The Daily Zeitgeist - Epstein’s WINGMAN Still Out Here? CNN By MBS! 11.20.25

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

In episode 1967, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian, Zahra Noorbakhsh, to discuss… Insurance Lawyer Lady F**ked Up Big Time? Being Epstein’s “Wingman” Isn’t Helping Larry Summers’ Career, Billionaire Out Here Telling Us How To Make Life Better, This Warner Bros. Discovery Sale Is A Disaster In The Making and more! Disability rights activist and author Alice Wong dies at 51 Judge says possible errors by Lindsey Halligan could imperil Comey case Lindsey Halligan says full grand jury never saw final indictment it handed up against Comey Harvard professor cozied up to his 'wingman' Epstein to get sex tips, emails reveal Larry Summers resigns from OpenAI board as scrutiny over Jeffrey Epstein emails intensifies New York Times cuts ties with Larry Summers over Epstein emails How Could Larry Summers Be So Stupid? Larry Summers began his class yesterday by expressing the shame he feels over his past involvement with Jeffery Epstein VIDEO: Harvard Student Records Larry Summers Addressing Epstein Link Before Class Harvard to investigate Larry Summers’s Epstein ties as he exits OpenAI board Billionaire Out Here Telling Us How To Make Life Better Warner Bros. Discovery Bids Are Due This Week. How Do Paramount, Netflix, Comcast Stack Up? As Warner Bros Goes Up for Sale, Where Would Hollywood Be Without the Iconic Studio? Warner Bros. Discovery officially hangs a ‘for sale’ sign around company Who Will Win Hollywood’s Big Prize? Netflix stock falls amid scrutiny of potential Warner Bros. Discovery bid Paramount Skydance prepares $71bn bid for Warner Bros Discovery: Report Senators Ask DOJ for “Non-Biased” Review of Any Deal for Warner Bros. Discovery Amid “Cloud of Political Favoritism and Corruption” (Exclusive) Trump Throws Support Behind Paramount’s Warner Bros. Discovery Bid | Report Bari Weiss named editor-in-chief of CBS News under Free Press-Paramount deal Warner Bros.’ Sale Is a ‘Red Alert’ Moment for Theaters LISTEN: Earthshaker by PhantogramSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you know the Farsi rapper Black Cecee? It sounds really familiar. Bro, her fucking, I don't speak Farsi, but the flow is wild to me. Oh, you always have the best music recs. I get all so much Farsi content that I send to Anna. I'm like, what's this dude saying? What they're laughing about here? So much of my algorithm is fucking.

Farsi creators. It's so weird. I don't know how. Wait, you're not Iranian? No, bro. I grew up. Maybe geographically, they're like, this dude definitely grew up around Persians. And also probably because... Also, you have

like a better accent than like most first generation Iranian kids. It's funny because like Farsi has that like stank to it that it kind of like, this is swaggy. Okay. I was just going to say

That is the hypothyroid, like, pacing that we are famous for throughout the Middle East. With thyroidism is just the same as drinking syrup. Right. It's like a combination of, like, hypo, the relaxed, right? Which one? But also, like, a little, yeah. Oh, it means to listen up. Like, I'm like, I'm like, this sounds like she's right.

I don't know. I'm like, this is a rapper. I don't know what she's saying. I don't know if it's worth the fuck, but I'm like, what's not in Jack mean. That's what the thing was called, N-A-R-E. Yeah, that's the name of the time. Said Narin-Jex, three-stile. My head farcee sucks a little bit.

Not-A-N-J is orange. Oh, well, she isn't, okay. I mean, she isn't an orange-Lambo, so. She's like little orange-Jat. Damn, that's like, Spanish, like, not on her? Yeah. Not-on-J-E- Yeah. What the fuck?

Well, because Spain, you know, occupied Morocco. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? and then the conquistadors and the, you know, it's... Right, right, right. Colonialism in the end. Funny thing, language, isn't it? Right.

Funny thing. Yeah, it's like, hypothyroidism meets hypermobility. It's like Iranian chill. All her videos are just heard in Dubai with, like, Lambos. I'm like, I'm so curious what the backstory is. Like, I don't know. I don't think she's earning money like this for a month. rap but I love I love the visuals you're definitely bossing up where is the

lamo from doesn't matter you know could be a rental is fast in the Furious movies that they shot over there just left all the cars I'm gonna say we don't want it now yeah yeah yeah I'll pair on the side of maybe we don't want to go down there and just let's enjoy the orange lambo yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna yeah orange Lambo forever yeah there you go I don't want to wind up in someone's files. No. Okay, I said it. All right.

And that was my first thought when I saw the Epstein files. I was like, oh, man, could you imagine how hard it would be to be in those files right now? Wow. This is an I-Heart podcast. A decade ago, I was on the trail of one of the country's most elusive serial killers. but it wasn't until 23 when he was finally caught. The answers were there, hidden in plain sight.

So why did it take so long to catch him? I'm Josh Zeman, and this is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer, the investigation into the most notorious killer in New York since the son of Sam, available now. Listen for free on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. On the podcast Health Stuff,

we are tackling all the health questions that keep you up at night. I'm Dr. Priyankawali, a double board certified physician. And I'm Hurricane Dibolu, a comedian and someone who once Googled, do I have scurvy at 3 a.m. And on our show, we're talking about health in a different way, like our episode where we look at diabetes. In the United States, I mean, 50% of Americans are pre-diabetic. How preventable is type 2? Extremely.

Listen to health stuff on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Big Take podcast from Bloomberg News keeps you on top of the biggest stories of the day. My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day. Stories that move markets. Chair Powell opened the door to this first interest rate cut. Impact politics, change businesses. This is a really stunning development for the AI world and how you think about your bottom line. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart radio app, Apple.

podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Robert Smith, and this is Jacob Goldstein, and we used to host a show called Planet Money. And now we're back making this new podcast called Business History about the best ideas and people and businesses in history. And some of the worst people, horrible ideas, and destructive companies in the history of business. First episode, how Southwest Airlines use cheap seats and free whiskey to fight its way into the airline is. The most Texas story ever. Listen to Business History on the I Heart. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hello, the internet, and welcome to season 415, episode four of Dirtyley-Ezykeyes. Yeah. This production by Heart Radio is a podcast where you take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness, and it's Thursday, November 20th, 2025. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know what that means? Sure is. It's National Rural Health Day.

God bless them. God bless the rural health care system that is hanged on by a threat. Red. It's hard to say that. National absurdity Day. Oh, it's what the picture is. It's a dog with a wig on. Wait a second. The height of absurdity.

National Peanut Butter Fudge Day and National Childs Day, whatever that means. I can't, I can just imagine the person who created National Absurdity Day and just like the energy vampireism that was happening. like so i think we should create a day for like absurdity you know like i don't know i feel like i'm like nobody gets my sense of humor i'm so crazy let's see who even who create we have no idea huh i have no idea i think i don't want to know is kind of what i'm saying yeah don't worry about it yeah real bummer anyways my name is jack o'brien aka some people call me a pure cowboy some called me a gangster of crimes some people People call me Bubba, but I swear I'm not Bubba from those files.

I was the potus. Trump held my scrotus. We got some photos. Then Putin stole those. That one courtesy of Paul Moran V.O. On the Discord, who said that came to me in a flash. But I'm outside working. My hands are too cold to finish.

God damn. Working hard in the Discord, in the AKA Discord. Thank you for that. Shout out to Bubba, whoever he may be. Whoever you may be, whoever you may be. Thrilled to be joined, as always, by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray. It's Miles Gray, aka 90-day fiancé. Only geniuses watch is this.

I ace the cognitive test. Shout out to First Blood 522 on the Discord. Yes, my theory that only the smart, most intelligent life forms watch 90-day fiancé holds to this day. Don't ask me my methodology. It's purely anecdotal and biased to reinforce the narrative that I need to put out in the world. But thank you, First Blood, for recognizing that. Yeah. I tried to watch it, and it was too confusing to me.

I was too complex. I was like, what the fuck? I can't even wrap my head around this shit, man. Fucking quantum physics. I thought I was watching Quantum Leap. Miles, we're thrilled to be joined in our third seat by a very funny comedian and activist, one of the hosts of the great award-winning podcast, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim. The senior fellow on comedy at the Pop Culture Collaborative,

she's written in the New York Times, wrote and performed a piece on NPR's Fresh Air. It's the hilarious, the talented. Zara Norbaugh! Zara! Hi-bys, high-fives all around. We're doing high-fives. We're doing high-fives. You good, you're good.

I'm bringing you in, dapping you up. Yeah, you good, you good? Daps. Doing a complicated handshake. Patting you real good on your back. We're still handshaking, actually. It's going to be happening. whole episode that's how many steps are in our handshake sorry how are you doing okay uh all right

i knew you were gonna ask this why are you getting a scroll out let's see okay that's a fuck answer okay yeah that's a good answer actually good answer yeah just okay and then kind of how's parenthood i'll bet you give a good answer to that how's parenthood oh boy Mm-hmm, yeah, I heard that I heard that, I heard that, I heard that, I'm alive Mm-hmm, yep, tell you. Oh my God, she's sobbing She's biting her lip really hard

I don't know, stop Oh my God Folks out there, has your daughter Ever had a UTI? Oh boy, under the age of three Oh, God I believe that is, yeah, that's a I don't have daughters, but I hear, I've heard from friends with daughters that that does tend to happen.

As a man with friends with daughters. I am a man whose friends have daughters, okay? I've heard tell of these Ootis before. All right. Fuck your little weeners that can take a bubble bath. Yeah. Sure can. As if I didn't need one more thing.

Wow. From a bath, from the bubble bath? God damn it. Damn, yeah, yep, yep. Not toxic. Damn. Clean ingredients. Come on.

Wow. But she likes to do splits in the tub. Who doesn't? Well, I don't want to stop her. If I could, I would. I'd tell you that damn much. Do you understand that to test for a UTI in a two-year-old girl, they have to put a catheter in?

No. Oh, God. It's either put a catheter in or put a sticky bag on there. right or chase them with a cup yeah yeah and and the other two options pediatrics hasn't found a way for it to not look like assault right right right yeah yeah so I just chased her with a cup there you go there you go

I got pissed on do it can just couldn't knock it out with some cranberry juice huh I mean I'm gonna try that's like the remedy I remember like I need cranberry juice Cranberry, you're just boreding. I couldn't do it. If anyone has advice out there, okay? The doctor was finally like, she probably doesn't have one.

What? Okay. And I just got pissed on. And then we left and we were just like, it didn't work out, man. Thanks for getting to the bottom of it, doctor. She's probably good. You can bring the test back? I don't know.

I'm looking at this. It's fine. I don't know. Wait, don't you need to like run it through something? Nah. Just kind of vibe it out. yeah yeah yeah this looks good yeah no this is good this is actually pretty good actually also I got this is wow this is really good stuff I'm teeing off in about an hour

so if I can get out of here that'd be great miss Reynolds no Norvaj oh fuck all right but if she had a little wiener right she could bubble bath it up yeah right yep yep Like my son loves a bubble bath to the point that I feel like he only wants bubbles to consume him and it is no longer a bath. It's like my child has disappeared into the abyss of fucking bubbles. And he knows there's an adult one that froths up better and there's a kid one that doesn't sting his eyes. And when he sees me reach for the like the kid when he's like, bro, knock it off with that weak shit, bro. It does not bubble up. Put that fucking.

Uncut. Yeah. Put the fucking stinger in here. Okay, so how do I just get her more bubble baths? What do I need to do? Does she have to wear a swimsuit? Yeah, I don't know. Do I just need to put antibiotics in the water?

Or just, yeah, disinfect the tub. Like, you got to bleach that shit, you know, disinfect it. Yeah, yeah. No, I look, I'm not trying to cast dispersions on the cleanliness of your bathtub. Just dunk her in head first by the ankles, you know? Yeah, there you go. No bottom. Problem solved.

I'm getting my kid into showers. So, yeah, yeah. oh man my kids love a shower and always need to be told to get out it's like oh yeah i would come back i would come back 45 minutes later and they'd still be in the shower if i didn't tell them to oh right doing like the just letting the water hit them just letting the water hit them doing voices doing bits oh yeah yeah yeah yeah i'll turn off the shower and then my kid wants to smear all the leftover water yeah like that hasn't drained and he like tries to do fucking snow angels in that and i'm like sir it's you're going to

get so cold. Diminishing returns here. Yeah. Anyway. Zara, we're thrilled to have you here. I'm thrilled to be here. We're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're going to tell the listeners a couple of things we're talking about. We're going to check in on the James Comey prosecution. Got his ass. Oh, yeah. Got his ass. All we had to do is lie to a grand jury. It turns out. Turns out the designed incompetence of the Trump administration has come back to bite them in this case. And they, they did not quite nail the case. It seems like it might.

Get dismissed. We're going to check in with some sad news from Larry Summers' his career. Apparently being Jeffrey Epstein's wingman is not the look that his neo-liberal besties were looking for. And he's, you know, this is really when you know who's down. When all the chips are down and you've been revealed to be Jeffrey Epstein's wingman, who's going to stay with you? Yeah. This turns out not that many people. We're going to also check in with Bill Ackman, another one of our favorite billionaires.

And then we're going to look at the Warner Brothers Discovery sale that looks like it could go very badly. Our boy, Zaz, not protecting the cinematic theater-going experience as much as we would probably have hoped. Oh, no, really? Yeah, oh, God. I mean, yes, he's going for greed. We're going to get like three movies a year, it sounds like. Oh, my God. And they're all going to be Avatar movies somehow.

I was going to say. Or, yeah, Mission Impossibles. Yeah. All of that, plenty more. But for Zahar, we do like to ask our guest, what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are? Okay. Just a content warning for some folks. I'm going to talk about pregnancy.

Okay. Oh, boy. I'll be back in like five minutes. Okay. No, I'm just sure. Go ahead. Okay. I had to look up anterior placenta because I'm pregnant.

Whoa. Oh, congrats. Congratulations. Okay. Pregnant with a toddler with a UTI. Now all the groans have made sense. How you doing? What order do I do this in?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't bury the lead. Oh, man. Wait, so I'm ignorant. So will you explain that search term phrase to me? Okay, anterior placenta is when your placenta is like thicker in the front. Oh, okay. I think.

And there's a party in the back. And there's a party in the back versus the other way around where people feel a lot of movement. Oh, I see, I see, I see. So you're getting it in the back. Like you're feeling the movement in the back and that can be uncomfortable. I remember that. Yeah, it's what happens when you have butt sex. that is not what I was implying Zara

I told you you get pregnant Zara I told you I thought I couldn't yeah no I remember I think we might have had something like that going on and my wife feeling like the kicks in her back oh right yeah oh shit

the baby's movement in her back more than the belly like in your organs too maybe I didn't think about that just kidney kicks oh I'm getting rabbit punched over here God, she moves a lot. It's a girl. Hey, hey, hey, we're going to have to doisters. I'm really excited.

Yeah. Sisters. That's so beautiful. Congratulations. For now, anyway, she's a girl for now. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, for sure. They may choose later in life.

What life holds, of course, of course. Right. What is something that you think is underrated? Okay, underrated. I'm going to say disability activism. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Have you talked about my dear friend?

Alice is Alice Wong's passing no I don't think so oh man that's my other big sigh is I really miss my friend a lot oh what happened if you don't mind me I said I didn't I didn't yeah Alice Wong is an incredible disability activist she's advocated for all kinds of disability visibility and made me aware of my relationship to disability as a person with invisible disability and is just, I miss her a lot. She danced with you in the light. She sat with you in the dark and just wrote the book on intimacy, literally. Right. And I, oh my goodness, I can't tell you what a good friend she was. And how good she was at friendship. So good. So good It's like she sent Affie, my daughter, her first letter saying welcome and her name on mail.

And she gave her her lovey that she sleeps with today. That was like perfect. And she was just that kind of gift giver and she's just that kind of person. And in her passing, so many folks have become so much more aware of disability activism. And there are pieces about her in the New York Times, which is now. a tabloid but still great and the Washington Post and more and so many of us that she touched that miss her desperately yeah and I'm so happy to thank you I'm so happy to bring her name here yeah yeah yeah and I have in the past with book recommendations of hers you know

her books are incredible she's written I think five or more books she was incredible she was incredibly prolific. She had multiple documentaries. One of them's on Netflix. She was a MacArthur genius. She's a genius. Yeah. And if you're out there, tell UCSF and other hospitals that you want their staff to mask up out of respect for folks managing disability and who are immunocompromised. That was something she always asked us to do, just to email them and say, hey, folks wear a mask. Just an incredible human. Yeah.

Yeah. Just, I mean, I remember, I think it was maybe, I feel like the book you suggested was maybe a year of the tiger. Yes, year of the tiger. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was just reading that her, in her sort of last reflections on life, she was just saying, don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.

Yeah. Yeah. That's good advice. Yeah. We'll link off to whichever of those articles you think does the best job in the footnotes. Thank you. So people can read more about Alice Wong. What is, what's something you think's overrated?

Shoot, I always forget my overrated. Take your time. Take your time. Like, look down to see, like, did I write it down? Is that what you're looking at? I know I have it written down here somewhere. This is a receipt. Okay.

Okay, I got it. Okay. My overrated is I'm a little late. Squid games. I'm just, I'm a little late. I think we can all, you know, you're not late. You're right on time to take a step back and reevaluate. Yeah.

It's just, okay, listen, it's never late because it's Netflix. Okay. Sure, sure. Yeah, it's ever present. And it just showed up on my cue, and I went on this rant. I didn't know. that I had last night with my husband

where I just was like how can you as a nation connect with a film like Squid Games so deeply right and then just move on right right

like after Squid Games came out that should have been the warning about Trumpism right I love that we're putting an ass on the end of Squid Game yeah I was going to say from you're talking to

hanging out with Jack's dad a lot. Yeah, my dad, my dad would always call Brad Pitt, Brad pits. Squids game. You know, squid's game? Squids game, yeah. No, squid game. I'm basically a person. Oh, you mean just sort of like, yeah, because it was this thing.

It's the biggest Netflix show. Everyone's like, damn, that's hitting on some shit. And then it's like, all right, back to the minds. Yeah. Damn, they would rather die than be, not be able to pay for health care. That's crazy. That's crazy. Anyways, let's go back.

Yeah, completely connect with this film. And, yeah, anyway. They did a great job then co-opting it and turning into a reality competition show. That's the other thing. Is there all these offshoots now that I am on time for? There you go. I did watch season two of Squid Games, the show, the competition show. Like, I just think we should pay more attention.

Yeah, that's, it's like one, I don't know. I feel like, you know, I totally get that. I guess my hope of it is if we stack up enough of these pieces of media that just incrementally are raising people's class consciousness it will get it will reach a tipping point like a match tipping point where people who because I feel like there are a ton of people who

had never thought about this shit and saw a squid game like yo oh interesting isn't that like kind of like here in a way and you're like okay go on or were they just like yo it's fucked up in South Korea

yeah South Korea is fucked up dude I don't know if I want to go there now you know that's fair yeah I do kind of live in a bubble. Right, right, right. But no, I totally get, though, too, of like, we have so many moments. We're like, yeah, come on, baby. Come on, y'all.

Let's do it. We see it now, right? We're all seeing it. And it's not enough time. I mean, we're so far past. Like, maybe my overrated should have been that question of, like, will there be a civil war in the United States? I just want to be like, have you been around in the last couple years?

Like, what are you talking? He has his own military. Sure. Sure. Sure. I didn't realize like this is the thing that happens where like I usually quit on TV shows

pretty early and so I stopped after the first season of Squid Games I just was like I think I know where this is going and it feels like they're just like drawing it out and like I didn't think the end they really stuck the landing on the ending of the first season that she was like getting more popular like the season three debut

was like broke all the season three already it's season three Three, the third and final season, and it broke all the records. I'm just fine with that first season, you know? I am ahead of the curve. You are. You know what, in that way, we salute you.

Absolutely. That was in July, but, you know, we're... Look, we got a lot on our plates right now, you know. It's a busy task. But yeah, I do wonder, like, how much of it is people being like, we get what's going on here. Like, what a interesting way to depict the brutality of everyday life under... neoliberalism and then how many people were just like, I like reality TV

competitions. I understand. What if we could kill you? Wait, do they kill them like in the movie? No, they don't kill them like in the movie. Yeah. Just emotionally. There's just little paintballs that go off. Yeah. Boo. Nah, I wish they'd shoot them in the chest. We do love a reality show

where the contestants get killed. That's always been a very, very popular thing. What's another one? I'll watch the shit out of that. Running man. Oh, you mean like just the idea of a, like the idea of it is like, wow. Okay, here's my beat. I'll watch the shit out of that.

Mm-hmm. I'm fine with that. The violence. But afterwards, I'm going to get behind some goddamn legislation. I'm going to punch you up. I'm not going to sit on my ass. Well, not while you have people like AOC saying, We shouldn't primary Hakeem Jeffreys.

He's good. What is going on with INRD? She's like, I don't know about this city council guy trying to run for him. I'm like, look, I get it. You're trying to ascend in the Democratic Party and you're not trying, but like. But like as she's ascending, she's descending. You know what I mean? It's like a dolly zoom in a movie where it's like, are they zooming in or pulling out?

I can't tell the background's certainly moving. Either way, the effect is unnerving. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's take a quick break, and we'll come back and talk about the current administration, who also not very good. We'll be right back. A decade ago, I was on the trail of one of the country's most elusive serial killers. But it wasn't until 2023 when he was finally caught. The answers were there, hidden in plain sight. So why did it take so long to catch him? I'm Josh Zeman. And this is a very. This is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer, the investigation into the most notorious killer in New York, since the son of Sam, available now. Listen for free on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, Dr. Jesse Mills here.

I'm the director of the men's clinic at UCLA Health, and I want to tell you about my new podcast called The Mailroom. And I'm Jordan, the show's producer. And like a lot of guys, I haven't been to the doctor in many years. I'll be asking the questions we probably should be asking, but aren't. Because guys usually don't go to the doctor unless a piece of their face is hanging off or they've broken a bone. Depends which bone. Well, that's true. Every week, we're breaking down the unique world of men's health, from testosterone and fitness to diets and fertility, and things that happen in the bedroom.

You mean sleep? Yeah, something like that, Jordan. We'll talk science without the jargon and get you real answers to the stuff you actually wonder about. It's going to be fun, whether you're 20. 27, 97, or somewhere in between. Men's health is about more than six packs and supplements. It's about energy, confidence, and connection. We don't just want you to live longer.

We want you to live better. So check out the mailroom on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. What up, y'all? It's your boy, Kevin on stage. I want to tell you about my new podcast called Not My Best Moment, where I talk to artists, athletes, entertainers, creators, friends, people I admire who had massive success about their massive failures.

What did they mess up on? What is their heartbreak? And what did they learn from it? I got judged horribly. The judges were like, you're trash. I don't know how you got on the show. Boo, somebody had tomatoes. I'm kidding.

But if they had tomatoes, they would have thrown the tomatoes. Let's be honest. We've all had those moments we'd rather forget. We bumped our head. We made a mistake. The deal fell through. We're embarrassed. We failed.

but this podcast is about that and how we made it through. So when they sat me down, they were kind of like, we got into the small talk and they were just like, so what do you got? What? What ideas? And I was like, oh, no. What?

Check out Not My Best Moment with me, Kevin on stage, on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. On this week's episode of the next chapter, I, D.D.J.S. Get to sit down with Oprah Winfrey, A media mogul philanthropist and global trailblazer. My life, although it may look like an anomaly,

it has only been possible because I was obedient to the calls. This episode dies deep into how Oprah turned pain into purpose and what it really means to evolve with everybody watching. Every decision I have ever made has come from sitting with the spirit, and asking God, what would you have me do first? Whether you're rebuilding, reimagining, or just trying to hold it together, this one will speak directly to you. Listen to the next chapter on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast, episodes drop weekly. And we're back. We're back. And let's talk about, so Donald Trump, one of the stories that we've been like blizzarded with over the past couple months was that he was gone after his political enemies and trying to put them in jail for being mean to him, essentially, was the gist of it. And some judges were like, maybe we'll push back on this. But they're kind of doing, so the people that Trump put in charge of these prosecutions have kind of done the heavy lifting for those judges and for anybody who was like, we need to protect democracy. They were like, don't, no, no, no, no, no. You don't have to work that hard, actually.

We're going to fuck this up spectacular. So fucking bad. It's going to be laughable. Because, I mean, like, it feels like one of the final guardrails we have protecting us from total despotic rule are the. courts. Like they've been able to push back a little bit. And while obviously there are like MAGA meatbags and judges robes operating in the courts like Eileen Cannon in Florida who is based like documents. I don't know anything about them. Let them go. They're also like regular judges who care about like how fucking trials work just generally. So again, Trump wants revenge on all the

people that held him to account in some form and he will just do anything to get them into court, even if that includes lying, his prosecution of James Comey has hit wall after wall because, one, there isn't an actual crime to prosecute. Two, no lawyer with any real pedigree would agree to this openly corrupt bullshit. And three, the person that was willing to do it literally knows fuck all about prosecuting a case. So Comey right now, he's seeking to dismiss the case against him. And he's one step closer to that happening since the judge has decided that there were some pretty terrible missteps during the grand jury

proceedings. So the prosecution now has to hand over all those grand jury materials for Comey's team to review. Basically, the judge is like, you guys don't know what you were doing, and I think you may be lying was what happened earlier this week. Judge Fitzpatrick, quote,

raise sharp doubts about an account of the grand jury proceedings provided by the Justice Department and whether it had turned over all records of the interactions between Halligan and the grand juries. Basically, what's happening here is that he, Halligan said she like that she was trying to get these these two counts like get the grand jury to accept these two counts to indict James Comey. They rejected one of them.

So she kind of just like turned around and brought like a new paper for the foreman of the grand jury to sign. And it's like, yeah, there you go. Where one of the counts the grand jury didn't actually review. So she has like swapped it out and sort of like, can he sign my report card? Yeah, sign this report card. It's a permission slip for a field trip. Right, like a cover sheet for your report card without the report card attached. Yeah, they said, again, like, this is how it's reported.

The judge claimed that Halligan had claimed she had her last contact with the grand jury at 4.28 p.m. that day while the jurors were deliberating. But he also noted that the grand jury initially rejected one of the counts against Comey, leading prosecutors to prepare a new indictment that Halligan ultimately signed. Yet nothing in the record reflects the grand jury's initial decision or consideration of the second indictment. So he's like, the judge was like, there was no time for, like, based on what I'm seeing, there was no way the grand jury could have actually considered this second indictment. Right. So what the fuck are you doing? He also, the judge also said, Halligan, quote, who had never prosecuted a case prior to Comey's,

appeared to make two fundamental misstatements of law to the grand jury that could jeopardize the indictment altogether. Quote, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the Korean jury proceeding. So she had never prosecuted like a federal case before. She never any kind. Nothing. Nothing.

She's an insurance lawyer. No, she's not a prosecutor. She's just somebody who has a law degree. Yeah. And was practicing. She wasn't prosecuting cases, though. Okay. You know what I mean?

She was just there to represent people and like, like insurance here. I don't know what. I don't look. Her being a, of a U.S. attorney. prosecuting a federal case is so, Jack, that's like us playing in the NBA.

Like, that's you and me suiting up tonight. I would also watch that. I would watch that too, but you want to see a guy. I would be so, yeah, it would be so entertaining.

Because I was trying to rebound. Even in high school, my specialty was getting dunked on spectacularly. So I would just be like getting dunked on and like exploding backward like I stepped on a landmine. And like, it would be so entertaining for people. They should put me in the NBA.

Yeah, just to show how good everyone else is. I think this is the equivalent because a lot of legal observers are like, holy fucking shit, dude, this lady's cooked. She's proper fucked. Then Wednesday, she was in front of the judge again, quote, the full grand jury never reviewed the indictment. It handed up against former FBI director James Comey interim U.S. Attorney Halley and conceded Wednesday. So she's like, yeah, they never reviewed it. Fine. Okay.

Yes, I was lying. You're being so annoying. about it. Prosecutors said that instead of presenting a new indictment to the grand jury after declined to approve one of the counts, Halligan simply brought an altered version to the magistrate's courtroom for the grand jury's poor person to sign. Like, isn't that a crime? Like just to be like, yeah. Yes. So how are they so bad. I mean, we know the answer. How they're so bad is because you need somebody who's spectacularly corrupt and people who are good at their jobs. They're like making the calculation. they're like, I'm not, I'm not going to, like, fuck my career to just, like, act like this guy knows what he's talking about.

The only people who are willing to do that are, in this case, an insurance lawyer that Trump met at a party. Yeah. And was like, I think you're good looking. I think you're beautiful. Yeah. And you're booking. And you have a law degree. And therefore.

Therefore, you need to be a federal prosecutor to do a revenge case that is already so difficult, like, in, you know, in a normal courtroom. to try it because as Comey's saying, this was a vindictive prosecution. He fucking tweeted or truth socialed about it. And now you have this loser coming in, just making shit up. So, things

are looking not good for this case. It's wild too, because these are like the tactics that like sleazy folks use to keep you in lawsuits. Right. Yeah. You know, and

bogus things like that. Yeah. of legal fees, yeah. And, but now they just run government. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, like stretching a thing out by just like filing thing after thing. Right, even if it doesn't make sense. Yeah. Just to make your life hell.

Yeah. And unfortunately, the by any means necessary was truly by any means, including deception. So I don't know. I mean, like, that's, if this gets dismissed, just another humiliation. This is also the administration that, like, you know, senators have died. federal judges have died. Mm-hmm. You know, like, everything is on the table as far as I'm concerned with them.

Wait, sorry, what do you mean? What senators have died? Melissa Hortman. Oh, like being assassinated by it. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got you, got you, you, got you, yeah, yeah. You know, and then they just say, well, it's not us, you know, but it's like, yeah, well, I don't know about that. Yeah.

You sure about that? You sure about that's why. Yeah, I, I, we'll see what happens with Letitia James, uh, because she's also another person who's in the crosshairs of Trump's vindictive DOJ crusade. Right. They're already like, I think it was Fannie Mae, the Freddie Mac. They were like looking at her loan stuff and like, we don't see any kind of deceptive shit here. Like they're like, I don't know.

Go ahead, I guess. Like even according to us who would know about this kind of like mortgage fraud, we're like, no. So that'll be another very interesting one to keep an eye on. And I'm sure we will because, yeah, the weaponized incompetence is really leaning into the incompetence part like oh yeah too much now yeah yeah it's just you get you get incompetent people they'll do anything you say but they're not going to be good at it always uh all right on the elsewhere in the world of rich people who thought that they could get away with fucking anything that they wanted ever the recently released abstein emails don't just look bad for trump although he is the name that's

mentioned the most often in them former treasury secretary harvard president all around just we've had quotes from this guy just like a complete dipshit neoliberalism like let the market decide guru Larry Summers was

in there literally asking Epstein for dating advice in 2019 yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and then in some emails asking Epstein for dating advice in some emails Epstein described Summers as his

wingman, which that's, that's even worse than the one I had seen where he's like, Jeffrey, what do I do? She doesn't want to fuck me. What do I do? Should I be quiet? Should I be strong? Yeah, very good, very good. Dude.

Very good. You were strong when you, when you complained about her. Yeah, right. Oh, my God. To be, that's, being described as Epstein's wingman has to just be instantly under into the jail. Yes. But, okay, between the Epstein Files and the Me Too movement, okay, I just feel like, just be fucking nice to women, man. You know what, Zarr?

I'm sorry, I hadn't considered that. Which is just fucking cool it, Jackie. What if you were just nice to people? What if you were just nicer to me? Yeah. Because think of all of the young women at Harvard that he prayed on. Oh, God. Who knows?

We don't know that. You can't prove that. That's all electric. He just happened to get dating advice from somebody who made a guilty plea to sex crimes against children in 2008. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's a sweetheart deal, a sweetheart deal, though. Yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. Harvard had already stopped accepting donations from Epstein, which I'm sure that wasn't easy for them. He was. He's an economics professor.

he whined that the woman who had abandoned plans with him for another man was really attracted to the other guy and that I'm unsuitable as a partner. He resigned from the board. So this is not gone over well with, like, this honestly, like, I feel bad how much, how old-fashioned this feels that he had to step down from anything. Like, I'm like, what is this the fucking Obama administration? What is this? What's going on here? He had to step down from open AI and the New York Times is cutting ties with him. There's still consequences to people being complete, fucking just revealed to be monsters.

Yeah. I mean, it is tough when you're described as Jeffrey Epstein's wingman. Wingman. Literally the dangerous night's crew, the literally dangerous night's crew. With their slick back hair going out, sloppy stakes. which was euphemistic probably for them. But like this is absolutely, this is like the most purely cancelable offense right now

is like you're his wingman he was describing as being described as. And it's enough that you leave Open AI in the New York Times. But you can still, are you still teaching? I mean, look, teaching the children of the future. Well, I mean, to be fair, most are legally adults at this point when they're at hard. According to him, these are not children. According to him and Megan Kelly, these are basically adults. Oh, my God.

They're not five, okay? Yeah. And they have to learn economics from this fucking ghoul who does. Of all the people. Yeah. Who's just carrying water for corporations in a corporatocracy. Boy, does he understand economics. There's a clip of him.

A student in one of his classes at Harvard videotaped him opening up the lecture. Where he has to be like, guys. I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed of myself. Although not really saying that. No. He's always saying that because he's caught. Exactly. But it's just wild. Just listen to this guy having to be like, I know I'm in the FC file.

It's like, what? Okay. Larry Summers try and explain this away. Some of you will have seen my statement of regret expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein. and that I've said that I'm going to step back on public schools, but for a time, but I think it's very important for my teaching obligation. Very important. That you be in a room with young people.

That's very important. Nobody else could do what you do. You fucking wizard of... Wall Street, whatever he wants. I'm sure they all agree that this is a great vibe. I'm glad that he at least captured the thing that I was the most irked by. was his communication with Epstein. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

How ashamed I am by my communication. And nothing that was indicated or suggested by that communication. Oh, by the way, he's Mr. Epstein now, because y'all seemed like very friendly and informal in those conversations. I thought you were his wingman, dude. Like that, you seemed like you guys were brothers. That's some dude, that's just some fucking guy, man. And I shouldn't even, I shouldn't have even emailed him anyway.

Today's lecture is about multilateralism and its future in the G20. You're like, oh, uh-huh, thanks. Today's lecture is on the economics of blackmailing and how you can work for the CIA and the government. And do whatever the fuck you want to. And shout out to Harvard, man, that he was just still there. quote launch a new investigation in two summers. What is the last one?

What is the last one? The last one went well, actually. We actually found out he was really good. So we might need to do a little better with our investigation. Yeah. This is the kind of shit where it's like, like these are, this is the low hanging fruit to bring these people to account

of like the Larry Summers types where you're like, you're here, you're in the emails. I don't know the fuck your relationship is, but like you have no business being out here in the normal world anymore, let alone teach, like lecturing at fucking Harvard.

But they have to pass their wisdom onto the youth because they do, like all those people, I feel like have bought into their own myth that like the reason they're so much richer than everybody is because they're that much smarter. So like they have a hundred times more money than most people. That's because they're 100 times smarter.

So the idea that he, has now been, like, publicly, you know, ostracized, but, like, he still want, like, it's important to him to continue to be like, I, like, what, you want me to not pass this fucking galaxy brain onto the children of the future? Come on. Because I think his whole thing, he's like, you are so eminently replaceable. Oh, yeah. All you do is carry water. You carry water for the most powerful people in the given system. that you work under. That's what you do. And that's how you've gotten all the success,

is you're just doing the thing that all the people with all the money and power want to be done, and then you get benefits from that. Yeah, yeah. Okay, but before we squid games this, I am going to bring it back. Like, we can watch the shit out of this,

but then the actionable shit afterwards. Right. I don't want to hear any more about how unlikable a woman is at your workplace. oh yeah that was also in new york times that was in new york times you're saying like a publication that just was like did women ruin the workplace even they were like no i think we're gonna let this guy go that's the new york times but i hear it from every guy you know oh this fucking woman at my workplace you know but she really sucks you know no woman has sucked this much right yeah right exactly not this much okay ever like i don't care i don't care how annoying she is, how shrill she is, how squeaky she is, how whiny she is. Right. How bossy, how bitchy.

Do whatever the fuck she says. Oh, my God. I hear it all the time. God, who do you hang out with? She's better than me. Yeah. I do just want to, like, while we're on the topic of rich people thinking that they have, like, galaxy brain and that we, like, they're doing us a favor by even, like, first of all, they love to be like, I created so many. as if that wouldn't have happened without them.

But they also, I think they really feel like we need them. And Miles, you found this Bill Ackman fucking thing where he came out and was like a little advice from an old man who's fucking killed it, okay? With women. Because Bill Ackman, obviously, you've probably heard us talk about him. He's a fucking billionaire hedge fund dude, Persian Square Capital is his hedge fund. And he's, we've probably talked about him recently because he was shitting his pickleball shorts over the election of Mom Donnie. Yeah. And he's constantly giving out.

He was one of the first people to move out of New York City. Yeah, and never do it. And I think, and then we also talked about his, uh, what was that? He bought his way onto a pro tennis. He bought his way onto the professional tennis tour and then, uh, got rinsed and then, but like wouldn't accept it. He was like, there was something off today. Like my, I think my strings were too loose or something at the racket. Oh, something about the racket.

I think, no, it's because you're a fucking idiot who just bought his way onto here because you live in a fucking simulacrum. Anyway, this is what he posts. I'm just going to read his whole fucking banger tweet about relationships. I quote, I hear from many young men. Oh, God, here we go. That they find it difficult to meet young women in a public setting. In other words, the online culture has destroyed the ability to spontaneously meet strangers. As such, I thought I would share a few words that I used in my youth to meet.

someone that I found compelling. I would ask. Sir, real quick, what does he mean by it? It's difficult to meet young women in a public setting. And why is he meeting young women? This is based off of him watching the Fresh and Fit podcast on YouTube. Yeah, that's what it feels like. And he's like, I'm surprised he didn't say females at some point.

But anyway, this is what he's saying. This is what I would do. Quote, I would ask, may I meet you? Before engaging further in a conversation, I almost never got a no. It inevitably enabled the opportunity for a further conversation. I met a lot of really interesting people this way. I think the combination of proper grammar and politeness was the key to its effectiveness. You might give it a try.

And yes, I think it should also work for women seeking men, as well as same-sex interactions, woke, okay? And then the last one, just two cents from an older, happily married guy, concerned about our next generation's happiness and population replacement rate. It's always the population shit with these fucking people. It's either wrapped up in their like fucking, you know, oligarch brain where they're like, I need more bodies to fucking exploit and consume or it starts winding down. Or it's the fear of the brown planet thing too. Just two cents from an older, happily married guy with loving his heart and eugenics on my brain.

Exactly. Yeah. Population replacement rate. It is kind of crazy, though, because I don't think I've ever seen, like, when he described his approach of, may I meet you, there were literally hearts coming out of his eyes. Yeah. He was spanning himself with a stack of $100 bills as he said it. Listen, as a young woman, who's 45. Canonically Genzi.

Canonically Genzi. Canonically Genzi. I just, you know, that's that, what do you call it, um, warmth? Hmm. Yeah. That, like, may I meet you? Right. Looking in my eyes as like the, the, the vehicle for, for population generation.

Yes. It's just such a turn on. May I meet you? What is your breeding viability? May I meet you? To evaluate it? Do you mind if I bring calipers? do you mind if I measure your skull circumference what uh nothing nothing nothing may I meet you I mean and I mean he did and it was hot it's always like this advice from people who do not live on the same fucking planet as we do like we're like I'm worried about y'all happiness worry about the fucking income inequality then mm-hmm like you wonder why like there was a whole thing too I was looking at how the under five population is swinging in certain places like Los Angeles San Francisco

New York, these really expensive cities, they're, like, hemorrhaging, like, young families because they're just so hard to afford to live in. And it's going up in other places that are more affordable. I'm like, that's your fucking issue. It's not that. Guys don't know. May I meet you? Uh, it's, I can't fucking afford to fucking live. And that's the fucking rough. Like, again, so first of all, we've just, we've seen the dip shittery in the Epstein emails of, like, Larry Summers being like, what do I say to her? And Jeffrey Epstein being like, you did well by expressing disapproval that you had planned a vacation for her and she left you for a guy on a motorcycle, very strong of you.

Like the fact that they just, they're in this world where like their wealth just surrounds them, they just have not taken a single breath outside of just a world where everybody is just kissing their ass constantly and so they're just like gassed up on this idea that everything they say is so fucking wise and and now i feel like we all looked at the abstein emails and we're like that's so weird that everyone was like my my sex guru aka child trafficker uh what what shall i say bill hackman looked at it and was like there's a hole in the market here these these people need to hear from a pickup artist like myself right right exactly a lot of people like it's when you tweeted it, they're like, yeah, all right, asshole, what?

Because you told him you're a billionaire? And he's like, I was, this was working for me when I didn't even have two nickels. And you're like, yeah, uh-huh. Yeah, sure, sure. Go ahead. May I meet you? It's also always weird when these guys, like, have their pickup lines, like, that they want to, like, bequeath unto us, like, so fresh in their memory as happily married men. Right.

The fact that he thinks this is such a good line, may I meet you? Are you fucking kidding? When you know, she's cheating on his wife. You know he's cheating on his wife. You know what I mean? And you know he's using his money to do it. The bootlicker fucking replies in this tweet are just so funny. Like, because it's a mix.

There are people who are real life people. Then they're like bots. And then they're like the people who are so capitalism pill that they're like, this is actually brilliant. But someone, I like one person is like, an even better way to do it is with no exception or no expectation in return, you know? And he's like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, agreed, agreed.

Agreed. It's not always for procreation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. All right. Let's take a quick break and move on to billionaires who are ruining the film industry. We'll be right back. Oh, okay, okay.

Maybe you. A decade ago, I was on the trail of one of the country's most elusive serial killers. But it wasn't until 2023 when he was finally caught. The answers were there, hidden in plain sight. So why did it take so long to catch him? I'm Josh Zeman, and this is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer, the investigation into the most notorious killer in New York,

since the son of Sam, available now. Listen for free on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, Dr. Jesse Mills here. I'm the director of the men's clinic at UCLA Health, and I want to tell you about my new podcast called The Mailroom. And I'm Jordan, the show's producer. And like a lot of guys,

been to the doctor in many years. I'll be asking the questions we probably should be asking, but aren't. Because guys usually don't go to the doctor unless a piece of their face is hanging off or they've broken a bone. Depends which bone. Well, that's true. Every week, we're breaking down the unique world of men's health, from testosterone and fitness to diets and fertility, and things that happen in the bedroom. You mean sleep? Yeah, something like that, Jordan. We'll talk science without the jargon and get you real answers to the stuff you actually wonder about. It's going to be fun, whether you're 27, 97, or somewhere in between. Men's Health is about more than six packs and supplements. It's about energy, confidence, and connection. We don't just

want you to live longer. We want you to live better. So check out the mailroom on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. What up, y'all? It's your boy, Kevin on stage. I want to tell you about my new podcast called Not My Best Month, where I talk to artists, athletes, entertainment. creators, friends, people I admire who had massive success about their massive failures. What did they mess up on? What is their heartbreak? And what did they learn from it? I got judged horribly. The judges were like, you're trash. I don't know how you got on the show. Boo, somebody had tomatoes. I'm kidding. But if they had tomatoes, they would have thrown the tomatoes.

Let's be honest. We've all had those moments we'd rather forget. We bumped our head. We made a mistake. the deal fell through, we're embarrassed, we failed. But this podcast is about that and how we made it through. So when they sat me down, they were kind of like, we got into the small talk, and they were just like, so what do you got? What? What ideas? And I was like, oh, no.

What? Check out Not My Best Moment with me, Kevin on stage, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. On this week's episode of the next chapter, I, D.D. Jakes get to sit down with with Oprah Winfrey, a media mogul, philanthropist, and global trailblazer. My life, although it may look like an anomaly, it has only been possible because I was obedient to the calls. This episode dies deep into how Oprah turned pain into purpose and what it really means to evolve with everybody watching. Every decision I have ever made has come from sitting, with the spirit and asking God, what would you have me do first?

Whether you're rebuilding, reimagining, or just trying to hold it together, this one will speak directly to you. Listen to the next chapter on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast, episodes drop weekly. And we're back. And Warner Brothers Discovery is officially talking to some big companies and saying, may we meet? May I meet you? And may you tell me what you want to do to my body? Yes.

God, I get so hard every time you say it. May we consolidate the media environment even further under a billionaire rule? They're officially for sale. The deadline for the first round of bids is this week, November 20th. Today. Get them in. Get your bids in. Get your bids.

Shit. We should have given you guys a little. little bit more warning. If it goes through, if they, if they get acquired by one of the companies that is expected to make a bit, it will become the latest old guard Hollywood studio to just get gobbled up by another corporation. We had Amazon acquiring MGM, the Disney Fox merger, and, you know, but it makes sense for the people, for the product. As CEO David Zaselov explained of the decision. It will unlock

the full value of our assets. Oh, wow, wow. It's so surprised that the significant value of our portfolio is receiving increased recognition by others in the market. After receiving interest for multiple parties, we have initiated a comprehensive review

of strategic alternatives to identify the best path forward to unlock the full value of our asset. Motherfucker, like Chad GPT could have written that like it's just a serious, of comprehensive review, strategic alternatives,

identify a path forward. We're just going to figure out how much we can sell this fucker for. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For the most money. There you go. Everything is so basic in that world that they have to just like put it in code.

Yeah, because the distillation of that statement is we're trying to figure out what's the most amount of money we can get for this. Yes. There you go. That's it. You don't lock the value of our ass

because they can't say that. Yeah. We have to align, allow some around some strategic assets. It's not even about money anymore. Sure. I mean, the amount, like, I feel like it used to be that you get into becoming a billionaire because, I mean, then you're into arms dealing.

Right. Because that's, that's what that is, like, that's that level of investing. Sure. You know, and now it's just like more and more about this, like, wild-ass power. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It actually makes me feel really.

good to know that I'm going to destroy the film industry, because then my mark will have been left on the world. The three frontrunners seem to be Netflix, Comcast, and Paramount. Oh, God. Who will have to submit bids and make arguments for why they're the best option. Oh. So, like, it's like the bachelor. To get bid by these guys. Like, is that what's happening? Like, yeah, they're bidding. It's like the bachelor if the bachelor had the potential to kill the entire movie industry.

Oh, my God. Will you accept this bid? So there's no good option here. Comcast is in $99 billion in debt. What does that even mean anymore? Netflix interests is, first of all, it's caused Netflix's own stock to decline as people were like, oh, that seems like too much for you guys.

Right. And then there's Paramount Skydance, which is now owned by David Ellison, which, yeah, that's been bad. Like, they bought Paramount and, are immediately putting right-wing people in charge of everything. Bari Weiss is Minister of Truth at CBS News. Yeah.

Does anyone else out there feel like, like, don't I get to be in charge of what movies are like? No. Yeah. No, it's three billionaires who don't even like movies. And then, okay, there's actually good news. Also, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Abu Dhabi are going to. also be involved because so Warner Brothers rejected one offer from Paramount and they were like, well, you know who's got money?

Little guy by the name of MBS. What if we do a little light media washing? Yes. Okay, okay. So they're trying to submit a $71 billion bid for Warner Brothers discovery. God, this sucks. And Ellison was just at the White House for the state dinner honoring Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. Dude, did you see who was at that dinner?

Oh, my God. Sounds like a real literal murderer's row. Yeah, truly. Every fucking tech fuck giant was there. Johnny Infantino, the head of FIFA, Cristiano Ronaldo. Oh my God. It was a fucking, this nightmare dinner, dude. Wow.

Concast bid could similarly involve funding from Saudi Arabia. And the Trump administration has reportedly endorsed Paramount's bid for obvious reasons. Yeah. That's, you know. You guys, movies are already bad. Yeah. It's not even great. I'm so sick of true crime, you guys.

Jesus Christ, yeah. And I can't stay in reality TV. Yeah, and if you thought CNN was bad before, just wait until the guy who put fucking Bari Weiss in charge of CBS News gets a whole of it. But, yeah, so the big problem, as a cinematic movie going fan, there's not a good option here. It would, no matter who wins in their bids, it's going to really hurt the theatrical movie-going industry. Oh, you're killing me.

I'm too pregnant for this news, Jack. I'm sorry. Yeah. Go ahead. I'm going to calm down. It's okay. It's getting kicked in my guts by a thesis right now. This is my spinal column.

Go ahead. So obviously Netflix, who doesn't really put movies out in theaters. Hostile towards the theater. It's being called a worst-case scenario by everybody who cares about there being movies. But any of the other two options would also have a negative impact on movie theaters because mergers lead to fewer movies. For example, before being taken over by Disney, Fox was releasing between 12 and 17 movies each year. And since the merger, 20th Century Studios has never released more than five films in a single year. Wow.

So it's taken fewer swings. Oh, man. So then one of our next three films will be triumph of the whale, the sequel. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, why the sequel? Why not re-release in 3D? Like a Baz Luhrmann musical about Lenny Refinstall or something?

They're like, Lenny! We love you, girl. It's called Lenny! Exclamation point. Even the B movies from the 90s are still better. But this is one thing that... There's like a... I think this is...

I've read so many things about independent, there are more independent films doing better because people are just like, what the fuck? This sucks. It sucks. And I still want to see a movie. And it's still possible for people to do it with like smaller funding.

But yeah, I mean, I think this is this, I don't know, I feel like in that way when it all consolidates like that, it's the same way how journalism has. It allows for like independent journalism to also end up getting more attention as a result of people being like,

what the fuck is this? crap. But yeah, it's definitely not great for the overall industry. Weren't all these guys going to go to Mars anyway? We really need to kick that back up. Yeah. They're timing it with the proletarian revolution. Yeah.

Like, we can keep fucking them over, just slowly until the ragged ships are ready. There's also blatant antitrust concerns. A winning bid from Paramount would put both CBS News and CNN in the hands of Ellison, which would be over 30%

of the market share, which is illegal under Section 7 of the Clayton Act. Currently Paramount and Warner Brothers combined share 33% of the industry. But that's probably not going to be a problem for Donald Trump, what would be my assumption. Yeah. This is the same way, like, there's another company. I think it was Next Star, right, who was like really getting behind the Kimmel thing. They're like, oh, we're going to, we're getting Kimmel out of here.

as a way to kind of like lean in with the mag. I think they also have a merger up with a company called Tegna that would put them well over the FCC's limit of how many local stations you can own. And they're kind of being like, well, hopefully all that debasement of our values and like backing the Kimmel blacklisting will get us, put us in the good grace of the FCC to even violate their own ones. Why they were so willing to like buckle to whatever the Trump administration wanted. Okay.

Wait, so where are all those weird folks now post Epstein file release? Because, like, everybody's turning on him. I don't think they're going to totally turn on them. I think they'll be all right. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see.

We'll see. We don't know. Larry Summers. Poor Larry Summers. Well, I mean, it is happening in other countries. Like, look, I mean, Prince Andrew. Although he, they're like, you have to leave the nice castle and go to the just slightly. less nice castle now you have to basically live in prince charles's backhouse you

god just because i'm a fucking criminal fuck but yeah uh the the merger shit is really it's bad i mean it's definitely the death of uh the film industry as we know it but to your point miles i mean maybe there's hope in the fact that we you know start getting small independent films coming out that are worth watching because they're not it's it's not impossible to make a film if it's not being made by Warner Brothers or Fox or Paramount. You know what I mean? That's that's and I think, you know, at the end of the day, people respond to seeing like, well, that thing is selling good.

Maybe I'll put a little bit of my, you know, people are so profit driven that if they see a little bit of success from like smaller productions that will help kind of bolster that operation. But I don't know. I mean, it just feels like everything like as predicted, everything will, the consolidation will just become more and more intense and it's truly going to be like you get all your news from one guy who believes Palestine shouldn't exist and you get all of your movies from another guy who is so sexually repressed he has no he doesn't have a creative bone in his body and doesn't just going to

watch a fucking plastic bag blowing in the wind like American beauty or some shit you're talking about my favorite movie there man watch your mouth sorry sorry I miss Nora Evron I know Nora it is such a mind fuck that like they've chosen to just, like, torpedo popular culture at the time when I would be getting to the age where I would otherwise be like, everything used to be better, you know what I mean? And it's just like, yeah, but, like, did kind. Like, there's definitely still good movies being made, but like the kind of midbrow movies of the 90s and 80s are, like, do seem like they're better than what we're getting these days. Yeah. And I think there's just this vision of the world that

these oligarchs have, which is like, well, we're going to tell them what to think with all these because we have our hands on the levers. And that will work to a pretty, to an extent. But I think there's also other people who are just kind of like turned off generally by everything that's going on, that they're so disengades that I'm hoping that they don't have the effective return they're hoping for to control the masses with the idiot box. But they're going to be eaten out of my hands. I'm going to say that we've initiated a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives, and

they're going to love it. Zara, such a pleasure having you, as always. Such a pleasure to be here. Where can people find you and follow you and all that good stuff? You know what? Wherever the fuck nerds aren't, okay?

Oh, you hate nerds. That's true. There's one thing that's true about you. You hate a nerd. Straight up. I'm done. I'm done with these nerds. Sorry, she's talking about the candy. just for people for the racetrack yeah oh done with these candies all talk

why can't these make a big nerd you can eat like an apple I just feel like remember when nerds were good guys and not like a bunch of like psychotech narcissists with like no interest other than just controlling everything yeah yep we were just talking about

Urkel on our icon episode recording about how the nerd has evolved and we defended them Yeah, first you're like, Leave the nerds alone. And yeah. No, it's the betrayal. Anyway, that's my thing.

I don't think we got to the question of whether Urkel would have been on the flight logs. I guess I'll have to cover that in the intro. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. In the intro. Yeah. Amazing. Is there a work of media that you've been enjoying?

Oh, my God. I have been going back through Alice Wong's works, books, books, articles. Her podcast is fantastic. And just hearing my friend's voice again. There you go. Which she lost for some time before her passing recently. And I'm going to read Alice's send-off as my send-off. And she posted this via our dear friend Sandy Ho,

who you should also follow at Not Your Average Ho, 101. Hi, everyone. It looks like I ran out of time. I have, oh gosh, so sad. This is harder than I thought. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plants to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more.

As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized abelism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us in our culture. You all, we all deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ablest environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching.

I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you well. Tell your friends you love them. And just, what an incredible human. Yeah.

What incredible work. What an incredible legacy. And folks, immerse yourselves in disability, activism. There's just so much there. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having me, folks.

It's been a blast. It's always a pleasure. Miles, where can people find you as their work in media? You've been enjoying. Yeah, find me everywhere at Miles of Gray, talking 90-day fiancé on 420-day fiancé. I just started watching that show, I Love L.A. That's on HBO.

I love L.A. It's, yeah, so I almost do them. Yeah, Rachel Senate. There's a writer-director. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And past guest, Max Silvestri is actually a writer on that. But he, there's just a, there's a funny moment in the first scene. Like, the show is very L.A., which, you know, we have such New York shows that, you know, every now and then you get a very L.A. show. And there was just like a loose line where like one of these like really wealthy characters is talking about how she used to have like this like handbag. And just like, oh, but that was at the Palisades house that burned down. And like, they're all like, oh, my God. I'm so sorry. And then they just immediately shift back to their normal life. Oh, wow. Yep.

Yep. Yep. But yeah, that was, that's something I've been watching recently. There you go. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien on Blue Sky. Jack would be the number one. Yeah, basically, anytime I see that video of the guy talking, what coming. You know they got your man's on sex or so charges.

Yeah, the nickin you be hanging with. The niggins you be hanging with. What is this? Anytime that clip comes up, I'm enjoying it. I like to tweet from Jennifer at Jen underscore in underscore Reverie, who tweeted, I think the elephant really ties the room together. The elephant. And then Big Idiot Girl tweeted,

Going on a date has me Googling things like clothes people wear. Oh, fuck. That hit hard. Yeah. Every once in a while. And we're hitting a new wardrobe. robe time of the year, you know, it's getting cooler. I'm like, these pants don't seem to make sense anymore.

These running shorts. Yeah. These shorts pounds. Mm-hmm. You can find us on Twitter and Blue Sky at Daily Zikegeist. We're at The Daily Zikeist on Instagram. You can go to the description of the episode wherever you're listening to it. And there at the bottom, you will find the footnotes, which is where we link off to the

information that we talked about in today's episode. We also link off to a song that we think you might enjoy Miles. Is there a song you think that people might enjoy? Yeah, Fantagram was a band. I used to listen to a lot 10 years ago. And then I've kind of like lost track, lost touch. But they just dropped a new single called Earth Shaker. And it's got the, it's got the, yeah, it's got the vibes.

So I'm digging it. So this is the new Fantagram track, Earth Shaker. Here comes the Earth Shaker. Word, I'm up. The Daily Zekeyes is a production of IHeart Radio for more podcasts from My Heart Radio. visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows, that's going to do it for us this morning.

We're back this afternoon to tell you what is trending, and we will talk to y'all then. Bye. Bye. May I meet you? The Daily Zykeyes is executive produced by Catherine Law. Co-produced by Bay Wang. Co-produced by Victor Wright.

Co-written by J.M. McNabb. Edited and engineered by Justin Conner. A decade ago, I was on the trail of one of the country, most elusive serial killers, but it wasn't until 2023 when he was finally caught. The answers were there, hidden in plain sight. So why did it take so long to catch him? I'm Josh Zeman, and this is Monster, hunting the Long Island serial killer, the investigation into the most notorious killer in New York, since the son of Sam,

available now. Listen for free on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. On the podcast Health Stuff, we are tackling all the health questions. that keep you up at night. I'm Dr. Priyankawali, a double board certified physician. And I'm Hurricane Dibolu, a comedian and someone who once Googled, do I have scurvy at 3 a.m. And on our show, we're talking about health in a different way,

like our episode where we look at diabetes. In the United States, I mean, 50% of Americans are pre-diabetic. How preventable is type 2? Extremely. Listen to health stuff on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Big Take podcast from Bloomberg News keeps you on top of the biggest stories of the day. My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day.

Stories that move markets. Chair Powell opened the door to this first interest rate cut. Impact politics, change businesses. This is a really stunning development for the AI world. And how you think about your bottom line. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Robert Smith, and this is Jacob Goldstein, and we used to host a show called Planet Money. And now we're back making this new podcast called Business History, about the best ideas and people and businesses in history. And some of the worst people, horrible ideas, and destructive companies in the history of business. First episode, how Southwest Airlines use cheap seats and free whiskey to fight its way into the airlines.

The most Texas story ever. Listen to Business History on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.