Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep 363 | Alaskan Bears, Asian Giant Hornets, & Monkey Business | Guest: Brad Meltzer

Episode Date: May 4, 2020

Day 53 inside CQB: Please don't get Tara Reid confused with Tara Reade. Actress Tara Reid wants you to know that she's not the one that filled a complaint against Joe Biden. Crew workers are still stuck inside a cruise ship because they don't have a way to get home due to travel restriction. Bears are hungry and they are looking for food in Alaska. A monkey tried to kidnap a girl and that raised so many questions. Asian giant hornets are HERE in America and 2020 just got worse. Brad Meltzer joins the break room to talk about his latest book. The bestselling team that brought you The First Conspiracy now turns their attention to the story of the secret society that tried to kill Abraham Lincoln and the undercover detectives who foiled their plans. Subscribe on YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

We'd love to talk. Business. And now, a Blaze Media podcast. Hello. Welcome to Chewing the Fat. How are you today? Good to see you. You look great.

I'm tired of hearing how bad you look because you don't. You look wonderful. Thanks for joining us today. Now, Tara Reid, you know, the actress, Tara. Tara R-E-I-D wants everyone to know

she's not Tara Reid R-E-A-D-E you know the Tara-R-E-A-D-E that's said Joe Biden attacked her

assaulted her yeah that Tara Reid is not the Tara Reid the actress you know from American Pie

and Shark Nado she's really upset. And she's been inundated with people mad at her and wanting to know what the heck is wrong with you. You're a bad person. And what have you done with your life? You've just been an American pie.

And then the Shark Nado movies. That's not her. Tara Reid wants you to know she's not Tara Reid. She's Tara Reid, but not that Tara Reid. In fact, she wants everyone to know that, hey, I don't know Joe Biden. I know about him, but I'm not into politics at all. I'm the wrong person to bring into politics. You know, it's just me, Tara Reid, not Tara Reid.

So she's pissed. So those of you that are given Tara Reid a hard time about being Tara Reid, She wants you to know that she's not Tara Reid. Okay, got it. So we're all wondering, what's going on during the lockdown? What can I do with our lives? Where should we go?

Should we do something? No, because it's locked down. No, we can't go out. An Alabama man decided, you know what? I'm going out. I'm going to do something. And they're not going to do anything about it. He broke into Disney World's Magic Kingdom and just started hanging out, living in the Magic Kingdom all by himself.

All my problem is, the resort's been closed since mid-Marched. He gained access to the park, said he was unaware that he'd done anything wrong. I just figured, hey, I found a tropical paradise. I've been hanging out. I just been living on Discovery Island. I know, look, I know it's been closed since, I don't know, 1999. But I just been walking around the park, living here, hanging out. I hung out at the Wildlife Park for a day or so.

And then I found this place, this Discovery Island place in these old buildings, didn't look like anybody been in for a long time. and I figured, hey, I'm just going to hang out here for a while. I am in love with this guy. And worst case, I mean, he's barely in trouble, really. They gave him trespassing a trespassing charge. And Disney said, you're barred from coming to our properties anymore. I mean, do you think he gets busted if he comes back?

If Disney ever comes back strong like they were with hundreds of thousands of people going through the gate, Do you think they wrestle him to the ground if he comes back through the gate? Probably not. Probably not. And have you filled out your census yet? They're really struggling and fearing a big undercount with the census because everybody is like, no, not doing that. We haven't done it.

They haven't figured it out. People are coming to the doors, right? They have webinars that people, I have mine sitting on the table. I have, I went to, I started filling it out and I started answering it. And I thought, I'm not going to answer all these questions. And then I stopped for a little bit and I came back and I timed out from the online. So I haven't gotten back to it. I don't know.

I guess we need to do it. And it's supposed to help with who represents us and who's in the country and where you're from and what you've done. I know, I know. I get it. But have you done it yet? I mean, really? Once we started the lockdown, I mean, I feel like,

you could do the online version. You got nothing else to do, just figure it out. And that's what my plan was. I sat it down. I'm going to do it. And then I timed it out because I got up and I went to get a cup of coffee and I did this.

And then I come back. And I was like, ah, I don't have time. Plus, they want to know too much. They want to know too much. I really don't want to tell them everything. I want to say, yeah, you know what? I live here. And maybe I don't even want to tell them that.

So I'm not sure what to do about it. Wait. They want to know too much? All they ask is... Yeah, they want to know too much. Two questions per household. No, there's a lot more. No, I didn't mind when it came out.

No, there's a lot more. It was your name, you ethnicity, then you're raised and then your address is already filled out because you gave them your code and then you hit submit that's it. They wanted to know everything about every person

in the house. I don't know maybe I went to a different website. Maybe I want to, that's what I'm saying, I think I went to the illegal census website. Because like mine was already pre-filled out by the time I put in that online code everything was pre-filled out

except for my name, my race, ethnicity, and how many people live in the household and then that same question per person and what are they, like, are there my spouse or are they my kid? Yeah, too much. Too much information.

I hit submit and I was done. Yeah, way too much. I don't want to know too much. I feel like that's not. For every person in my household, I got like 10 people living here. Yeah, so what is it? White?

Caucasian Son No White Caucasian daughter You know Grandma

Grandma was from another country It's just agonizing I don't know White Caucasian spouse White Caucasian Myself

It's too much It's too much It's too much Hispanic Latino father-in-law Again I think

you're missing my point it's too much i just did it for you actually send me your code send me a code and i'll finish it because i feel like i just did it you know what no i'm not going to do that i'm just going to wrap you it times out i'm just going to cut this segment out just so and i'm like my name is jeff fisher and i am doing my senses via audio and i just send it so there's too much information. You're right. You can't do it. You're absolutely right. I literally did it in 15 seconds. Okay. A couple things. We talked about how the final cruise ships have docked and the passengers are off and we're just cruise ships are done, right? Um, wrong. Yeah, there are some passengers, uh, off of all the cruise ships, but there's still cruise.

workers trapped on cruise ships. What? How would you like to be one of the 100,000 crew workers still trapped on cruise ships? No, thank you. No, thank you. They're floating around. Nobody wants to take them. They don't know how they're going to get off the ship.

They can't get off the ship because if they get off the ship, there's no way to travel to their home. where they live you know according to this story they're not getting paid but what do they need money for actually they just need some food

flown into the ship right I mean I don't even know if that's happening it's incredible I mean I don't know how I don't know how you get it I don't know how they've lost a few a few people to COVID-19

people are sick on some of the ships, not bad, but they're, you know, they're banned from air travel. Good luck, God bless. Good luck, God bless for all the people still trapped on cruise ships. They're just floating around, floating around, just castaways on a cruise ship. Good luck, God bless. So, before the show started, Chris is telling me a story about his sister who lives in Alaska. Now, I want to talk just a little bit about when we talk about this story, I want you to know that you heard on this very podcast, chewing the fat, of which you should be a subscriber to.

If you're listening to this podcast on some kind of broadcast facility and you're not a subscriber to the podcast, stop being a freeloader. Okay. subscribe to the podcast. But we told you that animals are starting to take over. They're coming into cities. Absolutely. They're taking over society.

Absolutely. So you're talking to your sister yesterday or you're playing some stupid game in Fortnite, which is how you think you're having family time now. That's our family time now. It's Fortnite, 6 p.m. Central, whatever Alaska time, that is. 7 p.m. Eastern. and we play Fortnite. And she goes, she screams.

And I hear the baby cry. So I'm like, okay, is everybody okay? What's going on? She's like, there's a bear on my window. I'm going to go grab my camera. I'm like, what? I'm going to go grab my camera. I'm going to go follow it.

You're going to go follow what? No. I was like, you have a baby? No. How about you to grab a gun? How about that? That's my first thought. Not a camera.

Or grab both? camera and a gun yes yes so she grabs the camera you know she stops talking so i just you know i was like okay have fun she's no no no stay stay stay just in case something happens i'm like okay you're gonna be right there i am right there to help her yes i'm right there to help her so she takes a couple of fiction and then she says what is he eating i'm like what do you mean he's like oh so the neighbors last night had a barbecue and they forgot to clean up up their, you know, put everything away. Oh my gosh.

And it attracted the bear. And Fisher, I'm going to send you pictures of this bear. This bear may be one of the bears we always talk about every year during the fat bear week. Yeah. I'm sure he's just wandering around looking for food if people are leaving it out. Yep. So she did that. And a couple of, a couple of minutes later on the stupid next.

door app a lady puts the next door app the next door app a lady puts um we're seeing a high traffic of bears so if I see uh your garbage not store properly I'm going to do it for you okay and how is that hurting me uh okay I mean thank you and why are you posting on my neighborhood app just take care of it yes just do it like i don't care i find it i mean i find it weird that if you live in alaska you don't know that true because i mean even i know that and i don't live in alaska and the thing too is it's alaska it's like one of the guys that commented on her post it's alaska the bear population is more than the human population now probably don't quote him on that because we don't have the exact numbers of how many bears.

Actual numbers. Yeah, we don't have actual numbers. But I will say that it's close enough to make sense of what he said that it's Alaska. Yeah, plus, I mean, everyone's in lockdown, right? So the animals, as I said, are starting to take over wherever humans are because humans aren't anymore. Yep. And now where humans are, whether they're not, they're inside.

They're leaving food out. I mean, of course they're coming in. Yes, and no one is coming. But now, Alaska is still on a state lockdown. You can leave, you know, you could do stuff around the state, but you cannot leave the state. Seriously, you can't get out of the state. You cannot get out. You cannot leave the state.

What if I sneak out? I can't even sneak out. Well, sure, if you want to sneak out to Russia, you know, you can just walk to Russia. You know, my sister. My sister can see Russia from the backyard. front porch. Front porch, yeah. But did you see the picture I sent you of that bear?

I bet you that bear is one of the bears that we talked about. Yeah, it's a good size bear. It's a good size bear. And I'm guessing, you know, most bears, we could stay our good-sized bears. Oh, absolutely. Did you see that other video I posted about the monkey trying to kidnap the little girl? Yes. And I want to say, I want to say that you could go, and I'll retweet this.

on Jeffie JFR. You can follow Chris's Twitter account, whatever the hell it is. At Real Chris Cruz. What is it? At Real Chris Cruz. Yeah, yeah,

whatever it is. The, I looked at that. Well, it's fascinating about that is that the kid is fine. The kid just gets up and goes back to where they were playing.

I feel like that. I feel like that kid is being kidnapped by this monkey. It's a whole saga. It's the family kidnats the baby monkey and then the monkey's family kidnap that is, they go back and forth.

I have so many questions. Where did the monkey get the bicycle? Why is the monkey on the leash? How long is that leash? Why is the monkey trying to get the little girl? And why is the cameraman perfectly aligned? I know. To record this.

And don't forget the monkey had a motorcycle. So there's that. So as long as we're talking about animals. and, you know, we're talking about bears in, I don't know, Alaska. Last week or the week before, I told you about the murder hornets in the U.S., right? The Asian giant hornet. We talked about it here on this podcast. And now this weekend, they're everywhere.

The story's everywhere about it. No one mentions what we talked about here on this podcast. Google is testing how they're going to kill mosquitoes. how about Google works on killing the Asian giant hornet? That's my point. Now that we have stories everywhere, thanks to hearing about it first here on chewing the fat, let's put Google to work. Google, please, on behalf of all humans on the planet,

specifically here in the United States, because we don't really care that much about the rest of the world. We would like the Asian giant hornet to be stopped. And I don't know if you've seen a picture of the Asian giant hornets or actually seen them in real life, but it is frightening. You do not want to get stung by these bees. And they're all, I mean, you talk about, I say stung. I believe that they have a stinger the size of your leg. I mean, they're just huge.

you do not want to get stuck by these things. So please, Google. Do what you do. We put a pause on the mosquitoes and we just focus on the Asian giant hornet and then we can get back to the mosquitoes. By the way, I know you're racist, but I know you're going to be this blatant of racist.

Why are you qualifying them as Asian? That's what they're called. I agree that, you know, that it could be viewed as racism, but that's what they're called. No. I don't know if you heard anything about 2020. We no longer called things where they come from. Because if that were a thing, this will be the Wuhan virus, not COVID-19 or the coronavirus.

So I need you, Mr. racist KKK hood wearing white privileged person to find a better name for the giant hornets then I guess just giant hornets right thank you you know what thank you

you racist and I guess that's maybe why why the title of the story is murder hornets the story the story that I'm looking at right now

is from the New York Times and of course it's murder hornas yeah they're not going to put Asian hornets they okay so speaking You talked about racism and hood wearing races.

Did you see the story about the guy in San Diego where he was the company and in San Diego or San Diego County they are forcing mandating people to wear masks? Okay. Which we'll talk a little bit about more in our coronavirus update because more and more places, as we talked about previously on the podcast, are mandating that you wear masks. But he went into a store that, you know, and he lives in San Diego County where they're mandated you get in the store is mandated that you wear a mask and he puts on the KKK mask. Apparently, they don't care if you don't have a mask if that's the only mask you have because the world went crazy. They made him finally, he finally took it off. They were trying to kick him out of the store or they weren't going to sell him any goods. And as soon as he took it off, they let him,

you know, check out and go about his business. But if he had the KKK mask on, they weren't going to allow him to do any business. So what you're saying, and I want you to correct me if I'm wrong. If we want to stop people telling us to put mask on, everybody should go buy a KKK hood and go to these mandatory places. And then they'll be like, oh, look at the time. Yes. That's exactly.

That's what I'm hearing on my end. But then again, I forgot to clean my ears today. So correct me if I'm wrong. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to recommend that everyone. one wear KKK mask, that horrible, God-forsaken KKK mask that means that you're a racist and you want people to die and you belong to the Klu Klux Klan. But I'm just saying that if you don't want to wear a mask in a particular business, if you were to put that mask on, they'll make you take it off.

But they'll still let you do business in their store. So good luck. good luck so strange we'll talk more about the masks and the places and areas that are mandating you wear them now it's i'd like to say it's out of control but i think we're long past out of control as long as we're on animals though i do want to tell you a little bit of story about uh birds just dropping from the sky we had the crows in missouri just fall from the sky dead we don't know what was causing it they just dropped dead. No, we found that out. That was the Scientology community from California that killed them. I remember this episode. We did an entire episode and we figured it out.

It was a Scientologist. Apparently, Scientologists are now killing parakeets in Australia as well. Wow, they're gone worldwide. They have. It's called Laurakeet paralysis syndrome. All right. of these lorikeet parakeets, parrots, it paralyzes the birds until they suffocate or are eaten by ants or predators. So they're just flying along and all of a sudden they get this paralysis. LPS.

They just dropped to the ground. Just dropped to the ground. And then they just lay there. They can't fly. So they either get eaten by ants or other animals come up and eat them. Is this the same syndrome of the zombie? Remember that?

Yeah, well, that was zombie ants though, right? Yeah, that was the zombie ants that, you know, made crazy things happen to the animals. Does this have kind of the same effect? I guess. I don't know. They're talking about the syndrome, the Lauracete paralysis syndrome. Yeah, LPS. LPS.

Clenched foot syndrome, all right? Has left birds immobile on sidewalks where they die horrific deaths. Now, I'm guessing if you're a bird or a human and you just have some kind of paralysis where you fall to the ground, that's going to be a horrific death for you. Dude, if you think about it, it's only been, this is May and 2020 is going out with a bang. We got freaking Wuhan virus. We got monkeys kidnapping little kids, bears, you know, just losing fear of man. now LPS we got birds flying from the sky that the Scientologist is killing we got birds with little hats I mean it's I I'm a big fan of parents

and where they decide to live even they build huge nests they do these trees and apparently Brisbane Australia is the epicenter for the new disease the laurakeet is it called again it'll make sure the laurquite paralysis syndrome. All right, let's go to the break room. I need to drink a Coca-Cola zero sugar desperately. And look who is in the break room today. Brad Meltzer, author, television star,

huge. I don't even know how you're just this monster superstar these days, Brad Meltzer in the break room. How are you, sir? I'm too busy blushing right now. Not because, you know, I'm disagreeing with you, but because when we hang up, you're

going to text me and say, you see how good I made you look? So tomorrow is the big day. You are launching your latest spectacular version of a conspiracy, the Lincoln conspiracy.

What brought this on? Because I just read some of it last night, and I can't wait to finish it. Yeah, listen, we all know the story of John Wilkes Booth and in Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Right. But this is the story of the secret plot to kill Abraham Lincoln at the beginning of his presidency. And the truth was, Jeffrey, it's just a crazy story. And, you know, Lincoln at the time, to get to Washington, D.C., and be sworn in as a 16th president, you got to go from Illinois, his hometown, to Washington, D.C. The only way to get there is you got to go through Baltimore, but Baltimore at the time was a slave state. So the plot was very simple.

The secret society was going to kill Abraham Lincoln when he came through Baltimore. Needless to say, the plot was foiled. I don't want a big, big spoiler alert for that one. But the story of what almost happens and how they foil the plot when I was research, it just blew my mind. It was like, I need to tell this story. Yes. It's a fast. I've read the first part of it.

And again, I mean, I can't wait to finish it. But when you think about how it came about that they say. saved him. It's really incredible. And I'm looking forward to it. So it comes out tomorrow, right? The Lincoln conspiracy. This is your new thing now, right?

I mean, what's the next conspiracy? Before we promote more of the Lincoln conspiracy, I mean, you've already are working on your next conspiracy. I mean, look at you. We, you know, we kill ourselves for a year. We're finally done and we can finally like take

a nap and you're like, what's the next one? You know that you and Josh are already, you've already started. Oh, we are all right? Already started. Of course already started. We've been on it for a while now. But, you know, the truth was when we started, you know, we did last year, we did the first conspiracy of the secret plot to kill George Washington and everyone. You know, that was a wonderful book that we found. And I found the story a decade ago. And we were like, how do you top, how are we going to top George Washington? You know, the good news was is we knew this story about Abraham Lincoln. And, you know, I love George Washington. I'm a huge George Washington fan. I don't know, though, if anyone, you know, the only person I think who could beat him in my mind is Abraham Lincoln himself. And so, of course, after that, we're looking at the next one and trying to figure out, we haven't announced yet. We want to make sure we're pretty far down the path. But, you know, the reason we do these

stories is not like, oh, it's cool because we got this conspiracy title and that's fun, but it's because they let us tell stories that are really not just about the titillating plot to kill Abraham Lincoln, but it's about the context in which they're in. And that's what we really look for. So in this one, And we knew when we started this, like, this is a time in America where the country is divided, completely divided, right? You got the, it's three days after Abraham Lincoln has elected, South Carolina passes a resolution saying that they want to secede from the union. Three days. That's how much time they give Abraham Lincoln. And at the time, you know, the country is so divided.

Whatever side you're on, you hate the other side. You think the other side is hard. They're horrible, awful people. Does that sound familiar to you? It does. Does that sound like anything you might recognize every single freaking day in our lives right now? Okay. And the question was, is what do good leaders do in those situations?

What does a great leader do? And Abraham Lincoln in that moment, and they're trying to kill him. They're literally trying to kill him. He doesn't go, let's divide it more. He tries to unite us. That's what great leaders do. They remember the United States of America. And so it was very important for us that not just tell the story of Abraham Lincoln and the plot to kill him, but that context of where we are in history right now, it plays such an important role.

So we're talking to Brad Meltzer, the latest book, The Lincoln Conspiracy. Now, in today's world, Brad, how are you? I know you're Mr. Big Shot. You know, Mr. Are you can go anywhere and do anything you want, whenever you want. But in today's world, it seems like, you know, in our lockdown world, your book is available for everyone tomorrow. Or you'd probably just go to bradmeltzer.com and pre-order it right now, as a matter of fact, if you're listening before the 5th of May 2020. And by the way, if you're listening live, may the fourth be with you. Ha! That's just not funny to me.

That's serious stuff, man. That's for you, Brad. So how are you sneaking around the country promoting your book? What's going on? You know, we're following the rules on this one. I mean, we had a book tour planned that was going to take us across the entire country to, you know, a dozen different cities. And that has turned into virtual events. So we start, you know, tomorrow, Tuesday, we are on Barnes & Noble's Facebook page nationwide,

broadcasting from our house with Josh Men, you know, the amazing co-writer and executive producer of our TV show. help do this. As we put out this book tour for the Lincoln conspiracy, then we'll go to Miami. We're going to actually, you know, they're going to beam me into Dallas. I will be that close to you, a big of a bite. They're going to beam me into Dallas for the JCC there and a Dallas and I think it's good morning, Texas tomorrow. That's just the way we're all trying to adapt. The same thing you're doing is we're building this boat as we're sailing this boat.

And we're trying to figure out how do we take this story? at a time, especially where we need hero stories. We need great stories that inspire us that really happen. We need stories and the power of them more than ever right now. And it's amazing to see people react to this saying, you know, the early reviews for it have been, and listen, I've been out this long enough. We all get reviews. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad.

The ones that say I'm the greatest aren't right. The ones that say I'm the worst aren't right. Like, you know, there's just, as in all things today in America, everything's an exaggeration. And you've got to find the truth in the middle. So I never get all outstanding reviews. No one does. So someone always wants to kind of kick you down. This is the first book we've ever done where all three trade, you know, publishes weekly and booklist.

And all three of them give us glowing reviews. And I'm like, wow. And I don't think it's because I've suddenly learned much more as a writer. I think it's because Abraham Lincoln's an amazing person. But I also think it's because it's because. Right. It's because we need this story at this moment in time. We just kind of lucked into the moment.

And so, yes, I want people to buy mothers and fathers day gifts, but I think it's more important that they get some inspiration right now. So aside from the Lincoln conspiracy, which, you know, it's going to be huge for you. And, you know, it is even if, you know, it just will be. But what else? I mean, what are you doing? You got the kids books. You got the comic books. you're working on some more.

Are you working on another thriller outside of the conspiracy theories? I mean, you're busy, man. Yeah, so we're doing just to go in order of what comes next. We just did last week. We put out our newest kids' book. We did I Am Leonardo da Vinci. And again, we've talked about this. Our kids' books are there that give our kids better heroes to look up to,

heroes that can teach our kids' kindness and compassion and perseverance. And so we did I Am Walt Disney, which was our biggest selling launch ever. we did I Am Marie Curie and we just did I am Leonardo da Vinci which I wrote for my youngest who's our little dreamer creative one plays with Legos I'm like you know what here's the power creativity meet me a lot Leonardo da Vinci

we have the TV show on PBS kids based on the kids book series Xavier Riddle Oh I didn't even mention that that's right So that's fun because you know again it has It surrounds these three characters Xavier their sister Eudina and their best friend The most handsome cartoon character ever named Brad And so I got to be a cartoon character

character every day on CBS. I think not. And that's fun. It's obviously based on the kids' book series. So the kids on this show are having a problem like they're being bullied as an example. They go and use their time machine to go back in time and meet Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks teaches them how to deal with the bully. They come back to the present day and they use that lesson. So it's a lesson of the kids' books, those moral values that we need so badly. And I am Leonardo da Vinci, I'm Walt Disney. We use them on the TV show. And then, but the truth is, is you nailed it actually from the start. What I'm really working on is the sequel to the thriller. And so the sequel to the escape artist is really what my big push is right now and

trying to finish the draft of that, which is. So how you're holding up with the lockdown? I mean, you work out of the house anyway, right? The thing is, is everyone suddenly has, right? Everyone suddenly has the writer's life. Welcome to my life. Now, that's what you're experiencing. Everyone sits at home.

This is what I've done. The sad thing, though, is, of course, I wish I was, you know, oh, I'm just living my life, but I'm not because like everyone else, I'm distracted and my kids are home and it's just, you know, my son was supposed to graduate high school and they canceled the prom and there's no graduation next month and, or this month, what am I saying? He was supposed to graduate. And so, you know, it's hard. You know, but there are people who have it so much harder. And so, you know, we're pairing up with our, you know, our synagogue and, you know, the churches and everyone. else that's doing stuff trying to help people who need help right now. That's what we're really doing. I mean, we take our money from these books as we've done for 20 years now and we donate 10% of it to charity because people need help.

And so that's what, you know, that's what we're really doing. Yeah, of course. So here we go. Just go to bradmeltzer.com and figure out where you can sneak into those Facebook lives with Brad and get things signed just for you. and you can read the latest book, The Lincoln Conspiracy. I cannot wait to finish it. I wish I had already finished it by the time I talked to you because I want to know the ending, Brad. I want to know the end. No, no. Spoiler alert. He lives. But let me tell you this, though.

You're not going to believe the ending. You're not going to believe it because wait to you see how they save him. Wait to you see what happens on that train. Wait to you see what Lincoln says when they come to him and say, sir, they're trying to kill you. watch what Lincoln's reaction is and what he does the next day. It's going to blow your mind. And it all really happened. This is not fiction. This is a nonfiction book with 50 pages of footnotes in the back that will entertain you and grip you and show you Abraham Lincoln in a way you've never, you know, one of the reviewers said, one of the blurbs said, think you know Abraham Lincoln. Guess again. Brad Meltzer. Brad Meltzer.com. Thank you, my friend. Take care. Thank you, brother. All right, let's do the coronavirus update for the fourth.

As I told Brad, may the fourth be with you. For those of you, you know, listening live today, oh, May 4th, 2020. Coronavirus, $3,609,960 total cases worldwide, 250,000, 250,000, 950,000, 950,000 97 deaths worldwide at the time of this recording. And in the United States of America, 1,197,907 total cases will be, you know, well over 1,200,000 by the end of the day today. And 69,11 deaths total at the time of this recording in the United States of America. China has gone, where the heck is China down this list now? Yes, they're still hanging in under 83,000 because they have three new cases.

So they are at 82,880 total cases. That's exactly what they're doing. They're keeping it under 83,000. So as of this recording, they have three new cases. The TSA checkpoint numbers. Going through it. I mean, it's starting to climb a little 170,254 through the gates yesterday. That's, I mean, they went from 170 on Friday, 171, 563, then 134, 261 on Saturday, a little bit of a slow day on Saturday, and 172-554 on Sunday.

That's, I mean, granted, I know it's only 170,000, 250,000. people, you know, yesterday as of a year ago, it was, you know, two and a half million. You know, it's a huge, huge drop. I got it. I mean, you say 95 or 99% or whatever. I mean, it's almost zero, comparatively speaking. But it is starting to climb up. So that's good news, good news.

You know, rather than the lowest point of 87,534, which was, you know, mid-8. April, wow. I mean, we're we never, they didn't drop below that. So that's, you know, that's good news. And we're talking a little bit about the mask rules for, uh, people being mandated to wear masks everywhere. Uh, Oklahoma City has now, uh, kind of amended their declaration, uh, requiring, uh, requiring, uh, requiring customers to wear face masks, uh, while inside businesses. Um, Sure, local businesses can mandate people wearing masks or not do business with you if you don't wear a mask. But Oklahoma City said, hey, everybody has to wear a mask. And then all the people got pissed at all the store employees and were starting to threaten them with violence. Not funny. I mean, I'm not laughing at that, not one. And in fact, there was one threat, according to city manager of Oklahoma City, Norman McNichael.

where one threat was with the use of a firearm. I mean, I guess I kind of believe that, but, you know, it's him just covering his butt. They've decided that the Oklahoma City, you know what? We've, we've changed. We don't really like to back down from bullies, but you know what? We're going to back down because we're going to tell you that you don't have to, you don't have to wear a mask. Sure, we want you to.

And we're not going to mandate it because. because you scared us. So your bullying worked and we're not going to mandate it anymore. Oh, okay. Well, so much for that. Never backing down from bully rule, huh? And we have so much more

as the show continues on the podcast, which is an exact reason you should subscribe to chewing the fat. Download and subscribe to more content at the blaze.com slash podcasts. All right. We found out

over the weekend, what the Grim Reaper actually sounds like. So they reopened some beaches in Florida, and people were happy about the reopening of beaches. I mean, in California, people defied the lockdown on the beaches. So Florida opened some beaches up, and of course, we have people who are upset that they're reopening beaches. And, you know, the local news was, there to cover it. ABC 13 in Panama City was out there on the beach reporting and their reporter,

I forget her name now, Faith Star, whatever it was, she was on the beach and she happened to get an interview with The Grim Reaper. Thank you. I'm here today to try to make a point that we need to, I think it's premature that we open our beaches. I'm a huge proponent of public beaches, and I've been fighting for that for years, but I think that the danger of bringing all the people here to our area and spreading the virus,

and I think it's going to prolong the recovery we have, and I think that we should take better measures, and it's drawing people from all over the world to our beautiful beaches. It's too soon, and it's not appropriate. Well, A, grim. I'm glad that you've been a proponent. for public beaches for many years because, you know, the beaches that were open were the public beaches. And people are not coming from all over the world right now to the state of Florida because there's no travel.

So I'm not sure Grimm is catching all the news that's going on. But maybe he just wanted to dress up in his little Grim Reaper outfit. And his name was his real name. I mean, I'm guessing his real name is Grim. grim. He goes by the human name, Daniel Olfielder. But, you know, his real name is grim. If you don't know him up close and personal, I guess it's Mr. Reaper. But so you cannot, you're not going to please everyone. It's just incredible. What are you doing? Now, we talked quite a bit about, within the last six months, seven months of the Madonna World Tour

that turned out to be the Madonna World Vacation. And once in a while, she decided to show up and put on a show. And then, oh, my back, my back. And then limped off and said, sorry, you're not getting your money back. Well, she has been busy posting some great things on her Instagram account. and, you know, she's been in her bathtub with her little milk baths and rose petals and, you know, taking care of things. But this weekend she posted a great, great video letting people know that she did test positive for the COVID-19 antibodies.

But she did a whole video thing, a couple of minutes long. I don't know that I'm going to be able to make it all the way through. But, and she was tight. typing at a typewriter, there was a candle burning, and it's just kind of proof that maybe the beds are running low? I forgot about the turtaper. 14. I think it's quite significant that the paper I'm typing on just caught on fire and consumed my paper. I am so consumed in my own confusion, so the wilderness in my incapacity to express my disappointment. so unwilling to fight with people.

I have been in quarantine with because I know the futility of it, and yet I want to taste the satisfaction of being known, of being understood. It amazes me that we care so much about what people think or winning people's favor or being right in an argument. I hate myself for this pettiness. Human behavior, learn behavior, old behavior, unconscious behavior, old patterns. I apologize. You can go to her, you know, you can find it.

I may tweet it out so you can watch the whole thing if you want I was going to I actually was just going to sit back and let it go but I can't I can't I can't uh

I'm mad no mad three run out of wood run out of time have a heart just and now you must go to bed you naughty little candle huh

Just burned my finger a little bit. That's just, let's stop. I just scared. How many times have you been saying, I want Madonna to tell me I burn my finger with wax? That's true. How many times have you,

have you listening and you just chill at the house? I'm like, you know what? What I need in my life right now is Madonna telling me, telling me that she burned her finger with hot wax that is what I'm missing in my life and boom she gave it to you it took two minutes and three seconds but she gave you that one line she did she did it was great and she talked about how she's gonna go for a drive and just breathe in the COVID-19 air by the way it's very interesting that this is her diary 14 entry

we've been in the CQB for 53 days. I feel like she's running behind. Now maybe these are, maybe these are just, you know, she doesn't do it every day, right? Okay.

So she's just, there's days when it's just, it's just too much. It's too much, right? She's too much pain. Okay. It's just too much.

So, seriously, how old is she supposed to be? Because she does not look whatever age you're about to tell me. Madonna? Yeah. She's 60, I think.

Oh, wow. She looks great in that video, by the way. I know the video is, the video was shot black and white. 61. Oh, she looks 40, bro. She looks beautiful. She looks hot. I know I like Madonna.

I always have. I mean, I've wanted to, should say. Really, I've always, because the problem is it. I always wanted to like. The last video I have of her is, in the milk tub. Yeah. And she looked horrible.

Yeah, she didn't look good. No. But in this video, she looks great. Her blowing the candle, her getting burned a finger, her put in the paper next to her face, looking through the hole. I'm in. I am in. But she said she only dates like 20 year olds, right?

Oh, yeah. I mean, if you're, if you, yeah. She's I mean I love her for it bless her heart She's 61 and if you're if you're older than 30 You're out oh I'm out Well hold on I'm 30 I don't turn 31 until the end of the year You're still good just don't tell you just don't go

Just lie still good just lie and I'm brown and she's supposed to be supporting brown people Yeah she does so She definitely supports brown people and if you if you just say hey I'm uh I'm brown and I'm young. You're in. Hello, I'm worried about it. I'm going to worry about it. I'm going to try

years. That's going to a house. For favor? You're talking to Madonna now? Oh, I forgot where I was. Sorry. Are you speaking

Madonna's language? I am speaking Madonna language. Oh, yes, I am. I think if you, I think if you showed up Madonna's door and you did, and you, just repeat what you just said to me. Hello, Madonna.

My name Chris. I'm 30 years. Hello, I'm a bit 30 years. Give me a bit of a bit. You're in the bath with Madonna. Piece of cake. No problem.

She's blowing wax on your fingers. Fisher! It's a family show! You're done! You're done! You're done. You cross the line. I'm talking about the wax from the candles.

I don't understand. And good news coming from Kansas I'll leave you with Kansas City. I know I'm supposed to be done because I just made Chris Madd talking about wax being blown on his fingers. But good news coming out of Kansas City. Kansas City, Missouri is now permitting religious gatherings. And that's good, right? I mean, we're all, we all want religious gatherings back, and we want churches and people to be together.

But there's just one catch. if you if you show up to the church they've got to make a list of everyone who attends and we've got to provide that list to the city don't worry about it though don't worry about it though

it's not there's no official record of who attends the church and when they attended and how many people they brought with them or anything that never happened in history before ever So don't worry about that being anything other than just for your safety. For your safety.

That's all we care about is safety. That's why we want to know who you are, what church you're in and how long you stayed and how many people you came with. And it's all just to enable the health department to more quickly trace and test and isolate individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19. So it has nothing to do with anything other than your health and safety. What are we?