The Daily Zeitgeist - Weekly Zeitgeist 354 (Best of 1/13/24-1/17/24)

Episode Date: January 19, 2025

The weeky round-up of the best moments fron DZ's season 371 (1/13/24-1/17/24)  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joel, the holidays are a blast, but the financial hangover, that can be a huge bummer. If you are out there and you're dreading the new statement email that reveals the massive balance that you may have racked up, well, you could use our help. That's right. I'm Joel. And I am Matt. And we're from the How to Money Podcast. Our show is all about helping you make sense of your personal finances so you can ditch

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I'll be joined by David Roth at Defecta and the writer Edward Ongweiso Jr. with guest appearances from Behind the Bastards Robert Evans, It Could Happen Here's Gare Davis and a few surprise guests throughout the show. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts from. Jon Stewart is back at The Daily Show and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with The Daily Show Ears Edition Podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports, and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondents and contributors. And with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else.

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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 laugh stravaganza. Uh, yeah. So without further ado, here is the weekly zeitgeist. Yeah, that, that was the person who wrote my AKA also, and I pronounce it correctly. Oh, that's near moments ago. Maybe this is a regional.

Really? Really? that's interesting. Mere moments ago. Maybe this is a regional. Really? Really? That's fascinating. Really? Shocked by that. My God. Blake, thank you for being a friend and for being my co-host. Thank you for being a friend.

It's interesting, Miles is coming back so quickly. I was under the impression he wouldn't and then he found out that I might be having an extended guest hosting spree. And he was like, you know what, I think I can apologize. He keeps being like, I mean, I'm so sorry that this is happening. I'm like, no, what are you talking about? He's like, I mean, Blake is the guest. He just bought a microphone out of pocket. I mean, with Blake and everything. Yeah. Wait, I was mentioned first? Yeah, before everything else. He didn't mention the tragedies? Yeah.

Jesus. All right, let's stop here. With Blake and everything else going on. No. Blake, we're always thrilled to have you. Thank you. I think Miles just has the sickness called that dog in him, that grind set where he's-

Oh, he's got the dog in him. Yeah. It's just like- I saw his x-rays and it's just a pit bull. Just a pure, pure a pit bull just a Bread, yeah Blake we're thrilled to be joined in our third seat by one of our favorite guests a brilliant anti racism Educator activist writer and creator of the acclaimed podcast white homework. It's Tori Williams dog

Hi guys, Thanks for having me. Wow. It's been like not that long. I know. I'm very flattered. It's great to have you back. I got invited back. Good riddance, Miles. That's awful. I would never. I love Miles. That was the quickest I've heard someone go from saying something horrible jokingly to

a, yeah. I would never. I would never. I'm not, not to Miles. I would to other people. I mess with other people. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Jack. Yeah.

Jack's catching strays for sure. Oh yeah. Get the fuck out of here. Well, I feel bad for all the horrible things I've said about Miles recently. You know what I mean? Like it's just the amount of shit I've talked on that guy behind his back and to his face over the years. Just in public, on podcasts.

Yeah. I mostly just talk shit about Miles. It's mostly about social media. Yeah. Letters to the editor. Letters to the editor. So many letters to the editor. Tori, how's it going up in Portland? It's going. It's just mostly sitting here in the dark, in the cold, feeling really bad for everyone in LA.

Yeah. Honestly. Yeah, my sister's down there. She thankfully didn't have to evacuate, but it was touch and go for a minute. So, yeah, just trying to like check in on all my people and, you know, do what I can. But yeah, there's like, I don't feel like there's anything going on in Portland compared to like, there's snow in Atlanta and like LA is still burning. Yeah. And I'm just kind of sitting here like, how can I be helpful right now? Yeah. Atlanta gets those like every, every once in a while they get a snow storm and like

you hear the stories of people's cars being trapped on the highway for like three days. And, uh, I lived in Kentucky for a while and when there was any snow on the ground, it was like, I mean, I mean, the horses skidding around out there. Uh, no, we had cars, but the, yeah, it just, they, they were not prepared. They had one truck that had just a, you know, olive garden salt shaker that they would roll down the window and just sprinkle on the roads. And that was it. People with huge forearms, just cranking salt onto the road.

There was, I was in Minneapolis once for standup and they had, they were like, Oh, tomorrow we're going to get three to four feet of snow. And I'm like, all right, well I'm fucked. We're not going to be able to get anywhere. And it's just nothing. Yeah. It's nothing. Yeah.

Completely nothing. It will tunnel. They will build a city through tunnels of snow just to, yeah, they, it matters not to them. And then, uh, and then some people are trying to build an entire like snow removal apparatus, like it's the first they've heard of snow every time it snows there. All right, we'll get on this now.

Yeah. Oh shit. What is the, oh right, I've heard tell of this. I've heard tell of winter. Yeah. What is something from your search history that is revealing about who you are? I, I think this morning looked up,

who is the Desi girl from the Rihanna, Bitch Better Have My Money music video? Because she had a Desi henchwoman who was gorgeous, amazing, whatever. I was like, what happened to her? So I looked her up. Her name is Sanam Sindhi, and she's still doing stuff, still active. She seems awesome. I wanna see her in more things.

I don't know. That's what I looked up. Sometimes I'll have a memory from when I'm a kid and felt representation and was like, what happened? Who was that? Who was that? Yeah. You just wake up in the night.

Why was now the moment and not just wake up in the night. Why was now the moment and not when you first saw the video? Oh, I did look her up, but then it's been however many years. I was obsessed with her, but I hadn't thought about her in a while. And then some reel popped up or something, and it was like Rihanna made that song because she wanted her money. And I was like, I don't know this backstory, but what happened to that girl? Like, what happened to her? I do love those explainer videos

that have the most baseline, obvious explanation. Yeah. So she actually really wanted her money. Hey, yeah, they were talking to you. Right. I am depressed to admit that on Amazon Prime, when you pause it, it tells you all the actors in a scene, and it's so obnoxious and idiotic, and I find it immensely helpful. That's the pop-up music video on VH1.

Do you remember how it had all those pop-up facts? Yeah. I loved that. I would do that with every like animal actor. I'd be like, what's their backstory? Which phone is still alive, right? Yeah. What's this guy's deal?

Yeah. How abused were they on set? Yeah, and it's a golden doodle. Right. I know, put me on a set and I'll just be with the dogs in the corner. The dogs are, I feel like always dead by the time I look it up.

Don't say that. You don't know. They're not. Don't look,, I feel like, always dead by the time I look it up. Don't say that. You don't know. They're not. Don't look, you don't know. No, by the time I look it up, which usually, you know, I watch a lot of classic films, but yeah, I just feel, I feel like they don't,

like, Frasier dog was like, gone way too soon. Yeah. How dare you. Yeah. You better shut your mouth, Jack O'Brien. Wait, you thought he should have been dead sooner? Is that what you're saying? No, that dog is running on a farm upstate somewhere. You don't acknowledge the past.

OK, got it, got it, got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do I know? So you don't look it up. I got it. Sometimes I'll text Jack Heath like a picture of a dog from a movie and I'll be like, he's probably still alive, right? That happened in the seventies.

No. And I'm like, we're breaking up. Fuck you. What, Chris, is something you think is underrated? Underrated, I would say. I can't remember what my idea was for this. It's it was going to be, I think it was going to be that it was, uh, my audio book was underrated again, just so I could promote it.

It's done. The advice King anthology is done. And audio book is done. And yeah. And it took forever. And I don't know how anyone records an audio book except to use AI because you have to have someone who can donate 50 hours of high quality studio time, which is the equivalent of making like 14 indie rock

records, right? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know how they, you know, like the budget is like, I don't even have the, have the budget of an indie rock band for this thing. So anyway, but it's done. Good. And so that's underrated only because it's not even out yet, but also I need people to buy it because it's like 10, it's going to be 10 bucks. It's hilarious.

It's like three and a half hours of me doing standup basically. I mean, I can't read these columns without getting, and my mom does the introduction sidebarring on it. Yeah. I mean, I'm just, well, I'm just performing the columns like, because they're like, a lot of them are just straight up standup except written. And so I had to, that's why that's why it's going to be fun. It's like a comedy album and it's got some like serious stuff in it about depression and things like that. But it's going to be a lot of fun. And my mom does the

introduction because Tracy Moore who wrote the introduction, she's a journalist out in Los Angeles. She couldn't do it. So it's like, oh, how great I am or whatever. You know, it's like a nice, it's the introduction to the book. Like, you know, so I was like, who would be good at reading something about me? That's like really positive. And so I got my mom who's 83 and she was so psyched to be in the studio and everything. And she, oh, that's great. She she rehearsed by reading. She's like, I need the book.

And I was like, I don't have a copy of it. She's like, I need the book to practice. So she was reading like obituaries out loud out of the newspaper to practice. Yeah. That's how I get ready for this show every day. I never, I never practiced anything in my life. So I was just like blown away. What, uh, Chris, what's something you think's overrated?

Overrated is this any news media right now that is covering any cable news. Every single bit of it should be, should be thrown out the window. I mean, everybody knows that, but especially now, because I'm so tired of hearing about how these tech guys musk and Zuckerberg and, oh, there's a small list, everybody knows them, I guess, Larry Ellison and, and, um, and Peter Thiel and all, and, and, uh, you know, they, they're not, they say, oh, they've accrued as much wealth as during the Gilded Age, or like we haven't seen as much wealth,

but this isn't a matter of wealth. This is a matter of power. And they keep discussing this without mentioning, the richest person in the world didn't own the news. The richest person in the world didn't own the news. Right. The richest person in the world didn't, couldn't meddle in, in, in government affairs in Myanmar by shutting off or turning on Facebook. These people have power unparalleled in human history. These people are kings of the whole globe.

There wasn't even an interconnected globe until four, 30 years ago. Yeah. So the idea that they keep getting discussed, well, it's getting really bad. Getting really bad. Yeah. Talking about this in terms of money misses it. This is power on levels that have never been seen before. And I'm so sick of hearing it being discussed in comparison to the

Gilded Age when all you could be was like the meanest guy on the block. And you could have the biggest tower and stand around in it and be mean to your immediate surroundings. But you couldn't like try and overthrow the government of England with tweets. Yeah. I mean, you just couldn't, you could just, you could yell at stable boys. That was what the old. Oh, they were so mean to their stable boys. Yeah.

I mean, sure. I'm not, I'm not, listen, I'm not saying that was okay. They were so mean to their stable boys. Yeah. I mean, sure. I'm not, I'm not, listen, I'm not saying that was okay. Yeah. Biden coming through at the end of his thing and being like, guys, some of these tech oligarchs are bad news, I think. I'm glad you brought that up. I can't even, I can't even process that.

How can anyone process that? After like a record number, like I think there was one person with $150 million before he started and now there's like eight of them. Did he even raise the corporate tax rate when he was in office? No, he did nothing. It's like he's just finding out about this on the way out. That's what I mean. I mean, how is anyone?

And then we're not talking about the fires, you know, but I'm sure you guys have talked about it to death and you're also living through it fires, I'm sure you guys have talked about it to death and you're also living through it. And I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, it's so horrible. Yeah, it's really awful. And on top of all that shit to have a guy saying stuff like that, who's the president of the United States, I mean, how much can people take?

That's what I mean, it's like these giant megaphones need to be turned off or we're never gonna be okay again. We're not gonna ever be okay again unless we turn these fucking things off. I remember there was in Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, he had a funny passage I never forgot where he was saying there was a machine on the Vegas strip

where for $5 they would project you like 100 feet tall on the side of a building and you could yell anything you wanted at Las Vegas. And he was saying this, he was saying how insane that was. Yeah. How scared he was of like taking drugs and then seeing like some random person like screaming from. You can't let random people scream at a whole city. Well, you know what I mean? We have, we have, you know. That has been the tech innovation of the past 50 years. Yeah, that's just, that's what's over overrated is talking about things in content in, in ways that are not only, I don't know if they're obfuscating,

are these people are too in the system to even understand. Oh, it is either just as wealthy as the, uh, as the Gilded age. I mean, they can have as many carriages as they want. I mean, they can have, you know, like, that's not what's happening. Anyway, that's, that's all just occurred to me. It's just, I just found out about this. Joe Biden mentioned it today. Yeah, it's just, it's not comparable to any Gilded Age.

It's not. And they're richer than anybody in the Gilded Age. Gilded Age too. Yeah, a lot. Yeah. Exactly. And I, they keep saying that. So I'm like, oh, and they're like, yeah, that's not that much different than We bounce back from that, you know, we'll be fine And that's the message that you're supposed to calm the fuck down. Yeah, really ultimately What is something do you have anything you think's overrated or just too underrated? Well, this is cool cuz I this is movie related

So I'm glad that Kate was here cuz I want to know what she thinks about this. I think very recently I've decided harmony, Corina's overrated. And here's why he's been like palling around Miami with Jared and Ivana Ivanka, like him and his wife, they're going to like Zionist fundraising stuff, all this like, like hanging out with basically the worst people in Miami. And he started a skateboard company called Edge Lord, which he is an edge lord. And unfortunately, they have like interesting skateboarders on there.

But it made me rethink all of his movies where I was like, if you've seen Gummo, he wrote kids, he's like this kind of like, he's this art house tour guy. Bring Breakers, was that the name of that movie? Yeah this kind of like, he's this art house, a tour guy. Spring Breakers, was that the name of that movie? Yeah. Spring Breakers, he directed. The other one of his I've seen is Beach Bum.

And between Spring Breakers and Beach Bum, two of my least favorite movies of all time. So I'm fully in agreement with you, Mort, about him being overrated. I think he sucks. Yeah. And there's like, have you, did you see Gummo? No, I didn't see that one. Yes, you see his early stuff. He has, he actually, there are aspects of his filmmaking,

which are kind of masterful. Like in some ways he's able to make some stuff really beautiful, but all that stuff is like this very shocky, like it'll be like this really strange looking sort of boy in a bathtub, like eating spaghetti. It's this very, but now I look at it and I'm like, wait, do you just hate poor people? Like is this all of this just supposed to be like, this is the spectacle with no heart or capacity for caring. I get to very, I don't know. I already was like really on the fence and now

I'm like, oh, he might be just like, have been evil the whole time, but he is really funny on Letterman. That's the only thing about it. I need to go back and look at the Letterman interviews because otherwise not not a fan based on what I've heard so far. And kids, the script, I feel like is not the thing.

It's not, it's not what's cool about kids. I barely remember that movie. So I'm seeing that Harmony Crinn has a child named Lefty Bell. Lefty Bell? Uh-huh. That's probably like a reference to like a silent film star or something, I imagine, just the way that he rolls.

Calling his skateboard company Edge Lord is pretty on the nose, but I guess nothing he does is not on the nose, right? It's pretty... Yeah, it's just a whole weird thing. I don't like it. Yeah, man, I don't like thing. I don't like it. Yeah, man. I don't, I don't like this.

I don't like when right wing stuff happens in skateboarding. It makes me feel very icky. Feels, yeah. What is the, what's the scene? Uh, and we got more our, uh, man on the street for skateboarding here. Our, uh, skater on the skateboard beat. Uh, what, what's the vibe like? I mean, we've seen, at least Nate Silver is telling me

there's been a vibe shift everywhere across social media and a lot of different subcultures towards the right. Is that happening in skateboarding? It feels like kind of anathema for skateboarding. What's up, Jack? I'm here talking to a lot of teens down here on the skate beat These teenage boys and gals There look skateboarding can be it's it's like a guitar or something It could be used in any capacity you want it to be the really cool thing

Is that there's been a huge growth on the opposite end of this which is like there's like a lot of LGBTQ plus skateboard a lot of queer skateboarders to at least two queer owned skateboard companies and a lot more like women and non binary people in skateboarding who are making it way better. Like it's they're doing this really interesting. It's a bunch of them like rip, like they're really, really good. And then some of them are doing this thing where they're like, we don't care if we're good. And that's really important because skateboarding, you know, it's been 14 year old boys for most of its most of its entirety, right? So there's this, there's this kind of a little bit toxic

rule, you know, thing that happens there. So aspects of skateboarding have actually, have actually shifted way towards the left, which is so necessary. And then there's these small sections of people who like, say that who's the there's this dude, damn, and I can't remember. It's actually good that I can't remember his name, this like right wing podcaster guy who is like a terrible pop punk band, and also claims to be a skateboarder. He does skateboard, but luckily he has awful style.

I'm forgetting his name, But he was fully was, he's the guy who was being funded by Russia. Like there was an expose where all, he was one of the main dudes. And you're like, yeah, of course he was. That's wild. Yeah. It really is just fucking Russian money and billionaire libertarians all the way down. That's the one. Yep. It's all, all you need to do is be like, yeah, fuck it. I'm right wing. And there's suddenly a money truck arrives at your house. Yeah. And especially this idea that like I'm cool.

I'm hip brother. It's such like, I'm not a cop dude. You know? Yeah, exactly. And it's like working in some places. Yeah. A lot of these fucking influencers are just like, yeah, it's actually, what's cool is

thinking this Republican president is cool and edgy. Yeah. Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah, man. Shit. All right. Let's take a quick break.

We'll come back. We'll talk about ultra-processed foods. We'll be right back. 2025 is bound to be a fascinating year. back. 2025 is bound to be a fascinating year. It's going to be filled with money challenges and opportunities. I'm Joel. And I am Matt. And we're the hosts of How to Money.

We want to be with you every step of the way in your financial journey this year, offering the information and insights you need to thrive financially. Yeah. Whether you find yourself up to your eyeballs in student loan debt or you've got a sky-high credit card balance because you went a little overboard with the holiday spending. Or maybe you're looking to optimize your retirement accounts so you can retire early. Well how to money will help you to change your relationship with money so you can stress less and grow your net worth. That's right. How to money comes out three times a week,

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for money advice without the judgment and jargon. Listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and this January, we're going on the road to beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada, to cover the Consumer Electronics Show, Tech's biggest conference.

Better offline CES coverage won't be the usual rundown of the hottest gadgets or the biggest trends, but an unvarnished look at what the tech industry plans to sell or do to you in 2025, interrogating their narratives alongside a remarkable cast of industry talent and award-winning journalists. We'll have daily episodes, on-the-ground interviews, and special panels covering everything from the BS of AI to the ways in which race and gender play into how people are treated in the tech industry and at these conferences. I'll be joined by David Roth of Defecta and the writer Edward Ongweiso Jr. with appearances from Behind the Bastards Robert Evans, It Could Happen Here's Gare Davis, and a few surprise guests throughout the show. Listen to better offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever

else you get your podcasts from and check out betteroffline.com. John Stewart is back at The Daily Show and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports, and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondents and contributors. And with extended interviews and exclusive

weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ever wonder what it's like to be on the phone with an NFL general manager as you finalize the biggest contract in NFL history? I'm AJ Stevens, vice president of client strategy at Athletes First, where we've negotiated $1.4 billion in current NFL quarterback contracts. Introducing the Athletes First Family Podcast, the quarterback series.

Along with my co-host Brian Murphy, Athletes First's CEO, we're pulling back the curtain on how these historic deals come together. You'll hear directly from the agents who shaped the NFL's financial landscape. The ones who negotiated Justin Herbert's extension and Deshaun Watson's fully guaranteed contract that sent shockwaves through the league. This isn't just about the numbers though, it's about the untold stories behind these massive negotiations and the relationships

the NFL superstars like Dak Prescott, Tua Tunga-Vallilola, and Jordan Love have with their agents at Athletes First. For the first time ever, the agents who orchestrate these deals are sharing the details of the negotiations and everything that led up to their clients signing on the dotted line. Listen to the Athletes First Family Podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. and let's talk about the two worst guys, two of the worst guys that Trump nominated for to control major parts of the world.

First, Pete Hagseth, his confirmation hearing to be, what is it? Secretary of Defense? That's a big one, right? That's a pretty, that's up there. Yeah. So he was nominated to be secretary of defense. Secretary of Defense. That's a big one, right? That's a pretty, that's up there.

Yeah. So he was nominated to be Secretary of Defense. A bunch of stories immediately flooded out from people who had worked with him, both sides of the, you know, former military people, existing current military people, not like left wing journalists doing like hit pieces. Just anybody who's encountered him being like- His mom. Yeah, his mom.

Yeah, his mom. For instance, talking about instances of sexual assault, racism, open alcoholism on par with like a cartoon alcoholic, like having to be carried out of places constantly. The only thing that's lacking is he never, as far as I've been able to find and I've looked into it, he never hiccuped a bubble that then carried him away into the sky. But everything else that a cartoon drunkard does. The thing he drinks out of just has X's on it Big jug of X's

Fortunately, he did promise to stop drinking if he gets the job I love that That that's always worked anytime somebody said a substance That's always worked anytime somebody's had a substance issue. For sure. You know, this thing that has a complete hold over me and my life that I also love to do, apparently, will just stop doing it if I get this really important job, cold turkey. Yeah. Anyways, his...

So, at first, it seemed like he might go the way of Matt Gaetz, who we're about to get to, who had to be withdrawn as a nominee for attorney general. But then they were like, not two, that would make President Trump look bad. So we can't let two of them go down. So suddenly- So they're going to make him go through with it and take all the heat? Yes. Oh my God.

Okay. And he is going to get confirmed. Like that's something that I feel like has been missing from a lot of the coverage of this. At least I'll just give the full context. I think there's been like, there hasn't been somebody who got to this stage where you're doing like Senate confirmation hearings and was not confirmed since I think George W. Bush's administration. Like, and that, like, there's a lot of cabinet members who are, who go through

this process and they're batting a thousand since George W. Bush's administration. Like once you get to this point, it's really hard to stop the, the Hague, the Pete train, which is, I don't know, like the way it's being reported is like this guy's like a, an underdog and it's like, no, it would be shocking. I mean, it would obviously be deserved if he got found not able to do this job because it seems like everybody who took a objective look at him, including Republicans, were like, whoa, no, no, no, no, no.

God. Good God. What is that? Senator- He should be on trial, not a confirmation hearing. He should be sentenced. I guess the one thing that you can take some solace in is like, yes, it's very uncommon for people to not be confirmed by the Senate.

Granted, he is an uncommonly bad nominee. Just truly everybody, the people who are currently backing him, like, he is the best pick possible when they were told about it. We're like, who the fuck is that? What? The guy from Fox News who says stuff that is like controversial for Fox News is going to lead the fucking US military. But yeah, so he's an

unprecedentedly bad pick. The Republicans are unprecedentedly on board with the Trump cult. So I'm personally not on the edge of my seat over here. But I don't know. Well, what how are you guys feeling? I mean, I feel like it's good to remember that Trump had a 92% turnover rate for his first term. So Hexeth isn't going to last even if he gets confirmed. You know, like, yeah, I just, I just, I think he's going to be one of the first to go. I think you're right. It probably will get confirmed. So I feel like they are, they are kind of in that panic mode of like, oh, we can't lose another. Can't let another ship go down here.

Right. But I think that it's so Pete's energy is so antithetical to like top brass military to me that I don't think I think those people are going to have a hard time taking him seriously. Right. You want to know he wants to be trusted with military secrets of full blown alcohol? Just a cartoon drunk like yeah. Yeah. It has to be carried from place to place.

I mean, yeah, I will say it does. Reading history books, a lot of the military brass themselves like also. Yeah, good. A stiff, a stiff drink in self-medicated. I think a lot from some trauma, let's say. Right. Right. Yeah. No, Ulysses S. Grant was, had a dry, didn't have a dry January in his life. Professionally drunk, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Was, there it was like, yeah, I like this guy. He doesn't try to stop drinking.

Yeah. Like, he's just like us. Yeah. I will say, you know, Trump's first administration, he didn't think he was going to win, didn't really want the job, it know, Trump's first administration, he didn't think he was going to win, didn't really want the job, it seemed like at first. And so he wasn't like making picks that would be a fit for him. Like as we talked about, like his first administration was a group of people around him basically

trying to insulate the world from how bad a president he was. And now he's nominating these people who are seen as bad picks because they will do the sorts of shit that Trump will ask them to do. So I don't know that it will be like that quick a turnover. Like it'll, I hope so. I hope it's as like it's going to be incompetent, but is it going to be incompetent just from what it does to the world? Or will it be incompetent in the sense that nobody can agree with one another and everybody keeps getting fired and quitting the first time

around? Which would be by far the preferred outcome, but it does just seem like they're at least a little bit more like that because his choices are 100% coming from loyalty, like that being the only value that he's the only qualification. I do wonder if like he's going to be like, as these people are ending the world, like he's, he's going to be happy as a clam because you know, they're doing what he told him to do. Oh, man, that Yeah, that reminds me that like, Hegseth is connected to this like cultist preacher out here my way. He's

actually in Idaho, Doug Wilson. Oh, yeah, who's in Moscow, Idaho, and is just like a really horrible person, but like has a lot of his theology is pretty fucked up. Like he's very he's like very like misogynistic as like a point of like as like a theology is like a theological point, but also like the Bible is pro-slavery. So I am pro-slavery. Like that's how fucked up this dude is. He like says these things out loud.

And like, this is the dude that like, Hegseth considers to be like a spiritual mentor or whatever. So like, I'm not saying I'm not scared. I'm very scared. Cause like, the influences in Hegseth's life that he's chosen are malicious people who want to harm others. Yeah.

You know? Even setting the Trump loyalty piece aside, like, he has these really sort of horrific influences that he's chosen, clearly chosen to have in his life. And so, you know, I think that, like, he could potentially do a lot of damage. But he also, he's just not, he doesn't have any of the, like, law and order energy that I feel like the military lot of damage. But he also he's just not he's he doesn't have any of the like law and order energy that I feel like the military sort of expects. Right. Which seems weird. It's see he just doesn't feel like a fit in the culture to me. I agree. I think maybe that's a reason. I mean, none of this will work out while he will be confirmed. But to try to be optimistic while

there's still a brief window to be optimistic that he won't, I think that so it's no one being confirmed, or sorry, everybody being confirmed since George W. Bush. I think also my hope is that yes, he's the least qualified event, he's the worst candidate, but also it's very in your face how bad he is and how often, I mean, even his energy,

even if we're like reaching for that too, where he's on TV constantly. So it's not like you have to read an article to be like, hey, is this guy a piece of shit? Like you can just watch him pretty quickly. You can just watch him. Yeah, and so I wonder if maybe that because of how readily available his whole image is.

And I mean, still no, because he's been nominated. Everybody knows that he's been nominated. So he'll still probably be confirmed. But I do wonder if now, because that stuff is so much more obvious that, well, I guess like what's the difference between him and Gates is that people actually, but Gates was a pedophile, you know?

Like is that where we're drawing the line at this point? Maybe that was it. Like, yeah, I think it was. Like, the Gates report, which I feel like people have really kind of metabolized and moved forward with pretty quickly, was like, yeah, he was paying for sex with children. So for like a number of years. And that's bad. And doing drugs. Yeah. I mean, I wonder how much of it is also like drugs instead of alcohol, you know? Where like alcohol, that's what we expect.

That's legal. Like Nixon was hammered for most of his presidency. Yeah. But to your point, like his kind of weird youth and like right wing influencer, griper shit. Like it feels like a really bad version of like first kid. Is first kid the one where like a kid is president or is that just like the son of, I forget which. Son of first kid.

The sequel. But yeah, yeah. Where it's just like, what if this guy, no, no rule says a Fox News host can't be president, you know, can't be head of the military. Anyways, I need to go back and if I seem distracted, it's because I'm trying to read the plot synopsis of first kid. And it is. You do this all the time, dude.

You're always. detail. A little over the long. Check. Yeah, that's right. All the time, dude. It is detailed. You're always waiting. And a little over. Last week it was blank check. Yeah, that's right. All right, just really quickly over the weekend, I think some people were still waiting for this outcome to be better news because Trump had his sentencing hearing

for, you know, he's a convicted felon now because he broke election laws and regular laws in order to be elected president, first time around, a Watergate-level scandal that people just now take in stride. The Judge, Judge Juan Merchan's sentence came down and it was a, quote, unconditional discharge, which legal experts have pointed out is, quote, virtually nothing in terms of punishment,

end quote, which were the terms that I was interested in. The punishment terms was what I was looking for. Yeah, can we get a punishment term? In those terms, could we get one? It turns out, no, you cannot have a punishment because he is about to be president. The idea like he might be president from fucking jail, dude. Yeah.

It was never going to happen because of the way power and money work in this country. One of those phones, like him doing press conferences through the little phone in the glass, it's just not. Cause of the way power and money work in this country. One of those phones like him, you know, doing press conferences through the little phone and the glass is just not feasible. So, yeah, cause he's too cheap and those things cost a shitload of money. Thanks to private equity. That's actually true. The private equity industry took over those phone systems and like charge you

like $5 a minute to talk to your loved ones from prison or you could fight a fire it's up to you you want to talk to one of those dangerous fires yeah meanwhile Jack Smith handed in his report and then promptly resigned from the Department of Justice so you know Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. This is so bad. Yeah, I know. Uh, that's what it reminded me of. Well, Trump was like, I'll fire him within 15 seconds of taking office. Uh, so he knew he was going to get fired.

It's still like, I don't know, take the firing, man. Like, like nobody was surprised by this considering that Trump said he would fire him within seconds of taking office. But remember like the first administration, when the first big national scandal was that he was willing to fire Comey because Comey was investigating him. Like it was like, at first it was like, he fired Comey and Comey's investigating him, that sure looks suspicious. And then he like went on an interview with Lester Holt and was like, yeah, I fired him because he was investigating me.

Uh, I didn't like that too much. Right. And, uh, everybody, I still remember that being like the most, like everybody was so outraged and like, holy shit. Like this is, we finally got him, right? Like this is, he just admitted to doing the most illegal thing. And then it was just like further, like just made pointless by like a thousand more awful things he did

right after that. He's tall and annoying. What am I supposed to do? He's tall and he keeps fucking looking into my things. But yeah. Would you want someone like that working for you? But now people like preemptively fire themselves because there's no chance of there being any sort of outrage

on behalf of like him firing them. So it would just be like a win for him. I would still want to be like, yeah, Trump fired me. Like, I don't know. I feel like a person with integrity would have a great reason to be like, yeah, I fucking got fired by Trump. Give me a book deal. Like I feel like he could get something out of it, you know?

And he was just like, oh, okay. I'm scared. Bye. Deuces. I resign. Hey, look over there. You can't fire me. I quit.

Yeah, exactly. It's just a petty thing. As for the report, which is supposedly pretty damning for anybody who doesn't isn't already accustomed to just like imagining the worst possible thing. And then that thing being true and then nobody giving a shit. Merrick Garland has been trying to release part of it publicly, but it's being held up by Trump's co-defendants who are saying like, you know, they still might go to trial and they can't like release this report because it would be prejudicial

against a jury that might eventually decide their fate. Oh, interesting. So people are just saying Garland should drop the cases altogether since Trump's about to take office and that will free him to release the report anyways. Or, you know, who knows what Trump will do with it. But bad weekend for anything approaching justice in general, especially with regards to this administration. But there is that cool Mark Zuckerberg, Joe Rogan interview. So we can all look at that. And you can, and if you listen to it multiple times, you hear new things each time I've found

when you listen to it. So yeah, it's not a one and done. Yeah, it's definitely not. It's like a concept album. I don't have a lot of time. I got to listen to it on like 2.5 speeds. So I miss a lot actually. So then you gotta go back and yeah, yeah.

Tori, we just met each other. You seem like someone who would love to listen to it at half speed. I'm gonna take notes. Yeah. That's gonna be great. Yeah. It's easier for notes.

Yeah. He was talking about like the feminization of the workforce or something. I don't know. He really just said that was. Yeah. Zuckerberg, that's like what his whole thing. He's just like fully a, like been replaced by a Magichug. Like it's wild.

I wonder. Yeah. I saw people speculating as to whether he's getting divorced. I'm, I am curious what, how that's all going over in his household. Brutal. Anyways, brutal for him. I worry about their relationship. I know, brutal for the sanctity of marriage.

That's what I was talking about. Yeah. I like that, that theory is like, ooh, his wife, a billionaire is going to be so mad at him. I don't know. Probably hasn't seen him in two years. Yeah, I've stopped counting on billionaires to have normal human emotions.

Let's let's take a quick break because I want to tell you guys about Lake Superior State University's words banished words list and also tell you that Lake Superior State University is a real university, which I didn't know. Are we sure? Accredited. Yes. Okay. Okay. If you say so, Jack.

We'll take a quick break. We'll actually look into that. We'll be right back. 2020 is bound to be a fascinating year. It's gonna be filled with money challenges and opportunities. I'm Joel. Ooh, and I am Matt.

And we're the hosts of How To Money. We wanna be with you every step of the way in your financial journey this year, offering the information and insights you need to thrive financially. Yeah, whether you find yourself up to your eyeballs in student loan debt or you've got a sky-high credit card balance because you went a little overboard with the holiday spending or maybe you're looking to optimize your retirement accounts so you can retire early. Well, How to Money will help you to change your relationship with money so you can stress less and grow your net worth.

That's right. How to Money comes out three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for money advice without the judgment and jargon. Listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline Podcast. And this January, we're going on the road to beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada, to cover the Consumer Electronics Show, Tech's biggest conference. Better Offline's CES coverage won't be the usual rundown of the hottest gadgets or the biggest trends,

but an unvarnished look at what the tech industry plans to sell or do to you in 2025, interrogating their narratives alongside a remarkable cast of industry talent and award-winning journalists. We'll have daily episodes, on-the-ground interviews, and special panels covering everything from the BS of AI to the ways in which race and gender play into how people are treated in the tech industry and at these conferences. I'll be joined by David Roth of Defecta and the writer Edward Ongweiso Jr. with appearances from Behind the Bastards' Robert Evans, It Could Happen Here's Gare Davis,

and a few surprise guests throughout the show. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts from. And check out betteroffline.com. John Stewart is back at The Daily Show and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears at The Daily Show and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment,

sports, and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the show's correspondents and contributors. And with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ever wonder what it's like to be on the phone with an NFL general manager as you finalize

the biggest contract in NFL history? I'm A.J. Stevens, vice president of client strategy at Athletes First, where we've negotiated $1.4 billion in current NFL quarterback contracts. Introducing the Athletes First Family podcast, the quarterback series. Along with my co-host Brian Murphy, Athletes First's CEO, we're pulling back the curtain on how these historic deals come together. You'll hear directly from the agents who shaped the NFL's financial landscape.

The ones who negotiated Justin Herbert's extension and Deshaun Watson's fully-guaranteed contract that sent shockwaves through the league. This isn't just about the numbers, though. It's about the untold stories behind these massive negotiations and the relationships the NFL superstars like Dak Prescott, Tua Tunga-Valliloa, and Jordan Love have with their agents at Athletes First. For the first time ever, the agents who orchestrate these deals are sharing the details of the negotiations and everything that led up to their clients signing on the dotted line.

Listen to the Athletes First Family podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And an RIP to David Lynch, who passed away yesterday. He had emphysema, was completely isolated in recent years, so that he wouldn't get more sick. But there was still hopes that he might direct a project remotely that, you know, not sure what he was working on at the end, but very, very sad news. Yeah.

He was a big smoker, big smoker who I did like respect, you know, his statement about how much he loved smoking when he was like, I'm dying now because of smoking. But, and then just wrote a paragraph long love letter to smoke. Yeah. He said it's part of the art. Pulling smoke into his lungs and feeling it burn there. That lung feel. I miss it. Yeah. He said it was part of the art life.

I like that. I like that. I like the idea of an art life, you know, and also taking, you know, like, yeah, like we're all going to die. Like you can do something that's bad for you if you enjoy it. Right. Yeah. And he certainly did. And just the story eating baby ham babies, ham babies. I guess this is my baby today.

What's a ham baby? Is that like a king baby? Is that like a baby that's in the cake in New Orleans? No, it's a ham. So you know how like when you go to the grocery store, if you want to get like ham cold cuts, Yeah, I'm familiar with that. They take a big hunk of ham. They call that a ham baby. They call that a large ham baby.

Not in my, not around what no one I know. No, we, we just discovered that on yesterday. That's horrific. No one should call anything a ham baby. And the, the boars head line of like, you know, the conveyor belt of ham babies was getting clogged because too many defective ham babies were getting like pulled off. You want to know why more people don't listen to my podcast? Because the joke that just crossed my mind is the only thing that should be called a ham baby

is when the parents met communicating on ham radio. And that's good stuff. Right. See what I'm saying? And that's why my podcast is only for certain people. Yeah. The original sexting is sexual Congress over ham radio. I know. Hey, what are you wearing over? Over. A tube top. All right. Yeah. So I don't know. There's just good stories about him also. Everybody knows who David Lynch is, right? He made Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive.

We talked about it recently because it is the Moana 2 of great films in that it started as a TV show. Then people were like, I don't know, nobody's going to watch this as a TV show. So they edited it into like what is considered one of the best movies of the 21st century Mulholland drive. It's, it's not the one with the, the, the, the, it's the one, the dumpster in the back of the diner.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it has the street Mulholland Drive in it as the title might What's the what's the you don't have to be that insult? They should have called it the wonder of pico and labrador. Thank you. Oh man So so that what's the movie with Robert the guy who may have murdered his wife? Robert Blake lost highway that one's good his wife. Robert Blake, Lost Highway. That one's good too.

Yeah. I love that one. So people see his movies and they're like, this guy must be fucked up. This guy must be like a real dark person. And I just want to read this one interview for a reporter who visited the set of Blue Velvet, for a reporter who visited the set of blue velvet, which was like his, his movie that like was really kind of the mainstreaming of the David Lynch kind of aesthetic and super dark and fucked up. And like, when it came out, a lot of people were like, reacted as if someone had committed a crime. I saw when I was 18, I had no idea what the hell it was.

Yeah. I still hard to know exactly what it is, but it's a, you know, a work of art. That's what that is one thing we can say. And not just because he smoked so many cigarettes making it. Uh, it's just unmistakably a vision of the country and the, of one person. So somebody shows up, uh, a movie with like fucking like just some brutal horrible things happening. Ears and dirt, you know, it opens with somebody's like severed ear and the dirt. Anyways, someone comes, they're like, all right, this guy's gonna be real fucked up and found him riding around set on bicycles

with streamers fluttering from the handlebars, his pockets full of peanut M&Ms. I like that detail. How whimsical. Pockets full of peanut M&Ms, bordering on what are you doing? Those are going to melt and be... Your hands must be covered in different colors, candy coating all the time unless he just has the least sweaty hands of all time.

Also, he's going to make himself sick. Am I right? The reporter said, David is a genuinely happy person, and this is one of the remarkable things about him. I've never met anyone as serene as he is. He's also a lifelong devotee to Transcendental Meditation. Right. So, I don't know, Caitlin, you're a film person. Are you a Lynch?

I have a master's degree. You are a film master. I'm sorry. I don't like to mention it. The rest of us are film people. You are a film master. I'm kind of a master. Are you a fan of Lynch? I would say I'm not a fan. In fact, I tweeted something to this effect a few years ago and absolutely got destroyed on the internet. But I don't regret it because I stand by what I said.

it, because I stand by what I said. But I mean, I like Twin Peaks. I haven't seen the more recent season that like, you know, when they kind of revitalized it. But I liked the original series and I enjoyed Elephant Man because he directed that too. Right? Yeah. That was his one like kind of mainstream. So I like his like more normy stuff and that just speaks to my taste, I guess. Because I don't know what the fuck Mulholland Drive is about.

I've seen it many times and I just get frustrated because I'm like, I'm not smart enough for this. But then I'm also like, well, maybe the filmmaker is not smart enough. You should tell a fucking story. Yeah. I'm dunking on David Lynch even post-Moran. Well. But either stuff of his I liked.

I'm sure I didn't finish his Dune, but it seemed wacky and fun. I might go back and watch it. I decay. All right. Yeah. I think also I would imagine as a woman would probably be sick of hearing about David Lynch from dudes.

Well, that's what my tweet was about. I was like, I'm really, I really resent. It was something like, I resent like all the, I don't know if I like made it gender specific and said like all the men or just like all the people who spent years trying to convince me that David Lynch was any good. So it was like a really bitchy tweet. I'll admit it, but, um, listen, yeah, but I'll tell you this guy happens to men too.

Like the, you know, like a certain type of man will confront you and be like, have you seen the latest Lynch? You know, when you're like, I had a guy, I shall not name names, but there was a man comedian who I know who like got furious with me to the fact that to the point where he was like yelling at me because I was like, yeah, I'm not that big of a David Lynch fan. And he got so like viscerally angry about that. Yeah.

And so I'm like, okay, calm down everybody. But I'm sure he was a very nice person. And I love the image of him riding around on a bicycle with streamers from the handlebars and the M&Ms in his pockets. That's beautiful. Yeah. And of his documentary about his documentary about him, where they're showing him like booking,

like there's one where he's making phone calls and he gets like some celebrity to be in his movie and he's like, yes, yes. Like he's like, he was like a star strong too. Yeah, like there was a lot of charming things about him. But yeah, I definitely have been cornered at parties and grilled about David Lynch by dudes who are trying to prove they're smart. Yeah.

And it's annoying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is annoying. That does happen. I told one guy I watched the new, I remember I was at this party.

It was like a fancier party that I would usually be invited to in Los Angeles. And there was a guy who was a director. Like that's what people are saying he was, but I don't know what he directed, but he, you know, he certainly wasn't like a director I'd ever heard of, but he was like, had a bunch of tattoos, you know? And he was just like, have you seen the new Twin Peaks? And it had just come out.

And I was like, yes, but I haven't. And he was like, you saw it? He's like, the whole thing? I was like, he's like the whole thing. Because he had seen the whole thing, you know, but he was like, he thought he'd gotten the jump on, I guess, humanity. And I was like, yes. Yeah, totally.

And he just like didn't want to talk to me anymore because I think he knew I was lying. Right. He should have. Yeah, I thought it was all right. I did eventually watch that, but I did, had not then. And I just did not want to get into what was going to happen if I said, no, I hadn't seen it. Yeah, that's amazing.

I just couldn't even imagine what would happen next. 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 means the world to miles he he needs your validation folks I hope you're having a great weekend and I will talk to you Monday bye So The Joel, the holidays are a blast, but the financial hangover, that can be a huge bummer. If you are out there and you're dreading the new statement email that reveals the massive balance that you may have racked up, well, you could use our help. That's right.

I'm Joel. And I am Matt. And we're from the How To Money Podcast. Our show is all about helping you make sense of your personal finances so you can ditch your pesky credit card debt once and for all, make real progress on other crucial financial goals that you've got, and just feel more in control

of your money in general. You know it. For money advice without the judgment and jargon, listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast. And this January, we're going to go on the road to beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada to cover the Consumer Electronics Show, Tech's biggest conference.

Better Offline's CES coverage won't be the usual rundown of the hottest gadgets or biggest trends, but an unvarnished look at what the tech industry plans to sell or do to you in 2025. I'll be joined by David Roth, the defector and the writer Edward on Gueso Junior with guest appearances from behind the bastards Robert Evans. It could happen here's Gare Davis and a few surprise guests throughout the show. Listen to better offline on the IHOT radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts from. offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts from.

John Stewart is back at The Daily Show and he's bringing his signature wit and insight straight to your ears with The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Dive into John's unique take on the biggest topics in politics, entertainment, sports, and more. Joined by the sharp voices of the shows, correspondents, and contributors. Joined by the sharp voices of the shows, correspondents, and contributors.

And with extended interviews and exclusive weekly headline roundups, this podcast gives you content you won't find anywhere else. Ready to laugh and stay informed? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. $1.4 billion in NFL quarterback contracts, the untold stories behind the biggest deals in football history.

I'm AJ Stevens, Vice President of Client Strategy at Athletes First, introducing the Athletes First Family Podcast, the quarterback series. My co-host, Brian Murphy, Athletes First CEO, and I are sitting down with the agents who have negotiated contracts for Justin Herbert, Deshaun Watson, Dak Prescott, Tula Tunga-Vaioloa, and Jordan Love. Listen to Athlete's First Family podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts.