February 3, 2024 • 33 mins
Susanne Posel, host of This Week Again joins us to discuss Taylor Swift and the far right-wing conspiracy theories swirling around her, Oregon Republicans, goblin butts, and so much more.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Face Palm America. I'm Babel Franklinfacepomamericadot com is where you can get more
information about the show, listen topast episodes, and connect with us on
social media. You can also callor message us anytime at two zero two
six five six six two seven toone. It is time for our weekly
conversation with Suzanne Posel, the hostof This Week again, which is downloaded
(00:34):
by you, I hope every Sundayand thereafter throughout the week. It is
a wonderful, humorous encapsulation of thenews from a progressive perspective. Suzanne,
how you doing. I'm good.How are you excellent? You know,
the weather is gray and cold,and I'm very happy with that for as
(00:58):
long as we can get away withwhat seemed to be the regular yearly occurrences
that demonstrate the exacerbation of global warming. So you know, I'm just fine.
It's one of the reasons I loveliving in the state of Oregon,
(01:19):
aside from our persistent and increasing wildfires. So you know, it's often cool
and calm, nice, so Iappreciate that when I can get it.
So yeah, altogether good. Howabout yourself? Yeah, speaking of that,
I've lived in the Great Northwest onand off for about almost twenty years.
And when I first moved here,it was cold, and it wasn't
(01:42):
just because I was used to thesoutheast. It was cold. This year,
it's pretty warm, and we reallydidn't get any snow where we are
right which is in the southern partof the state. So I don't know.
I mean, I kind of likeit, but I know that that's
because of global warming, and soI feel guilty about liking it. I
(02:06):
shouldn't like it. It's wrong,but no, no, I understand.
I mean, I was talking withsome folks and like it happened to be
sunny where we were, and everybodyelse it was rainy, and I was
like, yeah, you know,I enjoy this, but I just know
it's going to be hotter. AndI saw I was reading in the local
paper whereas we had like an alltime record high for January, which was
(02:29):
like seventy three, and I said, oh, gosh, well that is
not good. I would certainly likesome more rain. That would be excellent
because I have experienced, as listenerto the program will know that I had
my house spurn down a few yearsago, and this is a more and
(02:50):
more frequent occurrence among people who livein California, in Oregon, in Washington
and on a lot of different placesin the Western United States. And yeah,
so I experienced what you experienced.I remember what it was like,
cold and rainy a lot, andnow it is not so much. And
now what we tend to have is, one it's much warmer. Two it's
(03:13):
much more chaotic because we have likeall these like really sudden downpours or all
of a sudden it's like, bizarrelyChile. I was talking to someone who
had to shut his business down fora week up in Portland, Oregon a
week or two ago because they hadice storms there, ice storms, and
in Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine. But it's yeah, it's
(03:36):
it's it's just it's just nutting.So yeah, basically I'm enjoying what but
little cold weather there is remaining tous. And I imagine a short,
you know, science fiction story ofyou know, a child like like seeing
the last snowflake on earth fall somethinglike that. That's that, that's something
(03:58):
that that that has occurred to mebefore. And I just it just seems
to be like less and less frequent. And I know that Yeah, I
think fox ATONI Phil is feeling itbecause didn't we say spring is coming early.
Don't trust a rodent, no,or a Republican, but definitely not
a rodent. But still, youknow, it kind of vibes with the
(04:18):
whole We've had the very little activityon the West coast as far as this
winter went, and on the Eastcoast they have been slammed and beaten down
like it's w W It's insane.Yeah, it's been. It's because of
that that jet stream. It justwobbles and wobbles all over the place,
(04:39):
and you get these like weird,random sudden dramatic weather events, especially at
this time of the year, andit yeah, oh, I'm speaking of
random dramatic events. Yes, inFlorida planned charon hood or you know know
(05:00):
most of you would know them asMoms for Liberty are upset about goblin but
doblin butt sentence First, before Ijust face Paul my face on Faith Palm
America because what the actual seriously,that's pornography. And I'm looking through this
article, yes, and I'm andI realized that's what they mean that I
(05:25):
don't know why I never put twoand two together that's what they mean.
You know, I grew up withuh those little books, the hard books,
the cardboard books, and they havelittle depictions of naked kids and teaching
you how to brush your teeth andall that is pornography to them. Listen,
folks, it isn't us, it'sthem, it really is. That's
(05:46):
disgusting. How you go you gothrough the world and you see an illustration
and a children's book of a littlelike cutified monster and and because like you
know, he has a bear buttas he's like, you know, I
don't know what he's doing exactly,like he's cleaning something that's hanging on a
laundry line or something. It's completelynaked because that's little kids, right,
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yeah, okay, there you go. I mean, it's completely motivated within
the story. And it's not likethey're showing goblin genitalia or anything like that.
It's a it's a goblin butt andthere's nothing to it. But this,
this is what Moms for Liberty andother similar organizations focus on when they
say, oh, would take itover our culture like there, but but
(06:34):
what what kind of like mind doyou have to have in order to consider
that to be dangerous? Pornographic materialthat you don't want your child exposed to.
Look, I'm just going to beblunt and I apologize for the language.
But if you are, if youget a chubby or otherwise for women
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looking at this picture, it's notbecause other people do. That's you.
That's your reaction. You need tolook in the mirror. Yes, and
maybe go to therapy and perhaps stopreading those books. Yes, that's right,
it's you. It's you. You'rethe problem. It's you and they
(07:20):
are and they are also a problem. As it happens when it comes to
Taylor Swift, because the the derangementof the far right wing has this one
is just Oh, I saw thiscome out on Sunday. This is one
of those funny things where folks like, when I'm looking at stories to talk
(07:41):
about for my show, I'm I'mkind of like, I start on Sunday,
and what are they talking about onthe Sunday shows and what's going to
become a thing? I saw thiscome through on Sunday and I was like,
yeah, you know what, whateverthey're picking on Taylor, it all
of a sudden exploded. By Wednesday, it was all anyone could talk about,
not just in the reich wing sphere, but also in insane media they
(08:05):
were reporting on how insane it actuallygot. And I could not believe the
there's three main components to this conspiracythat they have. Oh my god,
and it's so insane. Yeah no, no, like like like, let's
let's let's discourse on that a littlebit, because I I let me just
(08:26):
stipulate that I have a daughter thatis a Taylor Swift fan. She she
scrimped and saved and got herself aticket to the Era's concert in Santa Clara,
California. She planned this like ayear in advance. She went there.
She is a dedicated fan. Sheshe wouldn't I don't think call herself
(08:48):
a Swifty but but her thing was. Her basic reaction was, and I
think a very sane one, whichis, take a look with what Taylor
Swift has actually done. I knowreality doesn't matter to these people, but
take a look at what she's actuallydone. She's been very very tepid and
(09:11):
very very cautious in terms of politicalendorsements. Like she she is not a
political threat to anyone, except exceptperhaps to the extent that Marcia Well,
Marsha Marcia Blackburn is just like MarciaMarca Marsha. She is just off the
(09:31):
deep end. And Taylor almost tookher out of her seat. And Republicans
remember that Taylor said to her herfan base, please get out and vote,
and they exactly the thing, andthey almost took Marcia out of her
seat in Capitol Hills. So theRepublicans are like, oh my, oh
my god. And to that extent, it is true, to the extent
(09:54):
that she will say, hey,it's a good idea to vote, get
out there and vote please. Thathas become radical politics. That that that
that very you know, tepid,banal, basic statement that you, as
an American citizen and registered voter,should should go out there and vote and
(10:16):
and and indeed register to vote andparticipate in politics. That is a radical
statement because any of these people whoare on the far right and and mega
desperately don't want people to to votebecause they they instinctively understand that they themselves
are crazy. They are both crazy, and while they refuse to acknowledge it
(10:37):
openly, their their instincts prove thatthey know that they're crazy. Because they
don't want other people to to vote, because because they know what the response
is going to be if enough peopleget out there. And that's that that's
weird sort of double thin is justis just like nonsensical. But yeah,
(10:58):
okay, so the basic elements arealso I want to expand on that.
They are also you know, theidea that most of Taylor Swiss fans are
fifteen years in under that that's reallynot true. Taylor has been around in
country music and pop for many yearsmillennial fifteen plus years. I mean,
(11:20):
like, yes, she was likea huge, huge star. Like okay,
so my family and I moved toFlorida now ten years ago, and
that's when she first really came onmy radar, when she came out with
nineteen eighty nine and those songs wereeverywhere, like she was number one.
She was like the most famous likestar in the country, probably in the
(11:41):
world at that time ten years ago. And all these right wingers are saying,
oh, she's come out of nowhere, like suddenly they're making her famous
and it's all part of a plot. They don't they don't remember she when
she left country music for pop,they lambasted her, yeah, almost as
badly as they did and Shnania Twainfor just showing off her Middrift. He
(12:03):
actually just she lost a huge amountof fan base, had to rebuild it
in pop music, and it justturned out it was a good move for
her. It was more comfortable forher. She could be more expressive,
by the way. Full disclosure,I am a Taylor Swift fan, but
I am a Taylor Swift fan becauseI had watched her over the years and
I see her growing into a matureadult who as a tumbling crazy as a
(12:30):
twenty year old, she was tryingto find her place and her voice as
a woman and try to maintain arelationship and be in public eye. And
now that she's in her thirties,she's becoming a woman, and she's singing
about these things now when she's inher forties and fifties, we will have
a catalog of music of a person'slife through different phases of their life and
(12:52):
what's important to you as those phases. So what they're what Fox News is
so afraid of, as as muchas her her is those people who are
of voting age, who are listening, who like what she does and will
go ahead and register or vote agreewith her. You know, she's not
(13:13):
talking about politics, but if youlisten to her songs like calm Down.
She's obviously talking to the right wingersand how pathetic they are and how we
just need to move forward. You'rejust being too loud, You're upsetting me.
And beyond that, like just thefact that there is a woman who
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is talking about things which are importantto her and talking about her life and
talking about, you know, negotiatingthe relationships in her life and being out
there as a symbol of power andinfluence is profoundly disturbing to these maggots.
(13:56):
It really is if female empowerment,I know, I know, And again
with so many different things when youlook at when you look at uh uh
you know, uh, the thefight over abortion, the fight over reproductive
rights, the fight over over contraception. It's it's all about controlling women and
(14:18):
making sure that they are in asas predestined a corner as possible, and
and just by her very existence,Yes, Taylor, thirty four year old
single billionaire exactly right. Who whocan who has the power to you to
say no, I want this,I don't want that? And and like
within her personal relationships with men,good Jackie Gleason, Travis Kelcey, you
(14:45):
know, like in the toy andjust looking buy him. Yeah, no,
she doesn't need anything. She doesn'tneed the NFL in contact. So
let her have a boyfriend exactly,and and and where the hell do you
come from, like getting to say, oh, well, she be dating
this person, I shaid, sheshouldn't be dating that. Like what the
fuck? This is not fucking highschool this like this is a grown ass
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woman who is a billionaire and apowerful global superstar. You don't get to
tell her or any other woman forthat matter, like who they should or
shouldn't like date or be seeing orwhatever and so and so it's all come
out in this weird conspiracy theory becausethey can't deal with what the actual reality
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is because they because it's it's oneof the pervasive global things that ends up
being in the face. Even ofthese right wing lunatics. As much as
they seal themselves with their within theirown little hermetic media bubble, they can't
escape Taylor Swift. And it disturbsthem that they can't do that, and
so they have to justify it andtwist it around somehow through some sort of
(15:52):
bizarre conspiracy theory because the reality istoo much for them to deal with it
breaks their tiny little brains. Andit's all also a tell on their Christian
nationalism because religious women can't do thosethings right. They can't tell their husband
to f off. They're not goingto make him a sandwich. They're putting
on their shoes and they're going outright. They and they live in this
(16:15):
self contained bubble where they control theirfriends and their friends control them. So
when they see a woman who's outthere doing her thing and being vulnerable and
being wrong and being right and growingand learning from experiences and doing it out
in public, they are so jealous. Yeah, that's right. It's their
(16:36):
Christian nationalism is showing where Yeah,look, you choose to live under those
rules and restrict yourself to this littletiny box with this one life that you've
been given. But this other person'slike, I don't know what's in the
next life, so I'm going tolive this up and attain something and actually
ended up doing it. And likeyou said, we have this perception that
(17:00):
we own celebrities. Yeah we don't, no more than they own us.
We should be grateful that we knowabout their lives. We may have opinions,
but literally it's none of our fuckingbusiness and our opinions don't matter.
No, it's their life exactly.That's right, and and it seems to
me to kind of fall within thesame structure that uh uh they were trying
(17:26):
to like trap like poor white Southernexent. I say, I say trap.
I don't think that's quite the rightword, because you know, like
what Lyndon Johnson says, exactly,you know, you know exactly what I'm
going for exactly as long as there'ssomeone else that's weaker and less powerful and
more put upon than you, thenyou feel like you're in a position of
power. That that's that's generally it. I don't I forget what the exact
(17:49):
words are, but you're going forexactly the same thing that I was.
Yeah, that is behind it.Absolutely, That mindset that hey, I
might be broke, but at leastI'm not. That yeah, is disgustingly
racist and abhorrent of you. Andthis whole Taylor Swift discussion really is a
talent on them. Yeah. Yeah, so we should, you know,
(18:11):
listen to what they're saying and realizethey're telling on themselves. They're frightened by
young people because they know they're goingto change this country. How compellor eye
water. They can't keep them outof the ballot box for long. Yeah,
and they will change this country andin thirty forty fifty years it will
not resemble anything what the boomers hadsquandered that the silent generation gave them.
(18:33):
Thank goodness, but it's coming andthey know it. It is they know
it, and I think we needas much as possible to address them by
saying, hey, I hear youfeel weak. I hear you feel vulnerable,
and here's what's going on. Butfirst of all, you are putting
(18:56):
people that are more vulnerable than youin danger. But second of all,
like your power has been reduced,you are being put in a worse economic
situation. But it doesn't have anythingto do with women, It doesn't have
anything to do with people of color. It has to do with the very
powerful, the one percent of theone percent who are controlling the resources.
(19:21):
And for centuries, essentially they havelike like tried to distract you by creating
these like subgroups that didn't even existbefore, to try and make you feel
more powerful so that you would goafter them, those weaker groups instead of
(19:41):
them the people who actually had thepower. And now it's coming to crunch
time, and you can do oneof two things. You can either like
continue down this insane rabbit hole ofnonsense that you're making up about the people
that they want to distract you with, or you can turn around and say,
hey, who who really has thepower here? Who really has the
(20:02):
money here? Who has the abilityto control the destiny of my life?
And you can actually join us toimprove all of our lives by saying that
is bullshit. We're not going tobe fooled anymore. We're not going to
be controlled anymore. There's going tobe an equal distribution or a more equitable
(20:22):
distribution of resources throughout this country andthroughout the world, and we're not gonna
like take this anymore, and we'renot going to focus our attention on the
wrong people anymore. I think thatthat could come of this if if it
comes down to it, That's That'swhat I'm hoping for. That could eventually
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be come into fruition. We mayhave a d. Snyder in the Oregon
Supreme Court because they just told tenJP senators, since you guys decided to
pull this little stunt, yeah andmake it so we couldn't vote for six
weeks you can't run for reelection.Yeah, I love that I and I
voted for that. I think Ithink that is the is fantastic. It
(21:10):
was. It was overwhelmingly approved bythe voters, and they and they and
I got a brag on Oregon becausewe voted it in place. And then
these like these like right wing nutjobs who like represent like these big patches
of land with you know, alot of cattle and very few people in
eastern Oregon, you know, ina lot of the rural areas of this
(21:33):
of the state. They decided tosay, well, you know, it
didn't really mean that we couldn't runthis time. It met that we couldn't
run after another cycle, but we'rejust going to try to do it again
because you know, we want towaste the taxpayer money and we we feel
like you don't you know, wedon't really care what you think. And
the Supreme Court of the State ofOregon slapped them down and they were absolutely
(21:57):
right to do so. I mean, you gotta know that, like,
among the people who are trying torun were people who literally like opened the
door, opened a locked door forJanuary sixth type type protesters into the state
capitol in Salem, Oregon and triedto like facilitate another January sixth on on
(22:22):
on a state level, and itcould have happened. And they were and
they were literally caught on a securitycamera opening the door for these uh,
these these people, and thank godthe security folks were able to keep them
out, but it really could havehappened. And there's another there's a there's
a guy just to the east ofwhere I live in a place called Klamath
Falls, and that's the same placewhere they lined the streets carrying rifles when
(22:48):
they heard that the Antifa bus wasgoing to come into town. And he
said basically that that no person whois is not a Christian should be a
representative or or an elected official.And he was slapped down hard, big
time by the one uh member ofthe Muslim community that is also a state
(23:11):
representative. But but this is thekind of mentality that these guys have,
and they were doing, uh,they were walking off the job in a
coordinated way. And so that sothat key things like essentially passing bills you
voted a um, so they couldn'tvote exactly exactly, and they wanted to
(23:33):
stop stuff like like caps on onon carbon emissions and stuff like that because
they are funded by the by thesethese these massive, you know, fossil
fuel companies UH to a large extent. And and they did it, and
they and the voters of the stateof Oregon said that's bullshit. And and
(23:55):
now the Supreme Court of the Stateof Oregon has said that it's bullshit too,
And yay for Oregon. I haveto toot our horn a little bit.
Oh and just as another tell ofthese people. In a statement,
Senator Tim Knopp said, we obviouslydisagree with the Supreme Court's ruling, but
more importantly, we are deeply disturbedby the chilling impact this decision will have
(24:22):
to crush dissent. Listen, motherfucker. First of all, you did this
coordinated, like you mentioned Beowulf,coordinated to disturb and obstruct people from doing
their jobs. And if you wantto protest, you can, but you
can't hold a legislative body hostage inorder to protest. Your protest should not
(24:48):
impede your ability to do your jobor your coworker's ability to do theirs.
That's not a protest, that's notdescent. That's manipulation. And that's why
you can't have another go at it. Yep, No, that's exactly right.
And the one thing I'll agree withhim on is yes, he is
deeply disturbed, and I think thatshould be noted for all of posterity.
(25:08):
Not deeply disturbed. Fortunately, arethe majority of the members of the City
Council of Chicago who have voted tocall for a cease fire. It was
kind of a close thing. Iwish it had been a more overwhelming majority,
but they did pass twenty four totwenty three, with Mayor Johnson passing
(25:32):
the casting the tie breaking vote tosay yes, we want to cease fire.
And you know, I just strugglewith this because it really shows you
how deeply entrenched in an anti humanmentality a lot of people in the political
(25:56):
and media system are that the ideaof a cease fire, of not blowing
other human beings up should be remotelycontroversial. It also should not be lost
on anyone who follows this or comesin contact with this information about what's going
(26:18):
on on the Gaza Strip and hasbeen for quite some time that Jews are
speaking up and asking for this.The group Jewish Voice for Peace was behind
this and these protests that we seeacross the country, not on national news
if you're lucky, but on localnews. I find it these are Jewish
(26:41):
groups who are organizing these things.So when the Jews are telling you that
you're looking a little hitlery, yeah, yeah, then maybe you should stop.
Yeah. And for non Jews,when Jews look at something and say,
yep, that's holocausty, yeah,well the non jew should do so.
Oh wait a minute. The peoplewho went through it and know are
(27:03):
saying this looks like it, maybewe should stop. Yeah, I'm looking
at you, Joe Biden. Yeah, yeah, and and and all this
like work around the edges of himsaying, oh, we're going to put
sanctions on settlers in the West Bank. I'm sorry that doesn't go far enough.
Like people are still being killed,people are you know, children are
(27:26):
still being massacred, Homes and livesand entire neighborhoods are being wiped off the
face of the earth. Joe Bidenclearly or somebody in his administration understands that
a lot of people are upset aboutthis. A lot of people are morally
(27:47):
indignant about this, and I don'tthink they understand yet. I hope they
will at some point that people arenot going to be put off by scraps
on this. This this, thisis a real serious moral thing. And
and he is going to suffer atthe ballot box because if if he doesn't
(28:11):
do a much bigger turnaround on this, because people will just say this is
you know, God, I'm notgoing to vote for Trump, but just
screw this and just just stay home. And that is a very very dangerous
thing. And Joe Biden is leletting it happen. He's He's gotta do
(28:32):
much much more. And the peoplein that administration have got to be much
more active. They've gotta they've gotto call for a cease fire. They've
got to say to Yahoo, enoughis enough, stop this ship and and
and get on it otherwise. Youknow, I I hate to be pessimistic,
(28:52):
but I really really feel like inif nothing serious changes, we're just
we're looking at another Trump presidency andthat is so fucking dangerous. We cannot
let that happen. No, Chicago, call your boy, yeah please,
yeah, hello Joe over here.Remember we voted for you last time.
(29:15):
We we we we'd like to doit again. But uh, but you
know, these people are being murdered, so we're giving it second thoughts.
Let's let's not go down this road. There's no good reason to do this,
my god. I mean, please, Joe, wake up, nap
time's over, It's time to geton this. We we we are calling
(29:40):
your attention to this and and thankyou City of Chicago for uh making making
this happen. I I look forwardto Susan. I don't know if you
have, like any any uh previewsof what you're going to be doing,
what is going to be downloaded thisSunday on this week again, but we
are definitely looking forward to what youhave in store any inclinations thus far.
(30:03):
I am absolutely going into this TaylorSwift thing. And I went down the
rabbit hole. I could not believehow bad it got. And like I
mentioned in the beginning of the broadcast, there are three main components to this
conspiracy theory, and you can hearall about it on Sunday, but it's
just insane to me. A coupleof other things that have been going on
(30:29):
this week with Republicans trying really hardto make the border look like it's so
terrible when they're the ones who allowedit to happen. My god, Razor
wire. Oh, not just that, I mean impeaching Mijorcus and Lankford having
(30:52):
sanctioned in his own home skies hisown Republicans. How dare you spake to
them? Decreech ah wow, I'mnot gonna why you you're Trey your wishni
a's it's it. I don't know. I can't, I cannot. I
just cannot imagine, like what itmust be like to be in that party.
(31:17):
It must be like living in Mordooror something like that. Thank God.
At any rate, please pay attention, pick up your smartphone this Sunday
and listen to this Week again.It is a wonderful, humorous, progressive
encapsulation of the events of the week, and Suzanne will break down the Taylor
(31:41):
Swift conspiracy theories for you in evenfurther detail. This Week again with Suzanne
Pozl. Suzanne, as always,thank you so much for being with us
here on Facebalm America. Always apleasure. Thank you so much for listening
this week to Face Palm America again. You can go if you're on the
intertubes to Facebalmamerica dot com listen topast episodes. If you're not already listening
(32:07):
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You can you can't do it onthe site, but I will tell
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(32:28):
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Face Palm America. I'm Babel Franklinfacepomamericadot com is where you can get more
information about the show, listen topast episodes, and connect with us on
social media. You can also callor message us anytime at two zero two
six five six six two seven toone. It is time for our weekly
conversation with Suzanne Posel, the hostof This Week again, which is downloaded
(00:34):
by you, I hope every Sundayand thereafter throughout the week. It is
a wonderful, humorous encapsulation of thenews from a progressive perspective. Suzanne,
how you doing. I'm good.How are you excellent? You know,
the weather is gray and cold,and I'm very happy with that for as
(00:58):
long as we can get away withwhat seemed to be the regular yearly occurrences
that demonstrate the exacerbation of global warming. So you know, I'm just fine.
It's one of the reasons I loveliving in the state of Oregon,
(01:19):
aside from our persistent and increasing wildfires. So you know, it's often cool
and calm, nice, so Iappreciate that when I can get it.
So yeah, altogether good. Howabout yourself? Yeah, speaking of that,
I've lived in the Great Northwest onand off for about almost twenty years.
And when I first moved here,it was cold, and it wasn't
(01:42):
just because I was used to thesoutheast. It was cold. This year,
it's pretty warm, and we reallydidn't get any snow where we are
right which is in the southern partof the state. So I don't know.
I mean, I kind of likeit, but I know that that's
because of global warming, and soI feel guilty about liking it. I
(02:06):
shouldn't like it. It's wrong,but no, no, I understand.
I mean, I was talking withsome folks and like it happened to be
sunny where we were, and everybodyelse it was rainy, and I was
like, yeah, you know,I enjoy this, but I just know
it's going to be hotter. AndI saw I was reading in the local
paper whereas we had like an alltime record high for January, which was
(02:29):
like seventy three, and I said, oh, gosh, well that is
not good. I would certainly likesome more rain. That would be excellent
because I have experienced, as listenerto the program will know that I had
my house spurn down a few yearsago, and this is a more and
(02:50):
more frequent occurrence among people who livein California, in Oregon, in Washington
and on a lot of different placesin the Western United States. And yeah,
so I experienced what you experienced.I remember what it was like,
cold and rainy a lot, andnow it is not so much. And
now what we tend to have is, one it's much warmer. Two it's
(03:13):
much more chaotic because we have likeall these like really sudden downpours or all
of a sudden it's like, bizarrelyChile. I was talking to someone who
had to shut his business down fora week up in Portland, Oregon a
week or two ago because they hadice storms there, ice storms, and
in Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine. But it's yeah, it's
(03:36):
it's it's just it's just nutting.So yeah, basically I'm enjoying what but
little cold weather there is remaining tous. And I imagine a short,
you know, science fiction story ofyou know, a child like like seeing
the last snowflake on earth fall somethinglike that. That's that, that's something
(03:58):
that that that has occurred to mebefore. And I just it just seems
to be like less and less frequent. And I know that Yeah, I
think fox ATONI Phil is feeling itbecause didn't we say spring is coming early.
Don't trust a rodent, no,or a Republican, but definitely not
a rodent. But still, youknow, it kind of vibes with the
(04:18):
whole We've had the very little activityon the West coast as far as this
winter went, and on the Eastcoast they have been slammed and beaten down
like it's w W It's insane.Yeah, it's been. It's because of
that that jet stream. It justwobbles and wobbles all over the place,
(04:39):
and you get these like weird,random sudden dramatic weather events, especially at
this time of the year, andit yeah, oh, I'm speaking of
random dramatic events. Yes, inFlorida planned charon hood or you know know
(05:00):
most of you would know them asMoms for Liberty are upset about goblin but
doblin butt sentence First, before Ijust face Paul my face on Faith Palm
America because what the actual seriously,that's pornography. And I'm looking through this
article, yes, and I'm andI realized that's what they mean that I
(05:25):
don't know why I never put twoand two together that's what they mean.
You know, I grew up withuh those little books, the hard books,
the cardboard books, and they havelittle depictions of naked kids and teaching
you how to brush your teeth andall that is pornography to them. Listen,
folks, it isn't us, it'sthem, it really is. That's
(05:46):
disgusting. How you go you gothrough the world and you see an illustration
and a children's book of a littlelike cutified monster and and because like you
know, he has a bear buttas he's like, you know, I
don't know what he's doing exactly,like he's cleaning something that's hanging on a
laundry line or something. It's completelynaked because that's little kids, right,
(06:12):
yeah, okay, there you go. I mean, it's completely motivated within
the story. And it's not likethey're showing goblin genitalia or anything like that.
It's a it's a goblin butt andthere's nothing to it. But this,
this is what Moms for Liberty andother similar organizations focus on when they
say, oh, would take itover our culture like there, but but
(06:34):
what what kind of like mind doyou have to have in order to consider
that to be dangerous? Pornographic materialthat you don't want your child exposed to.
Look, I'm just going to beblunt and I apologize for the language.
But if you are, if youget a chubby or otherwise for women
(06:59):
looking at this picture, it's notbecause other people do. That's you.
That's your reaction. You need tolook in the mirror. Yes, and
maybe go to therapy and perhaps stopreading those books. Yes, that's right,
it's you. It's you. You'rethe problem. It's you and they
(07:20):
are and they are also a problem. As it happens when it comes to
Taylor Swift, because the the derangementof the far right wing has this one
is just Oh, I saw thiscome out on Sunday. This is one
of those funny things where folks like, when I'm looking at stories to talk
(07:41):
about for my show, I'm I'mkind of like, I start on Sunday,
and what are they talking about onthe Sunday shows and what's going to
become a thing? I saw thiscome through on Sunday and I was like,
yeah, you know what, whateverthey're picking on Taylor, it all
of a sudden exploded. By Wednesday, it was all anyone could talk about,
not just in the reich wing sphere, but also in insane media they
(08:05):
were reporting on how insane it actuallygot. And I could not believe the
there's three main components to this conspiracythat they have. Oh my god,
and it's so insane. Yeah no, no, like like like, let's
let's let's discourse on that a littlebit, because I I let me just
(08:26):
stipulate that I have a daughter thatis a Taylor Swift fan. She she
scrimped and saved and got herself aticket to the Era's concert in Santa Clara,
California. She planned this like ayear in advance. She went there.
She is a dedicated fan. Sheshe wouldn't I don't think call herself
(08:48):
a Swifty but but her thing was. Her basic reaction was, and I
think a very sane one, whichis, take a look with what Taylor
Swift has actually done. I knowreality doesn't matter to these people, but
take a look at what she's actuallydone. She's been very very tepid and
(09:11):
very very cautious in terms of politicalendorsements. Like she she is not a
political threat to anyone, except exceptperhaps to the extent that Marcia Well,
Marsha Marcia Blackburn is just like MarciaMarca Marsha. She is just off the
(09:31):
deep end. And Taylor almost tookher out of her seat. And Republicans
remember that Taylor said to her herfan base, please get out and vote,
and they exactly the thing, andthey almost took Marcia out of her
seat in Capitol Hills. So theRepublicans are like, oh my, oh
my god. And to that extent, it is true, to the extent
(09:54):
that she will say, hey,it's a good idea to vote, get
out there and vote please. Thathas become radical politics. That that that
that very you know, tepid,banal, basic statement that you, as
an American citizen and registered voter,should should go out there and vote and
(10:16):
and and indeed register to vote andparticipate in politics. That is a radical
statement because any of these people whoare on the far right and and mega
desperately don't want people to to votebecause they they instinctively understand that they themselves
are crazy. They are both crazy, and while they refuse to acknowledge it
(10:37):
openly, their their instincts prove thatthey know that they're crazy. Because they
don't want other people to to vote, because because they know what the response
is going to be if enough peopleget out there. And that's that that's
weird sort of double thin is justis just like nonsensical. But yeah,
(10:58):
okay, so the basic elements arealso I want to expand on that.
They are also you know, theidea that most of Taylor Swiss fans are
fifteen years in under that that's reallynot true. Taylor has been around in
country music and pop for many yearsmillennial fifteen plus years. I mean,
(11:20):
like, yes, she was likea huge, huge star. Like okay,
so my family and I moved toFlorida now ten years ago, and
that's when she first really came onmy radar, when she came out with
nineteen eighty nine and those songs wereeverywhere, like she was number one.
She was like the most famous likestar in the country, probably in the
(11:41):
world at that time ten years ago. And all these right wingers are saying,
oh, she's come out of nowhere, like suddenly they're making her famous
and it's all part of a plot. They don't they don't remember she when
she left country music for pop,they lambasted her, yeah, almost as
badly as they did and Shnania Twainfor just showing off her Middrift. He
(12:03):
actually just she lost a huge amountof fan base, had to rebuild it
in pop music, and it justturned out it was a good move for
her. It was more comfortable forher. She could be more expressive,
by the way. Full disclosure,I am a Taylor Swift fan, but
I am a Taylor Swift fan becauseI had watched her over the years and
I see her growing into a matureadult who as a tumbling crazy as a
(12:30):
twenty year old, she was tryingto find her place and her voice as
a woman and try to maintain arelationship and be in public eye. And
now that she's in her thirties,she's becoming a woman, and she's singing
about these things now when she's inher forties and fifties, we will have
a catalog of music of a person'slife through different phases of their life and
(12:52):
what's important to you as those phases. So what they're what Fox News is
so afraid of, as as muchas her her is those people who are
of voting age, who are listening, who like what she does and will
go ahead and register or vote agreewith her. You know, she's not
(13:13):
talking about politics, but if youlisten to her songs like calm Down.
She's obviously talking to the right wingersand how pathetic they are and how we
just need to move forward. You'rejust being too loud, You're upsetting me.
And beyond that, like just thefact that there is a woman who
(13:33):
is talking about things which are importantto her and talking about her life and
talking about, you know, negotiatingthe relationships in her life and being out
there as a symbol of power andinfluence is profoundly disturbing to these maggots.
(13:56):
It really is if female empowerment,I know, I know, And again
with so many different things when youlook at when you look at uh uh
you know, uh, the thefight over abortion, the fight over reproductive
rights, the fight over over contraception. It's it's all about controlling women and
(14:18):
making sure that they are in asas predestined a corner as possible, and
and just by her very existence,Yes, Taylor, thirty four year old
single billionaire exactly right. Who whocan who has the power to you to
say no, I want this,I don't want that? And and like
within her personal relationships with men,good Jackie Gleason, Travis Kelcey, you
(14:45):
know, like in the toy andjust looking buy him. Yeah, no,
she doesn't need anything. She doesn'tneed the NFL in contact. So
let her have a boyfriend exactly,and and and where the hell do you
come from, like getting to say, oh, well, she be dating
this person, I shaid, sheshouldn't be dating that. Like what the
fuck? This is not fucking highschool this like this is a grown ass
(15:07):
woman who is a billionaire and apowerful global superstar. You don't get to
tell her or any other woman forthat matter, like who they should or
shouldn't like date or be seeing orwhatever and so and so it's all come
out in this weird conspiracy theory becausethey can't deal with what the actual reality
(15:28):
is because they because it's it's oneof the pervasive global things that ends up
being in the face. Even ofthese right wing lunatics. As much as
they seal themselves with their within theirown little hermetic media bubble, they can't
escape Taylor Swift. And it disturbsthem that they can't do that, and
so they have to justify it andtwist it around somehow through some sort of
(15:52):
bizarre conspiracy theory because the reality istoo much for them to deal with it
breaks their tiny little brains. Andit's all also a tell on their Christian
nationalism because religious women can't do thosethings right. They can't tell their husband
to f off. They're not goingto make him a sandwich. They're putting
on their shoes and they're going outright. They and they live in this
(16:15):
self contained bubble where they control theirfriends and their friends control them. So
when they see a woman who's outthere doing her thing and being vulnerable and
being wrong and being right and growingand learning from experiences and doing it out
in public, they are so jealous. Yeah, that's right. It's their
(16:36):
Christian nationalism is showing where Yeah,look, you choose to live under those
rules and restrict yourself to this littletiny box with this one life that you've
been given. But this other person'slike, I don't know what's in the
next life, so I'm going tolive this up and attain something and actually
ended up doing it. And likeyou said, we have this perception that
(17:00):
we own celebrities. Yeah we don't, no more than they own us.
We should be grateful that we knowabout their lives. We may have opinions,
but literally it's none of our fuckingbusiness and our opinions don't matter.
No, it's their life exactly.That's right, and and it seems to
me to kind of fall within thesame structure that uh uh they were trying
(17:26):
to like trap like poor white Southernexent. I say, I say trap.
I don't think that's quite the rightword, because you know, like
what Lyndon Johnson says, exactly,you know, you know exactly what I'm
going for exactly as long as there'ssomeone else that's weaker and less powerful and
more put upon than you, thenyou feel like you're in a position of
power. That that's that's generally it. I don't I forget what the exact
(17:49):
words are, but you're going forexactly the same thing that I was.
Yeah, that is behind it.Absolutely, That mindset that hey, I
might be broke, but at leastI'm not. That yeah, is disgustingly
racist and abhorrent of you. Andthis whole Taylor Swift discussion really is a
talent on them. Yeah. Yeah, so we should, you know,
(18:11):
listen to what they're saying and realizethey're telling on themselves. They're frightened by
young people because they know they're goingto change this country. How compellor eye
water. They can't keep them outof the ballot box for long. Yeah,
and they will change this country andin thirty forty fifty years it will
not resemble anything what the boomers hadsquandered that the silent generation gave them.
(18:33):
Thank goodness, but it's coming andthey know it. It is they know
it, and I think we needas much as possible to address them by
saying, hey, I hear youfeel weak. I hear you feel vulnerable,
and here's what's going on. Butfirst of all, you are putting
(18:56):
people that are more vulnerable than youin danger. But second of all,
like your power has been reduced,you are being put in a worse economic
situation. But it doesn't have anythingto do with women, It doesn't have
anything to do with people of color. It has to do with the very
powerful, the one percent of theone percent who are controlling the resources.
(19:21):
And for centuries, essentially they havelike like tried to distract you by creating
these like subgroups that didn't even existbefore, to try and make you feel
more powerful so that you would goafter them, those weaker groups instead of
(19:41):
them the people who actually had thepower. And now it's coming to crunch
time, and you can do oneof two things. You can either like
continue down this insane rabbit hole ofnonsense that you're making up about the people
that they want to distract you with, or you can turn around and say,
hey, who who really has thepower here? Who really has the
(20:02):
money here? Who has the abilityto control the destiny of my life?
And you can actually join us toimprove all of our lives by saying that
is bullshit. We're not going tobe fooled anymore. We're not going to
be controlled anymore. There's going tobe an equal distribution or a more equitable
(20:22):
distribution of resources throughout this country andthroughout the world, and we're not gonna
like take this anymore, and we'renot going to focus our attention on the
wrong people anymore. I think thatthat could come of this if if it
comes down to it, That's That'swhat I'm hoping for. That could eventually
(20:45):
be come into fruition. We mayhave a d. Snyder in the Oregon
Supreme Court because they just told tenJP senators, since you guys decided to
pull this little stunt, yeah andmake it so we couldn't vote for six
weeks you can't run for reelection.Yeah, I love that I and I
voted for that. I think Ithink that is the is fantastic. It
(21:10):
was. It was overwhelmingly approved bythe voters, and they and they and
I got a brag on Oregon becausewe voted it in place. And then
these like these like right wing nutjobs who like represent like these big patches
of land with you know, alot of cattle and very few people in
eastern Oregon, you know, ina lot of the rural areas of this
(21:33):
of the state. They decided tosay, well, you know, it
didn't really mean that we couldn't runthis time. It met that we couldn't
run after another cycle, but we'rejust going to try to do it again
because you know, we want towaste the taxpayer money and we we feel
like you don't you know, wedon't really care what you think. And
the Supreme Court of the State ofOregon slapped them down and they were absolutely
(21:57):
right to do so. I mean, you gotta know that, like,
among the people who are trying torun were people who literally like opened the
door, opened a locked door forJanuary sixth type type protesters into the state
capitol in Salem, Oregon and triedto like facilitate another January sixth on on
(22:22):
on a state level, and itcould have happened. And they were and
they were literally caught on a securitycamera opening the door for these uh,
these these people, and thank godthe security folks were able to keep them
out, but it really could havehappened. And there's another there's a there's
a guy just to the east ofwhere I live in a place called Klamath
Falls, and that's the same placewhere they lined the streets carrying rifles when
(22:48):
they heard that the Antifa bus wasgoing to come into town. And he
said basically that that no person whois is not a Christian should be a
representative or or an elected official.And he was slapped down hard, big
time by the one uh member ofthe Muslim community that is also a state
(23:11):
representative. But but this is thekind of mentality that these guys have,
and they were doing, uh,they were walking off the job in a
coordinated way. And so that sothat key things like essentially passing bills you
voted a um, so they couldn'tvote exactly exactly, and they wanted to
(23:33):
stop stuff like like caps on onon carbon emissions and stuff like that because
they are funded by the by thesethese these massive, you know, fossil
fuel companies UH to a large extent. And and they did it, and
they and the voters of the stateof Oregon said that's bullshit. And and
(23:55):
now the Supreme Court of the Stateof Oregon has said that it's bullshit too,
And yay for Oregon. I haveto toot our horn a little bit.
Oh and just as another tell ofthese people. In a statement,
Senator Tim Knopp said, we obviouslydisagree with the Supreme Court's ruling, but
more importantly, we are deeply disturbedby the chilling impact this decision will have
(24:22):
to crush dissent. Listen, motherfucker. First of all, you did this
coordinated, like you mentioned Beowulf,coordinated to disturb and obstruct people from doing
their jobs. And if you wantto protest, you can, but you
can't hold a legislative body hostage inorder to protest. Your protest should not
(24:48):
impede your ability to do your jobor your coworker's ability to do theirs.
That's not a protest, that's notdescent. That's manipulation. And that's why
you can't have another go at it. Yep, No, that's exactly right.
And the one thing I'll agree withhim on is yes, he is
deeply disturbed, and I think thatshould be noted for all of posterity.
(25:08):
Not deeply disturbed. Fortunately, arethe majority of the members of the City
Council of Chicago who have voted tocall for a cease fire. It was
kind of a close thing. Iwish it had been a more overwhelming majority,
but they did pass twenty four totwenty three, with Mayor Johnson passing
(25:32):
the casting the tie breaking vote tosay yes, we want to cease fire.
And you know, I just strugglewith this because it really shows you
how deeply entrenched in an anti humanmentality a lot of people in the political
(25:56):
and media system are that the ideaof a cease fire, of not blowing
other human beings up should be remotelycontroversial. It also should not be lost
on anyone who follows this or comesin contact with this information about what's going
(26:18):
on on the Gaza Strip and hasbeen for quite some time that Jews are
speaking up and asking for this.The group Jewish Voice for Peace was behind
this and these protests that we seeacross the country, not on national news
if you're lucky, but on localnews. I find it these are Jewish
(26:41):
groups who are organizing these things.So when the Jews are telling you that
you're looking a little hitlery, yeah, yeah, then maybe you should stop.
Yeah. And for non Jews,when Jews look at something and say,
yep, that's holocausty, yeah,well the non jew should do so.
Oh wait a minute. The peoplewho went through it and know are
(27:03):
saying this looks like it, maybewe should stop. Yeah, I'm looking
at you, Joe Biden. Yeah, yeah, and and and all this
like work around the edges of himsaying, oh, we're going to put
sanctions on settlers in the West Bank. I'm sorry that doesn't go far enough.
Like people are still being killed,people are you know, children are
(27:26):
still being massacred, Homes and livesand entire neighborhoods are being wiped off the
face of the earth. Joe Bidenclearly or somebody in his administration understands that
a lot of people are upset aboutthis. A lot of people are morally
(27:47):
indignant about this, and I don'tthink they understand yet. I hope they
will at some point that people arenot going to be put off by scraps
on this. This this, thisis a real serious moral thing. And
and he is going to suffer atthe ballot box because if if he doesn't
(28:11):
do a much bigger turnaround on this, because people will just say this is
you know, God, I'm notgoing to vote for Trump, but just
screw this and just just stay home. And that is a very very dangerous
thing. And Joe Biden is leletting it happen. He's He's gotta do
(28:32):
much much more. And the peoplein that administration have got to be much
more active. They've gotta they've gotto call for a cease fire. They've
got to say to Yahoo, enoughis enough, stop this ship and and
and get on it otherwise. Youknow, I I hate to be pessimistic,
(28:52):
but I really really feel like inif nothing serious changes, we're just
we're looking at another Trump presidency andthat is so fucking dangerous. We cannot
let that happen. No, Chicago, call your boy, yeah please,
yeah, hello Joe over here.Remember we voted for you last time.
(29:15):
We we we we'd like to doit again. But uh, but you
know, these people are being murdered, so we're giving it second thoughts.
Let's let's not go down this road. There's no good reason to do this,
my god. I mean, please, Joe, wake up, nap
time's over, It's time to geton this. We we we are calling
(29:40):
your attention to this and and thankyou City of Chicago for uh making making
this happen. I I look forwardto Susan. I don't know if you
have, like any any uh previewsof what you're going to be doing,
what is going to be downloaded thisSunday on this week again, but we
are definitely looking forward to what youhave in store any inclinations thus far.
(30:03):
I am absolutely going into this TaylorSwift thing. And I went down the
rabbit hole. I could not believehow bad it got. And like I
mentioned in the beginning of the broadcast, there are three main components to this
conspiracy theory, and you can hearall about it on Sunday, but it's
just insane to me. A coupleof other things that have been going on
(30:29):
this week with Republicans trying really hardto make the border look like it's so
terrible when they're the ones who allowedit to happen. My god, Razor
wire. Oh, not just that, I mean impeaching Mijorcus and Lankford having
(30:52):
sanctioned in his own home skies hisown Republicans. How dare you spake to
them? Decreech ah wow, I'mnot gonna why you you're Trey your wishni
a's it's it. I don't know. I can't, I cannot. I
just cannot imagine, like what itmust be like to be in that party.
(31:17):
It must be like living in Mordooror something like that. Thank God.
At any rate, please pay attention, pick up your smartphone this Sunday
and listen to this Week again.It is a wonderful, humorous, progressive
encapsulation of the events of the week, and Suzanne will break down the Taylor
(31:41):
Swift conspiracy theories for you in evenfurther detail. This Week again with Suzanne
Pozl. Suzanne, as always,thank you so much for being with us
here on Facebalm America. Always apleasure. Thank you so much for listening
this week to Face Palm America again. You can go if you're on the
intertubes to Facebalmamerica dot com listen topast episodes. If you're not already listening
(32:07):
on the podcast platform of your choice. You can find our social media thingies.
You can you can't do it onthe site, but I will tell
you and it will be there.This number two zero two six five six
six two seven one. If you'dlike to message us or if you'd like
to call us, because because Iwill have you as a mini guest on
(32:28):
this podcast, if you give mea call to zero two six five six
six two seven to one. Iwant to thank Ace Elson and Rosabel Hine,
who are the producers of this program. Please share a link to this
show on your social media. Itreally helps grow the program, really helps
expand our base. And until nexttime, enjoy the day, my friends.
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