Lovett or Leave It - The Dark Knight Reprises

Episode Date: March 12, 2022

Everything old is new again as Lovett Or Leave It celebrates the return of a classic: performing indoors. L.A. City Councilperson Nithya Raman joins our first show at Dynasty Typewriter, where Emily��s Garden Show makes its triumphant, disruptive return. Joel Kim Booster tackles the seemingly infinite variety of Batmen, while a college student (Halle Kiefer) and an immortal fox spirit (Jenny Yang) go toe-to-nine-tails over the never-ending cancel culture debate. Finally, the HyperWheel brings us back around to adult birthdays, astrology, and the end of an era in baked goods. And Emily Heller rants about whatever she damn well pleases.For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail] and include the name of the podcast.

Good evening. Good evening, Los Angeles. We're back. We go to San Francisco. We do a great big show back. We go out late like the world is returning, like it's victory day, but we're no longer doing a thing where a guy just grabs a nurse

and kisses her, you know? Like a better version. Stay out late and don't get enough sleep, and then I see Batman the next day, and I don't get enough sleep, and then I wake up the next day with just a normal cold. I was like, oh, right. I'm almost fucking 40.

Those years did happen. Welcome to Love It or Leave It Live or Else, our first show at our new home, Dynasty Typewriter, and you know what they say, there's no place like home, as in, my home is no place to record this show. We are back with gusto, a fervor, an avidity, here to fore unseen by the live-to-tape podcasting community.

Council member Nithya Raman is here in the... We've got her in the Ezra Klein credibility time slot. Joel Kim Booster just got back from Gotham City, and boy are his eyes tired. And a Gen Z complainer has a civilized debate

about cancel culture against an ancient spirit. Plus, we love spinning the hyper wheel so much, we're going to spin it again tonight. But first, let's get into it. What a week. During a meeting about the D.C. trucker convoy,

Ted Cruz claimed, almost without exception, every time I'm on an airplane, either the captain or a flight attendant will come up to me, will hug me, and say, thank you for fighting for us. Of course, Ted Cruz has diamond medallion status on Fuckface Airlines.

That doesn't happen. Thank you for fighting for us. You goblin. Madison Cawthorn is facing misdemeanor charges after driving with a revoked license, and I still would. Also, how about this? From now on, it's like kind of an all, you know,

everything's okay alarm. Why don't I just update you when I wouldn't? What's the line? Hasn't found it yet. I want you to know that we discussed this little joke before the show, and producer Brian said, but you wouldn't tell anybody. I was like, I'd tell everybody.

Also, in producer Brian said, but you wouldn't tell anybody. I was like, I'd tell everybody. Also, in a recent speech, Madison Cawthorn called Ukrainian President Zelensky a thug, declaring, remember that the Ukrainian government has been pushing woke ideologies. Sorry, Madison, everything you're saying is making him sound cool as hell. What's next, he eats pussy and rides a motorcycle?

I told you I could say it. On Sunday, Andrew Cuomo spoke to the congregation at God's Battalion of Prayer Church in Brooklyn to blame cancel culture for his undoing. If you want to cancel something, cancel federal gridlock, cancel the incompetence, cancel the infighting, cancel crime, cancel homelessness, cancel education inequality, cancel poverty, cancel racism. Be outraged. But be outraged that what really matters and what really matters is what matters to you. Unless you're a woman in my office,

then what really matters is the sweet, sweet smell of your neck. Is that Chanel? God, that takes me back. Now, whose turn is it to be bullied? We should play that speech in full for groups of people. We should record who nods. And take away their driver's license.

Not allowed on the roads. No. On Monday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek sent an internal memo defending his decision not to denounce Florida's Don't Say Gay Bill until facing a huge backlash. As we have seen time and again, he said,

corporate statements do very little to change outcomes. Instead, they are often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame. Look, said the CEO of Disney, one side just wants kids to be educated in a world that acknowledges the existence of gay people without accepting the bigoted logic that the love between or of gay people is inherently dangerous or sexual.

The other side says gay people want to groom children like pedophiles. That's just me summarizing his position. Not really a joke. The statement went on to say that Disney's leaders unequivocally stand in support of the LGBTQ community. We stand with Jafar and Ursula and Scar and Hades and Captain Hook

and all the other villains we coded as gay. And we stand with LeFou, who we let give a guy eyes once. And those gay characters without names in the Avengers movie. We unequivocally stand in support of the LGBT community as long as you've internalized enough homophobia to accept the craven little faggy crumbs

we throw at you. So equivocal. Definition of equivocal. You don't get to just use words like unequivocal. Even more heinous, after Ron DeSantis' press secretary, Christina Pasha,

Pasha, Christina Pasha, declared Florida's Don't Say Gay Bill an anti-grooming bill last week. Conservatives have latched on to the deranged argument. Here's what Laura Ingraham put on her screen. Dems happy to run on pro-grooming platform.

Liberals are sexually grooming elementary students. Just when I think I personally might hate Laura Ingraham more than anyone on the planet hates Laura Ingraham, I remember she has a gay brother. We're on the JV squad. Look, let's be honest. The only anti-grooming conservative is Steve Bannon. That guy parts his hair with a chicken bone.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump suggested that the United States should put Chinese flags on our fighter jets and bomb the shit out of Russia Why don't we just let him pick the first location? Then we'll know where the pee tape is Think about it Sir, we're in Russia, what do you think we should bomb? Right there!

Trump also stopped by the Nelk Boys podcast this week. The Nelk Boys, which we all had heard of. We weren't all surprised to find out that they make tens of millions of dollars and are some of the most popular figures in media. He shared his thoughts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and more importantly said this. You know what gets them rocking?

YMCA. YMCA is a track. It's an underrated track. Do you know, is it an underrated? I think so. Well, it gets a lot of views, I can say. But YMCA, the Gay National Anthem. Did you ever hear that?

They call it the Gay National Anthem. But YMCA gets people up, and it gets them moving. But we have a lot of good selections, and people love it when I do it. He hasn't made a new memory since 1986. This is who we lost to. Anyway, the Nelk Boys, named after the phrase, every Canadian screams before they die,

oh no, Nelk. Thank you, sir. We went through the whole thing of the thing. It involved Trump and commentary in Ukraine, just to land on that dumb fucking joke. Canadians killed by, you know, moose-adjacent creatures. Lauren Bobbert absolutely whiffed a one-liner attempting to compare President Biden to Prince John from Robin Hood. I don't know who's running the federal government these days, Joe Biden or Prince John from Prince John,

but they're taxing us into poverty. You know, Lauren's comedy writer, a cantaloupe was furious. Come on. He's illegitimate and loves taxes. Land the plane, you dumb villain. On Tuesday, Spotify went down across the globe. Went down on Joe Rogan.

A Vanity Fair reporter inadvertently discovered that Grimes and Elon Musk have a new child together while visiting the singer's home for an interview and hearing the second baby crying. Grimes confirmed she and Musk welcomed their daughter, Exa Dark Siderell, who they call Y. Grimes says she didn't announce the new baby because she wants a normal life for Exa Dark Siderell. Yes, a normal, anonymous existence and childhood for Exa Dark Siderell.

Grimes explained the name Exa refers to Exaflops, which is a supercomputing term. Dark represents the beautiful mystery of the unknown, and Sidereal is in honor of the baby's grandmother, Crypto Sidereal Gigabyte Nonthousand. And before you ask, yes, of the New Hampshire

Gigabytes. The first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig has reportedly died just two months after the operation. At least he died as he lived, rolling around in the mud, eating apple cores, and squealing at the top of his

lungs. I'm so sorry. Also, a question I asked as we thought about this is one I'll post to all of you. Is this the guy that stabbed somebody? I think it is. Right? Same guy, right?

R.I.P. He died as he lived. With a big heart. University of Georgia researchers announced that an invasive species of spider is expected to rain down from the sky in the millions and colonize the East Coast sometime this spring. Scientists insist the phenomenon is nothing to fear, adding that you probably already have a few of these in your hair. Believe us, said the scientists, you will not be asleep when you swallow eight of these. swallow eight of these.

Sesshoseki, a rock that imprisoned Tamamo Nomai, the spirit of a malevolent nine-tailed fox in Japanese folklore, has cracked open, allegedly releasing poison gas in the evil, immortal entity, according to legend. When asked for comment, Tamamo Nomai looked around and said, oh fuck, I'm gonna head back into the rock, because things are so bad.

Don't put me back in the rock. Uh-oh. And finally, the wreck of Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance, which sank in the Antarctic in 1915 was found by explorers and researchers using undersea drones. Footage from the drones confirm what we've long expected.

Shackleton won't be getting his security deposit back. When we come back, a government official deals with our nonsense. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. And we're back. Very grateful to have her.

Please welcome to the stage Los Angeles City Councilperson Nithya Raman. Hi. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. So I'm really glad you're here because I think you are at the local level tackling an issue that cities across the country are facing. And one of the reasons I was eager to talk to you is I didn't totally understand this, but you have been posting on social media the fact that in Los Angeles, a city like many others grappling with an unhoused crisis, that instead of a coordinated city response, LA has built a system where each of our 15 council districts handles the issue for themselves. And I instinctively knew this, especially when I saw

criticism of other council members for their response. It's amazing that this redounds to a council district as opposed to a citywide office. Can you talk a little bit about why that is and what the implications are? The reason why it's the way it is actually makes sense when you're in office. And I didn't quite realize how bad it was before I started. But when you're in a council office, when there is an encampment in your district, your office gets calls about it. They just want it gone. People want it gone immediately. They don't care how you do it. They want it gone immediately. And your office is facing an incredible amount of pressure. And so the systems that we developed in the city were really developed at the council district level

in many ways. And people want to retain that control. They want to decide what happens to encampments in their district, whether it's you build housing and you put people into that housing or you put up a sign saying you can't camp here and people have to go somewhere else. And whatever the response is, people want to control it themselves. And that's the system that we've built here. And that's a system that continues to be in place. So on the one hand, though, I know you've done some innovative things to try to get people into hotels. But on the other hand, there's an issue where if another district basically says, we want to clear this encampment, they don't care if they go one street over. Right. So how do you think about that conflict

where on the one hand, it's good that you've been able to make a difference in your district? Yes. Isn't there a conflict there between saying there should be a citywide response and yet you've been able to make progress at the local level? But I don't think that those two things are in opposition to each other. We have been able to make progress at the local level. Yes, but I don't think that those two things are in opposition to each other. We have been able to make an incredible amount of difference in our district. We've housed, we estimate about a third

of the unhoused population in our district since I started a little over a year ago, which is... And the way we've done it has been really sustainable, which means we find housing units, we get people indoors, and that means they are able to not just move across the street, which is what happens a lot of the time, they actually go indoors and they stay indoors. And we have five people on our staff who are devoted to the issue of homelessness, which means that we follow up on the places where they go indoors to make sure that they're getting the housing navigation to move from hotel rooms into permanent housing. So it's an incredible amount of work, and we've been able to put that work into place. But still, I think a centralized response is way more effective. Because let's say you have a shelter site, for example, in our district.

We have a couple that was right on the border of our district. And there was a shelter site that was two blocks from them that had beds available. But because they were in a different council district, they couldn't go indoors to that one. And they had to wait till shelter beds opened up in our district. And it took weeks for those beds to open up. And they could have been indoors so long ago. A centralized system allows you to actually avoid all of that. And the other thing that I think is really important to understand about the way in which we've responded to homelessness for so long in L.A. is that we just have never had the beds for people to go into,

whether it's hotel rooms, whether it's apartments, whether it's interim sites like congregate shelters or tiny homes, whatever it is, we just don't have them. And the reason is because we've given the responsibility for building these beds to council members. And council members, whenever you build a site, face incredible opposition from the community. If you put up a building in your neighborhood, you're going to get community to come out and say, we don't want this in our neighborhood. So you've literally created a system where the person who is least incentivized

to build that housing is in charge of building that housing. And so you can see why we got to the place that we are today, because this is how it's been set up. One thing you said earlier, which I think is reflected in some of the politics is people just want this solved.

And into that context, you have someone like Rick Caruso running on a platform, pledging to declare an emergency, create in a year what would have taken years to create, which is 30,000 beds, claiming to just add police and address the problem, right? In a context where people just want it solved,

what do you think of that kind of a plan? Is it possible? Is it cynical? Well, you know, I think for me, the thing, when I hear something like that, I start to think about how we've responded to homelessness in L.A. for a really long time. A lot of the interventions that we've been putting into place, whether it's more money for service dollars from Measure H, which just passed a handful of years ago, and the money is just getting spent now, whether it's building through Prop HHH,

and we're just getting those apartments constructed now, whether it's home key or room key funds, just getting those apartments constructed now, whether it's home key or room key funds, all of these dollars are just coming into place now to address this crisis, which means that for years, we let homelessness grow an incredible amount and did almost nothing to address it through services or through housing. And then over the last two to three years, we've seen an explosion of services, of housing, of exactly the kinds of things that can really end homelessness. So the thing I always want to tell people is we just got started on this. So anyone who's coming in and saying to us, I'm going to break down this whole system, to me that feels like it doesn't acknowledge where we are in this journey, To me, that feels like it doesn't acknowledge where we are in this journey, which is really the first moment in Los Angeles when we have the tools in place to really take on the crisis at the level of urgency that it needed to be taken on so many years ago.

And to try and break that system down, I think, is sad. One of the issues, I think, is I don't know that people understand how district by district this is. So if you're in a part of the city where there's not as much help being provided and the problem seems to be getting worse, you might look to a mayoral candidate who just says, I'm going to fix it. You don't worry about this anymore. I'm coming in. I'm declaring an emergency. I'm going to fix it. But it seems as though I think people's fears being exploited means

people don't understand just how hard it is to create 30,000 beds and what that would actually look like or the legal implications for saying that encampments are going to be banned or people can't sleep on the street. Right. Like like people don't understand the nuance of what it takes to actually do the work. I don't think people do. And the other thing that I want to really emphasize is that we don't know. We didn't have the homeless count last year. We just had it this year again after COVID started. And so we don't know whether we're doing worse or better. In my district, maybe this is naive, but it feels like we're doing so much better. I mean, I have so many people indoors who were outdoors for years. I saw them when I wasn't in office. And I want to see what

the count shows after we've made all these investments, after we had all these hotel rooms in place, after we built new housing like we've never built it before, does the number look different right now? The other thing that I want to say is that I think for a lot of people, especially during COVID, they felt like homelessness was getting worse because the tents grew bigger. And this was because we had a policy in Los Angeles based on CDC guidance that people who were living in tents shouldn't be disturbed, to keep them safe like everyone else. And so for a long time, unlike what had happened before, tents remained in place, and sometimes they grew even bigger. And so to people who were walking around, it felt like there was so much more homelessness. And we don't know if that's true or not. We just don't have the data to say. We had a few volunteer counts that

were done last year, and where those volunteer counts were done, homelessness either stayed flat over this period or actually decreased. And so the minimal data we have actually shows that what people are feeling about this moment may not be reflected in the reality, but I think we can work to make sure that people are actually getting indoors, that tents come down, and that people can see that dissonance slowly go away. Yeah, I do think there's a, on the one hand, you want to give people the facts, right? You don't want to let demagoguery lead people to think that the crisis has exploded in a way that it hasn't necessarily. Yet at the same time, I think there is in the news a lot of reporting about homelessness. I think there's a lot of reporting about crime. There is also evidence that there was during the pandemic, a spike in gun crime, a spike in

homicides. And I do think sometimes there is this impulse on the left, which is self-destructive, which is the right, Tucker Carlson declares our city's kind of nightmare woke hellscapes. And then people on the left try to say, no, no, no, no, no. These fears are overblown. Your fears are not real. The fears are not real. How, when you talk to your constituents who raise these issues, do you both kind of speak to the issue honestly and with facts without dismissing people's fears based on news that sometimes blows things out of proportion? Yeah. I mean, I think that's a really good question and something that we grapple with all the time in the office. You never dispel fear by dismissing fear. When people come to you and they say,

I'm feeling afraid, I think the only thing you can say to them is to respond with empathy. You have to. And the numbers did bear it out. I mean, there was a rise in homicides in Los Angeles through the pandemic, but it was a rise that was reflected in every city across America. So I think the thing that we have to be careful of doing as politicians in this city is to say that we know exactly what to do in response to this crime. Because if you look at every city across America during this period, homicides grew, right? And by the way, in Los Angeles, over the past couple of months, they're going down again. But over the pandemic, they did grow. It didn't matter whether cities increased police funding or decreased

police funding. It didn't matter whether they had Republican mayors or Democratic mayors. It really didn't matter what the policies were in that city. Homicides grew during the pandemic. I think the thing that as a politician is hard to do is the thing that this moment calls for, which is to say we don't actually know what led to the rise in homicides over these last two very, very traumatic years. We do see some change in those numbers right now, but we need to look back. We need to understand what were those triggers that led to an increase in violence, and we need to make sure we're addressing those issues. I think the thing that we cannot say is we know exactly what happened, and we need more police on the streets immediately. That's the only way to stop it because I don't have the evidence to

be able to say that that's the response that we need to have. One last question. I think a lot of people listening to this in their cities, they're grappling with similar kinds of politics. What is the way people can be the most helpful? In Los Angeles, your office, what's like the best way people can get involved in the fight to kind of help their own house neighbors? So on homelessness specifically, I think the way that you get involved is actually just by reaching out to your local elected. We hear from a lot of people who want a lot of things from our office. They're usually looking to us to solve problems. I would love to hear from people who want to work on solutions. I would love to hear from people who want to say yes to housing in their neighborhood

or yes to homelessness resources in their neighborhood. I want to see in Los Angeles a whole community of yes come together. And the thing is that it's really easy to get people involved during an election. People want to volunteer. They want to vote. It's really exciting. And then once the election is over, most people don't engage on that issue anymore or don't engage at the local level at all. So I think the best way to get engaged on this issue and to move the city in the right direction is to make sure that that community that comes out during an election and says,

we want a more just future for Los Angeles. We want a better future for Los Angeles. We want a Los Angeles that addresses homelessness in a way that treats people who are experiencing homelessness with dignity. That same community needs to be engaged even between elections. Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming on this show. It's been incredibly educational, and I know for me personally, there are a few... What? It's Emily's Garden Show. For the garden things you need to know. What is going on here? She's your girl.

It's Emily's Garden Show. What is happening? From lettuce to tomato. What the hell was that? Dirt and sun and the water flow. She's here to help your plants get real big. What the hell was that? Not again. What's that? Why did you make your entrance all spooky?

How is this spooky? It was just thunder. That's just rain. I don't understand how that's spooky. It's a universal literary symbol of spookiness. But okay, why are you interrupting my incredibly powerful interview with Councilwoman Nithya Raman?

Well, John, I'm here to talk about rainwater. Sorry if that triggers you. It doesn't trigger me. I am not triggered. Does this dude sound triggered or what? Just tell us why you're here. I'm here because you're blowing it. You have one of L.A. politics' most vocal advocates of stormwater capture on your show,

and you haven't asked a single question about it. All right. So I'm taking over. Nithya, hi. How are you? Hi. First ofya, hi, how are you? Hi. First of all, let me apologize for John. He's not exactly a policy wonk.

Come on. He's a little out of his depth on these topics. So every time I've come on this show to talk about stuff like this, John has acted like he's too good for it. But he seems willing to listen to you. So, Nithya, why don't you explain to John, in terms you

think he'll understand, why capturing storm water is so important, especially here in L.A.? I'll try to follow. Well, right now, L.A. doesn't get that much rain or that many periods of rain. But when we do get rain, we only capture about 30% of that rain right now, which is a pretty low figure. And L.A. currently imports about 80% of its water mostly from northern parts, right?

And so in a city that's really prone to earthquakes, if those lines get interrupted during an earthquake, the level of disaster that could result for this city is pretty immense. So I think for earthquake preparedness to combat this incredible drought that we're back into, I think we really need to be thinking about stormwater capture. Right. Okay.

Are you following so far? I'm doing my best. Okay. My fucking show. So we're only capturing 30%. That's below an F. We're not. Some of it just hits the street, right?

Yeah. And that's part of the issue I've been trying to tell you. I don't understand. Like it's the rain. We're going to capture all the rain. We need permeable hardscaping. Is that okay? Okay. Okay. So I'm going to back up because I get We need permeable hardscaping. Is that? Okay. Okay.

So I'm going to back up because I get a little heated when I'm talking about this. So I did the turf replacement rebate here in L.A. It's offered by the LADWP. They offer you $3 per square foot for every square foot of lawn that you replace with California-friendly landscaping. And they ask you to install water capture features such as rain swales. I am a hero. Thank you.

And it was a very easy process. It completely radicalized me on this issue. It taught me everything about how we need to be setting up our land so that water sinks down, replenishes our water table, the watershed principle of landscaping, everything like that. It made me want to burn every lawn I see. So I know that there are individual things, there are programs in place in the city that incentivize people to take steps

to alleviate this problem of the fact that we not only lose so much rainwater by not capturing it, but then when we don't capture it, it just runs off our lawns and our paved streets into the gutters carrying trash into the ocean. It's a big problem. But there have to be bigger citywide solutions, right? Yeah. And first of all, this is like more advertising, I think, for this issue than has been done by the DWP in its history. Like, you're an incredible spokesperson.

Again, I am a hero. Thank you very much. And I feel like the city is making a huge mistake not finding a way to work with you and hire you to talk about this. Give them my number. It's Emily's Garden Show, brought to you by

the municipal government of Los Angeles. Can I have one other pitch about why grass is terrible? Yeah. Because sometimes there's little kids that don't feel comfortable walking on grass because one time someone told them there might be bees in it. And so they refuse to put their bare feet on grass and won't touch it unless a parent who's indulging their child in which maybe leads them to have kind of a complex that follows them to the point where the only way they can be happy is by getting applause from strangers to actually lay towels on the ground to get them to walk across a lawn because they literally won't touch grass to this day. Just another argument against grass.

If it's helpful. If it's normal and useful. Here's what I think is happening right now. You think you're explaining why you don't like grass and what I'm hearing is why you don't like this segment. You have a garden aversion and I think you've been taking it out on me and I'm really sorry, Anithya.

We have personal issues. There's some beef here. There's some beef, huh? Which also takes up a lot of water. You know? Yes. Very true. That's why I'm a vegetarian. Thank you. And she's a vegetarian? Okay. I am too. Still a hero.

I don't even remember the question. I had a burrito on my way here. Let's get back to policy. I know John tries to avoid it way here. Let's get back to policy. I know John tries to avoid it every chance he gets. Why aren't we doing more? Yeah, why aren't we doing more? What action should we be asking our elected officials to take on stormwater capture? And in your experience, has it been a challenge getting other politicians on board with this issue?

So the city is doing stuff. It's just moving very, very slowly. So we passed a measure a few years ago and a huge amount of money came from that for huge capital projects that are going to do a better job of capturing our rainwater than we've done it so far. But there's another big part of it, which is exactly what you're talking about, which is doing all these improvements in your home. Permeable landscaping, rain swales, rain barrels, rain chains. Is that ringing a bell? I know what a rain chain is. A rain chain is a chain with a little

cup and a little cup and a little cup that gets bigger and bigger to capture the rain as it falls. Is that right? I listen. I fucking listen. Because I'm a great guest. Fuck. You're so close. Because I'm a great, I guess, guest. Fuck. You're so close.

It's basically a bunch of cups. They don't have to get bigger and bigger as they go down. That's optional. And they don't capture the water. They slow it down so that instead of a gutter, which just shoots your water down at your property, giving it no time at all to sink down into the soil. It just slows it down so that it has time to sink down instead of running off your property.

Speaking of slowing things down, at any time you can just sort of hand the show back to me. Whenever you'd like. So everyone should be doing this at their house. Doing everything that you did. And the DWP has a program where they were supposed to have something like 5% of users do this at their homes annually

in order to meet these very, very ambitious rainwater harvesting goals. And so far, they have done it for less than 1% of homes total. Yeah, so we're behind. We're behind. What are you booing? None of you people have done it. Yes. I haven't done it for less than 1% of homes total. Yeah, so we're behind. We're behind. What are you booing? None of you people have done it.

Yes. I haven't done it. I strongly recommend the program. If you're a renter, talk your landlord into it. They can keep the money, I guess. I don't know. There's a lot of good reasons to do it. I just want to talk about stormwater capture.

We got to end it. I don't have an agenda anymore. I'm going to read your line. Amazing. Thank you, Nithya. And thank you so much for coming on the show, love it. Then I say, still my show. Emily waves as she leaves.

And then you say. I didn't agree to leaving. You say, keep it moist, everyone. Thank you so much to Councilman Nithya Ryan and Emily Holler. Thank you so much. When we come back. Ba-da-ba-ba-da-ba-da-ba-Batman. I don't know. Thank you so much. That was come back, Batman? I don't know. Thank you so much. That was so great.

Don't go anywhere. Love it or leave it, there's more on the way. And we're back. Hollywood's obsession with superheroes, America's fascination with violent heroism, brooding billionaires, our compulsive need to revisit the same familiar, comfortable characters over and over again

as entertainment becomes the last escape from our increasingly terrifying modern lives. There are a lot of interesting reasons to grapple with Matt Reeves' new film, The Batman Me, while I saw our next guest tweet about it, and I wanted to know what the deal was. Please put your hands together for the hilarious, talented, and when it comes to the Batman, dead wrong, maybe,

Joel Kim Booster. Hi, Joel. Hello. Welcome back. Thank you. So good to see you. So good to be here in person. So you said you wanted to talk

about the Batman. Yeah, I did. On a podcast. When you tweeted about it. And you were booked. And it happened. It happens. It happens.

So, Robert Pattinson, hottest Batman to date? No. Ooh, dissensus. I think Christian Bale. And also, listen, this might be controversial, Michael Keaton. There's something there. There's something there. There's a safety in the Michael Keaton Batman.

There's a softness to it. Michael Keaton, star and actress. And not everybody is both, mind you. Robert Pattinson, star, actor? Yeah, come on. Up for debate. The brooding. Nobody broods like Robert Pattinson broods.

That's true, that's true. Are there any Twihards in the audience tonight? Where are they? We've really won this year because K-Stew nominated for an Oscar. Robbie Pat, like, a celebrated actor now. I'd say we won, okay? Bring our boys home.

We won the war. Colin Farrell, no more fat suits. So is it a problem that the best makeup in the history of motion pictures is a hot guy turned into the penguin in a very, very derivative Batman film that I enjoyed a great deal? Yeah. Is it a problem that that is

the best makeup in history? Best makeup in history is a stretch. Is it? Yeah, I don't know about that. But I will say, because here's the thing about the makeup. You look at Colin Farrell as the penguin, and they couldn't do anything about those gorgeous eyes. They can't do it.

They're right in there. You look at the penguin, and I was like, I would. I would. In the prosthetics and all. Also, he's like a successful business owner. The club is dope, okay? And I'll say it. I'll be the first one to say it.

I want to try that drug. I want to try it. Oh, yeah. And I want to try it yesterday. Yeah, who doesn't want to try a drug that the DA loves? Yeah, yeah, exactly. The DA loves it. You put it in your eye?

Give it to me. Something that we should talk about, the parking rules at that club. There's one space and it's for the DA, and it's right in front. I'm going to say, Gotham, unlike Los Angeles, has a functional public transportation system, so it is easier.

One other thing I did enjoy about the film is there was valet parking at the mayor's funeral. That when Bruce Wayne arrives at the funeral for the mayor, he just tosses the keys at the church to the valet guy. And I respect that about Gotham City. That's a cool funeral. I'm putting that on my will. There must be valet.

One other thing, and what I'm about to say is a spoiler. Is anyone here going to be uncomfortable with a spoiler? It's not really a spoiler. Babe, the movie's three hours long. Even if we spoil one thing for you, you will forget about it by hour two, okay? And get over it, babe.

Here's the thing, and it's not a spoiler for the reason I'm about to say, but if you're concerned and you want to go in fresh, jump forward 30 seconds. A minute. You won't miss much. Probably. So they act like they're building to some big twist and it turns out

the bad guy is the penguin's evil boss yeah who was bad in the first moment we saw him yeah

it's like they forgot no and this is this is one of my major issues the penguin has a boss with the film I and I like you

I enjoyed we enjoyed it we enjoyed the movie had a good time get off my nuts I loved the movie loved it I will pay for the sequel. I will go.

I am brain dead. Beautiful mascara. Okay? Beautiful mascara on Batman. This is the thing. When you are remaking a movie of an IP that has been done this many times, it really does have to answer the question, why? And I don't think that this movie adequately answers that question because

and it gets close to it because one thing that one interesting thing the movie does do is it really tries to hone in on batman being a detective you know like there is an aspect of it that feels like seven it feels like one of those like late 90s like thrillers and it's great it's very much batman meets seven it's a lot that. But the mystery then turns out to be that the most obvious evil person in the film is the villain. And everyone keeps saying, this thing goes all the way to the top.

And we're like, do you mean to the mayor who was killed for being corrupt? Yes. Well, we know that. Killed by the mobster he was in cahoots with? Yes. So it was confusing in that regard.

I found that confusing. And I wish they would have leaned into that more or done anything to differentiate itself texturally from the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, which they didn't really do. I would have rather they turned the volume up on the comic book-ness of the films and gone

back to a joel schumacher cartoon throw some nipples on there then stay in the same sort of realism universe yes it's fun to watch batman use like gadgets that anybody could use and fuck up and and become a flying bat and then you know fall um again spoiler spoiler spoilers the villain of the movie is actually impotent white male rage. And that is like, the thing is, is like, I'm sorry, Greta Thunberg, Poison Ivy is right there.

You know, like if you're going to go realism in the moment that we're in right now, eco-terrorism is the way to go. It's what's now. I also think it's fun when a movie's like, oh, this is a movie about Batman being a detective, and then he's like, let's see how smart Batman is. He's like, there's blood on the ground over here.

I'm really good at riddles. I'm good at tongue twisters and wordplay. I gotta go put on more mascara. I'm Batman. And I'm sorry, not a single movie in existence needs to be three hours long.

If you want to make a movie that is three hours long, make a fucking television show, okay? The Shallows starring Blake Lively is 87 minutes long and that is the perfect length for a movie, okay? And it is especially insulting

for it to be a Batman movie that's three hours long. When we make for a movie, okay? And it is especially insulting for it to be a Batman movie that's three hours long. When we make a Batman movie every six to eight weeks, hey, if you're getting close to the end of making your Batman movie and you realize you have three hours, I have some great news for you. You made two Batman movies. We'll see them fucking both.

Split them in half. Release one in six months. I'm in. And again, and again, we loved every single minute of it. We loved. We loved the movie. We loved it. We're in. Every single minute of those three hours,

I loved, thrilled, entertained. But did I leave and go up to go to the bathroom at the beginning of a Riddler speech, get another drink, get a hot dog, do a bump of ketamine in the bathroom, and then come back, and he was still giving the same speech. That's not right!

Ketamine are the drops of Los Angeles. Yeah, truly. In a lot of ways, when you think about it. Don't put it in your eyes, though, folks, okay? So we want to dig a little bit deeper. You claim to be familiar with the canon. Yeah, yeah, I own hundreds of Batman comics. So we're going to pose some hard-hitting questions.

Oh, boy. Entirely about Batman and Batman So we're going to post some hard-hitting questions. Oh, boy. Entirely about Batman and Batman-related DC characters. All right, first question. Which Joker would you like to take a long road trip with? Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson,

Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Hamill, who is the Batman animated series and deserves more praise for his wonderful voice acting, or Barry Keegan?

That's a spoiler. Yeah, that is a spoiler. But who cares? I'm going to say the only one whose penis I'm convinced I could work with is the Lego man. Not technically an option. The correct answer was Cesar Romero, unfortunately. Next question.

Which of the Banes do you want to hurl your high school bully into a muddy ditch like a less violent version at the end of Let the Right One In? Tom Hardy

from Dark Knight Rises or the campy Robert Swenson version from Batman and Robin? So, wait, wait, wait. I have a picture of both of them in front of me

so I blacked out at the beginning of the question. Yep. Are you asking me, do I want to fuck or do I want to murder? One of them is going to save you and then carry you out of a high school. I'm going to say, obviously, Tom Hardy. Yeah, that's correct. And partially because Tom Hardy, one of the few people involved in a superhero movie, when asked on a press tour how he got so big to play Bane, basically admitted to doing steroids. Unlike every single other actor who's done one of these movies.

Just two a days. No, he literally was like, I ate a lot of fish. In a way that, you know. But he got in a lot of trouble for it. And I respect that. Just like the idea. I love a psycho bisexual, you know. But he got in a lot of trouble for it, and I respect that. Just like the idea. I love a psycho bisexual, you know? Tom Hardy comes back to the trailer

after a long day of playing Bane and says, let me just take this up. Leave it on, Tom. We'd like you to leave it on. Which penguin would you like to take you on a very long date that does have dinner, a drink component, a lot of conversation, maybe a buggy ride? Burgess Meredith,

Danny DeVito, Colin Farrell, or Robin Lord Taylor? Okay, you know what's crazy is that I have almost made out with one of these four. It's Burgess Meredith, isn't it? Yeah, could you imagine which one?

I'm going to say Danny, yeah Because I want to see if he'll bite my nose off I know Iconic Which Commissioner Gordon would you call if you had a really bad day at work? Neil Hamilton from the 1960s Batman Love that guy

Pat Hingle from 1989 Great Commissioner Gordon Great Commissioner Gordon. Great Commissioner Gordon. Gary Oldman, J.K. Simmons from Batman vs. Superman, or Jeffrey Wright from The Batman. You had a hard day. You got to call one of them. Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to see if I should pander tonight.

This is... Gary Oldman, look him up, okay? Look him up and then see if you're still screaming Gary Oldman. Look him up, okay? Look him up and then see if you're still screaming Gary Oldman. Okay? Type B, type B, type B. Yeah, I'm going to go because I am sitting in front of the most diverse audience of white people I've ever seen. J.K. Simmons. They love him.

They love J.K. Simmons. I got to say, I think Neil Hamilton. I loved him in the 1960s. He's so kind. He's him. They love J.K. Simmons. I got to say, I think Neil Hamilton. I loved him in the 1960s. He's so kind. He's great. Kind eyes. Thank you so much, Joel. Everybody watch Fire Island when it's out in June.

Set a reminder. I'm so excited for Fire Island. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much. And I love that there's a great rave about it at Vanity Fair. And I love that you took a picture reading Pride and Prejudice and said someone should make a gay version.

And then you fucking did it. And then I did it. That's amazing. That's amazing. It doesn't happen often. When we come back, an evil spirit has awoken. And we're back. Check out the latest episode of Offline.

Kara Swisher joins John this week for a conversation about the ongoing war in Ukraine, how it marks the first true conflict of the Internet age, why Putin is losing the misinformation battle, and what makes Zelensky a compelling online hero. It's also just a fascinating, far-reaching conversation. Kara goes in a million directions. What a whirling dervish of just confidence.

A lesson for us all. Search Offline with Jon Favreau on your podcast app and smash that follow button to never miss an episode. It's on a new feed now. And also, this week on Hysteria, Aaron and Alyssa are joined by Riri Chaney and Jill Gutowitz to talk about the evolution of queer culture in film and television. Plus,

Ai-jen Poo joins to discuss the National Domestic Workers Alliance push to bring fairness and dignity to domestic workers. New episodes of Hysteria drop every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're futzing around on your podcast app of choice, do us a favor. Give, love, or leave it a rating.

Ideally, the most stars available. Throw us a review. Good ones only, please. It really helps the show. And I never ask. It's true, I never ask. So do it. Earlier this week, a college student from the University of Virginia wrote a New York Times op-ed titled,

I came to college eager to debate. I found self-censorship and said, as is so often the case with this brand of op-ed, it immediately created that which it denies exists, namely, a vigorous debate, which ultimately led to acrimony and stupidity on the Internet, because this is America, and that is what debate is all about. But we decided that here at Love It or Leave It,

we will embrace the value of a vigorous contest of ideas, no matter the glare of social media. We will debate whether or not debate is stifled in this country. On the side that debate is stifled, and we need a restoration of free speech, joining me now is a college student who skimmed the op-ed and completely gets what the student is talking about. Welcome to the stage, student free speech advocate, Julia Russ. I can feel the tension, John. I know you're not going to like what I have to say.

I didn't say anything. I didn't say a thing. Well, I could feel it. This whole stage is full of tension. Oh, jeez. Here we go. And here to argue that there are no such limits to speech and fear of cancel culture is way overblown, please welcome to the stage the thousand-year-old spirit of Tamamo Nomai, a malevolent nine-tailed fox entity

who was released this week when Japan's famous Sesshoseki, or killing stone, split open. According to legend, Tamamo Nomai resided in the rock and once possessed the consort of Emperor Toba in an effort to destroy his reign. Welcome, the fox spirit. Welcome, Tamama Nomai. Oh, thank you, John.

It's an honor to be here. It's an honor to be anywhere. I've been trapped inside of a rock for a thousand years. I'm extremely comfortable with all points of view, but I'll be honest, I'm a little confused. What's the problem? Oh, I just thought I'd be debating a human or a person of some kind. Well, do you want to censor the fox spirit or do they not deserve to be heard? No, you're absolutely right. You got me there. Let's do this.

Okay, great. Julia, your opening statement. My fellow Americans. Come on. Speech is under threat in our country every day. Students get nervous about sharing controversial opinions in America. According

to a 2021 survey of 37,000 students, 80% say they self-censor at least some of the time. That makes me want to puke. 48% say they feel somewhat uncomfortable or even very uncomfortable

expressing their opinion on a controversial topic in America. Not saying anything that pops into your head. I believe in a society where you can say something that most people hate, but not

have it shape their view of you as a person. It's as simple as that, John. Freedom of speech means freedom from the consequences of speech. Thank you. Okay, well, Fox Spirit, what's your response to that? You've given me a lot to consider. Having heard what you said and thought about it, I have

several questions for you. Where is the emperor? What is the name of this strange village? How might I find passage to Kyoto? I don't have anything prepared for this. Hey, hey, fox spirit, come on. That's not right, all right? You're here to debate cancel culture.

That's what our producer Brian told you on the phone. You called the spirit on the phone? What are the rules here? Yes, cancel culture. Cancel all culture. Sweep the face of the earth clean. I am here to rent chaos on all of the lands under dominion of the emperor

who will pay for his decadence? Pay in blood! I'm sorry, this is where it leads. Where what leads? Okay, now, now, now. Okay, okay. Now, as is my custom, I have already taken the form of a temptress.

But you must tell me how I might find a ship to take me away from what I can only imagine is this remote and abandoned place. So that I may seduce the emperor and begin to work my magic upon him. A great point. Julia, hasn't it always been difficult to challenge people? Isn't that why it's called challenging people? Must continue to have control. No, but John, you don't understand. The looks that I've gotten

in class, people looking at me, squirming in seats, the sense that people find me annoying, just because I happen to think it's worth playing the devil's advocate on 100% of topics. I mean, including the don't say gay bill, which liberals are blowing way out of proportion.

Julia, I get it. Thank you. I was punished for my words when I possessed the concubine of the last ruler of China's Shang Dynasty. Before I headed to Japan, I paid mightily for speaking the truth. Absolutely. And the truth I shared was this. We should spend all the tax money on orgies and a pool filled with wine and little meat skewers that were kind of like trees of meat poking out of the wine

so we could float and kind of just drink the pool and eat the meat trees. Yeah, that was a real thing we used to do. And when we did it, because it was objectively awesome, let's see, what happens? A violent rebellion that destroys the dynasty, also known as... Cancel culture. We're talking about the exact same thing. We're talking about the exact same thing. Julia, come on.

Here's the problem. No one seems to be stopping you from speaking your mind, and this country has ideological diversity to a fault. A recent study found that 15% of Americans believe, and I quote, that the government, media, and financial world in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run

a global child sex-traveling ring. Only 15%. What does that say about the state of news and debate in our country? I mean, if you think about it, you know what I mean? The point is, we are surrounded by news and noise and debate all the time. There's never been more debate and discussion and opinionating in literally the history of our society. We are all pontificating and arguing

and offering thoughts all the time. He's right. You know, I've been out of that rock for five days and I've spent most of them on TikTok. You just don't know. You just don't like how it makes you feel, Julia. We are drowning in these phony, silly, misleading, facile, shallow debates.

As the world burns, no one pays a price for lying. Everyone feels like enervated by all the noise. There can't be a real debate in a society where no one pays a price for lying. Everyone feels, like, enervated by all the noise. There can't be a real debate in a society where no one pays a price for shamelessness. And the only conversation we have about speech is one led by narcissists who think the world owes them a microphone to call everybody woke and applause for being so smart. Wow, so it seems like you don't want to debate after all. This was a debate. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Do you ever wonder if maybe a fox spirit that inhabits the bodies of concubines to convince emperors to do terrible things might be a misogynistic way to blame enslaved women for the crimes of despicable male rulers? Oh, my God. Looks like I am woke after all, John. Oh, my God. Looks like I am woke after all, John. Oh, my God.

Oh, woke from my terrible slumber to destroy. Okay. Free speech advocate Julia Russ and the recently escaped evil spirit Tamamo Namai, everybody. I was comfortable with all of this. Thank you to Jenny Yang. Listen to her podcast, Going Through It, and also sign up for her Substack at JennyYang.Substack.com. Thank you so much, Jenny. She'll be back for the Red Wheel.

And give it up for Hallie Kiefer as our resident student complainer. When we come back, the Hyper Wheel spins again. And we're back. Joining me once again are Emily, Joel, and Jenny. Now it's time for the Hyperwheel. Everyone, you will be given both a topic to rant about and also an angle to approach your rant. Will this work? We hope so.

But the stakes remain incredibly low. On the wheel this week, we've got the liberal appropriation of y'all, astrology memes, imposter syndrome, celebrating birthdays as an adult, dryers that don't fully dry your clothes, the Amazon Prime Show Reacher, Disney's version

of inclusion, and the sad, we think, death of the Entenmann's founder. Oh, and also I should note that we have all kinds of takes, including conflicted, mischievous, disgusted, inspirational, and so forth. Jenny, you're up first. Okay. Let's spin the wheel for Jenny.

Okay. It has landed on astrology memes. Take inspirational. I am a Scorpio. I am. And every time I tell people, they always get so upset. Because there's a strange prejudice against Scorpios, okay, for being mean or intense. One out of seven humans are Scorpios. How can we all be terrible? That's why today I would like everyone to start a hashtag. Yes, hashtag stop Asian hate. But what I'm saying is

today we begin a new campaign. Hashtag stop Scorpio hate. Stop Scorpio hate. Stop Scorpio hate. Stop. I thought Scorpios were just sex maniacs. Yeah, I was going to say. Is that the thing?

That's their big thing. I'll accept that. But you're fine with that part. But the other parts I don't like. What does an astrology meme? I their big thing. I'll accept that. But you're fine with that part. But the other parts I don't like. What does an astrology meme? I don't know. I just thought of astrology. All the memes that you look on Instagram,

they always talk shit about Scorpios. Aquarius, sexy, medicinal, landscape artist, whatever. And then you go through and it's like Scorpio. It's like fucking hellish, angry, you know, demon. And it's like, why? Why? Everything else is delightful. That's wrong.

Anyway. I think that's, thank you for sharing that. Thank you. I think it was important. All right, Joel, it's your turn to spin the wheel. All right, Joel, it's your turn to spin the wheel. It has landed on being disgusted by adults being excited to celebrate their birthdays. Okay.

Oh, so you want to take one day out of the year and make it about you? A year that has been so terrible that you've barely been able to come out of your house and suddenly now this day comes and you think you should be the special one? Why? Because you were

born? Because you made it to 34? Trudging through the drama and the pain and the terrible things that have happened to you over the course of the year, and now suddenly you want to get drinks with your friends? Disgusting!

Fantastic. I love celebrating my birthday as an adult. I completely agree. Life is so fucking hard. Why not have one day where you get to do whatever you want? Have a birthday. Emily, you're up. Okay.

Let's spin the hyper wheel. It has landed on Reacher. Take seductive. First of all, what I submitted was Love is Blind. The Love is Blind reunion. But I'll try to be as sexy as I can while talking about Reacher before I do pivot to Love is Blind because I have a lot

to say. Reacher is a television adaptation of the Jack Reacher books. They made movie adaptations before with Tom Cruise and... Okay, I'm not turned on. Wait. I'm not of the Jack Reacher books. They made movie adaptations before with Tom Cruise. Okay, I'm not turned on. Wait.

I'm not there yet. Have you ever heard of Foreplay? The thing is, the movie starred Tom Cruise, but the main thing in the books, and I know this because my husband has read a bunch of Jack Reacher books and will not stop talking to me about them, regardless of how many times I've asked him to.

The main thing about the character Jack Reacher is that he's very big. He's a big man. His body looks like a condom full of walnuts. This is a direct quote. Wait a second. I'm sorry. It's a direct quote. From the book. The book describes him as a condom full of walnuts?

Yes. That rules. That is so hot. I'm turned on. I'm turned on, frankly. With hands like Thanksgiving turkeys or grocery store chickens. Wow. And let me tell you, the guy they got for the Amazon show, he's pretty big.

me tell you the guy they got for the amazon show he's pretty big they not only got a really big guy but they also got a bunch of short people to act next to him and they shoot him from below like power rangers point is i i asked my husband to stop talking to me about the books but then he talked me into watching the show and that has enabled him to talk about the books a lot more but I do need to talk about Shake from Love is Blind I have to talk about this I have to talk about the reunion I'm not going to catch anyone up who hasn't watched it um I will give Shake this he went into the reunion he had an agenda he wanted to say love is not blind this is stupid. And I agree with him on that. The problem is this was season two. And he signed up for the show. And the first words out of his mouth at the reunion were,

I'm really worried about how I'm going to get edited. Is such a stupid strategy for four reasons. Reason number one, he spent all his time in the pods asking the women questions like, so I love clothes, what size are you? And do you think I could put you on my shoulders? And if you could have dinner with one person living or dead, would that person be having dinner with a fat woman are you fat uh i'm sorry no one is going to believe that it's the editor's

fault that you came off like an asshole going in saying i'm worried about the edit it's not the editor's fault man but second of, according to his ex-fiance from the show, he got a good edit. The producers had a vested interest in making it seem like these two people might get married at the end of it, so they try and make you think that he's growing and appreciating her for what

they have in common and what a good partner she could be, even as he's telling everyone behind her back that he's not attracted to her. And according to her, he said way worse stuff that they didn't include because of the narrative so i'm calling bullshit on him blaming the editing but third i would maybe buy his i was the victim of bad editing act if the second the reunion started all of the other cast members didn't start like booing him basically you didn't get a bad edit if all the people who spent a ton of time with you are literally telling you to shut up as soon as you start talking.

But number four, if you're on a reality show and you're truly worried about how you're going to be edited, don't open with, I'm nervous about how this is going to be edited. You need to say, hey, I love the editors of this show. I trust them to do their jobs. They're so smart and cool, and I bet they can skateboard really well. Like, does this guy go to restaurants just to say to the waiters, like, hey, fuckface, I don't want any fucking spit in my food. You got that, numbnuts?

I won't be able to see it if you did it anyway, you piece of shit. And okay, I realize everyone already knows this guy's a villain, and I'm probably just adding to the pile-on that already happened in the reunion, but to defend myself, I want to read you a comment on Instagram that was written by his mom. She said,

to others who would like to diss on him for his thoughtless words, please go right ahead. He is strong, and he can take it. Anyway, Reacher's pretty good. All right.

Incredible. And I just want to say thank you to the incredibly handsome Bill Lance who does an incredible job editing Love It or Leave It week after week after week, including overnight edits. So handsome, so talented. My turn.

Let's see what the wheel has in store for me. It has landed on... Entenmann's founder dies. That's not right. This feels wrong. This feels wrong. Take hungry. This feels wrong. When I saw that the founder of Entenmann's, a Long Island native from Bayshore,

who turned a local baking concern into a thriving national brand, my first reaction, and only reaction, only response whatsoever, was physical hunger. When I saw the life that this man led, right, starting from basically nothing, making something excellent, these incredibly soft cookies and these fucking fantastic donuts with little nubbins on them that make no sense but are magical, and that he built it into a kind of thriving enterprise with grit and ingenuity and hard work, became a philanthropist that helped his community, all I thought was, I'm hungry. And I thought about how many times as a little kid,

no matter what was going on, I could distract my mother and just throw a box of those tiny little soft, chewy cookies into the cart. And when I saw that that man was dead, all I cared about was whether it would impact the availability of these cookies and treats.

And I thought to myself, what a life. Is the brand protected? What is the estate process going to look like? Who controls the Entenmann's IP? Why is the N inside of Entenmann's not pronounced? Now that I think about it. You don controls the Entenmann's IP? Why is the N inside of Entenmann's not pronounced? Now that I think about it. You don't say Entenmann's.

Entenmann's. Is the family going to squabble over the Entenmann's fortune? Could that lead to recrimination and ultimately lawsuits that might lead to the lack of availability of those tiny little cookies or that delicious cake or the donuts,

again, that are unique because they're donuts with little tiny, I don't know what you'd call them, crumb nugs. I don't know. You know the crumb nugs? The magical crumb nugs? What kind of diabolical genius was this man? How did he keep the cookies soft decades before Chips Ahoy made those delicious yet obviously quite chemical cookies that the Chips Ahoy people do? And we eat them, the Chips Ahoy permanently soft cookies that we recognize have something wrong with them. They don't taste really like cookies. They taste like chewy Chips Ahoy, which isn't a cookie. It's something else, soft forever. What is that? Clearly not good for us.

Clearly something wrong, poison, chemical, inside of the Chewy Chips Ahoy, but not Entenmann's, also soft, but not chemical. Witchcraft, magical. Is he dead? And that's the hyper wheel. Thank you to Emily, Joel, and Jenny. When we come back, we'll end on a high note.

And we're back. Here it is, the high note. I love it. My name is Katie. And this past week, after teaching in Providence, Rhode Island for two years, I found out that I have gotten into my first choice medical school program and will be going there in the fall. I'm super, super excited to take what I've learned from the classroom and bring it into medicine to help make it a more equitable

and good place for everybody. Thank you so much. Love your show and have a good week. Hey, love it. My name is Harley. I live in Maine. My high note for the week is that after years of bouncing around from living space to living space, job to job,

and chasing after solutions to my flagging mental health, I've finally found a doctor that is taking what I'm pretty sure is ADHD seriously and is getting me medicated for it so that I can focus on returning to school full-time, which I get to do in March. I called in some favors to friends and family members. They took over my bills. They gave me a free living space. And they're really going to let me go for it. So I'm going to do it. Thanks, man. Have a great day. Hi, my name is Caroline, and I'm calling to submit a high note. My dad, Stephen Duble, just got into a runoff in the Democratic primary in Houston, Texas for a Justice of the Peace race.

to a runoff in the Democratic primary in Houston, Texas for a Justice of the Peace race. He's the only candidate who is running on a platform to reduce evictions. And so it's just really exciting that Texas voters in Houston were able to see his reducing eviction platform and support it. So we're going to keep working hard through May to try to get across the finish line. But I'm happy to see that in the midst of an eviction crisis, there are candidates like my dad who are supporting efforts to reduce evictions. Also, he'd be the first gay justice of the piece in Harris County history if he's elected. Hey, John, my name is Sarah. I'm from Washington State, and I am calling with a high note this week.

So I'm in my 30s. My mom is in her 60s. And she called me the other day to tell me that she'd been having a conversation via email with one of her friends who thinks that Black Lives Matter is a scam or a crock. I don't know exactly what, but she's bought into all of the Fox News propaganda around Black Lives Matter. And my mom was leading me to emails that she sent back to her friend about why it's a legitimate organization and talking to her about racial equality in the United States and how it doesn't exist and how we have to acknowledge that. And I'm just really proud of her. My mom and I both listen to your show every week, and it's been a really nice way for us to connect during the pandemic because we always have something to talk about. Last week, she texted me about Wasabi and Guacamole. So I just am really thankful for your podcast. And I am really,

really proud of my mom. And I hope that other people are too. Thanks. Thank you to everybody who submitted high notes tonight. If you want to leave a message about something that gave you hope, you can call us at 213-262-4427. That is our show.

Thank you to Emily Heller, Jenny Yang, and Joel Kim Booster. Thank you to Nithya Raman and everyone who shared a high note. There are 241 days until the 2022 midterm elections. Have a great weekend. Thank you.