From National Park Politics To Aging Naturally: A Light, Spiky Morning Show

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Headlines shouldn’t need a decoder ring, yet here we are: fee-free national park days get rearranged, and suddenly a calendar becomes a battleground for identity and memory. We unpack why swapping in a presidential birthday while removing MLK Day and Juneteenth stings far beyond the ticket booth, and how media framing can turn policy tweaks into cultural flashpoints. No yelling, no spin—just a clear walk through what symbols signal and why people care.

Then we pivot from outrage to absurd delight: the “trashed panda” raccoon who blacked out in a liquor store and somehow inspired three official cocktails. It’s a hilarious snapshot of our attention economy at work, where even chaos gets branded and sold. We talk about why these viral moments spread, how humor lets us breathe, and what it says about the incentives driving everything from news cycles to marketing playbooks.

Finally, we bring it home with something more intimate: Kate Winslet’s decision to age naturally and a heartfelt check-in on beauty standards, Botox, and the pressure to edit ourselves into perfection. We share a candid, first-person perspective on stepping away from injections, embracing lines and lived-in hands, and pushing back on the feed’s demand for eternal youth. The conversation closes with a soft landing in nostalgia—Rudolph, misfit toys, and the claymation classics that made winter TV feel like a hug—because sometimes the best antidote to a noisy day is a simple story that still glows.

If this mix of culture, humor, and honesty hits home, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review. Tell us where you stand on the park-day shuffle, the “trashed panda” lore, and how you’re defining beauty on your own terms.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:30):
Ooh, hello, good morning.
It's Monday and I'm running alittle late and it's hot up in
this car.
I have my big gigantic wintercoat on.
I had the heater running.
Ooh, it's a little warm.
Um, let's see.
I have three light and easystories for you over here on my
X-File from the New York Post,and we shall get started here in

(00:52):
just a minute, as soon as I findthem.
Okay, here they are.
Alright, fun and light.
New York Post.
Trump adds birthday as free parkday, while MLK and Juneteenth
removals ignite backlash.
At first, when I saw this, whenI keep in mind it was like 3 15

(01:12):
in the morning when I wasreading the headlines, I first
thought he was trying to make abirthday, whatever your birthday
is, like a holiday where you getthe day off.
And then taking MLK andJuneteenth away as holidays.
I'm like, oh no, President,don't do that.
No, sir.
We like our days off as afederal holiday, being paid for

(01:32):
that.
No, sir.
But that's not what it is,apparently.
The Trump administration isreshaping when Americans can
enter national parks for free,for free, adding President
Donald Trump's birthday as afree day while eliminating
Martin Luther King.
Oh, for heaven's sakes.
Just keep Martin Luther King Dayand Juneteenth and then add your

(01:54):
birthday to it.
So it's Donald Trump's birthdaythat is going to be added.
Although presidents often revisethe list, the changes are
sparking criticism from civilrights advocates and Democratic
lawyers who say the removalsundercut holidays that honor
black Americans' history andcontributions.

(02:16):
They can get in free on DonaldTrump's birthday too.
It's not like it's just forwhite people to get on on Donald
Trump's birthday.
Whatever.
The shift in I guess becausethey want to take it away.
That means white people wouldhave to pay too.
So how is that racist?
I don't know.
So you can go finish readingthat if you like.

(02:37):
I just, you know, it's anational park.
Somebody responded, it's on ifit's public, why am I paying to
enter?
In their place, the Trumpadministration has added a slate
of historically themed uh orpresidential aligned dates.
President Donald Trump'sbirthday, which also happens to
be flag day, June 14th, by theway, becomes a free fee-free day

(03:00):
for the first time, as do theConstitution Day, the 110th
anniversary of the National ParkService, and the birthday of
Theodore Roosevelt.
Okay, whatever.
You can go check that out if youwould like uh to read a racist
article.
Man, there's a video there's avideo out there.
I don't know if I retweeted ornot, but it's uh from a UK looks

(03:23):
like a news broadcaster thatwent off on these terms being
thrown around like racist andracism.
She went off on it.
If you can find it, go read it,go watch it.
It's awesome.
And she nails it, of course.
All right, didn't you rememberthe raccoon that got drunk in
the liquor store?
Well, now it's being cleverlydone, I guess.

(03:47):
They've inspired new cocktails.
You ready?
Okay, a Virginia liquor storetrashed by a drunken raccoon who
went on a wild bender throughthe shop and was discovered
blacked out in its bathroom hasunveiled three new cocktail
inspired.
Three new cocktails inspired bythe now viral burglary.

(04:09):
This poor raccoon that sackedout, blacked out in the bathroom
looks so sad.
It's so awful.
Since then, trust me, beenthere, hon, been there.
Since then, the masked bandit,whom the Hanover Animal
Protection and Shelteraffectionately labeled the
Trashed Panda, which is by theway also our baseball team's

(04:30):
name here uh in Huntsville,Alabama, called we're called the
Trash Pandas.
Not not kidding, it's a realname.
Um so since then the MaskedBandit alright earned its own
impersonation on Saturday NightLive, even.
Virginia ABC wasted no timelatching on to its newest

(04:52):
sensation and crafted threecocktails inspired by the
raccoon's mischievous storebreak-in.
The lineup includes the RyeRascal Sour, Trash Panda Old
Fashioned, and Midnight GinFizz.
Well, there you go.
They're all featured on theVirginia ABC website, alongside
edited photos of a raccoonholding each drink.

(05:15):
There you go, bunch ofalcoholics.
Go get your drunk on, I guess.
Alright, my last story here,Kate Winslett.
I just recently watched um TheHoliday again.
That's one of my favoritemovies.
I love The Holiday.
I like Kate Winslett.
I th you know, I don't know whather political views are.
I'm sure they're since she's aHollywood actress, I'm sure

(05:38):
they're not good.
But I like this about her.
Kate Winslett, she's 50 yearsold.
I thought she was a little bitolder than that, but I guess
not.
Reveals why she hasn't gotanything.
This is how it reads.
I promise you.
This is how the headline reads.
I'm not making this up.
Kate Winslett 50 reveals why shehasn't got anything done to her

(06:00):
face as she slams plasticsurgery.
Good for her.
And good for uh Linda Hamiltontoo.
I don't think she's done, shewas recently uh spread out, you
know, all over the social mediauh showing her age, her actual
age.
Kate Winslett is proud to sayshe's aging naturally, and you
know what?
So am I.
I will admit a few years ago Ihad Botox injections in my

(06:25):
forehead, around my eyes, and Iprobably did that for a year and
a half, maybe, and then Ifinally just stopped doing it,
and I haven't had any injectionsin over a year, and I'm just not
doing it anymore.
I am going to age naturally, andI like it.
I I like it.
I've earned these wrinkles, andI actually like the way I look.

(06:46):
The Titanic actress 50 weighedin on the topic of plastic
surgery as she confirmed thatshe hasn't got anything done or
injected into her face.
That's what that's how it reads,I promise.
Oh, it's terrifying.
I think no, not you.
Why?
She told The Times of London inan interview published Saturday,
calling out people who've becomeobsessed with chasing an idea of

(07:08):
perfection to get more likes onInstagram.
It upsets me so much, she added.
Wis Winslett called itdevastating that so many people,
specifically other women inHollywood, are undergoing
cosmetic procedures and usingweight loss drugs.
Well, let me tell you whythey're doing it, Kate.
Because they get all the likesand and love from their fans and

(07:33):
even men who, when they postpictures, they're like, oh man,
she looks good for her age.
Oh yeah, she looks great.
You know, have you seen her?
Blah, blah, blah.
So yeah, they are doing it.
If a person's self-esteem is sobound up in how they look, it's
frightening, she stated.
I agree.
And it's puzzling because I havemoments when I think it's better

(07:54):
when I look at actresses atevents dressed how they want,
whichever shape, but then somany people are weight loss
drugs.
It's so varied.
Some are making choices to bethemselves, others do everything
they can to not be themselves,the Oscar winner continued.
And do they know what they areputting in?

(08:15):
The disregard for one's health.
It's terrifying.
It bothers me now more thanever.
It's a effing chaos out there.
Yeah.
Well, they are also the onesthat uh have no problems
injecting themselves with thevaccine either, so and uh so
Winslett noted that she's upsetnot by all the fucking
actresses, but by people whosave up for Botox for the shit

(08:39):
they put in their lips.
Now I've not had that I've nothad anything done in my lips.
I did draw the line there.
My my cosmetic person said, Whydon't you do some lip
injections?
Nope.
Nope.
Not doing that.
I was hesitant to hesitate toeven do the Botox injections in
my forehead.
I was so terrified to do it, butI did it.

(09:00):
I don't do it anymore though.
All right.
My favorite thing is when yourhands get old, she said after
showing the reporter lines onher face and to prove she hasn't
gotten Botox.
That's life in your hands.
Some of the most beautiful womenI know are over 70.
And what upsets me is that youngwomen have no concept of what
being beautiful actually is.
Thank you, Kate Winslett.

(09:21):
Thank you.
To support her argument, themayor of East Town Star
mentioned seeing a young womanon a BBC news article about a
car crash who looked like acartoon.
You do not actually know whatokay, you can go finish reading
that.
I that it goes on apparently onand on.
We need to get to the questionof the day.

(09:42):
Alright, trying to keep itChristmas related.
When you were a kid, when youwere little, and it was
Christmas time, and you rememberthe Christmas specials coming on
television.
What was your favorite one towatch?
I had a couple.
I had a few, but my favorite onewas probably Rudolph the Red
Nose Reindeer.
The claymation thing.
I love that show.
And then the other one wasremember uh it had the the bad

(10:05):
guy with the fire hair and thenthe Jack Frost carrier.
Maybe that was in maybe that wasI don't know what maybe I don't
know what which one that whichone that was.
But it was another claymationone.
Misfit toys and stuff like that.
I can't remember which what itwas named.
Anyway, those are my favorite.
I like the claymation ones.

(10:26):
All right, gotta go.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.