think is true you know to be false jeez uh i'm only thinking of like horrible things regarding the brett Kavanaugh thing right now. Believe women, bitches. Yeah, there you go. But actually, I can't believe

how bad public school teachers are, like how misinformed they are. I had a sixth grade science teacher actually teach us that semen dies as soon as it hits air. Wow. And I'm like. That's not true?

That's not true. Oh, no. No, because how do you think they do artificial insemination? Yeah, I knew that. No. That's funny because that was a thing, too, that I heard a lot growing up. Yeah. That it's like when it's in the air, man, it dies.

Yeah, that semen dies immediately. And that is so not true. That's how you get turkey baster babies right you gotta get it's not like it goes directly from your dick into the turkey baster yeah but there's like a tube that like it will never come into contact with oxygen you gotta put that shit into a cup and then suck it up in a turkey baster but like what a catastrophic piece of evidence i know that a science teacher taught us sixth graders like somebody's pregnant now

because of that asshole. Like, oh yeah, it hit the atmosphere. No problem. There's no semen in there. I went to Lutheran school and our sex ed was if you ejaculate, you'll die. You will die and go to hell. And that's why I'm still alive, guys. And just vibrating.

Full of semen. I have a lot of wet dreams and I worry that I'm gonna die Miles is currently hovering two inches off of his seat yeah I'm in no fap

except 10 November every year no fap year well guys in keeping with our look forward

at the movie A Star is Born we're just tremendously excited here at the Daily Zeitgeist office. We're just tremendously excited here at the Daily Zeitgeist office. I think the trailer has given us just the greatest joy from the moment Lady Gaga sings that one time.

That's the most, for me personally, I'm like, yo, I just want to see that part. And also, but now that there's more information coming out, I'm like, now I'm more interested. Because I know at one point he's like, his voice is supposed to be kind of like Sam Elliott. And then now we find out that his vibe is based or inspired by Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam. And there's like this new interview that came out where Bradley Cooper told Yahoo, he was like, you know, him and Eddie Vedder became really good friends. And Vedder really helped him to like develop his character of this like, you know, this Jackson main character and all the nuances of being a rock star.

But he said one thing that was really interesting that when he told Vedder, he's like, I want to redo A Star is Born that this is the quote. He says, yeah, Eddie thought it was crazy that I was going to do this movie. And he was like, what, bro, don't do that. And he said that inspired him. He's like, well, fuck you, Eddie Vedder. I'm going to do this movie, and he was like, what? Bro, don't do that. And he said that inspired him. He's like, well, fuck you, Eddie Vedder. I'm going to do this shit. That's a direct quote. Eddie Vedder was like, bro.

What? Bro? Bradley Cooper just has that, I'm feeling myself. I'm feeling myself. So I'm just going over and over in his head. Wait, can Bradley Cooper actually sing? Do we even know? Yeah, I think so.

Sounds good. I think that's him. Yeah. I think, talk about overrated. I think he's hella overrated. He's everywhere. He's everywhere and he's on the top sexiest man list and I'm like,

that guy? Yeah. Well, because he has the traditionally acceptable, unoffensive, attractive male face. I don't even think that. I don't think he's objectively handsome. Who are you putting on that. I don't think he's like objectively handsome. I'm just like. Who are you putting on that list then?

Swap somebody out. Michael Fassbender. Oh. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yes. Sturmbannfuhrer. Yum.

Sturmbannfuhrer. Sturmbannfuhrer, yeah. Oh, he's so delightful. The story about how Bradley Cooper directed this movie, because it was the first time Clint directed a movie, was 48, I think is how old he is. Clint Eastwood? Yeah.

He was like, yeah, well, Clint told me the first time he directed the movie. Yeah, Clint also talked to a fucking empty chair on stage to a bunch of people at the RNC. Then there's the story about Lady Gaga's audition, where she walked into the room and Bradley Cooper was there and he just handed her a makeup wipe. What? I want to see the real you. And then she wiped off her face and then he said,

there you are. Oh, God. See, none of this is making me like Bradley Cooper anymore. This guy sounds like the biggest pretentious douche. There you are. Lady Gaga. But just like it's on some next level like feeling himself shit that like I feel like I just want to see this movie just to, I don't know.

I'm excited. Yeah. His sense of self is so inflated. Yeah. It could be fun. Well, I mean, the critics seem to like it a lot, so we'll see. But it would be funny you go in and you're like, this is a mess. Like no one told him to pump the brakes on this.

Right. Yeah, just fully commit. There you are, Miss Germanada. Or whatever her real name is. Hey, I just wanted to see you again. Hey, what? I just wanted to look at you again. I wanted to see you, but that mascara was getting in the way.

Right. What? Calm down. There's some good memes with the, hey, and then she turns around. Yeah, there's a lot of panel memes. And then there was one video that I saw of people just muting the clip and going over and over and just muting it and putting their own words. And Bradley Cooper's like, hey, what? You going to Venmo me for this ride? That's a good one.

Hey, wanna get some Thai? Yeah, exactly. There's a great Thai place down the block. Hey, you think it's unhealthy I live in this car? What do you guys think of Necco wafers? They're fucking bullshit. I'm sorry. I'm going out here.

The first time I remember, my friend's dad offered me an echo wafer, and it was like the chocolate kind or whatever. What? And I was like, oh, this could be interesting. The chocolate kind? It was brown. Oh. Ew.

I don't know. It might have been chocolate. But it wasn't like coated in chocolate. No, no, no. It was a brown colored echo wafer. That's even less attractive. And I was like, what is it? He's like, it's a echo wafer.

This dude was like 700 years old. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Clearly. And I'm like, yo, this ain't a fucking nutrageous. That's the wave right now. So Necco wafer is just chalk with like some sugar mixed in.

In color, I guess. And I remember I ate it and I was like, this feels like an act of violence for me because it's so fucking bland and shitty. And I think you can use it as chalk. Like I think you could chalk the sidewalk. Oh, totally. Like a bar of Necco wafers. And why do they like

put it in your mouth and you gotta do that nom nom nom. Yeah, yeah. It's so dry and horrible. So it's made of the same thing as the Valentine's Day hearts.

I'd imagine. Well, it was the same company. Another thing. Apparently same company, yeah. Another thing that I would never put in my mouth. Just the grossest things. Yeah, well, so that company

like went bankrupt, obviously, because What? Even when Sweetheart was like, stamp your own the grossest things. Yeah, well, so that company went bankrupt, obviously, because- What? Even when Sweetheart was like, stamp your own bullshit on these things. Our business model is to make candy that doesn't taste good. Yeah. Just grosses children now. We make candy for a generation that isn't alive anymore, is sort of the whole idea.

So anyway, they went bankrupt, some investment company bought them, and then they were like, all right, let's just shutter this thing and maybe someone will buy it. Someone did buy it. And that company is the Spangler Candy Company that they have saved sweethearts and neckle wafers for all of us. But they make bullshit like dum-dum lollipops, circus peanuts, and seasonal candy canes. Oh, it's all the shit that you will find at an office reception desk. Right, exactly. That's allegedly for people to take,

but nobody takes it because it's all bullshit candy. So it's just like decor. It's like decoration for like the desk. And like you reach for one and the receptionist is like, oh, no, no, no, no, you don't want that. I have Reese's Pieces underneath the desk. Underneath, here, let me empty out my shoe. It's like so great.

Like my voiceover office, they have just a big bowl of like the worst ass candy. And I'm like, I know this is the same candy that was here six months ago. Because nobody's eating freaking Dum Dums. Well, why don't you try one?

Yeah, Dum Dums. I mean, they're fun sometimes. I like some of the flavors, the little tiny lollipops, but circus peanuts, I mean, okay. Like even though Dum Dums

are like the very first candy and the simplest, the least hard you can try as a flavored candy, at least they are flavored something besides vague sugar chalk, because all their other candies are just peppermint or just sugar. It's like, what if we pressed baby powder into a heart and put a weird thing on it and added sugar? Circus peanuts. I'm going powder into a heart and put a weird thing on it and added sugar? I'm going to start a band and call it Vague Baby Chalk. There you go. Vague Sugar Chalk.

VBC? Hey, want to come see my band, Vague Sugar Chalk? What do you do? We're like, no. Folk step. Folk trap. Folk trap. There you go.

All right. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with a preview of all the news that's happening today. It was December 2019 when the story blew up. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, former Packers star Kabir Bajabiamila caught up in a bizarre situation. KGB explaining what he believes led to the arrest of his friends at a children's Christmas play. A family man, former NFL player, devout Christian, now cut off from his family and connected to a strange arrest.

I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. I got swept up in Kabir's journey, but this was only the beginning. In a story about faith and football, the search for meaning away from the gridiron and the consequences for everyone involved. You mix homesteading with guns and church and a little bit of the spice of conspiracy theories that we liked.

Voila! You got straight away. I felt like I was living in North Korea, but worse, if that's possible. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health.

Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share doctor-approved insights about all of that and more. We're tackling everything.

Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Oh, and if you're as sore as I am from pickleball, we'll help you with that too. Most importantly, it's information you can trust. Everything is vetted by experts at the top of their field, and you can write into them directly to have your questions answered. So sign up for Body and Soul at katiecouric.com

slash bodyandsoul. Taking better care of yourself is just a click away. Hello, everyone. I am Lacey Lamar. And I'm Amber Ruffin, a better Lacey Lamar. Boo. Okay, everybody, we have exciting news to share. We're back with season two of the Amber and Lacey,

Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network. You thought you had fun last season? Well, you were right. And you should tune in today for new fun segments like Sister Court and listening to Lacey's steamy DMs. We've got new and exciting guests like Michael Beach. That's my husband. Daphne Spring. Daniel Thrasher.

Peppermint. Morgan J. And more. You got to watch us. No, you mean you have to listen to us. I mean, you can still watch us, but you got to listen. Like, if you're watching us, you have to tell us. Like, if you're out the window, you have to say, hey, I'm watching you outside of the window.

Just, you know what? Listen to the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels,

into something everyone in the South loves, the Biscuits. I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? I mean, the Boone County Rebels will stay the Boone County Rebels with the image of the Biscuits. It's right here in black and white in print. They lying. An individual that came to the school saying that God sent him to talk to me about the mascot switch is a leader. You choose hills that you want to die on. Why would we want to be the losing team? I'd just take all the other stuff out of it.

On the segregation academies, when civil rights said that we need to integrate public schools, these charter schools were exempt from that. Bigger than a flag or mascot. You have to be ready for serious backlash. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back.

And this episode is releasing Thursday morning, so we are looking forward at one of the biggest days of news that I can remember. Like there aren't that many days where you're like, you know, things will be different by the end of this day in some major way.

But are we just numb to that? Because I feel like there's constantly, I guess, yeah, not one where you can foresee, like here's the day the thing will happen. Trump wasn't like, okay, in a week,

I'm going to fire Comey. It was just that happened and everybody freaked the fuck out. And I guess elections are like that. You can look forward to them. But even the really surprising ones are surprising because we don't see them coming. So today Rosenstein is meeting with Trump. Trump is back from telling the UN how it is, how to make their nations great again.

And got laughed at. Right, getting laughed at. And then Nikki Haley was like, that was actually a sign of respect. Yes. And I was like, wow. And he meant to make them laugh, even though he immediately said that wasn't the response I was expecting. And you could see the moment where he goes, ugh.

Right. His greatest fear. Every time he closes his eyes from now on, he will see the U.N. laughing at him. So he is back in Washington. Rosenstein has come by the office and people are predicting that he will no longer be employed. Wait, I thought they met. Didn't they meet like two days ago? They had a phone call. Oh, they had a phone call. They didn't meet. And he wasn't fired then. No. And that's why I think some people could, if you're really

used to just panicking about this administration, then you'll entertain the idea that Rosenstein could get fired or resigned or whatever. But I think a lot of people also say that it's also very possible that he stays on because many of his advisors do not fucking do anything with him before the midterms, at the very

least. Right. Trump's advisors are telling him to just chill the fuck out. like do not fucking do anything with him before the midterms at the very least right and trump's advisors are yeah yeah trump's advisors like just chill the fuck out like yeah yeah what are you doing like you really just want to scuttle the entire midterm election cycle but yeah i don't know it all depends on where you stand i mean i think most people seem to think that maybe he'll probably be fine for now but i know i i don't feel like Trump is the kind of guy that's like, you know what, I have the integrity that I want to do this in person. I think if he wanted to fire him, he would

have fired him on the phone. He's the exact opposite of that. Or he would have John Kelly do it. And maybe that's what's going to happen. Rosenstein's going to walk in. It'll be like that scene in Goodfellas where Pesci walks into the room where he thinks the party's happening, and instead he's like, ah, shit. And then gets popped in the back of the head.

If Rosenstein walks into the office and it's Kelly sitting there, he's like, oh, no. Oh, God. And the president's just outside tweeting about it. But yeah, I agree. He will not do it in person. It does seem like the time. If I were Trump, this would be the right time to do it because, first of all, we're distracted by just the complete shit show that is caused by the person he nominated for the Supreme Court. And also, we're still within a week of the revelation, like, quote unquote, that Rosenstein might have tried to wear a wire to, you know, trigger the 25th Amendment.

So it does seem like at other times the idea of him firing Rosenstein would have filled the streets with protesters. Right now, it might not. Yeah. How much you want to bet that after the wire story came out that Trump's like, frisk him. Somebody frisk the guy. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, he's going to come and lift your shirt up. You fucking punk bitch. What are you going to do?

You want to rat on me, motherfucker? Snitches get stitches. You thought I'm fucking playing? I just love the concept of anybody coming into the Oval Office getting frisked. Or just having to do the... At one point in the office, I remember there's a moment where Michael thought Dwight

was wearing a wire and Dwight just comes and drops his pants and lifts his shirt. You see, I have no wire. He's like, do it. But yeah, I don't know. I think with Rosenstein, you know, there was a story, too, that Trump was talking about throwing something into the news cycle before like on Monday to try and distract people from the Kavanaugh stuff. So that was a story that was floating around. This makes sense of a thing to just kind of tease Rosenstein because he knows how much that would take over the news cycle. And since this is kind of, I mean, I think Dr. Ford

is going to be testifying before Brett Kavanaugh does. So maybe depending on how that goes, that could determine what he does with Rosenstein. If he's like, oh shit, I need to like change the news really. I don't know. It was so hard. This whole story was so confusing from the second it came out

that everyone was like, what? So the meeting is happening at 2 Pacific. Yeah, 5. So 5 Eastern. So he can wait to see how the hearing goes and then sort of adjust. Yeah, if you think that this has anything to do with that. Wait, is Dr. Ford speaking today?

Yes. She is. Yes. And so Kavanaugh, moving on to that complete shit show. I thought we would be able to, you know, take stock of how the whole story has unfolded heading into this. But shit just keeps coming out, man. You can tell it's bad because of the quality of pictures that they're using for him. Like on news stories, just keep getting more and more like guilty looking. Yeah, I've totally noticed that.

Smaller. He looks like a chubby little boy who got caught stealing treats. I've totally noticed that because I remember all the photos when it started. Like he just looks like a like an average white guy. Like Smiley. And now he's just looking more like. Right, right. Like he looks like his dick is out underneath the desk yes there's one where it looks like he really just went oh i fucked that up didn't i like there was a i forget what outlet i was like wow we're really leaning into the images of here yeah we can also tell things aren't going

well for him because the quality of his denial has gone from, I was literally like, I should be canonized because I never did anything wrong. I was a boy scout. I was too focused on going to church and being the captain. St. Brett of the bookworm virgins. Right. And lo and behold, he is now acknowledging that a little guy named Party Bart O'Kavanaugh existed as well, who was also him.

And known to have maybe too many beers from time to time, I think is what he said. Yeah, they released his testimony or his planned testimony yesterday. And it's acknowledging that, sure, I had a couple too many beers sometimes where I drank beer with my friends on the weekends. And yeah, I did some things in high school that made me cringe, which I think is word for word what we were like, why isn't he just saying this, which is true of everyone that you did stuff in high school that wasn't cool. Because you're an idiot kid and you're sorting what the parameters of normal behavior are.

But yeah. No, I think it's because he wants to maintain this image. I just learned he still goes to the Catholic church that he went to when he was a little kid. So he has this whole Washington facade that he's created for himself, that he is an Eagle Scout. And he's literally made no mistakes in his life. And now all this horrible shit is coming out about him. His mom probably still believes that he's never had an alcoholic beverage in his life and now all this horrible shit is coming out. His mom probably still believes that he's never like had an alcoholic beverage in his life.

His mom probably thinks that he's only had sex the two times to make children. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It was definitely missionary. Miles, you were talking about the fact that he still looks the same as he did in high school. Yo, exactly.

Like when you look at his high school yearbook photo, he has the same hair basically. It's just grayer now and his face looks more guilt-ridden. I can't believe that we didn't, he looks so rapey to me. He just looks like the rapiest, gross, creepiest dude and he has those horrible thin lips. Ugh.

But yeah, I mean, it's tough now because it's getting worse and worse and more and more is coming out and then you see the GOP really dig their heels in because now, you know, Michael Avenatti, we were talking yesterday about, I was like, I don't know what this guy's doing, but he clearly has a very credible accuser, Julie Swetnick, who like up front was like, yes, I went to high school in the area. I know Brett Kavanaugh.

I also have security clearances from DHS and these other agencies to show like up front, I am not some just person off the street. And she put in a sworn affidavit, which I was reading on Twitter that like for someone with a security clearance to put in a sworn affidavit, that really puts her clearance at risk. So that means she's not bullshitting. Like she is not going to fuck around with that. And her allegations aren't necessarily that she was a victim of sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh, but that he was present when she was gang raped in high school. And then goes on to describe all this other shit about how Brett Kavanaugh was, you know, known to like him and Mark Judge would want to spike

drinks or like get women inebriated enough that they could take advantage of it. And that she had seen him grind up on girls. Yeah. She saw him do the exact thing that Dr. Ford is saying that he did. Grab their clothes, try to take their clothes off and grind up on them. And just a really carcosa from the first season of True Detective style. The parties that she's describing, like all these guys waiting in line to like go into a room where they're like having sex with like the same girls,

just like really fucked up stuff. And she said that she remembers seeing Mark Judge and Bart O'Kavanaugh in that line. This is why you don't send your kids to a same sex high school. Right. Because they go bat shit crazy when they can because they're just no like all in all boys school and there's no girls i think all boys schools are that's absolutely true for and then all girls schools might actually be better so it's just like there's no educating boys just send all girls to a school where they're away from boys.

But yeah, my experience with all-boys schools is it's like prison. No, but I... I had friends that went to like a Jesuit all-boys school, because he went to a Jesuit all-boys school. And you know, they're very buttoned up. I'm like, those are the craziest motherfuckers I know. Yeah. Who were like, drove drunk as fuck.

Yep. Started all kinds of fights. Yep. Or, you know were doing all kinds, just pulling weird shit. Because they're repressed. Yeah, 100%. And you have that just very rigid,

religious curriculum that they have to work. I don't know. I think every case is different, but I know all boys school kids that I used to hang out with in high school. Not everyone was necessarily a party animal, but in no way is my perception of an all boys school like, oh, those guys are so boring. And all they do is study. I'm like, they're out here. Right. Anyways, so that has come out yesterday,

and various outlets are saying they can't back it up yet, but they're looking into it. So we'll see if by this morning there has been any further corroboration. The GOP strategy going into this, other than, you know, Kavanaugh acknowledging that he drank beer in high school, is that they have hired a female assistant to question Dr. Ford. Yeah. Really interesting. Assistant what? That's what Mitch McConnell's like, we have hired a female. And he got hung up after because I think he wanted to say prosecutor. Right.

Because this woman they hired is a prosecutor from Maricopa County, Arizona. Sheriff Joe Arpaio's. No. Same Maricopa County. And her name is Rachel Mitchell. I bet she's the biggest bitch. Oh, no. I bet she's the biggest bitch. She's the chief. Oh, no. I had no idea.

She's the chief of the Special Victims Division of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. And then that deals with sexual assault cases. And it just seems like now they're like, oh, we will hide behind this woman. Because I think at the very least they understand the optics of 11 older men just trying to smear a woman for their political agenda looks bad. So now like, well, let's have a woman act out our political agenda. And then we can at least be like, well, it was a woman who was going to try and just. Oh, gosh. She's a prosecutor, but he didn't want to use that word.

Yeah. No, he said assistant. So he called her assistant. Assistant? What the fuck? What? What are you talking about? We've hired an assistant.

This is unprecedented. Like, it's not a trial. This is not a trial. This is not a trial. This is a Senate hearing. Hence, senators are the ones that get to ask the questions. I wonder how dirty she's going to do her.

She's going to go so dirty. Some of these GOP bitches, have you seen that CNN clip of the five GOP women that are sitting around being like, what boy hasn't done this in high school? And I was like offended for dudes. I was like, if you're a dude that didn't try to rape somebody in high school, I'd be so pissed. Don't paint us with that brush.

And yeah, I have a feeling the gloves will probably come off because if let's say, you know, this really does, it all goes down. The only strategy they have is to probably make her look as, like, just take all of her credibility away. That's the only way that they think that they're going to weather this storm is like, hey, go out there, just dismantle whatever arguments she has, and then do what you got to do. Because, yeah, all the senators are ceding their time to this prosecutor, basically, to just cross-examine Dr. Ford. TV is such a volatile and just unpredictable medium where it's all about camera angles and how somebody looks. And there's just no way to predict how this is going to go. I haven't felt this sick to my stomach heading into a televised event since the Hillary Trump debate where it was right

after the Access Hollywood tape came out. And then he like started stalking around behind her. It was like, what the fuck is happening right now? It is so true because the hugest X factor is what is Dr. Ford like on camera? Exactly. And then what is this fucking assistant like on camera? Exactly. And then what is this fucking assistant like on camera? Right. Right.

Because if this prosecutor bitch came from the school, like law and order school, you know what I mean? Where she's like, she's like a Kamala Harris. She's just like, is it true that you did not know where you, like if,

you know what I mean? It's all optics like that. And because we have been raised in like law and orderville, we want our Senate hearings to look like that and someone literally from the SVU it's all yeah I'm interested to know like you know there has to be so much planning on both sides

whether they are prepared to be like what happens if this prosecutor takes this line of questioning how do we present a case that we can show people that what this their intentions are just so politically overt uh yeah i was thinking about this in relation to bill cosby and why the andrea constant um the first trial was a mistrial is because of the optics of the way she looked right was really

what tipped the scales for that jury they were like she looks like a crazy lesbian with crazy hair like well who would want to rape that bitch right that was really like what happened with that what tipped the scales for that jury. They were like, she looks like a crazy lesbian with crazy hair. Who would want to rape that bitch? That was really what happened with that trial because the evidence was all there. They just didn't like the way she looked. It's going to be like that with Dr. Ford. If Dr. Ford is homely or whatever,

if she comes across weird or awkward or not all of her ducks in a row in front of that session like people aren't going to believe her and that's the horrible right one of the reasons that she didn't want to testify on monday and wanted to postpone till thursday is she doesn't like to be in like enclosed spaces because of like having trauma in her background. So she was driving cross-country to do this. So she's been in a car driving. So she can't fly on planes.

Right. She doesn't fly on planes, basically. Oh, snap. Wow. I mean, she is a traumatized person being in the same room as her attacker. Well, I know they're doing it separately. So I don't know like he may be in there but i don't know if this is something she's just coming to terms with after 30 years and she's

going to be in a national spotlight who the fuck knows how she's going to feel how she's going to come across it's really well yeah and then have someone like really force you to relive this shit on tv and, you know, try and question everything about you. Yeah. Question your credibility. Do you know the dates? Do you know the time?

What'd you eat last week for dinner? Yeah. Right. Oh, if you, if you can't even remember what you ate last week for dinner, how could you know? Right. Did you ever wear a skirt?

Right. It's like, what? Yeah. I mean, Anita Hill was the most poised and intelligent person in this, basically in very similar circumstances back in the early 90s. And she just got railroaded by the process.

So I mean, who knows what's going to happen? It's pretty crazy. But yeah, like I said, Kavanaugh has gone from I never drank to there has been a frenzy to come up with something, anything. So he's still claiming that this is a smear campaign from the left, which seems impossible based on the timeline that we have from Dr. Blasey Ford and the fact that we have sworn statements from her husband and her therapist being like, yeah, she named you two years ago before you were a nominee. So it just doesn't hold up under the rigors of just plain logic.

But that's again, and we said this all the time, this should be such a clear indication. There is clearly something going on. Now, I'm not going to say that this means that it happened or that he is guilty, but clearly there is some darkness around this shit. And at the minimum, you have to be like, yo, three people are saying, you know, you're acting a fool. People who went to school with you at Yale now are like, actually take my name off

that letter of support. He was not this guy he's talking about. And I think that, I mean, there's more than enough to disqualify this person. Or at least to slow down the process. That's right. I mean, this is a lifetime appointment

and it's impossible to unseat a sitting Supreme Court justice. So like slow the fuck down. Yeah. If three at this point, three accusers and all there's all this smoke, like let's try to fucking figure out where the fire is. Right. accusers are just asking for an FBI investigation and he's just asking to push it through as quickly as possible and get a vote as quickly as possible. And his witness, Mark Judge, is asking, well, don't interview me under oath. Like, please.

Like, I just don't want to. That just makes me slightly suspicious. And it tracks too with stuff in the New Yorker article too that they were making reference to a party where something like this may have happened. So this isn't just it's not in these like these vacuums that these stories are happening. Like it's clear that there's a pattern of behavior that echoes the same sort of things in all of these allegations. It's like I'm starting to get PTSD just looking at his face. So one thing, too, is, you know, the Judicial Crisis Network that was like co-founded by one of

the Federalist Society guys, they've been doing ads from the second his nomination was announced to be like, we need to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. We need to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. And when yesterday, when the story broke about the third allegation about, you know, his behavior, the chief legal counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network went on to MSNBC to talk about it. And even they were having trouble like fully. Yeah, they seemed off their game. Before everything, it was always like, no, that's fine. They can come in and then we will confirm Brett Kavanaugh because he's an upstanding person.

And now you could sort of hear that even for the Judicial Crisis Network, who is like the biggest cheerleader for Brett Kavanaugh, they couldn't give a full throated like support. It's like the public facing arm of the Federalist. Yes. So you can just sort of listen to this quick interaction and how they're talking about it. Carrie, this this this new information that's come to light here over the last 45 minutes or so. Does that change your support for Judge Kavanaugh? Well, obviously, these are very serious allegations and

i that this the experience that miss wetnick describes is horrible so i and the the challenge here now is the judiciary committee is looking into it now the committee is going to look into is there any actual corroboration and and and if there is i'm sure they will continue uh to probe into it. Yeah, it's interesting because even when asked, like, well, should he still be confirmed? It wasn't a yes. It was more of an implied like, well, I think they need to, you know, they can look into it. And also an implied like we should do the thing that they're asking for and like have people look into it, like have a more thorough investigation.

I feel good about that Kavanaugh's nomination is going to fall apart. I do feel positive about that because even if Dr. Ford's testimony falls apart and even if whatever happens and they are able to ram him through, women are so pissed at this point. Women are so mad that they are not going to be able to get over this for the midterm elections. Like this is going to be one of the biggest things in the midterm elections.

And it's going to be it's a big mistake for them. Yeah. And we've talked about their calculus, too, of sort of like, well, is it worth totally eating shit in this midterm cycle to tip the scales conservative on the Supreme Court? And like that's been their endgame for 40 years. Right. And this is the moment it's like, fucking, you know what?

We're playing chicken, basically. And we're not taking our foot off the gas. The thing I don't understand is they could still just withdraw him, bring in another nominee who's just another conservative judicial. But before the midterms, though? Well, but then even if they get voted out, which is, you know, very, you know, maybe

I think 538 has it as one in three that the Democrats win the Senate. And even if that happens, they would have a couple months as a lame duck session, which, you know, it would be extremely hypocritical for Mitch McConnell to actually like push someone through during a lame duck session. But he has no problem. Yeah, he has no problem. Like he almost would welcome it. So he is the face of hypocrisy. So I just that is a question that keeps coming up for me is what do they get out of just sticking with this guy and trying to ram him through as all these revelations come out about him. Either they were convinced that like this was actually a smear campaign and they really like didn't expect all these other accusations to come out. Or they like the fact that this is turning into a bigger and bigger culture war and they think it's going to, you know, get their base out to vote.

Right. So we'll see. All right. We're going to take another quick break. We'll be right back. It was December 2019 when the story blew up. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, former Packers star Kabir Bajabiamila caught up in a bizarre situation. KGB explaining what he believes led to the arrest of his friends at a children's Christmas play. A family man, former NFL player, devout Christian, now cut off from his family and connected to a strange arrest. I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. I got swept up in Kabir's journey, but this was only the beginning. In a story about faith and football, the search for

meaning away from the gridiron and the consequences for everyone involved. You mix homesteading with guns and church and a little bit of the spice of conspiracy theories that we liked. Voila! You got straight away. I felt like I was living in North Korea, but worse, if that's possible. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share

doctor-approved insights about all of that and more. We're tackling everything. Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Oh, and if you're as sore as I am from pickleball, we'll help you with that too. Most importantly, it's information you can trust. Everything is vetted by experts at the top of their field, and you can write into them directly to have your questions answered. So sign up for Body and Soul at katiecouric.com slash bodyandsoul. Taking better care of yourself is just a click away. Hello, everyone. I am Lacey Lamar. And I'm Amber Ruffin, a better Lacey Lamar.

Boo. Okay, everybody, we have exciting news to share. We're back with season two of the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network. You thought you had fun last season? Well, you were right. And you should tune in today for new fun segments like Sister Court and listening to Lacey's steamy DMs. We've got new and exciting guests like Michael Beach. That's my husband.

Daphne Spring, Daniel Thrasher, Peppermint, Morgan Jay, and more. You got to watch us. No, you mean you have to listen to us. I mean, you can still watch us, but you got to listen. Like if you're watching us, you have to tell us. Like if you're out the window, you have to say, hey, I'm watching you outside of the window. Just, just, you know what? Listen to the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, listen to the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you think of Mexican culture, you think of avocado, mariachi, delicious cuisine, and of course, lucha libre.

It doesn't get more Mexican than this. Lucha Libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment. Lucha Libre is a type of storytelling. It's a dance. It's tradition. It's culture. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish

about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, the emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Santos! Join me as we learn more about the history behind this spectacular sport from its inception in the United States to how it became a global symbol of Mexican culture. We'll learn more about some of the most iconic heroes in the ring. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts.

And we're back. And we're back. And there is a book called Winner's Take All, where this journalist, Anand Giriharatas, who is like, he went through all of the pipelines that prestigious people go through that end up like running foundations. He went through this like, change the world, Aspen Ideas Festival, and was like a TED Talk person and was recruited to all these different ideas places where finance companies have solution sessions where they come up with ideas for giving to the poor and stuff like that. And so he, having gone through all these things, basically came to the conclusion that while it's good in theory, they're basically doing this instead of actually changing the system. that the lean in thing has become very popular in the corporate world, which is like women empowering other women in the workplace. And the way they do it is just by working harder and,

you know, looking out for other women, but they will not countenance the idea of like adding maternity leave, like adding additional maternity leave. Right. Things that are functionally. Things that would functionally help women. And so, you know, he points out that the way that this works is that somebody will give a TED talk about like how America has the worst maternity leave

in the developed world. And then another person will give a TED talk about lean in, you know, let's work harder. Let's make women's position in the corporate world equal. And people will fund the one that is the lean in because it fits with the overall goals of the corporations. And so it's just an interesting, I don't know, idea and sort of a takedown of this corporate infrastructure around like. Right. So rather than like, oh, let's think about like what wages should be for people or how we can create systems that empower all of our working, all of our workforce.

It's like, how do we optically look like we're helping the world, but still maintain our power and still maintain the power structure that we are still on top? So he's arguing that the entire TED talk like let's examine our corporate culture like movement is bullshit yeah it's just it would never uh forward any ideas that would actually structurally change the way the system functions which is one of the the system is functionally one of the most unequal in the history of the developed world. Basically, the New York Times summed up his thesis as American elites generally seek to maintain the system that causes many of the problems they try to fix. Oh, I absolutely believe that. Yeah.

I mean, why would you want to upend the system in which you are an elite? Yeah. And their helpfulness is part of how they pull it off. I absolutely believe that. I mean, why would you want to upend the system in which you are an elite? Yeah. And their helpfulness is part of how they pull it off. Thus, their do-gooding is an accomplice to greater, if more invisible harm. It's like when the Pentagon Papers came out and it turned out Bono has all this secret money hidden in offshore accounts. He's like the biggest champion of the poor. The Panama Papers. The Panama Papers, right.

The Pentagon Papers actually revealed that Bono was the secret architect of the Vietnam War. That's right. That's right. Yeah. He is Kissinger. Yes. Just pull his face off and he's Kissinger underneath. But he does all those-

But yeah, the Panama Papers. And everyone was like, oh, Bono. Right. But Bono is a multi-multi-millionaire. Like, of course he's going to try to keep his millions no matter what the hell he's saying about it. Hide it, put it somewhere else, make sure you're not getting hit. Shit, he'll stick it up somebody's asshole to try to hide

that shit. Will you hold this money up your arsehole? I don't know. All I know is catorce. Un, dos, tres, catorce. Catorce. Okay.

That's not how counting works, but all right. So there's this movie out that came out this past weekend. It represents Amazon Studios' first wide release, major motion picture release. It was with the showrunner and creator of the NBC drama This Is Us. The movie is called Life Itself. You may have seen previews for it or commercials for it and been confused. It's like a family drama starring Oscar Isaacs and Olivia Wilde. And it got really bad reviews.

And I still, like, I had just seen that it got really bad reviews and I still like I had just seen that it got really bad reviews I was curious like I was this secretly like going to be a critical darling and it was like not and so people are like no it is crap it actually is crap but I still had no fucking clue how weird it was

so one thing you should know about the guy who created This Is Us is the other show that he created was this Fox show, The Neighbors, where neighbors were aliens. Do you remember that show that like came out? No. Like five years ago. I didn't have TV then. Yeah.

Yeah. No, but it was like, and they were like gray, like the gray aliens. Yeah. Okay. So he's like got a weird sort of quirky sense of humor that goes with his sort of maudlin dramatic side that you see on display in This Is Us. So I just want to read from a The Muse slash Jezebel summary

of what happens in this movie. So spoiler alerts for anybody who is planning on seeing life itself. So it opens with Samuel L. Jackson as an unreliable narrator who is following an alcoholic, Will Dempsey, who is Oscar Isaac, as he envisions his therapist getting hit by a bus. It quickly cuts back to reality, and we watch Oscar Isaac pour an airplane bottles of whiskey into his double espresso, walk into his therapist's office

where he shoots himself in front of her. This begins to unravel his family story, in which he falls in love with Olivia Wilde. In college, they get married. She gets pregnant and then she gets hit by a bus. She dies. Her unborn daughter survives and is raised by Mandy Patinkin, her grandfather.

We also learn Olivia Wilde's backstory, which includes her father being decapitated in front of her when she's a child. At which point, and by the way, it's in a car accident and she has to sit with his lifeless, headless body for an hour while waiting for the ambulance to come. Wow. for an hour while waiting for the ambulance to come. Wow. So then she is shipped off to live with her uncle who molests her until she shoots him. You know what? This is actually making me want to watch this movie.

I know. This sounds insane. Insane. This sounds so much crazier than that stupid lame poster makes it seem. There's also, like, he has a weird sense of humor. Oscar Isaacs and Olivia Wilde's dog is named Fuckface And they just call it Fuckface the whole time

I want to watch this movie It's just like it's so much stranger than I had any idea Wow Than it has any right to be basically And then it also spans like generations Right so then there's the fact. And there's so much violence. Yeah.

But the movie starts in the 80s. And so it goes well into the future as late as 2079. What? But nothing seems different. Everyone's still in regular cars. That's like the worst future. Right. Yeah. No zombies. No nothing. Come's like the worst future. Right. Yeah.

No zombies, no nothing. Come on, Dan Fogelman. No robot overlords. The fuck? I guess he, well, I guess all of his stuff, you know, like even with This Is Us, it's multi-generational,

spans decades. Right. He likes aliens. So 2079, maybe. I mean, yeah. It's like one of those things where I'm like, wow, this seems like so overtly trying to be just sensational.

But when you stack up all these details, I'm like, yeah, maybe it's so absurd. It needs to be seen. Honestly, your description of it is making me want to go see it today. Yeah. Because I saw I've seen the commercials and the posters and I'm like, is this this is us? It looks so much like that treacly, sappy, tear jerky like, I'm gonna tell you these stories

and I'm gonna fall in love with these characters and they're gonna die. And now I'm like, oh my god, there's decapitated heads and shootings in the face and I'm like, I'm down. It looks like a dog named Fuckface. It looks like, what if a Hallmark movie

had great actors in it and instead it's this? Yeah, awful shit. This thing that we've never seen anywhere before. Oscar Isaac, by the way, I've worked with him and he's a lovely human being. No way.

Yeah, I'm in a movie with him called Inside Llewyn Davis. Yeah. And he is fantastic and a great, great human being and a fantastic actor. And what a great movie. And he's probably saying, I don't know why I did this. I don't know why I did.

I didn't need. I'm really busy. I'm doing pretty well right now. I'm doing really well. Like, I don't need to do this. I'm in really well. I don't need to do this. I'm in Star Wars franchises. Maybe the script read really well. You know what I mean?

It's one of those things like, wow, this is kind of fucking interesting. I've never seen this before. Yeah, but then until you bullet point everything out, you're like, so it's a guy who thinks he sees someone get hit by a bus, but it's actually his wife, and then there was all this other trauma. Hey, Dan Foltz. I mean, I hope it at the very least operates like his other things

where his goal to make you cry the entire two hours or whatever. Yeah, I think probably, but I don't, based on the critical reviews, it doesn't seem like it actually pulls that off, which is,

This Is Us is just like the second the first scene of that show comes up, people apparently just like leave the room weeping. Yeah. I've never watched it. Me neither.

Because I'm too proud. I hate crying. This made me think of like, what are some other things that work really well on TV and don't translate to movies or like vice versa? Like I was thinking Larry David has had a lot of success on TV, but then his movies I think are like sour grapes and stuff like that. Like Curb and Seinfeld are like two of the all time classic comedy. Yeah. And even the films he had on HBO are like, you're just like,

why'd you do this? Right. It gives a fuck. I'm actually reading about Dan Fogelman's response to all the like critics. And he was saying, he's like, it's part of the gig of the gig but he's like he quote lashed out at quote white male critics who don't like anything that has emotion uh and it says i was prompting many people to defend him to point out that of the 17 round tomatoes reviews penned by women just two were positive uh and then but then also they were saying in this article uh that a lot of non-critics who have seen it

appear to have loved it. Oh, that's true. It says it nearly brought a speechless Warren Beatty to tears. Mandy Patinkin referred to its script as, quote, the greatest screenplay I've ever read in my life. What? Yeah. Wow.

Not The Princess Bride? Mandy Patinkin? You definitely read The Princess Bride. Come on. Yeah, but he felt Inigo Montoya was a little derivative. Yeah, I don't know. He said, then Fogelman goes on, I think I just have a wildly different creative palette

than the cynical film critic, and that's okay. I like different things than they like sometimes, but not in a bad way. My hope is that it will be warmly received in that way and kind of be able to split the difference of both worlds. I can totally feel that. The way that This Is Us has. I have no opinion because I haven't seen it.

It just seems crazy based on like just reading the plot summary. It sounds insane. I know. But in a way that I think you're right. I think we need to leave here and go watch it immediately. I had no interest until you read that. And now I'm like, I need to see this. Right.

I had no interest until you read that. And now I'm like, I need to see this. Right. Just to see the scene where she's sitting in her dad's decapitated body, just like in the car, like doop doop doop. But I think, yeah. Hey, ambulance guys. Daddy? Dad?

Daddy? Dad, dad? No? Oh, you're down there. Oh, I didn't see you. But I think, yeah. Also, if you distill any film down to its points, like all these character points like this has,

you would be like, yeah, you could probably create a list of any other film. No. Not this crazy. Well, I mean, there's definitely a lot of decapitation and odd bus deaths and things like that. And like Meet Joe Black or whatever. Yeah.

That movie, that's another one where it's like, wait, what the fuck did you just say? And then also they should add to that list Brad Pitt's Jamaican accent to that one. What did he say? He's like, it gonna be all right. Like it was the worst patois you've ever heard. You're like, yo, come on now. Yeah. It was a different time.

I think he's bad at accents. Oh, yeah. He's just bad at them. Yeah. Yeah. That's just not your's bad at accents. Oh, yeah. He's just bad at them. Yeah. Yeah, that's just not your forte, dude. Just be, yeah. You're hot. You're a very hot man.

So just go with it. So Brad Pitt is hot. Bradley Cooper not hot? No. Brad Pitt hot. Totally. Okay. Yeah.

I'm just trying to find where the- Yeah, I don't know. It's one of those things that I just don't see it. In the same way that I don't see Scarlett Johansson, why every man is like gaga over Scarlett Johansson. I'm just like, I don't see it. What about Bradley Whitford? From the West Wing?

Yeah. I don't know. I was just trying to think of other Brads. Oh, right. Bradley Cooper, Bradley. Well, Helen, it's been a pleasure having you. Thank you. It's such a thrill to meet one of my favorite panelists. Oh, thank you so much.

I appreciate it. Where can people find you and follow you? You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter at funny Helen Hong. Because some other bitch named Helen Hong has all my handles. Do you just flame her? You're like, you ain't funny. Yeah, you're not the funny one. I'm the funny one, bitch.

Is that Helen Hong? Is that account account active i actually don't know that much about the instagram one the twitter one i am like on full-out war with her because oh really yeah because years ago i i sent her a really nice message offering to buy the handle off of her i was like we can negotiate a rate that is that you know because you don't you're not really that active on it and i'm a public figure you know you really help me out and she blocked me oh shit she didn't even respond

she just hit block on my ass wow so now I'm like I have no problem calling out the twitter bitch at Helen Hong

on twitter like she's awful yeah fuck her you have like fake accounts you'd be like fuck you

fuck you bitch Helen is there a tweet that you've been enjoying that you'd like to accounts you'd be like fuck you fuck you bitch helena is there a tweet that you've been enjoying that you'd like to share with our listeners okay so jess dweck who is just a brilliant tweeter posted kavanaugh's quote i was a virgin in high school and many years after and then she writes if trump makes him withdraw his nomination, it will only be for this. That's so true. Wait, you didn't tell me you were no nerd.

Pussy. Miles, where can people find you? You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Miles of Grey. I have a couple of tweets I like. One is from past guest Yusuf Roach, at Yusuf Roach. It's a women say I'm afraid of commitment

until I tell them that I rated as the same blood elf for almost a decade. Then all of a sudden, they're the ones afraid of commitment, SNH. That's so good. Rated as the same blood elf. Another one is from Willie Muse,

at WilliesLilly2. Based on appearances alone, three should be half of eight, not four. And I agree with that. Three should be half. That's a good point. It's a very visual tweet. But come on. Picture of three.

Now picture of eight. Half of eight, isn't it? Okay. There you go. All right. I'm with you. First of all, I enjoyed Danny Fernandez's run last night where she was just trolling people. She posted a screen cap from Halloween and was like, all right, movie buffs, what movie am I watching?

It's a deep cut. And then like 3,000 people responded like, obviously it's Halloween. Then she was like, wow, nobody got that. All right, here's another one for you movie buffs. And it was this like screen cap of the kid from The Shining riding down the hallway and she was like, wow, still nobody, huh? I guess I don't have that many movie buffs following me.

And kept doing it with Scream and all these just really mainstream horror movies. But the tweet I really want to draw your attention to is from Zach Bornstein, quote, holy shit, found O.J. Simpson's calendar from June 1994. And it's a calendar

that says no murders for one week and then no murders on the next week. And then the next week is beach week. And then the next week is no murders, no murders, which I don't know. The Kavanaugh, even if the Kavanaugh thing is authentic,

his calendar that he produced from the year 1982. It's ridiculous. It seems like I wrote it just trying to piece together a kid's weekend from the 80s. It's like, went to see Rocky III with Squee. And it's just like, wait, what? Yeah, putting box scores from past Bullets games. Right. It's unbelievable.

Anyways, you can follow me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien. You can follow us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist. We're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page and a website, DailyZeitgeist.com, where we post our episodes and our footnotes. We link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode as well as the song we ride out on. You can off to the information that we talked about in today's episode as well as the song we ride out on. You can also find that information

in the information about this episode on whatever application you're listening to this on. Just click on the I usually. Miles, what song are we going to ride out on? We are going to ride out on... Can you tell that I'm deciding right now what that song

will be? Seems very decisive. No, this is me being very decisive. Okay, we're going to go out on, can you tell that I'm deciding right now what that song will be? Seems very decisive. No, this is me being very decisive. Okay, we're going to go out on kind of a quick little song. This is DJ Harrison with a track called Erica's Gun. I think, I mean, it's clearly a reference to the Erykah Badu album, Mama's Gun. It's a little quick one-minute loop type beat, but, you know, it's a good vibe. It's a good vibration. Great bass playing,type beat, but, you know, it's a good vibe. It's a good vibration. Great bass playing, too, because I brought my bass into work,

and I've just been thinking about playing. So, yes, check this out. Eric is going to invite DJ Harrison. Got them good vibes, man. Good vibes. As Brad Pitt would say. It's a vibey ting. It's a vibey ting.

Shout out to all the ghost, man, them. All right, we're going to ride out on that. We will be back tomorrow because it is a daily podcast. We'll talk to you guys then. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project.

All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister, or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on? I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church. Voila! You got straight away. They try to save everybody.

Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels, into something everyone in the South loves, the biscuits. I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot.

Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the president of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson, 26 year old Lynette Fromm, nickname Squeaky. The other, a middle aged housewife working undercover for the FBI, Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current.

Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus, only on Apple Podcasts.