This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - 7 Part Long-form Challenge

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

We're doing a scaled-down version of the Fortnight Challenge we attempted earlier.  This time it's 7 parts and not 14. Part 1 - Royals Ballpark Options (Kauffman Ain't One, So Stop Already) Part 2 - Tour of KC (Ted Lasso Version) and KC BBQ Reviews Part 3 - Sumimasen, High Society!  (Afternoon Coffee) Part 4 - Mike's List of DoorDashing Requests Part 5 - Tylenol Does Not Cause Autism!!! Part 6 - Seafood Dining Experiences (Red Lobster and Kura Sushi) Part 7 - The Right-Wing Origins of the ACA

Check the mic will go live stories told they rise and dive Topics fresh with every spin you won't guess what's coming in Every week a new surprise minds away never lives conversations bold and free tuning now just wait just press play we're on our way Well, hello everybody. So welcome to the podcast. And something we experimented with last season. But not as long.

So last season we did the Fortnite challenge of 14 different stories throughout a particular course. That might have been not exactly a good idea for single episodes. but when again commits a podcast anyway. And I think we'll do that again this time. But we won't do 14. We'll do 7. Seven seems like a good number. And now let's go and start with a topic that has come up time again on the podcast.

And we are reading from ESPN.com. The heading is, what Royals ballpark? Mark Drama can teach us about MLB's future. Written August 29, 2025 by Bradford Doolittle. And as always, if I feel inclined to comment on something, I certainly will. So here we go. So Kansas City, Kaufman Stadium remains a gorgeous place to watch a baseball game. Again, poorly located, even though a goddamn,

practically god damn nowhere kind of a black hole in between three different cities but I digress and that is the next sentence that is the next paragraph actually sunk in a sea of asphalt in Jackson County Missouri some things at the K

have changed since it opened in 1973 I remind you we are recording this in 2025 the name, the colors of the seats, the spaces beyond the outfield walls. Oh yeah, when I was there a couple of years ago with a friend of the podcast, Pat Lamb, I finally got to see what they did behind those outfield walls,

like putting seating in and some other pretty cool stuff. you know so let's continue essential remain the fountains

the crown shaped scoreboard the up sloping green of the hills that give the home

with the Kansas City Royals the most pastoral feeling of any major league ballpark venue yeah

about that yeah that's I-70 that you're looking at The K is situated in the Truman Sports Complex next to Arrowhead Stadium where the NFL's the NFL team has played since 1972.

Your feelings about that location might depend on how you view the relationship between baseball and the cities in which they play. In Kansas City, that relationship may be about to change. Well, we've had the... public hearing on this podcast. You may have heard that bits of it. I didn't use the whole recording, of course. You've heard me talk about downtown baseball on this podcast and you don't hear me talk about it again

with this article. So we shall continue. So in 2021, so long ago that Bobby Wood Jr. had not yet debuted in the majors, we're also John Sherman announced a search for a new venue. The search continues. If all that mattered were the aesthetics of watching a game or the drive-and-park convenience,

it ain't that convenient, folks. It's a pain of the ass getting in and it's a pain of the ass getting out. All right. The Royals would say put, but in 2025, that's not enough. Where, after more than a ballpark, says are Brooks Sherman Jr., the Royals,

president of baseball operations, no relation to John Sherman. The aspirational model these days is the Trist Park Battery Project in Cobb County, Georgia. Teams want the ballpark and the additional revenue streams of an adjacent village. Again, we're talking about the Kaufman site specifically.

See of asphalt. as he accurately put it. Then you have, well, depending on which direction you go, you either have Interstate 70 on the opposite side,

which is, well, not much, including the Denny's that burned down, if you recall from what Braden described.

And then across Blue Ridge Cutoff, that's six lanes of traffic, folks. Again, a fucking taco bell and absolutely nothing to the to the south of the site to fact the south of the site is all forested and everything so although there is a rail bridge from the old rock island that you can use as a bike trail today but that's

about it I know there's a they were looking at possibly it's put some rain back on that bridge for commuter reasons, but that's a discussion for another time. And we continue with the article. So that requires land. But if just any land would do, the royals would not be looking elsewhere. The area around Kaufman, 7.8 miles from downtown Kansas City, has never developed. And frankly, just my opinion, will never. develop. All right, they've had 50 plus years to do so and they never did so. So there you go.

Location matters. While the Royals haven't declared where they want to go, they have been clear about what they want. The battery is the best example in our minds says Brooks Sherman, but you look around the league and you see all these examples. San Diego. what it did for the gas lamp quarter there Washington, D.C., Colorado are great. We want to be additive to wherever we're going. We want the

we want the live, work, and play environment. All right. The live, work, and play dynamic. These other venues have that, but in a different settings from the urban Corps like San Diego or Denver to rehabilitated blue collar districts like Washington to the suburbs

Atlanta these are contexts the royals are sifting through now making them a test case for ballpark development trends if the battery is the model just where should that model be turned into reality elsewhere. In ballpark, baseball, in the American City, author

and architecture critic Paul Goldberger wrote that a ballpark evokes the tension between the rural and the urban that has existed throughout

American history and very noticeable today. That tension is played out through different areas of ballparks in the game's history. It's playing out now in Kansas City. How might this drama be resolved here? And what might that mean when other MLB teams look to the future? So here are three battery-inspired models the roles are considering and how they currently work or could work for your favorites.

team model one the suburbs world's option hundred nineteen and null in uh south oval and park basically it's the old uh sprint campus which is now called uh asperia the buildings are still there but there's still plenty of uh open uh room there and uh as far as what's around there what's south is a hospital and to the east is the town center plaza shopping area in the park place shopping area like right next to each other and leewood and

let's just continue with the article so Sherman's announcements about a stadium search reeled off an urban centric wish list but the Braves project throws a monkey wrench into any assumptions about what that means

for the time for the first time in a long time a baseball team moved away from the city and that's towards it's funny that's exactly what the royals did when they went out to Kaufman in the first place because their first few seasons it was old municipal stadium which was a hell of a lot closer to downtown than what we're talking about here is

22nd in Brooklyn for for those that want to know where in the city it was it's now a housing development and they have different monuments honoring the old ballpark, which was home to not just the Royals, but the NFL team played there. The A's played there during the entire history in KC, and that was the home of the monarchs in the Negro leagues, which are now retroactively considered major league. All right, so we have first time along.

time a baseball team moved away from the city and towards it the Braves wanted the full live work and play effect dynamic of a city so they built their own this puts nether regions such as a hundred 19th and all in play the Johnson County sites once has the campus of the Sprint's world headquarters so I can pause right here to tell you what happened to sprint got bought up by T-Mobile. As you know, I was a Sprint customer, now I'm a T-Mobile customer because of that merger.

According to Walkscore.com, the area has a transit score of zero. That is true. You may have heard me say this before on the podcast, but good luck. Try and get a bus anywhere in Johnson County and expect to

be able to gets where he going in such a time of manner. All right. Mike Kelly, if you are listening to this, let's work on that fucking rail study already. Oh, that's right. I need to submit that petition. But, yeah, let's get a rail study already.

All right, because, yeah, this is ridiculous. And I'll add another dimension to this a little bit. A few months ago An affiliates of the Royals acquired the mortgage of the property Though I has yet to assume ownership They own the debt but not the property itself The

The team is Giving itself options The 119th and null Location is about 19 miles from Kansas City's City Hall Okay, pause it's just down the street from Leewood's

City Hall and pretty close to don't get me started on this. Ovalon Park moving there. City Hall into the old NC2A building which is pretty close

to this site which I'm going to call bullshit on and it's a shame that that some a bitch is going to be out of land another another four years in the defaming our

city and causing all sorts of headaches but 19 miles from Kansas City's City Hall in downtown then 19 and sits 37 miles from KCI

trying to suck any dick on the way to the parking line to get there you drive if this arrangement becomes the new standard that's a lot of driving much like it is now. Kansas City, not just the suburbs, have been car dominant for decades,

far from a unique story among baseball's metropolitan areas. Every city wants transit, and to varying degrees has acquired it, but most city's cars remain king. Yeah, I talk at length about, I've talked at length about the streetcar here and how it's being extended.

being extended down to 119th and null anytime soon again Mike Kelly let's get that fucking study started and there's certainly not line yet to KCI which would most likely require some form of heavier rail than a street car and and yeah that is quite quite the drive indeed so so Brooke Sherman We don't have the greatest public transit. I just told you how much of a joke it is in the suburbs. So we have to make it easy. It's a driving environment.

We have to make it easy for folks to get in and out. But we also think that the come easy stay late aspects for those idiots complaining about parking, the come early stay late aspect of this with a development that surrounds the ballpark would be helpful for that for all the morons who say well you can't put it downtown where you're going to park the idea is

you come early in the game you do stuff before the actual game and then after the game you just stick around wait for people wait for a better opportunity to get out

maybe you didn't think about that before forming your dumbass conclusion, but I'd die your ass. So, according to our urban-centric location metric, see

accompanying charts, Kaufman ranks 29th among current venues and last in-walk score. You just heard me explain the environment. There.

Moving from this moving to this even more distance location would drop the Royals into Deadlast they may stay there forever unless the Vagaman Athletics I talked about them

a little bit ago to their leaving KC allowed the royals to exist decides to move into the middle of the Nevada desert and here is that urban the urbanity of

ballpark's chart they're talking about. So number one is Toronto, Roger Center. Number two, Yankee Stadium. Number three is Fenway Pack in Boston. Number four, Darjeet Field,

in Minnesota, number five. Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Cubbies. And I'm going to insert 17 because it's an in-state example. Bush Stadium. is 17th. Kaufman is

second to last. Dead last is the Texas Rangers who play in Arlington which famously Arlington does not have public transit.

I don't know why, but they don't. And the rest of the bottom five by the 28 is Milwaukee. 27 is the Angels, so Los Angeles, and 26, also Los Angeles, in this case, the Dodgers. And the A's ballpark to be named in Vegas is 25, and the Braves are 24.

Proposed to Casey's sites, this 119th sites that are talking about, negative 4.5. And the other two sites that they'll talk about in this article, the first in North Kansas, city is a 50.6 which would put it it would still be in the upon third but much much higher to be between Philadelphia and Tampa and Washington Square Park which I do prefer

it would be a 68.5 which would put even further up between City Field the Mets and Arizona on it. So, when

teams choose a site, they are projecting. One projecting is what cities and their surrounding communities will become in the future. Another is how people will choose to get around. And what will fuel those ventures.

And this is why I'm so high on especially rail transits. Because we need a transition off of cars. Okay. Okay, that's a given. And the only way to do that really is to just build up what we're building with the streetcar.

And probably mix it with a commuter system to get out to places like 119th and null. Or KCI for that matter. And just transition off of... ideally you want a mix of cars and transit and for everyone who's saying that buses are the way to go, well we've tried buses in our city for decades and how well does that work? How well does that really work?

People are very stoked to use rail like the streetcar. So why not invest in rail? that's what I'm saying there options are good Multimital transit is the ideal I just said that

but more words you also need people to want to go there not just for baseball a key part of the battery success and what other metropolitan areas wants to replicate have little to do with the revenue from game days

no fucking shit and this is why you put a ballpark downtown as it is right now as it was 25 years ago when this debate first started there are very limited things to do downtown so you put in a

ballpark and this goes right into the quote it's not the 81 days you're playing baseball it's the 24 days you're not playing baseball, says architect Lamar Wakefield of Nelson Worldwide, whose design credits include The Battery and who's work on the reimagining of the area near Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia. We know how to do that. We're place makers. Everyone wants to reach as many of their

fan base as they can. Any team thinking making move to the suburbs for its own battery has to take a careful look at what's different about its metropolitan area from Atlanta, which

in some states has been measured as the most sprawled out large metro area in the country. I don't big is Atlanta because I could tell you KC is five counties okay C C C proper itself is three counties so that's pretty spread out all right Atlanta also has a metro area population area three times that at the Kansas

City region the dynamics and not necessarily transferable ballparks take on the characteristics of the area around them and serve as icons of their cities. A lack of aesthetic association with the city of Atlanta is, along with the absence of transit, one of the chief nitpicks

with the Braves Project. You feel it's when you visit from elsewhere. If you stay on site, you feel as if you were never in Atlanta. Likewise, if you visit Kaufman now, you feel like you never

were in KC proper. This is why Goldberger coined a word to describe the at truest battery project. Urbanoid. Nevertheless, if the Royals follow the Braves example and flourish, baseball's owners might not worry about any of that.

They will worry about finding the space to create a live, work, and play, baseball changala of their own. Teams that this model currently works for Braves, Rangers. That's it, just two. Two out of 30. Let's take the Roy's out of here.

2.29. Whether or not, you think the Braves should have left its Summer Hill neighborhood, which has boomed since the team left. I believe they were playing in the old Turnerfield, which was built for the Olympics in 96, and then, like, converted baseball before this project and I believe the site is now used for

Georgia State football there's no questioning whether the tourist battery project has succeeded during the baseball season and outside of it the Rangers suburban locale makes more sense than in any other MLB metropolitan area the town towns of Dallas and Fort Worth are both growing, but they are about 33 minutes away from, miles away from each other. The power brokers in Arlington, which is pretty much right in between the two, I've talked about urbanizing the area around Globe Life Field, but it's awfully low density. Still, this location makes the most sense for the most people in one of the country's

most entropic car-centric regions. And, of course, Arlington, if you've been falling into UFL stuff, all those stadiums are pretty close together with the Rangers, new ballpark, the Rangers' old bar park, okay, the prison of Arlington, now home to the renegades and the UFL. The UFL headcores itself is right there, and Jerry World is there, too. So like all the sports culture in Dallas is actually in Arlington. Teams that this model could work for the Angels.

The Angels have been in the same location for nearly six decades in Anaheim. And have been working to redevelop the site for years. They recently extended their least at Angel Stadium through 2032. and surely hope to have a battery-like dynamic in the works by then. Baseball has worked well in Anaheim for the most part, and there's no reason to think that won't continue in the future iteration. Other than this subset teams, three teams out of 29, three out of 29, It's hard to see the suburb an option as preferable for any other metropolitan area, including KC.

And here's the side note. There's already political opposition to doing this. So not just me. I think this would be a terrible site because you're basically just replicating what exists now. only with slightly closer shops and stuff and shout out to

Dr. Fassaddi who helped me and contributed to my most recent city council campaign

I believe he's running for Marigan this cycle he's opposed to this and generally as far

While we're on the subject of Oval and Park policies, I'm very angry about this whole shift out south, ignoring the historic core of the city, which is pretty much where I live. And an extra special fuck you to Mr. Ely for turning his back on us. Now, moving on. Model number two, in the city, but not downtown.

So we go from the worst option to the second best option, Royal's option, North Kansas City. Once again, North Kansas City is technically a suburb of Kansas City that's enclave by KC with the Missouri River bordering on the south and Kansas City proper bordering it's on all. other sides. Where I said about Kansas City proper covers three counties? Well, North KC is in Clay County and surrounded by KC North, also in Clay County.

And to the south is Jackson County. And to distinguish North KC from a part of KC proper north or north of river, we usually say KC North, or we collectively call the whole. place, the Northline. So, so, so let's talk about this North KC option. So when we think about

baseball classic venues like Fenway Pack, Wrigley Field, Ebbets Field, the old Brooklyn Dodgers, Forbes Fields, that's Pittsburgh, Tiger Stadium, Detroit,

Crossley Field, I believe that's Cincinnati. Shide Park, that's Philadelphia, and the Polo Grounds in North Manhattan, oddly right across the river from Yankee Stadium, and others. They have been neighborhood parks, and I would throw the old municipal stadium in this too. This model fell from favor as American cities began increasingly surrounded by suburban sprawl and cars. became the dominant mode of transit. Fenway and Wrigley, both over 100 years old, by the way,

were the only classic parks spared from the eventual wrecking ball, and many still mourn the loss of the others. North KC, where the Royals have reportedly submitted a term sheet that outlines their needs, would be a throwback to the neighborhood park era. the potential site is 3.6 miles from Kansas City Hall, but it's in Clay County, not Jackson County. Like I said, it's just north of the Missouri River.

The site's rendering's spotlight, the downtown skyline, a few miles to the south. Sports architects are urbanist by nature, so you often see that kind of setting in its image. Each type of site suggests something unique. There's, they'll all be different because a lot of it's just the demands of the clients, says Earl Santee, who is the legendary architect for Populous, Kansas City Company. Whose resume reads almost like a register of Baseball's highest profile stadium projects. His next stadium project will be number 20.

My goal, my job is for them to pick a site, and then I'll give them the best possible project. The Clay County rendering depicts a version of North KC that isn't currently there. So just to give everyone an idea of what North KC is really like mostly activity is along a couple of streets of Burlington Avenue which is the you can say it's a bridge between North Oak Traffic Way which is kind of the main streets of KC North into Glidesstone and all that and the Harve America Bridge which dumps into downtown is the Harv America Bridge underneath

which the streetcar runs and underneath which the riverfront extension will run and it's the same harvard america bridge since i'm talking about transit it's the same harvard america bridge that if north rail is implemented it'll go on this bridge and will likely surface this particular site the other street of note is armor road um We're going to get a little more confusing because there's an armor road going through Midtown and there, and there's this armor road in the, the, uh, Northland. And this, and this is basically a North Casey's, um, uh, main street. You know, all the, uh, all the, uh, shops and businesses are along this, uh, stretch of, uh, highway.

And it goes, uh, it goes out quite a ways. It goes past, uh, the, uh, two casinos, Harris and Ameristar, goes out towards worlds of fun the amusement park you know that's so but just within North Casey it's basically there main street so

continue with the Arkell it's a blue-collar neighborhood with a population of less than 5,000 part of the 2020 census there isn't as much industry as there used to be that's the rest of especially south of

armor between armor and the river. There's a lot of abandoned industrial sites here. So there's as much industry as there used to be. So there's a lot of post-industrial property ripe for development to the south towards downtown, enter the Royals. The town itself is charming

in an almost classic Main Street sort of way. Armour Road, even though it is nestled in an urban location only a few miles from downtown. The streets are dominated by independent businesses, one of which is the Kansas City institution, that is, Chapel's, restaurants, and sports museum,

where you can see, among other relics, one of the Oakland A's championship trophies a gift to restaurants founder, Jim Chappell, from the eccentric A's owner, Charlie Finley. You may recall we had Jim Chappell on Winningside. That was the only interview we really did for Winningside, and that was recycled into Uncalled-For.

So I would go and check that out. If you get a chance. A very nice guy, Jim Chappell. And very good food. If you get a chance, and it's right there on Armour Road. There you go. chapels would probably benefit from getting the royals as a neighbor,

but then again, the royals will be opening venues of their own. This kind of omnipresence is both the blessing and the bane of having a 21st century baseball team as a neighbor. Brookshend, once again, it's 81 days and hopefully 2.5 million fans. That's about the population of the KC. Metro area. by the way regarding the transformational potential

of the park development wherever it goes why not show them the best that you have and build around it and make it this vibrant environment be additive to the

community all year round a positive example of this is national sports bark and the blocks around it, which rehabilitated a neglected area. I believe the nationals play in the old naval yards

in D.C. This would have been a virtue of the ill-fated Howard's terminal proposal that once seems to the destiny of the A's in Oakland. Some of the proposals that they were working on for the Howard Terminal wirefront sites in Oakland were actually pretty good Goldberger said the idea of combining a ballpark with the

larger transformation of an urban neighborhood that would be transformed anyway over time is actually a really good idea the north kc site is not much to see now just empty parcels and massive surface parking lots there are potential issues in the needs for significant infrastructure upgrades and more transit options enter north rail

if this set it gets sent so they recently have finished another round of studies around north rail some more advanced studies and why I will tell you is if they go with the plan as suggested by the voters by those who gave inputs rather North Rail would a it would extend the current river market loop from where it turns at Grand now to down to uh

it's a cherry streets isn't they that road it would connect to it would connect uh... Columbus Park and it uh... continue it uh basically double the size of the loop

uh the loop would still be there everything and you could still kind of cross to the riverfront and the depot and then uh it would also complete the circle because right now uh

the uh right now from River Market West which would be the it goes straight to

a North Loop right and there's no option to curve back into the city market stop

so that said the that said the riverfront extension makes it a little more

difficult and difficult to pull off completing the full loop. Although if they want to incorporate into the Riverfront extension, it stopped first at River Market,

which is the new platform for which is the new platform. Go after the riverfront and come back to the existing River Market North. So, I didn't think that went through. It's kind of a

monument bonk type situation at River Market, River Market North. All right. So moving on, potential issues for need of significant infrastructure. And one of the stops, potentially North River, I forgot to. It would go across the Harf American Bridge. And the current plan is for it to, once it crosses the bridge,

get a siding. So the streetcars could pass each other. And that's take up all up. good old portion of the bridge so they'd have a siding on the north side of the Missouri before turning into 10th Street and then it would turn once again onto Swift Street Taylor's version and there would be a provision for a stop for this new ballpark if it were to if it were to happen so so more transit options the basic reality is that the Royals of Raffle will transform the character

of this area. Baseball can certainly work in post-industrial neighborhoods like this, but the citizens here have to be on board, and from my understanding, the North KC governor is quite bullish and progressive on these certain issues.

The Royals might decide they want North Kansas City, but the people there must want them back. So while I've seen North KC not having a problem with this, that might not. not be true of the rest of, sorry, in Clay County. We're talking a good portion of KC. North.

We're talking Gladstone. We're talking those Oaks neighborhoods. There. Liberty is up there. And a few other smaller towns. And I will also tell you, outside of North KC, Clay County is very suburban. So teams at this mile currently, works for let's count them Milwaukee Chicago Cubs L.A Dodgers Giants San Francisco

New York Mets Nationals Phillies sox and Yankees so that is nine teams quite an increase from the last category wouldn't you agree it's about a third of baseball there so there are all These are all pretty self-evident successes. So the South Philly location of Citizens Bank Park put the Phillies in this class. And given the development underway around their venue and those of the city's other major sports teams, they've only scratched the surface. They've only scratched the potential of the sites.

American Family Field in Milwaukee merits special mention. it's more suburban than urban in design with plenty of surface parking to accommodate the renowned tailgating culture of Wisconsin sports fans and that's another bitch I hear from these idiots not one down to talk about what we're going to tailgate is tailgating really a part of baseball culture

I'd think not back to the argo it's not that far from downtown the brurs probably could develop some of the parking area and beyond. But it has worked for them pretty well as well. Ballpark Village or not. Teams

this model could work for. The A's Arizona, the Marlins, Rays, and the White Sox. So it's another five. The now abandoned battery style Ray's proposal in St. Petersburg would have fit this

model, though the metropolitan area is forever going to be a geographic puzzle since the two largest municipalities, Tampa and St. Petersburg, are connected by a long bridge. And at present, it's hard to understand what the White Sucks plan for a post-rate field future might be. The White Sox could have seized upon the chance. to anchor the 78 development alongside the Chicago River. Though for now, that ship seems to have sailed. A ballpark

on that property would tied them with Toronto atop the urbanity ratings earlier on by our urban score method. Miami's

Lone Depot Park It's a fascinating study that hulks over Lil Havana and doesn't connect that well with the largely residential surrounding area. The transit score for the venue are disappointingly low given the relative density of Miami. And again, I see this as a viable second option, putting it in North Casey. It is close to downtown, though not quite downtown. It's just you just have the mighty Missouri River in between the two.

And that's fine. I'll take that as a much more viable. It's a hell of a lot more viable option than South O.P. Model 3. We're getting into the good stuff. Downtown option. Washington Square Park. For those

Outside of our area This is the Little Park that's really only used by homeless people bordered to the west The streetcar line

And the Union Station stop And Union Station is there Is boarded to the South and the East by Crown Center. In fact, to the south it is the Weston Crown Center,

the hotel. And full disclosure, it's a hotel I used to work at. To the north are railroad tracks, and there's a parking

lots there. So you could wind up building a deck over that parking lots to build the state of. and that's totally fine and then what really cool is having the streets running underneath it underneath the current Union Station main drive there into the parking line that gets me to another thing about parking there's

already plenty parking at this site between Union Station and Crown Center and oh yeah Liberty Memorials right there to and And you have the streetcar all right there. The Union Station stopped. The most of you stop on the streetcar line. That's before the main street extension even opens. And so this recording, that opens in less than two months. And I'm excited about that.

All the way to UMKC, which stops at the plaza and Westport. What have you. and then we can get to the east-west stuff. That's a discussion for another time. But from the start, John Sherman said, cited downtown baseball as a potential outcome of the Royal's stadium search. He told reporters,

wherever we play, the process will result in meaningful community impact. That's real and measurable and results in economic growth and economic activity that benefits this region. The other criteria is that we have a positive impact on the quality of life of the citizens of Kansas City, with a particular focus on those underrepresented parts of our community. While the challenges of the Royal's quest have kept pretty much every vacant lot in the KC metro area and play,

Sherman's initial thoughts Express an urbanist perspective This is nothing new Baseball and urbanism Or the rejection of it Have always gone hand in hand

And they quotes Quentin Lucas The current mayor Of Kansas City Who advocates for a downtown venue I always know Good job have Mayor Lucas

All roads lead to downtown And frankly they're all roads that can get you out downtown effectively after a game, certainly more effectively than what they have currently right now. Presumably, the Royals still have multiple possible downtown locations like East Village. I still think East Village would be great because there's currently nothing. Under consideration by lately, the buzz has been around Washington Square Park. From an urbanist perspective, it's the full package.

Kansas City's downtown remains a work in progress, but it is in a far bare place than was at the beginning of this century. Absolutely true. Absolutely true, but I'd rather not have the Cordish company running a good portion of it. Fuck those guys. The population in the city's core has more than doubled during that time, estimates currently range. in the 32,000 to 40,000 range. And it's now larger than those are the downtowns and other MLB metropolitan areas in more heavily populated metropolitan regions, including Atlanta.

And there's plenty of room left to grow. Washington Square Park sits on the southern edge of the Crossroads Arts District. So that's, again, crossroads is separated from crowd center, pretty much by the railroad tracks. red tracks. Let's get across the street from Crown Center to the south, specifically the Western Crown Center and the Crown Center shops,

and Union Station to the west. Main Street will run along the west edge of the park and features the streetcar line, which is being expanded, of course. And track rolls into and out of Union Station

across the streets. Yeah, that is true. Union Station is an active Amtrak station. So, yeah, you could... Yeah, if we live in Independence or at least Summit, you can take Amtrak. Assuming that there's an Amtrak route scheduled for game days and stuff.

But right now, those two suburbs are on the Missouri. river runner routes to St. Louis. So that's an option and I hope they find a way to make better use of those two stations and create that just dedicated corridor from downtown east summits to

the temple lots to Union Station. Moving on. It's likely that move to the crossroads would eventually

put the royals in the upper third of urban centric parks

this is an alluring vision and a possible blueprint for other

metropolitan areas because it imagines stitching a ballpark and

the traits of a battery esk development into the spine of the

city and that's a good time to point there are a couple of shops in Union Station. Of course, the main attraction is the museums, plus the fact that, you know, it's Amtrak.

And they have theaters as well. On the Crown Center side of things, you have the Weston, of course, the big hotel. There, you have the Crown Center shops. So basically, a little shopping mall right there. Of course, Crant Center itself is basically a company town for Hallmark within the urban core of Kansas City. So I don't pretty surprised to see a lot of Hallmark there.

And of course, they have a couple of theaters in there as well. And pretty good food, too. So probably the one place I will absolutely suggest in the Crancentar is the Philly Cheese Steak shop. continue with the article so we want the place to be active 30 365 days a year because we want the retail and the food and beverage to be successful year-round not just when we're in town says brooks sherman the way you do that is the density crossroads advocates have long i've gone to a great lengths to make the case that there is ample parking there to side i just said that

and that's important still the nature of the mixed-use ballpark development should inherently ease parking concerns with things to do around the ballpark again does not exist currently people come and go at different times and anyone for whom transit is a better option than driving will use transit a lot of people will use the streetcar A lot of people do use the streetcar A lot of people will use it when the extension opens And when future extensions open as well Like east-west or north rail or

Spoilards for those listening in the future 18th and Vine They're looking at it now And the MARC the Mid-MARC The Mid-MECA Regional Council is also they're doing the Green Corridor

which calls for not a whole off streetcar but a streetcar line connecting East Village to downtown KCK so there you go this would not be an option

in the suburbs in most metropolitan areas and certainly not in the KC region as things currently stand Mike Kelly get on that study if you are trying to To plant your flag is the center of culture conversation and discussion in the community, as well as revenue, by the way.

Then you go to the densest areas that have all of it. And this is Merrillucous talking. I think that is downtown Kansas City. Like it is a central business district corridor, or at least the central corridor, center cultural cultural. corridor of any American city. The footprints of the potential ballpark works well enough, but the site is constrained by the street grid. Analysis done by Washington Square Park proponents showed the site is as big or bigger than the footprint of several current venues, but a crossroads located park might. feature a fairly short porch to right field and this might be fun for Fannie Pass Quantino.

The Royals are targeting as somewhat smaller capacity than Kaufman which is about 34K and a potential venue here could have much of the intimacy of the classic parks including riftop views from adjacent buildings. It's in the middle of Crown Center and Crown Center is all off skyscrapers as it is and there's a building right there the Blue Cross Blue Shield

building that's going to be abandoned if it hasn't been abandoned already that's oh we use San Diego as a example they could incorporate that into the new ballpark so why not So the site represents a design challenge, but Kansas City as the World's Sports Architecture Mecca, I mentioned Popolus earlier, has a whole big of field advantage in this regard, and the outcome could be dazzling. It fits like a catcher's mitts as architect Steve McDowell, principal at B-N-I-M, which put together the renderings of the Washington Square Park.

site. You can just kind of drop it in there so gently with great fantastic fuse downtown to the north and all around really. Teams like the Royals want their park to accelerate the progress of an improving downtown, not become a bubble within it, which is what has arguably happened in places like such as St. Louis. You had to use the Insate example. There.

Might have a point there, but I digress. Well, it might be a uniquely designed footprint. That also might give a sense of character. Like, it's been here forever. It says Brett Poston.

co-founder of the highlight partners a crossroads-based strategic branding consultancy Poston co-created the Washington Square

Park website has worked to catalyze community support around the effort Fenway is weird and is great there's just

cool stuff that happens in weird baseball so we have the opportunity creates something with a little bit of character. This approach at the Royal Seagots could become the next aspirational model in ballpark projects. It's the battery but within the city. Not an imitation of one. Much of this takes some imagination, which frankly a lot of people lack if you ask me,

but whoever got anywhere with that a little of that uh quond lear lucas again there are

few goals there are few goals to any staying in project I think that they are all met downtown I'm not sure they're met in all other locations

one is to be able to get site control of an area that allows live, work, and play opportunities. You absolutely have that. Seems that this mile currently works for. Let's count.

Astros. The Astros are a good example of what the Royals are doing because they played at the Astrosome, which still stands, by the way. They just haven't figured out what to do with it. And that's on the outskirts of Houston. but they

are our current ballpark I forget the name of it's but A is downtown and B includes elements of the

old Union Station there in Houston so there's your template Royals is what the Astros did

so Astros Blue J's Cardinals surrounding Bush Stadium is in the heart of downtown St. Louis. You have the MetroLink station right across the street and you take it's north to the dome into Illinois you could go south to Union Station the blue's state of the intermodal is that way too and then spits off one line going to

the airport and the other going to the southern suburbs including the Galleria. Arizona, Seattle, Baltimore, San Diego. Again, San Diego incorporated an old building into their ballpark. There's no reason the Royals can't do that here. Excuse me.

Pirates. The pirates there, stadium is pretty much on the old sites of the old Three Rivers Stadium. across, I think it's the Allegheny, from downtown Pittsburgh proper, and it says that it's a great view of downtown. Cincinnati, Colorado, Detroit, and Minnesota. I've seen Targay Field being built on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. I think it's a perfect place for it.

not too far from Tarjeet Center, the home of the Timberwolves, the basketball team, which is easily acceptable via Skywalk. And that's something else that I failed to mention here is that Crown Center and Union Station are connected by Skywalks. They call it the link from Union Station across Maine, down Washington Square, park into the Weston.

And from the Weston, you go across the, he goes across Grand and all that into another building. I forget what that building is called. And then get another connection all the way to the infamous, it's a Sheraton now, but it's the old Hyatt. Yes, that Hyatt, that had the skywalk collapse back in the 80s.

Back to the Arkell. So it's hard to argue that any of these downtown venues, all less than two miles from their respective city halls, have been disappointments. Not all have the full battery-like dynamic

going on just yet, but all of them could iterate in that direction over time. That's been the stated goal of Orioles owner David Rubenstein, who to generate developments around Orioles Park at Canaman Yards, the venue that kicked off the back-to-down-town phase of ballpark construction. Teams this model could work for, Milwaukee, the Rays, and the White Sox. The White Sox should still try to get involved in

the 78s where MLS Chicago Fire are planning to build. In this case soccer is leading the way not baseball. For now, in KC, the ball is in the Royals court. People are excited and they want to help, says Brooks Sherman. And we said, we're going there and we're going to need your help when we get to the right spot. We're working hard and we'll get there

in the right way. Oh, boy, this is a long one. So, uh, I'm glad to, I'm glad we're limited this to S7 because when we did the F-14, oh boy, it was that long episode. So, uh, I'm expecting this to be another long-ish episode, but not

narrowly as long. So that's part one. Say right for part two. All right, so here's part two of our long form. Let's switch gears to a certain project that was filming in our area lately. This is Fromers.com, F-R-O-M-E-R-S dot com. The title is Ted Lasso filming locations in Kansas City, see where season four shot scenes.

scenes for the Apple TV Plus series was partly filmed in KC and its shooting locations represent the place well. dated August 29, 2025 by Dan Rincey. Here we go. Kansas City isn't exactly

known as a hotbed for television production. I'm all offended by that, but okay, haven't done TV work in Kansas City. Outside of the occasional low-budget reality TV series or Hallmark Channel

Holtay movie. It's rare to see camera crews on the streets of this mid-sized metro and flyover country. Apparently you've never heard the IFC because we have a very sizable independent film

community here. In fact, Mr. Renzi, listen to just take your pick of any episode of this podcast because I talk with film I am a filmmaker I talk with filmmakers and actors locally in in the case area about independent film and all that so so yeah but I want to do some research before you write this stuff just saying so when Emmy Award

winning International Smash Ted Lasso on Apple TV filmed scenes for its fourth season in KC and July and August, 2025, it marked a major moment for the city. This stateside turn is a big shift for the show, too, because during the show's first three seasons, Ted Lassow, followed the ins and outs of a lovable American. Shout to Shy Mission West, my fellow Shy Mission West Viking, Jason Siddakis, who moved to the outskirts of London. to coach men's professional soccer team correction football but not the American kind Ted left his family behind in Kansas City for the job the back story is directly

inspired by Sedacas Rio roots in KC he grew up in the suburb of Ovalon Park Kansas and he so points out so the population of Casey stradles the border with Missouri and after three seasons of Ted suffering from home breaking homesickness. He finally returns back home, along with his boss, Rebecca Wilton, played by Hannah Waddington, Waddingham, excuse me, during season four. It happens that the list of shooting locations for a tad lasso reads like a worthy tourist itinerary for KC. Sadekis, who also serves as executive producer for the show,

and Tadley wanted to show off KC as more than just the place where Taylor Swiss fiancee plays football go chiefs so the filming spots highlights some of the best places to visit and we can pause right there and yes I heard the news that Travis proposed to Taylor and she said yes so congratulations to Travis and Taylor and yeah probably the last side the better there an entire program I could do on the subject of weddings to see the KC filming locations for Ted Lassau for yourself take this cheering plan through this city no spoilers by choosing these sites for his show Sadekis himself had a hand in creating it for you and I can add my notes there

being a Kansas Indian. All right, so start with the Country Club Plaza, as in the Plaza for those of us who are locals, of course. Johnny was at 320

Nichols Road. Start of the visit to the Country Club Plaza. One of Kansas City's premier shopping and entertainment districts, the cast of Ted Lassow filmed a scene inside women's clothing store. Johnny was. although it was branded as

dazzle me, moi, on camera. The plaza, as it is locally known, was designed in the early 1920s in the Spanish Revival Architecture style with ornate decorative towers, taracotta shingles, and

outdoor restaurant patios. Pretty spot on. The plaza is a great place to walk around and I don't know and window shop and perhaps enjoy brunch at one its restaurants like the Classic Cup Cafe at 3-1

West 47th Street which is a local institution parentheses the pancakes are delicious so yeah the plastic is a good place to walk around except for all the traffic around

there's one place I'm going to recommend and on the plaza it is Barnes and Noble there is a Japanese sushi place I open there recently the the Kura

pick up your sushi by the piece and it's a conveyor about sushi thing I think it just opened up I still have not checked the place out but I plan to

and yeah there used to be a lot more to do on the plus and then they tore down the movie theater Annex. There's still a big gaping hole there on the west side of the plaza.

Hopefully that gets filled in soon, but such a loss. All right. Moving on. C.P.K.C. stadium at 1460 East Front. This is the women's soccer stadium

on the roof front. Right next to the interstate. and just within walking distance of the riverfront stop for the riverfront extension on the streetcar. Along the reported, among the reported plot developments for Season 4 of Ted Lasso, Ted takes on a new job as head coach of a women's professional football team in England. Siddakis almost certainly crafted this new storyline as an homage to women's professional

soccer team in KC, the KC Current, which as of 2025 is the top team in the country. Current is also the only women's professional soccer team in the world to have its own space, the 11,500 seats CPCC Stadium. That's tough to say. I find it greatly thanks to the influence of the team's co-owner, Patrick Mahomes. should point out that Britney owns a piece of his team and I have not been because I do not want to get Britney any of my money.

Ted Lassow filmed a scene here at the stadium featuring Siddakas and Waddingham. To see the stadium or even better to watch the current play and possibly win the match had just a few miles east of downtown KC

to the stadium. A match days parking at the stadium is limited very expensive and a pain in the ass to drive through especially with the construction that had been going on with the streetcar extension but current runs a free shuttle from downtown to the stadium picking up its devoted fans at the intersection of 7th and Baltimore so yeah that's that River Fryan extension can't open soon enough for these guys how I think it's literally within walking distance of the end of the line.

Next is 9th event Brunt's Athletic Fields Park. Side note here before read this part, when San Fe was in the UPSL the first time around, Quintra Lamento was one of the other local teams in our, lead with us and this was supposed to be where they were playing at 9th and Van Brun. And actually the home game that I went to that we played there playing at North District Stadium. So I never actually saw them play here. Rest in peace, Quintanamo, later in Casano Blanco, and now Sun Flyers.

State FC. Look at 901 Van Brunt Boulevard. Soccer Superfans can also visit the practice fields where Ted Lysaw filmed a few miles east of CPKC Stadium at the 9th of Van Brunt's Athletic Fields Park.

Rumors swirled around social media about which locations were being scattered as filming locations, but KC. Parks and wreck confirmed that the field here was used there isn't much to see in the surrounding neighborhoods I agree but the park can't further reclaim its glorian being in Ted Lassau next we have the 18th Vine district so one of the things to do at 18th and vine which they're doing a streetcar study right now for an 18th of line, so it'd be a spur from the main line to 18th Vine, is the Negro Leagues Museum at 1616 East 18th Street.

A few miles south of CPKC Stadium in the historic 18th and the Vine District, the Ted Lassau team filmed the scene at the Negro League Museum. Turned to Prohibition years in the early 20th century. clubs and speak-easies line the streets around 18th and Vine. I'll pause here and also adds that in the 18th and Vine district is the Mutual Musicians Foundation, which holds the only 6am liquor license in the entire state of Missouri. They can serve alcohol until 6 in the morning. I think that's a remnants of those days of jazz clothes and

speakeasies. It's a really cool place I've been a couple times. At that time KC had also formed a black baseball team, the KC Monarchs. And it was in this neighborhood the old of municipal

stands not too far from 18th and Vine actually. It was in this neighborhood that the Negro League's professional baseball were organized. And recently, the Negro Leagues were recognized as an official major league. So that's pretty cool. The Negro League's Museum preserves the legacy of these leagues through a fantastic set of exhibits

that detail the history of the teams and star players and the systemic racism that these leagues endured. neighborhood is now just a memory of its former glory and the jazz clubs of the 18th of Vine district are long gone but the museum is definitely worth the visits. Okay, so once again, mutual musicians foundation

and there are some good there were a couple good restaurants in the area. I don't know if it's still there, but Danny's Cajun restaurants is there. You can yeah, yeah,

Yeah, if it's still there, yeah, I could give them a visit. But I do remember probably the last time I was there was doing a film shoot with the like Dave Barry. And I think that's the first shoots. Yeah, that was the first project I ever worked on with a friend of the podcast, Trevor Martin. That's when I met Trevor on that shoot. So, yeah. Next up, Gates on Maine. Once again, Rosdale Barbecue, number one for me.

But if you're going with the big names of Casey Barbecue for me, it's Gates. All right. Jacksech is okay. I do prefer them for catering and stuff. Joe's, I'll say, as I said before, I'll say it again. I don't care how many people I piss off by saying this. I am not standing in line, just a fucking order. Never mind eating, just ordering.

And that's what you have to do if you ever eat at Joe's. All right. I don't think it's worth it. And Arthur Bryant's, frankly, is disgusting. So there we go. But this is the main gates at 3205 Main Street. So there won't be a stop there for the streetcar yet. at the closest stop is the Union Hill stop at 31st Street.

But it's right at the corner of Linwood and Maine. And if you've been paying attention to the podcast at all, you know, Linwood will eventually be home to the East-West line. And there will be a stop at Linwood and Maine for the East-West line within reasonable walking distance of gates here. So no trip to KC is complete without devouring some barbecue and the Ted Lassow cast filmed at one of the most iconic spots, Gates Barbecue. And specifically that one at Linwood and Maine, there are a couple of other locations as well. But Gates has been served on smoked meats in Kansas City since 1946 and its casual counter service restaurants are lively, noisy, and usually.

crowded, just got to know when to go, really. And of course, another recurring theme is, be prepared to be yelled at when you walked in and say, Hi, my help you! Won't be home on the goal place! So when Ted Lassau film there, they even cast a long time Gates employee to shut the requisite greetings at the door. Hi, my help you!

As is done with every couple, customer, which presumably shocked the uptight English sensibilities of Ted's boss, Rebecca. It should be noted that Sedacas has referenced KC. Barbecue before on the show. Eagle-eyed fans have noticed that the background photo on Ted's computer is a photo of Arthur Bryant's. Again, disgusting. which is a and their location is on 18th in Brooklyn

so at the crossroads just down the street from the old municipal stadium and 18th of the Vine Gates fans and Arthur Bryant fans usually do not get along as each camp has strong opinions

about the cuts of meats and the tang of their sauces used by their preferred establishment. Arthur Bruns is just a few blocks from the Negro Leagues Museum at 1727, Brooklyn. So perhaps

there's time to try both and pick your favorites. Once again, go to Gates, if those are going to be the two thrown at you, because Brants is disgusting. Better yet, try all the best joints, Gates and Brands are just two of them.

In our photo feature on the best Barbecue restaurants in KC. I will take a look at that in just a little bit, but I'm going to tell you right now. If Rosale's not on that

list, I will fucking crucify you. All right. Off camera, the cast also popped up around town while spend time with their families, Sedacas co-star. Waddingham reportedly took

her daughter as to a nice dinner at Lidias. 101 West 22nd Street one of Casey's most famous restaurants. Lydia's is owned by Lydia I apologize

Lydia. I'm going to butcher your name. Bastionich The long-time host of multiple PBS cooking shows and the co-owner of both Beko and New York City and the Eat Ali Food Hall Empire.

Lydia's serves a northern Italian cuisine and of course the pasta is made from stretch try the burn out squash ravioli which is it is magnificent and oh this is a good time to point out when I did my internship at KCPT we did the pledge drives right at which is exactly what you see if you have ever seen at PBS you come on screen say hey give us money and we got volunteers in the back taking your calls those phones are a permanent fixture in the studio one and uh two yeah they do that stuff live you know we do a live when the program is going on so it's kind of a reverse uh reverse commercial break if you will uh when the program is going on uh so it's kind of a reverse uh reverse commercial break if you will

uh when the program is going on the studio's dark and then do whatever they want until the next next time we got to go right well well those tend to take place that you know I said live and in the evening so got to make sure everyone's fed and Lydia's provided food for us during at least one of those nights and it's it's pretty good it's pretty good so just on the other side of the tracks from Union Station. So that's pretty cool. And continuing on, Waddingham,

also joins Siddakas and their band of children at Worlds of Fun at 45, 45 of Wals of Fun Avenue, in the north one, which is pretty easy to find. It's just due north of the Ameristar Casino. You know you're in the right place when you see the roller coasters and the big balloon. logo. Recently, it was owned recently by the Cedar Fair Amusement Parks Company, which recently merged with Six Flags. So there you go. Worlds of Fun is now Six Flags Park.

It is, Kansas City's old school. Amazement Park northeast of downtown. Yeah, and then right nearby is the Claycomo Ford Plant. And that's on the way to Liberty. then as filming in town raps, the cast and crew had a night at Off-Kee Karaoke Lounge at 510 Westport Road

in the Westport neighborhood. Considering Wadingham as one of the most powerful singing voices in musical theater, we only wish the tad lasso cameras had been there too. So off-key, I'll just say this real quick. used to be known as America's Pub as one of the many venues I saw anything but Joey perform and I have not been there since it's been turned to off key. But yeah, probably probably have to check that place at some point.

Let's go back to that article on barbecue restaurants in KC. Mr. Rincey again This one's published March 1723 And the title is Oh god damn it These are actually the best Barbecue restaurants in Kansas City

Don't hate us All right All right Dan I'm going to judge you now So here go from Ted Lasso to barbecue In one sitting So barbecue in Kansas City

Missouri is an institution Not just as part of the local diet but also has a chapter of the region's history and identity. There are approximately 100 restaurants that serve barbecue in the area. And one of the most popular local activities is public analysis of the virtues of the best sauces. Weddings will be catered with Arthur Bryant's on one table, but gates on another. Just to make sure every guest is happy, it's that serious. Qualifying any restaurant as the best is automatically met with debate,

especially in a town with so many barbecue spots are run out of trucks or the back rooms of convenience stores. And so many come and go with time. So here are the 10 restaurants in Kansas City to know. Some historic, some new, all solid members of the KC barbecue scene. And a great start on your day. journey to finding a favorite. Casey's Barbecue history stretches back

to the early 1900s where meat was in plentiful supply from the massive local stockyards. Also known as the West Bottoms. And Hickory was cut from Missouri's

lush forests. Black entrepreneurs smoked meat and sold lunches from streetside carts and their success led them to open restaurants near the stadiums baseball at the city's baseball stadium. Again, this would have been municipal at 22nd in Brooklyn and famous jazz clubs at 18th of 5, not too far, which attracted visitors from around the country. Back then, the barbecue restaurants were near hotels that were listed in the Negro,

Mutteris Green Book. So they became known as Safe Havens for Black Travelers who could safely stop to eat. So spreads the legend of Kansas City Barbecue. And then

President Truman stopped by for lunch and a phone drop and the rest as they say is history. Of course, Truman was from the Kansas City area. He's listed is a he's listed as an alumnus of UMKC my alma mater his his library of course is in

an independent side too highly recommend checking that out he's buried at the library too so so do check out the Truman Presidential Library if you ever get a chance so on our so first one okay big problem right here so number one this is Joe's Alright, what I just say about Joe's? That ain't it worth standing on line, just a fucking order here. But, uh, yeah, I digress, but we will continue with the article. So, uh, Joe's sets the standard for KC barbecue when it's smoked meats and sweet barbecue sauce. The brisket, the beef brisket, is sliced thin, so it should be eaten as a sandwich.

The Z-Man sandwich, which is brisket, smoked purple and cheese, and onion rings is a KC legend. Actor and KC native Paul Rudd, another Shrine Mission West Viking, has them delivered to New York for parties. The original shows began in 96 in a gas station, which is still open for business, although it's been renovated, into a four. restaurants and that and that gas station by the way is actually in Kansas it's right on the wind on in Johnson County line so all right a second branch was opened at the Country Road Ice House in P&L entertainment with a giant screens broadcasting sporting events to 8,000 screener fans lines okay this is the important part lines to get into

Joe's can stretch into the parking lot but if you order from the to go window you can get your food in five minutes and if you eat in your car at least you'll have a place to sit once again once again

you'll be standing in the line for a fucking hour just to order Arthur Bryant's once again disgusting uh part of the uh part of Barbecue folklore in KC dating back to the early 1900s when the young Arthur Bryant ran at lunch carts in downtown KC.

Its current location has been open since 1949 and hasn't seen much interior design updates since then. The original sauce is an aggressive wallop with loads of vinegar and paprika, which pours well with big flavors like savory sausage. For more gentle seasoning, try the rich and spicy sauce. which has just a tingle of heat. Burnt's ends are mainstay of any KC. Barbecue menu, and they became famous at Bryant's, where cooks would chop off the burnt ends of slabs of brisket

and give them away for free. And she doesn't wonder why, because they're so greasy. These little morsels became so popular, they ended up on every menu in town. The problem is supply is always. limited. To give up with demand many KC barbecue restaurants serve burnt inns that are imposures. Cubs of regular brisket with

two strips of meat and a fatty center similar to pork belly. That's still tasty but for the true Burnton experience try Brian's 3B sandwich with chunks of actual brisket tip burnt ins, marbled and juicy, covered in delicately chart spice rub 3B is served on bun

but leave the bread aside to soak up the grease and eat the yeah yeah that's the big thing about brands is they're fucking greasy and more so than

more so than a lot of the other places I will not read the rest of that because I just I want to throw up just reading it Let's go to Elsie's barbecue. So this is one I'm not had, but is, well, is a known right here. So, LC's does not have fame of Bryant's or Gates, which is coming up on this list.

So, uh, so we're three restaurants in. You've already struck on two, but this little blip on the KC barbecue map has some of the most loyal fans in town. The centerpiece of the restaurants is the Giants Iron. petard pit. Betcher above. Okay, that's nice. Which makes plumes of smoke each time the cooks tends to the precious

meats inside. The house sauce is smooth, zesty, and just slightly tart, which complements the meat outside without overwhelming the robust smoky flavor. El C's is one of

few restaurants in KC to serve pork as a sliced sandwich as if it's brisket instead of the usual pork bits that kind of drowned in sauce. This results of velvety smooth, juicy sandwich. Laird so high that each buy requires a little planning and it's located at its 5,800 blue parkway, so all on the way to those eastern suburbs. so yeah and that's that's another thing about k c barbkew is the stereotype is uh carolina's barqueue and methas that's all pork and texas that's all beef kc is both and uh much more there's a chicken of course uh and some other meats too so now we have moved to shun

Bates City barbecue. This one I haven't had, so we're on number four now. And I'm going to save my voice. I'm not going to read the whole thing, but this one is located in Chonnie, 6493 Quivera. And, yeah, one I have not had. Q39 is number five on the list.

You heard Carl Fletcher to ask about Q39. and I told my unfortunate story with that. But this is yuppie barbecue. Snark a long established restaurant owner in KC who shall remain nameless. One of he goes by the nickname of Stretch, but I digress. Yeah, I'm going to say my voice.

And it has two locations, one on 39th Street, and one in South OP near corporate woods and was the South OP location that I got yelled at here is Jeksteck so hey and this is a good one if you like especially I like especially with catering and stuff so it's it's good on occasion and they They do, they have more than a couple looking, but their flagship location is West Bottom. No, yeah, Westbound area, freight house.

And the plaza. And then Gates made the list. Their flagship, of course, is, oh, the most famous ones that's Mainlandland. But their flagship is actually on Cleaver Boulevard. then we have Woodyard's barbecue which I've only

ever picked up DoorDash orders from there on Merriam Lane in a Casey Now we have Slaps

Bbbq What I've not had but I've heard good things about at 530 553 Central And next up

Dude you just redeemed yourself with a Rosedale is on the list so I will read the Rosedale bit a drink here Rosedale dates back to 1934 which started as a roadside hot dog and beer stand in a tin shack times were tough during the Great Depression but the ingenious owners installed a giant rotisserie that they built themselves and that ten-sided stand grew up

into an actual barbecue restaurant. And the current building was built in 1991 but they used some of the retro furnishings. Typical Rosedale customers are good old boys wearing dirty jeans and trucker hats sitting at a

retro bar and I listened to Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers playing in the background where they shove giant sandwiches into their faces. The Rosdale sauce is a unique experience with a highly frequent taste that polarizes some customers. However, Rosdale is also famous in KC.

Having what may be the best rotisserie chicken in town, but juicy, gently smoked meat and skin so crackly, you can hear it with each bite. And yes, it still serves hot dogs. in beer look at 600 Southwest Bulle Farred. How I found out about Roseale was during my internship. We went there a couple of times

with Matt McClellan, my internship supervisor. And about that same time, it was actually recorded before I started the internship, but there's a, they did a program called Check Please KC,

which you can still find on YouTube on the on the on the KCPT's YouTube page where they review today have ordained folks reviewing different restaurants around town and one of them happened to be

Rosedale and for a while they had a plaque at Rosedale that had Matt's actual saying on the show if you're looking for a religious experience with I'm paraphrasing

religious experience with slives of meat, a handful of fries, and puddles of sauce, this is the place. And to this day, I agree with you,

Matt. It's probably the best and most underappreciated barbecue in town. And I would say Dan Renzi, you've redeemed yourself

by putting Rosale on this list. You started off just sucking. But, yeah, you, did it. Anyway,

that's going to end. this segment of our challenge and i need to rest my focal cords because i've been talking lots part three of our little challenge here and uh so let's in uh high society so uh yeah i saw this uh just the other day on uh facebook and i read it for you guys said this the it's at k k kirk.com and uh no not related to uh uh the size of someone's shit. Rather, the arcule's

about afternoon coffee habits. What does your afternoon coffee say about you? This new iced coffee index and some of the sun in high society

offers surprising insight on how we act under stress written by Diana Valenzuela. published August 12, 2025. So you know the feeling. It's the middle of the busy weekday and you're absolutely drowning.

I see meetings, emails, spreadsheets. Usually that falls on a lot of driving for me. Or being at the office trying to kill time for people to show up. Which, trust me, was a lot easier when we had internet at the office. But I was whenever you check your phone, a new calamities services in your news feeds like Travis and Taylor getting engaged during

your hard-earned lunch break you manage to slip out of the office and book book into the nearest cafe you hurriedly order nice coffee get you through the rest of the afternoon after all you deserve a little treats lately our so-called little treats culture is much discussed online. Those think those small frivolous relatively inexpensive yet somehow soothing purchases you Make when you're overwhelmed According to new DoorDash data

So there's a link from DoorDash in this. I'll We'll take a look at that too these dopamine boosting moments may actually reveal more about our daily lives than you think. The company has even crafted an iced coffee index or ICI that measures consumer stress levels based on how often why they're ordering our iced mocha's. So as the ice coffee index, Dordesh compares this new system to the faint lipstick index. An economic theory that lipstick says, actually increase during economic downturns.

Hmm. People turn to small indulgences during economic shifts, says the report. The ICI uncovers how people seek a little treats during periods of emotional stress and uncertainty. DoorDash's ICI is scored out of 100, and for the results, the company of minds DoorDash's order data alongside responses from an iced coffee survey the higher the ICI the more often people are relying on iced coffee as a mood booster and stress relief to whether whether the results of the 25's iced coffee index it's not just business that has gotten an ICI its periods of time time. This quarter of 25 has an ICI score of 85, which is fairly high compared to previously

mentioned quarters. DoorDash's data pinpoints that iced coffee purchases have spiked on some of the most tense days of 25 so far, such as Blue Monday, duh the most depressing day of the year, tax day, and even during Donny's bullshit's tariff announcements on April 2, which has single-handedly taint to the economy, you fucking moron. That's not all whopping 87% of survey respondents slipped on iced coffee, even when they're not actually craving caffeine. 86% say the drink makes them happier, while 79% say that they, say that they see it as a treat

when life feels overwhelming. DoorDash has also found that more than half of ice coffee orders now includes some kind of flavor add-on. An extra pump of syrup constantly certainly makes the drink feel more indulgent and a boost of luxury

is a all-mark of a satisfying little treat. And one specific taste is recent popularity. I question your sanity if you're doing this but orders incorporating lavender flavoring rose 170%

this quarter I question your sanity who the fuck would do that maybe it's something I don't quite understand but to me lavender doesn't sound like something that should be consumed just my opinion

The company posits is the newfound obsession with the floral syrup. Reflects a demand for calming flavors and emotional self-regulation. And plenty of people are seeking that calm smack dab in the middle of the day. DoorDash found a 7% uptick in orders between 2 and 5 p.m. Which is funny because about 2 p.m. is when I'm usually done with DoorDash if I'm doing DoorDash on any particular day because that's when all the orders dry up If that little tree is the bomb you need to get through the day and more power to you I was going through a lot in my life and

Couldn't make it through the day without a one survey responded to a door dash Which means that for some of us and iced coffee is not necessarily frivolous. It's a lifeline A small but it's a Essential, ritual that provides comforts, energy, and a sense of normalcy in the midst of chaos. That said, if your afternoon pick me up is stretching your budget. We've also got to buy some Korean and at-home coffee bar. So you can get that sweet, sweet caffeine hit without a daily expense.

Okay. Interesting. I didn't even know that people were doing it. that I don't know. Well, let's look at Dordash, as I say about this. So introducing the iced coffee index. Once a seasonal drink, iced coffee is now a year-round. Go to hand order with some friendly because it's not hot.

Nearly 8% of ice coffee drinkers say it's a treat when life feels overwhelming. And their key takeaways, 87% drink iced coffee, even when they don't need the caffeine. Ice coffee orders spiked in 25's most stressful days, as mentioned in the K. Curric article. More than half of ice coffee orders now include a flavor out on. If you're asking me, it's an ice coffee order. It's a caramel. is the go-to and yeah 170% wanting lavender stress brewing ice coffee lines at 85 out of 100 and it's basically regurgitating a lot of the a lot of what the article said so far but

yeah these the emotions behind every sip 86% say boosts their mood 87% drinking when they don't need caffeine 79% see it as a treat 77% say they feel more like themselves with a cup of iced coffee in hand and 77% say it helps them feel grounded okay interesting stuff. So, uh, yeah. So I'm going to say, and, uh, High Society. We've reached part four of

this, uh, well, exercise. And, uh, it's, uh, time to take DoorDash to task on a few things. And I say this as a dasher. And, uh, these need to be addressed. Um,

number one, uh, stop with the $2. $3. dollar order bullshit. All right. You're not going to make any money off of that. Minimum. The minimum I'm

asking is $5 an order. Ten, if you expect me to cross a county or state line, and around here, those are very much possibility. Okay? I'm sorry, I have

car repair bills that I still have to pay off. And $2 bullshit ain't going to cut it. Number two, stop with this stack order bullshit. Why mean by that is two orders and one sitting. My mind does not work that way. All right. I will get confused between the two.

So stop with that. One order at a time, please. All right. That's number two. Number three, stop with this highway bullshit. Okay? uh if uh because i've already been flagged a couple of times uh for deliveries that i did ultimately make but you're knocking me for uh taking an alternate route because i don't like highway travel

especially don't like interstate travel all right if it's a controlled highway with on and off ramps uh i don't want to do it oh and uh and on that subject uh we still out that bullshit with US 69 out here. They're putting that bullshit express lane in that should never been putting in the first place.

And they're still doing it. So to expect me to go from South O.P. Up to basically Shawnee by taking that route? Well, fuck you. It's not going to happen.

What? what else? Oh, and to everyone else, please tip your drivers, all right? And tip them well. All right. You think we they get paid for this. This is how they make their living.

So, pay them, and stop sending me orders that I'm not going to take. I don't give a shit if it does affect it's uh uh oh you don't get silver status from this or you don't get uh oh fuck all that's just um give me what i can work with and frankly you're not give me what i can work with all right

so let's uh so uh let's just you know those basic reforms so let's go okay we're a part five of our uh challenge now so uh happy birthday dan i'm recording this on my brother's birthday, 38. Yeah, this is on my newsfeed right now. So, so I recall, yeah, I did a quick episode in season 9 about RFK Jr. trying to link autism with vaccines. well now they're doing the same thing with Tylenol, acetyaminophen.

So dated September 22nd, 2025. Donnie blames Tylenol for autism. Science doesn't back him up. This is from the NPR website NPR.org. And credit to the writers, John Hamilton, Yuki, Noguchi, and Nell Greenfield Boyce.

All right. So in a White House press conference on Monday, Donnie, and several deputies said the Food and Drug

Administration would be updating drug labeling to discourage the use of acetamifin by pregnant women,

suggesting a link between the common painkiller and autism. Federal officials also say they will be changing the label for Leukovine, L-E-U-C-O-V-O-R-A-N, a form of vitamin B, typically used in conjunction with cancer treatment

to enable its use as a treatment for autism. And they added that state Medicaid programs in partnership with the federal centers for Medicare and Medicaid services would cover this use. The suite of changes was announced despite a noble lack of clear scientific evidence to support these moves. The changes were presented as part of what the administration says was in the government. was its commitment to identify the root cause of autism diagnoses of which have increased in recent years. I believe we went over this,

that scientists today have a better understanding, but clearly not a complete understanding of what autism is, and it's a number of factors contribute to it, not just certain chemicals or certain drugs. So that's nonsense. Anyway, continuing. Flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary, at Resident Dip shit, R.F.K. Jr.,

and centers for McCar and McCaid Head Dr. Oz. Yes, bad Dr. Oz. Who lost AS Center race because he, referred to veggie trays as crudetae. Donnie penned substantial blame for rising autism rates on the comic painkiller, which is also known by its brand name, Tilelo. Every Taino is not good. I said it's not good. He said, suggesting without evidence,

that communities without access to the medicine have no autism, While in others, autism now affects 1 in 12 boys. An estimated 1 in 13 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with the condition. Doni discouraged giving cinnamon to babies as well. He also suggests that vaccines and their frequency may be a culprit in causing autism an oft-repeated claim that has been debunked by decades of research. Donnie and his deputies repeatedly advised pregnant women to refrain from using acetamethin and said they would caution physicians against using it, contrary to what physicians'

groups say. In a statement sent to NPR, Tile-Lmaker, can view disputed the administration's claims. Quote, we believe independent sound science collectively shows that taking a synonym

does not cause autism. We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned about the health risks and confusion disposes for expecting mothers and parents. During the press conference,

officials pointed to a study done by Harvard, and other researchers that found that women who reportedly taking a CMFN while they were pregnant seemed to be slightly more likely, just slightly, to have a child who was later diagnosed with autism. One of the researchers on essay was Anne Bauer, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts. Bauer says she thinks pregnant women should be told about possible risk from a CMFN, but the researcher also was worried that it might be too soon to have the government offering guidance on its use. I'm a little concerned about how this message is going to come, because I think they may be jumping the gun, said Bauer before the announcement was made.

think those of us in the research committee would like to see stronger evidence. Diagnoses of autism have risen over the past two decades, though the use of acetaminophen has not remaining largely steady over that time. The increase of diagnoses is often attributed to a broadened definition of autism, with changes in diagnostic criteria. as well as increased awareness and screening. There you go. We said that before. But RFK Jr. being the dips you,

they is dismissed these explanations as a canard. Many physicians and autism advocacy groups as they opposed the administration's stance. It is highly unsettling that our federal health agencies are willing to make an announcement that will affect the health of well-being of millions of people without the backing of reliable data, says Stephen J. Fleischman, MD,

president of the American College of Obstitricians. That's a difficult word. And a gynecologists. said in a written statement. Even the notice about Acidimepin issued by physicians by the Food and Drug Administration pointed out that possible link to autism was an area of ongoing scientific debate

and said that while an association between Assyllifin and autism has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature. Specifically, the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the agency that sets policy for Medicare and Medicaid, pledged to change the indication on a medication called leucophrine as a treatment for autism,

despite scant evidence that this form of vitamin D has any effect. The new hydroxy clear queen, everyone. In response to that, the American Psychiatric Association issued a statement opposing the administration's suggestion that vaccines cause autism, adding that leuccovrin, also known as phelonic acid, is not recommended to treat autism, adding, it will require many more years of research before we know if

leucophoren is an appropriate treatment for individuals with autism. And by his own mission, Donnie said he is not precise with his language on the subject, but he repeated the same language multiple times during his remarks. If you get tough enough, Donnie said

A limited use of SMF might be necessary but ideally you don't take it enough He said in a rambling press conference That times conflated vaccines And painkiller use Citing both unconfirmed rumors and personal suppositions

That both might be harmful To women and babies it looks like you're pumping it into a horse. Dining said multiple vaccinations given to children. The Amish, for example, have no autism. He said despite research showing that autism does affect Amish communities later, adding that there are no cases of autism in Cuba. Where in fact, there are cases of autism there. he thinks

he called on pregnant women to refrain from using the common painkiller repeatedly saying Don't take time Oh no There's no dancing He maintained Although pregnant women are told to avoid other anti-fever

drugs such as aspirin And ibuprofen And fever can be dangerous In a pregnancy In other words This dipshit doesn't know what he's talking about The Society for maternal fetal medicine

which recommends using SMFN to treat fever and pain and pregnant women said that untreated fever can cause grave harm such as miscarriage birth defects and premature birth especially

early in a pregnancy Merck maker of various vaccines including for measles pneumonia and HPV also responded saying the recent statement that vaccines can be linked to autism is inconsistent with the extensive scientific studies that have been conducted over the past 25 years, which has been consistently shown no link between vaccinations and autism.

Today's announcement risks taking us backwards. says Jackie Dillworth, a spokesperson for the Ark of the United States, a group representing people with developmental disabilities and their families. Today's claims risk-fuelling stigma, misleading the public, and distracting from what families truly need, because they present unproven suppositions as fact. she said. So, well, well, he said he'd define a cause by September. Of course, it's bullshit.

But, yeah, there you go. There you go. They're just completely full shit and, frankly, you need to step away from this subject let's actual scientists handle it.

we're now in part six of this challenge and uh let's talk food let's talk uh seafood specifically and a couple of varieties of sea food so i'll start with uh so these are both dining experiences i've had uh in the past week and both do involve uh seafood so i'll start with the more recent one uh went to uh red lobster the other day uh uh since i found out about my uh health issues, I started trying to eat more fish. Specifically, grilled trout at Red Lobster.

I'll find out yesterday that it is no longer on the menu. I suspect it was the casualty of the chain's recent bankruptcy, which resulted in the closing down

of quite a number of restaurants. they introduced a few other things like boil bags to try to up attendance and up there and had to get rid of their endless shrimp deal which yeah you pay certain my money and you get they give you all the shrimp you want well it turns out that that was a primary cost of them going bankrupt so they stopped done that but they did do other things including our daily specials that happen to be in there on a day where their special was 20 bucks for shrimp scampy and a lobster tail

which was which is what I went with and was actually pretty good but I'm very disappointed to see that trouts is no longer on the menu. But, it's red lobster. They do a good job with seafood and everything. And funny thing,

walking out there, after my meal is on the lobster tank because they all have, because all these places have lobster tanks near the front entrance. And do not,

do not touch these lobsters. It will cause them to become, unalive that is funny to me that in recent years that that's word unalive has been used euphemistically to refer to killing something or someone so that's a that's kind of funny that they would do that cause them to be unalive there are ways to prepare a lot by killing it first. Guga does a good job of explaining that in his videos. Nick, the Giovanni, has talked about that two.

You just put a knife through the lobster's skull and just crunch down and that will kill it before you cook it, which I think makes a lot of sense. So that's story number one with seafood places. Story number two, this was about a week ago. On the plaza now, we have a kura sushi. So kura for those unfamiliar, that is the stereotypical conveyor belt sushi that you price. seen in the anime it is a real is real concepts and got to see it first hand so you walk in they agree to your say my say and they sit you at a table or a or in my

case it was a booth and in front of you have two conveyor belts you have the one conveyor belts with these domes and they contain sushi that's already have been prepared and above you is another conveyor belt and above that is touchscreen where you see the menu and you can order anything you want from the touchscreen including your drinks by the way I'll talk about the drinks in seconds but but yeah those are the two ways to get food at this place so if you look at the conveyor belts and you happen to see something you like like just press they're all protected in the plastic domes so you see something

you can press a button on the dome to open it and you take the plate out with the sushi always in pairs so so you take the sushi out and you eat it and then there's a slot in front of you where you put your dishes afterwards and then that's how they charge you is by the dish so yeah I did if you those I did did my own order so make sure I had some shrimp but some Unagi no the fresh wire eel variety not the states of total awareness variety want to try some of their seared beef with the Yaki Niku sauce that was pretty good.

They do serve Amayibi, the sweet shrimp, but unlike traditional-ish places, they didn't come with the fried shrimp heads. So if you're into the shrimp heads, this is probably not the place for you, but, but, no, it is pretty cool, very modern. very hyper modern, if not born, if not futuristic. I say that's because your drinks, they are served to you by robot. A robot will come up to you with a tray that has your drinks on its and other stuff.

And yeah, it is pretty cool. And while we're talking about futurism, I'm a here. Shout to Quick Trip and their janitor robots that are pretty much universal now. That's pretty cool.

Basically, just an automated scrubber like I used to work in college. Everything, but only a fraction of the size and completely automated, so that's pretty cool. But yeah,

The words are wise about to Kura be careful what you order because I say they charge by the plate and some things like Shrmtenpora. You can't exactly put that in the slot afterwards. So yeah, come in. Have a good time. You know, enjoy the cool stuff. And of course, the other cool thing about that second giver, yeah, it will stop immediately in front of you with the sushi plate. If that's the way you choose to order. So I do highly recommend if there is a Kura invariable sushi place in your area, please check that out.

And if you're in the KC area, it's on the plaza. on the plaza I think sharing the building with the logo to Xiao very easy to find so yeah

that is my plug for uh good ah sushi I'm going to go ahead and end this exercise

and uh talking about the ACA and credit to my brother uh Joe for uh uh

gave me riled up about this or rather I got him riled up because I had the audacity to say I did not particularly care for Charlie Kirk and everything I think he stood for a lot of bad things

Hank goes off on tensions well liberals don't talk about don't talk to their opponents that's not necessarily true because Again, my experience having run for office is the conservatives who shy away.

I remember during my Senate's run, where the fuck was Greg Smith? And then he talks about the ACA, the Affordable Care Act, or as the haters call it, Obama care. and focused only on the vote of the final package. I'm trying to explain to him that there's more history behind that that proves that the ACA is not even remotely socialist. And how dare you try to portray it that way just because the act passed on only democratic votes. And that part is true.

It did pass on only Democrat votes. But the roots of the ACA are from the right. All right. So let's go and start with this whole idea of government takeover of healthcare. Well, if it was actually a government takeover, you wouldn't be given. your your check every month to a private insurance company. That's all, that's primarily the heart and soul of the ACA is that the government's

gives, as private companies give discounted rates to people like me who frankly need it. And so, and the, The ACA is also a perfect example of what Bill Maher had been talking about when he said that the Democratic Party, it's Democratic, not Democrat Party, knock that shit off. The Democratic Party had moved to the center, and Republicans have moved into a mental hospital, and that's true, too.

I'm tired of that, little, like, Knaar. That was started by Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich to try to demonize. Democrats saying well that's the name of the part the Democrat Party proper English it's Democrat tick you're using the adjective form is Democrat tick

if you're using the noun form that's Democrat but yeah back to what I was going to talking about the origins of the ACA you search on Google and nowadays Google has their AI

that just pops stuff up when you do Google search. And this is what the AI says when you Google right-wing origins of the ACA. All right. So, here you go. Quart tenants of the Affordable Care Act,

or ACA, including the individual mandate and private insurance marketplace, originated from conservative and Republican policy proposals dating back to 1980s and 1990s. These ideas were developed as market-based alternatives to government-run universal health care systems favored by many Democrats. What I just say, you're giving the money to a private

insurance company, not the federal government. Next up, the Heritage Foundation, very right-wing organization responsible for in part for that project 2025, which we're not going to talk about here. There's already an entire episode about that. They had a proposal in 1989. Economist Stuart Butler of the Conservative Heritage Foundation developed a plan to require individuals to purchase health insurance financed by refundable tax credits.

The goal? This proposal aims to ensure universal access without creating a government-run single-paired system, which conservatives feared would lead to socialized medicine. And that they're still bitching about

it's just take over of... You're right now. That's why we can't have nice things. And, of course, I rightfully bring up Massachusetts, Willard, Mitt Romney Care. So, Massachusetts health reform Romney Care 2006.

So as governor of Massachusetts Republican, Mitt Romney, again, his real first name is Willard, signed a landmark health reform law that served as a. model as the direct model for the ACA. Again, Romney somewhat centrist compared to the current Republican Party and, in fact, had been a Republican center from Utah.

All right. So he's served in office in two different states and, of course, ran for President against Obama in 2012. And LDS, by the way, key features of Romney Care, the Massachusetts plan included state-level individual mandates,

subsidies for low-income residents, and the creation of a health insurance exchange called the Connector. This is the health care.gov thing, the exchange, where you can agree to a certain plan. if you're lucky, you don't have to pay monthly premiums. I'm not so lucky this month. However, what I'm paying right now is a hell of a lot cheaper than I was paying before I got onto an ACA plan. They were getting ready to pay 400 bucks a month

for insurance. And that one, that just could happen. The success, the plan successfully expanded coverage to nearly all state residents and demonstrated the viability of these markets-based policies. And this is the core of why I was trying to talk to Joe about, but he kept shouting me down. Every day I can't look at the fucking history. That's what I'm doing. That's what we're doing here.

All right, we're looking at the history. Republican proposals in the 90s. Alternative to Clinton plan. Remember, William Jefferson Clinton was president at this time. In 93, a group of Republican senators, including John Chafee, Chuck Grassley, and the reason I never became a Republican in the first place. Bob Doe! Proposed a bill that included an individual mandate. Market-based approach.

This plan was a market. market-driven alternative to President Clinton's Health Security Act, which relied on an employer mandate. Okay, so there you go. Conservative Republican ideas that's contributed to the ACA. So what happens? That's all of a sudden all the Republicans. Well, again, I'm going to point to two things. one, the political shift in this country towards the right to the point that there really isn't

a left anymore. Let's be 100% honest. There is like me and a couple of other people. Right. Again, Bill Maher said it best. Democrats moved to the center, Republicans into a mental hospital. Number one. Number two, well, who was presidents when this past? Well, this is often derided as Obamacare, because Obama was president at the time this was enacted, and the Republicans to this day hate Obama. And they call him socialist, even though he was as centrist as fuck. They call him a socialist because they couldn't use the N-word. it's all about

they're pissed off that black man was president so here it is your conservative pivot and opposition despite their role in developing these concepts many Republicans later reversed course

and strongly oppose the ACA after its passage in 2010 party unity against Obama again the whole they can't use the end words so they have to come up

with other words like socialist. The ACA was a key legislative priority for Democratic President Barack Obama, and partisan opposition solidified around repealing the law rather than engaging

in bipartisan reform. And for those paying attention to politics, as soon as the ACA was enacted.

There were a bunch of Republican attempts to try to repeal the whole thing. And ultimately that failed, and I see that's next in the government takeover narrative.

I just debunked this. But let's read it anyway. Critics frames the individual mandate and other provisions as an unconstitutional government overreach, even though the mandate originated from conservative principles of individual responsibility.

By the way, that individual mandate was struck down by the Supreme Court's, but the remainder of the bill still exists. Happy for that. Shift in philosophy, again, Republicans to the center. No, Democrats to the center, Republicans to the mental hospital.

Think tanks like the Heritage Foundation publicly denounce. the mandate in 2011, arguing that its application within the ACA was not what they originally intended. Again, I think it's more due with the fact that

Black Man passed it than anything else. And then unsuccessful repeal efforts, including by the late, including the efforts of the late John McCain to stand against

its repeal. Efforts to repeal and a replace the ACA by Republicans, largely failed to produce a viable alternative because they don't have any. Probably because any replacement would have needed to address the same market dynamics using similar

mechanics. Again, they don't have any ideas. You want to know what the Republican ideas for the past a few years. We don't think Americans should have nice things be on par with

the rest of the developed world and let's corporations do the dirty work so oh it gets better there are plenty of links to this I think we only have time

for one and this is an abstract of a research paper you can find this it's a PubMed's NCBI NCBI.mL NLM.N.N.H.gov.

Title is Right-wing conspiracy, Socialist Plots, The Origins of the Patient's Protection and Affordable Care Act by Joe Quadagonal. I apologize. So I'm butchering it.

Written in 2015, but the abstract reads as such on March 23rd, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into the patient protection and affordable care act or ACA. Did the ACA signify

a government take over the health care system a first step on the road to socialism as conservators charged or was it rather a sellout to the right wing as liberal

single-payer advocates proclaimed. The ACA's key provisions, the employer mandate, and the individual mandates were Republican policy ideas. And it's fundamental

principles were nearly identical to the health, equity, and access reform today Act of 1993, the Heart Act. A bill promoted by

Republican senators to deflect support from President Bill Clinton's health security plan. Yet the ACA was also a policy legacy of the Clinton administration. Important ways

that rarely are acknowledged notably Medicaid expansion which Kansas never signed up on by the way. Fuck you, Sam Brown back for that. and insurance company regulation.

Although the ACA departed from the liberal version of a single-payer plan, which I think is still the way to go. There was even talk of putting a public option to a single pair plan into this, but that got rejected because of this same thinking. and adhered closely to the objectives of those who believed that the healthcare system should encourage the free market. It included provisions that would make coverage more forable, reliable, and accessible. And that's all I unfortunately have access to, but do check out that abstract. Anyway, if you can find the full thing, go for it.

And lastly, theconversation.com has a piece on this. The title is Conservatives backed the ideas behind Obamacare, so why did they come to hate it? And I'm going to read just the highlighted portion. It's a very long article. So second and third. I'm going to read the first paragraph and then go into the second and third paragraphs, which are highlighted for me here.

The Affordable Care Act is backed before the United States Supreme Court. This was written in 2020. In the latest of dozens of attacks against the law by conservatives fighting what they now perceive to be a government's takeover of health care. Yet in an odd twist of history, it was New Gingrich. One of the most conservative speakers of the House and fucking hypocrites. I mean, you impeached Clinton on Bojop. accusations while yourself cheating on your wife while she was dying of cancer with your next wife.

So anyway, Newt's laid out the blueprints for the ACA as early as 1993. Excuse me. In an effort, an interview on Meet the Press, Gingrich argued for individuals being required to have health insurance as a matter. matter of social responsibility. Over time, he drew on ideas from the Heritage Foundation and Milton Friedman to suggest that

means finding ways through tax credits and through vouchers so that every American can buy insurance including, I think, a requirement that if you're above a certain level of income, you have to either have insurance or post a bond.

So So, yeah, Joe, I don't know where you're getting your news, but find another news source because I'm thinking it's Fox. He wouldn't even tell me where he's getting his news, but, but yeah, where you're getting your news is not good, period, and not helped by the fact he chose to live in Oklahoma. But that is definitely a discussion for another time. And yes, go ahead and check out my taking that bullshit Oklahoma Teachers Test. And one last thing, Joe, before you get angry at me for a stay in facts,

don't anger someone who has a podcast because this is the result. And this is the end of our seven segments. version of a Fortnite challenge. Thanks y'all for listening and we will talk again very soon. This podcast is Uncalled for is hosted, produced and edited by myself, Mike Chernke. Our opening music is the, this podcast is Uncalled for Theme, which is created at sueno.com, S-U-N-O- dot com. Our outro music is one of our personal favorite. are around here. Hiibi

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