The Daily Zeitgeist - Sheriff Gangs Still A Thing, Drones For The Home? 7.16.21

Episode Date: July 16, 2021

In episode 952, Jack and Miles are joined by investigative journalist Cerise Castle to discuss LASD gangs, the US Military having trained the Haitian presidents assassins, drones for the home, the old hot dog scam, and more!FOOTNOTES: Support Knock.LA! UPDATE: LA County Democratic Party Calls for Sheriff Villanueva’s Resignation The LASD Wants to Sweep Venice, but Councilmember Mike Bonin has Other Ideas U.S. military once trained Colombians implicated in Haiti assassination plot, Pentagon says Why were Colombian ex-soldiers in Haiti? Experts say they are popular mercenaries Amazon’s Ring now reportedly partners with more than 2,000 US police and fire departments Ring Always Home Cam: Everything you need to know about the flying indoor camera Heinz Hot Dog Pact Heinz Ketchup Brokers Hot Dog Negotiations Between Wiener and Bun Companies, Demanding a Solution for Unequal Packs Kraft Heinz’s nightmare is far from over The New Shortage: Ketchup Can’t Catch Up WATCH: Father of the Bride - Hot Dogs/Hot Dog Buns Hot Dogs: Baseball Fans' Convenience, Traveler's Salvation Why Are There 10 Hot Dogs to a Pack But Only 8 Buns? Hot Dog Fast Facts LISTEN: IDK with MF DOOM, Westside Gunn, Jay Electronica - Red (Visualizer) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the President of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson. 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nickname Squeaky. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer,

this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus, only on Apple Podcasts. I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, host of the Happiness Lab podcast. As the U.S. elections approach, it can feel like we're angrier and more divided than ever. But in a new, hopeful season of my podcast, I'll share what the science really shows. That we're surprisingly more united than most people think. We all know something is wrong in our culture, in our politics, and that we need to do better and that we can do better. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or just skip right to it.

Our second season is airing right now, so you can catch up on our conversations that are intimate and often hilarious. Listen to Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. Can Kay trust her sister, or is history repeating itself? Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to Season 193, Episode 502 Daily Zeitgeist, a production of iHeartRadio. This is a podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness. It is Friday, July 16th, 2021. My name is Jack O'Brien, a.k.a.

It's a party and I see Harry Styles there. Fucking Harry Styles, man. Hey, where did my wife go? She'd leave you too if he happened to you. That is courtesy of Johnny Davis, Barbara Gaskin, Dave Stewart. It's my party. And Harry Styles.

Just being Harry Styles. And I'm thrilled to be joined, as always, by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray! Miles Gray, a.k.a. Grays of Our Lives, a.k.a. All My Trildren, a.k.a. As the Kush Burns, a.k.a. The Bong and the Keithless. Shout out to Sir Bransworth and Ginger Chocobo on Twitter for those wonderful soap opera themed a.k.a. I'm not going to lie. I used to watch YNR a lot.

I had an ex who was all like religiously watched it. And I got into The Young and the Restless for a brief moment of time but not in yeah yeah classic stuff classic stuff there oh man big time real and do them big love general hospital love it love it jen hoss well miles we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat by a justice and civics and sociology in america or anywhere really uh welcome back to the show cerise castle what's up hey thanks for having me back hey thanks for coming back how are things what's new what's, uh, how's, how's the weather?

How are you? What's, what's a good question to ask people these days? That isn't, how are you doing? The weather's hot. The sheriffs are busy abusing people and I am busy on their tails. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So things are, things are moving as they should be at the moment. Sounds like pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah okay so things are things are moving as they should be at the moment sounds like pretty much yeah yeah yeah we definitely ask you a little bit more about what's going on since the piece that you dropped with knock la came out because i from my standpoint i feel like it's a lot has been happening um ever since with especially with like the increased awareness

around the gangs in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. And I love that hashtag, too. Or whenever we were saying Google LASD gangs. That's just a thing we want to say to everybody who listens to the show. Google that LASD gangs when you have a second, which should be right now. Yeah. Go read the piece. Go read the piece. All right. Well, Cerise, we're going to get to know you a little bit better, catch up on all that in a little bit. First, we're going to tell our listeners a couple of things we're talking about. In addition to the LASD gangs, we're going to talk about the revelation from the Pentagon that some of the Haitian president's assassins were trained by U.S. military. They said a small number of the assassins, which was still probably too many.

So we're going to talk about that and talk about just the general atmosphere of mercenaries, like a world run by mercenaries that we're kind of looking at in the future. We'll talk about drones for the home, another way that you can buy your way into like military supremacy. Turn your own home. Hey, did you want to crowdfund the surveillance? Do you want to be a warlord? Hell yeah. And we'll talk about Heinz trying to even things up to bring some some sanity to this world by making it so that hot dog buns and hot dogs come in the same number container or packaging oh wow okay that's always something i think about there's a few

places that the number of buns matches the number of franks that you get and when they do it's always eight franks to match the eight buns it's never 10 buns to match the 10 hot dogs. Right. Because then I guess they're forcing you to buy five packs at eight to get to 40. Right. And then you have a number divisible by 10 and then you see that's how they get you. That's how they get you. See the matrix already.

All of that. Plenty more. But first, Cerise, we like to ask our guests, what is something from your search history? The last thing that I searched for was L.A. County election filing. Very exciting. L.A. County election filing. What is this in relation to specifically? What races? Well, we do have the race for sheriff coming up in June of 2022. We just had a candidate announced last week by the name of Cecil Rambo. Mr. Rambo is alleged to be an associate of at least three different deputy gangs. So I was checking in to see what other gang affiliates have thrown their hat into the race.

Right. Is it just Alex Villanueva? Is it Cecil Rambo is it just alex villanueva is it this cecil rambo not just a clever name i guess uh god-given name yeah is that really his name because that is his name wow hell yeah is villanueva up like is he not running he is running yes he's running for re-election so cecil rambo is like that dude's too left wing. Let me get out here and really rep the gangs. Cecil Rambo, actually, in his announcement video, he said that he is one of the only people that has stood up to deputy gangs, which is a common refrain of people that are actually alleged to be a part of the gangs themselves. that are actually alleged to be a part of the gangs themselves. How do they square that when they're like, when you're like, it looks like there's documentation to indicate you're involved in a gang,

but you stood up to be like the one day you're like, hey, let's not do too much gang stuff today. See, I stood up to them. Like, I don't, what is sort of the logic that they apply to be able to sort of say something like that a lot? Or it's just merely an empty talking point? It's something that I want to dive more into. I'm planning to speak with Cecil in the coming days. So I'm really interested to see, you know, how he sort of squares the allegations that have flown around him for the past 10 plus years, as well as various lawsuits that have been filed with him being named as an associate. It's a question that I have and I'm looking for the answer to.

Yeah, I wish you luck in trying to get a clear answer from someone who can only imagine to be very evasive when asking, answering a direct question like that. Are there any are there any like reform candidates at all possibly running i mean how do you run for sheriff and even make it far enough when your your platform's like yeah i'm trying to actually make this better and not as oppressive as possible to my knowledge at least five of the candidates are from within the sheriff's department themselves. Of those five, three are associated with deputy gangs. And there is one candidate that is outside the department.

She is a former Long Beach Police School resources officer and parole employee. school resources officer and parole employee. She also ran for board of supervisors in 2014 for District 1. And the other guy, the sixth candidate, I really can't find anything out about him. So I don't really have too much to say on him. And is anybody going strong on the reform like taking your reporting seriously no no okay so how did they even differentiate at this point like in terms of what their appeal would be to an electorate potentially is like when when i'm reading their platforms online to be honest with you it's it's they're really not that different from each other it's a lot of political buzzwords but as far as like policies go uh there's not really a lot no someone's like i'm the one for more money

for drones and someone's like i'm the one for more money for armored vehicles and that's where we differ in how we want to spend our increased budgets and it looks like mustaches might be another thing that may be differentiating right i'm the one with a mustache well yes i will vian wave is the only one without a mustache yeah so little controversial are you even a sheriff sir you don't have a push broom mustache like our boy Cecil Rambo here or even Eli Vera. What is something you think is overrated, Cerise? Gosh, I think the Loki show is overrated. The whole Marvel Universe, I think, is overrated. I have not seen it.

I've I will. I don't know. I mean, were you a big Marvel Universe fan and then you watched it? No, no, I I got into the Marvel Universe and locked down. We got Disney Plus and we've been watching Loki and people are always talking about it. And I don't know. I just don't get it. Like, I'm not into it at all people are so into

these movies and this television show and I just I really don't get it did you watch WandaVision you know I started it didn't finish it same reason I just didn't get the appeal it's just not something that I just don't understand do you like it i know i i famously have not watched any of them because i'm like a just like a completionist and and i've said this before the show like the tick at which these films came out was too much for me to keep up with and so i was just like no i'm not i can't do this. This is too many films to understand the other films. So a lot of listeners have been like, just watch these six in this order and it'll make sense. And I'm like, it's just a huge time investment.

It's too much. It's a little bit hard for me. But yeah, I get it. People, you know, they're really caught up in them. See you. I feel like they just be baking them up as they go along, too. It's like, y'all have 12 movies, two TV shows I gotta watch to make it all make sense.

They're like, oh man, wait till the new show, Thanos' Sandal. Oh my god, wait till you see the story lines about that, just his footwear. We've got all kinds of threads that were going down. I like Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse. I thought that was cool.

Have you seen that? Right. I like that. I haven't seen that. So that one, I feel like I'm hearing a lot from the Loki reactions about like the multiverse and the idea that like all the Marvel different movies are part of like some multiverse that's going to intersect and like that that movie interacts with that in an interesting way i'm starting to get excited about the marvel cinematic universe just from for my three-year-old because he's like now real into like all these characters even though he's like never all he's seen is like pictures of

them and so i'm just like imagining when he can like finally watch the movies like how much it's going to make his brain melt and leak out of his ears yeah or he's gonna be jumping off shit yeah he's a super there because that oh he already does me watching yeah me watching like a few superhero things i had a bad habit of jumping off of shit thinking i wouldn't get hurt like when i was four but i would try and put enough couch cushions below me to not shatter my ankles completely like the you know the the versions that we had like when i was a kid and into superheroes were like a hulk tv and Batman the 60s TV show. And I was into it.

That was good enough for me. Greatest American Hero, which was like a joke, but I took it seriously. What is something you think is underrated, Cerise? Police violence, man. Police violence is hella underrated. Just now while I'm talking to you, I see that

the los angeles police department has potentially killed someone they've just shot someone down the street from my house and i'm watching the police cars go and the helicopters overhead filming this and yeah really harsh in my vibe but, police violence is really underrated. Like, this is horrible. Someone like I can't believe that just happened just now. Jeez. Just outside your window. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Oh, it's OK. And that all just transpired in the last couple of minutes. Yeah. While we were asking you about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Uh-huh. Yeah. OK, well, that's that would be properly uh underrated uh considering the the harsh reality that's out there you know as you navigate this whole sort of ecosystem of you know police gangs and like

sort of the mechanisms that are set up to like obscure their involvement or activity what do you think, you know, what's the perspective? I'm sure like when you go to these sort of junkets or press conferences, when you're like next to maybe like people from like Fox 11 or like KTLA or the local news, do they, do you think they have a semblance or understanding of what's at stake? Or do you think sometimes they're sort of as part of the media apparatus willing to turn a blind eye to sort of keep the relationships going for the sake of like their reporting? Oh, yeah, I know that's what they're doing. You know,

in my experience, the average, you know, television reporter doesn't have a clue about what's going on in the city and the realities that people are facing. Right. And yeah, I mean, that is the thing. There are a lot of stories that most mainstream outlets won't do because they don't want to damage their access to different agencies, whether that be law enforcement, a city council member, the mayor. there are a lot of questions that they just won't ask or stories that they won't do because it's going to rock the boat and that's you know one of the reasons that i published my series at knock because this this wasn't a story that a lot of with more name recognition um they just weren't interested in doing something like this yeah and like this sort

of the i guess the way that the relationship there works is what that they'll the police will give them sort of tidbits of information that they can then run with stories or um the police don't really they don't really give they give the information that they want to give it's just about will you be will you be invited to the press conference will you be called on in question and answers are you going to get a call back on your story are they going to do the bare minimum right right and then for then in exchange they'll just be like and we'll obscure your crimes and correct act obtuse about everything so it's not even really it's not even like an understandable

transaction we're like well then they did scoop on they got a scoop on this thing it's just more like we won't call on you and that's it and that's enough for them to because i mean when you're at these things are you as someone who has completely gone against the grain in terms of how more mainstream reporting about this stuff has been are you finding it that you'll never get called on, that you have to sort of aggressively find your opportunities to ask a question? Or how does that work for you in terms of navigating this environment? Well, the last press conference that I attended in person, I was almost arrested. I was detained for 15 minutes by a group of three sheriff's deputies who refused to let me back into the press conference until another member of the scrum who I had been standing with a white guy

vouched for me and then they were willing to listen to what I was saying so I I don't attend in person anymore when I do have to go into the field to work, I have to bring a bodyguard now, which is really weird because I'm a reporter. Jesus. I don't think I should have a bodyguard, but that's just sort of the reality of it. It's not that I'm not allowed to ask questions. It's that I'm physically prevented and potentially even, you know, facing criminal prosecution for trying to do my job. And what would they allege you're doing that's criminal, essentially? The person that was also detained and later arrested was told he was trespassing. But again, this is a press conference in a public building where I had RSVP'd and was in contact with the organizers.

So it doesn't make sense. Oh, so just using some flimsy allegation to then sort of justify detainment, but then later it won't be an arrest because that's just sort of how they'll not go fully afoul of the law or whatever the law is. Right. Yeah. the law or whatever the law is right yeah i mean and they yeah it it just seems like i don't know even when we're talking about the local local news like just having to interact with them on a regular basis you know because they're like anytime they show up to a

crime scene they're gonna interact with probably probably the same handful of police every once in a while. And those are people who are legally allowed to shoot you based on your reporting. All they need is the flimsiest explanation for what went down. explanation for for what went down and like it's just it's a very terrifying situation to be in to like try and talk about the police openly in in los angeles or really in any community with a militarized and like very you know emboldened police police force yeah shit well amazing what you're doing and the bravery it takes and couldn't be more thankful for what you do for this community. And I think just the country in general, because this is not just L.A., obviously. All right, let's take a quick break and we'll come back and talk a little

bit more about LASD gangs. gangs. 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.

I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. 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. One session, 24 hours. BPM 110, 120.

She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it. That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything?

You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. 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,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everyone. I am Lacey Lamar. And I'm Amber Ruffin, a better Lacey Lamar. Boo. Okay, everybody, we have exciting news to share. We're back with season two of the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network. You thought you had fun last season? Well, you were right. And you should tune in today for new fun segments like Sister Court and listening to Lacey's steamy DMs. We've got new and exciting guests like

Michael Beach. That's my husband. Daphne Spring, Daniel Thrasher, Peppermint, Morgan J., and more. You gotta watch us. No, you mean you have to listen to us. I mean, you can still watch us, but you gotta listen. Like, if you're watching us, you have to tell us. No, you mean you have to listen to us. I mean, you can still watch us, but you got to listen. Like, if you're watching us, you have to tell us.

Like, if you're out the window, you have to say, hey, I'm watching you outside of the window. Just, you know what? Listen to the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back.

Season two. Season two. Are we recording? Are we good? Oh, we push record, right? And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Seeing that the most popular cocktail is the margarita, followed by the mojito from Cuba, and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. So all of these...

We have, we think, Latin culture. There's a mention of blood sausage in Homer's Odyssey that dates back to the 9th century B.C. B.C.? I didn't realize how old the hot dog was. And we're back so the last time you were on we kind of you i think it was the day that your series of reports published a tradition of violence but you know we were talking right before we started recording about this most recent sort of use of doublespeak where Alex Villanueva is now saying that there are cliques, but not gangs. Is that a concerted effort? How they're talking about this? How are they just dealing with the fact that their behavior has been so overt and out in the open, and now somebody's just kind of laying it out for people to see.

Well, they don't really acknowledge my reporting by name, but what they do say is that people are selling the notion of gangs to make a name for themselves or push an agenda. Villanueva has said both that he is the first person to do anything about deputy gangs, and yet deputy gangs don't exist. And yet they exist in every police department and that they're nothing to fear. So in short, a bunch of uh nonsense yeah right and is that like in for some way to sort of acknowledge like okay we can't we can't say no that it's all nonsense because it is there's real reporting about it so the way

they sort of navigate that is just to try and like redefine or recontextualize like what even a gang is like, they're just friends at the station that have a hand symbol and iconography like a gang, but it's just the loose cohort of organized armed men who like, I saw like a picture that you posted about a patch that was being sold that said like our gang is bigger than yours or something like that and and i've also seen in like some of the and and a lot of your uh posts on social media and things like where you'll you've

interacted with somebody who's clearly wearing like a pin that is showing that they're affiliated in that in those sembl in like in those instances is that what vienna wave is trying to say is like yeah that's just like a click right yeah it's just a symbol it's just a fun thing for our deputies nothing to worry about nothing to worry about yeah has has that like forced has that created more activity like with these clicks or do you think on some way the sort of spotlight. I said tradition of violence, not history of violence. Sorry. Yeah. I mean, they truly don't give a fuck what I report on. They're going to keep doing what they're doing. And I mean, I believe their belief is that no one is going to stop them. I mean, Villanueva has defied subpoena after subpoena. He's gone after the county CEO. He's gone after the board of supervisors twice now saying that they need to be beaten. He said very explicitly that the board of supervisors needs to be taken to a shed and beaten until they do their job as he sees fit. He's gone after me. He's gone after journalists by name at the Los Angeles Times. And he does all of this.

He invaded the Venice boardwalk, which is not his jurisdiction. He does all of this. And he does all of this. He invaded the Venice boardwalk, which is not his jurisdiction. He does all of this and no one stops him. There is no one that is saying you cannot do this and here are the consequences. That hasn't happened yet. So he's been able to transform himself into probably the most powerful political person in Los angeles county just by the virtue of the fact that the powers that do exist to check him have not taken any action right and the board of supervisors are all women right correct really tough guy attitude so he's saying a group of five women need to be taken behind a shed and beaten until they do their job. And that's the,

the, the sheriff. Right. And I'll just say all the people that he's gone after in these press conferences are, are women, the reporters at the LA times that he's talking about, they're women. I am a woman.

The board of supervisors are women. Like he's advocated for violence against women again and again and again the county the county ceo a woman and you know no one there are no consequences to that and i know recently too like the county democrats were calling for him to resign i mean outside of them just sort of saying like that's what we. Is there anything sort of beyond that that could have any sort of material effect or it's just sort of more of a show of sort of where they how they view how he's handling his position? 2022. It's believed that Villanueva was able to be victorious in the prior election because he did have the co-sign of the Democrats of Los Angeles County, as well as a number of local Democratic clubs. He did a lot of campaigning with them, spoke at a lot of their meetings, and a lot of people have said that it was that action that convinced them to vote for him.

And I think without that wind in his sails this go around, his numbers in the polls are going to be significantly down. How many people vote in like it? I guess 2022 is not necessarily an off year election, but, like, how popular an election is that? Is that one where, just by getting a handful of, like, you know, his supporters out, he can win? Or are you thinking that this is actually gonna, I mean, I guess the first question, which we already talked about, is, like, what are the alternatives? But, you know, having somebody, I guess, with entrenched power is probably not a good thing. How important do you think it is to, like, have him defeated and out

of office? Well, I think that he has shown time and time again that he is not willing to comply with the law. And yeah, I mean, personally speaking, I mean, I won't be voting for Villanueva. Right. Yeah. Is there, I mean, and I know how you said like

for the people who have the ability to sort of check his power that they're not, I mean, what, obviously based on your understanding of the situation and the dynamics at play, like what should be happening if, for example, like just to give the people of L.A. County the imagination on what what could be done or should be done? What would you say those things are?

Well, I mean, the Board of Supervisors has an incredible amount of power here in Los Angeles County. Their nickname is actually the Five Queens because, you know, it's really easy to open an investigation into just the just the cases that are on a list that the board of supervisors itself actually keeps that was the foundation of my series you know they keep that list you, it would be very easy to open an investigation into the deputies that are on that list and into the gangs. That would be a great first step. I think that hasn't been done yet. that is coming from law enforcement or that the feeling that they wouldn't be protected or, you know, I mean, like what is sort of for them the what makes that a situation they don't want to enter aside from obviously rocking the boat? Because I think most people don't would rather just keep the status quo, at least for people who are holding very high office these days in this country. But is that sort of the main force that's keep preventing those kinds of investigations happening? You know, I couldn't tell you. I think that that could be part of it. Several several members of the board of supervisors have sat on the board

for a number of years before this, and none of this stuff was done. So, yeah, I mean, I think it could be complacency to a certain extent. And, yeah, I mean, I think it could be complacency to a certain extent. And, you know, gosh, I think government just moves like incredibly slowly, like most of the time, right? Which is unfortunate because it doesn't really have to. Right. Right.

Yeah. So then, yeah, we need to be looking at people who are willing to actually challenge the status quo and do that in a way that is like in pursuit of what's actually justice rather than maintaining office for as many years as possible. Right. It feels like it's the same pattern at every level when it comes to how like a lot of legislators think and for people who haven't read the series or didn't listen to our first episode where we kind of covered just sort of a summary of what the gangs are like so just you know vienna weva called them cliques so you know how like you and your pals in high school or like the mean girls in your high school all got matching skeleton tattoos with Nazi helmets when, you know, you remember that? Like how, because you earned them after killing a civilian.

Yeah, when you got your three dots on your hand and your spider web elbow. Right, right. So that's the sort of clicks that we're talking about here where they reward people with better hours for killing a civilian. Yeah. Cerise, was there anything else just sort of updating or anything else you wanted to sort of put on everyone's radar of things just to be aware of or to be mindful of?

I would just say that everyone, you know, whether or not you live in Los Angeles County, the Sheriff's Department race is incredibly relevant. Los Angeles County is the largest Sheriff's Department in the United States. And like other things we do here in Los Angeles, our policies that come down largely inform and dictate policies that could be popping up in your backyard if you don't live here. So I encourage everyone to, you know, keep up with the race and what's going on. Educate yourself about the candidates. I myself am working on stories about all of the candidates and gathering information on them for people. So yeah, just stay tuned

and please stay informed and get out and vote when it's time. Just go follow Cerise at CeriseCastle, C-E-R-I-S-E-C-A-S-T-L-E on Twitter and follow all her reporting. It's important. It's fucking fascinating and horrifying all at the same time. All right, let's talk about Haiti.

So the Pentagon has revealed that some of the murder squad, I think the quote was a small number of the assassins that killed the Haitian president and attempted to kill his wife in their home, were previously trained by the U.S. military. trained by the u.s military and this is not surprising it doesn't mean the u.s was involved in like planning this particular assassination but it does this particular assassination exactly it does okay so we train the people that do it maybe it's a it's like a long game 4d testing yeah exactly it does like i mean this is a consequence of U.S. policy that the mainstream media doesn't like to acknowledge that, you know, for decades, the U.S. has been training killers in South and Central America and around the world who they think will help them destabilize a country where they need regime change or might need regime change. And yeah, just generally like contributing chaos and violence and, you know, danger into the world.

Was a great way to fight the Cold War when communism was gaining any kind of traction in Central South America, it's like, OK, when then we need to create a place to show people the skills of torture, interrogation, assassination. And we'll call it the School of the Americas. Doesn't that sound nice? Yeah. And everyone can come to this school and we'll show you how to do all the nasty things that we've been perfecting over the last couple of decades. And then again, we talked about it previously in another episode, but they eventually had to change their name to the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation because they need a bit of a rebrand because everyone's like, isn't that the place where y'all train assassins and like hit squads? And, you know, when we talk, we talked about this and how it relates to, you know, immigration and then the flow of people from places like Belize or Honduras or Guatemala, El Salvador. And you can draw lines to people who went alumni of the School of the Americas

and the destabilization that that's caused in the region and why people have to flee these countries. But now it's just the Institute for security cooperation so nothing to see yeah and i mean this is most of the major wars of the past 20 years have been at least partially fought on both sides by like privately trained and organized groups who kill people for a living. Like, and the fact that that's out there, these like private armies that are just available to work for the highest bidder, it just creates, you know, it suggests a future where the rich not only are able to decide

if they want to leave the planet, but also can create their own political realities just based on how much money they have and if they're willing to hire the best Chechens to knock over whatever political system that they want to knock over and i don't know it's it just feels like it's a a very bleak future where like the the article about this specifically says like and there's nothing illegal about it so it's like well maybe maybe there should be guys maybe maybe that's a law we're gonna take a look at we love that refrain in this country well it's not illegal we love it well show me the law it's like well yeah look at. We love that refrain in this country. Well, it's not illegal. We love it. Well, show me the law.

It's like, well, yeah, it was set up so you could say this, you fucking creep. That's why we need to address it. I don't know. I'm not dodging my taxes. This is the way the taxes are set.

I'm not doing anything. Yeah, right. We get that. But objectively, this is fucked and we have to change it. Wait, so like,

it's not, what is the law that they're not breaking? Exactly. Like you can't hire a bunch of organized armed people to have a yeah i mean they erection you know the most important thing is corporations and the rights of corporations uh and so you know a corporation has to be able to hire you know retired col Colombian commandos who, and retirement age is like 40 there. So they're, you know, able to just create corporations where the explicit function or at least implicit function is to have trained killers who can do your will. Right, right. Okay. We're talking about, yeah, just creating a mercenary company. Yeah.

Mercenary LLC. Yeah, yeah. Great, great, great. Yeah. That's fine. Just don't have matching tattoos and don't live below the poverty line. That's when it ventures into illegal territory.

If you're making under a certain amount of money, that's when it becomes illegal. Right. Quick Rorschach test. What do you see here? Do you see an impoverished worker being exploited by a capitalist class? Or do you see fun guys in army suits

doing cool stuff against our enemies? It's like if you're fighting for the corporation, then it's okay. But again, it seems like with this one, especially like in this instance, there's a lot of connection to people in the united states aren't there like wasn't there someone who was bankrolling that who was coming from the u.s yeah doctor from who's yeah doctor in florida of course there's always the florida connection always a florida doctor. But they think that he may be may have been the sort of providing the plan and the impetus in the first place. Like his plan was he was going to insert himself as the president of Haiti if if his plan had succeeded. And now he's currently in custody. But I just like going back to just the broader implications of this sort of thing.

Like we just had the January 6th insurrection that was, you know, based on like who decided to organize in a Facebook group based on like sort of, you know, half hearted, like-nudge commands from the president who was still, like, being monitored. But, like, imagine, like, if he had hired, trained, like, Chechens and Colombian mercenaries to do that. Like, we would be in a whole lot of trouble. But instead, it was just law enforcement and active military who were right undercover there right they couldn't get i wonder if that was like a bad look for them and like a mercenary group's like and you see what happens when you hire local you see what happens that's why you want to go with us we don't give a fuck we don't give a fuck honestly these people they were all would you see them they were all they thought they were on a field trip when they got in there. We get right down to it. You want to overturn an election? That's one of our, you know reporting that's coming out where he was like talking about which military leaders like he thinks would be good at a coup and which wouldn't be good at a coup.

Like that's yeah, that we were we were very close, like just a small amount of shamelessness and competence away from that being an ongoing crisis when you say which military like within our military yes would be good yeah so like some weird like fascist slumber party game if i was gonna do a coup this is a direct quote if i was gonna do a coup one of the last people i would want to do it with fuck mary general mark milley yeah he added that the chairman of the joint chiefs had no courage or skill. Certainly not the type of person I would be talking to with. Right. And that's that's the same Mark Milley who we're now hearing. He was saying, like, yeah, I'm telling everyone this guy's acting like Hitler.

Yes. Yeah. It's very like out there. It seems like this is also part of him trying to just sort of get the narrative back about him, too, because he was serving for Trump. He's like, yeah, but here's the thing. I called him Hitler and I and I knew the coup could have happened and I was going to fucking stop that. So. Yeah, can we can we be nice?

Can I get a book deal now? All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. A quick break and we'll be right back. 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. One session, 24 hours. BPM 110, 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up?

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We're not hurting people. 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, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry.

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to avoid any black holes. Most of the time. And we're back. And the privatization of like kind of security forces on a very small scale is being delivered to Americans via a new ring product. Yeah, drones, baby. Yeah, they, I don't know why this would make anyone feel fucking good about anything but like you know ring and that entire home security industry like is built on like scaring the fuck out of people and getting them to buy into their version of

reality where like every neighborhood in america is filled with dangerous people and like the only way to protect yourself is to like have constant surveillance and apps where people can like talk shit about their neighbors and and you know and and get off some of the most racist takes you've ever seen and you know like we talked about how like when ring was bought by amazon then they were putting out ads for like looking for crime reporters to help like create content for their ads again to keep this sort of cruel and unusual world narrative going for all their users. And as if having a fuck ton of hackable cameras wasn't enough to make you feel safe, Ring has announced this new product, is called the ring always home cam it's a fucking drone that will fly around your house so you can check all the nooks and crannies when you're out of the house so i'll just read it like it looks so like it like looks like wally's friend it's made to look so non-aggressive but it's a miniature quadcopter with a camera on it

and they say the ring always home cam is a drone camera that you can program to follow preset flight paths throughout your home. Yeah, you'll get the most out of it when paired with a Ring alarm subscription, since the drone is automatically triggered to lift from its base to fly preset paths. In the ad for it, it was basically some person leaving their house and like setting their alarm but then a guy with a ski mask decided to open a window and the alarm went off and then the drone's like like going to check and this guy's checking his phone and it looks like this like steadicam shot going through your house and it arrives to the point of entry where this guy with the ski mask is in and the guy sees and he's like oh no i

didn't know it was a little quadcopter i'm gonna go you know what crime over and like leaves and then it follows him home and he decides to change his life and go to college exactly become an engineer for ring um right 100 percent um and i it's weird that like again as if there we don't have enough ways for you to put cameras in your own home like i guess they're trying to be like stationary cameras are for victims but like for those of us that embrace the surveillance state you can now invite it directly into your home and the potential for bad shit with this just seems infinite. Like the idea that now you're going to deploy security drones within your home is just like such a nightmare situation for me. But I just want to also point out that, you know, Amazon and the police are using ring cameras to basically

privately crowdfund their own surveillance networks. And it's a little, I think not many people were of this all, but two States, Montana and Wyoming, this is from The Verge, quote, now have police or fire departments participating in Amazon's Ring network, which lets law enforcement ask users for footage from their Ring security cameras to assist with investigations. And they say now figures from Ring show more than 1189 departments joined the program in 2020 for a total of over 2000 and they're saying that even if you're a person who if the police say hey we'd like to obtain some of the footage from your ring camera some people who own the cameras don't even have the ability to say no right they're just like amazon will just go around them and be like

yeah okay here it is so this is just a very there's like so many layers to this that it just like there's gets spooky and spookier and spookier when you look at it what are the cops doing or not doing rather that they need like entire cities to be on ring camera right like this really i mean this is this is all the ads that the defund the police movement really needs. Right. Like people still need to depend on like fucking cameras flying around every inch of their home. And that still maybe doesn't even prevent the crime. like, but what is crime? Is it a symptom of a society where there's no social safety net and people are driven to such desperation that their only financial recourse are to commit property crimes? Hi, I'm Jeff Bezos. I feel like the simple question is, wait, what about police? If I need super drone to shoo away a suspected burglary, a burglar from my home. Right. Where are the cops? Watching my ring footage, I guess. But the cool stuff when it's aimed at someone's backyard and they got a pool.

It's like, OK, that's not you're not enforcing anything. was backyard and they got a pool it's like okay that's not you're not enforcing anything have you have you seen any of like the youtube videos of people putting guns on quadcopters because that's happening i saw i mean i i saw terminator 2 judgment day so right it's basically i have an idea of what that's like yeah but you're saying people are now, I mean, just like homespun. Homespun killer drones, yeah. Yeah, okay. Well, I mean, that goes along with that Lego Glock set that just came out. Right.

People are like, whoa, it's just cool. It's just a gun that they glued Legos on to make the gun more appealing to children. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. But it can end the gun more appealing to children. Yeah. That's cool. But can end a life. Because we're talking aesthetics. But I mean, when you think about one of the big arguments for gun ownership in America is the fantasy of that

iconic figure of guy in ski mask breaking into a house and getting to shoot someone with impunity and like i can just imagine like it doesn't feel like it's much of a much of a leap to a world where this thing rises out of the ground with a fucking handgun attached to it right so and again inherently like anything on that's internet connected could be hackable. Right. So who knows what other eventual applications they have?

I don't know if anyone again, I don't know who this is for, but this seems like a very specific person who's consumed a lot of, you know, Facebook posts and like neighbor app posts to be like, yeah, I need this. I need this. Only way to feel safe is drone. Just, yeah. Look, they make this shit look cute as hell in the commercial. I know. Like, it's not some, it's not, you know, indicating what our bleak future looks like. It really was meant to look like a fun thing that would make someone reconsider committing a crime because it saw you. Well, let's talk about some good news in this crazy mixed up world. A corporation

bringing two groups together after at long last. You know, this has been years of these groups butting heads. And Heinz is is here to bring the hot dog people and the hot dog bun people together it's a i think it's a seinfeld joke maybe about like how you know hot dogs come in 10 packs hot dog buns come in eight what's the deal with that yeah and that that heinz is trying to broker a piece here broker a an accord between the two don't they own the fucking aren't they all owned by the same like three companies anyway yeah general food or craft or whatever they fucking own the bread and the hot dog people is it really reaching across the aisle or i guess in this romantic version it is yeah i the the i'm pretty sure they are all owned by like one of two companies

so the reason that they're set that they have different counts is hot dogs used to be a thing that was sold by butchers and butchers tend to go with, like, the 10-pack for all things because that's just, like, what makes sense. Like, what's the easiest to count? But then bakers go with eight because bakers, I don't know, they don't play by your rules, asshole. What about the baker's dozen? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, but that's not an even an even 10 like bakers are loose cannons when it

comes to numbers they'll just they'll throw 13 rolls at you they don't give a fuck you know uh they're like our dozen is different than your dozen fuck the meat bread balance here's another loaf go but is it because maybe because eight because it's divisible by four and 12 is their God. The dozen is the God of the of the baker. Yeah. So it's basically I think the reason the dozen is the God of the baker is the reason that they have the eight, which is that they have trays like baking trays that are like built in fours. So you always have like like multiples of four for all baking products who's making the tins exactly so that's what i'm out further that's what heinz needs to be

thinking about right here so are they going to is this like a real thing is this like a marketing thing it's just a marketing thing they're just trying to they had a bad damn it jack i was hoping for substantive change they had a bad 2019 because they and they were like embroiled in an accounting scandal that i know we all followed closely uh their ceo had to resign in 2019 uh profits were already falling before the ketchup shortage during the pandemic so they're like uh we're back it's not really like a growth product it's not like people are still finding out about ketchup so i don't know right they're like did you hear what they did who is this company what that's the oh they make the red stuff yeah oh so it's the so they're

acting as so the the condiment maker is acting as the intermediary neutral third party to create this accord. Yes. I see. I see. I see. I see. That's why I buy Nathan's. They come in eight and the buns come in eight.

Right. But they match up. Yeah. Cause I have a terrible, I have a terrible, I hate when you got extra but I just can't handle that shit it really bugs me again along with me being a completionist and not watching a lot of the MCU films I don't like getting a 10 pack of buns when I only

have 8 francs did you watch all the Loki's? no any thoughts on Owen Wilson? well that I think towards the end is when they revealed the large MCU crossover possibility. I only know about this because Tobey Maguire was trending. And my Google alert that tells me every time Tobey Maguire is trending hit me up.

Wait, not Tobey Maguire. Did Tobey Maguire play Spider-Man? Back in the day. At one point. Yeah, yeah. So people are like, finally Tobey Maguire is going to enter into the MCU. Our dreams are answered.

I don't know. People are weird. Tobey Maguire stands? Yeah. Oh, yeah. The Maguire. Us Maguire stands. And yeah, so his name was trending,

which always intriguedues me. And that was the reason, because they opened the possibility of all the different Marvel movies being connected and some great crossover event, which I think excites. So it's really just a scheme to remake the remakes and remake those right that's what i'm seeing yeah i think you mispronounced art it's art this is like so funny that like what and do they even need that is it really going to be like elevate everything and then it all crossed over the spider verse did it like they covered the idea of a multiverse and like everything that's interesting about that and like the idea that all the different comics and like drawn in different styles are just like coming from different

parts of the multiverse like i did this the only thing this adds is like cd i'm like whoa it's the actor from that one. True. Isn't that interesting to me? Well, if you like a bunch of loose associated and affiliated acts coming together, you're going to love the Wu-Tang discography because they got everything. And if you want to go outside, you can get to Brooklyn Zoo, the Killer Bees, Capadonna, Sons of Man. I mean, there's so many ways the Wu-Tang cinematic universe.

Are there any Capadonna stans? Are there any people out there who are like, more Capadonna, please? I don't know if there are. Let us know because you're a very, very unique consumer of hip hop. Well, Cerise, it's been such a pleasure having you uh on tdz again where can people find you and follow you one more time yeah you can find me online at cerise castle and if you're so able i'd love if you could head over to the knock la patreon while i do very much consider this my job and my purpose i don't get get paid for it. Oh, my God. Sad.

And I also have to pay for all the public records requests that I make myself. So if you can help me foot that bill for justice, I'd appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely. Go do it. Is there a link to that on your socials? There is. Yes. Okay, cool. And we'll make sure we will link to that in the footnotes as well.

Footnotes? Is there a tweet or some other work of social media you've been enjoying? Four foes I'm gripping. Oh, man. What's that? How do people look? What Cerise is referencing is a video where someone is asking somebody just just a very simple question how do you get out the hood and it's two black people talking and then these people start arguing over a mic and like this like seven foot white guy in a polo shirt enters the frame and the question is posed

to him in which case he rightfully admits i wouldn't know how to answer the question because i did not grow up in the hood but i'm down to go there and then start spitting still tipping by Mike Jones with so much gusto and energy. It's it made me believe again. Miles, where can people find you? What's the tweet you've been enjoying? You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Miles of Gray. Also, the other show for 20 Day Fiance. We talk about 90 Day Fiance, you know, just to keep it light.

A couple of tweets that I like. First one is someone named at Slicky Williams said Snow Allegra is our Sade. And then at Art by Venus quoted and said Sade is our Sade. And that's 100 percent nailed on facts. Don't bring other people into this. There's only one Sade. And we salute her. Another one is Eric Blank,

at underscore Eric Blank, just has a picture of this sign that's posted outside of a restaurant in New York. It says, it's like one of those just printed things on a window in a restaurant. It says, we need chef, dishwasher, busboy. Come inside and only ask for Chris

always after two. I have never insulted anyone you should know me just please notice who is talking bad about me and eric blank tweets perhaps not the most effective help wanted sign oh what the fuck so deep into that conversation in his own head i I have never insulted anyone. You should know me. Just please notice who is talking bad about me. Okay. Chris.

Tweet I've been enjoying. Brody Gupta tweeted, don't call me honey and expect it to soften the fact that you shrunk the kids. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien. You can find us 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 on our footnotes where we link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode as well as a song we think you might enjoy miles what song are we suggesting people go check out? We have the just wonderful honor of having many talented people on this show. Past guest Illingsworth from Detroit, Michigan, a really talented musician and producer, co-produced this track that just came out with IDK featuring MF Doom, West Side Gun, and Jay Electronica.

The track is called Red, and it's fantastic. It's wonderful. Even if you don't like hip-hop, I implore you to check it out because the sampling on it is really cool, and the beat is very forward-thinking, not just your usual boom-bap type of hip-hop. And it's a really dope track. And congrats to Illingsworth for contributing to our sonic landscape

with some really fire material so this is IDK with MF Doom Westside Gun Jay Electronica and it's called Red co-produced by Illingsworth all right well go check that out

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. We are back this afternoon to tell you what's trending. And hey, we'll talk to you all then. Bye. Bye. In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles,

two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the president of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson, 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nicknamed Squeaky. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI, identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts. I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, host of the Happiness Lab podcast. As the U.S. elections approach, it can feel like we're angrier and more divided than ever. It can feel like we're angrier and more divided than ever.

But in a new, hopeful season of my podcast, I'll share what the science really shows. That we're surprisingly more united than most people think. We all know something is wrong in our culture, in our politics, and that we need to do better and that we can do better. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, I'm you listen to podcasts. Our second season is airing right now, so you can catch up on our conversations that are intimate and often hilarious. Listen to Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.