The Daily Zeitgeist - The SunZeit State 2/24: Ukraine, Russia, Sean Penn, Trump, Michael Flynn, Art Briles

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

In this edition of The SunZeit State, Jack and super producer Becca discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sean Penn pulling up to Ukraine, Trump and Michael Flynn weighing in on the invasion, and Grambling State hiring disgraced coach Art Briles. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me for I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me for I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 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 Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti and I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadson. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career.

That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Hello, the Internet, and welcome to this episode of florida the sun's light state be better if it was the sunlight state that would make more sense but anyways uh that that is courtesy of johnny davis maybe or the brew um uncle brew we went back to the oldies but goodies the um license plate based

short show trend puns uh because i don't know what else to say at the top of this show it's a tough one i am jack and i am joined today by the brave and talented super producer becca ramos hello not brave you're brave to be co-hosting this one this is a tough one here we go so yeah everybody's talking about ukraine uh russia invaded like full out all directions blitzkrieg uh is a word that has been used by people on the ground in ukraine so i actually that's like kind of where i wanted to start is you know i'm passively observing the memes and the mainstream media because it's my job to observe those things but for information, I'm trying to rely only on people who are actually on the ground firsthand. Like Robert Evans knows a lot of them because he's been reporting on Ukraine for a long time. Jake Hanrahan was just there.

Those are two people, former TDZ guests who I follow on Twitter and, uh, seem to be up on this shit. So, but through them, I've been able to like find people who are just, you know, taking pictures or being like, Hey, so, um, you know, in my neighborhood, people are wondering if they should still go into work while like a fighter jet flies overhead and it's really horrifying shit but i don't know how how are how are you doing becca yeah i mean i we were talking about this before we hopped on today about how much i feel like lost in the conversation because it's so much memes and not enough coverage of what's actually happening it's a lot of jokes about oh my god like thought i just ended covid but now i'm in

world war three and i think it's like a very privileged place coming from the united states to be making any sort of jokes because we just do not know what it's like to be a part of a war-torn country like 9-11 was our closest encounter and we do not let it go obviously it's never forget 9-11 um yeah and it's the one time we've ever experienced that and i didn't even write like i lived in texas i live in new york city now so it is a very different experience but uh yeah it's it's been, I think, overwhelming. I've been trying to get to the bottom as to why it's even happening. We've been kind of as a show talking about it on the sidelines for a while. This like almost joke

that like, oh, is World War Three about to bubble? Attention is clearly happening in Ukraine and Russia. But now that it's actually happening and I saw the graphic from the New York Times where it's showing you all the different spots that Russia's bombing Ukraine, it's like, oh shit, like this is really scary and sad and, you know, having, as I think, from an American perspective,

seen something like that since, you know, talked about in a textbook per se, since like World War II, like that type of like global scale Russian infiltration. But I wanted to read this quote that I saw online from the handle is, but I'm Kim Tran. It says to a lot of Americans, war is abstract, unfathomable. You've never seen a city in pieces. You've never feared a war planes overhead it's so surreal that perhaps you reach for a joke out of discomfort if this is you don't

it's okay to not understand something to not have had your own life shaped by it it's unconscionable to turn the space of unknowing into something that trivializes incredible suffering i definitely resonated with this just because I've definitely felt uneasy seeing all the jokes and not enough about like what is actually happening. So just something to think about. I think if you're someone who's been sharing jokes online, you know, be a little bit empathetic. I think of what other people are actually going through.

It's so easy to trivialize it when it's digitalized like this, like we're not facing it head on. So I don't know. There's a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings about what's going on. Yeah. Yeah. And the footage from people on the ground is,

I mean, we're worth watching, but also I think a lot of people are pointing out that stuff is getting mixed in that is from days or years ago. Um, and, uh, it's, it's a mess. So like, you know, it's, it's not just finding people who have a video they say is what's happening on the ground. It's like finding people that you can trust with what is happening on the ground.

I do find myself just naturally as an elder millennial drawn to the mainstream media at times like this more than any other time. And I'm sure there is a pro military industrial complex bent to the version of things that we get, like even on the front page of the New York times, but it's hard to, to break that habit because also they have the budget and reporting resources to like cover the story. Yeah. And the,

you know, journalistic intent to at least not repost a, you know, clip from Rambo to, and that it's uh what's happening on the ground i have one question though and it might be more than our ukraine for dummies conversation here but when i'm seeing the stuff about ukraine i'm wondering why are we getting these world war three notions that we haven't i, had with other war-torn countries? Like, you know, I feel like there's been conversation about genocide in other, you know, like, countries around the world in the past few years.

I mean, we have chosen to go to war with the Middle East many times and have also, as you all talk about on tomorrow's show, like we are not, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Guilt free in the way that Russia is acting towards Ukraine as us to the middle East. So I wonder why now it's called world war three. Is it because of the NATO conversation? Is it because of Russia's history with world war two and world war one, uh, versus like, I feel like these conversations get ignored when it's, you know, I guess black and Brown countries. Yeah.

I, so I, that's a great question. That actually was like something I was trying to research earlier. Like I was, I was wondering if it was possibly because of how strategically significant um ukraine is as like touching kind of not western europe necessarily but like romania and poland are yeah it's european still european countries so it's i think that is a part of it. Um, I think the fact that, uh, one of the main parties is Russia is probably a part

of it. Although, uh, you, you may notice that one of the main parties in the, uh, uh, unilateral wars that America waged was also part, uh, one of the people who everyone expected to be in world war three. So that's probably just an american-centric point of view and then i think it's all those things i i also think it's probably an exciting thing like it's a meme that it just like sticks in people's head better than another thing i have also seen people claim that militarily it's like the biggest invasion since world War II. And I have not had a chance to fact check that. But I mean, that graphic I saw from the New York Times,

that makes sense. I was like, this is crazy. A lot of arrows. But that's a good question. And like, well, I think it'll remain to be seen. And Super Producer Brian also pointed out that the World War III thing might be coming from in addition to memories of everybody expecting world war three to be the U S and Russia. Um,

the fact that Russia is one of the other countries that could like sort of unilaterally in the world at any moment, um, along with the U S though. So, uh, just other like kind of ukraine for dummies things that i wanted to look up this morning like i didn't know how populous ukraine was it's 41 million people so for people with similarly you know u.s centric brains like california is the most populous u.s state it has 39 million people and it's 233 000 square miles california is 163 000 so it's like a little smaller in texas basically um just that helps me like kind of visualize the surface area of like visualize it and and yeah just like also you know as they're talking like just realize this is happening to real people in a place i haven't been but like these

are people in an area who are like living their lives and i don't know i think because i was raised in the 90s and had like this this sort of cnn uh poisoned view of like well those are places that you see on the news but they're not real or like i i don't even like they're almost like a simulacrum like sort of not a real like they aren't in my brain as a real place yeah um there as a like projection of like news footage yeah so for some reason i always like to look at that when i'm trying to like understand uh of just like spatial and population comparisons to places that i have been well i think we have such a distortion being here in the united states because the united states is so big like it's like it's huge like you just said like this is about the size of you know a little bit under texas population of california like and that's one state of our 50

you know states like that but like that's their whole world it's it's crazy yeah i mean i was actually like texas is fucking massive. Texas is huge. I know you lived there a lot. Like, Texas is its own country, like, just in terms of how massive it is. But anyways. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back and talk about some sort of secondary things happening as a result of this story that is sort of the main thing that everybody is

watching right now. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades. Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high control groups and interview dancers, church members and others whose lives and careers have been impacted just like mine.

Through powerful, in-depth interviews with former members and new, chilling firsthand accounts, the series will illuminate untold and extremely necessary perspectives. Forgive Me For I Have Followed will be more than an exploration. It's a vital revelation aimed at ensuring these types of abuses never happen again. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden.

We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or, can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes! Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice.

And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it, like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career.

Without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri 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 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 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. 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 iheart radio app filming a documentary about russia's invasion with vice i guess i don't know how this makes me feel uh i think it's i just i want to know when he made the choice to go out there was it as it was bubbling? Was this, you know, in the long process? I am unsure. I didn't give too many details by studios and give too many details, but there's this quote from Variety. Our country is grateful to him for such a show of courage and honesty. Sean Penn is demonstrating bravery that many others have been lacking in particular some western politicians and i just i don't know that doesn't sit right with me personally i mean not that i think any of our politicians are brave by any means but i'm just like why are you there

you know like say it to ted cruz's face say it to my boy ted cruz's face bro um he's like i don't know if sean penn needs to be the voice of the american perspective of right what's going on in ukraine and russia like he he should if he wants to elevate people like they're just better people to do this it just feels a little like disaster tourism or like this sort of i don't know i did not know that. Super producer Brian just said that he, Sean Penn, pulled up to Hurricane Katrina's speedboat. So maybe he just loves disaster journalism. It's his thing. I had no idea that's so dystopian.

As someone who lived in Texas during Hurricane Katrina, that is so yucky. That is, it was an intense time. Yeah, but good photo op. He looked fucking cool as hell. That is so yucky. That is, it was an intense time. Yeah. But good photo op. He looked fucking cool as hell. Anyways, we know how Sean Penn, like that's the first question on people's minds.

What's Sean Penn's take on Ukraine? That's what I Googled. That's the first thing I looked up. Sean Penn, Ukraine. That was amazing. It wasn't like that this was a headline. You were just like, wait, where's Penn at? Give me the latest. give me eyes on pen uh so uh you my impression of you is donald trump i guess apparently uh but so speaking of donald trump donald trump and michael flynn have been weighing I guess you can't be surprised that any time he is kind of pro Putin because he's just like it's it's one of the most continuously astounding things about him is his flattery and admiration just openly for Putin. But he's sort of narrating his thoughts as this

is going on. He, I think at a banquet or a fundraiser or something, he said, I mean, he's taken over a country for $2 worth of sanctions. I'd say that's pretty smart. And then saying that Ukraine is a, quote, great piece of land with a lot of people, as if describing a investment property. I love that. I love talking about people's home and where they consider their culture, their safety is a great piece of land

and business opportunity. Right. And then Michael Flynn kind of went off uh at biden for ignoring and laughing at putin's legitimate security concerns and legitimate ethnic problems ethnic in the ukraine in the ukraine which uh that was another thing that i knew you weren't supposed to say the ukraine and instead call it ukraine uh but the reasoning uh behind that that makes total sense to me is that russia wants you to call it the ukraine because it suggests that it is a region uh and not a sovereign nation so it's like we don't call florida the florida but we do call

it part of the south which is a region of the u.s right like so um i mean words matter like how you say things really impact and flynn he's all all on board all all aboard the the Ukraine side of things. So I know that a lot of people like one of the uglier things we're seeing in the aftermath, not even nearly one of the uglier things, one of the just like more predictable and exhausting things we're seeing is like, you know, Republicans being like, thanks a lot, Brandon. And Democrats being like, the Republicans want Putin to win. And in one case, I guess this is just like, man, it would be weird if Donald Trump had won the presidency as he was so close to doing. And like, we were watching this happen while the president like openly rooted for russia yeah i'm glad we're not in that timeline not that right now it's any better but it's

slightly better than that one slightly better we have uh i guess there's not much on china that's just seems to be something that people are talking about because like there is a partnership between Russia and China because they're both massive countries and they rely on each other to sort of make themselves less reliant on the U.S. Now there's going to be even more severe financial sanctions on Russia. So they will become more reliant on china and people are also saying that like i guess she's policy from the start has always been like non-intervention or that's his outward policy is like we don't we don't fuck around in other sovereign nations um what will remains to be seen what happens with taiwan but i guess they

don't uh consider that to be a sovereign nation but it's just people are waiting to see and like that was also one of my first instincts is like where where is china going to fall on all of this so i don't know the The mainstream media outlets are like, she may be embarrassed, but he, I'll just read a direct quote. She may be embarrassed, but he can console himself with leverage. So it's like a, it's like a Us Weekly hot or not about fucking global leaders.

And Bitcoin and Ether plunge as Russia ukraine was the headline i was seeing a lot i thought bitcoin and ether were supposed to be like these things that are there in case the systems crumble uh like to you know may make people less reliant on the global and national like banking systems. Um, but it does seem like every time there's a bad shit is happening, they go down. Uh, Art Bryles. Uh, this is somebody I was not familiar with or I, I knew the scandal. I didn't know his name, but this, this caught your eye. Yeah. So this caught caught my eye i am a baylor grad during the art bryles heyday i graduated in 2017 from baylor and i did put this in there because i think it's important not to get something even though this feels small buried they obviously released

the news today i think in the midst of all the other news i definitely saw the conversation on twitter being like wow like grambling state would release this news like while the world is ending so that hopefully no one gives them shit about it but basically arp riles who was a disgraced um coach of baylor university who uh got ousted in 2016 for his players committing many sexual assaults against women on Baylor's campus. He has not been hired collegiately since then. He's been hired in Canada and he was doing like a bunch of weird odd jobs, but this is his first like back to like college level,

you know, football coaching. I think it's really, you know, gross. I think it's a product of, you know um football coaching i think it's really you know gross i think it's a product of you know the misogyny in a lot of sports and you know we can only hope there's enough like pushback that he can get ousted again but uh he will be replacing ted white who left grambling state to become the the new offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach for the Houston Texans. Very full circle moment for Texas, period. But yeah, I just as someone who went to Baylor during this time, he was a very toxic figure.

I do hope that like they're taking precautions for the women on that campus, that they have good title nine policies in place to make sure that they're safe because it was a really you know bad time to be a woman on campus during that era it was scary a lot of women were not taken seriously there were not even policies back then for sexual assault there was no title nine office until after Arp Riles got ousted, basically. So, yeah, just like put pressure on men who don't deserve positions of power because they let other people assault women. So, you know, just be vigilant in a rambling state. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Those are the things that are trending on this Thursday afternoon. We are back tomorrow with the whole last episode of the show. Until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourselves. Get the vaccine. Don't do nothing about white supremacy. Help trans kids in Texas. There are a lot of places you can donate and help the people of Ukraine. All right. We will talk to you all tomorrow. Bye.

Bye. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper

into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. about women's basketball is 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 Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career.

That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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.