Soup d'Etat
Lovett or Leave It- 1,197 views
- 5 Sep 2020
Chowder is a weapon and Antifa has an airline. What a week. Akilah Hughes stops by for the monologue. Ronan Farrow is back so that we can test our relationship again for some reason. And activist Imani Barbarin joins to talk about the challenges facing voters with disabilities and what steps we need to take to turn out the vote.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Love it or leave it is brought to you by our presenting sponsor Djura, a single malt Scotch whisky made by the same tiny island community since 1810. Today, we're playing minute mixologist.
I thought it said my nute mixologist where John, Tommy and I try to make delicious whiskey cocktails in under a minute. Our friends at Djura sent us all the ingredients we need for today's cocktail, the Jura Sunset.
John, are you ready? I'm ready, Tommy. You're ready. Here we go. Ready? I'm ready.
Busted. All right, here we go. Step one, gently place ice into a tall, large wine. Glasses clink, clink, clink, clang, clang, clang.
Add one ounce of jaw, a 10 year old whiskey.
Fill the smaller side of the jigger to measure one ounce. Exactly.
He's being very careful. You just hit it out. Add one ounce bigger a pair of TiVo.
We're using Aperol. That's our bitter aperitifs. Oh my. That's my drink of choice. They fill the glass as much as you'd like with tonic water. Give it a gentle stir. Stir, stir, stir. Don't break the glass. Don't break the glass. Don't YPO.
Don't break the glass in the instructions. What a silly bit of instruction. Also don't throw it out the window.
Yeah, don't break the glass. Step six don't pour the finished drink down the sink garnish with an orange wedge.
Just so, just so done. How does it taste.
Oh this is this is your best yet. Wow.
Oh Orangy refreshing summary. I'll take all three become a minute mixologist today.
All of the ingredients we use to make the Djura Sunset are available to order in a bundle. Abus bundle go to Jaroussky dot com slash love it and have the Jura Sunset Minute mixologist cocktail kit mailed to your doorstep. If you use the code love at ten, you'll save ten dollars as they say in Scotland Java, which is Gaelic for we have like sixty days to stop fascism and half the people on television pretending it's not true.
Agree with us all morning. Welcome to the twenty sixth and final episode of Love It or Leave It Back in the Closet. That song was sent in by Michael Dylan Burgher, crushing it on the theme, crushing it in the name department, Dylan Berger.
So this is our final week of Back in the Closet episodes. Are we still recording remotely? Of course we are.
But I know that for me, live from home can be hard, but politics from home feels harder.
It has been six months of terrible, terrible news and noise after four very long years, all without the release valves of meeting friends at a restaurant or seeing a movie or going to a rave.
And we all miss raves. And there has been so much hardship for people that have lost jobs or gotten sick.
And I was texting with a friend of mine who has kids and all my friends with kids described dealing with their children as if a skittish deer broke into a pottery studio and destroyed the place. And then society turned to them and said, you have to get the deer to come down so you can teach the deer how to make a face. So I will normally say this in a more hopeful way. But today I'm going to say it like this, that we have 60 days to make them pay for the last six months.
We have 60 days to shake ourselves out of a torpor if that's where you're at, and win and win everywhere and win by a lot.
So we're not in the closet anymore. We're in the homestretch and we're going to talk about what happened each week. But more than ever, we're going to talk about what we can do and how we can stay in the fight. So if you haven't signed up yet, sign up at vote, Save America Dotcom. And if you want to submit a home stretch theme song to get people hyped, send it my way and leave it at Gay.com and maybe we'll use yours.
And I want to figure out a way to share all the back in the closet themes we got because they were so amazing. And I'm so excited to hear your hyp songs for the home stretch.
Now, in that spirit, the conventions are over. Many states have less than one month to finish registering voters ahead of Election Day. Earlier this year, Votes of America teamed up with Powerpack to launch the every last vote fund. The fund supports aggressive on the ground efforts to mobilize black, brown, indigenous and other marginalized communities who are routinely the victims of targeted voter disenfranchisement efforts. We want to raise 750000 to help them do what they do. So you can visit at Vote Save America every vote to donate and learn more.
Later in the show, we'll be joined by activist Amani Barberton and journalist and video game completionist Ronan Farrow for a return of our version of The Newlywed Game, which was her usual aims.
But first, she's a comedian, author of the book, obviously, and co-host of Cricket's Daily News Pod. What a day. Welcome back. Returning champion McKayla Hughes.
Thank you so much. And good morning. Let's get into it. What a week on Tuesday, seemingly out of nowhere, President Trump denied that he had a series of mini strokes in November 2013. Trump followed this by saying it was a series of huge strokes, big strokes. People say to me, people are always coming up and saying, how did you get the strokes so big? I didn't know these strokes.
They could be so incredible. And they are incredible. They really are powerful. More and more doctors are saying it.
I give it to them, right? Yes. Giant strokes. We still don't know. I mean, why did he bring it up?
It's like it also people I'm hearing that people are saying my dick doesn't get high. Who's that is why are people saying that like no one was thinking about this?
But now we are it's like it's like that joke. You know, my shirt that says I'm not a human traffickers raising a lot of questions answered by my shirt.
That's not my job. It's and it's a Twitter joke. I like whoever wrote that joke. It's a great joke. Shout out to you. Shout out.
Also this week, we learned that according to Sarah Huckabee, Sanders new memoir, President Trump told Sanders to take one for the team after Kim Jong un winked at her at a 2018 summit in Singapore. Look, Michel Wolf learned the hard way. If you want to joke about Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2018, you cannot mention her makeup. Just stick to safe topics like her being jokingly order to fuck a murderous dictator. OK, ok.
Yeah, yeah. Damn. Again, why did she write this? I was curious.
I assume it's meant to be charming, although my understanding is that her reaction in the book is stop.
Great. So, so wonderful. Oh man.
Also, we learned this week that the U.S. will not be participating in a global effort to develop and distribute a covid-19 vaccine, in part because the strategy is led by the World Health Organization, which Trump has targeted purely as a scapegoat for his failures to contain the virus in the U.S..
So we're cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world, which is great because the U.S. actually prefers to eat lunch by itself in the choir room.
So, I mean, the thing that makes America sympathetic and yeah, this is like a teacher that's like not going to grade the tests where it's so that everybody else on Earth has to suffer, like, can we just get out of this class the like, though?
It's a bit like we're at the part of the movie where the popular kid is finally getting their comeuppance and actually their meanness and bullying isn't working.
And then it's the point of the movie where the the bully villain turns to the henchmen and goes, come on, Jake, let's get out of here.
And Jake's like, I'm staying with the nerds. Yeah, you know what I mean? And Jake's like, it turns out, actually, the gay kid and I are friends and maybe I'm gay.
It's like the part of every 90s movie where the hot girl or like the girl who is regular, who got the makeover, who became hot, realizes the guy is a dick and like paid to go on a date with her.
But he keeps trying to pay off the date with he is just like relentlessly. I can just I can do this. This is who I am now. I'm the guy who pays for sex in high school.
All right. Well, I think we run that to ground. Yeah, well, yeah. I got no more metaphors and more civilised.
After spending two hundred thousand dollars in Facebook ads since May, disparaging vote by mail Trumps re-election campaign spent 650000 dollars on Facebook ads over the past week, encouraging his supporters to request absentee ballots. So if your great aunt, who lives in Scottsdale and refuses to try sushi because it's raw, suddenly asked you for help working your printer, just tell her you're busy and distract her by saying your pronouns. Are they them?
Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, she'll get on Twitter and yell about it.
During Trump's intentionally divisive visit to Kenosha, he posed in front of a burned down business with a man pretending to be the current owner of the shop.
The current owner was furious because he committed arson for the insurance growns scatterplot. Wait, I have I have more.
Here we go. This is this is in the voice of that owner.
OK, you ready? All right. You try to take advantage of some unrest to get a little insurance money, retire, maybe head down to Scottsdale with the missus. It's not right. But you know what? One time you take a little extra one time and your whole goddamn life, you don't play by the rules. You are always the guy that drove back to the bank with the extra twenty. And you look around and nobody cares. Not in this America, not now.
So you count some cards and you push your chips forward. Next thing you know, the worst president in history and some jagoff pretending to be you is saying blue lives matter in front of your crime scene.
Well, yeah. Dang, I want that guy to find peace. That's clearly his business. Will wasn't cut it. He just wanted a new life. I understand. Cut him some slack you know.
Yeah. I mean I feel I know your roommate. I think if I thought about it.
Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. On Monday, Joe Biden came out of his basement to give a speech in Pittsburgh, America's basement, during his birth.
I want to be clear that I apologize to Joe Biden and I apologize to Pittsburgh for saying those things.
I know I have a Bengals fan, Pittsburgh and eat my shorts, continue my shorts. During the speech, Biden said this.
He said this week, and I quote, You better vote for me or you're going to have the greatest depression you've ever seen.
Jump in response gave a series of absolutely why holds television appearances. First, he accused Biden of being on drugs. He's on.
I'll tell you. Well, he's on some kind of an enhancement, in my opinion. And I say we should both I should take a drug test socially because we don't want to have a situation where a guy is taking some kind of like an athlete. No, no. He should take I want to take one. I'll take one. He'll take one. We should both take a drug test.
That hydroxy chloroquine spokesman is right. Taking drugs outside of a controlled clinical setting is dangerous.
And I appreciate it. I appreciate it. You made the point. You know, we must make sure, Akela, that our candidates are not taking governing enhancing drugs. That's exactly right. What message would that send to the child candidates? The Buddha judge? The Johns always offs these young people, these employees.
At this point, I would hope that Trump would of governing. And if it meets, we could get out of this shit like figure something out.
Then outdoing himself, Trump decided to share his thoughts about one of Antipas weapons of choice.
Oh, yeah. And then they have cans of soup, soup and they throw the cans of soup. That's better than a brick because you can't throw a brick. It's too heavy, but a can of soup, you can really put some power into that. Right. And then when they get caught, they say, no, this is soup for my family. They're so innocent. This is soup for my family. It's incredible. And you have people coming over with bags of soup, big bags of soup.
I've heard of the Anarchist Cookbook, but this is ridiculous. Hey, Akela, hey, Akela, what do you call Donald Trump complaining about bisque? You call him a soup Nazi. OK. Hey, what's next tequila? Is he going to sign an executive order that says no soup for you?
Too early for that.
Hey, Akua, who do you think is going to unleash to deal with these soup wielding antifa?
I don't know, John. It's the gazpacho Gestapo.
I'm sorry, is my my is my mike not working gazpacho Gestapo? You know, it's not coming back one more time. These militias are very serious, I don't know. It's very scary.
I just ate the soup thing is is really struck me only because I'm like, how many instances of giant bags of rice were there? This is a one. And this is like Paul Bunyan level. I taught it like it's not like a lot of people saw this happen. And this was a real thing.
This Antifa they got this one guy is real strong. He's stronger than an engine. He can cut through a mountain with two hammers, stronger than any engine.
He can beat the engine. That's what's so amazing about this antifa.
That's how strong their brutal, strong, evil people with with two hammers, they can climb the mountain pretty tall.
One of these guys, Gentiva, they got this big blue ox and they say his life doesn't matter. Oh, man.
Blue Ox is blue ox blue. We've done at the height of coffee. Wrap it up.
We're done.
The applause line is is down.
I guess it's broke and sparks.
Coming up, the applause sign fell on a tourist visiting from the Midwest. Oh. And they had tickets for Cordin tomorrow.
Oh, and then after saying Joe Biden was controlled by the far left, he said this to Laura Ingram, She's not controlling anything.
Who do you think controlling Biden strings?
Is it former Obama people that you've never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows, people that are. What does that mean? That sounds like conspiracy theory. A dark shadow is people that you haven't heard of.
There are people that are on the streets. There are people that are controlling the streets. We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend. And in the plane, it was almost completely loaded with with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms, with gear and this and that. They're there on a plane. Where is the worst? I'll tell you sometime, but it's under investigation right now.
I don't know about you, Akela, but I love Antifa Air. The rewards program is comparable to Delta. The lounges find the mostly they have milk and soup, but a little travel hack.
All right, little tip. Don't buy a first class ticket. That is a trap. You'll regret it.
Oh, I just I think my favorite part about him talking about MTV is that they're telling these looters that are on the plane together are telling the people who aren't looters, who just got on the wrong place. And I guess that they're looters, like, that's just like, oh, what are you doing? Are you traveling for business or pleasure?
Looting must be hoping to burn down a target anyway.
Meanwhile, as Trump is fanning the flames of conspiracy theory, Senator Joni Ernst, facing a tough re-election, parroted a Kuhnen conspiracy theory that the number of coronavirus dead is drastically inflated.
Jonie, if you want to get fired that badly, just tweet something awful when Betty White dies.
She's never going to let me.
Not a problem. I'm glad she's going to live forever. I'm just saying that that lady is never going to get that opportunity to.
The face you made, the horrified face is something I won't forget. Yeah, I went through all five stages of grief at once.
And finally this week, Senator Ed Markey defeated challenger Joe Kennedy in the Democratic Senate primary in Massachusetts. This is a huge victory for the Green New Deal progressives and for Twitter users who posted pictures of Ed Markey from the 80s because it seemed like the thing to do.
It's a shout out to all of you.
And I just hope that I the world is still here when I'm old so that people can remember when I was hot any time something happened, like, remember when she was hot.
That's right.
There is an interview that Fran Lebowitz, the writer, gave about pictures. And she said that when she was younger, she hated pictures of herself. But over time, she likes all old pictures of herself because all the ways in which you thought you look good or bad, fade away and you just look young. And I know that that's a smart thing to embrace when I see photos of myself now that I hate. But I can't because I'm in it, you know.
Yeah, I'm in. Yeah, it's like how I've always thought if I just lost like five pounds or like five pounds from my stomach went to my butt, like that would be everything. And I'm like, yeah, but now it's ten, now it's 50.
That's right. It's right. Yeah.
It's really not getting any better. So why can't I just appreciate it.
Yes, I feel the same way.
I like the the deeper we get into quarantine life, the more photos from last year that I was like we got to get our shit together are now like who is that fucking model?
Yes. I'm like, look at her walk down the hall.
Yeah, her thighs were touching and like, in a beautiful way, in a way that we all appreciate it for what it was.
It's a lesson. And just one more note on the Ed Markey race.
If you listen to the interview, you know that I've exacted some pretty significant concessions from Senator Ed Markey on the issue of daylight saving.
And I will not forget it and I will return to it. And I expect him to keep his word.
That's all I'll say about that. Okay. So about daylight savings. Just a real quick question. Like which time do you want to be in the one that we're in now or the one from the fall?
So here's what I think I want. I personally like Daylight Saving Time. I don't want dark at four. You never want to be plunged into darkness. I never want to be plunged into darkness.
I want us to I want I think in the end, most places should remain on daylight saving time permanently.
But my actual position is that depending on where you are in a time zone, sunrise and sunset come earlier or later. So sunrise and sunset in Boston is almost an hour earlier than it is in Detroit.
So Detroit might be better off in standard time and Massachusetts might be better off on on daylight saving time. My view is that basically right now the law says you can be on either permanent standard time or you can do the time job to get the summer hours. The time jumps really harmful.
So states need a third option, which is that states should be allowed to decide on permanent daylight saving time. Then you give states a window to choose basically one of three, keep the time jump, which is mostly pretty harmful. There's probably a few states that might want to keep it due standard time, which would be a change for a bunch of states, because most because virtually all states now embrace Daylight Saving Time or do permanent daylight saving time, which is already kind of proposed and passed in a number of states, if we can get the federal government to change the law.
So that's the issue. That's the that's my view on it right now. I'm I'm going to talk to some sleep scientist on this show to kind of keep diving in on this. All right. Because I actually think it's one of those things.
It's not ideological, but it's just something that can make life a little bit better. And the time shift is so stupid and harmful and deadly.
But we should probably stop doing this thing that's unnecessary, that kills people every fall and spring. That's my view.
But this is America, and we like not making changes that can prevent preventable death. We actually embrace preventable death.
It's one of our it was the ultimate thing about the Telx with the militias. It was right. Like, oh, so you guys should probably tell the militias.
Yeah, it was it was it was like E Pluribus Unum embrace preventable death militias. Yes. But they don't get hotel rooms. Yeah. Unless the hotel is cool with it.
It's got a V two queen beds. Nothing like as I remember it from my school. Oh man.
Hilton SharkWater. No troops unless there's a pull out in the room in the suite is not free.
It is an additional times. It is not to kill his delight.
As always, thank you so much for joining for the monologue. When we come back, Ronan's here to play the actually spread game.
Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of love it or leave it coming up.
Love it or leave it is brought to you by Brooklyn and fall is right around the corner. And what better time to refresh your space than a fresh new season?
We're talking all new super soft bedding, towels and even loungewear, because if you're going to sit back and admire your new digs, you might as well be insanely comfortable doing it.
Home of the Internet's favorite sheets, Brooklyn and. Has over 50000, five star reviews and counting, and because they love a deal almost as much as they love comfort, their two favorite things over there at Brooklyn and DLs comfort, their Labor Day event is happening now featuring everything you need to outfit your home this season at a fraction of the price.
We love Brooklyn and I have Brooklyn and on my bed and it's very, very comfortable and it's very soft. We've always been our favorite. It's always been our favorite sheets. We think they're terrific and we're all using them. And everyone says we look younger than our ages. Why? Because we get a good night's sleep. And because Zoom has a filter that smooths out problems. Hmm. Right, John? Right. No, absolutely. Absolutely. Where are we talking about Brooklyn and selection?
So versatile. There's a little something for everyone in every season. I've been spending a lot more time at home lately. Maybe you have as well.
And unless you're a kuhnen candidate for Congress in Georgia, you probably have also been spending a fair amount of time at home. So I upgraded my space with new Brooklyn and products and it gave me a change of scenery that I needed. And boy, did I need a change of scenery, get some new sheets.
And now you're in Temecula.
And look, we do things a little differently out here. Brooklyn's Labor Day event is underway, and it's a big one, don't miss out on big savings on all things sheets, towels, loungewear and so much more. And if you can't wait, you can get 10 percent off your first order and free shipping right now when you use the promo code, love it only at Brooklyn and Dotcom.
That's B-R o k l i n n dot com promo code, Lovette, Brooklyn and everything. You need to live your most comfortable life.
And we're back joining us. Went up to you yet, sorry. Joining us from across the couch for me. He's a Pulitzer Prize winning author, journalist. Welcome back to the show. The Grim Reaper for Hennesey grippers, the king of consent, the man I catch and kiss, Ronan Farrow.
Really? Well, I guess it's fine. All right.
Say that like everyone. Akeelah, hi.
It says here in the notes from Travis having a conversation with your husband. Don't forget to compliment him and notice something about him you don't normally notice. Isn't he dreamy? You're lucky. You should remind yourself of that more often. OK, now brush his hair behind his ears and just see where it goes. No, thank you. Travis wrote and saying, let's be honest, but Travis is really setting us up for us. What is he setting us up for?
More relationship destruction.
I know, right? That's right, because. Oh, good. He just likes to watch the world burn. That's a good point. That is right.
Because the questions are going to be awful. So he's setting us up.
Just make sure that you, you know, compliment. All right. Well, here is how I don't understand the rules. We're we're entering our answers here. And no matter what, you just let the.
OK, all right. I mean, you can host it if you want around it. I mean, I think you do a great job in Jordan.
I have enough history at this point.
The week since our last episode back in the closet, we thought we'd check in as a couple, just like we did back in April, because in 20/20, when it comes to spending time as a couple, it's about quantity, not quality. And we wanted to see just how much we are learning about each other in a segment we call the actually spread game.
As Kumail Nanjiani pointed out, the first time we played sneezing is not a symptom usually of covid-19. But since Wrona and I will be playing this game, we are, as you can tell, bringing in a impartial ringer as the host.
She's the incredible, funny host of Rookie is What a day you remember from the monologue. Please welcome Akela Hughes.
Oh my God. Thank you so much. Wow, I love it here. A warm welcome, warm welcome. Beautiful intro. All right. Well, let's talk about how this game works. All right. So I'm going to ask one of you a question about the other person, and then that person has to write down their answer and you have to guess what they wrote down.
Do you remember that down and your the last time. So, yeah, we're still together. It seems we're still here. All right. Well, if you all are ready, let's just get into it. This first question is for Ronan. OK, ok. OK, ok. OK, ok. All right.
Ronan, what meal has John learned how to make during quarantine that he's most proud of? Oh, that's a hard one. You don't write it down. All right, I have my answer written down. All right, I know my answer. OK, Ronan, what do you think?
It's the kind of tomatoey and anchovy heavy, saucy posta by some chef of note, some celebrity chef. So. So. All right.
No, because that is one posta ago.
You're close. That was the Allison Roman pasta. But of course, we've moved on to the Chrissy Teigen past.
Oh, well, that is a politically correct view.
You know, at least in the pasta label, you know, I want to I want to be clear that this isn't a political answer purely because that spicy me.
So pasta from Chrissy Teigen rules. It rules. And if you want to make your, you know, make it, you'll like it. That's a real endorsee. I love Chrissy.
Oh, my. OK, all right. All right. We get it. She's the queen of Twitter. We love Chrissy. She rules over us. Whatever she says goes Chrissy Teigen. I appreciate her animal crossing game. OK, all right. We've talked to Christie plenty. All right.
Well, this question is for Jon Lovett. All right, Jonathan, what is Ronan's favorite thing he read during quarantine? What?
Hmm. What is the what is Ronan Red? He's still, it seems like a log. First of all, by the way, it's like we're not doing a lot of reading, but. So let's go.
Well, no, that's true. If you're on Twitter, you're reading.
I think what we're running up against here is we are no longer literate, bikila know. But there's one.
There's one you read one thing. You kept trying to get me to read it with you and I wouldn't you read one thing. Nobody read it. They were reading. You know what I'm talking about. How do you know what I'm referring to. That you were you were saying like, oh we should read this together and I was.
Yes, no, I'm not going to read anything. I'm going to have two Golden Girls. No, I read something that was very fun that I thought you'd enjoy.
Yeah, I was trying to get you to read, but I'm really I do we have it and I'm I don't have an answer. But this can be a book.
Any book you could do, you have to write a book down. I did write a book down and it is a book that I, I read during war.
Can you give him a hint about the give me give me like one tiny hint. Is the book heavy.
Is that right? You are killing me right now, Alex Trebek just got to guess, I'm going to guess in cold blood. No, I was going to say Kafka by the shore.
By the shore. That was I mean, you read when you were reading. I we just we blew it.
We just, you know, take this is the beginning of the game. It's not over by the shore. By the shore. Here is a question for Ronan, who read Kafka by the Shore.
As we all know now, what traits, skill or interest as John Lovett have now that has been transferred to you over the course of this quarantine.
OK, immediately thought of something. Yeah, know. I know. Oh, no.
You know what it is. Yeah, it's just laughing at you. It's like really clear. Yeah, very clear to me.
Oh no.
What awful trade have I conveyed to him just during quarantine. It's like really just like over the course of quarantine. Over the course it has to be exclusively during because it says over the course I'm in.
I think I know what you're referring to.
If it has to be I mean, I listen, I guess I'm the one who decides. So it doesn't have to be, I guess only. But OK, thank you. My answer is Diet Coke fiend. Yeah, that's it. Yes, that's it. Oh wait.
Oh, he's supposed to say it right. I say confirm it. You're just going to have to trust me.
I was going to say I've tried you because you do us a favor. There was not even a moment I believe you would have like I was not a diet soda drinker or a soda drinker.
Full stop. I was a water guy. I was a juice guy, was a milk guy. And now devices have transferred. Yeah. To soda.
Really. No, no fun vices actually. Just that the diet. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's a really wholesome nice a little bit of caffeine. Yeah. Sort of insulting to eating cookie dough by the jar.
Yeah. All right. That has yet to transfer over as it was in. You don't as fulsome a way as he embraces the cookie dough from our lifestyle when it's available.
Yeah. Look, I love to try so. Well, here is a question for John Levert.
All right. Who should have grown and kept in better touch with their current team.
Wow. I mean, I know my answer.
I miss you around and you think your akela let's hang. I could stand outside your house and just wave. You know I would.
That would be better than my social life baseline at this point. I don't see him see people. My serotonin is so hard.
Lately I've been to do a category. I'm going to do a category of person. Oh wow. Curveball maybe. I don't know.
Well I listen, I'm a I'm fine with you. Okay. Categories, fun, childhood friends. The answer is law school friends.
Oh, that was my other answer. Did you know any of your childhood friends in law school? Did they go to law school?
No, but I am still friends with a few like second grade, fifth grade summer camp friends, not high school, because you skipped high school every day. It's not a big deal. You go.
I don't think it's actually a good thing because you didn't because there's a bunch of social kids.
Why I'm so dysfunctional, you know, I can't relate. I skipped middle school, so I have this inflated sense of confidence that was beaten out of me. They'd still love it.
Yeah, that's what happened here. That's what happened here. I'm like, sorry, guys.
I just by the time you knew me, I was hot. It's unfortunate, but we all know the truth. Yeah. My awkward phase is about to end. High school seems like a nightmare. Everything I know about high school is from, like, you know, Breakfast Club or something. And it just seems terrible to me. Yeah.
You learn from me like movies. It's just like people with hot step siblings that want to date. That's what I've learned from high school movies.
Nothing else. I well, Ronin, this one's for you. What is the hobby that John decided to pick up in quarantine that he has already abandoned? He's given up on a dream.
So many dead dreams, a dream deferred. I'm dead inside habia. You know, it was easy. You know the answer instantly. It was simple to you for. For me.
OK, OK. It seems like Ronan has been thinking about all of these things in your life.
Just just negative thoughts about you. Like I know he's given through my mind. I'm going to say fully, I mean, is this fully abandoned or sometimes returns to hope springs eternal?
Akela. That's right.
You know, you can never judge. The correct answer is ring fit adventure. Oh, that's right.
I said cooking because I couldn't think of anything, but I did give up on the ring for adventure. You still cook. That's why I still have to work a bit. But not so.
I mean, we just heard about this. I was I was grilling salmon.
I had to beg, borrow, beg and steal and strangle a man with my bare hands to get a copy of Renford adventure for me. We don't know. It's it's a fitness game called Attention Ring.
Oh, I forgot. She is I had to kill Yoshi.
She said I happened like pieces of this game a lot like like it came with extra.
There's detritus from the event and I still I still do the ring fit occasionally. It's a very good workout.
It must be nice. All right. Some of us are struggling with motivation. Yeah. I love. I got it. Point taken. I. Work out more. All right. I still have it. This is for you, both of us, for the motivation. Ask my editors Tuesday evening and Ronon wants to flake on a Zoome happy hour. What is the excuse?
OK, that's easy. That's easy. That's easy. I got it. I'm so flattered that you think that I'm invited. Hey, hey.
We're supposed to believe you wouldn't be invited. You're a Disney princess. Get out of here. I have it. I have my answer. I'm ready to call it out.
It's super simple. Super easy. All right. The excuses. He's on deadline. That is correct.
A perfect.
I got to say, what's really exciting about this is we did much worse in April. All right? We did much worse in April.
Well, yeah, they really just scored. And we are getting questions, right? Yeah. I just want to be clear. This is a real he's always on. It's not a fake excuse. Yeah. I mean, if you think about it like it was just one long deadline.
Yeah. You're never like dying since the day we were born. Akela.
Yeah. Every day I get a little bit closer to the whatever happens there. Well that got really dark edition of this.
We definitely thought we're having so much fun. Yeah, well, the backdrop is the end of the world, not us. We're just living in it. Oh, God. All right.
Well, I'm just by that is my final question for Rolnik. There's two there's a final question. Final question for Ronan.
OK, it is two a.m. and Postmus is at the door again. What a generator order.
Oh, that's easy. All right, John, are you ready to confirm?
Go chicken parm. Look, McDonald's come up at two a.m..
What's up at two a.m.?
Two, OK, two a.m.. My elation says nothing. Nothing is coming.
Chicken parm. It's hard to find a good chicken parmigiana, but I can get some nogs. All right. I stand corrected. That is that is a fair correction. He's discerning in his chicken parmesan, and that's a good point.
And I personally haven't had a chicken nugget this entire time. And that is what I'm having for lunch now. So thank you for that.
And I love chicken nuggets. Yeah, it's, um, there's that there's that Internet chain letter called Rocko's Basileus, which is this idea that the entire world is an evil simulation by an A.I. that's testing us to see if when the time comes, we will bow to the AI. And so this is a simulation to find out if we're people that are on the robot side or people on human side. And so the test is somebody will say to you, have you heard of Rothko's Basilisk?
And then you find out that you're living in a simulation and you have to decide whether or not you would support the robot or not. And I obviously support the robot. I support the AI. I would do whatever they said. That's how the robot knows to unplug me and give me a good life and not punish me for all eternity.
The point being, oh, we just we just got the tolerant nod from Akira.
I'm sure, quite sure that the point being the point being, chicken nuggets are in many ways like the Rothko's Basilisk in the sense is when somebody introduces the concept of chicken nuggets to you in the simulation simulation, then finds out whether or not you'll order them or not, because just the idea of them compels us to eat them.
I think John just vented his secret anxiety that I'm a Cylon is what just happened.
I think I got to cut down on the microdevices.
Yeah, you got to, like, really lock up your inbox. I feel like you're getting a lot of help that you're reading for some reason. Dulli So final question.
Oh, there's one more. One more. Yes. Fajon OK, here we go. Everyone knows.
Wow, I didn't write this question. So before I can do it, I just want to apologize.
Is this the one that tears us apart? We'll find out, OK. I mean, it might ruin our friendship. So I just want you to know I didn't write this.
We know that this is whatever is is about to happen is a instigation by scamp named Travis.
And we fall for the only thing we can say for sure at any given time in this game is that Akela, my friendship will remain strong.
That's right. I am never going to be invited, but I will survive.
Well, this was this has been real this these years of friendship. I appreciate it.
Oh, my God. What is this fucking question?
All right. It was going so well, I don't feel comfortable asking, but I'm going to I wouldn't want to be clear that I may end the segment.
I just may. And this whatever this question is, I am very much prepared to end this right now. What is the question, Akela?
Here we got the question. Fuck you, Travis. How dare you, Travis? I want everyone to know that we actually cut the last question.
We actually cut it and eliminate all of the bill. It literally just kill let the TSA know the team will not decide.
Is this guy.
This is great. This got so weird at the end, especially the stuff we cut was great. Yeah.
All I can say is you all missed out on the real after dark version of it.
When we come back, we'll see if you succeed in booking. Yeah, I just got fired.
Weirdly, it was weird and everybody did great except for Travis.
When we come back, we'll have my interview with Imani Barber in about some of the hurdles people with disabilities face to participate in democracy and what we can do to be involved.
Thank you, Aguila. Thank you. Bye, guys. Thank you. Thank you, Ronnie Ronan. Always a pleasure.
Go round and round here. You all are so cute.
Don't go anywhere. Love it or leave it. And there's more on the way.
Love it or leave it is brought to you by Román. You already know the importance of taking care of your skin. Whether you're worried about dullness, retina's fine lines or acne. Trying to find the right treatment can be frustrating. Now there's a simpler, smarter solution to get the skin. You feel your best in McRory. A digital health clinic for women. Rori is the sister brand of Román. Like Román, they make it simple to connect with a health care professional online and see if personalized prescriptions can care.
Treatment is right for you all from the comfort of your own home. No more waiting for appointments or in line at the pharmacy. Go on your phone or computer. Complete a free online consultation and you'll hear back from a health care professional within 24 hours. And if appropriate, they'll prescribe a personalized skincare treatment plan that works for you and your skin. Look, I'm sure once in a while somebody goes through the process and they come out and be like, nah, your skin is perfect, your guy Pearce.
But for the rest of us. I don't know why I picked him up here, I picked him, John, you know why I picked him?
Yes, because I would say in the last 10 to 15 years, somewhere in that range, roughly, I read a profile about Guy Pearce and it said that he was Brad Pitt with better skin. And I remember that description of Guy Pearce ever since. It really may be a 20 year old article, OK, maybe a 20 year old memory with Rory. You don't even have to go to the pharmacy. Your custom skin care is delivered right to you with free two day shipping.
You can also follow up with a health care professional any time if you need to make a change to your treatment or have any questions there with you every step of the way on your skin care journey with Rory, there are no commitments and you can cancel at any time. Got you. Hello, Rory.
Dotcom's love it to try out nightly defense for just five dollars. It's free to chat with a health care professional. And your first order is just five dollars. That's Hello Rory Dotcom. Love it.
Eligibility requirements and additional terms apply.
Love it or leave it is brought to you by Nordstrom Rack. What a great story. Love, love Nordstrom. He loves Nordstrom Rack. Look at him.
He's basically an awesome rack clear the rack is back to the rack is back.
Clear something that you like to see now through Monday nine seven take an additional twenty five percent off clearance items for total savings of up to 75 percent off. Go to Nordstrom Rack Dotcom cricket to shop online or find a store near you. New styles are added every day so you can always find something new.
Well, we're huge fans in Nordstrom Rack, you know, huge. You know, Emily and I used to go in person and it was real exciting thing for her because we could she could shop for herself and she could buy clothes that weren't somewhere in the range of grey and blue.
Yeah, no. And I loved that she went with you and I didn't have to go.
Nordstrom Rack Dotcom Slash Croquette and we're back.
She's a writer, blogger and disability rights activist. Welcome, Imani Barbering. Thanks for being here.
Thank you for having me. I'm so glad to be here. So I've been eager to talk to you for a while. But look, right now, at this moment, we are in the midst of a kind of cycle of political conversation. And I know you've tweeted about this, but, you know, Trump today denied that he had mini strokes and that it's not affecting his gait. There's been this attack and insults directed at him after, you know, he walked down the ramp slowly.
On the other hand, Trump attacks Biden for being sleepy, Joe for not being out there for being mentally unfit and taken over by AOC and Antifa.
So this is obviously become a part of this campaign. How do you feel about that? How do you see it? And what do you think is the if there is any kind of appropriate way to push back on Trump's attacks on Biden on issues like this?
Well, I think any sort of conversation around capacity is the wrong one. Anybody has the capacity for harm, whether or not you believe they're intelligent or not, which intelligence is a construct as well. And so I really think that we need to be evaluating people's actions absent of this conversation of intelligence and brainpower, willpower, physicality, because we have we're seeing a very, very detrimental record from the Trump administration on disability. When we think about the one hundred eighty thousand lives lost, most of them are people with disabilities or preexisting conditions.
I'd rather talk about that than talk about whether or not he's using a ramp to get up to his speech to to spew hate from someone who cares about how he got up there. What is he saying once he's there? A lot of times we like to think of these isms, whether it be able as a racism, as a way to hurl and discredit any sort of political candidate. And it doesn't really work because it always harms people that are marginalized based on ability.
You know, having a conversation on whether or not talking with a cup doesn't hurt Trump, it hurts the person that needs to help holding it up. Having talks about intelligence doesn't hurt people like quote unquote, S.P. Joe. It hurts the person who's thinking about running for political office that may have a pre-existing condition. And it sets the mindset of people and potential voters whenever a person with a disability decides they may or may not want to run for office.
I obviously agree with you and I've even found myself after the ramp incident. Right. Trump then does this crazy speech where he spends like thirty middle of a pandemic. He spends thirty minutes talking about the ramp. We made fun of him on one of the shows. I don't know about how much of a big deal he was making about this ramp, how much it got to him.
And a few people commented that, you know, you're contributing to this ablest discussion. And I and I it really did give me pause. Like, wait, hold on a second. Am I am I, like, making a mistake here?
Am I am I not being thoughtful enough about this issue where I landed?
Was that I? That's right. Of course that's right. What do we do when there's somebody like Trump who makes basically being strong, being able a centerpiece of his both his persona and his attack against Joe Biden when one of our jobs has to be to make Trump look weak?
To attack him for being a hypocrite, to attack him on some of these course, what is the way to have that conversation without being ablest, without contributing to the harm you're talking about to a person who deserves every opportunity but can't lift a cup, and it shouldn't be part of how we evaluate that person?
Well, I mean, just the way you ask that question, you use the word crazy, which is a euphemism for mental illness.
And so you have to really evaluate our everyday language around ability and disability. When you use an analogy like mental health illnesses to denote something that is out of place or does not belong, then a little over belong. And so when we talk about presidential candidates who use bluster and who use this idea of strength, there's a lot of ways in which he's weak that have nothing to do with his physicality or mental health. If you like to talk about making deals, he can't make a deal to save his life.
Who he talks about his pandemic response that has been nonexistent. You talk he talks about the way in which voters see him. He's now, what, 13 percent down in the polls in comparison to Biden. We have to start thinking about who people are and not necessarily how they present themselves, because that's the way you evaluate who was there, quote unquote, really strong, because there are people like Tammy Duckworth whose physicality does not lend itself to looking quote unquote, strong in the traditional sense.
She could dress somebody down in a congressional hearing any day of the week. Right. So we had to really think that, you know, it's I'm glad you point.
It's funny, even in a conversation where I'm trying to be as thoughtful as possible, the word you know what I'm trying to to kind of reflect the values we're trying to sort of represent in this conversation. I say crazy, right? It just it's a word that just comes to me naturally. And I was, you know, what do I mean when I call him crazy in that circumstance? I mean, self-defeating, narcissistic, giving an extra amount of attention to something that doesn't deserve it in some ways untethered from reality.
I go to this word crazy and I'm really honestly just sort of reflecting on the fact that, like those parts of our language are so common, how do we begin to make that change to shift away from those words?
Because I know there's a lot of people that hear something like this and are like it's just a word that means we all know what it means when we describe it to Trump. What's wrong with using the word? It's not like doctors diagnose people as crazy, right? It's not like we use that. It's not in the list of it's not a diagnosis. It's not a specific illness. It's a kind of representation of something we all know when we see it.
How do you how do you fight that kind of ingrained thing? Something I'm displaying in real time.
I mean, it took a lot of work, and I'm not going to pretend that changed your lexicon in the way you describe things. Will not. It takes a lot of work. I slip up all the time. And I'm not saying that anybody is perfect or gets to a place where it's 100 percent accurate in terms of not using ablest language. But I know that I really try to reflect on what am I actually trying to say? Is it quote unquote crazy or is it nonsensical?
Is it could have gone insane or is it out of place like using the actual what I actually mean instead of the placeholder? Because a lot of times its language is just a placeholder for something else to really try to go back home. What I'm trying to say and think, what am I actually trying to get across with this work?
Yeah, shocking and unexpected and wrong or dangerous or silly or what have you. So let's talk about voting crooked.
We've launched every last vote, which is about supporting organizations and volunteering for organizations that are helping fight voter suppression and turn out the vote, especially amongst marginalized communities. What are the big obstacles or challenges for the disabled community in voting and accessing voting? And what are some of the ways the pandemic has heightened those problems?
There are so many different aspects to voting and disability, some of them at a loss for words, for just how do you because there are people that don't believe it's people with disabilities should vote. There are people that think that disabled people are too much of a burden in terms of the electoral process. You know, there are also things like signature matching. In some places there are people confuse proximity with accessibility. So to because I have a voting, a ballot in my hand does not make it accessible to a lot of people.
There are people who need plain language ballots. There are people who are blind that need digital ballots so that they can read it on their computer screen using a screenwriter. There are people who have dexterity issues. They cannot fill out a ballot and even me ballots are confusing. What am I voting on? And you just take it off. You're like, OK, was that a good or bad thing? I just did. And so in a lot of ways, voting is inaccessible.
There are polling stations where the machine isn't even plugged in for an accessible voting unit. There are people in jails who are not convicted of a crime. You don't know that they can vote. These are all disability issues. And so with the pandemic, a lot of people with disabilities are extremely fearful. Being outside because we're automatically high risk it not only that, but you're wondering, do poll workers have enough training because there's a new, like poll worker incentive?
We're trying to get more poll workers that are under the age of 60. So will they really be trained well enough to get disabled people to vote and things like that? So there's so many different aspects. There's mailbox issues. There's like in my ballot in time, the list goes on.
It's all the the universal access problems compounded by specific accommodation issues.
So for people listening, you know, we actually are right now signing up people to work in the polls. We're reaching out to people to be volunteers. What can a person without a disability who's going to be a poll worker, who's going to be a volunteer and canvass and reach out to people, what is the best way to your mind that they can be allies to make sure that people with disabilities can vote and every one of their votes will be counted?
Make sure your materials are accessible. Make sure that you're using multiple ways of expressing the exact same information. Make sure that there's no barrier between the person you're speaking to and the information you want to give them. Also, make sure that you're incorporating people with disabilities in the planning process of everything that you do. So when we talk about signing people up to vote, people with disabilities should be poll workers, too, if they feel so blessed. I know that this is a scary time, but I think that there are those that want to take that risk.
I think that there's a lot of power to being seen of the polls and being seen. Cast your ballot. Traditionally, there are people like myself who is black and disabled, whose ancestors fought for the right to vote. So there's a power to be going to the polls. So there will always be a certain percentage of people with disabilities going because they simply desire to be seen and counted and making sure that you have seating available for people who want to wait online.
There's a whole host of things that you could be doing and always check in with your production advocacy agency for your state. And they do a lot of work around voting every single year.
And they'll have advice for you in the fight to save the Affordable Care Act, to protect access to Medicare, to prevent the repeal of pre-existing conditions. There are no groups that fought harder and I think had a bigger impact than disability advocates. They were an extraordinary part of the coalition who through sit ins, through protests, through campaigns, really played an instrumental role in saving the Affordable Care Act.
We are now heading into this election. What do you view as the biggest fight for disability rights? If we do manage to win, if we are in a different world come January, what is on your mind and what do you think people need to know? Are they sort of the next transformational fights, not just about what we can save, but about changes we can make?
The big one is home and community based services. What we're seeing right now with the pandemic is that a majority of the clusters are in congregate care settings like nursing homes, institutions, jails and prisons. And so people need to be served medically in their own homes. We need to get people to move into their own communities because it is life saving that is necessary. We need to have it happen. And right now, there's such a big push in disability circles to get that done because things like nursing homes are extremely scary.
I lived in a nursing home for about two months in 2015 and it was a depressing, devastating place. You wouldn't want anyone to live there, including people with disabilities. That is the big push that people are looking for now, making sure people can get the services that they need in their own communities. And a note to that is that people think that just because a person with a disability needs help, they need to be warehoused somewhere in order for that to happen.
Needing help does not make you helpless. And needing help does not mean that your life is any less than anyone or anyone else's. So we need to start unpacking that stereotype and getting people into their communities. Joe Biden.
The campaign has launched a plan for full participation and equality for people with disabilities. Does that plan do enough to your mind on helping people stay at home, stay in their communities? How do you think Joe Biden is doing as a candidate in terms of advocating for people with disabilities?
Yeah, to my knowledge, a lot of disabled people are extremely excited about this aspect. Kamala Harris was actually the first candidate in the primaries to introduce a disability plan that incorporated home and community based services. And so I do think that it is a step in the right direction. And I think that there's so many other things that we could be doing, like Social Security, cost of living increases, means testing for Medicare and Medicaid as well, because the current system kind of traps disabled people in poverty unless they decide to try to find a way to work, which is very much a tightrope walk.
I am kind of upset with his reluctance to embrace universal health care. And I think that we really do need universal health care. I think we underestimate how many people with disabilities and with chronic illnesses live in this country. Three who are uninsured or underinsured because they're kind of this in-between population, so that's kind of where I want them to go next.
What are you watching right now? What are you streaming? What's the dumbest thing you're watching? What are you streaming? Well, I.
I watched two seasons of Cobra Kai, and two nights ago I was like Cobra guy.
I was very shocked that I liked it. And I was like, why? Watching this, my dad and I used to watch The Karate Kid when I was younger. And so it kind of brought back memories for you. It's that or the game, which is the show is the water level. But yeah, like, I, I'm I'm not proud of my streaming choices at all.
Here's the thing. This has been a terrible, terrible time. But I think the one permission it has given all of us is to not be apologetic about the things that we're watching.
Forget drama or tension. I do not have the acuity right now to meet new characters. I don't want to learn any new names.
I don't want to find out any back stories. I need Dorothy. Blanche, Rose and Sophia. I need Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer.
I cannot deal with new people. I need to just unwind. So I don't think we should be apologetic at all for watching Cobra Kai.
Yeah, the Rose family from Schitt's Creek knows me extremely, extremely well up.
So yeah, he's really been my rock throughout this time, which is which is very, you know, my boyfriends in the other room. What can you stop watching. You must be like six or seven times at this point, but it's so comforting.
Well, Amani, thank you so much for taking the time. You know, these are important issues that we should be, I think, talking about more. So I'm glad to finally get a chance to have you on the show and maybe we can touch base again as we get closer to the election about ways people can help to make sure everybody gets the chance to vote.
Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having me. Thanks, Domani Barberton, for joining us. When we come back, we're going to hear from listeners about the things they're doing to stay motivated as we head into the election.
Don't go anywhere. There's more of love it or leave it coming up.
Love it or leave it is brought to you by Kashyap. Kashyap is the simplest way to transfer money from one user to another. We love using it because it doesn't charge monthly fees or fees to send and receive money. There's also an option to secure a free debit card that allows users to make transactions and withdraw the money that they have in their cash up account. If you download the app and use the promo code crooked, you'll receive ten dollars in cash that will send ten dollars to donors choose, which is helping teachers in the classroom.
Look, we've said it before. We'll say it again. Cash up the best way to pay people back or have friends pay you back. We don't use the other payment apps anymore. Cash up a supported cookie media. From the beginning, we've raised tens of thousands of dollars for a host of different good causes. But you haven't downloaded it yet, which means you haven't gotten ten dollars for free yet, which doesn't make any sense.
If you hate ten dollars, that's one thing. Yeah. Do you hate money? That's fine. Then you can stop listening, but otherwise maybe, maybe download it.
Maybe you live in a post fiat currency society. Maybe you're bartering only maybe that's the problem. Yeah. Maybe you trade Citris for spices and pelts. OK, I don't know.
OK, down to the cash app. Used to go cricket. Love it or leave it is brought to you by better help. Something preventing you from achieving your goals.
Oh. Oh right. That's the part of the ad where we do that better help is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches so they make it easy and free to change counselors if needed. The service is available for clients worldwide and it's more affordable than traditional offline counseling. They even offer financial aid. There's a broad range of expertise available which may not be locally available in many areas. They offer licensed professional counselors who are specialized in depression, anger, stress, anxiety, relationships, sleeping and trauma.
In fact, so many people have been using better help that they are recruiting additional counselors in all 50 states.
You can schedule weekly video or phone sessions, all without ever having to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room. The service is both convenient and affordable, and anything you say is confidential.
I want you to start living a happier life today. We all do.
All of us. Everybody wants that. As a listener, you'll get ten percent off your first month by visiting better health outcomes. Love it. Join over one million people taking charge of their mental health. Again, that's better. Help help dotcoms. I love it. Here's the thing. More people should be in there.
Yeah, and we're back this week.
Instead of a high note, we wanted to talk to listeners directly about what they're doing to stay motivated as we head into the homestretch. So let's hit the phones.
Hello. Hi, is this is it Aubrey or Aubrey, Aubrey, Aubrey say it was a third option. Hi, this is John. You're on with John, as we say here on a podcast. How are you doing?
Oh, this is so exciting. I am doing great. How are you? You know, we're fine. Everybody's OK. All right. We're in the homestretch. There are 60 days to go. What are you doing to stay motivated?
So I work for a criminal justice reform organization called COP 50. We work with formerly and currently incarcerated people, and people are just involved with our justice system. And so I am very committed to working to make sure that their rights are restored specifically to a vote, especially in elections. And I think I'm encouraged every day by seeing people who have been defined by the worst thing I've ever done and turn that pain into motivation to change the world and to change laws.
I think there's a lot more that can be done. And I think if things change in November, I think we'll have a really good shot at getting people freedom. So I'm motivated by that. You know, we are a country that drives our democracy functions better when everybody has a voice in it. So I am motivated by that and excited about it. I think our justice involved community is a community that needs to be heard and they are the community that will turn out and vote because they're impacted by laws in a disproportionate way.
OK, Obree, thank you so much for sharing that. Let me ask you this question. What do you dream in right now? What are you watching?
What am I watching right now? Only this is going to sound so bad. But I have watched Vanderpump Rules like 15 times during really watch rewash.
That is awful. That is awful.
I don't want to judge. My brain is just like mush. I don't want to judge.
All of our brains are mush. But I'm watching things too. I just, I'm watching Seinfeld and I'm watching Golden Girls.
You know, a lot of the crooked cast is watching Golden Girls. What's happening? I don't know what's happening to you guys and to keep it. And IRA talks about Golden Girls all the time. I just I never watched it growing up. And I don't know if I can commit to it on Hulu right now.
And I understand that. And I joke. But I support look, all of our brains are mush and I can't meet new characters. And so I totally understand watching Vanderpump Rules Obree, thank you so much for sharing. What motivates you. I appreciate it.
Of course. Take care. Stay safe. You to watch Vanderpump Rules and have a good day.
Everything all right. Has a good one. Hi, is this Laura? Yes, this is Laura. Hi, Laura. You're on with John calling from my golf podcast. Oh, yeah.
Oh my gosh. Yes, this is so crazy.
OK. Hello. Hi, Laura. OK, so, Laura, we're in the homestretch.
We sure are 60 days to go. What are you doing to stay motivated?
So my husband just became a U.S. citizen this past June. Very exciting. He fled Syria to Jordan. I was living in Jordan and we came here in 2015. And this is the first time he's ever going to vote in his life. And he is so motivated and it's so exciting to see how motivated he is. That's awesome that I'm like even more excited. It's going to be a crazy election for us, for our family and for everybody, really.
But and then I'm working as a poll worker. I was inspired. And now I think Arlington has like too many co-workers. So I'm waiting for my precinct to be assigned to me, but I'm very excited about that, too.
That's awesome. Thank you for signing up to do that. Yeah, it's a really scary election.
But, man, to get to have your first vote is to be in this kind of consequential moment, given what Trump has been doing around immigration. It's a it's an incredible statement. So I think that's it's inspiring.
When we came to the United States in twenty fifteen, he received his green card literally the day after the 2016 election. And it was the scariest moment, but a big sigh of relief. And we've just worked hard to get him to become a US citizen. His naturalization ceremony had been postponed because of covid. Thank God he was able to get in in June. And yeah, it's been a wild ride, but we're ready. We're ready for to make a change.
We're ready or we're ready. And now, Laura, I'm asking everybody today, what are we what are we clicking play on? What are we what are you watching? What horrible thing are you streaming during this time?
Oh, my gosh. I'm a giant fan of Love Island and below deck. Wow. Those are my mindless TV shows. I'm very invested.
No one.
No one, literally no one is like, oh, I'm watching a documentary about Vietnam. It's 100 percent shit and I love it.
Oh, my gosh. She had no no one has time for that. My brain needs like a go to and love island it is. Well, Laura, congratulations to you.
Congratulations to your husband on becoming a citizen and getting to vote in this election. And thank you for thank you for sharing your story and thanks for being a poll worker.
Thanks for for all the content you guys put out. It keeps me going. That's what we do here. Content to keep you going.
Bye, Laura. Thank you. Let's do one more.
I think we only have women who wrote in. Usually there's a couple of gay guys mixed in. There's a guy well, he's been on the show a couple of times. Oh, no.
Hey, you know what? Let's leave this in. I want Will to know that we're not calling you.
Will you say that like we wouldn't remember? Well, either? Yeah. Cities like there's this guy. Well, we know Will. All right. We haven't met him and it could be a different world. It's not.
It's not. Hi, is this Jess? Yeah, hi, Jess, you're on with John, as we say here at Loverly, but how are you doing? Hey, I'm doing well. How are you? I'm doing fine. Everybody is fine. Ronan's fine. I'm fine. But the point here is we're trying to get people motivated. Yes. In the last 60 days, after a hard six months. That's right. After a hard four years, what are you doing to stay motivated, to stay upbeat.
So aside from being enraged all the time by Gene Sperling. Sure. I try to channel that energy into different local groups around here in Charlotte, North Carolina. So we have an indivisible chapter and they have me to be the leader in their voter suppression efforts, which is huge in North Carolina, as you may have heard, to fight voter suppression.
You're not trying to suppress the vote. Yeah, I'm not for voter suppression, anti voter suppression. Voter suppression. Yeah.
So we're trying to stop voter suppression. So we're working with groups like Black Voters Matter. They're getting a caravan to go around to different districts to help get out the vote. So we're making sure that rolls through District nine, which try to disenfranchise voters. The last time I'm writing letters through voter fraud, that's a good way to have a wine at the end of the night.
Nice. Also making phone calls through like phone banking for you can vote, helping to register voters and helping people to navigate all the different ways in North Carolina that you can vote here.
Here, that people hear what justice is doing. Try it. She's writing letters with her. Shanté with her.
Shibly I'm trying I'm working with Leticia's group. She's really trying.
Really trying. I'm really afraid. And that's the only way that I can get through the next 60 days is by doing something we're all afraid you can either be afraid and trying or just afraid, I think.
Yes. When you finish writing your letters. Yes. To Democratic voters who maybe haven't voted in a while. That's right.
Or when you're done with your meeting with the Tosches Group about turning out the vote, write you open up your your laptop or you turn on your TV. And look, let's face it, no one has ever said in these conversations that they're watching something that they're proud of. What are what are you watching?
I started watching Friday Night Lights. I've never watched that before compared to some of the reality shows that we have heard today. That is that is opera compared to some of the some of the choices people are making, which I support.
To be clear, you know, I'm still in the cerebral path. I'm not like going like trash. Amazing. But I mean, the football and the God in Texas is still a little much for me, so I'm trying to get past that.
OK, OK. Well, Jess, thanks for everything that you're doing and thanks for writing all those letters.
All right. Thanks so much for calling me. Love it. Appreciate all you guys doing for keeping us motivated. Thanks. Everybody called in.
We still want to hear your high notes. And if you want to leave us a message, you can call us about something that gave you hope at four two four three four one four one nine three. There are now fifty nine days until the election sign up for votes of America to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, hold the House, win the Senate and elect Democrats up and down the ballot. Thank you to Akela Hughes, Ronan Farrow, Amani, Barbara Eden and everyone who spoke to us on the phone.
Thank you to our grocery workers, truck drivers, delivery people, restaurant workers, flight attendants, teachers, administrators. Thank you to our doctors and nurses and EMTs and first responders.
Thank you to our whole staff working to keep this show going out and crooked, going strong. And here to send us out a few more back in the closet songs we didn't get to share. Thanks so much for sending them and have a great weekend.
Love it or leave. It is a crooked media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, Elisa Gutierrez, Lee Eisenberg and our head writer and the president of the East Side, or Biden writers Travis Hilik, Jocelyn Kaufman, Alicia Carroll and Peter Miller are the writers are assistant producer is Sidney Rapp. Bill Lance is our editor and Kyle Ségolène is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Shirker, thanks to our designers Jessie McClain and Jamie Skil for creating and running all of our visuals.
But you can't see because this is a podcast and our digital producers, Na Melkonian and Milo Kim for filming and editing video each week so you can look in the closet.
Left the recording at home back in the closet, delivering news that makes us all so many memories. My mother will let down. It it's just like a fucking job loving. Back in the car, so pardon me for. It fell to. Least stated on those. This fucking shooting back in the closet again. Remember making six hundred? And on the set all day with Josh Gad and Jenna Elfman. Then that news cycle began, an edible chicken farm in Syria's.
When you make a podcast, write and record it. You might see from one to 10, it's like three, but your heart's in it and you are back in the closet again. Not vacation, Scalise. Go grab your ear buds energies, but let's play the game. What else are you really going to do stuck inside on Saturday? There is no Rafil but how the sweatpants feel for a team party tonight. Team party tonight. Where the hell is wrong, it is a favorite, God is colossal.
But back to religion, he should be on board. He is our favorite. Party party is a quarantine party, party, party. It's a quarantine party that back. No, you say this quoted. And John can leave his home. That means that John's in the closet. Oh, and it is in the closet to. Sean has an Addabbo he is feeling. A book is still back in the closet. John from McCloughan. Voronin is in the.
John's gaming or he's watching Dorthe and Rounds and. Being on stage, he's sleeping on his parachute and writing all this food and new. Voronin is to. With my empanada, I got no empanada in my back. Oh, there it is. All right. All right. Have you ever been tainted or discriminated against? I have. I've been protested and demonstrated against. I was respected on both sides of the political skin like a progressive Taco Bell double decker taco supreme.
Then one night vision came to me and to dream a zany sitcom at the White House on the TV screen, I had to give myself a hand in the band I planned for in Holland. Eltringham, Pulman. He's a big brand. I was our generation Norman Lear and this was my opus. Once the pundits could see it, I reckon plenty of dough. That's just imagine my surprise and all the lies that these guys from People TV Guide for writing the L.A. Times tried to tell about my show.
They said if you watch sixteen hundred Pead, it'll make you never want to watch TV again. But what hurt the most was when I heard Obama say this was your worst idea since moderate. I'm sorry, Obama. I said sorry about seriously going, I never meant to hurt you, but it's not. I never meant to make you cry since the tonight I'm back to. You don't need a new man. I got a rich history of prospectivity, and though I can find that I had to decide to supply some to through it all by the wayside with all that apply to.
But enjoy. Right. Let's go back to 1993 before I ever tried to get this fucking show on TV. We took a trip to Hooters as I sat at the table and shot my dad. Look, say, get me out of your raible, then flash forward. And I'm watching Kelsey Grammer. And and I'm thinking that one day this kid could have his own show. I'm watching Frasier for days. My eyes are glazed, are fixed to the screen.
I studied the ways that they play with their verbal millaa to say, ever seen the Brinley display of their banner and whether a part of my DNA, but I'm only human and my dream would only bring me dismay. What I did was stupid. I was naive to think I'd ever reached the heights of what the cranes have achieved. When Virak came in and told me that he hated my show, I swear I've never felt so low.
I'm sorry about. So now a defiant mission, I found a new competition, I'm playing with the wild son on the floor of my kitchen. I got my locks piled high, the bagel, cinnamon raisin, trying to get my six to 10 servings of carbohydrates a day, son. Then I hear a lot of turning and I know what's in store for the golden boy himself. Ronan Farrow opens the door. He's got a closet full of food sources.
Plaudits are legion. While I can't keep a sitcom on the air for more than one season. I'm an interesting person. I take 30 minutes tops to get myself out of an escape room. Can't keep me in that box. I invent new earthquake measures on a linear scale while I washing machine jams and both setin and McKale. I fuck up Lachlan Murdoch name the time and place where I can give them a fair and balanced punch to his face. For Ronan gets a book deal.
He's the one who gets praised. While I'll be making simply safe ads for the rest of my days, I got Dangerfield levels of disrespect. But when I looked at Ronan, he keeps saying what you expect. I ask what he means. He says sixteen hundred percent. So I guess it's time to go back in the closet. Yeah. So.