The Daily Zeitgeist - BridgerTrend: The MuZeitcal 8/4: Brittney Griner, Breonna Taylor, Brett Kavanaugh, Wanda Vazquez, Ron DeSantis, Desus & Mero

Episode Date: August 4, 2022

In this edition of BridgerTrend: The MuZeitcal, Miles and super producer Becca discuss Britney Griner's sentencing, the DoJ charging 4 more officers in the Breonna Taylor murder case, the sham investigation into Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation, former PR governor Wanda Vazquez getting charged with bribery, DeSantis suspending a Tampa prosecutor, and the Desus & Mero split!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadson. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in.

Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me for I Have Followed.

Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me for I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball

just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. What's up, Internet? You got that lunch money on you? Okay, I'm joking joking i'm not trying to believe you or anything like that hey y'all welcome it's thursday august 4th it's time to

tell you what's trending this very special edition of bridger trend the musical that comes from fighter of the night man uh who you know obviously referencing uh becca's pop culture moment from yesterday's show. And guess what? It's me in the place to be with B-E-C-C-A, Ramos. Okay, that didn't rhyme, but it is what it is. Becca Ramos, thank you, Super Producer, for showing up, pulling up,

and showing out. Hello. How you feeling? Good? Feeling all right? Good. How's the weather in New York? Hot.

It's too hot. Ball me? It's like 95 degrees outside definitely humid yeah yeah wow i was gonna say like oh did you put some like volumizing conditioner that's the that's the air that's the air baby okay all right all right i seize you uh and i guess i seize the trends we should let people know what they are first up britney griner been sentenced to nine years for drug smuggling and possession or whatever charges they're trying to bring for having like barely any like uh i guess hash oil cartridges this was i think predictable because

i think the second that she was arrested you're like this is it's not going to end with the russian court being like you know what oh she has a medical marijuana prescription oh okay that makes sense yeah we don't want to use her as a pawn in a political war or anything like geopolitical conflict yeah okay you're free to go because we know you're you know you got a wmba season ahead of you but unfortunately she's a queer woman of color finding herself in a very terrible country during a terrible conflict between Russia and, you know, the United States, obviously through the Ukraine conflict,

it's fucked up. It's fucked up on so many levels. The thing that really fucks me up though, is that the one thing that I feel like I wish the NBA could reckon with also WNBA could reckon with, or not that they need to, but the reason that many players end up going to Russia specifically in the off season WNBA players, because they don't make as much money as they could. They don't get paid enough.

Yeah, so they're offered pretty decent sums of money abroad, and they go and they play in the offseason. That's the only reason Brittany Griner would be in fucking Russia, because they're not fucking cutting checks that feel suitable for what these people's talents are. So there's like so many layers of... It's just so sad. And to see like, I mean, fuck Trump. But like the way he acted when A$AP Rocky was being arrested abroad. Versus the lack of government action for Brittany Griner being arrested abroad. Is so, so, so, so crazy.

And very sad and discriminatory. Opportunistic on Trump's part. You know, they definitely weaponized the optics of him, not optics, the truth of him being a racist to try and be like, hey, you could do this and maybe look less racist. And they say, yoink, not going to say thank you. But yeah, it's, God, it's just really. So this isn't the end of it, though, obviously, because there's been talks of a prisoner swap. And because the U.S. considers her situation as someone who's being wrongfully detained,

that means there are more diplomatic options available. So I'd hope that with hearing that someone who's in the prime of their playing career could potentially be wrongfully fucking locked up, maybe there'll be more pressure for something to happen. So please stay strong britney griner hopefully they can get you out brianna taylor uh is also trending because the feds they charged four cops that were involved in her murder um one of the big fish uh that they're also looking at is uh joshua janes who is a former Metro. Like Louisville Metro Police Department detective.

Who's the one who lied. On the search warrant application. That even allowed the raid to occur. I hope you know. Brianna finds justice. Her family sees justice. But seems like there is. Some developments happening.

It's the bare minimum. Thank God. But hopefully more can be done. Well guy who like ended up firing the shots like i mean he was like acquitted yeah you know so anyway this is america i think we all know what that means um okay and then before we go to break before we go to break, Kavanaugh is trending. Mostly because of... So, Sheldon Whitehouse, he was asking FBI Director Christopher Wray,

like, you know, he's like, hold on, I got some questions actually to ask about what happened with that Brett Kavanaugh investigation, the one that during the Supreme Court confirmation hearing, we got all this word of these allegations against him. And we said, yes, here's a tip line. The FBI is going to investigate y'all came back you're like no everything looks pretty good so sheldon whitehouse is like i'm sorry director ray can you can you fucking explain exactly how this process worked with the tip line and how any of this works uh and this was

christopher ray's answer and i'm just want to warn you, it is fucking frustrating as all shit, to put it lightly, to hear this person's response to, what did you do with the tips and allegations of Brett Kavanaugh's conduct as we were on our way to confirming him as a Supreme Court justice? We wanted to make sure that the White House had all the information we had. So when the hundreds of calls started coming in, we gathered those up, reviewed them, and provided them to the White House. Without investigation? We reviewed them and then provided them to the White House. You reviewed them for purposes of separating from tip-line traffic, but did not further investigate

the ones that related to Kavanaugh, correct? Correct. Is it also true that in that supplemental B.I., the FBI took direction from the White House as to whom the FBI would question and even what questions the FBI could ask? So it is it is true, consistent with the longstanding process that the short answer is yes what happened was they had a tip line we just sent the ones you know that the you know we just sent a couple to the white house and they told us who we could talk to and how we could question them holy shit i mean sick i mean it's not like i don't think anyone thought that the investigation was thorough because there were so many people who were like here's an op-ed here's a real thing

i'm saying out loud in public about what i know or have seen i mean anything about that i remember watching it in real time obviously back in what was it, 2017, 2018? And, oh my God, it was the most frustrating thing ever. I just remember watching that whole process, and you just wanted to vomit, because it was just so clear nobody was doing the due diligence, and it was being rushed, it was being pushed through, and on top of that, his behavior and demeanor in the courtroom should have been everything. Should have said it all you

know it it's impossible what yeah like it's impossible for me to feel like a man who can be so enraged by being rightfully questioned for a job interview to be so enraged like how am i supposed to believe that you can give an impartial decision making on the most important aspects of our judicial system because man and you're because you're yelling about being accused of assault and drinking beer like i don't yeah um i mean look this is secret service we've seen the fuckery dhs we've seen the fuckery. FBI. Starting to see the fuckery. Anyway. Fragile thing. Fragile thing, this country. Will they do what needs to be done?

I don't know. I don't even know what the fuck needs to be done at this point. Christopher A. was like, I don't know. The way even Christopher A. was saying is like, that's just the policy. When people ask us to do these investigations, the policy is to be like, alright, this is what we got. Who do you want us to talk to? What leads do you want us to follow? And if they're like, oh, it it's all good they're all capping i guess then yeah like it is it's not necessarily impartial it's more just like a

a custom campaign you're asking for like an advertiser and you're like okay thanks i'm the client the the white house No more to see here. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back to talk more news and what's trending. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed.

Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades. Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high control groups and interview dancers, church members, and others whose lives and careers have been impacted, just like mine. Through powerful, in-depth interviews with former members and new, chilling firsthand accounts, the series will illuminate untold

and extremely necessary perspectives. Forgive Me For I Have Followed will be more than an exploration. It's a vital revelation aimed at ensuring these types of abuses never happen again. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts.

When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Sanner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets

the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career. Without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today.

And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and

violent summer. This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16, 2017, was murdered. There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia. I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhurts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price.

Listen to Crooks Everywhere starting September 25th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And let's go to Puerto Rico. Oh, Governor, former Governor, Wanda Vasquez, arrested for bribery? Yes.

So I put this in here because I just do not believe we as the American stateside people know enough what's going on in Puerto Rico. So this is, I don't know if it's a big deal in the sense of like, it's not a shock by any means, but it is just like more proof in the pudding of the corruption that is happening in Puerto Rico and why the citizens of Puerto Rico feel so rightfully like lost and underserved and all these things for many, many, many years. Because Puerto Rico is operated truly as a functional colony of the United States. There's been so much internal corruption along with the external corruption from the states so governor wanda vasquez um is accused of engaging in bribery a bribery scheme from december 2019 through june 2020 uh while she was governor with several people including a venezuelan italian bank owner a a former FBI agent, and a bank president and a political consultant. So it sucks.

It's not the mayor. I know I saw a lot of comments being like, oh, wow, how come she was so loud about Maria, but now she's being arrested. Not the same person, the mayor and the governor, two different people. The mayor is actually great. The governor, not so much. She's the one with the cool same person. The mayor and the governor are two different people. The mayor is actually great. The governor, not so much. She's the one with the cool glasses, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They say like her corruption was also, you know, part and partial. Obviously, Trump is a racist. But on top of that, the slow movement for any sort of facilitation after Hurricane Maria in 2017. So, it just sucks. It's important to keep up what's going on in puerto rico this is why there's been a lot of unrest in puerto rico a lot of protests in puerto rico because of her um governor reign when she was you know governor through right in 2020 it's it's wild too because damn you could probably clean up fucking half a capitol hill if you actually

rather looking at you know i'm sure it's much easier to go after you know uh someone in puerto rico then you know i mean we do get investigations in the u.s where we see uh politicians and things be brought up on corruption charges but it is so fucking pervasive and like you said where there's corruption that's that's the spaces in which all the bad shit happens where the actual people end up suffering while the parties involved in it end up enriching themselves so yes that's what a lot of times too they were like wow so like we can arrest the former governor of puerto rico but we can't arrest any of the republican politicians in uh congress i don't understand no exactly it's like oh okay oh so uh-huh okay right and i

get it that's also a crime but you know and it's after she already did the damage right you know it's like it's so frustrating it's like yeah it's and it's like okay you arrested her now what are you going to give that money back to the puerto rican people are you going to actually invest in the infrastructure pose maria are you going to you know do the infrastructure post Maria? Are you going to, you know, do more for like ousting more corrupt officials? Cause this has been years and years and years of like the corruption of the United States law system against Puerto Rico, making it a functional colony.

And then the internal, much like many South American, Central American, Latin American countries that deal with their own corrupt systems. A lot of the internal politics within Puerto Rico are also super corrupt. So it's like they're getting hit on both sides. Yeah. And also the domino effect of corruption from big bags of money starts with U.S. foreign policy.

Absolutely. In the Cold War. Anyway, look it up. All roads lead back to the U.S. And that's why it's always ironic when they're like these people are coming from el salvador where we did the most to destabilize that motherfucking place i don't know now they don't want to be there what the fuck crazy let's not look at our own history to explain what is happening that's that's the thing about history

it's pretty pretty clear uh explanation of things at times um next desantis got to talk about we talk more about desantis on tomorrow's show for all the myriad of culture war things he's doing but the latest thing is that he suspended a state attorney who basically was saying you know as state attorney in florida like i'm not trying to enforce these ridiculous laws around abortion or like gender affirming care for children it's like like such a waste of time. And now DeSantis is basically suspended this person. So, you know, I think historically those things kind of look like purges when you don't have

the people that are playing ball with like your clearly terrible policies. So more to come on DeSantis, but just another moment. I was like, Oh, Hey, so that's where that's the example you're trying to set now is you enforce my draconian oppressive laws or you don't have a job.

And then lastly, the kid marrow of Desus and marrow of the formerly of the bodega boys I saw, but he recently did an interview where he explains he's giving his side of what actually occurred in the split. And it sounds like it was an amicable business decision. I'm just going to read this quote from you. He said, quote, Jesus and I had a discussion and we had been pursuing separate interests for over a year before the show came to an end. That conversation solidified for us in signing overall agreements that recognized our intent to break out independent of one another. So as far back as June of last year, we were both pitching or looking to join

existing projects as individuals. It was a strategy. If you have to force a partnership that's coming to a natural end, it's not going to be the same. Knowing that we had a conversation, we had a sit down and we were talking about it more than a year ago the intent was to go our separate ways in a way that was supportive of each other that's nice what does these have to say you you do you agree do you concur i'm so sad again i'm just so sad that they're not making shit together and again i totally understand like that last point is like if you have to force a partnership that's coming to a natural end that's true god won't be in the room anymore if you're faking it

like that so i hope that's the truth i'm really curious who you sign these overall deals with that's very specific business language you got an overall agreement with who where for what what you're doing let me know and if noteryl, I would love to co-host Daily Zeitgeist with you. We can find some place for him too. But holler at me. Yeah. So, I don't know. I hope

that is the case. I wish them both much success because it's always nice to see regular people winning just off their own talents, not having to be like you know my uncle owns william morris endeavor the agency and that's how i got on so yes uh shout out to you did you get that note yet from miss ortega no but she did send me an old letter that i had written her in high school which was crazy to read and i was like why do you still have this

and she said i hang it up in every class every year and i did shed a little tear um it was just as cringy and embarrassing as i thought reading a letter i wrote when i was 17 would be oh amazing but she's still got it i'm still trying to i want to hear her words. I know. You get an extension. Look, Ms. Ortega, look. We're giving her an extension. This wasn't homework. She's got her homework. She's been readily setting up her classroom to get it ready, but I will

press her again to come on and say a few words. Yes. And please, also, if you are a teacher and you got a wish list that you are looking to get some help on, please tweet it at me. I will retweet it. I'm trying to help y'all out. I've seen a few lists now, but I feel like, come on, there's got to be some more teachers out here. Right?

No. All right. Let me shout out to the teachers. Shout out to the teachers. Honestly, shout the fuck out to teachers. All right. That's going to do it for us today. We will be back tomorrow.

Please check in with us. Great guests, great topics, great conversation. Becca, thank you so much for joining me. Always a pleasure. And I guess we'll talk to all y'all tomorrow. Again, take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. Get the vaccine.

Mask up. And don't do nothing about white supremacy or any kind of hate. Okay? Peace out. Bye. Bye. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do,

like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me for I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church.

Listen to Forgive Me for I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect

Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke.