Lovett or Leave It - Cuomosexual Conversion Therapy

Episode Date: August 14, 2021

Abby McEnany brings some much needed levity to a week bogged down by Andrew Cuomo, Alec Baldwin, Greg Abbott, and Chet Hanks. Conservative firebrand Brit McClintock (Blaire Eskrine) changes course and begs listeners to get vaccinated. Buzzfeed’s David Mack on the untold history of an open gay secret. Plus climate journalist Molly Taft and Bachelorette expert Ali Barthwell prove that you can talk about a hot planet and the hot people on it at the same time.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, please visit crooked.com/lovettorleaveit.. For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail] and include the name of the podcast.

Welcome to Love It or Leave It, out of the closets, into the streets. You're all right when you feel so different from all your friends. You're stuck in your head. What if I told you there's a place I know you can wear what you want? Cause it's your show. The only names they call you once you chose. Come under our rainbow. Come under our rainbow As we go out of the closet And into the streets

When they all hear us marching And celebrating Cause we know who we are We gotta shine it Wear our flags with pride Don't gotta hide it We are, we are. We gotta shine it. Wear our flags with pride. Don't gotta hide it. We are, we are out of the closet. Out of the closet. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, me, and the studio. There's only a couple more Into the Streets, Out of the Closets, Reverse It episodes left, because pretty soon it's going to become time for a new title,

which is Love It or Leave It, Live or Else, which will begin on a date coming soon. All right? Very soon. I just want you to know that I named that. I did not run it by anybody, and I surprised everyone in this room with that title, and we're going with it. We need four more out of the closets themes.

And then we're going to go to live or else. And so just start working on your live or else themes too. All right? Because they've been amazing. Also, 2022 is just around the corner. And in order to win elections in the face of the GOP's endless attacks on democracy, we are going to have to dig deep and work harder than ever before. And that needs to start early.

Vote Save America's brand new No Off Years program will support the groups and organizers laying the groundwork in key states through remote volunteer opportunities, targeted donations, and education on what's at stake in upcoming elections. Sign up to volunteer and get involved right now at votesaveamerica.com slash nooffyears because we have to use 2021 to win in 2022. And we're calling all Love It or Leave It listeners. This is the last week to take the Crooked survey and share your opinions about the show. If you love it, you can tell us. If you don't, you can still tell us. And as a thank you, we are offering a 20% discount on any order from the Crooked store

for everyone who fills out the survey. You can find the survey at crooked.com slash survey today. Programming note, we have done like 30 or some odd blah blah to leave it's in a row. Brian, how many in a row? 31, boss. No, it's more than that. 62. Some obscene number in a row. So we're doing

this show. Next week we have an amazing show with new rants from some of our favorite guests that have been coming in to record amazing rants. And then the week after that, we're going to have a special of some of our favorite guests that have been coming in to record amazing rants. And then the week after that, we're going to have a special of some of our favorite moments from the past year. The week after that, no episode for you, right? We're going dark for one week, and then we'll be back with live shows. On this week's show, we pay solemn tribute to a fallen pervert in Albany.

Oh, no. BuzzFeed's David Mack is here to explain why gays have such dirty VCRs. Conservative radio host Britt McClintock offers a rare apology. And I can't decide if I want to talk about The Climate Report or The Bachelorette, so we're going to do both at the same time. But first, she is the creator and star of Showtime's Work in Progress. Please welcome Abby McEnany. Abby, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, thanks, John. It's really nice to be here. I'm very nervous. Nervous? Oh, come on. Come on. Dude. Nervous. Oh, thanks, John. It's really nice to be here. I'm very nervous. Nervous? Oh, come on. Come on. Dude. Nervous.

A couple. Shocking. First of all, podcast. Incredibly low stakes. They are. So I wouldn't worry about that. That'd be my first thing I'd say. I don't have a second point.

That's really the only thing. I was going to say. I was like, is there another point? Because I'm ready for it. I guess. You know what it was? I'll tell you. There was a second point. That's really the only thing. I was going to say, I was like, is there another point? Because I'm ready for it. I guess, you know what it was? I'll tell you. There was a second point. But honestly, I found myself, as a host, what I was going to say, my second point was going

to be something like, and you're so wonderful and you're so great. But I felt like you didn't need that and you didn't want me to do that. And nobody wanted it. You know what I mean? Right. Exactly right. Because we've never met. We've never met.

You know, I'm new in this business and boy, people tell you that. They don't fucking know me. They're going to be like, when they meet, they're like, you're a fucking trash bag. I'm like, bitch, I've been telling you this whole time. But see, this is why I was... I think there's no reason to be nervous.

Honestly, you're already better than most of the guests we've had. Okay, let's circle back at the end of this thing, and you'll be like, I'd like to retract everything in the first 32 seconds. Let's get into it. All right. What a week. I mean.

This week, Fox News' Peter Doocy questioned White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki about Biden's contributions to vaccine hesitancy when he said not to trust Donald Trump, to which Psaki responded, the former president was also suggesting people inject versions of poison into their veins to cure COVID. And that's called, Abby. Fun stuff. It's called dropping the doocy. Oh, no. Oh, my God. You know what?'s called dropping the doozy. Oh no! Oh my god! You know what? I should always let people

know. I really, shockingly enough knowing my language, I hate bathroom you. Okay. So put it in the fucking comments, Abby. No, first of all, but you know what? The way you do it was a hugely classy act.

Oh my god. See? That was more diss on me than you. John, am I, see, you want to start again? I'm sorry, I'm fucking up. No, we're not starting again. I'm not doing this again. How dare you? We did the intro.

We're not going to be able to capture this again. This energy is a one-time thing. Emotionally. Like our first meeting. We're not going to redo it. We're not going to fake this chemistry. It's a one-time thing because I'm never having you back. I'm not going to see you again. I know. one-time thing because I'm never having you back. I'm not going to see you again.

I know. Not after this. Not after the way I've been treated. I think we're... Wait, I'm having a problem. Honestly, I'm glad you're bringing this energy. I'm in a really strange... So, just so you know...

Tell me everything. Just so you know, we're recording a bunch of stuff today okay this is i believe our 33rd episode in a row right i don't believe we missed one in 33 weeks brian do you have the exact number of course you don't fucking lazy piece of shit but hey brian you and i have a lot in common don't know who you are but yeah lazy piece ofazy piece of shit. That's my niche. So the point is, we're recording this. We're recording basically two and a half episodes today. It's our last episode. I'm out of time.

I'm going to the White Lotus on Sunday. Cannot wait. No, you're not, for real. I'm not going to the White Lotus. I was going to seriously, like, what? I was like, that's living that life, baby. The point is, I'm in a strange headspace, and this is the right energy. I'm getting back to the news.

Marjorie Taylor Greene. Oh, big fan. And you know what? She's a fan of me. Oh, is she? Oh, yeah. She's a huge fan. You know, I represent everything she loves about our freedoms.

Yeah, she seems like a huge Showtime person. Oh my God, yeah. She loves big, fat, masculine dykes. She represents Facebook's 14th congressional district. She's been suspended from Twitter yet again, this time for declaring that the FDA should not approve the COVID vaccines because they are, quote, failing, end quote.

Speaking of people we only know about because our society is broken, Chet Hanks. Oh, my God. The rapper artist chameleon. I'm doing I'm doing quote marks for you. When you go back to rapper artist, I'm going, OK, quote marks. I tried to put the quote marks with my intonation. I was trying to. You know what you did?

And I'm a piece of shit. See, I told you this from the beginning. God, I'll stop interrupting. That's a bullshit lie. Okay, continue. Rapper, artist, son of America, sweetheart. Anyway, he did stop the quote fingers.

They're getting kind of gross. If you do it long enough, it becomes disgusting. Oh my god! Oh my god! gross if you do it long enough it becomes disgusting the point is he's a he did a video chad hanks son of tom hanks and rita wilson the best celebrities we have he did an anti-vax video so marjorie taylor green anti-vax yeah chadene, anti-vax. Yeah. Chad Hanks, anti-vax. Yeah. And then impossibly, Marjorie is walking down the hallway with a stack of papers. They're printed out word jumbles.

And Chad, he's coming down the same hallway on the phone. He's in a big record deal negotiation with someone who is not in the record business. He's drinking a hot coffee. They're both distracted. They smash into each other. Yeah. Words are exchanged. Yeah.

And then they both realize we're both heading to the same green room to do a segment on Hannity and the producers accidentally double booked us. You leave, says the failed rapper

most famous for pretending to speak with various accents. No, you leave, says the crank who found out about the Holocaust as an adult. But there was something between them

yeah yeah a feeling yeah and let's just say it was a spark that could melt steel beams and uh by the way i want you to know something look we're kidding around here all right and we're joking about interrupting all right we're having a good time but what I saw was a generous performer who was like, you know what? This is clearly building to something. I'm going to hang back till we get to the end. Yeah. And you know what? I'm thrilled.

I'm thrilled I did because it killed. I was well worth it. And I took everything I had, you know. You nailed it. I'm thrilled. Thrilled. He's thrilled. Oh, my God. you nailed it I'm thrilled thrilled he's thrilled oh my god I thought you were

setting up like a meet cute for like the worst pilot ever which you are yeah or maybe you know what let's make it a

Mayford TV movie yeah let's get it on Netflix Netflix is saving the romcom you know oh my god yeah you know it's saving

something so I don't know what that means yep put it in the comments, Abby! On Monday. Oh, gosh.

No, moving back. Oh, gosh. On Monday, Andrew Cuomo's former assistant, Brittany Camisso, sat down with CBS this morning to discuss her allegations of sexual harassment. Calling out Cuomo's claim that he's just affectionate with everyone, Camiso said these were not hugs that he would give his mother or his brother. Which I guess means his mother and brother didn't get the fucking promotion. You know what I mean? I think his brother was doing pretty well until recently.

Yeah, yeah. It seems like. I mean, we'll see. We'll see. I mean, fingers crossed. There is an ethical issue, obviously. Yeah, there is. I love that you looked up and like, you know what?

One thing is, I'm pretty sure there's an ethical issue here. Uh-huh. There is. There is. There is. There is. Mm-hmm. That's it. I'll leave it there. No, no. There's. There is. There is. There is. That's it.

I'll leave it there. No, no. There's a second part that nobody needs. Put it in the fucking comment. No. So here's what I mean. Here's what I mean. When Andrew Cuomo and Chris Cuomo were doing their kind of brother act, that is ethically questionable, but it's not a secret. They're not pretending they're not brothers. He's not

pretending to not be biased. It's obviously, you know, you have to you can he has to disclose. Everyone knows he's going to have a bias. I do think that there was a clearly a moment where he needed to speak more forcefully about basically like, I am not going to cover these allegations. They are serious. I will leave it up to other journalists. I think kind of going dark the way they have has not been good. People are like,

Chris Cuomo's still talking to his brother. Of course he's still talking to his brother. Yeah, he's his brother. It's his brother. Your problem is that they were too chummy on television before. But actually, this doesn't make that worse. That was just a problem

that you were uncomfortable with at the time. You know what I mean? Yeah. What is journalism? And it goes like, why was that allowed? They should have done a fucking Sunday dinner at the Cuomo's, like a little podcast, and they talked this shit. But that's not fucking news. But the thing about it is, but here's the thing.

Here's the thing. Oh, I'm going to learn a lot. The reason they did it. You're not. The reason they did it is because people loved it. They loved seeing Andrew Cuomo and Chris Cuomo yucking it up, giving each other brotherly shit. And so the audience really liked it. Right.

Like this was something like the chummy way in which a CNN anchor and a governor interacted was like something people liked to see. I thought it was charming. Right. Like I didn't know what was about to happen. But you knew they were brothers and that's the important takeaway. I knew they were brothers. Okay, you know what?

They were. Let's trim this all down. Let's cut this down just to the part where we were critical. To nothing. To the point where before Abby interrupted.

Just cut this to the critical parts. Cut it down all the way to just the critical parts. Let's just get out of this. Let's get out of this safely. Maybe leave this in now. Now it's funny to talk about only leaving in the critical parts.

Does Chris Cuomo have daughters? Because I didn't hear an apology to his nieces. I'll tell you that. She'll tell you that. She'll tell you that. She'll tell you that. Oh, again, nobody cares. Right. Over on Twitter, Alec Baldwin mourned Cuomo's resignation, lamenting, regardless of what you think of Cuomo, this is a tragic day. Party politics in this country draw ambitious but ultimately isolated, even socially maladjusted men and women who, given the current cancel culture, will likely have their shortcomings exposed and magnified.

It really makes you think that Alec Baldwin is surrounded by people who pretend he's smart all the time nothing is clearer to me than the fact that alec baldwin at a dinner party is the fucking worst i and also like yeah alec baldwin a known defender of women and girls including his daughter yeah so it's like oh boy this is a tragic let's let's start using the word tragic and tragedy uh appropriately sir yeah jesus christ and also whoever's invited him into a dinner party that's something them Let's start using the word tragic and tragedy appropriately, sir. Jesus Christ. And also, whoever's inviting him to a dinner party, that's on them. Fuck them.

Woody Allen is the person who's inviting him. This is what's happening. That's real. I'm sorry. Okay, but I'm sorry. We're going to start with, like, Woody Allen, you're buried. Delete. Fuck everybody at that table.

Although, you know what? God bless. If you need help, blink twice. We'll come get you. Blink twice. Abby will come get you. Also, I don't drive and I'm in a... Yeah, but I'll come find you. We'll figure it out. We'll get bogged down in the details.

Yes! Why would we? You blink, we'll come get you. Just for the Razor podcast, she just blinked a bunch just to show you what it would be like. She's not blinking. Someone's going to blink at her. Yes. Thank you very much. Just so you know, John just exhaled and did a

he's over this. Yeah, those are audible. I know, but he looked very distressed. I don't know if that was Oh, sorry. It was in your intonation. Fuck me. Let's go back. Wait, are we okay, John? I'm having a ball. Are we okay? I can't tell.

You know what? You fucking can tell that I'm having a great time. I don't know you. You don't know me, but you know I'm having a good time. Alright, you know that we're having a blast in here. Alright. Back to the tape. Anyway, climate change. Oh, yeah.

Big report. Back to more fun stuff. From the United Nations drop this week, issuing a, quote, code red for humanity, end quote, and sounding a death knell for coal and fossil fuel, which is driving global warming. You call that a death knell, said ExxonMobil CEO, a demon riding a horse through a field of bones. That's all I have for that. That's all you need. That was killer, baby.

Yeah, call that a death knell. Oh, shit. Hey, you know what? That can be our meet cute pilot. Death knell. It's called death knell. It's called death knell. It only lasts one ep.

It's about, her name is Nell. Death knell. Death knell. Oh's called Death Nell. It's called Death Nell. It only lasts one ep. It's about, her name is Nell. Death Nell. Death Nell. Oh, Jodie Foster. Yes. The film Nell is worth a national conversation. I would like a season of American Crime Story by Ryan Murphy to focus on the creation of Nell. And the decisions that went into the making of that film, because

it is an extraordinary text from a fascinating time in American history, the 1990s. The seriousness with which they approached this film, Liam Neeson, Jodie Foster, the accent, the science of Nell. Yeah. That's it. That's all I have. Oh, OK. Yeah. That's it. That's all I have. Oh, okay. See, I love it.

And also I have to say, like, truth be told, I never saw it. However, I did say Little Man Tate. Little Man Tate. Little Man Tate. I remember Little Man Tate.

I saw that in the theater with my mom and I was fucking crying like a bitch. That was a good call for me. Yeah. And at the end, my mom was like,

well, I guess I kind of hit some stuff. I was like, I guess so, Yeah. Yeah. And at the end, my mom was like, well, I guess I kind of hit some stuff. I was like, I guess so, mom. Yeah. Were you, did you always feel like a tiny little genius? First of all, I never felt tiny or little and never felt like a genius. I don't know. I think it was just like isolated kids.

Like kids that don't feel, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Matilda, you know? Never saw it, but yes. I'm way older than you.

It's a Roald Dahl book. Like, I know, I know. I thought you meant the movie. I did mean the movie. Fuck. Also, yeah, okay, you know what? You son of a... I mean...

The climate. It's bad. It's bad. It's bad. It's bad. We're in trouble. We are in trouble. We're in trubs. Yes.

The report says there is still a window of opportunity during which we can reduce emissions and avoid the worst outcomes. We just have to do one thing, which is more than anything we've ever done in human history. Just one thing, which is just more than we've ever done before. That's all it takes. I don't have any time. I'm going to have to say this until it's taken as American policy. We're going to have to get the carbon out of the air. And I know that there's reasons that people think we're not going to be able to do that, that it's impossible, that the technology won't work.

We can't count on it. And even if we do capture greenhouse gases, we still have to do a lot to reduce emissions. Anyway, I'm fine with all that. I get that. We're going to have to get it out of the air. We're going to have to build giant, in my mind, giant machines. Huge!

That suck carbon dioxide and other climate-changing gases out of the air. Yes! And we're going to have to turn them into other things, like cement or underground things. Underground things, yes. And one thing that I have learned, there's no environmental problem you can't solve

by hiding it underground. That's what we do. We've got to find a place. We've got to bury it. We've got to get the carbon out of the air, and then we've got to bury it. We've got to bury it. We've got to bury it in the ground.

Yeah, and I think as queers that grew up, I think we've learned that burying stuff really does wonders. We've got to queer the climate. We've got to queer the climate. Oh, queer the climate. We got to queer the climate. Oh, queer the climate. Except finally we like bust it out of the hiding and then we don't want that shit to bust out.

You know what I'm talking about. Yeah, we know it. Listen, you know when you said, and I can't say it enough, I thought you were going to say, and that's all I have. I was like, wait for that. Quentin Tarantino revealed this week he has never given his mother money after she mocked his desire to be a writer when he was 12 years old, though he did help her out of a jam with the IRS.

Now parents everywhere will think twice before they tell their kids, I'm not sure you get to use that word. And finally. Oh, can I say one thing about that? Yes. He also said, but I have to say, the way that she said she didn't think my writing was any good

is that it inspired me to work harder. So now I have all this fucking money and some very problematic art. So you know what? It was like, yeah, so I never bought her a fucking house. I was like, wow, all right. I think he should.

And that's all I had. And finally, David Schwimmer has officially denied rumors that he's dating Jennifer Aniston. David Schwimmer, he hardly knows her.

Buddy, I was there the whole time and I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled. I love it. Hey, but David Schwimmer is in this great show called Intelligence. I don't know if you've seen it. It's on Peacock with Nick Muhammad who created and wrote it.

Have you seen that? No, I didn't know that Peacock launched. Wait, is there something in – oh. No, I'm happy with Peacock. I don't know. I'm good with Peacock. I didn't know if I had to worry about his stuff. My mind is like – yeah, so it's really good. And you know, Nick Muhammad, like anyways, it's really funny. I didn't know if I had to worry about his stuff. My mind was like, oh, I'm going to be sorry.

Yeah, so it's really good. And you know, Nick Muhammad, like, anyways, it's really funny. I would check it out. I don't know anybody involved in that show, but I think it's really good. We love it. We got David Sherman, a new show on Peacock. Yeah, well, season two. And Nick Muhammad, who we know as Nate the Great from Ted Lasso.

He's brilliant. From Ted Lasso. Peacock, Paramount Plus. There's so many great places to watch great things these days. Oh, my God. Wait, is this like podcast support? We're unaffiliated. Okay.

We're unaffiliated. I thought maybe this was like, oh, here's some. Netflix, HBO Max, Apple. We can talk about them all. Showtime. Showtime. That was a little pandering. We love all of our sister networks, part of the Viacom family. Abby McEnany.

Oh, thank God you get to take a bite of me. Sorry, I had a ball. This was so much fun. This was so much fun. It was so great to meet you. What a delight. Everybody watch Work in Progress on Showtime. Abby McEnany.

Bye. Thank you so much. We come back. I talked to BuzzFeed reporter David Mack about it's about poppers. We have a conversation about poppers. But first, the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced that he would be resigning this week. And so, as we

have in the past when candidates step out of the limelight, it's time for our In Memoriam. In Cuomoriam. You know, I've seen you referred to a little bit recently as the love gov. I do it with everyone. Friends, strangers, people who I meet on the street. Finger lakes, finger lakes, finger lakes. My sense of humor can be insensitive and off-putting. Little I detect a lilac, hydrangea, tulips. What does it smell like to you? Tulips, yes. I often will give them a grip of the

arm, a pat on the face, a touch on the stomach. I was a cool dude in a loose mood. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. He is the deputy director of breaking news for BuzzFeed News and the journalist the gays need but don't deserve. Please welcome David Mack. Thank you for being here. That is on my business card. Thank you. Yeah. I want to get into our topic with a story. And here's the story. I was on a vacation in Costa Rica with my partner Ronan. And we happened to be doing a zip line, which he did not want to do, but I did. And we ended up being on this course with a bunch of gays that were in Costa Rica for a birthday party. And one of them was telling a story and that they had been, we were talking about the poisonous frogs of the rainforest. And he said that he was on the balcony at his hotel

and all of a sudden a little tiny frog like jumped right next to him and he kind of shooted away with his hand. And he accidentally brushed, just lightly brushed the very top of this frog with the back of his hand. And all of a sudden he felt a little bit strange, a little lightheaded, a little bit woozy. And he said it kind of was like poppers. And then one of his

friends said, oh, that's awesome. I'm going to get one of those frogs and bring it home with me and put it in the drawer next to my bed. And then if somebody asks me, why is this frog in my bed? I'm going to say, oh, I use that to clean my VCR. So the reason David is here today is because we are talking about poppers, because he wrote a great piece for BuzzFeed that every gay person should read because it's informative and every straight person should read because they'll find out what poppers are.

First question to you, what are poppers and why did you want to write a piece about them? So I'll answer the second part first because every year at BuzzFeed we do a sex week series and they sort of sent out a call for submissions and like who wants to write something this year. And, you know, typically it's like a lot of people and like who wants to write something this year and you know typically it's like a lot of people writing like personal essays or things like that what can i do about sex i was

like no i'm gonna do a kind of like woodward and bernstein here i want to like i want to investigate something i was like what can i do that was like a serious like investigation into something to do with sex and yes the answer of course was in the bedside drawer, right? Like, what are these things, these poppers, that, you know, people, I've got friends, I've been at gay bars where people pass them around on the dance floor, right? You know, to inhale, but also, obviously, it's used during sex as well, and comes in a small brown bottle. It is a chemical liquid that you inhale through your nostrils, one nostril at a time. And basically what it contains is alkyl nitrites. And I know this now because I've done the research. But of course, when I started, I didn't know anything about this.

And I think it's fair to say a lot of gay men don't really know what the chemical is or what you're putting in your body. No, no, nothing. Nobody knows anything what's on the back of the frog so to speak um and uh yeah so they're called alkyl nitrites and they've actually been around for you know since the mid-1840s millard fillmore famously right right love poppers big poppers queen uh he no uh they've been around, they were used for about 100 years to treat angina, right? And so inhaled in like a glass ampoule kind of thing where you would crush or pop the kind of ampoule and inhale it to sort of relieve yourself of angina symptoms.

And then hence the name poppers. About the 1960s, the preferred treatment for that changed. They kind of realized that there were a lot of men that were buying this product and using it for reasons that weren't to treat angina these guys didn't have angina no so what it does is when you inhale it it causes essentially your body to release nitric oxide in your body and that causes your blood vessels to relax and expand and it's basically a drop in blood pressure. And so it may leave you feeling quite like lightheaded and woozy for a couple of minutes. And during sex as well,

it creates a kind of huge sort of rush and passion, and it can help to sort of loosen the anus muscles, which obviously for gay men can be quite useful. And so that's basically the chemical function of this. And I learned this because I literally called up the Chemical Society of America and was like, who have you got that can explain poppers to me? And they deliver. Yeah. So there's you spoke to a writer named Adam Smith in the piece who's also, I think, writing a book about poppers. And what he said about this is, I see this whole thing as an amazing, bizarre queer performance, this strange dance between regulators and people that want to fuck each other in the bum, Smith said. Here's the thing that everyone knows exists and is in the open and is available, and yet no one talks about it and no one really wants to know the full details.

And it's like, hello, queer history. Even in just reading your piece, one thing I was really struck by, I mean, you talk about it, but like, I've never read a goddamn word about poppers. It is not discussed. And there is this great moment where you reach out to one of the producers of it, and he basically says, well, either you're going to write this without me or you're going to write this with me, and I got to just tell you everything. And so you really get a lot of information about it. But why do you think this thing, popers, is both ubiquitous and never discussed? I mean, you've hit it, the central question of why I wanted to write the story in the first place, right? Like, here is this product. It's a drug that is banned technically by the government

for human consumption. But of course, it's for sale everywhere under this sort of charade that it is a nail polish remover or VCR cleaner, as you mentioned. And the government is not stupid. They know what's going on, that you can buy this in sex shops and bodegas across the country, right? But they're choosing to sort of just let that kind of exist over there. And I was fascinated by this idea of like, well, where do these things come from, right? Like who is making them and who is profiting from

them? As you said, in Adam Smith, a British writer, great guy, he gave me that amazing quote about this kind of idea of this sort of dance between the government and the sort of gay community in many senses. We're kind of all going about this pretend system where buying these VCR cleaners for a technology that doesn't really exist anymore, does it? Yeah, it's a surprisingly stable market for VCR head cleaners these days. But did you, so one thing that was interesting to me

and just the way the people involved in the poppers manufacturing business talk about it. There's this little bit of like, hey, man, we got a good thing going here. Don't fuck it up. All right. Everybody just be cool. We call it nail polish remover. Gay people sniff it in their noses to have sex. sex and it is great. Did you feel a little bit of worry that you, David Mack, personally may lead to

the shutdown of the poppers business in the United States? It was a concern that I discussed with some gay friends. Will I be banned from gay bars across the country? You will be, my friend. I'll sign the change.org petition if this thing goes away. I'll say you'll be responsible. truly insane fact that two of the leading poppers manufacturers in this country are currently

suing each other in federal courts uh never using the words poppers by the way uh and the judge doesn't use the word poppers but they're imprinted in the lawsuits are all these pictures of rush and all the other brands right the judges of course rupaul right um they they never you know so they've got this incredible thing going on. So it was like on the public record that this was happening. And I, as you said, I reached out to these manufacturers and in the end, only one of them wanted to talk to me. But yeah, with the idea, as you said, that like, there is this sort of thing that's been going on and they're kind of done things in a way where they are using these loopholes to sort of continue to get around this. And they've got a very good thing going on.

But he was very gracious in the end and a really interesting character. He's a straight, white, married guy with two adult children who lives outside Philadelphia. And he makes what he estimates is 75% of America's poppers. It's also, by the way, a good business. I want to talk about these prices dollar to make a container of poppers 450 to the wholesaler six dollar to the retailer 20 to the consumer we're getting screwed here and then we're getting screwed here you know the the yes uh there's a huge market and also one of the stunning things that I learned in reporting this from two people involved in the industry told me,

essentially all the brands are exactly the same. Yes, by the way, by the way, look, not to put too fine a point on it, but like that surprised me greatly. I was like, how can that possibly be true? Yes. That they're all just the exact same substance in those little jars. I talked to a guy that wanted to remain anonymous in the story because essentially he was admitting that he'd been breaking the law. And he is the self-described inventor of the brands,

what was it, Super Rush, Gold Rush, Black Rush. And basically he had a background in marketing and was like, I learned all these background in marketing and was like i learned all these things in marketing school where if you like make it like a black label people will think it costs more it's more expensive and they'll pay more for it even though essentially it's all the same chemical compound in all the bottles it's where people are just convincing themselves that it's they're all having a good laugh at our expense put it that way this is news you can use uh so and then get used and get used we're having fun look we're just having a couple of people have a conversation

one other aspect of this is this like as we've been discussing this wink and a nod that says something about the way we deal with drugs in this country generally it is a strange thing right i don't know if you came across other examples or other analogs to poppers where there is this universally understood real use and everyone pretends otherwise. And like, I wondered, is it just because it's been around so long

that we allow this? Like, this is not how we talk about mushrooms. Yes, there are people that abuse solvents in other kinds of ways, but those actually are products sold for a specific purpose. What was your lesson in terms of like how we regulate drugs or what other drugs are like this as you were kind of researching this story? The drug itself is really not dangerous, to be clear, like for most people, right? It is essentially, as I said, it's a two minute high at most, really, for most people. And it's dangerous for people who may have heart or circulation issues. Also interestingly, if you're taking erectile dysfunction pills, that's going to mess up

with you when your blood pressure issues as well. The deaths mostly that occur with poppers are when people are accidentally usually drinking them by mistake. Maybe they're messed up at a club or at a bar or something and get handed something and think it's a five-hour energy drink or something, right? And that can kill you. Those are the rare deaths with poppers.

But as you say, there are drugs in this country that are legal that cause tens of thousands of deaths every year in this country. One of the original sort of king of poppers makers back in the 70s was sort of proudly talking about how he was making the third legal hedonistic product in America after tobacco and alcohol. The difference here is obviously this is hugely relevant to one community, right? A marginalized community. The reason why poppers is subject to a federal ban, two of the particular compounds, is because it was originally done as a way of protecting the gay community. Because this came about in the 80s when the AIDS crisis hit, POPPERS were one of the key suspects within the gay community for what might be causing AIDS.

No one knew initially what was causing HIV, what was causing AIDS. And a lot of people, there was a big movement. They were perhaps carcinogenic, that they were perhaps lowering the immune system. The ban was passed in 1990 after a lot of lobbying from the gay community to do something about this drug. Of course, we know that's not true now,

but it's still subject to this ban. And I think any severe crackdown on poppers now, and part of the reason why in the end I wasn't too afraid to write this story, is because I don't think realistically any government has it in them to pick this battle with what is a hugely, still a marginalized community, but also a very politically influential community. You know, when they tried to do this in the UK just a couple of years ago to try and do stricter regulation, you had a conservative MP,

who interestingly is the uncle of Emily Blunt, the actor, standing up in Westminster and giving a speech and saying, outing himself as a poppers user. He's a gay man. And he was saying like, I use poppers in sex. This is a stupid idea. We are going to fuel the black market. This will not

go away. And all you will do is drive it underground and even more underground, perhaps than it already is. To that point, one last question on this. As you said, there is a specific reason it is popular in the gay community, because it is a drug that has a felicitous impact on gay sex, on anal sex specifically. But it's also a party drug because it has a euphoric quality, has a rush to it. Why has it been so stuck in the gay community? Like, I think straight people would like poppers. What are they afraid of? The stories are there. More straight people are using it. Poppers have become more culturally prominent, for sure.

They're getting used by more straight people. And not just the kind of straight people that gay guys are bringing to gay bars, which are a lot of the straight people that I've seen use poppers, have done it with gay friends and things like that. But the answer is, I don't know. I think as they continue to become more culturally prominent uh you know there's celebrities like uh lena dunham has said that she did poppers and i think sam smith said they did them with uh the lead singer of the pussycat dolls as well who doesn't

want to talk about it but uh you know they're they're everywhere kind of getting more and more you know spoken about and hopefully you know who knows maybe my story will encourage i definitely had colleagues be like so what are these things like where can i get them like a friend was asking me where i could get some of these what did you call them you call them pop poppers pop poppers yes i do think uh to our straight listener give it a shot uh david mac thank you so much for getting to the bottom of this i'm sorry. And it's a really great story. And it's a fascinating topic because it is this queer story about a queer product that is popular in a very queer way. So thank you so much for being here.

And when we come back, conservative firebrand Britt McClintock is here to publicly voice her regrets for spreading vaccine misinformation. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. In the past few weeks, more and more conservative pundits have finally gotten on board the COVID vaccination train. Unfortunately, they caught the COVID vaccine train after the Delta variant forced countless others to catch the COVID refrigerated truck. One group of people that have become advocates for the vaccine, right-wing figures who didn't believe the virus was real and denied the need for vaccination until they learned the truth the hard way, either first or second hand. Now they're urging their followers to get vaccinated before they too end up hospitalized. Joining us now is one of these former anti-vaxxers,

radio host Britt McClintock, who recently battled the virus and who now has an important message, get vaccinated. Britt, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so glad you're feeling better. Oh, me too, John. Thank you so much for having me. You know, I will be the first to admit that I've spent the last 10 months attacking every doctor, politician, and child of mine who wanted to cram the vaccine down my throat like a Capri Sun straw, you know, because that's my throat. That's my God given throat. And I should be the only one cramming a Capri Sun straw down into it. But you know what hurts worse than trying to cram a Capri Sun straw around your throat, but never quite in your throat? COVID-19. Oh, okay. COVID-19. It hurt, John. It hurt a lot. And I will say that fighting COVID-19 was a real wake-up call for me and my family and

the several people at church who are high risk that I also infected with COVID-19. So, you know, if you're listening to this, please forget the stuff I said three hours a day, five days a week for a full 17 months about, you know, how the pandemic was created by, I don't know, Nancy Pelosi in the same lab that made Flubber and get the vaccine. Thank you, Britt. Let me just say thank you. It is heartening to hear someone willing to change their mind. I just wish you hadn't needed to go through something so horrible firsthand to change your mind. Yeah, no, that's fair enough, buddy. But that's just my way. You know, that's just how I do things. The other day I was on my bulldozer and I was

tooling around the compound, clearing some trees out that my husband had cut down because we're the kind of people who we don't like any trees around because if there are too many trees, we get too much oxygen and then we get a contact high and we're not trying to go to hell. So we were clearing out the trees. And you know how it says on those sleep and pill packets not to operate heavy machinery when you take four of them so uh i closed my eyes the next thing i know i wake up on the freeway about to bulldoze over a toll booth oh my god are you okay were you all right no yeah no I'm fine. I had exact change, so it wasn't a big deal.

But it was a real wake-up call for me and my family, specifically the people saying, wake up, are you dead? You know, it was a real wake-up call. That was a wake-up call. Well, I'm glad you're able to now take that warning seriously. It feels like maybe you should have listened to it before, you know? Okay. Some of us are just tactile learners, John.

I don't know if you know what that word means. I don't, but I like to say it. Like, I learned the hard way about putting a fork into the toaster. You're not supposed to do that, right? Because you'll get the shock of your life. It turns out, you know, it's actually extremely dangerous, and a lot of people don't know that. Yeah, it's extremely dangerous to put a fork in a toaster. I think everybody knows that. I think everybody knows that. Okay, but I like to do my own research. Like I just don't take the word of

the mainstream media when it comes to what I can or cannot jam into my toaster. Because here's the thing. I like to put the ice in on before, which is my rot as an American. And then the next thing you know, my toaster strudel is on fire. My hair is sparking. There's a black flaming pastry flying across my kitchen that looks like Mary Magdalene whore. Oh my God. Were you okay? Were you okay? Yeah, I'm fine. They're like six in a pack. That's not what I, okay. But it was a real wake up call for me and my family. Britt, it seems like you would rather risk your life and do incredibly dangerous things than just accept the received wisdom of anyone in authority because it might inconvenience you in the slightest way.

Do you see what I mean? Do you know how it says not to eat the silica packets and be jerky? Britt, you didn't. Well, I was driving with my baby in the lap the other day, and I was eating some jerky. Britt, I'm sorry. I can't take this anymore. I can't take it anymore. Oh, my God.

It's so funny you said that because that's exactly what my husband said when he came out. And I'm pro-gay now, and I really support the LGBTQ and non-community. I really do. That's not what – that's not – I can't – Britt McClintock, everybody. We've got to get her out of here. One more thing. Trans people are still fake, and landlord lives matter. Oh, my gosh. Get out of here. Britt McClintock, everybody. We got to get her out of here. One more thing. Trans people are still fake and landlord lives matter. Oh, my gosh.

Get out of here. Britt McClintock, everybody. She doesn't believe things are real until they happen to her. They're not. Thank you so much to Britt for being here. When we come back, we talk about the climate report and the bachelorette at the exact same time. And we're back. at the exact same time.

And we're back. After eight long years of compiling and interpreting the most up-to-date data, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released their latest report, and it's a barn burner. As in, all the barns will burn. Look, if you're like me, climate change is a lot like a bunch of old emails you forgot to respond to. Even when you're not thinking about it, it hangs over you a little bit all the time. So you try to distract yourself with blissfully mind-numbing reality TV. So we thought,

why not do that in real time? Here to talk about both the climate change report from the IPCC and The Bachelorette, we have climate expert Molly Taft and The Bachelorette expert Allie Barthwell. Molly and Allie, thank you so much for being here. Thanks so much for having us. Thanks for having us. Both important topics. Molly, I'm going to start with you. What surprised you most about this IPCC report? If you've been paying attention or reporting on this stuff for the last, you know, however many years since the last report, it's not particularly surprising. That said, seeing it laid out really sucks.

This is hard to hear. It's the worst. I'm so sorry. I am like the world's worst party guest because like it's I just, you know, this stuff sucks. I think for me, what was really hard to hear was that when the world got together for the Paris Agreement, they said, if we could keep warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius since the 19th century, that we need to make that happen. That's already, we're going to see massive changes with that warming, but we like absolutely have to keep under 1.5. This new report is like, well, folks, no matter what we do, we're going to reach 1.5 by the 2040s, which is far sooner than I would like

to see it. But basically that's, what's going to happen regardless of what we do. And that's going to mean really, really terrible things. I'm sorry. I can't take any more of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Could you believe when Katie came for Greg like that and on television? You know what? I actually can believe that Katie came for Greg like that. This entire season, Katie has been more concerned about doing the bachelorette right than actually being open and vulnerable. And she had someone in front of her

who was feeling emotional. He had like a shame hangover because he had expressed a feeling on television and like most straight men are not want to do that. And she looked at it and said, you know what? This is my girl power moment. I've been playing Olivia Rodrigo backstage and all my girlfriends are forwarding me links from Reddit. So let's talk about your acting career, which no one knew about. This was not a thing that was part of the show.

Molly back over to you. I just want to point out, first of all, that Katie, when she had her Seattle date with Greg a couple episodes ago, they pulled out a rain machine. Do you know where they were filming? New Mexico. Do you know about the super drought

that the West is facing right now? It is epic. It is historic. Water is going to become a scarce resource. You know what else they did? In the season finale, they had a giant effigy of Zozobra, a

New Mexico tradition where they set a giant effigy on fire and they burned their fears and anxieties. They had written on paper and the entire time I'm watching it like, this resort is going up in flames. There's one thing going up. Molly, the report makes clear that it is going to be hard for us to avoid hitting 1.5 degrees

of warming, but that is not some magical line over which things are bad and before which things are OK. The report also says that if we do hit some of the targets that we have already set, we will keep the number below two degrees. Do you see that as the kind of mission out of this report? Basically, if we hit some of the targets we've already set, we may keep it below two. We need to do more to keep it below one point five. Yeah, I actually think and here's a fun little twist is there is some positivity in this report if you look super hard and you understand what we're trying to do. There is

actually a call to action in this report, which is they say it's not still too late to save off the worst impacts. And in fact, the real hope is that if we do everything right, by the time we hit 1.5, we may have developed enough technologies to help kick in like global cooling and techniques to sort of pull some of this carbon out of the atmosphere. The thing is, it's like going to be one of the hardest things humanity has probably ever done. But we know what to do. We basically need to stop all fossil fuel use like very, very soon. We need to stop all new fossil fuel exploration by next year, which is quite a feat. And we need to start like a massive decarbonization and

electrification effort and transition to renewable energy. So, you know, just really casual stuff. But there is hope. We do know how to fix this. It's just going to be really hard. We are going to blow through some of those objectives, right? Like ExxonMobil stock price is based on the assumption that we're not going to do what you just said. And so it does seem like we're going to need to rely on technologies that don't yet exist. My view, as obviously a famous scientist, is that like we're going to have to figure out how to get this stuff out of the air. We're going to have to build new technologies that removes carbon from the air. And then I hear climate scientists, who are obviously less renowned than me, saying that that's going to be very

difficult and not something we can rely on. Where are you on carbon capture? Oh, yeah. Interesting topic. With all due respect to your expertise, John, I think that theoretically carbon capture is a yes and situation. We've got a lot of folks right now who are very excited about it. Bill Gates notably has sort of done this talking tour of how it's the answer. But often paired with that attitude is the sort of approach that we're never going to meet these targets. So we need this technology instead. The answer needs to be we need to develop those technologies, but also we need to get our ass in here to stop using fossil fuels, period. Like, we're just not going to be able to do it otherwise. I think that decarbonizing the economy needs to go hand in hand

with developing these sorts of technologies. Tech is great, but it can only do so much. That was so heavy. Allie, do you miss chris harrison no chris harrison is a sentient pair of ll bean heritage chinos with a flat front that has decided that he is capable and emotionally intelligent enough to guide the franchise when the majority of what he can do is look at someone say what is happening and then announce what will happen next so chris harrison could easily be replaced with a set of cue cards

that just had the date and time on them much of his job could be replaced with someone holding up a newspaper or a hotel itinerary. So am I excited? Tayshia and Caitlin are returning for Michelle's season? Yes. Am I excited that Bachelor in Paradise is going to be having a series of celebrity hosts? We will see.

Because I don't know if David Spade and Lil Jon really capture the energy of the Bachelor cinematic. Let me ask you this. Would love a follow-up on all of that. Let me ask you this new topic. I've come to learn that there's going to be some sort of Bachelor for seniors. Yes. Sort of silver Bachelor.

Yes. Incredible. Are you excited about this? Every time that they have had someone that's literally over the age of 29 on the show, it's been a better season. So the fact that there might be people in their mid to late 60s really sounds like a treat. Molly, who would have been your top choice for Katie? Oh, no, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. That's not right. The one who didn't do a rain machine, John. That would be my top choice. Okay, so that's Blake or Justin. Where are we landing? Yeah. I mean, Justin was very handsome, but they're both a little bit like sentient Bumble profiles. So at this point, I have no comment. Molly. They're an algorithm sent to us by Tinder. Absolutely. Cost control. And that's great. Molly. Yes. As you pointed out, the report indicates that getting to net zero will take unprecedented

global cooperation. That feels very daunting. But at the same time, we have seen countries working together and setting ambitious targets. Not ambitious enough, but the U.S., we have exited and reentered the Paris Climate Accords. We have. What does the level of cooperation we need look like compared to what we're seeing right now? I think what we're seeing right now is preschool learning to share blocks and we need to go up to like a master's degree in like international relations. We really need to ramp it up. Countries have notoriously not been very good at hammering out the details of these sorts of things.

We also kind of just need to get our own shit in order in the U. the US first before we even kind of try to come to other countries and set examples. With this infrastructure bill that just passed, for instance, the stuff that got taken out, you know, in the bipartisan compromise was really, again, kind of kindergarten level stuff to start really getting our ass in gear to decarbonize. And the result is, you know, it's definitely not enough. So I love the optimism, but that's kind of not my jam. I really, really, we need to see a lot more. And I am looking forward to, in a dark sense, what happens with the Glasgow Climate Talks this year, because I'm not really sure what's going to happen. Allie.

Yes. How will climate change affect the future of The Bachelor, specifically Bachelor in Paradise, which in the trailer for the new season shows the contestants enduring a tropical storm? I mean, there has been rain before. There had been sort of a gloomy day, but I think contestants, they have to spend a lot of time before they go on the season getting their eyebrows tattooed on, getting eyeliner tattooed on. This is a real thing that people do because they're on a beach with no hair.

They have to do their own hair and makeup. So they get their face like tattooed on. A lot of the women have talked about they're like, I get my eyeliner tattooed on or I get like lip liner tattooed on. So I have I will not melt off. That's cool. We're probably going to see a lot of innovative beauty techniques to look your best while gale force winds are whipping at your face during a proposal.

They may have to go to a resort that has walls because famously the resort is like an open air Bacchanal palace where everyone sleeps on bunk beds and there's like one room with air conditioning where you're allowed to go and have sex. So I think they'll have to reinvest in like walls so that we could really see some strong infrastructure necessary at bachelor paradise. Final question for both of you. What can the bachelorette do to solve climate change? Allie, we'll start with you. Well, I mean, we've seen in these COVID seasons that they've been doing at these resorts, they're at one location. They're not jet-setting around the globe to three or four

global destinations. We're not going from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Tahiti, to Paris, to back to Bali. So I think they can stay in one place. They can avoid any symbolic effigies that will be burned to shed relationship stress, to maybe not encourage wildfires. And then again, I'm really excited to see what sustainable, reusable makeup products and gowns we're going to see going forward. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. Thank you. Molly, same question to you. reusable makeup products and gowns we're going to see going forward.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. Thank you. Molly, same question to you. What can The Bachelorette do to solve climate change? You know, Ali hit it right on the head. And I would just like to add, in 2014, after Governor Jerry Brown announced the first devastating drought in California, an episode aired with Juan Pablo and then-ant, future Bachelorette, Claire Crawley, where they unleashed hundreds of thousands of tons

of fake snow, no, real snow, on an LA set to transform it into a winter wonderland. So in the Bachelor world, dates are extravagant and they often mean environmental extravagance. I would like to propose to the producers that straight people can be totally messy without you doing all that shit. Just put them on an island,

put them in a room for God's sake. They'll do the work, stop wasting water, stop going to all these places. They'll make the mess themselves. And that, I think that's how they're gonna address it. And it was called Bachelor Winter Games and it was a true goddamn delight. It was a winter Olympic themed Bachelor spinoff where they took people from all the international seasons, put them in a house.

They occasionally took them skiing or snowboarding. And it was a fucking treat. And there have been relationships that have lasted the test of time out of Bachelor Winter Games. A lesson there for all of us, I suppose. Molly Taft, Allie Barthwell, thank you both so much. When we come back, we'll end on a high note. And we're back because we all need it this week. Here it is, the high note. My high point is that after burning out at the end of the 2020 school year and taking a gap year, sort of, working part-time during the pandemic, I am once again a classroom teacher. I just finished my first day at my new school, 57th and 8th graders. We're all masking and everything, but the fact that the kids are being good about it and the staff is being good about it and everything really kind of gives me some hope.

Looking forward to the rest of hopefully winding down this pandemic, getting back to normal, because finding really quickly how much I miss the Rio classroom and how much I fucking hate Zoom. So thanks, Lovett. Keep up this awesome show. I'll keep listening to it. Bye. Hey, Lovett. This is Liz from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Here's my high note for the week. We are opening our show in two weeks, so this is literally a high note for me. I haven't performed in over six years, and I'm excited to be in a musical now that most people are vaccinated and people are getting better in our area. Thank you so much.

I love all the pods and hope you're well. Bye. Hey, Love It. This is Sharon calling from Arizona. My high note for this week was prompted by something that was less than ideal. My 11-year-old daughter was sick for a couple of days. Thankfully, it was not COVID and she's feeling better now.

But while she was under the weather, my 8-year-old son just doted on her constantly and even stayed up late one night drawing her the most adorable card. And in it, he wrote a poem that said the following. It says, you will be the one to guide the way for everyone. You are the star that shines so bright. You have the keys to a wonderful world. Feel better soon. As a parent, the hardest thing about this pandemic

has been having to watch my kids miss out on so many things. But this was just a great reminder that they've really grained an amazing relationship with each other over the last year and a half. They've made us so proud with how resilient and responsible and mature they've been about doing the right thing, you know, more so than a lot of adults have been, to be honest. So shout out to all the parents out there who are raising a bunch of amazing kids during this crazy time. They are all the stars that shine bright and very much are the light

that gives me hope during these crazy times. Thanks for all that you guys do. Hi, Lovett. This is Leah calling from Raleigh, North Carolina with my high note for the week. And I'm so happy to report that my brother-in-law has decided after months of saying he would never get vaccinated, he has decided to get his first vaccine dose today. We are really glad that we didn't give up and that we continue to try to coax him. Although if you ask him, he came up with this idea on his own, whatever it takes, but it's just really nice to get that last family member vaccinated. So anyways, thanks for all that you do. Bye.

Thank you so much to everybody who called in. If you want to leave us a message about something that gave you hope, you can call us at 213-262-4427. Thank you to Abby McEnany, David Mack, Molly Tapp, Allie Barthwell, and Blair Erskine, a.k.a. Britt McClintock. Never eat the silica packet. There are 451 days until the 2022 midterm elections. Have a great weekend. producer. Hallie Keeper is our head writer. Jocelyn Kaufman, Pallavi Gunalan, and Peter Miller are the writers. Our associate producer is Brian Semel. Bill Lance is our editor, and Kyle Seglin

is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designers, Jesse McClain and Marissa Meyer, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast. And to our digital producers, Nara Melkonian and Milo Kim, Mia Kelman and Matt DeGroot, for filming and editing video each week. So you can in quorum, in quorum, in quorum, in quorum, in quorum, in quorum, Inquamorium. Inquamorium. Inquamorium.