February 7, 2025 • 43 mins
In this episode of 'Civil Union,' hosts Alex and Ryan dive into a variety of topical discussions, combining personal anecdotes with political analysis. They kick off with lighter banter about their week and humorous commentary on public figures like Trump's new press secretary and The Grammys, then move onto serious issues such as Elon Musk's controversial role in the U.S. government, the dismantling of pivotal agencies like the EPA and USAID, and the dire state of public education in Oklahoma under Ryan Walters. The hosts also engage in a trenchant critique of ICE's recent actions and the alarming rise of vigilantism. Balancing the heavy political discourse, they share fascinating new research on sea turtles and dolphins. They wrap up the episode with what to keep an eye on including emerging issues like the federal worker buyout.
00:00 Introduction to the Civil Union Podcast
00:39 Weekly Catch-Up
01:06 Discussing Trump's New Press Secretary
07:05 Elon Musk's Influence on Politics
13:08 EPA and Government Shutdown Concerns
19:01 Game Time: Who Said It? Trump or Lucille
21:46 The Controversial Ryan Walters
33:28 ICE Arrests and Collateral Damage
39:55 Dolphins Getting High on Pufferfish
41:27 Things to Look Out For This Week
43:26 Wrapping Up
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.
We bring you sharp insights,bold opinions and honest
conversations about politicalissues shaping our lives,
especially those living on thesociety's margins.
(00:29):
Tune in for real talk, a touchof humor, and plenty of passion.
Because when it comes topolitics, every voice matters.
And we're here to make surethey're heard.
So, So how has, uh, your weekbeen so far?
Oh, this week has been busy.
I worked last night and Ialready felt like I had had a
(00:50):
full week.
And what was yesterday?
Wednesday.
I know it's been a, such a busyweek.
I was like, so worried aboutbeing able to record this
podcast.
Cause I was like, how am I goingto fit it into my schedule?
But.
Um, we did it.
So we make it work every week.
Yeah.
So, Hey, do you know about that?
Uh, new press secretary thatTrump has?
Her name is Caroline Leavitt.
(01:12):
I think I've only seen her acouple of times.
I don't know anything about her.
So, so, okay.
So she's like, she loves God andeverything, which is fine.
But like, she's like.
27 years old, so she's likesuper young, but her husband, he
is 60 years old, 60 years old.
How old is she?
(01:32):
27.
Oh my God.
It's a big age gap.
I know.
It's like a 32 year age gap.
I wonder how they met.
I have no idea, but like if you,and not to disclose your age or
anything, but like if you werehim and at the age you're at and
I was her.
I'd be six years old right now.
(01:52):
That is really weird to thinkabout.
You know, here's the thing.
I'm fine with the whole agething.
I mean, there's a lot, look,real housewives.
There's a lot of them that havethat age gap.
I mean, who's the one fromBeverly Hills?
Like, I'm totally cool with it,like if it works.
But like, it is a weird, eitherway, it's, it's, it's very
strange.
(02:13):
It makes you wonder maybe ifthat's how she got that role,
maybe through her husband.
Yeah, I have no idea.
But, I think it's, It's, I haveno opinion, no judgment.
You know, love is love, youknow, and, uh, I think anyone
should be able to marry who theylove.
So I hope she thinks about thatfor the, the gay community, you
know?
Absolutely.
That also reminded me of like awho is who, so in this
relationship, Alex, who is, um,the Mary and who's the Rhoda?
(02:37):
Oh, I'm the Mary.
I'm the Mary.
Well, I would be fine with beinga Rhoda too, honestly.
Who's the Laverne and who's theShirley?
Um, I would be Shirley.
Oh, I'll be Laverne.
Yeah, I feel like I'd be goodwith Shirley.
Okay.
Who's the Lucy and who's theEthel?
(02:57):
I'm definitely the Lucy.
I think you're the Lucy too.
Oh, who's the, who's the Clariceand who's the Hannibal elector?
Ooh, um, I'm definitely Clarice.
Hey, do you get like a shit tonof roof callers?
Like people trying to like fixyour roof ever?
(03:18):
No, you don't get calls likethat.
No.
And it's no, I get calls likethat all the time.
Like this week, like justcounting in my phone.
I've gotten like 14 calls forpeople trying to like look at
our roof.
That is the most random thing.
It's like those car warrantythings.
(03:40):
Yeah, I get people calling meabout like credit extensions and
all these different things withmoney like I don't ever have
anything to do with our house.
Yeah, I have no idea how theygot my numbers.
I should probably like stay onthe phone and actually get their
company name so I can like blastthem on the internet.
Like stop calling me all thetime.
Oh my God.
(04:01):
And cell phones, you know, therewas a moment where cell phones,
you didn't get all that junk andnow it's like, I get like, 10
phone calls a day from junkpeople.
It's ridiculous.
Did you watch the Grammys lastSunday?
I worked last Sunday night, so Idid not watch them live, but I
did like look up theperformances and it is extremely
hard to look up theperformances.
By the way, the Grammys did aterrible job at putting up their
(04:23):
performances online, but I wasable to watch all of them and I
thought like Charlie XCX didgood.
Sabrina Carpenter did good.
Yeah.
Charlie XCX did good.
Yeah, I wasn't really ChapelRhone.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Chapel Rhone was great.
You would have thought she hadbeen doing it for years.
Like she was, her performancewas on point.
I know.
I love the fact that she's fromlike a really small town, like
(04:45):
trailer park, literally, outsideof Springfield, Missouri.
So I like that.
I think the city's like Willard,Missouri., I think that's really
cool.
What did you think of?
Kanye West, that nude dress thathis, I can believe it's his
girlfriend, wore.
Did you hear about this nudedress?
Yeah, I saw something about it,but I didn't really pay too much
(05:06):
attention.
I didn't, like, what was it?
I mean, the nude dress wasliterally a piece of plastic.
Like, she was definitely nude.
You saw everything.
And they made him leave andwhatnot.
But I guess the, the controversyis she did not feel very
comfortable.
And it was like blatantlyawkward and he like pushed her
to do it because he's an a holebut like it was just a very
(05:29):
awkward whole situation peopleare saying she's like in an
abusive relationship all thesethings because he just like
forced her to do this and it'slike like tabloids and stuff
yeah it's a mess but it She hada rocking body.
That's for sure.
I mean, if anyone could pull itoff, she could it's nothing
against her.
She looked great, but it wasjust like a very awkward.
You could tell Kanye had a hugehand in it.
It's just really, really weird.
(05:50):
We also had a Grammy winner fromSt.
Louis.
SZA SZA won a Grammy.
Yes, I love her so much.
Yeah, I think that's reallycool.
We had two two Missourirepresentations at won Grammys
this past year.
So that's pretty neat.
The Superbowl is coming up.
So what is it?
The Kansas city chiefs and thePhiladelphia Eagles.
(06:10):
Do you know who's,, performingat the halftime?
I don't actually it's it'sKendrick Lamar.
Oh, that's right.
So I was like talking to, my,my, the person that cuts my hair
or whatever.
And we both.
agreed that, we are at the agewhere we don't know any songs by
this halftime performer,unfortunately.
(06:32):
At least, I don't know any ofthem.
I don't know the names of hissongs, like, by title, but I
know I would know the songs if Iheard them, and I know he's a
very receptive person.
one of the best like in thatgenre of our generation.
Like I know he's very, very likerespected, but I don't, yeah, I
couldn't think of like any ofhis albums by name or anything
like that.
I know.
I feel horrible.
I know he did the bad bloodremix for Taylor Swift.
(06:54):
That's what I know.
I do remember that.
That was good.
That was a good music video.
Yeah.
So it was another, crazy, crazyweekend, uh, politics.
And so here we go.
Let's serve it up.
Yeah.
So our first topic we're goingto go over is how would you feel
about, about Elon Musk'sinfluence right now on the
government and politics ingeneral?
(07:15):
I mean, his name is probablytalked about more than Donald
Trump's at this point.
It really is like, Hey, doesn't,doesn't, doesn't Elon Musk have
Asperger's?
I'm not sure what he has.
I know he has something, whichis what they used as an excuse
for the whole Hitler sign thathe did.
And he's also like, an immigranttoo, right?
Yeah, I believe so.
(07:36):
So technically, wouldn't he belike a DEI hire if he was
actually, Hired by thegovernment?
That is a very good point.
That's a unique situation that'sgoing on up there in DC right
now.
Yeah.
I mean, Musk is serving as aspecial quote, well, something
called a special governmentemployee.
(07:57):
This status is usually given topart time employees.
or outside advisors, and I thinkthe main reason he was appointed
this role is because he has somany conflicts of interest.
I mean, blatant, blatantconflicts of interest.
He has SpaceX contracts withNASA.
We're talking Billions ofdollars going through that.
(08:20):
And then Tesla obviously, andthen has with China, um, because
of his status as a specialgovernment employee and not a
full time employee, he canretain all of those conflicts
and it not be as much of anissue.
I mean, it is an issue, but hecan get away with it because of
that status.
I just, I don't understand how anon elected billionaire who has
(08:44):
never been vetted by Congress.
has all this access to trillionsand trillions of US dollars,
like our social securitynumbers, your grandparents,
Medicare, social securitypayments, but not one member of
the Republican party is likethrowing up a red flag saying
something.
(09:04):
They're just all, uh, listeningto their leader, following their
leader, Trump.
It's just, it's reallyfrightening.
Um, it's crazy.
Yeah.
It means Sunday night was whenhe went online on X and was
basically saying he was planningon halting treasury payments to
the U S contractors.
And then today, earlier onThursday morning, the justice
(09:25):
department agreed to temporarilyrestrict that access.
But it's still an ongoing thing.
It's not a for sure decisioneither way.
But something that people needto think about is what would
this mean?
What if they find a contractorgave campaign donations to
Democrats?
Could they just stop paying thatcontractor the work?
Or, Even when it comes to justnormal citizens, how far will
(09:46):
this trickle down?
What if just a normal citizenlike our grandparents or
something or someone we knowHelped canvas for a Democratic
candidate could they stop thatperson's Social Security checks
from coming to them?
I mean the potential control ofthem having this access with the
Treasury Department is highlyUnsettling.
(10:06):
Remember when we were so worriedabout TikTok getting all our
data that we like temporarilylike banned it.
And then like, I think Trump isextended it by like 75 days or
something to have someone buyit.
But like, then this Republicanparty just gave Musk and his
team.
access to all of ourinformation.
(10:27):
Yeah, it's it's so backwards.
And the other thing Musk isdoing is he announced on X as
well that he's planning oncompletely shutting down the
USAID agency, which is the USAgency for International
Development.
This has huge implicationsworldwide.
I mean, to Republicans, theUSAID is a woke, left wing, evil
(10:48):
branch of the government thatspreads false information on
gender ideology and gives outaid to abortions and HIV.
But in reality, it leans moreinto contraception care, like
birth control, in countries thatDon't have that resource and HIV
treatments that affects not onlyadults, but thousands of
(11:09):
children in countries that needthat resource as well.
I mean, ignorance is the mainword I can think of using when
it comes to people's views ofwhat the USAID does.
The budget is 40 billion.
It was 40 billion in 2023 and toa normal voter, that sounds like
a lot of money, but in the grandscheme of things, it's less than
(11:32):
1 percent of the federal budget.
Why does Musk even care aboutthe USAID and giving aid to the
world?
It makes absolutely no sense.
I just, I just can't imaginewhat kind of stress all these
federal employees must be undernot knowing, like.
If you'll have a job to go totomorrow or not, it's absolutely
ridiculous.
Like, these federal workers arecivil, civil servants.
(11:56):
Most who've served in ourcountry's military.
The frightening thing is thefact that once they fire all
these people, They're going toreplace them with all Trump
loyalists.
I mean, that's really, reallyscary.
Yeah, absolutely.
And those buyouts he's offeringto basically every federal
department so far.
I mean, these options he'sgiving the people throughout the
(12:18):
federal government, you got tothink.
It's attractive to the peoplewho have options outside the
government in the privatesector, people who are sought
after, basically.
They're potentially, by doingthis, encouraging the most
talented people to leave.
What implications will that haveon the government?
(12:39):
And what will the governmentlook like when all these really
talented cream of the croppeople leave because they have
other opportunities?
And you're just kind of givingthem a get out jail free card
with this?
With the situation, which, bythe way, still, they cannot
prove that they can even paypeople through, what did they
say, August or September of nextthis year?
Like, there's no proof that thateven will happen.
(13:01):
So these people that have agreedfor the buyout, it's not even a
for sure thing.
Crazy times, crazy world we'reliving in.
That's for sure.
The other thing that is gettingshut down when we're talking
about all these differentdepartments is the EPA.
They came out and basically havesaid that they want to shut down
the EPA as well.
They got rid of all these topofficials there.
(13:22):
And there's this idea, I think,in the public eye that the EPA
is only about climate.
It's not.
It actually, you know, thisdepartment has huge hands in
areas that affect climate.
minority and low income areas.
This includes your drinkingwater systems, sewer programs,
(13:44):
lead pipe removal.
I mean, before Trump took over,there was a 15 billion fund that
Biden had actually passed.
And that 15 billion fund hasn'teven gone out to states yet.
So where's that going to go now?
You know, if the EPA getsdissolved, Where does that
money?
Will the states even ever getthat money?
(14:05):
Power grid systems.
I mean, we're talking.
Look at Texas.
What happened to them back whenthey had that gigantic storm and
all the power they couldn'thave, you know, all the power
grid systems went out.
There's a lot of work that needsto be done with those systems.
That's not gonna happen if theEPA is dissolved chemical and
hazardous waste spills.
Look at what's going on inCalifornia with the fires right
(14:28):
now.
There's such a huge cleanupnecessary with all the different
hazardous things going onbecause the fires and the piping
what's going to happen withthat?
If the EPA is not there.
Yeah, exactly.
Sorry.
Yeah, keep going.
No.
And I mean, with the pullback ofFEMA as well, it's just, it's
just, it's a recipe fordisaster.
(14:49):
Well, like in so a couple ofweeks ago in late January,
President Trump ordered the U.
S.
Army Corps of Engineers torelease approximately 2.
2 billion gallons of water fromtwo dams in California's Central
Valley.
They stated the intent was toincrease water availability for
farmers and to support thefirefighting efforts in Los
(15:11):
Angeles.
However, experts and localofficials have criticized this
action as ineffective andpotentially wasteful.
They argue that the releasedwater is unlikely to reach Los
Angeles due to the geographicaland in infrastructural,
infrastructural constraints.
(15:31):
I can't say that word.
Big word.
But additionally, releasing thiswater during the wet winter
season may lead to unnecessaryloss as the water could have
been stored for irrigationduring the dry summer months.
There are also concerns aboutpotential flooding risks in the
Central Valley result resultingin the sudden release.
(15:51):
You know, California, their wetseason is in the winter and
They're about to hit the dryseason, which is in summer.
So releasing all of this water,especially with the drought
history that they've had over,gosh, the last like decade or
so, we were very, they were verylucky that La Nina dropped a ton
(16:13):
of rain and water on toCalifornia the last, what, last
two winters.
And then this winter there is nomore La Nina.
So it's been.
particularly drier than usual.
And so, yeah, it's just, it'sreally sad.
It's going to be interesting tosee kind of how this all rolls
out, you know, and the thing is,I brought this up at the last
(16:34):
episode, but it brings it backto this was all predicted in
Project 2025.
For instance, these warningswere from I had done some
research and I found thesewarnings were from an article
from the Center for AmericanProgress back in August of 2024.
They had said Project 2025 wouldneuter the EPA's ability to
safeguard public health.
(16:56):
EPA priority is to reduce theagency's size and scope,
shrinking and dismantlingexisting EPA offices and
programs.
Specifically, banning EPAresearch on the cumulative
impacts of toxin exposures, theywould eliminate the EPA's Office
of Enforcement and ComplianceAssurance, which basically that
(17:16):
department is the Clean Air Act,Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking
Water Act, all of that is rolledinto that.
They would dissolve the EPA'sOffice of Environmental Justice
and External Civil Rights, whichis the office that would allow
for justice when it comes tothese lawyer things that happen
with cases with water.
Thank Erin Brockovich.
(17:37):
The creation of this officecomes after decades of activism
within the environmental justicemovement where Communities of
color raise concerns about theunequal distribution of
environmental burden.
So, I mean, all of these things,they're right now, the Trump
administration is taking stepsthat would eliminate all that.
(18:00):
And these warning signs werethere.
You know, why else would theywant to get rid of the thousands
of, you know, these officials orthese top officials if it wasn't
for them wanting to replace themwith people in that have
connections in oil andconnections in these other
(18:21):
industries?
What's going to happen whenthese people have other other
interests?
It's, you know, we were warnedand no one was paying attention.
These things were these thingswere out there.
And no one, no one cared to readabout it.
Or maybe it wasn't an importantfactor of your voting.
But these things were out therealready.
(18:43):
They campaigned on them, theywere out there 2025.
This book, no one tookseriously.
And it's just so sad, becausenow we're seeing this play out,
you know, moving forward,whatever's in that playbook
should be a good predictor foreverything that this
administration is going to do.
Yeah, definitely.
All right.
Is it game time?
It is game time.
(19:03):
So every week we've beenimplementing a game.
It's called who said it.
Usually Ryan is the host, butthis week I'm going to take over
and I'm going to be asking Ryanthe question.
So this week we are seeingwhether Ryan can decide if the
quote I'm going to give him iseither Donald Trump or Lucille
(19:24):
Bluth from a character fromArrested Development and
Arrested Development wasactually a really funny show.
Lucille Bluth.
Hold on, let me look her up.
The show went from like, likethree seasons one year and then
they brought it back.
She's the rich, yeah, she waslike the, the main lady in it.
Oh, that's funny.
I've never watched ArrestedDevelopment, but people tell me
(19:46):
I should.
So, okay, well, this will beinteresting.
All right.
So, first quote I have for you.
I've never seen a thin persondrinking Diet Coke.
Was that Donald or Lucille?
Lucille.
Donald Trump.
Interesting, right?
(20:07):
Next quote.
They didn't sneak into thiscountry to be your friends.
Donald Trump or Lucille?
Lucille.
Yes, correct.
Ding, ding, ding.
You got one right.
All right, next quote.
They're building a wall toseparate, separate the U.
(20:29):
S.
from the immigrants, which wasmy idea.
Donald Trump or Lucille?
Trump, definitely.
That was Lucille.
No way.
I know.
It's kind of crazy.
All right.
They're bringing drugs.
They're bringing crime.
They're rapists.
(20:49):
And some, I assume are goodpeople.
Donald or Lucille?
Trump for sure.
Definitely Trump.
That was Trump.
All right.
The only kind of people I wantcounting my money are little
short guys that wear yarmulkesevery day.
Donald or Lucille?
(21:10):
Lucille.
Donald Trump said that.
No way.
I don't know when he said that.
The only kind of people I wantcounting my money are little
short guys that wear yarmulkeseveryday.
No clue.
No clue.
That's our president.
Alright, last one.
I have a great relationship withthe blacks.
(21:33):
Donald or Lucille?
Lucille.
Donald Trump.
Oh my god.
Did I do good at this?
I think I failed.
You actually did pretty good.
It was like 50 50.
Well, maybe.
Maybe two.
Alright.
So, um, moving on.
Okay, so have you heard of thisguy named Ryan Walters in
Oklahoma?
(21:54):
I've heard of him very briefly,but I don't know much about him.
So, this, this next, like, storyis like, very true.
And, it's not a national story.
It's more of a state story.
So, you know, take a littlebreath, nothing's national here
in this next like story, but,it's what's going on in Oklahoma
right now.
So Ryan Walters.
(22:14):
Is a guy who was elected asOklahoma's superintendent of
public instruction.
Basically, he heads the soon tobe destroyed department of
education in that state, buthe's crazy.
He has been a vocal critics oflike CRT, LGBT student rights,
teacher unions.
And did I mention that Oklahomais now 49th in the country when
(22:37):
it comes to education?
So his priorities are very, veryfocused on, you know,
Dismantling everything else, butnot focusing on actual
education.
So, back in September of 2020,Oklahoma's governor, Kevin Stitt
nominated Walters to be theOklahoma secretary of education.
(22:58):
And then in May of 22, twosources in Oklahoma reported
that, on a United States ofDepartment of Education report,
which found the bridge, the gapprogram, which was like a
program that gave millions andmillions of dollars to, uh,
funding to schools to fix theCOVID 19 situation that had
(23:19):
damaged them or whatever, toreconstruct whatever.
And so, they found that.
Walters oversaw all this money,but few safeguards were, in
place to prevent fraud or abuseand that federal auditors were
actually investigating thisdistribution of COVID 19 relief
money through that program.
Following this, like the nextweek, the Democrats of the
(23:42):
Oklahoma House ofRepresentatives called for
Walters resignation.
The governor's office respondedwith Walters is doing a great
job for parents rights, etc,etc.
Later that same month, Oklahomanewspaper newspapers reported
that while working as secretaryof education, Walters remained
(24:03):
the executive director of EveryKid Counts Oklahoma, which is an
Oklahoma nonprofit profit.
Walters was paid an estimated120, 000 a year by this non
profit compared to his 40, 000state salary.
So, you know, sounds like alittle bit of conflict of
interest, I have no idea.
But, fast forward to August of2023.
(24:28):
Oklahoma State Auditor CindyBird found that through the
COVID 19 funds, 1.
7 million was spent on variousnon educational items like power
tools, furniture, entertainment,and the FBI got involved and
started to investigate thismisappropriation of funds.
(24:50):
A multi county grand jury foundthat Stitt, Oklahoma's governor,
and Walters Without specificallynaming them, we're grossly
negligent that theirinvestigation, and that their
investigation also uncovereddeeply troubling practices.
Stitt fired back at this grandjury verdict, saying that the
(25:13):
grand jury was weaponized, andWalters just denied the blame.
So, okay, that's going on.
So, while all Everything isgoing on.
Walters ran for Oklahoma'sSuperintendent of Public
Instruction.
While campaigning, he ran on thelitter boxes and school hoax,
(25:34):
which was a false rumor thatalleged that certain schools
across North America wereproviding litter boxes and
toilet paper.
bathrooms for students whoidentify as cats, just another
horrible rumor and attack on theLGBT community and how he even
won 53 percent of the vote isjust beyond me.
(25:55):
But you know, look at theeducation numbers in Oklahoma.
So while he's superintendent, hegets the superintendent
position.
He's now superintendent.
Walter's pursued these culturewar or has pursued these culture
war causes.
In self recorded videos filmedin his car, he accused teachers
(26:16):
of attempting to indoctrinateOklahoma school children.
He also referred to Oklahoma'steacher union as a terrorist
organization.
He even tried to connect the NewOrleans New Year's Eve terror
attack to an Oklahoma teacher'sunion.
Like, are you kidding me?
And on top of that, he claimsthat the separation of church
(26:37):
and state is just a liberalmyth.
So one of his first acts inoffice was to instruct the
Oklahoma Department of Educationto revoke the teaching license
of two Oklahoma teachers who hadbeen critical of a bill that
limited teaching concepts aroundrace and gender.
The Oklahoma's attorney generalissued an opinion that the bill
(26:58):
does not grant authority.
To the state board of educationto make administrative rules
without proper direction fromthe state legislature.
As a result, Walters shot backsaying rules regarding
pornography and library books,sex education, et cetera, were
unenforceable.
A civil rights attorney namedRyan Kissel said in a KOSU story
(27:22):
that After asking Walters toshow him the pornographic
material that Walters said thatschools had, Walters emailed and
had his staff hand delivercopies of these explicit
materials to lawmakers offices.
Though, he never said whatschools, if any, the materials
came from.
(27:42):
And then we fast forward to Juneof 2024.
This Ryan Walters guy issued amemo announcing that all public
schools in Oklahoma would berequired to teach the Bible,
including the Ten Commandments,And he also directed that every
teacher in every classroom inthe state will have a Bible in
the classroom.
(28:03):
And on top of that, they will beteaching from the Bible in the
classroom.
This announcement was followedby a passage of a Louisiana law
earlier that month that requiredall Louisiana public schools to
display the Ten Commandments inevery classroom.
Walter said that teachers whofail to comply by these rules,
jobs.
(28:24):
So in his budget requ Waltersasked for 3 million to purchase
Bibles for Oklahoma schools.
So, in September, he opens upbids to companies to supply
these, uh, 55, 000 Bibles to theOklahoma Department of
(28:44):
Education.
The bids require that the Biblemust be the King James Version,
and must contain Old and NewTestaments, and must be bound in
leather or leather likematerials.
Amongst other things, the copyof, you know, the Bill of
Rights, the U.
S.
Constitution, Pledge Allegianceshould also be in this Bible as
(29:05):
well.
And, you know, only two Biblesfit all of that criteria.
Lee Greenwoods, the guy who sangGod Bless America, I guess he
has a Bible, Lee Greenwoods, GodBless the USA Bible, endorsed by
Trump, who Trump also receivesfees for copies sold of this
Bible.
That Bible sells for 60 or thewe, the people Bible, which has
(29:30):
been endorsed by Donald Trumpjr.
And that sells for 90.
Very expensive.
In response to this, a group ofOklahomans filed a suit in the
state Supreme court againstWalters in an effort to block
both the teaching mandate andthe 3 million expediture.
So.
so we're telling you the storybecause we have like ties to
(29:53):
Oklahoma and we have like a lotof friends that have children
and Oklahoma public schools, aswell as we know a lot of
teachers in the Oklahoma publicschool system.
And so a lot of them are, havebeen sharing like things on
Facebook about this guy and howcrazy is.
So essentially like everythingthat I just told you is crazy.
Recently, Oklahoma State SenateBill 1017, recently introduced
(30:17):
by State Senator Dusty Deaversand backed by Walters, proposes
stripping away physical therapy,speech therapy, psychological
services, counseling, and evenbasic eye exams from all
Oklahoma public schools.
Essentially shifts this burdenentirely onto parents.
(30:40):
Assuming that parents have thetime, money, resources to cover
what these public schools havehistorically provided um, to all
children, regardless of theirbackground, you know?
Yeah, fun fact.
First of all, this guy soundslike a piece of work, but
earlier in the podcast, you hadsaid that Oklahoma is ranked
(31:00):
49th in education and somethingI had looked up was Oklahoma was
ranked 19th in the country undera Democratic governor.
Brad Henry, when he took overand in 2003 he got the education
ranked up to 17th in thecountry.
Then when he left office in2011, Republican Mary Fallon,
(31:22):
who was also a piece of work,took over and the education
system in Oklahoma just underher administration, fell from
17th to 40.
Then, under Stitt, who is themost current governor, it fell
further to 49th.
Both Mary Fallin and Stitt areRepublicans.
So to me, this just saysOklahoma needs another
(31:44):
Democratic governor.
That's absolutely crazy.
This guy, also the guy you'retalking about, something I'd
seen, made new waves, news waveslately because last Tuesday,
Oklahoma approved a plan thatrequires public schools to
request proof of citizenship orimmigration status when students
enroll.
This would give districts notonly the ability to track this
(32:06):
information, which is scary, butthen also report it to the Trump
administration, which Waltershas said he will happily do.
It's nuts.
Yeah.
And so just yesterday, actually,he sent a letter to the U.
S.
Department of Education.
Linda McMahon, who's likerunning it right now, asking for
her to freeze federal funds forgender therapies and schools.
(32:30):
He also said that he's going tolaunch an audit to expose D.
E.
I.
Waste.
But let's not forget at thebeginning of this story about
Ryan Walters.
He was audited, investigated,and basically found guilty by
the FBI and grand jury for hismisuse of funds in 2022.
It's absolutely fascinating whatthis guy is doing.
(32:50):
It's almost like the pot callingthe kettle black.
In my opinion, it's just crazythat someone like that, that has
so many flags, literally.
bursting out of the seams of himcan even get to that high of an
office and still make decisionsthat he's making.
I mean, some people just, in myopinion, just want to see the
world burn.
Well, why are people voting forhim anyways?
Oh, I don't, I don't know.
(33:14):
It's a very interesting storyand it is kind of crazy.
So.
Moving on to ice, I feel likethis week it's like a nonstop
thing with this whole, thiswhole subject.
It's hard to even read about it.
Sometimes.
So far, ice has arrested 7400people.
Um, at least that was the lastmetric I had seen.
(33:35):
I'm sure that number is up dueto it being such a large number.
There's this idea that there'sprobably collateral arrest
involved with this.
You know, the Trumpadministration initially had
said that said they were onlygoing to go after criminals, but
then Trump officials have saidthat other immigrants found
nearby could also be arrested indetainment, known as collateral
(33:56):
arrests.
So it's very concerning, youknow, and one thing to know when
they say criminals, when they'rementioning that this includes
people with traffic violations.
So, you know, you're thinkingcriminals, criminals, people who
hurt people, but that's not thecase.
They're going after people evenwith basic traffic violations.
(34:20):
You know, there, this Trumppresidency is instilling fear
and the sense of invincibilitywith these actions, in just the
past two weeks, they'vedehumanized these communities of
people.
One thing I talked about in thepast episode was this threat of
vigilantism, vigil, vigilantismdue to the January 6th rioters
(34:46):
being pardoned.
This idea of being able to getaway with anything you want.
Would people start self policingin the form of hate?
That's something I had kind ofquestioned.
Well, this week, that's exactlywhat happened.
People are now impersonating ICEagents in hate crimes towards
individuals.
Thanks for watching! This pastweek alone, three states
(35:09):
arrested people, North Carolina,South Carolina and Pennsylvania
in South Carolina, this 33 yearold dude detained a group of
Latinos impersonating a policeofficer.
There is a video circulating ofthis instance online.
You can check it out.
The parents, basically hisparents, when he got arrested,
got him off on bond and thensaid he struggled with mental
(35:33):
issues.
That was the, that was theexcuse this guy had in North
Carolina.
Another guy impersonated an ICEagent.
Sexually molested a woman in aMotel 6 and threatened to deport
her if she didn't comply.
I mean, this is just startingand I think it's going to get
worse because obviously there isthis idea that these people can
(35:55):
just get away with anything andit's just really scary and it's,
it's sad that this is the stateof the country that we are in
where we are, we are targeting acommunity of people that is
brown when immigration not onlyaffects brown people, but it
affects, it's not about skincolor.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Can the police arrest you forbeing an immigrant, or is that
(36:16):
like an ICE thing?
I'm pretty sure you have to bean ICE official to enact those
things, like in cities thatthey're doing this, they're ICE
officials.
Interesting.
Yeah, I know in Texas, thegovernor or whatever made the
Texas National Guard have theability to assist ICE.
They can make arrests, but anICE official has to be on the
shift with them.
(36:36):
You know, the Texas governor islike overturning the DEI thing,
the DEI, which I knew nothingabout four weeks ago, let's be
honest here.
Is overturning the DEI thing andall of his federal agencies,
but, but he's in a wheelchair,like, you know, like the Texas
governor is, can't walk.
He's in a wheelchair, like DEIhelped ramps get installed, you
(37:02):
know, like all of that, like,it's just, it's, it's.
It's crazy to me.
I don't know what these peoplethink it again.
It's like they're just trying toburn the world down.
They're trying to just goopposite of every what
everyone's beliefs are.
It's just kind of crazy to me.
Moving on to lighter news.
It's about time.
Don't you think we are going tocover two fun little stories.
(37:23):
At least I think they're fun.
In new research that came outWednesday from the Royal Society
Bee, researchers have clarifiedthe mysterious early stages of
life in young sea turtles.
I love sea turtles.
There's actually two in theaquarium that's near us and I
love looking at them, trying tofind them in the tank.
(37:45):
You know, before this researchcame out, there was this 10 year
gap between when sea turtleshatched and when they when we
actually could start trackingthem.
little hatchlings, their shellsactually shed, which I never
(38:08):
knew that that happened, but itmakes sense.
So the tracker would fall off,which caused issues.
So this study basically, overthe last decade, has tracked
three different types of speciesof turtles, 114 turtles, I
think, total.
And what they found was, Insteadof this idea that turtles, these
(38:29):
little baby sea turtles justdrifted with the current, they
found that these turtles couldactually swim and that they can
go where they want and avoidwhat they want to avoid.
You know, you're probablythinking, okay, so we learned
that they swim.
Cool.
Well, what's the big deal?
Well, by knowing where theseturtles are journeying to,
Scientists can use thatinformation to know where to
(38:51):
focus conservation efforts, likeprotecting from fishing,
pollution, boating.
Before this, the Gulf of Mexico,or should we say, what was it?
Gulf of America?
You know, it was such a largeDon't ever say that.
No, it's always Gulf of Mexico.
It was such a, this is such alarge space that it's hard for
conservation people to knowwhere to put their efforts.
(39:12):
And so this allows them toreally concentrate that, which
is great.
Also, this research propelledthe technology of animal
tracking forward in newtechnology.
They use solar powered GPS.
Without the limitations ofbattery life.
So we'll see what this does foranimal tracking going forward.
I mean, right now, you know, wehad bought those follow
bracelets.
F.
A.
(39:32):
H.
L.
O.
It's a company that you can buyand that you can track animals
with them.
But the problem is we'll getwarned when you get them.
Like sometimes the tracker diesand they'll assign you with a
new animal.
But with this new technology,maybe you'll be able to track
your animal a lot longer.
It's going to be veryinteresting.
It's really, really coolresearch.
That is really neat.
The next fun topic I have isalso dealing with sea animals.
(39:55):
This time though, we are talkingabout dolphins, which everyone
loves.
Who doesn't love a dolphin?
Humans, it turns out, are notthe only ones that have
substance abuse problems.
A new BBC documentary called Spyin the Pod revealed dolphins
getting high.
(40:15):
on pufferfish.
I guess pufferfish produce apotent defensive chemical, which
they eject when they'rethreatened, when they like puff
up, I guess.
But in small enough doses,however, the toxin seems to
induce a trans like state.
So these dolphins were filmed.
for the first time, I guess,gently playing with a
(40:37):
pufferfish.
And then what happened is theywould pass this pufferfish
around to each other for 20 to30 minutes.
It looked like they, thispufferfish was kind of on their
nozzle.
Like they were just, it wouldhave it, they had it on their
nose.
And then shortly after that,they just transed out like these
dolphins were high as kites.
Supposedly at one point they areseen like chilling right under
(40:59):
the surface of the water lookingup and they're just entranced by
their own reflections for likeminutes.
That's crazy.
Wow.
Hilarious.
And it, you know, it gives awhole new meaning to this puff
puff pass idea because they useda puffer fish.
Isn't that hilarious to you?
That is funny.
I thought it was.
Actually, I really want to watchthe documentary now just to like
(41:21):
see this film situation.
That's hilarious.
All right.
Anyway.
Yeah.
That's what do we got to lookout for?
So the three things to look outfor this week, in my opinion,
bird flu is one.
It's starting to be detected indairy cows.
So I would watch it for that.
That's crazy.
I know where every time that mangets in the office or some sort
(41:42):
of crazy like health scare.
That is true.
Yeah, true.
Yeah, that is true.
You know, but look fordevelopments with this going in
the weekend because things arereally ramping up with this
really fast.
Obviously, don't becomeemergent.
It's not a big deal yet.
Virgin emergent.
Don't become a virgin.
Virgin and I thought you meantto say vegetarian emergent don't
(42:05):
well that's who don't becomevegetarian either.
It's fine because Emergent likedon't like don't get crazy like
it's not an emergency yet.
Yeah, don't go crazy But becauseit's not like affecting anything
yet But eggs obviously are goingup in price.
That's going to continuehappening.
Anyway, that's one thing to keepan eye on.
(42:28):
Super Bowl is also Sunday, whichwe talked about, but I will not
be watching.
I'm working, but I have heard afun drinking game would be
anytime they show Taylor Swiftto take a drink.
So someone should try that outand let us know how it works out
for you.
Um, the last thing to reallylook for these upcoming days,
we're going to take this slowly.
So I'm not saying next week.
I'm saying, think about this forthe next few days.
(42:49):
But the federal buyout fallout,as of Wednesday, only 50, 000
workers have accepted thebuyout.
That's only around 1 percent ofthe workforce, federal
workforce.
So this is significantly smallerthan Trump had expected.
So the question is, what willTrump do next?
Also, the newest update is thisbuyout has been paused by a
(43:11):
judge.
So we'll see what that kind ofdoes with this whole situation
as well.
If Trump and Elon feelthreatened.
and didn't meet their mark, whatare they going to do?
What, what's going to happennext with this whole situation?
So just something to look, looktowards.
Cool.
So, all right.
So that's, uh, that's it forthis week, guys.
Um, Thank you for joining us andlistening.
Share the podcast, tell yourfriends about it, um, and we'll
(43:34):
love you even more.
And yeah, follow us on Instagramat the civil you, that's just
the, the letter you, and feelfree to send us an email,
letting us know your thoughts,questions, what we got wrong, or
anything you think we shoulddiscuss at the civil union, 25
at gmail.
com.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you guys.
Have a good one.
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.
We bring you sharp insights,bold opinions and honest
conversations about politicalissues shaping our lives,
especially those living on thesociety's margins.
(00:29):
Tune in for real talk, a touchof humor, and plenty of passion.
Because when it comes topolitics, every voice matters.
And we're here to make surethey're heard.
So, So how has, uh, your weekbeen so far?
Oh, this week has been busy.
I worked last night and Ialready felt like I had had a
(00:50):
full week.
And what was yesterday?
Wednesday.
I know it's been a, such a busyweek.
I was like, so worried aboutbeing able to record this
podcast.
Cause I was like, how am I goingto fit it into my schedule?
But.
Um, we did it.
So we make it work every week.
Yeah.
So, Hey, do you know about that?
Uh, new press secretary thatTrump has?
Her name is Caroline Leavitt.
(01:12):
I think I've only seen her acouple of times.
I don't know anything about her.
So, so, okay.
So she's like, she loves God andeverything, which is fine.
But like, she's like.
27 years old, so she's likesuper young, but her husband, he
is 60 years old, 60 years old.
How old is she?
(01:32):
27.
Oh my God.
It's a big age gap.
I know.
It's like a 32 year age gap.
I wonder how they met.
I have no idea, but like if you,and not to disclose your age or
anything, but like if you werehim and at the age you're at and
I was her.
I'd be six years old right now.
(01:52):
That is really weird to thinkabout.
You know, here's the thing.
I'm fine with the whole agething.
I mean, there's a lot, look,real housewives.
There's a lot of them that havethat age gap.
I mean, who's the one fromBeverly Hills?
Like, I'm totally cool with it,like if it works.
But like, it is a weird, eitherway, it's, it's, it's very
strange.
(02:13):
It makes you wonder maybe ifthat's how she got that role,
maybe through her husband.
Yeah, I have no idea.
But, I think it's, It's, I haveno opinion, no judgment.
You know, love is love, youknow, and, uh, I think anyone
should be able to marry who theylove.
So I hope she thinks about thatfor the, the gay community, you
know?
Absolutely.
That also reminded me of like awho is who, so in this
relationship, Alex, who is, um,the Mary and who's the Rhoda?
(02:37):
Oh, I'm the Mary.
I'm the Mary.
Well, I would be fine with beinga Rhoda too, honestly.
Who's the Laverne and who's theShirley?
Um, I would be Shirley.
Oh, I'll be Laverne.
Yeah, I feel like I'd be goodwith Shirley.
Okay.
Who's the Lucy and who's theEthel?
(02:57):
I'm definitely the Lucy.
I think you're the Lucy too.
Oh, who's the, who's the Clariceand who's the Hannibal elector?
Ooh, um, I'm definitely Clarice.
Hey, do you get like a shit tonof roof callers?
Like people trying to like fixyour roof ever?
(03:18):
No, you don't get calls likethat.
No.
And it's no, I get calls likethat all the time.
Like this week, like justcounting in my phone.
I've gotten like 14 calls forpeople trying to like look at
our roof.
That is the most random thing.
It's like those car warrantythings.
(03:40):
Yeah, I get people calling meabout like credit extensions and
all these different things withmoney like I don't ever have
anything to do with our house.
Yeah, I have no idea how theygot my numbers.
I should probably like stay onthe phone and actually get their
company name so I can like blastthem on the internet.
Like stop calling me all thetime.
Oh my God.
(04:01):
And cell phones, you know, therewas a moment where cell phones,
you didn't get all that junk andnow it's like, I get like, 10
phone calls a day from junkpeople.
It's ridiculous.
Did you watch the Grammys lastSunday?
I worked last Sunday night, so Idid not watch them live, but I
did like look up theperformances and it is extremely
hard to look up theperformances.
By the way, the Grammys did aterrible job at putting up their
(04:23):
performances online, but I wasable to watch all of them and I
thought like Charlie XCX didgood.
Sabrina Carpenter did good.
Yeah.
Charlie XCX did good.
Yeah, I wasn't really ChapelRhone.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Chapel Rhone was great.
You would have thought she hadbeen doing it for years.
Like she was, her performancewas on point.
I know.
I love the fact that she's fromlike a really small town, like
(04:45):
trailer park, literally, outsideof Springfield, Missouri.
So I like that.
I think the city's like Willard,Missouri., I think that's really
cool.
What did you think of?
Kanye West, that nude dress thathis, I can believe it's his
girlfriend, wore.
Did you hear about this nudedress?
Yeah, I saw something about it,but I didn't really pay too much
(05:06):
attention.
I didn't, like, what was it?
I mean, the nude dress wasliterally a piece of plastic.
Like, she was definitely nude.
You saw everything.
And they made him leave andwhatnot.
But I guess the, the controversyis she did not feel very
comfortable.
And it was like blatantlyawkward and he like pushed her
to do it because he's an a holebut like it was just a very
(05:29):
awkward whole situation peopleare saying she's like in an
abusive relationship all thesethings because he just like
forced her to do this and it'slike like tabloids and stuff
yeah it's a mess but it She hada rocking body.
That's for sure.
I mean, if anyone could pull itoff, she could it's nothing
against her.
She looked great, but it wasjust like a very awkward.
You could tell Kanye had a hugehand in it.
It's just really, really weird.
(05:50):
We also had a Grammy winner fromSt.
Louis.
SZA SZA won a Grammy.
Yes, I love her so much.
Yeah, I think that's reallycool.
We had two two Missourirepresentations at won Grammys
this past year.
So that's pretty neat.
The Superbowl is coming up.
So what is it?
The Kansas city chiefs and thePhiladelphia Eagles.
(06:10):
Do you know who's,, performingat the halftime?
I don't actually it's it'sKendrick Lamar.
Oh, that's right.
So I was like talking to, my,my, the person that cuts my hair
or whatever.
And we both.
agreed that, we are at the agewhere we don't know any songs by
this halftime performer,unfortunately.
(06:32):
At least, I don't know any ofthem.
I don't know the names of hissongs, like, by title, but I
know I would know the songs if Iheard them, and I know he's a
very receptive person.
one of the best like in thatgenre of our generation.
Like I know he's very, very likerespected, but I don't, yeah, I
couldn't think of like any ofhis albums by name or anything
like that.
I know.
I feel horrible.
I know he did the bad bloodremix for Taylor Swift.
(06:54):
That's what I know.
I do remember that.
That was good.
That was a good music video.
Yeah.
So it was another, crazy, crazyweekend, uh, politics.
And so here we go.
Let's serve it up.
Yeah.
So our first topic we're goingto go over is how would you feel
about, about Elon Musk'sinfluence right now on the
government and politics ingeneral?
(07:15):
I mean, his name is probablytalked about more than Donald
Trump's at this point.
It really is like, Hey, doesn't,doesn't, doesn't Elon Musk have
Asperger's?
I'm not sure what he has.
I know he has something, whichis what they used as an excuse
for the whole Hitler sign thathe did.
And he's also like, an immigranttoo, right?
Yeah, I believe so.
(07:36):
So technically, wouldn't he belike a DEI hire if he was
actually, Hired by thegovernment?
That is a very good point.
That's a unique situation that'sgoing on up there in DC right
now.
Yeah.
I mean, Musk is serving as aspecial quote, well, something
called a special governmentemployee.
(07:57):
This status is usually given topart time employees.
or outside advisors, and I thinkthe main reason he was appointed
this role is because he has somany conflicts of interest.
I mean, blatant, blatantconflicts of interest.
He has SpaceX contracts withNASA.
We're talking Billions ofdollars going through that.
(08:20):
And then Tesla obviously, andthen has with China, um, because
of his status as a specialgovernment employee and not a
full time employee, he canretain all of those conflicts
and it not be as much of anissue.
I mean, it is an issue, but hecan get away with it because of
that status.
I just, I don't understand how anon elected billionaire who has
(08:44):
never been vetted by Congress.
has all this access to trillionsand trillions of US dollars,
like our social securitynumbers, your grandparents,
Medicare, social securitypayments, but not one member of
the Republican party is likethrowing up a red flag saying
something.
(09:04):
They're just all, uh, listeningto their leader, following their
leader, Trump.
It's just, it's reallyfrightening.
Um, it's crazy.
Yeah.
It means Sunday night was whenhe went online on X and was
basically saying he was planningon halting treasury payments to
the U S contractors.
And then today, earlier onThursday morning, the justice
(09:25):
department agreed to temporarilyrestrict that access.
But it's still an ongoing thing.
It's not a for sure decisioneither way.
But something that people needto think about is what would
this mean?
What if they find a contractorgave campaign donations to
Democrats?
Could they just stop paying thatcontractor the work?
Or, Even when it comes to justnormal citizens, how far will
(09:46):
this trickle down?
What if just a normal citizenlike our grandparents or
something or someone we knowHelped canvas for a Democratic
candidate could they stop thatperson's Social Security checks
from coming to them?
I mean the potential control ofthem having this access with the
Treasury Department is highlyUnsettling.
(10:06):
Remember when we were so worriedabout TikTok getting all our
data that we like temporarilylike banned it.
And then like, I think Trump isextended it by like 75 days or
something to have someone buyit.
But like, then this Republicanparty just gave Musk and his
team.
access to all of ourinformation.
(10:27):
Yeah, it's it's so backwards.
And the other thing Musk isdoing is he announced on X as
well that he's planning oncompletely shutting down the
USAID agency, which is the USAgency for International
Development.
This has huge implicationsworldwide.
I mean, to Republicans, theUSAID is a woke, left wing, evil
(10:48):
branch of the government thatspreads false information on
gender ideology and gives outaid to abortions and HIV.
But in reality, it leans moreinto contraception care, like
birth control, in countries thatDon't have that resource and HIV
treatments that affects not onlyadults, but thousands of
(11:09):
children in countries that needthat resource as well.
I mean, ignorance is the mainword I can think of using when
it comes to people's views ofwhat the USAID does.
The budget is 40 billion.
It was 40 billion in 2023 and toa normal voter, that sounds like
a lot of money, but in the grandscheme of things, it's less than
(11:32):
1 percent of the federal budget.
Why does Musk even care aboutthe USAID and giving aid to the
world?
It makes absolutely no sense.
I just, I just can't imaginewhat kind of stress all these
federal employees must be undernot knowing, like.
If you'll have a job to go totomorrow or not, it's absolutely
ridiculous.
Like, these federal workers arecivil, civil servants.
(11:56):
Most who've served in ourcountry's military.
The frightening thing is thefact that once they fire all
these people, They're going toreplace them with all Trump
loyalists.
I mean, that's really, reallyscary.
Yeah, absolutely.
And those buyouts he's offeringto basically every federal
department so far.
I mean, these options he'sgiving the people throughout the
(12:18):
federal government, you got tothink.
It's attractive to the peoplewho have options outside the
government in the privatesector, people who are sought
after, basically.
They're potentially, by doingthis, encouraging the most
talented people to leave.
What implications will that haveon the government?
(12:39):
And what will the governmentlook like when all these really
talented cream of the croppeople leave because they have
other opportunities?
And you're just kind of givingthem a get out jail free card
with this?
With the situation, which, bythe way, still, they cannot
prove that they can even paypeople through, what did they
say, August or September of nextthis year?
Like, there's no proof that thateven will happen.
(13:01):
So these people that have agreedfor the buyout, it's not even a
for sure thing.
Crazy times, crazy world we'reliving in.
That's for sure.
The other thing that is gettingshut down when we're talking
about all these differentdepartments is the EPA.
They came out and basically havesaid that they want to shut down
the EPA as well.
They got rid of all these topofficials there.
(13:22):
And there's this idea, I think,in the public eye that the EPA
is only about climate.
It's not.
It actually, you know, thisdepartment has huge hands in
areas that affect climate.
minority and low income areas.
This includes your drinkingwater systems, sewer programs,
(13:44):
lead pipe removal.
I mean, before Trump took over,there was a 15 billion fund that
Biden had actually passed.
And that 15 billion fund hasn'teven gone out to states yet.
So where's that going to go now?
You know, if the EPA getsdissolved, Where does that
money?
Will the states even ever getthat money?
(14:05):
Power grid systems.
I mean, we're talking.
Look at Texas.
What happened to them back whenthey had that gigantic storm and
all the power they couldn'thave, you know, all the power
grid systems went out.
There's a lot of work that needsto be done with those systems.
That's not gonna happen if theEPA is dissolved chemical and
hazardous waste spills.
Look at what's going on inCalifornia with the fires right
(14:28):
now.
There's such a huge cleanupnecessary with all the different
hazardous things going onbecause the fires and the piping
what's going to happen withthat?
If the EPA is not there.
Yeah, exactly.
Sorry.
Yeah, keep going.
No.
And I mean, with the pullback ofFEMA as well, it's just, it's
just, it's a recipe fordisaster.
(14:49):
Well, like in so a couple ofweeks ago in late January,
President Trump ordered the U.
S.
Army Corps of Engineers torelease approximately 2.
2 billion gallons of water fromtwo dams in California's Central
Valley.
They stated the intent was toincrease water availability for
farmers and to support thefirefighting efforts in Los
(15:11):
Angeles.
However, experts and localofficials have criticized this
action as ineffective andpotentially wasteful.
They argue that the releasedwater is unlikely to reach Los
Angeles due to the geographicaland in infrastructural,
infrastructural constraints.
(15:31):
I can't say that word.
Big word.
But additionally, releasing thiswater during the wet winter
season may lead to unnecessaryloss as the water could have
been stored for irrigationduring the dry summer months.
There are also concerns aboutpotential flooding risks in the
Central Valley result resultingin the sudden release.
(15:51):
You know, California, their wetseason is in the winter and
They're about to hit the dryseason, which is in summer.
So releasing all of this water,especially with the drought
history that they've had over,gosh, the last like decade or
so, we were very, they were verylucky that La Nina dropped a ton
(16:13):
of rain and water on toCalifornia the last, what, last
two winters.
And then this winter there is nomore La Nina.
So it's been.
particularly drier than usual.
And so, yeah, it's just, it'sreally sad.
It's going to be interesting tosee kind of how this all rolls
out, you know, and the thing is,I brought this up at the last
(16:34):
episode, but it brings it backto this was all predicted in
Project 2025.
For instance, these warningswere from I had done some
research and I found thesewarnings were from an article
from the Center for AmericanProgress back in August of 2024.
They had said Project 2025 wouldneuter the EPA's ability to
safeguard public health.
(16:56):
EPA priority is to reduce theagency's size and scope,
shrinking and dismantlingexisting EPA offices and
programs.
Specifically, banning EPAresearch on the cumulative
impacts of toxin exposures, theywould eliminate the EPA's Office
of Enforcement and ComplianceAssurance, which basically that
(17:16):
department is the Clean Air Act,Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking
Water Act, all of that is rolledinto that.
They would dissolve the EPA'sOffice of Environmental Justice
and External Civil Rights, whichis the office that would allow
for justice when it comes tothese lawyer things that happen
with cases with water.
Thank Erin Brockovich.
(17:37):
The creation of this officecomes after decades of activism
within the environmental justicemovement where Communities of
color raise concerns about theunequal distribution of
environmental burden.
So, I mean, all of these things,they're right now, the Trump
administration is taking stepsthat would eliminate all that.
(18:00):
And these warning signs werethere.
You know, why else would theywant to get rid of the thousands
of, you know, these officials orthese top officials if it wasn't
for them wanting to replace themwith people in that have
connections in oil andconnections in these other
(18:21):
industries?
What's going to happen whenthese people have other other
interests?
It's, you know, we were warnedand no one was paying attention.
These things were these thingswere out there.
And no one, no one cared to readabout it.
Or maybe it wasn't an importantfactor of your voting.
But these things were out therealready.
(18:43):
They campaigned on them, theywere out there 2025.
This book, no one tookseriously.
And it's just so sad, becausenow we're seeing this play out,
you know, moving forward,whatever's in that playbook
should be a good predictor foreverything that this
administration is going to do.
Yeah, definitely.
All right.
Is it game time?
It is game time.
(19:03):
So every week we've beenimplementing a game.
It's called who said it.
Usually Ryan is the host, butthis week I'm going to take over
and I'm going to be asking Ryanthe question.
So this week we are seeingwhether Ryan can decide if the
quote I'm going to give him iseither Donald Trump or Lucille
(19:24):
Bluth from a character fromArrested Development and
Arrested Development wasactually a really funny show.
Lucille Bluth.
Hold on, let me look her up.
The show went from like, likethree seasons one year and then
they brought it back.
She's the rich, yeah, she waslike the, the main lady in it.
Oh, that's funny.
I've never watched ArrestedDevelopment, but people tell me
(19:46):
I should.
So, okay, well, this will beinteresting.
All right.
So, first quote I have for you.
I've never seen a thin persondrinking Diet Coke.
Was that Donald or Lucille?
Lucille.
Donald Trump.
Interesting, right?
(20:07):
Next quote.
They didn't sneak into thiscountry to be your friends.
Donald Trump or Lucille?
Lucille.
Yes, correct.
Ding, ding, ding.
You got one right.
All right, next quote.
They're building a wall toseparate, separate the U.
(20:29):
S.
from the immigrants, which wasmy idea.
Donald Trump or Lucille?
Trump, definitely.
That was Lucille.
No way.
I know.
It's kind of crazy.
All right.
They're bringing drugs.
They're bringing crime.
They're rapists.
(20:49):
And some, I assume are goodpeople.
Donald or Lucille?
Trump for sure.
Definitely Trump.
That was Trump.
All right.
The only kind of people I wantcounting my money are little
short guys that wear yarmulkesevery day.
Donald or Lucille?
(21:10):
Lucille.
Donald Trump said that.
No way.
I don't know when he said that.
The only kind of people I wantcounting my money are little
short guys that wear yarmulkeseveryday.
No clue.
No clue.
That's our president.
Alright, last one.
I have a great relationship withthe blacks.
(21:33):
Donald or Lucille?
Lucille.
Donald Trump.
Oh my god.
Did I do good at this?
I think I failed.
You actually did pretty good.
It was like 50 50.
Well, maybe.
Maybe two.
Alright.
So, um, moving on.
Okay, so have you heard of thisguy named Ryan Walters in
Oklahoma?
(21:54):
I've heard of him very briefly,but I don't know much about him.
So, this, this next, like, storyis like, very true.
And, it's not a national story.
It's more of a state story.
So, you know, take a littlebreath, nothing's national here
in this next like story, but,it's what's going on in Oklahoma
right now.
So Ryan Walters.
(22:14):
Is a guy who was elected asOklahoma's superintendent of
public instruction.
Basically, he heads the soon tobe destroyed department of
education in that state, buthe's crazy.
He has been a vocal critics oflike CRT, LGBT student rights,
teacher unions.
And did I mention that Oklahomais now 49th in the country when
(22:37):
it comes to education?
So his priorities are very, veryfocused on, you know,
Dismantling everything else, butnot focusing on actual
education.
So, back in September of 2020,Oklahoma's governor, Kevin Stitt
nominated Walters to be theOklahoma secretary of education.
(22:58):
And then in May of 22, twosources in Oklahoma reported
that, on a United States ofDepartment of Education report,
which found the bridge, the gapprogram, which was like a
program that gave millions andmillions of dollars to, uh,
funding to schools to fix theCOVID 19 situation that had
(23:19):
damaged them or whatever, toreconstruct whatever.
And so, they found that.
Walters oversaw all this money,but few safeguards were, in
place to prevent fraud or abuseand that federal auditors were
actually investigating thisdistribution of COVID 19 relief
money through that program.
Following this, like the nextweek, the Democrats of the
(23:42):
Oklahoma House ofRepresentatives called for
Walters resignation.
The governor's office respondedwith Walters is doing a great
job for parents rights, etc,etc.
Later that same month, Oklahomanewspaper newspapers reported
that while working as secretaryof education, Walters remained
(24:03):
the executive director of EveryKid Counts Oklahoma, which is an
Oklahoma nonprofit profit.
Walters was paid an estimated120, 000 a year by this non
profit compared to his 40, 000state salary.
So, you know, sounds like alittle bit of conflict of
interest, I have no idea.
But, fast forward to August of2023.
(24:28):
Oklahoma State Auditor CindyBird found that through the
COVID 19 funds, 1.
7 million was spent on variousnon educational items like power
tools, furniture, entertainment,and the FBI got involved and
started to investigate thismisappropriation of funds.
(24:50):
A multi county grand jury foundthat Stitt, Oklahoma's governor,
and Walters Without specificallynaming them, we're grossly
negligent that theirinvestigation, and that their
investigation also uncovereddeeply troubling practices.
Stitt fired back at this grandjury verdict, saying that the
(25:13):
grand jury was weaponized, andWalters just denied the blame.
So, okay, that's going on.
So, while all Everything isgoing on.
Walters ran for Oklahoma'sSuperintendent of Public
Instruction.
While campaigning, he ran on thelitter boxes and school hoax,
(25:34):
which was a false rumor thatalleged that certain schools
across North America wereproviding litter boxes and
toilet paper.
bathrooms for students whoidentify as cats, just another
horrible rumor and attack on theLGBT community and how he even
won 53 percent of the vote isjust beyond me.
(25:55):
But you know, look at theeducation numbers in Oklahoma.
So while he's superintendent, hegets the superintendent
position.
He's now superintendent.
Walter's pursued these culturewar or has pursued these culture
war causes.
In self recorded videos filmedin his car, he accused teachers
(26:16):
of attempting to indoctrinateOklahoma school children.
He also referred to Oklahoma'steacher union as a terrorist
organization.
He even tried to connect the NewOrleans New Year's Eve terror
attack to an Oklahoma teacher'sunion.
Like, are you kidding me?
And on top of that, he claimsthat the separation of church
(26:37):
and state is just a liberalmyth.
So one of his first acts inoffice was to instruct the
Oklahoma Department of Educationto revoke the teaching license
of two Oklahoma teachers who hadbeen critical of a bill that
limited teaching concepts aroundrace and gender.
The Oklahoma's attorney generalissued an opinion that the bill
(26:58):
does not grant authority.
To the state board of educationto make administrative rules
without proper direction fromthe state legislature.
As a result, Walters shot backsaying rules regarding
pornography and library books,sex education, et cetera, were
unenforceable.
A civil rights attorney namedRyan Kissel said in a KOSU story
(27:22):
that After asking Walters toshow him the pornographic
material that Walters said thatschools had, Walters emailed and
had his staff hand delivercopies of these explicit
materials to lawmakers offices.
Though, he never said whatschools, if any, the materials
came from.
(27:42):
And then we fast forward to Juneof 2024.
This Ryan Walters guy issued amemo announcing that all public
schools in Oklahoma would berequired to teach the Bible,
including the Ten Commandments,And he also directed that every
teacher in every classroom inthe state will have a Bible in
the classroom.
(28:03):
And on top of that, they will beteaching from the Bible in the
classroom.
This announcement was followedby a passage of a Louisiana law
earlier that month that requiredall Louisiana public schools to
display the Ten Commandments inevery classroom.
Walter said that teachers whofail to comply by these rules,
jobs.
(28:24):
So in his budget requ Waltersasked for 3 million to purchase
Bibles for Oklahoma schools.
So, in September, he opens upbids to companies to supply
these, uh, 55, 000 Bibles to theOklahoma Department of
(28:44):
Education.
The bids require that the Biblemust be the King James Version,
and must contain Old and NewTestaments, and must be bound in
leather or leather likematerials.
Amongst other things, the copyof, you know, the Bill of
Rights, the U.
S.
Constitution, Pledge Allegianceshould also be in this Bible as
(29:05):
well.
And, you know, only two Biblesfit all of that criteria.
Lee Greenwoods, the guy who sangGod Bless America, I guess he
has a Bible, Lee Greenwoods, GodBless the USA Bible, endorsed by
Trump, who Trump also receivesfees for copies sold of this
Bible.
That Bible sells for 60 or thewe, the people Bible, which has
(29:30):
been endorsed by Donald Trumpjr.
And that sells for 90.
Very expensive.
In response to this, a group ofOklahomans filed a suit in the
state Supreme court againstWalters in an effort to block
both the teaching mandate andthe 3 million expediture.
So.
so we're telling you the storybecause we have like ties to
(29:53):
Oklahoma and we have like a lotof friends that have children
and Oklahoma public schools, aswell as we know a lot of
teachers in the Oklahoma publicschool system.
And so a lot of them are, havebeen sharing like things on
Facebook about this guy and howcrazy is.
So essentially like everythingthat I just told you is crazy.
Recently, Oklahoma State SenateBill 1017, recently introduced
(30:17):
by State Senator Dusty Deaversand backed by Walters, proposes
stripping away physical therapy,speech therapy, psychological
services, counseling, and evenbasic eye exams from all
Oklahoma public schools.
Essentially shifts this burdenentirely onto parents.
(30:40):
Assuming that parents have thetime, money, resources to cover
what these public schools havehistorically provided um, to all
children, regardless of theirbackground, you know?
Yeah, fun fact.
First of all, this guy soundslike a piece of work, but
earlier in the podcast, you hadsaid that Oklahoma is ranked
(31:00):
49th in education and somethingI had looked up was Oklahoma was
ranked 19th in the country undera Democratic governor.
Brad Henry, when he took overand in 2003 he got the education
ranked up to 17th in thecountry.
Then when he left office in2011, Republican Mary Fallon,
(31:22):
who was also a piece of work,took over and the education
system in Oklahoma just underher administration, fell from
17th to 40.
Then, under Stitt, who is themost current governor, it fell
further to 49th.
Both Mary Fallin and Stitt areRepublicans.
So to me, this just saysOklahoma needs another
(31:44):
Democratic governor.
That's absolutely crazy.
This guy, also the guy you'retalking about, something I'd
seen, made new waves, news waveslately because last Tuesday,
Oklahoma approved a plan thatrequires public schools to
request proof of citizenship orimmigration status when students
enroll.
This would give districts notonly the ability to track this
(32:06):
information, which is scary, butthen also report it to the Trump
administration, which Waltershas said he will happily do.
It's nuts.
Yeah.
And so just yesterday, actually,he sent a letter to the U.
S.
Department of Education.
Linda McMahon, who's likerunning it right now, asking for
her to freeze federal funds forgender therapies and schools.
(32:30):
He also said that he's going tolaunch an audit to expose D.
E.
I.
Waste.
But let's not forget at thebeginning of this story about
Ryan Walters.
He was audited, investigated,and basically found guilty by
the FBI and grand jury for hismisuse of funds in 2022.
It's absolutely fascinating whatthis guy is doing.
(32:50):
It's almost like the pot callingthe kettle black.
In my opinion, it's just crazythat someone like that, that has
so many flags, literally.
bursting out of the seams of himcan even get to that high of an
office and still make decisionsthat he's making.
I mean, some people just, in myopinion, just want to see the
world burn.
Well, why are people voting forhim anyways?
Oh, I don't, I don't know.
(33:14):
It's a very interesting storyand it is kind of crazy.
So.
Moving on to ice, I feel likethis week it's like a nonstop
thing with this whole, thiswhole subject.
It's hard to even read about it.
Sometimes.
So far, ice has arrested 7400people.
Um, at least that was the lastmetric I had seen.
(33:35):
I'm sure that number is up dueto it being such a large number.
There's this idea that there'sprobably collateral arrest
involved with this.
You know, the Trumpadministration initially had
said that said they were onlygoing to go after criminals, but
then Trump officials have saidthat other immigrants found
nearby could also be arrested indetainment, known as collateral
(33:56):
arrests.
So it's very concerning, youknow, and one thing to know when
they say criminals, when they'rementioning that this includes
people with traffic violations.
So, you know, you're thinkingcriminals, criminals, people who
hurt people, but that's not thecase.
They're going after people evenwith basic traffic violations.
(34:20):
You know, there, this Trumppresidency is instilling fear
and the sense of invincibilitywith these actions, in just the
past two weeks, they'vedehumanized these communities of
people.
One thing I talked about in thepast episode was this threat of
vigilantism, vigil, vigilantismdue to the January 6th rioters
(34:46):
being pardoned.
This idea of being able to getaway with anything you want.
Would people start self policingin the form of hate?
That's something I had kind ofquestioned.
Well, this week, that's exactlywhat happened.
People are now impersonating ICEagents in hate crimes towards
individuals.
Thanks for watching! This pastweek alone, three states
(35:09):
arrested people, North Carolina,South Carolina and Pennsylvania
in South Carolina, this 33 yearold dude detained a group of
Latinos impersonating a policeofficer.
There is a video circulating ofthis instance online.
You can check it out.
The parents, basically hisparents, when he got arrested,
got him off on bond and thensaid he struggled with mental
(35:33):
issues.
That was the, that was theexcuse this guy had in North
Carolina.
Another guy impersonated an ICEagent.
Sexually molested a woman in aMotel 6 and threatened to deport
her if she didn't comply.
I mean, this is just startingand I think it's going to get
worse because obviously there isthis idea that these people can
(35:55):
just get away with anything andit's just really scary and it's,
it's sad that this is the stateof the country that we are in
where we are, we are targeting acommunity of people that is
brown when immigration not onlyaffects brown people, but it
affects, it's not about skincolor.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Can the police arrest you forbeing an immigrant, or is that
(36:16):
like an ICE thing?
I'm pretty sure you have to bean ICE official to enact those
things, like in cities thatthey're doing this, they're ICE
officials.
Interesting.
Yeah, I know in Texas, thegovernor or whatever made the
Texas National Guard have theability to assist ICE.
They can make arrests, but anICE official has to be on the
shift with them.
(36:36):
You know, the Texas governor islike overturning the DEI thing,
the DEI, which I knew nothingabout four weeks ago, let's be
honest here.
Is overturning the DEI thing andall of his federal agencies,
but, but he's in a wheelchair,like, you know, like the Texas
governor is, can't walk.
He's in a wheelchair, like DEIhelped ramps get installed, you
(37:02):
know, like all of that, like,it's just, it's, it's.
It's crazy to me.
I don't know what these peoplethink it again.
It's like they're just trying toburn the world down.
They're trying to just goopposite of every what
everyone's beliefs are.
It's just kind of crazy to me.
Moving on to lighter news.
It's about time.
Don't you think we are going tocover two fun little stories.
(37:23):
At least I think they're fun.
In new research that came outWednesday from the Royal Society
Bee, researchers have clarifiedthe mysterious early stages of
life in young sea turtles.
I love sea turtles.
There's actually two in theaquarium that's near us and I
love looking at them, trying tofind them in the tank.
(37:45):
You know, before this researchcame out, there was this 10 year
gap between when sea turtleshatched and when they when we
actually could start trackingthem.
little hatchlings, their shellsactually shed, which I never
(38:08):
knew that that happened, but itmakes sense.
So the tracker would fall off,which caused issues.
So this study basically, overthe last decade, has tracked
three different types of speciesof turtles, 114 turtles, I
think, total.
And what they found was, Insteadof this idea that turtles, these
(38:29):
little baby sea turtles justdrifted with the current, they
found that these turtles couldactually swim and that they can
go where they want and avoidwhat they want to avoid.
You know, you're probablythinking, okay, so we learned
that they swim.
Cool.
Well, what's the big deal?
Well, by knowing where theseturtles are journeying to,
Scientists can use thatinformation to know where to
(38:51):
focus conservation efforts, likeprotecting from fishing,
pollution, boating.
Before this, the Gulf of Mexico,or should we say, what was it?
Gulf of America?
You know, it was such a largeDon't ever say that.
No, it's always Gulf of Mexico.
It was such a, this is such alarge space that it's hard for
conservation people to knowwhere to put their efforts.
(39:12):
And so this allows them toreally concentrate that, which
is great.
Also, this research propelledthe technology of animal
tracking forward in newtechnology.
They use solar powered GPS.
Without the limitations ofbattery life.
So we'll see what this does foranimal tracking going forward.
I mean, right now, you know, wehad bought those follow
bracelets.
F.
A.
(39:32):
H.
L.
O.
It's a company that you can buyand that you can track animals
with them.
But the problem is we'll getwarned when you get them.
Like sometimes the tracker diesand they'll assign you with a
new animal.
But with this new technology,maybe you'll be able to track
your animal a lot longer.
It's going to be veryinteresting.
It's really, really coolresearch.
That is really neat.
The next fun topic I have isalso dealing with sea animals.
(39:55):
This time though, we are talkingabout dolphins, which everyone
loves.
Who doesn't love a dolphin?
Humans, it turns out, are notthe only ones that have
substance abuse problems.
A new BBC documentary called Spyin the Pod revealed dolphins
getting high.
(40:15):
on pufferfish.
I guess pufferfish produce apotent defensive chemical, which
they eject when they'rethreatened, when they like puff
up, I guess.
But in small enough doses,however, the toxin seems to
induce a trans like state.
So these dolphins were filmed.
for the first time, I guess,gently playing with a
(40:37):
pufferfish.
And then what happened is theywould pass this pufferfish
around to each other for 20 to30 minutes.
It looked like they, thispufferfish was kind of on their
nozzle.
Like they were just, it wouldhave it, they had it on their
nose.
And then shortly after that,they just transed out like these
dolphins were high as kites.
Supposedly at one point they areseen like chilling right under
(40:59):
the surface of the water lookingup and they're just entranced by
their own reflections for likeminutes.
That's crazy.
Wow.
Hilarious.
And it, you know, it gives awhole new meaning to this puff
puff pass idea because they useda puffer fish.
Isn't that hilarious to you?
That is funny.
I thought it was.
Actually, I really want to watchthe documentary now just to like
(41:21):
see this film situation.
That's hilarious.
All right.
Anyway.
Yeah.
That's what do we got to lookout for?
So the three things to look outfor this week, in my opinion,
bird flu is one.
It's starting to be detected indairy cows.
So I would watch it for that.
That's crazy.
I know where every time that mangets in the office or some sort
(41:42):
of crazy like health scare.
That is true.
Yeah, true.
Yeah, that is true.
You know, but look fordevelopments with this going in
the weekend because things arereally ramping up with this
really fast.
Obviously, don't becomeemergent.
It's not a big deal yet.
Virgin emergent.
Don't become a virgin.
Virgin and I thought you meantto say vegetarian emergent don't
(42:05):
well that's who don't becomevegetarian either.
It's fine because Emergent likedon't like don't get crazy like
it's not an emergency yet.
Yeah, don't go crazy But becauseit's not like affecting anything
yet But eggs obviously are goingup in price.
That's going to continuehappening.
Anyway, that's one thing to keepan eye on.
(42:28):
Super Bowl is also Sunday, whichwe talked about, but I will not
be watching.
I'm working, but I have heard afun drinking game would be
anytime they show Taylor Swiftto take a drink.
So someone should try that outand let us know how it works out
for you.
Um, the last thing to reallylook for these upcoming days,
we're going to take this slowly.
So I'm not saying next week.
I'm saying, think about this forthe next few days.
(42:49):
But the federal buyout fallout,as of Wednesday, only 50, 000
workers have accepted thebuyout.
That's only around 1 percent ofthe workforce, federal
workforce.
So this is significantly smallerthan Trump had expected.
So the question is, what willTrump do next?
Also, the newest update is thisbuyout has been paused by a
(43:11):
judge.
So we'll see what that kind ofdoes with this whole situation
as well.
If Trump and Elon feelthreatened.
and didn't meet their mark, whatare they going to do?
What, what's going to happennext with this whole situation?
So just something to look, looktowards.
Cool.
So, all right.
So that's, uh, that's it forthis week, guys.
Um, Thank you for joining us andlistening.
Share the podcast, tell yourfriends about it, um, and we'll
(43:34):
love you even more.
And yeah, follow us on Instagramat the civil you, that's just
the, the letter you, and feelfree to send us an email,
letting us know your thoughts,questions, what we got wrong, or
anything you think we shoulddiscuss at the civil union, 25
at gmail.
com.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you guys.
Have a good one.
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Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com