1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. 5 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, 6 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 2: my name is Noah. 7 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 3: They call me Ben. 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 4: We're joined as always with our super producer Dylan the 9 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 4: Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you are you. 10 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 3: You are here. 11 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 4: That makes this the stuff they don't want you to know. 12 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 4: Friends and neighbors, fellow conspiracy realists, we have something special 13 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 4: for you tonight. It is a strange, deep, disturbing dare 14 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 4: I say, shaman Alan esque Cohen hell pro esque tale 15 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 4: that may not be familiar to everyone in the audience. 16 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 4: The California Timber Wars. 17 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 3: Have you heard of it? Maybe? Maybe not. 18 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 4: In the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, activists hoped to 19 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 4: end overcutting of redwoods throughout well Redwood's in particular, timber 20 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 4: in general, throughout parts of California, and there was a 21 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 4: particular organization involved in this called Earth First with an 22 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 4: exclamation point. They took direct actions. One of the leaders 23 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:35,119 Speaker 4: of these efforts was an activist named Judy Barry who Well, 24 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 4: we'll get to it in a second. It's a deep 25 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 4: and crucial story that is yet to be told in full. Luckily, gentlemen, friends, neighbors, countrymen, 26 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,679 Speaker 4: we are not diving in alone. We are joined by 27 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 4: get this, guys, none other than the legendary investigator, writer, podcaster, 28 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 4: and creator of multiple shows that we're big fans of, 29 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 4: our returning pal, the mythical, the legendary, the one and only, 30 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 4: Toby Ball. 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 3: Toby. Come on, man, thank you for showing up. Hey, 32 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 3: thank you. It's nice to see you, guys. 33 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 5: Guys behind the curtain. He's been there the whole time. 34 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 3: It's crazy. 35 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 5: Definitely a unicorn of a human. We've talked to Toby 36 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 5: about other series that he's done, including Strange, Rivals and Today. 37 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 4: And Rendallshim Forrest two seasons, Rivals First Seas check them 38 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:24,839 Speaker 4: out right now. 39 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, this is. 40 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 4: RIP Current season two and Toby I was I was 41 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 4: looking into this because I'm a fan of tangential, non 42 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 4: relevant research. 43 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 3: I think as we all. 44 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 5: Are, big part of what we do here. 45 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:41,079 Speaker 4: Yes, and one of the things that I noted, I said, Hey, 46 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 4: our pal mister b is coming on to the show. 47 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 4: For the third time. Saturday Night Live rules say that 48 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 4: if you make it to the fifth appearance, we have 49 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 4: to get you like a special jacket and throw a party. 50 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 5: I want a special jacket. I've been on five episodes. 51 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 3: Well that's motivation to the other two going there you go, 52 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 3: it's gonna happen. 53 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 5: Maybe we'll all get matching jackets. That would be cool. 54 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:08,800 Speaker 4: That'd be cool, especially if we roll as a group 55 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 4: in our jackets that do a heist. 56 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 5: You know, walk away from an explosion and slash into Oh. 57 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 4: There we go, and that's apropos. That's what we call foreshadowy. 58 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 3: Toby, can you. 59 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 4: Set the stage for us with a little bit of 60 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 4: an origin story? We throughout the phrase timber Wars? What 61 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 4: were the timber Wars? What about this led you to 62 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 4: rip current season two? 63 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 3: So I even before the timber Wars and I was 64 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 3: actually Matt was in on this conversation at one point. 65 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 3: I wanted to do something sort of about environmental activism. 66 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 3: You know, in this period where you know the consequences 67 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 3: of global warming are quite clear, but there doesn't seem 68 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 3: to be this kind of hair on fire reaction to it, 69 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 3: Like you don't see eco sabotage trying to you know, 70 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 3: sabotage pipelines or other things that might slow down fossil 71 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 3: fuel use and things like that. So I'd spent some 72 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 3: time kind of researching, trying to find what would be 73 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 3: sort of a compelling story. There's other things. There was 74 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 3: the Green Peace boat that was sunk by the French 75 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 3: intelligence services, a couple of others. But I ended up 76 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 3: coming across the Timber Wars, and part of you know, 77 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 3: the rip current. The idea behind rip Current is to 78 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 3: look at a crime that occurs in sort of a 79 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 3: complicated social and political setting. And in this case, I 80 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 3: sort of vaguely remembered this because this happened in nineteen ninety, 81 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 3: which is like right after I got out of college. 82 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 3: I remember reading about it. But Judy Barry, who was 83 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 3: this organizer for Earth Verst, a leader uh and her 84 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 3: you know, former lover and like long times her partner 85 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 3: and activism, this guy Darryl Churney, were driving in a 86 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 3: car in Oakland and a pipe bomb went off in 87 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 3: it and it should have killed them both, but it 88 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 3: slightly malfunctioned. Judy was grievously injured. She only lived seven 89 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 3: more years. She died of breast cancer, but she was 90 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 3: in pain for the rest of her life. Uh, you know, 91 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 3: I believe had to walk aided with a cane, you know, 92 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 3: really just physically messed up. And then Darryl got away with, 93 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 3: you know, some some fairly light wounds. But it originally 94 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,359 Speaker 3: came to the press and the FBI and the in 95 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:54,720 Speaker 3: the Oakland police kind of put it out there as oh, 96 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,600 Speaker 3: they were carrying these explosives and they and they detonated 97 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,799 Speaker 3: in the car by accident, so theyre going to probably 98 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 3: actually do some terroristic action, but the explosive blew up 99 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 3: in the car, So that was kind of the central 100 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 3: sort of crime that could kind of focus these other 101 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 3: things that were going on. Do you want me to 102 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 3: go back a little bit to talk about Yea, the 103 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 3: timber wars themselves. Yeah, so the Redwoods used to be 104 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:30,159 Speaker 3: this vast forest right in California, and so if you 105 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 3: go to sort of pre European contact seventeen hundreds, I mean, 106 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 3: it's huge and from basically the first time Europeans made 107 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:44,040 Speaker 3: it to that area of California, they're like these these 108 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,839 Speaker 3: are incredible trees. You know, you can't quite get a 109 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 3: sense of it from looking at pictures, but they're you know, 110 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,280 Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty three hundred feet high. There's no 111 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 3: branches below. All the branches are very high where they 112 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 3: can get the sun. So this is very good wood. 113 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 3: It's not naughty. It's got these other properties as well. 114 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 3: They keep it from rotting and resistant from fire. So 115 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 3: over the course of you know, two centuries, with various means, 116 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 3: from two guys using a saw for a few days 117 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 3: to cut down one to all these technological advances, when 118 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 3: you get to the nineteen eighties, about ninety five percent 119 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 3: of the old growth redwoods are gone, right, and some 120 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 3: of these trees have been around for two thousand years, 121 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 3: so five percent are left. Some of that is in 122 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 3: public hands, so it's in state parks or national parks. 123 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 3: The largest bit of it that's in private hands is 124 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 3: owned by this place called Pacific Lumber, which was a 125 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 3: family owned and operated big lumber operation out of a 126 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 3: place called Scotia, which was a real company town. Like 127 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 3: everything there was owned by Pacific Lumber. So if you 128 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 3: worked there, you lived in a Pacific Lumber house and 129 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 3: all this stuff. So essentially teen eighty five, this guy 130 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 3: named Charles Hurwitz who was. I believe he was a 131 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 3: multi multi, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars. It's 132 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 3: one of the first times people used junk bonds to 133 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 3: buy something. But he saw that Pacific Lumber, which had 134 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 3: been run really responsibly. They used sustainable cutting. They had 135 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 3: a big pension for retirees in their company. Not a 136 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 3: bad company down Yeah, yeah, I mean people people apparently 137 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 3: really liked it. 138 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 5: They're taking care of their people, yes. 139 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 3: Right, But they went public a little while before that, 140 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 3: so they issued stock and because they were so responsible 141 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 3: and so healthy they were, they were very undervalued, so 142 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 3: that made them sort of prey to these capitalistic forces. 143 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 3: Hurwitz comes in, uses junk bonds to purchase Pacific Lumber, 144 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 3: and it becomes very clear that the only way he's 145 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 3: going to be able to pay off the interest and 146 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 3: make this all work is by clear cutting the Pacific 147 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 3: Lumber forests, which includes this huge area of old growth redwoods, 148 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 3: which there's not much left, right, So. 149 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 2: So just Toby quickly, Yeah, the Redwood Force at this 150 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 2: point of the takeover by Charles hurwitzon was it maxim 151 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 2: his company, Yeah, yeah, So at that moment, the forest 152 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:27,439 Speaker 2: of redwoods is already down ninety five. At that point 153 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,119 Speaker 2: of old growth, there's still you know, there's second. 154 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:33,959 Speaker 3: Growth, third growth, fourth growth, but that you know, these 155 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 3: are not mature trees yet. Okay, so the really old ones, 156 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,560 Speaker 3: which are you know, I think in ecological terms, the 157 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 3: most valuable. I mean, it's sort of interesting how you 158 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 3: look at the value of trees, especially if you're a 159 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:52,280 Speaker 3: lumber lumberman, you know, like what you're going to be 160 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,199 Speaker 3: able to get out of your acreage on a sort 161 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 3: of year by year basis. So at that point it 162 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 3: becomes clear that this is probably what's going to happen 163 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 3: been and it starts happening, and a couple things, you know, 164 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 3: for timber workers, they're like, you know, this is actually 165 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,479 Speaker 3: kind of awesome. You know, we're working all this overtime, 166 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,080 Speaker 3: we're getting much more money because we're speeding up the cut. 167 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 3: And then you have environmentalists who are like, well, this 168 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 3: is you know, this is going to be the end 169 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:23,959 Speaker 3: of a significant proportion of these old growth redwoods, which 170 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 3: are you know, I mean, they're like sort of quote 171 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:30,679 Speaker 3: unquote a renewable resource because you can grow new redwoods, 172 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 3: but you're not going to get the same thing for 173 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,079 Speaker 3: fifteen hundred years, you know, I mean, these these trees 174 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 3: have been around. You know. That was one of the 175 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 3: ads or pamphlets or something was like some of these 176 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 3: trees have been around since Christ walked the earth. Right. Yeah, 177 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,560 Speaker 3: so Earth First, which is sort of, you know, on 178 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:53,199 Speaker 3: the radical side of the environmentalists. I mean, they sort 179 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 3: of define the furthest radical edge at that point. You know, 180 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:00,640 Speaker 3: they said, we're gon, we're going to try right and 181 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 3: stop this, slow it down. And that's kind of direct 182 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 3: led to the timber Wars. Yeah, it was. So, you know, 183 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 3: as with everything in this I could go on for 184 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 3: about twenty minutes about it, but direct action, you do, well, 185 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,599 Speaker 3: it's definitely part of it. So that made you U 186 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 3: define that. Yeah. Yeah. So that so what direct action 187 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 3: really means is instead of just you know, protesting or 188 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 3: lobbying in the halls of Congress or you know, sending 189 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 3: stuff out to your membership, it means like blockading roads. Uh, 190 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 3: it means tearing up, uh, surveying spikes that they use. 191 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:39,320 Speaker 5: Potentially it being sabotaging equipment. 192 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, sabotage equipment, putting sand in gas. There's a hole. 193 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 3: One of the founders of Earth First, this guy Dave 194 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 3: Foreman published a book called Ecotage, which was all these 195 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 3: different ways in which you can do uh economic sabotage, 196 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 3: which and I go into this fair amount in the 197 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 3: in the podcast. The most controversial of all these is 198 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 3: tree spiking. And what tree spiking is well, start off 199 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 3: as and it evolved a little bit, but you basically 200 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,439 Speaker 3: take a big nail and you bang it into a tree. 201 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:18,320 Speaker 3: And that so people when they're using saws, it just 202 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,559 Speaker 3: shatters the saw and it can be very dangerous. It's 203 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 3: to fly and right exactly. But but what Earth First 204 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 3: would do is they would go into like a grove 205 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,680 Speaker 3: and this is not northern California, but this is you know, wherever. 206 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 3: They would do this and sometimes they would circle where 207 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 3: they were, uh, sometimes they would identify the grove like that. 208 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,680 Speaker 3: The idea wasn't to hurt people. The idea was to 209 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 3: stop them from using their saws on the on this wood. 210 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 3: And you know what's what's funny is that it's not 211 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,520 Speaker 3: really funny. But uh, you know, in my research, there's 212 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 3: only one real known incident that I could find. And 213 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 3: this is also like looking at senators and congressmen who've 214 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 3: tried to find more stuff about tree spiking and them 215 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 3: not being able to turn things up either. Was one 216 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:16,839 Speaker 3: guy in a mill in northern California who he was 217 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 3: one of the guys who fed the logs to be cut, 218 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 3: and it hit a spike and the saw basically kind 219 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:29,679 Speaker 3: of exploded and nearly killed him. And then there was 220 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:31,920 Speaker 3: a lot of Initially it was like his earth first, 221 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:34,360 Speaker 3: of his earth first, and it turned out although this 222 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,240 Speaker 3: guy was in charge, they're fairly sure it was actually 223 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 3: this kind of curmudgeonly guy who didn't like the fact 224 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 3: that they were sawing down trees that were in his view, 225 00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 3: so he did have to try and stop them. So 226 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:50,679 Speaker 3: that's really the only time that there's been like a 227 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 3: real serious injury that results from tree spiking. 228 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 2: Well, let's just continue on that a little bit. Because 229 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 2: of that one case, as we hear in Rip Curren 230 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 2: season two, was used to what was used as the 231 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,600 Speaker 2: argument against tree spiking and what was labeled as eco 232 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 2: terrorism at the time, right because it was so dangerous 233 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,439 Speaker 2: because people may die, and he was maimed. It was 234 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 2: a you know, not some small incident that occurred, but 235 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 2: it definitely the argument then seemed to expand out as 236 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 2: though this tree spiking thing had killed many people, or 237 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 2: that was stated publicly even though it wasn't provable. 238 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 5: All they need is one inciting event to then balloon 239 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 5: into this is you know, the precedents, and then it 240 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 5: gives them kind of talking points to go after a 241 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 5: larger movement. 242 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 4: Right, the timber war has become an information. 243 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 3: War, right, I mean even recently. I've got a clip 244 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 3: and I'm trying to remember who the congressman was, but 245 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 3: he's from the Pacific Northwest or maybe Idaho. Anyway, he's 246 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 3: talking about they wanted to increase the the criminal penalties 247 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 3: for tree spiking, and so this guy in this mill, 248 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 3: same with George Alexander. So he's kind of given the 249 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 3: speech on the floor and he says and then George 250 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 3: Alexander and this happened to him, and then all these 251 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 3: other people have been killed or maimed or whatever. It's like, well, 252 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 3: can you name like one other person, you know, because 253 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 3: it's always the same guy. It's always George Alexander and 254 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 3: all these other guys. But I think it was Larry Craig, 255 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 3: who used to be a Senator, got in touch with 256 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 3: I don't know if it's a Department of the Interior 257 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:33,760 Speaker 3: or one of the departments that said, can you give 258 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 3: me a list of everybody who's been harmed or killed 259 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 3: by tree spiking? And the only thing he got back 260 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 3: was George Alexander. 261 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 4: So so it was bupkiss. But it does, I think 262 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 4: show us a little bit more about how the media 263 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 4: was treating this. Right, people loved, people love a convenient 264 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 4: throwaway phrase like eco terrorism, right or now tree spiking? 265 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 4: At this point, could you tell us a little bit 266 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:06,720 Speaker 4: more as we're setting the stage here about how the 267 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 4: local everyday folks in California felt about environmentalism. They're reading 268 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 4: the news. Do they think that Earth First is a 269 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 4: straight up eco terrorism outfit? Do they agree with them? 270 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 3: Like? How is? 271 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 4: What's the temperature of the room there around the redwoods? 272 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 3: So that's an interesting question. So at that time, and 273 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 3: I talked to a guy, well, I talked to a 274 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 3: few people who had sort of grown up there, and 275 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 3: they said there was really there's two sort of major 276 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 3: factions in northern California. One was these sort of generational 277 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 3: families of timber workers. The other were these sort of 278 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,000 Speaker 3: back to the land hippies who'd moved up there. So 279 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 3: you really had you know, in schools they said, what 280 00:16:57,480 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 3: do we call It's like the rednecks and the hippies, 281 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 3: you know, those are the two groups. And so you 282 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 3: have these timber families. 283 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 5: Device of all of this, then, I guess. 284 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:10,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, So you had these timber families who obviously 285 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 3: saw them as a threat and as terrorists. 286 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 5: And as a threat to their livelihood and their families 287 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 5: legacy or whatever it might be. If this is multi generational, 288 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 5: like they've got skin in the game in that exactly. 289 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 3: And I think there was a sense that Earth First 290 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:31,640 Speaker 3: was sort of questioning the morality or nobility of timber 291 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 3: work in general, so that it kind of felt very 292 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:39,360 Speaker 3: personal to some people, like an attack identity, right right, 293 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 3: It's like what you what your family for generations has 294 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 3: done is sort of immoral by by cutting these you know, 295 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 3: majestic trees. And then that, you know, the hippie families 296 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:52,480 Speaker 3: were more likely to be you know, sympathetic to Earth First. 297 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,040 Speaker 3: It's just a very it's a very complicated time, you know. 298 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 3: And this is at a time when timber is sort 299 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 3: of descending importance in the economy and marijuana is ascending 300 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:06,720 Speaker 3: as like a big export crop up there. 301 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 5: Is Humboldt County. 302 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:14,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's Humboldy. Yeah, it's weeah yeah, so anonymous, Yeah, exactly, Humboldt. 303 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 3: So yeah. So it was really it was kind of 304 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 3: a mixed a mixed feeling. You know, the timber companies themselves, 305 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 3: you know, sort of try to accentuate the potential for 306 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 3: violence from Earth First, and you know, Earth First had 307 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 3: to take several steps, including publicly renouncing tree spiking, which 308 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 3: was very controversial within Earth First, to try and prove like, 309 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 3: we're not we're not going after you know, the individual 310 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 3: timber worker, like these small timber companies that are contractors 311 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 3: or whatever. We're really going over these corporate people like 312 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 3: Charles Hurwitz, who's this guy from Texas, Like wouldn't be 313 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:56,200 Speaker 3: able to identify or redwood if you you know, if 314 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,720 Speaker 3: you pointed him at one and it's just these people, 315 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 3: it's you know, it's craven greed, you know, essentially, especially 316 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 3: in Hurwitz's case, I mean, he's just trying to make 317 00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:10,439 Speaker 3: money and all he sees are trees, is like a 318 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 3: monetary asset. And that's so sort of the opposite of 319 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 3: the Earth First idea, which is that we have to 320 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 3: preserve this, this is our natural heritage, right. 321 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 2: And just it was really there, Toby. Yeah, because the 322 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 2: concept of spiking trees, and we kind of talked about 323 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:30,199 Speaker 2: it already, but the concept of doing that is to 324 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 2: destroy equipment, right, sabotage of equipment, which would cost the 325 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 2: company a lot of money, which would probably cause them 326 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,280 Speaker 2: to stop cutting in that area at least temporarily if 327 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 2: not long term. 328 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 3: Right. 329 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 2: So it does seem like quite a non violent tactic 330 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 2: until you do have one person that's hurt. But it 331 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 2: just makes so much sense in my mind, at least 332 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 2: to spike trees to break the chains on chainsaws so 333 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:03,520 Speaker 2: that that company cannot continue to function. And ultimately, if 334 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,960 Speaker 2: the company is your enemy, as in Earth First case, 335 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,159 Speaker 2: it would be really weird for a group who is 336 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 2: you know, who is fighting those companies to say, don't 337 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 2: do that thing. That is very that seems to be 338 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 2: very effective. 339 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think, you know, I talked to some 340 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 3: Earth First people who, you know, we're really angry about that, 341 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:31,240 Speaker 3: and what what they basically said is it has been nonviolent. 342 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 3: You know, there's only one person you can point to. 343 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,479 Speaker 3: That's why we let them know when we do it. 344 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 3: The idea is it's gonna it's just gonna make a 345 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 3: cost more. You know, you're going to have to go 346 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 3: in with like metal detectors and try and find the 347 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 3: spikes in the trees and remove them. It's just it 348 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 3: takes time, it takes manpower. It's there's no easy way 349 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 3: to do it. And then they got the idea of 350 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 3: using ceramic spikes be detected by metal detectors. So it's 351 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 3: really you know, they give the idea was we give 352 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 3: them enough information to not hurt their workers, right Like, 353 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 3: if they're sitting there workers out there with saws in 354 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 3: an area that we've spiked, that's them knowingly putting their 355 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 3: their workers in danger. You're not doing it, We're not 356 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:25,160 Speaker 3: doing it secretly. Now it's the Timber company. Now it's 357 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 3: the evil guys from the Captain Planet episodes who are 358 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:32,960 Speaker 3: at fault for endangering their workers because they had the information. 359 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:36,880 Speaker 3: And this is obviously not a unique perspective. I think 360 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 3: this is something all of us can universally understand the 361 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:47,360 Speaker 3: logic of. However, it seems that things begin to quickly escalate. 362 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 3: Right There's as as you already said, there's a deep division, 363 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 3: there's factionalism in northern California. There is a. 364 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 4: Narrative competition in conversation and the zeitgeist and the media 365 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 4: about who can be considered the bad or the good guys, 366 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:12,879 Speaker 4: and we see we see actions escalate at an increasingly 367 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:25,400 Speaker 4: dangerous pace. Now, we teased it a bit at the top. 368 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,959 Speaker 4: We talked a little bit about the tragic bizarre, like 369 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 4: the heartbreaking attack on Judy Barry and her associate. Could 370 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 4: you tell us a little bit more about the I 371 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 4: have so many questions, folks. You're going to have to 372 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,920 Speaker 4: listen to rip her At season two in full to 373 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:52,679 Speaker 4: understand the depth of this story. But it's just astonishing 374 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,679 Speaker 4: the way the bombing occurs and the way that the 375 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:05,240 Speaker 4: investing negation goes. And then Falters, can you tell us 376 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 4: a little bit about the circumstances of the bombing and 377 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 4: a little bit more about the investigation. 378 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,400 Speaker 3: Sure, at the time of the bombing, Earth Verse was 379 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,840 Speaker 3: planning this thing called Redwood Summer, and the idea was 380 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 3: they were going to get lots of college students to 381 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,640 Speaker 3: come up to the Redwoods to take place and protests, 382 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:30,160 Speaker 3: direct actions just sort of you know, flood the zone 383 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,439 Speaker 3: with people and they're sort of basing it on the 384 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 3: Freedom Summer Mississippi. It actually started off being like Mississippi 385 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 3: Summer in the Redwoods, I think. So anyway, the big plans, 386 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 3: and so they were actually down in Oakland to do 387 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 3: sort of a planning meeting with this group called Seeds 388 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 3: of Peace. But there's sort of this timeline, and maybe 389 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 3: it makes sense to stay up front that this pipe 390 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 3: bomb was on a timer. So there was a watch 391 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 3: that could be set back almost to twelve hours, like 392 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,400 Speaker 3: eleven hours and fifty nine minutes, and it would go 393 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,200 Speaker 3: and it hit a certain place and it would let 394 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:13,119 Speaker 3: loose this ball bearing, and the ball bearing would go 395 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 3: into this little circle where there's all these wires sticking out. 396 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:20,359 Speaker 3: If connected two wires together, that would detonate the bomb. 397 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,359 Speaker 3: So there's you know, there's a period of time in 398 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:25,679 Speaker 3: which the bomb could have been placed in the car. 399 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:31,440 Speaker 3: So she has a couple of meetings up in Mendocino County, 400 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,000 Speaker 3: She goes down Oakland, has a meeting at this place 401 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,399 Speaker 3: Seeds a Piece, and then she goes and stays the 402 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,919 Speaker 3: night at this guy, Dave Kemnitzer's house with Dave and 403 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,479 Speaker 3: his family. It wasn't a romantic thing. And so the 404 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,199 Speaker 3: next morning, Darryl Turney comes over. They get in the 405 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 3: car and they're driving, and it's just before noon. She 406 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:58,359 Speaker 3: goes to take a turn. You know, obviously the ball 407 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 3: bearing is loose now that the time the timers gone off, 408 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:05,120 Speaker 3: and it detonates and you know, right in the street 409 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:08,119 Speaker 3: in Oakland, right across the street from a high school. 410 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:14,000 Speaker 3: So almost immediately, the FBI shows up on scene and 411 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 3: takes control of the scene. Because it's a bombing, so 412 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:21,359 Speaker 3: it's usually the ATF will take control of those things, 413 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:23,360 Speaker 3: but if it seems as though it might be terrorism, 414 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:28,560 Speaker 3: that's when the FBI has jurisdiction, is my understanding. And 415 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 3: so the the FBI shows up really really fast, much 416 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 3: faster than you'd expect. And I think the reason for 417 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:40,120 Speaker 3: that is that they had Judy and Darryl under surveillance 418 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 3: at the time. 419 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 4: On the list well yeah, professionalism. 420 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, so that that that seems very clear that that's 421 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:50,440 Speaker 3: part of the case. But they show up and this guy, 422 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:55,399 Speaker 3: Frank Doyle, who's uh, you know, an explosive experts for 423 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 3: the FBI, basically says, well, the bomb was on the 424 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 3: back seat, and if it's on the backseat, they would 425 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 3: have seen it, and they must have known about it. 426 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,639 Speaker 3: So that kind of puts Judy and Darryl in the 427 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 3: frame as Okay, they knew they had a bottom in 428 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 3: the car and something happened it blew up. If you 429 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:16,320 Speaker 3: actually take a look at pictures of the wreckage of 430 00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 3: the car, it's pretty clear that it was underneath her 431 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 3: seat and just blew out the whole bottom of the 432 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,720 Speaker 3: seat and it malfunctioned a little bit and hit beneath 433 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:29,640 Speaker 3: the doors, the front doors. So it's just very strange 434 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 3: that he said this, but it does if it was 435 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,159 Speaker 3: underneath the seat, it was very possible that Daryl and 436 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:38,239 Speaker 3: Judy wouldn't have known that it was there, right, So 437 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 3: for the first you know, certainly for the first forty 438 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,480 Speaker 3: eight hours, and it takes a couple more weeks before 439 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 3: it's officially shut down. But you know they're going to 440 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,360 Speaker 3: the press with you know, these two were the bombers. 441 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,639 Speaker 3: They were bringing these explosives. We don't know what they 442 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:56,680 Speaker 3: were going to do with them, but they're eco terrorists 443 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 3: and that's what terrorists do, is they blow stuff up. 444 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:03,600 Speaker 3: And you know, Judy is you know, in the hospital, 445 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,119 Speaker 3: like don't I don't know if they ever thought she 446 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 3: was actually gonna die, but she was in immense amounts 447 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,160 Speaker 3: of pain, was for a while unable to like give 448 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 3: a statement. And then Darryl was arrested. Basically he got 449 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,920 Speaker 3: stitched up and they took him to jail, questioned them 450 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,880 Speaker 3: and then and then arrested them. But they were never charged, 451 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:27,399 Speaker 3: right they It sort of came out quickly that they 452 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 3: really couldn't have done it. There was some sort of 453 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 3: blind alleys that the FBI went down about trying to 454 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,160 Speaker 3: match nails and and things like this. 455 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 5: Well, I was gonna ask, is there any evidence seems 456 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:40,719 Speaker 5: like a really particular type of detonating device. I've never 457 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:42,360 Speaker 5: heard of this ball bearing thing before, Not that I'm 458 00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:44,720 Speaker 5: like a bomb expert, but is there evidence of Earth 459 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:46,719 Speaker 5: First using these types of devices? 460 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,520 Speaker 3: No, they don't use uh, Earth Vers hasn't really used 461 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,639 Speaker 3: explosives as far as I know, and they this is 462 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 3: one of those things that's like how far afield do 463 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 3: you go? But but like a year before in Arizona, 464 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:04,159 Speaker 3: they basically set up this guy, Dave Foreman, who's a 465 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 3: founder of Earth First, And what they were trying to 466 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 3: get to do is they had a ATBI had a 467 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 3: provocateur in this little group of eco terrorists. Two of 468 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 3: them weren't even earth first, and the other one was 469 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 3: sort of semi earth first, and then there was the provocateur. 470 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 3: And then Dave Foreman, the only real earth first person, 471 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 3: gave them some money, which is how he got kind 472 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,879 Speaker 3: of tied into it. But they wanted to use explosives 473 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 3: to blow up some towers that were holding power lines, 474 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,360 Speaker 3: and they were like, you know, we don't want to 475 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 3: do explosives, and they ended up using a torch and 476 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 3: got arrested. But so explosives were like, you know, it's 477 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 3: coded for terrorism, right, It's like, if you're sitting explosives, 478 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,040 Speaker 3: you're a terrorist. You know, if you're using a torch, 479 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 3: maybe it's something a little different. 480 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 2: I don't want to spoil too much in the show, 481 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 2: but Toby, can you just go into a little bit 482 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 2: about how we know that that particular gentleman who infiltrated 483 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 2: those groups, how we know what he was doing because 484 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 2: of that recording? 485 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, there recording. So they recorded they had all 486 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 3: this stuff. I mean they were there were tapping lines, 487 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 3: they were wearing wires, all this stuff. But at one 488 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 3: point the provocateurs like wearing a wire and he goes 489 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,719 Speaker 3: in because he's trying to get some money from Dave Foreman, 490 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 3: and they want to document it. And then he forgets 491 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 3: to flick it off, and then they go I think 492 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 3: they made a Burger King parking lot. And they're like 493 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 3: chatting about what's going on, and he's like it's kind 494 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 3: of interesting. Like he's saying, like these people don't have anything. 495 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 3: This money would have met everything for him, Like they 496 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,120 Speaker 3: don't have any money, but they're really devoted and all 497 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 3: this stuff, and and he's kind of talks about how 498 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 3: they're At one point he says, you know, Dave Foreman's 499 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 3: not the guy who's actually doing anything, but he's the 500 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 3: guy we kind of have to get right to send 501 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 3: a message. And then he's like, oh, this is still on, 502 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 3: just like it's just and then they find it while 503 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:10,239 Speaker 3: they're going through uh discovery, they're they're going through all 504 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 3: these and they're like, oh my god, they not only 505 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 3: forgot to turn it off, but they never got rid 506 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,600 Speaker 3: of it. So it's just like right there, it's really 507 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,000 Speaker 3: so it's in the it's in the podcast, I mean 508 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 3: the recordings out there. 509 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 4: Yeah, and I've got to ask you about this part 510 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 4: the well, not even me, our audience is going to 511 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 4: want to know about. Uh, the line you said a 512 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 4: little bit earlier that we we've teased here. The FBI 513 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 4: shows up in the wake of the bobbing at an 514 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 4: extraordinarily quick time, which shows, uh, shows you, as our investigator, 515 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 4: that there was probably some monitoring. Uh. Could you talk 516 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 4: to us just a little bit for everybody in the 517 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 4: audience who hasn't heard of this before, you talk to 518 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 4: us a little bit about pe intel pro and why 519 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 4: the FBI or federal agencies would be monitoring people who 520 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 4: want to save trees. 521 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 3: Right. So, Cointelpro was a program. You know, it's mostly 522 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,960 Speaker 3: active during the sixties. It was officially ended I believe 523 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 3: in seventy one, right, right exactly. I'll get to that 524 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,880 Speaker 3: just a second. But the idea was that they were 525 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 3: going to you know, disrupt, undermine, you know, try and 526 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 3: break up what we're considered extremist groups. And in the 527 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:38,360 Speaker 3: FBI's interpretation, that was mostly on the liberal or radical 528 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 3: or liberal side, like the KKK was in there. They'd 529 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 3: go after the KKK if the KKK did some specific crime, 530 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 3: but on the radical side just sort of existing turned 531 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 3: out to be enough for the FBI to kind of 532 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 3: run these things on you. 533 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 4: So it was pitched in civil rights for instance. 534 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:04,360 Speaker 3: Get civil rights. You know, the Black Panthers were a big, 535 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 3: big target, and one of the things they would do 536 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 3: is they get infil traders and just create this sense 537 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:13,760 Speaker 3: of paranoia where like the even like these small groups, 538 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 3: Like in the first season of Rip Current, I did 539 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 3: a thing looking at a group called Tribal Thumb, which 540 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 3: was tiny, you know, it was probably twenty people at 541 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 3: its peak, and at least two of them were infiltrators 542 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 3: from the FBI. You know, so they kind of created 543 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,720 Speaker 3: this sense of paranoia. They would start, you know, clashes. 544 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:42,480 Speaker 3: I think they probably contributed to, you know, some death 545 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 3: sort of indirectly, but they really get blamed for the 546 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 3: death of Fred Hampton, which was a sort of joint 547 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 3: FBI Chicago Police Department sort of raid on this guy 548 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 3: Fred Hampton, who I think was twenty or twenty one 549 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 3: at the time, but was sort of really up and 550 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:05,280 Speaker 3: coming leader of the Black Panthers, and you know, not 551 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 3: of not sort of the perceived violence side of the 552 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,640 Speaker 3: Black Panthers, but really the sort of you know, helping 553 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:14,280 Speaker 3: the social school. 554 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,640 Speaker 2: Exactly things like this is an incredible speaker, right. That 555 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 2: was why he was considered to be dangerous because he 556 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 2: could bring He was attempting to bring people together from 557 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 2: different factions of a somewhat splintered movement, and that was 558 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 2: speakers that are connector ye. 559 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 3: So yeah, so I you know that was a co 560 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:37,080 Speaker 3: intel program, as it officially was, right, And then in 561 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 3: nineteen seventy one, during the Ali Frasier fight in Madison Square, Garden, 562 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 3: I think there was a break in at this FBI 563 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 3: office in Media, Pennsylvania and they got these they stole 564 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:55,480 Speaker 3: these files that included things that revealed co Intel pro 565 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,640 Speaker 3: And so it was officially shut down I think in 566 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 3: seventy three, but you can shut it down in name, 567 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:07,520 Speaker 3: but the sort of techniques are still there. So rip Current, 568 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:10,799 Speaker 3: the first season Recurrent takes place in seventy five. Co 569 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,400 Speaker 3: Intel protes style stuff is definitely going on then, and 570 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:18,720 Speaker 3: so the question becomes like how far does it keep going? 571 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 3: And then at what point is it co intel pro 572 00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:23,680 Speaker 3: and how what point is it just the way the 573 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 3: FBI does things. But so one of the theory is 574 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:33,200 Speaker 3: the theory that you know, Judy and Darryl and sort 575 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:36,680 Speaker 3: of their supporters had was that they were the victims 576 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:42,560 Speaker 3: of a co intel pro style operation, and that, you know, 577 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 3: to really simplify it, that that the FBI and the 578 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 3: timber industry had kind of worked together to try to 579 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,319 Speaker 3: assassinate Judy Barry. 580 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,560 Speaker 4: And took direct action of their own right exactly. 581 00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 3: So the thing about this case, without getting too into 582 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:06,359 Speaker 3: the weeds, is that there's no real physical evidence. You know, 583 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 3: with a bomb, a lot of that physical evidence just 584 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:12,760 Speaker 3: gets blown up. There was a thing called the Lord's 585 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 3: Adventure Letter, which was a letter that was sent anonymously 586 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:20,120 Speaker 3: to a journalist named Mike Janella, who I interviewed at 587 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:23,920 Speaker 3: length for this taking credit for the bombing and another bombing, 588 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 3: and had all this information that was in there that 589 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:28,920 Speaker 3: made it fairly clear that this was actually the person. 590 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:31,680 Speaker 3: But then it's like littered with all this like weird 591 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 3: Bible stuff like and like anti abortion stuff, and it's 592 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:40,719 Speaker 3: clear they're trying to point to this one guy Staley, 593 00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:47,960 Speaker 3: who was a former football player, big strapping guy who 594 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:51,479 Speaker 3: was like an anti abortion zealot who they'd gotten into 595 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:56,319 Speaker 3: kind of a confrontation with, but it most likely was 596 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:59,040 Speaker 3: not him, and that this was just sort of a 597 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,719 Speaker 3: way of trying to obscure, you know, send people off 598 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,840 Speaker 3: on the wrong track. But what was weird is that 599 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:09,880 Speaker 3: so this thing comes, you know, it's always weird for journalists. 600 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,320 Speaker 3: It's like, do I turn this over to law enforcement? 601 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 3: Like that's not really our job, but it's like, well, 602 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 3: this seems pretty important. Turn it over to the FBI. 603 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:21,160 Speaker 3: The FBI takes it, does whatever they're gonna do with it, 604 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:27,040 Speaker 3: returns it to Mike's newspaper, which is the Santa Rosa 605 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:29,439 Speaker 3: Press Democrat, which was run by the New York Times 606 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 3: at the time, and they promptly lose it, right, so 607 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:36,359 Speaker 3: the one piece of physical evidence just gets lost. So 608 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:40,799 Speaker 3: they really lost Toby, Like we never found lost. Well, 609 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:44,920 Speaker 3: nobody knows. I mean I talked to Mike, and Mike 610 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,239 Speaker 3: who you know. I think he's a straight shooter, which 611 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,279 Speaker 3: is like, I don't know what happened, you know, I 612 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:54,840 Speaker 3: don't think the New York Times was also in cahoots 613 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 3: with the behind the timber industries. But somehow it's gone. 614 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,040 Speaker 3: Any chance that you had to do these like new 615 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:06,480 Speaker 3: DNA techniques on it, that's gone too. So the reality 616 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:08,680 Speaker 3: is that it'll probably never be solved. At this point 617 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 3: unless somebody confesses. And so there are these theories that 618 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 3: are kind of built on these connections, these weird connections. 619 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,279 Speaker 3: And I can give you an example of one, which 620 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,560 Speaker 3: is that the guy Frank Doyle, the FBI agent who 621 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,360 Speaker 3: showed up at the scene of the of the bombing, 622 00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:31,640 Speaker 3: he had a month earlier run a bomb school to 623 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:38,279 Speaker 3: train law enforcement in how to investigate bomb related crimes 624 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:42,160 Speaker 3: up in northern California on land that was donated by 625 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:49,280 Speaker 3: Louisiana Pacific, which was another of the lumber companies that 626 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:53,440 Speaker 3: that earth Verst was was having a thing with. And 627 00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:58,440 Speaker 3: the Louisiana's Pacific guy who ran security from them, was 628 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,760 Speaker 3: providing security for the bomb school, and he was friends 629 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:07,280 Speaker 3: with Frank Doyle. So and then a bunch of the agents, 630 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,560 Speaker 3: uh who are investig who are there on the scene 631 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,919 Speaker 3: had actually been at that bomb school. So it's just 632 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:14,239 Speaker 3: just just. 633 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,560 Speaker 5: Presumably they're they're teaching them at the inner workings of 634 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:22,120 Speaker 5: various types of explosives and detonating devices first engineer and disarment, 635 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:23,640 Speaker 5: and also they would know how to make them. 636 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 4: Yeah, learning how to stop something is very similar to 637 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 4: learning how to create it. 638 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,839 Speaker 2: See, this was the final exam of that course. That's 639 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:33,800 Speaker 2: what that's what happened. 640 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:36,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what he That's what he said. That's what 641 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:38,239 Speaker 3: they That's what Doyle said to one of the guys 642 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 3: who's been in the classes, like, well, here's your final exam. 643 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:42,640 Speaker 3: But the thing is is that that's not the only 644 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,200 Speaker 3: Like you hear that and you're like, wow, that's pretty damning. 645 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:52,320 Speaker 3: But then there's there's several other uh, you know, suspects 646 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:59,080 Speaker 3: or scenarios that are equally you know, sort of the 647 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,360 Speaker 3: the optics of it are equally strong. 648 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:08,239 Speaker 4: Yeah, if not compelling, there there are multiple scenarios that 649 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:25,279 Speaker 4: make you think, right, oh yeah. 650 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:20,920 Speaker 2: Can we just quickly talk about the Yellow Ribbon movement 651 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:25,719 Speaker 2: and just the general sentiment and how vitriolic some of 652 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 2: the talk was getting around this time. 653 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:32,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, So the Yellow Ribbon movement was sort of a 654 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:35,960 Speaker 3: local group that kind of grew out of this wise 655 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:40,160 Speaker 3: Use movement, which was essentially sort of anti environmental that 656 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,960 Speaker 3: it's like nature is there for our enjoyment, and not 657 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:46,640 Speaker 3: in terms of like gazing at trees, but like taking 658 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:50,640 Speaker 3: your ATVs and like going on races and you know, 659 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,359 Speaker 3: doing whatever. Right you should not nothing should be off 660 00:39:54,480 --> 00:40:00,400 Speaker 3: limits basically. So the Yellow Ribbon movement was pro probably 661 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 3: funded by timber corporations, but they were locally run by 662 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:13,879 Speaker 3: this woman named Candy Boak, and so they they were 663 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:19,840 Speaker 3: adamantly opposed to earth First and would show up sometimes 664 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:24,319 Speaker 3: the demonstrations and taunt Earth First people. And they were 665 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 3: just one of many groups. There's a group called the Stompers, 666 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,239 Speaker 3: which is a little obscure who they were. I think 667 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:35,319 Speaker 3: they may have been sort of white supremacist thugs, but 668 00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:41,280 Speaker 3: they sent death threats, put out you know, quote unquote bounties. 669 00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:43,960 Speaker 3: It's like not clear like if they were actually gonna 670 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:47,160 Speaker 3: get paid for this stuff. There's another group called the 671 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,880 Speaker 3: Sahara Club, which was a take on the Sierra Club, 672 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,360 Speaker 3: which was run by a couple of off road motorcycle guys 673 00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:59,360 Speaker 3: who again were like they had in their newsletter like 674 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,959 Speaker 3: we're we're looking for guys over six feet two hundred 675 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,359 Speaker 3: and fifty pounds to like go up, you know, we'll 676 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:13,520 Speaker 3: provide the baseball bats stuff like that. So it was 677 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:16,200 Speaker 3: a dangerous, you know, what they were doing was dangerous, 678 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:18,799 Speaker 3: like hundred percent. You know. It was like they were 679 00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 3: doing their protests and. 680 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 5: They forget that Oregon like you think of it as 681 00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:25,320 Speaker 5: this bastion of liberalism and all that, but like the 682 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:27,759 Speaker 5: rural parts of Oregon have always been like hotbeds of 683 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,800 Speaker 5: white supremacist activity in this kind of stuff. 684 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,560 Speaker 3: Of course, they were actively recruiting in the in the 685 00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:37,279 Speaker 3: timber industry because all these people were being laid off, 686 00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:41,840 Speaker 3: there was economic distress, and it's just overwhelmingly white. So 687 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:49,040 Speaker 3: these white supremacist groups saw this as fertile territory. And 688 00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:52,440 Speaker 3: that's actually another theory of the crime. 689 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:56,279 Speaker 4: I think that could be part of the part of 690 00:41:56,320 --> 00:41:59,759 Speaker 4: the inspiration for rip current three. To be honest with you, 691 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 4: I mean, because you know, to Nole's point, a lot 692 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:08,160 Speaker 4: of people aren't aware that Oregon in particular is the 693 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:13,240 Speaker 4: only state that never codified chattel slavery in the United 694 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:16,240 Speaker 4: States because of the racism, right. 695 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,200 Speaker 5: Founded as a white paradise. 696 00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:23,719 Speaker 4: And to your point here, it naturally makes sense that 697 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:29,840 Speaker 4: violence groups like supremacist groups or other domestic terror groups 698 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:35,600 Speaker 4: would prey on the people who have gotten the short 699 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:37,680 Speaker 4: end of the stick in an industry. 700 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:38,000 Speaker 1: Right. 701 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:40,920 Speaker 4: We see this later with stuff like the failure of 702 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:45,120 Speaker 4: the automotive industry. To be quite honest, But then is 703 00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:49,880 Speaker 4: it possible, Toby, that at some point in this yellow 704 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:54,800 Speaker 4: ribbon stuff and the stompers and so on, it's possible 705 00:42:55,360 --> 00:43:00,600 Speaker 4: that a proxy representative of a big unnamed timber company 706 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:04,720 Speaker 4: might have just had a meeting and said, hey, don't worry, 707 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:07,240 Speaker 4: we can get you the baseball bats. 708 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,200 Speaker 3: I think it's likely that that. It's not just possible, 709 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:16,000 Speaker 3: it's likely. Yeah, I mean, I don't. I'm not one 710 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:20,160 Speaker 3: hundred percent sure about this. I don't, but there was, 711 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,440 Speaker 3: you know, there there was definitely communication between the groups, 712 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:27,840 Speaker 3: and there was definitely encouragement. I think it was specific. 713 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:33,440 Speaker 3: Lumber hired a marketing firm called Hilen Knowlton that was 714 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:37,279 Speaker 3: putting out fake press releases that were supposed to be 715 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,759 Speaker 3: from Earth First to make it sound like they were 716 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:41,799 Speaker 3: more violent than they were. But they did things like 717 00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,279 Speaker 3: spelled Darryl Turney's name wrong and just you know, just 718 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:46,160 Speaker 3: sloppy work. 719 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:48,239 Speaker 2: Don't We have a whole episode on Hill and Nolan. 720 00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:53,759 Speaker 4: There was that, Yes, Okay, yes, with Narayah and uh 721 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:57,799 Speaker 4: later with the the war for Iraq, the propaganda there, 722 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:00,840 Speaker 4: that's what we called it. Yeah, or Toby, thank you 723 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:04,200 Speaker 4: so much for mentioning kill and Milton do you imagine 724 00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:06,280 Speaker 4: they are huge fans of my show. 725 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:08,239 Speaker 3: Friends of the show. 726 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:12,120 Speaker 5: This is yellow, this yellow ribmed movement and sentiment. I 727 00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:14,560 Speaker 5: think it's kind of still around today in the form 728 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:17,200 Speaker 5: of like some more union or like workers write scrups 729 00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:20,120 Speaker 5: called Timber Unity, I think is one that is all 730 00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:24,600 Speaker 5: about fighting legislation aimed at addressing climate change that would potentially, 731 00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:28,040 Speaker 5: you know, put timber workers out of work. 732 00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 3: Evolution. 733 00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:33,040 Speaker 4: I'm against it. 734 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:35,759 Speaker 3: That, uh Sar. 735 00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:39,520 Speaker 4: We've been freestyling songs recently on the show, Toby. We also, 736 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:43,640 Speaker 4: first off, can't thank you enough for the phenomenal work 737 00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:46,399 Speaker 4: that you've been doing, not just on RIP Current season two, 738 00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:49,120 Speaker 4: but we're talking a little bit off air RIP Current 739 00:44:49,239 --> 00:44:51,960 Speaker 4: season one. We should have had you back on for 740 00:44:52,719 --> 00:44:56,040 Speaker 4: that one as well. And we've got to ask one 741 00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:59,160 Speaker 4: thing here as as you went through the course of 742 00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:02,319 Speaker 4: this investigation, and the show is available to listen to 743 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:06,920 Speaker 4: now anywhere you find your favorite podcast, what do we 744 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:11,200 Speaker 4: hope people take away from RIP Current Season two? 745 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:15,680 Speaker 3: Well, you know, I started it off in that I 746 00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:19,760 Speaker 3: wanted to tell an inspirational story about somebody who really 747 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,719 Speaker 3: like kind of put it on the line to quote 748 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:26,160 Speaker 3: unquote save the environment, right and what I ended up 749 00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:31,240 Speaker 3: finding out was that the sort of fight over the cause, 750 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:34,400 Speaker 3: like who caused the bomb that almost killed her, like 751 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:40,040 Speaker 3: who planneted, it kind of overshadows what she actually did. So, 752 00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:43,600 Speaker 3: you know, in the podcast, I was trying to sort 753 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:47,319 Speaker 3: of spotlight both, you know, both both her sort of 754 00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:52,120 Speaker 3: activity and achievements, which were kind of mixed, to be honest, 755 00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:55,799 Speaker 3: and then also this mystery around who tried to kill her. 756 00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:59,919 Speaker 3: But I do think I'd like people to walk away 757 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:02,040 Speaker 3: and say, you know, a small group of committed people 758 00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:05,359 Speaker 3: can make a big difference, even when they're confronting these 759 00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:09,600 Speaker 3: huge corporations and a lot of capital, And I think 760 00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:12,520 Speaker 3: that's that was what I kind of came in hoping 761 00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:14,520 Speaker 3: that would be I kind of, you know, found the 762 00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:19,120 Speaker 3: reality around her legacy is a little more complicated, but 763 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:22,520 Speaker 3: that would be the takeaway that I hope in the end, 764 00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:24,680 Speaker 3: it's like all this stuff is sort of a distraction 765 00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:28,400 Speaker 3: from the fact that a small group of really committed 766 00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:33,279 Speaker 3: people ended up with. You know, the final outcome of 767 00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:36,120 Speaker 3: trying to say the Redwoods is the government spent an 768 00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:39,040 Speaker 3: amazing like hundreds of millions of dollars to save a 769 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:41,800 Speaker 3: place called the Headwaters for Us, which was the largest 770 00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,760 Speaker 3: sort of grove of old growth redwoods that was still 771 00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:50,080 Speaker 3: intact on Pacific lumber Land. And they save that, they 772 00:46:50,120 --> 00:46:53,080 Speaker 3: saved some stuff around it. So there's like an actual, 773 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:57,680 Speaker 3: like physical location that you can go to and it's big, 774 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:01,960 Speaker 3: that Judy and others say, and so they were able 775 00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:05,799 Speaker 3: to have a concrete win when this was all over. 776 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:08,319 Speaker 3: I believe she may have already passed by the time 777 00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:11,200 Speaker 3: it was finalized, but I think she understood the direction 778 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:13,920 Speaker 3: it was headed. So I guess that's a takeaway for me. 779 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:17,120 Speaker 5: I had one last tiny little thing, you know, and 780 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,439 Speaker 5: watching one battle after another, which I enjoyed quite a lot, 781 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:22,359 Speaker 5: it occurred to me that, like the group that sort 782 00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:24,919 Speaker 5: of portrayed in that sort of weather underground kind of 783 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:28,760 Speaker 5: you know, freedom fighting group, it's dealing with immigration enforcement 784 00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:33,560 Speaker 5: and various things, there really isn't an analog to that 785 00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:37,080 Speaker 5: in real life anymore. Nor do I see, as you 786 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:41,360 Speaker 5: pointed out earlier, this analog to Earth First, do you 787 00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:43,680 Speaker 5: have a sense of why that is or is it 788 00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:45,640 Speaker 5: because of the Internet, is because if things are more 789 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:49,200 Speaker 5: you know, cyber oriented now, like why or do we 790 00:47:49,239 --> 00:47:52,600 Speaker 5: not see this kind of direct action as much, you 791 00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:53,760 Speaker 5: know in modern times. 792 00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:56,520 Speaker 3: You know, I honestly I don't know. I would love 793 00:47:56,520 --> 00:47:59,239 Speaker 3: to have the answer to that. You know, Earth First, 794 00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:03,399 Speaker 3: like the people without Earth Verst was not extreme enough, 795 00:48:03,719 --> 00:48:05,960 Speaker 3: branched off. Some of them were old Earth First members 796 00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:09,000 Speaker 3: to become the Earth Liberation Front, and they do like 797 00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:12,640 Speaker 3: real sabotage, burning things down, all that kind of stuff. 798 00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:21,960 Speaker 3: But they're even smaller, right, Gretamberg Thumbird putting myself, She's 799 00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:24,759 Speaker 3: kind of done her thing. But that's all sort of 800 00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:28,239 Speaker 3: you know, bring attention to it or whatever. Stream protest 801 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:31,640 Speaker 3: not exactly direct action, right right. It seems like the 802 00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:34,480 Speaker 3: people who really stop in like the flow of oil, 803 00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:39,279 Speaker 3: are mostly trying to like it's geopolitical stuff, not not 804 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:42,359 Speaker 3: citizen action. It's interesting that you bring up that movie though, 805 00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:45,759 Speaker 3: because people said, like several people I talk to you said, 806 00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:49,680 Speaker 3: if you want to understand Humboldt Mendocino at that time, 807 00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:53,640 Speaker 3: you got to read Vineland By. I was like, oh, 808 00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:56,400 Speaker 3: you know, if you can best be described through a 809 00:48:56,440 --> 00:49:02,000 Speaker 3: Pinchion novel, there must have been some weird stuff for sure. 810 00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:03,080 Speaker 1: Yeah. 811 00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:03,919 Speaker 2: Yeah. 812 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:05,600 Speaker 5: One thing that I took away from that like that 813 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,040 Speaker 5: I'll never forget is there's this moment where there's a 814 00:49:08,080 --> 00:49:10,800 Speaker 5: protest going on and they lead one of the people 815 00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:13,920 Speaker 5: with the government forces says, call in Eddie van Halen, 816 00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:15,640 Speaker 5: and a dude in a van Halen t shirt and 817 00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:17,840 Speaker 5: a mask comes out, throws them all atop cocktail and 818 00:49:17,880 --> 00:49:19,719 Speaker 5: it gives them the excuse they need to like move 819 00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:21,240 Speaker 5: in and you know, escalat. 820 00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:27,359 Speaker 2: This is just a reminder everyone that the podcast Rip 821 00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:32,760 Speaker 2: Current in both seasons is an investigative journalism pursuit, and 822 00:49:33,120 --> 00:49:36,120 Speaker 2: Toby is actually out there talking to individuals. He's you know, 823 00:49:36,239 --> 00:49:38,840 Speaker 2: this isn't just like research or watching a documentary or 824 00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:41,440 Speaker 2: reading a book and that stuff. He's out there talking 825 00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:45,799 Speaker 2: to people. And I just wonder, Toby, how much pushback 826 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:49,279 Speaker 2: you encountered when attempting, you know, to find an interviewee 827 00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:52,920 Speaker 2: or somebody that you could speak to just along your journey. 828 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:56,600 Speaker 2: And then who is the closest person to Judy Berry 829 00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:59,120 Speaker 2: and the actual bombing that you got to speak with. 830 00:50:00,239 --> 00:50:03,400 Speaker 3: Well, it's one in the same person describes both those things. 831 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,960 Speaker 3: Darryl Cherney, who was in the passenger seat I finally 832 00:50:06,960 --> 00:50:11,000 Speaker 3: did end up talking to, but it took I mean 833 00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:13,120 Speaker 3: I talked to him two weeks ago two and a 834 00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:15,600 Speaker 3: half weeks ago, so I had already written all the 835 00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:19,120 Speaker 3: scripts and ten of the episodes were out before he 836 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:22,160 Speaker 3: finally said he would do an interview with me. So 837 00:50:22,239 --> 00:50:24,279 Speaker 3: I did an interview with it. I actually did over 838 00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:26,040 Speaker 3: two days. I talked to him for about three and 839 00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:29,360 Speaker 3: a half hours, and there will be a bonus episode 840 00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:32,320 Speaker 3: that kind of cuts it down, like a lot of 841 00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:36,640 Speaker 3: this stuff had already been covered in the main podcast, 842 00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:39,200 Speaker 3: But we talked. I talked to him about his theory 843 00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:42,120 Speaker 3: of the crime, and talked to him about some of 844 00:50:42,120 --> 00:50:45,239 Speaker 3: his experience during the day of the bombing. But he 845 00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:50,279 Speaker 3: was a tough one. I mean, there's really it's still raw, man. 846 00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:54,480 Speaker 3: It's like thirty five years later and people still I mean, 847 00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:57,040 Speaker 3: the whole thing with him and me was he knew 848 00:50:57,040 --> 00:50:59,839 Speaker 3: I was going to talk to people who thought that 849 00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:05,040 Speaker 3: Judy Barry's ex husband is responsible for this, and there's 850 00:51:05,080 --> 00:51:08,680 Speaker 3: a whole other series of reasons why he is a 851 00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:12,479 Speaker 3: good candidate, although again there's no evidence, so you know, uh, 852 00:51:12,960 --> 00:51:15,120 Speaker 3: there's nothing to really tie him to it. But once 853 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:18,279 Speaker 3: he heard that he was, he did not want to 854 00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:21,080 Speaker 3: talk to me, but we kept in touch. You know, 855 00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:23,839 Speaker 3: I'd send him emails. I went out to California. I said, 856 00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:26,000 Speaker 3: I'm happy to meet up for a coffee or a 857 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:29,560 Speaker 3: beer and just chat, like off the record. We didn't 858 00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:31,799 Speaker 3: do it, but you know, it's one of those things 859 00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:35,000 Speaker 3: where you just keep lines of communication open and it 860 00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:38,799 Speaker 3: eventually at like as they say in British soccer at 861 00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:45,640 Speaker 3: the death h it happened. So that was really interesting. 862 00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:47,840 Speaker 3: It was interesting to talk to him, But I talked to, 863 00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:52,840 Speaker 3: you know, people who who knew her from too, different levels, 864 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,600 Speaker 3: from different walks of life, an old Earth first guy. 865 00:51:55,880 --> 00:51:59,560 Speaker 3: Some journalists anew her stuff like that she's a She's 866 00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:02,799 Speaker 3: a very interesting and complicated person, but I think you 867 00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:05,960 Speaker 3: kind of have to be in order to have sort 868 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:10,560 Speaker 3: of the bravery and the sort of single mindedness to 869 00:52:10,960 --> 00:52:12,320 Speaker 3: affect that kind of change. 870 00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:17,320 Speaker 4: Yeah, and this is also you know, in addition to 871 00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:21,439 Speaker 4: these exclusive interviews. I just can't thank you enough for 872 00:52:22,239 --> 00:52:26,400 Speaker 4: the phenomenal research. Right, this is a story, as we 873 00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:29,359 Speaker 4: said at the top, that needs to be shared, that 874 00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:32,440 Speaker 4: needs to be told. As I think my colleagues and 875 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:38,239 Speaker 4: I are referencing here throughout our conversation, it becomes increasingly relevant. 876 00:52:38,520 --> 00:52:43,440 Speaker 4: You know, we have other stuff to explore. These threads, 877 00:52:43,480 --> 00:52:46,920 Speaker 4: Like every part of this conversation is opening a door 878 00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:51,480 Speaker 4: that leads to something deeper, like the presence of direct 879 00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:59,160 Speaker 4: action groups. Have they really lessened in their frequency? If so, 880 00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:04,640 Speaker 4: why or they simply not being reported as often now right? 881 00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:09,440 Speaker 4: Or are they truly being tramped down upon by whatever 882 00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:13,920 Speaker 4: The descendant of co intel pro is right. The monitoring 883 00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:19,400 Speaker 4: abilities are just far, far beyond what Hoover imagined. He 884 00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:22,000 Speaker 4: probably fantasized about it, but he did get there. 885 00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:24,239 Speaker 2: We didn't even talk about one of the groups that 886 00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:28,000 Speaker 2: you mentioned in the show, Toby the It's got one 887 00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:29,920 Speaker 2: of those names we always talk about. It seems so 888 00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:33,239 Speaker 2: innocuous and fine, but then you find out what they're 889 00:53:33,239 --> 00:53:36,719 Speaker 2: doing are what the hell it's the Ron Arnold thing 890 00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:40,160 Speaker 2: Center for Defense of Free Enterprise. 891 00:53:40,880 --> 00:53:43,600 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, up there with. 892 00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:51,600 Speaker 4: Up there with people against Halla Burton Production. 893 00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:56,320 Speaker 5: Yeah exactly, yeah, yeah, stop taking on free enterprise, y'all. 894 00:53:56,360 --> 00:54:00,360 Speaker 3: Come on, yeah, come on on, our old sort of 895 00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:02,839 Speaker 3: those guys with like an Abraham Lincoln beard, you. 896 00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:07,400 Speaker 4: Know, yeah, you love to see it. Abraham Lincoln, by 897 00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:10,239 Speaker 4: the way, folks, one of the most famous amateur wrestlers 898 00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:13,359 Speaker 4: in United States history. We did a couple of other 899 00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:15,760 Speaker 4: things later he had a bad time at the theater, 900 00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:17,120 Speaker 4: but do support the arts. 901 00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:20,720 Speaker 3: Toby. 902 00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:23,240 Speaker 4: Again, we can't thank you enough. 903 00:54:23,320 --> 00:54:23,560 Speaker 1: Man. 904 00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:28,640 Speaker 4: We don't want to spoil the show because again not 905 00:54:28,719 --> 00:54:32,479 Speaker 4: just not just the the exclusive interviews, but I would 906 00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:36,680 Speaker 4: say even more importantly, the research, the depth of which 907 00:54:36,719 --> 00:54:40,800 Speaker 4: you to which you go here is a true credit 908 00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:45,920 Speaker 4: to your work and to I don't know, it's a 909 00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:50,480 Speaker 4: thing more people need to know about. So in addition 910 00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:53,600 Speaker 4: to that, we always like to end by asking where 911 00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:56,440 Speaker 4: can people learn more not just about your mission on 912 00:54:56,560 --> 00:55:01,480 Speaker 4: rip Current, but about your many other projects. And please, 913 00:55:01,560 --> 00:55:04,000 Speaker 4: can you do us a favor since we are friends, 914 00:55:04,440 --> 00:55:06,279 Speaker 4: can you tell us a little bit about Failians? 915 00:55:06,760 --> 00:55:10,640 Speaker 3: Yeah? Okay, so I'm doing and I'm hoping that each 916 00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:12,880 Speaker 3: one of you will be on as a guest in 917 00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:18,560 Speaker 3: the near future. I've started doing a program called more 918 00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:23,040 Speaker 3: Like Ancient Failians, which is a look at It started 919 00:55:23,080 --> 00:55:26,839 Speaker 3: off just looking at ancient Aliens and sort of you know, 920 00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:31,880 Speaker 3: laughing at the ridiculousness of the agent theorist and stuff 921 00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:34,920 Speaker 3: we just talked about. I know, we just did an 922 00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:39,880 Speaker 3: emergency podcast about that. But also what's crazy is that 923 00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:42,520 Speaker 3: there's all this really interesting history that they try and 924 00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:44,719 Speaker 3: explain away as you know that must have been aliens, 925 00:55:44,760 --> 00:55:48,320 Speaker 3: but in fact it's like fascinating stuff. So we include 926 00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:52,480 Speaker 3: that and we have guests. You know, it's it's podcasters, skeptics, 927 00:55:52,520 --> 00:55:55,560 Speaker 3: a lot of comedians. Because the guy I do it with, 928 00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:59,600 Speaker 3: Brandon R. Reynolds, has a connection to that community. We've 929 00:55:59,640 --> 00:56:02,000 Speaker 3: had people who are experts on each and aliens come 930 00:56:02,040 --> 00:56:04,400 Speaker 3: and talk to us. That's it's always pretty interesting to 931 00:56:04,440 --> 00:56:05,760 Speaker 3: hear their take on these things. 932 00:56:06,200 --> 00:56:10,040 Speaker 2: Have you guys have not got That's. 933 00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:14,719 Speaker 5: I'll forever refer to them as the big guy with 934 00:56:14,760 --> 00:56:16,120 Speaker 5: the big for you. 935 00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:18,680 Speaker 3: We'll text of them. Yeah. So that's been fun. That's 936 00:56:18,680 --> 00:56:20,600 Speaker 3: been fun. So we got a bunch of episodes were 937 00:56:20,600 --> 00:56:24,719 Speaker 3: actually uh coming up. We have John Hodgman's going to 938 00:56:24,760 --> 00:56:27,120 Speaker 3: be a guest for a judge. 939 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:30,400 Speaker 5: He can to talk about what is it booking snake 940 00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:31,719 Speaker 5: secret societies. 941 00:56:32,080 --> 00:56:32,279 Speaker 1: Yeah. 942 00:56:32,600 --> 00:56:36,759 Speaker 4: Time he got the diamond medallion, the longer diamond medallion 943 00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:38,640 Speaker 4: for Delta Travel, the. 944 00:56:38,760 --> 00:56:41,840 Speaker 5: Must sought Diamond Medallion status. Check out his book. I 945 00:56:41,840 --> 00:56:43,200 Speaker 5: think it's out in paperback now. 946 00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:46,160 Speaker 4: Well that's how you know, that's how you know we 947 00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:49,560 Speaker 4: made it. Well. Also, Toby, I can't speak for everyone 948 00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:53,239 Speaker 4: but I would imagine we would all love to join 949 00:56:53,280 --> 00:56:57,640 Speaker 4: you on that show, and we hope that everybody joins 950 00:56:57,760 --> 00:57:00,200 Speaker 4: us and Toby on rip Her. Right. 951 00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:02,440 Speaker 5: Did we shout out with aliens recently when we were 952 00:57:02,440 --> 00:57:06,360 Speaker 5: talking about I think we can get credit credit was due? 953 00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:08,400 Speaker 3: Yeah? I appreciate that. Well, it was. 954 00:57:08,440 --> 00:57:11,520 Speaker 4: It was a nice thing for us to say, because, honestly, Toby, 955 00:57:11,680 --> 00:57:14,920 Speaker 4: we were all very personally bummed with the passage of 956 00:57:15,120 --> 00:57:20,440 Speaker 4: Von Danakin. Just a form uh, an inspiration for stuff 957 00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:21,480 Speaker 4: they don't want you to know. 958 00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:25,840 Speaker 2: Right, guys, do we even mention rip currentpod dot com? 959 00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:29,120 Speaker 4: We should mention rip currentpod dot com. Okay, let me 960 00:57:29,280 --> 00:57:33,680 Speaker 4: let me make contact camera. Everyone go to rip currentpod 961 00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:34,720 Speaker 4: dot com and. 962 00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:35,439 Speaker 3: Good save Matt. 963 00:57:35,720 --> 00:57:39,360 Speaker 4: Okay, Uh, Toby, be safe out there, man. We'll talk 964 00:57:39,400 --> 00:57:39,840 Speaker 4: to you soon. 965 00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:41,240 Speaker 3: Yeah. I appreciate it, guys. 966 00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:46,920 Speaker 4: And there you have it, folks. The legendary friend of 967 00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:52,080 Speaker 4: the show, Toby Ball, just a phenomenal researcher. As we mentioned, 968 00:57:52,320 --> 00:57:57,120 Speaker 4: UH also brought us an exclusive story UH that you 969 00:57:57,200 --> 00:58:02,400 Speaker 4: can hear in full. Get this right now, guys, what 970 00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:06,360 Speaker 4: a ride. I wasn't joking when I talked about the 971 00:58:06,480 --> 00:58:09,080 Speaker 4: Saturday Night Live rule. Have you guys heard about that. 972 00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:10,440 Speaker 4: It's the five Timers Club. 973 00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:14,360 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, five Timers Club is a big deal. They 974 00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:15,400 Speaker 2: always do a sketch. 975 00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:19,360 Speaker 4: I think Toby might be the first one to reach 976 00:58:19,480 --> 00:58:23,280 Speaker 4: five timers status on stuff they don't want you to know, 977 00:58:23,560 --> 00:58:27,400 Speaker 4: which We support the mass as the Saturday Night Live 978 00:58:27,440 --> 00:58:28,160 Speaker 4: of podcast. 979 00:58:28,520 --> 00:58:30,840 Speaker 2: I think he and Payne Lindsay might be tied right now. 980 00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:35,080 Speaker 4: Okay, oh yeah, okay, maybe we can maybe we can 981 00:58:35,160 --> 00:58:39,320 Speaker 4: have them both on for a double Dragon interview segment. 982 00:58:39,480 --> 00:58:40,760 Speaker 5: Payne loves a sweet jacket. 983 00:58:41,440 --> 00:58:44,680 Speaker 4: He does, he does, and I'm really excited about his 984 00:58:44,920 --> 00:58:49,000 Speaker 4: appearance coming up on Conversate with our pal Killer Mike. 985 00:58:49,800 --> 00:58:53,680 Speaker 4: Not to be missed. Folks, we hope you enjoyed this. 986 00:58:53,760 --> 00:58:55,960 Speaker 4: We hope you check out not just Rip Current, but 987 00:58:56,120 --> 00:58:59,680 Speaker 4: all of Toby's earlier work. In the meantime, we hope 988 00:58:59,720 --> 00:59:03,240 Speaker 4: you as the most important part of our show. Join us. 989 00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:06,280 Speaker 4: You can find us on the internet. You can call 990 00:59:06,360 --> 00:59:09,920 Speaker 4: us on a telephone. You can always send us an email. 991 00:59:09,960 --> 00:59:12,000 Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, I owe some people some 992 00:59:12,200 --> 00:59:12,920 Speaker 4: random facts. 993 00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:16,200 Speaker 5: People are asking for the random facts. You love to 994 00:59:16,240 --> 00:59:19,040 Speaker 5: see it. You can find us at the handle Conspiracy 995 00:59:19,040 --> 00:59:22,520 Speaker 5: Stuff or Conspiracy Stuff Show, depending on your social media 996 00:59:22,600 --> 00:59:25,280 Speaker 5: platform of choice. You'll figure it out. But there's more 997 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:26,720 Speaker 5: ways to get in touch with us, aren't there. 998 00:59:27,120 --> 00:59:29,480 Speaker 2: Oh yes, we have a phone number. It is one 999 00:59:29,600 --> 00:59:34,840 Speaker 2: eight three three std wy TK. It's a voicemail system. 1000 00:59:35,160 --> 00:59:37,360 Speaker 2: Give us a call, you'll talk to us, and if 1001 00:59:37,400 --> 00:59:39,400 Speaker 2: we use one of your voicemails, it will go on 1002 00:59:39,400 --> 00:59:42,000 Speaker 2: one of our listener mail episodes that you can find 1003 00:59:42,240 --> 00:59:47,480 Speaker 2: in our audio podcast wherever you might access that. Oh 1004 00:59:47,520 --> 00:59:50,960 Speaker 2: and you know, someddly we didn't talk about Guys Strange Arrivals, 1005 00:59:51,080 --> 00:59:55,280 Speaker 2: the other show that Toby created. It has a TV version. 1006 00:59:55,480 --> 01:00:00,040 Speaker 2: It does stars Demi Moore and Coleman Domingo Gonid. 1007 00:59:59,400 --> 01:00:00,720 Speaker 5: It star studying. 1008 01:00:00,880 --> 01:00:04,880 Speaker 2: Yes, it's really really cool. All right, If you want 1009 01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:06,280 Speaker 2: to email us, you can do that too. 1010 01:00:06,320 --> 01:00:08,640 Speaker 4: We are This is one of the most exciting things 1011 01:00:08,680 --> 01:00:11,160 Speaker 4: for us, folks. We are the entities that read each 1012 01:00:11,200 --> 01:00:14,320 Speaker 4: piece of correspondence we receive. Be well aware, yet unafraid. 1013 01:00:14,440 --> 01:00:18,320 Speaker 4: Sometimes the void writes back. So join us, not just 1014 01:00:18,400 --> 01:00:22,240 Speaker 4: on Netflix, not just on audio, but speak with us directly. 1015 01:00:22,520 --> 01:00:43,040 Speaker 4: Conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com. 1016 01:00:43,200 --> 01:00:45,280 Speaker 2: Stuff they Don't Want You to Know is a production 1017 01:00:45,360 --> 01:00:49,920 Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1018 01:00:50,000 --> 01:00:53,280 Speaker 2: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.