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1:07

Hello, and welcome to hysteria.

1:09

I'm Erin Ryan, and I'm Alyssa Mastro

1:11

Monaco. Let's less than a week

1:13

left to vote. Let's start with some piping hot

1:15

spot to get us to the finish line. k?

1:18

Whose vote are you going to cancel out

1:20

with yours? whose boat am I gonna

1:22

cancel out? You know whose boat I'm gonna cancel

1:24

out? The person who tailgated me

1:27

the other day and screamed out the window,

1:29

cried liberal tears. That person Oh,

1:32

cut. Yeah. Cancel the fuck out of that vote.

1:34

Yeah. Cancel. What about you? I'm

1:36

personally cancelling out Rick Caruso's

1:38

vote. Oh, that feels

1:40

good. Yeah. That's my personal mission. That's

1:43

who I'm gonna picture. When I go vote,

1:45

I'm canceling out Rick Karuso specifically

1:48

by voting for Karen Bass from Miravalin. This

1:53

week, we are joined by Amanda Nguyen

1:56

and Meghan Gaylee to tackle the following

1:58

questions. What's next for affirmative

1:59

action? Can we ever forgive

2:02

the Covidiots? Why do the people

2:04

who say they love the flag the most? seem to

2:06

have the least idea how to treat the

2:08

flag. All this and more

2:10

right now. Alright,

2:12

Alyssa. Let's get to the most important story

2:14

in the news. I have been awake since

2:17

about two in the morning, some

2:19

bullshit right there. It sucks.

2:21

I'm really running on fumes right now.

2:23

I cannot wait until we're done

2:26

doing this so I can take a nap.

2:27

Let me be your feet. Are

2:31

you it was then that I carried

2:32

you in me. Yeah. Totally

2:34

come on. You're like the one set of footprints

2:37

on the but I recognize that you they're

2:39

your footprints because they are clogs. Like,

2:41

there is one set of clog footprints on

2:43

the beach. Little barney rubble

2:46

feet just right beside you? Well,

2:48

I'm very lucky to have you at

2:51

my side per usual, but especially today

2:53

because I'm not doing great.

2:55

But let's start the real news with

2:57

some encouraging sound. And

2:59

so what I'm worried about is

3:01

that the rule that you're advocating that

3:04

in the context of holistic review process

3:06

of university can take into

3:08

account and value all

3:11

of the other background and personal

3:13

characteristics of other applicants,

3:16

but they can't value race. What

3:18

I'm worried about is that that seems

3:20

to me to have the potential

3:23

of causing more of an equal

3:25

protection problem than it's actually solving.

3:27

And the reason why I get to that

3:30

possible conclusion is

3:32

thinking about two applicants who

3:34

would like to have their family backgrounds

3:37

credited in this applications

3:40

process, and I'm hoping get your reaction to

3:42

this hypothetical. The

3:44

first applicant says, I'm from North Carolina.

3:48

My family has been in this area for generations

3:51

since before the civil war, and I would

3:53

like you to know

3:55

that I will be the fifth generation

3:58

to graduate from the

4:00

University of North Carolina. I

4:02

now have that opportunity to

4:04

do that. And given my family background,

4:07

it's important to me that I get to

4:09

attend this university, I want to honor my

4:11

family's legacy by going to this

4:13

school. The second

4:15

applicant says, I'm from North Carolina.

4:18

My family's been in this area for generations

4:20

since before the civil war, but they were

4:22

slaves and never had

4:25

a chance. to attend this venerable

4:27

institution. As an African

4:29

American, I now have that opportunity

4:32

and given my family family background,

4:34

it's important to me. to attend

4:36

this university. I wanna honor

4:39

my family legacy by going

4:41

to this school. Now

4:43

as I understand your no

4:46

race conscious admissions rule,

4:48

these two applicants, would have

4:50

a dramatically different opportunity to

4:52

tell their family stories and

4:54

to have them count. The

4:56

first half Kent would be able to have his

4:58

family background considered and valued by

5:00

the institution as part of its consideration

5:03

of whether or not to admit him, while the

5:05

second one wouldn't be able to. because

5:07

his story is, in

5:09

many ways, bound up with his

5:11

race and with the race of his

5:14

ancestors. So I wanna know

5:16

based on how your rule would likely

5:19

play out in scenarios like that,

5:21

why excluding consideration

5:24

of race in a situation in which the person

5:26

is not saying that his race is something

5:28

that has impacted him

5:30

in a negative way. He just wants to have

5:32

it honored. just like the other person

5:35

has their personal background family

5:37

story honored. Why is telling

5:39

him no, not an equal protection

5:42

violation?

5:43

You just heard Supreme Court

5:45

Justice, Catanji Brown Jackson,

5:48

asking some questions, talking during

5:50

the case before these supreme court that can make

5:52

affirmative action in college admissions

5:53

illegal. So on one hand, it's

5:55

great

5:55

to have you on the court justice Jackson.

5:57

love listening to her.

5:59

She's

5:59

great. But on the other,

6:02

this is not

6:03

a great not a great yikes. moment

6:06

in American history. And

6:08

she does raise an interesting point. You know what? Think

6:10

people who descended from slave owners just straight

6:12

up shouldn't be allowed to go to college.

6:14

I mean, well, they shouldn't be able to use it as

6:16

bragging rights. That's for damn sure. Nope.

6:19

Nope college. I'm gonna take the stream position.

6:22

You're a hard liner, Erin. You're hard liner.

6:24

If your great

6:25

great great great great grandparents were, like,

6:27

plantation owners like Leonardo De

6:29

Caprio's character, and mango

6:31

unchained, your descendants are not

6:33

allowed to go to college. That's fine. You know,

6:35

fine. It's fine. Doesn't affect me?

6:37

No. Does it affect me either? I think we

6:40

were more What's the line from thirty rock

6:42

that Jack uses

6:43

to just, like, we were more, like,

6:45

cleaning, farming people. cleaning

6:47

farming people.

6:48

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway,

6:50

let's get to what this case is about to do. I'm

6:52

sure on strict scrutiny, they're they're talking

6:54

about this in-depth. Yes. So if

6:56

you want some really smart legal analysis

6:58

by some really smart legal brands, definitely

7:00

check out strict scrutiny. But we're gonna

7:02

give you a quick rundown on what

7:04

the case is about

7:05

and what's probably gonna happen.

7:07

So on October thirty first,

7:10

there were about five hours of oral argument.

7:13

What? Okay. Real quick, Talk and talk

7:15

and talk and talk and talk. So many

7:17

hours of oral argument. Right? What's gonna

7:19

happen when we start getting millennial supreme court

7:21

justices who like have to go five

7:23

hours without looking at their phones. Like,

7:25

are they gonna have to I don't know.

7:28

They're gonna need phone breaks. Maybe they're each

7:30

they're gonna be able to twitch stream each

7:32

of their like, you're using words,

7:34

I don't know. Oh, okay. Well,

7:36

this is

7:38

the

7:38

generational device. So five

7:40

hours of oral argument on Halloween, there

7:43

were challenges to Harvard

7:45

University and the University of North Carolina's

7:48

policy to consider race

7:50

as a factor in their respective

7:53

admission processes. As

7:55

this ruling will probably come down next

7:57

spring, right now it looks like there's a

7:59

comfortable majority

7:59

to overturn forty four

8:02

years of

8:03

precedent and make it

8:05

so that race

8:06

can no longer be considered a factor

8:08

in college admissions.

8:09

What

8:11

do you make of this, Alyssa? Well,

8:13

you know, Erin, you know, it's it's

8:15

funny. one, I listened to as

8:17

much of the

8:19

or arguments

8:19

as I could. If

8:21

you look back to nineteen seventy eight

8:24

when the first case was decided, I mean,

8:26

affirmative action has been upheld

8:29

every time by one vote. So

8:32

it's not shocking

8:34

that we're in this place now. I

8:38

think what is shocking and I think

8:40

it was justice Kagan who first made the point,

8:42

but then Sonia Sotomayor

8:45

and justice Tanya Brown Jackson also

8:47

piled on, that for a court full

8:49

of conservative, originalist, they're

8:51

kind of completely ignoring the fourteenth

8:53

amendment. And, like,

8:55

how this would

8:57

impact

8:58

equal protection and I think

9:01

it was dollyolithic who had written

9:03

that basically if you take the sum

9:05

total of the framing of the conservative

9:08

justices, It basically be could

9:10

be described as like looking

9:13

at brown versus board of education and

9:16

saying that it was correctly decided

9:18

not because it gave protections

9:21

to black children to obtain a good education

9:24

and equal education. but because it

9:26

freed both black and white children

9:28

from racial classifications. Like,

9:32

I don't know what they are

9:35

I just think it's fucking hypocritical. You

9:37

know what I mean? Like, I it's just it's fucking

9:39

hypocritical. You're an originalist when

9:41

you wanna be and you are a petty

9:43

bitch as Alito and Thomas

9:45

and Gorsech. Some of their quotes, Erin,

9:48

blew my mind. Oh, can I read you

9:50

one of Thomas's real quick? At least, I

9:52

have a couple and you I see we have seven

9:55

I knew that we would both hone in on the very pettiness

9:57

Right. That is afforded to

9:59

us. Right. Go go ahead with Thomas. First

10:02

of all, the geniuses who designed our country

10:04

just decided that putting a herd of

10:06

dorky turtles in charge of

10:08

the legal system and having no checks

10:11

for them was a great call.

10:13

I'm starting to think that a bunch of

10:17

eighteen to thirty year old tax

10:19

dodgers might not

10:21

have designed

10:22

the most foolproof system

10:25

of government. Like, it had a good run. Sounds

10:27

about right. It had a good run, but we're kind of

10:29

like getting to the point in the monopoly game

10:31

when one person owns, like, all

10:33

of the fancy properties and everyone is like, can

10:35

we just can we stop fucking playing this

10:37

game? The only person who likes to play it? Yeah.

10:40

Key Park place. Let me get back to my life.

10:42

Like, I'm tired of playing monopoly and then you're

10:44

like, that's the moment when you realize your friend that owns

10:46

all the property, but it's like, no. Keep playing. is

10:48

a sociopath and you're like, okay. Okay.

10:52

So back to what Justice thought, I told you I was

10:54

loopy today, Alyssa. Yeah. But we're doing

10:56

it. We're doing it. We're getting it done. Sure. His

10:58

first question for UNC's lawyer

11:00

Ryan Park was, I've heard the word

11:02

diversity quite a few times and I don't

11:04

have a clue what it means. It

11:07

seems to mean everything for everyone.

11:09

What? That's like a Ron Burgundy

11:11

style quote. Well, you know what? Not

11:13

even Ron Burgundy would go on to

11:15

say that Jim Crow an affirmative actioner

11:18

is somewhat indistinguishable. Okay.

11:21

It's extremely rich coming

11:23

from the person who was appointed

11:26

after a search for a black

11:28

conservative justice after

11:30

Thurgood Marshall left the court. Yeah.

11:32

Like, he was picked by

11:35

the original George Bush -- Yep. -- specifically

11:37

perfect me

11:38

because he was the black republican.

11:42

he was, like, woefully underqualified. He

11:45

honestly look. Is he the Hershel

11:48

Walker of the Supreme Court? He's the

11:50

Hershel Walker of the Supreme Court. Just as Clarence

11:52

Thomas, I think that he thinks

11:54

affirmative action is bad because he realizes

11:56

deep down that he is the worst

11:59

Supreme Court justice ever. And

12:01

the reason that has his job

12:04

is because conservatives wanted

12:06

somebody like him to

12:08

do their bidding. Yeah. And

12:11

it's gross to be frank.

12:13

Amy Coney Barrett, same thing,

12:15

was picked for the Supreme Court because she's a

12:17

woman. after Ruth Bader Ginsburg

12:19

died, I think that that

12:22

that the former president thought that it

12:24

would be a great way to own the lips Oh, totally.

12:26

By appointing Ruth Bader

12:28

Ginsburg's ideological

12:30

female opposite to

12:33

replace her.

12:35

But

12:35

yeah, I would love to hear you talk little bit

12:37

more about some good quotes because I wanted to get

12:39

into, like, our our girl, Kagan. Oh,

12:42

no. The only other one I heard that I really

12:44

just felt to need flag here was

12:46

justice Alito. Who

12:47

wouldn't it? He's he's Italian. Like,

12:49

the original framers of the constitution

12:52

would be like, At Helen -- Yeah.

12:54

Yeah. -- and Catholic shut up

12:56

Alito. But apparently, he threw

12:58

some bomb where he said

13:00

that, you know, We

13:03

have to protect against things like Elizabeth

13:05

Warren using quote unquote family

13:08

lore to say that she is of native American

13:10

heritage.

13:11

like, your supreme court justice,

13:13

you're trying to maintain that the court

13:16

is somewhat legitimate, and you fucking

13:18

throw a bomb at EW, like,

13:20

You're so petty bitch.

13:22

petty bitch. What

13:24

a weird like, how do you

13:26

have time to watch Fox News? sir.

13:28

You have, like, are you a shit poster? Like

13:30

like, what is that? I wanna know what Alito's

13:33

online activity is like because

13:37

I wouldn't be yeah. He's he he probably

13:39

has a four channel account. Anyway, just

13:42

as Kagan brought something up, during

13:44

the oral arguments that I thought was really interesting.

13:47

And she pointed out that right

13:49

now, statistically girls

13:51

when they graduate from high school are much

13:53

more qualified

13:55

for college than boys. And

13:57

the gap is growing. Nothing is being

13:59

done.

13:59

to make our education system better

14:01

serve boys. Nothing. And

14:04

so as that gap grows,

14:06

actually women who were the beneficiaries specifically

14:08

white women who were historically -- Yep. -- the

14:11

major beneficiaries of affirmative action

14:13

will continue to run away

14:15

with the game. because boys

14:17

are not as qualified for college as

14:19

a population, as girls, and so

14:22

schools are going to have like superlopsided gender

14:25

balances. Yeah. And like

14:27

that's I mean, honestly, I I don't know why that's

14:29

College isn't for everybody, and I think that

14:32

trying to pretend like it is isn't

14:34

great, but I also think that, like,

14:37

the

14:37

environment of

14:39

school suffers the

14:41

more homogenized the population is.

14:44

Yeah,

14:44

totally. Although

14:45

I can say if colleges kinda like

14:47

became de facto all women's

14:49

institutions, I think they would probably be better

14:52

Well, you know that we'd have all men's schools.

14:54

They'd feel like we need our own place. Yeah.

14:56

Okay. We can't have all you women around all the

14:59

time. All men's schools. The world

15:01

is already a man cave.

15:03

So, like, what else? A giant man cave.

15:06

But, you know, another thing that I wanted to bring up

15:08

is

15:09

that the audacity of

15:11

white conservative men to believe that

15:13

if only affirmative action were eliminated,

15:16

they would be the ones to come on top. Totally.

15:18

I think they believe deep down inside that

15:21

they have been robbed of things because

15:23

somebody who is

15:24

a non white, non man

15:27

was given it. you know, that there are men

15:29

yes. That if everything else is equal and

15:31

all we consider are just like the raw qualifications,

15:34

the people that will come up on top, are the people

15:36

that will look that look just like them? It's,

15:38

you know, Erin, it's like would just love

15:41

to be a fly on the wall when Brett Kavanaugh's

15:43

talking to squeeze. being like I got fucking

15:45

screwed in this world. Yeah. I

15:48

mean, I'm curious if very

15:50

many conservatives understand,

15:53

first of all, white people

15:54

are not the best students. They're

15:56

not at all.

15:56

There are colleges in California where

15:59

the balance

15:59

is, like, Asian American students are

16:02

just like kicking everybody's ass. And

16:04

as a result, schools in California have

16:06

tried to figure out ways to

16:08

encourage other ethnic

16:10

groups to go to their schools, to increase

16:13

the diversity. I think the fact that

16:15

these conservatives believe

16:17

that what will happen is now things will

16:19

go back to how they looked in, like, the nineteen

16:22

fifties. It's just it's

16:24

foolish. Also, like, let's get rid of legacy

16:26

admissions. forever. Yeah. Fine.

16:28

At every school. And also because,

16:30

like, I don't know, who would you rather go

16:32

to college with?

16:34

A student who grew up

16:36

in a disadvantaged district from

16:39

a background that is not white

16:42

who maybe

16:43

didn't have access to all of the resources

16:46

to do test prep

16:48

or to have somebody on them from eighth grade

16:50

being like, we gotta get you ready to apply to Yale, get

16:52

you ready to apply to Yale, but nevertheless

16:55

worked really hard. did the best they

16:57

could give in their circumstances and

16:59

have all of the makings of

17:01

somebody who in every

17:03

environment that they are in, they

17:05

will figure out a way to not

17:08

only survive but excel. Would you rather

17:10

go to college with that person? Mhmm. or

17:12

Jared Kushner. Please.

17:15

Like, the problem is this is another whatever.

17:18

I'm I'm like going off the rails here, but this is another

17:21

issue that think can derivatives have

17:23

successfully

17:25

made

17:26

into one of white

17:28

people versus everyone else.

17:31

when really

17:32

everybody else should just be mad at

17:35

rich people. Like, we could be uniting

17:37

and being, like, wait a minute, get rid of legacy

17:39

admissions. Yeah. Instead of,

17:41

like, getting mad at, like, the

17:43

low income person who learned

17:45

English as a second language who

17:48

had slightly lower grades but got

17:50

into your dream school when

17:51

you didn't. It's

17:52

exactly right anyway.

17:53

Okay. Alright.

17:55

Let's talk a little bit, oh, god. This

17:57

Pelosi attack, fucking terrible.

18:00

It

18:00

was

18:01

so where are you with this right now? in

18:04

what way? Have you been following the story?

18:06

Have you been able to, like, keep up on Oh, yeah.

18:08

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, believe me. I I

18:10

Well, because one, like, of course,

18:12

following the

18:13

story.

18:14

Two, Caroline, our producer brought

18:16

this up, and it has rocked me ever since.

18:19

Why is everyone going live from

18:21

outside of their house? Do we need to

18:23

broadcast more where they live?

18:25

I mean, it just seems like -- Yeah. -- utterly

18:27

unnecessary. but it really did

18:29

like I think the story was just

18:32

so crazy when you first heard about it. You're like,

18:34

wait a minute. How is this possible? Doesn't she have

18:36

capital police at her house? Like, no.

18:38

No. Well,

18:39

not in San Francisco. No,

18:41

not in San Francisco, but it is

18:43

it is just an incredible the

18:45

whole thing is tragic.

18:48

but also just this crazy almost

18:51

unbelievable story

18:53

from

18:55

Paul Pelosi,

18:56

like, going

18:58

into the bathroom where his phone was

19:00

plugged in to call nine eleven and

19:02

leave it, let me tell you something. It is

19:04

a real just eyeballs

19:06

at young people who are like, old people.

19:08

Let me don't know that I would've had the presence of

19:10

mine to go and fucking put nine eleven on

19:13

speaker phone and be like, come find

19:15

me, basically. Mhmm.

19:17

And and I think the thing that is the

19:19

most this is a terrible

19:22

fucking violent brutal attack. And

19:24

I think the thing that is the absolute most

19:27

disgusting in Aaron to confirm my beliefs

19:29

last night, I watched that 0AN

19:31

network because I was like, why did you do

19:33

that? Yes. because I wanted to see what they were saying. And

19:35

you know what? In no world, I

19:38

could not imagine somebody

19:42

hurting Mitch McConnell's family

19:44

and any Democrat getting on TV

19:47

being like, well, you know, Like,

19:49

and making jokes about it. Like, Carrie Lake

19:51

is a repugnant human being, but,

19:53

like, also, kind of a scared little

19:56

bitch because when she stood

19:58

on stage and made jokes about

19:59

the Pelosi not having good enough security

20:01

or when Glenn Youngkin is like, oh yeah,

20:04

let's send Nancy back to be

20:06

with Paul in California and he meant it in

20:08

a very nice way. I

20:10

the

20:11

just I just

20:14

think that they

20:15

should at least own what they said because then when

20:17

Carrie Lake was called on it, she's like, didn't say that it was

20:19

taken out of context. Own your fucking shittiness,

20:21

you bitch. Like, just own your shittiness. That

20:24

it is what you said. Some tons of people

20:26

played the whole quote. But in general,

20:28

think it's like pretty scary. And I think that if

20:30

you're someone who has is open

20:32

about your political beliefs and you're not

20:35

part of the MAGA community. I think it's

20:37

just a kind of a reminder that there's like danger

20:40

around the corner.

20:41

Mhmm. Yeah. And it's funny.

20:43

There's not a lot of

20:46

I think people like Ted Cruz were sharing

20:48

misinformation, disinformation

20:51

about the nature of the attack before we even

20:53

knew anything. And

20:54

these are the same people who were beyond

20:57

pissed that people were standing on a public sidewalk

20:59

outside of Justice Kavanaugh's

21:00

house after Dobbs

21:03

came down. And

21:04

it's I mean, like, being like you guys are

21:06

hippocrits. It doesn't matter because nobody's gonna

21:08

punish them for it. Right. But I think it's

21:10

important for us to just clock the hypocrisy

21:12

just so that we can like, we're not

21:14

going nuts. Are we? Like, we no. You caught

21:16

that. I caught that. These people

21:18

are complete craving hippocrats,

21:21

and they make no sense, and they have no plan.

21:23

And, yeah, that's kind

21:26

of the through line for news today, conservative

21:28

democracy. Yeah. Ex exactly.

21:31

But the thing is nobody nobody who wants

21:33

to vote for them really cares. And the people

21:35

who don't wanna vote for them are so turned off

21:37

by the just constant

21:40

threat level orange of the news cycle

21:42

that I think that they tune things

21:44

out when really it's like,

21:47

dude, like

21:48

The frog is almost boiled here,

21:50

you know. Yeah. And it's upsetting.

21:53

I actually deleted Twitter

21:55

from my phone I mean, I've

21:57

gone back and forth

21:57

with it. But, like, this weekend,

21:59

you know, when the sale was closed with

22:02

mister Musk, I was

22:04

like, you know what?

22:06

I'm gonna try not having it

22:08

on my phone and see if my life is better. It's been

22:10

great. That

22:11

is awesome.

22:12

I try to not open it because

22:15

I should just leave it from my phone. Because I

22:17

actually I don't have it on my computer. I

22:19

don't have any social media on my computer

22:21

because I'm like, when I'm on my computer,

22:23

I should really do work. That's

22:25

smart. But, I mean, an Elon

22:27

Musk

22:28

to retweeting, a hundred and twelve

22:31

million followers he has retweeting

22:33

some fucking bullshit, fake

22:36

news, false story. Yeah.

22:38

So glad he's the head of the public town

22:41

square.

22:42

Yeah. My thoughts on this are like he's

22:44

really taking it more quickly than anybody

22:46

thought. But the

22:48

other side of that is I think

22:50

that Twitter in some cases. I

22:52

mean,

22:52

when I was, like, working in a news room, it was a really

22:54

helpful way to just kinda, like, take the temperature

22:56

when news was breaking. Especially,

22:58

there are some really really good reliable people

23:01

on Twitter and just like disseminating

23:03

information and catching up on on what's

23:05

going on. But I

23:08

also think that it has spread

23:11

a sort of complacency in newsrooms, not individual

23:13

reporters in newsrooms themselves. and

23:15

not my newsroom, but I've just noticed

23:17

it obviously. Where people

23:21

people are less likely to go out into

23:23

the world and touch grass

23:26

and, like, talk to real people and, like,

23:28

do the type of old fashioned

23:31

reporting And that's

23:33

because it takes a lot of time and resources to

23:35

do that. And I think Twitter

23:37

really contributed to the take machine. Mhmm.

23:40

And to see the take machines engine

23:42

shut down would actually probably

23:44

be better for news and commentary in

23:46

the long run. But we do need some

23:48

kind of

23:49

social media where it's possible

23:51

for people who are

23:53

verified individuals are

23:55

able to communicate with. Yeah.

23:58

the public. I I think and

24:00

and Facebook

24:00

is kinda over. Instagram is,

24:03

like,

24:03

the algorithm makes it all weird. So whatever

24:05

that app is might be TBD. It's not

24:07

be real. Tell you that. I don't

24:09

even know what that is.

24:10

Oh, I'll I'll tell you more about after

24:12

this recording. Thanks so much. Okay.

24:15

We have one week left before the midterms. Yes.

24:18

Have you voted? No, Josh and I are gonna fill

24:20

out our ballots together. We're gonna And

24:22

also, I wanted to let everyone know that

24:24

if you have the possibility of, like, California

24:26

is really, it's really easy to vote.

24:29

they send you a ballot and, you know,

24:31

and and there's million places to

24:33

get, like, ballot guides. Vote Save

24:35

America's ballot guide is is

24:37

really, really good. if you live in a place

24:39

that doesn't have as as many resources available

24:42

to you. Yeah. So we're gonna

24:44

fill out our balance together. We're gonna drop them off together.

24:46

And I'm I'm really

24:49

looking forward to voting for Karen Bass, for mayor

24:51

of LA. It is closer than it should

24:53

be. It is ever Erin, and this is

24:55

this is the thing. All the polls, I just think

24:57

they're all lies right now. You can. It's like whatever.

25:00

We just have to consider everything close and

25:02

everyone has to go vote. I mean, I

25:04

live in New York and the

25:06

panic over how close the polls are

25:09

between Kathy Hockel and malevolent twerp.

25:12

Lee's Eldon. He is malevolent twerp.

25:14

He's a malevolent twerp. He's like, I I look

25:17

at him and I was like, you literally cannot be the

25:19

governor of New York. You're like, I mean, I'm not

25:21

saying Cuomo was the

25:22

standard bearer here. He was like,

25:24

oh, and let's New York toughen up little bit.

25:26

It's worth it. but it is

25:28

it is real here in New York and the

25:30

polls. It's not feeling super.

25:32

It's not feeling overwhelmingly blue wave

25:34

up here. so

25:36

everybody needs to go vote.

25:37

Mhmm.

25:39

Again, like, polling

25:41

is so unreliable.

25:44

And I hate that conversations are

25:47

so reliant on polling, but also, you

25:49

know, like, how else is this info this information

25:51

is unknowable information. Right. The

25:53

only thing you can know yourself

25:56

is did you vote?

25:57

Did you text you know what, if you have your phone

26:00

right now and you're not driving? And

26:02

it's it's possible for you. Take your phone out

26:04

and send send a message to your group chat,

26:06

your favorite group chat, hey, has

26:08

everyone voted? Does

26:10

everyone have their ballot? Has everyone voted?

26:12

What's your plan to vote? And if you go

26:14

in person, thank your poll workers.

26:17

It's tough it's tough out there. And,

26:19

I mean, I went into a vote in early

26:21

in person on Sunday. and

26:24

smiles, helpfulness, you

26:26

know, it's just the

26:28

God bless. Yeah,

26:29

the poll workers are the greatest.

26:32

I also wanted to single out two special

26:34

states, Wisconsin, you guys.

26:37

Come

26:37

on. Let's go. You have

26:39

a chance to kick out

26:41

the dumbest bitch in the senate.

26:43

Ron Johnson is the dumbest bitch in

26:46

the senate, and he represents you

26:48

right now. How embarrassing

26:50

for you? So

26:51

embarrassing. Get him out of

26:53

there. Get

26:54

him out of there. Mandela

26:55

Barnes.

26:57

would be so much better in

26:59

every way. Incredible. Then Ron

27:01

Johnson. Second, Arizona.

27:04

Oh, guys. Literally,

27:06

come on, guys.

27:09

Guys,

27:09

I know you have it in you. I

27:11

know you have it in you. You elected Mark Kelley.

27:13

I know you have it in you. Your state went

27:15

for Biden. I know you've got it. You

27:18

just you have to vote for Katy

27:20

Hobbs. And the words of Elizabeth Warren, let's

27:22

fucking go. Yeah. Also,

27:26

like, god, you guys like,

27:28

Kerry Lake would be a step. What was that like?

27:30

radiologists who appeared to be herself

27:32

radiated, who was the governor of

27:35

Arizona for a while. I have no

27:37

idea. You

27:38

know, she was like the one that pointed at Barack

27:40

Obama. She was like, oh, oh,

27:42

she was a bit craggly. What was her name?

27:44

Yeah. Yeah. The radiated radiologist. I

27:47

don't know, but she like, Cary Lake

27:49

is as bad if not

27:51

worse than she is. Jan Brewer.

27:54

Oh, yeah. Dan Brewer. Jan

27:56

Brewer. Jan, the Ma'am.

27:59

Okay. So, yes, if you

28:02

haven't voted

28:03

vote as

28:04

soon as you can, tell

28:06

all your friends you gotta vote. We

28:08

have a week left or less than a

28:10

week left of voting. We're probably not gonna

28:12

know everything had happened for couple weeks. I

28:15

hate election night. It's so we'll

28:17

spend it. We'll spend it just texting each other.

28:19

We'll spend to text each maybe a little bit in the group

28:21

chat, both of us occasionally, maybe.

28:24

like poking into the crooked media, livestream,

28:26

and being like, you guys, this is a

28:28

bad way to construct a narrative about

28:31

result of an election when Democrats

28:33

are more likely to vote early. So,

28:36

yeah, nobody knows what's gonna happen. I'm nervous

28:38

about it. Everyone should be nervous about it. and

28:40

then, you know, hopefully, we

28:43

can take a short break in nervousness

28:45

after more of the returns come in.

28:47

Okay. Let's take a quick break

28:49

When

28:49

we come back,

28:51

can

28:52

we ever forgive people for the way they

28:54

acted during COVID? And

28:56

should we?

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34:54

And welcome back. I'm

34:57

here with Alyssa and joined by

34:59

two more people on today's historic

35:02

personal political panel. I'm just gonna bring them right

35:04

in. Rather than doing some banter, I'm just gonna

35:06

bring them both right in. First off her podcast,

35:08

I love a lifetime movie. She hosts with Nymiak

35:10

Paragon, heard of her is gearing up for

35:12

the holiday movie season. Oh my god.

35:15

Yep. Oh my god. So you're definitely gonna

35:17

wanna tune in Meghan Gailey. Welcome to

35:19

his Stereo. Thank you. We

35:21

actually reviewed our first holiday

35:23

movie on

35:25

on Halloween. I was like,

35:27

I this is And it yeah.

35:29

It was it was it was soon, but it

35:31

I now we're ready.

35:32

All want for Christmas is has

35:34

already blared in my household. by my

35:37

husband. Oh, really? Is he

35:39

a Mariah sedan or just for that

35:41

just for that? Christmas Mariah, I

35:44

mean, is showing me yard and flatables.

35:47

Which ones are we gonna have? The penguin

35:49

on top of the Santa that Oh, so I

35:51

love the penguin on the Santa. I

35:54

know. Well, because he bought terrifying

35:56

scream man for Halloween, and I did ask to

35:58

have some input on the holiday. That's correct.

36:00

Fair enough. Okay. Yeah. You know,

36:03

even before Halloween, in, like, the week

36:05

week and a half before Halloween when I went

36:07

into, like, a store. It was, like, they were

36:09

just chomping at the gym to get to Oh,

36:11

yeah. Just Oh, like but they knew

36:13

they can't do it because Halloween is, like, the last

36:16

firewall and the the people will not have it.

36:18

But they were, like, ready to

36:20

go. Yeah. I just I'm kinda like, no.

36:22

I have a strict no Christmas before Halloween.

36:25

You said full start? Full

36:26

start. Yeah. Absolutely. And

36:28

rounding up the panel, Next, you might

36:30

have seen her unanimously pass a sexual

36:33

assault survivors resolution at the

36:35

United Nations last month. Wow. That's

36:37

a big deal. She's advocated

36:40

for by her nonprofit rise. She's

36:42

also casually a Nobel

36:44

Peace prize nominee. Amanda

36:46

Nguyen, welcome to hysteria. Hello?

36:50

You are so good for having two

36:52

hours of sleep. Oh, that's so nice

36:54

if you just say, I have this IKEA lamp

36:56

that I use as a ring light

36:58

that I thank you. I shine it

37:00

down Mhmm. I shine it down on

37:02

the silver of mine. This is so

37:04

like McGyvery. I shine it down, and

37:06

it reflects back, and it makes

37:08

me look.

37:09

And I I have blood flow in my

37:11

face. Oh, that's good

37:13

to see you. Thank you so so

37:15

much. Amanda, you're

37:17

the newest member of the hysteria team. So

37:19

I wanna start

37:21

with you. You were you also weren't with us

37:24

during, like, the height of the COVID pandemic.

37:26

So I don't really know how you were

37:28

handling things, but how did you handle

37:31

the last, like, few years of COVID, how careful

37:33

were you, how many how many of the rules did

37:35

you follow?

37:36

Yeah. I so first

37:39

of all, when it started happening,

37:40

I literally I'm

37:42

an introvert. So it was

37:46

It

37:46

was great. You know, it was so sad.

37:49

I

37:49

did not wanna hang out with anyone. And

37:51

actually, even when things were getting

37:53

better, I kept being like, oh, you

37:55

know, well, like, maybe

37:58

not.

37:58

i

37:59

Really, you

38:02

know, COVID. Right now, it's a little harder

38:04

because people are out,

38:05

but yeah. I'm beginning. I really loved it.

38:07

I actually wore gloves. I thought

38:11

things to, like,

38:12

push doors with. I was, you know,

38:14

all the way there,

38:16

researched, like, the masks. Do you remember

38:18

when, like, the

38:19

masks were even hard to get. Mhmm. Right?

38:22

Yeah. Like, I would make my own masks,

38:24

you know, for the whole thing.

38:27

But, yeah, the world's have

38:29

changed a lot. And now I feel like,

38:31

obviously, I can't use that reasoning anymore. Now I

38:33

just tell people, like, I don't wanna hang out. you.

38:37

How

38:37

did you view people around you who were, like,

38:40

not following the rules? Were you one of those

38:42

people who just

38:43

like horrified by a public sneeze?

38:46

Well, yes. So my

38:49

dad got cancer over COVID.

38:52

And it was to go through

38:54

chemo, you know,

38:56

he lives in California. So

38:58

we really understood what being high risk

39:00

is. And it

39:04

was really just heartening to see that. Some people

39:06

just really didn't understand

39:08

the concept of, hey,

39:11

like, looking out for your community members. It

39:14

was also like a really fascinating contrast

39:17

between so I'm beating his American

39:19

and the concept of, like, eastern

39:21

community, like, caring

39:23

versus, like, individualistic western

39:27

community. So,

39:29

yes, I did have

39:31

feelings about it. but, you know,

39:33

I

39:34

did not tweet about it. I'm gonna say that.

39:37

So the reason I wanted to talk about

39:39

this is because there was this really fascinating piece

39:42

in the Atlantic written by Emily Oster.

39:44

Meghan I'm sure you've heard of Emily

39:46

Oster. She's our guiding light our

39:48

guiding light who still

39:51

sometimes has has some controversial opinion.

39:53

She's an economist at Brown University, she wrote

39:55

a book called expecting Better, and she

39:58

uses data to analyze

39:59

and,

40:01

I guess, give

40:04

us her assessment

40:06

of risk when it comes to,

40:08

like, public health issues, specifically parenting,

40:11

pregnancy, childbirth type things.

40:13

So expecting better really helped me relax

40:15

when I was pregnant. I know a lot of doctors

40:17

don't love that book because it causes people

40:19

maybe to relax too much. But

40:21

during the pandemic, she was

40:24

very critical. She

40:26

wasn't like Naomi Wolf

40:28

critical. She wasn't like off the rails

40:30

about it, but she was very critical

40:33

of pandemic restrictions that

40:36

had to do with, like, children and masking

40:38

and and and, you

40:40

know, playgrounds and stuff like that. And

40:43

now she has this piece in the Atlantic called,

40:46

let's declare pandemic amnesty. And

40:48

I saw the conversation around this piece

40:50

online that was sort of like, yeah,

40:52

f u Emily Oscar because she

40:54

was kind of she was one of those people that was

40:57

like, let your kids play together on the playground

40:59

when that

41:01

kind of prevailing attitude

41:03

among the people that were kind of more

41:05

plugged into what was going on with the pandemic.

41:09

people were very scared and people were trying

41:11

to be maybe over cautious

41:13

rather than under cautious. So I don't

41:15

wanna pass judgment on, you know, we we could talk

41:17

about Emily Oster for for hours. But

41:19

I just wanted to give you guys that background so that you

41:21

kinda understood that there's a little bit of,

41:23

like, built up

41:25

anger around people who

41:28

expressed a preference for a more lack of

41:30

a physical approach to infection control

41:32

when it comes to kids. But

41:36

at the same time, the piece is really interesting

41:38

because it talks about how, when the

41:40

pandemic started, none of us knew what was going

41:42

on. people just were trying to make the best

41:44

decisions with the information that they had.

41:47

And as a result, the people

41:49

that managed their conduct

41:51

during pandemic in a way that was

41:53

over or under cautious given

41:55

what we know now, we should just

41:57

be like, you know what?

41:59

Mulligan,

41:59

let's move on.

42:02

But I don't

42:03

really see

42:04

that happening. Meghan, I wonder

42:06

what your thoughts are

42:08

is a pandemic amnesty possible?

42:11

I think if it pertains just

42:13

to that, but the people

42:15

that I saw being super

42:17

lax

42:18

or doing even just the hoarding

42:20

of toilet paper at the beginning ended

42:22

up being people that I was, like, oh, you're a

42:24

shitty person. So it's like that

42:26

trickles into the other ways that

42:29

they operate in life. So

42:30

if you were

42:33

very staunchly against the vaccine,

42:36

I'm gonna go out on the limb and say, I'm I'm

42:38

not gonna agree with some other opinions you have that

42:41

don't pertain to public health. And

42:43

literally, you can DM me.

42:45

I do not care. So it was just

42:48

this thing of like, yes, if

42:50

if it was someone and that's just

42:53

the one thing, III

42:55

think it also kind of pertains to people

42:57

that were so intense about

42:59

it. I still see people

43:02

in the grocery store in

43:05

gloves. I know that they're washing their

43:07

groceries even though we have all

43:09

the science that we do not need to be wiping down our

43:11

groceries. We are now three years in.

43:14

and you don't need

43:16

to scrub the goldfish box. Mhmm. And

43:18

so it's like you probably end

43:20

up being a bit of a control freak

43:23

and maybe have

43:25

fear that comes out of you that's

43:27

not rational in other aspects of

43:29

your life as well. So

43:32

I I agree with you, Erin, it's not

43:34

gonna be as easy as cut and dry. Like,

43:36

listen, we all were doing our best. We

43:38

didn't know what was going on, but Like,

43:40

if you tend to not believe doctors,

43:42

I bet you don't believe a lot of other things that

43:44

I tend to believe. Mhmm. Alyssa,

43:47

did you have anybody that your relationship

43:49

with them or your opinion of them was damaged by

43:51

the way they acted during the

43:54

COVID, the height of the COVID pandemic. I don't want to

43:56

pretend like it's over because it's total ongoing. No.

43:58

Well, I mean, they're all different kinds of people.

44:00

Right? They're the people who posted weird

44:02

fucking shit on Instagram, like, guess

44:04

we're gonna ride it out in Saint Bart's.

44:07

fuck you.

44:08

That was a real Instagram

44:10

post. I was like,

44:12

this is not two weeks' worth of

44:14

I mean, I mean,

44:16

I guess they whatever. They didn't write it out

44:18

in Saint Parks for what it's worth. They didn't Oh, so Saint Parks

44:20

doesn't want you. Saint Parks doesn't want

44:22

you. Saint Parks doesn't want any of us. And

44:24

then there are the people who,

44:27

you know, I think that for me, the biggest

44:29

issue is seeing people who

44:31

were, like, whatever.

44:33

This is fake. I'm not gonna wear

44:35

my mask. Blah blah blah. To me,

44:38

that is just an utter lack of empathy.

44:40

You know? I mean, and I think that there was something

44:42

in her article that

44:45

I felt really overlooked, the feelings

44:47

that we might have about people. You know,

44:49

I have friends that still very

44:53

very religiously wear masks because

44:55

you know what, if they don't, if

44:57

it's like if a certain number of people

44:59

in their shop get COVID, the shop has

45:01

to close. And then guess what? They lose

45:03

money. They might go out of business. It's like,

45:05

I just think that we really

45:08

underestimate caregivers, frontline

45:11

workers who had no choice but to go to work.

45:13

And I think that it was just incredibly

45:16

disrespectful in the beginning. And those people

45:18

If you can't look at people who are

45:20

marching into hospitals to work, to help you,

45:22

to protect you, to heal you, and think

45:24

that you can't put a fucking mask on for I

45:27

mean, I'll I will never change my opinion

45:29

of you during that period. Like, that's just

45:31

that's a no. You know, that is that's

45:33

not about, like, the medical

45:35

look,

45:36

especially because, like, let's be honest.

45:38

Now putting aside the

45:40

schools being closed in kids, that's a totally different

45:43

argument. But, like, If we're

45:45

talking about the world

45:47

asked you to put a mask on and

45:49

you couldn't do it.

45:51

Mhmm. What? You're a baby. You're

45:53

a loser. You're a baby.

45:54

And you can't look and see

45:57

that all of these people, you know, the

45:59

the grocery

45:59

workers you you have you have you

46:02

have to be free. You have your freedom

46:04

to go in and cough on them when

46:06

we're in middle of a pandemic. Like, no.

46:08

Jesus Fuck. Put a mask on. Why do you want

46:10

everyone to look at your mouth anyway? Like, cover

46:12

up your gross mouths or gross.

46:14

Some of the ugliest people. none

46:16

of us suffered by not seeing everybody's mouth.

46:18

Yeah. Sure. Yeah. You would you would see the people that didn't

46:21

wanna

46:21

put on a mask on and you go, this is your time

46:23

to show fine. And her

46:25

face is calling out for a mask.

46:29

Amanda, I wonder if you

46:31

had

46:33

your opinion of people of anybody

46:35

that you know changed? Like, did you have

46:37

friendships get damaged by

46:40

the way that people acted during COVID, especially

46:42

given the fact that your dad

46:44

was immunocompromised during that time?

46:46

Yeah. Well, something that definitely changed

46:48

was that I will never believe another

46:50

zombie apocalypse movie Because

46:53

if there is a vaccine in that movie,

46:55

I now question whether or not people will

46:57

take that vaccine. I now question

47:00

whether or not people would actually debate

47:02

whether or not that zombie is really a

47:04

zombie. Right? So, yeah,

47:07

sci fi change ring forever. Yeah.

47:10

There was a really scary moment for me,

47:12

so my dad had recovered,

47:16

you know, went through all of chemo sessions and

47:19

then it was his birthday and

47:21

he decided to go

47:23

to a restaurant to celebrate and

47:26

he got COVID. And he was the

47:28

highest risk. And not only did

47:30

he get COVID, my mom got COVID,

47:32

and her sister got COVID. So Like,

47:35

there

47:35

was

47:37

a month where I thought I was gonna lose

47:39

my entire family. Mhmm. And

47:41

during that month when people were

47:44

saying, oh, well, you know, this is not a big

47:46

deal. I felt and lived

47:48

that reality. And

47:51

I'm not I mean, there are people who, you

47:53

know, lost their members, family

47:55

members, and close ones to

47:57

it. But it it really did change for

47:59

me at that

47:59

moment because

48:01

one, we

48:02

know the what was really upsetting

48:05

to me was

48:07

how people didn't

48:09

seem to accept

48:11

science. the i'm And

48:15

Have you seen the movie don't look up?

48:18

Mhmm. No. I it's, like, too

48:20

I started watching it and I was, like, too real. Yeah.

48:23

Well, it applies to I mean, that's about, you know,

48:25

an asteroid, but it can be applicable to

48:27

any kind of, like, insert science gear.

48:29

Right? So, yeah,

48:31

there were people where I was like, you know what?

48:33

I I just

48:35

I can't be friends with you anymore

48:37

because if I meet with you and

48:39

then I'm going to be around, because,

48:41

like, my family, it would literally

48:44

put my dad's life at risk.

48:46

Mhmm. Are you, like, you

48:48

know, Alyssa mentioned and Meghan

48:50

mentioned that there's like a through line between

48:52

the way that people behaves

48:54

during

48:55

the height of the epidemic

48:58

and like bad personality traits. Would

49:00

you hang out with those people now? Like,

49:02

are you willing to forgive them?

49:04

Or do you think that it's like do you think

49:06

that they're just kind of like they just showed their ass

49:08

and so your friendship with them is over? Yeah.

49:11

I feel like one of the greatest things I

49:13

have found about growing

49:17

up is that I

49:19

don't need new friends. So

49:21

That's

49:24

-- No new question. -- that's a Megan Daily

49:26

quote. Right here.

49:26

That is fully Megan Daily quote.

49:30

And, yeah, I just

49:32

if you are going to risk

49:35

my

49:37

my health and my parents help, like, literally

49:39

their lives, then no.

49:41

And if you knew that risk before and

49:43

you're still doing that, then no.

49:47

Yeah. That's not to say that I understand

49:49

why people are evolving, especially as,

49:51

again, our science getting ready. We do have vaccines,

49:54

etcetera. And this

49:56

is not only about the pandemic, but just

49:58

cancel culture in

49:59

general.

50:02

I one of my friends said this quote to me

50:04

and really stuck to me and she said, we are a country

50:06

that demands a lot of apologies, but

50:08

doesn't know how to accept them. And I

50:11

think that if somebody were to come back and

50:13

say like, hey, you

50:15

know, after a lot of reflection, I

50:17

realized that hurt you

50:19

and that was wrong and, you

50:21

know, etcetera, and, like, maybe,

50:23

you know. But for those who

50:25

just didn't have that, Noting

50:28

friends. Mhmm.

50:28

No old friends too.

50:31

I think that's totally fair. I'm

50:34

thinking back now to, like, the very beginning

50:36

of the pandemic. And when I was, like,

50:38

awake last night, sleeplessly, I was

50:41

kind of reflecting back on those weird first

50:43

couple of months and how surreal

50:46

and bizarre it was. And I was thinking about

50:48

how I

50:49

used to live really close to this big park and

50:51

there were playgrounds in the park, and they put,

50:53

like, caution tape around the playgrounds

50:55

at the beginning, and they wouldn't let people go

50:58

on hiking trails at the beginning. And

51:00

like and it almost seemed like

51:03

the city was just determined to

51:05

trap people in their homes

51:07

even though we didn't really

51:09

even after we had pretty compelling

51:11

evidence that it didn't really spread

51:13

that easily outside, especially if people

51:15

were like

51:16

masked.

51:18

And

51:18

I'm still like a little bit

51:21

I think that that some of

51:23

the overcaution in

51:25

some places

51:27

led to worse mental health outcomes

51:30

for people, especially at the beginning.

51:33

Meghan, you and I were in the same city when this happened.

51:35

I wonder how you remember that

51:37

time. And do you still have, like, a bad taste in

51:39

your mouth about it, or have you moved on? I

51:42

think I was luckily in a situation

51:44

where I and I was reminding myself

51:46

this constantly of like, I'm in

51:49

a safe environment. I

51:51

am with someone I love I

51:54

have enough supplies. I

51:57

you know, like, all the hierarchy of

51:59

needs were

51:59

met for me. But the reason I was having

52:02

to remind myself that is because I was like, I'm

52:04

losing my fucking mind. So I can't

52:06

imagine how much people were losing their mind

52:08

if they had children if they had

52:10

immediate people they needed to be

52:13

caregiving, if they were in

52:16

in domestic violent situations

52:19

that they felt trapped in. And

52:21

I think as time goes

52:24

on, we will

52:27

really,

52:27

hopefully, realize all

52:30

of those negative

52:32

impacts that were had on people

52:34

when you talk about depression.

52:37

I remember there was there was a moment during the

52:39

pandemic where I was like, well, I'm taking a

52:41

lot of edibles. And it was

52:43

like, that's I'm not taking because

52:46

it it was that thing of, like, everyday

52:48

is a snow day. And so

52:50

I think a lot of people were

52:52

self medicating and

52:57

we've we've talked about the unhealthiness

52:59

and the bread and and all of the

53:02

outlets that we were using

53:04

to just try

53:05

and get through and

53:08

we don't know the long term

53:10

effects of

53:11

what it was to just be in our

53:13

homes,

53:14

not around people for two plus years.

53:16

yet. Like, our trauma is

53:18

not even

53:20

begun to heal because in a lot of ways

53:22

we're still in it and There

53:25

were there were relationships that changed,

53:27

not even just based on COVID, but

53:30

based on, like, hey, I wasn't the best

53:32

version of myself during

53:33

these two years. willing to admit

53:35

that.

53:36

I think you probably fall into that

53:38

too. Like, can we can we

53:40

call a mulligan on just

53:42

like these two years and go, I'm on

53:44

a journey to be better and and move

53:46

forward with that. And and some people

53:49

can't do that. And so

53:51

I would add on to Amanda's friends'

53:55

quotes of, like, I don't think we're a country that's

53:57

very good at apologizing. We really

53:59

haven't in assistance to dig our heels

54:02

in and and

54:04

go, nope. was right even when

54:06

all of the evidence proves that we were

54:08

wrong. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Alyssa,

54:11

I wonder if,

54:13

you know, evidence proving people

54:15

wrong, I guess, kind of goes not

54:18

both ways. I would say it goes ninety percent

54:20

the way of people who were not cautious enough

54:22

and ten percent of, like, kind of

54:25

roping off playgrounds and, like,

54:27

closing schools to Zealousy.

54:30

I like Meghan, I'm so glad that didn't

54:32

have a kid in school during during

54:35

the height of the pandemic. It seems nuts. But

54:37

do you think that that local politicians, city

54:40

politicians, state politicians made

54:42

decisions so that it would

54:44

look like they were either doing

54:46

something or,

54:48

like, standing up

54:50

to the liberals. Like, did you did you see

54:52

that locally?

54:53

Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, it's it's so interesting

54:55

because in the beginning of the pandemic, I

54:58

didn't. Right? I mean, I was in

55:00

New York it was I mean,

55:02

Elmhurst, Queen's was ground

55:04

zero for what was happening in the

55:06

beginning. I mean, like, we forget

55:08

that there were hospitals

55:11

utterly overflowing. In New York

55:13

State, there were wars between counties

55:15

because they were taking ventilators from

55:17

all the counties and sending them back down

55:20

to New York City. And so I

55:22

think that in the beginning, it

55:24

was

55:26

I think pretty genuine. I think everybody

55:28

was just leading with the best thing they possibly

55:31

knew. I mean, like, I remember March

55:33

thirteenth so clearly because it was the day

55:35

that both Womo and de Blasio gave

55:37

different guidance. And my husband and

55:39

I were like, we gotta get fuck out of here. This

55:42

is not a good. Having having done crisis

55:44

management at the White House, I was like, this is a bad

55:46

sign.

55:48

But, you know, fast forward couple of months,

55:51

I think that

55:52

Here's I think that in

55:55

the beginning, everybody who didn't

55:57

live in New York or California or

55:59

the heavily affected states were like, it'll just

56:01

stay in the high population areas. We're going to

56:03

be fine. Leave us the fuck alone. This is what you get

56:05

for living in a big city. And

56:07

and as it crept, forward,

56:09

you know, I think that if if

56:11

we

56:11

had had a president who took it

56:13

seriously as we all knew he didn't and

56:15

now we know he didn't, Even

56:18

when he got it, and he, like He did it.

56:20

Even when he got it, he was like, I wish

56:22

you all could have monoclonal antibodies. But

56:25

I

56:26

think, you know, if if if

56:28

they had just shut the country down in the beginning,

56:30

we might have had better luck and

56:32

had everybody take the same amount of pain,

56:35

but no, I think as COVID went on,

56:37

there were communities that were like, look

56:39

at us, we're super cautious, and then there

56:41

were others that were like, cry your liberal tears.

56:44

We're not wearing masks anymore. When

56:46

neither of those things are based on science

56:49

and also

56:51

the fact that people couldn't deal

56:53

with the fact that science

56:55

changed. You know, that the COVID we

56:57

started out with in the beginning is

56:59

not sort of what we are dealing with

57:01

now. And we didn't have vaccines. I

57:04

mean, like, Like, we're still getting COVID,

57:06

but the whole point of the vaccines, which is something

57:08

I cannot listen to, when people are like,

57:11

science is fake. I got my vaccine,

57:13

and I got no bit of it. And I'm still

57:15

I'm never getting another vaccine ever

57:17

for anything. And it's like you dumbass,

57:19

you might have died from COVID and you

57:21

didn't. You got a cold. That doesn't mean that COVID

57:24

is a cold. It means you got vaccinated and

57:26

you got a cold instead of like being hospitalized

57:28

and intubated. Yeah. You know,

57:30

something that I've seen as like a lingering

57:33

effect of the pandemic is the

57:35

last time I was at an Airbnb.

57:38

I was at an Airbnb And

57:40

they're all of these things that are like, due to

57:42

COVID, we're doing enhanced, like,

57:45

you know, cleaning, and it's like,

57:47

You're just using this as an excuse. clean anyway.

57:49

Yeah. You're doing this as an excuse to, like,

57:51

charge me more. And I don't need every surface

57:54

bleach. And we know that you don't need every surface

57:56

bleach. in hotels now, they're like,

57:58

due to COVID, we're not washing the towels

57:59

every day. It's like, no, you don't wanna pay

58:02

enough people, and it's better for the environment.

58:04

Yeah. I mean, but also, like, there are ways

58:06

to install like a gray water recycling system

58:09

that you could use for irrigation

58:10

of the grounds. it's really not

58:12

about the environment. Like, it's it's

58:15

no. They don't wanna pay someone to wash. They don't wanna pay

58:17

someone to bring room service up. They don't wanna

58:19

pay someone to cook room service. And it's like, okay.

58:21

I didn't know Marriott was so hard

58:23

up for cash. Yeah. I

58:25

mean, it just seems like there's some lingering

58:28

I'm seeing some, like, lingering bullshit that

58:30

I'm like, that is not based on

58:33

or anything. But we're a bullshit country.

58:35

That's like, you

58:36

know, whenever I watch a pyramid scheme

58:39

memory, which are my favorite? I go, oh, we're pyramid

58:41

scheme. And so if you're at the bottom

58:44

of pyramid scheme, your travels aren't

58:46

getting lost. Mhmm. Wait. Can you outline

58:48

that for us? I'm very curious. Can you map

58:50

up on America? So this is Yeah. I'd be happy

58:52

to. Get

58:54

Meggitt a whiteboard. Yes. Somebody

58:56

called Katie Porter and CSG has the extras.

58:59

I I need a whiteboard ASAP.

59:02

Meghan, how cautious are you now?

59:04

Like,

59:06

I mean, we see in the news all the time

59:08

like, oh, we're still in pandemic and then -- Yeah.

59:10

-- and you go outside and it's really

59:12

nobody's acting really like we are.

59:14

Yeah.

59:14

So I was pregnant at the

59:17

tail end of it or, you know,

59:19

if the tail end is gonna be the longest tail

59:21

in the history of tails. And

59:24

so I was pregnant in twenty twenty

59:26

one and then gave birth in twenty twenty two.

59:28

And my biggest fear

59:30

was having COVID while

59:32

I needed to be delivering. Because then

59:35

it was like, you will have to deliver alone,

59:37

and it it just sounded like so terror

59:39

fine. And so I would say, like, the

59:41

I definitely didn't want to get COVID when I

59:43

was pregnant. And so I was

59:45

was cautious then, but I was again living

59:47

in Los Angeles where the

59:49

community at large was sort

59:51

of doing the quote unquote right thing

59:54

still.

59:54

And so I was able to make it through

59:56

and did not have to deliver alone.

59:59

And then

59:59

I got COVID, my

1:00:02

husband got COVID, and our baby

1:00:04

got COVID when he was two months old. And

1:00:07

and he had symptoms, and I had to take him in, and

1:00:09

he had to have his nose swapped, and we got

1:00:11

it from

1:00:13

like, someone who was coming to visit him

1:00:15

that tested and

1:00:18

tested negative. then once they got there, they

1:00:20

we had you know, so it was one of those things of, like,

1:00:22

There's no one to blame. There's no

1:00:24

one to be mad at. This wasn't

1:00:26

great. But then once my two

1:00:28

month old had it, I was like, well, to me,

1:00:30

this is worst possible scenario that

1:00:33

I do think it's made me be like, yeah, I'll go

1:00:35

to Vegas. Like, I'm like, the the worst possible

1:00:37

thing already happened to me. that

1:00:41

and and and I mean that in terms

1:00:43

of low level worse things. Like, everyone

1:00:45

ended up being totally fine.

1:00:48

It was a brutal six

1:00:51

to ten days because we could have

1:00:53

no help and our baby was sick and we

1:00:55

were sick. And so worst possible, I

1:00:57

mean, in terms of

1:00:58

Meghan being dramatic. Don't DM

1:01:00

me about that. And

1:01:02

so now I do think I'm

1:01:04

I'm probably

1:01:06

the most lax I've been over the period

1:01:08

of it, but I was at something

1:01:12

over over the weekend where a bunch

1:01:14

of people ended up having

1:01:16

symptoms and coming down with it. And

1:01:18

I was supposed to go visit a friend's baby

1:01:20

yesterday, and so I tested

1:01:23

and was negative. I tested this morning

1:01:25

and was negative, but I did tell my friend,

1:01:28

hey, I have been exposed and we both

1:01:30

decided it's best to just not

1:01:32

come see the baby. And so it

1:01:34

is it does still have a presence

1:01:37

in my life. And

1:01:40

I do have COVID

1:01:42

test at my house. My husband needs to go get

1:01:44

tested because he has to be on set for something. Like,

1:01:46

it it feels more of a constant

1:01:50

and just sort of,

1:01:52

like,

1:01:53

not even an annoyance, but

1:01:56

just it is around.

1:01:58

It is our cross

1:01:59

to bear and and we need to be

1:02:02

a level of cautious about it

1:02:03

going forward probably till

1:02:05

the end of time. Yay.

1:02:09

Amanda, are you familiar with the subreted

1:02:12

Herman Cain Award? No.

1:02:14

What is that? Oh my god. Okay.

1:02:16

So I'm just gonna give you the the quick

1:02:18

and dirty summary of it because I would love to hear

1:02:20

your thoughts on its existence. So, HermanK

1:02:22

Award is a subreddit that takes

1:02:25

screenshots of people's social

1:02:27

media posts and it and it displays

1:02:29

them as they progress

1:02:32

from being people who are like COVID's

1:02:34

a hoax blah blah blah to

1:02:36

them

1:02:36

dying of COVID because Herman

1:02:39

Keene, yeah,

1:02:39

because Herman Keene, as you can recall,

1:02:41

was attended a Trump rally in

1:02:43

Oklahoma that happened during

1:02:45

the during the height of the we

1:02:48

can just, you know, chaos magic our

1:02:50

way out of COVID existing simply

1:02:53

by continuing to have rallies. But he got

1:02:55

COVID after being at a Trump rally and

1:02:57

he died. And so the

1:02:59

Herman Cain award is this sort

1:03:01

of

1:03:02

dark

1:03:03

corner of Reddit where for a while

1:03:05

they would they they have started, like,

1:03:07

blurring out people's names and faces, but for a while,

1:03:10

they were not. So you would get a sense of

1:03:12

these people who are, like, fuck this.

1:03:14

I I'm not gonna get COVID and then they died.

1:03:16

So I wonder Yeah. It was

1:03:18

like very popular for a while. I wonder

1:03:20

what you make of the existence of something

1:03:23

like that. when you find out that someone

1:03:25

who is like a COVID denier has

1:03:28

come down with it really

1:03:30

like even in your like ugly corners,

1:03:32

what do you think? Do do you have any feeling

1:03:34

like, yeah. Wow. What do you think was gonna

1:03:36

happen? Well, thank you for describing it

1:03:39

because I did have emotions while

1:03:41

you describing what

1:03:43

it is. First of all, facts are facts.

1:03:45

Right? So, like, the

1:03:46

fact that this person publicly talks

1:03:48

about it and then ended up dying from the thing that

1:03:50

they were denying,

1:03:52

that just exists. I would

1:03:54

hope that people would

1:03:57

the

1:03:58

learn from it you know, it's like the positive

1:04:00

side, but I'm I'm sensing that it's popular

1:04:02

because it's also maybe like a shaming

1:04:04

thing where people are

1:04:07

using it to shame the other,

1:04:09

you know, side or whatever, it

1:04:11

look like when it comes to how

1:04:14

devices people can be on this issue.

1:04:17

I think that so much of it comes

1:04:19

from attaching your identity to

1:04:21

this idea. Right? And so, like, once

1:04:24

you are defensive, you can't have conversation

1:04:26

anymore. I think those images

1:04:28

can be really power and be, like, hey, like, look,

1:04:30

there was something like, if you approach with empathy,

1:04:33

then, like, yeah. But if

1:04:35

you're doing it to, like, shame someone and be, like, look,

1:04:37

like, this person's like you, you're like them, you're gonna

1:04:39

die too. Like, I don't think that might

1:04:42

be as helpful as it could be.

1:04:43

But it's very effective. I mean, I'm

1:04:45

gonna look how to look this up. I'm

1:04:47

glad you're blowing out the names, though. And

1:04:49

Yeah. They for a while, they were not

1:04:52

blowing out the names, and people were what's

1:04:55

it called when you go when you join, like, an online

1:04:57

mob, brigadeering or whatever, they

1:04:59

were they were going to that

1:05:01

people Facebook pages and, like, leaving

1:05:03

me comments and Oh, god. Yeah.

1:05:06

So it got really ugly. But I also think

1:05:08

that the feelings that people had I'm

1:05:10

not defending it again. I'm

1:05:12

just I think I'm just trying to understand what

1:05:15

would motivate somebody to

1:05:18

post a mean thing on someone's Facebook

1:05:20

page after they, like, died of

1:05:23

a tragic viral disease. And I think

1:05:25

that people who

1:05:28

took all this energy

1:05:30

and made sacrifices

1:05:33

for

1:05:33

what they thought was the greater good,

1:05:35

seeing people just decide to sort of

1:05:37

be And I'm

1:05:39

gonna use this phrase ironically, like

1:05:42

Karmic Welfare Queen's, essentially

1:05:44

just like leaching off of the sacrifices

1:05:46

of everyone else to live as normal life

1:05:49

as possible. I think there's something there's

1:05:51

a real resentment that builds up there,

1:05:53

and it just seems like it can play out ugly.

1:05:55

Yeah. I I just want

1:05:58

to

1:05:58

chime in too. I had dad

1:05:59

who was also sick and needed a lifesaving

1:06:03

surgery that he had to

1:06:06

continue to have postponed because

1:06:08

the hospital where he needed

1:06:10

it was so overrun with people

1:06:13

that were not vaccinated and

1:06:15

had fallen very ill to COVID.

1:06:17

And so I wish

1:06:19

no one death. I want everyone

1:06:22

well, well, you know, that's I'm getting

1:06:25

all the way. That's that's an asterisk.

1:06:27

I want everyone within

1:06:29

reason to to live

1:06:31

and and live well. But when

1:06:34

you're victory

1:06:36

all and denial and stupidity starts

1:06:38

to impede on other people's health and well-being.

1:06:41

You got god.

1:06:43

Mhmm. Yeah.

1:06:44

Alyssa, you're nodding. I I would love

1:06:46

to

1:06:46

hear your thoughts. No. I'm just I just agree.

1:06:48

It's like I mean, there are just so many

1:06:51

I

1:06:52

I think the thing for me that always

1:06:55

that affected me

1:06:57

the most was just seeing how many people

1:07:00

were

1:07:00

giving literally putting their lives

1:07:02

on the line for us. Yeah. And you

1:07:05

see, I had I had a friend's mom

1:07:07

who, like, hadn't been feeling well and hadn't been

1:07:09

feeling well. And and she didn't wanna

1:07:12

go to the hospital because everyone's like, you know,

1:07:14

shouldn't

1:07:15

go to hospital unless you unless it's

1:07:17

a real emergency and she didn't think it was an emergency. And

1:07:19

by the time she went to the hospital, she died

1:07:21

two days later of stomach cancer. And so,

1:07:23

like, those things are real, you know, that

1:07:26

that that people trying

1:07:28

to do. It's like she tried to do the right thing.

1:07:30

She's like, I don't think this is an emergency.

1:07:33

and she didn't go. And so the people

1:07:35

who were like fuck this, you know, like, I to

1:07:37

my life, and I'm gonna live it the way I want to

1:07:39

without understanding sort of, like, the bigger

1:07:41

impact I just, you know, I don't wish

1:07:44

I

1:07:45

don't wish anything bad

1:07:47

on anybody.

1:07:48

But

1:07:49

I think those people

1:07:51

who didn't care about the

1:07:53

health and well-being of their

1:07:55

community members, I don't

1:07:56

know, I just I really hope that they are visited

1:07:59

by the ghost of Christmas

1:07:59

past present and future for the rest of

1:08:02

their lives. Oh, just I want them to be visited by

1:08:04

all Christmas future because that's the scary one.

1:08:08

I wanted to highlight something from Emily

1:08:11

Oster's article. And

1:08:14

she wrote The

1:08:15

people who got it right for whatever reason may wanna gloat,

1:08:18

those who got it wrong for whatever reason may feel defensive

1:08:20

and retrenched into

1:08:21

a position that doesn't accord with the facts.

1:08:23

All this gloating and defensiveness continues

1:08:25

to gobble up a lot of social energy and

1:08:27

to drive the culture wars especially on the

1:08:29

Internet. Those discussions are heated, unpleasant,

1:08:32

and ultimately unproductive. In the face

1:08:34

of so much uncertainty, getting something right,

1:08:36

had a hefty amount of luck. And

1:08:39

then she also wrote moving on is crucial now

1:08:41

because the pandemic created many problems that we

1:08:43

still need to solve. And then she highlights student

1:08:45

test scores, mental health, and,

1:08:48

you know, other things that we've touched on here.

1:08:50

Do you think that

1:08:53

moving on requires us

1:08:56

to

1:08:57

let go of

1:08:59

that. Or do you think moving on

1:09:01

should incorporate the feelings and the things

1:09:03

we learned about each other

1:09:05

during the pandemic? Do you think we need that information

1:09:07

in order to move on in a way that's realistic. Alyssa?

1:09:11

Yeah. Okay. So here's my question

1:09:13

for everyone here. If you were

1:09:15

very cautious during COVID, have

1:09:17

you taken moment to gloat. Like,

1:09:20

I just think that I think that the

1:09:22

gloating is very overblown in her

1:09:24

article, and I think if there's one person

1:09:26

who could have taken a fucking lap It's doctor Fauci

1:09:28

and he certainly hasn't. mean, Ed

1:09:30

Young got to pull it, sir.

1:09:32

So there

1:09:33

you go. I mean, this is like

1:09:36

I

1:09:36

just don't think that I think

1:09:38

I have moved on. I think that

1:09:40

if I think that it's my choice in the

1:09:42

same way that people who didn't wanna take precautions

1:09:44

during COVID was their choice?

1:09:47

It's my choice to not be friends with people

1:09:49

who I think have no empathy. And so I

1:09:51

have moved on. But I just think that, like,

1:09:53

saying that any of us who very

1:09:55

proud like, very, you know, dedicated

1:09:58

were dedicated in our mask wearing and

1:10:00

social distancing have

1:10:02

started gloating at any point. I haven't seen

1:10:04

evidence of that. That's just my point. Right.

1:10:07

Yeah. Amanda is like, I wanna stay in my

1:10:09

house for longer. What can I do? Which is

1:10:10

nice to definitely not long. No.

1:10:13

Yeah. I feel like that was written

1:10:14

with somebody in mind, but I do wanna

1:10:16

actually reference the Culture Wars part

1:10:18

because I feel like the

1:10:22

industrial revolution

1:10:23

of our century is digital. This was

1:10:25

like even before you know,

1:10:27

pandemic happened, but can you

1:10:29

imagine going through a pandemic being

1:10:31

isolated without social media? What

1:10:34

was that like? You know? And

1:10:37

I've seen I'll I'll just speak for

1:10:39

a stop agent, hey.

1:10:40

Right? Absolutely.

1:10:43

Because people were home, because

1:10:45

people were on social media. We

1:10:47

were able to have

1:10:49

the these cultural

1:10:51

moments that I don't know

1:10:54

Of

1:10:54

course, they would have existed otherwise, but

1:10:56

we're certainly fueled by the

1:10:58

fact that people were online. Mhmm.

1:11:01

And that helped.

1:11:03

We communicated in a different

1:11:06

way. So

1:11:08

I know that she's probably talking about, like, the cultural

1:11:10

wars of, like, mass or no mass. vaccine, no vaccine.

1:11:13

But -- Mhmm. -- yeah, I think

1:11:15

there were some different

1:11:18

ways in which we learned to communicate that helped

1:11:21

progressing these movements. Mhmm.

1:11:23

That's a really silver

1:11:24

lining way to look at it.

1:11:26

I mean, that's logically optimistic.

1:11:28

hey,

1:11:30

somebody has to be. That's for sure. Meghan,

1:11:33

do you wanna round out this, make any

1:11:35

more points before we take a break,

1:11:37

come back? I just wanna say I have a hundred

1:11:39

percent moved on, have not

1:11:41

bloated. And I think if you have

1:11:43

not moved on, you're not paying

1:11:45

attention to the issues

1:11:48

that are happening right now, and

1:11:51

they are affecting

1:11:53

many of us day to day to day to day

1:11:55

to day and mask or not

1:11:57

mask is not the

1:11:59

impending

1:11:59

disaster that Rovi

1:12:02

Wade being overturned and many

1:12:04

other issues that really are

1:12:06

continuing to cost people's lives.

1:12:08

and and well-being right now. So

1:12:10

you gotta move on.

1:12:12

Yeah. Indeed. Forgive,

1:12:14

but don't forget. Let's say that.

1:12:17

Also, just for what it's worth, I have not had

1:12:19

COVID. I'm not gloating. I have no idea

1:12:21

why. I have no idea how did this You

1:12:23

might be immune. Wow. And we may find

1:12:25

out people some people are just immune. You

1:12:28

cannot have my blood. Nobody gets to take

1:12:30

my blood out of me. I've seen all these articles

1:12:32

that are like, if you haven't gotten COVID, you might

1:12:34

be super dodger, and science wants to study.

1:12:37

No. Super dodger. You're like,

1:12:39

really best. Oh, great

1:12:41

reference. No. That's where I draw the line. You're

1:12:43

not gonna study my blood.

1:12:45

Please do not do that. Okay. Let's

1:12:47

take a quick break when we come back.

1:12:50

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And welcome back.

1:17:34

I am here with Alyssa

1:17:36

Master Monaco, Amanda Nguyen, and Megan

1:17:38

Gailey. We have almost reached the end of

1:17:40

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1:17:42

We have a little housekeeping and then Sandy Peddy.

1:17:45

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a nog Save America mug. I'm mad

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that

1:17:59

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1:18:02

felt like low hanging

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Low hanging

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1:18:09

then there's there's new hysteria merch too, so

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1:18:30

Okay.

1:18:31

sanity corner slash I feel petty,

1:18:33

aka, sanity petty, You

1:18:36

know what? Amanda,

1:18:37

I'm gonna have you go first. Are you

1:18:39

finding something to keep you sane or

1:18:42

are you feeling petty this sweet. I'm so petty.

1:18:44

I'm so petty today. This is my first

1:18:46

petty and you let me tell you why. So

1:18:49

I

1:18:49

travel a lot. I love my home and

1:18:52

Every single

1:18:55

morning this

1:18:56

week, I have been woken up at seven AM

1:18:58

because of the construction. I am a night

1:19:01

owl. And I

1:19:03

know someone I answer people that are, like, what?

1:19:05

Like, we're already, like, you know, ran, I don't

1:19:07

know, five k or ten k. But

1:19:09

for me, I am not up at that

1:19:11

time. Mhmm. And so yeah. And the

1:19:13

construction has started everyday at seven AM.

1:19:17

And Yeah, I'm really petty.

1:19:19

So today, I wrote an email to

1:19:21

my leasing office. It

1:19:22

was a little petty. But you know what? You

1:19:25

know, this is me. Okay? So I mean,

1:19:27

what are the local I mean, this is gonna sound

1:19:29

extremely care in ish. But, like, are

1:19:32

there local or I remember when

1:19:34

I've lived places where they're not supposed to start

1:19:36

before eight. I know. I know. I

1:19:38

literally thought that today. I was like, I have written

1:19:40

seventy five laws. I've gotten the United Nations

1:19:43

to pass things. for the world unanimously and

1:19:45

I can get the

1:19:46

United Nations to do this, I can get

1:19:48

this

1:19:48

construction company to start later.

1:19:51

So -- Yeah. -- you're very petty.

1:19:52

And I literally did

1:19:54

think about

1:19:55

starting a protest, you know, community

1:19:57

organized say my building so that we

1:19:59

go and,

1:19:59

you know, we I changed on stuff.

1:20:02

Yeah. Very petty. because my first petty.

1:20:04

I thought about this today. I have also

1:20:06

looked up because my neighbors, old

1:20:08

neighbors were putting in a pool at one point, and

1:20:10

I was like, I'm going to murder

1:20:12

all of them.

1:20:14

and I looked up what time

1:20:16

things and it was seven AM.

1:20:18

And and then I said, well, we gotta

1:20:20

change the law. We gotta change the

1:20:22

law. That's too

1:20:23

early.

1:20:24

This is my next law. Yes. Thank

1:20:26

you. Yeah. The only thing is, like, during the

1:20:28

summer in a in a hot place,

1:20:30

sometimes, like, seven to nine AM is,

1:20:32

like, the only day when you do anything

1:20:35

that's, like, many people. Well, then we got

1:20:37

a factor in global warming because it's, like, why

1:20:39

is it only why is it only unbearable

1:20:41

to be outside from seven to nine AM? Because the earth

1:20:43

is heating up. Yep. Mhmm. They should

1:20:45

give you some kind of stipend or at least issue

1:20:48

noise cancelling headphones or

1:20:50

Thank you. Caroline puts him in the chat,

1:20:52

some headphone or some earplugs

1:20:54

for you. Oh, good.

1:20:55

Good. Good. Good. Yes. But the earplugs

1:20:57

are a problem because what if there's a fire and

1:20:59

you don't hear fire alarm. Sorry to be a downer,

1:21:01

but

1:21:01

this has crossed my mind before.

1:21:03

Sorry it has. just needed to say that out loud.

1:21:05

Oh,

1:21:05

okay. because I used to sleep with headphones until

1:21:08

I thought about that. And then I stopped.

1:21:10

Yeah. That's the oh, Caroline

1:21:13

says you still hear you'll still hear the alarm.

1:21:15

Okay, Caroline. Yeah. For

1:21:18

all this tumor, the tumor testing.

1:21:23

Okay. Let's see. I

1:21:26

will go next. I know that spooky

1:21:28

season is over for another almost

1:21:30

year, which is fine. We

1:21:32

took down our our massive Halloween play

1:21:34

in our yard recently and it wasn't

1:21:36

undertaking. But

1:21:39

one thing I feel petty about is when

1:21:42

stores were selling Halloween decorations,

1:21:44

I saw this

1:21:46

recurring thing

1:21:47

that just drove me nuts. and that

1:21:49

was like skeleton decorations that

1:21:52

are made to look like

1:21:53

animals, but

1:21:55

the animals have ears The

1:21:57

skull the skeletons have ears

1:22:00

that would be cartilage and not would not

1:22:02

be part of the skeleton. Like,

1:22:04

you see a cat skeleton in a store,

1:22:06

the cat's skeletal doesn't have two little

1:22:09

points. No. This cat's got

1:22:11

a freaky little they've got just a freaky

1:22:13

little bean head. They don't have the

1:22:15

ear. It's not Those are anti science skeletons.

1:22:18

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I saw a

1:22:20

I saw a dog skeleton that

1:22:23

had ears And I was like,

1:22:25

this is

1:22:26

not

1:22:28

not correct. Like, if you must sell

1:22:30

skeletons that look like the thing that they are, I

1:22:32

guess humans and fish are

1:22:35

kinda it. Because anything with, like,

1:22:38

you know, any kind of ear thing,

1:22:40

I just it it it takes me out of it.

1:22:42

It it really it it really

1:22:44

ruins my when I see when it did, like, makes

1:22:46

me mad and I wanna leave, turn around and, like,

1:22:49

leave the Michaels or the,

1:22:50

you know, wherever I'm wherever I'm doing

1:22:52

my Halloween shopping. So so

1:22:54

that's what I feel petty about this week. No

1:22:56

cartilage features on

1:22:58

skeleton decorations

1:23:00

Please,

1:23:01

thank you. If you are interested in that,

1:23:03

I highly recommend that you check out

1:23:06

what scientists think

1:23:07

dinosaurs could possibly

1:23:09

look like. Was it chicken wings? Yes.

1:23:11

Right. y'all know this. So

1:23:13

obviously, we only have bones, right,

1:23:15

from these dinosaurs. But people

1:23:17

are saying that these dinosaurs can

1:23:20

actually look completely different because

1:23:22

if you look at the skeletons of,

1:23:24

like, actual animals right now, and

1:23:27

we were to draw them the way that, you

1:23:29

know, he was trying to draw the

1:23:31

dinosaurs -- Oh. -- like rhinos

1:23:34

and chickens. It looks so wild,

1:23:36

like, so different. I'm gonna

1:23:38

look hilarious. It's hilarious. In the

1:23:40

movie, Scott, they got a cat. I feel like

1:23:43

this? Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I'm definitely

1:23:45

gonna look that up. Also, like, imagine the

1:23:48

Earth inhabited by, like, giant

1:23:50

killer chickens. There's something so

1:23:53

funny about that. So hilarious

1:23:55

about that. Okay. Let's

1:23:58

see. Alyssa,

1:24:01

Peti or sanity. Patty?

1:24:03

k.

1:24:04

k. So

1:24:06

all of the people who love

1:24:08

to

1:24:09

you know, wear their American

1:24:12

flags as like a political statement as

1:24:14

if, you know, I'm

1:24:16

American yay. Okay.

1:24:19

Here's my issue. The

1:24:20

other day, I was driving into town and

1:24:23

it was pouring rain. And

1:24:24

all these people with their

1:24:27

malevolent turp, Lee's Evelyn

1:24:29

signs, and all of their,

1:24:31

like, Trump twenty twenty four signs

1:24:34

had the American flag up.

1:24:37

And it was raining. And the thing

1:24:39

I think is wild is all of these

1:24:41

people who use the flag as the symbol

1:24:43

of their patriotism, thereby making them

1:24:45

better than everybody else.

1:24:46

literally don't know how to treat the flag.

1:24:49

The flag doesn't hang on the ground.

1:24:51

The flag doesn't the flag comes

1:24:53

down when it's gonna rain. And I just

1:24:55

think that it is I mean, if the through

1:24:57

line of today's episode is hypocrisy, I just

1:24:59

wanted to round it out with how

1:25:02

people who use the

1:25:04

flag as they're like, I love

1:25:06

America. Make America great. Look

1:25:08

at me. Then there's one guy who drives

1:25:10

around town that's got a flag on his truck.

1:25:12

and it's been on there for so long. It's like

1:25:14

shredded and shit. I was like, you're not

1:25:16

Paul over here. Like, this is nuts.

1:25:19

Anyways, that's my that's my if you're gonna

1:25:21

if you're gonna have the flag,

1:25:23

treat it right. There are rules. There

1:25:25

are rules. just

1:25:26

There were rules. And if I know them,

1:25:29

they should. I don't even care about the

1:25:31

rules, but it's like you are so mad

1:25:33

about kneeling. That's exactly correct.

1:25:36

probably if your dog shit

1:25:38

and you ran out of newspaper, pick

1:25:40

it up with the flag and be able to call in Haparneck.

1:25:42

And it's like, okay. Whatever. Yes, Michael.

1:25:45

No. Well, you could you could obviously tell

1:25:47

I'm gonna pick petty. Yeah. So

1:25:49

Or petties. This is a rare

1:25:51

or petty week. this is where we come.

1:25:55

Okay. So we went to, like, a fall thing

1:25:57

or pumpkins and stuff.

1:26:00

And and I know the holidays are upon us. and

1:26:02

so traffic gets bad, parking lots

1:26:04

get really packed. We were trying

1:26:06

to park in a parking spot that was designated

1:26:09

for us because we

1:26:12

had a handicapped placard because there was

1:26:14

someone in our car who was handicapped. And

1:26:16

the person standing in

1:26:20

like, they parked in the spot next

1:26:22

to us, and then they stood in

1:26:24

the parking spot, not to save it,

1:26:26

but to just stand

1:26:28

there and to fut

1:26:30

surround with their car and to

1:26:32

brought their

1:26:33

child around to that side.

1:26:35

And I know that there's been data that

1:26:37

when you see someone needs the

1:26:39

parking space that you are occupying or

1:26:42

you are blocking, people tend to

1:26:44

go slower If you are one

1:26:46

of those people, I wish bad

1:26:48

things for you. That is evil.

1:26:50

That is bad. If you see someone

1:26:53

need your parking space or the one next to

1:26:55

and you don't get a little clip in your

1:26:57

step, fuck you.

1:27:00

Especially if it's a especially if

1:27:02

it's a disabled

1:27:03

designated parking spaces.

1:27:05

Seriously. Well,

1:27:07

you know I got out and fought. You

1:27:09

know I said I made my mom

1:27:11

get out of the car, so I could get

1:27:13

out and raise it a big

1:27:15

old snake. And then the woman tried to yell at me,

1:27:17

and it's like, no, you're wrong. Move.

1:27:19

She tried to yell like daddy's on this. that people

1:27:22

-- Yeah. -- workflow.