Sofa King Podcast

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Sofa King Classic: Nestle Jul 01, 2021

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Dave is visiting family this week so we are gonna throw some "Classics" your way. Thank you for your patience. On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we examine largest food corporation on the planet—Nestle. With over 400 factories spread through 194 countries, this company employs well over 300,000 people. Why do you want to learn about this corporation? Because they are regularly considered one of the worst corporations on earth and have been banned by over twenty countries since the 1970s for their corporate practices. So, what does Nestle do that is so wrong? Let’s start with slavery. From the Ivory Coast to Ghana and Indonesia, Nestle buys from suppliers who are said to support slavery and forced labor. The cocoa farms they source from are thought to have between 10,000 and 15,000 slaves who were bought from their parents and work for no money in a foreign country with no chance for freedom. There is also a long list of misdoings involving their sales of infant formula in the third world. They engage in marketing practices that oppose the World Health Organization’s guidelines and are blamed for the deaths of thousands of children due to dehydration, disease, and malnutrition. Then there’s the water. They drain aquifers around the world, often forcing people in poor areas to buy their own water back at a massive price hike. From deforestation to union busting, from assassination of labor leaders to poisoned dog food, this goliath of the corporate world is alleged to have done it all. If you want to know what products they own, how they operate, or why the CEO apparently thinks water is not a basic human right, tune in to this one.

A Sofa King Classic: Easter Island Jun 29, 2021

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On this Sofa King Podcast, we look at the history of the mysterious Easter Island, it’s massive stone statues, and the people who lived and died on the remote island. The island got its Western name from the fact that it was “discovered” by the Dutch on Easter Sunday (not very original, I know…), but many people call it Rapa Nui after Tahitian sailors gave it the name in the 1800’s. This island is 1600 miles from the Marquesa Islands and over 2000 from any other body of land, so the fact that it was settled back in Castle Times is a pretty amazing feat. The date range of when it was first settled by the natives is a topic of much debate, as are most dates and facts about this enigmatic island. Archaeologists disagree on about every fact you can imagine since the nature of the island and it’s dark history has all but erased every marker typically used to date the passing of time. What was so dark about the island’s history? Well, for one, it was plagued by the typical ills that came from the European influence on indigenous peoples—diseases, missionaires, and slavery wiping out the culture and the peoples. But before the Europeans had a chance to do this, they did it to themselves. They natives of Rapa Nui stripped the island bare of trees by building boats, houses, and moving the famous statues. This led to the loss of top soil, massive erosion, and a starvation and isolation unlike anywhere else on earth. And of course, what discussion of Easter Island is complete without a look at the Moai—the stone megaliths that are all over the landscape. With almost 900 of these ominous figures watching the ocean and the land, the place is filled with wonder. These statues are feats of engineering, masonry, and artistry, and theories of how they were build range from the simple to the complex and, of course, to theories of ancient aliens. Why did the natives spend so much of their time and resources devoted to these statutes? What was discovered when the bodies of the statue heads were unearthed? How did they move the statutes, and what makes the native folklore say they walked themselves into place? What exactly is the Birdman religion, and how was it celebrated by the hardcore people living on this bleak island? Listen, laugh, learn.

Episode 587: Phil Spector: On Music and Murder Jun 25, 2021

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life of one of the most influential music producers of all time, Phil Spector. He’s a murderer too, so if you’re into true crime, you can double dip on this one. Spector started his music career early with a #1 hit while he was still a teen ager back in 1958. By the age of 21, he was a millionaire and the producer of multiple chart topping hits. His big addition to the music industry was something called the Wall of Sound. It was a complex recording technique that counteracted the bad technology of 1960s AM Radio and juke boxes. It changed the entire music industry, and everyone from The Beach Boys to Bruce Springsteen used it. He produced Ike and Tina Turner as well as John Lennon and the Beatles. However, he was spiraling toward madness through it all. He pulled guns on musicians, got in a near death car crash and suffered head trauma, threatened girlfriends, and hid in his mansion. Eventually, he shot and killed Lana Clarkson in 2003 and was convicted of her murder. So, who all did he pull guns on? Why did Paul McCartney hate him? Where was he when he died of Covid-19? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/phil-spector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Spector https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/phil-spector-dead-obit-67459/ https://www.clashmusic.com/features/10-things-you-never-knew-about-phil-spector https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUJb9wxBWw4

Episode 586: KFC: Gunfights, Animal Abuse, and The Colonel Jun 22, 2021

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we grab ourselves a bucket and talk about Kentucky Fried Chicken. There is, of course, no KFC without Colonel Sanders, so that seems like a good start. The story of this massive restaurant chain is also the story of Harlan Sanders, given the honorary title of a Kentucky Colonel by two governors in his life time. He’s delivered babys, served in the US Army in Cuba, and once shot a man in a fight over a marketing billboard. Colonel Sanders started the restaurant game late in life and somehow transformed a gas station where he served fried chicken to the second largest fast food empire in the world. He was one of the pioneers of franchising, letting people use his recipe of 11 herbs and spices in exchange for a nickel per chicken sold. How did the chain get so big? How much did he sell his shares of the company for? Why did he and Kentucky Fried Chicken sue each other? Did a reporter uncover the secret original recipe? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/business-figure/colonel-harland-sanders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Colonel#Notable_Kentucky_colonels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_(U.S._honorary_title) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC KFC recipe revealed? Tribune shown family scrapbook with 11 herbs and spices - Chicago Tribune KFC recipe challenge: Tribune kitchen puts the 11 herbs and spices to the test - Chicago Tribune https://www.history.com/news/8-facts-real-colonel-sanders-kfc https://www.thebalancesmb.com/colonel-sanders-bio-kentucky-fried-chicken-story-1350966 https://www.mashed.com/99890/untold-truth-kfc/ https://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/index.php https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/30/kfc-admits-a-third-of-its-chickens-suffer-painful-inflammation https://global.kfc.com/press-releases/kfc-announces-new-global-chicken-welfare-guidelines

Episode 585: Battle of the Bulge: Near Arctic Warfare Jun 18, 2021

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On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the mother of all battles in WWII, the Battle of the Bulge. This was an offensive that lasted for six horrible weeks in the winter of 1944 and 1945. The allies had already launched D-Day and were trying to make their way to Berlin. Part of the plan was to send troops to Luxembourg and Belgium, but Hitler thought he saw a way to exploit this, cut off all allied armies, and force a surrender. The Battle of the Bulge became the costliest in all of WWII for the Americans. It is a story of men who had no equipment, no food, no fuel, and no winter clothing even though they were in near arctic conditions. But it was rough on both sides. All armies were exhausted and frozen, and the Nazis even had to rely on horses to move equipment. This battle has it all, from the noble actions of the 101st airborne, to the first desegregated black troops, to Nazis in disguise being forced to answer American trivia. You don’t want to miss it! Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-the-bulge https://www.army.mil/botb/ https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-the-bulge https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8580915/ww2-pictures-battle-bulge-horror-band-brothers/ https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-battle-bulge/ https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-the-bulge https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-battle-of-the-bulge

Episode 584: Tina Turner: Simply the Best Jun 15, 2021

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Queen of Rock and Roll, Tina Turner. She was born to very poor sharecroppers in 1939 and went through an abusive marriage and bankruptcy, but somehow, she survived it all. In fact, she emerged as one of the queens of the 1980s, earning hit after hit and Grammy after Grammy. Indeed, she produced some of the most iconic videos and songs of the 1980s. It all started when she met Ike Turner and joined his band. He was addicted to coke and bipolar, so the relationship was never all that great, but he helped coach her vocals, and they met success together. With their hit “Proud Mary” they became national names. After an abusive marriage and tumultuous divorce, however, Tina struggled to regain popularity. But when she did, there was no stopping her. So, what lead Tina Turner to try to commit suicide? How many Grammys did she win? Why did she change her name to Tina Turner? What made her quit the music business? Where is she now? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/tina-turner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Turner https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a35938829/where-is-tina-turner-now/ https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/tina-turner-queen-of-rock-roll-190581/ https://www.eightieskids.com/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-tina-turner/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKpISNtgJMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQnPz6TpGc https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/tina-turner/age-real-name-husband-children/

Episode 583: The Great Escape: Prisoners, Passages, and Pursuit Jun 11, 2021

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time and look at an interesting story from World War II. The Great Escape was immortalized in a 1963 Steve McQueen movie, but it is based on a real story where hundreds of allied airmen all pitched in to help some escape. The scene was Stalag Luft III, a Nazi POW camp for air force officers from all allied nations. It was a fairly relaxed camp compared to what many think of when a German war camp comes to mind. In 1943, RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bushell was transferred to Stalag Luft III after several escape attempts at other prisons. While there, he organized an audacious plan to set hundreds of prisoners free by digging not one, but three massive tunnels out of the complex at the same time. The ingenious nature of the prisoners, what items they stole or repurposed, the allies they found throughout Germany: all of it is pretty astounding. So, why were only 76 of the 200 able to get out of the prison that fateful night? What was the German response, and how many were rounded back up? What stopped all of them from being killed despite Hitler’s direct orders? How many fully escaped, and why did the Great Escape lead to war crimes trials years later? Listen, laugh, and learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.co.uk/article/the-true-story-of-the-great-escape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III https://www.history.com/news/remembering-the-great-escape-70-years-ago https://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/great-escape/index.html https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/five-myths-of-the-ww2-great-escape/

Episode 582: Rodney Dangerfield: Much Respect! Jun 08, 2021

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we give some respect to one of the greatest comedians to ever live—Rodney Dangerfield. He was a comedy staple in the 70s and 80s, appearing on The Tonight Show over 70 times after he squashed a beef with Johnny Carson. Keep in mind that doing that show even one time as a comedian could make your career. He then turned a small role in Caddyshack into a career-defining moment alongside Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, and he went on to star in Easy Money and Back to School along with other film classics. His persona of Rodney Dangerfield was fictitious. His legal name was Jack Roy (though he was born Jacob Cohen), and the Dangerfield name was taken from a comedy bit he saw as a young man. But the “No Respect” gimmick was what made him famous. He overheard it from a gangster, and he retooled all of his comedy to revolve around that one concept. It wasn’t a hard concept for him since his childhood was one of abuse and abandonment. In the end, he became a comedy legend who opened one of the most successful comedy clubs ever and was even a pioneer in the early days of the internet. So, give Rodney and SK some respect, and give this one a listen! Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/performer/rodney-dangerfield https://www.biography.com/news/rodney-dangerfield-i-dont-get-no-respect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Dangerfield http://www.rodney.com/ https://screenrant.com/rodney-dangerfield-best-roles-movies/ http://jackbenny.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=596

A Sofa King Classic: MK ULTRA Jun 04, 2021

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we put on our tinfoil hats and explore the conspiracy theory of MK Ultra. It turns out it wasn’t a conspiracy theory, so much as a conspiracy fact. MK Ultra was the CIA’s illegal attempt at behavior modification and mind control which officially ran from 1953 until 1973. Some say it is still running under a different name, but the official party line is that it was disbanded in the paranoid wake of the Watergate tapes. The fact that MK Ultra existed is incontrovertible and involved three senate hearings, a freedom of information act release that included 20,000 pages of documents about the CIA’s secret funding, and multiple reports filed by senate subcommittees and even the office of veteran’s affairs. So what did MK Ultra involve? The CIA funded experiments on various ways to control minds, alter perceptions, and get inside of people’s heads. They did this at 87 American universities, often without the knowledge of the subjects or the scientists (who didn’t know their funding was coming from the CIA). MK Ultra used LSD as a way to break people down, often dosing American citizens with the drug without their consent or knowledge through projects such as the accurately named Project Midnight Climax which used prostitutes to deliver the drugs in San Francisco. MK Ultra used a doctor named Donald Cameron who was president of the World Psychiatric Health Organization to work on a technique called Psychic Driving. What did it involve? Induced paralysis and then an audio loop that played thousands of times to try and break a patient’s personality down and replace it. Oh, and the patients were coming to him for things like post mortem depression and anxiety and had no idea this was being done to them! Find out about Subproject 54, which was a Naval Research project involving amnesia, and the case of Frank Olson. Olson (a biochemist employed by the CIA) was thought to have committed suicide in 1953, but an autopsy in 1994 that he was murdered with a blow to the head after being dosed with LSD. All of this is true, provable with congressional documents, and completely nuts. Of course, it gets crazier when the tin foil does come out, and a woman named Cathleen Ann O'Brien reveals details about an alleged MK Ultra subproject called Project Monarch. It involves George Bush, holograms, and lizard people. Oh, and it also involves Shia LaBeouf, Roseanne Barr, and Michael Jackson. No. I’m not kidding...

A Sofa King Classic: Illuminati Jun 03, 2021

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Another Sofa King Classic as we anticipate Daves return... We dig in to the conspiracy theories surrounding the Illuminati and their new world order. From the Bilderberg Group to the Freemasons, and from Bohemian Grove to space alien reptoids, we look at all the common ideas spread on the Internet about the Illuminati. We even look at the theories of the “Hop-Hop Illuminati” that supposedly rules rap music. Adult Content. NSFW.

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