Catching Katy Up On The News

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Worst Year Ever, a production of I Heart Radio.
We get everything, so don't do pop. Welcome to the show.

(00:25):
We are the podcasters that you are listening to. Now
this is the news theme song. It's not very good.
Cody could be better? Did you did you? Did you
record that at Muscle Shoals? Did you get did you
get a record deal? Because that's that's that's some music
right there. Muscle Muscle Shoals is where all the great

(00:48):
all the great artists record muscles, like muscles from Brussels,
or like muscles from the sea. I think like from
the sea. Ye see, it's we're all the great albums
were recorded and where Cody's gonna go to record his
new album? From Sharp introduced a podcast by um this

(01:10):
is the worst year ever. Yes, I couldn't agree more.
I could not agree more. Apparently there's also a podcast,
but that's not what I'm really talking about. No, it's
the year, the never ending two years of our lives. Yeah,
have you ever you guys heard of the concept of
I think it's it was eternal September, internal summer and

(01:34):
listen eternal September. So way back in the day, in
the early days, of the Internet right pretty much the
only way you'd have access to the Internet is if
you were at a college or some sort of other institution,
because like everything was connected together in the ARP and
that um, like normal people didn't just get on the Internet.
You had to get into it through the institution, and
so um, every summer, like in September, I think it

(01:58):
was all of the you know, classes would start and
all of the new people would get access to the
Internet for the first time, and it was known by
all of the people on the internet is like the
worst month, Like September was always the ship month because
all these new people get on the Internet, they have
to learn the rules, they have to learn like all
of the different behavioral mores, and they're just like insufferable
for like a month or two, like until they get

(02:18):
acclimated to the culture. And then I forget the exact
year it happened, But sometime in the early nineties, like
the Internet became a thing anyone could be on and
September never ended, is kind of the idea, is like
now that that's when every like the Internet was this
beautiful utopia for a while, and then eternal September came

(02:39):
and it's been shipped every internal September. Sounds like a
pop punk band, Yeah it does. I'm feeling now like
thinking like yellow Card, but yeah, which is we're still
in eternal March, like March didn't end last year and
it hasn't ended yet, and and it's just for forever,
like all months of the same, all months or this

(03:01):
like fascinating mix of collapse uh and right wing uh
anger and government crackdowns on people pushing for justice. All
these things You're just always happening now constantly, and I
guess they were before. But whatever it feels, it doesn't

(03:23):
feel like there's breaks anymore. Like I'm thinking about I
don't know, we used to have We used to have fun,
I think in the news, so I remember that, or
at least we our attitude was a bit more fun.
We try to have fun, but it's harder, it's harder
to come by. Yeah, I remember times that were different

(03:45):
than this. I remember times, and yet I do not
recognize time as a concept anymore. No, it's a flat circle.
As the guy on the TV show that has Governor
of Texas, yeah, God Will like I don't know about
his politics, but I love that performance. He cannot be

(04:05):
worse than Greg Abbott. He can't be worse than Greg Abbott.
And I enjoy hearing him speak. It makes me laugh.
He tells a sleep story on my calm map. Just
love it, mostly because I giggle. Hi, I'm Matthew McConaughey,
all right, and you're like, you're doing it. You're doing

(04:26):
it to lull me to sleep, Okay, Governor, Wait does
he actually do that? He does? I'm I'm Matthew McConney.
When I was working on a movie called Proof. I
don't know if it was Proof something else like, but
it's funny. And he goes, the world is our playground,

(04:50):
you know, like it is for Matthew McConaughey. I bet
it is a playground from Matthew McConney. Yea, um, but
he does how tough. But he's running running or it
hasn't been any no, no, no, no, it's just a
thing people talk about because and then they asked him
about it when they talk to him, And I think

(05:12):
this is us having fun with the news. Like I said,
I want to see him do all his ads in
the Lincoln. I hate to say this, but I kind
of think Texas is so fucked that the only thing
that might save us is if a person who's famous
enough to like break out of the kind of right
wing domination gets elected and just isn't a complete sociopath,

(05:34):
because I don't think Matthew McConaughey is. I don't think
Matthew McConaughey is like a literal monster. Um, Greg greg
Abbott is a monster, and so have been every Texas
governor since uh and Richards and Richards. That was the yeah,
she she was Yeah, and then she made some decisions

(05:56):
on gun control that turned out to not be wise electorally,
and George W. Bush became the governor. Or at least
that was how the asshole in my concealed handgun class
explained it. I don't remember any of that because I
was living in Oklahoma. I like to picture McConaughey and
a Lincoln doing the Wolf of Fall Street, yes as

(06:17):
his only campaign, and then saying he approves to the message, Yeah,
that's it, and then I want him to go. I
just think he goes and this message is all right,
all right, all right, yeah that's it, and then get
I get older, but the message is the same age, right,
you can just would be his biggest hits and then
he knows like Dallas Buyer's Club, you know, or what else. Yeah,

(06:43):
Republicans would be like, hey, governor, would you please sign
the execution orders for this mentally handicapped man, and he
would just crush a lone star on his face and
they would be like, we'll come back later, and then
no one would get executed. I think he also does
the Carls Juniors spots. He's got a a thriving commercial
career he does. He's better in ads for bourbon because

(07:04):
like math McConaughey has has, there's a number of different
kinds of Texas accents. He has a classy accent um
as opposed to uh what most people in Texas have. UM.
And he sounds good talking about bourbon, even though he's
talking about wild turkey, which is his accent goes down smooth,
It goes down smooth, unlike wild turkey. UM gets some

(07:27):
eagle rare. Goddamnit. Um. But okay, like we've been talking
about this for nine minutes, I want you to do
your imitation again. I thought it was great. Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, alright, Um,
have you guys seen the guy? Have you guys seen
the guy running in California for the recall with the

(07:50):
bear the beast? That's the worst John John Cox, who's
the who already ran? He already ran and lost. Oh
good for him? Well, I I love that for him.
That is the worst thing and the possibly the best thing.
I'm pretty sure he's coming under legal action for bringing
a bear to a campaign, but it's been a fuzzy month,

(08:13):
so I don't know. Just a real quick disclaimer, I
guess not quite up top because we're ten minutes deep here, um,
give or take with editing. I, as you know, have
been gone for a while and I am back in
Los Angeles and I've had a hard month and so
this week I'm not prepared, but we're gonna kind of

(08:36):
try to catch me up on the news. Yeah, it's
a it's a hodgepodge to bring Katie up to sit.
I did nothing to prepare except show up, and that's
how I like it. Well, speaking of Texas, why don't
we talk about the voting in Texas? Yeah? Yeah, what
happened there? Are they allowed to do it? Or no?
Everyone's still allowed to vote? Cool? Um? Well as you

(09:00):
do know, for a little while there have been all
these sort of bills popping up to make it more
difficult for folks to vote under the guys and being like,
actually it's it's we're putting fail safe so what happened
in twenty doesn't happen again as if h you know,
and well insinuating that the entire election was a fraud

(09:20):
and Donald Trump is actually the one that was elected. Um.
It's interesting how they're sort of intertwined, Like the January
six is sort of just uh, like a symptom. It's
like like it gave them a pass to be like, see,
we need to protect our election, but in a way
that um insinuates that it was a complete fraud and
Joe Biden isn't actually the president. Um. And so there

(09:42):
was a indeed another bill that Texas uh tried to
pass UM that various things in it. UM it gave
gave penalties like jail time uh for sending people um
mail in ballots they did not request them, who would

(10:02):
get penalized jail timed the people who sent them, okay,
which is like again it's like this sort of weird
it's it's it's framed as like, well, you don't want
people doing this, it'll it'll do frauds and stuff. Um,
instead of like, if you really want to make it,
you know, access to voting, uh uh open up for people.

(10:23):
Just send mail and voting to everybody. Um, instead of like, well,
if you request it, then you get it. Then if
you don't, then you're going to jail. We'll no, just
give it to everybody. UM, make give everybody the all
these options. UM. It's pretty frustrating. A situation is pretty frustrating.
I think I've mentioned this on a show over the
past month, but it's a real big deal. How many

(10:47):
people I truly believe that, uh there was widespread voter
fraud in the election, and the amount of money being
wasted on recounting it over and over and over again.
The belief is very pervasive that dead people voted. Yes, yes,
voted And you know, I pushed back and say, well,

(11:11):
you know, it just means in Arizona, it's like and
wonderful reasonable people, you know, smart people. But they're like, no, actually,
this is a true thing that has to get a problem.
There's a problem, and if you and if if there's
nothing wrong, then what's the problem with looking into it?
And I gently say, well, I think it's the expense
at this point. Well, if you do look into it,

(11:32):
you'll see that like countless cases were thrown out because
there was no evidence of fraud. Um and like this
bill um would have and it still might pass. Who knows. Um. Yeah,
I mean yes, they're but they're a part of it
is that you don't actually have to prove that there

(11:55):
was uh any like you don't have to confirm any
evidence of actual election fraud in in this in this case. Um.
It also banned drive through voting things of that nature. Sorry,
drive through voting. I haven't heard of that, but I'm
into it. I went through a drive through liquor store
in Arizona. I've never seen one before, but really, oh

(12:15):
yeah we had them. Yeah, we have those in Texas too. Yeah. Yeah,
they're not as good as California liquor stores, which are
literally any store you happen to be in there can
go in anywhere. It's amazing. Um. Yeah. The other thing
they're trying to do is stop banned voting on Sundays,
uh in, which is when a lot of a lot

(12:36):
of black churches will do like voting drives and stuff.
Maybe you should be able to vote on a day.
Um that isn't like most people work on that day. Yeah,
or make it a holiday, or make it a holiday.
But the goal is very clearly to stop voting. Yeah,

(12:57):
it's very you aren't white in Republican It's very clear.
It is very frustrating folks like like a Dan Crunshaw
type um, who outwardly seems very reasonable when he speaks,
but he's just a liar. He lies a lot. It's
very frustrating. Yea. Um, but you know, like they're trying.
They don't have noticed. They won't tell you what's in
the bill. And he won't either, what's in the bill? Dan,

(13:19):
tell us what's in the bill? Um? And yeah, it's
very transparent what they're trying to do. Um. You know
uh limits, Yeah, availability to vote for a lot of people, um,
low income areas, handicapped people, a lot of just uh,
very clear. They tried to pass it. Um. The Democrats
walked out um uh during the vote. Um, which good

(13:43):
for them. They did a thing, They did a thing
that they can do. They did a thing that like
Republicans might do been doing in Oregon for yes, yeah,
and then they've done before in Texas. I should note
they fled to Oklahoma years back for another vote, so's
this is not the only time Texas Democrats have done
something like this. Yeah. Um they're the lone star, the

(14:05):
lone star Democrats. Um, all right, all right, So they
walked they walked out. Um, so there wasn't there weren't
enough members to reach a quorum, and so they couldn't
pass it. Um, which again very cool. Um. They will
still probably pass it, of course, it'll still happen, but
it's just a you know, it was at least nice

(14:25):
to see a move, a move being played, even though
make it harder for the fucker's um, just make it
harder for them, yeah, um, make it harder for them. Yeah,
because I really do respect um standing up and it's
one thing for Democrats and other states well but well,
but in a state like that and other conservative areas,

(14:48):
you gotta kind of put on a little bit of
a show and make a stink about it, even if
it's not gonna, um move the needle in the end. Yeah,
show that, Yeah, show that you're doing literally anything. It's nice, um,
And you know that's a signal for everybody else in
the state that doesn't necessarily agree with the conservative side. Uh.

(15:09):
I just keep relating things back to Arizona because that's
the only thing I have experienced. For it. Every week
on a corner and downtown Flagstaff there was a small
but mighty group of people protesting another move something voting
rates Christmas cinema, a filibuster, you know, and they were
just out there with their signs, like fifteen to twenty

(15:30):
people and it's crickets from around except for every time
I drove by, just laid on my horn because I
feel like this is important here, and it is. It
is important because that's slowly changes things. Anyway, Again here
I am not having read the news, relating it back
to my limited experiences of the past month. That's how

(15:51):
it's gonna be. That's that's the hodgepodge. That's the podge
of the hodge. Yeah, I don't know. I'm feeling um
uh bleaker about the hope for change that I have
for a while. And I guess because we're kind of
we're going through you know, last year we had the
big uprising, and now that Biden's in charge, we're watching

(16:15):
him kind of his his administration and the FEDS under
him slowly and kind of methodically, uh take it apart
um and penalize people. They've just started doing, you know,
some nasty federal arrests of people in uh in Portland,
of of activists, and like today, while people were waiting

(16:35):
for those folks to get out of the jail, the
cops just went and rated both jailed support in a
nearby homeless encampment. It's just all yeah, it's and it's this,
you know, Biden's going to continue to give them more money.
These things that everyone recognized, these agencies that were problematic,
um and had too much power, and everyone kind of
was able to see it when Trump was in office.

(16:55):
Now that Biden's in office, they're just going to be
given more money. Oh for sure. I mean, I mean
that's what he promise was when this was happening and
he was still running. Yeah, I mean that's what happened
with the Capitol Police. Yeah, it's and you see a
lot of that. Um there's like a bit of an
uptick in crime over the last year. Um, I wonder why,

(17:20):
and um it's being framed as this like big sort
of like oh my god. With the crime is up.
See defunding the police didn't work as if like that
as if we've done that, um, And but it's not
just crime, it's like murder rates, finlent crime, Yeah happened
as well. It's increased just as much, if not more,

(17:40):
in areas that increased police funding exactly, which was more
common than cutting it last year. But it's just a
really quick way to point to now is not the
time to be having these conversations. But it's backwards and
there's a huge there's a huge dip in uh like
towards the end of the nineties, um, because there was

(18:01):
a huge like crime was like very very very very
high in the nineties. Yeah, and there's a huge dip
um and this little uptick that we're seeing is being
framed as this uh like terrible is terrible, like scary
scary thing. If you go back twenty years instead of ten,
it's not so bad. And yeah, so you can just

(18:24):
see like, Okay, this didn't work. This in the work,
so we need to like give them more money and
we're gonna do better training. That'll do it. As if
you don't see as if the case we'll talk about
later today where they say no, they did their training
and it was good. It was good, and actually, spoilers,
it was bad. The training was back. Um, I guess

(18:47):
we'll talk about I mean I can there's this might
be the case you were talking about, but it was
the cop in Minneapolis who shot the guy. She had
just received additional training on how to use her taser
like weeks before. She was really yeah I remember, I
remember that case. But she was the head of the
union and like a twenties year veteran and stuff like.

(19:09):
This is the most now, it's not the most recently.
It happened a month or two ago. Yeah, Wow, she
had just received training. Yeah, it was like four or
five weeks before. She had just gotten more training and
how to fucking taste people. And she's still accidentally pulled
a gun and killed somebody. The job did it because
the training isn't the problem. The problem is that it's

(19:31):
a job that rewards you for being a violent psychopath.
So violent psychopaths love to do it, and the training
just gives them excuses to say, well, I was just
doing what I was trained to do when they murder people.
Um hm, anyway, I don't. I mean, yeah, this that
wasn't what I was talking about. But it's a good
example of it, and multiple examples. Another good example of

(19:55):
why it's a problem that I wasn't thinking of the
same thing. Yeah, happened into Coma, Washington. Yeah. Manuel Ellis
was killed by police on March three, and the officers
have been charged. The three officers officers involved. So that's
a thing. See how that turns out. Um, But it's

(20:17):
very I'm I'm hoping there's more helping. There's more video
of it, because according to witnesses and like other there
are various videos involved a doorbell, camera and bystanders and things.
Before reading this, I just want to say, this is
a pretty upsetting graphic description of the events. So if
you're sensitive to that, skip a minute or so ahead.

(20:41):
But he was having allegedly a polite, a calm conversation
with cops. He was at a seven eleven and went
up to their car and it seemed fine. Uh. He
walked away, and then the cops opened the door and
just started just taking him down. According to witnesses, his
officer Burbank swung open the passenger door, hitting Mr. Ellis

(21:02):
from behind and knocking him to his knees. Officer Burbank
then got on top of Mr Ellis. Prosecutors said, by
standard videos, a doorbell camera with audio and video and
dispatch radio traffic captured what happened. Next, Officer Burbank wrapped
his arms around Mr Ellis, lifted him into the air,
and drove him down onto the pavement, hitting him with
one of his fists. Prosecutors say. Officer Collins then moved

(21:23):
toward Mr Ellis and brought his weight down on him.
With Mr Ellis underneath him, Officer Collins, at two and
fifteen pounds, SWAT team member and Army veteran trained in
martial arts, began hitting Mr Ellis's head with his fists.
Officers officers Colin can excuse me sorry, slowing down. Officer
Collins can be seen on one video hitting Mr Ellis's
head four times as Mr Ellis screamed hey stop. One

(21:45):
bystanders screamed, oh my God, stop hitting him, Stop hitting him,
just arrest him. Officer Collins then wrapped his arm around
the front of Mr Ellis's neck and locked his hands
together while squeezing, applying a lateral vascularttle neck restraint. Mr
Ellis was not fighting back, prosecutors said. Three witness has
said they never saw Mr Ellis hit the officers. He
wasn't even defending himself. One said, um Officer Burbank fired

(22:07):
a taser Mr. Ellis as Officer Collins continue to squeeze
his neck. Hey, y'all in the wrong right now. Another
witness said, after Mr Ellis was jolted for five seconds,
Officer Collins released his grip on Mr. Ellis's neck and
Mr Ellis's head fell limply toward the pavement. Officer Collins
then pushed his arm onto the back of Mr Ellis's
head or neck, pressing his face into the pavement. As

(22:28):
Mr Ellis began to scream and wride, the officers held
his arms back behind his back, held his arms behind
his back, and pressed down on his body. According to
a recording captured by a Vivint doorbell camera on a
house across the street, Mr Ellis said clearly can't breathe, sir,
can't breathe. Less than fifteen seconds later, he can again
be heard pleading with the officers, saying either breathe, sir,

(22:50):
or please sir. Officer Rankin later recalled. According to prosecutors,
hearing Mr Ellis say in a very calm, normal voice
that he could not breathe, and responding that if you're
talking to me, you can breathe just fine. Have heard
that many times before. An officer put up spithood on Mr.
Ellis's head while he was hog tied on his stomach
and while Officer Rankin was applying pressure to his back.

(23:13):
The brand of spithood includes instructions that a specifically state
that it should not be used on anyone having difficulty breathing.
Prosecutors said Mr Ellis remained under Officer rank In hog
time and face down for six to nine minutes until
the fire department arrived. Mr Ellis's last known words were
the same ones he had repeated throughout the attack, can't breathe.

(23:33):
He's declared dead scene. UM So that's the description of
what happened from prosecutors and various witnesses and um video.
And I'm gonna follow this up by reading this statement
from the police union, the Coma Police Union, we are
disappointed that facts were ignored in favor of what appears

(23:56):
to be a politically motivated witch hunt. We look forward
to try an unbiased jury will find that the officers
broke no laws and in fact acted in accordance with
the law, their training, and Tacoma Police Department policies. An
unbiased jury will not allow these fine public servants to
be sacrificed at the altar of public sentiment. Um. So,
classic statement from a police union. Maybe if that is

(24:18):
the training, it's bad training. Maybe it's bad um um
yeah so um, I don't know if that's send the news, Katie.
Welcome back, Welcome back, Katie, Welcome back Katie. A Sitcomcome
Nick at Night, Three friends sit down and read graphic

(24:41):
reports of police murders. I gotta say I did feel
a little bit. I could feel my chest constricting, and
by like, Okay, this is ventured into the dark territory again. Yeah,
I'm sorry. Again the news. That's what we do here.
But first we're going to take a little break. Yeah,
be good. Became a product or three to clear your

(25:03):
soul together everything we're back. Oh my god, you know
I was feeling pretty black pilled before those ads. Um.

(25:24):
Sometimes all we need in a horrible world is to
be reminded that products and services exist. Now, which one
is so? Red pill? Black pill? Are they? One is one?
An antitote to the other just when you realize there's
there's no hope. Um, oh, that's the hospice pill. Yeah,

(25:44):
that's the hospital. That's like emotional hospice. Dark jokes like that.
But it's my mental state. It's how you deal with it.
Bring it back cool. What else do we've got? Um,
I don't know. Katie H. Cody and I got to
talk about aliens for a while. I know I haven't

(26:05):
enjoy that yet. I should have listened to it on
my drive home. I've never listened to a podcast I
wanted to. I was actually pretty jealous, I rightfully about
out last week whenever it was. And then I found
out you were talking about aliens, and I was like,
damn it, you're going to say about aliens? What's your ALIENA?

(26:26):
Are you? I'm very pro aliens? Really, Okay, okay Trader?
Yeah one take me away, take me away from here alien? Yeah. Um,
I'm just very curious. And I saw peripherally some story

(26:47):
online that I didn't have the bandwidth to dig into
about you know, people Navy or Air Force whomever saying like, yeah,
we've been seeing all these signings for years, like and
I was like what is this, Um, would you guys
come up with Are they there? Um? Yes, but not maybe,
but what people are talking about now is nonsense probably,

(27:11):
so yeah, yeah, they're out there. They're under there, under
the in the oceans of You're open for us to discover.
Listen to um, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on audiobook
on the way out and back it that's a good
thing to listen to while thinking about death. Sure, yeah,
pretty pretty good. I mean there's lots of things I'm like, well,

(27:33):
this is very clearly written by a white man with
a certain ideology of the world. There's not a lot
of the jokes are fun. But you're like, there may
be more surfaces than I remember it being a you know,
I kind of remember it being a bit more more,
a little more biting, a little more. Yeah, but it
was later in this series, like Restaurant at the End

(27:56):
of the Universe is probably the best I need to
go to the next one. Yeah, Um, but I did
love uh that there's a character vit vooda judge or something,
and he's like a little dorky guy that I laughed.
Douglas Adams desperately tried to warn us like it was
right there. I mean, he talks about this a lot.

(28:18):
How once he was backpacking and looked up at the
stars and then had a series of seizures and visions
of a rat faced man running transportation and there was
and that's how came in. And that's exactly right, that's
exactly right he tried to warn us. So you guys
don't have to catch me up on your alien episode,

(28:39):
but I will go back and listen to it this week.
You know who else tried to warn us about? Pete
Bouddha Jedge. I believe it was the Book of Ezekiel.
Uh when when when he wrote, uh, that thing about
four horsemen coming in and and and and Hell riding
with them? You know from Tombstone. It's in Tombstone to
that part that that's about Pete Buddha judge to Hell

(29:01):
rides with him was about a guy, this, this guy
that uh obsessed with knowing where all the ballpoint pens go.
That's that sounds like our rat boy? Who else put
rat boy? Oh? Man? You know what I was doing

(29:22):
recently to try to deal with everything, I just started
like watching old YouTube videos of what was his name
played Lionel Huts. Uh Phil Hartman. I just started watching
Phil Hartman's skits from the nineties. Oh Man, real soothing,
real soothing. That brought me like an hour of complete happiness.

(29:46):
That's skit where he's he's he's Bill Clinton at the
McDonald's and he's just stealing talking about warlords and that's
so good. He's really good. They were gonna they were
working on were developing a live action uh trum McLure movie.
What an amazing thing that would have been something. Yeah,

(30:09):
didn't he die violently? Yeah, his wife murdered him. It's
we don't need to go that. I'm sorry, I just
keep breaking. One of the one of the best skits
in SNL history was one he did with Chris Farley
where Chris Farley's a motivational speaker and yeah about living
in a van down by the river and it's a
perfect show. Really Yeah, yeah, I didn't know it was

(30:31):
written by Bob Odenkirk. It definitely feels like Bob wrote
it in either Groundlings or A Second City. I for
you which one, And he wrote it and he was like, well,
I can't do this. This is for Chris. You gave
it to Chris, Yeah, and it's yeah, it's a perfect
skit as long as you don't think too much about
what happened to both of the actors in it. Very
soon after felt yeah, yeah, yeah, if only Chris Farley

(30:55):
was still living in a van down by the river.
By the river, you know what's some good news though,
something surely right, maybe trying to trying to dig us
out of this trying there's yeah, there's some yeah, well okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay,

(31:19):
good news to us. So the um so vaccination rates
are ticking up among kids. Kids are getting vaccinated. Good
for them. That's a large part of why they're taking upward. Um.
I think another part of it is because states are

(31:41):
offering money to people. And one thing actually that that
is I think encouraging is that um uh. There was
a bit of an uptick after the CDC basically said like, yeah,
you don't have to wear a mask if you've been vaccinated, Like, yes,
that's the point of the point of being based in
is it, Like it's safer now. Um. I think making

(32:03):
that very clear to people, um made people more willing
to go out and like, okay, well, if it can
get back to normal, then I'll go get the vaccine. Um.
So that's good, although just I'm gonna pep, just pepper.
In a little darker point is that um, something like
forty of people are hesitant to get the vaccine because

(32:23):
they're worried that they can't get a day off if
they have side effects, which is ridiculous. Um that we that,
like that's the situation. Also a lot of people are worried,
um that it's actually costs something even though it is free. UM.
And so I don't know, it's it's I keep reading
like little bits uh like that. I'm like, we're never

(32:45):
gonna learn anything from this pandemic. It is highlighting so
many things and we're just going to let the lessons
wash over us, Yeah, instead of doing anything about it. Um. Yeah,
I think that's interesting because uh and Sylvie had mentioned this.
Maybe we talk about post vaccination life and have a

(33:06):
conversation because it's it's been tricky and weird. Like I
was worried. I I I drove to Flagstaff the day
that I was fully vaccinated, um, and it was a
strange culture shock for me. Not that people don't wear
masks because they do, but it's much more like whatever. Um,
you know, inside people mostly wear masks, but it's not

(33:29):
really But I very quickly lost my need to have
it with me um, and I felt very guilty whenever
I found myself like oh ship, oh ship, and then
I'd have to remind myself, Wit, you're vaccinated, you're vaccinated.
Your vaccinated, you're vaccinated. It's okay, um, and it's but
it is weird. It It does feel like, um, continuing

(33:54):
to wear your masks shows is a little bit disheartened.
It could be disheartening for people like, well, what's the
point if it's still going to be the same. But
it is tricky and I think that people have a
lot of reactions and things that come up at this
point in letting go of this behavior. UM. And I
don't know. I I am curious. I just got back

(34:15):
last night. I was very curious of what it's going
to be like now that I'm in l A. Um. Well,
l A. L A's mask mandate ends the fifteenth, I believe,
and like, so we still have a mask mandate right now.
I still have a mask mandate. I'll come back to
l A when that ends. I'm no longer in l
A proper, So it's hard to sort of gauge like

(34:36):
like going out, Oh yeah, Pasadena, cat doesn't count as
l A area. No, it absolutely does not. Know, I
just assume that a order like that would reach. But yeah,
we have like stores that I've come out ahead of
time being like, yes, we're not going to require it,
Yes we are, We're still going to require it. Um.

(34:57):
I know that there's been a lot of things with
like it companies asking employees to like show their vaccine
card and if they don't, then they still have to
wear a mask, which is a very slippery slope. I feel, well,
at least they aren't saying you can't work here. No,
but um, but it is a slippery slope. You're right. Um,

(35:20):
it's hard and frustrating to communicate with people who um
and to how to how to approach this delicate issue. Yeah,
that it that it's a delicate issue is frustrating because
it's really minor thing to ask. It's not a big
deal in the sense that it was necessary. Right, you
can make an argument that like I think there were

(35:41):
I think all of the rules mandating outdoor mask wearing.
We're fucking outrageous and stupid from the beginning because and
the science has backed up that, Like, no, that was
never necessary, It never helped. Um. Maybe if you're talking
about like a concert ship, but people don't fucking jogging outside,
that's just stupid, dense and it and it feeds the

(36:02):
fucking bullsh It feeds people being like this is an
unreasonable burden and ship it just sucksum. But that's setting
down the beaches, Shutting down beaches like all the things
that are actually most healthy for people to do, UM like,
which is you know, be be outside and not going
to a goddamn bar or something anyway, socialized outside and

(36:24):
where Yeah, I do understand that at the beginning we
did not know everything, but we had a pretty good idea,
and those beaches in different outdoor closures, parks, trails stayed
that way for a long time, much longer than needed.
It's one thing to like, you know, assess the situation.
But anyway, you guys get it. It's been frustrating, it's

(36:49):
been hard, and it does feel the division. It does
feel the animosity and the mis miscommunication and the lack
of clarity that people have about it. Yeah, I just
hate it. Um, I've seen a lot of discourse about
you know, if companies are requiring medical history about this,
that it might lead to like seeing people being like, well,

(37:09):
what other medal history of mine? Am I going to
have to show my employer? So I've seen a lot
of discourse about that with people being unsure, and there's
there's valid questions to ask about some of that stuff.
About the idea of like a vaccine passport to go
to basic places and ship um other countries, It's like, well,
we do that already, but like yeah, if it's like

(37:31):
if you can't go to McDonald's without having well, I
guess we're not going to be seeing that, though if
we were, we would be seeing it already. Other kinds
are Israel I know. It's also like a lot of
these a lot of these companies are not requiring it
of their customers, but they are requiring it of their employees.
And so if we're going on the honor system for

(37:53):
for uh people we haven't vetted and hired, etcetera, etcetera,
but we're requiring it of people that we know that
I don't know, Um, mind you I am vaccinated. I
just like I just showing like what I've seen amazing
headline from the A V Club over the weekend. I

(38:15):
believe fully vaccinated people and also just liars can now
go mask free at theaters. Yes, well, this was a
frustrating thing and flag stuff. UM. When Cathy was still
in the hospital, they had strict rules about visitation, but
we could go in. Um. I couldn't leave her room

(38:36):
and re enter it. Uh, but you could go in.
But then they said like only one or two visitors
a day, but not at the same time. UM. Although
at first it was fine we could go, three of
us would go in and visit, and then on five
days later they changed it so only one at a
time and you have to check in and get permission

(38:58):
to go up. But they never once asked if you're vaccinated.
There was no no asking or checking. It didn't matter
if you were vaccinated or not. UM. And I thought
that was interesting to have these strict rules that were
very difficult because when someone's at this the stage in
their life they had deteriorate much quicker. You don't have

(39:21):
um people around that they love and can talk to,
and so it's frustrating and I feel for them. I
guess there's also a situation of like how can what
can they do? But it just was wild that the
COVID rules did not include being vaccinated in the hospital. Yeah,
I mean, my grandma'sn't necessarily living and like they do
the temperature check, they do that, have you travel, you

(39:43):
have to wash your hands when you get there and where,
but it's never vaccine questions than what the hospital did. Yeah,
and I mean she this is in California, but like, yeah,
there's there's no have you been vaccinated? Question? Right? So
I like, like I feel like we don't per per usual.
America doesn't know what the funk we're doing, and uh,

(40:07):
running on the honors system in America, it's so terrify. Yeah,
but again, yeah, honor isn't our strong suit in this
Correctionate you're vaccinated and so go out and live your life. Yeah,
go out, you live your life. Spit on everyone, every
single person you encounter. Just start hawking Luby's, because that's

(40:27):
how you show love. It says like, if you've been
vaccinated and you've become in contact with someone who is
literally positive for COVID nineteen, then you can still go
and interact with unvaccinated people. It just became a mantra
for me this past month. Yeah, it's very vaccinated. It's okay,
you're vaccinated. It's okay. Everybody Lick everybody, everybody, look everybody.

(40:51):
Uh court new Kaiser pol suggests US could reach seventy
vaccination by this summer. So seventy of us go lick
everybody else. It's fine, And I guess the rest of
you go for it too, because you weren't going to
get vaccinated anyway. There are some people still waiting, um
to see how it affects people. There are a sizeable

(41:13):
amount of people which you know, funk, I get it,
who are nervous about COVID because I've interacted with a
few at this point who are nervous about COVID and
take it very seriously. Are also nervous about a vaccine
that has been rushed and UM want to take I

(41:35):
will say it's technically, like we talked about how it's
like a rushed like experimental thing is it's not really
rushed so much as a lot of the things that
they do with a vaccine to develop it is done
in a linear fashion as opposed to doing all sort
of at once. Well, and the m r N a

(41:55):
technology has been worked on and has been around for
like ten years. I've been leave Yes, um Cove was it.
Maybe he was the one that spoke to us about that,
but so But to me, that's the kind of misinformation
that's getting in the way of some stuff. So when
I've encountered people, I say, like, I totally understand where
you're coming from. That's a reasonable thing to be afraid of.

(42:16):
But I did you know that it's actually hasn't happened
as quickly as it seems. It felt like that, and
in actuality, this is technology that's been around a long
time and they've been working on it. So maybe Operation
Speed maybe not the best name, not the best branding.
I mean, look, I I didn't want anything that was
too rushed and not proven, But I feel confident in

(42:38):
it now of course. Well, I mean I've taken way
too many things literally called research chemicals because they're psychedelic
drugs that have were just tested on whoever wanted to
get high to complain about an untested vaccine, Like fuck it,
I'll shoot anything into my veins. Who gives a fuck
my magic blood. I once licked black tar off a
guy's fingers at a bar in rural India, Like, I

(43:00):
don't give a ship put it in my body. Let
me be the guinnea pig. I'll try whatever. But anyway,
I just mentioned that to say that, like people who
aren't getting vaccinated and aren't all just saying no, I
don't ever want to get vaccinated and I don't believe
in the virus there are there. There has been messaging problems,
there has been miscommunication, There has been a lack of

(43:22):
consensus this whole time, and so it makes sense that
some people are hesitant, and um, shaming people isn't necessarily
the right way to change that. But I think incentivizing
My brother got vaccinated because his com I mean he
would have eventually, but he signed up quick because his
company gave him five hundred bucks. Yeah. People, yeah, yeah,

(43:43):
they're definitely. Yeah, They're like there are concerns out there.
They're like, yeah, that's understandable, even like the economic concerns
all these sort of things. Um, but there's also like
maybe the microchip in your blood is a silly concern. Um. Yeah,
And I think I think I think any sort of
sort of your point, K. I think a lot of

(44:04):
people with various concerns are all lumped in with Bill
Gates is trying to track your blood, um, which he is,
which obviously is. But he's sex thing. It's not a
control thing, it's a sex thing. Yeah, it's just for
his Again with that, I've said that, it's like, no,
I don't believe that, but yeah, I guess our common

(44:25):
ground is that I hate Bill Gates and he doesn't
care about saving people. He cares about making money. So no,
don't trust him. But not because he's gonna put chips
in your blood. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, it's a it's time,
it's time for an adver, time for a break together everything.

(44:53):
We're back and we're celebrating the fact that we're already
at fifty minutes, which means our work for today A
is nearly done. Um. What a hard from a commercial
break just to say that. But well, we're doing We're
doing it. We've done it, we're doing it. Thank you, Cody,
Thank you for finally adding an air horn to this podcast,

(45:15):
the thing we really needed. Um. So, there was a
series of developments are climate change that has been mainly
celebrated by kind of liberals in in in kind of
center left media as a yeah, we we did it.
It's over. Everything's the rains are coming back. UM. No,

(45:36):
it's been described like the CNBC article. I'm looking at
the descript as a crushing day for big oil UM
and it was a series of different defeats for oil
companies UM in terms of like one of them was
it was fucking UM UM xx on. There's a group
of kind of activist investors which have a point zero

(45:56):
two percent steak and x on who organized, like I guess,
a little insurgency within the company that unseated two board
members UM and this activist investment firm wants to force
the company to speed up plans to pivot away from
fossil fuels UM. It's one of those things where I
guess it's not a bad sign. It also is real
hard to say whether or not it's gonna matter at all,

(46:20):
because the CEO was like, well, I welcome the new
directors and I want to help them understand. Yeah, I
think that that that I don't know that I think
it can matter at all, not at that small percentage.
I think ultimately I just don't know if it can
possibly matter. It might not, but I like the yeah,

(46:41):
I like that tactic as it might also just end
with the company being because the CEO, Darren Woods, was like,
I welcome the new directors and I'm looking forward to
helping them understand our plans and hear their insights and perspectives,
which I I take means they're just going to find
new ways to make it seem like they're not killing
the planet without actually changing any of their jo I
look forward to helping them understand or however that phrasing was,

(47:07):
it's like, oh, I look forward to educating them as
to why we're not going to listen, but they're trying to.
This firm has talked a good game, and they talked
particularly about decreasing the emissions now not in the future,
which is, you know, kind of what everyone's been saying.
It is like, well, we're gonna we're gonna get emissions
down by or whatever, and these guys are like, it

(47:27):
needs to be faster than that. So it's not it's
not a bad sign that that happened at x ON.
I just don't know if it's actually going to matter. Um.
The other big decision was a Dutch court ruled that
Shell had to reduce its carbon emissions by from the
two nineteen levels. UM. They had offered to reduce their

(47:50):
emissions by so that's a significant increase UM. The court
ruling also said that Shell is responsible for not just
its own carbon emissions but those of its supply byers.
UM and this is probably the first time in history
that a company has been legally obligated to um like
follow the Paris Agreement, basically to put its policies in

(48:11):
line with the Paris Agreement. Shell called the court decision disappointing,
which is kind of heartening to me because I like
it more when they're they're they're vocally unhappy with it.
UM And yeah, it's been it's you know, it's kind
of hard to say again whether or not this will matter.
So UM there's been one guy, Tom Cummins, who's a

(48:33):
dispute resolution partner at a law firm called Amherst, said
that he thought this would have a broader impact on
the oil and gas industry. He said, quote, this is
arguably the most significant climate change related judgment yet, which
emphasizes that companies and not just governments, maybe the target
of strategic litigation which seeks to drive changes in behavior. UM.
That said other folks have been significantly more I don't know,

(48:57):
black pilled about this. Um. There's one guy I thought
was particularly uh. I don't know. I kind of line
up with this view, which is like, well, they're going
to appeal this. Uh. And it's this high court ruling
in a single European country isn't going to actually change
how this massive international oil company does things. Um. It

(49:17):
has negligible chances to survive appeals. It's is mostly symbolic
and it's not going to do anything. UM. I don't know.
I'm certainly hopeful that big that that it does something, UM,
but I don't know if it will uh. And no
one really does yet. But yeah, we'll see anecdotally if

(49:37):
this is a positive. I agree, none of this sounds
like uh will ultimately move the needle. Big corporations at
the end of the daycare about their bottom line. But
bring it back to FLAGSTAF guys again. Talking people, I

(49:58):
was surprised at how universe soul talking to people with
different backgrounds. Universally, it was an agreement that climate change
is a problem, So you know, that's outside of it's
hard to note that that it really isn't like and
and a concern and people. So to me, I was like, like,
that's something that's not polarizing right now, Um, at least

(50:21):
to this community that I was in. And I was
a little heartened by that. Um, like this is okay,
we can agree. And there was a consensus of big
corporations being a problem that is preventing us from making
significant changes. So I don't know if that is at
all a positive spin, but to me that made me
feel good that at least there's some common ground there. Yeah,

(50:44):
it's not that that changes things as a situation currently,
but perhaps as we move forward in our lifetimes we
will see necessary step. It's a necessary step, yeah, um
required and again anecdotal. It's not like I'm speaking for
the whole country. It's just people. Yeah. People are slowly
coming around. I think there's still datas to support that. Yeah. Also,

(51:05):
I mean the Replican Party is for you know, so
long denied it being a thing at all. Yeah, and
now they're of the mind of like, well it's real,
and like maybe we won't do anything about it. We
just shouldn't take any action whatsoever. There's things you can
do for the economy. I mean, it's it's good to
it doesn't matter. You would think that it could be

(51:25):
in line with Republican talking points if they just change
their fucking mind. Yeah, this is kind of a mixed
more of a mixed thing. So back in January, the
Supreme Court agreed to hear ruling or agreed to hear
arguments about UM a case where the City of Baltimore
is basically suing a number of energy companies seeking monetary
damages from them due to cost caust by a global
climate change UM. And the question was whether or not

(51:48):
this could be seen in federal court, and it was.
It was thankfully a narrow like decision like it wasn't
they were looking for a narrow ruling, So they weren't
deciding whether or not cities could sue oil and gas
company these over the consequences of climate change. But they
were deciding whether or not that should be seen in
federal court or in state court. UM. And the Supreme

(52:10):
Court ruled UH in favor of the oil companies. UM.
It's kind of like a technical legal issue. UM. Now
this has still not been UM. This has still not
been kind of like completely litigated. UM. And interestingly enough,
Samuel Alito had to refuse himself. It was a seven
to one, not eight to one, because he owned stock

(52:31):
and two of the oil companies involved in the litigation. Um. Yeah,
and you know, uh uh oh sorry. The the the
nature of the case was that the city government wanted
to be heard in state court because it was more
amenable to them. The energy companies wanted to have it
heard in federal court. Um. And it was a question

(52:53):
about like whether because the gas emissions crossed state and
international lines. And yeah, Supreme Court ruled in favor of
these companies in this technical legal issue. Sorry, we're struggling
to figure things out as this is going on. Um.
But yeah, so that's not ideal, uh, but I don't

(53:14):
know something, it's it's just what whatever is going to happen,
Like this is going to keep getting Like now they
have to litigate and in federal court, which is less
amenable to the cities than a state court would be. Um.
But it doesn't mean that like ultimately they're not going
to be able to uh get damages from these companies

(53:36):
over climate change. And I think it kind of I
think it's probably gonna wind up mattering how bad. Like
I think once we have some more horrific climate disasters. UM,
it will become more common to see these these companies.
I I kind of suspect, um, eventually they're going to
lose that case. UM, not that case, but eventually they're

(53:59):
going to lose that kind of cultural battle. UM, kind
of like cigarette companies did. Now cigarette companies are still
doing fine. UM. So I don't think it matters all
that much. But uh, I don't know something. Yeah, yeah,
so apparently yeah, I don't know. I A. I've been

(54:19):
kind of digging into different chunks of the climate fight, um,
because there's just so much going on right now. And
Oregon we have down in southern Oregon and the Klamath
which is um a farming area. UM, since farmers have
been getting water from these um the state watershed or

(54:39):
from this from this river like diverted since nineteen o six.
But the because there's a huge droute. You know, the
whole West is in the worst drought in history. UM.
They they're not the states said you're not getting water
this year. UM. And it's largely because the indigenous tribes
in the region have specific rights that they've argued with
the date um to keep water levels at a certain level.

(55:02):
To keep this population of salmon that's important to them alive.
And the farmers have been illegally siphoning water uh and
now they're getting in trouble um and so they've want
some group of them have bought some land that that
abuts the the the basically abuts like where the water
irrigation stuff starts, um that they can like basically cut

(55:25):
a fence to gain access and turned back on the
water flow. And the Bundy's are showing up and they're
talking about like doing violence and picking up guns and
fighting to be able to water their crops until the
water completely runs out and then they're fucked anyway. UM.
And it's it's you know, it's just kind of the
first salvo and what are going to be a series

(55:45):
of escalating water wars kind of undoubtedly UM. And that
ship is happening like another big aspect of it. We're
seeing this in um in Brazil right now. Right the
most of the protest against Bolson yard or over his
kind of response to COVID nineteen. But probably the worst
thing he's done has been his commitment to increasing logging

(56:07):
in the Amazon um because if you look at what
he's promised to open up to logging. The amount of
carbon released into the atmosphere from from what Bolson Yaro
has promised to open up and is continuing to try
to open up in the Amazon, um would exceed on
an annual basis the amount of carbon generated by the
United States and China put together. UM. Like it's a

(56:29):
it's a massive um increase in emissions because of how
much carbon the Amazon basically like locks into the earth
that stops from going into the atmosphere. Yeah, that's so
a huge thing that we don't pay enough attention to
just raging. But and there's a there's a number of
fights going on all throughout South like South America. Latin

(56:51):
America is going to be one of the major battle
grounds um because there's in in Chile and Brazil, UM,
and I think Columbia is well. There are like indigenous
militias that have been fighting loggers and some of these
loggers are are technically legal. A lot of them are
illegal because they're logging in indigenous lands where but there's

(57:11):
you know, this has been there. There have already been
people killed, UM and people fighting like with weaponry over
whether or not they can log chunks of the Amazon,
and that's going to increase to like we're just kind
of at the early ramping up level of what I
think is going to be a pretty significant amount of violence. Uh.

(57:33):
And again, there's already been fighting over water in a
number of parts of the world. It's just going to
get more common. And it's to an extent when I
keep when I I've spent less time, which is why
I kind of fumbled on it looking about like the
legal challenges in the United States to these companies, because
in some ways that's like, um, that's like trying to

(57:55):
treat lung cancer by taking cough drops. Um. Because it's
like the the actual problems and most of the impact
of them is occurring overseas, Like the US has only
now started to really when when the fires hit bad
and when some of the storms git bad, that's when
most people have started to notice there's a problem, as
opposed to places overseas that have been, you know, because

(58:19):
they have less resources because they're less insulated from changes
in climate, have been increasingly Like that's part of a
big part of why we're seeing such an increase in
undocumented immigrations. When we talk about immigration, we fail to
talk about consistently the myriad of different things that are
fueling it, and how that if we really want to

(58:42):
help people to survive, we have to address these fundamental needs. Yeah,
and and the fighting. I don't know. I the longer
I think about it, the more I am on this
id that like, like, I'm not against the court cases

(59:04):
against these fossil fuel companies. I'm not against you know,
these activist investors trying to change things. I'm certainly um
not going to to tell them not to do that.
Are not going to say that's pointless. But from where
I'm standing, I think the most important parts of the
fight are going to happen on the ground between human beings.

(59:25):
And uh, I just don't I just don't see any
way around that at this point. I don't know. That's
kind of what I'm planning to spend my summer looking into.
So I guess we'll see if my opinions on it
change once I've uh dug in a little bit more. Um.
But I'm reading a real good book right now called
Our Uninhabitable Earth. Um that is, you know, from a

(59:47):
guy who's not at all the climate activist, who admits
at the start that like, if human beings weren't going
to be affected so much. He wouldn't really care that
much about natural habitats being damaged. Um. But and so
thus a very uh, not activist and not alarmist. Look
at what's going to be happening, And of course it's

(01:00:07):
it's terrifying because the actual just basic. If you're like it,
it's it's it's if you look at the information, the
fact it's not good. Um, you're looking at it reasonably. Yeah,
And I'm thinking I'm going to try and get the
book in the hands of some of my um, some
of my family members who are are you know have admitted, well, yeah,

(01:00:28):
of course it's happening. But I think it's you know,
there's not really agreement on how bad it's going to
be and all this stuff. That's Yeah, I think it's
a good because he's not coming at it from a
because he's coming at it from a look I wouldn't
care so much about this if it wasn't going to
impact human society standpoint. I think it might be a
good book to be for. Um, I don't know, Uh,

(01:00:51):
that's all I got for today. Yeah, I think that's
a that's a that's a cast we've potted. You can't
stop it. You wouldn't stop stop the pods, can't stop,
won't stop until next week, can't cast the pods. An
I guess you can stop it because once the episode
is over, you can just hit stop and then it

(01:01:12):
will be over. I mean you, the listener, can stop
it whenever you want. Yeah, yeah, you have the power.
You're right, you have the power. But I don't use
don't use the power. Don't use the don't for the
love of God, don't do it. It's like that TikTok commercial. TikTok, TikTok.
Can you read about a TikTok? Of course? Of course

(01:01:32):
should you know? Of course not. Don't do it. We'll TikTok.
Don't you fucking do it? You know you can end
this episode. I Worst Year Ever is a production of
I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

(01:01:54):
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
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