Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A
production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
My name is Matt, my name is They.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Called me Ben. We're joined as always with our super
producer Andrew treyfors Howard. Most importantly, you are you. You
are here That makes this the stuff they don't want
you to know. If you are hearing our strange news
program the Evening it publishes, let us officially welcome you
to Monday, January twentieth, twenty twenty five. Happy Mlkday, guys.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Indeed, yeah, go back and listen to the MLK tapes
if you get a chance.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
It's a podcast, top notch pod.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
And check out our earlier epies on this show for
co intelpro and several Civil rights era related conspiracies. We've
got a pretty deep catalog there. There's so many things ongoing,
things happening in the world today. The president of South
Korea they mentioned earlier, we talked a bit about, just
(01:21):
got arrested in an incredibly high stakes operation. He has
impeached his own security force was fighting against the military
forces of South Korea. We're going to talk about wildfires,
a breakthrough in the Jack the Ripper case, Pizzagate, a
little bit of nuclear material trafficking. Before we do any
(01:44):
of that, we're talking a little bit off air. Guys
excited to share this story because it pertains to some
discussions we had had in the past. The government of
the United Kingdom has officially warned people that sex toys
are tempting target for hackers and can't be potentially weaponized.
(02:04):
Remember we were talking about all technology is smart and
if it's cloud connected, you can get to it.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, you got it.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
There's an app for that to control your dolphin or
your rabbit.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Or whatever the hell they're called.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
Yeah, it definitely seems rifer meddling.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, and there was a there was a small section
in a story we covered recently about a plane crash
where it was possibly personal massagers in quotations that may
have been the culprit.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Right that were weaponized to explode in that way.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Are we saying people could explode sex toys.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
It would be possible, but it'd be very difficult. You'd
have to do a masade pager type thing for that.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
That makes me think of that case where it turned
out that you can't just hack something and make it
explode without introducing some fissile material.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Right, fiscile material. You nailed it. But what this is,
this is more a vector or a beachhead for creating
a larger hack. Because these Internet of Things devices are
connected through Bluetooth or through Wi Fi, and if they're
running Linux, the idea is you can get your hooks
into one device, then you can pivot to other devices
(03:17):
that share that network.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So it's like a backdoor.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Yes, well, gosh, yes, very much. A couple levels well
died direinal. There's a story by the Thar Tribune. The
journalist here is per Thomish Cabra, who talks about this warning.
So we're not here to yuck anybody's yum. You know,
as long as you're not hurting other people, do as
(03:41):
though wilt, but you know, do be aware. It's it's strange,
maybe it's maybe it's the old age kicking in, but
do you guys, when you're given the choice between one
piece of technology that is cloud connected and one that
is not, do you have a strong preference, Like if
you're buying a fridge, do you want it to have
(04:03):
or not have the Internet.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
I don't think I need that technology and my fridge
per se, but I'm not opposed to it. I really
like my smart speaker system for example, like Sono's. It's
a really really convenient way of connecting you know, your
music playback and records and stuff to every room in
the house.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
But there's some stuff that it just feels like inappropriate.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
Although I will say I do have a Bluetooth toothbrush,
a blue toothbrush. I don't use that feature, but it
just kind of was there and it was like on sale.
I didn't really want it, but there it is.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, I probably don't want them in my stuff. Do you, ben,
Do you use anything that like connects your devices together
like that. I don't have anything like that in my eyes.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
No, I don't enjoy it. Have some without giving too
many details, right, have have some things that are required
to be connected to this wide world of Weberry. But
the most recent example, this may be funny for some
of us in the crowd, This evening most recent example,
through a series of strange events, got a super advanced
(05:11):
Japanese automated cat litter box, which required me to get
an app. And now I'm in a cold war with
this robot because I think I don't need it. I'll
just go to where the cat poop is and clean it.
I don't need an update. Like hey, you know, for
some people who are very concerned about, you know, a
(05:32):
sensitive condition for their pets, they might like that functionality.
But as our old pal connall BRN was wont to say,
it solves a problem I don't have.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
And often creates new ones.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
I mean, like a lot of times cloud connected stuff
will totally jam you up until you get that update.
And sometimes I can take a man.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
It's like I always wanted to brush my teeth.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
So be aware, folks that a lot of those devices,
whatever their use may be, their use case may be
a lot of them that have Bluetooth or Wi Fi
connectivity do.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Not have encryption. Like you couldn't even do it if
you wanted to.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
I mean, Bluetooth in particular is notoriously vulnerable to these
types of.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Hacks and to the note about including fissile material. According
to this report from the UK by their Department for Science,
Innovation and Technology or DECENT there is physical harm on
the table because you could overheat the device, or I
(06:37):
don't to get too specific here, I think of something
like a chastity belt. What if you locked it and
then engage in ransomware tactics. Buddy, if you want this
thing off, give us that bitcoin.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Ar Wait, are there cloud connected chastity belts?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I mean that is a case that can It certainly
can be.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I'm thankfully never going to experience that firsthand, but it's
a wide world out there, gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No ding ding without the wedding ring. Sorry, Okay, continue.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
I've never seen a cloud connected jassity bell, but I
absolutely believe they exist.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I'm not gonna google that.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
There's a Vice article related to this, and we'll we'll
move on to more strange news. But it was fascinating
to find that really happened. Users of something called the
cellmate connected chastity belt said hackers were taking over their
paraphernalia and demanding seven hundred and fifty US dollars equivalent
(07:35):
in bitcoin to unlock the apparatus.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Oh my god, that's.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
That's a different case.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Imagine trying and explain that to your local police department
or something.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Uh So, On the flip side of that, there have
been for many years websites that have this kind of
interactive element with cloud connected sex toys.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Sure vibras by design.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
You can pay a token or whatever and then it'll
make the thing buzz on the performer, the cam individual.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
So what we're saying there, without sounding like a bunch
of brudes, is you don't want to be that person
in the in the police department who desperately, you know,
needs the use of bathroom or something saying I don't know, officer,
I say, we just give them the money in the next,
you know, forty minutes, please, So everybody be safe out there,
(08:34):
have fun, have adventures. We're going to pause for a
word from our sponsors and then we'll return with more
strange news. And we have returned with something serious and topical.
(08:55):
As we record it is January fifteenth. This is publishing
on the twentieth, so this may not be up to date,
but we, like the rest of the United States and
indeed the world, witnessed the heartbreaking situation as wildfires ran
through California. As we're recording now, California continues to battle
(09:17):
these fires, with fears growing regarding the Santa Ana Winds.
We have personally, without going public with our friends information,
we have personal close relationships with people who have had
to evacuate, had to literally use their go bags and
get out of town, people who lost their homes entirely.
(09:40):
And in the wake of this, or as this is continuing,
as we're in media arrests, we're also seeing other related
stories that are very much strange news and quite disturbing.
I think if we consider the next couple minutes a
primer on wildfire controversy, we immediately see three big ones.
(10:02):
I'd say actually four, but three big ones. The insurance
timing right the fact, the insurance timing, the use of
incarcerated people as firefighters, and the ongoing conversation about who
should or can own water. Tip of the hat to
the Resnick family.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Yeah, e jeez, I didn't know about that one. Ben
I recently was hipped to that as well. How can
two private individuals own that much of a natural resource
that should be available to give life to everybody?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, it goes down to give life into save lives.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
Yeah, so let's start there. The Resnick family is Stuart
and Linda Resnik. They bought the Franklin Mint back in
the eighties, nineteen eighties. They're not that old. They sold
it in two thousand and six. The Resnick himself, the
pattern familias here is head of something called the Wonderful Company,
(10:59):
and through his holding company with his wife, they own
palm you know, like the pomegranate drink you see at
the fancy juice part of your grocery store. And they
own Fiji water brands. They also own here's where water
control comes in. They own Wonderful pistachios and almonds, Wonderful halos,
well citrus, treat seedless lemons, Justin Wines, Landmark Wines, another
(11:23):
wine brand, Floral wire Service. And because they are involved
in the agriculture business, that means that they enter into
the great conversation about water rights, which we talked a
little bit about when we looked at the interstate fight
over the Colorado River and the Hoover Dam. Who gets
(11:44):
to control that. Anybody who's worked in this type of
agriculture knows that some of the products we named are
enormously thirsty, like almonds need a lot of water to grow.
As as the municipalities and the communities of California were
searching for water to fight the fires. This great dare
(12:10):
we call it a conspiracy of billionaire's ConTroll? A watcher
once again came to the foe and is what else.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
Is there to say other than it just doesn't seem
right and it seems entirely a product of you know,
capitalism run amok.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Yeah, Resnik is the wealthiest farmer in the United States
technically now, He's to be clear, I don't think he's
out there and overalls fixing his John Deere himself. I
think he has people for that. They own also a
majority stake in the Kern Water Bank, which is one
(12:47):
of California's largest underground water storage facilities. It can store
five hundred billion gallons of water.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
It just seems like with situations like this, given catash
of this magnitude and beyond, we're just not that far
away from these billionaires and these folks holding the keys
to these kinds of resources literally withholding it and just
giving it to whomever they choose and leaving others out
in the cold or those who can't afford to pay.
(13:16):
It just seems like there is just no ethics, there's
no humanity, and like these types of arrangements, and I
think down the line, we could see like a mad
Max Fury Road situation where it's like, turn on the
water for the people just for a minute, just to
give them a taste aqua cola.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Yeah, right, don't grow addicted. The other thing that's disturbing
about this case in particular is that the story only
comes to the forefront when there is a disaster or
when there is a drought like the twenty eleven to
twenty seventeen California drought. That's what prompts these questions. The
public thinks about it, it gets in the zeitgeist for
(13:52):
a moment, and then the story disappears and nothing changes.
But this is very much I think make a very
strong case for resource extraction conspiracy, because Okay, every almond
grown in the US represents a certain amount of water
that was in the US. When you ship the almond
to a different country, you're kind of shipping the value
(14:16):
of what that water created. When in the problem makes
exacerbated or the tendency is exacerbated in bottled water. Right,
we talked about NESLI all the time. Nesli will buy
up municipal public water sources for pennies on the dollar
or pennies on the sip if you wish, and then
they will remove that water from the local ecosystem by
(14:39):
bottling it and selling it. Most def was correct. Check
out New World Water with the rest in case they
import Fiji bottled water from the South Pacific, hence the name.
So I'm bringing that up to show that water as
a business has a lot of knock on consequence is
(15:00):
that people aren't fully aware of until till it's maybe
too late, you know what I mean. Nesley gets excoriated
in the court of public opinion, but to them that
may be a cost of doing business. And is that
the case with the restings as well. That's just one
of the wildfire controversies.
Speaker 5 (15:21):
Not to mention, I also saw reporting about like literally
firefighters not being able to get water out of hydrants
and specific palisades, and I think they're still investigating that.
But whether it was a water pressure issue or like
a connectivity issue, whatever it might have been, at that
(15:41):
absolutely crucial moment, there was no water available for you know,
firefighters to fight fires.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And this is a tragic point and a continuing issue.
It's also a segue toward one of our second big
issues for this primer on wild fire controversies. Those firefighters
may not be free people. Those firefighters may be incarcerated.
People go to multiple sources. Let's go to NPR. They're
(16:13):
not perfect, but they do a great job overall. A
journalist for MPR, Jacqueline Diaz, January fourteenth, put out a
great piece via MPR about inmates fighting California wildfires. This
is not a new thing, but just like the restnics
control of so much water in California, this story went
(16:37):
back to the forefront as more than one thousand incarcerated
people joined the fight to preserve California against this series
of natural disasters. California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spoke
spoke with MPR earlier this month, and they said, quote
(16:58):
oney fifteen fire camp firefighters had been working around the
clock cutting fire lines, removing fuel from behind structures to
slow the spread of the blaze. We know that it's
a practice that's been going on since nineteen fifteen.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Is this under the same laws that allow prison labor
for private industry?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Yeah, yeah, similar to And some of the people who
are incarcerated are supportive of this. I was talking with
a lot of folks offline or on social media just
to get more firsthand understanding. You can see countless interviews
on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, establishment media. The point that a
(17:45):
lot of the news seems to miss is that the
vast majority of people who are incarcerated due to the
laws of this country, they're not automatically bad people, right.
They have families on the outside, they have friends, they
have loved ones, they have communities, right, and they want
that unity to be there when they get out. They
want that community to do well. So if you are
(18:06):
if we exercise empathy, let's say there is a natural
disaster in your area and you are incarcerated, and you
are offered the chance to help preserve your community, right,
you may well feel all other things aside. You may
well feel a moral compulsion to act, and we cannot
discount that. Right. We also know, we also know that
(18:31):
the US habit or policy of how to use incarcerated labor,
and how to pay or not pay, or protect or
not protect those people, it's a whole bag of badgers.
Right now. The doc in California says everybody fighting those
fires is a volunteer. No coerti they're paid between five
(18:53):
dollars and eighty cents and ten dollars and twenty four
cents per day, not per lay wages. Yeah, very much so.
And with that, before we go to a tease with
the with the insurance timing, I just wanted to ask you, guys,
(19:13):
I think we're all familiar with this program and programs
like it.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Yeah, only just through this tragedy. I guess.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Of course, I'm familiar with, you know, prisoners being used
for labor and being paid peanuts. But this is a
little different. This is putting their lives at risk in
a very real way. And it also seems to be
supplementing a firefighting force that is woefully under funded and
that I believe funding was slashed for not long.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Before the events of the past couple weeks.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
It just seems crazy in a state that has so
much money flowing into it through taxes, in a country
that has so much money flowing through it via taxes,
that you can't fund a firefighting force, You can't fund
some of these very basic things to hire skilled people
(20:08):
to do it, so you dip into essentially indentured servitude
to make it happen. Doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 5 (20:16):
Yeah, and just to clarify our support with some facts,
there's an article from the La Times from today or
so ago. Did Mayor Karen Bass really cut the fire
department budget? The answer gets tricky, But what isn't tricky
is that in her proposed budget she did seek twenty
three million in cuts to the department. A lot of
that focused on reduced equipment purchases. I don't know if
(20:36):
you guys saw this, And there are tons of videos
of varying degrees of veracity floating around, not to mention
the AI stuff of like the Hollywood sign on fire
it's own thing, but I saw a video of like
firefighters literally using women's purses filled with water to douse
fires because they didn't have a hose.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Yeah, and logistics are always credibly fragile. Their mission critical,
but they're incredibly fragile in the wake of any natural disaster.
It's also, you know, from a Machavelian standpoint or cost
benefit analysis, it can be difficult for political figures to
put the right kind of money and attention into infrastructure
(21:17):
and into logistics because people don't appreciate it unless they
need it, unless something goes wrong. Right, if you put
a bunch of you put a bunch of funding toward,
you know, shoring up levies, and a flood never occurs.
Then your political opponents will say you're a person who
waste money, waste taxpayer money because a disaster has not happened.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
No, we know.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Also, speaking of timing, I don't know if we'll have
time to get to the insurance stuff. But speaking of timing,
we know that the fires hit just months after California
voted against a ballot proposition to make it illegal for
this kind of inmate servitude. And if that ballot proposition
(22:04):
had gone through, it's quite possible that these incarcerated individuals
would not be currently fighting fires and risking their lives
around the clock. If you want to learn more about this,
to go to your honestly, go to your media of
choice in the US. Recommend NBC News. Their affiliates out
(22:28):
in LA have live updates on the current state of
the fires. Our thoughts are with everybody involved. We also
can recommend one thing our close friend and colleague Miles Gray,
pal of ours at Daily Zeitgeist. He has done a
(22:49):
fantastic job of platforming social media awareness, letting people know
different funds you can contribute to if you want to
help out. Again, a lot of these folks don't have
home insurance policies because in the way, a few months
before the fires hit, their insurance companies dropped their policies.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
Could we touch on that a little bit, Ben, I
don't mind giving the time. I think it's worthy. It
was a lot of them just had their fire insurance canceled,
not just their entire policy.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
I'm sure that happened too. But you know, with all
of these.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Natural disasters like here in Georgia, with the hurricanes and stuff,
I mean, all of these insurance companies having to pay
out all at once, it's got to be wreaking havoc
on that industry. I'm just wondering what some of the
calculus is behind this. And this is part of a
larger problem that maybe involves some climate change questions that
are worth discussing. Yeah, obviously, insurance you know they're sketchy.
(23:52):
They can be sketchy, But I don't think everyone involved
is entirely evil, And it's trying to see both sides
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Yeah, the brutal honesty of the internet it this way.
You know, who believes in climate change. Private home insurers.
You can see that, you know, with the We've got
previous episodes on this check it out. But in those
we were focusing a lot on private insurance business in Florida,
(24:18):
right where flooding becomes a statistical inevitability. Yeah, go to
your media choice and check out what Travelers, USAA and
Chubb did as the as the fires were on the way,
they dropped people because to your question, they were faced
with the numbers, there was a growing likelihood of paying
(24:40):
billions and damage claims every single year, and because of
California's slightly more consumer protections or slightly more robust consumer protections,
these companies were not able to raise premiums to where
they wanted those premiums to go, and as a result,
logically from their end fix aside, they made the decision
(25:02):
to either cut coverage for certain aspects or to cancel
policies as a whole at the most at risk zones.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
It's so insane, but hey, can you really blame them.
They've got to make profit, and if there's crazy high
risk that the whole place is gonna burn down, they
can't make money. So there you go. That's what we
get for having for profit insurance.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
Are we at a place though, guys, with some of
these the increasing you know, occurrence of these type of
disasters where they are going to be parts of the
country that people just don't want to live anymore or
can't or can't live anymore, is that on the table?
It sure freaking feels like sure. It's a big question
that goes past insurance. There are places in the US
(25:51):
that probably within the lifetime of some of our young
listeners tonight, those places may become practically inhospitable just due
to you the wet bulb temperature kind of.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
It's without getting remind me that, Ben.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
It's the shorthand for when it gets so hot that
it is impossible for a human being to survive outside
for extended periods of time. You can't drink enough. If
you are in the sun, no matter what you do,
you will die perish in So that's going to happen.
We also know there's a little bit of hope because
(26:28):
California has something called the Fair Plan. It is a
state run program that gives fire insurance to people who
can't find it in you know, traditional private insurers. Currently
they have a three percent market share, so most people
are not on this fair plan. And I guess we
have to say in full disclosure. We have done ads
(26:50):
for I believe travelers.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
In USAA in the past, and I don't want to
sound like I'm just being mister insurance, but I just
do want a devil's advocate here and say that, like,
I was treated very fairly by an insurance company with
the destruction of my property due to Hurricane Helene. So
I mean, I know there are circumstances where they do
right by people. I was actually shocked at how little
(27:14):
nickel and diming I felt from the people that I
was working with. I was kind of blown away because
all of our coverage on the show about the industry,
I was really expecting the worst. So, I mean, it
is a bigger question, like we also, I think it's
worth exploring maybe in an update episode who Ensures Insurance Companies?
(27:34):
There's a whole other industry called reinsurance companies that I
think would be worth exploring, because it kind of boggles
my mind these levels of betting on disasters, and once
the disasters increase to a certain magnitude, how can you
keep making those bets? You're going to have to make
some of those calculations for certain parts of the world,
(27:55):
certain parts of the country.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
If you want people to live in a place, you
have to make it possible for them to do so,
that's the easiest way to put it. There's so much
we haven't gotten to. The allegations of arson right, the
old ah god, the old sawhorse, of claiming people are
looting when they're just running with the few things they
could grab before their houses burned. Be very, very skeptical
(28:18):
of a lot of the social media stuff you're seeing,
and please, please, I'm begging you folks, exercise critical thinking.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I saw one video of David Spade in his car
and he had just witnessed somebody get arrested for arson,
like the local authorities caught the person attempting to start
a fire in a residential area, and it seemed to
really he seemed very disturbed, and he offered five thousand
dollars to anybody who could, you know, identify an arsonist
(28:49):
out there in certain parts of the city at the time,
which is really I don't know it. It was shocking
to me just to see this person that we've seen
on television offering money. You know, to get somebody somebody
else arrested, but he had just witnessed it happen.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
He did witness because Ben, are you saying that there
have been maybe false reports of this kind of thing
to demonize certain communities, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
For the looting, yes, uh, for the leading, I'm yeah
for arson perhaps because again a lot of the posts
that you might see could be performative. That doesn't mean
the real crimes are not occurring, just means we have
to be very careful about the possible agenda or the
framing of those things. And there's there's so much the
(29:32):
potential lynch mob of it, all right, and we have
to remember, of course opportunists love chaos, so there is
there may well be people who always wanted to burn
something or have always wanted to loot a building, and
they were simply waiting for the right time when the
rule of law broke down. There's so much else that
we're we're not going to be able to get to
(29:54):
will probably we'll probably follow up with an episode as
as people learn more objective facts. The main thing is
if you want to help, it is possible for you
to do so right to the best of your abilities.
We know that these kinds of disasters seem set inevitably
(30:17):
to continue in the coming year, so please stay safe
out there. Folks, write to us with your first hand
accounts to the degree that you are comfortable sharing your story,
and let us know what other allegations you see in
the wake of the California fires. For now, we're gonna
pause for word from our sponsors and we'll return with
(30:38):
more strange news.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
And we've returned, guys, I've got two stories. I think
I'll just lead with a quick update. You mentioned some
developments in the Pizzagate scandal of some years ago. I
don't think we need to relitigate pizza Gate Herezza.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Not needed.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
I think a lot's been made of that, and then
this is maybe the time or place for it. But
I do think it is important to note that the gunman, Uh,
the individual who drove from his home in uh North
Carolina to that Comet pizzeria in Washington, d C.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Place where a lot.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
Of lawmakers and lawyers would come for lunch, shot the
place up because of concerns of a demonic cabal being
housed in the basement of the place, which I believe
it was determined that the place didn't even have a basement. Noah,
with an assault rifle, mind you, during a routine traffic stop,
(31:46):
it would seem in North Carolina. In Cannopolis, North Carolina,
Edgar Madison Welch, who was a passenger in the vehicle
that was stopped just a few days ago Saturday, as
we were this on Wednesday, was shot and killed because
he when faced with this traffic stop, he pulled a
(32:08):
weapon out and pointed it at officers. He was taken
to a hospital by emergency responders, and he died from
his injuries a couple of days later. None of the
officers or the driver were injured. So kind of a
tragic end to a tragic story, because you know, a
(32:28):
lot of To me, at least, what I remember about
Pizzagate was that was kind of in the height of
sort of pre QAnon, kind of just Internet insanity of
a lot of these incredibly speculative and increasingly wild conspiracy
theories that were just flowing around were beginning to see
some action taken, you know. So yeah, this was not
(32:51):
this was pre QAnon, but it had the flavor of
what that would become.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Yeah, Pizzagate occurred during an incredibly sensitive time in the
United States the twenty sixteen election cycle, and as as
you noted, NOLA was the belief that NYPD and some
other forces had discovered a child abuse ring that was
linked to the Democratic Party, and a lot of this,
(33:17):
I think it's fair to say was was red meat
for people who were opposed to the Democratic Party's presidential
candidate at the time, former Sex State Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah, the emails, It was the email leak, which then
spawned a lot of the q andon stuff.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
So like all because of keywords, right, like pizza, CP jeez,
pizza or the other abbreviation, which is what they what
they thought.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Do you guys see what I'm getting at?
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Though?
Speaker 5 (33:50):
Doesn't this feel like an early example of what would
kind of spin out of control even further during COVID
with the q andon type of stuff. It just seems
like that same kind of red meat.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
It's one of the building blocks for that, like one
of the primary foundational things.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
If q andon is a cake, then you could say
pizzagate is the flower. It's a key ingredient in the
recipe and QAnon, as everybody knows, please check out our
pal Jake Hanrahan's excellent work on this. QAnon Q clearance
I believe was the name out. Yeah yeah, and QAnon
(34:26):
itself really really gets its gas together around twenty seventeen.
So these things happen very close, they are interrelated, and
you know, there's it's such a danger. It's so easy
for someone to be pushed over the edge, just one
little nudge at a time. And I think Pizzagate was
(34:49):
an example of this that really really let the public
know about just how insidious these radicalization practices can be.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
How mainstream they can become, and how like I mean,
I believe Jake Hanrahan used the term wine mums referring
to like folks who are just kind of locked in,
you know, during lock in and just looking for something
to do. And we're just so susceptible to this kind
of radicalization, if only out of a sense of boredom.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Well yeah, and it's a hack of human psychology. We
talked about this at linked in previous episodes. But basically,
if you already don't like someone, then you are going
you're going to be strongly biased toward things that seem
like bad news about them, and it'll be strongly biased
away from good things. About them. Like if you have
(35:45):
a beef with someone, even just in your personal life
or as a public figure, and you hear they did
something good, then part of your brain is going to say, ah,
caveat though someone else did it right right.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Or they did it for the wrong reasons.
Speaker 5 (36:01):
They did it as a self aggrandizing thing, or as
a way, you know what I mean, Like it was
deceptive in something.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Yeah, like anything to stop them from anything that does
that keeps your image of them as a bad person
is what what your brain will find, maybe without your
conscious assent, but it's There was a line by h.
Louis c k before before all those things came out
about him, where he said, you know what, if you
(36:28):
don't like someone, you're just gonna find reasons not to
like him. If you hate someone and you see them
enjoying a sandwich, you'll think, look at this eating his sandwich.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Who does he think he is? What a horrible person?
Speaker 4 (36:42):
So I think, so big, so big with your BLT foot,
with your five dollar foot loss BLT.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Sadly watching the British bake off by yourself.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
With sob we'll get out of my house.
Speaker 5 (36:58):
That uh huh?
Speaker 3 (37:00):
I love They're my friends. They're my parasocial friends.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
I love iron Chef. I think that that fits the
deed for me. And I've caught myself eating you know,
a denty more canned beef stew watching watching I love
denty war watching some ornate uh, some ornate poetry in
seafood and and just like sitting there eating out of
a can like the punisher going dumb ass doesn't know
(37:26):
how to caramelize.
Speaker 5 (37:27):
Hot hot hot hot take ben though, uh chef boy
r d versus denty moore.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
Go denty boar okay or sugar content?
Speaker 3 (37:36):
Oh good, good, good to hear, Matt, you have.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
A pro must concur okay.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
I haven't eaten either in a hot minute, but I
do like chunky soup from Camels.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
It's good quality can and.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Good on their pr for pulling off chunky product name. Finally,
like what other what other thing? A soup is such
a weird thing too, We're gonna let's do a ridic history.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
How else are you going to get of your sodium
intake drink Campbell soup, Yes, a salt let?
Speaker 4 (38:07):
Perhaps one of their lines was Another of their pr
lines I used to study these guys methods was soup
so thick you can eat it with a fork, which
is so unappealing.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Oh that's like beer so good you can drink it
with your mouth.
Speaker 4 (38:23):
Shout out to Miller Lite. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Indeed.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
Have you guys seen the Campbell Chunky soup ads featuring
Travis Kelsey of Taylor Swift. I think I saw their
new tagline, is it eats like a meal?
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Okay, so maybe maybe there's like maybe the person writing
this is not a native speaker. But the other thing that.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
It's not a meal. It's like a meal. It eats
like a meal.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
Yeah, I can't believe it's not. Butter is a very Also,
you gotta eat, Yes, bring up you gotta eat all
the time. I think that's a very honest tagl Like
one last thing I know, got to get to this
other story, you know, one last thing that I don't
know if they still print it on the back of
these Campbell soup containers or tens. But their marketing also
(39:11):
snuck into their instructions and they wanted people to feel
like they got more soup. So if you back in
the day, if you looked at the heating instructions, they
would say, all right, open the can and put it
in one large bowl or two serving bowls. And that
was just like their slick little wave of saying, hey,
you're actually buying two meals of soup.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah, I mean I think it's reflected on the serving size. Probably.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
Oh well, come on, man, no one pays attention to
the serving size.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
I do, guys.
Speaker 5 (39:40):
I've been calorie counting these days, and I very much
can I scan it into my little app Well, it's
been good for me. But the last thing that's unrelated.
I'm sorry I have to bring it up. It's sort
of tangentcy. But did they really used to put the
photos of missing children on milk cartons?
Speaker 4 (39:56):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Is that that's true?
Speaker 4 (39:58):
That's true. Okay, that's true. And found few of them too, thankfully,
good job, Good on you, big milk. Well, we'll move
on really quickly, guys.
Speaker 5 (40:05):
I didn't think that was going to yield as much
conversation as it did, but I guess I should have known.
I mean, we haven't talked about pizzagate in a minute.
I hope the listeners do appreciate the refresher there, guys.
But let's move for the second story to London Town
in mary Old, England. The United Kingdom, some updates to
the classic serial killer case. I guess, in many ways
(40:26):
kind of the prototype for the modern serial killer. If
I'm not mistaken. I'm sure there are other cases surrounded.
But this was in eighteen eighty eighth.
Speaker 4 (40:35):
I have heard this news. No, I'm really this is.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Cool, this is interesting.
Speaker 5 (40:39):
In eighteen eighty eight, in the Whitechapel district of London,
a murderer, a mad killer, was on a spree, murdering
at least five women. He went unidentified in a case
that has remained unsolved for one hundred and thirty years,
but now descendant of the victims of Jack the Ripper
(41:03):
sorry bearing the lead. There are calling for a new
in quest reopening of the one hundred year old case,
hundred year plus old case due to new evidence that
has come to light in the form of a bloodstained
shawl that was shown to contain the DNA of someone
who was once a suspect for these Jack the Ripper killings.
(41:26):
A Polish barber by the name of Aaron Kosminsky who
was a suspect at the time. Guys, do you remember
if he was? Because I know that the Alan Moore
incredible Alan Moore a very deep dive into the story.
From Hell kind of took a very similar approach to
like Zodiac, the David Fincher film, where it's like, you
really do kind of get a sense that the crime
(41:48):
was almost solved, but then things sort of went awry,
or people died or the wrong people didn't come forward.
Is kaus Minsky mentioned from Hell.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
It's okay, I can't remember I read it.
Speaker 5 (42:01):
I would as well, and I need too, because it's
an incredible work. It's incredibly grizzly. The film is okay,
but the graphic novel, in its very stark, kind of
almost pencil style, kind of almost scrawled, is really arresting,
and it's quite long and really goes into some very
deep details about this historical murder case. I wouldn't be
(42:21):
surprised if he was, but he was, in fact an
actual facts as Lauren bogmamould say, suspect at the time.
He was never arrested because police didn't have any hard
evidence linking into the Achilles.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
Of course, in eighteen eighty eight.
Speaker 5 (42:33):
DNA was absolutely not a thing, and they didn't even
have any circumstantial evidence. It would seem to tie Kuzminski
to these horrific murders.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
But didn't he get locked away in an asylum like after?
Speaker 5 (42:48):
I don't have those details in this piece from the Telegraph,
but it's entirely possible. I think the most important takeaway
here is that this shawl, which is said to have
been found on the box body of the victim, Katherine Edwards,
the fourth victim to be precise, has been found to
contain both her DNA and that of Kosminski. It was
(43:10):
recently purchased at an auction by Russell Edwards, who is
a Jack the Ripper enthusiast and author and researcher. Sorry,
I don't mean to be dismissed. He was more than
an enthusiast, He was a researcher and writer on the subject.
He said, justice can be served by finally naming the killer,
even though this case is you know, everyone involved directly
(43:32):
is long since past. He In fact, the purchaser, Russell Edwards,
has hired a legal team to try to secure another
inquest Karen Miller, who is fifty three years old today
and is the three times great granddaughter of the victim
in question. Here, edoes I may have said Edwards because
(43:54):
we were also talking about Russell Edwards. I may have misspoke,
but Catherine Edoes was the name of the victim whose
shawl was sold at auction and found to contain the
DNA of Kosminsky. She provided her DNA, which was a
match to the sample that was found on the shawl,
and she told the Daily Mail the name Jack the
(44:15):
Ripper has become sensationalized. It has gone down in history
as this famous character. It's been all about him, but
people have forgotten about the victims did not have justice
at the time. And you know, guys, I would argue
that that's absolutely true. You know, there is like a
certain glorification of this figure of Jack the Ripper, you know,
(44:37):
especially in like true crime enthusiast circles.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
So to take away.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
That sober quet, maybe I'm using that wrong, might be powerful,
might have power, so to give you know, I would
say that Aaron Kosminsky is a lot less sexy sounding
than Jack the Ripper. So I could see this doing
some good legacy wise, But it also seems like with
a case this old, maybe this isn't the best way
(45:06):
of spending public money.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
It may you know, even even when justice grinds incredibly slow.
I would argue it is philosophically and ideologically important for
a community, whatever its size, to have closure, to know
to solve a case. Right, It's often thankless research. I'm
(45:30):
interested in nol in learning, uh, learning, whatever this inquest
it happens, may find because from what I recall, and
I'm just off the dome here, a lot of Ripper
Jack the Ripper researchers tended to consider and dismiss Kamenski
because or Cosminski, uh, because of some timeline stuff, some
(45:55):
of what they saw as as behavioral pattern and the
one thing that I remember. Don't quote me on this
because I have to check, but I think the asylum
that took him in in eighteen ninety one, I think
they said he only spoke Yiddish, and whomever authored those
letters to the paper, if it was the actual Jack
(46:15):
the Ripper, they clearly spoke and read English. Well.
Speaker 5 (46:18):
It does also beg the question of you know, does
this trace of DNA evidence, one hundred and thirty year
old DNA evidence, is that alone enough to one hundred
percent pen this on that individual? There would have to
be other factors, hence the need for a new investigation
(46:40):
right right?
Speaker 4 (46:40):
Could it have I mean, could that evidence have been contaminated?
Do we really believe that it was held sacrisanct and
you know, sealed off for so long. But still to
your earlier point into what I think is launching the inquest,
there must be other factors and it is it seriously
(47:01):
bears looking into to find the DNA of a suspect
on one of the possessions of a victim. There's no
way around it. I feel like you have to investigate
further otherwise it's willfully dismissive. It's purposely, it's on purpose
choosing to remain ignorant about a lead, which, as you said,
(47:23):
it is a breakthrough.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
Matt. I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on this.
Speaker 5 (47:27):
With all of your true crime podcast investigations and background,
I know that Golden State Killer was a good example
of new information coming to light in an old case,
not as old as this, But I just wonder where
you stand on is a new inquest funded by the
public the right move or if it's such a wealthy
person who bought the shawl, is it something more maybe
(47:48):
that would be best served by private investors.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
I think there's enough interest in true crime in general
for cool like go fund me situation to happen if
if they really wanted to happen. I don't know. It's
really tough when you're when you're looking at evidence that's
that old, because you you think about how important chain
of custody is and how important all of these things
are in our in legal systems throughout the world, and
(48:14):
you're looking at stuff from you know, that long ago.
Who knows what kind of contamination may have occurred, who
knows what kind of situation could have occurred, where that
evidence is actually no longer viable and doesn't prove what
everyone thinks it's proving when all the testing is you know, done.
So it's just it's a tough situation.
Speaker 4 (48:34):
Well said.
Speaker 5 (48:35):
Now that I'm intrigued by this crowd funding notion, it
does seem like you know, I mean, because there are
so many unsolved crimes in the UK that don't get
the funding or attention they deserve. Like in the comment
section on this Telegraph piece that I was mentioning, this
(48:56):
is a This comment from Frank W. Duh is pretty
pretty much sums up the sentiment as much as I
understand and sympathize with the relatives. I would much rather
today's government invested the time and money into a deep
and very thorough public inquest into the so called Asian
and others rape gangs that go back at least fifty
years with it another comment or privately funded. Only the
(49:17):
government have better things to spend time and money on. Hey,
looking at the unsolved knife crime stats in mister Cohn's London,
I would say he's still about referring to Jackie the Ripper.
Speaker 4 (49:29):
Yeah, and there are also some Clearly there are some
politicized aspects to some of those comments. But that point
reminds me of other investigations that we know did get
covered up, like abuse rings in Parliament. Anybody who is
looking into Operation U Tree things like that, they got
(49:52):
knocked down. So there is I still say you would
for a breakthrough of this magnitude, you should have an inquest. However,
you should also exercise due diligence to advance understanding into
in scrutiny of these other many crimes that do not
receive the same attention because they have not been I'll
(50:14):
say it glamorized right in popular culture. I don't know,
it's a complex bag of badgers, and I really appreciate
you bringing us this story and do we have any
do we have any like timeline from people seeking an
inquest or do we just know now it's just proposed.
Speaker 5 (50:34):
There's there's obviously co sign from multiple descendants of the victims,
and interestingly from a descendant of these suspects who is
also in support of finding out the truth in this case.
Amanda Paulos, who is his three times great niece, said,
I'm more than happy to finally establish what really happened.
(50:56):
The corner of the original eighteen eighty eight investgation returned
a verdict at the time of what was what was
called willful murder, So it would require band answer question
permission granted by Richard Hermer, who's the Attorney General, and
with his you know sign on an inquest could go ahead.
(51:17):
Sir Michael Ellis refused permission for a new inquiry when
he was the Attorney General just a couple of years ago,
so this has been an ongoing thing.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
So there you have it.
Speaker 5 (51:27):
Let's take a quick break here, a word from our sponsor,
and then come back with our last few pieces of
strange news for today's episode.
Speaker 2 (51:39):
And we've returned. Last time on Strange News. Guys, we
mentioned Monster BTK. It's currently number one in true crime.
So thank you so much for listening. If you're out
there and you listened, amazing, amazing. We're going to start
with a little something that we've all dealt with before.
Color additives. Ooh, color additives. All of them that are
(52:02):
used in the United States must be approved by the
FDA before they are used in foods, before they can
be put in a food and then sold. There are
thirty six FDA approved color additives. Nine of those are synthetic.
This is coming to us via NBC News in an
article written January fifteenth. By the way, we'll tell you
the title that article in a moment. One of those
(52:24):
synthetic dyes is red number three. It was approved in
nineteen oh seven for use in food. It's made from petroleum.
That sounds delicious. That's the stuff that makes gas, you know,
for cars and stuff.
Speaker 3 (52:43):
Dinosaur juice has been put it in a recent episode
of Ridiculous Sister.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
There you go, guys. The FDA first became aware that
read three, this specific one, was potentially carcinogenic when a
study was released in the nineteen eighties and found that
it created tumors male rats who were exposed to it
in high doses. That's the nineteen eighties. Red number three
is already banned in many countries outside of the US,
(53:08):
including Australia, Japan, many countries within the European Union. Then
back in nineteen ninety, guys, the United States banned the
use of red three in personal care products, so stuff
that you put on your face or you use in
your mouth, but not a food. Does that make sense,
kind of like a toothpaste, dent, priss. There you go. Then,
(53:32):
just a couple of years later, in twenty twenty three,
I'm joking there, the California Food Safety Act banned Red
three in all food products sold or distributed within their state.
And now, guys, as of today, when we record on
January fifteenth, that's a Wednesday, the FDA has banned the
(53:52):
use of red three in all foods that are going
to be manufactured or sold within the US.
Speaker 4 (54:00):
Am my ongoing attempts to be positive, I will say,
better late than never.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
Yeah, only, you know, only like forty five fifty years
later we figured it out. And I remember there are
also a bunch of other additives eight in particular, other
ones that are synthetically made so cool. This is the red,
by the way, that gives that deep like cherry color
or that red cherry color. It's the synthetic one that
(54:27):
makes that color. I don't know. It's just kind of exciting, guys,
because you know, there are a bunch of advocacy groups
out there who have been talking about this for a
long time, and they say all kinds of things, like
it's directly tied to cancer as well as affecting children's
behavior and all those kinds of things. The two sides
(54:49):
that get created when an advocacy group comes out like that,
essentially are the folks who use this stuff and make
a crap ton of money by having the stuff in
their products, versus the people who are you know, generally
concerned with safety about that bronc.
Speaker 4 (55:05):
Yeah, it's often a David and Goliath situation, at least
here in the United States, because the people who are
pushing for greater regulation often end up not having as
much capital or infrastructure support as the folks who are
profiting from those same things. Not to say that these
(55:26):
folks are getting their jimmies off. Imagining terrible things happening
because of food coloring. They're getting their jimmies off imagining
how profitable this kind of product or additive is. And
this leads us to something else. A question for the group.
Do we think part of this ban is coming as
(55:46):
a rush to get some policy enacted before the administration shift.
Speaker 2 (55:53):
I don't know. Maybe do you think so?
Speaker 4 (55:57):
I'm just curious. No, it's just a question for the
group for the time.
Speaker 2 (56:00):
I mean, oh, yeah, I could see that. I could
see that as being a thing, especially if some of
these government agencies are going to be nerfed a bit
with the new administration. Yeah, it would be nice if
somebody was, you know, watching our backs a little bit.
That would be cool.
Speaker 4 (56:18):
But yeah, you gotta get America Plus. You have to
subscribe to America Premium Citizenship for that.
Speaker 2 (56:25):
Oh yeah, double plus.
Speaker 4 (56:26):
Good.
Speaker 2 (56:28):
This, by the way, you can look up right now.
The NBC News article is titled FDA bands red number
three artificial coloring used in beverages, candy, and other foods.
There are thousands of products, by the way, which use
right now red three, and manufacturers will have until January fifteenth,
twenty twenty seven to reformulate their products, so we'll still
(56:49):
be eating lots of it for some time. If you
eat anything that is red and the uses this dye, yikes.
Hey guys, you ever use protein powders? You ever used
that as part of your daily thing?
Speaker 4 (57:06):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (57:07):
Yeah, I have. Well, guess what I guess some news
A quick reminder. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency,
there is no level of lead that is safe for humans.
Speaker 4 (57:20):
Oh I read, Oh god, yeah, I know what we're
getting to yep.
Speaker 2 (57:24):
Additionally, according to the US Department of Labour's Occupational Safety
and Health Administration, cadmium is a carcinogen which is also
toxic to the body's heart, kidneys, gut, brain, and respiratory
and reproductive systems. Well, guys. According to a fresh investigation
from the nonprofit outfit the Clean Label Project, many of
(57:46):
the over the counter protein powders that you can buy
right now may contain disturbing levels of both lead and cadmium.
Speaker 4 (57:57):
I remember reading about this and then deciding this is
so terrible. But I remember thinking, well, I have found
a good reason not to exercise today.
Speaker 2 (58:09):
Hey, there you go, there you go. Well, this is
a reminder, just like in some of the individual investigations
and reports that were made about Red three that we
just talked about. This is an independent investigation by a
nonprofit organization that potentially has you know, some kind of
(58:29):
skin in the game, right, potentially, and I use that
word potentially, so you have to take it with a
bit of a grain of salt. It's a single report
that is what other larger advocacy organizations are saying. Some
other organizations are just saying, hey, this is a really
good piece of info to have, we need to do
more testing to find out how dangerous this actually is
(58:51):
and you know where the potential contamination is coming from
and how it's getting in there. You can find the
whole report if you search for Clean Label Project twenty
twenty four DASH twenty five Protein Powder Category Report. It's
a lot of stuff, and it's it's really bad. It
basically says the chocolate flavored drinks have way higher levels
(59:12):
of these heavy metals and toxins than like vanilla flavored
ones or other flavored ones. It also said the organic
versions have intensely higher levels than ones that are quote
not organic, right, so it's just very strange. The plant
based ones were the most egregious versions, And we've talked
about that before with potential leeching from soil. Yeah, right,
(59:35):
if the soil itself is contaminated by water runoff or
just however else the soil could get contaminated. The plant
based ones are made from plants, and the plants soak
up those kinds of metals, and then when they're you know,
ground up and used in the manufacturing process, there's potentially
higher levels of lead and cadmium.
Speaker 4 (59:55):
Organic does not necessarily, despite what companies want you to believe,
organic does not necessarily always necessitate something being better. Yeah,
there's a whole there's a whole conspiratorial nomenclature of vocabulary
set about this kind of stuff. All natural.
Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
Okay, buddy, gotta watch out.
Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
It's all in the language and it can be used
against you, guys. I've got a bunch more stuff. Maybe
I'll just give a couple of quick ones here. Remember
when we talked about that New York mayor guy Eric
Adams M.
Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
Yeah, he's huge in Turkey.
Speaker 5 (01:00:30):
Yeah, he is very popular, very busch looks really imposing
on that perp walk with Luigi Manjohnny.
Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
There you go. So we talked about him back in September,
when he was charged with five criminal accounts, including bribery,
conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and solicitation of a contribution
by a foreign national. This is coming to us again
from NBC News. You can read about it. It was posted
on January seventh, twenty twenty five. Title is Federal prosecutors
(01:00:57):
say they've uncovered additional criminal conduct by New York Mayor
Eric Adams. That week, it was announced by the Attorney's
Office for the Southern District of New York. That quote,
law enforcement has continued to identify additional individuals involved in
Adam's conduct, and they've uncovered additional criminal conduct by the mayor.
(01:01:18):
The mayor responded at a news conference the following day
after this, guys, we've just got a quick quote here.
It is. These are the words of New York Mayor
Eric Adams. Quote. Even Ray Charles can see what's going on.
Ray Charles, if you're unaware, was a very famous blind musician, singer, songwriter,
(01:01:42):
an incredibly talented individual. He goes on, I've said it
over and over again. I've done nothing wrong, so assuring words.
Speaker 4 (01:01:52):
Yeah, it's fine to say things in sale kinds of things.
I just said that.
Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Oh magic, there's one other thing. Maybe we say this
for later. There was a smaller town in Louisiana, Boga Lusa,
where a mayor was arrested as a part of a
large drug distribution investigation where opioids, high grade THHD products
(01:02:18):
and MDMA were being sold, and then those proceeds were
being used to purchase weapons, and then those weapons were
going to individuals who are legally not allowed to have
said weapons. It was a big deal. You can read
about that in CBS News just search for Louisiana mayor
arrested after drug trafficking investigation. There's a lot of interesting
(01:02:43):
stuff in that article. The mayor was only twenty five
years old. Is this yes? I remember, yes, yes, tyring
T y R I N T R U O N
G and you can read all about this thing is
very very strange. It's what you would imagine charges of
conspiracy to distribute substances, and it has to do with
(01:03:06):
you know, it's like separate charges for Schedule one substances
and Schedule two substances and schedule whatever. But ultimately it's
just drug trafficking. And the mayor there in Bogalusa is
somehow wrapped up in it. Last thing, guys, weapons trafficking,
not just drug trafficking. Weapons trafficking, that's a there's big
(01:03:26):
money in both of those. But weapons trafficking now, especially internationally,
there's legendary enrichment potential there, right, big deal. Okay, So
here is something coming to us from CNN. We'll tell
you the title in a moment. And this is all
according to the US Department of Justice and gentlemen named
(01:03:47):
Takeshi Ibisawa. This is a sixty year old alleged leader
from Japan's Yakuza crime syndicates. So potentially one of the
individual groups there has pled guilty to quote trafficking nuclear
materials from me and Mar. Yes, yes, as part of
(01:04:07):
a global web of trades and drugs, weapons and laundered cash.
So the weapons trade is already existing here and according
to this guy again, he pled guilty to it. He
was trafficking in fissile material. Okay, let's jump into this.
You can find the article alleged to Yukuza leader admitst
(01:04:29):
trafficking nuclear materials from me and Mar. That's MOI A N.
Speaker 4 (01:04:33):
M A R.
Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
During an undercover investigation by the US DEEA This is
back in twenty twenty one. This gentleman, Takeshi, tried to
sell the materials, including uranium and weapons grade plutonium. Remember
in our discussions with fissile materials, weapons grade plutonium means
this stuff has been spun up in centrifuges to the
(01:04:56):
point where it can go. It can make the big
boom if you want it to. When you've just got
regular role plutonium or uranium. That stuff is radioactive and
extremely dangerous, but it wouldn't be able to trigger a
nuclear reaction the way stuff that's inside a nukewood right, Yeah,
(01:05:16):
but weapons a great plutonium ding ding, that's the stuff.
So he was trying to sell this stuff to a
person he believed was an Iranian general. So a general
from the country of Iran who wanted them for a
nuclear weapons program. Yikes, yikes, especially considering what's going on
(01:05:39):
right now in the world and the wars being fought
and human beings being killed, and the aspirations of leaders
in various countries. That's dangerous, scary stuff. I don't know,
but it's something we talked about before. I suppose for
a weapons dealer, and it doesn't matter who you're selling
(01:06:01):
the weapons to. And we know that weapons can be
sold strategically to, you know, an enemy force, depending on
who the opposing force is, and it can be done
in a very strategic manner to do the old pick
up the gun situation.
Speaker 4 (01:06:19):
Right. Yeah, in this case too. I remember, before this
guy admitted or confessed, one of the one of the
big parts of this kind of investigation is, like you said, Matt,
getting the person boxed in to prove that they have
intent and full awareness, right, So that part of the
(01:06:43):
theater here is making sure that this that this dude
knows vaguely what the purported general is planning to do,
like you are supporting the possibility of nuclear warfare. Otherwise,
you know, you can try to squirrel away legally speaking,
(01:07:05):
into something where you could say, oh, I didn't know,
you know, look at me. I'm an old school criminal.
I don't understand the ins and outs of nuclear weaponry.
This was just another thing for me to sell. I mean,
my main thing is Pachinko parlors. Guys, if we're being
honest and now, that won't work. And that's part of
the brilliance of these sorts of the I would say
(01:07:27):
the long term intricacy of those kind of investigations.
Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Yeah, oh yeah. This guy, by the way, also is
accused of a lot of things, including trying to sell
surface to air missiles, and you know, he's admitted to
a lot of other things like selling specific weapons to
other countries. It tons and tons of international narcotics trade stuff. Sure,
(01:07:53):
which again, if you you know, you imagine a crime syndicate, Yeah,
that's kind of kind of what you do. But selling
facal materials maybe that's a whole other that's a whole
other thing. There were photos exchange in this whole undercover
investigation where some substance that looks to be uranium or
(01:08:13):
plutonium is photographed right next to a Geiger counter that
is showing whatever it is, it's radioactive. Who knows. This
is a big investigation. There's lots of stuff at.
Speaker 4 (01:08:25):
Play, surprisingly endearing pictures of the suspect yourself, yeah, oh yeah, toys.
Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
Yeah yeah, holding some kind of RPG just with his
glasses on. He's just like, hey, check out this leather jacket.
Speaker 4 (01:08:38):
It's the energy of your favorite uncle when they catch
a big fish. Yeah, I have to get a picture
of it. This is also I guess we should mention, Matt,
this is not a solo arrest, correct, there are two
other defendants?
Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
Oh sure, Yeah? Who are those guys right now?
Speaker 4 (01:08:54):
Where we haven't pulled their names? We would have to,
We would have to dig into this a little bit
more there. Look, this happens because often folks like this
are not going. You can't do this by yourself, you
know what I mean? Even in what was that Nicholas
Gage film Lord of War, he had to have a
(01:09:14):
lot of connections to traffic weaponry on an international scale.
So this means this is just our opinion speculation. This
means the most logical move for this ongoing thing is
to keep pulling the threads. Right. Who are you meeting
on the other side of the table here, right? Because
(01:09:35):
they don't manufacture this stuff in Japan? So are the
triads involved? Do we look toward North Korea? Those are
the conversations and investigations happening now, and I think we
can expect more arrest or more progress. The question is
whether any of that will be in the public sphere. Also,
(01:09:57):
Japan's got some problems with this justice, very different problems
than the problems here in the good old US of A.
But you guys know the old the old chippoleth about
Japan's ninety nine percent conviction rates. They h they'll get you.
There's there's not a way in hell unless unless some serious,
(01:10:21):
high level negotiations happen in some smoky back room. This
guy's going down.
Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
Oh yeah, for sure. Let's end here with a quote
from Acting US Attorney Edward Y. Kim for the Southern
District of New York. Uh, here we go. As he
admitted in court today, Takashi Ibisawa brazen Lea trafficked nuclear material,
including weapons grade plutonium, out of Burma. So in this case,
(01:10:50):
the US attorney is is calling ME and R Burma
because that is what it was formerly known as. It's
like kind of the we talked about that kind of interchange.
The but ME and Mar is what it is known
as and referred to you mostly now men.
Speaker 4 (01:11:06):
R is what the people of that country want it
to be referred to as.
Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
Yes, continuing the quote. At the same time, he worked
to send massive quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the
United States in exchange for heavy duty weaponry such as
surface to air missiles to be used in Burma, or
ME and Mar and laundered what he believed to be
drug money from New York to Tokyo. And this is
all part of that undercover investigation where basically this guy
(01:11:31):
is just being strung along by DA agents. There we go, guys,
That's all I've got for this week.
Speaker 4 (01:11:40):
And there's so much more, As we always say, there's
so much more that we have yet to get to.
We want to hear from you, folks. We've explored several
ongoing stories. We didn't even mention our boy, the millionaire
who wants to live forever. Talked about him previously. Remember
the guy who was using his kid as blood bag. Yes,
(01:12:02):
and beat a blood bag to his grandfather as well.
Just to let you know there was a circle of
life there. He quit one of the drugs on his
regimen because he said it was making him older.
Speaker 5 (01:12:13):
I did see that, and wasn't it like the longevity drug?
Speaker 4 (01:12:17):
Yeah? Yeah, So let us know your experiences with anti
aging drugs. If you are your loved ones are affected
by the California wildfires, please feel free to reach out
to us to share your story. We are holding you
in our thoughts and you know, given the chance, do
(01:12:39):
your best not to not to smuggle weapons or nuclear
material internationally. We hate to be the uncool dads, you
know what I mean. Go have fun, but don't get
too wild. Instead of participating in cover ups and conspiracies,
why don't you help us shed light on them. We
try to be easy to find on our email address
(01:13:02):
open twenty four to seven, on our telephonic line, and
of course on the other lines, the lines that are
on the lines that you're sex toys use. Sorry, next story.
Speaker 3 (01:13:14):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (01:13:14):
You can find the handle conspiracy Stuff where we exist
in all those places, including Facebook, where we have our
Facebook group here's where it gets crazy, on xfka, Twitter,
and on YouTube, where we have video content colore for
your perusing enjoyment. On Instagram and TikTok, however, I guess
at least until mister Beast buys it should guys see that.
Speaker 3 (01:13:32):
That's kind of funny.
Speaker 2 (01:13:32):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (01:13:33):
He said?
Speaker 5 (01:13:33):
He's mister Beast is apparently leaking up with all his
billionaire friends to buy TikTok. Maybe as a goof AnyWho.
On TikTok and Instagram, we are conspiracy Stuff show. You
can also find us as individuals.
Speaker 3 (01:13:45):
I'm how now. Noel Brown on Instagram and bullet.
Speaker 4 (01:13:48):
First you need to take the boos of a young
willow tree, arrange them in the correct pattern, dance witter
shins under a new moon and light black flame. Or
you can find me at Instagram and a burst of
Creativity at Ben Bollin on x or Twitter at Ben
Bullin hsw tk traphouse mutually Assured distraction. There's a website
(01:14:12):
as well. Go forth, Go forth, Matt, you got anything?
Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
What is tiki traphouse?
Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
That's for him to know and you to find out.
Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
Bud, No, is that a real thing?
Speaker 3 (01:14:23):
Unclear?
Speaker 2 (01:14:24):
Okay, all right, all right, Hey, we have a phone number.
It is one eight three three std WYTK. When you
call in, give yourself a cool nickname and let us
know if we can use your name and message on
the air. It is a voicemail. Remember that you got
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to say than can fit in that voicemail, why not
(01:14:45):
instead send us a good old fashioned email.
Speaker 4 (01:14:47):
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Are you serious? You might be saying there on the
edge of the firelight is one way to find out,
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Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
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