Sam: Hello.
Ivan: Oh, what is this thing doing?
Sam: Can you hear me?
Ivan: I can hear you, but hold on one second, because why?
Sam: Okay. What's wrong?
Ivan: I don't... Okay, I'm having a problem, which has happened the last few weeks,
Ivan: where my camera is zoomed in.
Ivan: It won't zoom out. I don't know why. um i.
Sam: I see you normally like it's not like i only see your nose or something i see your whole.
Ivan: Yeah but that's because i had to move physically to get in front of it i can't
Ivan: like adjust it in any way you.
Sam: Mean that the automatic moving and centering.
Ivan: Well not even well it's not even i'm not trying to move it automatically i'm
Ivan: trying to do it manually which i'm supposed to do and It's not letting me in
Ivan: any way, shape, or form. Ah, wait, wait, wait. Hang on.
Sam: Okay.
Ivan: Well, it's letting me re-center, but what it's not letting me do is zoom. I can't.
Ivan: It used to be I am zoomed at that zoom, and it's not letting me adjust it for whatever reason.
Ivan: I can't zoom out, which I could do normally, and it's not letting me for some reason.
Ivan: Okay. And I don't know why.
Sam: I'm sure if it's a problem, somebody's found it and you'll be able to Google a solution.
Ivan: Oh, God. Yeah. Well, all right. Well, let's. Okay. You got a close up of my.
Ivan: You got a close up of my face.
Sam: It's not even close up. It's completely normal from what I can see.
Sam: Like, it's exactly like you look every week.
Sam: Anyway, just because you've been talking about zooming, zoom, zoom, zooming.
Ivan: Zooming.
Sam: We're going to have a special intro this time for us Gen Xers out here.
Sam: That, that's it. Yvonne was looking like confused. So I presume this is not
Sam: a show from his childhood.
Ivan: No, it isn't. Which show was this one?
Sam: This is Zoom, which was a PBS show in the 1970s.
Sam: The PBS kids show from the 1970s.
Ivan: Well, here's the thing. It sounded familiar, but I guess it's not one of the
Ivan: ones that was one of my top choices.
Sam: Because it's got a bunch of kids running around doing stuff.
Sam: And they, the big thing was they had Sazis.
Sam: self-addressed stamped envelopes. You could send in a self-addressed stamped
Sam: envelope to get some stuff from them and blah, blah, blah.
Sam: It's, yeah, it was a 70s kids show.
Ivan: I must admit, let's see, what year was this from?
Sam: Well, it started in 72, which was a little bit early even for us,
Sam: but it was on for a long time.
Ivan: Well, 72 through 78. Interesting,
Ivan: but I, I look I religiously watched every PBS show and what I it it when I was
Ivan: little and that show was not on our PBS feed in Puerto Rico.
Sam: Oh well you missed out.
Ivan: I missed out you're.
Sam: Gonna you're gonna have to like find all the episodes on YouTube and watch them now.
Ivan: Oh yeah I got plenty of time for that right now sure,
Ivan: Look, I had a friend of mine yesterday.
Sam: Oh, by the way, this is Curmudgeon's Corner. Welcome to Curmudgeon's Corner.
Sam: Saturday, October 25th, just after 16 UTC as we're starting to record.
Sam: I'm Sam Minter. This is Yvonne. Okay, continue, Yvonne.
Ivan: I had a friend of mine yesterday from HP.
Ivan: This is one of the first people I met when I started working at HP,
Ivan: and this was like in June of 1997, okay? This was just coincidental,
Ivan: the reason I met him. We wound up just being assigned.
Ivan: I was an intern. They gave me this cue.
Ivan: And he was relocating from Venezuela to Miami at the time for a job.
Ivan: He's, I think, about five years older than I am.
Ivan: So he'd already been working at HP for a while.
Ivan: Okay. He had started very young. in his early 20s.
Ivan: And he had gotten a promotion. He had been doing work, basically,
Ivan: and what he used to do was warranty repair work, basically.
Ivan: I mean, the entire warranty supply chain and managing partners and doing stuff,
Ivan: especially in Latin America, Caribbean, a lot more complex to do those there than in the U.S.
Ivan: for the repairs. A lot of times you had to get local companies to do a lot of
Ivan: the work because you had to hire a local company that you could trust,
Ivan: import parts, export parts, do all this stuff. So he became pretty.
Ivan: A guru on that stuff and he was pretty good and they
Ivan: decided to relocate him to miami to to to this business
Ivan: and so he wound up so we get assigned we
Ivan: moves there our queues are right one right beside the other me starting as an
Ivan: intern and him him there and so so we've known each other now so it's like what
Ivan: he's 28 years just a little while yeah just a little while and so you know We've
Ivan: always kept in touch regularly,
Ivan: but we hadn't seen each other. We hadn't met in a while.
Ivan: So we got together after work yesterday.
Ivan: And he works at a company that had some, for Land America, that had some major IT outage this week.
Sam: Yeah, I wonder who that could be. Go ahead.
Ivan: Yeah, yeah. It's like if you look in the news, you can figure out which company that is.
Ivan: Doing kind of the same thing with partners and stuff. And so I was discussing
Ivan: with them the fact that, you know, they still work remotely in their in their
Ivan: geography. He's based over here. But bastards.
Ivan: But. But.
Sam: But. OK, yes.
Ivan: Here's the but. OK. But they have a new regional VP and that person is based in Brazil now.
Ivan: And this person has recently decided that she doesn't want to have staff in
Ivan: Miami, that she wants all her staff in Brazil.
Ivan: And so they told him if, well, if he wanted to continue in his role,
Ivan: that he needed to relocate to Brazil.
Sam: Right.
Ivan: You know, he's a few years ahead of me and saving money.
Ivan: His kids already work. his wife worked a long
Ivan: time at this and like their
Ivan: company the company where she was at which kind of funny she worked at nortel
Ivan: but she worked at nortel up until basically it she was one of the last employees
Ivan: left at nortel before it it it it
Ivan: was really finally sold off and then the company And then bought Nortel.
Ivan: Bought their asses with Ericsson. Now, initially, she was paid a severance and
Ivan: dismissed. But the Ericsson people were like, holy shit, she's the only person that knows this shit.
Ivan: Could we hire you to come over to Ericsson? Like, very quickly,
Ivan: like, less than a month after.
Ivan: So then she worked for Ericsson until that long ago. So she wanted to retire.
Ivan: So he's like, he was like, screw this. I'm retiring.
Ivan: he's turning 60 now and he's like to hell with this I told him that he's going
Ivan: to retire at the end of December rather than relocate to Brazil for work so that was my.
Ivan: Conversation yesterday so it's one of those things where I'm like well,
Ivan: He's asking, so what are you guys doing? Nothing.
Ivan: I mean, our company hates offices. They don't want to spend their money on data centers.
Ivan: Billions of it. They don't want to buy a damn office right now.
Ivan: What the hell am I buying a damn office for?
Ivan: They need to spend $100 billion building data centers. The last thing I want
Ivan: is like real estate for people sitting in a cube.
Ivan: That's what it seems like the attitude is. But anyway, I was curious that that
Ivan: was the conversation that I had like yesterday.
Ivan: But one thing is interesting, though, you know, with the way I got to interact
Ivan: with him first was so he moved up.
Ivan: We moved over from Venezuela. And so he smoked back then. He quit smoking quite
Ivan: a long time ago. OK, he quit smoking like a couple of years.
Ivan: He quit smoking in the night. OK.
Ivan: All right. But the thing is, even Venezuela, he did not smoke American cigarettes.
Ivan: He smoked Venezuelan cigarettes. It's this brand.
Ivan: I'll never forget the brand called Belmont. The reason why, why do I remember this is because,
Ivan: You know, they knew he was sitting right beside me. So what happened was that
Ivan: you couldn't get those cigarettes in the U.S.
Ivan: So people were traveling frequently back and forth to Venezuela.
Ivan: And they would bring him.
Sam: And dropping off the cigarettes.
Ivan: And dropping off the cigarettes. But he wasn't at his desk. They were like,
Ivan: didn't want to just leave him there. I said, hey, Tony's out.
Ivan: Here, hold these for him. Give them to him when he gets back.
Ivan: So I was being the cigarette delivery courier for him at first.
Ivan: So when he arrived, it's like, hey, Tony, hey, yeah, they dropped off these
Ivan: boxes for you. Oh, OK, great.
Ivan: Thank you. So so I was the cigarette delivery guy for for him.
Sam: You should have just made that your new career. Could have moved into that full time.
Ivan: Listen, I mean, obviously, that's a declining career. You know,
Ivan: we're looking at, you know, it's crazy how cigarette smoking rates of the United
Ivan: States have been plummeting for decades.
Ivan: It's plummeting, but it's like, I mean, it's plummeted in just,
Ivan: you know, so much. I mean, it's down to like...
Sam: Of course, we did have like an upswing in vaping. Yeah, but...
Sam: Not as much as the downswing.
Ivan: But not as much. But not as much. It really, I mean, but I can't remember what
Ivan: country, and I shared this story that I was like reading about this week regarding
Ivan: cigarettes, where I can't remember what country. Oh, it's Lebanon.
Ivan: Lebanon has had a massive upswing in smoking.
Ivan: It's crazy. And not just that, well, the result of this has been that Lebanon also,
Ivan: not just due to the smoking, but to other environmental factors like that massive
Ivan: explosion that they had and some other shit or whatever,
Ivan: has had a ridiculous upswing in cancer.
Ivan: I mean, cancer right now in Lebanon is soaring uncontrollably.
Ivan: okay and so but yeah but i got to meet the guys like this week is kind of interesting
Ivan: i realize that it's been jeez fuck 20 i mean i was like trying to count like how many damn years,
Ivan: this shit i'm getting it keeps adding.
Sam: Up and i i don't i don't like it.
Ivan: No not particularly no not
Ivan: at all and here's the other fucked up conversation that
Ivan: this kind of aging starts so talking about
Ivan: hey we're we're people are going to retire whatever so there
Ivan: is a group of xhp people that i haven't look
Ivan: we got one guy who was our vp who's suffering from
Ivan: dementia alzheimer's okay which that's really rough okay to see okay yeah right
Ivan: i told me that i hadn't seen him but i've talked to a couple of other people
Ivan: and telling me that he sees you and he kind of like remembers you but he doesn't
Ivan: know anybody's name any okay which that's fucked up okay he's 70 he's not really 77.
Sam: He's not that old.
Ivan: Not that old, but something has really impacted his health.
Ivan: But all these guys are also looking at all these 55-plus communities,
Ivan: like, right now, to buy houses into, okay, to go.
Ivan: I'm like, yeah, because there is this cheap place up in Port St.
Ivan: Lucie, 55-plus, where you can get whatever. I'm like,
Ivan: fucking my goddamn house in a 55 plus.
Sam: You know i should i.
Ivan: Don't want to move into an old people old people's prison camp no.
Sam: Well yeah well you know here's the thing like i can understand the like my my
Sam: dad just moved into one of these places that starts as an apartment but as you
Sam: need more care can transition into giving you more and more care as you get
Sam: old but he needed And I can understand that, right?
Sam: Because it's about, you know, hey, you know, you're getting older,
Sam: you know, you're physically diminishing in various ways, and you are going to need more care.
Sam: And it provides a smooth transition, but lets you have as much independence
Sam: as you can, as long as you can, right? And I understand that.
Sam: That makes a lot of sense. I like it. I've been to the place. You know, it's cool.
Sam: But absent that, the age-restricted communities, it seems like it would be the
Sam: opposite of what you want.
Sam: You want to be in a community where you have younger people and you have kids
Sam: and it's all mixed and you have all experiences together. And I feel like that
Sam: would keep you young more than surrounding yourself with a bunch of other old people.
Ivan: Our old fucks. Yes, that's right. I mean, I want some mixing ages.
Ivan: I don't want to be just surrounded by a whole bunch of old fucks.
Sam: Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I, I, I, I, I agree completely.
Sam: I feel like, and it's one of those things that especially, I mean,
Sam: you can speak to international trends, but in the U S the tendency is to like,
Sam: go hide your old people. So you don't see them anymore.
Ivan: You see, but that's the thing. That's the thing. That's not,
Ivan: I, we don't do that. Okay.
Ivan: As a matter of fact, we have more as like cross-generational,
Ivan: uh, uh, you know, households born and going and hiding the old people.
Ivan: Like my, listen, my aunt, my, my, my, both my aunts, they still live in the
Ivan: same house that they lived since I've known them since, since I was born.
Ivan: you know in their still the same house my grandma lived in her house up until
Ivan: she was in her 90s and then when she was too old to be by herself she moved in with my mom,
Ivan: you know so she was like so we could see her I mean I could see her regularly
Ivan: like every week you know I just you know I was able to see her all the time
Ivan: you know so yeah like my my sister and mother-in-law she lives in a house across the street.
Ivan: You know so that's more you know
Ivan: what I'm used to I don't want to like really be like I
Ivan: don't know now granted I I do
Ivan: live a little bit like I don't live like I don't live like in another state
Ivan: but I do live like about 30 miles away from when where my parents and my my
Ivan: sister live and so forth but I mean it's not 30 miles isn't that far no 30 miles
Ivan: see them regularly I see them regularly yeah yeah yeah see them all
Ivan: time so so that's not like you know i i do see them regularly so you know.
Ivan: I don't I don't want to be like in this community where I live is quite a mixed
Ivan: group of ages. We have old retired people while we have college age college
Ivan: students. Like, you know, I just, you know, right.
Ivan: You know, we had like a couple of ladies that lived right across from us and
Ivan: their parents like from California had bought and bought.
Ivan: They started going to college over here. And so they had bought a condo.
Ivan: And so I knew them for about five years. and you know the one thing is that
Ivan: you know they moved out they left us a very grateful note because they're they
Ivan: were like actually extremely grateful that they had us as neighbors because.
Ivan: Shit happened our parents lived in california right
Ivan: and you know they they actually you know they were so grateful like you know
Ivan: anytime that we needed something from you your wife you guys were always so
Ivan: grateful and graceful you helped us out with stuff or whatever so it was kind
Ivan: of nice and it was kind of nice honestly it was super nice to see them grow
Ivan: up into adults get a job and They just moved out because they got a new job
Ivan: and they're relocating for that job.
Ivan: And that was actually quite nice to see that, to be honest.
Ivan: And it's kind of like, I honestly, I like seeing that shit instead of just seeing,
Ivan: unfortunately, we had another couple like from in front of us that unfortunately
Ivan: their husband passed away.
Ivan: But you get, I think that we get both of them.
Ivan: Yes, we're getting the older people that also pass well at the same time as
Ivan: seeing people like do that. I like to see that diversity.
Ivan: I don't just want to see, I just want to be in a place where everything we've
Ivan: got down over coffee is like, hey, who died this morning? Oh, John over at 702.
Ivan: Yeah. It's depressing after a while.
Sam: The thing is about having the mixed ages and everybody together and,
Sam: you know, and honestly, I'm not great at this because I never see anybody outside
Sam: my whole house, practically.
Sam: Like, I don't go out. I don't see my neighbors. I don't, like,
Sam: interact with them on a regular basis.
Sam: But the advantage that I could see anyway is you see the whole life cycle.
Ivan: Right.
Sam: You see kids. You see them grow up.
Sam: You see new babies being born. And yes, on the other hand, you see people getting
Sam: older and people passing away and it centers you in. Yeah. Yeah. This is what life is.
Ivan: Yeah.
Sam: You can't pretend that whatever your stage of life is, is the only stage of life.
Ivan: Right. We're all, you know, not dying. You know, everything that's happened
Ivan: is that we are old and just all drop dead.
Ivan: So anyway, so yeah, so I, I, I, that was like just a, just, you know.
Sam: Okay. So I got a couple things. I will do a movie, but I have one thing first,
Sam: so I'll only do one movie today.
Ivan: You know, I keep forgetting that I should have done a movie and I did not do this.
Sam: Oh, okay. Do your movie.
Ivan: I want to see Tron Aries.
Sam: Ah, okay. Yes. I've heard mixed reviews of this. I know you said on the Slack
Sam: you liked it, but I've heard mixed reviews online. line.
Ivan: Okay, this is what I will say about this. First of all, my wife,
Ivan: my son, and I, we all went to see the movie.
Sam: Right.
Ivan: I hear a lot of people...
Sam: Did you refresh yourself by watching the first two first?
Ivan: We had watched them in the last year even before. You know, we watched that
Ivan: movie right a little bit. So it's not like.
Sam: Even the second one? You've watched both of them?
Ivan: Yes. My son likes the second one more than the first one.
Ivan: And the second one is actually a better movie as entertainment.
Ivan: It was a better... The script was far more developed.
Ivan: Whereas the first one was more showier. Still a good script, I think.
Ivan: I think both had a good script. But the second one had a better pace of the movie, okay?
Ivan: I think the first one gets kind of the same criticisms as the first Star Trek
Ivan: The Motion Picture kind of a thing.
Sam: Yes, yes. It's showing off the look and the idea more than it is like,
Sam: here's the actual characters involved.
Ivan: Which I like Star Trek The Motion Picture of the original movie myself.
Ivan: So I don't have a problem with the pacing.
Ivan: Although, as I said before, the latest director's edition that he did,
Ivan: he did tighten up the pacing quite a lot on it, and it actually made it for
Ivan: a better movie. Okay? Alright?
Sam: Okay.
Ivan: But I liked the original anyway, okay? You know, but I can see how a lot of people didn't.
Sam: Okay, back to Tron.
Ivan: But, but, listen, my wife went as well.
Ivan: I will, I will, my wife really liked the movie, okay?
Ivan: And my wife is not a Tron fan.
Ivan: She knows that me and Manu like Tron, but she went and just watched the movie
Ivan: and came out of it really liking the movie. Okay?
Ivan: And I think that a lot of people that are shitting out the movie,
Ivan: first it starts with the fact that Jared Leto is a controversial,
Ivan: actor because as far as I can understand, because I wasn't following this closely,
Ivan: it's related to a whole bunch of Me Too stuff, okay, as well,
Ivan: that apparently I saw, okay, but granted,
Ivan: Recall me having seen a Jared Leto movie before, I'll be honest.
Sam: I know nothing about him or his scandal.
Ivan: Exactly. So me coming into this,
Ivan: I did not have this in my head that there was such a scandal about it.
Sam: Yeah, I just brought up his Wikipedia
Sam: page and I'm like, I don't even recognize this guy. I have no idea.
Ivan: Exactly, I didn't recognize the guy at all. And I thought that the movie was
Ivan: quite good. The plot was really good.
Ivan: a timely plot it really did like uh
Ivan: uh tie back in many ways
Ivan: to the to to you know the other
Ivan: movies even though the tie the ties itself
Ivan: were it did tie back there is one but there is one plot gap that that's kind
Ivan: of difficult in there okay all right that that i that is the only gap really
Ivan: okay that that you just don't it's it's difficult to to you don't understand it there there is a,
Ivan: some kind of like throwaway explanation that's thrown in there but it's not
Ivan: it's not clear how we got to from and i guess i should warn this is a spoiler
Ivan: alert at this point spoiler spoiler,
Ivan: how in tron legacy we had you
Ivan: know kevin flynn was the guy
Ivan: from the original movie who was the creator it was really the
Ivan: the guy who was the head of any comma who was who was who was the main star
Ivan: of the first film let's be clear about this flynn was the star of the movie
Ivan: tron it wasn't tron which also brings back to why the hell this movie called
Ivan: tron okay instead of planet i'm gonna guess because it sounds cooler, okay?
Ivan: Because the reality is that Tron was more of a secondary character.
Sam: Both in the first and second movie. It's the cool computer guy,
Sam: not like the regular human.
Ivan: Exactly. So this was...
Sam: Like the whole thing, like if you'd named the movie Flynn, I mean, come on.
Ivan: Yeah, I know. It doesn't work, okay? All right, I get that. So that was the one thing, okay?
Sam: It's like calling Star Wars Luke.
Ivan: Yeah, exactly. It kind of like that. So,
Ivan: you know, it was just that you didn't, you know, you had Kevin Flynn.
Ivan: Sam Flynn appeared in the second movie as his son who went to try to find,
Ivan: investigate about where his dad was, who disappeared.
Ivan: There was a clue that came in that allowed him to go, like,
Ivan: to find him in the grid. But in this third movie,
Ivan: at the end of the second movie, Sam Flynn came back out of the grid and brought
Ivan: back a life form that was an amalgam of human and technology. Okay?
Sam: I watched the second movie, but I have no memories of it.
Ivan: And they rolled off in the sunset, and that was that.
Ivan: When this other movie starts, it appears that Sam disappeared,
Ivan: quit the company, and they named this other person as CEO.
Ivan: But what you don't understand is why that is. Why was it this person?
Ivan: It's just not clear. Okay?
Ivan: But what you know is that Sam Flynn disappeared, and it's this other person
Ivan: that has no relationship with either of them. Okay?
Ivan: but skipping that but in the movie it explains well Sam Flynn disappeared and
Ivan: they named her CEO that's it but it doesn't really delve into that,
Ivan: but look the movie, the action was good the idea was well executed the special
Ivan: effects looked great and at the end by the way they did tie everything together
Ivan: in a certain way that by the way leads you to well they left it You know,
Ivan: obviously, it depends if Disney decides to make another...
Sam: They left it open for another sequel.
Ivan: They left it completely open and tied everything together.
Sam: Mm-hmm.
Ivan: All right? In a certain way. That you didn't understand at first,
Ivan: but then everything actually, at the end, did come together in a certain way. I...
Ivan: My wife, my son, me, all thought the movie was great.
Ivan: What I've seen is that people that have watched the Tron series loved the movie.
Ivan: They loved the movie. A lot of people, you get people who's like,
Ivan: well, why isn't Tron in the movie?
Ivan: Now, there is a good question about that because they could have had Tron in the movie.
Ivan: But again, even in Tron Legacy, Tron was just a peripheral,
Ivan: presence in the movie he wasn't really you know a central character to the plot
Ivan: okay right so you know that didn't really faze me okay about that it's just that was you know,
Ivan: look I even if you don't follow the series that movie was enjoyable it was pretty
Ivan: cool it was worth a watch I would recommend to go see it.
Sam: Thumbs up from Yvonne.
Ivan: Thumbs up from me and everybody in the house.
Sam: Okay well I'm looking at the critical receptions section on Wikipedia and it
Sam: sounds like at almost all of the places that do this let's see Rotten Tomatoes
Sam: 53% Metacritic 48 out of 100.
Sam: Cinema score gives it a B+. So there you go.
Ivan: But by the way I think that the reception to Tron Legacy was very similar as well.
Ivan: I just this is not a movie for everybody and a lot of.
Sam: People go to.
Ivan: A movie and they just don't like it but i think that um.
Sam: You think for the people who like the previous two movies they'll like this
Sam: one too absolutely 100 yes okay okay so i have like i said i will do one movie
Sam: but before i do the movie some podcast announcements todd podcast bum bum bum bum,
Sam: So number one is I've been mentioning that I was going to do this for a long time, but I finally did.
Sam: The curmudgeons corner blue sky account is now actually active and posting.
Sam: So if you it's just curmudgeons hyphen corner dot com on blue sky,
Sam: it doesn't have one of those BSKY things.
Sam: It's it's the it's the domain name.
Sam: So you can follow curmudgeons corner on blue sky and it will it automatically
Sam: posts when we start our live streams. and when new episodes come out.
Sam: And I am also manually now posting on there the same video clips I'm posting on TikTok.
Ivan: Okay.
Sam: So you can get the, and I'm still like a month behind or something posting those video clips.
Sam: So as we are recording this, the last clips I posted were from,
Sam: I believe the September 20th show, something like that, maybe 26th.
Sam: I have to be accurate. So I must say this. Let's see.
Sam: September 20th. And the last clips I posted were from the September 20th episode.
Sam: By the time I put this out, you'll probably have some from the next show after that.
Sam: But I am doing that. So follow us on Blue Sky.
Ivan: I didn't do anything. Anyway, I'll be staying for the other video clips.
Sam: Follow us on Blue Sky.
Sam: Mastodon also gets the episode announcements. So, you know, follow us there.
Sam: If you're there instead, I'm not posting the video clips on Mastodon.
Sam: I guess that you can do that, but whatever.
Sam: And I'm still posting on TikTok. I have, I have still not linked to the TikTok
Sam: because, you know, TikTok officially is still in flux.
Sam: You know, there's stuff going on. Who knows what's going to happen with TikTok?
Sam: I don't know. I may get to it eventually. And TikTok, you know,
Sam: you've heard all the stuff.
Sam: It may get acquired in a new U.S. version of the app, blah, blah,
Sam: blah. Who knows if I'll continue with that or not.
Sam: Anyway, so the videos are now on Blue Sky. So that's announcement number one.
Sam: Announcement number two is that as part of doing this, I refreshed the Curmudgeon's
Sam: Corner website a little bit.
Sam: specifically you know all the blue sky contacts are on there now as well as
Sam: mastodon to make it a little bit more parallel i made the facebook links the
Sam: same so for mastodon blue sky and facebook there are links to not only the curmudgeon's
Sam: corner accounts but to both me and Yvonne personally.
Sam: And then the big thing for the webpage.
Ivan: Big.
Sam: That people have been clamoring for.
Ivan: Clamoring. Clamoring.
Sam: And, you know, on the curmudgeons corner, Slack, specifically.
Ivan: So that's why there were people on the streets last Saturday. That was it.
Sam: It was, you know, very excited. You know, no. John on the Slack asked for this.
Sam: Some other people have asked for this.
Sam: There is now a link. So without joining our Patreon, you can directly buy the mug.
Sam: You can buy the curmudgeons corner mug.
Ivan: There you go.
Sam: If you go to the website, it says mug colon, and it has a little Zazzle icon
Sam: because Zazzle is who we use to do the mugs.
Sam: You can click on that. You can go straight through and buy the mug.
Sam: And if people do buy the mug, we get a small kickback from that, from Zazzle.
Ivan: Hey, you're learning from Trump, huh?
Sam: Getting kickbacks well you know not completely because zazzle lets you pick
Sam: how much of a kickback you get and like there's a certain level that if you
Sam: go above that level like you can go as high as you want you can say like the
Sam: the base cost of the mug is 12 bucks but our kickback is 50 you know or 100 or whatever like.
Ivan: A so yeah so like it's like yeah like trump watch levels yes.
Sam: Yeah yeah no but i did not do that there's a certain level that they don't recommend
Sam: you go past and is like, they take an extra fee for themselves.
Sam: If you go above that level, I went as high as you could go without them taking their extra fee.
Sam: So the mugs are like, what are they?
Sam: $13.16.
Ivan: Oh, there you go.
Sam: And I think we get like a buck out of that or something. I don't even know.
Sam: Like, you know. So if you want a curmudgeon's corner mug and have not earned one.
Ivan: This will ameliorate our losses.
Sam: Or being on the show.
Ivan: All it does is ameliorate our losses. I, you know.
Sam: Yes. Yes. And, you know, despite recent increases to the Patreon.
Sam: Thank you, Emily. we uh we we still run at a loss every every month so i mean by the.
Ivan: Way and the loss that you're looking at doesn't include how much i'm paying for slack.
Sam: I know you added the slack payment yeah on top of the slack payment i've got
Sam: the let's see what do we pay at the moment we pay for riverside we pay for aphonic
Sam: we pay for dream host for hosting and we pay for slack at the moment right yeah and our and our own time.
Ivan: And our own time.
Sam: Yes so none of none of what comes in in exchange adds up to even one of those
Sam: services I listed, let alone all of them.
Ivan: We're going to do, like, my friend and plan our retirement, like,
Ivan: right now by December 31st.
Sam: Unless you are out there right now and want to join our Patreon.
Sam: There is, on the website, there is a link to our Patreon with all kinds of benefits.
Sam: And, you know, if instead of, you know, the $25 that it used to,
Sam: $25 a month that it used to get, I mean, you can still get a mug for $25 a month.
Sam: But if you really want a mug, you can buy one for $13.
Sam: Plus shipping. And Zazzle's shipping is not trivial. It's not free shipping.
Sam: They add, like, in some stupid shipping.
Ivan: So for $100,000 a month.
Sam: Yes.
Ivan: Then, you know, we're in business.
Sam: Exactly. So we will do that. Anyway, no, absent that.
Sam: So anyway, bottom line out of all this, my whole point was here.
Sam: The Curmudgeon's Corner Blue Sky is now active and posting on a regular basis.
Sam: I had created the account like nine months ago or something,
Sam: but it hadn't posted a damn thing until like a week ago.
Sam: and but it is now active and posting and you can now
Sam: go to the website and directly order a curmudgeon's corner
Sam: mug if you so wish you can still
Sam: get a mug by joining our patreon at the i think it's the 20 level 25 you know
Sam: and now i'm gonna have to like actually say what all the levels are at our patreon
Sam: so the levels the tears on our patreon membership okay here we go not.
Ivan: Not Not crying tears. You mean tears like levels.
Sam: Yes, yes. Although you can cry. You are permitted to cry during the show. It is often warranted.
Sam: No, at $1 a month, we will mention you. Yeah, at $1 a month,
Sam: we will mention you and thank you on the show.
Sam: At $2 a month, we will also invite you to the Curmudgeon's Corner Slack,
Sam: which we also give away for free if you just ask.
Sam: For $5 a month, we ring a bell. for $10 a month we will send you a postcard,
Sam: And for $20 a month, we will send you a mug.
Sam: Now, we also do have a $50 a month tier, which no one has ever done.
Sam: For that, we will invite you to record a 30 to 90 second audio clip on almost any topic you like.
Sam: We reserve the right to reject obscene or offensive content,
Sam: which we will play on the show in the next episode.
Ivan: I mean, if the content is just insulting us, we'll probably be okay with that.
Sam: Yeah, yeah.
Ivan: I mean, if you're just saying, like, you know, you guys suck,
Ivan: you know, terrible show.
Ivan: I don't know why the hell I donated, blah, blah, blah. We're fine.
Sam: Yeah. And look, I made up these tiers when we first set up the Patreon ages
Sam: ago. I know they're somewhat unrealistic tiers.
Sam: They are basically a tip jar for us.
Sam: We've also had the request on multiple occasions. Can I just give you a one-time
Sam: thing instead of a subscription?
Sam: And, you know, I've, I've given people like, you know, a PayPal or whatever
Sam: and ways to do that, but maybe one day I'll put that on the, on the site too.
Sam: Like just a one-time tip jar mechanism, you know, because I understand, I don't like.
Sam: subscriptions either. And especially like, I don't, you know,
Sam: $20 a month for a mug. I mean, you know, whatever.
Sam: It's not about the mug. Now you can, you can also get the mug from being on the show.
Sam: If you're actually on the show with us, I will send you a mug for that as well.
Sam: I didn't do that at first, but I've done that for the last few years.
Sam: Whenever somebody joins us on the show. Anyway, that's that.
Sam: Any, any thoughts on that before I jump into my movie, Eva jump.
Ivan: Into the movie go.
Sam: Jump jumping oh my
Sam: oh I will say on the don't hurt
Sam: yourself I will not hurt myself I
Sam: on the the last I mentioned the videos I post on TikTok the very last one I
Sam: got on TikTok did also get a a decent amount of people commenting on it and
Sam: such including some MAGA folks and some whatevers and you know some people you
Sam: know defending us against the MAGA folks.
Sam: And of course, I have yet to be convinced that this translates into people actually.
Sam: Listening to the podcast itself.
Ivan: I doubt it. Yeah.
Sam: I mean, it takes extra work. You have to figure it out.
Ivan: Well, think about, well, it's not just that. Think about, look,
Ivan: you watch these clips from certain shows a lot of time that you like,
Ivan: and you even like the clips a lot.
Ivan: But that doesn't necessarily translate into you watching the show in its entirety.
Sam: Absolutely. Like, I mean, I'll tell you right now, like, you know,
Sam: it has been years since I have actually watched in its entirety,
Sam: any of the late night talk shows, Saturday night, live the daily show, any of these.
Sam: Now, do I see clips from them on a regular basis? Yes, I do.
Ivan: Right.
Sam: Just because they show up in my social media feed.
Ivan: Yeah. But, but you don't watch the show.
Sam: I don't watch the shows. I don't, I don't know. And, and like the thought of
Sam: doing so is even like, really, Ridiculous. Why would I do that?
Ivan: Right.
Sam: It's crazy.
Ivan: It's preposterous. Yeah.
Sam: Yeah. So anyway. Okay. Movie.
Sam: I'll only do one. I'm never going to catch up on these damn things.
Sam: But Hairspray from 1988.
Sam: I knew absolutely nothing about this movie coming into it. I mean, I knew it was a musical.
Ivan: I gotta say, look, I don't think I've watched it either.
Ivan: I think I may have, like, because that was one of those movies.
Ivan: 1988 was a time when, like, that was around the time when I used to subscribe
Ivan: to all the movie channels, right?
Sam: Okay.
Ivan: So I'm sure that I, I know, I know that flipping through channels,
Ivan: it must have been on at some point.
Ivan: And I'm sure that I, I saw a little bit, but the moment I realized it's a musical,
Ivan: I probably I'm like, okay, I'm out next.
Sam: Right. Yeah.
Ivan: So I, I have no idea, but it sounds like something that happened in a beauty salon.
Sam: And it's not.
Ivan: Okay, so there you go. You see, I mean, how wrong am I?
Ivan: I just proved my point that I have no clue about it either.
Sam: Yeah, and the only thing I knew was a musical, and I guess it was based on a Broadway musical.
Sam: Oh, no, wait. It was a movie musical first, and then it was adapted into a Broadway
Sam: musical. It usually goes the other way around.
Ivan: Yeah, almost always.
Sam: Yeah, so no, no. It was a 1988 movie, and in 2002, it was adapted for Broadway.
Sam: And there was a second movie version in 2007.
Sam: I watched the 1988 version, not the 2007 version.
Sam: So I will start with the first couple paragraphs of the description and go from there.
Sam: In 1962, Baltimore, overweight teenager Tracy Turnblad dreams of appearing on The Corny Collins Show,
Sam: a popular local television program featuring a council of teenagers dancing to popular songs.
Sam: So, like, you know, think American Bandstand.
Ivan: Sure.
Sam: One night, she and her best friend Penny Pingleton sneak out to a record hop
Sam: emceed by the show's host, Corny Collins. though the yes,
Sam: Though the event is segregated, she impresses guest judge Motormouth Maybelle
Sam: Stubbs, who co-hosts the program's monthly Negro Day.
Sam: After Tracy and her partner Fender win that night's dance contest,
Sam: narrowly beating council dancers Amber Von Tussle, the show's reigning queen
Sam: and a mean, conventionally attractive high school classmate whose racist parents, Velma and Franklin,
Sam: own Tilted Acres Amusement Park, which bans African Americans.
Sam: and her boyfriend, Link Larkin.
Sam: Corny invites her to audition for the program at the WZZT television studio
Sam: the next day, inspiring her to bleach, tease, and rat her big hair.
Sam: At the audition, Penny nervously stumbles over her answers and another girl is cut for being black.
Sam: Tracy's dance moves and stellar performance during the mock interview challenge
Sam: earn her a spot on the council beginning with that afternoon's taping.
Sam: After mocking Tracy's weight, Amber is suspended for the day by Corny... Dot, dot, dot.
Sam: The one thing you will have noticed, even from these first couple paragraphs, is...
Sam: It talks about race. It talks about segregation in the 1960s. And this is one thing.
Ivan: If this movie came out now, like, what the hell, man?
Ivan: I mean, it'd be like a MAGA, like MAGA people would be protesting in front of the.
Sam: Oh, yeah. MAGA would be protesting. Right, right. I thought you were going to
Sam: say they would like it. No.
Ivan: No. No, they would be protesting outside the movie.
Sam: Because it exists.
Ivan: Yes.
Sam: Yes. Yes. No, and this is the thing that, like, again, knowing nothing about
Sam: this, I was actually surprised because it had serious themes.
Ivan: I'm shocked.
Sam: It had serious themes.
Ivan: I thought that this was just some dumb musical.
Sam: Right. And like you, I was like, okay, it's hairspray. They're going to be,
Sam: like, at a salon or something, like you said.
Ivan: Right. Fuck. I was not even remotely, remotely close to what the hell this movie's about.
Sam: Well, and even when they start talking about like, oh, OK, they're going on
Sam: like this American bandstand type show.
Sam: I was like, OK, light and frothy, blah, blah, blah. And then it gets into segregation
Sam: and the effects of segregation on the people.
Sam: And then the spoilers here, essentially, the majority of the movie is their
Sam: efforts to desegregate this dance show on TV and how that effort plays out.
Sam: and, you know, there are police involved at various points.
Sam: There's a riot. People get injured, you know.
Ivan: Okay, well, question, question. Okay, well, then now this is very confusing.
Ivan: Going back to what I talked about, why Tron is called Tron, but it's got very
Ivan: little to do with Tron. What the hell is it called? Hairspray.
Sam: Well, I did mention that, you know, to get ready for audition,
Sam: she bleached, tased, and ratted her big hair.
Sam: And presume, you know, and so like, no, I'd say the same thing.
Sam: Look, it's, it's, it's, it's probably a big part of it is exactly.
Ivan: I guess the title bandstand racism, is it like, does it really roll off the tip of the tongue?
Sam: I think that's part of it. And also you want to get people in who aren't necessarily
Sam: expecting the heavy message.
Ivan: No, exactly. That's what it will. They won't buy. They won't buy that.
Ivan: You know, the other one isn't attractive and it doesn't roll off the tip of the tongue.
Ivan: It's like you said, like, you know, call the movie, you know, Flynn kind of sucked.
Sam: Anyway, it is a musical. It is highly stylized.
Sam: It's not intended to be realistic, but it does hit the more serious themes, and it surprised me.
Sam: It was not what I was expecting coming in.
Ivan: I'm okay. This is not what I expected in any way, shape, or form.
Sam: And, and, and so, yeah, I, in the end, I'm giving it a thumbs up.
Sam: It's not like, I don't remember any of the damn songs. Like,
Sam: so I can't, I can't tell you that like, you know, I, it hit me in that way.
Ivan: You were blown away by the song.
Sam: Yeah. No.
Ivan: Something.
Sam: No. Yeah. So I wasn't blown away by the songs.
Sam: I don't remember the songs. I don't remember a lot of details,
Sam: but I really remember the transition from, oh, crap, this isn't going to be like light and fluffy.
Ivan: It's not a light and fluffy. This is a serious fucking film. To hell.
Sam: And I remember enjoying it. And, you know, like, you know, at the end,
Sam: when it ends, you feel all the right emotions and et cetera.
Sam: I'll also mention a few members of the cast that you might recognize.
Sam: Sonny Bono is in it. no ricky lake you remember ricky lake god.
Ivan: Yes holy shit.
Sam: Jerry stiller wow those
Sam: those are the ones i really knew apparently it has divine
Sam: in it who i didn't really know but apparently is
Sam: well known and a few other people but
Sam: those are those are the ones that uh that i recognized uh
Sam: and specifically ricky lake i was like what what like i haven't heard that name
Sam: in decades you know did a talk show quite a long time ago quite a long time
Sam: ago late i guess when did she do the talk show is 80s had.
Ivan: To be the 90s 80s.
Sam: Let's see i,
Sam: to that talk show talk show ricky lake yeah you're right 90s 90 93 to 2004.
Ivan: The ricky lake show was on yeah it sounded about right and.
Sam: Uh and she's close to our age she's 57.
Ivan: Fuck really yeah ricky lake she would be a lot older so wait a minute ricky
Ivan: lake so wait she started a show
Ivan: basically at the same about about the same age as we left college yeah.
Sam: Something like that.
Ivan: Wow but by the way but but she apparently was an actress because i mean think
Ivan: about it she did that movie uh
Ivan: in what 88 so she was like shit i mean 19 yeah okay okay so she was 1920.
Sam: Yeah she was born in 68 yeah.
Ivan: Yeah yeah so it's 1920 yeah and.
Sam: And she was in a she was in a few movies it looks like in a couple.
Ivan: TV shows as well as a show. Yeah, so she was somebody who was a famous young actress.
Sam: She wasn't an A-list actor.
Ivan: No, but, you know, she was around, you know, yeah.
Sam: Anyway, thumbs up to Hairspray. More for the themes than the movie itself,
Sam: I guess. But it was fun as a movie, too.
Sam: I mean, I don't remember the songs, but I remember them being non-objectionable.
Sam: I remember the...
Ivan: Always, always the song review that you want to get from your audience.
Ivan: Hey, how was my concert? I was non-objectable.
Ivan: Objection. I can't even say it.
Ivan: Whatever. The stars looking at you like, oh, that's, that's.
Sam: I remember liking. I'm glad you didn't.
Ivan: I'm glad you didn't wretched vomit.
Ivan: at my songs.
Sam: Thank you yes yes i i remember
Sam: also liking sort of it was 1960s
Sam: but stylized and so i i remember noticing the colorful outfits and the 1960s
Sam: look and sort of the you know you know just the 1960s vibe but it was like you
Sam: know upped you know so it wasn't a realistic, gritty 1960s.
Sam: It was like a, I'm not quite, it's not like, it's not like watching the original
Sam: Batman TV series like that.
Ivan: Okay.
Sam: But, but it's still like, you know, colorful, amped up, you know,
Sam: sort of cartoonish version, but mixed in with the serious themes.
Sam: So anyway, thumbs up for that. Shall we take a break and get onto our serious stuff?
Ivan: Yes. Let's take a breaky. Breaky, breaky.
Sam: Okay. This one.
Sam: Okay, there we are. So, Yvonne, you usually do the first segment.
Sam: What are your top topics in this amazing week where we've had,
Sam: you know, things happen?
Ivan: I'm getting, like, heartburn just thinking about it. I'm looking at this shit.
Sam: At our lovely list that we maintain throughout the week. He looks so excited. So excited.
Ivan: You know...
Ivan: Okay, I'm going to bring this up because I don't know much about this,
Ivan: and it seems like I think that you do know more about this.
Sam: Oh, no.
Ivan: It's about the main Senate thing.
Sam: Ah, the main Senate thing.
Ivan: But can you explain what's going on with the main Senate? I mean,
Ivan: listen, all I know, this is I will give you my.
Sam: I probably don't know a lot more, but go ahead. Go ahead.
Ivan: OK, well, I will just say what what I'm pretty sure, you know, more than that.
Sam: OK.
Ivan: OK.
Sam: And if not, I'll just make shit up.
Ivan: Well, that's that's great. Perfect. You know, you know what?
Ivan: We would be very 2025. OK, by doing that.
Sam: Yeah. I'll ask chat.
Ivan: Yeah. So what what? OK, all I know is that there is some Democrat,
Ivan: right, that's running for the primary to be the nominee for Senate for Maine,
Ivan: which people think is a winnable seat at this point.
Sam: Right.
Ivan: And apparently this guy had a tattoo on his chest and it was a Nazi symbol.
Ivan: and then apparently he said that
Ivan: he removed the tattoo or something something
Ivan: and then i guess that some chats or some stuff about him appeared to show that
Ivan: he was just throwing around nazi shit you know like just like the young republicans
Ivan: that we heard about uh the other time uh yeah so So that's it. That's all I know.
Sam: Okay. You are close to what I know already.
Ivan: Fuck.
Sam: Let's go into a little bit more. So first of all, yes, this is Susan Collins'
Sam: seat in Maine. They're up in 2026.
Sam: She is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans because generally speaking,
Sam: Maine has gone Democrat on a statewide level for a while now.
Sam: You know, they split their votes in the Electoral College the last couple times
Sam: around because they're one of the two states that can do that.
Sam: And they have continued to elect her as a Republican for Senate for a while.
Ivan: Right.
Sam: But it's considered gettable because she's.
Ivan: She said it because she's a fucking sellout. I mean, that's it.
Ivan: I mean, every time that something comes up that is horrible,
Ivan: her default, you know, it's now a comedy skit. Well, it's not just that.
Ivan: I was going to say. Oh, I am deeply concerned. Oh, I am extremely concerned.
Ivan: Now I am, like, disturbingly concerned. You know?
Ivan: Do something, bitch.
Sam: Well, I. I was going to, I was actually going to, it's not quite as dramatic
Sam: as the situation, but I was going to compare her to Manchin in West Virginia.
Sam: She is a Republican leftover in a state that has moved blue as opposed to a
Sam: Democratic leftover in a state that has moved red.
Ivan: But even Manchin voted for some Democratic shit and protected some important
Ivan: shit like the ACA, whereas she got it.
Ivan: She voted to, I mean, she voted for these psychopathic fucking nominees.
Sam: But for most of the time, she votes with the Republicans. Every once in a while,
Sam: she votes with the Democrats on something.
Sam: So it's kind of she, you know, the difference is that Maine hasn't gone as far
Sam: blue as West Virginia has gone red. But she's still one of those people who are, you know.
Sam: in a position where her state has moved and she hasn't necessarily.
Sam: But she is one of the last remaining people who, you know, is considered one
Sam: of those swing Republicans that actually sometimes goes with the Democrats on something.
Ivan: Okay.
Sam: Even though, as you said, she's constantly saying she's concerned.
Ivan: Deeply concerned.
Sam: Extremely concerned. She said, she says Roe versus Wade is important for her,
Sam: but she votes for the judge that's obviously going to get rid of it.
Ivan: Exactly.
Sam: Because they told her, like, maybe they won't.
Ivan: They promised, because we promise you we won't. Fuck it.
Sam: Right. Anyway, all this kind of stuff. So, she's gettable.
Sam: So, there is a primary on the Democratic side.
Sam: There are all sorts of people running.
Sam: So, on the Democratic side, let's see.
Sam: The guy we're talking about is Graham Planter. He's been the front line.
Ivan: You see, that's one thing. Listen, if right now you had said Ivan for $50,
Ivan: name the guy in Maine. That is a controversy.
Ivan: I would have struck out.
Sam: Right. But we've also got David Costello, Tucker Favreau, Darius Smith Rodriguez.
Sam: Yes. Daria Smith-Rodriguez, Jordan Wood, and just within the last two weeks,
Sam: jumping in, the current governor of Maine, Janet Mills. Now,
Sam: And let's hit this a little bit. Graham Planter, who all this controversy is
Sam: about, had been gaining lots of momentum.
Ivan: Well, the last poll that I saw, which was before all of this came out,
Ivan: he was over 50%. What was his appeal?
Ivan: By the way, why was he the frontrunner? What was his bona fides, bona fides?
Sam: Well, interestingly enough, given what we're about to talk about,
Sam: about Nazi tattoos, was he was getting popular with the progressive crowd.
Sam: He was endorsed by Bernie Sanders.
Sam: He was endorsed by Ro Khanna. He was endorsed by David Hogg,
Sam: if you remember him, and a few other people on those lines.
Sam: And he was making a lot of sort of progressive noises that made the left side
Sam: of the Democratic Party very happy. Also, he was just being direct and outspoken.
Sam: And, you know, like we've talked about other candidates, he was sort of,
Sam: you know, directly attacking Trump and hitting some of the national issues while
Sam: also rooting things locally. people were talking about.
Sam: There were some comparisons to Fetterman before he went crazy in terms of he's
Sam: got sort of the look of a guy who might appeal to sort of right-wing or moderate
Sam: MAGA folks and may be able to convert a few of them.
Ivan: I mean, actually, it's not MAGA people.
Ivan: The kind of people that these people appear to are the more low-information people,
Ivan: of voters that sometimes because they're
Ivan: they have been raised in some conservative environment they
Ivan: kind of like always like oh well i was raised republican i'm going to vote republican
Ivan: they're low information so they want to but this is the kind of voter that would
Ivan: appeal to him because it sounds like it's like he's like one of them and so
Ivan: when he's talking he's like oh i i you know this guy i you know i relate to
Ivan: this guy okay great you know that's that's what i see.
Sam: And part of his appeal was military, masculine, whatever, you know,
Sam: had that kind of, you know, macho guy kind of look, but still had sort of your,
Sam: your progressive opinions on social issues and other things like that.
Sam: And so he was getting a lot, you know, I mentioned some of the endorsements,
Sam: but also like other democratic senators, like Elizabeth Warren,
Sam: Chris Murphy, Sheldon Whitehouse, So, yeah, good, good, good, good.
Sam: They didn't endorse outright, but they expressed support.
Ivan: They supported him. Okay, yeah, sure. Sounds like a good.
Sam: Okay. And so, like, he was gaining lots and lots of momentum.
Sam: Now, a lot of establishment Democrats were like, uh-oh, we can't have this.
Sam: He's, like, he's going to be too far left or he's going to have other issues.
Sam: and we're just going to, if we run this guy, we're going to end up with Susan Collins winning again.
Sam: You know, she's going to pull out the win because this guy may be appealing
Sam: to certain parts of our party, but he can't win a general election.
Sam: That was their take on him, and they generally were unhappy with him.
Sam: And maybe they knew some of this stuff that was going to come out.
Sam: Now, because they were actively trying to recruit Janet Mills,
Sam: who is the Democratic governor of Maine.
Sam: And she's term limited, so she can't stay on as governor longer.
Sam: She has been around a long time. She is also 77 years old.
Sam: So she's one of the people who like that. You know, we've talked many times
Sam: about sort of the democratic age problem where, you know, and I know you take
Sam: the point of like, hey, if they're effective,
Sam: age doesn't matter, whatever. However.
Sam: The Democratic leadership is really top-heavy with baby boomers or even silent
Sam: generation who just won't let go.
Sam: They're starting to, but that's still an issue. And so, okay,
Sam: we've got another late 70s person who, with a six-year term, would be in here.
Ivan: More my question is about her positions and how she has been.
Ivan: I mean, and how popular—well, here's the thing, and I think more importantly—.
Sam: She is very popular in.
Ivan: Maine. You see, that's the thing. If she is a super popular governor in Maine,
Ivan: then obviously she and this has happened before here in Florida,
Ivan: she would be the natural candidate to win that that Senate seat.
Ivan: Look at fucking Rick Scott. That bastard.
Sam: Yeah.
Ivan: You know, maybe wasn't the most popular governor, but he was governor.
Ivan: And that guy went and easily moved from being governor into winning the damn seat.
Ivan: And when you are able to do that, the reality is that I will say that just looking
Ivan: at the situation without really knowing the specifics,
Ivan: the reality is that that is definitely gives you a far more winnable candidate for the campaign,
Ivan: period. End the story.
Sam: And I think in terms of viewpoints and everything, as far as I know,
Sam: she's a fairly mainline Democrat.
Sam: Like, she's not a progressive Democrat, but she's a fairly mainline,
Sam: what you would expect of a Democrat who's been around for a while.
Ivan: Can I be, listen, but can I be blunt one thing about what the hell defines a
Ivan: mainline Democrat versus a progressive Democrat these days?
Ivan: Because the other day I was listening to Bernie Sanders in an interview talking
Ivan: about this, and it's not the positions.
Sam: It's the attitude.
Ivan: Yeah, that's it. It's a thing of like where Bernie says the system is completely broken.
Ivan: And I'm saying this is what he said for the last 20 years.
Ivan: And that the way to what we need to do is that we can't be timid by making,
Ivan: you know, by the way that the Democrats want to legislate or make these changes
Ivan: when we need to destroy the whole thing.
Ivan: And that's what Trump understands. OK.
Sam: Right. You can't make small incremental changes for, you know,
Sam: yeah, maybe you're improving it a little bit, but you have to address the underlying problem.
Ivan: And he said, well, that's what Trump understands. The problem is that what Trump
Ivan: understands and what he's doing is that, yeah, Trump may be saying the system's
Ivan: broken, but the problem is that
Ivan: what he has is a disdain for the law and a disdain for everybody else.
Ivan: And I'm sorry, but if what you're telling me is that the way to make things
Ivan: work is to basically, you know, wipe your ass with the law, with the rule of law.
Ivan: I mean, I'm sorry, but that's not a way to either to fix things either.
Ivan: You know, now, now I do think.
Ivan: That Democrats need to be take what the law allows and be far more aggressive with it.
Sam: Yeah, you need to push it as far as it.
Ivan: Exactly. You need to push the limits of the law. OK, that that I am with and
Ivan: they are not and they have not.
Ivan: And that's been the problem because there were things that Biden could have
Ivan: done that were far more aggressive in order to do certain things. And we just didn't do it.
Ivan: OK, it just wasn't done. So that I agree with, but, but I don't, I don't, I don't.
Sam: I don't at least part of it is we did have mansion and cinema.
Ivan: Which, but even blocked a bunch of stuff, which blocked a whole bunch of stuff
Ivan: as well, because you couldn't even take it.
Ivan: Even if you took the limit and said, Hey, we'll break the filibuster.
Ivan: It didn't happen because you didn't have enough.
Ivan: You didn't have enough senators anyway, to, to, to get, to get stuff,
Ivan: but other stuff like with the Supreme court.
Ivan: And, you know, going going all the way to say, fuck it, we'll pack the court.
Ivan: Go, you know, you got to go more Roosevelt than than than we have.
Ivan: And Roosevelt did a lot of a lot of this and he got pushed back.
Ivan: OK, yeah, he was super aggressive.
Ivan: I don't I don't I don't I don't disagree that you got to be aggressive. But but my point is that.
Sam: It's it's about even on even on his court packet.
Sam: you know he basically the way that
Sam: played out it is he was going to nominate a whole bunch more judges without
Sam: explicit legislation to expand the court or anything like that
Sam: he was just going to nominate more judges and and
Sam: see what would happen and basically this was because the supreme court was in
Sam: the process of they'd already done it on a few things and we're going to do
Sam: it on more push back a bunch of new deal legislation and declare it unconstitutional
Sam: exactly and basically with the threat of the court packing,
Sam: the court backed down and agreed to compromises, essentially,
Sam: and allowed things through. At least this is how I remember it.
Ivan: I think your recollection is correct.
Sam: And so the court packing never actually came to the head in the end because
Sam: you exerted the pressure.
Ivan: You exerted the damn pressure. That's the point. You can't just sit there,
Ivan: you know, my whole thing, and like I said, progressive, this isn't appropriate.
Ivan: You fucking put the positions out there. It isn't about the goddamn positions anymore.
Sam: They actually aren't that far off from each other.
Sam: And even before, the biggest difference was incrementality versus big pop changes.
Ivan: I think we all agree on big pop changes.
Sam: At this point, certainly. I mean, I've made the argument before that you have
Sam: to do certain things incrementally because otherwise you get all kinds of unintended
Sam: consequences and backlash and all kinds of things.
Sam: But at this point, certainly for the kinds of things we were talking about that
Sam: Obama should have done, you know, make new states, expand the court, et cetera.
Ivan: Yeah, just fuck it, man. Listen, just you got to go take that playbook right
Ivan: now and you got to fucking, you know,
Ivan: basically, whoever the hell wins like right now has to take the you have to
Ivan: take the you you would need to run on the anti-project 2025 platform.
Sam: Basically you you.
Ivan: Go and you're saying i'm undoing all of this shit and by the way we're gonna
Ivan: undo it the same way this asshole did it and.
Sam: Go further you know i saw someone post
Sam: on blue sky and i i'm gonna be mad at myself because i don't remember who that
Sam: oh okay we're going to we're gonna solve this where the democrats are gonna
Sam: figure out like you said the the approach and the approach is going to be hire
Sam: some consultants to come up with a plan.
Sam: The plan is health care and or jobs, and then we're going to do the same thing.
Ivan: To be fair to Biden, Biden was very aggressive on a lot of things that he did
Ivan: compared to previous presidents.
Sam: Well, he actually got more, I mean, he got more of the progressive priorities
Sam: done than any president since LBJ.
Ivan: Well, yeah, the LBJ.
Sam: No, since LBJ.
Ivan: Yes, it's LBJ. Okay. And here's the one thing for all the Bernie talk or whatever
Ivan: that he talks about. I'm sorry, but how much legislation has Bernie actually passed?
Ivan: So here's the thing. And that's the other thing.
Ivan: I'm like, look, my problem with him is that he's been very ineffectual.
Ivan: He's been super ineffectual. So I don't give a shit what, you know,
Ivan: show me during his track record, during his life, you know, what has he accomplished? Okay.
Ivan: So that's my knock on him. He sure as hell can complain or rile up,
Ivan: but not actually get anything done.
Sam: So let's circle back to Maine.
Ivan: And the whole point was because you mentioned that they're trying to bring the governor.
Ivan: Apparently, did she officially throw her hat in the ring at this point?
Sam: Yes. Her hat is now in the ring. She is now running. And this is where some
Sam: of this stuff comes back into play.
Sam: because the rumor is that everything we've been hearing about Nazi tattoo guy,
Sam: whose name I already forgot, Graham Planter,
Sam: is essentially oppo research coming out of Mill's campaign.
Ivan: Okay.
Sam: Which makes you think, like, was the mainstream opposition to this guy actually
Sam: mostly, oh, he's a progressive, or did they know some of this stuff and knew it would be a problem?
Ivan: Sam.
Sam: Right?
Ivan: Like, okay, listen, I don't give a shit where this came out.
Ivan: I'm fucking sorry, okay?
Ivan: Just because it came out of somebody else that the motherfucker was Nazi-tatted
Ivan: on his fucking body doesn't make a fucking difference in the facts.
Sam: So let's go through some of the history. So before the tattoo stuff came out,
Sam: what had started to come out was this guy apparently was a prolific poster on Reddit.
Ivan: Oh! Yeah. Yeah, a platform of absolutely civil discourse and,
Ivan: you know, discussion. Yes, of course.
Sam: And so people, of course, started looking through his history.
Sam: They found him making comments about, you know, how, you know,
Sam: black people don't tip and, you know, that kind of stuff.
Sam: he made some comments basically defending how the military was not taking seriously
Sam: accounts of sexual assault and rape in the military oh.
Ivan: Yeah oh a wholehearted progressive right here buddy.
Sam: And basically saying like you know hey you know the the military is right to
Sam: downplay this stuff it's a bunch of you know whiny women who should just suck
Sam: it up that kind stuff. Ah, yes.
Ivan: Just enjoy the rape. That's what they used to say.
Sam: Right?
Ivan: You know, why don't you just calm down and, you know, enjoy it?
Sam: No, what I said was not an exact quote.
Ivan: No, but I'm not doing an exact quote either, but that is what...
Ivan: I'm sorry. There are people that used to say that, Sam.
Sam: Yeah, yeah. So anyway, there were comments like that that were already out there,
Sam: and he was already like defending them, and then the tattoo thing came out,
Sam: And apparently the way he did this, he actually released it first.
Sam: He got wind that somebody else was going to release it. So he went on some podcast.
Sam: They played this video of him from a birthday party or whatever.
Sam: And he was singing karaoke shirtless and the tattoo was very visible, right?
Sam: And, and so he brought this up and it is apparently one of the well-known Nazi
Sam: symbols. It's like a skull with wings or whatever. It is not a swastika.
Sam: It is not the SS symbol, but this is apparently like number three.
Sam: Like if you were going down Nazis, you know, symbolism and, and things that
Sam: were used and that people are well-known for.
Sam: He, his argument, he said he had no idea what it was.
Sam: it was just, yeah, it was, he got it on a drunken night in the military and
Sam: it was a military thing and it was about being in the unit he was in,
Sam: et cetera, et cetera, which by the way, if true is all problematic in and of itself, but whatever.
Sam: He says he didn't know it was Nazi at the time.
Sam: And once this pressure started coming up, he started talking about getting it removed.
Sam: I saw one report, but I didn't see this talked about a lot more that he did
Sam: get a cover-up tattoo that also was something that tended to be used by white supremacists and such.
Sam: It's like, I haven't seen that. I saw some talk of it for a couple hours on
Sam: the day, but then not much since.
Sam: So I'm wondering, was it even true or was it misinformation as well?
Sam: I don't know. So, but then, you know, I think it was K-File from, from CNN.
Sam: And just went looking at more of his Reddit posts and found him talking about
Sam: that symbol that he had tattooed, that he denied he had any idea what it was from several years ago,
Sam: in a conversation that fully acknowledged it was a Nazi symbol.
Sam: Now, having said that, he was saying in that conversation how,
Sam: yes, it was a Nazi symbol, but it was okay because.
Sam: And he started, basically, he was saying, you know, it's used by lots of folks
Sam: in the military. It's just sort of an aggressive skull kind of thing.
Sam: It doesn't have to be associated with its Nazi origins, you know, blah, blah, blah.
Sam: And there are lots of folks in the military that have this that aren't Nazis.
Ivan: Yeah. You know what? That all may be true. but I will say this.
Ivan: I don't want to elect somebody that believes that.
Ivan: Even if I take him at his foot, at his word, I don't, I, that's not a guy I want period.
Sam: Yeah. I mean, it shows this, the best possible interpretation of all this is
Sam: bad judgment from start to finish, including how he's handled the last two weeks.
Sam: So we're not just even talking about like things that happened years ago.
Ivan: And that's giving them the benefit of the doubt on anything you said.
Ivan: It's still, to me, it's unacceptable.
Sam: I mean, I saw, you know, there's been some debate about this, and I think I...
Sam: There was a post by Christy Coulter, who's someone I knew and has been on the
Sam: show a few years back, about this, where she talked about.
Ivan: And other people have said this too. I'm going to make a joke.
Ivan: She's not related to Ann Coulter.
Sam: No, she's not. Thank God. Not as far as I'm aware.
Ivan: Okay.
Sam: Spelled differently.
Ivan: Okay, good.
Sam: Anyway, look, if you're going to do, redemption arcs are part of American history.
Sam: It's something we tend to revere. The person who was like, was wrong,
Sam: realizes they were wrong, admits they were wrong, and then works to undo the
Sam: damage they did previously. Okay, that happens.
Sam: And that can be okay.
Sam: But what we have, but if he was going to play those cards for the tattoo,
Sam: for his previous bad statements, for whatever...
Sam: then he would have started out right out of the gate, essentially, with that story.
Ivan: Yeah, there you go. Not deny, deny, deny.
Sam: Right. I used to be an asshole. I did a lot of things that I am ashamed of today.
Sam: Not even specifically about Reddit posts or whatever, but just in general,
Sam: I held views that I now realize were wrong. I have had some further experiences. I have met more people.
Sam: I've talked to people. I've realized my previous whatevers were toxic and bad.
Sam: And now I'm better and I'm working to undo damage.
Sam: I'm working to do the right thing now. By the way, I got that damn tattoo removed
Sam: 20 years ago or whatever. He's probably not even old enough to have a tattoo
Sam: 20 years ago. I don't know how old the guy is.
Ivan: How old is he? What's his name again? I can't remember his name.
Ivan: I don't want to remember his name.
Ivan: I want to delete him from my files. What the fuck is his name again?
Sam: Let me bring him up again. Graham Planter.
Ivan: Graham. I was going to say Graham Parker.
Sam: He's 41. He's 41.
Ivan: So 20 years, well, no, 20 years ago.
Sam: It would have been 21.
Ivan: Yeah. Okay.
Sam: Could have done it. Just barely, just barely. Anyway, he, that's not what he did at all.
Ivan: No.
Sam: He preemptively went and started deleting as much off Reddit as he could.
Sam: He denied knowing that this tattoo was of Nazi origin, even though subsequent
Sam: Reddit posts that people found showed that he knew exactly what it was.
Sam: Maybe he didn't know what it was when he got it, but he certainly knew before now.
Ivan: Sam, if I found out that I got something that I thought was cool,
Ivan: okay, not that I have any tattoos, okay, but if I went and I found out that
Ivan: I got something on that I thought was cool and then somebody fucking told me
Ivan: that it was a Nazi symbol, I'd be fucking running to the goddamn fucking place
Ivan: to get this shit off of me.
Sam: Yes, absolutely. Yes.
Ivan: Say if I bought a t-shirt, okay, that I thought, oh, that looks cool.
Ivan: And somebody tells me, oh, you realize, right? That's a white supremacist logo.
Ivan: I've been fucking burning the shirt immediately.
Sam: Right. Yeah. No, absolutely. And, and, and, yeah, and, and.
Sam: And you'd tell that story if it came up.
Ivan: Exactly. I said, listen, I went to the shop. I saw this T-shirt,
Ivan: man. It looks so fucking cool.
Ivan: I thought, whatever, you know, let me get this. Then all of a sudden I'm together
Ivan: with some friends and somebody points out that it's a fucking white supremacist
Ivan: thing. And we were having a barbecue.
Ivan: And I, you know what? I grabbed the damn shirt off of me and just fucking tossed
Ivan: it in the fire pit. I didn't know what I bought.
Sam: Yeah. Yo, to switch to a slightly lighter thing for a moment,
Sam: since you mentioned the tattoos that people don't know what are. Okay.
Sam: There's a woman, you know, she does a whole series and I wish I,
Sam: man, I don't know her name.
Sam: She just has come up for me flipping through on TikTok, but she's a woman,
Sam: fluent Chinese speaker.
Sam: Her whole thing is translating people's Chinese tattoos.
Ivan: Yes, I've seen some of this. Yes.
Sam: Because people get these tattoos because they think the Chinese characters look cool or whatever.
Ivan: They have no idea what they say. Or something wise or something.
Ivan: And it says, eat at Joe's.
Sam: Yes. Or like, I am stupid.
Ivan: I am stupid. Yeah, exactly. Like, yes, yes.
Sam: You know, and it's just hilarious. Because, like, you know, they come in every once in a while.
Sam: There's one that actually makes sense. But most of the time,
Sam: and of course, she doesn't pick the ones that make sense.
Ivan: Because why would you? Well, obviously, why? That's not the fun. Right.
Sam: But, like, there are lots that are just gobbledygook nonsense phrases,
Sam: which mean absolutely nothing at all.
Ivan: Oh, yeah.
Sam: And then there are phrases that are just like, like you said, eat it, Joe's.
Sam: I am stupid. Like the, the, the, the butterfly is dead, you know, whatever. I don't know.
Sam: Like, and it's just, it's, it's hilarious.
Sam: Okay. So anyway, I guess, I guess this is the key thing to me is like,
Sam: He has not shown that arc. He has not shown that he is, you know,
Sam: really over this, which makes you sort of immediately suspicious.
Ivan: He is actually using the standard, substandard GOP playbook,
Ivan: which is double down and deny. That's it.
Ivan: Which makes you. Evade. You know, fuck this shit. I don't want that guy.
Ivan: Go run in the Republican primary.
Sam: It makes you wonder, like, if you actually elected this guy,
Sam: what would you actually get?
Ivan: Exactly.
Sam: You know, are you getting something more like the asshole that will be happy
Sam: wearing Nazi tattoos for 15 years and everything you associate with that?
Ivan: Probably.
Sam: Or, you know, did he really, is he really like this great progressive whatever?
Sam: and i feel like this is a scenario
Sam: where you're highly likely to be disappointed but even more
Sam: so you just don't know you can't trust him anymore
Sam: you know whatever whatever ability to trust
Sam: is gone and and also like now
Sam: to to to tie to uh another conversation we
Sam: had on the curmudgeon corner slack this week like okay
Sam: he's not what you want like if he does end up winning the nomination is
Sam: he still better than collins now this
Sam: is a you know with collins i'm not sure at least you know what if it was him
Sam: versus trump i'd probably still pick him over trump yeah but if it was him versus
Sam: collins i don't know maybe probably like is it is it is it enough of a complete
Sam: disqualifier do you believe his redemptive arc do you take the gamble yeah.
Ivan: Okay the problem is like you said it's it's the choice between like him and
Ivan: collins like right now and and i'm like Fuck You know I would have to I would
Ivan: have to fucking like swallow hard And still vote for this guy if I had to But
Ivan: I sure as hell wouldn't like it.
Sam: And, and, and, and meanwhile, like, and I don't know, see, see, here's the thing.
Sam: If it's just between like him, I sat on the curmudgeon's course Slack. Okay.
Sam: At first, a few weeks ago, before all this stuff coming out,
Sam: I was like, why the hell are they trying to get Mills to run?
Sam: They've got this guy, people are excited about him. He's young. He's got energy.
Sam: He looks like he could win. He's, you know, he's, you know, whatever.
Sam: Like, why would they run Mills? This guy looks good.
Sam: And so I was excited about it. As soon as all this stuff came out, I was like, okay, fine.
Sam: Run the old 77-year-old Democrat with whatever.
Ivan: Who's a woman.
Sam: Who's a popular governor.
Ivan: Who's a popular governor and a woman.
Sam: So I would probably pick, at this point, my default would be- Right now, my default is- No.
Ivan: No, no, no, no, no thinking about it.
Sam: The one caveat I would say about this still, I'd have to think about it,
Sam: like, you know, Yvonne and I were talking on the Slack, and you guys can go
Sam: look on the Slack for this if you missed it. Join the Slack if you haven't.
Sam: We were talking about this in the context of Newsom and Trump,
Sam: or other MAGA Republicans.
Sam: But if at this point, though, if there was lots of polling, and the polling
Sam: showed this planter guy doing better against Collins than Mills did.
Ivan: Hmm.
Sam: Would that change? Like, cause I, and it are mixed feelings here because there's
Sam: different points in the decision-making process.
Sam: There's who do you actually like the most? There's whose policies do you agree with the most?
Sam: And then there's the completely strategic, do you want to win and is winning
Sam: the only thing that matters.
Sam: If a Democrat who I don't like is doing better against the Republican,
Sam: do I still vote for the Democrat I don't like over the Democrat I do like because
Sam: they have a better chance of winning?
Sam: Years ago, I would have said, of course not. You vote for the one that is most
Sam: aligned with your own views and you vote for, and duh, not even a hard decision.
Sam: But in the situation we're at now, where every senator matters and we're looking
Sam: at the absolute destruction of everything I value in this country,
Sam: do you make that choice?
Sam: you know because this is the same thing by the way I.
Ivan: Will say listen,
Ivan: Honestly, this is very simple. This is going to a primary. I'm going with whomever
Ivan: the primary picks as the guy.
Sam: Well, no, but if you were voting in the primary, who would you vote for?
Ivan: If I was voting in the primary, I'm still voting for Mills. Yeah. Yeah.
Sam: Even if polls said Mills.
Ivan: I mean, unless the polls were like, I mean, like there's a 10-point difference.
Ivan: If the difference is like we're talking margin of error difference, I'm going with Mills.
Sam: Right. But I'm doing that scenario. I'm doing it.
Ivan: But if it's if it's like a 10, 15 point difference, then yikes. I got it.
Sam: If the polls were showing that Collins would crush Mills, but it would be competitive with this guy.
Sam: I mean, that's not I haven't seen polls that say that. I'm just putting it out.
Ivan: That's a tough that's a tough call. But because especially because,
Ivan: listen, so many things change after a primary.
Ivan: Look, we saw that with Biden when he won the nomination back in 2020.
Ivan: I mean, he was behind on everything up until all of a sudden,
Ivan: you know, he surged and everybody consolidated around him.
Sam: He was he was behind in the primary polls. I mean, one of the appeals to him
Sam: was even back then in early parts, he did better against Trump in the polls than anybody else.
Ivan: Than anybody else. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but that's one of the reasons people consolidated.
Ivan: But by the way, but even then, even though I saw that, I wasn't voting for him at that moment.
Sam: I thought you'd already switched him because like, Kamala was already out.
Ivan: I think it may have been, you know, I can't remember. It may be because Kamala was already out.
Ivan: But my first and second choices, you know, were not him. He was really down to my third.
Ivan: So I went with him because he was my third choice. But it wasn't.
Sam: And just to be clear, by the time we got to Florida, the race was essentially over.
Ivan: The race is over. Right. Exactly.
Sam: And certainly by the time they got to Washington State as well.
Ivan: Yeah. So that's the thing. I mean, I just but but that but I had not changed
Ivan: my mind is what I'm saying.
Ivan: If my candidate would have still been on the ballot, I would have still voted
Ivan: for them anyway, even though I knew the matchup.
Ivan: And because I knew that, look, even if they didn't win, I was going to vote
Ivan: for whomever was the winner of the fucking nomination anyway.
Ivan: It's not like this was, you know, I was expressing my opinion of what I who
Ivan: I thought should be there.
Ivan: But that didn't mean that I was going to vote. You know, I wasn't going to vote
Ivan: for them anyway when they got the nomination.
Sam: The problem of that, of course, is it essentially assumes that your vote doesn't
Sam: make a difference in the primary and whoever wins wins.
Sam: If you were just, you know, picking them outright, you know,
Sam: it makes it more complicated.
Sam: I mean, all I'm saying, like these these decisions get complicated in this scenario.
Sam: And also to bring it back to general elections, this kind of rationale with,
Sam: OK, I don't like them, but they're better than the other guy.
Sam: are exactly what a lot of Trump voters said about Donald Trump.
Sam: It's also the same kind of rationale of, on the other hand, saying,
Sam: you know, oh, they are toxic. I can't vote for them no matter what.
Sam: Right. Is what a lot of left Democrats, or what a lot of leftists,
Sam: who wouldn't call themselves Democrats necessarily, their rationale for not voting for Harris.
Ivan: Or Hillary.
Sam: Or Hillary or whatever. And it's because I'm not going to make the lesser of two evils choice.
Sam: I'm going to sit back and vote third party or whatever.
Ivan: Actually, I love how that becomes I'm not voting for the lesser of two evils
Ivan: when what you're doing is actually voting for the evils.
Ivan: And I'm like, you're trying to argue, no, what you're doing by not voting is voting for the evil.
Ivan: Period. That's what you're doing. You're just doing it passively.
Ivan: You know, being passive aggressive about it. But you're doing it.
Sam: That ends up being the effect. Yes.
Ivan: Yeah. So don't give me that shit that you're not voting for. You're doing it.
Ivan: You're giving passive acquiescence to the evil. just because you're not getting
Ivan: everything you want like a toddler. Fuck you.
Sam: So anyway, I don't know.
Sam: I am anxious to see the first polls that come out after all of this stuff has
Sam: come out about Planter to see if he drops and Mills goes up.
Sam: My kind of expectation is that that will happen and that Mills will end up being
Sam: the nominee here, not Planter.
Sam: But I don't know. I mean, like I've heard Sanders didn't immediately back away
Sam: from this guy, for instance.
Sam: He sort of was going along with, well, he's changed, he's fixing it, blah, blah, blah.
Sam: You know, so I don't know. He may have some enduring support.
Sam: People seem to, he's charismatic.
Sam: He's, you know, he talks well. People relate to him, and he is younger,
Sam: so I don't know. We'll see what happens.
Ivan: Ah, we will know soon enough.
Sam: Okay. Let's take a break, and then we'll figure out something else to talk about for a few minutes.
Sam: Back after this episode.
Sam: You know, now I have to look at this stupid list and pick something.
Ivan: By the way, while we were doing this, I am traveling Monday back to San Juan for some stuff.
Ivan: By the way, I don't know. You didn't post anything, but I did tell you that
Ivan: I am getting surgery on November 5th. Okay.
Sam: You mentioned the surgery before.
Ivan: But I did tell Sam, Sam, you know, because he gave me shit about the other day.
Ivan: about, yes, about, yeah, I, I, by the way, my wife, yeah, but,
Ivan: but it was short notice, but my wife also forgot about our fucking wedding anniversary too.
Ivan: Okay. I remembered before she did. Okay.
Ivan: So, um, so, you know, so, you know, so I, give me some fucking break.
Ivan: I did remember and I did get her something nice and a Rachel something,
Ivan: you know, uh, for, for our anniversary, but, uh, you know.
Ivan: I'm getting surgery on November 5th and that's on a Wednesday.
Ivan: And I will not be in a good position to be able to record the podcast because
Ivan: I know that I'm going to be recovering from the surgery. And I am staying at
Ivan: my brother's place in Texas because
Ivan: the surgeon is somebody we know in the family that lives over there.
Ivan: And I was like, I really would like if I'm going to get my first surgery really
Ivan: ever. I would like it to be done by somebody that is somebody very trusted by my family.
Ivan: My sister-in-law is a doctor.
Ivan: My brother is a pharmacist at the pharmacy hospital. I've already known this
Ivan: guy for a lot of time. He's operated on other people in the family.
Ivan: And, you know, he's been very, he actually has figured out shit that other people
Ivan: haven't. Okay. So I trust this guy very much.
Ivan: Obviously, some DEI hire that we got from Mexico, you know, I'm allowing myself
Ivan: to be done that. And, you know, I know.
Sam: So the bottom line is.
Ivan: So bottom line is I can't record. I'm not I will not be able to record that
Ivan: weekend. So therefore, somebody should co-host with Sam.
Sam: And I was going to send out my regular email a little bit later, closer.
Sam: I mean, I don't like to do it like the day before, but I don't like to do it too far out either.
Sam: But for those of you listening, if you are interested in co-hosting and are
Sam: actually listening to this show, not just receiving a random email from me, you can email back.
Sam: It's feedback at curmudgeons-corner.com and let us know you're interested.
Sam: If we know you, it's probably a slam dunk. We'll try to work it out.
Sam: I'll try to work it out, make a time work for you.
Sam: This would probably need to be recorded either the evening of November 6th,
Sam: Thursday, November 6th, or Friday, November 7th. Or...
Sam: earlier in the day on saturday november 8th those are the options where we usually record,
Sam: let me know if if we have never heard
Sam: your name before and have never heard of you we may save you for another time
Sam: but we can start talking to you uh and get to know you so that we can maybe
Sam: do that another time but yeah if you've been talking to us already we know you
Sam: blah blah blah you've done the show before uh let us know that you're interested
Sam: so one thing is that we'll get One or more if you want.
Sam: We could have a whole party. We could have like five of you.
Ivan: Wow.
Sam: Could be crazy.
Ivan: Woo! Okay.
Sam: Yeah, or you can tell me on the Curmudgeon's Corner Slack as well if you're already on there. DM me.
Ivan: Okay. So, as we're preparing for the Curmudgeon's Corner orgy,
Ivan: I mean party, whatever the heck this is going to be.
Sam: Are you trying to say the next topic should be Epstein?
Ivan: No, no, no. What I was going to say is that I just got a note I had a notice
Ivan: of a mistake that I just did in booking my travel. Oh, oops.
Ivan: That I, in my... Look, I mean...
Ivan: Look, in my ridiculous amount of time that I've done bookings.
Sam: Did you do those like those girls did a month or so ago and go to Tunis instead of Tunis?
Ivan: No, not something that dumb. Okay. All right. But I mean, I've made...
Ivan: I'm trying to remember. I think that maybe once it's a travel agent,
Ivan: we confused the Greensboro.
Sam: Okay.
Ivan: Because there are more than one in the Greensboro. Okay. And I think that the
Ivan: person that was booking and me, we weren't sure which one they were heading to.
Ivan: And I think we may have sent them to the wrong one, something like that.
Ivan: I may have done a mistake like that in my travel agent days.
Ivan: Okay. But understand that I've booked.
Ivan: I mean, with my, listen, as a travel agent, sometimes we would issue like 20, we would do 15.
Ivan: I'm going to say on average, we did 10 bookings a day.
Ivan: So if you think about it, I mean, you know, the number of bookings I would do
Ivan: it, it was, it's, I've done thousands, tens of thousands of bookings.
Ivan: bookings, okay? Rarely did I ever make a mistake, okay?
Ivan: Not that it didn't happen, but it happened, I'm going to guess,
Ivan: less than 10 times, okay, that a mistake was made.
Ivan: But I just did a mistake in this booking that I just did, and I got on the app
Ivan: from the travel agency notified me, and it sent me a weird notification because
Ivan: it said, you don't have a hotel for your stay.
Ivan: I'm like, what the hell do you mean I don't have a hotel for my stay?
Ivan: I know I booked a hotel for my stay. What the hell are you talking about, okay?
Ivan: Yeah, you're missing a hotel from your next trip to San Juan.
Ivan: And I'm like, but why is that?
Ivan: Well, here's this goofy thing I did.
Ivan: Traveling from Monday through Thursday, I somehow booked a hotel only from Monday through Wednesday.
Ivan: Now, I don't know how the hell I was able to do that.
Ivan: But the app just notified me that, hey, you're missing a hotel. And I'm like, really?
Ivan: I am? And I just went in. I fucked that up.
Ivan: I, well, probably the hotel, because I'm extended a stay at a hotel,
Ivan: you know, probably would have given me an extra night.
Ivan: Listen, I have been in hotels where it's happened that we've needed to do an
Ivan: extended stay and the hotel has been booked solid.
Ivan: And they're like telling me, no, sir, we're sorry, but we cannot give you an
Ivan: extra night. You need to check.
Ivan: So I just fixed it as we were talking because I, but I may, I, I, I, I'm, I'm shocked.
Ivan: This is, I'm telling you, about from all the bookings I've ever done,
Ivan: thousands, I made a mistake like this in less than 10.
Sam: Okay. Good job. Oh, before I get to my actual topic, I did have one other thing to mention.
Sam: Since you're talking about your surgery, I do not have another surgery coming.
Sam: I did have surgery on my nose a few months ago, but my wife, Brandy.
Ivan: You need to get a refund.
Sam: Refund on the nose surgery. Yeah.
Ivan: Yeah, that nose job. I mean, it looks the same. What the hell are you doing?
Sam: Exactly.
Ivan: You know, there is this thing. I didn't share this article where apparently
Ivan: a whole bunch of people that work in companies like ours in tech are now,
Ivan: as they approach their 60s, all getting facelifts.
Sam: Oh, come on.
Ivan: Oh, yeah. I just stumbled upon that story right now because tech is for the young.
Ivan: And so, therefore, they're all getting paid for plastic surgery. Yes.
Sam: Okay, whatever. I'll just tell you, like, I did have the reconstructive surgery on my nose.
Sam: And the intention was to make it look like it did before. And I think they did
Sam: a decent job. This is a little bit of a scar if you look carefully.
Sam: But, like, there was a giant hole in my fucking nose. Okay?
Sam: Like, you know, it was giant. It was huge.
Sam: I've got pictures, if anybody wants the pictures of the open wound before they reconstructed it.
Ivan: No, thanks.
Sam: But...
Sam: Just hit me up at that feedback at curmudgeon-quarter.com if you want those pictures.
Ivan: Yeah, I'll send them to you directly. Don't post them on the public.
Ivan: You know, whatever. If you're going to send a picture, DM the pictures.
Ivan: We don't want to. The rest of us don't want to see this shit.
Sam: Yeah, there you go. No, but my wife is having surgery on Tuesday. Oh, God. Knee surgery.
Sam: She injured her knee like it was actually a long time ago.
Sam: Like not this July 4th, but the July 4th before this July 4th.
Sam: So like a year and a bit ago, she was at like, we were at the fireworks celebration
Sam: and she was walking back from getting snacks or whatever.
Sam: And there was a, there was a hole in the pavement and she basically,
Sam: her foot went in the hole.
Sam: She tripped, she went over, she hurt her knee and her knee's been bothering her ever since.
Sam: She finally got it fully checked out about a month ago. And they were like,
Sam: yeah, we should, we should fix that. There's an extra piece of like floating
Sam: cartilage or whatever that did something it wasn't supposed to and blah, blah, blah.
Sam: And it's causing problems. We should fix that.
Sam: So she's going and having that fixed on Tuesday.
Sam: So anyway, surgery all around.
Ivan: Surgery's all around. Surgery's for everybody. Yay!
Sam: Exactly.
Ivan: It's not like we're not Oprah. We don't hand out cars. We just hand out surgeries. Yes.
Sam: Buy one, get one free.
Ivan: Oh, God. Great. There you go. both the kind of bogos I don't like.
Sam: Okay. There are a number of things that could be talked about.
Sam: That I'm not going to talk about. The value of strategic pandering.
Sam: That was the Newsom Trump stuff.
Sam: The Virginia, how do you say her last name? Giluf, Giluf, Giluf, something.
Ivan: Gafoy. We should pronounce her name properly.
Sam: She deserves some respect. Yes.
Ivan: I'm going to look that up because, yeah, she does.
Sam: Okay, look it up.
Ivan: I got to look.
Sam: Anyway, while you do that, She had a book out that details a bunch of her experiences
Sam: with Epstein and others.
Sam: There's more about Prince Andrew in there. She mentioned some other folks.
Ivan: Jeffrey. Jeffrey.
Sam: Jeffrey. Jeffrey. Virginia Jeffrey. And so there's a bunch to talk about there.
Sam: Yeah, the only thing I'll mention before moving on, I guess,
Sam: is the one thing that stood out
Sam: for me from the clips or what people have talked about in the book so far,
Sam: just besides Prince Andrew and Maxwell and the main players,
Sam: is her mention of the way these parties worked.
Sam: All of these other rich and famous people, they may not have directly interacted
Sam: with the girls. Some of them did, but they were, it was open.
Ivan: They had to be aware that something was happening.
Sam: Not just aware, watching. They had these like, these things would be happening
Sam: in the middle of a living room or whatever with the party going on around them.
Sam: So like, you know, if, if you were an attendee, you saw what was happening.
Sam: It wasn't just plausible deniability. You knew exactly what was happening,
Sam: which, you know, even if you didn't partake, makes you culpable for not doing
Sam: anything about it at the very least,
Sam: you know, or, or even for staying for not
Sam: walking away like you know anyway that
Sam: was that was one thing i noted which to me like
Sam: vastly expands the group of people who are probably very right to be afraid
Sam: of the epstein files you know anyway moving on we we we have the trump giving
Sam: himself money from the doj I mean.
Ivan: Like I mentioned, we have moved on from the kind of like indirect payment of, hey...
Ivan: By, you know, oh, we're staying at my hotel during an official trip.
Ivan: We're doing the G7 meeting at my hotel and we're paying, you know,
Ivan: we're sending payments straight into the I am just going to have the Treasury send me money.
Sam: Yes.
Ivan: Phase of this grift.
Sam: And so specifically the way this worked out, before his second term started
Sam: in sort of the interim time period, Trump had filed various motions.
Sam: It wasn't a lawsuit yet, although he said it was at one point he was wrong.
Sam: He filed a thing basically saying, I deserve compensation for the improper prosecutions
Sam: you have done against me,
Sam: both for the Russia stuff during the Mueller investigation and for the raid of Mar-a-Lago.
Sam: And basically, bottom line is, once he becomes president, it's his administration
Sam: that gets to decide what to do about those complaints.
Ivan: Right. And it's his appointees. By the way, it's his attorneys.
Sam: It's his attorneys who are on the opposite side of those cases when they were
Sam: happening, who now are in positions where they get to decide whether or not
Sam: to give him $230 million in compensation.
Sam: And he made it clear from his comments as well that it's not really his appointees
Sam: choice anyway. It's his decision.
Sam: He will make the decision of how much money to give himself.
Ivan: Which, Sam, but he said he's going to give it to charity.
Sam: Oh, yes. Just like all the other charities.
Ivan: Just all the charitable donations that he has given over the years. Of course. Yes.
Sam: Right. Okay. Lightning rounding again. Instead of, like, picking one of these first.
Sam: We got Bannon talking about Trump 2028 again.
Sam: He has made mentions of this before. You know, when the clip was going around
Sam: this week, I'm like, hasn't he said this stuff before?
Sam: Yes, he has said this stuff before, but he said it again this week and was in
Sam: the news for it. Basically saying, you know.
Ivan: Someone asked him- Flat out that Trump is getting a third term.
Sam: Trump is going to run again and Trump will get a third term.
Sam: And somebody asked, what about the 22nd Amendment? He's like,
Sam: we've got ways around that.
Sam: He didn't specify, but we've got ways around that.
Sam: And there are a number that people have talked about. Yeah, there's the trick
Sam: of Trump runs as VP, and then as soon as they're sworn in on January 20th,
Sam: Vance or whoever immediately resigns, and he becomes president again that way.
Ivan: Of course. One of the things about that is because—,
Ivan: People in that circle are so traitors, right?
Ivan: Hell, if I'm, honestly, if I'm Vance, I don't want to let go of power. Fuck that.
Ivan: I'm probably taking him and sending him to jail.
Sam: Well, you know, Trump could just shoot him at that point on Fifth Avenue.
Ivan: Well, actually, Vance could shoot him and he's immune.
Sam: Well, he could do that now. But I'm saying once we had that scenario where Vance
Sam: was trying to stay in power.
Ivan: Right, what I say, but Vance could shoot him and he's immune.
Sam: He could do that now oh.
Ivan: That's right and he'd be president.
Sam: Right yeah we we've talked
Sam: about this before like there's there's no there's no like way around this like
Sam: you know because at that point you can't it would take a long time to impeach
Sam: right you can't invoke the 22nd amendment at that point because you don't have
Sam: a vice president and you need vice president plus half the cabinet Right.
Sam: You know, so, you know, a coup here is completely legal.
Sam: Also, by the way, since if it happens in D.C., then the federal pardon power applies.
Ivan: Right.
Sam: Because normally murder is a state crime.
Ivan: But in D.C., right, it's a federal crime.
Sam: So the vice president at any time can shoot the president, take power,
Sam: pardon himself, and he's free and clear.
Sam: You know, there are a few holes in our constitutional system as it currently is.
Ivan: 30 years ago, if you had told me that we'd be having these discussions as plausible,
Ivan: as truly plausible things, I would have told you you're completely out of your mind.
Sam: I don't think Vance is lining up to shoot Trump. I think Vance is much more
Sam: a smothering with a pillow type.
Ivan: Fair. Yeah.
Sam: Yeah.
Ivan: That's a good point. Yeah. Died in his sleep. Oh, well.
Sam: Exactly. So anyway, yeah. So corruption run rampant.
Sam: 2028. Oh, another another theory of the case is basically just the make them
Sam: stop you. Just run anyway.
Sam: Run it through the courts. I mentioned and again on the curmudgeon corner slack,
Sam: Yvonne and I went back and forth on this a little bit.
Sam: The same kind of theory that the Supreme Court used on saying that you couldn't
Sam: disqualify the president for being an insurrectionist could potentially be expanded
Sam: further to basically say, well,
Sam: the states can't really determine eligibility at all, and that has to be determined
Sam: on January 6th by the Congress.
Sam: There are all kinds of things. There are all kinds of ways you could do this.
Sam: And none of them are like legit or normal.
Sam: But we're not living in that world anymore.
Ivan: We're not living in that world anymore.
Sam: We're living in the world where Donald Trump will just try whatever he wants and make them stop him.
Sam: You know, and we're going to talk about my last thing is going to be,
Sam: of course, the White House, which is another example of that.
Sam: But even on more minor things, he's determining that he's going to pay the military
Sam: through means that are not legal.
Sam: He's taking all kinds of things. He's moving money around during the shutdown
Sam: that is not authorized in any way, shape or form and basically says, well, stop me.
Sam: And the thing is, you know, who's going to sue him? There's a question of who has standing.
Sam: And if the Democrats try to go after him for it, like, wait,
Sam: wait, you're paying the military. You shouldn't pay the military.
Sam: You don't have authorization.
Sam: It's a bad political, you know.
Ivan: Yeah.
Sam: So they're not going to.
Ivan: OK. By the way, one great thing. You're going to talk about the ballroom.
Ivan: And this came up on our Slack today.
Ivan: And I realized there may be a silver lining to this right now. I just realized. Okay.
Ivan: They didn't have time to do a proper asbestos or lead mitigation whatsoever.
Ivan: Because that would take a long time to do.
Ivan: I hope all these fuckers get sick and die.
Ivan: Like right now, which is very likely that they will, given that they just went
Ivan: and exposed themselves to all of that.
Ivan: For a construction like this, usually, to go through that and mitigate all of
Ivan: that shit literally takes years.
Ivan: to properly do that. And they did not do that.
Ivan: And I hope to fucking hell they get all of them die of some serious fucking
Ivan: disease from that fucking demolition.
Sam: Now, of course, the person who got the most dose is probably that poor schlub
Sam: driving the backhoe or whatever it was.
Ivan: Hey, you know what? Fuck him too. Because if they went and they sent me on that
Ivan: job, you know what I would have done? I would have quit on the fucking spot.
Ivan: I'm sorry. It's not like those jobs are scarce.
Ivan: That is a job that actually is one of those jobs that we keep saying we have trouble filling.
Ivan: And so if somebody went and told me, oh, just take that backhoe and knock down
Ivan: the fucking White House, I would have said, fuck this shit, I quit.
Ivan: Or no, make me, fire me, so I can get my unemployment.
Sam: Right.
Ivan: So if that guy did it, that guy was okay with it. He gets exposed to it,
Ivan: fuck you, you did it on your own.
Sam: So anyway, this is another example of, you know, I saw a number of people post
Sam: detailed rundowns of applicable laws and such.
Sam: there are most of it seems to be as with so much that we have discovered over the years,
Sam: that there are all kinds of norms about what should have happened here but there
Sam: are very few laws and when there are laws there are no teeth to those laws and so because.
Ivan: We expect the people to respect the law.
Sam: Especially the president and in some cases there are laws specifically about
Sam: preservation of federal buildings, guess what? White House exempted.
Sam: Like specifically written out of the law as this doesn't apply to the White House.
Sam: And this is the kind of thing where, you know, the Trump folks have been pointing
Sam: out over and over again, oh, there have been lots of renovations to the White House.
Sam: Hell, the East Wing itself was a renovation to the White House in like 1901
Sam: or something. It was added.
Ivan: I thought it was, was it Teddy Roosevelt or FDR?
Sam: For the east wing.
Ivan: Yeah 1901.
Sam: Would be Teddy right.
Ivan: And definitely.
Sam: Not FDR I'm just.
Ivan: I mean that was okay so I thought it was I thought okay but she's.
Sam: McKinley was president in 1901.
Ivan: Yeah, but I thought...
Sam: And then the first Roosevelt took over right after that.
Ivan: No, it was expanded in 1942. That's what I said. I knew that Roosevelt had done something.
Sam: But it was expanded. Truman did a major renovation. Truman gutted the entire
Sam: White House because it was falling apart.
Ivan: Well, it was falling apart.
Sam: He preserved the exterior and redid the entire interior of the White House.
Sam: I mean, it was falling apart. There were various expansions.
Sam: There are various things that have happened. And, you know, and people point
Sam: out, you know, Obama added a basketball court and blah, blah, blah.
Ivan: Obama didn't add a basketball court. Obama converted the tennis court to basketball.
Sam: To a basketball court, yes.
Ivan: Okay, so there wasn't a construction of a new court. They just repainted some
Ivan: lines and added a couple of basketball hoops.
Ivan: Not exactly really, like, you
Ivan: know, which could have been easily turned back to what the hell it was.
Sam: Anyway, the point is all of those, all of those actually did go through a process.
Ivan: Well, the one that they were saying about Obama, the $393 million,
Ivan: because I remember that one very much, was a lot of the systems in the White
Ivan: House, the boilers, the ACs, everything, electrical, were ancient, okay?
Ivan: The AC systems didn't work.
Ivan: Everything was old and falling apart.
Ivan: And through an appropriation through Congress or process, money was approved
Ivan: in order to fix all this shit that in many cases was dated back to fucking,
Ivan: you know, FDR and before.
Sam: Right.
Sam: Anyway, the point is, everything previous did go through some sort of process.
Sam: There was a proposal. It was examined. There was an appropriation.
Sam: There was an appropriation.
Sam: There was a this. There was a that. And there was a long, detailed process where
Sam: whatever changes were being proposed were approved by multiple people in multiple places.
Sam: It wasn't a unilateral decision.
Sam: in this case no no it's is
Sam: it's just go and also apparently
Sam: there is one law like they are
Sam: touting over and over again how this is privately funded the the taxpayer won't
Sam: pay a dime right apparently there is a law from the late 1800s that specifically
Sam: prohibits private funds going to maintenance and construction of public buildings
Sam: it has to come through the congressional appropriation process.
Ivan: Yeah, and there is a reason for that, by the way.
Sam: Yeah.
Ivan: A very good fucking reason.
Sam: And so, as is his approach with everything, Donald Trump is like,
Sam: just do it, and then we'll deal with it.
Sam: I mean, I was going to say, make him stop me. In this case, there's no make me stop me. It's done.
Sam: By the time we're recording this, the entire East Wind of the White House is gone.
Sam: You know? And apparently the remnants are now being buried in some golf course somewhere.
Sam: You know, no consideration of, you know, historic faithfulness, whatever.
Sam: No process. The funding is apparently illegal and is just being used as a yet
Sam: another mechanism to bribe this administration.
Sam: It was really sad watching this, you know.
Ivan: It was awful. I had a terrible week with this thing. look and and it's and it's
Ivan: not because it's a building.
Sam: Right it's.
Ivan: Not because it's the it's the building because buildings get renovated things
Ivan: sometimes happen you know.
Sam: I i mean people have pointed out by the way that there have been serious proposals
Sam: for building some sort of,
Sam: ballroom type area to hold bigger
Sam: events and even even even potentially renovating the east wing to do it.
Sam: Now, most of, if not all of these proposals were, you change the interior,
Sam: you leave the exterior alone, and we're nowhere near as massive as this.
Sam: But there were some serious proposals that were being talked about because there
Sam: is some need there, but not like this.
Ivan: It's just, it's not like this. And by the way, speaking of the whole asbestos
Ivan: mitigation and stuff, there is an organization called the Asbestos Seas Awareness Organization,
Ivan: okay, which literally posted a story specifically about this in their webpage.
Ivan: And they are talking about specifically about how that building,
Ivan: okay, the East Wing is more than 100 years old with portions constructed initially
Ivan: in 1902, later additions in 1942, at the height of our nation's use of toxic
Ivan: ambestos in our construction. Okay?
Ivan: That there is no way,
Ivan: They properly did anything to mitigate that when they demolished that. There was no time.
Sam: Yeah, and they probably did some of the encasing the asbestos stuff that was
Sam: going on a lot in the 70s and 80s.
Sam: But when you demolish it, it undoes all that.
Ivan: Exactly. Exactly. You undo all of that,
Ivan: which is why if you're going to fucking demolish it,
Ivan: It takes a process, a very painstaking process of first going in and removing
Ivan: all of that before you go and demolish the fucking building.
Sam: Yes. And, you know.
Ivan: So right now I can tell you flat out, people will get sick and die from that demolition as well.
Sam: Ah so and and this brings another one of those issues where like you know can
Sam: can the democratic candidate please actually directly campaign on you know we'll
Sam: tear down whatever the fuck he builds and oh fuck yeah i want that.
Ivan: Fucking thing like i i swear to god that my i i would like for explosive charges
Ivan: to be placed at it and just imploded as soon as possible.
Sam: You know, well, and here's the thing, you know, aside from everything else,
Sam: because like I was thinking about that and like, you know, actually,
Sam: it is unlikely that a future president will do that.
Sam: They will use the space because it's actually useful, blah, blah, blah.
Sam: But then I also remember this is Donald Trump building it. It's going to be a piece of shit.
Ivan: Is going to be shit, which is what I, what, what, what, what,
Ivan: one of my friends that's been in construction for 30 years, okay,
Ivan: basically said that there is no way that they're going to build something that
Ivan: isn't a piece of shit in the rush timeline they are doing this.
Sam: Yes. And, you know, and of course the grift angle is here too.
Sam: They're going to be siphoning money off that 300, you know, so it's not all,
Sam: they're going to be like, oh, let's get the cheapest possible materials we can
Sam: get. Let's cut every quarter we can possibly get.
Ivan: Listen, let's get the cheapest possible materials that we can get,
Ivan: but let's gold plate them so they look like something expensive,
Ivan: which is exactly the Trump style.
Sam: Oh, but also the cheapest in terms of quality.
Ivan: Right.
Sam: But pay full price for it to your friends.
Ivan: To your friends.
Sam: Who will pocket the difference.
Ivan: Who will, by the way, you know, go and send back part of it to myself.
Sam: Absolutely. There's no question in my mind that that will all be happening. Okay.
Ivan: Happy times, Sam.
Sam: Happy times. Happy times are here again. Like, blah, blah, blah.
Sam: Okay. Let's end this. Not the universe, not our lives. End the show.
Ivan: Yeah just just just to be clear it sounded very very very you know how do i
Ivan: say just very just just just i'm done end this where's the gun.
Sam: No no no no not that kind.
Ivan: Of let's add this.
Sam: Not that kind of let's add this let's end the show all the stuff at the end
Sam: curmudgeons-corner.com go there i mentioned all the new exciting stuff,
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Ivan: I must say, the curmudgeon corner mug I use regularly, okay, it's quite useful.
Ivan: And it's been quite durable for me as well.
Ivan: You know, the image on it has stuck on, you know, I've got some other mugs that
Ivan: maybe with age look like they're fading a little bit, whatever. This one has been.
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Ivan: Oh, God. I don't want to see my face on a t-shirt.
Sam: Yes. Anyway, you can get the mug. Of course, all the ways to contact us as well.
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Sam: I just punched my desk.
Sam: I've moved my heads around and I punched my desk.
Ivan: We're trying to arrange another surgery here for.
Sam: Exactly. I need the hand replaced. Get one of the Luke Skywalker hands.
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Ivan: Okay, there we go. Woman trying to kill cockroach set South Korea apartment block ablaze.
Sam: Oh, no.
Ivan: You know, a neighbor died after falling to the ground in a failed escape attempt, okay?
Ivan: To escape through a window, this lady for some reason had thought that the best
Ivan: method to try to kill a cockroach, instead of stomping on it,
Ivan: was to use, if I remember correctly, a can of, like,
Ivan: flammable spray and a lighter, okay, to try to kill the cockroach, okay?
Ivan: Apparently, she had used that method before, but on Monday, items in her home caught fire, okay?
Ivan: And so, you know, for whatever reason, apparently on social media.
Ivan: Blasting cockroaches with blow-tortures or homemade flamethrowers has emerged
Ivan: as a novel way of getting rid of house pests made popular by videos on social media. Look,
Ivan: Can I just say, and unfortunately that this led to, this would have been really
Ivan: more, this would have been funny if somebody didn't die from setting the fucking building ablaze.
Ivan: Right. Look, if you want to kill a fucking pest, just stomp on it. Damn it.
Sam: You know, and in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if in the end,
Sam: the cockroach survived.
Ivan: Survived. Yes. Probably.
Sam: Yes. yet just generally as
Sam: a ongoing theme i like
Sam: to avoid fire yes like like yeah there are a few places where it's necessary
Sam: yeah but like just just as one example once upon a time when we were younger
Sam: having candles in the house was commonplace fuck for one thing or another,
Sam: and and like it before us people
Sam: even used candles on their damn christmas trees and stuff like that that's true
Sam: you know before the little electric lights but like people still when we were
Sam: young candles were commonplace people had candles used as decorations i guess
Sam: some people still do but i know at this point like and also as a backup you
Sam: know the power goes out have some candles Right.
Sam: At this point, all my backup light stuff is still electrical.
Sam: You know, I've got I've got flashlights. I've got little lanterns that are battery powered.
Sam: Even when you want like little decorative tea lights or whatever,
Sam: you've got like battery powered ones. You don't need open flame.
Ivan: I mean, I will admit I have some in my house.
Ivan: My wife likes to have some candles that furlough, some aromas or whatever.
Ivan: But they are in containers that even if you let, I mean, even if you forget
Ivan: the candle lit, nothing's going to happen. Okay.
Ivan: They're in a safe, like, you know, uh, uh, uh.
Ivan: container and limited location, okay, in order to, you know,
Ivan: avoid such kind of things.
Ivan: But it's not like I have a lot of them. There's like, you know,
Ivan: it's just, but that's about the only thing that we use it for.
Sam: I get the appeal, they're somewhat cool sometimes, and, you know,
Sam: and people like fireplaces too sometimes,
Sam: but, you know, like, I remember a story, like, when I was researching my genealogy
Sam: stuff a number of years ago.
Sam: I think I may have mentioned this on the show once before, but I forget which ancestor this was.
Sam: This was back a number of generations in the mid 1800s sometime,
Sam: maybe even earlier, might've been 1700s.
Sam: But anyway, they had a fireplace and it was like, I forget, like three or four kids plus the parents,
Sam: little girl, like three or four years old, her dress caught fire off the fireplace
Sam: because she got too close for it,
Sam: went up like a candle ran around the
Sam: house as she was dying set everything else on the
Sam: fire on fire basically the family
Sam: of five there was like one survivor or something everybody else died the house
Sam: was gone like you know and it's like this kind of stuff happened all the time
Sam: because people had open flames everywhere you know we used to have that in.
Ivan: Puerto rico our houses are made of cement and there was like the lady that used
Ivan: to take care of us she set two of our kitchens on fire,
Ivan: However, however, the house is made out of cement.
Ivan: The fire was contained to the kitchen. The whole the whole house on in neither
Ivan: case did not go up, which would have been normal here in the U.S.
Ivan: if the kind of fire that we had would have would have set a house here in the
Ivan: U.S. 100 percent on fire.
Ivan: But because thankfully we like to use reinforced concrete, the fire was absolutely
Ivan: contained just simply to the kitchen. and therefore we didn't do that.
Ivan: But it was scary, regardless.
Ivan: Okay, you know, we had those happen.
Sam: So, yeah. Okay, anyway, reduce open flames to the bare necessities. That's my advice.
Ivan: All right.
Sam: Everybody. Okay, we're done here. Thank you, everybody, for joining us for yet
Sam: another Curbudgeons Corner.
Sam: Stay safe, have fun, not too much fun, blah, blah, blah, blah,
Sam: blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Sam: And we'll be in again next week, if all goes well. And two weeks from now,
Sam: again, Yvonne will be out.
Sam: If somebody wants to potentially be the co-host to record either the evening U.S.
Sam: time of November 6th or 7th or the daytime of November 8th, Saturday,
Sam: let me know. feedback at curmudgeon-corner.com.
Sam: I will send out an email to all the usual suspects minus the last three co-hosts.
Sam: I always eliminate the last three co-hosts for variety, you know,
Sam: but contact me anyway, if you want. Okay. We're out for real.
Sam: Here comes the thing. Goodbye.
Sam: Goodbye. Say goodbye, Yvonne.
Ivan: Bye.
Sam: Okay, thank you, Yvonne. Heading stop. Bye.
Ivan: Bye.