Let's Talk TV (and Politics)
Do you ever ask yourself, "What would Jed Bartlett do?" Do you long for a world where Star Trek's visionary idea of IDIC was still revered? Stop banging your head against the wall with the news on an endless loop, and join the conversation!
C'mon aboard, and let's talk a little TV and more—pop literature with your latte hosted by award-winning novelist and pop-culture author/blogger Barbara Barnett. Email Barbara for an invite to the Let’s Talk TV podcast recording session to participate in the conversation.
Click BC Radio Live (my old home) on the Recommendations tab for my in-depth conversations with actors, producers, and writers from hit TV shows.
Let's Talk TV (and Politics)
Zooming Into the Heart of Politics: Kamala, Comedy, and Campaigns
Have you ever wondered how a simple Zoom meeting could turn the tide in a political campaign? Join us as Barbara Barnett and her semi-regular co-host Jimmy Dailey, aka Jerome Wetzel, take us through the whirlwind world of current politics. Barbara shows off her rare Apple Ultra watch and dives into the dynamic fundraising efforts of Kamala Harris, spotlighting diverse support groups like Jewish Women for Kamala. Jimmy, despite facing recent job loss, shares his unwavering support, showcasing the resilience and dedication of Kamala’s community. Expect some laughs with amusing political memes and a discussion on the growing coalition backing Kamala as we highlight the enthusiasm fueling her campaign.
The intricacies of race and politics in America come to the forefront as we explore how public figures like Kamala Harris and J.D. Vance navigate their mixed-race identities. A hilarious SNL sketch about Beyoncé’s racial identity offers a lens into shifting public perceptions, while Trump’s contentious appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists reveals his defensive reactions and the media’s portrayal of these moments. This chapter underscores the complex interplay of race, identity, and contemporary political discourse, offering poignant insights and reflections.
Our final segment shifts gears to potential vice-presidential candidates and the broader political landscape. We delve into the intersection of anti-Semitism and political criticism, the charisma of Mark Kelly and Waltz, and the strategic importance of engaging with Fox News. Admire the public speaking skills of figures like Pete Buttigieg and Josh Shapiro and consider the impact of a double woman ticket in future elections. Wrapping up, we introduce Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, highlighting his growing relevance and potential influence in shaping the political scene. Get ready for a thought-provoking and engaging discussion that covers all the bases.
For more information about Barbara's Books:
For more information about the It's All Been Done Before Radio Broadcast
Follow Barbara Barnett on X (Twitter) @B_Barnett
My name is Barbara Barnett and I'll be your guide, along with my semi-regular co-host, jimmy Daly, aka Jerome Wetzel. Tv of it's All Been Done Before Radio Hour. So I got to put in a plug first for my books. Sure, because what's a podcast without a plug?
Speaker 2:Anne.
Speaker 1:Rice meets Michael Crichton in the Bram Stoker-nominated novel Theothecary's Curse and its trusty sequel Alchemy of Glass, both published by Pyre and Simon Schuster. Amazon links are below the player, but you can buy the books anywhere you like. Just look them up on Amazon. My third book is called Chasing Zebras. It is the quintessential guide to the TV series House and Jimmy. I'll talk a little, we'll talk a little bit and then you'll plug the IABD. And, by the way, I did put your cards out at Confluence and almost all of them were taken up so Well awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you, you're welcome. All right, so we are going. Oh my God, this week in politics I don't even know where one begins. One week begins and one ends and we're still talking about like years happening in the span of one week. By the way, if you all look at, see my watch, I have one of the rare Ultra, Apple Ultra watches before they took them off the market.
Speaker 1:It was some weird thing that they couldn't have them on the market. I can't remember why, but they took them off the market and did a different one instead. But I have one of the few. I love it. I love my Ultra, Anyway. So how's your week been, Jimmy?
Speaker 2:Not too bad. As you said, there's been a lot of political chaos again another 10 years since last week, but overall not too bad.
Speaker 1:So I'm thinking, I'm thinking you know the Kamala momentum and coalition. Sorry, we'll get to that. We'll get to that later, okay, so this is the list I have of everything that happened this week. Okay, you tell me if I'm missing something or if something actually happened last week that I forgot happened last week and didn't happen this week. Okay, cat Ladies.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:So I have a great meme that I created. I may have t-shirts made and it says cat ladies, don't pussyfoot around, go vote.
Speaker 2:I love it. I was a cat owner myself. I was very offended by those comments.
Speaker 1:I am not a cat owner. My sister is a cat owner, but she wasn't offended because she thought, eh, that's just silly, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm offended by so many parts of him. That is way down the list, oh my gosh. Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:We will talk about the many virtues of JD Vance in just a little while. I refuse to talk about couches, however, because I think that's like just absurd and unnecessary. There's so much. There's so much without that. So, kamala, kamala Mentum, kamala Mentum, kamala Mentum, All those Zoom meetings, man, how many millions and millions it was like by now could be 300 million dollars she's raised so much, oh my gosh dude.
Speaker 2:Well, I heard some stuff about the white dudes for kamala one when jeff bridges himself he was there lots of people. I did not attend, unfortunately, but I heard plenty about it. I mean, I am a white dude, but I missed that one. Honestly, I figured I'm. She's got my support fully.
Speaker 1:I didn't need to go listen to people talk her up. But you know, I think that's awesome. Where'd you go? They were collecting money. I've donated, I think, three times over the last week and a half.
Speaker 2:And Phil's donated. I lost my job a month ago, so I'm not donating right now. So you're absolved. You're absolved, I'm still working, like several jobs. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we'll talk about all the Zoom meetings. I actually just joined an organization called Jewish Women for Kamala. It's a Facebook group and I think there's already strictly by word of mouth and invitation. I think there's already like 12,000 people. I sent out invitations to everybody. I thought wasn't a Republican on my friends list on Facebook that was a female and was also Jewish, and almost all of them joined Nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know. People know my political leanings. I get invited to those groups constantly. I think I've joined four new ones this week, so I have to.
Speaker 1:I've joined so many, it's like.
Speaker 2:I've joined some women's groups. I've been invited to join as well. So I think some people are a little looser on what the requirements are, even if the name is you know right women for. Harris or whatever allies welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1:Allies are always going to be welcome at those things, uh. But all those zoom meetings, man, it's just, it caught fire. It started out with the, with the black women, the african-american women, yes, who broke the internet. I mean they.
Speaker 2:They didn't break the internet, they broke zoom yeah, they had to call zoom and get that. That was more than a week ago. I think we did talk about that last week. We did, we did. But then that launched.
Speaker 1:you know black guys right, and then dudes, and then all these other groups. We got to have dog lovers for Kamala Yup. But that was amazing, and the coalition that she's been able to put together.
Speaker 2:Dogs for.
Speaker 1:Kamala, there's your.
Speaker 2:Dogs for Kamala.
Speaker 1:There's your dogs for Kamala Go talk about the Olympics, do you remember?
Speaker 2:what you said. Yeah, there's been that fervor over the Last Supper thing, and I don't know if it was the Last Supper, it could have been the Dionysus feast, because that's you know what more resembled anyway, and the Last Supper is a takeoff of that. In the first place it wasn't an original work. But either way, the Last Supper is not an authentic representation of Jesus anyway, because it depicts him as a white guy with long hair, uh, instead of the Middle Eastern guy that he truly was. It just none of it feels. Uh, it's all made up, bull, right, it distracts. There's a restaurant owner in Columbus that's where I live that's uh, well, it's four restaurants. They're not going to show the olympics as solidarity with christians. It's just a way for the wrong kind of christians, who aren't real christians because they don't act like christians, they just call themselves christians to show their bigotry again.
Speaker 1:it's right, not fear-mongering and hate-mongering right, and you know it's a bacchanal. I mean a bacchanal goes back to greek culture, right? Yep and um, yeah, I mean you could take it for that or you could take it as I mean. Do you know how many times the last supper's been riffed on?
Speaker 2:yeah, I've got a giant battlestar galactica print a hanging frame to my living room of their take on the last supper and I saw the producer of battlestar galactica tweeted about the whole thing and he's like, for the record, we knew what we were doing and we stand by the decision.
Speaker 1:And it's been done on Saturday Night Live, of course, so it's been. I mean, come on, really, really, really, it's insincere.
Speaker 2:The outrage is insincere, insincere.
Speaker 1:So I want to talk about JD Vance. Okay, so, jd boy, talk about the buyer's remorse. Man alive.
Speaker 2:You think Trump's going to fire him and replace him? I mean, he won't fire him, he will step down and spend more time with his family under intense pressure from Trump. Do you think that's going to happen?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I mean, okay, this is my evil mind working here, but you know the whole thing with Kamala and being Indian and being mixed race and all that I mean. Jd Vance is married to an Indian. His children are mixed race.
Speaker 2:Sure, and his wife's an immigrant, as is Trump's. Even though they're, though, they're both right, but I'm talking about mixed race, right, you can't be both.
Speaker 1:Are they white? Oh. Are they indian, right? Oh, they just decided they were going to be white. You know and I this is how I think in my evil mind how this is going to play with, uh, with jd stepping aside, is that Trump's trying to push him out and he's using this, right? You know? This whole thing with Kamala, I'm like, give me a break. I mean, the Kamala is black. She went to. She went to Howard University, for God's sakes, right, she didn't go to whatever you know I don't know if they're Hindu or whatever her mother's family, but I mean, for heaven's sake, really.
Speaker 1:There was a great Saturday Night Live sketch and I put it on my Facebook. That is Beyonce came out with an album in 2016. And there was like a whole SNL skit about her. It was not a skit, it was like a video, a trailer about this video, about this new album, and it was like oh, beyonce, wait, what? Beyonce's black? When did that happen? And it was hysterically funny. You got to find it, jimmy. Everybody like find it. And and funny, you've got to find it, jimmy. Everybody like find it and play it, because it's on YouTube, it's everywhere. I saw it on my Twitter feed, on my X feed this morning, and then I just found it on YouTube and I stuck it on my Facebook feed because it is amazing, it's like perfect, but what I love about and Trump, you would think that after yesterday with the whole thing, with the National Association of Black Journalists, he would have just like slunk away.
Speaker 1:He didn't. He's doubled down on it and tripled down on it and keeps going with it and keeps going with it. Down on it, and keeps going with it, and keeps going with it. And Kamala hasn't said anything about it at all, which is really interesting. She hasn't responded to it, and that's what I like about Kamala she's just she's so cool, right, she's really cool and she doesn't need to respond.
Speaker 2:Like you said, let him talk, let him talk, let him do.
Speaker 1:You don't need to respond. Like you said, let him talk, let him talk, let him do, let her millions and millions of fans and followers and voters speak for her, because it's ridiculous. I mean, and then you know Trump is like well, she hates Jewish people.
Speaker 2:That's really new, but she's married to one. Yeah, it's news to her husband and her two stepchildren, uh, who are both jewish and man that divorce is going to be ugly now I know they know about her hatred, her anti-semitism. I know, oh my god, what a september surprise.
Speaker 1:Or august, oh my god I mean he, just I, just like you can tell I don't like Trump very much. I don't remember if we talked about. We probably talked about the Zoom meetings before.
Speaker 2:We did talk about that, but what you're talking about now ties very nicely into Trump speaking at the event yesterday.
Speaker 1:Yes, so let's talk about that. Go ahead, Jimmy.
Speaker 2:I mean, what I really liked about it is I watched the beginning of it, where he comes out and the first thing they do is list all the things he's done and said that are racist and demeaning to people of different ethnicities, especially black people, because that's what this convention is for, and he responds with well, that's really rude. You're being so mean to me. How dare you ask that, phrase it that way? Blah, blah, blah. And, based on the last six months of media coverage, what I expected to see in the headlines just watching what I call the mainstream, like the network 630 evening broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC and New York Times, Washington Post, I swear I was expecting the headlines to be group hostile towards Trump, because that's the way I feel like things have been portrayed for him.
Speaker 2:The coverage to him has been so soft and easy and not correct in my opinion, but instead the framing we're getting is Trump really screws up and says terrible things in front of this group, which is the proper framing. I just did not expect that, because I feel like the coverage has not been good lately.
Speaker 1:Right, he was insulting and rude. And the person who asked the question does, in fact, work for ABC News. She's an excellent journalist and the thing is, oh, you know, you people were, you couldn't get your sound system to work. Well, excuse me, from what I heard is that Trump was actually tweeting during that. He was late. He was late, oh, and it was supposed to be an hour, right, yeah, and they were about to ask another question and they were like half an hour into it and the person at the end, who was actually a Fox News journalist, said, oh, the Trump team said to wrap it up, now he has to be at something else, which is true, he had to be in Pennsylvania, but he was late. He cut it short. Why did he cut it short? Because he was making such a complete and total ass of himself, right, he was just.
Speaker 2:You know why he was complaining about the late. It was a racial dog whistle. It was absolutely a soundbite for his followers to play off of a negative stereotype.
Speaker 1:Oh, and they couldn't get their sound stuff together. The poor women who couldn't do that.
Speaker 2:It was absolutely a soundbite for his followers to play off of a negative stereotype. Oh, and they couldn't get their sound stuff together.
Speaker 1:The poor women who couldn't do that, that too, the sexism, absolutely For sure. That's the stuff he does. Yes, he does.
Speaker 2:But he's having a real problem getting to Kamala, thankfully, thankfully, like it's I think part of it's just the momentum she's built and how positive and enthusiastic everybody is, like it's easy for her to ignore when she's riding this wave. So we got to keep up this way for we do.
Speaker 1:We have to keep up the wave. Um, and she's. She hasn't made any mistakes, none. She's made no mistakes so far. She, she will, I'm sure she will, absolutely she will. But she's got Trump, got no bump from the convention, he got no bump from the assassination attempt and Kamala's got the bomb. And they're crawling foul. Oh, fraud, fraud, election fraud. And if she wins which she hopefully will they're going to challenge it on the basis of she shouldn't have been in the race at all. Excuse me, it was nobody voted for. Excuse me, people voted for Trump Harris. They didn't. I mean for Trump Harris, for Biden Harris. Biden Harris, they voted for. Biden Harris Is her name, not Harris.
Speaker 2:Was she not on that ballot? Also, I would say there was no legitimate challenge to Biden's nomination this year, as there often isn't for a president running for reelection and not that many people showed up to vote.
Speaker 2:The majority of Democrats wanted him to step down, and you know. So I'd say the more Democratic thing is him stepping down and listening to the members of his party who are like you didn't give us a choice, we don't want this choice, let's go with someone else. And you can make the argument that we didn't choose Harris after he stepped aside. But we did choose her four years ago as vice president. We all supported her, we all voted for them, and also the other guy tried to overthrow a free and fair election. So, if you've got any, if you're upset about lack of choice, you certainly can't get behind Trump. At worst, you disqualify both sides for it, though I don't agree with that approach, but that's, I feel like that's the worst take you can have on it. You can't Well, yeah, just yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, and not only that, I mean she did not have any challengers. You know, once she announced and she was working like as soon as she heard that Biden was, which was before we did she was already making calls, what energy she has and what organizational skills she has and has surrounded herself with to get that organization moving immediately. And it just shows you that Democrats were just hungry. I mean, we all went. I went from being like completely depressed and having the weeping Lincoln be my avatar on Facebook to completely changing it with a frame that says vote. And people that I've talked to in my family, young people who are all now, oh, I'm going to vote for Biden, but not like Kamala. Kamala, you know it's, it's huge, it's, it's a, it's a it's like a.
Speaker 2:it's like a blue wave. It's like a blue wave, it certainly is. So we were already running ahead on both houses of Congress. So this, really, I know it's unlikely to take all three, but it's certainly possible.
Speaker 1:Wouldn't that be nice, it would be really nice. So let's talk about VP and then we'll talk about Star Trek. Okay, so she's going to go on the road. She's going to do a barnstorming next week with her VP choice. It is starting off in Philadelphia. Make of that what you will, I don't. Some people have, some people have made of that.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I still don't know and I still have my reservations about Josh Shapiro, my governor, who I love and I adore him and he's amazing and it may just not quite be the time to have a black, female black and in South Asian, a female and a Jewish vice president. That's a lot of minorities kind of put on the ticket. I don't think most. And it's the same problem I have with Buttigieg. It's exactly the same problem I have. Buttigieg isn't Jewish but he's gay and I don't think this country is ready to have all of that. There are much Europe, a European country, canada, no problem. This country is still too puritanical to do that.
Speaker 2:And I do think that and this is my perspective as a straight white man who was raised Christian but as atheist, I do think people would be more accepting of a Jewish vice president than a gay vice president. I think there are different levels of the double minority.
Speaker 1:So in this environment, with the anti-Semitism the way that it is, I mean, earlier this week, three houses of worship in my neighborhood I don't live in the Squirrel Hill is kind of the Jewish neighborhood, but in my daughter's neighborhood, my daughter lives there Three houses of worship were defaced this week. It's not the first time it's happened in this month. It is really unsettling and I have to imagine that it would get worse for Shapiro. I don't know that for people, but I think this is going to be tough. I think it's going to be tough. It would be tough the amount of protests. It just gets all wrapped up with the whole Palestinian issue, with the Israel-Palestinian issue. It shouldn't, but it does, because they're two separate issues and however you feel about Israel and Gaza, which ceasefire now ceasefire now, that's how I feel it's way too far. You know it should have been months ago.
Speaker 2:But that may be about to ramp up. With the recent bombings, iran has vowed attacks on Israel.
Speaker 1:You know, I I don't want to talk about Israel very much, because, but but we should a little bit, I think. Okay, I just got a breaking news spokesman for the idf, which is the israeli army, on high alert first time I've seen that this week. Um, so I think, in my opinion, so I think, in my opinion, netanyahu, I'm going to get hate mail if anybody listens to this podcast. Netanyahu, I think, has partially engineered all of this, because they were edging closer and closer to a peace deal, a swap for hostages and a truce or a ceasefire, and as they were getting closer and closer and closer, now was the time to blow up this guy who was part of the negotiation.
Speaker 1:Part of me thinks that Netanyahu is doing this to engineer this thing going on longer and longer and longer, which he doesn't want to go to jail. You know he's Trump's mini-me. It's long past the time and once this is done, they're going to have new elections like immediately have new elections and Netanyahu's going to go to jail for all sorts of things that have nothing to do with this Corruption. So I don't even get me started. But the anti-Semitism thing is something separate, because there are plenty of people who are Jewish, who are saddened and depressed and angry with Netanyahu and opposed to what is happening in Gaza, that are getting heat for being Jews. Period Shapiro is taking heat for it. Michael Moore hit on him. I can't remember where I saw him. I think it was on Joy Reid.
Speaker 1:I don't like Joy Reid as a rule, but I watch her from time to time and she somebody had Michael Moore on, it was her. It was Chris Hayes. I watch Chris Hayes. I don't watch her because I don't really think that she has an unbiased journalism bone in her body. Even when kamala, even when biden was stepping down I don't know if you watch joy read. No, I don't. Um, she was like no, biden shouldn't step down, because you know, if he steps down I've heard the word they are not going to go with kamala and that is just racist. I'm like where is she getting this baloney? This is like bullshit. And now she's all for Kamala. Kamala, kamala, give me a break. She is plenty biased and I don't like that.
Speaker 1:Even in the evening segments of MSNBC, which I generally like a lot, I don't think Joy Reid is an honest broker. Ari Melber is an honest broker, but Joy Reid is not. Chris Hayes is an honest broker. Rachel Maddow is more or less an honest broker. Nicole Wallace, an honest broker. I don't like her. Ali Velshi honest broker. Like her. Ali Velshi, honest Broker. I love Ali Velshi. They should replace her with Ali Velshi, who is a Canadian Muslim, and I love him.
Speaker 2:You can't have her on TV.
Speaker 1:Him Ali Velshi is a guy.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm sorry, I did not know. I love him. That shows you my ignorance.
Speaker 1:He's on the weekends, weekends and he has his band book club. Okay, he does like an hour segment every weekend on the band book or half an hour segment on band books. It's great. But I love Ali Velshi. He's great, um, anyway. But I'm digressing Um. What was I talking about, Anyway, but I'm digressing.
Speaker 2:What was I talking about, honest?
Speaker 1:brokers, joy, anyway. So the whole thing about yeah, so never mind, okay, it's just so much to talk about, oh, I know, so vice, oh, we're talking about vice president, sorry, yes, yes. Vice president, okay.
Speaker 2:So, shapiro, you've got concerns, but I like him, buttigieg same concerns, I like him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like Shapiro too, I do, and she would be great with him. Yes, I agree.
Speaker 2:I also really like Pete Buttigieg and I know it seems long shot, but the way he's been on TV and stuff. I was watching him on the Daily Show the other night and he has good answers for lots of stuff, like when they JD Vance's comments about if you don't have children, you don't have a physical investment in the country, and his response about I served in the military before I had kids. When those bombs were falling I sure felt like I had a physical investment.
Speaker 2:Like those types of responses. He's a great attack dog. He's great at diffusing attacks, he's great at showing the difference and he's very supportive of Kamala. I still think he's a long shot, but I would not be shocked if it ends up being him, even though I don't think it will be.
Speaker 1:He should get. Even if he's not, he should be in her administration with a higher profile than he has now.
Speaker 2:I think that's a guarantee. I don't see how it's not how it wouldn't happen.
Speaker 1:He should be secretary of Fox Whispering.
Speaker 2:You know I've always been against giving Fox the legitimacy of appearing on it, you know, because it's so reprehensible what they do and it's so biased. But I do say Pete makes good arguments on why he should go on there and from what I hear he comports himself very well there.
Speaker 1:And he says otherwise, nobody in his family would actually hear him talk Because they don't. They watch Fox Sure. So OK, so so we've got, we've got Pete, we got Shapiro, We've got. Oh, let's talk about. So Roy Cooper's gone.
Speaker 2:He put it took himself out of the running.
Speaker 1:Gretchen. Whitmer, I think also said she was not. Yeah she also took herself out of the running.
Speaker 2:She probably wasn't going to be it because a double woman ticket, but still that would be awesome.
Speaker 1:I hope yeah.
Speaker 2:I get that maybe for the first female president we can't have a double woman ticket, but maybe the second I I look forward to that. I'm sick of this like having to yeah, couch everything and we can't do double up on this or we can't go too far.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, I know, I know it's ridiculous. So then we have Mark Kelly, who's not been talked about as much these last few days. You know I like him a lot. He's had a lot of problems like unions and stuff like that, and almost every union except the Teamsters has now endorsed her. The UAW just endorsed her yesterday or two days ago, except for the Teamsters.
Speaker 2:Everyone, including my dad's old union, the IBEW Yay, Yay, yeah, Mark Kelly, I think may just not be as strong at the public speaking and the charisma that you got to have somebody that's a little more from what I've heard of waltz lately well yeah, up and coming he's.
Speaker 2:He's the one that started the whole weird thing. Yes, calling trump weird, which I, I absolutely love. I mean, I embrace the weird in general, but I think it's a different type of weird what he's talking about and it's such a good diffusion. I mean he is awful and scary and hateful, but he is also super weird, weird, especially JD Vance Weird in a bad way.
Speaker 1:Weird in a bad way. I like Waltz. I think he's cool. He's a high school teacher and I like him. He's only like a year older than Kamala.
Speaker 2:But he looks older.
Speaker 1:He's explained that. He explained that is because he uh, he monitored the lunchroom for 20 years.
Speaker 2:I think that's a great answer. If anybody questions his age, that's perfect it's great.
Speaker 1:I really like him at. Minnesota is a blue state, so I don't think so he'll help her on the ticket, I mean a vice president.
Speaker 2:Typically it helps 1%. It's not.
Speaker 1:It could be important that 1%.
Speaker 2:So here's a name I'm hearing.
Speaker 1:Here's a name. I'm hearing Senator Gary Peters.
Speaker 2:I have not heard this one.
Speaker 1:Just in the last day or two, michigan Senator.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Just heard the name dropped in the last couple of days Interesting, he's a senator. He's a veteran senator. He's been around for a long time. Gary Peters is. Let's call him up on get his bio here. I should have done that before the show but I did not. Senator Gary Peters. I know Gary Peters was a pitcher for the White Sox when I was little. Gary Peters, us Senator oh, he's kind of a cool-looking dude. He's got a beard and he's got like little wire-rimmed glasses. He's 65. He went to the Naval War College, so he's a veteran. He's an American lawyer, politician and military officer. So he is he's the junior senator, of course. The other senator's really old. Before his election to Congress, he served in the US Navy Reserve 22 years as an investment advisor, worked in academia. Democratic nominee for Attorney General in 2002. Lost to Mike Cox 2014,. He was elected to the Senate, so he's been in the Senate for 10 years replacing Carl Levin. Yeah, oh, he's also head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Speaker 2:Oh, nice yeah.
Speaker 1:So he's got tentacles and connections all over the place. So he would be an interesting choice, and I'm just now hearing his name in the last day or two. I have to look more into him, look more into him. I'm thinking he might be one of the two choices. Bashir is another Bashir yeah. Yeah, andy Bashir, I don't know that he could be helpful in Kentucky and we need a nice Democratic governor.
Speaker 2:If he, if he takes the vice slot, the chances of Democrat holding on to that governorship go down are zero, zero. I mean he did it, but yeah, there's nobody.
Speaker 1:He did it. He did it because of his legacy, because his dad was a governor, and and very, very popular governor at that. So, um, you know, those are the names that I'm hearing now Most prominent Joe. Biden what.
Speaker 2:I've heard people toss that out. I'm pretty sure that's a joke, but it's a joke. I argued after the Obama administration that he should become vice president emeritus and stay in that role after Obama left.
Speaker 1:I think he should. I think he should do that now.
Speaker 2:President emeritus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, president emeritus.
Speaker 2:I honestly think we need more emeritus positions in the government. I think it would work well with Supreme Court justices. I think it would work well with elder senators before you know, as they're less capable of doing the day to day. I think it would work good for president and vice president to have that advisory role and I think that helps would help respond if we ever institute term limits on the argument against constant churning over of new people. They don't learn the systems and how things work. Having some emeritus advisors would go a long way, so I joke throwing that out there, but I think there's a lot of value to be had in that regard.
Speaker 1:I definitely think Biden needs to stay in there as an advisor, consultant, counselor to the president, whatever you want to call him, and he's really stayed out of Kamala's way, which is really nice to see. That Well, except for the small thing he did with the prisoner swap this morning, which was pretty freaking big. But oh my God, there's so much more to talk about. We have to talk about Star Trek. We haven't talked about TV today.
Speaker 2:If this is the end of segment one, do you want me to do my plug real quick, because I think that was not recorded.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, yes, Do your plug. I think this is the end of segment two.
Speaker 2:So segment two yeah, so it's all been done. Radio Hour is a live scripted comedy, really more of a dramedy podcast that's performed in front of an audience monthly on the second Saturday at 5 pm and we now offer a live streaming option. So if you're not local to Columbus Ohio, I still think it's the best experience to come in person. But you can stream us live. Just go to ibdpresentscom, click tickets on the top and if you're more interested in reading than listening although we have some awesome actors I'd recommend listening. But we do have about two dozen it's all been done radio hour script books for for sale Seasons of our individual stories, as well as a supplemental novel called Love's Lust Lost. That goes with our universe journey popular sci-fi segment. Again, if you go to iabdpresentscom, you can access the shop and all of that stuff from there.
Speaker 1:So please check it out. Definitely check it out. Excuse me, all right, let's segue to talk about Star Trek. We haven't talked much about Star Trek and oh, just a little bit of breaking news. So the Biden administration leaned on VP Kamala Harris at key moments to help secure the prisoner deal, including two high-level meetings in Germany with Schultz and Slovenian Prime Minister Golob, so she was involved. Good.
Speaker 2:Don't doubt the accuracy. I'm really impressed that they're pushing that, and they should be, obviously because they want to help her.
Speaker 1:Wait, wait. Do you want to hear what Trump's reaction is? He just did a big long truth social.
Speaker 2:Of course he did Election-rigging. Hear what Trump's reaction is. He just did a big long truth, social, of course he did Election rigging right. More of that. I haven't read it yet.
Speaker 1:This is like cut off my Twitter feed.
Speaker 1:So when are they going to release the details of the prisoner swap? How many people did we get versus them? Well, that's already known. Also, are we paying them cash? Are they giving us cash? Please withdraw that question, because I'm sure the answer is no. Are we releasing murderers, killers or thugs? Just curious, because we never make good deals at anything, but especially hostage swaps. Our quote-unquote negotiators are always an embarrassment to us.
Speaker 1:I got back many hostages and gave the opposing country nothing never any. Who did he get back? To do so is bad precedent for the future. That's the way it should be, or the situation will get worse and worse. They are extorting the US. They are calling the trade complex that's so nobody can figure out how bad it is. Okay, that is the official word from the former guy. That is the official word from the former guy. And it's worthwhile to note that one of those prisoners was taken a long time ago and he didn't do anything to get him back. I don't know what Trump has gotten back or who he's gotten back. Fact check, um. So all right, sorry. Now we're going to talk about Star Trek, cause that was actually really worth, uh, that was really worth, um, talking about. Sorry, I'm just like looking really quickly here at if there's anything else that's breaking news as we're speaking. So I want to talk about the Star Trek original series episode called the Day of the Dove.
Speaker 1:I think it's called the Day of the Dove.
Speaker 2:Yes, day of the Dove. Day of the Dove. Okay, it's a season three episode.
Speaker 1:One of the rare season three episodes. That isn't bad. Yes, this is true. I had to look twice to see if it was actually, you know, like season three, because it was usually pretty stupid. All right, all right. So the short story of it is a malignant force that has existed since the beginning of time invades the Enterprise, causing chaos and bringing the crew to the brink of destruction. Under its influence, crew members clashed with Klingons until Kirk comes up with a surprising new solution. I love the fact that this entity and I'm going to my ears are hurting from this, these headphones. I love the fact that the entity is this is this red amorphous orb? Yeah, it's like red, like the MAGA hats or Trump's tie. Sure, right, so I don't know. I just thought I'd throw that out. So what happens? Jimmy? Tell us what happens in the episode, because I know you know these episodes as well, if not better, than I do.
Speaker 2:Well, that one I may have only seen once when we reviewed it on the podcast. It's all been tracked. Before that you did a number of episodes when we covered the original series on I did we. We covered the original series on I did. We were just wrapping up our next-gen run as well as doing season two of DS9. But anyway, I digress this episode. The Enterprise crew beams down, they find Klingons. They beam back up and start finding Klingons on the Enterprise and then parts of the Enterprise get swallowed off. So there's an equal number of Klingons and humans fighting, but really it's this red orb that's making them fight and feeding off of their violence and hostility. So Kirk decides, after stopping Chekov from almost raping a woman because the original series did sexual assault at times, he decides to talk to the Klingon commander and make peace with him to thwart feeding this energy, hostile energy to the alien being.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I loved it. I love the fact that they energy, hostile energy to the alien being. Yes, and I loved it. I love the fact that that that they just like stopped and the wife of the Klingon commander was like he's right, he's right, he's right. Of course, women were right Go Kamala, and she was. She says he's right. Please listen to him. And I don't know if she was the one that Chekhov was going to rape or not. Yes, she was.
Speaker 1:Mara Okay so, and of course Kirk saved her from that. But it was like, yes, we don't want you here, we have plenty to fight about amongst ourselves. We don't need no stupid entity to cause chaos and confusion and hate. And we don't hate, we love each other. Ha ha, let's laugh, woo. And they were laughing and laughing and laughing and slapping each other on the back Got a little bit, you know.
Speaker 2:Oh, it got real cheesy. It got really cheesy, but they got rid of the entity you know they did.
Speaker 1:And they lived to fight another day. So I just thought that was such a cool metaphor for where we are as a country and really interesting because when this was written, so it appeared in 1968 or 69, the 68-69 season. 1968 was a year where the division and divisiveness and the assassinations in this country were like insane. I mean it was an insane year. Democratic Convention was in Chicago. I was a kiddo, I was little, I was like 12, I want to say I was 12. I was 12., 13. I was 13. Sorry, I was like 12, I want to say I was 12., I was 12., 13. I was 13. Sorry, I was 13.
Speaker 1:And it was scary stuff. I mean, my brother was in the Army at the time and there were battalions of Army people at Glenview Naval Air Base, which was not far from where we lived, which was outside the city ready to go in and crack a few heads, which was outside the city, ready to go in and crack a few heads. And so I asked him because all of his friends were probably at the convention as hippies protesting. I said what would happen if you ran into one of your buddies? He says well, I'm not going to hurt my friends, I'm like well, what have you ordered to? He says you should not follow an order that is illegal and I would not hurt them.
Speaker 1:He became like a real redneck right winger after he got out of the army. God only knows what happened to his brain, but he's, he's gone. He's like dead a few years, but um, yeah, it was. It was a time right. It was a time Not so much different than the time we're living in now and, interestingly enough, 1968, for an open convention and Hubert Humphrey was blessed. He was a terrible choice. I was far from being old enough to vote, but I knew he was a terrible choice. They should have picked someone better. And and I was actually.
Speaker 1:I remember going around with like little petitions that were like open convention, open convention. I was actually. I remember going around with like little petitions that were like open convention, open convention. I was like a Gene. My family were Gene McCarthy people. It tells you how I was raised and going around open convention. We have to keep an open convention Because Humphrey was never going to beat Nixon. And guess what? Humphrey didn't beat Nixon. But I think that Kamala is a fantastic choice. I agree, and I love the fact that she laughs. How do you defeat hate? Just like on Star Trek, right? You laugh at them, you laugh about them, right? That was what they were doing. They were laughing at them. In the end, if I'm recalling this correctly, they were actually laughing at them and bringing good cheer and optimism, and that's what Kamala brings to the race.
Speaker 2:Has Trump ever laughed in public In the decades he's? He doesn't laugh. He doesn't know how to laugh. I don't think he's ever laughed in public. Never seen him do it. That's a very sad, bitter and angry man, yeah, but that's a great contrast, as you mentioned, to Kamala's energy and enthusiasm, and I hope she keeps that spirit up, Energy, enthusiasm, optimism joy.
Speaker 2:Optimism worked for Biden, it worked for Obama, and they both did it in very different ways and she has her own version of it. But optimism does work and it does break through Optimism and hope, when that's how you be a patriot.
Speaker 1:Yes, not American carnage. Optimism and hope. And the country's economics? Yes, inflation is still not where it should be, but it's getting better, it's improving. The economy is going like gangbusters. Unemployment is down as low as it's ever been.
Speaker 2:The stock market is oh my gosh, I don't even know where it is is yeah.
Speaker 1:It broke some new records last week, I think it did. It's down, oh, it's down, like 600 something points today, but it was up like 600 points yesterday Um it is volatile, it always has been, but it's going up.
Speaker 2:I mean it's still right, right the overall trend? Yes, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is why we can. Uh, our son is going to graduate school starting in the fall and made this announcement and he's taking out loans. But just, he's still going to need mommy and dad. You know, us not mommy and daddy. He's still going to need us to help him out a little bit and if his plus loan graduate school plus loan doesn't go through, we're going to need to help him a lot. Plus loan graduate school plus loan doesn't go through, we're going to need to help them a lot. But fortunately, because of the Joe Biden economy, we have the wherewithal and money to be able to do that, which is good, because it's not cheap to go to graduate school, even for two years. But when?
Speaker 2:he gets out, he's going to be a software engineer.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, yeah, so wow. This has been a week and I think we're almost done with this. I have to piece together the two pieces of the recorded section. I'm not sure how to do that, but I will. I'll put it in Movie Maker and I'll make it work somehow. So next week, same time, same bat station, or are you? How's the job hunt? I'm going to turn this off now. I.
