The Third Party Revolution: Could Elon Musk Disrupt American Politics? for 7/8/25

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Ever wondered if your car choice might be secretly sabotaging your career? This week, Lawrence Elrod and Meryl Klemo tackle this unexpected workplace dynamic alongside major headlines dominating our news cycles.

We break down the Sean "Diddy" Combs verdict with all its complexities – found not guilty of racketeering but guilty on two lesser prostitution-related charges. Despite potentially facing 20 years, legal experts predict a 3-7 year sentence. We explore the deeper implications beyond the courtroom: how many entertainment careers were destroyed by Diddy's power plays, and whether his influence will truly diminish after this legal battle.

The devastating Texas flash floods that claimed 90 lives, including 27 children and counselors from Camp Mystic, serve as a sobering reminder of nature's unpredictable fury. The Guadalupe River surged 26 feet in under an hour, giving victims almost no time to evacuate. Questions linger about whether emergency notification systems failed these communities.

Elon Musk's announcement about starting a third political party opens a fascinating conversation about America's political future. Could a moderate, common-sense approach break the deadlock of our increasingly polarized system? We envision what an ideal third party might look like – one that incorporates fiscal responsibility while still addressing basic human needs without religious or ideological extremes.

From Philadelphia being crowned America's most walkable city to a viral video of an elephant charging a safari jeep, we round out the episode with cultural touchpoints that capture our collective attention. Whether discussing the latest Jurassic World box office success or celebrity security concerns, we bring our signature blend of thoughtful analysis and relatable commentary to everything happening in our world.

Join us for conversations that challenge your perspective and entertain while keeping you informed on everything from headline news to cultural phenomena.

Great conversations and a place where independent filmmakers can be highlighted.

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Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode
of Thirsty Topics.
I'm Lauren Selrod.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I'm Meryl Clemo.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Hey, meryl, welcome back.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hey, hey, hey, welcome, Thank you, I'm so happy
to be back.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
How was your holiday weekend?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
It was really nice.
Strangely, I don't know if it'sthis way for you, but where I
live, in Burbank, they did notdo fireworks, they did a drone
show instead, yeah, which like Ifeel like could be cool, but it
was.
It was kind of cheesy where itwas just they'd flash words like
Burbank and USA and we're alllike, yeah, we know where we are

(00:50):
right now.
We're here to see fireworks,we're not here to see like a gif
of you know.
It looked like clothing labelsor something.
So it was a unique experience.
I think they're going to getbetter each year, but it was
definitely my first 4th of Julydrone show.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, me and the wife , we saw some fireworks that
they were shooting off in adifferent town.
So we kind of went to a parkinglot with a bunch of other
people and watched the fireworksand stuff.
I haven't bought fireworks inyears because when I grew up it
was legal for us in Illinois tohave the firecrackers M-80s
skyrockets, you know to me thatwas fun.

(01:27):
I mean, aside from theoccasional someone stupid
blowing off a finger orsomething you know.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
it was actually pretty fun.
Exactly what's an eye got to go.
You have two eyes, who knows?
You always see like a guy withan eye patch that like had a
firework from his house.
Yeah, I mean they have like thesparklers and the smoke and it's
like yeah it ain't really thesame, you know I know the only
thing I don't like is, um therogue like explosion, boom
noises.

(01:52):
You know, like the day of andthen the day after I feel like
that's like so scary and italways catches me off guard.
So that's the only thing Idon't love about the holiday is
just like the random scarynoises that's true.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I mean you don't have a neighbor.
I mean I haven't experienced,but I've heard people have
neighbors that take it to theextreme, meaning that they
celebrate like I don't knowthree or four days in a row.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh my gosh, how many fireworks do you have to have?
Or like?
I can't imagine being that intoit.
I think it's just an excuse forpyrotechnics.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
That's true.
It's a very expensive habit to,you know, be putting off that
many fireworks, though, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I could thinkof better things to do with my
money, but Me too.
Talk about better days here.
I am going to start off withthe big one that everyone's been
talking about over the weekend,and that is the verdict of Sean

(02:48):
Diddy Combs.
As everyone knows, he was foundnot guilty of three of the
charges, which were the maincharges, one of them being
racketeering, and he was foundguilty of the two lesser charges
, which was transportationtransporting people to do

(03:09):
prostitution.
I think I'm probably missing upthe words, but no, I think
you're right, yeah they were thelesser of the two.
So technically he could stillget up to 20 years because up to
10 years per count, but a lotof experts feel that that's
really unlikely.
It's probably going to fallbetween three to five years, I

(03:30):
don't know.
What do you think, meryl?
What do you think on?

Speaker 2 (03:32):
it.
Well, we kind of predicted thisbecause, remember, a few weeks
ago we were waiting on theverdict and I'm like I really
think he's going to be foundinnocent or for at least the big
charges.
I mean, it kind of is the way Ifelt before, which was that
obviously it's tricky because alot of these things we don't
know exactly like how much hewas like forcing things or

(03:56):
forcing people, and I think Ifeel like his team did a really
good job in the courtroom ofconvincing people where he was
innocent and also conceding tothe areas he was guilty.
Um, so I I felt like this wasno surprise to me, this kind of
seemed obvious.
But same thing, as I saidbefore too, this if I was like a
person that testified againsthim, I would just be worried

(04:17):
because of how much power he hasand I I don't think this will
really make him a better personand like he'll reflect on it,
but I just something tells mehe'll go right back to like who
he has been.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of interesting things that
happen and you touch on a greatpoint because I know after the
verdict was read, you know hekind of kneeled down and thank
God and he turned to his familysaying, hey, I'm coming home,
god.
And he turned to his familysaying, hey, I'm coming home.
Some people think that maybethat kind of like hurt him when
it comes to being able to gohome yeah.

(04:53):
But I don't know, I mean there'sa lot of different ways to look
at it.
I think that overall, trying todo a RICO case which is really
kind of set aside for the mafiayeah Case was a stretch.
Yes, we'll think that you knowthey were overcharging for this
and obviously they found theyfound the guilty on a two easier

(05:15):
charges to prove.
I mean, you can go from stateto state to have sex Very, very
simple, exactly, that's cut anddry.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, you know what.
Where I do think it would umhurt him is is sometimes I feel
like when your peers disown you,that makes a difference,
especially for like ego peopleyou know where I'm sure that
gets to him.
Like people that probably werehis friends or business partners
are probably now not talking tohim.
You know, I'm sure he has, Iknow he has some support still,

(05:46):
but like being shunned by yourcommunity, I feel like is
sometimes one of the only thingsthat works for kind of like
more of those narcissistic typepersonalities, um, to finally
like feel something, you know,because then they feel rejected
and that's embarrassed andthat's almost, I'm sure, no
matter how like you know ego heis, I'm, he feels that in some
regard where I'm sure a lot ofpeople have turned their backs

(06:08):
on him.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, I mean because, when you think about it, the
only celebrity that came to seehim was Kanye West.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, and you know that hurts, because here's
someone that like yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
He still went to go see him, you know.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, exactly, and it's like like all these people
were there at his parties, there, his freak-offs, you know all
this stuff.
But then when everything getsreal, like no, no, no one's
there.
Besides you know one goodfriend, not not only a good
friend, but a good friend to him, so I feel like someone like
him.
That would be where he's ableto like, feel, feel real

(06:42):
emotions is like kind of beingshunned by his people.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah, I know that a lot of professional lawyers or
anything was saying that theywere a little surprised that he
wasn't let out on bail pendinghis sentencing.
One has to wonder if the I'mcoming home in court and the
theatrics kind of hurt him.
Now it was that he got introuble, because this is

(07:09):
allegedly we don't know, butsupposedly he paid other inmates
and we talked about this beforeabout using their cell phones
to call and intimidate people.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yes, which I believe that too, and I feel like it's
going to go on for a while Likethis.
This seems like the kind ofthing that he's not going to
forget and he'll stillintimidate people for like a
long time after.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
I agree.
I mean, we probably could havea whole different conversation
of why does inmates have cellphones to begin with, but that's
another.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
So maybe it wasn't inmates, maybe it was actually
you know the correctionsofficers, the CEOs.
Maybe it wasn't inmates, maybeit was actually you know the
corrections officers, the CEOs.
But you know again whether it'sCEOs or other inmates or
anything.
If there's some truth to that,yeah, I could see that, because
something tells me that he's notgoing to get a life sentence
because the same judge thatdenied him bail is the same
judge that's going to come upwith his sentencing too.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Exactly, exactly, and I hope it's a long one.
I still feel like there arestill a lot of potential money
grabs for him on the table.
Like I don't know if he'salready written a book or not,
but I could totally see himpublishing some like from my
side you know type book.
Or even like I don't know ifyou're able to do speeches from
prison or anything, but I couldsee him just like still wanting

(08:24):
to be in the public and sharehis side of the story.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
That's true, and you know I'm not saying it will or
will not happen.
You know there is even talk ofyou know what if Trump decides
to pardon him after he'ssentenced.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah which we've seen crazier things happen.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, and as crazy as that sounds, m Merle, that is a
possibility.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, because you know, this exactly seems like
the type of thing that he wouldendorse Trump and then Trump
would like him and get him, andthen somehow Elon will get
involved.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
That is true.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Then Diddy and Bill Cosby will go on tour.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, I just think it's sad in the fact that Diddy
and Bill Cosby will go on tour.
Yeah, I just think it's sad inthe fact that you know, diddy
was very, very close to becominga billionaire and there's so
many positive things he couldhave done.
I know Especially where he camefrom, and you know, to kind of
go down in flames like this.
And I agree with you I don'tthink this is going to be the
end of Diddy, but I don't thinkthat people are going to look at

(09:26):
him the same though.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
No, I agree, I know you're right.
It is so interesting because Imean, I know we talk about this
all the time, about how likemoney just exemplifies who you
already are.
You know, if you're alreadykind of a good person, then it
gives you the ability to do that.
If you're a bad person, it justmakes you kind of more power
hungry.
But it's like you think of thisas a person that could fly to
Italy and just have like thebest beach vacations in the

(09:49):
world or like gift people things.
It's so weird that he would,people would choose this life,
you know that is true.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
I mean, will he learn from it?
I guess is the biggest questionof all, and I think only time
will tell.
But if I was a betting man, I'mthinking he's going to do at
least about five years, and Icould be way off.
But that's what I'm thinking.
What do you think, meryl?

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, I was thinking like five to seven years.
I feel like, exactly, I feellike we should.
I'm sure there are websitesthat we can bet on, but I feel
like he's going to do sevenyears in three months, but I
feel like it's going to get likeshortened on.
You know, quote, unquote, goodbehavior.
And I still feel like we'llhear from him in one way or
another, whether it's a book orwhether he's doing podcast

(10:36):
interviews from jail or whatever.
So I think we'll still hear alot.
No point, because you know Ididn't even realize it, but you
know he's been in jail for about10 months now and they're
probably going to take that aspart of his his time served too.
So, oh yeah, ok.
So now six years and two months, I'm changing my bet, but

(10:59):
there's still.
There's like I mean I think thetune would change if someone
hurt, like my parents or you, oryou know people that I care
about in real life.
But there's still like a humanpart of me that feels so sad
that this is still like a manthat's sitting in prison and
just from like a human aspect,you know, like like I'm sure
he's bad, but like I don't.

(11:20):
I mean, I know he's terrible,but like I just always think
about that.
It's so sad thinking about ahuman in prison.
That's just so against what Iview to be our nature, but he
had plenty of time to not be abad human and hurt other people,
and I'm sure the families ofthe victims would say otherwise.
Like you know, we don't wantthis person around and it's a

(11:40):
very nuanced thing.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
But just like I don't know someone spending 10 years
in like a prison is just so sadto me yeah, and you know the
other thing too, and I don'tthink this is talked about
enough, but when people in thisposition get caught doing what
they do, we tend to forget allthe lives that they've destroyed
as far as careers that we willnever know of yeah.

(12:04):
Because maybe they didn't playball with him, maybe they, you
know, they got shunned by him.
They got blackballed by him inthe industry.
So there's a lot of people,talented people, that we'll
probably never hear from becauseof who he is and what he's done
.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
That, I think, is just a sad.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
You're right, you're right, you're totally right.
And if this is his karma forwhat he's done probably times 10
to other people then so be it.
I think of anyone I don't know.
I just think of humans inprison, and that always is just
so sad, Because I feel likethat's so against what our
little souls and spirit want todo.
But, there's ways to not be inprison for 10 years.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
That is so, so true.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Well, that's interesting and I think I'm glad
that we finally have someanswers.
I feel like this was.
It seems like it was going onfor really long.
I mean, you said he's been injail for 10 months, but I feel
like we've been this has been inthe news heavily for like a
really long time.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Cool, Okay, well, moving on, I'm getting my
saddest one out of the way sothat we're not bummed out the
whole time.
But as you've heard I'm sure,there's been really bad flooding
in Central Texas this weekend,which happened very quickly.
You know, if you watch any ofthe footage, it's basically like
it looks like a rainstorm andthen all of a sudden a very,
very scary flash flood, and youknow, a lot of times I think we

(13:28):
can think, oh, if this happenedto me, I wouldn't get swept away
in it, or like, why are allthese?
You know, people lose theircars and homes and it wouldn't
happen to me.
When I see some of theseTikToks, it's like people are
filming the footage just becauseit looks like a little stream
and then all of a sudden it likeyou get that whole back rush

(13:48):
and like windows break and glassgoes and cars come at you and
so it's just really really scary.
Um, as of now, the latest that Isee was that the death toll was
at 90, and then there was 10campers missing and 27 children
and counselors died from campmystic, a beloved all-girls
summer camp in Care County wherethe worst of the flooding broke

(14:09):
out.
That is just horrific likethinking of.
If you're a parent, you know,and I mean you're thinking of
your kids at camp and all of asudden, like they're just swept
away, that's really likeunbelievable.
This article says there were700 children at the camp when
relentless rain caused thenearby guadalupe river to surge

(14:29):
over 26 feet in less than anhour.
So you know, even just tryingto get out, they really couldn't
.
Um, rescuers are now searchingfor missing people by air, land
and water and I mean, if therewere 700 kids, I feel like a lot
more are just going to bemissing as time goes on.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, the one thing that I'm really surprised about
and I don't know if they addressit or not, but I am really
shocked that no one had anyadvance warning.
I know Because it's being sobad, you know.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Exactly, and we'll see, we'll see.
I don't, of course, we don'thave to get political on this,
but some things have seen that,like that the budget was cut a
little bit of services thatwould normally notify people.
I don't know if that's thetruth or not.
I probably should have lookedthat up.
But yeah, and so they weresaying that they're also like

(15:25):
they're sending FEMA assistanceto the flash floods, but right
now it's hard to even know likewhere the victims are.
You know, it's still such amess and everyone's still
underwater that they're not evenso like ready to rescue the
people.
Yet They've rescued over 850people since the devastating
flooding.
And yeah, I mean they, they saidflash flooding, but here all

(15:46):
the time, like flash floodingcan just mean like yeah, yeah,
yeah, you know, just don't gooutside.
Pretty much it doesn't reallymean like we're about to all get
swept away.
So I just thought that's soscary and like I don't know, I
feel like campers getting takenaway just seems like something
out of like a terrible movie orthat just really seems like a
complete disaster.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, the one thing I wonder about is are they going
to be honest about what happened?
Because if it is tied to peoplebeing laid off and which delay
notification, you don't have tobe a politician to understand
what kind of hot potato that is.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
Exactly, but you know , they'll never be able to be
spun into like Joe Biden didthis somehow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I think this is the type ofthing that hopefully everyone I
mean this is happening in apretty much Republican type area
, so we'll see that hopefullythere won't be a like.
This will be one of thosesituations where people could

(16:42):
put aside their politics andjust help people.
Um, they said yeah, like, andalso they were, I think, a
counselor, a camp counselor thatwas trying to help others.
What ended up getting sweptaway and died.
And so it's just like so crazy.
And if you're, if you're like aparent and I saw footage too,
of someone that was driving theother way it must have been a

(17:03):
parent trying to get a child,but they were like driving up a
bridge and you could it reallywas like a movie where you can't
tell whether or not their caris about to go in water, and I
think they just made it just bylike the skin of their teeth.
But yeah, it's really scary.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
It is very scary and I didn't know that the death
count went up because the lasttime I heard it was 80.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah, it's 90 now, and what we have to think about
too a lot of times in thesefloods, I think, what ends up
getting people is it's like notthe water itself, but it's like
pieces of a car or nails thatare in there.
It's like the little randomthings that it's like, ok, you
could be going along the currentand randomly bump your head or
the electricity from a telephonepole or something.
It's just.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Oh yeah, I mean, just like I remember when they were
talking about the hurricanesthat hit southern Florida.
You know some of the thingsthat and, granted it's unique to
that area, some of the thingsthat people had to worry about
was raw sewage.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
Alligators.
Oh, oh my gosh.
Yeah.
So again, that's probably youknow specific to that area.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
But yeah, you're right, there's so many other
things that you have to beworried about, besides the water
itself yeah, and if you're likea director of a camp and you
get a notification that in anhour there's about to be flash
flooding, it's like there's notmuch that you can do rather than
just try to communicate it witheveryone and get them to higher
ground, and that's just like.
I mean, I'm sure now they'llput into place, like moving

(18:35):
forward I'm sure, a lot ofsafety measures, just like how
katrina is now we have the floodevacuation center areas and you
know.
But very sad.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yes, we'll definitely be praying for everyone there.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yep absolutely.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Well, this should be an interesting one.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump rideit again.
This time, Elon Musk has nowstated that he wants to start a
third political party.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Now this one is a two-part conversation.
So the first part of thisconversation and I want people
to have an open mind, because Iknow people are really
passionate about who they go for.
So whether you're Republican orDemocrat, whether you like Elon
, you can't stand him.
Have an open mind.
I just want to have these twoconversations.

(19:28):
First conversation is do youthink that it's the right time
for a major third politicalparty in this country?

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yes, but I don't think it will ever work,
unfortunately.
Yeah, I mean, I would love thatand I feel like I, a lot of
times in the past, have votedlibertarian and I feel like I've
got.
You know, I'm definitelysometimes can be a libertarian,
but I don't know.
I feel like we've maybe itwould take a different approach.
Let me say it that way neversay never.
But I feel like the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, you

(20:04):
know, we have all these optionswhere, if you kind of don't feel
like you're one or the otherand I definitely don't feel like
I'm hardcore one or the other,like there are third options.
But I just think it's maybe amatter of funding, but that's
where Elon could come in andmaybe this might be the first
situation where we have themoney and the backing power and
the ability to like, amplifyyour message the way that,

(20:27):
because you know he owns x and alot of other, what social media
sites.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
So maybe this might be, like the, the magical
ingredient to make a third partywork I agree because you know
for a long time, and speaking asa person of color, a lot, of, a
lot of people in my communityfeel that the Republican Party
does not want anything to dowith Black people and the

(20:52):
Democratic Party pretty muchonly reaches out to us when it's
time to vote.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
So it's kind of like one of those situations where
you kind of damn if you do, damnif you don't and I'm guilty of
this, this too.
A lot of times you end upvoting for the lesser of two
evils you really don't likeeither I know yeah.
So you kind of like figuringokay, we know how important it
is to vote, but instead of goingfor the best person, you just

(21:19):
basically vote for the lesser oftwo evils that you can pretty
much stand, which is not a greatway to vote.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Exactly, and we've seen that almost like to be even
a presidential candidate forthe Democrat or Republican Party
, you kind of have to be likeswarmy, you know, to make it
this high.
You do have to like be kind ofnon-scrupulous, or like there
hasn't been really anyone andmaybe Obama, but like there
hasn't, I mean, but he has histhings too, for sure Like there
hasn't been anyone that I havefelt like was like a quality

(21:47):
human.
But I also don't feel like I'mnot going to find it in Elon's
party.
So I have to, you know, andalso honestly, just from like a
brand perspective whoops, Idon't really like what Elon does
with his brand, like you know,taking Twitter from X and like
how the Cybertruck looks, and soI feel like his party.
I'm open to like learning moreabout it, but I just feel like

(22:09):
to me he does not have like agolden touch.
I don't really like the thingsthat he puts out.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
I agree with you on that.
I mean, would I want the Elonparty?
No, I don't think I would.
I do think that we should behaving this conversation because
, you know, one of the problemswith Republicans and Democrats
is and I've said this before youliterally could put a cartoon
character on a ballot and aslong as they got the right

(22:39):
political affiliation, peoplewill vote for it.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
Right, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
They'll complain like oh, it's so crazy that they got
this political, this cartoon upthere, this is nuts and still
vote for it, right, yeah?
Yeah, you know they'll complainlike oh, it's so crazy that
they got this political, thiscartoon up there, this is nuts.
And still vote for them becauseit's their party of choice,
which is a crazy way to vote.
And even when you feel thatyour primary candidate may not
be the right person, you fall inline because, hey, you want to
be loyal to your party asopposed to being loyal to your

(23:04):
country.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yes, yes, absolutely.
And I feel like the tides haveturned where a lot of us are
getting like shuffled around.
We're like over COVID.
I really like I found myselfgetting very annoyed with like
the Democratic and kind ofliberal party and stuff and so
and then.
But I also I wouldn't goRepublican, so it's definitely
I'm like wait, this annoys meand this annoys me, but I'm not

(23:26):
like going to switch over, I'mjust going to kind of be feel
disenfranchised.
So I think you're right, a newparty, that's like truly more
for the people.
I think is what most of us want, and I think most of us just
want like our own littlefamilies and friends to be
healthy and a park and a niceplace to live.
I think most people just wantto be able to afford their lives

(23:48):
and not have these wars and bigextravagant things and just
feel safe.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
I agree with you.
I've always said this I don'tthink I'll ever see it in my
lifetime, but I would love tosee the political party system
go away yeah, yeah the biggestproblem is is that you can have
a great idea, something thatpeople believe in, but because
they don't want to piss off thehead of their party or they want

(24:14):
to fall in line, they'll voteagainst it, just because you're
in the wrong party, even if it'sa great idea.
I mean, we've been seeing when,when um obama was in office,
obama actually had I forgot whatthe legislation was.
It was actually legislationthat was brought up by
Republicans that they were eagerto push, but because Obama

(24:36):
wanted to push it, theyinstantly didn't like it anymore
oh my gosh.
It's like that attitude.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
It's like seriously.
It's like toddlers.
It's like, seriously, it's liketoddlers.
It really is like littletoddlers and I think more and
more it's going to.
Hopefully it should be more likeus, against the like
billionaires that are trying toruin everything, or you know
like I think, especially withthis other, with some of the
stuff that's been happeninglately to me, and especially

(25:04):
like when the, when othercountries and the war is
happening, it's like there's somuch infighting in the united
states that I think we canreally benefit from just more
coming together and like beinglike okay, we are a nation and
we're trying to, you know, likeexist nicely, so let's all do it
together I agree, I agree.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Now let's talk about the second part of this.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
If we were to have a major third party, what do you
think it should look like?

Speaker 2 (25:34):
Almost close to me, to me personally, and anyone can
feel how they want to, but whatI think it would look like if,
maybe like if Bernie Sanders waspresident.
You know something like that,and I'm sure there's issues with
it.
It would look like if, maybelike if bernie sanders was
president.
You know something like that,where, and and I'm sure there's
issues with it, you know wedon't want to be like a
socialist economy and everything, but I think, um, it should
definitely look like theopposite of what a lot of us are

(25:57):
dealing with now, which is thehomeless issue is like out of
control.
There's drugs, a lot of usaren't getting like clean air
and you know all the stuff thatthey pretend to trumpet that
they're gonna change, but theynever do over and over.
Like the basic needs.
It should almost be like thebasic needs party, where we go
from like the very, very insularthing and we're like how is

(26:18):
everyone's drinking water?
How is your vegetables?
You know, like the very, verybasic instead of like the top
down.
That's what my dream would be,because I just think the
healthier we all are, like mind,body and spirit, the better our
whole planet will be.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
I agree.
I think for me, my ideal thirdparty would be a party that's
more on the moderate side.
What I mean by that is OK.
Republicans talk about balancedbudgets and their
implementation don't match whatthey're talking about.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, yes.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
I agree we should be able to balance the budget, but
in a responsible way.
In other words, we shouldn'tjust go in like Doge did and
just take a hatchet toeverything and start cutting and
not pay attention to what it is.
But at the same token you know,I know on the opposite end of
the spectrum you know it'salways been talked about with
free health care.

(27:16):
I think that's a great thing totalk about.
I don't think we're anywherenear that point yet.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Right.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
So I think somewhere in that middle is that sweet
spot, because there are peoplethat you know maybe like some
principles of Republican Party,some principles of the
Democratic Party, and you knowit's kind of like a toss-up of
okay, which one do you vote for?

Speaker 2 (27:39):
yeah, yep, and I think, um to like, yeah, common
sense.
And then there I forgot what Iwas going to say.
It was something else exactly.
But I do think you're rightwhere more of a party where it's
just more like common sense andmoderate, rather than having
every single thing be about like, oh, that's what I was gonna
say, is to me, my idealpolitical party has nothing to

(28:02):
do with like religion or men,especially, you know, like
having anything to do with body,our bodies, all bodies, and
then if you know people's sexualorientation, like I think that
that's what I do like about theDemocratic Party is like it
tends to be more kind of likelive and let live type, not so

(28:23):
much I mean not a lot of times,because people can be really
judgy and everything too, or itcould go too far, but for the
most part, I think it shouldn'tinterfere with people's like
right to get married or expresstheir love or have babies or not
have babies or have a family,and that's like I will never be
like on board a lot withsomething that has to do with

(28:43):
like hardcore Christian valuesand everything, cause like I
like I love that people havethose.
That's wonderful for them, butlike, that's definitely not what
I personally subscribe to.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
So oh yeah, and the other thing too is, you know
there have been independentcandidates who have tried to run
for president, but they had topick a party.
They couldn't run as a trueindependent because, right,
based on the way everything isset up right right now,
especially with the electoralcollege, with that thing as a
joke, but anyway, that's aseparate conversation exactly.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
But don't you almost think that I think in another
world I I feel like trump couldhave ran democrat?
We wouldn't like because he healmost just I, I think wanted to
like it was more of apopularity contest and then his
like billionaire friends werejust kind of like you can come
in this way, so you know,because I think before a lot of
his beliefs, like being in NewYork and being like this and

(29:31):
that like I feel like he did, heused to fall in line way more
with the other party.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
And so, um yeah, and I think one of the biggest
problems too with the politicalsystem, where right now, where I
think the third party will kindof fill in, is uh, if you know
that what your party is tryingto legislate is wrong, it's
ridiculous and it's going toharm americans, you shouldn't
fall in line because you want toprotect your political future.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Because you know, let's face it there's a lot of
these politicians that have beenin office a very, very long
time, An extremely yes, yes.
So you legislate differentlywhen you know that you can be in
there for 20, 30 years versus,let's say, if you do become
president.
President is a two term.
Whether you like it or not,it's two terms.
So you go in the first year,you do what you need to do, try

(30:23):
and get reelected.
Then, second year is when youreally go ahead and open up
because you know you can't bereelected.
So you actually legislate in adifferent way, and I think that
I would love to see a thirdparty come in and say OK, you
know what?
There are some things that Ilike from this party here we
want to adapt that.
There are some things we likefrom this party here we want to

(30:46):
adapt that too.
And here are some unique stuffthat, hey, we want everybody to
take a second look at.
To me, that would be the idealway, not all or nothing.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, no, I wonder too.
In the third party it'd beinteresting to see how much
power governors have too,because I feel, like you know, I
think a lot about Californiahere, obviously, and it's just
like so expensive.
La is just like insanely overrunwith like just homeless issues,
drug issues, People are likebent over on the streets.
I know that's how a lot of thebigger cities are, but I feel

(31:17):
like that would almost be moreof like a state government issue
.
And so I wonder in our, in ourdream party, would governors
they would work in tandem, likevery nicely in theory, with,
like the head of the party andpeople.
They wouldn't be at odds witheach other and like at war kind
of the way that our situation isnow Cause I feel like I don't

(31:39):
know how I feel, if the stateshould have more power or less
power, or they should just bethere to support us.
It's very interesting to me,especially because I'm in a
state where we do give a lot butthere's also so much wrong.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, I mean I do understand and I do agree up to
a certain point, about statesbeing able to make their own
laws and rules yeah but I thinkthe government still needs to do
an oversee to make sure thatit's not infringing on people's
rights, exactly infringing onpeople's choices of what they do
with their body and otherthings yep you still have to

(32:12):
have that common sense errorthere.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
You know that you have the common sense party.
It seems like that's what justand and you and I are the same
way.
We're like I almost like beingin a group of people and like I
the first top five things Idon't like want to know people's
politics right, rather justjudge them on if they're a good
person or not, and like justgetting back to everyone, the
healing our own little nervoussystems and not being so on edge

(32:34):
or mean to each other andthat's's both parties Like.
Honestly, I have people on bothsides that I've seen be like
really hurtful and judgmentaltowards the other people.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
So yeah, I agree with you and I would like to see it
to where you can have aconversation without a fight
breaking out.
What do you mean?
You're a Democrat?
What do you mean you're aRepublican?
And it's like dude, let gorelax.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah, Sometimes.
I think last Thanksgiving on Iwas.
Of course it was just a joke,but like I was talking in
standup, I was talking about howI was available for hire, where
I could go to people'sThanksgivings and I could say,
like you could sit me next to anuncle with, like a MAGA hat on,
or you could sit me next tolike a blue haired girl from
Portland and like anything thatyou want me to say, I'll be
available to hire.
Because I often find that whereit's like I can almost

(33:18):
understand where people arecoming from, but extremism is on
both sides, which it's gottento, is very annoying to me and
we're really getting nowhere, soyeah.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
And you know the crazy thing, Meryl, is it's okay
to disagree.
It really is.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah, absolutely Absolutely.
But I think it's never going togo wrong if more people could
afford housing, even if it'sjust basic housing, you know,
and more people can afford foodand not have to expense their
food on like payment plans andum yeah and the whole like make
america healthy again.

(33:54):
In theory I would love that,but that's gotten extreme and
that's just it's kind of insane.
So I feel like because a lot ofpeople I know that are more
health-minded ended up randomlyvoting for the other side.
So, yeah, it's a gooddiscussion.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Definitely.
I would like to challengepeople watching and listening.
You know, obviously we're onall different kinds of social
media platforms.
Let us know what you think and,again, put aside your your
anything.
But what do you think a majorthird party should look like?
We would definitely beinterested to hear.
If there's enough responses,we'll definitely talk about it

(34:33):
next week.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Exactly, I love it.
Well, this will be interesting.
In our perfect party.
All of the cities would benicely walkable, I feel like,
but there was only one voted onemost walkable recently on USA
Today and I thought it was verysurprising, but still good.
So Philadelphia, good oldPhilly in Pennsylvania, was

(34:56):
voted number one the mostwalkable city in 2025.
Philly, obviously, is belovedfor its cultural and historical
attractions.
You can stroll through CenterCity, philly, the downtown
district I really love.
One of my best friends livesright by Rittenhouse Square,
which is gorgeous in Philly Tome, like I mean, I'm from

(35:17):
Pennsylvania, so I lovePhiladelphia.
But the only thing is like,what this list forgets to say,
which is pretty much true of allthe cities, is like don't you
know women shouldn't be doingthis like at three in the
morning by themselves, becauseeven though it's really walkable
, it can get kind of scaryreally fast in some parts of
neighborhoods, not just Philly,but you know, all over the place

(35:37):
New York, la, all this stuff.
So I don't know, have you everbeen to Philadelphia?

Speaker 1 (35:44):
You know what?
I've been through Philadelphia.
I haven't actually stoppedthere, I think.
Have I Actually?
I take that back.
I was taking a trip to go seemy son and we actually stopped
in Philadelphia at a hotel andit was actually near a waterway.

(36:04):
It was actually pretty nice.
Yeah, I didn't spend a lot oftime in there, but for the
little bit of time I was thereit was very nice.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Exactly, I love.
I feel like I'm all for Phillypride.
I feel like it almost doesn'tget talked about a lot, but I
feel like it has so many greatrestaurants and like culture and
just history I love.
I feel like Philly people areamazing.
Also on the list, of course,we're New York, like you know,
one of the most walkable citiesin the whole wide world.
I love, love, love going to NewYork and then I look at my

(36:34):
steps and they're like 40,000steps a day.
Then I come back to LA whereyou have to drive everywhere.
I'm like I hate this, becauseone of the things I love so much
about New York or cities likeBoston- is that you can like
tell a friend, okay, I'll meetyou at this restaurant at 7pm
and then I love the thought ofpeople each walking like 30
minutes from a differentdirection and then having such a

(36:55):
nice dinner and then being ableto like safely walk home after.
I just think that's such a coollife.
Um, I can't really do that here, but I think that's like such a
great thing.
So, yeah, also on the list,really quick, um.
Washington DC, savannah,georgia, which I'm interested in
.
Chicago, very easy to navigateon foot and beautiful too.
San Francisco eh, I'd contestthat because lots of hills and

(37:19):
also lots of people bent over ondrugs.
Boston, yes, columbus, ohio,burlington, vermont, providence,
rhode Island and then, numberone, philly.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
That's a pretty good list?

Speaker 2 (37:32):
Yeah, definitely.
So I guess it's all just aboutwhat you're looking for.
I think Chicago is awesome too,because you get so many
different things, like you canbe by water, you can be by, like
the actual city, you know, Ithink they've made it really
walkable.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
That's true, that is definitely true, and you know,
yes, chicago does have someissues right now.
Yeah, it really is a beautifultown.
It really is.
I was born and raised there andyou know my heart's still there
, it's.
It's a great time, definitely soyeah talk about great, let's
talk about something not sogreat.

(38:08):
Uh, last week, uh, there was abrawl.
Uh, it was a Frontier flightflying from Philadelphia.
So allegedly because again wedon't know, but allegedly there
was a gentleman sitting and thenbehind him was a 21-year-old
that was just kind of shoutingstupid stuff at him oh my gosh.

(38:33):
So of course, they exchangedsome words and the gentleman
from behind the seat jumped upand, I guess, grabbed the other
gentleman by the neck.
Now, if being stupid was apicture, it would be stupid
because the 41-year-old, is kindof like a skinny light guy
where the other guy he was a bigkind of stocky guy.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
So, we can kind of guess how this went exactly, and
you're on a plane like can'tpeople just wait?
Was this at the airport or theon the on this one.
This was on a plane and it'slike why, why are?
Why?
Is everyone so stupid that theydon't know that they'd get
banned forever?
You know you're on that.
You're put on the do not flylist, which is like, if you're
just a little teen and now you,now you can't fly for your whole

(39:17):
life like that's crazy andwhat's so crazy about a mural?

Speaker 1 (39:21):
I mean, the guy that did this allegedly um, he got
the break speed off of him.
I mean a black guy?
I mean he was black.
Well, I mean, yeah, he pickedthe wrong guy to do that too.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
That was just stupid, you know yeah, I feel this way
with every flight fight that Ihear and see about, but it's
like I'm so nervous already onflights.
I can't imagine being sonon-anxious about flying that
you would start a physical fightlike to me.
If someone like makes a suddenmovement, I'm like you know,
like like I'm sitting in mychair trying not to pass out or

(39:54):
like have a panic attack thewhole time.
I can't imagine like being socomfortable to pick a fight with
a stranger.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
And what's so crazy, meryl, when you watch it it's
kind of hysterical that you know, usually when fights break out,
a whole bunch of people jump inand try and break it up.
A whole lot of people trying tobreak this up.
There was a couple people kindof, you know, trying to break
them up a little lightly,whatever.
Know, trying to break them up alittle lightly, whatever it's
almost like, yeah, you kind ofdeserve it.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
They didn't say that.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
And they were in midair.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Yes, I believe they were midair, see, and that's
like I feel like I would go inthe middle and try to break up
because I'd be scared thatsomehow, like a door would fly
open or it would like.
You just have to be so crazy tome if you're up in the air on
the in a metal tube getting intoa fight, cause that's just so
scary and like I just flewyesterday and like the whole
time I was thinking, you know,you're extra hyped up just

(40:47):
because of all the, the um,what's been happening in the
world lately.
And you know like, you knowlike we're on 4th of July
weekend and I was just soworried about like any sort of
attacks on us whatsoever thatit's like you would think this
is almost like a play, that thensomething else weird is going
to happen.
So oh yeah, and these poorflight attendants too.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
They have to deal with this ridiculousness oh,
exactly, and and actually, whenit was all said and done, the
authorities uh, arrested the 21year old, so and there was one
person that jumped up and wasyou know kind of talk about what
happened and was saying,basically the gentleman that was
sitting in front of this guydidn't do anything.
I mean, he's literally mindinghis own business, you know.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
Yeah, I think they should take the bar cart and
serving the coffees and just goright into the, into the open up
the door and be like I'm sorry,but like you're flying out the
window now, and and and also if.
And.
Be like I'm sorry, but you'reflying out the window now and
also if you're missing yourflight, like if you have to land
the plane at some emergencyplace or if you have to turn
around.
Imagine how like 100 people aregoing to be so mad that now
they can't get to theirdestination because of these

(41:48):
clowns.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yeah, I mean you know again.
If this is true, I don't blamethe guy that beat him down.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The other person.

Speaker 1 (41:58):
Everyone has a right to protect themselves.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
And you know the thing is, I tip my hat off to
the guy for, you know, notinstigating anything that was
sitting in front of him.
Totally but you know, I don'tknow.
It's almost like with some ofthese people.
It's like if you don't react,it's like they get angrier.
I know.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Yeah, there was a video that I saw on TikTok as
well of like a makeup artistwoman.
They ended up finding out whoher identity was, but she seemed
like drunk or on drugs and shewas same thing.
She reached behind.
She was wiling out on the planeand then she reached behind
like just a random nice womansitting there and was like
grabbing the woman's hair andcalling her fat and all this
kind of stuff.
And I'm like, if you hair andcalling her fat and all this

(42:39):
kind of stuff, if you're doingthat, unless you're having a
psychotic break, then you needto go to a mental ward, but
otherwise, truly just push thisperson out of the plane and let
them parachute to their death.
I really don't care.
I don't care.
If you're that far gone, youcan't vote in our new party
either.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
You shouldn't be doing this in the first place,
but then to pick a big guy to bedoing this yeah, yeah, you got
what's coming to you exactly.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
I feel bad for everyone, except that.
I mean, I don't feel bad forthem, except I do feel bad for
the person a few months ago thathad explosive diarrhea on the
flight, remember, and they hadto like turn around because it
was like a biohazard yeah, oh mygod, yes but even just flying
like, I look at everyone and I'mlike, okay, this person is not
gonna cause something, thislittle baby is fine, like so

(43:28):
that's just.
I just feel like the plane ofall places is not the place to
start something dangerous, youknow I agree, I agree, but
something tells me, this guywon't do this again yeah, yep.
Well, someone else that won't beflying together is katie perry
and orlando bloom.
Um, there are speculations thatthe couple has decided to quit

(43:51):
and split.
Um, there's been reports on howkatie's dealing with the
situation of now being a singlemother to her and Orlando, child
Daisy.
This seems sad to me, you know.
I think I I honestly do feellike a little bit bad for Katie
because I feel like her cache iskind of on the way down.
You know, like we all laughedat her with the flight, the

(44:12):
space thing.
It seemed like she really likedher relationship with Orlando
and, if I had to guess, it kindof seems like there's videos of
her trying to kiss him on thered carpet and he's just kind of
backing up and not into it.
I think she gave him the ick.
Of course, we don't know, theseare just people.
We have no clue what theirlives are or anything like that.
But I feel for her she's stilla human and she can be a little

(44:35):
cringy or whatever, but peopleshould still have love and be
able to have a family.
So I don't know, what do youthink?

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Well, I agree with you on those sentiments.
I mean, obviously, when arelationship doesn't work out,
you can always each person canalways kind of money more and
quarterback saying, well, maybeI should have did this, Maybe
they should have did that.
But I think at the end of theday, you know if they need to go
their separate ways, it's good,and you know, what I hope

(45:07):
doesn't happen is all of asudden they break up and then
they start bashing each other onsocial media.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Yeah, oh, you know what?
Oh, even worse, they weren'tbashing you, that's right, but
he was just recently seenhanging out with sydney sweeney
so yeah, yeah, that's right.
So, and that's like the worstnightmare, like if my boyfriend
and I broke up and next week hewas with sydney sweeney, I would
be causing a fight on a planeand you'd see me, I would pick a
fight with everyone I know.

(45:33):
So, um, that's real.
To me, that's verydisrespectful.
You know, keep your businessprivate, especially if you're
like just getting out of a longterm marriage is kind of weird.
So, yeah, not a good look.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
I agree, I agree.
And actually that leads intothe next subject here.
Talk about a good look Now,meryl.
What do you think?
Do you think it is a good ideato let your boss see what type
of car you drive?
And here's where this goes.
There are some professions andsome people that know how to
invest or maybe have businesses,and maybe they drive a very,

(46:07):
very nice vehicle and you knowthey buy nice things because you
know they're able to afford it.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
And some bosses may not be so nice.
They probably be maybe a littleon the jealous side, and you
know there's been cases orsituations where it's caused
problems at work.
Do you think if you have a nicecar, that you should not let
your boss see it?
Or do you feel like, well, Idon't give a shit, it's my

(46:33):
business, my car, whatever?

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Exactly, I'm like they could deal with it.
You know, to a few years ago Iwould maybe feel just kind of
like this is me and I have anice car and you know people can
deal with it.
Now, more mature me with like alittle bit more strategy and
game behind my you know, a fewmore years, I do think I I feel
like appearing, even if it'slike a strategy, just like
somewhere in the middle, whenyou're kind of a, you know,

(46:57):
working your way up is a goodthing, because I do feel like it
would be awesome if someone haslike a Benz or you know high,
whatever Mercedes.
But I just think, sadly, justthe world we live in is people
do take notice and then think,oh, they don't need a raise
because they're rich or theydon't need it.
But on the flip side, I also dothink also presenting yourself
in a kind of like embarrassing,falling apart, beater car is not

(47:20):
the best either, because thenunfortunately, just the way that
our society is.
I wish it wasn't this way, butbut then people just kind of see
you just as like broke or youknow you can't really handle
anything.
I wish I'm personally wish itwasn't this way, but that's just
how I think things are,especially in like the more
status driven world.
So to me, if you're trying tomake your way up, I think the

(47:42):
perfect thing is kind of in themiddle, like a respectable, nice
, looking like Honda fit or youknow something like that where
and I wish we were able to justdo whatever.
But I think if you're going toplay the strategy of kind of
like what people view you ashaving, like a nice, comfortable
, like normal car, is almost agood way to play it.
But but if you don't care andyou're just like let them deal

(48:03):
with it, then I support that tooyeah, I mean, I agree, I mean I
know being in sales.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Um, unfortunately, there are customers that do pay
attention to what the salespeople drive, which I think
absolutely ridiculous, you knowwell, the customers.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
That's a different thing too, because I think if
you're a lawyer or a salespersonor something, then yes, I do
think having a nice car doesmatter to clients in the outside
world.
Yeah, I really do.
I'm not going to lie.
If a real estate agent pulledup to a showing in like a 1989,

(48:38):
like Chevy, you know, that hadlike an exhaust pipe, I would
just think it's a little odd.
And then, but on the flip side,if it was like a beyond Bentley
, then it seems like they'reshowing off too much.
So I just feel like a nice,like I don't know, a nice
looking car.
But that's that's if you're likeworking with someone.
If you're someone's boss, Ithink it's different.
And to me, I mean, I don't knowif I was someone's boss and I

(49:02):
saw them driving up in like atricked out Range Rover, I don't
think it would stop me fromlike giving them a raise or
having them move up in the world, because I would just figure OK
, maybe their parents gave it tothem, maybe they invested.
Also, maybe they have a sidehustle where they're like a
content creator and they makequadruple what I make, and
that's just what the situationis.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Yeah, I agree, and you know, the thing is, people
got to understand that managersand bosses, or whatever, they're
human as well too.
There are some great ones outthere, but there's also some
terrible ones out there as welltoo.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
And some of them are so threatened, is beyond
ridiculous.
I've personally seen this in mycareer.
How you know?
Just just unsure of themselves.
It's like the slightest littlething.
They're so fun, you know,they're so nervous.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Yeah, yep.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
And it's like you think to yourself like dude, I
work for you.
What are you worried about?

Speaker 2 (49:53):
Right, right, and I think even more in this day and
age with, like most of us, justkind of somewhere in the middle.
I think it's nicer, if you careabout impressions, to have like
a, just a normal type car thatyou treat nicely, rather than
like a you don't need a G wagonor anything, but like like, for
example, when I first startedthis is too much information,
but my boyfriend's in the otherroom sleeping so he can't hear
this but when we first startedstarted dating, he had like a

(50:16):
Toyota Corolla that wascompletely falling apart and
like I couldn't put down thewindow.
There was literally Sprite thathe had spilled and the Sprite
was like stuck to the walls anduntil I and I and I bless him
for not caring like that'samazing.
But I told him the peoplearen't going to take you
seriously.
You know, like it, this seemslike a car that like a teen
would have or something.
So he he ended up getting aPrius which is like not a fancy,

(50:38):
but a very nice, just,respectable car and honestly,
like in my mind it just is.
I feel like I sound so shallow,but it does just like pulling
up in a normal ish car is alittle bit better to me than
like a car that you can hearfrom five blocks away, that like
won't you know the windowsdon't work and you have to like
I would have to get in on likethe back side, to crawl through

(50:59):
his side and I'm like this isjust like we're in our 30s.
We should not be living lifethis way.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
You know that sounds like my very first car, my very
first vehicle I bought.
I was 16 years old and it was a78 Chevy Nova Aww.
And when I first bought it Iloved that car.
It was my first car.
Yeah, but in reality it was adeath trap.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
I had to get a new hood because there's a big,
giant dent in the hood, soobviously the hood did not match
the rest of the car.
And then on top of that on thepassenger side on the floor,
there was a floorboard therebecause, you know, you can see
all the way down to the pavement.
It was a giant hole there, butI loved it because it was my
first car.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
I only paid $100, to tell you, and I get the
emotional.
How many miles did it have onit?

Speaker 1 (51:44):
It actually didn't have a lot of miles on it.
But the problem was when I tookit out for my first time
driving.
I have to buy it and I'm allhappy, whatever.
Then I hit the brakes.
Oh no, the car, car did, carwouldn't stop.
Oh no, really.
Yeah, I think I had to changemy pants, you know, after that
it it did stop.
At the last second I had to putall new brakes around it but uh

(52:09):
, I didn't have it that longbecause again, it was a death
trap.

Speaker 2 (52:11):
But hey, it was my first vehicle, but yeah, and I
understand the emotionalattachment like having a vehicle
that you had forever, andespecially some people that I
know like once you get even pastlike the 200,000 mile mark,
it's fun to see how much aToyota can go, you know, like
just run it into the ground or aChevy, or I think that's like
so awesome and so I get thatpart of it.
I think, as once you hit like37 or 38, maybe some people

(52:35):
don't care, but for me me like II just wanted a vehicle that I
could like valet my car and notfeel like so embarrassed or
shameful.
But that but people would arguethat's something within me.
That's not like a car issue.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
That's more like a, you know, a status issue, like
if you're so secure in yourself,a car doesn't matter but, yeah
if you try to ballet it in thevalley like, look, I'll give you
ten dollars, you park ityourself yeah, oh, I, I for real
.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
I cried because, you know, I think like moving to los
angeles it is so much aboutstatus and like I'm not about to
like pretend in front.
I know some people like rent,pretend cars and stuff.
But I think I cried to myfriend one time because I was
feeling so sensitive and I criedbecause I was like I valeted my
Nissan Versa and it was justyou know, and so she was like,
well, I have a Honda Fit, I'mokay with that, and so I ended

(53:25):
up and now I have a differentcar, but like, but yeah, I felt
like shame about it, you know,and I think that was also.
I wasn't, it was just like Iwasn't taking care of my car.
So just valeting like a grossold Nissan Versa was
embarrassing to me, like, ifother people don't feel that,
that's even better for you, butto me I just felt like, oh man,
I feel so like schlubby, youknow, mm-hmm, we're getting into

(53:48):
some therapy here.
This is like thirsty therapy,yeah, okay, well, something I'm
going to drive my car to is togo see the movie Jurassic World.
I think it's the rebirthJurassic World Rebirth, which is
the new Jurassic, the newinstallment in the blockbuster
franchise and it went to the topof the box office this weekend.

(54:10):
And it went to the top of thebox office this weekend and it
opened I thought this was crazywith an estimated $91.5 million
across 4,300 North Americantheaters and it's already off to
a crazy start with $318.3million worldwide of grossing it
.
So basically, it's a newchapter for the $6 billion

(54:31):
franchise worldwide of grossingit.
So basically it's a new chapterfor the six billion dollar
franchise.
Um, and I just feel like forthem, this is also another
opportunity for licensing, youknow, bringing back all of the
jurassic lunch boxes and allthat stuff.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Yeah, actually I just binge watched jurassic park
over the weekend.
I saw three, the three episodesand, uh, or the three movies,
and you know it's actually apretty good movie and I kind of
wonder how could they spend itdifferently in in the, the, I
think this is so I kind ofwonder how they can spend it.
So I don't know, I may check itout just to see, but um, it is

(55:07):
kind of interesting how thingsare coming back, and very
successful at it as well tooexactly and like this and the f1
movies are ones that are better, for sure in the theater
especially.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
You know, if you can get into one of those theaters,
that it is more immersive.
What was the?
Um, the second jurassic one, orno, sorry, the third one do you
remember?
Like?
Was what was like the shortpremise of that?

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Basically it was the premises of the doctor and I
forgot his name where you knowhe's giving a lecture and he's
like I'm never going back tothat island again.
And then he's tripped intogoing back there by this rich
couple and everything kind ofgoes haywire because you know

(55:53):
they end up crash landing andthen now they're trying to get
off the island that theyshouldn't have been on in the
first place.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Okay, good, thank you for the briefing.
So now if I go into the new one, I'll know.
At least you just saved me twohours, so perfect.
But this is one I am going togo see.
I have plans to go see it inthe middle of July, once
everything dies down, but yeah,I think it's super cool.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Oh yeah, I definitely do too.
Like I said, I think I'm goingto check it out as well, because
you know it's a nice wholesomemovie to watch.
You know, I think it's a littlebit different than what you've
seen now, because it seems likelately they're all basically are
superhero, drama and what's thethird one.

(56:36):
It's like basically three typesof movies that you see all the
time in the movie theater ohyeah for me, it just it seems
like there's really not a wholeoh, and horror flicks, of course
oh yeah, which I love seeinghorror.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Yeah, yeah, totally so.
Sometimes in the middle of theafternoon I'll see like a camp
slasher movie and I'm like whatam I doing in the middle of the
sunny, going to see this?

Speaker 1 (56:55):
It's kind of weird I hear you Talk about horror here.
This is an interesting topic.
Here, of course, we always talkabout our little animal things.
That goes on.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
And I want to say this is in Africa there was an
elephant that was videotapedliterally chasing a jeep.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
Oh, my God.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Now, for anyone who hasn't been to any of these
tours or whatever, a lot of thevehicles don't have tops on them
.
I have no idea why they do that.
I think it's kind of crazy, butthat's you know whatever.
And you can see one guy driving, one guy in the back and
there's an elephant chargingfull force after them.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
I would love to know what they did to piss that
elephant off.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
I know, I wonder if it was like threatening their
young or something.
Or, you know, maybe not evenovertly threatening their young,
but maybe they felt like theyhad a baby somewhere that they
were protecting, or just like.
I feel like elephants getannoyed just the way we do,
where you're just in a crabbymood and you're like get out of
here Because I feel like humanscan be so pesty and if you're an
elephant, you're just trying tochill and people are taking

(58:03):
pictures of you or justgenerally being annoying.
I've seen videos of elephantslosing their temper.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
I've seen videos of elephants losing their temper.
Oh yeah, but I've never seenliterally elephants, just no
stop.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Yeah, that's scary.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
It's thinking to me, meryl, like what did you guys do
?
I know which scares me, I know.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
Like when you see, like you know those hippos, the
videos of the hippos, likechasing the boat, the crew, you
know about to like chomp down oneveryone.
Chasing the boat, the cruise,and you know about to like chomp
down on everyone.
Um, I would have a hard timebecause I would just think, okay
, let me just like love theelephant's trunk and it will
love me like I would let it likescoot me up in his trunk and be
like okay, it's okay, I loveelephants so much so does that

(58:45):
episode there um make you wantto or not want to take the
safari trip?
I would love to take a safaritrip, but like a very, very
protected one where there's nochance of elephants tipping over
the thing or lions having amean moment.
One of my highlights of mywhole life was I did get to.
I went to an elephant sanctuaryand I got to like in real life

(59:09):
you know you go, you get to likebe like right there with the
elephant, because these were alltrained circus ones so they're
very friendly and stuff.
It touched me with its trunk.
I was like whoa, I was takenaback at just how scary they are
in real life.
Beautiful but scary.
This made me have me thinkingdifferently.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Like I said, even though we may not ever find out,
I would love to know what theydid to piss that elephant off.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Exactly Me too.
Me too, as long as they weren'ttrying to hurt it.
Hurt it, not hurt it, but hurtit, because I just feel like
elephants are so sweet and smartand like the things that we as
humans have done to them is justannoying.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
I agree with you on that one.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
I agree, but that one I agree.
But yeah, I think they're doinga better job like of um, like
south african safari tours andeverything, just planning them
with a little bit more likeeco-ness in mind.
I think more and more companiesnow are doing it where, like
you're not bothering the animalsas much as we used to be.
It's true, very, very true butyeah, so maybe we'll wait one

(01:00:09):
more week before we go on thesafari.
I'd be driving my Honda, myNissan Versa it wouldn't even be
working, okay.
Well, my last one is just aquick but weird one.
Right by Kristen Bell andAngelina Jolie's house here in
Los Angeles, the cops took downa trespasser outside their gated

(01:00:36):
neighborhood they had on Sunday.
The cops arrested them.
Law enforcement told TMZ.
The officer was arrested, analleged trespasser in the East
in the LA East neighborhood.
They said the individualslipped through the gate and
onto the street behind it whereKristen Bell and Zach Shepard
share residence.
However, the sources said thatthe two stars weren't home at
the time, which is very nice andyeah, I just think that's so

(01:00:57):
freaky and just something ifyou're a celebrity, like having
to just worry about weirdos,like trying to break in and who
knows if they're delusional.
It's just a very scary sideeffect of fame.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
Yeah, I agree the one thing I'm really surprised
about and this is actually anexcellent example but it just
seems like a lot of celebrities,athletes and all that have had
their homes broken into.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
So one it kind of makes you wonder is this
organized crime?
Second thing is, and again Iknow you can't protect
everything 1000%, but I wouldthink that big celebrities,
especially rich celebrities,would have the most
sophisticated security systems.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
I know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
And maybe I'm missing something, but you know yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
You know, Exactly I bet around the perimeter of
their house they do like I betmaybe inside their house they
have it.
But to get into the actual likegated community I think I know
which one they're talking aboutit's in, it's in an area called
los feliz, and then it's like,uh, it's tough to get into but
you can still break into likethe gated community, but I think
, but it's a lot of people evengo trick-or-treating there and

(01:02:12):
stuff like that.
But it's to get into people'shouses it's obviously like way
tougher.
But actually just to get intolike the estate, I feel like you
could probably pretend thatyou're a AT&T person or you know
there's, there's Mentos,commercial ways to get in there.
So, um, yeah, it's very freakyand I feel like a lot of these
people have to deal with peopleshowing up thinking that they

(01:02:32):
know the person.
You know.
I know Billie Eilish has saidbefore that she's had stalkers
that are like we're in love, youknow me, and that must be the
weirdest feeling like veryinvasive, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
And the scary thing is, when you think about it is
like, wow, you have all thissophisticated security, but this
person is still able to getthat close.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Exactly and all it takes is like one weirdo and
it's just so freaky.
And what I've heard too is thatthe police aren't always.
You know this guy was arrested,but chances are he's going to
get free and get out Like thatdoesn't mean they're deterred
from it forever.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
That is so true.
That is so true.
But I'm just glad nobody washurt.
That's a good thing Me.
But I'm just glad nobody washurt, that's a good thing, me
too.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
So cool, cool.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
Yay, look, meryl this was a great week here.

Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
It really was.
Look at us.
We started a new politicalparty, we solved airplane crimes
.
We ran from elephants there yougo.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
This is what I call a full hour here.
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Oh my gosh, it's full .

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
It's hefty Well, Meryl, tell us, what do you have
coming up?

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
Coming up.
July 27th I'm at a club, awonderful club here in Burbank
called Flappers that I love verymuch.
It's part of it.
It's so funny.
I don't know why this is sofunny, but it's called like
Celebrity Sundays.
But it's called like celebritysundays but it's like
celebrities with an s and andit's you know those things that

(01:03:56):
I was like crying, laughing andmy boyfriend was like it's not,
it's funny, but it's not thatfunny and I'm like celebrity
with an ass.
You know, you ever have thosethings that it's like.
Every time I look at it I likebreak down and shake with
laughter, but it's like, it'snot that funny I've had those
moments yeah, yeah, where I Itell people and I'm like it's
celebrity with an S andeveryone's like okay, we don't
really get it.

(01:04:16):
So anyway, that's to say that isJuly 27th in Burbank.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Nice, nice.
Well, if anyone's in theBurbank area, please go out and
support Meryl.
We would definitely appreciatethat.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
I welcome people from all political parties to come
hang out with me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
There you go.
Well, everyone, thank you forwatching and listening.
We had a great time.
Please continue to support usand also make sure you come over
to araratvnetworkcom, where,within a week, we're going to
have a lot of new programmingthat's going to be on the

(01:04:53):
station, so we're very excitedabout that.
Um, again, tell everyone aboutus, and we really appreciate
your support yes I am lawrenceelrod and I'm meryl clemo.
Bye.