Weekly Zeitgeist 178 (Best of 6/1/21-6/4/21)

The weekly round up of the best moments from DZ's Season 187 (6/1/21-6/4/21.)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of the
Weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from
this week, all edited together into one NonStop infotainment last stravaganza.
Uh yeah, So, without further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist. Miles,

(00:26):
we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat
once again by a correspondent, a stand up comedian who
you know as the host and head writer of the
series News Broke, the MSNBC special Red White and who
correspondent on that Geo's Explorer, and as a regular commentator
on Young Turk's network, the Bituation Room podcast. She's been

(00:48):
on Love It or Leave It, and it is just
a very funny comedian. Francesco. Yeah, I don't interrupt my
my intro, Miles, And this is part two of a
Francesco Fiorentini. Hi, Hi, Francesco Fiorentini. Francesco Fiorentini, How are you.

(01:10):
I I'm good. Yeah, this is a little bit of
a part two because my fiance was on yesterday Matt
Le Matt Leave, and I know he told a lot
of just just put out all the dirty laundry, yeah,
of our perfect engagement. And I'm not going to go
back and choreographic re choreographic correctly and hire a photographer.

(01:36):
So I'm gonna need some reshoots, a little extra budget
for the reshoots on this one. Um, this time, you're
gonna ask that he not proposed to you with a
blue raspberry ring? Pop? Is that correct? I really wish
he had him because it would have been far less expensive.
He sounded so stressed. Yes, O, man, I gotta, I

(01:57):
gotta figure out what to do with this thing. I feel.
Here's the thing when you buy a ring. First of all,
don't consult sex in the city, because I know he
did that like fifteen years later. And then number two,
don't ask my brother. Don't ask the only man you
know of my fa like my brother wraps Christmas gifts

(02:19):
in newspaper still like at the age of thirty six,
you're or forties forty now, like this is the kind
of like he was like, Oh, so you know you
imagine the jeweler, imagine the jeweler just like the door
opens and you see matt Leeb's face just like all
dumb and in love, and you're just like, yes, oh buddy,

(02:44):
did your brother at least wrap it in the comics section,
of course tasteful. It's not like yeah, it's like the
international news, you know, like drought. And I remember like
one of the first birthdays where my like, you know,
because of head enormousy, my mom was wrapping the gifts
when I will go to a birthday party, like you know, like, okay,

(03:04):
take your gift. This is the gift for the party.
And where my mom was out of town once and
my dad had to wrap a gift and he did
in the in the funnies, you know, the comics the newspaper,
and I was so bummed out. I'm like, yo, this
looks like drash, Dad, this is newspaper. He's like, it's
the Funnies. Man. At least it's not like auto trading
section or whatever. And I was look, I was just
so mortified at like seven years old, pulling up to

(03:25):
Pistol PiZZ pizza place well with this jankie as gift.
But anyway, was it for a child? Yeah, it was
for another kid. Oh I see you man, it was
for pistol Pete Maravich. I thought you were Actually it
was like it was like a chucky cheese type place.
We had a pistol PiZZ Yeah, where did you grow up? Arkansas?
Like not what? Oh yeah, that's yeah my favorite Valley

(03:50):
Shotgun show because that sounds like okay, okay, l a
has been Ellie's a mess. Okay. In a place that
was a kids of restaurant in the early nineties, you know,
I wasn't expecting anything remotely close to relevant or culturally sensitive.
I love, I really want kids to understand the kinds

(04:11):
of birthday parties and the plate the JANKI ass places
that we had our birthday parties. You like Rocky and
Bowl Winkles with like the animatronic like like how scary
and haunting? Get like somehow we loved it? At least
that's I love Rocky and Bowl Winkles. Um, wait, where
where's Where's Rocky and Bull? It was up in the
Bay Bay area and it doesn't exist anymore. I don't know.

(04:34):
I think someonem got canceled. I don't know who you know?
How it is these pizza places? Right? No? I meant
like Rocky your Bowl Winkle, I did some shady ship, Matt.
We like to ask our guests, what is something from
your search history that's revealing about who you are? Oh? Absolutely. Um,
here's one how to sell a brand new engagement ring.

(04:58):
That's uh, that's an there. Now that sounds confusing because
you're like, but Matt, you just said you were engaged.
Well I am. She said yes to me, she said
no to the ring, and uh yeah, so I bought
a real, real bad ring, and yes, this is I thought,

(05:20):
I say, all right, the engagement Well, dude, I bought
a really bad ring. What happened? Okay, So she sent me, like,
I don't know, a couple of months ago, she sent
me a picture of a ring she thought was cute,
and so I was like, looking too, I wanted to
buy that ring because I had no visual I I
don't know what looks good. Like. We watched Sex in

(05:42):
the City once and like Aidan bought carry a pear
shaped engagement ring, and like a parent and and all
of the girls sitting around like Samantha and Charlotte. Then
we're just like, oh, pear shaped. I had no idea
pear shaped was bad. So I knew not to get
a pear shaped I knew that much. And then so
I went to first I went to Tiffany's, and then

(06:04):
that was really expensive, so I went to the jewelry
shop across the street from Tiffany's, and it was like cheaper.
And then I just kept showing them like what I
want is a square in a circle. I don't want
a diamond, like a conflict stone. And so they didn't
have exactly what I was looking for. So they they
made one custom which turns out when you do that

(06:28):
first year, you can't return it, and also you have
to pay up front. And also it was kind of
created from pictures of better rings, uh, and then kind
of mashed together. And then so the day of I
went in and it's like it's a London blue topaz.
I thought it was gonna be like a light blue.

(06:50):
This is really blue. It's like it looks like a
like a Jolly Rancher blue raspberry yeah yeah, which is
a delicious flavor, but it looks really bad on a ring.
And so I I bought that, and then as soon
as I got it, I had a panic attack because
I knew it was the opposite of what she wanted.

(07:13):
I thought it was gonna be small, but because it's
blue topaz and it's like kind of a cheap semi
precious stone, it was real big, like it looks like
seven year old, like Florida Jewish Lady jewelry. And yeah,
so I ended up. You're looking for a ring, hit
mad up. Yeah, you're looking for a beautiful blue topaz

(07:34):
ring that's not part of the sea from Titanic. It does,
it's like that, but it's like, you know, it's blue
or somehow. And yeah, and it's not a conflict stone,
although it became one when she saw it, and she
she definitely did not she did not like it, but
we're still in love. You had a sense, you had

(07:55):
a sense going in and I have this, my lady. Yeah,
oh I knew. I knew as soon as I got it.
I fucked up. And what I didn't know? Tiffany's it's
from TIFFs yah yeah yeah yeah, Hey tiff can you
make me a ring for way too much money? A

(08:16):
photo line? Yeah yeah, I'll mash him together and photo
shop and I'll get you something approximating something I would like.
It's a beautiful ring. If you like, you know, if
you like something kind of gaudy. But if if you don't,
still buy it from me. Uh please someone buy the ring.

(08:38):
So we got another ring, uh that that she loves
that's coming in the mail. But yeah, I got this
this other one though, if anyone it's really hard to sell, dude. Yeah,
no one told me. I wish someone had told me that.
I wish I had asked. That's what I wish more
than anything is that I yeah, do a it'll do daily. Um.

(09:02):
But instead I was like, I got this. What's the
worst second happened? Take just steal my money. But we're
about to get silly. We're about to get silly. All
that do delly King of the Hilly Anyways, I'm yeah, so, uh,
that's the last thing I googled how to sell and
it's brand new, never used. You know. She wouldn't even

(09:23):
put it on. She didn't. She was just looked at
it when she went uh oh wow. Yeah. But I
proposed by getting down on one knee and proposing with
the box, but it wasn't open. And then she I
waited for her to say yes first and then and

(09:45):
then she was like, we'll show me the ring and
I was like, okay, but it's the worst part. And
then I opened it and I was like, you still
marry me? And she was like, oh, not with that ring.
And then she kissed me and uh yeah, and uh
we're still in love though, you know. So it's it's fine,
that's good. It's all about honestly, you know. Yeah, but

(10:05):
if anyone has any stock tips um or just like
any like way to recoup a few grand, just let
me know. You know, I'll sell some drugs. I don't
give a funk anymore. You're going to take a few
flights to believe you for me. I am down, dude,
I got I got a cavernous coal and you can
shove whatever whatever drugs you need in there. Dude, I will,

(10:29):
you know, I'll help out. I'm just trying to help. Yeah, man,
my engagement ring put me in so much debt. But
did she take it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, well that's nice.
Yeah yeah she she like specifically picked it out. Yeah
that's smart. That's a good way of doing it. But

(10:50):
then she was still surprised. I don't know, she must
have like put a mental block, being like, but he'll
never actually do it because yeah, yeah, no, she well
she was surprised too, you know. Yeah. She's like, you
look so gaunt, Jack when you propose like I sold
all my blood. Yeah, it's there's something to be said

(11:10):
for being a idiot, because like I was able to
get her to the location where I had like set
up this bar, which was the first place I ever
told her I loved her. Was surprisingly an Irish bar.
I was, I was pretty drunk, uh and I had
like set up the basement of the bar. But the
way I got her there was being like I forgot
my fucking credit card at the at a puck fair again.

(11:33):
She's like, okay, fine, we'll go back there at So
you started it with a test of her relationship. Yeah, right,
you started it with a possible crisis, like can you yeah,
passages in Malibu? Yeah, yeah, Yeah. What is something you

(11:59):
think is overrated? I think winter? I can can go
suck a lemon, don't eat it. We like, if you're
in the southern hemisphere, I'm sorry, but we're out of
that season, and I'm really glad about it. It's there's
nothing actually good about it, and and we can forget it.
This this is the best time right now. Yeah? Are
you spring has spring uh sprung? Or are you getting

(12:22):
into the summer days where where you are on the
East Coast? Yeah, in North Carolina, we're getting real summer
and so it is hot but I don't know. I
I grew up with winter outside Chicago, and then I
went to college and winter in Syracuse, and as soon
as I wasn't there, I like, I went to college
in winter. Yeah, it's just like when it comes to Syracuse,

(12:45):
that is winter. It is a geographic location where winter
has come and continues to stay. Yeah, it doesn't doesn't
miss around. Yeah did you miss it when you lived
in Los Angeles? Not even a little bit. It was amazing.
I just I was like, oh, you can just not
deal with this. Fantastic it was an option this whole time,

(13:06):
just south of us. You know, it's great. Yeah, I
missed the rhythm a little bit, not enough to ever
move away from Los Angeles, but I do enjoy just
the discomfort and shittiness of the rest of the country
has to put up with. No. Uh. It does like
kind of break up time a little bit in a

(13:27):
way that makes long term memory easier to comprehend. But
it also breaks up outfits nicely. Yeah, that is the
one that is the one thing that I missed. It's like,
I totally agree with you where it's like winter totally
can suck a lemon. I'm not with it. I don't
want slashing my boots, but I do miss being able
to wear a long coat in that fall area right

(13:47):
before winter, when it's like, oh it's nice to bundle
a little bit put a scarf on. I miss that, Whereas,
like you know, it could be the most warming up
I will do was putting on slightly thicker sweatpants out
here in outlay. And that's it, you know, And I
would love to put a code on again. That just
sounds nice. Yeah, People who grew up in l A

(14:07):
like fetishized winter, like Miles and Daniel, they have winter
outfits for no reason for yeah, like maybe those three
days we traveled to the East coast for Thanksgiving and
that's about it. Yeah. I want I want winter as
a treat for a little bit, right, I want I want,
like I want to briefly watch the Peanuts go ice

(14:28):
skating and especially and then it's cold outside for the
two days a minute and then forgetting little that was
enough like yeah, oh little taste fun. Yeah. And finally, Blair,
what is something that you think is underrated? Okay, guys,
I just got to be straight up with you. Chip
clips are incredible. Okay, you will not catch my cereal

(14:53):
getting stale, No fucking way. Thank you God for this
sophisticated us inf sun that just brings joy and laser
execution into my life. Chip Clips are the silent, subtle
assassin of adding overwhelming value while asking for little to

(15:15):
no recognition. Chip clicks are the Scottie Pippen of how
Wold Kitchen, where yes, that's totally is it? Am I
like fucked up for not realizing that, Yeah, that I've

(15:37):
never I've never sealed the cereal outside of like the
box that's brilliant. One day, I just was walking by
in the store and it was like a little thing
sticking out in the aisle, you know, and I just
grabbed like a whole like a um, it had like
a whole bunch of them on one thing. And from
that day on the amount of just my life improved,

(15:59):
Skyrock did. And it's like I'm putting those chip clips
on on frozen diss and chips and cereal and it's
just incredible. It really is, Like, which is it the
ones that you it's like the straight bar so it's
like a hair clip one or the one that's more
like a binder clip, because you know, there's there's different
chip bag clipping technoque different one. I think if the
second one is kind of like elegant, where I was like, oh,

(16:21):
this is it's that kind of it's a binder clip. Yeah.
Mine is actually not like a binder one. It's more
um fastened like a close pin, but just um really
sleek plastic and wow it works really good. Yeah. I
remember as a kid, I think because this the frequency
at which I would eat cereal, it wasn't really time

(16:42):
for it to get stale, you know, because like it
would probably be like a boxing cereal, probably be done
within a week or so. And then I remember like
going to kids houses and like you know, like their
parents had like the ship in like the tupperware, and
like they would pour it out of like a and
I would always be like, you don't even know what
you know that the box on the other funck is stupid.
And then I'm like, yeah, that ship is way fresher.

(17:04):
How am I supposed to know what that is? If
there's not a cartoon? I know, but that just shows
you by the child brain at the time, like many
cocoa Chris, I can't I can't tell about the robbers
on it. I like the taste of stale food, and
so sometimes I'll like not clip the chips, and then
it creates household issues because Isaac will be like, you're

(17:24):
a little mouse, like why are you doing this? Why
are the chips like soft? But I kind of like
when the chips are soft, wow, So you like you're
not You're down with a little bit of stale chip?
You I love. I love a stale chip in a
flat soda. I don't know what like I should should
I should just walk into the ocean. I need just

(17:45):
natural contrarians. Yeah, it's true. It's true. If anyone prefers
a stale chip, let me know, because it truly, like
doesn't bother me at all. I enjoy it. I wonder man,
that could be an interesting That's like your circular hot
dogs is like pre staled chips by Jamie. Well, yeah,

(18:07):
I'll just sell bags of chips that I already opened,
had three chips from, and then put back in the
cabinet for three weeks. Touch a stale from Jamie loftus.
I hope this thing though too, where I know people
who put their chips in the refrigerator and I don't
understand like clipped and in the refrigerator. Well, that's that's

(18:27):
sort of innovative. My mom taught me to keep my
coffee in refrigerator, which was something I never considered. The beans,
who the ground beans. I don't really funk with a
whole bean myself, but oh you get the preground. Yeah,
I mean I don't have that much time or ambition
for that many steps in my coffee process. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(18:51):
I I used to just drink it out of the can.
That's how much energy I put into it. But also
shout out to Sam over a timeless coffee aways sends
me wonderful coffee. Her match these drinks, Oh my beans
are like so good. I feel like I'm not worthy
of good coffee because I'm just so used to drinking
like Kirkland coldbrew. But like, when you actually get all

(19:11):
these notes, you're like, oh shit, I feel like I'm
an ad executive. We just said he had an epic
weekend or something. Yeah, exactly, all right. Anyway, um, let's
take a quick break and we'll be right back to
talk stories. And we're back and we all gotta I

(19:37):
don't know if it was a rude awakening, but you know,
I think I think we've been aware that the Q,
the Q movement is still out there, still going strong,
but had a big weekend. Last weekend there was a
Texas convention where various speakers, including a congressman and Michael Flynn,

(19:59):
just you know, repeated the lies that the Q movement
is based on, like the foundational lies that it's stolen.
Michael Flynn even when when asked like why America hasn't
had a mean mar style uprising or que which, in
case you're not familiar, that means that like protesters are shot,

(20:21):
journalists are put in prison, and a new undemocratically elected
government is put into power by the military. He said
he thinks that would be great, that we should have that.
That's awesome. And I think it's easy to dismiss the
Q movement as sort of a collection of delusional, you know,

(20:43):
narcissists shouting do your own research as their singular argument
for every bizarre belief they've made up, because like, that
is what it is. But it also I feel like,
first of all, Trump is totally on board with this.
Maggie Haberman just announced that he's been saying that he

(21:03):
fully believes that he will be reinstated as president by August.
And that's like where his sort of laser focus on
the audits. Uh, those goalposts back, just keep moving to
back a little bit more. I was it was March
for the first storm, and that's August. He's maybe like October,
I'm telling you October, that's going to be the money.

(21:24):
But they're leaning into a new thread, which is that
America needs to have a M. M. Mar style cou
where the military deposes the democratically elected ruler and sells
their own like as like that that feels significant to me.
I know it's easy like a lot of people. But

(21:46):
but and like especially because like I feel like in
the mainstream media there's this division where it's like, oh,
the Cube movement is silly, but it's being led by
Donald Trump, who is also leading the Republican Party like
full the way, No, like it's more powerful, has more
power in that party than I feel like any individual

(22:06):
has ever had in one of the major parties in
in like u S history, Like he just determines what
happens there. Yeah, so I don't know, less than three
years we're going to have a major presidential election where
one of the major parties platform is this is Q
and on ship is stop the steel and is basically

(22:29):
tacitly an approval of an armed uprising. Yea. And if
if I remember the previous election, like the official Republican platform,
the platform was just of one page documents staple to
the front of the ten platform, and it said we
support Donald J. Trump. That was the that was. They
didn't they didn't have like issues for I think the

(22:52):
first time in an American election the major party wasn't
like this our candidate, and also this is what we believe.
They were just like, no, this this wonderful, strange man.
That's our entire platform. Anyway, this is democracy, that's what
we like. And any and any issues at all that
were brought to the table, we're just to refute them.
We're gonna be like, that's not a thing. We don't

(23:12):
believe from that climate change, we're not you know, that's
a that's a liberal hoax right there. It's just everything
is everything is anti You're right, there's there's no ground
to stand on. And I feel like this is because
it's been politicized, and because Democrats recognize that it's been politicized,
they are you know, the right wing, like a right

(23:35):
wing terror group or a group that's threatening to overthrow
the government is being treated more passively by the mainstream
than like if a congressman and a former you know,
major military official we're talking about overthrowing the US government
for any other cause, it would be like the end

(23:57):
of the news cycle. But just because of all the
normalization that has happened, and because of the Fox News
advantage that the right has where they you know, have
all mainstream commentators and mainstream Democrats frightened of being attacked,
that they just this is being treated more passively than

(24:20):
it would if any left wing group like made similar claims.
It's just because of what has gone on with the
Republican Party and like how the Democrats have just kind
of been controlled by the right wing media over the
last you know, fifteen years. It's we're now at a
point where they're going to get away with us. Yeah,

(24:41):
and I wonder how much of this just springs from
most Americans don't know anything about me Edbar, Like you
can switch governments and me and Bar it's like, well,
I want to switch governments, not learning anything more. Yeah,
I mean it seems to be working out, well, yeah,
you you following me? Yeah, I mean it's still a country, right, yeah,

(25:07):
I don't know. We I I and really filled about
the previous election because there won't be a Republican president
until January of and I think they're not processing it
very well. It seems to be the issue. All right,
Let's talk about this new book it's called The Second

(25:28):
Race and Guns and a Fairly Unequal America that really
kind of crystallized the conversation around the Second Amendment for
me in a way that I hadn't like fully consciously
embraced because I feel like the way the mainstream media
treats it, it's like the Second Amendment conversation, the gun

(25:48):
rights advocate conversation. It's just like treated as a coincidence
that those people tend to also be the people who
get furious when you suggest something as simple as black
lives matter. But it's like, yeah, they're just like on
the same spectrum, but they're not necessarily like fully connected

(26:09):
to one another. And this new book by historian Carol
Anderson looks at both the history of the Second Amendment,
like when it was first formed and why it was
first formed, but also just sort of the present moment,
and the the big kind of present tense news story
that she looks at is Filando Castile, who was following

(26:33):
the n r A guidelines for how to inform an
officer you are legally carrying a gun like to the
t like it's there's a handbook where they tell you
how to do this in the n r A. He
did that and was shot and killed by the cop
following the letter of the law. And he was killed
for it. And this was the perfect opportunity for an

(26:54):
organization that is so horny for conflict and to be
like victimized, to create a martyr who they could get behind.
And they were completely silent. They wanted no part of
backing Filando Castile. Meanwhile, you know, in the nineties the
Branch Davidians were raided by federal agents, and you know

(27:17):
members of that cult murdered federal agents. That n r
A back to them, you know, the Ruby Ridge saying
um militia movements saying they back people who murder federal
agents when they are white. And her argument is that
this is not an accident. The Second Amendment from the

(27:39):
start was designed to arm white people against potential slave uprisings.
And you know, when they were writing the amendments, the
Southern states didn't think that the federal government would help
them fight off a slave revolt with the federal army.

(28:01):
And so that's why they created, at least partially why
they created this second Amendment that has the everybody should
have guns and everybody should be able to form a militia,
so that they basically had the backing of the federal
government to form uh their own military. Um. And that
was like James Madison and all the Bridgingians and ship.

(28:22):
But then you know, they obviously heavily implied in that
is that it's only it only applies to white people. Um.
And throughout the history of the country, white armed rebellion
has been treated with a slap on the wrist like
the Whiskey rebellion, while black armed rebellion or self defense

(28:44):
has been treated with terror and state sanctioned murder or
dropping bombs on the whole neighborhood. Yeah, that's she didn't
talk about this in the interview that I listened to,
but the details of the Tulsa A race masacre, the
entire thing kicked off when black residents of Tulsa showed

(29:05):
up at a prison with guns to protect a teenager
from a lynch mob, and a shot was fired. Nobody
knows by who, but the very idea of a black
person firing a shot stirred the mob to the organized
and systematic and genocidal violence that they enacted like the

(29:26):
next morning. It's so interesting because, like you know, Jim
Crow was established soon after the end of the Civil War,
I mean, the idea of segregation in a two tiered system,
you know, the failed reconstruction and all that. Then we
have a hundred more years of Jim Crow, and you
wonder why, like, like our country is so racist, why

(29:50):
didn't they just amend the Second Amendment, Like you would
expect them to either rein in or amend or change
the sec An Amendment or just minute it altogether, because
oh my god, what if black people got weapons, you know,
just to cover their asses. But instead it was like,
now they'll just let everyone fight one another, and we're
not going to stop white mobs and everyone can defend

(30:11):
themselves except for if you're black. This this book sounds amazing,
and I'm sure she goes into the black Panthers and
of course, yeah, yeah, totally She goes deep into that
and how their whole stated purpose was arming themselves so
that they could police the police, because shockingly, the police

(30:32):
state sanctioned murder of black people goes back throughout history
to when the police were founded as like slave patrols,
and the way that they treated that was by executing
their leaders and killing people and arresting people. I mean,
there's so many books like this about so many specific things.

(30:55):
I just like essentially boiled down to like some big
American idea with an asterisk next to it that's this
term terms and conditions apply, right, just so you know,
like if for to some people, and yeah, to even
look at like, yeah, it's your point, Francisco, Like you
think if they could take it off the table, God damn,
black people won't have guns. We don't have to worry

(31:15):
about that. Ship. But there's something about the racism in
this country that's so shortsighted and just reactionary without like
really considering it and then like down the road and
be like, oh yeah, what was that about. Wait that
was race? Oh yeah, we didn't look It's it's been
so many years now and it's so ingrained in the culture,
and we're not really interested in again parsing through that
and understanding the motivations behind having amendments like this or

(31:37):
the perceived rights of things like this. But yeah, it's
just it's yeah, even liberals, like you're saying Jack initially
that that you know, they consider this untouchable, like well,
you know, in Second Amendment rights people and you know,
and it's just it's seen as such a quote unquote
cultural almost religious, almost put in the same category, you know,

(31:59):
as one who's pro life on religious grounds, and that's
obviously a separate bullshit issue. Um, but like this is
sort of scene as that is super untouchable because liberals
also planned to the idea that our founding fathers were
good and that they were not racist, and yeah, maybe
they owned slaves, but they were good people and everybody
owned slaves and that's what the exactly what they took

(32:20):
care of. But it's like no, and it's okay, we're
just we're given speaking of you guys asked about myths
on this show all the time, and you know, the
founding myth that like this country is was founded by
good people and on good terms. It's like, no, we
have to We're told so many myths that uphold that,

(32:41):
and it feels, it does feel scary to unravel and
begin to unravel those myths that we're told, you know,
Polka Hunt is totally consented to being John Smith child brat,
you know, that kind of crap that like, But it's
okay if we can replace it with like new ideas,
and we can replace it with like better aspirations. I mean,
I think you know, Obama had words the best words, uh,

(33:07):
he really did, and like I think he began to
carve out and I wish we could have someone who
has actually made good on his promises, you know, to
carve out this idea that we're still constructing this American dream.
And it is why a lot of civil rights organizers
and activists call for what they they say they name
a third reconstruction, the second reconstruction being the civil rights movement,

(33:29):
the first reconstruction being a failed attempt. But you know,
of of equality and we still have to strive for that.
But and it's okay, we can let go of these
old myths, but not if liberals keep on conflating this ship,
which is so clearly racist, with some kind of religious
or foundational untouchable principle of American nous that we can't

(33:51):
actually reform. Yeah, and I think it's and then I
think more people have to begin to see that unwillingness
as like an absolute redline in terms of not wanting
to vote for someone to support someone like that, because
you're like, we need representatives who are gonna look with
a sober eye at our history, see where we came
from to understand where we need to go. Because if

(34:12):
you're already playing with this like obscure, oh, sanitized version,
you can never solve a problem. It's like looking at
you have a fucking X ray and ship and it's
like some crayon drawing and you're like, yeah, it looks
like that one red spot on the bone should go.
And you're like, I wish this were a real X
ray so you could actually see what you're looking at
inside my chest where it is specifically what organs. It's

(34:35):
damaging because this other version of me like, yeah, this
bad we should cut it out. Isn't gonna get to
the point and isn't going to create the sort of
forward momentum in progress that we're seeking. And yeah, it's
it's it is a hard thing, and we do need
to keep looking at it to your point of saying like, yeah,
we don't have to just talk about how fucked up
everything is. You can pivot to that and say, yeah,

(34:56):
that was the world as it was, and this is
the world as it should be. And these are the
people who were moving to try and take our country
and our society to the world as it should be.
And this is what we're still building on. See, we
want to build on this momentum rather than like yeah,
thanks John Adams, sick bro, and then just leaving it there. Yeah,
this argument and this kind of connecting of the Second

(35:19):
Amendment to systemic white supremacy, just the anger and vitriol
and fear tied up in the Second Amendment argument and
guns rights people never fully made sense to me. It
was always I was always picturing when they said, like
they're gonna come for our guns, and like that I
need my guns to like protect my family. They always

(35:41):
talk about like the government coming for your guns, and
it's like, what are you talking about, Like that's not
even a thing that we have in our history. But
I think when you connect it to the white supremacy,
the fact that you know, we've talked before on the
show about the fact that they know white supremacy is
a lie. Like on some level, they know that they

(36:02):
know they live on a graveyard of horrific abuses that
propped them up to wherever they exist, and that black
Americans have every right to demand retribution and they know
that this is this lie. That every American has the
right to own guns is a massive advantage they have,
and that's why they're obsessed with stories about how crime

(36:24):
ridden cities are so that they can like justify their fear.
Like when when you ask people who watch Fox News
what they think a city is, like, it's it's so
outside the bounds of reality. They think it's odd that
HBO show, yes, they did, playing out in a Starbucks.
That's why, and that's why they're so outraged anytime anyone

(36:47):
criticizes police violence. But it's why they are so like
there's all that fear, all those lies, all that hatred,
like holding the idea of white supremacy in their mind
and along with some part of them that has seen
that that ship is not true like them, they're trying
to hold those together, and that creates cognitive dissonance, It

(37:09):
creates angry, It creates fear, and it just really the
the image. As I was like kind of listening to
her interview with Terry Gross's substitute teacher, I forget that
David Davy beyond Something's like Terry Gross is sub and
then like reading up on this book, the thing that
kept popping into my head is that suburban St. Louis

(37:30):
couple who when Black Lives Matter protesters were walking past
their home, they stood on their front lawn holding their
guns and like waving them at them, like kind of
waving their right to own guns as a privilege in
the face of black protesters who would be killed on

(37:51):
site for holding guns that openly like just being like,
this is our advantage. Fuck you Like that is her
whole argument really kind of ties a lot of things
together for me. Yeah, go beyond that. I mean, the
entire Trump presidency is an emblem and homage to white supremacy,

(38:15):
to the idea that if you're rich and wide enough
and a dude, you can get away with anything. Look
at January six. I always talk about this. I'm just like, man,
I've Marshawn Washington many times. I would be murdered. Just
how close would I have gotten to breaking a window

(38:38):
the Capitol steps. Had we been you know, work like
protesting a war, uh, protesting the International Monetary Fund, protesting
police murder like or anything. It's just so like when
we I feel like, as a white person watching the

(39:00):
January six like every white person, I don't know, I
am half white, and I so I kind of understand this,
but like must have been looking at and me being like, man,
white privilege really is kind of a thing, huh, because
you know people of color in this country where like
white privilege is absolutely look at that. Look at that, yeah,

(39:22):
look at there's no accountability for that. A few months later,
absolutely and so disheartening to witness too, as a black person,
been Asian person living in this country in the same life,
to see they can fucking go and do that because
they're upset that Trump isn't president. Meanwhile, we're looking at
real fucked up outcomes for unarmed people, and you know,

(39:44):
it's like everybody knows. I'm like, no one's foolish enough
to come armed to something like that. As a person,
the game is just completely different, and the sad thing
is too, like on the on the face of it,
in history, marginalized people have more of a reason to
be like, no, I need these guns, man. Have you
in what they do to us? Have you seen what
they do to us? Oh? Hell no? And how are

(40:04):
you gonna how are we going to move forward at all?
When we're just kind of looking at these small issue
or not that this is a small issue, but we're
not really looking at changing real lived outcomes for people
and just thinking like, well, maybe if the guns are gone,
that could be something. No, how about you give people support,
how about you give them options? How about give them
upboard mobility, because I'm sure most people would prefer that
than to live in a you know, in a cycle

(40:26):
of fear and violence and anger. Uh, and would much
rather be in a place of abundance on some level
or just to have some relief. That's why it's so
upsetting things, you know, instances like Philando Castile, because you're
absolutely right that unarmed black people get gunned down all
the time, and so what is too why not just

(40:47):
be armed? They get gunned down by vigilantes, um self
proclaimed vigilantes. Now I'm blinking on his name, but the
gentleman he was killed, the young kid who was killed
last year. No, right, before um, George Lloyd, Um, I'm
at avery. Yeah, I'm at avery, and former police officers
and then most recently another young But it's like every

(41:10):
time the conversation if someone had a gun, the internet
conversation is oh, but he had a gun, but he
had a gun. Oh his hands were up, but he
had a gun. Then kill him on site. That's not allowed.
That's not depending again, terms and conditions apply. Like it's
the number one tool for white supremacy is this lie
and being able to just enforce this lie within sort

(41:33):
of the mainstream culture that you know, well, really only
white people are allowed to have guns, like and if
somebody who isn't white has a gun, the police will
murder them on site like that. That's unbelievable. And like
the fact that it's not set out loud like constantly
like that, that is the It's a shocking, like dystopian

(41:57):
reality that I just feel like people don't say Asian
American gun ownership soaring through the roof. I do believe
in gun control except for Asian elders. I think we
should arm Asian aunties and uncles with a R fifteen.
That's it. They're the only ones. Police no guns. Everyone

(42:19):
else no guns, but Asian aunties and uncles we arm them.
They patrol. Yeah, and they tell you obviously, like how
to choose a good watermelon, and you know, how to
stay out, how to stay out of the sun. Very
very disciplined. On the triggers. That's a bust. They're gun
for anything. They're like, you know, I'm gonna hit you
with it real quick first. Yeah, oh no, no, I'm

(42:39):
not gonna get loaded. I will smack you over the
head with this. It's a big bat. That's who I
believe in army. I'm like with their little baskets, they
can carry them in the little front portion of it.
I'm about that. There we go. All right, let's take
a quick break and we'll be right back. And we're

(43:05):
back and Anthony Fauci, bye bye. You're canceled, bro. They
foyed thousands of his emails from during the pandemic. You know,
I think everybody was hoping to find the goods on
what was really going on behind the scenes as he was,

(43:25):
you know, dismantling the Trump administration from the inside. And
the spiciest nugget that's being used as a pool quote
is where he said, all is well, despite some crazy
people in this world. Oh shit out of control, so problematic.

(43:47):
I mean, first of all, we don't use crazy anymore.
That is just wildly both misogynistic and it just it's
a bigoted phrase. Unbelievable. So this was actually an email
response to someone who said they were worried about all
the people who are threatening his life in the last
of his family, so it's hard to even interpret it

(44:09):
as being directed at Trump. The The email to him
was like, I saw some news. Hope it's fake that
you're being attacked by some people. Hope you are well
under such an irrational situation. He responded, thank you for
your kind note. All as well, despite some crazy people
in the world. So what a funk? What about the
next thing? What about the next thing? Come on, has
got to be more than that. Give us the T,

(44:32):
give us the T. I know there's tea. I've heard
of tea. So I will say this, the people who
the Q people have not had a chance to fully
digest all of the emails. I'm sure they're going to
find some secret codes in there to know what was
really going on. But that is like, that's it, man,

(44:57):
he is really he's a professional doctor. Yeah, not a comedian, right,
He's a guy in a in a very tough position
where he has people literally trying to murder him while
he tries to make sure that a few people as
possible die from a global pandemic. The his there, it's

(45:18):
very consistent between what you see in the emails and
what you saw in press conferences. The only difference is
that he's he seems like very cautious and like wary
of public perception in a way that I could see
people being like, oh, he's just all about like the press,
and but that is in fact, like from day one,

(45:41):
people are like, okay, so this is how you lead
during a global pandemic. You have to be steady, you
have to be understated. Uh. And he saw that the
president wasn't doing that, and so like, I'm guessing that's
why he was so careful about, you know, controlling them
that was put out there about him, because he recognized

(46:04):
probably that he was the only voice of reason for
for the country, right, Yeah, he was. He was really
the only rational person who was in the room with
a president surrounded by sycophants. So I mean, you know,
he's he's trying to be as rational and as forthcoming

(46:24):
as he can be given his current situation, and I'm
showing some over He's like, dude, I'm not saying anything
an official email where someone can foya this and like
reveal anything remotely and what my personal thoughts are outside
of my you know position. I don't think this like
proves that he is like that, this is actually how
he is. It's just when you foy a Republican or

(46:47):
conservative leader, it's like lifting up a rock with just
thousands of disgusting bugs and like a smushed cat and
a band of drugs and a murder weapon underneath it.
Like with Faucy, you get vaguely dismissive language about people
who are threatening the lives of his family. Get a
fucking life, Fauci, you're such a dork. But I'm sure

(47:10):
like there are some Democrats to that. They're just they're
just they're good at their rock hiding, you know what
I mean, the same way I think we're just like
I think with some Republicans you don't even need a
foil of them because they say everything out loud. No, yeah,
you just need to have a camera there whenever they're
doing like, uh, you know, one of those like one
thousand dollars a plate dinners for like the American uh

(47:32):
Liberty Coalition or whatever, you know, and then they just
go like everyone actually liked slavery? Is this thing on? Hello?
Is this? Yeah? Slavery was fun, and you're just like
this is being taped, dude, whoa, whoa. I thought, okay,
I thought we're all cool here. No. Yeah, oh so
now you're gonna cancel me for having, you know, neo colonial,

(47:56):
neo confederate fucking sentiments. Well, enjoy the comedic stylings of
Ellie Kepper. Sorry alright, Peter a real one. Yeah, alright,
So well, she was she nineteen when she went to
weird that she looks like a child. I was just

(48:17):
I was being I saw the headline too, and I
was like, oh ship. But then I was like you
always have to do the thing and be like, what
the fund did you do when you were nineteen? Right exactly? Yeah.
I'll tell you what I I wasn't able to do
was win any fucking beauty patchet because I am not
an attractive man. I went to one debutante ball and

(48:38):
I embarrassed my high school girlfriend because I got so high.
I was stinking in there and this was like uptight, Like,
you know, this is like the fucking debut tomball ish it.
I tried my best. I smoked with a huge, hefty
garbage bag over my my torso and I smoked outside.
I did Yeah, I did my best, babe. Yeah you

(49:01):
hot box the trash bag and you still got in trouble. Yeah, Like,
you're right. I shouldn't have blown the smoke in the bag.
That was an idea didn't stick onto my wool suit.
I never went to a Debutan ball, but I learned
everything I needed to from the uh, from that borat
thing and a couple of magazine articles just how bad

(49:21):
these dad's, I mean, how much they want to suck
their daughters. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a there's a
lot of kind of like incestual dad energy, very a
lot of like porn hub title energy. You know, let
a butterfly kisses energy as well. Yeah, it is, Uh,
it's real gross. I only know of debutant balls through

(49:43):
like TV and movies. You know, I'm not That's what
I thought. It was like a dance, not like this
thing where like I would be the only like or
one of three like non white people there. Yeah, it's
like a cattle call for like single ladies. Is that it?
It's like this is them, this is the adult version
of this child now for for Southern wasps, former slave

(50:08):
owners or whatever. Yeah, yeah, you know the same thing.
But yeah, it's like it does very much feel. It
feels very gross to uh, you know, showcase your your
hot daughter. But but I don't. I don't really blame
Ellie Kemper for the founding of it. I do just
think it's funny because it was like one of those

(50:29):
cancelations online that you're just like, yeah, sure, I'm not
even gonna read it. Yeah, fucker, I have no reason
to hate this person. But I was like, yeah, we haven't.
We haven't done her yet. She should be canceled. Not
even sure? Why do I want to find out? To
play this on the ingram Angle tonight, they're like this
is how the liberals talk. Yeah, you see, we haven't

(50:51):
done her yet. What do they mean? Did she come
out when she was like? Yo, that was an l
you know, honestly, I shouldn't have that was not I would.
I would strong if she listens to this podcast, which
I'm sure she does. I want to strongly advise her
to just pretend none of this ever happened and move

(51:13):
on because any apology so that's just another news cycle. Baby,
that's just gonna keep it going. I say, just live
your life, you know, keeping the impossible Kimmy Schmidt, is
that what it's called? Yea, is she impossible? No, she's ubreakable. Yeah,
continue being unbreakable. And you know, do you because I

(51:37):
am certain that you did not found the KKK wall right,
This is the beginning into realizing she's some kind of
time traveler. Yeah, dude, look at this photo of like
the Confederacy leaders and their wives. It's all Ellie Kimpers.
She's married to five different Stonewall Jackson and Jack Nicholson.

(52:00):
They're You're just like, is this the shining? What the fuck?
She was married to General Braxton Bragg. Fox News sent
their equivalent of a U up text to her. By
media critics condemned left leaning outlets Ellie kemper On Slot
over ties to racist ball. Uh so they like put
out an opinion piece being like you leave this nice

(52:20):
girl alone. Yeah, yeah, I mean ties to racist ball.
Like I feel like that's like anything anyone's ever, like
anyone who existed from any time that you probably participated
in something with origins and terrible racism. I feel like,
if you're white, and not even just in the South,
like if you're just white and lived in a suburb,

(52:42):
you definitely participated in some sort of clan adjacent event.
You didn't know that, you're you know you you just
thought this was the annual k K R o q
uh Weenie roast, and you're like, every every year we
eat hot dogs and listen to alternative music from the nineties.

(53:02):
I didn't know the clan had anything to do with it,
you know they did. Yeah, Kevin and Bean, Yeah, big
big clans cans, Kevin Dude, Slugo from K Rock Jet Fish.
I mean, come on, these guys were Confederate generals too.
There's there's three K's and Striker. You know, I just

(53:24):
love I love K Rock is secretly KKK Rock. This
is very very specific Los Angeles audience. But it's a
it's a great joke. All right, Let's talk about Europeans.
I've been thinking about them. Finally. There such an affectionate people.
Can they kiss on the cheek to say hi? Yeah?

(53:47):
That's basically like some porno right in America, We're like,
what the yeah is this? Like it's so funny when
you see Americans like meet European for the first time
and like they go, oh really okay, yeah they kiss
on the cheek and are we having sex now because

(54:07):
the deal or someone has like a joke like I
need a cigarette after that, like really hugged somebody a
fucking creep. But yeah, like this whole thing, like you know,
in America, we have to just screwed up a sense
of like physical intimacy, like especially you know between bros.
You know, so like switching to the fist bump. I
think it was a really easy alternative to show perfection

(54:27):
as a greeting in this country, especially when we're already
a stepdad. And Europe, on the other hand, is a
place the love flows. The kisses and hugs are ingrained
in the culture, and that's why at the beginning of
the lockdowns, I remember like officials in Italy were saying
stay apart today, to embrace each other more warmly tomorrow,
because you want to get in, you want to give

(54:48):
kisses and things like that. And that's how I agree
with that's how I agree with strangers putting our eyes
next to each other and so funny. So as the
lockdown looses, though, and vaccinations increase, people are wondering, like
what to do now in Europe? Like is there an
in between on the way back to full blown vessels?

(55:11):
And it seems like everyone's been trying things, you know,
right now in Italy they're trying a new thing, which
is a breast bump. Now not like across the board,
but things people have noticed to some have some kind
of contact work. Quote, two people greeting each other essentially
try to touch hearts with their heads turned as far
away from each other as possible. God, I love the

(55:31):
the I love the horny nous of the modern European
Like they just are just like we have to do
skin on skin, like let me feel that heartbeat? Fun.
I love that. That sounds great to me. I just
like how it looks though, Like if you saw people
doing that, they're like, yo, do they fucking hate each other? Yeah? Yeah,
it's turned it's probably like yeah yeah yeah, like about

(55:51):
the fight, like the right, that's very schoolyard. Yeah, like
talking to the can due shoulder, talking to you shoulders,
but you want to find out. Yeah, they're speaking in
French though, so you're like, I think they're in love,
but either that or they're gonna kill each other. Are

(56:12):
they gonna be divorced? This? But in France they have
This is again, this is from the Daily Beast. They
were saying that they've gone for quote, a more elegant
bicet bump, which minimizes contact and the chance that someone
might accidentally forget and plant a fatal smooch. So I'm
guessing you're doing like, oh oh yeah, arms straight like
bang yeah, or or like the side of your arm

(56:35):
and the side of their arm, like you're leaning in
for a kiss, but you don't do the kiss, yeah,
or like do and does anyone do like a shoulder
to shoulder with your heads? Yeah? Right, like you know
what I mean? You know, I I'm glad that they're
trying to like do a life hack for COVID, you know, greetings,
But I mean, what about like high fives? Is that

(56:56):
I think because it looks like what the idiots who
with the accents you when they invade their country on tours,
like the tourism tours. Yeah, that's like a fucking top gun,
no funk that we have do our ship properly. We're
gonna be a chess bump, right. It sounds awkward as hell,
but I would say considering that Jack and almost made
out when we saw each other for the first time
in physical space after a year, Like I get it,

(57:19):
you know what I mean, Like sometimes you need to
be like yo, we were here. Physical contact is important
not just between Miles and I, but as a as
a society, we we need that ship. And I think
that's true. If we had more of a culture of
kissing and hugging when we saw each other, like maybe
we'd have like fifty percent less mass shootings. Yeahs, and

(57:43):
people just like greeted each other with like affection or
like this like despair pit of masculinity where you're a
completely rendered inert like innationally around other people because like
I cannot do this. I should just go lift weights
or I must shake hands, say sup from you see
like in other countries how affectionate men are with each other,

(58:05):
and you immediately see a different sort of quality or
level to that like these friendships or the bonds than
you do when like dudes are just like throwing beer
cans at a wall, or some ship men have like
an internal combustion engine that converts every emotion into anger. Yeah, yeah,

(58:25):
I love that. We really are like just so repressed.
We're basically a steam engine. Like, bro, yeah, you become
the little engine that should Yeah. So, like the other
things that they're saying, like, look, we get that people
are getting vaccinated and numbers are beginning to stabilize, but

(58:46):
still like, please exercise a monicum with caution because we're
still trying to figure out like all of the nuances
of even transmission with vaccinated people and you know, knowing
what to do, especially with the elderly. So this one
expert said that vaccinated grandparents hug are unvaccinated grandchildren from
the back. You know. He suggests they hold their breath

(59:07):
from it. But you know, I want to make it.
I want to make it a little bit. Yeah. The
words they use was hit it from behind the back,
hold your breath stank so bad. But like but he said,
hold your breath begin because it's all about the exhalations.
And this one Italian expert strongly warns against what they

(59:28):
call the aunt's kiss, which is a full lipped cheek
plant as they say, because again you're leaving, there could
be saliva left. You might be touching your that and
then touch your mouth or touch your eye or something
like that. So it's you know, it's it's, it's, it's
it's it's a little bit tough, and I get it.
You know, my heart goes out. But being being from
two cultures that are famously not very affectionate, I've found

(59:49):
it like, yeah, I have no problem like not being affectionate.
When I greet people. I like to hug. That's what
else I like to do. And I'll admit I I
definitely one of those guys who like went to Europe
and someone greeted me with the cheek kiss and I
spent most of the time like I had a like
a meltdown, just like I don't know where to go,

(01:00:11):
and then I just walked away. The masculinity challenge, I
ever thought about this shot in your pants. Yeah, there's
this other thing though, too, like because then there's such
a culture of predatory men and you know, consent culture
not existing here that like even hugging you want to
be like is that cool? Because I like there's a

(01:00:32):
five and ten chance that I'm some fucked up evil person.
Like there's like, you know, there is kind of a
middle ground somewhere where it's like even before the pandemic,
I stopped hugging people as much because I used to
just like that was just how I greeted people. And then, uh,
you know you kind of realized that, like, well, not

(01:00:53):
everybody is like into hugs, and I'm not going to
force that on anyone. That's why you like, I think
they do things like I'm a hug Are you a hugger? Yeah,
I'm a hugger, and then they're like alright now, yeah,
but you know, I would love to be in a
culture where we all just made out all the time.

(01:01:15):
So that's sick too. Yeah, I mean there's yeah, we
we've talked before how they're should do that just started
bringing just like bros doing cheek to cheek kisses. Now
you know what I mean to see if we could
start a movement, Yeah, see if it will catch on
obviously being like yo or you know, if you're vaccinated
right well, which is the thing that they're also writing

(01:01:35):
in this article that like there are still people who
acting like it twenty nineteen, but it's usually like immediately
followed with like or prefaced with like unvaccinated. Yeah, bring
it on in it, that's what I say, see your cars.
But yeah, I mean that there's cuddle parties that have
like started becoming a thing because we lack the ability

(01:01:59):
to like pre pandemic rights. Yeah, yeah, pretty pandemic. But
like that's although I know some people who are like, yeah, man,
I've been going to like raves the whole time. I
actually met somebody at a thing who like got to
drinks in and was like, yeah, I've been going to
like a couple of raves, like and it was pretty wild.
But like, you know, people don't give them. Yeah, my

(01:02:24):
grandma things things were bad, but but they want us
to be here, so here we are. We got for them,
for them, I rave for them. But like back in
the day, I feel like so much of like Madmen
culture of people just having like irresponsible workplace affairs, and

(01:02:44):
partially because they were like drinking at lunchtime, but also
you know, like that's how people used to get their
skin to skin, and you know, they it's like a
human need that we just like don't acknowledge at all. Yeah,
I mean, but you know, the Italians also probably cheat
a lot too with their secretaries. I feel like we

(01:03:05):
we definitely are a culture that like does not show
affection on the outside, and then uh, like affection is
just seen as something God doesn't want you to do.
At least that's like culture. So it's like, no, you know,
if you do that, Jesus Christ, So just make sure

(01:03:25):
you do it in secret, and uh, you know, fucking
orange Europe on vacation or in Europe on vacation at
a hostel. You know, if it happens, it happens. Come on, guys,
just be less uh creepy and misogynistic like men from Europe. Yeah, exactly,
the whole continent. All right, that's gonna do it for

(01:03:47):
this week's weekly Zeitgeist. Please like and review the show.
If you like the show, uh means the world to Miles.
He needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a
great weekend and I will talk to you Monday. By