December 25, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode, Mary Katharine Ham and Karol Markowicz play "Ask Us Anything." They explore the importance of maintaining a positive temperament while communicating serious information, share their culinary experiences with Southern delicacies, and offer insights on parenting styles that promote independence in children. The conversation also touches on finding rest during the busy holiday season, evaluates Trump's cabinet appointments, and discusses Elon Musk's influence in politics. Normally is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Tuesday & Thursday.
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey guys, friends, Norman's Countrymen back on. Normally this is
the show with normal and she takes for when the
news gets weird. But this week heavy On takes lighter
on news as we do. An Ama, I am here
as always with Carol Marco.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's nice to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And I'm Mary Kesenham.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
But I was gonna say, I feel like we missed
something there.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's okay, the order was off. It's a special week right.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Well for those who can't see Mary Catherine's and her
special Christmas jammis, which you know, I have to tell
you there's there's definitely some things that Jews cove it
from Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Comfy cute jammys are right up there.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, this is the full matching deal too, all the cousins.
My husband was in the matching set last night, so
it's awesome.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I mean we also my kids talk about it. They're like,
you know, we.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Could have lights. It's not nothing Christmas spelled lights. It's
just lights, hot chocolate. A lot of little things around
Christmas are very appealing to us.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yes. Well, and also I think I believe it was
John put Hoortz who told me he was like it's
actually kind of a great deal. We get all the
beauty and like the sort of adjacent joy and write
all of this stuff the trappings a bit of Christmas
without the stress of Christmas. Yeah, I see that. I
(01:26):
see that.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yes, Well, let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
We have some good questions, we have some bad questions,
we have some questionable questions.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know, let's start with a nice one, because we're nice.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
People are nice. It's the holidays, so we'll talk about
all the different questions we got. But here's a good one.
I've always respected how you both maintain your cool and
still communicate serious and disheartening info. Would you say, in
addition to your professionalism, this is also your temperament coming across.
I've been a fangirl of both you independently for many years,
(02:01):
cheering you both on in your personal professional lives. Your
podcast together makes complete sense. Happy Knaga and Merry Christmas.
Blessings to you and your families.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
People are so good. Isn't that a nice question? Yeah, no,
good one. Would you say it's our temperaments? I think yes,
I do think yes.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I think that what drew me to you early, early
on is that you were a happy warrior. We were
both in the conservative movement, but we weren't angry about it,
and we enjoyed humor that was very big, and we
liked making each other laugh, and so right off the bat,
I think we became friends over that and it's grown
(02:41):
from there. Actually, one of the early things that Mary
Catherine and I did together, I mean we were already
friends at this point, but on one of the nine
to eleven conspiracy theories had grown really big, right shortly
after nine to eleven. They're way bigger than you know
they are now. They were kind of hitting the mainstream
almost I don't know, actually they're bigger than.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
They are now.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
That is a very conspiratorial moment. But we did this
thing where we went to the nine to eleven site
and we passed out pamphlets and said the truth about
nine to eleven, and inside it was like the official story,
just the truth.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So we've done fun stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And I think, yeah, I think our temperaments really do
match up.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I agree. I do think in our early days of
blogging and such, when we first met, I was like,
I feel like this is a person who also knows
a few rap lyrics and has been to a few clubs,
and I was like, that's like someone that I need
to talk to. And then, of course, since we became moms,
you're one of the group of moms that I wish
lived closer to me, so we could mom together because
(03:44):
we have similar philosophies. So we've sort of grown over
this arc together, I would say. And then I think
I'm just a generally optimistic person, even when intellectually I'm
looking at a situation and going this is very bad.
So the combination sort of makes for a level headed
(04:05):
take on news even when it can be very bad.
And sometimes you can be two level headed and optimistic. Frankly, sure.
One of the things I say about American exceptionalism is like,
we are exceptional, but if we stop acting exceptionally, when
does that run out? Like that credit runs out at
some point, And so that's uh. I sort of admonish
(04:26):
myself sometimes for you know, not taking things maybe enough seriously.
Sometimes Yeah, but I do.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I hear, we I can't help you, right, I mean,
finding the humor in things in bad situations is definitely
what I'm all about. And I'm also very optimistic, So
I think we come together on the optimism and making
fun of everything.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's true, hard hitting culinary question.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Mary Catherine, I know you're a fellow Southerner and Bojangles
fan feeling on biscuits and gravy. Has Carol ever been
blessed by this Southern delicacy? Big fan of the pod
and getting hand. I'm from Huntsville, Alabama, Roll Tide to MK.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I will forgive the role tide in this situation.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I thought that would be nice.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
No, it's okay, it's okay. We're all sec here. I
will allow it. I feel like when you get to
the mid Atlantic and you're out of the sec you
do find more more camaraderie with former rivals because we're all,
you know, displaced sort of. But yeah, so biscuits and gravy.
I've actually had a journey on this, and I would
(05:30):
like to say that I am remiss and I've never
taken Carol to Bojngles. We have done waffle House, but
not Bojanngles, so I will correct that. However, when I
was young, I did not like biscuits and gravy. I
was like, why are we putting white gravy on biscuits?
That seems weird. I'm not a fan. And then at
some point, I don't know, in my older wiser years,
(05:51):
I tried it again and was like, this is amazing,
This is amazing. Why why would anyone not eat this?
So I feel like I might ruined my cred by
saying at one point I did not like biscuits and gravy.
But it's true. As a child, I was not into it.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, I love biscuits and gravy.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I'm actually this is this is the really controversial take
in general.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I'm not a huge gravy fan, white or brown.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
It's fine, it's good, but people go a little crazy
for it, like it's it becomes a whole cult thing.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I like it. It's good. But the biscuits the key
thing for me there. I could have biscuits without gravy,
you know what I mean? I saw, I hear you.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I I but yeah, it's a great dish.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Actually, some of the best biscuits.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And gravy I've had was in Tallahassee, Florida, which if
you don't know Florida, which I didn't before moving here,
the further north you go in Florida, the more south you.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Are, Yeah, Tallahassee is like, like, if I were to
move to Florida, I would be in the Panhandle. That's
like South Georgia.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
It's just the same for me, right, So that's h
They have some really good biscuits and gravy in Tallahassee.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
There's two places that I've had my favorite biscuits and gravy.
One is in the middle of virgin which is a
little further north than you would think for a great
biscuits and gravy. But this little tiny restaurant, it's like
one of these you know hole in the wall side
of the road places, has an entire menu section for
gravy related items that is just entitled gravy. So you know,
(07:15):
they take it very seriously. So that one's great. And
then another one a friend of mine who lives in
New Jersey. No I'm not kidding. He's an Italian in
New Jersey and he makes biscuits and gravy homemade. And
I was like, I'm sure this is fine, right, So
I go up there, very snobby, visit my friend. He
makes biscuits and gravy, and it was fantastic and I
(07:37):
had to eat my words.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I mean, in New Jersey, what can they not make
tastes electable.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
They are our culinary betters.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
He did a bang up job. I was not mad
at it at all.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Will be right back on normally.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I always like these, and I'm going to throw it
to you first, Carol, what's your best mom hat?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I think lazy parenting.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I coin that phrase somewhere along the way is the
best way to go. You cannot be overly involved in
your children's lives. I know that that is completely opposite
to what we all are told all the time, But
I think what makes momming so enjoyable for me and
I love being a parent so much. I really I
(08:25):
never imagined I would enjoy having children as much.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
As I do. I think a lot of it is
I'm not like a helicopter parent.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I'm not hanging over them, monitoring their every second.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
We talk a lot in our family.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
We give them a lot of basics, a lot of foundations,
but we'd set them free to do.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Their own thing.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And especially living in Florida, we've gotten to where they
just you know, run free, and they ride their bikes
and they come home whenever.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
They're living a very Generation X.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Existence in a very whatever jed alpha world. That they're
in now, and other than the language with their skimmity toilet, Ohio,
it's very much like my childhood. Yes, less like they're
allowed to come into the house.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
That's really the difference.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, I heard skibbty so many times on the way
to West Virginia in the mountains, which is where I
am now, and the older children were teaching the younger
children to say skimmity toilet, So that's a nice addition.
I have a similar hack, which is basically, you should
ignore your children more often, like at the playground when
(09:33):
they're in your home, when they're out in the neighborhood.
You should send them out in the neighborhood to explore.
And we do the same thing, which is I feel
grateful that we have a neighborhood where we can do
that and nobody calls CPS on us. But I think
our kids have encouraged other families to have their kids
come out and play as well because they they do that.
(09:54):
And I always tell parents of particularly two young kids,
when they're adding a new kid, the key to not
having to hover over your children is that you must
ignore your toddlers for twenty minutes and when you've ignored
your toddlers for twenty minutes, they will play with each
other toddlers slash young children, and then they start to
(10:15):
figure out how to do that. But if you're always there,
do not figure out how to do that.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
If you're always trying to kind of coordinate their play,
they never learn how to do it themselves.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
And actually, on my other show, I get it, people
ask me.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
For advice, and I feel like a lot of the
advice recently has been like, how do I help my
college age kid make friends or not even college. One
of them was like sixteen, Like they have friends, how
do I help them coordinate sort of play dates?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And if your kid has reached sixteen.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
And doesn't know how to coordinate their own kind of friendships,
it's tough. And I see this a lot because people
really don't let their kids find their own path and
they want to make everything easier for them. I get that,
you know, especially if you've had a difficult life, you
want to make things easier for your kids.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But the easier you make it for them, the harder
you're making it for them.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yes, it's all paradoxical because I think you're right. I
enjoy parenting because I do less proact it, like, less
involved in freaked out parenting, right, and so it just
becomes more enjoyable for that reason. An extreme version of
letting your kids do what they want to do on
(11:27):
their own is that I took my three year old
to the snow tubing hill at Snowshoe this week and
my husband I decided she's like quite game for such things,
and I was like, I think she'll be fine. And
then we went up there and I was like, I'm
sure there's a way that she can ride in the
tube with me, or I'll tether to her. There's some
sort of situation. Instead of sending a three year old
(11:49):
down the hill by herself, it did not send.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
A three year old down the hill down the hill yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Actually, we can play a clip of it because you
can hear her having the absolute time of her life. Yeah,
she was so unafraid, and I don't know what that
means for her future, but she for an hour and
(12:19):
a half in seventeen degree weather, ten degree weather, she
did the hill and over and over again. So awesome.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I have faith in your three year old. Your three
year old's gonna be fine.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
She's a she's quite a character. I was just like
bracing for watching her like pop out of the tube
like a cork at some point, and she didn't.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So yeah, that's great, all right, and it is some
good parenting, and that is a good Heck, let your
kids be free.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Here's a good one. Do you have any advice for
the politically engaged who are seeking rest during the holiday season?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, I get off the internet.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It's such an easy one and such a hard one
because I get it.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I'm also such a X addict.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I wake up, I open my eyes, I reached my phone,
and the first thing I do is check X. And
I think the main thing for me is when I
take these breaks, and I do take like two or
three breaks a year. I don't announce it, which is
right away. Once you announce it, you're like looking for
everybody to be like, oh no, don't go or a break.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, you've engagement farmed by announcing, and then you're going
to get all the all the responses yes.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And you're gonna keep checking. Don't announce it. Just take
your break. Nobody needs to know. And the second thing
is take it off of your phone. This is a
big one for me. Because and you know it's wild
is your finger will still go to the spot where
the app used to be and just kind of try
to find it, and you're like, oh, it's not there,
and it's It really shows.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
How addicted we are because your finger.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Takes a while to get used to not just clicking
the blank space.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
It's true. One of this is sort of adjacent to
the or connected to the parenting question, because I try
to keep my kids fairly screen free, which is why
they are able to explore and come up with new
games to play. But I do not model good behavior
in this area, and so overbreaks I do attempt to, yeah,
like shut it down. And if I'm posting on social media,
(14:14):
it's generally something Anna dine, like a picture of my
dog in the snow, just so we can keep it chill. Sure,
and I stay basically aware of things, but I don't
want to get into the details. I actually tweeted the
other day that my professional need to understand the continuing
resolution fight was at odds with my normy need to
just wrap so many presents, and I the presents were winning.
(14:38):
The presents were winning that day.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
And you know a lot of the time, I mean
of course, important things happen, but a lot of times
you'll miss the story of the week and you'll realize
how little it matters.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yes, I think one that I missed.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I don't remember what Nikki Haley said exactly, but during
the primary campaign she said something about like world War two.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I don't know, and I never found it out.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I just I completely missed the controversy that went on
for a while, and when I came back online, it
was like it was like the remnants of it, and
so I couldn't pick up what was happening, and I
was like, forget it, It's fine.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah. Have I ever told you my metaphor for this?
What was the soap opera that you watched as a
kid or that your mom watched?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Well, I mean all of them, honestly, in the summertime,
when there was nobody there to oversee me, it was
young and the restless days of our lives, building the
beautiful all my children, I mean all of them.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So I was a days of days of our lives galants.
I think that people who are politically engaged and who
are newsjake junkies are like really serious days of our lives.
Fans who are like, something very important is happening every
single day, and people who don't watch soap operas like,
I'm not sure that something important is happening every single day.
(15:52):
And what they do is they tune in every four
years and they find out that like Hope and Bow
are still're going off again, and like, oh yeah, you know,
Defino is still evil and we're all going to figure
it out. And so that is the life you're living.
And just you know, just become a person who's not
a super fan for a couple of weeks. It's good
for you.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, that's exactly right. And you could tune back in anytime.
That's the beauty of soap operas and our political system anytime.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
It's right there.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Waiting for you to come back and figure out what's
going on in the plot.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Should we do a.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Serious one, We're a more serious one. Let's see great
Trump's cabinet appointments.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Perhaps, Okay, So like my head, now my head has
to re engage with things that I've forgotten in the
past five days. I mean, I would say my top
one is probably doctor j Abouditaria from uh Stanford, just
because of the poetic justice of that appointment to NIH too,
(16:53):
you know, in the stead of the guy who tried
to smear him during the COVID days for being a
COVID COVID contrarian or COVID realist. Really is what he was.
So that's like an A plus plus for me just
to watch.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Oh, she's so great, Yeah happen.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
And he's just a very very very good person and
a very smart person and a thoughtful person. And I
have no doubts about his performance in that position, So
that would be like number one for me.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I overall, I would say I am extremely pleasantly surprised
because we talked about this, like we weren't necessarily the
target audience, and we feel very good about his picks.
I think he catered to a lot of different demographics.
Of course, saying that I don't like Diremer the Labor
Secretary pick, I want to see Republicans grow a spine
(17:47):
and vote him down.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You know, she's just far left and her.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Policies are not in line with the Republican Party, so
why would they vote.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yes for her? Well, yeah, I was gonna say, I get.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
A lot of the arguments like let Trump do what
he wants to do. He was elected in you know,
this land side. He won every single swing state. I
fully understand.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
But when there's conversation.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
About Republicans will vote down some of his nominees, and
the conversation turns like Pete Hegsath, I'm like, no, no,
let's focus on the far left labor secretary and that's
the one you vote down.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Well, and like I think you know, they'll make the
argument that she's a move to endear more labor voters
to Republicans, But she's a pick for labor leadership. She's
not exact for labor rank and file. We can do
plenty with labor rank and file, which is the group
(18:41):
of the labor leaning vote that is already coming to
our side. So I don't think she's necessary for that.
And I just think the judgment to back the pro Act,
which is this just awful California legislation that they want
to nationalize that has been disastrous already in California, is
just such terrible judgment and bad economics, and ugh, no,
(19:03):
thank you.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Right exactly, I mean again, Randy Winegarden is happy.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Elizabeth Warren is happy. That's all I need to know
to be unhappy.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, I would say I'm in like a B range
for overall feelings about Trump picks. But I think, as
you said, I come into it with a realistic expectation
that I am an ideological conservative and not all of
these picks are designed to be for me, absolutely, and
that the president does have significant leeway and should have
(19:35):
significant lee way in picking people, and you ask tough
questions and then you take the vote. So I'm comfortable
with that process for a lot of these folks, and
I haven't been appalled as often I thought I might be.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, right, I'm in the same place.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I would say, more like a because I only really
don't like the Labor Secretary and the surgeon general in general.
There are some peripheral people that I'm questionable on but
not anti so in general, I'm I really am a
to as and I feel pretty good about it.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
We're going to take a short break and come right
back with normally.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
So a question we got several times, and because it's anonymous,
we really don't know if it's like the same person asking,
you know, seven questions about this, but we got a
lot of questions about are you worried that the US
will become an oligarchy controlled by Elon Musk and others
like him, and then someone else actually maybe it's not
the same person, because someone else said, why is Elon
(20:35):
Musk so involved in decisions?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Now?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I like him and a lot of what he stands for,
but he is not president. Got to say that. I
think Elon Musk was part of the package. And if
you watched the.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Trump campaign unfold, Elon Musk on stage with him constantly,
Elon Musk saying that he's going to, you know, have
this doge thing where they're going to reduce the amount
that government spends. I don't think that anyone should be
surprised that you Elon Musk is super involved in this government.
Going back to what we were just talking about, where
(21:07):
this is not all for us, there were people in
the Trump orbit who were on stage with him all
the time who I understood would be part of his world.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I've talked about before. I'm not a huge Vivek fan.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
I'm suspicious of RFK, but there was no part of
me that thought, oh, when Trump gets elected, these guys
are not part of the scene.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Obviously they will be. So Elon was part of the package. Personally,
I love what Elon.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Is doing every time he talks, and people get mad
when he talks about like cutting all kinds of things
in government. I'm for it. I think that we have
a ton of waste and Elon is singularly focused on
cutting that waste. A lot of people are going to
be mad, a lot of you know, projects and kind
of friendly pairings are going to be torn here.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
And that's good.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
I tweeted recently, I have a tipster who wrote to
me about how just one federal prison operates and they
basically get computers every X number of years, but they
get them so often that the last batch of computers,
the new batch arrived and the last batch got thrown
out in their boxes because they're also not allowed to
give them away or sell them or anything like that,
(22:21):
so they had to throw them away. That's just I know,
it's a blip, it's a nothing. It's a tiny, little
little nothing of the amount of money that our government spends.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
But imagine that across tons of agencies, imagine that just
across tons of prisons. We're in a bad spot. I
like Elon being there to fix it.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, so I think you're right. This was a truth
and advertising thing. Where we knew he was going to
be involved. Unlike, as our friends Scott Jennings pointed out
on CNN, much to everyone's dismay, the last four years
were unelected people have been running the country and we
were not told about any of that. So I think
this was very clear that he was part of the deal.
(23:00):
And the thing that even when I have very serious
issues with Trump, what he's doing, he's doing out loud. Yeah,
and so you have an idea of a what you're
getting into, and be just what he's up to because
he's saying whatever he's thinking right out loud in the moment.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I also better or worse, right, I mean better or worse.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
So, yeah, exactly, And that's the difference between like when
he does these press conferences. Look, a lot of the
things he says in press conferences could be liabilities, right,
but he's just telling you. So I appreciate that part
of it, and I think Elon is part of that.
I also, with a beast like the federal government, I
like to have a creative thinker who has changed the
(23:45):
way that things have been done in very frankly amazing
ways in industries that needed to be modernized and to
bring that to this table, I think is good. He
also brings that to the table while having a huge
platform to talk about it. Right, and freedom of speech,
(24:08):
as we've seen with George Soros and his son actually
extends two billionaires. They're allowed to do things with their
money and with their speech to influence politics. This is
nothing new. And again it's right out loud, it's in
your face. He's saying exactly what he wants, very obviously,
not working in some smoke filled room. And I think
(24:30):
he's bringing attention to things like you're pointing out, Carol,
that people don't even know happen in government.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
There's so many things that happen in government that are
so on their face ridiculous, and normal people, if they
knew they were happening, would be appalled. For instance, like
the cr battle where they say, why don't we split
this up and vote on each thing so that a
cancer pediatric cancer research funding just gets approved? And normal
(24:59):
people go, you guys, weren't splitting those up before?
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Right?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Why weren't you doing that already?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah? And all of Washington is like, yeah, we couldn't
possibly split them up.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Right, No, there's no way to do that.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
How else we can get our special projects in that
nobody wants to fund and that nobody would understand why
we're doing this.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
How else did that happen?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Mary Gatherin, You have to use the pediatric cancer research
funding to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, you know again, I think Elon, I'm a fan,
I'm glad he's there, and I would love to see results.
I am cautiously optimistic because you know, when I posted
this story about this one prison, a lot of the
comments I got were like, oh.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Whatever, it's just like one hundred thousand dollars. You know,
who cares? I care, I care, I care, I get it.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
It's only one hundred thousand dollars and a billion billions
and billions of dollar budget. But we have to start somewhere,
and we have to start making these changes because you know,
one hundred thousand dollars here, one hundred thousand dollars there.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Soon you're talking about real money.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah. And the way I like to think about it is,
how many families in this country have never seen one
hundred thousand dollars?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yes, how many have never come close to one hundred
thousand dollars in one pot right, yep. And we tell them, oh,
this is nothing, this is a rounding error, and they're like,
I'm sorry, what right? Every single one of those dollars
and one hundred thousand dollars rounding errors is stolen from American
people and their grandkids. That's if you're not using it right,
(26:27):
you have taken it from them and you shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Have That's absolutely right. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Well, on that bright note, we're going to optimistic.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
We are optimistic.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
We're just you know, cautiously optimistic. Thank you for joining
us on this very special episode of Normally. We hope
your family has a very merry Christmas, Happy Knago, whatever
you celebrate. We'll be back with another episode on Thursday,
another ask Us Anything episode.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
We are Carol Markowitz and Mary Katherine Ham. Check us
out every Tuesday and Thursday on Normally
Hey guys, friends, Norman's Countrymen back on. Normally this is
the show with normal and she takes for when the
news gets weird. But this week heavy On takes lighter
on news as we do. An Ama, I am here
as always with Carol Marco.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's nice to see you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
And I'm Mary Kesenham.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
But I was gonna say, I feel like we missed
something there.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's okay, the order was off. It's a special week right.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Well for those who can't see Mary Catherine's and her
special Christmas jammis, which you know, I have to tell
you there's there's definitely some things that Jews cove it
from Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Comfy cute jammys are right up there.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, this is the full matching deal too, all the cousins.
My husband was in the matching set last night, so
it's awesome.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I mean we also my kids talk about it. They're like,
you know, we.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Could have lights. It's not nothing Christmas spelled lights. It's
just lights, hot chocolate. A lot of little things around
Christmas are very appealing to us.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yes. Well, and also I think I believe it was
John put Hoortz who told me he was like it's
actually kind of a great deal. We get all the
beauty and like the sort of adjacent joy and write
all of this stuff the trappings a bit of Christmas
without the stress of Christmas. Yeah, I see that. I
(01:26):
see that.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yes, Well, let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
We have some good questions, we have some bad questions,
we have some questionable questions.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know, let's start with a nice one, because we're nice.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
People are nice. It's the holidays, so we'll talk about
all the different questions we got. But here's a good one.
I've always respected how you both maintain your cool and
still communicate serious and disheartening info. Would you say, in
addition to your professionalism, this is also your temperament coming across.
I've been a fangirl of both you independently for many years,
(02:01):
cheering you both on in your personal professional lives. Your
podcast together makes complete sense. Happy Knaga and Merry Christmas.
Blessings to you and your families.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
People are so good. Isn't that a nice question? Yeah, no,
good one. Would you say it's our temperaments? I think yes,
I do think yes.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I think that what drew me to you early, early
on is that you were a happy warrior. We were
both in the conservative movement, but we weren't angry about it,
and we enjoyed humor that was very big, and we
liked making each other laugh, and so right off the bat,
I think we became friends over that and it's grown
(02:41):
from there. Actually, one of the early things that Mary
Catherine and I did together, I mean we were already
friends at this point, but on one of the nine
to eleven conspiracy theories had grown really big, right shortly
after nine to eleven. They're way bigger than you know
they are now. They were kind of hitting the mainstream
almost I don't know, actually they're bigger than.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
They are now.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
That is a very conspiratorial moment. But we did this
thing where we went to the nine to eleven site
and we passed out pamphlets and said the truth about
nine to eleven, and inside it was like the official story,
just the truth.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So we've done fun stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And I think, yeah, I think our temperaments really do
match up.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I agree. I do think in our early days of
blogging and such, when we first met, I was like,
I feel like this is a person who also knows
a few rap lyrics and has been to a few clubs,
and I was like, that's like someone that I need
to talk to. And then, of course, since we became moms,
you're one of the group of moms that I wish
lived closer to me, so we could mom together because
(03:44):
we have similar philosophies. So we've sort of grown over
this arc together, I would say. And then I think
I'm just a generally optimistic person, even when intellectually I'm
looking at a situation and going this is very bad.
So the combination sort of makes for a level headed
(04:05):
take on news even when it can be very bad.
And sometimes you can be two level headed and optimistic. Frankly, sure.
One of the things I say about American exceptionalism is like,
we are exceptional, but if we stop acting exceptionally, when
does that run out? Like that credit runs out at
some point, And so that's uh. I sort of admonish
(04:26):
myself sometimes for you know, not taking things maybe enough seriously.
Sometimes Yeah, but I do.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I hear, we I can't help you, right, I mean,
finding the humor in things in bad situations is definitely
what I'm all about. And I'm also very optimistic, So
I think we come together on the optimism and making
fun of everything.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's true, hard hitting culinary question.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Mary Catherine, I know you're a fellow Southerner and Bojangles
fan feeling on biscuits and gravy. Has Carol ever been
blessed by this Southern delicacy? Big fan of the pod
and getting hand. I'm from Huntsville, Alabama, Roll Tide to MK.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I will forgive the role tide in this situation.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I thought that would be nice.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
No, it's okay, it's okay. We're all sec here. I
will allow it. I feel like when you get to
the mid Atlantic and you're out of the sec you
do find more more camaraderie with former rivals because we're all,
you know, displaced sort of. But yeah, so biscuits and gravy.
I've actually had a journey on this, and I would
(05:30):
like to say that I am remiss and I've never
taken Carol to Bojngles. We have done waffle House, but
not Bojanngles, so I will correct that. However, when I
was young, I did not like biscuits and gravy. I
was like, why are we putting white gravy on biscuits?
That seems weird. I'm not a fan. And then at
some point, I don't know, in my older wiser years,
(05:51):
I tried it again and was like, this is amazing,
This is amazing. Why why would anyone not eat this?
So I feel like I might ruined my cred by
saying at one point I did not like biscuits and gravy.
But it's true. As a child, I was not into it.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, I love biscuits and gravy.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I'm actually this is this is the really controversial take
in general.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I'm not a huge gravy fan, white or brown.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
It's fine, it's good, but people go a little crazy
for it, like it's it becomes a whole cult thing.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I like it. It's good. But the biscuits the key
thing for me there. I could have biscuits without gravy,
you know what I mean? I saw, I hear you.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
I I but yeah, it's a great dish.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Actually, some of the best biscuits.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And gravy I've had was in Tallahassee, Florida, which if
you don't know Florida, which I didn't before moving here,
the further north you go in Florida, the more south you.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Are, Yeah, Tallahassee is like, like, if I were to
move to Florida, I would be in the Panhandle. That's
like South Georgia.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
It's just the same for me, right, So that's h
They have some really good biscuits and gravy in Tallahassee.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
There's two places that I've had my favorite biscuits and gravy.
One is in the middle of virgin which is a
little further north than you would think for a great
biscuits and gravy. But this little tiny restaurant, it's like
one of these you know hole in the wall side
of the road places, has an entire menu section for
gravy related items that is just entitled gravy. So you know,
(07:15):
they take it very seriously. So that one's great. And
then another one a friend of mine who lives in
New Jersey. No I'm not kidding. He's an Italian in
New Jersey and he makes biscuits and gravy homemade. And
I was like, I'm sure this is fine, right, So
I go up there, very snobby, visit my friend. He
makes biscuits and gravy, and it was fantastic and I
(07:37):
had to eat my words.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I mean, in New Jersey, what can they not make
tastes electable.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
They are our culinary betters.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
He did a bang up job. I was not mad
at it at all.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Will be right back on normally.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I always like these, and I'm going to throw it
to you first, Carol, what's your best mom hat?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I think lazy parenting.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I coin that phrase somewhere along the way is the
best way to go. You cannot be overly involved in
your children's lives. I know that that is completely opposite
to what we all are told all the time, But
I think what makes momming so enjoyable for me and
I love being a parent so much. I really I
(08:25):
never imagined I would enjoy having children as much.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
As I do. I think a lot of it is
I'm not like a helicopter parent.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I'm not hanging over them, monitoring their every second.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
We talk a lot in our family.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
We give them a lot of basics, a lot of foundations,
but we'd set them free to do.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Their own thing.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And especially living in Florida, we've gotten to where they
just you know, run free, and they ride their bikes
and they come home whenever.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
They're living a very Generation X.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Existence in a very whatever jed alpha world. That they're
in now, and other than the language with their skimmity toilet, Ohio,
it's very much like my childhood. Yes, less like they're
allowed to come into the house.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
That's really the difference.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, I heard skibbty so many times on the way
to West Virginia in the mountains, which is where I
am now, and the older children were teaching the younger
children to say skimmity toilet, So that's a nice addition.
I have a similar hack, which is basically, you should
ignore your children more often, like at the playground when
(09:33):
they're in your home, when they're out in the neighborhood.
You should send them out in the neighborhood to explore.
And we do the same thing, which is I feel
grateful that we have a neighborhood where we can do
that and nobody calls CPS on us. But I think
our kids have encouraged other families to have their kids
come out and play as well because they they do that.
(09:54):
And I always tell parents of particularly two young kids,
when they're adding a new kid, the key to not
having to hover over your children is that you must
ignore your toddlers for twenty minutes and when you've ignored
your toddlers for twenty minutes, they will play with each
other toddlers slash young children, and then they start to
(10:15):
figure out how to do that. But if you're always there,
do not figure out how to do that.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
If you're always trying to kind of coordinate their play,
they never learn how to do it themselves.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
And actually, on my other show, I get it, people
ask me.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
For advice, and I feel like a lot of the
advice recently has been like, how do I help my
college age kid make friends or not even college. One
of them was like sixteen, Like they have friends, how
do I help them coordinate sort of play dates?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And if your kid has reached sixteen.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
And doesn't know how to coordinate their own kind of friendships,
it's tough. And I see this a lot because people
really don't let their kids find their own path and
they want to make everything easier for them. I get that,
you know, especially if you've had a difficult life, you
want to make things easier for your kids.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But the easier you make it for them, the harder
you're making it for them.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yes, it's all paradoxical because I think you're right. I
enjoy parenting because I do less proact it, like, less
involved in freaked out parenting, right, and so it just
becomes more enjoyable for that reason. An extreme version of
letting your kids do what they want to do on
(11:27):
their own is that I took my three year old
to the snow tubing hill at Snowshoe this week and
my husband I decided she's like quite game for such things,
and I was like, I think she'll be fine. And
then we went up there and I was like, I'm
sure there's a way that she can ride in the
tube with me, or I'll tether to her. There's some
sort of situation. Instead of sending a three year old
(11:49):
down the hill by herself, it did not send.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
A three year old down the hill down the hill yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Actually, we can play a clip of it because you
can hear her having the absolute time of her life. Yeah,
she was so unafraid, and I don't know what that
means for her future, but she for an hour and
(12:19):
a half in seventeen degree weather, ten degree weather, she
did the hill and over and over again. So awesome.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I have faith in your three year old. Your three
year old's gonna be fine.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
She's a she's quite a character. I was just like
bracing for watching her like pop out of the tube
like a cork at some point, and she didn't.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So yeah, that's great, all right, and it is some
good parenting, and that is a good Heck, let your
kids be free.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Here's a good one. Do you have any advice for
the politically engaged who are seeking rest during the holiday season?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, I get off the internet.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It's such an easy one and such a hard one
because I get it.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I'm also such a X addict.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I wake up, I open my eyes, I reached my phone,
and the first thing I do is check X. And
I think the main thing for me is when I
take these breaks, and I do take like two or
three breaks a year. I don't announce it, which is
right away. Once you announce it, you're like looking for
everybody to be like, oh no, don't go or a break.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, you've engagement farmed by announcing, and then you're going
to get all the all the responses yes.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And you're gonna keep checking. Don't announce it. Just take
your break. Nobody needs to know. And the second thing
is take it off of your phone. This is a
big one for me. Because and you know it's wild
is your finger will still go to the spot where
the app used to be and just kind of try
to find it, and you're like, oh, it's not there,
and it's It really shows.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
How addicted we are because your finger.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Takes a while to get used to not just clicking
the blank space.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
It's true. One of this is sort of adjacent to
the or connected to the parenting question, because I try
to keep my kids fairly screen free, which is why
they are able to explore and come up with new
games to play. But I do not model good behavior
in this area, and so overbreaks I do attempt to, yeah,
like shut it down. And if I'm posting on social media,
(14:14):
it's generally something Anna dine, like a picture of my
dog in the snow, just so we can keep it chill. Sure,
and I stay basically aware of things, but I don't
want to get into the details. I actually tweeted the
other day that my professional need to understand the continuing
resolution fight was at odds with my normy need to
just wrap so many presents, and I the presents were winning.
(14:38):
The presents were winning that day.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
And you know a lot of the time, I mean
of course, important things happen, but a lot of times
you'll miss the story of the week and you'll realize
how little it matters.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yes, I think one that I missed.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I don't remember what Nikki Haley said exactly, but during
the primary campaign she said something about like world War two.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I don't know, and I never found it out.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I just I completely missed the controversy that went on
for a while, and when I came back online, it
was like it was like the remnants of it, and
so I couldn't pick up what was happening, and I
was like, forget it, It's fine.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah. Have I ever told you my metaphor for this?
What was the soap opera that you watched as a
kid or that your mom watched?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Well, I mean all of them, honestly, in the summertime,
when there was nobody there to oversee me, it was
young and the restless days of our lives, building the
beautiful all my children, I mean all of them.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So I was a days of days of our lives galants.
I think that people who are politically engaged and who
are newsjake junkies are like really serious days of our lives.
Fans who are like, something very important is happening every
single day, and people who don't watch soap operas like,
I'm not sure that something important is happening every single day.
(15:52):
And what they do is they tune in every four
years and they find out that like Hope and Bow
are still're going off again, and like, oh yeah, you know,
Defino is still evil and we're all going to figure
it out. And so that is the life you're living.
And just you know, just become a person who's not
a super fan for a couple of weeks. It's good
for you.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, that's exactly right. And you could tune back in anytime.
That's the beauty of soap operas and our political system anytime.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
It's right there.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Waiting for you to come back and figure out what's
going on in the plot.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Should we do a.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Serious one, We're a more serious one. Let's see great
Trump's cabinet appointments.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Perhaps, Okay, So like my head, now my head has
to re engage with things that I've forgotten in the
past five days. I mean, I would say my top
one is probably doctor j Abouditaria from uh Stanford, just
because of the poetic justice of that appointment to NIH too,
(16:53):
you know, in the stead of the guy who tried
to smear him during the COVID days for being a
COVID COVID contrarian or COVID realist. Really is what he was.
So that's like an A plus plus for me just
to watch.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Oh, she's so great, Yeah happen.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
And he's just a very very very good person and
a very smart person and a thoughtful person. And I
have no doubts about his performance in that position, So
that would be like number one for me.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I overall, I would say I am extremely pleasantly surprised
because we talked about this, like we weren't necessarily the
target audience, and we feel very good about his picks.
I think he catered to a lot of different demographics.
Of course, saying that I don't like Diremer the Labor
Secretary pick, I want to see Republicans grow a spine
(17:47):
and vote him down.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You know, she's just far left and her.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Policies are not in line with the Republican Party, so
why would they vote.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yes for her? Well, yeah, I was gonna say, I get.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
A lot of the arguments like let Trump do what
he wants to do. He was elected in you know,
this land side. He won every single swing state. I
fully understand.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
But when there's conversation.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
About Republicans will vote down some of his nominees, and
the conversation turns like Pete Hegsath, I'm like, no, no,
let's focus on the far left labor secretary and that's
the one you vote down.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Well, and like I think you know, they'll make the
argument that she's a move to endear more labor voters
to Republicans, But she's a pick for labor leadership. She's
not exact for labor rank and file. We can do
plenty with labor rank and file, which is the group
(18:41):
of the labor leaning vote that is already coming to
our side. So I don't think she's necessary for that.
And I just think the judgment to back the pro Act,
which is this just awful California legislation that they want
to nationalize that has been disastrous already in California, is
just such terrible judgment and bad economics, and ugh, no,
(19:03):
thank you.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Right exactly, I mean again, Randy Winegarden is happy.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Elizabeth Warren is happy. That's all I need to know
to be unhappy.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, I would say I'm in like a B range
for overall feelings about Trump picks. But I think, as
you said, I come into it with a realistic expectation
that I am an ideological conservative and not all of
these picks are designed to be for me, absolutely, and
that the president does have significant leeway and should have
(19:35):
significant lee way in picking people, and you ask tough
questions and then you take the vote. So I'm comfortable
with that process for a lot of these folks, and
I haven't been appalled as often I thought I might be.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, right, I'm in the same place.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I would say, more like a because I only really
don't like the Labor Secretary and the surgeon general in general.
There are some peripheral people that I'm questionable on but
not anti so in general, I'm I really am a
to as and I feel pretty good about it.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
We're going to take a short break and come right
back with normally.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
So a question we got several times, and because it's anonymous,
we really don't know if it's like the same person asking,
you know, seven questions about this, but we got a
lot of questions about are you worried that the US
will become an oligarchy controlled by Elon Musk and others
like him, and then someone else actually maybe it's not
the same person, because someone else said, why is Elon
(20:35):
Musk so involved in decisions?
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Now?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I like him and a lot of what he stands for,
but he is not president. Got to say that. I
think Elon Musk was part of the package. And if
you watched the.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Trump campaign unfold, Elon Musk on stage with him constantly,
Elon Musk saying that he's going to, you know, have
this doge thing where they're going to reduce the amount
that government spends. I don't think that anyone should be
surprised that you Elon Musk is super involved in this government.
Going back to what we were just talking about, where
(21:07):
this is not all for us, there were people in
the Trump orbit who were on stage with him all
the time who I understood would be part of his world.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I've talked about before. I'm not a huge Vivek fan.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
I'm suspicious of RFK, but there was no part of
me that thought, oh, when Trump gets elected, these guys
are not part of the scene.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Obviously they will be. So Elon was part of the package. Personally,
I love what Elon.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Is doing every time he talks, and people get mad
when he talks about like cutting all kinds of things
in government. I'm for it. I think that we have
a ton of waste and Elon is singularly focused on
cutting that waste. A lot of people are going to
be mad, a lot of you know, projects and kind
of friendly pairings are going to be torn here.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
And that's good.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
I tweeted recently, I have a tipster who wrote to
me about how just one federal prison operates and they
basically get computers every X number of years, but they
get them so often that the last batch of computers,
the new batch arrived and the last batch got thrown
out in their boxes because they're also not allowed to
give them away or sell them or anything like that,
(22:21):
so they had to throw them away. That's just I know,
it's a blip, it's a nothing. It's a tiny, little
little nothing of the amount of money that our government spends.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
But imagine that across tons of agencies, imagine that just
across tons of prisons. We're in a bad spot. I
like Elon being there to fix it.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, so I think you're right. This was a truth
and advertising thing. Where we knew he was going to
be involved. Unlike, as our friends Scott Jennings pointed out
on CNN, much to everyone's dismay, the last four years
were unelected people have been running the country and we
were not told about any of that. So I think
this was very clear that he was part of the deal.
(23:00):
And the thing that even when I have very serious
issues with Trump, what he's doing, he's doing out loud. Yeah,
and so you have an idea of a what you're
getting into, and be just what he's up to because
he's saying whatever he's thinking right out loud in the moment.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I also better or worse, right, I mean better or worse.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
So, yeah, exactly, And that's the difference between like when
he does these press conferences. Look, a lot of the
things he says in press conferences could be liabilities, right,
but he's just telling you. So I appreciate that part
of it, and I think Elon is part of that.
I also, with a beast like the federal government, I
like to have a creative thinker who has changed the
(23:45):
way that things have been done in very frankly amazing
ways in industries that needed to be modernized and to
bring that to this table, I think is good. He
also brings that to the table while having a huge
platform to talk about it. Right, and freedom of speech,
(24:08):
as we've seen with George Soros and his son actually
extends two billionaires. They're allowed to do things with their
money and with their speech to influence politics. This is
nothing new. And again it's right out loud, it's in
your face. He's saying exactly what he wants, very obviously,
not working in some smoke filled room. And I think
(24:30):
he's bringing attention to things like you're pointing out, Carol,
that people don't even know happen in government.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
There's so many things that happen in government that are
so on their face ridiculous, and normal people, if they
knew they were happening, would be appalled. For instance, like
the cr battle where they say, why don't we split
this up and vote on each thing so that a
cancer pediatric cancer research funding just gets approved? And normal
(24:59):
people go, you guys, weren't splitting those up before?
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Right?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Why weren't you doing that already?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah? And all of Washington is like, yeah, we couldn't
possibly split them up.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Right, No, there's no way to do that.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
How else we can get our special projects in that
nobody wants to fund and that nobody would understand why
we're doing this.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
How else did that happen?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Mary Gatherin, You have to use the pediatric cancer research
funding to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, you know again, I think Elon, I'm a fan,
I'm glad he's there, and I would love to see results.
I am cautiously optimistic because you know, when I posted
this story about this one prison, a lot of the
comments I got were like, oh.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Whatever, it's just like one hundred thousand dollars. You know,
who cares? I care, I care, I care, I get it.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
It's only one hundred thousand dollars and a billion billions
and billions of dollar budget. But we have to start somewhere,
and we have to start making these changes because you know,
one hundred thousand dollars here, one hundred thousand dollars there.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Soon you're talking about real money.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah. And the way I like to think about it is,
how many families in this country have never seen one
hundred thousand dollars?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yes, how many have never come close to one hundred
thousand dollars in one pot right, yep. And we tell them, oh,
this is nothing, this is a rounding error, and they're like,
I'm sorry, what right? Every single one of those dollars
and one hundred thousand dollars rounding errors is stolen from American
people and their grandkids. That's if you're not using it right,
(26:27):
you have taken it from them and you shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Have That's absolutely right. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Well, on that bright note, we're going to optimistic.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
We are optimistic.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
We're just you know, cautiously optimistic. Thank you for joining
us on this very special episode of Normally. We hope
your family has a very merry Christmas, Happy Knago, whatever
you celebrate. We'll be back with another episode on Thursday,
another ask Us Anything episode.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
We are Carol Markowitz and Mary Katherine Ham. Check us
out every Tuesday and Thursday on Normally
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!