No F#!Ks Left to Give: A Thanksgiving Livestream

With the holidays upon us, there's never been a time to be at your wits' end. Enjoy this pre-Thanksgiving mix of rants and calls!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Understand the thinking atheist. It's not a person, it's a symbol,
an idea.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
The population of atheists in this country is going through.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
The rule, rejecting faith, pursuing knowledge, challenging the sacred. If
I tell the truth, it's because I tell the truth,
not because.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
I put my hand on a book and made a.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Wish and working together for a more rational world.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Take the risk of thinking feels so much more happiness.
Truth Usian wisdom will come to you that way.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Assume nothing, question everything, and start thinking. This is the
Thinking Atheist podcast hosted by Seth Andrews.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hey, good morning everybody. I know tomorrow is the Thanksgiving
holiday and some people are getting ready to travel, others
are getting ready to do absolutely nothing. I thought it
might be fun to hang out for just a little bit.
I've been working on a secret project with my friend
and constitutional attorney Andrew Seidel with Americans United for Separation

(01:20):
of Church and State. Now he's operating on his own.
He's gone rogue on this particular project. He reached out
last week and he said, Hey, I need a video producer.
Do you recommend anybody, And I, having absolutely no free time,
said I'll do it because I'm stupid, but I kind
of liked the idea of the project, and so we

(01:43):
put it together. He sent me his clips, I put
all of my bells and whistles on top. It should release,
I think on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, of the
weekend after Thanksgiving, and it will solve one of the
great dilemmas. It will answer one of the most deep
and pro being questions that the Ages has wrestled with.

(02:03):
And it has to do with a Christmas holiday and
a certain action movie starring somebody that you know. And
that's all I'm going to say. So that's been a
nice distraction. Granted I can't do it halfway. You know.
We're like, ah, I'll just throw some stuff together. And
then Natalie raises an eyebrow at me as I'm up
here for hours and hours and hours and hours going

(02:26):
you know what would be fun? You know what, it'd
be cool? What if I added this, Well, this will
be animated and this will explode, and before you know what,
I've spent the entire weekend in the studio and then
I have to go back and apologize and say, a
I just get away for every ims Azari. Of course,

(02:46):
a lot of people are wrestling with whether or not
to attend their Thanksgiving holiday. I'm going to cry to attend.
Did I just say cry? Is that a Freudian slid?
I'm going to cry to attend. Oh, I don't know
why part of me thought about doing this. And I'll
share this because it popped up on my feed. Oops,

(03:10):
hang on, let me remove this. It was a tweet
by a guy named Zeddi and it said avoiding politics
at Thanksgiving is how we got Trump. Put on Juggalo
war paint and politicize everything. Redistribute the bread rolls, nationalize
the monopoly game, you unize the flag football league. Incite

(03:33):
a kid's table. Uh shit, I can't read that because
there's a chat on the screen. Can you remove that
from me so I can thank you. Insite a kid's
table uprising, make a guillotine for your table centerpiece. Thank
you very much. Be ungovernable at the holidays. I thought

(03:56):
about showing up. I entertained the idea for a high
minute of showing up at Thanksgiving with a shirt on
that said quiet biggie, this quiet piggy. No further explanation,
just to see what happens. Because as Jojo from Jurors

(04:18):
has said in her recent article, I have no more
fucks to give. Did you see that article? Let me
read this real fast for you Before I do that.
Hang on, let me show you this. We have some
events coming up. I have some events coming up. I'm
going to be in Denver, Colorado, December sixth for Secular Hub.

(04:41):
There are still tickets for that. And then looks like
we are about a quarter twenty five percent already sold
out for the event with Forrest Valci got sick given
than myself. That's going to be at ou Schustermann Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
March the seventh, And there's a look at the auditorium
for the video viewers, and I've got a page with

(05:04):
profiles and directions. There's a map and all that you need.
And so you know, it's not even Thanksgiving and we're
already a quarter sold out, and so we're pretty excited
about that. I'm expecting it to fully sell out, possibly
by the end of the year. I don't know. It's
hard to stay with this stuff, but if you want
to go to Seth Andrews dot com, you will see

(05:27):
the speaking tab at the top of that page. And
there are links to everything that you need. Okay, jojo
from Jerts. Where is that article, Paul, I didn't expect
to read that. You know what? Should I read it?
It goes pretty hard at MAGA. Do I want to
start this show with this before I because I have

(05:49):
some commentary and I want your calls, by the way,
on anything that's on your mind. And everybody's talking about
MAGA and Trump. Magan and Trump. The problem is is
that he makes us talk about it every day. He
makes us talk about it. What's that article? I think
it came out in The Atlantic. It said it was
titled how is anything a scandal? When everything is an outrage?

(06:11):
And now he's going after Senator Mark Kelly, Pete Hegeseth
and Trump. They're going after a decorated military veteran and
former astronaut, the ultimate American hero. Good luck with that,

(06:34):
because Mark Kelly and others, including a former director of
the CIA, came forward and said that military members do
not have to follow illegal orders. Where is that visual?
Hang on? I think I saved share image file. Uh huh,

(06:55):
look at me? Loyalty to the Constitution of This is
a plaque on display at the US Military Academy at
West Point. It says loyalty too the Constitution. The United
States boldly broke with the ancient military custom of swearing
loyalty to a leader. Article six required that American officers

(07:17):
thereafter swear loyalty to our basic law, the Constitution. While
many other nations have suffered military coups, the United States
never has. Our American Code of Military Obedience requires that
should orders and the law ever conflict, our offices must obey,

(07:38):
our officers must obey the law. Many other nations have
adopted our principle of loyalty to the basic law. This
nation must have military leaders of principle and integrity so
strong that their oaths to support and defend the Constitution
will unfailingly govern their actions. Thettion to the purpose, I'm sorry,

(08:02):
that's very small here, and so I'm trying to follow
it with my older eyes. The purpose of the United
States Military Academy is to provide such leaders of character. Okay,
I like that we follow the law and we follow
the Constitution. Where is that jojo from Jers article I'll

(08:26):
just screw it all right. This is informal and largely unprepped.
Pull this up so Jojo from Jers sub snack now
Jojo from Jurors. Her actual name is Joanne Kurdusha c

(08:56):
A R d U C c A. She is a
a political commentator and she is spicy. She is extremely,
extremely articulate, but in a very profane way. And this
speaks to a great many people. You pulled this article
out over here November twenty fourth, twenty twenty five. I'm

(09:19):
all out of Fox. And she's got a meme of
a maga who was shouting, I voted to be racist,
not poor Joe says. You know, I've meditated on this
with the solemnity of a monk on mushrooms, reflected on
it deeply, then shallowly, then in that strange in between

(09:40):
place where you're not sure if you're having an epiphany
or a small stroke. But after a brief but spiritually
exhausting consultation with whatever dying star still fuels my remaining patients,
I have reached a blindingly clarifying, cosmic conclusion. I do
not give a single solitary, microscopic fuck. I don't give

(10:05):
a single solitary microscopic fuck about these drump voters crying
now because they've lost everything, not one, Not a crusty
crumb clinging to the emotional counter, not a flicker doing
community theater in my moral periphery, Not an ember faking
its own death for attention, Not even the faint shimmering

(10:26):
mirage of a fuck appearing on the horizon like a
dehydrated cowboy hallucinating an oasis he will absolutely never reach.
And yes, I mean the cattle ranchers, the teachers, the
nurses who voted for him, the people who cheered while
he gutted their industries, their protections, and their professions. I
mean the soybean farmers, the white working class price of

(10:51):
eggs patriots, and the families with chronic illnesses who voted
for him, all now stunned to discover the policies they
demanded are shockingly the same policies now kneecapping their lives.
I mean the Latino voters who believed the snap, single
mothers working two jobs, and the quote unquote law and

(11:12):
order crusaders, all of whom voted for him before realizing
he wasn't aiming the wrecking ball at other people. He
was aiming it at them. The votes were theirs. The
consequences are theirs, the tears filling the basin of their
busted lives those belonged to them too. And let's not

(11:34):
turn this into some quilted symphony shawl. Because these people
never gave a funk about me. They didn't give a
funk about my family, my kids, my friends, my community,
my country, my planet, my water, my air, my parks,
my public schools, my loved ones with chronic conditions, or
my friends inside federal agencies he bulldozed. They didn't give

(11:57):
a fuck about anyone who didn't mirror their outge, soothe
their grievances, or co sign their spite. But now now
I'm supposed to give a fuck about them, bless their hearts,
But absolutely fucking not. I wanted to give a fuck.
I really really did. I tried. I searched high and low.

(12:23):
I searched the depths of my soul, not a polite rummage,
but a full scale emotional excavation, like the world's most
frantic tsa agent rifling through spiritual carry ons. I combed
emotional crevices, psychic alleyways, metaphysical broom closets, existential crawl spaces,

(12:44):
and the psychological drunk drawer where old gum wrappers of
compassion go to die. I dusted for prints, I opened
trap doors. I poked around like a deranged archaeologist, brushing
sediment off the ruins of my empathy. Nothing. Not a
footprint of a fuck, not a fossilized fuck trapped in amber,

(13:07):
not even the silhouette of a fuck fleeing the premises
in sunglasses and a fake mustache. I dug deeper vaults
sub basement's therapy loop, only zones that abandoned psychological cross space,
where I once stored my last shred of patients. And
at that point I was Yukon Cornelius, tapping every surface

(13:28):
of my soul for anything valuable, licking the pickaxe, grimacing,
declaring nothing, trying again, nothing, one more dip nothing. The
fuck minds were barren. I tried to give a fuck
about the cattle rancher, the one standing in his dying pastures,

(13:50):
whispering the most honest sentence he'd ever uttered. I voted
to be racist, not poor, spoken like cruelty, came with
a customer loyalty punch card. Still nothing. I trying to
give a funk about the nurse who once adored him
for telling it like it is, proudly repeating he literally said,

(14:11):
I'm going to rob you all blind and sell out
this country to its enemies. And I love him because
he tells it like it is. Now, she's holding on
to her decertified profession like a snapped ivy bag, shocked.
The monster she fed was now gnawing her face. Still nothing.

(14:32):
I flipped my soul like a messy person. A target
parking lot shook the drapes, checked the events. Nothing zero.
The Conscience warehouse reported no fucks in stock and none
on back order. I tried to give a fuck about
the teacher, the one who stapled alphabet letters to walls

(14:53):
and bought classroom supplies from her own paycheck, the one
whose entire career was taught into a bureaucratic shredder and
reclassified as miscellaneous labor. She whispered, I didn't vote for this,
and the universe replied, that's the best part you did.

(15:14):
Still nothing. I tried to give a fuck about the
soybean farmer, the one who applauded the terrafs like he
was cheering for a hometown team instead of watching his
own livelihood get crushed under the policy boot. He begged for.
Now he stands in a collapsing barn, mumbling, now that
I owned the Libs, the oligarchs get to own my farm.

(15:39):
Still nothing. So I stepped outside and shouted into the
cosmic abyss, Has anyone seen a fuck? Just one? A
refurbished model the universe ancient and Board replied nope. I
tried to give a fuck about the white working class
Dad the Price of eggs warrior who called my empathy weakness.

(16:03):
Now he sits under a flickering kitchen bulb drafting his
future Facebook masterpiece. I blame Biden. He should have done
a better job explaining how Trump's policies were going to
screw people like me. That's why I'm still maga. Still nothing.
I trying to give a funk about the people with

(16:24):
pre existing conditions, the ones who voted for the man
who spent four straight years trying to rip their healthcare
out of their hands like a toddler throwing a toy
into traffic. I tried to care about the diabetics who
cheered for the guy who treated insulin affordability like a
personal insult, and the immunocompromised voters who believed expired vitamins

(16:48):
and Facebook memes were a medical strategy. Still nothing, and nothing,
nothing compares to the Obama care crowd. To be completely honest,
I never even pretended to give a fuck about them.
They're just too fucking stupid to give a fuck about.
These are the ones who stayed alive because of Obama,

(17:12):
who could breathe, walk, function, and parent because of Obama,
and still shriek repeal Obamacare because they hated his name
more than they loved living. The geniuses who only realized
their beloved ACA was Obamacare when the policy was already
halfway into the woodshipper. And now they're hero. A man

(17:35):
who can't even pronounce the seat to minifin but insists
Taylanol causes autism is gleefully chainsawing the healthcare Obama handed them.
Still nothing. I tried to give a fuck about the
Latino families whose loved ones disappeared into the detention machine.

(17:56):
They once applauded nothing and then the snap single mom,
two jobs, three kids. She voted for him before he
dragged their nutrition assistance all the way to the Supreme
Court to make sure her children starved, before he litigated
their hunger into federal policy, and now she's crying about
the consequences she helped create. She whispered, I didn't vote

(18:20):
for this, and the Cosmos replied, you absolutely did. She
finishes still nothing. Look, there are innocent people suffering who
did not vote for this. I hate that. I'm a mother.
I don't want anyone hurting unnecessarily, But sometimes the only
way people learn is the hard way, touching the hot stove,

(18:43):
licking the frozen flagpoles, sprinting across pavement with their hands
shoved in their pockets like Darwin's. In turns, so many
ignored suffering because it wasn't happening to them. So many
shrugged at cruelty, until the cruelty boomerang. The world they
begged for has arrived, and it's carving its initials into

(19:06):
their futures with the tenderness of a prison shank. Be
careful what you wish for, because now now I hope
every day is the day they fucking voted for until
the rest of us, and in a perfect world, with
their help, can fix the fucking mess they handed us,

(19:26):
the mess their selective stupidity forced down our throats. But
in the meantime, I'll be the one telling them to
cry harder. And maybe that's me. Maybe it's cold, maybe
I should be the bigger person, or maybe just maybe
I just don't give a fuck. And she linked the

(19:47):
Phil Collins song I Don't Care Anymore. She reminds me
a little bit of James fell in the way that
she just lays his f bombs into it every piece
of commentary that she has. But you can see why
she's popular, and she is well known across the United

(20:08):
States and even in places around the world for her commentary.
So I would welcome any commentary that you have on
pretty much anything that is on your mind. The switchboard
is wide open. Let me close some windows so I
can actually function as a host. By the way, and

(20:29):
total digression here, but I think it relates. I watched
for the tenth of time the Robert Eggers film called
The Witch. Now you would expect me to talk about
this more around October Halloween time horror films, it said.
I don't know if i'd even call it a horror film,

(20:50):
but I was watching it again, and every time I
see this movie, I see something new in it, and
I see and there are spoilers in what I'm about
to say, so skip forward eight minutes or five minutes
if you haven't seen the Witch and you want to
be surprised. But if you're going to take the journey, great.

(21:10):
If you've already seen it, great. If you don't care
and you're going to watch it afterwards with this commentary
in mind, great. Here's the gist. So there is a
Puritan family back during Puritan times, and there is a
very pious father. He's played by Ralph is it In
or In. He has one of the type those forces

(21:31):
you have ever heard. He speaks like this sent it's amazing.
And he is standing in front of a kind of
a counselor tribunal in the town, and he is apparently
a pain in the ass because he doesn't believe that
the Puritans are pure enough. They are not christianing well enough.

(21:51):
They've allowed sin and wretchedness and the devil into their lands,
and he says, we need to be better about this.
So he's kind of holding up this high moral standard
and he's telling them that you need to be more godly,
and the council and the townspeople are gathered around, going
what the hell's wrong with you? Like you're not the
judge of us. You're not the moral arbiter of us.

(22:13):
And he's like, you know, I stand here condemning all
of you. And they're like, fine, take your shit and leave.
So he willingly, but he's kind of banished, but he
willingly leaves the village with his family. He's got his
wife and his daughter, who is played by Anna Taylor Joy,
and then two very scary young children, like screw those kids.

(22:38):
Kind of kids. Like you look at them and you're like,
I want nothing to do. Well, I don't want to
be in the same zip code as those kids. Creepy, creepy,
creepy kids. So they get on their wagon and they
go to stake acclaim elsewhere fertile barren land. Well it's
it's bear, not barren. And he is going to build
a cabin and they're going to make their own little

(22:59):
home church and get closer to God and be the
kind of Christians that he had always said that we
needed to be. Okay, So the second they put up
stakes and they bless the farm and they try to live,
everything goes wrong. Everything goes wrong, and the clueless father

(23:26):
continues to spout scripture and talk about how wretched we
are as sinners, and how in all of this trauma
and pain, this is our way of God bringing us
closer into his embrace. How lucky are we? I think
he actually says something along those lines. After they lose
an infant child. The mother's devastated in grief. She can

(23:50):
barely get herself out of bed. She's weeping, she's sobbing,
and he's like, how blessed are we that God would
bring us to this low point so that he might
draw us nearer into his embrace? Right, I mean, it's
that kind of and we see this often in the church.
And shit continues to go down. He does not prosper,

(24:13):
he can't get food to grow, he can't hunt game
in the forest. They are so hungry they're ripping off
tiny little pieces of bread. And the whole time he's like, Jesus, God, Jesus, God, God, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Well,
this teenage daughter, I think she must have been fourteen
at the time, maybe fifteen. They're freaked out because she

(24:34):
is starting to enter her womanhood and they talk about, well,
we need to banish her away or something. I don't
know where. They would banish her for a while until
she has gone through puberty, because sexuality in young people
freaks them out, totally freaks them out. Oh my god,
she's developing breasts and she's you know, she's doing womanly things,

(24:55):
and yet she is a child. Then the father is
guilty of tremendous hypocrisy throughout the film. He does dumb shit,
he does dishonest shit. He essentially backs himself into a
corner time and time again, and he lets others take

(25:16):
the blame for it. All the while the whole farm
is dying around him, His children are disappearing and dying
around him. It's a horror show. Now, this is the
point I'm trying to make. Okay, there is a suspicion
that one of the kids is in league with Lucifer,

(25:37):
epitomized by the black goat, Black Philip, who's a scary
ass goat living in the barn. Okay, the father suspects
it is Thomason. The daughter, the teenage daughter. So they
are outside after the latest tragedy, and he's trying to

(25:58):
get her to admit she's a witch. You're a witch.
You've made a pack with Lucifer. You're a witch. If
you'll come clean. Jesus can forgive you. Otherwise, I'm going
to have to go and tell the elders somewhere that
you are a witch, and they are going to freaking
kill you. This is the warning. Speak truth to me,

(26:20):
he says, tell me, just come clean. And she turns
around and she exercises what in the film is a
moment of women's liberation. It's one of the most feminist
moments except for the climax. It's one of the most
feminist moments in the whole movie. And this is a
movie about repression, hypocrisy and feminism, about female empowerment. She

(26:44):
turns and she looks at her father and she says, oh,
you want to talk truth. You want to talk truth.
You lie all the time. You let other people take
the blame for everything that you've done. You know, you're
a a You can't hunt, you can't farm. Only thing

(27:05):
you can do is take the axe out here and
chop wood. And there's a giant pile of wood next
to the house, more than they'll ever be able to burn.
Because that's the only thing he knows how to do.
She calls him out on his bullshit. He's like, you're
weak and pathetic, and you do nothing. For all your
moralizing and all your sermonizing, and all your scripture quoting

(27:29):
and all your prayers and all this piety, you're just
full of shit. And he, for the first time in
the film, shows his true self and he calls her
a bitch. He screams at bitch, and he lashes out
at her. Right, that's what was underneath the whole time,

(27:51):
the whole time, he actually finally said what he was thinking.
He reduced her, he dehumanized her. He was a sexist
pig about her.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
Bitch.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
That's what he was really like. And I, since I've
told you everything else, it wouldn't matter. But I'm not
going to get into the finale of the film. But
it's it is. It's a it's a movie about about
female empowerment over the hypocrisy of the pious. And I
look around and I see I see that father. I

(28:28):
see him. I see him throughout Maga, I see him
throughout fundamentalist Christian culture. And I don't know, I don't
think this is a stretch. I don't think I'm trying
to armchair philosophize this too much. But we see outward piety,
right the whole messages. They are not wholly enough for me. Right,

(28:52):
they are not wholly enough for me. We must construct
for ourselves a place that is more grand or actually
more humble. And it's grandeur because it is a place
where we will do Christianity correctly to the exclusion of
all others. Then the same people who were sermonizing, chest thumping,
huffing and puffing about the Lord, those same people destroy

(29:17):
everything they touch. They just just destroy it. It goes
to shit, the crops whither, the people starve, their children die,
and in their cluelessness, they continue to huff and puff
and protest and bleat and pray and do all the
things that they do the Puritans do, until at some

(29:42):
point someone close to them stands up and says, no more.
You're a hypocrite, right, you're Maybe you're the witch. I
don't know, you're the witch of the woods. I don't
know if she. I don't think she was saying that
in the film. But I saw parallels. Every time you
see a Puritan or repression culture, you see rampant hypocrisy.

(30:07):
You see people who are so myopic and small minded
and tribal and pathetic and divided. You know he didn't
want to be a part of the community nearly as
much as he wanted to be superior to his fellow
human beings. And I see a lot of that fueling
the cruelty and the hypocrisy that you and I see

(30:28):
all around us today. Am I stretching on that front?
Is that just me trying way too hard to sound
somewhat wise? Very possible? It is very possible, But that
was something that was on my mind. Terrific film. I
had to watch it with subtitles the first time because

(30:50):
the old English was so thick. I couldn't understand it.
I could not get through it, so I had to
go back and put the subtitles on. And then the
second time my brain locked into place and I was
able to understand every word. It was wild. Okay, rant
over Calls are next, and we have a bunch of them.
Hang on, just an extra show as we edge toward

(31:19):
the Thanksgiving holiday. Thought you might want something to listen
to while you're driving due wherever, or just cooking, cleaning,
or skipping all together. So glad you are here, let's
go to the phones. Clint, Are you there, Hi, Seth.

Speaker 5 (31:36):
I've told the story quite a few times since. Back
in twenty twenty one, I met I was post COVID,
was gone, starting to go out on dates and stuff,
trying to get out. And I met this girl, this
woman who had had health problems before I met her.
She had existed with pulmonary high pertension, which is a

(31:59):
long busy for twelve years, had a double lung transplant,
had all the scars, you know, and so I, you know,
she had a plan. She was motivated. She was a
you know, she was a scientist. She wanted to be
She wanted to create the cure for the disease that

(32:21):
she had, and so she was in college to get
the degree. Then she wanted to go to grad school
and get a doctorate and become a scientist. And so
I decided to hop along on that ride. And it
took us all the way to Chicago when she was
in grad school, and then we moved there a year ago,

(32:43):
back in July last year, and she went through her
first semester and then her health went down. We were
our wedding was scheduled for July fourth, I mean January
fourth of twenty twenty five, and we went through it
and she was very could barely walk and so we

(33:07):
still went through it. She wanted to, she planned the
whole thing, and and then a month later she went
to the hospital and lasted ten days unconscious and passed away.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
And I've been.

Speaker 5 (33:22):
Dealing with that ever since and trying to I've been
to grief counseling. I have a grief counselor, and I
went to Greek Grouf group counseling, and that's where I
experienced sort of a prejudice towards me being an atheist.

(33:42):
And I was because all of these people, it's mostly
women that were there, not many men, And I went
all the time and I, you know, they all talking
about God and and their stuff, and then when I
talk about mine, everybody gets offended and all of this stuff.
And they didn't tell me. They told the counselor head,

(34:03):
the woman that was running it, and I think they
booted me out. They told me I couldn't come back
because and they wouldn't tell me why. They told me.
I was, I don't know, said some stuff they didn't like,
So I, you know, I stopped going. I still go
to my personal counselor, and it's just been the toughest
thing that you could all could imagine other than losing

(34:24):
a child, because that's the only thing I could imagine.
This's worse. I still, you know, emphathized with her mom.
Her mom I'm still in contact with, and she's a
wonderful human being. And the girl I was, you know,
her name was Caitlin, and she was awesome. You know,
she voted for the very first time under me, and
she got to vote for Kamala Harris last year and

(34:46):
in a blue state in Illinois, and I was awesome.
You know, my whole family is read except for maybe
two people. And I, you know, I I was listening
to you before and all of that. You know, I've
been listening to you for ten years.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
And you know.

Speaker 5 (35:03):
It's just you know, I had wanted to call and
try this again by calling you, because the last time
I called, I was so nervous.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
You just so much. No. No, no, no, Clayton, you
did fine. I'm sorry for your loss. I know those
words bring empty people grow for language. I will also
assure you that both women and men in hospital, hospice, counseling,
et cetera. Positions all come up with those platitudes that
drive you so crazy. And I think many of them

(35:31):
also whisper around or behind the ears of non believers,
you know, and sort of piggyback their faith on the
tragedies of other people. And I'm so sorry that happened
to you, but I'm glad she had you, and I'm
glad you got to share those those moments together, those
days together, and you know, even because of your union,

(35:54):
because you got to mark that with a marriage, you know.
I mean, she got to die at your side in
that way. And I know that's feigned comfort, But are
you hanging? I know it's it was just this year
you're dealing, Clint. Is there anything we can do for you?

Speaker 5 (36:12):
Well, you know I had to. You know, when I
was living up north, I had a job and I
had to quit my job because I didn't want to
be by myself up there, and so I don't have
I've been trying to get a job for the last
ten months. Oh not ten, but I left it a
couple months where I would try to get my bearings
a little bit. And I've been trying to get a

(36:33):
job since probably about April or May. And you know,
I've been on interviews and it's been really hard. This
economy while Fearless Leader has been so bad. You know,
it's hard to get a job right now, especially down
here in Louisiana, where you know our governor's a nut.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Yeah, in a strong field, in a strong field, the
Louisiana's I forget where you're ring in terms of education
as well. I know you're in the bottom for your
like forty Oh yeah, somebody look it up for me.
I'm not a vocational counsel or anything like that. What's
your skill set? And maybe you know, if there's somebody

(37:14):
who in the chat might have an option for you,
like what do you do?

Speaker 6 (37:21):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (37:22):
The last two jobs I had had to do with warehousing.
I was a supervisor of the last job I had
in Chicago in in restaurant equipment delivery service. They would
sell them and then deliver them, and I had to
schedule all of that and talk to customers and stuff.

(37:43):
I only got to have seven months experience, having not
enough to get a job down here because they want
you to have at least one, two or three years
of experience, and I don't have enough for that. And
so I have a previous job before that, I was
a shipping receiving person basically did everything. I know where

(38:03):
to drive a fark left, I can, you know, do
all of that. And that's the job. And I've been
a quality inspector in two different industries I've done. I've
done a lot of different things. And that's another detriment
being in the workforce for over twenty the little over
twenty years. And you know, I have so many different
jobs that I've done, you know, so you.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
Tell me, let me contract out my weaknesses. If somebody
who is listening or watching in the chat, you know,
drop drop a line attention, Clint. You know, if you
know it of an opportunity in Louisiana somewhere or even elsewhere,
you know, let us know. I would be I'd beaton
Rouge area. Okay, well I'm.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
In the Baton Rouge area.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Big hugs from all of us to you, Clint. I
know the holidays can't be easy, but you you are
appreciated and you do have support and I appreciate your
call very much.

Speaker 5 (39:00):
Thank you very much. And one other thing, you and
I do share the same.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Birthday, April twelve.

Speaker 5 (39:07):
Yes, sir, April twelfth, my birthday.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
I heard that David Letterman's birthday is the same, and
I think there are some other celebrities. I don't know
why I am curious about such things, but all.

Speaker 5 (39:20):
Right, will you and I are I don't know, I
have the same thing. Go ahead, it was the same thing.
It's oh sorry, I didn't mean the same date. The
first the first shuttle was launched on my birthday, in
the year I was born. So that's another thing that happened.
The very first Space shuttle was launched.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Well, we're hurtling toward April of twenty twenty six, so
happy birthday, way way way in advance, and take care, okay, Clinton,
I'm sure.

Speaker 5 (39:49):
I'll be listening to you. You too, Seth. Thank you
for taking my call.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
You bet we'll see you later. I said that line
many times. Life's like a roll of toilet paper. It's
been faster and faster as you get closer to the end.
All I know is is January, and I blinked, and
it's almost December, Like where'd the year go? Where the
year go? Speaking of December, as I go to Denver
to speak for Secular Hub, we're geared up and preparing

(40:16):
for our snow skiing excursion. She's never been. I might
as well have never been. We ordered clothes, warm clothes,
and we've been watching YouTube video tutorials. Yes, we're going
to take lessons in person, but we're like, okay, So
to slow down with your feet, you make the pizza,

(40:38):
and if you want to go faster, then you open
your skis up. Parallel in that you do the French fries.
So we've been practicing our pizza and our French fries
on the mountain. We've been practicing actually in our living room.
We crack each other up. We crack each other up.
I've got Margaret who is dialing in from looks like Denver, Colorado. Margaret,

(41:02):
are you there?

Speaker 7 (41:05):
I sure, am, Seth.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
What's on your mind?

Speaker 7 (41:09):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (41:10):
I can?

Speaker 7 (41:11):
Well, I just you just mentioned. The thing that has
gotten me so excited is I have a ticket to
see you on December sixth at the Secular Hub. I
heard about it from you and then found the location.
I have been to their small building. You've been there

(41:33):
before from what I understand, and I've been able to
I'm in assisted living. I'm seventy three and have some disabilities,
but I can't tell you how excited I am to
get to see you in person, and so you got
me a hold Secular Hub, which is only two miles

(41:54):
from where I'm living, and now I've been able to
get the Sunday Services bus service to their location, and
I have just had the best time the last two
Sundays getting to meet with I talked to a physicist
last Sunday, and it's just a great group of people.
So thank you for letting me know that I had

(42:17):
this kind of resource so close to me. And I'm
very much looking forward to seeing you. I love, I
have a little story I was wanting to do.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
I'm just walking all over you here, but thank you
and I'm looking forward to meeting you. I don't know
if you're a hugger, but I will queue a hug
for you coming up. Oh surely, okay, you and me, all.

Speaker 7 (42:37):
Right, I can't wait. As far as your skiing trips,
hopefully we get a little bit more snow. We have
still not had a flake of snow in Denver this year.
We are already working on the second latest date and
may actually pace past the first. So hopefully we'll get
a little bit more snow.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Oh yeah, I'm just out there.

Speaker 7 (43:00):
I wanted to tell you.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Gravel and rock and yeah, it's going to be awesome. Yeah, yeah,
I look forward to whichever. Al all right, go ahead,
I'm Minnesota talking, Margaret, go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
That's okay.

Speaker 7 (43:14):
Oh no, you're you just made my day, not just
my day right now. But I was going to tell
you this story. I didn't know if you were going
to take questions and answers when you're here or anything.
But back in I got Medicare in late twenty seventeen.
My birthday was just a week ago and stuff, and

(43:36):
so in twenty eighteen I needed to go to the hospital.
But the thing that's kind of started me on this
this story that I'm gonna tell this fact that at
least in Denver and our suburbs, most all of the
hospitals have religious names. We've got Saint Anthony's, Saint Joseph's, Presbyterian,

(44:00):
and Lutheran, and that just seems to be pervasive in
the hospital environment. But so I'm in Saint Anthony's Hospital
and they have a very large chapel, and I was
praised by a Roman Catholic mother and an Agnostic father.

(44:22):
There were four girls. Two of us went the agnostic
I can say atheist now, and two of them stayed
with the within the religion. So but I've always when
I first went to a different church, a like a
it's Methodist or something, and will I said, well, why
don't they have all the statuary that they have in

(44:44):
the Catholic Church I was being forced to go to
until I was eighteen. So I'm in this hospital and
it has a big chapel with the big statue of
Jesus and everything, but in each and every room of
this hospital they had a little small they still have
of like eight inch crucifix with the Jesus figure on it,

(45:09):
with the stabbing in the side and the blood dripping
and everything. And so I'm in this room having to
stare at this cross for several days, and I kept
asking them could you please remove that from my room?
And it was just, you know, an inexpensive cross, But
I just politely asked them for several days, could you

(45:32):
please remove that from my room? And it was just
bugging me a lot. So finally I I went over
in my wheelchair and took my cane and it was
just barely attached above the doorframe, and I just came
out off. I just popped it off and set it
over to the side.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
And.

Speaker 7 (45:52):
A hospital person came in and she saw that it
was sitting there, and she picked it up and looked
at me strangely and walked out. And as I said, oh,
that seemed to go well to remove that icond of
you know, out of my room. It was personally offending me.

(46:13):
And so I'm sitting there and all of a sudden,
these two men, the head of security for the hospital
and his goon, this extremely large African American man, come
flying into my room and he starts and I've got
my computer and my phone. They slammed my computer shit

(46:37):
and tried to knock my phone out of my hand,
and he goes, I'm going to have you arrested for
felony destruction of hospital property. He just went I just
started laughing at him, chuckling, except when I'm going, I
don't believe I destructed anything, and except in Grand Grand

(47:00):
something would have to I would assume be over the
five hundred dollars mark, and.

Speaker 6 (47:04):
This was just a possibly fifteen dollars calculating.

Speaker 7 (47:14):
But he thought he was just going to so intimidate
me by his roughness and his authority, As Cartman says,
on South Park and uh and stuff and stuff. So
I just sat there and just very calmly that do
not touch my equipment and I did not destruct anything.

(47:35):
And he's just sitting there trying to pull this this
stunt on me as I considered it at the time,
and uh and everything. But then what I just I
just couldn't keep myself from it. I started calling the
security office on the phone next to my bed, asking
for days, because I felt like I needed to be

(47:57):
able to have some discuss with him about the fact
that he had done this and stuff. But he didn't
answer the phone, so I just would leave the message.
And so finally one time I called from the phone
and he picked up the phone and he yells on
the phone, how did you get this number? And I said, well,

(48:20):
I took my hand and I went over here to
the side table and I picked up the phone and
dialed zero and asked him for this security department, and
I got you. This man is so stupid that he
called the the switchboard people and told them not to

(48:43):
forward my calls to their office to his office. Okay,
Well I did was pick up my personal phone and
call from the outside into the switchboard and asked for
the service and stuff, but of course I was. I
was discharged the next day. So but I just found

(49:04):
it so strange.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
Hang on, Margaret, can I jump in? So you're telling
me that you just popped the little five dollars cross
off its nail on the wall, and somebody came in
and tackled you for destruction of property.

Speaker 7 (49:25):
He didn't tackle me, but he slammed my equipment down.
He you know, I you know how you get the
blue screen on your computer when it's not shut down
properly and stuff. He slams my computer. Shit, tried to
get the phone. The big guy tried to get the
phone out of my hand, and then he starts and
then he starts giving me this. I'm going to have

(49:48):
you arrested for felony destruction of church property. Oh okay,
And I just chuckled at him.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Okay, But I mean, it just sounds extreme, even for
a Catholic hospital. You know, we've got one in town
Saint Francis Is the same way. They've got that little
cheap ass dime store cross hanging in every room. And
I promised, if I'm ever admitted, Margaret, for any condition,
I'm just going to sneak over and flip it upside

(50:14):
down and see if anybody notices. Oh, yes, yeah, upside down.

Speaker 7 (50:19):
Yes, all I did was remove it from the wall.
And he thought he was going to have me in
jail that afternoon or something. We're selling the destruction.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Margaret, fugitive from justice destroyer.

Speaker 6 (50:33):
You know of sacred.

Speaker 7 (50:35):
Value system does this Christian man have if he can't
handle just having a having this, like you said, a
five ten dollars little coss removed from my wall?

Speaker 2 (50:47):
And how dare you? How dare you call him on
his professional line asking about the ethics of his role
as a security officer. You you have committed the heresy,
You have committed the blasphemy. What an affront to law
in order you are, Margaret, Yeah, that's all. Well, I

(51:08):
will say this. I look forward to meeting you in Denver.
Secular Hub always has a great credit and lovely people,
and they are just one of those instances where they
know that secular people need community, most of us, and
we love people and we want to sort of do

(51:28):
life if I can borrow that from the church, and
they're good at it. So I look forward to seeing
you in just a few days. To save that hug
for me. Okay, Margaret, I will do it.

Speaker 7 (51:39):
And if you would like, I have a photo of
a lunar eclipse that is in all the stages that
my niece is Flint. I was going to get a
copy made over here at Walgreens and see if you
would like to have it and just add it to
your collection of you know, stuff and everything would be

(52:00):
the very cool picture.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
I would be honored. Yeah, I would printed and bring it.

Speaker 7 (52:07):
Okay, I will, all right, Thank you so much, Seth.
Tut me on to a new community of people.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Well, I'm so honored that you're that you called and
and thanks for sticking to your guns up there in
the room. You're a hero. You're the hero we need, Margaret.
You take care.

Speaker 7 (52:26):
Thank you, Bye bye, sir.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
I get to bring Natalie to Denver. That's gonna be fun.
She doesn't come to hear me speak very often because
she hears me speak every day and she's kind of
over it. It's not over it, but she's like, ah yeah.
Everyone's like oh Seth speaking and she's like ah yeah, okay.
And she's a good grounding force. You need somebody who

(52:49):
knows you're bullshit. You need somebody who's not going to
be like and ladies and gentlemen joining us for the
big presentation today is Seth Andrews. Yeah, you need someone
who's gonna be like. Okay, there he is again. Okay,
who's hungry. That's my doll, that's my wife, that's my lady,

(53:11):
my queen. She keeps me centered. Lots more to talk about,
and you will decide what the subject matter is. We
continue with your calls. Next, I mentioned some of the
events that are coming up in twenty twenty six. There
will be an increasingly populated events page. Just bookmark that

(53:35):
sucker and you can see everything from local things to
national conventions at the Thinkingatheist dot com slash events. Faith
is dialing in from two five to four high. Faith.
Are you there, hello, mister Anders, Oh call me Seth

(53:58):
Shallow's on your mind, Faith, let's chat. What's happening? Well?

Speaker 3 (54:05):
Okay, Well, this is the first time I've ever called
into anything.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
So glad you're here.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
Okay, and my voice I have the same thing as R.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
FK Oath.

Speaker 4 (54:20):
I like it.

Speaker 2 (54:21):
It's got texture, it's got ganache, it's got personality. I
can understand everything you're.

Speaker 7 (54:26):
Saying you're not. I'll give it that you're.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Doing fine, So I try to enunciate what's on your mind.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Okay, all right, now, I have a very dear friend,
I'm sorry, and she is quite religious, and she used
to tell everyone you know that she could talk about

(54:55):
religion with me because I didn't, you know, judge, And
I'm atheist with a name like faith, Oh my God.
And recently her son, who is autistic, has started acting
out somewhat and he says he's an atheist. So I

(55:20):
think she blames me.

Speaker 6 (55:24):
For that.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Why would it be your fault?

Speaker 3 (55:27):
And she because I'm an atheist and I'm open about it.
And he has spent he was he was comfortable at
my house. He had never been comfortable, so he ended
up spending a lot of time here.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
So he was exposed to someone who was non religious.
Maybe you indoctrinated.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
Him with the atheism he had never.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
You've got it, Okay, I'm tracking.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
But here more recently, she just she hasn't she She
only comes over to bring him over. He's an adult
now and comes over because my house is born and
I think that is comfortable for him because if something

(56:18):
gets dramatic, he you.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Know, sure he's not over stimulated. You, I get that, right.

Speaker 3 (56:26):
Yeah, cardboard is my favorite color. And so she thinks
that the end of the world is here and she
might go to hell. She keeps talking to me, which, okay,

(56:47):
that all right.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
She thinks that, but every time I.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Try to talk to her that she's going to go
to hell if she keeps talking to an atheist.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
That she will and go to hell if she engages
an atheist in conversation. Yes, okay, all right, thank you
for the clarification. I'm just trying to Okay, follow out,
keep going, You're doing great.

Speaker 3 (57:19):
Okay, that's kind of a toughie. Yeah, but every time
I try to talk to her about something, I think
that I tried to talk to a little bit about politics,
and I offended her horribly because I was just at
that time, I was just appalled with the red cal
thing where they had led four red heifers through Gus.

(57:42):
I guess to try and bring about the end times.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
You'll have to forgive my ignorance on the red cows story.
I'm going to have to check it after we speak today.
So she's terrified of you.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
I'm not sure where it in revelation somewhere.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
She's worried she's going to lose your Salvation's worried you're
going to taint her son. And your question is what, Yes.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
But she still brings me her dog and her kid
to watch.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
Well.

Speaker 3 (58:11):
Question is is there some is there some mindset that
you bring yourself to to be diplomatic because you are
the most diplomatic person I have ever heard.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
I don't feel diplomatic face.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
You just seem to have exactly. I know you don't,
but you are. You know, it's amazing. You just bring
something to it that people immediately seemed to quit feeling offended.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
I wish I was the hero you need. I've I
am a mess. I think a lot of people feel exactly.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
I'll bet you well, you're very public. Okay, Oh, I
want to sit in the corner and set my thumb.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Well. I think the question for you is just rapidly.
I think the question for you is how far are
you willing to bend to be able to spend time
with you know, her son, to give him that safe
haven if she allows it.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
Right, I've spent a lot of time with her. We
became great friends. I used to volunteer at a food
bank here I'm in Central Texas, and we became great friends.
I mean, I've been the food bank, did a distribution
every two weeks, and I've spent that whole time there

(59:41):
with her, you know, moving food around, going and getting
things just all over the place, and we became great friends.
So it's kind of and I've thought through a lot
of gospel music that I detest.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
So help me understand, because i want to make sure
I'm honoring the time of the people still on the switchboards.
So you have a good relationship or you don't.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
We had a good relationship, but it seems recently it's
just kind of falling apart. I believe that it may
be that she's really frightened inside.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
I believe so the lat things are going now, you
think about how insecure someone would have to be to
think I'm saved, sanctified, going to Heaven, right, and yet
just the physical presence the voice, yeah, Uh, connecting in
conversation with someone who's a believer might strip me of heaven.

(01:00:41):
Tells you you're dealing with someone who is essentially steeped
in fear. Yeah, And I think that does deserve to
a degree. Well, she is in some compassion, but that means.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
That I need to be Yeah, I need to be
out a little bit more. And I hope that I
keep that in my mind. It's I'm not a real
diplomatic person. I tend to say something, want to see something.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
I get that. I can't tell you how to proceed
except that in your situation, it's a cost benefit as
to how far you're willing to bend to be able
to spend time and give safe haven to her son,
to you in a caregiving way, or something along those lines.
You're not going to change her mind. I don't think
that's the goal. But I do think it's just fine

(01:01:30):
to stand up for your values, to say this is what.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
She believes, that religion saved her life. Okay, all right,
And I've pointed that out to her son many times
because they're getting in bad fights. I think being a
new atheist is almost like when you get said, you
just want to talk about it all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Yeah, I did it for years. I was obsessed. I
was obsessed, And it's.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Understanding the same thing. It's the same you know, Yeah,
it's that same mindset, and but she can't see it
that way, and she's she's wanting to get out of
her house. It's just it's craziness.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
And it's unfortunate because I want.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
Her to lose her son over this, because she's not
saying she's somebody that managed a food bank for years.
She's a giving, generous, kind.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
Person except when she's not. And I think it would
be her son losing her because of rules and stipulations
that she put in place, which is tragic. It's a
tragic byproduct of her very insecure faith. All I know
is only you can make the decision as to how
far you are willing to bend to be able to

(01:02:49):
spend time with him. I don't think you get sucked
into arguments. I don't think that's going to take you
anywhere productive. But I do think you stick to your
guns in terms of you, I don't your own values,
and and I think you know, do your best to
stand your ground, be who you are, and and then

(01:03:09):
draw the line where you want.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
Okay, faith, all right, Well I hoped you would have more.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
I don't have the magic bullets. I do not have
the magical I'm not a magic bullet. I'm not a
Relationship and family counselor. I'm not an expert. Honestly, if
I could fix these types of family problems, I would
have fixed my own. And so all I can say
is I share.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
That's true, that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
I share your frustration, and I always encourage people to
find out where their line is. Personally, only you can
decide how much you're willing to tolerate and where you're
willing to put that line in, how you would reinforce it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:52):
Okay, Faith, Okay, well, thank you very very much.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
You're very kind. Thanks.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
I really appreciate that there are people like you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
You're very You're very kind. Okay, be safe over the holiday.
We'll see you later. I hear these pauses or what
I feel are pauses in the conversation, and I jump in.
But apparently the pauses are not pauses. So I hope
I haven't frustrated anybody. I was trying to find the
trying to find the windows there. Let's talk to Garrett,

(01:04:27):
who's dialing in out of Phoenix, Arizona. Are you with me,
my friend?

Speaker 4 (01:04:35):
I am Seth.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
How you doing, I'm good? What's on your mind?

Speaker 6 (01:04:41):
So I've kind of experienced when I was a kid
that I can't explain, and it's like the one thing
that I'm kind of hung up on. So I don't
believe in ghosts or anything like that. But when I
was a kid, my mother was sick and my dad
had to go out to get some like food. Family

(01:05:03):
five took the two other siblings and I played. I
stayed back and I played a board game. My mom
was like Battleship or something. We were sitting there playing
and all of a sudden, we heard like glass break.
So I get up and my mom can't get up
off the couch, and I go and take a look
in his china cabinet and a tea cup from like

(01:05:26):
I guess her mom was just split in half. Just
a cup, not the saucer. No big deal. But my
dad comes home a little bit later and he goes
to my mom, Hey, you're not going to believe what happened.
I saw your mother in the store. My mom, grandma
passed away right before I was born.

Speaker 4 (01:05:46):
And he goes and she was just smiling at me,
like in the counter or something.

Speaker 6 (01:05:51):
So I went to go find her afterwards, couldn't find her.
You know, I left the store, she wasn't there. My
dad also not like a believer spirits or anything like that.
So my mom is she's she's pretty spiritual or something.
She Native Americans. She went to a tea Lea Freeder
and the Tea Lea Freeder tells her, Hey, you know

(01:06:14):
you're sick. You need to get treatment. You need to
go to a hospital. I think my mom was trying
to just like wait it out, like it was a.

Speaker 4 (01:06:20):
Flu or something could have been something much worse.

Speaker 6 (01:06:23):
And and so she gets this treatment, she gets better,
and the Tea lea freader tells her, hey, this was
your mother trying to send you a message, blah blah blah.
And and so as a kid, like there's a couple
of things going through my head, I'm like, well, maybe
I remember that wrong childhood. Weird things could happen. My

(01:06:44):
mother certainly remembers it, but even asking like my dad
later on, he does remember seeing this vision of his
mother his dad, mother in law at the store smiling them.
But that same day, and that's the only supernatural experience
experience that has ever happened that I don't Again, I
don't believe in ghosts. I think there's got to be

(01:07:04):
a logical reason for everything. But just this kind of
coordination of a few different events that have happened in
my life that I just can't put my head around.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
It's just looking to bounce at Ideofia.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
Well, I think we have to lean into Acham's razor, right,
What would be the simplest explanation, And does that include
someone who is existing in another worldly spiritual membrane, who
is you know, somehow interacting with the physical world in
these supernatural ways, or was it something else that has

(01:07:36):
a you know, we're patterned seekers, something with serendipitous we
connected dots. Who knows. I mean, I tend to fall
on the Oucaham's razors side of it. I haven't seen
any evidence for the supernatural yet, so my brain does
not go there. Sounds to me like though you wonder
if it might be ghosts really, which is fine.

Speaker 8 (01:07:54):
I mean.

Speaker 6 (01:07:56):
Now it's just because I actually, you know, even conversations
to the days like I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:08:04):
I also don't think there's a.

Speaker 6 (01:08:06):
Ghost world or anything like that. I just it's just
weird enough where all those like all the little things
happening that I guessink coordination just be a fantastical coincidence
of events where I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:08:23):
I don't know how to put it. It's just kind
of a weird.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
I think you and I are faced from time to
time with things we cannot explain, and I think the
right answer is, well, that's weird. You know that's odd.
But I think we have to resist this tendency to
storytell ourselves into places that may not be supported by
the evidence that where are reasonable. I myself am interested. Hell.

(01:08:49):
I went on a ghost hunt a few months ago,
and it was a blast. We were seeking all kinds
of spirits, and I told all of my ghost hunting
peers and friends there that if something happens, I want
to know about it. If something moves or a year
footsteps I can't explain, or there's a mist in the
shape of whatever floating through the hallway, that's information I

(01:09:11):
desperately need. So you know, who really knows what happened.
But I keep your eyes and ears open. Let us
know if you're hearing anything else or seeing anything else. Okay,
oh good man, Thanks brother, We'll see you later. One
last break more of your calls than just a second.

(01:09:36):
Thanks for your support on Paytreon. If you want to
be a supporter of the broadcast. You can get the
show early in commercial free Paytreon dot com, slash seth
Andrew's Is this AJ? My friends and fellow activists from Houston,
Texas on the line, Hey.

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
Said, yes, it is.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
Glad you're here. It's always good to hear your voice.
We'd like to take photos together AJ and me because
I loom. I'm about six' one and how tall are?
You A jane.

Speaker 3 (01:10:10):
Four eight four?

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Eight it's. Awesome so you are a giant though in
terms of heart and mind and. Character but it's so
much fun to take pictures because Either i'm kneeling way
way way down for us to be sort of equal
for the, camera or you tell me stand tall and
loom AND i will stand in your, shadow and that's
always a fun. PICTURE. Aj what do you want to

(01:10:32):
talk about? Today?

Speaker 8 (01:10:35):
Yeah that last photo was was hilarious where you were
looming over me with your hands. Up it's the perspective of.
It come up like you, ARE i don't, know at
least five feet taller than you actually.

Speaker 3 (01:10:47):
Are you, will but, anyways like.

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
A Frankenstein poe's AND i threw my, HAND i flared
my hands out and the lens distorted my, hand SO
i had a nose farratu kind of fingers that were
and then shadowy. Whatever, YEAH i was a Wild, okay
forgive me aj go. Ahead what's on your?

Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
Mind, no you're. Fine.

Speaker 8 (01:11:07):
Food food is in my mind. Always you asked, earlier
you were talking about your, introduction and you were, like,
well who's? Hungry And i'm, like, Well i'm. Hungry i'm always.
HUNGRY i might be, tiny But i'm always. Hungry, Okay
so my question to you, was do you like to?

Speaker 3 (01:11:24):
Cook or is not only the cook at the house
both of.

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
Us both of us enjoy. It she's better at some
things And i'm better at some. Things So i'm better
at cooking. FISH i just made some like a really
delicious sort of curry tilapia. Dish the other. Night she
makes an amazing stew and her salmon is to die.

(01:11:48):
For and we can each do, pasta but it kind
of depends on the. Dish what do you?

Speaker 8 (01:11:53):
Think, oh that's. Good what's your favorite food to?

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
Eat my favorite? Food you, know it changes depending on my.
Mood some days it's a sushi, roll some Days i'm craving,
tacos and some DAYS i just want. Pasta you Know i'm.
Finicky not, Finicky i'm what's the Word i'm looking, For
i'm all over the. Map let's say that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
A. Foody.

Speaker 8 (01:12:21):
YEAH i love. COOKING i always love. COOKING i think
because my mom she when we were growing, up cooking
together with her was like a really fun thing for.
Me so like it's something THAT i carry it into
adulthood AND i really like it's one of those things
THAT i like to sort of my love. Language you could,
SAY i like cooking for people and make them, happy

(01:12:44):
because what makes me.

Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
Happy are you going to cook for the?

Speaker 8 (01:12:47):
HOLIDAY i, Am, Yeah i'm actually. Cooking, well we are
going to my mother in lave, house so she's, cooking you,
know the turkey and the ham and some of the
sides and. Desserts but SINCE i eat mostly plant, BASED
i plant based because of health more, so Although i've

(01:13:08):
been getting into one of the the morality of it
thanks to other. Atheists but, anyway So i'm bringing my
plant based. Foods So i'm gonna make homemade hummus with
that's sort of like the. Appetiser but the main dish
is going to be mashed, potatoes because potatoes are. LIFE

(01:13:30):
i cannot live without, potatoes And i'm gonna make a
vegan meat loaf with moshroom.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
Waving i'm, sorry vegan and meat loaf makes me wonder
are you doing like a tofu meat? Loaf what's a
vegan meat? Loaf?

Speaker 8 (01:13:49):
Well there are also really good alternative to, meat which
is it looks tastes and have to think text as
grumby if but it's not be you, know it's made
of like soy or. SOMETHING i don't know that it's
like the.

Speaker 7 (01:14:06):
Protein what do they call those impossible vegan?

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
Burgers at the impossible.

Speaker 7 (01:14:13):
That's?

Speaker 2 (01:14:13):
Right, yeah, yeah not miracle. BURGERS i know they have
a name for. Them, well it sounds like a party
at your, HOUSE. Aj what time should we be? Either
if you're cooking potatoes and, Gravy i'm in you, know
we'll be right. There, okay we'll be, there coming everybody
party At AJ's house tomorrow at noon for vegan meat

(01:14:33):
loaf and mashed. Potatoes so anything else on your? Mind
anything else BEFORE i move?

Speaker 6 (01:14:40):
On?

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
AJ i do.

Speaker 8 (01:14:42):
Yes, so you, know speaking Of, THANKSGIVING i mentioned to
you that Since, Nanocon i've kind of like shifted my
handling of life. Situations you, know life experiences trying to
apply more humanistic, techniques and with the family gathering starting, tomorrow,

(01:15:04):
unfortunately we will be with some family members that are deeply.
Religious others Are trump, supporters trump, borders anti trans and you,
know other frustrating. Things and although they mostly stay away
from religious, talk there are some that usually come rolling
at me with ridiculous things like the fact THAT i

(01:15:27):
homeschool my teenager right about, things and it racees my, broath,
pressure my heart, weight with the gwillin of my choices
not to say my kids to, well specifically in our
district where we Are zone two is you can call
it mega bully. School little my kids is bullied before

(01:15:48):
we started, homeschooling really really. Badly it's full Of mega,
supporters and so that is very triggering for. Me AND
i am very verson how the brain, works you. KNOW
i like to talk about the brain a, lot but
operating it myself is a whole different. Story AND i

(01:16:08):
watch you and admire your ability to remain so calm
and collected in a fossful. Situations so do you have
any tips for responding rather than reacting in when you
face situations like?

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
THAT i just feel like such a. Hypocrite everybody tells
me how CENTERED i, am AND i, Mean i'm. BETTER
i used to get sucked in to debates that would go,
nowhere arguments Really i'd be on the phone and it
was usually with a religious, parent and you, know they'd

(01:16:43):
be talking about this and talking about, that AND i
would use. REASON i would, say, well that's factually untrue
and this is not, accurate and you, know blah blah,
Blah and the MORE i presented them with the, data
the less they, cared or the more they said it
was all, false fake, news et. Cetera and then my
voice would raise and their voice would, raise and somebody

(01:17:05):
would probably hang up on, somebody you. Know And i've
gotten better about. That and the one thing that has
liberated me to a degree is THAT i don't tolerate boundary.
Violations if someone jumps in and they're, like, well i'd
like to talk about, this and they do so, respectfully

(01:17:26):
that's one. Thing but if it's that sort of, condescension,
judgment the you, know ostracizing of, someone that's you know
What i'm talking, about that piety where they look down
the nose at you're like you're some broken. Thing AND
i just put the kobash on that and Say i'm not.
BROKEN i don't need to be. Fixed i'm not your pet.
Project i'm you, Know I'm I'm i'm Just i'm. Good

(01:17:49):
AND i don't allow other people to tell me WHO
i am or any of those. THINGS i don't get
into sort of these tit for tat data point debate
situations with someone who is a closed. System my time and,
energy my sanity is. Valuable AND i know that most

(01:18:10):
people don't believe for reasons of. Data they believe for
reasons of. Identity they have an emotional, connection which is
why data points almost never. Work we have to take
a work. AROUND i try to foster an attitude of mutual.
Respect if you'll respect, me THEN i will respect your
right to. Believe and let's talk about something. Else and

(01:18:34):
IF i don't Think i'm going to get that kind of,
LATITUDE i don't. Engage like IF i thought my family
was going to say maga shit at the table this coming,
weekend there's no way in Hell i'd be. There and
even Now i'm on the bubble about. Going BUT i
just decide how Far i'm going to throw myself into
the firing. Line and if shit goes down THAT i

(01:18:57):
don't agree, With i'll tell them why AND i. Walk
and there's been a liberation to. That it's, messy it's,
unpleasant but it also feels damn good to, Say, nah
you're not going to get away with, that HAVEN'T i.
Stay i'm going to go over here WHERE i am
respected in the way THAT i. Deserve AND i don't
know how you should, PROCEED, aj except if somebody comes after.

(01:19:20):
YOU i, MEAN i know we like to come down
and have your, back but, HONESTLY i wouldn't tangle with.
You you're a four foot eight. Tornado you just mess people.
Up you'll take them. Down you, know you'll put the
kebash on THAT. Aj SO i know you're a person
of deep conviction who genuinely cares about, people AND i

(01:19:41):
understand the struggle for. SURE i don't know what to
do except don't let them suck you in and don't
let them ruin the. Day if you feel things start to,
DRIFT i think you just disconnect and say. Fine you,
know respect starts with self, respect AND i respect myself

(01:20:02):
too much to subject myself to whatever you're dishing. Out
that's WHAT i would. Do does that help it all A, Jane.

Speaker 8 (01:20:10):
It, does it. Does that's that's really good. ADVICE i like,
that you, know mutual, respect respect yourself and when those
lines are cross than for the.

Speaker 3 (01:20:20):
BOUNDARIES i suspect.

Speaker 2 (01:20:22):
This is information you already. Knew maybe you just needed
somebody to encourage and remind. You you needed A Tony
robbins to say you got, this Aj so that's my.
Job i'll tog you you got.

Speaker 8 (01:20:34):
This it's always better hearing advice with your. Voice so,
Yeah i'll remember that in my head as we callded.

Speaker 2 (01:20:43):
That, hey you go and enjoy and your mashed potatoes
and big hugs From natalie and. Me, okay.

Speaker 8 (01:20:51):
All, right Happy thanksgiving to you.

Speaker 2 (01:20:53):
Both thank. You we'll see you. Later you.

Speaker 7 (01:20:55):
Do.

Speaker 2 (01:20:56):
So speaking of vegan this this is BEFORE i wrap.
Up this is gonna sound kind of gross to a
lot of people unless you get, it but we make
a tofu chocolate pie that is to die. For it

(01:21:18):
is delicious and it's super easy to. Make you go
to the store and you buy a little block of silk,
tofu not the, firm but the silk, tofu and tofu
is like this bean. PRODUCT i guess that takes on
the flavor of whatever you put in with. It it's

(01:21:38):
a texture. Thing and you throw the tofu into the
bowl and you add, IN i want to, say a
cup and a half Of lily's sugar free milk chocolate chocolate.
Chips you throw. That you have to actually melt that,
chocolate but not too. Much you don't want to burn.
It you melt it just enough so it starts to

(01:21:59):
look a little little bit, melty and you can stir
it with a, spoon and then you add the two
together and you whip it up really really really really
really really, good and it becomes a pie filling that you.
CHILL i don't know if there's sugar in it or.
Splendor there may. BE i think there may be. Some
we put splendor in. Ours and then for the, crust
we don't buy the store bot, crust but you take

(01:22:20):
pecan and almonds and, butter and you don't melt the.
Butter you leave the butter so that it's slightly, softened
and then you put it in a food processor with
the nuts and you make this lovely textured nut crust
and then you put it in the pie pan and
you completely sort of maneuver it and manicure the nut

(01:22:40):
crust all around the, pie and then you bake. It
you got to bake it for about fifteen minutes at
three point, fifty and then you come. Out you let
the crust, Cool you pour the tofu chocolate chip filling
into the pie, crust chill it, again and you have a, chocolate,

(01:23:01):
mossy lovely, textured, rich amazing dessert that nobody would know
was made with. TOFU i swear to, YOU i am
not that. Guy tofu does not move Me tofu chocolate.
Pie and THEN i go in AND i take actual whipping,

(01:23:21):
cream and we do splenda instead of, sugar AND i
whip up some homemade whipping cream BECAUSE i can no
longer do the store bought cool whip and the shit
out of the. Can once you've had homemade whipping, cream
the rest just tastes like. Nothing it just tastes like.
You and then you just you literally just make that
whip cream dance over the top of The tofu chocolate.

(01:23:43):
Pie you just use your little spatula bakings whatever they
call that little and you just make it like waves
of homemade whipping cream on top of. It and then
you chill it. Again, oh my, god it's. Delicious it's so. Good,
anyway that's gonna be part of our holiday. Food and
this cooking segment has been brought to you By The

(01:24:05):
Thinking atheist radio podcast and video live. Stream that's going
to do it for. Me save travels if you're on
the road To grandma's. House if you are or aren't
going to family, boundaries remember it's supposed to be a positive.
Experience if someone else becomes an agent of ruination for

(01:24:28):
your chi or whatever you want to call, it you
have every right to say. Done have a Nice, thanksgiving
get your, shit leave and go be around people who do, love,
respect and validate you for who you. Are life is.
Short in the, meantime you always have a community here

(01:24:48):
and you are greatly. Appreciated so have a Happy thanksgiving
And i'll see you next.

Speaker 1 (01:24:53):
Time Follow The Thanking atheist On facebook And twitter for
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