Doomed Planet

#091: Billionaire owner of trailer parks and destroyer of newspaper worlds Sam "the grave dancer" Zell has taken his last ride. PLUS: Podcast shoutout to Ironweeds out of Troy, New York. One of the hosts is the author of The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America. ALSO: Anti-abortion goblin Mark Gietzen lost his right to life in a plane crash.

#090: Journalist Robert Evans of the Behind the Bastards podcast probably won't ever do an episode about the late Clear Channel Communications founder Lowry L. Mays because Evans sold his podcast empire to iHeartMedia, formerly known as Clear Channel Communications. A wise man does not bite the (posthumous) hand that feeds him. In this episode I throw shade on right wing Christian Texas billionaire and radio homogenizer Lowry L. Mays while showering appreciation on controversial writer, activist and podcaster Robert Evans. Much of the iHeartMedia-sponsored left-leaning content Evans produces nowadays would make Lowry L. Mays turn over in his grave, and that is cool news.

#89: Private equity billionaire Thomas H. Lee is best known for buying and flipping Snapple, a sugary tea brand, and working with Wall Street ghoul Mitt Romney to acquire Dunkin Donuts. He profited from an investment in Aramark, which provides food services to prisons. Lee (was) living proof that Wall Street is predatory, parasitic and inhuman.

#088: Red-nosed robber baron J.P. Morgan chain smoked eight inch cigars and ate three dozen oysters every morning. PLUS: Ray Dolby made a billion bucks using his great brain (and money-loving heart) to revolutionize the music industry. Do his heirs who now control the family fortune pay their fair share in taxes?

#087: Olivia Hayle has made millions of dollars selling her formulaic billionaire romance novels on Amazon. This is her smutty story.

#086: Our Bad Billionaires series continues with a peek at union-buster, misunderstander of basketball, irritating neighbor and producer of crappy coffee Howard Schultz. The great Seattle SuperSonics player Gary Payton once said that "Howard Schultz doesn't know sh*t about basketball." Schultz also doesn't know sh*t about being a decent human being.

#085: Special guest Graffiti Teen joins us to discuss Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's misguided, performative battle against graffiti, how African-American themed murals in the Central District are window dressing for real estate developers, the arrest of EAGER and SATN, and Banksy's pro-NATO propaganda.

#084: On February 3rd a train derailed in East Palestine Ohio, catching fire and spilling hazardous chemicals. Three days later officials released vinyl chloride from the wreck in a "controlled burn." The disaster thrust Mayor Trent Conaway into the media spotlight, where he was caught between angry citizens and multiple government agencies insisting the town's water was safe to drink. In a stunt reminiscent of Obama's sip of Flint, Michigan water Conaway, Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel, the Police Chief and Congressman Bill Johnson drank East Palestine faucet water. Conaway, a Trump supporter, is in way over his head.

#083: The Wild World News podcast network headquarters is located dangerously close to Seattle's Hillman City neighborhood - developed by lifelong bunco artist Clarence Hillman. During his scammy life Hillman ripped off countless gullible investors in Seattle and Southern California. He briefly served time in the notorious McNeil Island Prison, but was pardoned by President Howard Taft.

NOTES: We talked about McNeil Island in episode #3 - Sex Offender Island. https://doomedplanet.libsyn.com/sex-offender-island

Hillman City is adjacent to Columbia City, partially developed by another scammy bunco guy - Craig Dieffenbach, the subject of episode #30 - Seattle Scam Artist Craig Dieffenbach. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/seattle-scam-artist-craig-dieffenbach/id1489888555?i=1000477816143

Check out our new podcast: Bad Billionaires! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-billionaires/id1663331620

#82: Genial TikTok star Taylor LeJeune, who achieved fame by posting junk food consumption videos, died of a heart attack on January 11th. Taylor, known as Waffler69, lived in rural Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the USA, was obese, and had no teeth. Heart disease ran in his family.

ALSO: Why fame will be fleeting for all TikTok stars, especially Cuttheactivist - a boozing comedian with a drinking problem that is no joke, and Nate Petroski - an off the grid homesteader with a $2500 espresso maker and a sponsorship from DoorDash.