Head-ON With Robyn Roxanne Kincaid - Head-ON With Roxanne Kincaid, Thorn-In-the-Side Thursday, 26 March 2026

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Has it already been a year? The CPAC goons are back in town! Let the nauseity begin. Afterward, a great conversation with a Attie Lee, young activist from my neck of the woods in WV. 

The password is Grindr. Here we go, live from behind the corn phone curtain. It's head-on with Roxanne Kincaid. Three hours of cussin and discussing with America's only liberal transvilly elitist right here, right now, on the head-on radio network. Brought to you in part by Cole River Mountain Watch, who invites you to be part of the uprising against mountaintop removal, CRMW.net.

And now, from high in the hills of West by God, Virginia, here she is. Roxanne Kincaid. Well, howdy. And here we go, off and running on this 26th day of March, 2026, 32626. This is the horn. Head on.com. Live is where you'll find us on the interweb tubes. That's where you go if you'd like to be part of the

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through the almighty algorithms of the various and sundry podcasting platforms whichever one you choose if you're listening live however well over at the aforementioned Mary Wacky Zanny Ralphs is hanging out with me and others will wander by presently. There's Sylvie. See, I knew. And a tech

note, a reminder, please switch over to the Discord chat, which also has a link right there on the same page at head on.com. Live under Chatroom, because as of Wednesday, the first day of April, yeah, the old chat room goes away. Discord is not that hard to use. use and frankly under these circumstances, it'll probably have a lot more functionality. So just take note and sign up. You'll be allowed right in. And well, we'll continue the conversation in the old holler tree that we sublet from the Keebler elves. It's the same old holler tree that we meet in every Friday for Friday on the front porch. This, of course, on the other hand, is thorn in the side Thursday, and it is a prickly one.

And we'll get right to that. Here at the beginning of the second hour, I'm going to be having a conversation with a fantastic young activist working over in, well, in my home county there on the gorge. She's on the other side of the river from me. Addie Lee will be joining us, and I'm really looking forward to our conversation. She's an amazing young woman. And, well, every program here at the Horn begins with gratitude. This program is no different. So thanks very kindly to Charlie.

Thank you, Charlie for jumping in. And Charlie has a challenge, too. Charlie said, I'll match the funding of $120 if that amount is donated by the end of today's program. So there's $120 challenge on the table, courtesy of Charlie at APS Radio News. who streams our content as well over on that platform, formerly known as Twitter. Thank you, Charlie. Thank you so much. Charlie said thank you for your brilliant analyses, commentaries, and unsurpassed humor.

Aw. It just warms my heart. Thank you, Charlie. Thank you so very much. So there's a $120 challenge there. Plus, Ralph says a challenge, a $25 challenge. And, well, that would get us $100. if met, that would get us to $290 and that would be $10 short of an entire another,

that's a word, right, another program in the deficit having been fully funded. So, sincerely, thanks. We are at a point we've got four broadcasts left in the month of March. $2,800 is the deficit, so that averages out to a nice, easy, even, nothing easy about it. $700 per program to wind up the month fully funded. It's at $2,800 now. So thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so very much to everyone who keeps this program on the air. The PayPal button is at head on. And if you want to set up a subscription, you just put your amount in there and say make this happen every month. And boom, bang, it comes out. You don't even have to think about it. Easy peasy. Thanks.

and we do need more subscribers. But yeah, thank you, Charlie, and thank you to Emilio. Thank you both so very much for help keeping liberal, independent, progressive broadcasting afloat for low these many, many years. Tech question coming from Lee. Is the new chat room manager managed by the Kebler elves? I hope Quark has not demanded a cut. no no no that it will continue to be managed by the horns to juvenile delinquents namely Jeremy and Asa and of course the elder statesman of moderators

horn chief agronomist chief mathematician bud trimmer emeritus and zimmergist extraordinaire roger in Oregon to keep them in line uh Charlie says Jeremy see what I mean when I say they're the two juvenile delinquents of it. I mean it. Jeremy says, while your comments are nice, please stop. If you keep it up,

Robin may float away and never come back with a substantially inflated ego. Not with you out there, Jeremy. Not with you. With your little pin bursting my bubble every time I feel

halfway decent about myself, shame on you. So where do we begin? Well, it's hard to believe, but it's that time of year again. Yes, I mean, across the river in across the Anacostia River, in Maryland, they are, the, the maggots have gathered for their annual

clavern and, uh, consequently, but yeah, the password. Oh, did I do the high I'm Roxanne part? Because hi, I'm Roxanne. And, uh, well, I hate to leave that part out there. these little necessities at the beginning of the program. But yeah, CPAC, the conservative political action committee, I'm not sure the nature of the relationship between Matt Schlapp and CPAP anymore,

going all the way back to when he was getting a ride home. I think it was in Georgia, wasn't it? And he reached over and started a gropin. a gropein of the young man who was driving him home and i don't mean that he was squeezing his shoulder or his elbow now um matt and his wife mercedes schlap have been movers and shakers inside the seapack world i don't know if he's still there or not but apparently attendance at this seapack is significantly diminished. Diminished enough to keep them from crashing grinder again? I don't know. But, well, it could, I imagine some several sex workers have made sure to take up residence in the district,

seeing as how, and these aren't the vanilla sex workers, y'all. No, no, no, not in the least. These are the ones who cater to specific interests. And we all know how much, for instance, we all know how much the maggots love their trans porn. I'll try not to ruin anybody's dinner in the Eastern Daylight time zone. It's a mite early for that. But you can well imagine what the maggots enjoy when it comes to. when it comes to porn and, well, listen, a lot of, a lot of girls do that just to survive and be able to afford the necessities of transition. So go get them, girlies.

Yeah. As to as to slap, George and Coorskold says, gives a new meaning to drive. him home. Yeah, and I don't know if Matt in San Francisco's out in the congregation this afternoon, but I have a feeling, well, that if he is something trenchant and snarky will be forthcoming. C-PAC, yeah. But apparently they're not having a lot of fun at CPAC this time. And you could say that the atmosphere is downright grim.

In fact, one young, one young Chud was caught by someone with a microphone and a camera. a young conservative voter, as it were. Well, CNN senior reporter, Steve Contorno, caught up with the young fellow, and he didn't seem to be, well, particularly optimistic. And influencers are gathering at one of the biggest conservative conferences of the year. CPAC, this time last year, the group got together, and President Trump had just pulled off an unthinkable political comeback. His right-hand

man, Elon Musk, was wielding a chainsaw on stage while touting cuts to federal spending. This year, Trump's poll numbers have tanked, along with the Republican Party's chances of holding on to both the House and Senate in the midterms. Government debt is also growing, and the war with Iran is deeply unpopular and testing party unity. CNN, Steve Contorno, was at last year. CPAC. He's back again this year. What's the mood like this year, Steve? Boris, it is like night and day. Last year, CPAC was this electric, jubilant atmosphere coming off those 2024 electoral victories. Trump gave. Hold on a minute. I misspoke. It used to be that they always met over across the Anacostia River. Apparently, Steve Contorno there,

he's dateline as being in grapevine, Texas. ah can you imagine yeah we're going to have a whole time in grapevine poor girls having to travel to grapevine texas to fly their trade micah noting let's be clear it's not just to afford transition it's hard to get a job right now it's way harder if you're trans some of these girls do it to survive period well yeah that's absolutely true and well the the The good God fear and upstanding Bible believe in Christ-centered evil, gelical, gundaminalist, ammo, sexual, Christian maggots are mighty glad that they do.

Looking back over their shoulders, a little scared, a little excited, saying, call me me Ella! Yeah. And from Lee in New York, Maga weird sex desires, they cannot choose. between melanoma and the robot. Actually, they also cannot tell which is which. Yeah, that's another story. A melanoma walking out today with a robot.

Interestingly, the robot was almost entirely white, but it had a black face. I'm surprised it wasn't dressed in a jersey that had number 88 on it, or maybe a pair of chutestaffel. But the funny thing is, They pretty much walked identically and made me wonder if maybe a melanoma's been replaced already, you know, by a cyborg. Well, daggummit, Sylvie, I hate that.

Regretfully, Discord is not working for me, Sylvie says. It says I need a valid email or phone number, but does not allow me to add it. Oh, well, I can always listen. well and I hope you will and it's entirely possible the other chat room still there it's entirely possible one of the one of the two administrative juvenile delinquents can help you get through that process so fingers crossed dang gum it yeah okay micah there were two bipeds that walked out one was stiff and lifeless the other was a robot damn it Micah says

it um it Lee beat me to it yeah so I don't know if I was the folks at Grindr I'd still

I'd pay attention to the whatever server it is that happens to serve grapevine Texas because if we thought there were weirdos in D.C. Oh dear. Grindr's definitely going to crash. Worryson. But anyway, back to CNN and Steve Contorno in Grapevine, Texas.

Gave this hour-long triumphant speech. The mood here this year could not be different against the backdrop of this Iran war that is increasingly testing the loyalty of his movement. And we have seen this threat addressed throughout the day already, several of the speakers urging conservatives to stick together to focus more on attacking Democrats than on attacking each other. But when I spoke with attendees here this morning, their anxieties were on full display. Take a listen to what they said. This isn't, you know, what I voted for. What I voted for was domestic policy change at home and, you know, realistic foreign policy.

so I'm just hoping we can get it all wrapped up soon. Are you concerned about those divisions going into a midterm election and what that convention eventually means for? No, I trust President Trump wholeheartedly, and whatever he decides he thinks he needs to do, we're back in him. That's what we voted for. Iranians. And because it's video, Steve Contorno does not have to explain

that the man and his spouse to whom he's speaking are wearing gold-Lamey bath robes with a great big bling blood-colored tea hanging about their necks and well this is what we voted up for i'll tell you what i was voting for uh uh i was hoping i was voting for a reduction in the egg prices but my gas is going up now but that's what we voted forward we gotta support our president to be held accountable and after that he's going to put us americans first again i think they would get destroyed the midterms i i just i get the vibe a lot of people i knew who just voted for trump because of how it was cool in like high school or just now just being like i can't stand the guy yeah well and uh this kid uh got sort of longish

curlyish hair in ringlets. And it looks like Daddy never taught him to shave. He's got his little, just a little strip of baby beard from below his chin downward. Looks like one of those kids I was talking to David in Oregon about yesterday, who was reading Atlas Shrugged at 13 when he should have been. And they probably dog-eared the sex scene, the segments of that Godforsaken piece of trash typing. Yeah. But, you know, I'm here at CPAC, but my friends, they just thought it was cool to vote for him.

And now they hate him. Really? Now, I talked to CPAC chair, Matt Schlapp this morning. Oh, he's still chair. What does it say about CPAC? that this guy was credibly accused by a young man of reaching over and fondling his crotch against his will. And, well, still has a job. Well, what it means is I-O-K-I-Y-A-M.

It's okay if you're a maggot, and it's not just that maggots grab people by. It's not just the pee. Sometimes it's the D. and it's all okay. Right. Yeah, sure. Oh, and by the way, I had a note from Brother Deacon Asa. If you will send me an email from your, don't use the portal at head on.

Live. Just send it to, oh my goodness, the old email, Bob Kincaid, B-O-B-K-I-N-C-A-I-D at gmail.com. Send me an email. I'll forward that. I will forward that to Asa, and he will add you from inside. the server and boom boom boom you'll be done and ready to go because we we need we need your your sparkling presence there in the discussion of an evening so please do that sylvie i'll look for the email and i'll forward it on to asa so thanks yeah and no acea i did not take one of those

a i interview pitches uh no this was uh this was real live No kidding. Human conversation and contact between Addy and me. Like I said, we're in the same county. And so I'm looking forward to our conversation. Back to Steve Contorno there in Great Bavine. That's somewhere down near Houston, right? Yeah.

Is it? I don't know. My knowledge of Texas geography is lacking. Some of these divisions, especially over the Iran war, and he said, look, yes, the party is divided. You're always going to have some divisions over military action, but this is a group that supports President Trump for us. Steve, I'm curious about the perspective from that last young man that we saw you speak to. Is the general sentiment there that the midterms are not going to go well for Republicans? Yeah, that's absolutely a concern.

Now, there's certainly time until November to get everyone back into the tents. But just listening to these speeches on the stage. Oh, come on. There's time between now and November to disenfranchise millions of Americans, mostly women. And, yeah, that's what there's time for. Let's not kid ourselves about their intentions and their agenda. You can definitely hear the concern that right now Republicans are more focused on defining what MAGA is, defining what America first means versus focusing on winning and beating Democrats.

And perhaps that's something that can be addressed in the coming months. But right now, those tensions are on full display here in Dallas. And it's been something we've been closely watching and seeing in polls as well. Yeah, they'll be closely watching. Sure. And I can tell what you got. I started out talking about CPAC and the various and sundry perverts who attend maggot gatherings. But y'all want to talk about melanoma and the Fembot from Reverbo.

The only thing more fun than melanoma lugosi. would be a melanoma lugosi replicant. Yeah. 115-800-Vosier. Melanoma-Legosi replicant, there's a turtle on its back in the desert. By is turtle. Bye is turtle in desert on back?

Well, never mind, melanoma-Logosi, robot. It just is. What do you do? What is tartal? I really don't care to you. Thanks for the inspiration, Reverbo. You are a constant source thereof.

Okay, Brother Deacon Asa, I have just emailed you, Sylvie's information. You, in turn, can message me back and let me let her, and then I will let her know what her login is and password, at least temporary, and then she can change it if she wants, whatnot. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for helping Sylvie to be an ongoing part of the chat conversation of the evenings. Billable, Billable Rick says, has melanoma been replaced by a cyborg? My answer to that question is a resounding no.

Why? Because the cyborg would have more personality than melanoma. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. On the other hand, Lee in New York says how to tell which is melanoma and which is the robot. Robot will stand next to Nidt with Nero. You guys are banging on all eight.

By the way, I'd mention the Anacostia River, and Lee said, Oh, the maggots thought it was the sexual accosting river. They'll be here all evening. Don't forget to tip your server. Or your humble Osta, says the case, the case. be. And don't try the veal. Don't. Really. Don't, don't try the veal because if you try the veal, if you say, I'll try the veal three times, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears next to you in the seat next to you at your table and reaches over and says, I really want them to try the veal, but I knew

that that would have gotten me in deep shit with pita. And that's based on a real live true fact. Mm-hmm. Maybe he didn't say PETA. Maybe he said, the animal rights people. Yeah. God, that's so gross. Fembots from Jeremy in Vermont. If Austin Powers taught us anything useful, it's that the fembots were still smarter and more clearly spoken than melanoma. So, no, she's not been replaced yet.

emphasis on the word yet and of course well nitwit Nero could grab it grab it by the memory stick anytime he wanted to I'm so ashamed just so ashamed Turtle on back in desert Lee says is there a desert in Kentucky I'm sure Mitch McConnell has fallen on his back hell I've fallen on my back

and I can't get up right that was almost bill clinton that been a while since i had to take my uh take my mcich mccall impression out for a out out for a walk about yes and uh from ralps a twenty five dollar challenge the twenty five dollar homework challenge perfect homework blank stairs why colleges are turning to oral exams to combat AI That sounds like a great way to do one's exams. Ralph said, I'll offer a $25 challenge for this way of doing college exams. Apparently, colleges in an effort to work around AI-driven cheating have started giving oral exams to students at places like Cornell, where there's a biomedical engineering.

Cornell, where there's a biomedical engineering class taught by Chris Schaefer. And instead of writing papers and the like, they have to present an oral defense to the professor. And Professor Schaefer said, you won't be able to AI your way through an oral exam. So, well, more power to them. thou shalt not make a machine in the image of a human mind. It's right there in the orange Catholic Bible. We talk about it all the time. So thanks for the challenge, Ralph's, like I said, between Ralph's challenge

and Charlie at APS Radio News, his challenge, we'll call it the unsurpassed humor challenge. because I know that I know that when I get compliments it just annoys Jeremy to no end yeah those two taken together would knock out $290 and it would be great if we could get that going

sooner rather than later that's not a lot $145 but it would get a bill paid that $290 it most assuredly would So fingers crossed. Oh, and program note, I'll be heading home tomorrow to the gorge.

And so I'll be back in the fabulous horn studios at the magnificent Kincaid Mansion by this time tomorrow. So, yeah, the CPAC is underway. And, yeah, right there, Matt Schlapp. Still has a job. No telling which young man he's groped lately. It says Christopher in Oregon, Schlappy the groping gropeer. This useless piece of shit is still getting a paycheck.

Oh, my God. I guess crotch grabbing is a feature, not a bug among the maggots, sung to the tune of sugar, honey, honey. We've got a $2,800 deficit. Christopher and and here you are sending me parody lyrics you know that I can't resist singing no no okay so in your mind remember sugar sugar oh honey honey that slapy do do do do do stop your grabby do do do do do you're not my daddy man hands off

my penis please you know if we if we were ever put together a band we would i think we could call it roxan and the incorrigibles because y'all are but the uh news story i'm looking at says and and and there's you know there's no sound effects or anything no no you know it's not written in comic sands or anything sepac chairman matt schlap is hoping to rain in jean opi infighting at this year's event which will be held in suburban Dallas not Houston Dallas and joy would have corrected me joy in in Michigan would have corrected me on that in the morning so well I can't go back in time so that she won't have to take time doing that but thanks yeah thanks it's it's Dallas and I know you would have because

Joy doesn't like for me to be entirely Texas ignorant. But Matt Schlapp, and kudos to whoever wrote this for not saying that he's trying to get a handle on the infighting, because I don't think I could have resisted that temptation. Warning that internal divisions could hurt Republican chances of holding on to their congressional majorities in the midterms. speaking to Reuters, whose reporter apparently Matt Schlapp did not try to grab the penis of. That's some tortured syntax and grammar. If some of the luminaries of MAGA are all at each other's throats in a kind of continued disunity, I think that could be devastating in the midterm elections.

The question is, can we pull together? See, the writer was avoiding the goddess of irony, but, well, Matt Schlapp is in her hands. Can we pull together to get the right guys elected and hold on to the majorities? That's one of the intents of this conference. Of course, the other intent is to give the convention attendees. is plenty of free time when they can get on grinder and live their best lives. And by the way, Mittwit Nero is not going to attend this year. John K. White, a professor emeritus at Catholic University of America, said,

seems to me they're engaged in a kind of politics of comfort. They're isolating themselves in a way that prevents the party in a lot of ways from moving forward to being a majority party in the country. Oh, what a, what a, what a, what a list of speakers they have. Attendees will be treated to the, to the intellects of folks like whalehead, dead bear, brainworm, lamprey. And not even full Attorney General Jojo Blondie, but instead, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanchie, who is such a great litigator that he got his client hung out to dry on not one but 34 entire freaking felony convictions. Also in attendance, Brendan Carr, Chairman of the Funky Communications Commission.

And, of course, who would want to, I mean, I was talking about free time when you could, when the good God peer and upstanding Bible believe in Christ-centered evil, evangelical, gundaminalist, am homosexual Christian maggots, can go out and scroll through Grindr for a while. Here's an excellent opportunity because Texas junior Senator Rafaelito Eduardo Cruz, the Anointed Bougar-Eaten Future King of America, will be speaking, as will the man who looks like rancid hot dog water smells, former jailbird, Steve Bannon, and the little maggot neo-maxy zoom dweeby nick shirley who started an absolute uh racist war against the somali population in minnesota uh-huh um they're bringing in the president of poland carol norraki and a brazilian senator named

sorry Flavio if you're out there. Yeah, they're having Flavio into the CPAC. No, this is a different Flavio. I'm sure Flavio, if he's listening, is presently swearing. Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. You know, of the, I don't know, the Rio de Janeiro Bolsonaros. Sorry, Flavio. And they'll have a straw pole.

after tomorrow, Saturday for the 2028 presidential race. And CPAC has a way of endorsing potential presidential candidates who are just, well, their idea of who would make a great president is just insane. So this year, the straw poll will feature a steel cage death match between Jimmy Dick Bowman. or the J.D. Egg or whatever they're calling the Count of the Couch. And Will Marco Rubio, who's trying to elevate his stature among the maggot faithful. See what I did there? But it really is. It's off to a rocky start.

Mercedes Schlapp, a husband of Matt. who never has to be pestered for sex because Matt's apparently not into girls. She's doing hostess duties. And at one of the opening sessions, like I said, this is the please clap moment of this year's CPAC. You remember when Jebia Bush said, please clap. This is that moment. And I don't know, maybe the maggots are just tired.

Let's break that down further before we go into the other two here. So on the securing the border, it is remark. Okay, compare Biden years. I'm not hearing a boo when I say Joe Biden people. Come on. We do audience participation here. Joe Biden. Please, boo.

Yeah, now talk about the war in Iran. Please clap. Hey, the Biden years. I can't and never would presume to speak for a maggot, but the Biden years are looking pretty doggone good now. Got us out of COVID? although a new what was the term

immunity evasive strain of COVID has been identified yeah that's just great not that we'll do anything about it and if something terrible happens well whalehead dead bear brainworm lampery will run out

and get a vaccine and he'll make sure that nitwit narrow gets one but no this will be the mass die-off event that they're so desirous of i mean if it's not something else i mean we've already got measles chicken pox and polio is a possibility but anyway the maggots weren't booing the name of Joe Biden. What's wrong with them? When it comes to the border, who came through that border? And now under President Donald

Trump, what has happened? Well, over 10.5 million illegal amids came to the border that we know of. We don't know the unknown gotaways, but we also have 2.1 million known gotaways. In case you're wondering, this is Tom Manho, the guy

who took thousands and thousands and thousands of bribe dollars in a brown paper sack, got caught, never had to give it back. Hey, thank you, Charlene. Charlene just got us started on the challenges. Raps has met, and $25 of Charlie's challenges met, leaving 95 to go. Thank you so much, Charlene.

Thank you very kindly indeed for leading the way. Now let's have some folks join in with Charlene and knock out that other. 95 bucks and then onward and that will get us down to uh what 2610 fight and chance y'all fight and chance thank you charling and from uh sylvie anent matt schlap i'm sorry but i simply cannot relate to someone named after a don martin sound effect fair enough schlap god bless don martin Oh, the happy hours. Pure genius over at Mad Magazine. Bester, Bester, tester.

For one cartoon where a guy. Blink. You know, that was the sound effect. It pulled a hair out of his upper bicep and his arm fell off. And from Cynthia, Trump not attending CPAC? Reminds me of Hitler canceling out that big Nuremberg get together as he was starting up his wars. I guess Trump must be too busy enjoying his war with Iran.

Well, that are staying close to home in case he decides to manipulate the markets again. We talked about that at some considerable length in yesterday's program. And, okay, Dave in the Blind. Matt Schlapp was just laying the healing hands of faith on that young man. He can only heal people when he's drinking. drunk, says Dave. He didn't try to grab that young man's junk. He was just trying to spread the good news of the dear Lord Jebus. Son, can I call you, son? Can I tell you about Jebus Christ's plan for your life? Yeah, unzip your fly. Yeah, I'll show you the, I'll show you the heavenly glories.

Please, Mr. Schlapp. No. Okay. That's for you, Dave. And from Brother Deacon Asa, Roxanne and the incorrigibles. You're a wee bit late to the game, dear friend, because we've had designs on your band name for several years now. It's Roxanne and the Spit Shiner's. I know, I know, murder hornets.

You have no idea how many murder hornets, though, Brother Deacon. I like Roxanne and the incorrigibles better because, you know, you and Jeremy, I mean. incorrigible doesn't even begin to touch it i'm not hearing a boo when i say joe biden people oh screw you mercedes slap but not by your one man one wo man christian upstanding bible believe in christian marriage husband matt who doesn't like girls uh well we've moved on from we've moved on from the fembot whichever one it was to Matt Schlapp Jeremy Matt Schlapp did did you claim to this young intern thy rod and thy staff they protect me prayer meeting Wednesday was yesterday

I told you they're incorrigible but then well you know the the journalism crowd can't resist asking questions of the people who attend this clavern why they're there and why their orange daddy sucks so, so badly. Remember this? It was only last year that the conservative gathering known as CPAC was celebratory. Trump had been elected. Elon Musk was wielding a chainsaw, promising to cut the budget. But today, as the gathering reconvenes, those savings never materialized, the deficit is rising, and President Trump is poised to miss the event for the first time in a decade. The latest Fox News poll shows his approval rating has hit an all-time low, 41%, and perhaps even more tellingly, 16% of Republicans disapprove.

That is an all-time high for him. MS Now's Rosa Flores is on the ground at CPAC, and Tim Miller is the host of the Bullwork podcast, and an MS-Now political analyst who served as communications director for Jim Bush's 2016 presidential campaign. Rosa, let's go out there at CPAC. Well, let me show you around. There's a lot of sparkles and bedazzles. You'll see a lot of red, white, and blue. Oh, there's a lot going on down here.

I've got to tell you, there's a lot of empty space. I would have expected more people to be here, but everything that I hear, it's a lot of it because President Trump is not expected to be here. Chris, I got to tell you, I've spoken to a lot of people today, and my head is still spills. a little bit because I asked people a lot of questions. And what I was receiving was an alternative reality.

I asked, for example, about the Fox News poll that you just mentioned showing President Trump's disapproval rating. And people said that they didn't believe it. And I said, wait, but this is Fox News. You don't believe the Fox News poll? They didn't believe that. I asked him about gas prices. And they say that they don't blame President Trump.

say that it was worse under President Biden. And I said, wait, but the president decided to attack Iran that stricted supply. There's the whole supply and demand thing. They say, no, they don't blame him. And then I asked them about Iran. And they said to me, multiple people, that that is America first. And I was trying to understand how that was America first. And I said, wait, but he promised no forever wars. He promised no forever wars forever and ever. And they somehow explained that what President Trump is doing is best for America. No, they didn't explain. They bribled. They didn't explain. They can't explain. They can't comprehend. He's just their orange Jesus. and orange Jesus can do no wrong.

But, you know, an event like CWAC, by the way, John and St. Paul, former North Dakota just gave us that new moniker, CWAC. They're the, they're the deplorables. The hardcore dead-ender cancerous nod of can't be reached, can't be helped. can't be saved, who walk among us. Here's a paraphrase of a movie line, John says, there in St. Paul. The speakers at CPAC are a murderer's row of grifters, vectors, penheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweeys, and Methodists. They all adore Clementine, Collegula.

They think he's a righteous dude. Oh. Mm-hmm. That's good. Remember kids, John says. Don't fap with slap. That gets its own Ramalama rim shot. P.S. Springsteen's coming to No Kings in St. Paul.

Check out the rest of the lineup. Cool. And from Cynthia. Yeah, actually, it sounds like Trump's avoiding CPAC to get out of the war. He started in his own damn party, just like he got out of Vietnam. Will he use the same excuse? I can't be there, and my bonespurs are acting up. And from Sylvie, Roxanne, the incorrigibles?

I definitely vote for that as a band name. After all, it takes so little to encourage them. Speaking of band names, in a novel, my beloved and I wrote, we had a rock band name Something for the Pain, named after a phrase often heard on old World War II films where someone would scream, Nurse, please, something for the pain. a not so veiled drug reference yeah doctor my pain is at a 10 that's what that became over the years

once we got our pain scale yeah um and then this i'm expecting uh addie to call in any moment uh and this pretty much wrap up our fun with CPAC segment um all is not well in maga land. Rosa Flores of MS now interviewed a couple of women who had spent money to show up at the Clavern meeting. They'll probably be safe there. The mag of men will all be, like I said, on Grindr. But, yeah, some of the maggots are upset about Daddy's little war. that's costing us a billion or more a day in the country already insolvent. Wait, but this is Fox News. You don't believe the Fox News poll?

They didn't believe that. I asked him about gas prices. And they say that they don't blame President Trump. They say that it was worse under President Biden. And I said, wait, but the president decided to attack around that stricted supply. There's the whole supply and demand thing. they say no, they don't blame him. And then I asked them about Iran. And they said to me, multiple people, that that is America first. And I was trying to understand how that was America first. And I said, wait, but he promised no forever wars. He promised no forever wars forever and ever. And they somehow explained that what President Trump is doing is best for America. I've got to say, Two people did stand out because one of them said that the war in Iran is a quagmire and that it could get really bad and it could cost Republicans seats in the House and in the Senate.

And then there was this woman who says that she has an 18-year-old son and it got personal for her. And she changed her mind on the war with Iran. Take a listen. I started off pretty upset with the war. I have an 18-year-old son. So that really, he's a lot. hit close to home. We had to get him registered for the Selective Service and everything. And so I wasn't happy about it. But then I saw these three boys that were publicly hung in Iran. That regime has been threatening Americans and has been killing Americans for years. If my son was called to go, I would still support the war. Now, Chris, I asked that mother, what about Baron Trump. She was there with her friend and both mothers agreed that if

soldiers were sent to war, if this woman's son was sent to war, they both agreed that Baron Trump should also serve in the military. And I said, well, do you think that he would actually do that? And they said, well, they think that he would do the right thing. Chris, back to you. Fascist. Yeah, he'd do the right thing. Well, unless Unless Canckel's Caligula thinks that his son is a sucker and a loser, Boron won't be going. Of course, then again, I don't think he could pass the mental fitness test to get in. He's not had a very easy go of it in college.

And you can just imagine him trying to learn to. March in formation. Yeah, no. Boron ain't a gold. No, they aren't, Asa, you are. Come on, quit hiding. And by the way, a fun little moment on the view yesterday. That was, I mean, it was kind of precious.

Little, uh, little, uh, um, Abby Huntsman, daughter of the former governor of Utah, Stan, got a lesson from Joy Behar. And it was delightful to behold. ...doing over there because what they've accomplished is incredible. And if we can deter Iran at all, for their two years... What have they accomplished over that? Excuse me. Our military?

Well, I think we've got the best military in the world. I think they do what they're told. What have they accomplished so far? Iran. What have they accomplished? I think they've, I think any time we can deter Iran, whether it's for another year, whether it's for 10 years, I think that's a win for this country. Obama had a deal

and he threw it up. Trump. I mean, it just seems to me... And what's the gift besides herpes? No, I think it's... I think it's... Look, I think it's really easy to sit here and say, what is our military

accomplished? It's because of our military that we're able to sit here and have these conversations. No. So whenever our military is out there fighting for our freedom. Don't make it sound like I'm against the military. I'm not. All my uncles, my father, they all fought. So don't make it sound like that.

I'm talking about this particular, as he calls it, excursion into Iran. What have they accomplished? We don't know what the intelligence he got was. That's the problem. They haven't communicated that. What I do know. The word intelligence and him in the same sentence should not go together. The entire leadership.

What? They got rid of one iatollah. They have another one who's just as bad. We don't know. We don't know. It's Ayatollas all the way down. I keep saying it. And, well, there's, there's joy.

We killed one Ayatollah. They got another Ayatollah. You know what? After that, there's an Ayatollah and another Ayatollah. It's almost like they generate ayatollas. It's the darndest thing. what's the gift that poor abbey huntsman she's trying to be such a dutiful little maggot uh but uh yeah uh i just uh just saw the call come in uh i think uh attie attie lee has joined us uh are you there just a second oh wait wrong button

there you are i hope hey how are you addie Good, good. Your volume, you're a little bit low on the phone, but if you're using a Bluetooth or a speaker, it's probably better the old way. It's a landline, but I might be able to turn it up. Okay, okay, good deal. That's fine. We'll get there. Well, how are you this evening? It's a pleasure to chat with you. I'm doing okay. I'm tired, but I'm in a good mood, good enough mood. And this is my first time ever being on a talk show or radio. Well, I sort of had a podcast years ago.

I co-hosted one, but this is fairly new to me. I promise you'll survive. We've never lost a guest or a caller yet. So you'll be just fine. Hopefully. Yeah. So to let folks know, in the Horn family community congregation.

I explained at the beginning of the program that we're both from Fayette County. You, of course, are on the south side of the river, and I'm on the north. You're in Oak Hill, right? Yeah. Go ahead. I lived in Oak Hill. My whole life was born and raised here. I was born at the Oak Hill Hospital, and yeah, Fayette County my whole life.

I've been all around the county and all around southern West Virginia. So did you do you? go to Oak Hill High School? Are you a Red Devil? I was a pirate, Fayetteville. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. I went to... Yeah, I did go to Oak Hill Elementary School and half of middle school. Then went to Mountain View Christian School, which is near, it's a hilltop.

It's pretty close by. And then went to Fayetteville High School. I'm not exactly sure why I did end up at Oak Hill High School, but I think because Fayettefield is a smaller school, but there wasn't any drastic reason. But, yeah, I finished at Fayette Field, graduated there, not foul-dictorian or anything, but I at least graduated with some honors and graduated. and then went to University of Trosson for about two years, was in pre-med biology and never finished a program. Was it my main passion? That's art and sort of politics.

It's definitely art. So I took a couple courses, Harvard Online, and that's the last of the education. There's no such thing as the last of an education. And trust me, we continue to learn throughout our lives, and I have no doubt that you will as well. Somewhere along the way, though, you developed a passion for activism. Tell us about that. Well, it started relatively early around, was it during the schooling days?

Well, at the very end probably when I was in Fayette, still. I ran for the Democratic Executive Executive Committee of Fayette County and won at 18 years old and ran again four years later and won again. And I'm running now for the same position. I'm not running unopposed. And I think the other times also was not unopposed. running against two other people for the spot, a plateau district of Fayette County. And I'm friends with one of the ladies in running against two out of three of us can win the spot.

But how it really was reactivated, the political activism was just seeing what's happening in the world, the country, and also the world because of this country, the Trump administration, And I focus more even on local politics, you know, to saying politics is all politics is local, politics is all local. I think that that's true for the most part that how we got in the situation is things went wrong at the grassroots level. And the plants that grew from the roots were rotted. And we have to regrow from the bottom up. And that's historically how the biggest changes have happened. But I decided that, yeah, with everything going on,

especially with poverty and human rights violations, trans rights, for example, that there is a moral obligation for me to get involved again. And the corruption in politics here and some other things that led me to not want to be involved. The establishment is a good way of putting it led me to not want to be involved anymore. But so I rejoined out of the moral, a feeling of moral obligation. That is admirable, to say the very least. Of course, I'm an old.

So I can remember a West Virginia that was not run by wild-eyed, bigoted Republicans. but that's been pretty much, that's been pretty much your entire life. Yes. Within, within, within, within the universe of what you've seen and what you've observed, you're talking, you know, I know, I know some of the projects you're involved in there in Fayette County. Are you, is there, are you, are you seeing any signs of hope that attitudes are changing, or are we still where we were, you know, in 2024, when, you know, if you were standing with nine other people, seven of them in West Virginia voted for Trump?

Are you sensing any change in that? I think that there will be a stronger turnout for Democrats, the new primary. The independents are swaying a lot. Of course, there are already people who are still just as solidly and stupidly for drop as ever before, but it is changing here to the exact extent we can't say. I cannot. It would be wonderful to have a number on that, but all I can go is by observation, what I'm hearing.

To be on the safe side, I'll say it seems. It seems that it's changing. I really, I wish I could empirically and objectively say so, but I, I know. I can't, but it does appear to be, and I know some people who have switched, and that's something that, at least I didn't notice. I don't think we were noticing this over a year ago. Everyone was so unified, so hardcore for Trump, but some of those people have finally noticed some of them, personally noticed some of them changing. So I think that's a great sign of hope. I have both optimism and pessimism.

I think both really in a situation. It's a mix for me. Yeah, I think it is so, but I just cannot say 100% if it is. At least some people have. You mentioned one of your activist passions is poverty. Of course, you don't have to look very far in the state of West Virginia to find it. we're bad and we're bad and getting worse what are what are you involved in in that regard well the blessing box project is the main project and um it involves setting up essentially setting up

as many blessing boxes as we can in o'keel and by we i just mean whoever wants to get involved um i've decided to get a coalition of blessing boxes because it involves the high hierarchy and the better this is seen as a community-driven project, the better it will be, the more progress will make that way. So the goal is to unified people, get as many people involved as possible from all sides of the aisle. We set up a new box. The first one I got installed, and I hate to say I, but there is some other people who

helped them. I did do a lot on this box, but I'll say we got a new box installed. Well, we mentioned earlier at the elementary school, it's not an active school now. It's a historic O'Kill. It just became a historic landmark. So it's an historic school that's now used as a Southern Appalachian Labor School for adults who need extra help. Some people have been in trouble and people who are impoverished. And it's also a warming center.

So it was an ideal location to put a new box, and I've tried to be focal about there's this new box, and we need help getting more boxes. And the second one we're installing will go on the east end of Oak Hill because there are five blessing boxes in town now. And I think only one on the east end, and 14 in Fayette County. But only five here in Fayetteville doesn't need them as badly as the... O'Keele. But it is unfortunate when, oh, well, I would like probably first to, that reminds me of the connection that there is between poverty and bigotry. I can't always connect them simultaneously, but the way that it appears is that it's the same two-headed monster because the billionaires, the only real dangerous minority, the billionaires are defying people by getting people, the citizens to focus on trans people or immigrants, women, or whoever else increasing xenophobia, transphobia, the fear of the unknown.

And that keeps the people from unifying. If that unity is the one thing they're most afraid of, your billions of dollars could not stop the power of the people. so they have to keep the people defied. The unity is, I think, the only thing that will really get us out of this situation. And so if you have more poverty and they're able to – one other way it's connected is there's a marginalized group and they are getting paid less. It was a common saying during a civil rights movement in the 60s under March 13, under Mark Luther King

that there would be black workers paid less and that would essentially lower the wages of the white workers too at the same company and the poverty of course leads to lack of information lack of education

so people who lack the information know what a trans person is or to know the truth about immigration are of course more likely to be xenophobic or transphobic or racist if they don't know their history of slavery, for example. So I see these as being directly connected, poverty and bigotry, that is, and that the only way to fight one is to fight both.

I think that's very, very wise indeed. Tell people a little bit about what the blessing boxes are. Yes. I sometimes forget to clarify that. There are people who will ask me what they are, and I'm hoping that with online in the articles we have, the words going to get out more. They are essentially just boxes that you can buy them online or make them.

They are for homeless and also for people who are poor and have a house. Maybe they just kept for it enough food or clothing, whatever else. So you fill them with miscellaneous objects, items, but mostly food. Food is the main thing that you'll find in these boxes. They're in towns and cities. Usually they'll be at a community center or a church. Some businesses will have them. Of course, a lot of businesses do not want to have a blessing box at their front door

or even behind a building, but some businesses, businesses will and I'm working on getting a couple businesses to put blessing boxes up and I'm pretty sure I have a place right now on the east end for one and anyone who walks to can bring an item donate an item if you need an item you can take an item in the winter they're arguably even more helpful because of the weather conditions you can put socks gloves hand warmers blake it so many things to stay out of the elements to help with the elements and of course of food. Deodorant, I should have mentioned, deodorant, hygiene products in general,

those are really important today. A lot of people forget to put soap or deodorant, and Dollar Tree sells all of this stuff. So that's where my money's a little low and some of my friend's money's lows, but we usually will go to Dollar Tree to get items and also use stuff we have at home, you know, cans, the snap-off top cans are the best ones because not everyone getting in there is going to have the can opener. But one problem that there's overwhelming positivity about these boxes in town.

However, there's the occasional negative feedback. The only criticism I personally here is that people will take advantage of the boxes. And of course, there are those people, but they are just, the minority of the people using the boxes. And it's the same argument that is common in Fayette County for cutting welfare, cutting any poverty program. They will say someone abuses it. But of course, there's someone who will abuse anything, but that does it justify ending it for all the good people. You know, if you let the one bad person destroy all of the good, you let them win and the good people who need those items suffer.

So, yeah, there are people who will abuse it, but we can't let that stop us from continuing the project. And when you're giving something away, what even is abuse? Yeah, they're not stealing anything. Yeah, some people word it that way that they are stealing, but the items have already been donated. So, yeah, there's mostly a substance for it here. That's the one criticism that I will hear. It's literally the only one so far. I've talked to some people in Beckley in Raleigh County,

and they mentioned five to ten things people say about the boxes, and there's a lot of pushback against those and helping the homeless and the poor in Beckley, that there's so much pushback, but my boyfriend works in Beckley, an addiction, and a homeless house, and Mitch and Nurse and a couple of our friends mentioned that. And so, say, County, I'm positive about being on board with this. It's less bigoted than, I don't know exactly why, but we have our problems, bigotry problems included, but it's not as bad here as it is in Raleigh County.

So what worries me would be if people would, one of the affluential clicks in this community would get together and try to pass city ordinances that you have to go through the city and also property owner to have permission for a box. But right now, all you have to do, and there's no evidence that's happening here, but all you have to do is get property owner permission or your property owner can set it up themselves and they don't have to get any special. paperwork done for it. It's easy to set up a box here. That's good to know. I think I've seen one on my side of the river. And I mean, when you take into account things like the draconian slashes to snap benefits and the like and what happened during the shutdown and the the deliberately sadistic reduction in snap benefits and the like, and what happened during the shutdown. benefits just to punish people for being poor and create some sort of blame structure for Democrats, whose fault it was, that the shutdown was not.

The need is greater now than it has ever been, is it not? Oh, yes, absolutely. And I wanted to mention that, well, next month we'll have another box set up. And hopefully by May a third new box, and that will help a lot on East End. And one idea, this is not my idea, a friend of mine gave me this idea and asked if I could work with it. And I think so. It's easier in theory than it is in practice. But what it is is to have QR codes put on the blessing boxes throughout town.

And if we can, if we have resources in time and the rest of Fayette County, right now my focus is in O'Keele on it. The idea is to have these QR codes on the boxes for people to scan and the code will pull up a survey. An online survey, people can answer questions related to the box and homelessness and poverty. And also there will be informational why the blessing boxes are important for the community. And there can be a list showing which boxes are full and which are empty. And it's difficult for us to tell on a daily basis, which are full and which are empty.

Yeah, inventory control would be a real challenge with something like this. Yes, yeah. I still do not know today. I just know that one or two boxes are very hard to keep stocked. One of those is on Central Avenue in town at the Lewis Community Center. So the QR codes, I think, could be a huge help. We would need to get them laminated and waterproofed, probably. put on the doors of the boxes.

It's not too hard to make a QR code. I made one long ago, so it should be easier now than it was. Then the staples will laminate the codes, and they are friendly and accepting toward these types of projects. So I'll probably go to Staples. It might be $20, $30 to have this done. And if anyone has a box or materials to make a box, they would like to set it up in the area and have someone have property permission, that would be lovely. Anyone, everyone's welcome to participate in it.

It's one reason I don't want to have the coalition because it just gives it too much of a hierarchy and a formality. And sooner or later, somebody will want to be Queen of the May. control things I completely understand well they had a fairly large county what about what about some of the other communities what about like deepwater and what about say golly bridge because you know I tend to think in terms of the you know the area where I live and across the river in Fayetteville Oak Hill Mount Hope is there is there is there a hope for expanding into harder-to-reach areas?

And that was one of the reasons I thought about a coalition to be broad enough, but I'm thinking that we can pull that off without a coalition. I think that we're going to have a few or at least a couple relatively organized groups who are donating on a consistent basis, maybe twice a month. There is a group, well, it's a nonpartisan project, but the Women's Democratic Club is apparently going to be helping with donations for these boxes. I am needing to attending next meeting to discuss that.

From what I was told, they are going to be helping. and so that that that could be a huge help i think there are that would be fantastic and and you know i'm i'm nominally a member of that group but dog on it they always have their meetings at a time when i would have to uh you know take the night off and not be here behind the microphone uh maybe maybe someday if you're at a meeting and i'm not you could say hey could we do one of these on like a Sunday afternoon maybe? Because. Yeah, yeah.

Not everybody works nine to five. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, you work late. It starts at six. That would, I don't know how I could do that. I'm used to early. I have the most energy in the morning and then it drains down.

Yeah. I know how that goes. I am. I think, yeah, I'm thinking a meeting is next month. I thought there might be. I need to, I'm going to ask you, I think next month there's going to be one. Next month is going to be very busy. For me, I have a number of things to do.

Not the least of which is your own campaign for the committee seat. That primary rolls around in May, am I correct? Yes, May 12th. Yeah, there's a lot going on next month because of that. Three speaking he fits to meet the candidate he fits in Meadowbridge, O'Keele, and Smithers at the senior centers. I think the first one is on April 18th, April 20th, next one after that. there's at least one Democratic executive meeting. I'm not an incumbent exactly. I just didn't run the next time.

So I did it lose. I did it run when it came up again. But this time, of course, I'm running again. Yeah, all this work will hopefully pay off. Even if I don't get in again, I am hopefully there will be a good showing, a good number showing of folks and also that I will be getting the message across the message against poverty and bigotry and that means more to meet and winning an election. Getting these blessing boxes out means more to me.

You know, what bothers me is seeing so many people running right now in this area and they're only focused on their signs and they're campaigning, but they're not really. doing anything for the people. I know it's typical that way, but I just can't do that. In fact, I'm probably going to not have as many signs

because I'm putting money toward the next blessing box, and it's all out of pocket so far. I mean, I might have some help on the next one, but it's mostly me, and any help is not from political donations.

I'm probably, going to be getting those but yeah as far as out of pocket I'm willing to not have as many signs just to be able to help more in the community and one I mean in addition to the boxes they're thinking we need we need to get food pantries able to buy wholesale prices in Fayette County so it will be cheaper and get another public transportation bus and of course a fixy water problem over 250,000 people in southern West Virginia today have untreated dirty water coming out of their seeks. Yes. It's an insane number.

You know, things like drainage from underground injection of coal waste. We've talked about that here for literally decades. It's truly a horror. I wanted to ask you, do you have like a PayPal or any other sort of electronic funds, place, donation availability so that people can give who, you know, maybe they can't go out and help build one, build a blessing box, but they can give some money toward it? Have you talked, for instance, with the lumber companies or anything about donating construction materials and whatnot? Great idea. I have not. But now that you mentioned it, I'm going to do that. Yes, I'll definitely be contacting one. I'm really glad you mentioned that. That probably is going to help. And there is no donation page, but I've considered that and probably will set one up. Yes, I will be contacting a lumber company. That's, yeah, I've been on the hut for good ideas, and that's another one.

Oh, gosh, I'm happy to help. I'm happy to hear that. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Well, you mentioned, you mentioned clean water and things like that. What about places like Minden, Patty? Oh.

I mean, that's, that's. Minden is like, living in Minden is like a death sentence. Yes. Yeah. What is there is there any is there any help out there? Unfortunately there's not and I've seen you've probably seen the photos of people in Minden after drinking a water and some of them of course passed away from it it's got and worse especially with the Trump administration the Trump administration now is

proposing and over 80% cut and the number might be 80. 3% cut to the clean water funding in West Virginia, which is already frighteningly low. We need the opposite, more funding. And when you mentioned the spillage into the rivers and made me think of the Elk River. Oh, the freedom disaster, yes. 2014, we call that the freedom disaster when over 300,000, people became unwitting participants in a large-scale long-term epidemiological study into the effects of methyl, methalinohexomethanol, methanol, metham on the human body.

And that'll be going on for 30 years in nine West Virginia counties. Because so many people were exposed by the water, via the air. I remember it well. I mean, they couldn't keep bottled water in Kroger's. And I think to a certain extent, it's still a challenge in some places. It affected at least 300,000 people in southern West Virginia, and even more than now. And, yeah, the freedoms industries, it is ironic that to name freedom, they were deregulated and they were not falling even seriously. regulations I think they're already in place but there were not enough

regulations in place so they could get away with more and in the chemical ended up spilling out of course and the Republicans have in West Virginia have now voted to further deregulate the chemical plants in the state which makes it more likely this will happen again well it's worth it's worth recalling that at one point in time the only other place besides Bhopal, India, that the chemical that killed Bhopal was manufactured was South Charleston, West Virginia. No kidding. Because, you know, the long history of this state is such that we're so abused.

You can do any, it's like you can do anything you want to West Virginia, and the government will let you. Yes, yes, yeah. What a lot of people don't understand is that the Appalachian people are in a, they are in oppressed subculture just like black people were, just like immigrants and trans people. And there is a connection. And that's something that I have been meaning to mention more often that Appalachians themselves are a minority that has been marginalized, oppressed, oppressed, and abused. Absolutely. And, well, I'm deep into West Virginia and Appalachian history, and I know a good bit of it.

I learned even more just in the last couple of days because Appalachia extends into Ohio. And I learned about a strike in 1884 that just absolutely captured my attention. And I'm trying to learn as much about it as I can because, again, it's all just abuse. and, you know, the coal barons of yesteryear and the oil barons of yesteryear have just been replaced by the tech bro billionaires of today. Setting up AI databases in these states. Yeah, funded by Republicans.

What do you think about the plague of data centers taking place in West Virginia? It's very concerning. It's deep. concerning to me. I have a lot of philosophical questions about AI and I'm not fully on board with AI. I should clarify a little, for biology and physics, AI has made wonderful revolutionary advances. And in some other fields for science, it is amazing and it's already saved lives.

But for art, I am not for it. I'm not forward in political campaigns. And just culturally, I think it can backfire. I sometimes will get into a person, a historical figure, and I'll run into a video that shows a shocking title. And I'm getting good at catching the AI-generated ones, and usually they're made up about the person, so they're distorting history. But the main problem is that these AI centers and AI and robotics are being controlled by these techno wizards, these techno wizards, and they're Republicans.

Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elian Musk, and Trump has increased funding of AI. And I think that one of the connections there is that they are involved in growing big corporations. They own big corporations. And a reason they attack the government institutions such as the EPA is to get more deregulation for themselves. They can build wherever they won and make whatever they want. and they are replacing human workers. This is happening before, but now even more with AI and robotics. And in a few years, so many more jobs will be taken away.

I personally think that fast food workers are going to be the hardest hit first. On a large scale nationwide, I think fast food workers are the ones that's going to wipe out the moment. and then other groups too. There are talks of very controversial. It talks of AI replacing truck drivers, and that one might be further away. But I think all this is... It's not as far away as you think.

In open pit coal mines in Australia, the gigantic trucks that, for instance, the gigantic dump trucks like we see on mountaintop removal sites in southern West Virginia, those are autonomously operated. You know, self-driving ginormous coal dump trucks. Yeah, that's a precursor to it. Yeah.

And they used to all, of course, be human-operated. So those are jobs that have been taken. And the coal industry is, yeah, they're taking, they're not for workers. It's amazing people. They're voting for people who are taking their jobs, and they're voting for them, claiming that they're good for the economy and their jobs. Right. It makes no sense.

Yeah, they're the chickens who are voting for Colonel Sanders. Sure. And I don't know how you break that mindset because, you know, you can talk to people one-on-one and you can make some sense. But when they begin to identify with a group, and I've run across some. many Trump voters in this state that are otherwise normal. But you start, you know, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, I get, they stand and salute. And for the life of me, I can't figure it out.

Um, I'm in parkersburg right now. And, you know, the Bureau of the public debt is here. And that provides a lot of jobs in the, um, and, you know, the Bureau of mid-Ohio valley or it used to and we were protesting outside the building in February of 2025 when Elon Musk was literally in the building firing people and oh yes I recall that happening yes and they voted for it and you know not too far from where I live in Fayette County, there's a, there's one fella, I don't think I know him, who to this day, I mean, he's, he's, he got what he wished for, he got what he voted for, but by golly, he's still got his F. Joe Biden American flag banner planted in his yard.

Like, dude, you won. You won. Enjoy it. You know, can, can you not be happy now? the clip that I ran before you came on air with me of Mercedes Schlapp at CPAC telling people, you didn't boo when I said Joe Biden's name. What's wrong with you? It's a cult. It is a cult, plain and simple. Yes, yeah. Now, the legislative session has mercifully closed down in Charleston.

So now that that's happened, Charleston is no longer in the top 20s. cities in the United States for porn online porn consumption. It's the weirdest thing. The maggot legislature comes into session. Porn consumption in Charleston goes through the roof. I'm surprised that the routers inside the Marriott down there don't just catch fire. But they're out of session now. And some of the worst of the legislation, I don't think, made it through, but I mean, there's already a bathroom ban in place for government buildings in the state of West Virginia. What do you think of that? Yeah.

Yeah. Even though the anti-LGB plus bills were defeated in the House, we did have problems that won. And one of those would be the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of the... appeals in Richmond, Virginia, which also makes decisions in West Virginia, to allow insurance companies to deny transitional surgeries. And what they do is ship away at the rights. They're not taking it away all at once, but we see it in action here, even with the defeat of the anti-LGBQ plus bills in the house.

And the problem is people see that victory. and they could let their guard down for what's already happened. What we need to refus here, such as the government building's bathroom ban, um, uh, there was a horrible bill, um, Bill 1083 that had passed the Senate, West Virginia Senate, and it passed almost unanimously. Um, I think only one, maybe two, um, one or two Democrats, two at most, uh, voted, um, against it. There are only two Democrats in the whole West Virginia Senate anyway. One or two. I don't want to be wrong and say one if it was two.

I think I think there's two because they can caucus in a phone booth. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's put up. Yeah. For the most part. But you know, things like these like the bathroom ban. It's any government building for instance. think about Tamarack or I went in to get an easy pass some months back because they stopped

you know they stopped employing human beings at the toll booths and it became easy pass or license tag reader only and you know while I was in there it was like I need to use the restroom and then I thought

oh no oh no you don't and wound up being kind of miserable and, you know, holding it until I could get to McDonald's or something. It has a... Yeah. I can't go, you know, I can't go to the seat of my state government. I can't go to the Capitol for fear of being arrested for voiding my bladder. Yeah. Yeah.

that that's very unfortunate for anyone involved in politics is a trans person particularly well really I mean a trans person in politics who is needing to go to the capital I mean what what if one works there is a delegate for example and of course you know at the the federal capital in Washington DC there are the two bathrooms and somebody asked me one day, why don't they just put a unisex bathroom in there? I said because they want to keep the decision going. They won't to keep it rolling.

They're not interested in – Republicans are not interested in any solution, whether it's a very fair solution or not. They're just interesting in creating more problem and magnifying the problem. So with the sports, for example, the biggest anti-trans things we see, of course, are sports and the bathrooms. And with sports, they could do a hormonal reading. They could base which team you're on from your hormonal levels and also could do a strith test, something like that.

But they do not propose those solutions. They only propose bans. Well, that's absolutely true. And I remember working in D.C., working on the Appalachian Community's Health Emergency Act years ago, and I walked into an office of a Democratic member of the House. And out, you know, I don't know if you've ever been in the House office buildings, but, you know, there will typically be outside a member's door.

There'll be an American flag and a flag of the state. But this particular, and this is way before I transitioned, I still very much knew. But outside this one door, I can't remember who the representative was. remember that it was in the Rayburn House office building, but there was a trans pride flag, and there was the typical LGBTQ plus rainbow flag, and I walked in to deliver the information packet that we were sharing about the Appalachian health crisis brought on by mountaintop removal. And at the reception desk was an absolutely lovely young transatlantic.

woman and I remember dying a little bit inside and just passing the information on and going out the door and thinking maybe someday probably never but maybe someday um yes and and you know that day did come I never dreamed that it would but the thing is there are people who are trans who work in the house. There are people who are citizens who come and tour the Capitol Museum. Yeah. They are foreclosed from their civic rights, their rights to freedom of assembly and association by this, these stupid laws.

Yeah. And it's by the sign that they target the government. buildings because I think it's a way of discouraging trans people from being involved in the government, involved in politics, so they cannot make any changes from within. Or, and I should add, and I hope it's not, I hope it's okay for me to mention this. You yourself are trans. So this is not an, yeah, this is not an esoteric or philosophical discussion for you. This is, this is existential. And it takes a toll because, you know, basically what they're telling us is stay in your houses, don't come out.

You know, it was a couple of sessions ago when a creep from up here in Parkersburg, a member of the Senate, God, he is dumber in the head and the hog is in the ass, introduced a bill that would have made it a felony for you or I to be within a half a mile of. of a school. Well, I walk out in the driveway and I'm half a mile from a school. Yeah, some of us live near, I don't, but some of us, a lot of people live near a school within that radius or less. Yeah. Or if I drive downtown to the Holler Dollar, there I am, a half a mile from the elementary school. Do I need to tunnel in, in secret? You know, what? Yeah. I mean, if, say, somebody, you know, there might be a trans sister or somebody, a nephew needs to, uncle needs to pick up the kids and, you know, they, so they could have go to the school to pick up their kid, their families. Because, of course,

some people would notice that there are trans people that have biological kids themselves, you know, and they might have to, so they, they would be banned from the school, essentially, to not even get their own kids. And it would be, and the way that law was written, it was a felony good for 10 years in the West Virginia penitentiary and for trans women. That necessarily means the men's penitentiary, regardless of surgical status. Yes. It is terrifying.

I'm just, I just saw something come across my social media feed out of Tennessee. and it is absolutely horrifying, Adi. And by the way, for those who are just joining, I'm talking with Adi Lee. She is a community organizer and an activist on multiple fronts in Fayette County, West Virginia, where I'm from. And this is our first time talking, and I'm really delighted to be having this conversation. But what I was going to say a moment ago, in Tennessee, the house to their their house today passed a bill to create and i mean this is this is some serious 1933 stuff uh a public list of trans tennesseeans and oh i and democrats tried to at least

make it not available to the public that amendment was rejected because frankly the maggots in Tennessee want us to be terrorized. That's what it will do, adding people to be list. There will be the trans chasers and the turfs and all the anti-trans people and trans-obsessed people will start, you know, fear and force and scary. It is 1930s, yes. And what I hate to say is that the orange monster in the White House is moving faster than Hitler was. I think you're right.

And there's an aspect of this that people desperately need to understand, and it's a challenge to help them understand it. And that is that it doesn't stop with whichever group they're picking on, you know, where immigration was concerned. They said, well, we're only going to get the really, really bad ones. And the next thing, you know, they're handcuffing nannies in the middle of the street. Yes, and they've shot American murdered American citizens in Minneapolis. Yeah, and due process of law has been lost for citizens. Anybody who looks foreign, does it speak English fluently, or maybe they even do speak fluently, or maybe they're just helping a protester who's been beaten by ice.

They are subject to illegal arrest and even authoritarian murder, which we've literally seen happening. And the thing is that it's on film. People thankfully had their phones out. It is one benefit to the social media that it overshadowed the lies of the Trump administration. Of course, there are people who are just completely brainwashed. And there are AI versions of it. There's one AI video that shows Alex Prata destroying a police car, but it wasn't real at all.

It was, this video was made. So Republicans are using AI a lot to distract and distort the facts. But it did finally come out. People saw on video these murders happening. and anyone who still can support TROPTA, I just cannot think that they're immoral. The Bill 183, the Anti-Trans Bill 1083, was going to criminalize using a locker room. And this involved adults. It could be a water park, many places, just a locker room in the state that was not the same as your biological sex as a signed at birth.

So I've been to some water parks. It's been a while, and it wasn't in state last time. But usually if you go there and participate, you can't get around using a locker room. So that means that the trans woman is going into the male locker room to change, rather it's at a university school to the water park, wherever. And that obviously opens up. That's what's going to lead to more sexual assault and physical assault than, being able to use the locker room, a trans person wants to use.

So they create a bigger problem and are not solving any problem in the process. Thankfully, I was defeated, but again, you know, it's very concerning what's happening, and I'm not, I'm not as positive as some people about it just because the bills were defeated in the house. They're going to come back next time. Sure they will. They might come back. Yeah. And all of these, all of these spasms, Adi, are, well, they're, they're, they're, they're viral.

And so what one state gets away with, another maggot state will follow suit and do themselves. I'm personally terrified over what came, what came out of Kansas. Because, oh, yes, yes. You know, I've got a real ID. You can't get a passport. prisoner in my own country and all. But, you know, the idea that retroactively with no rational basis whatsoever, that a state can just say, we're taking your driver's license away and making you pretend to be something you're not. Yeah. So they can do that with,

they'll do it with other groups. Yeah, the human rights are, a singular armor that protects us, protects humanity from authoritarianism and the institutionalized bigotry. So we have to stand for all rights and people who are not trans must start to stand up more for trans rights too because their rights are under threat. There's the domino analogy of trans rights or immigrant rights and then one of those will fall, one of those dominoes, and it will knock over the other dominoes. and this is historically true.

It's a sparkly accurate analogy. We've seen in many countries in historiography. Yeah, with Kansas, I think that is the hotbed, the ground zero, the front line of the anti-trans movement and the fight for trans rights. And unfortunately, so what I think needs to. happen is there needs to be a Midwestern March. And I have talked extensively to talk to my boyfriend a lot on this topic. I've read a lot on it, thought a lot on it. And I really, what came to me was it might sound odd. I don't know if it does. I was reading Martin Luther King Jr.'s

stride toward freedom, the Montgomery story. It's his first book, and it's on the Montgomery bus boycotts in 55 to 1956. And what really, I started making a connection, that Kansas is the new Montgomery. Montgomery was arguably the worst place at the time for black people to live. And things had to get so bad for them to turn around. And they started the march through Montgomery, and there is, of course, the Selma March, and some of these marches led to. Selma March really led to people being beach and waterhosed

and dogs unleashed. But they continued marching and gathered finally to 50,000 people, and a lot of changes started to come. somewhat slowly, but they did come. Segregational changes, but a big issue is with trans people in Montgomery, over 50% of the population, I think, I really should fact-check it, but I'm pretty sure that over about 50% or more were black people living in Montgomery. So there are not over 50% trans people in Kansas.

So how do you unify the people to come together? when most people are not identifying as trans. And what gets me is not so much the opposition is evil, and it's a big problem. But in a way, what's even a bigger problem to me is the moderates. And the people who are just indifferent. I think because they are a majority. Straight out of letter from Birmingham jail. What disappoints me are the moderates and the people who say, not now, wait, it'll get better.

Yeah. But it doesn't. Yeah. Unabated, it gets worse. Very few people know that the Holocaust, and this is not taking anything away, the Holocaust started with the queer community. And all of those Nazi bonfires and all of those books burning, those aren't Torah's. Those are the research notes of the world's first clinic for Zexuala, Genshaft and uh...

Yeah. Where, where, where, where, where, uh, where, uh, Magnus Hirschfeld, who was gay himself, uh, wanted to provide medical care to people who were trans, people who were, uh, who, who were various shades of queer. And that was, that's who's whose, that's whose books and who, that's who's books and who, papers, the Nazis burned first. And having moved on from them and the disabled, then they went after the Jewish population in Germany and the rest of Europe. It is always an incremental process that begins with a group where people will say, ah, it's just them. And of course, there's the Pastor

Neumoler thing about first they came for the trade unionists and the socialists and the communists. and I said nothing. Now is the time for people to speak up. And of course, you're talking to a radio community that is fully allied. I just got a note from our dear friend Jude out in the Great Northwest who said, it's positive and comforting hearing of Audie's comment in stepping out into the local community. I view individuals who are willing and actively present being of service to us. others as kindred spirits collectively were a tapestry of connecting threads that's i think that's

just lovely jude and thank you for that uh let's see in answer in in in answer to your question i got a note from darrell in houston who uh you know how did they get how did the maggots get this way um darrell says explanation of their obvious stupidity i know none of this is new to you roxanne you've mentioned them all before more and more. 1.30 years of propaganda from right-wing media. 2. So-called normal media, cowtowing and bending over backwards to not criticize the American fascist party so as not to look partisan.

Media self-censors themselves to please their corporate masters and keep their jobs. 3. Propaganda from Sunday cult leaders. 4. Unwillingness to consider facts preferring their self-comfiting beliefs. 5. Trained to distrust education or anything. anyone with more education than they have. So-called common sense is no basis for solving complex issues. Six, not only do they not understand history in order to be able to apply it to current events, they're completely ignorant of any real history.

And seven, unable to understand that many societal problems have no completely 100% effective solutions, especially with half of the people in government actively trying to undermine any possible success. these factors have created a bona fide 100% no kidding cult and i think that's the that's the take away word it's a cult and how do you break someone out of a cult well what i think of is um the you know called to personality um and every people needing um a hero or an existential hero of So there's been so much anger and insecurity and the decision. I think people are looking for a hero, and unfortunately they found in Tropa. There's a book I read titled Being There by Jersey Kaczynski.

Yes. And it's about a man who's a gardener, and he's a very simple man. And he runs into some big whigs, somebody who, governor and political infestors, these big people. And he's asked about the economy, and he just starts to talk about plants. But they interpret what he's saying as being that you have to wait on the right season for the economic growth. But all he was doing was talking about his garden. And finally, at the end, they're talking about having him run for president of the United States. Oh, I know.

If you've never seen the movie version of that, put it on your must watch list. It was probably the greatest performance that Peter Sellers ever gave. Shirley McLean is wonderful. I mean, just a cast of old-school Hollywood greats. And it's... Yeah. It's hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time. Yeah, I saw that.

Yeah, I saw it as a kid, and then I watched it again, maybe three times, and then read the book. I prefer to book first, but, yeah, it is a great film, and Peter, his last movie or one of his last, I think. I think it's one of his last. Yeah. I always heard that Peter Sellers is a problematic person. He always said he had no personality. He did, and it wasn't great, but it's said that not getting the Academy Award for his portrayal of Chauncey Gardner was the thing that broke his heart and just ended him. Because, you know, of all the brilliant performances he had, never could get an Academy Award out of any.

of them. But, you know. Yeah, it is sad when... Go ahead. He's, it is sad when there's town and it's not recognized and that's another problem in society. It's a long, long topic with, yeah, art, the way I'm very critical of art today versus I'm in a way old school with the art.

You know, I mean, I'm very critical of art. I mean, unfortunately, there was not enough diversity in it, but I think if I only there had been, it would have been so great. And it makes me mad when somebody now will say, I don't watch that, or I would have read that because, you know, it's got a gay character or a trans character. And one person said to me one day, I mean, I get that people are gay, but why do you have to put a gay person in the movie? And you know what I thought was, well, because there are gay people. Yeah, because they're gay people, queer people, trans people exist in everyday life. And for instance, I mean, I love it when someone says, well, I've never even seen a trans person. Yeah, you have.

Yeah, you have. Yeah, they didn't know. Yeah, they didn't know. They're thinking it's just going to be the image. that they saw from the Trump page or whatever Republican page of, and you know, they're going to use, they don't like to put fully transition people up as examples.

You know, they, they, they, yeah, the problem, like the guy, um,

the, um, the, uh, the, uh, had said on, um, your show that the,

the, the, the propaganda machine is one of the reason for this. So, yeah, I, I think that he's, he's,

he's absolutely right. And, and people have won today, hero. There's his hero worship of Trump like there was with Hitler. And so Carl Young, the psychologist, had been asked how Hitler became so powerful. And he said, because he had 70 million voices behind him. And the population of Germany was basically 70 million at the time. And I see it that way with Trump. That his power has been through just brainwashed people. And the propaganda machine has increased that. So what I wanted, I wanted to mention one of the things that concerns me most about trans

rights is the apparent decline, and really there are some statistics to back this up. There is a survey in all 50 states, and it included over 20,000 U.S. citizens and found that the 7 and 10 people aged, 7 and 10 people aged 18 to 29 support LGBTQ plus rights, but that's down from 8 out of 10. The 10% drop. And I personally noticed most people I went to school with and grew up with, well, talk to me now. Most of my friends are old enough to be my parents. So a lot of people have had some disagreements with this when I bring it up. And my boyfriend's over 60 years old.

I mean, most people in my life are older, but you hear a lot. The young people are more for LGBTQ plus rights. I think maybe that's true with the young females, but I think the young males are, I mean, based on my experience, and some research, they're less. They've been captured by the manosphere, which is another troubling, deeply troubling aspect of modern society. you know, the Andrew Tates and that weird little dude Nick Fuentes and little Benny Drywife Shapiro and Matt Dysphoria Beard Walsh. You know, he said that guy, Walsh said, and by the way, Shapiro and Walsh, if we were talking about Tennessee earlier, part of the reason that the Tennessee legislature is being as awful as it is is because Shapiro's operation, which employs Walsh is headquartered in Nashville.

In Nashville, yeah. But at one point, Walsh said he would rather his child die than be trans. What kind of monster are you to say something like that? Yeah, he's absolutely obsessed and capitalizing on hatred of trans people. And he called for parents of trans kids to be arrested. and I mean that that could have included my own mother. I did a hormonally transition starting about two years ago, but knew much before then. And that's the thing.

Yeah. Kids know who they are. And all of this baloney out there about rapid onset gender dysphoria, these are all creations of the transphobes and the bigots. I mean, and they like to say, well, you know, it goes away over time. Well, if it would have gone away, I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have transitioned, started my transition in 2020 at the age I was then. Yeah.

It doesn't go away. Yeah. My nearest and dearest sister that I went to high school with, Adi. And who, by the way, is now running for a seat in the Alabama legislature. I'm so proud of her I could bust. We stood on the sidelines at football practice in the Alabama August heat, and she knew who she was and I knew who I was, and neither of us breathed the word to the other.

Because it would have been death. It would have been death. Not at our own hands. We would have been found floating face down in the Tennessee River come morning. It was a dangerous time then. And I didn't want to be too personal in asking, you know, what the shape and nature of your journey was. So you got to start fairly young then. I did, yeah.

Well, 29. I medically, hormonally, I haven't had surgeries. I hormonally transitioned it starting in 29. And I am pleased with the, I mean, I don't want to say it's completely done, but I'm very close. And really, I think physically I'm where I won't to be. I just, I need to fix. My hair keeps getting tangled and I need to go to a beautician. But really in the last couple weeks or so, it's when I, maybe the last week, I've said, hey, I think I've finally made it.

And for many years, I wanted to transition. I started socially transitioning before hormonal transition. So around 27 to 28, I was already wearing makeup and going into public with it. And I would be, I'd be a little afraid, but sometimes, I hate to say it in a way, but sometimes I would have, you know, I would drink a little and get some nerve up. And, you know, I mean, it, but the thing is that... You mean some liquid courage, Adi? No, nobody's ever done that.

Yeah, I would not, I would not, I would make sure I would in to the store. I would force myself. And really, one thing I'm thankful for is that my mom would also encourage me to go in. And it wasn't so safe, but it was. and it's still not, but it was less safe for them probably. I mean, I had it, you know, it looked to people like a male wearing makeup. To them it looked like that, and I had taken hormones, but what was even less safe was to keep it all within for longer and have an internal apocalypse because it was going to end in,

it was going to end in something really bad. You know, the inner demons were going to win, and so I, would be destroyed that way so that was to me I saw it as if I hide this any longer I'm going to just die from hiding it so I might as well go out there in the world and grow it and live and live yes yeah and yeah and yeah yeah exactly I mean it's I'm happy much happier now and if people knew the journey and in and that it makes you happier and not just happier but a better person if you have gender dysphoria, there's a mental strain that comes with that, and it makes it harder to function and to be moral.

So, you know, there's the claim that trans people, trans women are so dangerous. What's really the opposite, what somebody transitions statistically and hormonally, they become more gentle-natured. I mean, for the most part, I have, and many people, people have the problems, the cisgender white guys, you know. I'm so concerned over the young people, particularly the young males. I mean, it's flabbergasting to me that almost every friend of mine, I have more friends now than I did then, but almost every friend of mine now is old enough to be my period. There are a few exceptions, but yeah, the young people, and we thought for so many

years that they would be more liberal in the 60s and 70s when you had those civil rights movements going on the young people were the liberals but now their grandparents are more liberal than than you know the grandparents of the youth today are more liberal than the youth and I mean I get to political functions I'm the youngest person there and I'm 31 now I would have sworn you were just by your photo I was I would have sworn you were 10 years younger but let me just say this. You now officially, you now officially have a Tranma,

if you want one. So, um, and, you, you, you are, you are,

you are, you are such an inspiration and such a, um, well, you're, you're, you're, you are among the hope of West Virginia's future.

And I hope you don't have to, because I know you've had this conversation inside your own, inside your own, inside your own, inside your own head and probably with those you care about, how will you know that it's time to flee? Because one of the biggest problems, and, you know, I've been around for a little bit and you talk about dealing with gender dysphoria, it is not great to deal with it for like

four decades. I mean, my earliest memory goes back to age five. I mean, it's profound. But I know I do, well, basically it coincides with the West Virginia legislature coming back into session. But going all the way back into the late 70s and into the 80s, the social scientists were telling us that West Virginia, Appalachia, but particularly West Virginia, had what was called what was called a brain drain problem. the young people who could grew up, got out of school,

and as quickly as they could left this state. And we're talking cis people. Yeah. You know, not just queer people, trans people, LGBTQ. We're talking about cis people too. Left the state. And so, you know, what I,

and again, we were warned about this in the 70s and 80s. And the state did nothing to try to optimize the future for its young and talented. And the young and talented of the late 70s are my age now. Okay. And so that brain drain, well, I refer to the West Virginia legislature now. I saw Mike Pushkin refers to it as the bad idea factory that. was cute. I refer to it as the as the maggot brain drain legislature. This is what two or three generations of brain drain in the state gets you to. You get the West Virginia legislature.

You get a governor who is an actual pill-pushing dope dealer for big pharma as the governor of the state and people sit around now and go, yay, praise Jesus. And they sit down and turn and pass these hoar and contemplate and sometimes pass these horrid bills that we've discussed. And like I said, every year when the legislature sits down, I ask myself, is this the time when, is this the year? Am I going to have to flee? Am I going to have to pack up whatever I can in my car and go? somewhere safe at him there is nowhere that is safe in this country there are places that are better but not necessarily safer um yeah and go somewhere and just be homeless until i die but at least not

have laws passed against my existence and it's it's terrifying to it's terrifying to contemplate and i'm just wondering if you think about the same sort of thing i you know trying to transition uh socially that crossed my mind a lot, that it would be better elsewhere. At least I, there are people I have known in the community that helped a little, but the laws do keep coming, anti-trans laws, and I'd like to be at a place where there is more opportunity and deceptance. And like I said, even though there are a lot of people or friends, the people I went to school with grew up with, almost none of them will even talk to me now.

And there are some people in the stores I knew before to transition, and you can tell they act a little funny now. So what I decided is it might sound odd, but I, you know, I decided I'm just going to fight it as much as I can here. And if it gets bad enough, I'll probably leave. But one day I just was thinking that I can't be selfish anymore and have to start standing up. And I say this is a great place to do it at. But it causes issues, of course.

And once people know that you know business to make change, then they come out. you about it. You know, as long as I've got two followers, it doesn't matter about what's it grows. And I've grown things, you know, and some people start to get, they start to get pissed off. And what we have here that is very harmful to my odds in the election are the affluential cliques of the establishment that will, and they're not all necessarily in politics. It's a mix. And some are just community members. And they'll, You know, they're wanting to keep the establishment in. And, of course, there are people who will say something about a trans woman getting in.

And, you know, I went to any fit, meet the judge as he fit. The next he fit was great, and I even spoke at it. It was a nice he fit. But the one before that was it was hosted by the Democrats, but there were people on both sides there. but, you know, there is a guy who had been a Democrat here, and he's somebody who's in one of these cliques, and who just really intimidates people and decides what's going to come to town and what's not. And I notice, you know, I'm there, and I clearly do not, I do not look now, and in public I even, I worked a voice. and but he said, you know, I come up and everyone's shaking hands and he said, hey, hey, buddy, hey man, how are he doing?

And I mean, buddy and man in the same sentence. And the thing is that this guy was a Democrat. Yeah, I know. I know. I'm technically a Democratic. Yeah. I bet I know who you're talking about too. Probably.

You know, my dad taught me that Buddy had a very limited use. And people would call him, you know, with the local, hey, Betty. And my dad was kind of persnickety about it because he said, the only person I've ever called buddy and the only person I've ever told was ever told to call buddy was somebody that I mined coal with. Because you have to have a buddy down in the mine. And I saw him from time to time. somebody he barely knew would say how you doing biddy and he would respond

I'm not your buddy I never mind Cole with you and yeah yeah I find buddy in my own life I have used that I'm not your buddy

I never mind Cole with you yeah I'm going to probably use that one too now yeah help yourself in good health yeah yeah I never like, even before transition, I never liked being called Buddy.

So it's, you know, even words afterward. Yeah, it came across, it always came across with a condescending word. There are many, many better options, and then Buddy and Man in the same sentence. And, you know, so I think, you know, it's really something that someone of the Democrat in 2026 is that way. and I but the next if it was just fine and and that person wasn't there and it was more of a of a Democratic fit because yeah the other one was hosted by Democrats but the the judges election is nonpartisan yeah and I you know there's so much fuss about the signs the the judge's signs in this election and somebody's to always sign and there is drama online before and

that about someone said it's fine to be put somewhere and then they said it could it be. And I just thought, you know, what if they were actually talking about how to help the community and to bring in jobs? And it's just, it really bothers me that they spend all of their time on the internal politics instead of, I mean, I'm a progressive. So, I mean, like most progressives, you know, I'm more focused on the actual change. And one thing that, I mean, there's some positive parts to the election for me and others that are negative. But one positive is that I'm not fake. A lot of people know that I'm not fake and not corrupt and about making real changes in the community.

But yeah, the transphobia is still pretty bad in Fayette County. It's worse in Raleigh, and I take most of Southern West Virginia. I don't know what you think. Do you think that it's, you think it's not as bad in Fayette County as it is in Raleigh and neighboring counties? I've had a remarkably, and this is going, maybe this is privilege. I don't know. I've had a remarkably positive experience for the most part. I go and do as I please and I get, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, thank you, ma'am, everywhere I go.

But that's also because I'm older, and older women become invisible in society. it might be entirely different if I was younger. Micah just wrote in a few moments ago, Adi, and I should note, and I don't think she minds, she's been a part of this community for the better part of its entire existence, and that's going on 22 years now. It was shortly after I came out on this program that she sent me a note. hadn't heard from her for a while and said you know hey it's dead name we might have more in

common than you think and you know simpleton me writes back and goes what and she said I'm trans too and I went oh and another sister yay and there are sisters in this community who when I did come out were like welcome home welcome home sis and I could name check people but it it would be unfair because

everybody has been so accepting and so wonderful Micah just said isn't it amazing how we all have the same freaking story over and over again all over the place all over the world and that's true and that goes to the authenticity the experience.

You know, it's like, and I'm not comparing being trans with a communicable disease, but the symptoms of chicken pox are the same among just about everybody who's had chicken pox. And we have a common experience. You're describing things that happened to you in this century that were happening to me two decades before in the last. and it was you know it yeah it was gonna you know it it was gonna you know i white-knuckled it because i felt like i had to i you know you and this isn't a you know you young whippersnapper get off on my lawn uh but when you know when i was when i was in my teen years and the same

thing applies to my friend down in alabama you know we've talked about it and we don't really get to regret the life that we didn't get to lead because adolescent transition was all but impossible. And so we knew we could never be what we were, who we were. So we white knuckled and we soldiered and took a horrible toll. And in the struggle for the rights of trans adolescents, I don't want, I don't. don't want other, I don't want other trans people to go through what she and I went through. Because it was hell. It was hell. And, you know, you find your coping mechanisms. Mine was among other things, theater, performance, broadcasting. And it allowed me to take on

another persona. And that was, you know, that provided a little bit of, well, you know, relief. And I got a note to share with it. People, people are listening to you, Adi, and they're glad to be meeting you and hearing from you. Michael out in Iowa said, yep, we talk about the same. Me and TJ have had the same conversation. Where will we go if we have to flee? And to the best of my knowledge, Michael and T.J. are a gay couple, not trans. that conversation is taking place in more than just the trans community. Where will we go if we have to flee? I honestly don't know, but part of me doesn't want to flee, but stay and fight. But then I look at my fur babies and, like, I have to do what I can to save them and do what I can for them. Even though they're cats, they're my babies, I even thought about how hard would it be to add a hidden basement on a house without anyone knowing? But you can't, you know, Michael, you can't Anne Frank your way through life.

You know, that her own story tells us that. This is... Yeah, it's... No, please, continue. Need question. When to sleep? I, you know, I had to dig in and really just decide I'm going to fight the good fight and for as long as possible.

I'm sure there are people who have so many odd ideas about what I'm doing and, you know, I just imagine. can imagine some people who think somebody's making, making that person do that, you know, and just, you know, there's so many crazy ideas people get about the trans people and are doing anything normal and then beyond normal, like, the election, but it was totally my decision to, it was a last-minute decision. A couple people mentioned, hey, have you thought of running again? and I finally decided to, but what threw me over to just keep fighting it was, you know, I saw what was happening to the world and had become selfish. I was being selfish, self-centered, and it mad at a lot of people and just, you know, had these bad emotions going on, and I saw that that was what led us to the situation.

and I will to be as much of the opposite as possible. And I know that if I don't fight it, who will? And does it make me a coward if I just hide when they're taking away my rights? And if we do fight it, you know, we can make a difference. If we don't, it'll get worse. But even if it gets, it might get worse anyway. Every time we put up a new blessing box, they've already cut more poverty. and every time I talk to a few people and convince some trans people are okay, they've already passed more anti-trans legislation.

But I just have to stand by my convictions to the end. I get it because that's pretty much where I am. I'll stand and fight until I can fight no more. But there is a break point out there. If they ever pass a law that makes it a felony for me to exist, I have no choice. because because there are people that there are people I care about you know I have a family I have kids and I can't put them at risk for me so you know I've been exploring opportunities excuse me I've been exploring opportunities for years and the the two places that I've kind of figured on for places to land are Illinois and New Mexico Illinois is closer and could be more

trans-friendly but I at least have some family in New Mexico and friends here from the community. So I hope it doesn't... That's a big help. I hope it doesn't come to that though. But this is... I have taken more time than you kindly offered up and I hope I haven't put you in a bind

by keeping you on as long as I have. I hope we will have. Oh, you have not. I hope we'll have more conversations. Go ahead. Yeah. I've definitely enjoyed talking. It's the first time on the radio for me.

Yeah, I used to, I think I was mentioned it, I used to be a co-host on a podcast some years ago. And I'm taught we're allies, so it makes it even better that, you know, there's no enemy on other end of this line you know and and not a not a moderate either we're on the same page and oh absolutely it much more enjoy yeah it's not all the time that well that either of us I'm sure can can have have these conversations some I certainly would would like to be back on your show anytime the door is the door is always open you don't even need an invite you can just call in and say hey this is on my mind, you know, don't, you know, don't, don't, yeah, I mean, this is, we call what we do

here conversation radio, because you'll notice we haven't broken for commercial. And, you know, it's been my theory over the years that you can't get much in the way of information processing if you're constantly interrupted by commercials or if it's three minutes of, well, I used to do my bad rush Limbaugh impression and yeah that's enough about you let's talk about me and then you know you never hear from the caller again and unfortunately that's the model in commercial radio whether it be terrestrial or internet based and I just find it unhelpful so these are the kinds of conversations that we have here adi and you are more than welcome anytime and frankly at some point in time we should probably sit down and have a

cup of coffee or lunch or you know brainstorm a little bit about about some of the work that you're doing there if i can help you know i will i like to be involved in my community it it it matters a lot to me because what i tried to count at some point like nine generations of people have been, well, I'm in the ninth generation, the 10th and the 11th, they're already on the ground of young Appalachians. Well, did you say it's amazing what you went through in the early days when it was so much harder to transition. And I think of that when sometimes there is doubt of just fear, there is discouragement.

and my sake, well, you know, what people had to go through in the days of Stonewall and also after that, well, if they could go through that, I can go through this now. Exactly. That's a perfect encapsulation, Adi. And I wish you just the very best of luck. I'm so glad you've reached out to me, and I'm so glad we found time to carry on this conversation. I dare say it could probably go on for a couple more hours, but we will we will extend that over a series of conversations, I hope, going into the future. Yeah, I like the conversation style. Yeah, it's not robotic at all.

It's natural the right way. Yeah, it's organic. And it makes it, well, it's not like talking. to a neighbor. You are my neighbor. Yes. Down there in Fayette County, but, you know, West Virginia as a whole, we're right neighborly. I don't know. I presume, I presume somewhere along the way you've seen Nate Juan. Yeah, fake memory of it. Yeah, the movie about the Mine Wars 1920. I watch it.

Oh. I watch it every few months or so when I need a, you know, when I need a reminder that the fight is worth it. But the... Yes, Blair Mountain Uprising. Right. Well, what happened at Maitwan led to Blair Mountain. And there's a line in the film. John Sayles, of course, wrote it and directed it.

But the narrator of the film, who was a boy at the time of the movie, and is narrating as an adult says all we got in common is our misery Joe Keeney Hand used to say the least we can do is share it and that just that just sticks in my mind so my grandma came from a coal mining community I'm in Fayette County no excuse me Beckley it was actually Beckley and very close And as you know, everything went back into the coal mining communities. So they monopolized all the profit and everything. And then the uprising that happened, well, you know, those were workers and union people. They were mad and rose up. But today, it's so hard to see that happening again. But, yeah, just think of people in the past, they seemed to have more grit and more, they were more against authoritarianism, I suppose.

That would probably be a good conversation next time. Absolutely. And you know what would be kind of cool is, and I think this year is like the 50th anniversary of the film, it would be awesome to screen mate one at the historic Fayette Theater. Or to have screens over it all over the state. Just to remind people where they come from. I've seen signs over the past few months. I saw one that said, your great-great-granddaddy didn't march on Blair Mountain for you to lick boots. Yeah, I think I saw a meme of that online.

That's a great idea to have the showing at the historic fan theater. I used to know the owner of it. Not sure now, but I'll probably reach out to somebody and see if they could get that done or if I could get it done. I think that would be a great evening. Yes, yeah. I'll see if I – I'll think about who to contact. And there's, of course, the amphitheater, I don't – well, yeah, they show movies, the one in O'Keele. the Okoea Epitheater on Main Street.

I don't know how often. It used to be every Saturday. Usually it's music, though, but they've had movie nights. So I think that, you know, with the weather, I don't think they've been having them lately, but they're probably about to start again. So, yeah, that could open up more people's eyes and minds about the importance of unionization and the oppression from the corporations and the contributions. and the concentration of ownership that was the concentration of ownership that was going on with the coal companies that we're seeing now with the big corporations.

Yeah, the history is really a liberal's guide. You know, that's why I think that the Republicans hate history. They will erase history. Of course, it can't be erased completely, but they're doing what they can. We'll distort it. But there will always, history still happen the way it happened. And so they ultimately fell to erase the history. But if people can look at the history, they will see that really it shows it's an argument for liberalism more than conservatism.

Certainly, certainly. Well, history has – what's the saying? History has a notable liberal bias. By the way, Jude wrote in again and said, For me, there is an unfolding, a connecting sense as I listen to you and Audie engage in dialogue. This shall be my bedtime story as I drift off into that ether of sleep. Can't fully express, Robin, but I know the ground of being with like-minded, wonderful, and diverse souls, evolving kindred spirits.

Thank you, Jude. Jude is the Horn spiritual advisor. So thank you for that. Oh, wow. She's amazing. She'll be at No Kings out in the Great Northwest this Saturday. Are you going to attend a No Kings event, Adi? I'm planning to attend the one at the Fayette Field Courthouse.

It will be in two days, the 28th of March. There is going to be one in Bluefield, one in Lewisburg, the biggest one in the States in Charleston, and I think one or two other locations. There's one in Beckley, too, isn't there? Oh, I think so. Yeah, I think that's one of the other. I think there were two more. Have a list somewhere online. It surprised me that, yeah, Morgan Town's probably one of the most literally one of the most literally.

liberal parts of the state. Yeah, that, Huntington, there's a, there's a, you know, both of those are universities, university cities, of course. It always amazes no one in any of these things, yeah, when these things come up, there's, there's never been a no-king's protest in Parkersburg that I'm aware of. They tend to take place across, across West Virginia's river in Moret, Ohio. But, well, hey, I may see you in Fayetteville on Saturday. What time is it? Yeah, at 12, I think it starts at 12 in the morning.

I need to double check, but I'm thinking it's 12. There is a No King's website online, and it should show all the EFITs. It shows a map of America in circles for each one of EFITs. There are tons and tons of them. So the whole map's covered in circles, so you can't really see the states under them. Well, there were five million. Yeah, there were five million at the last one. I would not be surprised if the total is twice that for this one now that we've got a spiffy, new, illegal, stupid, bloodthirsty war to factor in.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's another great topic to discuss next time. The war is, oh, it's just so, oh, it's emotionally harmful for me to look at it. I mean, it's just really, it's the final straw I see is if somebody still supports Trump. I have trouble being friends with anyone who supports Trump at this point, you know, to be for, so to money.

These people were saying, oh, well, you know, we, people have all this, these money for programs. They don't need that much. So what do they say Trump and the billionaires were going to do with that money? They're using that money cutting your programs to start wars. It's extremely expensive. The wars are starting. So the money that they cut out of stuff that should have been cut anyway is being used for pure evil.

It's, yeah, the conflict there is devastating. I mean, it's devastating to people here, but they don't know it enough. It's obviously devastating to Iranians, but the people here, if things escalating enough, they'll finally realize, you know, that, you know, this is because it's not Venezuela again, it's, you know, this is, they have a good-sized military, and they have some big, big allies, such as Russia, and it's already escalated a lot. Yeah, I think we just have a war, a bully, and so a bullies in the White House, he's a warmonger, and he gets off on it.

I think he gets off on it like playing call of dutting and blow up a building, and other people, too, but, but, yeah, it's just a monster. I mean, you know, I even have, I was watching the movie they live about the aliens, come to Earth and they're shape-shifting aliens and they're running the world and running leave the country or the whole world and and I you know I thought is that what Trump is because how can someone like that even be a human? Yeah lizard people. Absolutely. Yeah. Well I may see you I may see you Saturday and we will definitely talk more. I wish you the very best. Have a wonderful evening. And, you know, the people who have, the community hearing you this evening,

well, you're an inspiration and your activism, your refusal to turn away or look away, speaks volumes about your character, Audie. And I'm so glad to get to know you. Very glad to know you too. And I look forward to coming back on your show. Thank you very much for having me on here. Absolutely a pleasure. You take care and have a good evening. Bye. Okay, you too. And hopefully I'll see you at the No Kings Rally. All right. I'll be looking for you. Bye. Bye. That is a young, to me, a young activist from Fayette County, Audie Lee, she has taken it upon herself to, among other things, set up blessing boxes to help feed and not just food, but help feed and provide for people in the county where she and I live who need that help.

Nobody told her to do it. She saw the need and she acted. Fantastic conversation. Thank you again, Adi. I should note that we've got $95 remaining on Charlie's at APS Radio News, Charlie's challenge, if we could wipe that out in the next few minutes, that would be fantastic. And it would get us down to 2610 to finish the month of March, fully funded. It's a tall order, but there have been miracles in the past. Check in here to see if there's anything just to sort of wrap up the program. Well, you know, Adi and I talked a little bit about AI, and you can't help wondering if this is a case of goons over at the maggot DOJ getting caught using it.

When you practice law, it's generally a good idea to check your sources. and so a federal judge in Minnesota yesterday today absolutely opened up a ginormous institutional-sized can of whoop-ass on pettifoggers from the DOJ and

U.S. District Judge Nancy Brazel wrote a 69 page preliminary injunction against the ice goons detention practices at what's the notorious whipple federal building and told them the DOJ to immediately restore the rights of detainees to their lawyers to phone calls and to legal materials. But it wasn't just that that was noteworthy. in their opposition to the preliminary injunction, by the way, Ralph says, make me pay, Ralph's, yours got met.

We're working on Charlie's, the remainder of Charlie's challenge now. Charlene and Rogue's Island knocked out your challenge and $25 of Charlie's in one fell swoop. Thank you, Ralph's. So that's $95 remaining on Charles. Charlie's challenge if you want to help out. It would be, it's much needed. But here's the thing, going back to the legal story, the ice goons, law, pedigoggers cited a case called planned parenthood versus rounds. And they cited it saying that rounds stood for the proposition that mandatory injunctions are particularly disfavored, that's in quotes, and plaintiffs have

to meet quote a heavy and compelling weight of evidence standard of proof and burden burden of proof there's only one there's there's only one problem that proposition does not exist in that case at all even a little bit um and it also doesn't appear in any eight the united State Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Judge Brazel could find. She wrote, Neither of these quotes appear in Planned Parenthood, nor in any Eighth Circuit case, and the court has found that addresses injunctions. Even under the most charitable of readings, Planned Parenthood cannot possibly stand for such a proposition. The case discusses the heightened burden that applies to enjoining state statutes and does not involve mandatory injunctions at all.

That's humiliating. and Aaron Reiklin Melnick, who's the senior fellow at the American Immigration Council on Blue Sky, said, The collapse of the DOJ continues, suggestions that they use chat GPT or another LLM to research, write a legal brief in a case involving conditions in ice confinement at the Whipple building in Minneapolis. You know, there's a, speaking of compelling, there's a compelling argument that that is a fraud practiced upon the court that could very easily, be actionable by the court. Mr. Reiklin Milnick also said, also worth reading here, the judge found the ice witness completely unreliable, finding that her declarations were

contradictory, and she gave inconsistent answers on the stand, and even says the way she testified, made her seem even less credible. Oh, your honor, I'm glad you call them out. But might you be troubled and troubled, might might might might might the republic trouble you to refer those petty foggers to the local bar you know disciplinary committee pretty please and impose some ginormous sanctions so that maybe they will learn through their wallets that you do not use chat gpt to write your legal

briefs good god one of these days they're going to use chat gpt one of these days they're going to use chat gpt one of these DOJ petty foggers. And they're going to cite, they're going to favorably cite Dred Scott. Mark my words. Mark my words. 26th day of March, 2026.

One of these days, a DOJ law, you're using Chat GPT or some other LLM will positively cite to Dred Scott. And if the goddess of irony is feeling particularly frisky,

they'll cite. to the majority opinion in Plessy too. Anyway, that's the program, y'all. Thanks so much for joining in in whatever manner you choose. Well, that's true, Micah. Micah says they'd have to be capable of shame to be

humiliated. Yeah, that's always a thing that's there. But yeah, thanks everybody. And thanks to our a la carte, our challenge makers. Thank you Ralphs. Thank you, Charlene. Thank you, Charlie. Thanks to our

challenge respondents, a la carte contributors, PayPal subscribers, Patreon subscribers, Venmo, Cash App, United States Postal Service over the weekend

I'll try to swing by the post office and see if there's anything there. So if you're waiting for me to acknowledge that, I'll try to do that this weekend. Thank you. Thanks to all volunteer staff. Thank you to Roger in the chat room. A reminder, the old chat room goes away on April the 1st.

And then it will be replaced by the head-on. Dot live version of the old holler tree. So Sylvie, I see. sent your information to ASA, you will be approved internally, and hopefully you'll be able to access Discord. Fingers crossed. Thanks to our NewsNinjas. Thank you, Micah, for the show post at Blue Sky.

Thank you. At head on. Dot Live is our blue sky handle. Jump in and follow, and the starter pack is in the world. I'm not I'm not sure if she if Micah has published it yet thank you brother deacon asa head on dot live keeping all the packets passing and the stream streaming at head on dot live and making the podcast available across multiple platforms thank you for all you do camel cardinal and of course the camel cardinal very much likes it when he sees reviews remarks comments on the podcast because it raises our visibility and means that maybe we'll meet new friends, like Audi this evening. Thanks, Emily, for the intro.

Thanks to the hardest working, bravest people. I know the folks at Coal River Mountain Watch, CRMW.net, over a quarter century at the forefront of the struggle for human rights and environmental justice in Appalachia and a proud union shop. Please stay safe. It's a dangerous world out there. And if Mercedes Schlapp, who certainly isn't slapping with her hubby Matt, comes towards you saying you didn't booed joe biden what's wrong with you will avoid her like the plague

because she is and always always always Wayne and Gina it's all for you later