60 Minutes/Bari Weiss TEA & the CECOT Segment She Tried to Kill

This is exactly right. Welcome to Brief Recess. I'm Michael Foote. I'm Melissa Malbranch. Today we're going to talk about how I'm a Taipei traveler. All of our neighbor tea are paper thin walls in our apartment. Melissa's saga of Ted Lois and Eleanor. To my neighbor Chris snorting lines like a Hoover. At the time I saw Susan Sarandon at the Rocky Horror Picture Show and didn't know she was in the movie. The infamous El Salvadoran prison sea cot. We're going to cover that extensively in the Barry Weiss drama. The 60 minute segment and all the tales from the DM. So stick around. Someone did think you had jaundice in the comments. People think people have even before I was doing the internet and the show people have always felt like they could say whatever the fuck they wanted right to my face. So this is a long time ago. I was leaving Haiti coming back home to New York. It was my old passport picture before I had lost weight. The guy looked at it. He looked at me. He looked at it and he looked at me and he says to me in French, he was like, Madam, you've changed quite a lot. And I said, oh, yes, yes, I have. And then he said, because you were really fat, you used to probably eat a whole lot. And you know what's really funny about that is it like it was it was such a Haitian guy thing to say that I wasn't even mad. I thought it was really fucking funny. It is so insane. It was actually very funny. It was so funny. And is this the way that he was just like, damn. But I was a bit shang. The best thing about it was like he spoke to me in French first, which is like the proper way. And then when I was like, oh, yes, I have. And then he switched to Creole, which is more like familiar. And he was just like, what's wrong with you? Madam, what's wrong with you? I was like, it's just funny. It was it was really it was actually really funny. You told me most of your like hilarious Haiti stories are around the airport or the plane ride. Like it's rarely in Haiti. It's always going to or from the thing about I think any time you're going anywhere on an airplane or an airport, it's like the subway, right? Everybody in New York takes a subway. Everybody takes a plane someplace. Right. The intersection of all cultures. Absolutely. And it doesn't matter. Your socioeconomic status, your race, none of it matters. It doesn't matter. Because you're all like stuck in the same place. And like people say like this. And I think travel makes a lot of people anxious. Yeah. And then they just they're just wild and they say that. And they're wild and they physically are restrained kind of like you can't move around a lot. And it's just it's bringing out the worst in people. I know the plane. The plane travels bring out the worst in people. Are you you're anxious to travel? Aren't you? Not anymore. Oh, OK. I used to be really nervous to travel. OK. And now I'm trying to escape my life so much that I love getting on a plane. I'm like, oh, hell, yeah, this is great. I can't wait to get on that plane. Is a better traveler. You were Brad. It depends on how we're defining better. More calm, less anxious. OK. So in my life and you know what I have an answer for you. OK. Thank you. In my life, I am the person who plans and organizes everything. OK. And I know you are too. OK. And I know a lot of our listeners are too. There's always the person in the couple. Brad shows up to the airport. He doesn't know where his ticket is. He doesn't sometimes know what airline we're flying. I do it all. OK. I get it all organized. It's the night before and he's packing. I've been packed for a week. OK. And we're pulling up to the airport and he's like, oh, we're flying American. Yo, yeah. And I picked out your meal too. Like I get I am that one. I'm the one. So to say, oh, who's like better at travel. I'm better at it. I'm more organized. We would not be on the plane if he were in charge. But he's but it sounds like he's more at ease because you've taken care of everything. Right. So he's just like, OK. I've set up this dynamic. And I will say if he ever tried to take control of organizing the flights, it would be an absolute riot. There would be blood in the streets. Oh, dear. It would be. No one will ever take that away from me. But what is I have to have that control even when I book a gig and they're like, oh, prefer to airline. Whatever I say, I'll send you the receipt. I'm handling it all. I'm a control freak like that. I don't want someone getting involved in that way. I can never have someone to help him with that stuff. Interestingly enough, when we go places, Andre is the one who looks up all the stuff and does he does because he knows that I'll just spend a million dollars on stupid shit. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I'll just be like, you know what? Here. I remember one time we were going on the car. Yeah. I was like, we were going somewhere and I was like, so we just say like, fuck it and do whatever. He was like, no, we cannot. Yeah. He was like, absolutely not. Yeah. So that's why he does it because he's very concerned about how much we're going to pay for things. I mean, and he's right. Right. Sometimes I am willing to pay for things so that I don't have to think about it. And also there is a convenience sometimes where the money is actually worth it if you have it. Yes. We were going, we were in Norway and we were going dog sledding in the middle of nowhere. It was like up on a mountain. How was that? It was so fun. It was like one of the coolest, most memorable experiences. Do you think the dogs are happy? Thrilled. Okay. And now whenever I see a husky in New York, I'm like, oh God, I've seen what you should be doing. Gotcha. And it's not Madison Square Park. Yeah. It's running through the woods in the snow. I follow somebody on, I think, TikTok and she has four huskies and they make an unholy noise. Yeah. When they get to and each one eggs on the other one. The howl. But it's not just like a howl. It's like a cry for help. Like it's like, it's really, really crazy. And I couldn't, I think I couldn't. Do you know what I mean? Like I, it's like the screaming, especially in an apartment. Yeah. The screaming would drive me crazy. Yeah. And it also makes me feel like maybe they shouldn't be in the house. Like maybe this is the kind of dog that needs to be outside playing outside. People will call and complain and say, oh, I saw this dog sleeping outside in the snow. And then the owners will film videos and be like, yeah, they're trying to call the dog in. The dog doesn't want to come. He wants to sleep outside in the snow. But we were going, we had to take a train to Lillehammer. And then it was like, you could either take the bus for three hours to get there or it was a 20 minute cab ride. Oh, I mean. Yeah. Okay. And in moments like that, it's like, we're going to spend the 50 kroner, whatever it was to do that if you can. So in situations like that, the dollar spent on the convenience is it even sound. This is sidebar Melissa. Didn't you miss a flight one time you told me about this? I did indeed. I know we've talked about this before, but like one of the few times that I've missed a flight was because of Andre. Really? We were in London. And that's a thing about travel, right? Is that I am anxious in the sense of I'm afraid to miss a flight. Do you know what I mean? So I am, you know, like the rest of my people, like I get to the airport too. Yeah. And I remember looking at the clock and the time and I was just like, maybe we should go. Maybe we can we go? And he was like, no, it's fine. We got this. Let's take one more. Let's have a stroll around the Thames. Don't be so anxious. And then I remember, and I have a picture of this. I'll share it with you where I took a picture of Andre looking at his phone and I was like, this is when I knew we were not going to make it. The moment I knew. We were not going to make it. Where were you? And she found out. And I was looking at him and I was just like, we're not going to make it, are we? And he's like, no, no, no, we have to hurry up though. And I was like, OK, and we get to the airport and the plane hadn't left yet, but they had stopped boarding. Oh, no. And we had to spend the night. That's the worst. And we spent the night at the airport. It wasn't just like another flight. No. We had to wait till the next day. And that's where the night at like this airport hotel, but it was like the room was it was not this big. It was it's for exactly that for people. It's for the person who missed their flight. Exactly. And I mean, it was the bathroom was like a wet room like it was just. Oh, I hate that. Yeah, me too. I hate that when the shower and the toilet and the sink are all connected to the same water line. Yes. And it's like just one floor. I mean, this was the smallest hotel room I have ever been in my life. And at that point, we just started drinking. Yeah. You've got to hit the hooch. The airport bar, the drinks are so expensive. They're very expensive because they know they have. We were hitting it hard. And I will say I've traveled with people who like to drink no matter what time of day they're traveling. 8am vodka sodas. Yeah. I've witnessed that. Have you ever done that? No. No. Oh, I have. I don't need to drink to get on a plane. I don't need to drink the I can't remember where Andre and I were going. And he had a little bit of like a hissy fit at the airport, right? A little bit. And it made me need to drink. Yeah. And I was just like, and I put it on TikTok. Actually, I'm like, it's eight o'clock in the morning and I had had to leave my husband and I'm walking around the airport. Some news melting down. He's somewhere. I can't be with him right now. We were going to Jamaica and I was just like, is it too late to start drinking? No. And the comments were, no, it is not. Hit the bottle. Yeah. Hit it. And I did. Yeah, I've fallen sucker to the duty free shop, too. I've spent money there. What do you buy in duty free? Sometimes I'll buy like a vodka or gin just to have it home, like a big thing of it. OK. Because it is actually like a lot cheaper sometimes. But do you drink enough vodka or gin to have a bottle of it at home? Or do you just want to have it? I think I just want to have it. I think I'm bored and I want to go shopping. Yes. We were in Peru for New Year's and we're coming back. Oh, it's so much time to kill because getting to the airport of Peru is like kind of like a... We weren't sure if it was going to take forever or 20 minutes. And it ended up taking 20 minutes. Sure. And so I'm wandering around, you know, buying crap, all sorts of stuff. But they had actually like a lot of cute clothes there. I got a bunch of sweaters at the airport. Oh. In Peru because everything's alpaca. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alpaca wool. OK. So they sell them and it's not like, you know, tourist trappy kind of clothing. Yeah, it's like real authentic. It's like an actual. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get into algorithm is showing you want to talk about what's going on in your algorithm. What's the haps? What's the 411? What you've seen. What's wicked and wild on your feed? I actually don't want to talk about my algorithm. OK. I would like to talk about my neighbor if we could. Oh, Melissa texted me over the weekend a little bit about this. Yeah. Yeah, I got a text message that said, yo. Yo. Was it a yo message? It was a yo message. I'm going to go back and then it was a yo. Yeah, I did. Yeah, it was like, yeah. So I have spoken about my neighbor before. Yes, yeah. And if not on the pod, then on my TikTok. OK. OK. And so really quick, I call him Ted. That is not his name. Ted used to be married to Lois and Ted and Lois would fight all the time. Oh, no. And you only ever heard Ted. You never heard Lois, right? That's a that's. Yeah, yeah. And then one day I heard him say to her, I come to you with solutions. You only come to me with problems. And then Lois had had enough and she said, fuck you, Ted. You heard her say that? Oh, yeah. That's the one thing we heard her say. Yes. She had one line. She had one line and she executed it beautifully. And then she exited stage left. And then a couple of days later, I saw her in the hall and I was just like, hey, hey, Lois, how are you getting the fuck out of here? And I was like, oh, oh, if you're telling the neighbors. Yeah. So in my building, there's a package room and I was going through looking for my package and I this is maybe several weeks later, maybe a couple of months later. And I saw a package for Ted that said something like it was from divorce.com. This dude got it. They got a divorce. They got a divorce, right? And since then and since then, I have seen a steady stream of women coming in and out of Ted's life, right? OK, Ted has game, it sounds like. Is Ted cute? He's got a stedge remote coming in and out of the building. I don't think that Ted is cute. He's not hideously unattractive or anything. But what happens is every time Ted breaks up with somebody, the music starts. The Barry Manilow Adele Adele Adele. And it's on repeat. He also had he also plays quite a lot. A bit of Barbara Streisand and Barry. Yeah, I think I found the problem and it's that he's gay. He's not. I don't think he's gay. No, Adele Adele. A journey. OK, straight. Sticks, sticks, straight. Barry Manilow. By Curious, maybe attending, you know, Tappanus foot in the back of the airport. And then it'll stop once he comes back to himself. We always return to thyself. Know thyself. And one time I was coming in, he was going out. There was a different woman at the door and he was leaving and she said to him. OK, Ted, love you. And then I saw his face and he was like, love you too. Melissa, OK, now I have so many questions. Also, like. Wait, wait, wait, wait. And then Fourth of July, you can see fireworks from the roof of our building. And after Fourth of July, they were both there together. And then I never saw her again. Right. There's a new one. So wait, you've got to stop. I can't process all of this. It's so insane. I'm also curious. Why am I here? Why am I so involved? Very involved. Well, because what I realized is Ted's bathroom butts up against my bathroom. And so the the the head of my bed butts up against, I guess, his living room or something. OK, I can hear what's going on in there. Yeah. Right. So this apartment living in New York. I, you know, this is this is one of the reasons why I'm tired of apartment life. I don't want to hear you. I don't want to smell your fish. I don't want it. I don't want it. But anyway, I digress. Now there's another one and they got into a fight this weekend. What's her name? Eleanor. He and Eleanor are getting into it. But I don't think she was there. I think she was on speakerphone because she sounded really tinny. Oh, yeah. And they have fought before. And Eleanor ain't no Lois. Eleanor is not here for games. And she is just and more than once I have heard her say to him, I don't know what the fuck your problem is. Ted, she is eating him up, eating him up. And then he was saying to her something like, you know, I had a horrible day. So now Andre is watching TV and I said to him, lower the TV, lower the TV. And he's like, close the blinds, lower the TV. And he's like, why? And I was like, Ted and Eleanor getting into it. And he's like, Melissa. And I was like, listen, and then he came over and then we're both in the bathroom together and we're listening to what's going on. I'm just imagining you and Andre with a cup pressed against the wall. I thought I was getting a cup. Oh, and remember what I said to you? My neighbor can't keep a body. He cannot keep a woman. Can't keep a body. He cannot keep a body. At a certain point, if you can't keep an employee. And you were like, what? Roommates are girlfriends and I'm like girlfriend's wives. And Michael's like, are they leaving or is he kicking them out? And I was like, I don't know. And then and then so he said to her, you knew that I was having a bad fucking day. And she's like, you're always having a bad fucking day. And then I couldn't and then I was like getting annoyed because I couldn't hear everything, right? And then I was like, all right, let me watch TV. Because I'm like, no, no, no, I want to hear the rest of it. Q Adele. Did they break up? I don't know. I don't know if they broke up. But he started playing Adele. And now I'm worried what my neighbors are hearing me to say and do. That was my I just want to talk about my neighbor. I don't know. I don't know why he can't keep a body. And I got to tell you, there are a lot of people in my building who don't like him. He can be really aggressive. They're all ex-girlfriends. But but he's been nothing but really nice to me. One day I was coming in, I had a bunch of bags and he was like, oh, let me help him. Look, oh, thank you so much. And I said, that was really sweet of you. He said to me, no one's called me sweets. And my mother died. So that is clearly somebody only a mother can love. Well, what's concerning to me is that clearly he is a little bit self aware that he can't keep a body. I don't know if he realizes that he can't keep a body. I don't know that people who can't keep bodies. No, they're the problem. Yeah, I feel like there's something about this, though. There's a little bit of self awareness there. No, all these divorces and ex-girlfriends. I mean, I don't know if it's all it's one divorce that I'm aware of, but there has been a few. He's cute. He's cute. He's kind of cute. Not really. I don't know. OK, it's not my type. Yeah, that's my type of white guy. I don't think. Oh, OK. Yes, you're rich. Maybe. He owns his own his apartment. Yes, he does own his apartment. His apartment is beautiful. I'd put up with him. He has a really he's an audiophile. He has a really beautiful audio situation with vinyl. And it's just one hundred Adele albums. And Barbara Streisand. Streisand, that is really funny. Well, I need to know, like, where this what happens. I hope that I see Eleanor again. Eleanor loves Arthur Weasley. I'm rooting for them to leave. Right, right, right. I'm rooting for the women to find joy. I mean, he keeps on getting new ones. I do think that there is, like you said, like there there's always a man who drives you insane. I do think that there is also this compulsion that a lot of us have to fix a man to see a problem and be like, oh, I got this. I can figure that out. Yeah, I spent a lot of my 20s doing. Did you? I mean, I think that my last before my husband, my last long term boyfriend, I did think that I could help him. I don't know that I was like, I just need to love him more. Do you know what I mean? And like, help him. And when I decided that I was done with him and I was just like, universe, this is what I need. And that's what I got. Take it away. And that's what you got. That's what I got. It's like in practical magic where they sort of put together the perfect man. You know that there's a sequel. And I can't wait. Really? I am sad for the sequel. OK. I am going to be really annoyed if the lighting is weird and if it feels like I'm in a video game. I like movies where it's framed and it doesn't look like a video game. Like I can't watch Wicked. That will give me a stomach ache. I can't go to an IMAX and and watch the Willy Wonka movie. I'll like get vertigo. You know what I mean? I hear you. So I used to live in what was like a pre-war, very old school, New York. Like everyone was just like a weird New York group in there forever. Yes. And we were like. I remember this apartment. We were the. Yeah. Yeah. It was near your auntie's apartment. And we were there forever. We were there for years and years and years. And when you're in a building like that and it's small and everyone kind of knows each other, like you're entering an ecosystem. Like they know your shit. They're going to all talk about you. And we had a wall where we could hear our neighbor too. And we had this crazy neighbor. Was this the neighbor who was the flight attendant? Yeah. OK. I love this. Go ahead. We'll call him we'll call him Chris. OK. Three in the morning. Chris always had and you'd have to buzz to get into the building. Yeah. There's always a really late night, Friday and Saturday night buzz from a how do I say? A gentleman caller. A younger man of Latino descent. Potentially from the oldest profession. OK. Going out on dates. And that is me throwing judgment on the situation. That is the unconfirmed. Unconfirmed. But you know what, though? Sex work is work. Get it. Yes. Sex work is real work. Like get it. Like live your truth. Really, like truly no judgment there, but I like loved it. I was like. Yeah, yeah, no, because it's just like spicy. I have I have a neighbor who I don't like and he gets dates. They they're very tall, very thin, sort of Russian looking. Yeah. And he is dumpy and old and that's not. Yeah. And this and this street that I lived on, there was a lot of sex work activity on that street. There were like sex workers working the corner. And so on the stroll. As these guys on the stroll. Yeah. And so this these guys would show up and it would buzz and like they'd buzz their own unit and then I'd be letting them in. So I was like kind of involved. You were involved. I was involved. You were a willing participant. Let me tell you what I'm so boring. I was home on a Saturday night letting in the Puerto Rican hookers. Like that was that was my Saturday night. I was like, please write this way. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes, he's upstairs. The walls, though. The walls are thin. In any even even if they're not thin, you're just in close quarters. I mean, the thing about living in an apartment building, you're basically living with a hundred other people. Yeah. It's cohabitation. Yeah. With like without your consent. Yeah, totally. You are held hostage. Yeah. And so this one night, Chris was on a bender. Like Chris was out. He was out in the streets and he came home with this guy and it's three in the morning and I really can't sleep. And I sleep with earplugs and sound machine. OK. Since college. OK. Every night there are earplugs and sound machine on. He was railing lines so loud. I could hear it. I could hear him railing a line through the earplug and the sound machine on high. That is a man. That's a Hoover. That. That is self harm. It is. You are not OK. And he was like narrating it. He was like shopping up the next one. Like he was like hot, hot, hot. Like and it was like and it was all night. And so finally I went over like the sun is rising and he's still going crazy on this bender. And I knocked on the door and I was like, Chris, you got to keep it down. His pupils were outer space. Sign saucers. Yeah. Yeah. They spray red. Oh, sorry. Like slurring like crazy, whatever. The next day I get up. He bought me like a nice bottle of like expensive champagne. It's my favorite. And left it on my door handle with just like a little note that was like, sorry if I woke you up last night. That's actually really classy, Chris. Sorry if you woke me up, Chris. Honey, I get to sleep. And you know what? He had so much coke in him. He was able to go out shopping, run errands the next day. He didn't sleep. No. Yeah. He's probably still awake. And I will say he was a man of a certain age. He wasn't like 19 or 20 doing that much blow. I mean, he's been doing it since the 70s. He's I know. It's like, I don't know. Like this is the Bianca Jagger. Studio 54. I was like, you really are not at an age where you should be doing that much. I mean, he's a little long in the tooth to be doing so much blow. Yeah. Studio 54, Rocky, her picture shows playing there. Oh, I heard. I went to opening. Was it fun? I went to the opening night. It was really fun. OK. It was actually really fun. And I loved the show. I'd never seen anything Rocky hard. You had never seen any of it. Nothing. So this is actually mortifying. And please, if you've been waiting to read me in the comments, if you've been holding back, which I don't think any of you have because you love eating me up. This is your opportunity because I'm such a dumb slut. I went up to Susan Sarandon. OK. Yep. Pencils down, heads up. I went up to Susan Sarandon and I said, hi, Miss Sarandon. I just have to let you know this is during intermission because we were like sitting down in the orchestra. I just have to let you know I'm such a huge fan. I love everything you've been in. Love your movies. My mom's a huge fan. I was so nervous. Do you mind if I take a photo with you? And we're chatting for a while. We're chatting about why I'm there, how I know people in the show and like all that stuff. We have this adorable Q conversation. We take a photo. Actually, she's a real baddie because she said, yes, I'll take a photo with you, but we've got to find the good lighting. And y'all know I'm the same way. I'm like, oh, babe, we can light your face with the glare off my bald head. Like, let's get some good lighting. I said, this is what I'll do because consent is important. I held up my phone and I said, let's swivel. And when there's good lighting, you say go and I'll click the clicker. OK. So we do this whole rig of morale and I walk away and I go back to Brad, my husband, who knows everything and is not trying to tell me. OK. And he says, oh, you're talking to Susan Sarandon. And I was like, yeah. And he says, did you compliment her on how she was an originated the role of Janet in Rocky Horror in the movie that the show is based on? And I said, she was in what now? And he said, yeah, that's why she's here. Stop talking. Because she was in Rocky. She originated Janet in the movie. I hate you. I hate you. Everything you I hate you and everything you stand for. So mortified, you hate me like a cruise ship. Take him out to sea and sink him. Wow. It was one of my most mortifying moments because we talked for a while. But you didn't. I mean, OK, so while I'm horrified that you just didn't know this piece of pop culture that I feel like you should have known. And I feel like this makes you a bad gay man. Chris, the next door neighbor would have absolutely not put up with this. He definitely knew. But I mean, it's not like you said anything to her. So I'm going to stop you right there. And I appreciate you being really gracious with me. OK. I don't deserve it because throughout the entire conversation, she was kind of looking at me like I'm an empath. She was kind of looking at me like, are you going to say it? Are you going to say the thing? Everything's been saying to me here. You know, she was kind of looking at me like, you know, when someone's kind of waiting for you to say something, you're at the altar and you say I do. And then you're kind of waiting for the next. She was waiting for me to say something. And I was like, I wonder what she was waiting for me to say. You know, like that. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I wonder if. Yeah. She friends with the lighting designer. Is she a part of this production? No. And that's where I'm also mortified because every every like photo that was taken all over social media in the post was Susan Sarantum attends the show based off the movie she was in. So like everyone was there talking to her and it was reported on because she was she was there because of the movie. Gotcha. And you did not in the movie. OK, I used to go to Rocky Horror Picture Show all the time. Melissa and like would be in the audience. Part of the so in the show. Yeah. Are they are they doing the call and response? So there's been a lot of controversy around this because they're very famous actors in the show. People are paying like 500 bucks a ticket. OK, to go see them do the jump to the left. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you really are paying premium price to see these various very famous people do the show, not the guy from Jersey sitting next to you. Got you. Who couldn't get a ticket to Lion King. Yeah. You know, to cats. We could see poop. And so there's been a lot of a lot of Rocky Horror purists. Yes, have been upset. Yes. That people aren't allowed to dance or do the callbacks. There I was there opening night. Yeah. So there were some callbacks and it was very like tongue in cheek, very cute. So OK, but it wasn't disruptive. There were some people would yell out, I would say, maybe five times during the show and the show just kept moving. OK. And the actors knew what to do. Yes. And we got to see everyone do their incredible performance. Yes. Like really. So it's such a star-studded cast. Yeah. OK. Interesting because because I feel like that's like the whole thing. I've never gone. I've never seen the movie without that, without people kicking in this in the aisles. Yeah, because they do these like midnight showings and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No one was really doing that. I will say they do pull up a couple of people on stage at some point. OK. I think hopefully to scratch that itch. OK. And when they did it during opening night, they pulled Eric Botcher on stage. Our former guest. Oh, wow. Shout out to Eric. Former guest in the show. A friend of the pot. Wasn't he referred to himself as a twiz? A twiz. A twiz. Not a twink. He's a twiz. The world's oldest twink. Yes. A demon twink that was running against him. And they made him do the dance. Did he do it? Yeah. OK. Let's move on. During COVID, I had this neighbor downstairs. OK. Who got what I call his covid-boo. And you would hear them. And the the covid-boo was. Enthusiastic. OK. Encouraging. Yeah. And love Jesus. I'm at a loss for words. And at first it was like funny. Oh, she's she's invoking the rosary. And then at the end, I was like, I'm going to set him on fire. Yeah, because you're working from home. I was working from home. I thought the world was ending. I don't need to hear you have a nooner. I'm in the middle of a zoom call. We've got to look at the Q3 reports. We've got a circle back on my Q4 road map. Watching my CEO cry. That was great. Oh, my God. Anyway, let's move on. Let's go into under oath. I've got some crazy stuff I want to talk to you about. We didn't actually get a chance to cover Barry Weiss, CBS, the Seacott censorship, journalism in America, the Star Spangled Banner. We didn't get a chance to cover it. So I thought we could get into it today because I have Seacott tea that people have reached out to me about on the internet. I've made a bunch of videos about this. OK. So a couple of months ago, there was an inside Seacott segment on CBS. And it was supposed to air on 60 minutes in December. So this was like six months ago. The correspondent was Sharon Alfonzi. And the segment featured interviews with former detainees at this prison, Seacott, C-E-C-O-T is the prison. This prison is in El Salvador. Yeah. And notorious. Infamous for human rights violations. Correct. Basically, what's happening right now. And I deal with this a lot in immigration court with Asilees who are seeking asylum in the US from El Salvador is in El Salvador, there's what's called the state of exception. And a couple of years ago, the president, Bokele, decided there's so much gang activity in El Salvador, which is true. And this is very controversial. Some you can talk to a Salvadoran who will say it was great. Another will say it was awful. Bokele said, we're going to suspend the Constitution, which is like terrifying to think about as an American. Yes, it is. We're just going to pause it. And we're just going to start detaining these gangs because there was a lot of gang violence in El Salvador. I'm just curious, right? Now that he's rounded up all these people who were allegedly in gangs, did the gang activity in El Salvador diminish at all? A lot of gang members were detained. OK. Yeah. However, they were detained without any due process. There was no court date. There were no trials. There was no actual checks and balances. New York Times did a really interesting podcast about this where they interviewed people who were in El Salvador, who had sons and nephews detained, who were not affiliated with gangs. And they were still grateful for the state of exception. OK. Even though their sons and nephews had been detained because it was just so much safer now, because you catch a lot of people. Yeah. There's no way to ensure the actual criminals are being captured compared to an innocent person. Correct. I was going to say, when you do these sweeps, innocent people are going to get caught up in it for sure. Right. And when that's why we have checks and balances, that's why we have a judiciary to make sure, you know, we sort of separate people who have actually committed crimes and should be prosecuted and people who are completely innocent and just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gotcha. And it's not like America nails it. No. Yeah. So anyway, and we'll get to the CBS story in a second. But basically, Bukedle decided to suspend the state. The state of exception went into effect, suspended the Constitution. A lot of people were detained in these prisons that it's very difficult to sort of describe to a first world citizen in America and what it's actually like in these detention centers. So there are cells so small, you can't lie down. You're no access to food, water, toilets. Overcrowding is like not even a powerful enough word to describe what's happening. Rival gangs are housed in the same space together, which is very dangerous. Many gang members are readily identifiable by their tattoos. They have tattoos on their faces. They're branded by their gangs. And this is not like I don't want this to get picked up by a news outlet of like Michael Foote stands by gang membership and El Salvador. But I want to explain that I have had some clients who were members of gangs, not by choice, that a lot of times gang members or sometimes gang members are victims of circumstance. They have no money. There's no function in government. There's no food, water, resources. A guy shows up and says, join my gang, work for my gang. And I will give you enough money so that your mother has food and medicine. Gotcha. Right. Yeah. These are choices that we as New Yorkers very rarely are faced with these sort of life and death choices. So it's very easy for us to pass judgment on a situation that we just probably will never encounter. So people are detained in these detention centers and the conditions really are truly a death sentence. Many times they there were mass graves discovered behind this detention center. Injuries are not being reported. People aren't getting access to blood pressure medication and just like stroking out and dying. Right. So just really horrific conditions. So with that in mind, the US capitulates in many ways with CCOT and the El Salvador government. If you are Kristi Noem go there for like a photo shoot. Yes, literally. Yes. She did. And so after she shot her dog, she went there. Right. And that's not a joke. It's an actual fucking fact. So they had these photo shoots and the US capitulates and they have. I'm not going to. I mean, like, yeah, I'm not going to let anyone off the hook here. This has been multiple administrations have allowed this to happen. If you're also if you're Salvadoran and American, you commit a crime. It can be a very small crime. And you're marked as a deportee back to Salvador. They will inform the government. Hey, there's someone who's a criminal coming back. They're coming back. They will meet them at the airport and immediately detain them. So the US government is like, check. Yes, we are effectively buying into this and every human rights organization and the UN have spoken out about this. Yeah. So CBS was a long time stalwart of American journalism. Yes, they were especially 60 minutes. Yeah, they were neutral fact finders. 60 minutes. We're just going to report on this on what's happening. It is not, you know, polarized opinion. It's very similar to our show. Exactly. Just like us, the same rigid standards. Three hours before air. CBS News announced it was pulling the segment, which was detailing Seacot, the conditions, how people are deported there and the government's sort of involvement and correspondent Sharon Alfonzi accused editor-in-chief Barry Weiss of pulling it for political reasons. Weiss claimed it wasn't ready for air. So it was very splashy, made a lot of headlines, but I also think a lot of people missed this. So the timing of this was very suspicious. Yeah. Trump recently attacked 60 minutes at the time that they pulled the segment. OK. So it was right before that. And this was, I mean, it's still happening, but this was at a time when he was really going after the networks. Do you remember this? And they were all threatening to slap them with fines. And they were all looking to save millions. And so they were all bending the knee. And many of them said they weren't going to do like really negative coverage. It was also filing lawsuits against them. Yeah. So Barry Weiss denied political motives, critics accused CBS leadership of censorship and anticipatory obedience with the Trump administration. Yeah. It's scary. It really, really is. We're we're in a bad, bad place, guys. I saw the play 1984, not to talk about all my live theater experiences at once, but I keep thinking about 1984, right? Like access to neutral facts is scarcer and scarcer. Yeah. People are getting information about our government from international sources. People are going to the BBC to find out what's happening here. Yeah. People are going to the Guardian to figure out what's happening in the US. I get comments on my videos all the time. Oh, they're reporting on this totally different in Canada. Not surprising. Scary. Really scary. That's not but not surprising. Not surprising at all. You were telling me when we were we were talking about Russia years ago and the war in Ukraine and you were telling me that there was this this this young man who was Russian but living in the Ukraine. And when the war in the Ukraine between Russia and the Ukraine started, he said that he was really surprised that his father, who was in Russia, had not reached out to see how he was doing. And then he reached out to his father and was like, why are you don't like? I haven't heard from you. Yeah, I haven't heard from you. And he was just like, but why? Why about what? About what? Right. And that just goes to show you like if a government decides that they don't want you to know about what's going on, they can set it up so that you don't know. I think that's happening with Iran in many ways. Like there was a I saw over the weekend, there was an article. The Times was reporting on all the buildings that Iran media says they blew up American military sites. And the US government was like, no, everyone's fine. Yeah, nothing bad is happening. Nothing to see here. Obviously, Iran is incentivized to say that they've done much more damage than they actually did, as what sort of the US government was saying. The Times, incredible reporting, cross referenced with international satellites, not American satellites. They looked at global satellite footage of all these sites and compared it to what Iran was saying happened. And it was true. Yeah, it was accurate. Right. Compared to the information the American government was sharing. And the problem with that, I mean, there are many problems with that. But if we are not able to trust what journalists in the United States are saying, how are you to make an informed decision when you're when you're at the polls? Truly, right? Because because that's where we're hearing a lot of stuff, right? Is through the news looking going on the Internet and hopefully accessing real news, not, you know, bob down the block, his fucking website. But how are people going to make decisions? If the information that we're getting is basically fairy tales? I don't know. And it's like truly the misinformation campaigns and tremendous. And the way that people still consume media and consume stories and trust it. I don't want to again, like I'm thinking about what AI bought is going to pick up this audio file and say immigration lawyer Michael says don't trust information like literally that's happened on some of my Tik Toks is like a fucking web crawler picks it up. And then they report on what I said and they never called me for a quote. They're like quoting the video. And it's like written by a robot. But the way people consume media, it is trust. And then later, if it's debunked question. And and I do think there has to be the shift to we kind of really do need to question what we're being told. I mean, I think especially when you think about again, going back to CBS, this idea that since Barry Wise has taken over, it does feel a little bit like I don't know that I want to watch CBS the way that I used to watch CBS. And this is why there were so many like Molly Zhong fast is an incredible journalist. She and many journalists were freaking out about this happening at CBS. I'm pulling this 60 minutes because CBS was one of the last few remaining neutral reporters. Everyone else has fallen to this polarized opinion going one way or another. Right. Yeah, reporting. And so they were weeks later, CBS aired the segment with only minor additions referencing government responses. So they eventually aired the whole thing. But after this whole drama, so it was originally set to air during this time when there was going to be a ton of viewerships because of the NFL game. And then they waited three weeks and aired it during a competing game on a different network to basically effectively bury it. And they didn't renew the contract of the reporter. I saw they didn't renew it. Yeah, they didn't renew it. So so she's basically fired. That's a short hand way of saying again. So what are we to do? Right. So a reporter who tried really hard to do really good work, detailed work. Yeah. Put all her energy into it, trying to report the facts. And she did that, which is what we want reporters to do, right? Yeah. And now she's out of a job. What the fuck? Yeah. Barry Weiss, what the hell? I mean, she will go down in history as the American censor. I know, but she she she doesn't care. She's no mintage. She's got her gold. Yeah, exactly. She doesn't care. She doesn't care. A government can censor journalists in like very specific instances. And there you have to go into an emergency hearing in front of a judge. And as prior restraints, you basically have to argue that the government would have to argue that this would jeopardize national security in some way that is imminent, like there's an actual operation happening and the soldiers will be at risk if this goes to air, which is not the situation. That doesn't matter at all. Right. This was just going to cause outrage about Trump's immigration policy, which it should. It should. Yeah. But that's not Barry Weiss's agenda. What is her agenda? I mean, my God, that's so. I mean, I mean, well, I mean, everything that I've read about her, you know, they keep on calling her MAGA coded, right? So that's her agenda. That's her agenda. Her agenda is to support this particular president, as opposed to being a an actual good news person, right? Her her agenda is to support this particular president because for whatever reason, she either agrees with him or whatever. And that's the problem is not that. Listen, there are many people who think the president has the right idea, right? And that's fine. You're entitled to do that. However, that should not stop you from doing the work that you're supposed to be doing. So if you're a doctor who is a sort of MAGA coded as well and thinks that abortion is murder, but you've got somebody in front of you who is going to die if she doesn't get one, yes, your obligation is to take care of that person. To do no harm, choose humanity, to do no harm. And that is not what's happening. I mean, and I don't I don't like saying this and I don't like feeling this way. This this feeling of like we are fucked. I'm not there yet, but I might be next week. You never know. I'm there right now. Let me put it this way. I feel like legacy media is dying in many ways. It has been slowly. This might be the death rattle. We don't know. I do see some hope for I hate saying this, but like the next generation, but also independent media. Like there are some people that I follow where I'm like, I really fucking trust this guy. Yeah. Or this person, I like did the research or I now have through the internet have access to this person who's a literal expert who does this every day. And I've talked a bit about how like I'm a little bit more ethical or I do more research on my videos before I post them because I'm like, oh, 30 percent of Gen Z gets their news from people like me on TikTok. And you know, and again, you're it's a platform that you have. You've got a really good following. You want to do your best, right? It's not it's it's you know, it's different if you're sort of goofing around or whatever. But you are trying to provide people with real information so that they can then take that information and hopefully do something good with it. Right. And at first I was like, oh, well, there's no like checks and balances keeping me making sure that I'm doing things the right way. But then I was like, there's none for legacy media. No. Right. And it's also you are your own. You should be your own checks and balances. Right. Honestly, my fans and people that follow me on my checks and balances, they clock me all the time and they're like, you're wrong on that. And I'm like, cool, issue correction or they're correcting me, correcting me in the comments and like people have access to that. Like, I do sort of love that. Yeah. Anyway, so this story was horrifying. Yeah. I mean, I think it's we're going to see more of this. You think Barry Weiss is going to get ousted? Do you think she'll get got? Not yet. No. Because I feel like probably the board. Yeah. Right. I mean, but you know what though? Actually, let me let me take that back. CBS is getting trounced in terms of ratings now. Right. People who used to watch the the evening news, the CBS, they're not anymore. Wow. I mean, I think people like seeing Tony DeCopal in the morning, but they don't trust him as much in the evening for whatever reason. That's so crazy. But it happens all the time. Do you know what I mean? Like sometimes you see somebody I'd rather see you sort of do morning TV and for some reason when you're in the evening. It's like fluffier. It's like less hard news. Yeah. I stopped watching Survivor. Because? It's on CBS. Oh, I never watched Survivor. Also, I didn't really feel like watching this season. Okay. I couldn't tell you anything about Survivor. Take a break. We'll come right back with all your burning questions from the DM. Sure. This is Tales From The DMs. These are all the questions that you send us to our show. You could send us a question at briefrecess.exactlyrightmedia.com. Friends, what do I always say? Michael is a lawyer, but he's not your lawyer. So shop around. Shop around. Shop around. Someone said you have jaundice. Yeah, I saw that. I responded to her. What did you say? I said that I didn't. You don't have jaundice. I don't have jaundice. It's like this red dot on my head. They were very concerned. That you have jaundice. Yes, very concerned. I mean, that's kind of nice. I guess. Or I mean. I mean, I don't think you look like you have jaundice. I mean, I don't know. Maybe. Well, I will say I've never clocked someone's jaundice before. I've never been at the club and been like, that's jaundice. You should see somebody. I've never done that. I did read something. Actually, this is so funny. Okay. This reminds me of the weirdest thing. This girl was talking about how she worked at Hooters. And these guys were like, you know, the guys who come to you, Hooters or Creeps. But this guy came up and he was like, hey, you don't have to go to me, but I'm a dermatologist. And there's a mole on your left booby. Okay. You should go get it checked out. Did she? And she did. And it was cancer. Oh, wow. See. And so he was like, I know, don't have to come to me. I'm not trying to get you alone. I'm not going to give you my card. Okay. But just go get that looked at. Yeah. So sometimes, I mean, you never know. You never know. I mean, I can't remember. There was a show on HGTV. Yeah. His name is Tark. And he used to be Meredith's woman, Christina. Anyway, he was on his show and there was a nurse watching. And she noticed something in his neck. And she said basically exactly that, listen, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think you should really go get this checked out. And he had cancer. He's better now. Wow. Yeah. Okay. We've got some crazy reviews to read. Are we going to read the ones where people are upset with you? Yeah, let's do it. It was one that I thought was really funny. He's never going to let her forget. At a time you kicked someone on the subway. I'm never going to let you forget. I know. It's fine. Because it's something I would do and you finally did it. So it's the only thing I can lord over you. He will never forget the boot subway emoji. So the boot subway emoji. Oh, this person said, not the Debbie Reynolds told you so dance. No, I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. Josie said Debbie Reynolds. Puma8653 said, smiled so big, trying not to belly laugh out loud on my morning commuter train. During your algorithm is showing that my AirPods fell out. Okay. When that happens, that sucks. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful. They're expensive. Killing in with the interviews lately. Afroman, Emily Almanza, Tim R. Love hanging out with you two and my way to work. Oh, thank you. I love that too. I love those interviews too. Afroman was wild. We actually didn't tell people BTS getting Afroman interview, which I didn't see and I did record a TikTok. Maybe I'll post this. Was the six of us in the studio trying to get that man on a Zoom link that we could record was wild. I've never seen so many people scurry. Yeah. Yeah. It was a scurry. It was a flurry of activity. And I get little updates from CJ in my ear of, so he, Afroman is pulled over on the side of the road. He can't access the Zoom link. He doesn't have a Zoom account. So we are trying to get him registered with Zoom right now. If you could just hold for a minute. But it all worked out. It all worked out great. But he talked about Jesus a lot. But he's not religious. There was this hysterical to me. That was the best part of it though. He'd be like, I'm not religious at all, but Jesus wept. Here's one that I nightcrawl on Instagram. My God, you never let her talk. Like we want to know more about the incident. Sis Unicorn says, yes, unfollowed him and following her instead. Jay Jonesom says, same, like shut up, dude. Tell us your little Ursula story once she's told hers. And I said to both, to all of them, thank you, you guys are the best. He can't help himself. You jumped into? It was about me. On my turncoat, my own friend. I'm not a turncoat. I said, I said, he can't help it. At two, Brutus. I love when people eat me up in the comments because I think people think that I. You think that people think what? That I'm watching my videos and I admire them. I'm also eating me up. Like I'm also like, fuck this guy. Like I'm also like you. You are cutting her off, Michael. Stop doing it. And it's because I'm so excited to talk to you. People come to the comments to read me. I'm there too. The call is coming from inside the house. It is. I mean, I think the other thing that people couldn't possibly know is that when you and I are alone and we're talking about stuff, we can never get to the end of anything. No. Do you know what I mean? It'll be like, oh, wait, let me circle back around and tell you this other thing. Yes. I don't. We are pretty chaotic in that way. I don't think either of us have ever told each other a full story. Not one sitting. Ever. No. And it's usually I call you after you be like, oh, I forgot to tell you this. Yeah. Oh, by the way, yeah. And it's worse. It's worse when Alyssa's involved. Well, because we're drunk. Well, you know what I think? The other day we were on this chat with another friend of ours. And then it was Alyssa's birthday. And then he was like, wait, you guys are all Tauruses. I was like, yes. And that's why it's chaos all the time. Remember when I think I got I think you got kind of drunk with Alyssa that one night. Do you remember that? It takes me like two sips. Two sips of wine. But I remember being like, Melissa is drunk. She is acting different. What was I saying? Was I acting crazy? You get even more opinionated. Like you're so like our responses to any stimuli question is like an opinion of a seven. Yes. You were an opinion of a 10. It was like rather than like, oh, it was, oh, like it was like everything is just amplified. Amplified. Melissa and HD. Yeah. Yeah. So that is a good time though. It is really fun. It's a good time. I took you to Boxers once. You and Alyssa, I took you to Boxers. Yes. And I am still convinced. I am still convinced that in the 90s, Boxers was another club. I'm sure it was. But like, but like the same kind of club. You guys don't understand the whole time we were at Boxers, a gay bar with shirtless men. Melissa's like, you know, this used to be a different bar. I can't remember the name for two hours. You know, I don't remember the name. I was googling it. Yeah. I was googling it. I texted an old friend of mine. Bronze lubed up bouncing pecs surrounding her. And she's googling what this establishment used to be in the 90s. Because I knew it used to be something. Everything was something else in the 90s. For sure. But like it was, I mean, I just thought it was interesting, Michael, that it was, it was a gay bar today and it was like the same gay bar last time in the 90s. A man with big bouncing double D's was doing pull-ups on a bar right in front of you. Yeah. And you were like, I think this used to be a TJ Maxx. This has been Brief Recess. Thank you everyone for watching and listening. Follow us on YouTube. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok. TikTok. Follow me home. Don't follow me home. Safe. No. You know I love attention. We'll see you next week right here. No, all attention is good attention, Michael. I heart exactly right media. And I'll see you in court. Not me. Because I'm suing you for stalking me. This has been an Exactly Right production recorded at iHeart Studios, hosted by me, Michael Foote. And me, Melissa Malbrunch. Our producer is CJ Ferroni. This episode was edited by Nicholas Gallucci. Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain and our guest booker is Patrick Cottner. Our theme song was composed by Tom Brievogel with artwork from Charlotte Delirio and Vanessa Lylak with photography by Brad Obono. Brief Recess is executive produced by Karen Kilgariff, Georgia Heartstark and Danielle Cramer. You can find me on Instagram at Department of Redundancy Department or on TikTok at Michael Foote. And I'm on both Instagram and TikTok as Melissa Malbrunch. Got legal questions? Reach out at briefrecess at ExactlyRightMedia.com. Listen to Brief Recess on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, we're a podcast with video. Search for Brief Recess on YouTube.