In this week's listener mail segment: Old Makalya responds to the hubbub surrounding the tragic death of Peanut the Squirrel. Bones prompts a larger conversation about elections and conspiracies. Anonymous Owl provides a step-by-step guide for saving animals in the wild. All this and more - plus, side note, we absolutely called it on the undersea cable sabotage.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
My name is Matt, my name is Nol.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
They call me Ben. We are joined as always with
our super producer Dylan the Tennessee pal Fakean. Most importantly,
you aregute you are here. That makes this the stuff
they don't want you to know. If you are listening
the evening this program comes out. Welcome to November twenty first,
hurtling headlong toward Thanksgiving here in the States, and we
(00:50):
couldn't be more excited to bring you our weekly listener
mail segment. We're going to have some follow up on
wild animals, we are going to have follow up on
expired food and gosh, before we get into any of that,
we've been talking about the election recently here in the US,
and guys, just quick gut check it was right, wasn't
(01:12):
it to point out the weird stuff Russian government is
saying to the president election.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Absolutely, it's something that we've been hearing thrown around for
a long time, and to have somebody that close to
the head of Russia say something like that is you
can't ignore it.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Oh jeez. All right, well I appreciate that before the
undersea internet cables that make this show possible do get sabotaged,
We're going to do a cold open and then we're
gonna hear from you.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
And we returned with our first piece of listener mail
today coming to us from Bones. Ben. You set it
up perfectly. This is pertaining to the twenty twenty four
presidential election, and let's just jump right in Bones here.
I've been on TikTok lately trying to be skeptical, and
I keep running into stories about Elon Musk's company, Starlink,
(02:06):
being used to keep ballot machines connected to Wi Fi
conflict of interest, which is combined with several other factors
to make some liberals think something is afoot. The evidence
I've seen includes aforementioned Starlink connection, Elon Musk saying in
an interview that he's ft if Trump loses, and joking
about how much prison time.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
He would receive.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Trump allegedly being in touch with a government official in Georgia,
not your home state, the European nation Trump appearing to
discourage his voters from voting, telling them quote, he doesn't
need votes. We have the votes, don't bother with voting.
We don't need votes. Found on NBC clip addressing this,
Democratic officials seemingly hinting to not give up hope yet
(02:48):
scores of alleged Democrat voters saying they checked the online
status their votes only to find a message telling them
to register to vote. This was people who were registered
and had voted early in some cases, or that they
hadn't voted, or that they're vote was still pending, and
people were putting this together with a supposedly low Democratic
voter turnout.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I don't know, as much as it would make me.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Feel better to believe that Trump, with Musk's help and
pressure from Putin, stole the election, every accusation is a
confession or whatever. I also don't want to fall victim
to a lot of the same cycles and theories that
prompted the January sixth insurrection of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If we are sore.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Losers, we're just as bad as the people we've tried
to condemn. Also, Kamala's campaign only ran for about one
hundred days. The American people didn't get a chance to
choose her as our Democratic candidate, and I've seen some
perspectives discussing why her campaign strategies didn't work on.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Conservatives, so I feel conflicted.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
I know it's still early, since it's only been seven
days at the time of this writing, but I wanted
to see if you guys had any input or could
maybe do any deeper digging into any of these theories
to disprove or maybe even prove them. Looking forward to
your insight and trying to remain neutral and undecided on
how to react. Again, as much as it might make
me feel better to believe it was rigged, this may
just be the way we are as a country, in
(04:01):
which case we have a lot of reevaluating to do.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I hope you guys are having a nice.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Day and week, and I hope this is something you'll
be able to willing to touch on. You guys are
awesome and have helped me a lot this past week
with your level headed, rational conversations and cheerful banter. Keep
on saying, feel free to read some or all of
this on the air. I know it's long, but either way,
thanks for your time. Love Bones, guys right off the rip.
I just want to point to a really pretty cool
(04:26):
piece that I found on Wired, and I think we've
all taken a look at and that election denial conspiracy
theories are exploding on X this time they're coming from
the left. Conspiracy theories about missing votes which are not
in fact missing and something being quote not right are
being spread widely on X in the wake of Donald
Trump's election victory. From that, I just want to pull
(04:46):
a couple of quotes from this piece because I think
it sums up kind of this whole conundrum perfectly. One
of them comes from a former Biden administration disinformations are
who is now the CEO of the America Sunlight Project,
Nina Jankowick's who had this to say. It doesn't matter
whether baseless allegations about voting irregularities come from the right
(05:09):
or the left. The impact on our system of these
lies is the same. People will end up trusting the
infrastructure of democracy less, setting us up for more disinformation
and dis engagement. These drop offs in trust take decades
to undo. Take a look at countries in Eastern Europe
that have been attempting to rebuild trust in the system
since the nineties. We should all be wary of these allegations,
(05:31):
no matter their source. And honestly, you know, this is
kind of how I look at all of this, because
it seems like the same kind of tired, sore losery,
kind of disinformation commiseration, disinformation commiseration. How could it possibly
be that just the Democrats got it wrong, they were
(05:53):
campaigning on the wrong stuff. And yes, of course a
lot of the Trump campaign's rhetoric and policy suggestions are
divisive and some would call dangerous and scary, But it
would seem that the big takeaway of the day by many,
as evidenced by the voter turnout and the election maps,
was things like the economy, things like people living in
(06:17):
Middle America who do not feel like their lot and
lives have improved, what policy wonks might call a referendum
on liberal politics and do nothingism, you know, And I think,
I hope I've made this clear. I am not a
fan of either side of the political divide. I find politics,
especially at this level, to be a nasty business. And
(06:40):
I really don't have very much love or trust in
very many people that take their political careers to this
kind of level. In this kind of arena. But I
can't help but feel like this is a lot of
sore losership and people looking for an answer that just
isn't there, and the way that they are searching for it,
and that is much more easily answered with simplicity that
(07:02):
it just the message from the left just was not
resonating with enough of Americans. And that's just really how
it feels to me and how it's and it's in anything.
It's it's an f you to the Democrats for running
kind of a half assed campaign and changing the horse
at the last minute, and Biden refusing to step down earlier,
and all of that it could combine, seems to have
(07:23):
yielded this result.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
It's a very unsuccessful center right party.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Bones.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
I'd like to respond to Nole's questions by first thanking
you so much for taking the time to write and
list off some of the evidence that you're seeing and
you're listening to quite objectively. One note we would have
there is that a bit confusing President elect Donald Trump
did contact an official Ben Raethisberger in the US state
(07:50):
of Georgia, I think around twenty twenty, looking for eleven
seven hundred and sixty or seven hundred and eighty votes.
So that may be a bit of a crossed wire,
but perhaps the most important thing to remember. And I
agree with your points in regarding the proliferation of conspiracies
now oddly similar, they seem to other allegations in the past,
(08:13):
right with different political parties winning. I want to draw
attention to an episode we did years ago, which I
would typify as a sleeper hit. It's about the foundations
of geopolitics, which is one of the guiding bibles for
Russian disinformation and for the larger aim you could say,
(08:33):
of the Putin regime. The Foundations of geopolitics teaches us
that the goal of disinformation from foreign powers, as applied
to the domestic us, is not necessarily to champion one
party or one cause over another. It's to foment discord,
(08:55):
to divide people as much as possible, such that you're
promoting isolationism on the behalf of the United States. And
we already see that beginning to emerge. So if you
already have this is a question I'm not saying it's
definitely true. If you already have a very successful disinfo apparatus,
(09:15):
you're not going to just turn it off because an
election cycle moved, you're just going to you know, It's
like how you have a thermostat and sometimes you switch
it to heat, sometimes just switch it to cold. That's
what's happening. The engine, the HVAC is still very much running,
and that's part of why we're seeing that. I would
argue that's part of why we're seeing the proliferation of
(09:38):
election conspiracy theories that your note Noll are, by beat
very similar to what was alleged previously. Now the teams
have just switched.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Yeah, And I'm not trying to be dismissive to anybody,
you know, I mean, certainly we do have questions about
these kinds of disinformation campaigns that Russia is helping run.
To what degree these influenced the actual outcome of the election,
not one hundred percent of share. It does feel to
me that a lot of folks that aren't very up
on politics, particularly, they voted for the person that they
thought was more likely to create a change, whether they
(10:10):
were reached by disinformation campaigns.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I can't speak to that, and Ben, I know.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
That you feel maybe a little more strongly that these campaigns,
these Fox campaigns had a much more substantial effect on
the outcome of this election.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
What do you think it met?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Okay, so I've got just two specific things on here.
The first one is, did you guys see Bill Burr
host Saturday Night Live on November ninth, So like last Saturday?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yeah, that did not see as was where that happened
with McGee?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, yeah, he kind of filled in for the Dave
Chappelle role over the past eight years. Right right after
an election, Dave Chappelle would go on and at least
from what I've read in the creator Lorne Michael's view,
it's a somebody who can bring everybody together right, no
matter how you felt after an election. Bill Burr similar figure,
actually similar in when he came up in comedy and
(10:58):
some of the things he talks about how he unites people.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
He wrote for the Dave Chappelle Show.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Exactly, and he was on it several times in hilarious sketches. Yeah,
but he came on and made a really salient point
that made me want to talk to you guys about
it and thank you bones for getting us here to
this spot. He was mentioning that this campaign has felt
like it's gone on forever, and he was questioning whether
(11:22):
there was a single person who actually decided who they
were going to vote for, like an actual undecided.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Voter, right, the mythical unicorn.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Because he was saying, basically, everyone knew who they were
going to vote for before either of the major campaigns
even started. And then all of this money gets generated
through donors, right, and through these mechanisms where millions and
millions and millions of dollars are generated, and for what
to create basically video ads and audio ads and print ads,
(11:56):
and to send teams across the country doing things and also.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Events spots on SNL.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yes, well exactly where where one of the candidates shows
up and then another candidate is like brutally ridiculed the
whole time. Which is really a really interesting other thing
I wanted to talk to you guys about, like just
this idea of the perceived imbalance maybe that exists out
there for someone who's just in the world watching what
would be considered mainstream media, where there is there does
(12:24):
seem like there's a bias, right, And just how does
that perceived bias then affect somebody and how they almost
want to fight against that thing that is the bias.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
I just think that, you know, I mean, the idea
of liberals and the left or whatever, I just become
synonymous with this sort of out of touch coastal elite,
you know, kind of academic, you know, perspective that I
think is a massive turn off to a lot of
like working class Americans and otherwise, you know, I mean
not even doesn't whatever.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I think.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
I think just a lot of people that are just
tired of being soapboxed ats or this sort of.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
That's the big part. And I would I'm excited you
guys are bringing this up in bones. I can't think
you enough. One other aspect of this that is often
I think missed in terms of the false equivalency or
the false dichotomy of choices offered, is that there is
no Yes. The US is a representative democracy, but it's
(13:23):
sort of antiquated in several structural levels, including the electoral college,
including the fact that there is only a highlander winner
take all system. It's very difficult therefore, to build coalitions.
The system is built to distribute poison pills to any
viable third party. And I would also I would also
(13:43):
propose the following thing, which is a painful thing to admit,
because it's going to touch all of us listening tonight.
Often when people are what would be called a term
I think is somewhat condescending low information voters. Often when
people are making a decision on whom to vote for
in the presidential election or in any election, they're reacting
(14:06):
to what we would call social currency. You want to
gain approval and you want to gain prominence in your
tribe or in your social sphere. So there are a
lot of people who couldn't give a tinker's dam about
politics past a certain point. But what they do give
a damn about, even beyond a tinker's dam, they do
give a damn about fitting in to their local everyday interactions,
(14:30):
their church.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Their golf club, whatever it might be.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Gaining the approval of the peers within their dumbbar number sphere.
So that happens to everyone, and that's I think that's
a huge engine for this.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
It's so interesting living where I live now, you guys,
and experiencing it as an adult because just so everybody
kind of understands, I lived like forty five minutes away
from Atlanta, like the city right when I grew up,
moved into Atlanta, lived most of my life there, and
now I've recently moved back, like roughly that same disc
from the city, right. And while I was in Atlanta,
(15:03):
that bubble you're talking about, Ben, was very much for
one side, right, Like, if you expressed feelings for the
other side, it was almost like you felt like the
weirdo and.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
You would get made fun of face.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yes, And then now where I live, if you do
the opposite for the other team, you feel like, oh man,
people are looking at me, and people are the way
he just dismissed me, I feel awkward and strange. I'm
not going to talk about this anymore.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
I'm losing social currency and standing.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Exactly what you're saying, Ben. So it does feel like
what happens is you go internally with those thoughts and feelings,
and then when you're doing things like polling numbers, right,
and we're looking at all this stuff online, all these
things we rely on and we trust, it's as though
our political life has gone so deep inside unless you're
in that whatever safe space you feel like you're in,
(15:51):
and even then maybe it's performative.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Sure, yeah, and this is a danger. Again, This is
not a condemnation of anybody at all who we consider
rank and file like us, you know what I mean.
Henry Kissinger talk to us a couple times, but we
didn't really influence his decisions. Like Carlin said, it's a
pretty elite group. And if you're hearing this, you're not
(16:15):
in it. I think it's the social currency. I think
it's a structural systemic problem.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
And it's also just the level of division and heat,
you know, around politics in this country has just reached
such a fever pitch and I'm just personally sick of it.
And I want to say this too, like, you know,
the right have some issues with their policies and the
way their attitudes towards women and their attitudes towards the
trans community and the LGBTQ community, and.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
I have major problems and concerns with that stuff.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
But also, like I don't even know they believe half
the stuff that they're talking about.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
I think they're trying.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
To be divisive, you know, and create that discord and
appeal to the baser nature of certain parts of their base.
And I don't necessarily think that the left are any
more have moral high ground, some imagined moral high ground.
I think a lot of what they do is performative.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
To foundations of geopolitics. Just makes me crazy, all of it,
both sides.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
It makes me wonder. Guys, just going back to that
last thing with Bill Burr, like, why the heck do
we spend so much money on these elections, right and
making such a big circus.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Well, what are you gonna do pay for healthcare?
Speaker 3 (17:20):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
What if we somehow got these super packs. If two
dollars gets donated to a super pack, one of those
dollars goes into some fund that does fund let's say,
healthcare for every American citizen, or you know, fixing the
pipes in most major cities that still have stuff like
lead in them and underserved schools.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Despicable.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I can't believe I have to say it before it
becomes a hot take. The Department of the Education is
a good thing to have around. Just gonna point that
one out. We'll leave that there.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
That's it. Every election goes half seas into the Department
of Education.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Apparently there's a lot of fuffle coming out of the
Harris campaign about how absolutely irresponsible they were with some
of this money and just spending it on like Beyonce
concerts or whatever it was. I'm not even sure exactly
the Springsteen different ones, and they actually ended up in
quite a significant amount of debt. And I got another
email asking for more money after the election because it
feels like they're trying to pay that back. And I
(18:20):
just to your point, Ben, the amount of money being
thrown around, it's egregious, and it makes me so sad
because the things that could be done positively with that money,
very quickly, it's just not happening. And we do, still,
no matter who's in charge, live in a country where
it's almost impossible to get reasonably priced healthcare, where it's
other developed nations, wealthy nations like ours just get it for.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Paying their taxes.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
See.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
I mean, how tough could decent healthcare be? Only every
other developed country has managed to do it, So weird,
it must be super tough. Anyway, I do have a
piece of good news for you guys, and hopefully for
you bones. And I mean this not as a platitude,
but as a very real, concrete observation. You mentioned earlier, Noel,
that you've never seen things as divisive. The US is
(19:06):
a young country. It is still very much an experiment,
and work in progress, but there have been more divisive times.
There's a whole war about it, not at that point yet,
So hopefully we can remember everybody hearing this, everybody living
in the United States. You have far more in common
with people than you have in disagreement with them.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Yes, you know what I mean, Yes, rally around that.
But it's going to be so hard. It's going to
be a rough four years. Man.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
People are going to be very angry. Guys.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
How is the US? And I agree with you, the
US is a young country, but it's also, at the
same time, somehow simultaneously an empire that's nearing the end
of its life.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Right, went back to our earlier episode about empires and
their two hundred year lifespan.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Because it's both somehow.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Yeah, you know, the phoenix dies and is reborn. Right,
how many different spin offs of the Roman Hire existed?
You could tell when they were going downhill because they
had to start adding fancier words to the name, like
the Holy Roman Empire, you know what I mean, Star Trek,
the next Generation.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Roman Empire, the sequel, Yes.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yes, and I promised they wouldn't do any more porn parodies,
but please inspire me but yeah, thank you again, Bones,
And this is a conversation a lot of people are having.
We endeavor to be objective, and sometimes being objective means
making unpleasant observations. We're obviously not always going to agree
with each other even here. Internally, I, for instance, am
(20:37):
one hundred percent convinced that foreign interference and asymmetric information
warfare played a egregious role in a lot of things
that have happened to the US recently, and unfortunately those
will continue. But fortunately, hopefully the US will continue as well,
because we really need a stable country to keep this
(20:57):
show going, right, Like, that's our main motivation. That's what
everybody in DC is thinking. They're like, how do we
make sure stuff they don't want you to know it
can still record? Yeah, yeah, top of mind.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, one hundred and thank you Bones
for helping us create that space. So with that, let's
take a quick break here a word from our sponsor,
and then come back with more messages from you.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
And we've returned and we're jumping to the phone lines
to hear a message from old MICHAELA.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Hey, guys, this is old Mickayla from Arkansas. Oh yeah,
it's Collin about that squirrel thing. Right.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
Uh, I'm just saying right now, if I had a
squirrel for seven years and somebody tried to come and
take my squirrel, and I'm just speaking from my point
of view.
Speaker 7 (21:53):
I'm gonna freak out if they try to raid my
house and take my squirrel.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Man.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
Yeah, I know like ten people with different pets. I
know a girl with a possum. I know a girl
with raccoons, I know a.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Girl with pigs.
Speaker 7 (22:09):
I know all people with crazy animals. I don't. I
just never heard of anything like this. Why can't you
have a pet squirrel?
Speaker 5 (22:15):
I don't.
Speaker 7 (22:17):
I've never I think that that's just the government overplaying again. Man,
I just can't.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Just can't.
Speaker 7 (22:23):
By the way, I love you guys. I've been listening
to y'all and Josh and Chuck for the last year.
I cannot. I just want you all to post every
day because I'm just always bored.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Okay, okay, we're gonna pose it right there. Mikhail has
more to the message, but just first of all, guys
love that reaction. So he tries to come into my
house and take my squirrel.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
I heard the italics. Thank you, Michael.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
My squirrel from my cold dead fingers, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Man, and we talked in the episode where we discussed
Peanut and nol Uh, we talked a little bit about
why you can't have a squirrel, or at least the
reasoning behind the raid, right.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
We also talked a lot about how there were some
suspicious circumstances that did make this feel like government overreach
and the targeting of an individual who has also had
a pretty high profile.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
In the world of Internet adult content.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Exactly did we go over some of the other like
wild animals that may be kept as pets.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I don't believe so.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
I think it's a great tice state.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
It does go state by state, and the squirrel thing
is really interesting. I think maybe we pulled up the
official map. There's a map on World Population Review. I
think we talked about that. How like here in Georgia
it's illegal to own a squirrel, but in Florida it
is totally legal. In Arkansas it is legal to own
a squirrel, but not in Kentucky. So just go go
a little bit further, maybe crossover a river, and now
(23:52):
you can't own a squirrel.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah. Also, you'll run into concurrent policies regarding what are
called exotic animals, that would often be the non domesticated animals.
We talked a little bit about a tame animal versus
a domesticated animal. Most animals are wild, I would say,
including the human ones, but the domesticated animals are a
(24:16):
very small subset of the natural world. It's a fascinating story.
But you can have to your point. Pretty much anything
that is not considered a domesticated animal is considered an
exotic animal. And you have to go state by state.
There's a great use of world ometer, I think. Also
(24:38):
Forbes had a pretty surprisingly good article on state by
state restrictions there. So sorry to everybody in let's see Delaware.
Sorry Delaware, the laws are kind of stringent for you guys.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Well, we'll check this out. MICHAELA mentioned raccoons right in
the message I got somebodyho owns a raccoon, Well you can.
You can own a raccoon in Arkansas, which is good
to know. Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. And raccoons
(25:18):
seemed awesome.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Trash pandas I love them. They're little bandits, weird little hands.
You're always washing their hands money money burn style. Yeah,
raby stuff is a bummer. We got a great we
got a great uh. We got several great pieces of
correspondence about the importance of rabies, which we will probably
have to wait till next week to get to. To
your point, Matt and to your question, old Mikayla. Uh.
(25:43):
We had a lot of people who had very different
reactions to this. A lot of veterinarians are, you know,
clearly centered on the sorry and tragic saga of Peanut,
But a lot of other people are say, you know
exactly what you said. I found the squirrel. I can't
have the squirrel, and I can't get to you know,
I can't look down my snout at this because I
(26:04):
am neighbors with a murder of crews that I've befriended.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
And when you don't keep him in the house, you
don't let him in the house.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Though you know, they don't want them to know too
much about the fair.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
They comes too clever And when you open your arms
like the like the what is it clever?
Speaker 3 (26:18):
The night King?
Speaker 2 (26:20):
You know, cheez, I think that's in the crow bylaws.
It just says one cannot own a crow.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
And sometimes if the sink so bad has happened, a
crow will carry that soul back. O.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Wait, never mind, know that's a a movie thing.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
You don't own a cat either. It just sort of
agrees to exploit you for a while. But if you
are interested in the federal level legislation, because we've said
a lot of this stuff is state by state, you'll
want to look at two things. The Animal Welfare Act,
which said the rules and regulations of how animals should
be cared for basically the foundation of what constitutes animal cruelty.
(26:56):
And then yeah, spoiler, it doesn't apply to livestock, dude.
But then there's the Lacy Act, which says you can't
you know, it governs the kind of wildlife you can
import to the states.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
Where where does that distinction exist between like, it's okay
to murder cows in factory farming, but kiddies are off limits.
Where does does that codified somewhere?
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Is that what you're talking I've always.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Went Animal Welfare Act?
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Yeah, but who who decides that?
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Me the one.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Not the animals. Yeah, I don't think the cows got
the vote.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well, you know, the leaders in Arkansas have decided that
you are allowed to own up to six individual Bobcats.
Are you guys familiar with what a bobcat is?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Murderous beasts?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yes, very well, not carnally.
Speaker 6 (27:49):
Very well.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Did you get pounced upon? Ben have some encounters? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Well no, they will you up, that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Yeah, well if they if if a Bobcat is messing
with you, you've done something wrong.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Bobcat gold wait here, this is very different.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
No, I trust him. If I was in an argument,
if somebody told me that Bobcat gold Weight did something
terrible to them, my next question would be, what did
you do to bob You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Was it Ozark where they had bobcats? I think I
think in Ozark they had.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Bobcats the region the show, the show. I want to
say that you might be right.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
I don't recall that particularly.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
But you know that would be considered by most accounts
an exotic pat right, like some type type stuff.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Because they're not domesticated exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
You can get permits in a couple of places, but
Arkansas is like, yeah, you can have six.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
I guess yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
If you typically if someone has in veterinarian experts in
the field. Don't get don't get mad at us. We're
not giving you our personal opinions. We're giving you the
laws as they stand state by state. For a lot
of people who raise bobcats an attempt to tape them,
they rescue them from a young age. Something very bad
(29:07):
has happened to the bobcats caregivers, to their natural bobcat parents,
in their natural habitat. What's interesting about this, Matt, remind
me if I'm incorrect here. From what I remember about bobcats,
they like many other felids, are not pack animals. They're solitary.
So how do you have six individual ones?
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Well, you're I'm assuming, attempting to always replace your bobcats
with new bobcats as you maybe sell them to other people.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Oh, it's a bobcat mill.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
It was, well, I can't look, guys. I'm going by
what I learned in Ozark, where they attempt.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Okay, it is it is bobcats.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
They attempted to breed bobcats, but they got all females,
so they were unsuccessful.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
And it was a joke because it was like, your
dumb ass, you got all females yeah, the spicy blonde, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yes, guys.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
There's a whole other part of Michaela's voicemail that we're
not going to go into, but it was all about
Walmarts and food waste, and specifically like expired foods. We've
talked about before on this show, talk about all these
major companies that just throw stuff out in the back.
That's how you get this concept of someone who's a
freakin someone who will go around to the back exactly
(30:25):
and not have to pay for food. You just get
there's so much food back there and it just expired,
so you know, some employees had to just take it
off the shelf. Well, we sell by date, by the way, it.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Doesn't immediately rot when that date.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Very good point. But there's also things like, you know,
bananas get a little too brown while sitting there on
the store, so they get rid of them, or you know,
there's a little bit of mold found growing on let's
say the strawberries or other berries or things.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Where there's cheese with mold, which was yes, sorry, I'm
thinking of the Mister Beasts debacle where they've got moldy
cheese and these kits is such.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
A huge problem I'm glad we're at least gonna mention
it here, because you can get arrested for distributing free food.
That's happened to me in the past. You can skirt
with the law on that. There are, obviously there are
good reasons to require licensing and oversight. But the food
waste in the United States is egregious and tremendously evil.
(31:24):
I am under the impression, or at least when I'm
spoken with legal experts about this, I'm under the impression
that the reason that food waste is not distributed to
the needy or the hungry there are a lot of
people who are hungry in the US, is because it
might run the risk of incurring legal liability.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
True.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yes, but if you're a behemoth like Walmart, which old
Michaela goes into extensively, you can donate. You can set
up a pretty extensive donation program for certain types like
categories of food, which they do, which weirdly props to
Walmart Art. I'm reading in Axios about and it's from
(32:03):
northwest Arkansas, so like this is directly applicable maybe or
at least closely applicable to Michaela's experience. They are not
only donating a lot of food. They've put these pretty
cool new machines into their system where all of the
food waste goes out through this machine that then gets
it separates the packaging. It says ninety seven percent of
(32:25):
the packaging gets separated from other foods, you know, or
the actual food product. Then most of that becomes recyclable
materials for things like soil and like nutrient rich stuff
that can actually grow more food rather than just going
into you know, the dump and creating methane and doing
all that terrible stuff that dumps do.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Or feeding raccoons. That's also part of it.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
There you go, and if you're in Arkansas, those raccoons
are good to go, and you could put them in
your house if you want.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
I hate to say it, but their hands are probably
cleaner than most of ours listening to the show today.
They wash them a lot. You're right, they might have
a mental thing.
Speaker 5 (33:03):
Yeah, oh yeah, OCD raccoons.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Well, anyway, if you want to check this out, the
Axios article we found is titled Walmart tackles food waste
with new tech, written by Worth Sparkman, and it isn't
from that long agos July thirtieth, twenty twenty four, so
this is pretty recent stuff. Check that out if you're interested.
Thank you so much Old MICHAELA for writing in for
your experience and your attitudes generally around somebody coming in
(33:34):
and taking your dang pet squirrel.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
And we've returned for one more piece of listener mail.
We've had a fascinating correspondence a lot of response to
our stories about how human animals encounter other animals, especially
the ones that are not considered domestic. Have we talked
a little bit about the difference between tamed wild animal
(34:05):
versus a domesticated animal. There are actually very few types
of non human animals that are considered domesticated in the world.
We are grateful to a conspiracy realist who wrote into us.
We had you know, as you guys know, talking with
our pal Anonymous owl. Anonymous Owl has veterinarian experience. VET
(34:28):
tech works often with situations similar to those we described
involving our pal, Peanut the squirrel. Do we want to
give a quick recap on Peanut for anybody who's wondering.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Just that it was essentially a rescue squirrel that a
gentleman living in upstate New York had in his home.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Apparently a neighbor or.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
Some Luki Lou reported this squirrel, and then a department
that deals with wild an animals essentially came in conducted
a raid on the home, wherein they confiscated Peanut the
squirrel and Fred the raccoon, and ultimately euthanized them both
while testing for rabies, because that is apparently the only
way that you can test for that.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Great summation there, Noel, here's the letter we received or
what of the letters? Because this is a correspondence, be
well aware of folks. Sometimes the void writes back. Anonymous
Owl hipped us to this by saying, dear dudes, you're
more than welcome to share my perspective if you'd like.
I did empathize with the idea that Mark, the human
(35:37):
owner captor partner of Peanut the squirrel, had run into
difficulty finding someone to take the squirrel, but I am
not sure if he was trying to contact wildlife centers
or just local animal shelters who would not have been
able or allowed to take the squirrel. And Anonymous Owl continues, again,
(35:57):
we're taking excerpts from multiple pieces or passages of correspondence.
Anonymous Awl says where I am, the closest wildlife rehabilitation
center is at least fifty miles from me. I took
a turtle there once, which I found on the road
with a broken shell. Side note, turtles are extremely territorial,
(36:18):
and if you take one to be rehabilitated, they ask
you to come back and drop it off in close
proximity to where you found it. Otherwise it will try
to get back there and that can be quite dangerous.
So a little bit of myth busting around turtles. I
didn't know turtles are territorial.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
No, I didn't know that either.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
I remember snapping turtles. There's some you know, FAFO type animals.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah, I'm just trying to imagine. I've seen those videos
of I don't know if it's like a box turtle
or something like that. I only know the native Georgia
ones that I've run into, and like a couple of
tortoise species that I've seen, but the ones that like
will slam their shell into stuff, like put poke their
little head back in and slam their shell Like Is
that how you defend your territory as a turtle.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Right right? Also common misconception that is not just dumb
exoskeleton on a turtle's body. They are able to feel
impact or attack on their shells, so be kind to turtles.
We also asked Anonymous Owl whether they would be interested
(37:29):
in providing quote, a brief step by step process on
how the average human should proceed when encountering an injured
animal in the wild, and oof, we got a good guide.
Here we go injured wild animals. Number one. If you
encounter an injured wild animal, the first thing you should
do is contact your state's Department of Natural Resources, not
(37:52):
a shelter. Chances are, Anonymous Owl says they can direct
you to a wildlife rescue or rehabilitations. Here at Maryland
it is Wildlife Services, which has a toll free number.
Anonymous Owl also mentions that as much as PEDA can
be a controversial organization, it does provide a state by
(38:16):
state resource list of contacts to make when you find
a wild animal and will round robin this because it's
a bit long, but it is important for all of
us listening. Number one continues, Do not try to take
the animal anywhere on your own. As we know, there
is an ever growing number of pathogens that can jump
(38:38):
from animal to human aka zoonautic and can cause all
kinds of havoc. Depending upon the type of injury, you
could end up causing more harm than help, much like
trying to move someone if you don't know they have
a broken spine, etc. And then also, of course the
all caps note, the risk of rabies is always present
(39:02):
in a mammal in a wild mammal, So if you
see a mammal acting in an anomalous way we're summarizing here,
unusual behavior can be a sign of rabies or chronic
wasting disease. Contact your state's wildlife department. Let's go to
number two. If someone can hop on the steering wheel
(39:22):
for this, what do we do with orphaned animals?
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Number two, orphaned animals.
Speaker 5 (39:26):
If you find an orphaned animal, always keep in mind that,
unlike dogs and cats, many wild animals can survive without
a parent mere days after being born. Squirrels can survive
on their own at ten days old. Again, the best
thing to do is to contact a wildlife rehabilitation center.
They will let you know how best to handle the situation.
They may tell you to put the animal in a
(39:47):
box with a heating pad if it is cold, et cetera.
All caps here, guys. It is a myth that the
smell of a human will cause the parents to abandon
the baby. Also, not all orphans are orphaned. Rabbits leave
their babies alone for long periods of time throughout the
day and come back to nurse them.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Baby.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Owls on the ground can sometimes be fine because owls
learn to climb trees.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Before they can fly. Did not know any of that.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
Ooh side note, speaking of uh, speaking of stereotypes about
flying creatures, guys, I just learned. Anonymous ally also just learned.
You probably already knew this. Vampire bats can run. They
can run on the ground super fast.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
No, do not say this, so you know if your
ankles are not safe.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
Your ankles aren't safe. They're gonna get them.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
They're running at you and biting at your ankles.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
So you knock one out while it's flying. You just
slap it away and you're like, hey, don't worry, I
got this. We're gonna make it to the temple before
the eclipse. Make sure to turn around because they might
be skittering, scattering, skip a duop and towards you. There's
a third point, though, on this scale.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Moving on to anonymous owls number three. Here, here we go,
never feed wildlife. If wild animals are regularly fed by humans,
they will lose their fear of humans, which may sound
like a Disney movie yay, until it gets them hit
by a car, shot by a hunter, or poisoned or
killed due to being a nuisance. Not to mention, if
(41:23):
they can carry rabies, they can be seen as a
threat and killed. Even birds. Once you begin feeding them,
you'd need to continue because they teach their young to
come to you instead of finding food in the wild,
and if you stop, they do not know how to
find food on their own. That's horrifying. Yeah, that's horrifying.
(41:44):
It says, if you want to help birds and wild
animals find food, plant seed and fruit bearing native plants
from your area. Boom okay, now that sounds nice, and
I think I believe you, anonymous owl. But what of
this bird feeding industry that we've created?
Speaker 6 (42:04):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (42:04):
Yes, classic human. Also, we had an excellent exchange of
thoughts regarding Corvidet in particular, you know, magpies, jackdaws, ravens, crows,
and an anonymous howl gave us some great advice with that,
some great insight, just saying, look, yeah, feed them, but
(42:25):
you're right, don't let them in your house. And you know,
don't feel like you have to center yourself being around
when they eat, because you know, the big problem with
humans is they sort of tend to center themselves on
this stuff, often to the danger of other humans and
to the danger of wild animals.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
And one other thing to add on this something I
learned while I was at local home depot guys. I
was buying bird food, specifically for a bird feeder I
wanted to put on my porch upstairs. I thought it
would be super fun to have birds coming through and
I could sit on my porch and just have some
coffee and be like, ooh birds because I actually really
(43:06):
like birds flying around.
Speaker 4 (43:08):
Who does know?
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
A very kind older gentleman, as I was going to
check out with this huge thing of bird feed, said oh,
don't do that. All you'll get is snakes. And I went,
what what are you talking about? And he said, I'm serious.
If you start feeding birds, especially on your house in
your porch, you are gonna get nothing but snakes.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
It's like, no way, I've just pictured, I'm just picturing data.
Carvey's Joe Biden right now, I'm serious, right now? Yeah, yeah,
guess what.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
But he was very serious and adamant, and he was like,
I mean you do you but you have kids? And
I was like, yeah, I have a kid, and don't
do it.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
Don't do it.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
So I got warned off. Then I looked it up
and sure enough, because of the in the backyard, there's
like a little creek and so you know, wild area.
He was like, no, the snake's He was right, the
snakes would be joining me.
Speaker 4 (44:06):
They'll find it.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
He sure will, and not being sad. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (44:09):
I've mentioned on the show a few times how I
can often follow a victim to cleverly targeted Instagram ads.
But more than a few ridiculous items from that, but
also some good things. But I did see an ad
the other day for a bird feeder with a camera
in it.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
That you can link up to your phone, so you
can like watch your little feathered friends, you know, frolicking
around on the bird feeder. Shoot you can start a
TikTok off that thing.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
You'd be a millionaire months bird can and this would
definitely show anonymous hel that we're listening to those concerns. Sorry,
that's great. So the last point you make anonymous howl,
which again is of great value to all of us tonight,
gathered around the fire of the dark number four, become
an ally anonymous howl. You say you can carve off
(44:56):
a section of your yard if you live in a
rural area and stop my wing it, toss bird seed
other seed into the grass, leave it alone. You'll also
be providing a safe space for animals like rabbits, deer, etc.
To bed down for the night, and a safe place
for insects like butterflies and mantis to make lay eggs, pupate,
(45:17):
et cetera. If you have and you anticipated our question
here anonymous ol. If you have an hoa homeowner's association,
this may be harder, but you can create a flower
bed of native plants which are usually drought resistant, So bonus,
you will not only provide natural food that is not
(45:37):
directly associated with human presence, but also something with which
animals can associate with their natural habitat. Also followed by saying,
of course, if you have the opportunity or the inclination,
donate to your local wildlife rehabilitation centers. These generally do
not receive any federal or state funding. They need food,
(46:01):
they need funds, they need care, they need staff. They
also may accept volunteers, though heads up, not aiming this
at any particular conspiracy realist. If you do volunteer at
a wildlife rehabilitation center, they may require you to have
a Rabi's vaccine. So for everybody foaming at the mouth
(46:23):
hearing that, it's probably already time for you to visit
the doctor.
Speaker 5 (46:28):
Sure, And if I could also just mention a quick
snippet from another listener that wrote in about this, because
it was something that I said, I think in error
someone I think Matt it was no mentioned a quote
from a person who said a blood test can be
done to check for rabies. That may be true, but
to my understanding, it is not acceptably accurate. The only
reliable way to test for rabies is to test the
(46:48):
brain tissue. So I just wanted to put that out
there because I did think that was It was something
that was I think in an editorial piece that I
brought where someone I believe a colleague of the writer
of the piece, said that this could be done with
out destroying the animal.
Speaker 3 (47:02):
But apparently that is a non reliable.
Speaker 5 (47:03):
Thing, and rabies is a big deal and apparently too
even if you release a squirrel like this in the wild,
if it's imprinted on a human and it does get rabies,
it will come back a lot of times, which can
then cause this, you know, spreading of this very deadly disease.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Just to add on to that, a listener called in
with a voicemail specifically talking about that, and yes it is.
It is brain specific brain tissue that has to be tested.
Speaker 4 (47:30):
To be examined. Yeah, to the detriment of the animals survival. Unfortunately,
that's correct. And again going back to our last part
of this listener mail segment, thank you so much, anonymous ow.
We asked you for a step by step guide for
everyone who has encountered a wild animal, has been fortunate
enough to do that, and for a lot of people
(47:52):
listening tonight. You know, you run into an injured creature,
you are not a bad person, so you're not going
to kill it for fun. You might have to kill
it if it's already in pain and there's no way
to save it. But it's invaluable to understand the best
steps to ensure the safety of the wild animal as
well as the safety of your fellow human animals. Now
(48:15):
we're gonna call it an evening. We hope everybody is
having the best time as you experienced this show. So
happy November twenty. First, the holidays are coming up. We're
all in this together, animal and human alike, so we
would love to hear from you. Please join us. Tell
(48:36):
us your favorite encounters with the wild. And also, you know,
try not to get rabies over the holidays. We know
those Thanksgiving dinners can get a little dicey. Tell us
what's on your mind. Join up with the cause. We
can't wait to hear from you. You can find us
on email, you can find us on the telephone. You
can even find us. This is a true story on
(48:57):
the Internet.
Speaker 5 (48:58):
True even if that that weird uncle is foaming at
the mouth.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
It might not be rabies. It might just be a
thing he does.
Speaker 5 (49:05):
But you can indeed tell us here Thanksgiving horror stories.
Tell us of your holiday struggles right too, as you
can find us all over the internet at the handle
Conspiracy Stuff. We are on Facebook, on x FKA, Twitter,
and on YouTube at that handle. However, on Instagram and
TikTok we're Conspiracy Stuff show.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
We have a phone number. It is one eight three
three std wy TK. When you call in, give yourself
a cool nickname and let us know in that message
if we can use your name and message on the
air and one of these listener mail episodes. If you've
got more to say than can fit in a three
minute voicemail one instead send us a good old fashioned email.
Speaker 4 (49:43):
We are the entities that read every single piece of
correspondence we receive. Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the
void rides back. We're grateful for every piece of correspondence
because these listener mail segments often inform episodes do in
the future. Please stay tuned. We have more on the way.
(50:04):
Check out our episode, a two part series on the
troubled border of meandmar. What do you mean by that,
you might be saying, We'll tell you all about it
and we'd love to hear more from you. Join us
out here in the Dark Conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Stuff they Don't Want You to Know is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
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production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
My name is Matt, my name is Nol.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
They call me Ben. We are joined as always with
our super producer Dylan the Tennessee pal Fakean. Most importantly,
you aregute you are here. That makes this the stuff
they don't want you to know. If you are listening
the evening this program comes out. Welcome to November twenty first,
hurtling headlong toward Thanksgiving here in the States, and we
(00:50):
couldn't be more excited to bring you our weekly listener
mail segment. We're going to have some follow up on
wild animals, we are going to have follow up on
expired food and gosh, before we get into any of that,
we've been talking about the election recently here in the US,
and guys, just quick gut check it was right, wasn't
(01:12):
it to point out the weird stuff Russian government is
saying to the president election.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Absolutely, it's something that we've been hearing thrown around for
a long time, and to have somebody that close to
the head of Russia say something like that is you
can't ignore it.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Oh jeez. All right, well I appreciate that before the
undersea internet cables that make this show possible do get sabotaged,
We're going to do a cold open and then we're
gonna hear from you.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
And we returned with our first piece of listener mail
today coming to us from Bones. Ben. You set it
up perfectly. This is pertaining to the twenty twenty four
presidential election, and let's just jump right in Bones here.
I've been on TikTok lately trying to be skeptical, and
I keep running into stories about Elon Musk's company, Starlink,
(02:06):
being used to keep ballot machines connected to Wi Fi
conflict of interest, which is combined with several other factors
to make some liberals think something is afoot. The evidence
I've seen includes aforementioned Starlink connection, Elon Musk saying in
an interview that he's ft if Trump loses, and joking
about how much prison time.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
He would receive.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Trump allegedly being in touch with a government official in Georgia,
not your home state, the European nation Trump appearing to
discourage his voters from voting, telling them quote, he doesn't
need votes. We have the votes, don't bother with voting.
We don't need votes. Found on NBC clip addressing this,
Democratic officials seemingly hinting to not give up hope yet
(02:48):
scores of alleged Democrat voters saying they checked the online
status their votes only to find a message telling them
to register to vote. This was people who were registered
and had voted early in some cases, or that they
hadn't voted, or that they're vote was still pending, and
people were putting this together with a supposedly low Democratic
voter turnout.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I don't know, as much as it would make me.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Feel better to believe that Trump, with Musk's help and
pressure from Putin, stole the election, every accusation is a
confession or whatever. I also don't want to fall victim
to a lot of the same cycles and theories that
prompted the January sixth insurrection of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If we are sore.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Losers, we're just as bad as the people we've tried
to condemn. Also, Kamala's campaign only ran for about one
hundred days. The American people didn't get a chance to
choose her as our Democratic candidate, and I've seen some
perspectives discussing why her campaign strategies didn't work on.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Conservatives, so I feel conflicted.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
I know it's still early, since it's only been seven
days at the time of this writing, but I wanted
to see if you guys had any input or could
maybe do any deeper digging into any of these theories
to disprove or maybe even prove them. Looking forward to
your insight and trying to remain neutral and undecided on
how to react. Again, as much as it might make
me feel better to believe it was rigged, this may
just be the way we are as a country, in
(04:01):
which case we have a lot of reevaluating to do.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I hope you guys are having a nice.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Day and week, and I hope this is something you'll
be able to willing to touch on. You guys are
awesome and have helped me a lot this past week
with your level headed, rational conversations and cheerful banter. Keep
on saying, feel free to read some or all of
this on the air. I know it's long, but either way,
thanks for your time. Love Bones, guys right off the rip.
I just want to point to a really pretty cool
(04:26):
piece that I found on Wired, and I think we've
all taken a look at and that election denial conspiracy
theories are exploding on X this time they're coming from
the left. Conspiracy theories about missing votes which are not
in fact missing and something being quote not right are
being spread widely on X in the wake of Donald
Trump's election victory. From that, I just want to pull
(04:46):
a couple of quotes from this piece because I think
it sums up kind of this whole conundrum perfectly. One
of them comes from a former Biden administration disinformations are
who is now the CEO of the America Sunlight Project,
Nina Jankowick's who had this to say. It doesn't matter
whether baseless allegations about voting irregularities come from the right
(05:09):
or the left. The impact on our system of these
lies is the same. People will end up trusting the
infrastructure of democracy less, setting us up for more disinformation
and dis engagement. These drop offs in trust take decades
to undo. Take a look at countries in Eastern Europe
that have been attempting to rebuild trust in the system
since the nineties. We should all be wary of these allegations,
(05:31):
no matter their source. And honestly, you know, this is
kind of how I look at all of this, because
it seems like the same kind of tired, sore losery,
kind of disinformation commiseration, disinformation commiseration. How could it possibly
be that just the Democrats got it wrong, they were
(05:53):
campaigning on the wrong stuff. And yes, of course a
lot of the Trump campaign's rhetoric and policy suggestions are
divisive and some would call dangerous and scary, But it
would seem that the big takeaway of the day by many,
as evidenced by the voter turnout and the election maps,
was things like the economy, things like people living in
(06:17):
Middle America who do not feel like their lot and
lives have improved, what policy wonks might call a referendum
on liberal politics and do nothingism, you know, And I think,
I hope I've made this clear. I am not a
fan of either side of the political divide. I find politics,
especially at this level, to be a nasty business. And
(06:40):
I really don't have very much love or trust in
very many people that take their political careers to this
kind of level. In this kind of arena. But I
can't help but feel like this is a lot of
sore losership and people looking for an answer that just
isn't there, and the way that they are searching for it,
and that is much more easily answered with simplicity that
(07:02):
it just the message from the left just was not
resonating with enough of Americans. And that's just really how
it feels to me and how it's and it's in anything.
It's it's an f you to the Democrats for running
kind of a half assed campaign and changing the horse
at the last minute, and Biden refusing to step down earlier,
and all of that it could combine, seems to have
(07:23):
yielded this result.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
It's a very unsuccessful center right party.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Bones.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
I'd like to respond to Nole's questions by first thanking
you so much for taking the time to write and
list off some of the evidence that you're seeing and
you're listening to quite objectively. One note we would have
there is that a bit confusing President elect Donald Trump
did contact an official Ben Raethisberger in the US state
(07:50):
of Georgia, I think around twenty twenty, looking for eleven
seven hundred and sixty or seven hundred and eighty votes.
So that may be a bit of a crossed wire,
but perhaps the most important thing to remember. And I
agree with your points in regarding the proliferation of conspiracies
now oddly similar, they seem to other allegations in the past,
(08:13):
right with different political parties winning. I want to draw
attention to an episode we did years ago, which I
would typify as a sleeper hit. It's about the foundations
of geopolitics, which is one of the guiding bibles for
Russian disinformation and for the larger aim you could say,
(08:33):
of the Putin regime. The Foundations of geopolitics teaches us
that the goal of disinformation from foreign powers, as applied
to the domestic us, is not necessarily to champion one
party or one cause over another. It's to foment discord,
(08:55):
to divide people as much as possible, such that you're
promoting isolationism on the behalf of the United States. And
we already see that beginning to emerge. So if you
already have this is a question I'm not saying it's
definitely true. If you already have a very successful disinfo apparatus,
(09:15):
you're not going to just turn it off because an
election cycle moved, you're just going to you know, It's
like how you have a thermostat and sometimes you switch
it to heat, sometimes just switch it to cold. That's
what's happening. The engine, the HVAC is still very much running,
and that's part of why we're seeing that. I would
argue that's part of why we're seeing the proliferation of
(09:38):
election conspiracy theories that your note Noll are, by beat
very similar to what was alleged previously. Now the teams
have just switched.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Yeah, And I'm not trying to be dismissive to anybody,
you know, I mean, certainly we do have questions about
these kinds of disinformation campaigns that Russia is helping run.
To what degree these influenced the actual outcome of the election,
not one hundred percent of share. It does feel to
me that a lot of folks that aren't very up
on politics, particularly, they voted for the person that they
thought was more likely to create a change, whether they
(10:10):
were reached by disinformation campaigns.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
I can't speak to that, and Ben, I know.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
That you feel maybe a little more strongly that these campaigns,
these Fox campaigns had a much more substantial effect on
the outcome of this election.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
What do you think it met?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Okay, so I've got just two specific things on here.
The first one is, did you guys see Bill Burr
host Saturday Night Live on November ninth, So like last Saturday?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yeah, that did not see as was where that happened
with McGee?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, yeah, he kind of filled in for the Dave
Chappelle role over the past eight years. Right right after
an election, Dave Chappelle would go on and at least
from what I've read in the creator Lorne Michael's view,
it's a somebody who can bring everybody together right, no
matter how you felt after an election. Bill Burr similar figure,
actually similar in when he came up in comedy and
(10:58):
some of the things he talks about how he unites people.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
He wrote for the Dave Chappelle Show.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Exactly, and he was on it several times in hilarious sketches. Yeah,
but he came on and made a really salient point
that made me want to talk to you guys about
it and thank you bones for getting us here to
this spot. He was mentioning that this campaign has felt
like it's gone on forever, and he was questioning whether
(11:22):
there was a single person who actually decided who they
were going to vote for, like an actual undecided.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Voter, right, the mythical unicorn.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Because he was saying, basically, everyone knew who they were
going to vote for before either of the major campaigns
even started. And then all of this money gets generated
through donors, right, and through these mechanisms where millions and
millions and millions of dollars are generated, and for what
to create basically video ads and audio ads and print ads,
(11:56):
and to send teams across the country doing things and also.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Events spots on SNL.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yes, well exactly where where one of the candidates shows
up and then another candidate is like brutally ridiculed the
whole time. Which is really a really interesting other thing
I wanted to talk to you guys about, like just
this idea of the perceived imbalance maybe that exists out
there for someone who's just in the world watching what
would be considered mainstream media, where there is there does
(12:24):
seem like there's a bias, right, And just how does
that perceived bias then affect somebody and how they almost
want to fight against that thing that is the bias.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
I just think that, you know, I mean, the idea
of liberals and the left or whatever, I just become
synonymous with this sort of out of touch coastal elite,
you know, kind of academic, you know, perspective that I
think is a massive turn off to a lot of
like working class Americans and otherwise, you know, I mean
not even doesn't whatever.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
I think.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
I think just a lot of people that are just
tired of being soapboxed ats or this sort of.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
That's the big part. And I would I'm excited you
guys are bringing this up in bones. I can't think
you enough. One other aspect of this that is often
I think missed in terms of the false equivalency or
the false dichotomy of choices offered, is that there is
no Yes. The US is a representative democracy, but it's
(13:23):
sort of antiquated in several structural levels, including the electoral college,
including the fact that there is only a highlander winner
take all system. It's very difficult therefore, to build coalitions.
The system is built to distribute poison pills to any
viable third party. And I would also I would also
(13:43):
propose the following thing, which is a painful thing to admit,
because it's going to touch all of us listening tonight.
Often when people are what would be called a term
I think is somewhat condescending low information voters. Often when
people are making a decision on whom to vote for
in the presidential election or in any election, they're reacting
(14:06):
to what we would call social currency. You want to
gain approval and you want to gain prominence in your
tribe or in your social sphere. So there are a
lot of people who couldn't give a tinker's dam about
politics past a certain point. But what they do give
a damn about, even beyond a tinker's dam, they do
give a damn about fitting in to their local everyday interactions,
(14:30):
their church.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Their golf club, whatever it might be.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Gaining the approval of the peers within their dumbbar number sphere.
So that happens to everyone, and that's I think that's
a huge engine for this.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
It's so interesting living where I live now, you guys,
and experiencing it as an adult because just so everybody
kind of understands, I lived like forty five minutes away
from Atlanta, like the city right when I grew up,
moved into Atlanta, lived most of my life there, and
now I've recently moved back, like roughly that same disc
from the city, right. And while I was in Atlanta,
(15:03):
that bubble you're talking about, Ben, was very much for
one side, right, Like, if you expressed feelings for the
other side, it was almost like you felt like the
weirdo and.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
You would get made fun of face.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yes, And then now where I live, if you do
the opposite for the other team, you feel like, oh man,
people are looking at me, and people are the way
he just dismissed me, I feel awkward and strange. I'm
not going to talk about this anymore.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
I'm losing social currency and standing.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Exactly what you're saying, Ben. So it does feel like
what happens is you go internally with those thoughts and feelings,
and then when you're doing things like polling numbers, right,
and we're looking at all this stuff online, all these
things we rely on and we trust, it's as though
our political life has gone so deep inside unless you're
in that whatever safe space you feel like you're in,
(15:51):
and even then maybe it's performative.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Sure, yeah, and this is a danger. Again, This is
not a condemnation of anybody at all who we consider
rank and file like us, you know what I mean.
Henry Kissinger talk to us a couple times, but we
didn't really influence his decisions. Like Carlin said, it's a
pretty elite group. And if you're hearing this, you're not
(16:15):
in it. I think it's the social currency. I think
it's a structural systemic problem.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
And it's also just the level of division and heat,
you know, around politics in this country has just reached
such a fever pitch and I'm just personally sick of it.
And I want to say this too, like, you know,
the right have some issues with their policies and the
way their attitudes towards women and their attitudes towards the
trans community and the LGBTQ community, and.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
I have major problems and concerns with that stuff.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
But also, like I don't even know they believe half
the stuff that they're talking about.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
I think they're trying.
Speaker 5 (16:50):
To be divisive, you know, and create that discord and
appeal to the baser nature of certain parts of their base.
And I don't necessarily think that the left are any
more have moral high ground, some imagined moral high ground.
I think a lot of what they do is performative.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
To foundations of geopolitics. Just makes me crazy, all of it,
both sides.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
It makes me wonder. Guys, just going back to that
last thing with Bill Burr, like, why the heck do
we spend so much money on these elections, right and
making such a big circus.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Well, what are you gonna do pay for healthcare?
Speaker 3 (17:20):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
What if we somehow got these super packs. If two
dollars gets donated to a super pack, one of those
dollars goes into some fund that does fund let's say,
healthcare for every American citizen, or you know, fixing the
pipes in most major cities that still have stuff like
lead in them and underserved schools.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Despicable.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I can't believe I have to say it before it
becomes a hot take. The Department of the Education is
a good thing to have around. Just gonna point that
one out. We'll leave that there.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
That's it. Every election goes half seas into the Department
of Education.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Apparently there's a lot of fuffle coming out of the
Harris campaign about how absolutely irresponsible they were with some
of this money and just spending it on like Beyonce
concerts or whatever it was. I'm not even sure exactly
the Springsteen different ones, and they actually ended up in
quite a significant amount of debt. And I got another
email asking for more money after the election because it
feels like they're trying to pay that back. And I
(18:20):
just to your point, Ben, the amount of money being
thrown around, it's egregious, and it makes me so sad
because the things that could be done positively with that money,
very quickly, it's just not happening. And we do, still,
no matter who's in charge, live in a country where
it's almost impossible to get reasonably priced healthcare, where it's
other developed nations, wealthy nations like ours just get it for.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Paying their taxes.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
See.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
I mean, how tough could decent healthcare be? Only every
other developed country has managed to do it, So weird,
it must be super tough. Anyway, I do have a
piece of good news for you guys, and hopefully for
you bones. And I mean this not as a platitude,
but as a very real, concrete observation. You mentioned earlier, Noel,
that you've never seen things as divisive. The US is
(19:06):
a young country. It is still very much an experiment,
and work in progress, but there have been more divisive times.
There's a whole war about it, not at that point yet,
So hopefully we can remember everybody hearing this, everybody living
in the United States. You have far more in common
with people than you have in disagreement with them.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Yes, you know what I mean, Yes, rally around that.
But it's going to be so hard. It's going to
be a rough four years. Man.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
People are going to be very angry. Guys.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
How is the US? And I agree with you, the
US is a young country, but it's also, at the
same time, somehow simultaneously an empire that's nearing the end
of its life.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Right, went back to our earlier episode about empires and
their two hundred year lifespan.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Because it's both somehow.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Yeah, you know, the phoenix dies and is reborn. Right,
how many different spin offs of the Roman Hire existed?
You could tell when they were going downhill because they
had to start adding fancier words to the name, like
the Holy Roman Empire, you know what I mean, Star Trek,
the next Generation.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Roman Empire, the sequel, Yes.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yes, and I promised they wouldn't do any more porn parodies,
but please inspire me but yeah, thank you again, Bones,
And this is a conversation a lot of people are having.
We endeavor to be objective, and sometimes being objective means
making unpleasant observations. We're obviously not always going to agree
with each other even here. Internally, I, for instance, am
(20:37):
one hundred percent convinced that foreign interference and asymmetric information
warfare played a egregious role in a lot of things
that have happened to the US recently, and unfortunately those
will continue. But fortunately, hopefully the US will continue as well,
because we really need a stable country to keep this
(20:57):
show going, right, Like, that's our main motivation. That's what
everybody in DC is thinking. They're like, how do we
make sure stuff they don't want you to know it
can still record? Yeah, yeah, top of mind.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, one hundred and thank you Bones
for helping us create that space. So with that, let's
take a quick break here a word from our sponsor,
and then come back with more messages from you.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
And we've returned and we're jumping to the phone lines
to hear a message from old MICHAELA.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Hey, guys, this is old Mickayla from Arkansas. Oh yeah,
it's Collin about that squirrel thing. Right.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
Uh, I'm just saying right now, if I had a
squirrel for seven years and somebody tried to come and
take my squirrel, and I'm just speaking from my point
of view.
Speaker 7 (21:53):
I'm gonna freak out if they try to raid my
house and take my squirrel.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Man.
Speaker 7 (22:00):
Yeah, I know like ten people with different pets. I
know a girl with a possum. I know a girl
with raccoons, I know a.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
Girl with pigs.
Speaker 7 (22:09):
I know all people with crazy animals. I don't. I
just never heard of anything like this. Why can't you
have a pet squirrel?
Speaker 5 (22:15):
I don't.
Speaker 7 (22:17):
I've never I think that that's just the government overplaying again. Man,
I just can't.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Just can't.
Speaker 7 (22:23):
By the way, I love you guys. I've been listening
to y'all and Josh and Chuck for the last year.
I cannot. I just want you all to post every
day because I'm just always bored.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Okay, okay, we're gonna pose it right there. Mikhail has
more to the message, but just first of all, guys
love that reaction. So he tries to come into my
house and take my squirrel.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
I heard the italics. Thank you, Michael.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
My squirrel from my cold dead fingers, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Man, and we talked in the episode where we discussed
Peanut and nol Uh, we talked a little bit about
why you can't have a squirrel, or at least the
reasoning behind the raid, right.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
We also talked a lot about how there were some
suspicious circumstances that did make this feel like government overreach
and the targeting of an individual who has also had
a pretty high profile.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
In the world of Internet adult content.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Exactly did we go over some of the other like
wild animals that may be kept as pets.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I don't believe so.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
I think it's a great tice state.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
It does go state by state, and the squirrel thing
is really interesting. I think maybe we pulled up the
official map. There's a map on World Population Review. I
think we talked about that. How like here in Georgia
it's illegal to own a squirrel, but in Florida it
is totally legal. In Arkansas it is legal to own
a squirrel, but not in Kentucky. So just go go
a little bit further, maybe crossover a river, and now
(23:52):
you can't own a squirrel.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yeah. Also, you'll run into concurrent policies regarding what are
called exotic animals, that would often be the non domesticated animals.
We talked a little bit about a tame animal versus
a domesticated animal. Most animals are wild, I would say,
including the human ones, but the domesticated animals are a
(24:16):
very small subset of the natural world. It's a fascinating story.
But you can have to your point. Pretty much anything
that is not considered a domesticated animal is considered an
exotic animal. And you have to go state by state.
There's a great use of world ometer, I think. Also
(24:38):
Forbes had a pretty surprisingly good article on state by
state restrictions there. So sorry to everybody in let's see Delaware.
Sorry Delaware, the laws are kind of stringent for you guys.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Well, we'll check this out. MICHAELA mentioned raccoons right in
the message I got somebodyho owns a raccoon, Well you can.
You can own a raccoon in Arkansas, which is good
to know. Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. And raccoons
(25:18):
seemed awesome.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Trash pandas I love them. They're little bandits, weird little hands.
You're always washing their hands money money burn style. Yeah,
raby stuff is a bummer. We got a great we
got a great uh. We got several great pieces of
correspondence about the importance of rabies, which we will probably
have to wait till next week to get to. To
your point, Matt and to your question, old Mikayla. Uh.
(25:43):
We had a lot of people who had very different
reactions to this. A lot of veterinarians are, you know,
clearly centered on the sorry and tragic saga of Peanut,
But a lot of other people are say, you know
exactly what you said. I found the squirrel. I can't
have the squirrel, and I can't get to you know,
I can't look down my snout at this because I
(26:04):
am neighbors with a murder of crews that I've befriended.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
And when you don't keep him in the house, you
don't let him in the house.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Though you know, they don't want them to know too
much about the fair.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
They comes too clever And when you open your arms
like the like the what is it clever?
Speaker 3 (26:18):
The night King?
Speaker 2 (26:20):
You know, cheez, I think that's in the crow bylaws.
It just says one cannot own a crow.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
And sometimes if the sink so bad has happened, a
crow will carry that soul back. O.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Wait, never mind, know that's a a movie thing.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
You don't own a cat either. It just sort of
agrees to exploit you for a while. But if you
are interested in the federal level legislation, because we've said
a lot of this stuff is state by state, you'll
want to look at two things. The Animal Welfare Act,
which said the rules and regulations of how animals should
be cared for basically the foundation of what constitutes animal cruelty.
(26:56):
And then yeah, spoiler, it doesn't apply to livestock, dude.
But then there's the Lacy Act, which says you can't
you know, it governs the kind of wildlife you can
import to the states.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
Where where does that distinction exist between like, it's okay
to murder cows in factory farming, but kiddies are off limits.
Where does does that codified somewhere?
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Is that what you're talking I've always.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Went Animal Welfare Act?
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Yeah, but who who decides that?
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Me the one.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Not the animals. Yeah, I don't think the cows got
the vote.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well, you know, the leaders in Arkansas have decided that
you are allowed to own up to six individual Bobcats.
Are you guys familiar with what a bobcat is?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Murderous beasts?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yes, very well, not carnally.
Speaker 6 (27:49):
Very well.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Did you get pounced upon? Ben have some encounters? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Well no, they will you up, that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Yeah, well if they if if a Bobcat is messing
with you, you've done something wrong.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Bobcat gold wait here, this is very different.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
No, I trust him. If I was in an argument,
if somebody told me that Bobcat gold Weight did something
terrible to them, my next question would be, what did
you do to bob You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Was it Ozark where they had bobcats? I think I
think in Ozark they had.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Bobcats the region the show, the show. I want to
say that you might be right.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
I don't recall that particularly.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
But you know that would be considered by most accounts
an exotic pat right, like some type type stuff.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Because they're not domesticated exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
You can get permits in a couple of places, but
Arkansas is like, yeah, you can have six.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
I guess yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
If you typically if someone has in veterinarian experts in
the field. Don't get don't get mad at us. We're
not giving you our personal opinions. We're giving you the
laws as they stand state by state. For a lot
of people who raise bobcats an attempt to tape them,
they rescue them from a young age. Something very bad
(29:07):
has happened to the bobcats caregivers, to their natural bobcat parents,
in their natural habitat. What's interesting about this, Matt, remind
me if I'm incorrect here. From what I remember about bobcats,
they like many other felids, are not pack animals. They're solitary.
So how do you have six individual ones?
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Well, you're I'm assuming, attempting to always replace your bobcats
with new bobcats as you maybe sell them to other people.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Oh, it's a bobcat mill.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
It was, well, I can't look, guys. I'm going by
what I learned in Ozark, where they attempt.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Okay, it is it is bobcats.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
They attempted to breed bobcats, but they got all females,
so they were unsuccessful.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
And it was a joke because it was like, your
dumb ass, you got all females yeah, the spicy blonde, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yes, guys.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
There's a whole other part of Michaela's voicemail that we're
not going to go into, but it was all about
Walmarts and food waste, and specifically like expired foods. We've
talked about before on this show, talk about all these
major companies that just throw stuff out in the back.
That's how you get this concept of someone who's a
freakin someone who will go around to the back exactly
(30:25):
and not have to pay for food. You just get
there's so much food back there and it just expired,
so you know, some employees had to just take it
off the shelf. Well, we sell by date, by the way, it.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Doesn't immediately rot when that date.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Very good point. But there's also things like, you know,
bananas get a little too brown while sitting there on
the store, so they get rid of them, or you know,
there's a little bit of mold found growing on let's
say the strawberries or other berries or things.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Where there's cheese with mold, which was yes, sorry, I'm
thinking of the Mister Beasts debacle where they've got moldy
cheese and these kits is such.
Speaker 4 (31:01):
A huge problem I'm glad we're at least gonna mention
it here, because you can get arrested for distributing free food.
That's happened to me in the past. You can skirt
with the law on that. There are, obviously there are
good reasons to require licensing and oversight. But the food
waste in the United States is egregious and tremendously evil.
(31:24):
I am under the impression, or at least when I'm
spoken with legal experts about this, I'm under the impression
that the reason that food waste is not distributed to
the needy or the hungry there are a lot of
people who are hungry in the US, is because it
might run the risk of incurring legal liability.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
True.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yes, but if you're a behemoth like Walmart, which old
Michaela goes into extensively, you can donate. You can set
up a pretty extensive donation program for certain types like
categories of food, which they do, which weirdly props to
Walmart Art. I'm reading in Axios about and it's from
(32:03):
northwest Arkansas, so like this is directly applicable maybe or
at least closely applicable to Michaela's experience. They are not
only donating a lot of food. They've put these pretty
cool new machines into their system where all of the
food waste goes out through this machine that then gets
it separates the packaging. It says ninety seven percent of
(32:25):
the packaging gets separated from other foods, you know, or
the actual food product. Then most of that becomes recyclable
materials for things like soil and like nutrient rich stuff
that can actually grow more food rather than just going
into you know, the dump and creating methane and doing
all that terrible stuff that dumps do.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
Or feeding raccoons. That's also part of it.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
There you go, and if you're in Arkansas, those raccoons
are good to go, and you could put them in
your house if you want.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
I hate to say it, but their hands are probably
cleaner than most of ours listening to the show today.
They wash them a lot. You're right, they might have
a mental thing.
Speaker 5 (33:03):
Yeah, oh yeah, OCD raccoons.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Well, anyway, if you want to check this out, the
Axios article we found is titled Walmart tackles food waste
with new tech, written by Worth Sparkman, and it isn't
from that long agos July thirtieth, twenty twenty four, so
this is pretty recent stuff. Check that out if you're interested.
Thank you so much Old MICHAELA for writing in for
your experience and your attitudes generally around somebody coming in
(33:34):
and taking your dang pet squirrel.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
And we've returned for one more piece of listener mail.
We've had a fascinating correspondence a lot of response to
our stories about how human animals encounter other animals, especially
the ones that are not considered domestic. Have we talked
a little bit about the difference between tamed wild animal
(34:05):
versus a domesticated animal. There are actually very few types
of non human animals that are considered domesticated in the world.
We are grateful to a conspiracy realist who wrote into us.
We had you know, as you guys know, talking with
our pal Anonymous owl. Anonymous Owl has veterinarian experience. VET
(34:28):
tech works often with situations similar to those we described
involving our pal, Peanut the squirrel. Do we want to
give a quick recap on Peanut for anybody who's wondering.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Just that it was essentially a rescue squirrel that a
gentleman living in upstate New York had in his home.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Apparently a neighbor or.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
Some Luki Lou reported this squirrel, and then a department
that deals with wild an animals essentially came in conducted
a raid on the home, wherein they confiscated Peanut the
squirrel and Fred the raccoon, and ultimately euthanized them both
while testing for rabies, because that is apparently the only
way that you can test for that.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Great summation there, Noel, here's the letter we received or
what of the letters? Because this is a correspondence, be
well aware of folks. Sometimes the void writes back. Anonymous
Owl hipped us to this by saying, dear dudes, you're
more than welcome to share my perspective if you'd like.
I did empathize with the idea that Mark, the human
(35:37):
owner captor partner of Peanut the squirrel, had run into
difficulty finding someone to take the squirrel, but I am
not sure if he was trying to contact wildlife centers
or just local animal shelters who would not have been
able or allowed to take the squirrel. And Anonymous Owl continues, again,
(35:57):
we're taking excerpts from multiple pieces or passages of correspondence.
Anonymous Awl says where I am, the closest wildlife rehabilitation
center is at least fifty miles from me. I took
a turtle there once, which I found on the road
with a broken shell. Side note, turtles are extremely territorial,
(36:18):
and if you take one to be rehabilitated, they ask
you to come back and drop it off in close
proximity to where you found it. Otherwise it will try
to get back there and that can be quite dangerous.
So a little bit of myth busting around turtles. I
didn't know turtles are territorial.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
No, I didn't know that either.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
I remember snapping turtles. There's some you know, FAFO type animals.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah, I'm just trying to imagine. I've seen those videos
of I don't know if it's like a box turtle
or something like that. I only know the native Georgia
ones that I've run into, and like a couple of
tortoise species that I've seen, but the ones that like
will slam their shell into stuff, like put poke their
little head back in and slam their shell Like Is
that how you defend your territory as a turtle.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Right right? Also common misconception that is not just dumb
exoskeleton on a turtle's body. They are able to feel
impact or attack on their shells, so be kind to turtles.
We also asked Anonymous Owl whether they would be interested
(37:29):
in providing quote, a brief step by step process on
how the average human should proceed when encountering an injured
animal in the wild, and oof, we got a good guide.
Here we go injured wild animals. Number one. If you
encounter an injured wild animal, the first thing you should
do is contact your state's Department of Natural Resources, not
(37:52):
a shelter. Chances are, Anonymous Owl says they can direct
you to a wildlife rescue or rehabilitations. Here at Maryland
it is Wildlife Services, which has a toll free number.
Anonymous Owl also mentions that as much as PEDA can
be a controversial organization, it does provide a state by
(38:16):
state resource list of contacts to make when you find
a wild animal and will round robin this because it's
a bit long, but it is important for all of
us listening. Number one continues, Do not try to take
the animal anywhere on your own. As we know, there
is an ever growing number of pathogens that can jump
(38:38):
from animal to human aka zoonautic and can cause all
kinds of havoc. Depending upon the type of injury, you
could end up causing more harm than help, much like
trying to move someone if you don't know they have
a broken spine, etc. And then also, of course the
all caps note, the risk of rabies is always present
(39:02):
in a mammal in a wild mammal, So if you
see a mammal acting in an anomalous way we're summarizing here,
unusual behavior can be a sign of rabies or chronic
wasting disease. Contact your state's wildlife department. Let's go to
number two. If someone can hop on the steering wheel
(39:22):
for this, what do we do with orphaned animals?
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Number two, orphaned animals.
Speaker 5 (39:26):
If you find an orphaned animal, always keep in mind that,
unlike dogs and cats, many wild animals can survive without
a parent mere days after being born. Squirrels can survive
on their own at ten days old. Again, the best
thing to do is to contact a wildlife rehabilitation center.
They will let you know how best to handle the situation.
They may tell you to put the animal in a
(39:47):
box with a heating pad if it is cold, et cetera.
All caps here, guys. It is a myth that the
smell of a human will cause the parents to abandon
the baby. Also, not all orphans are orphaned. Rabbits leave
their babies alone for long periods of time throughout the
day and come back to nurse them.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Baby.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Owls on the ground can sometimes be fine because owls
learn to climb trees.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Before they can fly. Did not know any of that.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
Ooh side note, speaking of uh, speaking of stereotypes about
flying creatures, guys, I just learned. Anonymous ally also just learned.
You probably already knew this. Vampire bats can run. They
can run on the ground super fast.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
No, do not say this, so you know if your
ankles are not safe.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
Your ankles aren't safe. They're gonna get them.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
They're running at you and biting at your ankles.
Speaker 4 (40:45):
So you knock one out while it's flying. You just
slap it away and you're like, hey, don't worry, I
got this. We're gonna make it to the temple before
the eclipse. Make sure to turn around because they might
be skittering, scattering, skip a duop and towards you. There's
a third point, though, on this scale.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Moving on to anonymous owls number three. Here, here we go,
never feed wildlife. If wild animals are regularly fed by humans,
they will lose their fear of humans, which may sound
like a Disney movie yay, until it gets them hit
by a car, shot by a hunter, or poisoned or
killed due to being a nuisance. Not to mention, if
(41:23):
they can carry rabies, they can be seen as a
threat and killed. Even birds. Once you begin feeding them,
you'd need to continue because they teach their young to
come to you instead of finding food in the wild,
and if you stop, they do not know how to
find food on their own. That's horrifying. Yeah, that's horrifying.
(41:44):
It says, if you want to help birds and wild
animals find food, plant seed and fruit bearing native plants
from your area. Boom okay, now that sounds nice, and
I think I believe you, anonymous owl. But what of
this bird feeding industry that we've created?
Speaker 6 (42:04):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (42:04):
Yes, classic human. Also, we had an excellent exchange of
thoughts regarding Corvidet in particular, you know, magpies, jackdaws, ravens, crows,
and an anonymous howl gave us some great advice with that,
some great insight, just saying, look, yeah, feed them, but
(42:25):
you're right, don't let them in your house. And you know,
don't feel like you have to center yourself being around
when they eat, because you know, the big problem with
humans is they sort of tend to center themselves on
this stuff, often to the danger of other humans and
to the danger of wild animals.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
And one other thing to add on this something I
learned while I was at local home depot guys. I
was buying bird food, specifically for a bird feeder I
wanted to put on my porch upstairs. I thought it
would be super fun to have birds coming through and
I could sit on my porch and just have some
coffee and be like, ooh birds because I actually really
(43:06):
like birds flying around.
Speaker 4 (43:08):
Who does know?
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
A very kind older gentleman, as I was going to
check out with this huge thing of bird feed, said oh,
don't do that. All you'll get is snakes. And I went,
what what are you talking about? And he said, I'm serious.
If you start feeding birds, especially on your house in
your porch, you are gonna get nothing but snakes.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
It's like, no way, I've just pictured, I'm just picturing data.
Carvey's Joe Biden right now, I'm serious, right now? Yeah, yeah,
guess what.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
But he was very serious and adamant, and he was like,
I mean you do you but you have kids? And
I was like, yeah, I have a kid, and don't
do it.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
Don't do it.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
So I got warned off. Then I looked it up
and sure enough, because of the in the backyard, there's
like a little creek and so you know, wild area.
He was like, no, the snake's He was right, the
snakes would be joining me.
Speaker 4 (44:06):
They'll find it.
Speaker 3 (44:07):
He sure will, and not being sad. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (44:09):
I've mentioned on the show a few times how I
can often follow a victim to cleverly targeted Instagram ads.
But more than a few ridiculous items from that, but
also some good things. But I did see an ad
the other day for a bird feeder with a camera
in it.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
That you can link up to your phone, so you
can like watch your little feathered friends, you know, frolicking
around on the bird feeder. Shoot you can start a
TikTok off that thing.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
You'd be a millionaire months bird can and this would
definitely show anonymous hel that we're listening to those concerns. Sorry,
that's great. So the last point you make anonymous howl,
which again is of great value to all of us tonight,
gathered around the fire of the dark number four, become
an ally anonymous howl. You say you can carve off
(44:56):
a section of your yard if you live in a
rural area and stop my wing it, toss bird seed
other seed into the grass, leave it alone. You'll also
be providing a safe space for animals like rabbits, deer, etc.
To bed down for the night, and a safe place
for insects like butterflies and mantis to make lay eggs, pupate,
(45:17):
et cetera. If you have and you anticipated our question
here anonymous ol. If you have an hoa homeowner's association,
this may be harder, but you can create a flower
bed of native plants which are usually drought resistant, So bonus,
you will not only provide natural food that is not
(45:37):
directly associated with human presence, but also something with which
animals can associate with their natural habitat. Also followed by saying,
of course, if you have the opportunity or the inclination,
donate to your local wildlife rehabilitation centers. These generally do
not receive any federal or state funding. They need food,
(46:01):
they need funds, they need care, they need staff. They
also may accept volunteers, though heads up, not aiming this
at any particular conspiracy realist. If you do volunteer at
a wildlife rehabilitation center, they may require you to have
a Rabi's vaccine. So for everybody foaming at the mouth
(46:23):
hearing that, it's probably already time for you to visit
the doctor.
Speaker 5 (46:28):
Sure, And if I could also just mention a quick
snippet from another listener that wrote in about this, because
it was something that I said, I think in error
someone I think Matt it was no mentioned a quote
from a person who said a blood test can be
done to check for rabies. That may be true, but
to my understanding, it is not acceptably accurate. The only
reliable way to test for rabies is to test the
(46:48):
brain tissue. So I just wanted to put that out
there because I did think that was It was something
that was I think in an editorial piece that I
brought where someone I believe a colleague of the writer
of the piece, said that this could be done with
out destroying the animal.
Speaker 3 (47:02):
But apparently that is a non reliable.
Speaker 5 (47:03):
Thing, and rabies is a big deal and apparently too
even if you release a squirrel like this in the wild,
if it's imprinted on a human and it does get rabies,
it will come back a lot of times, which can
then cause this, you know, spreading of this very deadly disease.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Just to add on to that, a listener called in
with a voicemail specifically talking about that, and yes it is.
It is brain specific brain tissue that has to be tested.
Speaker 4 (47:30):
To be examined. Yeah, to the detriment of the animals survival. Unfortunately,
that's correct. And again going back to our last part
of this listener mail segment, thank you so much, anonymous ow.
We asked you for a step by step guide for
everyone who has encountered a wild animal, has been fortunate
enough to do that, and for a lot of people
(47:52):
listening tonight. You know, you run into an injured creature,
you are not a bad person, so you're not going
to kill it for fun. You might have to kill
it if it's already in pain and there's no way
to save it. But it's invaluable to understand the best
steps to ensure the safety of the wild animal as
well as the safety of your fellow human animals. Now
(48:15):
we're gonna call it an evening. We hope everybody is
having the best time as you experienced this show. So
happy November twenty. First, the holidays are coming up. We're
all in this together, animal and human alike, so we
would love to hear from you. Please join us. Tell
(48:36):
us your favorite encounters with the wild. And also, you know,
try not to get rabies over the holidays. We know
those Thanksgiving dinners can get a little dicey. Tell us
what's on your mind. Join up with the cause. We
can't wait to hear from you. You can find us
on email, you can find us on the telephone. You
can even find us. This is a true story on
(48:57):
the Internet.
Speaker 5 (48:58):
True even if that that weird uncle is foaming at
the mouth.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
It might not be rabies. It might just be a
thing he does.
Speaker 5 (49:05):
But you can indeed tell us here Thanksgiving horror stories.
Tell us of your holiday struggles right too, as you
can find us all over the internet at the handle
Conspiracy Stuff. We are on Facebook, on x FKA, Twitter,
and on YouTube at that handle. However, on Instagram and
TikTok we're Conspiracy Stuff show.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
We have a phone number. It is one eight three
three std wy TK. When you call in, give yourself
a cool nickname and let us know in that message
if we can use your name and message on the
air and one of these listener mail episodes. If you've
got more to say than can fit in a three
minute voicemail one instead send us a good old fashioned email.
Speaker 4 (49:43):
We are the entities that read every single piece of
correspondence we receive. Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the
void rides back. We're grateful for every piece of correspondence
because these listener mail segments often inform episodes do in
the future. Please stay tuned. We have more on the way.
(50:04):
Check out our episode, a two part series on the
troubled border of meandmar. What do you mean by that,
you might be saying, We'll tell you all about it
and we'd love to hear more from you. Join us
out here in the Dark Conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Stuff they Don't Want You to Know is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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