Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The Mass Shooting Cycle and the Dwight Howard Allegation

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay react to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine (16:28), before discussing the new Speaker of the House (26:55) and former NBA All-Star Dwight Howard being accused of sexually assaulting a man (38:36). Later, the new Britney Spears memoir tells a cringey Justin Timberlake story, fo shiz, fo shiz (44:41), and a list of “bad” first date locations is debated (_:_). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Higher learning is on. It is I, Van Lathian, Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You okay, Van?

You good? I'm good. Happy Thursday. Happy Thursday. We're in person. Yeah, we're in person. Y'all like when we do it in person. We like when we do it in person.

Jesus Christ. What is? It's weird. Why is that weird? Weird the way you play it. Like, when we do the podcast. Why does everything have to be like that for you? Like, for example.

In our group chat, I said, unless it's huge. I said this, I gave this whole spiel about how to do things on the podcast. And the only thing Van responds to is when I say, unless it's huge. You're such a child. This is what we're saying. We like you when we do it in person. So she said all of this other stuff. And then on a separate message, she said, unless it's huge.

And I went, Ayo, because that's an Ayo. I'm just in that mode now. It's something stupid. It's chop. It's just whatever. Yeah, I'm a little fired up because we're getting jerked around. Sick of it. Okay.

I guess we're going to continue with the innuendos. No, I'm just, I'm sick of getting jerked around. We'll leave it there. Our Reddit is hot right now. Reddit's hot. Reddit's always hot. Reddit's upset. Mm-hmm.

Not a dust, though. Shouldn't be upset about anybody. You do things for people. It's not that big of a deal. you want to look out for people. You want to, you always want to. It is a big deal.

No, it's people first on higher learn. It is people first until the people play you. You feel like we were played? A hundred percent. How will we play? Well, you're right. It is people first. Obviously, this is about the interview we didn't hear.

It is people first on higher learning. It's people first on higher learning. And we respect that, which is why we did something out of the ordinary, as in we want you to feel comfortable. We understand that this is a sensitive topic. We want to respect your emotional state and how you're feeling.

So we're going to give you, the freedom to decide what you want or don't want in this podcast, never thinking that that would turn out to be, don't air any of it. But still, even after listening to the reason as to why you don't want the podcast aired, I respect that. And it's like, I don't want to contribute to anybody's tearing down their emotional state. People first. People first. Emotions first. So when I then see that, oh, but you did go out to a publication and talk about it, then it makes everything that you said null and void. Did you read the People article?

I read some of it. The People article. It didn't matter. But go ahead. Actually, what am I saying? I totally read the People article. Yes. You read the People article wasn't about a lot of the stuff that we would have talked about here on the situation.

Okay. And to be fair, we said you can remove those things. We were willing to put out an altered version of the podcast. We were willing to remove things that you. you did not want in the podcast. I feel like she came off very well and took the high road, which even in the interview, I commend her on. I said, I don't think that I could do it in the way that you're doing it. I thought it was a great interview for young women.

We talked about the letter that she did. I thought it was powerful for her to be vulnerable enough to talk about her mental state and how it's affecting her. And there was a lot of good that it could have come from that podcast, minus the Travis Taylor of it all. Yeah. So the fact, and we gave her the option to just have, that type of podcast and the fact that none of it could go out,

but you can do an interview with people. And we would have had your back. You know what I'm saying? That's why we gave you the interview so you could take it out. They were not going to have your back. It's people. They're going to look for the headline to generate more views to the article. The headline isn't going to be, you know, you're starting this new podcast or, you know,

or a love letter to black women. The headline is going to be Taylor and Travis or Brittany Mahomes. So, yeah, I do feel played because you didn't give us the opportunity that you gave People Magazine. And let me just say this wasn't a moment to like harp on anybody. It's just a lot of people reached out, friends, thought warriors, whatever, about like, hey, why did y'all have to remove this article if this is going around? Because it is getting a lot of track. It's a little embarrassing.

That's the word. Because what you said at the top of last podcast was like really nice, really sweet. And listen, it's a lesson learned. Yeah. Maybe we shouldn't give that much freedom. Or maybe, you know, we set parameters when we start an interview. I don't know. Hey, we're still growing.

We're still growing. We're still growing. Moving on up. But that was me going medium. That was you going. Because I don't go high. You don't go high? This is what Michelle Obama talks about.

Go high. You go medium. I went medium. I could have gone low. I didn't go. We could have gone low. We could have played it. It's not go low.

We're going to go low. We don't go low. It's our friend. I don't go low. No, we did go low. No, we did go low. So it's just like, you know, we still. We tried high.

We got played. So I'm a media. We tried. Okay. What do you got going on for the weekend? Ooh, well, it's Halloween. It's the weekend before Halloween. So a couple of parties going on.

A couple of costumes. I'm not thrilled with my costume. I don't know how the other one's going to work. I don't want to say. Okay. But I don't know how it's going to work. I don't try it on because I had to buy everything last minute in pieces. So we'll see if it makes sense when I put it all together. Yeah, yeah. One's easy. It's like basic. But the other one, I don't know. We'll see. What about you? So that's pretty much it this weekend. Boom. We got the Ring ofverse Live show coming up on Tuesday. Are you guys fucking excited?

Didn't even know about it. Do I work here? The ringerverse live show that's coming up on Tuesday. Where? Terragram Ballroom downtown. Sold out? Sold the fuck out. Yovins.

It's on Monday. We got the Ringerverse Live show coming on Monday. I hope you show up on Tuesday. Sold out. Names nobody's there. We got the Reader's live show coming up on Monday. Boom. Terragram Ballroom.

Downtown. What time? Seven. Seven o'clock. Okay. So we're all getting together as a ringer-vers crew. Everybody's going to be here?

Even Charles? Everyone's here. Charles is coming in. Everyone's here. I think Charles might be getting in this weekend at some point. It might be a Charles and Van Poo-Poo-Poo weekend. So, yeah, it's a lot of fun.

First one? First Ring of Verse Live show. Oh, that's a big deal. First Ring-a-V-V-Lash show. It's Monday. And, yeah, I'm dressing up. I'm going as a dark Jedi. Yeah.

Well, I was going to ask. So this is like a Comic-Con kind of thing. The audience will come dressed up? Audience can't come dressed up. Why? Security concerns. Really? No, look at all that.

Is that your rule or is that literally the rule for it? It's the rule. Couldn't let them come dressed up. Don't know what's going to happen. Security concerns. But you guys are. We're dressed up. Well, that's exciting.

It's going to be very exciting. I'll go, but I'll be confused. Confused about what? Everything. I don't know. I don't understand what you guys talk about. Name five characters from Star Wars. Oh.

Okay, wait. Not Star Trek, Star Wars. I've made that mistake publicly before. Okay. Five characters. Yoda. One. Darth Vader.

Two. Luke Skywalker. Three. Princess Leia. Four. Raja Banks. Jar Jar Banks. That counts five.

What if you're not given her a death of a tour. Five. That's fine. I would bring it back. Rajabinx. That's what I made up, but it's Jar Jar, right? But I bet you can name more. Keep going.

Pedro Pascal. Let's see. A Star Trooper? No. A Storm Trooper is a character from Star Wars. I'm going to give you that. Okay. Okay.

Six. Okay. Can you get to 10? There's some big ones out there. Okay. Gosh, I've done these interviews. See, I know they're real names and not their character names. Okay, what's that, what's that bear-looking thing?

E-Walks? I'm going to give you E-Walks. They're Star Wars, right? There's Star Wars. I'm going to give you that seven. Okay. Obi-1. Oh, my God.

Canobi? That's eight. You are so close to doubling what I thought you could do. Maybe I will come. Let's go. Okay. Star Wars. I'm trying to, like, think.

I feel like I'm out. No. Aren't there only eight people? No. No, nigga. Continue to try. Okay, there's two more. There's one big one.

There's another machine. Okay, wait. I feel like I got the big ones. Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker. Think about the machines. Think about the machines. R2D2. Boom, nine.

You said there's a big one I'm missing? Yeah, it's a pretty big one that you're missing. But I'm not even going to fucking... Is it an animal or a person? It's a person. It's a pretty big one you haven't named. It's a pretty big one. pretty big one.

Man or woman? It's a man. Really? Pretty big, yeah, pretty big, pretty big character, pretty big actor. Everyone's shaking their head. It's pretty big one you have a name. Who plays him in real life?

I can't do that. Is it Chris Pine? No. No, he's in Star Trek. That's the mistake I made. That's the mistake I made publicly. And I did it again. It's a pretty big one.

By the way, this is one of your shining moments, Rachel. You are fucking killing it. But I'm failing it because I can't get into it. Is he black? Fuck no. I mean, there's a black one that you, that you missed as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, who is, who does Carl play?

Is that the same? Carl. In real life? Who's Carl. Okay. You just make it? Carl Weathers. Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, Don't make me look stupid. Okay, Carl plays, he plays grief cargo. Oh, I would never. But that's, but that's not. I don't think I can get to. I'm, I don't think I can get to it. Now, I'm not going to accept it. I don't think I can get to it.

It's like now. It's a person. It's a big actor in Star Wars. Now I'm not going to accept it. It's a huge one from the first movies. From the first movie. Oh, come on. I'm not going to remember those.

From the 70s? You know who this is. Can you give me a first letter? No. You know who this is. You named Luke Skywalker. Yeah, Darth Vader. And then you named the girl as well.

Didn't she named Princess Leia? Yeah, I did. Think about it. To me. Somebody else that be with them. I only know Darth Vader. Leah. I think you're giving me too much credit.

Who is the under? the person that be hanging with them. I think you're giving me too much credit. I have no idea who that person is. I don't know who that person is. You don't know who Han Solo is? Oh, I thought that, okay. Here it goes up to take away everything that I just did.

I thought Han Solo was another name for Luke Skywalker. I thought that was a nickname. I thought it's, you know, like Luke Skywalker, aka Han Solo, I never would have the guest mess. What, you got too excited. You should have left me at five. You got too excited. This is...

Who plays Han Solo? Harrison. Harrison Ford. Okay, I thought he played Luke Skywalker. So see what I'm saying? See what I'm saying? This is such a microcosm for how life is right now. You realize I've never seen a Star Wars movie.

So the fact that I could do that, it's only because I've done Mandalorian interviews. It's both. The armor? I should have said the armor. That would have worked. That's what I should have said. That would have worked. The fact that you know who that is.

Because I've done Mandalorian interviews. This is both like super impressive and deeply disappointed at the same time, which is basically how life is right now. It's both all of these amazing things are happening, but then all of these deeply, deeply depressing things are happening at the same time. St. Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo with the same person, did you? Luke Skywalker, aka Han Solo. Why would that be, though?

I just thought he had, don't act like people don't have nicknames. It doesn't Yoda have multiple names? No, he doesn't. In The Mandalorian, doesn't he have multiple names? Or that baby Yoda is not really a Yoda, but it has multiple names. Okay. So doesn't baby, tell me, baby Yoda has another name. Rogo.

I'm not crazy. So, so, wait, so wait, wait, wait. These are logical statements that I make it. So here's the only thing. And you got mad about that because I was right. Wait, he never gets called baby Yoda in the show. I know. He gets called the child in the show.

AKA Grogu, aka Baby Yoda. Come on. Come on. All right. Okay. Speaking of Titanic characters and franchises from the 70s, we have to bid goodbye to someone,

Pioneer in the Trailblazer. The first black action hero, Richard Roundtree, played Shaft. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer some time ago and died in his LA home on Tuesday. What can you say? Gordon Parks directed Shaft, 1971. He was 28.

It was his first movie. And, you know, that character, a singular black hero on screen. and what it led to Shaft in Africa, Shaft's big score. It was such a groundbreaking and trailblazing moment for the African-American leading man or black movies, period. It was a black cultural moment. It wasn't just about the movie.

It was about the soundtrack. It was about the feel. It was about the cool. It was about everything. The impact that Richard Roundtree that that character had cannot be understated. You know, they've made Shaft movies on up to, like a couple years ago, Samuel Jackson's played Shaft. You know, there's Jesse T. Usher has played Shaft.

So different versions of the characters, shall I say. So, you know, a life well lived, and you really can't underscore, like, what that movie meant and what it meant to black cinema and cinema all over the place, you know? Well, you even saw it in pop culture, you know, even if you didn't, you know, this movie came out in the 70s and you weren't aware who Shaft was. You saw it in popular culture like, because Richard Roundtree had a career that expanded, I mean, 50 years. Yeah. 50 plus years.

Uh, over 50 plus years. Fresh Prince. Remember how big of a deal. Will Smith, they had a Shaft wedding. Isaac Hayes was officiating it. So you had the music. He's, you know, you couldn't talk about Shaft without him getting super excited. So you just saw the impact of it.

And what I thought was cool is because he was such a lover of Shaft, Richard Roundtree played not one, but two, different characters throughout the seasons on Fresh Prince. One of the funniest episodes, I think, was when he played Dr. Mumford and he had to come, and Will Smith was Kip Smithers. Yeah, no, it's a huge loss. You described him as a Titan, a legend. And I think it always, we've said this before on the podcast about our, you know, our legends are getting older.

But it still comes at a surprise because we didn't even know he was sick. Yeah. You know? Yeah. We didn't even know. And in addition to Shaft, an amazing 50-year career, movies like Seven, what men want, with Taraji P. Henson, and he was also all over television. So rest and peace, Richard Granchin.

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The playoffs are here and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Bandul Predict. Predict the spread, total points, and even the game winner. Sign up and get a time. $25 bonus. Offered by Fanduel prediction markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 plus. Bonus is non-withdrawable and expires seven days after receipt. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. See terms at fandual.com slash predict slash bonus offer dash terms. 18 people dead in Maine. Two different shootings. An intensive manhunt is

underway for Robert Carr. He is 40 years old. Has not been caught. yet is still on the loose. They do not know where he is. It's a rural area. Might be tough to track him down. He is believed to be an army reservist and a firearms instructor, walked into a Bowman alley and into a bar and began to kill people. There's really no other adjectives or things that can be said about the issue with mass shootings in America. I think the most maddening thing about this particular story is that it's so typical of how these things go. This gentleman had every single red flag possible. He had been in a mental facility for two weeks in 2023. He had said that he was hearing voices and threats that were instructing him to shoot up a military base.

several different instances of clear distress and dysfunction going on with this individual. And not only was he able to procure the weapon that he had, he was able to do it quite easily because of lax gun laws that exist up there in Maine. Let's name some of those. Go for it. Maine does not require background checks on all gun sales, does not have regged flag law, does not prevent domestic abusers from accessing guns, does not ban assault weapons, not limit magazine capacity, does not require concealed carry permits, does not restrict open carry,

and does not have a waiting period. Right. Right. So all of those things lead to someone being emboldened or someone being not at all rained in or I guess there's no barrier between them and the amount of carnage that they want to do. Look, I've talked about this before. We've talked about this before on the podcast, which is in very few of these situations that involve mass shootings, do you see the typical, he was a quiet guy and we didn't know what was going on. And he just opened fire and killed a bunch of people.

There's almost always a long, long history of we should have caught it. Almost always. and if there was any effort, any functional effort, to either deal with the mental health issues of these Americans as connected to their ability to get these weapons, these things would just happen less. If there was any tethering of the control of firearms and the restriction of firearms being able to be bought by some people,

and the type of firearms that they could buy, this would be happening less. But there's absolutely zero seriousness on this. Like zero seriousness. And like nothing's going to change. No. Because it's accepted. And acceptance is a powerful thing.

And the fact that we just know it will happen again. And when it happens, it happens. And you go through the typical motions and you have the thoughts and prayers and you have, you know, the people outraged and you have, you know, the president reaching out and calling the families and might even show up in this town in Maine.

And then we are so desensitized to it. We move on to the next thing until it happens again and we repeat the cycle. And we repeat the cycle on this podcast. We talk about it in the same way because that's all you can do because nothing is being done to actually allow people to care enough

to make change. So this is what we're going to do on the podcast. That's a very good point that you point out. We are going to do solutions-based coverage about this issue on this podcast. I want to ask for the latitude from the audience here to get a little bit uncomfortable on this, meaning I want to hear from both sides

about what they think the answer to this question is. I do. We tried to do that at one point. We just didn't have the other side. Right. I want to have a serious. conversation with people about what the answers are. They seem very open and obvious to me.

Increased control over these weapons, these particular types of weapons, red flag laws on that, you know, would apply to any weapon, right? Because even just going after the AR-15, which is the big bad mascot of this entire situation, isn't enough. There needs to be guned,

control measures that restrict people from being able to pull off these spree killings based upon things that they've shown in their past. I also want people to get into the phenomenon of this happening here and does not happen in the same way. All of that stuff is what we're going to be dealing with. Let's talk about it. Because we talk a lot about the issue of, of, of mass shootings, gun violence period. But I think that we need to start talking about

what Americans would be okay with as being a solution to this problem. What are the answers to this question that are actually okay with people? What's too far? What's not enough? And who's to blame? Specifically, we have this overarching view of that.

We have this grand view of who's to blame. Oh, it's the two-way people, oh, it's the right. It's this group of politicians that are taking money from the NRA or from the lobby or Browning or whomever. But there needs to be specificity here. We need to know what is going to lessen these events, what is going to reduce gun violence, period, and who is standing in the way of that, in a real direct way? You know what I would also want to get into? And I think some of it is the media is to blame.

And it's the way we sensationalize mass shootings, the way we talk. about true crime, the obsession people have over it. I did not even know that there was a thing called CrimeCon. I'm shocked, guys. You probably are like everybody knew except for Rachel. CrimeCon. I never heard of it. Like Comic Con. Like Comic Con. Like Comic Con. Like BravoCon, where you get all the people who discuss true crime and delve into it and have podcasts and written books. And I don't even know who else comes, but that's a thing. And there's a huge following behind it. And there's a growing audience of people being fascinated by this world of true crime, almost like a, because they don't understand it, they're, like, they're curious about it.

And we as the media in Hollywood sensationalize this. And so I think that there we, you, as you're having this conversation, you also have to talk about the responsibility of how it's covered of the way people are quick to want to do a movie about it or a docu-series about, a documentary about it, whatever it may be, because there's this huge growing audience and there's a way to capitalize on it. We have to discuss that too. We do.

I say this, there are people that are going to make the distinction between true crime. I'm not a huge true crime person, but there are various genres of true crime. Sure. Like, for example, the show that I do, do like. There's a show called I almost got away with it. It's a true crime show. I know what you're talking about. You know that show? Where somebody breaks out of jail or they

escape custody and then they're on the run for five, 10, 15 years and then they get caught. I don't know why that show was so good to me. I used to watch it hours and hours and hours of it. Do you think the same thing that makes that interesting to people and that will always be interesting to people, people who make decisions? to not follow the laws of society or do all these things. What's this? Oh, yeah.

They will always appreciate you. Do you think that shows like that, situations like that, do you think that the same DNA that makes us, that it's built of the same DNA that makes us fascinated with mass shootings, with mass? Because I do think that there's a difference

between wanting to be into somebody who scammed a bunch of people. there's a fantastic show right now in the ringer called The Wedding Scammer. And that is just an interesting story of how could these people have been so gullible, how could this guy have been so shrewd and all that shout out to Justin? But that's a little bit different than why people can't stop talking about mass shootings because they're scared of mass shootings. I think it's different.

Do you think it's the kind of the same? Do you remember how people covered Columbine? Yeah. There was, and that was, it was new, right? We hadn't seen anything like that. It was, it was. The details of it. Right.

It was the, not that we don't have mass shootings, but like that. It was the typical, it was the typical example of it, yes. And there was so much that was done with that. And people wanted to understand these teenagers and how this happened and their life. And it's more of the fascination of the person who did it. That's what I see. And that to me. is similar to true crime.

It's what we saw with Jeffrey Dahmer with the new series that came out and a lot of the victims, the families were outraged by it. They didn't know this was going to happen. They felt like it was sensationalized. You had a lot of people who wanted Dahmer glasses

and were wearing t-shirts. It's the same thing with Ted Bundy where there were women outside of the courtroom holding up signs. We got to get into some of that. Yeah. You're absolutely right. As we have that conversation.

You're absolutely right. Mike Johnson has been elected House Speaker. Speaker. Louisiana. You should be proud. This is a big day for Louisiana. It is.

Louisiana on the math. Speaker of the House. We've had that before, by the way. Okay. Bob Livingston, the Speaker of the House for I think a couple of months before, if I remember, Larry Flint offered a million dollars

for any woman that could prove that she had had an affair with a Republican. Let me look at this. Let me look this up. So Bob Livingston was the Speaker of the House. Let me look at this. Okay. So, yeah, he was chosen as Newt Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich's Speaker of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives. And he was about to do it. Oh, he actually never did it. He was chosen as the speaker. He was about to do it. And then he declined it following revelations of an extramarital affair. Now, if I remember correctly, yep, here it is.

In 1998, Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flint offered up to $1 million for anyone providing tips about unflattering sexual stories regarding members of Congress or high government officials. Then Bob Livingston learned late on the night of December 15, 1998, just before the full House of Representatives was about to debate the impeachment of President Clinton, that Flint had been in contact with at least one woman whom he had had an affair with two days later in a closed-door evening conference of House Republican colleagues,

Livingston said, I very much regret to tell you that I've been Flinted. That same day, Flint had some outstanding folks. A press release saying he was investigating tips about four alleged affairs that Livingston had had. Larry Flint did that because he was so pissed off

that all the Republicans were taking the high road about Bill Clinton's situation and they were nailing Bill Clinton's balls through the walls about what happened with Monica Lewinsky. So Larry Flint said, fuck it.

I'm going to take Madison to my own hand and give out money for anyone against and women jumped at it. And Larry was good at his word and that cost Louisiana. Well, you're back. Well, guess what?

You are back. and you are speaker and it's such a huge accomplishment, man. I mean, we've spent weeks back and forth all these people nominated, not getting enough votes. And then who comes in as the hero rises to the top,

a man from the great state of Louisiana, ladies and gentlemen, Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the house. How does it feel? Shut up. So by the way, Louisiana, is in a bad way right now. We've gone total MAGA if we weren't before.

Jeff Landry was just elected governor of Louisiana, one of the furthest to the right governors now. He is basically the dissenters of Louisiana. He is a far-right MAGA guy, and he is now entrenched right there in Louisiana. It's something that happened just recently here. Was it even, there's not even a runoff. Louisiana made a clear decision about where they want their gubernatorial politics to go.

And it was, it was, it was, uh, Jeff Landry. We could talk a little bit more about that. So, well, Mike Johnson's right there. He's right aligned with them. Go ahead. Talk about your guy. So Mike Johnson here is a problem, guys. He's a, he's a election denier.

Okay. Uh, he is to the right of your coochiest right people on almost everything. Mm-hmm. Um, he rallied Republicans around Trump's legal effort to overturn. 2020 election. He is definitely opposed to a woman's right to abortion.

All kinds of other things that he's the poster child for what the Matt Gates wing of the Republican Party would want out of the speaker. And I've got to say something. I know that everybody has been delighting in the Republicans' inability to govern, their inability

to get a speaker. appointed so or voted in so that they cannot do the work of government. But Matt Gates won. Huge. Matt Gates. Huge. He obliterated Kevin McCarthy. He obstructed Scalise.

He killed the other guy that they had. And his part of his wing of the Republican Party, the Freedom Caucus, got a post- child for his efforts. 100%. They got a perfect speaker for everything that he did. Matt Gates beat his entire party and as much fun as everyone's been having with their inability to get this done over the last couple of weeks. The fact that they ended here is a boon for the MAGA constituency of the Republicans.

It's such a statement. And I don't think that you can talk about Mike Johnson without talking about Christian nationalism. It's Mike Johnson is anti everything. He is anti gay rights. He is anti same-sex marriage. He is anti-abortion rights. He is the Edward, what Edward Bloom is doing on behalf of white people and bringing cases forth to dismantle things in place that create diversity and inclusion and allow everyone to have a seat at the table. Mike Johnson is doing that with Christian. Christianity. He refers to, he's an attorney and he has created, he tried to create a law school that embodied Christian nationalism. It couldn't get accredited. He has brought cases up to the Supreme Court to try to overturn the Pennsylvania votes in favor of, because he's in favor of denying the election. He, everything that he does, he calls it a legal ministry, is to put, to not have separation of church and state. and to have the church running the government.

And to me, it is very clear by Congress, or the Republicans electing him to be the Speaker of the House. They're basically saying we are a group of people, we are a party that is supporting the rise of Christian nationalism. And it's huge. I mean, I think, and everyone's like, oh, it's so much better. Not everyone, but at first people were like, before they knew who Mike Johnson was,

which is why this is so dangerous. Oh, well, at least it's not Jim Jordan. He's worse. He's way worse than Jim Jordan. He's worse than Jim Jordan, but he was quiet. Now he's not going to be quiet. He's going to be very loud. And if you see from 2016, from when he came into Congress to now,

when you see what he was doing prior to that in the state of Louisiana, he is extremely problematic. And he uses Christianity as a weapon to further his personal views and to attack people that are different from him, which is the problem with Christian national. They weaponize Christianity and they want it to be, this to be a church state. Yeah, they want a theocracy. Yes.

They want a theocracy and they will attack that theocracy that want to have a theocracy with reckless abandon. They will try to achieve that with any, by any means necessary. By any means. You know, and here's a deal. Because people are going to be like, you guys are talking about Christian nationalism and you guys like Jesus. Christian nationalism is a totally different thing.

They say maga, make America godly again. Okay. I just want to say something about Jesus real quick. God, if you will. And I want everybody who's rolling their eyes about this to open your minds and hearts for a second. If you will, open your minds. Open your minds and hearts.

Look to the person next to you and tell them you look good today. Choice is a central tenet of my religion. Choice. Choice. Choice. Destiny, purpose, all of those things, but choice. Choice.

To me, whenever someone tries to legislate your morality, they're doing something ungodly. Because the purpose, as I understand, of my Christianity, of my relationship with God, is the choice that you make to fellowship with God. I think for me, the most inspiring thing about submitting as much as I can, you know, I'm on the computer right now.

You guys can check the browser history. I'll always do a good job. Submitting is the most powerful thing in the universe wanting you to choose to be a part of it, to choose the way of life or the faith that you show to it. The choice there is the thing, and you don't have to choose it. Now, things don't go so well if you don't, but you don't have to choose it.

The people that have Christian nationalism or any type of theocracy in their brain, in their platform, they are doing something that is inherently ungodly because they are forcing it on you. Anytime it is being forced on you, it is not evangelism coming from a pure place. It is tyranny. It doesn't matter what religion it is.

It doesn't matter what set of morals it is. It doesn't matter what set of practices or values that it is, if it is being forced on you, if it is being legislated to you, if it is being held over your head, it's tyranny. Doesn't matter how good it is.

If it was long that you had to eat chocolate ice cream on Friday, that would be tyranny. It would be chocolate ice cream tyranny. Everyone here can probably agree that chocolate ice cream is great, except for you,

which is true you have problems with it. Thank you. But for me, that tyranny negates how good chocolate ice cream is and even Jesus is bad if somebody makes you

if somebody makes you come to him because that's not even what he wants every time that there is choice that is based around to me a Christian ethic the choice to do something some people might disagree

I do not. I don't like my religion. I don't like my morality legislated or codified into law. Human beings make the decision and then God makes the determination. All right. It's just hypocritical to how this country is even started. You don't even like it. How does even start it? But go ahead. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business. It keeps you. companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support, millions of business owners already trust Spectrum Business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more.

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Dwight Howard. How do we even talk about this? Donnie, jump on. I literally was going to say that initially when we decided to have this conversation. Dwight Howard. Now, we should say this about Dwight Howard in this entire situation. Okay, there's long been talk.

Rumors, innuendo. Whatever. Dwight Howard has denied a sexual assault lawsuit that's been filed by Georgia. A guy named Stephen Harper filed a state civil suit against Dwight Howard in July,

alleging assault and battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Howard has described this 2021 encounter as consensual and requested that the case be dismissed. This is what they say happened. Harper's lawsuit said that he met Dwight Howard through Instagram. Then they exchange explicit text messages before arranging to meet the Dwight Howard's house. Harper says he asked of another man or woman could join their planned sexual encounter.

Harper says that he told Dwight Howard was not interested. Once at Howard's home, Harper claims that they were joined by a man dressed as a woman who identified only as Kitty. Harper says he tried to resist the two men, but Howard and Kitty forced him to participate in sexual activity. Mr. Harper was trapped in defend his bedroom and believed that he would suffer imminent bodily harm

if he resisted the defendant's sexual advances. The lawsuit read. Afterwards, Mr. Harper felt extremely violated and humiliated. It was in complete shock. Howard played for seven NBA franchises and had a repute... Okay, whatever.

So look, Stephen S. Smith, said on his podcast is this is the reason why teams didn't want Dwight Howard because they knew about this whole kitty business. Oh, really? Yeah. Like, Dwight Howard had a chance to sign with a lot of different teams. Think about it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The Lakers are, get fucking

fucked over by Nicola Yokic every single time they play him. Right? Every time they played, every time I play the Nuggets, Yolkes fucking goes bananas on the Lakers like he did earlier this week. It's unstoppable. It's unstoppable. It's a fucking big white tank. It's white supremacian.

every time fucking Anthony Davis lines up on the other side of Nicola Yolkish, it should be outlaw. Dwight Howard actually did a pretty good job of guarding Nicola Yolkich back when the Lakers took out the Nuggets in 2020 on their way to an NBA championship, the bubble championship.

But nobody wants to sign Dwight Howard, even to come in and spell somebody else, give them 15, 20, quality minutes of defense, even though that's been proven that you could do that. And a lot of people think it's because the sexual assault situation was like looming over his head. And this is, guys, despite the obviously bizarre details of this encounter, a textbook sexual assault that Dwight Howard is being accused up here.

I think that's interesting something here, though. What? I think, obviously, the fact that Dwight Howard is being accused of sexual assault for a lot of people is the secondary story. A lot of people look at this story and they go, The White Howard confirmed gay. Because he says that everything was consensual. Or bisexual. He says that everything was consensual, right?

I think that that's very interesting. I think that that's really, I think that that's interesting that the fact that there's a sexual assault that's being alleged here is actually secondarily. Or it's secondarily important, should I say, to a lot of people who look at this more of a story of Dwight Howard's sexuality. Which is problematic. Yeah, for sure. I think the fact that the bigger story to a lot of people is the fact

that he has confirmed that he did have a consensual relationship with another man. The fact that we're concerned more about the gossip than the alleged criminal act is a problem in our society. You more so care about what

Dwight Howard is doing in his personal business, even though this has been rumored for a long time, rather than there's a victim here. And that's what we should be focusing on. But even the headlines, again, talked about this earlier in the podcast, you've got to blame the media.

Even the way the headlines seem to be written, they seem to be more putting one thing ahead of the other. It's almost like the subtitle is, and he's being accused of sexual assault. Do you think they're trying to be funny when they put the name Kitty in here? I think you think that. If Kitty was their name,

than Kitty, then what's wrong with Kitty? Couldn't they just, because the kitty shit, and Vans with the group that was focusing on the wrong thing. I'm not just saying, I do feel like sometimes in these stories, because remember I've been in.

What if Kitty's the name? Hold on, but wait a second, you guys have to remember something because everybody's going to come out and say Vans making light of this, I'm not at all. What I'm saying is I've been in these rooms before when these suits are being rolled out and people are reading this stuff and to where it's going to be reported on. and I know for damn sure

that people focus on the kitty part. They focus on Kitty and they go, can you believe the name is Kitty? And then Kitty is featured prominently in the story. Because you can really just say another individual. You don't have to say Kitty. Kitty is a little extra, a little, you know what I mean? That's a little, that's, and that's kind of,

this is serious, what's going on? If the name is Kitty, then Kitty deserves to have a spot in the story. God damn, man. All right. These are, it's a serious, it's a serious accusation. It's a serious crime. It proves, if proven to be true. And so I hope that, you know, the truth comes out. Because if, if there was a sexual assault here, then Stephen Harper deserves justice in this. Justin Timberlake has the biggest battle on his hands that he's ever had before. Ever. And that is.

the book. I don't think in a battle of culture, I don't think Justin Timberlake can beat Britney Spiris. No, he's already lost. You think so? Oh my gosh. The way people are talking about Justin, the videos that are popping up, it's like, well, we lost him here. Then they're going back to Janet Jackson. We should have known. All this, like, she is, she held on, because a lot of people are asking this question, right, as Britney Spears book is coming out and we're getting the audio version snippets, a lot of people are like, why? Why did she protect? Justin. They're bringing up the Diane Sawyer interview. Why did she protect Justin? Why did she allow herself to be

the enemy, the victim, allowed people to play into, you know, it's the woman's fault. Justin's here. She's there. Because she knew one day she would write a book and basically just end it. She waited for the perfect moment to speak out and we're listening. It's not great times for Justin to be like, I remember years ago

when Justin Timberlake was honored at the VMAs and he performed with Insink. Do you remember this? No. Do you remember this? No.

Does anybody remember this? Years ago when Justin Timberlake, Donnie, you remember this? Years ago, it's like the mid-20s. I'm sure I watched it. I just like don't. He got the Video Mangard Award. Okay.

And then Incinct came out. And you can tell it was a big deal to Insink and it was the whole nine. And the question was, there, maybe it was like 2013, 2014, something like that. The question then was, was Justin Timberlake ever going to get back with Insink, if that ever happened?

And most people were like, no. He's like, those days are over. Yeah. And sync wanted to get back together, whatever. Now you see Justin Timberlake. All up in the mix. About to get back with Insink because he's, I think his cool has run out a little bit. And it's weird because he had, at one point,

unfucking, denial of cool. He was the cool white boy. Yeah. He was the poster child for the cool white boy. He was. He could dance. He could sing. Ladies liked them.

The whole nine. The culture backed him up. Culture backed him up. The sexy, it was one thing when he was before because it was like, oh, maybe he could be a little corny or whatever. But around the time sexy back came out, he buzzed the fucking bus cut. Justin Timberlake was cool. And then things started going left.

They had already forgotten about the Janet thing. When Twitter came around, Twitter did, reminded everyone about what happened with the Janet situation. And now we have Brittany Spears' book The Woman and Me, which is going crazy right now. I think they got like 9 million pre-orders. It's something ridiculous. Where she talks about Justin Timberlake different ways,

but this clip right here is going viral. It's Michelle Williams, Oscar winner, Michelle Williams. Talking about an encounter that Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake had walking on the streets of New York back in the day. Donnie run the video. His band in sync was what people back then called So Pimp. They were white boys, but they loved hip-hop. To me, that's what separated them from the backstreet boys,

who seemed very consciously to position themselves as a white group. In sync hung out with black artists. Sometimes I thought they tried too hard to fit in. One day Jay and I were in New York, going to parts of town I'd never been to before. Walking our way was a guy with a huge, blinged-out medallion. He was flanked by two giant security guards. Jay got all excited and said,

so loud. Oh yeah. Foshis, Foschis, Genuine. What's up, homie? After Genuine walked away, Felicia did an impression of Jay. Oh yeah, Foschis, Foshis, Genuine. Jay wasn't even embarrassed. You know what the real thing about that is? Has Genuine comment? Genuine has not commented yet. Foschis, Foshis. You know. That is one thousand percent accurate. I know. You, there is, you would hear a story about somebody and you might think, nah, that probably didn't happen.

I couldn't see them doing that. You know one million percent that Justin Timberlake on the street saw Genuine and went, oh yeah, four shis, four shis, genuine. What up, homie? And Genuine probably went, what's up. You're good? Yeah, man, keep doing your thing. And then they walked away like, what's put this nigga on?

Is this fair to Justin Timberlake that he's getting his ass with it? Yes, it's fair. I mean, Britney Spears is writing her story. It's absolutely fair. As I said earlier, she has never talked about genuine. She has never talked about Justin Timberlake. And obviously, he put her through the ringer. You know, she's told other stories of, you know, like them being intimate.

her having an abortion. He didn't want it. She's still, you know, he cheated on her. She's still protected him through all of it. So Britney can say whatever she wants in this book in regards to him. And 20 years later, I still think he's getting off easy because she could have done it in the moment. The sad thing is, 20 years ago, people probably wouldn't have, was longer than that, probably wouldn't have even believed her. They probably would have found out a way, found a way to still justify the things that Justin was doing because that's the society that we lived in back then. And now people are open and ready to receive it.

He hit first. He what? He hit first. Cry me a river. Cry me a river. Justin Tiberland. He absolutely did. Hit first.

He hit first. He started it. You know what? Britney Spears handled Justin Timberlake like a fucking G. Yep. She didn't say nothing. Yep. She has the last laugh.

She chilled on it. And like a fine wine, she let that shit marinate. When would you pinpoint everybody turning on Justin? Because it started before this book. Jan Jackson type of situation. No, no, people were still back on him.

I mean, the Jan Jackson situation as it got caught on on Twitter. Is it caught on on Twitter? And then Justin just had a lot of bad shit. Justin just, as many right moves as Justin made between 2000 to 2010, he fucking made all the wrong moves between 2010 and 2020.

As good as things were for him, between that, like, post, everything posts the 2020 experience, which was still kind of really well received, Justin Timberlake has been struggling in the... And music. And he's been hopping on doing features and redoing people's songs.

He's tried to do country. Yeah, he's got the band. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess so. Then he had the cheating. scandal. It's all bad press. This episode is brought to by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and make it a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner or road trip goes sideways. Ketchup goes rogue ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors.

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Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Donnie, play the Michael Jackson this song. I'm surprised that you guys hadn't heard this before. You've heard it? Yeah. You changed your color. You made your skin white. I remember that was a big deal. I'm older.

They made the big deal about this when it came out. Donnie, play some audio from Jermaine Jackson. Once you, you changed your shape, was the color wrong? Radio stations are playing it every hour. Back to back with Michael's new single, Black and White. It's a known fact. You were to buy gone. The uncensored version of a new song from his brother Jermaine.

You never heard that? I didn't know that they even had beef like that. Yeah. Did Michael ever respond? No, he didn't have to. I don't think so. But I remember this, because like before the internet, like songs like this, you'd have to get little snippets on the news and shit.

Sure. And so it would be like, oh, Jamerner. James Jackson made this diss song against Michael Jackson. He'd be like, you turn your skin white. I never heard the song in full, but I remember that he did this. And my mother was like, I feel so sorry for Germain. That's so pathetic. That's what he had been reduced.

Germain Jackson had been reduced to trying to diss Michael to get people to care about the music that he was making, man. I mean, and that's probably why Michael never responded and didn't have to. But these are big shots fired. Yeah. His color, he's been abducted. We don't know who you are. I mean, what moved Germain to have such hate towards Michael?

1991. And then the shocking thing is that the song features vocals from Teabaws with a rap written by Left Eye. Tebowls was dissing Michael Jackson? Why would these people sign? Why would these be an earlier apparent? Wait, Donnie, am I reading this right? Yeah, you're right. This was made with LaFace Records.

I feel like this was before TLC was big, but they were all working together around this time, according to the internet. So LaFace is problematic as well. This is bad. Why is it problematic? They allowed this song to be released on their record. So who fucking cares?

Like, he can't diss Michael Jackson if you want to. Like, yeah, he had some problems. All these people against Michael. Did he lie? I need to read the lyrics in full. Okay, let's go. Word to the bad lyrics. Hold on.

Was he telling him? Was he capping? Word to the... Okay, other than him changing his shade, obviously that's the truth. And yes, he's went... He said he hasn't changed his say. He said you got to be the Lago.

That's what he said. He even doubt it. He even did out. Word to the bat. You're what a word to the bat. I gave you my love. You gave your love. Thought we'd never part,

said you love me. Then you left me with a broken heart. You never think about who you love. You only think about number one. He's hurt. It's hurting. You forgot about where we started from. Look.

But what like, Jermaine changed some things about his appearance too. So let's be fair. Let's be fair here, okay? It was very, very, very pathetic of this song to be made. But, you know, it's not like he lying in the song. He is. He said he's been abducted.

We don't know who you are. Like, that's too far. That's too far. Thinking about that pie you've been taken from me from a love to another heart, from a love to another lover, hard to believe. I think there's multiple people that he's talking about in this song because some of this shit. He might be talking about Joe. Joe Jackson?

Donnie, do we have Joe Jackson's talking about gurgitating all the way to the bank? Gurgitate, no, I can find it. Hold on. Okay. I'll probably put, we definitely talked about it. Wait, you know, the Jackson family is, come on, man. Like, he's like, you got to play that

because, like, that just puts it in the context. There was always beef, you know. Gurgitate all the way to the bank is what Joe Jackson said. I want, we have to have this good, gurgitate. I don't know if we've ever played it. We never, you never, we never played this. And Michael said in a recent interview that he was frightened of you. He says that he was so frightened of you sometimes that he would be sick.

Is that true? Well, I just know, I just knew about that when I heard him mention that whole TV on the Open Wifford Show. I didn't know anything about him being sick, but regurgitating. But if he did gurgitated, he gurgitated all the way to him. It would be in it. Guys, I'm sorry. That's funny. It is funny.

It's sad, but it's funny. Hold on. There's no way to watch him say that. Did he lie? There's no way to watch him say that. And for that, that's funny. I'm sorry. I'm not.

Turn the computer around. Let me see him say it. Let me see how he looked when he said it. It's hilarious. Look at you. All right. You got to talk about the thing that everyone's talking about. Okay.

Women on the internet. I suppose this has not been verified. I put out a list of places that they don't want to go to on a first date. Yeah. Is it okay if I read this list for you, Rachel? Please. Okay. Cheesecake Factory, Applebee's, Chili's, Chipotle, Olive Garden, the movies, your house.

Any fast food chain, Buffalo Wild Wings, Wingstock, Red Lobster, a buffet. IHop. Denny's. The gym. Church, bunch of heathens. Starbucks. Coffee dates, ice cream dates, family functions, movie night, somewhere that requires a long drive. Actually makes sense.

Bowling nightclubs. Hookabar. A bar just for drinks. Waffle House sports events. Your thoughts. I agree. So I think a lot of people are forgetting that this list is about a first date. Okay.

Okay. This is not just dates in general, because then a lot of these are fine with me. But a first date, I agree with every single one of these except for, wait, which ones? Wait, I had this in my head. Hold on. I agree with all of these except for coffee dates. I actually think are a great first date. Okay.

Because it's innocent. It's usually in the daytime. You know, you got to be careful these days. And it allows for good conversation. On a first day, I want good conversation. So, like, the movies, we're not talking. I don't want to go to a movie with you. I want to sit down.

I want to get to know you. I want to talk. I want to see if we have chemistry. I want to vibe. So Starbucks, coffee dates, ice cream dates, bowling and sporting events, because I love sports, all of those things are okay with me. Everything else rightfully deserves to be on.

On a first day, if you're going to take me to a restaurant, and I like cheesecake factory, I'm on the fence with this. But if you're going to take me to a restaurant, a first date, I would prefer to not spend my first 15 minutes of the date flipping through 10 pages of the menu. Okay. Fair enough. There's a lot going on and it's loud. Tell me I'm live. Cheesecake Factory is always loud. I want to be able to talk. I think the whole thing is ridiculous. Look, this is what I would say to the women that agree with this entire list,

there's something that's not listed on here and this is where you should go, ladies. You should go to the hospital to freeze your eggs because it's going to be a long time. Okay? You're going to do some waiting. So forget about this list. That is so bad.

Forget about this list right here of places that you don't want to go on a first day. Where you should go is to the hospital to get those eggs frozen because you're sabotaging yourselves and I'm tired of acting nice about it. You mean to tell me, and I'm not even, I got no dog in the fight,

you mean to tell me that on a first date, we can't go to the Cheesecake Factory to have a meal. You can't. You guys are setting your standards. Okay, pick another one then. Cheathcake Factory is, it could be either way. I'm not, if somebody took me to the Cheesecake Factory, I'm not going to be like, they're done.

I'm not that girl who's going to sit in the car and not get out the car. I'm going to go. I'm not above that. Yeah. I am about some of these other places, though. Like what? I'm not going to Applebee's on the first day. Here's the thing about Applebee's.

I'm not going to Applebee's. Here's the thing about Applebee's. You know why I think that makes sense as a first date, especially depending on what kind of money you have and what's station in the world you're at? That makes sense because I would say on a first day, you want to get to know somebody, but I think there are probably multiple parties there

that don't want to make a huge investment into what things are going to be. So like, hey, whatever, we go out, When we're talking about how hard everything is on people in the country, we're talking about all of this stuff, but somebody can't show you a good time. It's a first date. Feeling good in the neighborhood?

Like if you don't have money, it's not even a money issue. I just think Applebee's are gross. But it's not even a money issue. It's, if you don't have money, I just said I think coffee dates should be off this. I think that's ridiculous.

They don't think so. And I'm calling certain things out. That's ridiculous. If the point, the point isn't to flex. The point is, to get to know somebody. If you're serious about dating

and finding a significant other, then some of this, the ones that I called out, are ridiculous. Take me on a coffee date. You don't have the money. Let's go grab a smoothie and go for a walk. Let's go have a picnic.

I'm down for all of those things. If you don't have money, you probably shouldn't be dating. But this is what I would say. I would say even if you do... I would say even if you do have money, right? If you do have money,

I think some of this stuff is the stuff Women talk all day long about the fact that they can't find a good man, they can't find a decent guy. Some of these guys want to take you out to the Cheesecake Factory and have some fucking Calamari and have a great time. And they want to take you to the Cheesecake Factory. They want to have a good time. No. But no.

You're stuck on the Cheesecake Factory. I'm saying the whole thing. This is ridiculous. Weak stop. And everybody here knows I am obsessed with wings up. Let's go grab some food to talk. I am obsessed. Grab some food and sit by the body and talk.

There's usually one table inside of a wing stop. You're just one. Everybody's standing around waiting for their orders. I know I live there. I don't want to, I don't want to get back into the jindy jindies. Okay, we said, we were saying away from the jindy jindies.

Because a buffet's on here, that would have been okay? I'm telling you straight out. You got kids running all around. Back of the day, hey. You get to just no. But see, I'll turn that into some other shit. First day. If that what you want, you want to be a mother.

The whole thing, we're talking about going to cross. First date. First date, you do your best. A club. first date is about the connection. Exactly. You guys are making it so much about everything else other than the connection between two

people. It's a first date. It's a first impression. It's my first time getting to know you. I don't care who you are. You're going to judge it. You're going to look at it a certain way. It's the first time. Now, after that, you can absolutely take me to Wingstop. You can take me to

It the Gym. I hop. Grand Looks Cafe, man. Oh my God, I totally forgot about Grand Lus Cafe. And some people consider that a little different. No, it's not a cheesecake. But it's a nicer cheesecake.

It's like, we go out to eat, we have a good time. I show you a good time. It's loud. You know what I'm saying? I show you a good time. I chill. We do a little thing. Boom, boom, boom.

What's the whole nine? I'm showing I'm into you by paying attention to you and like pouring into you. You can really do that anywhere. You can really do that for free if the connection is the thing. You're setting a standard. Here's a thing. and this is where I will agree with some of these ladies, you're setting a standard.

If I let you be okay with taking me to any fast food chain, which is number eight on this list, if I let it be okay for the first time that you take me to a Burger King, you will always take me to a Burger King, because that's the standard that you've set. If for the first time you're getting to know me is the first impression. Someone will always take you to a Burger King if they do not genuinely like you. So you agree.

It's a part. No, listen. First date. It's not about a standard. If a man genuinely wants to see you smile and see you happy, he's going to do things to make you smile and make you happy. You're proving the point. No, the problem is what smiles and makes you happy?

Is it somebody feeding you and spending time with you? Or is it someone doing it on a first day? Just saying, all these are okay. Frozen, frozen, frozen. Freeze them up with the embryos. Frozen, frozen. That's so disrespectful. What?

It's nothing wrong with it. Oh, you need to go to the hospital, which is not where you go. Where do you go? Where do you go? You go to a clinic. To the egg farm? Jeez, this is getting real bad. Between that, Dwight Howard and Joe Jackson, this is an extremely.

I got to be honest with you. I got to be honest with you. I'm list like this, they make me sad. Well, some of it is ridiculous. And so the reason why I'm being so hard on this, they make me sad. People are starving, not for the, Cheesecake Factory, but for genuine connection. They are.

And they are sabotaging themselves routinely from that because the internet bullshit. You know what I will say, though? Because, like, I've gone on a first day to Olive Garden. And I dated that person for two years. But I was also in my 20s. It was a different time. It was a different time. And I wasn't going to be like, man, you got.

And I had a wonderful first day. So I'm not above, but I might say, like, Can we do something later on? I would probably be like, can we go? It's a special occasion. Can we do something nice? Can we go used to live in the cheesecake factory? I used to put cheesecake factory all the time.

I know the menu by heart, probably. Yeah, telling you. Amen. But I'm not going to Applebee. Everybody's looking for love out there, man. Y'all, prioritize people, you know, for my fellas. Prioritize people. Get to know these ladies.

Get to know these ladies, man. Prioritize people. Don't wait. until your headlines start receding like mine to decide that you want a companion. Treat these people like people. It's not dollar signs and they're not tities and they're not ass. Treat people like people. Mailback.

Mailback time. Time to read your letters and then we'll reply to them. Oh, it's mailback time. Write us with your queries and we'll chime. And all right. First question is from Well, guys. First of all, Rachel has a lifetime movie coming out. Thank you.

Rachel, you got to give us some details by when we can watch it. I can't. Because of SAG, I can't, but I appreciate you guys noticing that. And, you know, that is true. And that's all I can say. But I can't post it. I can't put it out there. The trailer is out.

And I was surprised at how much I was in it. That's all I can say. I can't promote it, but thank you. Well, guys. So the question was, what movie do y'all see band in? I had a dream about this a couple of nights ago.

You were in a movie. Yep. What genre? Musical. I love this for you. Kind of a musical. Were you singing? It's dancing.

It's kind of a dance. It's not a musical as much as it is a dance movie. It's like a dance movie. It's not musical. It's like a dance movie. I love this too. Yep. So this was like, oh my gosh, what's the movie?

What's the step up? It was like a step up. Think before step up. Okay. 80s dance movie. Oh, like break. That was called? Breaking.

Breaking. Jesus Christ. Close enough. Yeah. Nah, it's before breaking. It's like 1981, 80, 283. Is it before break? Okay.

So what were you? Could you dance? What kind of dance were you doing? I wasn't playing the dance character. Well, who were you? I was playing. It was this more. movie was 84. I was playing the person that didn't want everybody to dance.

So you were like the scrooge of dancing? Yeah, I was the one that was telling people they shouldn't dance. Dance was illegal. Does anybody know this movie? Were you white? I was black. The whole movie was black. It was a black version of this movie and I was playing in this dream. Oh my God, it was foot loose. Foot loose. I was in this movie. I was playing the John Lithgow character that was stopping people from dancing. So you were white. I said it. You were white. Yeah, I was white in the movie. I was black and myself in the movie. But I dreamed,

I had a vivid dream. Like, my dreams this week have been fucking crazy. Like, one dream killed me so much that I stayed in bed all day. Like, I dreamed that I was in a black version of footloose. Who played Kevin Bacon? I can't remember. I want to be in this movie. I can't remember. Like, I can't remember, but I just remember that the dude was like he was dancing.

It was different. They started dancing in the church in one scene, but it was a full gospel church. It was a black version of Footloose. And I was the John Lithgow character. Do you realize what movie you just described with seeing? You're laughing me about this. What is this? Polly.

I told you about the movie Polly. There is a little. Can we not talk about Polly, no, because there is a scene in it where I'm, I need. you to see this. I need you to see what you dreamed. You have seen Polly and you don't even realize it. Donnie, Ashley, have you seen Polly? No, I've never heard of Polly. I'm looking at it up now. It's the black version of Pollyanna kind of. Rudy, Rudy, Fletia, um, night, Pollyam plays Rudy. Look at this. Show me, show me, show me, so he's starting off. You literally describe this movie. Are you about to dance? Yeah. So, Felicia Rishon.

He's like very strict and put together She wants the church to be a certain way She runs the town She has all the money The pastor gets up And for some reason he feels moved To be different All right listen

Look This is amongst the most The worst scenes I've ever seen before In my life Watch what happens Oh shit So she's having a fit You know this brother from

Um Um Oh my gosh What's the sparkle Wait, so Keisha and I put one in Rudy are in this movie together? Yes. Now watch how the church gets.

That's me right there. This is you in this movie. The church goes... She's mad. She doesn't want to dance. We're going to have a movie night. Watch this. This is what you dream.

That's basically why I drink. That's me. They got coy obvious. They got obvious. This is the best scene of the whole movie. Y'all got to watch it. Pauley. All right, next mailbag. All right, next one is from aggressive topic.

Who is your oldest friend that you still keep in regular touch with? And when did you become friends? Aaron Ross. Now, Aaron Taylor. So this is a podcast, too, from time to time. We became friends when we were three in preschool. We went to school together, First Baptist Academy, all the way through. I was in her wedding.

She was at my wedding. I didn't have bridesmaids, that's why. And, yeah, we still talk to this day, very close. Yeah, it's my oldest friend since we were three. Ryan Davenport. Ryan, that's your oldest friend? I met Ryan the first day of first grade. Okay.

So 30-some-odd years of friendship. I was just talking to him, me and him talk all the time. It's really more like my brother. I like Ryan. Like he is just an amazing person, an amazing friend. Like I get sometimes emotional thinking about how long we've been cool, we've been boys, been through the whole deal. Like maybe nobody knows me better. Ryan Davenport, my best and oldest friend.

All right, last question. Our last one is from Special Ad. Who are your favorite comedians of all time slash now? Do you have a favorite special? Go. Dave Chappelle Killing Emsoffley is my favorite special of all time.

It's just hysterical. Bill Burr is my current favorite comedian. You watch a movie on Netflix? Yeah. Did you like it? It was good. It's funny.

I like Sebastian. Manascalco? He's funny to me. He's funny. That's like one of Brian's favorite. He's so funny to me. I like Sebastian. I like Rob Hayes.

It's hilarious. I don't know Rob Hayes. Oh my God, Rob Hayes is so fucking funny, man. Monroe Martin, there at Gaines. Donnell Rawlings is hilarious. He is funny. He's super fucking funny. But yeah, like, Brandy Boyd, Camille Corbett, all of these people are really good.

I was waiting for you to name a woman. Brandy Boy, Camille Corbett, all of these people are really, really funny. I can't think of a favorite special that I have. I mean, I enjoy pretty much all of Dave Shepard. Pell's specials. An older one that I love. I love Martin's special. What is the one that came out before Run Tell That?

Maybe it was Run Tell That. I don't know. I can't remember. Yeah. Favorite comedian? I don't know. What Vance did? I'm not like married to.

Your mama! Your mama, nigger. Yeah. I'll have done with the podcast. Let's close it out here. It's my favorite comedian. Let's close it out. Your mama, niggas.

What is wrong? Take it in caps off, but you know, I'll stop around, Van. I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Bye, guys.