Lovett or Leave It - Quoth the Raven “Brain worms" (Live from Asheville. NC!)

Episode Date: June 23, 2024

Lovett Or Leave It arrives for our first Asheville show ready to listen and learn! Head of the North Carolina Democratic Party Anderson Clayton teaches us about Gen Z, and it sounds so much cooler when she says it. TS Madison and Lovett canonize recent moments in queer history. Lovett tests the locals on nearby news, and the Rant Wheel schools us all in the art of being enraged.Tickets & Tour Dates: crooked.com/eventsPre-order Democracy or Else, out June 25th: crooked.com/books

Hello, Asheville! It is great to be back. Two nights in Nashville. It was really like one of the first and like only decisions we made. It was sort of like we'll go wherever we're told. But we're here in Nashville and we liked Asheville so much, but we're only here for like 24 hours, and we didn't really get to experience it, so we're like, we're gonna do two nights in Asheville. Yeah! But what if the people don't come?

They'll come. They're here. Tonight's night one, it's like Coachella weekend one. And like Chappell-Rone, my conception of myself is struggling against all this adoration and overnight success. It's not. It's not. We've got a great show for you.

The chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Anderson Clayton is here. Just two young people on stage. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. It's a new generation talking. T.S. Madison is here. Back to celebrate America's greatest and gayest icons. I gaslight this audience with state trivia. And then we'll take a spin around the rant wheel. But before that, I'd like to thank all the phenomenal guest hosts who kept my seat warm while I was wherever I was. But I do want to thank Maria Bamford, Andy Richter, Lewis Furtel, Larry Wilmore,

Matt Rogers, Ian Carmel, Adam Ripon, Langston Kerman, Jared Goldstein, and Guy Branham. It is only because Kendra and the team were able to line up such an amazing group of guest hosts that I could abscond and still come back to this. So thank you. And they did an amazing job, they really did. And also the team likes them more than me. I could see it in their faces, it's like, oh my God, we're dealing with this again.

But first, let's get into it, what a week. But first, let's get into it. What a week. RFK Jr. has repeatedly claimed that he's made it to enough statewide ballots to qualify for next week's presidential debate, and he threatened to sue CNN for not letting him participate. Buddy, you can't just sue your way onto TV. If you could, I'd be on TV. This would be TV.

Of course, the Washington Post checked with state election officials and found that Kennedy's full of shit and doesn't actually appear on several ballots that he claims to. Evidence is mounting in support of my theory that his brain worm is alive and well and controlling his actions ratatouille style. All right, I'll admit it. It's not my theory, it's my brainworms theory. Noam Chomsky's wife this week insisted that her husband is still alive after Jacobin and the New Statesman published obituaries for the linguist and activists. Dead Noam Chomsky furiously living. Grammatically makes sense, but does it have meaning?

That did much better than I thought it would. I'm seeing... Asheville. What bubble? Chomsky is 95 years old and has been in the hospital in Brazil recovering from a massive stroke he had a year ago. That's the story they're telling us anyway. But when you see Chomsky next time, the only thing that will be massive is that BBL.

And in case he dies between the recording and release of this episode, RIP Noam Chomsky, sorry about your botched BBL. Speaking of bloated asses, Roger Stone was secretly recorded laying out the steps Republicans will take to challenge the 2024 election results if Trump loses. His most diabolical plan involves a tactic that some experts have taken to calling lying. Activist reporters Lauren Windsor and Ali Samarka posed as MAGA freaks at a Catholics for Trump event in March at Mar-a-Lago and recorded stones

saying that Trump's team was more prepared this time around with a plan that would involve lawyers, judges, technology. Okay, well, less of a plan, more of a notes at grocery list, but still. By the way, this is the same journalists who went undercover to record Martha Anne Alito. Lauren Windsor is journalism's noble borat. And I, for one, think it's very nice.

All right. Couldn't get, I couldn't get through it. I did it, I did it, I did it. Stone said this about preventing voter fraud. But at least this time when we do it, you have a lawyer and a judge who's phone number standing by so you can stop it. We did, we made no preparations last time.

None. Look, I don't love the sound of this, but I also can't imagine there are too many people who actually pick up the phone when Roger Stone calls. It's like, I have Tommy's number, but what also can't imagine there are too many people who actually pick up the phone when Roger Stone calls. It's like, I have Tommy's number, but what does that mean in practice? You know? Could there be a rift between conservatives on the Supreme Court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett

and Justice Clarence Thomas's split on the meaning of originalism in a case involving a trademark dispute, that case concerned a t-shirt mocking Trump's dick size, which the justices ruled unanimously could not be trademarked. A tough blow to the crooked store. But we gave it our best shot. Here's where it gets juicy. In a concurring opinion, Barrett wrote that Thomas' approach of relying purely on history

was wrong twice over. Ooooooooo. Doesn't seem like much, but she threw a glass of Chardonnay at Thomas while she said it. This has important implications for United States v. Rahimi. At stake is whether the court will uphold a federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from owning guns. As Politico noted, Barrett's concurrence marks the first time there's ever been an opinion backed by four women on the Supreme Court without any men joining in. And sure, Amy is clearly the Charlotte, but... I admit, perhaps a positive sign nonetheless. Anyway, the liberals see an opening.

Kagan and Sotomayor are trying to get Barrett to join for their Sunday schvitz at the JCC pool. Speaking of people sweating, this week the outgoing CEO of Boeing testified before the Senate about the plane manufacturer's dysfunctional corporate culture. Hard to imagine a less friendly audience than a bunch of politicians who fly commercial back to their home state every time the Senate goes on recess, which is roughly every three hours. During the hearing, CEO David Calhoun admitted Boeing intimidated whistleblowers saying, I know it happens. Pretty nice wife you got there. Would be a shame if she went thwop. Which is the sound a wife makes when she gets sucked out of a window on one of our planes,

which doesn't happen. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the committee, said the committee had more than a dozen whistleblowers and he encouraged more to come forward. Added Blumenthal, and hey, maybe take the train. When you come down and testify. The Senate revealed that one whistleblower came forward to OSHA just last week, accusing the company of mishandling and losing hundreds of damaged or defective parts at its plant in Washington.

We actually have the undercover footage of the planes being manufactured at that facility. For those listening at home, that was the Lucy footage. It was the Lucy and the chocolates. And it played really great in the room. Senate Republicans this week blocked a bill to ban bump stocks, which allow a shooter to fire bullets from a semi-automatic rifle as if it were a machine gun. Obviously, this is incredibly disturbing.

Nobody's present anymore. We're all rushing through life, not taking a moment to savor it. You're shooting as quickly as possible? Slow down. Appreciate each pull of the trigger. Reminder, the Las Vegas shooter used semi-automatic rifles with bump stocks when he murdered 60 people

and injured hundreds after firing more than a thousand rounds into the crowd in 10 minutes, with the bump stocks making it possible to aspire as many as 90 rounds in 10 seconds. And now Clarence Thomas has dictated via perverse reading of the law that you need to live in fear of these weapons even though machine guns remain illegal and Republicans who were fine with this Trump era ban won't pass a bill to stop it. So the bill was doomed, but Senate Democrats were right to try. After all, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take

unless you have a bump stock. Because then the extra bullets kind of really do the work for you. Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee issued a rare public statement about his investigation of Matt Gaetz, confirming that it has spoken with more than a dozen witnesses and issued 25 subpoenas, and that it will continue to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use, and obstruction.

The committee usually doesn't share details about ongoing investigations, so I appreciate that they're not Gaetz keeping. Audience laughs On Wednesday, a witness allegedly told the committee that a payment Gaetz Center was specifically for sex. Now, personally, I would the committee that a payment gate center was specifically for sex. Now, personally, I would have taken that to the grave.

The grave is this fabulous cocktail bar where I go to gossip about every secret that I have. California Governor Gavin Newsom said this week that he'd like to implement more restrictions on kids' use of smartphones during the school day, citing Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's call for a warning label on social media. Said Newsom, when children and teens are in school, they should be focused on their studies, not their screens. Hear, hear. There's plenty of time after school

to respond to texts from Matt Gaetz. Now, now for my favorite story of the week. Now for my favorite story of the week. Four months. On end, almost every day, a Democratic lawmaker from Vermont would emerge from a committee room and find that the tote bag he'd hung up in the hallway was soaking wet. Not to blame the victim here, but why exactly did he keep leaving it there? After that happens to your bag twice, don't you decide to not leave it there again? Right?

But okay, the Democrat Jim Carroll set up a hidden video camera and his suspicions about the culprit were proven correct because GOP state representative, Mary Morrissey was repeatedly dumping water in his bag. And here's the footage. I've been saying this, we need more women bullies. I've been saying this, we need more women bullies. And just like that, she's on Trump's VP shortlist. Morrissey publicly apologized on their Vermont House floor on Monday saying, I'm truly ashamed for my actions.

And look, some people won't believe that you can be genuinely ashamed of something you did day after day for months. But other people have the Panda Express app on their phones. And they, we, no it's possible. Morrissey didn't offer any explanation, but she reportedly said last week, quite honestly, I don't know why I did it. I was not meaning to hurt Jim.

It was something very out of character for me and I'm ashamed of myself. Was not meaning to hurt Jim. The plot fucking thickens. This woman had an insisive demon on her shoulder whispering, whispering, soak the bag. Every day for months. And she's just as confused as we are?

A better answer would be, hey, maybe I'm a bitch, so what? In response to her apology, Carol told his colleagues that he felt she was sincere, but said, for five months I went through this. Adding, it was torment. But then again, why do you keep leaving your bag there? I can't stop thinking about this story. This middle-aged Republican woman was just the Joker. Two climate protesters were arrested Wednesday for spraying orange powder paint on the ancient

Stonehenge monument. And believe me, if I wasn't so busy with this tour, I would be out there protesting the Bronze Age right there with them. I think we can all agree the real climate change villains are Van Gogh and the Bell Beaker people. I tell ya, I tell ya, the response on fucking, the sleeping idea wakes furiously

and fucking Bell beaker people, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. Somebody sprays orange paint on Stonehenge and then everyone's like, well, that's stupid. And then they're like, well, you know what's radical, what they're doing to the climate. And it's like, well, yeah.

And then I think, well, are those climate activists as gung-ho about Joe Biden as they should be? No. Even though the most important decision probably for planet Earth, if not just the next year, but the next decade, is whether or not Joe Biden is elected or Donald Trump is elected. That it's a hinge point for fucking humanity,

but the very people that focus and think about climate change the most have found it in some way it's a hinge point for fucking humanity, but the very people that focus and think about climate change the most have found it in some way it's like not, you can't admit that that's the case. Why not? Now I want to fucking paint Stonehenge. That's what kind of a neo-lib shall I am. I'll paint Stonehenge

and I'll put Biden 2024 on it. He's not as old as these rocks. And that's something. A historic building in the, a historic building in the ancient Italian city of Matera was damaged by a group of London tourists from the parkour group Team Fat, with one member trying to do a parkour stunt off the building and breaking off a stone ledge. Have some respect for history. If you get to do parkour, do it in 2005. And finally, it's time for a little segment we're calling America's Least Wanted. Since we're here in beautiful North Carolina, we'd spotlight one of your hometown GOP psychos, Republican nominee for governor, current lieutenant governor. It's Mark Robinson.

Sounds like the crowd knows who he is. But for those who may not be familiar, Mark Robinson answers the question, what if your divorced and furious uncle's most offensive Thanksgiving dinner comments became a person and ran for governor. Not but seven years ago, Robinson was just a regular guy working at an office furniture company,

posting Holocaust denialism on Facebook and spouting off about how the movie Black Panther was employed by Jews to take money from black people. Simpler times. But all that changed when Robinson got so mad that the Greenboro City Council was considering canceling a gun show after a horrific shooting and made an angry little speech that went viral on conservative social media.

I remember when being a rising star used to mean something in this country. That you made a sex tape, or you sold the rights to your memoir that later turned out to be fictional, or your dad was famous, or you bought the patent to a diabetes medicine and hiked the price, or you were really hot and could kind of sing. But not anymore. Flash forward and disgrace former president Donald Trump was pretty slow to endorse Robinson in the GOP gubernatorial primary, but when he did just days before the election, Trump called Robinson Martin Luther King on steroids. I'm just imagining an absolutely jacked Martin Luther King on steroids. I'm just imagining an absolutely jacked Martin Luther King. And you know what?

Trump may be on to something. I bet he would have looked cool. Let's take a look. Where are the pants? Where are the pants? Where are the pants? For those at home, it's an AI image of a jacked Martin Luther King. His muscles are bulging through his suit jacket at the biceps, and he's Donald Ducking it. And I'm sorry.

Robinson is also very homophobic, having called gays and theys maggots, flies and filth. That's obviously disgusting. This is pride. You don't get to call me a sloppy little pig boy until we've established a safe word. And surprise, Mark Robinson is on record saying he'd ban abortion for any reason, quote, it makes no difference to me why or how that child ended up in that womb. And the important thing is how you, Mark Robinson, a strange man, feel about it. Robinson also recently accused the Washington Post of being a Democrat smear machine churning out hit pieces just because the Post asked him to comment on some of his previous statements. Now I can relate to this as someone who talks on a mic for a living, it's important to never

take accountability for anything you've ever said. So if you want to prevent this loony tune from becoming the highest ranking elected official in North Carolina, who would wield enormous power and to stop other radical, extreme Republicans from taking power in this state, go to votesaveamerica.com slash 2024 to learn more and dear God, let's do everything we can between now and election day. We come back. It's the chair of your state democratic party, Anderson Clayton. All right. Hey, don't go anywhere.

There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back.

I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back.

I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back.

I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm back. I'm in the fucking American South, every single one. And every time you go, you can try, and I've done it multiple times. I'll go to, I've said every name there is, everywhere I go, and you're always telling me I'm wrong. There is no correct answer, never, not one goddamn time. So you know what?

The barbecue I eat is between me and fucking God. I'm done. I know how to eat. I know how to eat. I may, yes, I am in the shape of an anxious gay coastal elite Jew. That's true. But my gastroenterological, whatever the fuck it's called,

my meat tube could be from here. Please welcome the chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Anderson Clayton. Hi, hi, Thanks for being here. Shouldn't you be at the club or something? We are. Well, I guess we are.

How did you become? You became the chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party when you were 25 years old. Indeed. How did that happen? I was angry, honestly, which I think a lot of young people right now are about the state of politics in the country. And I think that we decided a lot of young people, some of the folks that are here in this crowd tonight, that helped us take over a state party and really, I think that we decided a lot of young people, some of the folks that are here in this crowd tonight, that helped us take over a state party and really, I think, make it look like

what North Carolina is right now, which is representative of all of our counties in our state. We have 100 counties, we have to act like it, and we can't cede ground anywhere to a party that, quite frankly, would like to see the demise of our democracy. And so I had a really cool campaign team comprised of young folks that helped me campaign

and organize across the state. So we had Dante Pittman on the show that, if you're hearing this, is out on Friday. And I asked him this, I'm curious what you think about it, too, which there do seem to be these two trends taking place side by side. One is a kind of North Carolina that I think is represented by you and some young Democrats who

are trying to show how this state is changing. And then you have a very extreme and anti-democratic Republican party that seems to be reacting to a changing North Carolina, not by changing with the state, but by trying to hold on to power that it can. And can you just talk about how you navigate that? I mean, I think we take us back. How many of you all in this room,

I can't really see all that well, but how many of y'all are from North Carolina originally? Yeah, okay. So this is gonna be a history lesson for the folks of this room. Most of y'all are not from North Carolina from what a history lesson for the folks in this room. Most of y'all are not from North Carolina from what I just saw by the hands that are raised. And yeah, come on, everybody out there. Nashville, did you hear that? They're from Tennessee

out there. I heard of Tennessee. But I think it is, it's important to know, you know, Democrats controlled North Carolina for 40 years in this state. And under the leadership of governor Jim Hunt, of people like governor Terry Sanford, Democrats that sat down 40 years ago and they said, man, how do we take North Carolina and stop it from looking like a state like, no offense to anybody in here

if you're from Mississippi, but a state like Mississippi right now. North Carolina used to be called the Rip Van Winkle state. We were asleep at the wheel in some ways. And we had Democrats that got together in leadership and said, man, how do we bring this, how do we make this North Carolina become the new South, right? And it started with education and the prioritization on public education in the state. And so Jim Hunt was the governor that created Smart Start and the teaching fellows system. And you had the

first public education system in North Carolina, the UNC system that was created right here. UNC Chapel Hill was the first public higher education school in the entire country, right? Like that came from the South. And we've got to remind people of the history of the North Carolina Democratic Party because that party is actually what built us into a place for economic opportunity, the research triangle part and business and economic Mecca in some ways in the South for transforming the identity of what a region like this can look like. And you know, in 2010, unfortunately,

when we had Republicans win on our maps in North Carolina and take over our state, it's when we started to see that regression fully take place, right? We started to see over the last 10 years, the Republican Party in North Carolina try to take what Democrats it took us 40 years to build, and it's gonna take them a decade to destroy it honestly.

We're seeing the attack in our public education system and the UNC system from them trying to take out diversity and inclusion efforts from places that look like UNC Asheville right now unfortunately here in your own backyard and we're looking at the dismantling and the attack on public education because Republicans know where Democrats have always gotten our power from in this state. And so we're running folks that are young people that look like and represent, not just young people, but new people this year in the Democratic Party in North Carolina that can represent

and bring back that vision of what a new South can look like. And that is increasing opportunity for people everywhere, right? Yeah. North Carolina also has outside of Texas, I believe the biggest rural population in the country. And you've just been going across some of the more rural parts of this state. I sometimes think a lot of, especially national Democrats, spend more time worrying about why rural places, say, have more representation in the Senate and less time worrying about how do we reach those places where

we genuinely believe that democratic policies, if we get over this sort of divide over democratic politicians, could make a big difference. What do people miss about how to campaign in rural parts of North Carolina? 90% of politics is just showing up. And this year, what you're going to see is that Democrats are going to show up all over this state. We're contesting 2022. For those of you that don't remember, you know, 2018, we had historic wins across North Carolina. We finally broke the Republican super majority in our state legislature.

We were on the upswing in a lot of ways. And then we back slid in 2020 and in 2022. And in 2022, we lost control of our Supreme Court in North Carolina. Democrats lost our Court of Appeals. We lost up and down the ballot. Chief Justice Sherry Beasley, who should be our Chief Justice in that way, right? And should be our United States Senator for that matter too. But she won actually five house seats in 2022

that we lost by 500 votes as a party. And those were in a lot of our rural counties that are outside of major metropolitan areas or for any of you that might know the studies that have been done out of Duke University and Mack McCorkle. But country politics in counties like Alamance County and places like Wilson and Nash counties that representative, hopefully representative

like Dante Pittman is gonna be representing next year. But places like that that were historically democratic counties that we've lost our margins in. And to the point that you made earlier, North Carolina's population, you know, 41% of our state population lives in an urban area, 59% still lives in a rural community. And that's hard for people to believe sometimes,

it's easy for folks out here, maybe in Buncombe County to believe though, because it's a, and y'all aren't all Asheville in that sense, I see some Weaverville folks in here and everybody else around, you know, my outskirts of Asheville in that sense. But I think it's important for folks to realize that this administration is actually the first one

in federal history that can say that they are investing in rural economies again. And it's something that our party needs to wear very proudly when we talk about the future of rural communities. Because for a while, what it looked like in this country and especially in this state is people were like, man, we're waiting for the, it's like the plane sort of needs to land itself

and we're waiting for that decline to happen in some aspects. And the pandemic really made it so that people could look at it and say, what's the rural Renaissance sort of look like, what does it mean to live outside of cities and not be in one place and in one centralized location? And that gave an opportunity for all of rural North Carolina to look at it and take advantage of the American Rescue Plan funding that came into our communities, of the bipartisan infrastructure

bill, of the IRA money that's coming into North Carolina right now to say, how can we take this money and create and sustain communities here on out in our state and give people the opportunity to live anywhere? But I just, I say that because people ask me, they're like, you're 26, why are you so excited to vote for an 80 year old? And I'm like, this is the first person that's ever looked at a place like where I come from in North Carolina and say, man, you shouldn't have to leave it in order to make something of yourself.

You should be able to sit right there in it and do that. So Mark Robinson, it, it's terrible. Yeah. Say that again. Nobody can like this guy. Nobody. I mean, it's, he's got to be a drag on that. He's got to be a drag on the, on the, on, on some of these other state-wide races.

It's got to be, he's got to be, I mean, even Donald Trump was reluctant to endorse this guy. Is Mark Robinson being at the top of this ticket? Is that helping people understand just how extreme this version of the Republican Party has become? Yes, but I'd also like to say that he is still a current sitting Lieutenant Governor, right? I think a lot of people nationally we've seen,

and especially folks that are in this state know, we've seen a lot of people come to terms with who Mark Robinson is over the last couple of months. North Carolina Democrats have known who he is over the last two years, over the last four years, right, of seeing what he's done in Raleigh. But I think that the fact is that he's been elected statewide once in North Carolina.

And so the threat is real, right? Donald Trump has won this state twice, right? The threat of that is real. And what we need every single person in this room to do is recognize that threat, but recognize also the opportunity that you have to defeat that threat in November. And that looks like making sure that you're talking to your networks about this election. And I challenge every single one of you. I got, I mean, I don't know about how many

y'all got family or friends that may have voted for the other side in an election cycle past. I know I do. And one of the hardest conversations to have is with those folks in your life that may disagree with you about politics. But this election cycle is not going to be won on a phone screen, on a television screen. It's going to be won in our church pews, in the grocery store lines, in the places that we're going to find other people. And I just, I hope that all of you leave here tonight challenging yourself to go out there and talk to somebody that may disagree with you about Mark Robinson because Republicans need to understand

that the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce has called this man bad for business. A historically Republican, honestly, organization, right, is saying that we know that Mark Robinson is not good for this state, actually. We need sensible public servants in leadership in North Carolina, and that looks like our Attorney General

Josh Stein right now, right? So you're talking about persuading people who might want to vote for Republican. Can you talk a little bit about persuading people who might not want to vote at all, especially young people? I mean, we hear this this is true in a, all across America, that, that, that a lot of what's going to happen in November is going to hinge on reaching a younger and more cynical and frustrated group of voters.

Can you talk a little bit about that, especially because you and I are both Gen Z and, you know... especially because you and I are both Gen Z and, you know. No. Oh! You gave yourself away by saying that like that, John. I'm not gonna lie to you. We're both Generation Z. Um... I... I understand the frustration.

I mean, that's part of the reason why I'm here. And I think right now people need to recognize young people are 60% more likely to turn out to vote if there's a young person who's not a generation Z. I understand the frustration. I mean, that's part of the reason why I'm here. And I think right now people need to recognize young people are 60% more likely to turn out to vote if there's a young person on the ballot, regardless of what political affiliation they hold right now. We crave representation in politics. And I think that there's a level of our sort of

coming into our political, I think about any marginalized group in politics right now and what I would say is that first comes representation and the desire for it, and then comes that second level of it when you actually realize like maybe the people that are representing me that look like me don't actually represent my values as a person,

and they may not represent my interests as a person. And young people to me are right at that step of like, we need representation right now. We're looking at a system that we can't find ourselves in that doesn't see us. And, you know, I joke with Congresswoman Maxwell Frost is a really good friend of mine. And it's sort of a joke with us because I'm like,

I don't know another state party chair, another member of Congress that actually sit down and chat with each other and hang out with each other outside of the workplace that they're in. But it's both because we're young and we've gravitated to each other in this space. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that we both really fought to get where we were. Maxwell Frost ran in a primary against 14 other people or 13 other people

and made himself like, you know, he was an Uber driver for his entire time that he was running for office or running for Congress. And I fought against a political machine in order to get here. And I think that people need to realize not every young person is gonna wanna fight to be in a role like this, unfortunately. And I know that that's hard to realize from generations that are sitting in this room before me right now that have had to fight

for everything that they've gotten. And I realized that. But I think that in some ways we're still coming up in that like we're experiencing the first rights that are being taken away from our generation right now and the fight that we have to get into that. But I think that for young people that feel discouraged about the top of the ticket,

I would say don't punish the bottom of the ballot for the top of the ticket in that sense too. I know that there are some people that are very, that they don't see themselves coming out to vote this year. And our state legislature, I hope all of you are watching what's going on in Raleigh right now. I know you're three and a half, four hours away from it

and it can feel impossible. But right now our state legislature this last year took money, there's a, and I'm sorry, I'm rambling on this one, but like there is a church, there's a pastor in Monroe, North Carolina, a pastor that is giving right now $3 million from the state legislature for a school that he's running out of his church.

And he was standing up the other day on the pulpit or not the other day, but a few months ago on the pulpit. And he said, you know, if I'm on a jury and a woman is wearing a skirt and she gets raped and sorry for not putting a trigger warning on that, but that she gets raped and, and that this person, I would believe that this person should be able to walk free because of what this woman was wearing. And I bring you all that story because I'm like, I don't think people understand that this election cycle to me is not about Joe Biden or Donald Trump. It's about common decency and honestly, the demise of the world that we live in right now. Like it is about what type of future do you want young people to walk around in and young women to walk around in. And I don't know about y'all, but I don't want to be fearful of

the people that are in positions of power. And that's what Donald Trump is. He's fearful to me. And I want a president, I want a leader of this country that I can believe in, that I have hope in, that makes me feel protected in right now. And I don't think anybody feels protected under a Donald Trump presidency, a Mark Robinson governorship, or anyone else down the ballot, a Dan Bishop attorney generalship, someone that tried to pass HB2 in North Carolina, right?

The bathroom bill. We're looking at a Republican party right now that fundamentally doesn't believe in human decency or human rights. And that's what we're fighting for. And if you don't want to vote this year, if you don't want to vote for that this year, then you need to take a deep, internal look at yourselves too. Andrews and Clayton, where can people go if people are not?

So I just want you to do a plug for if people are in North Carolina, what can they do? And then for people listening at home who aren't from North Carolina, what's the most helpful thing they can do? Absolutely. Look, we, I know Flip NC is outside. We're working so hard to make sure that we are taking back our North Carolina Supreme Court races. It is the long haul in North Carolina. So y'all need to buckle up, get your walking shoes on. And even after 2024, you don't need to take them off. Let me just tell you,

because we've got a Republican supermajority to break this year a governor's office to hold this year a Supreme Court seat to hold this year and you can do all of that with us by going to ncdp.org getting involved we've got canvases going every single weekend door knocking phone banking that's happening what we had when Barack Obama first won our state in 2008 was the most excitement and energy on the ground. We had people everywhere across this state talking to folks and that's what we're gonna do this year with the North Carolina Dems. The other thing I will tell you and the other website to plug realmarkrobinson.com for anybody that you have that may not be

here tonight, couldn't maybe afford a ticket to the show or just couldn't join you for it in that way. They can still learn all about this show and learn all about Mark Robinson on realmarkrobinson.com and making sure it's got opposition website, it's got everything that the man has ever said. He really is a hateful person and we don't need someone like that leading North Carolina folks. So thank you for being here. Anderson Clayton, everybody. Thank you. This is great.

When we come back, T.S. Madison. And we're back. Move over, Taylor Swift. There's only one T.S. I care about, and she's here tonight. Please put your hands together for the one, the only T.S. Madison. Oh, yes, honey. Oh, yes. Oh, yes, baby.

Hey. Oh, my goodness. North Carolina, y'all make some noise in here. Oh, my God. Good to see you. Hi. Come on. Oh, my goodness.

All right. No, no, y'all ain't make enough noise. Make some noise in this motherfucker for me. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God! Good to see you. Hi! Come on. Oh, oh my goodness. All right. No, no, y'all ain't make enough noise.

Make some noise in this motherfucker for me. Who? I came all the way from Atlanta, Georgia. From Atlanta. From my brand. From Atlanta. Atlanta, Georgia. You know, they ain't doing shit down there, girl.

So can, if I sit here, they wouldn't see up under my dress, would they? doing shit down there, girl. So if I sit here, they wouldn't see up under my dress, would they? That's really up to you. Oh. Excuse me. I mean, can I tell you the last time that I was in North Carolina, right? Okay. It was a long time ago.

That's not the last time. Okay, I just want to tell y'all, I've been drinking that wine back there. Good. I think that's good. time. Okay, I just want to tell y'all I've been drinking that wine back there. Good. I think that's good. What is it called? What is it? You don't know? It's a red Cabernet. Honey. So the last time, okay, one of the times I was here, I was here the last time. One of the times I was here, right, I stayed at a day's end. I... I... I...

I... Okay, you know, I didn't have as much money as I do now, but I stayed at a day's end. And so when I stayed at the day's end, I kind of like was trying to get dressed in the mirror and the lights were just too dim. So I took the lamp off, the top off the lamp, and it just brightened up, and I was able to put my rouge on,

my foundation, my eyelashes, whatever. So I decided to take that lamp with me to the next hotel when I moved to the... Smart. Well, North Carolina let me know, honey, that, sweetheart, as long as we have your credit card on file, we will be charging you for that lamp that you lifted up out of here.

And what was so terrible about it, I didn't even remember that I did it, you know, because I also gave him a credit card that was unchargeable. Are we outside of the statute of limitations? Yes, I'm 47. That happened when I was like, 9th, 20th, oh. Wait, I might not be outside of statute of limitations. But I got to tell y'all what happened, right?

And then we're going to do our game. I'm sorry. So what happened was when I got to the next hotel, I was going to try to stay at another day's inn. So what happened was, when I got to the next hotel, I was gonna try to stay at another Days Inn. They said, oh ma'am, um, sweetie, you have stolen property in your car. You can't stay at this Days Inn anymore.

So I end up having to, you know, pay for the lamp. Like the lamp was so cheap, and they charged me like two, $300 for the lamp. Right, you know? And then I was able to stay the days in again. Welcome to the show. Yeah! Y'all, I'm high as hell, I'm sorry.

No, it's good, it's good. So, how's your pride? Well, I love,, pride is amazing. You know, pride is to be celebrated 365 days a year. You know? And so I just partnered up with House of Love Cocktails, because you guys know that I am a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. And so I just partnered up with House of Love Cocktails.

And July 1, they're doing a petition where it's called Still Gay Day. Yeah, Still Gay Day. And it's gonna try to extend Pride for 365 days a year because everybody should be proud to be exactly who they are. You know, everybody. You know, Pride is about being loud, live and in in color, and it's just, it don't get no more loud, no more live, and no more in color than this.

It doesn't. I gotta do that at 365. He has cue cards for me. Wait, let's see. Recently. Yes. You talked to IndieWire about wanting to see trans superheroes. Yes.

And trans villains. Mm-hmm. Who's your favorite trans villain, real or fictional? I admit that in the past I've been a nasty. They want kidding when they call me, well, a witch. You know, Ursula is what I didn't know why I loved Ursula when I was a little boy. I fucking loved Ursula. Was it her tentacles? Yes, perhaps it was. But I think because I just I just, I think Ursula knew I was gay before I did. Of course, darling, of course.

You know? And then, you know, she was a fish, you know? You know, we love fish. And misunderstood. So here's the thing. I think that Ursula is like the greatest Disney villain. And I'm hoping that they create a backstory on her, like they did Maleficent's backstory.

And so I would love to see the backstory on that. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Because who knows what's going on down there? He's a very patriarchal father. It's a royal system.

Just once at the end of one of these Disney movies, I would like the stories leading to the prince and the princess are gonna kiss and be happily ever after. But right before they kiss, a group of people with pitchforks come in and kill them and say, we're a democracy. We're gonna have a fucking election. They don't get to live in the castle anymore.

This man doesn't get to go from house to house putting shoes on people's feet. That's no way to run a fucking bake sale. You know? Like, what are we doing here? Like, her only hope is that a guy likes her fucking feet, and that's a good, that's one of the good ones. Wait a minute, hold on, John, I'm into feet.

If you got a pretty big toe, I may write you a check. And I, but my point being, and I think that that's a beautiful thing, and you know, don't want to yuck your yum at all. Are you not into feet? You're not into feet? I would say that I am sort of feet, they're there.

You know, I don't hate them. I don't love them. They're just part of the body, you know? No, the feet can be so, is it orgasmic? Sure. If that's the word you want. Yeah.

That. You know, if you put a foot like right under your nose, like this... Sure. And you just absorb all of that... Can I get a towel? Here's the beauty of this show. It contains multitudes.

We'll get into the challenges of voter turnout in rural parts of the South. And then we'll do feet stuff for a while. And that's the beauty of it. And that's what I of it. Yes. You know? And that's what I miss most. Madison. Yes. We here at the pod are currently raising $100,000 through our Crooked Pride or Else

Fund to support organizations fighting in states where conservatives are banning gender affirming care and targeting trans youth. If you're listening to this at home, you can go to crooked.com slash Pride Fund right now to donate to these amazing groups, which includes Equality North Carolina. Equality North Carolina is dedicated to protecting the LGBT community. And so it's important for all of us, queer and heterosexual alike, to understand that we are part of history and as students of queer history, or at least someone who had the Stonewall Reader covered in dust on my nightstand for a while,

we want to use the opportunity to catch up on the recent scuttlebutt in a segment we're calling Four Score and Seven Queers Ago. Okay, come on! Wait a minute, hold on. Oh my god, yes! There we are. I look good up there, damn it! Yeah. Yes. Four score and seven queers to go. I feel as though your statue is good and my head is too high up. My neck looks weird. Well, are you getting any complaints about your head?

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. your head? You just, you just, you just, you just, you just, you just, you just, you just, you can't even look at me. You can't even look at me because of how you fucked that up. No complaints. No complaints. Is that what you were looking for? Yes, that's what I was looking for.

Yes. So here's how this works. We are going to go through. That's so funny. Have you received any complaints about your head? That's not how it goes. Yes. That's not how it goes.

I want to know. Has anybody went to HR about your head? Moving forward. Okay. Here's how this works. We're going to rate very recent moments in queer history on a scale from one to eight, one being the least to eight being the most historic because eight is the gayest number. Are you ready? I am.

First up, June 10th, 2024, leaked audio of Martha Anne Alito, wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, hit the internet. Here's, here she describes a flag she wants to fly as a protest against the pride flag. I made a flag in my head. This is how I satisfy myself. I made a flag. It's white and it's yellow and orange flames around it. And in the middle is the word, vergonia. Vergonia in Italian means shame. Vergonia.

V-E-R-G-O-G-N-A. Vergonia. Shame, shame, shame on you. You know. Anyway. I just, just for... You know, I've always wanted a vergonia. Yeah. Yeah. They come for you know, I've always wanted a Vagonia. Yeah. Yeah, they come you know. Always have always wanted a Vagonia. Yeah, Vagonia in spring. Yeah, in the spring in

a bathing suit of a nice Vagonia. So what would you rank it? A one to eight. How historic is it? Oh, it's like a five. Yeah, I think it's a five. I'll forget about a Fergonia by the time I leave here, honey. The alcohol is going to be five. Yeah. Yeah, what do you give it? I think five is good.

Five is good. Yeah. May 29th, 2024, Pope Francis apologizes for using an Italian slur against gay men when asked whether the church should admit said gay men in a private meeting with Italian bishops. And wait, there are gay men in private meetings with bishops? I think there's more than I think

there's a fair number, which is I think what the pope was commenting on. And I know this is not the word but and I'm sorry, but ever since I can only imagine the pope going fagaccini. Yes! And I know that's not right. Fagaccini! Vigonia! And then they're like, hey we're serving a little too much fagaccini alfredo at the faggaccini. And I know he's not even Italian, he's Argentinian, but still I just, too much fagguccini Alfredo at the fagguccini. Alfredo. And I know he's not even Italian.

He's Argentinian, but still I just, it's fagguccini Alfredo. Fagguccini Alfredo with a side of Vagonia. And then he apologized, but he used the slur again. And he said, there's an air of fgy a Cheney in the Vatican I Guess the word is from here gene. I don't know faggot Cheney faggot Cheney Cheney, what do you think Pope Pope Pope saying that well? I mean of course that's gonna be somewhere near an eight because it's the Pope it is the Pope I think it's I think it's like a seven seven seven because it's seven. Cause that's the Pope saying that, you know?

It's the Pope. The Pope. He's the friggin' Pope. Yeah. Faggagini, Virginia. It's very- Faggagini. Spaghetti. I'm getting hungry.

Well, it's that lady has some good Vagonia over there, honey. They serve it fried or baked at the Orange Peel. Bartender, can you give me that fried begonia from back there, please? And give me a side of faggagini sauce, god damn it. Next up, on June 16th, Eddie Redmayne did this performance of Willkommen from Cabaret. Oh, let's see. Oh! I think it's cool. That's right. Is that mean stop?

It does? Honey, I got a visa. What is that? I think it's cool. That's right. Ah-hret. Does that mean stop? Ah-hret. It does? Ah-hret. Honey, I got a visa. Wait a minute. A passport. Wait a minute. I got a visa too.

Maybe a visa too. So I want to tell y'all a quick thing. Like I had a... No, I didn't do anything. I just, in my mind, I did. I used to think that he was so cute. I think he's... I think he's a little bit cute.

I think he's a little bit cute. I think he's a little bit cute. I think he's a little bit cute. I think he's a little bit cute. I think he's a little bit cute. I think he's a little bit cute. I think he's a little bit cute. I think he's a little bit cute. I just, in my mind, I did. I used to think that he was so cute. I think he's, yeah. I think in this, what I thought when I saw it is,

he's making a big choice. And the choice is to play Cabaret as if you're in Act Three of Steven Spielberg's AI. Yeah. Like, he's like, it's like vaguely, like, puppet-like. And he's a fagaccini. Yeah. Listen, I think that I... Is he straight?

I don't know what he is publicly, but that... I don't know. I don't know what Eddie Redmond is. I know that what I just watched was not straight. So... I don't know what he says on the fucking census forms, but I just saw that. And I don't care about, that wasn't straight. You know, would you bone him?

Look, Eddie Redmayne shows up. No, no, no, it's yes or no. Would you bone him? Yeah. Eddie Redmayne? I'm a yes on Eddie Redmayne. I would, you know. And then I saw him in the Danish girl and he's a convertible. And I like convertibles. You caught that didn't you?

Let me ask you this. You get a text from Eddie Redmayne, and he says, I'm such a huge fan. And I would love if you would be my date to the premiere of The Danish Girl. I think you're going. I would say I would love to ride your convertible. I mean, in your convertible. So nobody knows what a convertible is?

Nobody? There's a hard top and then there's a convertible. There's two types of men. There's hardtops and convertibles. Some call them turtles. Would you consider yourself a convertible or a hardtop? So I think we're going to give this, I'm going to give this a two. You're going to give it a two?

Well, I just don't think it's that historic. It's interesting. So we're not going to remember that. I think some people will. I remember the convertible. Obviously they didn't watch the Danish girl to get the tea. May 24th, 2024, National Park Service reverses their ban on park employees wearing their park service uniforms in the pride parade.

So now the park service people can wear their uniform when they're marching. That's nice. Yes. Now we would give that an eight. That is an eight. I would say, I would say, I would say being a part ranger is an inherently queer act on some level. Well, you know, because there's a lot of queers in the park. That's right.

You've never been to Piedmont Park? Why does everything have to be so sexual with me? Oh my God. I've been asking God for the longest to just take that spirit off of me. I'm like, God, I've had enough. I've had enough. Have you? No.

You're a sexual being. I am. I'm a Libra. Any Libras in the house? I'm actually a Libra Scorpio. October 22nd baby. What does that mean? Well that means I'm on the cuss.

I like to get in the middle. You've done it again. I did? Yeah. I'm in the middle of You've done it again. I did? Yeah. I'm in the middle of two zodiac signs. It's beautiful. Libra, Scorpio, magic. Well, what's your sign?

I'm a Leo, and so as Louis Fertel would say, I'm gay for attention. Oh. Not for pay? Well, if... I mean, it's an abstract idea. Let's talk numbers. Are we negotiating?

You know, Project 2025 is coming to clear all of that stuff out. And I'm so afraid for all the secular sex workers. I'm afraid for black people. I'm afraid for straight people, I'm afraid for straight people, I'm afraid for women, I'm afraid for everybody. This project 2025 situation is very scary. I think it's a good place to leave it because I do, you know, look, we're joking. But, you know, if you look at that 2025 document, it's very clear that what it wants to do is find ways to use every lever of power at their disposal to make life more difficult for anyone that doesn't look like them or

think like them or act like them. And that will begin with trans people, it will begin with women seeking reproductive care but it obviously won't end there. And it is pride and my view view, like, I always, I don't want us to dwell in this month on all the bad that could happen. I think, like, part of what pride should always be about is not just about the bad things we're stopping

or, like, the desire to be tolerated, but the good and the beauty and the benefits of having LGBT people in the world that trans people are beautiful, not just because they deserve equal rights, but because they show us something about what it means to not be trans. And I think that that,

to me is what this month is about. But at this moment, with just months to go, there are organizations like Equality, North Carolina and others that are on the ground doing the hard work to protect people and do everything they can no matter what happens. And so please go to crooked.com slash Pride Fund and donate this pride to support these organizations.

T.S. Madison, thank you so, so much. Thank you all for having me, thank you. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Hey, don't go anywhere. Thank you all for having me. Thank you. We'll be right back. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Just like the Rolling Stones, my bones hurt and I love going on tour.

It's a Love It or Leave It tour tradition that we play an audience game about the delightful city, state, and or region in which we find ourselves. Tonight, we're going to play a game we're calling, You're Carol-lion. In which I will ask you this question, North Carolina or not Carolina? In other words, is what I'm describing a story from your state or from the Forbidden Lands beyond? Good people of Asheville, if you think you know what's happening in your neck of the woods, raise your hand. Producer Kendra is out there. Hey.

Hi. The iconic gay bar, The Scorpio, is set to reopen after closing down following nearly half a century of gay ass partying. North Carolina or not Carolina? Can I phone a friend? No. True. Sure.

North Carolina. Charlotte's on the Scorpio closed after a 55 year run, but it was announced this very week that it will reopen. Who's next? That's great. 23 sets of twins graduated from a single middle school this year, 10% of that school student body, North Carolina or not Carolina?

North Carolina. No. These adorable little freaks are from Needham, Massachusetts. Why? We don't know. Something about the water up there. All right. A colorful vandal has struck twice in the last month, most recently painting beautiful rainbows on an uninhabited building in an area town. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. North Carolina or not Carolina? North Carolina. You bet.

It's Asheville. And it seems like you may be hiding this criminal inside of this civilian population. Three rivers failed recent fecal bacteria testing in this state, North Carolina or not Carolina? Hopefully not? No, it is, it's here. Sound River is a nonprofit that conducts river testing

said some of their 50 North Carolina testing sites had fecal bacteria. But hey, think about all the fecal bacteria tests. You didn't fail. Builders breaking ground on a posh housing development discovered the remains of an ancient village, including 2,000 artifacts like fishing nets and human bones. North Carolina or not Carolina?

Not North Carolina. No, it is North Carolina. Oh! I don't know where. But North Carolina's acting state archaeologist, Chris Southerly, says the dig is shaping up to be the most significant discovery in 30 years. Now, the question I have is,

you have an acting state archaeologist? What happened to the actual state archaeologist? Did he get caught in a fucking booby trap? Did he get blow darted? What? The fuck? A YouTuber was charged for shooting fireworks at a Lamborghini from a helicopter. North Carolina or not Carolina? Not North Carolina.

That's correct. That New York catastrophe took place in the middle of the country. from a helicopter, North Carolina or not Carolina? Not North Carolina. That's correct. That near catastrophe took place in the state I call home California. The video since taking down was called the emptiness of spectacle in a technological dystopia. Oh no, no, I'm sorry. It was called destroying a Lamborghini with fireworks.

Smoking chunks of metal that fell from the sky in this area were confirmed to be part of a SpaceX rocket that broke apart upon reentry. North Carolina or not Carolina? Not Carolina? Nope, North Carolina. No. Keep an eye on the sky, Asheville, because Elon Musk is raining hellfire in your backyards. There it is.

Look at that. Beautiful. Back in January, a bizarre flaming shape flew across the night sky as seen in this video. I don't know what that is. Yes. Yes, it was North Carolina. Sadly that was not aliens ushering in a new age of prosperity and peace.

It was North Carolina's bandit flight team doing a fancy flyover for the Charlotte Checkers hockey team. Outdoor classic. And finally, this Friday, June 21st, a strawberry moon will be visible in the night sky, North Carolina or not Carolina? North Carolina. No, everywhere. I'm sorry.

It's the fucking moon. I'm so sorry. It's a trick question. It's the moon. When we come back, the rant wheel. And we're back. For the rant wheel. We are so close to the release of our book,

Democra Serials, How to Save America and 10 Easy Steps. We're going to New York for a book event model that we're going to be doing in the next few weeks. And we're going to be doing a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a Before the red wheel, we are so close to the release of our book, Democra Serials, How to Save America, and 10 Easy Steps. We're going to New York for a book event moderated by Alyssa Mastromonico on June 25th. Then on the 27th, we're headed to Boston for another book event hosted by none other than Dan Feinfer. On the same night, the presidential debate is happening.

And finally, I'm closing out the week with a late night live show for Pride in Boston. Kathleen Turner. Legend among the guests. So to get tickets for all of those book events and shows, go to cricket.com slash events. And if you want to help get us on the New York Times Best Seller list, because that's what it's all about. You do the work to get the thing that proves you did well, because doing well is the point of the work,

not the work itself. You do the work, then when the work is done, you say, am I getting the credit I deserve for the work? Then you fight like hell to get the credit. Then once you've gotten that credit, that credit's done. Time to do more work. Cricket.com slash books. I've been beseeching you, I know.

This, listen to this goddamn show. We've been putting it out, comes to your pockets. Every goddamn Saturday, will you poop or walk the dog or go to the gym? It's free of charge. Hundreds of episodes. Buy the goddamn book. Hundreds of episodes by the goddamn bug. All right, please welcome back Anderson and Tiaz Maneset.

I love the way you came over here and got me. Well, just look how you walk in the I feel. Wait a minute. Did I leave all this glitter here? Shit. Now it's time for the round wheel. Here's how it works. We spin the wheel wherever it lands. We rant about whatever topic we'd like.

Where's the wheel? Here it comes. So I gotta go first. Okay. So I was out last night, right? And like all of my friends were ordering octopus. Why are y'all eating oct- I just can't do it. Have you- do y'all like octopus in here? Why? I was like those things are too smart to be fried, grilling, sauteed, bacon,

eaten raw. Like I can't do it. It just made me so angry to just see all those plates of octopus just floating around. I'm like, y'all could have been eating vergonia instead of octopus. I remember I saw the documentary, My Octopus Teacher, which was a little bit, I would have liked more octopus in that film. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. It's like, I prefer the parts of the movie that are underwater. That's just a note for that film. It's like, this is a movie about an octopus. Why am I spending so much time on fucking land?

The reason I bring that up is because after I saw my octopus teacher, I was at a dinner, and I ate. I didn't order it. I never order it. I don't like it. But I was like, I'll try it one last time. And I was like, no, I'm out. I'm out.

They're too smart. They're too smart. I don't want to eat anything that's smart. That's why I stopped eating men. Wait a minute, I'm lying. You know, they can be dumb sometimes, honey. I can eat one of them up right now. And my favorite octopus movie was James Bond's Octopussy.

What a time, you could just call a James Bond's Octopussy. What a time you could just call a movie that. Octopussy. That means eight pussies at one time. Octopussy. Yeah. Yeah, I always forget if it means eight pussies or an eighth of a pussy. Whatever it is, it's Octopussy. Let's spin it again.

Anderson, thank you for being here. I'm enjoying it. So just serious John. I was like, oh my God, please don't make me go after that to be really tall. I'm not going to be as entertaining. They looked at me backstage and they said, don't talk about politics. And I was like, I don't really know that I know much else to talk about. But a fun fact for everybody, rural broadband is the other thing that I am very knowledgeable about.

And North Carolina is randomly one of 18 states that has a ban against municipal-owned broadband access right now, which is boo. It means that, unfortunately, even though we have $42 billion headed into broadband access thanks to the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris administration for infrastructure, it means that in order for public money to be actually put into the public,

it has to go through a private entity in order to be able to do that. And so none of our municipalities across North Carolina can own or operate their own broadband infrastructure. And we're one of 18 states that have that ban which I think is so interesting and so it's a really big restriction on municipal governments and so when we're looking at our state legislature not only are they restricting our bodies but they're also restricting your ability to be able to

have the great equalizer which is what I like to call the internet everybody so and being able to have access to that is extremely important right now and we're working on it, but that's why we gotta get better state legislators. Shout out to Representative Lindsay Prather, who represents Buncombe County. Come on, Lindsay. In our state legislature.

Come on, Lindsay. She's amazing, so yeah. Hell yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They preemptively wanted to prevent showing people that government could do good. That's basically what it is.

And to make sure that the profits of telecom companies were protected. Well, I was about to say, it really had to do with money coming into their pockets, right? And the fact that lobbyists, which also, if y'all are not following the legislature right now, they just recently put into another bill, like a little separate piece of the bill about campaign finance laws that have changed. And so in North Carolina now, lobbyists used to not be able to give money to legislators during session when it's in session, which we are in short session right now for the General Assembly, for those of you that may not know. But what's happened now is that the law has actually enabled it so that lobbyists can

give money to folks that are running for office and Republicans that once again change the laws in order to try to Rig it for their side of things in that sense too So thinking about how people are making campaign finance laws more restricting But also using them to pump more money into politics right now, which is something that this party is honestly against and I know I just I think we, we talk a lot about Republicans attacking democracy. And I think sometimes we don't talk enough about why democracy is good. It is not a coincidence that anti-democratic politicians, politicians who try to draw unfair maps, try to restrict people's ability to vote.

These are also politicians that pursue basically legalized corruption. Democracy is a great check against corruption. Knowing that you are accountable to people, that your voters choose you and you don't choose your voters, it is a defense against corruption. It's one of the great defenses against corruption. And the more you see, and there's a reason that we have an anti-democratic Supreme Court that is also a court in which you see Supreme Court justices deciding that they can fly on private jets and go to these kind of private meetings and share their thoughts, but not share them with the public. Like there is

a connection between corruption and anti-democratic politics. And I don't think we draw that connection enough, and I think we should. Yeah. Thank you. But that's not my rant. Let's spin it again.

Oh, we're gonna spin it again. Spin that wheel. I think it might land on me. I hope so. There we go. I would like to talk about the Biltmore. So, and I would like to do it with the photos I took this very day.

And I would like to do it with the photos I took this very day. So this is the bill more. There's a, I saw it magnificent. It's a beautiful, gigantic building who built this incredible space. Now they hand you a little audio device that you're supposed to hold up to your ear, but fundamentally that's embarrassing to me. So I don't know anything. But let's go to the next slide. Two billiard tables?

Okay, calm down. Calm down. Two pool, two, oh, what do you do when all these people want to play pool at the same time? Fine. Okay, okay. Next room. A fireplace that's three fireplaces side by

side. I know it's old. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's not gaudy bullshit. You know, people... Some really old antique stuff is gaudy bullshit. Wait a minute, I feel attacked. Next, Sitaba. Never you. I thought I needed to be excluded from this narrative. Never you. Yeah, you're not.

Next slide. Again, that's a lot of fucking antlers on the wall of the dining room. Though I would put this on my Pinterest board it is it is stunning. And then I think to myself well who would have created this space? And then you see the picture. Girl. And then, now you may not be able to see this, so let's punch in. Girl.

For those listening at home, Van Gogh smearing the word gay in oil painting could not capture the fucking mincing queerness wafting off of this Vanderbilt portrait. This is the gayest motherfucker to ever live. Is he, are you a Vanderbilt? I'm sorry, sir. Is he offended?

He's actually offended? He just wants a drink. George Vanderbilt was a friend of mine. You sir know George Vanderbilt. All right. And where is this picture? It is hung between a photo, a portrait of his mother and his wife. Oh, beautiful fur. Oh, yes. Then we have his bedroom. Oh, and then you walk down a very long hallway. Very long hallway to get to her bedroom. Wait, wait, wait. So there's a his and hers bedroom.

Now, that was apparently common at the time, but nevertheless. Right. Nevertheless. That's Kennedy and Chris in the shot. Next slide, please. Then you start to notice the air of

faggotchini. Next slide. Maybe, maybe the air, maybe. Faggagini, ooh, faggagini. Oh, al francis, faggagini. And then I'm sorry to say, let's serve it. That's, that's a little gay boy. Yes. Serving, honey.

And then I included this one because it's like, wow, we get it, you saw a Goya. That's also for no one. But you know, I picture George Vanderbilt being like, I saw something amazing when I was in Madrid. Can you do something like that? Yeah. You know.

And I don't know, because again, I'm not going to hold that thing to my ear. So I have no idea. I have no idea what was going on in that house. Some more gay art with Kendra. Next frame. Now, I want to pause here because this is the bowling alley. And it's like, oh, wow, bowling alley. But then you look a little bit closer.

And what you see there is there's a fucking alcove in the wall. Why? So a servant could stand there while fucking bowling balls go hurtling past. And then when the coast is clear, run out and set the pins up and then get back in the fucking alcove

to hide from the Vanderbilt's fucking balls, which he probably had to do in other places in this castle as well. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Ah! Ah! Next slide. Wait. This... Here's another point. This, here's another point. This is in the lower levels. So I include this portrait because this shows the dining

room in the servants quarters. And what I thought when I saw it is you could get away with calling this cottagecore and charging a lot of money for this look. Next slide. This is the moose Tommy killed. It was just an inside joke for people that know about the moose Tommy killed. Tommy was...

And he said he didn't listen to the tour, folks. That's not even, yeah. Tommy, one of my co-hosts, the Ponte of America, he was in a van in rural New Hampshire, and they hit a moose, and then they had to drag it to the side of the road. Moose dead. one of my co-hosts, the Ponce of America, he was in a van in rural New Hampshire and they hit a moose and then they had to drag it to the side of the road, moose dead. Well did y'all make some ground beef out of it? You never had ground moose?

When life hands you a dead moose you make ground moose. You make ground moose. You make moose jerky. You make fagasini with ground moose meat. Next slide. And that was our adventure at the Vanderbilt. And you can even see one of those glass statues in the back. And I want to thank the person who took this photo, even though if you zoom in, we're each of us making a different bad face.

And the framing is atrocious. Look at the framing of this photo. We're not in the middle, but we're not on the third. The building is kind of in the picture. This sucks. This is a terrible composition. If we're all gonna be... This is the final point I'll make. Anderson, thank you for being here. It...

There's two things that we're all doing constantly but not seeming to get better at. Driving and taking pictures. If we are all photographers, let's learn to frame things up a little bit. Just that's it. That's it. Just learn. Just try a little bit. It's a beautiful home. It's very big. It's a big house. It's very big. It's a big house.

But it is stunning. And I think it speaks to, and it is pride. And obviously, I don't know anything about George Vanderbilt. And based on the portraits, they had at least one child. So he had sex with a woman at least once, I suppose. But who can really say what goes on? Hallways are long.

You didn't see that picture? No, yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Thank you. And guys, give it up for Anderson Clayton, amazing, and T.S. Madison. When we come back, we'll end on a high note. And we're back!

Kendra's out there. If you want to share a high note live tonight, can we bring the lights up, please? You can line up behind Kendra's out there. If you want to share a high note live tonight, can we bring the lights up please? You can line up behind Kendra. You got to go to Kendra for the high notes. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? I'm Caroline. Hi, Caroline. So I just, I actually sent this in as a lily highlight, but it didn't make it. So I wanted to do it live. My brother is a paramedic here in Western North Carolina. And we just got, we were notified by him very quietly

that he received a citation from the Haywood County Emergency Services that he recently saved three lives. And to him, that's not a big deal because that's what he does every day. But to those three people, that's a really big deal. So I'm really proud of him. And he needs all the'm really proud of him.

And he needs all the applause we can give him. So, yay. That's cool. Isn't it funny that citation can be good or bad, depending on the context? What a funny thing. What's your name? What's your high note?

Hi, John. I'm Julia. My high note is tomorrow is my daughter's birthday. My oldest daughter. Her name is Maya. So happy birthday, Maya. Oh, I'm Julia. My high note is tomorrow is my daughter's birthday. My oldest daughter, her name is Maya. So happy birthday, Maya. Oh, great. Thanks. Happy birthday, Maya. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, I'm Kevin. I worked as a software development for a private aviation company, which is kind of like fun, but really uncomfortable because private aviation. And they made the decision for me

and cut our whole team with no notice and two weeks of severance because, you know, whatever. And I realized I didn't want to be a part of nine to five. It wasn't for me. I'm back at the bar that I started working at when I was a kid or when I was younger. And when I was a kid, I was a bartender. It was crazy.

And I realized I've been fishing my whole life and I want to be a fishing guide. And my entire life has been changed with this decision I had no part in. So that's my high note. That's a beautiful thing. You did make a decision. That's right.

You did make a decision. Thank you. You could have done a lot of things when you leave that job. You're choosing to do what you want to do. That's right. That's a beautiful thing. That's cool.

Thank you. It's great to meet you. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Erin. That rainbow building that you showed was recently donated the land and the building to Pisco Legal Services, which is who I work for. And it's a nonprofit law firm helping low-income people in Western North Carolina. And we just launched our Trans and Queer Health project which my team created, started, launched on the website. It's to help, hopefully, help trans and queer people in the 18 counties of Western North Carolina get the care they need and deserve and are entitled to and help them find the resources they need. That's great.

Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hey, I'm a Garriott. I am comps director for the Young Dems of North Carolina. We just elected our youngest president ever at 20 years old. Her name is Anna Rios and she is also our first Latina president ever. That's cool. And we are doing everything we can to turn out young people to selection, and we have a bad ass president at the helm. Nice. That's cool.

That's so funny. It's like, how young is this one? You to see the campaign that she ran is incredible. Hello. Hello. My name is Katie, and I'm here with my best girlfriends. One of them is an abortion care provider in Georgia. That's my high note.

She's a badass, wonderful lady who cares for so many women every day and we love her. That's great. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Kristin Robinson, and I'm the first vice chair for the Buncombe County Democratic Party here in Asheville. Nice.

Yeah. And I just want to highlight, we are doing canvassing and phone banking every single week. And I see just a great group of folks. And I would love for you all to come get involved with our Democratic Party. We're trying to change things here. And I just appreciate everyone being here.

And if you all can come knock one single door for me, make one phone call, I promise you will make a hell of a difference. So just thank you and thank you for being here as well. Thanks. Thanks for having me. I feel like I get into, I remember, I have to remember that like, yes, we've made pitches like this before, but there's sometimes worth making again. And one of them is if you haven't knocked on doors before, if you haven't made columns before, at the beginning it feels like there's like a learning curve or just sort of it's a bit stressful, you're not sure how it's gonna go, but then you really do find that it's not just a good thing

to do, it's a good thing for you. You feel good doing it. And like politics, when you're just on your phone is negative and it feels like subtraction, but politics when you're out in the world, it feels more positive and more like addition and it's a good feeling. So go volunteer.

Hi, my name is Lane, I'm from Texas, I live in Texas and I live on a ranch and I've been bottle feeding this baby calf that's lame for three weeks and I just got a text this morning that he's walking on his own. Cool. I know you like it. I'm gonna try to top baby calf. I'm Katherine Harvey and I'm running for Congress in upstate South Carolina.

Nice. I'm the chair of the Spartanburg County Democratic Party and I'm challenging William Timmons and he is an extreme congressman and we could use the North Carolina support down the mountain so I just wanted to introduce myself and thank you for being here and shout out to Anderson for all she's doing. Thank you. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, I'm Karen Valentine. I am visiting from West Virginia,

and if anybody knows anything about West Virginia politics, enough said. So, I also am here with my daughter who is running as a Democrat for a state delegate in the 97th District, Lucia Valentine, and I am so proud of her. I raised three daughters in a very difficult state of West Virginia for women, and my daughter has been an environmental lobbyist. I also have another daughter who is a new transplant to North Carolina and she is a proud public school teacher here in North Carolina

and a marine biologist in the state of Mississippi. So we are representing some really hard states here and I did it as a single mom and we have to keep pushing forward. Everybody has to keep pushing forward. Sounds like three amazing daughters. That's cool. Sounds like a sitcom, honestly. Marine biologists running for Congress, running for public office. That's the show. And that's our show. If you want to leave us a high note, leave them as a Friend of the Pond subscriber, or you can email them to us at lowlyhighnotes.gmail.com.

That's our show. Thank you so much to Anderson Clayton and T.S. Madison. Thank you to Asheville and the Orange Peel. Thank you to everybody for coming out. Go buy a book. I'll be out there signing books. Go sign up to Flip North Carolina. There are 134 days until the 2024 elections.

Have a great night and have a great weekend. Love It or Leave It is a crooked media production. It is written and produced by me, John Love it and Lee Eisenberg. Kendra James is our executive producer, Chris Lord is our producer, and Kennedy Hill is our associate producer. Hallie Kiefer is our head writer, Sarah Lazarus and Jocelyn Kaufman, Peter Miller, Alan Pierre, Will Miles and Mahana Del Shiki are our writers. Evan Sutton is our editor, Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis provide audio support, Steven

Colon is our audio engineer, and Milo Kim is our videographer. Our theme song is our editor, Kyle Seglen and Charlotte Landis provide audio support. Stephen Colon is our audio engineer and Milo Kim is our videographer. Our theme song is written and performed by Shure Shure. Thanks to our designer, Bernardo Serna, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast. And to our digital producers, David Tolles, Claudia Shang, Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroote

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