The Daily Zeitgeist - Weekly Zeitgeist 273 (Best of 5/1/23-/5/5/23)

Episode Date: May 7, 2023

The weekly round-up of the best moments from DZ's season 285 (5/1/23-/5/5/23)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing.

They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts senora sex ed is not your mommy's sex talk this show is la platica like you've never heard it before we're breaking the stigma and silence around sex and sexuality in latinx communities this podcast is an intergenerational conversation between Latinas from Gen X to Gen Z. We're your hosts, Viosa and Mala. You might recognize us from our first show, Locatora Radio.

Listen to Señora Sex Ed on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite

out of the most delicious food and its history. Seeing that the most popular cocktail is the margarita, followed by the mojito from Cuba, and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, the internet,

and welcome to this episode of the weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one nonstop infotainment laughstravaganza. So without further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist.

Miles, we are thrilled to be joined by a brilliant, talented writer, podcaster, who's written for local publications like the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, GQ. She was the co-host of the legendary podcast Girls in Hoodies, Nightcall, the writer, creator, and host of the legendary podcast Heidi World, the Heidi Fletcher. Please welcome back to the show, the legend, mate. Molly Lambert! Molly! Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly,

Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly. Oh, shit. I know I'm a Lambert, but Molly, Poppy. Yes. We just talked about the new Drake song for 15 minutes. How sad and alone that man is. He just needs someone to be patient with him.

Someone to be patient with him. He's got his thick thighs to keep him warm. Yeah. He needs someone to give him therapy. Also, my AK was a reference to a embroidered jacket. Molly just told me about it. He's wearing an embroidered jacket that says hard feelings,

harder dick. Yep. I think it's album nothing going on there i think this has to be like a mixtape title or something because he's done it a couple times he just wore another one that had little cute puppies on it cuddling each other and it said hard feelings harder dick again sir sir you're you're you're losing the plot, my man. Hard feelings, hard dick, soft puppies. Soft puppies. Also, my man, you're 36 years old.

Yeah. Okay. I don't need to be doing that. But anyway, hey, it's their own. No hard feelings. Yes, hard feelings. I am mad right now. Yeah.

It's kind of his whole energy. And I'm so horny. I'm mad and I have a boner is like what i imagine it's like to be a man yeah no he's basically sums it up the male experience right there i'm mad and i have a boner because my favorite basketball team lost yeah or it's like or it's just like the two modes i'm in are angry or boner so it depends on what when you catch me. That's what you're going to get. Hard feelings, harder dick. Those are the two wolves inside you.

He's suggesting that he has them both at the same time. That's why he's Drake. He's reached a Christ-level consciousness. I'm a sad little bitch with a titanium boner. I also think it would be a big feelings bigger dick because big feelings is like what what you say to children and there's like something i feel like there was

a part of the writing process for the album cover uh bag embroidery hard feelings harder dick where he wrote big feelings, bigger dick. And someone was like, yeah, but you only talk to five-year-olds about having big feelings. Yeah, and with a lot of the rumors about you. Only five-year-olds. He does have a son.

He also wore a Viagra racing jacket after that, which I thought was really funny. I was like, wow, this is a hilarious album rollout, whatever it is. Because Viagra jacket after that which i thought was really funny i was like wow this is a hilarious album rollout whatever it is because like viagra jacket implies that the hard dick is like man yeah yeah hey look and maybe that's a new thing he's doing because he loses so much fucking money gambling online i can see him being like hey pfizer you want me to like fucking do something with y'all please look nothing is cooler than being addicted to gambling and on viagra and on viagra and 36 with millions of dollars with a bazillion dollars and sex with me is super fast like it's just

incredibly fast come and rescue me Take me out the club. Okay. Okay. Okay, sir. I think it's the hard dick first and then the hard feelings is what I imagine. Yeah. Like hard dick, harder feelings. That's kind of that.

That kind of gets you thinking a little bit. It's like sex and then you cry. Yeah. Yeah. Lonely. Not a great proposition either. Look, I think just in general, this doesn't feel like the most rapper thing i've seen to wear a jacket but that wasn't cool about it but also here's why here's why triana and asap rocky look so happy and in love at the metropolitan gallivant they're happy they had so much fun at the metropolitan Galavant and he just looks so happy to be

with her. And he's so much hotter than Drake. You know it makes Drake want to end himself. He ain't Rock Kim. He ain't Rock Kim. I will use his legal name. You know what I mean? You ain't Rock Kim, man. ASAP Rock Kim. As soon as possible, Rock Kim. Rihanna looks so happy.

She looks happier. At the Metropolitan Galavant. As soon as possible, Rock Kim with Rihanna Robin Fenty at the Metropolitan Galavant. Anna, we do like to ask our guests, what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are? I mean, I considered this for so long. You have no idea how deep I went into my own search history for this show. Okay. But honestly, the last like 10 to 15 searches have been different iterations of slutty little knees. So there you have it.

There he is. Pedro. I was, yeah. But mostly actually, it wasn't actually even the pictures. It was trying to find who had coined the term slutty little knees. Going deep into Twitter being like, what depraved mind, depraved and brilliant mind coined the term slutty little knees? And how did they hit it? Depraved poetic soul.

I know. It's my people. I loved it. And I did find it. Oh, you did? You found out you did you found out yeah because we were talking about this with the uh there was somebody who had a full body orgasm during a la philharmonic performance and we were like man like whoever tweeted okay i just heard someone have a full body orgasm that was the headline for

everyone it was just like the anonymous authorship of the internet like one person came up with that and every fucking major media outlet went with that wording uh but slutty little knees is is perfection where did it come from yeah yeah who's the author so this is a oh god i went through like the esququire videos, the TikTok rabbit hole. But I think it was this person on Twitter, Joel's Guitar. Yes. That's the person. And their description is full-time slut for Joel Miller, which I also think is a great profession.

Yes. Yeah. And that's the origin point. It's one thing about Pedro Pascal is that he will pop his slutty little knee profession. Yes. That's the origin point. It's one thing about Pedro Pascal is that he will pop his slutty little knee out. Yes. Wow. So this is in reference to Pedro Pascal's metropolitan gallivant outfit

wherein he's wearing shorts with his long red coat. Slutty little knees, hiked up socks, looking good wait who's the who said can you repeat the quote

Joel's guitar Joel's guitar Joel's guitar but it's referencing his character in Last of Us oh the name was his character in Last of Us yeah but it's also it's about the Last of Us

and the Mandalorian he has this go-to pose where he pops his knee out yeah right right and looks pensively into the distance. Yeah. Love that. Love that. Love that knee. Love to see more, you know, more like knee positive content out there.

Also, I just love when the internet collectively decides to thirst over someone and over something very specific. It's like, oh, we're really hot for someone's earlobe. And then we're going to create obsessive content just about that. Right. That's in the internet for good. And I appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah, I liked someone commented on someone's meaty, meaty earlobes in a recent episode of Succession.

Oh, yeah, like barnacle meat. Yeah, like barnacle meat. That was a brilliant little piece of poetry. Like a barnacle. Oh, was that Tom talking to Shiv? That's Tom to Shiv. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tom is on a tear.

Tom is on a Jimmy Butler-like tear right now in this season. What is something you think is overrated? And I had an interesting experience, I think, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it as a practice that could be relaxing or even creative or contemplative. I just had this really hard time relaxing, I think, into just trusting that the float staff would tell me when my hour was over and they told me like they would play loud music you know like when the time was done and i just kept waiting and waiting and the music didn't play and i finally like climbed out of like the float tank and it was like an hour past the time and they hadn't played the music and i think i was just also like when you're in the tank you hear like this dull drone and i listened to like a lot of experimental music and then i was hearing what sounded like echoes of like a female voice and so I was just I didn't even know what the music was like supposed to sound like so I just got like really neurotic and so it may be more like you know I had an expectation and you know in that way I you know I couldn't manage that properly so it isn't really

overrated but I found it a little bit overrated yeah because like in your mind half of the time that you thought spending to be sort of contemplative and like in a still space you were just sort of had like this anxiety about like do they know like when to play the music and am i hearing it and because i don't want to you were correct they just left you over time and then yeah they left me over time by four minutes so like by the time i had i was just like this is like this is late maybe they forgot or like the music's broken so i just like climbed in the shower and then they just started playing this really loud instrument instrumental music and i was like oh okay i get

it you know right yeah there was like this other moment where i was like in the tank and you know like you float around and so there are these like buttons where you can access like the lights and the music and you know so i don't know anything about it. So please set the stage for me. I know, Jack, you've done it right once. I did it once. I'll talk about my experience after. So it's like a giant saltwater kind of bath designed for like somebody who's the size of like an eight foot athlete. And they put like 94 degree warm water in this bathtub thing. And they put like 20 bags of Epsom salt in it and basically you float in it and then there's some buttons on the side console where you can basically like turn on like the the blue light or like you know kind of like constellation style lights and they recommend that you do it in the

dark and i was like really going hardcore i was like you know they wanted they said you know the best experience is if you do it in the dark so i'm just going to go for it even though that might make me anxious and so i didn't do it in the dark. So I'm just going to go for it, even though that might make me anxious. And so I did do it in the dark. And then there was this point where I wanted to turn on the lights and I couldn't find them because I kind of like floated off like towards the back or the side. And then I got like really, really anxious and freaked out a little bit because then I'm like feeling around the panel and the sides and the seam of the thing. And it was just like me not being able to relax. And I'm sure if I went like a couple more times, it might be like a different experience. But it said to me a lot about like my need to like control and to know and like my my challenges around like surrendering. unnerving about it. And if you have any claustrophobia, I wouldn't recommend it,

or at least the one that I did. I did not have like the constellation option or anything like that. Mine was just, it was the closest I've ever come to time travel. Like I went in there, I closed my eyes and then the music started playing. And I was like, wait, what, what just happened? And I went out and an hour had passed and I don like, wait, what, what just happened? And I went out and an hour had passed and I don't know what happened other than I just like had the deepest sleep and like, didn't realize I was even asleep. It was, it was really weird. It was like the, yeah. That's a very positive experience. That sounds wonderful. I think so. But then I was like incredibly tired for like 48 hours after that so maybe it was just it reached a level of like relaxation that my body needed but nice but you're saying

you're listening to good for the day you were listening to experimental music you said that you're kind of into experimental music or that was just part of what was playing in the float tank no like in in my in my life i listened to like a lot of drone and experimental music and i think actually the hum that was coming from the float tank was just kind of like the mechanism of like the machine itself. But I don't know, I hear music and a lot of things that that just seem inherently musical. Yeah, I've even like I have a newborn. And even the white noise machine, like I hear like harmonics in the white noise where i'm like i was like my part i was like hey i think the garbage truck is backing up and she's like what i'm like you don't hear that beeps like no it's the white noise machine but it's just it's just weird how i'm the same way like i can pick out a lot of sounds or there aren't i don't know if that's also part of like my sort of being up like wound up sometimes and being in a state of like sort of like like threat assessment at on occasion but yes yeah i can i can definitely uh that resonated with me

is there a particular like mechanical object or just a sound that you think makes really good music even though it's not actually music like a mechanical object you know like i used to have this really cool like heating vent in one of the apartments that i lived in and when i could clean the heating vent with like q-tips because the dust would get like in the metal vents it would make like these really wonderful like pinging noises and yeah yeah yeah the there are those um radiators in new york city apartments and they make some of the strangest like little pinging and like weird noises because they're just chunks of metal that heat up and that's how you like heat your apartment in new york city and like they make these weird sounds anyways wait so shiny when's the album coming out

never with the q-tip with the q-tip vent do you listen to matmos i don't know who that is no matmos they're like uh these producers who like would do like for i got into them because they did an album that was all just surgical sounds that they used to make an album with and then like they worked with like bjork and stuff like that but they're they're kind of like in that world of like sort of audio sort of artist kind of thing yeah i would love to shout out a group here in seattle called the seattle phonographers union so they are um this like collective of composers who go around gathering found sounds from wherever and then they like play them back and live mix them in live performances, usually in like really weirdo places. Like there's this abandoned or repurposed military air hangar in Magnuson Park in Seattle.

And I hosted them once when I was working for Alice Obscura in this place called the Georgetown Steam Plant, which is this defunct steam plant that stopped operating like in the 1970s or 80s. So they collected all these like steam plant like noises and then they played them live and that was oh is that the park that's like right on the water georgetown steam plant is down by the duwamish river and south seattle south of downtown and it's owned by seattle city lights and it's not operable but it's this historic space that people do activate with like arts and music and dance. And it's super cool if you come here. Yeah, no, I'll be sure to hit that up along with my dicks driving in fries. There you go.

All right. You make Seattle sound very cool. It is. Dude, Seattle, I can't. Honest, I'll say this. I love Seattle. Like I had been once when I was really young and i went recently in uh october and i just love like how rich its history is and like the music it's such a music i feel

it's like obviously people know about like the music that's come from seattle but when you're there like seeing live music in seattle i was so blown away i went to the sea monster and i saw like a really good band there and like and i was like what's up with these like what band is this they're like oh these are some locals who like to jam and i'm like this is like the best band i've heard but they're just doing this for fun okay yep i'm here i'm here yeah we have wonderful musicians um tomo nakayama did the music for my podcast 10 000 things and he's just like seattle indie rock darling that's been like touted by the New York Times. And we live in an incredible city of music and musicians and people who are so deeply invested in the arts. Yeah. We got to hit that next tour, Jack.

We got to go there. Ever since we started this show, you've been talking to the Pacific Northwest calls to you, Miles. I as a just like urban concrete boy from North hollywood california i fantasized about the forest as a kid like i think a it started with endor from return of the jedi yeah because i was like wait there's places where it's just trees like this and then i remember i went to the sequoias once my grandfather took me to sequoias and i blew my mind and then i've just i just have i don't know a connection with like very wooded places and you know cooler climates so yeah yeah love the love the northwest yeah what is something you think is underrated pitch i feel like i and maybe i'm wrong but i

feel like nobody has been talking about next in fashion on netflix i really liked that show. Oh, is that the one Tim Gunn is on? No, this is with Tan France. Oh! Yeah, it's the second season. It came out a couple months ago. And it's with Gigi Hadid. He had a different co-host the first season. And it got canceled at first, but then I guess they brought it back. And I always liked Project Runway, of course, back in the day.

I haven't watched it in forever, but I really liked Sex and Fashion. I just thought all the designers were really interesting. And it was just really fun to watch. And I don't want to spoil it, but the person who won, I was like, this guy is incredible. This is exactly who I thought should win. like this is exactly who i thought should win you know i i love yeah i like i used to watch project runway like in the early bravo days a lot for sure and then i actually did start i watched the hype on netflix which is like the streetwear version of it where it's like they find all these

streetwear designers and like they they all like have a challenge it's like the same structure except it's streetwear um so maybe i will take a dip into next in fashion check it out i mean i just i really thought it was fun and i i like i had watched all of them except for the last one and then i was visiting a friend and he was like well what do you do you want to watch something and i was like would you watch the last episode of next in fashion with me like i know you haven't seen it but like and he and he was enthralled and and i think that that speaks to how fun it is yeah okay i'm in i really liked it what does it have over project runway i feel like that's the one that i'm most familiar with and that i've watched like half oh that new one that new version with tim gunn is on amazon that

i guess i can't say what it has over current day project runway because i haven't watched it in years but i just think i i don't know i feel like i was interested in all of the designers from the beginning like i liked all of them and i thought the taste yeah and i thought the um the challenges were really interesting and they do like they do some menswear and womenswear. And they just have more interesting models and different body types and ages and stuff, too. And just the challenges are kind of more interesting, I guess. Like, they had one challenge where they had to make stuff out of plants. Like, they had to make clothes out of...

Okay, real? Yeah, they just do cool stuff and i do like tan france and gg hadid i i think they have a fun chemistry as hosts and i always love remembering that gg hadid has like a skater dude voice it's very socal yeah she's like such a beautiful woman and then she's like like she just cha bro that shit is sick dude fucking leaves so i just like i just it has a good vibe i'm in for that i'm in for that is gg hadid the hadid sister with the coca-cola commercial during the playoffs i mean like i keep bringing all these

commercial questions. Yeah, it is Gigi Hadid. Yeah. And I don't know. I'm not buying the authenticity of her friend group just hanging out and having a Coca-Cola

and making homemade pasta. Oh, yes. I agree. Now I can picture it. Yeah. They're not fucking with that kind of Coke. Yeah.

For sure. It's like, just replace the-cola with cocaine and you might have a indication get another bump of coca-cola hey keep me up another sip of coca-cola sorry are there cameras yeah i liked imagining too because too because she has like a pretty young child and I was like imagining in the commercial, in the world of the commercial, she got like a babysitter so she could have all of her friends over to drink Coca-Cola.

Drink Coca-Cola and do some handmade pastas. Hell yeah. Yeah, that sounds right. Like us normal people. All right. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back to talk about other normal people. All right. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back to talk about

other normal people like your king, my King Charles. Chuck A. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today. And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the

FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer. This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you.

I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and 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. Hello, everyone. I am Lacey Lamar. And I'm Amber Ruffin, a better Lacey Lamar. Boo. Okay, everybody, we have exciting news to share. We're back with season two of the Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber show on Will Ferrell's

Big Money Players Network. You thought you had fun last season? Well, you were right. And you should tune in today for new fun segments like Sister Court and listening to Lacey's steamy DMs. We've got new and exciting guests like Michael Beach. That's my husband. Daphne Spring, Daniel Thrasher, Peppermint, Morgan J., and more.

You gotta watch us. No, you mean you have to listen to us. I mean, you can still watch us, but you gotta listen. Like, if you're watching us, you have to tell us. 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 podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And we're back. And yeah, so this is a story that I think is being pitted as like Disney versus Ron DeSantis. We all know which side we're on in that one. Am I right, folks?

Oh, yeah. That's right. But unfortunately, Disney is a massive corporation at a time in American history that is completely run by massive corporations. And they are using this opportunity smartly to basically try and grab more power in terms of how you can just how much power a corporation can possibly have. Yeah. I mean, it's right now. So we've heard that like Ron DeSantis is like, I'm going to get him so good because they humiliated me by doing an end around with their Reedy Creek Development District.

So they filed a lawsuit against him and they said that they are they have been the victims of a, quote, targeted campaign of government retaliation, which was orchestrated at every step by Governor Ron DeSantis as punishment for Disney's protected speech, a.k.a. coming late to the party to vocally criticize the don't say gay legislation that was happening in Florida. They got late. They were late to that party. Let's let's not forget that part about Disney. And so they were they reportedly filed this suit, like, quote, just minutes after DeSantis is he put the new governing board of this reedy creek development district that they basically passed a resolution to basically put a halt to disney's control in that area and it's just like the whole thing is uh it

reads like a terrible breakup letter disney's quote regrets it has come to this and they've quote exhausted efforts to seek a resolution. So I think they're now going to have a conscious uncoupling with... Too good for him, girl. Yeah, with Ron DeSantis. But again, this is where it gets a little freaky, though. They're also trying to claim that

they're standing up for small businesses and the little guys. Because, you know what? They have the resources to take on the state and this is where i believe it gets very very very murky so the the lawsuit does show that desantis is like his policy definitely was motivated by disney's like you know that their first amendment protected free speech uh even in his book that he's talked about this like how he said that they they crossed the line and you know he he had a like a special session to like terminate these

special districts which objectively are are fucking dumb to have or like a state's like yeah yeah yeah you wealth group of wealthy people do whatever the fuck you want and we'll just stay the fuck out of do whatever makes you the most money that's yeah they there's like a story about like their monorail like that the disney monorail doesn't have to comply to the department of transportation safety standards and like a cast member like somebody that's what they call people like work at the park was killed like died because of this and they're just like yeah yeah move it along because they can because they're like their own government in that district. So it's fucking terrifying.

But that's not why he's being fucked up about it. Well, like the state could have tried to, like, just repeal their, you know, weird ass stranglehold over this area. But because like DeSantis is in such a weird ego trip like it had to be this whole thing to like score points and like like you know keep escalating the fucking situation and now like it's got it's come to this major lawsuit but this is the thing that's very kind of this is the this is the thing i have my eye on the the rhetoric in this lawsuit like while there is a lot to like evoke their constitutional free speech and all this other shit, they're evoking this thing called the contracts clause, which was

something that was very contentious at the turn of the previous century, going from the 1800s to the 1900s. In that time, like the Supreme Court repeatedly, repeatedly quote, use the contracts clause to preserve private monopolies over things like the water supply or preventing local governments from constructing their own waterworks. It also struck down a Kansas law enacted during a financial panic that let mortgage holders stay in their homes for several months after foreclosure. So essentially, the Supreme Court would say that if a state tried to intervene on behalf of the citizens to like nullify a, like an agreement or like a predatory contract, they would basically side with the businesses and essentially keep

regulation at bay. So building their lawsuit around this specific language is opening the door possibly for like an appeal to the Supreme court where they may want to revisit this and have another opportunity to realign our legal system with the interests of business owners and not workers like that's like the that's the slippery slope that they're using this like language with and that has been the supreme court's mo the entire like yeah they haven't for the past 10 years they haven't taught like they haven't touched the contracts clause in a while because the sort of flow of our culture was like, yeah, regulation's

good because this is like coming out of the depression and shit like that. So now I'm like, oh, I guess I'm on this side because you can distill sort of his argument, and this is a very charitable distillation, down to no company should have this much power in a state where they can just flaunt

like regulations or these other things which is 100 true and we talked about already how fucked up this reedy creek improvement district is his reason for doing it is just absolutely fucked up and it's based on his like authoritarian ego but this again i just i'm bringing this up because disney isn't the only company that's talking about the contract cause Like many companies are trying to win cases based on this logic, but so far they have been unsuccessful. Quote, this is from Slate. Hotels cite the clause to battle severance pay for workers and rehire and the rehire of laid off employees. Delivery apps used it to combat caps on the amount of quote commission cash they can extract from restaurants.

Corporations deployed it to fight data privacy laws. Police unions have seized upon it to hobble disciplinary procedures and conceal records of misconduct from the public. So when you put it all together, you're like, oh, this is, like Disney's using this fucking legal reasoning that's on the side of all the evildoers. Yeah. It's just so fucked that this is the only

place we get a politician pushing back on like corporate power just like unfettered corporate power like complete deregulation which is the like rule of in modern america but because the two parties are essentially in the center working with corporations like that you don't get anything like this from the left and so you just like accidentally get it coming from like fascists yeah you know right wing shit is it possible for both sides of a lawsuit to lose because that would honestly be so sick but um yeah it would be some kind of sad settlement i mean the thing that like a lot of people pointed out is like we talked about how disney like they outsmarted desantis and they

changed all their bylaws to like lock down their like stranglehold over this area and if they want like like legal observers are like why don't they just go back because they did everything to the letter of the law as it appears and just fight it on the merits rather than like counter suing with this like contracts clause and because they know that this is an opportunity where they're like they have public support on their side right it doesn't look creepy all of a sudden for them to be like yeah we want to actually have authoritarian power within this small district right so i guess it's kind of win-win for authoritarian yeah exactly how you paint it so it's all fucking bad yeah i got a

shout out to capitalists for making inclusion just another tool right yeah essentially yeah fucking mastered it like anybody who's worried about the singularity like that capitalism is the singularity it's already like it's just constantly working it's this hive mind that is constantly working around the clock to find ways to expand its power and no matter what you give to it whether it be justice injustice, it's going to find a way to turn it to the power of monopoly. Yeah, it's so weird, too, because like the critics on the right and like people who have like observed the DeSantis camp or potential campaign and how he's setting himself up to run are like, I don't know if this is the best move, because they're like,

while Republicans like obviously like a bit of culture war, they also know that like they don't want to live in a world where potentially the government can dictate to them how to run their business, even if it is him doing that to that side. And so some people are like, I mean, yeah, but is the culture war shit really worth it? If you just look at the polls, Ron DeSantis is like not not doing well at all. And the culture war stuff is like polling like really low. Like, if anything, it's it's it's not helping anybody. But again, this is sort of like the place that they want to make their like, you know, policy battles over because it prevents any kind of substantive debate over anything. And again, we remember the Republicans are just praying for a disaster right now as their platform going into 2024 because they don't have any policies that work. They need some new fucking financial meltdown or some new pandemic or something.

This is going to be like, oh my God, Joe Biden did it all. Now vote for us. We hate rights. So, yeah. I do worry anytime it's republicans like yeah i've said this before but they've been willing to put their foot on the scale and like shocking ways that cause lots of deaths with uh nixon like prolonging the vietnam war but like they're also

you know every one of the billionaires who like runs the economy is at heart ultimately a republican even if they claim to be a democrat absolutely the same reason disney here is claiming to be all about you know lgbtq rights like they they ultimately the policy that they're in favor of is monopoly and you know right wing right wing economics so oh lgbtq you mean let's get bags tonight queens and right-wing economics. Oh, LGBTQ? You mean, let's get bags tonight, queens? That's our fucking motto over here at Disney. I can't stand people who are socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. I'm actually the opposite. I'm actually socially conservative and fiscally liberal. That's my new thing. I think that colleges should be free and they should be segregated. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There you go. I'm going to just go all out with it. Hey, Brody, that's, that's, you know what? They might, they might take you up on that. Somebody's like, here's the thing. Yeah, they actually just put together a nominating committee for you yeah absolutely i think that private companies should stop bottling public water yeah and i also want a water fountain that's just for me and my friends

and i want to figure out how to do that and we need we need water fountains for black people who speak japanese specifically yeah thank you you know what i mean i'm with you on that for the two of us, yeah. How's your Japanese going, by the way? Good? It's great. It's really good. Okay, good, good.

I'm like, I talk to my son so much in Japanese because he got to be bilingual, you know what I mean? And I just thought of that. Anyway, one more thing, though, to talk about Ron DeSantis. Oh, he apparently has a huge cash advantage over Donald Trump, though, despite him being 46 points behind. Before even announcing, they said he's about, he's just sitting on $110 million advantage over donald trump though despite him being 46 points behind he has before you even

announcing they said he's about he's just sitting on 110 million dollars yeah going to this campaign trump at the end of last year had 55 million although i think with his recent indictment and nft grifts that figure that is most definitely higher uh but just an interesting thing to to note even though like a lot of the reporting's like donors are fleeing and they don't know what to do i'm like he's got a lot of cash though that's just like a measure of what the like wishes are of the uber wealthy right like mike pence i think is if if he had like over one percent polling would probably oh yeah yeah you mean con be the donor leader. Yeah, exactly. Fucking less than 1%. He'd probably be the leading fundraiser because, God, they love him.

They're just like, just an empty, he's almost like a robot that we can just control. Yeah. He literally will stick to the script like Ron Burgundy. Yeah. But one more thing about Ron DeSantis, because this is really something. But one more thing about Ron DeSantis, because this is really something he he doesn't really talk about his time as a JAG judge, advocate general or military lawyer as it pertains to his time at Guantanamo Bay. You know, the torture venue where America was trying to get to the bottom of. Are you Al Qaeda? Yeah.

So. So he's not worried about a location being completely outside of the law there. Just just right. Disney. Yeah. Just when it's's in his state then he's got issues with it yeah so apparently uh as like the timelines show ron de santos first pulled up to guantanamo bay when the prisoners were engaged in a mat like mass hunger strikes yeah because you know they were being tortured yeah and like so they sent all these military lawyers down there to try and improve the conditions. However, by the end of his run, they had the most loss of life there on record. There were three prisoners that, quote, died by suicide. And I'm doing that in the SpongeBob. weird, unlikely because these people were being tortured and many other detainees were like, man, these people did not, that's not how they died. And in 2018, he even bragged about how he came up with the idea to force feed the prisoners that were on a hunger strike, which is considered

torture. Okay. And more than a few detainees recognized DeSantis. And one even said that the governor was present when he was force fed. and recently ron desantis was asked about this during a trip to israel and his answer was very calm and not shady or weird at all and not defensive and fuck you what are you fucking talking about let's listen to him be asked a very straight up question about hey people say you were in guantanamo uh care to comment on this just listen to how out of sorts this guy gets when being asked about his time at guantanamo bay during your time at guantanamo did you put the same incidents no no not all that's bs no totally totally bs say you were present yeah yeah who said that detainees have told us how would they know me okay think about that do you

honestly believe that's credible so this is 20 2006 i'm a junior officer do you honestly think that they would have remembered me from adam of course not they're just trying to get into the news because they know people like you will consume it because it fits your pre-ordained narrative that you're trying to spin yeah boo we're not going to get to all that part there i'm saying that in front of a board that says museum of tolerance is really ironic oh it's also ironic because disneyland is pretty much guantanamo bay for parents am i am i right hey i just got back man was this there hey they were force feeding me churros, I tell you what.

Yeah, I heard that. Anyway, but the thing is, like, did you hear this, man? His line of logic here is... Who said that? Why would anyone remember me, the guy who offered them a solution to their horrible situation and only ended up making things far worse for them? And most possibly the most fucked up times of their lives. Why?

How would they remember me at all? They also visibly begin sweating. He suddenly is sweaty by the end of his answer. He looked like Jordan Peele in that one meme. Coming down his face. He's such a narcissist

he should be happy that they recognize him. Little old me? They recognize me? Why? Because I'm so stunning? That is wild though to see how different it is when he's not in Florida doing his

very insular type of events and then you go abroad. Someone's like, hey man, motherfuckers recognize you from Gitmo. And he's like, who said that? And you're like, oh, shit. No, they didn't. Moving on. And then like the rest of the media just like doesn't let him move on.

Whereas in Florida, everyone's like terrified. So they're like, yeah, fuck you, man. Why are you asking that question? Oh, my God. Have you ever been in a traumatic situation and remembered the faces of people that were there that offered you a lifeline? Really now? Really? That's the main character in his story i don't think so yeah his objection was just no they don't

like that he didn't offer any how i was a junior officer okay what is that they don't know me that's supposed to mean but do you think you're a thanos man do you don't have a gauntlet of power you can't just snap things into his message yeah he had a tough trip to Israel because that was also where like somebody asked him about his polling numbers and he just like had a real meltdown yeah well you know who else had a tough trip to Israel

Moses I don't know the only thing I know about Passover is the rugrats specials. Oh, hell yeah. Hell yeah. Diana. Alright. Should we take another break and talk about drug-sniffing dogs when we get back? Yeah. Does that sound good?

Does that sound good, Daniel? Wait, wait. Drugs? Dogs that sniff drugs? Yeah. Oh, shit. Dogs that party, dude. Hey, man. Is your dog party? Yeah, dude. Dogs gone wild. My dog's here to's at party, dude. Hey, man, you're at a dog party? Yeah, dude. Dog's gone wild.

My dog's here to sniff some drugs, dude. All right, we'll be right back. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today. And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman.

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

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 dreamence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much

information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share doctor-approved insights about all of that and more. We're tackling everything. Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Oh, and if you're as sore as I am from pickleball, we'll help you with that too. Most importantly, it's information you can trust. Everything is vetted by experts at the top of their field, and you can write into them directly to have your questions answered. So sign up for Body and Soul at katiecouric.com slash bodyandsoul.

Taking better care of yourself is just a click away. And we're back. And the WGA strike is official. Writers are set to pick it yesterday. I think they did pick it. Yeah, you had to sign up. Make sure you're in your slot. The unions have said that the production companies have created a gig economy

inside a union workforce. When you see the details of like what is happening, what used to be paid to writers and like what is on offer now, it's just, I guess the most pressing issues, compensation, the number of scripted shows have skyrocketed, but writers pay has completely stagnated.

They started doing this thing, uh, the mini writers room where they just like have fewer people working on a show so they can pay fewer people. They like have them working for less time. Um, you as the consumer, even if you're not a member of the WGA,

you're going to see this in like the lower quality of the content that's being produced. Um, but it's, yeah. And so like when lower quality of the content that's being produced um but it's yeah and so like when you look at the details of the negotiation the union's like so we want to like have at least a basement on like the number of writers and the number of time like the amount of time that constitutes a writer's room and the corporate you know powers that be came back with like how about we don't even respond to that because how about fuck you yeah it's kind of the response and it is it's kind of just the the way things are shifting it's they're just slashing and burning like the

old ways of doing things which rendered good content but now yeah but now we're also putting writers under pressure to be like okay you have three days to do this whole thing yeah this has just been like the story of our lives it's like they got rid of everything that made having a job a thing you wanted to do like so they made everybody an independent contractor even at jobs where you once would have had like a salaried job i've had and they and it happened first in journalism and now it's happening in hollywood but basically it's just like the tech company isation of everything it's like when tech companies come in and take everything over what they mean by like move fast and break things it's like fucking break labor laws yeah right breaking the spirits

they're using like in this case they used the switch from like cable television to streaming as like the excuse to completely like rewire everything, like reword the contract. And it's like such an arbitrary difference. It's just like what people watch it on. My logical brain when I was like a young writer starting out, like as magazines and other ecosystems were like collapsing. And I thought foolishly like, okay, well, it'll go to the internet. And at some point they'll start, it'll go to the internet.

And at some point, they'll start compensating people fairly on the internet. But the whole time, it's just been like, no, internet content is this other thing that's less valuable, so we pay you less. And rates just haven't gone up for writers across the board in like 20 years, which is like insane. But it reflects other trends in the country of just like rates aren't going up. Jobs don't have the things that once made it for any reason, like useful to have a steady job. You know, it's like. Yeah. How about less perks, less benefits, more work? Right.

Well, it's like they offer it as like you get to make choices. It's like this thing. I feel like it was also like marketed to us as like you get to like you get to have five jobs. You get to like, right. Yeah. Work on all these cool things. Right. You're not tied down to this one job for 20 years.

So you get to work 70 jobs all the time forever with no promise of like any kind of contract pickup you know right um especially something like writing where you can make people feel like they're lucky to be doing it at all for money because it's like any kind of creative pursuit uh this is what my next podcast is about. About the most worker protections and content making and all that stuff in the most important American media industry. Yeah. Which is? Which is pornography. Yes.

Yeah. I'm sure. I'm sure that was assumed by our listeners. Yeah, they know. Well, it's just interesting because I've been working on it. listener yeah they know yeah well it's just interesting because i've been working on it and it is really about workers rights and content merchantry and art making for money right and the way in which it went from being a thing where you could have a steady job to being a thing where you are like a mercenary yeah um and how you how even mercenaries deserve protections especially you know thank you yeah

eric eric prince was just talking about that recently on uh sebastian gorka's podcast um i like one of the other things too right because we talk about technology and things is like the wga the writers guild they're also very concerned about ai but that stuff is crazy because that to me feels like shows you how dumb they are that they're like we can replace you with robots yeah like because all the ai stuff it's like never up to the level that it's being advertised as it's like a friend of mine had like who has chat gpt they were showing me i was like they're like dude i got it to pitch like five movie ideas based on this candy or whatever. Like,

and it's like, they're like, and we put the prompt in and it's funny how it just, it gives you like the most, like they're serviceable ideas, but they're clearly just aggregated from other ideas elsewhere. And you're like, no,

this is actually original. Like one thing was just like the Avengers, but like, but they skinned it over with like these candy things. And another one was like basically Tommy boy, but they skinned it over with these candy things. And another one was basically Tommy Boy, but with candy. Maybe that's the problem, is writers are like, yeah, but AI is going to give

you shitty content. And they're like, yeah, that's what we want. We don't care if it's fucking good. We want a robot to write the Avengers. That's obviously where this has been going all along. Yeah. And Ultron wins in this one. And there's something about just like he platforming writers as a group that is obviously

fascist, you know? Yeah. The thing that's kind of spooky, right, is like in the negotiations, the WJ is like in regards to AI, they're like, we can't have it be normalized that you can use AI to be credited with any writing. And all we're asking is that you don't do that or you're doing some chat GPT script shit and then having a like a human writer punch it up at a lower rate. I mean, that's so scary. The idea of like a robot punching up scripts honestly does like frighten me to my very

core in a way that like I never i've never thought about it until now you know right yeah and i like how like so the response of like the theater or the the studios and stuff to like the ai question is uh we will have annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology we're not going to say yes to anything you said we'll have meetings right yeah the whole thing is we make no promises the whole thing i say yes to anything you said. We'll have meetings about it. No, when they say, like, we make no promises. Right. Yeah, the whole thing is we make no promises. The whole thing, I mean, this is, like you said, Molly, this is what's happening across all capitalist systems,

especially in the United States. Things are being rewired. Like, everything is, it's just more and more being normalized where now they don't even have to, like, engage with the requests. They're just like we'll in response to your concerns that ai will write scripts that you then get like 20 to punch up uh we will have meetings to discuss that with you it's also like the bigger the name of the corporation the more they will tell you to go fuck yourself you know and so like i know people who were working for disney on like a show that was some of the issues that led to this i feel like and some of it is like

they're having people write things on spec essentially it's like they don't have to green light the show until after they've written an entire season of it like it truly the hoops that our people are jumping through is it just makes It just makes no sense. It's like, if you cared at all about the efficiency, like, obviously, Hollywood is, like, not an efficiently run system. like a successful network show that had a like bump built into the writers contracts from like going from the first 26 episode season to the second 26 episode season and so to avoid doing that the studio just changed the length of the season in the contract to 52 episodes just had them work on a longer season one just most bad faith no shitty kinds the kinds of workarounds they do yeah for these things and i've been in situations where i had what felt like it should be a very like tenured media job and would once have been like a tenured media job and the kind of thing you could like

depend on for a few years at least and instead they gave it to like three of us and made us all independent contractors and gave us just no guarantees that we would ever be working it was just like no problem you know no promises of how much work this is. When there's a column, you'll know. It's gig work, but gigs that makes it sound funny, like you're doing a fun concert or something. Yeah, and then you can go to your Ren Faire and smoke weed, you know? Go to your Ren Faire and you smoke weed. I think also it's like, like these things are intertwined.

This is also what my next podcast is about, but it's like often when the bottom falls out of an industry or the profit making is like not what it once was, that's when they let people of color and women in, you know, because they're like, Oh, well nobody fucking cares now.

Like this isn't, it isn't like writing on cheers where you would buy a house, you know, a house from it it's like it's gig work so it's like as it becomes more diverse and like traditional gatekeeping is changing it's like it also does feel like they're they're trying to crush that too yeah but it's also like when people are like, oh, once I would have... The problem with all these executives

is they just want it to be the past. You know? It's like they're not interested in dealing with what's happening now. Because these are also the same issues as the 2008 strike, which was that things were going to the internet. People weren't being compensated fairly for work on the

internet they weren't getting residuals they were using it as an excuse to like pay people less and it just never got fixed even in the first strike it never really got fixed they just did a million reality shows that was when they did a big push on reality because reality had no labor protections no and like really doesn't reality is like the most exploitative yeah and like we were saying on the trending episode the other day is like from the studio standpoint like with the amount of downsizing and shit that they've had to do and scaling back like a strike is actually not bad for them because they're like well it's less money we have to spend right now everybody we're just gonna get rid of all these people and bring in scabs and i truly think what's gonna happen is they're gonna make a bunch of they're gonna sign a million like fucking tiktok stars is what i think

will happen right i think they're gonna be like fuck this we're just gonna yeah like yeah because they don't respect writers they don't respect writing that's what's crazy about show business is the people who are in charge like don't respect art and don't care about art yeah somebody said like quibi it was very like quibi vibes it's like a bunch of people saying something that like any sane person is like yeah you can't do this shit without writers and they're like oh watch us yeah wait till they come back and hbo max is like guess what succession is coming back for a fifth season and it's being helmed by charlie d'amelio and logan paul that's what i mean it's like i think they're intent to like strip all these brands for parts

because that's oh yeah like yeah i think yeah and that is ultimately like like it's TV writers are like a metaphor for everybody else where it's just like, this is a very once lucrative, prestigious job. And it is not what it used to be. Yeah. It's, I mean,

I think that's, that's the thing that's become very fortuitous for like these greedy studios is like when you're dealing with people that are like already driven by a passion for something, they're probably more likely to want to go along with whatever you're offering because for them they're passionate about and like yeah man they're fucking we'll do it because where else are you gonna write on tv except but it's like the same thing is probably true for like amazon warehouses where people are so desperate they have to say yes to anything

it's like for sure it's all about just like making people desperate it's just different levels of making people desperate so that they have to say yes to whatever because they truly just like are scraping by and i think also this is where democrats are really fucking failing right now i do think it's like during the pandemic they did the thing they never had done before where they just like gave us all money to be freelancers right and it like improved everybody's quality of life so much yeah everybody i know is like that everything was bad but remember how great it was to not be fucking stressed out about paying rent every month because like the government acknowledges you might need a little help, they should offer to help people,

even if it's in bad faith and they're not going to do it. The fact that they're not even trying is so depressing. Let me get a bad faith offer, man. Come on. That's the crazy thing about the WGA thing. That's the crazy thing about the WGA too. They're like, look, we really want to negotiate. Just like I've been in a lot of situations like this at this point where it's like yeah you're like

we love you we love what you do yeah why would they treat me like a person and i think that's the thing about capitalism too is it's like no matter how valuable you become in capitalism even if you become like a super high paid showrunner or whatever, you're still a fucking commodity to them. And that means they can throw you away. Yeah, it's certainly true in this version of capitalism, this hyper capitalism. That's just all about creating value for shareholders and does not give a fuck about the people who are actually creating the value that then gets transferred into monetary value

for shareholders. Corporations are people. Yeah. And people are corporations, man. Oh, shit. I mean, I am working on my branding. Well, I think it's like you have to. You have no choice but to be a mercenary. And it's for better

and worse. Yeah. We've all had to commodify ourselves in some way. And that's good. It's efficient. And that's what we want to leave you with. But look, just cause you don't win every time. Does that make you a failure?

Yes. Yeah. Uh, Molly, such a pleasure having you. All right. That's going to do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist. Please like and review the show if you like the show.

It means the world to Miles. He needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend and I will talk to you Monday. Bye. Thank you. We'll be right back. I'm going to go. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister, or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Señora Sex Ed is not your mommy's sex talk. This show is La Plática like you've never heard it before. We're breaking the stigma and silence around sex and sexuality in Latinx communities. This podcast is an intergenerational conversation between Latinas from Gen X to Gen Z.

We're your hosts, Diosa and Mala. You might recognize us from our first show, Locatora Radio. Listen to Señora Sex Ed on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.