The Daily Zeitgeist - POTUS JOKES, China PWNS NBA 10.8.19

Episode Date: October 8, 2019

In episode 490, Jack and Miles are joined by Ridiculous History and Stuff They Don't Want You To Know's Ben Bowlin to discuss the GOP's flip flopping on Trump's call to China to investigate Biden, Trump blaming Ukraine call on Rick Perry, alcohol Tide Pods, James Harden apologizing to China, stories from the Joker screenings over the weekend, and more! Plus Robert Evan's joins to discuss Trump backing Turkey's plans to sweep the American-backed Kurdish forces. FOOTNOTES:1. GOP Can’t Seem To Get On Same Page On Trump’s Call For China To Probe Biden2. This morning in the Florida Keys, @marcorubio was asked about the President calling on China to investigate @JoeBiden - see his answer3. George Stephanopolous presses Republican Rep. Jim Jordan several times about whether he thought it was appropriate for Trump to ask China to investigate Joe Biden. Jordan would not directly respond.4. Asked what he thought about Trump asking China to investigate the Bidens, @GOPLeader McCarthy gaslights: "You watch what the president said -- he's not saying China should investigate," he says.5. Scoop: Trump pins Ukraine call on Energy Secretary Rick Perry6. Profit, not politics: Trump allies sought Ukraine gas deal7. America's Kurdish allies risk being wiped out – by Nato8. President Endorses Turkish Military Operation in Syria, Shifting U.S. Policy9. Glenlivet introduces alcoholic Tide Pods and we're all thinking the same thing10. JAMES HARDEN APOLOGIZES TO CHINA After Rockets GM's Pro Hong Kong Tweets11. WATCH: James Harden issues apology after tweet by team manager Daryl Morey12. Box Office: ‘Joker’ Smashes October Record With $96 Million Debut13. Moviegoer At Times Square Theater Reportedly Escorted Out Of ‘Joker’ Screening After Cheering On-Screen Murders14. 2 men arrested during ‘Joker’ screening at AMC theater in Chicago15. ‘Joker’ Audience Self-Evacuates Long Beach Theater Because Of “Suspicious Subject”16. 'Noxious substance' released at Kitchener cinema where Joker, Downton Abbey playing17. These Fake Joker Signs At Movie Theaters Are Getting Out Of Hand18. WATCH: Little Simz - Venom Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark vs. Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark vs. Angel Reese, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports.

Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark vs. Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke.

Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do what was that that was live audio of a woman's nightmare can k trust her sister or is history repeating itself there's nothing dangerous about what you're doing they're just dreams dream sequence is a new horror thriller from blumhouse television iheartHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How do you feel about biscuits?

Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels, into something everyone in the South loves. The biscuits. I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot.

Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to Season 103, Episode 2 of Dirty Zite, guys! Yeah! A production of iHeartRadio. you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to season 103, episode 2 of... The Daily Zeitgeist! Yeah! ...production of iHeartRadio. This is a podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness and say officially off the top, fuck Coke Industries, as in the Coke Brothers and fuck Fox News.

Fuck them. It is Tuesday, October 8th, 2019. My name is Jack O'Brien, a.k.a. O-B-R-I-E-N O'Brien. That is courtesy of Ace Finkter, says, and I'm thrilled to be joined, as always, by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray! Russian propaganda, it's the daily zeit, and I'm voting right.

The party's on the Soviet side side as i reach for my jewel pot and i burn it up trolls from olingo took their meals from the cucks wait took emails from the cucks democracy's overrated putin in the street yelling miles yeah we made it okay thank you to christy amaguchi main for that one know, just keep the Montel Jordan. He's just keeping the momentum alive. So thank you for that one. Kind of buzzed, and it's all because. This is how we do it. I can't hear an AKA from that song and not want to complete the lyrics from where it is.

I know. It's a problem that I have to deal with. That is my cross to bear. What was that bit in South Park that Cartman had to finish? Sailing, wasn't that? There was a good bit where he's like, I have to finish with. That is my cross to bear. What was that bit in South Park that Cartman had to finish? Sailing? Wasn't that? There was a good bit where he was like, I have to finish it when I hear it.

That was probably the last episode of South Park ever sung. Oh, really? Yeah, I didn't. I fell off a little bit. How long ago was that? I honestly think that was from 2001. Oh, wow.

Well, we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat by the hilarious and talented host of Stuff They Don't Want You To Know and Ridiculous History. He is Mr. Ben Bowler. Thanks for having me, guys. That's a hell of a setup. Hilarious and talented? You know.

Could you do like middling or severely okay? No. Thrilled to be joined by middling and severely okay. Se. It's great to be joined by that. Middling and severely okay. Did you say that? That was pretty good. Severely just all right. Yeah. Severely mediocre.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, great, man. Suffering with acute mediocrity. It's great to have you in person. Oh, that's right. I think we've... Well, this is the second... Well, this is our third time around now, right?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And last time we were in Orlando together in a very huddled room. Nice to have you in person and not in Miles' bedroom. In your house for the weekend. Great. We're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're going to tell our listeners a few of the things we're talking about today.

We're going to talk about James Harden apologizing to the People's Republic of China. What did he do? He did nothing. Oh, right. talk about James Harden apologizing to the People's Republic of China. What did he do? He did nothing. Oh, right. We're going to talk about why that sentence is not an indication that I'm having a stroke. We're going to check in with a whistleblower, Ukraine controversy, Rick Perry. We're going to talk about people's predictions. They're really running the gamut these days about how this whole impeachment thing is going to affect Trump.

We are going to speak with Robert Evans about Syria. What's going on with America's sort of decision to step aside and let Turkey do their thing in Syria. And, of course, we have to check in about the Tide Pods for Scotch, the whiskey Tide Pods. Finally. And Joker did break the record at the box office like we expected. We're going to talk about that, what it was like at the theater. Our writer went. I went and saw it over the weekend and just general impressions.

But first, Ben, we'd like to ask our guest, what is something from your search history that is revealing about who you are? All right. So it turns out if someone looked at my search history today, they would see frantic, frenetic search for dispensaries. Since I'm here in L.A., they would see how to find a Cessna in Alaska. And then they would see Andrew Johnson overrated because yesterday I was in Greenville, Tennessee where everything, it's a small town,

third oldest town in Tennessee. Fucking everything is Andrew Johnson branded. Cause that's their claim to fame wow he's from there high school any anything the guy regarded to be america's worst president up to this up to three years ago right until until three years ago yeah it was uh him and a couple of other uh people in a hotly contested race to the bottom right yeah so that's that's what took over for lincoln right yeah yeah and really shat the bed yeah uh it's like the idea they're like dispensaries all right where do i get a single engine cessna okay now that i'm high where do i get a single

engine and let's learn more about like imagine if they had this kind of loud in Alaska. The profits would be rolling in. Oh, yeah. That could, if the FBI is paying attention, they might think you are buying weed here from a dispensary because you're like the worst businessman ever and then trying to sell it in Alaska. Volume, baby. It's volume.

How much can you move at a time? Oh, about 56 grams. Okay. Two ounces? In my defense, the Cessna stuff, I was Googling Cessna wreckage, fine wrecked Cessna. So the NSA intern who is unfortunately tasked with monitoring me, shout out to Steve if he's listening. And unit 144832-B, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. The whole crew. Who watches all podcasts. He's like, you're getting a little sloppy, my man. I knew that was you at CVS. Right. Did you find a dispensary? I found some stuff.

I'm very much new to that exploration, and I only decided to do it. Well, allow me to help you, sir. Oh, my gosh. Consider me Aladdin and this studio a magic, because I can show you the world. Miles, you didn't need to go behind him and put your arms around him from whispering. No, no, no. Don't you dare close your eyes. The start of the song.

Ben, what is something you think is overrated? Oh, my gosh. Besides Andrew Johnson in that one town. Yeah, I like the town, just not the branding. I think I'm going to go real quick through a few. Sex in space, overrated. Okay. The concept of having sex in space?

Oh, no. Apparently the practice. The concept is dope. Okay. Right. Like sci-fi. Conceptually great. Yeah.

In practice. Yeah. Yeah. That's a weird flex. So you're space fucking recently? You know, not yet, but I was- A wizard never tells. Well, because there's been this rumor for a long time

that there were secret US and Russian experiments to see whether people could have sex in space. I'm just sorry, bro. The concept to see if people could. I know. Well, no, but that's a valid question because- People in NASA are lonely. Well, like as if- There's something that because- People in NASA are lonely. Well, like, as if-

Wait, what's contested that you couldn't nut? There's something that gets fucked up with your blood flow. Right. When you are in zero gravity. And it's like automatically it's going to have to be, or even low gravity, it's going to automatically have to be kind of BDSM, because you got to get some Velcro in there.

Yeah. Also, I'm just going to say it. I think a lot of Vegas is overrated. And I think it's gross when people do like performative selfies with the suffering, you know, when they're like. With the suffering. Yeah. Okay. But, but.

Was that thought connected to Las Vegas? No, no. That's when people go to an economically developing country and they're like, oh, look at me. Like Yes Jules. Rightules, famously on Instagram. But mainly sex in space. I'm preoccupied with the idea that people put money into this concept. We can get to it later. But the people were sitting there and saying, all right, we need to put people in space.

Let's fucking figure it out. How do we grow stuff? Who was that one person in the room who leaned in and was like, hey, hey, hey. Hey, Bolin, what do you got? Okay, good. The agriculture and geospace. Bolin, what do you got? All right.

So, right. There was an all right, so moment. Yeah. Right. And they're like, don't ask Ben. You know what he's going to say. He says it every time. I think we should see if boners are possible in space.

That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. I've got a PowerPoint. It's one slide. Maybe? Yeah, but it's strange because it's also, I've been preoccupied with this realization. I don't know if we mentioned this in previous episodes, but statistically speaking, someone out there,

maybe even listening now, is the world's worst astronaut. This is just the hazard of the statistics. And that's probably the person who was like, you know what? We really need to prioritize. Sex in space. Do we have any kind of more deeper understanding if the erection is possible in zero gravity? Is that really the main point, right? If we're talking about is sex possible in space, that's because conceivably zero gravity is preventing really the main point right if we're talking about is sex possible

in space that's because conceivably zero gravity is preventing someone from having an erection i i forget where i read that but i do i do know that zero gravity does fuck with i think oh wait it was carved into a stall at a buffalo well because they say like your head starts to grow because there's like because yeah it's easier your, your body is designed to pump blood up against a force of gravity. And so it's pumping blood like harder than it needs to into your head and less hard below the heart. Well, the big question to what's,

what's missing the point about anyone who's like, all right, let's figure this little resilience. What they're not thinking about is that. Good good impression of dorks by the way um excuse me that was my real voice it slipped it was my radio voice but uh is that they don't need they don't you don't actually need to have any kind of intercourse in space you could just artificially inseminate because the big question is how how would an embryo develop? But no, but no, someone's like,

you know, what can we get away with? Missionary? I just like that when you start searching this, there's clickbait ass titles to shit that goes, this is not joking, this is from VIX.com, I don't know what the fuck that website is, but it says, you won't believe what happens to an astronaut's penis in outer space.

Hell yeah. Please let me know. There's also some really good footage of like different things they're testing out in outer space. And there's, I think, a pigeon. They released a dove, I think, in outer space. And it's like trying to fly, but it like doesn't know what the fuck. It's not in outer space. It's in zero gravity.

I'm pretty sure the pressure would... Right. Okay. It's like in a zero gravity thing and it looks really hilarious. Ha ha, pigeon. Yeah, I know. It's almost like humans being like,

we have spent so long marveling at flight. Let's take those birds down. How about this asshole? Try and get some lift out here, motherfucker. Stupid idiot. Then it later died of a stress-induced cardiac arrest. What's something you think is underrated? Other than quesadillas, I strongly feel that it is...

I strongly feel that trolling political figures, especially Donald Trump, on Twitter is underrated. I also think it is... I love that you guys shout out the Koch brothers and the Coke to push every episode, because I think that the actions of the Coke machine are severely underrated, especially given the death of one of the brothers who wasn't even like the, wasn't even the final boss.

Right. And everyone's, Oh, ding dong, the witch is dead. Right. But it's like, okay,

if you, if you have some semblance of humanity and you object to the the socio-political machine socio-economic machine they put in place then everything you fucking hate about that guy is alive and well right right so like the the importance of his death is is overrated and the effect of that thing is underrated right he was just the henchman well yeah or it's just like people have this idea, like they oversimplify like these kinds of plans that have been like 40 years in the making. Right.

That somehow the guy died. So it's over. One guy. It's like, no, this is like decades of momentum behind it. And it's not about this one person. We have this like sort of movie idea of like well if the bad guy's dead then they all live happily ever after right it's like no their plan lives happily ever after and i took some heat on that uh in in conversations you know online and stuff because we did a show on we did

a show on david coke and uh and people were like well you know out of respect right out of respect for the dead and his family and it's like where was his respect For the people who did literally die Because of his actions And people who will continue to because of like The sort of systems that are in place And lack of care for people I think it's libertarian

Masturbatory you know circle jerking And finally What is a myth Something people think is true. Got a plot twist for you. Uh-oh. Got a plot twist for you, Jack. The Koch brothers were bad.

So I set up Sex in Space because it turns out it is a hoax, at least officially. There have been multiple sources confirming that no one actually had sex in space. That's just a myth because like you said miles it's it's good clickbait right and uh so people propagated it and jack you are correct that uh everything we know about physics shows us the the circulatory system will be just a in a very poor state right if there's not gravity because it's designed to work with gravity. But as far as we know, there has not been an experiment in actual space.

Maybe some low gravity banging, but no up in the shuttle. Zero G, right. Yeah, I mean, space is tight. You're basically in a unit. I think there were some unsanctioned experiments probably happening with one person. I would think so.

I mean... Solo experiments. Right. Man, I've been up in this fucking space station too long. And if you're listening and you're that person, then write to Jack and Miles. Yeah. I mean, somebody must have...

Like, there's been astronauts up there for a year by themselves. I'm sure they jerked off at some point. I mean, according to this VIX article, they talk about how microgravity affects the penis. And look, shout out to anybody who has any ED problems or you can't last. Just say you were in space a long time. Because what it says is the penis does not get as large

as it can while on Earth. And an erection in outer space doesn't last as long as it can while on Earth. But they say there is an exception to every rule. Astronaut Mike Mullane spoke about his peculiar reaction to being in the international space station he claims that several times while in the space station he woke up with impressive erections that for him has the ability to quote drill through kryptonite who said that surely not i well look they hyperlinked off let's see is this to an actual men's health

article uh with him and let's see we're let's do a quick find a couple of times i would wake up from sleep periods and i had a boner that i could have drilled through kryptonite uh-huh somehow that's better than him the image of somebody waking up and seeing their erection going impressive right like through Kryptonite is such a strange... It suggests that he's competitive with Superman when it comes to the strength of their erection.

He couldn't touch Kryptonite, though. He's like, my erection is the best erection in the world. Superman's couldn't even get through the thing mine could. But that's not fair to Superman because Kryptonite is his thing. Right. Which it would have been like titanium.

Right. Because then you could have a fair one with Superman. But Superman can fuck through titanium. But that's where you have to give it up, Wayne. That's why I'm suggesting that he is... That's where he looks very shady. He's clout chasing and insecure. Yeah.

Of course, Superman can't get anywhere near kryptonite, sir. That's not a fair comparison. Right. But it is apparently a myth, but there's still people claiming that it happens. There was a- That Superman was born with the kryptonite? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. No, no, no. Well, the sex thing. Oh, yeah. There's a French writer in a book, The Final Mission, Mer, The Human Adventure. He says that it did happen. His name is Pierre Kohler. And everybody in Russian and U.S. space agencies denies it.

But, of course, why would you, especially when funding is getting cut left and right, why would you confirm that? Yeah, it's like hedonism in space up there. It's basically Vegas. They're like, hey, man, they're ripping and they're tearing. They're ripping and they're tearing. That's what I'm here for. One guy in this interview, they ask men's health the question, has anyone ever had sex? He says, in the space shuttle program where we had males and females, I can tell you that nobody was doing that because there's absolutely no privacy.

The only privacy would have been in the airlock. But everybody would know what you were doing. You're not going out there to do a spacewalk. There's no reason to be in there. So I wonder if there have been people been like, yo, let's fuck in the airlock real quick. And it's like to have the thing where it's like, everyone knows what you're doing in the airlock.

Is he alluding to something? Tell them that we're fixing the suits. Tell them there's a suit problem. We have a maintenance bay for that. There we go. I didn't want to derail, but that's weird. This whole show is derailing. Yeah, it's derailment.

All right, we're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball

just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really hear them voice. I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her.

What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really hear them voice. I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on.

From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is braggadocious. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game?

And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. Listen to the making of a rivalry, Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today.

And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore.

The story of one strange and violent summer. This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, fam. I'm Simone Boyce. I'm Danielle Robay. or wherever you get your podcasts. like our recent episode with dancer, actor, host of Dancing with the Stars, and now novelist, Julianne Hough. I feel really whole. I feel like the last few years I've really unraveled a lot, which is part of what this book is about. And I really feel so content,

which is a word that used to scare the crap out of me. And I love that word now. Listen to The Bright Side from Hello Sunshine on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And let's check in with the whistleblower saga so after what happened at the end of last week where we got the text messages that were basically people within the administration and within the State Department being like, we will give you a meeting with him. Like, just, they, all that was left out was quid pro quo.

Yeah, it was very elegantly put where it's like, you know, we'll consider it if, look, you're considering this not as forceful as Trump was on the phone. Right. It was like, I need a favor, though. But then there was a diplomat who found out about it and in text messages was like, holy shit, we're withholding military aid in order to for political purposes.

That's disturbing. And the guy responded like he knew that somebody was eventually going to read these. But yeah, it's getting worse. And again, there's no coherent messaging in terms of what the strategy is from the White House. It's ranged from, nah, these ain't crimes. I think he's mistaking his transparency as being okay. Yeah, he thinks he's getting in front of it. That's the weird thing.

Right. It's like, well, you're still transparently committing these corrupt acts. So it's not that your transparency is somehow negating that. And has anybody considered how this will affect the trade conflict? Because this is tremendous leverage for the PRC, for Xi Jinping can just simply say, you know, I'll release the transcript. And then the Kremlin, I know you guys probably talked about this. The Kremlin said, well, we need the green light released in the transcript. What the fuck is that?

Although they were like, sure, you can take out the Helsinki notes. I think they were saying like they would be okay with that. But I don't know if that was like a troll move to be like, yeah, do that. Yeah. See what happens. See how that looks. Push me. You know what we did.

Push me. So now we've moved on to, you know, last week, Trump even said, you know, China, I think they should investigate the Bidens. And people are like, dude, shut the fuck up. You just did the thing again out loud. But I mean, that seems to be his strategy is doing the thing out loud to make it seem like it's not a big deal. Because it's about corruption. It's about corruption.

It's not about smearing somebody who I think is the front runner who I'm going to run against. Right. Like that time when he was like, I could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and nothing would happen. that time when he was like i could shoot somebody in on fifth avenue and nothing would happen like that shooting someone on fifth avenue actually appears to be a part of his strategy to do the crime out in the open we are we're approaching that moment of the administration i'm sure um so now right on the sunday shows officials from the white house were very uh it was very clear they were not having anything to do with the sunday, which usually that's when you get them out there to be like, this is what's going on from the White House perspective. This time, they only had a bunch of shook Congress people who, this time, when pressed again, the question du jour was, why did he just ask China to now meddle in this?

Isn't that inappropriate? And no one could give a fucking straight answer. And the answers were all over the place. So, okay, let's look at Marco Rubio first. He's asked, hey, what's going on? He just asked China to investigate Biden for political purposes. And here's Marco's answer. Do you think it's okay for President Trump to ask China to launch an investigation of Joe Biden and Hunter Biden? I don't know if that's a real request or him just needling the press, knowing that you guys were going to get outraged by it.

He's pretty good at getting everybody fired up, and he's been doing that for a while, and the media responded right on task. You're one of the loudest critics of China and its human rights abuses. I mean, is it okay for him to ask to say that? I don't think it's a real request. Again, I think he did it to gig you guys. I think he did it to provoke you to ask me and others? I don't think it's a real request. I think, again, I think he did it to gig you guys. I think he did it to provoke you to ask me and others and get outraged by it. Like I said, I mean, he plays it like a violin

and everybody falls right into it. That's not a real request. So he's doing the crimes as a joke to get you guys mad. You know, he's just trolling, bro. You know how he does, y'all. He just does a thing. You guys are all, ooh, look, he's doing crimes. And he gets y'all up in a tizzy.

He does a crime in public because he wants to get you guys, the media, to react and look at you. You're covering the fact that the president of the United States did a crime in public. It's jokes, bruv. It's jokes, bruv. But that's the fourth dimensional chess argument, right? But that's like the fourth dimensional chess argument, right? Like, oh, his real strategy for speaking with leaders of foreign countries who are not all the time 100% aligned with the U.S. is to mess up the news cycle temporarily? Right.

Yeah, that also shouldn't be. Okay. So his priority is to fuck with the news media. That's your defense. That's like a DC level, like golden era. You know, when they had all those ridiculous super villains, that's like calendar man shit.

Right. Right. And then Jim Jordan, he went to go holler at George Stephanopoulos and this dude, I don't know why he keeps going out. Cause like the week last week, he literally said, who is it? I think to Jake Tapper, he, when. Because like the week, last week, he literally said, who is it?

I think to Jake Tapper, when being pressed about the actions of the president, he just said, come on, man. Come on. That's what he did last time. So I don't know why he thought he was going to go out this time and somehow be amazing. So this is him on Stephanopoulos. Again, terrible defense. But I'm still, I still haven't gotten an answer to the question. Is it appropriate for the president to ask China to investigate Joe Biden?

I think he's got you guys all spun up and obviously you're not asking me the question. You're not answering it again because you haven't answered it. I don't think he really meant go investigate because I do you think China's going to investigate him? I don't know if China's going to investigate him. I know the president is trying to investigate. No, they're not. George, come on. Why can't you answer yes or no? Do you think it's appropriate? I don't because I don't think that's what he? Because I don't think that's what he did. I don't think that's what he did. But it was right there on camera.

I think Senator Rubio had it exactly right. I think our side says this is exactly what, I think most Americans say this is exactly what the president is doing. He's just cut off. He, again, not much there to work with. He did it just to get you guys mad. China knows it's a bit. He didn't even China knows it's a bit. China gets it.

China's in on the bit. Dude, don't you guys fuck with comedy? See, this was a problem with PC culture, man. Like, no, jokes are fucking jokes no more. You can't even be like, China, I need you to investigate a political opponent. Right. It was fucking, that's like top level comedy shit, man. Yeah.

Fuck. And finally, Kevin McCarthy had to go out there and basically just deny that Trump even said, let me just give for context, right? The thing that happened when Trump was asked, they're saying, what did you want Zelensky to do? And he said, you know, I think he needs it. I need to look into the Bidens because there's terrible corruption. We need to look into corruption. Then he continued that statement, said this is a verbatim quote. Likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is about as bad as what happened with Ukraine. That's the that's the quote from this man's mouth.

Cut to Kevin McCarthy on Fox and Friends with a whole new strategy, which is gaslighting. Yesterday, Jim Jordan was asked about the president saying, I want China to investigate Biden. And he said he was just like Marco Rubio. He was just trolling China. He was just having fun. Do you believe the president was kind of just having fun when he said, like Jim Jordan said, that, hey, China, I want you to investigate Biden's investment? When you look at it, you watch what the president said.

He's not saying China's investigating. But let's get to the clear point. If I'm a member of Congress and I break the law and there should be investigation and i run for another okay cut there's nothing much that has been said he literally just said i mean i don't that's not what he said right i just read you the quote likewise china should start an investigation into the bidens because what happened in china is just about as bad as what happened with that miles he didn't say that and the thing is you know when you talk about corruption okay wow uh it's a bit of a panic so now we're in the new

phase of the scandal where again every time someone gets pressed they throw somebody else under the bus when it was rudy he threw the state department under the bus when it was trump first person under the bus was mike pence then this time according to axios he's now throwing rick perry and the department of energy under the bus there was a quote in this Axios article from over the weekend where Trump was on a call with other House members. And this is what he said, according to people who were on the call. This is from Trump. Quote, not a lot of people know this, but I didn't even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick Perry asked me to.

Something about an liquefied natural gas plant. Weak. But then people are like, wait, what? So is there a, there's an energy dimension to this too. And it turns out there is now,

but not necessarily with Trump. But when Rudy Giuliani was out there fucking parading around Ukraine, being like, I'm the president's personal attorney. He also was making inroads for clients of his in the United States with these two Ukrainian Americans and a Texas energy guy who basically were like, this would be a dope, sick-ass plan. We're going to donate a ton of money to Trump PACs. Get in with y'all. But here's our thing.

What if you took the Ukrainian gas company, Naftogaz, completely flipped their board with people who we want, and then we can start exporting our gas to Ukraine and everybody's going to make money. That's essentially what was going on. And they had everyone from Giuliani talking to these people to like these Americans who were like reaching out to people who are already on the board of this company and be like, you know, actually, we think you should be the man. They're like, this feels like a shakedown. Right.

Somebody would be like, you know, actually, we think you should be the man. They're like, this feels like a shakedown. Right. And then the so then on top of that, Rick Perry personally delivered this message to Zelensky as well, saying like this is from an article from the AP said Perry made clear that the Trump administration wanted to see the entire NAFTA gas supervisory board replaced, according to a person who attended both meetings perry again referenced the list of advisors that he had given zelensky and it was widely interpreted uh that he wanted michael blizer a ukrainian american businessman from texas to join the newly formed board then the problem was then um rick perry this is where what trump was talking about he asked trump to then hey make sure to like also mention that thing on the call too right yeah while you're up while you're while you're up there get that one in there too because i'm also working some side this whole fuck again it's like you're starting to see just sort of how he's corrupting every single person now and now everyone's like well fuck it i mean i guess if we're gonna lean on him for all kinds

of stuff like let's maybe make some money too and let me just point out that rick perry when he was in the running or as as a presidential candidate, he said, you know what? We should abolish a ton of shit, including the Department of Energy, and now he's in charge of it? Yeah. And that's one of the ones whose name he could remember. He couldn't remember

the other one. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Don't be fooled by the glasses. Right. Or, you know, search His Wonderful Ranch and Word Head. Right. Or, you know, intelligent guy. Search, search his wonderful ranch and word head. Right. Right. Thank you for mentioning that. Peep that article because you really want to get a glimpse into this man's head.

He just looked that up. There's a, I think a ton of easy coats actually wrote about it like way back. But yeah, again, this is sort of the snake pit that we're operating in. Yeah. And kind of taking a step back about how the entire impeachment is playing for him,

because, you know, we have conflicting data. We have polling data that says that support for impeachment is skyrocketing. That's what we're seeing in polling. But we're also seeing his approval rating hold steady at a not good, but still you know low 40s mcmulvaney claims that based on their skyrocketing fundraising following the opening of the impeachment inquiry that he expects trump to win in a historic 45 state landslide uh once the impeachment is over uh because that's the deal he cut his base is fired up at the four governments that they're meddling with. Hey, can you give me 45 States?

Um, cause I'm the 45th president, but you were even pointing out that his numbers are going up with independence or at least Biden fucking dived 18 points, right? He had a 18 point or 19 point lead, 18 or 19 point lead over Trump with independence that now he only has a one point advantage now.

Yeah. And I think it's a it's a very it's like within single digits. He has leads over Warren and Sanders, too. But I mean, I think, you know, those if the if the needle move for independence away from Biden last week, that means that means they bought this idea that the debunked bullshit about the Bidens is true. Or like I said, not to say that what biden isn't doing reeks of nepotism and the kind of shit that we don't like that we would ideally not have in our politics that maybe those people are principled enough but maybe there are people who are trump

supporters who call themselves independents sure like well you know actually after this you know if there's if the biden's are corrupt maybe I mean, if you just think about sheer volume of messaging, like we're hearing nonstop defenses from Trump of his, you know, horrible corruption. And he's got this huge, massive machinery of the U.S. presidency and this huge, one of the, if not the richest presidential election campaign. So he has this huge war chest. the richest presidential election campaign. So he has this huge war chest.

I saw he's running some pretty effectively made campaign ads, uh, that are insane propaganda. But if that's where you're getting your information from, it seems like he is most in his element when he's in involved in a conflict or involved in a fight. There has to be something to react to, right? Right. Yeah. And so this to be something to react to, right? Right, yeah.

And so this gives him something to react to. But like I said, there's also reason to think. Support for impeachment is higher now than it was with Nixon at this stage. That can't be good. And also we've got a second whistleblower. Yeah, we have a second whistleblower. It seems like there's a ton more shit coming out. A member of his executive team used to run his construction projects and kind of knows like the anatomy of a Trump meltdown, believes that he's going to resign rather than face impeachment eventually.

I also want to point out, I don't, i'm sure everyone saw this he when he was uh having a lover's quarrel with fox he floated the idea of having a state-owned uh out media outlet that would be more in line yeah these are i mean these are all things that are going to look like very clear steps to future historians yeah right yeah what starts off is like, well, Fox News wasn't enough. And he jokingly said that. And welcome to the Trump News Network. Although, I mean, the people that he has on his own, like weird little YouTube channel. It's very, if that's what it's going to look like, I think we'll be okay.

It's like the least convincing conversations about nothing I've ever seen. And again, there's this woman who's on there. Who is this woman who claims she was a pussycat doll. And they're like, yo, she wasn't in the group. Oh, really? Yes, dude. She's like hotly contested because when they blew up,

she wasn't part of the group. But I think she was saying in the buildup was. And that's like one of their sort of nicer, like clearly they're like, we need a hot blonde woman because everyone is so like camera ready on that channel. And it's like Laura Trump, too. It's really about there's no substance.

It's all the optics of it. Yeah. All right. Let's move on to the stakes. What having somebody like this in office running U.S. foreign policy does to the world. does to the world. And we actually have Robert Evans, a host of Behind the Bastards in the new weekly podcast, Worst Year Ever, about the 2020 election and just all politics in general at this very moment on. He has recently come back from being in northern Syria, which is exactly where this Kurdish-led fighting force is from.

So basically, the U.S. partnered with a fighting force in northern Syria to defeat ISIS in that part of the country. And it's partially Kurdish, which is an ethnic group in that region of the world that doesn't actually have a state. But it's also a bunch of other people, other types of people. And Robert Evans, host of Behind the Bastards, who's about to join us, went over there and actually spent some time with this fighting force because they're incredibly progressive. But anyways, the US partnered with them to drive out ISIS and they are despised by

them to drive out isis and they are despised by erdogan and you know his government in turkey and he's been itching to have the all clear to attack them and basically carry out essentially a genocide well right yeah and i think the u.s pulling out sort of is like okay well we'll turn our backs to this and but just promise you'll be good promise you won't do the thing that history and what we think with our we see with our own eyes won't happen right trump announced uh two nights ago that he is going to step aside basically let let turkey do its thang uh and that and that thang is fucking violent and terrible that's t-h-aA-N-G. Yes. And it's, you know, experts on the region are troubled for a number of reasons. We wanted to ask you, and Robert, because you were like a couple weeks ago hanging out with these Kurds in northern Syria. Yeah, I mean, you know, they're not all Kurds. That's generally how it gets boiled down in the media, because it's a very complicated situation. But the group that is in control of Rojava, and particularly the military forces there, but also sort you know, there were a number of different groups out there,

a number of ethnic groups. And in the early days of the Rojavan Project, most of the, particularly the fighting forces, were Kurds. But that's no longer the case in every region. Like some of the places, some of the cantons, which is essentially analogous to a state that we went, they were actually majority Arab fighting forces. I spent a day on a military base for the training of members of like the women's militia that was all Arab. So it's a very mixed force. And in fact, one of the things that like it's pushed a lot to kind of

defame these people in the international media is the idea that they're all Kurdish and that the Kurdish dominated force. And so like that's one of the international media is the idea that they're, they're all Kurdish and that the Kurdish dominated force. And so like, that's one of the lines Turkey's using is that these cities rightfully belong to Arabs. And the Kurds are like ethnically cleansing these regions of Arabs and nothing could be further from the truth. What's kind of like, I know when you were there, right, there was all,

I'm sure there's always like this fear that Turkey would invade or the U.S. would basically turn its back on the Kurds. What was sort of the environment like when you were there when things were not as certain? I would say I was within one to two miles, sometimes within a couple of dozen feet of the Turkish border. Much of my time in Rojava, I was actually usually using the Turkish cell network just because those were the strongest cell towers in the area. And you could see the entire Turkish border with Rojava is there's an enormous border wall, huge concrete slabs and guard towers. And it just sort of looms over everything on that side of things. And the Turks built up with this enormous you know it's kind of like the wall that i think donald trump dreams about at night when he imagines what

he might build on the mexican border it's that kind of construction are there lasers that would like chop you in half and uh alligators guarding the wall not yet not yet but i think that has more to do with the the climate you know, the sand damages laser working. Yeah, that's true. Alligators don't do so well in the high desert. Yeah. But like, while the Turkish forces like built up with this gigantic wall, the Kurds were drilling down. And you could watch the construction of it wasn't even really secret.

Hundreds of miles of tunnels under every single city and every single military base. And 25 meters down, I looked down into a couple of the shafts while they were building, like enormous constructions meant to be protected from aerial bombardment and everything that they'd been building for years. It was a really like significant construction. And everyone I talked to and befriended over there was sort of, there was this kind of, there was a little bit of hope, hey, maybe the US won't abandon us. But I would say the vast majority of people I talked to, there was this kind of dull acceptance that like, y'all are going to abandon us. Sooner or later, you're going to abandon us and we're going to have to fight Turkey. Like, there are very pragmatic people over there. You don't get a lot of kind of hopeful idealism over there. There was this kind of, we're enjoying some peace now and it's nice, but there's no way we can trust the guy who's running y'all's country. And in general, because things change so much,

depending on who's in charge in the United States, we really can't rely on you for long anyway. And there's sort of a burden of history at play here, too, because it's unfortunately part of the U.S.'s geopolitical M.O., right? To use groups, use indigenous groups against one another and then abandon them, right? This is not the first iteration of this sort of strategy. Yeah, you know, it's always a little different each time. One of the other cases in history that people will point to as sort of being like this is what happened with the Montagnards in Spain, which was a group of indigenous people in Vietnam who fought with the United States and with South Vietnam against, you know, the

Vietnamese communist forces. And, you know, obviously that didn't work out. But we did, there was a pretty comprehensive resettlement plan for like helping those people who could get, those Montagnards who could get out of Vietnam, find homes in the United States. A lot of them wound up in like Michigan, I think. I've talked to a couple of people for whom that was the journey. And the same thing kind of happened with Hmong. So there was at least an effort made to, even though like we gave up the ghosts in that fight, there was an effort made to take some sort of care with the individual people themselves that had fought for us. And I don't think we're, like, obviously, that doesn't mean we didn't abandon them, but it's something. And I don't think we're like, obviously, that doesn't mean we didn't abandon them, but it's something and I don't think we're even going

to do that for our Syrian Kurdish allies. My friends over there can't even get visas for anywhere. Like you if you're if you've got a Syrian passport, and if you're lucky enough, even have a Syrian passport, you can't go to Europe, you can't go to the United States. There's no way to do that legally, you have to try and do the whole smuggling route. So like it's a pretty comprehensive abandonment that these people are going to see. Right. And I think, you know, looking at sort of how the story evolved, right, Trump put out his wild tweets saying like in his infinite wisdom that he would obliterate the Turkish economy if they did anything that he saw as off limits. And I know Lindsey Graham was pretty vocal and a lot of

actually a lot of Republicans for the first time were out loud disagreeing with Trump on this. And just saying how terrible of an idea it is. How likely do you see even with the like the relationship between the U.S. and Erdogan, how real that threat is of like, well, don't do anything off limits now or do the thing that we think you're going to do? I have no faith that any of that will happen because I think one thing all Erdogan has to do is deny that whatever is happening is happening,

which they did in Afrin, which is a city that Turkish forces took over last year. And they carried out an ethnic cleansing campaign. You know, the site I one of the sites I write for Bellingcat did a lot of analysis of like satellite photography over the area. And you can see like like one of the things that they did is they went into the graves of these Kurdish martyrs who died fighting against ISIS, which are like kind of political monuments, too, and just bulldozed these cemeteries, which is like part of genocide, like the destruction of cultural centers like cemeteries

is an aspect of the genocide. And there's a lot of fear among the Kurds that that's what Turkey has planned for them. And more to the point, Turkish forces support hardcore Islamic groups in the region. This has not been heavily reported on in the Western media, but it has been reported on. And there's evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt that during the early stages of the spread of the Islamic State, Turkey was allowing ISIS fighters to cross into Syria. ISIS fighters to cross into Syria. And I've talked to dozens of people at this point who watched with their own eyes ISIS fighters entering Syria to go fight, like moving directly from the Turkish border to the front lines in Syria, fighting against the YPG, and wounded fighters fleeing back into Turkey and going to Turkish hospitals and being given care. It was very direct, it was very obvious, and it's very well documented, the aid that the Turkish government gave ISIS fighters. Because,

number one, there's a lot of support and sympathy for kind of extremist, hardline Islamist groups like that in chunks of Turkey. But more to the point, you know, they're also enemies of the of the Syrian state. Like they don't like Bashar al-Assad either. It's two very unpleasant dictators who hate each other. But Turkey saw having ISIS in that area as kind of a buffer zone, both against Assad and against the Kurds, who are also their enemies. What's in it for Trump? Why is Trump stepping aside? Why is the U.S. making this move at this point? Is it just that he, you know, Erdogan is also,

or is the strongman dictator that he aspires to be in game-recognized game? Or is it like, is there some strategic element to this? Yeah, I've got two theories in my head, and I don't know which is accurate. From what I'm reading today, the justification that Trump is giving is that the European forces were not or European nations were not doing enough to take in their captured ISIS fighters, which is true. in their captured ISIS fighters, which is true. The European nations needed to do more to actually take and prosecute the members of their nations who went out to fight for ISIS. They just kind of left them there, which is not cool, but is a fairly minor issue in the grand scheme of the regional politics.

His other justification is that the U.S. beat ISIS and we don't need to be there anymore, which is absurd for a couple of reasons. But I so I think the justification Trump wants to give is that the U.S. is tired of footing the bill for this whole effort and we're going to leave it up to other people to to to solve. My theory about what went on, you know, we know we had a conversation with Erdogan and I suspect one of two things happened in that conversation. Either Erdogan said, hey, I'm going to invade. I'm ready to move in.

I've got my forces masked. I'm going to do this. Are you going to stop me? And that would have been a bluff because Turkey, if the U.S. wanted to oppose that, it would last seconds. For one thing, we could cut off their access to the mechanics who maintain their entire military force um but i i think trump saw that as possibly getting him embroiled in a new war which would be bad for him politically um so i think that's one possibility that erdogan uh gambled and trump is a coward and back down. Right. Um, and didn't want to get involved in a fight. Worst negotiator.

Just really bad at negotiating. He's unbelievably bad at it. He's a worse negotiator than me. Uh, and I always pay double the blue book value for whatever. Um, now, uh,

the other possibility is that he had a really good phone call with Erdogan and Erdogan was like, dude, we're going to take care of all these ISIS guys. We'll take care of the whole region. You won't have to worry about anything. And then you get to brag during the 2020 election that you got U.S. troops out of a whole country. And he can't, obviously, he can't get out of Afghanistan. He clearly wants to, but for whatever reason, nobody can get the U.S. out of Afghanistan. So if he's going to brag about getting the U S out of a country, this is his best option. Right. Um, so that I, and I kind of am leaning toward that, that he wants to be able to make that sort of campaign brag in the coming months. Um, so he did this and it is, it is kind of heartening to me to see all of these Republicans who I do not like are pretty unanimous and outspoken that this is a terrible idea. Because it is one thing those people tend to get is like, well, but like, like when I was a kid growing up in a very conservative household, like the whole line being given about why the invasion of Iraq was a good idea, focused around how much better it was going to be for the women in Iraq. Yeah.

So the fact, like, if you, the reality on the ground in Rojava is so stark and undeniable, the improvements in women's rights, it's unbelievably radical. And under, I think a lot of... The improvements in women's rights under this Kurdish force. Yeah. Under the Kurdish Kurdish led forces, primarily Kurdish led forces, has been so revolutionary and so comprehensive. And I think there's a lot of folks who, even though they might be inclined otherwise to go along with the president because they're Lindsey Graham, just can't in good conscience ignore that fact. So I do think that's a factor that these guys, they have a glimmer of a soul and they're like, but this is the thing we've been trying to do for 20 years over there. Right. Yeah. Put progressive values into action in the region. Yeah. It also seems like it's a broader, a reflection of the broader issue. We just got done talking about the whistleblower Ukraine controversy. And, you know, that is another situation where the president is sacrificing American interests and the interests of American allies abroad for his, you know, political considerations.

And it sounds like you're suggesting that could kind of more implicitly be what's happening in this case. All right. Well, Robert Evans, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a pleasure talking to you about this horrible subject. Yeah, it's really frustrating. I think I would encourage people who want to read more to look up David Graeber. He's an anthropologist who has written for The Guardian and also been in Rojava. You might check out his stuff. Yeah, that would be my advice to people.

And he's writing about this specific kind of progressive feminist culture that has taken hold among the forces that are kind of in power in Rojava. Yeah, yeah. He's written a lot about that. And I'm working on pieces about that that'll hopefully be out soon. Graeber's actually got a lot of stuff published. So I would recommend looking into his work on the matter. Awesome. Thanks, Robert. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. I'm Kerry Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports,

where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them. Why is that? I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on.

From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better.

This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball

just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them boys. I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports.

Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is braggadocious. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained?

This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. Listen to the making of a rivalry, Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today. And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette

was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer. This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, fam. I'm Simone Boyce. I'm Danielle Robay. And we're the hosts of The Bright Side, the daily podcast from Hello Sunshine that is guaranteed to light up your day. Every weekday, we bring you conversations with the culture makers who inspire us. Like our recent episode with dancer, actor, host of Dancing with the Stars, and now novelist, Julianne Hough. I feel really whole.

I feel like the last few years I've really unraveled a lot, which is part of what this book is about. And I really feel so content, which is a word that used to scare the crap out of me. And I love that word now. Listen to The Bright Side from Hello Sunshine on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And enough of all that heavy shit, guys. Let's talk about Tide Pods for Scotch. Yeah. Oh, man.

You know, the problem with drinking is that I can't eat the glass I'm drinking out of. Thank you. I've noticed you try to do that. Yeah. That's why I might have terrible mouth cuts. My gums are in terrible shape. The lacerations, oral lacerations I have are terrible. But apparently the people at Glenlivet think that's a real concern from the

general alcohol consuming public. Yeah. Cause they have just announced a very odd Tide Pod-esque cocktail that will only be available in a bar in London who has a very disturbing website. Yeah. Their website looks like a bundle of mushrooms being. Yeah, their website looks like a bundle of mushrooms being- Drenched in maybe thick milk or some kind of bodily substance. Ben, just let that be.

Okay, there we go. And now the goo is being poured on a stack of mushrooms. I don't know what that means about a bar, but this is a very forward-thinking cocktail. They're offering three different cocktails. They say no ice, no stir, no glass. So it's a single shot worth of scotch that you put in your mouth

and it bursts into your mouth. Don't people sip scotch though? That's what I thought. Well, these are cocktails and they're capsules. As they say in the video, they're capsules. Oh, so I'm being a dick. Yes, they're capsules. What's wrong with you, man?

Orally placed capsules. Also, I'm pretty sure people will probably be boofing these. That was my first thought, is how do I... You said that out loud. Well, I think that the capsule itself is made with a sustainable seaweed extracted

casing. I support that. That part I'm in. Sure. Those of us who have long wanted to take our shots as suppositories now have an option. The video, the ad in which they announced this, it's very difficult to tell if it's a piece of satire or not. But the actress who they have taking the capsule into her mouth, there's never been a worse illustration of someone enjoying a product because her mouth is like so full and she's just like doing the best doing her best to try to like illustrate that this is like a fun thing and no big deal but everybody's like

hmm like it you could even see like the way the actors are portraying it it's still kind of like this is weird is it like the uh is it like that uh subculture on youtube where people are just filming themselves eating stuff in a weird asmr way yeah no no it's just it's like shots stylized shots it's just they they weren't able to make it look seamless. You can tell they're not. Right. They couldn't find an actress with a big enough mouth to make it not seem just weird as hell. Yeah.

The three whiskeys is zesty citrus, spice, and wood. Yeah. Those are the three. Yeah, let me get wood. Yeah. Let me get a wood capsule. Yeah, homie, let me get three woods real quick yeah and uh two spice in a wood please two spice in a wood is citrus the thing that people

want out of their whiskey i guess citral notes maybe yeah okay i always hear it called notes but i'm not a i'm not a you know a scotch doctor or whatever yeah a scotchter a scotchter thank you yeah thank you it's the proper term i mean i the thing is i really like scotch but i only I'm not a Scotch doctor or whatever. A Scotchter. A Scotchter. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. It's the proper term. I mean, the thing is, I really like Scotch, but I only drink it neat. It's like my favorite winter alcohol to drink, have the fire, gather around the hearth. It seems like one of the more overwhelming tastes of any of the liquors.

That shit is peaty. Yeah. It's a lot to take as a sipping drink. That's why it's but it's easy to sip though. It's a lot of notes. So the thing that people want to do with our thing

is they don't take shots of it but that's because they can't have the shot just burst into their mouth all at once. You would never do a shot of scotch. Right.

That's just not. Nobody does it. Unless you're a clown. Yeah, right. Thank you. Yes. But that's why, you're a clown. Yeah, right. Thank you. Yes. But that's why, you know,

I guess these cocktails must have, you know, very, very specific flavors. So it's a nice scotch based cocktail. I would wonder

if it's diluted somehow too, just because like what you said, Jack, the flavor is so overwhelming. Yeah, it would be a lot. Yeah,

maybe it's more like Southern Comfort or something like that. People are just like fucking spitting it out. Like it's too much. Oh, fuck. Yeah. It was a lot. maybe it's more like southern comfort or something like that people are just like fucking spitting it out like it's too much yeah the act it was a lot the actors are like the day rate is not covering this yeah they're asking like can i actually just use a tide pod for this i think i might be able to make it easier face right uh all right guys let's talk about uh what is going on with the people's republic of china as it relates to the Houston Rockets NBA basketball team.

Yeah, what? Wow. Yeah. The thing set off with one tweet. Daryl Morey is the GM of the Houston Rockets. He's called Dork Elvis by Bill Simmons. They call him Dork Elvis? Yeah, because he's like a huge deal at this metrics conference.

He's the man like people like sabermetrics here daryl morey's here holy shit yeah he's like say sabermetric he basically is the moneyball guy for the nba um and he has completely defined the identity of of the rockets like how they play the fact that James Harden takes as many threes as he does, the fact that he draws as many fouls as he does, the fact that they built their team around James Harden. By design. By design. And it really goes back to this guy's philosophy of just looking at the highest value shots on the court and building the team from metrics back. And the Rockets were considering firing him, according to reports, over the weekend

because of a single tweet in which he expressed support for the protesters in Hong Kong. Yeah, it was like stand with democracy. Something about democracy, stand with Hong Kong. Nothing mentioning the word China, but I guess obviously if there's a binary here, if you're standing with Hong Kong. Nothing mentioning the word China, but I guess obviously if there's a binary here, if you're standing with Hong Kong, then I guess you're probably against China. And they took that.

I think one of the first responses was China was like, you know, I think we're going to pull all the Houston Rockets games from TV. We are no longer interested in broadcasting. Just a single swath. Just obliterate everything. And I think that was sort of the shot across the bow of the nba saying you want to keep doing this right you know you've spent a lot of time like trying to get our dollars and opening up this revenue stream that's big for you and now we will show you that your god is money yes uh and march out a player to apologize on behalf of the entire NBA. So they got James Harden, their star, and two years ago MVP, last year MVP, runner-up

to apologize on behalf of the organization to China and express his love for China and all that they're about. That happened? Yes. We're going to listen to it right now. It was just one tweet. And right now they're playing games in japan and so like it was weird it's him and russell westbrook yeah this doesn't have anything to say on their team but james harden is like okay what

do i have okay i'll say it and yeah it looks like a hostage video let's play it yeah we apologize um you know you know we love china we love you know playing there uh i know for both of us individually we go there you know once or twice a year uh they show us the most important love so you know we appreciate them as a fan base and uh we love everything you know they're about and you know and you know we appreciate their support that they give us individually and as an organization so uh you know we love you oh my that was fucking sad painful man dude we love you. Oh, my. That was fucking sad. It's painful, man. Dude, we love everything you're about.

Love the work with the Uyghurs. Yeah. Love that. The organ harvesting. Oh, allegedly. Allegedly. Love that. Love everything you're about.

I think you can take the alleged out, honestly. Right. Yeah. Keeping up with that. But Jesus. I mean, like, that's just so embarrassing. And it's so sad to just see how much this money-based system is being like, okay, fuck it.

We can't even be on the right side of something like this. And you can hear when people are recalling talking points. Yeah, we apologize. Wait, Dan, can you just play we apologize? We apologize is so weak up top. Right. We apologize. It sounds almost like it was played backwards or something.

We apologize. It's like the quality of the clip or something. They had to deep fake his name. Yeah. I mean, the relationship between American corporations and China is tricky because on one hand, they are an authoritarian regime that is involved in horrible human rights violations and threatening us implicitly with their weapons. are an authoritarian regime that is involved in horrible human rights violations and threatening us implicitly with their weapons.

But on the other hand, they got a lot of money. And they have such a huge market. It's changed the film industry for sure. Everything. Video games. And also, I got to tell you, because you guys know in some of the shows I do, we get involved with research into stuff like Hong Kong, research into stuff like surveillance states, Sesame Credit, and so on. And now we're hanging out talking about this on air.

Are we going to be able to get in? I don't know. Probably not. Okay, well, I better not see any of us. It goes for you too, Anna, on some video saying we apologize. Right. I won't be able to go to that Twilight theme park they're making. Damn, man.

Wasn't that in China? Actually, can we cut this segment? I totally forgot. About the Twilight theme park. About the Twilight theme park. Never mind, man. I don't. That's going to be big for me.

I love you, China. Yeah. And I apologize, honestly, dog, for everything you you're about which is chill to me so I don't know what the big deal is I'm gonna be up at the embassy having that what's that romcom where he holds up the boom box and it's raining say anything

at the border I feel bad James Harden must be like why the fuck did I have to do that that's terrible seriously I'm joking around but that is not just terrible, that's frightening. That was the most like, yeah, when you realize who is the, for lack of a better word, master in this fucking situation, where they're also be like, okay, well, money's our God, and now James Harden, go whatever.

They pulled the leash hard. Yeah, unbelievable. All right, the Joker movie made a bunch of money over the weekend uh i saw it miles you didn't see it didn't see it no i read a lot of think pieces written by people who hadn't seen it before it came out it's hard not to have a think piece just like spontaneously come out of your body after watching it because it's like such an overtly political movie. Like I went to sleep and had nightmares about like the world, like our society coming to an end the whole night after watching it. Oh my God.

Yeah. So it was pretty good, huh? It's, I would say it's affecting. Yeah. So it was pretty good, huh? I would say it's affecting. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a very well put together piece of propaganda for something, for a very specific point of view that is really, I guess, problematic.

It's really strange. Wait, so is it caping for this mentality? Like you're justified? Well, it puts you in that. I mean, and you find yourself like rooting for this lonely, mentally ill guy. And the relationship to mental illness is really weird because he sort of becomes fully himself.

And like the person that you find yourself like there are many times where he can't say what he wants to say over the course of the movie like for the first two thirds but once he's off his meds he like becomes the like smoother cooler version of himself and like he becomes more violent but the violent the violence, I don't know, it's hard. Now, he's an unreliable narrator too, right? Without spoiling things. Yeah, I would say so. He is.

Yeah. I mean, that's definitely suggested a couple times. But it's still, it's interesting. Did you get any of the, uh, cause I read stuff where people were saying, uh, like the people in the,

um, involuntary incel people, uh, were supposed to be showing up at theaters en masse or something. So, so, uh, our writer jam it like my experience.

I went fairly late, uh, after the kitties were in bed and, uh, I was going to say like, did you bring them? Just chill, just chill, just chill. Watch your iPad. I went fairly late after the kiddies were in bed and... I was going to say, did you bring them? Just chill, just chill, just chill. Watch your iPad. But I had a pretty normal, like there wasn't a big security presence,

but our writer, J.M. McNabb, went over the weekend and there was not just a security person out front, but a security person inside his screening and like his walkie talkie kept going off like during the movie you could hear it which is pretty wild but yeah the the media was like on alert like was there gonna be see yeah an attack over the weekend and it was a lot of a lot of you know there there was a foul smell coming from a theater nearby and people were concerned about a gas attack, but they don't know what it was. Some dude farting by the door.

Yeah. Two men were smoking and causing a ruckus during a screening. But it just sounds like if you pay attention to everyone in movie theaters over the course of a weekend, that is going to happen. There is a foul smell in every movie theater. Yeah. It appeared a good one. Yeah. Thank you. smell in every movie theater. Yeah, it appeared a good one. Yeah, thank you.

One of the real ones. Yeah, yeah. Also, causing a ruckus? How 1950s is that? Right. Like what, they're smoking indoors? And horsing around? Yeah.

Like, I'm smoking a cigarette in here. Come on, what are you going to do? Yeah. I'm sure they were vaping, and because this article was written by a time traveler from the 1940s. From Mayberry. Yeah.

A couple of ne'er-do-wells. We're smoking it up. Yeah. I mean, JM wrote that he has to admit he was a little jumpier than normal. I was definitely keeping an eye out. But I think, yeah, right? I mean, it's, but I feel like how much of that is just sort of attached to this origin story about the Aurora guy where we come, where everything Joker means, you know, we're attaching all these like sort of past traumas and things to this one character. Also, that theater refused to air the Joker. Right.

Right. Refused to screen it rather. Yeah. joker right right refuse to screen it rather yeah i yeah it's it's strange because you know i i don't want to sound conspiratorial i know it's a little bit stereotypical for me but uh but we have to ask ourselves like this is getting so much press and the other stuff that you guys just talked about earlier in the show right it's getting like equal time or even less attention in some places. Yeah, and this turns out to be a complete non-story in terms of what actually happened. I will say like it did really well.

I would expect it to continue to do well. And I mean, it has a very clear message or like a very, I don't know. I do think it will have an effect on the culture. Like I don't think it should be have an effect on the culture like i don't think it should be just treated like any other movie i do i do think it's probably worth keeping an eye on how people are responding to it because it almost seems like it could be a movie that like the sorts of people who do mass shootings like that sort of mentality would rally behind or at least expressing like what they are feeling when they do that which is i guess a valid like artistic it's not like

necessarily glorifying it but it seems like the sort of thing that could be like the sort of rage and loneliness anti-society like anti-establishment, fuck society sentiment, a little legitimacy or something. Right, yeah. How much of that do you think is rooted in the time in which it came out? Or is it like this timeless narrative, like 30 years from now?

It's set in the 80s, I think, or sometime around there, early 80s, late 70s. But its vision of city life is very, they refer to how the city is being overtaken by criminals, and they refer to them as animals a couple times. Those are people in authority. We're not necessarily meant to identify with that sentiment, but he does like get beaten up by a gang of like 12 to 15 year old children. And I think it's a powerful movie. I just don't know if it's power is directed in the right direction or how it's going to affect people. Should I see it or should I wait for, I mean, I think people who've seen it were like,

I mean, kind of the same take where it's like, his performance is really good and it will kind of fuck with you. So I think in that sense, yeah, I think that's the prerogative of the viewer if they want to see it.

I'm probably going to check it out. But I'll probably wait for the screener because I don't want to go to movie theaters ever. There's nothing like, I'm telling you, it's easier to watch in your own home. Any movie. Sorry. Sorry, everyone.

The snacks are better. Snacks are better. Unless it's something in IMAX or something shot on large format, then I'll go to the theater. Well, Ben, it's been a pleasure having you. Where can people find you and follow you? You can find me and my crew of reprobates at Stuff They Don't Want You To Know. We're lousy all over the internet, so just search that. You can find us for Ridiculous History, employing the same method.

You can find me getting kicked into and out of various countries, communities, and events on my Instagram, which is at Ben Bolin and a burst of creativity. You can find me doing terrible one-liners and hot takes and stupid things that sounded smart at the time on Twitter, where I'm at Ben Bolin HSW. And I've got to have you guys on Ridiculous History again. If you like Miles and Jack and dig this show we did an uh we did a two-parter yeah weirdest historical flexes weird flexes yeah history yeah there there are some weird ones uh ben is there a tweet you've been enjoying so i found uh you guys are plugged in so you probably

already know about this but i found this hot takes music bot have you heard of hot music takes so it's just some sort of algorithm where he uh or it whomever created this yes the programmer of the algorithm sure yeah yeah is is just has made this formula where it says stuff like it's always a one take uh weird comparison or description of an audience that likes a band so like the beach boys makes tool for wine aunts or for like in the airplane over the sea is just fodder for people with Bible verse tattoos. Danny Brown is vampire weekend for everyone stuck in 1985. I haven't read like-

Danny Brown is- It doesn't really make any sense. No, it doesn't. The last one, Gucci Mane is the Michael Bublé of people with jewels. Like, I don't understand a lot of this, and they're not all, you know, solid gold. Right. But sometimes the algorithm might nail it. Right.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's the monkeys and the typewriter. Yeah. Yeah. Miles, where can people find you, and is there a tweet you've been enjoying? Twitter, Instagram, at Miles of is there a tweet you've been enjoying twitter instagram at miles of gray a tweet i like from reductress says why i switched to eating only plant-based dick shout out to plant-based everything that's great also if you're in the chicago area october 16th at 7 p.m at the hungry brain you can experience firsthand the power, the magic, the majesty

of Ethnically Ambiguous, the podcast that's hosted by our very own Anna Hosnier and Shereen Yunez. Pull up. Have a good time. It's going to be a good time. Do it.

And get your tickets at chicagopodcastfestival.com. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien. A couple of tweets I've been enjoying. Earl Sweatshirt tweeted, butt naked standing in front of the computer with the Captain Morgan stance. I just want to say to the federal agent looking through my front cam,

welcome to the meat show, cuzzo. And Patton Oswalt tweeted, seriously, who is this actress? She's having such a blast being evil and she's got to riff the whole thing. Just amazing. About a video of the woman who plays both the evil queen and Maleficent at Disneyland and is

just so great at it. People should check out her work. And then Brynnister tweeted, me, I need a bank loan, please. Bank manager, hownister tweeted, me, I need a bank loan, please. Bank manager, how much? Me, like, really bad. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien.

You can find us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist. We're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page and a website, DailyZeitgeist.com, where we post our episodes and our footnotes. Footnotes. We link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode as well as the song we ride out on miles what's that gonna be okay another track from little sims we did a little sims track from her last week but this whole her album is really good i can't the more i listen the more i'm just getting drawn in and i'm thinking

she is one of the most talented mcs ever I've heard in a while. Oh, you guys played this song in the last episode? Yeah, I think maybe it was the last one. So check out the track Venom. This is a track called Venom. Again, very simple, but just buckle up. Open your ears, and you might have to pause and rewind to get all of the verses into your mind. All right, we're going to ride out on that.

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 today. We will be back tomorrow because it is a daily podcast.

And we'll talk to you then. Bye. Bye. My, my, if you ever heard what I heard in the night What a fright, must have been a parasite in my past life I don't wanna ever come down from a height My soul ascended to the sky, it's just you and I Got my unfeeling too alive, tryna get me out of spite Someone's gotta pay, I ain't talking big amounts

Some kind of physical pain, some kind of traumatic shit Niggas wanna see dead bodies, probably not They ain't rolling with no automatic clips Movies scatty, all erratic and shit Niggas pussy looking batty and shit. Oh, you mad? Then come at me, you prick. Make a move, better pattern it quick.

I assume you'll be coming for blood. That makes two of us. That makes two of us better. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history.

People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports.

Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture.

Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing.

They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app Realm listen to dream sequence on the iHeartRadio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts how do you feel about biscuits hi I'm Akilah Hughes and I'm so excited about my new podcast rebel spirit where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot the rebels into something everyone in the south loves the biscuits I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.