September 7, 2026 • 57 mins
32-year-old Bank of America Vice President Erin Piacenti was fatally stabbed in New York's Time Square. LARPing has become an insult. A low-budget animated film from China becomes a surprise hit. ICE may be buying robot dogs. After a career built on oppossing immigration, far-right political activist Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported back to the United Kingdom. Tune in for all this and more in this week's strange news segment.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
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 the stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello and welcome back to the show. My name is Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
My name is Noel.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Our colleague Ben is on adventures, but will be returning shortly.
We are joined today by our super producer, a guest producer,
also regular producer now, kind of awesome that it's that way,
Max the Freight Train Williams.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Max the Cat in the Hat Williams.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Also, you are you, you are here, and that makes
this the stuff they don't want you to know. No, no, no.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, yes, yes, yes. We are recording this episode on
today for us, Wednesday, September 2nd. And that's pretty exciting.
It's a good Wednesday. What do you think, Noel? Good Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
A jolly fine Wednesday. Thank you for asking, Matt, the
Dolph of the Captive.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
But, of course, if you are hearing this, it is
a Monday, and that means you are getting your news
that is strange and important. And I guess we should
start with something. Maybe, I don't know, I've got some
dark things today, Noel.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Also, my condolences for it being Monday for all y'all
out there. Wednesday, where we sit currently, kind of rules.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
So much promise. The weekend coming. That's right.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
That's why we do these on Wednesdays, because it just
feels better, man, on Wednesdays. But no, no, no. Let's
get into something that is a little dark. It is
the most recent in somewhat of a string of deaths.
So get ready. We're talking about death in New York
City of someone high up in the financial world there.
(02:07):
So let's talk about this. This comes to us via
Reuters on September 1st. Yesterday, as we record, Bank of
America vice president killed in Times Square stabbing.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Whoa, wait, was it that stabbing with that lady?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
With the double knives, the double butcher knives? Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
I had no idea that there was somebody newsworthy related
to that. I just saw clips on TikTok of the
police taking her down and it was intense. And man,
this is like classic. This woman is like literally swinging
knives around and coming at these police officers who, you know,
tase her to subdue her. And then she just does
an absolute freak out charge and they shoot her.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, it was an intense situation for everyone involved. And
just to that point that there was, you know, quote,
someone of note involved, right? If you make enough money
or are important enough to the, let's say, political or
economic machine, then your name is going to get noted
(03:09):
when something bad happens to you.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Can I also acknowledge that it is such a part
and parcel of the, like, news cycle and internet programming
that our brains are subject to that I said someone
of note was killed as opposed to just.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Someone was killed. Like, that's bad already. The whole thing
is bad.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I just want to apologize for being such a sheeple, man. But,
I mean, it's a thing, you know?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
There are horrific things happening around us all the time,
and we all now have access to all of it
because of these things that we hold in our hands, right?
And these machines that we connect ourselves to. It's a
little bit of everything all the time.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Bo Burnham.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Everything everywhere. All at once. Oh, see?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Excellent film. Still haven't seen it.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Also. What? Are you joking me?
Speaker 5 (03:53):
I am.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I'm literally about to watch that movie.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Oh, you're going to love it. Watch it with your family.
Your kid will like it, too.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
And also, can I just apologize a second time for
saying sheeple?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Like 1995?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Like, carry on, please, man.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And I'm going to apologize on behalf of Noel Ford.
apologizing in general.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Hey, whoa, the snake is eating its own tail and
I think I like it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
All right. So, but this is just an intense situation
that occurred where one person was put into critical condition
and another person lost their life because someone was going
through something, was having a really bad day and made
some terrible choices. It was just a horrific thing to
read about and to see, especially when Something like this
(04:37):
occurring in Times Square, which is, Noel, and correct me
if I'm wrong here, but that feels like the beating
heart of New York City's tourism thing that it has
going for itself.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah, I mean, it seems like a lot of the
people who live in New York don't really go there
unless they work. there it's not exactly a place you
go to hang unless you're going to like see a
broadway show um but it absolutely is where the tourists
flock to it's where all the like double-decker bus tours
pick up it's where like the m & m store
is i mean it is very it's about as touristy
(05:08):
as it gets and has ever been frankly i mean
it used to be back in the day that Times
Square was like super slummy and had all these like
porno theaters and strip clubs and stuff. And now it
has truly been just gussied up and made as shiny
and new looking as it possibly.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Can be in such an urban situation as, you know,
New York City. But it also is a cluster of
humanity where odd things can go down from time to time.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, this incident occurred in broad daylight as Reuters describes it.
And it was just a, it's a horrific thing to
all of a sudden be occurring. Let's quickly talk about Aaron.
Aaron Piacenti was 32 years old. She was, according to
her LinkedIn profile, a vice president in Bank of America's
(05:57):
business selection and conflicts unit. And she was just there
at work because Bank of America's Manhattan office is right there,
essentially right next to Times Square. So right in the
same place at one Bryant Park. And in, We're talking
about this one just to say it doesn't matter who
you are. It doesn't matter where you are. Something crazy
(06:21):
can happen to you at any time, and that's not
to scare you. That's just to almost sit in that,
to meditate on that fact. And in my mind, to
try and get rid of a little bit of the
fear associated with that thing, that thing of like there's
impending doom potentially at all times, but also there's impending
doom at all times.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Well, I think you're right, Matt. There's a couple ways
of looking at that.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Like you can live in it and, you know, stew
in it and force you to perhaps not want to
leave your.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
House, but you're just something horrible can happen to you
in your house.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
So it's honestly like the, if you kind of look
at it as like, we're all on an even playing
field when it comes to bad shit, kind of can
empower you a little bit to just sort of live
your life, man.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
You know, that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I agree with you there, man. And, There are horrific
things that can occur to one or two people or
a handful of people, and there are also horrific things
that can occur to a lot of people, even to
all of us sometimes. So we're going to talk today
about some of those things that are going to affect
a lot more of us than an unfortunate handful of
folks in Times Square. So why don't we hear a
(07:31):
word from our sponsors and come back with that stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
And we're back. Matt, I thought I might cut the
darkness a little bit before we dive into the abyss
with a fun little clip from the Internet and a
classic comedy film. This is from a blooper from said film, actually,
and it's going to set up what I want to
talk about beautifully.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Oh, jingle jangle.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Apollo mends the reins to begin his daily race.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Ah, greetings.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Jingle jangle.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Apollo. Jingle jangle?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
All right, sorry, sorry, sorry. All hail Xanthia.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Hail Xanthia.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Oh, fire upon us all. Lest the picker be true. Rub-a-dub-dub.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Shout out to Jolo Trulio I think I'm saying his
name right a member of the state you know sketch
comedy crew from back in the day from the 90s
and also he's on Reno 911 and he plays a
LARPer in this scene that is an outtake from the
movie Role Models with Paul Rudd and I'm going to
(08:59):
be bad and just say McLovin because I can't remember
the young man's name. He's not a young man anymore.
And I actually follow him on Instagram. He plays bass
in a band. It seems like a good hang, but
I cannot for the life of me remember his government name.
But LARPing, Matt, you got any relationship with LARPing in
your life? Because Gen Z has turned it into something
(09:22):
of a diss.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
First of all, it's Christopher Mintz-Ploss. Thank you so much.
And that is ringing a bell now. Okay. And second
of all, I love the concept of LARPing, yet I
have still never partaken in the art of LARPing. I
do so very badly want to have, you know, some
kind of beanbags or something that I can lightning bolt
(09:46):
people with. That sounds really fun.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Lightning bolt.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
That makes sound in your mouth while you do it.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But yeah, it looks like so much freaking fun to me.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Well, in case anyone doesn't know, LARPing is actually an acronym.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
We love acronyms here on stuff they don't want you
to know and it stands for live action role playing
uh it's when folks dress up uh I guess there's
different categories of LARP but typically I see uh it's
having to do with more renaissance Fair type stuff where
you're doing sort of like fighting with foam swords while
decked out and, you know, armor and.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Things like this.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
But Gen Z has co-opted the term LARPing and turned
it into an insult. I think along the lines of
how cosplaying has been used and still is being used
to refer to someone who is inauthentic or being a poser.
The LARPing community has a bit of a problem with this,
(10:40):
and I can see why. Cosplaying, I guess, makes sense
because you are dressing up as something that you're not.
So I do understand that term, cosplaying as some sort
of crusader or a freedom fighter or being like a
wolf in sheep's clothing or whatever. LARPing is just taking,
I guess it is a fun word. I get why
they might want to use it. But instead of, you know,
(11:01):
referring to D & D costumes and Ren Fairs and stuff,
people are using it more as a term to call
out people who they think are like posers or being phony.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
And that's funny.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
I actually was made aware of this for the first
time when I was, it was some kind of, Instagram
reel where it was a dude, uh, doing one of
those picture and picture videos where he's like kind of
cut out on the side.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
And then there's like picture video playing in the background
talking about this.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Um, mountain climbing store like an outfitter store somewhere in
china and about how like the only way to get
into it is to actually climb hand over hand up
this boulder that is like in the entryway and you
have to climb up the boulder to get to the
second floor where they sell all the stuff uh and
the term the guy used to categorize like fake climbers
(11:50):
was climbing larpers And some folks took issue with that
in the comments or saying as a longtime LARPer, I
take issue with your use of the word as a negative.
And the guy actually responded, ah, duly noted. I will
think of a different one for next time. So appreciated that.
I guess it is sort of in line with using
cosplay because folks who are cosplayers, professional cosplayers, they probably
(12:12):
don't like the term that they use to describe a
thing that they love being used as a term of
abuse for someone doing something shady. This does seem like
kind of an evolution of that.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I would just break it down as in saying, have
you ever, especially as a kid, gotten some sticks and
did a sword fight?
Speaker 6 (12:31):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
You ever do that?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I did it yesterday.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I do it alone. Imagine custom-built buffer swords, like foam swords,
but they have a somewhat stiff inner. part but then
the outside is covered with thick foam of some sort
and you can get a halberd you can get a
bow staff you can get a broad sword or daggers
now imagine having an intricate system of points where if
(12:59):
you get hit in certain parts of your body by
certain weapons you're going to take a certain amount of
damage and you're keeping that in your mind as you're
having an actual sword fight like you were with a
kid with sticks but with a grown adult as a
grown adult.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
It's kind of like a nerdier version of fencing If
that were even possible.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Kind of the one that I almost got into or
was really intrigued by was called Nero. I can't remember
what the acronym stands for, but it was basically that
it was foam weapons fighting and a point system. And
but then there's a story also involved that you get
to play along with.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Exactly. And that is the key.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
I mean, much like having a Dungeon Master and Dungeons
and Dragons campaigns, you are playing along with a storyline.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It is an.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
RPG in real life, RPG IRL. So that is where
the live action role playing part comes in.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I think it's awesome. I love nerddoms of all types.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
I've certainly got my own, as I know you do, Matt,
with your magic cards. But I also know that you're
super into like boxing and hitting the heavy bag and,
you know, doing that kind of fitness stuff and that
your kid's really into martial arts. And I just want
to point out, too, that there is an element of
martial arts that uses, like, fake swords for fighting and
ways of having competitions without being concerned that anyone might
(14:15):
get hurt.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Well, yeah, my kids in Songham Taekwondo have learned, gosh,
six different weapons now, like including a bo staff and nunchucks.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
I remember the nunchuckos from karate, from karate class, because
they're the foam.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
They're like, they're kind of foam.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
They they're they're not real weapons, but they're you know,
they're weighted to an extent and the kids are learning
the form. So like the ways to swing the sword
and like what's a number seven and then what's a
what is a number nine stab and all these things.
And then how do you put those together to make
this really incredible, intricate dance kind of with this weapon?
(14:52):
It's super cool.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Matt, did I tell you that I took my first
beginner Tai Chi class last week?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You did, and you told me I need to go
because it's like slow motion martial arts.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
It's awesome. I love it. And speaking of other kinds
of fandoms and nerddoms, the teacher is a very lovely
and very nerdy burlesque dancer.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Oh, awesome. Who wears a YMCA uniform while it's teaching
the class. But it did come up at the end
of the class that she does burlesque stuff. And that
is another kind of fun little niche world of fandom
and entertainment and also athleticism.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Um, forgive me. What is a YMCA uniform?
Speaker 4 (15:31):
A blue shirt, kind of, you know, gray slacks. Not
even slacks, like stretch pants.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I guess they can be whatever. Yeah. But there's a
blue YMCA shirt, at least for the YMCA that I
go to.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
You're talking about the actual place, the YMCA, or the
physical locations.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, where it's fun to stay at.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
In my mind, I was imagining the song, but like
a uniform of this song somehow.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Oh, like wearing an Indian headdress or a police officer's uniform.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Yeah, no, that doesn't come into play too often at
the old Y. But it is fun to stay at it,
and I do hang out there pretty regularly. I was
just there last night.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
And I'm going to go to the next– I'm in
on this Tai Chi business.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
I've really been enjoying the yoga, but the Tai Chi
is a little bit of a different way of kind
of using your body as a form of guided meditation
while also getting a little exercise, lifting weights with your
own limbs, as it were.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
I learned– it's funny, too. My girlfriend was joking with me, like,
you're going to learn how to sweep the leg. Sh * *
you not. The first Tai Chi move we were taught
was called brush the leg. Nice.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
And it actually is a move where you sort of
pivot on your foot to the left. And it's meant
to be when someone's coming at you and then you
sort of brush their leg aside and hold your hand
out and say, stop. And then you disable them with
your mind.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Oh, nice, dude. That's a little more advanced, though. I
haven't gotten there yet. But, man, I just wanted to
lead off with a little.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
I really, honestly, this is just an excuse to play
that clip because I can watch that thing over and
over again. And we didn't get to it, but Paul
Rudd just utterly cracks up and just goes, Rub-a-dub-dub, get
out of here.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Hey, and you know what?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
The moral.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
That exists within that movie is it's these guys who
think LARPing is a big joke, but they go along
and they do it because they got to watch this kid.
But then in the end, they start to understand, oh,
this is about creativity. This is about a community and
opening yourself up. And if you just allow yourself to
give in to this kind of fantasy, silly world, it
(17:30):
becomes incredibly rewarding. And that's what LARPing is all about.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
I never in a million years would have thought that
I would go by myself to the YMCA and take
like a, you know, sweat into the oldies kind of
class because I would have thought it.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Was like nerdy or I would have looked stupid or
something like that. But that's what I do now with
my free time.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
And it's like a great way to meet interesting people,
feel like you're part of a community and just kind of,
I don't know, get outside your comfort zone because the
older I get, the less I'm embarrassed about just about anything.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
So that is one good thing that comes along with
getting old.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
If you're a fan of that old Bible thing and
you're listening to this, everybody out there is your neighbor.
It's not just the folks that live next to you.
And you can treat them as though they are the
folks that live next to you. And, like, you care
about them. And maybe you actually will care about them
if you act like it. It's pretty cool, for sure.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
It is cool. It is cool.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
What you got next, Matt? I'm going to pass the
baton to you, sir. Maybe for a little darkness? Or
should we do a little more lightness.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
With a weird.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
CGI, super lo-fi generated movie out of China that's making
some waves.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Let's stay in the light for a second, because in
my mind, at least, it's going to get real dark.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
So, Matt, there is a film, let's call it that,
loosely using the term, called New Lie, which was made
for $ 200 using some, I believe, very inexpensive, if not free, software.
It's described here in IndieWire as a micro-budget animated film
that has a bizarre dreamlike plot and a production value
(19:07):
that would generously look rough for a Nintendo 64 game.
It is something that was released, I believe, to some degree,
at least independently in theaters in China. let's see, it
was made by, directed and written by Xin Yu-Ming and
(19:28):
Sun Li-Feng, a mother and son team who started an
interior design company called Dalian Jingyan Decoration Engineering and turned
it into a production company and they started working on
this film. When it originally came out, it had to
have been, yeah, dumped in theaters. So it looks like
it was acquired by a company called Tinanjin Yamakazaki Films.
(19:55):
And it was, quote unquote, dumped in theaters. Like, I
guess they acquired it and then realized it was a stinker.
I'm a little confused about this acquisition process. On August 5th,
and the film, with zero promotion, beyond a single poster design,
apparently made like a couple hundred dollars, you know, American.
But since it has made the rounds on Chinese social media...
(20:16):
on apps like Dubon, which is like a movie review
site in China, kind of like Letterboxd here, or Weibo,
which is a microblogging site.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Clips have been going viral. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
I think we should probably watch a little bit of
the trailer, Matt, just to kind of get a sense
of what we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Because thus far, I have not done it justice.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
And I really, it's kind of hard to describe, as
you might imagine, with its promise of being dreamlike.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
What if a terrible indie became a box office hit
because everyone couldn't stop talking about how bad it was?
That's what's happened to New Light, a Chinese animated film
pulling its weight against Hollywood blockbusters like Spider-Man Brand New
Day and The Odyssey. When it opened in China on
August 5th, no one wanted to watch it. It made
just 7,700 yuan in its first 10 days, with critics
(21:09):
and moviegoers panning it for its crude animation. I mean,
just look at it.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
And Matt, this clip came from Straits Time Online. I
just want to give credit where credit is due. I
thought they did a good job of kind of setting
it up a little further. But what are we looking
at here, Matt? It looks kind of something along the
lines of like if Teletubbies were animated using Nintendo 64
engine or whatever you would call it. It looks like
an animal theme thing. There's like a snake. There's some cows.
(21:37):
They're all different colors. The backgrounds look like Banjo-Kazooie. But
you'll notice from that clip that this movie is outpacing mega,
mega blockbusters like Spider-Man Brand New Day, which here in
the States, I think is on track to be like
the second highest grossing movie.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Of all time.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Just proportionally?
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Yeah, Matt, that's a good point. Proportionally, it's certainly not
raking in billions.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
But as of this article from IndieWire, when it was
published just a few days ago or about a week
ago on August 21st, The film has grossed the equivalent
of around $ 5 million USD, making it likely one of
the most profitable films ever and certainly one of the
most profitable in China. And we're talking in terms of
(22:22):
the budget that it costs, $ 200 versus $ 5 million profit.
This is kind of interesting considering that it seems like
a whole nother flavor of like on Internet creators like,
outpacing big hollywood blockbuster movies because like um let's see
there is a uh ridley scott movie that just hit
(22:43):
theaters called dog stars or dog i think it's called
dog stars that is absolutely flopping um and being completely
you know spanked by movies like obsession and the back.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Rooms yeah the dog stars is another one of these
post-apocalyptic movies that genuinely looks good I wonder what it is.
Maybe you can tell us if you're listening to this,
why would that movie pale in comparison to these, you know, massive,
you know, fantasy, mythic and fantasy driven stories?
Speaker 3 (23:18):
I think that it is supposed to be pretty good.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I've heard that it's like a fine movie and it's
got a great cast, but it just kind of, I
don't know, doesn't it feel like we sort of.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
There's a little bit of a apocalypse fatigue? Maybe.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Maybe like, you know, I don't know, like, survivalist kind
of apocalypse fatigue. Like, I just don't think people maybe
have as much of a taste for it anymore. And also,
it was promoted pretty poorly, the Ridley Scott film. Like,
it did worse than Coyote vs. Acme, which is a
film that I know that you quite enjoyed, Matt. It
(23:51):
was a film that was shelved by Warner Brothers, and
then finally saw the light of day, and it's, you know,
been making, I think, upwards of $ 15 million, but Dogsters,
I think, made like a pretty humiliating like five to
7 million on its opening weekend. So I don't know, man,
I think it's just fascinating. Like this, let's also maybe
talk a little bit about this.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
So bad. It's good phenomenon. I've always been a big
proponent of that.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
A huge fan of mystery science theater and just like find,
you know, everything is terrible, like weird kind of esoteric,
you know, trash films from the nineties and eighties. Like
there's a whole culture of cinema that sort of like
rips off other kinds of movies. Like mock busters is
what they're called. I think like, That company, I think
it's called the, what is it called? The Castle or
(24:37):
something like that.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
That made, you know, instead of Transformers, it's Transmorphers.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
They're like kind of literally capitalizing on people, like maybe
not realizing that it's not the movie they think it is.
But for example, in India, there's like a movie that
is their equivalent of the Terminator franchise, but there's something
about it that in its own right is fascinating. And
it's hard to make a movie, even to make a
bad one. And there's something about just like someone really
(25:03):
putting their blood, sweat and tears into something that is
pretty bad that I just find endearing and kind of
an interesting glimpse into.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
You know, the human condition.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Ah, well, maybe there is a pushback against that ultra glitzy,
high budget, you know, gorgeous looking, expansive views, way too
much CGI, even a little added AI here and there.
Maybe there's a human pushback against that kind of stuff
to see something that is reminiscent of kind of a
terrible video game.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
No, I think you're right, Matt.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
The backlash argument is super important because we have gotten
to a place at least with like big, huge movies
that like get all of the studio's advertising dollars and
attention and kind of take up most of the screens
at your traditional movie theater chains. where it's just sort
of a lack of choice and sort of feeling like
you've got these, you know, massive tentpole kind of universes
(25:58):
being forced upon you.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
And it's just starting to feel a little bit redundant.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
And, you know, anyone that's like into nerdy film fandom,
like knows there's a wealth of weird stuff out there.
It just doesn't always make it mainstream. But I think
with stuff like Obsession and The Back Rooms, like making
gazillions of dollars, And that guy Markiplier, I think is
his YouTube name, who had a film called Iron Lung
that he's completely self-financed. And that got released in theaters
(26:27):
through a grassroots push from him and his fans to
call theaters individually and say, you need to put this
on your screens.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
And they did.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
And it did fantastically well. So I just love that
we're seeing a little bit of a grassroots push into
the mainstream. But you also kind of want to like
hedge that a little bit because you don't want it
to push too far because then the grassroots thing kind
of becomes the mainstream. And then it's really easy for
those folks to just get kind of subsumed into the
Hollywood system. As you often see with like these franchise movies, right?
(26:57):
What happens when a new franchise movie drops? They'll hire
the young director who made like an indie film that
like did really well in the festivals. And then all
of a sudden now they're beholden to these big studios
to make 50 Marvel movies. Like the woman that made, um,
I think it was called Eternals. It was a Marvel
film that really did not do well and apparently wasn't
(27:18):
very good. But she made a film that won multiple Oscars.
And it was a very small budget film called Nomadland
about a woman traveling around in like a kind of
a caravan community of mobile homes starring Frances McDormand. She
also directed Hamnet, which is a recent mega Oscar buzz film.
so she kind of escaped that a little bit because
(27:39):
she had such a bad experience with that that she
luckily was not signed on to do a whole bunch more,
and she was able to kind of get back to
doing what she wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
But you do.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Often have young filmmakers that are attracted by these Marvel deals,
and then all of a sudden they don't get to
make their work anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
They're just working for somebody else.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
And a lot of those films are made by a
committee anyway, so you very rarely get the creative value
of having a real creative visionary attached to it. So, again,
I know it's a little bit of a tangent, but
I do think it is interesting that we're seeing that
backlash that you're describing.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
And I think it's a cool sign.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I think what's happened is, you know, Chloe's doing the
right thing there, right? But we're so... maybe bored with
the hero's journey, the like cut and paste version of
the hero's journey. And you know, every one of these
movies happens in the same way and it's kind of
the same movie over and over and over again. You
just change some things out and now you add a
(28:34):
new portal into the situation and the threshold you reach
always involves a portal. So let's find something new string screenwriters, please.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
Oh, and speaking of portals, Matt, I am quite excited
about the film adaptation and also of, intellectual property this
one i think is okay though of the valve video
game portal uh that i think we all really love
where you're literally shooting a portal gun and then jumping
through these portals and doing these cool little kind of
space relationship puzzles um that is apparently in development from
(29:07):
jj abrams company with uh the back rooms guy kane
parsons attached to direct and i watched the back rooms
the other night on my own and i thought it
was pretty fantastic I was not expecting to like it
as much as I did. I thought it kind of
ended with a bit of a fizzle, but these practical
set designs and just the kind of cinematography and the
genuine creepiness of it and the score. So I am
(29:29):
excited to see this, whatever form it takes, this kind
of creeping into the mainstream a little more of some
off the.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Beaten path creators. Well, let's take a quick break, hear
a word from our sponsor, and then we'll come back
with more strange.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
News and we have returned welcome back to ice road
truckers because that's where we're headed guys Remember our August discussion?
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Sorry, I had to do this.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Remember our August discussion about Immigration and Customs Enforcement's purchasing
via government contract of millions of dollars worth of shock gloves? Well,
guess what? We're heading back to the old Department of
Homeland Security Acquisition Planning Forecast System. Say it with me. A-P-F-S.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
A-P-F-S.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
It's something we should all learn.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
APFS.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's something we should all learn and keep track of.
It's real exciting stuff. We're jumping in to a new one.
This time, F2026075113. Sounds innocuous. It's just an F and
then a string of numbers. What could it mean?
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Do tell.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Well, it was published to the APFS system on August
27th of this year. Its component is described as ICE, OD, OFTP.
The place of performance, Noel, is Fort Benning, Georgia, the
estimated dollar range between $ 1 and $ 2 million U.S. The
anticipated award winner, or the time that the government contract
(31:08):
would be paid out to someone, is Q4 fiscal year 2026,
so just a little later this year. Here's the requirements title.
Boston Dynamics Spot Robots Procurement.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Hmm.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Wait a minute. Hold on a second.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Are you talking about robot dogs?
Speaker 2 (31:29):
I'm talking about robot dogs, Noel. Here's the description.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
As Ben would say, we called it.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah, here's the description. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a
requirement to purchase Boston Dynamics spot robots and accessories to
support public safety and law enforcement operations by providing a
remotely operated robotic capability for inspection, situational awareness, and hazard
(31:56):
assessment in environments that may pose risks to personnel.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yikes. Or shall I say woof? Woof indeed.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Now it sounds scary.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Right.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
We've seen some of the things that ICE has been
doing out on these streets and in homes, you know,
people's homes where they just kind of go in there.
Some people have been murdered. Most have not. Most of
this just been rounded up. A lot of them have
been sent off to different countries, sometimes of their origin,
sometimes countries they've never heard of, sometimes going into prisons, horrific,
(32:29):
terrible prisons, you know, just generally not fun, not good
things for humans, usually for humans. And of course, you
can argue for days about what specific human did what
specific thing or did not do any specific things. But,
you know, you'll just get all blue in the face
and be angry and.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
That's what happens.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Let's look at the bigger picture, the bigger trends. That's
what we're going to do here. Because this is not
the only contract that we're going to be talking about today,
but it is the first. So let's jump to USA Today,
an article written by Anthony Thompson, August 29th, 2026. ICE
to spend up to $ 2 million on robot dogs to
support operations, not arrests. Not arrests. According to the planning document,
(33:14):
Anthony writes, the robots are intended to improve officer safety
during border security and other enforcement operations, not to apprehend people.
Not to apprehend people. I don't understand why. Well, the
nightmare scenario is you've got robot dogs coming at you
the same way you've got these ICE officers with their
shot gloves coming at you, right? That's kind of a nightmare.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
So you're saying they're more for like recon kind of
or like sending out a probe almost?
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Kind of like recon. Being able to get into places
that maybe a particular officer doesn't want to go into
or maybe a group of officers don't want to go
serve their warrant or whatever their version of a warrant
is in a specific place that's confined. or maybe dangerous, hazardous,
that kind of thing. That's at least what the contract
description is saying. And here's the other thing to keep
(34:05):
in mind. There are sheriff's departments, federal law enforcement organizations,
state law enforcement organizations that already use these platforms, as
they call them, robots. And they use them for these
kinds of things because they have cameras on them. They
have sensors that can detect things like gases, radiation. different vibrations,
(34:27):
potential explosions, all that kind of stuff. They can detect
all of these things, and you don't have to have
a human being in danger, right? So maybe a big plus. Maybe.
Maybe a big plus.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
It just feels like another thing that Ben often says,
which is mission creep, where you lay out this idea,
this is how we're intending to use these things, but
then gradually that changes once you've got them and you
can kind of do whatever you want because there's no
accountability yes have you seen metalhead matt what is it
(35:02):
metalhead it was the fifth episode of the fourth season
of black mirror it's in black and white uh about
45 minutes it's about a post-apocalyptic world um where these
boston dynamics robots are essentially have Have outlived the apocalypse
and don't really have anyone controlling them anymore.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
And now they're just kind of out killing, you know, survivors. Oh, God, no.
Hunting and stalking survivors.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I may have watched it.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Very, very, very much inspired by the kinds of things
we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah, I may have watched that and put it out
of my mind. I'm not really sure. God. So this
is the last reminder from the article here. The proposed
robot dog purchase comes days after ICE finalized a $ 16. 7
million contract for thousands of electric shock gloves for officers,
(35:57):
part of the agency's broader efforts to expand the equipment
available during immigration enforcement operations. Noel, I hear what you're
saying with, like, the slippery slope of it all. But
here's the thing. We don't really have to worry about
these robots, you know, the... inevitable patrolling robot dogs. We
don't have to lose sleep over the shock gloves. We
(36:20):
don't really need to panic over this stuff. We don't
need to panic. But just to make sure, let's keep
looking through a couple more contracts because I think there
might be a bigger picture here that we're either missing
or that we need to put together. Here's another one. F-2025070784.
(36:43):
This is a United States Coast Guard contract. The estimated
dollar range, Noel, is over $ 100 million. So it could
be a billion dollars. We don't know.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
It's just a rounding error. It's fine.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
That's as high as they go, by the way. It
goes up to over $ 100 million, and then it could
just be infinity. We just don't know. It is a
government contract, after all. This one's going to be going
out Q2 fiscal year 2027. Here's the requirements title, again,
for the Coast Guard. Medium-range unmanned aircraft systems. Here's the description.
(37:20):
The medium-range UAS will be required to support airborne intelligence, surveillance,
and reconnaissance operations across the United States Coast Guard 11
statuatory missions. Hmm. Okay, so this is the coast, right?
The coast of the United States and all of its territories.
(37:41):
you know, a lot of people live in cities near
the coasts, but still maybe this one isn't one we
need to worry about. They're just buying a bunch of drones,
you know, over a hundred million dollars worth of drones
to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance on the coasts.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
So we have to remember these are distinct entities. We've
got the department of Homeland security ice functions under them.
We've got the U S coast guard, um, They're also
in the Department of Homeland Security's APFS system. So there
is some kind of connection there. It is Homeland Security,
by the way, right? It's the Coast Guard. It's the
(38:20):
coast of the homeland. They're guarding it. When we're thinking
about building these giant border walls to keep human beings
and vehicles out, now we're going to have all these
unmanned aircraft on all of the coasts making sure people
stay out. Does it ever make you feel like maybe
they're trying to keep us in?
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Okay, I got you, Matt. I was thinking more keeping
folks out.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Maybe it's both.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Yeah, what does that look like, though?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Well, in my mind, if you've got all of these
automated systems constantly keeping track, constantly surveilling the coasts, we're
also talking about a couple other things we're about to
get to, but it's starting to paint a picture of
Lots and lots of automated eyes, you know, robot dogs,
unmanned aerial vehicles, keeping eyes on things. Let's go on
(39:13):
to the next one because I think maybe we're okay.
Maybe we can relax. Let's go to this next one. F2026073978.
And again, you can look these up. You can go
to the APFS system and type it into the search.
You can find this.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Check it out. if you want.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
The component here is ICE. The estimated dollar range is
over $ 100 million again. The requirements title is Single Award
Construction Contract, also known as a SAC, S-A-C-C. Here's the descriptions.
Work under this requirement shall include all management, personnel, labor, equipment,
(39:51):
and services necessary to design, renovate, and or construct new facilities,
as well as repair existing infrastructure. This effort includes the
ability to provide support to various ICE locations. Places of performance,
here's where it gets interesting, Noel, because we're talking about
construction for over $ 100 million. Places of performance include Batavia,
(40:12):
New York, El Centro, California, El Paso, Texas, Florence, Arizona,
Fort Benning, Georgia, Los Fresnos, Texas, Miami, Florida, Oakdale, Louisiana, St. Thomas, U.S.
Virgin Islands, Huntsville, Texas, Guantanamo Bay, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Broadview, Illinois,
and Honolulu, Hawaii. These are all existing or going to
(40:35):
be brand new ice facilities that are being constructed. And
there's not a lot of information in the description. It's
one of those, hey, once you sign on to this,
once we give you the contract, you're going to get
the details, which is how it is with all of these.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
By the way.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
Man, how far a walk is it instead of deporting
these folks just to turn these things into, like, labor camps?
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Uh-huh. Again, maybe to keep us in, inside something that
isn't yet.
Speaker 4 (41:06):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Hmm. Hey, look, look, I'm being super conspiratorial and weird.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Just having thoughts. Just having thoughts.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
And finally, I promise, this is the last one.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
APFS.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Here's the forecast record number.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
FPS.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Again, look it up. This is for ICE. Again, place
of performance, Washington, D.C., estimated dollar range over $ 100 million. Requirements,
HSI data and analytical support services. The description is where
it gets a little hairy for me. Here we go.
(41:45):
The Department of Homeland Security has a need to obtain
use of the contractual support for data and analytical services
to optimize ICE operational support functions to enable mission success. Now,
that's some … Translate. That's some governmental gobbledygook military speak, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
They need some IT, basically. They need some data and
(42:08):
analytical services. But why do they need them? Here's why.
This is written in the description. Services include but are
not limited to conducting data extractions to identify unusual trends,
data anomalies, and control breakdowns.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
No surveillance. It's surveillance.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
It's surveillance so far.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Here's more.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Identifying possible trends, patterns, and links to automate methods, again,
to automate. To automate methods for detecting, monitoring, analyzing, summarizing,
and graphically representing patterns of relationships between entities.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Sorry, Matt. Pre-crime is the term that I meant to say.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
You ready for the pre-crime sentence that is written verbatim?
This is verbatim in the descriptions. identifying potentially criminal and
fraudulent behavior before crime and fraud can materialize.
Speaker 5 (43:08):
Woof.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Yeah, let's keep us in the brand new pre-crime prison.
They want to build a prison.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
The Panopticon. Ahem.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
A giant prison where we all generate taxes for more prison. Hey,
just kidding. That's not what's happening. You don't have to
worry about any of this stuff. It's all going to
be fine.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Matt, I'm getting the sense that you're being sarcastic when
you say these things. It's not real.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
None of it's real.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
Well, now that's true. That's true, depending on how you
look at it.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
I've been reading a lot of existential philosophy lately just to.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Kind of get my head in that direction. None of
it's real. Only it's painfully real, let's be real.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
This is all a big nothing burger. Anyway, head on
over to apfs-cloud.dhs.gov and search away. What you find will
keep you up at night and make you want to
buy things. So, hey, here's some sponsors.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
All right, Matt, to piggyback really quickly on your dark
AF nothing burger that you were just talking about. You
guys remember Milo Yiannopoulos?
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Remember that dude?
Speaker 2 (44:23):
It sounds so familiar.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
Well, he used to be all over the TV.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
He also had a brief dalliance with Kanye and then
turned on him and narked his beefy voice. dentist out
for supplying Kanye with laughing gas and getting him addicted.
But no, originally, like back in 2016, Milo Yiannopoulos was
a huge supporter of the Trump administration or campaign. He
(44:48):
was hired by Steve Bannon to write for Breitbart. And
a big part of his effectiveness is the fact that
he was openly gay. and kind of, you know, bucked
the trend or was sort of this like fly.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
In the ointment of what it meant to be liberal.
It's like, no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (45:04):
All of these like snowflake liberals, you know, screaming for
LGBTQ rights and transgender for everyone or whatever the hell
they called it back then. Having this person being a
far right, you know, kind of firebrand and also being
openly gay kind of allowed them, to neuter a lot
of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (45:24):
You know, it was very, very effective. And he's a
very good speaker.
Speaker 4 (45:28):
He would do all these trolly kind of campus visits and,
you know, rallies and things like that. And this was
before Charlie Kirk, by the way. Milo was sort of
known for going to campuses. And I think there was
a big news story where like a campus sort of
canceled his appearance.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
And then he went on and trolled the college and
all of this stuff.
Speaker 4 (45:49):
Anyway, one of the big things that he was a
proponent of regarding the Trump administration was regularly speaking out
about immigration reform in pretty gnarly and aggressive terms. I'll
just give you a taste of one of his tweets
from back in the day. There is one concrete thing
(46:09):
we must insist on this administration delivering.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
We have got to deport millions and millions and millions
of people. Without that, Nothing else matters. Well, Milo Yiannopoulos
has just been deported back to the UK. Apparently, at
least if you believe a word she says, which I
certainly don't, but I have a hard time believing that
(46:34):
she didn't do this. Laura Loomer apparently narked him out
to ICE and DHS as having overstayed his visa in
the United States of America. And they had... You know,
as a lot of folks within this right wing world
seem to have. There's a lot of infighting. There's a
(46:55):
lot of, you.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
Know, schisms and fracturing. And this is just another good
example of that. And he was apparently quite aggressively detained
at the Louis Armstrong Airport. in Louisiana and has now
been sent.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
Back to the United Kingdom.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
Laura Loomer posted something real gnarly about that as well,
saying he was going back to hang out with all
the Muslims over there that he was so fond of
for whatever thing he did. That's a reference to it.
Either way, there's no way of looking at that other
than being racist. Now, Milo, in that interview with Piers Morgan,
is walking back all of his previous statements now that
(47:34):
he's been harmed. and treated aggressively, saying he is now
very ashamed of having supported the Trump administration, and he
called into question the effectiveness of their drive to deport
millions and millions and millions of illegal immigrants. He referred
to his detainment apprehension experience as being humiliating, disorienting, physically degrading.
(47:57):
He says, I was frightened, and I don't think I've
ever been frightened like that before. I didn't really understand
the physical reality of how institutionalized the brutality is in America.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
I don't know, man. That's all I got to say
about that.
Speaker 4 (48:11):
It's just kind of a fascinating view into how a
lot of these folks that say this horrific stuff can
change their tune pretty quickly when it affects them.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
And that's what we've been seeing across the board, right?
as people have started to see brutal realities play out
that don't meet their version of reality, right? They start
to change their thoughts because they're thinking critically because we
humans are all capable of that. It just sometimes takes
a lot to break us out of the spell we're under.
(48:44):
And I use that phrase because it is kind of programming.
All of this stuff we get exposed to, right, in
our social media bubble, all the stuff we hear in
our personal bubble, right, our social bubble, Not the one
on media, but the one that's around you physically. All
that stuff we get exposed to kind of becomes our programming.
And that's how the world is. When we look at
(49:06):
a thing, it is the thing that my social bubble
believes it is. When we look at an action taking place,
it is that thing that I believe.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
You mean like the person holding your face to the ground. Yes.
Speaker 4 (49:17):
And pulling your arms behind your back. and, you know,
zip-tying your wrists together?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Yeah. Good police holding down bad person who was going
to do something terrible and needs to leave country, or.
Speaker 3 (49:30):
And now it's me, and I know me. I know
what's in my heart. I'm good. And this is not
what I signed up for. Right?
Speaker 2 (49:37):
Well, it's the same with good soldier.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
It's main character syndrome, where it's like when things are
happening to other people, it is so easy to dehumanize them.
And that is so easily weaponized and so freaking dangerous. Dude.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
Oh, why can't I think of the whole line? I
have to pull something out of my brain.
Speaker 4 (49:57):
Well, why are you doing that, Matt, to the point
of what we're talking about right now? Another quote that
Unopolis said to Morgan, which I think sums it up,
and then I'll leave it at that, is, I think
maybe in the past I've been a little bit blasé
when people talked about their trauma. but I get it
now and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Dude, everybody stop what you're doing. Pause this even and
go listen to brother Ali morning in America, M O
U R N I N G in America. And really
like watch the video to get a sense. And it's
a super simple concept, the difference between a soldier and
(50:32):
a terrorist. And what do those two things mean? And
what are the real differences between those two things? And
then attempt to apply that to someone who is wearing
a mask and in an ice uniform versus someone who
is driving their truck home. And just what is the
difference between those two things? And just start to just
(50:55):
really work on it because it's a change in perspective
that's required. And this is all kind of part of
the last little thing I want to get to. And again,
I'm so sorry. We're going back to the APFS thing. F-2025-07-2206.
This was published December 8th, 2025. It has to do
(51:15):
with advertising services. The estimated dollar range is over $ 100 million.
Here it is.
Speaker 3 (51:24):
The U.S.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
Coast Guard requires advertising services to support its military recruiting objectives.
Services include media purchasing, creative asset production, social media content management,
website services, brand management, and outreach support. A over $ 100
million contract for advertising services for the Coast Guard recruitment.
(51:47):
Here's why it's a little weird. I mean, Coast Guard
has always had this kind of contract. This contract is
just re-upping the previous contract. giant advertising contract that the
Coast Guard had before. That's all this is. Before, they
had a group called LMD, LMD Agency. You can look
(52:10):
them up, lmdagency.com. You can read about them on the
About Us page. We are fearless thinkers, creators, and builders
who know how to ignite change, transform brands, and deliver
measurable results. They were formed in 1976. You can read
about their history and what they do. They have a
lot of different clients. They've done a lot of stuff.
(52:30):
Not a lot of stuff. They've done some stuff for
government organizations. They've worked, again, they were the previous holders
of this whole Coast Guard contract to make their advertising
for them. They've also been a huge part of the
Department of Homeland Security. Now, this is what I want
to share really quickly as kind of a last thought
(52:52):
for this episode. We're going to play it directly off
of the LMD Agency's YouTube page. We're going to do
the whole thing in full, and you're just going to
hear it. You're not going to get to watch it,
but you can go and watch it if you want to.
You just need to search for LMD Agency, and this
is all one word.
Speaker 4 (53:12):
Ready?
Speaker 2 (53:13):
Y-I-C-S-E-E-S-A-Y. Y-I-C-S-A. It's a P-S-A, that was created with government
dollars via contract. So we're going to watch the whole thing.
It's only a minute. But again, it was made with
government contract dollars, so I think we're good to play it.
You ready? This is a part of their Department of
(53:34):
Homeland Security campaign. This was published January 23, 2020, just
before the pandemic thing was happening, right? I believe this
is even before we were all forced to go indoors.
Here's the campaign.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
Why?
Speaker 6 (53:52):
Why take a chance?
Speaker 3 (53:54):
Why risk a mistake?
Speaker 6 (53:56):
Why say something? We all have reasons why we choose
to ignore the things that give us pause, that seem
out of place, that don't feel right. The word why
can either paralyze us or empower us to stand up
and protect what we love.
Speaker 4 (54:11):
So if you see something, why do you say something?
Speaker 3 (54:14):
I see safe for my family. I see safe for
my friends.
Speaker 6 (54:19):
I see say so that they are safe.
Speaker 3 (54:22):
We see say for each other.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
I see say, because all of this matters.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
We all have.
Speaker 6 (54:31):
Something worth protecting. A why that unifies this community. We're
all a part of. So protect your.
Speaker 3 (54:40):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (54:41):
I mean, that's certainly a slogan that we hear at
airports a lot. Right.
Speaker 3 (54:46):
But in this context, It's kind of more about narking
out your neighbors, right? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:51):
If you see someone that's not fitting in line, doing
the things that we're all supposed to be doing, say something.
Speaker 3 (55:00):
You better tattle. I just want to remind everyone again.
I think I talked about this in the last one.
Speaker 4 (55:03):
There was a recent kind of, I don't know, very
glossy Photoshop designed kind of thing that was released by
the Department of Homeland Security saying, That was a picture
of Trump kind of giving his classic Trump grimace under
an umbrella and said, did you remain loyal?
Speaker 3 (55:22):
Question mark.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
Yeah, we're headed towards something, y'all. That video, by the way,
only has 234 views on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (55:31):
Oh, you know, it also only had about 230 or
500 something crazy low amount of views. That BBC documentary
that caused Donald Trump to sue.
Speaker 3 (55:41):
Them for a gazillion dollars.
Speaker 4 (55:44):
In Discovery, during that case, it came out the viewing
figures for that particular episode were incredibly, bizarrely low.
Speaker 2 (55:52):
Weird.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
Weird.
Speaker 4 (55:53):
It's another example of, like, people only really paid attention
to it because he sued. You know, what is it,
the Streisand effect?
Speaker 1 (56:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (56:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (56:03):
Um.
Speaker 2 (56:04):
I guess that's it.
Speaker 3 (56:05):
Yeah, I guess it is.
Speaker 4 (56:06):
And I know that my nickname for Max, the cat
in the hat, Williams from the top of the show,
isn't going to make a whole heck of a lot
of sense. But I'm going to save that story for
next time because we had a bit of a theme
in this episode, it turned out.
Speaker 3 (56:20):
So keep that one in mind. We'll be hearing more
about the cat in the hat on next week's episode.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
And don't forget, this is all make them upsies. Don't
worry about it. Everything's fine. If you see something, you
better say something. Hey, if you've seen something and you
want to say something to us, why not reach out?
There's lots of ways to do it.
Speaker 3 (56:40):
There sure are.
Speaker 4 (56:42):
You can send us an internet missive by way of
The Handel's Conspiracy Stuff or Conspiracy Stuff Show.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
We have a phone number. It is 1-833-STD-WYTK. It's a
voicemail system. You've got three minutes. Say whatever you want.
You might show up in one of our listener mail episodes.
They come out on Thursdays. Look for them. Look for
your own voice if you choose to call in. Hey,
you can also send us an email.
Speaker 4 (57:04):
We are the entities that read all the things that
you send to us by way of the Internet or telephonically.
Speaker 3 (57:12):
Conspiracy at iHeartRadio.com.
Speaker 2 (57:33):
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 the stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello and welcome back to the show. My name is Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
My name is Noel.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Our colleague Ben is on adventures, but will be returning shortly.
We are joined today by our super producer, a guest producer,
also regular producer now, kind of awesome that it's that way,
Max the Freight Train Williams.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Max the Cat in the Hat Williams.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Also, you are you, you are here, and that makes
this the stuff they don't want you to know. No, no, no.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, yes, yes, yes. We are recording this episode on
today for us, Wednesday, September 2nd. And that's pretty exciting.
It's a good Wednesday. What do you think, Noel? Good Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
A jolly fine Wednesday. Thank you for asking, Matt, the
Dolph of the Captive.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
But, of course, if you are hearing this, it is
a Monday, and that means you are getting your news
that is strange and important. And I guess we should
start with something. Maybe, I don't know, I've got some
dark things today, Noel.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Also, my condolences for it being Monday for all y'all
out there. Wednesday, where we sit currently, kind of rules.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
So much promise. The weekend coming. That's right.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
That's why we do these on Wednesdays, because it just
feels better, man, on Wednesdays. But no, no, no. Let's
get into something that is a little dark. It is
the most recent in somewhat of a string of deaths.
So get ready. We're talking about death in New York
City of someone high up in the financial world there.
(02:07):
So let's talk about this. This comes to us via
Reuters on September 1st. Yesterday, as we record, Bank of
America vice president killed in Times Square stabbing.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Whoa, wait, was it that stabbing with that lady?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
With the double knives, the double butcher knives? Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
I had no idea that there was somebody newsworthy related
to that. I just saw clips on TikTok of the
police taking her down and it was intense. And man,
this is like classic. This woman is like literally swinging
knives around and coming at these police officers who, you know,
tase her to subdue her. And then she just does
an absolute freak out charge and they shoot her.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, it was an intense situation for everyone involved. And
just to that point that there was, you know, quote,
someone of note involved, right? If you make enough money
or are important enough to the, let's say, political or
economic machine, then your name is going to get noted
(03:09):
when something bad happens to you.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Can I also acknowledge that it is such a part
and parcel of the, like, news cycle and internet programming
that our brains are subject to that I said someone
of note was killed as opposed to just.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Someone was killed. Like, that's bad already. The whole thing
is bad.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I just want to apologize for being such a sheeple, man. But,
I mean, it's a thing, you know?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
There are horrific things happening around us all the time,
and we all now have access to all of it
because of these things that we hold in our hands, right?
And these machines that we connect ourselves to. It's a
little bit of everything all the time.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Bo Burnham.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Everything everywhere. All at once. Oh, see?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Excellent film. Still haven't seen it.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Also. What? Are you joking me?
Speaker 5 (03:53):
I am.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I'm literally about to watch that movie.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Oh, you're going to love it. Watch it with your family.
Your kid will like it, too.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
And also, can I just apologize a second time for
saying sheeple?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (04:01):
Like 1995?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Like, carry on, please, man.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And I'm going to apologize on behalf of Noel Ford.
apologizing in general.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Hey, whoa, the snake is eating its own tail and
I think I like it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
All right. So, but this is just an intense situation
that occurred where one person was put into critical condition
and another person lost their life because someone was going
through something, was having a really bad day and made
some terrible choices. It was just a horrific thing to
read about and to see, especially when Something like this
(04:37):
occurring in Times Square, which is, Noel, and correct me
if I'm wrong here, but that feels like the beating
heart of New York City's tourism thing that it has
going for itself.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Yeah, I mean, it seems like a lot of the
people who live in New York don't really go there
unless they work. there it's not exactly a place you
go to hang unless you're going to like see a
broadway show um but it absolutely is where the tourists
flock to it's where all the like double-decker bus tours
pick up it's where like the m & m store
is i mean it is very it's about as touristy
(05:08):
as it gets and has ever been frankly i mean
it used to be back in the day that Times
Square was like super slummy and had all these like
porno theaters and strip clubs and stuff. And now it
has truly been just gussied up and made as shiny
and new looking as it possibly.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Can be in such an urban situation as, you know,
New York City. But it also is a cluster of
humanity where odd things can go down from time to time.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, this incident occurred in broad daylight as Reuters describes it.
And it was just a, it's a horrific thing to
all of a sudden be occurring. Let's quickly talk about Aaron.
Aaron Piacenti was 32 years old. She was, according to
her LinkedIn profile, a vice president in Bank of America's
(05:57):
business selection and conflicts unit. And she was just there
at work because Bank of America's Manhattan office is right there,
essentially right next to Times Square. So right in the
same place at one Bryant Park. And in, We're talking
about this one just to say it doesn't matter who
you are. It doesn't matter where you are. Something crazy
(06:21):
can happen to you at any time, and that's not
to scare you. That's just to almost sit in that,
to meditate on that fact. And in my mind, to
try and get rid of a little bit of the
fear associated with that thing, that thing of like there's
impending doom potentially at all times, but also there's impending
doom at all times.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Well, I think you're right, Matt. There's a couple ways
of looking at that.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Like you can live in it and, you know, stew
in it and force you to perhaps not want to
leave your.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
House, but you're just something horrible can happen to you
in your house.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
So it's honestly like the, if you kind of look
at it as like, we're all on an even playing
field when it comes to bad shit, kind of can
empower you a little bit to just sort of live
your life, man.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
You know, that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I agree with you there, man. And, There are horrific
things that can occur to one or two people or
a handful of people, and there are also horrific things
that can occur to a lot of people, even to
all of us sometimes. So we're going to talk today
about some of those things that are going to affect
a lot more of us than an unfortunate handful of
folks in Times Square. So why don't we hear a
(07:31):
word from our sponsors and come back with that stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
And we're back. Matt, I thought I might cut the
darkness a little bit before we dive into the abyss
with a fun little clip from the Internet and a
classic comedy film. This is from a blooper from said film, actually,
and it's going to set up what I want to
talk about beautifully.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Oh, jingle jangle.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Apollo mends the reins to begin his daily race.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Ah, greetings.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Jingle jangle.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Apollo. Jingle jangle?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
All right, sorry, sorry, sorry. All hail Xanthia.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Hail Xanthia.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Oh, fire upon us all. Lest the picker be true. Rub-a-dub-dub.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Shout out to Jolo Trulio I think I'm saying his
name right a member of the state you know sketch
comedy crew from back in the day from the 90s
and also he's on Reno 911 and he plays a
LARPer in this scene that is an outtake from the
movie Role Models with Paul Rudd and I'm going to
(08:59):
be bad and just say McLovin because I can't remember
the young man's name. He's not a young man anymore.
And I actually follow him on Instagram. He plays bass
in a band. It seems like a good hang, but
I cannot for the life of me remember his government name.
But LARPing, Matt, you got any relationship with LARPing in
your life? Because Gen Z has turned it into something
(09:22):
of a diss.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
First of all, it's Christopher Mintz-Ploss. Thank you so much.
And that is ringing a bell now. Okay. And second
of all, I love the concept of LARPing, yet I
have still never partaken in the art of LARPing. I
do so very badly want to have, you know, some
kind of beanbags or something that I can lightning bolt
(09:46):
people with. That sounds really fun.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Lightning bolt.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
That makes sound in your mouth while you do it.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But yeah, it looks like so much freaking fun to me.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Well, in case anyone doesn't know, LARPing is actually an acronym.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
We love acronyms here on stuff they don't want you
to know and it stands for live action role playing
uh it's when folks dress up uh I guess there's
different categories of LARP but typically I see uh it's
having to do with more renaissance Fair type stuff where
you're doing sort of like fighting with foam swords while
decked out and, you know, armor and.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Things like this.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
But Gen Z has co-opted the term LARPing and turned
it into an insult. I think along the lines of
how cosplaying has been used and still is being used
to refer to someone who is inauthentic or being a poser.
The LARPing community has a bit of a problem with this,
(10:40):
and I can see why. Cosplaying, I guess, makes sense
because you are dressing up as something that you're not.
So I do understand that term, cosplaying as some sort
of crusader or a freedom fighter or being like a
wolf in sheep's clothing or whatever. LARPing is just taking,
I guess it is a fun word. I get why
they might want to use it. But instead of, you know,
(11:01):
referring to D & D costumes and Ren Fairs and stuff,
people are using it more as a term to call
out people who they think are like posers or being phony.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
And that's funny.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
I actually was made aware of this for the first
time when I was, it was some kind of, Instagram
reel where it was a dude, uh, doing one of
those picture and picture videos where he's like kind of
cut out on the side.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
And then there's like picture video playing in the background
talking about this.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Um, mountain climbing store like an outfitter store somewhere in
china and about how like the only way to get
into it is to actually climb hand over hand up
this boulder that is like in the entryway and you
have to climb up the boulder to get to the
second floor where they sell all the stuff uh and
the term the guy used to categorize like fake climbers
(11:50):
was climbing larpers And some folks took issue with that
in the comments or saying as a longtime LARPer, I
take issue with your use of the word as a negative.
And the guy actually responded, ah, duly noted. I will
think of a different one for next time. So appreciated that.
I guess it is sort of in line with using
cosplay because folks who are cosplayers, professional cosplayers, they probably
(12:12):
don't like the term that they use to describe a
thing that they love being used as a term of
abuse for someone doing something shady. This does seem like
kind of an evolution of that.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I would just break it down as in saying, have
you ever, especially as a kid, gotten some sticks and
did a sword fight?
Speaker 6 (12:31):
Of course.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
You ever do that?
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I did it yesterday.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I do it alone. Imagine custom-built buffer swords, like foam swords,
but they have a somewhat stiff inner. part but then
the outside is covered with thick foam of some sort
and you can get a halberd you can get a
bow staff you can get a broad sword or daggers
now imagine having an intricate system of points where if
(12:59):
you get hit in certain parts of your body by
certain weapons you're going to take a certain amount of
damage and you're keeping that in your mind as you're
having an actual sword fight like you were with a
kid with sticks but with a grown adult as a
grown adult.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
It's kind of like a nerdier version of fencing If
that were even possible.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Kind of the one that I almost got into or
was really intrigued by was called Nero. I can't remember
what the acronym stands for, but it was basically that
it was foam weapons fighting and a point system. And
but then there's a story also involved that you get
to play along with.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Exactly. And that is the key.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
I mean, much like having a Dungeon Master and Dungeons
and Dragons campaigns, you are playing along with a storyline.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It is an.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
RPG in real life, RPG IRL. So that is where
the live action role playing part comes in.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I think it's awesome. I love nerddoms of all types.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
I've certainly got my own, as I know you do, Matt,
with your magic cards. But I also know that you're
super into like boxing and hitting the heavy bag and,
you know, doing that kind of fitness stuff and that
your kid's really into martial arts. And I just want
to point out, too, that there is an element of
martial arts that uses, like, fake swords for fighting and
ways of having competitions without being concerned that anyone might
(14:15):
get hurt.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Well, yeah, my kids in Songham Taekwondo have learned, gosh,
six different weapons now, like including a bo staff and nunchucks.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
I remember the nunchuckos from karate, from karate class, because
they're the foam.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
They're like, they're kind of foam.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
They they're they're not real weapons, but they're you know,
they're weighted to an extent and the kids are learning
the form. So like the ways to swing the sword
and like what's a number seven and then what's a
what is a number nine stab and all these things.
And then how do you put those together to make
this really incredible, intricate dance kind of with this weapon?
(14:52):
It's super cool.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Matt, did I tell you that I took my first
beginner Tai Chi class last week?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You did, and you told me I need to go
because it's like slow motion martial arts.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
It's awesome. I love it. And speaking of other kinds
of fandoms and nerddoms, the teacher is a very lovely
and very nerdy burlesque dancer.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Oh, awesome. Who wears a YMCA uniform while it's teaching
the class. But it did come up at the end
of the class that she does burlesque stuff. And that
is another kind of fun little niche world of fandom
and entertainment and also athleticism.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Um, forgive me. What is a YMCA uniform?
Speaker 4 (15:31):
A blue shirt, kind of, you know, gray slacks. Not
even slacks, like stretch pants.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I guess they can be whatever. Yeah. But there's a
blue YMCA shirt, at least for the YMCA that I
go to.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
You're talking about the actual place, the YMCA, or the
physical locations.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, where it's fun to stay at.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
In my mind, I was imagining the song, but like
a uniform of this song somehow.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Oh, like wearing an Indian headdress or a police officer's uniform.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
Yeah, no, that doesn't come into play too often at
the old Y. But it is fun to stay at it,
and I do hang out there pretty regularly. I was
just there last night.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
And I'm going to go to the next– I'm in
on this Tai Chi business.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
I've really been enjoying the yoga, but the Tai Chi
is a little bit of a different way of kind
of using your body as a form of guided meditation
while also getting a little exercise, lifting weights with your
own limbs, as it were.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
I learned– it's funny, too. My girlfriend was joking with me, like,
you're going to learn how to sweep the leg. Sh * *
you not. The first Tai Chi move we were taught
was called brush the leg. Nice.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
And it actually is a move where you sort of
pivot on your foot to the left. And it's meant
to be when someone's coming at you and then you
sort of brush their leg aside and hold your hand
out and say, stop. And then you disable them with
your mind.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Oh, nice, dude. That's a little more advanced, though. I
haven't gotten there yet. But, man, I just wanted to
lead off with a little.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
I really, honestly, this is just an excuse to play
that clip because I can watch that thing over and
over again. And we didn't get to it, but Paul
Rudd just utterly cracks up and just goes, Rub-a-dub-dub, get
out of here.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Hey, and you know what?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
The moral.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
That exists within that movie is it's these guys who
think LARPing is a big joke, but they go along
and they do it because they got to watch this kid.
But then in the end, they start to understand, oh,
this is about creativity. This is about a community and
opening yourself up. And if you just allow yourself to
give in to this kind of fantasy, silly world, it
(17:30):
becomes incredibly rewarding. And that's what LARPing is all about.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
I never in a million years would have thought that
I would go by myself to the YMCA and take
like a, you know, sweat into the oldies kind of
class because I would have thought it.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Was like nerdy or I would have looked stupid or
something like that. But that's what I do now with
my free time.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
And it's like a great way to meet interesting people,
feel like you're part of a community and just kind of,
I don't know, get outside your comfort zone because the
older I get, the less I'm embarrassed about just about anything.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
So that is one good thing that comes along with
getting old.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
If you're a fan of that old Bible thing and
you're listening to this, everybody out there is your neighbor.
It's not just the folks that live next to you.
And you can treat them as though they are the
folks that live next to you. And, like, you care
about them. And maybe you actually will care about them
if you act like it. It's pretty cool, for sure.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
It is cool. It is cool.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
What you got next, Matt? I'm going to pass the
baton to you, sir. Maybe for a little darkness? Or
should we do a little more lightness.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
With a weird.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
CGI, super lo-fi generated movie out of China that's making
some waves.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Let's stay in the light for a second, because in
my mind, at least, it's going to get real dark.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
So, Matt, there is a film, let's call it that,
loosely using the term, called New Lie, which was made
for $ 200 using some, I believe, very inexpensive, if not free, software.
It's described here in IndieWire as a micro-budget animated film
that has a bizarre dreamlike plot and a production value
(19:07):
that would generously look rough for a Nintendo 64 game.
It is something that was released, I believe, to some degree,
at least independently in theaters in China. let's see, it
was made by, directed and written by Xin Yu-Ming and
(19:28):
Sun Li-Feng, a mother and son team who started an
interior design company called Dalian Jingyan Decoration Engineering and turned
it into a production company and they started working on
this film. When it originally came out, it had to
have been, yeah, dumped in theaters. So it looks like
it was acquired by a company called Tinanjin Yamakazaki Films.
(19:55):
And it was, quote unquote, dumped in theaters. Like, I
guess they acquired it and then realized it was a stinker.
I'm a little confused about this acquisition process. On August 5th,
and the film, with zero promotion, beyond a single poster design,
apparently made like a couple hundred dollars, you know, American.
But since it has made the rounds on Chinese social media...
(20:16):
on apps like Dubon, which is like a movie review
site in China, kind of like Letterboxd here, or Weibo,
which is a microblogging site.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
Clips have been going viral. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
I think we should probably watch a little bit of
the trailer, Matt, just to kind of get a sense
of what we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Because thus far, I have not done it justice.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
And I really, it's kind of hard to describe, as
you might imagine, with its promise of being dreamlike.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
What if a terrible indie became a box office hit
because everyone couldn't stop talking about how bad it was?
That's what's happened to New Light, a Chinese animated film
pulling its weight against Hollywood blockbusters like Spider-Man Brand New
Day and The Odyssey. When it opened in China on
August 5th, no one wanted to watch it. It made
just 7,700 yuan in its first 10 days, with critics
(21:09):
and moviegoers panning it for its crude animation. I mean,
just look at it.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
And Matt, this clip came from Straits Time Online. I
just want to give credit where credit is due. I
thought they did a good job of kind of setting
it up a little further. But what are we looking
at here, Matt? It looks kind of something along the
lines of like if Teletubbies were animated using Nintendo 64
engine or whatever you would call it. It looks like
an animal theme thing. There's like a snake. There's some cows.
(21:37):
They're all different colors. The backgrounds look like Banjo-Kazooie. But
you'll notice from that clip that this movie is outpacing mega,
mega blockbusters like Spider-Man Brand New Day, which here in
the States, I think is on track to be like
the second highest grossing movie.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Of all time.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Just proportionally?
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Yeah, Matt, that's a good point. Proportionally, it's certainly not
raking in billions.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
But as of this article from IndieWire, when it was
published just a few days ago or about a week
ago on August 21st, The film has grossed the equivalent
of around $ 5 million USD, making it likely one of
the most profitable films ever and certainly one of the
most profitable in China. And we're talking in terms of
(22:22):
the budget that it costs, $ 200 versus $ 5 million profit.
This is kind of interesting considering that it seems like
a whole nother flavor of like on Internet creators like,
outpacing big hollywood blockbuster movies because like um let's see
there is a uh ridley scott movie that just hit
(22:43):
theaters called dog stars or dog i think it's called
dog stars that is absolutely flopping um and being completely
you know spanked by movies like obsession and the back.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Rooms yeah the dog stars is another one of these
post-apocalyptic movies that genuinely looks good I wonder what it is.
Maybe you can tell us if you're listening to this,
why would that movie pale in comparison to these, you know, massive,
you know, fantasy, mythic and fantasy driven stories?
Speaker 3 (23:18):
I think that it is supposed to be pretty good.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I've heard that it's like a fine movie and it's
got a great cast, but it just kind of, I
don't know, doesn't it feel like we sort of.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
There's a little bit of a apocalypse fatigue? Maybe.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
Maybe like, you know, I don't know, like, survivalist kind
of apocalypse fatigue. Like, I just don't think people maybe
have as much of a taste for it anymore. And also,
it was promoted pretty poorly, the Ridley Scott film. Like,
it did worse than Coyote vs. Acme, which is a
film that I know that you quite enjoyed, Matt. It
(23:51):
was a film that was shelved by Warner Brothers, and
then finally saw the light of day, and it's, you know,
been making, I think, upwards of $ 15 million, but Dogsters,
I think, made like a pretty humiliating like five to
7 million on its opening weekend. So I don't know, man,
I think it's just fascinating. Like this, let's also maybe
talk a little bit about this.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
So bad. It's good phenomenon. I've always been a big
proponent of that.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
A huge fan of mystery science theater and just like find,
you know, everything is terrible, like weird kind of esoteric,
you know, trash films from the nineties and eighties. Like
there's a whole culture of cinema that sort of like
rips off other kinds of movies. Like mock busters is
what they're called. I think like, That company, I think
it's called the, what is it called? The Castle or
(24:37):
something like that.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
That made, you know, instead of Transformers, it's Transmorphers.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
They're like kind of literally capitalizing on people, like maybe
not realizing that it's not the movie they think it is.
But for example, in India, there's like a movie that
is their equivalent of the Terminator franchise, but there's something
about it that in its own right is fascinating. And
it's hard to make a movie, even to make a
bad one. And there's something about just like someone really
(25:03):
putting their blood, sweat and tears into something that is
pretty bad that I just find endearing and kind of
an interesting glimpse into.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
You know, the human condition.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Ah, well, maybe there is a pushback against that ultra glitzy,
high budget, you know, gorgeous looking, expansive views, way too
much CGI, even a little added AI here and there.
Maybe there's a human pushback against that kind of stuff
to see something that is reminiscent of kind of a
terrible video game.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
No, I think you're right, Matt.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
The backlash argument is super important because we have gotten
to a place at least with like big, huge movies
that like get all of the studio's advertising dollars and
attention and kind of take up most of the screens
at your traditional movie theater chains. where it's just sort
of a lack of choice and sort of feeling like
you've got these, you know, massive tentpole kind of universes
(25:58):
being forced upon you.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
And it's just starting to feel a little bit redundant.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
And, you know, anyone that's like into nerdy film fandom,
like knows there's a wealth of weird stuff out there.
It just doesn't always make it mainstream. But I think
with stuff like Obsession and The Back Rooms, like making
gazillions of dollars, And that guy Markiplier, I think is
his YouTube name, who had a film called Iron Lung
that he's completely self-financed. And that got released in theaters
(26:27):
through a grassroots push from him and his fans to
call theaters individually and say, you need to put this
on your screens.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
And they did.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
And it did fantastically well. So I just love that
we're seeing a little bit of a grassroots push into
the mainstream. But you also kind of want to like
hedge that a little bit because you don't want it
to push too far because then the grassroots thing kind
of becomes the mainstream. And then it's really easy for
those folks to just get kind of subsumed into the
Hollywood system. As you often see with like these franchise movies, right?
(26:57):
What happens when a new franchise movie drops? They'll hire
the young director who made like an indie film that
like did really well in the festivals. And then all
of a sudden now they're beholden to these big studios
to make 50 Marvel movies. Like the woman that made, um,
I think it was called Eternals. It was a Marvel
film that really did not do well and apparently wasn't
(27:18):
very good. But she made a film that won multiple Oscars.
And it was a very small budget film called Nomadland
about a woman traveling around in like a kind of
a caravan community of mobile homes starring Frances McDormand. She
also directed Hamnet, which is a recent mega Oscar buzz film.
so she kind of escaped that a little bit because
(27:39):
she had such a bad experience with that that she
luckily was not signed on to do a whole bunch more,
and she was able to kind of get back to
doing what she wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
But you do.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Often have young filmmakers that are attracted by these Marvel deals,
and then all of a sudden they don't get to
make their work anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
They're just working for somebody else.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
And a lot of those films are made by a
committee anyway, so you very rarely get the creative value
of having a real creative visionary attached to it. So, again,
I know it's a little bit of a tangent, but
I do think it is interesting that we're seeing that
backlash that you're describing.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
And I think it's a cool sign.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I think what's happened is, you know, Chloe's doing the
right thing there, right? But we're so... maybe bored with
the hero's journey, the like cut and paste version of
the hero's journey. And you know, every one of these
movies happens in the same way and it's kind of
the same movie over and over and over again. You
just change some things out and now you add a
(28:34):
new portal into the situation and the threshold you reach
always involves a portal. So let's find something new string screenwriters, please.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
Oh, and speaking of portals, Matt, I am quite excited
about the film adaptation and also of, intellectual property this
one i think is okay though of the valve video
game portal uh that i think we all really love
where you're literally shooting a portal gun and then jumping
through these portals and doing these cool little kind of
space relationship puzzles um that is apparently in development from
(29:07):
jj abrams company with uh the back rooms guy kane
parsons attached to direct and i watched the back rooms
the other night on my own and i thought it
was pretty fantastic I was not expecting to like it
as much as I did. I thought it kind of
ended with a bit of a fizzle, but these practical
set designs and just the kind of cinematography and the
genuine creepiness of it and the score. So I am
(29:29):
excited to see this, whatever form it takes, this kind
of creeping into the mainstream a little more of some
off the.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Beaten path creators. Well, let's take a quick break, hear
a word from our sponsor, and then we'll come back
with more strange.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
News and we have returned welcome back to ice road
truckers because that's where we're headed guys Remember our August discussion?
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Sorry, I had to do this.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Remember our August discussion about Immigration and Customs Enforcement's purchasing
via government contract of millions of dollars worth of shock gloves? Well,
guess what? We're heading back to the old Department of
Homeland Security Acquisition Planning Forecast System. Say it with me. A-P-F-S.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
A-P-F-S.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
It's something we should all learn.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
APFS.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's something we should all learn and keep track of.
It's real exciting stuff. We're jumping in to a new one.
This time, F2026075113. Sounds innocuous. It's just an F and
then a string of numbers. What could it mean?
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Do tell.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Well, it was published to the APFS system on August
27th of this year. Its component is described as ICE, OD, OFTP.
The place of performance, Noel, is Fort Benning, Georgia, the
estimated dollar range between $ 1 and $ 2 million U.S. The
anticipated award winner, or the time that the government contract
(31:08):
would be paid out to someone, is Q4 fiscal year 2026,
so just a little later this year. Here's the requirements title.
Boston Dynamics Spot Robots Procurement.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Hmm.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Wait a minute. Hold on a second.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Are you talking about robot dogs?
Speaker 2 (31:29):
I'm talking about robot dogs, Noel. Here's the description.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
As Ben would say, we called it.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah, here's the description. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a
requirement to purchase Boston Dynamics spot robots and accessories to
support public safety and law enforcement operations by providing a
remotely operated robotic capability for inspection, situational awareness, and hazard
(31:56):
assessment in environments that may pose risks to personnel.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yikes. Or shall I say woof? Woof indeed.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Now it sounds scary.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Right.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
We've seen some of the things that ICE has been
doing out on these streets and in homes, you know,
people's homes where they just kind of go in there.
Some people have been murdered. Most have not. Most of
this just been rounded up. A lot of them have
been sent off to different countries, sometimes of their origin,
sometimes countries they've never heard of, sometimes going into prisons, horrific,
(32:29):
terrible prisons, you know, just generally not fun, not good
things for humans, usually for humans. And of course, you
can argue for days about what specific human did what
specific thing or did not do any specific things. But,
you know, you'll just get all blue in the face
and be angry and.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
That's what happens.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Let's look at the bigger picture, the bigger trends. That's
what we're going to do here. Because this is not
the only contract that we're going to be talking about today,
but it is the first. So let's jump to USA Today,
an article written by Anthony Thompson, August 29th, 2026. ICE
to spend up to $ 2 million on robot dogs to
support operations, not arrests. Not arrests. According to the planning document,
(33:14):
Anthony writes, the robots are intended to improve officer safety
during border security and other enforcement operations, not to apprehend people.
Not to apprehend people. I don't understand why. Well, the
nightmare scenario is you've got robot dogs coming at you
the same way you've got these ICE officers with their
shot gloves coming at you, right? That's kind of a nightmare.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
So you're saying they're more for like recon kind of
or like sending out a probe almost?
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Kind of like recon. Being able to get into places
that maybe a particular officer doesn't want to go into
or maybe a group of officers don't want to go
serve their warrant or whatever their version of a warrant
is in a specific place that's confined. or maybe dangerous, hazardous,
that kind of thing. That's at least what the contract
description is saying. And here's the other thing to keep
(34:05):
in mind. There are sheriff's departments, federal law enforcement organizations,
state law enforcement organizations that already use these platforms, as
they call them, robots. And they use them for these
kinds of things because they have cameras on them. They
have sensors that can detect things like gases, radiation. different vibrations,
(34:27):
potential explosions, all that kind of stuff. They can detect
all of these things, and you don't have to have
a human being in danger, right? So maybe a big plus. Maybe.
Maybe a big plus.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
It just feels like another thing that Ben often says,
which is mission creep, where you lay out this idea,
this is how we're intending to use these things, but
then gradually that changes once you've got them and you
can kind of do whatever you want because there's no
accountability yes have you seen metalhead matt what is it
(35:02):
metalhead it was the fifth episode of the fourth season
of black mirror it's in black and white uh about
45 minutes it's about a post-apocalyptic world um where these
boston dynamics robots are essentially have Have outlived the apocalypse
and don't really have anyone controlling them anymore.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
And now they're just kind of out killing, you know, survivors. Oh, God, no.
Hunting and stalking survivors.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I may have watched it.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Very, very, very much inspired by the kinds of things
we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah, I may have watched that and put it out
of my mind. I'm not really sure. God. So this
is the last reminder from the article here. The proposed
robot dog purchase comes days after ICE finalized a $ 16. 7
million contract for thousands of electric shock gloves for officers,
(35:57):
part of the agency's broader efforts to expand the equipment
available during immigration enforcement operations. Noel, I hear what you're
saying with, like, the slippery slope of it all. But
here's the thing. We don't really have to worry about
these robots, you know, the... inevitable patrolling robot dogs. We
don't have to lose sleep over the shock gloves. We
(36:20):
don't really need to panic over this stuff. We don't
need to panic. But just to make sure, let's keep
looking through a couple more contracts because I think there
might be a bigger picture here that we're either missing
or that we need to put together. Here's another one. F-2025070784.
(36:43):
This is a United States Coast Guard contract. The estimated
dollar range, Noel, is over $ 100 million. So it could
be a billion dollars. We don't know.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
It's just a rounding error. It's fine.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
That's as high as they go, by the way. It
goes up to over $ 100 million, and then it could
just be infinity. We just don't know. It is a
government contract, after all. This one's going to be going
out Q2 fiscal year 2027. Here's the requirements title, again,
for the Coast Guard. Medium-range unmanned aircraft systems. Here's the description.
(37:20):
The medium-range UAS will be required to support airborne intelligence, surveillance,
and reconnaissance operations across the United States Coast Guard 11
statuatory missions. Hmm. Okay, so this is the coast, right?
The coast of the United States and all of its territories.
(37:41):
you know, a lot of people live in cities near
the coasts, but still maybe this one isn't one we
need to worry about. They're just buying a bunch of drones,
you know, over a hundred million dollars worth of drones
to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance on the coasts.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
So we have to remember these are distinct entities. We've
got the department of Homeland security ice functions under them.
We've got the U S coast guard, um, They're also
in the Department of Homeland Security's APFS system. So there
is some kind of connection there. It is Homeland Security,
by the way, right? It's the Coast Guard. It's the
(38:20):
coast of the homeland. They're guarding it. When we're thinking
about building these giant border walls to keep human beings
and vehicles out, now we're going to have all these
unmanned aircraft on all of the coasts making sure people
stay out. Does it ever make you feel like maybe
they're trying to keep us in?
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Okay, I got you, Matt. I was thinking more keeping
folks out.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Maybe it's both.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
Yeah, what does that look like, though?
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Well, in my mind, if you've got all of these
automated systems constantly keeping track, constantly surveilling the coasts, we're
also talking about a couple other things we're about to
get to, but it's starting to paint a picture of
Lots and lots of automated eyes, you know, robot dogs,
unmanned aerial vehicles, keeping eyes on things. Let's go on
(39:13):
to the next one because I think maybe we're okay.
Maybe we can relax. Let's go to this next one. F2026073978.
And again, you can look these up. You can go
to the APFS system and type it into the search.
You can find this.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Check it out. if you want.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
The component here is ICE. The estimated dollar range is
over $ 100 million again. The requirements title is Single Award
Construction Contract, also known as a SAC, S-A-C-C. Here's the descriptions.
Work under this requirement shall include all management, personnel, labor, equipment,
(39:51):
and services necessary to design, renovate, and or construct new facilities,
as well as repair existing infrastructure. This effort includes the
ability to provide support to various ICE locations. Places of performance,
here's where it gets interesting, Noel, because we're talking about
construction for over $ 100 million. Places of performance include Batavia,
(40:12):
New York, El Centro, California, El Paso, Texas, Florence, Arizona,
Fort Benning, Georgia, Los Fresnos, Texas, Miami, Florida, Oakdale, Louisiana, St. Thomas, U.S.
Virgin Islands, Huntsville, Texas, Guantanamo Bay, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Broadview, Illinois,
and Honolulu, Hawaii. These are all existing or going to
(40:35):
be brand new ice facilities that are being constructed. And
there's not a lot of information in the description. It's
one of those, hey, once you sign on to this,
once we give you the contract, you're going to get
the details, which is how it is with all of these.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
By the way.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
Man, how far a walk is it instead of deporting
these folks just to turn these things into, like, labor camps?
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Uh-huh. Again, maybe to keep us in, inside something that
isn't yet.
Speaker 4 (41:06):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Hmm. Hey, look, look, I'm being super conspiratorial and weird.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Just having thoughts. Just having thoughts.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
And finally, I promise, this is the last one.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
APFS.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Here's the forecast record number.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
FPS.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Again, look it up. This is for ICE. Again, place
of performance, Washington, D.C., estimated dollar range over $ 100 million. Requirements,
HSI data and analytical support services. The description is where
it gets a little hairy for me. Here we go.
(41:45):
The Department of Homeland Security has a need to obtain
use of the contractual support for data and analytical services
to optimize ICE operational support functions to enable mission success. Now,
that's some … Translate. That's some governmental gobbledygook military speak, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
They need some IT, basically. They need some data and
(42:08):
analytical services. But why do they need them? Here's why.
This is written in the description. Services include but are
not limited to conducting data extractions to identify unusual trends,
data anomalies, and control breakdowns.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
No surveillance. It's surveillance.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
It's surveillance so far.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
Here's more.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Identifying possible trends, patterns, and links to automate methods, again,
to automate. To automate methods for detecting, monitoring, analyzing, summarizing,
and graphically representing patterns of relationships between entities.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Sorry, Matt. Pre-crime is the term that I meant to say.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
You ready for the pre-crime sentence that is written verbatim?
This is verbatim in the descriptions. identifying potentially criminal and
fraudulent behavior before crime and fraud can materialize.
Speaker 5 (43:08):
Woof.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Yeah, let's keep us in the brand new pre-crime prison.
They want to build a prison.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
The Panopticon. Ahem.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
A giant prison where we all generate taxes for more prison. Hey,
just kidding. That's not what's happening. You don't have to
worry about any of this stuff. It's all going to
be fine.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Matt, I'm getting the sense that you're being sarcastic when
you say these things. It's not real.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
None of it's real.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
Well, now that's true. That's true, depending on how you
look at it.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
I've been reading a lot of existential philosophy lately just to.
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Kind of get my head in that direction. None of
it's real. Only it's painfully real, let's be real.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
This is all a big nothing burger. Anyway, head on
over to apfs-cloud.dhs.gov and search away. What you find will
keep you up at night and make you want to
buy things. So, hey, here's some sponsors.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
All right, Matt, to piggyback really quickly on your dark
AF nothing burger that you were just talking about. You
guys remember Milo Yiannopoulos?
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Remember that dude?
Speaker 2 (44:23):
It sounds so familiar.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
Well, he used to be all over the TV.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
He also had a brief dalliance with Kanye and then
turned on him and narked his beefy voice. dentist out
for supplying Kanye with laughing gas and getting him addicted.
But no, originally, like back in 2016, Milo Yiannopoulos was
a huge supporter of the Trump administration or campaign. He
(44:48):
was hired by Steve Bannon to write for Breitbart. And
a big part of his effectiveness is the fact that
he was openly gay. and kind of, you know, bucked
the trend or was sort of this like fly.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
In the ointment of what it meant to be liberal.
It's like, no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (45:04):
All of these like snowflake liberals, you know, screaming for
LGBTQ rights and transgender for everyone or whatever the hell
they called it back then. Having this person being a
far right, you know, kind of firebrand and also being
openly gay kind of allowed them, to neuter a lot
of that stuff.
Speaker 3 (45:24):
You know, it was very, very effective. And he's a
very good speaker.
Speaker 4 (45:28):
He would do all these trolly kind of campus visits and,
you know, rallies and things like that. And this was
before Charlie Kirk, by the way. Milo was sort of
known for going to campuses. And I think there was
a big news story where like a campus sort of
canceled his appearance.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
And then he went on and trolled the college and
all of this stuff.
Speaker 4 (45:49):
Anyway, one of the big things that he was a
proponent of regarding the Trump administration was regularly speaking out
about immigration reform in pretty gnarly and aggressive terms. I'll
just give you a taste of one of his tweets
from back in the day. There is one concrete thing
(46:09):
we must insist on this administration delivering.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
We have got to deport millions and millions and millions
of people. Without that, Nothing else matters. Well, Milo Yiannopoulos
has just been deported back to the UK. Apparently, at
least if you believe a word she says, which I
certainly don't, but I have a hard time believing that
(46:34):
she didn't do this. Laura Loomer apparently narked him out
to ICE and DHS as having overstayed his visa in
the United States of America. And they had... You know,
as a lot of folks within this right wing world
seem to have. There's a lot of infighting. There's a
(46:55):
lot of, you.
Speaker 4 (46:56):
Know, schisms and fracturing. And this is just another good
example of that. And he was apparently quite aggressively detained
at the Louis Armstrong Airport. in Louisiana and has now
been sent.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
Back to the United Kingdom.
Speaker 4 (47:12):
Laura Loomer posted something real gnarly about that as well,
saying he was going back to hang out with all
the Muslims over there that he was so fond of
for whatever thing he did. That's a reference to it.
Either way, there's no way of looking at that other
than being racist. Now, Milo, in that interview with Piers Morgan,
is walking back all of his previous statements now that
(47:34):
he's been harmed. and treated aggressively, saying he is now
very ashamed of having supported the Trump administration, and he
called into question the effectiveness of their drive to deport
millions and millions and millions of illegal immigrants. He referred
to his detainment apprehension experience as being humiliating, disorienting, physically degrading.
(47:57):
He says, I was frightened, and I don't think I've
ever been frightened like that before. I didn't really understand
the physical reality of how institutionalized the brutality is in America.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
I don't know, man. That's all I got to say
about that.
Speaker 4 (48:11):
It's just kind of a fascinating view into how a
lot of these folks that say this horrific stuff can
change their tune pretty quickly when it affects them.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
And that's what we've been seeing across the board, right?
as people have started to see brutal realities play out
that don't meet their version of reality, right? They start
to change their thoughts because they're thinking critically because we
humans are all capable of that. It just sometimes takes
a lot to break us out of the spell we're under.
(48:44):
And I use that phrase because it is kind of programming.
All of this stuff we get exposed to, right, in
our social media bubble, all the stuff we hear in
our personal bubble, right, our social bubble, Not the one
on media, but the one that's around you physically. All
that stuff we get exposed to kind of becomes our programming.
And that's how the world is. When we look at
(49:06):
a thing, it is the thing that my social bubble
believes it is. When we look at an action taking place,
it is that thing that I believe.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
You mean like the person holding your face to the ground. Yes.
Speaker 4 (49:17):
And pulling your arms behind your back. and, you know,
zip-tying your wrists together?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Yeah. Good police holding down bad person who was going
to do something terrible and needs to leave country, or.
Speaker 3 (49:30):
And now it's me, and I know me. I know
what's in my heart. I'm good. And this is not
what I signed up for. Right?
Speaker 2 (49:37):
Well, it's the same with good soldier.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
It's main character syndrome, where it's like when things are
happening to other people, it is so easy to dehumanize them.
And that is so easily weaponized and so freaking dangerous. Dude.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
Oh, why can't I think of the whole line? I
have to pull something out of my brain.
Speaker 4 (49:57):
Well, why are you doing that, Matt, to the point
of what we're talking about right now? Another quote that
Unopolis said to Morgan, which I think sums it up,
and then I'll leave it at that, is, I think
maybe in the past I've been a little bit blasé
when people talked about their trauma. but I get it
now and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Dude, everybody stop what you're doing. Pause this even and
go listen to brother Ali morning in America, M O
U R N I N G in America. And really
like watch the video to get a sense. And it's
a super simple concept, the difference between a soldier and
(50:32):
a terrorist. And what do those two things mean? And
what are the real differences between those two things? And
then attempt to apply that to someone who is wearing
a mask and in an ice uniform versus someone who
is driving their truck home. And just what is the
difference between those two things? And just start to just
(50:55):
really work on it because it's a change in perspective
that's required. And this is all kind of part of
the last little thing I want to get to. And again,
I'm so sorry. We're going back to the APFS thing. F-2025-07-2206.
This was published December 8th, 2025. It has to do
(51:15):
with advertising services. The estimated dollar range is over $ 100 million.
Here it is.
Speaker 3 (51:24):
The U.S.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
Coast Guard requires advertising services to support its military recruiting objectives.
Services include media purchasing, creative asset production, social media content management,
website services, brand management, and outreach support. A over $ 100
million contract for advertising services for the Coast Guard recruitment.
(51:47):
Here's why it's a little weird. I mean, Coast Guard
has always had this kind of contract. This contract is
just re-upping the previous contract. giant advertising contract that the
Coast Guard had before. That's all this is. Before, they
had a group called LMD, LMD Agency. You can look
(52:10):
them up, lmdagency.com. You can read about them on the
About Us page. We are fearless thinkers, creators, and builders
who know how to ignite change, transform brands, and deliver
measurable results. They were formed in 1976. You can read
about their history and what they do. They have a
lot of different clients. They've done a lot of stuff.
(52:30):
Not a lot of stuff. They've done some stuff for
government organizations. They've worked, again, they were the previous holders
of this whole Coast Guard contract to make their advertising
for them. They've also been a huge part of the
Department of Homeland Security. Now, this is what I want
to share really quickly as kind of a last thought
(52:52):
for this episode. We're going to play it directly off
of the LMD Agency's YouTube page. We're going to do
the whole thing in full, and you're just going to
hear it. You're not going to get to watch it,
but you can go and watch it if you want to.
You just need to search for LMD Agency, and this
is all one word.
Speaker 4 (53:12):
Ready?
Speaker 2 (53:13):
Y-I-C-S-E-E-S-A-Y. Y-I-C-S-A. It's a P-S-A, that was created with government
dollars via contract. So we're going to watch the whole thing.
It's only a minute. But again, it was made with
government contract dollars, so I think we're good to play it.
You ready? This is a part of their Department of
(53:34):
Homeland Security campaign. This was published January 23, 2020, just
before the pandemic thing was happening, right? I believe this
is even before we were all forced to go indoors.
Here's the campaign.
Speaker 1 (53:51):
Why?
Speaker 6 (53:52):
Why take a chance?
Speaker 3 (53:54):
Why risk a mistake?
Speaker 6 (53:56):
Why say something? We all have reasons why we choose
to ignore the things that give us pause, that seem
out of place, that don't feel right. The word why
can either paralyze us or empower us to stand up
and protect what we love.
Speaker 4 (54:11):
So if you see something, why do you say something?
Speaker 3 (54:14):
I see safe for my family. I see safe for
my friends.
Speaker 6 (54:19):
I see say so that they are safe.
Speaker 3 (54:22):
We see say for each other.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
I see say, because all of this matters.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
We all have.
Speaker 6 (54:31):
Something worth protecting. A why that unifies this community. We're
all a part of. So protect your.
Speaker 3 (54:40):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (54:41):
I mean, that's certainly a slogan that we hear at
airports a lot. Right.
Speaker 3 (54:46):
But in this context, It's kind of more about narking
out your neighbors, right? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:51):
If you see someone that's not fitting in line, doing
the things that we're all supposed to be doing, say something.
Speaker 3 (55:00):
You better tattle. I just want to remind everyone again.
I think I talked about this in the last one.
Speaker 4 (55:03):
There was a recent kind of, I don't know, very
glossy Photoshop designed kind of thing that was released by
the Department of Homeland Security saying, That was a picture
of Trump kind of giving his classic Trump grimace under
an umbrella and said, did you remain loyal?
Speaker 3 (55:22):
Question mark.
Speaker 2 (55:22):
Yeah, we're headed towards something, y'all. That video, by the way,
only has 234 views on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (55:31):
Oh, you know, it also only had about 230 or
500 something crazy low amount of views. That BBC documentary
that caused Donald Trump to sue.
Speaker 3 (55:41):
Them for a gazillion dollars.
Speaker 4 (55:44):
In Discovery, during that case, it came out the viewing
figures for that particular episode were incredibly, bizarrely low.
Speaker 2 (55:52):
Weird.
Speaker 1 (55:53):
Weird.
Speaker 4 (55:53):
It's another example of, like, people only really paid attention
to it because he sued. You know, what is it,
the Streisand effect?
Speaker 1 (56:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (56:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (56:03):
Um.
Speaker 2 (56:04):
I guess that's it.
Speaker 3 (56:05):
Yeah, I guess it is.
Speaker 4 (56:06):
And I know that my nickname for Max, the cat
in the hat, Williams from the top of the show,
isn't going to make a whole heck of a lot
of sense. But I'm going to save that story for
next time because we had a bit of a theme
in this episode, it turned out.
Speaker 3 (56:20):
So keep that one in mind. We'll be hearing more
about the cat in the hat on next week's episode.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (56:26):
And don't forget, this is all make them upsies. Don't
worry about it. Everything's fine. If you see something, you
better say something. Hey, if you've seen something and you
want to say something to us, why not reach out?
There's lots of ways to do it.
Speaker 3 (56:40):
There sure are.
Speaker 4 (56:42):
You can send us an internet missive by way of
The Handel's Conspiracy Stuff or Conspiracy Stuff Show.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
We have a phone number. It is 1-833-STD-WYTK. It's a
voicemail system. You've got three minutes. Say whatever you want.
You might show up in one of our listener mail episodes.
They come out on Thursdays. Look for them. Look for
your own voice if you choose to call in. Hey,
you can also send us an email.
Speaker 4 (57:04):
We are the entities that read all the things that
you send to us by way of the Internet or telephonically.
Speaker 3 (57:12):
Conspiracy at iHeartRadio.com.
Speaker 2 (57:33):
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
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!