A sex-trafficking inquiry targets the New Orleans archdiocese. An explosion in Michigan's Clinton Township triggers an investigation. Widespread anti-war protests across the United States place the country at a crossroads. All this and more in this week's strange news segment.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,
my name is Nola.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
They called me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer Alexis code named Doc Holliday Jackson. Most importantly,
you are you. You are here. That makes this the
stuff they don't want you to know. It is the
top of the week. Happy May sixth to everybody tuning in,
Happy May the fourth and so on. We knew we
(00:49):
had to start tonight's program with well, there's a lot
of stuff we have to get to, but first I
think we can all agree there is some incredibly important
brain making news that we have to get the word
out about. The rumors are true. Our long standing dream
has finally come to fruition. Gentlemen, folks, people, conspiracy realist, everybody.
(01:14):
You can now gamble at Dave and Busters what very
soon you can wait.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
So this is what I wanted to clarify. Ben. I
saw this. You said it to our group text.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
It said something about gambling on arcade machines. Do this
mean you'll be placing bets on like Street Fighter?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm so glad you asked, because here is how it works.
You get the DMB app, which obviously all of us
already have, and then you, through the app, you can
make what they call friendly wagers.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Ah. Yes, I love a friendly wager.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Games that people are played during to the Dave and
Buster's statement quote, customers can soon make a friendly five
dollars wager on a hot shots basketball game, a bet
on a ski ball competition, or on another arcade game.
The betting function is expected to launch in the next
few months. So if you have ever been getting house
(02:09):
drunk with your adult friends at Dave and Busters and
decided to put some money on one of the kids
playing ski ball, your time has come.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, man, eight chocolate shoe choose deep? I got So?
Speaker 5 (02:22):
Is this like only being rolled out in states where
gambling is legal, or because you're using an app? Is
it somehow a loopholey kind of thing?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Well? Yeah, this is very confusing.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
We're talking about this because I wanted to surprise you
guys on air given the gravity of this news. However,
got too excited a little bit sleep deprived. As Ever,
it looks like they did loophole it. As we're talking
about in our group chat. It looks as though the
kind of the way that online gambling apps or like
(02:55):
draftking stuff works. Regardless, it looks like that's what Dave
and Busters is doing. Because from what I can tell,
and Dave Buster please write and big fans correct us
if we're wrong here. But from what we can tell,
it seems that this is going to take place in
every DMB location, including our own, so we may have
(03:17):
to change our weekend.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
Trapping dangerous, dude, dangerous. Imagine people losing their shirt betting
on Mortal Kombat.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I can I can't. I mean, like, okay, first off,
is Dave and Busters not only like jokes aside? Is
it not somewhat grooming kids for a casino experience a
little bit?
Speaker 5 (03:40):
I mean you could argue, I mean, they would probably
argue that Dave and Busters is for families. You know,
it's a place where kids and their parents can both
enjoy things and equal amounts. I mean, chuck E cheese,
I would argue is way more gratuitously that thing than
Dave and Busters.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
But I don't know who's to say.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Well, before the courts get to it, I guess the
courts are just saying. The courts are probably gonna say that.
I think they have bigger fish to fry now. We
just wanted to open with that and let you know
some of the favorite comments. The audience response has been
largely positive, and I want to give a shout out
to sc Irish eight forty three on Reddit, who said,
(04:25):
as someone who has bet on reruns of Legends of
the Hidden Temple, reruns four AM Women's ping Pong, and
those little tabletop magnetic horse racing games, I know plenty
of people who gladly sit at the table with their
buddies drinking beer, gambling on children playing hoop fever. What
could go wrong?
Speaker 5 (04:44):
A lot of pressure if someone's putting money on your
performance too right.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Can you imagine being seriously, can you imagine being like
nine years old and you're just you're at a birthday
party or something, and then all of a sudden, from
behind where for the rest at or bar is you
hear some guy go like, sak this one.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
You know, Jenny Duddy, daddy needs a new pair of shoes.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, yeah, Or you see some kid fail miserably, and
then somebody from across the room throws a chair because
he's so upset, and he really did just lose a
lot of money.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
So I wonder if they're gonna have to do the
same thing that Vegas does where they deploy those gambling
problem pamphlets. Yes, I think they'll have to. But anyway,
as we were saying, there is there's much more and
much stranger news that we have to get to this evening.
We are going to We're going to learn a little
(05:43):
bit about a situation in New Orleans, UH, situation in Detroit,
the UH the home state of our own code named
Doc Holliday. We're also gonna, you know, we'll get to
some other things. Not all of it is terrible, but
I think or pause. We're going to look at the
campus protest, and we have returned one of the first
(06:11):
stories we wanted to cover this evening. It's something that
everybody in the United States has heard about. You have
probably also heard about this, regardless of where you live.
In recent days, starting April seventeenth of this year, the
US saw one of the largest the largest occurrences of
(06:36):
campus protests since the era of Vietnam War protest and
their protests on university campuses that later spread to other countries,
all regarding the war, the Israel Hamas war, and these
are to be clear, at least, what you'll see in
the news is portrayals of someone being like rapidly anti
(07:01):
Semitic or just by being pro Palestinian. Obviously, we know
the truth is much more complicated, and arguing for arguing
that innocent people should not be murdered does not automatically
make you a bad person by any means. But this
is still this is still happening as we're recording on
(07:25):
May first, Wednesday, and this is going to come to
you on May sixth, at the beginning of next week.
Have you guys been keeping eyes on the protest on
the breaking news?
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Absolutely been one of the biggest, I guess, most egregious
examples has happened right here in our backyard at Emory University,
where police went from you know, zero to tayze and
like boots on backs of necks, like and then the
span of no time. And I've been very perplexed as
(07:57):
to where this escalation is coming from, you know, in
what seemed to be.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Very reasonable exercising.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
Of you know, our right, our rights as Americans to protest.
I just it's suspicious to me. I don't get it
where the escalation comes from. I think maybe I do
get it sort of, but it's still mind boggling. We'll
get into it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Well, Yeah, my attention has been pretty sharply focused on
Columbia University. I mean, certainly Emery. You know, I think
hit all of us a little differently because it's here.
But the stuff in New York with Columbia University has been.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
That's the latest right.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Which just got breached because they had the temerity to
possess bike locks. Bike locks, that's the yellow cake in
this situation, justified the aggression.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, but it's an interesting echo of the past in
the you know, the specific building that was used to
barricade themselves into the protesters and you know, having it,
having NYPD deployed into the building via I mean, you
guys probably saw the pictures of that thing they use
to like get into the story above all. Yeah, really,
(09:05):
just I don't know it. Anytime we see stuff like this,
it feels movie like in its I don't know, in
the same way a movie, a big successful like summer blockbuster, right,
one of the primary attributes of that type of film
is the amount of money that's thrown at the screen, right,
(09:27):
the amount of vehicles, human beings, special effects and all
that stuff. In watching these things on the news, it
feels again We've said this, I've said this personally about
many things recently in the past what ten years, that
just it doesn't feel real because of the almost production
of it.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
But doesn't it just feel completely out of balance with
what's happening. Yeah, the level of deployment of these bells
and whistles, these riot squad and these you know, tear
gas and rubber bullets and stuff. I mean, it's just
like we've talked about it off the air a good
bit lately, and it's a very difficult topic to discuss
(10:09):
without people getting mad at you on one side or
the other. But it has been very confusing for me.
And we've talked about it a good bit and I
think i've you know, have a little bit more understanding
of it after talking to you guys.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
But where this just.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Unilateral, like anyone in opposition to Israel is instantly.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Like an enemy of the state. It's just it's I
don't get it. It's it's it just seems so extreme
and aggressive.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
And you know, there's even a lot of folks that
are picipitating in these protests who are who are who
are Jewish, who are saying, you know, Jews for Palestine,
you know, And there there are a lot of you know,
agitator types on the maybe faculties even of these schools,
who are saying, I feel unsafe. I'm seeing folks that
are you know, supporting Hamas and it's tanamount to terrorist activity.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
But all of that feels to me to be a
lot of.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Much ado about nothing.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
These are these are peaceful protests, and I haven't seen
any evidence of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
It all just seems like a lot of hot air.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And fury signifying very little. Yeah, I'm glad you mention
the phrase agitation because one of the continual accusations or
conspiracy theories about this, which we'll get to you in
later episodes, is the idea of agent provocateurs or outside agitators,
(11:28):
and that was indeed the calculus or the rationale stated
by NYPD for their actions in Colombia. That's what other
law enforcement agencies have been stating when they are cracking
down on these protests. Which of these have been continuing
(11:51):
for some time. Let's just give you a context folks here,
because we know, depending on what kind of news we're encountering,
you're gonna hear different narratives. So to give you a
full list of the states that have campus protests going
on right now about this and often other related issues.
(12:11):
Strap in. I'll read as quick as I can. New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts.
It goes on Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, Washington,
(12:34):
d C, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin. Even Wisconsin's in the mix
now because of the University of Wisconsin Madison. And in
what we see with each of these protests is these
occupying movements, is we see a troubling common narrative thread,
(12:55):
which is law enforcement cracking down on college students who
are peacefully protesting. And yes, to that earlier point, there
are people who are doing counter protests, That's absolutely true.
There are people who are saying, I myself do not
feel safe on campus as a result of these things. However,
(13:18):
out of all the people protesting, there's also a common
theme of the people who are getting cracked down on
by state power. And we don't have to You are
always going to be your own person. You should never
feel obligated or pushed into agreeing with something that you
don't agree with. But we do have to realize, without
(13:39):
into soapboxy, that a part of this country is inherently
the First Amendment, the idea that you could speak your mind,
and if you are not actively harming other people, you're
not calling for them to be harmed, then you should
have that speech protected. That's one thing that differentiates this
(14:01):
place in theory from authoritarian regimes, from absolute monarchies and dictatorships.
And you know, as we know right now, a lot
of us listening may indeed be on a campus, you
know what I mean, You may be on a campus
that gott in a lockdown that is just as strict,
(14:21):
if not more strict, than the COVID lockdowns of a
few years back. And these students, these protesters, you know,
they're not third party operators, right like sent in because
these days, you don't have to do that by and large.
I'm just saying it's a stereotype. It's a convenient thing
(14:43):
to hang on a hook.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh, I do agree. I was looking at something this
morning from Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City,
and he was going on and on on about outside
and individuals that were coming onto the campuses on various
campuses and basically students to protest and organize in this
(15:04):
way and to use tactics basically. And as you said, Ben,
that's not something you need some outside group to come
in and teach you. You can go online. We've talked
about in the past, like just learning how to protest
safely right and have things to protect yourself against things
like tear gas and all that stuff.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
I don't know if you guys have heard anything about this,
but the Atlanta Police apparently participates in sort of almost
like like a police exchange program where we send Atlanta
police over to Israel and are then they are trained
in kind of military crowd suppression tactics and then sent
(15:47):
back over here and then they're deployed into these protests
to quash what I would argue is Palestinian voices, you know,
I mean. And then this is all enmeshed in the
whole Hop City debate as well. Here in Atlanta in particular,
there's a really good piece on Democracy Now where Amy
Goode was talking to the chair of the Emory Philosophy department.
Speaker 6 (16:10):
Who was just kind of wandering around checking out the protest.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And the next thing she.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Gets did some in this check on someone who was
getting dropped.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
Well, yeah, something turned and she saw someone getting dropped
like you said, and just said, why are you doing this?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Stop it? And then the police asked her to leave.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
She said, no, I need to be here to witness this,
and at which point they you know, handcuffed her behind
her back.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
And in the same segment they bring in a PhD.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Medical student at Emory by the name of Umaya Mohammad,
who speaks a lot about Emory's policies about you know,
kind of even going so far as to refer to
doxing of students and this kind of really iron fisted
repression of this kind of free speech with zero evidence
(16:59):
of violence, and it just seems like cultural And I
feel like it's cultural in our country where there's this
unilateral support where it's like Israel is one in the right,
Palestine one hundred percent in the wrong, and they're basically
being treated as enemies of the state. Well, I don't
think that's right.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Well, it's it's attempting narrative, and it's a simple one, right,
which people prefer simple explanations. Let's put it this way,
because one of the big focuses we need to keep
on here goes back to an episode we did years
ago about the dangers of the militarization of police. The
(17:38):
police are not the military. They're not supposed to be
the military recently, and there are live updates that you
can get in a couple of places if you have
online access in the West. Nbcnews dot Com has a
live update thing that I've been reading for a while.
You can also check out you know what, let's go
(18:00):
to a quote from Chris Isidore writing for CNN. This
came out just today as we record. Here's what happened
in Columbia. New York City police used flash bangs flash
bang grenades to breach the building that have been occupied
by these protesters for some time. The flash grenades, if
(18:21):
you're not familiar with a flash bang, they are used
as a shock and disorient kind of tactic. Right, they
have a very bright flash, a very loud bang, but
they're not themselves explosive fissile material.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
You know, your head ring and rom and your vision
kind of just you know, if you can imagine just
having like a really bright light shine in your eyes
and what the after effects are of that. Maybe X
that by you know, four or five.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
So just last night, as we record, from what we understand,
officers arrested more than two hundred protesters, the majority of
which are obviously peaceful protesters, overnight and then they went
to City of City College of New York that's about
a mile north of Manhattan as the crow flies, and
they made dozens of extra arrest. This coincides with arrest,
(19:15):
arrest and police attacks at like the University of Arizona
at Tulane, where there have been a lot of and
we'll get to Louisiana later in an unrelated story, there
have been a lot of allegations there, in particular of
these quote unquote outside agitators. I'm torn on this, guys,
because the First Amendment is incredibly important to me and
(19:39):
to this country. You know, public universities are part of
the US government, so they have to follow any court
decree over how the First Amendment exists, how it should
be applied. Private universities and any private business really has
a lot more agency in what their state and around
(20:00):
speech and protest may be. If you want to learn
more about that, go to a great New York Times
article called What the First Amendment Means for Campus Protest
by Alan Blinder, also published today. As we're going into
record and with this, you know, these accusations of anti
(20:22):
Semitism are often going to be made because there is
some sort of anti Semitic action, But that same accusation
logically can be weaponized right against people who simply don't
agree with something that you agree with, and there's no
way around that. To be clear, we have never on
(20:45):
this show. We've never defended anything like anti semitism, nor
have we defended Islamophobia. They're both just very nasty things
that perhaps most irritatingly demonstrate a lack of critical thought
or the ability to think through things critically. But we
are and remain anti genocide, We are remain anti police state.
(21:10):
Would we agree with that statement in general? I think
maybe it's a little too general.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
No, I think it's just right. I mean, that's.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Just what I cannot agree with is the weaponization of
rhetoric and the other ring of people just trying to
wrap their heads around an issue and be you know.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Fair and be I don't know, just sort of.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Like to your point, Ben, like there's a there's a
lot of bullying going on, you know in this debate
where if you're if you're this, then you're this. You know,
if you say anything negative about Israel, then you're an
anti semit you know, if you say anything positive about Israel,
then you're supporting genocide. It's just a very damned if
you do, Dan, If you don't, I think I would
agree completely that what is happening in uh in Gaza,
(21:55):
but that the hands of the Israelis is something that
would certainly resemble genocide.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yes, and genocide bad. Agree. Yeah, I agreed, But you know,
it's it's strange, I think, I don't know, guys. Strange
for me because I know the episodes we've done in
the past on the way student protest movements can arise,
especially in other countries, when there are intelligence agencies involved
(22:22):
from other countries. Sure, that is a thing, and we've
talked about it before on the show. So it's weird
for me to square all of this that's going on,
when there's so much emotional response happening, to try and
come at it and think, well, what are the actual
possibilities here and mechanisms. To have this large of a
protest movement occurring across the United States about something very
(22:46):
specific that is not happening inside the United States, and
right before a presidential election, that weirds me out a
little bit. It makes my senses go off. It doesn't
mean that I or anybody should think that that's what's
happened here, but it is weird.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
It Also, we do know for reality Reality check, regardless
of how the powers that be politically on both sides
of the aisle, regardless how they try to spin it,
it is known and it is true that adversarial governments
have been quite successful in their asymmetric warfare tactics. Right
(23:24):
Info war is real. Do check out, Do check out
our earlier episodes on this. As you guys know, I
researched this stuff kind of extensively. No, you say it's
a real concern, it's a valid It's not crazy to
ask yourself that question.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I remember looking at this at great detail too when
we were making those episodes a long time ago, and
it really is a creepy thing if you look at
the span of history and how often young young people,
especially in colleges in any country can be targeted basically
with these things.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
US did it and so America.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
It's because the youth can be a scary thing to
the establishments, you know, because they represent new ideas, they
represent a breaking of the status quo. And when enough
of them organize and insist on having their voices heard
in this framework of quote unquote free speech that we.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Have, it freaks people out, you know.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
And then and we're seeing it, it's so gross and like,
you know, transparent what's being done, what they're doing. And
I just wanted to point to one other article in Vox,
how today is anti war protests stack up against major
student movements in history. They're saying, and I think we
all agree that these campus protests are shaping up to
be some of the biggest of the twenty first century.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
And they're just going to keep going.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
And I We're going to get to a point, I
think where if we keep seeing this kind of violence
perpetrator on peaceful protesters.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
There could well be a sea change. It's just how
polarizing can you get.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
You know what if it were your kids just out
there expressing their voices and not standing for violence against
innocent people, sure of innocent people.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Or protesting the Vietnam or the photographs right, the video
footage here is distressingly similar. I'm not asking for people
to solve problems, but I think we all agree it
is important to realize how fragile things like the First
Amendment and indeed the great experiment that is the United
(25:28):
States can be, and police states are bad. It's not
a hot take, it's just a reality. The only people
who like police states are the dictators who run police states.
Everybody else is just trying not to die. And that's
not the kind of world or not the kind of
country that people should want to grow up at. We
don't have the answers. We pride ourselves on being honest
(25:50):
when that's the case, but we do want to hear
from you. You are the most important part of the show.
We are glad that you are here, and thank you
as always for taking the time to reach out and
speak with us. Let us know what you think is
going on these protests and if it's not too much,
let us know what you think the end results will be.
We're gonna pause for word from our sponsors and we'll
(26:11):
return with more strange news.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
And we've returned, and for this story, we're headed to
the three to one three aka Rock City aka Motown
aka Detroit, Michigan.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Citro. Is that a thing Detroit? What did I hear that?
Speaker 7 (26:32):
In?
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Like a stand out, like a comedy thing. I don't
know what that's from. Dope like that must be it?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Did you say the city of champions, Ben? I just
learned about that back in the day, back in the
thirties when Detroit had all the best teams.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
It's still pretty good, right, The Lion's quite good, I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Well, they're very blue wise.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
We believe in things and support.
Speaker 7 (26:55):
The playoffs.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (26:59):
We were bad for a long time. I will not
tolerate any lionslander.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Lias Slander, I said, it's good to believe in people
and support things.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
It's sort of an angel in the outfield.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
No, it's funny there.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Were mentioning that because I think I texted you Alexis
at some point. Maybe I was doing the playoff things.
I was texting some Detroit friends, and every single person
from Detroit, including our friend Lucky Yates, doubled down. The
residents of Detroit have a great and well earned pride
in their city, and I always think we should explore
(27:33):
it more. Just like the car stuff days, I just
want to go see the packerd stuff, you know from
the per Company.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Look, so, if you're like me and you don't know
much about Detroit, you may remember the enthralling film eight Miles,
starring Marshall Mathers as an aspiring young battle rap artist.
And if you'd like to imagine where this story is
going to take place, just put your mind on that
titular road from that cinematic masterpiece and then travel approximately
seven miles northeast too fifteen mile road and the address
(28:03):
is one nine one zero zero fifteen mile Road in
Clinton Township. Clinton Township. Well, maybe you know more about
this Alexis than we do. It appears to be in
the greater Metropolitan Area of Detroit, like the city, but
it is a township, so I don't know if it
would be considered like a whole separate thing.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
Clinton Township is definitely like a considered a separate city
is not considered Detroit. It's very far from Detroit. As
you said, it's like seven miles northeast. It's like up
you go like up ninety four to ninety four starts
going north instead of like east and west, and then
you get up to fourteen mile and that's where Clinton
Township starts. So definitely definitely not Detroit and even further
(28:44):
away from some of the other suburbs that are closer
to Detroit than like border eight mile.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Godd you call it an excerp than in that regard,
I actually much.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
Of anything, because I don't really think about Clinton Township.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
But I.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
It's not a shade, but it's just it's far away.
It's considered far away.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Oh, I heard that Clinton Township email anyway, all right.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
So let's just maybe you've never been to one nine
one zero zero fifteen mile road in Clinton Township, where
if you do travel there now you will find a
charred barren slab where once a building stood. And guys,
I link to a picture there so you can look
at this building. It's a single sizable building that has
an entrance right in the center, and then it has
(29:29):
two businesses inside that one building. On the left you'll
find Dollar Palace, and on the right you will find
a place that just says Goo g oo. And you
may be curious as to what that means or stands for. Well,
well it's called the Goo Smoke Shop slash as it
has two businesses, select distributors wholesale.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Hmmm uh.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
And if you did go there when the building is
a vape situation, Ah, yes, okay, is it ye old
smoke shop? And if you had traveled there at the
time and then you saw this smoldering pile, that is
that area? Now you may be asking yourself again.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
This barren slab, if you will, I got I gotta
give you props on that turn of frame by the way,
please carry you sure.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Somebody else used it better than me. I've just put
words together there. If you might be wondering what the
heck happened here, well it all goes back to what
was available for purchase at this good old goose smoke shop,
and more importantly, what the goo.
Speaker 6 (30:32):
I just want to give me that goo.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I think that's why I worked for him for so long.
But more importantly, what was distributed by those select distributors
wholesale So if we if we imagine the inside of
a smoke shop, Guys, I think we've done this exercise before.
But what are you gonna find in there?
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Hookah stuff?
Speaker 3 (30:51):
You will find, tinctures. You will find a lot of vapes.
You will probably find vape refilled device or paraphernalia. Juice
you might juice, you might find to pay on the states.
You might find some CBD stuff. Some PC stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Is very popular, so like subplax supplements, snacks, sometimes, some prophylactics,
some glassware, some metal and wooden products, and lots and
lots of things that are probably flammable.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
I would say, like those coals that you get for
for hookah setups.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Those things are half half empty cans of paint with
whally rags hanging out.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
Oh wait a minute, let's talk about pressurized butane canisters.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
I've seen now that this is where we get to
the wholesale distributors. Here they sold large containers of butane,
which is a very flammable substance used to fill all
kinds of things that set fires. Right, so lighters of
all shapes and style exactly, and also, interestingly enough, guys,
(32:00):
crap ton of nitrous oxide which is an odorless, colorless,
non flammable gas, but it treats fire a lot like
oxygen does. It can be used as to fuel a
fire the way oxygen does, but not in the same
way as a buttane would, right, it would all of
(32:20):
a sudden ignite.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
It functions as a propellant, though you're saying.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
It does precisely, and that is a whole I think
that is maybe the crux of this story, those two substances,
butane and nitrous oxide. Let's go to a story that is, honestly, guys,
is a bit stale at this point, but it got
renewed by another story we're going to bring in at
the end here. But this is a story from March
(32:44):
sixth out of the Washington Post. Explosion at vape supplier
kills teen and flings gas canisters up to a mile.
This is insane, guys. Back on March fifth, I guess
between March fifth and sixth, there was some kind of
fire that began, which is still under investigation as we
(33:06):
record today. On Wednesday, May first, there was a fire
at this location. Whether it was inside the building right
behind the building, there's some information on that coming out,
but it took place at this location, and it ignited
all of these giant buttane canisters and the nitrous oxide canisters,
and it even superheated all of those like vape batteries,
(33:30):
all of those very powerful batteries that were located inside.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Which they won't even let you bring in a check.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Bag, you know, on an airplane, right.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Because of the pressure changes and the possibility of fires. Well,
there was such a massive explosion. You can see videos
of this thing if you look online. It was almost
you guys have seen videos of like a fireworks factory
catching on fire, and just the kind of the chain
continuous explosions that are occurring in some of them very small,
(34:03):
some of them larger. You guys have seen something like that.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Absolutely sure.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
It was like that, but with metal canisters being shot
into the air and exploding, So there's shrapnel being fired
for a mile around in a mile radius, sometimes up
to two miles. There would be canisters found on roofs
or embedded in the ground. And there was one unfortunate
person who was nineteen years old who was standing literally
(34:30):
a quarter of a mile away from this explosion at
a gas station and a piece of shrapnel caused his
life to end. Insane, terrible, horrible situation for that one person.
And also imagine just walking outside where you live and
seeing this in the distance and hearing this with these constant,
consistent explosions. It was so loud that the fire chief
(34:54):
there in Clinton Township, this guy named Tim Duncan, said
he could hear the explosion from his house, which is
seven miles away, roughly before he ever got deployed, you know,
to go check out what the heck was going on?
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Do we know the cause?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
The cause was improperly stored giant containers of butane and
nitrous oxide, so definitely accidental. Uh well, I didn't say that.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Okay, improper storage, but I guess technically then by that
definition you could purposely improperly store stuff. But yes, where
are we going with this?
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Well, okay, I'm going to jump to something from the
Macombe Daily m ACMB Daily. This is what they say.
Authority said the building was not supposed to contain these
butane and nitrous oxide tanks that were found on the property,
and during the last inspection in twenty twenty two, none
of those canisters were there. If they were there, they
(35:51):
would have gotten a like hit for that right with
serious fines. Because of the way this business is zoned.
It's not zoned for industrial use and storing that those
kinds of materials would fall into industrial use. It does appear,
or at least according to these officials, the building didn't
have the proper safety structures in place to house those
(36:12):
types of tanks of materials, so.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Like fire suppression would be an example.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Oh yeah, I think it also has to do with
temperature and other potential you know, possibilities there are for
damage to be done to those just one of those
containers which could set off a chain reaction like it
did copy. And one of the big scary things at
the time when this was first happening was that there
were unexploded canisters of both butane and nitrous oxide that
(36:41):
were like lying on the ground as we said, or
like just you know, landed on a roof, and residents
were trying to recover them or dispose of them. But
some of them were ruptured, like the metal containers ruptured
so they could explode, or they a few of them
did explode, so it was like grenades. They were just
left all around.
Speaker 5 (37:00):
Dude, I mean, and this is obviously hugely dangerous for
surrounding properties and anybody that might happen to be walking by.
I mean, these things could be weaponized and launched, you know,
out of windows, and it would chatter and really seriously
injure or kill anyone that happened to be around when
this went down.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Right, Oh yeah, one hundred percent, super dangerous, super scary.
Speaker 6 (37:22):
Matt, isn't there kind of there's a twist here coming, right.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
There's a twist. Let's get to the twist. So Ben,
you asked, like, what caused it, how did it happen?
And ultimately who's responsible for this thing? Because it did
damage other businesses and homes and property and it killed
a human being. Jesus Okay, Well, the owner initially on
the day that it happened, I guess the night that
it happened, the owner of this these two businesses was
(37:49):
in contact with both the police there in Clinton Township
and the fire department and some of the city officials.
So this person immediately like was reached out to and
they were speaking and they were on good terms. But
then on Saturday, April twentieth, so this is early March
when this occurred. Right on Saturday April twentieth. The owner
(38:12):
of these companies attempted to flee not just you know,
the Detroit area, but the United States for Hong Kong,
which is pretty I don't know, doesn't look good. Maybe
attempt to flee the Clinton.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Town Well was it a round trip ticket?
Speaker 2 (38:31):
No, it was not. It was a one way ticket.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
Is is this a national Like, what's this person's citizenship
status or you know, visa status or I'm just curious
if they are US.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Right, Yes, citizen of the United States. The man's name
is Newer n R nol n O E L S
two kestwo k E S t Uo. This is a
thirty one year old person. He lives in Commerce Township,
which is also there in the Detroit area. And yeah,
(39:04):
he tried to use his passport to go from JFK
in New York City to Hong Kong and basically the
Clint Township PD let the authorities there at JFK International
note and they picked him up.
Speaker 5 (39:16):
Oh Greek, it may sound like maybe Greek etymology, Okay, anyway,
but yeah, so that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
He got he got stopped with a one way ticket,
which does provide reasonable suspicion that someone be attempting to
flee the country exactly.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
And I'm sorry, this is how long after the actual
uh you know, he.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Said April twentieth closure explosion on March fourth, right, so
he put some time in there.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, March fifth, sixth up to April twentieth, and then
it took like four or five days for the detectives
in the township there near Detroit to go and get
him from New York and bring him back where he
was then arraigned on Thursday day, April twenty fifth, in
court in charge with one count of involuntary manslaughter.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
Ooh, which is.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Gonna plea cannabis induced psychosis?
Speaker 2 (40:09):
I hope not. I don't think so. I don't know
how that would work there. But is a felony charge
and it has a maximum sentence of fifteen years.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
So this is at this point we're thinking more of
a negligence case, you know, someone that wasn't storing their
inventory correctly or is there any suspicion of a foul
play in terms of trying to you know, burn down
for the insurance money or whatever.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
It was illegal possession and improper storage of nitrous oxide
and butane cans.
Speaker 6 (40:38):
Niger's oxide is not something you sell at smoke shops.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
That's illegal, no, right it is.
Speaker 5 (40:43):
People will huff that like a you know, to look
at the fish parking lot out of balloons.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
This is the second twist, you guys, Maybe we need
to do a whole episode on this. There there is
an entire section of this story that we're not even
going to fully get to today. Is the number of
nitrous oxide large We're talking like foot tall tanks, nitrous
oxide tanks that look like buttane refillers, just like if
(41:10):
you you know, size them up by four sure, and
they are designed to and it says on the Goo
distributors like websites that they sell all these things. They
were for sale on Walmart dot com, they were for
sale on Amazon. They're huge. You are supposed to, at
least according to the creators of these products. Connect it
(41:31):
up to one of your whipped cream maker machines.
Speaker 6 (41:35):
Whippets them to people call them whippets and.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Make whip cream. That's what they sell them for. That's
what they're designed for.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
During the depression, when you could buy frozen grapejruice concentrate
with explicit directions on what not to do to make
it wine. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Yeah, well, guys, there's such a demand for this nitrous
oxide in not only the Detroit area. Don't want to
aligned Detroit, in all of the United States, you guys
that at smoke shops. Now the most profitable item that
exists in smoke shops is nitrous oxide.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Data.
Speaker 5 (42:11):
It's're legal to sell if as long as it's like
you can't tell what someone's gonna do with it. But
there's all kinds of loopholes we know with those lab
chemicals or things like what was it called spice, remember
that where it was marketed as like this is not
for human consumption, We'll only use this as an incense
or something.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
You know, yeah, or then you know, I mean, it's
it's a problem people grapple with because you can't stop
selling people, you know, cigarette lighters on the off chance
that one person might use a lighter to start a
forest fire.
Speaker 5 (42:42):
Well, and to be fair, if anyone's watched the Bear
or any like fancy cooking competition, they use these nitrous
canisters all the time to make foams of any variety,
not just whipped cream, you know, So there does need
should be and people who are using it for the
right reasons, have every right to get stuff, but massive
tanks of it in a smoke shop. The know gourmet
(43:04):
is shopping there for this product.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
People whi cream.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
It's just weird. It does very weird for me. It's
just strange, right, and it was very strange for the
for the township fire chief Tim Duncan. That you can
hear remarks from him, well, not these particular remarks, but
remarks from him during a press conference that was given
on March fifth. You can find that on YouTube via
the Clinton Township Community TV YouTube channel. But here's a
(43:31):
quote Tim Duncan gave when speaking with Detroit Free Press.
Speaker 6 (43:35):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
What people are finding out is the community at large
has a large desire for nitrous oxide and they can
make a lot of money off selling these things. We're
trying to get out there and make sure people are
using this in the appropriate fashion, which I don't know
how you do that, honestly, mister Duncan. But the nitrous
is supposed to be used for the food service end
of the industry, and obviously we're seeing that simply not
(43:58):
what's happening. And this is problem not simply in Clinton Township,
but it's throughout the state with the quantities that we
had in this building. This per he's talking about the
owner here, he's sending them somewhere. Now it's time to
uncover where are they going. I thought that was just
an interesting thing. It's it's following the rabbit hole basically
because the ATF is heavily involved in this case now
(44:21):
because of that nitrous oxide.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
As they should be.
Speaker 5 (44:24):
Yeah, and you're right, map this is there's a lot
of things wrapped up in this one story, a lot
of questions. But it reminds me of I don't know
if you another item that used to be maybe not anymore,
but sold at like smoke shops or maybe like kind
of sex type shops was video cassette head cleaner, which
if used in a certain way is poppers, which is
(44:47):
a you know drug that is used often for sexual
purposes that can you know, cause like euphoria and other
kinds of you know effects that are good for sexy times.
But they're marketed and you know it can be used
to clean the heads of your VCR.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
I had no I had zero idea about that. What
is the chemical? Well, there's uh amial nitrate.
Speaker 6 (45:12):
It's amal nitrate. That's that's what poppers are.
Speaker 5 (45:14):
But I think whatever video head cleaner is, it's got
similar properties.
Speaker 4 (45:18):
But I don't think it's exactly.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
That amalka trade and other nitrates can be sold that way.
Speaker 5 (45:24):
That's right, Yeah, exactly, So well, I'm not sure there's
different ones, but like audio, video head cleaner is tantamount
to the same effects as anal nitrate.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Weird, very weird. All right, Well, hey, guys, any any
of their last thoughts on this one?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
They used to call them Amy's in the sixties.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
No, No, Matt, this is a wild ride, and I
really do think there's a lot to unpack here that
would probably be worthy of a deeper exploration.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Okay, Alex, is anything else you need to say about
Detroit before we get out?
Speaker 4 (45:54):
All right?
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Go right, all right, we'll be right back with more
strange news.
Speaker 6 (46:05):
And we're back with our last story of the day.
Speaker 5 (46:08):
Kind of had to have a bit of a misery
sandwich on our hands today. Not that Matt's story wasn't
heavy in its own right, but I think it was
what do we call it on the text chain, A
lighter shade of nightmare fuel. A lot of actual fuel
in that story too, But we've obviously discussed at length
many of the accusations, both confirmed and alleged, you know,
(46:29):
against the Catholic Church and high ranking officials when it
comes to sexual abuse of children, you know, that have
been covered up, brushed under the rug, allowed to continue indefinitely. Well,
let's just up the anteus a little bit. As if
that weren't enough, why don't we.
Speaker 6 (46:48):
Add child sex trafficking proper.
Speaker 5 (46:52):
To the lists of accusations and that are very very
very much on the edge of being fully proven. In
New Orleans, the New Orleans Archdiocese is the target of
a child sex trafficking inquiry. Louisiana State Police served search
warrants on the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans in
(47:16):
what's to be the beginnings of a massive, unprecedented sweeping
probe of this organization. These warrants were recently served alleging
that for decades, the institution has been involved not only
in the church's global clergy child molestation scandal, but also
(47:41):
in something even more as you would say, been unclean,
the trafficking and shipment and use and abuse of minors
for the sexual gratification of predators, often high ranking officials
within the church. Reading from a article in The Guardian
by Ramon Antonio Vargas in New Orleans and David Hammer
(48:04):
of WWL in Louisiana, which is a TV news channel,
this is the primary source that I have for this,
so I'm just going to read pretty liberally from this
to start.
Speaker 4 (48:13):
But the article starts.
Speaker 5 (48:15):
The clerk at the state Criminal Courthouse where the warrant
was signed released the eleven page document on Tuesday. It
makes clear that troopers involved an appending rave prosecution case
against one priest came to suspect that particular case was
part of a broader pattern of widespread sexual abuse of
minors dating back decades that was covered up and not
(48:36):
reported to law enforcement.
Speaker 4 (48:39):
Goes on to note that.
Speaker 5 (48:41):
Previous archbishops, the highest ranking official in the archdiocese, not
only knew of the sexual abuse and failed to report
all the claims to law enforcement, but spent archdiocese funding
to actually support the accused, and within the language of
the warrants, any and all documents were required to be
(49:01):
produced that pertain in any way to the sexual abuse
of a minor by clergy members employed or otherwise associated
with the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and the implication there
is that these records are believed to constitute a violation
of the state's laws against trafficking of children for sexual purposes.
(49:21):
It also demands any and all communications between the Archbishop
of New Orleans and any department within the Vatican. So
they're trying to kind of breach that air gap, you know,
into the wider organization any department within the Vatican pertaining
to child sexual abuse, among various other files.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
And so this is on the heels of what some
earlier reports that were apparently buried or suppressed or board.
Speaker 5 (49:50):
That's right, attorneys for victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by
clergy were given access to the documents that formed kind
of the basis of what's called the Key Memo. And
that's because in these cases their clients became part of
a bankruptcy proceeding against the church. So I think those
(50:14):
lawyers that were handling the memo to law enforcement in
twenty twenty two, that's when federal investigators, with the aid
of state troopers, started to look further into what these
memo kind of pointed to. So at this point, says
they began investigating New Orleans clergy for possibly violating federal
law by taking children across state lines.
Speaker 6 (50:38):
For the purposes of sexual abuse.
Speaker 4 (50:40):
Dude, no, no, no, I know, I know. They talk about some specifics.
Speaker 5 (50:48):
Additionally, it was reported that in some instances, gifts were
given to abuse victims by the accused molesters with instructions
to pass on.
Speaker 4 (50:56):
This is chilling to pass.
Speaker 5 (50:58):
On or give the gift to certain priests at the
next school or church. It was said that the gift
was a form of signaling to another priest that the
person was to be a target of sexual abuse.
Speaker 6 (51:15):
And there apparently it's a system, guys.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
Of course, there often is, and there was an associated
press investigation dating back to like twenty nineteen. The law
knew about this, it appears yea.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
It would appear.
Speaker 6 (51:29):
So it just feels like an escalation to me.
Speaker 5 (51:33):
And you know, and if it's happening here, it's the
kind of thing that doesn't feel isolated. It feels like
with these types of systematic elements to identify like this
was designed to be a network.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
With enough passing of the buck or just moving someone
a town or a country over. I would also imagine
I'm sure a lot of us, unfortunately have to think
about this and how experienced one of this firsthand. Folks,
if you have only lived in the United States, please
be aware there are many other countries with a far
(52:10):
looser grasp on the idea of rule of law. And indeed,
in some of those parts of the world, regions, countries
wherever you want to call it, the institution of the
Catholic Church functions in the role of the state and
has a lot of power, yes well.
Speaker 5 (52:26):
And also a looser grasp of consent or or a
lot less emphasis placed on what that might look like.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
Consent does not enter the equation. These are monsters and
these are victims. This is unfortunately, this is one of
those things like we're talking about earlier in this evening's program.
People want an uncomplicated narrative, well organized child abuse rings
We posit are an uncomplicated narrative. These people need to
(52:56):
be brought.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
Down, Yeah, absolutely, really quickly. I just want to mention
something else that's in that memo, which is not as
bad as the trafficking we're discussing here, but it is
this type of insidious behavior that existed, at least in
this case with the Archbishop of New Orleans. This guy
named Gregory Amond, according to that memo, had previously made
(53:20):
settlements with people so victims who claimed that a particular
priest had molested them, and he authorized with official like
church budgets to settlements, one for one hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars, another for one hundred thousand dollars to
resolve these situations out of court so they become secrets.
(53:43):
The church essentially bought people's silence.
Speaker 4 (53:46):
Ye right, that I.
Speaker 3 (53:48):
Mean, I will say that you can sign an NDA
that can be enforced like this out of court settlement,
that agreement that doesn't really hold water if you're in
da is agreeing to not check those but it's intimidation
tactics as well, this very powerful institution. Of course, not
all Catholics are evil, just no, forget that part.
Speaker 5 (54:11):
But this is we've all expressed tenuous relationships with the
idea of settling out of court in general, especially when
it comes to bringing powerful individuals and organizations to task.
It just feels like a get out of jail free
card and like a sweep everything under the rug card.
Speaker 3 (54:27):
Kendrick Lamar just taught me that apparently Drake had a
five hundred something thousand dollars out of court settlement related
to the long running rumors that he has attempted to
groom young and underage women.
Speaker 5 (54:41):
Not to be that guy, but he strikes me as
that not being that far from the truth. I don't know,
never matter what it is about him, there's something that's
skeeaky about that guy. I don't know what it is,
but I'm glad we're mentioning Drake, not Kendrick.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
We'll glad we're mentioning the out of court settlements guys.
Speaker 2 (54:59):
Just the whole point of for me is speaking of
systems right that are in place, this practice of taking
in insane amounts of money from all of the people
that attend all of the churches right in one place,
like let's say New Orleans or that area whatever the
archbishop presides over, taking in that money from all of
your parishioners, using it due to silence those who either
(55:23):
speak up or you know, get abused or get abused
and speak up right, and you know.
Speaker 5 (55:30):
That we you know, again, we talked about how sometimes
some of this stuff it just feels like the movies.
Speaker 4 (55:35):
But people that get just hung like.
Speaker 5 (55:38):
Power mad, and who are like I can do whatever
I want, because I am the mouth, I am the
voice of God.
Speaker 4 (55:45):
You know, I am connected.
Speaker 5 (55:46):
Therefore I cannot be judged by the laws of.
Speaker 4 (55:50):
Man, you know.
Speaker 5 (55:51):
And I think there's probably a genuine delusional belief.
Speaker 4 (55:55):
Amongst some of these circles. That is the case me.
Speaker 3 (55:58):
But I prayed about it. I read some The only
word for it is I read some infernal things regarding
activities at the Vatican. And the network spans right and
there are documented cases wherein people were saying that these victims,
(56:18):
these children were tempting them, or was Satan tempting them,
you know what I mean. And maybe they really did
believe that rationalization, but it doesn't make their actions not monstrous.
I am very I am not in favor of rehabilitative acts.
This is a take them down situation kind of thing
(56:38):
for me, just because again we see an established network.
We see one that has been able to practice to
a degree what we will call regulatory capture, which is
control over state and law enforcement institutions. And if this
is horrific, our thoughts are with all the victims, all
their loved ones, family members, But please please understand this
(57:02):
is happening in the United states, and it shows us,
It shows us the statistical inevitability that even worse things
are happening in places that have more compromised governments. This
is just horrific.
Speaker 6 (57:18):
And again, yeah, people are learning to speak with whales.
Speaker 3 (57:22):
Though. If we need good.
Speaker 4 (57:23):
News, Ben, can we please? That's all I've got to say.
I washed my hand. Now, I don't wash my hands
of it.
Speaker 5 (57:28):
This is something that needs to you know, these people
need to be dragged out into the light, and no
one should ever wash their hands of making sure these
people see justice. But I washed my hands of this
story for the moment, just to wash the ick off.
I need a shower. Could we maybe like swim with
the whales for a minute them.
Speaker 3 (57:44):
Yes, sir, just for a second. We can tell you
in good news for fans of animals in a world first.
This April, scientists had a conversation with a humpback whale.
What did they talk about? Here's the thing, They're not
totally sure. I wish that'd be an amazing I can't.
(58:05):
Can you imagine if extraterrestrials land and they're really really
hot about something that's familiar on their planet, and they
just only want to talk about that. I love that idea, Like,
what if they you know, because I guess the way
time and space work, they're a little behind right in
musical trends, the way like Europe is continually catching up
(58:27):
to us musical trends. I said it, whoa, that is
in fact a hot take.
Speaker 4 (58:32):
One might argue the opposite. I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (58:34):
It depends on which genres we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (58:37):
But what if their equivalent of Avatar III is about
to release, so they just came here to like get
some hype going.
Speaker 3 (58:46):
They'll say, you don't really have to watch the first two. Yeah,
apologies to Europe, of course, the Europe leads the way
and so many of these things. I'm glad you didn't
let me slide on that one, Nold. But here's what happened.
The an animal behaviorists named Josie Hubbard. Her and her
group have been working with a humpback whale named Twain
(59:10):
and in the off the coast of Alaska. These six
scientists were basically doing something that I'm sure a lot
of us have done with animals in our neck of
the woods. They were taking recordings of an actual animal communicating,
and they were playing it back in this case, they
were playing it back into the void of the waters
off the coast of Alaska, playing humpback sounds and hoping
(59:33):
to humpback whale answered them. And humans actually don't know
very much about the whales at this time, so this
is the first time they managed to get in a
conversation with it. And it's kind of like if you
were talking to someone online and you were using a
set of emojis that you don't understand, but they were
(59:54):
responding and you just sort of kept trying to respond
with their replies. It's like large language model thing almost.
So the next step is to figure out what the
conversation was about. But apparently it went.
Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Well, Yeah, I heard just a snippet of it just now, Ben,
as you're driving it, just the yeah, these interesting sounds
that were emitted by the scientists, and then the response
that's very different but similar.
Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Yeah, it's like following up right, Yeah, they hit you
back with some more emoji. We know that the cetaceans
are incredibly intelligent. We know that, as hippy as it
may sounds, we know that personhood should not be a
concept restricted entirely to this one brand of primate. But
it would be amazing to be able to decode this.
(01:00:43):
They're using AI now, it's one of the few good
uses of AI to try to decipher this situation to
see if they can get to a Rosetta stone. But
whales are so like they have accents, they have gangs,
they have little clicks.
Speaker 4 (01:00:56):
They do cool little hand signals.
Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Yeah, a hand signal, which is wild because who knows
where they get the hands they're getting from somewhere.
Speaker 5 (01:01:02):
Oh, I know, I always love that Kravana get lyne
about how like dolphins have fins because they evolved so
they couldn't hold machine guns, you know, and made them
inherently more peaceful.
Speaker 4 (01:01:13):
That's the peaceful whales. No machine guns in those fins.
Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
Well with this, folks, We really appreciate your time. As always,
we're all in this together. We want to hear from
you regarding any of these stories we have explored. We
want to hear what you think Wales would say. Honestly. Also,
I think it would be hilarious if extra terrestrials landed
and they weren't that impressive, like they had only worked
(01:01:38):
out space travel and everything else that we had done
amazed them. They would be like velcrow.
Speaker 4 (01:01:44):
Whoa sparkling water? What is all this glittery stuff in
the ocean?
Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
Oh boy, they're probably just going to talk to the whales.
But in the meantime you can talk to us. We'd
love to hear from you. We try to be easy
to find online.
Speaker 5 (01:01:58):
Conspiracy Stuff Show is the handle where you can find
this on Facebook, on YouTube or we have video content
rolling out every single week and on x FKA Twitter,
on Instagram and TikTok boy, can you ever find us
at the handle Conspiracy Stuff Show?
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Hey, and we have a phone number. You can call
it one eight three three st d WYTK. Please put
it in your phone as a contact just in case
it calls you back after you call in and leave
a three minute voicemail. Have three minutes is the maximum
when you call in, do give yourself a cool nickname
and let us know in the recording if we can
use your name and message on the air. If you've
(01:02:34):
got more to say than can fit in that three minutes,
why not instead send us a good old fashioned email.
Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
We are conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
Stuff they Don't Want You to Know is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,
my name is Nola.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
They called me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer Alexis code named Doc Holliday Jackson. Most importantly,
you are you. You are here. That makes this the
stuff they don't want you to know. It is the
top of the week. Happy May sixth to everybody tuning in,
Happy May the fourth and so on. We knew we
(00:49):
had to start tonight's program with well, there's a lot
of stuff we have to get to, but first I
think we can all agree there is some incredibly important
brain making news that we have to get the word
out about. The rumors are true. Our long standing dream
has finally come to fruition. Gentlemen, folks, people, conspiracy realist, everybody.
(01:14):
You can now gamble at Dave and Busters what very
soon you can wait.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
So this is what I wanted to clarify. Ben. I
saw this. You said it to our group text.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
It said something about gambling on arcade machines. Do this
mean you'll be placing bets on like Street Fighter?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm so glad you asked, because here is how it works.
You get the DMB app, which obviously all of us
already have, and then you, through the app, you can
make what they call friendly wagers.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Ah. Yes, I love a friendly wager.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Games that people are played during to the Dave and
Buster's statement quote, customers can soon make a friendly five
dollars wager on a hot shots basketball game, a bet
on a ski ball competition, or on another arcade game.
The betting function is expected to launch in the next
few months. So if you have ever been getting house
(02:09):
drunk with your adult friends at Dave and Busters and
decided to put some money on one of the kids
playing ski ball, your time has come.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, man, eight chocolate shoe choose deep? I got So?
Speaker 5 (02:22):
Is this like only being rolled out in states where
gambling is legal, or because you're using an app? Is
it somehow a loopholey kind of thing?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Well? Yeah, this is very confusing.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
We're talking about this because I wanted to surprise you
guys on air given the gravity of this news. However,
got too excited a little bit sleep deprived. As Ever,
it looks like they did loophole it. As we're talking
about in our group chat. It looks as though the
kind of the way that online gambling apps or like
(02:55):
draftking stuff works. Regardless, it looks like that's what Dave
and Busters is doing. Because from what I can tell,
and Dave Buster please write and big fans correct us
if we're wrong here. But from what we can tell,
it seems that this is going to take place in
every DMB location, including our own, so we may have
(03:17):
to change our weekend.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
Trapping dangerous, dude, dangerous. Imagine people losing their shirt betting
on Mortal Kombat.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I can I can't. I mean, like, okay, first off,
is Dave and Busters not only like jokes aside? Is
it not somewhat grooming kids for a casino experience a
little bit?
Speaker 5 (03:40):
I mean you could argue, I mean, they would probably
argue that Dave and Busters is for families. You know,
it's a place where kids and their parents can both
enjoy things and equal amounts. I mean, chuck E cheese,
I would argue is way more gratuitously that thing than
Dave and Busters.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
But I don't know who's to say.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Well, before the courts get to it, I guess the
courts are just saying. The courts are probably gonna say that.
I think they have bigger fish to fry now. We
just wanted to open with that and let you know
some of the favorite comments. The audience response has been
largely positive, and I want to give a shout out
to sc Irish eight forty three on Reddit, who said,
(04:25):
as someone who has bet on reruns of Legends of
the Hidden Temple, reruns four AM Women's ping Pong, and
those little tabletop magnetic horse racing games, I know plenty
of people who gladly sit at the table with their
buddies drinking beer, gambling on children playing hoop fever. What
could go wrong?
Speaker 5 (04:44):
A lot of pressure if someone's putting money on your
performance too right.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Can you imagine being seriously, can you imagine being like
nine years old and you're just you're at a birthday
party or something, and then all of a sudden, from
behind where for the rest at or bar is you
hear some guy go like, sak this one.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
You know, Jenny Duddy, daddy needs a new pair of shoes.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, yeah, Or you see some kid fail miserably, and
then somebody from across the room throws a chair because
he's so upset, and he really did just lose a
lot of money.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
So I wonder if they're gonna have to do the
same thing that Vegas does where they deploy those gambling
problem pamphlets. Yes, I think they'll have to. But anyway,
as we were saying, there is there's much more and
much stranger news that we have to get to this evening.
We are going to We're going to learn a little
(05:43):
bit about a situation in New Orleans, UH, situation in Detroit,
the UH the home state of our own code named
Doc Holliday. We're also gonna, you know, we'll get to
some other things. Not all of it is terrible, but
I think or pause. We're going to look at the
campus protest, and we have returned one of the first
(06:11):
stories we wanted to cover this evening. It's something that
everybody in the United States has heard about. You have
probably also heard about this, regardless of where you live.
In recent days, starting April seventeenth of this year, the
US saw one of the largest the largest occurrences of
(06:36):
campus protests since the era of Vietnam War protest and
their protests on university campuses that later spread to other countries,
all regarding the war, the Israel Hamas war, and these
are to be clear, at least, what you'll see in
the news is portrayals of someone being like rapidly anti
(07:01):
Semitic or just by being pro Palestinian. Obviously, we know
the truth is much more complicated, and arguing for arguing
that innocent people should not be murdered does not automatically
make you a bad person by any means. But this
is still this is still happening as we're recording on
(07:25):
May first, Wednesday, and this is going to come to
you on May sixth, at the beginning of next week.
Have you guys been keeping eyes on the protest on
the breaking news?
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Absolutely been one of the biggest, I guess, most egregious
examples has happened right here in our backyard at Emory University,
where police went from you know, zero to tayze and
like boots on backs of necks, like and then the
span of no time. And I've been very perplexed as
(07:57):
to where this escalation is coming from, you know, in
what seemed to be.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Very reasonable exercising.
Speaker 5 (08:05):
Of you know, our right, our rights as Americans to protest.
I just it's suspicious to me. I don't get it
where the escalation comes from. I think maybe I do
get it sort of, but it's still mind boggling. We'll
get into it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Well, Yeah, my attention has been pretty sharply focused on
Columbia University. I mean, certainly Emery. You know, I think
hit all of us a little differently because it's here.
But the stuff in New York with Columbia University has been.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
That's the latest right.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Which just got breached because they had the temerity to
possess bike locks. Bike locks, that's the yellow cake in
this situation, justified the aggression.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, but it's an interesting echo of the past in
the you know, the specific building that was used to
barricade themselves into the protesters and you know, having it,
having NYPD deployed into the building via I mean, you
guys probably saw the pictures of that thing they use
to like get into the story above all. Yeah, really,
(09:05):
just I don't know it. Anytime we see stuff like this,
it feels movie like in its I don't know, in
the same way a movie, a big successful like summer blockbuster, right,
one of the primary attributes of that type of film
is the amount of money that's thrown at the screen, right,
(09:27):
the amount of vehicles, human beings, special effects and all
that stuff. In watching these things on the news, it
feels again We've said this, I've said this personally about
many things recently in the past what ten years, that
just it doesn't feel real because of the almost production
of it.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
But doesn't it just feel completely out of balance with
what's happening. Yeah, the level of deployment of these bells
and whistles, these riot squad and these you know, tear
gas and rubber bullets and stuff. I mean, it's just
like we've talked about it off the air a good
bit lately, and it's a very difficult topic to discuss
(10:09):
without people getting mad at you on one side or
the other. But it has been very confusing for me.
And we've talked about it a good bit and I
think i've you know, have a little bit more understanding
of it after talking to you guys.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
But where this just.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Unilateral, like anyone in opposition to Israel is instantly.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Like an enemy of the state. It's just it's I
don't get it. It's it's it just seems so extreme
and aggressive.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
And you know, there's even a lot of folks that
are picipitating in these protests who are who are who
are Jewish, who are saying, you know, Jews for Palestine,
you know, And there there are a lot of you know,
agitator types on the maybe faculties even of these schools,
who are saying, I feel unsafe. I'm seeing folks that
are you know, supporting Hamas and it's tanamount to terrorist activity.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
But all of that feels to me to be a
lot of.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Much ado about nothing.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
These are these are peaceful protests, and I haven't seen
any evidence of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
It all just seems like a lot of hot air.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And fury signifying very little. Yeah, I'm glad you mention
the phrase agitation because one of the continual accusations or
conspiracy theories about this, which we'll get to you in
later episodes, is the idea of agent provocateurs or outside agitators,
(11:28):
and that was indeed the calculus or the rationale stated
by NYPD for their actions in Colombia. That's what other
law enforcement agencies have been stating when they are cracking
down on these protests. Which of these have been continuing
(11:51):
for some time. Let's just give you a context folks here,
because we know, depending on what kind of news we're encountering,
you're gonna hear different narratives. So to give you a
full list of the states that have campus protests going
on right now about this and often other related issues.
(12:11):
Strap in. I'll read as quick as I can. New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts.
It goes on Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, Washington,
(12:34):
d C, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin. Even Wisconsin's in the mix
now because of the University of Wisconsin Madison. And in
what we see with each of these protests is these
occupying movements, is we see a troubling common narrative thread,
(12:55):
which is law enforcement cracking down on college students who
are peacefully protesting. And yes, to that earlier point, there
are people who are doing counter protests, That's absolutely true.
There are people who are saying, I myself do not
feel safe on campus as a result of these things. However,
(13:18):
out of all the people protesting, there's also a common
theme of the people who are getting cracked down on
by state power. And we don't have to You are
always going to be your own person. You should never
feel obligated or pushed into agreeing with something that you
don't agree with. But we do have to realize, without
(13:39):
into soapboxy, that a part of this country is inherently
the First Amendment, the idea that you could speak your mind,
and if you are not actively harming other people, you're
not calling for them to be harmed, then you should
have that speech protected. That's one thing that differentiates this
(14:01):
place in theory from authoritarian regimes, from absolute monarchies and dictatorships.
And you know, as we know right now, a lot
of us listening may indeed be on a campus, you
know what I mean, You may be on a campus
that gott in a lockdown that is just as strict,
(14:21):
if not more strict, than the COVID lockdowns of a
few years back. And these students, these protesters, you know,
they're not third party operators, right like sent in because
these days, you don't have to do that by and large.
I'm just saying it's a stereotype. It's a convenient thing
(14:43):
to hang on a hook.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh, I do agree. I was looking at something this
morning from Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City,
and he was going on and on on about outside
and individuals that were coming onto the campuses on various
campuses and basically students to protest and organize in this
(15:04):
way and to use tactics basically. And as you said, Ben,
that's not something you need some outside group to come
in and teach you. You can go online. We've talked
about in the past, like just learning how to protest
safely right and have things to protect yourself against things
like tear gas and all that stuff.
Speaker 5 (15:24):
I don't know if you guys have heard anything about this,
but the Atlanta Police apparently participates in sort of almost
like like a police exchange program where we send Atlanta
police over to Israel and are then they are trained
in kind of military crowd suppression tactics and then sent
(15:47):
back over here and then they're deployed into these protests
to quash what I would argue is Palestinian voices, you know,
I mean. And then this is all enmeshed in the
whole Hop City debate as well. Here in Atlanta in particular,
there's a really good piece on Democracy Now where Amy
Goode was talking to the chair of the Emory Philosophy department.
Speaker 6 (16:10):
Who was just kind of wandering around checking out the protest.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And the next thing she.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Gets did some in this check on someone who was
getting dropped.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
Well, yeah, something turned and she saw someone getting dropped
like you said, and just said, why are you doing this?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Stop it? And then the police asked her to leave.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
She said, no, I need to be here to witness this,
and at which point they you know, handcuffed her behind
her back.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
And in the same segment they bring in a PhD.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Medical student at Emory by the name of Umaya Mohammad,
who speaks a lot about Emory's policies about you know,
kind of even going so far as to refer to
doxing of students and this kind of really iron fisted
repression of this kind of free speech with zero evidence
(16:59):
of violence, and it just seems like cultural And I
feel like it's cultural in our country where there's this
unilateral support where it's like Israel is one in the right,
Palestine one hundred percent in the wrong, and they're basically
being treated as enemies of the state. Well, I don't
think that's right.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Well, it's it's attempting narrative, and it's a simple one, right,
which people prefer simple explanations. Let's put it this way,
because one of the big focuses we need to keep
on here goes back to an episode we did years
ago about the dangers of the militarization of police. The
(17:38):
police are not the military. They're not supposed to be
the military recently, and there are live updates that you
can get in a couple of places if you have
online access in the West. Nbcnews dot Com has a
live update thing that I've been reading for a while.
You can also check out you know what, let's go
(18:00):
to a quote from Chris Isidore writing for CNN. This
came out just today as we record. Here's what happened
in Columbia. New York City police used flash bangs flash
bang grenades to breach the building that have been occupied
by these protesters for some time. The flash grenades, if
(18:21):
you're not familiar with a flash bang, they are used
as a shock and disorient kind of tactic. Right, they
have a very bright flash, a very loud bang, but
they're not themselves explosive fissile material.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
You know, your head ring and rom and your vision
kind of just you know, if you can imagine just
having like a really bright light shine in your eyes
and what the after effects are of that. Maybe X
that by you know, four or five.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
So just last night, as we record, from what we understand,
officers arrested more than two hundred protesters, the majority of
which are obviously peaceful protesters, overnight and then they went
to City of City College of New York that's about
a mile north of Manhattan as the crow flies, and
they made dozens of extra arrest. This coincides with arrest,
(19:15):
arrest and police attacks at like the University of Arizona
at Tulane, where there have been a lot of and
we'll get to Louisiana later in an unrelated story, there
have been a lot of allegations there, in particular of
these quote unquote outside agitators. I'm torn on this, guys,
because the First Amendment is incredibly important to me and
(19:39):
to this country. You know, public universities are part of
the US government, so they have to follow any court
decree over how the First Amendment exists, how it should
be applied. Private universities and any private business really has
a lot more agency in what their state and around
(20:00):
speech and protest may be. If you want to learn
more about that, go to a great New York Times
article called What the First Amendment Means for Campus Protest
by Alan Blinder, also published today. As we're going into
record and with this, you know, these accusations of anti
(20:22):
Semitism are often going to be made because there is
some sort of anti Semitic action, But that same accusation
logically can be weaponized right against people who simply don't
agree with something that you agree with, and there's no
way around that. To be clear, we have never on
(20:45):
this show. We've never defended anything like anti semitism, nor
have we defended Islamophobia. They're both just very nasty things
that perhaps most irritatingly demonstrate a lack of critical thought
or the ability to think through things critically. But we
are and remain anti genocide, We are remain anti police state.
(21:10):
Would we agree with that statement in general? I think
maybe it's a little too general.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
No, I think it's just right. I mean, that's.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Just what I cannot agree with is the weaponization of
rhetoric and the other ring of people just trying to
wrap their heads around an issue and be you know.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Fair and be I don't know, just sort of.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Like to your point, Ben, like there's a there's a
lot of bullying going on, you know in this debate
where if you're if you're this, then you're this. You know,
if you say anything negative about Israel, then you're an
anti semit you know, if you say anything positive about Israel,
then you're supporting genocide. It's just a very damned if
you do, Dan, If you don't, I think I would
agree completely that what is happening in uh in Gaza,
(21:55):
but that the hands of the Israelis is something that
would certainly resemble genocide.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yes, and genocide bad. Agree. Yeah, I agreed, But you know,
it's it's strange, I think, I don't know, guys. Strange
for me because I know the episodes we've done in
the past on the way student protest movements can arise,
especially in other countries, when there are intelligence agencies involved
(22:22):
from other countries. Sure, that is a thing, and we've
talked about it before on the show. So it's weird
for me to square all of this that's going on,
when there's so much emotional response happening, to try and
come at it and think, well, what are the actual
possibilities here and mechanisms. To have this large of a
protest movement occurring across the United States about something very
(22:46):
specific that is not happening inside the United States, and
right before a presidential election, that weirds me out a
little bit. It makes my senses go off. It doesn't
mean that I or anybody should think that that's what's
happened here, but it is weird.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
It Also, we do know for reality Reality check, regardless
of how the powers that be politically on both sides
of the aisle, regardless how they try to spin it,
it is known and it is true that adversarial governments
have been quite successful in their asymmetric warfare tactics. Right
(23:24):
Info war is real. Do check out, Do check out
our earlier episodes on this. As you guys know, I
researched this stuff kind of extensively. No, you say it's
a real concern, it's a valid It's not crazy to
ask yourself that question.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I remember looking at this at great detail too when
we were making those episodes a long time ago, and
it really is a creepy thing if you look at
the span of history and how often young young people,
especially in colleges in any country can be targeted basically
with these things.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
US did it and so America.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
It's because the youth can be a scary thing to
the establishments, you know, because they represent new ideas, they
represent a breaking of the status quo. And when enough
of them organize and insist on having their voices heard
in this framework of quote unquote free speech that we.
Speaker 6 (24:18):
Have, it freaks people out, you know.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
And then and we're seeing it, it's so gross and like,
you know, transparent what's being done, what they're doing. And
I just wanted to point to one other article in Vox,
how today is anti war protests stack up against major
student movements in history. They're saying, and I think we
all agree that these campus protests are shaping up to
be some of the biggest of the twenty first century.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
And they're just going to keep going.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
And I We're going to get to a point, I
think where if we keep seeing this kind of violence
perpetrator on peaceful protesters.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
There could well be a sea change. It's just how
polarizing can you get.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
You know what if it were your kids just out
there expressing their voices and not standing for violence against
innocent people, sure of innocent people.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Or protesting the Vietnam or the photographs right, the video
footage here is distressingly similar. I'm not asking for people
to solve problems, but I think we all agree it
is important to realize how fragile things like the First
Amendment and indeed the great experiment that is the United
(25:28):
States can be, and police states are bad. It's not
a hot take, it's just a reality. The only people
who like police states are the dictators who run police states.
Everybody else is just trying not to die. And that's
not the kind of world or not the kind of
country that people should want to grow up at. We
don't have the answers. We pride ourselves on being honest
(25:50):
when that's the case, but we do want to hear
from you. You are the most important part of the show.
We are glad that you are here, and thank you
as always for taking the time to reach out and
speak with us. Let us know what you think is
going on these protests and if it's not too much,
let us know what you think the end results will be.
We're gonna pause for word from our sponsors and we'll
(26:11):
return with more strange news.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
And we've returned, and for this story, we're headed to
the three to one three aka Rock City aka Motown
aka Detroit, Michigan.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Citro. Is that a thing Detroit? What did I hear that?
Speaker 7 (26:32):
In?
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Like a stand out, like a comedy thing. I don't
know what that's from. Dope like that must be it?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Did you say the city of champions, Ben? I just
learned about that back in the day, back in the
thirties when Detroit had all the best teams.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
It's still pretty good, right, The Lion's quite good, I'm sure.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Well, they're very blue wise.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
We believe in things and support.
Speaker 7 (26:55):
The playoffs.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (26:59):
We were bad for a long time. I will not
tolerate any lionslander.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Lias Slander, I said, it's good to believe in people
and support things.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
It's sort of an angel in the outfield.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
No, it's funny there.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Were mentioning that because I think I texted you Alexis
at some point. Maybe I was doing the playoff things.
I was texting some Detroit friends, and every single person
from Detroit, including our friend Lucky Yates, doubled down. The
residents of Detroit have a great and well earned pride
in their city, and I always think we should explore
(27:33):
it more. Just like the car stuff days, I just
want to go see the packerd stuff, you know from
the per Company.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Look, so, if you're like me and you don't know
much about Detroit, you may remember the enthralling film eight Miles,
starring Marshall Mathers as an aspiring young battle rap artist.
And if you'd like to imagine where this story is
going to take place, just put your mind on that
titular road from that cinematic masterpiece and then travel approximately
seven miles northeast too fifteen mile road and the address
(28:03):
is one nine one zero zero fifteen mile Road in
Clinton Township. Clinton Township. Well, maybe you know more about
this Alexis than we do. It appears to be in
the greater Metropolitan Area of Detroit, like the city, but
it is a township, so I don't know if it
would be considered like a whole separate thing.
Speaker 7 (28:24):
Clinton Township is definitely like a considered a separate city
is not considered Detroit. It's very far from Detroit. As
you said, it's like seven miles northeast. It's like up
you go like up ninety four to ninety four starts
going north instead of like east and west, and then
you get up to fourteen mile and that's where Clinton
Township starts. So definitely definitely not Detroit and even further
(28:44):
away from some of the other suburbs that are closer
to Detroit than like border eight mile.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Godd you call it an excerp than in that regard,
I actually much.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
Of anything, because I don't really think about Clinton Township.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
But I.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
It's not a shade, but it's just it's far away.
It's considered far away.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Oh, I heard that Clinton Township email anyway, all right.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
So let's just maybe you've never been to one nine
one zero zero fifteen mile road in Clinton Township, where
if you do travel there now you will find a
charred barren slab where once a building stood. And guys,
I link to a picture there so you can look
at this building. It's a single sizable building that has
an entrance right in the center, and then it has
(29:29):
two businesses inside that one building. On the left you'll
find Dollar Palace, and on the right you will find
a place that just says Goo g oo. And you
may be curious as to what that means or stands for. Well,
well it's called the Goo Smoke Shop slash as it
has two businesses, select distributors wholesale.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Hmmm uh.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
And if you did go there when the building is
a vape situation, Ah, yes, okay, is it ye old
smoke shop? And if you had traveled there at the
time and then you saw this smoldering pile, that is
that area? Now you may be asking yourself again.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
This barren slab, if you will, I got I gotta
give you props on that turn of frame by the way,
please carry you sure.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Somebody else used it better than me. I've just put
words together there. If you might be wondering what the
heck happened here, well it all goes back to what
was available for purchase at this good old goose smoke shop,
and more importantly, what the goo.
Speaker 6 (30:32):
I just want to give me that goo.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I think that's why I worked for him for so long.
But more importantly, what was distributed by those select distributors
wholesale So if we if we imagine the inside of
a smoke shop, Guys, I think we've done this exercise before.
But what are you gonna find in there?
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Hookah stuff?
Speaker 3 (30:51):
You will find, tinctures. You will find a lot of vapes.
You will probably find vape refilled device or paraphernalia. Juice
you might juice, you might find to pay on the states.
You might find some CBD stuff. Some PC stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Is very popular, so like subplax supplements, snacks, sometimes, some prophylactics,
some glassware, some metal and wooden products, and lots and
lots of things that are probably flammable.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
I would say, like those coals that you get for
for hookah setups.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Those things are half half empty cans of paint with
whally rags hanging out.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
Oh wait a minute, let's talk about pressurized butane canisters.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
I've seen now that this is where we get to
the wholesale distributors. Here they sold large containers of butane,
which is a very flammable substance used to fill all
kinds of things that set fires. Right, so lighters of
all shapes and style exactly, and also, interestingly enough, guys,
(32:00):
crap ton of nitrous oxide which is an odorless, colorless,
non flammable gas, but it treats fire a lot like
oxygen does. It can be used as to fuel a
fire the way oxygen does, but not in the same
way as a buttane would, right, it would all of
(32:20):
a sudden ignite.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
It functions as a propellant, though you're saying.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
It does precisely, and that is a whole I think
that is maybe the crux of this story, those two substances,
butane and nitrous oxide. Let's go to a story that is, honestly, guys,
is a bit stale at this point, but it got
renewed by another story we're going to bring in at
the end here. But this is a story from March
(32:44):
sixth out of the Washington Post. Explosion at vape supplier
kills teen and flings gas canisters up to a mile.
This is insane, guys. Back on March fifth, I guess
between March fifth and sixth, there was some kind of
fire that began, which is still under investigation as we
(33:06):
record today. On Wednesday, May first, there was a fire
at this location. Whether it was inside the building right
behind the building, there's some information on that coming out,
but it took place at this location, and it ignited
all of these giant buttane canisters and the nitrous oxide canisters,
and it even superheated all of those like vape batteries,
(33:30):
all of those very powerful batteries that were located inside.
Speaker 6 (33:33):
Which they won't even let you bring in a check.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Bag, you know, on an airplane, right.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Because of the pressure changes and the possibility of fires. Well,
there was such a massive explosion. You can see videos
of this thing if you look online. It was almost
you guys have seen videos of like a fireworks factory
catching on fire, and just the kind of the chain
continuous explosions that are occurring in some of them very small,
(34:03):
some of them larger. You guys have seen something like that.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Absolutely sure.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
It was like that, but with metal canisters being shot
into the air and exploding, So there's shrapnel being fired
for a mile around in a mile radius, sometimes up
to two miles. There would be canisters found on roofs
or embedded in the ground. And there was one unfortunate
person who was nineteen years old who was standing literally
(34:30):
a quarter of a mile away from this explosion at
a gas station and a piece of shrapnel caused his
life to end. Insane, terrible, horrible situation for that one person.
And also imagine just walking outside where you live and
seeing this in the distance and hearing this with these constant,
consistent explosions. It was so loud that the fire chief
(34:54):
there in Clinton Township, this guy named Tim Duncan, said
he could hear the explosion from his house, which is
seven miles away, roughly before he ever got deployed, you know,
to go check out what the heck was going on?
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Do we know the cause?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
The cause was improperly stored giant containers of butane and
nitrous oxide, so definitely accidental. Uh well, I didn't say that.
Speaker 3 (35:19):
Okay, improper storage, but I guess technically then by that
definition you could purposely improperly store stuff. But yes, where
are we going with this?
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Well, okay, I'm going to jump to something from the
Macombe Daily m ACMB Daily. This is what they say.
Authority said the building was not supposed to contain these
butane and nitrous oxide tanks that were found on the property,
and during the last inspection in twenty twenty two, none
of those canisters were there. If they were there, they
(35:51):
would have gotten a like hit for that right with
serious fines. Because of the way this business is zoned.
It's not zoned for industrial use and storing that those
kinds of materials would fall into industrial use. It does appear,
or at least according to these officials, the building didn't
have the proper safety structures in place to house those
(36:12):
types of tanks of materials, so.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Like fire suppression would be an example.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Oh yeah, I think it also has to do with
temperature and other potential you know, possibilities there are for
damage to be done to those just one of those
containers which could set off a chain reaction like it
did copy. And one of the big scary things at
the time when this was first happening was that there
were unexploded canisters of both butane and nitrous oxide that
(36:41):
were like lying on the ground as we said, or
like just you know, landed on a roof, and residents
were trying to recover them or dispose of them. But
some of them were ruptured, like the metal containers ruptured
so they could explode, or they a few of them
did explode, so it was like grenades. They were just
left all around.
Speaker 5 (37:00):
Dude, I mean, and this is obviously hugely dangerous for
surrounding properties and anybody that might happen to be walking by.
I mean, these things could be weaponized and launched, you know,
out of windows, and it would chatter and really seriously
injure or kill anyone that happened to be around when
this went down.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Right, Oh yeah, one hundred percent, super dangerous, super scary.
Speaker 6 (37:22):
Matt, isn't there kind of there's a twist here coming, right.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
There's a twist. Let's get to the twist. So Ben,
you asked, like, what caused it, how did it happen?
And ultimately who's responsible for this thing? Because it did
damage other businesses and homes and property and it killed
a human being. Jesus Okay, Well, the owner initially on
the day that it happened, I guess the night that
it happened, the owner of this these two businesses was
(37:49):
in contact with both the police there in Clinton Township
and the fire department and some of the city officials.
So this person immediately like was reached out to and
they were speaking and they were on good terms. But
then on Saturday, April twentieth, so this is early March
when this occurred. Right on Saturday April twentieth. The owner
(38:12):
of these companies attempted to flee not just you know,
the Detroit area, but the United States for Hong Kong,
which is pretty I don't know, doesn't look good. Maybe
attempt to flee the Clinton.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Town Well was it a round trip ticket?
Speaker 2 (38:31):
No, it was not. It was a one way ticket.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
Is is this a national Like, what's this person's citizenship
status or you know, visa status or I'm just curious
if they are US.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Right, Yes, citizen of the United States. The man's name
is Newer n R nol n O E L S
two kestwo k E S t Uo. This is a
thirty one year old person. He lives in Commerce Township,
which is also there in the Detroit area. And yeah,
(39:04):
he tried to use his passport to go from JFK
in New York City to Hong Kong and basically the
Clint Township PD let the authorities there at JFK International
note and they picked him up.
Speaker 5 (39:16):
Oh Greek, it may sound like maybe Greek etymology, Okay, anyway,
but yeah, so that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
He got he got stopped with a one way ticket,
which does provide reasonable suspicion that someone be attempting to
flee the country exactly.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
And I'm sorry, this is how long after the actual
uh you know, he.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
Said April twentieth closure explosion on March fourth, right, so
he put some time in there.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, March fifth, sixth up to April twentieth, and then
it took like four or five days for the detectives
in the township there near Detroit to go and get
him from New York and bring him back where he
was then arraigned on Thursday day, April twenty fifth, in
court in charge with one count of involuntary manslaughter.
Speaker 4 (40:05):
Ooh, which is.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Gonna plea cannabis induced psychosis?
Speaker 2 (40:09):
I hope not. I don't think so. I don't know
how that would work there. But is a felony charge
and it has a maximum sentence of fifteen years.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
So this is at this point we're thinking more of
a negligence case, you know, someone that wasn't storing their
inventory correctly or is there any suspicion of a foul
play in terms of trying to you know, burn down
for the insurance money or whatever.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
It was illegal possession and improper storage of nitrous oxide
and butane cans.
Speaker 6 (40:38):
Niger's oxide is not something you sell at smoke shops.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
That's illegal, no, right it is.
Speaker 5 (40:43):
People will huff that like a you know, to look
at the fish parking lot out of balloons.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
This is the second twist, you guys, Maybe we need
to do a whole episode on this. There there is
an entire section of this story that we're not even
going to fully get to today. Is the number of
nitrous oxide large We're talking like foot tall tanks, nitrous
oxide tanks that look like buttane refillers, just like if
(41:10):
you you know, size them up by four sure, and
they are designed to and it says on the Goo
distributors like websites that they sell all these things. They
were for sale on Walmart dot com, they were for
sale on Amazon. They're huge. You are supposed to, at
least according to the creators of these products. Connect it
(41:31):
up to one of your whipped cream maker machines.
Speaker 6 (41:35):
Whippets them to people call them whippets and.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Make whip cream. That's what they sell them for. That's
what they're designed for.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
During the depression, when you could buy frozen grapejruice concentrate
with explicit directions on what not to do to make
it wine. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Yeah, well, guys, there's such a demand for this nitrous
oxide in not only the Detroit area. Don't want to
aligned Detroit, in all of the United States, you guys
that at smoke shops. Now the most profitable item that
exists in smoke shops is nitrous oxide.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Data.
Speaker 5 (42:11):
It's're legal to sell if as long as it's like
you can't tell what someone's gonna do with it. But
there's all kinds of loopholes we know with those lab
chemicals or things like what was it called spice, remember
that where it was marketed as like this is not
for human consumption, We'll only use this as an incense
or something.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
You know, yeah, or then you know, I mean, it's
it's a problem people grapple with because you can't stop
selling people, you know, cigarette lighters on the off chance
that one person might use a lighter to start a
forest fire.
Speaker 5 (42:42):
Well, and to be fair, if anyone's watched the Bear
or any like fancy cooking competition, they use these nitrous
canisters all the time to make foams of any variety,
not just whipped cream, you know, So there does need
should be and people who are using it for the
right reasons, have every right to get stuff, but massive
tanks of it in a smoke shop. The know gourmet
(43:04):
is shopping there for this product.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
People whi cream.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
It's just weird. It does very weird for me. It's
just strange, right, and it was very strange for the
for the township fire chief Tim Duncan. That you can
hear remarks from him, well, not these particular remarks, but
remarks from him during a press conference that was given
on March fifth. You can find that on YouTube via
the Clinton Township Community TV YouTube channel. But here's a
(43:31):
quote Tim Duncan gave when speaking with Detroit Free Press.
Speaker 6 (43:35):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
What people are finding out is the community at large
has a large desire for nitrous oxide and they can
make a lot of money off selling these things. We're
trying to get out there and make sure people are
using this in the appropriate fashion, which I don't know
how you do that, honestly, mister Duncan. But the nitrous
is supposed to be used for the food service end
of the industry, and obviously we're seeing that simply not
(43:58):
what's happening. And this is problem not simply in Clinton Township,
but it's throughout the state with the quantities that we
had in this building. This per he's talking about the
owner here, he's sending them somewhere. Now it's time to
uncover where are they going. I thought that was just
an interesting thing. It's it's following the rabbit hole basically
because the ATF is heavily involved in this case now
(44:21):
because of that nitrous oxide.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
As they should be.
Speaker 5 (44:24):
Yeah, and you're right, map this is there's a lot
of things wrapped up in this one story, a lot
of questions. But it reminds me of I don't know
if you another item that used to be maybe not anymore,
but sold at like smoke shops or maybe like kind
of sex type shops was video cassette head cleaner, which
if used in a certain way is poppers, which is
(44:47):
a you know drug that is used often for sexual
purposes that can you know, cause like euphoria and other
kinds of you know effects that are good for sexy times.
But they're marketed and you know it can be used
to clean the heads of your VCR.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
I had no I had zero idea about that. What
is the chemical? Well, there's uh amial nitrate.
Speaker 6 (45:12):
It's amal nitrate. That's that's what poppers are.
Speaker 5 (45:14):
But I think whatever video head cleaner is, it's got
similar properties.
Speaker 4 (45:18):
But I don't think it's exactly.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
That amalka trade and other nitrates can be sold that way.
Speaker 5 (45:24):
That's right, Yeah, exactly, So well, I'm not sure there's
different ones, but like audio, video head cleaner is tantamount
to the same effects as anal nitrate.
Speaker 2 (45:33):
Weird, very weird. All right, Well, hey, guys, any any
of their last thoughts on this one?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
They used to call them Amy's in the sixties.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
No, No, Matt, this is a wild ride, and I
really do think there's a lot to unpack here that
would probably be worthy of a deeper exploration.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Okay, Alex, is anything else you need to say about
Detroit before we get out?
Speaker 4 (45:54):
All right?
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Go right, all right, we'll be right back with more
strange news.
Speaker 6 (46:05):
And we're back with our last story of the day.
Speaker 5 (46:08):
Kind of had to have a bit of a misery
sandwich on our hands today. Not that Matt's story wasn't
heavy in its own right, but I think it was
what do we call it on the text chain, A
lighter shade of nightmare fuel. A lot of actual fuel
in that story too, But we've obviously discussed at length
many of the accusations, both confirmed and alleged, you know,
(46:29):
against the Catholic Church and high ranking officials when it
comes to sexual abuse of children, you know, that have
been covered up, brushed under the rug, allowed to continue indefinitely. Well,
let's just up the anteus a little bit. As if
that weren't enough, why don't we.
Speaker 6 (46:48):
Add child sex trafficking proper.
Speaker 5 (46:52):
To the lists of accusations and that are very very
very much on the edge of being fully proven. In
New Orleans, the New Orleans Archdiocese is the target of
a child sex trafficking inquiry. Louisiana State Police served search
warrants on the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans in
(47:16):
what's to be the beginnings of a massive, unprecedented sweeping
probe of this organization. These warrants were recently served alleging
that for decades, the institution has been involved not only
in the church's global clergy child molestation scandal, but also
(47:41):
in something even more as you would say, been unclean,
the trafficking and shipment and use and abuse of minors
for the sexual gratification of predators, often high ranking officials
within the church. Reading from a article in The Guardian
by Ramon Antonio Vargas in New Orleans and David Hammer
(48:04):
of WWL in Louisiana, which is a TV news channel,
this is the primary source that I have for this,
so I'm just going to read pretty liberally from this
to start.
Speaker 4 (48:13):
But the article starts.
Speaker 5 (48:15):
The clerk at the state Criminal Courthouse where the warrant
was signed released the eleven page document on Tuesday. It
makes clear that troopers involved an appending rave prosecution case
against one priest came to suspect that particular case was
part of a broader pattern of widespread sexual abuse of
minors dating back decades that was covered up and not
(48:36):
reported to law enforcement.
Speaker 4 (48:39):
Goes on to note that.
Speaker 5 (48:41):
Previous archbishops, the highest ranking official in the archdiocese, not
only knew of the sexual abuse and failed to report
all the claims to law enforcement, but spent archdiocese funding
to actually support the accused, and within the language of
the warrants, any and all documents were required to be
(49:01):
produced that pertain in any way to the sexual abuse
of a minor by clergy members employed or otherwise associated
with the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and the implication there
is that these records are believed to constitute a violation
of the state's laws against trafficking of children for sexual purposes.
(49:21):
It also demands any and all communications between the Archbishop
of New Orleans and any department within the Vatican. So
they're trying to kind of breach that air gap, you know,
into the wider organization any department within the Vatican pertaining
to child sexual abuse, among various other files.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
And so this is on the heels of what some
earlier reports that were apparently buried or suppressed or board.
Speaker 5 (49:50):
That's right, attorneys for victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by
clergy were given access to the documents that formed kind
of the basis of what's called the Key Memo. And
that's because in these cases their clients became part of
a bankruptcy proceeding against the church. So I think those
(50:14):
lawyers that were handling the memo to law enforcement in
twenty twenty two, that's when federal investigators, with the aid
of state troopers, started to look further into what these
memo kind of pointed to. So at this point, says
they began investigating New Orleans clergy for possibly violating federal
law by taking children across state lines.
Speaker 6 (50:38):
For the purposes of sexual abuse.
Speaker 4 (50:40):
Dude, no, no, no, I know, I know. They talk about some specifics.
Speaker 5 (50:48):
Additionally, it was reported that in some instances, gifts were
given to abuse victims by the accused molesters with instructions
to pass on.
Speaker 4 (50:56):
This is chilling to pass.
Speaker 5 (50:58):
On or give the gift to certain priests at the
next school or church. It was said that the gift
was a form of signaling to another priest that the
person was to be a target of sexual abuse.
Speaker 6 (51:15):
And there apparently it's a system, guys.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
Of course, there often is, and there was an associated
press investigation dating back to like twenty nineteen. The law
knew about this, it appears yea.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
It would appear.
Speaker 6 (51:29):
So it just feels like an escalation to me.
Speaker 5 (51:33):
And you know, and if it's happening here, it's the
kind of thing that doesn't feel isolated. It feels like
with these types of systematic elements to identify like this
was designed to be a network.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
With enough passing of the buck or just moving someone
a town or a country over. I would also imagine
I'm sure a lot of us, unfortunately have to think
about this and how experienced one of this firsthand. Folks,
if you have only lived in the United States, please
be aware there are many other countries with a far
(52:10):
looser grasp on the idea of rule of law. And indeed,
in some of those parts of the world, regions, countries
wherever you want to call it, the institution of the
Catholic Church functions in the role of the state and
has a lot of power, yes well.
Speaker 5 (52:26):
And also a looser grasp of consent or or a
lot less emphasis placed on what that might look like.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
Consent does not enter the equation. These are monsters and
these are victims. This is unfortunately, this is one of
those things like we're talking about earlier in this evening's program.
People want an uncomplicated narrative, well organized child abuse rings
We posit are an uncomplicated narrative. These people need to
(52:56):
be brought.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
Down, Yeah, absolutely, really quickly. I just want to mention
something else that's in that memo, which is not as
bad as the trafficking we're discussing here, but it is
this type of insidious behavior that existed, at least in
this case with the Archbishop of New Orleans. This guy
named Gregory Amond, according to that memo, had previously made
(53:20):
settlements with people so victims who claimed that a particular
priest had molested them, and he authorized with official like
church budgets to settlements, one for one hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars, another for one hundred thousand dollars to
resolve these situations out of court so they become secrets.
(53:43):
The church essentially bought people's silence.
Speaker 4 (53:46):
Ye right, that I.
Speaker 3 (53:48):
Mean, I will say that you can sign an NDA
that can be enforced like this out of court settlement,
that agreement that doesn't really hold water if you're in
da is agreeing to not check those but it's intimidation
tactics as well, this very powerful institution. Of course, not
all Catholics are evil, just no, forget that part.
Speaker 5 (54:11):
But this is we've all expressed tenuous relationships with the
idea of settling out of court in general, especially when
it comes to bringing powerful individuals and organizations to task.
It just feels like a get out of jail free
card and like a sweep everything under the rug card.
Speaker 3 (54:27):
Kendrick Lamar just taught me that apparently Drake had a
five hundred something thousand dollars out of court settlement related
to the long running rumors that he has attempted to
groom young and underage women.
Speaker 5 (54:41):
Not to be that guy, but he strikes me as
that not being that far from the truth. I don't know,
never matter what it is about him, there's something that's
skeeaky about that guy. I don't know what it is,
but I'm glad we're mentioning Drake, not Kendrick.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
We'll glad we're mentioning the out of court settlements guys.
Speaker 2 (54:59):
Just the whole point of for me is speaking of
systems right that are in place, this practice of taking
in insane amounts of money from all of the people
that attend all of the churches right in one place,
like let's say New Orleans or that area whatever the
archbishop presides over, taking in that money from all of
your parishioners, using it due to silence those who either
(55:23):
speak up or you know, get abused or get abused
and speak up right, and you know.
Speaker 5 (55:30):
That we you know, again, we talked about how sometimes
some of this stuff it just feels like the movies.
Speaker 4 (55:35):
But people that get just hung like.
Speaker 5 (55:38):
Power mad, and who are like I can do whatever
I want, because I am the mouth, I am the
voice of God.
Speaker 4 (55:45):
You know, I am connected.
Speaker 5 (55:46):
Therefore I cannot be judged by the laws of.
Speaker 4 (55:50):
Man, you know.
Speaker 5 (55:51):
And I think there's probably a genuine delusional belief.
Speaker 4 (55:55):
Amongst some of these circles. That is the case me.
Speaker 3 (55:58):
But I prayed about it. I read some The only
word for it is I read some infernal things regarding
activities at the Vatican. And the network spans right and
there are documented cases wherein people were saying that these victims,
(56:18):
these children were tempting them, or was Satan tempting them,
you know what I mean. And maybe they really did
believe that rationalization, but it doesn't make their actions not monstrous.
I am very I am not in favor of rehabilitative acts.
This is a take them down situation kind of thing
(56:38):
for me, just because again we see an established network.
We see one that has been able to practice to
a degree what we will call regulatory capture, which is
control over state and law enforcement institutions. And if this
is horrific, our thoughts are with all the victims, all
their loved ones, family members, But please please understand this
(57:02):
is happening in the United states, and it shows us,
It shows us the statistical inevitability that even worse things
are happening in places that have more compromised governments. This
is just horrific.
Speaker 6 (57:18):
And again, yeah, people are learning to speak with whales.
Speaker 3 (57:22):
Though. If we need good.
Speaker 4 (57:23):
News, Ben, can we please? That's all I've got to say.
I washed my hand. Now, I don't wash my hands
of it.
Speaker 5 (57:28):
This is something that needs to you know, these people
need to be dragged out into the light, and no
one should ever wash their hands of making sure these
people see justice. But I washed my hands of this
story for the moment, just to wash the ick off.
I need a shower. Could we maybe like swim with
the whales for a minute them.
Speaker 3 (57:44):
Yes, sir, just for a second. We can tell you
in good news for fans of animals in a world first.
This April, scientists had a conversation with a humpback whale.
What did they talk about? Here's the thing, They're not
totally sure. I wish that'd be an amazing I can't.
(58:05):
Can you imagine if extraterrestrials land and they're really really
hot about something that's familiar on their planet, and they
just only want to talk about that. I love that idea, Like,
what if they you know, because I guess the way
time and space work, they're a little behind right in
musical trends, the way like Europe is continually catching up
(58:27):
to us musical trends. I said it, whoa, that is
in fact a hot take.
Speaker 4 (58:32):
One might argue the opposite. I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (58:34):
It depends on which genres we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (58:37):
But what if their equivalent of Avatar III is about
to release, so they just came here to like get
some hype going.
Speaker 3 (58:46):
They'll say, you don't really have to watch the first two. Yeah,
apologies to Europe, of course, the Europe leads the way
and so many of these things. I'm glad you didn't
let me slide on that one, Nold. But here's what happened.
The an animal behaviorists named Josie Hubbard. Her and her
group have been working with a humpback whale named Twain
(59:10):
and in the off the coast of Alaska. These six
scientists were basically doing something that I'm sure a lot
of us have done with animals in our neck of
the woods. They were taking recordings of an actual animal communicating,
and they were playing it back in this case, they
were playing it back into the void of the waters
off the coast of Alaska, playing humpback sounds and hoping
(59:33):
to humpback whale answered them. And humans actually don't know
very much about the whales at this time, so this
is the first time they managed to get in a
conversation with it. And it's kind of like if you
were talking to someone online and you were using a
set of emojis that you don't understand, but they were
(59:54):
responding and you just sort of kept trying to respond
with their replies. It's like large language model thing almost.
So the next step is to figure out what the
conversation was about. But apparently it went.
Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Well, Yeah, I heard just a snippet of it just now, Ben,
as you're driving it, just the yeah, these interesting sounds
that were emitted by the scientists, and then the response
that's very different but similar.
Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Yeah, it's like following up right, Yeah, they hit you
back with some more emoji. We know that the cetaceans
are incredibly intelligent. We know that, as hippy as it
may sounds, we know that personhood should not be a
concept restricted entirely to this one brand of primate. But
it would be amazing to be able to decode this.
(01:00:43):
They're using AI now, it's one of the few good
uses of AI to try to decipher this situation to
see if they can get to a Rosetta stone. But
whales are so like they have accents, they have gangs,
they have little clicks.
Speaker 4 (01:00:56):
They do cool little hand signals.
Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Yeah, a hand signal, which is wild because who knows
where they get the hands they're getting from somewhere.
Speaker 5 (01:01:02):
Oh, I know, I always love that Kravana get lyne
about how like dolphins have fins because they evolved so
they couldn't hold machine guns, you know, and made them
inherently more peaceful.
Speaker 4 (01:01:13):
That's the peaceful whales. No machine guns in those fins.
Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
Well with this, folks, We really appreciate your time. As always,
we're all in this together. We want to hear from
you regarding any of these stories we have explored. We
want to hear what you think Wales would say. Honestly. Also,
I think it would be hilarious if extra terrestrials landed
and they weren't that impressive, like they had only worked
(01:01:38):
out space travel and everything else that we had done
amazed them. They would be like velcrow.
Speaker 4 (01:01:44):
Whoa sparkling water? What is all this glittery stuff in
the ocean?
Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
Oh boy, they're probably just going to talk to the whales.
But in the meantime you can talk to us. We'd
love to hear from you. We try to be easy
to find online.
Speaker 5 (01:01:58):
Conspiracy Stuff Show is the handle where you can find
this on Facebook, on YouTube or we have video content
rolling out every single week and on x FKA Twitter,
on Instagram and TikTok boy, can you ever find us
at the handle Conspiracy Stuff Show?
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Hey, and we have a phone number. You can call
it one eight three three st d WYTK. Please put
it in your phone as a contact just in case
it calls you back after you call in and leave
a three minute voicemail. Have three minutes is the maximum
when you call in, do give yourself a cool nickname
and let us know in the recording if we can
use your name and message on the air. If you've
(01:02:34):
got more to say than can fit in that three minutes,
why not instead send us a good old fashioned email.
Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
We are conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
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
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
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.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.