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Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is

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Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or

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Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,

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Speaker 2: my name is Noah.

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Speaker 3: They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our

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Speaker 3: super producer Andrew Treforce Howard. Most importantly, you are you.

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Speaker 3: You are here. That makes this the stuff they don't

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Speaker 3: want you to know. If you are tuning in the evening,

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Speaker 3: this publishes welcome to December sixteenth. You guys, we're so

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Speaker 3: close to twenty twenty five, not even the project, just

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Speaker 3: the calendar year.

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Speaker 2: I think twenty twenty five is already in effect.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, full effect.

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Speaker 5: No, no, we'll see, we'll see quick updates.

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Speaker 3: The US courts have rejected the Onions bid to buy

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Speaker 3: Info Wars for now. Another court ruled that boneless chicken

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Speaker 3: wings can still be you know, pieces of food that

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Speaker 3: have bones in them. One thing that is on everybody's mind.

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Speaker 3: We have taken some time for our personal lives, so

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Speaker 3: you'll hear some classic episodes coming up in the next

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Speaker 3: few weeks, and like the rest of the United States,

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Speaker 3: dare I say the world we have been paying attention

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Speaker 3: to the recent assassination of a CEO.

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Speaker 4: Oh boy, are we ever? I was, you know, it's funny.

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Speaker 5: I was in New York last week and was right

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Speaker 5: down at the iHeart offices, which are very close to

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Speaker 5: that Hilton, and I had no idea what was going on,

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Speaker 5: but I was eating it a deli and there was

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Speaker 5: a reporter talking and asking some guy that worked at

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Speaker 5: the Hilton about like maybe the security cameras something. I

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Speaker 5: didn't know what they were talking about until.

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Speaker 4: After the fact.

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Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah, And we'll probably make a full episode on

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Speaker 3: the story of Luigi Mangeo.

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Speaker 4: It's what a name.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't know if he's related to Chuck Uh.

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Speaker 3: Do you guys remember Chuck?

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Speaker 4: Is he related to Mario? Though? Is the question?

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Speaker 3: Is he related? Yeah? Or as the internet is asking us,

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Speaker 3: does this mean there is a wa Luigi who works

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Speaker 3: in private equity swear?

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Then I heard the Chuck MANZIONI question come up to it.

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Speaker 5: If anyone doesn't know, Chuck Manzoni was like sort of

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Speaker 5: an easy listening.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Trumpet player really made most famous for me by his

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Speaker 5: appearance on King of the Hill.

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Speaker 4: All the time. He's the spokesperson for megalo mart.

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Speaker 3: Finally, Finally, and speaking of spokesfolk, I like that speaks too. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: we're gonna hear some spokespeople for a popular band back

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Speaker 3: in the day. We're gonna hear some stuff about Santa

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Speaker 3: of course, you know, some comments about facial hair. We're

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Speaker 3: gonna end with a wholesome story. We'll have a lot

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Speaker 3: of updates along the way before we get to our

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Speaker 3: first break. I would just like to tease something. Have

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Speaker 3: you guys ever interacted with a phone scammer?

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Speaker 5: Oh?

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Speaker 6: Many?

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Speaker 5: Well, yeah, lately I just kind of once I realized

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Speaker 5: that that's they are, I say no, thank you and

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Speaker 5: just hang up. But you know, back before I was

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Speaker 5: a little less irritated by the avalanche of scam calls

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Speaker 5: that I receive, I probably would have played along for

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Speaker 5: a minute.

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Speaker 2: H Yeah, it's only in the very first stages, but

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Speaker 2: you can kind of tell when something is off when

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Speaker 2: it's a big corporation calling you about your account.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, have you guys been getting the one where it's

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Speaker 5: like a loan company calling to ask you for additional

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Speaker 5: information about the loan that you applied for. I've been

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Speaker 5: getting that one just non stop lately.

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Speaker 4: It's weird.

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Speaker 3: I get a lot of I'm with you. I get

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Speaker 3: a lot of unsolicited advertisements for Russian made anti aircraft okay,

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Speaker 3: no armament. Yeah it's weird. It's weird. But if they

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Speaker 3: make it through all the proxies enough to advertise, oh, here.

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Speaker 4: On them nice.

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Speaker 2: Mine's mostly been text messages saying my UPS package has arrived,

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Speaker 2: but it needs some more information from me to get.

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Speaker 3: Oh, I get that. I got that one.

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Speaker 5: I was saying it needed to clear customs. It had

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Speaker 5: gotten held up in customs, and it asked for my uh.

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Speaker 5: It said there was a problem with the zip code.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and all you have to do is click

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Speaker 3: the link. Spoiler, folks, don't it is a conspiracy.

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Speaker 4: It did have a link it has said. It said

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Speaker 4: you get a close this click the text message.

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Speaker 5: I clicked the link in the text message, but it

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Speaker 5: wasn't even a blue link.

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Speaker 4: It was like you would have had to copy and

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Speaker 4: paste it.

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Speaker 5: And then it said when it's when it starts getting

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Speaker 5: too complex, like close the text message open a browser.

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Speaker 4: Definitely a red flag every time.

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Speaker 3: Mm hmm, yeah, a flag so read that even the

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Speaker 3: color blind can see us. So with this in mind,

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Speaker 3: we know, for anybody who listened to our previous episode

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Speaker 3: on the Troubled Border of Mean Mar or our series

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Speaker 3: on that, we know that there are a lot of

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Speaker 3: scams in the world or the information age, and there

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Speaker 3: are people who have deployed one method or another of

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Speaker 3: combating those scams and those scammers. So I suggest we

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Speaker 3: take a break from a word from our sponsors and

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Speaker 3: then we introduce everyone to Daisy.

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Speaker 4: How's that sound sounds good?

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Speaker 3: And we're back. Actually, let's just have Daisy.

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Speaker 6: Take for it.

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Speaker 7: Right, seven and Temperates have been targeted by scammers, and

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Speaker 7: it's not just our grandparents. I was one of them.

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Speaker 7: This film isn't about getting scammed. This is about getting

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Speaker 7: even meet my friend Daisy.

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Speaker 6: Hello, scammers, I'm your worst nightmare. I'm an AI created

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Speaker 6: by O two to waste phone scammers time. So w's

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Speaker 6: then a DOT.

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Speaker 4: Three d W and then dot I think your profession

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Speaker 4: is bothering people?

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Speaker 6: Right, I'm just trying to have a little chat.

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Speaker 5: It's nearly been an hour.

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Speaker 4: Finally, benevolent use of AI.

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Speaker 6: It's showing me a picture of my cat Fluffy. It's

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Speaker 6: showing you the picture of your fluffy stop calling me, dear.

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Speaker 6: Got it, dear, because while they're busy talking to me,

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Speaker 6: they can't be scamming you. And let's face it, dear,

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Speaker 6: I've got all the time in the world.

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Speaker 4: So that my heart das finally a benevolent AI right.

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Speaker 3: Like doing good. Daisy is not human. Daisy is an

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Speaker 3: AI creation that impersonates sort of as we can tell,

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Speaker 3: a British granty or a granting from the UK who

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Speaker 3: answers calls in real time from suspected fraudsters with the

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Speaker 3: entire goal of keeping them on the phone for as

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Speaker 3: long as possible such that they don't reach real vulnerable

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Speaker 3: human beings.

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Speaker 4: That's amazing.

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Speaker 2: What was that piece from that we just heard?

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Speaker 3: This is from O two O two associated with Virgin

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Speaker 3: Media and you know Richard Branson's whole strange experiment. O

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Speaker 3: two has recently, as of last month, they've unveiled something

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Speaker 3: called this thing Daisy, and it's a death of a

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Speaker 3: thousand cuts for scammers. This came out you can read

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Speaker 3: about this on Virgin Media's official sites from mid November,

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Speaker 3: just last month. Daisy is a big deal at O

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Speaker 3: two for right now. Her official title is head of

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Speaker 3: scammer relations and what the entirety of this model is

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Speaker 3: centered on. Weirdly enough, the kind of recommendations that intelligence

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Speaker 3: agencies gave back in the Cold War. It's always to distract,

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Speaker 3: to ramble, to go on tangents. Daisy may, in fact,

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Speaker 3: I think, be a pretty good podcaster. The way it

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Speaker 3: works is it's an agglomeration of different AI models and

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Speaker 3: they work together in a stew to listen and respond

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Speaker 3: to fraudulent calls instantly, And it so far has a

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Speaker 3: pretty great success rate, probably because it still has that

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Speaker 3: new car smell and criminals aren't aware of it. It

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Speaker 3: can keep people on, Like the goal is to keep

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Speaker 3: the scammers on a call for about forty minutes at

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Speaker 3: a time. This is a small part of a larger

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Speaker 3: thing that virgin media two coals swerve the scammers.

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Speaker 2: Amazing.

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Speaker 4: I just love it, I really do.

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Speaker 5: Have you guys seen that film The Beekeeper starring Jason

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Speaker 5: Statham Matt You'd really like it.

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Speaker 4: It's a good old rollicking action banger.

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Speaker 5: But it is like a revenge fantasy essentially, where the

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Speaker 5: titular Beekeeper, who is a high level black ops killing

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Speaker 5: machine who's gone into retirement and literally just keeps bees,

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Speaker 5: has a dear friend of his who is an older

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Speaker 5: woman scammed by these awful basically villain you know, comically

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Speaker 5: villainous you know, evil individuals corporation. Really in the in

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Speaker 5: the movie, and minor spoiler alert for a thing that

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Speaker 5: happens very early on in the Beekeeper, she takes her

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Speaker 5: own life because they basically stripper of all of her funds.

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Speaker 5: And also she was the keeper of some funds for

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Speaker 5: some sort of nonprofit organization, a charity, and it all

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Speaker 5: kinds of things, but it is exactly what we're talking

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Speaker 5: about here. It just you know, I've obviously done stylized

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Speaker 5: and done like for maximum action effect.

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Speaker 4: But this is a much less violent way.

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Speaker 3: Of dealing with these gums, right, and we see that

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Speaker 3: it comes from real life concerns. Everybody knows that people

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Speaker 3: who are not what we will call digital natives can

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Speaker 3: be a little bit less situationally aware of scams and ststers,

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Speaker 3: and this is a huge concern in the United Kingdom.

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Speaker 3: Virgin Media's own research, in partnership with some of the

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Speaker 3: boffins they got on the case, shows that seven in

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Speaker 3: ten are actually more than seven in ten, seventy one

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Speaker 3: percent of people in Britain or Brits would like to

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Speaker 3: get some sort of revenge against scammers, because scams, especially

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Speaker 3: telephonic scams, are so common there that if you have

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Speaker 3: not been the victim of a scam attempt yourself, then

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Speaker 3: you know someone who has. It's uh, it has proliferated

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Speaker 3: across that area of the world.

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Speaker 4: Well, and Ben, it's not. It's it wouldn't continue to

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Speaker 4: the point.

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Speaker 5: Where folks like you or I, who are you know,

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Speaker 5: more or less wise to this stuff continue to give

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Speaker 5: these kind of calls if.

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Speaker 4: They weren't making money off of them. They have to

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Speaker 4: be successful to some degree or else why would they continue.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's kind of like the terrible logic of

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Speaker 3: the so called pua or pickup artists, where they say, hey,

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Speaker 3: well we'll just do a numbers game. You know, it's

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Speaker 3: not the nine people who don't fall for the malarkey,

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Speaker 3: it's the one who does.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they just need to come up with something now

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Speaker 2: that also tracks somehow back to the server that is

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Speaker 2: functioning like whatever the scammers are using, so that you

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Speaker 2: can nuke the server, not actually nuked, but you know,

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Speaker 2: why destroy the server and dds at the very least

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Speaker 2: take it out or adjacent Statham group that just gets

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Speaker 2: deployed every time Daisy is in use.

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Speaker 3: I'd be very interested in your thoughts on Beekeeper. It's good.

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Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, I all right, different show, but yeah yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: yeah yeah.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't expecting to like it, and I truly loved it.

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Speaker 3: So speaking of truly loving things, there is another story

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Speaker 3: that so many people have contacted us about. It's an

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Speaker 3: ongoing thing. We have to talk about it, at least briefly, gentlemen,

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Speaker 3: the mystery drones. Earlier in our previous Strange News segment,

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Speaker 3: I want to say we had explored the story of

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Speaker 3: drones monitoring US bases in the United Kingdom. It turns

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Speaker 3: out there are more mystery drones across the pond. Not

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Speaker 3: just that Chinese student who took a one way trip

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Speaker 3: after he got popped. But we know that residents in

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Speaker 3: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn have been reporting drones. Over in New Jersey,

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Speaker 3: a lot of people have been reporting strange stuff in

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Speaker 3: the sky, and these are We have to remember, this

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Speaker 3: part of the United States is very densely populated, so

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Speaker 3: if one person sees something, many other people saw it

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Speaker 3: as well. There's not a way to. You know, it's

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Speaker 3: not like the days of Blue Book. You can't just

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Speaker 3: find the one farmer and intimidate them. These drones have

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Speaker 3: been seen near US military facilities, even near President elect

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Speaker 3: Trump's golf course in Bedminster. The FAA tried to tamp

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Speaker 3: down and said, hey, look, any drone flights over this

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Speaker 3: airspace are going to be restricted. So then this helps

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Speaker 3: us eliminate, you know, the probability of known drones coming

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Speaker 3: in everybody pad it.

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Speaker 2: One thing we should note here is that these are

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Speaker 2: not your drones that you can go pick up at

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Speaker 2: Best Buy if you you know, came into a financial windfall,

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Speaker 2: or you can go over to you know, any of

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Speaker 2: the places that sell drones. Right now, these are, or

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Speaker 2: at least they're being reported as huge, like suv size

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Speaker 2: drones that function a lot like those quadri copter drones

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Speaker 2: that are loud as hell apparently, and again huge flying around,

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Speaker 2: and that is very I think that's part of the

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Speaker 2: troublesome bit, right. It's not as though it's a bunch

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Speaker 2: of hobbyists, as you've been saying there, Well, it's something else.

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Speaker 5: And from my own education here, guys, are we talking

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Speaker 5: these are like models that are outside.

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Speaker 4: Of the norm even of what we know as.

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Speaker 5: Military drones, because those don't seem like they're incredibly loud.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I mean, I know they are.

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Speaker 5: They make a drone sound, but I mean it would

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Speaker 5: kind of kill out the element of surprise if they

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Speaker 5: were like as loud as these things seem to be.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to I want to shout out some

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Speaker 3: recent interactions we've had on social media, some emails, and

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Speaker 3: some folks who used our call in line to specifically

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Speaker 3: note this this is an active, developing situation, and to

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Speaker 3: be clear, I appreciate that clarification. Yeah, obviously we're not

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Speaker 3: implying that these are hobbyist drones, not the kind of

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Speaker 3: stuff you could buy on Amazon or at your local

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Speaker 3: radio shack. I think there are still radio shacks. Maybe

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Speaker 3: I'm dating myself. These are big, almost to what we

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Speaker 3: would call UAV size. I really want to get to

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Speaker 3: the statement from the FBI's Newark Field office. They said, quote,

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Speaker 3: we understand the concern, and we are doing all we

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Speaker 3: can to figure out what's going on. We truly don't

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Speaker 3: have much information to provide at the moment, and this

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Speaker 3: is I want to add the further context here. This

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Speaker 3: has to be terrifying and deeply upsetting, perhaps even offensive

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Speaker 3: to people in the area, given that nine to eleven

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Speaker 3: didn't happen too long ago, Right, So shouldn't this air

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Speaker 3: space be especially protected, be especially monitored. Out of all

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Speaker 3: the places in the United States outside of maybe you know,

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Speaker 3: Groom Lake or area fifty one, How on earth are

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Speaker 3: these things getting through? And how on earth are they

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Speaker 3: apparently unidentified.

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Speaker 5: Getting through without being shot down like or at least

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Speaker 5: you know, acknowledged.

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Speaker 4: How are they getting this far right?

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Speaker 3: Right? That's the thing I would advanced to you guys.

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Speaker 3: At first off, the logical cover story would be this

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Speaker 3: is a training exercise, right, everybody, keep calm, we know

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Speaker 3: what's happening. However, that is not the path the FEDS

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Speaker 3: have chosen to take.

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Speaker 2: Well, it is weird because it could be test vehicles

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Speaker 2: for some company, you know, some startup company that's attempting

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Speaker 2: to make flying cars that are more quadricroft or style,

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Speaker 2: which is something we've seen prototypes of over the past

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Speaker 2: Finally six years, where's.

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Speaker 4: A flying car? I mean, we're finally getting to them.

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Speaker 2: If you look at the footage of them up there,

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Speaker 2: it looks like clearly a human made flashing light vehicle

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Speaker 2: you know that should be in the sky and is

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Speaker 2: flying probably safely in the sky with all of its

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Speaker 2: flashing lights and everything. It's just very very odd, especially

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Speaker 2: when you see one and then there's like five more

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Speaker 2: that you can tell, or the same thing flying around

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Speaker 2: out in the distance.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we've had reports again to our show in particular,

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Speaker 3: and just reports in the public sphere where these are

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Speaker 3: reasonable people, These are not wing nuts. There are folks

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Speaker 3: who happen to live in the area, maybe even without

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Speaker 3: an interest in aviation or UAP, and they're saying, what

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Speaker 3: the heck is going on? If you're part of that,

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Speaker 3: if you have experienced this, you can of course email

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Speaker 3: us conspiracy atiheartradio dot com. We'd love to see any

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Speaker 3: clips you have. You can also call the FBI if

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Speaker 3: you want one eight hundred in averse of creativity, one

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Speaker 3: eight hundred call FBI. That's two two five five three

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Speaker 3: two four. And people are saying they've reported these sightings

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Speaker 3: multiple times and they have not gotten responses. What the

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Speaker 3: heck is going on? There's very much something they don't

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Speaker 3: want you to know, and the question is who is they?

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Speaker 3: So again we would love to hear your reports, thinking

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Speaker 3: to everybody's written in, contacted us via the internets, or

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Speaker 3: dropped a line to us via telephonic device. I wanted

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Speaker 3: to got wanted to go a little bit lighthearted with

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Speaker 3: a couple things. The one story about justice. So you

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Speaker 3: guys know how recently the nation of the DPRK or

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Speaker 3: North Korea as has called here in the West, sent

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Speaker 3: some of their own military personnel to fight in Russia's

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Speaker 3: war with Ukraine. It appears Russia has you know, reciprocated

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Speaker 3: a bit. They sent a crack team to North Korea. However,

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Speaker 3: the crack team is not human. They sent one hundred

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Speaker 3: and I'm quoting here elite goats.

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Speaker 2: Oh heck, yeah, elite goats. Do they have weapons strapped

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Speaker 2: on them or something?

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Speaker 3: They have? Every goat is a weapon, right, Yeah, these

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Speaker 3: are the goat goats. Because they have cleared four hundred

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Speaker 3: and forty seven goats for shipment to North Korea. It's

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Speaker 3: the first batch of live animals. This occurred back in August.

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Speaker 3: Now they're continuing to send these. A lot of these

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Speaker 3: goats are pregnant. They have been microchipped. The idea is

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Speaker 3: that while the speculation in the West is that this

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Speaker 3: is meant to help address food shortages in the country.

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Speaker 3: So perhaps by having these high quality goats, which sounds

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Speaker 3: like a weird thing to say, perhaps that will help

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Speaker 3: the country. Wait, how many, Well, in August they cleared

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Speaker 3: four hundred and forty seven. Quite recently they sent one

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Speaker 3: hundred over.

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Speaker 4: We're going to need more goats, a bigger gut.

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Speaker 3: We've got to have more goats. We also know this

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Speaker 3: is part of a larger story which I really want

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Speaker 3: to dig into with you guys later. Last month, in November,

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Speaker 3: Russia also sent more animals, not just pregnant top tier goats,

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Speaker 3: which again is just a very weird statement. They sent

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Speaker 3: to bears, two yaks, twenty five pheasants, forty mandarin ducks,

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Speaker 3: five cockatoos of one African lion. It does sound version

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Speaker 3: of that Christmas Yeah, that's what he's gonna say. It

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Speaker 3: sounds like a weird version of that old Christmas song,

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Speaker 3: doesn't it.

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Speaker 4: It does.

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Speaker 5: I mean, immediately my mind was looking for the partridge

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Speaker 5: and the pear tree.

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Speaker 4: It seems logistically difficult to ship though.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, partridges are tough. Internation, well, they know what they

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Speaker 3: is true.

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Speaker 4: Where is the bear? Fitting.

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Speaker 2: This is just like two bears just in case, Like,

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Speaker 2: we got to fin these herds at some point, and

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Speaker 2: we need to make sure these bears are ready.

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Speaker 5: Ye, straight to the DMZ where they cocaine bears is

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Speaker 5: my second pertion.

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Speaker 3: Every bear is a cocaine bear if you catch it

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Speaker 3: on the right Saturday. So we are out of time

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Speaker 3: for this. We're not going to get to the staff

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Speaker 3: orgy at the Tennessee VA hospital. Why, we are happy

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Speaker 3: to report Broward County has vacated victions for people who

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Speaker 3: bought crack recently because it turns out that crack was

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Speaker 3: made by the local sheriffs off what yes Bury the

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Speaker 3: lead guy?

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Speaker 2: True, but what about this orgy?

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Speaker 3: We're just we're throwing these out. If you want to

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Speaker 3: learn more, Uh, if you want to learn more about

380
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Speaker 3: VA orgies, uh, do check out sure News network, where

381
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,919
Speaker 3: VA officials have resigned after a report of a staff

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Speaker 3: orgy at a Tennessee VA hospital.

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Speaker 6: Uh.

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Speaker 3: If you want to make sure you're, I guess buying

385
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Speaker 3: high quality crack, then go to Broward County. Uh, because

386
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Speaker 3: over in Fort lauderdel Floyd.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I also just say I went to Philadelphia this weekend

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Speaker 5: as well, for a personal trip and energy no personal trip, and.

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Speaker 3: I are's there's a really thank you for your sir.

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Speaker 5: There's a really wonderful queer historical queer bookstore called Giovanni's

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Speaker 5: Room where a friend of mine works, and I went

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00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 5: there and as we left, he was giving us all

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Speaker 5: these little extra little bits to add to our things

395
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 5: that we bought, like little you know, posters and things,

396
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Speaker 5: and he said, oh, and here, test your drugs. And

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00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 5: he gave us like these drug testing kits. So just

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Speaker 5: putting it out there that that stuff is available, and

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Speaker 5: if anybody out there is indulging in things like crack

400
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,960
Speaker 5: cocaine or cocaine, I'm not advocating that, but do test

401
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,879
Speaker 5: your drugs because there are all kinds of horrible adults

402
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,359
Speaker 5: arend stunt to mention fentanyl and things that can actually

403
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Speaker 5: kill you outside of just a goofy story.

404
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Speaker 4: So just putting that out there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, if you're in a situation where you are choosing

406
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Speaker 3: recreational activities like that, please do be aware of fentanyl

407
00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:38,320
Speaker 3: and other forms of contamination have swept through the US

408
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,719
Speaker 3: and parts of Europe like a thunderstorm or a hurricane.

409
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 3: Who always be safe to the best of your ability,

410
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:49,840
Speaker 3: there should be resources available. If you are, of course,

411
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,679
Speaker 3: in Broward County, be aware that for at least three years,

412
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,640
Speaker 3: the Sheriff's office there produced its own crack cocaine so

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Speaker 3: that they could sell it to people. And then are

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00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,560
Speaker 3: those people for buying the crack cocaine that law enforcement

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Speaker 3: had made.

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Speaker 5: It's like the Dave Chappelle bits, or it's like putting

417
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Speaker 5: a crack rock on you, you know, I mean, good lord,

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Speaker 5: that is despicable.

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Speaker 2: I just want to know who cooked up that idea.

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Speaker 3: Ok, yeah, yeah, Well, and when they're getting promoted, right,

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00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 3: speaking of promotions, We're going to pause for a word

422
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Speaker 3: from our sponsors. Will return with more strange news.

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Speaker 5: And we have returned with a few more pieces of

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Speaker 5: strange news. Will lead with a holiday related themed story

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Speaker 5: out of Russia.

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Speaker 4: I think this one is just a hoot. Guys.

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Speaker 5: There's a prominent pro Kremlin activist by the name of

428
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Speaker 5: Vitaly Boradin who has called on the Russian state to

429
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Speaker 5: designate Santa Claus as a quote quote foreign agent.

430
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Speaker 3: I mean technically he is, well.

431
00:24:58,880 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 4: Absolutely he is.

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Speaker 5: I mean, well, yeah, he's he's coming into your homes, y'all,

433
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:05,200
Speaker 5: and he's, you know, leaving things in there that weren't

434
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 5: there before, and yet somehow we welcome this terrorist.

435
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 3: No, I'm just such a weird I mean, think about it. Though.

436
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:13,119
Speaker 3: I was talking about this with our pals at Daily's

437
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:18,240
Speaker 3: like Geist. It is such a strange, uh, strange trope

438
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,879
Speaker 3: that we all accept. If you're very good, an overweight

439
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,399
Speaker 3: man that you don't know will break into your house.

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00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 3: It'll leave you stuff, and you should also leave him.

441
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 4: Sticks and thank you, thank you for the privilege.

442
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if you're not good, he's still going to

443
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,679
Speaker 3: break into your house, but the gifts will be worse.

444
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 2: Or and he's always brandishing an American Coca Cola.

445
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:43,359
Speaker 4: Isn't he weird in the bottle too? Mmm? Refreshing? But yeah,

446
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:43,920
Speaker 4: it's true.

447
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,879
Speaker 5: There's definitely some odd stuff around Santa Claus, the commercialization

448
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 5: of Christmas and all of that good stuff. But I

449
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,960
Speaker 5: think we can all agree because of Matt's point about

450
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,560
Speaker 5: the Coca Cola company sort of proliferating the image, the

451
00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 5: modern image of Santa Claus that we know it is

452
00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 5: very very much or he is very much part of

453
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,760
Speaker 5: Western culture. Even though we know that Santa Claus of

454
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,400
Speaker 5: course comes from Europe. There are you know, tons of

455
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,399
Speaker 5: Santa Claus analogus, you know, Cinder Klaus and all of

456
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 5: that stuff, Black Schwatza, Pater, some more problematic ones and

457
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,920
Speaker 5: things of that nature that come from other parts of

458
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,879
Speaker 5: the world. But the bearded home invading, you know, jolly

459
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,040
Speaker 5: old elf that we know as Santa is very much

460
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:26,960
Speaker 5: a Western creation.

461
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 3: From Thomas Nast and then later popularized be a Coca Cola.

462
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:32,000
Speaker 3: We have a ridiculous history.

463
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:33,280
Speaker 4: You're absolutely right.

464
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 5: He was a cartoonist, he kind of created, He was

465
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,000
Speaker 5: a political cartoonist, and he created the image that we

466
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 5: know that was then kind of co opted by the

467
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 5: Co Cola company. So it does make sense that someone

468
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 5: who is so pro Kremlin like Borden might see Santa

469
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:52,199
Speaker 5: Claus as not as like a physical foreign agent, but

470
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 5: as a way of infiltrating and undermining traditional Russian values.

471
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:01,879
Speaker 5: He addressed a letter to the Secutor General and that

472
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 5: this was reported by the New York Times, where he

473
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,439
Speaker 5: referred to Santa's rising popularity in Russia and the idea

474
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,919
Speaker 5: that it jeopardizes the prominence of a Russian sort of

475
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 5: Santa Claus esque figure, Father Frost or dead Moros which

476
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 5: is a cultural figure that's central to Russia's New Year's

477
00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:25,160
Speaker 5: of celebrations. Father Frost is depicted as being from veliky

478
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 5: Ustyog in Vologna Oblast, which is a place in Russia,

479
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,359
Speaker 5: I assume, and he has a helper. He has a

480
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:38,400
Speaker 5: Santa's Little Helper type figure, which is his granddaughter, Snegoroshka.

481
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:42,439
Speaker 5: And during the Soviet era he was very much pushed

482
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:45,959
Speaker 5: forth as the embodiment of the spirit of New Year's

483
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,840
Speaker 5: you know, reflection and gift giving and all of that

484
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 5: stuff gratitude. Right, But since the fall of the Soviet Union,

485
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 5: Western culture and capitalism, along with Santa Claus, has been

486
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:04,639
Speaker 5: proliferating through Russia. So Borden in his letter highlights the

487
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 5: one point six trillion dollar global price tag of Santa

488
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 5: Claus trademarks, and he believes that exporting this figure, what

489
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,880
Speaker 5: he represents Santa Claus, the exporting by international corporations run

490
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 5: the risk of eroding and exploiting and I guess maybe

491
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 5: more diluting Russian cultural norms, which is something that we've

492
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:31,200
Speaker 5: heard of a good bit recently. And now I'm having

493
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 5: a hard time remembering the country of origin, but there

494
00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 5: was a country. I believe in the Middle East that

495
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 5: was prohibiting music of a certain beats per minute because

496
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 5: it did not align with the traditional folk music of

497
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,400
Speaker 5: that region. So that's very much like this idea of

498
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,920
Speaker 5: let's keep these cultural norms on lock and prevent and

499
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,560
Speaker 5: push away any invading forces. Which the reason I said

500
00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:00,720
Speaker 5: I thought this was a hoot, guys, is because isn't

501
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 5: Russia kind of notorious for infiltrating our norms and political

502
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 5: processes nowadays? I mean, I just think it's a little

503
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 5: bit of a hypocrisy going on here with someone that's

504
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 5: so pro Kremlin, the Kremlin being constantly at the heart

505
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 5: of a lot of these seemingly quite likely conspiracies about

506
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 5: Russian agents infiltrating our social media here, influencing voter turnout,

507
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 5: even doing you know, DS attacks and things of that

508
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,280
Speaker 5: nature to affect the outcome of our elections.

509
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 4: Which is about as central to culture as you can get.

510
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, perhaps I have a I have a I

511
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:43,880
Speaker 3: don't want to say a conclusion here at all, but

512
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 3: I do have an interesting thing to bring up you.

513
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 3: You may have noticed, folks, that it may just be possible, well,

514
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,959
Speaker 3: that this is a response to some breaking news about

515
00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:01,160
Speaker 3: Santa Claus. Did you hear that the the sarcophagus of

516
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,479
Speaker 3: the quote real Santa Claus has been discovered in Turkey?

517
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 4: It just does it have jingle bells on it?

518
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:11,160
Speaker 5: Is it a big giant sleigher I just picture Santa's

519
00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 5: tomb being mobile in that way.

520
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 3: They found the burial site, apparently the suspected burial site

521
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,800
Speaker 3: of the Greek bishop Saint Nicholas at the Church of

522
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 3: Saint Nicholas and Talia, Turkey. It's a limestone sarcophagus. I

523
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 3: don't know about the bells, but maybe this is what

524
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 3: inspired Russian activists to say, all right, Santa Claus definitely

525
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 3: a foreign agent. You could check it out. Archaeology News,

526
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 3: December seventh. Shout out to Dario Radley. I'm just super interesting.

527
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 3: I had no idea about that, and his last thing

528
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 3: for me on this one. This does align with some

529
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 3: other efforts that are happening within the Russian government. Mikhail Ivanov,

530
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:54,000
Speaker 3: who's a regional legislator, has been pushing for the removal

531
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 3: of Santa Claus figurines from store shelves in favor of

532
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 3: being replaced by more Russian center holiday figures.

533
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 4: Literally not just figurines.

534
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:12,640
Speaker 5: He criticized Santa Claus as representation of gross Western ideals, commercialization, capitalism,

535
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:16,479
Speaker 5: et cetera, and these things that are disconnected from the

536
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 5: spiritual essence of Christmas. And we could make that same

537
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 5: argument over a year, and plenty of people do. So

538
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:24,160
Speaker 5: these things aren't happening in a vacuum. But it does,

539
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 5: it does. It does seem interesting that these folks are

540
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 5: acknowledging this aggressive infiltration by outside elements that are diluting

541
00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 5: their own cultural norms, when again, they themselves seem to

542
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 5: be guilty of doing the same thing to us. Sure

543
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 5: it didn't mean the yap so much back And I

544
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 5: can see your your your gears turning there.

545
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 4: What do you think about this?

546
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:45,400
Speaker 2: One had a conversation with I so on this morning

547
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,959
Speaker 2: about Santa Claus and Jesus and Christmas and all that stuff.

548
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 2: And I think it's just I think it's a war

549
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:53,040
Speaker 2: on Christmas. Guys.

550
00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 3: Okay, I.

551
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:00,120
Speaker 4: Just choke you. I'm just no, it's fun.

552
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,560
Speaker 5: I mean, have you guys seen the genius cinematic masterpiece

553
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 5: that is Red One. No, it's this like Holly this

554
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 5: popcorn you know movie that just came out it's apparently

555
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 5: quite terrible and not doing particularly well, starring Dwayne the

556
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:15,760
Speaker 5: Rock Johnson, where he plays I think a bodyguard for

557
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 5: Santa who's played by the guy that played j Jonah Jamison,

558
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,760
Speaker 5: who's also the neo Nazi dude in OZ whose name

559
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:24,600
Speaker 5: is totally eluded to me. He's the mean drum teacher

560
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:26,960
Speaker 5: in Whiplash. You guys know what I'm talking about. His

561
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 5: names is totally ascab of me. But AnyWho, he's Santa

562
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,520
Speaker 5: Claus and he's apparently totally jacked. And it's this like

563
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 5: Christmas themed adventure that none of the critics that I

564
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:37,880
Speaker 5: pay attention to seem to be able to understand who

565
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 5: it's for because it's like too violent for little kids,

566
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:42,000
Speaker 5: but it's too childish for adults.

567
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 4: So that's the other example of the commercialization.

568
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:49,040
Speaker 3: Does it Dwayne still have this is a pop culture conspiracy?

569
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:51,760
Speaker 3: But does he still have that thing in his contract

570
00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 3: where he supposedly whatever character he plays he can't lose

571
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:56,000
Speaker 3: a fight.

572
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:57,960
Speaker 4: Oh, I don't know about that. That would that would

573
00:32:58,000 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 4: be It's interesting.

574
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 5: I know he has to have a gym on site,

575
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 5: and he has to have time to get Jack built

576
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:04,760
Speaker 5: into the shooting schedule.

577
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 3: You got to get your games. Also, the actor you're

578
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 3: looking for their nol is jkse thank you, Yes, love

579
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 3: him just based on his name, Matt, I.

580
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 2: Think Steven Sagall is the guy I remember having the

581
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,160
Speaker 2: thing in the contract about not losing a fight, but

582
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 2: I don't.

583
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 5: I don't remember well, Dwayne the Rock Johnson, because that's

584
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 5: his name. He did have some controversy around the shooting

585
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 5: of Red One, where he apparently was late all the

586
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 5: time and was known to pee in bottles on set,

587
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 5: which seems a little inappropriate, and he sort of answered

588
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,280
Speaker 5: to those claims saying they were largely overblown. But there

589
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:39,800
Speaker 5: was definitely some hit pieces out on him being a

590
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 5: bit of a pill during the filming, but that is

591
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,560
Speaker 5: neither here nor there. If you guys in mind, I

592
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 5: think I've got time.

593
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:44,960
Speaker 4: For one more.

594
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,520
Speaker 5: That I had a third, well, I'll just say the

595
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:48,640
Speaker 5: third one just because it's interesting.

596
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 4: Really quickly, Scotland.

597
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,880
Speaker 5: The police force in the Scotland had proposed a ban

598
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:59,160
Speaker 5: on facial hair for any officers of the law. There

599
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 5: a clean shaven policy that was going to be introduced

600
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 5: in May, what was postponed during a wave of complaints.

601
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,600
Speaker 5: Now they have officially decided to scrap the plans. So

602
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:11,719
Speaker 5: I say, that's a victory for Beard. He's everywhere, yeah, and.

603
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,239
Speaker 3: That's you know, that's a victory for the public of Scotland,

604
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,200
Speaker 3: because if someone doesn't have a mustache, how can you

605
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 3: tell that they are true?

606
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,359
Speaker 5: And also Scotland being a pretty bearded country, I would

607
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,080
Speaker 5: argue it let us a lot of lovely beards there.

608
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:30,480
Speaker 5: And it was specifically supposed to encourage the wearing of masks,

609
00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:32,359
Speaker 5: those N ninety five masks that I.

610
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:33,360
Speaker 4: Sit really tightly.

611
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 5: But again the backlash was just too severe and they

612
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:38,839
Speaker 5: couldn't do it. So lastly, I just want to talk

613
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 5: a little bit about the absolute.

614
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,360
Speaker 4: Disco banger that is YMCA.

615
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 5: There's been a little bit of controversy recently when the

616
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:51,720
Speaker 5: singer of the band, I believe he was the cop.

617
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 5: If you're looking at the video, there was like, you know,

618
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 5: the construction worker, the cowboy, the Native American figure, there's

619
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,839
Speaker 5: like a soldier, a leather daddy kind of figure wearing

620
00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 5: like literally chains on his bare chest, and then a

621
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:05,600
Speaker 5: police officer. The police officer who is the co writer

622
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:09,680
Speaker 5: of the song Ymca, a guy named Victor Willis, is

623
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,960
Speaker 5: still living, and he has come out saying, actually, I'll

624
00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:16,800
Speaker 5: just give the quote come January twenty twenty five.

625
00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 4: My wife. Why he's singling out his wife and not him.

626
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,560
Speaker 3: Well, he doesn't want he wants people to know his.

627
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,520
Speaker 4: Oriented fair enough, that's a good point. Okay, Well let's

628
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 4: get to it.

629
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 5: My wife will start suing each and every news organization

630
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 5: that falsely refers to YMCA, either in their headlines or

631
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,719
Speaker 5: alluded to in the base of the story that YMCA

632
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 5: is somehow a gay anthem, because such notion is based

633
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 5: solely on the song's lyrics alluding to illicit activity for

634
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:50,359
Speaker 5: which it does not a little interesting grammatical structure there.

635
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, three things real quick. First, why is your wife

636
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:58,359
Speaker 3: suing him? Why not you? Second, do you, as the

637
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:02,840
Speaker 3: creator of anything, be a story, a painting, a sculpture,

638
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:07,399
Speaker 3: or a song, do you get to dictate what part

639
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 3: of the world or what demographic identifies.

640
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:11,239
Speaker 4: Well, that's exactly right, man.

641
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:13,880
Speaker 5: Whether or not the song was set out to be

642
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:17,200
Speaker 5: a gay anthem, the reality of the matter is is

643
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 5: that it has come to have the stature of a

644
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:23,319
Speaker 5: gay anthem. And if you watch the video, and I

645
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:27,480
Speaker 5: mean the performances and just like the lyrics, they're pretty innocuous.

646
00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 5: It is just singing the praises of the young Men's

647
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:34,560
Speaker 5: Christian What is it association? I believe YMCA a place

648
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 5: where you can go have a hot meal and you know,

649
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,879
Speaker 5: play a little ping pong, get a shower if you're

650
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:41,920
Speaker 5: down on your luck, and of course hang out with

651
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:46,800
Speaker 5: all the boys. Another very interesting statement from the singer

652
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 5: says that that famous line that I just quoted was

653
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:53,239
Speaker 5: simply nineteen seventies black slang for black guys hanging out

654
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,400
Speaker 5: together for sports, gambling or whatever.

655
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:57,720
Speaker 4: There's nothing gay about that, no, homo.

656
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,719
Speaker 3: I mean, okay me thou dost Well, that's.

657
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,160
Speaker 5: What I was gonna mention Ben and Matt. This does

658
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,680
Speaker 5: feel like a classic example of the streisand effects. Right

659
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 5: we're in somebody says no, it's not this thing, or no,

660
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:14,680
Speaker 5: don't look at my picture on the internet where and

661
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,040
Speaker 5: it just kind of doubles down on whatever that thing is,

662
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:19,160
Speaker 5: or makes people have eyes on whatever the thing is

663
00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 5: you don't want them to look at, and it just

664
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,759
Speaker 5: comes off like Freud with cigars totally, and it just

665
00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:25,799
Speaker 5: comes off as really tone deaf and clueless, and a

666
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,919
Speaker 5: great example of someone who doesn't understand what their own

667
00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:32,840
Speaker 5: work means to other people. And the interesting thing about

668
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:35,480
Speaker 5: this is it comes kind of as a result of

669
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 5: this song having been co opted by the Trump campaign

670
00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:43,400
Speaker 5: being played at all of these events. And originally, apparently

671
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:48,319
Speaker 5: mister Willis was not for that, just because he said

672
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,040
Speaker 5: it was a quote unquote nuisance. I guess he was

673
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 5: getting bugged about it a lot. But then the Trumpet

674
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:57,960
Speaker 5: Organization actually purchased a political license for the song through BMI,

675
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:01,480
Speaker 5: a publishing company that owns the rights to that song,

676
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 5: And since then mister Willis has changed his tune entirely.

677
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:07,839
Speaker 5: He isn't making it a political thing, but he is

678
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,120
Speaker 5: saying the financial benefits this is from his mouth have

679
00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,720
Speaker 5: been great. YMCA is estimated to grow several million dollars

680
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:17,680
Speaker 5: since the President Alex continued use of the song. Therefore,

681
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,560
Speaker 5: I'm glad I allowed the President a lex continued use

682
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,640
Speaker 5: of YMCA, and I thank him for choosing to use

683
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:26,480
Speaker 5: my song. And rather than leaving it that, I just

684
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:28,799
Speaker 5: do want to add it wasn't just his song. He

685
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 5: was the co writer of the song along with a

686
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:34,439
Speaker 5: gentleman by the name of Jacquise Morale who or Morale Rather,

687
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,359
Speaker 5: who produced the record. He was a very well known

688
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,719
Speaker 5: French disco and dance music record producer and songwriter. The

689
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:44,840
Speaker 5: Village people were, from my understanding, assembled, They were like

690
00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:45,479
Speaker 5: a boy band.

691
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:46,320
Speaker 4: They were put together.

692
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:50,640
Speaker 5: Each of their respective characters were very meticulously chosen, and

693
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,560
Speaker 5: it was a time where queer culture was much more

694
00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:55,000
Speaker 5: out in the open all of a sudden, and it

695
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,160
Speaker 5: was capitalizing on that. So, I mean, you know, you

696
00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,319
Speaker 5: can't say that the biker in the leather with the

697
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 5: chains on his hairy chest isn't like a symbol of

698
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:07,040
Speaker 5: a queer iconic thing. Whether that happened before or after

699
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 5: that choice was made, it is inextricably that. But Jacquise Morel,

700
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:14,400
Speaker 5: who is no longer with us therefore not able to

701
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,640
Speaker 5: defend his position on the use of this song or

702
00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:21,799
Speaker 5: it's you know, gay roots or lack thereof. He did

703
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 5: pass away due to complications from HIV he contracted in

704
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:30,040
Speaker 5: the mid nineteen eighties, and he was openly gay, and

705
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 5: he died of rather, he died of AIDS related complications

706
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:38,080
Speaker 5: in Paris at the age of forty four. So very clearly,

707
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,879
Speaker 5: you know, you got to wonder if the producer, who

708
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,400
Speaker 5: also gets a co writing credit, how much who wrote what?

709
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,200
Speaker 5: And how much of that what with that relationship was even?

710
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:54,399
Speaker 3: Like, and how do people try to retroactively redefine right

711
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:58,319
Speaker 3: historical events? You know, history is history is written by

712
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:02,160
Speaker 3: the people in the present ongoing conversation. Also with that

713
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:04,880
Speaker 3: in mind, you know, guys, how cool would it be

714
00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 3: for a Village People two point zero to come out?

715
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:13,759
Speaker 3: And if so, which characters which tropes would be assembled?

716
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,160
Speaker 3: You know, like who who? Who's the equivalent of the

717
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,560
Speaker 3: Village People cast role wise in the modern day.

718
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:22,640
Speaker 5: They have to leave out the Native American with full

719
00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:26,000
Speaker 5: head dress. I would argue that that needs well, the.

720
00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:28,400
Speaker 4: Rest of them, I think are Okay. I don't know.

721
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,040
Speaker 5: I always will think of Wayne's World, that the scene

722
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:32,600
Speaker 5: of Wayn's World where they do IMCA.

723
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 4: But yeah, I don't know.

724
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:35,600
Speaker 5: I just think this is interesting and a great example

725
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:37,640
Speaker 5: of kind of like a the stressand effect and be

726
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:40,440
Speaker 5: someone kind of being a little bit clueless about their

727
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,080
Speaker 5: own legacy, whether the intent was there or not. I

728
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,080
Speaker 5: don't think you can shut down what a thing has

729
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 5: come to represent just by saying.

730
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:51,399
Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's kind of like, uh, it's it's kind

731
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:54,960
Speaker 3: of like uh, you know, an old school gangster rapper

732
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:58,239
Speaker 3: coming out and saying I've never once condoned violence. You

733
00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:00,600
Speaker 3: guys are hearing the me Is it wrong?

734
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:02,520
Speaker 4: Yeah? One way.

735
00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 2: I do think this is like a roundabout way to

736
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 2: maybe get what he wants though, say some like insensitive

737
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:13,439
Speaker 2: possibly homophobic things out loud, you know, and now if

738
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,880
Speaker 2: you listen to the song, you're supporting this guy, right,

739
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,040
Speaker 2: So I do think it might actually have the messed

740
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:21,200
Speaker 2: up effect he's looking for.

741
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 5: Well, it's maybe changing the narrative in a way, because

742
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,480
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, Trump is you know, I would

743
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 5: he has some platforms that I think are not particularly

744
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:32,560
Speaker 5: friendly to the LGBTQ and trans community. Let's just say

745
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 5: so to co opt that song in that way and

746
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 5: then have the co sign of the creator, it does

747
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 5: seem to flip the script on what that song represents.

748
00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:44,080
Speaker 4: And I think he's trying to help serve that narrative.

749
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 5: And now it maybe is more of the Trump dancing,

750
00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 5: you know, jerking his hands off in the air kind

751
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,480
Speaker 5: of song rather than this queer anthem that it has

752
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:53,239
Speaker 5: in the past been.

753
00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is a weird way to stop getting even

754
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:00,759
Speaker 2: the small amount of residuals you still getting no.

755
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 4: No, But he's getting more. He's getting that's the point,

756
00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:03,239
Speaker 4: though he's getting no.

757
00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,839
Speaker 5: He said it's generated a million dollars specifically by from

758
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,120
Speaker 5: use of the Trump campaign, and it shot up in

759
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:10,960
Speaker 5: the charts as a result of that too. But my

760
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,880
Speaker 5: point is, I think the audience is changing or something

761
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:15,560
Speaker 5: like the people who are listening to it for different

762
00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,759
Speaker 5: reasons or with different connotations now. But you know, I've

763
00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:23,520
Speaker 5: never it's always been pretty embraced by everyone. It's at weddings,

764
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:25,719
Speaker 5: you know, everyone loves the dance. Everyone loves a song

765
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:27,839
Speaker 5: with a dance associated with it that I don't think

766
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:29,879
Speaker 5: was even created by the band. I think that kind

767
00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:33,000
Speaker 5: of came naturally from a performance on American Bandstand or

768
00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:35,480
Speaker 5: something where the audience kind of invented that. I don't

769
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:38,400
Speaker 5: know exactly the details there, but it's really interesting on

770
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:40,520
Speaker 5: a lot of levels. So anyway, those are my stories.

771
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,080
Speaker 5: Let's take a quick break here, a word from our sponsor,

772
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:45,400
Speaker 5: and then come back with a bit more strange news

773
00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:45,799
Speaker 5: for you.

774
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:54,000
Speaker 2: Coming back just to play off of that YMCA story,

775
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:57,640
Speaker 2: You guys, we have another piece of news that matches

776
00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:02,040
Speaker 2: up really well with this. You can't control who consumes

777
00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:05,160
Speaker 2: the art you create and what that art becomes for people.

778
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:10,120
Speaker 2: A book written by author Jay Feineman, first published in

779
00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:14,280
Speaker 2: twenty ten, has skyrocketed to number two on the Amazon

780
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 2: Nonfiction Charts, the best selling nonfiction charts. The subtitle is

781
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:23,040
Speaker 2: Why insurance Companies Don't pay claims and What you can

782
00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:27,360
Speaker 2: do about it. The title is delay, deny, defend.

783
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:28,200
Speaker 3: Hmm.

784
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:31,959
Speaker 5: Okay, just saw that those three words for the first

785
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,239
Speaker 5: time in my life recently on those shell case things.

786
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:35,839
Speaker 5: And then Ben pointed out to us in our group

787
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:38,719
Speaker 5: chat that this was kind of a popular way of

788
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:42,919
Speaker 5: referring to how insurance companies, you know, basically get out

789
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:44,759
Speaker 5: of paying claims that are legitimate.

790
00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:48,800
Speaker 2: Yes, and you know, it is just it's strange the

791
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:50,480
Speaker 2: way this whole thing is playing out. We will talk

792
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,360
Speaker 2: about it very soon in a more full way, just

793
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:55,840
Speaker 2: wanting to point it out there. You know, Jay Feineman

794
00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:59,880
Speaker 2: probably didn't imagine his book would be associated with, you know,

795
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:03,920
Speaker 2: the assassination of a healthcare CEO. And now it is

796
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:06,359
Speaker 2: all right, so let's jump to the news coming out

797
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,680
Speaker 2: of CNN Business. This was written on December tenth by

798
00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:15,120
Speaker 2: Nathaniel Myerson. The title is Federal Judge block's largest supermarket

799
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:20,120
Speaker 2: merger in history. So, guys, back in twenty twenty two,

800
00:44:20,239 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 2: Kroger and Albertson's, these are two massive grocery store slash

801
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:29,680
Speaker 2: supermarket corporations. They announced, Hey, we're gonna team up together.

802
00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:31,759
Speaker 2: We're going to merge into one big old thing. The

803
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,680
Speaker 2: plan was to combine both the fifth and the tenth

804
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:39,279
Speaker 2: largest retailers in the United States. That is now hear

805
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,279
Speaker 2: that largest retailers. Think of all the stores that could

806
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 2: be considered retail, this is the fifth and the tenth.

807
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:49,600
Speaker 2: So that's not just grocery stores. So why go Voltron

808
00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:53,200
Speaker 2: like this? Well, because both of these giants were losing

809
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:58,360
Speaker 2: ground to the recently emerging Titans of grocery, specifically Walmart

810
00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:01,239
Speaker 2: and Amazon. And you know you got your costcos and

811
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:03,759
Speaker 2: then also tied to Walmart's like your Sam's Clubs and

812
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:06,520
Speaker 2: things like that. They're losing out to these guys. So

813
00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:09,360
Speaker 2: they thought, well, if we get huge too and become

814
00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:15,400
Speaker 2: a titan together, maybe we can actually compete. Well, it's

815
00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:18,840
Speaker 2: not just Albertson's, the grocery store maybe you've heard of

816
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,560
Speaker 2: or have been to, or the Kroger that you've heard of.

817
00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:22,120
Speaker 4: Or been to.

818
00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:25,440
Speaker 2: These companies own a bunch of other brand name stores.

819
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:27,359
Speaker 4: They're more like regionally specific. Right.

820
00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:30,319
Speaker 5: You might have yes, Kroger over here in Atlanta, but

821
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:33,360
Speaker 5: then it's like Vaughn's in Los Angeles and southern California

822
00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:34,160
Speaker 5: and such, right.

823
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:37,719
Speaker 2: Harris Teeter, fred Meyer, Safeway, all kinds of places. And

824
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,600
Speaker 2: there are dozens, by the way, not just those. So

825
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:45,000
Speaker 2: from this article written by Nathaniel, it says Kroger and

826
00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:49,400
Speaker 2: Albertson's employ mostly unionized workforces, and said they wanted to

827
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 2: merge to become more competitive against these non union giants

828
00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:56,719
Speaker 2: such as Walmart, Amazon, Costco. The grocers also faced increased

829
00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:59,560
Speaker 2: pressure from another store that maybe you've been too recently,

830
00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 2: All the which is the fastest growing German discount supermarket chain.

831
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:07,080
Speaker 2: They're popping up everywhere where I live. All these are

832
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:10,080
Speaker 2: just I'm just seeing them proliferate. I can imagine that

833
00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:12,439
Speaker 2: there's lots of pressure there. This is what they wanted

834
00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:15,719
Speaker 2: to do. And here's a quote from Rodney Mullen, the

835
00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:19,600
Speaker 2: CEO of Kroger. He's saying this merger would accelerate quote

836
00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:23,399
Speaker 2: our position as a more compelling alternative to larger and

837
00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:28,359
Speaker 2: non union competitors, which again seems like maybe a good thing. Right,

838
00:46:28,719 --> 00:46:32,080
Speaker 2: you've got unionized workers in these places. They're e merging

839
00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 2: together a bunch of unionized workers, which at least has

840
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 2: protections for the people who are working at the stores.

841
00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:40,880
Speaker 2: That feels like a better thing than you know, at

842
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:44,040
Speaker 2: least what we've heard about Amazon in some of their

843
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:46,719
Speaker 2: business practices there when it comes to employees as well

844
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:50,279
Speaker 2: as Walmart and others, seems like an okay thing. The

845
00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:53,400
Speaker 2: big deal here, y'all is that Kroger. When this announcement

846
00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:57,440
Speaker 2: happened in twenty twenty two, they committed to lowering grocery

847
00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:01,480
Speaker 2: prices by one billion dollars. Now what does that mean?

848
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:05,239
Speaker 2: I guess the price of groceries across all of the

849
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:08,360
Speaker 2: United States by a billion dollars, which translates to not

850
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:11,600
Speaker 2: much money for each individual out there shopping in a Kroger.

851
00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:15,040
Speaker 2: But it would be Yeah, it's a tricky numbers thing.

852
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:16,640
Speaker 2: And if you just say it like that, it sounds

853
00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:18,600
Speaker 2: so great, Oh my gosh, a billion dollars.

854
00:47:18,800 --> 00:47:21,239
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's like a class action lossuit, you know

855
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:21,640
Speaker 3: what I mean.

856
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:25,320
Speaker 2: You get eleven dollars, you get four dollars.

857
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:29,680
Speaker 4: Hell, let's pay out in coupons. You know exactly?

858
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:34,200
Speaker 2: That all sounded interesting, good, maybe not great. It's tough

859
00:47:34,239 --> 00:47:38,120
Speaker 2: to like giant corporations getting together and joining forces.

860
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:38,520
Speaker 4: I don't know.

861
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:40,960
Speaker 5: What we talked about is the nature of monopoly recently too,

862
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:42,640
Speaker 5: and how it often seems like that's just.

863
00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:43,759
Speaker 4: Sort of the order of the day.

864
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:46,239
Speaker 5: This is kind of we we've grown to expect it

865
00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:49,040
Speaker 5: almost right, and to usually not see it getting shut

866
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:50,960
Speaker 5: down or for there to be a loophole to make

867
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:54,480
Speaker 5: it just not monopoly enough to make it but still

868
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:56,520
Speaker 5: for all intents and purposes, that's what the heck it.

869
00:47:56,560 --> 00:48:00,719
Speaker 2: Is exactly well, guys, this week, as we we are recording,

870
00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:04,600
Speaker 2: on Wednesday, December eleventh, a federal judge and Oregon judge

871
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 2: Adrian Nelson rejected all of those arguments and basically said

872
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:15,120
Speaker 2: no to this merger. She blocked the proposed twenty five

873
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:20,560
Speaker 2: billion dollar merger between Albertsons and Kroger. And this ruling basically,

874
00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:23,920
Speaker 2: if you sum down, what her statement was is that

875
00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:27,920
Speaker 2: it would limit competition and it would harm consumers. So

876
00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:31,239
Speaker 2: she issued a preliminary injunction that's what they call it,

877
00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:35,239
Speaker 2: halting the deal at least temporarily. In a ruling, she

878
00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:39,759
Speaker 2: said that supermarkets are quote distinct from other grocery retailers

879
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:43,319
Speaker 2: and are not direct competitors to Walmart, Amazon, and other

880
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:46,879
Speaker 2: companies that sell a wider range of goods. She said

881
00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:49,760
Speaker 2: that this merger would eliminate head to head competition between

882
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:55,000
Speaker 2: Albertsons and Kroger and potentially raise prices for consumers rather

883
00:48:55,040 --> 00:48:57,560
Speaker 2: than lower them, as at least the CEO of Kroger

884
00:48:57,719 --> 00:49:00,319
Speaker 2: was touting, right, we're going to get bigger and we're

885
00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:03,360
Speaker 2: going to lower prices because theoretically we can all supply

886
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:05,600
Speaker 2: you know, we can get a bunch more from the

887
00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:08,719
Speaker 2: same suppliers. We can do all this stuff to negotiate

888
00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:11,959
Speaker 2: and lower the prices of goods. This judge is saying,

889
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:13,960
Speaker 2: I don't think that's what's going to happen.

890
00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 4: I'd like to trust you, but I maybe know a

891
00:49:18,560 --> 00:49:19,480
Speaker 4: little better. Yeah.

892
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:22,719
Speaker 2: Well, again, this is an injunction, so it's temporary, just

893
00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:24,840
Speaker 2: saying hey, we're going to pause on this until we

894
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:27,160
Speaker 2: learn some more things. Then we can come back to

895
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:29,880
Speaker 2: the negotiation table and try and see what this merger

896
00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:33,160
Speaker 2: looks like. Well, at the end of yesterday, Tuesday, December tenth.

897
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:37,239
Speaker 2: This preliminary injunction halted the deal, but the companies had

898
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:40,360
Speaker 2: this option to appeal and move forward to keep going.

899
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:47,280
Speaker 2: Well as of today the eleventh, Albertson's said, now we're done.

900
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:50,600
Speaker 2: We're not going to do this. It's over Kroger. You've

901
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:54,759
Speaker 2: wronged us, because they're suing Kroger for breach of contract,

902
00:49:55,800 --> 00:50:01,400
Speaker 2: and they're alleging that Kroger made the merger get blocked.

903
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:04,080
Speaker 3: Like they blew it up, like they like did It's crazy,

904
00:50:04,239 --> 00:50:05,200
Speaker 3: like a poison pill.

905
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:09,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yes, they're saying that Kroger failed to exercise

906
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 2: its quote best efforts and to take quote any and

907
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:16,040
Speaker 2: all actions to secure regulatory approval.

908
00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:18,320
Speaker 4: I don't have em understand what that means.

909
00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:21,160
Speaker 5: How is it their respond I mean it's up to

910
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:23,239
Speaker 5: the judge, right, Like, I don't get it.

911
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:26,520
Speaker 3: They're saying Kroger, if they really wanted it, could have

912
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:30,600
Speaker 3: done much more. It's similar to if I understand the

913
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:34,920
Speaker 3: legal proceedings. Just to interject it, it feels like Albertson

914
00:50:35,239 --> 00:50:38,120
Speaker 3: is kind of accusing I even kind of is accusing

915
00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:43,080
Speaker 3: Kroger of doing that classic Gene Wilder line from Charlie

916
00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:45,560
Speaker 3: and the Chocolate factory. One of the kids gets in

917
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:50,960
Speaker 3: trouble and he goes, oh stop, he said, Kroger didn't

918
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:51,600
Speaker 3: really hustle.

919
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:55,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it is weird because Kroger's the biggest grocery

920
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:59,759
Speaker 2: chain out there, right, and then Albertson as albertson Is

921
00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:02,359
Speaker 2: is like number ten, right, we said five and ten.

922
00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:07,399
Speaker 2: Kroger is actually number one in just grocery, and then

923
00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:11,239
Speaker 2: Albertson's is smaller. So Albertson's is kind of hoping to

924
00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:14,799
Speaker 2: join up, I guess, with the like team up with

925
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:18,239
Speaker 2: the bigger player in some way. So I suppose they

926
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:20,840
Speaker 2: have more to lose when going into this type of merger.

927
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:21,359
Speaker 4: And I can.

928
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:24,880
Speaker 2: Imagine that's why the company and all of their legal

929
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:26,920
Speaker 2: teams are saying, hey, we need to get something out

930
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:28,799
Speaker 2: of this, because this was going to be a big

931
00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:29,359
Speaker 2: deal for us.

932
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:32,000
Speaker 5: They may have already put some things in motion, you know,

933
00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:34,680
Speaker 5: towards whatever that was going to look like, and maybe

934
00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:37,360
Speaker 5: that's wasted effort and funding and what have you.

935
00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:40,360
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, and we have no visibility into that. But

936
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:44,640
Speaker 2: again that same due that, we read a quote from

937
00:51:44,760 --> 00:51:48,200
Speaker 2: Rodney Mullens, CEO of Kroger. He said, just before all

938
00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:50,520
Speaker 2: of this stuff went down, he said, we're well positioned

939
00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:53,840
Speaker 2: to grow even if this deal ends, which is, you know,

940
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:55,359
Speaker 2: one of those things you put out in the ether

941
00:51:55,640 --> 00:51:59,640
Speaker 2: as a merger is happening, and it's probably not a

942
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:03,959
Speaker 2: great for investors to see or regulatory folks to look at.

943
00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:06,000
Speaker 2: I know this is kind of boring at all. I

944
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:08,600
Speaker 2: think it's just I think it's just important to remember

945
00:52:08,600 --> 00:52:10,279
Speaker 2: that this is the kind of stuff that's happening, and

946
00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:13,960
Speaker 2: it's the kind of stuff that happens when enough corporations

947
00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:16,560
Speaker 2: grow and grow and grow and grow, and they can't

948
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:20,240
Speaker 2: do anything to grow any further unless they envelop another

949
00:52:20,280 --> 00:52:22,480
Speaker 2: one of these big players that's doing the same thing,

950
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:26,440
Speaker 2: and eventually, over the course of time, you get you know,

951
00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:29,280
Speaker 2: you get the Google in the Facebook and these companies

952
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:32,440
Speaker 2: that just become one big thing like an Amazon, right

953
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:37,320
Speaker 2: or a Meta Sure, and in this case whatever Krogerson's

954
00:52:37,480 --> 00:52:38,799
Speaker 2: would be, but.

955
00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:41,440
Speaker 5: It did not happen, and it would seem like now

956
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:43,759
Speaker 5: there's bad blood that would lead one to believe that

957
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,360
Speaker 5: it's never gonna happen. They're done with each other. But

958
00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:48,680
Speaker 5: I just do you do you see I don't know.

959
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:50,440
Speaker 5: I mean, I know you're not a legal expert here,

960
00:52:50,480 --> 00:52:54,920
Speaker 5: But do you see, like with Kroger being so much

961
00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:59,319
Speaker 5: bigger than Albertson, it just seems like a pretty kind

962
00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:00,880
Speaker 5: of a shot in the dark roll of the dice

963
00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:03,040
Speaker 5: to do this, to like go up against them when

964
00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:04,520
Speaker 5: they were trying to join up with them.

965
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:04,960
Speaker 4: I don't know.

966
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:08,160
Speaker 2: It depends what they have, right and if they can

967
00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:09,879
Speaker 2: prove it, then maybe they get away with a bunch

968
00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 2: of money and the investors view them as scrappy.

969
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:18,839
Speaker 4: Yeah. Sure, you get that.

970
00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:21,480
Speaker 2: The share prices of both of these corporations were up,

971
00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:24,399
Speaker 2: by the way after this whole falling through, which is weird.

972
00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:26,600
Speaker 4: I don't understand any of that stuff.

973
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:30,280
Speaker 2: Well, that's it for grocery stores. Let's jump really quickly

974
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:35,120
Speaker 2: over to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and talk

975
00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:40,560
Speaker 2: about a quote unidentified illness that is causing alarm with

976
00:53:40,760 --> 00:53:44,200
Speaker 2: the WHO and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

977
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:48,399
Speaker 2: This comes to us via The Guardian and journalist Cat Leigh.

978
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:51,799
Speaker 2: It was written on December tenth, twenty twenty four. This

979
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:55,960
Speaker 2: is a mystery disease that is spreading according to DRC's

980
00:53:55,960 --> 00:53:59,960
Speaker 2: Health minister last week, as we record today, it had

981
00:54:00,120 --> 00:54:04,040
Speaker 2: this disease had killed seventy nine people, and that since

982
00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:06,800
Speaker 2: October twenty fourth, and there were three hundred and seventy

983
00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:10,120
Speaker 2: six cases identified. The reason why we want to talk

984
00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:13,120
Speaker 2: about this because again that's a low number of people, right,

985
00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:15,120
Speaker 2: but that is quite a few number of people who

986
00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:17,000
Speaker 2: died in proportion to the number of people who are

987
00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:21,960
Speaker 2: getting sick. The main symptoms here are similar to flu, headaches, coughing,

988
00:54:22,120 --> 00:54:25,840
Speaker 2: difficulty breathing, anemia. There is quite a bit of testing,

989
00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:29,000
Speaker 2: but it's in a remote part of the DRC there.

990
00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:32,680
Speaker 2: So actually getting somebody to a testing facility or getting

991
00:54:32,760 --> 00:54:36,520
Speaker 2: let's say blood that's sampled to a testing facility, you're

992
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:38,960
Speaker 2: talking three hundred and four hundred miles away just to

993
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:41,080
Speaker 2: make that happen, and then you factor in the time

994
00:54:41,160 --> 00:54:43,880
Speaker 2: that it takes just to travel that length. Do the

995
00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:48,160
Speaker 2: testing get results? It's not it's not a quick moving

996
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:51,600
Speaker 2: situation for people on the ground, right, attempting to figure

997
00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:54,560
Speaker 2: out what's going on there. And again I said, I

998
00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:57,239
Speaker 2: think I'm restating this, but the reason why I wanted

999
00:54:57,280 --> 00:54:58,800
Speaker 2: to talk to this and bring up to you guys,

1000
00:54:59,080 --> 00:55:02,319
Speaker 2: is because they're speculat that this is is what is

1001
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:07,040
Speaker 2: known as a disease X. This is some previously unknown

1002
00:55:07,080 --> 00:55:10,400
Speaker 2: pathogen that has the potential to become a pandemic.

1003
00:55:11,280 --> 00:55:11,480
Speaker 3: Right.

1004
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:15,400
Speaker 2: I think anytime we see something like that hit our radar,

1005
00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:17,319
Speaker 2: we at least want to raise a flag and say, hey,

1006
00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:21,240
Speaker 2: there's a possibility here of some other insane thing happening,

1007
00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:27,600
Speaker 2: depending on how spread occurs. But as of right now today,

1008
00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:31,480
Speaker 2: the update is that many of the people who actually

1009
00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:34,360
Speaker 2: were tested their twelve initial samples that were collected, the

1010
00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:39,080
Speaker 2: ten of them tested positive for malaria. But the doctors

1011
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:42,560
Speaker 2: are saying it is possible that malaria is one illness

1012
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:45,319
Speaker 2: and there's maybe a second illness as well. In there

1013
00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:48,480
Speaker 2: you can read the article some mystery disease patients in

1014
00:55:48,560 --> 00:55:52,200
Speaker 2: DRC have malaria? Who says, and again that's in the Guardian.

1015
00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:54,960
Speaker 2: That's all I've got today, guys.

1016
00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:58,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's much more to explore, especially with the

1017
00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:04,280
Speaker 3: nomenclature of disease X shadows of colonialism, we could argue.

1018
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,080
Speaker 3: For right now, we're going to call it a day.

1019
00:56:07,200 --> 00:56:11,320
Speaker 3: We are hoping you have a wonderful mid December. More importantly,

1020
00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:15,200
Speaker 3: we're hoping you reach out and contact us. We cannot

1021
00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:19,160
Speaker 3: wait to hear your thoughts. On everything from especially those

1022
00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:22,439
Speaker 3: mystery drones. They're still getting to me. Have you ever

1023
00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:27,440
Speaker 3: sent anyone elite goats? All this and more? Let us know.

1024
00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:29,720
Speaker 3: We try to be easy to find on the Internet

1025
00:56:29,840 --> 00:56:33,640
Speaker 3: via telephone and of course our email Noel, how does

1026
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:35,360
Speaker 3: someone touch us on the line.

1027
00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:36,600
Speaker 4: Josh, and I'm glad you asked.

1028
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:38,520
Speaker 5: You can find this in the handle of Conspiracy Stuff,

1029
00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:41,120
Speaker 5: where we exist on x FKA Twitter, on Facebook where

1030
00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:43,080
Speaker 5: we have our Facebook group Here's where it gets crazy,

1031
00:56:43,200 --> 00:56:45,680
Speaker 5: and on YouTube where we have video content for your

1032
00:56:45,719 --> 00:56:49,400
Speaker 5: holiday perusing enjoyments on Instagram and TikTok.

1033
00:56:49,640 --> 00:56:52,000
Speaker 4: However, we're Conspiracy Stuff Show.

1034
00:56:52,920 --> 00:56:55,719
Speaker 3: And should you like to give us a telephone call,

1035
00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:57,920
Speaker 3: you can do it quite easily. All you have to

1036
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:01,080
Speaker 3: do is find your favorite device and punch in the

1037
00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:04,000
Speaker 3: following code. Sing it along with us at home one

1038
00:57:04,280 --> 00:57:09,359
Speaker 3: eight three three STDWYTK. Wouldn't you hit the number? You'll

1039
00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:12,320
Speaker 3: hear a hopefully familiar voice than a beep like so beep.

1040
00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:15,320
Speaker 3: After that, you got three minutes there yours go, ham

1041
00:57:15,440 --> 00:57:17,840
Speaker 3: go nuts. Give us your real name, give us a

1042
00:57:17,920 --> 00:57:20,320
Speaker 3: nickname you'd like, ask us to make one for you.

1043
00:57:20,400 --> 00:57:22,480
Speaker 3: Most importantly, let us know if we can use your

1044
00:57:22,560 --> 00:57:25,480
Speaker 3: name and or message on the air. If none of

1045
00:57:25,560 --> 00:57:28,600
Speaker 3: that quites bags your badgers. If you don't sip the

1046
00:57:28,680 --> 00:57:31,680
Speaker 3: social meds, and you, like so many people, don't care

1047
00:57:31,760 --> 00:57:34,880
Speaker 3: to make a phone call, you can always contact us

1048
00:57:35,040 --> 00:57:37,920
Speaker 3: at our good old fashioned email address where we are

1049
00:57:38,040 --> 00:57:58,439
Speaker 3: conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.

1050
00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:00,680
Speaker 2: Stuff they Don't want you to Know is a production

1051
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:05,320
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1052
00:58:05,400 --> 00:58:08,280
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