The Daily Zeitgeist - Cinemonopoly, Pompeo Peacin’ Out? 11.21.19

Episode Date: November 21, 2019

In episode 521, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian and news correspondent Francesca Fiorentini to discuss a new Tabasco hot sauce flavor, Gordon Sondland's testimony, Mike Pompeo possibly resigning, the new book From Russia With Blood, Julia Roberts playing Harriet Tubman, the DOJ coming for movie distribution rules, and more!FOOTNOTES: Tabasco introduces a new hot sauce flavor and it’s not pumpkin spice Impeachment Hearing Live Updates: ‘Everyone Was in the Loop’ on Ukraine Pressure, Sondland Says Mike Pompeo planning to resign because Trump ‘hurting his reputation’, report claims Investigation into the Death of Mikhail Lesin Has Closed In New Book, Journalist Alleges Russian Links To Mysterious Deaths Abroad Julia Roberts was suggested to play Harriet Tubman by studio exec, says Harriet screenwriter Justice Dept. to Abolish Movie Distribution Rules Dating to 1949 The day the Supreme Court killed Hollywood’s studio system Are we headed for a high-tech version of Hollywood's bad old days? Why The DOJ Review Of A 1940s Decree Could Hurt Both Movie Theaters And Moviegoers The Real Impact of Getting Rid of the Paramount Consent Decrees 420 Day Fiancé with Miles Gray and Sofiya Alexandra Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is a podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness and say, officially, off the top, fuck the Koch brothers and fuck Fox News. It's Thursday, Novembermber 21st 2019 my name's jack o'brien aka i fell into a burning jack o'brien he's wet down down down hot takes keep flying and he burns burns burns this jack o'brien thisBrien. Courtesy of Trait Gang, and I'm thrilled to be joined, as always, by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray! It's Miles Gray, a.k.a. Oh, here we go. And these are all Sopranos, a.k.a.

A.k.a. Stoney Soprano, a.k.a. AJ, a.k.a. Big Pussy Energy Bompin' Sierra, a.k.a. Hash Radkin, a.k.a. Please RT, Buko, and a.k.a. Big Pussy Energy Bompaciero, a.k.a. Hash Radkin, a.k.a. Please RT Buko, and a.k.a. Just a.k.a. EZ Falco. The best. That's incredible. Got my ED brand in there for ED Falco.

And that is from At Water Chestnut. Please RT Buko. That's a great Twitter handle. Yeah. Who was that? That was just TDZAK? No, that was from Atwater Chestnut. Please, RT Buko. That's a great Twitter handle. Yeah. Yeah. Who was that? That was just TDZAK? No, that was from Walnut Chestnut Jr. Hell yeah.

Who I believe is some kind of man at sea, I believe. If I recall past tweets from this person. I can't recall. Just metaphorically speaking? No, I feel like he said he was maybe some kind of merchant marine or something. I don't know. Sounds like a sailor name. Walnut Chestnut. Or I felt like, I feel like he said he was maybe some kind of merchant marine or something. I don't know. Sounds like a sailor name. Walnut Chestnut.

Or I felt like, I don't know. I kind of have all these memories of people's tweets at me, and I felt like at one point it referenced a boat or something. Anyway, you can let me know in the comments. Hi. A boat made of walnut and chestnut wood. A dugout boat. Well, who's that other voice?

Who's that? We're hearing. We're hearing from the hilarious comedian, Francesca Fiorentini. Hi. How are you? Is my name long enough to make up for the fact that I have no other nicknames? Well, you were saying something. Frankie Fiore?

Oh, yeah. Franny Fio. Franny Fio is my Twitter handle. A very sailor as well. Aye. That's a Franny Fio. Aye, it's me, Franny Fio. Do you always go by Francesca to every single person you know on earth?

No. Okay, so what are the breaks of some of those now? You just can't call me Fran, but anything else. Frankie, Cheska, Franny. Cheska's cool. Ska, definitely in the Ska. Dude, Ska would be pretty sick, yeah. Ska.

Ska. Ska. Yeah. Scottini. That's my vlogger name for sure. Sounds like a really shitty martini from the Scott scene. Scottini is Brandy Posey's favorite drink at a bar. Well, Francesca, we're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment.

First, we're going to tell our listeners a few of the things we're talking about today. There's a new Tabasco flavor. That's mainly it. I feel like that's going to take up the whole show, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. If we have time, I guess we'll get to Sondland coming out throwing bombs. We're going to talk about Mike Pompeo, where he stands.

We're going to talk about a new book called From Russia with Blood, which, wild. Basically, we're not going to talk about the book. We're going to talk about the Fresh Air interview that I heard with the author of that book. I didn't read the damn thing. Yeah, you can read. I cannot. We're going to talk about a new monopoly that will soon be taking over our lives. We're going to talk about all sorts of shit.

My favorite story is about Harriet Tubman, the new Harriet Tubman movie. Could have gone a different way. Could have gone a very different direction. But first, Francesca, we'd like to ask our guest, what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are? Oh, God. Yeah, we're going to judge you. It's not really revealing.

I was just looking through it. My search history is just trying to slightly fact-check my tweets. So I looked up Zoloft because Sondland felt like he was on it. So I was like, what does it do? He was just so happy. And like really aloof. And I was like, man.

And people are like, well, it's because he's like, you know, the truth will set you free. And he's telling the truth. I was like, no. And he didn't seem like he is. He might have pilled up something. Oh, yeah.

He had a very carefree attitude today. And he was really just sort of like, I don't know. Did I do something wrong? I agree. I think there were some. Or Zanny. I mean, I don't know what we're calling it. I don't listen.

I'm not a Z. He would have been sloshing if he was Zanned out. Really? Yeah. If he was Alexander the Great up there, I don't know. He would have been. And Zan's a bar. He definitely seemed like he was just, he had like that faint smile of somebody who's on a new drug.

Exactly. Ambassador Sun Lin, are you in Zanzibar right now? Are you or have you? He would have been a loop. He would have been like, huh? And sometimes people get that voice, like when they take in Benzos. They're just like, you know,

you kind of get the vocal for it. You get the vocal for it. I don't know. I just took half of a Xanax once, and I was like, life is great. What was I worried about? As a close friend of mine says, very early on, he goes, I think Xanax makes me the person I think I always wanted to be. And I was like, that's a fine line.

And then he realized it wasn't the person he wanted to be. We've all said that on every single psychedelic we've ever done. Every drug. I think I could do this all day. Every day. This is how the earth is always breathing. We just only can see it. To me, you're like, yo, can you pick me up at Ikea?

I got fired from eating directly out of the heating tray for the meatballs. Yeah. Probably the worst drug to be on while at work. Psychedelics? Depends on how you move. Man, sometimes weed could be terrible. Yeah. Like a boss shows up suddenly.

Well, for me, weed would be awful, yeah. No, people I know who are like just, they're like, oh yeah, acid, I can function completely all day, but if I smoke a little bit of weed, I am. I'm like, how? Yeah, that's what I am. I'm one of those.

What is something you think is underrated? Underrated? Voting. Okay. That is underrated. I couldn't think of- A lot of people talking shit about voting out here. No, but I actually, I have gone through moments in my life where I'm like, fuck it.

Like, they're all the same, you know. Yeah, yeah. We're allowed to swear, right? Yeah, yeah. But only when we talk about the government. Sure. But but yes uh and that's definitely changed in the trump era and i think right now just this whole impeachment i keep on coming back to the fact that like months ago this would not have been possible like without the 2018 midterms like if we hadn't if there wasn't a democratic majority right now all of this yeah nothing just like yeah there wasn't a Democratic majority right now, all of this, nothing.

Just like, yeah, there'd be a whistleblower. We wouldn't probably have access to a statement. Laugh it off. Nunes would be taking, yeah, 3 a.m. Uber trips to the White House. I'm like, well, and that'd be it. And then we would just be like, how come the Democrats don't do anything? And it's like, well, because they can't. Yeah, right.

But which is sad, and maybe that should change. But yeah, I keep on coming back to the fact that it's because we well, because they can't. Yeah, right. But which is sad and maybe that should change. But yeah, I keep on coming back to the fact that it's because we came out to vote. So door knock, register people to vote, even the ones who look like they're going to be Republicans. Yeah. No, honestly, just if more people will vote and get in touch with Mike, I mean, what I guess the illusion of power we have sometimes or just even though we do with a vote. But I think, yeah, it just it behooves us to get everybody vote because at the end of the day higher turnout means usually the better

party wins yeah what was the percentage like how much greater than the average vote uh for a midterm was like the turnout it was it was pretty high yeah yeah i mean i feel like we reached like 47 percent right and usually it's in the 20s. Well, especially the last two, a couple of gubernatorial elections, they were like, oh, turnout was pretty big. Yeah. Yeah. And whenever there's high turnout, Democrats always win. Yeah. I was just, I guess my concern was that there was going to be high turnout.

But then, you know, by the time the next presidential election rolled around, would just be so uh beaten down that they wouldn't turn out but i think i know everyone still has that fucking chapped ass about this presidency that like the only salve that will soothe it is to see his ass i think that's right yeah but hopefully and if it doesn't there's enough people are out here where i will scream at everybody in their face to be like it it's your ass to the polling place. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I also listen.

Shout out to like people of New Hampshire and the people who get like a personal little like butt pat from every presidential candidate. Like as a Californian, I'm like, I want that. You know, like you go to New Hampshire and they're like, oh, yeah, I met Clinton. I've met, you know, I met Kasich. I met not the casich is like whatever i met you know uh jeb like you're like i want you know there are people in this country who because of the way the electoral college is and the primaries and all that they have personally felt the sweaty palms of every single candidate and they're like didn't like the grip yeah and

then they won't vote for that person. You're like, oh, okay. Yeah, we're all talking about Pete Buttigieg because a bingo hall full of elderly people in Iowa came around on him, and now we're all like, well, I guess he's going to win. He had strong eyes. Yeah, real good eye contact from that young man. What is something you think is overrated?

Well, you just named it. I definitely think Buttigieg. I thought you were going to say bingo. I have a few other things, though. I think hot tubs, spicy tuna, and turkey. Wow, you're just throwing them at us. Okay, so let's take it one by one. Hot tub, what, bacteria cesspool?

Bacteria cesspool, I think it irritates my, I have sensitive skin. You get out and you're just immediately dry. Is it the chlorine though, you think? It's the chlorine. It's the heat. Like you're always drinking. I think it's the combination. It's the drinking mostly.

So drinking, not using moisturizer most of my life. Yeah, and it's never clean. And it's hard. First of all, it sucks up tons of energy. Yeah. Like, obviously, get in a hot tub when you have a chance, but I'm one of those, like, 10-minute hot tub people. I'm like, cool, yeah, that was great.

Right. Like, let's turn on a fire. Yeah. Let's not be in here anymore. Yeah. Spicy tuna is where chefs notoriously hide old tuna. Yeah, chop it up. You chop it up, you add the spice.

I've gotten sick off of it also tuna fish are like six they live for 60 years okay they are like the grandparents of the sea and we're eating them like no you know i'm not trying to say like sushi is bad or i'm not trying to like cancel japanese culture or anything but you better not cancel japanese culture oh fuck okay we're just about to go down. All right. But yeah, spicy especially is like, I've gotten sick of that. It's like all the, yeah, just add it in.

No one's going to notice. I don't eat that. Well, because I'm also a sushi snob being Japanese, and I'm like, that ain't it. That's something y'all need. Yeah, yeah. Like when we have it, we have something called negitoro, which is basically a green onion with toro that's chopped up. Right.

But you can't fake the funk with toro because that shit, that's the belly. That's the most expensive part. It's got to be Right. But you can't fake the funk with toro because that shit, that's the belly. That's the most, you know, expensive part. It's gotta be fresh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, the spicy tuna, you know. It is like the tikka masala, like it's the whitest.

Butter dry it. Yeah. The general sows. Yes. Yeah. For sure. Well, actually not. I think all them wacky ass rolls.

Yeah. Those like, you know, when. Well, the California roll, like things that don't have. The California roll was actually invented by a Japanese sushi chef. Oh shit. In Vancouver. What about cream cheese? Cream cheese, you know, when... Well, the California roll. Like, things that don't have... California roll was actually invented by a Japanese sushi chef. Oh, shit. What about cream cheese?

Cream cheese. I mean, I'm sure because a lot of Japanese people came here and they're like, God damn, they don't want to eat the shit that we actually think is lit. They're like, I guess I'm going to dumb it the fuck down. They're like, you want a fucking asparagus and cream cheese? They're like, yeah. Oh, God. All right, fine.

Could you mix the imitation crab with the cream cheese? Imitation crab? Are you kidding me? I'm going to fucking cancel myself using that shit. I'm a vegetarian, so I'm like, well, actually, I guess I eat. Listen, I'm just saying I haven't eaten sushi since I got sick of the spicy tuna. Yeah, no, no. But I get, no, look, you know, expand your minds.

Expand your minds. What's a dumb young fish that we should be eating? Young and dumb. What's a Gen Z fish? Oh, yeah, what's a Gen Z fish? Because right now we're feasting on the boomers swallow hole yeah uh i think it's not a fish i think like uh crustaceans are actually i mean they're disgusting bottom feeders like not not shrimp but i think crawfish are like pretty sustainable i love crawfish yeah but have you tried they're they're cockroaches. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bugs of the sea, maybe. No problem. Well, it's funny because, yeah, like back in the day before the Industrial Revolution, like working class people ate crabs and shit because they were bottom feeders.

Right. And then once everybody started to eat them and they got more expensive, then the rich people were like, you know what, maybe because they're all expensive, we'll start eating the sea trash.

I feel like that's going to happen. What happened with sea trash for like in the feel like that's going to happen. What happened with sea trash for like in the past 100 years is going to happen with regular bugs in the next 100 years. Oh, I thought you were going to say with actual sea trash. With actual trash.

Oh, like we just eat the Pacific gyre? Hey, yo, take a boat out there. Take a nibble off the gyre. This styrofoam, sea foam? No, no, no, styrofoam is so good. Best believe there are CFCs all up in this motherfucker

turkey also you said turkey is overrated yeah Thanksgiving's coming up yeah fuck it it's dry

I'd rather have a chicken again I am well I said I'm vegetarian I'm like vegetarian-ish you have a lot of strong thingings I'd rather have prime rib but like exactly

if you're gonna have a vegetable have a prime rib you know right right right this is what I always say but no turkey is dry But like exactly If you're gonna have a vegetable Have a prime rib You know Right right right This is what I always say But no turkey is dry It's too big It's a big bird

It's a big bird And it's disgusting Like what if you also Had to eat like the gobble On the side We wouldn't touch it Or if you had to watch If you deep fried it

You had to look at a picture Of a turkey As you were eating a turkey You wouldn't eat that turkey I would I love turkey Yeah But you know eating a turkey. You wouldn't eat that turkey. I would. I love turkey. Yeah. But you know what the problem is?

People don't do shit like brine your turkey. You gotta brine your turkey. To get that moisture locked in. And then, yeah, you get these dry ass like crumbly fucking soap bars of turkey. I was told by someone you have to go very like Buffalo Bill with it and get under the skin of the turkey with a stick of butter. And yes. Yes.

Or deep fry that thing, man. Or just deep fry it. Yeah. Deep fried turkey is delicious. Yeah. Or, you know. Still overrated. Or, you know, the new fad, confit your dark meat.

What does that mean? Yeah. Like you cook it in fat, basically. Slowly. Anyway, that's like. It doesn't have fat. No, but you would use other fat. You use chicken fat? Yes in fat, basically. Slowly. Anyway, that's like- It doesn't have fat. No, but you would use other fat. You use chicken fat?

Yes, yes, yes. That's why chicken's a better bird. There you go. And finally, what is a myth? What's something people think is true? I don't know if you guys- You guys might have already talked about it. A myth is that the Tea Party was a grassroots movement

with legitimate concerns yeah dark money like yeah honestly fucking straight astroturf exactly and the fact that you know this week the Buttigieg video surfaced

where he was like you know there's real concerns and I'm gonna reach out to you because I am nothing but a series of angling you know political moves algorithms put together to game the system.

Yes. Yeah. And that's BS. I mean, we know that. Like, they were just holding signs about socialism, not wanting health care, and they were bussed in by, you know, the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, yeah.

So fuck the Koch brothers once again. RIP as well. Yeah. Nah. All right. Rest in piss. So the thing I'll say, yeah. Marinating, especially then, too, because it was basically like this black president is trying to like change things. Yeah. Let's create a group of angry people who like wave their gads and flags and pretend that they're like about something other than what they are.

And when you look at a lot of like how much the discourse or like the language is somewhat shifted when you see like the old teabaggers that are still in like Congress now. Like they're kind of like they even know they're sort of distancing themselves from that era of like that that wave they wrote in on. Yeah. I mean, it'll come back if and when there's a female president or a president of color, like they'll just like whip it up. Yeah. I think what happened was that was sort of a precursor to a lot of this sentiment.

Now, like the same mentality is present and like the is present in the alt-right and things like that but not necessarily like where they come from but it's tapping into that same sort of and now they're lawmakers yeah right yeah yeah but dark money that the book by jay maher is incredible and like goes into uh like just how transparent it was like it started at a uh like golf course banquet for billionaires after it like right as obama was being sworn in they had this like banquet where they were like what are we gonna do to make people like fuck with this dude and they came up with the tea party movement they then like went about like systematically like astroturfing uh and it got covered by the media as as grassroots yeah even though it was a bunch of you know middle-aged all

you gotta do is give people sharpies and poster board yeah that's all you know you just don't print them out the same sign right and you know it's a grassroots movement yeah yeah it's interesting too because they at first like david coke was, I don't know anything about the Tea Party. And then there was like some footage that came out of him at like Americans for Prosperity where he's like telling us like five years ago, my brother Charles and I provided the funds to start Americans for Prosperity. It's beyond my wildest dreams how AFP has grown into an enormous organization. And then you go on to be like, yeah, that's the people who is mobilizing everyone. Oh, the tea party. Tea party.

Got it. Oh, yeah. We did that. We did do that. We did that. All right. Let's talk about the new Tabasco flavor, which is something I did not really care about. I assume there were dozens of Tabasco flavors I didn't know about.

But Miles, you- I was- Look. Yesterday, it was like you found out that your best friend got married and didn't tell you. Yeah, to Leonardo DiCaprio. Yeah. I love hot sauce. Yeah.

Tabasco is not my favorite hot sauce, but contextually, it's the perfect hot sauce for eggs. Okay. So is Crystal. I also like Crystal. Crystal's one of's the perfect hot sauce for eggs. So it's Crystal. I also like Crystal. Crystal's one of my other favorites. Then I like hotter things. For eggs? Yeah, Tabasco I like for breakfast. Unless I'm doing like chilaquiles or something, then I gotta switch to like a tapatio or chalupa. I like Tabasco for soups.

Oh, like a chowder? Anything that I have to sit on top of. I like it for oysters. Oh, yeah. Wow. And a minionette. I'm a vegetarian, but I only eat oysters. Well, they're vegan.

You have had takes on four non-vegetarian foods already. Because I'm newly vegetarian. Certain vegans consider it vegan because it has no central nervous system. Oysters. And they're technically like water filters. Hey, who cares, man? it has no central nervous system. Oh. Oysters. And they're technically like water filters. Hey, who cares, man? We're about central nervous systems. But that's the only time.

Like Tabasco is always like, I find it disappointing. I'm like, it's too watery. I think that's why I say I love it for a very narrow purpose. I can't go outside of that. Then I got to start relying on other things. The point being, I didn't realize that, first of all, there is a scorpion, like based on the Moruga scorpion chili, which I think like a few years ago was the hottest pepper on earth. And I was like, okay, I didn't know that. Then I find out now for this new holiday season, they have the Rocoto pepper Tabasco sauce.

And I said, okay, what was this? It's a pepper from Central and South America. But on the Scoville scale, which is how you measure hotness and that heat, it's between 50 and 350,000 Scoville units. So that's between four and 40 times hotter than a jalapeno. So it's hard to sort of say. But however, their scorpion sauce is 5,000 between 10,000 Scoville units. Between 5,000 and 10,000. And the other one, that's not the sauce though, right?

No. What do you mean? The sauce isn't between 50,000 and 350,000. No, no, no, no, no. That's just sort of what the pepper. So they're going to see how they make that into a sauce. Right. At what point point at what number

of scovilles do you stop feeling your face i mean like realistically i think a scorpion is like at a million a scorpion scorpion pepper okay is um i'm gonna just check here the scoville units for the pepper is drum roll please the trinidad Moruga Scorpion, 2 million Scoville units. And how many is a jalapeno? One Scoville? I'm like, Rory Scoville? What are we talking about? For example, okay, a jalapeno, Scoville units is,

drum roll please, 2,500 to 8,000. Okay. Is what a jalapeno is. A scorpion pepper is 2 million. Right. I would have to get a new stomach. Like I wouldn't like, it would hurt me for days.

I ate one as a bit online as people do. And, uh, I was reading, you have to eat a lot of bananas. Oh, okay. Like if you,

if you can put a base of all that potassium in your stomach, I was reading like, I think I've said this in the past, but like competitive eaters when they do hot challenges, they eat bananas. And then that way they don't have just terrible exit strategy when they have to pass the pepper. However, there have been times I've had really hot stuff

and I've passed it through my bladder and I thought I was pissing fire. Wait, really? Yeah. Oh, God. That's how you ate it? No. Is it like chopping a jalapeno and then going pee?

Yeah, almost. Or like wiping yourself. I changed a tampon after chopping a jalapeno. Oh, no. I don't know how many Scovilles, but it was that. Didn't need to know how many that was. It was fucked up units. Wait, so what's the new flavor?

It's this... Rocoto. Rocoto that is less than a scorpion, more than a jalapeno. More than a jalapeno. And this is to, what, give us something to talk about on Thanksgiving? Maybe the holidays for the pepper lover in your life, which would be me. So if anyone, you know, wants to, any of my family that's listening, pretty easy gift for me. I want the, I like the little bottles of Tabasco.

Oh, that you get at the hotel. Those are cute. They're so small. I remember as a kid, I used to like, I used to take those home. I got so excited when I would see little bottles of Tabasco as a kid.

I don't know why. They're my size. Yeah. I'm like, oh, look, Barbie size. Yeah, yeah. My friend's little sister used to call half and half's Barbie milks. That's adorable.

That is super cute. I remember these as Barbie sauce. She could never drink half and half with that body in any meeting. No. It's skimmy. Or it's oat. But Francesca, give me a second because I want to talk to my friend over there, Miles Gray. Hey, Miles. It's me, Jack from work.

We sit across from each other. Sitting across from each other right now. I want to tell you. Wow. This is so condescending. Please stop this. Oh, no. I've lost my mind.

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500-500. And we're back. And so were the impeachment inquiries. Girl, I'm talking about impeaching this creep. There it is. Beautiful. And so, Sondland, this was one that everybody was like, this is going to be good. Pop some popcorn, ladies and gentlemen.

And it was pretty good, right? Yes. It lived up to. There was some popcorn ladies and gentlemen uh and it was pretty good right yes it lived up yeah i mean was there enough pizzazz for you it's weird i say good yes but really it's like we've already known what happened right so it's further confirmation of a thing everybody knows to be true and so i'm more like when do we get into that point where we realize like are, are the Republicans just going to be like, yeah, we don't give a fuck. We're going to let him get away with it. That's really what this is all about. It's not about, like, the arguing the linguistics or like, well, did he say it? And what's a quid pro quo? Is it bribery?

No, he abused his power straight up. Yeah. And is this fun? Is this are we going to accept this? Yeah. Republicans are just like, thank you, sir, for all that testimony that I will summarily ignore. Right. And that's so I mean, maybe we're doing this for like one or two senators, maybe Lindsey Graham.

I don't know who we're doing this for. It does seem to make a difference to people on the right, because like today, like the headline on the Drudge Report is ambassador drops bombs, followed president's orders. Giuliani pushed quid pro quo. And before his testimony and right after it, Ken Starr of Clinton Starr Report fame wondered aloud on Fox News whether this will lead senators watching to ask Trump to resign, to take that old trip down to the White House. So it does seem like it's... When Ken Starr says something... Right.

That's, you know, it's... Right. He probably didn't have anything to do with it this one. The one thing in our lives that maybe Ken Starr is not behind. Yeah. And he's like, yeah, maybe... I mean, yeah, but to your point,, like John Dean said something on one of the hundred impeachment podcasts that I listened to that he was like the star witness in Watergate. He was Nixon's legal counsel, I think.

something that i said like before we even started the hearings but that it seems like we it's more damning and like more impeachable and more concrete than watergate was because like we have the there's no ambiguity yeah there's no ambiguity it directly tied like the watergate thing was a break-in on an election that he already won by a landslide and like it didn't necessarily directly tie to his ability to win and it was just covering up like any involvement knowledge this is like directly using right this is directly using the powers of the presidency to fuck with an election that is yet to happen and we already know without a doubt he did it and then tried to cover it up. And also leave a

country that is fighting war with Russia in a position that would make them more open to the idea of making amends with Russia. And then that would lift sanctions. So it is, I feel it's a weird position because I'm just sitting back and being like, oh, that seems to have excited them.

Like the people on the right. Yeah. I mean, it is significant because he's the only one who was directly involved. He's one of the three amigos. Proudly, as he said, once again, Zoloft talking. But he's the only one who actually would testify. Everyone else has refused to testify. And like, I don't know if Perry refused to testify.

Well, Volker is one of the amigos. Volker is one of the amigos. He's one of the migos. Oh, should we just call them migos now? Yo, migos. The fucking migos now. They're migos. Is that what migos was?

Is that where the name came from? How do we do like, but like, uh, like, I'm just trying to think what, what's a good rap. Um, I guess we'd do something about bad and bougie. Right.

That look like bad bougie. Is what he would say. Right. That's what Trump would say. Do it look like bad bougie. Zelensky got him on tape. Yeah. Uh,

yeah. Dude. Um, yeah, I think, yeah, like, you know,

his testimony basically says, i did what the president told me to do yep i took my orders from the president okay did he say directly no he said go talk to rudy giuliani who is the person who told me to do all this other shit very specifically right and then he dragged yo he really i think what's important is that he went up there basically indicating everybody's like i'm not going to be thrown under the bus. If anything, I'm a transformer and I will become the bus and I will run over you. And he said

he was tossing all these names out. Why don't you ask Mike Pompeo? I was talking to him. We were going back and forth. Why don't you ask John Bolton? He was acting like he didn't want anything to do with this drug deal. And he's a widow baby angel who couldn't do anything and he's like yo this dude asked me for rudy's contact like he was

really just diming everyone out the one thing that he that republicans are relying on for some dumb reason we know it's it's not going to work is that uh sonlin says that he didn't know that the investigations into burisma had anything to do with the Bidens. Like over and over again. He's like, I don't know. It was an investigation. I thought Burisma was a juice box. Yeah. I didn't know.

Wasn't that a Capri Sun flavor we used? I hate my Burisma. Always gets my coffee order wrong. There you go. Which is ridiculous. Like, of course you knew. I mean, it doesn't matter but like it's irrelevant to like what we're actually trying to investigate it's irrelevant the best part about

sonlin is like watching his whole testimony like oh you are bad at your job like he's like i don't he doesn't remember anything and granted he's not been given access to a lot of his emails and personal files i believe because the State Department has that. So, like, that's all under Pompeo. Right, who's obstructing. Right, who's obstructing justice right now and the hearing. But even beyond that, he's just like, do you know nothing? Yeah, yeah.

You just, I don't know. He just kind of seems like he's, like, wading into this super aloof. Well, yeah, because he was just sort of like well i'll give trump a million dollars so i can be an ambassador because that would be pretty cool before this i was made i was i'm running a hotel chain right right and and was also like before trump was elected he's like i would never vote for this dude yeah this guy's terrible and then he was a never trumper yeah gordon solomon was and then he won he's like here's a check for a million dollars. Can I be ambassador?

I think you're tight. Right. Got in. And then I think then at this point realized like, yo, I don't know. I just, I thought it would be a chiller job. I wonder if that ever came up. Like the whole never Trumper thing. The fact that like Republicans are saying that all of these people who are testifying

were never Trumpers. I think it could be interesting if I'm like, maybe if they talked about it, who would it help? Would it help Democrats or Republicans? I don't know. I mean, even then, like, it's just a tired argument. Right. Either way, never Trump or not, this dude gave him a million dollars

and Trump appointed him to the position. But they seem to be testing out a number of very tired arguments and kicking the tires on those. Exactly. So maybe that's another tired one they can go with. It's the same. No, I mean, basically it's like all Republicans have their hand. I think it's like a little, like a dirty diapy, you know, like they have the president's dirty

diapy. Right. Yeah. And they're like, there's not, there's not poo poo in here. Right. There's not poo poo. And they're like, what's that on your face? Right.

I'm not poo poo. And so. No. Are we all with the president's poo poo on our hands going to deny that this is a dirty diapy? It's like those videos where you see an owner looking around their apartment and it's all trash and like, who could have done this? There's ketchup everywhere.

And then they pan over to a golden retriever with a red face and they're like, I don't know. It's the same. It's like, this is an indefensible position. I thought you were going to go with a Hamburglar on that. I was like, oh yeah, I've seen that McDonald's commercial. Ketchup. Yeah.

It's like that if then they believed the dog. They were like, he said he didn't do it. Exactly. I mean, he looked totally in it. You saw his face. Look. Do you have any direct evidence that the dog said that it did it? Yeah.

I don't know, man. I can't really go with this one. But yeah. And I think, again, with Mike Pompeo, it's, you know, in the beginning, he really tried to Mariah Carey his way out of this. Like, oh, I don't know her. Yeah, yeah.

I don't know anything about this. Wow. And now we're like, no, you are fully dipped and plated in this entire scandal. Yes. And which leads now to this rumor that's going around D.C. that he's been telling, like, top Republicans that he's thinking about peacing out as from his gig as the secretary of state. That's crazy. And resigning. How long has he been in the role?

Oh, God. I don't even know how time works. Right. I mean, yeah. I felt like he was just a CIA director. I told me that it was. Yeah. If you told me it was like a very long period of time, I would believe that as much as if you were like, and it would be a record brief period of time, like a record quick departure from the job. I have no idea. April 2018. Yep. Yeah. Sure.

I feel like seven years ago. Yeah. I just think he had a press conference the other day where he was talking about Israeli settlements and then he kept on getting asked about the impeachment inquiry. And I love how his default was like, no, no, no, I want to talk about, let's go back to allowing Israel to just endlessly build settlements and trample Palestinian human rights. Like, no one wants to talk about... And he kept on being like, if anyone has a... Constructive question. Yeah, a substantive question for me that the world cares about. You know, like, no, man,

the world cares about this. But my question is, can you impeach... Now that we're impeaching everyone, I want to know if that's possible. To impeach Pompeo. Can you impeach a secretary possible like i'm like impeach pompeo can you impeach a secretary of state you can you can impeach federal officials just i i feel like it would take a lot of time it would take too long sure yeah yeah resign yeah and i think this is what

it's well because the main guy the whole thing is you know i think the plan was that initially he thought about staying till early 2020 because he's had his eye on running for Senate in Kansas. Yeah. Which, I get it. If you're doing Senate math, you're like, we need that seat as a lock. But it's like, he's going to come out of this thing cooked. Right.

You'd think and be like, I don't know what kind of votes he'll get. I'm not quite sure what his popularity is in the States. If George Papadopoulos can run for Congress, then absolutely Pompeo can. If Sean Spicer can be on Dancing with the Stars. Right. Then absolutely Pompeo can. Yeah. If Sean Spicer can be on Dancing with the Stars. Right. And do the Roomba.

Wait, is Papadopoulos running? Yeah, he's running for a seat in California. I think he's actually for Cady Hill's seat. But yeah, again, we'll see what happens. I don't think, I don't know exactly what his calculus is here, but. The other thing, Pence knew was one of the revelations today. Yeah, Mike Pence is also fully in this. Yeah, Pence is fully implicated.

And we knew, though. Remember that one press conference he gave, like, outside, and he got caught, like, there being like, what did you know? And he's like, I don't. Yeah, he's not good in. There's a plane in the sky. He's not good under adversity, man. No.

But we were saying that if they both went at the exact same time, then it would be Pelosi. But there's no way they would let that happen. Pence would resign. They would put Ivanka in as the vice president or some shit. Sure, sure. Yeah, yeah. And then she would become president.

Under Nixon, his VPp resigned but that was like months before listen whatever you think of pelosi i just say that the outside chance that for even just three months she could be president makes my heart sing So like just sound of music songs. There's like, yeah, the hills are alive. It's so beautiful. It's so,

so, so wonderful. And you know, not even because of her politics, just because of what fuck the haters, the hate, the people, I mean like as bad as like,

uh, you know, progressives feel about like Trump or whatever though. If conservatives had to say the words, president, Nancy Pelosi, I think she would, she would go around making all of them an entire generation of people would perish I mean arguably yes they would they would die upon having to say that yeah turn into a fucking nightmare like in uh Avengers movies it actually might be like like think you're

a Republican right now you're like all, all right, walls are closing in. What do we do? Obviously, what I think is going to happen is Trump's rallies are just going to turn in more clanny. They're just going to become Klan rallies. They really they are. But they're just going to get even more extreme. He's going to call people out to the streets. It might be better to be like, nah, let's run someone else against President Nancy Pelosi. Right.

Remake this bullshit, you know, shell of a party. Right. Put up, who would, I don't know, put Ivanka. Put Ivanka up against Pelosi. Trump Jr. Like, that's almost a better, that's the only move at this point. Right. Yeah.

I'm trying to think of even like if we go full fantasy world like i don't know who like even mythical characters right at this point who would work i'm not even sure one thing that i do feel like we're watching is the continued like just preponderance of evidence building up that capitalism does not work and it's not a meritocracy with this Sondland dude. Like it's just – Ooh, I like that jump. Everybody that we're seeing, Prince Andrew, we're seeing Sondland who's like a millionaire business person. Like it's just like, yo, like this is not a meritocracy.

No. These people are hothouse flowers. But that's why I think all these other billionaires who are semi-smart are trying to run for office because they're like, hey, hey, hey. Right. They're giving us a bad name, you know, and they don't even have a billion dollars. They're in debt. They're just a billion of them. Billions of them.

Right. I can complete full sentences. Right. Yeah. Well, you know, God, you hate to see them sweat. You hate to see them sweat. Yeah. More than anything.

Unless it's their sweating dollar bills, in which case. Yeah, come on, sweat over here. Yeah, exactly. Let's talk about Vladimir Putin, the man who actually runs the world. So there's a new book called From Russia With Blood, which is kind of a campy name for a book that has like a bunch of journalistic bombshells. But this reporter was talking to Terry Gross and she was talking about how there's been all these murders in the UK of Russian expats who are like Vladimir Putin opponents or rivals and they've clearly been murdered and the British police are just like, nah, it was a suicide.

He stabbed himself to death with two knives. Like, it's just that shit is happening. He clubbed himself in the head really hard. They point to 14 cases where it's, like, super obvious. Like, there's a guy who. 14? Yeah, 14 murders over the past, like, since Putin came to power. 14 and super obvious? Yeah, that murders over the past, like, since Putin came to power. 14 and super obvious?

Yeah, that are the super obvious ones. There's also one in America. There was a Putin's media czar who was on the eve of testifying to the U.S. Justice Department, was found bludgeoned to death in his room. was found bludgeoned to death in his room. And they ruled that the blunt force injuries to his head, neck, and torso were him falling down over and over because he was drunk, which doesn't, like, it just doesn't. So then they also have the medical examiners on board with this shit? Yeah, I think they just don't want to admit.

Make it hot? Yeah, they don't want to make it hot, basically. Maybe he died trying to give himself the Heimlich. Right. Yeah, that's like honestly what it seems like. I mean, when we got in the apartment, the song Slam by Onyx was playing. Right, yeah.

And I believe he was just slamming around the room. Exactly. And then I started choking on a pretzel. One of the dudes was zipped up inside a bag in a bathtub and the entire outside of the bag including the zipper was wiped for prints and he wasn't wearing gloves so like if he had zipped himself in the bag right for some reason there his fingerprints would have been on the outside of the bag and it was just

everything was wiped for prints and they ruled it a suicide were the 14 murders or suicides um They ruled it a suicide. Were the 14 murders or suicides outside of Russia or both inside and outside? No, all in the UK. So the point they're making is that there's this overarching system where Russian oligarchs have been a boon to the UK economy because they're like fleeing Russia with their billions. bringing all their billions and they the uk has like a bill that's like if you invest a certain amount of money in the uk economy you can stay which is like more transparent than i think the america is willing to be about stuff but the uk is just like yeah we want money bring your sure bring your money uh and so the theory is that that's kind of what part of their incentive is to just look the other way.

Because that cash injection is also very important to the economy. So they just don't want to make it hot. But they also talk about Putin. She kind of made it seem like I had always heard Putin was the most badass KGB dude. And she was saying he's more of like a fanboy KGB person who really bought into just the overall mythos of the KGB. Yeah, he's a KGB nerd. Right, and so when he got into office, started researching all the cool ways of killing people,

and she was saying that they have all these really, if you go really deep there, these clusters of heart attacks and like mental breakdowns and suicides that they think have something to do with, like, you know, they have been researching murder methods since he got into office

and they might have like found really difficult ways to trace. What's the chemical? Chup? Chick? I don't know how to say it. The one that... Rodak? Chick? It's got a chick in there. I know what you're talking about. The one that's... What's the chemical I don't know how to say it the one that it's got a chick in there the one that's

what's the poison that was used to poison that Novichok I feel like they do that one if they want people to know Novichok for the soul before I sputter out before I rat him out

because there's another dude actually in Germany before I sputter out before I rat him out. Because there's another dude actually in Germany too who was like a Georgian who was commanding forces against Russia during the Chechen uprising. This dude got straight up clapped up in a German park.

Yeah. And then the cops caught this dude. He shot the dude, ditched his bike, ditched the gun, then got on an electric scooter and the cops nabbed him. But they're like, hold on. Got on an electric scooter. Yeah. And he had one of those getaway methods. Yeah. Well, I think because he wanted to blend in with other people in the park. Yeah. Like and also like when they looked at his passport, he had one of these passports where like a lot of the intelligence agencies know, based on the numbers, there's a specific passport office that's in the Kremlin

that a lot of people who are these, quote-unquote, tourists who come through to stick people with umbrellas with poison, they all come out of this same office. So it's like, yeah, dude. That's like some penguin shit. What is it? Like umbrellas? Yeah, because another person, was it Litvinenko or someone?

Who was, someone had got hit with like a poison tip of an umbrella. Like that's how they got the poison. I mean, that was like some Cold War shit. Yeah. That's like some Batman shit. Had his tea poisoned. Oh, okay. Yeah.

He's just a fan of, I feel like he's just a Marvel fan. Yeah. Ultimately. Yeah, he wants to be a Marvel villain. But like all of this is, it's so bizarre that we're you know because I think you know we know that the impeachment hearings are related to the Russia investigation because obviously part of the investigations were trying to go back to 2016 and basically move blame from Russia over to Ukraine.

Right. And Trump was trying to facilitate that and having the ukrainian government openly say that they were going to do that and investigate themselves as possibly the reason or the the those who meddled in our in the american elections in 2016 but it's so weird that like to see how our cia and as someone who's just not a fan you know just not a fan of like the cia personally but how we're like so behind when it comes to like comparing our work to like russia and or maybe some of the human rights like clauses that we follow you know like are preventing us from, you know, doing some Batman-like murders, which is good.

Yeah, I feel like the CIA, they pay people to do that locally. Sure, sure. And I think they might be better at it, and that's why we don't catch them doing it. Whereas, like, Russia, I feel like Putin wants people to know. Sure. Like, that's part of his deal,

is, like, he wants, that's part of his kink. Well, and that's also, but it's a message to everybody else, like, I don't give a fuck where you're at right like i can touch you right and it well exactly it's a message to his own people too because apparently like after it was revealed that yes russia did meddle in the u.s elections like people you know in in russia like we're like hey that's pretty good not bad we're kind of coming back, aren't we? Yeah. Back on top. But it is really scary also because with the Marie Yovanovitch,

the former ambassador's testimony on how the day she was told to leave her position was the day she was giving that award to the anti-corruption activist who had acid thrown on her and then died. Now, I'm not saying that was Putin's doing, but it probably was. Probably had something to do with it. And that's what happens when you try to go against the Kremlin. And I'm like, all right,

well, I want to live in a rational world and I don't want to just think Putin's behind everything. But did Putin take that parking spot that I was going to park in? Probably. I mean, it made me think of- What did the license plate say? Rad Vlad?

Who does? It was the license plate of that car. Exactly, Rad Vlad. Yeah, Rad Vlad. It made me think of, so do you guys remember that dude, Michael Hastings, who wrote the Stanley McChrystal article for Rolling Stone that got McChrystal to resign? And then that guy died in a car accident, the writer? Did not know that. Yeah, he died when died yes like in a car accident the writer did not know that yeah he died when he was 33 in a car accident and like there's actually video of his car like

speeding out of control with like sparks flying behind it and i don't know so they were talking about how russia has these uh drugs that they will dose people with that will make them lose their mental equilibrium. So in the weeks leading up to their death, they're acting strangely so that people are like, oh, well, yeah, there was something going on with them. And that just made me this dude's death was very suspicious. very suspicious, but both his brother and his wife were like, yeah, but he was acting really strange right before he died. But he was also calling people and being like, I'm onto a big story, but the US government is investigating me. And then when WikiLeaks revealed a bunch of CIA documents that revealed that one of the ways they were investigating to kill people was hacking into their cars so that they would just like fly out of control

and like, yeah, as untraceable ways of killing people. And this was the guy who wrote about, was it like- It was McChrystal and Obama. Wait, McChrystal and Obama and like prostitutes? Wasn't there like a- It was this like general in in I think Afghanistan, right? It's War Machine. It's what War Machine's about. The guy was like talking shit about Obama basically and he reported it all.

I don't think that's why he got killed. That was just like the big story that put him on the map. And then he had some other big scoop and was like, I'm about to have to drop off the grid like an hour before his car just sped out of control and killed him. And we don't know what that scoop was about? We don't know other than that it was big and he was going to have to drop off the grid because he thought he was being investigated by the U.S. government.

And I thought Xanax was powerful. You know what I mean? That's where I'm still getting over that. How do I get that? Yeah. Anyways, but Epstein killed himself right yeah

yeah probably I don't know if you go to man I just everywhere people are throwing up Epstein didn't kill himself

yeah yeah I love that it's graffiti I saw it fucking spray painted in the street it's like our V for Vendetta moment is just Epstein

yeah I feel like it's yeah why wouldn't it be? I mean, that's a very potent symbol of like, you know, excess and capitalism not working and being a way for people to, you know, just behave in the most despicable way as possible. It really is uniting all people of all stripes. The left and the right.

Even if they're very narrowly focused on bringing the Clintons down, fine, man. Sure. Even if they don't really care about the victims that much, they're just like, Epstein didn't kill himself. I think the one thing about the Epstein thing, and I know you guys have talked about it, is that the way the media dropped it like a hot potato as soon as he died yeah well that's what the medical examiner said so we just gotta just gotta follow that yeah makes you wonder huh yeah how many people in those uh in those uh you know c-suites right at those companies those corporations are like i don't want to fucking hear a thing about this guy yes yeah but as a journalist like, that's suddenly off limits suddenly. And which is totally messed up because you you don't even have to talk about the conspiracy at all. You can still talk about the actual like the reporting and the victims and the lawsuits.

Like, why did that also go away immediately? And listen, I know the media cycle is now we're on the impeachment and but like just straight up day to night yeah it was blanket coverage and then nothing nothing and it is the story that americans are most interested in right now oh yeah across the board and they're just like nah we don't think it's a good story to cover but But he is dead. Right. So why would we talk about it? To the point where people like rearranging like monogrammed Christmas stockings at Target to spell out Epstein didn't kill himself. Well, how about that war on Christmas, though? Yeah.

All right. We're going to take another break. We'll be right back. All right, we're going to take another break. We'll be right back. 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. MTV's official Challenge podcast is back for another season. That's right. The Challenge is about to embark on its monumental 40th season, y'all, and we are coming along for the ride.

Woohoo! That would be me, Devin Simone. And then there's me, Davon Rogers. And we're here to take you behind the scenes of, drum roll please. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The Challenge 40, Battle of the Eras. Yes.

Each week, cast members will be joining us to spill all of the tea on the relentless challenges, heartbreaking eliminations, and of course, all the juicy drama. And let's not forget about the hookups. Anyway, regardless of what era you're rooting for at home, everyone is welcome here on MTV's official Challenge podcast.

So join us every week as we break down episodes of the Challenge 40 Battle of the Eras. Listen to MTV's official Challenge podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1982, Atari players had one thing on their minds.

Sword Quest. This wasn't just a new game. Atari promised 150 grand in prizes to four finalists. But the prizes disappeared. And what started as a video game promotion became one of the most controversial moments in 80s pop culture. I just don't believe they exist. That would be my reaction, shock and awe.

That sword was amazing. It was so beautiful. I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for The Legend of Sword Quest, a podcast about the fall of Atari and the disappearing Sword Quest prizes. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades. It's almost like a metaphor for the industry and Atari itself in a way. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Bruce Bozzi. On my podcast, Table for Two, we have unforgettable lunch after

unforgettable lunch with the best guest you could possibly ask for. Thank you for that introduction. I'm going to slip you a couple of 20s under the table for that. Emma Roberts. When it came into my email inbox, I was like, okay, I know I'm going to love this so much that I don't even want to read it. Because if I can't be in it, I'm going to be bummed. And Colin Jost. You know, your wife was the first guest on Table for Two. It's come full circle.

As long as I do better than her, I'm happy. Table for Two is a bit different from other interview shows. We sit down at a great restaurant for a meal, maybe a glass of rosé, and the stories start flowing. Our second season is airing right now, so you can catch up on our conversations that are intimate, surprising, and often hilarious. Listen to Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back, and there is a new movie called harriet coming out uh it's out already it's out that is out it's out uh and it's a script that has been shopped around hollywood since 1994 do it or even before yeah like it's forever yeah forever because god i mean god forbid we uh make a film like this um yeah the the writer of it and producer this guy gregory allen howard he said in this recent like interview or in entertainment weekly this thing came out where he brought up this moment uh when he first started working on it in 94, that a studio executive in a meeting suggested that the actress to portray the legendary slave turned abolitionist, the one behind the Underground Railroad, should be none other than a redheaded icon, Julia Roberts. Yes.

Go off. Yes, queen. And when it happened, he said, quote, i was told how one studio had said in a meeting the script is fantastic let's get julia roberts to play harriet tubman when someone pointed out that roberts couldn't be harriet the executive responded it was so long ago no one's gonna know the difference that's that's perfectly believable yeah and that's what it's like perfectly believable when you know shit like that was being said, you're like, of course, of course. This is literally like the attitude of the media industry.

Of Hollywood executives completely out of touch. I mean, they're like, well, look, man, her and Denzel were great in Pelican Brief. Right. So she knows how to act with black people. Yeah, she's basically black at this point. Yeah, I don't know if that's what it was because... The transitive property. I put, I looked up IMDB.

I'm like, what the fuck was she doing in like 94 that this dude was like, it should be Julia Roberts. Right. On either side of that, she was in Hook

as Tinkerbell. Right. So she can play all different, you know. She can play a little fairy. She can play, you know, Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman or Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman. She can play all kinds of fantastical creatures. Right. Like black people. That's probably what he said. Right. Could you imagine what the rest part was? He's like, and is this story even true?

Yeah. I mean, it's all made up anyway. Yeah. We have some notes about how we want to just reshape the narrative. Can you make her a white woman that saves all these black people? Right. Exactly. That is, yeah, that's kind of the perfect Hollywood movie.

I'm curious to know really what the sequence was after that with that executive who said that and how, like, who put their foot down and be like, absolutely, what? No. Because clearly the people the people like in positions powerful enough where to be like we'll never do julia roberts as it we'll just won't do it at all right but i'm curious to know what who that you know who that executive was i'm really curious he went on to green light green book yeah right he went on to grope many actresses right exactly uh i think listen let's be fair though in that moment julia was waiting for her breakout like she she needed it she needed it yeah um more than you know history

needed accuracy we needed julia's career to take off and then it was aaron brockovich yeah that's true and if aaron brockovich had been Latina, Julia Roberts would have absolutely played it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, this would have been her Erin Brockovich moment, probably. I know. Yeah. We denied it to her. Yes.

That's the most Hollywood feedback I've ever heard, though, that it was so long ago, people don't know. Oh, my God. I mean, this just shows you why it's taken so long for people of color know my god i mean this just shows you like like why it's taken so long for people of color to have any kind of representation well while we're on the subject of the film industry and how it functions flawlessly the department of justice is trying to fuck with the industry and make it more possible for movie studios and just people in the entertainment industry to consolidate monopolies. Yeah. I mean, they've been talking about, like, there's been

mumbles about basically completely overturning the paramount consent decrees from the 40s. Right. And now it seems like this is going to be something the department of justice is going to pursue so like back when this whole consent decree happened the studios were set up where all the studios ran everything they fucking own theaters they own film processing companies and what they could just do is basically saying like we made all these films and if you're an independent theater it's like if you want this big ticket picture you got got to buy all these other bullshit films, too, and play them. And we were like, what the fuck is this? Like, it's going to squeeze out independent creators.

You're forcing people. There's no choice at this point. And we're basically being like, you know, forced at gunpoint to like facilitate the premieres of these films that aren't worthwhile. But yeah, I mean, because they were able to have power up and down the chain like they also owned the companies that developed the film they owned like every part of it the they owned the actors the contracts and that was broken up in what year that was in the 50s i think like 49 is when it happened but so at first they first brought it up like right around the depression but fdr was like hold off on that like let's get through this

shit really quick right depression and then y'all can revisit it and then once it ended they did come back and they're like we want to get rid of block booking which is that concept of like you want one film buy all these fucking films right and the people who were involved with like getting things uh changed were chaplain orson wells, and weirdly Walt Disney, because at that time, like Disney was a small independent studio. But it's like people who are then, you know, connected with like pushing the art form forward. Doing this also brought about the golden age of television or what people went on to the first golden age. How long has that been going on? Yeah, I know. There's so many golden ages of television. But, like, it made it possible to have good TV shows

because actors were no longer controlled completely by the movie studios, so they were able to, you know, star on TV. Yeah. Prior to that, it was just like... Is this why, like, I mean, Marilyn Monroe, obviously wonderful, but, like, is this why she'd be in, like,

12 movies in a year or something? Yeah, yeah. Because they signed you to this deal and they're like, we're going to work this shit out of you. Right. And get as many films out of you as possible. Yeah. So, I mean, this was undoubtedly a good thing for the film industry. And like historians think it had to do with like, you know, films becoming better.

And, you know, the movie industry or like films in the 60s and 70s, like so many great movies were made because of competition. The studios had to compete with each other to make good movies that theaters would then want to put in their theater. It's not just like be strong armed into putting in their theaters. Yeah, you've got like blaxploitation comes around. Right. So now the Department of Justice wants to reverse all that, which is worrying for a few reasons. So their argument for why they should reverse it is because it's a new world. New world, dude. Tech too lit now.

Tech's too lit. Tech's changed the game, man. I think we need to rethink all this stuff. But tech has made it so that our world is run by like a handful of monopolies. Yeah, yeah. Tech monopolies.

Wouldn't they be into that? They're like, listen, I think this, first of all, Justice Department being run by William Barr. Let's remember. Right. Dude who is, I think, been in Italy or something, like also having his own sort of angle in hand in the whole. Well, he has a book report that's due very soon.

That's supposed to blow up the entire impeachment investigation. About Italy? About everything. I mean, that's like his whole journey. Yeah. I mean, that's what everyone's saying. Like he's, he's trying to figure out some kind of counter to all of this. And that's why I've been going around to be like, does somebody like force you guys to

start this like Russia investigation? Does somebody, did somebody like, everyone's like, yo, bro, we're not going to say whatever you want to say and what everything you're saying is wrong yeah yeah the yeah the italian president was like no we're not gonna investigate yeah and like in the uk they're like we absolutely stand by what happened we were not forced but listen bannon's been quiet for a while bannon is a filmmaker yes bannon has a production company bannon's a great filmmaker, not just any filmmaker. I don't know if you read his script for the Shakespearean

Compton War Gang War TV show. Shakespearean Compton Gang War I think it was a movie. Did you not see that script? Oh, it's... You need to check it out. It was a rap musical.

Rap musical, epic. Oh. Bannon writing for. Oh, he's a little Lin-Manuel. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Except everything's just Benghazi. Right. Oh, that's what it was.

As I'm like looking it up, it was basically a, it was Coriolanus that takes place during the 92 LA riots. Yeah, yeah. Oh, Bannon wrote that? Yes. the 92 LA riots. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Bannon wrote that. Yes. That's what he was trying to do. He's a failed filmmaker.

Like he was at here. But here's the thing. He's going to come back with this, this now, this move to what, whatever, to create more monopolies in Hollywood. Follow me.

And we're all going to have to watch. Right. I don't know. We're going to have to watch the 92 riots or like a Black Lives Matter, like Redux, but via Bannon's eyes and somehow it's going to exonerate Trump. Right. The thing with this though too,

right. It's like, not only will it like centralize a lot of the influence again into these late major studios, but now like it's also forcing companies like Amazon and Netflix to be like, maybe we need to start buying theaters. Oh yeah. They would immediately start buying.

I think we need to build our own theaters now. Cause if Disney has a share in AMC or whatever, Universal is sharing these other theaters, then we need that too. That way we can force them. It's my home. Pay my rent. Right.

Or pay your fucking taxes. Yes. Both of you. Yeah. And I think that's what block booking will probably come back, or could come back, where it's like, y'all want Avengers? Right. Then take this terrible film about two podcasters who smoke a magical bong

and end up the president and vice president of the United States. I thought you were going to say just take the other Avengers. I haven't seen a single Avengers. I've seen half of one on a plane. Is that true? I haven't seen many of the Avengers I talked about this when the last one came out I'm like yo these films came out way too quickly

and I didn't care enough about Captain America to watch a Captain America movie but I get it, I get the allure but I'd rather just watch trash TV sometimes Self care But I mean rather just watch trash TV sometimes. I hear that. Self-care. Yeah.

But I mean, basically, they would use their big blockbusters to strong arm the theaters into show whatever they wanted. It's already got to be like that. I mean, it's already got to be so hard for a fledgling. Like, where's my mom going to go see Downton Abbey? Right. You know? Yeah, yeah.

Like, where's her local little like Palo Alto Square theater which is where she goes where like you know to see her matinees yeah what are they gonna do

and what of her and what of her and what of her yeah yeah I think she's gonna have to be forced to watch like Transformers 12

or whatever yeah or Transformers 12 times in a row stay in your seat yeah I think that would actually kill you it's on a fucking loop if you tried Or Transformers 12 times in a row. Stay in your seat. Yeah. I think that would actually kill you. It's on a fucking loop.

If you tried to watch it 12 times in a row. It would kill you. Oh, 100%. Yeah. You would somehow get red-pilled, I think, if you watched it 12 times in a row. Well, Francesca, it's been a pleasure having you. Thank you. What a great guest.

Yeah. Thanks so much. Ska. Ska. In the building. Ska-tini. You're going to get a face tattoo after this. Ooh, hell yeah. Like a checkerboard pattern as a teardrop

full on Scott vibes or just a martini glass with a checkerboard pattern inside it's a martini glass but her checkerboard tear is filling the martini inside of a van shoe yes okay

where can people find you? Follow you online. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Franny Fio. Franny Fio. Franny Fio. Franny Fio. Franny Fio. Is there a tweet you've been enjoying?

Okay. This tweet was by Syra Rao and she said a couple nights ago, good night to everyone except for those who've ignored Julian Castro while uplifting Pete Buttigieg. And I just, I just want to retweet that so many times. Miles, where can people find you? So slept on, Julian Castro. Yeah.

Oh, yeah, me, Twitter, Instagram, at Miles of Grey. Also, my new podcast is out, 420 Day Fiance. If I haven't said it 300 billion times already for y'all, but I got to get it in. You've only said it three times. People still need to hear it. Well, they will continue to hear it, and they will always hear it. It's my new show talking about my favorite reality TV show, 90 Day Fiance, with Sophia Alexandra.

Y'all know her. And we just have a great rip-roaring time. It's like half recap show, half game show, talking all that shit about these cast members. Okay, some tweets I like. One is first, I believe, is from at Devil2Pay. You put me on to a Reductress tweet that I would have liked already, but thank you for pointing it out to me. It's a Reductress tweet at Reductress. It says, four weighted anxiety blankets that aren't as good as a massive blunt.

Facts. Also, if you really want to go there, combine the two. Right. And you will go to another dimension. Strong. Yes. Thank you, DJ Daniel. And also, one more tweet that I like comes from, or no, two more tweets.

First one is David Alan Greer, the old Living Color cast member. He tweeted, it's all okay, Bo boomer do you need help paying off your credit card so true but at the same time my man you fuck bro you know what i mean help me out um and also this other one uh is from at john is toasted it says there's a loud crash downstairs go check what that was says my wife i have a i have a wife in this tweet she's beautiful and has lots of sex with me. On our wedding day, she kissed me because we are married. Okay, back to the tweet.

So a guy comes up to our room and murders us. Jesus Christ. I feel like Ben Shapiro could have tweeted that. He basically tweets that every time he speaks. Some tweets I've been enjoying. Birds Rights Activist tweeted, I have a streaming service.

Smiley face, smiley face, it my butt. Jesus Nice tweeted, Y'all arguing over Soul Train Awards, but don't want to train your soul for the Lord's Award. Heaven. And then Matt Hubbard tweeted, I will watch The Irishman as Martin Scorsese intended, on an iPhone while hiding from my kids in the bathroom,

broken up into 17 parts over two and a half weeks. Oh, that rings so true. Damn, it's like that, huh? That's how it is, man. What's a show you've broken up in secret? Or Watchmen. Watchmen. Oh, been breaking up.

Yeah, that last episode I watched over five viewings. They're like, why does he bring three Bluetooth speakers in the bathroom? Are you trying to hide? No, no. It's when I'm sleeping on my kid's floor or just sitting there so they see me while they go to sleep. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We're having a lot of sleep issues these days, guys.

That's just going to be burned into your kid's memory. Like dad on the floor looking at his phone. Yeah. Yeah. Of Dr. Manhattan's blue body. Yeah. They just look around.

They only see that every time. They're like, my dad was present. Yeah. Oh yeah. Not a lot of contact hours though. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it's when I'm like hanging out with them. They're like, daddy, look at me. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Not a lot of contact hours though. Yeah. Yeah. No it's when I'm like hanging out with them. They're like daddy look at me. I'm like yeah yeah yeah shut up. Yeah yeah yeah whatever man.

Watchman's getting really good. Draw a hydrogen atom on your forehead we'll talk about that. With the valence electrons. You can find me on Twitter at

Jack underscore O'Brien. You can find 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 The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page and a website, dailyzeitgeist.com, where we post our episodes and our footnotes,

where we link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode, as well as the song we ride out on. Miles, what's that going to be today? Oh, man, we're riding out on a new track from this producer that works on the show, DJ Danil, who made the theme song for my new podcast, 420 Day Fiance. The beat, just flavorful. You know, it's got little, look, nice synth swells,

some little vocal samples being distorted, and just, you know, it just speaks to me. DJ Danil, one half of Gladiator. Yeah, dude, if y'all remember Gladiator, bro, shout out to, that dj daniel right there dude beard viator right there in the building um so yeah please uh yeah check out the show but this beat is dope and i was like yo let's show love and let y'all know uh we only you will only mess with the best stuff that's right the daily zeitgeist is a production of

iheart radio for more podcasts from iheart radio visit the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever fine podcasts are given away for free. That's going to do it for today. We will be back this afternoon. We will talk to you later. Bye. Bye. Oh, 20-day fiancé. Outro Music Oh 20, oh 20, oh 20, oh 20.

America's so fucking tight. America, America, America. Oh 20, oh 20, oh 20, oh 20. Oh 20, oh 20, oh 20, oh 20. Oh 20 day fiance. 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.

Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, Now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday.

Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Saying that the most popular cocktail is the margarita,

followed by the mojito from Cuba, and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History 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 in church. Voila. You got straightway. He tried to save everybody. Listen to spiraled on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts.