The Daily Zeitgeist - Trend Alert: Escape Room Murder, Egg Is OUT HERE 1.15.19

Episode Date: January 15, 2019

In episode 309, Jack and Miles are joined by Reality Bytes co-host Courtney Kocak to discuss fake news about The Rock, the weekend box office, Trump's popularity level, Mueller looking into Trump's working relationship with Russia, the LA Unified School District going on strike, the egg that won Instagram, the real story behind the Havana Embassy attacks, and more! FOOTNOTES: 1. Box Office Mojo - Escape Room2. Box Office Mojo - The Intouchables (U.S.-only)3. Kevin Hart's The Upside unseats Aquaman in unexpected box office victory4. Mueller Is Investigating Trump As a Russian Asset5. Fox News Alert: Jeanine Pirro Asked Trump if He's a Russian Agent 1/12/2019 THE FULL 7 Minutes6. F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia7. There’s a Pretty Good Chance President Trump Is Being Blackmailed8. A dozen problems with charter schools9. Tens Of Thousands Of Los Angeles Teachers Strike After Contract Talks Fail10. Charters are Cash Cows11. This is what the Los Angeles teacher strike means for schools across the country12. Egg picture beats Kylie Jenner as most-liked Instagram post of all time13. The Real Story Behind the Havana Embassy Mystery14. WATCH: Foxwarren - "Everything Apart" Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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.

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. 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. Tried 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 iHeartTrue Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to season 65, episode two of Dare Daily Zeitgeist, the podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness using the headlines, box office reports, TV ratings, and what's trending on Googs and Soshi Meads. It's Tuesday, January 15th, 2019. My name's Jack O'Brien, a.k.a. This is a Portmanteau Brian. Courtesy of Trek Gang, and I'm thrilled to be joined, as always, by my co-host, Mr. Miles Gray!

Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, crash it, change it, miles of gray it, charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, snap it, work it, quick erase it. Technologic. Technologic. Okay, thank you to Hannah Soltis for that one. Daft Punk. Remember that one that was the sampled in that Busta Rhymes song?

No. Okay, I do. It was 2006 or 2007. Anyway, So thank you to you For that one And I always think about That song Erase it Is always how that robot

Said it Okay Erase it Yeah Quick erase it Alright Yep Well

Alright I think we can Just wrap it up there Alright see you guys It's been a great show And you can get more Stuff like that This weekend live Guys

We have a live TDZ Episode coming to you at SF Sketch Fest. It's 11.30 Saturday night. Go to Live Nation or the Punchline website. SF Sketch Fest. Or the sfsketchfest.com website. It's 11.30 Saturday night. So this is what you're going to be doing instead of watching Saturday Night Live. Come on, young people who stay up late. Come on, young people who stay up late.

Come on, young people. It's late. It's late for the oldsters out there. But I'll be up. I'm going to get up for the show, guys. It's really Saturday night and Sunday morning. Yeah. And I'm going to be making lots of annoying guy at the sleepover jokes like that

church jokes yeah uh-oh we gotta go for church pretty soon guys hey oh uh well we're thrilled to be joined in our third seat by the very funny writer and podcaster courtney kosak glad to be back oh yes we yes. Welcome back from your travels. Yes. I'm in from Minnesota. It's a trip to hang out with your family and get some really intense family time and then come back to LA and just be like, ooh, totally different world. Yeah. Is it snowing over there in Minnesota?

Did you get snow up there? Some snow on the ground. Not while I was there. Oh, you're Courtney Kosak of the Minnesota Kosaks. Oh my, I just put, wow. Okay. I think my grandpa used to work with your uncle. Well, we're thrilled to have you. We're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, we're going to tell our listeners a couple of the things we're talking about. Really, this whole episode is going to be devoted to apologizing for Monday's episode

in which we told you that The Rock had said something that wasn't awesome. And in fact, he was misquoted or the quote was totally made up. We're going to apologize. He said 100% for the record. Never happened. For the record. For the record. So, yeah. We'll maybe be able to move on for that but mostly it's just gonna be self-flagellation

about that yeah uh yeah but we recorded it before that came out we didn't just ignore his i like if you just stood behind like no and we saw that yeah we didn't believe it still think still printed dick uh we're gonna talk about the weekend box office. We're going to talk about where our fearless leader, our president, is at these days. The headline on Drudge Report is that his approval rating is at its lowest and things aren't looking up from here. So we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about the teacher strike in LA, all that and more. But first, Courtney, we'd like to ask our guest, what is something from your search history that is revealing about who you are deep down as a human being?

Oh, deep down. Well, so I was home in Minnesota and it super bummed me out that all of Main Street had been wiped out in my little hometown. Is the Main Street literally called Main Street in your hometown? It is. Is it little hometown. Is the Main Street literally called Main Street in your hometown? It is. Is it really? It's literally Main Street. Oh, my God. I grew up in LA, so these things are so quaint.

And it's called Main Street? And it's like five blocks long. Yeah. You know. But there were five drugstores or four drugstores on Main Street when I was growing up. And now I drove through and there's zero. Are they all just shuttered up? Yeah.

Wow. Like boards over the windows? One's like trying to be a gym. Oh, okay. They're like repurposed into these odd little businesses that aren't working. Are equally not being patronized. Yeah, yeah.

So it super bummed me out. And I was like, I was just racking my brain. I was like, oh, what industry could come here to revitalize this town? And then my mom's like, oh, they're having a little shark tank competition with like, you know, like it's just twenty thousand dollars. But they're like trying to bring businesses into town. Wow. So I was searching. I'm not a business person. I'm probably not going to figure this out. But I was like, what are the best e-commerce businesses to start? I was searching all that kind of stuff. Right, right, right.

Oh, because you're trying to bring the money back to your town. I wish. Zeitgang, look into it. Jackson, Minnesota. Shark Tank. Jackson, Minnesota. What airport do you have to fly into? I flew into Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

That's like 90 minutes away. Okay. Does that, is that one of those ones that lands on a lake, like a puddle hopper plane? No, it's an actual airport, but it's tiny. It's like the terminals aren't a one or whatever. It's one, two, three, four, five. It's one, two, three, four, five. And they're also gates, too. Yes. And do you think four drugstores was maybe excessive? Do you think maybe too many drugstores?

Maybe. But like in the, you know, 10 years prior, that was probably the right amount. Right. And then those went out of business. But really, it's Walmart's fault. Yes. Well, that's what they do, the Waltons. Yeah, they do. They just kind of suck up all the resources from a distance.

And then, yeah. So is there a nearby Walmart that you do? Yeah, like 20 minutes away. And I remember the debate about should we bring a Walmart to town? Yeah, no, for real. And it's like, yes, you should have. At least, I mean, at least you would have something. Well, but at the cost of, look at all those little drugstores.

You know what I mean? Yeah, but at least people from 20 minutes away then would be coming to Jackson versus, you know, instead of vice versa. Right. Oh, you're saying for the Walmart to be in Jackson versus, oh, so now you have something to hang your hat on. They were like, we're going to preserve this thing. And it's like, that was exactly the wrong mentality. Right. Yeah, well, yeah.

They destroy all those mom and pop businesses. Yeah. People will drive 20 minutes away for that super cheap opioids and all that good stuff. And a sweet, sweet pap. Yeah. What is something you think is underrated? Underrated. Okay.

I hate to come here and shill for a major corporation, but. But north of Grumman. Taco Bell. You guys, it's the best place to get vegetarian fast food. We were just talking about this. Yep. And they're rolling out there. Were you talking about the new vegetarian menu?

Yeah, that you could have different combinations for every day for 20,000 years. That's how varied the menu is now. I love it. Yeah. Are you a vegetarian? Yeah, I've started once in a while to eat fish. That's how varied the menu is now? I love it. Yeah. Are you a vegetarian? Yeah. I've started once in a while I'll eat fish, but yeah, for the most part. Okay.

Did you always eat a Taco Bell? Because, you know, you get that BRC, the bean rice and cheese, or bean and cheese burrito. And El Pollo Loco. No, no, no. You can get a Taco Bell. That was like the one vegetarian thing you do.

Yeah, no. You can get stuff before. It's always been a great vegetarian find. But now you're feeling good because they're expanding. Yeah, they're really serving. Well, shout out to Yum Brands. Isn't that the parent company? Yeah, yeah.

Yum. They got KFC. They got all the good stuff. They're drinking up water resources in other countries, I'm sure, too. But anyway. What's your favorite menu item at Taco Bell for a vegetarian? I get a Crunchwrap Supreme with beans instead of beans. Hey.

Wow, that sounds really good. Yeah. I never had a Crunchwrap Supreme until Thanksgiving when we were taking a road trip. Thanksgiving. And Her Majesty was told by a coworker, they're like, yo, if you've never had the Crunchwrap Supreme, get the Crunchwrap Supreme. I was like, I don't know. I had it. I was like, okay, I see what the deal is.

There's so many textures. Right? You can eat it in the car while you're driving no mess it's just a handheld disc of artery clogging fun what is your favorite fast food item period for vegetarians is that it the crunch wrap supreme just across the board yeah well. Well, Fast Fast, yes. Otherwise, like Chipotle. If you're going to get out of your car. Right, right, right. Well, if you get out of the car, then the world's your oyster.

Yeah. Veggie Grill, also good. Yeah, oh yeah. What do you get at Veggie Grill? They have little buffalo wraps. Me too. I love the buffalo. The Buffalo Bomber?

Look at us. What is something you think is overrated? I am so sick of this KonMari bullshit. The what? Oh, Maria Kondo? Maria Kondo? Yeah, what's it? Yeah, whatever her name is that I've seen a million times in the last five days.

Have you watched it? I haven't watched it. I'm sick of it. I read the book. I did the audible of the book. And I was like, this should be one page. This is

such a simple idea. But I listened to the whole thing. So sad. But yeah, you know, we don't need to do that. What? Touch every item

to see if it sparks joy a vibe joy just you know throw your shit away or let it stack up like just live your life it's too short maybe well yeah i mean i think you know it makes sense in japan where space is very limited for people like in their apartments and things like that like you can't you don't really have the luxury of being able to hoard and if you do it's probably like a danger to your safety maybe it's triggery to me because i need to do it right no and i think that's what it is though right because also i could hold something and in my mind be like oh yeah i feel something it might not be that it brings me joy it could be that the panic about me what if i need it in five years i know

also as a writer i use shit i go back sometimes and to reconstruct a story a little bit, like I want to fact check myself. Yeah. And I need some of the paper that's stacked up or whatever. Do you really? You go back through like piles of paper? Not piles of paper, but like sometimes pictures or, you know, there's just. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I feel like clothing or home items are easy to get rid of. Yeah, I don't hoard that kind of stuff. I'm like, I love history, so anything that has some kind of historical or value in a nostalgic way, I'm like, I can't get rid of that. Right. That was the turkey hand drawing I made in kindergarten. Right. You still got all of those, actually. Oh, yeah.

Your desk is covered with turkey hand drawings. Covered turkey hand drawings, crumpled up old brown shopping bags made to look like deer skins where I did caveman drawings. And all of your book covers that you made. Exactly. Did you have to do that in public school ever? Yeah, make your own book covers. Make your own book covers.

Yeah. Oh, man. I used to do the, you know, do the comic section. Yeah, yeah. Or just do the brown paper bag and then draw wild, stussy asses on it. Well, also with Marie Kondo, so it's a reality show, right? Like, that makes you feel worse about yourself, which isn't reality TV to, like, make us feel like better people

by watching people treat each other like shit. Well, I think it all depends on what your disposition is. Right. You know, like, you could watch it and be like, oh, fuck, I need to get on this wave right or you could be like courtney be like fuck no i'm not watching it though but i think the people that it appeals to are yeah on the self-help tip so they're like yeah or just how you're wired like i don't mind i i don't need to have everything like decluttered immediately right but there are people who the visual mess just stresses them out.

And I think for those people, this is the kind of thing. I give them the tools to declutter and shit. Oh, yeah. But, you know, to each their own. Yeah. If you want to be a sloppy hoarder, just sloppy hoard. I will. Yeah.

Finally, what is a myth? What's something people think is true you know to be false? Okay. So this is my hardest category, you guys. But I would say that rejection is a bad thing, and I'm being totally serious. I was – did you guys read the New York Times thing that Emily Winters wrote about getting rejected 100 times? No. So that was like her resolution last year, and mine was the same.

Mine was actually 200 but we calculated slightly different oh it's to experience as much rejection as possible yeah because just as like a freelance creative person like i'm i'm a perfectionist and so i was like i just need to desensitize myself a little and and go for it and it is totally a numbers game so anyway it unlocked all kinds of shit last year i just wrote about this right but and you had a terrible year in your career last year too and we noticed that's actually my worst years uh well yeah so what was that like going from perfectionist to like repeated uh exposure therapy to rejection it was just like oh this is

a like repeated exposure therapy to rejection. It was just like, oh, this is, it was like a key that unlocked, you know, what my career could look like if I just like went for it a little harder. Right, right, right. Rather than protecting yourself. I made way more money freelancing than I did the year before. I got way more bylines. I got, you know, I got a byline that was like one of my goal, you know, Washington Post. And, you know, now I have more of those to get in the future.

But I was like, oh, you know, this is more of how I should be pursuing. Sure. Well, yeah. And you're saying you're pushing back against people who are like rejection is bad. Right. Yeah. Well, I had that belief. Right.

Well, I think that's like inherent. Right. The fear of failure. Yeah. Yeah. I think we're wired that way. Well, and so many people too, like you look at people,

how many people like might stall on their careers till very later in life. And they're like, the whole time I wanted it, I just wasn't there mentally to allow myself to, like open myself up to the threat of like, I guess ego annihilation of being rejected or whatever. Yeah. Sometimes it is your own self-worth shit

that holds you back. Or like, I shouldn't be going for this yet or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I'm not ready for this. Yeah. Sometimes it is your own self-worth shit that holds you back. Or like, I shouldn't be going for this yet or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, I'm not ready for this. Yeah. Yeah. Yo, just fucking let the river take you. You know, don't, don't hold onto the rocks along the way because it's going too fast. You know what I mean? The only way around is through, right? You got to take that, take that conflict. Um, and did you hit your number? Did you get to 200? Yeah, I actually should. Well, I counted, you know, if I followed up with someone and after a couple of times, like didn't hear back. Right. That was that's also a rejection. So I counted those, but I got over 200. Restraining order.

Got like 200 of those. I can't go to Colorado anymore. And you didn't have to like cram at the end of the year and just be like, hey, I want a million dollars. It was peaks. No. Just to get like some blanket rejections. It was peaks and valleys, but I did like a lot in the spring, actually. It was maybe my busiest time of getting rejected. There you go.

So much work to get rejected 200 times. Yeah. Well, it also changes your process, right? Because you go from everything being a make or break situation or everything is riding on this one moment or opportunity to becoming more of like having more of like a scientific process and where you're experimenting. We're like, this works, this didn't, this works, this didn't.

Okay, and I can sharpen it. Yeah, but it's not that mini because sometimes it was like the same piece that was going out and it's like for reasons that i have no control over that place wasn't gonna run it and sometimes i'd send them out like in pretty quick succession because you know right it was time sensitive or whatever so that's so great it's not like i just you had 200 ideas that didn't get used. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. No, totally.

Yeah. It's not that you have bad ideas. It's that you hustled your ass off. Yeah. I mean, that's a great way to think. Thinking like that helped me get around some social anxiety, just being like, okay, I am learning from this. And every time I'm uncomfortable, I'm getting better at the experience. And so you almost go out seeking the thing that you used to be afraid of.

Yes. Yeah, that helps you a lot. Well, there's so much valuable information in something not going right, too. Right, exactly. Like, if it's going right, you have very little reason to change your thinking or at least be a little more self-aware or analyze yourself. The worst thing that you can do, I think, is close yourself off to it. And that's what rejection normally does. So if you just are staying open.

And then you just become inert. You know what I mean? If you don't really go and try and expand yourself. Well, actually, I have to correct you. The worst thing you can do is report on something that The Rock was misquoted on. Okay. I stand corrected. something that The Rock was misquoted on.

Okay, I stand corrected. That is the worst thing you can do because our listeners were not happy with us, which is understandable. It was a bit of a timing thing where we recorded before he corrected the record. But this is something to always keep in mind that the British tabloid media is... They're on some shit. They're on some shit. They're willing to

straight make shit up. Now, did he... Now, this is the other question we're asking. Do we know what really happened here? Did they Frankenstein a bunch of other things together out of context to make this? I don't know if he is just more powerful and so much

more likable than the British tabloid press that people are just like, yeah, they probably made it up. I'm willing to go with him on it. I handled it. Maybe they took a different word from five different sentences to make it seem like he was being more opinionated than he is. I don't want to judge him at all because, yeah, the media can be fucked up about stuff like this and the rock is obviously supernaturally likable and you know there's a reason for that uh he used to be a republican though guys just keep that in mind yeah he'd pull up at the conventions yep get the photo turnout hyped yeah but then you know when they asked him if he was going to run

they're like as a republican he's like's like, nah, I'm too smart. Right. I'm an independent now. Yes. But so at least, you know, that's the thing. Like, even if he is a Republican, I don't really have a problem with it

because he's not dealing with, like, the fucked parts of being a conservative from what I can see. Like, he's not on some xenophobic shit. If he is on this, like, you know, snowflake-ism thing, if it was true, and he was pushing back against, you know, the idea that people are just looking for a reason to defend it, that would make me scratch my head a little bit.

But, yeah, I think there's room to be a chill conservative. Yeah. As my favorite spiritual guru, Kevin Hart, said, we have to make room for people to learn and grow, you know? Oh, shit. and grow, you know? So, no, but yeah, Arabad and, you know, now you know that we record Monday's episode. Also, Jack has a wild elbow-sized mark on his chest,

bruised, because the rock found him and delivered the people's elbow on him. That's right. In the middle of Wilshire Boulevard. If he didn't say, it was just the millennials or the snowflake generation, right? Well, yeah, and this other thing of like that all these people fought for our freedom. And it just, it read like just a total, like Fox News thinking. Yeah.

And now they're just looking for a reason to be offended about anything. And now it's setting us back. Yeah. And it's like setting us back. And I was putting it in the context of him calling Vin Diesel a candy ass on the set of Fast and the Furious. But again, I don't know the whole story there. It just, it read. I sometimes occasionally get very intense gym teacher vibes from The Rock.

But this, I have no right to bring those vibes up in the context of this story because fuck the British tabloid media. If you haven't seen the documentary Tabloid, that shit is wild by Errol Morris. It's about the British tabloid media and how they will just make up a story, basically. Ooh, gotta check that out. Yeah. Should we talk about the box office?

Let's talk about the box office, guys. What do you got? Well, my main man, Kevin Hart, was number one against industry speculation. they didn't think the movie would break 10 million his new movie the upside with Bryan Cranston I've only seen the poster it's about him pushing a man in a wheelchair and smiling yes Cranston is in the wheelchair he's playing paraplegic and Kevin Hart is his like nurse caretaker.

And it's based on this French movie called the untouchables from number of years back, like five or maybe a decade. I don't know how time works anymore cause I'm old, but it was this feel good French movie. I saw it. It wasn't great. And then I realized that I had confused French

with critically acclaimed because the first movie wasn't critically well-reviewed. It was just a feel-good movie that did really well at the French box office. But I'm not surprised that this movie did really well. And it got an A CinemaScore. It's just like an audience-ple pleasing movie that critics don't vibe with. Well,

yeah. I mean, I think with all the news and shit and the state of the world, like people need these kinds of soothing films of like, huh. Yeah. And they like each other. Right.

The paraplegic dude is a billionaire. So there's like wish fulfillment stuff and he, they go on all sorts of fun adventures together. wish fulfillment stuff and he they go on all sorts of fun adventures together there is a scene in which kevin hart's characteristic his comedic sensibility of homophobia comes through where he's unwilling to even look at a catheter and or he can't even say the word penis because he's like supposed to which just the worst nurse ever but What kind of medical professional is this? No, he is not helping the client with his catheter or anything. And another way that this movie ties into the news of the past couple years

is that this was a Weinstein company joint that was bought up at auction after the Weinstein company basically dissolved. And it was going to be more of a challenging R-rated movie. And this company that bought it at auction just cut it down to a PG-13, focused on the feel-goody vibes. And they were apparently smart to do that from a business perspective. One thing that we missed last week that I just wanted to raise is that at number five on the box office charts and last week did it surprisingly well

was Escape Room, a horror movie about escape rooms. Wait, what? Which is- Like they were in an escape room that like the consequences were real?

You will get murdered if you get the fuck out of this room. Yeah, I'm assuming it's like jigsaw shit, right? Like the Saw movies, which I don't know. Are you guys escape room-ers? I did an escape room in like Koreatown, and it was so boring.

Right. Like I can't imagine that this was, yeah, I guess if the stakes were real. Yeah. Well, the synopsis, six adventurous strangers travel to a mysterious building to experience the escape room, a game where players compete to solve a series of puzzles to win ten thousand dollars just for ten okay anyway uh what starts out as a seemingly innocent fun soon turns into a living nightmare as the four men and two women good ratio discover each room in is an elaborate trap that's part of a sadistic game of life or death let's play a game okay so it's like saw and uh escape room

there's actually an episode of castle the tv TV show, that is this exact plot. Oh, really? I think that's what it was. It was like one of those real- High stakes Escape Room. Yeah, that I watched while hungover. I would play Escape Room. I just have not had the opportunity.

All my friends have been playing, but whenever they go, I'm out of town or doing something else, and I was like, you would love this Escape Room. Right. Because I like puzzles. You're a puzzle head. I I was like, you would love this escape room. Right. Cause I like puzzles. You're a puzzle head. I'm a puzzle fucking creep. Okay. I've been kicked out of puzzle zoo so many times cause I'm just so perplexing and puzzling.

So, I mean, it, yeah, it appeals to me, but I've not done one yet. So I, but I don't see why,

like just as a concept, I'm like, yeah, go in and flex your brain a little bit and use clues. They're, they're very hit or miss. I would say there are some times when they are intricately imagined from the perspective of like – it's almost like being in a Saw movie written by somebody who's not a Hollywood caliber screenwriter.

Right, right, right. And so they make assumptions about how your mind is going to work with the game that aren't very like smart sure like i i had one experience with her majesty actually uh back when we worked together where we like the people kept having to come on and be like nope no you're gonna want to think about it this way, like this other completely different way. And basically had to hold our hand through it. And then we're like, wow, you guys did great. Wow, thanks for helping us the whole time.

You're going to break that if you keep pulling on it. I don't know what the clue says. I think part of the experience, too, is the performance of it. And so if the people that are putting on the escape room are very good, it's not very good. Oh, if they're like checked out. Wait, did you have actors? Yeah, we had some.

Oh, shit. Have you done one? I've done two and none of them had actors. Oh, weird. Yeah. Oh, you were just locked in a room. Just locked in a room with like different clues. Oh.

Yeah. Oh, that was not. Well, you had one like, hi, welcome to Dr. Faraday's wild scientific lab. You want to get out here. You could be a doomed fate. I don't know. Yeah. You got 10 minutes.

It was just sad because we're in LA, right? Yeah. So you're like, oh, these people want to be acting for real. Oh, yeah. And then they were. I haven't done one in LA, and I feel like that would be the place to do it. So were people giving you like Emmy caliber performances? No.

Oh. Like even overacting or just checked out like I don't like my job kind of performances? It was like campy and not in the way that I wanted to watch. Right. Right. Well, anyways, escape rooms are a huge wave that we haven't really talked about on Daily Zeitgeist. Yeah.

Hit me with your escape room suggestions, Zeitgang, so I can, whenever we come to your town, someone take you on an escape room date. Yeah. San Francisco. Hit us up because we're going to gonna be there i don't know if we mentioned that this weekend uh all right we're gonna take a quick break we'll be right back definitely caruana galizia was a maltese investigative journalist who, on October 16, 2017, was murdered. There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia.

I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhurts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. Listen to Crooks everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pardenti. podcasts. 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 Santer. 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. 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. 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 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. And we're back, and Miles, I don't know if you noticed, but the top headline on Drudge yesterday morning was Trump popularity at year low.

Which that is not good for him because that, you know, the shit has hit the fan. But now it appears to be slowly leaking into the mega bubble. Like, you know, I compulsively check Drudge to see like what the right is thinking. And it's usually like a crazy news story will be going on in the mainstream media. And then on Drudge, it'll be like Trump's popularity pops to 50% because they only consult this one news poll, Rasmussen. But now it seems like, I don't know, even his little mega bubble is kind of deflating.

Is it though? I think it is. Wait, so what is he pulling at? So according to FiveThirtyEight, it's the lowest since September. So FiveThirtyEight does a weighted average of all the polls. That's Nate Silver's website. And this isn't the lowest his approval has been all year. He's at 40.7 approval, 54% disapproval, so 13% underwater. And he was at 39.9% approval, 54% disapproval, so 14% underwater. So he's pretty close to being at a year-long low. But I think the bad news for Trump is that the last time he was at this level was after there was just this steady drumbeat of Mueller report news that just kept coming out and Cohen coming out. Manafort, yeah.

Yeah, Manafort, just all that shit where it was people were – that seems to affect his overall – how people are feeling about his presidency. to affect his overall how people are feeling about his presidency. And this is seems more related to the shutdown because we haven't we hadn't had too much Mueller news until the end of last week. And, you know, this is still probably too early for the polls to reflect the fact that the FBI thinks he might be a Russian agent. Yeah, yeah. Or a Russian asset.

I'm sorry. Mm-hmm. Isn't support for the wall, though, among his base, or it's growing? I mean- Isn't that one of the statistics that came out this weekend, too, that it's, like, strengthened? Among his base? Or, yeah, in the Republican base, like, they're, and even, yeah, they're, they're more for the wall than they've ever been because of this shutdown. It's so fucked up.

Right. Well, it could be climate because the majority still does not support it, or at least of Americans. Yes, yes. I think, well, because as this just becomes more of like a little battle in the culture war, it's like one of those things where they don't want to blink because they pulled up with that energy yeah the election and now it's i think also too like trump is starting to see like their their limits to his power now like he before he could kind of get things moving in one direction or another but it's clear like right now he's he's tapped most of his political capital uh to even try and get this done. I think now Republicans, at least in the Senate,

are trying to figure out, okay, is Mitch McConnell actually going to do something? Or is he just going to let this thing keep going into free fall? But hey, that's the play they want to run with. They didn't learn from the midterms when they ran on a, hey, immigrants bad message, and got just the shit kicked out of them. In the House.

In the House. In the Senate it might have shored up a little bit. But I think even then, right, because there were massive, the district swung the complete other way into the blue column in the House. But I think they just used, like, picking up two Senate seats and defending against Beto O'Rourke and a few other things to be like, they took that to be like, no, we're actually doing well. Right.

But, you know, well, we'll see how long they keep doing this because what this is now it's fourth week going into the fourth week longest ever yes yeah um and he said at the outset that he was willing to own it so yeah i i'd i'd imagine that within his base, you know, there was probably a portion of people who, because he hadn't brought it to the forefront, like he would mention it in rallies here and there. But for the most part, he was willing to just back burner it because I think people in his administration and even he kind of knew it was more of a rhetorical device during the election. And then now he has brought it to the forefront and made it a huge policy issue. And yeah, Miles, like you said, anytime it becomes part of the culture war, his base is going to rally behind him. But overall, there appears to be a handful of people who are like, yeah, but you're hurting real people. And there's just something unmistakably incompetent about somebody who can't keep the government open when they're running the government. And the shutdown disproportionately affects the people that

support him most, the states that support him most. Yeah, for sure. But let's talk about the revelations at the end of last week that the FBI, after the firing of James Comey, kind of reframed the investigation into Russian intervention in the election and Trump's relationship with Russia to at least incorporate the possibility that Trump may be a asset of the Russian government. So not an agent. He's not like a secret agent who was brought up by the KGB and trained to like, it's not,

it's not that movie shit. It's just an asset means that they have something on him that allows them to manipulate his behavior. Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah. When you look at it, like all the things that Trump's done from a foreign policy aspect

typically benefits Vladimir Putin. Right. From like changing like the platform of like the Republican Party to like trying to like panic pull out of Syria and all these other things. Yeah. It makes it look like, OK, so I i mean we know we've accepted that russia was fucking around during the election to help him get elected and then we see all these people in his orbit were also interacting with russians for one reason or another usually for the purpose

of lifting sanctions right uh so they can get their money flowing again uh and now yeah like when they fire james comey fbi is like, let's check that this guy isn't an actual, like isn't somehow being manipulated, controlled by Russia in some way. Right. And it seems like, I don't know, this is not surprising based on, you know, a number of things. His performance at the Helsinki, the Stinky in Helsinki, as nobody calls it, or the

fact just that he's very reliable in terms of his ideas, the things that come out of his mouth seem to be ingested via conservative media, either Fox and Friends or, you know, Rush or whoever it is. But there's also these pro-Russia policies that come out that nobody can really say where they're coming from. Oh, right, right, right. Yeah, it's just like the thing in the word salad of Trump that doesn't totally fit with the rest of the pattern. You mean like when he was rewriting history about Afghanistan? Yes, exactly. And then what was the other thing he was talking about?

Montenegro as a threat to attack Russia, which was a- He said that right after, wasn't that right after he met with him in Helsinki to Tucker Carlson? Yes. Right. He claimed that, so this is a, we talked about this at the time, but Montenegro is a small country that Russia is claiming is a threat to them so that they can kind of ramp up militarism and be prepared to invade other countries and start their slow roll across the globe militarily.

And the only other person who's really supporting that idea besides Putin is Putin allies and Trump. So the thing I've always heard from people who aren't willing to buy into the Russia investigation is, oh, well, it's not the worst thing in the world for America to have a leader who is pro-Russia in the same way that Obama was pro-Cuba and we didn't investigate him. But it just seems like there's a difference there. There's no clear aim. There's no clear source of the ideas. Why is he taking the transcripts? Right.

That's too shady. That is a good point. So can you explain a little bit what that is? Well, it came out this weekend, I think, right? Yes. That from all five meetings he's had since he's become president with him or however many there are, he's either sworn the interpreter to secrecy

or taken this transcript or both. Yeah, always takes the notes. He always takes the notes. Yeah, from the media. And they're supposed to be classified, right? Yeah. To a certain extent and then shared with the administration. Well, yeah, in past administrations,

there would be people who would take the notes and then you would release that so people would know what the hell was going on if nothing sensitive was being spoken about. So you have an idea of like what the interaction was. But this one, there's there's no record of what was said, who was talking for how long or anything. Yeah. And like you said, pressing the interpreter to be like, don't fucking tell anybody what you heard. Right. Fuck what you heard. That is what a guilty person does.

Yeah. No shit. And that's why. And what's wild, though, too, is that it's being hidden from his staff at the highest levels. Even the closest aides have no fucking idea what happened. Like, subpoena that. Like, she should testify. Yeah, that's what they're. The interpreter for the stinky in Helsinki. Yeah, let the interpreter pull up and be like, what the fuck were they talking about?

Seriously. Yes. And they're just sweating. interpreter pull up and be like what did the what the fuck were they talking seriously yes and they're just sweating like yeah and there's also the fact that he and people like Kushner have consistently lied about you know having back channels with Russia and any communication and meeting with Russia yeah so well you know he's the president of the United States and he always has our interests hey but he's he's willing to face questioning United States and he always has our interests. Hey, but he's, he's willing to face questioning about this. Cause he went on noted Trump adversary,

uh, judge Janine. Yeah. Uh, so judge Janine's, uh, circus, I think the show is called,

uh, on Fox. She asked him straight up if he'd ever work, you know, it's bad when she's asking him the hard hitting question, but she was just like, yo, have you ever worked for Russia? And let's just listen to his answer because it was a lot. So I'm going to ask you, are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?

I think it's the most insulting thing I've ever been asked. I think it's the most insulting article I've ever had written. And if you read the article, you'd see that they found absolutely nothing. But the headline of that article is called The Failing New York Times for a Reason. They've gotten me wrong for three years. They've actually gotten me wrong for many years before that. But you look at what's going on. You know, I fired James Comey.

I call him Lion James Comey because he's a terrible liar, and he did a terrible job as the FBI director. Look at what happened with Hillary Clinton. He still hasn't said no. Hillary Clinton investigation, one of the biggest screw-ups that anybody's ever seen as an investigation. And what happened after I fired him, Andrew McKay, Peter Strzok, his lover Lisa Page, they did it. And, you know, they're all gone most of those people many many people from the top ranks of the fbi they've all been fired or they had to leave and they're all gone this is what they were talking about and obviously nothing was found and

i can tell you this if you ask the folks in russia i've been tougher than anybody else, probably any other president, period. But certainly the last three or four presidents, modern-day presidents, nobody's been as tough as I have from any standpoint, including the fact that we're doing oil like we've never done it. We're setting records in our country

with oil and exporting oil and many other things. Yeah, well, look, so that was not convincing at all because it was a yes or no question. And he went on to meander town. Now, in fairness to him on Monday, he was asked again outside the White House

and he was like, no, never. I don't think my suspicion was, oh, well, he's not willing to lie about that. I just think there's like an unconscious thing where he's like talking away from the lie and just saying nothing was found. He's just unintentionally betraying himself by continuously referring to it as like nothing being found as opposed to the reality of the situation. Also, the New York Times is not an investigative body.

They're not a law enforcement thing. So they're reporting on what was going on. It's not that they found anything, therefore innocent. Right. reporting on what was going on. It's not that they found anything therefore innocent. I just like how it's such an easy question to go, oh my God, let me start just rattling off some greatest hits real quick. I'm the toughest on Russia. Lion James

Kony. I mean, Komi. Kony. He just sounds Kony 2012. Kony 2012. I'm surprised he didn't try and redefine what worked meant. He's like, well, what do you mean work? He's like, I've never worked for Russia. Do they have a check that says from the Russian Federation?

No. Right. Have I hooked Vladimir Putin up with some work? Right. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't like the premise of the question. Yeah.

But yeah, we'll see. I think – but that's the thing. Just like how he said there's no collusion or I didn't like the premise of the question. Yeah. But yeah, we'll see. I think, but that's the thing, you know, like, just like how he said, there's no collusion or I didn't know anything about that. You know, like he'll say stuff like that and then walk it back. It was like, well, I still meant that. Right. I was just answering that question directly how you framed it to me or posed it to me. You didn't say we'd pay for the wall.

I said that they would pay with tax. Trade deficit being balanced out, which doesn't, anyway, yeah, we're going to pay for it. Trade deficit being balanced out, which doesn't... Anyway, yeah, we're going to pay for it. Yeah. So it's an interesting time to just keep an eye on the president and think even how he's being covered because I don't know. The media, I think the media has just been overwhelmed by this presidency and there's just too much for them to keep up with and so this is all of the

information that we're now taking a second look at are things that when they broke we were like oh shit he must be a Russian asset because of like how he was behaving in Helsinki. But it's just, it gets, you know, snowed under by all the other madness. And yeah. Yeah. Well, it's one of those, yeah, like you said, or it's just, there are so many connections to Russia at every level. Yes. You know, that even if, you know, he could very well be an unwitting asset.

You know what I mean? Where he very well might not have some kind of real sort of properly articulated agreement with Russia or Vladimir Putin, but just certain things based on like the environment around him, like lead him to certain outcomes. Yeah. The New York Magazine was speculating that it could be sexual or financial blackmail. And if it's sexual, it probably won't be found out because that sort of thing is kept very close to the vest by the people doing the blackmailing. But if it's financial, he's fucked. So this may be for the first time time for the resistance to start hoping there is no P-tape because that would make it harder for something to show up in the Mueller report. I think the only thing that will ever show up about the P-tape other than the P-tape leaking is what we saw in the steel.

Who knows? He might have that shit. You know what I mean? On a little USB drive. And he's like, I have the tape too. I have receipts. He'll know. That's true.

He's coming to a barbershop near you. I have receipts. So you don't know. That's true. Coming to a barbershop near you. Don't we already know, though, enough now publicly that it's like if Mueller has any more stuff, I mean, it all looks so, so, so bad. Right. But it's all political.

And it's all about how it's being covered by the mainstream media. And I think they are overwhelmed. They're doing their best. stream media and I think they are overwhelmed they're doing their best uh I just don't know if they're up for it to convincingly give us reality checks on just how crazy a lot of this shit is yeah what's sad though too is like regard like you know a lot of people are there's mumblings that maybe the Mueller report doesn't really it might be a real anticlimactic uh report or whatever and you know we've always said we never expected the Mueller report to be like, there it is. Game over. Right. Continue. Enter 25 cents or whatever. No. Like, you know, I think who knows what it's going to be. But at the end of the day,

there's not the political will from the Republicans to hold him accountable because there were plenty of things outside of the Russia shit that you would have been like, dude, this guy is wholly unfit to lead the country. Right. Regardless of whatever Russia, the Russia aspect of it is. Just the decisions he's making with the treatment of people or like the national security apparatus. It's like there's so much shit. But it's just, you know, Republicans don't want to turn on him yet. Yeah. And it's not just the mainstream media's fault because he has done some pretty sophisticated things in the creation of the idea of fake news and stuff but you know it's all shit that dictators have done

before and it's like straight out of the soviet dictator playbook so yeah we'll we'll just keep paying attention uh stay tuned yeah gang yeah stay. We'll have the answers. Or not. Who knows? All right, we're going to take another quick break. We will be right back. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16, 2017, was murdered. There are crooks everywhere you look now.

The situation is desperate. My name is Manuel Delia. I am one of the hosts of Crooks Everywhere, a podcast that unhurts the plot to murder a one-woman Wikileaks. Daphne exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. And she paid the ultimate price. Listen to Crooks everywhere 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. 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? 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 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. And we're back. And the teachers of the LAUSD are on strike. Yep. Over 30,000. 30,000 teachers. And I don't know what, can you give us the update on this, Miles? Look, teachers across the country for the last forever,

like ever since we've systematically just been defunding education, countries nationwide have been asking for the same thing, basically. We need dignifiable wages. We can't be coming out of pocket for school supplies and shit like that. And it's just, it's very simple. Right. So specifically in the case of the L.A. Unified School District, which is the second largest in the nation, the teachers want a six and a half percent raise. They want smaller classrooms so they can teach better, more effectively. It's hard to teach a classroom with over 30 students and in some cases 40 to 50 students to give them that sort of individual care, nurturing to actually make sure they are learning.

They're also asking for more support staff, like in the form of nurses, librarians. They want to. Whoa, whoa. Yeah. All right, guys. I know, I know, I know. What's next?

Champagne breakfasts? Nurses. And for nurses and librarians, but specifically nurses, like some schools only have a nurse working there one day a week. Jesus Christ. And then the other four, the kids, they just have to put a Band-Aid on their broken ankle or whatever. And they're like, hey, keep it moving. And then there's like, you know, there's an issue of over-testing the students.

They want like a $500 stipend for supplies. So we're no longer having like people overhearing a teacher struggle on an airplane. Be like, hey, we got everyone on the flight to pitch in $1,200 so you can buy construction paper. That's such a good feel-good story though. I love those stories. Late capitalism hollow. And they also want to make sure that charter schools are being held accountable because the proliferation of charter schools has just become a huge resource drain on the district. Like $600 million annually is being diverted to charter schools, which are basically private schools being run with public money.

How does that happen? So it's like in the city's budget that $600 million is diverted to charter schools? Yeah, rather than to the public schools, because there's some, like, you know, there's the people always say like, oh, it's actually better or even to the quality of education that a regular public school gets. And most research says that it's at best it's even or worse. Right. In terms of like the actual education kids get. There are charter schools that are that do work. schools too, because the superintendent in LA is basically, he is an investment banker with no background in administration of like education or anything. And like a lot of the

people believe that the school board voted him to be superintendent because they want to privatize a lot of the school district here. And when you look at just sort of like the relationship of investment banking to charter schools, it's wild. Okay. Like investment bankers, they're slowly looking at charter schools and being like, yo, that's a wave. That's someone to get your money into because it's money. Okay.

And there was an interview a few years ago where this investment banker was on CNBC and they asked like, hey, like, so what's going on? Like we see that a lot of people are introducing like charter schools into their portfolios. And the quote from this guy was, well, I think it's a very stable business, very recession resistant. It's a very high demand product. There's 400,000 kids on waiting lists for charter schools. And he's talking about Pennsylvania in this case. The industry is growing about 12 to 14% a year. So it's high growth, very stable, recession resistant business. It's a public payer. The state is the payer. If you do business with states with solid treasuries, then it's high growth, very stable, recession resistant business. It's a public payer. The state is the payer.

If you do business with states with solid treasuries, then it's a very solid business. So this whole emphasis isn't even on education anymore. And now like you're, we're starting to see this like portfolio model move into the school district, uh, which is what a lot of the people in the teacher's union are like, that's what this superintendent is trying to do with LAUSD. And it's at the detriment to the kids. So, you know, the, I think the strike was a long time coming. Like talks have been breaking down since the summer and into December. But again, when you look at like people like Betsy DeVos, who are the kinds of people who are like, I don't really know anything about education. I know about making money off education though. That's what the

system is sort of moving towards. And that's what they're pushing back against. And, you know, if you know anyone who's a teacher or like most people, we've all been to school. You know how important a teacher is and the time that a teacher puts in can really make or break your educational experience, can make you grow as a human being. And I can't emphasize enough how important it is that like we're properly investing in this, in our education and not just like we have shit like this going on, where people at the highest, you know, income brackets are like, how do we fuck around with education? Make money off of this. Yeah. How do we make money off of it? Not, it's not like, how are these children being, you know, educated the best? It's how do we make money?

Yeah. And a lot of these schools, they're cash cows. So it makes sense for people to invest in that. And that just begins more lobbying money that goes into elections to try and get candidates who support charter school ideas and regulations and things like that. And so it's a very big issue. And I think it's not just in California where, you in California or in LAUSD that's dealing with it. Yeah. And what they're talking about, what that investment banker is talking about, is basically taking taxpayer money and just getting it. Yeah.

That going into private hands. Exactly. Yeah. With very little accountability. Supposed people who believe in the market, like investment bankers in the banking industry, that just doesn't feel like the model that they've sold us where one group of bureaucrats decide to send $600 million to various charter schools so that iBankers can get rich. Yeah. That doesn't feel like the whole best system. Yeah. And when you look at too, what the teachers are asking for, they're like,

it's really clear, you know, like we just need, we need to be paid more for our time. Like we are raising the children of this city essentially. Right. And the school board pushes back or the school district pushes back and they're like, well, we're already running like a half billion dollar deficit. We've got people's pensions to pay and retirement plans and all these other things we have to pay. But the union contests that the school district is sitting on about like a surplus of like $1.8 billion or something. So like the money's there. Right. And you're using really lame rhetoric and arguments against this. Like, you know, the superintendent's like, oh, they're going to bankrupt the school district if they want it.

You know, which is the thing they always say when people want a living wage. Right. Oh, well, then, I mean, I don't know how long we can stay in business. No, it changes your profit margins. But in this case, I think a lot of it has to do when you know so much money is going to charter schools and things like that. There is a way to solve this. And this is the first time there's been a full-on LAUSD strike since 1989. Oh, really?

Yeah. Damn. In regards to the surplus, it's not as simple as, like, there's just an account with $1.2 or $1.8 billion in it. I heard the superintendent has a vault full of gold coins that he swims through. He swims through and spits them out like water. Right. It's just like, man.

Toilet shape. Have you ever tried, just side note, when DuckTales came out, I remember my grandfather had a bucket of change that he used to put all his loose change into. And I remember trying to mash my hand through the foil, broke my wrist. Did you really break it? Almost. I cried like I did. But anyway, back to the story.

Gavin Newsom, the new governor of California, did have a new budget with like a huge amount, I think like $1.8 billion going into like early education. But a lot of people were like, yeah, that's definitely a good amount, but it is not enough considering what the needs are of the state. So as of now, I'm not quite sure where the governor is going to come in to, you know, make things better or not. But, you know, as it stands, the teachers are on strike. They got a lot of substitutes in the school right now to take over the teaching. But at the end of the day, man, invest in these teachers because they, man, I remember the good teachers. They help, man, and to put your time into teaching kids is so important.

And you don't want somebody phoning it in like they work at some escape room they don't get paid enough for. My parents are both teachers. They take it really fucking seriously. They should. Yeah, I'm glad. I hope you're like, and they are so lax about it. They don't even remember the students' names. I mean, teachers get a bad rap, but they're passionate about it.

Who gives teachers a bad rap but they're like passionate about it who gives teachers a bad rap what do you mean they're just not that well respected oh oh i mean i think from a bureaucratic standpoint i mean i think i guess for anyone you'd hope right i guess most people i hear a lot of people say they're like ah they're paid too much or whatever not necessarily paid too much but just like that they're not in quality. Right. Right. Those who can't teach and shit like that. Yeah. Yeah.

Like that's a shitty point of view to take. Yeah. A little bit. Well, sure. And there are shitty teachers for sure. But I think there's all. There's shitty everything. Yeah.

But there's a lot of people who work in places for like a fucking fraction of what they deserve in terms of like their effect on the incoming generations. Anyway, I love teachers. Shout out to teachers. Yeah. Even though you make me use that fucking weird corrective triangle on my pencil because you're like, oh, you're holding your pencil all wrong. I'm like, is my penmanship okay?

Right. Then who gives a fuck? Stop policing my pencil form. I look like I have crippling arthritis every time I write because of my shitty handwriting because I always took that triangle So, Oh, I took it off. I'm a warning. Yo, I used to get in trouble cause I would slide it up to the top part of the pencil. Right. And then the teacher would be like, um, you have to put your thing back on. And I'm like, look, I'm going to hold it. Like Wolverine, like is clawing a pencil. I had a terrible

way of holding a pencil back in the day. Well, I'm lefty, so I have to curl my hand all the way around. Oh, plus terrible grip? Yeah, real weird. All right, let's talk about the big news story of this past weekend. Yeah. Kylie Jenner has been dethroned as the most liked picture on Instagram. Yes. By a photo of an

egg. Yeah, just a little old egg. A little old egg. Whose account? The account is called World Record Egg, and the shit is verified, okay? And it's just people like, hey, on the thing it just said,

it's just a photo of an egg. Like a stock photo against a white background, little brown eggs, and the said, let's, it's a, oh, it's just a photo of an egg. It's like a stock photo against a white background, low brown eggs. And the caption underneath it is, let's set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram, beating the current world record held by Kylie Jenner, 18 million. We got this. As of right now, it has over 33 million likes. Those are just votes against Kylie Jenner. Right.

And that's what i was thinking i was like this is so odd like what how the fuck did this groundswell of support come out the democrats need to hire this person immediately oh yeah uh they say the person is called henrietta yeah and it's a chicken i feel like someone tried to interview the account owner and they were being very coy right and they're like hi my name is is Henrietta and this egg is called like Hubert or something. The egg had a name too. Right. But, you know, like they say, they're egg gang, if you believe in that.

But that makes me wonder, like, is it about people who are just really captivated by the egg? Or are there just 33 million people willing to put their likes against Kylie Jenner? Yeah, that's what it seems like i don't know man that's a beautiful egg i mean it's a real close-up of the egg i don't know man it looks like it's got freckles it's cute i like it no yeah it's clearly just a well framed a fuck you kylie jenner people do this all the time on social media, like the, hey, if you like me this many times, I'll eat my shoe or whatever. But they won at that game. Let's set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram.

Beating the current world record holder held by Kylie Jenner, 18 million. We got this celebration hands. That's just perfectly framed. And, you know, they include you. We got this already yeah yeah no we need this person working on the 2020 campaign for whoever uh very very smart 4.2 million followers on that account yeah good for the egg what will they do next everybody's wondering yeah oh my god please i hope the egg doesn't get like a weird drug habit or something. Right.

I've just seen this too many times. I've seen it too many times. Yeah. The egg is interviewed for the- It's the only post. It's the only post. Yeah. Oh, that's it. That's a flex.

It's pure. And now like all these people, there's so many memes around it now. Oh. All right. Well. I love how the egg is looking for more business opportunities with the email and the bio contact world record egg manager

at GMO the egg is repped by UTA I think shout out to them when the biopic comes out it's going to be lit just wanted to shout out to Vanity Fair for putting me back on my original conclusion with their report on the Havana attacks on the embassy.

Quote-unquote attacks? Yeah, the quote-unquote attacks. There was the scientific study that came out last week about how the noise that they had recorded was almost definitely a cricket and it was just a type of cricket that exists in the tropics and therefore I mean but yeah so they were hearing it for the first time and they

were like that must be a weapon even though it's just a bug but what about the shit they were experiencing that's just some psychosomatic shit but what remember because then there was a study that some people had legit damage so that's my question that's the main thing that i want to figure out and if anybody has an answer to this uh zeitgang so there is also a new yorker article so the vanity fair article basically goes through my original conclusion in detail and explains you know psychosomatic is not like it has this reputation as being somebody who's like, you know, secretly knows that they're wrong and are like pretending.

And it's not that it is that you're it's called conversion syndrome and your stress is being converted into physical symptoms. You are experiencing physical symptoms. It's coming from stress as opposed to a biological cause. And they also talk about how the event happened, how it was first experienced by one guy who heard the noise but didn't experience any of the symptoms. Then he heard about someone who experienced the symptoms and that person associated their symptoms with a high-pitched noise. And they were like, well, I heard a high-pitched noise. And so it like, well, I heard a high-pitched noise. And so it snowballed from there, and they do a good job just kind of using the ProPublica study that I talked about last year that is pretty convincing and does a good job of just

kind of giving you a moment-by-moment breakdown of how the thing all happened. But the thing I want help with is The New Yorker also has this report where they basically just dismiss the idea of it being conversion disorder in a paragraph. They're just like, this isn't a conversion disorder because they interviewed doctors who looked at these people's brains and said there are physical symptoms and it is definitely real so those are just two journalistic institutions that I trust the New Yorker and me so what no I but I do need somebody to kind of explain or has the New Yorker come out and like talked about this I wasn't able to find it on a initial Google search,

but have they come up with any further reporting on it, or are they just like, no, that's what the doctor told us? I am confused. It's going to take a lot of checking reports against one another to see if there's a way both could be true, so maybe I'll do that. But a detail that this article came out with that I'm a total sucker for was just that it is basically zeitgeist based where each generation has their own way that conversion disorder presents. So back in the 18th century, it was

like witchcraft or spiritual possession because that made a lot of sense at the time. After World War I and the Germans' mustard gas attack, people started having conversion disorder that were triggered by smells. And now increasingly people all over the world are being sickened by persistent humming sounds. the world are being sickened by persistent humming sounds and so it's like they basically tie it to this overall trend of because we have all this sound pollution and you know are constantly hearing unpleasant sounds and it is sort of the one sensory input that you can't block out like unless you have dope noise cancelling headphones but it's the one that like can get to you any way it can invade your home without you so like there's this inherent anxiety to it and they're saying that this is part of a wider trend of noise-based conversion disorder or noise

triggered conversion disorder and then for us for millennials we have the laurel yanni type shit too right the thing where the sounds are overwhelming us and we don't know what's going on. Yeah. Just completely. The sonic snowflake generation. Yes, there you go. Sonic burnt out snowflakes. Courtney, it's been a pleasure having you.

Yeah, thank you. Where can people find you besides Minnesota? Yeah, I'm back in LA. Okay, good. Find me on the streets. Find me on these streets listen to our podcast Reality Bites our

Sophia yes okay I just wanted to make sure Sophia is a regular on the Zeitgeist podcast and

yeah Reality Bites and I'm at Courtney Kosek K-O-C-A-K so find me online it's an amazing podcast hosted by two Zeitgang favorites.

So you guys gotta check it out. We went on too. And I learned so much about Jack and his romanticisms. He got vulnerable. Wow. She was V-vulnerable. You guys caught me off guard. Yeah, we're just like, how you doing, man?

There's a lot of me Saying I promised myself I wouldn't cry Yeah And that's before you Asked me any questions Yeah it was really weird You're like

And we're joined by Jack And I was like But you guys didn't have to Talk about sex And that was the thing right Right Oh yeah I've never had sex

So yeah That was the problem Yeah Is there a tweet You've been enjoying Courtney Oh my god Yeah let me find it This made me laugh Jess Dweck That was the problem. Yeah. Is there a tweet you've been enjoying, Courtney? Oh, my God. Yeah, let me find it.

This made me laugh. Jess Dweck? Is that? Yeah. Am I saying her last name right? She was like, okay, this was the original tweet that she commented on. Police were called to a Texas Walmart after a woman was reportedly drinking wine from a Pringles can and riding an electric cart in the parking lot. And she was like, why did Walmart arrest their own mascot?

Oh, man. Walmart is taking some heat this episode. That is awesome. Miles. Yes. Where can people find you? You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Miles of Gray. And again, also at the Punchline this Saturday, 1130.

For SF Sketch Fest a couple tweets I like one is from jabuki at jabuki it says the Instagram egg is of color

and this is a huge win for representation and I believe it also another one I like is from Patrick Walsh at the Patrick Walsh because I was just talking to my friend Kevin

we were talking about Mrs. Maisel and this is a tweet about it from Patrick Walsh it says Mrs. Maisel. And this is a tweet about it from Patrick Walsh. It says, Mrs. Maisel, you're marvelous. Parentheses. Laughs really hard at one of Mrs. Maisel's stand-up comedy jokes for several minutes.

Simply marvelous. I just love the idea. Lunatic. Mrs. Maisel, you are marvelous. Anyway, shout out to Rachel Rosenhan and Noah Gartenstorz, who writes on that show. Yeah. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien and also at the Punchline in San Francisco this weekend.

It's going to be a blast. I'm sorry. Where are you guys going to be live? This Saturday. Saturday. Just think of it as Saturday night live. Saturday night actually live because we will be there in the flesh in San Francisco. Saturday Night Live.

With Andrew T. Yeah, with Andrew T. Oh, shit, I almost forgot. All right, a couple tweets I've been enjoying. Ben Shapiro tweeted, glad you're qualified for something at AOC, because she was talking about how she had bartended before and could tell that she dealt with old, overweight assholes all the time. And she was like, I can tell we're getting under her skin.

Ben Shapiro tweeted, glad you're qualified for something. And then Desus tweeted, she's still not going to fuck you, Ben. Oh, that's right. Because before he was like, I want to debate you. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not happening, dude. And then at Kibblesmith tweeted, hear me out.

If Batman is canonically about 32, then he was born in 1986. And if his parents were killed leaving a movie theater when he was 10 years old, then there is a very real possibility. Return space, space, space. That they were seeing Space Jam. Think about that, man. Wow. Whoa. That would be wild.

Yeah. If they rewrote it like that And he couldn't look at any kind of Warner Brothers cartoon Or was it named Michael Jordan? I almost said Magic Jordan There was an R. Kelly song in that movie, wasn't there? Yes I believe I can fly One of the greats

Why, what happened with R. Kelly? They better not be watching that rally what a funny joke uh all right 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 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 are we going to ride out on today? Let's go out on the artist, the band, Fox Warren.

I love Fox News and I love Elizabeth Warren, so this felt good. Anyway, this song is called Everything Apart. And just a good band track. You know, they start off a little off rhythm. You don't know where the downbeat is and then it comes in and you're like, ooh, we're going off the beat. Anyway, that's for all you rhythm people, but yes, this is Everything Apart by Fox Warren. Also, I wanted to just

mention another tweet at RealDonaldTrump tweeted yesterday morning, getting ready to address the farm convention today in Nashville, Tennessee. Love our farmers. Love Tennessee. A great combination. See you in a little while. And Jordan Fabian responded. He's going to New Orleans today, not Nashville.

We love you, San Diego! All right, we're going to ride out on that. We will be back tomorrow because it is a daily podcast. We'll talk to you next time. Someone else, you know I'll find someone who can You know I'll find someone who can Everything apart from evil belongs to someone else You know I'll find someone who can Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th, 2017, was assassinated. Crooks everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption

that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. 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 and prints. It's bigger than a flag or mascot. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. from, 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

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