The Daily Zeitgeist - White Africans >, CEOs R All dUmB 05.15.25

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

In episode 1864, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian, Shanna Christmas, to discuss… America Just Got Whiter By 59 People…, Max Shall Now Be Known As… HBO Max, So That Whole VR Revolution Never Happened and more! As a white Afrikaner, I can now claim asylum in Trump’s America. What an absurdity Trump administration faces criticism for prioritizing white South African refugees Max Shall Now Be Known As… HBO Max Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max Streamer Ripped as a Terrible Brand Strategy: ‘Insanely Bad Decision’ Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s 2024 Pay Rises 4% to Nearly $52 Million Max's confusing launch saw Warner Bros lose nearly two million subscribers Max Loses HBO Title as Rebranded Service Launches: What to Know Returning the HBO to Max Is Latest Sign of Potential Warner Bros. Discovery Split This is what happens when the Vision Pro shows up on The Price Is Right. (Clip) 5 Ways in Which Apple Vision Pro Will Change How We Work A Game Changer in Immersive Learning - Five Ways Apple’s Vision Pro Could Transform Education and Training Apple Vision Pro U.S. Sales Are All But Dead, Market Analysts Say Apple Sharply Scales Back Production of Vision Pro Apple plans cheaper Vision Pro as tariffs threaten costs Report: Cheaper ‘Apple Vision’ headset to cost around $2000; drop EyeSight Minecraft’s VR support is now gone 56% Of VR Devs Say VR ‘Declining Or Stagnating’ What actually happened to Mark Zuckerberg's $47 billion Metaverse? The Metaverse’s Dark Side: Here Come Harassment and Assaults Meta's Money Pit: Metaverse Bet Bleeds Billions Remember Zuckerberg's Cherished Metaverse? Now He's Firing the People He Hired to Build It The metaverse could be a 'legendary misadventure,' Meta executive says, if Reality Labs doesn't turn things around in 2025 How AI Replaced the Metaverse as Zuckerberg’s Top Priority The Metaverse Flopped, So Mark Zuckerberg Is Pivoting to Empty AI Hype LISTEN: Nightrider (feat. Freddie Gibbs) by Tom Misch & Yussef DayesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're just talking about white people who dress like it's not cold when it's absolutely outside. If you have a take because you're from a warm weather place and you're not, I'd imagine I'm from LA. I'm not impressed when people act like it's not fucking freezing outside. Well, the thing about Vegas too is that sometimes it gets cold here too. Like sometimes it'll randomly snow and I just find that white people in general are just not aware of the risks of things. Temperature, police, low hanging

suits, you know what I mean? Like they're surfing, they're doing all the things to kind of push the envelope. So I don't know. I feel like they just kind of like being out there. This is my impression of me walking around town. Dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt. Yeah, it's more a beat. You got the star from Mario.

Yeah, you're invincible. Nothing can touch me. I don't know. I don't know who police. No. Giving a police officer a high five. Oh my God. Oh my God. I dated a white man.

It was terrifying. I thought I was going to feel more free, but I was just mostly like, why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? School bus could go this fast You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly.

I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist and try to learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's very interesting. Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, host of the podcast, Are You a Charlotte? Sarah Jessica Parker is here, and she is sharing stories from the very beginning, like the time she forgot we filmed the pilot episode. I remember some things about shooting the pilot. Right. I have some memories I can fill in.

You're going to fill me in. Yes. But then you forgot about it in the very long time they took to pick us up. Listen to Are You a Charlotte? on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. When we step beyond the edge of what we know. I clinically died. The heart stopped beating. Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes. And return. It's a miracle I was brought back.

Alive Again, a podcast about the strength of the human spirit. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. I want you to ask yourself right now, how am I actually doing? Because it's a question that we rarely ask ourselves.

All of May is actually Mental Health Awareness Month and on the psychology of your 20s, we are taking a vulnerable look at why mental health is so hard to talk about. Prepare for our conversations to go deep. I spent the majority of my teenagers and my 20s just feeling absolutely terrified. I had a panic attack on a conference call. Knowing that she had six months to live, I was no longer pretending that this was my best friend. So this Mental Health Awareness Month,

take that extra bit of care of your wellbeing. Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello the internet and welcome to season 388 episode 4 of Do Daily Vape Guys! It's a production of iHeart Radio. It's a podcast where we take a deep dive into America's shared consciousness and it's Thursday, May 15th, 2025.

Halfway through. Look, shout out to, it flowers to someone day very vague they fell asleep halfway through figuring out what day flowers someone someone also a shout out to the old timey bank robbers its national nylon stocking day chocolate chip day yeah the first shy snow never catch me some hosiery over your face and all it did was be like you look still look like a white person, but with a nose? Yeah, you just look like a slightly uglier white guy. Was that actually a good disguise? To put hosiery over your face?

I mean, I'm not that old, Miles, but No, but I mean like watching up movies. We've seen that trope over and over and every. I mean, I'm not that old, Miles, but no, but I mean, like, watching up movies, we've seen that trope over and over. And every time I'm like, it looks like the fucking guy just with hosiery. They actually talk about that in that Say Nothing show about the Trebles in Ireland, where like one of the dudes rolls up to do his dirt and he has hose over his face and like a big mustache and everyone's like, yo, we know we know who it is. It's like wearing a Batman mask with a mustache. It's like, hey, that's a pretty distinct mustache. The girl starts making fun of him about it. He's like, I'll give you 15 minutes.

Go buy a shite Steve. Put a balaclava on on and just put this over if you want to do it Chucks. Well my name is Jack O'Brien aka Potatoes O'Brien. Shout out to the trebles. And I'm thrilled to be joined as always by my co-host Mr. Miles Gray. Miles Gray aka. In the middle of the night, I go swimming in the creek, between the mountains of shit and the river so deep I've been affected with something something to slide from the worm so many children will die

Cuz I can't see the germs Even though I know the river is shit. I walk down every evening and swim to some more Damn I ran and I said, you know, you're gonna stay with me I can't take the water in my mouth and my eyes because a worm needs a friend. That's what I'm looking for. All right. Shout out Nick Sempert-Tyrannus on the Discord for that Billy Joel. I was when I just had Lightly in my brain and I asked Jack, I was like, is River tonight?

And then you do that. Yeah. I don't know. It's been too long. I truly loved the hell out of that song for like the first six months it was out. And I don't think. It's been too long. I truly loved the hell out of that song for the first six months it was out, and I don't think I've heard it since then. I think the last time I heard it was when it was just playing nonstop in the 80s. That's how I have the melody in my head,

and I know it's like in the middle of the I go walking in the- In the middle of the I go walking in the- Was that Paul Simon, Lady Smith Black? Yeah. There might be something as I was singing, I was walking in the Paul Simon, lady Smith. Yeah. There might be something as I was singing, I was like, is this problematic Mary, lady Smith, black Mambasas like the, remember the lifesavers commercials they did. Oh yeah.

Ooh, no, no. Winter green lifesavers. That was the wave, bro. Is that the one where they turn the lights out and it sparks? That's a Winto Green one was I think had. Miles were thrilled to be joined in our third seat by a hilarious comedian, writer, actor, producer, contributor to Reductress. Their comedy special, highly intelligent, is dropping in five days.

Please welcome Shauna Christmas! Yo! Yeah! I was trying to restrain myself. I wanted to jump in so bad with all your little banter. I was like, just the lady Smith. I was like, ooh, yes, I remember that. You remember that?

I was going to go, I Yes, I remember that. You met you remember that? Oh, I was gonna go. Yeah. Exactly. Man, people were loving that. It's so funny how Paul Simon was like the gateway white for them to be like, Hey, you know, these are you know, what? Hmm. We still always need a white person to read the truth for us. It's really unfortunate. And it gets so worn out that it's like, wow, we're going to take this shit to the point that any pipe saver is commercial. Oh, man. Okay, fine.

At least they got to check. Even got more white. He made me think as a child that he was Chevy Chase and that you can call me out the whitest person in the world. I truly I was like, damn, Paul Simon looks like the guy from Fletch. They do kind of look alike. Well, yeah, he had him lip syncing that song and I just mean now.

Yeah. Now they all kind of, you know, into when they say we are the form of a crab. Exactly. They all just turn into Chevy. We evolve in the. Or Chevy Chase is from like deep money like he's moneyed. Yeah, yeah. His his real name is not Chevy Morgan Chase. Yes. Thank you. Like the, I'm sure there's some chase banks back there in his lineage.

So yeah, really, is it from the banking? I don't, I don't know, but it's might as well be. Oh, yeah. Damn it. I'm just getting in there. Chase chase rear Admiral USS enterprise. Damn. These people are like, yeah, yeah. Rear Admiral. He comes just getting in there. Chase Chase, rear admiral, USS Enterprise. Damn, these people are like, yeah, yeah, rear admiral.

He comes from rear admirals. I don't even know what the fuck that means. But adopted by a Vanderbilt. Oh my, like adopted as in like we summer with them and they're basically my family. I have no idea. Wow. The Vanderbilt estate is basically my home away from home.

Simply must go there. Wow. Jack, you've had some practice talking like that or what? That sounds pretty good. I was just talking about my summer plan. That's not an impression of any of my life. Where do you summer? That's our first question we like to ask our guests. Where do you like to summer?

And with whom? You go home or do you transition immediately into your fall autumn home? Oh, it's the same house, I think. You haven't lived until you've been to Hyannis Court in August. Is that where- That's where the Kennedy compound is. Yeah. I was like, isn't that where Ted got in trouble? Yeah.

That's actually the blue collar rich person estate, the Kennedys. Because they're Catholic. Anyway, Shana, we're thrilled to have you here. We're going to get to know you a little bit better in a moment. First, a couple of things we're talking about. Miles, great headline. America just got whiter by 59 people. Yeah.

Yeah. They have arrived. The Afrikaners. Yeah. We'll talk about that, just Trump administration. Not even a dog whistle at this point, but just being like, you know, we don't like some immigration, but we're going to make sure which kind you know we like.

They're like, we would do a Nazi salute, but it hurts sales, it turns out. Right. The only reason why. And I'm getting tennis elbow. I'm getting tennis elbow from how much Nazi's I'm doing. I'm actually rewriting this. Hile elbow. Yeah. My Hile bow.

Oh, no. You have that sick Hile bow. Oh, we were summering this summer and I think my Hile bow just. My elbow is getting stiff from all the, I mean, when you see how you did that shit, like his arm almost came out of socket. He was very enthusiastic with it. Then we have a couple of stories where the theme is that CEOs are

smart and we should trust them to run this country. We of course have the renaming of Max to, drum roll please. HBO Max. Max, the app that was renamed to Max from drum roll, please HBO Max. Back in 2023. And we, along with everybody who was paying attention to that story was like, that seems like a stupid, a stupid fucking idea. Maybe anyways, they concur. They're going back to HBO max. And this is all being done by a CEO who makes a $52 million a year.

David Zaslav, $52 million, a million dollars a week. That's right. Okay. Yeah. Oh, that's right. Okay. Yeah So when you think about it that way like make it down don't try and smear him because that's a million dollars That has to get him from Sunday all the way to Saturday. You know, that's Weekends get expensive. I'm just saying when you're summering in Hyana sport People struggling in this world. I put white Afrikaners at the top.

And of course, love right at a close second. That's man. Think about all the pressure. Think about all the eyes, all the projects he had to fucking kill. All the all the times that he had to watch Fleabag with his friends and tell them to all avert their eyes, so they couldn't see him jacking off on his yacht. That was the rap shit.

Yeah, it was so funny. All right, guys. But I have to tell the story every time in case people haven't heard it. He put on Fleabag, a show that is like a streaming show, that's his business, and was so scandalized by the opening scene where she's masturbating to Obama, that he pressed pause and was like, all right, listen, everybody on this yacht,

which is where they're watching it, we're going to, here's the deal, we're going to just watch it straight. We can't look at each other during the thing. Which doesn't really make sense unless he was planning to start checking off. Right. Why are you? Why are you not letting people look at you? We're just watching TV. That's well, that's no way to do anything other than like the heart of the covenant. Yeah. Yeah. Stands next to the screen while the TV's playing. He's like, okay.

while the TV's playing, he's like, okay, I'll put it in your eyes. Everybody just chill out. If you hear a funny sound over here, just keep your eyes forward. That surround sound, that's actually from the show. Anyways, we'll also talk about the VR revolution. Does everybody remember the VR revolution? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, man, we're all going to get those helmets and just live with those big stupid helmets on our head. Just walk around looking like we were just got off a motorcycle in the future. And instead, nobody bought those and everybody lost billions of dollars. Did they really? Yeah. I know.

Again, sad news. Actually, let me, I had to reorder my oppression rankings. It goes after her, after Connors, then David Zaslow. Okay. All that, plenty more. But first, Shawna, we do like to ask our guest, what is something from your search history that's revealing about who you are?

Okay, so there's two things. I recently searched my own name. Sorry, I'm very busy. Yes. Just just trying to see what's popping out there. That's just a soon. Oh, is it? We're all doing. I don't normally do that. But I was like, Oh, let me see if it pops up. Like I did a podcast and it pop up. But that's

recently. Oh, another thing I did search was blazer with jeans and converse women. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. And I like it. But I'm getting ready to go on a sports show on the news on Sunday. And I'm like, what do people wear when they're on the news talking about sports? A blazer? Yeah.

Can I wear jeans? Yeah, they can. What about my chucks? Like I had to find all the things in my closet because I don't know how to dress. Did you find somebody? I found, there was lots of great photos of people wearing amazing blazers with jeans and I was like, ooh, I've got options. But that's what I was looking for. I mean, folks at the time at like a news desk aren't people like flagrantly not wearing like the formal bottoms like they like, especially like at an anchors desk, they're like, Yeah, I got jeans. The top looks like I have a suit on. But I think this show in particular, like I'm sitting like away from the desk, and

I'm talking to like the sports people were like those little like, director chair kind of thing. Yeah, oh, got it. So we do have to wear pants. Totally interviewers, but no basketball shorts. I don't think I want to see some of these news about the shorts. Honestly, somebody's news are, yeah, 60 year old sports guys. No, thanks. Yeah. I'll work at a nursing home during the day. I've had enough.

You don't see all loose shin hair. Just like, why is it all on the shin? Yeah, it's everywhere. Mouse. But what do you do? You want the news to talk about sports wise? Volleyball, I used to play out here in Vegas and stuff like that. No blocker. Yeah, I did middle for a little bit.

And when I got to college, they moved me around because the coach didn't like me very much. He was a hater, but I was a middle blocker mostly because you never get to hit when you play middle. Right. You're just running around. Did you see a celebrity with the outfit on that you're like, okay, and now I'm good, like a celebrity that you admire wearing the outfit or anyone who made it look particularly good?

Well, when I saw Kelly Rowland, she was wearing a bright yellow blazer. Yes. And I was like, oh, you can do that. And then I looked up bright yellow blazers and it was just like not It wasn't the cutest what she had on and it was like trendy blazer. It just wasn't popping up So I just went with black. I went to Ross. There you go. He's not I'm poor. So Either way no one like the people are there to get cakes and your expertise. You know what I want to take someone's job I feel like I'm gonna go on Snoop Dogg this interview on Sunday

and be like, now I'm a correspondent. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. You should open the interview, by the way, saying that. And by the way, I'm about to take your job. Sorry. Yeah, my bad. And you guys our shake to the person. Oh, good to see you. My friends are everybody's. Respect. Respect the way you

know, welcome, I know nothing about this sport. Welcome to the show, we're gonna wing it. Touch your heart to like, oh, oh, man, I love doing that after shows, by the way. It's my face. Oh, I do. I do that too. It is. Think so? Oh, thank you. It's really weird. So like, you did a great job. I'm like, oh, you think I do?

I doubt myself so much. Even after I did a good job. I'm like, wow, you really enjoyed it? Oh, so it is sincere. Yeah, it is. Okay, okay. The way you were saying a little sarcastic, oh no.

Oh. I do it that way. I've been doing this professionally for years. I did a good job. All that laughter. You think that meant that I was doing a good job? Like the crushing, the actual killing that was happening, that felt good to you too?

Oh boy, you'd be surprised. Minute to minute, I'm like, this is bombing. Oh, and now we're bombing. And we're back. And I'm bombing and I suck and I should never do this again and holy shit, I'm the best at this. Yeah. Bucky, do I fake a medical episode again?

Yeah. OK, do I think a medical episode to get out? What is something that you think is underrated? Shana smacking people in the mouth. You're rated. I think more people need to be popped in the mouth for stuff. Yeah. I just yeah. People get a little bit too mouthy. Who needs an adjustment? Who needs an adjustment?

Here's that inspired. You saw someone who needed an adjustment? Gestures broadly. Uh, government. Everywhere. People on the internet. I don't know, sometimes my mom. Whatever.

That doesn't happen enough, you know? People don't need to get bullied, physically bullied. This online bullying stuff, sure, it makes this up your mental. But all you got to do is punch somebody in their mouth and they don't leave you alone. Yeah, yeah. It is the cuffs.

People always say, they're like, oh, you can tell this person has never been smacked in their mouth. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You are out of pocket. You need to be slapped really hard on camera. Yeah, like Stephen Miller has never been. No, because he's just shocking. Right.

One of the most smackable mouths. Yes. You want to like this grimy kids that go to Samo also like you there. You might fuck around and find out, but I guess not for Stephen Miller. So he needs to get somebody with some Tim, some dusty Tim's. Yeah, right. Or somebody give him a 300 milligram edible. Oh, and be like, bye bye. What happens 300 sounds like a lot.

Yeah. He will turn into a Chevy Chase or he will revert to his final form. Blow some toad venom in his face. One of those just like super intense, like entire ego dissolving, you know, like just dose them with ayahuasca or something like that. Hero dose. Yeah. Real, yeah. Hero's dose.

Oh, yeah. And then just follow him as he like tries to like find a place to be by himself and like put a therapist in there with him. Or his family. It's just his wife. Yeah. Who knows what's going on there. That's true. They're both bad. Also, Shana, friendship has a great ayahuasca scene. Oh, really?

I'm excited for you to see it, Miles. Is that on HBO Max? It is not on HBO Max yet. It's probably heading there at some point. But yeah. What is, Shawna, something you think is overrated? Being a good person. Being a good person.

Yeah. Being a good person, I've been doing that for a long time. You got me nothing but disrespected. So, run over, disregarded, disrespected. Run over, disregarded, disrespected. So yeah, that's my punch people in the mouth thing. They kind of go hand in hand, right? Are you in your villain era now? I'm trying to get there. Yeah.

I'm working on it. You seem like a nice person, Shana. I am. We have to work on that. It's because I'm tall. Yeah. And you think that, I mean, that probably gave you No, it's because I'm tall. Yeah, yeah. And you think that, I mean, that probably gave you thick enough skin to

bend through comedy and deal with people who want to have opinions about you. But yeah, but you don't want to scare them. You're a six foot three black lady walking around. People are terrified. So you work extra hard to make sure they're not scared of you. Yeah. When I should be like, ah, all the time, you know, but yeah, I'm a gentle giant.

See, I'm gentle. You can pet me. Oh my goodness. Wow. That's your heart. I mean, is that an assumption that people make that you're a good person because you're tall? No, I think that's something that tall people do to make sure that we accommodate other people's sphere of us by being nice.

I don't think they assume we're nice. They're always like, oh, I'd hate to get in a fight with you. I'm like, why? I've never fought before. Why are we talking about fighting each other? That's so weird. Immediately. Immediately.

Who's the tallest kid you grew up with and were they nice? My brother, he's six, eight and a half. And he's nice? Yeah, he's nice. Or he he he he's publicly nice and then behind closed doors. No, he's actually just a really nice kind of aloof dude. Yeah, very much like he's an engineer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. He went through a divorce for like five years, not once did he like

try to strangle this bitch. She was you know, he was just like, hey, we just go to the deposition and wait. I'm like, why aren't you angry? You know, that's just kind of what it is. I'm like, I don't like her. I will beat her up for you. So he's just a very nice tall man. Yeah.

What about you Jack? Yeah. Jason Weathers, shout out Jason Weathers. Really, really sweet guy. Jason Weathers. Shout out Jason Weathers. Really, really sweet guy. Very soft spoken. Probably ended up about like six, seven or so. Yeah. I had to do a big Danny in my high school.

Six Danny, Jason Weathers nickname. Shaq. Yeah. He was white. There's also a big white guy named Hooger. Oh yeah. You gotta give, you gotta give the big dude the nickname and Shack and Hooshe. Your daddy. Uh, a real sweet guy.

The sweetest, most generous dude. And like genuinely too. So it's like, I'm, if y'all know, like I just in genuinely nasty, tall guy, yeah, athlete and like celebrity. I love to hear about that. Cause I feel like it's always like the people maybe on the shorter end who are like more violent. See, that's my problem because deep down I am not a nice person.

I, I don't want to help. deep down, I am not a nice person. I don't want to help you. DMS. Nice person. One of my favorite rap lines of all time. He just came right out and said, I'm not a nice person. FYI, some things about me. Yeah, that's a grocery store.

Someone's like, oh, excuse me. Can you like, no, I don't work here. Right. Why are you assuming I have to help you? And then I'm like, well, you got to do it because otherwise they'll be thinking you're me. Yeah, I am helping some old lady get the cashing goalie and crunch off the top shelf. She's like the one with the red berries.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, can you come back? Just so you know, I see you as a representative of black people. Yes, yes, yes. I want to tell my friends that you guys are actually nice. Let me see how you responded. If you come with me over to this other aisle. Get all of my groceries. Can you help me bring this to my car? Yeah.

Hmm? Hmm? Post about this on fucking next door. Yeah, someone's taking you about this on fucking Nextdoor? Yeah, someone's taking a video. Nextdoor. Nextdoor. On my Nextdoor app, yeah. Oh my God.

All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back to talk about some news. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I am talking to a felon right now and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives

I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot matter of fact Here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show I live with my boyfriend and I found his piss jar in our apartment I collect my roommates toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head,

search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, host of the podcast, Are You a Charlotte? What We Have All Been Waiting For. Sarah Jessica Parker is here and she is sharing stories from the very beginning,

like the time she forgot we filmed the pilot episode. I remember some things about shooting the pilot. Right, I have some memories I can fill you in. And that you're going to fill me in. Yes. But then you forgot about it in the very long time they took to pick us up. I completely forgot about it.

And she reveals what she thought when she read the script for Sex and the City the very first time. He said he wrote this like I was in his head in some way, which I found really interesting. And does she think Carrie is too good for Mr. Big? She had inexplicable feelings. Got it.

It is a human being that can't explain to her friends why somebody that might be beneath her Yes. is dictating the hunt. You can't miss this. Listen to Are You a Charlotte? on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, it's Jay Shetty, and I'm thrilled to announce my first ever on purpose live tour presented by Chase Sapphire Reserve. That's right, I'm coming live to a city near you. Come and see me. Join me and surprise guests for meaningful and insightful conversations to spark learning, experience growth and build real connections. I'll also guide you through live meditations, share groundbreaking insights and create powerful moments of inspiration designed to deepen connections, spark growth and foster learning. Chase Sapphire Reserve is the gateway to the most captivating travel destinations and offers exclusive rewards and experiences so you can explore the world your way. Discover more with Chase Sapphire Reserve.

The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian, Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian, Dr. Randall Williams,

and bestselling author and meat eater founder Stephen Rinella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here and I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to the American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back and Miles and I are now recording. You may have noticed some audio hiccups. I don't think I think justice is going to use the zoom audio. I know, but they will. You're going to be we won't be able to hear you sometimes because you got gated. So I will let the I will let the people know. But the people know.

Look, that was total user error on the on our part, guys. This is a second rate podcast. And for that, we do apologize. Just FYI. But now you're getting the rich, sonorous tones of our voices. Is dulcet deep? I don't know.

I'm just, you're still hearing dulcet tones, and I don't know actually the definition of dulcet. No clue. Dulcet, sweet, oh, it just means sweet or soothing. Okay. So, up to the listener. Well, the important thing is they did hear you hit those high notes on Billy Joel. I hope so. Yeah.

All right. Let's talk about Afrikaners. Yeah. And team, Trump and co have been talking a lot about the, they're just worried about immigrants and they want to open the borders as much as they can to help them out, seems to be the message that they're putting out there. Yeah. Yeah.

As long as you're hoite. Yeah. We've heard this from Elon, Steven Miller, Trump himself. It's like just the plight of the Afrikaner, you know, in South Africa. Yes. Those Afrikaners, the ones that ruled apartheid South Africa, that them, they are VV worried about them and their well-being. I mean, I don't know if you heard, but the real genocide is happening to them.

Yes, they've been saying these people are facing an existential threat. Are they though? Nope. This is just one of those racist myths that gets peddled, you know, for a while, it's all based in the grievances of like white South Africans after the end of apartheid. And currently, the latest talking point is that the black government of South Africa is taking their land and giving it to black people. This is just what are they doing? That's what we used to do. That's really all it's always this shit. It's

always the fear of what we did to them, they're gonna do to us. And then they try and wrap it up in some kind of weird victimhood complex. We've seen it 100 times, baby, we live, we live in the place that does it the best. But again, they talk about there's this like, this, this law, specifically that they say is allowing, enabling the government to take land from white people. Again, the president of South Africa has reiterated many times as have many other experts on the laws. Like this is not just some land grab bill that people can just take land

willy nilly, like maybe y'all did. Uh, again, quote the law. I don't know. I can't pull a historic example, but- Where would that have happened where the indigenous people have had their land taken from white settler? Anyway, I don't know. It's very hard to wrap my head around.

I don't have a lot of historical context for that. But again, they say the law quote, allows for expropriation in cases when the land is not being used, or there's a public interest in its redistribution, similar to eminent domain laws in the US. It's not, hi, this is mine now, sorry, peace out. That's how settlers do things. Yeah.

That's how settlers do things. And now a whopping 59 people have escaped this tyrannical government and arrived in Virginia, which is kind of fitting fitting to escape the fake genocide in order to start life over in a new country that also ignores its past sins against people of African descent. So you wonder like, why is that number so low? 59 people? It's because white South Africans themselves aren't they are not under threat. And they actually don't want to leave. Like they just found a few people who are like, man, I kind of kind of burnt

the spot over here. Maybe I can start over in Virginia. Maybe that's fine. They found white people with a trumped up grievance. That's crazy. Where did they, where did they find these? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of people, like when they talk, cause you know, a lot of

journalists have spoken to white South Africans and be like, what do you think of this? Like, do you need to leave? And people were like, you know, like in many ways, like life's better since apartheid ended. I don't know if you've I don't know if you've seen the fucking stats on this inequality we've got over here. But whites in South Africa account for about 7 percent, 7.3 percent of the population. They own about half of the land. Seven percent owns half of the land.

And nothing has been confiscated. And white unemployment is around seven percent. With the national numbers for, you know, including black people, African people, they are 30 percent. That's 30. That's what the unemployment is when you are not white in South Africa. Also, crime rate, crime rate, it must be high if these people are, they need refugee status. The crime rates are again, much lower in white suburbs than where the black townships are. So again, it's all this, it's all rooted in this idea that we even see after 2020. And people were like, yeah, we maybe need to have a, can we try to have a reckoning with chattel slavery? That anything that resembles any kind of trying to rebalance the scales at the expense of

white people is immediately morphed into, yeah, we are being attacked. They are taking everything from us. We're all going to die. Somebody save us. Please. For asking that question right there, the punishment is 20 years of just open Nazism. Just asking if there's anything that we should do to address the historic inequality.

The backlash to that, unfortunately, will be a 20-year slide into fascism. You should have known better. Sorry. Sorry, you can't ask that one question. Yeah. Can't do that for a month in the summer on Maine. You got, you got to, yeah.

Yeah. That's, that's going to be 20 years of where we're just going to be Nazis. Backsliding. Yeah. Why didn't they send them to like, I don't know, Alabama or something. Why are they sending them to Virginia? Well, Virginia has, you know, has its problems. Very special place. Yeah. Right.

In the Confederacy. I mean, again, this is just like, this comes at a moment, right? Where we're actually dealing with legitimate existential stakes for immigrants in this country, refugees in this country, people who are seeking refuge in other countries. You know, like they just removed protected status for Afghans who came here, like the people who risked their lives to work with the American Empire during the fucking wars. Now they're like, sorry, turning it, turning our backs on you. Thanks for helping us out with that absolutely meaningless war that destroyed an entire region. But yeah, we're also we're gonna completely go back on any agreement we have,

like think about Haitian people, Congolese, like the list goes on and on and on. But again, that is the point of all of these policies. It's the absurd cruelty of it all to show people like you can't do shit about it. And watch we will play in your face and we will make a mockery of all of this because we're in charge and we're white. Okay? Yeah.

Sorry. Sorry. To put a siren on top of the white supremacy. Like that seems to be the thing. It used to be for the Republican Party prior to Trump, it was like quietly white supremacists and the Democratic Party, you know, quietly white supremacists in a lot of ways. And then now it's just finding different ways to say the thing without overtly saying it, you know, without actually hiling. Oh, wait, sorry. They do do that now, but not that is just a gesture of one's heart going out to people.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, they did say that those Africaners are easily to assimilate to America. Yeah, that's why they brought them here because they're white. And so those just automatically show up and be racist immediately. Right. They're like, it's like, oh, oh, we don't use the K word here. The N word. Yeah. They don't know them off. And they're going to be like, oh, Yeah, they've never heard of that term. Yeah, you should actually be using this word that starts with N when you're in this country.

They don't know. They're not. Our racists aren't as cultured. But then, like, even when you think about assimilate, a lot of other South Africans, white South Africans they talk to, they're like, they're like, I don't. I mean, I like I'm from South Africa. You know, my settler family has been here for generations. No need to leave. Also, we speak Afrikaans, not English.

So I don't want to start speaking English. And I'm like, they're not even a talk American talk American. I would love for that to get real weird with a hey, hey, hey, what you fellas talking over there? That's what I'm waiting on. I'm waiting on the coming here and then experience. Oh, wait, actually, hey, what you fellas talking over there? That's what I'm waiting on. I'm waiting on them to come here and then experience. Oh, wait, actually, we don't like any foreigners. You guys are weird. They're like, do you see them white people?

They're speaking Africans. Yeah, that's what I'm waiting on. You're going to come here and they're going to be like, actually. So what are y'all woke? What are y'all some wiggers or something? Whoa, whoa. I can't wait for the turn the plane around. Oh my God. I cannot wait for them to realize that they suck. We suck. There is one group that's pushing back against this and

it's the Episcopal Church. Episcopalians. They've been working with the government for 40 years to resettle actual refugees in this country. And I mean, I'm sorry, they had been working with the government up until this mockery. The head of the Episcopal Church let congregants know on Monday when these people arrived in the US, they said, quote, then just two over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal migration ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa,

whom the US government has classified as refugees. In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican church of South Africa, we are not able to take this step." So they just said, all right, well miss us with that grant then because we don't need it because we're not doing this.

I was like, wow. See what happens to your funding. See what happens to your funding then. Oh, why? Because you want to listen to your little Christ, little friend or what he said about unconditional love you've discussed to me. Somebody could just get a recording of what Trump is saying about these people. I know. I really wish someone would do that.

But I mean, what Bob Woodward gets like a tape of him like, yeah, for a book and doesn't tell us for six years. You're like, exactly. It's like, and he said that's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, he called Kamala the N word in 2020. And you're like, I'm sorry repeatedly in front of me. Why didn't you? Where is this? He's like, you have to wait for him to die.

Well, and also the book. Yeah, the first offer I got from Random House was so low. I'm like, no, no, no, I got him on wax. The publishing industry, of course, takes Wednesday through Friday off during summers. So I don't know if you guys have ever worked with them, but they take their time. They're at a leisurely pace.

Yeah, it's it's even those tapes from like the apprentice that people keep talking about like there's there's tapes like where Yeah, where it's still show it to us now because it's he already wanted. Also, it's like, I don't know, do I even need to see that? I'm like, I Yeah, I know. I don't need Yeah, there's tapes. I

know. I don't need to see them. I know. I don't doubt that anything. His approval rating would go up with that, there's tapes. I know. I don't need to see them. I know. I don't doubt that anything. Would go up with that. That's true. You know, that's true. I mean, I'm surprised he hasn't done that yet because he's Concentrate like he's losing more and more support. But yeah, I guess it's not he's not hitting the the nuke the red button yet Gotta call the black autistic kid an inward at the park. Yeah, exactly started go fund me That'll be how you do it. Yeah. Jesus Christ. But yeah, that's such a perfect example of how all of this works.

It's like, I got out of pocket with my whiteness. I need a million dollars. This story does remind me of a historic anecdote that was under covered in my history education that America had German POWs during World War II in Alabama and everyone was just like, ah, they're good. They're good shits. They were kind of cool.

Wait, they brought them back? Yeah, yeah. They brought them of cool. Wait, they brought them back? Yeah, yeah, they brought them to Alabama. They had, I think, 6,000 prisoners at one point, and it was not, it was not a, they weren't hard on them in the way that one might expect from a World War II prison camp. Yeah, oh, they weren't putting them in hot boxes?

They were not putting them in hot boxes. Like they were doing to their own citizens. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Jeez. There's something about America that just, you know, they really like a, a

white immigrant, they'll make friends. You know, I think that Gerhard is pretty cool, man. Yeah. It was like the Rommel, like people that from like getting defeated in Africa, Rommel's Corps. Oh, man. They were like, I don't know. Let's see where they're going with this. Let's give them a shot, guys.

Yeah. Southern hospitality to the Nazis. Did they go back? I wonder how many are like, you know what, we like this Alabama. Yeah. Then they came back and sent us to the moon You know, oh right. Right. Yeah. Yeah I don't think any of the prison prisoners necessarily sounds to the moon, but no former Nazis that did get us to the moon

We're like, hey, man, you want Nuremberg or a nice new house in New Jersey? All right, let's take a quick break and we'll come back and we'll talk about some good CEOs who are smart and know what they're doing. I found out that I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I am talking to a felon right now and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world

as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot. Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend and I found his pizjar in our apartment. I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head

and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, host of the podcast, Are You a Charlotte? What we have all been waiting for. Sarah Jessica Parker is here.

And she is sharing stories from the very beginning, like the time she forgot we filmed the pilot episode. I remember some things about shooting the pilot. Right. I have some memories I can fill you in. And that you're going to fill me in. Yes. But then you forgot about it in the very long time

they took to pick us up. I completely forgot about it. And she reveals what she thought when she read the script for Sex and the City the very first time. He said he wrote this like I was in his head in some way, which I found really interesting. And does she think Carrie is too good for Mr. Big? She had inexplicable feelings. Got it. It is a human being that can't explain to her friends why somebody that might be beneath her is Hey, it's Chase Shetty and I'm thrilled to announce my first ever on purpose live tour presented by Chase Sapphire Reserve.

That's right, I'm coming live to a city near you. Come and see me. Join me and surprise guests for meaningful and insightful conversations to spark learning, experience growth and build real connections. I'll also guide you through live meditations, share groundbreaking insights and create powerful moments of inspiration designed to deepen connections, spark growth and foster learning. Chase Sapphire Reserve is the gateway to the most captivating travel destinations and offers exclusive

rewards and experiences so you can explore the world your way. Discover more with Chase Sapphire Reserve. by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and bestselling author and meat eater founder Stephen Rinella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say, it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come

to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. And we're back. We're back. So up first, we got the Zazz, as we mentioned. Warner Brothers Discovery just announced that their streaming service, Max, will now be known as HBO Max, AKA the thing it was already fucking called before they changed the name to Max. What the fuck is the point of this? Why? This Hollywood reporter, the Hollywood reporter kind of ate on this sentence in

their write-up of the thing. Originally the service launched as HBO Max in 2020. In 2023, the company controversially changed the streaming service to simply Max ditching the most venerated network brand name and television television in favor of the most popular name for male dogs. dogs. Maximilian. Holy shit. Come here, Max. Oh, that was the name of Matthew McConaughey's dog in A Time to Kill. Oh, yeah.

When they burned his house down and he's like Max. And then Oliver Platt is like, Max is dead. Oh, shoot. Now imagine he's white. Yeah. What? The dog?

You just keep saying that, man. I assume every dog is white, to be honest. Also like that name too, I remember, I guess, is like a millennial. I also associate Max with like Cinemax. And I was like... Yeah, that's what I thought it was. I thought it was like HBO and Cinemax together. Yeah.

Now you know you're in trouble. HBO Max. And instead they were like, let's change it to just Max. Because they probably like focus grouped it, like had some misguided focus group testing. Like I love the story of a new Coke, because it's just like such a great illustration of like,

how dumb these people are who run these massive corporations and give themselves credit. They'll rewrite their own story about like, well, I invented all this back in a garage somewhere. It's all completely made up bullshit. They're one of 20 people. They ended up winning the corporate power struggle to be the CEO and then wrote everybody else out of the picture.

That's how it always works, but they tell the story like they're fucking Horatio Algar, pulling themselves up by the bootstraps. The reality is that it's just people in a boardroom trying to stay awake, they're so bored and coming up with the dumbest fucking decisions. The new Coke thing was based on, they kept, like Pepsi put out this ad where they were like three out of four people like Pepsi better in taste tests. And the way they did the taste test was they did little shot glass, you know,

Dixie cups of the flavors and like that's so Pepsi just like made that up and, you know, it was probably true. And so Coke was like, we gotta, we gotta get ahead of this taste test thing and. Made new Coke, which beat Pepsi in the little taste test, but nobody would drink it because it was only good if you took a single sip of it, if you took multiple sips of it, you would be like, my teeth feel like they're fucking vibrate because they put so much sugar. Cocaine? Oh, sugar.

Yeah, yeah. This was after the cocaine thing. But yeah, that would actually be smart if they were like, what if we just like got back to our roots? Yeah. And used some of that lobbying money that we use to make America ignore the obesity epidemic. But yeah, so they just like didn't,

they had to go back on it because it wasn't a thing that people liked drinking anywhere except in focus group tests. It's just like, I'm sure there's something similar here where like, they got people who are like, do you like the word Max or HBO Max? And the people were like, I don't know, like Max, I guess. I don't like, like just probably a misguided, like some misguided. I think that feels like research feels like a Zaz Lovian idea. That the guy would be like, yeah, dude, like, again, just like how the Hollywood

reporters talking about, like one of the most like, you know, recognizable names in television entertainment. And you go up, don't need to lead with that. Lead with a nebulous word like Max. We're bigger than HBO. We're bigger than HBO. Well, I think because that was a thing, right? They were mashing up Discovery Channel with all that. Like now you can get 90 Day Fiancé on Max.

Right. You know, and like they're like, so we don't want to confuse people. But I think people were more confused when the HBO name dropped out. And they're like, well, where do I get HBO then? Right. I think the worst part too, was like, we were hoping you guys would like fix the app for when you like hit the rewind button, you didn't shut down the entire app. Sorry.

Nope. Like, why didn't you focus on making sure it functioned appropriately? Like, why don't we change the name? Yeah. You hit rewind like 10 seconds and the whole thing would just shut down. You're like, great. I guess I can't watch Natalie grace. Yeah.

Yeah. Are you, have you seen the dramatized version of that? I started watching it the other day. I couldn't, I couldn't, I can't, I can't bring myself to watch it because the real thing is so fucking wild. I'm like, I do not need a dramatization when there's a full blown documentary when you can look these people in their faces. 12 episodes.

Yeah. It's no, I couldn't watch it. But if on Max, you wanted to go back and catch something she said, it would just shut down the whole thing. And they're like, let's just change the name and the color. I like the purple. Yeah. You know, it's funny.

I'm pretty sure I still have that like dead app on my phone. HP Max. Yep, I do. There it is. Yay. Keep it. I'm still with you. Collector. I am. It's weird. I'm like, I'm like, I got so many dead after I got flappy bird on this motherfucker. That was a game that guy taken off the app store years ago. And people were like like selling phones with it on it to be like, I need Flappy Bird. What do you do on there?

It was just like you tap the thing and the bird flaps and goes higher or lower and there's like obstacles like a side scroller game. It's really nothing. This was like very 2014 kind of shit. They had to outlaw it. It was like so, it was so good that people were just like dying of exposure while playing it.

Yeah, I forget why it got blocked, but anyway, it is what it is. Wow, Producer Richard said, didn't some guy get killed over it? Shit. I just remember this shit was so wild. I was like, why are people losing it over Flappy Bird? I think I missed that whole area of era phones. Yeah. Apologies to whoever got killed over it. Cause that's the dumbest sounding shit to get killed over a possible flag. Did he have the highest score or does somebody want to take his phone that

had the game on it and not now? I want to know details. Yeah. Why did this person die? Victor now research goal. Tell us, tell us, tell us now. Now research go is our spinoff. Oh good. Researching. Thank now. Victor, now research go. Is there a spin off? Oh good.

Researching. Thank you, Victor. I wish like when they, like to your point, Jack, like I wish they could just write these stories to be like, Oh, that's an L for David Zaslav going back on this. You know what I mean? It's not like, Oh, he's they're rebranding it. No, they made a stupid fucking, they made a stupid decision. Now they're like, yikes.

All right, that's an L. Just an L. You know it's bad when actual mainstream media accounts of the story just are actually making me laugh. It's a good move, a user wrote of the shift. The HBO brand is associated with some of the worst content ever. Sopranos, the wire band of brothers, game of Thrones, curb your enthusiasm, VEEP deadwood and Silicon Valley.

Good riddance. That was in the rap. Just like being like, yeah, man, good call. Dip shit. That's fucking brilliant. Yeah. But again, quick reminders as a lot of salary is a mere $1 million a week. So 52 million a year.

And HBO Max lost when he like kind of did this, you know, it was his like big swing in case you're like, but I mean, maybe he like did the research and it actually made sense and it worked. Uh, HBO Max lost almost 2 million subscribers due to confusion over the make-over. Oh, no. Just a straight up Coke level. Fuck up. I mean, are just more for like accounts now.

They're probably going to raise the price when they change it back to HBO Max. Like, oh, see, it's they're always want to do that shit. And now we're bundling HBO in the back. Oh, what are you doing? What? Yeah. Do you want to upgrade? What do you mean? Isn't it the same thing? No, this is HBO Max now. And I'm sorry. I don't know if you heard our CEO makes a meager

one hundred forty two thousand four hundred sixty2,465.75 per day. Jesus. Wow. That sucks for him actually. When you put it like that, that kind of, that's crazy that he's able to get by on that. I'm sorry. I didn't think I was gonna.

Yacht viewing parties to schedule. I mean, it took a lot for me to not cry during that story about the Afrikaners, but now I'm just, I'm sorry. I'm just thinking of him. He's only making 142. Your heart is so big. You can really tell me. Wow. I just want, I'm just, I just, I'm,

I want better for him because one day I know I will be there. I will be there. Thank you. For the low price of one Starbucks franchise a week. Thank you for the low price of one Starbucks franchise a week. You can. Yeah, we don't know the word billionaire. I mean, so yeah, like you said, miles, I scrapped the HBO branding in the first part to advertise that they were also bundling discovery content too, which was the company that Zazlov came from.

Right. And so it's just like him being like, well, people are going to want to like, really, Discovery is the star of the show. But I guess we could just like put it all under Max Max the everything. I think that ad campaign at the time was like Max, the only one you need or some of that was just like fucking. Brady punching my streamer services. Right.

It's like Max and X live together in my mind as like the dumbest fucking rebrands that nobody thought were a good idea. Right. Exactly. So wait, is Cinemax still a thing? I don't think so. I mean, they never really had original content beyond like a couple shows. They had that show Banshee that's supposedly really fun.

Uh-huh. And they had softcore. Yes, Emmanuel. Emmanuel, yes. Red Shoe Diaries. I wonder if any like that shit must have fallen off a cliff when internet porn became a thing. Oh my God.

I want to know what Emmanuel is doing now. She was so horny. I know. And she was even horny in space. Yeah. You know, I thought space would bring your libido down, but not Emmanuel. Nope.

Not Emmanuel. No, no, Emmanuel, you take away the sins of the world. Oh wait, no, this is a Jesus. Damn, sorry. They got to figure out the branding on that one. Yeah, I thought Cinemax was still around doing something or maybe you got roped into. No, this is or I did it. No, it is. It's all part of it's all on the streams.

Same streaming service. I just like don't effectively like what they're doing. This is what Cinemax.com looks like. It looks dire. Cinemax.com looks pretty. Schedules. Not lethal white. Lethal white.

This is what I'm saying. What is lethal white? This fucking channel is called Motherfucking Max. Yeah. Right. Movie Max. Cinemax used to be Max, I thought. And then they combined HBO and Max.

But what's, what is Lethal White? What's that show about? Oh, but then it is. So it is also HBO. This shit is so confusing, man. Stop it. Stop it. I feel like Michael Jordan in that PSA. Stop it. Stop it.

David Zas love, please. No, but it is feel like a Zaslav thing because his whole thing, everyone's like, do this guy's going to fucking come through and ruin everything. And all of his moves were like daddy's home. You know what I mean? And now it's like, oh, that thing. No, it's called Max. Now, all the slate of original programming that you had brought up

that was coming from like diverse creators Fucking gone daddy's home like that's every his hands just fucked everything up on that thing So it is like the propaganda of American capitalism is like these people know what they're doing Like that the whole thing is propped up on the idea like these are the smartest most capable people they know what they're doing They'll never like you said like they'll talk so much shit about the decision and the Hollywood Reporter, but they're never gonna be like, David Zaslov is a fucking clown. Like they would about, like they would about an athlete

for like fucking missing a free throw or something, you know what I mean? But the mainstream media will never do that because it's so propped up. And so, I do think it's partially responsible for like how we got to a place where people were like, and we just need a businessman to lead the country because they're the ones who like make the right decision that make line go up and like nobody tells the truth about them. That's the only reason they're just fucking. Yes, they're rich. They're like this guy made money. So he apparently he knows how to do it because he has money.

He's like, well, he has apartheid diamonds in his pocket. Well, yeah. I mean, that's how he got. But what? I mean, his great grandfather profited from slavery directly. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. He made all that money. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. He started with a bunch too.

The Hollywood Reporter needs like a Stephen A Smith. Exactly. All these fucking CEOs like a Stephen A Smith. Exactly. All these fucking CEOs need a Stephen A Smith. Like Jim Cramer needs to be a person who's out there being like, this guy's a fucking idiot. Like, shall I get the camera? He's like, Darren Zaslav is smoking crack. That you could do that name change. Like that's nobody.

It's interesting that you're able to talk that way about mostly black athletes in this country, but not- Not a white executive though. The white executives who own the station you're talking shit on, I guess. All right. Just another, in line with that, another example of this is just the whole VR revolution that was supposed to happen. There's a clip from prices, right?

That was going around on social media this week where one of the items was the Apple vision pro and literally nobody had any idea how much it costs. Like the highest bid was like, I don't know, like 1270. That was like the high one. And everybody, including Drew Carey, we're shocked to learn it was $3,500. They were like, what? Now I want to hear this reaction. That was one of the prices, right?

Yeah, it was prices. Right. Without going over. Good luck, everybody. Go ahead. Here we go. They're going to reveal it. 1000.

Okay. Let's get to $1,250. Okay. $1. Here we go. They're going to reveal it. 1000. Okay. Let's get to it. $1,250. $1,250. Okay. $1. Here we go. Here's the reveal. $3,499.

No. People are shouting no. In the audience. Yeah. They can't even be happy for her. They're all like, Whoa. That price point is way too high.

God damn. But yeah, just nobody could believe. Like, it just was completely out of step with anybody's reality except for Tim Cooks, it seems like. It's like, oh, it's just my rent in San Francisco. It's for my one bedroom. That's just my rent. It's easy. I can buy it.

Again, like, with the point about the mainstream media, like when it dropped the mainstream media headline, five ways in which Apple vision pro will change how we work a game changer and immersive learning five ways Apple vision pro could transform education and training. Yeah. I'm sorry. I hate to get emotional again, but I just crunched the numbers. That means David Zaslav can only buy 41 Apple vision pros per day.

That sucks, man. That's how that's how meager his sound. I'm sorry, Miles. Why are you so good at math? I use a calculator. OK, I was like, damn, this is really good. You imagine if I was like a math savanna. Oh, yeah, I was like, you got to be doing something else, man.

Problematic capitalist math. So what did they make? That's 142. That's only 41 Applevision Pros. I can only break things down in Applevision Pros. You can see the crowd of numbers floating around his head, like in the TV show Numbers. No, that's blunt smoke.

That's not true. All right, Numbers. No, I'm smoking up blood. Sure thing, Numbers. I'm smoking a blood. Sure thing. Numbers. I'm using a calculator. What? Sales for the Apple vision pro were poor, despite what the media would have had.

You believe, uh, to the point that Apple had to suspend back production in 2024, leaving a factory full of tens of thousands of undelivered parts. Uh, reminded me of the cyber truck.ivered parts, uh, reminded me of the Cybertruck. Who, who, who, why did they think that people would be able to buy those? Like, yeah, I mean, I remember when the iPhone first came out, it was crazy, like it was a thousand dollars and people were like, why the fuck would anybody pay that much for a phone? I'm fine with my Keo Sarah.

Right. And then people did. that much for a phone? I'm fine with my Kiyosera. Right, and then people did. But you need a phone. VR just feels like it's entertainment. You don't necessarily need VR to go about your day. But I think that's where they fucked up because they acted like this was gonna change fucking everything. The way you write an email, the way you do this. And really, to me, I was like,

the only thing I think could be fun is watching TV on it. And it's like taking up everything. But even then they say, like, the screen quality isn't great to even watch, like a film. It's like, sure, it's huge. It fills up your visual space. But like, but the quality is not quality. Yeah, it's like doesn't like the like, you know, like, you know, they always say the intensity of like the color black or darker colors against lighter colors.

You get these like blooming. I thought they always say the intensity of like the color black or darker colors against lighter colors. You get these like blooming effect. They would at least gotten that right now. You want to be able to do your emails better. Yeah, like this. That's what it's for. You know what I really like doing is my email. Even just to make that process like more interesting. I want to use my hands. You don't.

Why would you even pitch that as a solution? Like, Ooh, you can send emails better with your eyeballs. Like, how are you even doing that? Are you doing it with your hands? Like this? How are you even using the right emails? I don't Tim, Tim Apple. You got an, I think that's what they should do is always just make a limited

number and then see if people start flaming you for using that shit in public. Stop making it. Yeah. Stop making Google Glass being bullied. Yeah. Google Glass would have learned way earlier because the second people start stepping out, the people are like, what the fuck are you? Who are you? This ain't demolition, man.

Get the fuck back in your house. And then like people, I remember there were people fucking around trying to be like, I'm using a vision pro like on the train. Some of those were fucking clearly a bit, but then you'd see other people, they're like, yo, this dude has brought this shit to a wee work. And they're like, no, this is, this people are not accepting it. And also the price, it makes bullying work sometimes. Unobtainable. works sometimes. Unobtainable. Yeah, it's just it was only adopted by people with no the inability to to feel shame.

They're just. Yeah. Yeah. Or like the the hyper apple stance. Like, you know, like I have I know people like that, people in my family who are like, always, I need that latest Apple thing. I'm like, you have no job. Why? You have no job, sir. What are you doing? But if I had the Apple, no, you won't, bro. I can no job, sir. What are you doing? They're like, but if I had the Apple, I'm like, no, you won't, bro. I can see my resume better.

You have any idea how many resumes I'm going to get to send out? One of the things that this article in the information dot com, all these websites in the tech world, what the fuck was cited, both weak demand, high price and lack of apps available on it. And in this case, I feel like apps is short for literal like applications as in uses of the thing I'm holding in my hand. Like what, what kind of applications, what are the applications for actually using this thing? Like nobody could figure that shit out.

Anyways, Apple is full speed ahead on a more of it affordable version of the Vision Pro, which will address exactly one of the reasons that it totally flopped. But VR gaming seems like it's on the way out. Like Minecraft just ended their VR support. More than half of game developers were polled and said that the VR market is currently declining and stagnating. And of course, the biggest VR flop, Visionary, the Visionary himself, Mark Zuckerberg, and his metaverse, which lost around $70 billion. Wow. $70 billion.

Jesus Christ. $70 billion. That was like $70 billion would make you one of like 10 years ago would make you the richest person in the world. He lost that. And still fun. He's still fun. And he's oh yeah. He's still like buying Hawaii to make like fucking volcano layer. Speaking of people who have never been punched in the mouth. That's why he does jujitsu, probably, because it doesn't involve any striking.

He wants to. Yeah, because I feel like people make fun of him a lot. And he's like, well, yeah, say to my face now, I know how to arm bar. Yeah. They're like, OK, get your bodyguards out the way. Let's go outside in the sun. Catch a pair once, sir? Met his chief technology officer. This is the person who works for him, claimed that the metaverse idea was a legendary misadventure. Like it was a fucking Michael Douglas movie from the 80s. That's a legendary misadventure.

Yeah. It's so wild. It's like, you don't want a tech company reports a $70 billion loss, that means fucking layoffs immediately in the next quarter because they have to fucking address that in their shareholder price. But like, if then it's, it's so many people lose their jobs for less that you can be like, we pissed away. So what a legendary misadventure. Dude, that was a legendary fucking time, dude. Yeah, he tried it. Talked about it like a bachelor party. Yeah. Right, right, right.

It's like, no, how many people got laid off after that? I don't even know, man. Like probably 10,000 or something. We ruined lives. We ruined lives, man. Legendary. And it's never the person whose idea it was, right? Was it Mark's idea or was it somebody else's?

It was like, Mark, we should do this thing. And he's like, okay. Or was he like, you guys, it feels like it was him the whole time. Yeah. It seemed like there was a lot of, cause I feel like there are smart enough people that work at that kind of like, I don't know. And he's like, I think we should do it. They're like, you know, Mark said it and he was charismatic that time.

So, Oh, like that just monotone. I believe you are hearing me talk. He's the Al Gordal. Yeah. Get the Riz on that guy. Oh no. Yeah. It's, and now we're just seeing everything shift to AI.

It was, they just have to like jump from one overhyped future technology to the other. It was right as the metaverse started to flap, Zuckerberg was like, AI I think is really going to be interesting. Okay. Guys, everyone avoid AI then if he just said, yeah, the metaverse guy is not saying this is the next thing. Okay.

They were doing comedy shows with VR during pandemic. I was like, don't you have to have a headset to do it? And they were like, yeah, I'm like, we are unemployed. What are you doing? They're like, can you buy an Oculus headset? I'm like, no. I'm currently fighting a neighbor over paper towels. Right. I don't want to tell dig jokes right now in here. This is weird. Well, Shawna, it's been such a pleasure having you on the Daily Zeitgeist.

Where can people find you, follow you, all that good stuff? I'm on shawnachristmas.com, S-H-A-N-N-A, Christmas as it's spelled. It's on everything. It's my name. No one stole it. Thank God. I'm only the only one. Thank you. Yeah.

What a better. Yeah, thanks. Thank you. It's my birthday. Actually. It's a stage name. It's great. Oh really?

Yeah. I don't get any presents or birthday. Yeah. So I'm like, I gotta find a way to make it about me. Yeah. Oh, smart. Yeah. Um, so Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, all that stuff, same name.

And my special is coming out on Tuesday. Yeah. Everybody go check it out. Super funny. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you so much for joining us. Is there work in media that you've been enjoying?

No. I mean, not work. I would just say I was kind of enjoying the 100 man versus debate going on. Yeah. But then it became like racist, like a hundred men versus child support. I was like, this feels racist. I don't know why. Are you coming?

What, why is it child support? What's that mean? Quickly, very quickly, just like that. And like, let's see, now we can't play with this toy. Now we can't. I thought it was just on black square and then it got taken away. And now everyone's just saying mean things about, I don't know. I'm like, now we can't play with this. Now we can't. I thought it was just on Black Twitter, and then it got taken away. And now everyone's just saying mean things about. I don't know.

I'm confused. I know, because I feel it was just that one tweet from Black Twitter that was like, I think, but they got to be dedicated. Yeah, that's where it started. And then it became. What's that? What's that?

Black people having fun? Oh, yes. Child support. What about if they fought Mexicans? And you're like, what the fuck? I remember seeing that. Wasn't that one of the replies, Jack, you saw that was like someone used like a Twitter ad boost, like promoted the thing.

So it showed up as an ad as a reply on like the discourse. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was like personally, I'd take 30. Yeah. Mexicans. Mexicans over blacks. That was a Twitter ad or an ex-ad. I was like, what the fuck? Anyways, well, wonderful having you.

Thanks so much for joining. Miles, where can people find you, follow you? Is there a work in media you've been enjoying? Man, just check me out everywhere. They got at symbols at milesof. gray. You can also find me and Jack, Jack and I on the basketball podcast miles and Jack. These were currently talking the state of the NBA playoffs. And also if you want to hear me talk 90 day fiance,

I do that at 420 day fiance. Some things I like Yes, the onion continues to just be on a streak. They posted on blue sky. RFK Jr. claims measles can be cured with a good concealer. That's great. Just dab it on. You look great. You look great. Casket fresh. Mm-hmm. I've been enjoying, let's see, Jeremy Kaplowitz tweeted, it's not Nathan Fielder's fault that he is a Batman villain in a world without a Batman. I feel like that's probably right. He's, hell yeah.

And then Aubrey at Aubrey Bell retweeted, Warner, reverses course changes, Max's name back to HBO Max. And they tweeted, if you're still calling ex Twitter, stay in line. And we are, we're doing that here. You can find me on Twitter at Jack underscore O'Brien and on blue sky at Jack OB, the number one. You can find us on bluesky and Twitter at daily zeitgeist we're at the daily zeitgeist on Instagram

We you can go to the description of the episode wherever you're listening to it and there you will find the footnote Which is where we link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode We also link off to a song that we think you might enjoy Yeah, miles is there a song that you think the people might enjoy? Yeah, this is some jazzy hip hop energy from the UK and I guess Gary, Indiana, the two places. So we got Tom Mish, Youssef Dayes, and Freddie Gibbs on the same track.

Tom Mish, fantastic guitar player from the UK. Youssef Dayes, I think he's one of the best live drummers right now out there. He is so fucking good, so technical, amazing drummer. So whenever they team up, I'm like, yes. And this track is called Knight Rider. So check this one out from Tom Mish and Yusef Daly. Hell yeah.

The Daily Zeitgeist is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That's gonna do it for us. This morning, we're back this afternoon to tell you what is trending, and we you listen to your favorite shows, that's going to do it for us. This morning. We're back this afternoon to tell you what is trending and we'll talk to you all then. Bye. Bye. Bye.

The Daily Zeitgeist is executive produced by Catherine Long, co produced by Bay Wang, co produced by Victor Wright, co written by JM McNabb Edited and engineered by Justin Connor. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take phone calls

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Yes. But then you forgot about it in the very long time they took to pick us up. I completely forgot about it. Listen to Are You a Charlotte? on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. When we step beyond the edge of what we know. I clinically died. The heart stopped beating. Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes. And returned. When we step beyond the edge of what we know, and return, Alive Again, a podcast about the strength of the human spirit. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. I want you to ask yourself right now, how am I actually doing?

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