October 23, 2025 • 48 mins
A historic wing falls under the wrecking ball while the government sits frozen and the real story isn’t the rubble, it’s the missing guardrails. We dig into how a fast-tracked White House East Wing demolition bypassed the usual preservation process and why a proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom could dwarf the White House and reshape what the People’s House symbolizes. From the National Capital Planning Commission to the GSA, we walk through the norms designed to protect public trust - and what it means when those norms get ignored.
We also talk about money and influence. If taxpayers aren’t paying, who is? Corporate sponsorship inside federal space changes the stakes from stewardship to access, and that’s a shift worth questioning. Alongside the outrage are signs of civic health: No Kings protests, peaceful crowds in big cities and small towns, and a shared hunger for hope and accountability. That energy matters when leadership feels stale. We challenge the enablers who look away, the aging power structures that struggle with tech and AI, and the culture that confuses longevity with legitimacy.
Listeners asked how to argue less and understand more. We share our media diet: baseline facts from Reuters and AP, deep dives from subject experts, and a habit of going to primary sources. We outline practical media literacy - verify claims in multiple credible outlets, separate fact from framing, and use tools like Perplexity as a starting point, not a verdict. When conflicts get personal, model clarity, set boundaries, and refuse bait. You can hold love and truth at the same time.
If this conversation gave you something solid to stand on, tap subscribe, share it with a friend who cares about democracy, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. What’s the one norm you think we must rebuild first?
Thank you for stopping by. Please visit our website: All About The Joy and add, like and share. You can also support us by shopping at our STORE - We'd appreciate that greatly. Also, if you want to find us anywhere on social media, please check out the link in bio page.
Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth
DISCLAIMER: As always, please do your own research and understand that the opinions in this podcast and livestream are meant for entertainment purposes only. States and other areas may have different rules and regulations governing certain aspects discussed in this podcast. Nothing in our podcast or livestream is meant to be medical or legal advice. Please use common sense, and when in doubt, ask a professional for advice, assistance, help and guidance.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carmen Lezeth (00:00):
Hey everyone, welcome to All About the Joy.
This is Culture and Consequencewith Carmen and Andrea.
There was this guy on TikTok.
I forget his name, but he'sreally popular.
It doesn't matter, but he'slike, honey, you need to blend.
Like you gotta blend it in.
And he was like showing him.
And then he was like, he hadthe picture next to him.
(00:22):
And he's like, look at look atthis line here.
Blend, honey.
Blend.
So funny.
I was dying.
Andrea (00:30):
Yeah, that that was probably one of the funnier
signs I saw from No Kings waslike, he can't even blend his
own makeup.
That's how incompetent he is.
Carmen Lezeth (00:39):
Even his, and and I know this is fucking petty
shit.
Oh, by the way, um, I've gottenquite a few emails about my
swearing.
And you're swearing.
I know, I know.
I didn't even put those in thelist of questions we're gonna
answer because I'm like, listen,let me just say straight up,
this is gonna be a swearingepisode, even more, because I'm
pissed.
(01:00):
But if you don't know us bynow, we are people who swear.
And I the emails are stupid,like they're just stupid.
You're wasting time, like,whatever.
It doesn't make me feel bad, itempowers me to swear even more,
you fuck tards.
Like, so I'm so over it.
Andrea (01:20):
Anyway, I mean, we we touched on this once before,
too, right?
Like, there's actually studiesthat say people who swear more
are more intelligent.
So I'm just putting that outthere.
Carmen Lezeth (01:30):
Speaking of stupid, um it's just a weird
ism.
Like it's a weird thing to tellsomeone not to do something
that they're just going to endup doing over and over again.
Like, do you not knowpsychology at all?
And if you're curl like you'repearl clutching, is that what
they say?
Pearl, then you shouldn't bewatching this show.
I'm not trying to move peopleaway from the show, but it's a
(01:51):
weird ism to be complainingabout.
You know, you're not being noone's forcing you.
Andrea (01:56):
And this is the way that we talk with each other.
That doesn't mean that we'rewalking around like at the
grocery store in the postoffice, you know.
I am no.
Why am I feeling fucking high,bitch?
Go.
Carmen Lezeth (02:06):
I mean, like, that's not what we're doing.
Look, it I think that's theother part of it too, right?
I'm using it as an exclamationpoint or whatever.
You know what?
I don't need to fucking look.
You know what?
I'll give a fuck.
Andrea (02:18):
It's a way to blow off some steam, it's a way to like
be emphatic about something, andum, we have a lot of steam to
blow off.
We have a lot of things to beemphatic about.
Carmen Lezeth (02:29):
All right, let's get to our topics, whatever.
Like, because that's normallywhat we do when we're on the
phone.
We just Andrea, it's time totalk about our topics.
Andrea (02:40):
These are the four things that I had for us to
discuss today.
I have my research ready to go.
So let's start.
Carmen Lezeth (02:48):
I know.
So I think we're gonna, well,first I should say that we are
23 days into still thegovernment shutdown.
I think that's an importantthing to uh just remind people
in case you do not know.
And we were going to talk aboutthe White House demolition
situation.
And I'll let you go first.
(03:09):
I don't know.
Andrea (03:12):
I really thought about I've been thinking about this
really all week because I knewthat we were gonna talk about
it, and I'm just like, I gotnothing.
Like, what can you fucking say?
This is the craziestmotherfucking shit I have ever
motherfucking seen.
Like, we have established,clearly, thoroughly established
(03:37):
that I am like the leastpatriotic American on the
planet, right?
Never will I do any of thesymbolic shit.
I will never have a flag, weara flag.
I I don't even I don't evenstand up for the what the song
the national anthem.
Yes, I sit.
I'm like, fuck that.
(03:58):
No, I don't salute the flag, Idon't do the pledge of
allegiance.
When I was a teacher, I'm justsaying I didn't have my kids do
the pledge of allegiance.
So anyway, my point was thatsomething required here in LA?
Really?
Yes, it was.
It is, yes, yeah.
Um, I was even my daughter toldme that they had to do it at
school once a week, and I waslike, I'll write you a note,
girl.
Because uh uh, but she waslike, Oh no, it's fine.
Carmen Lezeth (04:21):
People are I just I just want everyone to know
that I don't have the samefeelings.
Andrea (04:26):
She doesn't have the same feeling.
I'm just saying, I amestablishing the fact that I
don't do the symbolic shit.
Right.
Okay, right.
Seeing what is happening at theWhite House has fucking broken
my heart.
Yeah.
I like I'm actually embarrassedabout how upset I am about it.
Carmen Lezeth (04:49):
That's actually awesome.
I love it.
It's good.
Andrea (04:54):
I mean, like, there's the like, how fucking dare you?
Yeah, first of all, of course,it's the East Wing where the
first ladies' offices areestablished primarily by Eleanor
Roosevelt.
So there's all this historythere.
And as you mentioned in thestart, like um, this is all
(05:19):
somehow happening in the midstof a government shutdown.
No, no, no, we we need aballroom though.
We do need a ballroom.
We do need a ballroom.
And I mean, just on the mostbasic level, try adding in some
new like plumbing or an additionto your house and see how
fucking long it takes youanywhere in this country.
(05:41):
Like, I it's just uh I don'treally have articulate words.
I have a lot of swear wordsthat I could throw out, which I
already have, but like I don'teven know.
I don't know, and and and why,why is aren't like the press and
like the the like why aren'tpeople just screaming about
(06:03):
this?
Carmen Lezeth (06:03):
I just don't well I do think people are like I
just turned off the news andthey've been talking about it
like agnosium at this point umbecause our attention span is so
small, but they are you knowbecause now the pictures are
out, right?
The it's it's the because theytried to barricade what was
happening, which is so weird inthis day and age of like, you
know, drones and everythingelse, but they're able to see
(06:26):
the actual destruction andthey're showing live shots of
that happening and thedestruction, the complete
demolition of the East Wing willbe done by Sunday, is uh it
then it's mostly already down.
I mean, I was just watching it,and so I'll I'll say the
opposite part.
Um, and then I'm gonna talk alittle bit about why this
(06:46):
matters in even a bigger way.
Because I because I thinkwhat's more important here, look
at it's a fucking building.
I'm I'm okay.
Like at the end of the day, Idon't give a fuck.
There are people who are stillbeing taken by ice, there are
other things right now to methat are more important, but I I
will say this it is not what ishappening literally that's
(07:08):
bothering me.
It's all the people who arejustifying it and all the people
who keep supporting him, eventhough he is straight up lying
to you again.
And here's the difference.
Look at I went and pulled,because you know me, I went and
pulled all of the times that theWhite House has been redone,
(07:33):
reconstructed, where things havebeen demolished and fixed or
whatever.
I did because I wanted to see,I wanted to understand what the
hoopla was.
There's so many reasons whythis is bad.
And before you start talkingabout Barack Obama changing the
tennis courts to a basketballcourt, that's just
bullshittering.
He did do that, but he did itthrough the actual commission
(07:55):
that and he talked to the arthistorians and he went through
it, takes like a year to evenhave that conversation.
Let me just say one thingthat's really important here.
I I just look, I just want youto see all the notes I took on
this fucking bullshit.
Because I, you know what, likeyou, okay.
So here's here's thedifference.
I am extremely patriotic.
I always have been.
I love my country.
(08:16):
And one of the things we weregoing to talk about later, but
we'll just infuse it here is oneof the things about the No
Kings um protests that happenedon Saturday.
I was lucky to go to two.
There was one here near myapartment where I like, like, I
stepped out of my house.
It was right there.
And then I went um and checkedout another part of Los Angeles,
and that is what makes Americagreat.
(08:37):
That's what we're missing isthe hopefulness, the optimism,
the joyfulness, the happy, thethat is the part that makes
America great.
And I don't care what you thinkabout Barack Obama, but that
moment when he was elected,everybody had that feeling.
Well, except you fucktardsagain, the fuctards.
(09:00):
We're just gonna start callingyou guys the fuctards.
Yeah, but we're missing that'swhat we're missing is that joy
and that happiness.
So it's happening at the WhiteHouse right now, and the reason
why it matters is because hedidn't go through the right
processes.
No, and and this idea that hekeeps telling everyone that we
need, I want you to hear this.
(09:20):
We need a ballroom.
We don't need nobody needs aballroom.
We don't need a ballroom, buthe keeps saying that.
And let me just give you somestats here.
So a football field is 57,600square feet.
Okay, 57,000 square feet.
Let's just leave it there.
The White House itself is55,000 square feet.
(09:45):
The White House itself, okay.
The east wing that he justdemolished is 60,000 square
feet.
Okay, so it's a little bitbigger than the White House.
This ballroom that he's goingto build is 90,000 square feet.
So that's a football field anda half.
(10:07):
It's going to dwarf the actualWhite House.
There is no commission, right?
There is no, what's it called?
It's the National CapitalPlanning Commission, um, the
GSA, which is the governmentservices admission, and usually
the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, whowill turn around and work with
the president to preserve thehistory of the place, to help
(10:31):
come up with the right plans.
He is building thisbullshittery without doing any
of that.
And he keeps saying it's notgoing to cost the taxpayers any
money.
First of all, bullshit.
And secondly, why do we wantcorporate, like if we want a
fucking ballroom, we should payfor it.
But he knows we don't want aballroom.
So instead, all of thesefucking corporate fucking
(10:52):
corporations are going to end uphaving their names slapped all
over the ballroom.
And I'll end with this littlepart.
I hope, because it's not goingto be done for four years.
It might he said they thinkit's going to be done in four
years because whatever, but thisis another little in indication
(11:14):
that he thinks he ain'tmotherfucking leaving that
place.
Yeah, for sure.
But I'ma say when PresidentNewsom or President whoever the
fuck is next, because I thinkthat's where we're going, or the
guy from Chicago, what's theguy's name from Illinois?
Pritzer.
I don't care who it is.
Yeah.
President next in line, who weknow is going to be a white
male.
(11:34):
It's true.
Hopefully, we had a Nazitattoo.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh my god, who had the Nazitattoo?
Well, we don't even have to gothere.
It doesn't matter.
Yeah.
I said the other day, and Iwasn't kidding.
I can't wait for thatmotherfucking ballroom to be
rededicated to Barack Obama.
(11:55):
I just think that would be likethe fucking Michelle Obama.
And they're making it to likeall offices or sciences or
whatever.
Andrea (12:07):
Like I'm just hoping that's what happens.
They just look like uh, youknow, inner city DC schools have
proms there.
Carmen Lezeth (12:14):
Exactly.
Like and make it like just theplace where like community
happens, like and just, youknow, take I mean all the gold
in that office is so disgusting.
Andrea (12:25):
Yeah, he just wants it to be like, you know, like
somebody with golden poop shitall over it.
And that's I know it's soweird.
Carmen Lezeth (12:34):
So yeah, I just um I was shook by the football
field analogy because it didn'tit made more sense to me when I
realized like it's going to alsodwarf the White House
completely and it's going to beugly.
Andrea (12:49):
I mean, you know, speaking of hope, as you said
that's not Gavin's style, theydon't like that.
I can only hope that we neverget to the point where we have
to see all the gold shit andthat it's you know, I mean, I
don't know what you do when it'salready start, you know, like I
I don't know.
I just Well it's demolishedalready, so no no no.
(13:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm hoping that he will be goneone way or another, uh, before
it's finished, before we get tothe you know, gold leaf stage,
and that it's uh not evercompleted.
Carmen Lezeth (13:29):
Right.
Well, some professionals aresaying there's no way, like,
even on the best of schedules,there's no way it would be
completed in four years.
But there'd have to be like nodelays, no issues, and that
rarely happens.
But you know, people arealready suing.
Like, I know I'm I'm shy.
But you know what?
Um I don't mean this in a badway, but it's nice to hear you
say that it did kind of breakyour heart to see it.
Andrea (13:52):
It did, it really did.
And it, I mean, you know,there's sort of the metaphor of
it all, like he's just doesn'tgive a shit going in and
destroying our cultural heritageand everything that kind of the
country is supposed to standfor, all of those kinds of
things, you know what I mean?
There's just a lot of a lot toit, and it's I again just go
(14:13):
back to like what will it take?
Is there anything?
Is there anything this personcan do that will actually get
people to be like, oh shit,that's far.
Carmen Lezeth (14:26):
Well, I mean, it's okay, and that goes into
the next thing I wanted to talkabout.
I didn't put it on the list,but it's kind of like I'm not
even mad at Trump because Trumpis like a child on so many
levels to me.
Like he's, you know, he's like,I want to do this, I want to do
that.
But at some point, people say,No, no, you cannot do that.
I'm more upset with all thesemotherfuckers who are in office
(14:47):
and know better, who are notstopping him at all, at all.
You know, I say this with norespect whatsoever.
Mitch McConnell, who is 83years old, who fell the other
day in the Russell Senatebuilding.
You know, I'm like, this isalso the other part of it.
Mitch McConnell, I blame formost all of the bullshittery we
(15:07):
are in today.
I don't even blame Donald Trumpbecause he was the first person
that when Barack Obama becamepresident was just like, my our
only job is not to let him be bere-elected again.
He had already started thisbullshittery.
You know what I mean?
I'm tired of old people.
I said it, old people, you needto stop thinking you can be in
(15:28):
office forever.
You're 83 years old, you canbarely speak, and you're fucking
bumbling around the goddamn.
I know people mad at me.
I don't care.
I don't have a big constituencyof old people on my show.
Andrea (15:42):
The ego on these people is shocking, really.
Look at there are some things Ican't do anymore.
Carmen Lezeth (15:47):
And I like there are things I cannot do anymore.
I cannot stay up past nine.
I can't do it.
You know what I mean?
Although, in all fairness, weall know I've never been able to
stay up.
I'm like, that's not new,people.
But I really can't.
I like I can't pullall-nighters.
I can't.
There are things I can't do, soyou work around that.
(16:08):
You don't force yourself to doit anyways because you're gonna
make bad decisions.
But it's like Nancy Pelosi, allthese motherfucking people like
enough already.
Move the fuck on.
Yeah, ageism.
We're probably gonna getslapped with some type of
something on YouTube.
Ageism.
Andrea (16:25):
Remember, remember, I know you remember, and this is
really sad, but like rememberseveral years ago, there was an
old guy, apparently reallylovely family man, who drove his
car into the farmer's marketand killed people?
Carmen Lezeth (16:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrea (16:41):
Take the motherfucking keys away, people.
Like, there are things youcannot do anymore.
You need to be at home enjoyingyour grandchildren or watching
Jeopardy or whatever the fuckold people do, be in your
garden, walk your dog.
I don't know.
We're gonna be old soon, too.
But but but look at mychickens, I'm ready to go.
Carmen Lezeth (17:03):
I don't Andrea has chickens for those who don't
know.
That's a whole other story.
We're not talking about it nowbecause I I I'm done with that
shit.
But anyways, but here's mything is like, I think it's
because we demonize gettingolder on every level.
So getting old means X, Y, Z inthis country, and it's like,
oh, you need to get like 15facelifts and look like you're
10 when you're actually 58 orsomething.
(17:25):
You know what I mean?
Like you have to keep lookingas young as possible, as
youthful as possible, becausebeing old sucks.
And I think that's part of theproblem.
Yeah, but we need term limitsor something because I'm I want
I want Gen Z, I wantmillennials, I want young people
in office.
I want young people in office.
Andrea (17:43):
Yeah, this ain't it.
These people are gonna be deadin five years, they're walking
around dead now.
Well, and then it's likethey're making decisions that
affect the lives of people whoare cannot access power because
they are in the way.
Carmen Lezeth (18:01):
Yeah, and they don't know, and I look at I I'm
kidding around about the ageismthing, but I know this is what
this is coming across.
I just think that if you arenot a person who has compassion
and empathy, this is what you dobecause it's all about your
ego, it's all about you.
But these people do not knowthe internet, they don't
understand AI, they don'tunderstand technology, they
(18:24):
don't know what TikTok is, theydon't, and they're just
bullshitting their way through.
And when have we ever been okaywith allowing people to
bullshit their way through?
Uh, don't talk about thiscurrent administration.
I'm just saying, like, inanything that you do, would you
be like, oh yeah, that astronautbullshitted their way through?
Let's just let them do it.
You know what I mean?
(18:44):
But for some reason, in fuckingevery political thing we do in
Congress or whatever, we allowthese people who are clearly not
with it, walking around thehalls of Congress, falling all
over the place, their aidespicking them up, speaking for
them, like you're voting forthem then.
Then you're voting for themthen.
You're not actually beingrepresented.
(19:04):
Your constituencies are notbeing represented by who they
voted for, you know?
And it's like, it's just, I'mso sick of it.
But I think that's also part ofthe problem.
Andrea (19:14):
Absolutely.
Look, I mean, uh, there'senough rage to go around for
sure.
You know, I don't let DonaldTrump off at all.
But yes, there's a lot ofenabling from all kinds of
people who have their ownagendas, right?
They have their own reasons forwanting to be close to power,
trying to get their own foot inthe door so that they can have
their day in the sun.
(19:34):
I mean, all of that kind ofstuff.
Carmen Lezeth (19:36):
Yeah.
Well, whatever.
I'm over it.
All right, let's answer somequestions.
I'm done.
I'm done.
Okay, so I didn't pick any ofthe bad emails that we seem to
keep getting about swearing.
Andrea (19:50):
The swearing thing.
Carmen Lezeth (19:51):
Yeah, that was one.
There was another one that waskind of nasty, but I was it was
more like funny.
I was like, okay.
Uh, she's married, and I'm notinterested, is basically the
answer to that.
I was like, you weird.
Yeah, I'll tell you about it inthe green room.
All right, so these are twoemails we got.
So we'll do the first one andI'll let you in.
Wait, did we finish everythingwe were gonna talk about with
(20:12):
those two things?
Yeah, yeah, okay.
Oh, yeah.
Well, I I think I kind of justsaid it because I kind of just
said it like that was the goodpart for me about No Kings, was
just, and it was kind ofheartwarming.
There were a couple ofinstances here where um some
Trump supporters were trying tostart something, and the police
(20:34):
like they just pulled up on amotorcycle.
No, no, this was the horses,they just came up with the
horses and like just look atthem, and they just turned
around and walked away.
Like, so that was kind of aninteresting thing because it was
really peaceful everywherearound the country and around
the world.
It was a peaceful event, kindof cool.
Andrea (20:53):
Yeah, I mean that that's I I did not attend, I was at a
family birthday party withwhatever.
She does not love our country.
It was lovely.
As I said last time, you haveto find your joy in different
places.
Uh, but I had fun um at mybirthday party.
But um wait, your birthdayparty party.
No, I was like, no, okay, Iknow what was my cousin's
(21:16):
daughter's four-year-old, youknow.
So it was a sweet little kidbirthday party.
Carmen Lezeth (21:21):
And listen, your priorities are your priorities.
I care about our country, so Iam dedicated to the cause.
Okay, you know what's so funny?
You who's you're usually theone out there protesting.
Ah, this is how we know we introuble.
Because when do I protest?
Andrea (21:38):
Never, never.
I'm out there at the iceprotests.
Carmen Lezeth (21:42):
Um, you know, yeah, but I didn't I don't
protest, so you know we you introuble, girl.
Andrea (21:50):
Yeah, we in trouble.
No, but I I just want to saythat it's like, you know, as
someone who didn't participatelive, it was really nice to kind
of come back at the end of theday and look and see number one,
how many people participatedand how many places over seven
million.
I love, love, love seeing likethe small towns where they're
like, you know, we have 300people in this town and 150 were
(22:13):
out there, you know.
Like I love that.
And it does, it just gives youhope.
And I think, you know, a lot ofpeople who say whatever they
say about these protests, Ithink it is important to see
that many people who are like,okay, yes, this is the United
States, this isn't France, wherewe, you know, it's very
concentrated and we can likeshut down the entire capital or
(22:34):
whatever, but we can all comeout and and actually say we're
not all right with this.
And I think it does give a lotof people hope.
Carmen Lezeth (22:42):
And I'm gonna say something else that's gonna
piss off a lot of people becausethat's what I do nowadays.
Culture and consequence, Carmenpissing everyone off.
Um, it was also a sea of whitepeople, and I loved to see it.
And I have to say, especiallybecause I live here and there's
not a huge population of peopleof color, it was beautiful to
(23:02):
see thousands of people.
And I'm like, oh my god, thisis my entire neighborhood.
Like it was just amazing to seethat.
So uh it, yeah, it wasbeautiful, it was very American.
That is what you do as anAmerican when you disagree with
something.
You protest and you let yourvoices be heard.
And anyone who thinks otherwiseis a fascist.
(23:24):
I don't know how else to sayit.
Is that clear?
I think that sums it up well.
I said, I think that sums it upwell.
I think that sums it up well,too.
So, all right, let's get to ourquestions.
Okay, so the first one should Isay the person's name?
No, well, first name.
I I won't say their name.
Okay, this is from somebodyfrom Chicago, and they said, You
(23:45):
talk with a lot of clarity, butI gotta ask, how do you deal
when folks you love just don'tsee things the same way, like
real disagreements, not justdebates, but stuff that hits
deep.
How do you keep the peacewithout losing yourself?
Andrea (24:01):
So I I saw that question and I thought about it for a
little bit.
Like, I don't have anyone in mylife uh who I have those kinds
of strong disagreements with.
I mean, I think that thereprobably are some people in my
extended, extended family who Idon't really have any real
relationship with who areprobably Trump voters.
Carmen Lezeth (24:23):
Um, but I don't okay, but I'm gonna bring up
something.
Sorry, I'm gonna put you out onthis.
But you have people you've hadto work with in different states
who are avid Trump supportersbecause I remember you calling
me and so how did you deal withthat as a professional?
Andrea (24:41):
Maybe we could well, as a professional, there I'm there
to do a job, and I have acertain approach that I take to
that job, and so I I tend tolook at it as like, all right,
if I sort of, you know, infusemy philosophy really and my
approach into this person, maybethat's helpful.
(25:02):
Like I'm I'm not gonna have anykind of political discussion
with anyone at work, it'scertainly not in the context
that I'm working with them, butI I feel like I just try to use
the skills that I have to workwith them and and as I said, to
just use my approach to thingsand explain my reasoning, which
(25:24):
is all a part of my you know ownpersonal philosophy that I live
by and that I, you know, theway that I work.
So that's that's really the waythat I deal with it, is just
almost like modeling, I guess,would be the best way to say it.
Carmen Lezeth (25:39):
I've had experiences with people in my
life.
I have family members who areTrump supporters or were Trump
supporters.
I don't know what they believenow, but um, and I've had so
I'll give you an example whathappened.
I posted something on Facebookyears ago during the first
administration, and a familymember went off on me, and I
blocked them and then had afull-on conversation with them.
(26:03):
And my whole thing is like, Idon't care what you believe, is
my Facebook page.
I didn't call you to have aconversation about it, you know,
I mean, because I know what youbelieve, you know what I mean?
So, um, and we've we'verectified or we've reconciled
since then, and I think you knowwho I'm talking about, but um,
I think it's hard becauseespecially when you love
(26:25):
someone, like you love them, andyou know in your heart of
hearts that there's nothing youcan do to dissuade them.
They have to believe and dowhat they need to do and find
their bumps away, you know,along the way.
You know, it's the same thingwith the Palestinian Israel
thing.
For those of you who don'tknow, I was married to an
Israeli.
So I have a different viewpointbecause of that side of the
(26:47):
family of the Israeli situation.
And then to hear the kind ofhatred or the anger towards
Palestinians for me is reallyhard.
I have compassion and empathyfor the Palestinian people.
I think you can hold more thanone thought at a time.
You know what I mean?
But if you're going to be sovile and so angry and so pissed
(27:11):
off, I don't want to talk to youbecause I I can't relate and I
ain't gonna change your mind.
And it's kind of the same thingwith the Trump thing.
First of all, I'm not gonna askyou your opinion because I
don't want to know your opinion.
If I want to have aconversation with you, I will
reach out.
But I already had an inkling.
You know what I mean?
But if you're gonna confrontme, I will confront your ass.
I've done it at work too.
(27:33):
Like, here's the thing I workwith people who have property
and relatives in Texas.
I tell people this all thetime.
I have conversations withpeople all the time, and I'm
like, here, here is my point ofview.
You can believe what you want,but we're done with this now,
you know.
One of my clients, I think Itold you, was trying to get me
(27:53):
into because he wanted to fight.
And I was like, I'm sorry,what?
Like, I don't like you can tellwhen somebody's just like, I
want your opinion, I want totalk to you about it, or it kind
of slips or something.
Um, or whereas it's somebody'strying to instigate a fight.
And when he was trying toinstigate a fight, I was like,
that's not what you hired me todo.
And then I just close offbecause I got my check because I
(28:15):
get paid a month before myactual work.
I ain't stupid about that shit.
I will walk away.
And that's what I threatenedhim with.
I think I'm veryconfrontational that way.
Um, I think what I hate most,Andrea, is people who say, I
don't do politics.
I don't, well, politics isdoing you, bitch.
Link.
I don't care if you don't dopolitics, it's happening to you.
(28:38):
And and that's exactly whathappened in Nazi Germany.
And I don't give a fuck, youpeople who are like, stop using
Hitler.
It's not Hitler.
Yes, this is how it starts.
This is how it happens.
This is exactly the trajectory.
I had to study in school hisfucking Mein Kampf book, right?
Did you read that too?
Like, you just need to read it,read people, read.
(29:01):
Hitler built the ballroom too,by the way.
Andrea (29:03):
Just saying.
Carmen Lezeth (29:04):
Yes, but they don't, you know what it is?
That's what I'm saying, is likewhen people don't talk, I wish
people would stop talking aboutwhat they don't know.
You don't have to knoweverything about politics.
That's very different.
You don't have to know orwhatever, but then but don't act
as if it's not happening toyou.
And you not wanting to talkabout it or not having an
(29:25):
opinion on it or not having anyoomph to it is not acceptable in
what we're doing today andwhat's happening to it's not.
You may disagree in the entirebut I think it's absolutely not
okay.
Andrea (29:36):
Yeah, I mean, well, like you have an opinion about your
life, right?
Do you have opinions about yourhealthcare costs?
Do you have opinions about yourhow much your food costs?
Do you have opinions about howeasy or difficult it is for you
to vote?
I mean, it all counts.
Like you said, it's do and you.
Carmen Lezeth (29:56):
You know, it is.
I just I I I get annoyed.
I understand that noteveryone's going to be
confrontational like me, and andand I'm not saying anyone has
to be.
I do it because I don't haveanything to fear.
And I'm not saying other peopledo.
I'm like, I'm not askinganybody their opinion about
politics.
Like, I'm not going to go up tosomeone and be like, you know
(30:16):
what?
I was thinking, can we have aconversation about politics?
I've never done that withanybody.
But if you jump in my DMs.
Let's define it.
Poke the bear, right?
I'm just saying, if you jumpand tell me something, I'm going
to come back with facts.
(30:37):
And I think that's the part toothat pisses me off about
people, especially people I knowwho talk too much about
politics and they don't knowwhat the fuck they're talking
about.
There is a difference betweenfacts and opinion.
So let me give you a fact andthen let me show you an opinion.
Okay.
A fact is we breathe in air ashuman beings to live.
(31:02):
That's a fact.
That's a fact.
That's a fact.
It might be your opinion thatwe breathe in hay.
But that's an opinion.
That's not a fact.
I don't know where I'm comingup with hay.
I think I'm thinking of thecattle ranchers who are having a
really hard time after theyvoted for Donald Trump.
That was all over the newstoday, too.
Whatever.
(31:22):
But I know.
So many people will try to say,well, that's your opinion.
No.
Fact.
Fact over here.
I am never spewing an opinionunless I tell you, you know
what?
This is my opinion, girl.
You know?
Yeah.
And I have to say it exactlylike that now.
(31:43):
But I think that's the otherpart of it too.
Andrea (31:47):
Yeah, for sure.
And I think that's from thestart.
We didn't even talk about this,but I think from the start of
this podcast, we both came withour research because we know we
have our opinions, and we'relike, okay, well, if we're gonna
talk about that, I need to makesure that I've got some data
behind it.
Carmen Lezeth (32:06):
Right.
Like I don't have a referencefor fucktards.
I I don't.
Like that's my opinion.
You know what I mean?
Like that's not, I mean, itcould be a fact, but it's not.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, I think that's theother part of it too, is I think
people, and this might be a lotof the Democrats' fault, by the
way.
Everybody should vote.
Everybody has to vote.
No, everyone should learn ofwhat's going on.
(32:28):
Like, I know.
I see, I I would get slimmed bythe Democratic Party, but I
think there's that other part ofit.
Like, everybody should beregistered, and everyone should.
And I think if you're part ofthis, what once was a
magnificent possibility, itbecause it isn't to me anymore,
right?
I hope we can see the kernelsof it through the protests or
whatever, but um, you should beat least basic level
(32:50):
understanding of how it works.
You should know what the Senateis, what the House of
Representatives are.
You should know who the SupremeCourt justices are, at least
what they do.
You should know who representsyou in the House of
Representatives.
You know, you should be able toname the president, the vice
president.
(33:11):
I don't know what I like.
The Secretary of State.
Do you know who the second he'ssuch a fucking idiot?
Sadly I do.
Sadly, I do know who that is.
Right.
I just like you should be ableto have the if you oh, here's a
good one.
I didn't know we were gonna gohere, but I'm on fighting now.
Okay, wait.
You should be able to pass thesame test every immigration
(33:33):
person who comes into thiscountry has to pass to become an
actual citizen.
And I'll tell you right nowthat everyone that you keep
thinking is a quote unquoteillegal status human being in
this country probably knows moreabout politics than you do.
They might know it in Spanish,but they know more about this
(33:55):
country than you do.
Andrea (33:56):
Because they have to in order to navigate it.
100% agree.
Carmen Lezeth (34:03):
All right.
Well, I hope we answered thatquestion, didn't we?
We went a little on topic.
I thought we answered it.
Okay, for Darnell or whatever,from person from Chicago.
Okay, ready for the next one?
Yep.
Yep.
Okay.
Um, this one is from yourstate, Iowa.
Didn't you go to Iowa?
My state.
Not your state.
(34:24):
Aren't you in Iowa?
I don't know.
I feel like work in Iowa.
Oh, that's what I call it yourstate.
My state.
You're embracing Iowa.
Andrea's from Iowa.
She's not.
Andrea (34:38):
She is not.
Carmen Lezeth (34:39):
Okay.
I love how you both dive intopolitics without sounding like
cable news.
Oh my god, that's hilarious.
But I'm curious, where do youget your information from?
Are there specific journalists,outlets, or even podcasts you
trust to help you cut throughthe noise?
That's a great question.
Do you want to go first,Andrea?
Andrea (34:56):
I will.
I will say I do not watch anynews on television or and I
don't listen to any newspodcasts at all, except this
one.
Except this one.
So um I have over the yearscurated kind of people that I
follow.
I think it's, I think followmaybe like 50 people.
(35:16):
Um, and that's generally whereI get my news sources from.
Also, I read a lot of books, sobig fan of the library.
So I I get into a lot of books.
Um, you know, for local news,I'm really loving LA taco right
now.
They used to be like, you know,where to get the best tacos in
LA, which is information,absolutely, 100%.
(35:41):
And, you know, over the yearsit started to morph into more of
a news organization.
And definitely, since all ofthe ice rates happened, that's
basically all they're doing atthis point.
Um, but there's, let's see, acouple that I really love, I may
not get the pronouncepronunciation correct.
Um, so there's Ellie Mastal, hewrites for the nation and on
(36:01):
criminal justice and con law,anytime there's a Supreme Court
case, he you know, writes aboutit definitely during like oral
arguments and things like that.
Um, I also want to say that ifI am reading an article, which
is sort of by definition anopinion piece, right?
You're getting someone's,you're getting it in information
(36:22):
interpreted, interpretedthrough someone.
Um, I will always try to go tothe source.
So if it's a case or somethinglike that, I will actually go
and read the case so that I cankind of form my own opinion in
addition to reading sort of whatsomeone thing about it.
Talia Laven, and she's she'swritten a couple of books.
(36:42):
One, her most recent one isWild Faith about Christian
nationalism, and then um, what'sthe other one?
Culture Warlords about whitenationalism.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Carmen Lezeth (36:52):
Um, yeah.
Andrea (36:56):
Um, let's see.
Carmen Lezeth (36:57):
I have not read the second one she mentioned.
Andrea (36:59):
Yeah.
Um, I like Jacob Soboroff fromMSNBC.
Carmen Lezeth (37:03):
Um, everybody loves Jacob Soborov, and he is
an incredible journalist, andhe's been handling.
I'm sorry, I had to interjectbecause I love him.
And he should get whatever he'sgetting in the future, pull
it's whatever it is, because hiswhat he's been doing for this
country is incredible.
And he's been uh handling allthe ice raids, not handling, but
(37:26):
he's been dealing with all ofthe people who are suffering
through all this.
Go ahead.
I'm sorry.
Andrea (37:30):
He's an LA guy, so you know, I love him local reporting
as well.
I follow a couple of journalismprofessors because I think
that's really helpful becausethey are like journalists with a
capital J and are veryinterested in you know fair
reporting and things like that.
So there's this guy, BillGruskin, um, another guy, Jay
Rosen.
So those are, you know, I hadthere's a lot of others.
(37:52):
Um well you said it's 50, soI'm like, we're not going
through the whole 50.
Yeah, like been bin uhErinreich, who uh is Barbara
Aaronreich's son.
Oh Aaron Reich wrote afantastic book, Nicol and Dimed,
which was turned into a play,which was started by our
esteemed hostess.
(38:12):
So yeah, he he does somewriting.
Carmen Lezeth (38:16):
I was in the theater production of Nicol and
Dimed, right?
Oh, I didn't I didn't realizethat was the connection there.
That's interesting.
Andrea (38:20):
Okay, and and then there's a handful of others.
Another uh that a couple that Iwant to mention is uh Nicole
Hannah-Jones, who uh was thecreator of the 1619 project,
which is a book, uh podcast, ashow on Hulu, and all, you know,
it's um a curriculum, all ofthat.
Really, really important workthere.
And one of my sort of longtimefavorites who's passed on now,
(38:44):
uh David Graber, who why are webringing him up if he's passed
on?
Well, I'm just saying he's hewrote books.
He wrote a book called Debt,the the first 500 5,000 years.
He wrote another book called UmUh Bullshit Jobs.
He was uh kind of he was in theOccupy Wall Street movement and
all that kind of stuff.
But anyway.
Carmen Lezeth (39:04):
So I agree.
I think what I want to say, andthank you for doing that list
because I think it's animportant thing.
But I the here's what I want toshare.
People are no longer followingnetworks or newspapers.
Like this idea that the NewYork Times is like this is a
fight I've had with so manypeople, that the New York Times
is the be all.
No, it's not.
(39:25):
And it hasn't been for years.
And then I'll get the argumentfrom people like, oh, but they
have so many resources.
Yes, just because you havemoney and resources does not
make you a good human being,person, or corporation.
So a lot of people, especiallyin the older generation, but
even in our generation, arestill fixated on this idea that
(39:46):
you need to follow organizationsand corporations, and you
cannot do that anymore, nor doyou need to.
Most of the great journalistsright now are independent and
are on Substack, you know, andthey're really shining.
And so I'm gonna name somenames of so I follow a professor
as well, and he has written forthe New York Times, but I love
(40:07):
him, Eddie Galad Jr., he'samazing.
He is definitely what you wouldsay more left-leaning, but he
also comes with receipts, alsohas written a great book on
Baldwin.
You know what I mean?
Like we can go down the list ofthat, but he's one of my
favorites because he's sopassionate and his empathy is
off the charts, just abouteverything in the world.
I'm gonna name some otherpeople that she will cringe up,
(40:30):
but Tim Miller from The Bulwark,he is a Republican who I know.
I'm giving people otheroptions.
Andrea (40:38):
I have read some of his stuff.
Carmen Lezeth (40:39):
I do, you know, he's actually really good.
He's a staunch Republican whohas now like completely thrown
his his hat into like thethere's his he's uh never
Trumper, though.
There's no doubt about it.
But he does come to it from adifferent point of view, and I
really like listening to him.
Um he's also very calm, youknow, he's very calm.
Uh Nicole Wallace, I talkedabout her before.
(41:01):
I like listening to her.
She's also a former GOP person.
She worked for George W.
Bush.
Um, I catch her show once in awhile on MSNBC because I'm
usually working uh when it's onlive, but I do like to catch
her.
Um and I'm gonna name someother possibilities because you
know these names.
There are people who havewalked away from network
(41:22):
television, from cable network,because they either got fired,
like Don Lemon and uh what's theother guy?
Costa, I forget his name, JimCosta from CNN.
He was being regulated from hisSaturday show to like a Sunday
night show, and he was like,Yeah, no, I'm done.
They have been unleashed onSubstack, and it is an
(41:43):
incredible thing to watch.
And you start to realize howconstrained all of these
journalists are because theywork for these big companies,
unless they have the kind ofpower of like a Rachel Matta or
Nicole Waller.
You know what I mean?
Like, but it's fascinating tonow see them unleashed.
And I'm not saying you have tofollow them or whatever, but if
you want to see what thedifference is with some names of
(42:05):
people you used to maybe you'veheard of before, and now see
them on their own, it's craycray.
It's crazy awesome fun.
I I think Don Lemon is now, Inever used to like him.
Now I'm like, okay, there'sthat's a journalist.
Like it's it's an incrediblething.
And he's doing a lot of opiniontoo, there's no doubt about it.
Um, I also wanted to give ashout out to some, like, if
(42:30):
you're going to go fororganizations that are
newspapers, like I do get alertsfrom specific places, and then
you do your investigative stuffyourself.
But the best ones, as far asI'm concerned, and they are more
center, they're more in themiddle, they're not
left-leaning.
Reuters, the Associated Press,and the BBC.
(42:50):
Those are the ones that I getuh news alerts from.
Um, and I think that they stillare more center and they're
less.
I mean, I think everything's anopinion.
I think this idea thatjournalism was ever some
objective bullshitery is whywe're in the trouble we're in
now.
But you do get both both sides,and you do get just
(43:12):
information.
I'm gonna plug one more thing,two more things.
If you want to double checkthings, and this is actually
free, you can get asubscription, but you don't need
to.
It's AI.
Perplexity AI is like this ishow I'm explaining it.
I am not an AI expert, it's howI'm explaining it to regular
folk.
Perplexityai.ai is uh like justa fantastic, bumped up, more
(43:40):
impressive Google search.
And what they do is withinseconds not only give you the
information you're looking for,but also give you all the
references at the bottom.
And that's what I love.
Because then I can go andcheck, oh, wait, where did they
get this information from?
You know, so that's also a goodway to double check your
sources if you want to.
But remember, AI is not alwaysperfect.
So you want to go double checkyour sources.
(44:02):
But perplexity AI is like oneof my favorites right now.
And the last thing I'll say,whether you like Rachel Maddow
or not, the thing about RachelMaddow that I would encourage
everyone to watch at least onceis her ability to not just
storytell, like she's a greatstoryteller, but how she builds
a story for you to understandwhat's going on.
(44:24):
So when it comes to historicalthings, war things, whatever it
is, like she is on point and shealways has that legalese and
that ability.
You want to not always followpeople because of their
ideology.
Like, that's why I used tolisten to Sean Hannity and you
know, Larry Elder and all thesepeople, not because I believed
in what they said, but because Iwanted to learn why they were
(44:46):
saying what they were saying.
What was their evidence behindit?
You know, be curious, be ahuman being who wants to know
the layers, and then you canspeak from a place of knowledge
and not just your opinion.
Andrea (45:02):
Yeah, I mean, I I think that's the most important point
here.
I mean, I named off a bunch ofpeople, I'm fully aware that
that is a bubble, right?
No, no, no.
That was the answer.
Carmen Lezeth (45:13):
I mean, that was the answer to the question.
Who do you think?
Andrea (45:15):
Yeah, I mean, but I'm just saying, like, I understand
uh that I'm I'm not looking atsources who are even really that
center, you know, much lessmore to the right, right?
So I understand that the newsI'm getting, you know, the
information that I'm getting isfiltered through a certain lens.
And that's why I mentioned, andyou've mentioned, like going to
(45:36):
the source material, so you canread it yourself and form your
own opinion.
I think it's still valid and aperfectly good thing to do to go
ahead and read the full articleand hear what people are saying
and how it's being framed, butunderstand it is being framed.
Carmen Lezeth (45:52):
I think that's the problem, right?
Is people will say, oh no, I Idon't want like, first of all,
there's no grandiose thing insaying you don't listen to
network news.
Like, I don't know why that'sbecome a thing.
I I don't watch network news.
Well, somebody's fuckingwatching it.
You know what I mean?
Like, and there's nothing wrongwith that.
That's not what the issue is.
You getting your resources fromYouTube videos also
(46:13):
problematic.
So you telling me that youwatch YouTube videos is not an
answer to how well informed youare because I don't know who the
you don't have to listen to useither.
Like, you know what I mean?
Like, we anybody can buy a micand have a camera and tell you
whatever they want with aforceful way of saying it.
I know the power of my voice.
I know that I can tell people afucking lie and they'll believe
(46:36):
it.
Here's the difference, though,is first of all, I would never
do that because I have empathyand compassion.
I would never use my power forbad or ill will.
But just understand that justbecause somebody screams it or
says it loudly or has a mic andhas a computer and looks really
pretty, or you think they'rehot, or whatever it is, that
does not mean that they arelegit or that they are right or
(46:58):
that they are on point.
Where are their resources?
Can you find three other placesthat say the same shit?
This is why every time somebodydies, like I got the
notification that that RobertRedford died, I was like, Yeah,
that didn't happen.
You know what I mean?
I got three other sourcesbecause I was not believing
nobody.
You know what I mean?
That's what you have to startdoing as a person in this day
(47:21):
and age with all the technologyand all the information at your
fingertips.
You need to be that into it.
If you're gonna spew that shitout of your mouth, you need to
be that into it.
That you figure it out.
Andrea (47:34):
You get critical thinking, critical thinking,
right?
Carmen Lezeth (47:39):
Let me just say I'm having a great conversation
on Sunday.
So please come visit.
And we talk all about criticalthinking with an educator and
somebody who is trying totransform the education system,
doing more of a hybrid model ofusing school and in-home
teaching.
And we talk about criticalthinking.
So that was a great segue.
Andrea (48:00):
We didn't even know about that.
Carmen Lezeth (48:03):
So that was good.
Yeah, so check that out onSunday in the private lounge at
12 p.m.
Pacific, 3 p.m.
Eastern.
Um, andrea, thank you.
That was a fun conversation.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, so uh thanks everyone.
Remember, at the end of theday, it really is all about the
joy, and we'll see you nextweek.
Bye.
(48:23):
Thanks for stopping by, AllAbout the Joy.
Be better and stay beautiful,folks.
Have a sweet day.
Hey everyone, welcome to All About the Joy.
This is Culture and Consequencewith Carmen and Andrea.
There was this guy on TikTok.
I forget his name, but he'sreally popular.
It doesn't matter, but he'slike, honey, you need to blend.
Like you gotta blend it in.
And he was like showing him.
And then he was like, he hadthe picture next to him.
(00:22):
And he's like, look at look atthis line here.
Blend, honey.
Blend.
So funny.
I was dying.
Andrea (00:30):
Yeah, that that was probably one of the funnier
signs I saw from No Kings waslike, he can't even blend his
own makeup.
That's how incompetent he is.
Carmen Lezeth (00:39):
Even his, and and I know this is fucking petty
shit.
Oh, by the way, um, I've gottenquite a few emails about my
swearing.
And you're swearing.
I know, I know.
I didn't even put those in thelist of questions we're gonna
answer because I'm like, listen,let me just say straight up,
this is gonna be a swearingepisode, even more, because I'm
pissed.
(01:00):
But if you don't know us bynow, we are people who swear.
And I the emails are stupid,like they're just stupid.
You're wasting time, like,whatever.
It doesn't make me feel bad, itempowers me to swear even more,
you fuck tards.
Like, so I'm so over it.
Andrea (01:20):
Anyway, I mean, we we touched on this once before,
too, right?
Like, there's actually studiesthat say people who swear more
are more intelligent.
So I'm just putting that outthere.
Carmen Lezeth (01:30):
Speaking of stupid, um it's just a weird
ism.
Like it's a weird thing to tellsomeone not to do something
that they're just going to endup doing over and over again.
Like, do you not knowpsychology at all?
And if you're curl like you'repearl clutching, is that what
they say?
Pearl, then you shouldn't bewatching this show.
I'm not trying to move peopleaway from the show, but it's a
(01:51):
weird ism to be complainingabout.
You know, you're not being noone's forcing you.
Andrea (01:56):
And this is the way that we talk with each other.
That doesn't mean that we'rewalking around like at the
grocery store in the postoffice, you know.
I am no.
Why am I feeling fucking high,bitch?
Go.
Carmen Lezeth (02:06):
I mean, like, that's not what we're doing.
Look, it I think that's theother part of it too, right?
I'm using it as an exclamationpoint or whatever.
You know what?
I don't need to fucking look.
You know what?
I'll give a fuck.
Andrea (02:18):
It's a way to blow off some steam, it's a way to like
be emphatic about something, andum, we have a lot of steam to
blow off.
We have a lot of things to beemphatic about.
Carmen Lezeth (02:29):
All right, let's get to our topics, whatever.
Like, because that's normallywhat we do when we're on the
phone.
We just Andrea, it's time totalk about our topics.
Andrea (02:40):
These are the four things that I had for us to
discuss today.
I have my research ready to go.
So let's start.
Carmen Lezeth (02:48):
I know.
So I think we're gonna, well,first I should say that we are
23 days into still thegovernment shutdown.
I think that's an importantthing to uh just remind people
in case you do not know.
And we were going to talk aboutthe White House demolition
situation.
And I'll let you go first.
(03:09):
I don't know.
Andrea (03:12):
I really thought about I've been thinking about this
really all week because I knewthat we were gonna talk about
it, and I'm just like, I gotnothing.
Like, what can you fucking say?
This is the craziestmotherfucking shit I have ever
motherfucking seen.
Like, we have established,clearly, thoroughly established
(03:37):
that I am like the leastpatriotic American on the
planet, right?
Never will I do any of thesymbolic shit.
I will never have a flag, weara flag.
I I don't even I don't evenstand up for the what the song
the national anthem.
Yes, I sit.
I'm like, fuck that.
(03:58):
No, I don't salute the flag, Idon't do the pledge of
allegiance.
When I was a teacher, I'm justsaying I didn't have my kids do
the pledge of allegiance.
So anyway, my point was thatsomething required here in LA?
Really?
Yes, it was.
It is, yes, yeah.
Um, I was even my daughter toldme that they had to do it at
school once a week, and I waslike, I'll write you a note,
girl.
Because uh uh, but she waslike, Oh no, it's fine.
Carmen Lezeth (04:21):
People are I just I just want everyone to know
that I don't have the samefeelings.
Andrea (04:26):
She doesn't have the same feeling.
I'm just saying, I amestablishing the fact that I
don't do the symbolic shit.
Right.
Okay, right.
Seeing what is happening at theWhite House has fucking broken
my heart.
Yeah.
I like I'm actually embarrassedabout how upset I am about it.
Carmen Lezeth (04:49):
That's actually awesome.
I love it.
It's good.
Andrea (04:54):
I mean, like, there's the like, how fucking dare you?
Yeah, first of all, of course,it's the East Wing where the
first ladies' offices areestablished primarily by Eleanor
Roosevelt.
So there's all this historythere.
And as you mentioned in thestart, like um, this is all
(05:19):
somehow happening in the midstof a government shutdown.
No, no, no, we we need aballroom though.
We do need a ballroom.
We do need a ballroom.
And I mean, just on the mostbasic level, try adding in some
new like plumbing or an additionto your house and see how
fucking long it takes youanywhere in this country.
(05:41):
Like, I it's just uh I don'treally have articulate words.
I have a lot of swear wordsthat I could throw out, which I
already have, but like I don'teven know.
I don't know, and and and why,why is aren't like the press and
like the the like why aren'tpeople just screaming about
(06:03):
this?
Carmen Lezeth (06:03):
I just don't well I do think people are like I
just turned off the news andthey've been talking about it
like agnosium at this point umbecause our attention span is so
small, but they are you knowbecause now the pictures are
out, right?
The it's it's the because theytried to barricade what was
happening, which is so weird inthis day and age of like, you
know, drones and everythingelse, but they're able to see
(06:26):
the actual destruction andthey're showing live shots of
that happening and thedestruction, the complete
demolition of the East Wing willbe done by Sunday, is uh it
then it's mostly already down.
I mean, I was just watching it,and so I'll I'll say the
opposite part.
Um, and then I'm gonna talk alittle bit about why this
(06:46):
matters in even a bigger way.
Because I because I thinkwhat's more important here, look
at it's a fucking building.
I'm I'm okay.
Like at the end of the day, Idon't give a fuck.
There are people who are stillbeing taken by ice, there are
other things right now to methat are more important, but I I
will say this it is not what ishappening literally that's
(07:08):
bothering me.
It's all the people who arejustifying it and all the people
who keep supporting him, eventhough he is straight up lying
to you again.
And here's the difference.
Look at I went and pulled,because you know me, I went and
pulled all of the times that theWhite House has been redone,
(07:33):
reconstructed, where things havebeen demolished and fixed or
whatever.
I did because I wanted to see,I wanted to understand what the
hoopla was.
There's so many reasons whythis is bad.
And before you start talkingabout Barack Obama changing the
tennis courts to a basketballcourt, that's just
bullshittering.
He did do that, but he did itthrough the actual commission
(07:55):
that and he talked to the arthistorians and he went through
it, takes like a year to evenhave that conversation.
Let me just say one thingthat's really important here.
I I just look, I just want youto see all the notes I took on
this fucking bullshit.
Because I, you know what, likeyou, okay.
So here's here's thedifference.
I am extremely patriotic.
I always have been.
I love my country.
(08:16):
And one of the things we weregoing to talk about later, but
we'll just infuse it here is oneof the things about the No
Kings um protests that happenedon Saturday.
I was lucky to go to two.
There was one here near myapartment where I like, like, I
stepped out of my house.
It was right there.
And then I went um and checkedout another part of Los Angeles,
and that is what makes Americagreat.
(08:37):
That's what we're missing isthe hopefulness, the optimism,
the joyfulness, the happy, thethat is the part that makes
America great.
And I don't care what you thinkabout Barack Obama, but that
moment when he was elected,everybody had that feeling.
Well, except you fucktardsagain, the fuctards.
(09:00):
We're just gonna start callingyou guys the fuctards.
Yeah, but we're missing that'swhat we're missing is that joy
and that happiness.
So it's happening at the WhiteHouse right now, and the reason
why it matters is because hedidn't go through the right
processes.
No, and and this idea that hekeeps telling everyone that we
need, I want you to hear this.
(09:20):
We need a ballroom.
We don't need nobody needs aballroom.
We don't need a ballroom, buthe keeps saying that.
And let me just give you somestats here.
So a football field is 57,600square feet.
Okay, 57,000 square feet.
Let's just leave it there.
The White House itself is55,000 square feet.
(09:45):
The White House itself, okay.
The east wing that he justdemolished is 60,000 square
feet.
Okay, so it's a little bitbigger than the White House.
This ballroom that he's goingto build is 90,000 square feet.
So that's a football field anda half.
(10:07):
It's going to dwarf the actualWhite House.
There is no commission, right?
There is no, what's it called?
It's the National CapitalPlanning Commission, um, the
GSA, which is the governmentservices admission, and usually
the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, whowill turn around and work with
the president to preserve thehistory of the place, to help
(10:31):
come up with the right plans.
He is building thisbullshittery without doing any
of that.
And he keeps saying it's notgoing to cost the taxpayers any
money.
First of all, bullshit.
And secondly, why do we wantcorporate, like if we want a
fucking ballroom, we should payfor it.
But he knows we don't want aballroom.
So instead, all of thesefucking corporate fucking
(10:52):
corporations are going to end uphaving their names slapped all
over the ballroom.
And I'll end with this littlepart.
I hope, because it's not goingto be done for four years.
It might he said they thinkit's going to be done in four
years because whatever, but thisis another little in indication
(11:14):
that he thinks he ain'tmotherfucking leaving that
place.
Yeah, for sure.
But I'ma say when PresidentNewsom or President whoever the
fuck is next, because I thinkthat's where we're going, or the
guy from Chicago, what's theguy's name from Illinois?
Pritzer.
I don't care who it is.
Yeah.
President next in line, who weknow is going to be a white
male.
(11:34):
It's true.
Hopefully, we had a Nazitattoo.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh my god, who had the Nazitattoo?
Well, we don't even have to gothere.
It doesn't matter.
Yeah.
I said the other day, and Iwasn't kidding.
I can't wait for thatmotherfucking ballroom to be
rededicated to Barack Obama.
(11:55):
I just think that would be likethe fucking Michelle Obama.
And they're making it to likeall offices or sciences or
whatever.
Andrea (12:07):
Like I'm just hoping that's what happens.
They just look like uh, youknow, inner city DC schools have
proms there.
Carmen Lezeth (12:14):
Exactly.
Like and make it like just theplace where like community
happens, like and just, youknow, take I mean all the gold
in that office is so disgusting.
Andrea (12:25):
Yeah, he just wants it to be like, you know, like
somebody with golden poop shitall over it.
And that's I know it's soweird.
Carmen Lezeth (12:34):
So yeah, I just um I was shook by the football
field analogy because it didn'tit made more sense to me when I
realized like it's going to alsodwarf the White House
completely and it's going to beugly.
Andrea (12:49):
I mean, you know, speaking of hope, as you said
that's not Gavin's style, theydon't like that.
I can only hope that we neverget to the point where we have
to see all the gold shit andthat it's you know, I mean, I
don't know what you do when it'salready start, you know, like I
I don't know.
I just Well it's demolishedalready, so no no no.
(13:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm hoping that he will be goneone way or another, uh, before
it's finished, before we get tothe you know, gold leaf stage,
and that it's uh not evercompleted.
Carmen Lezeth (13:29):
Right.
Well, some professionals aresaying there's no way, like,
even on the best of schedules,there's no way it would be
completed in four years.
But there'd have to be like nodelays, no issues, and that
rarely happens.
But you know, people arealready suing.
Like, I know I'm I'm shy.
But you know what?
Um I don't mean this in a badway, but it's nice to hear you
say that it did kind of breakyour heart to see it.
Andrea (13:52):
It did, it really did.
And it, I mean, you know,there's sort of the metaphor of
it all, like he's just doesn'tgive a shit going in and
destroying our cultural heritageand everything that kind of the
country is supposed to standfor, all of those kinds of
things, you know what I mean?
There's just a lot of a lot toit, and it's I again just go
(14:13):
back to like what will it take?
Is there anything?
Is there anything this personcan do that will actually get
people to be like, oh shit,that's far.
Carmen Lezeth (14:26):
Well, I mean, it's okay, and that goes into
the next thing I wanted to talkabout.
I didn't put it on the list,but it's kind of like I'm not
even mad at Trump because Trumpis like a child on so many
levels to me.
Like he's, you know, he's like,I want to do this, I want to do
that.
But at some point, people say,No, no, you cannot do that.
I'm more upset with all thesemotherfuckers who are in office
(14:47):
and know better, who are notstopping him at all, at all.
You know, I say this with norespect whatsoever.
Mitch McConnell, who is 83years old, who fell the other
day in the Russell Senatebuilding.
You know, I'm like, this isalso the other part of it.
Mitch McConnell, I blame formost all of the bullshittery we
(15:07):
are in today.
I don't even blame Donald Trumpbecause he was the first person
that when Barack Obama becamepresident was just like, my our
only job is not to let him be bere-elected again.
He had already started thisbullshittery.
You know what I mean?
I'm tired of old people.
I said it, old people, you needto stop thinking you can be in
(15:28):
office forever.
You're 83 years old, you canbarely speak, and you're fucking
bumbling around the goddamn.
I know people mad at me.
I don't care.
I don't have a big constituencyof old people on my show.
Andrea (15:42):
The ego on these people is shocking, really.
Look at there are some things Ican't do anymore.
Carmen Lezeth (15:47):
And I like there are things I cannot do anymore.
I cannot stay up past nine.
I can't do it.
You know what I mean?
Although, in all fairness, weall know I've never been able to
stay up.
I'm like, that's not new,people.
But I really can't.
I like I can't pullall-nighters.
I can't.
There are things I can't do, soyou work around that.
(16:08):
You don't force yourself to doit anyways because you're gonna
make bad decisions.
But it's like Nancy Pelosi, allthese motherfucking people like
enough already.
Move the fuck on.
Yeah, ageism.
We're probably gonna getslapped with some type of
something on YouTube.
Ageism.
Andrea (16:25):
Remember, remember, I know you remember, and this is
really sad, but like rememberseveral years ago, there was an
old guy, apparently reallylovely family man, who drove his
car into the farmer's marketand killed people?
Carmen Lezeth (16:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrea (16:41):
Take the motherfucking keys away, people.
Like, there are things youcannot do anymore.
You need to be at home enjoyingyour grandchildren or watching
Jeopardy or whatever the fuckold people do, be in your
garden, walk your dog.
I don't know.
We're gonna be old soon, too.
But but but look at mychickens, I'm ready to go.
Carmen Lezeth (17:03):
I don't Andrea has chickens for those who don't
know.
That's a whole other story.
We're not talking about it nowbecause I I I'm done with that
shit.
But anyways, but here's mything is like, I think it's
because we demonize gettingolder on every level.
So getting old means X, Y, Z inthis country, and it's like,
oh, you need to get like 15facelifts and look like you're
10 when you're actually 58 orsomething.
(17:25):
You know what I mean?
Like you have to keep lookingas young as possible, as
youthful as possible, becausebeing old sucks.
And I think that's part of theproblem.
Yeah, but we need term limitsor something because I'm I want
I want Gen Z, I wantmillennials, I want young people
in office.
I want young people in office.
Andrea (17:43):
Yeah, this ain't it.
These people are gonna be deadin five years, they're walking
around dead now.
Well, and then it's likethey're making decisions that
affect the lives of people whoare cannot access power because
they are in the way.
Carmen Lezeth (18:01):
Yeah, and they don't know, and I look at I I'm
kidding around about the ageismthing, but I know this is what
this is coming across.
I just think that if you arenot a person who has compassion
and empathy, this is what you dobecause it's all about your
ego, it's all about you.
But these people do not knowthe internet, they don't
understand AI, they don'tunderstand technology, they
(18:24):
don't know what TikTok is, theydon't, and they're just
bullshitting their way through.
And when have we ever been okaywith allowing people to
bullshit their way through?
Uh, don't talk about thiscurrent administration.
I'm just saying, like, inanything that you do, would you
be like, oh yeah, that astronautbullshitted their way through?
Let's just let them do it.
You know what I mean?
(18:44):
But for some reason, in fuckingevery political thing we do in
Congress or whatever, we allowthese people who are clearly not
with it, walking around thehalls of Congress, falling all
over the place, their aidespicking them up, speaking for
them, like you're voting forthem then.
Then you're voting for themthen.
You're not actually beingrepresented.
(19:04):
Your constituencies are notbeing represented by who they
voted for, you know?
And it's like, it's just, I'mso sick of it.
But I think that's also part ofthe problem.
Andrea (19:14):
Absolutely.
Look, I mean, uh, there'senough rage to go around for
sure.
You know, I don't let DonaldTrump off at all.
But yes, there's a lot ofenabling from all kinds of
people who have their ownagendas, right?
They have their own reasons forwanting to be close to power,
trying to get their own foot inthe door so that they can have
their day in the sun.
(19:34):
I mean, all of that kind ofstuff.
Carmen Lezeth (19:36):
Yeah.
Well, whatever.
I'm over it.
All right, let's answer somequestions.
I'm done.
I'm done.
Okay, so I didn't pick any ofthe bad emails that we seem to
keep getting about swearing.
Andrea (19:50):
The swearing thing.
Carmen Lezeth (19:51):
Yeah, that was one.
There was another one that waskind of nasty, but I was it was
more like funny.
I was like, okay.
Uh, she's married, and I'm notinterested, is basically the
answer to that.
I was like, you weird.
Yeah, I'll tell you about it inthe green room.
All right, so these are twoemails we got.
So we'll do the first one andI'll let you in.
Wait, did we finish everythingwe were gonna talk about with
(20:12):
those two things?
Yeah, yeah, okay.
Oh, yeah.
Well, I I think I kind of justsaid it because I kind of just
said it like that was the goodpart for me about No Kings, was
just, and it was kind ofheartwarming.
There were a couple ofinstances here where um some
Trump supporters were trying tostart something, and the police
(20:34):
like they just pulled up on amotorcycle.
No, no, this was the horses,they just came up with the
horses and like just look atthem, and they just turned
around and walked away.
Like, so that was kind of aninteresting thing because it was
really peaceful everywherearound the country and around
the world.
It was a peaceful event, kindof cool.
Andrea (20:53):
Yeah, I mean that that's I I did not attend, I was at a
family birthday party withwhatever.
She does not love our country.
It was lovely.
As I said last time, you haveto find your joy in different
places.
Uh, but I had fun um at mybirthday party.
But um wait, your birthdayparty party.
No, I was like, no, okay, Iknow what was my cousin's
(21:16):
daughter's four-year-old, youknow.
So it was a sweet little kidbirthday party.
Carmen Lezeth (21:21):
And listen, your priorities are your priorities.
I care about our country, so Iam dedicated to the cause.
Okay, you know what's so funny?
You who's you're usually theone out there protesting.
Ah, this is how we know we introuble.
Because when do I protest?
Andrea (21:38):
Never, never.
I'm out there at the iceprotests.
Carmen Lezeth (21:42):
Um, you know, yeah, but I didn't I don't
protest, so you know we you introuble, girl.
Andrea (21:50):
Yeah, we in trouble.
No, but I I just want to saythat it's like, you know, as
someone who didn't participatelive, it was really nice to kind
of come back at the end of theday and look and see number one,
how many people participatedand how many places over seven
million.
I love, love, love seeing likethe small towns where they're
like, you know, we have 300people in this town and 150 were
(22:13):
out there, you know.
Like I love that.
And it does, it just gives youhope.
And I think, you know, a lot ofpeople who say whatever they
say about these protests, Ithink it is important to see
that many people who are like,okay, yes, this is the United
States, this isn't France, wherewe, you know, it's very
concentrated and we can likeshut down the entire capital or
(22:34):
whatever, but we can all comeout and and actually say we're
not all right with this.
And I think it does give a lotof people hope.
Carmen Lezeth (22:42):
And I'm gonna say something else that's gonna
piss off a lot of people becausethat's what I do nowadays.
Culture and consequence, Carmenpissing everyone off.
Um, it was also a sea of whitepeople, and I loved to see it.
And I have to say, especiallybecause I live here and there's
not a huge population of peopleof color, it was beautiful to
(23:02):
see thousands of people.
And I'm like, oh my god, thisis my entire neighborhood.
Like it was just amazing to seethat.
So uh it, yeah, it wasbeautiful, it was very American.
That is what you do as anAmerican when you disagree with
something.
You protest and you let yourvoices be heard.
And anyone who thinks otherwiseis a fascist.
(23:24):
I don't know how else to sayit.
Is that clear?
I think that sums it up well.
I said, I think that sums it upwell.
I think that sums it up well,too.
So, all right, let's get to ourquestions.
Okay, so the first one should Isay the person's name?
No, well, first name.
I I won't say their name.
Okay, this is from somebodyfrom Chicago, and they said, You
(23:45):
talk with a lot of clarity, butI gotta ask, how do you deal
when folks you love just don'tsee things the same way, like
real disagreements, not justdebates, but stuff that hits
deep.
How do you keep the peacewithout losing yourself?
Andrea (24:01):
So I I saw that question and I thought about it for a
little bit.
Like, I don't have anyone in mylife uh who I have those kinds
of strong disagreements with.
I mean, I think that thereprobably are some people in my
extended, extended family who Idon't really have any real
relationship with who areprobably Trump voters.
Carmen Lezeth (24:23):
Um, but I don't okay, but I'm gonna bring up
something.
Sorry, I'm gonna put you out onthis.
But you have people you've hadto work with in different states
who are avid Trump supportersbecause I remember you calling
me and so how did you deal withthat as a professional?
Andrea (24:41):
Maybe we could well, as a professional, there I'm there
to do a job, and I have acertain approach that I take to
that job, and so I I tend tolook at it as like, all right,
if I sort of, you know, infusemy philosophy really and my
approach into this person, maybethat's helpful.
(25:02):
Like I'm I'm not gonna have anykind of political discussion
with anyone at work, it'scertainly not in the context
that I'm working with them, butI I feel like I just try to use
the skills that I have to workwith them and and as I said, to
just use my approach to thingsand explain my reasoning, which
(25:24):
is all a part of my you know ownpersonal philosophy that I live
by and that I, you know, theway that I work.
So that's that's really the waythat I deal with it, is just
almost like modeling, I guess,would be the best way to say it.
Carmen Lezeth (25:39):
I've had experiences with people in my
life.
I have family members who areTrump supporters or were Trump
supporters.
I don't know what they believenow, but um, and I've had so
I'll give you an example whathappened.
I posted something on Facebookyears ago during the first
administration, and a familymember went off on me, and I
blocked them and then had afull-on conversation with them.
(26:03):
And my whole thing is like, Idon't care what you believe, is
my Facebook page.
I didn't call you to have aconversation about it, you know,
I mean, because I know what youbelieve, you know what I mean?
So, um, and we've we'verectified or we've reconciled
since then, and I think you knowwho I'm talking about, but um,
I think it's hard becauseespecially when you love
(26:25):
someone, like you love them, andyou know in your heart of
hearts that there's nothing youcan do to dissuade them.
They have to believe and dowhat they need to do and find
their bumps away, you know,along the way.
You know, it's the same thingwith the Palestinian Israel
thing.
For those of you who don'tknow, I was married to an
Israeli.
So I have a different viewpointbecause of that side of the
(26:47):
family of the Israeli situation.
And then to hear the kind ofhatred or the anger towards
Palestinians for me is reallyhard.
I have compassion and empathyfor the Palestinian people.
I think you can hold more thanone thought at a time.
You know what I mean?
But if you're going to be sovile and so angry and so pissed
(27:11):
off, I don't want to talk to youbecause I I can't relate and I
ain't gonna change your mind.
And it's kind of the same thingwith the Trump thing.
First of all, I'm not gonna askyou your opinion because I
don't want to know your opinion.
If I want to have aconversation with you, I will
reach out.
But I already had an inkling.
You know what I mean?
But if you're gonna confrontme, I will confront your ass.
I've done it at work too.
(27:33):
Like, here's the thing I workwith people who have property
and relatives in Texas.
I tell people this all thetime.
I have conversations withpeople all the time, and I'm
like, here, here is my point ofview.
You can believe what you want,but we're done with this now,
you know.
One of my clients, I think Itold you, was trying to get me
(27:53):
into because he wanted to fight.
And I was like, I'm sorry,what?
Like, I don't like you can tellwhen somebody's just like, I
want your opinion, I want totalk to you about it, or it kind
of slips or something.
Um, or whereas it's somebody'strying to instigate a fight.
And when he was trying toinstigate a fight, I was like,
that's not what you hired me todo.
And then I just close offbecause I got my check because I
(28:15):
get paid a month before myactual work.
I ain't stupid about that shit.
I will walk away.
And that's what I threatenedhim with.
I think I'm veryconfrontational that way.
Um, I think what I hate most,Andrea, is people who say, I
don't do politics.
I don't, well, politics isdoing you, bitch.
Link.
I don't care if you don't dopolitics, it's happening to you.
(28:38):
And and that's exactly whathappened in Nazi Germany.
And I don't give a fuck, youpeople who are like, stop using
Hitler.
It's not Hitler.
Yes, this is how it starts.
This is how it happens.
This is exactly the trajectory.
I had to study in school hisfucking Mein Kampf book, right?
Did you read that too?
Like, you just need to read it,read people, read.
(29:01):
Hitler built the ballroom too,by the way.
Andrea (29:03):
Just saying.
Carmen Lezeth (29:04):
Yes, but they don't, you know what it is?
That's what I'm saying, is likewhen people don't talk, I wish
people would stop talking aboutwhat they don't know.
You don't have to knoweverything about politics.
That's very different.
You don't have to know orwhatever, but then but don't act
as if it's not happening toyou.
And you not wanting to talkabout it or not having an
(29:25):
opinion on it or not having anyoomph to it is not acceptable in
what we're doing today andwhat's happening to it's not.
You may disagree in the entirebut I think it's absolutely not
okay.
Andrea (29:36):
Yeah, I mean, well, like you have an opinion about your
life, right?
Do you have opinions about yourhealthcare costs?
Do you have opinions about yourhow much your food costs?
Do you have opinions about howeasy or difficult it is for you
to vote?
I mean, it all counts.
Like you said, it's do and you.
Carmen Lezeth (29:56):
You know, it is.
I just I I I get annoyed.
I understand that noteveryone's going to be
confrontational like me, and andand I'm not saying anyone has
to be.
I do it because I don't haveanything to fear.
And I'm not saying other peopledo.
I'm like, I'm not askinganybody their opinion about
politics.
Like, I'm not going to go up tosomeone and be like, you know
(30:16):
what?
I was thinking, can we have aconversation about politics?
I've never done that withanybody.
But if you jump in my DMs.
Let's define it.
Poke the bear, right?
I'm just saying, if you jumpand tell me something, I'm going
to come back with facts.
(30:37):
And I think that's the part toothat pisses me off about
people, especially people I knowwho talk too much about
politics and they don't knowwhat the fuck they're talking
about.
There is a difference betweenfacts and opinion.
So let me give you a fact andthen let me show you an opinion.
Okay.
A fact is we breathe in air ashuman beings to live.
(31:02):
That's a fact.
That's a fact.
That's a fact.
It might be your opinion thatwe breathe in hay.
But that's an opinion.
That's not a fact.
I don't know where I'm comingup with hay.
I think I'm thinking of thecattle ranchers who are having a
really hard time after theyvoted for Donald Trump.
That was all over the newstoday, too.
Whatever.
(31:22):
But I know.
So many people will try to say,well, that's your opinion.
No.
Fact.
Fact over here.
I am never spewing an opinionunless I tell you, you know
what?
This is my opinion, girl.
You know?
Yeah.
And I have to say it exactlylike that now.
(31:43):
But I think that's the otherpart of it too.
Andrea (31:47):
Yeah, for sure.
And I think that's from thestart.
We didn't even talk about this,but I think from the start of
this podcast, we both came withour research because we know we
have our opinions, and we'relike, okay, well, if we're gonna
talk about that, I need to makesure that I've got some data
behind it.
Carmen Lezeth (32:06):
Right.
Like I don't have a referencefor fucktards.
I I don't.
Like that's my opinion.
You know what I mean?
Like that's not, I mean, itcould be a fact, but it's not.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
I mean, I think that's theother part of it too, is I think
people, and this might be a lotof the Democrats' fault, by the
way.
Everybody should vote.
Everybody has to vote.
No, everyone should learn ofwhat's going on.
(32:28):
Like, I know.
I see, I I would get slimmed bythe Democratic Party, but I
think there's that other part ofit.
Like, everybody should beregistered, and everyone should.
And I think if you're part ofthis, what once was a
magnificent possibility, itbecause it isn't to me anymore,
right?
I hope we can see the kernelsof it through the protests or
whatever, but um, you should beat least basic level
(32:50):
understanding of how it works.
You should know what the Senateis, what the House of
Representatives are.
You should know who the SupremeCourt justices are, at least
what they do.
You should know who representsyou in the House of
Representatives.
You know, you should be able toname the president, the vice
president.
(33:11):
I don't know what I like.
The Secretary of State.
Do you know who the second he'ssuch a fucking idiot?
Sadly I do.
Sadly, I do know who that is.
Right.
I just like you should be ableto have the if you oh, here's a
good one.
I didn't know we were gonna gohere, but I'm on fighting now.
Okay, wait.
You should be able to pass thesame test every immigration
(33:33):
person who comes into thiscountry has to pass to become an
actual citizen.
And I'll tell you right nowthat everyone that you keep
thinking is a quote unquoteillegal status human being in
this country probably knows moreabout politics than you do.
They might know it in Spanish,but they know more about this
(33:55):
country than you do.
Andrea (33:56):
Because they have to in order to navigate it.
100% agree.
Carmen Lezeth (34:03):
All right.
Well, I hope we answered thatquestion, didn't we?
We went a little on topic.
I thought we answered it.
Okay, for Darnell or whatever,from person from Chicago.
Okay, ready for the next one?
Yep.
Yep.
Okay.
Um, this one is from yourstate, Iowa.
Didn't you go to Iowa?
My state.
Not your state.
(34:24):
Aren't you in Iowa?
I don't know.
I feel like work in Iowa.
Oh, that's what I call it yourstate.
My state.
You're embracing Iowa.
Andrea's from Iowa.
She's not.
Andrea (34:38):
She is not.
Carmen Lezeth (34:39):
Okay.
I love how you both dive intopolitics without sounding like
cable news.
Oh my god, that's hilarious.
But I'm curious, where do youget your information from?
Are there specific journalists,outlets, or even podcasts you
trust to help you cut throughthe noise?
That's a great question.
Do you want to go first,Andrea?
Andrea (34:56):
I will.
I will say I do not watch anynews on television or and I
don't listen to any newspodcasts at all, except this
one.
Except this one.
So um I have over the yearscurated kind of people that I
follow.
I think it's, I think followmaybe like 50 people.
(35:16):
Um, and that's generally whereI get my news sources from.
Also, I read a lot of books, sobig fan of the library.
So I I get into a lot of books.
Um, you know, for local news,I'm really loving LA taco right
now.
They used to be like, you know,where to get the best tacos in
LA, which is information,absolutely, 100%.
(35:41):
And, you know, over the yearsit started to morph into more of
a news organization.
And definitely, since all ofthe ice rates happened, that's
basically all they're doing atthis point.
Um, but there's, let's see, acouple that I really love, I may
not get the pronouncepronunciation correct.
Um, so there's Ellie Mastal, hewrites for the nation and on
(36:01):
criminal justice and con law,anytime there's a Supreme Court
case, he you know, writes aboutit definitely during like oral
arguments and things like that.
Um, I also want to say that ifI am reading an article, which
is sort of by definition anopinion piece, right?
You're getting someone's,you're getting it in information
(36:22):
interpreted, interpretedthrough someone.
Um, I will always try to go tothe source.
So if it's a case or somethinglike that, I will actually go
and read the case so that I cankind of form my own opinion in
addition to reading sort of whatsomeone thing about it.
Talia Laven, and she's she'swritten a couple of books.
(36:42):
One, her most recent one isWild Faith about Christian
nationalism, and then um, what'sthe other one?
Culture Warlords about whitenationalism.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Carmen Lezeth (36:52):
Um, yeah.
Andrea (36:56):
Um, let's see.
Carmen Lezeth (36:57):
I have not read the second one she mentioned.
Andrea (36:59):
Yeah.
Um, I like Jacob Soboroff fromMSNBC.
Carmen Lezeth (37:03):
Um, everybody loves Jacob Soborov, and he is
an incredible journalist, andhe's been handling.
I'm sorry, I had to interjectbecause I love him.
And he should get whatever he'sgetting in the future, pull
it's whatever it is, because hiswhat he's been doing for this
country is incredible.
And he's been uh handling allthe ice raids, not handling, but
(37:26):
he's been dealing with all ofthe people who are suffering
through all this.
Go ahead.
I'm sorry.
Andrea (37:30):
He's an LA guy, so you know, I love him local reporting
as well.
I follow a couple of journalismprofessors because I think
that's really helpful becausethey are like journalists with a
capital J and are veryinterested in you know fair
reporting and things like that.
So there's this guy, BillGruskin, um, another guy, Jay
Rosen.
So those are, you know, I hadthere's a lot of others.
(37:52):
Um well you said it's 50, soI'm like, we're not going
through the whole 50.
Yeah, like been bin uhErinreich, who uh is Barbara
Aaronreich's son.
Oh Aaron Reich wrote afantastic book, Nicol and Dimed,
which was turned into a play,which was started by our
esteemed hostess.
(38:12):
So yeah, he he does somewriting.
Carmen Lezeth (38:16):
I was in the theater production of Nicol and
Dimed, right?
Oh, I didn't I didn't realizethat was the connection there.
That's interesting.
Andrea (38:20):
Okay, and and then there's a handful of others.
Another uh that a couple that Iwant to mention is uh Nicole
Hannah-Jones, who uh was thecreator of the 1619 project,
which is a book, uh podcast, ashow on Hulu, and all, you know,
it's um a curriculum, all ofthat.
Really, really important workthere.
And one of my sort of longtimefavorites who's passed on now,
(38:44):
uh David Graber, who why are webringing him up if he's passed
on?
Well, I'm just saying he's hewrote books.
He wrote a book called Debt,the the first 500 5,000 years.
He wrote another book called UmUh Bullshit Jobs.
He was uh kind of he was in theOccupy Wall Street movement and
all that kind of stuff.
But anyway.
Carmen Lezeth (39:04):
So I agree.
I think what I want to say, andthank you for doing that list
because I think it's animportant thing.
But I the here's what I want toshare.
People are no longer followingnetworks or newspapers.
Like this idea that the NewYork Times is like this is a
fight I've had with so manypeople, that the New York Times
is the be all.
No, it's not.
(39:25):
And it hasn't been for years.
And then I'll get the argumentfrom people like, oh, but they
have so many resources.
Yes, just because you havemoney and resources does not
make you a good human being,person, or corporation.
So a lot of people, especiallyin the older generation, but
even in our generation, arestill fixated on this idea that
(39:46):
you need to follow organizationsand corporations, and you
cannot do that anymore, nor doyou need to.
Most of the great journalistsright now are independent and
are on Substack, you know, andthey're really shining.
And so I'm gonna name somenames of so I follow a professor
as well, and he has written forthe New York Times, but I love
(40:07):
him, Eddie Galad Jr., he'samazing.
He is definitely what you wouldsay more left-leaning, but he
also comes with receipts, alsohas written a great book on
Baldwin.
You know what I mean?
Like we can go down the list ofthat, but he's one of my
favorites because he's sopassionate and his empathy is
off the charts, just abouteverything in the world.
I'm gonna name some otherpeople that she will cringe up,
(40:30):
but Tim Miller from The Bulwark,he is a Republican who I know.
I'm giving people otheroptions.
Andrea (40:38):
I have read some of his stuff.
Carmen Lezeth (40:39):
I do, you know, he's actually really good.
He's a staunch Republican whohas now like completely thrown
his his hat into like thethere's his he's uh never
Trumper, though.
There's no doubt about it.
But he does come to it from adifferent point of view, and I
really like listening to him.
Um he's also very calm, youknow, he's very calm.
Uh Nicole Wallace, I talkedabout her before.
(41:01):
I like listening to her.
She's also a former GOP person.
She worked for George W.
Bush.
Um, I catch her show once in awhile on MSNBC because I'm
usually working uh when it's onlive, but I do like to catch
her.
Um and I'm gonna name someother possibilities because you
know these names.
There are people who havewalked away from network
(41:22):
television, from cable network,because they either got fired,
like Don Lemon and uh what's theother guy?
Costa, I forget his name, JimCosta from CNN.
He was being regulated from hisSaturday show to like a Sunday
night show, and he was like,Yeah, no, I'm done.
They have been unleashed onSubstack, and it is an
(41:43):
incredible thing to watch.
And you start to realize howconstrained all of these
journalists are because theywork for these big companies,
unless they have the kind ofpower of like a Rachel Matta or
Nicole Waller.
You know what I mean?
Like, but it's fascinating tonow see them unleashed.
And I'm not saying you have tofollow them or whatever, but if
you want to see what thedifference is with some names of
(42:05):
people you used to maybe you'veheard of before, and now see
them on their own, it's craycray.
It's crazy awesome fun.
I I think Don Lemon is now, Inever used to like him.
Now I'm like, okay, there'sthat's a journalist.
Like it's it's an incrediblething.
And he's doing a lot of opiniontoo, there's no doubt about it.
Um, I also wanted to give ashout out to some, like, if
(42:30):
you're going to go fororganizations that are
newspapers, like I do get alertsfrom specific places, and then
you do your investigative stuffyourself.
But the best ones, as far asI'm concerned, and they are more
center, they're more in themiddle, they're not
left-leaning.
Reuters, the Associated Press,and the BBC.
(42:50):
Those are the ones that I getuh news alerts from.
Um, and I think that they stillare more center and they're
less.
I mean, I think everything's anopinion.
I think this idea thatjournalism was ever some
objective bullshitery is whywe're in the trouble we're in
now.
But you do get both both sides,and you do get just
(43:12):
information.
I'm gonna plug one more thing,two more things.
If you want to double checkthings, and this is actually
free, you can get asubscription, but you don't need
to.
It's AI.
Perplexity AI is like this ishow I'm explaining it.
I am not an AI expert, it's howI'm explaining it to regular
folk.
Perplexityai.ai is uh like justa fantastic, bumped up, more
(43:40):
impressive Google search.
And what they do is withinseconds not only give you the
information you're looking for,but also give you all the
references at the bottom.
And that's what I love.
Because then I can go andcheck, oh, wait, where did they
get this information from?
You know, so that's also a goodway to double check your
sources if you want to.
But remember, AI is not alwaysperfect.
So you want to go double checkyour sources.
(44:02):
But perplexity AI is like oneof my favorites right now.
And the last thing I'll say,whether you like Rachel Maddow
or not, the thing about RachelMaddow that I would encourage
everyone to watch at least onceis her ability to not just
storytell, like she's a greatstoryteller, but how she builds
a story for you to understandwhat's going on.
(44:24):
So when it comes to historicalthings, war things, whatever it
is, like she is on point and shealways has that legalese and
that ability.
You want to not always followpeople because of their
ideology.
Like, that's why I used tolisten to Sean Hannity and you
know, Larry Elder and all thesepeople, not because I believed
in what they said, but because Iwanted to learn why they were
(44:46):
saying what they were saying.
What was their evidence behindit?
You know, be curious, be ahuman being who wants to know
the layers, and then you canspeak from a place of knowledge
and not just your opinion.
Andrea (45:02):
Yeah, I mean, I I think that's the most important point
here.
I mean, I named off a bunch ofpeople, I'm fully aware that
that is a bubble, right?
No, no, no.
That was the answer.
Carmen Lezeth (45:13):
I mean, that was the answer to the question.
Who do you think?
Andrea (45:15):
Yeah, I mean, but I'm just saying, like, I understand
uh that I'm I'm not looking atsources who are even really that
center, you know, much lessmore to the right, right?
So I understand that the newsI'm getting, you know, the
information that I'm getting isfiltered through a certain lens.
And that's why I mentioned, andyou've mentioned, like going to
(45:36):
the source material, so you canread it yourself and form your
own opinion.
I think it's still valid and aperfectly good thing to do to go
ahead and read the full articleand hear what people are saying
and how it's being framed, butunderstand it is being framed.
Carmen Lezeth (45:52):
I think that's the problem, right?
Is people will say, oh no, I Idon't want like, first of all,
there's no grandiose thing insaying you don't listen to
network news.
Like, I don't know why that'sbecome a thing.
I I don't watch network news.
Well, somebody's fuckingwatching it.
You know what I mean?
Like, and there's nothing wrongwith that.
That's not what the issue is.
You getting your resources fromYouTube videos also
(46:13):
problematic.
So you telling me that youwatch YouTube videos is not an
answer to how well informed youare because I don't know who the
you don't have to listen to useither.
Like, you know what I mean?
Like, we anybody can buy a micand have a camera and tell you
whatever they want with aforceful way of saying it.
I know the power of my voice.
I know that I can tell people afucking lie and they'll believe
(46:36):
it.
Here's the difference, though,is first of all, I would never
do that because I have empathyand compassion.
I would never use my power forbad or ill will.
But just understand that justbecause somebody screams it or
says it loudly or has a mic andhas a computer and looks really
pretty, or you think they'rehot, or whatever it is, that
does not mean that they arelegit or that they are right or
(46:58):
that they are on point.
Where are their resources?
Can you find three other placesthat say the same shit?
This is why every time somebodydies, like I got the
notification that that RobertRedford died, I was like, Yeah,
that didn't happen.
You know what I mean?
I got three other sourcesbecause I was not believing
nobody.
You know what I mean?
That's what you have to startdoing as a person in this day
(47:21):
and age with all the technologyand all the information at your
fingertips.
You need to be that into it.
If you're gonna spew that shitout of your mouth, you need to
be that into it.
That you figure it out.
Andrea (47:34):
You get critical thinking, critical thinking,
right?
Carmen Lezeth (47:39):
Let me just say I'm having a great conversation
on Sunday.
So please come visit.
And we talk all about criticalthinking with an educator and
somebody who is trying totransform the education system,
doing more of a hybrid model ofusing school and in-home
teaching.
And we talk about criticalthinking.
So that was a great segue.
Andrea (48:00):
We didn't even know about that.
Carmen Lezeth (48:03):
So that was good.
Yeah, so check that out onSunday in the private lounge at
12 p.m.
Pacific, 3 p.m.
Eastern.
Um, andrea, thank you.
That was a fun conversation.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, so uh thanks everyone.
Remember, at the end of theday, it really is all about the
joy, and we'll see you nextweek.
Bye.
(48:23):
Thanks for stopping by, AllAbout the Joy.
Be better and stay beautiful,folks.
Have a sweet day.
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