March 12, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode of 'The Civil Union', hosts Alex and Ryan discuss their personal experiences over the weekend, including a local soccer game and recent movies such as 'Mickey 17' and Pamela Anderson's performance in ‘The Last Showgirl’. The podcast then shifts focus to political issues, analyzing Trump's tariffs on Canada and Mexico, his unpredictable policies, and the implications on the economy. They also discuss the potential censorship implications of the Take It Down Act, endorsed by Trump. The episode concludes with Bernie Sanders' tour across the Midwest aiming to regain Democratic alignment and representation, emphasizing the need for more active engagement from Democratic leaders.
00:00 Introduction to the Civil Union Podcast
00:37 Weekend Recap: Sports and Movies
06:06 Political Discussion: Tariffs and Economy
11:09 Trump's Impact on Colleges and Free Speech
15:50 Game Time: Red State, Blue State, or No State
22:44 The Take It Down Act
27:10 Bernie Sanders' Midwest Tour
28:45 Democratic Party's Need for Representation
34:45 Conclusion and Social Media Links
Music: What's The Angle? by Shane Ivers -
https://www.silvermansound.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Welcome to the Civil Union, thepodcast where politics meets
partnership.
We're Alex and Ryan, a marriedcouple, navigating life and
debates in a conservative state.
I.
We bring you sharp insights,bold opinions, and honest
conversations about thepolitical issues shaping our
lives, especially those livingon society's margins.
Tune in for real talk, a touchof humor and plenty of passion
(00:30):
because when it comes topolitics, every voice matters,
and we're here to make surethey're heard.
So this has been a very busyweek or weekend.
I feel like we had a lot goingon.
City played on Sunday, which wasgreat.
We actually won for the firsttime, um, in a while actually.
(00:52):
Yeah.
I was so happy to see themactually score some points.
So that was cool.
Like three of'em I think.
Right?
Three points.
Zero to three.
Three points.
Yeah.
We take three points home'causewe won.
Um, everyone played really well.
And you know what's interestingis all the points we got were
all from newer players that weresigned.
Between last year and this year.
So it's promising.
It's very promising.
That's awesome.
Also, on Friday I have this newthing where I've been going to
(01:15):
the theater.
I have this like monthlymembership with Almo Drafthouse.
So I've been trying to go tomake it worth it, and we
installed Mickey 17.
It's this new Robert Patsonmovie.
You know, we're on this twilightkick lately this year.
I don't know why.
But anyway, he's actually areally good actor and he plays
this like.
Doppelganger movie where he'slike multiples of him and Mark
(01:36):
Ruffalo ISS in it.
He's really good.
He actually plays this characterthat's very like Trump-esque,
which is very timely.
I mean, this movie had to havebeen filmed.
I.
A year or two ago, and it's justreally interesting how the
timing comes out.
This, what was it called?
Mickey 17 or Mickey 18.
Uh, they usually suck after thesecond one, don't they?
Mm-hmm.
(01:57):
Yeah.
Well, it's not a 17th movie,Ryan.
It is a.
Number one movie, but it'sMickey 17 because he's like,
he's like, he dies.
He's like a little, he's like aclone.
And anytime he, they, you know,humanity uses him to test things
and then he dies and then comesback as Mickey three, and then
Mickey four, and Mickey five.
So this movie, the iterationhe's on is.
(02:19):
Mickey 17.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Did you like it?
I really, really liked it.
You know, the director did OK J,which was that Netflix movie
about the big cow that was likeall fictional, but it was
really, really good.
So if you liked OK J, you'd likeMickey 17.
And the guy, the director, didParasite I'm pretty sure, which
was like the best picture awardwinner a couple years back,
(02:41):
which was also a really goodmovie.
also, we have a group of friendsand they.
All started watching that newMeghan Markle documentary, or I
guess it's not a documentary,it's like a reality show where
she cooks.
Is that right?
Do you, did you see that?
I mean, I didn't watch it, butyeah.
I guess she's cooking now orsomething.
Yeah, she's cooking anddecorating.
I guess she's trying to havelike a Martha Stewart moment, or
(03:03):
maybe like a Joanna Gainesmoment.
I, I don't know what she'sreally trying to do with this,
but you know, I've never been a.
Big fan of Meghan Markle.
I think that's an unpopularopinion.
Why?
Why is that?
I don't know.
She just seems really fake tome.
Like I don't, she just seemslike there's a lot of flags.
There's a lot of flags aroundher and I, but I will say I do
(03:27):
fully support how she stood upto the monarchy.
But isn't she like Megan Sussexnow?
Because I saw some blip whenlike Mindy Colle was like asking
her, and she's like, well, I'm aSussex now.
And it's like, oh, okay.
Megan SUEx.
So should be Su Sussex Su MeganSu Sussex.
Yes.
It's, I saw that clip too.
You know, that's the, those arethe things I'm just like, eh,
(03:48):
cringeworthy.
But I do think she, I do thinkwhat the monarchy did was real,
I think there were too manyoutlets, news sources that were
kind of appeal reporting on thesame stuff.
Even in the uk, you know, othercountries that make it seem like
she actually was dealing withstuff.
So, I mean, I get that and I.
Fully support her with that.
And I think they did the rightmove on.
Moving to California, I readPrince Harry, Harry, right?
(04:11):
Prince Harry, her husband.
I read his document, or notdocumentary, but book, and I
really, really like him.
Um, it made, it opened my eyeson him.
So I'll give the show.
A moment.
At first I was like, eh, it justseems so stupid.
Well, e either people reallylike her or really hate her.
Like there's no in between.
I am completely indifferent whenit comes to Meghan Markle or
Meghan Sussex, but, um, like ourfriend is like really into her
(04:36):
and is like planning a gardenparty, so I'm very excited for
this.
Future Garden Party And for thephotos on Instagram.
Just for the likes.
I mean,'cause we're all gonna belooking real good.
So I'm ready for that.
I am too.
I actually really hope they gothrough with this Garden party.
If you are listening, you bettergo through with the Garden party
(04:56):
'cause we are really lookingforward to it already.
Um, there was also, we had, thiswas a big movie weekend for us,
I guess.
'cause I also watched the lastshowgirl, which, uh, Pamela
Anderson was the lead actress.
Correct?
Yes.
Um, I walked into it thinkingPamela Anderson was.
It and it turns out.
Um, David, Jimmy Lee Curtis alsoco-starred, and she looked like
(05:18):
a South city girl.
I mean, you know, woman like, Imean, I was surprised she didn't
get nominated for an awardbecause her performance was
just.
On Mark.
It was, it was funny.
It was really good.
I mean, it was really good.
It took place in Las Vegas.
Um, I mean, it was a movie wewatched, so it was okay.
(05:39):
I really, really liked it.
It gave me Sophia Cap vibes,like Mary Antoinette vibes, like
very like.
Artsy and good cinematography.
Pamela Anderson, I thought didgreat.
I mean, I was expecting a littlebit more, but she had her scenes
and yeah.
Jamie Lee Curtis, I mean, whoknew if he put her under a
different wig and put on somewhite lipstick that she would
look so different.
(06:01):
Yeah, that was, it was funny.
It was a good, it was a goodrole for her, for sure.
It was very good.
Anyway.
Alright, so let's move into our,our topics this week.
Um, the first thing I wanted totalk about, which we've talked
about this a lot more in detailin past episodes.
I feel like this is gonna be acontinuing topic.
I'm so tired of even saying theword, but that's tariffs.
(06:24):
The Trump administration hasgone back and forth with this as
of right now because, you know,he, he, he.
Put them out there and then took'em back.
But as of right now, there is a25% tariff on Canada and Mexico
at a time when, you know, we aretrying to cut our dependence
from China.
It's, I don't feel like it's thesmartest move to cut ties with a
(06:47):
low wage country like Mexico.
And I understand that it'sprobably not the greatest idea
or thing to support Mexico withlow wages, but I mean, it is
what it is and we, we get ourproducts from there.
So.
I don't know.
No, this president is absolutelyunhinged and it, it's, it's
really mind boggling how he'llfirst like enact tariffs and
(07:09):
then he doesn't enact tariffsand then he like rolls back.
Well, Canada's Prime minister,the new prime minister, I, I
don't know the name of the PrimeMinister, but he said that he
was enacting what, uh, a hundredpercent or no, was it 25% tariff
on.
The, um, electricity that wesell to Minnesota, that they
(07:31):
sell to Minnesota, Michigan, andNew York, which is gonna average
out to each.
Household and business up to anaverage of$100 per month.
And he said, you know, we're notplaying around here.
We're not fucking around withthis anymore.
Like, we're not going, we can goto the bargaining table if you
want, but this is just it.
(07:52):
It needs to end.
So like literally like.
Five minutes ago there was somelike breaking news report saying
that Trump, Trump is likerolling back the tariffs, I
guess on Canada or something.
I dunno the story, I can't keepup honestly, but one thing about
this whole economy thing, Idon't really, I don't understand
how this became such a talkingpoint during the last campaign.
(08:14):
The economy was in solid shape.
With low unemployment.
I mean, Biden's administrationwas cleaning up the effects of a
pandemic.
He was still, I don't, I thinkpeople forget how shattered our
economy was, and Biden wasreally trying to fix it.
Yes, it wasn't perfect, but theeconomy issues were not only
American centered, I mean the,there were economy issues
worldwide.
(08:34):
I read the New York Times everyweek on paper, and I can tell
you.
It was kind of interesting tosee how Europe and Germany and
France, all of them were goingthrough the same patterns we
were when it came to economy.
So it was not just an Americanthing.
What Trump is bringing is highuncertainty and trust, and you
cannot have a good economy witha president that has high
(08:55):
uncertainty and trust.
With the tariffs, Trump usedwhat is called the IEPA or
International Emergency PowersAct to enact these tariffs,
which basically he called it aco, an eco economic emergency
based off the crazy migrationflows and fentanyl crisis, I
mean.
That's his basis for this entiredramatic situation.
(09:18):
One interesting point too tomake about these tariffs is a
25% tariff on aluminum andsteel.
That's kind of where this isgoing.
And this actually supposed tostart Wednesday, so I guess I.
The day this podcast comes out,Trump did have this tariff with
his first administration, butwhen Biden became president, his
administration worked withallies to change this into a
(09:39):
type of quota.
So it kind of softened it up abit.
It was on the actual material,not products necessarily.
But now Trump has made it clearthis 25% tariff is across the
board.
This means this will affect awider range of products
directly.
So higher costs will definitelygo up on furniture, patio
(10:00):
furniture, sporting equipment, Imean bicycles.
Anything that is made ofaluminum or steel, it will.
Go up.
Scott Biant, treasury secretaryhas said, I don't even know if I
said that name right, but hebasically said there will be a
detox period.
So there, that's their excuse.
Short-term pain for long-termgain is what is being thrown out
(10:21):
there on,, conservative newschannels.
But there was an article I readcomparing this to the Reagan
administration and what he didwith the economy, but.
Reagan did that over a threeyear transition, and that was a
whole different time period.
My question is, are peoplewilling to wait three years to
go through this?
(10:42):
Again, do people have thatpatience, especially with a
round of elections in two years?
I don't think so.
And I'm really curious to seehow, where this goes.
I think people wanted a quickfix.
They voted for Trump because ofthe economy or the egg prices
supposedly, and they, theyexpected this on the up really
fast situation.
And I don't know who actuallythought Trump equaled better
(11:03):
economy, but that guy is way toounstable to have created a
stable economy.
Yeah, exactly.
Another area this Trumpadministration is causing issues
is with colleges.
He's really shaking it up.
Trump is basically trying tostrong arm colleges like he's
doing with countries, but he'smaking them bend the knee.
(11:25):
He's threatening 60 universitiesright now with penalties of
possible antisemitism.
What this really is, is a battleon free speech.
These campuses were a site forsome protests, which I'm sure
everyone remembers last yearwith Israel.
You know, the Gaza conflict, allthat, the protests that were
going on on college campuses,whether you are for or against
(11:49):
that movement is not the point.
The point is, should a presidentbe able to strip funding from
schools because of it?
Yeah, I mean, illegal protest.
Remember that tweet he had or,yeah, that wasn't a tweet, it
was something, but on truthsocial, and I was like, what
exactly is an illegal protest?
I mean, that's what you'resupposed to do as, as a citizen
(12:11):
in this country.
It's a free country.
I.
Free speech, you know, youshould be able to protest
something.
So yeah, it's Well, and I'venever understood why people have
issues with college studentsprotesting.
I mean, that's the time in yourlife where you're supposed to do
that kind of stuff.
And if they're gonna do it on acollege campus, I'd rather them
do it on a college campus thanin the streets.
It's like when people doprotesting on the streets, it's
looting and freaking out and, ohmy god, disturbance.
(12:33):
But when people do it on collegecampus, not all of them, not all
of them, not all of them, butwhen people do it on college
campuses, I feel like that's agreat.
Area for that type of speech totake place.
I don't know.
Trump canceled$400 million infederal funding right now to
Columbia University, and a bigstory I was looking at was that
he attempted to deport a recentColumbian, a Columbia graduate
(12:56):
who led protests there, afederal judge in Manhattan.
On Monday, I believe, orderedhim not to be removed from the
United States for now.
So it's an ongoing case.
Yeah.
He's currently being held in aLouisiana detention center right
now.
It's absolutely wild.
I mean, what kind ofimplications would this, these,
I mean,$400 million is a lot.
(13:17):
What kind of implications willthis?
Go what funny cuts have oncollege institutions, and I
don't mean that in a physicalaspect.
I mean that in like our idea ofwhat college is supposed to be.
I mean, they, they're breakingdown the idea of that we are at
a time where there issignificant change in the
education system in thiscountry.
We talked about this a littlebit last week when we went to
(13:38):
that.
Restaurant, it was called theCookout or something in
Nashville.
We were around all these collegestudents and we talked about how
this generation has, how muchthey've been through, and how
that kind of maybe has affectedthe way they approach school.
I mean, they, they remotelearning all this.
It does seem there is arestructuring of.
Traditional college outlook.
(13:59):
The younger generation,especially due to COVID-19, has
a different outlook on what isactually needed for their
careers.
They aspire to want kids whoalways wanted to be.
Lawyers are now looking intotrade schools.
I mean, the idea of learningremotely has tired so many of
them out.
They're rethinking what theywant out of school.
With that said.
And that uncertainty createdfrom the pandemic.
(14:21):
We now are facing uncertaintywith what kind of funding
colleges and universities canrely on.
Some universities are havinghiring freezes, which means no
more professors coming through.
Some universities have shut downresearch.
Um, there's actually a building,I was talking to my coworker.
We were walking out, there's anentire building on the WashU BJC
campus that is.
(14:42):
Closed.
They closed it.
There's no cars in the parkinglot, and those workers were
given no notice.
They walked in the work and itwas shut down.
It's a building that is owned byWashU, which is Washington
University here in St.
Louis, and they had to shut itdown because of the lack of
funding.
Less people may be able to gothrough PhD programs.
They're also finding a lot ofpeople are being turned away
from PhD programs.
(15:02):
What does that have to do whenit comes to, you know, a year
and two from now when we needpeople in specialized um, jobs?
There's not gonna be peoplegraduating from these PhD
programs.
There's a trickle down effect tothis that we'll start seeing
years from now.
But the main takeaway is whensupport for education is
threatened, like it is with thisadministration.
And throw in an unstableeconomy, higher tuition, remote
(15:26):
learning fatigue from theyounger generation.
All this could de the academicinstitutions in this country.
A big part we rely on forresearch on a number of sectors.
So I don't think people arerealizing big picture here with
this subject.
And there are giganticimplications that we're gonna
see from these things.
And we're only, what, threemonths into this administration.
(15:50):
So we're doing a littlesomething differently this week,
is we're gonna do a differentgame usually every week.
We do.
Who said it?
And I thought I'd switch it up.
It's gonna be called Red State,blue State, or No State.
Okay, what does this entail?
You're gonna be my, you're gonnabe my player.
So basically I'm gonna say apolicy or a law that is real or
(16:16):
fake.
And you have to tell me whetheryou think it's from, if it's
real, whether it's a blue stateor a red state, or if it's a no
state, which means it's fake.
Interesting.
Okay.
Alright, let's do it.
So first one.
This state officially recognizesSasquatch as an endangered
species in 1969.
(16:38):
Red State, blue state, or nostate?
They recognized it as aendangered species.
Yes.
I'm gonna say blue State.
'cause that sounds likeWashington.
That's correct.
Are you looking outta my hand?
I think you are.
I'm turning my, I'm not reallynot turning screen around.
Alright, next one.
(17:00):
A state senator once proposed abill to rename climate change as
weather discomfort in allofficial documents.
Red state, blue state, or nostate?
No State.
Red state.
Can you guess what state?
Um, it's a red state you said?
(17:20):
Yeah, I'm gonna say Texas,Florida, same thing.
Okay.
Well close enough.
Same thing.
Yeah.
It was a supposedly in 2015, notsurprising.
Uh, local politician onceproposed a bill to create a
national unicorn day to boostnational pride.
Red state, blue state, or nostate?
(17:41):
I'm going to say no State.
Red state.
A red state, huh?
Yeah.
Wyoming.
Wyoming.
Really?
Yeah.
Which, you know, I actually amall on board for that.
I think that would be so fun.
National Unicorn day.
Could you imagine how many liketours would go to Wyoming?
(18:01):
Just to like celebrate that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That would be like a moment Ithink they should go through
with it.
All right.
This state it, it's illegal tocarry an ice cream cone in your
back pocket on Sundays.
Red State.
Blue State, or no state?
I'm gonna say Red State.
Correct.
Red State, Alabama.
Oh, you gotta, let me guess thestate.
I was gonna say Louisiana, butOkay.
(18:23):
Alabama.
This old law actually preventedpeople from stealing horses
because that ice cream coneswere used as a distraction for
the who.
I think that's kind of funny,huh?
Um.
Alright.
Because they eat them?
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Or they follow the person.
I have no, I don't really knowhow that would work, but it
makes sense.
'cause you could see a horseliking waffle cones.
(18:44):
Yeah, I guess.
I mean, I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know.
It's the almost random thing.
Yeah.
Alright.
This state tried to pass a law.
Requiring all public parks tohave free wifi.
Red state, blue state or no?
State?
Blue State.
Okay.
What state?
New York.
California.
California, okay.
Same thing.
Yeah.
Which, you know what'sinteresting is there's a park
(19:06):
here.
I used to do homework in parkswhen I was in college.
'cause I had to get outta mydorm, my apartment.
And I feel like there's a parkright around the corner from my
house that had wifi.
I think that's like a thing.
It's a thing.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
Alright.
A governor once announced theywould replace the state's
official animal with a mythicalcreature because it would
attract more tourism.
(19:27):
No state.
I was, that's true.
No state false.
But that would be veryentertaining and I would be on
board with that.
Alright.
An attempt to reduce crime.
This state introduces a no drivepolicy for anyone under 25 on
weekends.
Red state, blue state, or nostate?
(19:47):
Wait, what is it again?
In an attempt to reduce crime,this state introduced a no drive
policy for anyone under 25.
On weekends.
I don't, did someone really dothis?
I would say it's a red state.
Am I right?
No state.
No state.
Okay.
But.
What kind of policy?
I mean, what kind of effectswould that have?
That's actually not, that wouldbe interesting.
(20:08):
Like if they made people under,not under 25, not be able to
drive on weekends.
Like Yeah, like no semis on theweekends.
That'd be great.
Wow.
That's, it's true.
The point A to point B muchfaster.
I think in Europe, semis areonly allowed to travel on
certain days and in certainlanes.
I know why Germany that Germany.
Yeah.
Germany.
'cause your family used to livethere.
Yeah.
All right.
(20:29):
Next one.
A local politician onceproposed, turning all public
school cafeterias into finedining restaurants to improve
student nutrition, red state,blue state, or no state to fine
dining In a public school?
I'm gonna say no.
State, blue state.
A blue state.
Interesting.
Where was that at in, uh, let methink.
(20:50):
Um, I'm gonna say.
Vermont, California.
Oh, California.
And you know, I think that's agreat idea.
'cause when you go to college,the food court is made up of,
some colleges have like actuallike restaurants in there.
At my high school, we hadoff-campus option when you were
junior and senior.
And so me and my friends, wewould always go to Macalester's
(21:13):
or Panera literally every dayfor lunch because it was like
the same cost as your lunch.
It's always gonna be St.
Louis Spread Company in St.
Louis.
Oh, that's true.
Yeah.
They changed them mall though.
I think it's no longer.
Well, we did Mac Real ThingWellers more because
MacAllister, you could go eatand then you get that big cup of
tea free refill, and then wewould bring it back to school
and it would last us the rest ofthe day anyway.
(21:33):
Last one.
A politician once introduced abill to require every citizen to
attend one community serviceevent per month to foster Unity.
Red state, blue state, or nostate?
Wait, repeat that again.
A politician once introduced abill to require every citizen to
attend one community serviceevent per month to foster unity.
(21:54):
Red, blue, or no state?
I'm gonna say it's a blue state.
No state.
No state.
But that would be a greatpolicy.
I'm just saying where do theseno states come from?
Do you just make them up?
Yeah.
Okay.
I mean, think about, I should bea politician if these are the
ideas.
Yeah.
I mean literally.
But I think if you made everysingle person, let's say work
(22:16):
for a food bank, you know, everymonth or a homeless shelter or
pick up trash on the highway, Imean, there are so many
community service things thatpeople could do that would, I
think that would be great.
Not only to like meet people,but also to see like what goes
in the community.
And I don't know.
Yeah, was good.
Competition is listening.
Maybe you should run with thatone.
(22:36):
You're gonna be a policymakerone day.
I know I should.
That was a fun one.
We gotta do that one again.
Yeah.
All right.
Moving on to some dark news.
No, not really dark news, but,last week we actually mentioned
this story as well.
Melania Trump spoke on this.
I guess her speech wasn'tmemorable because I honestly
(22:57):
didn't hear anything about itafterward.
Or that tells you how dense thenews cycle is, that there is so
much going on.
It's hard to keep up witheverything.
But anyways, there's a bill outthere that should raise some
flags.
And I mean this, seriously, I, Ikind of went over a win case,
WYNN, the, the hotel in Vegasabout how the effects of that
(23:18):
will be with journalism in themedia.
I went over that a coupleepisodes ago.
This is kind of.
With that.
I don't think it's real.
It really is at the moment.
Um, being picked up by big newsmedias right now, which is very
confusing.
But there is a bill out therebeing do endorsed by Trump and
his wife called the Take It DownAct.
(23:38):
Trump and a supporters aresaying they are in support of
it.
The bill addresses.
It doesn't address an actualissue, which is non-consensual
intimate imagery, or NCII alsoknown as something we all
probably have heard, revengeporn.
The tech industry has had bettermovement of this recently
encountering this issue, but Iguess congress doesn't feel it's
(24:00):
enough.
Senators Ted Cruz and Democrat,Amy Klobuchar are making it to
where a website is legallyliable if they don't take down
anything someone says.
Is NCII, within 48 hours, you'reprobably like, okay, what's the
big deal?
Well, because this bill is sobroad and there's not really any
(24:22):
safeguards, it opens up theopportunity for abuse.
I, I don't think I will statethis right now.
I don't think Amy Klo Shire hadbad intentions with when she
came onto this bill, butobviously there, it needs to be
refined.
Congress you would think, wouldsay this Bill violates the First
Amendment.
(24:42):
It's basically forcing websitesto take down content without any
court review and because thereare no safeguards, but the bill
as it stands would also censorspeech on unverified complaints
because the bill is so broad,they can.
Manipulate it to do that.
The bill just passed the Senaterecently and it's now headed to
(25:04):
the house.
Civil liberties groups havetried to raise awareness of this
and have sent letters tosenators to try to try to stop
the bill.
Um, you know, this then bringsit to Trump.
It makes him and Melania looklike they are standing up for
protecting people, havingcompromising imagery online.
And obviously that sounds like ano brainer.
(25:26):
No one's gonna argue with that.
It makes it look like they careabout the vulnerable community,
but that's not the case.
This bill is a Trojan horse.
During his address to Congress,Trump even kind of said
something that makes it seemlike he has other intentions
with this bill.
He said, I'm going to use thatbill for myself too, if you
(25:47):
don't mind, because nobody getstreated worse than I do online.
Nobody, I mean.
To be clear, this Bill acts as acens.
Censorship free for all that thepresident openly plans and he
just vocalized it last week toweaponize against his critics.
It gives him another tool tosilence the opposition.
(26:07):
And no one seems to be battingan eye at it.
This also ties into the wincase.
Like I said, these are directattacks on free speech and
journalism, and I honestly don'tunderstand how either story, the
win case and this bill aren'tgetting as much coverage.
Oh wait.
It's because Trump is aprofessional at pushing other
news stories out.
(26:27):
I mean, there are so many otherthings going on.
It's very easy for us to getwrapped up in other things, but
at this point.
I want you to understand thisbill will become law.
It's gone too far deep.
There's no, there's no turningback.
But the Democrats, you know,they, they need to step it up.
They, they are getting blindedby other issues, and I think
this one is gonna be a bigregret moving forward in this
(26:49):
administration.
I.
So that's my, my little storyfor you, but look it up.
It's called the, just toreiterate, it's called the Take
It Down Act and really read intoit because it, there's gonna be
broad implications than justrevenge porn like they're
saying.
Hmm.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I'll have to look into that onelast story for the week.
(27:10):
I wanna touch on, um, you know,talking about Democrats doing
something.
Bernie Sanders has been touringthe Midwest recently in a
fighting Oli oligarchy tour,which I honestly wouldn't mind
on a T-shirt.
T-shirt.
I'm picturing like a tourt-shirt with all the cities and
towns with.
On the back, that would be veryfire or whatever the young kids
are saying nowadays.
(27:30):
Anyways, the Democrats are inthe middle of finding their
identity.
Obviously, they need a rebrand.
They need to listen and get apulse on American values.
Again, I think this is Bernie'sattempt on doing that.
By stopping in various workingclass parts of states throughout
the Midwest.
historically, the President'sparty loses a seat in the first
(27:51):
midterms after generalelections.
right now the Republican'smargin is razor thin.
Bernie knows us, so he isattempting to target and swing
seats back to the left beforemidterms next November.
He's bringing in, it'simpressive.
He's bringing in thousands ofpeople at.
Every stop.
I mean, some stops, there's 2000some stops, there's 9,000.
(28:13):
He's filling buildings withpeople.
People are coming out.
People want to hear what he hasto say, and I have to give it to
Bernie.
He is 83 years old and I, andhe's the only Democrat doing
this, and I love that he'sactually getting on the ground
running a resistance, and it isa resistance to this presidency.
He is.
(28:34):
As of right now, the onlyelected progressive willing to
mount a national campaign goingto US House swing districts
represented by Republicans.
He's being strategic.
Yeah, no, I agree.
We need more, representationfor, the Democratic party.
Like they need to get out there.
Our elected representatives needto go out there and they need to
(28:54):
start hosting bigger, uh, youknow.
Bigger speeches, what do youcall'em?
Bigger need awareness.
Bigger halls need.
We need more town halls.
We need more.
More pushback from this party.
I get that.
We are on the losing end and wedon't have any major, we don't
hold any house right now orSenate.
(29:15):
We don't hold any Congress.
We don't hold the Supreme Courtlike we need some type of.
Excitement.
We need, we need someone outthere speaking directly to their
constituents and even their nonconstituents to get people to
feel like everything's gonna beokay.
Maybe.
I mean, I'm so tired of seeingpeople post on Facebook and I
(29:40):
guess maybe it's'cause mylogarithm has changed so much
because of this podcast and I, Ikeep seeing just.
All these liberal friends that Ihave continuously posting and
posting and sharing.
You know, like all this stuffthat I support, but it's like,
it's so easy to do that behindthe screen sitting on your
(30:01):
couch.
But we need people out there,trying to ramp up.
The American population, the,the Democrats, I mean, 75
million people voted for Kamala.
They've went out and votedagainst this craziness that's
going on right now.
So there is a need for it.
(30:22):
I just don't know.
I.
Who's representing us right now.
I mean, we had Ken Martin cometo St.
Louis in the state of Missouri.
He's the what, the chair, the,the head chair of the DNC right
now, the National DemocraticCommittee, I believe.
That's what we call it.
And so we had no knowledge ofthis.
I mean, there was a privateparty that all the elected
(30:45):
representatives were invited toand got to see him speak, but.
I had no knowledge of it.
And I've been volunteering forthis party since 2016.
I have gone above and beyond andsince 2020, especially since the
election of 24.
And I had no knowledge that KenMartin was even gonna be here,
(31:07):
you know?
And it's like, I don't know whatI would've, what he would've
said or whatever, but we needmore.
People representing us andtalking to us, and people are
thirsty.
People are really, reallythirsty.
They're, they're scared and theyneed to have representatives
that are going to tell themwhat's what.
What their plans are and itwould've been nice.
I can tell you it would've, Iwould've been very interested to
(31:28):
hear Ken Martin speak in agymnasium somewhere.
Like, I think he would've turnedpeople out.
Just because people are wantingto hear what he to say.
Yeah.
The Democrats wanna leave.
I'm sorry to interrupt you.
They, the Democrats want toleave this image of elite and
they wanna focus on kitchentable issues while.
I am not seeing that happenright now.
(31:49):
I'm not seeing that.
You know, like bills are stillpiling up on our kitchen table.
People are still pissed offthat, you know, our rights are
gonna be ripped away.
Families are getting rippedapart.
You know, the immigration thing,the gay marriage thing, I'm sure
that'll be overturned shortly.
You know, so it's like, it'slike we need.
Something or someone to get outthere and speak to us.
(32:12):
And that's why we started thispodcast essentially because I
needed to, I needed atherapeutic way to speak and
voice my concerns.
And then also, you know, I.
Uh, we need more podcasts outthere too.
I, I, I'm, I'm digressing.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
Well, and, and I, and you know,and that's why I wanted to call
this out'cause I, I really thinkit's, it's really cool that
(32:35):
Bernie's the one doing this.
He's the, probably the only onethat could do this, but he, I, I
really respect that he kind ofdid this on his own.
He didn't have a team behind himother than his own, like actual
people.
But like he's, he was like, I'mgoing out and I'm going to talk
to people and he's doing it.
And I think that's.
Honorable and great and I'm, Idon't know why more Democrats
aren't doing that.
There is word a OC will bejoining him on the road.
(32:57):
She's spoken up about it.
I think she's gonna go out withhim a couple stops.
And there is this argument thatthere aren't many other
democratic leaders that coulddraw the crowds.
Bernie is drawing anyway.
I mean, Bernie is, Bernie is apopular person when it comes to
certain people.
Um, you know, there is also agroup of Democrats that are
potential.
Runners for 2028, like Newsom,like Whitmer, like Shapiro.
(33:20):
But they are so far, I at thispoint, reluctant, I think to
step too far into the nationalspotlight just yet.
And maybe there's, maybe, maybethere's a reason behind that.
Maybe they're trying to tiptoebefore they can put themselves
out there.
'cause that is, it is a risk.
Put yourself out there at any,in any capacity.
Um, and again, Bernie's kind ofthe one that can do it.
I, I would be curious who elsereally could, but I, I like what
(33:43):
he is doing.
Um, I think people are alreadyshowing that they're ready to be
plugged in.
They wanna see action right now,so I'm really looking forward to
see how this continues to form.
And maybe who else other than aOC partners with Bernie maybe,
or what other Democrat maybe hasthe guts to do a tour like
Bernie is doing, so we'll see.
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's notabout drawing the crowds, it's
(34:04):
not about the numbers and thecrowds and how, how they draw
them out.
It's more about the people whodo show up are the ones that.
Are going to help you getelected.
They're the ones that are gonnado the work and get, get the
speeches out to their socialmedias or whatever.
You know, it's, it's just, it'sa, we, we need more
(34:25):
representation from theDemocratic Party and it is just
not there right now, and it'sactually pathetic and we need.
We just need more from thisparty because right now there's
nothing.
It's just, it's blank out there.
Yeah.
I mean, they need to push, theyneed to push harder.
Yep.
But that's it for the week.
(34:46):
That's a great way to end ourweek.
I don't have any light newsstories this week, so this is
it.
Um, but we will be back.
Um, yeah, shortly.
Yeah.
So, um, make sure to give us afollow at the Civil U.
That's just with the Letter U onInstagram and on TikTok.
And, uh, if you want us to talkabout something or if we got
something wrong, give us, uh,an, send us an email at the
(35:09):
Civil Union twenty5@gmail.com.
Thanks everyone.
Thank you guys.
Welcome to the Civil Union, thepodcast where politics meets
partnership.
We're Alex and Ryan, a marriedcouple, navigating life and
debates in a conservative state.
I.
We bring you sharp insights,bold opinions, and honest
conversations about thepolitical issues shaping our
lives, especially those livingon society's margins.
Tune in for real talk, a touchof humor and plenty of passion
(00:30):
because when it comes topolitics, every voice matters,
and we're here to make surethey're heard.
So this has been a very busyweek or weekend.
I feel like we had a lot goingon.
City played on Sunday, which wasgreat.
We actually won for the firsttime, um, in a while actually.
(00:52):
Yeah.
I was so happy to see themactually score some points.
So that was cool.
Like three of'em I think.
Right?
Three points.
Zero to three.
Three points.
Yeah.
We take three points home'causewe won.
Um, everyone played really well.
And you know what's interestingis all the points we got were
all from newer players that weresigned.
Between last year and this year.
So it's promising.
It's very promising.
That's awesome.
Also, on Friday I have this newthing where I've been going to
(01:15):
the theater.
I have this like monthlymembership with Almo Drafthouse.
So I've been trying to go tomake it worth it, and we
installed Mickey 17.
It's this new Robert Patsonmovie.
You know, we're on this twilightkick lately this year.
I don't know why.
But anyway, he's actually areally good actor and he plays
this like.
Doppelganger movie where he'slike multiples of him and Mark
(01:36):
Ruffalo ISS in it.
He's really good.
He actually plays this characterthat's very like Trump-esque,
which is very timely.
I mean, this movie had to havebeen filmed.
I.
A year or two ago, and it's justreally interesting how the
timing comes out.
This, what was it called?
Mickey 17 or Mickey 18.
Uh, they usually suck after thesecond one, don't they?
Mm-hmm.
(01:57):
Yeah.
Well, it's not a 17th movie,Ryan.
It is a.
Number one movie, but it'sMickey 17 because he's like,
he's like, he dies.
He's like a little, he's like aclone.
And anytime he, they, you know,humanity uses him to test things
and then he dies and then comesback as Mickey three, and then
Mickey four, and Mickey five.
So this movie, the iterationhe's on is.
(02:19):
Mickey 17.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Did you like it?
I really, really liked it.
You know, the director did OK J,which was that Netflix movie
about the big cow that was likeall fictional, but it was
really, really good.
So if you liked OK J, you'd likeMickey 17.
And the guy, the director, didParasite I'm pretty sure, which
was like the best picture awardwinner a couple years back,
(02:41):
which was also a really goodmovie.
also, we have a group of friendsand they.
All started watching that newMeghan Markle documentary, or I
guess it's not a documentary,it's like a reality show where
she cooks.
Is that right?
Do you, did you see that?
I mean, I didn't watch it, butyeah.
I guess she's cooking now orsomething.
Yeah, she's cooking anddecorating.
I guess she's trying to havelike a Martha Stewart moment, or
(03:03):
maybe like a Joanna Gainesmoment.
I, I don't know what she'sreally trying to do with this,
but you know, I've never been a.
Big fan of Meghan Markle.
I think that's an unpopularopinion.
Why?
Why is that?
I don't know.
She just seems really fake tome.
Like I don't, she just seemslike there's a lot of flags.
There's a lot of flags aroundher and I, but I will say I do
(03:27):
fully support how she stood upto the monarchy.
But isn't she like Megan Sussexnow?
Because I saw some blip whenlike Mindy Colle was like asking
her, and she's like, well, I'm aSussex now.
And it's like, oh, okay.
Megan SUEx.
So should be Su Sussex Su MeganSu Sussex.
Yes.
It's, I saw that clip too.
You know, that's the, those arethe things I'm just like, eh,
(03:48):
cringeworthy.
But I do think she, I do thinkwhat the monarchy did was real,
I think there were too manyoutlets, news sources that were
kind of appeal reporting on thesame stuff.
Even in the uk, you know, othercountries that make it seem like
she actually was dealing withstuff.
So, I mean, I get that and I.
Fully support her with that.
And I think they did the rightmove on.
Moving to California, I readPrince Harry, Harry, right?
(04:11):
Prince Harry, her husband.
I read his document, or notdocumentary, but book, and I
really, really like him.
Um, it made, it opened my eyeson him.
So I'll give the show.
A moment.
At first I was like, eh, it justseems so stupid.
Well, e either people reallylike her or really hate her.
Like there's no in between.
I am completely indifferent whenit comes to Meghan Markle or
Meghan Sussex, but, um, like ourfriend is like really into her
(04:36):
and is like planning a gardenparty, so I'm very excited for
this.
Future Garden Party And for thephotos on Instagram.
Just for the likes.
I mean,'cause we're all gonna belooking real good.
So I'm ready for that.
I am too.
I actually really hope they gothrough with this Garden party.
If you are listening, you bettergo through with the Garden party
(04:56):
'cause we are really lookingforward to it already.
Um, there was also, we had, thiswas a big movie weekend for us,
I guess.
'cause I also watched the lastshowgirl, which, uh, Pamela
Anderson was the lead actress.
Correct?
Yes.
Um, I walked into it thinkingPamela Anderson was.
It and it turns out.
Um, David, Jimmy Lee Curtis alsoco-starred, and she looked like
(05:18):
a South city girl.
I mean, you know, woman like, Imean, I was surprised she didn't
get nominated for an awardbecause her performance was
just.
On Mark.
It was, it was funny.
It was really good.
I mean, it was really good.
It took place in Las Vegas.
Um, I mean, it was a movie wewatched, so it was okay.
(05:39):
I really, really liked it.
It gave me Sophia Cap vibes,like Mary Antoinette vibes, like
very like.
Artsy and good cinematography.
Pamela Anderson, I thought didgreat.
I mean, I was expecting a littlebit more, but she had her scenes
and yeah.
Jamie Lee Curtis, I mean, whoknew if he put her under a
different wig and put on somewhite lipstick that she would
look so different.
(06:01):
Yeah, that was, it was funny.
It was a good, it was a goodrole for her, for sure.
It was very good.
Anyway.
Alright, so let's move into our,our topics this week.
Um, the first thing I wanted totalk about, which we've talked
about this a lot more in detailin past episodes.
I feel like this is gonna be acontinuing topic.
I'm so tired of even saying theword, but that's tariffs.
(06:24):
The Trump administration hasgone back and forth with this as
of right now because, you know,he, he, he.
Put them out there and then took'em back.
But as of right now, there is a25% tariff on Canada and Mexico
at a time when, you know, we aretrying to cut our dependence
from China.
It's, I don't feel like it's thesmartest move to cut ties with a
(06:47):
low wage country like Mexico.
And I understand that it'sprobably not the greatest idea
or thing to support Mexico withlow wages, but I mean, it is
what it is and we, we get ourproducts from there.
So.
I don't know.
No, this president is absolutelyunhinged and it, it's, it's
really mind boggling how he'llfirst like enact tariffs and
(07:09):
then he doesn't enact tariffsand then he like rolls back.
Well, Canada's Prime minister,the new prime minister, I, I
don't know the name of the PrimeMinister, but he said that he
was enacting what, uh, a hundredpercent or no, was it 25% tariff
on.
The, um, electricity that wesell to Minnesota, that they
(07:31):
sell to Minnesota, Michigan, andNew York, which is gonna average
out to each.
Household and business up to anaverage of$100 per month.
And he said, you know, we're notplaying around here.
We're not fucking around withthis anymore.
Like, we're not going, we can goto the bargaining table if you
want, but this is just it.
(07:52):
It needs to end.
So like literally like.
Five minutes ago there was somelike breaking news report saying
that Trump, Trump is likerolling back the tariffs, I
guess on Canada or something.
I dunno the story, I can't keepup honestly, but one thing about
this whole economy thing, Idon't really, I don't understand
how this became such a talkingpoint during the last campaign.
(08:14):
The economy was in solid shape.
With low unemployment.
I mean, Biden's administrationwas cleaning up the effects of a
pandemic.
He was still, I don't, I thinkpeople forget how shattered our
economy was, and Biden wasreally trying to fix it.
Yes, it wasn't perfect, but theeconomy issues were not only
American centered, I mean the,there were economy issues
worldwide.
(08:34):
I read the New York Times everyweek on paper, and I can tell
you.
It was kind of interesting tosee how Europe and Germany and
France, all of them were goingthrough the same patterns we
were when it came to economy.
So it was not just an Americanthing.
What Trump is bringing is highuncertainty and trust, and you
cannot have a good economy witha president that has high
(08:55):
uncertainty and trust.
With the tariffs, Trump usedwhat is called the IEPA or
International Emergency PowersAct to enact these tariffs,
which basically he called it aco, an eco economic emergency
based off the crazy migrationflows and fentanyl crisis, I
mean.
That's his basis for this entiredramatic situation.
(09:18):
One interesting point too tomake about these tariffs is a
25% tariff on aluminum andsteel.
That's kind of where this isgoing.
And this actually supposed tostart Wednesday, so I guess I.
The day this podcast comes out,Trump did have this tariff with
his first administration, butwhen Biden became president, his
administration worked withallies to change this into a
(09:39):
type of quota.
So it kind of softened it up abit.
It was on the actual material,not products necessarily.
But now Trump has made it clearthis 25% tariff is across the
board.
This means this will affect awider range of products
directly.
So higher costs will definitelygo up on furniture, patio
(10:00):
furniture, sporting equipment, Imean bicycles.
Anything that is made ofaluminum or steel, it will.
Go up.
Scott Biant, treasury secretaryhas said, I don't even know if I
said that name right, but hebasically said there will be a
detox period.
So there, that's their excuse.
Short-term pain for long-termgain is what is being thrown out
(10:21):
there on,, conservative newschannels.
But there was an article I readcomparing this to the Reagan
administration and what he didwith the economy, but.
Reagan did that over a threeyear transition, and that was a
whole different time period.
My question is, are peoplewilling to wait three years to
go through this?
(10:42):
Again, do people have thatpatience, especially with a
round of elections in two years?
I don't think so.
And I'm really curious to seehow, where this goes.
I think people wanted a quickfix.
They voted for Trump because ofthe economy or the egg prices
supposedly, and they, theyexpected this on the up really
fast situation.
And I don't know who actuallythought Trump equaled better
(11:03):
economy, but that guy is way toounstable to have created a
stable economy.
Yeah, exactly.
Another area this Trumpadministration is causing issues
is with colleges.
He's really shaking it up.
Trump is basically trying tostrong arm colleges like he's
doing with countries, but he'smaking them bend the knee.
(11:25):
He's threatening 60 universitiesright now with penalties of
possible antisemitism.
What this really is, is a battleon free speech.
These campuses were a site forsome protests, which I'm sure
everyone remembers last yearwith Israel.
You know, the Gaza conflict, allthat, the protests that were
going on on college campuses,whether you are for or against
(11:49):
that movement is not the point.
The point is, should a presidentbe able to strip funding from
schools because of it?
Yeah, I mean, illegal protest.
Remember that tweet he had or,yeah, that wasn't a tweet, it
was something, but on truthsocial, and I was like, what
exactly is an illegal protest?
I mean, that's what you'resupposed to do as, as a citizen
(12:11):
in this country.
It's a free country.
I.
Free speech, you know, youshould be able to protest
something.
So yeah, it's Well, and I'venever understood why people have
issues with college studentsprotesting.
I mean, that's the time in yourlife where you're supposed to do
that kind of stuff.
And if they're gonna do it on acollege campus, I'd rather them
do it on a college campus thanin the streets.
It's like when people doprotesting on the streets, it's
looting and freaking out and, ohmy god, disturbance.
(12:33):
But when people do it on collegecampus, not all of them, not all
of them, not all of them, butwhen people do it on college
campuses, I feel like that's agreat.
Area for that type of speech totake place.
I don't know.
Trump canceled$400 million infederal funding right now to
Columbia University, and a bigstory I was looking at was that
he attempted to deport a recentColumbian, a Columbia graduate
(12:56):
who led protests there, afederal judge in Manhattan.
On Monday, I believe, orderedhim not to be removed from the
United States for now.
So it's an ongoing case.
Yeah.
He's currently being held in aLouisiana detention center right
now.
It's absolutely wild.
I mean, what kind ofimplications would this, these,
I mean,$400 million is a lot.
(13:17):
What kind of implications willthis?
Go what funny cuts have oncollege institutions, and I
don't mean that in a physicalaspect.
I mean that in like our idea ofwhat college is supposed to be.
I mean, they, they're breakingdown the idea of that we are at
a time where there issignificant change in the
education system in thiscountry.
We talked about this a littlebit last week when we went to
(13:38):
that.
Restaurant, it was called theCookout or something in
Nashville.
We were around all these collegestudents and we talked about how
this generation has, how muchthey've been through, and how
that kind of maybe has affectedthe way they approach school.
I mean, they, they remotelearning all this.
It does seem there is arestructuring of.
Traditional college outlook.
(13:59):
The younger generation,especially due to COVID-19, has
a different outlook on what isactually needed for their
careers.
They aspire to want kids whoalways wanted to be.
Lawyers are now looking intotrade schools.
I mean, the idea of learningremotely has tired so many of
them out.
They're rethinking what theywant out of school.
With that said.
And that uncertainty createdfrom the pandemic.
(14:21):
We now are facing uncertaintywith what kind of funding
colleges and universities canrely on.
Some universities are havinghiring freezes, which means no
more professors coming through.
Some universities have shut downresearch.
Um, there's actually a building,I was talking to my coworker.
We were walking out, there's anentire building on the WashU BJC
campus that is.
(14:42):
Closed.
They closed it.
There's no cars in the parkinglot, and those workers were
given no notice.
They walked in the work and itwas shut down.
It's a building that is owned byWashU, which is Washington
University here in St.
Louis, and they had to shut itdown because of the lack of
funding.
Less people may be able to gothrough PhD programs.
They're also finding a lot ofpeople are being turned away
from PhD programs.
(15:02):
What does that have to do whenit comes to, you know, a year
and two from now when we needpeople in specialized um, jobs?
There's not gonna be peoplegraduating from these PhD
programs.
There's a trickle down effect tothis that we'll start seeing
years from now.
But the main takeaway is whensupport for education is
threatened, like it is with thisadministration.
And throw in an unstableeconomy, higher tuition, remote
(15:26):
learning fatigue from theyounger generation.
All this could de the academicinstitutions in this country.
A big part we rely on forresearch on a number of sectors.
So I don't think people arerealizing big picture here with
this subject.
And there are giganticimplications that we're gonna
see from these things.
And we're only, what, threemonths into this administration.
(15:50):
So we're doing a littlesomething differently this week,
is we're gonna do a differentgame usually every week.
We do.
Who said it?
And I thought I'd switch it up.
It's gonna be called Red State,blue State, or No State.
Okay, what does this entail?
You're gonna be my, you're gonnabe my player.
So basically I'm gonna say apolicy or a law that is real or
(16:16):
fake.
And you have to tell me whetheryou think it's from, if it's
real, whether it's a blue stateor a red state, or if it's a no
state, which means it's fake.
Interesting.
Okay.
Alright, let's do it.
So first one.
This state officially recognizesSasquatch as an endangered
species in 1969.
(16:38):
Red State, blue state, or nostate?
They recognized it as aendangered species.
Yes.
I'm gonna say blue State.
'cause that sounds likeWashington.
That's correct.
Are you looking outta my hand?
I think you are.
I'm turning my, I'm not reallynot turning screen around.
Alright, next one.
(17:00):
A state senator once proposed abill to rename climate change as
weather discomfort in allofficial documents.
Red state, blue state, or nostate?
No State.
Red state.
Can you guess what state?
Um, it's a red state you said?
(17:20):
Yeah, I'm gonna say Texas,Florida, same thing.
Okay.
Well close enough.
Same thing.
Yeah.
It was a supposedly in 2015, notsurprising.
Uh, local politician onceproposed a bill to create a
national unicorn day to boostnational pride.
Red state, blue state, or nostate?
(17:41):
I'm going to say no State.
Red state.
A red state, huh?
Yeah.
Wyoming.
Wyoming.
Really?
Yeah.
Which, you know, I actually amall on board for that.
I think that would be so fun.
National Unicorn day.
Could you imagine how many liketours would go to Wyoming?
(18:01):
Just to like celebrate that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That would be like a moment Ithink they should go through
with it.
All right.
This state it, it's illegal tocarry an ice cream cone in your
back pocket on Sundays.
Red State.
Blue State, or no state?
I'm gonna say Red State.
Correct.
Red State, Alabama.
Oh, you gotta, let me guess thestate.
I was gonna say Louisiana, butOkay.
(18:23):
Alabama.
This old law actually preventedpeople from stealing horses
because that ice cream coneswere used as a distraction for
the who.
I think that's kind of funny,huh?
Um.
Alright.
Because they eat them?
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Or they follow the person.
I have no, I don't really knowhow that would work, but it
makes sense.
'cause you could see a horseliking waffle cones.
(18:44):
Yeah, I guess.
I mean, I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know.
It's the almost random thing.
Yeah.
Alright.
This state tried to pass a law.
Requiring all public parks tohave free wifi.
Red state, blue state or no?
State?
Blue State.
Okay.
What state?
New York.
California.
California, okay.
Same thing.
Yeah.
Which, you know what'sinteresting is there's a park
(19:06):
here.
I used to do homework in parkswhen I was in college.
'cause I had to get outta mydorm, my apartment.
And I feel like there's a parkright around the corner from my
house that had wifi.
I think that's like a thing.
It's a thing.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
Alright.
A governor once announced theywould replace the state's
official animal with a mythicalcreature because it would
attract more tourism.
(19:27):
No state.
I was, that's true.
No state false.
But that would be veryentertaining and I would be on
board with that.
Alright.
An attempt to reduce crime.
This state introduces a no drivepolicy for anyone under 25 on
weekends.
Red state, blue state, or nostate?
(19:47):
Wait, what is it again?
In an attempt to reduce crime,this state introduced a no drive
policy for anyone under 25.
On weekends.
I don't, did someone really dothis?
I would say it's a red state.
Am I right?
No state.
No state.
Okay.
But.
What kind of policy?
I mean, what kind of effectswould that have?
That's actually not, that wouldbe interesting.
(20:08):
Like if they made people under,not under 25, not be able to
drive on weekends.
Like Yeah, like no semis on theweekends.
That'd be great.
Wow.
That's, it's true.
The point A to point B muchfaster.
I think in Europe, semis areonly allowed to travel on
certain days and in certainlanes.
I know why Germany that Germany.
Yeah.
Germany.
'cause your family used to livethere.
Yeah.
All right.
(20:29):
Next one.
A local politician onceproposed, turning all public
school cafeterias into finedining restaurants to improve
student nutrition, red state,blue state, or no state to fine
dining In a public school?
I'm gonna say no.
State, blue state.
A blue state.
Interesting.
Where was that at in, uh, let methink.
(20:50):
Um, I'm gonna say.
Vermont, California.
Oh, California.
And you know, I think that's agreat idea.
'cause when you go to college,the food court is made up of,
some colleges have like actuallike restaurants in there.
At my high school, we hadoff-campus option when you were
junior and senior.
And so me and my friends, wewould always go to Macalester's
(21:13):
or Panera literally every dayfor lunch because it was like
the same cost as your lunch.
It's always gonna be St.
Louis Spread Company in St.
Louis.
Oh, that's true.
Yeah.
They changed them mall though.
I think it's no longer.
Well, we did Mac Real ThingWellers more because
MacAllister, you could go eatand then you get that big cup of
tea free refill, and then wewould bring it back to school
and it would last us the rest ofthe day anyway.
(21:33):
Last one.
A politician once introduced abill to require every citizen to
attend one community serviceevent per month to foster Unity.
Red state, blue state, or nostate?
Wait, repeat that again.
A politician once introduced abill to require every citizen to
attend one community serviceevent per month to foster unity.
(21:54):
Red, blue, or no state?
I'm gonna say it's a blue state.
No state.
No state.
But that would be a greatpolicy.
I'm just saying where do theseno states come from?
Do you just make them up?
Yeah.
Okay.
I mean, think about, I should bea politician if these are the
ideas.
Yeah.
I mean literally.
But I think if you made everysingle person, let's say work
(22:16):
for a food bank, you know, everymonth or a homeless shelter or
pick up trash on the highway, Imean, there are so many
community service things thatpeople could do that would, I
think that would be great.
Not only to like meet people,but also to see like what goes
in the community.
And I don't know.
Yeah, was good.
Competition is listening.
Maybe you should run with thatone.
(22:36):
You're gonna be a policymakerone day.
I know I should.
That was a fun one.
We gotta do that one again.
Yeah.
All right.
Moving on to some dark news.
No, not really dark news, but,last week we actually mentioned
this story as well.
Melania Trump spoke on this.
I guess her speech wasn'tmemorable because I honestly
(22:57):
didn't hear anything about itafterward.
Or that tells you how dense thenews cycle is, that there is so
much going on.
It's hard to keep up witheverything.
But anyways, there's a bill outthere that should raise some
flags.
And I mean this, seriously, I, Ikind of went over a win case,
WYNN, the, the hotel in Vegasabout how the effects of that
(23:18):
will be with journalism in themedia.
I went over that a coupleepisodes ago.
This is kind of.
With that.
I don't think it's real.
It really is at the moment.
Um, being picked up by big newsmedias right now, which is very
confusing.
But there is a bill out therebeing do endorsed by Trump and
his wife called the Take It DownAct.
(23:38):
Trump and a supporters aresaying they are in support of
it.
The bill addresses.
It doesn't address an actualissue, which is non-consensual
intimate imagery, or NCII alsoknown as something we all
probably have heard, revengeporn.
The tech industry has had bettermovement of this recently
encountering this issue, but Iguess congress doesn't feel it's
(24:00):
enough.
Senators Ted Cruz and Democrat,Amy Klobuchar are making it to
where a website is legallyliable if they don't take down
anything someone says.
Is NCII, within 48 hours, you'reprobably like, okay, what's the
big deal?
Well, because this bill is sobroad and there's not really any
(24:22):
safeguards, it opens up theopportunity for abuse.
I, I don't think I will statethis right now.
I don't think Amy Klo Shire hadbad intentions with when she
came onto this bill, butobviously there, it needs to be
refined.
Congress you would think, wouldsay this Bill violates the First
Amendment.
(24:42):
It's basically forcing websitesto take down content without any
court review and because thereare no safeguards, but the bill
as it stands would also censorspeech on unverified complaints
because the bill is so broad,they can.
Manipulate it to do that.
The bill just passed the Senaterecently and it's now headed to
(25:04):
the house.
Civil liberties groups havetried to raise awareness of this
and have sent letters tosenators to try to try to stop
the bill.
Um, you know, this then bringsit to Trump.
It makes him and Melania looklike they are standing up for
protecting people, havingcompromising imagery online.
And obviously that sounds like ano brainer.
(25:26):
No one's gonna argue with that.
It makes it look like they careabout the vulnerable community,
but that's not the case.
This bill is a Trojan horse.
During his address to Congress,Trump even kind of said
something that makes it seemlike he has other intentions
with this bill.
He said, I'm going to use thatbill for myself too, if you
(25:47):
don't mind, because nobody getstreated worse than I do online.
Nobody, I mean.
To be clear, this Bill acts as acens.
Censorship free for all that thepresident openly plans and he
just vocalized it last week toweaponize against his critics.
It gives him another tool tosilence the opposition.
(26:07):
And no one seems to be battingan eye at it.
This also ties into the wincase.
Like I said, these are directattacks on free speech and
journalism, and I honestly don'tunderstand how either story, the
win case and this bill aren'tgetting as much coverage.
Oh wait.
It's because Trump is aprofessional at pushing other
news stories out.
(26:27):
I mean, there are so many otherthings going on.
It's very easy for us to getwrapped up in other things, but
at this point.
I want you to understand thisbill will become law.
It's gone too far deep.
There's no, there's no turningback.
But the Democrats, you know,they, they need to step it up.
They, they are getting blindedby other issues, and I think
this one is gonna be a bigregret moving forward in this
(26:49):
administration.
I.
So that's my, my little storyfor you, but look it up.
It's called the, just toreiterate, it's called the Take
It Down Act and really read intoit because it, there's gonna be
broad implications than justrevenge porn like they're
saying.
Hmm.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I'll have to look into that onelast story for the week.
(27:10):
I wanna touch on, um, you know,talking about Democrats doing
something.
Bernie Sanders has been touringthe Midwest recently in a
fighting Oli oligarchy tour,which I honestly wouldn't mind
on a T-shirt.
T-shirt.
I'm picturing like a tourt-shirt with all the cities and
towns with.
On the back, that would be veryfire or whatever the young kids
are saying nowadays.
(27:30):
Anyways, the Democrats are inthe middle of finding their
identity.
Obviously, they need a rebrand.
They need to listen and get apulse on American values.
Again, I think this is Bernie'sattempt on doing that.
By stopping in various workingclass parts of states throughout
the Midwest.
historically, the President'sparty loses a seat in the first
(27:51):
midterms after generalelections.
right now the Republican'smargin is razor thin.
Bernie knows us, so he isattempting to target and swing
seats back to the left beforemidterms next November.
He's bringing in, it'simpressive.
He's bringing in thousands ofpeople at.
Every stop.
I mean, some stops, there's 2000some stops, there's 9,000.
(28:13):
He's filling buildings withpeople.
People are coming out.
People want to hear what he hasto say, and I have to give it to
Bernie.
He is 83 years old and I, andhe's the only Democrat doing
this, and I love that he'sactually getting on the ground
running a resistance, and it isa resistance to this presidency.
He is.
(28:34):
As of right now, the onlyelected progressive willing to
mount a national campaign goingto US House swing districts
represented by Republicans.
He's being strategic.
Yeah, no, I agree.
We need more, representationfor, the Democratic party.
Like they need to get out there.
Our elected representatives needto go out there and they need to
(28:54):
start hosting bigger, uh, youknow.
Bigger speeches, what do youcall'em?
Bigger need awareness.
Bigger halls need.
We need more town halls.
We need more.
More pushback from this party.
I get that.
We are on the losing end and wedon't have any major, we don't
hold any house right now orSenate.
(29:15):
We don't hold any Congress.
We don't hold the Supreme Courtlike we need some type of.
Excitement.
We need, we need someone outthere speaking directly to their
constituents and even their nonconstituents to get people to
feel like everything's gonna beokay.
Maybe.
I mean, I'm so tired of seeingpeople post on Facebook and I
(29:40):
guess maybe it's'cause mylogarithm has changed so much
because of this podcast and I, Ikeep seeing just.
All these liberal friends that Ihave continuously posting and
posting and sharing.
You know, like all this stuffthat I support, but it's like,
it's so easy to do that behindthe screen sitting on your
(30:01):
couch.
But we need people out there,trying to ramp up.
The American population, the,the Democrats, I mean, 75
million people voted for Kamala.
They've went out and votedagainst this craziness that's
going on right now.
So there is a need for it.
(30:22):
I just don't know.
I.
Who's representing us right now.
I mean, we had Ken Martin cometo St.
Louis in the state of Missouri.
He's the what, the chair, the,the head chair of the DNC right
now, the National DemocraticCommittee, I believe.
That's what we call it.
And so we had no knowledge ofthis.
I mean, there was a privateparty that all the elected
(30:45):
representatives were invited toand got to see him speak, but.
I had no knowledge of it.
And I've been volunteering forthis party since 2016.
I have gone above and beyond andsince 2020, especially since the
election of 24.
And I had no knowledge that KenMartin was even gonna be here,
(31:07):
you know?
And it's like, I don't know whatI would've, what he would've
said or whatever, but we needmore.
People representing us andtalking to us, and people are
thirsty.
People are really, reallythirsty.
They're, they're scared and theyneed to have representatives
that are going to tell themwhat's what.
What their plans are and itwould've been nice.
I can tell you it would've, Iwould've been very interested to
(31:28):
hear Ken Martin speak in agymnasium somewhere.
Like, I think he would've turnedpeople out.
Just because people are wantingto hear what he to say.
Yeah.
The Democrats wanna leave.
I'm sorry to interrupt you.
They, the Democrats want toleave this image of elite and
they wanna focus on kitchentable issues while.
I am not seeing that happenright now.
(31:49):
I'm not seeing that.
You know, like bills are stillpiling up on our kitchen table.
People are still pissed offthat, you know, our rights are
gonna be ripped away.
Families are getting rippedapart.
You know, the immigration thing,the gay marriage thing, I'm sure
that'll be overturned shortly.
You know, so it's like, it'slike we need.
Something or someone to get outthere and speak to us.
(32:12):
And that's why we started thispodcast essentially because I
needed to, I needed atherapeutic way to speak and
voice my concerns.
And then also, you know, I.
Uh, we need more podcasts outthere too.
I, I, I'm, I'm digressing.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
Well, and, and I, and you know,and that's why I wanted to call
this out'cause I, I really thinkit's, it's really cool that
(32:35):
Bernie's the one doing this.
He's the, probably the only onethat could do this, but he, I, I
really respect that he kind ofdid this on his own.
He didn't have a team behind himother than his own, like actual
people.
But like he's, he was like, I'mgoing out and I'm going to talk
to people and he's doing it.
And I think that's.
Honorable and great and I'm, Idon't know why more Democrats
aren't doing that.
There is word a OC will bejoining him on the road.
(32:57):
She's spoken up about it.
I think she's gonna go out withhim a couple stops.
And there is this argument thatthere aren't many other
democratic leaders that coulddraw the crowds.
Bernie is drawing anyway.
I mean, Bernie is, Bernie is apopular person when it comes to
certain people.
Um, you know, there is also agroup of Democrats that are
potential.
Runners for 2028, like Newsom,like Whitmer, like Shapiro.
(33:20):
But they are so far, I at thispoint, reluctant, I think to
step too far into the nationalspotlight just yet.
And maybe there's, maybe, maybethere's a reason behind that.
Maybe they're trying to tiptoebefore they can put themselves
out there.
'cause that is, it is a risk.
Put yourself out there at any,in any capacity.
Um, and again, Bernie's kind ofthe one that can do it.
I, I would be curious who elsereally could, but I, I like what
(33:43):
he is doing.
Um, I think people are alreadyshowing that they're ready to be
plugged in.
They wanna see action right now,so I'm really looking forward to
see how this continues to form.
And maybe who else other than aOC partners with Bernie maybe,
or what other Democrat maybe hasthe guts to do a tour like
Bernie is doing, so we'll see.
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's notabout drawing the crowds, it's
(34:04):
not about the numbers and thecrowds and how, how they draw
them out.
It's more about the people whodo show up are the ones that.
Are going to help you getelected.
They're the ones that are gonnado the work and get, get the
speeches out to their socialmedias or whatever.
You know, it's, it's just, it'sa, we, we need more
(34:25):
representation from theDemocratic Party and it is just
not there right now, and it'sactually pathetic and we need.
We just need more from thisparty because right now there's
nothing.
It's just, it's blank out there.
Yeah.
I mean, they need to push, theyneed to push harder.
Yep.
But that's it for the week.
(34:46):
That's a great way to end ourweek.
I don't have any light newsstories this week, so this is
it.
Um, but we will be back.
Um, yeah, shortly.
Yeah.
So, um, make sure to give us afollow at the Civil U.
That's just with the Letter U onInstagram and on TikTok.
And, uh, if you want us to talkabout something or if we got
something wrong, give us, uh,an, send us an email at the
(35:09):
Civil Union twenty5@gmail.com.
Thanks everyone.
Thank you guys.
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