Iran-Contra to Kiss Cams: Tuesday's Quirky News Digest

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Did you know Oliver North is still alive—and just got married? At 81, the Iran-Contra figure secretly wed his former secretary Fawn Hall, 40 years after they became household names during one of the Reagan administration's biggest scandals. This surprising union kicks off our Tuesday news roundup that blends nostalgic political history with contemporary viral moments.

Remember that Coldplay Kiss Cam couple that had everyone talking? Turns out there's more to the story. The woman's husband has confirmed they were already separated and filing for divorce before the concert even happened—a perfect example of how quick we are to create narratives without knowing the full picture.

The state of modern journalism gets a critical eye as we dissect a puzzling article about Hershey Park's oldest roller coaster. Despite multiple paragraphs, the story somehow manages to say absolutely nothing substantive about the "off-ride guest issue" mentioned in the headline. It's no wonder reading habits are declining when content this empty fills our news feeds.

We also examine the contrast between message and actions as AOC's campaign reportedly spent thousands at luxury hotels while headlining "Fighting Oligarchy" rallies with Bernie Sanders. The $3,500 stays at upscale accommodations raise questions about consistency between political messaging and practical choices.

This marks our 901st episode, with just 99 more to go before we reach our planned conclusion at episode 1,000. Have you been with us from the beginning, or are you just joining our morning conversations? Either way, we'd love to hear about the most luxurious hotel you've ever stayed in—mine was the Bellagio in Vegas, and I still dream about that spa experience!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, good morning.
It's Tuesday, let's get rightto it.
I have four stories for you.
They're pretty light, short,easygoing.
Here we go.
Congratulations to Oliver Northand Fawn Hill not Hill Fawn
Hall who secretly got marriedlast week, 40 years after the

(00:22):
Iran-Contra scandal.
This is from the New York Postand, as a freedom entrepreneur
on X said, my first thought,oliver North is still alive.
My sentiments exactly Y'all.
He's 81 years old.
Can you believe it?
I remember I think this isprobably one of the first
stories CNN covered, because itwas on.

(00:45):
This is before Fox News cameout and everything.
I think this is when CNN firstcame out as a cable news network
, because I remember watching itas a teenager.
It was on my grandparents.
I was living with mygrandparents, so I lived with my
grandparents the last two yearsof my high school days and I
remember this being on theirtelevision set all the time.

(01:06):
So I think this was probablyone of the first stories CNN
covered as a cable news network,like nonstop type thing.
Let me get my phone unlockedhere so I can get back to the
story, All right.
So, yeah, that's what Iremember about it.
All right, I ran Contra Figures.
Oliver North and Fawn Hillsecretly married 40 years after

(01:28):
scandal report.
He's, like I said, oh my gosh,stupid ad.
He's 81 years old, she's 65.
And none of his childrenattended All right.
North, a retired Marine Corpslieutenant colonel, was a member
of former President RonaldReagan's National Security
Council when, in the late 1980s,he was accused of facilitating

(01:51):
illegal weapons sales to Iran.
The scheme was aimed to oh mygosh, these stupid-ass fucking
commercials.
I'm sorry, okay, I can't dothis.
Oh my gosh, pause.
Okay, I can't do this.
Oh my gosh, pause.
Okay, all right, I'm sorry,let's see if this will work now.
Oliver North and his loyalformer secretary Fawn Hall I

(02:17):
keep wanting to call her Hillreportedly married in secret
last month, 40 years after theirleading roles in the infamous
Iran-Contra affair.
A copy of the couple's marriagelicense obtained by journalist
Michael Isikoff shows North 81and Hall 65 were married in
Arlington County, virginia, onAugust 27th.

(02:39):
It was a secret marriage, afriend of the newlyweds told
Issaqov.
Well, no kidding.
North says he's already readall that.
The scheme was aimed atencouraging Iran-backed
militants in lebanon to releaseamerican hostages, while

(03:03):
proceeds from the arms saleswere diverted to support the
contra rebels in nicaragua,which was prohibited under the
boland amendment.
So I remember, like I said, Iremember this in high school,
but I didn't understand it atthe time.
I still don't't kind ofunderstand it, but in that short
little paragraph, that's whatit was about.
Well, you can move, you can.

(03:24):
I'm going to move on to thenext story.
There you go, though.
How about that?
Congratulations to the couple,I guess.
But at the end of the end ofthe thing it was kind of sad.
They said none of his childrenattended the wedding, which, you
know, maybe it was a secret.
They're probably grown my agealready, maybe I don't know.
Who knows why they didn'tattend.
They probably live in their ownlives already by now.

(03:45):
All right, we need to move onto the next story, which is
let's see, I've alreadyforgotten what it's about.
Y'all bear with me, I apologize.
Let's see, we already did.
Oh, so, speaking ofrelationships, I knew there was
a theme to this this morning.
Another relationship Rememberthe Coldplay Kiss Cam couple?

(04:06):
Well, come to find out thewoman.
She was already separated fromher husband and they had already
filed for divorce before thiseven happened.
So there you go, I'm going totry to open this damn New York
Post thing, and I swear if itgoes to commercials, I'm going
to.
All right.
Sorry, I don't know what iswrong with me.

(04:28):
I tried to clear my throat thismorning, didn't work.
Andrew Cabot, the jilted husbandof the astronomer HR Honcho,
kristen Cabot, has spoken outabout the pair's divorce in the
wake of her viral kiss cammoment with former CEO Andy

(04:49):
Byron during a Coldplay concert.
The Massachusetts entrepreneurwho is the CEO of the New
England distillery Privateer Rumhas addressed the duo's
ill-fated union.
After Kristen pulled the plugand filed for divorce last month
Sorry, sorry A spokeswoman forthe businessman 61, told people

(05:11):
that he and Kristen wereprivately and amicably separated
several weeks before theColdplay concert.
And let's see what else.
Their decision to divorce wasalready underway prior to that
event.
The statement continued.
Now that the divorce filing ispublic, andrew hopes this

(05:35):
provides respectful closure tospeculation and allows his
family the privacy they'vealways valued.
Well, there you have it.
Not that it's a big deal.
Whatever, I don't even careanymore.
I have it on here because Icouldn't find anything else and
I wanted you to have an updateon that, all right.
So this next story I picked inparticularly not for the content

(05:58):
, well, kind of for the content,not necessarily for the story,
but this is one of thosearticles that I cannot stand
because it repeats the samething of nothingness in every
paragraph.
But it's another Hershey Parkstory and there's nothing to

(06:19):
this story.
There's nothing in it.
I don't know why they wrote it.
They must have had an emptyspace they needed to fill.
And let me read this to you andyou're going to see what I'm
talking about.
They say the same thing overand over again and it's nothing.
All right, the headline isRiders forced to evacuate
Hershey Park's oldest rollercoaster due to off-ride guest

(06:40):
issue.
And the off-ride guest issue isin quotations Nobody.
It doesn't explain what it is.
What happened?
Nothing.
All right, you ready for this?
I'm gonna read this is and thisis.
I can't stand it.
It's nauseating and I have toshare it with you.
All right, eager thrill seekershad to be rescued from atop

(07:00):
Hershey Park's oldest rollercoaster Sunday after the rides
train stopped in its tracks dueto an off-ride guest issue.
That was the first paragraph.
Second paragraph the Comet, a75-year-old wooden coaster, came
to a halt around 5 pm after anunspecified issue forced a

(07:20):
shutdown in the middle of theamusement park ride.
That was the second paragraph.
Comet experienced a temporarystoppage on the track which was
caused by an unrelated off-rideguest issue.
Per our protocols, our teamsafely escorted guests off the
roller coaster and back into thestation without issue and the

(07:41):
ride was reopened.
A Hershey Park representativetold CBS 21.
That was the third one.
Here's the next one.
The ride stopped moving duringone of its first ascents, making
for a relatively easy hike backdown the slope.
According to video captured byonlookers, the Comet doesn't
feature any upside-down turnsthat would make any malfunction

(08:04):
more precarious, just a few tamebunny hills and drops that were
considered novel when it wasfirst installed in 1946.
Now it's flanked by the park'smore notorious coasters with
death-defying drops, includingSkyrush, which has a steep
yellow tower visible from theparking lot.
It's been a turbulent summerfor the beloved Pennsylvania

(08:26):
Amusement Park.
And then it goes on to talkabout other stories, like that
boy they had to rescue from themonorail.
Somebody else, I think, um, alittle girl, drowned in this in
the water parks wave pool.
So this story says nothing andthat just breaks.
No wonder people don't want toread anything anymore.
That's why people arefascinated with 30 second videos

(08:50):
on tiktok.
They don't want to readanything because nobody writes
anything.
Oh, and it makes people like mewho want to write, who have a
blog in americanscom and I writeat the Vintage Girls blog
Nobody wants to read anymore.
I understand now, all right.
Moving on, aoc's campaign spitthousands at ritzy hotels while

(09:11):
headlining fighting oligarchyrallies with Bernie Sanders.
I'm not going to get into thisa whole lot because I'm running
out of time, but it is on myx-file if you would like to go
read it.
About what all she did.
New York squad AOC, who fanciesherself a working class
champion against the ultrawealthy, appears to have lived

(09:31):
it up at ritzy hotels with herteam during her cross-country
fighting oligarchy tour withfellow far-left Bernie Sanders.
Of course, aoc's campaignshelled out $3,500 alone at the
Vedera Hotel and Spa, whichboasts a five-star relaxation

(09:52):
retreat in posh penthouses inLas Vegas.
During the tour in March, itwas not immediately clear what
type of services the darling ofthe socialist set may have
enjoyed at the costly hotspot,what time frame was involved or
how many staffers helped rack itup the hefty bill which was
first reported by the WashingtonExaminer.

(10:15):
Aoc and Sanders, a millionaire,began their fighting oligarchy
tour earlier this year tomobilize the country's
progressive base against theTrump admin.
Yeah, we know that Hercampaign's Vegas hotel
expenditure occurred around thetime of a town hall event she
participated in, about 20minutes away with Sanders and

(10:36):
so-and-so the only division thatis truly hurting our okay,
whatever, you can go finishreading that.
Who knows if it was her or ifit was somebody else?
Let's see.
Aoc's campaign made anothereyebrow-raising expenditure in
April when her politicalapparatus spit another $3,500 on

(10:57):
accommodation at Asher Adams, aluxury hotel in striking views
of the Salt Lake City, utah.
Her team listed thedisbursement days after the
April 13th rally she attended.
I mean, it could have been her,it could have been her staff,
who knows.
But yeah, keep an eye on that.
I guess Not that anything bad,not that anything's going to
come out of it.

(11:17):
All right, we need to move on tothe question of the day and my
question of the day.
When I read her expensive hotelbills and stay, I thought I
want to ask when you've traveledbefore in your travels, what
was the poshest, most expensiveluxurious place you've ever
stayed at?
And I'm going to tell you thatwe stayed at the Bellagio when

(11:40):
we went vacation in Vegas onetime.
We had a suite.
It was very nice, in front ofthe fountains.
That was a vacation,once-in-a-lifetime thing, very
nice.
That was probably the fanciestplace I've ever stayed in in my
entire life and ever will stay,ever.
And you know, we didn't payfull price for it, because at

(12:01):
the time, many years ago whenthis happened uh, several years
ago, we would also.
We were going to tunica backand forth a lot back then, and
back then the property we stayedat in Tunica was owned by MGM.
It was an MGM property, so weracked up points and stuff like
that throughout the years, whichin turn helped us get a deeply

(12:23):
discounted on the Bellagio suitethat we stayed in.
It was very nice.
And the spa experience, mygoodness gracious, very nice spa
indeed.
And what else?
Oh, totally off topic, hereagain, I noticed on my stats on
the podcast that yesterday was900th episode.

(12:45):
It was my 900th episode, whichmeans, well, this is 901, which
means now I only have 99 moreepisodes to go before I shut
this down.
I won't be doing the podcastanymore.
A lot can change between nowand then, though I say I'm going
to stop doing it at a thousandepisodes.
Who knows, a lot can happenbetween now and then.

(13:06):
All right, but anyway, in themeantime, thanks for listening.
I appreciate y'all.
Bye, have a good one.