The Daily Zeitgeist - Weekly Zeitgeist 6 (Best of 1/8/18-1/12/18)

Episode Date: January 14, 2018

The weekly round up of the best moments from DZ's Season 13 (1/8/18-1/12/18.) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the President of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson. 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nickname Squeaky. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. K hasn't heard from her sister in seven years.

I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself?

There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture

in the new iHeart Podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric.

You know, if you've been following me on social media, you know I love to cook or at least try, especially alongside some of my favorite chefs and foodies like Benny Blanco, Jake Cohen, Lighty Hoyk, Alison Roman, and Ina Garten. So I started a free newsletter called Good Taste to share recipes, tips, and kitchen must-haves. Just sign up at katiecouric.com slash goodtaste. That's K-A-T-I-E-C-O-U-R-I-C dot com slash goodtaste. I promise your taste buds will be happy you did. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this episode of the Weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one nonstop infotainment laughstravaganza. Yeah. So without further ado, here is the weekly Zeitgeist. All right. We're going to open up talking about the continuing to evolve fallout from the Fire and Fury book.

Did you guys read it? No. Can't get my hands on it. Really? I mean, I could get an e-book version. I was going to be like, you have that thing. Yeah. I can pirate it.

I can get a PDF. But yeah, no, I've not. I mean, I've been reading a lot of excerpts. I don't know if I want to read it quite yet because I'm just getting all the juicy stuff. I feel like I'm just going to like roll my eyes so hard into my head. Like I just I injure myself. But, yeah, so it's by Michael Wolff. We talked about last week how, you know, not the the most trustworthy source of information based on his track record.

trustworthy source of information based on his track record um but the president is certainly responding to to the allegations in the book in a way that suggests he's taking them very seriously um he telegraphs things he's not a great poker no he is not No. He spent the weekend bragging about how smart he was after last week. So the book came out and people were shocked that Steve Bannon talked open shit about the president and his kids and just how stupid it was for them to commit treason and not have other people just do that for them. And I know. He was even like, if you're going to do it, do it at a holiday inn in Manchester, New Hampshire. Why so specific? He's like, that's where I go to meet my prostitutes. Right.

Exactly. So Trump responded to that by calling him Sloppy Steve. That's the kiss of death. You got him. You nailed him. You got the nickname, bro. When you get the nickname, you're done oh i bet i bet that got steve too i bet bannon was like oh did he call me sloppy yeah he like looks in the mirror for the first time in years oh fuck oh no

the amazing it just it took that nickname for him to have a moment of like self-awareness clarity but like son of a bitch. He's Gin Blossom. My Gin Blossom face looks terrible. I think I know why I feel tired a lot. I think his entire face is basically a Gin Blossom at this point. Oh, yeah. Somewhat impressive.

I feel like people on Twitter also said it looks like just a rotten can of spam, too. It's not a good look. I tweeted that he is Philip Seymour Hoffman's corpse playing Steve Bannon. Jesus. This is what he looks like. He's like, they dug him up. And I let him do it. He's a good actor.

Jack, she's the best. Holy shit. That's what he is. Wow. Actually, I tweeted. I was like, he is. And it made me mad because no one, it didn't get as many as I liked. And then I got mad and retweeted.

I was like, if Patton would have tweeted this, everyone would be asleep from coming so hard. All right. Well, give people the date so they can retroactively like and retweet that shit. It was a couple days ago. All right. We'll retweet. We'll RT that shit. Russia Today.

Just follow me. That's all I really care ago. All right. We'll retweet. We'll RT that shit. Just follow me. That's all I really care about. A perfect tweet. But so Bannon has since then responded to the president's name calling by five days later apologizing and saying his quotes were taken out of context. taken out of context. Apparently some of his financial backers, the Mercer family, are like, we haven't talked to him in months and we're not funding him anymore. Bullshit.

Yeah. So he – Oh, no, they're telling the truth now. Right. But it was pretty evident that he was on the losing end of that exchange. It was pretty evident that he was on the losing end of that exchange. So he seems sort of contrite now, which is an interesting look for the guy who basically had been on, I think, speaking of Adderall, I think he was on like a three-year-long Adderall binge and like is just now coming down from it and being like, what have I said? No, a friend of mine who's like one of those anion guys like he lives in the woods and like anonymous kind of they call it oh anon anon yeah whatever yeah um i'm not wait what is that it's just like it's a reddit type anonymous kind

of people who are like anonymous oh the hackers yeah he's like a hacker and does other stuff oh i was like crazy i was like whoa you know someone i was not putting it together that you know someone in anonymous well i mean or the type of probably all do right because we all work metaphorically speaking yeah uh which makes it interesting but he was in on banning like real he was like hip to him really early. And he sent me all this stuff, and it worried me because I was like, Trump, I have toured the country enough to recognize Trump's got what he's saying is hateful enough to work because I've seen it. Right.

And it's more of the country than people realize. And then watching Bannon, he's very open about who he is and people don't listen right right he's a he's a anarchist capitalist so he's he'll just tear everything down to make himself more money right so he just wants chaos which is what he's doing so he's the one that you're like we need to watch him right right right because he'll just like he like he said he's like i don't know why you would do it yourself you get other people to do it right there you go like that the most fascinating part of the expert i read was the dinner between ales and bannon that was fascinating just how they think about stuff right right and

how they talk to each other that was something that uh michael wolf was present for or the the author of the book and it was yeah roger ailes who was like the founder of fox news and bannon and they just kind of sat back and talked about people like they were you know pawns on a chessboard because they are to them. sort of talk about how brilliant the president is and um he got like kicked off of cnn yeah literally like stopped jake jake he's like yo this is over nah dude and then apparently afterwards he wouldn't leave and the security had to escort him off the set because he was like no i'm not going he's like if a muppet was evil he really is. And so one of the things he said to defend President Trump was that in 20 minutes he would dictate 10 paragraphs of new material to address an event we just saw on the news, which that was like the closest he came to giving a detailed account of like here's why I know the president is a genius. That's not even a compliment.

He's just saying he talked a lot. Talked for 20 minutes. About the news, which is something we know he could do. It's not like he said he spoke completely lucidly and like had like all these organized thought. Yeah, the guy can just like watch the news and then speak for 10 paragraphs. Go to any local open mic. Right. Just sit back and watch people talk about the news.

Right. Exactly. Yeah. It was so clear that like the White House must be in me, like a lot of the embarrassing shit in there to then have someone go out and basically like fillet him on TV and be like, this man is a genius. He will deliver this material flawlessly in front of 10,000 people. Like it was so clear. And I think even Jake Tapper says that. He goes, yeah, and I'm sure your boss is watching and he'll appreciate that.

Just an audience of one is what this seems like. He's like, I know you're doing this for an audience of one. Yeah. He's like, I know you're doing this for an audience of one. And yeah, then had to be physically restrained and taken out of the studio. Oh, so when you were saying earlier that Trump wets the bed, you were talking about the fact that he's the only one who can change his sheets. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And like, remember that excerpt, I think, where they were saying, yeah, none of the housekeeping staff can change the sheets. And he's the one to remove the sheets himself.

That's strange. So you know what that's about. Yeah. I mean, and again, it's only little kids. I mean, one of you poops the bed. All right. Yeah. Fair play.

This guy is not who we think he is. It's almost like a little worse. No, he doesn't. I do not pee the bed. I poop it. I like a little worse No, it doesn't I do not pee the bed I poop it I have two little poops I mean, all the Filet-O-Fish and Big Macs, man They take their toll

God Almighty, man Take their toll His trips to the bathroom must be intense He's just that type of president I just wish our president would just piss the bed instead God Like a normal weirdo A maybe more interesting insight into the Trump White House is a Axios article that just came out.

They got their hands on. So there's the public schedule that the past few presidents have released. That's like here's what the president's day looks like. And it has like vague stuff like meetings, you know, phone call with this country. And then there's the actual schedule that, you know, journalists have to work really hard and make good connections to get their hands on. And, you know, they finally got their hands on Trump's schedule. And apparently the people around him are worried because his workday is shrinking. He used to start his workday at 9.

Yeah, I'm good. We're good with that. You want to call in sick again? Yeah, no problem, man. Just stay up there. So he's not starting his workday till 11. But the bad news is that he is spending those first two hours just watching Fox and Friends and tweeting. So that's not good because that went left to his own devices.

What are Charlie Sheen's hours? Right. Just for comparison, George W. Bush used to arrive in the Oval Office by 645. What the fuck? George W. Bush used to arrive in the Oval Office by 645 Obama would arrive between 9 and 10 but then he would work until 11 you know he'd take a break to hang out with his daughters and then work till 11 and Trump checks in at 11 checks out at 6

and you know he's not checking out to spend time with his family no he is in bed eating cheeseburgers by fucking 630, which is wild. So, yeah, that's where we're at. It's wild to think that, God, remember when everyone hated George W. Bush? Yeah. And then to know this guy was taking the job seriously, like he was in there at 645 acting like, oh, he got that it was the presidency. Or at least he got what his gig was right right he knew dick's in charge right exactly he gets it but i'm supposed to look like

like i'm the decision maker like that's when he said that i was like well that's what they have told him that yeah right and then that's exactly what they've explained it to him like no you're the decider, George. He's like, okay. Yeah. And then Dick comes in there. He's like, is it this one or this one? And it's just spelled different.

Right. And George is like, I like that one. You decided. We wanted to talk a little bit about the Golden Globes. Yes, yes. The Go-Gloes. The GGs. Didn't hear anything about them.

Miles was there. I was there last night. I was there, yes, because – Dressed to impress. Dressed to impress. Nothing but the best. We're internationally known and locally respected. Sadly, Santa University was snubbed on air, but we did get our award. Check the Twitter feed because it's real.

It was snubbed on air, but we did get our award. Check the Twitter feed because it's real. But, yeah, I was there just being a social barnacle on the hull of my mother's career. Your mother is an esteemed member of the Hollywood Foreign Press. The Hollywood Foreign Press, yeah. She's been doing it for a second. So every now and then I'll say, like, hey, you got an extra ticket? And then she'll be gracious enough to allow me to join. And this year, yeah, it was pretty crazy.

I mean, everybody was – it was a very much a monumental occasion. I mean, first question, fly on the wall view of Oprah's speech, which is being called the speech now, eclipsing the I Have a Dream speech and the Gettysburg Address. It's just the speech. While it was happening. Yeah, it was electric. The room was electric. Where were you?

I was at the bar. Oh, hearing her thing. I did not see the speech live. I cut the tail end, though, because I was like, yo, it's still going on. So I was like, I went out. I cut the very last part. But that's how the Golden Globes are. It was long, though, right? Because I walked out when she was walking up to do some garbage stuff.

And then I literally answered a couple of emails and came back in and she was still talking. And I was like, okay. I knew the award was coming up, so I went to the bar really quick. Because the only time you can get up is during the TV breaks. And then it's a mad dash to the bar. Especially for the people who are in that main pit, like they have to be real quick with it because like, they don't want to, they don't want to have empty seats or anything like that. But for all the scumbags who are like on the periphery of the show, I mean, like people were like, just like

laying down, like just not anyway. So we were, I was at the bar and that was happening. It sounded like, I mean, look in retrospect, after looking at the video, it was a great speech. And a lot of people are – they're really – they really want Oprah to be president now. Right. And I don't agree because I feel like we need to kind of right the ship and have like real people that are politically minded, maybe policy minded come to these positions. But also, hey, if we're going to go, you know, TV star for TV star, then yes. If it's like Pokemon of of presidential candidates, then Oprah, I choose you. I'm not I'm not ruling anything out.

Show me who the other candidate is, because I haven't heard like a great Democratic candidate. candidate and uh i think it's an underrated advantage that trump had is that he got to project a very stylized like cleanly edited version of himself that was like came directly out of his imagination of like you know uh a child's idea of a rich person and you know that was a poor person's idea of a rich right and he got to broadcast that to the entire country for you know 10 years uh and you know that that has some power and so i mean if that's what people are going up against i i don't know. Let's see who else we could put out there. Well, I feel like people, they want a simple solution. And I think last night she can speak. Right.

I mean, we all know that. And she's powerful when she's very rehearsed. We've also seen her not rehearse. She's not great because no one's wonderful not rehearsed. You're not going to be as eloquent. But she gave us a moment where we're like, mama, fix it. Right. And now today people are like, yeah, put her in the White House today.

Yeah. She would fix it. But it's like, I don't know. You don't become a billionaire making friends. Right. Right. And people forget that. Yeah. billionaire making friends right right and people forget that yeah i mean we're literally we're

actually having a conversation where we're talking about do we want oprah to take over the presidency from donald trump that's a conversation we're having in 2018 that still blows my fucking mind that we're saying that like what that's why i'm a little concerned because i'm like that's how far the pendulum has swung that we're like, these are like legit. People are writing actual articles about this, which is fine because like what she said was very inspirational. It was something, you know, like the people needed. But they're still at the end of the day. I'm like, wow, we're talking about two TV billionaires.

Right. Like, like over who would be a better president. Right. I mean, yeah, it depends on how, you know, symbolic you want to view the office of the president. And like, if you just think that it is about getting a figurehead who can be the leader out in front while a very competent team behind the scenes does, you know, the smart stuff, then maybe it could work out but i mean there have been all all types of presidents reagan used to say if you can't explain it to me on a postcard or in a single paragraph then i don't want to hear about it and and you know he he was at least effective at getting his ideas uh passed so um yeah, I don't know. We'll see.

Well, Reagan was a corporate shill his whole career. He was a commercial guy. Yeah. And then all these corporations looked over and were like, what about that dude? Right. And he was like, yeah, I can do it. And they listened to it. And it's just all, I mean, we're losing the whole conversation to me, which is it's about rich and poor.

And guess what? Oprah is rich. Right. She's not even rich. She is wealthy. She's a billionaire. So whether we realize it or not, and even though the things she does appear to be really good, most of the things she does is really, really great overall. But when you're a billionaire, you ain't giving that up.

Right. You worked your whole life to become a billionaire. You're not giving that up. So you're a business person. So who I want in there is someone that has been giving for us, like, speaks for the majority of Americans. And by that, I don't mean black, white, whatever. I mean poor people. Right.

And that's, it's class. It is rich versus poor. And it's very clear. And that's what we need to fight at that level. We need someone that's going to fight for poor people every day. And it's not a business person because they don't want to be poor. Right. So it's got to,

and to me, and I know his fans aren't great, but the only person that's been doing it his whole life and said it and lived it is Bernie Sanders. Oh, I thought you were going to say Kanye. That's why I want Kanye

to be his vice president. Just to scare people not, well, we can't kill him. Then Kanye is in charge. Yeah, no, that's all definitely true. Like having a billionaire, I don't know. And you're talking about the pendulum swing too. Here's the thing. In a capitalist society like this, we've swung all the way to the right

yeah we need some socialism to correct yeah absolutely we don't need communism but we need some socialism oh yeah yeah yeah because there are no policies coming out of this white house to advocate for working poor or people who are struggling at all and that's true like when you have if it's rich versus poor because we clearly are, that's what America is right now. It's rich and poor. There's barely a middle. And you have rich people at the helm constantly. Then, I mean, no wonder the situation is only getting better for them

and worse for the other party. So I think it's pretty simple logic you're presenting here, Billy. And I agree. Well, and it's getting lost in these conversations. It's getting, it's a very, that's what we need to focus on. Right. It's like, fuck who should be present. Like, what about all, like, you know, there are schools in Baltimore that don't have heat.

And the kids are wearing, like, mittens in their classroom because it's 12 degrees. They don't have electricity. Yeah. No, you're absolutely right. All right. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. I've been thinking about you i want you back in my life it's too late for that i have a proposal for you come up here and document my

project all you need to do is record everything like you always do one session 24 hours. BPM 110, 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it. That was live audio of a woman's nightmare.

This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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

the search for meaning away from the gridiron and the consequences for everyone involved. You mix homesteading with guns and church and a little bit of the spice of conspiracy theories that we liked. Voila! You got straight away. I felt like I was living in North Korea, but worse, if that's possible. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1982, Atari players had one thing on their minds. Sword Quest. This wasn't just a new game.

Atari promised 150 grand in prizes to four finalists. But the prizes disappeared. And what started as a video game promotion became one of the most controversial moments in 80s pop culture. I just don't believe they exist. My reaction, shock and awe. That sword was amazing. It was so beautiful. I'm Jamie Loftus.

Join me this spring for The Legend of Sword Quest, a podcast about the fall of Atari and the disappearing Sword Quest prizes. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure across four decades. It's almost like a metaphor for the industry and Atari itself in a way. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today.

And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer. This is Rip Current. Available now with new episodes every Thursday.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. So the college football playoff was last night and Alabama won as I predicted. It was a pretty good game. President Trump was in attendance.

Yes. And there were cameras focused on him during the national anthem. As it would be for the president of the United States. And somebody for whom the national anthem is incredibly important. And it has caused him to, you know, alienate half the nation by and, you know, get people to rise up against these spoiled athletes who are disrespecting the national anthem by kneeling during it and uh he didn't seem like he knew the words to the national but are you surprised is anyone surprised yeah you are how do you get to be president of the united states and not know the words of the national anthem like i mean i think we're past that being a reason like how do you get to president you don't know the national it's like how do you get the president and you're

a sex offender how do you get the president because you're a fucking thief how do you get the national anthem like don't know the national anthem. It's like, how do you get to president? And you're a sex offender. How do you get to president? Because you're a fucking thief. How do you get to president? Because you're a fucking xenophobe. Don't you hear the national anthem like constantly as the president of the United States? Aren't people like playing that shit when you walk into a room? I think it's hail to the chief when you walk into a room. Oh, yeah, that's true. Even so, he's how old?

In his 70s? 70s. Yeah. He's had 70 years to hear it. Yeah. And absorb the lyrics. I don't really care i mean like he's this is the least offensive thing to me that an old guy who probably has diminished mental capacity doesn't remember a

song that even people who sing it publicly fuck up on uh so like yeah this is this is the least of our worries right now but it's interesting because the way he does it too is like he starts off being like, oh, say, can you see? And then he gets like maybe a couple stanzas in. Even at the beginning, he's a little behind the singer. Like he's letting them like say the word before he goes in. But yeah, then this is like one of the most identifiable things I've seen him do because it's like when you're like singing in church or you know trying to act like you know the words to a song uh and he's like you know acting like he was singing that word already right but yeah maybe mumbling over the lyrics but then he also does this thing where like he totally just full-on pulls the ejector button

ejection lever and just doesn't sing for certain parts because he knows, like, I can't even fake mouth these lyrics. Right. And it reminds me of, like, man, growing up, you know, I love hip hop. You love hip hop. Yes. I can identify with this because there are times I try and sing along to a rap song and like, I'll start off mad confident. And then partway through, I realize, oh, wait, I don't know all the words to this part.

Right. Case in point, Wu-Tang Clan's song Tri triumph off the album wu-tang forever right um you know maybe i can illustrate this better uh nick please drop the beat so we're gonna do okay so you know he's like what y'all thought y'all wasn't gonna see me i'm the trump of this shit miles is the national here forever motherfuckers president trump this 2018 all right my zeitgang and my zeitgangerettes, let's do it like this. I'ma rub your ass to the moonshine. Let's take it back to 79.

And then we go up anatomically. Socrates philosophies and hypotheses can't define how I'll be dropping these mockeries. Lyrically perform on robbery. Flee with the lottery. Possibly they slaughter me. So, this is the thing. At the end, it's hard. Yeah of you could you could hype man the song but i had to inspect the i had to be the inspector lottery yeah exactly lobotomy phlebotomist um so yes that's why i for

for once in my life i identify with the struggle to recall uh lyrics but also i mean look this is the least of our fucking problems with this man yeah i agree i just think it's funny that yeah it was it's fun to watch i just think it's interesting as super producer anna hosnia would say in this climate we wanted to talk about the uh piece written by uh moira donnegan uh who is the creator of the Shitty Media Men list. She was presumably about to be doxxed by a Harper's article. They were going to say that she was probably the person who created the list. So she kind of came out on Twitter and was like, yeah, it was me. Like, you don't have to doxx me.

Like, you can look on Instagram and see where I usually hang out if you want to do me physical harm. Yeah, because that was her fear. Right. Was that like if Harper's comes out and names her that like people were speculating. I think that there's a lot of speculation

of like the danger that, you know, that she could possibly be in. Yeah. And I mean. Not that that was the only reason, but yeah, I think it makes sense. You know, some people are like, well, then why would she just out herself? Yeah. And I mean – post anonymously their experiences with different men in the media industry. And they could post any sort of sexual misconduct, bullying behavior. And the way that the story had come down to me was that it kind of got out of hand and people's names were being thrown on there without accountability. And she does a really good job of kind of explaining where she was coming from, I thought.

And one of the things that I hadn't realized is it was only up for a couple hours. It was up for like 12 hours. Right. And then it just got flooded with entries. And she was pointing out that... Was she sharing it with like specific friends or something before that? Was that the deal?

Or it was just at all on the internet for about 12 hours and then it got railed? I think she was sharing it with specific friends and it got like spread around. It was probably like an invite only thing the way you can on like a Google doc. Yeah. And it got spread so fast and to so many people.

And then I think within 12 hours, BuzzFeed was like going to publish an article about the shitty men list. And she was like, OK, this has kind of gotten away from me. So I think she took it down at that point right but then at that but then people had already sort of duplicated it and posted it everywhere else yeah yeah um so i mean the the points that she made were uh the ways that women have to adjudicate this sort of behavior, you know, are not great. Like if you want to report it to HR, HR's main interest is only to protect the company from any sort of, you know, litigation. Yeah.

So their main interest is not in helping the victim at all. And we've seen that time and again with these accusations, especially, I mean, the ones in politics were really bad because they would like make the victims do counseling with the people they were accusing of, you know, sexual harassment all the way up to sexual assault. And she was saying the police, you know, present their own set of problems. I think that's the one that people are usually like, well, just go to the police. But yeah, I mean the police are notoriously, as she puts it, notoriously inept with handling sexual assault cases. And so she was saying the spreadsheet basically made a presumption that our culture sees as radical, but that she's kind of put their voices out there.

And the other point she's making is that she didn't intend for this to be a public thing. She kind of does a really good job of describing the sort of historic importance of whisper networks. you know, informing other women that somebody is, you know, problematic or scary to be around, then you have women kind of talking to each other in private and telling each other, you know, keep an eye out for that person. And that's basically what she was hoping to accomplish with the spreadsheet, but just in a more formalized way because whisper networks, because they're informal, tend to be discriminatory or like they don't include women of color or people who aren't like already friends. Yeah, they can be elitist or insular, she says.

So the document was more responsible than I had assumed given given the, you know, versions that I had heard in the media. Like they visibly distinguished violent accusations from others. They were, you know, very clear about what the accusations were. So, you know, it's almost like more responsible than a whisper network is kind of what she was hoping to get at. It's just that because there was evidence of it, that's what kind of caused the problem. Right. Yeah. It seems like if there was a better way to do it, they would do it.

You know, it's sort of like how a lot of these things are being prosecuted on Twitter basically and there are issues with that. But it's way better than what we were doing before, which is nothing. Right. We just have to do something. Well, yeah. It's like sort of – it seems like the evolution of all of these new revelations and like as part of the sea change is figuring out how – if we're going to move away from the whisper network way of informing people, like what's that next logical step to do it in a way that's – that's I guess the most responsible way considering all parties involved. That isn't just complete like sort of social media accusations because that's kind of the way it's been done now. Right.

And just another point that I guess she doesn't specifically raise, but a you know, a lot of people are like, well, how do we know it's true? And there's sort of this implicit assumption, I think, on some men's part that, you know, making accusations against a man is something a woman would do, you know, easily and for fun. And at the end of the article, I was surprised to see that a lot of the things that she was worried about when she first put the doc up actually came to pass. She said in the weeks after the spreadsheet was exposed, my life changed dramatically. I lost friends, some who thought I had been overzealous, others who thought I hadn't been zealous enough. She lost her job. Oh, man.

And the fear of being exposed and the harassment uh that will inevitably follow um you know just in my time at cracked uh we had communities of mostly gaming communities who just objected to something a female actress did in one of our videos. And, you know, they would go after them in such a violent and like horrifying way. So it just seems like, you know, even though she's not being dramatic when she says that she's worried about that. And like the way that online communities go after people, especially like men's rights activist is pretty as bad as you assume it is. It's oftentimes worse than that. Yeah. I mean, there's people who are opposed to this list for certain specific reasons. And then there are people who are opposed to this list who track down people's parents addresses because they're upset.

You know what I mean? it's there's it's a it's a real thing yeah her thing was you're saying like her intention from the jump wasn't to like it wasn't meant to be a weapon or inflict consequences it was just basically there as like information for women to decide themselves if by like looking at this are they around these people is Is it like, are they willing to put themselves, uh, like in any kind of danger based on what other people are saying? And yeah. And it turned into like, yeah, the first thing I heard was like, it's people were kind of spinning and it's like, Oh, it's like the fucking, it's like a list of all the people who are evil and must be dealt with when it was something that was started with a completely different intention.

Yeah. Cause from what I've heard about it, there were a lot of people on the list for terrible, violent things, and then there were also people on the list for still bad things, but it's like, oh, this guy makes weird comments. Right. So then she also – that was fascinating. In her article, she said it's also – I was hoping it's like a garden variety resource for someone to just figure out, oh, is it worth some weird comments to look at this gig or not? I can make my own decision and that's useful. You know?

Yeah. Also, the very first thing on the doc is this document is only a collection of misconduct allegations and rumors. Take everything with a grain of salt. If you see a man you're friends with, don't freak out. So, yeah, there's a big disclaimer that I don't know. I think it's pretty responsible. Like that's not written in a small type at the bottom. Right.

It's the first thing you see on the doc and it's written in big red letters. that and it forced her to do that when it was something kind of started with the with the with you know with the intent to help and protect women uh from some of these men i would say with the intent to help them protect women and i think that's functionally what they were doing like i don't i i think the idea that it was uh you know a a dangerous thing is kind of, I don't know, I get the concern, but it really seems like based on the sort of landscape that she lays out, it seems like a valuable tool to like that because the other version is nothing like what i still don't see what women have to communicate with one another like communicate this information to one another other than informal whisper networks right and again and that was her whole thing was that those whisper networks are inherently flawed and can exclude people who this information might also be of value to right yeah uh super producer anna hosnia did you have something you wanted to drop in here um yeah basically i feel like this list is very important um and these kinds of lists

exist through small much smaller subcultures like comedy groups anywhere where there's like a group of women who have to work together and have, you know, potentially creepy males around. These lists come out and they're sent around. I've received lists like this being like, you know, I booked this podcast and women just want me to know who has accusations against them and who has been known to, you know, be a certain way. And I think it's they're everywhere. Women know. Women, we are organized. We know who's out there. We categorize.

These things will always pop up. And I think for whoever to say that this is dangerous, it might be dangerous, but it's also incredibly important to have these lists. And they will always exist. If women are here here we know who you are we might not say anything to your face but we know one thing i know about women they don't like to talk to each other about anything oh very rarely yeah um no but i mean like so let's

also look at some of the other alternatives we haven't talked about yet. So you're mentioning the smaller, more informal kind of networks or lists that people have. This just seems like a central repository for people to share the information with one another. The other way that these are being adjudicated that probably is more dangerous for people is by people publicly making the accusations on Twitter or on social media. And, you know, that person immediately being, you know, shamed and presumed guilty. This is like the privacy of this and like the anonymity of it, I think, is a very valuable thing that at least she was trying to do. Yeah, I agree with that because to actively come after someone puts you in a very sensitive position. You don't know who will come after you because of that. And I think it's important to be able to be informed, but not act, you know, someone can

tell me someone is problematic and doesn't mean I'm going to go up to that person and be like, yeah, it just knows that i know to be protect myself a little around that person yeah i'm not going to go after anyone i just now know who i should spend maybe less time with maybe someone i don't tell where i live or someone i don't right no yeah or just stay after hours with yeah or reevaluate the how they move and and just kind of be aware of what kind of ulterior motives they might have. And I mean this thing was immediately incredibly and to her she said shockingly popular. Like she – the really eye-opening experience for her was just how common this was. Right. She was saying that, you know, the thing that women kept saying who, you know, were invited to this list was how surprised they were to see both the people who they would accuse of something being on that list doing the exact same thing to somebody else. Right. Or just other people doing the exact same behavior that like someone else did to them.

So I don't know, like the seeing it from her perspective made me think, OK, we need something. We need something that is like this. And if it's not this, it's got to be something else, because, I mean, there is an absolute need for this sort of thing. Yeah. Also, it is somewhat like therapy to see that someone else was maybe harassed by that same person. So you don't feel as crazy. It makes you feel like, OK, yeah, you're right. I wasn't over exaggerating when I thought this guy was being a little weird. Like I wasn't just overthinking it like,

Oh no, he has a behavior that other women have seen and there's something, it makes you feel better. Right. Yeah. And she, she goes on to mention that, like how the document is clearly like cathartic for the women who are using

it because they were able to encourage one another. And it, yeah, it, it basically, yeah, because we, for so long we were just not having this discussion out in the open.

So now it's like we're at a point like, oh, how do we have this discussion on the open? And this is a step towards figuring that out to create the transparency and accountability that we just we just need to protect people from predators. Right. She she points out that, you know, the thing that we're finding out in this whole post-Weinstein world is that the current situation is untenable. Nobody should have to live in the way that we've been living up to this point. Right. Now, just to quote her, we're being challenged to imagine how we would prefer things to be. And this feat of imagination is about not a prescriptive dictation of acceptable sexual behaviors, but the desire for a kinder, more respectful and more equitable world. Like you need to create tools that will enforce that kind of behavior.

And I mean, a point she makes is that, you know, the document is not just an end in and of itself. It's a tool for, you know, women to communicate with one another. And, you know, if a guy's name is in red, they highlighted names in red where the behavior was violent. And if six different people are reporting it, you know, then that's an opportunity for them to come together and, you know, pursue some sort of real world action. But again, she's just being very respectful in the way that she's suggesting that's done. It's not, it doesn't seem like it's this mob, runaway mob mentality. All right, we're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back.

I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. One session. 24 hours.

BPM 110. 120. She's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it.

That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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

guns and church and a little bit of the spice of conspiracy theories that we liked. Voila! You got straight away. I felt like I was living in North Korea, but worse, if that's possible. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1982, Atari players had one thing on their minds, Sword Quest. This wasn't just a new game. Atari promised 150 grand in prizes to four finalists.

But the prizes disappeared. And what started as a video game promotion became one of the most controversial moments in 80s pop culture. I just don't believe they exist. I mean, my reaction, shock and awe. That sword was amazing. It was so beautiful.

I'm Jamie Loftus. Join me this spring for The Legend of Sword Quest, a podcast about the fall of Atari and the disappearing Sword Quest prizes. We'll follow the quest for lost treasure

across four decades. It's almost like a metaphor for the industry and Atari itself in a way. Listen to The Legend of Sword Quest on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today.

And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer. This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. President Trump. So we talked earlier about how I think it's Axios got access to his actual schedule. Like there's the public schedule that the president's office gives out to the media that is, you know, very vague, but also makes it seem like the president is a hard worker in this case.

And we we talked about how over the over the last year, he is like, on average, started work at 11 and gotten off work at six. So he's putting in a solid seven hours. But they pulled like random examples from his actual like weekly schedule from the week they were looking at. And we were giving him way, way too much credit. So I wanted to I wanted to read just what what his days looked like. So on Tuesday, Trump has his first meeting of the day with Chief of staff John Kelly at 11 a.m. He then has, quote, executive time for an hour.

So 8 to 11 a.m. we talked about is executive time. And that's that means that he's in his bedroom watching Fox News and tweeting and eating cheeseburgers in bed, presumably. No way. There's no way we have like an electronic record that he's tweeting and watching Fox News. There's not timestamps or stuff lining up. Right. That can't be. So first meeting at 11 a.m., then he has executive time for an hour after that meeting, followed

by an hour lunch in the private dining room. Then it's another hour and 15 minutes of executive time, followed by a 45-minute meeting with National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. Then another 15 minutes of executive time before Trump takes his last meeting of the day, a 345 meeting with the head of presidential personnel, Johnny DiStefano, before ending his official day at 4.15. Other days are fairly similar, unless the president is traveling, in which case the days run longer. On Wednesday this week, for example, the president meets at 11 a.m. for his intelligence briefing. He then has executive time until 2 p.m.,

where he meets with the Norwegian prime minister, his last official duty, a video recording with Hope Hicks at 4 p.m. OK, so those are pretty bad. And then their next bullet point is on Thursday, the president has an especially late schedule policy time, quote, policy time at 11 a.m. So, like, that's not even a thing. They're just like, okay, we have to put something on this day. Policy time at 11 a.m., then executive time at 12 p.m., then lunch for an hour, then more executive time from 1.30. So, what the fuck?

That's just it. I'm serious. If you Google preschooler schedule, it will look very similar to this. It really does. Except it will be story time followed by arts and crafts time and circle time. What the fuck is policy time? Policy time. Like does someone show him like poster?

Like does he watch Schoolhouse Rock? I don't know. It seems like maybe they are just trying to remove him from all consequential action and decision making. And then every once in a while, he flares up and is like, I want to have a meeting on TV. And they're like, okay. And then completely own himself in the meeting. Yeah. So what happened with that meeting?

He had a bipartisan meeting about DACaca and oh two days ago you mean with uh diane feinstein yeah with die fi and yeah like he just she just basically asked him to like like she said what the like what the democrats wanted was like a clean daca bill before talking about immigration reform and he's like yeah i think we can do that right and then agreed to it then all the republicans are like no no what? No, that's not how this works. You're not what we want. Remember what team you're on. So wasn't there something similar this morning with a tweet where he this morning?

So, yeah, they're like they're voting to really reauthorize the FISA Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Right. And the White House position is to reauthorize it. Right. Because they want to make sure that they can surveil whoever they need to keep all the power. So he's watching Fox and Friends this morning. And then he tweets, quote, House votes on controversial FISA act today. End quote. This is still in the tweet. This is the act that may have been used with the help of the discredited and phony dossier to so badly surveil and abuse the trump campaign by the previous administration and others question mark so he's kind of like wait this thing might be shady right then someone probably had to smack the shit out of him and say are you bro that this is not no we don't want that right and then so this next three two hours

later is with that being said i have personally directed uh the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and today's vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land we need it get smart right so i mean he doesn't even know what i it makes sense like just give him like you know like when you give your toddler a cell phone you put on airplane mode or something and just you know press all the things and you still you still think you're using it right um right maggie simpson driving the car yeah exactly yeah so i mean you can look at it a couple ways like does he have all this free time because he is demanding it and he's just like i really the i just need more executive time right or they are completely just like dude keep this guy away from fucking everything right either way it looks like a complete dereliction of duty like to fuck have that much executive time yeah but then also when do we hold these people around him accountable too because they know better i know i think that's

i think we need to start like really looking at them and just being like okay so this guy's somewhat irrelevant other than the fact that he could end the world at any time yeah exactly but we should maybe start looking at who's using him for what and in what manner yeah like in that respect i do feel like maybe him having his kids close by is maybe good for him because they're gonna be looking out for his best interest and maybe they'll be like yeah sure uh maybe you should resign dad Yeah. Or just be like, daddy, you're sick. Right. You got to stop.

And also if they know you, I honestly, you have a, you have a responsibility to let the American people know that daddy can't do the job. I mean, we already know that, but like, let's be real. Like if something really goes down and the whole time this like senile guy was like doing a coloring book before he decided to like authorize a nuclear strike against someone. Right. Like we're at risk. Oh, we're totally at risk.

We're fucked if he like, I don't know, has a moment of lucidity and gets like cranky that, you know, he's being kept away from the nuclear button or whatever. Yeah. I like that his brain seems to be like he just likes whoever's nearest to him. Whenever he's met with Obama afterwards, he's like, that Obama's a pretty good guy. And then an hour later, it wears off and he's like, he just watches enough Fox News.

It's just whatever's in front of him. Yeah, Hope Hicks, his real wife, I'm looking at you, you need to say something too. Alright, we don't know anything. Well, they say that's his real daughter. That's being floated around the office is that there's something going on there. But we have no reason to believe that. This is wild speculation.

But either way, all you people in the White House, I know you're listening to this show because it's a very powerful show. Right. But you need to step up and say something because it looks like your man doesn't have what it takes. All right. That's going to do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist. Please like and review the show if you like the show. It means the world to Miles. He needs your validation, folks.

I hope you're having a great weekend, and I will talk to you Monday. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you. In California, during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the president of the United States. One was the protege of Charles Manson. 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nicknamed Squeaky.

The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeartTrue Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister? Or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams.

Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions,

sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. What happens when a professional football player's career ends and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on? I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church. Voila! You got straight away. They try to save everybody. Listen to

Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.