In this edition of For All InTrendsive Purposes, Jack and Miles are joined by L.A. mayoral candidate Nithya Raman to talk about her run, and they also discuss Paxton ousting Cornyn in TX, Pope Leo spitting some mildly hot fire, NJ rep Tom Kean Jr. missing everything but the stonks and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of For
All Intrensive Purposes. I believe that was courtesy Vanadium Silver
in reference to yesterday's episode where we were talking about
idioms that we have wrong, I had a site for
sore eyes wrong. I didn't know what that meant.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's because it was always used sarcastically in that. I
was like, it means you don't want to see them.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, it means that you're seeing someone who looks like
shit is my has been my experience with the phrase
the site for ZAA Apparently it actually means your eyes
are sore and you see someone that looks nice soon
to you you've been missing them anyways.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Sentiment.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
What a wonderful sentiment that had been completely lost on
me up to this point in my life.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
My name is Jack O'Brian Matever.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
There's mister Miles. Yes, yes, yes, this is the episode
where we tell you what's trending in the zeitgeist usual
nationally today. We're starting off by zooming on down into
a local story that represents some of the stuff that
we're seeing in the nationals like geist today. It's not
my dad this time. Yeah, we're talking about the LA
(01:16):
mayoral race. So just to set the stage, the LA
mayoral race has like a first round. I might be
getting this wrong, Miles, you can correct me. You're you're
my politics guy. Uh, first round where two candidates like
survive to play in the finals, essentially.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
The jungle primaries. It doesn't matter the party, so you
get whoever. That's what we're Also we have that a
similar thing with our gubernatorial race as well.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Right okay, and right now, Karen Bass a legacy Democrat.
The incumbent is leading the pack, kind of coasting off inertia.
And then for who is the second candidate in the finals,
we have a tie between two candidates. The first is
and there's no way to say there's no easy way
(02:01):
to say that Spencer Pratt from the Hills and I'm
a celebrity, get me out of here. Don't sleep on
his work on I'm a celebrity, get me out of here,
because he completely lost his mind and threatened to murder people.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, that's that's may oral. That's mayoral, Mickey real jeh
in twenty twenty six, I don't know, I'm looked around.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
And then the candidate he's tied with is joining US today.
She's joined US before. She's an never been planner, a
member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Currently an LA City Council member for the fourth District
since twenty twenty. Welcome to the show, Nithia Rama.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Nithia, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh, of course, of course. It's it's it's spooky times
in La. You know what I mean. We've got uh,
we got got Spencer Pratt going wild with AI posts currently,
I believe dysfunctional city hall that could that could use
some new ideas, that could use some some new life.
(03:05):
And yeah, I think this is a very crucial race
and a lot of people I think have been talking
about They're like, well with Spencer Pratt or Bass and
it's like, well, no, there's other options.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
And there was.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
There was also you know, Ray Hon Ray Hong also
running a campaign also, and then you entered the race,
and this has been like a huge thing now with
progressives being like, well what am I? Who do I
what the deal then? And I totally get that, like
right now, where where it stands, Ray has a beyond
outside chance of really making it to the general here.
(03:40):
And I think it's important that if we're looking at
what this the reality is here, like we absolutely like,
I do not look we need someone who is progressive
in city hall. We don't need Karen Bass and we
don't need Spencer Pratt, who is an absolute joke candidate.
This guy is like, I'm living in a mobile home.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
He's not looking coming on later, so we can well,
let's not trust he's not h And also he said
he's like, I'll lead if I lose. It's like, yeah, man,
that's what I look at. Someone really about this city
so much.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Someone who was so deeply committed to this city that
if the city doesn't give them exactly what they want,
which is one of the most powerful positions within it,
they will immediately leave forever.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, that's that's called.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
He did just tell Vanity Fair that he is for
sure going to be mayor do you plan to stay
in the race now that he now that you know
that's he's for sure for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I hadn't heard that before.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Big news. We're breaking big news here, okay, but yeah,
I mentioned that he's threatened to murder people on cameeron
I'm a celebrity, to get me out of here. And
that's kind of the energy he's bringing to this race.
There's there's a lot of anger I think in LA
from the fires and the mismanagement of the bast administration,
and I feel like a lot of it is being
(04:58):
projected and redirected at the homeless population. So I was
just curious because that's something that you've actually been on
the show talking about in the past. But can you
just kind of describe his plans for dealing with LA's
on house community and your plans, like how those differ.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Yeah, well, I would say I haven't heard a lot
by the way of plans from him for dealing with homelessness.
It is just much more about, you know, I'm going
to snap my fingers and they're going to disappear. We're
going to put them into We're going to use one
random new law from the state level, and we're going
to involuntarily conserve tens of thousands of people, and then
everyone will be gone. It's just like a kind of
(05:41):
a fantasy of enforcement, right right that if we just
say this is not going to happen here anymore, that
it's not going to happen here anymore. And the reality
is that a lot of the things that he's talking
about are straight up unconstitutional or just.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Will not work.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You know, you if you arrest someone who is experiencing homelessness,
they'll probably be released in a day or two. When
they leave jail, they're going to come back to the streets.
It does not address the fact that they are homeless. Right,
Do you actually have to address homelessness in order to
address homelessness?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Right?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
And that is what you know, That's really what my
work has been from the beginning, really about trying to
make sure that people who are on the streets in
a city where less than a third of the people
we have a less than a third of the shelter
beds that we need for our total homeless population, that
we are expanding shelter access. We're moving people indoors quickly, safely, effectively,
(06:36):
and helping them stay indoors, and we can reduce homelessness
across the entire city that way. I've done it in
my district. We actually have reduced ten encampments in my
district by fifty four percent in just three years. And
we've worked to ensure that the people that we're bringing
indoors are able to thrive when they come indoors and
that pathway is the real pathway forward. And it's just
(06:57):
frustrating for me to see the city is being neglected
right now and there's a sense of real frustration here.
And what can happen, which we've seen happen nationwide, is
that when a MAGA type person shows up, people's frustrations
can get channeled into that even in Los Angeles. Yeah right,
(07:18):
I don't think he'll I don't think Spencer Pratt can
win the election, but I do think he can get
a lot of votes, and I think he can take
up a lot of airtime, and I think his presence
in the election will be really corrosive. So what we
have right now is a top two primary. You know,
for this race, if one person gets over fifty percent,
they win outright. Normally an incumbent wins right away right
(07:40):
in the primary. This incumbent is so unpopular she is
not polling anywhere near fifty percent, so there will be
a runoff. So the question is is it going to
be you know, based on the polling numbers recently, if
they continue to stay where they are, is it going
to be me versus her?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Or is it going to be Spencer Pratt versus her.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Those are the only two options, and a vote for
anyone else besides me is essentially a vote for Spencer
Pratt get into the runoff.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot to say too,
because I feel there are a lot of progressives who
are just like split trying to figure out, you know,
where they come down, because even with like the DSA vote,
they were like, well, you know that ultimately they landed
on you because the plurality of those members decided to
vacke you. And like, I think a lot of people
there's a lot, like a lot of hand ringing that
I've had to address for people too like that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I'm like, if we had ranked choice voting, you know,
like other places, we might be able to have a
more of like a spread of types of candidates. But
the way we're set up, this is what we're contending with,
and like that's sort of what we need to be
realistic with because you know, I unfortunately lost my house
in the fire in al To dat. I'm so sorry
and no thank you, and I'm I am curious too
(08:48):
because that is something that I felt was a huge
I mean, my god, I didn't get an evacuate. I
had to evacuate on my own. I didn't even get alert,
like I just I saw the fire burning on the
hill behind me, and I said, I think we need
to go. Is when you look at that specifically, because
that's something that's really important to me. How are you
sort of differentiating yourself looking forward at the sort of
(09:09):
existential climate threats we face, like wildfires, and how you
would kind of do things a bit differently than what
we've seen from the past administration Here in.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
The city of La the mayor is kind of the
executive leader of the city. She is the person who
is responsible for kind of leading emergency response and that's
something that I know. I know that about the role
and when we had evacuations and fires in my district,
I was there at the Emergency Operations Center working to
(09:38):
make sure that evacuations were happening smoothly, working with LAFD
and with the news outlets to make sure we were
getting that information out to the.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Public quickly, calmly.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I understand fully in those emergency situations how a mayor's
office has to operate, and that's something I want to do.
I'm excited to take that on. But taking a step back,
I think one of the biggest challenges that we're facing
is that we are going to be facing more extreme
weather over the next few years, not just fires, but
(10:10):
also flooding, which we've already seen in my district. I
represent a big, big chunk of the hillsides, and we
are going to have to prepare for it before these
incidents happen, and ensuring that we get federal and state
dollars to do the planning, to do evacuation exercises, to
ensure that we are doing brush clearance proactively, and making
(10:33):
sure that we are kind of limiting fire risk as
much as possible, making sure that we are engaging with
residents to give them the information they need in order
to be prepared. These are all ways in which the
city can do so much more in these areas to
ensure that residents have the tools they need to be
able to manage what is going to be a more
challenging situation here in the City of Los Angeles in
(10:55):
our hillsides in the decades ahead.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, and I think maybe not. You know, as I
was reading in La Times about how the mayor was like,
maybe let's let's like water down some of the findings
to make them a little bit more palatable. And I
think that was just such a misstep and felt like
one of those things You're like, how can how can
how can this be leadership?
Speaker 4 (11:16):
People deserve accountability about what happened, you know, people deserve accountability.
And by the way, that accountability is how we are
going to learn lessons so that this kind of botched
response doesn't happen going forward. And so to cover up
any findings or to change the language I think is
deeply shameful. Yeah, and as an insult to the people
of Los Angeles, it really is, And you know, I
(11:37):
feel like more people should be aware of.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
That of that, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Stepping back big picture, the you know, spensor pre campaign,
the Mega campaign in general feels like largely designed to
attack exactly kind of what ails the mainstream Democratic Party.
And I'm just curious, like, you know, the legacy Democrat
administration of Bess and like, how are you thinking about
(12:04):
how are you differentiating your campaign from sort of bass
and how will you if it's you versus her? What
is the difference makers in terms of I think.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
There's a lot you know, in my focus on housing
costs and housing. I've been a leader on the council
and trying to protect renters and to make sure that
we are actually building more housing of the kind that
we need here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
But I think a big piece of the.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Difference is in how establishment democrats move versus challengers that
are more progressive. I have watched as Mayor bas and
other powerful city hall and residents have essentially sold off
the city at the expense of working people in their policymaking.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, I think I heard you talking about how Airbnb
is like a major contributor to the US.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
A huge contributor.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
So we have a housing crisis here in the city
of Los Angeles. And a few weeks ago, the mayor
released her new budget for this year before it came
to the city Council for approval, and in buried in
the budget there was this funny little kind of sub
section that said, we're going to expand short term rentals
Airbnb rentals in the city, and in return for that,
(13:22):
Airbnb is going to prepay their tourist taxes to the city.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And it was such a.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Weird intervention to make you know they were saying it
was going to be temporary for the World Cup and
for the Olympics, But during a housing crisis, to expand
short term rentals, to take housing off the market that
should be long term rentals feels like a very wrong
headed move, and I couldn't believe that this effort was
trying to be snuck in through a budget process. Ultimately,
(13:50):
it did not go forward through the budget process. It
was moved to the regular policy process at the city.
But parallel to that, Airbnb has essentially funded her campaign
to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in
independent Expenditure Committee spending. They just pack spending to support
the mayor's reelection. And so again for me, it's like,
(14:10):
we have to make decisions that makes sense for Angelino's.
We have to be making decisions that make sense for
the people of la and to me, that means not
trying to exacerbate a housing crisis in return for political donations.
That feels like a pretty basic thing and a major
difference between what I see as kind of an establishment
(14:32):
democratic mode of existence and what new voices, more progressive
voices can bring to the table.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I got to say, like, you know, it's always important
to see who supports a candidate and who is against
a candidate. And I've seen the LA Police Protective League
spend a lot of money on ads against you, which
is really like it's they're one where they're like, she's
flip flopping on defund the police. But I'm like, who
(15:04):
is that presented to? Like, are you trying to outrage
like the people who are like fully in on police
abolition and prison abolition? Are you trying to appeal to
those who like love the cops. It was just a
very confusing advertisement. Like when I read, I'm like, what
are y'all talking about? Because I think you know, one thing,
(15:25):
one concern that I just have generally, like with with
any candidate generally, right is like there's a lot of
energy with progressive policies and then once in office you
kind of begin to see the reality of what policy
can do, and then things begin to drift to the
center outwardly. It seems like that. I know in twenty
twenty you are very vocal about like you know, police
overreach and things like that and defunding the police, and
(15:47):
over time that's changed, and I know for you specifically,
like your emphasis is on things like more like community
based things where they're like, there aren't people with guns
responding to situations that don't need that, which I think
is totally value. I'm curious, like, how has that position
evolved over time? Is it that you like, you've like,
I totally get that the sentiment of going in feels
(16:09):
like that's just what it felt like in twenty twenty
and then maybe once you get an office things change.
Is that still something that you believe in and you're
just sort of the strategy to arrive at that place
is a little bit different to me.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Public safety response and showing up when people need help
is an essential service that a city has to provide.
And if someone calls for help and someone doesn't show up,
who can help them?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I think it destroys people's faith in the city.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
And I've seen it happen across Los Angeles, even as
our existing infrastructure has prayed, even with our investments in
police and all of that. You have a turning away
from trust and faith in government when you are not
able to respond to calls for help. And so I
want right now our only ability to respond to calls
(16:58):
for service is LAPD. We have a kind of a
nascent unarmed response system. It's not citywide, it is not
integrated well with our nine one one system, so you
are often waiting for those calls for an hour to
actually get someone on the phone, and then another half
an hour before someone even comes. And it covers so
(17:22):
little of the city and so few people know about
it that only a tiny fraction of the calls for
service right now, even though thousands of the calls to
nine one one don't require armed response, only a tiny
fraction are going to this alternative response pathways. We have
to build out fully that unarmed response pathway. We have
to build out a citywide unarmed crisis response system that
(17:48):
is fully integrated into nine one one, And that is
actually I've been working towards that during my time on
Council in partnership with some of some of my fellow
COUSE members, and we've made some progress on that, but
it has a.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Long way to go before it can be built out fully.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Yeah, And so my response to these questions is really
having to do with an honest assessment of what the
city has to do in order to maintain trust and
to maintain functionality. And I want, but I do want
to see a holistic system of public safety response built out,
but we're not going to see that without real commitment
from the mayor's office, which is what I bring to it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, and I would I definitely urge you to kind
of keep down that path because I think it's important
as Oh yeah, somebody has been on both sides of
that coin, whether it's interacting with the police or you know,
needing assistance. It's not been great. And I think a
lot of people who have grown up in the city
definitely hope we have a you know, a complicated relationship
with the police department, especially when we have like a
(18:44):
controller like Kenneth McKee is sort of bringing to light
like the amount of money that's being spent by the
laped at.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
They have so many helicopters. That's what I'm excited if
we can get more helicopters just ripping through the sky
at all times.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
The biggest driver of the kind of the police expenditure
in our budget though, is their contract. And you know
the and I voted against their last contract, which was
so large that we actually didn't even have the money
as a city to be able to fund that contract, right.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
And that's why you know, and I so I have.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
You know, in many ways, I feel like stay true
to what I've been talking about for years, which is,
how do we ensure that we're really serving Angelino's with
our budget? How do we ensure that we're really serving
people in the way that they need to be served?
And how do we make sure that we have money
for unarmed response, for homelessness response, and for all the
other services that make life good?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And I and I definitely give you credit for that
because you've You've definitely helped with the unhoused population in
the city. A shout out the Griffith Park bike lane.
Oh yeah, loving the bike lane and so yeah, like
I mean, you've definitely done a lot of good work
for the city.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Okay, last question, is it too late for your campaign
to incorporate my proposed policy to take over all private
golf verses in Los Angeles and turn them into beautiful
parks like Central and Prospect Parks for LA.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I think that it might be too late? Yeah, yeah,
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
But will you be mad if I like sneak onto
the golf course once you're mayor will you be mad
if I sneak onto the golf courses and within a parasol.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
I commit today as mayor to turning a blind eye.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Nice, there we go. Thank you so much for joining us.
Good luck. I know it's a very mission time.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Everyone has to vote before vote. June second is the primary, yes,
and the top two primary. And if you don't want
Spencer Pratt in the primary, got to get out there
and vote.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Got to go there and vote. Yeah, all right, well, yeah,
good luck to you, Nithia, and thank you for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Yeah, thanks for stopping by. All Right, we're gonna take
a quick break now and we'll be right back to
talk about some news.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
And we're back back. We're back.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
So that that was LA. Let's talk about the rest
of the country. That that's been LA.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
That's in LA gets don't Spencer Pratt is so fucking
annoying and he's making.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
A reality show about this. Yeah, let's talk about a
couple other elections. We got John Cornyn, you got his
ass whooped got beat by uh Ken Paxton.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, their attorney general, the freakiest fucking Texas Uh. You know,
he's like a COVID conspiracy loving, ethically compromised wombat. And yeah,
he he defeated the incumbent John Cornet, which was not
the pick I think Republicans wanted because people were like, dude,
Ken Paxton is a COVID, conspiracy loving, ethically compromised wombat,
(21:56):
and you're juxtaposing that against James Tallerico in a time
where people think that maybe Texas could get closer to
being blue and before Yeah, yeah, I mean I don't.
It's totally up in the air. But one thing for
sure is like, if you're tall Rico, you got the
candidate you want to be going up against in In Paxton.
(22:16):
And you know, and Cornyn he did everything he could.
He licked the boot, he throated the Trump boot, and
then still just out on your ass because you're not
a full on free like Ken Paxson.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Isn't that what did you do because Trump so trump
fully backed Ken Paxton? What what did Cornyan do to
piss Trump off?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
I mean the big thing too, right, Like, I mean,
if you look at Cornyin's like voting record, he's one hundred,
he's like, he's like ninety nine point two percent on board, right,
But there were times like he did I believe he
maybe backed the oh he certified the election. That was
a big one in twenty twenty. So that's when you're like,
(22:56):
come on, what the fuck was that? He also urged
Trump to not run privately in twenty twenty four, like
he's so he's done little things that go, what do
you got fucking sense in your brain? I need a
guy who's a zombie. Is just I just orient them
in a direction and they go and just start chewing
our art and just see what fucking happens. So it
(23:17):
just wasn't enough. And then packs and Cornyn is still
like I'm gonna all support the part. I'll do whatever
I have to do. He's still being fucking low. It's
it's a tragedy for his soul. I mean, I don't
really give a shit about him. But anyway, so now
it's going to be Paxton and tall Rico in the general,
So stick tuned.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Two outsider candidates essentially, except one of them is being
endorsed by the president.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah, and like posters because of this also like the
Cook Political Report, you know, they're like the sort of
a campaign prognosticators that what they've moved this race from
likely Republican to lean Republican, which is just a slight
downgrade because of Paxton being the pick.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
The number one trend that I was seeing on Twitter
yesterday's This Morning was just people quoting the Pope and
being like, the Pope actually ate with that one though.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, like facts, facts of that Leo the things.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
The thing that I kept seeing quoted is this part.
If the human being is treated as something to be
perfected or surpassed, it becomes easier to accept that some
lives are less useful, less desirable, or less worthy. In
the name of progress, necessary sacrifices may begin to be
justified placing the burden on the most vulnerable in pursuit
(24:33):
of a supposed optimization of the species. For this reason,
a clear distinction must be made. It is one thing
to integrate technology within a human centered relational vision. Is
quite another to be guided by an outlook that devalues
human limits and promises a purely technical form of salvation.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I would in it because he's like, look, well, we
can't start putting people in the dist bosable column. I'm
the Pope. Everyone's God's children or is. He's also like, man,
don't let AI take over the salvation game? Hey my game? Yeah,
my funk out of here with this AI.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Remember like when I was first emerging, there were all
those churches that were like, and we've turned Jesus, We've
turned the sacrament of reconciliation, the confession booth over to
an AI Jesus brought to you by Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, I mean look, I mean it's it. Those are bars,
you know, Like, it's true, we are we Like, I
totally get the intellectual slippery slope that you're on. It's like, well,
if some people need to be quote unquote optimized, then
what does that say for the unoptimized and their value.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It's a good description of all the things that make
one uneasy when when you just not just like when
you like contemplate AI, but like when you encounter these
people who are, you know, pushing this thing forward, and
you're like, what is it about them that it makes
me uncomfortable? Oh, it's that humanity seems to be a
(26:03):
problem to be solved for them, which is yeah, I
don't know. It's just really a demonstration of how far
things have gone to the right slash openly evil side.
Is that everyone who is not in favor of enslaving
slash disposing of big chunks of humanity for the enrichment
of a handful of billionaires is like kind of starting
(26:26):
to join together and like pulling Unison a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yeah, it's wild that Pope Leo is getting all these
kudos right now. Like I'm wondering how soon we're going
to see like dudes in Brooklyn getting their Pope Leo tattoos.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
I'm sure it's already happening.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Wanted to check out this guy, Tom Keen. Have we
talked about him? This is missing missing, Yeah, congressman from
New Jersey. He won a he defeated a Democrat a
few years back, and he's Legacy's a EPO baby. His
dad was i think governor of New Jersey. And he's
(27:06):
been for the past couple of months on a medical
leave for an undisclosed medical condition for months now. And
that happens, and you know, we're always hoping for people's
health and recovery. But notice reported that Keene is having
to disclose that while he can't do his job, he
(27:27):
has been trading stock.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta see that he's.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Been making He's been active out here, certifying ninety five
trades in April.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
He missed ninety votes so far, and he's out here
just like fucking trading on I don't know, man, like
this it's great. What's wild though, too, is because Trump
has absolutely changed what the standard is for fuckery. Yeah,
like the guy's fucking not there and he's trading stock.
I don't know, Like this is this is what happens
when shit like Trump is happening. It allows for this
(28:00):
because I feel like this would be a pretty big
story in any other decade than the one we're currently in,
Like how the fuck is this guy not there and
still we're doing some light insider trading or something? What
do we got going on here?
Speaker 1 (28:15):
But really, yeah, just feels like a fucking jail break
right now. Just feels like everybody's just like, I don't know,
we just break it and like grab as much shit
as pop. Like there's also the Alabama story where you
know that they tried to break the I mean they
did break the Voting Rights Act, and the Supreme Court
(28:37):
basically let loose Jim Crow two point zero with their
decision on the Voting Rights Act, and a lot of
Southern states were just like, I don't know, can we
do that? Like just filling their bags.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
They're like, oh, how's this electroal map. You're like, this
map is from fucking eighteen fifty nine, right, the fuck
is this? I've never even seen a map like this. Yeah, yeah,
it's it's been a lot of a little too much
racist dip on their chip, you know what I mean.
And luckily a lower court just put the brakes on
their plan to use a map from twenty twenty three
(29:11):
that was so obviously racist. In twenty twenty three, it
was blocked in court. Back then they're like, so again,
They're just like, uh here, what about this problematic map
we've been sitting on for a minute. This is from
a report on quote, but a three judge panel twesday
prevented the state from using that map, mandating that Alabama
use a map that has two majority black, blue leaning seats. Quote. Ultimately,
(29:32):
we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to
cast their votes in the twenty twenty six elections under
a districting plan painted by intentional race based discrimination. This
is what the panel said. There is no convincing evidence
that it is necessary for us to allow Alabama to
pivot to the twenty twenty three plan in the middle
of an election, and substantial evidence that it is not.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
This is at least putting the brakes on something that
they were trying to do before this upcoming election.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then they'll appeal to the Supreme Court,
and then I'm.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Sure and then Rob Court, well.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
He's like, oh, oh, you didn't even allow me to
put the red carpet out yet, but you know, come
on it, come on.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
That's right. That's been this trending episode. We are back
tomorrow with the whole last episode of the show. Until then,
be kind to each other, be kind to yourself, get
your vaccines where you still can't get your flu shots,
don't do nothing about white supremacy, and we will talk
to you all tomorrow by The Daily Site.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Guys is executive produced by Catherine Law, co produced by
Victor Wright.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Co written by j M McNab, and edited and engineered
by Brian Jefferies.
Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of For
All Intrensive Purposes. I believe that was courtesy Vanadium Silver
in reference to yesterday's episode where we were talking about
idioms that we have wrong, I had a site for
sore eyes wrong. I didn't know what that meant.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's because it was always used sarcastically in that. I
was like, it means you don't want to see them.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, it means that you're seeing someone who looks like
shit is my has been my experience with the phrase
the site for ZAA Apparently it actually means your eyes
are sore and you see someone that looks nice soon
to you you've been missing them anyways.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Sentiment.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
What a wonderful sentiment that had been completely lost on
me up to this point in my life.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
My name is Jack O'Brian Matever.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
There's mister Miles. Yes, yes, yes, this is the episode
where we tell you what's trending in the zeitgeist usual
nationally today. We're starting off by zooming on down into
a local story that represents some of the stuff that
we're seeing in the nationals like geist today. It's not
my dad this time. Yeah, we're talking about the LA
(01:16):
mayoral race. So just to set the stage, the LA
mayoral race has like a first round. I might be
getting this wrong, Miles, you can correct me. You're you're
my politics guy. Uh, first round where two candidates like
survive to play in the finals, essentially.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
The jungle primaries. It doesn't matter the party, so you
get whoever. That's what we're Also we have that a
similar thing with our gubernatorial race as well.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Right okay, and right now, Karen Bass a legacy Democrat.
The incumbent is leading the pack, kind of coasting off inertia.
And then for who is the second candidate in the finals,
we have a tie between two candidates. The first is
and there's no way to say there's no easy way
(02:01):
to say that Spencer Pratt from the Hills and I'm
a celebrity, get me out of here. Don't sleep on
his work on I'm a celebrity, get me out of here,
because he completely lost his mind and threatened to murder people.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, that's that's may oral. That's mayoral, Mickey real jeh
in twenty twenty six, I don't know, I'm looked around.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
And then the candidate he's tied with is joining US today.
She's joined US before. She's an never been planner, a
member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Currently an LA City Council member for the fourth District
since twenty twenty. Welcome to the show, Nithia Rama.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Nithia, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh, of course, of course. It's it's it's spooky times
in La. You know what I mean. We've got uh,
we got got Spencer Pratt going wild with AI posts currently,
I believe dysfunctional city hall that could that could use
some new ideas, that could use some some new life.
(03:05):
And yeah, I think this is a very crucial race
and a lot of people I think have been talking
about They're like, well with Spencer Pratt or Bass and
it's like, well, no, there's other options.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
And there was.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
There was also you know, Ray Hon Ray Hong also
running a campaign also, and then you entered the race,
and this has been like a huge thing now with
progressives being like, well what am I? Who do I
what the deal then? And I totally get that, like
right now, where where it stands, Ray has a beyond
outside chance of really making it to the general here.
(03:40):
And I think it's important that if we're looking at
what this the reality is here, like we absolutely like,
I do not look we need someone who is progressive
in city hall. We don't need Karen Bass and we
don't need Spencer Pratt, who is an absolute joke candidate.
This guy is like, I'm living in a mobile home.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
He's not looking coming on later, so we can well,
let's not trust he's not h And also he said
he's like, I'll lead if I lose. It's like, yeah, man,
that's what I look at. Someone really about this city
so much.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Someone who was so deeply committed to this city that
if the city doesn't give them exactly what they want,
which is one of the most powerful positions within it,
they will immediately leave forever.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, that's that's called.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
He did just tell Vanity Fair that he is for
sure going to be mayor do you plan to stay
in the race now that he now that you know
that's he's for sure for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I hadn't heard that before.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Big news. We're breaking big news here, okay, but yeah,
I mentioned that he's threatened to murder people on cameeron
I'm a celebrity, to get me out of here. And
that's kind of the energy he's bringing to this race.
There's there's a lot of anger I think in LA
from the fires and the mismanagement of the bast administration,
and I feel like a lot of it is being
(04:58):
projected and redirected at the homeless population. So I was
just curious because that's something that you've actually been on
the show talking about in the past. But can you
just kind of describe his plans for dealing with LA's
on house community and your plans, like how those differ.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Yeah, well, I would say I haven't heard a lot
by the way of plans from him for dealing with homelessness.
It is just much more about, you know, I'm going
to snap my fingers and they're going to disappear. We're
going to put them into We're going to use one
random new law from the state level, and we're going
to involuntarily conserve tens of thousands of people, and then
everyone will be gone. It's just like a kind of
(05:41):
a fantasy of enforcement, right right that if we just
say this is not going to happen here anymore, that
it's not going to happen here anymore. And the reality
is that a lot of the things that he's talking
about are straight up unconstitutional or just.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Will not work.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You know, you if you arrest someone who is experiencing homelessness,
they'll probably be released in a day or two. When
they leave jail, they're going to come back to the streets.
It does not address the fact that they are homeless. Right,
Do you actually have to address homelessness in order to
address homelessness?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Right?
Speaker 4 (06:14):
And that is what you know, That's really what my
work has been from the beginning, really about trying to
make sure that people who are on the streets in
a city where less than a third of the people
we have a less than a third of the shelter
beds that we need for our total homeless population, that
we are expanding shelter access. We're moving people indoors quickly, safely, effectively,
(06:36):
and helping them stay indoors, and we can reduce homelessness
across the entire city that way. I've done it in
my district. We actually have reduced ten encampments in my
district by fifty four percent in just three years. And
we've worked to ensure that the people that we're bringing
indoors are able to thrive when they come indoors and
that pathway is the real pathway forward. And it's just
(06:57):
frustrating for me to see the city is being neglected
right now and there's a sense of real frustration here.
And what can happen, which we've seen happen nationwide, is
that when a MAGA type person shows up, people's frustrations
can get channeled into that even in Los Angeles. Yeah right,
(07:18):
I don't think he'll I don't think Spencer Pratt can
win the election, but I do think he can get
a lot of votes, and I think he can take
up a lot of airtime, and I think his presence
in the election will be really corrosive. So what we
have right now is a top two primary. You know,
for this race, if one person gets over fifty percent,
they win outright. Normally an incumbent wins right away right
(07:40):
in the primary. This incumbent is so unpopular she is
not polling anywhere near fifty percent, so there will be
a runoff. So the question is is it going to
be you know, based on the polling numbers recently, if
they continue to stay where they are, is it going
to be me versus her?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Or is it going to be Spencer Pratt versus her.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Those are the only two options, and a vote for
anyone else besides me is essentially a vote for Spencer
Pratt get into the runoff.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot to say too,
because I feel there are a lot of progressives who
are just like split trying to figure out, you know,
where they come down, because even with like the DSA vote,
they were like, well, you know that ultimately they landed
on you because the plurality of those members decided to
vacke you. And like, I think a lot of people
there's a lot, like a lot of hand ringing that
I've had to address for people too like that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I'm like, if we had ranked choice voting, you know,
like other places, we might be able to have a
more of like a spread of types of candidates. But
the way we're set up, this is what we're contending with,
and like that's sort of what we need to be
realistic with because you know, I unfortunately lost my house
in the fire in al To dat. I'm so sorry
and no thank you, and I'm I am curious too
(08:48):
because that is something that I felt was a huge
I mean, my god, I didn't get an evacuate. I
had to evacuate on my own. I didn't even get alert,
like I just I saw the fire burning on the
hill behind me, and I said, I think we need
to go. Is when you look at that specifically, because
that's something that's really important to me. How are you
sort of differentiating yourself looking forward at the sort of
(09:09):
existential climate threats we face, like wildfires, and how you
would kind of do things a bit differently than what
we've seen from the past administration Here in.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
The city of La the mayor is kind of the
executive leader of the city. She is the person who
is responsible for kind of leading emergency response and that's
something that I know. I know that about the role
and when we had evacuations and fires in my district,
I was there at the Emergency Operations Center working to
(09:38):
make sure that evacuations were happening smoothly, working with LAFD
and with the news outlets to make sure we were
getting that information out to the.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Public quickly, calmly.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I understand fully in those emergency situations how a mayor's
office has to operate, and that's something I want to do.
I'm excited to take that on. But taking a step back,
I think one of the biggest challenges that we're facing
is that we are going to be facing more extreme
weather over the next few years, not just fires, but
(10:10):
also flooding, which we've already seen in my district. I
represent a big, big chunk of the hillsides, and we
are going to have to prepare for it before these
incidents happen, and ensuring that we get federal and state
dollars to do the planning, to do evacuation exercises, to
ensure that we are doing brush clearance proactively, and making
(10:33):
sure that we are kind of limiting fire risk as
much as possible, making sure that we are engaging with
residents to give them the information they need in order
to be prepared. These are all ways in which the
city can do so much more in these areas to
ensure that residents have the tools they need to be
able to manage what is going to be a more
challenging situation here in the City of Los Angeles in
(10:55):
our hillsides in the decades ahead.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, and I think maybe not. You know, as I
was reading in La Times about how the mayor was like,
maybe let's let's like water down some of the findings
to make them a little bit more palatable. And I
think that was just such a misstep and felt like
one of those things You're like, how can how can
how can this be leadership?
Speaker 4 (11:16):
People deserve accountability about what happened, you know, people deserve accountability.
And by the way, that accountability is how we are
going to learn lessons so that this kind of botched
response doesn't happen going forward. And so to cover up
any findings or to change the language I think is
deeply shameful. Yeah, and as an insult to the people
of Los Angeles, it really is, And you know, I
(11:37):
feel like more people should be aware of.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
That of that, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Stepping back big picture, the you know, spensor pre campaign,
the Mega campaign in general feels like largely designed to
attack exactly kind of what ails the mainstream Democratic Party.
And I'm just curious, like, you know, the legacy Democrat
administration of Bess and like, how are you thinking about
(12:04):
how are you differentiating your campaign from sort of bass
and how will you if it's you versus her? What
is the difference makers in terms of I think.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
There's a lot you know, in my focus on housing
costs and housing. I've been a leader on the council
and trying to protect renters and to make sure that
we are actually building more housing of the kind that
we need here in Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
But I think a big piece of the.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Difference is in how establishment democrats move versus challengers that
are more progressive. I have watched as Mayor bas and
other powerful city hall and residents have essentially sold off
the city at the expense of working people in their policymaking.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, I think I heard you talking about how Airbnb
is like a major contributor to the US.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
A huge contributor.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
So we have a housing crisis here in the city
of Los Angeles. And a few weeks ago, the mayor
released her new budget for this year before it came
to the city Council for approval, and in buried in
the budget there was this funny little kind of sub
section that said, we're going to expand short term rentals
Airbnb rentals in the city, and in return for that,
(13:22):
Airbnb is going to prepay their tourist taxes to the city.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And it was such a.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Weird intervention to make you know they were saying it
was going to be temporary for the World Cup and
for the Olympics, But during a housing crisis, to expand
short term rentals, to take housing off the market that
should be long term rentals feels like a very wrong
headed move, and I couldn't believe that this effort was
trying to be snuck in through a budget process. Ultimately,
(13:50):
it did not go forward through the budget process. It
was moved to the regular policy process at the city.
But parallel to that, Airbnb has essentially funded her campaign
to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in
independent Expenditure Committee spending. They just pack spending to support
the mayor's reelection. And so again for me, it's like,
(14:10):
we have to make decisions that makes sense for Angelino's.
We have to be making decisions that make sense for
the people of la and to me, that means not
trying to exacerbate a housing crisis in return for political donations.
That feels like a pretty basic thing and a major
difference between what I see as kind of an establishment
(14:32):
democratic mode of existence and what new voices, more progressive
voices can bring to the table.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
I got to say, like, you know, it's always important
to see who supports a candidate and who is against
a candidate. And I've seen the LA Police Protective League
spend a lot of money on ads against you, which
is really like it's they're one where they're like, she's
flip flopping on defund the police. But I'm like, who
(15:04):
is that presented to? Like, are you trying to outrage
like the people who are like fully in on police
abolition and prison abolition? Are you trying to appeal to
those who like love the cops. It was just a
very confusing advertisement. Like when I read, I'm like, what
are y'all talking about? Because I think you know, one thing,
(15:25):
one concern that I just have generally, like with with
any candidate generally, right is like there's a lot of
energy with progressive policies and then once in office you
kind of begin to see the reality of what policy
can do, and then things begin to drift to the
center outwardly. It seems like that. I know in twenty
twenty you are very vocal about like you know, police
overreach and things like that and defunding the police, and
(15:47):
over time that's changed, and I know for you specifically,
like your emphasis is on things like more like community
based things where they're like, there aren't people with guns
responding to situations that don't need that, which I think
is totally value. I'm curious, like, how has that position
evolved over time? Is it that you like, you've like,
I totally get that the sentiment of going in feels
(16:09):
like that's just what it felt like in twenty twenty
and then maybe once you get an office things change.
Is that still something that you believe in and you're
just sort of the strategy to arrive at that place
is a little bit different to me.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Public safety response and showing up when people need help
is an essential service that a city has to provide.
And if someone calls for help and someone doesn't show up,
who can help them?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I think it destroys people's faith in the city.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
And I've seen it happen across Los Angeles, even as
our existing infrastructure has prayed, even with our investments in
police and all of that. You have a turning away
from trust and faith in government when you are not
able to respond to calls for help. And so I
want right now our only ability to respond to calls
(16:58):
for service is LAPD. We have a kind of a
nascent unarmed response system. It's not citywide, it is not
integrated well with our nine one one system, so you
are often waiting for those calls for an hour to
actually get someone on the phone, and then another half
an hour before someone even comes. And it covers so
(17:22):
little of the city and so few people know about
it that only a tiny fraction of the calls for
service right now, even though thousands of the calls to
nine one one don't require armed response, only a tiny
fraction are going to this alternative response pathways. We have
to build out fully that unarmed response pathway. We have
to build out a citywide unarmed crisis response system that
(17:48):
is fully integrated into nine one one, And that is
actually I've been working towards that during my time on
Council in partnership with some of some of my fellow
COUSE members, and we've made some progress on that, but
it has a.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Long way to go before it can be built out fully.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Yeah, And so my response to these questions is really
having to do with an honest assessment of what the
city has to do in order to maintain trust and
to maintain functionality. And I want, but I do want
to see a holistic system of public safety response built out,
but we're not going to see that without real commitment
from the mayor's office, which is what I bring to it.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, and I would I definitely urge you to kind
of keep down that path because I think it's important
as Oh yeah, somebody has been on both sides of
that coin, whether it's interacting with the police or you know,
needing assistance. It's not been great. And I think a
lot of people who have grown up in the city
definitely hope we have a you know, a complicated relationship
with the police department, especially when we have like a
(18:44):
controller like Kenneth McKee is sort of bringing to light
like the amount of money that's being spent by the
laped at.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
They have so many helicopters. That's what I'm excited if
we can get more helicopters just ripping through the sky
at all times.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
The biggest driver of the kind of the police expenditure
in our budget though, is their contract. And you know
the and I voted against their last contract, which was
so large that we actually didn't even have the money
as a city to be able to fund that contract, right.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
And that's why you know, and I so I have.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
You know, in many ways, I feel like stay true
to what I've been talking about for years, which is,
how do we ensure that we're really serving Angelino's with
our budget? How do we ensure that we're really serving
people in the way that they need to be served?
And how do we make sure that we have money
for unarmed response, for homelessness response, and for all the
other services that make life good?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And I and I definitely give you credit for that
because you've You've definitely helped with the unhoused population in
the city. A shout out the Griffith Park bike lane.
Oh yeah, loving the bike lane and so yeah, like
I mean, you've definitely done a lot of good work
for the city.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Okay, last question, is it too late for your campaign
to incorporate my proposed policy to take over all private
golf verses in Los Angeles and turn them into beautiful
parks like Central and Prospect Parks for LA.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I think that it might be too late? Yeah, yeah,
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
But will you be mad if I like sneak onto
the golf course once you're mayor will you be mad
if I sneak onto the golf courses and within a parasol.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
I commit today as mayor to turning a blind eye.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Nice, there we go. Thank you so much for joining us.
Good luck. I know it's a very mission time.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Everyone has to vote before vote. June second is the primary, yes,
and the top two primary. And if you don't want
Spencer Pratt in the primary, got to get out there
and vote.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Got to go there and vote. Yeah, all right, well, yeah,
good luck to you, Nithia, and thank you for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Yeah, thanks for stopping by. All Right, we're gonna take
a quick break now and we'll be right back to
talk about some news.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
And we're back back. We're back.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
So that that was LA. Let's talk about the rest
of the country. That that's been LA.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
That's in LA gets don't Spencer Pratt is so fucking
annoying and he's making.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
A reality show about this. Yeah, let's talk about a
couple other elections. We got John Cornyn, you got his
ass whooped got beat by uh Ken Paxton.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, their attorney general, the freakiest fucking Texas Uh. You know,
he's like a COVID conspiracy loving, ethically compromised wombat. And yeah,
he he defeated the incumbent John Cornet, which was not
the pick I think Republicans wanted because people were like, dude,
Ken Paxton is a COVID, conspiracy loving, ethically compromised wombat,
(21:56):
and you're juxtaposing that against James Tallerico in a time
where people think that maybe Texas could get closer to
being blue and before Yeah, yeah, I mean I don't.
It's totally up in the air. But one thing for
sure is like, if you're tall Rico, you got the
candidate you want to be going up against in In Paxton.
(22:16):
And you know, and Cornyn he did everything he could.
He licked the boot, he throated the Trump boot, and
then still just out on your ass because you're not
a full on free like Ken Paxson.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Isn't that what did you do because Trump so trump
fully backed Ken Paxton? What what did Cornyan do to
piss Trump off?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
I mean the big thing too, right, Like, I mean,
if you look at Cornyin's like voting record, he's one hundred,
he's like, he's like ninety nine point two percent on board, right,
But there were times like he did I believe he
maybe backed the oh he certified the election. That was
a big one in twenty twenty. So that's when you're like,
(22:56):
come on, what the fuck was that? He also urged
Trump to not run privately in twenty twenty four, like
he's so he's done little things that go, what do
you got fucking sense in your brain? I need a
guy who's a zombie. Is just I just orient them
in a direction and they go and just start chewing
our art and just see what fucking happens. So it
(23:17):
just wasn't enough. And then packs and Cornyn is still
like I'm gonna all support the part. I'll do whatever
I have to do. He's still being fucking low. It's
it's a tragedy for his soul. I mean, I don't
really give a shit about him. But anyway, so now
it's going to be Paxton and tall Rico in the general,
So stick tuned.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Two outsider candidates essentially, except one of them is being
endorsed by the president.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah, and like posters because of this also like the
Cook Political Report, you know, they're like the sort of
a campaign prognosticators that what they've moved this race from
likely Republican to lean Republican, which is just a slight
downgrade because of Paxton being the pick.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
The number one trend that I was seeing on Twitter
yesterday's This Morning was just people quoting the Pope and
being like, the Pope actually ate with that one though.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, like facts, facts of that Leo the things.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
The thing that I kept seeing quoted is this part.
If the human being is treated as something to be
perfected or surpassed, it becomes easier to accept that some
lives are less useful, less desirable, or less worthy. In
the name of progress, necessary sacrifices may begin to be
justified placing the burden on the most vulnerable in pursuit
(24:33):
of a supposed optimization of the species. For this reason,
a clear distinction must be made. It is one thing
to integrate technology within a human centered relational vision. Is
quite another to be guided by an outlook that devalues
human limits and promises a purely technical form of salvation.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I would in it because he's like, look, well, we
can't start putting people in the dist bosable column. I'm
the Pope. Everyone's God's children or is. He's also like, man,
don't let AI take over the salvation game? Hey my game? Yeah,
my funk out of here with this AI.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Remember like when I was first emerging, there were all
those churches that were like, and we've turned Jesus, We've
turned the sacrament of reconciliation, the confession booth over to
an AI Jesus brought to you by Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, I mean look, I mean it's it. Those are bars,
you know, Like, it's true, we are we Like, I
totally get the intellectual slippery slope that you're on. It's like, well,
if some people need to be quote unquote optimized, then
what does that say for the unoptimized and their value.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It's a good description of all the things that make
one uneasy when when you just not just like when
you like contemplate AI, but like when you encounter these
people who are, you know, pushing this thing forward, and
you're like, what is it about them that it makes
me uncomfortable? Oh, it's that humanity seems to be a
(26:03):
problem to be solved for them, which is yeah, I
don't know. It's just really a demonstration of how far
things have gone to the right slash openly evil side.
Is that everyone who is not in favor of enslaving
slash disposing of big chunks of humanity for the enrichment
of a handful of billionaires is like kind of starting
(26:26):
to join together and like pulling Unison a little bit.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yeah, it's wild that Pope Leo is getting all these
kudos right now. Like I'm wondering how soon we're going
to see like dudes in Brooklyn getting their Pope Leo tattoos.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
I'm sure it's already happening.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Wanted to check out this guy, Tom Keen. Have we
talked about him? This is missing missing, Yeah, congressman from
New Jersey. He won a he defeated a Democrat a
few years back, and he's Legacy's a EPO baby. His
dad was i think governor of New Jersey. And he's
(27:06):
been for the past couple of months on a medical
leave for an undisclosed medical condition for months now. And
that happens, and you know, we're always hoping for people's
health and recovery. But notice reported that Keene is having
to disclose that while he can't do his job, he
(27:27):
has been trading stock.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta see that he's.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Been making He's been active out here, certifying ninety five
trades in April.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
He missed ninety votes so far, and he's out here
just like fucking trading on I don't know, man, like
this it's great. What's wild though, too, is because Trump
has absolutely changed what the standard is for fuckery. Yeah,
like the guy's fucking not there and he's trading stock.
I don't know, Like this is this is what happens
when shit like Trump is happening. It allows for this
(28:00):
because I feel like this would be a pretty big
story in any other decade than the one we're currently in,
Like how the fuck is this guy not there and
still we're doing some light insider trading or something? What
do we got going on here?
Speaker 1 (28:15):
But really, yeah, just feels like a fucking jail break
right now. Just feels like everybody's just like, I don't know,
we just break it and like grab as much shit
as pop. Like there's also the Alabama story where you
know that they tried to break the I mean they
did break the Voting Rights Act, and the Supreme Court
(28:37):
basically let loose Jim Crow two point zero with their
decision on the Voting Rights Act, and a lot of
Southern states were just like, I don't know, can we
do that? Like just filling their bags.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
They're like, oh, how's this electroal map. You're like, this
map is from fucking eighteen fifty nine, right, the fuck
is this? I've never even seen a map like this. Yeah, yeah,
it's it's been a lot of a little too much
racist dip on their chip, you know what I mean.
And luckily a lower court just put the brakes on
their plan to use a map from twenty twenty three
(29:11):
that was so obviously racist. In twenty twenty three, it
was blocked in court. Back then they're like, so again,
They're just like, uh here, what about this problematic map
we've been sitting on for a minute. This is from
a report on quote, but a three judge panel twesday
prevented the state from using that map, mandating that Alabama
use a map that has two majority black, blue leaning seats. Quote. Ultimately,
(29:32):
we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to
cast their votes in the twenty twenty six elections under
a districting plan painted by intentional race based discrimination. This
is what the panel said. There is no convincing evidence
that it is necessary for us to allow Alabama to
pivot to the twenty twenty three plan in the middle
of an election, and substantial evidence that it is not.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
This is at least putting the brakes on something that
they were trying to do before this upcoming election.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then they'll appeal to the Supreme Court,
and then I'm.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Sure and then Rob Court, well.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
He's like, oh, oh, you didn't even allow me to
put the red carpet out yet, but you know, come
on it, come on.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
That's right. That's been this trending episode. We are back
tomorrow with the whole last episode of the show. Until then,
be kind to each other, be kind to yourself, get
your vaccines where you still can't get your flu shots,
don't do nothing about white supremacy, and we will talk
to you all tomorrow by The Daily Site.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Guys is executive produced by Catherine Law, co produced by
Victor Wright.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Co written by j M McNab, and edited and engineered
by Brian Jefferies.
The Daily Zeitgeist News
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