Subways, Elections, And Christmas Trees

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A holiday gift thread turns into a deeper look at what holds communities together: safety, leadership, and the traditions we keep. We kick off with a practical idea—a crowd-sourced list of Christmas gifts on X—then sharpen the focus on a tougher theme: the rise in violent transit incidents and the push behind Irina’s Law. The stories are raw and recent, and they frame a central question: how do we build policies that prevent harm, not just react to it? We examine accountability for repeat offenders, the role of mental health interventions, and what it means for judges to prioritize public safety when the system feels stretched and inconsistent.

From there, momentum shifts to ballots and maps. A Tennessee special election becomes a real-time test of urban influence, suburban recalibration, and the limits of partisan messaging. We explore how the district’s redistricting and demographic changes unsettle old assumptions, why voter persuasion beats outrage, and where both parties are underestimating the ground game. It’s not just about flipping seats; it’s about understanding what voters in Nashville and surrounding suburbs want right now—credible plans on safety, cost of living, and culture that feels like home.

Then we swap policy for pine needles and step into New York’s Christmas tree economy, where romance meets rivalry. The Merchants of Joy documentary pulls back the curtain on a five-week sprint: massive upfront costs, guarded supplier networks, tricky weather, and big-box competition that can nuke margins overnight. Behind every twinkling lot is a logistics puzzle and a bet on joy. We close on a personal note—real tree or fake—and why that choice says something about how we balance mess with magic, convenience with ritual, and nostalgia with the realities of life.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
Well, here's a fun little thing to do.
Go over to my profile on X orjust search for Robbie Starbuck.
And he says it's time for myyearly Christmas ideas list.
Here's how here's what here'swhat you do.
He does this every year to helpmen and women find great unique
gifts for our significantothers.
So here's how it works.

(00:51):
Each of us put our best ideas inthe replies and bookmark this.
Check back tomorrow and boom,tons of ideas.
There you go.
I think that's something fun andpractical and something useful
to do on X.
Alright, good morning.
It's Tuesday.
Happy Tuesday, December 2nd.

(01:12):
One day closer to my birthday.
Alright.
I have three little stories foryou.
We're gonna start serious andthen um go light.
The first story is with Irena'slaw, one state forces judges to
put our safety first.
This is from the New York Post.
Of course, I get all of mystories from the New York Post,

(01:35):
I know.
But it's the most wide varietytype of um news to pull from.
What will it take to get crimeunder control in our subways and
public transit systems?
As Irina's law, you rememberIrena, I forget her last name,
I'm sorry.
The one that was stabbed todeath on the on the New York

(01:58):
subway.
Uh her law goes into effect inNorth Carolina this week.
Let's take stock of the d of thedescent into barbarism.
Barbarism.
We've seen across the country.
In the wild environment on oursubways have become, most trips
on the New York subway orWashington, D.C.'s metro system

(02:20):
don't resemble a clip from theMad Max.
That paragraph did not.
Okay, anyway, moving on.
But sooner or later, anyone whorides the rails of our cities
regularly encounters insanity,aggression, and the prospect of
violence or actual violence,including the murderous kind.
A year ago, a woman namedDabrina Kawam was slain, burned

(02:45):
alive in New York City subway.
Do you remember her?
The woman that was standingthere?
Oh, just burning.
I couldn't believe it.
It's insane.
It's burned into it's etchedinto my memory.
It's horrible.
In August, Irina Zarutska wasstabbed three times and killed
on a commuter train inCharlotte, North Carolina.

(03:06):
Last month, an attacker set fireto Bethany McGee on Chicago's
Blue Line, leaving her withlife-altering injuries.
None of these women had anyreason to fear for her life, but
a commute turned intounspeakable terror.
We're gonna move on.
Let's see, the other just talklegislature legislators, sorry,

(03:29):
in North Carolina at least, aretrying to stop this murderous
chain of events before it beginsby putting men with criminal
records like those of Irina'skiller in prison or mental
institutions as soon as theystart breaking the law.
We used to do this.
We just need to go back to it.
We and why do we have to havenew laws?
I guess these liberal judgesjust this whole DEI um soft on

(03:56):
crime, this whole crap that theleft and liberals have forced
upon us.
Talking about our justice systembeing lean one way, so they just
let everybody go.
This is where we are today.
This is the this is the resultof it.

(04:18):
So we just need to go back tolocking up people.
Period.
Period.
Okay, moving on.
We're gonna move on.
Too close Tennessee electionwarns GOP.
Damning the left isn't enough.
I agree.
We just sit here and talk aboutdamning the left all the time,
but then nothing ever happens.
All right.
Tuesday is a big day forTennessee.

(04:39):
This is today when they elect goto the voting booth.
Um, and for the closely dividedU.S.
House of Representatives,Democrats have been vowing to
turn red states blue, and lastmonth's election gave them
hopeful signs, thanks largely torevved up urban voters.

(04:59):
They are taking over the bigcities.
This is their plan, and it'sworking.
Look at Atlanta, look at NewYork City, look at Chicago, look
anywhere in California, and nowwe've got Nashville coming up on
the roster.
This week a special election inTennessee's 7th district,

(05:21):
pitting Gopp military veteranMatt Van Epps against far left
candidate Afton Ben, Bean Ben,whatever you pronounce her name,
will show them just how fartheir base can take them.
Going by conventional wisdom,this should be a walkover for
Van Epps.
The district liens Republicansby 10% points.

(05:41):
And Van Epps' policy positionsechoed those of the previous
incumbent, former RepresentativeMark Green, who resigned in July
to launch a new business.
But redistricting in 2020,redistrict redistricting, hello,
made the 7th somewhat less ruralthan it had been as State House

(06:02):
Republicans tried to boost theparty's chance elsewhere.
Now it's anchored byDemocrat-dominated Nashville and
its suburbs, as well as thewealthy bedroom community of
Franklin, one of the richestcities in America, and some
recent polling shows beingwithin striking distance.
I I've been to Franklin, and Ilet's hope it's not turning into

(06:25):
an Austin.
It used to be really cute andquaint and lovely, but there
have been a ton of liberalsmoving there.
So who knows?
This makes the race a canary inthe coal mine for our national
politics, says columnist MarkCollins.
So that's going on today.

(06:45):
Keep an eye on that.
We need to move on.
We're gonna move on to the lastarticle, which is a little bit
lighter to read, and it's aboutthe Christmas tree lot wars in
New York.
Forget the mafia.
New York City's real turfbattles are between cutthroat
Christmas tree sellers.
Alright, here we go.
This is kind of fun.

(07:05):
The most statuesque trees worthyof Manhattan or Brooklyn
brownstone don't come cheap orwithout behind the scenes drama
that has been kept from the NewYorkers until now.
Some of the tree sellers thatpop up on city streets in the
run up to the big day have goneroughly$400,000 into debt to buy
their supplies.

(07:26):
What?
Then there's the hush-hushaspect, securing the best trees
for themselves, often sourcedfrom farms in Oregon, Michigan,
North Carolina, and Tennessee.
The exact locations are tradesecrets that each peddler is
tight-lipped about.
There is also a documentaryabout this.
We'll get to that in a minute.
But most cutthroat of all is thelimited time period over which

(07:48):
this plays out, with treesellers duking it out for the
biggest profits in the highlycompetitive five-week window
just before Thanksgiving throughthe end of December.
The end of December?
Christmas is uh like December25th.
Okay.
So uh to make matters morechallenging, uncontrollable
factors come into play,including bad weather or big box

(08:09):
stores like Home Depot droppingan abundance of trees with
pressure mounting to getcustomers during the small
window.
We deal with everything, theweather.
No one wants to buy a tree inthe rain.
We deal with the economy whenpeople are going through hard
times.
And we've dealt with the transitstrike from December 20th to the
22nd of 2005.

(08:30):
New York City tree shop ownerGeorge Smith, one of the city's
big five dealers, told the post,We see it all firsthand because
we're on the front line.
Although the business iscentered around one of the most
magical times of the year, itrequires resilience,
determination, and a lot ofstreet smarts to survive and
thrive.
Uh, we're gonna so oh here wego.

(08:52):
Here we go.
Determination, blah, blah, blah.
As revealed in a new AmazonPrime video documentary
streaming today called TheMerchants of Joy by filmmaker
Celia Aniskovich, whose creditsinclude Netflix's Fear City, New
York versus the Mafia, andLifetime's surviving Jeffrey

(09:13):
Epstein.
The film pulls back the curtainon the intense world of the
city's tree turf wars and thelively characters behind the
first.
I want to watch this.
So you can go finish readingthat article.
It's fairly long and involved.
My goodness, it's very welldone, I think.
I encourage you to go read allof that.

(09:35):
But we need to move on.
Okay, I guess, okay, here's thequestion of the day.
Speaking of Christmas tree, isdo you get a real do you do you
what is your firm line on aChristmas tree?
Real or fake?
We get fake.
Now I've had real ones growingup, and I would like to one day
go back to going out and buyinga real tree and bringing it

(09:58):
home.
I just think that I just want areal tree one day, one time,
just one year.
Let's go out and get a realtree.
I like the real trees.
I know they're a mess andthey're a pain, but come on.
Anyway, that's my question ofthe day.
And I hope you've enjoyed thisepisode.
Thanks for listening, and I'llbe back tomorrow.