Latest / Normally / Normally Podcast: The Holidays and Reading Recommendations

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Normally Podcast: The Holidays and Reading Recommendations · Normally

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Maybe we are back on Normally, the show with normalist
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: takes for when the news gets weird. I'm Mary Katherine
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Ham and today we are heavy on takes and light
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: on news.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sprinkling of news. But this is a special edition
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: of AMA Normally.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: And I'm Carol Markoitz. Merry Christmas, Mary, Catherine. How was
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: your Christmas?
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Oh? I'm sure it was great. It's always good.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: We have a you know, it's busy, and in the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: run up to Christmas, I get very get a little frazzled.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie. And then I had to drive
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: in the snow, Carol.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm very Southern for those who had not noticed,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and I am not prepared for such things. I am
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a good driver, yes, but snow driving is not my
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: element and it makes me very nervous. And then I
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: had two toddlers screaming at me from the back of
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the car while I was snow driving. And there was
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: a hilarious scene where my three year old is just
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: you know, she's like reached her.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Limit and she's just screaming back there and.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I'm white knuckling it trying to get through the mountains,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: and I just start telling her.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: You're excited to see your grandparents and you sort of
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: like stop screaming for a second. Do you want to
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: build a snowman? And she's like ugh, And I was like,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: we'll build a snowman. Do you want to build a
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: big snowman or a small snowman?
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: And I'm just like, like like a hostage negotiator, just
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: trying to get through the mountains with my giant load
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: of presence and my not so cheery toddlers. But once
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: they got here, they were very cheery, and I was
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: very cheery, and we're good.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: I love to hear it.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, driving in Stow.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: I'm not a fan either, but it sounds like you
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: made the best of it.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I toughed it out. I was like, I'm gonna pretend
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: like I'm totally fine.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: That's really the thing faked until you make it, especially
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: with children.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: That's what I did.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: So we're back with another ask Us Anything episode. We
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: got some such such good question some are serious summerre light.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: We'll do a mix of them today.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Let's start with this one.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: What is on your twenty twenty five reading list?
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I am always looking to read more classics because I
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: feel like, there's always ones that I have missed.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Even though I was partly a double major in.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: English lit, so I read a lot of classics, but
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: there are still ones that are like kind of a
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: slog that I haven't gotten to, you know that.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I'm always like, I.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Guess I should do crime in punishment at some point,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: or I guess I should do ulysses and then people
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: are like, no, you don't need to do that.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: So we'll see.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: But I did want to recommend a fun book that
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I read in the past year, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: which there's a movie based on it as well now,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: but it just tells the story of the insanity of
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: beanie babies.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: But it's very well researched. The characters are amazing.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: The founder of that company, Tie is quite a character,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and it's very well written. Zach Bisonette is the author,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and I just thought it was I thought it was
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: tell him.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was deep in the beanie baby game for you, really,
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: I was. Yeah. So one thing was I lived in
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: Scotland during that whole insanity and Scottish people didn't know
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: what was going on.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I would just like.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Walk into their you know, stores by a bunch of
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: beanie babies, ship them back to my brother, who would
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: post them on eBay and we'd make, you know, some money.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Always a hustler, care I really was.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: I was a hustler.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: My biggest sale was the Princess Diana beanie baby. I
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: sold it for over one hundred dollars, and all I
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: remember about it is I sold it to somebody who
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: worked at the New York Times because she came downstairs
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: from the New York Times building, and like, I gave
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: it the beanie baby and she gave me the cash.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: And it was like a drug deal in the middle
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: of Manhattan, except with a little stuffed bear.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: We need to know more about who that employer employee was.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Could be anyone, right, someone with a column. Now she
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: moved up.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, my reading list, I just so. I I'm big
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: on trying to read more fiction books. In our world
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: we just read. We read a lot of nonfiction, you
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: and I obviously, but I like to focus on reading fiction.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: I just started this gigantic book which I still read
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: books in book form, which I get now reading this
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: seven hundred and fifty page book, I get why kindles exist.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: It's like you just you know, read it and scroll
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: and carry your little kindle around because I could only
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: read this book at home. It's called The Covenant of Water.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: It's by Abraham BERGESSI.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I have started this book and I need to finish
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: it well.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: The tough thing is, it's so interesting and it's so
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: good and so well written. But you started and you
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: could only read it in like it's so heavy you
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: could only read it in your most comfy chair.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: You can't even read it in bed. It's like too
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: heavy to hold.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: She might asphyxiate under the book. Right.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Meanwhile, my fourteen year old daughter carries around these gigantic
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: books and like it has no problem with it. But
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: I am weak. I need to work out to read
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: this book.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: You and I both have an eldest daughter who is
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: a voracious reader, and I have to say it's inspiring.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: If I read as much as my daughters did, I'm nice.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: I would be a much smarter lady.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: I really would.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: Oh man, these girls they're really it's impressive, smart, funny.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: They get so much out of these books. I mean,
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: I used to read a lot also, So when she
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: kind of mocks.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Me for not reading that much, I'm like ma'am.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, someday you will have a career and a husband
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: and children and you won't be able to read your
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: six hundred paid books everywhere you go, and you know
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: people will expect your attention.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: So enjoy this moment while it lasts.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Girls, I'm with you with fiction when I'm trying, when
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to read for fun, I really because I
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: read so much political news and a fair number of
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: political books and biographies that I want to branch out
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: into fiction.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: But I got to say, sometimes the.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Things that end up recommended to you as a forty
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: something mom.
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, people, there are so many.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not good. I need. I need good writing.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Covenant of Water is very well written, and I feel
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: like it's hard to stumble on those good fiction reads
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: that are well written, with good characters and write I
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: need to.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Look I need.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Not going to call out the bad books that I've
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: been recommended, but I've been recommended some books that people
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: are like this is the book that got me back
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: into reading, and I'm like, perfect, this is exactly what
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: I want. And I don't know. I'm reading one right now.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to say the name, but it's about like.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: A plucky young French girl who like fights the Nazis,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: and honestly, I'm just like rooting for the Nazis at
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: this point.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: There's a There's also a genre of fiction for women
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: our age that is like trauma soaked heroine solves murder
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: despite her trauma, but like, the amount of trauma that
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the heroine must endure is so great and she's.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Not really rising above it. She's just kind of like
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: stuck in this situation. It's a little bit like rear
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: real what is.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: It, rearview, rear window, what's the what's the Hitchcock movie?
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I didn't I know which one you mean, but I
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: have not seen.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: At any rate.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: It's like a woman stuck in her home who witnesses
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a murder, but she's stuck in her home because she's
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: an alcoholic or she lost a family member or.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Something, and I I just it's too much for me.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: I'm like, ladies, bootstraps, I need you to I need
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: to leave the house.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, absolutely, I actually don't like either.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: I don't like the trauma soak.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: They also don't like the plucky heroine, who, you know,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: against all odds, like just be realistic, just you know
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: she's got some issues, but she's making the best of it.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Real Window is the name of that movie. Sorry, anybody
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: check it out. I was close.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: Two best books.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: I've read in the last year, though, one was fiction
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: City of Thieves, the guy who wrote Game of Thrones
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: I forgot David Benioff.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I excellent, loved that, Yeah so good. You recommended that
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: to me?
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Fantastic, Yeah, amazing, just want to read that went so well,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: it was so funny, it was great, such good, such
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: good writing. And then the nonfiction I loved Abigail Schreyer's
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Bad Therapy. I thought that was also fantastically written. Like
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of books where I'm like, I agree
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: with your premise, but can you write better? Yes, he
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: wrote a beautiful book with just fantastic stories and great
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: data and all of that that I enjoyed reading so much.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: And she's just I mean, she's a great person anyway,
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: but I wouldn't just recommend it. She's a great person.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: We know a lot of great people who write.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: Books, but that book was excellent.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I will have I have similar recommendation Tim Carney's Family Unfriendly.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: That was good, which hits on a lot of our
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: parenting philosophies and how society has built has been built
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: to sort of make it very hard to parent in
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: a more eighties nineties fashion, and how you can overcome
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: that and create community and independence for your kids. And
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: then I read a very this might not have been
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: in the past year, but an odd choice for a
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: fiction book that I really enjoyed was called West with
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Giraffes by Linda Rutledge, and it is the true story
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty eight two giraffes arriving in the United
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: States of America and having to make a cross country
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: trek to the zoo that they were going to. And
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: it's fictionalized, but it's from a true event, and there's
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: all sorts of great characters and just the idea that like.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Giraffes were new to America and like they'd never been
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: here before in the obstacles of transporting giraffes and when
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: there was no interstate system. Like, it's a very interesting book.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: That's I'll check that out.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: That sounds really cool.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: We'll be right back on normally. Okay, is k still
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: watching Hallmark movies? I feel like they've gone downhill without
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: the Folgers coffee product placement.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: I'm a taste's choice girl.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Personally, I am with you that I feel like I've
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: fallen off.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Have they fallen off or have I fallen off? I
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: don't know. I used to have them.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Also, I have just more children now, so I'm probably
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: just have less time for watching children. Yes, so I
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: like Hallmark movies as a background to wrapping presents or
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: decorating the tree or whatever it is, because, like, you
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: don't have to be very invested in the plot, Like
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: it's pretty easy to work out what's happening. However, I
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: think because Hallmark movies did so well, everyone started copying
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Hallwark Hallmark movies and they're on Netflix and some are
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: a little smuttier than others. Speaking of which, the genre
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: of books that you and I are recommended, how many
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: of them have you cracked? And you're like, oh, my goodness,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: this is not just fiction.
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: Yes, what's up with that?
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: No, don't this around for your voracious reader daughter.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a separate episode here.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: What is going on with the smut?
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: What is happening with this is so much anyway, So,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: like some of the Netflix Christmas movies are not as
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: safe to have on if you have kids in the house,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: not that they're crazy, but so there was like a
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: guaranteed g rating on the Hallmark which was nice.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: However, there are ones.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: That I love in the new genre, like the Vanessa
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Hudgens Christmas Prince Trilogy. I believe it was Vanessa Hudgens.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: I'm never upset with her. I think she's so fun.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: She just had a baby this year, got married and
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: had a baby.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Lovely.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: So I like those, but I do not indulge as
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: much as I used to because I feel that there's
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: just less time And when there's less time, I got
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: my I got my kids cranking on those Christmas classics,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: you know, like not the new ones.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: Right. I don't watch TV. That's my actual dirty secret
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: is that the TV is not on. I don't really
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: know how to turn it on. It's just I want
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: my end's home. It's well to wall sports, that's all.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: But I enjoy hearing about all the Hallmark movies, and
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: I enjoy like the reels about them and all the
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: different kind of memes and jokes about them online. They're
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: always a good time. I always root for the sitting
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: boy to win the girl back.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: You're like, that's a good job.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Why would you leave that guy? He's a good guy.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Because that's the thing.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: These Hallmark movies always keep that.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Guy a good guy.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: And it's like, it makes no sense that she's like
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: running away to her small town to be with the
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Christmas tree salesman. The lawyer is just as good.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, what's wrong with the lawyer?
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't. It's true. They often don't dirty them
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: up enough.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, Because the movies are so good and so
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: so like pristine in general, there can be no real trauma.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: The trauma's all in the past. We're vious, rests past
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the good point.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you're good.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: You're in a better spot now now You're big trauma
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: is you've work too much.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: You've lost the spirit of Christmas.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: You've lost the spirit of Christmas and you have to
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: go back to your hometown to find it. I'm going
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: to come to your hometown and find the spirit of
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Christmas myself.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: You can.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Should we do a serious one or a more serious one?
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Yes? What do we have here? You got one of
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: the it? Yeah?
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: Are you at all concerned about how far the pendulum
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: swings are getting in elections and what this may mean
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: in twenty twenty eight, Kamala Harris, the most liberal meaning
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: socialist leaning candidate, almost won the presidency. I'm worried that
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: a likable, smarter, AOC or younger Bernie will.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: Run in twenty twenty eight and will win.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: And once we swing into a socialist type government, I
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: worry it's much harder swing back out. Bigger government and
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: more people getting free money will keep people voting that way.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: Does this worry you? Should I just focus on the
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: here and now and not worry about far off things.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: Thanks John in Chicago. I'm super worried about this. I
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: worry about this all the time. I would love to
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: tell John and Chicago like, no, don't worry about it.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: It's totally fine. No, this is a giant turns me.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: When Bernie was getting close to winning the nomination in
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty, I was super worried, and a lot of
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: the rhetoric online from his supporters were like, oh, you're
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: afraid of Bernie Sanders. Like I was like, yeah, I
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: am afraid of Bernie Sanders. I really am. I think
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: that he would be disastrous for the country. I think
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: it would be what John in Chicago says is it
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: would be difficult to climb out of that.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: That's the thing.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: It's the changes that could be brought in four years
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: of socialist government. It would take far longer than four
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: years to recover from. I worry about this all the time.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: Absolutely well.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I would say, we can look to the north and
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: watch Pierre Palev try to crawl out of Trudeau's predicament.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: His self created bad situation in Canada, and it will
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: take a lot of work and places like Argentina, where
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Javier Malay has done a great job, but it required very,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: very dress stick change.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: By the way, I hope someone at mar A Lago
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: is copying his notes.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Here's the thing is that I think both you and
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I are ideologically conservative. We are not populist normies, which
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: is what a lot of voters are. For that reason,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: I'm ideological because policy matters. I'm gonna steal a line
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I believe from Ali Stecky says policy matters because people matter.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: And I think that capitalism has been the greatest benefit
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: to the greatest number of people in the history of
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the planet, for bringing people up out of poverty, for
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: giving people meaning in their jobs, for giving people an
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: opportunity to create new things that benefit all of us,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: and I think it's just a miracle. And so you know,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: when people tell me that Elon Musk is trash, I'm like,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: have you seen.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: What he's created?
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Let's not lose sight of the things that people create
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: that make them big businessmen, right, Yeah, But I think
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: that those things truly benefit society, which is why I
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: am a conservative. However, actly not everyone has that same
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: sort of like these are my beliefs for these reasons,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: or is interested in policy. So you do have to
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: use your policy mind to convince normies that your policies
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: are good for them.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: So that's the work.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: We have to be doing, because there is a danger
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: that the easy answer, which is free health care for
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: everyone given by the government, which is.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Not a real thing and not free and not.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Free, becomes the answer just because it sounds simple, right,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: And if you don't fight against that with some facts
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: and with some good candidates, and with some charm and
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: with like convincing real life stories, you don't win that fight.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: And I do worry about that.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: And I think AOC, as I've said before, don't underestimate
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: her because she's made smaller moves and dumber moves at times.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: It depends, but I think you know, so much can
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: be done.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: As you see with Trump, frankly with a outside the box, interesting,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: entertaining populist person who's pretty flexible in their principles on this.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, she is a concern for sure.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: I worry about her because I think that her ideals
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: are very loose and she can adapt to anything, and
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: this far left will pay for things, everything will be free.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: Fantasy really does work.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: It works to get the votes. I mean it doesn't
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: actually work in practice.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: In practice not so much practice fail.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: Actually, Iowaha had this great list where he listed all
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: the European countries and compared them to US states GDP
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: or it wasn't it was a GDP or might I
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: might be getting this wrong, it might be a different metric,
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: but basically Germany is if it was a US state,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: would be our forty ninth forest state. Mississippi unfortunately would
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: still be fifty. But Germany is like the richest European
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: country and the fact that it would still be a
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: poor state if it was an American state shows how
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: much richer and better off we are here. And a
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: lot of that has to do with rejecting socialist practices. Now,
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: of course, we still have a lot of social safety
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: net stuff, and it's a joke to say that we're
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: a pure capitalist system and all of that. But Europe
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: has really dug itself into a grave. And I see
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: this in when I meet Europeans, their hopes and dreams
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: are just not anything like in America. They have no
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: capacity to imagine their life changing or making a large.
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: Amount of money or any of that.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: They just it's very settled and for better. I guess
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: some people enjoy that. Some people enjoy knowing that you know,
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: they'll get they'll be they'll be fed, and they'll have
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: you know, free quote unquote healthcare. But I love they
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: don't have the American dream over there. They don't have
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: the German dream, they don't have the French dream, they
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: don't have the Italian dream.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: And I couldn't live like that.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we are an audacious people with us very large dreams,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: including and I know I keep referencing Musk, but he's
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: such a good example of Like he comes to American
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: and he's like interplanetary travel, right, That's what I'm going
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to work on, you know, Like that is a different mindset,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: and the more people we have like that better, the
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: better for the country.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: All right, let's end on a later one who was
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: married Catherine rooting for last weekend Army or Navy?
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: So yes, so I root for Navy.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I have a connection to the Naval Academy through the
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Travis Mannon Foundation. Travis Manion, who is a Marine who
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: was killed in action in two thousand and seven, went
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to the Naval Academy, graduated from the Annapolis in two
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: thousand and three, and went to Iraq where he lost
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: his life.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: So I've had a connection since then to that school.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: But I have many, many, many Army friends, and I
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: have many many of my mom friends whose husbands went
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: to West Point.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: So there is rivalry.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: But the great thing about the Army Navy game is
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: that even though there's rivalry, we're all winning because we're
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: all America, and so it's always fun to watch, even
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: with those who are rivals. And if you ever get
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a chance to go to that game, go it's just fantastic.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna definitely try to go at some point.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: I gotta get you.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: And I'm used to saying he'd never met either, so
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I got to get both of you guys involved.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that would be a good crew.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: I like that. We'll do it. I'll root for whoever
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: you want me to root for.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: I'm very malleable, you're flexible, and your principles on this
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: I am she's a populist.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you for joining us on this very special
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: episode of Normally. We'll be back with one more Ask
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: Us Anything episode next week. Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: for listening, and when things get weird, act Normally