March 28, 2024 • 52 mins
Anonymous in Oz shares a disturbing story about paid actors rigging a corporate vote in Australia. The Mitch Doctor shares more news about the the UK's royal family. Several Conspiracy Realists give Ben, Matt and Noel the scoop on refrigerant costs. All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
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. My name is Matt,
my name is.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
No, they call me Ben.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
We're joined as always with our super producer Paul, Mission
Control Decads. Most importantly, you are here. That makes this
the stuff they don't want you to know, And fellow
conspiracy realists, you may be part of tonight's program. That's right,
it's time for listener mail. We are going to get
some updates from our fellow conspiracy realist about drugs, about HVAC,
(00:56):
and we want to give a shout out to brock
were hitping us to the return of the humble Farmer? Right, Yes, yeah,
so thank you for keeping us keeping a finger on
the pulse of that one. We're going to talk about
a very disturbing story out of Australia, and then we're
gonna you know, we got some we got some stuff
we have to get off our collective chest about clones.
(01:18):
But before we do any of that, we have been,
like so many other people, tracing this Strange Story about
Cape Middleton.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
The royal drama. Yes, we've become a couple of trio
of royal watchers, haven't we been?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Really?
Speaker 5 (01:38):
It's interesting though there you know, I'm with you, Matt
when we talked about it on Strange News a couple
of weeks ago. Who cares like there is some who
cares in us to it, like, okay, so you know
the Prince of Wales has a mistress, so surprise, surprise.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I just I do have to say one thing though, Nolans,
we're getting in. I want to make a point that
I didn't make when we're talking about this previously. Obviously,
I am not a monarchist the opposite end spectrum any
of us. Yeah, I don't think we are. But I
do have to say something that didn't bring up earlier.
(02:16):
One important thing for us to remember is that people
in the monarchy, are in the aristocracy, are humans like
anybody else, and they did not choose to be in
their position, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Into it, that's true.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
The ones that married into it chose it a little bit,
that's true.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, guys, before you really jump into I don't I
don't think anybody caught the joke, and I don't think
I explained myself when we were talking about this last time,
I said, my favorite Royal Watcher. The only person I
pay attention to is Byron Denniston.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I don't. I don't think I caught that either.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
That's a character from Comedy Bang Bang, and I was
trying to be silly because it's a really great character
like Lady Amilia Spencer and the Grizz.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Of course, that's a deep cut, bro.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
I listened to that show and I've seen most of
the series, but not aware of that one.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Okay, all right, my bad, It's okay, though, Man, you
explained it now.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'm gonna seek those episodes out. But you know, we
talked about.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
This on Strange News a few weeks ago, and then
Ben and I Matt was we had some family obligations,
but Ben and I went to New York and we're
lucky enough to be on the podcast Sauce on the
Side with our pal Gandhi from the Elvis Duran Morning
Show and her producer Diamond had some real takes, you know,
on this stuff and was all over it, and it
(03:39):
gave me a moment to kind of realize that maybe
I had I don't know, been a little easy on
the royal family, perhaps in the segment where I was
sort of like, there's nothing going on at all, everything's
above boards, just having a surgery and photoshopping her own
family photos.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, it's weird that she would do that, a B.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
That this statement would come out signed C, which apparently
is the way she signs her name, by the way,
But at the time I didn't realize that.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
It seemed a little odd kind of doubt that.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Many of the royals are doing their own twitters or
their own exes. But then again, you know, there is
a certain expectation that what you see on those kind
of platforms, there's certainly a possibility that it is coming
directly from the source. We certainly know that's the case
with you know, Donald Trump, for example, and others that
(04:30):
clearly are tweeting themselves because you couldn't pay people to
write stuff this bad and self incriminating. But my main
thing was, yeah, it's a little weird that she's been
out of the public eye for so long, and it
was a little weird that they posted this picture because
of course it was going to be taken as sort
(04:51):
of a proof of life kind of situation, and the
fact that it was so weirdly and awkwardly doctored really
called into question the whole thing. And I will stand
by my whole thing about all of this, which is
that the pr Firm or whatever it's handling the Royal
families public affairs not doing a great job. Because you know, guys,
(05:13):
we say it all the time. If there's a question
and you just introduce more questions or introduce more vagueness,
you're gonna you're gonna have a conspiracy feeding frenzy on
your hands, right, And that's what we've got here.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Especially with the royal family, right, which is a main
character in so many conspiracies. And then this also, this
kind of speculation is exacerbated in the age of social media,
right because now people are able to share any kind
of theory, whether or not it's based on fact or
(05:48):
some kind of research, and then other people will go
with it because it's the more interesting story.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I remain.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I still crack up about the the folk who were
convinced for a while that Cape Middleton was out of
the public eye because she got a Brazilian butt lift,
which we mentioned previously. But I just thought that was
so silly. I tuned into Sauce on the side because Diamond,
I think had some of the best examinations of this right.
(06:17):
She thought through it pretty in depth.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Absolutely, And we have another listener who's been thinking about
this as well. This is in fact listener Mail and
I haven't mentioned one of our beloved listeners, but we
got a note from the Mitch Doctor, which is fun.
Just a quick theory. Hey guys, here's a theory on
k Middleton. I can't take credit for sparking this idea,
but it seems to fit. Maybe she's an organ donor
(06:41):
for King Charles, who is also in the hospital. A
kidney donation seems more likely than some of the stuff
currently on the internet. Tata for now, the Mitch Doctor.
I can only hope and assume that if they're saying
TATA for now, that they are in fact British citizens
or maybe even royalty. Who knows, but thank you the
(07:01):
Mitch Doctor. I think that's very interesting. In preparing for
this segment, I did find a really cool article from
The Intelligencer, which is I believe a offshoot of New
York Magazine with it. This came out yesterday, as we
record this on March twenty second, with a timeline up
to now of all of the k Middleton brew haha.
And Ben, you mentioned the Brazilian butt lift thing, I think,
(07:23):
and we've heard people say that maybe it was a
gastric bypass procedure and all of that simply from a
statement from Kensington Palace. And now it's saying that her
Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital
yesterday for planned abdominal surgery, okay, And that came out
(07:44):
on January seventeenth of twenty twenty four, and since that time.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
There hasn't that.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
That's kind of, you know, when the speculation started to
thrive because she hadn't really made any public appearances reasonably
close to that date. And then up until now except
for the weird photoshopped image which we talked about and
a video that came out, TMZ published, well it was
a photo, I believe. TMZ published a paparazzi photo on
(08:16):
March the fourth of Kate in a car with her
mother near Windsor Castle. And then there was also an
individual that's yes, sorry here it is. The Sun reported
that Kate had been spotted shopping with William at Windsor
Farm Shop, and I believe a video was taken, and
there's even an article where the person took the video
(08:37):
is quoted and kind of trying their best to de
month these theories. But people have been trying to run
this video through like AI algorithms to do facial matching stuff,
because I do have to say, on an initial glance.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
She looks a little different.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
I could see where people are coming from and looking
at this image in this video and saying, ah, that
doesn't quite look like my Kate. And so there are
people that are speculated that is not her, that she's
been replaced. But then, like I said, the person the
shopper who filmed this video or what are they now
going to question if I'm a real person as well.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
That I put a fake Kate there? It is ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
So I do kind of still stand by the fact
that a lot of this stuff is just you know,
like armchair sleuths. And what was the word we used
on the segment. I believe it was something like recreational speculators,
something along those lines. But what do you think, guys
of the Mitch Doctor's theory? Well, first of all, I'm
sorry I been. I want to point out too that
(09:40):
the Diamond, the producer, did say, I think this might
be a big way of a shifting focus off of
King Charles's illness. But what do you guys think about
this idea that Kate is a donor. She's not exactly
a direct family so I don't see how that would
how she would be a uniquely suitable candidate.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Honestly, the organ donation thing is interesting from a story
construction kind of perspective, But in terms of real life,
would it not be more plausible that they would get
a donor who is the perfect match, Like I think
they would prioritize the safety of the donation process over
(10:21):
the attachment of the family.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Well, and wouldn't that be something to celebrate you're saving
the King's life or something, you know, by donating part
of your body.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Yeah, And also there a couple things at play. You
don't want to have, well, you don't want to have
any death, but for a monarchy to lose the monarch
twice in quick succession, it's not a good look. So
maybe this is distraction, Maybe this is Diamond also pointed
out the possibility that there was a serious illness on
(10:57):
Middleton's side.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
That's right, Yeah, yeah, I'm with you, Matt though on Yeah,
an organ donation would be that'd be a positive press story.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Why would you hide that?
Speaker 5 (11:08):
If you were like, say, you know, that seems like
something that you would look the bravery of this woman,
you know, you would want to promote that.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
The only way you would The only reason I could
imagine that you would want to hide something like that,
which is a heroic thing to do, is because it
might be indicative of just how how far the king's
condition is deteriorated. So maybe that's what they're trying to
keep under wraps if that theory is true.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
And you, guys, I think I asked this last time
we were talking about this, but what is the true
like to what end? What is the true benefit of
being so you know, sneaky around the health of a
public figure like that? Is it because it can affect
deals and even markets and stuff? Is that you just
want to keep that stuff under your control and as
(11:55):
long as humanly possible, and don't want people to know
what's really going on until the death actually occurs.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
That's part of it. I mean, there is state security
wrapped up in this right, so stability of the nation,
the appearance of stability is a hugely important factor. So
I imagine that's in the calculation somewhere. But really we don't
have enough information to say what's happening definitively. And I'm
(12:22):
sure that there are a ton of journalists in the
United Kingdom who are doing their best like social engineering,
cold calling, trying to get information out of the monarchy
and their staff. That may actually be the way that
we learn what's happening.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
I guess I just don't think, you know, it's not
the same as a president being sick to me, you know,
because they're just so toothless, the royal family. They're just ceremonial.
They have this lavish lifestyle that's largely to maintain this
continuity of sort of history and tradition, but they don't
really do anything so like what would what would be
politically it's Is it just because the British people are
(13:02):
so obsessed with them and there's such a reverence for them,
or maybe I just don't get it because I'm not,
you know, from there.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Yeah, I guess it's not for us. Every fair enoughty
for everybody. But but yeah, you do raise a point
the monarchy as tremendous real estate holdings, so that's that's
a big deal. They're also a huge cultural and economic
touchstone for the United Kingdom, like the UK government makes
a ton of money off royalty, off the concept of it.
(13:33):
Think about all the people who travel around the world
see London and to go check out that stuff. So
they do play an economic role, a big one in
that sense.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
We were talking about that, I believe with somebody we
were hanging out with the New York Just the tourism
aspect of it is not something to be completely ignored,
that's true. I don't know, Matt, You've been quiet on
this one, any thoughts. I know this isn't your bag exactly,
but it's not mine either. I just I mainly when
we talked about it last time, my main interest was
in just how the bruja around the photo and just
(14:02):
realizing these standards that like you know, organizations like AP have,
and how it was just kind of missed and just
this whole distinction between like is this photo entertainment or
is this news?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
And how is it taken?
Speaker 5 (14:15):
And just how quickly these things can sort of, you know,
balloon out of control. But uh, you got any closing
thoughts for us on this one, Matt before we take
a break.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Ah, Still, I don't care.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Your Prince Charles as good as a good grumble, a
very kingly grumble.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah. I mean, I hope everybody's okay.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
See you, I see you. I hope they're happy. I
think they're happy. They don't seem very happy on the crown.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I mean, nobody's happy all the time.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Fair enough.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Well, thanks to the Mitch Doctor for that theory. I
certainly think that it could be plausible, but I don't
see why that, of all things, they would cover up.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
We guys agree to know more.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, I think it's all right.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Let's take a quick break and we'll be back with
some more messages from you.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
We've returned and we are going to the emails, guys
to get some updates on the last two weeks of
strange news. We've got one coming in. Let's get started
with an email from Brett, who wrote to us on
March eleventh with regards to a bit of a smuggling story.
We talked about the first person that was ever charged
(15:31):
with smuggling greenhouse gases into the United States from Mexico,
and Brett is coming to us with quite a bit
of experience in the HVAC world. Let's see what he
has to say. Brett says, I wanted to give you
some insight on the latest strange news about the greenhouse
gas smuggling. I'm an HVAC slash R that's heat ventilation,
(15:52):
air conditioning refrigeration technician in New York. You're right that
you do need a license to purchase refrigerants, a license
granted by the EPA. That's kind of cool. You have
to take tests and pass to get one of those things.
The free on known as R twenty two, that's the
substance that actually is a refrigerant, causes your refrigerator and
(16:15):
your air conditioner to create cold air. Got to have
this stuff run the air through it makes it cold.
This free on, known as R twenty two, has been
used for decades, and in twenty twenty four there's still
equipment that uses it. Last summer, one twenty five pound
bottle of R twenty two cost one thousand, seven hundred
(16:37):
and fifty dollars. That's a ton of money, guys. Twenty
five pounds seventeen hundred bucks. That's with vendors limiting supply
per EPA regulations. We'll talk about it, but remember this
R twenty two refrigerant free on is a controlled substance
at this point, a highly controlled substance. Even though, oh,
(17:00):
it's just a gas, right, it's free on, it's a
form of gas.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
This is pertaining to the black market sale of the stuff,
I'm not or the availability of it on Like was
it Facebook marketplace?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Right? Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Why it's so tightly controlled? Why this person got in
trouble for bringing something like this free on refrigerant greenhouse
gas into the US to sell? So, Brett continues, lots
of older techs hate using the replacement of this free
on the replacement of R twenty two because it's not
as good and sometimes causes more issues from size of
(17:33):
equipment to how much cooling it will produce. So, like,
how large the equipment is that uses the R twenty two, right,
I think that's what he's saying. Most times having to
buy newer equipment to replace the old system, whether it's
still in working condition. Some systems are only two to
five pounds, so they only require two to five pounds
of this stuff for homes, but mark up for labor
(17:56):
and use of it. I think what he's saying here,
with the huge cost of that greenhouse gas, you're only
going to be using two to five pounds sap. Do
you think that's what Brett's.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Saying here, guys, that's kind of what I write.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Okay, So Brett says it's cheaper to buy a brand
new AC because most older techs and retired texts still
have tanks of this good R twenty two greenhouse gas
refrigerant they could use. And again, for this alone, I'm
used to this being the norm, as it's the way
of the job, but it does get hard telling those
(18:31):
older generations who are retired with a fixed income that
it's going to cost somewhere between three thousand to five
thousand dollars if not a ton more guys to replace
their old HVA systems that used the R twenty two
and Brett signs off saying thanks for the show. So, guys,
it just makes a lot of sense, especially hearing from
(18:52):
somebody like this that this type of greenhouse gas that's
used as a refrigerant, it's potentially dangerous. Right according to
the regulators who have chosen to put regulations on this stuff.
But also it's crazy, crazy expensive. I had no idea
how expensive it was, but I call very vividly at
(19:12):
my old house having to get more free on pumped
into my really old air conditioning system, and it was
I think it was three hundred and fifty dollars for
a time, basically a shot of this stuff to refill
my system.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Isn't that stuff that people actually steal out of air
conditionings because it.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Is so valuable.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Maybe I have no idea how you would do that.
I've never looked into it.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
But I also think it's also something that people like,
certain people like to huff. I have heard tales of
people going to apartment complexes and like stealing free on
out of those air conditioning window units.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
It's all a price point thing, right. As soon as
the price or potential for profit reaches a certain threshold,
then you know, anything can be stolen. Shot, catalytic converters
and copper. Yeah, And there's also it's interesting because, first,
thank you so much for the letter here, Brett. It's
(20:09):
interesting because when I was looking into the context of this,
the refrigerant smuggling, I didn't know. It's been a thing
since the nineteen nineties, and it happened because of the
regulations that came about to close that hole in the
ozone layer. Remember when that was a big deal for everybody.
So by fixing this one problem, which is a big
(20:30):
problem society, the cobra thing, the cobra effects. Yeah, the
cobra effect.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
You can go to a couple of places online. The
one I found that immediately popped up just when you
google R twenty two, which is called h hydro chlorofluorocarbon
twenty two or HCFC twenty two. The replacements are weird.
They have all kinds of names like R four one A,
(20:59):
R one four A, are four oh seven C, and
are four oh seven A. They are just refrigerants, but
they don't have, at least according to the EPA, the
same ozone depleting effects, which is.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Why they're being used.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
But again, as Brett is saying, they maybe don't cool
as effectively and they are going to cost you an
arm in a lake. I don't have much else to
say on that. Guys, just appreciate Brett calling in with
personal experience like that.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, thank you, Brett.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Then let's jump to another message we received from Always
Something in Philadelphia. Love that, Love that, and Always Something
is responding to the strange news where we talked about
some people in Atlanta who are being targeted and attacked
in local bars here in a place called Buckhead.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Drugged and abducted.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah, yes, exactly, and tens of thousands of dollars coming
out of their bank accounts. So Always Something says, hither gents,
I've been a sporadic listener for nearly ten years. We
need to up your listening. Always Something needs to be
a little more than sporadic.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Just kidding.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Thank you for listening at all. And Always Something has
been a sporadic listener recently since I've had a job
where I can have headphones on. That's awesome, and I've
been listening a lot more regularly. Oh fantastic, see you
already are Yesterday I heard you just talk about the
guys who had tens of thousands of dollars stolen after
being drugged at bars in Atlanta. I'd be remiss if
(22:23):
I didn't bring up the story of heart Throb Philadelphia's weatherman,
John Belaris or Belaris.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I think it's Belaris.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
I loved reading this, and by the way, you're an
awesome writer too.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
So John Belaris, whose career was basically ruined because of
a similar situation about fifteen years ago. Interesting John was
a beloved weatherman and an A list local celebrity in
Philly with a bit of a wild streak, known for
things like being friends with controversial baseball player Lenny Dickstra
or Dikestra. I guess I don't know this person, but
(22:57):
according to the Internet, not great things.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Not great things.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
Yeah, sexual assault accusations. In twenty ten, there was this
allegation that he paid an escort and adult entertainment actor
with a bad check that bounced. He would go on
to be arrested on multiple misdemeanor and felony counts of
things like identity theft, possession of cocaine and ecstasy, grand theft,
(23:27):
auto of the crime not the video game got you?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Oh yeah, YOI don't pay for unscrupulous things with bad checks. Gosh,
come on, Lenny, Okay. So John was partying in Miami
and met some beautiful Eastern European women, at least according
to the story, then blacked out and woke up to
have tens of thousands of dollars missing from his accounts.
He went public and he got help from the FBI,
(23:52):
but he ended up losing his job and basically got
blackballed because of the incident. If I remember correctly, this
is always something saying that there was some victim blaming
about him, tempted by the chance of a threesome, and
speculation that he was trying to be an actual quote,
John not just named John and was ripped off by
(24:12):
the ladies. He was solictening, which resulted in his being fired.
He then made national headlines after being interviewed about it
on twenty twenty also in Playboy and by Howard Stern.
And now apparently he's a realtor in Philly and still
has local notoriety. Guys, I had never heard of this
person before at all. John Belaris just an interesting piece
(24:39):
of information that none of us had before. This always something,
so thank you. But guess what, here's where things get crazy.
You did not mention devil's breath, the substance it's believed
that John was drugged with. It comes from a South
American species of Datura dat u r a, which is
a genus of night blooming plants known for their mystical
(25:01):
and intense psychotropic properties, used in various indigenous cultures, medicines,
and rituals, as well as in witchcraft.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
Bro is this what the guy in the car was
being fed? He didn't know what it was. It had
a hard time describing it. It wasn't a pill, remember that.
I know, we don't know what the substance was. There's
a great Vice documentary about this. The substance always something
is describing here and from that documentary what we were
(25:30):
talking about this briefly off air. From what I remember
about that, the method of application was to blow it
as a duster or and aerosol into the person's face.
But that may that just maybe one possible method of deployment.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah, I'm assuming it's also consumed in one way or
another in some of the other rituals right when it's
more ritualized. So who knows exactly. I don't know exactly
how it works. I remember a two thousand and seven
piece from Vice, and then I think it was around
the time we started our YouTube channel that Vice put
that documentary out of probably twenty fourteen something like that.
(26:08):
We've known about that for quite a while. We just
didn't quite feel like this drug to us. But it's
interesting always something to bring it up and as a possibility, right,
because there is a dissociative effect with that drug where
people seem to be let's say, pliable in their actions,
almost like they're not really there. They'll go along with things,
(26:29):
they're just agreeing to everything that if someone was in
the position of like a captor, they might just agree
with stuff like, hey, let's go to this bank account.
Oh okay, I guess that's what we're doing. Very weird
at least that's the case of Devil's Breath and how
it's been described, at least by Vice. That's really the
only thing I've seen on it. Let's go back to
the email. Here in the US, the most well known
(26:52):
is Jimson weed, which is associated with stories of seventeenth
century colonists ingesting it and going crazy. I don't know
anything about jimsonweed, jims n That's another interesting thing to
look up. It's feeling like there's another episode where we
can talk about drugs that potentially could be used on you, right,
(27:16):
as in maybe some kind of active attack. That could
be an interesting episode. Yeah, all right, So continues on here.
Devil's breath is known for its ability to make people
who ingest it very pliable. Oh there's the word. That's
why I had pliable in my brain because I just
read this from us Always Something. Sorry for taking your
word there. It makes feel very pliable and trusting while
(27:36):
seeming coherent, then leaves victims forgetting the whole incident. So
it's been known to be used in such con artist schemes.
After the national headlines on the Belarus case, wece made
a video called World's Scariest Drug. That's what we were
just talking about, Ben And this is where they send
a crew to Columbia to investigate and try the substance out.
(27:56):
So enjoy this weird detura rabbit hole. Sincerely, Always Something
in Philadelphia. Well there you go. There's some stuff to
check out on your own right now. World Scariest Drug
on Vice. Learn about this interesting fellow here, John Belaris
B O.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
L A.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
R I. S.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
And Yeah, just go down the rabbit holes yourselves. We'll
see what we find and then let's come back together.
Why don't you write to us or send us a
message and let us know what you discover. We'll be
right back with more messages from you, and.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
We have returned. We are traveling down south to visit
our fellow conspiracy realist in Australia and this is an
ongoing conversation. A big thank you to anonymous in OZ.
We'll read the story. We'll stop along the way for
a couple of different things, and we want to be
(28:58):
careful with some details going in to do what we
can to protect our listeners anonymity. Also unrelated, unrelated thanks
to AA for writing in talking about the GHB, which
should be in our episode on those drugs as weapons.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
All right, here we go.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Hey guys, I'm writing to you from Suddy and Steamy,
far North Queensland in Australia. Your recent strange news story
regarding those poor actors hired for the fake Wonka event
prompted me to share my story with you. On twenty
third June twenty eleven, I was hired as an extra
aspiring actress and all that through my talent agency and
(29:39):
told to attend a large hotel in the in Sydney, Australia.
There were two hundred extras, all hired from our agency.
The only information we were given was to wear smart
business attire, and here they mean smart, like you know, fancy,
like your C suite at an office or something. On arrival,
a lady check off our names and handed me a
(30:02):
large envelope. Walking into the conference room, it became clear
we were in an AGM, an annual general meeting of
a very large corporation. I opened my envelope. There was
a share certificate, so like a certificate giving you a
certain number of shares, So a share certificate with my
name and address on it. A ballot form for this
(30:24):
big vote that had already been filled out. I was
told to go to another person, show them my ID,
my share certificate, and then put my ballot into a box.
I can't remember the full name of the organization anonymous
as originally, but it was definitely a life insurance or
super annoation company. There were a lot of very distressed
(30:47):
older people at the meeting. And this already sounds fishy, right.
Being a paid actor in a Willy Wonka experience is
one thing, But being paid to rig a corporation's votes
is that what? That's what this sounds like, right?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Geez?
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Like we talk about things like crisis actors sometimes and
the word actor being thrown in there always to make
me think of if this is even a thing. Where
does one go to purchase the services of a crisis actor?
Is the special service offered by talent agencies?
Speaker 3 (31:18):
It seems like an unusual situation. Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
It also reminds me of when lobbyists have rigged different
local votes by packing packing crowds. But Anonymous continues and says,
you can tell this was kind of weird for her too.
She says, I asked why a share certificate had been
made up in my name, and I was told it
was done through my talent agency, and I was free
to leave once I cast my vote. I was told
(31:43):
I'd be paid for the full four hour call time,
but you just had to show your idea and drop
the ballot in the box. Then I was told if
I handed them back my share certificate, I get an
additional two hundred dollars in cash. So like, also, you
have to sell the shares back to us?
Speaker 3 (31:59):
What yeah, they want to shaay clean.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Right, Well, so there's no record of the payment then,
or no that because she's getting paid as an actor
and getting two hundred in cash, but the shares.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Go if she if she sells the shares back, I
guess technically, and it makes me wonder if that's the
case for all these other extras. Then if you look
at the company's record, it seems like there were all
of a sudden a ton of people who got shares,
voted once, and then got out.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
That's very unusual. This is, of course fraud.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
I think, yeah, you know, I'm not like the king
of fraud, but I think it is like I'm not
a fraud expert, but it does. It's surprising to me
that that is not illegal.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
It's like inside our training almost kind of right where
there's maybe a gray area for when does that become
a crime and what it is just kind of like
acting on information and it happenstance.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
We love weirdly specific crimes, you know, shout out to
stamp fraud, but this is this one is so specific
and strange that I think we couldn't figure out initially
if it is illegal, So Anonymous continues, I knew this
was totally immoral, if not illegal, so I did not
cast my vote. I contacted my agency to complain, and
(33:24):
they were not interested at all. Their cut from the
two hundred extras that day mattered more than what we
had actually been sent to do.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Uh checks out. I guess it does.
Speaker 5 (33:35):
But it's weird that you that a talent agency would
allow themselves to be mixed up in something like this.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
But I guess that it pays. Yeah, guy, diversify, you know, Yeah,
it's a gig. A gig is a gig, right, especially
if you're aspiring in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
And do you see what I mean about the crisis
actors thing too? Doesn't it feel aligned in a way.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
It feels similar to the crisis actor theory for sure,
or the idea that you are hiring someone on a
short term basis to appear as though they are someone else,
and crisis actors. It's very controversial conspiracy theory. It hasn't
been proven. But that's that's wrapped up. It's spart and
parcel of the Alex allegations about Sandy Hook. Anyway, so
(34:21):
Anonymous says, I know it made the media at the time.
I'm having a hard time finding anything about it now.
Pretty shady way of swinging the outcome of AGM huh
or as we also say, dodgy Anonymous, we say dodgy too.
I sure don't we all say dodgy anyway? So thank
you for the show. It means a lot. And then
(34:43):
I wrote back to Anonymous and wanted to get more information,
and Anonymous revealed the name. The name of the company
is Premium Income Fund. It is like, you know, the
mentioned super super annuation that's kind of like a that's
like a pension retirement plan thing, and Premium Income Fund
(35:06):
is apparently tied up to retirement savings for a lot
of older people in that country.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
So it's like a shareholder meeting of some sort. Like
is that the thing like where the people who are
voting are supposed to be a part? Like do you
have to be a member or something?
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Yeah, it's very strange. You don't have all the details yet,
but that's what it sounds like. And it also sounds
like someone whomever contacted the Talent agency wanted the vote
to go a certain way. And if those other people
that Anonymous saw who were actual shareholders, if they were
very distressed, then it sounds like it's a controversial vote.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
You know. Yeah, that has to be illegal.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Do we have any Australian lawyers or barristers in the
crowd if so, conspiracydiheartradio dot com, you know three to
three STDWYTK. We would love to know more about this.
So there was a huge civil action afterwards. Ten thousand retirees,
(36:11):
per Anonymous, because we talked back and forth about this,
were in her words, screwed out of their life savings.
And Anonymous just again needs to stay anonymous. But this
brought up so many questions for me, and I think
for all of us. How often does stuff like this happen?
(36:32):
Does that could have happened in the US? Did you
rig a shareholder vote? It makes me think of succession,
of course.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
I mean if it could, Yes, it could happen and
likely has happened, especially considering how relatively straightforward a process
this was.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
You know, I don't know, that's wild.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
That's the surprising thing, you know that it's the straightforwardness
of it all. So it's terrible that it sounds like
it's being predatory against these retirees. And on a personal level,
I think we can all find that repugnant. But I
would love to hear more about this. Have you guys
(37:15):
ever heard of something like this happening before? Like I
hear it, it makes sense but I've never thought someone.
I'd never thought of someone doing that.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
It seems like if you're voting, you know, in a
shareholder meeting or something like that. I'm sure we've all
been shareholders at some point in our careers, just through
like Discovery, we used to. They used to send out
some weird stuff with that. Back when we like got
Discovery stuff.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
I guess we're like, what is vesting? Yeah, spoiler, it's
not a real vest Well.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
We're we're pretty young folks back then. I didn't know
anything about any of this stuff. And we would get
in the mail like a ballot basically that you would
vote on stuff that's up for as a shareholder basically.
And I do wonder if this thing this premium income fund,
that's what is called premium income fund?
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Income fund? And what do we say about innocuous names.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Well, I'm looking through trying to find exactly what it
is and if there was a vote that you could check,
like meeting that had minutes or results of something, and
I'm having a really hard time just in the moment.
Speaker 4 (38:23):
But same we got a PDF that does have more information.
But again, in the interest of anonymity, we don't want
to share too much of that on air. But we
also you know, now that I'm thinking through it, maybe
it's just immoral. Maybe it's not technically illegal because they
do own the shares when they vote. Yeah, but someone
(38:45):
filled out their ballot already for them.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
All right, Well, we are going to follow up with
this in the future. We want to learn more about it.
We want to hear from you folks if you have
encountered similar strange shenanigans. And before we end, wanted to
do another segment that we've been calling letters from home.
(39:11):
We got a pretty thought provoking message over on ye
old internets, So Doug m writes to us via Instagram,
hit me up on Instagram and said, listening to the
strange news on Frank and Sheet being used for hunting
the future seems to be cloning humans for use in
government training, police, super weather fun time, but what would
(39:36):
be the legal standing for murdering a clone? That's going
to keep me busy today. Clone rights and then also
great episode And as soon as I read this, I
thought we would love this discussion on air.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Clone rights.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Do you guys think clones will be on the way
like manufactured cannon fodder for war.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
That's gross. Yeah, of course, if they can do it,
they'll probably try.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
But I mean we were talking about this off Mike briefly,
and I just think there have to be that conversation
has to happen, could there, you know? I mean for
all tents and purposes, a clone is it's it's a person.
It's not a robot, it's not an AI. It's flesh
and blood and presumably something that resembling the soul.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
I don't think they'll be used for can of fodder
and war. I think the robots, the machines are going to.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
Be that a little more efficient.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
It's going to be that organ harvesting and all that
other stuff with If clones become a thing, it's a
personal clone, and it's just got your stuff in it.
Speaker 5 (40:35):
Okay, And you think we can just use them, we
can just harvest their organs and have them as like
blood boys.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
You know, is that you really where's the line?
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Do you just do grow? Do you grow individual organs
in some kind of suspension? Do you grow a full
body but without a brain just to despair?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
You know? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (40:53):
And that that does get pretty gory pretty quickly. I
wonder if look right now. One of the main stumbling
blocks in the science behind human cloning is that there
are some hard ethical constraints about what you can and
can't clone, how long you can allow a human clone
(41:15):
to exists. I feel like clones will be on the way, though,
because the science is possible. I just don't know what
they'll be used for.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Have either of you guys seen Poor Things the film?
Speaker 2 (41:29):
I cannot wait to watch it, but I've not seen
it yet.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
It's really really great, first of all, and it's not
nearly as like raunchy and controversial as people seem to
be making it out. I mean, it's got some, you know,
titillating stuff, but it really is, to me a very
nice movie. It has a kindness to it in a way.
But it's of course the classic Frankenstein's story where you
create a thing and then realize that it also learns
(41:51):
and has feelings and changes, and you can't just treat
it like a like a pet, or even worse, like
a like a slave, or like something without agency. And
this movie kind of takes a feminist approach to that concept,
and I think it does it beautifully. But that's the thing,
man like Ben you mentioned without a brain. Oh even
(42:11):
just the saying that just sounds wrong, doesn't it?
Speaker 4 (42:15):
Like wow, like remove the cortex the cerebe element.
Speaker 5 (42:18):
So it's like it's like giving somebody a lobotomy in
a sanitarium to prelostomy, a pre lobotomy.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
It's also it reminds me there was a recent episode
or an episode from a recent season of Rick and
Morty which is all about the tasty spaghetti sauce.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
You can't see that one, No, I don't know that one.
Speaker 4 (42:39):
Okay, well, light spoilers ahead, folks, or big spoilers ahead,
three to one spoilers. So in this one episode of
Rick m Mordy, the family is having their weekly like
family dinner time, and everybody loves Grandpa Rick's spaghetti. It's
like a secret family recipe that he talks about their
(43:02):
nuts for it. It's called that's a morte. And what
they learn is that this spaghetti comes from the death
of aliens, like aliens on this other planet. When they die,
their guts are the spaghetti.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Oh wow, and the sauce.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (43:20):
Also, guys with light spoilers soil and green it's people.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Yeah, it's Gary oldman the whole time.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
We got a review on Apple Bodcasts. It says, these
guys are constantly spoiling stuff I haven't finished yet.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Okay, well then shall we proceed?
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (43:39):
Indeed, so the reason I bring this up, then all
sorts of hygiencs happens. Rick and Morty has these fantastic writers,
these incredible concepts, and in there they try the people
who are the origin point of the spaghetti. Their civilization
institute's an economy of scale, and they say, hey, how
(44:01):
can we ethically reconcile the fact that the best spaghetti
in the universe has to come from these people dying?
And then they manufacture like clone things, and Grandpa Rick says,
all right, let's just make torsos. Get rid of the
human or the thinking, the consciousness problem altogether. And they say, okay,
(44:22):
we make torsos. I forgot the big thing in this episode.
They only turn into amazing spaghetti if they kill themselves,
if they commit suicide. Yeah, right, and so they end
up that makes it the best I guess so, And
otherwise they just die like a regular life form. So
they get to a point where they build out just torsos.
(44:44):
But because the torsos have to commit suicide. They give
them one arm and there's and they just the torsos
use that one arm to become spaghetti.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Cool.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
God, is that where cloning is going? We need to
with Dan Harmon on this, like what's going on there?
Speaker 3 (45:03):
Man?
Speaker 4 (45:04):
I think it's fascinating, but I also think it's I
think cloning is on the way, It is inevitable, and
civilization is not prepared.
Speaker 5 (45:13):
I guess I always just think this is probably also
the thing I've seen Rick and Morty, but I've certainly
seen another cartoons, maybe Family Guy, where you've got like
the clone gone wrong and it's just like kill me,
you know, like it's ghastly stuff if not treated with
the utmost of respect and morality, which I don't know
(45:33):
how you even do that properly. I think I like
the idea of growing the organs individually in a lab,
but maybe didn't they have a thing where they could grow,
like the ear on the back of a mouse or
something that's interesting. I mean, I know, I'm sure there's
people out there that are like, no, don't kill the
poor mouse, but there's got to be ways of doing that.
The really you know, life changing parts of this without
(45:56):
having to sacrifice our humanity and becomes some sort of
like mad gods.
Speaker 4 (46:01):
And you know what I like about this episode is
it packs in so many things, right, like the the
ethics of factory livestock and eating meat, you know, the
problem of cloning, the problem of the nature of existence.
It's yeah, it's a wild ride, and I hope it
stays science fiction for a while. But like with all
(46:24):
good science fiction, how long is it before some part
of that becomes science fact? And I don't know, if
you guys had a chance to clone yourselves, would.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
You do it? I don't think so.
Speaker 5 (46:36):
I mean, if it was, like, you know, I would
think of this in terms of like save the life
of my child kind of stuff, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (46:43):
I see, Yeah, so it'd have to be very high
I think so.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (46:48):
But it's also the kind of technologies of course going
to only be available to the mega mega privileged, in
mega mega rich.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Yeah. In the beginning, there's also this other idea. I
think this is weirdly possib will hear me out, guys,
you're a business tycoon, right, You're a warm buffet level financier,
or you know, you're just a very powerful business person,
and you are going to die. You have a terminal condition.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
You know it.
Speaker 4 (47:16):
It's inevitable. You can't save your own life. However, you
can continue your state and your companies and your corporations
if you clone yourself and sign over the legal rights
to your clone. So then just version one of you
dies and then the other guy just sales right along,
(47:37):
creating a potentially never ending cycle of power lineage.
Speaker 5 (47:42):
Dude, have you guys seen Infinity Pool, the Brandon Cronenberg film.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
I think I have no you'd remembered about it. That's
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (47:51):
Speaking to the one dissenting voice on Apple podcasts. I'm
not going to spoil it, but there is. It's basically
a film where the super rich are able to buy
a get out of jail free card for committing horrible crimes.
Oh that's what I have, Okay, Okay, yeah, yeah buy Basically,
through cloning, they're able to create so okay and whatever.
(48:13):
This is a sports there's a million things, other things
that happen, and this is the trailer. They they are
able to create a clone that then is executed on
their behalf. And because of this, let there's a ritual
aspect to it. They have to watch it happen. But
it really does beg the question of like, what would
people do with if they never had to be held
accountable for their actions? And the clone part of it
(48:36):
is like it it feels it, it knows what's it
doesn't know what's happening because it's memory.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
It only starts at the moment of its birth.
Speaker 5 (48:43):
But it's like you're it's being horrifically executed on behalf
of its clone master.
Speaker 4 (48:50):
And even Star Wars hits on this right with the
Clone Wars. Absolutely people have been thinking about this for
a long time. There is a There is a fantastic
Orson Scott card short story, and I disagree fundamentally with
Card in his personal life and his beliefs, but the
story itself is really good. That is all about the
(49:12):
nature of attempting redemption physiologically, spiritually, financially through cloning. Spoiler,
it's like an O Henry story. It doesn't it has
a twist ours And this is this is strange because
I think also other versions of cloning are coming to
the fore before the rollout of human clones in the
(49:34):
physical sense will have the rollout of cloned voices and appearances.
That's part of why I think it's inevitable, because it's
already happening in the world of entertainment. I think there
are a couple big companies post actor strike who who
will require extras and people getting started in Hollywood to
sign away the rights to their appearance in the background
(49:55):
of things like their.
Speaker 3 (49:56):
Body gets mapped.
Speaker 4 (49:58):
Sure, and they get a f fee once and then
your likeness can be used in any movie owned by
that company.
Speaker 5 (50:05):
Great New Black Mirror episode in the most recent season
then handles that whole concept brilliantly as they usually do.
Speaker 4 (50:13):
Yeah, and so we want to hear your thoughts about this, folks.
We want to hear what you think the world should
keep in mind if we do arrive at an age
of cloning. Thank you to dug In, Thank you to
Anonymous and Oz, Thanks to Rock Always Something in Philly, Delfia,
thanks to Brett, Thanks of course to the Mitch Doctor.
(50:34):
And thank you to you, fellow conspiracy realist, for tuning in.
If you would like to be part of the show,
we would love to have you. We try to be
easy to find online.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (50:43):
You can find the handle Conspiracy stuff where we exist
on x FKA, Twitter, on Facebook and on YouTube, or
we have delightful video content rolling out every single week
on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3 (50:55):
We are conspiracy stuff.
Speaker 2 (50:57):
Show Hey, call us. We are one eight three three
st d WYTK. Go ahead and put that phone number
in your system in your phone as a contact so
you'll know if you get a call back mysteriously. So
when you call the number, make sure you give yourself
a cool nickname and let us know if we can
use your name and message on the air. And really
(51:20):
that's it. There's no rules. Do whatever you want. But
if you've got an attachment or a link you want
to send us, why not instead shoot us a good
old fashioned email.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
We are the folks who read every single email we
get twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Take us to the edge of the rat hole. We
will do the rest and be aware of folks. Sometimes
the void writes back conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
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
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. My name is Matt,
my name is.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
No, they call me Ben.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
We're joined as always with our super producer Paul, Mission
Control Decads. Most importantly, you are here. That makes this
the stuff they don't want you to know, And fellow
conspiracy realists, you may be part of tonight's program. That's right,
it's time for listener mail. We are going to get
some updates from our fellow conspiracy realist about drugs, about HVAC,
(00:56):
and we want to give a shout out to brock
were hitping us to the return of the humble Farmer? Right, Yes, yeah,
so thank you for keeping us keeping a finger on
the pulse of that one. We're going to talk about
a very disturbing story out of Australia, and then we're
gonna you know, we got some we got some stuff
we have to get off our collective chest about clones.
(01:18):
But before we do any of that, we have been,
like so many other people, tracing this Strange Story about
Cape Middleton.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
The royal drama. Yes, we've become a couple of trio
of royal watchers, haven't we been?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Really?
Speaker 5 (01:38):
It's interesting though there you know, I'm with you, Matt
when we talked about it on Strange News a couple
of weeks ago. Who cares like there is some who
cares in us to it, like, okay, so you know
the Prince of Wales has a mistress, so surprise, surprise.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I just I do have to say one thing though, Nolans,
we're getting in. I want to make a point that
I didn't make when we're talking about this previously. Obviously,
I am not a monarchist the opposite end spectrum any
of us. Yeah, I don't think we are. But I
do have to say something that didn't bring up earlier.
(02:16):
One important thing for us to remember is that people
in the monarchy, are in the aristocracy, are humans like
anybody else, and they did not choose to be in
their position, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Into it, that's true.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
The ones that married into it chose it a little bit,
that's true.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, guys, before you really jump into I don't I
don't think anybody caught the joke, and I don't think
I explained myself when we were talking about this last time,
I said, my favorite Royal Watcher. The only person I
pay attention to is Byron Denniston.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I don't. I don't think I caught that either.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
That's a character from Comedy Bang Bang, and I was
trying to be silly because it's a really great character
like Lady Amilia Spencer and the Grizz.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Of course, that's a deep cut, bro.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
I listened to that show and I've seen most of
the series, but not aware of that one.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Okay, all right, my bad, It's okay, though, Man, you
explained it now.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'm gonna seek those episodes out. But you know, we
talked about.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
This on Strange News a few weeks ago, and then
Ben and I Matt was we had some family obligations,
but Ben and I went to New York and we're
lucky enough to be on the podcast Sauce on the
Side with our pal Gandhi from the Elvis Duran Morning
Show and her producer Diamond had some real takes, you know,
on this stuff and was all over it, and it
(03:39):
gave me a moment to kind of realize that maybe
I had I don't know, been a little easy on
the royal family, perhaps in the segment where I was
sort of like, there's nothing going on at all, everything's
above boards, just having a surgery and photoshopping her own
family photos.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, it's weird that she would do that, a B.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
That this statement would come out signed C, which apparently
is the way she signs her name, by the way,
But at the time I didn't realize that.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
It seemed a little odd kind of doubt that.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Many of the royals are doing their own twitters or
their own exes. But then again, you know, there is
a certain expectation that what you see on those kind
of platforms, there's certainly a possibility that it is coming
directly from the source. We certainly know that's the case
with you know, Donald Trump, for example, and others that
(04:30):
clearly are tweeting themselves because you couldn't pay people to
write stuff this bad and self incriminating. But my main
thing was, yeah, it's a little weird that she's been
out of the public eye for so long, and it
was a little weird that they posted this picture because
of course it was going to be taken as sort
(04:51):
of a proof of life kind of situation, and the
fact that it was so weirdly and awkwardly doctored really
called into question the whole thing. And I will stand
by my whole thing about all of this, which is
that the pr Firm or whatever it's handling the Royal
families public affairs not doing a great job. Because you know, guys,
(05:13):
we say it all the time. If there's a question
and you just introduce more questions or introduce more vagueness,
you're gonna you're gonna have a conspiracy feeding frenzy on
your hands, right, And that's what we've got here.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Especially with the royal family, right, which is a main
character in so many conspiracies. And then this also, this
kind of speculation is exacerbated in the age of social media,
right because now people are able to share any kind
of theory, whether or not it's based on fact or
(05:48):
some kind of research, and then other people will go
with it because it's the more interesting story.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I remain.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I still crack up about the the folk who were
convinced for a while that Cape Middleton was out of
the public eye because she got a Brazilian butt lift,
which we mentioned previously. But I just thought that was
so silly. I tuned into Sauce on the side because Diamond,
I think had some of the best examinations of this right.
(06:17):
She thought through it pretty in depth.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Absolutely, And we have another listener who's been thinking about
this as well. This is in fact listener Mail and
I haven't mentioned one of our beloved listeners, but we
got a note from the Mitch Doctor, which is fun.
Just a quick theory. Hey guys, here's a theory on
k Middleton. I can't take credit for sparking this idea,
but it seems to fit. Maybe she's an organ donor
(06:41):
for King Charles, who is also in the hospital. A
kidney donation seems more likely than some of the stuff
currently on the internet. Tata for now, the Mitch Doctor.
I can only hope and assume that if they're saying
TATA for now, that they are in fact British citizens
or maybe even royalty. Who knows, but thank you the
(07:01):
Mitch Doctor. I think that's very interesting. In preparing for
this segment, I did find a really cool article from
The Intelligencer, which is I believe a offshoot of New
York Magazine with it. This came out yesterday, as we
record this on March twenty second, with a timeline up
to now of all of the k Middleton brew haha.
And Ben, you mentioned the Brazilian butt lift thing, I think,
(07:23):
and we've heard people say that maybe it was a
gastric bypass procedure and all of that simply from a
statement from Kensington Palace. And now it's saying that her
Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital
yesterday for planned abdominal surgery, okay, And that came out
(07:44):
on January seventeenth of twenty twenty four, and since that time.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
There hasn't that.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
That's kind of, you know, when the speculation started to
thrive because she hadn't really made any public appearances reasonably
close to that date. And then up until now except
for the weird photoshopped image which we talked about and
a video that came out, TMZ published, well it was
a photo, I believe. TMZ published a paparazzi photo on
(08:16):
March the fourth of Kate in a car with her
mother near Windsor Castle. And then there was also an
individual that's yes, sorry here it is. The Sun reported
that Kate had been spotted shopping with William at Windsor
Farm Shop, and I believe a video was taken, and
there's even an article where the person took the video
(08:37):
is quoted and kind of trying their best to de
month these theories. But people have been trying to run
this video through like AI algorithms to do facial matching stuff,
because I do have to say, on an initial glance.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
She looks a little different.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
I could see where people are coming from and looking
at this image in this video and saying, ah, that
doesn't quite look like my Kate. And so there are
people that are speculated that is not her, that she's
been replaced. But then, like I said, the person the
shopper who filmed this video or what are they now
going to question if I'm a real person as well.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
That I put a fake Kate there? It is ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
So I do kind of still stand by the fact
that a lot of this stuff is just you know,
like armchair sleuths. And what was the word we used
on the segment. I believe it was something like recreational speculators,
something along those lines. But what do you think, guys
of the Mitch Doctor's theory? Well, first of all, I'm
sorry I been. I want to point out too that
(09:40):
the Diamond, the producer, did say, I think this might
be a big way of a shifting focus off of
King Charles's illness. But what do you guys think about
this idea that Kate is a donor. She's not exactly
a direct family so I don't see how that would
how she would be a uniquely suitable candidate.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Honestly, the organ donation thing is interesting from a story
construction kind of perspective, But in terms of real life,
would it not be more plausible that they would get
a donor who is the perfect match, Like I think
they would prioritize the safety of the donation process over
(10:21):
the attachment of the family.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Well, and wouldn't that be something to celebrate you're saving
the King's life or something, you know, by donating part
of your body.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Yeah, And also there a couple things at play. You
don't want to have, well, you don't want to have
any death, but for a monarchy to lose the monarch
twice in quick succession, it's not a good look. So
maybe this is distraction, Maybe this is Diamond also pointed
out the possibility that there was a serious illness on
(10:57):
Middleton's side.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
That's right, Yeah, yeah, I'm with you, Matt though on Yeah,
an organ donation would be that'd be a positive press story.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Why would you hide that?
Speaker 5 (11:08):
If you were like, say, you know, that seems like
something that you would look the bravery of this woman,
you know, you would want to promote that.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
The only way you would The only reason I could
imagine that you would want to hide something like that,
which is a heroic thing to do, is because it
might be indicative of just how how far the king's
condition is deteriorated. So maybe that's what they're trying to
keep under wraps if that theory is true.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
And you, guys, I think I asked this last time
we were talking about this, but what is the true
like to what end? What is the true benefit of
being so you know, sneaky around the health of a
public figure like that? Is it because it can affect
deals and even markets and stuff? Is that you just
want to keep that stuff under your control and as
(11:55):
long as humanly possible, and don't want people to know
what's really going on until the death actually occurs.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
That's part of it. I mean, there is state security
wrapped up in this right, so stability of the nation,
the appearance of stability is a hugely important factor. So
I imagine that's in the calculation somewhere. But really we don't
have enough information to say what's happening definitively. And I'm
(12:22):
sure that there are a ton of journalists in the
United Kingdom who are doing their best like social engineering,
cold calling, trying to get information out of the monarchy
and their staff. That may actually be the way that
we learn what's happening.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
I guess I just don't think, you know, it's not
the same as a president being sick to me, you know,
because they're just so toothless, the royal family. They're just ceremonial.
They have this lavish lifestyle that's largely to maintain this
continuity of sort of history and tradition, but they don't
really do anything so like what would what would be
politically it's Is it just because the British people are
(13:02):
so obsessed with them and there's such a reverence for them,
or maybe I just don't get it because I'm not,
you know, from there.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Yeah, I guess it's not for us. Every fair enoughty
for everybody. But but yeah, you do raise a point
the monarchy as tremendous real estate holdings, so that's that's
a big deal. They're also a huge cultural and economic
touchstone for the United Kingdom, like the UK government makes
a ton of money off royalty, off the concept of it.
(13:33):
Think about all the people who travel around the world
see London and to go check out that stuff. So
they do play an economic role, a big one in
that sense.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
We were talking about that, I believe with somebody we
were hanging out with the New York Just the tourism
aspect of it is not something to be completely ignored,
that's true. I don't know, Matt, You've been quiet on
this one, any thoughts. I know this isn't your bag exactly,
but it's not mine either. I just I mainly when
we talked about it last time, my main interest was
in just how the bruja around the photo and just
(14:02):
realizing these standards that like you know, organizations like AP have,
and how it was just kind of missed and just
this whole distinction between like is this photo entertainment or
is this news?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
And how is it taken?
Speaker 5 (14:15):
And just how quickly these things can sort of, you know,
balloon out of control. But uh, you got any closing
thoughts for us on this one, Matt before we take
a break.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Ah, Still, I don't care.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Your Prince Charles as good as a good grumble, a
very kingly grumble.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah. I mean, I hope everybody's okay.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
See you, I see you. I hope they're happy. I
think they're happy. They don't seem very happy on the crown.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I mean, nobody's happy all the time.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Fair enough.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Well, thanks to the Mitch Doctor for that theory. I
certainly think that it could be plausible, but I don't
see why that, of all things, they would cover up.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
We guys agree to know more.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, I think it's all right.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Let's take a quick break and we'll be back with
some more messages from you.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
We've returned and we are going to the emails, guys
to get some updates on the last two weeks of
strange news. We've got one coming in. Let's get started
with an email from Brett, who wrote to us on
March eleventh with regards to a bit of a smuggling story.
We talked about the first person that was ever charged
(15:31):
with smuggling greenhouse gases into the United States from Mexico,
and Brett is coming to us with quite a bit
of experience in the HVAC world. Let's see what he
has to say. Brett says, I wanted to give you
some insight on the latest strange news about the greenhouse
gas smuggling. I'm an HVAC slash R that's heat ventilation,
(15:52):
air conditioning refrigeration technician in New York. You're right that
you do need a license to purchase refrigerants, a license
granted by the EPA. That's kind of cool. You have
to take tests and pass to get one of those things.
The free on known as R twenty two, that's the
substance that actually is a refrigerant, causes your refrigerator and
(16:15):
your air conditioner to create cold air. Got to have
this stuff run the air through it makes it cold.
This free on, known as R twenty two, has been
used for decades, and in twenty twenty four there's still
equipment that uses it. Last summer, one twenty five pound
bottle of R twenty two cost one thousand, seven hundred
(16:37):
and fifty dollars. That's a ton of money, guys. Twenty
five pounds seventeen hundred bucks. That's with vendors limiting supply
per EPA regulations. We'll talk about it, but remember this
R twenty two refrigerant free on is a controlled substance
at this point, a highly controlled substance. Even though, oh,
(17:00):
it's just a gas, right, it's free on, it's a
form of gas.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
This is pertaining to the black market sale of the stuff,
I'm not or the availability of it on Like was
it Facebook marketplace?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Right? Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Why it's so tightly controlled? Why this person got in
trouble for bringing something like this free on refrigerant greenhouse
gas into the US to sell? So, Brett continues, lots
of older techs hate using the replacement of this free
on the replacement of R twenty two because it's not
as good and sometimes causes more issues from size of
(17:33):
equipment to how much cooling it will produce. So, like,
how large the equipment is that uses the R twenty two, right,
I think that's what he's saying. Most times having to
buy newer equipment to replace the old system, whether it's
still in working condition. Some systems are only two to
five pounds, so they only require two to five pounds
of this stuff for homes, but mark up for labor
(17:56):
and use of it. I think what he's saying here,
with the huge cost of that greenhouse gas, you're only
going to be using two to five pounds sap. Do
you think that's what Brett's.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Saying here, guys, that's kind of what I write.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Okay, So Brett says it's cheaper to buy a brand
new AC because most older techs and retired texts still
have tanks of this good R twenty two greenhouse gas
refrigerant they could use. And again, for this alone, I'm
used to this being the norm, as it's the way
of the job, but it does get hard telling those
(18:31):
older generations who are retired with a fixed income that
it's going to cost somewhere between three thousand to five
thousand dollars if not a ton more guys to replace
their old HVA systems that used the R twenty two
and Brett signs off saying thanks for the show. So, guys,
it just makes a lot of sense, especially hearing from
(18:52):
somebody like this that this type of greenhouse gas that's
used as a refrigerant, it's potentially dangerous. Right according to
the regulators who have chosen to put regulations on this stuff.
But also it's crazy, crazy expensive. I had no idea
how expensive it was, but I call very vividly at
(19:12):
my old house having to get more free on pumped
into my really old air conditioning system, and it was
I think it was three hundred and fifty dollars for
a time, basically a shot of this stuff to refill
my system.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Isn't that stuff that people actually steal out of air
conditionings because it.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Is so valuable.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Maybe I have no idea how you would do that.
I've never looked into it.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
But I also think it's also something that people like,
certain people like to huff. I have heard tales of
people going to apartment complexes and like stealing free on
out of those air conditioning window units.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
It's all a price point thing, right. As soon as
the price or potential for profit reaches a certain threshold,
then you know, anything can be stolen. Shot, catalytic converters
and copper. Yeah, And there's also it's interesting because, first,
thank you so much for the letter here, Brett. It's
(20:09):
interesting because when I was looking into the context of this,
the refrigerant smuggling, I didn't know. It's been a thing
since the nineteen nineties, and it happened because of the
regulations that came about to close that hole in the
ozone layer. Remember when that was a big deal for everybody.
So by fixing this one problem, which is a big
(20:30):
problem society, the cobra thing, the cobra effects. Yeah, the
cobra effect.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
You can go to a couple of places online. The
one I found that immediately popped up just when you
google R twenty two, which is called h hydro chlorofluorocarbon
twenty two or HCFC twenty two. The replacements are weird.
They have all kinds of names like R four one A,
(20:59):
R one four A, are four oh seven C, and
are four oh seven A. They are just refrigerants, but
they don't have, at least according to the EPA, the
same ozone depleting effects, which is.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Why they're being used.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
But again, as Brett is saying, they maybe don't cool
as effectively and they are going to cost you an
arm in a lake. I don't have much else to
say on that. Guys, just appreciate Brett calling in with
personal experience like that.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, thank you, Brett.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Then let's jump to another message we received from Always
Something in Philadelphia. Love that, Love that, and Always Something
is responding to the strange news where we talked about
some people in Atlanta who are being targeted and attacked
in local bars here in a place called Buckhead.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Drugged and abducted.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah, yes, exactly, and tens of thousands of dollars coming
out of their bank accounts. So Always Something says, hither gents,
I've been a sporadic listener for nearly ten years. We
need to up your listening. Always Something needs to be
a little more than sporadic.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Just kidding.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Thank you for listening at all. And Always Something has
been a sporadic listener recently since I've had a job
where I can have headphones on. That's awesome, and I've
been listening a lot more regularly. Oh fantastic, see you
already are Yesterday I heard you just talk about the
guys who had tens of thousands of dollars stolen after
being drugged at bars in Atlanta. I'd be remiss if
(22:23):
I didn't bring up the story of heart Throb Philadelphia's weatherman,
John Belaris or Belaris.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I think it's Belaris.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
I loved reading this, and by the way, you're an
awesome writer too.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
So John Belaris, whose career was basically ruined because of
a similar situation about fifteen years ago. Interesting John was
a beloved weatherman and an A list local celebrity in
Philly with a bit of a wild streak, known for
things like being friends with controversial baseball player Lenny Dickstra
or Dikestra. I guess I don't know this person, but
(22:57):
according to the Internet, not great things.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Not great things.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
Yeah, sexual assault accusations. In twenty ten, there was this
allegation that he paid an escort and adult entertainment actor
with a bad check that bounced. He would go on
to be arrested on multiple misdemeanor and felony counts of
things like identity theft, possession of cocaine and ecstasy, grand theft,
(23:27):
auto of the crime not the video game got you?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Oh yeah, YOI don't pay for unscrupulous things with bad checks. Gosh,
come on, Lenny, Okay. So John was partying in Miami
and met some beautiful Eastern European women, at least according
to the story, then blacked out and woke up to
have tens of thousands of dollars missing from his accounts.
He went public and he got help from the FBI,
(23:52):
but he ended up losing his job and basically got
blackballed because of the incident. If I remember correctly, this
is always something saying that there was some victim blaming
about him, tempted by the chance of a threesome, and
speculation that he was trying to be an actual quote,
John not just named John and was ripped off by
(24:12):
the ladies. He was solictening, which resulted in his being fired.
He then made national headlines after being interviewed about it
on twenty twenty also in Playboy and by Howard Stern.
And now apparently he's a realtor in Philly and still
has local notoriety. Guys, I had never heard of this
person before at all. John Belaris just an interesting piece
(24:39):
of information that none of us had before. This always something,
so thank you. But guess what, here's where things get crazy.
You did not mention devil's breath, the substance it's believed
that John was drugged with. It comes from a South
American species of Datura dat u r a, which is
a genus of night blooming plants known for their mystical
(25:01):
and intense psychotropic properties, used in various indigenous cultures, medicines,
and rituals, as well as in witchcraft.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
Bro is this what the guy in the car was
being fed? He didn't know what it was. It had
a hard time describing it. It wasn't a pill, remember that.
I know, we don't know what the substance was. There's
a great Vice documentary about this. The substance always something
is describing here and from that documentary what we were
(25:30):
talking about this briefly off air. From what I remember
about that, the method of application was to blow it
as a duster or and aerosol into the person's face.
But that may that just maybe one possible method of deployment.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah, I'm assuming it's also consumed in one way or
another in some of the other rituals right when it's
more ritualized. So who knows exactly. I don't know exactly
how it works. I remember a two thousand and seven
piece from Vice, and then I think it was around
the time we started our YouTube channel that Vice put
that documentary out of probably twenty fourteen something like that.
(26:08):
We've known about that for quite a while. We just
didn't quite feel like this drug to us. But it's
interesting always something to bring it up and as a possibility, right,
because there is a dissociative effect with that drug where
people seem to be let's say, pliable in their actions,
almost like they're not really there. They'll go along with things,
(26:29):
they're just agreeing to everything that if someone was in
the position of like a captor, they might just agree
with stuff like, hey, let's go to this bank account.
Oh okay, I guess that's what we're doing. Very weird
at least that's the case of Devil's Breath and how
it's been described, at least by Vice. That's really the
only thing I've seen on it. Let's go back to
the email. Here in the US, the most well known
(26:52):
is Jimson weed, which is associated with stories of seventeenth
century colonists ingesting it and going crazy. I don't know
anything about jimsonweed, jims n That's another interesting thing to
look up. It's feeling like there's another episode where we
can talk about drugs that potentially could be used on you, right,
(27:16):
as in maybe some kind of active attack. That could
be an interesting episode. Yeah, all right, So continues on here.
Devil's breath is known for its ability to make people
who ingest it very pliable. Oh there's the word. That's
why I had pliable in my brain because I just
read this from us Always Something. Sorry for taking your
word there. It makes feel very pliable and trusting while
(27:36):
seeming coherent, then leaves victims forgetting the whole incident. So
it's been known to be used in such con artist schemes.
After the national headlines on the Belarus case, wece made
a video called World's Scariest Drug. That's what we were
just talking about, Ben And this is where they send
a crew to Columbia to investigate and try the substance out.
(27:56):
So enjoy this weird detura rabbit hole. Sincerely, Always Something
in Philadelphia. Well there you go. There's some stuff to
check out on your own right now. World Scariest Drug
on Vice. Learn about this interesting fellow here, John Belaris
B O.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
L A.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
R I. S.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
And Yeah, just go down the rabbit holes yourselves. We'll
see what we find and then let's come back together.
Why don't you write to us or send us a
message and let us know what you discover. We'll be
right back with more messages from you, and.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
We have returned. We are traveling down south to visit
our fellow conspiracy realist in Australia and this is an
ongoing conversation. A big thank you to anonymous in OZ.
We'll read the story. We'll stop along the way for
a couple of different things, and we want to be
(28:58):
careful with some details going in to do what we
can to protect our listeners anonymity. Also unrelated, unrelated thanks
to AA for writing in talking about the GHB, which
should be in our episode on those drugs as weapons.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
All right, here we go.
Speaker 4 (29:18):
Hey guys, I'm writing to you from Suddy and Steamy,
far North Queensland in Australia. Your recent strange news story
regarding those poor actors hired for the fake Wonka event
prompted me to share my story with you. On twenty
third June twenty eleven, I was hired as an extra
aspiring actress and all that through my talent agency and
(29:39):
told to attend a large hotel in the in Sydney, Australia.
There were two hundred extras, all hired from our agency.
The only information we were given was to wear smart
business attire, and here they mean smart, like you know, fancy,
like your C suite at an office or something. On arrival,
a lady check off our names and handed me a
(30:02):
large envelope. Walking into the conference room, it became clear
we were in an AGM, an annual general meeting of
a very large corporation. I opened my envelope. There was
a share certificate, so like a certificate giving you a
certain number of shares, So a share certificate with my
name and address on it. A ballot form for this
(30:24):
big vote that had already been filled out. I was
told to go to another person, show them my ID,
my share certificate, and then put my ballot into a box.
I can't remember the full name of the organization anonymous
as originally, but it was definitely a life insurance or
super annoation company. There were a lot of very distressed
(30:47):
older people at the meeting. And this already sounds fishy, right.
Being a paid actor in a Willy Wonka experience is
one thing, But being paid to rig a corporation's votes
is that what? That's what this sounds like, right?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Geez?
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Like we talk about things like crisis actors sometimes and
the word actor being thrown in there always to make
me think of if this is even a thing. Where
does one go to purchase the services of a crisis actor?
Is the special service offered by talent agencies?
Speaker 3 (31:18):
It seems like an unusual situation. Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
It also reminds me of when lobbyists have rigged different
local votes by packing packing crowds. But Anonymous continues and says,
you can tell this was kind of weird for her too.
She says, I asked why a share certificate had been
made up in my name, and I was told it
was done through my talent agency, and I was free
to leave once I cast my vote. I was told
(31:43):
I'd be paid for the full four hour call time,
but you just had to show your idea and drop
the ballot in the box. Then I was told if
I handed them back my share certificate, I get an
additional two hundred dollars in cash. So like, also, you
have to sell the shares back to us?
Speaker 3 (31:59):
What yeah, they want to shaay clean.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Right, Well, so there's no record of the payment then,
or no that because she's getting paid as an actor
and getting two hundred in cash, but the shares.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Go if she if she sells the shares back, I
guess technically, and it makes me wonder if that's the
case for all these other extras. Then if you look
at the company's record, it seems like there were all
of a sudden a ton of people who got shares,
voted once, and then got out.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
That's very unusual. This is, of course fraud.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
I think, yeah, you know, I'm not like the king
of fraud, but I think it is like I'm not
a fraud expert, but it does. It's surprising to me
that that is not illegal.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
It's like inside our training almost kind of right where
there's maybe a gray area for when does that become
a crime and what it is just kind of like
acting on information and it happenstance.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
We love weirdly specific crimes, you know, shout out to
stamp fraud, but this is this one is so specific
and strange that I think we couldn't figure out initially
if it is illegal, So Anonymous continues, I knew this
was totally immoral, if not illegal, so I did not
cast my vote. I contacted my agency to complain, and
(33:24):
they were not interested at all. Their cut from the
two hundred extras that day mattered more than what we
had actually been sent to do.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Uh checks out. I guess it does.
Speaker 5 (33:35):
But it's weird that you that a talent agency would
allow themselves to be mixed up in something like this.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
But I guess that it pays. Yeah, guy, diversify, you know, Yeah,
it's a gig. A gig is a gig, right, especially
if you're aspiring in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
And do you see what I mean about the crisis
actors thing too? Doesn't it feel aligned in a way.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
It feels similar to the crisis actor theory for sure,
or the idea that you are hiring someone on a
short term basis to appear as though they are someone else,
and crisis actors. It's very controversial conspiracy theory. It hasn't
been proven. But that's that's wrapped up. It's spart and
parcel of the Alex allegations about Sandy Hook. Anyway, so
(34:21):
Anonymous says, I know it made the media at the time.
I'm having a hard time finding anything about it now.
Pretty shady way of swinging the outcome of AGM huh
or as we also say, dodgy Anonymous, we say dodgy too.
I sure don't we all say dodgy anyway? So thank
you for the show. It means a lot. And then
(34:43):
I wrote back to Anonymous and wanted to get more information,
and Anonymous revealed the name. The name of the company
is Premium Income Fund. It is like, you know, the
mentioned super super annuation that's kind of like a that's
like a pension retirement plan thing, and Premium Income Fund
(35:06):
is apparently tied up to retirement savings for a lot
of older people in that country.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
So it's like a shareholder meeting of some sort. Like
is that the thing like where the people who are
voting are supposed to be a part? Like do you
have to be a member or something?
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Yeah, it's very strange. You don't have all the details yet,
but that's what it sounds like. And it also sounds
like someone whomever contacted the Talent agency wanted the vote
to go a certain way. And if those other people
that Anonymous saw who were actual shareholders, if they were
very distressed, then it sounds like it's a controversial vote.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
You know. Yeah, that has to be illegal.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Do we have any Australian lawyers or barristers in the
crowd if so, conspiracydiheartradio dot com, you know three to
three STDWYTK. We would love to know more about this.
So there was a huge civil action afterwards. Ten thousand retirees,
(36:11):
per Anonymous, because we talked back and forth about this,
were in her words, screwed out of their life savings.
And Anonymous just again needs to stay anonymous. But this
brought up so many questions for me, and I think
for all of us. How often does stuff like this happen?
(36:32):
Does that could have happened in the US? Did you
rig a shareholder vote? It makes me think of succession,
of course.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
I mean if it could, Yes, it could happen and
likely has happened, especially considering how relatively straightforward a process
this was.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
You know, I don't know, that's wild.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
That's the surprising thing, you know that it's the straightforwardness
of it all. So it's terrible that it sounds like
it's being predatory against these retirees. And on a personal level,
I think we can all find that repugnant. But I
would love to hear more about this. Have you guys
(37:15):
ever heard of something like this happening before? Like I
hear it, it makes sense but I've never thought someone.
I'd never thought of someone doing that.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
It seems like if you're voting, you know, in a
shareholder meeting or something like that. I'm sure we've all
been shareholders at some point in our careers, just through
like Discovery, we used to. They used to send out
some weird stuff with that. Back when we like got
Discovery stuff.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
I guess we're like, what is vesting? Yeah, spoiler, it's
not a real vest Well.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
We're we're pretty young folks back then. I didn't know
anything about any of this stuff. And we would get
in the mail like a ballot basically that you would
vote on stuff that's up for as a shareholder basically.
And I do wonder if this thing this premium income fund,
that's what is called premium income fund?
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Income fund? And what do we say about innocuous names.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Well, I'm looking through trying to find exactly what it
is and if there was a vote that you could check,
like meeting that had minutes or results of something, and
I'm having a really hard time just in the moment.
Speaker 4 (38:23):
But same we got a PDF that does have more information.
But again, in the interest of anonymity, we don't want
to share too much of that on air. But we
also you know, now that I'm thinking through it, maybe
it's just immoral. Maybe it's not technically illegal because they
do own the shares when they vote. Yeah, but someone
(38:45):
filled out their ballot already for them.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
All right, Well, we are going to follow up with
this in the future. We want to learn more about it.
We want to hear from you folks if you have
encountered similar strange shenanigans. And before we end, wanted to
do another segment that we've been calling letters from home.
(39:11):
We got a pretty thought provoking message over on ye
old internets, So Doug m writes to us via Instagram,
hit me up on Instagram and said, listening to the
strange news on Frank and Sheet being used for hunting
the future seems to be cloning humans for use in
government training, police, super weather fun time, but what would
(39:36):
be the legal standing for murdering a clone? That's going
to keep me busy today. Clone rights and then also
great episode And as soon as I read this, I
thought we would love this discussion on air.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Clone rights.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Do you guys think clones will be on the way
like manufactured cannon fodder for war.
Speaker 3 (39:55):
That's gross. Yeah, of course, if they can do it,
they'll probably try.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
But I mean we were talking about this off Mike briefly,
and I just think there have to be that conversation
has to happen, could there, you know? I mean for
all tents and purposes, a clone is it's it's a person.
It's not a robot, it's not an AI. It's flesh
and blood and presumably something that resembling the soul.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
I don't think they'll be used for can of fodder
and war. I think the robots, the machines are going to.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
Be that a little more efficient.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
It's going to be that organ harvesting and all that
other stuff with If clones become a thing, it's a
personal clone, and it's just got your stuff in it.
Speaker 5 (40:35):
Okay, And you think we can just use them, we
can just harvest their organs and have them as like
blood boys.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
You know, is that you really where's the line?
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Do you just do grow? Do you grow individual organs
in some kind of suspension? Do you grow a full
body but without a brain just to despair?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
You know? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (40:53):
And that that does get pretty gory pretty quickly. I
wonder if look right now. One of the main stumbling
blocks in the science behind human cloning is that there
are some hard ethical constraints about what you can and
can't clone, how long you can allow a human clone
(41:15):
to exists. I feel like clones will be on the way, though,
because the science is possible. I just don't know what
they'll be used for.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
Have either of you guys seen Poor Things the film?
Speaker 2 (41:29):
I cannot wait to watch it, but I've not seen
it yet.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
It's really really great, first of all, and it's not
nearly as like raunchy and controversial as people seem to
be making it out. I mean, it's got some, you know,
titillating stuff, but it really is, to me a very
nice movie. It has a kindness to it in a way.
But it's of course the classic Frankenstein's story where you
create a thing and then realize that it also learns
(41:51):
and has feelings and changes, and you can't just treat
it like a like a pet, or even worse, like
a like a slave, or like something without agency. And
this movie kind of takes a feminist approach to that concept,
and I think it does it beautifully. But that's the thing,
man like Ben you mentioned without a brain. Oh even
(42:11):
just the saying that just sounds wrong, doesn't it?
Speaker 4 (42:15):
Like wow, like remove the cortex the cerebe element.
Speaker 5 (42:18):
So it's like it's like giving somebody a lobotomy in
a sanitarium to prelostomy, a pre lobotomy.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
It's also it reminds me there was a recent episode
or an episode from a recent season of Rick and
Morty which is all about the tasty spaghetti sauce.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
You can't see that one, No, I don't know that one.
Speaker 4 (42:39):
Okay, well, light spoilers ahead, folks, or big spoilers ahead,
three to one spoilers. So in this one episode of
Rick m Mordy, the family is having their weekly like
family dinner time, and everybody loves Grandpa Rick's spaghetti. It's
like a secret family recipe that he talks about their
(43:02):
nuts for it. It's called that's a morte. And what
they learn is that this spaghetti comes from the death
of aliens, like aliens on this other planet. When they die,
their guts are the spaghetti.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Oh wow, and the sauce.
Speaker 4 (43:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (43:20):
Also, guys with light spoilers soil and green it's people.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
Yeah, it's Gary oldman the whole time.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
We got a review on Apple Bodcasts. It says, these
guys are constantly spoiling stuff I haven't finished yet.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Okay, well then shall we proceed?
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (43:39):
Indeed, so the reason I bring this up, then all
sorts of hygiencs happens. Rick and Morty has these fantastic writers,
these incredible concepts, and in there they try the people
who are the origin point of the spaghetti. Their civilization
institute's an economy of scale, and they say, hey, how
(44:01):
can we ethically reconcile the fact that the best spaghetti
in the universe has to come from these people dying?
And then they manufacture like clone things, and Grandpa Rick says,
all right, let's just make torsos. Get rid of the
human or the thinking, the consciousness problem altogether. And they say, okay,
(44:22):
we make torsos. I forgot the big thing in this episode.
They only turn into amazing spaghetti if they kill themselves,
if they commit suicide. Yeah, right, and so they end
up that makes it the best I guess so, And
otherwise they just die like a regular life form. So
they get to a point where they build out just torsos.
(44:44):
But because the torsos have to commit suicide. They give
them one arm and there's and they just the torsos
use that one arm to become spaghetti.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Cool.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
God, is that where cloning is going? We need to
with Dan Harmon on this, like what's going on there?
Speaker 3 (45:03):
Man?
Speaker 4 (45:04):
I think it's fascinating, but I also think it's I
think cloning is on the way, It is inevitable, and
civilization is not prepared.
Speaker 5 (45:13):
I guess I always just think this is probably also
the thing I've seen Rick and Morty, but I've certainly
seen another cartoons, maybe Family Guy, where you've got like
the clone gone wrong and it's just like kill me,
you know, like it's ghastly stuff if not treated with
the utmost of respect and morality, which I don't know
(45:33):
how you even do that properly. I think I like
the idea of growing the organs individually in a lab,
but maybe didn't they have a thing where they could grow,
like the ear on the back of a mouse or
something that's interesting. I mean, I know, I'm sure there's
people out there that are like, no, don't kill the
poor mouse, but there's got to be ways of doing that.
The really you know, life changing parts of this without
(45:56):
having to sacrifice our humanity and becomes some sort of
like mad gods.
Speaker 4 (46:01):
And you know what I like about this episode is
it packs in so many things, right, like the the
ethics of factory livestock and eating meat, you know, the
problem of cloning, the problem of the nature of existence.
It's yeah, it's a wild ride, and I hope it
stays science fiction for a while. But like with all
(46:24):
good science fiction, how long is it before some part
of that becomes science fact? And I don't know, if
you guys had a chance to clone yourselves, would.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
You do it? I don't think so.
Speaker 5 (46:36):
I mean, if it was, like, you know, I would
think of this in terms of like save the life
of my child kind of stuff, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (46:43):
I see, Yeah, so it'd have to be very high
I think so.
Speaker 3 (46:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (46:48):
But it's also the kind of technologies of course going
to only be available to the mega mega privileged, in
mega mega rich.
Speaker 4 (46:54):
Yeah. In the beginning, there's also this other idea. I
think this is weirdly possib will hear me out, guys,
you're a business tycoon, right, You're a warm buffet level financier,
or you know, you're just a very powerful business person,
and you are going to die. You have a terminal condition.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
You know it.
Speaker 4 (47:16):
It's inevitable. You can't save your own life. However, you
can continue your state and your companies and your corporations
if you clone yourself and sign over the legal rights
to your clone. So then just version one of you
dies and then the other guy just sales right along,
(47:37):
creating a potentially never ending cycle of power lineage.
Speaker 5 (47:42):
Dude, have you guys seen Infinity Pool, the Brandon Cronenberg film.
Speaker 3 (47:47):
I think I have no you'd remembered about it. That's
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (47:51):
Speaking to the one dissenting voice on Apple podcasts. I'm
not going to spoil it, but there is. It's basically
a film where the super rich are able to buy
a get out of jail free card for committing horrible crimes.
Oh that's what I have, Okay, Okay, yeah, yeah buy Basically,
through cloning, they're able to create so okay and whatever.
(48:13):
This is a sports there's a million things, other things
that happen, and this is the trailer. They they are
able to create a clone that then is executed on
their behalf. And because of this, let there's a ritual
aspect to it. They have to watch it happen. But
it really does beg the question of like, what would
people do with if they never had to be held
accountable for their actions? And the clone part of it
(48:36):
is like it it feels it, it knows what's it
doesn't know what's happening because it's memory.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
It only starts at the moment of its birth.
Speaker 5 (48:43):
But it's like you're it's being horrifically executed on behalf
of its clone master.
Speaker 4 (48:50):
And even Star Wars hits on this right with the
Clone Wars. Absolutely people have been thinking about this for
a long time. There is a There is a fantastic
Orson Scott card short story, and I disagree fundamentally with
Card in his personal life and his beliefs, but the
story itself is really good. That is all about the
(49:12):
nature of attempting redemption physiologically, spiritually, financially through cloning. Spoiler,
it's like an O Henry story. It doesn't it has
a twist ours And this is this is strange because
I think also other versions of cloning are coming to
the fore before the rollout of human clones in the
(49:34):
physical sense will have the rollout of cloned voices and appearances.
That's part of why I think it's inevitable, because it's
already happening in the world of entertainment. I think there
are a couple big companies post actor strike who who
will require extras and people getting started in Hollywood to
sign away the rights to their appearance in the background
(49:55):
of things like their.
Speaker 3 (49:56):
Body gets mapped.
Speaker 4 (49:58):
Sure, and they get a f fee once and then
your likeness can be used in any movie owned by
that company.
Speaker 5 (50:05):
Great New Black Mirror episode in the most recent season
then handles that whole concept brilliantly as they usually do.
Speaker 4 (50:13):
Yeah, and so we want to hear your thoughts about this, folks.
We want to hear what you think the world should
keep in mind if we do arrive at an age
of cloning. Thank you to dug In, Thank you to
Anonymous and Oz, Thanks to Rock Always Something in Philly, Delfia,
thanks to Brett, Thanks of course to the Mitch Doctor.
(50:34):
And thank you to you, fellow conspiracy realist, for tuning in.
If you would like to be part of the show,
we would love to have you. We try to be
easy to find online.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (50:43):
You can find the handle Conspiracy stuff where we exist
on x FKA, Twitter, on Facebook and on YouTube, or
we have delightful video content rolling out every single week
on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3 (50:55):
We are conspiracy stuff.
Speaker 2 (50:57):
Show Hey, call us. We are one eight three three
st d WYTK. Go ahead and put that phone number
in your system in your phone as a contact so
you'll know if you get a call back mysteriously. So
when you call the number, make sure you give yourself
a cool nickname and let us know if we can
use your name and message on the air. And really
(51:20):
that's it. There's no rules. Do whatever you want. But
if you've got an attachment or a link you want
to send us, why not instead shoot us a good
old fashioned email.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
We are the folks who read every single email we
get twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Take us to the edge of the rat hole. We
will do the rest and be aware of folks. Sometimes
the void writes back conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
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.
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know News
Hosts And Creators
Matt Frederick
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
Show Links
RSSStoreAboutLive ShowsPopular Podcasts
1. The Podium
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
2. In The Village
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
3. iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.