Weekly Skews - Weekly Skews 12/14/21 – Teachers, Texts, and Tornadoes

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

Tonight Corey Ryan Forrester returns to the show to discuss all them 1/6 texts, the humiliation of teachers, the horror of December tornadoes (with KY activist Ariana Velazquez), and more. Support the show

Howdy there, everybody, welcome back. Happy skews day to all you skewers out there. It's December 14th, 2021. I'm Trey Crowder. And that back again, you know him. You love him filling in for smart markets. Corey Ryan Forster, the Cho himself. What's up, Cho?

Hey, Trey, thanks for having me. Thanks for coming back. I'm so sorry for all the 400 people that just, clicked off as soon as they saw it on here no they're fired up now everybody everybody loves to choke you know it's true i want to make sure you know it's a little bit of bad news for you you know you're supposed to be off fruit loops right now oh no well i mean i'm okay it's because of kellogg's right that's right yes kellogs they're on some serious bullshit at the moment so you know trying to avoid giving them money big labor dispute they're trying to fire all their hard work

employees bringing scabbs a bunch of other bullshit you remember how you remember when the whole chick filet thing was going down and like that was really difficult for me but like you were just like yeah whatever i didn't really eat it anyway so it was really easy for you to look like a good person yeah well because of my recent change in health and the fact that i'm not really eating anything bad that i'm in that situation now where like it's so easy for me to be like yeah boycott kellogs but like if this was like six or seven months ago shoo buddy i'd be in a rough shape right now so kudos to everybody out there that normally would be eating that cereal night well it's one of them deals where uh like that you know they fall under an umbrella like well kellogg's on to bunch of different stuff

yeah right at it and i don't remember all of them but it's not too hard to avoid so yeah uh and also i guess we should say just so everybody know smart mark is of course fine he had another you know job thing his job i'm not a big fan of his job i hate his job i know his job it sucks but uh hey i tell you i got recognized the other day because of this show? No, but that's neat. Somebody came up to me and they were just like, Mark, you've gotten fatter. Yeah, that was a...

Still bald, though. Yeah. Well, hell, let's do it. Producer Matt's with us. This is Weekly Skews. I want to remind you, if you're vaccinated, want to see me and Corey live. You can go to well-read comedy.com for tickets to our stand-up shows. We'll be back home at Zanies in Nashville this weekend.

Saturday shows are sold. out, but Thursday and Friday still has some tickets available. So come see us in advance of the holiday. We sure would appreciate it. All right. On the show tonight, if you've ever felt like getting drunk and sending texts to your ex was ill-advised, wait until you hear what they found on former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' cell phone. Also, the very embarrassing relationship this country has with its educators. And a little later, we're going to be joined by Kentucky activist ariana velasquez to discuss the state of the commonwealth in the wake of this weekend's horrible storms all that and more on tonight's skews but first as always the daily dumb ass mac graphic please yes tonight's dd uh most of us really for not having the foresight to be born to a legendary professional athlete father that's right corey is going to be close to home

for you as a Georgia bulldog. Do you know Herschel Walker's son, Christian, believe it's his name? This is a rough one, man. This is a real rough one for me. So Christian, Herschel Walker's son, made a video where he was yelling at a gas pump about Joe Biden

or yelling at Joe Biden about a gasp. He was bitching about gas and blaming it on Joe Biden, talking about how it's obscene that the prices were so high. In this video, he was wearing a $1,200 sweatshirt. So that didn't sit very well with the Internet. and he has now responded to that criticism. Let's see his response, please, Matt. The Democrats don't like me because I'm rich.

I'm sorry that my parents weren't lazy on the couch all day waiting for handouts. I'm sorry that they built businesses and won championships, and now I can shop at Fendi and chief on ships. I just hope one day people realize it's not my fault that we work hard and build things worthwhile and seen he seems like a nice young kid

well adjusted, good head on his shoulders, you know? Dude, I swear to God, it's like the other side was like, all right, I'll tell you. what we're gonna we're gonna make it real difficult for corey we're gonna we're gonna get a gay black guy say something now corey and also by the way he's herschel walker's son i'm like put into such a corner here but i gotta tell you and i might be getting some heat for this now i don't agree with maybe how dramatic he was in the video and maybe the ultimate point he's trying to make but like

i do agree that like look it's possible to be rich and still bitch about gas prices Like, that's totally okay. Him bitching about the gas prices as if any president really ever has had anything to do with gas prices for the most part. That's the insane part to me. But, like, one doesn't really have anything to do with the other. And I personally do kind of think maybe that is the Democrats, their version in this one of like when they go after like some sort of spelling error instead of the thing that they actually should be bitching about. So I don't disagree wholehearted with the video, but I do disagree with most. everything else that he stands for, I think.

Well, just that general entitlement that so many rich people, especially rich kids having this kind of, you know, sorry my parents weren't, like, if your parent isn't a, you know, Hall of Fame college and then later professional running back, then that must mean they were lazy pieces of shit. Yeah, no, no, that did nothing. Yeah, please, please understand that that part fuck him for. I just meant like the whole notion of like, uh, anyone saying that like, if you're rich, you can't.

Talk about the price of gas or the price of milk. That's insane. But yes, that part, like, that's just dripping with bullshit. And then at the end, he says, I'm sorry that we worked so hard. And it's like, did you all? You didn't do shit. Yeah, right. Yeah.

Well, anyway, moving on. Our first honorable mention for Daily Dumbass is anybody who ever thought that Dr. Oz wasn't kind of a piece of shit, you know? Yeah. Matt, let's watch a little bit of this clip. We don't have to watch the whole thing, but let's just say how it goes here. He's addressing some criticism. The whole son of you think I changed because they found that I was a Republican. What happened to him?

He's gone over to the dark side. They think I went to the dark side because I love America. I want to serve this great country. We all know, Dr. Oz, but I feel like he took a turn. This is some political aspiration that he has that must be controlled. Mehmet, please come back. Our campaign is gaining momentum. to the liberal media wants to cancel me.

The Philadelphia Inquirer stopped calling me doctor, even though I'm a practicing physician who's performed thousands of art surgeries. They claim they don't use titles, but they call liberal politicians like John Federman by his title of lieutenant governor. It's just more media double standards. We won't be canceled.

I love America. I'm a conservative. I believe in more. Yeah, okay, go ahead, go ahead. Well, I was just going to, and I'm genuinely, I'm not just saying this, And part of this is just my daytime TV bias or whatever, but I've never, I've never had like a high and glowing opinion of Dr. Oz personally. Like, I don't feel betrayed by what's going on with him at all, because I've always like, I don't ever watch a show or nothing, but I was like, yeah, no, he's a fucking snake oil bullshit, right?

Isn't that what he does? He's like, yeah, there was no part of me that ever was watching the glorified, like, televangelist with a medical degree who's no better than some sort of, like, one of the. those late-night QVC predatory, like, oh, let's pray on these old people and get them to buy these copper bracelets. That's like all of what he is, you know, regardless of the actual medical license he has, but like, never once have I been like, I bet that guy's a well-meaning liberal. You know what I mean? Like, none of this surprises me. And it's also just that, that crap of like, we're not going to be canceled. It's what somebody says when they were never in danger of being canceled.

And also, by the way, got to tell you, I'm dying to get canceled because every single time somebody gets canceled, they get a $10 million Netflix special. Yes, I was going to bring that up too.

On their side of the fence, like, dude, he was chomping at the bit to be able to claim that they're trying to cancel him. Of course. He's so pumped to be, you know, in the crosshairs of the woke mob. Like, they live for that shit.

They did. Like, they're being appraisal. by it, but they fucking love it. They eat it up because it gives them something to, you know, be about or whatever. It's a victimization thing. Like, it's a bunch of people sitting there and like, seeing

the world kind of actually start caring about other people and start caring about like oppressed, you know, minorities and whatnot and thinking themselves, I need to get me some of that. And the only thing that they can do is be like, I'm being canceled so that they can scratch that victimization itch.

I mean, in my opinion, again, And, like, I've just never once really seen anyone claim to be canceled, and it matter even a little bit. And furthermore, usually they get richer. Yeah, it does seem to be how it go. Our next honorable mention, all the thick single ladies out there who for some reason are not lining up to be with Kyle Rittenhouse. Oh, yeah. Let's hear from the man himself, yeah. Are you open to dating?

I am very opening. So maybe that's what you want. for Christmas. That's what I want for Christmas. A nice dame. What are you looking for in a woman? Yes, yes. Tracks of land. Tracks of land. Yeah. No, what are you looking for in a woman? You know, some person that just wants to, like, date me for who I am. And what I'm looking for in a woman is, I like a girl with a little bit of butt. Okay. Yeah, for sure. Slim waist, big tits. Moops, big boobs. Now, dude, you're a guy.

Let people get mad at that. Every guy in the world is a hypocrite. He cannot lie. He did not into a racial issue. No other brother. Kyle Rittenhouse, like, correcting himself for having said tits or whatever. Yeah. Not a thing I had on my late 2021 bingo card.

You know what I mean? I know. I just want someone who loves me. Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry. I don't want to offend anybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. said the noted murderer of people.

Murderer, yeah. I just want someone who wants me for me, a self-proclaimed vigilante who has a fudge stains in my witty tides. Like, that's just, I just need someone. Yeah, that's that. I also wonder what's with some butt, by the way. He said, I like a girl with a little butt. A little butt.

I wonder what the like, like as opposed to what, do you know what I mean? Like, what does any woman think? that she's getting into with Kyle Rittenhouse and then does not get that thing. Do you know what I mean? Like, I feel like he's probably pretty much what you would expect. Yeah. Like, you know. I just want a girl who doesn't care if I open carry at Chili's, you know?

Like, I don't know. Yeah. It's like, yeah, no, they know that about you, dog. Pretty much you're, like, famous for being someone who open carries it like a Chili's. Yeah, that's right. Also, I got to tell you, like, I, I am kind of, like, I think he's just saying all that to maybe get some more chicks, because, like, I do got to assume that, like, he does have some girls lined up for him. Because, like, we've all seen them conservative ads with them big-titted blonde ladies shooting machine guns.

Like, they exist by the dozen. You know what I'm saying? There's also, there's always stories all the time about every, every, like, mass murderer apparently gets stacks and stacks of love letters in prison. While they're in jail, though. Yeah, right. Oh, do you think that's part of it? Like, if they weren't in jail, the women wouldn't do that. Because he's really right there.

If I can meet him at the Outback, then no, maybe not. But if I can pretend I want to while he's safely behind bars, then let me write this letter real quick. That's what I'm saying. Like, they let him off. Like, he's technically not murdery enough for them. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Well, that's a poor Kyle Rittenhouse.

What a sad little bitch. Yeah. All right. Next up, we got Mike Pence for not just getting fucking murdered already. Because then, you know, Donald Trump might not have to continually point out how much of a bitch he is. Is he doing that again? Yeah, of course he is. Let's see it right here.

And I feel badly about it. Mike, had he had the courage to do what Thomas Jefferson did but a minor version? You know, Thomas Jefferson, he kept Georgia. You know that? He didn't send it back. There was a dispute. the great student Georgia

would he say that Thomas Jefferson did? Maybe you'd know you're from Georgia and you're the you know you like history and stuff

he said he kept Georgia didn't send it back I don't know producer might know I don't know what that he's talking about Georgia was a we were a

penal colony right yeah I was about say we were pretty much just a bunch of people who didn't pay their taxes and thus had to be like imprisoned or whatever but maybe I don't know

that part of us but like what's he what did Mike Pence do that was so bad. I mean, there's a lot of shit that obviously me and you think Mike Pence did so bad, but what sort of awful thing has he done to Trump this time? Steele the election

for him. Oh. Mike Pence had to like certify those results. That's part of the role of the vice president. And the expectation was that he just wouldn't do that. Right. You know, I don't remember the exact like parameters of how it was supposed to work out, but it was something like that. Yeah, that

and producer Matt says, that's what he was claiming that Thomas Jefferson didn't certify Georgia, I don't know what he's talking about though, so yeah. Dude, you know what I'm worried about. But remember, that's what people were like Yeah. People were like wanting to kill Mike Pence on January 6th or whatever.

They were like screaming, hang him and stuff like that. Yeah, they had him like hung in effigy and stuff like that. Well, that's because he wouldn't do that thing, you know, to assist Trump in stealing the election or whatever. That's how he became a villain. As a comedian, are you nervous right now about this whole Bill O'Reilly Trump tour?

What do you mean? You think our people are going to be going there instead or what? Well, look, no, I'm just saying, man, like, we saw that people weren't filling up these arenas. And when you go back down, it's theaters and comedy clubs. I'm just saying there's going to be a time in the near future where we get screwed out of a weekend because Bill O'Reilly and Donald Trump are doing nine sold-out shows at the fucking yuck yucks because they couldn't, you know, fill the Bridgestone arena. I feel like you're being optimistic there. I mean, maybe like I, they ain't selling tickets, these two on tour together. I got to feel like every dumb ass for miles is showing up.

Did you not see how they were having to close off the balcony and stuff? And they were like huge gaps of people not there. They've killed a lot of their fan base. They did kill a whole lot of their fan base. You're right. Yeah. They did kill them. And that will hurt ticket sales down the road.

So hell. No, I didn't realize that. I'm glad to hear it, though. It's for me. Although, yeah, I ain't trying to split a weekend with them or not. That would be some wild shit right there. Oh, buddy. Okay, let's see. We're going to check in with a returning dumbass here. She's like a four or five time dumbass, I believe. It's Jenna Ryan, everybody, the capital rioter who flew to D.C. on a private jet and then claimed she would never go to prison on account of she's white and rich and is now going to prison, that lady. Last week, we were talking about how she's looking forward to prison because she thinks she can finally lose that last 20 pounds she's worried about. She's getting her prison body in shape, she thinks. and this week's update is she's been meeting with prison consultants and reading prison blogs

in order to learn prison slang so she's now feeling pretty good about her chances cho that was a Kevin Hart will feral movie that's get hard that's the plot of get hard the uh me and mark were talking last week I know you just started secession there's a like minor storyline in the third season of secession where one of those characters kind pretty much is getting ready for federal prison thing and it's just wildlife imitating art or whatever but yeah she was she's saying like she's learning all these prison words and i just imagine her going up to some hardened felon in there whatever and she's like what's up home girls oh hi where's the aryan nation can i go over there if you point me to the aryan nation corner please dude hope no one's got any shivs heard all

about those shivs you guys got i'm gonna have some toilet wine and talk about that new sex in the city that just came out. Hey, I know I'm sure that this has been pointed out as, but like, when they say things out loud like, oh, I'm not worried about going to prison because I'm white and rich, do

they not hear themselves and go, oh, yeah, right. That's why a lot of people are mad right now. Is that whole thought of us? No. That's fucking. No, they don't. But do they have no self awareness whatsoever, but I mean, half of the things they ever say,

are like baldly hypocritical and they never have any awareness of any of it i don't like the term you just used oh baldly i'm sorry yeah i just it's fine just it's just it's just be created explicitly explicitly hypocritical about that i'm sorry uh it means to use the don't worry about it it's fine you know we're not a protected group yet but but no she says you know she's learning a lot of things she's learning it's a totally different world in there but then she said quote But since I'm also a life coach, I can imagine that I'm going to, I can imagine I'm going to end up making some pretty genuine connections while I'm in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell T. Roy all about avocado toast and see if you are still buddies.

You know what I mean? Get the fuck out of here. All right. Is it bad to hope that she dies while in prison? I'm asking sincerely. If it's bad, I'm right there with you. We're both, we both be bad together, baby. So, yeah, certainly wouldn't I have for me.

All right, let's talk about the story today here, talking about these text messages, Joe. Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was originally going to cooperate with the January 6th committee, and then Trump, you know, cracked the whip, said, you can't do that shit. And he backed out Congress, the committee's going to hold him in contempt of Congress. And as part of this process, Liz Cheney read some of the text messages that they already had received from Mark Meadows. before you go into this, I need to know it's pretty important for me to know where are we at on Liz Cheney

today because I feel and correct me if I'm wrong that like it seems like once a week Liz Cheney sort of does some sort of like gymnastics and like every now and then it's like oh she's one of the good conservatives and then she'll go

fucking bananas like her and Megan McCain do that shit where everybody's like oh see these are what and then like two days later they're just like brown people fly you know planes in the building like I don't know so today where's Liz Cheney I mean yeah she ain't no hero you know what I mean it's like she she is you know one of the good ones as far as conservatives go just because she's willing to acknowledge that like treason is bad right you know what I mean but yeah she still she ain't conservative enough that makes her a rhino so

they shitting all over right yeah I'm not gonna be like stumping for Liz Cheney or nothing but so a lot of these texts were from prominent at least the ones, apparently they've got a whole lot more of these texts, obviously, and just a few have come out so far. And a lot of them were from Fox News hosts who were texting him on January 6th, Laura Ingraham. Texting Meadows. Texting Meadows telling him to get to Trump and make him do something. Like Laura Ingraham texts him, he's destroying his legacy.

Brian Kilmead said, please get him on TV. He's destroying everything you have accomplished. Sean Hannity said, can he make a statement, ask people to leave the Capitol? They're all just like begging him to get Trump to do something about this. So it's all these. And also the other prominent texter was Donald Trump Jr., which I thought was pretty funny. Like he can't even get a hold of daddy directly. You know what I mean?

Right. That's what their relationship's like. It wouldn't surprise me if he genuinely didn't have his like actual number. Right. He just had a side number. Like, you know, I can't put you through. Just get me on WhatsApp. Can you Snapchat me?

It's fine. If it's important, I'll have some other. Right. Well, it seems to be something like. that because he also was texting Meadows and just saying, you know, he has to do something, urging action by the president. We need an Oval Office address, something like that. So, I mean, like, the big takeaway here is, you know, all these people were very aware that this was not a good thing that was happening. And they were like begging him to do

something about it and he wouldn't. And then later, not just later, ever since then, all of these same people have of course been acting like really wasn't that bad a deal it was you know hell it was antifa you know they're blaming antifa in the text messages but it's just again we all know that they're full of shit obviously but having it just sort

of like actual evidence of it you know the whole thing I just like it really puts me in such a melancholy state of mind just because like you see it you see all this now and then you go yes okay there it goes it confirmed

to me that these people, hey, the Hannity's of the world, not stupid people. Assholes, bad people, not stupid people. So not the non-stupid people, absolutely know. They're also vaccinated, by the way. They're vaccinated. They know that January 6th was a bad thing. And all their people now can see that. But instead of going like, oh my God, this should change my opinion on this whole deal, they're just going to watch Hannity and all these dudes do the mental gymnastics to like you said jump back on the oh it wasn't that big of a deal and then nothing's ever going to come of it and whatever there'll be a goddamn showtime limited series about this bullshit in 20 years and everybody going yeah wouldn't that have been

great and Donald Trump will die at a 96 years old just lived a fine life it's fucking sucks man yeah 100 because i agree with you it is i've thought the whole time nothing whatever ultimately come of it because that's just not how shit goes in this country and it's one those things we say this all the time but it's always true if this was somehow reversed if the you know like the political uh barometer on this was going in the other direction that's not a good metaphor but you know what i mean if this was somehow some liberal shit or it happened in obama's presidency or something like that like dude i mean you know they still talk about benghazi and hillary's emails and hunter bind's laptop and all that shit they never let any of that stuff go so imagine if it was something on this scale

but yet we'll probably never see any type of ramifications for it from them. It also says to me that, and again, also not surprising, but these Fox News hosts that they just, that they basically outright fear their primary constituency or their primary fan base with demographic. Like they know, right. It's like, listen, it's like they all have this tacit agreement behind the curtain that they're like, listen, we all get it. we rile up the rubs and we pay for the yachts, right? Like that's what we do here. And we all understand that. But like, these people are lunatics.

Right. And we're making them more lunaticy. But we ain't never got to face no, you know, repercussions for that. And as long as the yacht checks keep coming, who gives a shit. But they don't want anything to do with these people. And they don't actually care about or respect them or any of that shit. Of course not. They know that Antifa shit is bullshit.

Like, they know that, like, the worst thing a liberal is ever going to do to Mitch McConnell is farting his soup. You know what I mean? Like, if Mitch McConnell comes to a restaurant, there's a liberal in the kitchen, they'll fart in his soup. But that'll be about the end of it. But, like, these people are Kyle Rittenhouses. You know what I mean? So, like, yeah, dude, I'd be afraid, too, if I was them. Yeah, it's disconcerting to say the least.

producer matt was saying before the show that he thinks that um like a big part of this play is to try to illustrate to mark meadows just because you are now refusing to cooperate doesn't mean that all this stuff isn't going to see the light of day like we've got access to it already so you trying to just stay at home and you know pull your cards back or whatever is not going to work um i just i just don't like what else could there be that comes out that would even matter like all the stuff all the stuff right now to me is enough and it but it's not enough you know what I'm saying like anytime like I remember like you know three years into his presidents they kept going like oh my god did you see the new thing that came out about Trump and I'm like well I got

to tell you unless it's worse than all the other shit that has come out about him already which it's probably not then it's definitely not going to matter because they don't care about that stuff right and it's like we know the DOJ could actually press charges and all this type of shit and it's like yeah I guess hypothetically they could but the type of, the people we're talking about, like, that don't ever happen to them. Like, they're not going to get, high-level politicians, they don't get fucking arrested or charged with things. They don't, and they don't, and they don't, they don't get, like, kicked out of Congress and shit. It's, like, the only thing that could happen is they get voted out, but again, all this stuff super hits for the people that vote in their district anyway.

So, like, what is ever supposed to happen? That's like the point, that's like half the point for most of these people you can tell of getting so high in power in politics is that they basically have immunity the rest of their life for any of the other crap that they do. You know what I'm saying? Like, that seems to be what it is. Like, well, if I get high enough on this and I do a tax thing, I'll call in a favor. You know what I mean? Like the Blagojevichs of the world are the exception, not the rule. Yeah.

Well, let's move on for we got too fired up on this subject. I'm sorry. We do. No, it's all right. We've got a guest tonight. We're going to get into that anyway. Thrilled to have her our guest tonight is a 23-year-old self-described Filipino Hillbilly from Pikeville, Kentucky. Maybe it's Pikeville.

We'll find out in just a second. But she graduated from the University of Louisville this year with a degree in political science and is now a JD candidate at the University of Kentucky. She is a multi-state Appalachian political organizer, serves on the board of numerous Kentucky non-profits, is the youngest person in Kentucky Democratic Party leadership, and she also is a musician and writer. Everybody, please welcome to the show, Ariana Velasquez. My goodness. Did I say that right, Ariana.

Yeah, Ariana Velasquez. Some bitch couldn't say the word Louisville, but he got that right. Hell yeah. Yeah, I went to a University of Louisville. Yeah, it's not a native Pike County name, but, you know, my mom's family's related to the McCoys, so, you know, it makes up for it, I guess. Oh, well, there you go. Well, fuck the Hatfield. That's what I've always said.

Oh, yeah, I've been saying. Thank you for being here. And I guess just to start with, can you kind of just give us sort of an update on how things are going there in Kentucky in the wake? I'm sure everybody knows, but there are massive storms of tornadoes. rolled through the south, and Kentucky in particular was hit pretty hard. The last I saw, it was upwards of 70 people that had died, maybe more by now, billions in property damage got pretty bad. So how are things going?

Yeah, so my presence on this should be some indication of how it is. I'm not from Western Kentucky, but everyone's pretty much tied up right now. So some people ask me to do this. basically what's going on is they're my cousin's one of them uh fishing people out of the old candle factory uh the new from the news reports uh we've seen that they probably were threatened yeah they would be fired if they called in due to inclement weather thank god some people actually did but a lot of people did not and so we've just seen this widespread devastation in multiple factories where people were afraid to lose their

jobs. So they were killed or seriously injured. So my cousin's a firefighter with Fayette County and they're bringing in firefighters and first responders from all around the state to help with the recovery and they're not recovering as many people as they like. So right now, the most important for thing, sorry, I'm just getting a little choked up. The most important thing for people to do is to please stay home. I've seen a lot of people pack up and drive there, but really you're just another mouth to feed. What people need there is to find these legitimate efforts by first responders, by people in the community that are trying to find ways to help people there. like the Tide truck came and washed people's clothes.

The governor's relief fund, which people can find and donate to pretty easily, has raised over $8 million. That's great. But you taking a camper and driving down there is not going to be very helpful. There are people that are trained to do this sort of work. Give blood. There's a blood shortage right now. I know I'm planning to give blood.

I'm doing what I can. I'm in law school finals right now, but I've been working on compiling a list with a bunch of the organizations I'm involved with. Luckily, I have a pretty big network, so I'm just been trying to get donors to the right links, make sure the links are legitimate, make sure that everybody gets what they need. It's not necessarily good to guess at what people need. They're putting out calls for specific items. There's even places where people are making runs to deliver the donated objects from official places such as courthouses and fire departments.

Look for those. Please don't guess at what people need. They might. Please don't pack up 80 gallons of water and drive down there. Then they have to worry about where am I going to store the water. So just please bear with everybody. There's not a lot of good internet connection down there. So a lot of my Western Kentucky activist friends are just off the radar.

They check in every hour and then. But we aren't doing too hot right now. And we're just seeing the death toll rise. Do you, so how can people really know which places specifically are good to donate to versus the ones that are not? Because that is something that I know that people wonder about when things like this come up. Like, do you have a particular? resource or somewhere you can point to people, it's like, you know, this is always good. Start with this.

The governor's fund or whatever it may be. Yeah, well, the governor's fund, we know, is legitimate. That's, they're working specifically with all these disaster forces and any organization that's, you can look up a directory of volunteer organizations if you want to volunteer. There are places that are accepting volunteers and you can go and volunteer and do that sort of thing. Just there's already disaster organizations set up to do this sort of thing. A lot of the churches, the United Methodist Church, my church, the Episcopal Church, has a disaster fund. And they immediately got on the Zoom meeting with the diocese in Western Kentucky and said,

what do you all need? How can we help? And so they're using the churches to do that. So churches are generally okay. Salvation Army. The Red Cross is doing a ton of blood drives. Generally, schools are okay. I know that the Frisk, the Family Resource Youth Services Center, sorry, that's a mouthful. They've been doing things too. Look at newspapers.

Kentucky newspapers have been putting out lists upon lists upon lists of legitimate sources to donate to. If the GoFundMe page is set up by a organization you've heard of or is a registered nonprofit in Kentucky, it's probably cool. But I would hesitate to donate to places that are just somebody out of the blue saying, give me money, I'll go. There's plenty of resources when in doubt,

just donate to Team Kentucky through the governor's fund. and you can type in your Google search bar, WKY, Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund and find it right there. It's really easy to find legitimate sources. Just please don't give some rando money or it might be fine. It might not be fine, but I just want to make sure people. That's a good lesson for everybody in every situation. Good call there. Don't get some rando money.

Unfortunately, things like this. do always attract like opportunist and whatnot. So, I mean, you do have to, you know, watch out for that type of thing. Producer Matt has said if you, if you all want to, uh, viewers want to go to weekly skews.com and contact us through there. He can, he'll provide a list of some resources for you. But I wanted to ask you, I'm from Tennessee, course, for Georgia. Uh, it's December right now.

Like, I know, you know, we get tornadoes. Tornadoes are a thing, but not typically in December, right? Like, that part is pretty wild also. Like, there's some larger implications here, I feel like. Yeah, definitely, I feel like, I mean, just me personally, um, I'm going to say climate change. Sure. Um, doesn't seem to be too crazy of a thing to say in response to this.

Yeah. I mean, it's got to be. Um, and I don't think it's an accident that in Appalachian, you, there's a higher incidence of cancer and also chemicals in the water and so on and so forward. I'm just saying, I know causation and correlation, you know, sometimes, but sometimes it is what it is. You know, it's pretty obvious what's causing something.

And I think this is definitely, you know, we were warned if we didn't do something, we were going to get extreme weather. And this is extreme weather. And how do you feel about, you know, a lot of the politicians around there in Kentucky, not typically ones for, you know, being in favor of climate change being real, I guess we should say. Kentucky Congressman James Comer has repeatedly denied it just as one example. And it's one of these times where you wonder, like, how much more, like, is there any kind of turning point for these particular? politicians, you know, like in Kentucky, is it frustrating to you as a Kentucky and knowing that, you know, a lot of the people in charge are probably not going to take

the proper lessons away from this based on history? Yeah, well, sure. And I think it has a lot to do with people are still running the same soundbots. You know, Cole's going to come back, you know, and so on and so forth. And I feel like there's just this disconnect. specifically in central Appalachia. We weren't really given anything else. We had all our eggs in one basket.

So say, for example, up north whenever whaling was a thing, people had things to switch to. They switched to factories, steel mills and so on and so forth. We were just told, yeah, everything's fine. There's so much coal. won't run out and whatever. And so in the absence of something else, it's kind of like, well, the Republicans are lying to us, but at least they're promising us something. So I mean, I think also there's a place for Democrats to tell the truth, but tell it, you can't repair

over not that lack of trust in the South, in rural areas, mountainous or not, where you've got people with very low levels of like institutional trust. So they aren't going to believe you. It's the same thing where we don't have a problem in some of these counties electing local Democrats, but we have a problem electing Democratic state reps in the same district. There's this distrust of like even like the state party above a certain level, but like people will trust individual people that they know that interact with. So I mean, it's going to take a ground up approach of repairing that trust before people are even going to listen to these authorities because it's been so ingrained in us that, okay, you just tell

us whatever and you lie all the time. So people aren't going to believe you that the Green New Deal would be good for Appalachia because it would bring jobs in. People aren't going to tell you that people aren't going to believe you when you say that. Right. And so we're having a bit of like a labor moment in America right now. We're talking about Kellogg's earlier as a big John Deer Strike, the guys in Alabama. And, you know, wrapped up in this story, you mentioned earlier, the workers at the candle factory were reportedly, like, told they would lose their job if they tried to leave and seek shelter in the face of this impending storm.

And there were some other stories about some Amazon employees who, you know, faced similar circumstances with these storms, people that weren't allowed to have their phones, to contact loved ones, or to keep an eye. eye on the weather and things like that and, you know, ended up being stuck at the facility. And I'm saying it feels like there should be this opportunity to really illustrate to people that these are not your friends, you know, like they're not on your side. These large employers, these big corporations, you know, they don't have your best interest at heart. And it seems like there should be an opportunity for the Democratic Party at various levels to be on the side of the

people that are working as you know what I mean make it clear like we're on your team they are not you know and in situations like this but I know that it's difficult you know because it's true that's true in most southern states and I know you still just kind of don't see it happening whether the effort isn't there from the Democrats or whatever but it is it's upsetting because it feels like there are opportunities, you know, that aren't being taken. Yeah, and I feel like with that, I mean, this is just like a microcosm of like the bigger problem with we're losing like these white working class people. And, you know, people will even say things, you know, me being multiracial.

I've seen it from both sides. It's real odd people saying, me trying to explain white privilege to people. And you may not think this is relevant to this, but it is. say, well, I'm white, but I'm not privileged and not meaning and, you know, knowing the meaning of it. But, like, people don't feel like the Democratic Party takes them seriously all the time. So they're not going to, they feel like they're elitist I've seen in a lot of these instances. Of course, yeah. And so I've seen, you know, whenever you damage somebody's self-worth, they're automatically

in a shot off. What the Republicans do is they feed into their, you know, we understand you. And then also there's this weird. prosperity gospel element why people are okay with rich people taking advantage of them they're okay with letting the wealthy hoard their riches at the top because they're like well god's blessed them you know they'd earn it and people have stood there and argue with me and i'm like i don't think that's are we reading the same book here but anyways it's it's all a convoluted problem that the Democratic Party is going to have to address religiously.

They're going to have to address it, you know, at the local level and rebuild their relationship with the white working class and those non-college educated white voters. Or else, even when they're trying to help them, they aren't going to believe it because the Republicans have them so under their thumb and they've monopolized the flag. and there's this belief that you can't be Christian and you can't be a Democrat and you can't be this

that these things are mutually exclusive until the Democratic Party addresses that and it's not going to have an overnight. I mean, this is going to be years upon years upon years of there's going to have to be a long game and a short game. We're not going to be able to win back these workers and, you know, Appalachia used to be such a union stronghold. Right.

It's sad. Where did that go? Right, I know. working people how do we lose that absolutely well i mean yeah it is definitely going to be a long haul to say the least but as long as we've got you know people like you boots on the ground actually doing the work i say all that me and cori we just say stuff yeah enjoy saying stuff but i got i i just got a lot of love and appreciation for people like you who for sure stuff so you make us feel very bad about ourselves and that means you do a good about the future and just uh you know the people back home knowing you're there doing it so we appreciate you and thank you

for coming on the show. And like I said, one more time, like producer Matt saying, we'll go to weekly skews.com. We'll get some resources posted for you. And, yeah, Ariana, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Yep. All the best of y'all back there. Okay. Yeah, you know, it's, uh, it is frustrating in a lot of levels, but also just mostly sad. It's one of those things where it's like you see people, people actually affected by it.

a lot of people out there doing the... I bet, like, who they're voting for and shit ain't coming up very much. Right. Do you know what I mean? For sure. Like in situations like this. There's a real thing going on.

Yeah. But, like, it's... She mentioned that, you know, Democrats have a real moment here. And I, that's true in the sense of, like, honestly, you could kind of stop what... You don't even have to go the whole global warming route right now, even though clearly that's sitting there. But the real elephant in the room is that, okay, you don't believe in global warming. warming, sure, but there's literal in-your-face evidence, and it is impossible to deny that

some of these deaths are the result of bloodthirsty, unchecked capitalism, without question. Without question. That's not, a scientist don't have to tell you that. That is just text messages from people who were there texting their loved ones that said, I can't leave or they'll fire me. And this is something that Kentucky is very used to. People having to choose between feeding their family and their lives. This is the exact same thing that happened when Purdue Pharmaceuticals came in and offered them oxycott and to help their back out when they were in a coal mine. So again, yes, global warming obviously could and should sometimes be at the forefront, but right here, I don't even think you have to talk about that. Just look at what actually

has happened that you don't have to have someone with a science kit to figure it out. It's just right there. Right. And that's what type of thing. I couldn't think of anybody. I don't That's a science kit, by the way. Sorry. Science kit works for me. But I don't think that anybody, on whatever side of the political spectrum, when you hear shit about, like, if you got a buddy working in a factory and wasn't able to go home when the fucking tornado was coming and was told he would be fired if he did.

And then he stayed there and fucking died, even if it ain't your buddy. I don't care where you're at politically. Yeah, it shouldn't have to be your buddy. You're like, that's fucking bullshit. Right. That should not happen. And it's like these are, it's just dystopian. the relationship we have with like workers in this country and not just from the capitalist.

Also, some governmental employees, namely teachers. It is laughable the way that teachers are forced to operate in this country. And if you don't believe it, watch this wonderful opportunity that some South Dakota teachers received at a hockey game there. Uh, then this was a contest among South Dakota teachers to get money for schools. It's teachers on their hands and knees, picking up dollar bills. Those are singles. That's $5,000 and singles. They're in the middle of this hockey rink, picking up dollar bills and shoving, it into their clothes, into their shirts and stuff, explicitly for the purpose of spending on school supplies.

It's not just like, anybody here wants to come and give as much money as you can, buy more beers with, come on down. Like that's whatever. It was explicitly for teachers to purchase supplies that they're obviously not getting in the first place, and this is what they're doing for it. And it's pretty sorry. It's very sorry, and it's one of those. It's one of the things that I look at so much differently now than I would have.

Honestly, even five, six, seven, eight years ago, I don't know. Because I thought about it the other day during the SEC championship, all right? During the SEC championship at halftime, everyone knows what happens. You come at, they bring two college students out, and Dr. Pepper sponsors this thing where you throw the football in the hole and whoever wins gets their scholarship. Now, when I was younger, I would look at that and I'd be like, oh, cool, right on. whatever but now with through the lens that I'm looking at it now it's basically America going hey you poor dumb motherfucker throw this ball in a hole and do a fucking circus trick for us for college go out there and do a circus trick if you want if you

want and hey and don't worry if you're the one that loses you can go to Afghanistan right you know what I mean yeah dude there's no other way to put it than what I just said I watched that same thing and I thought the same thing Those contests been around as long as we can remember. And yeah, when I was a kid, I was always like, that's cool. That's cool. They'll give them that shit, you know, or whatever. But now as an adult, every now and then one will pop up.

It's like, what's this student make a layup, a free throw, a three-pointer, and a half-court shot in the span of 30 seconds to get their entire tuition paid for? And it's like, that's really cool basketballing that the guy did. But it's like, it's insane. It is fucking insane that we're having these like, like, producer Matt just. It's like hunger games. It's like squid game. It's like squid game. We're putting people through in this country just to be able to get an education

or do their job that they're getting paid to do. You know, they like it's fucking ridiculous, man. And it's sad. It's super sad. And like all that's like so many problems in our country start right here and could be a limp. If you just fix this one thing, if you don't worry about any, which you should worry about all the other stuff. But if you don't worry about any of the other stuff.

But if you don't worry about any of the other stuff and you just fix education, I think you'd be surprised at how much of the other stuff starts getting fixed too, such as, but not limited to, prison. You know what I'm saying? But like, yeah, man, I mean, you know, my wife's a second grade teacher and, like, they, I've never seen her going all Raiders of the Lost Ark on some, on $5,000 in singles. But, like, you know, they constantly are just like, yeah, I guess we don't get to do this this year. and the thing is have enough pencils for everybody. Right. Unless Corey goes and buys us some, you know, or whatever. Well, dude, and like every parent knows, I mean, maybe not parents with private school kids and shit,

but obviously you're paying tuition for that. But if you've got kids in public school, they're all like out here in Southern California, they take every year at the beginning, there's like a wish list for donations for the classroom. And it's like, of course, we do it and are happy to do it or whatever. and you kind of don't even really think about it. But it's also like, why don't they just have the shit that they need in the first? Why is it taken for granted that they don't have all the resources they should have? When meanwhile, we're passing nearly, you know, new trillion dollar military spending bills or whatever.

Producer Matt is a South Dakota. And he's pointing out South Dakota is a tax haven for the rich. We talked about that on the show recently. Also, South Dakota, it ranks near the bottom in terms of education spending. ending 50th in the U.S., and that's a list that includes Washington, D.C., an average salary for teachers, and the state spends $10,805 per student, which is 38th in the country. Also, the U.S. Department of Education approved a South Dakota plan to use the American Rescue Plan funds for their public schools, right? but South Dakota politicians voted against the relief bill itself. Can't believe it.

Right, I know. That's the other thing, too. The same thing, you know, because it's big government or whatever the hell. Socialism. But the things that would help address a lot of these problems in a lot of these states are, you know, murdered by the politicians from these states. And it's like, no wonder, you know, you never get nowhere. By the way, while we're talking about this, and this is not me trying to toot my own horn. because admittedly, literally all I do is I will retweet it and I have a platform.

But I have teachers all the time tweet at me their Amazon wish list for their class. I retweet it and because me and you have the best fans in the entire world, those lists are often cleared and taken care of. So if you're listening to this show and you're a teacher, the only thing I can really offer you is, I mean, I buy some of the items from time to time too. I don't just always retweet. But if you tweet your Amazon wish list at me, I'll retweet. it and our fans are awesome and we take care of teachers that way so at corey r forster on

twitter yeah get that twitter plug in there baby i like it i appreciate it uh producer matt says south dakota teachers are fighting for a 6% raise right now and if they managed to get that raise which obviously very good chance they won't they will still be 50th in the country in terms of salary even after getting that yeah that's what matt said yeah matt knows what he talks about joe he's willing people know stuff producer matt he's a stuff knowing son of a bitch man i'm gonna start looking through some comments and whatnot at least try to uh you know i've been is that the own like in the bottom 10 is that the only state that's not from the south that's in the in the bottom 10 because i we're always like

it's usually mississippi no offense to all our mississippi fans out there mississippi probably 51 right Alabama's 49 Tennessee 48 jordan 44th you know whatever i mean yeah you're right i mean i guarantee you the bottom, you know, 10 or 15 is just the South plus, like, plus the Dakotas. Right. Plus fucking where else is dumb. Arizona probably dumb. Yeah. Oh, I mean, most places are pretty dumb.

Yeah. Indiana, it's down there. You know. Super dumb. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. Al, I'm getting bummed out.

Yeah, I know. We're good for that on this show, buddy. We're real good for that. world just be that way you know dude it does man i've been thinking a lot lately about how like we should just like i don't know like if the earth was a video game we would be taking it out and blowing on it right now absolutely buddy like we just need a hard reset it just sucks being alive and uh and um yeah super yoda on uh youtube says i saw y'all in birmingham that was the first time we'd had a night out since the pandemic and we loved it.

Highly recommend folks catch the show if they can. Thank you for that super Yoda. Sam Martin on YouTube says... That was the first time we had been out of the house in a while, too, that's true. That was the first time we had, yeah, in a year and a half. Yeah. Sam Martin says, we all, we love Corey. Can we get producer Matt to come on the show at some point?

I doubt it. I'm going to tell you right now. Listen, he's a, he's a shy boy. He's a nice young, shy man. And a surly fuck. Yeah. No, he's just not, he ain't much for the on-camera work, but we wouldn't be doing none of this without him. So, so I'm like Craig's, Craig's, Craigist on YouTube says, well, it is South Dakota.

So that still kind of counts. I bet North Dakota ain't worth of shit neither, though. No, I bet. You know how then Dakota's be? Just ain't worth of shit, yeah. By the way, again, we can say that because we are, from an area that is very often not worth of shit. Yeah, of course, right, for sure, absolutely.

I mean, we made it clear that Tennessee and Georgia, they don't hit either. Do not hit. No, no. Aaron McCullough says, how ready are y'all for this weekend's homecoming shows at Zanis? We're very, very, very thrilled, very pun. As a matter of fact, we're, we don't know what will happen with this or what we'll end up doing with this. So it's not some huge announcement, but we're filming these shows. this weekend at Zanis.

So, you know, we're going to be on our absolute P's and Q. We're like, we're really going to be, you know, pedal to the medal is what I'm saying. And because of that, we've been anticipating it for a long time. We always anticipate the Zany shows because they are like homecoming shows. For sure. We love the club. It's right for Christmas. Everybody's all fucking holiday drunk and stuff.

It's going to, it's always a blast. And it will be again this time. Yeah, it kind of makes me want to cry thinking about, like I, when we, get through the shows at Zanis. The first thing I think about is next year shows at Zanis. It is my favorite time of the year, truly. Yeah. Rebecca on YouTube says, hit that button, skewers. Thank you,

Rebecca, I'll be down if I didn't forget again. Y'all know, hit all them buttons. Like, subscribe, share, all them, all them buttons you can hit. It's so amazing. Please hit them. I know. How shitty you are at the internet, yet how good it seems that you are at the internet. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I'm like the Kramer of the internet.

You really? Oh, that's such a perfect example. You are the Kramer. of the internet. You just bust through doors. You want to pick off, Jerry? Yeah. Falling bass backwards into stuff. Yeah.

It ain't wrong. Oh. It's so funny. Everybody in the comment is like just saying their state. They're like, we also don't hit. We don't hit either. We don't hit either. Don't forget Idaho.

Arkansas sucks too. Yeah. This is just in America. Awful. Yeah. That's so fucking funny. I love your fans, our fans, these fans. Yeah, our fans, these fans, us fans, all fans are good.

Let's say here, somebody, somebody randomly said, we get some trolls. I don't know if this was a troll or if it was somebody being legitimate, but I briefly saw somebody say, most Americans can't name a country that begins with you. And some guy said, Uganda. Uganda, showed his ass. Yeah, how about that? Uruguay, Uzbekistan. Yeah. Europe.

Dumbass Yeah Okay, oh shit, it's 6 o'clock. Yeah, and Judy, uh, Judy, Damn it, where'd you go, Judy? Judy Kidder Browning from Facebook says Gonna miss the skews over the next couple weeks. Yeah, so before we go, reminder.

And I'm going to set two posts to post automatically in case I'm, you know, too far into the holler. Me and Mark are both going to be in rural America for the next two weeks doing holiday. stuff parts unknown dispatches from the holler as it were and uh we're not going to have internet or probably even cell phone service for most of that time so this is the last skews of 2021 again i'll try and post reminders but we will be back i was on a historic skews that's right we will be back january 4th 2022 everybody have a fantastic holiday season and is lovely of a year

as you can muster and uh we'll see y'all on the other side thank you Thank you, Cho. I love you, Trey. I love you too, baby. All right. See y'all. Bye.