The Daily Zeitgeist - Weekly Zeitgeist 388 (Best of 6/30/25-7/4/25)

Episode Date: July 6, 2025

The weekly round-up of the best moments from DZ's season 395 (6/30/25-7/4/25)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart podcast. We are telling our scientists today we have disdain for your expertise. And then you have China as an exception saying, actually, we're going to invest a trillion dollars in new science. You heard that right. While the U.S. is slashing science budgets, China is doubling down. This means here in the United States, less innovation, fewer breakthroughs and falling behind on the global stage.

This week on Dope Labs, Chelsea Clinton breaks down what these cuts really mean. Listen to Dope Labs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. And they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no This is absolute season one taser incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad Listen to absolute season one taser incorporated on the iHeart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts

Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebene, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebene and every Tuesday, I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that will challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

The OGs of uncensored motherhood are back and batter than ever. I'm Erica. And I'm Mila. And we're the hosts of the Good Moms Bad Choices Podcast, brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network every Wednesday. Yeah, we're moms, but not your mommy.

Historically, men talk too much. And women have quietly listened. And all that stops here. If you like witty women, then this is your tribe. Listen to the Good Moms Bad Choices podcast every Wednesday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you go to find your podcast. 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. Yeah. So without further ado, here is the weekly zeitgeist. Well, miles, we're thrilled to be joined by one of our favorite guests and award winning writer. Just wait till the other guests hear that. I wouldn't give you my iPhone to give you to your cousin for

nothing. Yo, I still owe you that photo. I'm gonna look. I wasn't trying to bring it up, but when you said, yo, I'm looking for an iPhone for my cousin, I said, to give you to your cousin for nothing. Yo, I still owe you that photo. I know I didn't look. I wasn't trying to bring it up. But when you said, yo, I'm looking for an iPhone for my cousin, I said, I got you. Yeah, you owe me that photo from your cousin. You came through. So my cousin Mawad has it right now. And last I checked, he was in the Red Sea with his son, Malik.

All right. Let me have him send you one. Yeah, it was a little bit concerning because you're sending me pictures from underwater. And I was wondering, is he submerging this phone? No, no. That's just waterproof. That's just waterproof. He's good. He's good. That's crazy.

What is this? I have a phone, just like an old iPhone Pro that, you know, like they were waterproof for a minute. You could take underwater photos on an iPhone. Yeah. It's so hard to get an iPhone in the red. It's like Egypt. And you go there and every single person has an iPhone and you're like, how the fuck are they getting this?

And it's just it's just people like miles. Oh, yeah. We're supplying the whole country with iPhone. Just specifically, it is miles. Miles is supplying the city of Cairo. I go to restaurants. I take people's eyes. I just snatch people's iPhones off their tables when they're eating.

And I send them to Egypt. Amen. Stop. I need to introduce you. Stop interrupting. Oh, yeah. The author of Becoming Baba, the president of the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association. You might have seen his work in places like, I don't know, CNN, The New York Times, MPRGQ, Columbia Journalism Review. Welcome back to the show. Aiman Ismail! Columbia Journalism Review. Welcome back to the show. Slammin' Ismael! It's funny. I just updated my profile,

my bio to include the fact that I was arrested by the NYPD. Oh, no. That's just as impressive as being in 2016. Before it was fashionable. Yeah, before's still cool. Yeah. Yeah. I talked on yesterday's episode about the Heinz mustard.

I wonder if like, are they doing that with Kendrick? I mean, they have to be right. You don't know. I don't know. Do you report it on it? Did they say, I did report on it. I mean, you read, you read an article out loud about it on a microphone. Your reporters are getting lazier and lazier, man.

Yeah, this is I did not look up anything other than that. They did it. And you got to call Kendrick and ask for comments. Yeah. Oh no, no. Yeah. They, they did it with mustard. They're not, they're not going to go full, full whackadoo to Jack in the culture

like that, although I wouldn't put it past them. I know. And what's famously known for respecting the culture. Yeah. So much cool shit, bro. Let me show you this. This is my book. Yeah, it's finally here. I have a real copy. Congrats, man.

Holding that, that must feel good. That is a beautiful book. This is the happiest day of my life. Wonderful addition to the book shelf. You know, like a beautiful blue that just like pops. You know, this is a school photo from like the first grade and on the cover. Too much. You got too much sauce in that school photo.

I'm so saucy in this school photo. I look at the angle. Said, yeah, I might look at you. I'm looking at the cameraman like he just called me a slur. Oh, yeah, his side eye, for sure. Like you said, what? Yeah. But I remember what was in my head at that time. And I remember thinking, like, damn, anybody who's smiling in this picture is whack as hell.

I'm not going to smile. Wow. I'm not. I'm not like that. I'm like, real, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was feeling. And it's funny because this was when I saw this picture, I was like, yeah, that's the cover of the book. Oh, right, right, right. And it's autobiographical.

It's a memoir. It's a memoir. Which is the same to say because it makes me feel like I'm old and I've got like a big beard and I smoke a pipe. But no, man, it's specifically it was called Becoming Bubba. And it's specifically about that time period in every man's life. I mean, not every man's, but it's specifically about that time period when you have your first kid and your life flips upside down. You become a Bubba. Bubba is just Arabic for dad or daddy.

Yeah. And yeah, I mean, you guys are both parents. You guys are both fathers. And so I think you guys can both relate to that moment when you feel like you're prepared, you don't really know what to expect. But you did your research. You're there for your wife. You saw her get bigger and bigger and bigger.

Then the day comes and you just can't wait. And then the baby comes and you're old and you're just like, this is this is real. I'm a dad now. Yeah. And like for the next year, you don't sleep at all. Yeah. And then you're part and then you think of yourself different and your priorities change and your diet changes and everything just changes.

So this book is chronicling what that's like, you know, and another thing I'm trying to like dig into is the fact that this is like the first generation of like parents like us who care about our kids in like a very emotional way. Or we want to be part of the day to day. We want to raise them. We want to teach them. We want to show them the world as we see it. That's kind of new because I have yet to find somebody whose dad felt the same way. It sort of feels like this is the first generation of this kind of dad.

And so I wanted to chronicle it. I wanted to write it out. And, you know, it's really special because it's from the Muslim perspective and I have never seen a piece of media that Centers the Muslim father as they become a father Particularly ones when they're born and raised outside of a country and they're born in diaspora Right because there's like this really big fear that the more I talk to people the more I realize that they share Which is that they'll be the reason why their kids have no connection to their motherland. Mm hmm. Right.

And it's like my Arabic already is kind of like, OK, it's not great. But I know maybe like 10 percent of the Arabic that my parents know. Right. I'm so worried that my kid will have like 10 percent of the Arabic that I know. 10 percent. Yeah, I'm going through that with that. I'm doing some quick math right now. That's one percent, guys. I know. Yeah, it's like,'s like if you're Hispanic,

imagine like your kid going someplace and being like, I'll have the Pico de Gallo. You know, it's sort of where I'm at. That's sort of where I'm at. So this book chronicles it and it digs deep and it tries to figure out where those feelings come from, the weird ways that they surface, like trying to pick the right name for your kid, right. Also, like when you're on the phone with your mom and then she gets mad at you because you're doing something that she expects your wife to do instead.

It's like all of these weird things come up. And more than anything, it's an entertaining book. It's one of those books you can just like read on the subway. You can, you know, I wouldn't recommend reading it while you're driving. But there's audio books for that. It's so funny because like, yeah, some of my family in Japan, like they saw me with my kid and they're like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you're like a mommy.

The way I was interacting with my kid. Oh, you're interacting? Yeah, yeah, I'm like, what the fuck you talking about? This is my little baby. I love the fuck out of him. Why are you holding him? What is that? Where's your wife?

Go smoke a cigarette. Go smoke a cigarette outside with your uncle. Go drink a beer. Yeah. Be emotionally distant. All right. Well, it's out now. People can go find it wherever books are sold. It's about to be out.

It's going to be out next week. July 8th. July 8th, everybody. Mark the calendar. And you're doing some appearances with the book, too? Yeah. So the first one, July 8th, I would love for people to come, but it's already a little sold out.

Oh, humble, humble brag. But sorry. Kendrick, whoops. Yeah. Yeah. If you do want to come in, you got to stand outside and just yell muster. Yeah. I got it. Yeah.

Or if you come up and say Miles sent me a jacket. Yeah. That's all good. You could or or come with an iPhone to trade in. That's right. If you send an iPhone to Egypt, I'll give you a free book. That's the deal. What is something from your search history? OK. Typical dog mom, right? I'm constantly Googling. Can my dog eat blank?

Today it was idli, like the South Indian food. I was like, can dogs eat idli? What is idli? It's like, I don't even know how to describe it, but it's delicious. It's South Indian. It's made from like lentils and stuff, like rice and other things, but it's really good.

If you haven't been to a South Indian restaurant, you gotta go to like a Oduppee's or like a Woodlands or something, get you some idlis and dosa, some good breakfast comfort food. Okay, okay, yeah, wait, is this kinda like dosas? Yeah, you make it from like kinda the same batter, but it's like in a different format.

But yeah, it's delicious. And I had to, my big dog liked it and my little dog wouldn't eat it until my little dog saw the big dog eating it. And then he was like, okay, I'll try this. You don't have to talk about Jack and I like that. We don't, when I recognize big dog, hey, my big dog right here, my little dog right here.

My little dog's a yapper, you know, he's always. Yo, he a yapper. He got the yapping on 10. Yeah. Get it, Miles, get it. So you can... So it is safe, it is dog safe. It says it's dog safe.

I don't know if that's just Indian people being like, the dog's family, give it to Italy. I have no idea. But they ate it, but I'm constantly constantly googling can my dogs eat this and I'm like Googling the same shit twice the dogs are just staring at me like let me eat it As long as it is plain idly with no masala or chutney powder on it whatsoever Garlic and onion and stuff and you know, we use use that seasoning. We like our seasonings, you know. I don't know.

Every time I've had Indian food, it's very dull. Not much flavor. Put us in a breakout room. Just give me five minutes alone. Holy shit. We're gonna break that room. Do you guys use spices in cooking? Five minutes alone.

I don't know, there's a spicy sort of, okay, interesting, interesting. I mean, yeah, it could use some mayo for sure Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry cream cheese, okay cream cheese is that better cream cheese and Velveeta like I'm just saying the stuff would fit Really nicely into a casserole a little cream cheese little Velveeta, we're sprinkling corn flakes on top. Is that a thing? We're putting it into a casserole dish. I'm learning so much about white culture.

Midwestern cooking, shout out to Midwestern. I always, yeah. I know salads aren't salads, I know that's true. Whenever I have a, yeah, whenever I have a Vindaloo curry, I always have to put like Thousand Island on it just to kind of bring the flavor out of it. I'm gonna, no, guys, this is like genuinely disturbing. Like it really is a headache. Can you imagine?

I was like, it's even hard for me to say that. It's like a horror movie. It's going to be like smile, but it's like curry. And it's just like thousand, thousand island. I need mayo chop on this. Chicken tikka masala casserole is one of my favorites. So you actually just take a block of Philadelphia cream cheese, you melt it, you put the chicken tikka masala around it,

and then it just like kind of melts. It's mainly cream cheese. You know there's some white bitch on TikTok who married into an Indian family and is already making these recipes. Exactly. Her cousin married into an Indian family. In a sari with a bindi, she's like, look, I'm exotic. You're gonna love my four alarm beef chili doll. She's putting like Indian oils in her hair.

It's like fully dripping. She doesn't know what she's doing. It's staining all her clothes. Yeah. What is something you think is underrated? I wrote down a couple things. I'm going to say riding bikes places. Riding bikes places is great.

One of the great joys. It's truly great. I mean in New York it's great as it is terrifying, but it's still great. Drawing even if you're bad at it, I think is underrated. I think it's it's good to try. Yeah. And ordering food in in person like pick up order and pick up at Starbucks by walking in, saying what you want and then and waiting in line.

Not using an app to not using a food. Yeah Yeah, you know shade on the app people but I think it's a I have a theory that you have to Improve your odds of having good interactions with other humans as much as you can The more actual interactions you have the better your odds that you will get good ones, right? So you're just collecting good interactions. It sounds like. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, you could look at it that way. You're greedy. We do collecting interactions, but you're getting a better sample size of interactions to decide whether or not people suck or people are good. Right. Yeah. If you default to, ah, people fucking suck.

That's what I'm going to use the app. I don't have to talk to anyone. Then yeah. Well, you've only talked to three people. So yeah, well, I hate my mom, dad and grandma. Right. Do you have a thing that you draw? Like I can draw sharks pretty well because I drew a lot of them when I was, uh, from

ages like four to seven. So that's the one thing I can still draw. You got, do you got a thing that you can draw? Um, I draw little cartoon faces a lot. That's fun. Yeah, I was a caricature artist at Dorney Park when I was a teenager. No, so you're not a bad, you're not a bad draw the way that I am. No, but that's my point. I think even if you're bad at it, you should give it a shot.

Just give it a shot. Yeah. That's encouraging from somebody who actually knows how to draw. Cause I started doing like adult coloring books and shit. I love that. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's led me more into like drawing and I realized like I keep drawing faces

the same way I did since like fifth grade with like these big bubble eyes and like the same nose. And I'm like, I have no other way to draw faces. I can do, I can do an okay. I, and, but, but I just don't know like what, like the face always comes out fucked up. You know, you know that thing where somebody said that a Lonzo ball looks like a seventh grader trying to draw Drake. Right. Like that's kind of how like my my version of faces.

Like it's just like it's hard to say what is wrong, but something's very wrong. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I I did recently a thing or like maybe right after the fire, her majesty and I were like, just trying to be less on the TV. And there was like that trend going on social media where like couples would do a port, like a hand drawn portrait of each other. Like for like five minutes. Oh my God.

It tested every fiber of our marriage because what I turned around, she was like, she was actually aghast with how poor my drawing skills were. And she's like, are you even trying to draw me or you just drew like any fucking face and made like these wispy, smegle hairs on top? I'm like, those were eyebrows.

I like these smegle hairs. Dude, I suck. I'm so fucking bad at drawing, but it was actually pretty entertaining because she was, she's actually good at it. And I was just ashamed. She nailed you. Of not drawing as much. Yeah. You were like it. And I was just ashamed. She nailed you. Trying as much.

Yeah, you're like, God damn, I finally see myself. You got the stink lines and everything. Shout out, Mo. Yeah, the two things that I drew growing up is sharks and then, you know, like sharks eating people. And then I would I would always draw Michael Jordan, but I couldn't draw his face. So I would just draw him from the back doing stuff. The 23. Yeah. And then you put the 23 on there. Everybody knows who it is.

They're like, damn, that's actually pretty good. But yeah, you get that silhouette back of the head. So you don't have to like draw hair. Did you get a sense of like this curvature of the skull or did it just look like a thumb from behind? No, I think I got pretty good at drawing the back of that. I'm much better at drawing the back of the head than the front.

Yeah, just being like boop, boop, and a two, three on back. Even to get the shape of the back of a head and have somebody recognize it as such. As the back of a head. It looks pretty impressive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. All right, man, I'm gonna have to get back out there.

And I'm thinking like drawing sharks at that age is like a really that's like a that's big social currency. It was pretty like that. That was what I was known as. That was like my my first identity was guy who likes jaws and draws jaws. Those are my two things. The little boy who cannot read but can draw jaws. Those are my two things. The little boy who cannot read, but can draw jaws. Well, that was the part they didn't say out loud around me. Yeah.

He can't speak yet, but. We think he may have some savant qualities. Oh man. And then like, you know, always a leg that had been bitten off, you know, just like floating at the bottom, like in Jaws. I definitely drew some shark scenes that at one point a teacher, like pulled me aside and was like, did you draw this?

Like a little concerned about like how. And you're like, yeah, 15 bucks. Got it? Or what cash right now, the original work. Wait, you got to send us through the group chat, a shark drawing Jack. Cause now my interest is fucking peaked. I need to see this. I mean, they're not like good for an adult.

They were good for a five-year-old. I know, but knowing you and you coming out with like, I can draw a shark pretty good. I'm like, now I want to see the Jack O'Brien child shark drawing. Okay. I'll send you one. That could be merch because we have no... I think we're about to not have a merch store If your style's consistent with the sharks

It doesn't matter how bad they are either like it yeah if they all look like you draw them Then you're then you're making art then you're on to something Yeah, I will say when my kids like first started drawing, I sat down with them and drew a shark and they were like, God damn, like you, you can draw, huh? And then they asked me to draw something else and they're like, oh, you can only draw sharks. They like saw through me immediately. That sucks.

Oh, because they had that moment. They're like, daddy's a good draw. Daddy's a good artist. Maybe we are good. Oh, fuck. He's an idiot. Fuck. He was trick good drawer. Daddy's a good artist. Maybe we are good. Oh, fuck. He's an idiot. Fuck. He was tricking us.

Jim, what's something you think is, and also riding bikes places great, great underrated, just three great underrated right in a row. Riding bikes place. Like, Miles, you're underrated a while back was just like swinging on a swing. Swinging, man. Swinging is just like the closest we get to flying. You know, it was just like swinging on a swing. I'm like- Swinging, man. Swinging is just like the closest we get to flying. You know, it's just like, God.

Something it does to your equilibrium. I think biking is also like that. It's like biking is just like, you're kind of coasting. Moving through space. Yeah. It's that inner ear stimulation that you get that we haven't had since primates, apparently is what they say.

It like really turns my brain like up a notch where like I used to like ride bikes a little bit like off roads, you know, like as a kid and like you're just like looking, you know, your head's on a swivel, feel like you're really- Very present. Yeah, very present would be. Yeah.

Yeah. What is something you think's overrated? Overrated. So I had to self-fund and push my book tour. And one of the things about doing the book tour was traveling. And I don't know how much, I saw that you all, you all were just in a city I was just in. I literally missed you.

I forget where you were. I was in Des Moines over the weekend. Yeah. Yeah. I think we, I literally, we were like two ships in the night. Oh, you were just in Des Moines? I was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we literally, we were like two ships in the night. Oh, you were just in Des Moines? I was, yeah.

And so I think it was there for a layover. And all that to be said, traveling, I think flying, I think packing, I think just all of it is, it's awful. Like living out of like a suitcase. Like I literally, there have been two legs of my book tour where I literally went from like one city to another. And I was literally like from one hotel to another. And by the time I got home and had to turn around

and repack to leave again, I was like, I don't want to do this ever again. And so like, I just think traveling is trash. And then now you add COVID and then you have babies crying and then you have the people who just, it's a lot. It's like traveling is a lot. That plus the planes fucking falling out of the sky and shit almost crashing.

It's everything fucking sucks. If your plane is actually, like that actually happened to me. I was in San Luis Obispo and we literally were on the tarmac and we literally, you know that energy of when you feel the plane getting ready to start to go off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's getting itself psyched up.

Yeah, getting itself psyched up. Come on plane, let's fucking go. Come on plane, yeah. And it started and we literally were like halfway down the tarmac and then I just heard, eww. And I was like, oh my God, what is happening? Yeah. Sorry guys, the plane's a little bummed out.

Yeah, and the plane, basically something electrical went wrong with the plane. They had to turn the plane back around and take us back to the actual spot. And we were there waiting for three or four hours. And I eventually ended up having to rent a car and drive to San Francisco. Wow.

Because I could not get another flight. It's that bad to travel these days. Am I going, so I went to a wedding in Des Moines. So many people had horrible travel stories who got there. Like people got in like the next day or a day late. One friend of ours who has like a kid, they were, they were leaving the airport. They got stuck on the tarmac for nine hours because they said they overfilled the plane with fuel, so they needed to burn some fuel.

And in that process, they went over like the union time limit for the crew. So the crew had to get switched out before they could take off. That added another thing when they were going to take off. Then they said, whoops, we now burned too much fuel and we have to return to the gate to refuel. And that flight ended up getting canceled and they had to go sleep in an airport and then take off on a flight the next morning. It's like, this sounds like the worst dumb. It sounds like if you put me in charge of a plane, like in my 20s, you know,

I'm just like, ah, fuck too much fuel in. All right. Just, I guess we'll just like chill here and let it burn off. Oh, fuck. We just went over the time limit All right, let's drive over that fuck we're on almost empty now what wait you gotta go wait, where you going? You gotta go. Yeah Overmatched waiter Opportunity to oversee everything in the air. Exactly.

That's what it is. It's just nothing. Everything that, it's just utter trash. And then the food is terrible. And then they got the audacity to turn around and be like, we'll give you a $15 voucher for the inconvenience that we have with you. And it's like, a food voucher?

That's the least you could do? OK, girl. I bought a bag of beef jerky at Burbank airport. You know how much a bag of beef jerky was? $23. $15. I believe it. The way Burbank knows they have you trapped.

Like Burbank is, so for people not in LA, like there's LAX, the big ass airport that's like on the South Bay. It's like, you know, all the way over on the coast, which is very far from most things in Los Angeles. And then there's Burbank, which is actually like surprisingly close to a lot of places, much closer to where I live, where Miles lives. The fares are much cheaper. You get there, you better have eaten. You better have had all the water that you need because they will sell you a bottle of water for $20.

Like I swear they will sell you a bottle for $20. They're eating you in there because you're a buffet. That's right. They hate you. You're a vegetable. They hate you. Burbank airport. It's more like a bus stop.

That's why I love Burbank. Cause it's like a bus station. You just like roll in 15 minutes before you fly. If you have that pre-check, I will walk in there, I'm not joking, 10 minutes before the boarding. And you can get through if you got, it's... Yeah, it's a breeze. I'm not complaining. I'll just eat like 3000 calories before I get there.

So I'm not, there's no chance I'm buying a $17. You can actually be like, hey, hold the door. While you're going through TSA. Hey, hold the door, hold the door. I'm coming on that one. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, like, Hey, hold the door while you're going through TSA. Hey, hold the door, hold the door. I'm coming on that. It's like Long Beach is the same way. Yeah, it's like a train. Yeah. It's like a subway.

Long Beach is the same way. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Shout out to the smaller little airports around the big ones. Yes. They're always nice. Nice little change of pace. All right.

Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebene, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebene and every Tuesday, I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that would challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. On Pretty Private, we'll explore the untold experiences of women of color who faced it all, childhood trauma, addiction, abuse, incarceration, grief, mental health struggles, and more, and found the strength to make it to the other side. My dad was shot and killed in his house.

Yes, he was a drug dealer. Yes, he was a confidential informant, but he wasn't shot on a street corner. He wasn't shot in the middle of a drug deal. He was shot in his house, unarmed. Pretty Private isn't just a podcast. It's your personal guide for turning storylines into lifelines.

Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What happens when we come face to face with death? My truck was blown up by a 20 pound anti-tank mine. My parachute did not deploy. I was kidnapped by a drug cartel. I just remember everything getting dark. I'm dying. We step beyond the edge of what we know. To open our consciousness to something more than just what's in that

Western box. In return. I clinically died. The heart stopped beating. Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes. My name is Dan Bush. My mission is simple, to find, explore, and share these stories. I'm not a victim, I'm a survivor. You're strongest when you're the most vulnerable. To remind us what it means to be alive. Not just that I was the guy that cut his arm off,

but I'm the guy who is smiling when he cut his arm off. Alive Again, a podcast about the fragility of life, the strength of the human spirit, and what it means to truly live. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hey, I'm Radhita Vleukya,

and I'm the host of a really good cry podcast. And I have the opportunity to talk to Vivian too. She is someone who is definitely changing the way we talk about money. She is a former Wall Street trader, turned personal finance educator, content creator, and now the author of a New York Times bestselling book, Rich AF. Whether you're trying to get out of debt, build wealth, negotiate like a boss, or just finally understand how to do money right, Vivian is the person to ask.

I think that is terrifying because not understanding your own money and not understanding finances is one of the easiest ways to get in a situation where you don't have options and there is risk for financial abuse. You don't have the money to leave. You cannot make choices that take money out of the equation because you don't have it. And that is why every single woman needs to be good with money. Listen to a really good cry on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Inc. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Binge episodes one, two and three on May 21st, and episodes four, five and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Apple podcasts. And we're back. Let's talk about the big, beautiful bill. Yeah. So you heard on trends yesterday that the Senate version of that, you describing trends, the trends that you missed. Oh, yeah, maybe maybe skip out on it. It was kind of a fart.

No, I think I was just maybe just I just again, the Senate has passed their version of the let's kick millions of people off of health care and then turbocharge the ice stop all budget bill. And it just fucking barely squeaked by as Susan Collins, Tom Tillis and Rand Paul joined the Democrats to force a tie breaking vote from the local man who is banned from most furniture stores, otherwise known as JD Vance. Lisa Murkowski was toying with the idea of voting against it. It's like, I don't know.

I mean, this looks bad. This looks bad. And there could have been a moment where she could have been a fucking hero or just did the bare minimum. And it was like, yeah, this is so fucked up. I'm not going to have my name attached to this as a yes vote. But in the end, it was, it was dear Susan Collins of Maine that decided to step up. How are they still like, I just remember Collins and Murkowski

fucking things up for what feels like decades. Oh yeah, they continue to. How are they still wobbly? They constantly sort of like trade the role of being the sort of tormented Republican who like might do something, but then doesn't or just being local concerned Senator. I'm very concerned about this and I will support it.

I'm just saying. And it doesn't really matter. Exactly. But again, it doesn't really matter. Exactly. But again, it now has to go to the House and that's gonna be a huge fight because you have people who are like, they're completely against adding a single more dollar to the deficit.

But again, the MAGA cult will probably take over and it potentially will pass by July 4th. But anyway, while that happens and while the senators were deliberating and debating, Elon Musk fucking reignited the feud with Mr. Donald and was doing everything in his power or at least in the power of shit posting on Twitter to try and dissuade senators from supporting this. He said he would first of all like in the house because Thomas Massey is a Republican congressperson who's run afoul of MAGA because he's like, no, this is too much waste.

I can't fucking deal with this. I thought we're spending less on poor people and now we're giving worse. We're ballooning the bill for what? Basically, Elon Musk was like, I will back you, bro. Don't worry. I got your back financially. I got you. Would I lie? Would I lie? Yes. Who knows? But not this time. Musk also threatened to primary every Republican who backs the bill. We'll see if that actually happens. That worked really well with that judge election or whatever in Wisconsin. Yeah, right? He, look, he tries. He says things, but that's about it.

Trump, meanwhile, clapped back by saying he would basically have to sick the doge crew on Elon's contracts. He's got that doge in him. He's got that doge up him. He's got the doge in him now. He's going to have the doge on him. What do you think about that, Elon? He said he was basically going to like, we'll save a ton of money. This is what he posted on Truth Social. Qu quote, Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history by far. And without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more rocket launches, satellites, or electric car production, and

our country would save a fortune. He also basically said he might have to look at- Go back to where you came from. Yeah, he was also saying like, yeah, we might have to look at deporting or denaturalization for Elon. Again, this is all who knows because I'm sure Trump also wants his money. It's like such a dumb will they won't they?

But meanwhile, Tesla stock fell on Tuesday morning after this back and forth, and I guess wiped out an estimated $7 billion of Musk's worth, whatever that even means. I mean, I don't even know. It's nothing probably, but it's nothing probably but it's just nice to know He's in pain every time my money disappears. I'd love a little bit of his money to disappear, you know Right. It's like when that disappears we should all get a little bit of money rained down

Like where does that can I can we get some of that 7 billion? Yeah, where did it go? Give it I don't understand stock give it us But anyway, this was I think the fight we've all been predicting would happen that, you know, none of these people can keep their word. Trump famously will just, you know, do a fucking full 180 on people that were, quote unquote, loyal to him. It's not clear what this actually means for Elon Musk, but I, because I think he's also just a pump faker like Trump is, but the ego is a dangerous thing. So most rich man plus ego plus drugs, maybe equal sloppiness in the future.

But what is clear as the house, you know, sort of deliberates over getting the house or the getting their version of the big, beautiful bill across the line, all of the fucking polling shows like even like Fox News is polling, that clear majorities of people are not approving this spending and, you know, tax break bill for billionaires. Because I think maybe on some level they do understand that this is a huge threat to their medical care, and also just to like health care systems in general who need these kinds of funds, along with all the other shit like the, again, turbocharged ice budget. So they're managing to cut money for people who need it while also just like requiring

way more money like adding more money to the federal deficit. Yeah, because they're like well we gotta keep the billionaire tax cuts intact so to offset all that lost money that we would get from tax revenues let's just spend maybe like 800 billion less on Medicaid. It's the kind of other. I don't know, say 800 billion less. Yeah. Let's call it. Yeah, let's call it that. Nuts. I feel like it hasn't this happened before where like they've tried to cut the ACA and like people like working class people were like,

oh, I hate Obamacare, but I love ACA. And then they were like rudely awakened to what that means. Like are people waking up to this shit? Like I noticed like the town halls and stuff before they ended them, people were having a lot of feedback. But like. I mean, people are saying it.

I think it just, I just don't think they care. I just don't think they care. Like, I don't know if this polling really matters because, you know, when you think about ICE, that's basically going to become Trump's secret police. So it's like, well, who gives a fuck at this point? Like, well, they're already threatening journalists, like, especially for publishing that Iranian call where they were like, those bombs really didn't do shit, man.

Oh my God. And the White House is like, we need to look this up. These people are a threat to our quote unquote democracy or whatever the fuck you want to call this shit now. Watching, watching ICE like grab people and like hearing like, I saw a video of like a pastor being like, these are my people who come to my church, like they're in it, like, what are you doing? And he's like, I know you're doing your job, but like, this is so wrong. And watching them like post up, I'm like, this is like, these people are so evil, like so walking amongst us evil.

It is insane. So like, I don't know how we fight them man on man. We just impersonate ice too. We can just be the Spider-Man meme. You know, it was like ice? So we just grabbed the ice guys off the street. Yeah, sorry can just be the spider-man meme, you know, we just grab the ice Yeah, sorry. Come on with me. I'm ice. They're like, I'm ice. No, you're not Like a large number of like ice or border patrol like they're Latino too, right like so that would be like that's in like an insane Yeah, but now but now like, you know, people don't, there are so many unidentified fucking people in plain clothes.

You don't know who is who comes from where are these bounty hunters? Are these just fucking LARPers? Because there's already been, there was a dude in- Are they fucking criminals? Are they people who are just looking to abduct somebody and fucking- That's happened. Yes. In Houston, there was a guy who tried to rob a dude and his wife came out with the blammer and they shot the fucking guy who was trying to impersonate ICE. He's like, get on the ground.

He's like, this is a robbery, run your shit. And then they exchanged gunfire. And then there was another guy in Philadelphia who also came through trying to rob a business and saying immigration, immigration, he got arrested. So there's, there are a lot of people who are now, you know, it's clear. All you got to do is pull up with a gun and a face mask and attack vest to yell police and then maybe people will just come with you. Just arrested somebody who they found this car parked in a handicapped spot without any

like handicap plates. And so they took a closer look and we're like, oh, it's a undercover police car because there are, you know, police lights on the inside. And like, he has like the different police radios. Turns out it wasn't. It was just a guy who was pretending to be ICE. He had like a bunch of like fake credentials and shit. He had been arrested before for human smuggling and is, yeah, the only reason they found him

is because he decided to like park illegally. But otherwise, yeah, this was just somebody who was going around listening to police radio and using the cover of ice, you know, wearing masks and refusing to identify themselves to presumably he was going to kidnap people and do whatever he wanted with them. That's so crazy. Yeah, the guy in Philadelphia had like a like a white van with no windows to use all fucking it's again, this is like kind of the fear that exactly that they want. Because in LA purge, man, nobody feels safe in LA,

especially not people of color at this point, because it's not just, I know a lot of the focus has been on people from like Mexico or El Salvador, Guatemala or South America, Central America, but it's still, they're Asian people, they're Asian people who are getting swept off the street, African people, Caribbean people, it's fucking anybody. And the, all, dude, so many of my friends in LA,

they're not leaving the house. They're like, you know, my Mexican friends who are like telling their parents not to leave the house, even though they are citizens, they're like, we just don't even want you to get fucking caught up in anything, just because it just feels so fucking tenuous right now. This is why I'd like to implement what I call

my white face program with just three easy payments. Everybody walk around in white face. Learn how to do white face. Everyone's just going out in white chicks' makeup now. Exactly. They're like, officer, what are you talking about? This is bullshit. Our lives improve significantly in other ways we can't even imagine. We're like, what the fuck?

So guys, when you have a disagreement with somebody and they win the argument, you repeat after me. Okay, fair enough. Okay, fair enough. Wow, that was, Pallavi, that was really good. Congratulations. Thank you so much. I'm just playing devil's advocate here.

There you go, you are now the CEO. Meet our new Chief financial officer of Apple. Great job in there, Linda. Yeah, thanks. Thank you. I brought raisins for the macaroni. Am I right? Am I doing it right?

You're nailing it. You're nailing it. You're nailing it. I brought raisins. Just keeps offering raisins for various things and each one everyone's like, oh my God, perfect. Ribs? Is that chicken? I have raisins if you'd like some.

I don't know about you guys, but this Vindaloo could use a little more Thousand Island dressing on it. Too far, too far, I don't like it. Okay, okay. Get her. In this household, we have salt, pepper and raisins in the middle of the dinner table. It's like in the dispenser.

You just sprinkle them on. Yeah, yeah. Fresh ground raisins. You really eat it like a pepper grinder. And then bread and butter and then also Philadelphia cream cheese. There's just bags of cheese noodles in the fridge. Fresh, fresh hot dogs.

Just pulling some hot dogs out. Hey, speaking of hot dogs, yeah, let's talk about somebody who smells like hot dogs. And for the low price of $250 a bottle, you can also smell like hot dogs. Or I don't know. I haven't smelled it. I don't know how accurate to real life this is, but the most hot dog smelling looking human of all time, Donald Trump, is selling a scent, a signature scent called Fight Fight Fight.

I'm just imagining the Allie Luke's meme of her going, no, this time it's fine. It's fine this time to do. Wait, which one's that one? Allie Luks is the one who did her PhD on like smells in society or whatever. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And like the post that name,

and then somebody tries to shame other people for how they smell. But I'm just imagining her going, no, this is good. Keep doing it. Yeah, let's keep the pressure up. Yeah, so this is the fucking commercial that Donald Trump is now in selling shit spray. Fragrances are here.

They make a great Christmas present. I've named them Fight Fight Fight because they represent winning. We all wanna be winning. We have to win as a nation. We wanna win as a family. This fragrance is all about strength and success and confidence for men and for women. Get yourself a bottle and don't forget to grab one for your loved ones too.

They'll thank you and they'll even smell good. Enjoy, have fun, keep on winning and Merry Christmas. It's just Donald Trump, bath water. When did this come out? Merry Christmas. It says June 30th. Yeah, like it's hitting the news on like July 1st. So I don't know if it's been in the lab for a little while

and like they just got him around Christmas or if he's just anticipating that this is gonna like be the hottest new Christmas present. The bottle looks like, it looks like he's like, I should win an Oscar. And they were like, here you go, sir. Cause it's just like a man in a business suit, like a gold man in a business suit, essentially. Yeah. And I thought that was Trump, but it can't be because this figure is standing upright and it's not doing the trademark. And are you okay? That'd be so sick if there was the trademark lean bottle.

I know. If there was like a dude balanced, it's like the Michael Jackson. Exactly. Just the smooth criminal lean. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there the website for it is very clear. Okay.

Because most of us are like, isn't this completely unethical, illegal, bad conflict of interest? But the website makes it clear, quote, Trump fragrances are not designed, manufactured, distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, because it's a branding deal. Again, it also says the vendor promises, quote, a tribute to the Trump legacy. It is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign. Okay, Jesus Christ. That's how you basically pretend it's okay. But hey, how is this legal? We don't know.

Because what is legal anymore? We don't know. What is smell? What is good smell? What is bad smell? What is smell really? And they'll even smell good, he says in the thing. And they'll even smell good.

All right. Next one. I'm just amazed by the fact that it's called Fight Fight Fight. Perfumes are always about like, mysteriousness and like. Myster is a good name for a. Myster, yeah. Myster. Mysterio. I think that's a Cirque du Soleil show actually in Vegas.

Or yeah, mysterious. It was, I think, am I? They will drop, they'll take a classy word and then drop a syllable. Yeah. You know? Allure. D'amon like drop a syllable. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Demand instead of diamond. Yeah.

And like, he's like, fight, fucking fight, fight, fight. Fuck. This is so weird. He's even like, trashifying that. The classiest thing that you can imagine is what sixth graders yell every time somebody pushes somebody on the playground. Fight, fight, fight.

The newest one is actually Victory 4547. That's the one with the lean, the man, the golden man on top. Okay, problematic age gap. Wow, 4547. I know, I know. Hey, let love win. Let love win is what I say. The person who the gold guy is putting all his weight on one of his legs, which is very American

Bitch show him the romance We do have a report from who is it again? Adam Kinzinger. Yeah, Kinzinger, who talked about what it smells like around Donald Trump, what Donald Trump smells like. He said, quote, So if you take like armpits, ketchup, makeup and a little butt, it's probably like that all mixed up.

The detail, surprisingly, makeup, and a little butt, it's probably like that all mixed up. The detail, surprisingly- Wait, that's a beautiful rhyme. That grosses me out the most is the specificity of the ketchup because like ketchup, for being delicious, and I do like ketchup, like on a burger, ketchup is an all time terrible smell. Like we had ketchup spill in a cooler and like that fucked up the use of that cooler forever more because not only does it like smell bad after the fact, but then it like it can.

It's a smell that like infects other smells. It doesn't catch up. Also like stained concrete. Isn't that a thing like that? That totally makes sense. I feel like that's a thing we used to be aware of when we would like TP houses in like middle school. Low stakes spray paint. It's like just catch up the driveway. Yeah, I don't know at the time why I didn't fear for my life while eating it after that.

Yeah, can stain a driveway. Wow. Pigments and acidity and ketchup can penetrate the material leading to discoloration. Okay Okay, that's right, bitch. That's right. I know how to just like TP a house Are you allowed to say yeah, I know it's right toilet paper a house. Yeah Yeah, it's more uncouth because you're revealing how privileged you are by throwing toilet paper willingly. Yeah. So nobody agrees that ketchup smells like shit? No, I agree.

Okay. Jucky's like hates ketchup. He hates eating it. And like, if I'm eating it near him, he like gags. No! He can't handle like the smell of it. Oh, weird. I'd rather smell like mustard for sure.

Like DJ mustard? Yeah, mustard. Watch me dabbing my armpits with relish in the morning. I'm like, I'm American, don't take me. Relish is tough, but I feel like ketchup. Catch you the other way. Rub some dirt in it. Hey, leave this white woman alone.

She's using relish on her armpits. She smells so good. She passed the test. She smells awful. Look, I didn't wash my legs. Just have one of those water bottles, but it's full of ketchup. That's the way to full ice. I mean, out of context, ketchup, the things that really catch me out of context is like broccoli. When you're like, what the fuck is that? And you're like, oh, it's raw broccoli.

You know what I mean? Brussels sprouts. That smells like farts. Can it too? Oh, that and Parmesan. Out of, it's raw broccoli. You know what I mean? Brussels sprouts, that smells like farts. Can it too? Oh, that and Parmesan, out of context Parmesan cheese. When you put it in a car like leftovers, it smells so bad, but it tastes so good. Broccoli too, broccoli can kind of, you can kind of leave a bit of funk without the context. You're like, this, I think some of the-

So can the alternate version of what broccoli means. Oh, yes, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, my bad. We're talking about that loud. I'd rather smell like Parmesan than ketchup. Broccoli. Personally. You'd rather smell like Parmesan?

No, you'd rather smell like Parmesan. I know that's. Those aren't the choices. You can smell good. Nope, I've got, I'm pot committed. I'm gonna smell like Parmesan. You can smell like Trump victory. It feels like a Parmesan day.

Yeah. Just. Yeah, shh, shh. Yeah. Just shaking some parmesan on my head. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebene. The podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebene and every Tuesday I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that will challenge

your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. On Pretty Private, we'll explore the untold experiences of women of color who faced it all, childhood trauma, addiction, abuse, incarceration, grief, mental health struggles and more, and found the strength to make it to the other side. My dad was shot and killed in his house. Yes, he was a drug dealer. Yes, he was a confidential informant, but he wasn't shot on a street corner. He wasn't shot in the middle of a drug deal.

He was shot in his house unarmed. Pretty Private isn't just a podcast, it's your personal guide for turning storylines into lifelines. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What happens when we come face to face with death?

My truck was blown up by a 20 pound anti-tank mine. My parachute did not deploy. I was kidnapped by a drug cartel. I just remember everything getting dark. I'm dying. We step beyond the edge of what we know. To open our consciousness to something more than just what's in that Western box. In return.

I clinically died. The heart stopped beating. Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes. My name is Dan Bush. My mission is simple. To find, explore, and share these stories. I'm not a victim, I'm a survivor. You're strongest when you're the most vulnerable.

To remind us what it means to be alive. Not just that I was the guy that cut his arm off, but I'm the guy. You're strongest when you're the most vulnerable. To remind us what it means to be alive. Not just that I was the guy that cut his arm off, but I'm the guy who is smiling when he cut his arm off. Alive Again, a podcast about the fragility of life, the strength of the human spirit, and what it means to truly live. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Hey, I'm Radhita Vellukya, and I'm the host of a really good cry podcast and I have the opportunity to talk to Vivian too. She is someone who is definitely changing the way we talk about money. She is a former Wall Street trader, turned personal finance educator, content creator and now the author of a New York Times bestselling book, Rich AF. Whether you're trying to get out of debt, build wealth, negotiate like a boss, or just finally understand how to do money right, Vivian is the person to ask. I think that is terrifying because not understanding your own money and not understanding finances

is one of the easiest ways to get in a situation where you don't have options and there is risk for financial abuse. You don't have the money to leave. You cannot make choices that take money out of the equation because you don't have it. And that is why every single woman needs to be good with money. Listen to A Really Good Cry on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley, comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on May 21st and episodes four, five, and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. And we're back. We're back. And two quick pop culture things. One, the new Jurassic Park movie is coming out. We had talked

about this and how we had... I'll just say I had some hopes for it because the director directed... First came on the scene for directing a low budget monster movie somehow, just using effects and creative camera placement to make a low budget movie about giant monsters and, uh, had since made some good films. Um, and I was always like, this director seems destined to make a Jurassic park movie. Um, the movie's out, the reviews are tepid, and it's starting to make me wonder if just this franchise is just Jaws, but because at a time when studios were smarter, and so like back then they were like, okay, Jaws 2, same shark, come to same island, and like just people basically run it back.

But- At least they went to SeaWorld, you know? Yeah, they did go to SeaWorld and that was a good idea and I would compare that to the only Jurassic Park sequel that I think really needed to exist, which was Jurassic World, where they were like, okay, but what if the park was open? And it's like, that's actually a fucking fun idea.

And everybody found out. The movie itself was like, eh, but like, that's a good premise and that made sense why people would go see that. Um, this one, they're like, what if we just like went to the island with like some different people and there was like some stuff there? Like, and the other thing they're getting away from, the whole point of these movies is like these iconic characters from childhood when everybody like went through a phase with dinosaurs, you were getting to see them. So it's like the T-Rex, the Raptor, the fucking

like all the ones that like people were obsessed with as kids. And these movies keep just like inventing new fake dinosaurs. And at that point point it's like, what the fuck are we even doing? Like that's not the point. The point is, we're seeing the T-Rex over and over. Just give me the T-Rex. Like why do we need to? Yeah. Or tell me about some obscure one. That's cool. Well the Raptors are in a gang with Chris Pratt and you're like, give a fuck, man. These are all modified Raptors.

And it's like, no, I just want like real deal Raptors. Like I want to know more about them. Look at the sex it's throwing up. Like, no. These have been made hyper intelligent and they aren't, they don't actually look like real Raptors would because we've like hypercharged. It's like, well, then you're just like making a fucking monster movie, which is less fun.

That's where they miss out. Yeah, that's I think that's where everyone gets further and further from like what the Michael Crichton kind of version of it is. Like also a critique on like, I don't know. It sounds bad trying to play God to or maybe the maybe it's hey, don't invite your nephews to a theme park on opening weekend because it can go left really quickly. I don't I don't know. But so to a theme park on opening weekend because it can go left really quickly.

I don't know. So the Metacritic, so this is all based on critics who have seen the film. Yeah, 46 critics who have seen it so far on Metacritic are giving it a 52. And also Rotten Tomatoes is at a 52. So a big fail by the studio not paying Rotten Tomatoes because usually Rotten Tomatoes will be a lot higher than Metacritic

because they've paid the Rotten Tomatoes meter to be like, that feels fresh-ish for like a two-star review. Yeah. You know? It's like trying to wear like underwear for the third day in a row. Like, you might, you might. Fresh. Maybe.

Fresh-ish. Fresh adjacent. Fresh adjacent. Fresh adjacent. Do they say anything about beloved Asian American actress Scarlett Johansson's performance? That is one thing that I know, it's one of the reasons I'm excited about it is because, you know, getting some diversity in there and getting, you know, an Asian American actress in the lead role.

I mean, look, when she was in Ghost in the Shell, I was like, there she is, finally, some representation for my Japanese people on this. Amen, amen. They did give her like straight dark black hair. Yeah, she represents black people too. I love that about her. Yeah, that's what, those people, whoever made that decision to cast her there,

they need to be banished from Hollywood. She's the world, She's the children. I believe the scar Joe is the future. The new black and white videos of Scarlett Johansson, but she's doing new hairstyles and skin complex. She's white. Oh, she got dreadlocks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, we do. We have an esteemed expert on to talk Labooboo.

Yeah. It's the biggest fad in the world right now. It has all the hallmarks of, you know, the two big hallmarks would be fights in stores, or at least alleged fights in stores, and just a whole lot of mistrust from the Christian community. But this... You got to hit, baby. from the Christian community. But this, the Boo Boo dolls kind of look like, our writer, JM described them as looking like if Maurice Sendak got drunk and tried to draw Willem Dafoe.

Like they really are like a combination, Willem Dafoe and like the wild things. But you know, the blind box of it all, and Willem Dafoe and like the wild things from where the wild thing. But you know, the blind box of it all, a lot of TikTok endorsements from Lisa, Rihanna, Cher, all the one named people and Labooboo's, there's a giant Labo uh, protesting ice in LA. Oh, please don't make that the Pikachu of these protests. They're like, is my boo-boo at the event? How do we know? Let's rally around the boo-boo.

The black market is booming. Another sign that we have a general cultural phenomenon on our hands. Uh, Lefoufou's as previously mentioned. And yeah, they, uh, I don't yeah, they, uh, I don't like, like I said, some reports of public fights in stores, which is, you know, you know, the local news gets excited about that. Oh yeah. The biggest controversy involves the accusations that they're pure evil, which as I said, when I first found out about them, like a couple of weeks ago,

I think they, I think that is their appeal. I think they are like the first genuine like Cabbage Patch Kid style craze that is openly courting the creepy doll side of things. Like creepy dolls are an underrated phenomenon. They are secretly like the engine behind the Annabelle or the Conjuring franchise like that that is a creepy doll franchise A lot of people don't realize that but I don't know when my seven-year-old first told me about it By the way, he was like, yeah I saw like one of the kids has one and when I looked at it It turned to me turned its head to me and it looked up at me and it gave me a creepy smile.

I was like, mm-hmm. Okay. Is that because other kids are trying to like, that's the thing is like, did you see the little doll acting up? Yeah. I just think he is sensing the evil that the Christians are saying. He's a very Christian child and you know, he, he recognizes evil when he sees it. No, I think he's probably reacting to the fact that I am crying every time I see one and saying that they're evil. He might be teasing me. He might be teasing me and be like, yeah, dad, I saw one. It looked at me and gave me a creepy smile. But there's an exorcist who came out and told people that

these are demonic toys that should not be purchased by Christians. Well, I'm not a Christian, so send them all to me. There you go. Take them. Take them. We will take and de-Satanify your Labooboos. You know what? Surviving in this world, is seitanic. So I'm okay. I feel like I will be fine with a little boo-boos in my house. I will also say this.

So what a lot of people don't know is that they come from, there's a world, they're called the monsters. So they're little monsters and they're meant to do good stuff. They just sometimes don't always do the right thing, right? They're just, they're cute. So they're Sour Patch Kids. They're Sour Patch Kids. They basically are Sour Patch Kids. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. I don't see what the problem is. Where's this

evidence that it's evil? Is it just made up? Where is it in the scripture about Labooboo and how Christ fought Labooboo? I'm sorry. Did you not see the Exorcist? I'm just checking if you've not seen the film The Exorcist. So that is Pazuzu. You switch a couple letters around though. Okay. There is no, there is no P in Labooboo. It's ridiculous. So that's what they want you to believe JP. Very close to P, B, not really close to Z, but like unless the alphabet is on a circle.

Syphonetically, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Pazuzu. Syphonetically, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So Pazuzu, Labubu, I don't need to connect the dots for you. You can do that yourself. I'm just saying do your own research. Right. The demon that possessed Linda Blair

in the Exorcist was named Pazuzu. Also a ridiculous name. Yeah. How did they get away with that? Yeah. How did they get away with being like Pazuzu? Yeah. It's like, what?

If I was at character, I'd be like, damn, Pazuzu, that's like the weakest name for a demon to possess. Right. Truly. Pazuzu. I guess there is like in... Pazuzu sounds like... It sounds like you're a regular at BJ's brewery.

I was just going to say. And you're like, and you know how we're ending this, one chocolate chip Pazuzu for us. Right. You mean the Pazuki? The Pazuki. We call them Pazuzus around here. All right. In this household.

Your mother sucks cock in hell. We call them Pazuzus. Stupid. But yeah, so one thing that's been going viral is a Labubu side by side with an illustration of Pazuzu that is implying like this is what Pazuzu has always looked like. This is actually the illustration that's in the Bible and it's actually just picture book, the Bible.

Oh, Pazuzu in the Bible is in the Bible for sure. And by that it's not. It's not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the drawing that they've made to like look like an ancient etching is actually just AI generated. And the smiling Pazuzu was clearly specifically designed to look like one of the dolls. So yeah.

And when you look at what the Pazuzu, like ancient art that depicts Pazuzu, it just, it looks like the face from the exorcist, which is scary, but does not look like a libubu. People are saying that the artist who originally created the libubu was drawing on Norse mythology. So if you're a Christian who believes that anything that's not Christianity is evil and like, you know, pagan, who calls everything that's not Christian pagan, then there you might have an argument. But in that case, literally everything, including most of the traditions around Christmas are pagan. Yeah. The Santa is also the devil too. Yes.

But I mean, those kinds of Christians typically do keep it a buck in that way. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They're like, no Santa here, but then... That's who you're getting in with, them and my seven-year-old. What's the resell market like for a Labooboo, JP? So, okay, so let's talk about it It's it depends on what what what you're going for right now What I know is that the ID there's one called big into energy

It is the ID version is a black one the way the big what big into energy It's okay one day It's only one in 72 people get it when you do a blind box. That one's going for at least at least 400 to $500 on the resale market. You can't possibly pay that much for just some fabric and oh, yeah, I've done that for shoes before.

Nevermind. Yeah, I've done it for other. I have a brand. You get a pair of little boo boo's you can wear. Right. Are they red bottoms like my my real Labooboos? The real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real,

real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real,

real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, probably run you somewhere between $100 to $200. Okay. Do you go outside with your little boo-boos?

Are you using them as, I see them as bag charms. I see some people who just have them stacked on a rack and they're like, look at my children. Yeah, well, I mean, yes and no. So I have four behind me that just kind of sit there. Five actually, that sit behind me. And then I have another six or seven that are upstairs on my different bags that I have.

I have a whole bunch of different Louis bags that I, and I knew we came to the right place. I knew we came to the right place. They're all color coordinated. So whatever color my bag is, is the color of the blue that I have. Do they match your nails? Cause your nail game is not match. I have two that match my nails. Those are from the big, those are from the big into energy. Next question, JP, how long have you been possessed by Satan as a result of surrounding yourself by so many demonic nodes of energy? Baby, it was when I came out, right?

When I'm up the game, I've been possessed since I was a child. Connection? Yeah, the connection is being up the gaze. If we can get Candace Cameron on to just like pull this clip and put it on her podcast. That would actually be tremendous for us. The reason that that gayness is the reason why the boo boo is, is, is, have you seen these la boo boo's that they're trying to sell our kids or our

children? Um, obviously the accusations of Satanism, much like a heavy metal in the late eighties accusations of Satanism, much like heavy metal in the late 80s, accusations of Satanism are making the sales absolutely fucking skyrocket. Because America, in this case, has always been obsessed with things that are a little bit evil and demonic. But also, we love a fucking cursed doll. I don't know how many times I have to say it. Huge booming eBay market for haunted dolls. People have like bid over a thousand dollars for haunted dolls. Right now Annabelle, the real life doll that inspired the Conjuring

movies, which is a Raggedy Annie doll, I believe. Yeah, Raggedy Ann. Is touring America and Yeah, Raggedy Ann is touring America and, um, rumors that she went missing and possibly burned down a mansion turned out to be false. But look, I need, I need leaders in this time who are about class consciousness. So the curb is that she also is the reason why those men in Louisiana escaped from New Orleans, those 10 inmates. I absolutely believe that 100%. She was there. I don't know why she was there, but the day that she got there is the same day that

those men escaped. So it sounds like she's an anti-capitalist, prison abolitionist. Prison abolitionist. Thank you. We stan our queen. We stan Annabelle. I'm getting it tatted. The real Annabelle. We stan a queen who knows her rights. I was gonna get a Marcus Garvey tattoo, but now I'm gonna get an Annabelle tattoo.

Annabelle. Yeah. Annabelle is our queen. Mother's out here freeing the people. That's right. Annabelle sounds like Harriet Tubman if you ask me. Yeah. I'm sure I could rearrange some letters here to get it to work.

Like I did with Pazuzu. In Harriet Tubman and the Boo Boo. Yes. Somebody needs to write that script. You better watch out. Someone will probably make that shameless thing. 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 needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend and I will talk to you Monday. Bye. So Thanks for watching! We are telling our scientists today we have disdain for your expertise and then you have China as an exception saying actually we're going to invest a trillion dollars in new science. You heard that right. While the US is slashing science budgets, China is doubling down.

This means here in the United States, less innovation, fewer breakthroughs, and falling behind on the global stage. This week on Dope Labs, Chelsea Clinton breaks down what these cuts really mean. Listen to Dope Labs on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Pretty Private with Ebene, the podcast where silence is broken and stories are set free. I'm Ebene, and every Tuesday, I'll be sharing all new anonymous stories that will challenge your perceptions and give you new insight on the people around you. Every Tuesday, make sure you listen to Pretty Private from the Black Effect Podcast Network. Tune in on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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