The Daily Zeitgeist - Trendo Mechanicus 9/12: Walter Isaacson, Prayer Coach, Tim Scott, Menty B

Episode Date: September 12, 2023

In this edition of Trendo Mechanicus, Jack and Miles discuss Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk, an update on the "Prayer Coach" controversy, Tim Scott's totally real GF, and Gen X managers having a Menty B over Zoomer slang!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

season on the new podcast Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts. There's so much beauty in Mexican culture like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even Lucha Libre. Join us for the new podcast, Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you stream podcasts. What happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on? I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church. Voila! You got straight away.

They try to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this episode of Trendo Mechanicus, a reference to the name of Elon Musk's secret third baby with rhymes named Tao Techno Mechanicus. Okay. Sure. Yeah. I am so tired of you.

And I'm talking to the baby, by the way. Shout out Johnny with that title. Yeah. Johnny Davis. Shout out to you, good friend. I'm Jack to the baby, by the way. Shout out Johnny with that title. Yeah, Johnny Davis, shout out to you, good friend. I'm Jack, that's Miles. There's like major Elon Musk story newsage. So there's a new book out from Walter Isaacson,

the Steve Jobs biographer, who I didn't realize, did you know he was the head of Time Magazine in the 90s? I don't know why I would have realized that. Who gives a shit? Jack, you didn't keep up with who the head of Time Magazine was in the 90s? He just entered my rankings of the top five heads of Time Magazine over the last 50 years. But he was the head of CNN when 9-11 happened.

Okay, shout out. I mean, that's not nothing. Road Scholar. happened okay shout out i mean that's that's not nothing yeah road scholar i just read a new york magazine profile of walter isaacson around um his writing of this elon musk biography managed to get through the paragraph where he was like i don't know it's pretty cool that like you know i wrote about one genius steve jobs and now i'm writing about another and like you can just like see the the box of the walter isaacson genius box of like steve jobs elon musk other people i think he's written about jack o'brien yes that is why soon to be managed not to throw my damn magazine across the room yeah i wasn't included i hear you but he uh it sounds like it's i don't know it's hard to i one of us will just

have to read this shit but it sounds pretty sympathetic to elon musk um it says his upbringing was brutal because his dad was mean to him i mean that i i feel like that's pretty that could be pretty objective yeah yeah yeah okay yeah we've we've seen how his dad talks about him that yeah yeah um sounds pretty sympathetic overall like there so there's this one the big thing that is uh breaking in the past couple days is that uh there was this like big bomb drop detail where he basically said that elon musk turned off the internet to prevent a ukraine attack with submarine drones off the crimean coast um like basically the way it happens in the book is like, they are about to like take out a huge chunk of the Russian military and Elon Musk gets cold feet and like turns off the Starlink internet to that

part of the world. Um, and then the submarine drones just like wash harmlessly to shore because the internet got turned off on them. Um, and people were like, Whoa, that's like major military decision

being made by him isaacson is already like so elon musk was like actually we never gave internet to the crimean coast they knew that they basically put the drones in place and then were like could you turn on the internet and i reiterated my decision to not turn on the internet there so i don't know it still seems like a big idea or a big deal it still seems like a lot of power concentrated in the hands of uh somebody who seems like a fucked up uh shitty human being use all use all isaacson's words to describe him uh he is where is it a mercurial man-child with grandiose ambitions and an ego to match that feels like a new york times backhander that that is actually that's a new york times summary of the book of what the book says about him got it got it but i don't know like the thing that

makes me still want to read it is that this like New York magazine profile of Walter Isaacson, like they're just kind of following him around new Orleans where he's from. And they're like, he said that there were various times during the two years he was writing the book where like Elon Musk would just like call him and just pour his like robot heart out to him. And Walter Isaacson had to literally fight the urge to say

why are you telling me this holy shit so i hope that's in the book is it out it dropped today dropped tuesday september 12th okay so we'll see i'm sure we'll start seeing all the snippets soon and we can we can rub our mitts together. We'll see. This freaking Elon Musk guy can't even catch a break because he's also in the news for violating the FTC privacy orders according to the Washington Post.

Elon Musk repeatedly made decisions after his takeover of Twitter that likely ran afoul of a 2022 government order imposing sweeping restrictions on the company's data security and privacy practices um so i don't know guy seems like a bit of a fuck up yeah but also lord's too much power over large swaths of the government the world there are people there's like huge chunks of the pentagon who are like i just don't

want to make elon maddie so powerful i need this internet we need his internet anyways let's talk about prayer coach yeah the prayer coach controversy so it's elon musk of prayer coaching of bringing prayer to the football field this is so this was one of those Supreme court cases that just further like erodes the, you know, or just disintegrates the separation of church and state and our first amendment rights. This high school football coach,

basically like in our Supreme court ruling, he won his case where he was saying like, I was fired because, and I was like put under tremendous pressure because i i was refused my right to brief quiet personal prayer um and like when the supreme court heard their case they're like wow it just sounds like you were being really like you're just doing it privately and they were infringing on your rights but if you actually look like you know this was one of these things where when you looked at all of the evidence it was clear that this guy was not just having

hushed prayer there's like full-blown like circles that everyone had to like participate in and obviously made like players uncomfortable if they weren't you know christian or anything like that yeah um just as neil gorsuch in his opinion is like yeah these are like completely like they're like muted and unobtrusive as he says and like in the dissenting opinion sotomayor was saying like yeah look at the fucking pictures like these are large performative like prayer circles these aren't like hey i'm just mumbling stuff you're like screaming out christ yeah okay you're football players cut to like people on the ground like he's like doing laying on of hands and people are saying let me heal you uh but it seems like that coach really didn't give a fuck about anything including

his rights um and that this case is similar to others that use like this like exaggerated controversy to further again erode our first amendment right so um this guy coach kennedy and said quote appeared to have little interest in taking back his old job which was supposedly what he was fighting for because the part of this case was like they're like he needs to be reinstated um but then he acknowledged that he sold his house and moved across the country to florida with no plans to move back finally on friday kennedy returned to coach one football game then he quit cool yeah says he has no evident desire to exercise the rights that his lawyers fought for over years of litigation those lawyers however walk away with 1.7 million in attorney's fees paid out by the school district um cool and

like this guy basically moved to florida to become like one of these right-wing celebrities to be like i'm prayer coach man and it's like yeah i'm good he's a family-sized written house i was gonna say mini written house but yeah in terms of his celebrity but yeah i don't know what he thinks he is but like a lot of people are comparing this to this other case 303 creative that was like you know used to side with someone who didn't want to make a website for like a gay couple like for their wedding and again this is like another case where this woman was like man colorado's non-discrimination law would force me to make a wedding website for gay people and that's just against my religious beliefs and they're like well did somebody somebody came and told you to make a like what happened they're like yeah yeah mike and stewart miles yeah mike and

stewart um they showed slight interest in maybe making a website like slight interest who was then journalists hunted this down mike and stewart do not fucking exist yeah but this went all the way to the supreme court and they ruled in favor of this person. And again, it's like, this is also just kind of like a new way that they're using, not a new way, but like another very maybe underrated way that we're seeing like these controversies just basically be built from scratch. Yeah. And then used to test the Supreme Court, who is very willing to accommodate that agenda. It's so wild that they couldn't find one instance of like no of a gay couple wanting a homophobic web designer

to make their uh fucking wedding web like they couldn't they couldn't come up with one they had to invent it like yeah that that's amazing they even said the woman they couldn't find one person who had been fired for their religious beliefs being too conservative and that actually wanted their job back yeah they're just like look the supreme courts are like look man we got this majority if you just put something in front of us that looks like an actual case then we'll just fucking we'll ram it through baby it's that easy but that's like they you know they make all these high-minded arguments but like it is not like the things that they complain that like the liberal elite are making them do are not affecting them in any way no other than

the way that they like because of the narratives that they are telling each other and themselves to get themselves like ramped up um trans athletes same thing as super producer brian pointed out that these are not things that are happening these are stories they're telling themselves to get mad and to get to feel like they are persecuted right and it's kind of weird it's kind of part and parcel with their religious beliefs of telling you spooky ghost stories to keep you in line yeah yeah and of like they worship a guy who was pretty cool executed and nailed to a cross and so they're like very they really want really want that to happen to them like that this woman had to she got her she got nailed to the website making cross.

What are you talking about? We also found out that that woman's business was also, as they had said, quote, tenuous roots in reality. Got nailed to the website making cross. You see, it's all of us. We're all experiencing some version of crucifixion. It's not like they're not looking.

They are constantly looking for stories, reasons to be offended. They can't find any real one. They have to make this shit up. That is so wild to me. America's big. There's a lot of people in America.

Anytime something remotely offensive to a conservative person happens it's in the local news they're going to freak the fuck out they couldn't find one fucking example but it doesn't matter though because in the end they're like we don't need to find one we just need to make one up and just brute force this shit through the supreme court yeah done done all right let's take a quick break and we'll come right back brute force this shit through the Supreme Court. Done. Done. All right. Let's take a quick break and we'll come right back. I've been thinking about you.

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It was December 2019 when the story blew up. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, former Packers star Kabir Bajabiamila caught up in a bizarre situation. KGB explaining what he believes led to the arrest of his friends at a children's Christmas play. A family man, former NFL player, devout Christian, now cut off from his family and connected to a strange arrest. I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. I got swept up in Kabir's journey, but this was only the beginning. In a story about faith and football, the search for meaning away from the gridiron

and the consequences for everyone involved. You mix homesteading with guns and church and a little bit of the spice of conspiracy theories that we liked. Voila! You got straight away. I felt like I was living in North Korea, but worse, if that's possible listen

to spiraled on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts hello everyone i am lacy lamar and i'm amber ruffin a better lacy lamar boo okay everybody we have exciting news to share we're back with season two of the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network. You thought you had fun last season. Well, you were right. And you should tune in today for new fun segments like Sister Court and listening to Lacey's steamy DMs. We've got new and exciting guests like Michael Beach. That's my husband.

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

Like, if you're out the window, you have to say, hey, I'm watching you outside of the window. Just, you know what? Listen to the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and we're back and speaking of made-up people oh man i maybe i't know maybe maybe you know we got mike and stewart and now we got

tim scott girlfriend yeah so this is really so a lot of people republican donors are like i don't know about tim scott he doesn't have a wife you know like we're all we're all about like the family you know like we don't want a bachelor we want a guy with a fucking wife uh and he's not married he's 57 and he's the from what he said the implications are that he lost his virginity at some point wait what why yeah why are we talking about that third between the ages of 30 and 46 and people were like what and then also he's like yeah i also got a girlfriend he's started to say recently that he has a girlfriend but a lot of like some journalists went out and tried to figure out if tim scott actually has a girlfriend because there's no shame like if you're if you're a fucking virgin whatever but it's interesting like whatever maybe pressure he's under to maybe

present himself as someone who's like no like i may not be i'm on my way to potentially being married or whatever whatever is at work here the fact is like a lot of people started looking into this and they're like there's just no evidence to say that this this girlfriend exists and late in uh late 2022 his campaign manager told the same journalist that his dating life was, quote, non-existent. Right. Then this May, he's like, yeah, I got a girlfriend. And then the same journalist started, like, looking around. And he said that he, quote, technically can't verify that she exists because, like, no one, like, has agreed to share her name or make her available for an interview.

Six of Scott's friends said they didn't know anything about this person, but his campaign manager was recently like, Oh yeah. Quote personally hung out with her at the zoo. And people were like, what, what? Okay.

Like what's going on? And then like lie being made up by five different five-year-olds, you know? Yeah. Like just, uh, yeah, being made up by five different five-year-olds it you know yeah like just uh yeah we were hanging out at the zoo like is it is this a lie being written in mad lib right exactly and then but every time they press tim scott about he's like i'm not i'm not trying to drag her into this like i'm the politician and also if i don't have like the intentions of marrying her i don't want to put her through that because we don't know where this is going um he said that

he was set up by a church friend and they have gotten dinner before they've played pickleball and used quote a phone app to do bible study together and yes we did the nasty um so i don't know we did the nasty three and a half times what three and a half so i get that this all started so in the early 90s or early and mid 90s when he first ran for city council in charleston south carolina he ran as a proud virgin in his 30s like i i'm proudly a virgin and then it feels like he feel like his some political handlers political strategists like told him he had to come up off that and like or he wasn't considered a serious political candidate right um so i don't know but he i think he should have

just stuck with it stuck with his truth i know some people are like apparently like there's a lot of like salacious talk about his sexuality that like republicans have been like whispering around he tim scott himself says like he thinks them focusing on the girlfriend or whatever is a way to like discredit him for being like a black conservative and they're using they're using that to jump on it uh so it's just it's ick all around folks right at the end of the day the bible is very clear abstinence until marriage not to do so is a sin he told the national journal in 2012 well after right i'm assuming well after the time span that we're talking about here. So, um, finally,

there is a Gen Z glossary for Gen X managers. And I'm glad I pay money to fortune magazine for all my time. This is always have, dude, this is such an article written for Gen X managers because, you know, we work with the youth and every now and then i'm like what's that what that means but some of these phrases are like the way it's framed they're like a lot of gen x managers are struggling to communicate with their younger employees

uh it's like corporate jargon is isolating young workers because they don't know the meaning of phrases like deep dive. I think they do. They know what that is. They know what that is. And then they're like, we know what slay means by the way. Yeah. And it goes on to say lack of familiarity with Gen Z slang could potentially lead to misunderstanding.

So they're like, you got to know these words, but the words they have are like these, like some of the words they highlight are slay. I think we all know that. We've been that's been happening since millennial christmas sweaters slay all day uh s-l-e-i-t come on okay yeah we've we've been appropriating uh phrases from drag culture for a long time. Okay. Uh, then there's mentee B. Mentee. You know what that is,

Jack? B. Yeah. A lot of stress, a lot of stress out here might succumb to a mentee B, man. I have to take some alone time just to get my mind right. Having a mentee B.

It's giving dental, it's giving like oral B, like a mentee oral B, uh, you know, dental treatment. Yeah. like oral b like a minty oral b uh you know dental treatment done something fun like that like mentadent you know yeah it's like oh is it mentadent b oh yeah i know mentadent no mental breakdown i do love this one i do love menti b that sounds like already some yeah it's giving jack o'brien actually it's it's giving me it feels like this is something i may have inspired yeah you definitely it's it's just these like sort of you know abbreviated ways of

saying the other one cozy lives can't cause he lives i'm not buying i don't think the cost of living crisis cost of living crisis is cozy lives i've seen it come up in like a lot of write-ups but they're write-ups that are about Gen Z and not from Gen Z sure you know what I mean yeah maybe it's also cute Kazi is a fun little cute name yeah Menti B is

a winner I congratulate you on that one Gen Z Cardi B's sister Menti B Menti B you know and one. Cardi B's sister, Menti B. Menti B. It reminds me of Merti Su and stuff like that. Where it's just an adorable sounding abbreviation of something dark. That seems like a euphemism.

I'm talking about straight up Menti B, man. Yeah. Anyways, thank you so much, Fortune, for doing this unabashed high quality journalism for us. And you can thank us for relaying this absolutely true and important information to you by giving us a five-star review. Yeah, and thank you to the Fortune journalist who spoke with their stepchild, who's Gen Z to try and make this article happen. All right.

Well, that is going to do it for us this afternoon. We are back tomorrow morning with a 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.

And we will talk to y'all tomorrow. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. What happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on? I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church.

Voila! You got straightway. They try to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled 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, try to assassinate the president of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson, 26 year old Lynette Fromm, nicknamed Squeaky. The other, a middle aged housewife working undercover for the FBI, identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange

and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeartTrue Crime Plus, and even lucha libre. Join us for the new podcast, Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of lucha libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, emperor of lucha libre and a WWE superstar.

Santos Escobar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts.