Today, we take you to the first of hopefully many conspiracy theory episodes! We start small (no, nobody is eating babies) with the death of journalist Michael Hastings. After exposing corruption in the US Military's Middle East operations, Michael was driving in Los Angeles at 4 am when his car hit a tree, and he was incinerated. Was it foul play? Was he being followed?? Let us know what you think!
Today, we take you to the first of hopefully many conspiracy theory episodes! We start small (no, nobody is eating babies) with the death of journalist Michael Hastings. After exposing corruption in the US Military's Middle East operations, Michael was driving in Los Angeles at 4 am when his car hit a tree, and he was incinerated.
Was it foul play? Was he being followed?? Let us know what you think!
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: As I get older, I get more into conspiracy theories
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of the state of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, case number ba zero nine six.
>> Farz: And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you.
>> Taylor: Ask what you can do for your country.
>> Farz: Hi, Taylor.
>> Taylor: Hi.
>> Farz: We are, recording our podcast, which is called. This is a horrible intro. Taylor one.
>> Taylor: Hi, everyone. Welcome to doomed to fail. We are the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters and epic failures. Twice a week, every week. I am Taylor, joined by Farz. And it is the morning, which we never record on the morning, but we haven't in a while, which is why.
>> Farz: I'm like a little off right now, I think because I'm such a creature of habit. It's weird. The older I get, the more desperate in need of habit I become.
>> Taylor: Yeah, that's fair.
>> Farz: Yeah. Yeah.
>> Farz: Am I going first today?
>> Taylor: I think so.
>> Farz: Well, that's a good segue then, because I also wrote down that as one of the other fun, unexpected things that happens as I have been getting older is I get more and more into, like, conspiracy theories.
>> Taylor: Nice.
>> Farz: I don't know what it is. Is it just an age thing, you think? Are you getting more into them?
>> Taylor: I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if I would say more or like. Like, there's some that I'm, like, seeing and I'm like, the current ones I think are dumb, you know?
>> Farz: Give me a current one.
>> Taylor: Like Democrats eating babies.
>> Farz: Okay. I'm not talking. There's shades of conspiracy theories.
>> Taylor: That's what I mean. That's what I mean. Like that stuff. But that stuff is a. No, but, like, I would really love if the moon landing was fake. That'd be fun.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
Michael Hastings is the subject of one of my favorite conspiracy theories
>> Farz: Okay, so I'm going to cover one of my favorite conspiracy theories. And it happened in LA while we were living in LA. And I actually think this was one that you're going to be with me on. So we'll see. I'm going to talk about a guy. His name is Michael Hastings. Does that ring a bell?
>> Taylor: Not yet.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Farz: Well, he's dead. so I'm going to talk about the man himself, the events leading up to his death, the incident, and the pro slash anti conspiracy theories associated with it.
>> Taylor: Okay, sweet. I think I'll remember as it comes.
>> Farz: I'm positive you will. This one's a really, really popular one. So, Michael Hastings, he was born in 19, 80. And he kind of grew up with his family. Just a really academically inclined kid, class president, played lacrosse, soccer, acted in school plays. Just a very, involved and engaged individual as a kid, he would find his professional calling as a writer starting in 2002. Is it getting closer to ringing a bell?
>> Taylor: No.
>> Farz: Okay, we'll keep going. So this was a great time to pick up writing, especially as a war war reporter. And Hastings found his niche by moving to Baghdad during the Iraq war and reporting on day to day activities for Newsweek, gentleman quarterly and Rolling Stone. I don't even know what gentleman quarterly is. It sounds like. It sounds like a gross magazine, doesn't it? It just sounds like.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I know. I don't know. I don't know what. I don't know what's in. I do not subscribe to gentlemen quarterly, so I'm not sure what's in it.
>> Farz: I'm shocked. So it was during his time reporting for the Rolling Stone that he spent time with a very, very, very important individual named Stanley McChrystal, who was a general. So McChrystal was a lifelong, highly decorated member of the US army. He played an active role in Operation Desert Storm, the Gulf war, the war in Afghanistan, and the Iraq war. So there was, like, no Middle eastern war that this guy was not, like, just all about In 2009, President Obama was inaugurated, and Stanley McChrystal, then a general, was elevated to commander of all us forces in Afghanistan. All of them. I actually didn't even know that was like. I mean, now that I think about it, it's like, of course there has to be one person whose role that is. So you get to tell the planes and the ships and the people, all of them, what to do. It's like. It's like, kind of. It's pretty cool.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I guess someone has to do it.
>> Farz: So Obama obviously took over as president from George W. Bush, who had started two wars, and obviously it was considered a very hawkish president. Obama was not. Obama was kind of considered weak and more of an intellectual than someone who's just, like, highly aggressive and committed to the military. Do you remember this?
>> Taylor: Well, I mean, I think that's fair.
>> Farz: Yeah, I would say it's fair.
>> Taylor: I think I still. I still. I still hold that belief.
>> Farz: The criticism is that he is a measured decision maker. That is. That was the criticism.
>> Taylor: Great. Great, great.
>> Farz: But you know. But you. You know what?
>> Taylor: But I know what you mean.
>> Farz: It's like, it's all these tough guy military guys. Like, what? Am I gonna listen to this nerd?
>> Taylor: It's like one of those deals is very smart.
>> Farz: but yes.
>> Taylor: Yes, it is.
Michael Hastings wrote an article critical of Obama and Joe Biden in 2010
>> Farz: So in 2010, again, this is like a year after Obama was, like, president. So he's trying to, like, reshape this kind of, like, perspective of himself. So in 2010, Michael Hastings was entrenched with McChrystal and his aides for a reporting assignment for Rolling Stones. And he spent a month with him and his inner circle, kind of documenting their thoughts on the war and engagement with the war apparatus and policies and all that stuff. In June of that year, Rolling Stone would publish Hastings article, which was entitled Runaway General. Not good.
>> Taylor: No.
>> Farz: In it, Hastings report on how Stanley McChrystals, he, would report on Stanley M. Crystal's disdain for what he called civilian leadership, meaning Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He and his underlings reinforce the notion that everyone already had that Obama was a weak military leader, that he didn't understand the military or the realities of war. Again, that he's an intellectual and not just saying, blow everything up.
>> Taylor: Right.
>> Farz: I think is, like, the criticism here.
>> Taylor: I think so, too. That's what it sounds like. Go ahead.
>> Farz: And he would also report about taking matters into his own hand, basically bucking the chain of command. So he would just be like, I'm just going to do my own thing. This guy doesn't know what he's doing. Anyways, that was kind of the general vibe and attitude of this article that he wrote. he was also very disparaging of Biden, and him and his aides would refer to him as bite me. Like, who you talking about? Bite me? And it's just. It sounds stupid, childish, but in the grand scheme of things, I guess it was a big deal.
>> Taylor: That's really funny.
>> Farz: So once McChrystal knew of the content of the article, he called Biden and offered his apology, as well as a written statement saying how sorry he was. Biden would then call Obama to tell him about the apology, which is when Obama actually became aware of the article and requested it. After which he asked McChrystal to come in person to the White House for the next security team meeting, which was usually conducted over video conference, as opposed to being in person, since he was, in Afghanistan at the time. So it was during this meeting that McChrystal tendered his resignation in a way that was like, he was fired, right? Like, that's just how this works. Like, you don't actually. So he tendered his resignation, and that would basically be the end of a military career. That was. That span 34 years, which is crazy.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: a while later, the Defense Department conducted an investigation into the article and basically found no credible corroborating evidence that the things said were actually true and in some way, shape or form, the parties would make amends. I mean, hate, not Hastings, but, like, the other parties would make amends. So Michelle Obama, she would later go on to, like, right after this report came out, would go on to, give McChrystal an assignment as head of an advisory board to support military families. later on in 2020, McChrystal will go on to endorse Biden for president, kind of, you know, tamping down some of the tensions between them. But, like, also, like, it sounds like he was someone that was, like, legitimately in. Like, he sounds like a patriot, like. Like, a true sense. Like, he was, like, the comments he made about Trump were pretty disparaging. so he was. He was all in on the Biden front, and he kind of put this all, to rest. So Hastings would go on to remain critical of all things Middle eastern war related. He would go on to profile a, us military defector who was disillusioned by the war. He would write pieces critical of Obama and other high level military personnel. It generally sounds like he was a thorn in the side of, like, the most important people in government and the military.
Michael Hastings' engine ejected during an early morning crash in Los Angeles in 2013
So let's get to the culmination of all of this, the incident that we're going to be discussing. So, the incident itself occurred on June 18, 2013, which was almost to the date. Three years after his article that got McChrystal fired was published. On that day, at 04:25 a.m. he was driving his cardinal super fast. Some speculate it was between about 60 mph. Some speculate at 100 mph. Regardless, he was speeding through the Hancock park area of Los Angeles when he slammed his car into a tree. His cause of death was ruled an accident, and it was due to blunt force trauma that he died. You can find images of the car online. It went up totally in flames. It's, like, barely recognizable as a car. And his body itself was unrecognizable after they. They got to it. You'll also find pictures. If you google, I think it's just like Michael Hastings car, you'll also find pictures of the engine of his car, which was ejected about 30 yards away, which is a little strange. So I think I. Do you remember this now?
>> Taylor: No.
>> Farz: we had just moved to LA. This was June of 2013.
>> Taylor: I don't know if I remember it as much, but I do feel like, isn't your engine. Oh, my God, I have no idea. Isn't your engine supposed to fall out in some cases on purpose?
>> Farz: Yeah. The point of it is, if you get into a head on collision, that obviously the front end is going to compact like an accordion, and you don't want the engine to land in the driver's lap.
>> Taylor: Right.
>> Farz: So it's supposed to drop below you. So it's supposed to go underneath the car.
>> Taylor: Got it. But not like fly.
>> Farz: It's not supposed to go the other direction. right. So it's incredibly hard to get a modern day car engine to eject itself.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. Fair.
>> Farz: Like, they're really, really not designed to do that. And, I mean, what had to happen for this to occur is that the engine would have to break from its mounts and struts, which are part of the vehicle frame. Like they're, they're one piece. It has to shear from the transmission. Like you look at the picture, like the back end, the housing of it, it ripped all of that. It had to shear all that off. It had to shear off the front axle and every other component that's kind of holding it in place.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I know. It's wild.
>> Farz: So it's estimated that less than 1% of accidents of our engine is ejected this way, or, like, it's possible for it to happen. So it's not impossible. It's just highly, highly, highly improbable.
>> Taylor: I mean, he was going super fast.
>> Farz: True.
>> Taylor: Too fast. And then, like, he. If it was the middle of the four in the morning, then there wasn't any, like, slowing down, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah. If you think about it, it's like the, you're going this fast 100 mph, which means your engine's going 100, then you stop and the engine's still going 100 mph. It's like, again, it's not impossible. It's just improbable is all.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
Michael Hastings says intelligence agencies could remotely seize control of a car
>> Farz: So what pro conspiracy reasons could there be for this accident? So, an obvious one is someone other than Hastings was driving. So Richard Clark, who had worked on the intelligence side of the federal government, having served in the state Department as assistant secretary of state, and even after retirement, was recruited by Obama in 2013 to form an advisory group to reform the PrISM program. after the stone and link, he said, quote, there's reason to believe that intelligence agencies for major powers, including the United States, know how to remotely seize control of a car. So if there was a cyber attack on the car, and I'm not saying there was, I think whoever did it would probably get away with it. See, this is. See, this is one of those conspiracy theories that, like, isn't insane, right?
>> Taylor: Was it, like, any car or, like, cars that. I guess if your car has, like, the. Because we talked about this, and, like, I think other times, like, if there is a nuclear attack that takes down the electric grid, then the car stop working. Like that kind of.
>> Farz: Or is that true? How, would that work?
>> Taylor: Because a lot of cars rely on electricity, and they'll, rely on, like, the Internet, and they're, like, nothing, just engines anymore, you know?
>> Farz: I mean, I think that'd be true for, like, electric cars.
>> Taylor: Yeah. But also for, like, a lot of the computers inside your car.
>> Farz: My jeep is barely a modern car, and it's a 2021. I think that thing would still work.
>> Taylor: Okay. Mine wouldn't. Cause mine's very computer heavy.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah.
>> Taylor: But. But, But no, I, So how they could control every car, or, like, they have to pick a cardinal.
>> Farz: I think. I think you.
>> Taylor: In this. In this theory.
>> Farz: In this theory, I think, well, you have to pick a car. I mean, think about it. Like, you have, like, one article I read about this was, like, you have drones now where the guy could be in, like, New Mexico and is killing people on the other side of the planet. Like, how improbable is it that somebody could install something on somebody's car and then take it over and do something nefarious with it?
>> Taylor: Oh, absolutely. I mean, we're definitely going to just kill each other as drones, and that's going to be the end of it.
>> Farz: So there is also the reporting from Hastings book after the article published. It's called the operator, the Wild and terrifying inside story of America's war in Afghanistan, where he reports being approached by one of McChrystal's aides, who said, quote, we'll hunt you down and kill you if we don't like what you write. And then Hastings, to his credit, would later say that this comment actually didn't bother him because he said, quote, whenever I'd been reporting around groups of dudes whose job it was to kill people, one of them would usually mention they were going to kill me. It's like he was just used to this, I guess.
>> Taylor: But didn't you say that the stuff that in the Rolling Stone article was not true?
>> Farz: I mean, does it matter if it got McChrystal fired?
>> Taylor: Well, I think so. Like, if did. Is he. Is he. Is the stuff that Michael Hastings is reporting true?
>> Farz: So they didn't come out and say that it was false. They said they couldn't corroborate it.
>> Taylor: Okay.
>> Farz: which is different, but it doesn't matter because this guy, who worked his entire life to become leader of all military forces, got fired because of it.
>> Taylor: No, totally. But I mean, like, should we believe other things that this guy writes?
>> Farz: He did a lot of investigative journalism, and it seems like, for the most part, he's fairly well regarded. Like, you know, I mean, I don't know how much I think of, junger, whatever, however you say his name, the young Turk. But, like, he spoke very highly of Michael Hastings. They're apparently very close to each other. So, other journalists also, who seem credible, also spoke very highly of him. So I'll go off that, I guess.
>> Taylor: Okay.
>> Farz: So, also, the prevailing theory isn't that this was just, like, related to the McChrystal situation. It was reported that at the time, Hastings was also working on another piece that was focused on the CIA director and his agenda against reporters exposing Obama's drone strategy in Afghanistan. So that was, like, also like a side quest. Apparently, he had reached out to the lawyers at WikiLeaks, like, hours before he died, because he was going through. He was going through some shit. I'm gonna get to that in a minute. M LA Weekly also reported that hours before he died, he had asked to borrow a neighbor's car because he thought his own car's computer had been hacked.
>> Taylor: Mm It sounds like a real rough day for him, his last day.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Like, he was like, people are following me.
>> Farz: So that is a huge part of the story. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna get to that, too.
FBI says Michael Hastings was not under investigation after he died
Because there's this other strange thing that happened, which was the FBI, who said Hastings was not under investigation after he died, would flip and say that Al Jazeera did a FOIA request about Michael Hastings after he died, and the FBI showed that he was under active investigation at the time. So his paranoia was real. Like it was justified. He thought something was going on. Something was a mess. There's so much more to this, but there's the anti conspiracy side of this, too. So Hastings at the time was super agitated. Like, we were just saying, For really good reason. So, by this point, the federal government had made a point about going after journalists who exposed secrets. So this is. This is exactly the same time that Edward Snowden had leaked to the press the prison program and had to go into exile.
>> Farz: A couple of months earlier from his death is when Julian Assange entered the ecuadorian embassy and basically stayed there. And I remember that that was said to be because he was trying to evade sexual assault charges in Sweden. But the prevailing theory is like, that was just like a pretext. They were trying to find any way to get him to, to be able to shutter down WikiLeaks. And the, the wisdom, prevailing wisdom at the time is this was actually done because they were trying to get. Stop the whistleblowing via WikiLeaks.
>> Taylor: Yeah, totally makes sense.
>> Farz: He, Michael Hastings viewed himself in the same vein as, like these folks, basically exposing high power government programs and officials and thought he was being investigated or surveilled. Around this time is when reports came out that the Department of Defense, or the, sorry, Department of Justice had seized AP phone records, which his communications would have certainly been a part of. So they were like, honing. He just saw the noose tightening around his neck, essentially.
>> Farz: So Michael Isig's own brother, Jonathan, flew to be with Michael before the accident because he was going more and more manic and more and more paranoid. And he recounted after his death that he thought Michael was having a manic episode. And apparently he'd had one of those, like 15 years prior. And so there was some precedent for this. his brother personally thinks that there was nothing suspicious about his death, which is, like, crazy to me. He would say, well, he knows his brother better than I do, obviously. He would say, quote, I really, I really rule foul play out entirely. I might have been suspicious if I hadn't been with him the day before he died. After all, he definitely was investigating and writing about a lot of sensitive subjects. But based on being with him and talking to people who were worried about him in the weeks leading up to his death and being around him when he was. Had similar issues in the past, I was pretty much convinced that he wasn't in danger from an outside agency. So the family's take on this is that he lost his shit and he just lost his shit. And like, maybe it was a suicide, we don't know. Like, that's, that's the theory.
>> Taylor: And I think there's probably stuff that's like, you make things more dangerous if you think you're being followed, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Like, if you, if you're driving high speed down the street at four in the morning and you think you're being followed, you're going to make really weird decisions.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: And I mean followed in like a. I can't see them. They're following me from like satellite. Like, that's crazy. You know, like, I can see getting so worked up that you make mistakes.
>> Farz: So what do you think? Because the thing I forgot about this story was that everything was happening at the same time. I forgot that, like, you know, we look at it now as, like, trump turning Americans against journalists. Like, the government was arresting journalists, like, like, for a very, very long time.
>> Taylor: I don't really understand what he said that was he is just because he got the one guy fired?
>> Farz: several things. So. So he also. So the one of the reason the FBI opened investigation into him was specifically about an article that he wrote after that, which was about this guy who was a military private, some fucking, like, just a random dude, who was in Afghanistan and who voluntarily surrendered to the Taliban, because he was like, this war, stupid. America's policies are dumb. I don't want to be doing this anymore. And then he was in prison for a long time and I didn't. I totally forgot about this. But this guy was a huge part of Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump was, like, going out saying what a coward he is, how we should never trade anyone for this guy, and, like, all this stuff. and eventually he was brought back to the US. He was court martialed, but his, the details he would expose brought him into conflict with the federal government. And you never know really what it is. Is it like, how he collected the information? Is it what he said about that information? Was it secrets about processes or about, you know, that whole universe? He was just, like, generally considered, like, a huge pain in the ass. And, like, apparently, like I said, he was working on an article against, like, calling out the CIA director at the time.
>> Taylor: That makes sense.
>> Farz: So. So I don't know. I. I don't know. I don't know what to think about this one. it's tough because there was no indication that he was actually suicidal.
>> Taylor: Right.
>> Farz: He was just freaked out and they saw helicopters where there were no helicopters.
>> Taylor: Yeah. I mean, and what is his brother saying? Like, he had, he had episodes in the past.
>> Farz: Yeah, he apparently 15 years early. Earlier, he also had a manic episode, but he's also, like, very, traumatized. So his. His first wife, maybe fiance, I can't remember. was also a war correspondent, and, she's actually a speechwriter for Condoleezza Rice, was really cool. But she was also a war correspondent, and she was killed in, I think, baghdad.
>> Taylor: Oh, that's terrible.
>> Farz: Yeah. So he saw a lot of death and, like, I mean, obviously that stuff imprints on your brain in some way. so, yeah, there's probably a lot going on inside his mind.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: But I kind of think he was killed.
>> Taylor: I mean, I kind of think, like, he would be.
Taylor: I think you could scare someone enough to do something crazy
And, this is just from my experience watching. Being the person who watches movies. I don't know, I think you could scare him enough to do something crazy. You know, maybe that was it. You don't have to necessarily, like, track his, like, carl, like a spy movie. You can just be like, you know, have a guy in a trench coat follow him around for an hour, and he's gonna be like, oh, my God, you know, what was he doing awake that late? Was he drinking? Was he going somewhere?
>> Farz: No.
>> Taylor: Why are you doing that?
>> Farz: That night, he was on a panel somewhere. I couldn't figure out where he was trying to go to or what he was trying to do.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Cause that's, like, a weird time to be awake.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: You know? Like, what is he doing? So I feel like. I feel like he was scared. He was definitely scared, rightfully so, in many ways. And, like, I don't know if, like, he just thought that they could do stuff that they couldn't do and then got, like, overwhelmed or they did do the thing or whatever, but I think it'd be easy to scare him into thinking that they were doing more than they were doing, you know?
>> Farz: And Richard Clark did say if they did this, nobody will ever find out. Yeah, it's like, dude, it's so creepy. Like, if someone wants to get you, like, if the federal government wants to get you, like, they can get you. They can get you. Yeah, it's kind of nuts.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: But, that's my fun little story. Has nothing to do with conspiracies about pizza restaurants or adrenochromes or. But. But. But Taylor. Then again, like, a lot of, like, pedophile stuff turn out to be fucking true. Like, totally.
>> Taylor: But not, like the way that they.
>> Farz: Not the way that. Yeah, okay. Yeah, not that way. But the whole, like, island of, like, sex offender, like, oh, yeah, no, that exists. I'm starting to think that, like, conspiracy theories they have. They start with, like, a kernel of truth, and then the Internet goes, like, insane with it. But, like, it's kind of. It could be true. Like.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Another good one. I mean, even the moon landing when you mentioned, like, really, they're like, no, we went to the moon. It's just like, we lost the footage and we refilmed the footage. Like, that seems plausible. Like, that doesn't seem that crazy, saying we didn't go to the moon. Or saying the earth is flat, that's kind of crazy.
>> Taylor: But, like, saying the earth is flat is crazy. Like.
>> Farz: Like saying we lost footage. That's not crazy.
>> Taylor: And it was, like, the sixties. Like, it all had to be on physical stuff.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: You know, That's funny.
>> Farz: See, I'm baiting you. I'm bringing you over to the conspiracy side.
>> Taylor: No, I mean. No, that one. That. The moon landing is one of my favorites. I love that they might do that.
>> Farz: That's all I got.
>> Taylor: It was kind of fun. Yeah.
Let us know what your favorite conspiracy theories are
Let us know what your favorite conspiracy theories are.
>> Farz: There's so many good ones. I mean, the Gulf of Tonkin, like, that was. I forgot that one. Exactly. It was definitely LBJ. It had to do with the escalation of war in Vietnam, about, like, an attack that occurred on one of our ships and in that area. And it was like, no, it was all stage. It was all fake. Like this. It literally happens.
>> Taylor: Totally. Totally.
>> Farz: But, like, saying 911 was, like, the government doing it. That's crazy.
>> Taylor: That's crazy. Yeah.
>> Farz: And all the, like, the towers can't, steel can't melt or whatever. Like, nobody knows what happens when too. Like, there's some crazy. I'm not over the led edge yet. Maybe, like, in ten years I'll be over the edge, but, like, right now, more, like, in the fun, non harmful conspiracy theories.
>> Taylor: Totally. I mean, like, so, okay, so now I'm like, wait. I'm waking up some of them that I'm thinking of. Like. Like, even though you talked about the white Star line and the ships and I know things, every time I see a picture that tells me that the Titanic might be the. The Olympic. Oh, see? The Olympic. I'm like, I think it's the Olympic.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: It doesn't even matter. But I usually get, like. I get excited about, like, oh, my God, maybe it was the Olympic the whole time. Like, who cares? But, like, you know. Yeah, I'll always look at those pictures and be like, M the windows are this far apart, and they're square and they're just mess.
>> Farz: I guess that's the fun ones, are the ones where the consequences aren't that terrible. I mean, golf was honking was pretty bad. Or, like. I mean, the JFK thing. Like, the fact that the most credible evidence is that the Secret service shot him in the back of the head by accident. They had to hide it. Like, where's his brain? Why did nobody keep his brain? Is because a bullet fragment would have matched up with, the secret, services rifle and not Oswald. Like, that's.
>> Taylor: I'm totally. That one. That one, I believe. But also, that happened in addition to Oswald. You know what I mean?
>> Farz: That's what I'm saying.
>> Taylor: Crazy.
>> Farz: That's why it's kind of harmless, because to them, they're like, listen. Like, he put into play the actions that result in the president getting shot. If Oswald hadn't fired the first shot that missed a, the Secret Service wouldn't have rifled their gun and flubbed it and shot him in the head. So, like, they're like, hey, like, technically, like, by, you know, order of operations, he started all this. So just bury the. Burn the brain. It's crazy. Can you imagine that? Imagine the guy that tells someone, like, hey, here's the president's brain. Go fucking burn it. Nuts.
>> Taylor: Nuts. Ew. What are you gonna do with it? Remember, wait, have you seen young Frankenstein?
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: Where he gets a brain, he's like, it's abby normal.
>> Farz: I saw. The last one I saw, that was a cynosphia.
>> Taylor: Oh, nice.
>> Farz: That was really fun.
>> Taylor: That sounds really nice.
>> Farz: but, yeah, write to us with your favorite conspiracy theories. Like, I don't want to hear the crazy ones. Like, let's. Let's be nice people. Like, let's not do. Let's not.
>> Taylor: Like, what are the fun ones? You know? Like, I don't know.
>> Farz: Okay. Hollywood, I think, is full of sex offenders. I think that part is true.
>> Taylor: Like, I think that part is true as well, which is, gross and terrible. But, yeah, no, I think that that's true. Like, all the p. Diddy stuff. Keep seeing things that are, like, when everything comes to light, it's gonna be wild. Zachary.
So I was just talking about this because I remembered when Danny Masterson was convicted
>> Farz: So I was just talking about this because I remembered when Danny Masterson, remember the seventies show guy, when he got, I think he, like, a life sentence for all the sexual assaults that he did. He did. And then Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, like, ended up writing to the judge saying, like, yes, he did all this horrible stuff, but he's a cool guy. He's kind of a cool guy.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: And then they. And then they had to, like, do, like, a, revision of that. They had to be recorded, like, saying, we take it this back. We're so sorry and all that. And now they're, like, talking about how Ashton Kusher probably was at these, like, parties, and it's like, man, it's gonna be, like, bad for a lot of people.
>> Taylor: I think the best thing that came out of that Danny Masterson case is not having to hear from Ashton Kutcher anymore. I'm glad he just, like, went away for a little bit.
>> Farz: I don't know. Punk was pretty good.
>> Taylor: I mean, sure of its time.
>> Farz: Did we start the whole obsession with trucker hats because of Ashton Kutcher?
>> Taylor: I don't know. No. There's actually a documentary that I've not seen about von Dutch and how they, like, couldn't believe how popular they got.
>> Farz: Wasn't that because of Ashton? Ashton. I know my first name only.
>> Taylor: Ew. If you do, then I'm worried, then it's a problem.
>> Farz: That's the end of the podcast.
Taylor: 90% invisible has a series on the power broker where they do
anyways, do you have any listener mail or.
>> Taylor: Oh, yes, I do. Nadine wrote in to tell us that 90, 9% invisible has a series on the power broker where they do.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Taylor: So if anyone wants to listen along as you try to read the power broker this year, please do.
>> Farz: that is a very efficient way to do it. And the way they, What's the name? Roman Mars. Is that it? Yeah. He's really good. He's a good narrator.
>> Taylor: I. That reminds me. Okay, I'm so sorry, everyone. When the Internet first started, so it was like, 20 years ago at my job, I remember I was like, I was so bored, and I would watch x files all day long, and I would. People were like, taylor's trying to get fired, and I'm like, nothing. But anyway, I'd also watch YouTube videos, and there was one video, YouTube video that was just a guy. And he would read Twilight, but he wouldn't read it out loud. He would read it. He would, like, laugh, and then he'd summarize it for you. And it was so funny because he would just be reading it, and they would just be, like, laughing, and then just kind of tell you what happened, and it was just delightful. What?
>> Farz: The books. The vampire books.
>> Taylor: Yeah. He, like, didn't. He wasn't reading it to you. He was reading it, laughing at it, and then telling you what happened and laughing. It was so funny.
>> Farz: There's a lot of fun content ideas out there. Yeah, that's a good one. Sweet. That's all I got. Taylor, if you're good, we can go ahead and wrap and rejoin y'all later on this week.
>> Taylor: Sounds good. Find us everywhere else in the podcast. Doom to fail.
>> Farz: Thanks, all.