The Daily Zeitgeist - DEMS Some Bad Ideas 03.04.25

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

In episode 1822, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian, writer, journalist, and host of The Bitchuation Room, Francesca Fiorentini, to discuss… Democrats Have Some Terrible Ideas About How... to Move Forward, R.I.P. Skype and more! Democrats Have Some Terrible Ideas About How to Move Forward R.I.P. Skype Microsoft is shutting down Skype in favor of Teams How Skype lost its crown to Zoom Skype for Business Online to Be Retired in 2021 LISTEN: II Remember by Maribou State WATCH: The Daily Zeitgeist on Youtube! L.A. Wildfire Relief: Displaced Black Families GoFund Me Directory See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 There's a there's something that there are some hook they're so fucking ugly. I'm like, bro, do not come near me wearing those shoes. Like you're going to you're going to you're going to say the N word. I don't know why they're so dripless that they freak me the fuck out. Which is funny because they have ones that are super cool, but there's some that just looks so fucking Hoka II that they freaked me out. It's like wearing like an underarm or camo hoodie near Conversations about to go I had a one friend who's like I had to do it man
Starting point is 00:00:35 It's like my feet bro. Just like you know, my Orthopedist was like I have to wear these shoes and I'm like, it's fine, bro And he's like he's like they just look really bad.'m like, you look comfortable. Did he get the shitty ones? Yeah. His orthopedist was like, okay, you do have to buy these and unfortunately they have to be the ones that look like shit. That's actually part of it for me. Does it, does it have to have this thin blue line logo on it?
Starting point is 00:00:57 Like these are custom, dude. I'm telling you, these are pers- you need these specific ones, dude. The Hoka thin blue line collab. Hoka X thin blue line. Yo, Yo, one shoe is Thin Blue Line, the other one's All Lives Matter. What the fuck is this, dude? Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? Ow. Goes lower. From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20
Starting point is 00:01:25 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi. What's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Listen to The Hook Up on the iHeart Radio app,
Starting point is 00:01:42 Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What would you do if mysterious drones appeared over your hometown? I started asking questions. What do you remember happening on that night of December 16th? It actually rotated around our house, looking as if it was peering in each window of our home. I'm Gabe Linners from Imagine, iHeart Podcasts and Linners Entertainment. Listen to Obscureum, Invasion of the Drones, wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
Starting point is 00:02:18 I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. This podcast is based on my co-host Mark Seale's bestselling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Canole features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Kobla, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head.
Starting point is 00:02:40 Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Canole on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey sis, it's Dr. Joy from Therapy for Black Girls. We've had 400 episodes of conversations, growth, and healing. So we're celebrating. Join us for a special episode with internationally recognized yogi, Chelsea Jackson Roberts, as she shares wisdom on mindfulness, movement, and motherhood. I waited later to have children and I still have exactly what I knew that I wanted. You don't want to miss this special episode. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 00:03:19 Hello the internet and welcome to season 378 episode 2 of DER DELES EYES! This is a production of My Heart Radio, it's a podcast where we take a deep dive into American share consciousness and it's Tuesday, March 4th, 2025. March the 4th, be with- nope, that's not the one. No, go ahead, you can try. March the 4th, be with you? Yeah, let's try that. That's not the one. No, go ahead. Let me try. No. March the 4th be with you? Yeah, let's try that.
Starting point is 00:03:46 It's also National Suns Day. And then it's also, and you'll have to forgive me, there's just a lot of Reich vibes in the air. It's also Fast Nacht Day. And I was like, what the fuck is that? That's actually, it's the day before Ash Wednesday. Fast Nacht. They mean fast and night.
Starting point is 00:04:04 So yes, that's what that means. I was like, what the fuck is going on here? It's also marching music day. Shut up marching bands. That's me. It's fat Tuesday. This will be the day before Ash Wednesday, national grammar day, national hug a GI day,
Starting point is 00:04:15 unless you're the veterans affairs department, in which case you like, y'all need to get the fuck away from us. And making us nervous. Stop. Thank you. Thank you for doing violence in service of the empire. Please get away from us.
Starting point is 00:04:26 I think they'd be pro hugs. Like we're gonna replace all VA care with hugs. Yeah. We're gonna cancel the veteran suicide hotline and replace it, children, with hugs. But you guys hug each other. We're not doing the hugging. Yeah, we're not involved with that.
Starting point is 00:04:41 Just like, can you figure that on your own? Now it's a national pound cake day. Dude, I love pound cake. Yeah. Sorry, I just want to remind everyone that a cold Sara Lee pound cake with strawberries and ice cream or whipped cream. So good.
Starting point is 00:04:55 It's just classic, it's yummy. Gotta be ice cream for me. Ever gonna turn it down. My mom, like whenever I had strawberries and stuff, she never did like that thing where I've noticed in American households or like in a dessert context, you put a little sugar and like a little syrup like with the strawberries to get them tasting sweeter like for a little topping. The first time I had that, I thought the person was like rugged because I couldn't believe that the
Starting point is 00:05:19 strawberries were like so sweet. And I just remember my immigrant mother being like, I would never put it, what are you talking about? It's fruit. It doesn't need more sugar. But then when you in the middle of it, you were like, okay, I'm going to finish this. But if they're drugging me, it's fine. Yeah, it's fine. Whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Let me put a little sugar on this dessert. Let me sprinkle a little sugar on this. Yeah. I mean, that shit is fucking it's dope because strawberries most of the time, they never taste like what you want them to be. Especially as a kid you're You're expecting the most intensely sweet fruit and then it just ends up not being that what this
Starting point is 00:05:52 Some nice fresh Mouth oh, it looks like it's left over from a child. That's one of his canker sores. He just pulled his lip down How is it a slice strawberry from my own mom. Shout out to my mother-in-law. Yeah. Sweet? Super sweet. Damn.
Starting point is 00:06:12 All right. I'm going to come over. I dipped it in vanilla frosting. So that's how I get down. Now it's just pure uncut fruit. Damn. Actually, it did look halved. So you can taste it uncut.
Starting point is 00:06:22 That was halved. It was. It was halved. I'm sorry to our's uncut. It was. It was halved. Mm-hmm. Mm. I'm sorry to our listeners who don't like people chewing on mic. Yeah. You mentioned fruit. I've got it at hand.
Starting point is 00:06:33 Yeah, damn. Fucking balling. Anyways, my name is Jack O'Brien, AKA, well, it seems to me you missed that drone. Now your sandalals in the wind. Uh, that one courtesy of Elton John and blankie hack on the Discord in reference to the Drake clip, allegedly fake, where someone flew a drone to his penthouse zoomed in on his laptop. Uh, he came out through his sandal off the roof, uh, presumably in
Starting point is 00:07:03 an attempt to take the drone down. I don't, I still can't. My problem is not like, well, it didn't look, it looked fake as hell. It looked faked as hell. I don't know what he, to what end was he faking it is my question. Because he didn't want to make him look cool. The other thing is I did do this AKA. So that's two days in a row. People have heard that AKA, but I guess what?
Starting point is 00:07:25 It's worth it. Blinky heck. Great work on your part. The double dip award for Blinky heck. I'm thrilled to be joined as always by my cohost, Mr. Miles Gray. Well, it seems to me that you live your life. Now your sandals in the wind.
Starting point is 00:07:42 Let's do it three times. Blinky heck. God damn. Let's go for it times. Blinky egg. God damn. Let's go for it. Yeah, that was a terrible, terrible fake staged thing for steak. Drake also posted over the weekend just a steak logo and was basically like, bro, I need $2 million to win
Starting point is 00:07:58 and they'll give it to me if I just post this. It's an ad, I'm desperate. Okay, moving on. He's selling Omaha steaks now? Yeah, no, an ad, I'm desperate. Okay. Moving on. He's selling Omaha steaks now. No, he's, he is. Yeah. Oh no, he's selling coupons, Kirkland brand coupons, like Costco coupons to Omaha steaks.
Starting point is 00:08:13 No, not even just, yeah. I wish they were useful. It's purely self-serving. He's like, folks, I have an online slot machine problem. This is why I'm posting this on main. Leave me alone. And by the time it got to me, the screen was blurred out. So it just looked like he was looking at point, like they caught
Starting point is 00:08:31 them looking at porn. I think someone was just like, we're not letting you do this ad here. I think that was just a smart thing to be like, nah, nah, this is an ad for a shirt with a swastika on it. Nope. Now I know, no, can't do it. Miles were thrilled to be joined once again in our third, brilliant Twastag on it? Nope. No, I know. No, can't do it. No, what did I do? Oh no, can't do it. Can't do it on social media. Miles, we're thrilled to be joined once again
Starting point is 00:08:47 in our third season by a brilliant comedian, writer, journalist, activist, you know from plays like Al Jazeera, MSNBC, the Young Turks, and from the podcast, the Bitch-O-Wation Room, is Francesca Fiorentini! Francesca! Aye! I'm also on Zateo now.
Starting point is 00:09:03 I was gonna say Zateo, right? Zateo. W? Zateo. Wajahat Ali. That's right. This with Wajahat Ali. Wajahat Ali, yeah. That's right. Tuesdays and Thursdays on YouTube.
Starting point is 00:09:11 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific. Yeah, it's a, it's, we're calling it America Unhinged. We're looking at the first hundred days of Trump's administration. There goes my mental health. Wait, what happens on the, after a hundred days, they cancel the show? Well, it's all, exactly. It gets canceled because we fixed it and it's all better. And our analysis has made everything right. Um, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:09:30 If like a network goes, well, you guys said it was about the first hundred days, so we didn't renew it. Like, yeah, I mean, look, we'll see if Zatea wants to keep us on, but either way, everyone should check it out. So, uh, you know, we have more reason to stay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:43 That's a Medi Hassan's network, right? Yes, it is. Mm-hmm. Well, speaking of fixed it, I don't know if you saw, but the Democrats have fixed it. We'll be talking about that in a little bit. But they figured out how to, after, you know, being the part of the brand behind moveon.org, they have figured out how to move on. They have a path forward and it is bad.
Starting point is 00:10:10 It's, it's, uh, about what you would expect from them. Exactly what you would expect from them. If quite literally, yeah. If they were just incapable of learning like any lessons from their own failures. So scared. Well, uh, we'll talk about that. We'll say a fond farewell to Skype. All of that.
Starting point is 00:10:29 Plenty more. But before we get to any of that, Francesca, we do like to ask our guests, what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are? Can you feed a cat dog food? Oh. Why did this happen? Why did I search this? Because my husband, Nat Leib, has been on the show. Is that like the Borat equivalent of my wife? Well, it's, it's, it's Melania saying my husband. My husband. Okay. My husband. He bought the, the dog food for the cat. And so I wanted to know, can you feed the cat dog food?
Starting point is 00:11:07 It turns out you can, but it doesn't have the proper nutrients. So only for a little bit. And that little bit was this morning when she puked. Oh, really? Wait, so why? Cause it's so good? Is that wildly different? No, the puking was definitely because she got a good can of food this morning and she
Starting point is 00:11:29 liked it, so she scarfed it too fast. But then I immediately was like, okay, it's been five days of us knowing that this is dog food, maybe like a week or 15 days of it actually being dog food. And so we need to swap this shit out. So yes, but yes, there are some some nutrients that cats need the dogs don't dogs I think can eat more veggies they're like dogs are super down and in fact it's good to feed dogs like colorful foods like carrots and sweet potatoes that stuff is good for them but cats need just meat they need oh yeah yeah and also I've been looking up cat health insurance and it's also a racket.
Starting point is 00:12:09 Everything about vet insurance is a fucking racket. Everything about veterinary care and animal care is a racket. And- Private equity. Private equity. Yeah, I was just gonna say- Yes, it's all private equity. Private equity.
Starting point is 00:12:19 Oh, wait, sorry. Yeah. Yo, but I'm like, it's awful. I'm just like, okay, you know what? Go under the house and die. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's just, let's awful. I was like, okay, you know what? Go under the house and die. You know what I'm saying? Like that's just, let's. That's how veterinarians feel too.
Starting point is 00:12:28 They're like, it's so, I can't even give care because the fucking mandate I get from the corporate overlords is to just like, be like, dude, just deny anything. Just tell them the pets are gonna die. You can't do anything for them because it's too, we're not gonna cover that shit. Just fucking, just fucking do this.
Starting point is 00:12:43 No, it is so wild. Like $260 for a urine test. Excuse me? How much is it? You already have the $260 to test the urine. For a social. I'll test the shit for you myself. Yeah, bro.
Starting point is 00:12:56 Exactly. If that shit tastes off, I'll know right away. Exactly. For less than 260 bucks. No, but seriously, I'm just like, can we, I understand obviously, you know, free Luigi, we need universal Medicare for all. We need to abolish the private, you know, healthcare system in this country, but also we need Medicare for all for cats.
Starting point is 00:13:12 So yes, a lot of a lot of feline stuff in my search history. I gotta tell you, the Democrats are not gonna like that talking point. Yeah. Medicare for all for cats. Francesca, we're trying to, we're trying to get that big D Democrat podcaster spot. And I don't just read the document of the left. Please. No, we've already applied and they gave us a swift and unambiguous.
Starting point is 00:13:36 No, you may not. They said Jack wasn't believable as a tough guy. And I was quote, not white. believable as a tough guy and I was quote, not white. Yeah. I tried to act like I knew what MMA was an episode. Yeah. Your time out. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:53 It's pretty good for like depression. Like a lot of people are like tinkering with it. It was like an ecstasy, but now like MMA therapy is like really, they're like, yeah, this fucking shit. All right. Well, that's good to know. That's helpful information that we're learning up top. Francesca, what's something you think is underrated?
Starting point is 00:14:10 I guess I just love this person and she's my new favorite person. So I'm like any accolades or any love she's getting is not nearly enough, but Cynthia Erivo is the best thing ever. And I am in love with her and she's got an amazing voice and hearing her perform, you know, defying gravity on the Oscar stage and just like crushing every single part of it and just like her voice and like, like that could keep me going.
Starting point is 00:14:42 I just need to listen to that every morning. And I feel like I'll be okay. I feel like, all right, maybe I don't need to move to Ireland slash Costa Rica or wherever the hell, you know, I might go like, maybe it'll be fine. We could say we fight. We defy gravity. She's just so talented. And yes, yeah, whatever.
Starting point is 00:15:00 Okay. I think, you know, Ariana Grande, she was going to be my overrated, but I like I'm, I don't want to make it hateful against her. I just like I want to Harold Cynthia Rivo and she deserves everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ariana Grande, I saw that bridesmaids sketch for the first time on SNL when they're talking about Domingo. And yeah, well, the original one came back. The first one was Ariana Grande. And the way she killed those bad notes, I was like, it takes an amazing singer to do bad singing that well. She's also very funny. Like I think as a comedic actress, she's really good.
Starting point is 00:15:33 But Cynthia Erivo's voice, Cynthia Erivo's acting, Cynthia Erivo, just like as a person, as a vibe, as a like how, how, I don't know. She's just so fly. I love it. Everything about her. Yeah. I just remember, everything about her. Yeah, I just remember being so shocked at how talented Cynthia Arrival was because I was like so, again, unfamiliar with her game starting out
Starting point is 00:15:54 and then like just adding all these just talents on top of each other. I was like, holy shit, okay. I see you. Yeah. I think it's a little selfish actually, how much, how talented she is. It's too much. Not fair. Well, I didn't even see, I didn't see Harriet.
Starting point is 00:16:11 So I would like to go back and watch it. Maybe for her. Right, right, right. Leave some for us. Leave some crumbs for us. That's right. Yeah. That was me enjoying the Oscars thinking that she was incredible. What is, what's something you think is overrated? I think the 2028 election is overrated.
Starting point is 00:16:31 Meaning, I don't think we're going to make it that far. And I don't think it's going to happen. So I think everyone who's putting too much faith in electoralism to get us out of this who's putting too much faith in electoralism to get us out of this massive hole is not thinking short-term enough. But what about the midterms that are coming up? We just need to get to the midterms. I think the midterms are good.
Starting point is 00:16:57 I also think that this is an administration that will openly defy the will of Congress. And- Or define gravity. Or defy gravity. That Congress. And that's- Or define gravity. And defy gravity. That's actually what that song's about. Yeah, exactly. The vaporization of the 2028 election.
Starting point is 00:17:12 I mean, Defying Gravity is about like not actually believing in gravity because it's a social construct and it's made up. And so is electoral politics. Yes, just like electoral politics. But I'm like, I do think- There's actually some interesting roguing episodes about how gravity is a social construct
Starting point is 00:17:24 if you just think about it and get high enough and sit in a deprivation tank. electoral politics. But I'm like, I do think- There's actually some interesting Rogan episodes about how gravity is a social construct if you just think about it and get high enough and sit in a deprivation tank. Zach, you're not getting the part. You're not getting the part. You're not getting the part. I'm just saying he's really good. All right. They already said no. But yeah, so I'm just like, ah, we need to stop like hoping and wishing and thinking about the future. It's like, I don't even know if this shit's going to hold until next
Starting point is 00:17:41 week or at a month from now. I'm looking at like the, this year and for sure the ability to override, you know, they'll, they'll try to override whatever Congress wants. I am excited to get all these Republicans who are being chanted down in town halls out of their seats in the midterms. And so that's really good. I do think the backlash will be swift and strong, but I like, I don't know, focusing on 2028 is like, who knows? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:06 It feels a little. If you can't stop him here, what is to like, stop relying on elections. I'm sorry. The reason that we're fucking in this point is because we're like, well, you know what? Well, litigated at the ballot box. Yeah. Well, yeah. He incited an erection.
Starting point is 00:18:22 And erection, I almost said. He incited an erection, an erection, I almost said. He incited an erection at various points. You know, I mean, obviously Chuck Schumer is aroused, but he incited an insurrection, that's illegal. He shouldn't be able to run for office under our constitution. Brazil just did it with Bolsonaro, but you know, like just leave it to the ballot. Let's leave it to the voters. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:47 It's not useful. It doesn't help anyone. It it also like, I don't know, like, you know, way it allows people to just sort of be like, don't just don't worry about it right now. It's like, no, no, no, we need to be engaged right now. Like, if this isn't, this isn't a thing you can put off, it doesn't mean you have to go full blown panicking in the streets, but to act as if there's going to be a tidy solution that you just show up on a Tuesday in November and it goes away. No.
Starting point is 00:19:11 And the biggest problems in this country have not gone away because people showed up on a random Tuesday in November. It's just not how that shit works. No. And, and every single time he is allowed to run, which I think he will try to do again, it just further, I don't know. I'm just like, how much renormalizing him and people are like, Oh, well, he won't be able to run again. Of course he's going to run, which I think he will try to do again. It just further, I don't know. I'm just like, how much renormalizing him and people are like, Oh, well, he won't be able to run again.
Starting point is 00:19:28 Of course he's going to run again. Of course he's going to try to run again. Force. He's going to extend his limits. He's not allowed to though. So I think we're good. Yeah. So this is a thing that I also believe in have believed like since the like
Starting point is 00:19:42 first three days of the administration, I was like, oh yeah, this is a wrap. But I am curious, what does it look like when we don't have the election? Is it just a sham election where all the rules are being bent and there's absolutely no confidence that the votes are being counted, maybe some sort of federal authority comes and intervenes because they've like alleged all this voter fraud or what do we think? I think there have to be elections. I mean, I think there have to be some mock elections, like even, you know, Putin's Russia
Starting point is 00:20:15 has elections. Right. Exactly. I mean, I do think, you know, when Starlink has full control of how we count our votes and centralizes that, how do we think it's all going to come down? I think there's just going to be ballot stuffing, but via data. That's my opinion. Yeah, there's too much momentum for people to still think elections are needed.
Starting point is 00:20:42 It can't just be like, all right, we're not doing them anymore. And it was like, yeah, okay. Cause there's still, there's still plenty of like conservatives that like still romanticize the idea of like winning at the ballot box. So I just think that there could mean if you want to stall elections or you want to not have them, you basically have to create some sort of either internal external war, so you spend elections, right?
Starting point is 00:21:03 You suspend elections because of wartime. So, Hey, if we're fighting the enemy from within, or if there's an actual invasion, or if we reclassify, you know, everyone is terrorists. Well, then we're fighting a war on terror and we can't have an election because we're in the middle of a project that is, you know, fundamental to our national security.
Starting point is 00:21:19 So like, you can see how, you know, that is also a path. Yeah. I mean, they've been doing all the stuff they said they were going to do, all the bad stuff. They've been doing it like harder than anybody expected them to do it already in like the first month. And he did say, we're not going to need to have elections or this is going to be the last time we have elections. So I again, just feel like we should start taking them at their word. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:21:47 Yeah. The crisis manufactured either by dismantling the entire infrastructure that makes the country safe and operable, safe and functional, or whether it will be just like a war, whether he's just like, I don't know, like this, this would definitely give me more power. And he just seems to be all about accumulating as much power as possible. Yeah. Not sure on which one it's really tired. You know, he's just tired lately.
Starting point is 00:22:19 Just let Elon do it. You know, he's such a little like, he's, he's so slump shouldered, right? You know, I know that cabinet meeting where he was just on pause and he's just like, he's talking and I'll just look off a thousand yard stair off into the abyss. Cause I'm not in control anymore. But this is the rhythm.
Starting point is 00:22:38 I mean, he gets in these Adderall rhythms where he's like, he'll, he'll go away for a couple of days and then come back fucking just raging. We, we know, we know how these rhythms work. He'd rather be golfing. And he actually, I mean, I always think that's such a lib like, yeah, like, oh, don't talk about the golfing, but the fact that he's been golfing this much is crazy. So much.
Starting point is 00:22:58 They're like, bro, he's, he's breaking records for just even professional golfers golfing. God, remember when him and Biden were like, I bet, I bet I could be you in golf. Uh, his game sucks. Yeah. I get out of the sand. Cool. Cool.
Starting point is 00:23:13 It's a cool, uh, system. I bet my blood pumps at a higher pressure through the, my body than yours. My heart is strong. Let's let's try that. Oh, okay. Yeah. Somehow his like high blood pressure is keeping him alive. It's like just all these like fucked up things are like functioning as equilibrium.
Starting point is 00:23:31 Right. It would kill a normal person. Like Mr. Burns. It's the hate, man. Yeah. All right. Well, we do have an idea now of what things are going to look like going forward from the Democratic Party.
Starting point is 00:23:45 It is unfortunately exactly what we expected. We'll take a quick break. We'll come back and talk about this little retreat that some center Dems went on that I feel like reveals the playbook going forward. We'll be right back. [♪ music playing, sound effects of the show and the sound of a gun shot. Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How goes lower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all-new fictional comedy podcast series.
Starting point is 00:24:18 Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. And Santi was gone. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Hmm, pillow talk. The most unwelcome window into the human psyche.
Starting point is 00:24:38 Follow our out of his element hero as he engages in a series of ill-conceived, investigative hookups. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. And, as I was about to learn, no amount of showering can wash your hands of a bad hookup. Now, take a big whiff, my brah. Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Starting point is 00:25:08 I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Canole. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. Leave the Gun, Take the Canole is based on my co-host Mark's bestselling book of the same title. And on this show, we call upon his years of research
Starting point is 00:25:24 to help unpack the story behind the godfather's birth from start to finish. This is really the first interview I've done in bed. Ha ha ha ha! We sift through innumerable accounts. I see 35 pages in the real world. Many of them conflicting. That's nonsense.
Starting point is 00:25:38 There were 60 pages. And try to get to the truth of what really happened. And they said, we're finished, this is over. The only stuff gonna work, you gotta get rid of those guys, this is just that. And they said, we're finished, this is over. The only thing that's not going to work is to get rid of those guys. This is a disaster. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others. I guess that was a real horse's head.
Starting point is 00:25:59 Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever looked into the night sky and wondered who or what was flying around up there? We've seen planes, helicopters, hot air balloons and birds, but what if there's something else, something much more ominous, that appears under the cover of night? Silent, unseen, watching. They may be right above your car late one night
Starting point is 00:26:33 as you cruise down the road, or look like mysterious lights hovering above your home. Drones, or are they? We used to work drone because it was comfortable to other people. One minute it was there and one minute it wasn't. Oh that is beyond creepy. Do you feel like this drone was targeting you specifically?
Starting point is 00:26:58 Yes, absolutely. Listen to Obscurum, invasion of the the Drones, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When I smoke weed, I get lost in the music. I like to isolate each instrument. The rhythmic bass, the harmonies on the piano, the sticky melody. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Careful, babe. There's someone crossing the street. And we're back.
Starting point is 00:27:48 We're back. And so this third way sounds not at all nefarious group. That's like, guys, we've tried the Republican, we've tried the democratic. What if we tried a third way that was also exactly like those two, but like kind of an average of the two kind of, because they, they seem like they're more moderate than the mainstream democratic party, but miles in terms of like, kind of the makeup of this group, who is powering this group? Where's the, we've talked before about like the pod save guys talking about how
Starting point is 00:28:21 when you're deciding if somebody is a good candidate for office, you go and they were saying this as a critique, but it's just the way, and this is just the way it is. They're saying you just go through their phone and be like, okay, that's a billionaire. Okay, you actually do qualify, you could be a candidate.
Starting point is 00:28:41 What does an organization like this look like? Foundationally in its bones, right? Because this is a group that got together last month in, uh, Loudon County, Loudon County, Virginia to figure out how do we get the democratic party back on track? How do we reclaim the, the attention of the working class and the normal American person? And so this group, the third Way, put this little retreat together with consultants and politicians.
Starting point is 00:29:09 They're bored. I'm just going to say, the chairperson of the Board of Trustees of ThirdWay.org is one Rachel Pritzker. Now, you might be like, wait, I know that last name. Yes, because it's a very dynastic wealthy family hotel, like the Hyatt Hotels. JB Pritzker, who's also the governor of Illinois is her cousin. She is the chairperson. So we have somebody who comes from dynastic wealth as the
Starting point is 00:29:34 chair of this group third way, then you just go through their board of trustees. It's either someone who comes from venture capital, someone who comes from Wall Street, or like an academic who gives it some sort of like intellectual credit or yeah, you know, like just just a little bit of what's the word I'm looking for? What am I with help me Intellectual bona fides bona fides. Yes, exactly where it's like well, we have this sociologist who's also on the board who talks about inequality I mean, obviously we won't do anything about it, but they are on the board of trustees.
Starting point is 00:30:05 Some are. They're sociologists from the Stanford MBA program. Yeah. That's like rich people win, get over it. So they came together and Politico, who's also done a real interesting job of reporting since Trump has gone into office, has sort of, they got a hold of this PDF that has five pages of their takeaways as they got together to do a mind meld and it's so fucking disheartening. But also, before you go into it, because it's really awful.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Let's just look. There's it's really important because the way this piece was reported on and even I misunderstood it when I first read it because it's been making the rounds is that it was like they don't name the third way group like Politico's like centrist Dems group or like leading Dems it's very cagey yeah which makes it sound like a little bit broader like more Democrats are buying into this or that the DNC maybe have something to do with it or that a D triple C you know and the fundraising arm had something to do with it. No, the third way is like notoriously awful. So I just want to name like, it's, it's not, it, it's not necessarily where the rest of the party, although I have massive questions about where they're going to go,
Starting point is 00:31:16 but they should definitely not listen to yes, the following recommendations. Right. I think what it is more than anything shows that there is the fight for the Democratic Party is well and truly on. And right now the centrists are making their case. They're trying to round the resources to be like, it has to be this version of the Democratic Party. It can't be this fucking a fringe shit like that AOC is talking about or stuff where they're talking about like taxing the wealthy. I'm sorry. I'm Rachel Pritzker. Like I can't have a bite taken out of my fortune because of this kind of shit.
Starting point is 00:31:50 No, but let's make it sound like something good. So, again, this was the third way is come back retreat. And there's four sections takeaways on why Democrats have a cultural disconnect with the working class. Takeaways on why Democrats are not trusted by the working class on the economy, then takeaways on how Democrats can reconnect culturally with the working class and takeaways on how Democrats can rebuild economic trust with working class voters. Is this like they all were given a mirror and just had to hold it up to their own goddamn
Starting point is 00:32:22 faces and we're like, we are the reason that the Democratic Party is not connected to the working class. It's like, do you guys remember the scene in, I'm a big fried green tomatoes fan, but like, so like get to know your body. Like Kathy Bates like has a mirror and she looks at her vagina. And it's like, this is like,
Starting point is 00:32:39 they need to just look at their faces. Like, look at your bank account, look at your face, look at your car, look at, you know, like, who you hang out with. Who is the poorest person you know personally that you have in your phone book that you interact with as a person? Yes, exactly. And not a service provider? Right, right. It's just as a question. I think that should be the first question around how many billionaires you know your phone has.
Starting point is 00:33:01 I caught up and berated the direct TV guy the other day. Does that count? Yeah, I saved his number. I feel like we're really connected. I didn't even have an aide do it. I just had some steam to blow off. So, I'll read through these and we can stop at whichever one you'd like to because they're all equally infuriating. But first takeaways on why Democrats have a cultural disconnect with the working class.
Starting point is 00:33:22 One, overemphasis on identity politics. Two, the faculty lounge problem, which is, again, they're saying, quote, Democrats are often viewed as judgmental, out of touch and dismissive of those without elite education or progressive views. I like how they go, or progressive views, which is very telling, or us, where we don't like that we feel like we're-
Starting point is 00:33:41 They don't like that we look down on people who aren't college educated, and also they think we're too woke. Uh, don't ignore it. Just to ignore that last part. Keep going. It's it's woke. It's woke my virus. Number three, failure to prioritize economic concerns.
Starting point is 00:33:55 That's true. True. True. Dang. True. Whoa. They go. Is this going to go in an interesting direction?
Starting point is 00:34:00 Well, the sub header is, uh, while voters struggle with jobs, wages and inflation, Democrats are seen as more focused on cultural and social issues than on economic progress and opportunity. They don't like racism. That's why. Well, they're also they're not connected in any way. They're not all woven together in this much larger thing called the American culture. Anyway, then weak messaging and communication. True. Fear of dissent within the party. This is where the wheels completely blow off.
Starting point is 00:34:28 Now, Democrats are perceived as intolerant of internal debate. We're questioning progressive orthodoxy results in backlash rather than open discussion. Candidates and operatives need to feel more comfortable just saying no to activist groups and unpalatable far left ideas. This is again, where you're seeing how the fight's playing out. There's like, I mean, this is like, it's like every heading is like, okay. And then their description is like, absolutely not. Yeah, right. Right, right, right.
Starting point is 00:35:01 Exactly. So where does Gaza fit into the fear of dissent within the party, right? I mean, like, they're, this is amazing, right? Because this is the whole thing is like, we feel like we're being policed and we feel like we have to get in line. Now, granted, we haven't gotten in line and we have not listened to our base and we've ignored the mass movements, whether it's around BLM or around Gaza. We completely ignored them when we punch left and we treat them like shit. But they make us feel bad and we still ignore them. It's just like, what are you talking about?
Starting point is 00:35:36 Kabbalah Harris had energy coming into the election and then promptly steered in the direct direction they're suggesting the party go and lost all the momentum. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Attachment to unpopular institutions. Very weird. The ones that are now being obliterated by Elon. So Republican light. Got it. Got it. Got it. Right. Allowing the far left to define the party. Activist groups and progressive staffers push unpopular cultural positions, making it seem like Democrats are more extreme than they actually are. What the fuck are you talking about? Operatives and campaigns must remember that activist groups exist to promote
Starting point is 00:36:13 their single issue and raise money around it, not to make Democrats electable. Reactionary rather than proactive, over reliance on buzzwords and political correctness. Yikes. And 10, lack a positive national identity message. Okay. Democrats focused too much on America's flaws, racism, sexism, inequality,
Starting point is 00:36:32 without acknowledging the country's progress and potential, making them seem pessimistic and unpatriotic. This is just so very much- Just got their ass kicked in an election where the opposing side did nothing but talk about how America was a complete shithole. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, it's very hard. But that's patriotic, Jack. Right, right, right. It is wild where, again, this next part takeaways on why Democrats are not trusted by the working
Starting point is 00:36:57 class and the economy. This one is wild. It could all be summed up in one sentence, which is, we cape for capitalism and the status quo and nothing else. That's the problem every time. So the first one, vilification of wealth. Democrats are seen as hostile to success, indifferent to people's desire to attain wealth while reflexively attacking wealthy business leaders instead of promoting economic mobility and aspiration. Disconnected messaging.
Starting point is 00:37:23 Everything is just so Democrats focus on broad economic indicators instead of acknowledging real struggles like high prices and stagnant wages making voters feel dismissed and unheard. Yet you can this is the problem. You'll point you'll gesture to the problems, but you'll never fucking wrestle with the issues. That's the fuck. That's the thing. This is just wild. Like for all, these are complete nincompoops, number one. But number one and number two of why Democrats are not trusted by the working class
Starting point is 00:37:50 are completely antithetical to one another. We have disconnected messaging. We don't actually make it clear that we understand and listen to voters' economic concerns when grocery prices are exorbitantly high, they can't afford childcare, on and on and on. But people are being too mean to corporations and we can't vilify the wealthy.
Starting point is 00:38:09 This is the problem. This is, but this is actually why Joe Biden failed in a lot of ways beyond the butcher Biden, you know, last 15, you know, year of his presidency was really about like, okay, we're going to sort of nibble around the edges, pass some reforms, go after, you know, monopolies, but we're not going to do it hard enough or swift enough to actually make real gains that impact people's lives. And we're going but we're going to still piss off the 1%.
Starting point is 00:38:34 And we're never going to gain popular support for these programs. And for these things like stopping the price gouging or making sure that, you know, you know, Apple and Google and, and Amazon or you know, have to break up or sell off certain companies or we're, you know, we're suing them all that we're not going to make these very valiant policies that we are enacting actually popular because we're not going to specifically vilify the 1% like, like, in order to connect to people economically, you have to vilify the wealth. You have to vilify the 1%. It gives people something to latch onto.
Starting point is 00:39:09 And that's, you know, that's why Trump is so successful is because he's demonizing immigrants, trans people, women. Like we understand that. So give them the opposite, say the 99% versus the 1%. It's what catapulted the Occupy movement into Bernie Sanders two time near electoral win. So it's just like, yeah, but the 1% is the 1% is running everything. So how can we expect them to even have this like this one part to failure to address economic anxiety is another one where it's like, yeah, no shit.
Starting point is 00:39:43 But again, they just go on to just like talk around the issue. Another one is not in the break room versus the boardroom. Democratic economic messages often come from elites, celebrities and politicians rather than working class voices that voters can relate to. What you're saying is, yes, the party has been captured by the hyper wealthy. So you're inherently going to have a communication issue. Our wording is not going to have a communication issue. Exactly. So we just need to change our wording so that that's less clear. It's not going to happen with Rachel Pritzker or people of that ilk at the helm of a political
Starting point is 00:40:12 party. This is so far out of their depth. Look at your vagina in a mirror. That's what I'm trying to say. I'm just trying to say that. Just look at it for a second. Look at it. For a second and it'll make sense.
Starting point is 00:40:24 It's not nearly as nice as doing that. But like, yeah, it's, this is, no one should take anything these people say seriously. And it's really annoying that the way that the political article was spun was made it seem like this wasn't the third way organization. Everyone who knows a third way organization has been like tone deaf. Now the problem is, is that people, you know, like James Carville, will parrot a lot of these points. And many people parrot these points, which is basically like, we need to get rid of the racial justice component, which is not really even a component. It's
Starting point is 00:40:55 just sort of a lip service that we pay to real equity in this country. Get rid of all that language because we weren't actually doing anything to implement it. Also, hop on board with DEI programs, DIA programs, which are, again, stopgap measures that mostly make ourselves look better and so we don't have to address structural issues, economic issues broadly. And then the last thing, don't make me look at 2025 and miss Obama. Don't make me miss the way the one
Starting point is 00:41:26 thing that Obama was actually able to do well, which was, I think, give some sort of narrative structure to this democracy that we live in, and specifically when it comes to like, multiracial democracy, a country that is still in formation in the making, that is a sum of its parts, you know, that its best days are ahead, not behind, but truly with, again, this like, call it, it's not post-racial, but of course, in the minds of a lot of white people, this like post-racial, everyone's moving forward, you know, we can do it together.
Starting point is 00:41:57 Like, like it's just so wild that we live in a time where like 2009 seemed really hopeful, you know? and, and, and I say that as someone who in 2009 was actually not that hopeful, and of course was like everyone else, many progressives very disappointed, but like, it's not that hard to have a narrative of multiracial democracy that is inclusive, where there's an economy that works for all people, it's fucking really simple to articulate that. And many politicians do. Yeah, I think it's like just something about this, especially in third way and knowing how wealthy the people are behind it too, where like they can, they're reading the room
Starting point is 00:42:35 that the clock is ticking for people like, for just ignoring the wealth hoarding that's happening from the like the very wealthy. And I think they're trying to like dance around it in this way, where they're like, it's a problem. But I certainly don't know how to contend with it. That ends up with me having less than I already do. And that's that's totally off the top. That's the unspoken thing in all of this. That's because all this stuff just reads to me is it's pro-inequality propaganda.
Starting point is 00:43:02 Like all of these talking points. And if that's your worldview, if you're pro inequality or just indifferent to inequality, all of these talking points are very easy for you to parrot and act like you're analyzing and observing a problem and that maybe there's something to be done about it, but you are falling short of the actual work of saying we actually have to begin to dismantle these structures if we want a tangible effect. If we want voters to actually have some kind of tangible outcome that they can then connect to this party and say, yeah, you know what?
Starting point is 00:43:31 I trust them. I'll vote for them because I can see they understand what's at stake and they're contending with it rather than trying to be like the problem is. And this they say this in their document, small dollar donors. That's a thing. That's a thing. That's a remedy they're putting in here. Revise democratic fundraising parties, move away from the dominance of small dollar donors whose preferences may not align with the broader electorate,
Starting point is 00:43:56 AKA stop listening to the people who were trying, whose trust we're trying to regain and just get all the money from our wealthy friends. It is a complete nonsensical document because it's just full of these hypocrisies. The small dollar donors, i.e. many, many people don't represent many, many people. Right. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:44:20 Like, no, nobody knows what you're saying. It doesn't make any sense. Um, and, and again, this is what's gonna look guys, this is what gets us fascism. This kind of thinking. Lines in the sand have been drawn y'all. There's a class war. Which side are you on? Okay. Stop fucking caping like you care when you want to maintain, you know, the tax structure the way it is when you're not actually really going to address wealth inequality. Shut up. Just go over to the side of the room of the gymnasium with all the billionaires, because we don't need you anymore.
Starting point is 00:44:48 We understand. Truly though, I'm just so sick of these people helping the Democratic Party and its tailspin and their fucking nose dives. Because this is what the Kamala Harris campaign did. All of these things. Yes. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:05 I mean, so the playbook, I feel like, for the Democratic Party, both successfully and unsuccessfully, has been promise progressive change, like big radical change, and then govern as a right-leaning corporatocracy. And like that playbook is now- And not even really do the former, like not even really promise.
Starting point is 00:45:26 Right. Yeah. Yeah. Just like gesture, aesthetically, Obama felt like he was offering revolutionary change, hope and change, you know, but then like not really in, in any sort of real way did. Well, it was a low bar because- But the ACA was, I mean, like, you know, the ACA was a good, like, I'm even, again, I put Obama in a separate category at this point. Like Kamala Harris did not run an Obama campaign at all. There was no big idea. And again, there was so much working against her and on and on and on. But like, this is useless. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:00 Yeah. No, it's truly. Yeah. I feel like the two are, because people have been fooled by this so long. And like, yes, the Obama like ACA was something that was also written by the insurance industry. And like, I think the big original sin that people can't get past is the bailing out of Wall Street. And yeah, like, but so the two options seem to be like, promise progressive and then govern progressive. If you're not going to do the promise progressive and then govern as a corporatocracy, it's promise progressive and then govern progressive or promise
Starting point is 00:46:30 corporatocracy and govern the way you've always been governing. And. Which why would, if you're a corporation now, why the, like, why would you ever throw down with Democrats again? The, the Republicans are promising you the moon and the stars. I mean, they are truly doing you a massive service. I mean, unless you rely on things like snap benefits to underpay your workers
Starting point is 00:46:57 so they don't come at you with a knife and shit, then that would suck for you, Walmart and others. But again, the line of the sand has been drawn and the corporations, you got Ruben Gallego going and like trying to, you know, fundraise with Mark Andreessen and other crypto, crypto bros and be like, we're good too. Like, you can't offer them what they want. No. And also like open up your let's let's see the donations you've gotten from that sector because we all know what time it is. They just bought you as a voice to normalize crypto for their own aim.
Starting point is 00:47:28 And like we've talked about before, they were the biggest industry that was spending this last election cycle to get pro crypto talking points out to Democrats and Republicans. The one thing though too, which goes along with all this, one of their takeaways for how they can rebuild economic trust is to quote number five, be pro aspiration and pro capitalism in a smart way. Recognize that working class voters value upward mobility and economic success, have a prosperity gospel aimed at
Starting point is 00:47:58 the working class, call out corporate abuses individually instead of attacking quote corporations as a whole. Now, pro aspiration is such a fucking violent fucked up term in this context where it's like, not that you're saying provide people with this tangible path, it's like they like upward mobility. But that's why we use the word aspirational because that doesn't mean you're delivering that means you have the hope that it will happen. That doesn't mean you have delivering. That means you have the hope that it will happen. That doesn't mean you have to deliver.
Starting point is 00:48:25 Use words like grindset mindset more, and life hack. Hustler of the month is gonna get a Lambo brought to you by the DNC. I mean, truly, truly, it's like, okay, so instead of free college tuition, you wanna lie to people exactly the way the Republicans lie to them.
Starting point is 00:48:46 No one's saying that the allure of a get out of capitalism free card or being able to get a bunch of money through crypto doesn't exist precisely because of the moment that we're in and honestly precisely because the Democratic Party has lost their way since FDR and since its embrace of neoliberalism. But I'm very excited in 2028 for the fuck in for Gavin Newsom to trot out Bill fucking Clinton again and again and again. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:49:18 One of the things is like hanging out with like meeting them where they are at tailgates and gun shows, which is just, and, and I think small town diners, which first of all, like tailgates, gun shows, local restaurants, local rest. This is written by the most billionaire motherfucker, like, you know, tailgates and gun shows, local restaurants and white coated, right? Isn't that just white coated? Oh yeah. Yeah. This is all going for like conservative middle America 100% Yeah, by the way unsuccessful Democratic candidates have been trying to lean into gun culture and failing since Dukakis in 88
Starting point is 00:49:56 When he like drove that fucking tank like yeah, Carrie had an infamous gun photo op Kamala kept ragging about how she had a Glock like Like it just, it feels like they've taken like the 2024 election is just like, let's double down on listening to the exact wrong people who told us all the things that made us lose. Yeah. Well, then you also have like senators like Chris Murphy, who are like kind of, kind of like having an internal debate with themselves about seeing the light where they're like, I think it's like, we gotta listen to like these poor people, man. And like, we're just not doing a good job, but also shit. I am like, so hard to determine.
Starting point is 00:50:41 I don't even care. I was like, uh-huh. Yeah, I know. Which is like, it's all feels performative because at the end of the day, like these people, their entire existence is rooted in the fact that this system stays the same. So I can't really, it's hard for me to believe that they now have this steel to go after, to start to even begin to reckon with all of these structures that exacerbate the very income or the inequality that they're saying is causing a disconnect. It's like, well, we're not going to contend with the issue, but we need to figure out how to tell them that the sky is blue when this shit is black.
Starting point is 00:51:16 Back in 2020, I did a Newsbroke episode that was basically like how to beat Trump and one of the bullet points, which is one that we just, you could just erase this entire thing and just have one bullet point, which is be authentic. And I would revise that and just say, believe in something. Literal believe in something. Pick a thing to actually believe in. Messages. We believe in messages. Santa, Santa for me.
Starting point is 00:51:44 That's exactly like, I don't even give a shit if it's Santa. If it's Santa, sell me on Santa. Okay. But I need you to actually believe it. I think the thing about Santa, he's given too many handouts to people that don't deserve it. You know, wait, what? He just boomerang that whole argument. Santa's a nice idea. It's a good concept, but really they should be earned stocking stuffers. And if you don't pay into the stocking system, it should be sort of based on your own income and how many toys.
Starting point is 00:52:17 I just hate that they basically are taking, treat human beings with dignity and respect and saying that this is radical far left thinking. Like, cause if you just tell someone, you don't have to evoke any kind of political theory here. Just be like, here's your platform. We believe that you have the right to healthcare without going bankrupt because your body gets fucked up from maybe the myriad of threat vectors
Starting point is 00:52:39 we put in the environment to, you know, corporate activity, whatever, healthcare, okay? You should be able to have a roof over your head. If you know, corporate activity, whatever, healthcare, okay? You should be able to have a roof over your head. If you would like an education, that should be attainable for you at any time. You wanna learn a trade, you wanna go to university, okay, we got that covered. Food, what else?
Starting point is 00:52:56 Healthcare, childcare, that your children will be safe. That's really, those are so broad that it would be hard. Like, you're not, I mean, some conservatives will be like, we're trying to give a handout, but other people, they are clamoring for things to be more affordable or their lives to be less shitty. Just articulate that in a way that is just talking about. It's just like the basics. It's really just the basics.
Starting point is 00:53:18 But it's much easier for it to get sort of muddled in this kind of like think tank talk and then have places like Politico be like, all right, this is what might be the new normal way for the Democratic Party or at least we'll give this the most attention so no version that seems too fucking quote radical takes hold and people start looking the other way. It's also, if you really want to learn from the Republicans, because all this is, is looking at the other side and going like, hey, they're good and it's good. And like, you know, I do understand this idea of like speaking to people wanting to get
Starting point is 00:53:52 ahead and our intense individualism and all this, and people liking money and people not wanting the collective. And that's going to take a long many years to rebuild that sense of collectivity of a real like, yes, an American identity that is about equal protection under the law, that is about everyone getting an opportunity. There's been so much hollowing out of the government. Many people believe obviously all this shit is dead if it ever were alive. But I'm thinking about it and I'm like, okay, universal education, free tuition, right?
Starting point is 00:54:21 Let's say community colleges, state schools to begin with. And if you don't want to take advantage of free university tuition, you can get money instead. It's like, so you get it's like putting money in, in people's pockets. People love money. And so it's like, you know what I'm saying? It's like something like that where it's like, it feels like socialism. Exactly. It also feels like you could, if you don't want that, you get the other thing. Exactly, you could get money to go to a trade school or like start your own business right out of college
Starting point is 00:54:50 or high school, whatever you want. But we wanna promote you going to school freely and fair, you know, all that. We think everyone should have an economic opportunity, I mean, an educational opportunity like that. But also here's money. Like if instead you don't, like things like that, that would be an interesting creative way
Starting point is 00:55:08 to address this moment that we're in, but also talk about what can actually solve, you know, you know, the moment that we're in. Or they talk about, oh, people love aspirational stuff and like they're driven or whatever. That's because there's no fucking middle class. If there was a middle class, People wouldn't be aspiring to be Lambo driving like jet hopping fuck sex traffickers because they look at that as
Starting point is 00:55:31 being like, well, those are the only option. Yeah. Like if I want to go on a trip, like have like a nice dinner, just look like I have to be hyper wealthy because my job that used to be able to afford someone a very normal, enjoyable life, that fucking vision is gone. So that's what they're aspiring to. It's not that they want, not necessarily, but the example that we have in society is
Starting point is 00:55:53 that you must have X amount of dollars for this experience to be enjoyable. Yeah. Just those people. In terms of like a mainstream version. Those people putting me in pain. And those are your two options. Be the one who's getting fucked over and scammed or be the scammer or the person who's making all the money.
Starting point is 00:56:12 And if you believe anything else, you're stupid. Yeah, right. Is also part of it. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll say a quick goodbye to Skype. We'll be right back. Goodbye, Skype. ["Skype News Theme"]
Starting point is 00:56:28 Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How goes lower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. And Santi was gone.
Starting point is 00:56:45 I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Mm, pillow talk. The most unwelcome window into the human psyche. Follow our out of his element hero as he engages in a series of ill-conceived,
Starting point is 00:57:02 investigative hookups. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. And as I was about to learn, no amount of showering can wash your hands of a bad hookup. Now, take a big whiff, my brah. Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King.
Starting point is 00:57:30 This is Leave the Gun, Take the Canole. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. Leave the Gun, Take the Canole is based on my co-host Mark's bestselling book of the same title. And on this show, we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the godfather's birth from start to finish.
Starting point is 00:57:48 This is really the first interview I've done in bed. Ha ha ha ha! We sift through innumerable accounts. I see 35 pages, very much. Many of them conflicting. That's nonsense. There was 60 pages. And try to get to the truth of what really happened.
Starting point is 00:58:02 And they said, we're finished, this is over. The movie's not gonna work. You gotta get rid of those finished, this is over. The gun is not going to work. You gotta get rid of those guys. This is a disaster. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Kobla, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others. I guess that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
Starting point is 00:58:24 podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever looked into the night sky and wondered who or what was flying around up there? We've seen planes, helicopters, hot air balloons and birds. But what if there's something else, something much more ominous that appears What if there's something else, something much more ominous, that appears under the cover of night, silent, unseen, watching? They may be right above your car late one night
Starting point is 00:58:53 as you cruise down the road, or look like mysterious lights hovering above your home. Drones, or are they? We used the word drone because it was comfortable to other people One minute was there and one minute it wasn't Oh that is beyond creepy Do you feel like this drone was targeting you specifically?
Starting point is 00:59:18 Yes, absolutely. Listen to Obscurum Invasion of the Drones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Some people won't give you the real talk on drugs, but it's time we know the facts. Fentanyl is often laced into illicit drugs and used to make fake versions of prescription pills. You can't see it, taste it, or smell it. Suppliers mix fentanyl into their products because it's potent and cheap.
Starting point is 00:59:49 And the dealer might not even know. Keep yourself and others safe by knowing the real deal on fentanyl. Get the facts. Go to realdealonfentanyl.com. This message is brought to you by the ad council. And we're back back and goodbye Skype. All right.
Starting point is 01:00:09 That is our episode. Oh, you didn't hear? It's gone. So Skype is about to die. It will ring for the last time on May 5th. Cinco de Mayo? Cinco de Mayo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They, gong, gong. Cinco de Mayo? Cinco de Mayo, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're going out.
Starting point is 01:00:26 Big party. Cinco de Mayo. And it's just, it's kind of worth taking a step back and asking, has any tech company fumbled its place quite like Skype? Like we used the word Skype as a verb to describe what Zoom now does. And when the pandemic hit, everyone just was like, no fuck Skype, we're going to
Starting point is 01:00:52 Zoom because Microsoft had acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011. It's not like they had just like gotten an infusion. They had it for eight solid years, nine solid years. Well, they did launch Microsoft Spaces. Was it Spaces? Spaces, well now, so basically they're just shifting this over to Teams. Or Teams, I forgot, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:16 Sorry, sorry, sorry. Google Spaces maybe? Delete that. Google Spaces, Microsoft Teams. It's easy to tell apart and it's why. Microsoft Teams. Have you ever tried to join a Teams meeting? It's why we use them all so much.
Starting point is 01:01:25 Yes. Every week. We use it quite a bit at our company. I've created five accounts. What's going on? They basically tried, so once they got that big investment acquisition by Microsoft, they just started trying to be everything X the everything app. They started trying to be like, they created their own like emoji system called
Starting point is 01:01:51 mojis. They're called mojis. It's called mojis. They're like, they're kind of. What are they? Emojis. No, they're mojis. And actually you get, you get fined if you say emo, if you put the E in there.
Starting point is 01:02:04 Can you imagine in that pitch meeting, they're like, and we have emojis and they're like, is that just emojis? No, no, no man. Five minutes. Yeah. Something about seven minute ads. Yeah. They also tried to like be Snapchat.
Starting point is 01:02:20 They put, put a bunch of features together from Snapchat. The developers just did not focus on the core functionality of making sure the video call quality remained. And so I think the thing was just like, when you, when the pandemic hit, you could just have like a zoom link and like, you could just use it like for free. Basically, like you didn't have to like set up a thing and like connect it to your phone number, like have a separate, you know, it was just easy to use. And they were just like, not there yet.
Starting point is 01:02:49 It was browser-based, right? I mean, that's, isn't that the whole thing? Yeah. Skype had an app though. They have an app. It's just like, it wasn't as easy to use. It wasn't. No, but no one would send you a Skype link and be like, join my
Starting point is 01:03:02 meeting or join my call. Right. That's just like, you had to, it was, it felt more like they were still in the world of phones. Yeah. Like you had to like Skype me, here's my username, you know? Well, this is upsetting to me because I use Skype, well, for a very long distance relationship for a long time.
Starting point is 01:03:20 So that was like pivotal. Like all my Skype is like, you know, falling in love with my ex, you know, and through Skype, Skype, Skypey ad, you know, as we used to say. And, and then also, I use Skype to call people when I want to hide my phone number. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like all the people I stalk, mostly elected representatives. And so I don't know, I guess I could do that with a Google voice number, but I'm trying to figure out how to do that because I don't want people tracking me back to my phone. Sure.
Starting point is 01:03:52 Yeah, yeah. Google voice, Google voice helps. Google voice is the move. Buy a burner phone. Shout out to Skype. We hardly knew ye. A mere 20 years in existence. This is just like, it's like, you know, the comedian, IE me who didn't, you know, start
Starting point is 01:04:06 learning TikTok during the pandemic really screwed up. Yeah. Like Skype, what are you doing? Yep. Yeah. Oh, God. But also just such a waste because they didn't need the money. I mean, that's what a monopoly does where you're like, in other hands, I'm I like to
Starting point is 01:04:22 think and I don't know anything about running a business, but Skype would have been it. They would have maintained it. But it's like, if you don't really need, I don't know. I'm just like, it's one of the things you've acquired. If you just get captured by a bigger company, then you're like, yeah, whatever, full, I got my payday. Right, exactly.
Starting point is 01:04:36 Zoom isn't Microsoft. You're like a satellite branch in some part of Microsoft that's just, yeah, being ignored and mismanaged quietly behind closed doors. So now it is truly just Zoom and like Google meets. Zoom and Teams. And Teams, of course. And Zoom hasn't been acquired or Zoom is just like the Zoom empire now?
Starting point is 01:04:58 I think Zoom's its own thing now. Yeah, we're in the Zoom age. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Until Elon buys it for however much. Francesca, it's been a pleasure as always having you on the Daily Zeitgeist.
Starting point is 01:05:14 Where can people find you, follow you, hear you? This is like every time we have like multiple stories and then I just talk so much that we don't get to them. That is every episode of the show. That's every episode, no matter the guest. Dude, you can, I feel that. I mean, I feel, I never feel rushed. So thank you.
Starting point is 01:05:32 And thanks for listening. You can find me at Franny Fio on all the socials and listen to the Bituation Room where you get your podcasts or watch it live on YouTube at Franny Fio. But also if you really want to come see me, I'll be doing standup with my husband, Matt Lieb, on Sunday, March 16th in Sacramento,
Starting point is 01:05:50 and then May 7th, which is a Wednesday, in Cobbs Comedy in San Francisco, and it's gonna be so, so fun. Two days after the Skype funeral. Oh shoot, that's right. We're gonna, yeah, we're gonna honor. Pour one out for Skype. An Irish wake for Skype.
Starting point is 01:06:04 Yeah, and if you are in Pasadena, if you're in Los Angeles, I'll be March 26th at the Ice House. about that. Pour one out for sky. Irish wake for Skype. Yeah. And if you are in Pasadena, if you're in Los Angeles, I'll be March 26th at the ice house. I have my show new world disorder, a monthly standup show there. I'll be good. Nice. Is there a work of media that you've been enjoying? Okay. There is a skeet.
Starting point is 01:06:19 Yeah. We call it made. I just in this household, their skeets. Yeah, there're skeets. Yeah. They're skeets. There's a skeet. Amy Brown.
Starting point is 01:06:29 And I hadn't seen this joke before. So I'm attributing it to Amy Brown who said, I'm not the first to say it, but I do sort of see where JD Vance's mom was coming from when she traded him for drugs. Miles, where can people find you? Is there a work of media you've been enjoying? Yeah, find me everywhere they have at symbols at miles of gray. Um, and also find Jack and I on the basketball podcast miles and Jack. I'm at Boosies.
Starting point is 01:06:55 You can also find me with Sophia Alexander talking 90 day on for 20 day fiance. Uh, a couple streets. I like, um, first one is John Boyes. John said, next door started sending me daily email digest. I never asked for it, but I'm really glad they did. Someone just posted a photo of a parked car with the door open like, hey, heads up in case this is your car. Someone asked if they closed it. They said, no, because what if I close it and the car explodes?
Starting point is 01:07:23 Sounds like some next door ass logic. And then Emma Burquist at EmmaBurquist.VSCATASocial. But God, it must be so easy to be a Dem consultant just sitting around making 250k a year to say things like, actually, voters don't want health care. They want you to go to gun shows and start using the word orientals again. That's what their shit feels like. to go to gun shows and start using the word orientals again. All right. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien on blue sky, Jack OB the number one. I like to tweet from lesbian moth man at very small river tweeted
Starting point is 01:07:58 shortening cilantro to slanch. I like it. That's great. Good unnecessary brief. Slanch. Yeah. You can find us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist and on Blue Sky at Daily Zeitgeist. We're at the Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page and a website, DailyZeitgeist.com, where we post our episodes
Starting point is 01:08:19 and our footnotes. Where we link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode, as well as a song that we think you might enjoy. Miles. Is there a song you think people might enjoy? Yeah, there is a track called I remember it's like two eyes and that remember Maribu state m a r i b o u they are a duo from the uk I've heard like some i've heard heard electronic tracks they've done. This feels more like a live band vibe with some really good, it's like kind of feels like a track Jungle kind of what it makes. So if you like that kind of like funky, it's got just, just solid, solid track with
Starting point is 01:08:55 a little bit of bounce to it. So keep your daylight and bouncy. But this one called I remember, I, I remember. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That is gonna do it for us this morning. We're back this afternoon to tell you what is trending and we'll talk to y'all then. Bye! Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How goes lower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi.
Starting point is 01:09:58 And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Listen to The Hookup on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What would you do if mysterious drones appeared over your hometown? I started asking questions. What do you remember happening on that night of December 16th? It actually rotated around our house, looking as if it was peering in each window of our home.
Starting point is 01:10:26 I'm Gabe Linners from Imagine, iHeart Podcasts and Linners Entertainment. Listen to Obscura, Invasion of the Drones, wherever you get your favorite podcasts. I'm Marc Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. This podcast is based on my co-host Mark Seale's bestselling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Kobla, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others.
Starting point is 01:11:00 Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Canole on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Why would you do that to me? Los Angeles, 2021. A friendly neighbor appears out of nowhere and promises to make all my dreams come true.
Starting point is 01:11:22 Let's not forget that David Blum was a professional con artist, so you didn't stand a chance. But my dreams soon turned into a nightmare. I'm Caroline D'amore. Listen as I take down my scammer on Once Upon a Con on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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