Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And good morning everybody. It is the Mark Thompson Show
without Mark Thompson. Mark is on a long weekend. He
was supposed to leave yesterday, but I had a family
emergency and so he had to delay for a day.
Now he's off and going, and I've got Albert here
along for the ride.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hi, Albert, Good morning, Kim. Okay, welcome back. It's a Friday,
so it is.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I think we've got Friday fabulous Florida. You put together
a great one. We've got this week in politics with
Jim Obelis, the former White House correspondent, will be here.
There's a chance that my friend Nicki Medoro might show
up early on in the show to talk politics. But
we do have Michael Snyder coming through the Culture Blaster
to talk movies and entertainment as well. So great Friday
(00:43):
show lined up as always. And thank you for hanging
out for being here. Thank you Albert for being here
as well. I do want to thank you people for
the support. Of course, yesterday I wasn't here because my mother,
you may have heard, had a small stroke and she's
doing well, and I just really appreciate all the messages
of support that people have sent and I'm overwhelmed by
(01:06):
your kindness. So thank you, thank you, thank you for that.
This is a crowdfunded show and if you are so inclined,
the super chat superstickers are open and the Patreon and
PayPal information is rolling across the bottom of the screen
as well. And we count on you to make this
show happen, which is increasingly important in this political climate.
(01:29):
So thank you for that big weekend plans, Albert.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
No, just I have working by other jobs. So okay,
working working, I'll be working, but I have some time off,
so I won't be here next week, so you'll have
Tony all week. Next week. I'll have some time off.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So are you going somewhere fun?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
My girlfriends from Hawaii, We're going to go back home,
so that's.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Going to be good.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Okay, Helloha, hell hell I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, you're not the only person traveling. President Trump is
on the way to Scotland right now, apparently headed to
a tour of his properties in Scotland and his golf
clubs in that area. I know he is spending ten
million dollars of taxpayer money to promote his Scotland golf course.
(02:18):
I mean, what are you gonna do. That's the way
it is. He apparently keeps adding to this tallly of
money spent on golfing. It's a five day trip. It
will raise his second term golf tab to fifty two
million dollars in just six months. Fifty two million pending security,
(02:39):
you know, staying there. Golf is apparently very expensive for him.
His first term he spent one hundred and fifty two
million dollars on golf trips.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So he's already met that goal.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
No, we're only at fifty two million right now in
just six months, but we're really shaping up to beat it,
I think. Yeah. So the next several days will cost
the American taxpayer ten million so that Trump can participate
in what's being called a marketing photo opportunity at his
golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland. And do you think he's
(03:15):
putting the money from the profits of the golf club
back into the American taxpayers? Coffers No, No, Albert, he
is not. The trip is apparently unrelated to a planned
state visit to the UK in September, and that makes
it by far the most expensive golf vacation to date
(03:37):
in either of his terms. According to the Huffington Post.
There's an ethics lawyer that worked in George W. Bush's
second term White House who says that Trump is using
the presidency to market his golf courses at the taxpayer's expense.
He is promoting himself. This is a man named Richard Painter.
(03:59):
He says, we've reached a point where the Oval Office
is an extension of the Trump organization and American taxpayers
are footing the bill. A president, he writes, should not
be spending time. This is actually with the group's Citizens
for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. They say a president
should not be spending time trying to make money in
(04:20):
a foreign country while in office. But if they do,
at the very least they could pick up the tab
for their business trips. But that is not going to happen.
And the crazy thing about that is it feels like
the least of our problems. It feels like, you know,
he's using taxpayer money to fund a golf trip to Aberdeen, Scotland. Okay,
(04:45):
what about all the rest? What about the people being
you know, now, deportation flights have just begun from so
called Alligator Alcatraz in Florida. People are being treated horribly.
I mean it just like the taxpayer issue seems to
be the least of our worries. This is what's happening.
Have a good time in Scotland. Oh that's pretty is
(05:08):
that Scotland? Yeah, it's a reporter standing on the Scottish coast.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, it's yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
He has more than one golf club in Scotland and
just acquired another, so I think there will be three
all together. So maybe we'll be seeing a lot more
trips to Scotland. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And they're thing at his hotels and all this stuff.
Anytime that he could go to his own hotel and
make the you know, our taxpayers paid to go straight
to his businesses, he'll do it.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
So meanwhile, here at home, he escaped the ongoing crisis
related to the Epstein scandal, and this is not something
that's going away. The Justice Department officials met with Glaine Maxwell,
who of course is the co conspirator associate. What have
you of Jeffrey Epstein who's in jail for twenty years,
(06:02):
And her lawyer says, listen, she answered every question they asked.
She didn't try to use her you know, her ability
to take the fifth or duck out of any questions.
We don't know what she said, and the Deputy Attorney
General Todd Blanche says that may be released at a
(06:23):
more appropriate time. They met with her again today yesterday.
The meeting went on for about five hours. Yeah, so
Todd Blanche says the DOJ will share more information at
the appropriate time. So the question was asked today as
Trump headed out to Scotland. Will he pardoned her? And
(06:45):
he said, it's something I haven't thought about. I'm allowed
to do it, but it's something I have not thought about. Really,
you have not thought about it. Okay, does anybody buy
that at all? Because I'm I'm not buying it at all.
There's a very quick piece of sound that I thought
(07:07):
we could play. And this is Chuck Schumer who's already
talking about why the DOJ is meeting with Glaine Maxwell.
And here's what he had to say.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
There is every reason to fear that Donald Trump could
offer Jiselaine Maxwell a pardon in exchange for silence, or
even worse, pony exoneration.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
It comes twenty four hours after the Wall Street Journal,
Thank you, Albert. So that's what he says. There's every
reason to think that Gallaine Maxwell could be pardoned, And
here Trump is today saying, I haven't thought about it. Really. Yeah,
I have the power to do it, but how to
really considered that? Sure? Okay. Also, I don't know if
(07:51):
you've been following Senator Tom Tillis, who was fed up
with all of this Trump stuff and decided not to
run again. And now the beauty of that is that
he is able to speak his mind, and he was saying,
this Epstein thing just is not going away. The video
of that as well.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
What does the Trump administration need to do to handle
this Epstein saga?
Speaker 5 (08:16):
Release the damn files. Look, it makes no sense to me.
One of two things is true. I believe either it's
a nothing burger in terms of the evidence we have.
Let's separate it from this guy being disgusting and what
he did and the systematic trafficking of young people, minor
(08:37):
age people for sex purposes.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
But the.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Promise to release the files during the campaign was either
overplayed and we got a nothing burger if the files
get released, or it's something really disturbing and that's actually
even a more compelling reason to release.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
It, and this nonsense.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Well, we've got to protect the innocent witnesses, those sorts
of things.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
That's called redaction.
Speaker 7 (09:02):
We do that all the time.
Speaker 5 (09:03):
That's sort of a fake or for for a bad reason,
for trying to stop something that you don't want to happen.
So I think the file should be released the light
of day, let the sun shine through, and that's the
best way to get past it. Otherwise, if anybody thinks
(09:24):
that this is going to go away because the house
left the day earlier or something, that's going to be
like those zombies in the Walking Dead. Every time you
think you've killed it, another one's just going to come
running out of the closet after you. This is going
to be an issue all the way through next year's election.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
What is and that is exactly what seems to be happening.
You know that reporters for larger publications already are collecting
stories to run every single day, from old pictures that
are incriminating to birthday books that we saw. This story
is not going away till us sing. It's going to
(09:57):
be like zombies. Every time you try to kill story,
another one's going to pop right up. And it seems
like that's the case already. We know that Trump was
listed as a contributor to Epstein's fiftieth birthday book that
was in the Wall Street Journal, and Trump said, no, no,
it wasn't me. I didn't draw the naked lady picture.
(10:19):
I didn't write May every Day be a New Secret?
I didn't do that. Well, now comes another independent confirmation
that Trump is listed as a contributor for Epstein's fiftieth
birthday book. This from the New York Times, so they've
confirmed it as well. Now you have two major publications
in America saying yeah, it happened. The confirmation from the
(10:44):
New York Times coming after the Wall Street Journal's breaking
of this story, the story Trump is calling fake news
and suing for ten billion dollars or whatever it is.
There's evidence the new Stories saying, you know, President, former
President Bill Clinton is in the book as well, which
(11:04):
to me, fine, that's not the lead though, because Clinton,
Bill isn't running for office again, he's not sitting in
the oval office like Trump is. That's the story. So
if you know, if Clinton needs to be dealt with
because of misdeeds in this case, so be it. That
(11:25):
still doesn't take the focus for me off Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, I think, he says a lot that a lot
of his uh, the usual maga people who kind of
blindly follow whatever he says and whatever he does and
always excuse all of his behaviors. They're not excusing this one.
And I think it says a lot. So I think
this actually might be the beginning. I don't know. I
want to say it's the beginning of the end. He
(11:51):
has a lot of protections over him, but it feels
like it.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Well, he can't he can't face any charges for that
because he's the president, right so he could still serve
out his term. But I think he'll face a lot
of public pressure and I think it'll be very embarrassing
for him. But related to this book, there's an attorney
that has represented many of Epstein's clients that spoke to
(12:19):
I believe Lawrence O'Donnell, and he says, listen, we know
exactly where this book is. It would be very easy
for lawmakers to get a hold of this. And as
Senator Tillis says, let the sun shine through. They don't
want the sun to shine through, but it would be easy,
he says, for the sun to shine through.
Speaker 8 (12:39):
Give a listen, like people want it. It seems like
it's being driven by salivating over scandal as opposed to
dissemination of the truth.
Speaker 7 (12:51):
One of the things being the birthday Book.
Speaker 8 (12:53):
I have numerous clients who know of the authenticity and
the existence of the birthday Book. Of course, it was
a birthday book that was given to Jeffrey Epstein on
his fiftieth birthday by g Lynn Maxwell. Jeffrey Epstein's dead
He has an estate. Everybody who knows anything about the
story knows that that knows. The estate exists, and it's
being governed by the two executors. Darren Endyke, Jeffrey Epstein's
(13:16):
former attorney, Richard Kahn, Jeffrey Epstein's former accountant.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
Those are the two executors.
Speaker 8 (13:21):
If somebody simply called them on the phone and said,
give us the book, they would probably give you the book.
They have attorneys. Their attorneys are good. Their attorneys are
good people. If they didn't just voluntarily turn over the
book out of fear of reprisal, Congress could issue a
subpoena to their attorneys at Patterson or at Troutman. Those
(13:41):
are the two law firms. I know those attorneys. They
would turn the book over immediately. Nobody would have to guess.
There wouldn't need to be a lawsuit, There wouldn't have
to wait to be discovery. You would immediately have the answers.
You could flip to the page. Is there a letter,
is there not a letter? It's over. The victims then
get to move on. But that's not what's happening. And
(14:01):
that's why I agreed to come on because so many
of them have called and said, somebody needs to remind them.
Real people are being hurt here. The truth matters, transparency
actually matters. Get this over with and get it behind us.
Speaker 9 (14:15):
I want to go to that book because with your
familiarity with evidence against Jeffrey Epstein, which you've collected a
lot of through the discovery process, what do you know
specifically about that book? Do you know that they are
in the estate the relatives of Jeffrey Epstein, in effect,
through their lawyers, are in possession of that birthday book.
Speaker 8 (14:40):
Yes, I know that the executors of this date are
in possession of that book, and I think that after
they turn it over, it should probably be set in
the Smithsonian as an artifact. At this point in time,
it's going to go down in history so that the
world can see this book and they'll know who were
Jeffrey Epstein's best friends at the time, what letters did
his FAMI write to him, what other pictures are in there,
(15:02):
things of that nature, redact victim names, release the book,
and move on.
Speaker 10 (15:08):
So, yeah, yes, thank you much. So if you just
identified just reason.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, that's attorney Bradley Edwards, who represented more than one
of Epstein's victims on MSNBC's last Word, So he says, listen,
we know right where the book is, and Congress could
subpoena the estate of Jeffrey Epstein and immediately let the
sunshine through. Right, let's take a look at it. Let's
put it into into evidence so the American people can
(15:36):
can see what's going on. But it seems like there
are many conservatives now, and as Albert mentioned, there's some
people who've been following this Epstein case since before the
election and have been calling for for information to be released.
But a lot of conservatives seem to be looking away.
(15:57):
And stations, channels network that are typically conservative, like Fox,
they're not really talking as much about Epstein as we are.
They don't seem to care that much. And James Carvill
was on uh with Waters on Fox, and he has
(16:18):
he had this to say.
Speaker 8 (16:22):
A masculine guy, someone who's authentic, maybe drops a few
f bombs.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
What do you think about President Hunter Biden? Oh?
Speaker 11 (16:31):
Look, I mean, you know, everybody in the world is
talking about Epstein, and Fox is still talking about Biden's memory.
I mean so long ago. I can't even remember it
to tell you the truth, Jesse.
Speaker 7 (16:42):
Uh, well, do you want to talk about to you?
Speaker 11 (16:46):
I don't mind.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
That's all I wanted to show you. I just think
that that it's very interesting that James Carvill had to
come on and bring up Epstein because Fox wants to
talk about anything but that. And I can understand, you know,
when they're their savior in chief is being dinged by
this scandal. And as mentioned, zombies are popping up at
(17:09):
every turn. So that's the latest with the the Epstein scandal,
with Trump saying he hadn't really thought about the possibility
of pardoning Galaine Maxwell, We're gonna keep our finger on
this though. I will ask Jim Avola his thoughts about
it when he comes on in just a few minutes. Meanwhile,
I don't know if you saw this video. I was
(17:32):
kind of disturbed by it. Did you see this? Albert
Trump was on a tour of the new construction with
Jerome Powell over at the Federal Reserve, and he brought
up some numbers saying that the costs were greater than
the estimates, and Powell corrected Trump right there at the scene.
(17:52):
Didn't let him get away with anything. It's funny that
you would try to pull over numbers on a numbers guy. Right.
What disturbed me the was the smack that Trump gave
Powell at the end. And you can see Trump is
kind of a more robust fellow and Powell, you know,
it's a little more slight. And so when Trump whacks
(18:14):
him at the end of this video, you can see
Powell's body just go kind of shaking back and forth.
Trump must have whacked him pretty hard. Let's take a
look at this video.
Speaker 10 (18:25):
Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 12 (18:26):
We're looking at the construction and we're with the chairman,
as you know, come on over and we're just taking
a look at what's happening. You know, it's a tough
construction job, building basements where they didn't exist or expanding them,
and a lot of very expensive work.
Speaker 10 (18:43):
There's no question about it.
Speaker 12 (18:45):
And him has been with me for a long time,
and you're in judge of the committee.
Speaker 13 (18:50):
And he's one of the reason why I wanted to
see it was the overruns of the expenses.
Speaker 10 (18:54):
Wanted to figure out why. Yeah, so we're.
Speaker 12 (18:58):
Taking a look and it looks like it's about three
point one billion one up a little bit or a lot.
Speaker 10 (19:04):
Yeah, so the two points out.
Speaker 12 (19:07):
Three point one Yeah, it just came out.
Speaker 13 (19:11):
Yeah, I haven't heard that from anybody.
Speaker 10 (19:13):
To it's just.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Let me pull up this trusty piece of paper. How
in real time looking at the supposed cost over runs?
Speaker 10 (19:26):
Who are you including the Martin renovation?
Speaker 13 (19:31):
You just added Yeah, you just you just added in
the third buildings that is that's a third building.
Speaker 10 (19:37):
It's a building that's being built.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
It's been it was built five years ago.
Speaker 12 (19:41):
We finished Mark as part of the overall. So you know,
so we're going to take a look. We're gonna see
what's happening. Uh, And it's got a long way. Do
you expect any more additional bust out runs?
Speaker 13 (19:56):
Don't expect them. We're ready for him. But we we
have a little bit of a reserve that we may use.
But no, we don't expect to be finished in twenty
twenty seven. We're well along as you could see.
Speaker 12 (20:09):
Nice to take these off every once in a while
when we're not under too much danger.
Speaker 10 (20:14):
So, any questions developer, as a real estate developer, what
would you do with a project manager or would be
over bunched? Generally speaking? What would I do? I'd fire him?
Speaker 6 (20:28):
Think he was the president.
Speaker 10 (20:31):
Well, I'm here just really with the Chairman.
Speaker 12 (20:33):
He's showing us around, showing us the work, and so
I don't want to get that.
Speaker 10 (20:37):
I don't want to be personal.
Speaker 12 (20:38):
I just would like to see it get finished. And
in many ways it's too bad it started, but it
did start, and it's been under construction for a long time.
It'll be it's going to be a real long time
because it looks like it's got a long way to go.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
So there are things are there are things that Chairman
can say to you today that would make you back
off some of the earlier criticisms.
Speaker 12 (21:01):
Well, i'd love him to lower interest rates. Other than that,
what can I tell you? The country's doing really well.
I just brief the Chairman of the deal.
Speaker 10 (21:09):
We've made with Japan.
Speaker 12 (21:11):
Japan is putting up five hundred and fifty billion dollars
in order to lower their tariffs a little bit.
Speaker 10 (21:16):
That way, they have a little bit lower tariff.
Speaker 12 (21:18):
And they also opened their country to free trade, which.
Speaker 10 (21:22):
Nobody thought was even a possibility, and we get a.
Speaker 12 (21:27):
Zero tariff in the free trade, we don't pay tariffs,
and they're going to pay fifteen percent on everything they
send into our country.
Speaker 10 (21:34):
So it's great. But they put up as you could.
Speaker 12 (21:37):
Call it seed money. Let's call it seed money. You
could call it anything you want, but it's five it's
a total of five hundred and fifty billion dollars. So
nobody thought any of that was possible. And it's wonderful.
And we're doing pretty well with the European Union likewise,
and we have some others are all really big, and
our country is going to make.
Speaker 10 (21:57):
A lot of money.
Speaker 12 (21:58):
We would be helped of interest rate would come down,
but we're going to see how the board rules on
that soon. I'd love to see him come down a lot.
But we have a country that's thriving. We had a
dead country one year ago. Today we have the hottest
country anywhere in the world.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
No, we really don't. No, we really don't. Ninety deals
in ninety days have not happened. Just because you made
a deal with the UK and Japan doesn't mean that
all the deals are coming through or that they're even
in America's best interests. So, I don't know, just looked
like Jerome Powell felt really uncomfortable in that meeting. But
(22:34):
I love that he called Trump out like you're talking
about money for a third building that was built five
years ago. This has nothing to do with it. And
I saw in the chat someone saying those questions from
reporters seemed to be fed to Trump. Absolutely. Yeah, they
had some very friendly so called reporters there that weren't
really asking real questions. They were setting him up for
(22:57):
answers or for information that he felt he wanted to give.
So really interesting. He's called Powell a numbskull, He's threatened
to fire Powell. So I'm sure it wasn't the most
comfortable of meetings, the most easy going time. Yeah. So again,
if you didn't hear the video, Trump says it's about
(23:19):
three point one billion that it went up, and you
saw Powell there looking really irritated, shaking his head, closing
his eyes, looking at the paper himself. He's saying the
new figure included cost of renovations for a different federal
office called the Martin Building that was actually renovated five
(23:39):
years ago. It's not new information, and it doesn't have
anything to do with the current renovation of that of
the building that they were touring, and Trump saying, again,
asked by a so called reporter, what would you do
if a project manager on one of your buildings went
over a budget? And Trump saying, I'd fire him, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
That's just terras. Seemed like a long time ago when
he had that big board and he was threatening all
the countries. I feel so long ago already. But I
think that was just a couple of months ago.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
The whole, the whole, what is I don't know how
many months are we into this now? Six months into
this presidency. It seems it feels like it's been years.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, I feel like there's a new chapter. There's a
new distraction, there's a new different thing. It's the iron stuff,
it's the it's the immigration, it's the deporting, it's it's
everything now. So it was, it's been a roller coaster,
you know.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
How they they say, or you know, it's evidence that
when a president goes into office, they come out looking
old because of the stress and pressure of the job.
I feel like after six months, it's us, the American
public that's looking old, like we're the ones feeling the
stress and pressure of this.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I think the most famous picture is like the the
Obama picks, because he looked like a young and spry
guy two eight and he's coming out looking very rough.
So that's us this time.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Trump, Yeah, that's us. This time Trump went in old.
He you know, I don't know how much pressure he is.
He just seems to kind of skip through everything.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
But his businesses are thriving. I'm sure he's making some
behind closed doors deals and he's playing golf. He's going
to get fired to he's in Scotland, home of golf.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
It's gonna be great, no problem at all, and he's
able to take out his retribution on all the people
that he feels has wronged him along the way. Speaking
of Barack Obama, Albert, thank you for bringing him up,
because that includes Barack Obama and Tulci Gabbard. She's coming
(25:45):
for President Barack Obama. Some kind of distraction perhaps from
the Epstein case. I don't know, but we already know
that what they accuse other people of doing seems very
likely it's something that they've done himself. And in this case,
they're worried about election integrity. I would ask Tulca Gabbert,
(26:05):
if you're so worried about the integrity of election and
elections in America and upholding the voice of the American people,
then why aren't you concerned about January sixth? Then why
aren't you concerned about the fake electors? Really you're going
back to Barack Obama. Okay, tell me.
Speaker 7 (26:23):
The story about how you found this evidence.
Speaker 14 (26:29):
As you know, Jesse, the integrity of our democratic republic,
of our elections is of paramount importance to the American people.
Knowing what had occurred previously, the things that this Russia
hoax thing that was called a conspiracy, I wanted to
get to the bottom of the truth of what actually
happened here. This was obviously important to President Trump, but
(26:51):
again is an issue of importance to every single American
in this country in the future of our country as
a republic. So shortly after coming into this position as
Director of National Intelligence, I formed a special team to
investigate this issue.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
I got to tell you, it wasn't easy.
Speaker 14 (27:08):
There were a lot of deep state obstacles that exist
still within the intelligence community, but ultimately we had a
whistleblower who came forward that brought some critical pieces to
this story, and we were able to discover these documents
and find these documents that really pointed to President Obama
directing his national security leaders in James Clapper and John
(27:32):
Brennan to manufacture this January twenty seventeen intelligence community assessment.
The investigation that I led at OD and I that
we released last week Friday provided a lot of those
foundational building blocks and proof for what we know happened.
The report that we released today, the House Intelligence Committee
(27:53):
Oversite Majority Staff report that investigated that January twenty seventeen
assessment that President Will Obama had manufactured with fake intelligence
in order to achieve knowingly using false intelligence in order
to get to the conclusion that he wanted to promote
to the American people that Putin had acted in favor
(28:13):
of President Trump winning that election in twenty sixteen. The
report re released today, line by line, goes through it
dissecting and debunking the knowing falsehoods and lies that were
included in that assessment with the specific intent to undermine
the legitimacy of President Trump, to subvert the will of
(28:34):
the American people who had just voted to a lug
Donald Trump in twenty sixteen, and to in essence, launch
this year's long coup against President Trump that lasted throughout
the four years of his administration.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
Back in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 11 (28:47):
You mentioned Director that there's I guess deep state actors
who are still trying to prevent the truth from coming out.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 14 (28:56):
There are still people, won't surprise you, within the Intelligence
Commuit unity who don't want this information to see the
light of day. Some of them may be implicated in
the crafting of it. Others are concerned about people being embarrassed.
Others are concerned about accountability and what else we will
discover as we continue down this path towards the truth
(29:17):
and bringing about accountability for the American people. That's really
what this is all about and why it does such
a disservice. I was standing there in the White House
Press briefing room and hearing some of these crazy questions
being asked by members of the media who are trying
to distract and deflect away from the historic expose that
we have brought forward that once again puts into question
(29:41):
the American people's ability to trust the integrity of our
democratic republic. And the reason why that is, and it's
similar to the deep state actors who have been trying
to stop us from releasing this, is that we have
members of the media who were complicit in this from
the very beginning, who were leaked early copies of this,
at least lines from this January twenty seventeen Obama manufactured
(30:04):
intelligence assessment. They printed what they were fed, people like
Ellen Nakashima from the Washington Post, who, by the way,
went on to win a Pulitzer Prize because for years
she was so good at lying and not telling the
truth to the American tech geeze.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
She's wrong, she's she's Does anyone believe her? Do you
guys believe her? First of all, I can't get over
the fact that she looks like Cruela Deville. But aside
from that, does anyone believe her? When Marco Rubio looked
into it already and years ago and said, Nope, nothing
(30:41):
like this. And here she is talking about deep state
actors and members of the media being complicit. It serves
two purposes. Here two sully the reputation of Barack Obama
because President Trump has always had it out for and
as a distraction from Epstein. That's what it looks like
(31:05):
to me. Does anyone else see anything different here?
Speaker 2 (31:10):
It's a blatant distraction.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
It's a blatant distraction.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
That's obvious.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
And the problem with this is that now these conspiracy
theorists QAnon, crazy wackos like Tulci Gabbart have the power
to do something like this. Launching a strike force is
what she's calling it, a strike force to investigate the
Obama administration officials related to the election in twenty sixteen.
(31:41):
She says she's got these damning new documents related to
this matter that Obama somehow tried to sabotage Trump and
suppressed evidence that showed that there was no collusion between
Trump and Russia. Now they say they want to hold
Barack Obama accountable. President accusing a former president of treason,
(32:07):
We know we know who the treason this guy is,
right Trump behind January sixth, behind fake electors? Could that
be considered more treasonous if you're going to throw that
word around, and I know it's the wrong word to
use in the situation, in any of these situations, but okay,
you want to use that word, where is it more applicable?
(32:31):
Attorney General Pam Bondi issues a statement saying the DOJ
is proud to work with Tulsey Gabbard on the matter.
I'm sure you are. Obama had his team issue a
statement very rare. He says, he tries to respect the
power of the presidency. You don't want, you know, former
presidents coming out and undermining what the current president is
(32:54):
trying to do. That's traditional, you know, the outgoing guy,
because it's always been a guy doesn't try to undermine
the new guy. But this is a bridge too far.
So Obama is saying the allegations being made against him
are outrageous, they are bizarre, they are a weak attempt,
(33:17):
as Albert says, at distraction, and we all know it.
And meanwhile, you have US officials that could be doing
real work spinning their wheels throwing around these crazy allegations.
Why so that we don't pay attention to Epstein, Well,
we led with Epstein because we know what that's about.
(33:41):
Trump checking out headed to Scotland on a taxpayer funded trip,
trying to get away from the zombies that keep popping
up at every turn. I don't know. This is a
bad look. Meanwhile, related to this story, Republicans are backing
the call by Lindsey Graham and Cornwren for now a
(34:04):
special council to investigate Barack Obama. So they're really they're
truly moving forward with this ridiculousness. There are Republicans that
are now offering support to this move by Senators Lindsay
Graham and John Cornrin to get a special council appointed
to investigate Obama and anything hinky they think that may
(34:27):
have happened in the twenty sixteen election. A special council. Okay,
Josh Holly said of this, it's like drip, drip, drip.
This kind of thing, he said, has been coming out
for years now, and what's frustrating is there's been no
accountability for it. My fear, because we know there's no
(34:47):
evidence and we know this didn't happen, is that they'll
somehow try to make there. They are conspiring together, let's
just get a special council to investigate Barack Obama. Yeah, yeah,
let's get a special council. Let's have a formal investigation.
You can hear the conversation playing out. Okay, let's waste
(35:09):
time on this. Let's try to distract America with this,
and there will be people that fall for this, that
think that there's any real story here. Yeah, it'll cost
the American taxpayer again, lots of money to spin their
wheels in some type of strike force and Special Council
(35:31):
investigations that will take us nowhere. But it'll be a
great news story when Trump wants to point out, you know,
today the Special Council said this. Sure, who do you
think the Special Council will be very frustrating, so frustrating
(35:52):
as a matter of fact, that I'm ready for a
little levity. What do you say, Albert, that we take
a little trip to Florida for Friday Fabulist Florida. Let's
do it. Yeah, this is Friday Fabulous Florida.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
It's time for Friday Fabulous Florida.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Oh, look at.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
The weirdest stories from our weirdest state.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
This and the first story we have on the list
today is a Chucky Cheese mascot busted for debit card
theft in Florida. Police alleged the costume Chucky Cheese worker
resisted arrest. It was a bad scene at the Chucky Cheese.
This worker dressed up in a Chucky Cheese suit at
(36:45):
the kid friendly pizza place. Oh no, Chuck E Cheese
is being arrested. He was arrested in at one of
the franchises, the Chuck E Cheese franchises in Tallahassee, Florida,
taken into custody on larceny charges, hauled out of the
restaurant in handcuffs as kids were looking on why is
Chuck E Cheese being arrested? Mommy?
Speaker 2 (37:06):
That's an all time photo. Like this is just a
great You can see the kids in the back, the
hands behind the hands behind his back, and yeah, it's
just an all time photo.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Of course, it took like two seconds before this image
was posted on social media. This suspect is forty one
year old Jermel giro Jones of Tallahassee. He was dressed,
as you can see from the photo, head to toe
in the Chuck E Cheese costume when police came into
the restaurant at about seven thirty in the evening, so
that's still pretty big dinner hour, right, and confronted him.
(37:39):
According to the arrest report from Tallahassee, the officer says,
I grabbed his right arm while giving the verbal instruction Chucky,
come with chee, Come with me, Chucky, he said. The
man in the mascot cast a costume initially resisted arrest.
Oh there he is. Yeah, he has kind of a
(37:59):
blank stare. I'm gonna give him a six. What do
you give him, Albert? Uh?
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Probably like four? Not really very much. No, it would
have been higher because I just knew that he was
in the costume already, so it would have been funnier
with the costume on.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It would have been a much better uh mugshot, Jones say.
The police immediately started tensing up, locking both of his
arms forward in front of his chest, trying to pull
away from the officer's grip. I gave the verbal commands,
stop resisting. You are being detained. Do not make a scene.
Kind of hard not to make a scene when you're
(38:36):
in the Chuck E Cheese suit. Jones to.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Dodge them. Hide behind the drummers, joan, Yeah, the animatronics. Yeah,
just try to blend in with animatric exactly. Jones was
still in full mouse garb. He was placed in double
locked handcuffs, escorted out of the restaurant into a marked
patrol vehicle, where police then removed his oversized Chucky cheesehead
(39:03):
and found in his pants pockets a debit card that
was reported stolen from a customer during a child's birthday
party at the restaurant. He was arrested on felony charges
of larceny of a debit card, possession of another person's
identification without consent, and for allegedly using the stolen debit
card at least six times fingers just walking around the
(39:28):
walking around the restaurant, the place.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
They say that he racked up charges on the credit card,
including purchasing items at a smoke shop, a meat market,
and at what a Burger So couldn't even spend the
money at his own restaurant, that chucky. He is denying
stealing it. I told the police it was in his
pocket because he just found it and he was about
to turn it into Lost and Found Albert. So what's
(39:54):
all this about? Come on.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
You?
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Yeah, conscientious? The Chuck find people at Chuck E Cheese
issuing a statement saying we're aware of an incident involving
a part time employee arrested and we have taken appropriate
action concerning the subject employee, Chucky. That's a sad, sad
scene right there.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
I bet that was fun for the parents to use
that as an example watching Chucky get arrested. That's what happens.
When you're being a bad boy, You're gonna get arrested.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
It's a lesson for everyone, Albert. It's always a teaching opportunity.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Even Chucky could do something bad. Okay, Lord Chucky, live
and learn.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
You can't take your kids anywhere without crazy things happening.
A Florida man was arrested for duy riding a lawnmower
on a toll road. It happens in Florida. You know
this is the way the man. The man now facing
charges after troopers say he took his riding lawnmower onto
(40:58):
a busy toll road. He was impaired. I'm willing to
bet there's alcohol involved, Albert. According to the Florida Highway Patrol,
dispatcher's got multiple calls from witnesses at about eight thirty
in the morning on a Friday reporting a man operating
a lawnmower erratically on the southbound side of the Suncoast Parkway.
(41:21):
That's State Route five.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
As I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Trooper's sake. Traffic cameras showed this man on the lawnmower
going south from Citrus County into Hernando County. He was
pulled over on the lawnmower just south of the exit
to Highway ninety eight. I'd be willing to bet my
lunch that there's alcohol involved. Exactly right, the Florida Highway
Patrol says. Thirty eight year old Christopher Spain showed several
(41:47):
signs of impairment, including small pupils, flushed skin, dry mouth,
and visible irritation to the inside of his nose. Oh
you don't say. He also had a small blue straw
in his black back pocket and repeatedly cleared his throat, sniffed,
and spit During the traffic stop. He refused to perform
(42:08):
field sobriety exercises, according to the officers, and he was
arrested on driving under the influence. He looks a little
zonked in the picture. I'm gonna give him just because
it seems to match the story that for me is
an eight.
Speaker 2 (42:26):
He looks like Chuck E.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Cheese when the two stories collide. Oh yeah, ver Spain,
he probably should have picked something different than a lawnmower.
At least you can see that coming, so if somebody
is impaired, maybe easier to get out of the way.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
And I know they had one of those fancy ones too,
like the he's. It wasn't like a traditional Like if
you hear lawnmower, you think you're sitting on one of
those green John Deere's. Yeah, he had some fancy maneuvering
one with the with the two to two arms, so.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
That is fancy. But I don't think I no matter
how fancy the lawnmower is, Albert, I don't think it's
going fast, Like you're not out running the cops in
that not going fast.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
And I'm sure it's harder when he's on drugs to
be steering this this one compared to the one with
the steering wheel on the top like the traditional one.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Someone needs to take his lawnmower away. Do you need it?
I wonder if you need a driver's license, a valid
driver's license to ride a lawnmower.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
Uh, I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
I don't know, like if they take away of license.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Foll sized ones maybe, I'm sure, yeah, you have to
have some sort of certification, but like a forklift type
of thing.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
But sure interesting. All right, next story, thank you for
this one. By the way. Florida woman bitten by an
alligator and pulled underwater while in a river with her dog. Yikes,
I gotta love an alligator story on Friday. Fabulous Florida.
This story freaks me out. This lady in the water
(43:58):
and here comes the game. She's recovering from injuries after
this alligator bit her and pulled her underwater. She's twenty seven.
She was with her boyfriend. They took her boat out
to the South Fork River in Palm City on Wednesday,
and the authorities say the victim and her dog were
about waist deep in the water when the gator bit
(44:21):
her hand and her wrist, and then briefly pulled her
under the water before releasing her. The victim's boyfriend was
in the vicinity took her to a nearby boat ramp,
where she got some medical attention before she was flown
off to the hospital. Deputies say the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission responded started looking for this alligator, and
(44:44):
as of this morning, it's not known whether the alligator
had been trapped or not. I don't know maybe it's
like when they get a taste for humans, they search
them down.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
But it seemed to me it feels weird because it's
kind of their territory.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Right, They're just doing what alligators do.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, and then an opportunity presented itself. They don't know
that they're gonna get witch hunted into for for binding
a human.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
I kind of think it's the human's fault. Anytime you
are around water in Florida, you have to assume there's
a gater nearby, even your own swimming pool. If you
don't do a visual sweep of your yard and the water,
you know there are multiple stories about gators found in
swimming pools, even in your own backyard. You need to
be careful.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
And in this backyard, kitchen, everywhere, gators have been from
everywhere for years.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
So she's in a river. What do you think is
gonna happen in a river? I don't know?
Speaker 2 (45:41):
With her dog too, which I wouldn't. I wouldn't even
myself want to go in there and let alone my dog.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
So no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
No, Well I wouldn't have included this if this was
a fatal story. But she didn't make it out alive.
She was met it like she was flown out to
a hot.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Spet of fact. Yeah, got a little treatment for the
the gate bite and probably won't be waist deep in
river water in Florida again anytime soon. All Right, let's
go back over the stories, because now we've got to
pick a favorite, Albert. Here's what we have. We have
Chuck E. Cheese busted for alleged debit card theft at
(46:17):
a Tallahassee Chuck E Cheese restaurant. We have our friend,
the Florida man arrested for a duy on a lawnmower
on a toll road. And we have a Florida woman
bitten by an alligator pulled underwater while in a river
with her dog. And your favorite would be Albert.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
I like Chuck E Cheese. It's just the very funny visual.
It's seeing the kids, his hand behind the egg. It
was all type. I saw it trending on Twitter yesterday,
so it was very fun. I'm glad it happened out
to Florida. Makes my job easier today.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
Absolutely. I usually would pick the alligator story, but I too,
am going with the Chuck E Cheese mascot. I think
that picture is amazing. How's it looking in the chat?
Speaker 2 (47:04):
Didn't have time to put up a poll, but I
can see people like the Dui. A lot of Chucky
Cheese is in there, but a couple of people like
the Dui lawnmore.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
All right, Okay, well, uh, that's Friday Fabulous Florida.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
This has been Friday Fabulous Florida. Ganic, y'all come back
now here.
Speaker 6 (47:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Gordon says he saw the lawnmower guy on the news.
Chuck E cheese crook for sure. John says, make it
the lawnmower man and Chucky. It would be great. Oh
the lawnmower man. Oh if you had the Chucky on
the lawnmower kind of yeah, that'd be pretty good as well.
A lot of people for Chucky. That's Friday Fabulous Florida.
Let's do a little news and then we'll have Jim
(47:54):
Avola come on, we'll talk a little politics. See what
his take on the whole Epstein cases. Thanks for participating
in that.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
Well, before we get to the news, we should try
to get to some of these chats.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
Thank you so much. Sauce Alito, Steve throwing in a
twenty saying starting it right, love you guys. Thank you, Sauce, Alito, Steve,
thank you, thank you, thank you. We appreciate that so much.
Richard Delemator party in for Kim's mom. Oh, Richard, thank
you so much, really kind of you. My mom is
recovering and she's doing really well, so thank you for that.
(48:26):
Jim Eaton with a couple bucks. Happy weekend, Happy weekend
to you, Jim. Thank you for contributing to the show.
Harry popping in with a five. Every day the Trump
administration looks more and more like Friday Fabulous Florida. Isn't
that the truth? Well, they come out of Florida.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
So he is a Florida man now, yeah, especially living there.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Ray m Hill with a ten bucks. Good to hear
you're on the show, Kim. Haven't heard how your mom
is as of yet. Just tuned in, look and look.
Great to hear your voice and best to your mom.
Thank you, Ray. She's doing well. It was a mild
stre and it affected her language, so she's having a
little trouble coming up with words, but every day she's better.
(49:07):
This just happened what a day ago, day and a
half ago, so it's still pretty fresh and she's doing well,
so I really appreciate that. Thank you for the kind
words and for the contribution to the show. Really, thank you.
Pamela Kirby with ten south Park was delicious last night.
Ooh delicious. Those guys who create it have no sacred cows.
(49:28):
Anyone can be mocked. Everyone can be mocked, yes, Pamela.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
Yeah, a lot of the right winger maga people are
complaining that they never did. No, they are equal treatment
for everybody. I've been watching South Park for years. They
get everyone, they call out everyone.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
So I was reading an analysis of it last night,
like an opinion piece that they called the show a
cultural touchstone, that if something makes it onto the show, right,
it's because it's kind of big in our natural subconscious whatever,
and that this story was going on about how they
managed to get the male member, you could say, Trump's
(50:06):
male member onto the show, and at first the network
wanted to blur the package. We'll call it the package,
the tiny little package of Trump, and the south Park
creator said nope, no, you can't blur it. And they said,
all right, put eyes googly eyes on it. If you
put Google eyes on it, it becomes a character. And
(50:28):
then we don't have to blur it, and they were
laughing because they said that this whole thing of going
back and forth about the package had them making grown
ups talk about the male member for four days and
a series of messages back and forth, and that's what
they did. They put googly eyes on the tiny little package.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
So South Park makes these episodes weekly. It's not like
they pre plan and do this ahead of time. Every
week and every before every new episode, they come up
with a brand new storyboard and all the paper art
that they do. So it's very live and it's very
up to date with everything going on. So I can't
wait to see what will happen in the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
I guess they took a hiatus and they hadn't been
on for a while, and this is you know, they're
screaming right back into these episodes with this being the
premiere episode.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Yeah, so they moved the Paramount Plus and then they
got the new deal. So then I think they took
some time off with that deal and they had their
own side projects. This is the Trey Parker and uh,
I forgot the other guy. But uh, they've done like
they've done booking Mormon people. Forget that they've done a
lot and throughout their career, so they're doing a lot
more than just South Park.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Yeah, well we're all talking about this one, so it's crazy.
Let's do a little news. Can we do some news?
And thank you to everyone to for contributing to the show.
Really appreciate that and for all the kind words and
nice messages. Let's jump into news and get that done
before we have Jamavola come through. Otherwise are couple to
be able to get to it?
Speaker 2 (52:02):
Here it is.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
On the Mark Thompson Show. I'm Kim McAllister and now
I'm just filling in from myself. This report is sponsored
by Coachella Valleycoffee dot com. If you haven't tried the tea,
if you have not tried the Clarity blend with coffee
with mushrooms so that you know our brain is more clear.
Oh boy, you're really gonna love it. As mentioned, President
(52:29):
Trump is on his way to Scotland, the White House
saying it's a private four day trip. Trump reportedly plans
to visit two of his golf resorts and meet the
First Minister of Scotland. The President will also sit down
with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as it's his first
trip to the UK since his re election. Gilain Maxwell's
(52:50):
second prison visit from the Department of Justice is over.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has not released any of
the transcripts. After again meeting with Epstein's accomplice in Florida
before leaving for Scotland today, Trump was asked whether Maxwell
could be trusted and would only say that Blanche was
up to the job. This comes as the Trump administration
(53:12):
continues to face pressure from both sides of the aisle
to release any and all files connected with that convicted
sex offender. Police say there is a suspect still at
large after a fatal shooting on the University of New
Mexico campus. Two people were shot at at a student
housing complex, one of them died, one of them wounded,
(53:34):
and the investigation there is still underway. Torrential rainfall slamming
areas of Kansas and Missouri today. The widespread flash flooding
is happening across a one thousand mile stretch, with Kansas
City hit particularly hard. Already, there reports in Kansas City
of cars submerged in rising waters across that area. Given
(53:57):
everything that happened in Texas, and the pictures and the
horrible stories that we saw come out of Texas that
have this type of flooding going on in Kansas City
and across parts of America is pretty scary. The next
story I have for you, it is about deportations finally
(54:17):
starting up at Alligator Alcatraz, the so called detention center
in Florida. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis confirming deportation flights that
started to take off from the immigration detention facility located
in the Everglades. DeSantis dismissing claims of poor conditions at
the center, chiding reporters for accepting the word of what
(54:39):
he called criminal aliens. The deportation flights are part of
President Trump's sweeping immigration agenda. Does anyone believe that it's
a fun time at so called Alligator Alcatraz? Yeah, I'll
take the word of the people that are there. Foreign
countries can resume dropping aid into the Gaza Strip area.
(55:00):
This according to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli military is
allowing Jordan and the UAE to resume air dropping aid packages.
More than one hundred aid groups have warned Gaza is
on the brink of starvation and if you've seen the
pictures coming out of this region, really heartbreaking. Today Trump
gave a bleak outlook for the region, saying Hamas's unwillingness
(55:23):
to agree to a ceasefire agreement means Israel We'll have
to finish the job. That is what Trump said. I meanwhile,
US personnel there to negotiate some type of ceasefire are
on the way back to America without a deal in place.
Right now, Tony maybe getting to meet George Lucas, because
(55:45):
legendary filmmaker George Lucas is making his first ever San
Diego Comic Con appearance this weekend. He'll help close out
the convention with a panel in the famous Hall h
to preview the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that is
expected to open next year in Los Angeles. Although Lucas
has never appeared at one of the world's largest fan gathering,
(56:07):
Star Wars made one of its earliest public promotional appearances
at this event in nineteen seventy six. San Diego Comic
Con runs through Sunday, which is when attendees might be
able to catch George Lucas. That's going to be so
many people trying to pack into there to see him.
There isn't anything like this. There is a video captured
(56:30):
by a ring camera at a house in Compton, California
that is going viral online. It shows what appears to
be a small gray creature walking by a woman's home
in the middle of the night. It appears to have
an elongated head and walks slightly hunched over. More than
(56:52):
a million plus viewers so far of this clip and
it's only eleven seconds, are calling it an a Skeptics
say it's probably a child. Oh, here it is, let's watch.
Uh huh it has an elongated head. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 12 (57:14):
So.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
Skeptics say it's probably a child, a person wearing some
type of mariachi hat, maybe a person covering themselves with
a blanket. Other theories popping out as well. The homeowner, though,
convinced it's extraterrestrial in origin and a guess again this
house in Compton, California. I love the picture in the background,
(57:35):
the Dear God picture. They really think it's an alien.
I will say it kind of looks like the head
shape of in the movie Alien. I don't know, kind
of something funky to catch on the ring camera. How
do you know. I guess it alerts you when there's movement,
so you would go back and look.
Speaker 2 (57:57):
Yeah, yeah, it's weird. It looks weird. It could be
a weird angle or I don't know, it.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Looks a little funky. I don't know. I mean it's weird.
Speaker 2 (58:06):
Time for them to come to it's come back later
more years.
Speaker 1 (58:11):
Yeah, no, this house is protected by God. Yeah, they
see the words on the screen. You can see it
passes in front of the barrel. Lower half is transparent.
There are no legs. They think maybe it's someone trying
to play a prank. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (58:29):
Yeah, it's the UFO expert. I trust the UFO expert because.
Speaker 1 (58:31):
You always trust the UFO experts. And lastly, I'll tell
you about the movie. Is it? This weekend? The Fantastic
Four first steps off to a huge start at the
box office. This movie, featuring Marvel's first family, made twenty
four point four million dollars from Thursday previews yesterday, and
it is expected to pull in between one hundred and
(58:54):
one hundred ten million in its debut weekend. The number
is the largest preview result of the year, beating out
Superman's twenty two and a half million earlier this month,
and we'll hear from the culture blaster Michael Snyder, who
loves the Marvel movies, and he'll tell us all about
fantastic four first steps. And this report is sponsored by
(59:16):
Coachella valletcoffeeantea dot com. The website is Coachella Valley Coffee
dot com. If you haven't taken a look at it,
please do. They've got the new Clarity Blend coffee and
it is going very well in my house. Comes in
a big two pound bag. It looks expensive, but when
you realize how much you're getting and how delicious it is,
(59:39):
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Show and our thanks to you for supporting them. I'm
Kim McCallister, and this is the Mark Thompson Show, The
Mark Thompson Show. Matt with your iron Rod.
Speaker 7 (01:01:07):
Who's Mark Thompson?
Speaker 6 (01:01:10):
Hey? Which one you use?
Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
Mark Thompson?
Speaker 7 (01:01:13):
What he's got doing here is a situation.
Speaker 10 (01:01:18):
It's agreeable your face.
Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
Ralph Nader just sent me a book? Did he send
you one too?
Speaker 6 (01:01:26):
I'll offer this sincere apology to you today.
Speaker 4 (01:01:30):
Everything going up extrem.
Speaker 10 (01:01:32):
Calling me a lie?
Speaker 7 (01:01:33):
Know what you call him?
Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
You our liar?
Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
You are a cover up artist.
Speaker 7 (01:01:40):
And you are a liar, liar your pants fine fire
that Google told.
Speaker 6 (01:01:54):
Me and you let him finish.
Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Sorry, it was wrong, it was stupid, and.
Speaker 6 (01:01:59):
I'm going to be a better person.
Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
No, no, I'm never tell you what I think.
Speaker 7 (01:02:06):
What are the porn stars?
Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
Hasn't anybody been away?
Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Percent of question talk about that?
Speaker 7 (01:02:28):
There is no defense for my conduct.
Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
I misspoke and I stand corrected, and I want to apologize.
Speaker 10 (01:02:40):
To the Asian Union, Asian American.
Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
Community, Times of Mother Tippers.
Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
It is the Mark Thompson Show and we are on
the way toward this week in politics with Jim Avola
still waiting for him. So I know you covered this yesterday,
but I did see word from Hulk Hogan's wife who's
speaking out after his death. She said her heart is
in pieces. After the wrestling icon sudden death in Florida yesterday,
(01:03:15):
she did an Instagram Instagram post that revealed Hulk Hogan
had been dealing with health issues but that he believed
he would recover from them. The Clearwater Police say Hogan,
whose real name is Terry Blea, suffered a medical emergency
in his home. He was pronounced dead at a hospital
a short time later, and they say fans around the
(01:03:36):
world are mourning the loss of Hogan, who helped bring
professional wrestling into the mainstream, and I think that's true, Albert.
There are probably a lot of people who are wrestling
fans that are sad about this death. But I look
at him and see what he did with Trump and
how you know, he brought the wrestling community into the
(01:03:56):
fold with his antics like you see here, and I, yeah,
I don't have fond feelings for Hull.
Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Cogan recipes Hull Cogan, but yeah, his uh, his post
career has been kind of interesting with the remarks on
Twitter and his the racism that he was displaying, and
he got in a huge controversy as well after his
time in WWE with some some stuff coming out too.
(01:04:25):
But uh, still a wrestling icon. Yeah, obviously he's a wrestler.
He's not like he doesn't really know politics. He does
look like a maga guy, so I wasn't too surprised.
Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Yeah that's true.
Speaker 7 (01:04:37):
But.
Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Yeah, almost sad the cardiac arrest.
Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
Speaking of celebrities who have died, they're trying to name
an airport after Ozzy Osbourne in the UK in Birmingham, England.
The airport could be Ozzy Osbourne Airport. There's now a
petition to on change dot org trying to rename burmi
Ingham International Airport after the Prince of Darkness. He died
(01:05:04):
this week at the age of seventy six as well.
The petition was started by a man who admitted that
he is a metal head and co hosts a podcast.
He said, there's no word from officials if renaming Birmingham
International is really being considered, but he's got this petition
going trying to get this done. Can you imagine where
(01:05:24):
are you landing Ozzy Osbourne International? Yeah? I know.
Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Canada has their own weird little airport codes. All they
all start with. Why they even have one in Toronto
is YYZ and that's for I think that's a shout
out to rush another out. Okay, cool good airport online
with that, So that'd be really cool.
Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
I think it'd be cool too.
Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
If they don't, they don't lose as many bags at
that airport then they do at London Heathrow, which I
think is like the worst airport for for bag handling.
They always lose everyone's bags.
Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
Speaking of that, should we do as stories from the sky.
We've been sitting on this one for a couple of days.
Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
Yes, we should. We could do that and then I'll
let you know when I'm Jim Kinds.
Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Let's start it. This is stories from the sky.
Speaker 7 (01:06:13):
We have Clarence Clarence Progerick Roger. Let's our victor of Victor.
No is enough I have had with these munkey fighting
snakes on this money to pay everybody's strap.
Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Well, this is a little bit concerning. I don't know
if you're concerned about this, Albert, but apparently airline security
may be at risk. With Christy Nome in charge of
homeland security, are we at all concerned about this? She's
changing security rules, putting safety on the back burner. Perhaps
she wants to change the rules around the amount of
(01:06:50):
liquid that you're allowed to bring through the checkpoints, she said.
Hopefully the future of an airport where she's looking to go,
she says, is that you walk in the door with
your carry on suitcase, you walk through a scanner, you
go right to your flight. That it should take just
one minute to get to the gate, she said. You
should just be able to walk through their screeners, their
(01:07:10):
scanners and go right to your flight. Is this another
effort to roll us back to whatever bygone era where
security wasn't an issue, because right, nine to eleven happened
and everything changed and the world will never be the same.
I don't think we can just go back to the
days where you roll on through and everything's just fine.
(01:07:33):
She said this in a national summit. Christy Nome, Department
of Homeland Security leader, is saying the changes could be
coming to the size of liquid containers that are allowed
for passengers boarding flights in the United States. The next
big announcement, she says, is what size your liquids need
to be that she's looking at now the scanners, and
(01:07:55):
that also people are going to be allowed to keep
their shoes on while passing through ta say screening.
Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
I think that will actually become a think. I think
that that is happening mm hm put in place. But
the liquid thing, I don't know. That's kind of a
with the nine to eleven stuff, it's kind of iffy.
And also like people get crazy at the airport, and yeah,
a lot of times they are intoxicated, So I feel
like there's a lot of times if you're increasing the size,
you're increasing the size of all liquids.
Speaker 1 (01:08:23):
So right, it's true.
Speaker 2 (01:08:24):
I carefully because the nose flight may be delayed from
some crazy passengers.
Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
So the current rules are that you can have aerosols, coffee,
bottled water liquids like juices, creams, gels, pastes, but they
all have to be under three point four ounces, and
they are allowed in your carry on bag, but they
have to be that size otherwise they have a garbage
can right up security checkpoint. They'll make you throw it away.
(01:08:50):
But she says she's working with different companies on technologies
and competitive bids on what they'll do, and she says
it's not any she'll be announcing in the next week
or so, but they're going to try to make the
traveling experience much better and more hospitable for people while
still keeping safety standards. There. The whole testing of the
(01:09:13):
shoes thing, okay, but when you talk about really looking
at what people are bringing on the plane, I don't
mind having to get to the airport early and stand
in a security line and have them make sure that
everything's safe. I would rather have increased scrutiny and have
peace of mind while I'm sitting on the plane that
(01:09:35):
we've all gone through a check here, then have people
walk on through because you're so concerned about making it
easy for passengers.
Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Yeah, and it's just the whole traveling experience, if you
think about it, you're in this million dollar thing every
time if we fly in land, I feel like it
should be justified that it should be people should clap.
I'm not a clapper myself, but that's amazing, Like people this.
I can't believe there's people out there who f people
still and uh, it's best to be safe, it's best.
(01:10:04):
It's it's like a huge I don't know, it's it's
crazy that we just do this casually like we're going
on these planes.
Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
I have no problem with the clapping, and I definitely
want to know that I'm that I'm as secure as possible.
Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
So if we could just do one more, let's do
this one.
Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
Albert, because this is crazy. ADULTA regional jet pilot apologized
to passengers for an aggressive maneuver he had to do
to avoid a B fifty two bomber. Speaking of feeling
secure in the sky, what the plane had to make
a hard turn to avoid colliding with the US Air
(01:10:41):
Force B fifty two bomber. The incident happened with a
sky West flight operating as a delta connection from Minneapolis,
Minnesota to is it Minute or Minot, North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (01:10:56):
Right, But those sky West aircraft So luckily sky West
is a regional plane, so it's a smaller aircraft with
less passengers. So I'm sure a crazy maneuver is kind
of easier for him. And that then, like if you're
traveling with like a triple seven, oh yeah, I'm sure
even a bigger seven thirty seven like that would have
been tough. But that's scary, very scary.
Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
The flight landed safely. It was cleared for approach by
the tower, but performed to go around when another aircraft
became visible in their flight path. The B fifty two
involved was doing a flyover after at the North Dakota
State Fairgrounds to honor the city of Minnow or Minute
as a great American defense community. The flyover was planned
(01:11:40):
in advance approved by the FAA. This included the FAA's
local Flight Standards District Office, the Minnow International Airport, air
traffic control personnel, and others. The bomber flew in a
holding pattern about twelve miles east of the fairgrounds and
continued to communicate with air traffic controllers at the approach
(01:12:01):
control as well as the tower throughout the flyover. The tower,
though did not advise the inbound commercial aircraft that this
was all going down the air traffic control tower operated
by a contractor, not directly by the FAA. But they're
now all investigating exactly what happened there. Can you imagine
your flant, your plane has to do a maneuver to
(01:12:23):
avoid a B fifty two bomber. That's crazy. Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
Yeah, and look at that thing. That thing is huge,
just two four engines on it and it's coming straight
at you.
Speaker 1 (01:12:33):
Wow. Wild. All right, that is stories from the sky.
Speaker 4 (01:12:39):
This has been Stories from the sky. Captain has turned
off the seatbelt sign and you are now free to
move about the cabin.
Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
So excited to welcome our next guest. He, of course,
is the former White House correspondent for ABC News, esteemed journalist,
award winning journalist, and friend of the Mark Thompson Show.
This is Jim Avla. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 6 (01:13:05):
And I've actually reported from mine, not North Dakota.
Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
Oh it's mine, not thank you, thank you, mine, not Yeah.
Speaker 6 (01:13:12):
Apparently huge, the huge fifty fifty two's are all there.
That's where their base.
Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
Is apparently they're they're in the sky headed right toward
commercial aircraft. Come on, a.
Speaker 6 (01:13:23):
Probably there's probably only two commercial aircraft in all of
North Dakota's And so it's all right.
Speaker 1 (01:13:30):
The first thing I wanted to ask you about, Jim Avola,
especially your experience with network media, is this whole Paramount
CBS sky Dance merger. It has been approved. It's a
it's just about a done deal. The FCC chairman Brendan
Carr saying he's hopeful that sky Dance will make significant
(01:13:53):
changes at CBS News, and that they will. They're already
promising to tell other sides of the story. Right, We're
going to see a more probably Fox Newsy approach at
CBS News. I think they're turning it into the next
station that's friendly to Trump. They're going to give him
airtime for promos and god knows whatever else. You know.
(01:14:17):
Will we see the Trump Bible for sale, the spot
for the next Trump perfume running for free on CBS?
I don't know. Does this mean that we don't have
the Big Three anymore?
Speaker 10 (01:14:28):
Jim?
Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
I don't hear you. I can see your picture, but
I don't hear your voice. Oh, something must have happened?
Speaker 6 (01:14:40):
What happened? Hell?
Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
Oh there now I hear you, thank you, Okay, okay.
Speaker 6 (01:14:46):
It is dangerous CBS News. When I first started, I
started in at CBS when I was quite young, and
it was the standard of broadcast television. It still has
CBS Sunday Morning, great program, and still has sixty minutes,
great program, but they're trying to diminish those. So it'll
(01:15:07):
be interesting to see. I think the first tell will be.
Speaker 1 (01:15:11):
The new.
Speaker 6 (01:15:14):
EP because the other one resigned because he was getting
his shoulder was being looked over Bill Owens and now
a right, and now we have Simon, who was Bob Simon,
if you remember the correspondent, great correspondent who was on
sixty minutes and also was covered I've been in war
(01:15:35):
zones and all over the place with that guy who
was a great correspondent. He died in a car crash
on the West Side Highway. But his daughter has been
a producer there for twenty five years and she is
now in charge now. If they let her do her job,
the show will be fine if they but they've already
(01:15:57):
said they've appointed somebody to look over to look look
at fairness on the CBS Broadcast. So as you say
that that is a problem because that's not going to
that's a corporate person, so uh and not a newsperson.
The other thing that gives me some hope is that
Tom Sabrowski, who is now the president of CBS News
(01:16:21):
after a series of resignations because of because of Paramount's intrusiveness,
is in charge. He's he is allegedly in charge now.
Speaker 12 (01:16:37):
He was.
Speaker 6 (01:16:39):
The vice president at ABC when I was there and
then wasn't was the executive producer of Good Morning America
when it went from you know, number two to number one,
and is a solid journalist. He's he's going to have
his you know, he's going to have issues with these
people who are coming in and claiming they're going to
(01:17:03):
change everything. Why would you mess with sixty minutes, which
has earned the reputation that it has and is the
number one television news program around and you know period.
I mean and during COVID it was the number one
(01:17:23):
program period. So I think it's silly and in shooting
themselves in the foot if they actually start diminishing the
credibility that that has brought, that sixty Minutes has been
has and that has been brought there by correspondence like
Mike Wallace and Morley Safer and Ed Bradley. You know
(01:17:45):
that those folks built that institution. And I'm sure if
they were alive, they'd be rolling in their grave. They'd
be rolling outside their graves. Now they're rolling in their grades.
But yeah, you know it's it is very dangerous, and
the whole thing is dangerous. I mean ABC capitulated as well.
(01:18:05):
So let me explain what happened when they on the
ABC thing. Okay, so on this I worked there. So
George Stephanopoulos on his Sunday Morning show said that Trump
was convicted of rape. He wasn't convicted of rape, was
convicted of sexual assault.
Speaker 1 (01:18:21):
But the judge who was found liable for it and.
Speaker 6 (01:18:26):
His and in his the judge and his sentencing of
Trump called it rape himself. So George was quoting the judge,
so technically was incorrect. The thing that sunk them was
that there were emails that were found in discovery where
(01:18:49):
you know these emails, you got to be careful of
the emails. Don't put it in writing where George expresses
his disdain for Donald trum up. So why is that
a problem well, the liability laws, as you know, Kim,
are that as far as a reporter is concerned, is
(01:19:14):
not only do you have to be wrong, but you
have to know you're wrong and published anyway before with malice. Yeah,
so those emails kind of could point toward malice, and
I think ABC capitulated and that's what happened with them
with this.
Speaker 1 (01:19:32):
With the CBS case though, it seems to me that
sixty minutes did nothing wrong. Editing a broadcast to fit
into an allotted time is normal standard practice. They did
nothing wrong here. So it really seems to me that
the payoff to Trump, the settlement with Trump really was
(01:19:53):
a payoff to get approval for the sky Dance Mergerside
any doubta that. Yeah, they just basically by their approval
from the FCC.
Speaker 6 (01:20:01):
That's it, right, and they and you know they I'm
I'm pretty sure that in those hidden talks during the
settlement target settlement things, they totally get rid of Colbert too. So,
you know, they're the Trump administration's efforts to destroy the
(01:20:23):
reputation of our institutions, from the Supreme Court to the
Congress to the media. He's been trying to do that
for years. And it's it's it's yielding some success. NBC
is you know, they're not immune from it either. They're
you know, they're they could they could be in trouble
(01:20:45):
at any point as well. Of course they already hate MSNBC,
so you know, and then they go and they're going
to go after CNN as well. You know, we're we
should be in a highly defensive position in the media
against this administration.
Speaker 1 (01:21:02):
Are we And I know I don't think we're there yet,
but are we, in your estimation, headed to possibly some
kind of state media where Trump controls the flow of
information and what we're allowed to hear from our major
networks and what we're not.
Speaker 6 (01:21:20):
Well, we're already there on Fox and on Newsmax, and
so there are those outlets that he controls and and
the right wing controls. So where a government takeovers what's
interesting is you'd think they would have used those funds
to take over PBS and NPR, you know, and then
(01:21:42):
they could have had their government right station. They've gotten
rid of Radio Free Europe, They've gotten rid of all
these things where the government did have a say what
was going to be on on the radio or television,
and you know, well, they continue to try to do
that and set up their own particular station. I don't
(01:22:05):
know that he has to. He already has them, he
already has I mean, we're in such silos. Were there
people who do nothing but watch Fox? It's on all
day long. I have an aunt who I love dearly,
but she is a trumper and she has if she's
not playing golf, she has Fox News on and the
(01:22:26):
sitting there, we can't we can't even speak anymore. I
mean we speak about you know, how you doing. That's
about it. So yeah, I mean, he he has those people,
and he has that that outlet, and he's using it.
And you know what we have to protect though, is
that that is that we also still have mainstream media.
Speaker 7 (01:22:48):
So we have.
Speaker 6 (01:22:50):
When we had CBS, Now we have NBC and ABC.
If you watch the newscast at five, at six thirty
or whatever time it's on in your local area, you'll
see that there's eighteen minutes of news. It's straight news,
there's no commentary, and it's reliable. If if you watch. Now,
if you venture off into the cables, then you have
(01:23:14):
to choose your silo. You know, CNN tries to be
down the middle a little bit, but there's still they
have more left wing columnists than they do and analysts
and they do right wing and MSNBC of course doesn't
have any right wing of those folks. So you can
watch those two and get you know what I would claim,
because I am a liberal and I admit to it,
(01:23:38):
I would I would say that you get the true
scoup of what's going on in the Trump administration stories, right, yes,
and then they have people come in and comment on it,
and then that's something different. I don't watch that so
much as I watched it, but you know, I watch
CNN much of the day. You know, I'll tune in
(01:23:59):
and out to see what's going on, and I think
it's still reliable. But I think, you know, what's it's
interest to see who's going to be the next target.
You know, they already banned the Wall Street Journal from
h from traveling on the Air Force on the on
Air Force one. You know, it's part of the pool.
(01:24:20):
This is this is Rupert Murdoch's publication, and they're going
after him. So I don't think there are any limits
to what Donald Trump is willing to do.
Speaker 1 (01:24:30):
Yeah, it's it's really scary when you look at it,
but I appreciate your perspective. I saw a story. I mean,
it's so obvious. House Speaker Mike Johnson telling CBS News
he is absolutely convinced that Republicans will expand their narrow
margin in the House in next year's midterms. And what's
he supposed to say, right, Oh, we're going to lose
(01:24:51):
big now, of course he's going to say that they're
going to expand the their Republican seats in the in
the midterms. I wonder if if you're watching at all
the run up to the mid terms, the looking at
the redistricting of congressional districts, the kind of plays that
are happening ahead of time by both parties to see
(01:25:13):
if they can figure out how best to use the
rules to their advantage. And if you have any thoughts
on what's happening so far.
Speaker 6 (01:25:21):
Well, and answer to your last question, I think Texas
is well into redistricting and they're going to stack their
their elections so that it's pretty difficult for a Democrat
to win, so they will pick up some seats. Gavin
Newsom has said that he will counter with redistricting in
(01:25:42):
California to give Democrats more seats here to try to
balance that out. So we'll see what happens. All bets
are off about what how much cheating there's going to
be by the by the Trump administration. And here's why
the Supreme Court gave Donald Trump carte blanche. If he
(01:26:04):
says he is acting as in protecting the election as
a president, nobody can do anything about it. You can't
take him to court for that. They have ruled that
he is immune from prosecution if if he can, if
he was doing it in his line of duty. So
what he's going to claim is that there's fraud going on,
(01:26:28):
and so he's going to take over the election in
Georgia or Florida or wherever, or his administration will So yes,
I mean it's it's they're going to cheat to do it,
but they will do it now. The only the only
hope that Liberals and Democrats have is that the overreach
(01:26:49):
that they've been doing. Deportation is very unpopular, even though
it started out as very popular, but the way that
their tactics have and their herdheartedness has turned off especially independents,
but even some Republicans. The economy is not you know,
they keep you know, saying over and over how great
(01:27:11):
the economy is. You know, the economy was great because
Biden turned it over to them. Great, and it continues
to be just fine. Now if he continues with these
tariffs and the prices go up because of the tariffs,
especially before the midterm elections, he's they're they're in big trouble.
(01:27:32):
I think that there's that they've overstepped and overreached. And
now I was overly optimistic the last time, and I
freely admit it that there are more than thirty five
percent or idiots. They're you know, they're in this country.
Speaker 1 (01:27:48):
Unfortunately, Gemmala is changing his idiot calculation.
Speaker 6 (01:27:56):
America up to about forty eight to forty nine percent unfortunately. Yeah,
so you know we have to be diligent. Democrats are
starting to fight back. You know, Newsom is leading the way.
I know Newsom has some baggage, but I think he's
an excellent spokesman and debater on all these issues. Even
(01:28:17):
if he doesn't land up being the presidential candidate. There
are other there's a there's a good strong bench that
you know, can I can do this? I think unfortunately
in my opinion, and this isn't just an opinion, and
I wish I was wrong. It's going to have to
be a white male.
Speaker 5 (01:28:35):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (01:28:35):
The the unfortunately, the country has gone overboard on their
racism and sexism. So I think that's I mean, I
think that's why common A lost. I mean, I really do.
I think she's she lost because she was a black
woman and it was it was that close that just
(01:28:56):
enough of those races kept her out of office.
Speaker 1 (01:28:59):
Is awful.
Speaker 6 (01:29:01):
Yeah, so you know, I mean, is there hope? Yes,
there's hope.
Speaker 1 (01:29:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (01:29:05):
Am I banking on it like I was last time?
Though I'm not. I'm not. I've gone over to the Mark,
the dark side with Mark.
Speaker 1 (01:29:13):
Thank you guys are sitting in the darkness together. Let's
roll back a little bit. We talked about Epstein. Tom
tillis his name. Now that he has the freedom to
speak his mind, he's saying, listen, this Epstein thing is
going to be like zombies. One story is going to
go away and the next one's going to pop up
and you won't be able to kill it fast enough.
And he's saying it's time to let the sunshine in
(01:29:35):
and release all these documents. Today. Trump's on his way
to Scotland was asked about Glaiine Maxwell and said would
you be willing to pardon her? And he said, I
haven't really thought about pardoning Glaiine Maxwell. I know I
have the ability to do that, but I haven't really
thought about it, which I don't believe for a second.
What are your thoughts about this Epstein thing? I know
(01:29:57):
you're in the darkness, but could this fire only be
the thing that catches up with Donald Trump?
Speaker 6 (01:30:03):
Well, I think it's going to be a problem for him.
It's going to drip, drip drip. Every investigative reporter at
the network and national level are looking into. First of all,
they're going to find that they're going to find the
the birthday card with Trump drawing the picture, that'll be foul.
Speaker 1 (01:30:24):
We had an we played video of an attorney who
represented many of Epstein's victims who says the book, the
birthday book, belongs to the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, that
everyone knows right where it is, and all Congress has
to do is subpoena the attorney and the accountants that
are in charge of Epstein's estate and they would have
(01:30:45):
it in their possession. Boom like that.
Speaker 6 (01:30:47):
Yeah, so that's going to come out that's going to
be And then of course we've been hearing now that
his name is several times in the Epstein files. Now
Bill Clinton's name is in the Epstein files. Other big
names are in the Epstein files, you know. And it
(01:31:08):
doesn't matter. Doesn't mean that you're committing a crime. No,
doesn't mean you hang with bad people. Yes, as my
dad used to say, I said that. I think I
said this last week. There are two things my dad
told me was nothing good happens after midnight. And you
know who you are, not only by your friends, but
by your enemies, and being you know, traveling on Epstein's
(01:31:35):
playing with going to places where they know that there
are young girls. Whether or not they participated, I don't know.
But I don't think that scandal is going to die.
I think that will continue to push forward. And I
think that even MAGA folks, because of the pedophile issue
and they're they're so extremely focused on they think the
(01:31:58):
country is being run by pedophile else that they're not
going to let it go until they get until they
get the full report. Now Trump is doing everything he
can to stall so you know, he asked for the
grand jury. He knew they know that the grand jury
his lawyer. So the grand jury's not going to report,
it's not going to be released. And first of all,
even if it was released, it's only going to have
(01:32:19):
stuff about Epstein in Maxwell, not about ancillary figures who
were not charged. So that's not going to be that's
that's that was a straw man. So I don't think
that there's going to be you know, they're trying to
find one little thing after another to delay it, but eventually,
(01:32:44):
you know, if it's going to be up to Congress
to get together with the MAGA folks and the Democrats
to demand a hearing of subpoenas. I know they've subpoened
Maxine already, and the subpoena these works, like you're talking
about it, They subpoena the people who have who have
the book Birthday Book. So you know, if you catch him,
(01:33:05):
you know, I guess it doesn't matter how many times
he lies, but you know, you would think that if
you catch him in the lie that he didn't write
any he didn't draw a picture of a woman, right,
and I never draw pictures, And then you catch him
drawing pictures of women, not just the buildings, but of women. Sure,
he's got a problem. So I think I think the
(01:33:26):
Epstein thing is is good and for a change. It's
a distraction in the democrats favor, not a distraction in
Trump's favor. It's something that is distracting him from pretending
like he's doing so well as president.
Speaker 1 (01:33:41):
I love this comment from CC writer. She writes, old
school Democrats need to reprogram their thirty year old embedded
behavior and training to not fight back, just let the
GOP fall on their sword. She says, Nope, Dems must
speak out and resist all the time. There is this
kind of decorum that Democrats still have when GOP, especially
(01:34:06):
Maga folks, you have dropped that and you know, fight
with bare knuckles, and the Democrats are still trying to
maintain decorum. Do we have to you know, buck the
Michelle Obama trend of when they go low, we go high.
Do we all have to go low to finally get
anywhere in this political scrap heap? Is it time to
(01:34:27):
just I don't know, drop to the you know, along
with the bottom dwellers and get ugly about everything.
Speaker 6 (01:34:37):
Well, I think it's time to fight back. Whether you
have to become you know, liars and ugly and distorters.
I don't think you have to do. But I think
if you just fight back with the facts and call
him on his bs, then I think that is effective.
I disagree with James Carvill, who I do listen to
a lot, who said that we should all back off
(01:34:59):
and let them sink themselves. I don't think that's gonna work.
I don't think they can sink themselves. I think it's
going to take Democrats speaking up, and I'm glad that
Newsom is leading the way. Corey Booker, some other figures
who were speaking up and and taking him on directly,
and even Pritzker in in in Illinois. So there are
(01:35:21):
some good, strong candidates who are eloquent, better at debating
UH than than Trump and his and his minions. So
I would I would encourage the Democrats to fight back.
I agree with your with your viewer.
Speaker 1 (01:35:39):
Now, Ronda says the Dems need to watch a Game
of Thrones and study, but Murphy agrees with you, saying
there's no reason to lie. There's so much to discuss
that the Dems just haven't been touching. It's time she
says for fu politics.
Speaker 6 (01:35:53):
Well, I agree with that. I mean, I think you
know speak. We've gotten to a point where the korum.
You know, first of all, we have to change democratic leadership. Okay,
Schumer has done a great job for many many years.
Time for him to step away. You know, they need
younger blood in there who can react effectively and use
(01:36:18):
you know, what they ought to be doing is making
AOC the spokesperson for the Democratic Party. She and Bernie
Sanders are doing the best in the most effective rebuttal
to the to the Republicans. First of all, their basis
(01:36:40):
of them, of them running in and of them speaking,
is absolutely the fundamental reason why we have the problems
that we do in this country, and that is economic inequality.
And those two on that, on that issue are very strong.
And you know what I don't get is, you know,
(01:37:01):
making rich people pay more taxes in order to pay
for medical care.
Speaker 10 (01:37:05):
For the poor.
Speaker 6 (01:37:09):
What is wrong with that? Why do you even argue
against that? You know, and Democrats should be pushing that
hard and pushing how this big, weird beal bill that
they passed does exactly the opposite, and it benefits the
rich people and it harms the poor people. And you know,
there are still more poor people than there are rich people.
(01:37:31):
In this country. You got to get him to vote,
and you got him get him to get out of that.
You know, first of all, the Kamala Harris problem. Secondly,
Trump pretending like he's good for Black Americans. What are
you crazy for Jewish Americans? No, none of those things.
Speaker 1 (01:37:53):
But it's crazy that people repeatedly vote against their own
self interest over and over again they do it, and well,
some maybe it'll be you know, Epstein, this problem that
keeps following Trump around and brings him down. I'm reading
an article about the healthcare cliff that if what happens
(01:38:14):
keeps going, that there will be a healthcare cliff coming
and that Republicans will have to stop it or else
maybe they will pay the prices. More people realize that
they're not getting the care they need, that costs are rising,
and that they're in medical debt, which now apparently goes
back on your credit report under the Trump administration.
Speaker 6 (01:38:35):
Yeah, I think that what's going to happen is so
what the Republicans are hoping for and what the way
they design this bill was. If those Medicaid cuts won't
really go into effect for two years, where does two
years take us past the mid terms? Right, And that's
(01:38:56):
what they're hoping that people will not see the effect of.
And I think that's what's going to happen is that
you know that that's the danger is that people won't
actually feel it, and so that Trump will get a
continue to get away with his propaganda until it starts
showing up where your kid or your mother can't get
(01:39:21):
help at the at the hospital, you know, even in
California where where they promised to keep Medicaid going. You know,
it's a real danger. You know, I have a couple
of children who are who you know, are gig workers
and uh you know they work and as a bartender
one of them does, and no insurance, you know, it's
(01:39:45):
or very little insurance. So you know that that's really
going to affect people. And really and not only that,
it's going to affect Donald Trump's supporters. These are not
inner city blacks who are having the problem. These are
people rural whites, you know, and who don't have Medicare,
(01:40:09):
don't have medical Medicaid. Those folks are going to be
in big trouble.
Speaker 1 (01:40:14):
So you know that and those those say that Top
Senate Republic, Yeah, the story today is that top Senate
Republicans are now indicating that they'd be open to extending
one of Biden's signature health care policies, they enhanced premium
tax credits to avoid they call a politically poisonous spike
(01:40:35):
in insurance costs ahead of the midterms. As you say, so,
now they're looking at previous Democratic policies to kind of
get ahead of what's going to happen as more and
more people don't get the health care they need.
Speaker 6 (01:40:48):
Right and then and then they designed it. It was
by design to not take effect in many cases until
after two years. And that that, and that was for
a reason. And you know, look, it's not going to
be it's going to be a slog It's going to
be tooth and nail fight like hell, because now he
(01:41:10):
has the power of the office behind him and the
power of the supping court. It's not just some moron
appealing in the Georgia court and losing. How many times
did he lose? Sixteen times? Now it's the president of
the United States, and that's that is different.
Speaker 1 (01:41:30):
Well, I'll say that I've already received an email from
my local school district telling me they have to cut
a million dollars from their budget this year and another
four million coming up in the next two years because
of cuts to their federal funding. So we're seeing at
a local level school district cuts. We just talked about
cuts to medical care. So hopefully the folks that we
(01:41:53):
mentioned that vote against their own, you know, best self interest,
will see these cuts, will see how it's affecting and
people that are are struggling to get the healthcare they need,
and maybe takes some action that way.
Speaker 6 (01:42:08):
And hope so you remember that the so the Trump
administration is anti education from the college level down. They're
destroying the education department. They they're eliminating it. They put
a clown in charge of it. The woman who was
in charge of the w w F McMahon, I mean,
(01:42:32):
how do you do something like that? And then she,
of course her biggest thing was she called it a
one instead of AI. Yeah, I mean ignorance. It's ignorance
and incompetence from the top down. Now, all we got
to hope is that it doesn't take the country down
before it takes them down.
Speaker 1 (01:42:55):
Jim Avola, thank you for being here. I appreciate you
coming on talking politics every Friday, and I'll see you
again next week. Thank you, Peel. I hope you're feeling
well and I'm looking forward to you coming back next
Friday with Mark. Thanks Kim, thanks for being here. By
jam Bye. Jim Avla, former White ABC White House correspondent
(01:43:15):
and journalist and friend of the show.
Speaker 5 (01:43:19):
We have.
Speaker 10 (01:43:21):
The Mark Thompson Show.
Speaker 1 (01:43:24):
We are going to lighten it up with the movie critic,
the movie reviewer, the culture blaster. He comes and goes
on a rainbow at Michael Snyder. Every welcome here.
Speaker 7 (01:43:42):
Nice to have you on board. At first I thought
Mark looks awfully pretty today, but then I realized it
was you.
Speaker 1 (01:43:50):
Thanks Michael Snyder. Welcome. You're very welcome. Now that you
said that, thank you.
Speaker 7 (01:43:55):
You know, last night I enjoyed a steaming cup of
that Coachella Valley mushroom coffee paired with the mushroom pizza,
and I just want to say how surprised I was
that there were no chunks of mushroom in my coffee.
I mean, I love mushrooms.
Speaker 1 (01:44:10):
And now you're feeling mentally clear, right, the clarity to.
Speaker 7 (01:44:14):
An extent, you know, to that end, I wanted to
honor Linda mcmahonon I put Ai sauce on my mushrooms. Anyway,
we don't. We don't want to plug a one sauce,
so we had to kind of change the name. Look
in famous obituary news. You know, it is interesting to
note that Hulk Hogan did not die of racism. Are
(01:44:36):
you aware of that?
Speaker 1 (01:44:38):
No, it was a heart attack.
Speaker 7 (01:44:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 15 (01:44:41):
If that proposed renaming of Birmingham Birmingham, England's airport, if
for Ozzy Osbourne happens, I have heard that they would
subsequently allow bats to use the runways.
Speaker 7 (01:44:53):
That might be maybe not, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:44:57):
Nice, very nice, thank you.
Speaker 7 (01:45:00):
So you know, I want to prepare yourselves for a
deep dive. I am a longtime comic book fan, and
the big movie that's opening this week is in fact
the Fantastic Four First Steps and as the true first
family of Marvel comics. The Fantastic Four were created by
(01:45:20):
stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and Kirby was very
pivotal in the creation of the Fantastic Four, and this
was before any x Men or Avengers reached the comic
book racks and their Fantastic Four comic book, the very
first one, was published in August nineteen sixty one, a
year before Spider Man first appeared, and like Spider Man
(01:45:43):
and the X Men, the Fantastic Four was initially acquired
as a film property by a major motion picture studio,
twentieth Century Fox, before Marvel founded their own studio, and
eventually Twentieth Century which made by the way, three Fantastic
Four movies of questionable quality, was acquired by Disney, which
(01:46:04):
distributes the interconnected Marvel superhero movies. And now they can
kind of bring the Fantastic Four into the Marvel cinematic universe.
But and this is significant, the powers that be wisely
decided to introduce this new iteration of the group via
a standalone movie, The Fantastic Four first Steps and set
(01:46:27):
it in the era when the Foursome was first introduced,
the early nineteen sixties, and set, by the way, in
a dazzling retro futurist version of New York City. It
seems to exist in one of those alternate or other
dimensional universes that science fiction and comics suggests is similar
to our own, but different in certain significant ways. Now
(01:46:50):
this is important because even though you know the plan
is to bring this Fantastic Four into Marvel's larger saga,
You do not need to know anything about them beforehand,
or need to have seen any other movies to understand
this one, which is kind of cool, right, I mean,
you're not that familiar with the comic books and such,
(01:47:10):
I would benefit from this, yes, so yeah, yeah, I
mean it seems sometimes that superhero fatigue might be a
function of all the quote unquote homework you have to
do to watch these Marvel movies to have had kind
of a connection or an emotional resonance with the characters.
One reason Thunderbolts was so emotionally satisfying is I was
(01:47:31):
kind of familiar with the characters and their story journeys
over the past few films or TV shows. But like
the New Superman movie, which is of course a DC
Comics joint, Fantastic Four first steps begins in medias rests.
In other words, action is already happening, and the four
heroes scientists and elastic bodied read Richard's aka Mister Fantastic,
(01:47:57):
his wife, the light bending and blasting Sue Storm aka
Invisible Woman, her flaming fire wielding flying brother, Johnny Storm
aka the Human Torch, and that giant, orange rock skinned
powerhouse of a best friend, Ben Grimm aka the Thing
have already been Earth's foremost heroes for four years since
(01:48:21):
the quartet's pioneering spaceflight was bombarded by cosmic rays, mutating
them into these freakish do gooders who are the only
bona fide superheroes around. So using the device of a
TV special hosted by kind of an Ed Sullivan type
to honor them, the movie is able to briefly and
efficiently tell their origin and show how popular they are
(01:48:44):
and you know, then get right down to business with them.
And when I say popular, I mean rock star popular
in fact, in a cool real world easter egg of sorts.
The stage set where they're introduced on TV hearkens back
to the one where the Beatles played during their historic
Ed Sullivan Show appearance. So that was kind of a,
(01:49:05):
you know, a visual treat to see that.
Speaker 1 (01:49:08):
Okay, So in the picture, even the vehicle that they
have looks kind of fifties.
Speaker 7 (01:49:13):
It is so cool in that regard. But crucial to
the success of this film is the casting, and it
is the best casting of the Fantastic Four to date,
with Pedro Pascal, who of course is everywhere. He was
just in Eddington last week, but he is wonderful as
the conflicted Reed Richard's Vanessa Kirby as wife Sue. Joseph Quinn,
(01:49:35):
who you may know from Stranger Things plays Johnny, and
even Moss Backrock plays Ben, whose CGI presence is never
less than human, and the ever loving blue eyed thing,
which is one of the ways he introduces himself in
the comics, is fully alive in First Steps, you know,
thanks to this CGI thing. And by the way, Ben
(01:49:57):
Grimm was the first acknowledged superhero in comic books, and
first acknowledged Jewish superhero, and he's certainly the first significant one.
And Moss Backrack, who everybody loves as cousin Richie and
the Bear, is the first Jewish actor to play him.
And there's even a little scene in the Lower Manhattan
(01:50:19):
Synagogue with a poker faced star and Natasha Leone as
a possible love interest for the big guy Kim. The
technology used to make First Steps is so superior to
what was used in the earlier Fantastic Four movies that
they can deliver a reasonably realistic or comic book accurate
version of the characters and their powers. And the mid
(01:50:40):
century modern aesthetic that you pointed to regarding the look
of that fantastic car is gloriously rendered. You know, it's
business as usual for the group when you meet them,
until the revelation that Sue is pregnant with Reid's baby,
and what should be originally a call for joy becomes
(01:51:01):
a major issue that jeopardizes humanity and the forest popularity
courtesy of the planet devouring sky scraper size threat Galactus
played by Ralph Ineson and his sleek space riding Herald,
the Silver Surfer played by Julia Garner. You know froms
she was in The Americans, and she was in She's
(01:51:22):
been in a bunch of things. She's very talented actress,
and they're the main threat. Although you hear about earlier
super menaces, and you know some of them get brief
but effective screen time. The movie has such memorable and
fine tuned world building. This was directed with love and
care by Matt Shackman, who did the Marvel TV show WandaVision,
(01:51:43):
which earned a lot of kudos, and man composer Michael
Giacchino powers this with one of his most stirring scores.
I want to wrap up by saying that I am
a loath to compare and contrast this latest Marvel entry
in the Superhero movie Wars with Sue Superman, which is
a comic book rival DC's latest, but as much fun
(01:52:05):
and as well cast as Superman is. I think the
Fantastic Four first step says as much, if not more
chemistry between its stars, is less cluttered with extraneous characters,
delivers its backstory in a more artful way, and is
more emotionally satisfying and amusing. Even if the climax feels
a little familiar, it is the best Fantastic for film
(01:52:28):
to date and cleverly sets up the quartet to eventually
be part of Marvel's Grand Saga. And it is in theaters.
Speaker 1 (01:52:37):
I think it's going to have a big showing. I
was reading that at Thursday previews they already brought in
a boatload of cash. They're thinking more than one hundred
million for the opening weekend.
Speaker 7 (01:52:47):
I would be pleased, because, again, visually, this is such
a treat and it's fun to just spend time with
them as a kind of superpowered sitcom family. For the
first half of the film, they're charming and boy, the
chemistry is great. Okay, shall we move on? Let us
move on Let's Go Okay, a delightfully twisted anti rom
(01:53:08):
com with a great cast and a bad attitude. O
High stars the often winsome, sometimes snarky, and occasionally weird
actress Molly Gordon of TV's The Bear. Hey we have
Another Bear. Callback She's Krme's sort of estranged girlfriend from
(01:53:29):
their youth, and Gordon has also been in the movies
Book Smart and Theater Camp, which she I think co
wrote and co directed. She also co wrote the story
in O Hi with the movie screenwriter and director Sophie Brooks,
and Gordon is so heartbreakingly good and appealing on The
Bear that it's a little startling when her initially adorable
(01:53:51):
Oh Hi character goes off the rails fairly early in
the movie. Why How. Gordon is Iris, a young woman
from the big city, and she is off on her
first getaway weekend to a lakeside B and B and
the Sticks with her new boyfriend Isaac Well played by
Logan Lahirman. They have really good chemistry, but it quickly
(01:54:13):
becomes apparent that they have different expectations about the relationship,
which sets off the Iris character and sets some really
funny craziness in motion and leads to what I'd call
it an intervention by two friends who show up in
the middle of the madness. Geraldine to Swanathan and John
Reynolds add to the dark comedy as the interceding friends,
(01:54:35):
and it's kind of a bonus getting comedic actors that
are the caliber of David Cross and Desmond Borges. In
small but pungent parts, Brooks keeps the interpersonal conflicts tilting
from one extreme to another, and OHI is much more
of a delightful dip into dysfunction than its title would suggest.
It is in select theaters. I think it's going to
(01:54:58):
play well there, but I also think it's going to
play well when you can get to stream it. And
I like this kind of dark comedy.
Speaker 1 (01:55:04):
Kim, Yeah, it sounds like something I'd like as well.
I'm interested. You have me, You've peaked my interest. What
else do you do?
Speaker 7 (01:55:11):
Here's one that you're not going to be interested in
unless you know you want to have some fitful laughs.
Trying for an ari Aster elevated horror light vibe and
ari Astra is the guy who did Eddington, but he
started his career doing those incredibly chilling horror films. Hereditary
and midsummer. But the Home definitely has some moments, and
(01:55:37):
quite a few of them are eye rolling.
Speaker 1 (01:55:39):
It's a oh yeah, the poster with the eyeball freaks
me out. I don't even like looking at it.
Speaker 7 (01:55:47):
That's why people should be looking at the YouTube stream
instead of loostening to the podcast. Anyway, Okay, okay, okay.
So this is a horror movie about a former foster
kid turned disaffected feed the artist played by x Saturday
Night Live slacker icon Pete Davidson, and his character gets
picked up by the cops for trespassing and defacing a building.
(01:56:11):
Rather than a jail sentence, he gets a chance to
earn time served by working as a janitor at a
retirement home. Now, from what we know about the hedonistic Davidson,
this is truly a horror movie for him. A party, hardy, lunatic,
stuck cleaning up in a facility filled with old people,
you know, some holding the line with some in pretty
(01:56:32):
frightening condition, and Kim there's not a Kardashian insight. It's
truly horror for Pete Davidson. Anyway. You get a few
good veteran actors here, John Glover, Bruce Altman, Ethan Phillips,
and Jessica Heckt are the most prominent. Then there's Pete,
who can actually shine if given the right script for
(01:56:54):
his limited skill set, that being you know, his jerk
character Chad from SNL, But there is not a lot
of help from director of co screenwriter James Demonico. The
scenes are no big whoop scary at times, there are
the jump scares, but a major twist feels like it
might have worked considerably better with a more relatable and
(01:57:15):
likable lead. For all of the goo and the gore
that drips here in there, this doesn't really cut it.
The Home is not so much a B movie as
I don't know a C minus movie, And if Davidson's
presence was an indication that this was meant as a
horror comedy, someone must have murdered the laughs off screen
if you haven't hear that yet. This Home is not
(01:57:38):
where my heart is, but it is in select theaters.
Speaker 1 (01:57:42):
I love that review, and I don't even know if
I want the next review. This movie is called what it?
Speaker 4 (01:57:48):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (01:57:48):
Yeah, you look the.
Speaker 5 (01:57:52):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (01:57:53):
So wait, wait wait now. Dick is an unabashed horror
sci fi comedy with no apologies for how broad it's played,
and I laughed. It features a smart script with timely
references that veer into sly social satire. In the spirit
of The Blob and James Gunn's first major film, Slither,
(01:58:18):
It concerns an otherworldly, moldy vine like plant that has
slowly taken over the suburban town of Eastbrook. The character
of Hank is a former Eastbrook High School football hero
whose college career and romance with cheerleader Stacy were derailed
by an on field let's call it an ick induced injury,
(01:58:39):
leading him to eventually become a science teacher at his
old alma mater. And only he and his snarky student Grace,
who happens to be Stacy's daughter, seem concerned as the
omnipresent ick, always taken for granted by the townspeople, starts
to become more virulent and invasive. So, like most of
the locals, Stacy and her husband are blissfully going through
(01:59:03):
life unaware of the danger posed by the ick. In fact,
no one has any intention of canceling the school prom
even as the ick gets nickier. Anyway, Joseph Kahn cheerfully
directs the screenplay that he co authored with his tongue
firmly in cheek and his cast led by the very
ingratiating Brandon Ruth from Superhero Callbacks, Superman Lives and DC's
(01:59:28):
Legends of Tomorrow. He was a Superman on the big
screen Brandon Ruth. Here he plays hapless but noble Hank
and Mina suvari American Beauty's Teen Dream All Grown Up
plays Stacy, and they deliver the silly goods plus Molina.
Paul Weisman is quite self composed as the pivotal character
(01:59:48):
of Grace, and for good measure you get Deborah Wilson
and Jeff Fayhe hamming it up. If nothing else, Ick
is an entertaining time of the movies when smiles and
escapism are in short supply. It's a trifle, but as
snacks go, it's pretty toothsome I think, And it is
in theaters and I can't imagine it won't be super
(02:00:09):
fun to watch at home.
Speaker 1 (02:00:10):
Too awesome, that's eck all right? Anything else?
Speaker 7 (02:00:14):
Uh, yeah, let's do some quickies really quick. And Four
Letters of Love isn't bad. It's kind of a romantic
drama and it stars some UK giants of the silver
screen and the small screen. Pierce Brosnan currently on a
roll with mob Land and the Last Rifleman and Black Bag,
Helena Bottom Carter and Gabriel Byrne. But it is ultimately
(02:00:37):
a somewhat hokey Irish romance that hints a magical realism
while playing like a glorified cable movie with a pretense
prestige as it leans on star crossed love and at
least two miracles that are easy to see coming through
the dream like coastal Mists of the Emerald Diavand there's
even a small role for singer emmel Dea May. By
(02:00:59):
the way, way in this movie, Okay, mostly we're supposed
to root for young would be scribed Nicholas played by
and O'Shea and free spirited Isabelle played by Ann Skelley
to find one another in this attempt at audience wish
fulfillment from director Polly Steele and screenwriter Niall Williams. It
just it's it's pretty limp stuff. I can imagine it
(02:01:22):
might be enjoyable to watch at home, you know, like
a Hallmark movie. If that's your jam. It is upscale
Hallmark movie. It's in select theaters and available for streaming
on demand right now. And let's just quickly wrap up
the movies.
Speaker 1 (02:01:38):
I'm gonna tell you I don't mind Upscale Hallmark.
Speaker 7 (02:01:41):
That's all right with me, right I figured I was
talking to my audience here.
Speaker 1 (02:01:44):
You got her.
Speaker 7 (02:01:46):
She's right over here, all right. I think you'll probably
all you'll give it a couple of ows, Tim says,
Kim says, three aws up for four letters of Love.
Inspired by true events, so O'shana is the latest feature
from director Michael Winterbottom. He's the guy who did the
trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden. He did Welcome
(02:02:08):
the Sarajevo twenty four Hour Party.
Speaker 1 (02:02:10):
People.
Speaker 7 (02:02:11):
Great director Shoshana focuses on a romantic liaison that starts
during the late nineteen thirties in Tel Aviv, when Great
Britain's military control of Palestine was increasingly undermined by conflict
with Palestinian natives and Jewish settlers, who were also attacking
one another. The title character is a Polish Zionist immigrant
(02:02:34):
whose love affair with an English police inspector in the
occupying forces is jeopardized by her commitment to an Israeli
state so even if it doesn't soar to great dramatic heights,
and it does have its moments, it is quite tense
throughout and it serves as a very disturbing history lesson.
And oh yeah, it's all too relevant as the Israeli
(02:02:54):
Palestinian struggle has been inflamed anew, It's in the news
and it was in the past, and Shoshana takes a
very interesting look at it. Shoshana is in select theaters.
Speaker 1 (02:03:06):
Okay, And what about what we can catch streaming this weekend?
Speaker 7 (02:03:12):
Well, one quick note, I didn't review Happy gilmore Too,
and I won't review it. It's the latest I'm Sandler joint.
I'm sorry debuted they viewed on Netflix today. I just
I just can't. I just can't. I will say, though,
I do.
Speaker 1 (02:03:31):
Not like Happy Gilmore Wine. I mean, like, do you
have a you have an out for this movie? What's
going on? Snyder?
Speaker 7 (02:03:36):
You know, the low brow quote unquote humor of Adam
Sandler does not always appeal to me, and this is
clearly a cash grab. Let's revisit this character. No, I
really don't want to revisit the character. I do have
a recommendation though, Okay, Amazon Prime video. Speaking of revisiting,
revisits the Bosh a verse, inhabited by Michael Connolly's X
(02:04:00):
Los Angeles cop turned private investigator Harry Bosh, and they
do so with Ballard, which follows Maggie Q's Bosh character,
Detective Renee Ballard as she leads the LAPDS new and
department demeaned cold Case Division. You know, they dump her
off in the basement or some side rooms. It's kind
(02:04:21):
of yeah, it's sort of sad. Anyway. The setting is
still contemporary Los Angeles, with many familiar locations to those
of us who spend time in the City of Angels.
There's a really good supporting cast. The players include John
Carol Lynch as a jocular retired policeman brought into Renee's unit,
and Titus Welleb as Bosh. Had to make an appearance
(02:04:44):
or two over the court course of the first season's
ten episodes. I love Maggie Q. I was on board
with this.
Speaker 1 (02:04:51):
It's fun.
Speaker 7 (02:04:52):
It does set up a second season. Ballard is on
Amazon Prime Video.
Speaker 1 (02:04:57):
Okay, yeah, I could watch that. Like it good.
Speaker 7 (02:05:02):
I'm glad. I think it'll appear.
Speaker 6 (02:05:04):
You.
Speaker 7 (02:05:05):
By the way, we haven't had time to talk about it,
and we won't have time to talk in depth, but
those of you who want to marvel TV fix Ironheart
wrapped up on Disney Plus and it's the first MCU
project to focus on the teen genius inventor Reary Williams,
who builds an Ironman style battlesuit. She's a savvy black
girl from Chicago. The executive producer is Oscar winner Ryan Kugler,
(02:05:30):
whose recent film Sinners is one of my favorite movies
of the year, and it embroils rear in local crime
and some magical weirdness. And you know, it's lovely to
see anything that Ryan Kugler, East Bay Kid and the
filmmaker behind the Black Panther film and Sinners. You know,
get something out there, makes some interesting and exciting film
(02:05:53):
or TV, and Ironheart fits the bill in that regard.
If you're going to wait for Fantastic four First Steps
to come to Disney Plus and you're impatient, you could
check out Ironheart.
Speaker 1 (02:06:05):
Okay, quick recap. You said fantastic four First Steps, great casting,
great directing, great musical score as well. You called it fun,
emotionally satisfying, and amusing. It's a yes from you. Fantastic
four first steps.
Speaker 7 (02:06:22):
Oh oh, Kim Man visually, Oh my god, the art
direction I left humming the art direction, not the score.
Speaker 1 (02:06:30):
Oh hi, you said it's a delightful dip into dysfunction,
and you really like this dark comedy again. That's oh hi.
The Home, the freaky picture at all doesn't really cut it,
you said. You give the Home a C minus, oh barely.
Speaker 7 (02:06:48):
Passing at best?
Speaker 1 (02:06:50):
Oh better than a D plus. You know, at least
you get to move on to the Home too. I
guess uh.
Speaker 7 (02:06:56):
Ck.
Speaker 1 (02:06:57):
All I'll say about this is that you called it entertaining.
You liked it. You say, yes to ck it was.
Speaker 7 (02:07:03):
It was genuinely funny, Kim.
Speaker 1 (02:07:04):
It really was, yeah, very good. Ick. It doesn't look
funny from the poster, but I'll take your word for it.
Four Letters of Love you called it limp, you called
it upscale, Hallmark. It seemed to me that you thought
this was something that wasn't really worth your time. Four
Letters of Love with.
Speaker 7 (02:07:24):
Those actors at the four I was expecting more, That's all.
Speaker 1 (02:07:30):
I mean. Pierce Brosnan in a movie called Four Letters
of Love. I'm signing up. I'm already there. You also
talked about Showshanna, I believe you would go see that
at the movie theater. Is that right?
Speaker 7 (02:07:42):
Yeah? Yeah, it's it's it's solid, It's it's not, you know,
a world beater, but it's so shockingly relevant today considering
what we're dealing with from the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (02:07:52):
Streaming, you say, Ballard, which is a Bosh spin off,
is fun. It's streaming on Amazon Prime and you like
this one. And iron Heart you called that exciting as well.
That's a thumbs up from Michael Snyder. Ironheart that's on
Disney Plus. And there you go. That sounds it love it.
Are you going to any sports games this weekend? The
(02:08:13):
cultural moments for you happening this weekend?
Speaker 7 (02:08:16):
Well, yes, I am in Los Angeles. I won't be
seeing my Giants face off against the New York Mets
at Oracle Park, but I will be watching the stream
tonight and tomorrow. I'm kind of excited. Mister music. Heead
Art Gallery, they specialize in rock photography, is doing what
looks to be a very exciting exhibit and it is
(02:08:38):
called Stones in Exile. It's vintage photographs when the Rolling
Stones in I think nineteen seventy one seventy two for
tax Reasons recorded their album, their Crucial album, Exile on
Main Street in the South of France, and it was
apparently a constant orgy of drugs and sex, and it
turned out to have been the crucible that made what
(02:09:01):
people consider their best or one of their best albums.
I can't wait to look at that and I will be,
of course at the monthly Constellation Club at the Formosa
Cafe on Saturday night, dancing to the space age sounds
of Curtis Lindersmith, our DJ who plumbs the depths of
sixties and seventies deep cuts to get the dance floor rolling.
Speaker 1 (02:09:23):
Michael Snyder, he comes and goes on a rambo. Thanks
Michael stick and you're welcome, Kim Hi. Some people that
think we're overtime already and the rich tradition of the
Mark Thompson Show do want to say huge, huge, huge
thank you to everyone who contributes to this show, and
that includes Ellen Anders with a fifty dollars supersticker. Ellen,
(02:09:47):
Thank you, that is so nice. The show is crowdfunded
from Patreon to PayPal to the super chats and superstickers.
Thank you guys for keeping us going. You'll find all
the information in the daily show description and in the
about top tab and at the website, The Mark Thompson
Show dot Com got to put the in front of it,
The Mark Thompson Show dot Com. Albert, we did it.
(02:10:09):
Thank you for all the pictures and the videos and
the comments. I appreciate you. We made it.
Speaker 2 (02:10:14):
And Happy Friday. Any plans this weekend, Kim.
Speaker 1 (02:10:18):
I'll be taking care of my mom this weekend, so yeah,
family time with mom, hanging out and making sure she's
all right. So that's what I have on tap. But
I hope you have a great trip to Hawaii next
week and aloha, my friend.
Speaker 2 (02:10:32):
I will make sure to have a lot of fun
and eat a lot of good food and there you go,
get to the beach and make sure take a break
for the Mark Johnson Show. Bye bye. I need a
little break so then I'll be excited for us. Still
do Friday.
Speaker 1 (02:10:50):
Next week on the show. Michael Schuur host. On Monday,
Gary Dietrich will be here to talk politics as well.
Bye bye, Tottingtos.