The Daily Zeitgeist - James Bond OOTrendin, Eh? 6/26: Denis Villenueve, James Bond, Palantir, Big Beautiful Bill, JD Vance, Tesla Robotaxi, 'The Simpsons'

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

In this edition of James Bond OOTrendin, Eh?, Jack and Miles discuss Denis Villenueve directing the new Bond movie, Palantir's line going up, a 'Big Beautiful Bill' update, the tourist denied entry to the US because of a JD Vance meme, Elon trying to save Tesla with a year's old broken promise, 'The Simpson' killing off Marge?! and much more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. talking to someone or just taking a deep calming breath to ground yourself. Because once you start to address the problem, you can go so much further. The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council have resources available for you at loveyourmindtoday.org. Over the years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned no town is too small for murder. I'm Catherine Townsend. I've heard from hundreds of people across the country with an unsolved murder in their community. I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murderer is still out there. Each week I investigate a new case. If there's a case we should hear about, call 678-744-6145.

Listen to Hell and Gone Murderline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. I'm Jeff Perlman. And I'm Rick Jervis. We're journalists and hosts of the podcast, Finding Sexy Sweat. At an internship in 1993, we roomed with Reggie Payne, aspiring reporter and rapper who went

by Sexy Sweat. A couple of years ago, we roomed with Reggie Payne, aspiring reporter and rapper who went by Sexy Sweat. A couple of years ago, we set out to find him. But in 2020, Reggie fell into a coma after police pinned him down and he never woke up. But then I see, my son's not moving. So we started digging and uncovered city officials bent on protecting their own. Listen to Finding Sexy Sweat on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello the internet and welcome to this episode of James Bond double-O trendin'

bailed on it double-o trending a oh is that why you're saying a a yeah cuz he's Canadian man okay okay okay okay you need me new yeah how you say anything you hey hey a shakin N Offensive, offensive impressions of French-Canadian. Of a human. Yeah. My name is Jack, that over there is Mr. Miles Gray! Hey! You heard in the title. I'm excited. I want to see this now.

I mean like of the people that they could have announced to make the next Bond movie, like he's probably, I think he might be at the top of the list. Like him, maybe Ryan Coogler. Like those, those would be the two people. Like they just don't miss and they make things in like a bunch of different genres. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

I think with Denny, he just does such a good job too of like Letting the the space between action really fucking feel significant and that'd be a really dope aesthetic on in a Bond film because already with the Daniel Craig stuff they were leaning more into like This guy's kind of fucked up from like killing people all the time and getting his lovers killed all the time It's kind of like a spooky guy. I'm starting to think that subconsciously he's into that He's just like a weird accidental serial killer

His name is actually pronounced Dennis Villanova It's Denny Villanova That's right All right. Anyways, that was just announced as we're recording this. Yeah. Vidin, you've said, some of my earliest movie going memories are connected to 007. I grew up watching James Bond films with my father ever since Dr. Noah Sean Connery.

I'm a diehard Bond fan. To me, he's sacred territory. I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility." He sounds like he's freaking out a little bit, but also incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor. Amy, David, and I are absolutely thrilled to bring him back to the screen. Thank you to Amazon MGM Studios for their trust. Didn't name Chek Bezos. Oh. Interesting.

Oh, I thought you were calling his new name is Chek Bezos. Didn't name Chek Bezos. Dude, Chek Bezos. Thanks for that Chek, dude. Yeah, there was, people were showing like this clip from like years ago, how he's saying like his dream is to do a Bond film, like well before this. So yeah, yeah good it's nice when you see someone be like and that was a good decision from you good well done that part in Dune too where they're like floating just off the you know they wear those like anti-grab pieces and they're floating just like a foot off the ground yeah was so like because I've had that dream so

many times you know like where you're like trying to run but like you can't touch the ground like it was it was so wild Like that was such a fucking cool scene like that. He's he's very visually and so you're like I just just do that but make it James Bond this time. Yeah, that's well I mean that's some shit you could have been in the Bond universe I think just try it Anti-gravity Get lazy and just take stuff from all your other films and just make them Bond scenes like do the border

scene in Sicario but James Bond but just fuck it man same setup somehow you're getting some guy across whatever. Bond loses it and like starts chasing after somebody and then like keeps them prisoner in his house. Prison-hmm prisoners But there it is Anyways miles was going on Palantir. Oh my god. Well Palantir Peter T the Peter Thiel funded company It's it's man if you're if you're on a Capitol Hill and you like

morally dubious stock trading you better be all in on Palantir because a lot of, there are seven members of Congress and maybe over a dozen White House officials, according to financial disclosures who are, you know, buying that Palantir stock and, you know, Palantir has played a central role in these ICE kidnappings. So let's be clear here. Like this is, they're saying like, oh, okay, if we're ramping this up, then Palantir stock is going to go up. So I will buy Palantir stock to profit off of the pain of people. A lot of alliteration there. Just a quick

fact, Palantir's stock price, it was $73 a share on the first day of Trump in office, and it's around 140 today. So it's nearly doubled. And you know, there's a few Democrats like California's Ro Khanna, who also appears to own some of this stock. He has been saying, or you know, like people are like, oh, that's done from like, like a financial advisor. And it's like, I'm not picking specific stocks. They're the ones who are just saying I should profit off of this. It's clearly not me. It's a pretty common refrain from members of Congress when they've been asked about problematic stock trading.

And Stephen Miller, the chief architect of all this nonsense, he is holding up to $250,000 in stock. And who knows what that's even valued at now. But yeah, they're profiting off the ICE kidnappings via Palantir. Because they were just getting contract after contract after contract, like from the Pentagon, from Doge was like, what if we just like dump everything into Palantir and like Palantir is the system that make America go. And yeah, the ICE kidnappings like feel pretty aimless and like poorly executed.

You know, like not that that's my critique of them, but I would say when I was talking to my evil financial advisor, I'd be like, are they, they seem like they suck at their job. But Oh, so you've noticed. Anyways, fuck Palantir. Let's talk about the big, beautiful bill while we're talking finance in Washington, DC. Luckily, it's not gaining a ton of traction right now.

The latest setback comes from the parliamentarian, who you might remember from the Inflation Reduction Act, when they're like, you technically can't do this under the reconciliation process. Basically the parliamentarian is the nonpartisan procedure and rules nerd that makes sure a bill is actually adhering to the rules. And this is important because the Republicans are trying to pass the bill with a simple majority like they're using reconciliation so they can just make huge changes with a simple majority, no filibuster and be like, okay, let's move on.

But the parliamentarian just flagged some huge parts of the bill that are central to its mission of taking away health care from millions of people, even though Republicans are out loud being like, there's not doing that. It's not just straight up lying. How? What? Yeah. So one. The big beautiful bill?

No, not that. Not that. Just because we... We love your health. Just because it says it's making cuts to Medicaid in the text of the bill doesn't mean that's what we want to do or we're gonna do. Geez. This is from one of the reports I've read.

Quote, one issue is a directive that states cut the tax they impose on Medicaid providers from 6% down to 3% effectively having the amount that states will receive in they impose on Medicaid providers from 6% down to 3% effectively having the amount that states will receive in tax revenue from those providers. Critics say the change will result in major challenges, rural hospitals that rely on that money because it becomes part of a big pot of tax revenue for states that plays into the complex formula that determines how much federal funding is received. Then the other parts that were flagged by the- This is a quote from a thing, just in case anyone thinks that we write an incredibly long run on

sentences. This is a quote from a source. Yeah, yeah, though this is from NPR. Fucking NPR. Learn to use a fucking period comma. God damn it. One of the other things that have been flagged by the parliamentarian was the one that was barring Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care. Okay, great, thank you. And also denying coverage and some Medicaid recipients who are not US citizens. And their whole thing is like, we'd want to have this on Mr. Donald's desk by July 4th. That's, it seems like this is going to maybe delay, but who knows?

They might just cobble shit together with no time for anyone to read it and go with that and give all the billionaires, they go, here you go billionaires and fuck you everyone else. Yeah, really does seem like they don't think there's going to be an election, like that they don't need to get votes anymore, which Donald did tell them, and he's never been wrong about anything. You know, this will be the last time you need to vote because they're doing some pretty unpopular

things, both legislatively and then just like from the executive side. All right. One thing that they're doing that's popular is defending the good name, the good face of JD Vance. So this is an ongoing story. But US officials are refuting claims that a tourist was denied entry for having a JD Vance bald meme on his phone. The border patrol agents say, first of all, it was somebody named Mads Mikkelsen. And that name is apparently so common that it's not the famous actor. It's just another Mads Mikkelsen. Which the first time I heard the name Mads Mikkelsen, I was like, you know that John Early sketch in I Think You Should Leave where he's like, ah, I should have. That's how I felt about naming my kids anything besides Mads Mikkelsen O'Brien. Like fuck, I should have named them Mads Mikkelsen.

Anyways, good work to this person's parents by naming him Mads Mikkelsen. So he's saying he was banned because of JD Vance Baldmeme. I think the Norwegian media was also reporting that. The Border Patrol says it was because of his admitted drug use. They didn't explain why he admitted drug use, but were they like the fact that they were not like, we didn't go through his phone. Like what are you talking about? And they were just like, no, it wasn't, it wasn't those memes that we found on his phone.

So that, I don't know. It's weird that they're going through people's phones. I guess the moral of the story. Yeah, it's very, because he, like apparently they, he said that when they asked, asked him like, oh, so you, he admitted to trying marijuana once in Germany and once in New Mexico. Oh yeah, you can't let that guy in this country. And he's like, I didn't think it was an issue because they're, it's legal there. Wow.

Anyway, in your own country. Admitted drug user. Shame. Shame. Fragile, fragile fucking people. Yeah. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. When your car is making a strange noise, no matter what it is, you can't just pretend it's not happening. That's an interesting sound. It's like your mental health. If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, it's important to do something about it. It can be as simple as talking to someone or just taking a deep calming breath to ground yourself. Because once you start to address the problem, you can go so much further. The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council have resources available for you at loveyourmindtoday.org.

Over the past six years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned one thing. No town is too small for murder. I'm Katherine Townsend. I've received hundreds of messages from people across the country, begging for help with unsolved murders. I was calling about the murder of my husband. It's a cold case. I've never found her. And it haunts me to this day.

The murderer is still out there. Every week on Hell and Gone Murder Line, I dig into a new case, bringing the skills I've learned as a journalist and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking. Police really didn't care to even try. She was still somebody's mother. She was still somebody's daughter. and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking. If you have a case you'd like me to look into, call the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. The summer of 1993 was one of the best of my life. I'm journalist Jeff Perlman, and this is Rick Jervis. We were interns at the Nashville Tennessean, but the most unforgettable part, our roommate, Reggie Payne, from Oakley, sports editor and aspiring rapper. And his stage name?

Sexy Sweat. In 2020, I had a simple idea. Let's find Reggie. We searched everywhere, but Reggie was gone. In February, 2020, Reggie was having a diabetic episode. His mom called 911. Police cuffed him face down. He slipped into a coma and died.

I'm like thanking you, but then I see my son's not moving. No headlines, no outrage, just silence. So we started digging and uncovered city officials bent on protecting their own. Listen to Finding Sexy Sweat on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. We're back. We're back. Also, I'm going to trust like he was having the interaction with them.

I'm assuming he watched them deny him entry, you know, like after seeing the JD Vance bald meme, you know? Yeah. Anyways, interesting. Interesting how thin skinned JD Vance is. Let's talk about Elon Musk's attempt to save Tesla. I don't even know if we should call it an attempt. It was a swish from way downtown. He launched some robo-taxis. So yes, the burning Tesla dealerships. Yes Giant phalluses carved into the hoods of cyber trucks

Not a great look, but he bet big that the launch of his self-driving robot taxis would turn everything around Beginning with a test run of a small squad of self-driving cabs in Austin, Texas, which began this weekend self-driving cabs in Austin, Texas, which began this weekend. Now, when I first saw this, I was like, oh, did they not have Waymos in other cities? Because we've had Waymos here for a couple of years in Los Angeles. And actually, we had them for like two years before anyone could use them because they were just driving around the street like training, essentially, just drinking up all our driver behavior into their fucking AI. And then they became a thing and people kind of use them, like some people kind of use them. But this was being treated like, we've done it, we've figured it out.

Elon Musk, I guess the additional thing that he's adding to that equation is that in some future world, after like the cars are all trained up, you'll just be able to like park your Tesla somewhere and then start making money as it acts as a robot taxi for other people. So a lot of people were talking about why they were getting their cyber truck like it's fine that it cost much because once I start doing the type the taxi stuff it's gonna pay for itself. So the pitch you will make a little extra money while ensuring that complete strangers have sex in the back seat of your car.

Yes, yes. But I want that. That's kind of my thing. Yeah. Also, Yech, you imagine the fucking... Because those things are equipped with cameras. So I'm sure just horrible things happening. Yeah. And they just fucking suck. They're even like, the feds are even looking into it. And they're like, yo, what are you doing with these cars that are even looking into it now they're like yo what what are you doing with these cars that are veering into oncoming traffic yeah oh by the way Brian the editor just found a article Tesla's robo taxi service is set to debut today here's what to know from five years ago in both of these cases

like even the idea that it was debuting now. Yeah, I was like, why is this being treated like a story? We already have these way most we already, you know, burnt them, we defeated them in Los Angeles. But anyways, so they are debuting, they are doing wild shit. Like people are taking video of their ride. And first of all, there's a Tesla employee just sitting shotgun at all times, quote unquote, monitoring the ride.

But in one case, like we see the car, the car like turns, like gets in the left turning lane, and then the wheel just starts like Jerking back and forth as it drives straight through the intersection and into oncoming traffic And then like slowly drifts into the other lane Never mind it doesn't like if you saw someone driving like that You'd be like, are you fucking me around? Did you have a fucking episode? Are you high?

Like, or... It looks like me, or it looks like, you know how like, we used to make fun of how people would drive in like movies when they're clearly not driving? Like they just kind of... Oh yeah, when they're like, meh meh meh meh meh Look, I'm going back and forth, back and forth. That's what the fucking steering wheel looks like, is this thing's trying to make a left turn And it just nopes out of it. You're like this is this is an actual failure That is it has just failed to even make a left turn

Yeah videos posted online showed robotaxi speeding like we said the most concerning one Had the robotaxi steering wheel randomly jerking around then careening into oncoming traffic There's not a car there, but yeah randomly jerking around, then careening into oncoming traffic. There was not a car there, but thank God. But it's also kind of wild because the person who's monitoring it acts like it didn't happen. The person who's sitting in the passenger side doesn't freak out. He acts like all the people whenever I'm on a flight that experiences turbulence and I like grab the people around me I'm like, Jesus Christ and everyone's just like chill as fuck

Yeah, yeah, just the guy riding shotgun in there cuz is clearly like so Into the cult of Tesla or something. Yeah, it just does this I kind of think it's fine Right. It's meant to do this and it does it Well, actually in other videos the robotexy randomly hits the brakes because it notices a cop car There's like two times where they were like we've found it like slamming on the brakes and we couldn't figure out why But then like when you look back at the tape, there's like a cop car visible Like is that this is robot me? Yeah Freaking it's like a cop car visible. Like is that, this is robot me? Yeah. Freaking, it's like oh fuck! They're gonna fucking do something bro, what the fuck? Yeah good luck man. I mean I this you'd imagine if Musk was on the good

side, the good graces of Donald Trump, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wouldn't be investigating Tesla over this? So once these videos started circulating, an investigation was opened up and they were like, oh, they're just because Elon Musk was like, we're actually being super paranoid about safety. Doesn't actually mean that they did the necessary testing and, you know, like all, like what Waymo did. Their cars drove the roads that they would be driving for years without passengers, up to a year, I think, or it was a full year. And Tesla was like a couple months and was just like, yeah, get

into production, which we've seen how careful he is with just the constant barrage of fucking rockets exploding in the sky over California and Texas. So yeah, I don't know. We're forced to rely on YouTube videos of glitches for insight because Tesla has been, as with, yeah, like any company with money on the line is going to use lobbying to try and make it so that there's not this oversight. They're fighting it pretty heavily. It tested its vehicles with safety drivers throughout Austin for a few months. Then Musk announced in late May, only weeks before the plan launch, that it had started testing without safety drivers. Seems not good enough. God, I mean, he's so thorough usually, Elon Musk. He's usually so details oriented.

So there's a story going around that I didn't want to believe is true. That the Simpsons kill Marge. Yeah, I was like, what the f- I saw that too. And people put like a, put her in heaven. I saw one headline that had like an image of her like in the clouds. I was like, what the fuck is this? And I also, sadly, I didn't care to know. But did she die?

Did they kill her off? Kind of. Kind of? Not in the present. So you know how sometimes they will like flash forward to the future where Lisa's president or is an alcoholic, I think. So it's basically a flash forward set 35 years in the future where Marge is dead, but it is confirmed her soul is in heaven and she's now married to Ringo Starr.

So perfect. Yeah, it's all right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so she ended up alright. All's well that ends well. She's fine. So we can rest easy this weekend knowing Marge Simpson is- That she's mortal. Mortal, in heaven, getting fucked by a beetle.

They should do one like 700 years in the future and reveal that Homer is like immortal. Right, yeah. So she's fine. So we can rest easy this weekend knowing Marge Simpson is- That she's mortal. Mortal, in heaven, getting fucked by a beetle. They should do one like 700 years in the future and reveal that Homer is like immortal. Right. And everyone else is exactly the same age. Yeah, that's just

funnier. All right. But good luck. Good luck. Yeah. Brian, the editor was saying that the lady who voices Marge has been complaining about how painful it is to do the voice for like 20 years. Oh, wow. So maybe this is just the Simpsons being like, oh, you think you can't get touched, Marge? Yeah. You think we can't Valerie's family this shit? Wow, Julie Kavanagh is 74. My God. Supervisor Victor says you can tell in the new episodes that it's putting a strain

on her voice. Jesus. Oh, no. The Simpsons gotten really like dark. Yeah. Matt Groening just be like, you get in that booth. Go and you say my special little guy. Go. I mean, I do understand. I got the tough voice to do. OK, we found her. We found the new March.

I'm just saying on my dish. Yeah, nailed it. All right. Those are some of the things that are trending on this Thursday, June 26th. We are back tomorrow with the whole last episode of the show. Until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourselves. Get your vaccines while you still can.

Yeah. Get your flu shots. Don't do nothing about white supremacy. And we will talk to you tomorrow. Bye. The Daily Zeitgeist is executive produced by Katherine Law. Co-produced by Bae Wang. Co-produced by Victor Wright.

Co-written by JM McNabb. And edited and engineered by Brian Jeffries. When your car is making a strange noise, no matter what it is, you can't just pretend it's not happening. That's an interesting sound. It's like your mental health. If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, it's important to do something about it. It can be as simple as talking to someone or just taking a deep calming breath to ground yourself. Because once you start to address the problem, you can go so much further. The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council have resources available for

you at loveyourmindtoday.org. Over the years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned no town is too small for murder. I'm Catherine Townsend. I've heard from hundreds of people across the country with an unsolved murder in their community. I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murderer is still out there. Each week, I investigate a new case. If there's a case we should hear about, call 678-744-6145.

Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jeff Perlman. And I'm Rick Jervis. We're journalists and hosts of the podcast, Finding Sexy Sweat. At an internship in 1993, we roomed with Reggie Payne, aspiring reporter and rapper who went Finding Sexy Sweat. At an internship in 1993, we roomed with Reggie Payne, aspiring reporter and rapper, who went by Sexy Sweat. A couple years ago, we set out to find him. But in 2020, Reggie fell into a coma

after police pinned him down, and he never woke up. But then I see, my son's not moving. So we started digging and uncovered city officials bent on protecting their own. Listen to Finding Sexy Sweat on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. bent on protecting their own.