Carol ReMarks
Carol reMarks on glamour, pop culture, and front-page news. Join me. I'm not a traditional podcast. Most of the time I am recording on-the-go with my iPhone voice memo app. Come along with me.
Carol ReMarks
Facing Fears, Family Secrets, and Gym Etiquette
What terrifies you more: scaly snakes, flapping bats, or sneaky rats? On this episode, we kick off with an exciting announcement about my upcoming appearance on Keith Malinak's YouTube live, joined by John from the Brutally Honest Podcast and Toby McAvoy. After encouraging you to subscribe to Keith's channel, we embrace the fear factor with Mr. Sean's question of the day. I confront my deep-seated fear of snakes, sharing some heart-stopping tales of my encounters with these slithering creatures. Then, we delve into the heartbreaking story of Jenny Phoenix, a Florida mom who sacrificed all her possessions for a dream cruise, only to face an unfair ban after privately expressing her frustrations.
Next, prepare to be captivated by the twisted tale of the Banfield family and their au pair, Magalese, caught in a web of alleged murder and self-defense. We unpack the prosecutor's dark theories involving Magalese and Brendan Banfield and a shocking narrative that sounds straight out of a crime thriller. Shifting from the sinister to the strategic, we highlight a high-stakes Israeli intelligence operation involving explosive-rigged pagers against Hezbollah. To wrap things up on a lighter note, I chat about gym self-filming etiquette, recounting my own experience of capturing a back squat PR attempt while being considerate of fellow gym-goers. Thank you for tuning in, and I truly appreciate your continued support! Don't miss our next session.
Exit bumper Not A Democracy Podcast Network made by @FuryanEnergy
Tip Jar for coffee $ - Thanks
Blog - Carol ReMarks
X - Carol ReMarks
Instagram - Carol.ReMarks
Facebook Page - Carol ReMarks Blog
Hello, good morning, welcome one and all. I'm excited we're going to start with the question of the day. Well, sort of. First, I need to tell you that I am going to be on Keith Malinak's YouTube live this Friday. That would be the day after tomorrow. Go subscribe to his YouTube channel and turn on the little bell notification so you will, you know, be notified on your phone when we are live. You know so, if you're doing your chores or whatever, and you look down and see a notification from your phone, you're like, hey, let me tune in. It will be me and John from Brutally Honest Podcast and Toby McAvoy Looking forward to it. I'm super excited.
Speaker 1:I took off work, I took PTO from work so I could go home and do this. So when Keith asked me to do this, I knew it. I said yes, I will make time. All right, question of the day. I love it because Question of the day. I love it because Mr Sean's submitted a question of the day and you guys are way more clever than I am, and I love it. When you give me questions of the day or when you ask me anything, I love it. Or when you suggest a topic, I love it, yes, alright. So Mr Sean's question of the day is which do you dislike or fear the most Rats, bats or snakes?
Speaker 1:My answer is snakes, straight up. I can handle some rats. Even though I don't like them, I'd say I can handle them. I'm still going to be afraid of them, of course, I still don't want them near me, but it's not going to put the fear of God. You know, they're like gross, get away from me, I'll kill them. But and then bats, I don't really, I don't know. I think I don't know. I haven't really encountered a lot of bats. I really haven't encountered a lot of rats either, quite frankly. And but snakes, oh no, snakes will put me out. I've never fainted in my entire life. But I think and I've been I've seen snakes, I've been around snakes, I've seen them, but I've never fainted. Oh, but, oh, my God, I think I would have a straight up freaking heart attack if I came any kind of close encounters with one. But that would surprise me. Now, if we're going to an like a zoo and there's a, you know, there's a reptile display or something like that, and I see them and I know that I'm going to see them, I'm not going to have a heart attack. But if, oh, I can't even imagine if I accidentally walked up on one and, uh, or something I don't know. No, so my answer is snakes. Oh no, I can't do the snakes.
Speaker 1:So, great question of the day. Um, I love it. Which do you fear the most, rats, bats or snakes? And I know this one girl I used to work with. She had she's a great girl, but she, she brought in her pet snake and set up an aquarium in her office, okay, and I'm like, oh, uh, and she, she would always say, oh, that's an irrational fear. Well, it may be an irrational fear to her, it's not irrational to me. I have the fear and therefore it's real.
Speaker 1:Okay, we're going to move on to the topics. But thank you, mr Shons, for that question of the day. I love it. Please feel free to send me more All right, or topics or any kind of questions. All right, I should probably bring back. Ask Carol, anything, all right, we have one, two, three, four topics today and we are going to start with. Let me think, where do I want to start so that I end in a sort of light mood. Oh gosh, okay, here we go.
Speaker 1:We're going to start with Florida mom, jenny Phoenix, booted from her dream three-year cruise over a WhatsApp messages after selling her possessions. This is kind of a long, involved story. I'm going to try to keep it. I say long and involved. Basically, she sold her possessions. She wanted to go on this cruise. The cruise kept getting delayed, so she started complaining to the other guests on the WhatsApp messaging thing and I guess they didn't like it and they didn't like it towed on her and so she was booted off the cruise and I can't stand that. I can't stand that a florida mom who uprooted her entire life for a luxurious three-year-long cruise around the world was allegedly banned from the ship's owner after her private messages with gripes about the voyage was leaked and were impacting community morale. I want your, my gosh this stupid ad just popped up Go away, all right. So Jenny she's 68 years old Reportedly took umbrage with multiple alleged issues on the ship, like an apparent four-month delay to even set sail and a WhatsApp message is that eventually made their way to the vessel's owner.
Speaker 1:This sounds like, I guess, a private uh ship. It's not like a cruise line, like celebrity or disney line or whatever during that, because it doesn't. I don't think it mentions what the ship is. I think it's a private one. During the past year and a half, I have liquidated businesses and possessions, eagerly awaiting my new life cruising the world. This is a three-year cruise we're talking about y'all. I've never heard of such a thing.
Speaker 1:The divorced mother of two had been living out of a suitcase since December as she waited to board the. Here we go. Here's the name of it the Villa, villa Vi, odyssey's maiden voyage. Maiden voyage Okay, that means it's the first ever. Is that right? Is that what that means? Yes, I know, I was in the Navy, uh, the first.
Speaker 1:She first arrived in southampton, england, in may, expecting to embark on the years long voyage on the 15th, but the ship was moved to belfast, ireland, where guests were told they'd set sail on the 30th. Already it's. It's messed up. She flies to a different country expecting to board the ship and then they're like no, we're going to board over in Ireland instead of England. That would piss me off right there.
Speaker 1:However, more problems were discovered on the Villa Vodice while dry docked, which further delayed its voyage. The ship's certifications expired as it sat idle for four years during the COVID-19 pandemic. That damn COVID Forcing the owners of the ship to start. Oh my gosh, another damn ad, sorry. Oh my gosh. Oh, come on, I've lost my place. Bear with me while I go back and find this damn story. I apologize y'all. Here we go. We got the reader view now, all right, so it expired. We got the reader view now, all right, so it expired. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:Her frustration grew further when the ship changed its itinerary and revealed it would no longer dock in Miami where she planned to pick up the rest of her belongings. Phoenix was also told that after the trip was underway, she would have to use a temporary cabin, as the crew was still using the one she booked for the three-year-old adventure. All right, so she's booked this three-year cruise. I would expect that she probably received information about where it's going, when it's going to board, when it's going to leave, where you're going, what cabin you have. So it's already planned correct. Well, now everything's changing at the last minute. She flies to England, it's not going to board there, it's going to board in Ireland. So I guess she flies to Ireland I don't know if she did that or not and then they changed its itinerary of where it's going and when it's going, so now she can't pick up her stuff in Miami. These people have planned for this because it's a three years cruise and now they're saying she can't even use the cabin that she booked. What, yeah, I'd be pissed off too.
Speaker 1:Phoenix was also told that after the trip was under okay, blah, blah blah the 68 year old voiced her concerns over the sudden changes to fellow passengers and a whatsapp group over the developments. I think I would too, to see if anybody else was, you know, upset. What could they do about it? Phoenix then received a notice from the owners of villa vile stating her reservation had been canceled for behavior impacting community morale. This is setting a bad example. Why can't you complain? I would be complaining too. I've uprooted my life to do this. I mean, I personally I wouldn't do it, but if people like, if people want to do that, that's their prerogative, they can do that. Then if everything changes, I don't know, and I would be upset too. I'd be bitching about it too.
Speaker 1:You can go read the rest of that story. It reminds me of the, the food truck race that we recently watched that. You know we watch food network a lot and we like to watch like the next food truck race every once in a while they have that on. We like to watch the competitions and all there and everything. Well, one of the food trucks noticed that another food truck was doing something supposedly illegal and whatever. But I guess, instead of going to the producers, they went to the other food trucks, you know, but it's a competition, that's what it's called a competition. They went to the other food trucks, you know, but it's a competition, that's what it's called a competition. They went to the other food trucks to, you know, to see what was happening. And the other food trucks were like oh, we don't like you, you're telling on the other truck, blah, blah, blah, so we don't like you. Oh, okay, I'm moving on, sorry, all right, virginia, this is a weird one. Now you're going to have to stay with me on this one because it gets confusing.
Speaker 1:Virginia husband Brendan Banfield, indicted for love triangle, double slaying of wife, fetish-seeking, stranger, a year after his Brazilian au pair was charged. Okay, this is a long, involved story. I'm going to try to keep it precise and cut out all the non-necessary fluff or whatever. The Virginia husband entangled in a bizarre love triangle with his wife and their Brazilian au pair has been charged with the murders of his wife and a fetish-seeking man inside the couple's mansion on an elaborate scheme. So already there's one, two, three, four. There's four people involved. There's the couple, there's the au pair and then there's the strange man. So Brendan Banfield is the husband of this couple, is accused of fatally stabbing his wife, christina Christine Banfield, accused of fatally stabbing his wife, christina Christine Banfield, and shooting Joseph Ryan, 38, during an early morning love triangle double slaying on February 24th. So we have Ryan is the strange man with the fetish, all right, and then we have Brendan and Christine are the married couple.
Speaker 1:The Banfields were married and living in the home with their au pair, juliana Piers Magalese. So we'll call the au pair Magalese because they refer to her as Magalese throughout the article. Magalese is the au pair and their four-year-old daughter at the time of the murders. All right, there's a four-year-old daughter involved, the 39-year-old IRS investigator and Magalese. So I guess this, the 39-year-old IRS investigator, I guess that is the husband. That is Brendan Banfield, the 39-year-old IRS investigator, and Magalese.
Speaker 1:The au pair allegedly shot Ryan the strange man right au pair allegedly shot Ryan the strange man right. Is that is Ryan the strange man, because they keep changing the name. Yes, so Ryan is the strange, strange man who had been summoned to the couple's million dollar Herndon home through a sexual fetish online site. So the couple went to the online, ordered this guy to come to their house this Ryan guy, alright. So let me read that paragraph again, now that we know who the players are the 39-year-old IRS investigator and Magalese, the au pair, allegedly shot Ryan, who had been summoned to the couple's million-dollar home, herndon home, through a sexual fetish online site. Magalese, the au pair, then 23 years old, told investigators that she and Banfield had walked in on Ryan attacking a naked Christine. Banfield, as her employer shot at the intruder. She's accused of taking the fatal shot.
Speaker 1:So the au pair walked in on this strange man who was ordered from the website Ryan. He was apparently attacking the wife of the couple, so the au pair, they walked in on him. The au pair shot him. That's the story. That's the story. When police arrived at the mansion, they found Ryan dead the strange man from a gunshot wound, while Christine Banfield was suffering from stab wounds. Christine is the wife that apparently this guy was attacking. She was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead. So now we have the dead wife and the dead strange man from the website okay, wife. And the dead strange man from the website Okay, magalese is claiming self-defense.
Speaker 1:But prosecutors, but prosecutors. Allege that the entire episode was a ruse orchestrated by Magalese to get rid of Christine. Okay, they maintain the belief that Ryan was a dupe lured into the sordid plot. Oh gosh, so I'm guessing that this Mr Banfield and the all pair were having an affair, so they created this. But they're already in like a weird situation anyway. So why? Why would you go to the length? I don't know. Prosecutors have previously revealed that ryan had made plans to show up at the home. Prosecutors have previously revealed that ryan had made plans to show up at the home with a user who went by the name of anastasia on the.
Speaker 1:Now I'm confused. On the sexual dating site fet life really there's a such a thing, there is such a beast. I'm spending way too long on this damn story. I got two more stories to go through, excuse me. The profile. The profile pictured a petite woman in a one-piece bathing suit. Investigators said there was no evidence to suggest Christine Banfield ever created the profile to or knew about its existence, but have not revealed who made it.
Speaker 1:I'm confused. We need to move on. I will go back and if please go read this and if you can figure out and tell me what it's about, please do. I'm going to go and read it later, but we need to move on. I have two more things I want to talk about. The pagers.
Speaker 1:The Hezbollah attack came from budapest rigged with one to two ounces of explosives. This is all over the internet, y'all this, and everybody is loving it, and I am too. The pagers that went off on the hezbollah terrorist people well, israeli was. The israel was involved, apparently, and and my husband and I were talking about this yesterday how did they do that? Well, and I hypothesized about it and sure enough, I was right. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1:The pagers that blew up in a highly coordinated and deadly attack against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon Tuesday came from Budapest and were rigged with as little as one to two ounces of highly explosive material. According to a report, they're going to tell us what the highly explosive material is. I cannot pronounce it, so when I get there, I'm just going to say explosive material. The devices all exploded simultaneously Tuesday after receiving a message that triggered the detonation, killing at least nine people, including an eight-year-old girl, and wounding nearly 3,000 more. Among those injured was Iran's ambassador to Lebanon.
Speaker 1:Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that the US has designated a terrorist organization, ordered more than 3,000 of the latest models from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, most of them being the company's AP924 model. I guess they have to put that in there. American and other officials, briefed on the operation, told the New York Times Gold Apollo said Wednesday it authorized its brand on the pagers but claimed that a company in Hungary manufactured them. The shipment, however, was allegedly intercepted by Israeli spy agency Mossad five months ago, and rigged with this is the explosive material content. I can't pronounce a highly explosive material. Sources told Sky News that is incredible. This is an involved operation and good for them. They were implanted with as little as one to two ounces of the explosive, allegedly placed next to each battery, along with a switch that could be triggered remotely to cause detonation, the official said. According to the Times, the pagers all received a message around 3.30 pm local time that appeared as though it was being sent from Hezbollah's leadership. The official said the message caused the battery's temperature to overheat, which triggered the switch and activated the explosives. Incredible, think about that. They had to have been tracking this. They, they, they ordered. This group ordered these pagers, so israeli spies intercepted this order and then you know they had to quickly implant all of the all of the pages with this stuff. It's it's incredible. It's incredible. Good for them all, right. This next one, this stuff, it's incredible, it's incredible. Good for them All right. This next one is kind of it's very light but it's kind of controversial. I guess and I need your opinion on this Jim's controversial rule to ban members from filming themselves has sparked global crackdown.
Speaker 1:An Aussie gym owner who controversially banned members from filling themselves working out has sparked widespread industry change as other fitness facilities around the world followed suit. Founder and owner of the Melbourne-based Doherty's Gym, tony Doherty, opened up about the aftermath of his decision to stop members from recording their fitness routines after noticing his gym became a circus. After completely outlawing tripods in all Doherty's gyms there are three in Melbourne and one in Perth back in February, mr Doherty has now opened up about the effects of his decision had on the fitness industry. He said honestly, the tripods were doing my head in. I don't understand that. I guess he said one day I went into the gym and there were seven people using tripods in one room and I'm like I need to wrap the thing up and wrap it around someone's head. So he's banned the people filming themselves in their gym. What? And it's apparently it's a controversial decision.
Speaker 1:What do you think about that? The gym that I apparently sometimes go to? Apparently I do have a membership somewhere. I probably need to go in and cancel it because I really don't go there anymore. But winter time is coming, winter is coming, so I may go back, uh, because it will get cold in my garage. Uh, but I really don't see anybody filming themselves in the in my gym when I go. So that's a good thing. And, uh, transparency.
Speaker 1:I have filmed myself in the gym before, but it wasn't, it wasn't like an all day thing, it was. I didn't use a tripod, it was for a back squat. That I did. I wanted to film my PR and I wanted to film my, my form, my taking my form. So I just set my phone up out of the way and it wasn't bothering anybody, it wasn't like it was a CrossFit gym, so we were doing these things on our own, uh, and I just did it, just did it. It took like three minutes to do. So I have done that before and I think I even have a picture of it, a still picture of it. Anyway, I've gone on way too long. Thank you all for listening. I appreciate you and I hope you've enjoyed the topics. I know I went way too long on some of them. Gotta go and I will be back again tomorrow. Thanks for listening.
