The Daily Zeitgeist - Knee Bends for Liberals, Ken Grift-ey Senior 04.18.25

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

In episode 1849, Jack and guest co-host Sofiya Alexandra are joined by host of Stuff They Don't Want You To Know, Ridiculous History, and Missing In Arizona, Ben Bowlin, to discuss… Measles Is A Bioweapon Now Actually, Complicity Huffman - Politico / White House Correspondence Association Bends The Knee, Seth Rogen Jokes Cut Because They’re Mean to Trump, What?! Fyre Fest 2 Isn’t Happening?!! An Austrian Spa Scam Is Ruining Toronto – And It May Be Coming For The Rest Of The World and more! Anti-Vaxxers Are Grifting Off the Measles Outbreak—and Claim a Bioweapon Caused It Seth Rogen Jokes Cut Because They’re Mean to Trump Seth Rogen’s Criticism of Silicon Valley’s Support for Trump Was Cut From the “Full” Stream of Breakthrough Prize Comic Amber Ruffin cut from White House correspondents’ event after angering Trump team What?! Fyre Fest 2 Isn’t Happening?!! Fyre Festival 2 calls off Mexico plans but insists event is not dead An Austrian Spa Scam Is Ruining Toronto – And It May Be Coming For The Rest Of The World Ontario Place redevelopment cost rises by $1.8-billion as Auditor-General questions bid process Follow the money to Ontario Place Ford to 'double-check' Ontario Place spa deal following NYT claims about Therme Appointment of Ford friend raises concerns about fate of Ontario Place Ford wedding guests received appointments, zoning orders, Greenbelt land removals LISTEN: Deep Fried Frenz by MF DOOM WATCH: The Daily Zeitgeist on Youtube! L.A. Wildfire Relief: Displaced Black Families GoFund Me Directory See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yeah, I just realized I forgot to print these three things. Well, you print at your house. This guy's got a printer. Oh, shit. Motherfucker. Maybe out of ink. Printers are a fucking scam, man. I have one and I'm a fan of it, but I printed like one version of my book and it was like, oh no, now I've given up.

Okay. I hope that's the message that shows up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they knew. Oh no. It's just a little monk scream painting like emoji. It's like, can't print your shit. But the printer, they're like, go ahead, take it. $5.

We'll pay you. You can have a free printer. What? That's amazing. I'm changing my overrated. Overrated is now going to be printers, except for Brother printers are pretty good. Yeah, Brother printers are good, but it's all part of the same fucking... It's still part of the industrial printer complex.

The ink is crazy expensive. That's how the toner is too. Even when you're buying it, it's like, no, your shit doesn't need toner. And then like surprise like this just fucking does somehow. Oh, you have a printer toner level printer. I don't know. I'm scared. Jack and I are out here buying like loose packs of cyan.

Get that loose. He's got a loose.. I love a loosey. I love a loosey cyan. I love a loosey magenta. Are you serious? Got loosey cyan and a loosey magenta. In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI-fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos.

It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts. This is Levittown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg, and Kaleidoscope, about the rise of deepfake pornography and the battle to stop it. Listen to Levittown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey kids, it's me, Kevin Smith.

And it's me, Harley Quinn Smith. That's my daughter, man, who my wife has always said is just a beardless, d***less version of me. And that's the name of our podcast, Beardless, D***less Me. I'm the old one. I'm the young one. And every week we try to make each other laugh really hard.

Sounds innocent, doesn't it? A lot of cussing, a lot of bad language. It's for adults only. Or listen to it with your kid. Could be a family show. The number one hit podcast, The Girlfriends, is back with something new, The Girlfriends Spotlight, where each week you'll hear women share their stories of triumph over adversity. You'll meet Luanne, who escaped a secretive religious community. Do I want my freedom or do I want my family? And now helps other women get out too. I loved my girls.

I still love my girls. Come and join our girl gang. Listen to The Girlfriend Spotlight on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I am Bob Pipman, Chairman and CEO of iHeart Media. I'm excited to introduce a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Magic, Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. I'm having conversations with some folks across a wide range of industries to hear how they reach the top of their fields and the lessons they learned along the way that everyone can

use. I'll be joined by innovative leaders like Chairman and CEO of Elf Beauty, Tarang Amin. Legendary singer-songwriter and philanthropist, Jewel. Being a rock star is very fun, but helping people is way more fun. And Damian Maldonado episode five of Dirt Island. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Hello the internet and welcome to season 384, episode five of Dirt Daily Zeitgeist. Ah, ah. Is that a crow that just flew through the studio?

It's a production of iHeartRadio. It's a podcast where you take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness and it is Friday, April 18th good Friday the best the best Friday of all time my name is Jack O'Brien aka yo Pizzic yo penis elbowed at the weenus O'Brien pissery denying so furgish podding humming talking at you shows up on a trend in his vacations pastures. You could never dab up the wood or ice splatter, not piss, lion, bastard, witnesses done seen how it hap-bird.

Shame on O'Brien whose vacay ends worlds like a Mayan. That Wu Tang, aka courtesy of Halcyon Salad. My vacation does indeed end worlds like a mine. Every time I go away, the world does not know how to act. I think you just got nominated for a Grammy. She's like, wow. It's a it's new. It's like a version of Bumblewrap where you like just fumble. It's called fumble rap where you various lines.

That's merged dude. Fumble rap. Fumble Rap, where you just flub various lines. That's merged, dude. Fumble Rap? Fumble Rap. Yeah. LaCaroni kicked it off in the Discord by calling me the Pizzah the Penis, instead of the Jizzah Genius. Sit down, bitch.

I'm glad I didn't go to elementary school with you guys. Anyways, I am thrilled to be joined in my second seat by a very talented writer and stand-up comedian who co-hosts, among other things, the very great 90 Day Fiancé podcast, 420 Day Fiancé with some guy named Miles. Welcome back to the show, my co-hosts co-host, who today is my co-host, it's the hilarious and talented Sophia Alexandra. Thank you so much. I'm really happy to be here and the co-host of my co-host is my co-host. I think we all know that beautiful saying.

The wonderful saying just rolls off the tongue. Sophia, it's so great to have you here on your sparkling new champagne laptop, crystal clear video coming through. Sorry, sorry. I don't, yeah, too much of a flex. It's, it's a laptop that has had champagne spilled on it. That's what I meant to say. That's real. Sophia, we're thrilled to be joined in our third seat once again by a writer who

is one of the best podcast hosts and executive producers doing it. You know him from stuff they don't want you to know ridiculous history missing in Arizona. You got Ben Bowlin. Right. And it's Ben Bowlin. It's Ben Bowlin. Boop, boop, boop. A.K.A. Dr.

Awkward, A.K.A. Corvid Bay, A.K.A. Jack Couldn't Find Anyone Else for this episode. What a privilege. What a man. Don't you ever speak about my new friend Ben Bowlin like that. Okay. He was a priority. I don't book ever speak about my new friend Ben Bowen like that? Okay Yeah, that's the priority. I don't book this shit. Shout out to victor

Oh, yeah victor Also, uh quick story with big thanks to uh our production team one time jacky recall this I texted you with some emotional stuff and you said, uh, you gave me some great advice and insight and then you said Also next time just like talk to me through management Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you go through my people for I don't care how personal it is. You got to talk to my people first You think I don't live in Hollywood man, come on You talk to my people and try to schedule a lunch that never happens Do you think I don't live in Hollywood, man? Come on. Talk to my people and try to schedule a lunch that never happens.

Yeah. I texted miles as well and I was like, is the fame getting to Jack? Three in the morning local time miles just texted me capital Y E yes. Yeah. Oh really? Cause I thought he would have replied. Who is this? Smiles really will big dick you. Like, careful then.

So I bug these guys way too often. But it's it's awesome to hang out in the show. And actually, I was bragging about Daily Zeitgeist a little while ago with the idea of focusing on mundanity. Mundanity came, yeah. It's a thing Jack actually said when I was on the show earlier and in various episodes and, uh, you know, I think it's, it's nice to come up for some air and just get back to like, I think we need it. Yeah.

The America's home videos of, uh, experience, you know, I just saw a good one where like a group of friends was on a subway and it was like, it was more like a commuter rail, but like the challenge was their friend got off at a stop and had to run and beat the train to the next stop. And I watched that whole thing, despite the fact that nothing happens except seeing a guy run down the street and be out of breath. But you've reached a new level of dad and I'm proud of you. street and be out of breath. But you've reached a new level of dad and I'm proud of you. It's just like, yeah, like anything, any mundane challenge, I'm here for it. Like the, the original one that got me excited about this was people trying to

bake chocolate chip cookies with just those trash grabber things so they couldn't use their hands, like their hands. What do you mean trash grabber things? Do you know those like that you have a trigger in your hand and then there's like two little pincher things at the end that people use? Sophia, you've opened a door. This is a whole thing for this guy. Is this because I'm not American?

It might be, or it might be because you never had to do a community service as a juvenile delinquent. They are, they, yeah, old people use it to just like get stuff off the top shelf. Without bending down. Oh, you mean like a grabber, but people use it for trash? Yeah, that's mainly where I see it. Oh, I only see people using it to like grab stuff off the top shelf. So a top shelf grabber, anyway.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I did not know they had other uses. The different places we are in life, out in these streets, watching people pick up trash that I just dropped, and you're top shelf. You're living that top shelf life. I just want to say that really quickly. If you enjoy mundanity and just real wholesome

stuff that is completely low stakes, one of my favorite subreddits is benign existence. Nice. That sounds great. And it's just people posting really everyday benign things that are just so precious. Like, oh, I talked to this kid and he said this thing. Just so low stakes. Yes. Or getting- The lowest of stakes.

It's so sweet. Or getting the same present for your partner as they got for you or whatever. Just so sweet. If you want your soul to rest a little bit, benign existence, man. I select my wife's daily coffee cup based on her perceived mood. Actually, that could get you in a little trouble. I don't know how benign that is. What if you're like, bitch?

I'm a bitch, my lord. Well, I guess it depends on the selection of your cups, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the cup catalog. I can't wait to hear the discourse. They're all just like passive aggressive. Oh, gosh.

I think you mean the cup-a-log anyway. A cup-a-log. Nailed it I mean the couple log anyway. A couple log nailed it. Yes. Yes. Sorry. I nailed it. And I'm done.

All right, Ben, we're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we are going to tell the listeners a couple of the things we're talking about. It's good times for science. The measles is breaking out. RFK is doing he got a lot of credit from the mainstream media for being like vaccines are a thing that can work. They were like, yeah, the seizure. You said gravity is possible.

They're like, congratulations, sir. Nothing. Look at this guy with his low shelf grabber. Anyways, he is like, he's still supporting the guy who made the PlanDemic documentary. And that guy is still influential in his administration. So we'll talk about some of the beliefs that are So we'll talk about some of the beliefs that are still circulated around the RFK group thing. And we'll talk about also at the Oscars for science, Seth Rogen presented an award to a theoretical physicist and said some things that shouldn't be controversial with scientists,

but got cut out of the broadcast. Hold on a second, that was the physicist really there though? Oh yeah. be controversial with scientists, but got cut out of the broadcast. Hold on a second, though. Was the physicist really there though? Oh yeah. Oh, was it like a quantum physicist? Or was he theoretically there? Theoretically?

Yeah. So sorry, again, I know it's- His presence was not physical, only theoretical. But we'll just talk about a couple of people bending the knee a little bit lately in a way that's- And licking the boot, maybe. Yeah. A little bit of licking the boot.

A segment we're calling Complicity Huffman. Nice. And we'll check in with some grifting also. Oh, good. Love it. In a segment we're calling Ken Griffey, Senior, for some reason. You guys are knocking it out of the park with wordplay. Yeah.

So Ken Griffey, Ken Griffey senior is the father of a much more famous Ken Griffey junior, but we named it after Ken Griffey senior for some reason. No it should have named it after the son. I don't know why we did that. Well we're live. It's too late now. Anyways, all of that, plenty more. But first, Ben Bolan,

we like to ask our guest what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are. Sure. Chris Crofton, home address. Chris Crofton, social security number. Chris Crofton, blood type. Chris Crofton, list of childhood fears. Okay. No further questions, your honor. Underrated.

I mess around a little. Uh, I, uh, have not FBI and no offense, Sophia, cause I saw you make that phone call earlier. I have. That's right. I did call 911. Right. I have not researched our, our dear colleagues, uh, life in that depth. Would love to hear on the discourse that stuff.

Uh, the thing I got really into quite recently was, gosh, this is going to sound, it sounds so nerdy or it's not even nerdy. It's just sort of old. I got back into like mid 1980s music reviews of Tom Waits. So you didn't get back into mid 1980s Tom Waits music? Yeah, reviews of the guy who made the music. Again, no further questions, Your Honor. That makes total sense.

Sorry, Your Honor, may I approach that? Because I do have quite a few questions. What drew you specifically to it being Tom White's? Objection. Badgering the witness. Overruled. Overruled. Overruled. All right. Well, the main thing is I missed a concert that guy was going to do a few years

ago and he's no- Tom Waits or one of the people who reviewed Tom? Excellent question, Jack. We'll allow it. One of the people who reviewed Tom Waits, so they would go to the Fox Theater in Georgia and just read their reviews aloud. Tom Waits is sick. Right? Yeah. I want to clap for the guy who's clapping for the guy. Yeah. It drew me back because I watched, I recently rewatched a film called Wristcutters, which is- Comedy, obviously, risk hunters, colon, a love story. And it got me on, you know,

I wish I was cool enough to smoke weed. That would make this story make more sense. But I was just up late at night and I was thinking, what else has Tom Waits done aside from music? Jim Jarmusch movies. Yes. Yeah, Yeah down by law I love him and down by law. Yeah, he's got the voice for it. Yeah, and I mean he screamed into a pillow until he got that voice Is that real when he was little? Yeah, he was he was like my voice

I wanted to sound raspy and good. So he just kept screaming into a pillow until he got there. Oh That's why so like kept screaming into a pillow until he got there. Oh, that's why he's so well adjusted as a person. I don't know if that's cool or terrifying. Just pictures of a seven-year-old screaming into a pillow and then turning around and being like, hey, what's up? He's never getting carded. He's eight. Yeah.

Right. What do your parents do at that point? Is there a solution to like, are they going, maybe we should buy a different less screamable pillow? I don't know. I mean, how would they hear him, Ben? That's right. Right.

Yeah. And he's- In pillow, nobody can hear you scream. It's true. That's true. That's true. The famous catchphrase. That's right. I in pillow. Nobody can hear you scream. It's true. It's true. That's true. Catchphrase. That's right.

I love pillow. Yeah. That's so that's a little bit of a search history. Got it. But it's something you think. Sorry. Really quick is Chris Crofton, the Brittany guy, the Lee Brittany. Chris Crofton is one of our famed guests on the comedian. Sorry. Yes. Chris Crofton, the of our famed guests on this podcast. Oh, the comedian, sorry.

Yes, Chris Crofton, the comedian. Who is the? Yeah, I do hear Chris is going to get into comedy at some point, just like Mark Carroll. Wow. What the? Damn. You've been Ben Bowles, bitch. They call them Bowlings.

Oh, jeez, he's hate. But seriously, who is the one that is the Leave Britney Alone guy? Oh. Isn't that Chris? Oh, no, that's a different Chris. There's a Britney Spears. That's a real up and coming musician. I've heard of her.

I think it's pronounced Spires. You're right. Chris Crocker. Yeah. Crocker. Okay, I'm not insane. It's close. All right, sorry.

Let's keep going with news. What is something you think is underrated, Ben? Okay, I'm not insane. It's close. All right. Sorry. Let's keep going with news. What is something you think is underrated, Ben? Well, Jake, weirdly specific words in English, right? Sophia, you earlier mentioned, you said, hey, maybe this is a thing for you guys being weird because I'm not from the States. I think we all can as you are both quite talented, quite talented with a gift of gab, I think we can all appreciate that the English language is not unique in its cartoonish amount of words, but it is like in the top three of languages

that have words with zero reason to use them. You know what I mean? When's the last time you were hanging out with someone and you were like, you're being a little bit Saturn nine, you know, or like, there, there are people who think that don't make me feel bad about myself. Well, you're smarter than most people. It's different for you. So I'm full of emotions, Ben. So I think it'd be interesting to explore some weird words or some

weirdly specific words, and figure out whether we or any members of the zeitgang can pull them off in actual conversation. Do you know the word Leonine? Yes. That was that came up like twice in a single day for me and I'd never heard it before that. What does it mean? It's like resembling a lion or a lion like. Oh, well that seems kind of like easy. How come like, like, Anthropie is wolves? I know. It's like that does not sound like wolf at all. I kind of like the word Leonid.

It's got to it. There's also, uh, lionized, which is lionized. I've heard. Oh, that's the reasonable one. You're like, yeah, I know. It is is common. Lionized is common. Trump's been lionized, whatever. Yeah, that one caught on, but Leonine has just been waiting in the wings, ready to fucking

It sounds kind of sexy. step up. Yeah. Leonine does sound a little sexy. I don't know why that is, but it is. It is, like, that is objectively true. That word is oozing sex. It sounds like slick and like, I don't know. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like the big cat. Yeah, we're all like feeling it. We're like, oh, okay. Like, your moves are good, cat. Saying something is lion-like, I wouldn't be like that thing fucks. But saying something's leonine. Is that fucks. But that's something's Leonid. I like books.

Sure. Damn. Yeah. Yeah. It's got some it's got some mass to it for sure. Hey, everybody who's dating online, you're welcome. We just massively escalated your profile. Leonid. Yeah. Just like that's that word. No explanation.

What word would your friends use to describe you? You just drop Leonine and you fucking slide out of there and all the fucking wet trails of the pussy you're getting. Slip and slide. Out of the room. Yeah, I mean, you did it to them. Yeah. Leonine's a great example. Slip and slide out of the room on the snail trails.

Yeah. You did it to them. Yeah. Uh-huh. Leonide's a great example. Yeah, these are great examples. Oldest city. What's your favorite?

Give me your favorite. My favorite weird word? Weirdly specific word. I can't give away all the secrets. Um, there, there are, uh, you know, there are a ton of words that are self contradictory. I think there's a famous thing for that. Like, you know, to peruse means both to scrutinize and to scroll through briefly.

I also, just for the love of the game, one unnecessary word that I quite enjoy is noctivation. All noctivation, noctivation, noctivation. All right, here I am without a tie. But we'll Is there a K in front is what I want to know. without a tie, but we'll never. Is there a K in front is what I want to know. Uh, in O C T I V A T I O N I want to say. Okay.

No, that's not what I was pictured. Okay. It's not as cool as what you're picturing, but it just means, uh, to walk around at night, do noctivate. Yeah. I love it. Cause it's like nocturnal. That's why it's like that.

Makes sense. The word makes sense. I like that. It's like nocturnal. That's why it's like that makes sense. The the word makes I like that Oh shit. I misspelled it Justin. I misspelled it it's noctiva G-a-t-e The other coming to save your ass man The better version is notctivagant.

Justin, edit out the correction. Justin, play in slow motion the part where he misspells it. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. Do the behind the misspelling. So if you're noctivagant, you walk around at night, if you are not to get a not to get like a noun, you are a person who walks around. Yeah. Hell yeah, man. I think that's a dope word and I think it's highly necessary. But let me let me put this to you.

Why the fuck is there caregiver and caretaker? They mean the same thing, but giving and taking is opposite. Damn. Oh, that's good Yeah Why do you drive on the parkway and parking the drive? That we black and white people drive differently. You ever notice women? Just women. You ever notice women? Back in my crack days, we did an article about foreign words that are very specific and super dark.

And there's a word in German, Geistjärfererfahrer or Falschfahrer, which means a person who deliberately drives into oncoming traffic. There's a word for it? That phenomenon is a phenomenon? Geisterfahrer means ghost driver. It's just somebody who, like a very specific way to... This is disturbing. How is this a habit? It's just somebody who, like a very specific way to off warm self. This is disturbing.

How is this a habit? And Sophia, the one that we talked about from Russian was Korova. Korova. Yeah. Korova. Which translates to cow, but in a certain context, it's a guy you take along on a prison break so you can eat him later. Shut up. Those.

Yeah. They had, they called people cows, like when they'd be like, I found my cow and then they would do a prison break. Uh, and what, once they were halfway across the tundra, they would eat the person that was, that was what they. Anyways. So would you have to be suspicious if you're like festively plump and someone's like, ''Hey, I'm breaking out. Do you want to come?''

Why is everybody so horny to be my friend? Yeah. Do a prison break with me. I suck at prison breaks. Guys, you know I can't run because I'm a big boat. They're like, ''No, you got this. You're part of the plan.'' That is frightening. In both of those cases, how often does a phenomenon have to occur before someone says, you know what, let's save time.

Let's make one fucking word for this. Exactly. I think there was also one from that list that translated to person who gives birth while standing up. Like a soldier. Yeah. Standing up and then. Like birth soldier.

That's what I would call it. I'm like, damn, that person's a soldier. Anyways, a lot of fun. A lot of fun. I love words, you guys. Words, you guys. Love them so much. Ben, what's something you think's overrated?

Toes. Toes. Uh-huh. It's the lack of hesitation for me. Toes. I just you know, I was I was looking my own earlier and I was like, I have bills. What the fuck are you guys contributing? Like, I know the the big toe in the human is necessary. The big toes in the humans are necessary for balance and stuff like that.

Shout out Matt Booster's. But you look at, you know, we talked about toesies and fingies, as Jack once said, not too long ago. I also call them fingies. Fingies, chicken fingies. Yeah. I think he knows says Miles does too. Anyway.

Well, Sophia, one of Jack's many street names is Fingies O'Brien. And I'm sorry you had to learn that on air. Yeah. Nice super into it. He does love stealing. It's true. He does love stealing. So we, nah, I was just, you know, I know people like fetishize any part of the human

body or whatever. There's someone listening right now who is like, oh, fuck, is this the episode where they get to elbows? It's not, bro. It's probably not. But but, but for the trends. Yes. But, but anyway, you know, I've always had a difficult time, uh, calling stuff overrated because it's cool to like believe in people, even if they're Quentin Tarantino. But the, the thing is the,

I just don't understand the function of most of the toes are main overrated that we were talking about a little bit earlier that we can all agree with is, uh, this is the moment where, uh, Sophia, you and I gang up on, uh, on good old fingers. O'Brien, this guy owns a printer. Like on purpose, you have a printer, one percenter, one purse, printers that will one print enter one. We did it. Yeah.

Printers overrated. Yeah. Printers overrated. Overrated toes. I why is there never a solution where they just keep printing? Why is it that I always have homework? Bitch, I bought you for one purpose to print. Now I have to buy friends for you. Like, that's it that I always have homework? Bitch, I bought you for one purpose, to print. Now I have to buy friends for you?

Like, that's how I feel. It's like offensive to me. It's like babies. They'll let you have them for free, but they don't tell you how much they're going to cost, you know? They're not for free. You got to keep feeding them. You got to keep. Yeah. You got to act like their ideas are interesting

when they're around like four. Yeah. They're free when your fingers O'Brien. I just feel like they're like AirPods. You know what I mean? It's like, Oh, now I have fucking homework to go with my headphones. Like why are we printers or children? Printers.

Okay. Children question mark for me. I don't know. All right. Let's take a quick break and we'll come back and talk about RFK. In 2020, a group of young women in a tidy suburb of New York City found themselves in an AI fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos.

It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts on my body parts that looked exactly like my own. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to scream. It happened in Levittown, New York. But reporting the series took us through the darkest corners of the internet

and to the front lines of a global battle against deep fake pornography. This should be illegal, but what is this? This is a story about technology that's moving faster than the law and about vigilantes trying to stem the tide. I'm Margie Murphy. And I'm Olivia Carville. This is Levertown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope.

Listen to Levitown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey kids, it's me, Kevin Smith. And it's me, Harley Quinn Smith. That's my daughter, man, who my wife has always said is just a beardless, d***less version of me. And that's the name of our podcast,

Beardless D***less Me. I'm the old one. I'm the young one. And every week we try to make each other laugh really hard. Sounds innocent, doesn't it? Lot of cussing, lot of bad language. It's for adults only. Or listen to it with your kid.

Could be a family show. We're not quite sure. We're still figuring it out. It's a work in progress. Listen to Beardless D***less Me on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever. You get your podcasts. Are your ears bored?

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I'm Mala. The host of Locatora Radio, a radi phonic novella, which is just a very extra way of saying a podcast. We're launching this season with a mini series, Totally Nostalgic, a four part series about the Latinos who shaped pop culture in the early 2000s. It's Lala checking in with all things Y2K, 2000s. My favorite memory, honestly, was us having our own media platforms like Mundos and MTV3. You could turn on the TV, you see Thalia,

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I'm Israel Gutierrez, and I'm hosting a new podcast, Dub Dynasty, the story of how the Golden State Warriors have dominated the NBA for over a decade. The Golden State Warriors once again are NBA champions. From the building of the core that included Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, to one of the boldest coaching decisions in the history of the sport. I just felt like the biggest thing was to earn the trust of the players and let the players know that we were here to try to help them take the next step, not tear anything down.

Today, the Warriors dynasty remains alive, in large part because of a scrawny 6'2 hooper who everyone seems to love. For what Steph has done for the game, he's certainly on that Mount Russmore for guys that have changed it. Come revisit this magical Warriors ride. This is Dubb Dynasty. The Dubb's dynasty is still very much alive. Listen to Dubb Dynasty on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. And we're back. And we're back. Any kind of fool could see. Can't stop saying that when we come back from things now for some reason. Anyways, we do have RFK Jr. as the death czar and health czar. And we've seen quite the boom in anti-vax grifter activity since measles is now a thing that we have to worry about. health czar, and we've, we've seen quite the boom in anti-vax grifter activity. Since measles is now a thing that we have to worry about people aligned with RFK are trying their best to obscure the threat of measles and simultaneously profit off of the fear of parents who refuse to use vaccines, you know?

So last week, the guy behind the Plandemic documentary had a webinar along with Children's Health Defense, which is an organization that RFK Jr. founded. And on that webinar, he made the claim that measles actually, and I don't know if you guys knew this, it's actually a bio weapon. And that's why shit is out of hand in West Texas. So yeah, you guys probably thought it was an illness that was happening to these families because they haven't vaccinated their children.

But to quote him from the webinar, my belief after interviewing these families is that this has been manipulated and targeted toward a community that's vaccinated their children. But to quote him from the webinar, my belief after interviewing these families is that this has been manipulated and targeted toward a community that is a threat because of their natural way of living. Okay. I'm going to call it what it is. And that is a bio weapon. Okay.

Okay. I hate when podcasts say this ordinarily, but pause. Uh, natural way of living is. Do you hate it when they do that because it's confusing and you pause the podcast. Wait, they said the pause. I, uh, I, yeah, like I, I think we're all on the same page together here in that on the same page together here in that getting measles is not the ideal, you know, Tuesday or whatever. Right. Right. Like I could probably fit it in on Wednesday, but definitely not Tuesday. It's more like like a afternoon vibe. Yeah. But like I can't comment right now. Yeah. Morning

measles means you have a problem. Save measles for like after five. Yeah. Get some fucking. Liquor before measles. This is fucking scary, though. And pardon my my blue language there, because we've. I'm not going to. I can't I can't allow detailed notes about that. Oh, my gosh. I'm still in court. I counten allow it. I'm taking detailed notes about- I'm not content with this. Oh my gosh. I'm still in court.

Okay. Countenance it. Podcast court, pause. All right, so the- Can we unpause again? We can unpause. We gotta unpause. We can't.

We can't. We can't. Overruled. We get overruled. Overruled. But yeah, if you remember last week, the media was breathlessly claiming that RFK Jr. had come around on vaccines because he said the words measles can be prevented by the MMR vaccine. And then the media was like, and then we stopped listening.

So we didn't hear what he said after that, but he, they left out the part where he turned around a few hours after that statement and celebrated the healers that were helping kids in the Mennonite community. One of those healers is Richard Bartlett, the guy who was doing this, hosting this webinar. Oh, I thought he's the guy that makes pears. Yeah, he's from earlier. The Bartlett family, the pear. He invented pears, am I correct?

Yeah. Okay. I think you're Dale. The pear entrepreneurs. Sorry, I'm better prepared for this current events podcast. Prepared? Oh my God. Fingies.

He used the webinar to also sell, and this is really like next level grifting. This probably should be in the Ken Griffey senior segment, but he is selling AI-powered snake oil as part of a measles protocol. Quote, along with mouthwash, supplemental oxygen, and a few other items, the measles protocol includes Rebel Lion's own fierce immunity capsules, which cost $50 for a single bottle and contain a blend of five supplements available off the shelf that the company claims have been formulated with a supposed AI technology known as swarm intelligence. Oh, my God. This is so Leonine.

I just want to say that unpopular opinion, but those motherfuckers, if they're going to be doing dumb shit, are gonna have fresh breath while doing it. Yeah. So, you know what I mean? Mouthwash? Yeah. It's probably mouthwash that makes your breath

smell like shit, to be honest. No, why are you ruining the one good thing about this? They're like, you gotta do like a rinse with something that smells like vinegar or something. Now AI is a pretty controversial thing at the moment, often misunderstood. In fact, I fundamentally disagree with the phrase artificial intelligence. I think it's often misused. We're really talking about large language models or algorithms. But Jack, as you found,

there is a difference here for the swarm intelligence. Yeah. Unlike regular AI, his technology is the natural form of intelligence. That's the way our brain works. That's the way our body works. All organic AI, is it fucking cage-free? Is it free range? It's free fucking cage-free?

It's free range cage free AI Finally and it doesn't hallucinate because everything we are doing is based on reality based on the real evidence. It's like real It reminds me of like a Tim Robinson like character it's a natural form of That's the way our brain works. That's the way our brain works. That's the way our body works. I can totally picture that. And also I just think it's weird to be like, it's a bio weapon when like, yeah, it is if no one is vaccinated. Yeah.

You are literally making it into a bio weapon. So that's a really confusing accusation to make. It's being like, hey guys, I've made this lethal to children. And then being like, you know what's crazy? This thing is lethal to children. And it's like, no, you didn't vaccinate. We already solved this problem.

It's the MMR vaccine. It's been solved. You don't need to come through being like, oh, now it's mouthwash and bleach and clicking my heels three times and getting a perm. No. I hope perm is one of the things. Yeah. That's one of the side effects. Everybody needs perms to fight measles. Oh yeah. Hot dog costume. We're all trying to find the guys who did this. Everybody needs to be looking like Art Garfunkel if they're going to stay measles free. The future is now.

All right. We do have to move on to Complicity Huffman. And this does tie into science and RFK Jr. Because there is something called the Breakthrough Awards that are considered the Oscars for Science and Seth Rogen. But, you know, I think they try and have some entertainers there to like, kind of make it underline that idea of like the Oscars for Science. This is like the glitz and glam. Hey, I love Seth Rogen.

Yeah, I like him too. And I like him even more after this story because, so this being a room full of scientists being rewarded for breakthroughs and like progressing human knowledge and understanding of the universe, you might think that this would be a place for some commiseration on the blatantly anti-scientific values that have overtaken the US government and that are kind of on the march around the world. And then you look at who funds the awards and you start to realize that nowhere is safe, nowhere that the long fingies of capitalism touch is actually safe. The event, which was attended by Jeff Bezos

and the founding sponsors, Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin. So Seth Rogan thought it was worth noting the irony of an award honoring science sponsored and attended by the very oligarchs who are most responsible or at least partially responsible for dismantling scientific values in the United States. So his speech opened. It's amazing that others in this room underwrote electing a man who in the last week single-handedly destroyed all of American science. That's my dog right there. It's amazing how much good science you can destroy with $320 million and RFK Junior very fast. Get him Seth. That's my fucking dog.

Yeah. I am assuming that got like a pretty good pop from the actual scientists in the room and I'm going to be forced to just assume that because whoever edited the award show for broadcasts thought that irony was less worth noting and cut his comments in the version those broadcasts Rogan just starts talking about the person they're honoring. They just like have a picture of him that they just like move out to the podium and then he just starts like a fucking weird smoochie go smoochie went back to his home planet. That's that's a position where what do we say or what we used to say only a cat can

stare at a king. I can't believe they edited that part out. That's probably the part that meant the fucking most to him. Yeah. Even more frustrating is, and this just like seems like it's the, the way things operate right now. The, the people who make the show or who like the behind the show just made a statement to the Hollywood reporter that said the cuts to the YouTube broadcast were made because of time constraints.

Yeah. It's just like, yeah, I don't know. I just feel like this slide into authoritarian oligarchy and fascism, like we have, we just have so much experience now at this point, just having marketing and all the various forces of capitalism and like the market, just tell us blatant lies with like just careful wording and, you know, message discipline that the entire thing's just happening in like very polite language by polite people, you know, or, you know, just straight up lies being like,

oh, the zero to nine Supreme Court decision? No. It was zero to nine for you. No, nine was for me. The zero wasn't for me. Yeah. Like, the administration itself doesn't give a fuck. They're going to just tell blatant lies and not even try and make them sound real.

But I just feel like the lies that these organizations are telling themselves are like, they're, they're just like, yeah, whatever. I don't know, man. Just say like it was time constraints or whatever. How scary is it that Orwellian double think has become cliche and hack? You know, Orwellian double think is like too much work. Like they're just like, no, just tell the easiest lie.

Like we don't have to create new language for just fucking use like highly. You have like, you know, the marketing industry, like I always think about the fact that like the most educated people graduating from like colleges every year are going into rooms where they come up with the best language to lie to people. That's what our world is. And yeah, I mean, it's just, it's been stacked up against everybody for so long that we don't even notice.

Like we're just all of the, you know, our immune system is down. Like we we don't even notice. We're just all of the, our immune system is down. We just don't even- As someone that grew up in the Soviet Union, I can tell you that this is really familiar. Yeah. And it is especially like I was thinking about this in connection to the White House Correspondents

Dinner thing that I think we might talk about later, right? Amber Ruffin. But just the idea that everything changes to where it's essentially like, you know, people after Stalin spoke would clap for like 20 minutes straight because you never wanted to be the first one to stop because you were afraid. And now we do that for movies at Cannes. So no, but just the idea that like you can completely warp what people actually think about a thing based on all of this other stuff.

So it's like you want to work the idea of, oh, Seth Rogan was at this thing and he fully approves it. Right. Like you're putting out a YouTube thing that is actually like based on a false premise that Seth Rogan, I guarantee you, would not have said yes to this shit if he knew that they were going to cut his speech like that. So now, as far as history is concerned, hey, Seth Rogan was at the Jeff Bezos and Sergey Brin thing and he fully supports it. Right. And that, I think, is very to me like Soviet Union manipulation. Like, you just take out this little part and now the history's totally changed. Right. Yeah. And the fact that he was completely erased from any pictures at the event. Exactly.

That was actually done to conserve printer ink. We actually needed to... I don't know if you guys know how expensive that shit is. Right. So we just had to... Also, credit where due, Yosef Stalin very much a... Yosef. Very much a... Good rapper name also. a pioneer in the world of Photoshop.

Yeah. A weaponized. Really, truly. Like one of our first, he would just erase people by hand. Yeah. He was really an old school kind of guy. Oh gosh. It's also, it's a terrible and an impactful point.

You know, the, what we're, what we're saying here, folks, is that we need to pay attention to how quickly things can erode, like how quickly on normal things can be normalized. Right. Yeah. Now we're, and we just have so much experience just being like no it was done for time constraints I've had to tell that lie before that like edits were made because of time constraints when I was actually like no that just Like didn't work. Yeah, I was there. Thanks. Yeah, it was Ben's whole thing But it you know, it's, I don't know.

So yeah, let's get into the Amber Ruffin thing because it kind of flew under the radar, but a couple of weeks ago, I mean, like a month ago it was announced Amber Ruffin was going to host the White House Correspondents' Dinner. She's a super funny comedian, used to have a podcast on her network. But she- And a late night show. Late night host. Which I know is really good. Super funny. And she had said on a podcast that her roasting duties wouldn't necessarily be even handed and would focus on the administration and office.

Like, you know, every single White House correspondent ever. And she said, you know, I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. I'm going to be a host. And would focus on the administration and office? Like, you know, every single white house correspondent ever.

But the explanation, so, uh, she, she was removed a couple of weeks ago. And after like one of the, you know, partisan mega people in the Trump administration was like, she's like, look at this, she's admitting it's not going to be even handed. Like she, this is a disgrace, but I just want to read the explanation from the president of the White House Correspondence Association, who is like from Politico, you know, so presumably thinks of himself as a, you know, I call balls and strikes just right down the middle.

Tastemaker umpire. Yes. Yeah. He said that it's not because Trump mad. It's actually the reason they removed her is because it was like part of his, he kind of had like a vision for this dinner. He had a vision board. Yeah.

Yeah. Eugene Whitehouse Correspondents Association. I'm sorry. Are you a 14 year old girl planning your wedding? What the fuck are you talking about? Said his group wanted to refocus the Ritzy annual event on journalistic excellence and wouldn't have a comedian. He said in his statement, he said he'd been planning for a couple of weeks to

reimagine the dinner tradition for a couple of weeks. I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division, but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the new generation of journalists. Eh, what? It's he's just, yeah, it's I, like, I feel like this one, he might actually believe this himself, that that's why he's doing this. But it's, again, it's somebody who, a sense of like tells themselves, like, I'm again, I'm not for what Trump is for, but is just doing the thing to, you know,

be complicit, but like not have to admit to himself or to anybody else that is complicit by being like, actually, it's like more about wanting to focus on excellence as opposed to the politics of division. It's like, go truly go fuck yourself. Yeah. My arm is not long enough for the jerk offhand motion. Oh yeah. I was doing that in my head the entire time. Yeah.

Also, the thing about it is, is like the most basic level, it's like showing up to your own roast and being like, whoa, whoa, whoa. So you're saying you're going to make fun of me mostly. I think it should be even handed between me and the other people on the dais and like all the audience, because like that seems really unfair. It's like, motherfucker, that's the point of the roast. That's what the White House Correspondents Dinner is. And the whole thing about being roasted and being good natured about it

is you are in power. So the least you can do is take a couple of ha ha's. OK, no. And the fact that you're so soft that you couldn't let this happen. I'm like, this is so embarrassing. And then you're like out here being like, you guys are snowflakes. Yeah, you can't literally can't take a joke. Yeah, they didn't have the last time that they didn't have a comedian

at the White House Correspondents Dinner was in 2019 when Trump was in office the first time around. So, uh, it seems like they're a little thin-skinned. Guys, the Friars Club roast should really be about excellence in Friardom. Yeah. Excellent. What are the, who has the best fries?

That's what we're talking about. Pretty much. Yeah. All right. Let's what we're talking about. Pretty much. Yeah. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back and talk. Ken Griffiths, senior. In 2020, a group of young women in a tidy suburb of New York City found themselves in

an AI-fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts on my body parts that looked exactly like my own. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to scream. It happened in Levittown, New York. But reporting the series took us through the darkest corners of the internet and to the front lines of a global battle against deep fake pornography.

This should be illegal, but what is this? This is a story about a technology that's moving faster than the law and about vigilantes trying to stem the tide. I'm Margie Murphy. And I'm Olivia Carville. This is Levertown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope. Listen to Levittown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey kids, it's me, Kevin Smith. And it's me, Harley Quinn Smith. That's my daughter, man, who my wife has always said is just a beardless, d***less version of me. And that's the name of our podcast, Beardless D***less Me. I'm the old one. I'm the young one. And every week we try to make each other laugh really hard. Sounds innocent, doesn't it?

A lot of cussing, a lot of bad language. It's for adults only. Or listen to it with your kid. Could be a family show. We're not quite sure. We're still figuring it out. It's a work in progress. Listen to Beardless D***less Me on the iHeart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sonoro and iHeart's MyCultura podcast network present The Setup, a new romantic comedy podcast starring Harvey Guillen and Christian Navarro. The Setup follows a lonely museum curator searching for love. But when the perfect man walks into his life. Well, I guess I'm saying I like you.

You like me? He actually is too good to be true. This is a con, I'm conning you. To get the Delano painting, we could do this together. To pull off this heist, they'll have to get close and jump into the deep end together. That's a huge leap, Fernando, don't you think? After you, Chulito.

But love is the biggest risk they'll ever take. Fernando's never going to love you as much as he loves in this job. Chulito, that painting is ours. Listen to The Set Up as part of the MyCultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Israel Gutierrez, and I'm hosting a new podcast, Dub Dynasty, the story of how the Golden State Warriors have dominated the NBA for over a decade. The Golden State Warriors once again are NBA champions. From the building of the core that included Klay Thompson and Draymond Green From the building of the core that included Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, to one of the boldest coaching decisions

in the history of the sport. I just felt like the biggest thing was to earn the trust of the players and let the players know that we were here to try to help them take the next step, not tear anything down. Today, the Warriors dynasty remains alive, in large part because of a scrawny 6'2 hooper

who everyone seems to love. For what Steph has done for the game, he's certainly on that Mount Rushmore for guys that have changed it. Come revisit this magical Warriors ride. This is Dubb Dynasty. The Dubb's dynasty is still very much alive. Listen to Dubb Dynasty on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And move over baseball because grifting is the number one activity in America. I had to get that line in to justify naming the segment after a baseball player. America, you've been delvied. But, all right, so an amuse-bouche up first, just an update on a past grifting story. Shocking literally no one in the entire world. Fire Festival 2 is not happening. What Sophia and I have paid so much already.

I know. We got the $1 million ticket. We did. Did you know that that that was a package Jack, the fingies me. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For it.

I mean, we're we've been saving up a lot of money over on this end, trying to get ready for Firefest 2. So, all right. The good news is they're saying it's not at the highly unrealistic date and time that they had announced initially. You may remember that people contacted the official, the official dome of the island where this was supposedly going to take place. And we're like, Hey, like where, where are you guys on all of this? And they were like, we have not heard the first word from these people. They really did Mariah Carey.

They were like, yes, I don't know her. Truly do not know her. Firefest too. I don't. I will say, and this is kind of surprising. The people dumb enough to buy tickets like us. Thank you. From a convicted fraudster actually seem to be getting their money back right

now, despite warnings of a quote final sale on the, on the tickets. The ticketing partner sold out.com has already been issuing refunds according to a Washington Post reporter who bought a ticket, but maybe they're just getting it back to the Washington Post reporter. I think he's our Ben and I still getting our cabana. I mean, you guys can go there and get a cabana. our cabana. I mean, you guys can go there and get a cabana. It is going to be a roll of paper towels that somebody has glued to a tree.

You can take care of the rest. You can stretch it over to another one so that you get coverage from the sun. Yeah, in all fairness, they did not give us a photograph of the cabana. We were just very on board with, you know, it's like a dream big thing, you know? Yeah. Honestly, we just like the word cabana. Yeah. We're thinking of turning it into a verb.

It is a little weird how Ben always does it phonetically Spanish or he's like, Kabana, you guys have a sorry. Do you guys have a kabama? It's like when Miles comes back from Italy. By God, no. I miss Italian miles. Oh, which you must understand. With a muttad. What's the deal? Italian miles. Oh, which you must understand.

Have you not been to Italy? Oh, you must. Oh, you simply must. You simply must. You simply must. All right. So how do people recover from this tremendous cultural loss? Maybe start making some reservations at a nice little spa that I have available for you guys on And then the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next one is the next I don't know how you print it. Ontario Place was a waterfront amusement park located in Toronto that opened in the 70s, featured rides, a maze, the first ever permanent IMAX theater, according to JM. It was fucking awesome. And that is, that's too good for any city run by capitalism to let last. And so all those attractions closed in 2012. Now we got fraudster from the family of Rob Ford, who you might remember, the Canadian politician.

A big fan of his early work, yeah. Oh, man. Caught smoking crack on camera, I believe. Right. And he's a real Kaufman type. Yes. He has a performance artist. You love to see it. Corruption performance artist. Well, his brother is now so like the Nepo brother of a famously corrupt

politician is now running Toronto in many ways. is now running Toronto in many ways. And he has like set up this deal to repurpose that waterfront area to become a massive spot. Spot. He has given. It sounds like that one season of the wire. Yeah, it's like that, but way stupider, like way stupider. So that's his pitch too, by the way.

So you saw that one season of the, of the wire. So it's like that, but like way dumb. The it's going to be built by a little known European company called Thermae. And so this has been a massive controversy in Toronto, but the New York times is covering it now. So, so this company is also like controversy in Toronto, but the New York Times is covering it now. So this company is also starting projects like this around the world, England, Dubai, Dallas, and Washington, DC. The first suspicious thing about this deal is that they gave the company a...

What do you think a normal amount of time is for a lease, guys, would you say? I would say 2, 2000 years at the least. This is a 95 year lease. That was our, that was our cabana deal. Yeah. That's the cabana deal that you guys got for... Oh, excuse me. Cabana.

Yeah. Cabana. The, yeah, this is on, like, this is on the level of like C-ORG timeline, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just signed away your fucking life. I don't know if you've ever signed a Sea Org contract, but they contract you to billions and billions of years of labor. You get in situations.

Wait though, give us the real number, Jack. It's a 95-year lease. Pass. They rushed through a bill allowing the project to sidestep laws pertaining to heritage considerations and environmental assessments. You don't want any of that shit. It involves clear cutting trees, overhauling the sewage system, building a massive parking complex, and it is set to cost taxpayers $2.24 billion, which is $1.8 billion more than the

government's original internal estimate. The big thing that is raising flags beyond those details of this seems like a fucked up thing that is just, Rob Ford, he's just your stereotypical corrupt politician who has friends in the construction industry. And so he'll just green light a poorly conceived construction project. So he can award a bunch of contracts to people who will then take care of him later on. Just like the fucking wire man. Yeah, just like the wire man.

So the company that they've worked with though, is the thing that's been raising a lot of alarms. They've been presenting themselves as an established company operating as many as half a dozen spas in Europe. In reality, it has built and operated one outside of Bucharest, Romania. The company has been losing money, had less than 1 million euro in equity, which isn't great considering that each of these projects will cost around a half a billion dollars. It's losing money and has less than a million Euro in the bank. Each project would cost half a billion dollars, meaning that they would need 2.5 billion dollars to be able to do what they're claiming they can do. And they have 1 million million in the bank.

So like that's. That's like the same, honestly. It's, it's not. So like, let me, how do I put it? So, so much less. It's like a stretch goal. We could call it. Right. Yeah.

I love that you're so serious. You're like, she really believes it. So it's, hmm, how do I put this? The, so they were like, Santa is also real. So yeah, for really fan of his work.

Yeah. Just really stuff for me. Just like they were like, well, you're going to need a $100 million like cash flow and they were like done and they somehow got $100 million in the bank and no one can tell where that came from. So the Times started to look into this company and the head of their business credentials really belonged to a guy who the CEO of this company knew who died in 2017. So it's basically like a Dick Whitman and Mad Men situation where he took over.

Yes. So there's a company called Thermae that. Successfully runs spas in Europe. Had like a lot of the stuff that they're claiming they do is done by this other company that has basically the same logo. So they just copied the logo, copied the name. This guy was friends with the CEO who died in 2017 at a plane crash. And so he's like, well, you're not going to say shit. And so they just stole that company's entire story.

And the city of Toronto was like so And the city of Toronto was like so oblivious that they awarded them with like a $2.5 billion project to run. It's just the whole, like everybody who like claims that this is the best way to run a civilization. We're everybody's asleep at the wheel. Nobody is paying any attention. in a civilization where everybody's asleep at the wheel. Nobody is paying any attention. And like, it's just, why would you ever do anything legitimately when you can just

copy and paste someone's logo and the name of their business and the backstory of their business and, and get Billy, a billion dollar contract. Oh, did I tell you guys about my new podcast? The Zaley Zeitgeist? I mean, they didn't even change that. It would, they would, it would just be called the Zaley Zeitgeist. Yeah, it would still be the Zaley Zeitgeist. Uh, okay.

I want to just read this one detail from the New York Times report. A company representative said that... So, one of the details that they put in their pitch for why they should be able to pull this off was this highly successful spa that's run out of Germany by the other Thermae company. And they just specifically were like, yeah, look at this one. And so a company representative said that Thermae's wording could have been more precise and that references to its success in Germany were meant to communicate that the concept of Thermae had been successful because of Mr.

Von's track record in Germany. Your otter. Hear me out. We were just saying in theory, spas, this one does happen. I have the same company name as ours. We hope, we hope that wasn't misleading. Oh, I'm sorry. Did it was that confusing? It's just also dumb and just no, nobody's paying attention.

Nobody gives a shit. Well, what do we, what do we make of this? Like what do we think is do we make of this? Like, what do we think is going to happen, uh, for the good folks, uh, up North. At Thurman. Uh, so after the Times report, Rob Ford was like, I'm going to take another look at it and make sure that it, it passes the smell test, which it doesn't, but you know, the only reason that this was happening in the first place, I think is so that he can award a bunch of construction.

But this goes back to something I think we were talking about off Mike, which was like coming back from actual functioning cities like Tokyo and Seoul, Korea, like that. I'm just like, man, a lot of the cities in America, like in the Americas, like really should take a long look in the mirror, I feel like, because like, it's, it's just wild, like how, like you, it just shows what is possible. Like when you go to a city that has like, you know, a functioning metro system that is clean and feel safe and the streets are clean and, uh, people are kind to one another and everyone, people don't seem furious all the time and there's not like construction projects that are like loud all over the place.

And that's how I felt when I went to Helsinki. I was like, oh. Oh, for real? Yeah. Oh my God. This is how it's supposed to be. I really felt like I was outside the glass just being like, oh, now I can come through. And I'm like, all of this is real. Yeah, exactly.

It was like that. Yeah. It's a geopolitical or macrocosmic version of going to a friend's house and realizing their family gets along. And they're like, oh, yeah, we just hang out. We make dinner together. We play board games. You're invited if you like. And all the sudden, totally.

Or a two parent household period. My response to that. I'm not going gonna fucking join your cult Mormon We invited him to our board game night and he just kept cheating stealing money from the bank Settlers of Catan, I am Catan. I am Catan. I still don't know what he meant.

Yeah. I don't think he knew the rules of the game. Anyways, Ben Bowlin, what a pleasure having you. Just kept screaming, Jin. We weren't even playing that game. Ben, what a pleasure having you. Where can people find you, follow you, all that good stuff? Oh gosh, you can find me in a burst of creativity, calling myself at Bowlin B-O-W-L-I-N as Miles says anywhere on the wide old internet

where there is an at sign you can find our show stuff they don't want you to know which applies critical thinking to ideas of conspiracy and the paranormal. You can find ridiculous history where in none other than Jack Fingis O'Brien and Miles the Batman Grey will grace us every so often. It's been an every so long. Often we got to get back on that. I emailed you. I'll email your management. Yeah, talk to my people about it. Yeah, how dare you? All right. And is there a work of media that you've been enjoying?

Yes, I I know not everybody loves sketch comedy, but I do. There's a guy named Anand Raman, A-N-A-N-D-R-A-M-A-N. You can find him on your the social med means that you sip, uh, wherein he does, he does like this excellent and evil impression of Andrew Tate. It's just beautiful. It's worth your time. Uh, he's a Dubai based comedian. You can also see him, uh, doing a series of like workplace interviews that are great, short-form media. But I just like it.

I think the guy's funny and do check it out if you like comedy. If you don't like comedy, then why are you listening to this show? Fuck comedy. As Jack always says. Cool it, fangies. Sophia Alexander, thank you so much for joining. Wonderful having you as a co-host.

Where can people find you, follow you, all that stuff? And is there work of media you've been enjoying? I want to say thank you so much for having me as always. I love being here and I love you, Fingies. Oh, we love that. And what else? Oh, people can find me at the sophiat-H-E-S-O-F-I-Y-A on like everything.

And a work of media I've been enjoying is, it's actually a cartoon, it's a drawing, but I can tell you, I mean, I think it's a one, it's a one panel cartoon. I'm not like gonna be here all night. It's basically, it's by Universal. I can't read it. You see, Lick? Anyway, it is a comic and it's a guy

carrying some bunch of wood sticks on his back and he says, we should improve society somewhat. Then there's a guy in a well and he says, yet you participate in society. Curious. I am very intelligent. Everything's great. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien on blue sky at Jack OB. The number one tweet I've been enjoying is like a at stray space hound at stray space hound who

tweeted if you get a white man to say fair enough in an argument, you have defeated him on a deeper level than can be expressed with words. That's real. That's real. That's so real. And then Carl at nightlife Mingus tweeted, toilet water should be boiling hot. And I just, I don't know why, but I agree with that. I think that'd be, that'd be nice. It'd be a nice little steam room for our undercarriage.

This is a cliffhanger for a follow-up episode. You were so weird. I just needed to call it out. You looked like a sweaty downstairs for no reason. I don't know. Miles would be like, I'm gone for a second. This is what happens? That's right.

All right. You can find us on Twitter and Blue Sky at Daily Zeitgeist. We're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. You can go to the description of this episode wherever you're listening to it, and you can 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. With Miles out, we'd like to ask super producer Justin Connor, is there a song that you think people might enjoy? Yeah, we were having a discussion off mic about how Ben and Sophia are friends of the pod and also, side note, Zeit Gang was very nice about the fact that I messed up a little bit on an edit of the pod yesterday and another time recently and they were gracious as good friends I want to do. So in honor of those very loosely connected and strained concepts, I'm recommending a song by MF Doom. It's called Deep Fried

Friends. It's got such a clever usage of sampling from the 80s hit Friends by Houdini and there's incredible wordplay and the beat has a fun weekend barbecue vibe. So it being Friday today, you should check out Deep Fried Friends. That's F R E N Z by MF Doom. And you can find that in the footnotes. Footnotes. The Daily Zeitgeist is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That's going to do it for us this morning. And that's going to do it for us for the whole damn week. We hope you enjoyed season 384. You got there.

I hope you enjoyed season 384. That was the grand finale. We have a best of cut down of this week's episodes coming tomorrow and then we're back on Monday morning to tell you what is trending. And we will talk to you all then. Bye. The Daily Zeitgeist is executive produced by Katherine Law, co-produced by

Bae Wang, co-produced by Victor Wright, edited and engineered by Justin Connor. engineered by Justin Connor. In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI-fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts. This is Levittown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg, and Kaleidoscope about the rise of deepfake pornography and the battle to stop it. Listen to Levittown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast.

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