Latest / Normally / Normally Podcast: Hasan Piker Gets Grilled, James Talarico Mystery & Kelly Clarkson Drama

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Normally Podcast: Hasan Piker Gets Grilled, James Talarico Mystery & Kelly Clarkson Drama · Normally

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey guys, we are back on Normally, the show with
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: normal-ish takes for when the news gets weird. I'm Mary
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Katherine Hamm.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: And I'm Carol Markowitz. How are you, Mary Katherine?
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm doing good. We had a smooth morning this morning
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: because my second born is very... clock conscious and responsible.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Like I have a new plan for how we're going
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to leave the house. And I just, cause I was like,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I think she'll get us in the right direction. And
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: she did. That's amazing.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Can we hire her? Is she like available?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: No, she's really, uh, she's really quite, uh, talented in
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: this way. And, you know, sometimes you just have to say,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: these are not my strengths. We're not late very often,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: but it stresses her out. So she's like, I'll just,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: let's just speed it up a little bit here.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I love that. I love a kid taking control. It's,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: you know, the fact that being late stresses her out,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: you know, this kid's going places.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yes. She will, she will do just fine. And so
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: she's helping me wrangle toddlers and toddler socks and toddler shoes,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: you know, which is a large part of the getting
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: ready process here.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Right. All right. Well, I, I, you know, I think
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: we have to talk about politics, unfortunately, because I'd rather
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: just talk about your cool kids.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: But with all our kids taking control of the situation. Oh,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: did you find a Halloween costume for either you or
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: your middle?
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Middle son, who Halloween is his favorite holiday. I mean,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: he starts talking about Halloween in like July. Does not
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: have a Halloween costume yet. And he's like, He's 13.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: He doesn't cry anymore, but he was like near tears yesterday.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: And I said, okay, I will ask my Twitter following
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: for your very specific Halloween costume, you know, idea. So
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: what he wants is something historical, not too obscure. Like
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: he does want to explain it to people. So it
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: can't be like....
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: It's not like Abe Lincoln. That won't do.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Right, right. And it cannot be sold in costume form
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: because I was like, hey, Teddy Roosevelt, and he Googles
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Teddy Roosevelt costume and you could buy one. He does
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: not want something that exists like that. So it has
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: to be, like, obscure enough that they don't make costumes
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: of it. You can't have a helmet or be too heavy,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: like no armor or anything, because Florida on Halloween is
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: still very warm and warm. Our first year when I
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: dressed my youngest son in a polyester astronaut costume really
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: doesn't work over here. Mostly costumes. The young son now
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: just goes for any costume that's shirtless. That's where we are.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: I got over 200 responses. He liked a lot of them.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: He's still thinking it over.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Okay. Among those, was James Garfield or any of the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: members of the cast of that Death by Lightning series considered?
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I have to admit that a lot
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: of them, he'd be like, oh, that's such a good idea,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: as somebody posted a picture with no context, and I
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: had no idea who these people were. People would just
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: post historical figure pictures, and he would know who they were,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: and I would have no idea.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Well, he can explain it to all of us then.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: All right, now we have to talk about politics.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: We really do. Okie doke. Well, here we are. What
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: are we, less than a month?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Definitely less than a month. Yeah, we're like three weeks out.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Since our last episode where we talked about James Tallarico
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: taking an extended absence from the campaign trail, the New
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: York Times has done a very typical cleanup on Aisle
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: 5 article where... They reviewed footage that a Tallarico campaign
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: had released to them and confirmed that he was indeed
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: in his home. This, to me, solves nothing. I get
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: that there was an incorrect story placing him at a
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: mental facility in Ohio. It doesn't actually matter that that's
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: not where he was. The fact is he was not
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: on the campaign trail for an extended length of time,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: and I do not buy at all that it was
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: because of the flu.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Well, it matters that, like, the New York Times is right.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: It matters that we debunk this false story. These charlatans
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: are lying to you. Jesse Singel has done some work
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: figuring out who the people are who were leveraging this story.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: And obviously they're rewarded with clicks and money for doing that.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And it makes everything terrible that you, A, can't trust
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the New York Times to be interested in why this
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: guy's gone for nine days.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: And you can't trust these people, some of whom were independent, quote, journalists,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: turning out The fabricated recordings. So then nobody can tell
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: what the heck is going on. But I did blow
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: my stack a little bit when the New York Times,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: which is supposed to have an actual reporter on this
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: guy all the time, only finds it interesting that he's
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: gone for nine days until they debunk this story. Right.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: The reporter was sort of complaining about it. Like, if
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: you're wondering why I wrote this story and it's like,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: you should have written the story probably four to five
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: days ago about what the heck was going on. It's
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: also interesting to me that his campaign mostly went quiet
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: in addition to him being off the trail. Now, I
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: don't know if that's just Most of your staffers aren't
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: traditional staffers. They're more like influencers and they don't really
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: know what to do in this situation. There is a
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: little bit of an epidemic, I think, of that in
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: modern campaigns. But it's just weird and it's weird that
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: people pretend that it's normal to be off the trail
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: for 90s. I saw Sorab suggest that perhaps it's just
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: young millennial vibes where you take a lot of time
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: for self-care. And I'm somewhat depressed to admit that merely
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: being that wussy might be the answer.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: OK, well, let me let me give the counterpoint to that.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I was on with Justin Robert Young today on Politics, Politics, Politics.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: He's one of my favorite podcasts. He's so smart. But
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: he made this point. The New York Times reporter does
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: not describe what they see in these videos.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: They just see him in his home. Like he's like,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: is he in pajamas? Is he like, does he look sad?
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, just no specific mentions about his appearance at all.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: And the other thing Justin said is, you know, you
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: said that his staff is mostly like influencer types. Okay.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: How could there be no Instagram picture of him like
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: holding his box of tissues and being like, I so sick,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: you know, it makes no sense and nothing about this
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: makes sense. And it's, just a sign of media cover-up
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: that they don't want to investigate this at all. The
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: New York Times article headline was, Republicans promoted a false
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: rumor that James Tallarico was in Ohio. I mean, yes, okay,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I get that that story was false and you should
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: not believe everything you read and that goes doubly so
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: for the fact that it is for something in the
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: New York Times. But the fact that the story is
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: not here's, what really happened during those days James Salrico
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: was absent from the trail is just not acceptable. There's
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: no curiosity at all. And just my final point on
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: that is we can say if this is a guy
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: who takes 10 days off, completely takes them off, not
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: a single social media post, not a single event online,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: not a single anything. is this the guy that you
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: want to be your next senator, Texas? Can he handle
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: the job? And I don't think there's anything wrong with
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: asking that at all. And that's maybe what media should
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: be doing as well.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It is a strange way to go about running
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: a campaign when you have perhaps a shot at winning
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: a long-awaited blue Senate seat in Texas for Democrats. And
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: they seem very unannoyed that he just straight up took
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: 10 days off. Yeah. Again, I've never been indisposed to
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the point that I can't do radio interviews.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I should also say that Paxton somewhat neutralizes this because
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: he's not an energetic campaigner. He, up until now, has
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: done a lot fewer events than Paxton has done. I mean,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: than Tallarico has done. But again, you're the Democrat. You
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: don't have the built-in cushion that a Republican might in
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: this state. Yeah. At the very least, political malpractice.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Right. And the fact that there's just no curiosity about
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: it is, you know, telling. And the thing is, what
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: would happen on the Republican side? And we don't have
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: to wonder because as we talked about last episode, when
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell disappeared for a while, it was Republicans calling
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: him out, making fun of him, you know, having just
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: constant conversations about where is this guy? You and I
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: said he should resign if he can't handle the job.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, where.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Where are our counterparts on the left to say something similar?
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Right. Or you'll remember that if Trump is not doing
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: public events for two days, they assume he's dead. He's dead.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: There's a slightly different standard. And whether you're Keene in
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: New Jersey or McConnell or Tallarico, you should be straight
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: with people about what you are capable of doing.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: What else we got? Midterms coming up. And ad spending
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: is somewhat lopsided. It's nine of the most competitive Senate
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: races last month. Republicans cumulatively outspent Democrats on broadcast TV
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: ads by nearly 100 percent. I guess that's good.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Well, it's it's better than not outspending because you're taking
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: a shot at it.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: But what we're seeing is that sometimes the large amounts
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: of spending either Republicans are spending more money for fewer
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: ads because they're buying towards the end of the campaign
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: when stock is low, or they are spending PAC money
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: versus party money and getting worse rates. but the needle
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: isn't moving a ton. Now, we don't know if the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: needle's accurate because no one knows what the composition of
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: this electorate is going to be in a midterm. That's
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the problem with polling is that it's hard to put
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: together what you think is going to be the turnout
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: model for this election, particularly if there is a wave
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: in some places, but not in others, right?
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Right, right.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: So we don't know what that actually means. There are
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: some A few rays of light for Republicans looking at
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: early voting or mail-in voting in states where they have
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: noticed that the Democratic levels are not what they have
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: been in years past, particularly in early voting in a
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: couple of places. Some suggest that that party is making
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: a shift away from mail-in voting, but I'm not sure
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I buy that.
• 11:01
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I am also not sure about that. But it's interesting
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: that Republicans are finally getting into mail-in voting.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: I have personally become anti-mail-in voting because of all the
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: snowbirds in Florida and the fact that the mail-in vote
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: is just so overwhelmingly Democratic. And I don't feel like
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: the people that live here year-round are the people that
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: are deciding the elections here. So I moved to Florida
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: being like, whatever, mail-in voting. And now I'm like, no.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Well, it would be sort of— It would be sort
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: of delicious if there, because the story from some who
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: posit that the left is moving off of mail-in voting
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: is it because they don't trust the USPS. And I'm like, friends,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: the USPS has never been reliable. So that's not really
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: the issue. But yeah, it would be hilarious if Republicans
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: finally ended up being that party and it just switched again.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right. Which makes sense. I mean, Republicans are an
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: older party and older people, they love the mail.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: They have a stamp on hand, friends.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Where do you even get stamps?
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Harry Enten, again, as usual, delivering news that Democrats don't love,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: was noting that party ID advantage still exists in key
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Senate races and that a majority of Democrats don't. A
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: majority of voters still think Democrats are too left-wing, which
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: seems like something that might come to haunt them in
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: a place like, oh, I don't know, Michigan. Right.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: It's interesting that Michigan and Minnesota might be competitive for Republicans.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: And Texas might not be.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: What a crazy world.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: The Minnesota thing speaks to me to a bit of
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: an anti-incumbent lens on top of an anti-Trump lens. So
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: if you're in a very blue place... you might be
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: more fed up with the way things are going in
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: your state, particularly when the news cycle slash reality really
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: benefits Michelle Tafoya's message because all these crimes keep happening
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: because the blue leadership of this state has not been
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: taking care of business. I think New Hampshire and Maine
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: suggest that because those are tight, those Republicans have very
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: good brands that are separate from the national GOP and
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: that is helping them. But man, it would be nice
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: to see a Democrat in Minnesota have to fight hard.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is good. I mean, I don't know. I'm
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: still I feel like I've been in the same place,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: which is Republicans hold the Senate, lose the House narrowly. And,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: you know, the next two years are gridlocked basically no
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: matter what. If Republicans lose the Senate, obviously that's going
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: to be even tougher for the Trump administration. But I
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: don't know. I just don't see it.
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Well, in the meantime, they've got the likes of Kamala
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Harris and Elizabeth Warren on the trail for them. So powerhouse.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Things are going great over there. All right.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: We're going to take a short break and be right
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: back with more on Normally. We are back on Normally
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: where a comedian named Ziwe. interviewed Hasan Piker and actually
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: showed the mainstream media how it's done, which is surprising
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: because she seems to be also left-leaning, but she asked
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: him very blunt, funny questions.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: And it was uncomfortable to watch, but it was really got, sorry,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: it was uncomfortable to watch, but it got to the
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: heart of the problem with him. He's mostly a fake
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: and his ideas are untested and have very limited appeal
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: to most people. Let's play a clip.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: You've been suspended from Twitch four times.
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: You regularly say controversial things. I'm going to list some
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: things to you.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: Are you ready?
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Go ahead.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: You said that America deserved 9-11. You said that your
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: favorite flag is Hezbollah's.
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: I didn't get suspended for that one.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: You said— I' m just listing things.
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: Oh, okay.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Sorry.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: You said that a Vietnamese communist refugee should suck a dick.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: You said that Mussolini has a fat ass. You said
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: that— you joked that, can we go back to a better
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: time when lynchings were happening— You said, you got me,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: I'm a racist. You said that billionaire fail sons should
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: rape billionaire fail daughters from a utilitarian perspective. What the
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: f * * * is wrong with you?
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: What is wrong with him? Why is it up to
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: her to say that?
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have always admired people who can do the blunt...
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: sit in awkward silence questioning style, which she's very good at.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: And she's clearly judging him throughout as he's coming up
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: with insufficient answers for these questions. Yes, it is comedy.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: It's funny when she sits there and stares at him
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: in judgment because he is a very arrogant person. who
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: is not normally asked tough questions, even though this is
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: a comedy satire piece. And he sits regularly for New
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: York Times profiles and podcast interviews or Pod Save America
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: interviews where they give him outs on all these things.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: What the pod save guys did was say, hey, when
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: you say that Hamas is worse than Israel, you're not
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: serious right and he goes absolutely I'm serious which is
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: revealing in its own way but the fact that they
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: want to give him the out is crazy to me
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: instead of actually establishing what he believes the New York
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Times also had him on a podcast where they just
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: giggled about how shoplifting is okay because capitalism I mean
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: it is the contrast should be embarrassing to major news
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: and politics media products and yet.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: It isn't embarrassing to them. They don't think there's a
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: problem at all. This goes back to our first segment
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: and the Telerico story. They just are there to protect
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: their people. And I don't understand how the average media
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: consumer isn't sick of that and doesn't want less of that.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Even if you're a Democrat, even if you're a liberal,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: even if you agree with them on things, don't you
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: want some level of challenge to your beliefs? Don't you
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: want to kind of hear the other perspective, even when
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: it's coming from your own side. I just don't understand
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: how the left doesn't have more of that when conservatives
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: have so much of it, so much intra-conservative disagreement where
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: we argue out our points. And look, does it get contentious? Sometimes,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: of course, but it's so healthy and so good. And
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: I can't imagine not having that.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Well, and Hasan Piker is obviously a person who, again,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: is not challenged frequently by smart people who can push
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: him on these things and point out the hypocrisy. And
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: as a result, he flails. But the problem with having
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Hasan Piker be your kingmaker is that he never shuts
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: up because he gets paid for talking and he gets
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: paid for saying more and more insane things. So it
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: was a pleasant turn of events to watch him be
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Mildly humiliated by Ziwei, and it was richly deserved. I
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: think we have another clip where she asks him, among
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: other things, does he have any black friends?
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: You kind of look like a communist.
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: Thank you. I got this in China.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: Really?
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: This is the only tailored suit I own.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: Would you like to stand up and show us the fit?
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 18:36
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Just look at that camera. Just show us.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Please maybe turn around. You great? And you want to
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: show muscles?
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: I mean, I can't really.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: Squat a little?
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: So I can't really do too much.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: I have to slut myself out a little bit.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Slut yourself out?
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: What does that mean?
• 19:03
  Speaker 6: Just, you know, be a little slutty.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: It's brutal.
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: Sorry, I apologize.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: It's so bad.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Did you always want to be a champagne socialist? Yes.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: You once said, let the streets soak in red capitalist blood.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: How was the Oscar parties this year?
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: It was weird. Jeff Bezos was there. Terrifying. A lot
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: shorter than I thought he would be. What was your
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: favorite part? I got to meet one of the what
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: was his name, Hudson from Heated Rivalry.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: There you go, pandering again. Now, Karl Marx said to
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: each according to his needs. You live in a $ 2. 7
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: million house. Why are your needs more important than 90%
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: of other Californians?
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: They're not.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: I think housing should be free.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: But how much does your house cost?
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: It was $ 2. 7 million.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: Okay, so it was $ 2. 7 million.
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: I mean, I have a mortgage. I didn't pay cash
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: for it. Some people think I just literally went with
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: bags of cash and bought that I have that kind
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: of money. I don't. You don't believe me.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: Don't interpret me listening as anything other than listening.
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure he even knows what's happening there. Yeah.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, he has a mortgage?
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: That doesn't change the facts, bud. Yeah, you didn't pay
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: $ 2. 7 million in cash? Like, come on. He's such a
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: fraud and the Democrats just love him. He's going to
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: be their Joe Rogan going into the next election. Every
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: presidential candidate is going to want to be on his show.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: And here he is, you know, saying, you look like
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: a communist. Thank you. I got this in China. And
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Talking about communism, housing should be free, by the way.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: It should be free.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: I want his house, so it should be free.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: It should be free to us. Jonathan Shade actually did
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: some reporting on Hasan Piker in The Atlantic where he
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: examined his statements seriously, and that also made him look terrible.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: But I don't think that people, as you say, in
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: that ecosystem are interested in hearing about why this guy
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: is not great. They're interested in selling themselves to his audience,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: which believes all the things he believes.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I had a piece, Carol, I wanted to bring
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: up from the Wall Street Journal about how socialism is
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: going in Britain. Did you see this?
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good. Tell us all about it.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: There's like a really long, deep dive, but I'm going
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: to give you some nuggets from it about how disability
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: programs in Britain have gotten out of hand and it's
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: becoming more basically a test of modern society. Are people
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: able to cut anything? Because this will not continue to
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: exist in its current form and cannot. So quick stats
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: off the top. Some 7 million people, more than 10%
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: of the population, now claim at least one or more
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: sickness or disability benefits, the numbers growing fastest among working-age
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: people who should be powering the country's economy, surging more
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: than 60% in the past six years to 4.7 million
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: from 2.9 million. They are outpacing... All the other big
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: welfare states you imagine, they're outpacing the U.S. Here's one benefit.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Created to help those with disabilities be more mobile, it
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: allows people to give up part of their welfare cash
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: handout in return for a new car lease every three years.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: It now accounts for one in every seven new car
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: sales in the U.K. Among those who got cars last year,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: 40 people whose primary medical condition was tennis elbow, 50
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: with wheat intolerance and 320 with dyslexia, according to government figures.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: That company that is the government subsidized one is the
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: biggest rental car company in Britain now or in the UK.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Like it just and it goes on and on, like
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: all the perverse incentives.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: All the terrible tracking. All the resistance to any concerns
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: about fraud when fraud is obviously happening. Right.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Many of the newer disability claims are for mental health
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: issues like depression, anxiety and ADHD, which can be harder
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: for the government to verify than a physical disability.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: Mm hmm.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: My favorite part was the claims don't need a doctor's backing.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: They are based on whether a person can carry out
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: a range of everyday activities. Amazing. Some kind of vetting. OK,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: let's let's see what it is. But it turns out
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: during the pandemic, the vast majority of interviews moved from
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: in-person to over the phone or online.
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Which critics say makes it harder for the government to
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: tell what's real and what's not. And then, of course,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: there's a cottage industry now of NGOs and charities and
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: consultancies that help people get on disability.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, you see it coming. It's just a sad
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: state of affairs over there.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Being in the UK, I was there a couple of
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: times over the summer. It's just, it's a country in
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: decline and it's a country in decline in such a
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: depressing way because it doesn't have to be like that.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: I've been there a lot of times in my life
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: and I remember it being a totally different place, you know,
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: 20 years ago, 25 years ago. It's just sad. It's sad.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: And it's policy driven. It didn't have to be this way.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: They're in decline, and they're not only not doing anything
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: to stop it, they're speeding it up with worse and
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: worse policy ideas.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: It's always unclear to me whether these countries even know
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that the culture they're creating will create more decline, right? Like,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: once you've taught working-age people that it is more profitable
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: not to work than to work, why would they work?
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: In fact, one of the stats is that.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: A young person living outside London can claim around £ 900
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: a month on unemployment and housing benefits. It can go
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: up to £ 2, 000 tax-free if they claim disability. And if
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: you work 40 hours a week, you get £ 1, 800. So.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: People figure that out. There's really no sense in working
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: unless you have a culture that tells you it's good
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: to work and create things and be the captain of
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: your own ship. But we have abandoned that entirely.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: Completely right. It's like, why would you work? That's for suckers.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: That's what it feels like. And we should be very
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: cautious about potentially traveling the same road.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, perhaps we should not be electing communists in America.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: And the thing is, I'm getting more adamant about this.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: We have to call them communists. Like when Hassan Piker
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: is talking about housing should be free, like he's not
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: talking about Sweden. Sweden does not have free housing. So
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: we have to really look at what he means. And
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: what he means is Soviet Union. He means North Korea.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: He means places where the government supplies everything in your life.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: And that is a communist perspective. And they need to
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: be called that.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: And when he gets there, he will have a $ 2. 7
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: million or a public house, and you will have Jack.
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: Sorry, everyone.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: Yep, that's right.
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: All right, we're going to take a short break and
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: be right back with one more segment of Normally. Normally.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: All right, we are back on Normally, folks, with a
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: little bit of pop culture. One of my faves this week,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Making Waves. And so I'm going to put it out
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: there that I'm a Kelly Clarkson partisan. I think she's
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest vocalists of our generation, the winner
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of American Idol Season 1. She went to a Brooklyn store,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: like a little sort of like novelty, high-end arts-tique. said
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: she had hunted it down because she had heard good
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: things about it. She goes to the store and upon
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: reaching the store, apparently she does not have the experience
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: that she wanted. And she says on X after that,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Just drove all the way to Brooklyn to check out
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: this store I thought looked really rad and had a
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: few things in mind to buy and literally was looked
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: at as if I couldn't afford it and was told
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: he could find something comparable for me. Wow, dude, you're
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: an idiot and just lost a huge sale. But y'all
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: should go check out Art of Play in Brooklyn if
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: you enjoy being treated like Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: For sure. Check it out. Thumbs down.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Amazing. Yeah, it's quite a story and it's gone back
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: and forth. I honestly tried not to follow it, but
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: I failed.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: I got you covered, girl, because I have been interested
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: in this for this reason. It seems to me Kelly
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Clarkson is not generally a troublemaker.
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: And so my tendency was to think, I don't know,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: she doesn't usually tweet like this. Somebody probably was a
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: pretty big jerk to her. And that's what caused it.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: And someone said something like, this Kelly Clarkson discourse has
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: brought a bunch of the best and brightest together to
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: discuss whether it's possible that a boutique in Brooklyn owned
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: by a couple of hipsters could possibly have treated anyone
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: condescendingly and rudely in this store. And it's like, yeah,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: I can believe that, actually. So Their response was, hey,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the thing she wanted, which is like an animatronic mechanical
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: bird piece of art that's on the wall, they say
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: it is a permanent fixture that is part of their
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: performance art that they do in the store. And it
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: wasn't for sale. And that's why she got mad, because
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: she wants to buy this thing that's not for sale.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: She's a celebrity. She's being a jerk. She fires back, aha,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: there's a price tag on it.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: So she has the receipts that there's a price tag.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: And what I can gather is that this store had
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: an item that people inquired about, priced it really high
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: to say that, hey, you know, nobody's going to buy it.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: When in fact, if you put a price tag on
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: something and somebody comes in and wants to buy it,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: you're going to have trouble if you put them in
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: that situation.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: The shop owner is also just not coming off as
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: all that believable or likable. Do we have a clip?
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: We are afraid for the safety of our shopkeepers. Kelly
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: Clarkson has put us in danger. Not just are people
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: showing up in person, but our neighbors are getting doxxed
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: and review bombed.
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: People are getting threatened on the street.
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: And the worst part is, we didn't know this was
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: gonna happen but Kelly Clarkson did this is an insane
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: misunderstanding like nothing happened in this shop to justify her
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: scolding our shopkeeper on the way out but I could
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: let that go you know everybody has a bad day
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: if it is this intense to be merely mentioned by
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: Kelly Clarkson. I can only imagine how intense it is
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: to be Kelly Clarkson every single day, but things changed
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: when she used her platform to attack us. It's just,
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: it's asymmetrical social warfare.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Kelly Clarkson has put us all in danger is the
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: quote for the ages.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: Asymmetrical social warfare. I hope those crazy kids figure it
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: out and Kelly Clarkson gets the bird of her dreams
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: delivered to her home. I haven't seen the artists like
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: weigh in and be like, we will get you six birds,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Kelly Clarkson.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, he's just some like quirky artist who had
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: one or two pieces, right? And of course, this shop owner,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: when asked by another outlet, like, so was the bird
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: for sale? He gives like, A full column of an answer.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Which might have led to the misunderstanding.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: But I think probably this store will do all right.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I imagine they're not in great danger and that there
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: are a lot of people coming by. And I think
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: if it were me, I would have been ticked off
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: too and probably wouldn't have tweeted the name of the place.
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: But I can understand. Yeah.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: You want the animatronic bird and you want it now.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: That's it. It might be an unpopular take for me
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: to take Kelly's side on this.
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, I lean team Kelly just because it seems
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: not like her to randomly complain about something like this.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: So she must have been treated pretty badly. But yeah,
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: it's kind of amazing that this is a giant story
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: for several days.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Also an Easter egg, which I checked and is true.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: The owner of this shop who was featured in that
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: video is the author of Dragons Love Tacos.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow. That's funny.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Yes, which is a very famous, like, mid-2000s children's book
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: that was very trendy.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: All right, speaking of Hollywood, The Daily Wire has a
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: new film coming out called Confession, and it looks amazing.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: It was screenwritten by Ben Shapiro. Cast includes Rob Lowe,
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: James Franco, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte. It's just amazing.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: I'm super... excited to watch it. It's a historical drama
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: set in Stalin era Moscow. And I don't really love movies,
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: but I have enjoyed what Daily Wire has put out.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: We're not at all sponsored. Absolutely no one is paying
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: us to say any of this. And we could not
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: highlight it, but we chose to because I like what
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: they're doing.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you. I think that this I like
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: people who are ambitious and try like things that You
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: would pitch this idea as Ben Shapiro and someone would
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: be like, are you crazy, man? We can't make that happen.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: But he's talented and he's very driven and he's had
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: a track record of doing interesting things. And so I
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: love this direction. I love seeing Rob Lowe in anything, frankly.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: And this sounds like it will be a good movie
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: with good messages about oppression, you know, and the systems
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: that cause it, and religious observance as well. So I'm
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: excited to see it.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't wait. In other Hollywood news, the show
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Girls is returning to HBO.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: People seem excited about this, though. I didn't hate it
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: when it was on, or I should say I watched it.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: I hate watched it when it was on. So I can't,
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: you know, I have to claim some responsibility for being
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: part of their audience. It was an uncomfortable show to watch,
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: and it was kind of insane, but it was amusing.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: It was enjoyable.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know how I feel about Lena Dunham.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: I'm much more sympathetic to her than I used to be.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: I used to find the sort of Bard of Our
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Generation vibes were quite obnoxious. However, I do think she
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: has talent. I think that show has a very... It
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: has a feel to it, and it is funny at times.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: I didn't watch it a lot because... When I watched it,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: I was hate watching it so intensely.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Which I do with pretty much any Lena Dunham product.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: But there's something in that that rings true and that
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: brings that out of me. I look at all these
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: characters and go, ugh. Right. So they're very skillfully drawn
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: in that way.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they did a good job with it. Shoshana cutting
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: them all out because she just wants to get married
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: and have kids and be normal, that was very realistic.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: And it's amazing that Lena Dunham put that in the
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: show and that she saw that as something realistic that
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: happens where... A Shoshanna-like character gets sick of the weirdos
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: and is like, no more of this. I want a
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: normal life.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: There are moments where you see rays of normalcy in girls.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: And I don't know. It's interesting. She does interesting work.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: Let's hope it's better than And Just Like That, the
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: famously horrific Sex and the City reboot. Absolutely.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Well, thanks for joining us on Normally Normally airs
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere you get
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: your podcasts. Get in touch with us at normallythepod at gmail.com.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and when things get weird, you act normally.