December 5, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode of The Civil Union, the hosts tackle a series of diverse topics, blending humor and serious discourse. They discuss local quirky news, like a drunken raccoon found in a Virginia liquor store, and dive deep into political controversies, including the legality of U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and the Trump administration's appointments of unqualified individuals. They also touch on topics like lab-grown meat, Trump’s Thanksgiving outbursts, and current pop culture mentions. The episode is fueled by a mix of personal anecdotes and strong opinions on pressing political issues.
00:00 Introduction to The Civil Union Podcast
00:37 Weekly Updates and Personal Anecdotes
05:33 Hockey, Romance, and Pop Culture
09:20 Controversial Military Operations in the Caribbean
11:52 Congressional Reactions and Legal Implications
16:40 Senator Mark Kelly's Response
17:51 Venezuela and US Military Involvement
18:45 Trump's Controversial Pardons
20:41 Unqualified Administration Appointments
26:45 Trump's Thanksgiving Week Behavior
31:23 Lab-Grown Meat: The Future of Food?
35:04 Conclusion
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Welcome to the Civil Union, thepodcast where politics and
everyday life collide.
Two Midwest husbands breakingdown politics with humor,
receipts, and real life context.
You won't hear from the coast.
If you are ready to stayinformed and connect with your
community, you've come to theright place.
Yes, you did and lots to talkabout this week.
Uh, Pete Hexes kills everybody.
(00:30):
Order, we got Trump'sThanksgiving Trumper tantrum,
and we have unqualified peoplein the administration.
Big surprise.
Alex, how are you doing thisweek?
I'm hanging in there.
It's a long work week for me.
I, you know, but we're, we'regetting through plus the snow.
I feel like when it's cold out,you just, your body just does
not want to move.
Yeah.
Any Oopsy DSEs this week?
(00:51):
No.
Don't think so.
What about you?
What do you think?
Hey, I never have Oopsy DSEs.
I'm the perfect person in theworld.
Oh, interesting.
So I wanna clarify, does thisOopsy Dsy just cover only me or
does it cover you too?
I would call, you know, I will.
You are free to call me out formy Oopsy ies.
Oh, okay.
If I have any Uhhuh, which wasvery rare.
(01:13):
Yeah, yeah, sure.
So two episodes in one week.
It must be Winter in theMidwest.
Winter.
I don't know her.
Oh, two episodes in one week.
I hope you guys are ready tokeep up.
But you know, the only thing Ilike about Winter is that I want
to change my last name to WinterGreen.
Doesn't that sound like.
Perfect.
Ryan Wintergreen.
(01:34):
Where did this Winter Green comefrom?
Guys?
He's been running on this forlike a year.
I have not a couple of months.
They were from the Altoids Box.
You know the flavor?
Winter Green.
Oh, that's right.
I, I love them and I love thename Wintergreen, Alex
Wintergreen, the Winter Greensfact.
Did you know Altoids are made ortheir headquarters are in St.
(01:55):
Louis.
Are they really?
Oh, wait, no.
Maybe Toms.
Those are different.
Well, that's completely ddifferent.
That is completely different.
I dunno where I'll take thisfrom.
Nevermind.
Not fact fiction.
If that was fiction.
Hey babe.
How many uh Instagram followersdid we get this week?
You know, I actually think wegot one or two A actually.
Hey, that's one.
So there you go.
Yeah.
(02:15):
One a week next week.
Right week.
Hi.
Yeah.
You know, you can only go upfrom there, right?
Yeah.
We're gonna hit a hundred heresoon, you guys really fast.
Um, we really hope you guysshare us and ke, you know,
spread the word.
We really appreciate it.
Hey, you know how I'm alwaystalking about how I'm a nice
guy.
I don't wanna sound like cockyor anything, but I'm a nice guy,
you know?
Yeah.
So like, I, there's friend I'vehad, I worked with her at
(02:37):
McDonald's I guess when I waslike 19 years old, and I, I'm
pretty sure she's a lesbian.
I'm not sure.
She moved to Portland, Oregonand I've been, been friends with
her on Facebook and I've seenlike all these like updates
she's had and everything.
She just bought her first home.
You know, and she's much youngerthan me, so that's a really big
deal.
A home in Portland, Oregon.
(02:58):
I can only imagine.
That's probably double the costof what our house is, you know,
here in the Midwest.
But, um, she.
Had a post today and I, I wannashare it because she said last
week I unexpectedly and abruptlywas let go from my job without a
given reason.
I am devastated working throughthe emotions of feeling sad,
(03:19):
upset, worried.
But don't worry, I have atherapist.
Over the past three and a halfyears, I've been building a DEI
department alongside someincredible humans, and I am so
just heartbroken.
And as I've been sharing updatesslowly throughout Facebook on my
life and everything you, youguys know, I just bought a house
(03:40):
and.
I'm really worried because thatdepleted my savings when she
bought the house and now shedoesn't know if she's gonna be
able to make her mortgagepayment.
And so recently Facebook, Iguess, had some crazy like
lawsuit where they had to paypeople for selling our
information to Russia.
We gotta look into that.
I'm pretty sure it was like alegit thing.
(04:02):
And Facebook put$38 and 38 centsinto my account because I signed
up to.
Be part of that, you know,lawsuit or whatever.
And so I, I, she had a Venmo upon her, uh, Facebook, and so I,
I, I gave that money to hertoday.
Because I thought, well, sheneeds some help and I'm gonna do
that.
I'm, I'm a nice guy, so that isa nice thing to do.
(04:25):
I didn't know Facebook wasactually giving out money.
I know it was like actually inthe news, but I really didn't
think how much people were gonnaget, which was interesting.
Uh, we were just talking aboutthis, I was just talking about
this with some people, abouthow, you know, these bigger
cities, they pay better, but.
You know, the chances of youbeing let go and all that, is it
worth moving for a job?
All of that, while you, a lot ofthese bigger cities with these
(04:46):
bigger companies also give outremote positions.
And remote positions are maybethe way of the future in a way,
because then you can still getpaid what they would get paid in
bigger cities.
But you're able to keep securein an area where you already
established life and housing andall this.
Stuff because a lot of peoplemove for these jobs to these
cities thinking, oh, you know,great.
(05:07):
But these, not only are theyhigher price, cost of living,
but it's a big risk to move fora job, especially in today's
climate where cuts are going tothe people first hired.
You know what I mean?
Like the, the chances of youlosing a job.
It's just really risky.
It's really sad.
It's crazy.
I could not imagine living in anexpensive city with let's say a
$3,000 mortgage and losing a jobthat would be.
(05:30):
Yeah, so stressful.
What would you do?
Like, what would you do?
It's crazy.
So do you remember us, uh,talking about the hockey game
last week, and I forgot tomention this in the last
episode?
There is a gay romance show onHBO right now called heated
rivalry.
And my friends have all beenmessaging me, like snippets of
it and telling me I need towatch it.
(05:51):
And I'm like, oh, well maybe weshould watch it.
It's come up in my algorithmtoo.
It's kind of funny.
I'm very intrigued to watch.
I think it was a book too, butalso this week I started
listening to Lily Allen's newalbum.
It's called West End Girl, andshe goes through, I guess she
was married to.
(06:12):
David Harbor from the StrangerThings cast and they like had a
open marriage or whatever, andthen I guess he like fell in
love with this person he wassleeping with or whatever.
And so Lily Allen literally likewrote this album all about that
and everything she's gonethrough and it is such a
cohesive album from start tofinish.
(06:34):
Like I know I sent you a fewtracks, but you need to listen
to like the entire album.
It's really good.
Kind of off topic, but notreally.
I would be curious when LilyAllen got with David, what's his
face?
Because he was not kind of, notreally anybody until Stranger
Things came around.
And I would be curious becauseit is, it reminds me a lot of
what Anna, um, oh my gosh, whatwas her name from Scary Movie
(06:59):
and how Chris Pratt was kind ofa nobody too.
I mean, he wasn't really anobody, he was in Parks and
Recreation and stuff for, butAnna Ferris.
Anna.
Anna Ferris, yeah.
But like he got really.
Big, very fast and then they, itslowly got them divorced and
it's like, I am, I wonderbecause he kind of got bigheaded
and I wonder if this guy's kindof going through the same
situation or their relationship.
It's very interesting'causeStranger Things just blew up.
(07:21):
Have you watched the new season?
I haven't, but I've seen likesnippets and it looks really,
really good.
I'm waiting for the whole thingto come out.
Yeah, I haven't either.
I really wanna watch it though.
Speaking of your whole hockeysituation.
I was, we were, we listened toAndy Cohen podcasts and stuff,
and he had a guy, a hockeyplayer on that was, um, the most
recent episode I'm behind, soit's, this was like a month or
two ago, but he had this hockeyplayer wrote a romance novel and
(07:43):
so it kind of made waves becauseit was a straight man that made
a romance novel about hockey.
And he was saying that like inhockey, it's probably with the
gayest sport because it's a verylike.
You know, roughhousing in thelocker room every, you know, he,
whatever the case is.
But he said there's a lot ofcloseted gay men in NHL and I
(08:05):
find that very interesting.
I would love to, like, I would,I wish people would just come
out now, you know, when I firstcame out of the closet, I was
dating this random guy and hewas.
He had told me he had datedseveral hockey players, but he
would never tell me the names.
Interesting.
So interesting.
But this isn't that podcast.
This isn't, yeah, yeah.
(08:26):
No.
Anyways, anyways, moving God.
So, um, you know, you, we aren'ttraveling out of the country
because of literally.
Your skin color, you're brownand you don't feel safe
traveling outside of the countryor whatever.
And we actually had a reallygood friend who had a birthday
party plans in the spring.
We were all gonna go to Antigua.
And you were kind of going backand forth because of the whole
(08:49):
situation with the immigrationsituation in the United States
and.
You woke up one morning and youwere like, you know what?
I just, I don't want to go, Idon't feel safe going.
And I was like, oh, okay.
Absolutely.
I don't want to go eitherbecause I have been so into the
news that you didn't realizethat I had, you know,
reservations about going becauseof antique was like in the
(09:12):
Caribbean Sea and we are likeliterally bombing boats in the
Caribbean right now.
So,
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Why are high ranking military officials suddenly
announcing their earlydepartures?
We had Commander of Southcom,Admiral Alvin Holsey, and three
Star General Joe McGee from theJoint Chiefs of Staff who both
made headlines in October fortheir unexpected exits, the
reason for their departures, Acontroversial US operation
(09:41):
targeting alleged drugtrafficking boats in the
Caribbean.
On September 2nd, US forcesdisabled.
One of these boats killing allbut leaving two survivors in a
shocking move.
A second strike dubbed a doubletap strike.
Targeted those two survivorsclinging to burning wreckage.
(10:03):
Killing them.
Reports suggest that AdmiralFrank Bradley was ordered to
carry out this second brutalattack, allegedly on orders from
defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,A claim.
The Pentagon has disputed,though they haven't clarified
what's inaccurate about thereports.
The tension builds when youconsider that both Holsey and
(10:26):
McGee had.
Simmering conflicts with Hgsfregarding these operations,
which has also raised seriouslegal concerns.
Hgsf argues that the strikeswere lawful adhering to both US
and international law.
However, legal experts acrossthe left, right and center
(10:46):
strongly disagree with this.
Just to cite one source from theright Jack Goldsmith of Harvard.
Who used to work for the GeorgeW.
Bush presidency, he noted thatin the Department of Defense and
Law War manual, it states thatit is, quote, prohibited to
conduct hostilities on the basisthat there shall be no survivors
(11:09):
or to threaten the adversarywith the denial of the quarter.
Goldsmith also goes on to say ifthe two sources are in fact
correct, it appears the specialoperations forces.
Committed murder when the twosurvivors were killed in the
double tap Strike.
Another person from the right,Andrew McCarthy from the
(11:32):
Conservative National Review.
He also says, quote, even if youbuy the untenable claim that
people are combatants.
It is a war crime tointernationally kill combatants
who have been rendered unable tofight, such as those who are
clinging to burning.
Wreckage in the Caribbean.
Now, this has caught theattention of Congress.
(11:56):
Both the House and Senate ArmedService Committees have vowed to
investigate these operations,especially the double tap
strike.
We'll, we'll just have to seehow serious they are.
But more notably, bipartisanconcern is starting to rise with
lawmakers from.
Both sides questioning thelegality of targeting survivors.
(12:19):
Now, during a recent pressconference, Caroline Levitt
addressed reports about theSeptember 2nd incident
explaining that theadministration considers the
strikes lawful as acts ofself-defense.
Yet she also tries to distanceTrump and Hegseth from the order
placing the responsibilitysquarely on Admiral Bradley's
(12:41):
shoulders.
Meanwhile.
Hex.
Seth has publicly backedBradley, calling him an American
hero, and that hex Seth, uh,stands by combat decisions that
were made by Bradley onSeptember 2nd, and all missions
since shifting the blame solelyonto Bradley.
(13:01):
This dynamic raises a crucialquestion when military orders
cross ethical and.
Legal lines, who is trulyaccountable here Overall, as
this situation unfolds, it'smore than just military
protocol.
It should also be a wake up callto the world that America is now
(13:23):
a bully who targets survivorscling to burning wreckage in the
Caribbean.
This is not normal, folks.
It's not normal.
So these small, tiny boats areover 2000 miles away from the US
border.
They aren't just driving nonstophere.
They would have to stop.
Numerous times in differentcountries in order to refuel
(13:47):
Congress has been left in thedark because there has been no
evidence presented to prove thatthese votes are actually
carrying drugs, that these arenarco terrorists, is what the
White House is calling it.
Even so Trump just pardoned theformer Honduran President, Juan
Orlando Hernandez, who wasconvicted of helping smuggle
millions of tons of cocaine intothe United States.
(14:11):
Yes, Trump just parted him thisweek.
So what's the difference here?
I'm so confused by this.
I also find it.
I also find it fascinating howsix Democrats released a video a
few weeks ago before thisactually hit the news reels.
In that video, which wediscussed in the previous
episode, the six Democrats talkabout how the military should
(14:33):
not follow illegal orders.
I wanna play that video againbecause it really ruffled the
feathers of Trump and whobasically called for their
hangings and hegseth who.
Threatened legal actions againsteveryone, including Arizona
Senator Mark Kelly.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
i'm Senator Alyssa Slotkin.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Senator Mark Kelly, representative Chris De Lucio,
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Congresswoman Maggie Goodland.
Representative Chrissy Houlahan,
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Congressman Jason Crow.
That was a captain in the UnitedStates Navy,
Speaker 3 (15:00):
former CIA officer,
Speaker 4 (15:01):
former Navy former Paratrooper and Army Ranger,
Speaker 3 (15:04):
former intelligence officer, former Air Force.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
We wanna speak directly to members of the
military
Speaker 3 (15:09):
and the intelligence community
Speaker 4 (15:10):
who take risks each day to keep Americans safe.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
We know you are under enormous stress.
And pressure right now.
Americans trust their military,
Speaker 4 (15:18):
but that trust is at risk.
This administration is pittingour uniform, military
Speaker 3 (15:22):
and intelligence community professionals
Speaker 4 (15:24):
against American citizens like us.
You all swore an oath
Speaker 3 (15:28):
to protect and defend this constitution.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Right now, the threats to our constitution
aren't just coming from abroad,but from right here at home, our
laws are clear.
You can refuse illegal order.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
You can refuse illegal orders.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
You must refuse illegal orders.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
No one has to carry out orders that violate the law
or our constitution.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
We know this is hard and that it's a difficult time
to be a public servant,
Speaker 3 (15:51):
but whether you're serving in the CIA,
Speaker 4 (15:53):
the Army or Navy, the Air Force, your vigilance is
critical and
Speaker 3 (15:57):
know that we have your back.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
cause now more than ever,
Speaker 3 (16:01):
the American people need you.
We need you to stand up for ourlaws, our
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Constitution, and who we are as Americans.
Don't.
Give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Don't give up the ship.
So let's talk about Pentagon pd,how he talked about the illegal
actions in the military back in2016.
Let me play that video for you.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
If you're doing something that is just
completely unlawful and, uh,and, and ruthless, then there is
a consequence for that.
That's why the military said itwon't follow unlawful orders,
uh, from their commander inchief.
Uh, there there's a standard,there's an ethos.
There's a belief that we areabove what so many things that
our, our enemies or others woulddo.
and here is Senator Mark Kellyresponding to this entire
(16:44):
situation
Speaker 6 (16:45):
The job of the president to lay out a case
before we go to war.
And if it is about removing, uh,Maduro, I mean, how do you
square that with Pardoning?
Juan Hernandez, who is basicallythe same guy from a different
country who got sentenced to 45years in prison and he's barely
(17:09):
been there, he's probably hasn'teven gotten settled in yet.
And the president's gonnarelease'em.
Doesn't make any sense.
And I'll tell you what, regimechange as a policy of the United
States generally in our historyhas not worked out well.
Think of South Vietnam.
Think of the Bay of Pigs, Iraqand Afghanistan.
(17:31):
It results in the deaths of USservice members without the
intended outcome.
And in this case, I don't eventhink we know the intended
outcome.
President needs to make a caseto the American people when he
is about to put thousands ofAmerican men and women in harm's
way.
Trump is literally planning toput our military on the land of
(17:55):
Venezuela to go after what theycall narco terrorists right now.
Interesting to note, Venezuelaholds about 17% of the world's
oil, which is why you stilldrive a gas car and why you
can't afford an electricvehicle.
Oil rich, billionaireRepublicans just don't have
enough money, and for somereason, the poor country folk
(18:17):
who vote for these guys, yelldrill, baby drill.
So we have this administrationthat is starving people.
Healthcare costs are going toskyrocket very soon.
Republicans hate, and I mean.
Hated the Affordable Care Act.
So why haven't they fixed thesituation?
Why haven't they come up with abetter health plan for all
(18:38):
Americans?
They've had 16 years to come upwith a better plan.
Short answer is they don't careabout you.
I can't believe I didn't knowthat Trump arrested or Pardon?
Not arrested.
Pardon that guy this week.
I didn't see that.
And that's, that is, that makesno sense.
Especially'cause of all thestuff going on with them trying
to go after these drug cartelsand rebel bringing in drugs.
(19:01):
It's a huge deal.
And they, you know, they had thefirst family go after them with
a human rights action lawsuitbecause of Trump, you know.
Going after one of their boatsof their family members and
they, the story was this familymember used to go out in the
ocean and fish, and so who knowswhat he actually was doing, but
it's like how deep are theyactually researching this?
Yeah.
No, that person actually justfiled a human rights violation
(19:23):
complaint, I guess.
To some global thing, yet, Ihaven't read into it yet, but
literally that family hasn'tseen their fishermen husband,
and a lot of these are really,really poor people that drive
these boats to different islandsor actually go fishing.
And some of these people havebeen killed.
Because they are just doing ajob.
(19:45):
Who knows what's on these boats?
I mean, no one knows.
There's no evidence.
And listen, these drug cartelsare very creative.
They're gonna find other ways toget drugs into this country.
Maybe we should not focus on.
Oceans and boats and actuallymaybe put all the power and
energy you're putting in the iceinto actual departments to be
able to clear the drugs off thestreets and in areas of the
(20:08):
country that, you know, it'sprevalent.
They, they're taking energy thatthey could be putting in other
departments, shutting them down.
And if they're not shutting'emdown, they're putting'em in
areas where it shouldn't,doesn't matter.
That's what I think.
Or maybe just like, don't dodrugs.
That too.
I mean, that's an option, right?
That too.
I mean, shit has never reallybeen presented to me before in
my life, you know?
(20:29):
So I don't, I don't like seek itout, you know what I'm saying?
I'm sure you could find it, butit's just crazy to me.
I.
Anyway, so HUP is clearly, andwe've been saying this,
unqualified for the job.
In March, a group of UnitedStates national security leaders
were observed, conversing on amessaging app about imminent
military operations in Yemenbefore those actions even took
(20:51):
place.
The sky is not qualified for hisjob, literally.
So this has to be.
Altogether, the most unqualifiedadministration in the history of
the United States.
You got RFK Junior who was anenvironmental lawyer.
Now he's the Secretary ofHealth.
No medical backgroundwhatsoever.
(21:12):
You got Sean Duffy, a formercast member of the real world,
and a former lumberjack athlete,whatever that means.
I don't even know what thatmeans, but he also has like nine
kids.
But then you have.
Linda McMan, who is the formerCEO of the Worldwide wrestling,
who is in charge and is theSecretary of Education.
(21:35):
It just doesn't make sense tome.
I mean, we are literally livingin a Twilight Zone here, and the
Republicans in Congress just sitback and let this unfold in
front of their eyes, you know?
I don't know what experience youget from the worldwide wrestling
or running that, but I justthink it's really funny that now
she's in charge of our kids andthere is an outbreak also going
(21:56):
on of neurovirus if no one is,knows that yet.
You know, there's a lot ofpeople getting sick.
It's going through, we'rewashing our hands and having to
use sanitizer and be able, youknow, be very cognizant in the
healthcare community and nothingis, there's nothing out there
really because of.
Person leading the Department ofHealth.
I mean, it's just there's, thesepeople aren't qualified and
(22:18):
we're gonna see, we're gonnastart seeing it.
We're not even a year into thisadministration, and we're gonna
start seeing the effects ofthis.
Yeah.
And on the whole unqualifiedjobs theme or whatever, it's
like a federal appeals courtjust backed a lower court's
ruling that Trump's pick foracting US Attorney General Alina
Haba was.
Pointed illegally.
Trump put Haba in for a 120 daygig, and after that gig is up,
(22:42):
it's up to the district courtjudges to fill the role until a
new US attorney is confirmed bythe Senate.
The judges just weren't havingit since Haba lacks prosecuting
experience.
Instead, they chose, Desiree LeeGrace, a seasoned prosecutor to
take the lead.
But here's where things gotwild.
(23:02):
In retaliation, attorney GeneralPan Bondy then fired Grace and
snatched the office back toHaba.
One of the judges pointed outthat the current administration
is just clearly feeling the heatfrom legal and political
challenges.
And we continue to let Trump getaway with this.
I just don't understand.
But of course there's more here.
(23:23):
A federal judge ruled that.
Trump's appointment of LindsayHooligan, who was recently in
the news.
she was appointed to be the USattorney for Virginia.
they said that that was illegaltossing her cases out against
former FBI Director James Comeyand New York Attorney General
Letitia James.
Other judges have declaredTrump's appointments in both the
Central District of Californiaand even the district of Nevada
(23:46):
are also illegal.
So he's literally putting thesepeople in for, I, I don't even
know, I guess bargains orsomething.
I have no idea.
It has to be bargains.
Or friendships or other otherreasons because there is no
other, if they're not qualified,that should be the end game.
That should be it done deal sealdelivered.
But why I would love, I don'tknow.
I feel like these people would,it may takes more research to
(24:08):
dig and see exactly who they'repocketed with.
Yeah.
And so.
On that same subject, here's awhole list of unqualified
journalists.
So When you're trying to filterout people from the newsroom,
(26:18):
they've been doing this for awhile but I, I don't know if
anyone remembers them.
Barring a certain newsorganization, I can't remember
what, which one it was, but theywouldn't be able to get on Air
Force One and things, and it,you know, no one has ever done
that, but.
For, and them doing that justcreates a bigger divide.
So, and it creates biggerfiltration of what these, what
these new sources can cover in arapid pace to be able to allow
(26:40):
the public to know of certainthings going on, which is
exactly what they want.
Yeah, so before this gets waytoo far into the history of
things, Trump's behavior overThanksgiving week can increase
concerns about his mentalacuity.
His posts promoted far rightconspiracy theories, AI videos
and attacks on his politicalopponents, but a rant on his
(27:01):
social media account at midnighton Thanksgiving itself
threatened to strip citizenshipfrom naturalized immigrants.
He called the Minnesota GovernorTim Walls, the profoundly
offensive R word, and ended hispost with a happy Thanksgiving
to all except those that hate,steal, murder, and destroy
everything that America standsfor.
(27:23):
You won't be here for long.
Clearly the President is fadingboth physically and mentally.
The mental capacity to beranting at midnight on
Thanksgiving should give allreasons to continue to be
concerned.
It's just not normal behavior,but it's not shocking.
He does this all the time.
Now.
Presidents throughout historyhave released their tax returns,
(27:45):
not Donald Trump presidentsthroughout history have released
their medical records, notDonald Trump.
And here's another thing, theguy got an MRI but doesn't even
know what the MRI was for.
Who goes in for an MRI anddoesn't even know what it's for.
So on Air Force one, Trumpresponded oddly to a reporter's
(28:06):
question about a call to releasethese MRI records.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
What part of your body was the MRI
Speaker 9 (28:12):
looking at?
I have no idea.
It was just an MRI.
What part of the body?
It wasn't the brain because Itook a cognitive test and I aced
it.
I got a perfect mark, which youwould be incapable of doing.
Goodbye everybody.
Thank
Speaker 8 (28:24):
you.
You too, p.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker 10 (28:25):
President.
Thank sir.
It God.
Yeah, that's him saying, whichyou would be incapable of do
doing.
Pointing to a female reporterand then he pointed to another
female reporter and said, youtoo.
He also told a female reporterlast week.
Quiet.
Quiet pig.
Like he is the absolute scum ofthe earth.
I can't stand the man.
(28:45):
He's so inappropriate.
And maybe, maybe, maybe thesolution is we stop putting
people in presidencies that areover 70 years old.
Like of course they're gonnastart deteriorating.
I mean, Biden had the sameissues.
Other P other presidents, we'vehad the same conversations
about, it doesn't matter whetherthey're left or right, it, they
(29:06):
all get older and they allnaturally.
De Degradate, but I don't thinkthat, you know.
It doesn't surprise me thatTrump has mental, like, could
possibly have mental issues, butthe thing with the MRI thing,
MRIs are not just something youwalk into like that is a, that
is a process.
You have to take all your metaloff.
You have to take, you know,stripped down.
This is not just something, youknow, this is not just some walk
(29:28):
in the park.
You have to have it scheduled.
So for him to not, not to knowwhy he didn't get one.
Blatant lie, and they definitelyare looking at a certain part of
the body.
It's not a full body scan.
They look at a certain pinpoint.
So I mean, there has to be areason they're doing that.
And he's obviously either A,he's not being informed, which
is crazy, or B, he really is,there's something going on that
(29:49):
he's hiding.
Yeah, agreed.
So, do you have any fun topicsor fun news, babe?
I do.
So, you know, I'm gonna run withour week theme of raccoons here
for a second.
there is a really funny story.
While I was searching for thetop three stories of the week,
which I post on Wednesdays,there was a story that I came
across in Virginia, a very drunkraccoon.
(30:12):
Was found passed out on thefloor of a liquor store after
breaking in and apparentlyhosting a one raccoon Black
Friday.
Rager, uh, staff walked in onSaturday morning to smashed
bottles, puddles of scotch andwait for it.
The mast bandit snoozing in thebathroom between the toilet and
the trash can.
(30:33):
It's a drunk trash panda panda.
A little drunk trash pandaanimal control says the raccoon
fell through the ceiling andwent on a full blown rampage.
Drinking everything.
Sobered up in a custody, showedno injuries except maybe a
devastating hangover, and wasreleased back into the wild to
rethink its life choices.
Wow.
The liquor store thankedofficials for giving their furry
(30:54):
customer a sober ride home.
And honestly.
Same vibe as half of Americaafter Thanksgiving weekend, but
it was it.
You should see the photo, I meanthis rec, and there is a photo,
there is this raccoon just faceplanted starfish style on the
bathroom floor of this liquorstore and the liquor store.
There's just tons of liquorbottles just smashed on the
(31:16):
ground and hilarious.
Yeah.
Wow.
That's wild story one.
Alright, here's another funstory for you.
this is more, I find thisinteresting'cause I, I've been
more cognizant about not eatingas much meat.
I, not because of health, butbecause I care about animals.
And I started reading bio, likefood biographies about the food
(31:38):
system and watching food,watching food biographies that
just, I don't know why I do itto myself.
It just makes things worse.
So now I, whenever I eat meat, Ithink of these poor, poor
animals.
Anyway, imagine this.
You want a burger.
But you don't want to raise awhole cow.
Scientists looked at thatproblem and said, cool.
What if we just grew the meatourselves and then.
(32:00):
Well, they actually did it.
Here's how it works, and Ipromise this is the simple
version.
They start by borrowing a teenytiny sample of cells from a cow.
Not the whole cow, just a fewcells, the bovine equivalent of
a Q-tip swab.
Then they put those cells in awarm nutrient rich tank.
Think of like a giant.
Slow cooker for science.
The cells get fed proteins,sugar, vitamins, basically the
(32:23):
cow version of a multivitamin,and then they start multiplying
like bread dough, you forgetabout on the counter, like my
sourdough.
And next the cells needsomething to grow on because
meat has structure you, it hasto look like meat.
You can't just serve a puddle ofloose cells.
So we're not doing that.
So scientists give the cells ascaffold.
And here's the fun part.
(32:44):
Sometimes that scaffold is a.
Decellularized spinach leaf.
Yes.
A salad that's trying to be asteak, but it works because
spinach veins help deliveroxygen to the growing meat.
As the cells multiply, theyspread across the scaffold or
this spinach leaf and grow intomuscle tissues, which is exactly
what meat is.
(33:05):
At the end of the process, youget real biological steak or
meat just made without raisingor slaughtering an animal.
Now who is funding this?
Exactly.
I supposedly, from when I wasresearching with this story,
there are numerous.
Researchers around the worldtrying to come up with this.
I think they wanna be first, youknow, kind of like NASA was
(33:26):
getting to the moon.
So these different countries areputting in research in various
ways and there's, you know, thisis why people should care.
Cows produce massive amounts ofemissions, need huge amounts of
land and water, and they sayit's one of the highest reasons
of global warming.
Effects of global warming.
So scaling beef productionglobally is a, it's a climate
(33:46):
nightmare because of all theresources needed.
Lab grown meat coulddramatically cut pollution if
scientists can make it cheaperand tastier.
So right now it's kind of likean early iPhone era of meat.
It's impressive, expensive.
I think the hamburger costsfirst, like.
Uh, tons of money.
I'm talking like thousands ofdollars now.
They've brought it down to being$10 a meat patty, but obviously
(34:10):
they can't scale it for grocerystores yet, but they're still
figuring out.
So my question, if you're aburger lover, but it was grown
in a tank using science,spinach, would you eat it or is
that a No thanks, I'm justordering.
A normal steak, like would youeven be open to the idea of
(34:30):
eating grown lab meat?
Uh, not me.
I don't think so.
Not yet, Elise?
I think, I don't think soeither.
I mean,'cause the thing is Idon't even eat red meat anymore,
so I think it's crazy thatpeople crave this taste of meat
so much that they're puttingthis much rich into growing
meat.
Like just eat a fucking, butit's good for the cows though,
(34:51):
so that's good.
Just eat a vegetable, eat sometofu and call it a day.
And if you want to eat meat, eatmeat.
But just take in your consciencethat a cow died for it.
Yeah.
Well, so, uh, if you made itthis far, thank you for
listening and everyone knowsthat I'm really into Mel Robbins
right now.
So here is a quote from ourfavorite Mel Robbins.
(35:14):
You can be a kind person with agood heart and still tell people
to f off when needed.
It's called boundaries.
I love boundaries, and here's myboundary.
I'm closing it down.
This is the end of the episode.
All right.
Thanks everyone.
Love you.
Have a good one.
All right, bye.
Welcome to the Civil Union, thepodcast where politics and
everyday life collide.
Two Midwest husbands breakingdown politics with humor,
receipts, and real life context.
You won't hear from the coast.
If you are ready to stayinformed and connect with your
community, you've come to theright place.
Yes, you did and lots to talkabout this week.
Uh, Pete Hexes kills everybody.
(00:30):
Order, we got Trump'sThanksgiving Trumper tantrum,
and we have unqualified peoplein the administration.
Big surprise.
Alex, how are you doing thisweek?
I'm hanging in there.
It's a long work week for me.
I, you know, but we're, we'regetting through plus the snow.
I feel like when it's cold out,you just, your body just does
not want to move.
Yeah.
Any Oopsy DSEs this week?
(00:51):
No.
Don't think so.
What about you?
What do you think?
Hey, I never have Oopsy DSEs.
I'm the perfect person in theworld.
Oh, interesting.
So I wanna clarify, does thisOopsy Dsy just cover only me or
does it cover you too?
I would call, you know, I will.
You are free to call me out formy Oopsy ies.
Oh, okay.
If I have any Uhhuh, which wasvery rare.
(01:13):
Yeah, yeah, sure.
So two episodes in one week.
It must be Winter in theMidwest.
Winter.
I don't know her.
Oh, two episodes in one week.
I hope you guys are ready tokeep up.
But you know, the only thing Ilike about Winter is that I want
to change my last name to WinterGreen.
Doesn't that sound like.
Perfect.
Ryan Wintergreen.
(01:34):
Where did this Winter Green comefrom?
Guys?
He's been running on this forlike a year.
I have not a couple of months.
They were from the Altoids Box.
You know the flavor?
Winter Green.
Oh, that's right.
I, I love them and I love thename Wintergreen, Alex
Wintergreen, the Winter Greensfact.
Did you know Altoids are made ortheir headquarters are in St.
(01:55):
Louis.
Are they really?
Oh, wait, no.
Maybe Toms.
Those are different.
Well, that's completely ddifferent.
That is completely different.
I dunno where I'll take thisfrom.
Nevermind.
Not fact fiction.
If that was fiction.
Hey babe.
How many uh Instagram followersdid we get this week?
You know, I actually think wegot one or two A actually.
Hey, that's one.
So there you go.
Yeah.
(02:15):
One a week next week.
Right week.
Hi.
Yeah.
You know, you can only go upfrom there, right?
Yeah.
We're gonna hit a hundred heresoon, you guys really fast.
Um, we really hope you guysshare us and ke, you know,
spread the word.
We really appreciate it.
Hey, you know how I'm alwaystalking about how I'm a nice
guy.
I don't wanna sound like cockyor anything, but I'm a nice guy,
you know?
Yeah.
So like, I, there's friend I'vehad, I worked with her at
(02:37):
McDonald's I guess when I waslike 19 years old, and I, I'm
pretty sure she's a lesbian.
I'm not sure.
She moved to Portland, Oregonand I've been, been friends with
her on Facebook and I've seenlike all these like updates
she's had and everything.
She just bought her first home.
You know, and she's much youngerthan me, so that's a really big
deal.
A home in Portland, Oregon.
(02:58):
I can only imagine.
That's probably double the costof what our house is, you know,
here in the Midwest.
But, um, she.
Had a post today and I, I wannashare it because she said last
week I unexpectedly and abruptlywas let go from my job without a
given reason.
I am devastated working throughthe emotions of feeling sad,
(03:19):
upset, worried.
But don't worry, I have atherapist.
Over the past three and a halfyears, I've been building a DEI
department alongside someincredible humans, and I am so
just heartbroken.
And as I've been sharing updatesslowly throughout Facebook on my
life and everything you, youguys know, I just bought a house
(03:40):
and.
I'm really worried because thatdepleted my savings when she
bought the house and now shedoesn't know if she's gonna be
able to make her mortgagepayment.
And so recently Facebook, Iguess, had some crazy like
lawsuit where they had to paypeople for selling our
information to Russia.
We gotta look into that.
I'm pretty sure it was like alegit thing.
(04:02):
And Facebook put$38 and 38 centsinto my account because I signed
up to.
Be part of that, you know,lawsuit or whatever.
And so I, I, she had a Venmo upon her, uh, Facebook, and so I,
I, I gave that money to hertoday.
Because I thought, well, sheneeds some help and I'm gonna do
that.
I'm, I'm a nice guy, so that isa nice thing to do.
(04:25):
I didn't know Facebook wasactually giving out money.
I know it was like actually inthe news, but I really didn't
think how much people were gonnaget, which was interesting.
Uh, we were just talking aboutthis, I was just talking about
this with some people, abouthow, you know, these bigger
cities, they pay better, but.
You know, the chances of youbeing let go and all that, is it
worth moving for a job?
All of that, while you, a lot ofthese bigger cities with these
(04:46):
bigger companies also give outremote positions.
And remote positions are maybethe way of the future in a way,
because then you can still getpaid what they would get paid in
bigger cities.
But you're able to keep securein an area where you already
established life and housing andall this.
Stuff because a lot of peoplemove for these jobs to these
cities thinking, oh, you know,great.
(05:07):
But these, not only are theyhigher price, cost of living,
but it's a big risk to move fora job, especially in today's
climate where cuts are going tothe people first hired.
You know what I mean?
Like the, the chances of youlosing a job.
It's just really risky.
It's really sad.
It's crazy.
I could not imagine living in anexpensive city with let's say a
$3,000 mortgage and losing a jobthat would be.
(05:30):
Yeah, so stressful.
What would you do?
Like, what would you do?
It's crazy.
So do you remember us, uh,talking about the hockey game
last week, and I forgot tomention this in the last
episode?
There is a gay romance show onHBO right now called heated
rivalry.
And my friends have all beenmessaging me, like snippets of
it and telling me I need towatch it.
(05:51):
And I'm like, oh, well maybe weshould watch it.
It's come up in my algorithmtoo.
It's kind of funny.
I'm very intrigued to watch.
I think it was a book too, butalso this week I started
listening to Lily Allen's newalbum.
It's called West End Girl, andshe goes through, I guess she
was married to.
(06:12):
David Harbor from the StrangerThings cast and they like had a
open marriage or whatever, andthen I guess he like fell in
love with this person he wassleeping with or whatever.
And so Lily Allen literally likewrote this album all about that
and everything she's gonethrough and it is such a
cohesive album from start tofinish.
(06:34):
Like I know I sent you a fewtracks, but you need to listen
to like the entire album.
It's really good.
Kind of off topic, but notreally.
I would be curious when LilyAllen got with David, what's his
face?
Because he was not kind of, notreally anybody until Stranger
Things came around.
And I would be curious becauseit is, it reminds me a lot of
what Anna, um, oh my gosh, whatwas her name from Scary Movie
(06:59):
and how Chris Pratt was kind ofa nobody too.
I mean, he wasn't really anobody, he was in Parks and
Recreation and stuff for, butAnna Ferris.
Anna.
Anna Ferris, yeah.
But like he got really.
Big, very fast and then they, itslowly got them divorced and
it's like, I am, I wonderbecause he kind of got bigheaded
and I wonder if this guy's kindof going through the same
situation or their relationship.
It's very interesting'causeStranger Things just blew up.
(07:21):
Have you watched the new season?
I haven't, but I've seen likesnippets and it looks really,
really good.
I'm waiting for the whole thingto come out.
Yeah, I haven't either.
I really wanna watch it though.
Speaking of your whole hockeysituation.
I was, we were, we listened toAndy Cohen podcasts and stuff,
and he had a guy, a hockeyplayer on that was, um, the most
recent episode I'm behind, soit's, this was like a month or
two ago, but he had this hockeyplayer wrote a romance novel and
(07:43):
so it kind of made waves becauseit was a straight man that made
a romance novel about hockey.
And he was saying that like inhockey, it's probably with the
gayest sport because it's a verylike.
You know, roughhousing in thelocker room every, you know, he,
whatever the case is.
But he said there's a lot ofcloseted gay men in NHL and I
(08:05):
find that very interesting.
I would love to, like, I would,I wish people would just come
out now, you know, when I firstcame out of the closet, I was
dating this random guy and hewas.
He had told me he had datedseveral hockey players, but he
would never tell me the names.
Interesting.
So interesting.
But this isn't that podcast.
This isn't, yeah, yeah.
(08:26):
No.
Anyways, anyways, moving God.
So, um, you know, you, we aren'ttraveling out of the country
because of literally.
Your skin color, you're brownand you don't feel safe
traveling outside of the countryor whatever.
And we actually had a reallygood friend who had a birthday
party plans in the spring.
We were all gonna go to Antigua.
And you were kind of going backand forth because of the whole
(08:49):
situation with the immigrationsituation in the United States
and.
You woke up one morning and youwere like, you know what?
I just, I don't want to go, Idon't feel safe going.
And I was like, oh, okay.
Absolutely.
I don't want to go eitherbecause I have been so into the
news that you didn't realizethat I had, you know,
reservations about going becauseof antique was like in the
(09:12):
Caribbean Sea and we are likeliterally bombing boats in the
Caribbean right now.
So,
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Why are high ranking military officials suddenly
announcing their earlydepartures?
We had Commander of Southcom,Admiral Alvin Holsey, and three
Star General Joe McGee from theJoint Chiefs of Staff who both
made headlines in October fortheir unexpected exits, the
reason for their departures, Acontroversial US operation
(09:41):
targeting alleged drugtrafficking boats in the
Caribbean.
On September 2nd, US forcesdisabled.
One of these boats killing allbut leaving two survivors in a
shocking move.
A second strike dubbed a doubletap strike.
Targeted those two survivorsclinging to burning wreckage.
(10:03):
Killing them.
Reports suggest that AdmiralFrank Bradley was ordered to
carry out this second brutalattack, allegedly on orders from
defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,A claim.
The Pentagon has disputed,though they haven't clarified
what's inaccurate about thereports.
The tension builds when youconsider that both Holsey and
(10:26):
McGee had.
Simmering conflicts with Hgsfregarding these operations,
which has also raised seriouslegal concerns.
Hgsf argues that the strikeswere lawful adhering to both US
and international law.
However, legal experts acrossthe left, right and center
(10:46):
strongly disagree with this.
Just to cite one source from theright Jack Goldsmith of Harvard.
Who used to work for the GeorgeW.
Bush presidency, he noted thatin the Department of Defense and
Law War manual, it states thatit is, quote, prohibited to
conduct hostilities on the basisthat there shall be no survivors
(11:09):
or to threaten the adversarywith the denial of the quarter.
Goldsmith also goes on to say ifthe two sources are in fact
correct, it appears the specialoperations forces.
Committed murder when the twosurvivors were killed in the
double tap Strike.
Another person from the right,Andrew McCarthy from the
(11:32):
Conservative National Review.
He also says, quote, even if youbuy the untenable claim that
people are combatants.
It is a war crime tointernationally kill combatants
who have been rendered unable tofight, such as those who are
clinging to burning.
Wreckage in the Caribbean.
Now, this has caught theattention of Congress.
(11:56):
Both the House and Senate ArmedService Committees have vowed to
investigate these operations,especially the double tap
strike.
We'll, we'll just have to seehow serious they are.
But more notably, bipartisanconcern is starting to rise with
lawmakers from.
Both sides questioning thelegality of targeting survivors.
(12:19):
Now, during a recent pressconference, Caroline Levitt
addressed reports about theSeptember 2nd incident
explaining that theadministration considers the
strikes lawful as acts ofself-defense.
Yet she also tries to distanceTrump and Hegseth from the order
placing the responsibilitysquarely on Admiral Bradley's
(12:41):
shoulders.
Meanwhile.
Hex.
Seth has publicly backedBradley, calling him an American
hero, and that hex Seth, uh,stands by combat decisions that
were made by Bradley onSeptember 2nd, and all missions
since shifting the blame solelyonto Bradley.
(13:01):
This dynamic raises a crucialquestion when military orders
cross ethical and.
Legal lines, who is trulyaccountable here Overall, as
this situation unfolds, it'smore than just military
protocol.
It should also be a wake up callto the world that America is now
(13:23):
a bully who targets survivorscling to burning wreckage in the
Caribbean.
This is not normal, folks.
It's not normal.
So these small, tiny boats areover 2000 miles away from the US
border.
They aren't just driving nonstophere.
They would have to stop.
Numerous times in differentcountries in order to refuel
(13:47):
Congress has been left in thedark because there has been no
evidence presented to prove thatthese votes are actually
carrying drugs, that these arenarco terrorists, is what the
White House is calling it.
Even so Trump just pardoned theformer Honduran President, Juan
Orlando Hernandez, who wasconvicted of helping smuggle
millions of tons of cocaine intothe United States.
(14:11):
Yes, Trump just parted him thisweek.
So what's the difference here?
I'm so confused by this.
I also find it.
I also find it fascinating howsix Democrats released a video a
few weeks ago before thisactually hit the news reels.
In that video, which wediscussed in the previous
episode, the six Democrats talkabout how the military should
(14:33):
not follow illegal orders.
I wanna play that video againbecause it really ruffled the
feathers of Trump and whobasically called for their
hangings and hegseth who.
Threatened legal actions againsteveryone, including Arizona
Senator Mark Kelly.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
i'm Senator Alyssa Slotkin.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Senator Mark Kelly, representative Chris De Lucio,
Speaker 3 (14:54):
Congresswoman Maggie Goodland.
Representative Chrissy Houlahan,
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Congressman Jason Crow.
That was a captain in the UnitedStates Navy,
Speaker 3 (15:00):
former CIA officer,
Speaker 4 (15:01):
former Navy former Paratrooper and Army Ranger,
Speaker 3 (15:04):
former intelligence officer, former Air Force.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
We wanna speak directly to members of the
military
Speaker 3 (15:09):
and the intelligence community
Speaker 4 (15:10):
who take risks each day to keep Americans safe.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
We know you are under enormous stress.
And pressure right now.
Americans trust their military,
Speaker 4 (15:18):
but that trust is at risk.
This administration is pittingour uniform, military
Speaker 3 (15:22):
and intelligence community professionals
Speaker 4 (15:24):
against American citizens like us.
You all swore an oath
Speaker 3 (15:28):
to protect and defend this constitution.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Right now, the threats to our constitution
aren't just coming from abroad,but from right here at home, our
laws are clear.
You can refuse illegal order.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
You can refuse illegal orders.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
You must refuse illegal orders.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
No one has to carry out orders that violate the law
or our constitution.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
We know this is hard and that it's a difficult time
to be a public servant,
Speaker 3 (15:51):
but whether you're serving in the CIA,
Speaker 4 (15:53):
the Army or Navy, the Air Force, your vigilance is
critical and
Speaker 3 (15:57):
know that we have your back.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
cause now more than ever,
Speaker 3 (16:01):
the American people need you.
We need you to stand up for ourlaws, our
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Constitution, and who we are as Americans.
Don't.
Give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Don't give up the ship.
So let's talk about Pentagon pd,how he talked about the illegal
actions in the military back in2016.
Let me play that video for you.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
If you're doing something that is just
completely unlawful and, uh,and, and ruthless, then there is
a consequence for that.
That's why the military said itwon't follow unlawful orders,
uh, from their commander inchief.
Uh, there there's a standard,there's an ethos.
There's a belief that we areabove what so many things that
our, our enemies or others woulddo.
and here is Senator Mark Kellyresponding to this entire
(16:44):
situation
Speaker 6 (16:45):
The job of the president to lay out a case
before we go to war.
And if it is about removing, uh,Maduro, I mean, how do you
square that with Pardoning?
Juan Hernandez, who is basicallythe same guy from a different
country who got sentenced to 45years in prison and he's barely
(17:09):
been there, he's probably hasn'teven gotten settled in yet.
And the president's gonnarelease'em.
Doesn't make any sense.
And I'll tell you what, regimechange as a policy of the United
States generally in our historyhas not worked out well.
Think of South Vietnam.
Think of the Bay of Pigs, Iraqand Afghanistan.
(17:31):
It results in the deaths of USservice members without the
intended outcome.
And in this case, I don't eventhink we know the intended
outcome.
President needs to make a caseto the American people when he
is about to put thousands ofAmerican men and women in harm's
way.
Trump is literally planning toput our military on the land of
(17:55):
Venezuela to go after what theycall narco terrorists right now.
Interesting to note, Venezuelaholds about 17% of the world's
oil, which is why you stilldrive a gas car and why you
can't afford an electricvehicle.
Oil rich, billionaireRepublicans just don't have
enough money, and for somereason, the poor country folk
(18:17):
who vote for these guys, yelldrill, baby drill.
So we have this administrationthat is starving people.
Healthcare costs are going toskyrocket very soon.
Republicans hate, and I mean.
Hated the Affordable Care Act.
So why haven't they fixed thesituation?
Why haven't they come up with abetter health plan for all
(18:38):
Americans?
They've had 16 years to come upwith a better plan.
Short answer is they don't careabout you.
I can't believe I didn't knowthat Trump arrested or Pardon?
Not arrested.
Pardon that guy this week.
I didn't see that.
And that's, that is, that makesno sense.
Especially'cause of all thestuff going on with them trying
to go after these drug cartelsand rebel bringing in drugs.
(19:01):
It's a huge deal.
And they, you know, they had thefirst family go after them with
a human rights action lawsuitbecause of Trump, you know.
Going after one of their boatsof their family members and
they, the story was this familymember used to go out in the
ocean and fish, and so who knowswhat he actually was doing, but
it's like how deep are theyactually researching this?
Yeah.
No, that person actually justfiled a human rights violation
(19:23):
complaint, I guess.
To some global thing, yet, Ihaven't read into it yet, but
literally that family hasn'tseen their fishermen husband,
and a lot of these are really,really poor people that drive
these boats to different islandsor actually go fishing.
And some of these people havebeen killed.
Because they are just doing ajob.
(19:45):
Who knows what's on these boats?
I mean, no one knows.
There's no evidence.
And listen, these drug cartelsare very creative.
They're gonna find other ways toget drugs into this country.
Maybe we should not focus on.
Oceans and boats and actuallymaybe put all the power and
energy you're putting in the iceinto actual departments to be
able to clear the drugs off thestreets and in areas of the
(20:08):
country that, you know, it'sprevalent.
They, they're taking energy thatthey could be putting in other
departments, shutting them down.
And if they're not shutting'emdown, they're putting'em in
areas where it shouldn't,doesn't matter.
That's what I think.
Or maybe just like, don't dodrugs.
That too.
I mean, that's an option, right?
That too.
I mean, shit has never reallybeen presented to me before in
my life, you know?
(20:29):
So I don't, I don't like seek itout, you know what I'm saying?
I'm sure you could find it, butit's just crazy to me.
I.
Anyway, so HUP is clearly, andwe've been saying this,
unqualified for the job.
In March, a group of UnitedStates national security leaders
were observed, conversing on amessaging app about imminent
military operations in Yemenbefore those actions even took
(20:51):
place.
The sky is not qualified for hisjob, literally.
So this has to be.
Altogether, the most unqualifiedadministration in the history of
the United States.
You got RFK Junior who was anenvironmental lawyer.
Now he's the Secretary ofHealth.
No medical backgroundwhatsoever.
(21:12):
You got Sean Duffy, a formercast member of the real world,
and a former lumberjack athlete,whatever that means.
I don't even know what thatmeans, but he also has like nine
kids.
But then you have.
Linda McMan, who is the formerCEO of the Worldwide wrestling,
who is in charge and is theSecretary of Education.
(21:35):
It just doesn't make sense tome.
I mean, we are literally livingin a Twilight Zone here, and the
Republicans in Congress just sitback and let this unfold in
front of their eyes, you know?
I don't know what experience youget from the worldwide wrestling
or running that, but I justthink it's really funny that now
she's in charge of our kids andthere is an outbreak also going
(21:56):
on of neurovirus if no one is,knows that yet.
You know, there's a lot ofpeople getting sick.
It's going through, we'rewashing our hands and having to
use sanitizer and be able, youknow, be very cognizant in the
healthcare community and nothingis, there's nothing out there
really because of.
Person leading the Department ofHealth.
I mean, it's just there's, thesepeople aren't qualified and
(22:18):
we're gonna see, we're gonnastart seeing it.
We're not even a year into thisadministration, and we're gonna
start seeing the effects ofthis.
Yeah.
And on the whole unqualifiedjobs theme or whatever, it's
like a federal appeals courtjust backed a lower court's
ruling that Trump's pick foracting US Attorney General Alina
Haba was.
Pointed illegally.
Trump put Haba in for a 120 daygig, and after that gig is up,
(22:42):
it's up to the district courtjudges to fill the role until a
new US attorney is confirmed bythe Senate.
The judges just weren't havingit since Haba lacks prosecuting
experience.
Instead, they chose, Desiree LeeGrace, a seasoned prosecutor to
take the lead.
But here's where things gotwild.
(23:02):
In retaliation, attorney GeneralPan Bondy then fired Grace and
snatched the office back toHaba.
One of the judges pointed outthat the current administration
is just clearly feeling the heatfrom legal and political
challenges.
And we continue to let Trump getaway with this.
I just don't understand.
But of course there's more here.
(23:23):
A federal judge ruled that.
Trump's appointment of LindsayHooligan, who was recently in
the news.
she was appointed to be the USattorney for Virginia.
they said that that was illegaltossing her cases out against
former FBI Director James Comeyand New York Attorney General
Letitia James.
Other judges have declaredTrump's appointments in both the
Central District of Californiaand even the district of Nevada
(23:46):
are also illegal.
So he's literally putting thesepeople in for, I, I don't even
know, I guess bargains orsomething.
I have no idea.
It has to be bargains.
Or friendships or other otherreasons because there is no
other, if they're not qualified,that should be the end game.
That should be it done deal sealdelivered.
But why I would love, I don'tknow.
I feel like these people would,it may takes more research to
(24:08):
dig and see exactly who they'repocketed with.
Yeah.
And so.
On that same subject, here's awhole list of unqualified
journalists.
So When you're trying to filterout people from the newsroom,
(26:18):
they've been doing this for awhile but I, I don't know if
anyone remembers them.
Barring a certain newsorganization, I can't remember
what, which one it was, but theywouldn't be able to get on Air
Force One and things, and it,you know, no one has ever done
that, but.
For, and them doing that justcreates a bigger divide.
So, and it creates biggerfiltration of what these, what
these new sources can cover in arapid pace to be able to allow
(26:40):
the public to know of certainthings going on, which is
exactly what they want.
Yeah, so before this gets waytoo far into the history of
things, Trump's behavior overThanksgiving week can increase
concerns about his mentalacuity.
His posts promoted far rightconspiracy theories, AI videos
and attacks on his politicalopponents, but a rant on his
(27:01):
social media account at midnighton Thanksgiving itself
threatened to strip citizenshipfrom naturalized immigrants.
He called the Minnesota GovernorTim Walls, the profoundly
offensive R word, and ended hispost with a happy Thanksgiving
to all except those that hate,steal, murder, and destroy
everything that America standsfor.
(27:23):
You won't be here for long.
Clearly the President is fadingboth physically and mentally.
The mental capacity to beranting at midnight on
Thanksgiving should give allreasons to continue to be
concerned.
It's just not normal behavior,but it's not shocking.
He does this all the time.
Now.
Presidents throughout historyhave released their tax returns,
(27:45):
not Donald Trump presidentsthroughout history have released
their medical records, notDonald Trump.
And here's another thing, theguy got an MRI but doesn't even
know what the MRI was for.
Who goes in for an MRI anddoesn't even know what it's for.
So on Air Force one, Trumpresponded oddly to a reporter's
(28:06):
question about a call to releasethese MRI records.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
What part of your body was the MRI
Speaker 9 (28:12):
looking at?
I have no idea.
It was just an MRI.
What part of the body?
It wasn't the brain because Itook a cognitive test and I aced
it.
I got a perfect mark, which youwould be incapable of doing.
Goodbye everybody.
Thank
Speaker 8 (28:24):
you.
You too, p.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker 10 (28:25):
President.
Thank sir.
It God.
Yeah, that's him saying, whichyou would be incapable of do
doing.
Pointing to a female reporterand then he pointed to another
female reporter and said, youtoo.
He also told a female reporterlast week.
Quiet.
Quiet pig.
Like he is the absolute scum ofthe earth.
I can't stand the man.
(28:45):
He's so inappropriate.
And maybe, maybe, maybe thesolution is we stop putting
people in presidencies that areover 70 years old.
Like of course they're gonnastart deteriorating.
I mean, Biden had the sameissues.
Other P other presidents, we'vehad the same conversations
about, it doesn't matter whetherthey're left or right, it, they
(29:06):
all get older and they allnaturally.
De Degradate, but I don't thinkthat, you know.
It doesn't surprise me thatTrump has mental, like, could
possibly have mental issues, butthe thing with the MRI thing,
MRIs are not just something youwalk into like that is a, that
is a process.
You have to take all your metaloff.
You have to take, you know,stripped down.
This is not just something, youknow, this is not just some walk
(29:28):
in the park.
You have to have it scheduled.
So for him to not, not to knowwhy he didn't get one.
Blatant lie, and they definitelyare looking at a certain part of
the body.
It's not a full body scan.
They look at a certain pinpoint.
So I mean, there has to be areason they're doing that.
And he's obviously either A,he's not being informed, which
is crazy, or B, he really is,there's something going on that
(29:49):
he's hiding.
Yeah, agreed.
So, do you have any fun topicsor fun news, babe?
I do.
So, you know, I'm gonna run withour week theme of raccoons here
for a second.
there is a really funny story.
While I was searching for thetop three stories of the week,
which I post on Wednesdays,there was a story that I came
across in Virginia, a very drunkraccoon.
(30:12):
Was found passed out on thefloor of a liquor store after
breaking in and apparentlyhosting a one raccoon Black
Friday.
Rager, uh, staff walked in onSaturday morning to smashed
bottles, puddles of scotch andwait for it.
The mast bandit snoozing in thebathroom between the toilet and
the trash can.
(30:33):
It's a drunk trash panda panda.
A little drunk trash pandaanimal control says the raccoon
fell through the ceiling andwent on a full blown rampage.
Drinking everything.
Sobered up in a custody, showedno injuries except maybe a
devastating hangover, and wasreleased back into the wild to
rethink its life choices.
Wow.
The liquor store thankedofficials for giving their furry
(30:54):
customer a sober ride home.
And honestly.
Same vibe as half of Americaafter Thanksgiving weekend, but
it was it.
You should see the photo, I meanthis rec, and there is a photo,
there is this raccoon just faceplanted starfish style on the
bathroom floor of this liquorstore and the liquor store.
There's just tons of liquorbottles just smashed on the
(31:16):
ground and hilarious.
Yeah.
Wow.
That's wild story one.
Alright, here's another funstory for you.
this is more, I find thisinteresting'cause I, I've been
more cognizant about not eatingas much meat.
I, not because of health, butbecause I care about animals.
And I started reading bio, likefood biographies about the food
(31:38):
system and watching food,watching food biographies that
just, I don't know why I do itto myself.
It just makes things worse.
So now I, whenever I eat meat, Ithink of these poor, poor
animals.
Anyway, imagine this.
You want a burger.
But you don't want to raise awhole cow.
Scientists looked at thatproblem and said, cool.
What if we just grew the meatourselves and then.
(32:00):
Well, they actually did it.
Here's how it works, and Ipromise this is the simple
version.
They start by borrowing a teenytiny sample of cells from a cow.
Not the whole cow, just a fewcells, the bovine equivalent of
a Q-tip swab.
Then they put those cells in awarm nutrient rich tank.
Think of like a giant.
Slow cooker for science.
The cells get fed proteins,sugar, vitamins, basically the
(32:23):
cow version of a multivitamin,and then they start multiplying
like bread dough, you forgetabout on the counter, like my
sourdough.
And next the cells needsomething to grow on because
meat has structure you, it hasto look like meat.
You can't just serve a puddle ofloose cells.
So we're not doing that.
So scientists give the cells ascaffold.
And here's the fun part.
(32:44):
Sometimes that scaffold is a.
Decellularized spinach leaf.
Yes.
A salad that's trying to be asteak, but it works because
spinach veins help deliveroxygen to the growing meat.
As the cells multiply, theyspread across the scaffold or
this spinach leaf and grow intomuscle tissues, which is exactly
what meat is.
(33:05):
At the end of the process, youget real biological steak or
meat just made without raisingor slaughtering an animal.
Now who is funding this?
Exactly.
I supposedly, from when I wasresearching with this story,
there are numerous.
Researchers around the worldtrying to come up with this.
I think they wanna be first, youknow, kind of like NASA was
(33:26):
getting to the moon.
So these different countries areputting in research in various
ways and there's, you know, thisis why people should care.
Cows produce massive amounts ofemissions, need huge amounts of
land and water, and they sayit's one of the highest reasons
of global warming.
Effects of global warming.
So scaling beef productionglobally is a, it's a climate
(33:46):
nightmare because of all theresources needed.
Lab grown meat coulddramatically cut pollution if
scientists can make it cheaperand tastier.
So right now it's kind of likean early iPhone era of meat.
It's impressive, expensive.
I think the hamburger costsfirst, like.
Uh, tons of money.
I'm talking like thousands ofdollars now.
They've brought it down to being$10 a meat patty, but obviously
(34:10):
they can't scale it for grocerystores yet, but they're still
figuring out.
So my question, if you're aburger lover, but it was grown
in a tank using science,spinach, would you eat it or is
that a No thanks, I'm justordering.
A normal steak, like would youeven be open to the idea of
(34:30):
eating grown lab meat?
Uh, not me.
I don't think so.
Not yet, Elise?
I think, I don't think soeither.
I mean,'cause the thing is Idon't even eat red meat anymore,
so I think it's crazy thatpeople crave this taste of meat
so much that they're puttingthis much rich into growing
meat.
Like just eat a fucking, butit's good for the cows though,
(34:51):
so that's good.
Just eat a vegetable, eat sometofu and call it a day.
And if you want to eat meat, eatmeat.
But just take in your consciencethat a cow died for it.
Yeah.
Well, so, uh, if you made itthis far, thank you for
listening and everyone knowsthat I'm really into Mel Robbins
right now.
So here is a quote from ourfavorite Mel Robbins.
(35:14):
You can be a kind person with agood heart and still tell people
to f off when needed.
It's called boundaries.
I love boundaries, and here's myboundary.
I'm closing it down.
This is the end of the episode.
All right.
Thanks everyone.
Love you.
Have a good one.
All right, bye.
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