December 26, 2024 • 21 mins
In this 'Ask Us Anything' episode of Normally, Mary Katharine and Karol reflect on their holiday experiences, share their reading lists, and discuss the challenges of finding quality fiction. They delve into political concerns regarding future elections and the potential rise of socialist candidates, while also celebrating the spirit of community in sports, particularly during the Army-Navy game. Normally is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Tuesday & Thursday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Maybe we are back on Normally, the show with normalist
takes for when the news gets weird. I'm Mary Katherine
Ham and today we are heavy on takes and light
on news.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah, sprinkling of news. But this is a special edition
of AMA Normally.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
And I'm Carol Markoitz. Merry Christmas, Mary, Catherine. How was
your Christmas?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Oh? I'm sure it was great. It's always good.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
We have a you know, it's busy, and in the
run up to Christmas, I get very get a little frazzled.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm not gonna lie. And then I had to drive
in the snow, Carol.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, And I'm very Southern for those who had not noticed,
and I am not prepared for such things. I am
a good driver, yes, but snow driving is not my
element and it makes me very nervous. And then I
had two toddlers screaming at me from the back of
the car while I was snow driving. And there was
(01:00):
a hilarious scene where my three year old is just
you know, she's like reached her.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Limit and she's just screaming back there and.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I'm white knuckling it trying to get through the mountains,
and I just start telling her.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
You're excited to see your grandparents and you sort of
like stop screaming for a second. Do you want to
build a snowman? And she's like ugh, And I was like,
we'll build a snowman. Do you want to build a
big snowman or a small snowman?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And I'm just like, like like a hostage negotiator, just
trying to get through the mountains with my giant load
of presence and my not so cheery toddlers. But once
they got here, they were very cheery, and I was
very cheery, and we're good.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I love to hear it.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I mean, driving in Stow.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I'm not a fan either, but it sounds like you
made the best of it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I toughed it out. I was like, I'm gonna pretend
like I'm totally fine.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
That's really the thing faked until you make it, especially
with children.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
That's what I did.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So we're back with another ask Us Anything episode. We
got some such such good question some are serious summerre light.
We'll do a mix of them today.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Let's start with this one.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
What is on your twenty twenty five reading list?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I am always looking to read more classics because I
feel like, there's always ones that I have missed.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Even though I was partly a double major in.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
English lit, so I read a lot of classics, but
there are still ones that are like kind of a
slog that I haven't gotten to, you know that.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I'm always like, I.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Guess I should do crime in punishment at some point,
or I guess I should do ulysses and then people
are like, no, you don't need to do that.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
But I did want to recommend a fun book that
I read in the past year, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble,
which there's a movie based on it as well now,
but it just tells the story of the insanity of
beanie babies.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
But it's very well researched. The characters are amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
The founder of that company, Tie is quite a character,
and it's very well written. Zach Bisonette is the author,
and I just thought it was I thought it was
tell him.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, I was deep in the beanie baby game for you, really,
I was. Yeah. So one thing was I lived in
Scotland during that whole insanity and Scottish people didn't know
what was going on.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I would just like.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Walk into their you know, stores by a bunch of
beanie babies, ship them back to my brother, who would
post them on eBay and we'd make, you know, some money.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Always a hustler, care I really was.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I was a hustler.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
My biggest sale was the Princess Diana beanie baby. I
sold it for over one hundred dollars, and all I
remember about it is I sold it to somebody who
worked at the New York Times because she came downstairs
from the New York Times building, and like, I gave
it the beanie baby and she gave me the cash.
And it was like a drug deal in the middle
of Manhattan, except with a little stuffed bear.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
We need to know more about who that employer employee was.
Could be anyone, right, someone with a column. Now she
moved up.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, my reading list, I just so. I I'm big
on trying to read more fiction books. In our world
we just read. We read a lot of nonfiction, you
and I obviously, but I like to focus on reading fiction.
I just started this gigantic book which I still read
books in book form, which I get now reading this
(04:26):
seven hundred and fifty page book, I get why kindles exist.
It's like you just you know, read it and scroll
and carry your little kindle around because I could only
read this book at home. It's called The Covenant of Water.
It's by Abraham BERGESSI.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I have started this book and I need to finish
it well.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
The tough thing is, it's so interesting and it's so
good and so well written. But you started and you
could only read it in like it's so heavy you
could only read it in your most comfy chair.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
You can't even read it in bed. It's like too
heavy to hold.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
She might asphyxiate under the book. Right.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Meanwhile, my fourteen year old daughter carries around these gigantic
books and like it has no problem with it. But
I am weak. I need to work out to read
this book.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
You and I both have an eldest daughter who is
a voracious reader, and I have to say it's inspiring.
If I read as much as my daughters did, I'm nice.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I would be a much smarter lady.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I really would.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Oh man, these girls they're really it's impressive, smart, funny.
They get so much out of these books. I mean,
I used to read a lot also, So when she
kind of mocks.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Me for not reading that much, I'm like ma'am.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, someday you will have a career and a husband
and children and you won't be able to read your
six hundred paid books everywhere you go, and you know
people will expect your attention.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
So enjoy this moment while it lasts.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Girls, I'm with you with fiction when I'm trying, when
I'm trying to read for fun, I really because I
read so much political news and a fair number of
political books and biographies that I want to branch out
into fiction.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
But I got to say, sometimes the.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Things that end up recommended to you as a forty
something mom.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yeah, people, there are so many.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, they're not good. I need. I need good writing.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Covenant of Water is very well written, and I feel
like it's hard to stumble on those good fiction reads
that are well written, with good characters and write I
need to.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Look I need.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Not going to call out the bad books that I've
been recommended, but I've been recommended some books that people
are like this is the book that got me back
into reading, and I'm like, perfect, this is exactly what
I want. And I don't know. I'm reading one right now.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
I'm not going to say the name, but it's about like.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
A plucky young French girl who like fights the Nazis,
and honestly, I'm just like rooting for the Nazis at
this point.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
There's a There's also a genre of fiction for women
our age that is like trauma soaked heroine solves murder
despite her trauma, but like, the amount of trauma that
the heroine must endure is so great and she's.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Not really rising above it. She's just kind of like
stuck in this situation. It's a little bit like rear
real what is.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It, rearview, rear window, what's the what's the Hitchcock movie?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I didn't I know which one you mean, but I
have not seen.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
At any rate.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
It's like a woman stuck in her home who witnesses
a murder, but she's stuck in her home because she's
an alcoholic or she lost a family member or.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Something, and I I just it's too much for me.
I'm like, ladies, bootstraps, I need you to I need
to leave the house.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I actually don't like either.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I don't like the trauma soak.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
They also don't like the plucky heroine, who, you know,
against all odds, like just be realistic, just you know
she's got some issues, but she's making the best of it.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Real Window is the name of that movie. Sorry, anybody
check it out. I was close.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Two best books.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I've read in the last year, though, one was fiction
City of Thieves, the guy who wrote Game of Thrones
I forgot David Benioff.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I excellent, loved that, Yeah so good. You recommended that
to me?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Fantastic, Yeah, amazing, just want to read that went so well,
it was so funny, it was great, such good, such
good writing. And then the nonfiction I loved Abigail Schreyer's
Bad Therapy. I thought that was also fantastically written. Like
there's a lot of books where I'm like, I agree
with your premise, but can you write better? Yes, he
wrote a beautiful book with just fantastic stories and great
(08:35):
data and all of that that I enjoyed reading so much.
And she's just I mean, she's a great person anyway,
but I wouldn't just recommend it. She's a great person.
We know a lot of great people who write.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Books, but that book was excellent.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I will have I have similar recommendation Tim Carney's Family Unfriendly.
That was good, which hits on a lot of our
parenting philosophies and how society has built has been built
to sort of make it very hard to parent in
a more eighties nineties fashion, and how you can overcome
that and create community and independence for your kids. And
then I read a very this might not have been
(09:10):
in the past year, but an odd choice for a
fiction book that I really enjoyed was called West with
Giraffes by Linda Rutledge, and it is the true story
of nineteen thirty eight two giraffes arriving in the United
States of America and having to make a cross country
trek to the zoo that they were going to. And
(09:32):
it's fictionalized, but it's from a true event, and there's
all sorts of great characters and just the idea that like.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Giraffes were new to America and like they'd never been
here before in the obstacles of transporting giraffes and when
there was no interstate system. Like, it's a very interesting book.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
That's I'll check that out.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
That sounds really cool.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
We'll be right back on normally. Okay, is k still
watching Hallmark movies? I feel like they've gone downhill without
the Folgers coffee product placement.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
I'm a taste's choice girl.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Personally, I am with you that I feel like I've
fallen off.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Have they fallen off or have I fallen off? I
don't know. I used to have them.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Also, I have just more children now, so I'm probably
just have less time for watching children. Yes, so I
like Hallmark movies as a background to wrapping presents or
decorating the tree or whatever it is, because, like, you
don't have to be very invested in the plot, Like
it's pretty easy to work out what's happening. However, I
(10:39):
think because Hallmark movies did so well, everyone started copying
Hallwark Hallmark movies and they're on Netflix and some are
a little smuttier than others. Speaking of which, the genre
of books that you and I are recommended, how many
of them have you cracked? And you're like, oh, my goodness,
this is not just fiction.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yes, what's up with that?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
No, don't this around for your voracious reader daughter.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Yeah, that's a separate episode here.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
What is going on with the smut?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
What is happening with this is so much anyway, So,
like some of the Netflix Christmas movies are not as
safe to have on if you have kids in the house,
not that they're crazy, but so there was like a
guaranteed g rating on the Hallmark which was nice.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
However, there are ones.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
That I love in the new genre, like the Vanessa
Hudgens Christmas Prince Trilogy. I believe it was Vanessa Hudgens.
I'm never upset with her. I think she's so fun.
She just had a baby this year, got married and
had a baby.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Lovely.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
So I like those, but I do not indulge as
much as I used to because I feel that there's
just less time And when there's less time, I got
my I got my kids cranking on those Christmas classics,
you know, like not the new ones.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Right. I don't watch TV. That's my actual dirty secret
is that the TV is not on. I don't really
know how to turn it on. It's just I want
my end's home. It's well to wall sports, that's all.
But I enjoy hearing about all the Hallmark movies, and
I enjoy like the reels about them and all the
different kind of memes and jokes about them online. They're
(12:12):
always a good time. I always root for the sitting
boy to win the girl back.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You're like, that's a good job.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Why would you leave that guy? He's a good guy.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Because that's the thing.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
These Hallmark movies always keep that.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Guy a good guy.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
And it's like, it makes no sense that she's like
running away to her small town to be with the
Christmas tree salesman. The lawyer is just as good.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, Like, what's wrong with the lawyer?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Right?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, they don't. It's true. They often don't dirty them
up enough.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, right, Because the movies are so good and so
so like pristine in general, there can be no real trauma.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
The trauma's all in the past. We're vious, rests past
the good point.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, you're good.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You're in a better spot now now You're big trauma
is you've work too much.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
You've lost the spirit of Christmas.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
You've lost the spirit of Christmas and you have to
go back to your hometown to find it. I'm going
to come to your hometown and find the spirit of
Christmas myself.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
You can.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Should we do a serious one or a more serious one?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yes? What do we have here? You got one of
the it? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Are you at all concerned about how far the pendulum
swings are getting in elections and what this may mean
in twenty twenty eight, Kamala Harris, the most liberal meaning
socialist leaning candidate, almost won the presidency. I'm worried that
a likable, smarter, AOC or younger Bernie will.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Run in twenty twenty eight and will win.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
And once we swing into a socialist type government, I
worry it's much harder swing back out. Bigger government and
more people getting free money will keep people voting that way.
Does this worry you? Should I just focus on the
here and now and not worry about far off things.
Thanks John in Chicago. I'm super worried about this. I
worry about this all the time. I would love to
(13:55):
tell John and Chicago like, no, don't worry about it.
It's totally fine. No, this is a giant turns me.
When Bernie was getting close to winning the nomination in
twenty twenty, I was super worried, and a lot of
the rhetoric online from his supporters were like, oh, you're
afraid of Bernie Sanders. Like I was like, yeah, I
am afraid of Bernie Sanders. I really am. I think
(14:16):
that he would be disastrous for the country. I think
it would be what John in Chicago says is it
would be difficult to climb out of that.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
That's the thing.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
It's the changes that could be brought in four years
of socialist government. It would take far longer than four
years to recover from. I worry about this all the time.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Absolutely well.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I would say, we can look to the north and
watch Pierre Palev try to crawl out of Trudeau's predicament.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
His self created bad situation in Canada, and it will
take a lot of work and places like Argentina, where
Javier Malay has done a great job, but it required very,
very dress stick change.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
By the way, I hope someone at mar A Lago
is copying his notes.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Here's the thing is that I think both you and
I are ideologically conservative. We are not populist normies, which
is what a lot of voters are. For that reason,
I'm ideological because policy matters. I'm gonna steal a line
I believe from Ali Stecky says policy matters because people matter.
(15:25):
And I think that capitalism has been the greatest benefit
to the greatest number of people in the history of
the planet, for bringing people up out of poverty, for
giving people meaning in their jobs, for giving people an
opportunity to create new things that benefit all of us,
and I think it's just a miracle. And so you know,
(15:48):
when people tell me that Elon Musk is trash, I'm like,
have you seen.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
What he's created?
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Let's not lose sight of the things that people create
that make them big businessmen, right, Yeah, But I think
that those things truly benefit society, which is why I
am a conservative. However, actly not everyone has that same
sort of like these are my beliefs for these reasons,
(16:17):
or is interested in policy. So you do have to
use your policy mind to convince normies that your policies
are good for them.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
So that's the work.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
We have to be doing, because there is a danger
that the easy answer, which is free health care for
everyone given by the government, which is.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Not a real thing and not free and not.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Free, becomes the answer just because it sounds simple, right,
And if you don't fight against that with some facts
and with some good candidates, and with some charm and
with like convincing real life stories, you don't win that fight.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And I do worry about that.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
And I think AOC, as I've said before, don't underestimate
her because she's made smaller moves and dumber moves at times.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
It depends, but I think you know, so much can
be done.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
As you see with Trump, frankly with a outside the box, interesting,
entertaining populist person who's pretty flexible in their principles on this.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Yeah, she is a concern for sure.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I worry about her because I think that her ideals
are very loose and she can adapt to anything, and
this far left will pay for things, everything will be free.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Fantasy really does work.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
It works to get the votes. I mean it doesn't
actually work in practice.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
In practice not so much practice fail.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Actually, Iowaha had this great list where he listed all
the European countries and compared them to US states GDP
or it wasn't it was a GDP or might I
might be getting this wrong, it might be a different metric,
but basically Germany is if it was a US state,
would be our forty ninth forest state. Mississippi unfortunately would
(18:09):
still be fifty. But Germany is like the richest European
country and the fact that it would still be a
poor state if it was an American state shows how
much richer and better off we are here. And a
lot of that has to do with rejecting socialist practices. Now,
of course, we still have a lot of social safety
(18:30):
net stuff, and it's a joke to say that we're
a pure capitalist system and all of that. But Europe
has really dug itself into a grave. And I see
this in when I meet Europeans, their hopes and dreams
are just not anything like in America. They have no
capacity to imagine their life changing or making a large.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Amount of money or any of that.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
They just it's very settled and for better. I guess
some people enjoy that. Some people enjoy knowing that you know,
they'll get they'll be they'll be fed, and they'll have
you know, free quote unquote healthcare. But I love they
don't have the American dream over there. They don't have
the German dream, they don't have the French dream, they
don't have the Italian dream.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
And I couldn't live like that.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, we are an audacious people with us very large dreams,
including and I know I keep referencing Musk, but he's
such a good example of Like he comes to American
and he's like interplanetary travel, right, That's what I'm going
to work on, you know, Like that is a different mindset,
and the more people we have like that better, the
(19:38):
better for the country.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
All right, let's end on a later one who was
married Catherine rooting for last weekend Army or Navy?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So yes, so I root for Navy.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I have a connection to the Naval Academy through the
Travis Mannon Foundation. Travis Manion, who is a Marine who
was killed in action in two thousand and seven, went
to the Naval Academy, graduated from the Annapolis in two
thousand and three, and went to Iraq where he lost
his life.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
So I've had a connection since then to that school.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
But I have many, many, many Army friends, and I
have many many of my mom friends whose husbands went
to West Point.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
So there is rivalry.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
But the great thing about the Army Navy game is
that even though there's rivalry, we're all winning because we're
all America, and so it's always fun to watch, even
with those who are rivals. And if you ever get
a chance to go to that game, go it's just fantastic.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
I'm gonna definitely try to go at some point.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I gotta get you.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And I'm used to saying he'd never met either, so
I got to get both of you guys involved.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Yeah, that would be a good crew.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I like that. We'll do it. I'll root for whoever
you want me to root for.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I'm very malleable, you're flexible, and your principles on this
I am she's a populist.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Well, thank you for joining us on this very special
episode of Normally. We'll be back with one more Ask
Us Anything episode next week. Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays,
and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks
for listening, and when things get weird, act Normally
Maybe we are back on Normally, the show with normalist
takes for when the news gets weird. I'm Mary Katherine
Ham and today we are heavy on takes and light
on news.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah, sprinkling of news. But this is a special edition
of AMA Normally.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
And I'm Carol Markoitz. Merry Christmas, Mary, Catherine. How was
your Christmas?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Oh? I'm sure it was great. It's always good.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
We have a you know, it's busy, and in the
run up to Christmas, I get very get a little frazzled.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm not gonna lie. And then I had to drive
in the snow, Carol.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, And I'm very Southern for those who had not noticed,
and I am not prepared for such things. I am
a good driver, yes, but snow driving is not my
element and it makes me very nervous. And then I
had two toddlers screaming at me from the back of
the car while I was snow driving. And there was
(01:00):
a hilarious scene where my three year old is just
you know, she's like reached her.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Limit and she's just screaming back there and.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I'm white knuckling it trying to get through the mountains,
and I just start telling her.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
You're excited to see your grandparents and you sort of
like stop screaming for a second. Do you want to
build a snowman? And she's like ugh, And I was like,
we'll build a snowman. Do you want to build a
big snowman or a small snowman?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And I'm just like, like like a hostage negotiator, just
trying to get through the mountains with my giant load
of presence and my not so cheery toddlers. But once
they got here, they were very cheery, and I was
very cheery, and we're good.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
I love to hear it.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I mean, driving in Stow.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I'm not a fan either, but it sounds like you
made the best of it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I toughed it out. I was like, I'm gonna pretend
like I'm totally fine.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
That's really the thing faked until you make it, especially
with children.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
That's what I did.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
So we're back with another ask Us Anything episode. We
got some such such good question some are serious summerre light.
We'll do a mix of them today.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Let's start with this one.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
What is on your twenty twenty five reading list?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I am always looking to read more classics because I
feel like, there's always ones that I have missed.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Even though I was partly a double major in.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
English lit, so I read a lot of classics, but
there are still ones that are like kind of a
slog that I haven't gotten to, you know that.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I'm always like, I.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Guess I should do crime in punishment at some point,
or I guess I should do ulysses and then people
are like, no, you don't need to do that.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So we'll see.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
But I did want to recommend a fun book that
I read in the past year, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble,
which there's a movie based on it as well now,
but it just tells the story of the insanity of
beanie babies.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
But it's very well researched. The characters are amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
The founder of that company, Tie is quite a character,
and it's very well written. Zach Bisonette is the author,
and I just thought it was I thought it was
tell him.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, I was deep in the beanie baby game for you, really,
I was. Yeah. So one thing was I lived in
Scotland during that whole insanity and Scottish people didn't know
what was going on.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
I would just like.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Walk into their you know, stores by a bunch of
beanie babies, ship them back to my brother, who would
post them on eBay and we'd make, you know, some money.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Always a hustler, care I really was.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
I was a hustler.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
My biggest sale was the Princess Diana beanie baby. I
sold it for over one hundred dollars, and all I
remember about it is I sold it to somebody who
worked at the New York Times because she came downstairs
from the New York Times building, and like, I gave
it the beanie baby and she gave me the cash.
And it was like a drug deal in the middle
of Manhattan, except with a little stuffed bear.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
We need to know more about who that employer employee was.
Could be anyone, right, someone with a column. Now she
moved up.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, my reading list, I just so. I I'm big
on trying to read more fiction books. In our world
we just read. We read a lot of nonfiction, you
and I obviously, but I like to focus on reading fiction.
I just started this gigantic book which I still read
books in book form, which I get now reading this
(04:26):
seven hundred and fifty page book, I get why kindles exist.
It's like you just you know, read it and scroll
and carry your little kindle around because I could only
read this book at home. It's called The Covenant of Water.
It's by Abraham BERGESSI.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I have started this book and I need to finish
it well.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
The tough thing is, it's so interesting and it's so
good and so well written. But you started and you
could only read it in like it's so heavy you
could only read it in your most comfy chair.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
You can't even read it in bed. It's like too
heavy to hold.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
She might asphyxiate under the book. Right.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Meanwhile, my fourteen year old daughter carries around these gigantic
books and like it has no problem with it. But
I am weak. I need to work out to read
this book.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
You and I both have an eldest daughter who is
a voracious reader, and I have to say it's inspiring.
If I read as much as my daughters did, I'm nice.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I would be a much smarter lady.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I really would.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Oh man, these girls they're really it's impressive, smart, funny.
They get so much out of these books. I mean,
I used to read a lot also, So when she
kind of mocks.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Me for not reading that much, I'm like ma'am.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yeah, someday you will have a career and a husband
and children and you won't be able to read your
six hundred paid books everywhere you go, and you know
people will expect your attention.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
So enjoy this moment while it lasts.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Girls, I'm with you with fiction when I'm trying, when
I'm trying to read for fun, I really because I
read so much political news and a fair number of
political books and biographies that I want to branch out
into fiction.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
But I got to say, sometimes the.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Things that end up recommended to you as a forty
something mom.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yeah, people, there are so many.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, they're not good. I need. I need good writing.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Covenant of Water is very well written, and I feel
like it's hard to stumble on those good fiction reads
that are well written, with good characters and write I
need to.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Look I need.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Not going to call out the bad books that I've
been recommended, but I've been recommended some books that people
are like this is the book that got me back
into reading, and I'm like, perfect, this is exactly what
I want. And I don't know. I'm reading one right now.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
I'm not going to say the name, but it's about like.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
A plucky young French girl who like fights the Nazis,
and honestly, I'm just like rooting for the Nazis at
this point.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
There's a There's also a genre of fiction for women
our age that is like trauma soaked heroine solves murder
despite her trauma, but like, the amount of trauma that
the heroine must endure is so great and she's.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Not really rising above it. She's just kind of like
stuck in this situation. It's a little bit like rear
real what is.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
It, rearview, rear window, what's the what's the Hitchcock movie?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I didn't I know which one you mean, but I
have not seen.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
At any rate.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
It's like a woman stuck in her home who witnesses
a murder, but she's stuck in her home because she's
an alcoholic or she lost a family member or.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Something, and I I just it's too much for me.
I'm like, ladies, bootstraps, I need you to I need
to leave the house.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I actually don't like either.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
I don't like the trauma soak.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
They also don't like the plucky heroine, who, you know,
against all odds, like just be realistic, just you know
she's got some issues, but she's making the best of it.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Real Window is the name of that movie. Sorry, anybody
check it out. I was close.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Two best books.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I've read in the last year, though, one was fiction
City of Thieves, the guy who wrote Game of Thrones
I forgot David Benioff.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I excellent, loved that, Yeah so good. You recommended that
to me?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Fantastic, Yeah, amazing, just want to read that went so well,
it was so funny, it was great, such good, such
good writing. And then the nonfiction I loved Abigail Schreyer's
Bad Therapy. I thought that was also fantastically written. Like
there's a lot of books where I'm like, I agree
with your premise, but can you write better? Yes, he
wrote a beautiful book with just fantastic stories and great
(08:35):
data and all of that that I enjoyed reading so much.
And she's just I mean, she's a great person anyway,
but I wouldn't just recommend it. She's a great person.
We know a lot of great people who write.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Books, but that book was excellent.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I will have I have similar recommendation Tim Carney's Family Unfriendly.
That was good, which hits on a lot of our
parenting philosophies and how society has built has been built
to sort of make it very hard to parent in
a more eighties nineties fashion, and how you can overcome
that and create community and independence for your kids. And
then I read a very this might not have been
(09:10):
in the past year, but an odd choice for a
fiction book that I really enjoyed was called West with
Giraffes by Linda Rutledge, and it is the true story
of nineteen thirty eight two giraffes arriving in the United
States of America and having to make a cross country
trek to the zoo that they were going to. And
(09:32):
it's fictionalized, but it's from a true event, and there's
all sorts of great characters and just the idea that like.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Giraffes were new to America and like they'd never been
here before in the obstacles of transporting giraffes and when
there was no interstate system. Like, it's a very interesting book.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
That's I'll check that out.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
That sounds really cool.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
We'll be right back on normally. Okay, is k still
watching Hallmark movies? I feel like they've gone downhill without
the Folgers coffee product placement.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
I'm a taste's choice girl.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Personally, I am with you that I feel like I've
fallen off.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Have they fallen off or have I fallen off? I
don't know. I used to have them.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Also, I have just more children now, so I'm probably
just have less time for watching children. Yes, so I
like Hallmark movies as a background to wrapping presents or
decorating the tree or whatever it is, because, like, you
don't have to be very invested in the plot, Like
it's pretty easy to work out what's happening. However, I
(10:39):
think because Hallmark movies did so well, everyone started copying
Hallwark Hallmark movies and they're on Netflix and some are
a little smuttier than others. Speaking of which, the genre
of books that you and I are recommended, how many
of them have you cracked? And you're like, oh, my goodness,
this is not just fiction.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yes, what's up with that?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
No, don't this around for your voracious reader daughter.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Yeah, that's a separate episode here.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
What is going on with the smut?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
What is happening with this is so much anyway, So,
like some of the Netflix Christmas movies are not as
safe to have on if you have kids in the house,
not that they're crazy, but so there was like a
guaranteed g rating on the Hallmark which was nice.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
However, there are ones.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
That I love in the new genre, like the Vanessa
Hudgens Christmas Prince Trilogy. I believe it was Vanessa Hudgens.
I'm never upset with her. I think she's so fun.
She just had a baby this year, got married and
had a baby.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Lovely.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
So I like those, but I do not indulge as
much as I used to because I feel that there's
just less time And when there's less time, I got
my I got my kids cranking on those Christmas classics,
you know, like not the new ones.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Right. I don't watch TV. That's my actual dirty secret
is that the TV is not on. I don't really
know how to turn it on. It's just I want
my end's home. It's well to wall sports, that's all.
But I enjoy hearing about all the Hallmark movies, and
I enjoy like the reels about them and all the
different kind of memes and jokes about them online. They're
(12:12):
always a good time. I always root for the sitting
boy to win the girl back.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You're like, that's a good job.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Why would you leave that guy? He's a good guy.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Because that's the thing.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
These Hallmark movies always keep that.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Guy a good guy.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
And it's like, it makes no sense that she's like
running away to her small town to be with the
Christmas tree salesman. The lawyer is just as good.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, Like, what's wrong with the lawyer?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Right?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, they don't. It's true. They often don't dirty them
up enough.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, right, Because the movies are so good and so
so like pristine in general, there can be no real trauma.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
The trauma's all in the past. We're vious, rests past
the good point.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Yeah, yeah, you're good.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You're in a better spot now now You're big trauma
is you've work too much.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
You've lost the spirit of Christmas.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
You've lost the spirit of Christmas and you have to
go back to your hometown to find it. I'm going
to come to your hometown and find the spirit of
Christmas myself.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
You can.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Should we do a serious one or a more serious one?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yes? What do we have here? You got one of
the it? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Are you at all concerned about how far the pendulum
swings are getting in elections and what this may mean
in twenty twenty eight, Kamala Harris, the most liberal meaning
socialist leaning candidate, almost won the presidency. I'm worried that
a likable, smarter, AOC or younger Bernie will.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Run in twenty twenty eight and will win.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
And once we swing into a socialist type government, I
worry it's much harder swing back out. Bigger government and
more people getting free money will keep people voting that way.
Does this worry you? Should I just focus on the
here and now and not worry about far off things.
Thanks John in Chicago. I'm super worried about this. I
worry about this all the time. I would love to
(13:55):
tell John and Chicago like, no, don't worry about it.
It's totally fine. No, this is a giant turns me.
When Bernie was getting close to winning the nomination in
twenty twenty, I was super worried, and a lot of
the rhetoric online from his supporters were like, oh, you're
afraid of Bernie Sanders. Like I was like, yeah, I
am afraid of Bernie Sanders. I really am. I think
(14:16):
that he would be disastrous for the country. I think
it would be what John in Chicago says is it
would be difficult to climb out of that.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
That's the thing.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
It's the changes that could be brought in four years
of socialist government. It would take far longer than four
years to recover from. I worry about this all the time.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Absolutely well.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I would say, we can look to the north and
watch Pierre Palev try to crawl out of Trudeau's predicament.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
His self created bad situation in Canada, and it will
take a lot of work and places like Argentina, where
Javier Malay has done a great job, but it required very,
very dress stick change.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
By the way, I hope someone at mar A Lago
is copying his notes.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Here's the thing is that I think both you and
I are ideologically conservative. We are not populist normies, which
is what a lot of voters are. For that reason,
I'm ideological because policy matters. I'm gonna steal a line
I believe from Ali Stecky says policy matters because people matter.
(15:25):
And I think that capitalism has been the greatest benefit
to the greatest number of people in the history of
the planet, for bringing people up out of poverty, for
giving people meaning in their jobs, for giving people an
opportunity to create new things that benefit all of us,
and I think it's just a miracle. And so you know,
(15:48):
when people tell me that Elon Musk is trash, I'm like,
have you seen.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
What he's created?
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Let's not lose sight of the things that people create
that make them big businessmen, right, Yeah, But I think
that those things truly benefit society, which is why I
am a conservative. However, actly not everyone has that same
sort of like these are my beliefs for these reasons,
(16:17):
or is interested in policy. So you do have to
use your policy mind to convince normies that your policies
are good for them.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
So that's the work.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
We have to be doing, because there is a danger
that the easy answer, which is free health care for
everyone given by the government, which is.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Not a real thing and not free and not.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Free, becomes the answer just because it sounds simple, right,
And if you don't fight against that with some facts
and with some good candidates, and with some charm and
with like convincing real life stories, you don't win that fight.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
And I do worry about that.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
And I think AOC, as I've said before, don't underestimate
her because she's made smaller moves and dumber moves at times.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
It depends, but I think you know, so much can
be done.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
As you see with Trump, frankly with a outside the box, interesting,
entertaining populist person who's pretty flexible in their principles on this.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Yeah, she is a concern for sure.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
I worry about her because I think that her ideals
are very loose and she can adapt to anything, and
this far left will pay for things, everything will be free.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Fantasy really does work.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
It works to get the votes. I mean it doesn't
actually work in practice.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
In practice not so much practice fail.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Actually, Iowaha had this great list where he listed all
the European countries and compared them to US states GDP
or it wasn't it was a GDP or might I
might be getting this wrong, it might be a different metric,
but basically Germany is if it was a US state,
would be our forty ninth forest state. Mississippi unfortunately would
(18:09):
still be fifty. But Germany is like the richest European
country and the fact that it would still be a
poor state if it was an American state shows how
much richer and better off we are here. And a
lot of that has to do with rejecting socialist practices. Now,
of course, we still have a lot of social safety
(18:30):
net stuff, and it's a joke to say that we're
a pure capitalist system and all of that. But Europe
has really dug itself into a grave. And I see
this in when I meet Europeans, their hopes and dreams
are just not anything like in America. They have no
capacity to imagine their life changing or making a large.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Amount of money or any of that.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
They just it's very settled and for better. I guess
some people enjoy that. Some people enjoy knowing that you know,
they'll get they'll be they'll be fed, and they'll have
you know, free quote unquote healthcare. But I love they
don't have the American dream over there. They don't have
the German dream, they don't have the French dream, they
don't have the Italian dream.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
And I couldn't live like that.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, we are an audacious people with us very large dreams,
including and I know I keep referencing Musk, but he's
such a good example of Like he comes to American
and he's like interplanetary travel, right, That's what I'm going
to work on, you know, Like that is a different mindset,
and the more people we have like that better, the
(19:38):
better for the country.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
All right, let's end on a later one who was
married Catherine rooting for last weekend Army or Navy?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So yes, so I root for Navy.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I have a connection to the Naval Academy through the
Travis Mannon Foundation. Travis Manion, who is a Marine who
was killed in action in two thousand and seven, went
to the Naval Academy, graduated from the Annapolis in two
thousand and three, and went to Iraq where he lost
his life.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
So I've had a connection since then to that school.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
But I have many, many, many Army friends, and I
have many many of my mom friends whose husbands went
to West Point.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
So there is rivalry.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
But the great thing about the Army Navy game is
that even though there's rivalry, we're all winning because we're
all America, and so it's always fun to watch, even
with those who are rivals. And if you ever get
a chance to go to that game, go it's just fantastic.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
I'm gonna definitely try to go at some point.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I gotta get you.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And I'm used to saying he'd never met either, so
I got to get both of you guys involved.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Yeah, that would be a good crew.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I like that. We'll do it. I'll root for whoever
you want me to root for.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I'm very malleable, you're flexible, and your principles on this
I am she's a populist.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Well, thank you for joining us on this very special
episode of Normally. We'll be back with one more Ask
Us Anything episode next week. Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays,
and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks
for listening, and when things get weird, act Normally
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Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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