Some More News - Even More News: Drones, AOC vs. Pelosi, Privatizing the Post Office

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Hi. In the final Even More News of 2024, Katy, Cody, and Jonathan discuss the mostly-explained-but-some-still-unexplained phenomena in the sky, the obstacles that prevented Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from becoming the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, and what would really happen if Donald Trump privatized the post office. https://ground.news/SMN to compare coverage and see through biased coverage. Subscribe for 50% off unlimited access – their biggest discount – through our link. SimpliSafe is extending its massive Black Friday deal for our viewers. This week only, you can take 50% off any new system with a select professional monitoring plan. Head to https://simplisafe.com/morenews to claim your discount and make sure your home is safe. Ready to cross that last gift off your list? Trade is offering their best savings of the year on gift subscriptions right now, so head to https://drinktrade.com/MORENEWS to send a personalized coffee subscription in minutes. PATREON: https://patreon.com/somemorenewsMERCH: https://shop.somemorenews.com

Hello, welcome back to Even More News, the first, the only news podcast. My name is Katie Stoll. Thank you so much for welcoming me specifically, Katie. I specifically am Cody Johnston. Specifically Cody Johnston in the Christmas house wearing his Christmas shirt. Christmas outfit. His Christmas colors, which he was surprised by.

He didn't realize he was wearing Christmas colors and I thought he did it on purpose. I didn't do it on purpose. Once it was pointed out to me, I was like, oh yeah, I suppose I am, but. I suppose so, begrudgingly Jonathan's also here hi hi hi ho ho ho I'm here ho ho ho He is ha ha ha he he he just does this sweet guys

We're gonna get taken down for this. I am the walrus you're doing cody Well, is that what he's doing My no might as well now he is ha ha ha yeah, we are all together Or is he ha ha ha doesn't matter yeah, they're doing it like pigs from a gun see how they fly is that the lyrics I don't know yeah, that's one of us on Remarkable the things I don't remember and the things I do. You're the egg woman. Make me eat the eggs. Cuckoo could chew.

I am the egg woman. Yeah, how are you guys doing? I already know. Yeah, we've already discussed this before. Before we started recording, but what are you willing to share with the audience in terms of? I travel tomorrow.

He travels tomorrow. I look forward to that. Super early. Ever. Super early. So that's cool. I travel tomorrow and I don't look forward to that ever. Super early. So that's cool. Oh, cause this is a Wednesday. This is a Wednesday. This is a Wednesday.

We record it on Thursday normally and then it comes out on Friday. So this, who knows what will happen between now and when you're listening. Yeah, that's a good caveat to tell everybody. There are actually some things we will be discussing today where we're just like, well, this might happen. Yeah. Today, tomorrow. Recording Wednesday to be released Friday. But the news moves slow these days. It does move slow. There's very little that ever

happens. But maybe you know maybe Thursday they'll find a drone that says it is aliens. It's me I'm aliens. We're gonna look real stupid if that happens. I know, gosh. Well, holiday news, Friday, December 20th, Ugly National Christmas Sweater Day. Now, I don't own an ugly Christmas sweater. I own this one, which somebody might think is ugly, but it's not what you call an ugly Christmas sweater. You know what? No Christmas sweater's ugly as long as you're cozy.

Yeah, here. I'll reveal mine here. Jonathan's not wearing his holiday cheer. I'll put mine here. Jonathan's not wearing his holiday cheer. I'll put it on. That's not ugly. Put that on. Go birds. Is that the Philadelphia Eagles?

Sure is. You know what? I'm going to put this on. Put it on. Put it on. Be back in 30 seconds. Put it on. Listeners, it'll just be 25 seconds.

12 seconds later. Oh, he's back. It looks so nice. Go birds. Go birds. They're pretty mean looking eagles, aren't they? Jonathan the eagle wearing himself on his sweater. They can't be nice eagles.

They got to take out cowboys, commanders, formerly a racial slur, and giants. Do people know that your nickname amongst us is the eagle? I don't know. Oh, there's no way they do. Yeah, I call John an eagle because he's eagle-eyed in his sensing of notes and videos and fact checks and things.

I spot incredibly minor things. And I'm like, well, this is probably fine to release. No one's going to notice this. But actually, this happened in August 1906 instead of July. It was signed on July 1906, but wasn't ratified until... That's the font you use. The font you use makes that noise. Yeah, absolutely.

It's remarkable. And unfortunately, what he has done is make himself irreplaceable in that function. Well, eagles are endangered species, right? I don't know. Right, so we protect him at all costs, but someday I would love to not bog Jonathan down with the last pair of eyes, but he's just so damn good at it.

I don't know what to say, man. Stop with those eagle eyes, you know? And those moth ears. Moths are really good at hearing. Yeah, let me try getting this collar out here. You know, bald eagles are what, the new national bird? Thanks to Amy Klobuchar's bipartisan bill. We still got it.

Got it. Yeah. Pushing, pushing it through. What's the California one? Condor? California condor. Which is heavily endangered, right? If not extinct. I thought it was the bald eagle though.

So again, what what sticks in this brain? which is heavily endangered, right? If not extinct. Yeah, I thought it was the bald eagle though, so. Whew. Again, what stinks in this brain of mine? I don't know. The state bird is the California quail. California quail? That's what it is. The heck?

That's okay. What do you got against the quail? I don't know, it just is not top of mind in terms of the California bird. I definitely thought it was a bald eagle. I would have answered that confidently unattributed question and I would have been so wrong. But what if somebody on your team was like,

I don't think it's that. If somebody on my team was like, it's not that it's the quail, I would have been like, oh please. But now you're going to be able to slumdog that answer at trivia night and everyone's gonna be like, how did you know that? I don't go to trivia night anymore, but maybe I should.

Maybe you should now. Now that you know this one fact about the state bird. Let's talk about the news. Let's talk about drones, baby. They're spying on you and me. All over the eastern seaboard. That's fine, it's far away from me. Okay, I'm done.

I was so close, I was so close to grabbing my guitar and playing along, I was so close. I had a whole thing to introduce the story, but you did it already. Sorry. No, I got more stuff, I can say it. Let's do your thing too, and have the people vote on what was best.

Mine's just- Wait, why do we have to make this a challenge? Rudimentary, I know. We're keeping things light and fun. Seems like you're adding tension by making this a competition. No, you know what's going on here. There's been drones, or things, sighted on the Eastern Seaboard, a lot of them in New Jersey. Federal agencies have received 5,000 tips,

and a number of photos and videos on social media have been spread suggesting any number of things. Those agencies said only 100 of the 5,000 tips merited any further investigation and assessed that most of them were lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and even stars.

Stars is the funniest one. Stars is the funniest one. Stars is the funniest one. I actually have something to say about the stars thing. So they say most were that. What were the some that weren't? Do we know? Have they informed us? Have they alluded to the fact that there are some

that aren't in those categories? Oh, you mean of the 100? The 100 that merited further investigation? The 100 that weren't like, oh, you're looking at fucking Orion or whatever. I believe those were also in the same category of things. You know me, I don't think anything else is going on. So my assessment would be that of that 100, they'll be like, well, we can't tell just from this photo what this is, but let's look into it.

Oh, wait, that's a plane. That's a plane and you have a bad camera or something like that. Yeah. Maybe aliens, I don't know. I mean, look, it's not not weird if you think about it that there's all sorts of, but it's also not new. And this is what, like we've had many years now of drone sightings, we just got barely,

do people not remember the spy balloon drama that gripped the nation? This is a, these are, it's been going on and there is some mystery around this. This is in conjunction with the fact that we're finally acknowledging that there are unidentified flying objects. Not that that's alien in origin, but that, yeah, actually between different governments and private sector and all, there are things around that are unaccounted for and we don't know.

Yeah, our sky's a mess. Lots of stuff up there. That said, is there a world of possibility that there's something? Sure, and that's why it grips the nation in such a way and everybody's out there looking and adding their two cents. I bet it's just,

it is a little funny to see people freaking out and jumping to all sorts of conclusions. Oh, no, it's funny. It's a little depressing to me. Some of this stuff, like you saying, like, yeah, like our government has things in the sky that we're not aware of and there's testing and all this kind of stuff. There was the Chinese spy balloon, as we all remember, that didn't amount to much. But like, I've we've lost such a connection to the sky and what is beyond the sky. And it is depressing, for example, former governor of New Jersey, something Hogan, I don't know, I'm not going to look it up, I don't care. He tweeted, last night around 9.45pm, I personally witnessed and videoed what appeared to be

dozens of large drones in the sky above my residence in Davidson, Maryland, 25 miles from our nation's capital. I observed the activity for approximately 45 minutes. He was looking at Orion, the constellation, the constellation Orion. And I find that to be so depressing. Like, first of all, you were a governor. What are you doing? What is this? But like, wouldn't it be nice if we knew what Orion was?

I mean, like we're like, there's a sense of wonder about the sky and the stars and like what's out there. And we can have these two thoughts in our head, like, oh, maybe there's like, our government's testing a thing or whatever. But also, I went outside and I saw Orion and it was beautiful, folks. Drones flying in the shape of a swordsman, apparently.

It's like, it's just like so like, and like, I squinted, I was like, are they trying to so like, and I squinted, I was like, are they trying to form like a bow and an arrow? And then there was like one, there was one, it was like a large scoop. And then over there, a smaller scoop shaped thing. And it's just like, we've progressed so much. It's so depressing.

And then you have people like, sorry to bring them up, Elon Musk, who is pushing this idea forward. Like he does all these ideas because his whole goal is to make you not trust anything or anybody but him and make you think like every government is out to get you specifically. And I'm the one who like knows everything actually. And you got to trust me.

Like that's his whole thing that he does. Like he's the science guy. He's supposed to be the science guy. He's billed himself as the Tony Stark of our era. So shouldn't you actually be a little more incredulous and support people being curious about the sky? Like you're the space guy. Shouldn't you be like encouraging this kind of like,

be excited and interested in what's actually out there, not like, yes, they're all evil drones actually, you have to trust me and my Starlink drones, that are the good ones. You know, some of the things being thrown around, they're, you know, is it the United States government is another government, what are they looking for? Is it looking for a missing warhead from Ukraine?

Is it looking for nuclear footprints? What's it, is it a foreign drone object that is sucking up our information, you know, private data? Is it various phenomena, like natural, physical phenomena that appear certain ways? Is it literally just like, that's, like I've seen so many posts of like, that's a plane. That's the plane in the sky.

Well, that's what's over, part of it is confused. People are out there looking for something and saying that that's evidence that they've seen it when they actually don't know. It could be literally anything. I mean, we live in a time where, you know, you'll get a Reddit notification of what are these orbs in the sky?

Oh, it's a trail of Starlink satellites. There is so much stuff. And if you guys think that we are not also sending drones to other countries, you're wrong. Yeah, obviously, of course. Is this a thing that countries are doing now? I obviously would not put it past the United States government to know some sort of foreign origin of these, or they're doing something themselves

and they're not saying it, which is obviously what President-elect Trump said. He's like, oh, they know, but they want to keep people in suspense. I mean, if they know, then presumably he knows. My point is that I thought, and maybe this is just movies, and I'm completely mistaken, I thought we had satellites in the sky that are pointing cameras down like Google does

that had actually incredible precision that we might not need planes flying over. We have satellite footage of what Russia did in that village in Ukraine. We have satellite footage of the Xinjiang region in China. It might not be as granular as you could get with a drone, but what could you learn that you couldn't learn with our current technology? I'm actually interested in the answer to that question if any satellite experts are listening. Yeah, I assume it's mostly proximity, but that isn't a good, interesting question. It is.

There are lots of questions around this that I think are interesting and good and valid without jumping to hysteria or panic. Well, that's the thing. That's what's going on. And it's one of those, just mass hysterias are so silly. Because somebody made a post, and then another person saw that and made a post and then also like so much of this is like well yeah if you're on X you want engagement so you're gonna take a video of the sky and be like look it's drones even though it's the

moon or whatever and so it just creates like you said like there are 5,000 tips on this now but there wouldn't have been if it didn't turn into this mass hysteria where everyone's like, I gotta go outside, I gotta be the one to catch the thing. Well, I wanna ask, do you guys believe Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano that he was just posting that TIE fighter prop being driven through the streets as a meme,

which he later claimed? He has this big old post for people who didn't see it. I'm not gonna read the whole thing. Yeah, it'll be up. It's inconceivable that the federal government has no answers nor has taken any action. But the photo he showed says, "'Breaking News' crashed drone in Orange Beach,

retrieved from water and taken to undisclosed location for further investigation." And it's a tie fighter being driven on a truck. Also on like a city street street not at the dead of night So like if they were trying to keep this under wraps you wouldn't just Drive a tie fighter around Anyway, he claimed it was a meme. He was sharing. Yeah. Well, he claimed it was a meme and now he's posting actual me Like he's posting this um, it's like a carriage with drones attached to his like

Heads up. We now have drones in Pennsylvania. And he's like to the left wing hacks who have, who lack a sense of humor. Well, but you posted this big long paragraph about how like worried you are about this very serious issue. That's not memeing that's posting a really long thing about your concerns about this issue. Yeah. You seem to be pretty serious about it.

It seemed very serious. In general, we've talked about how we can understand how conspiracies get started because of lack of transparency in this way or that. And there's reason to distrust our government, to distrust the media. It just gets morphed into these wild other scenarios that are so disconnected from reality.

But the real, but yeah, there's lots of stuff we don't understand about some of the things that people have been spotting for a long time, that pilots, people have been raising the flag. Like we don't know what this is. It doesn't mean that you should jump to X conclusion, but it does. But that's why we have now formed, I forget the name of the task force or whatever, the Senate

to kind of have a space where you can actually talk about these things. I don't want to say that there is not necessarily something that we will learn that will change our opinion, but what this reaction is, is very overblown, is I guess my point. Including the reaction, I don't have the specifics, but I have seen it referenced and heard it mentioned of somebody predicting that after the big election in 2024, that we will be visited by aliens in December. Someone made a prediction of something? About aliens? That sounds silly. There are people talking about that, but until... Clock's ticking, but this thing going on, I just don't think is very helpful.

And I think it fries people's brains to, and like sets them up to just believe literally anything and dive into any mass hysteria about any conspiracy. And it gets people to look up at the night sky and think that beautiful, amazing constellations and heavenly stellar bodies are that they're drones from from China or whatever it is they're saying like no just look at the sky and calm down. Take a breath. Fuck these drones. But, you know, I think UFOs in the actual, like, what it stands for, what it is, there are many explanations and sometimes there aren't,

and that it's valid to be like, what was that? What's in our sky? What's allowed in our sky? But again, this whole business is a little much. Hopefully we're not eating our words and that there isn't some massive invasion happening that we know on December 29th. I'll make a bet with anyone because if I lose that bet,

it'll be the least of our problems. And that's not legally binding. I don't want to be wrong and be in debt plus having aliens torture me. Exactly. Hello, I guess. I suppose you want me to talk about the news. Well, I won't do it, or will I? Yes.

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The link is in the description. So check out the link in the description. And we're back from those ads that we went to real quick. Cody, did you love them? I loved all of it. He loved it. You know what else we love? Jonathan introducing topic. I do love that. I actually yeah. Yeah. Well this week saw a bit of an interesting

power play Among Democrats in regard to the House Oversight Committee Democrats of power Well, not play much AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was making a play to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. She's been on that committee for years. People seem to be behind her, progressives and non-progressives, or not so progressives alike. She was already talking about things she'd want to do as the head of that committee.

But then Nancy Pelosi got involved from a hospital bed, I believe, because she took a fall in Germany recently and put her support behind 74-year-old Virginia Representative Jerry Connolly, who was just diagnosed with throat cancer, unfortunately. And then of course he won. Democrats voted 131 to 84 to make him the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. And it feels- What are we doing? Sorry.

Yeah. Well, it just feels like we have so quickly moved past the idea of, quote, new generation of leaders and messengers that Democrats were going to put into positions of power to challenge the second Trump administration and going forward. They were going to do that the first time. They were going to do into positions of power to challenge the second Trump administration and going forward. They were going to do that the first time. They were going to do that the first time. This is awesome. Wholly unsurprising.

It's just this sort of democratic playbook, it seems. It is a bit ironic that Nancy Pelosi is the one who made this happen. From her hospital bed. From her hospital bed, literally from her hospital bed, after she was also the one of the people who worked tirelessly to get Joe Biden to step down so that a new younger generation, you slightly younger generation, could step in. And she's, I'm sorry, keep that thought. She also, again, Trump term one was the one saying, like, I will be your speaker,

but just so that I could raise up the next generation. None of that's happened, please continue, sorry. Oh no, I mean, that's it. It's just drenched in irony and unsurprising disappointment. It is just another, I mean, just drenched in irony and unsurprising disappointment. It is just another, I mean, what do you even say? What are they doing? What do they want to happen? You have like this particular committee to,

it's about oversight and accountability and you're getting ready for a Trump administration with the Republican Party just having control over all branches of government. You want somebody in this position who not only is healthy and young and able to work very hard at this job, which she does and wants to do. But you also want somebody who is really an effective communicator. You want somebody who can communicate and message about these things that the American people should be aware of. And I don't see Connolly getting on TikTok

and talking about anything that he's doing, especially if he's got throat cancer. I feel for him for having this, which he does. That's really, it's always cancer sucks. He should probably stop working and focus on his health. Stop working and focus on your health. I feel for him for having this, which he does. That's really, it's always, cancer sucks. Cancer sucks. Stop working and focus on your health. Literally in this position, when you want somebody to be able to communicate,

maybe throat cancer specifically is actually a really bad thing to have. Well, and look, it's not like nothing against Jerry Connelly specifically. It's sad that he has throat cancer and no one says he should. Jerry O'Connell though. We're coming for you. No one says that like he should step down from Congress because of this people shouldn't have to leave their jobs because they have cancer. Well, I think this position specifically

Seems tailor-made for her in this moment Yeah, you're not saying you have to step down or do any of that unless that's what's, you know, the best choice for your health and focusing on your health. But I certainly wouldn't recommend adding new duties at a highly important position when you're under, you're just starting to undergo cancer treatment and you're old.

I'm sorry, but you are. And that means that it's harder. In this specific era, too, it's just like so maddening to see, like, just in one ear out the other with every single thing that happens to the Democratic Party and everything they say. Like, what do you think that this is a good idea? This sort of reverence for and deference to seniority is just like a death blow to the entire party. It's just not going to work.

It's gonna make things so much worse. And you're also just insulting, you know, you can have criticisms of AOC. Many people do. But she is very popular. She is one of the most popular members of Congress. And she is one of the few people that does effectively communicate to young people about just the process of government. She goes out of her way to try to communicate how things are done and why things are done this way, because she spent a long time, maybe fruitlessly. So trying to do like the inside baseball kind of play in Congress and trying to like, I'm going to play the game, I'm going to like, I'm going to get into I'm

going to do the do the do the things that Congress does instead of being like a more vocally like aggressive. Almost like not antagonist to the Democratic Party, but like somebody who can point out all these problems and all these things they shouldn't be doing and be like a voice of the generation. And they keep kneecapping her over and over. Maybe this method of hers is actually not effective. And maybe she will sort of change her mind about that. Maybe she'll keep going this path and keep trying. I don't know, but just like when you have somebody who is very, very popular, if you look at her district,

a lot of people vote for, also vote for Donald Trump. And those are the kinds of people that you want in office so that she can speak to these people about these problems, specifically about like oversight and accountability for people that like in these positions that people generally don't trust, right? Like as we've talked about, there is this just general distrust for people in Congress and the government, all these sort of things. And you need somebody in there who can communicate about that stuff. But I do look forward to Connelly's tic-tacs about this

I look forward to him working tirelessly and every day in this position to Really hold people accountable We will see how that goes. I feel like Nancy Pelosi. I Mean, I don't know if it's something specifically against AOC, I do think more than a personal thing, it's probably that she knows that this kind of exposure, even though she has tons of exposure online to people who admire her and like her a lot, being the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee might give her a bit of a pulpit to say things that other people haven't said as Democrats before and maybe Nancy Pelosi is afraid that people will like what she has to say.

Oh totally. I think that is accurate. Yeah, that's why you defer to seniority and the people that you know are going to be like, you're going to not say those things. You have more control over them. And it's, I guess they're probably still afraid of the Democratic Party actually becoming anything productive. Well, they got to protect their positions. They got to protect their position. And it's just like, it's just every step of the way,

just like, you know, what happened with Dianne Feinstein and what happened with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And what happened with Joe Biden. It's just every step of the way, claiming that like, we, voice of a new generation, we're going to lift up, we're going to lift up these voices and really message out there, well, are you actually, are you going to just protect these fucking old people who don't want to do those things? And I don't want to be ageist. And I hope that that's not where we're being

because there are old people who could do this job passionately and vocally and message and communicate well. Well, Bernie is an older person who I do not feel like is out of touch with Anything and has energy and vigor. So it's just the out of touch thing He's a good messenger and he's on down and talks with anyone Maybe he should be the Joe Rogan of the left. He could go he could be on the Joe Rogan of the right still I think Oh, yeah, he could be a regular. I feel like Joe Rogan would have him on still Oh, yeah, regular and there's not gonna be a regular. I feel like Joe Rogan would have him on still Oh, yeah, regular and there's not gonna be backlash.

Timothee Chalamet and Theo Vaughn yesterday, the other day were talking about how Bernie Sanders is a modern-day folk hero like it's just Timothee Chamollet? Chalamet, yeah. Did I say Chamollet? I don't know. I just said a word. Timmy Schaps. Wait, he was on Theo Vaughn's podcast. He was on Theo Vaughn and he was like they were talking about like Bob Dylan obviously and folk music and folk heroes and stuff And they, Bernie Sanders got brought up and Chalamet was just like yeah, he's like he was like they were talking about like Bob Dylan obviously and folk music and folk heroes and stuff and they Bernie Sanders got brought up

and Chalamet was like yeah he's like he's like a folk hero. I feel clips of Theo von talking about how much he likes Bernie. Yeah it's so obvious. It's so obvious. It's frustrating as hell. And I'm you know I again like you can criticize AOC for various reasons. I will save my ire for the people who stopped her from getting this position as opposed to for her for Thinking that maybe this was the route to get that position Apparently wasn't but you know head down power through forward forward together. I guess well, she's like

She's like a like a an artistic filmmaker who is doing Everything they can to work in the studio system in a system that is not built for people like her Oh, yeah, it's that I'm admirable too. I don't know that the opposite would would work any I mean the opposite might get you primaried And kicked out of the Democratic Party I mean the opposite might get you primaried and kicked out of the Democratic Party So who knows maybe what she's been doing has like kept her in that seat But also like they still keep voting for her. They love her. So It's unclear It's that yeah the that like well I do one for them and one for me one for them one for me

And it's just like a continued series of like I do one for them I do one for them and I do one for, and they don't let me do one for me. They just stop letting me do one for me. Well right, you gotta hope it's not a David Gordon Green situation where you make like several indie masterpieces and then just start directing shit and never go back. Just slop it up.

I mean, you know, Pineapple Express is okay. Yeah, I do think pushing back on that whole, that's about art and acting It doesn't matter the whole like one for them one for me Well, like the one for them is still for you Like you can still like do a good job and like think it you know, whatever doesn't matter I've got a car where they it doesn't matter doesn't matter. Oh My it's Krampus season time to lock down the house and put out your Krampus traps.

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Sources on the Trump- Are you back to hits? The Trump transition team say that he is once again interested in doing so. He reportedly told his Commerce Secretary pick that the US government should not subsidize the Postal Service as it sees annual losses. Before we go any further, it's weird to say that a federal agency can suffer losses because they're not supposed to make a profit and they're taxpayer funded entities and no one talks about the Department of Defense taking annual losses of hundreds of billions of dollars

that it doesn't earn back. It is a weird point of conversation, isn't it? And people still put stamps on things. Like, you know, people have skin in the game. It's not free. It's not free. And there are things special, you have to pay for plenty of things. I just think people don't really, like you're saying, don't fully understand the validity

of certain programs like this and certain institutions that are services and you need services and you can't always be chasing profit because if you chase profit, like the service is going to get worse and you have to pay more. They're going to make decisions that make more money, but that doesn't mean that it's better. Like there's so many industries where it's like well this makes more money that doesn't mean it's good automatically. That's just not that's not reality. But like this, some Tim Cast staff member, like half a musician, half staff. I don't know what he does, but he's Tim Cast is in his bio and he's like, well, like what does even like what does even UPS do? Like why wouldn't just pointing out like, well, if you get rid of the post office, like you just use Why wouldn't, just pointing out, well if you get rid of the post office, you just use UPS and FedEx and stuff.

No, no, no, they use the post office. They deliver stuff via the post office. If you get rid of the post office, they will stop delivering to places because the post office won't exist to deliver to those places. Or it will cost you so much more money. It's maddening.

Also, it is, there's so many. Also, people love the post office. Like I know it's like the 80s stand up, it's like the post office. People do like the post office. It is a service of our government. This is a part, we need addresses to have bank accounts. We need to be able to vote, to access to our mail.

But it's just, it's a necessary aspect of society and you can't just be expecting people to pay for it. I live in a rural community and for some reason, they don't do mail service up my street, just my street, other streets, it's fine. And so I have a PO box, which at first they tried to charge me for and I was like, what? And so now I have a free PO box because again, I don't have access to my house. Right.

They won't bring it to me. And it's not ideal, but what would that, is that what this would look like for people? For a lot of people, they'd have to. For a lot of people, they'd have to. For a lot of people. They have, USPS has what's called a universal service obligation. They have to be able to deliver to everyone. There are several million, like UPS and FedEx will deliver to most US addresses, but there are some in some rural areas where they don't. In Alaska, they love the postal service because they go where UPS and FedEx won't. I tried to dig into exactly how many people live in areas that would suddenly be cut off

from mail service, and I couldn't get an exact number. I think it's somewhere between one and two million because USPS goes to 167 million addresses and UPS estimated 165. So it's something like that. It is a small number, but in the millions of people. Rural people would be most affected by this. And also it's more expensive. You can put one stamp on a letter and send

it to any address. Whereas if you send something across the country or to Alaska through FedEx, it can be $25 or something. And I get why they say, well, that's why you privatize, you can make more money. But again, this isn't about making money. This is about people being able to function within our society, being able to send their bill or whatever. I guess that's prepaid postage as is, but you can't expect people to be able to pay these fees, $50 to strip it across country, however it shakes out. I think this would be devastating is I guess what I'm trying to say, for a lot of people.

A lot of people that voted for the guy who wants to do it. And that's like a lot, I think it's just, I want to hammer that point home whenever something like this happens, because so many things he keeps saying he wants to do are going to specifically hurt the red areas. Yeah. Not that they deserve it, not that it's like, oh.

No, not at all. It's just like a truth. It's just the reality like it's like you look at like every like every fucking like Crappy blue check on Twitter is like look at this map Like this is what America voted for and it's like oh look at all the red and like on the tiny little blue things Because they don't understand how anything works But like yeah the red areas are going to be harmed more by so many of these things that they're going to do

There are 30,000 post offices in the nation because they have to be everywhere 57% of them are in rural areas and many of those would just go away that Specifically would be devastating Think about what it means to already be driving 15 minutes to your post office and now you've got to drive 45. Already in this small community there's lots of little post offices around little branches, but they wouldn't be able to handle if one of them got shut down. I don't know how that would affect the workload and the ability of people to process all of this extra mail in their own, let alone have the space to store it.

What are we talking about? 06. And there are also other things that the post office does. I know there's other places you can do it, but it is the primary place you go to get a passport photo taken and sent in to the State Department and all that. Like, they provide essential services for communities. I don't know. To me, it's just like, as if they said, every municipality needs to stop funding public

libraries, just go to the bookstore. It's like, well, one, that sucks because you can get free books there. And two, there's other things that libraries do, as they know, as they found out in New York and other places that have cut back on library budgets. It sucks, is what I'm saying. Well, it sucks as like everybody's like, not everybody, but like the all the wrong people who have the power are like on board for all these like terrible ideas.

And it's also like, well, Trump kind of tried to do this last time. He talked about doing it last time. And it's just this kind of stuff where he signals he signals with noise. And a lot of the noise has have have like this like little signals in it. And it's just like, are you actually going to try to do this? Are you just saying it because you say whatever or are you talking about like it for real with actual people who will try to make this happen?

Are you trying to make people mad? Is it just like you are mad that you couldn't do it the first time? They've also they're not going to it seems like they're not going to do any sort of adjustments to like having like a fleet of electric vehicles, which they were planning on doing. Not like not every vehicle, but like they were trying to get more electric vehicles for the post office. And seems like that's not going to happen, which is also funny because but I thought Elon is the guy for that and he wants to do it. So it's one of those things like, are you saying that? And then actually be like, well, actually, we are doing it. And they're all going to be built by Tesla.

Maybe he's testing the waters to see. But I don't know that. Can this happen? Do you think that they would be able to even get the support? Because, again, this isn't a new conversation that's been brought up by him. It, you know, I, I think that there I, there are obviously like legal details for all these kinds of questions, right? Like everything he says he wants to do, all these things we've talked about already the past few weeks.

Can he like, and the question is always like, can he even do that? And I think there are obviously legal reasons why. Well, he can't do it like this. He can't do it like that. He probably can't do this way. But honestly, like the answer is like maybe for all these questions. Because like he has everybody there

and everybody wants to do this. He's gutting everything and he has a Supreme Court. So like technically kind of yeah. I know, I know, I know. But I guess what I'm not sure, I'm still in the phase where I'm not actually sure how seriously I can take the man and how seriously I can take whatever signaling, whatever fucking bullshit

online chatter, and actually this could be da da da da and we'll make movement of this. That's just white noise to me at this point, which maybe it's just, maybe it's me being naive or self-protective or whatever. At this point, I'm like, realistically speaking, I think that this, once you get to the point where you're trying to push this actually, I think that it would be so wildly unpopular and that it would be hard pressed, I would think,

to get enough people, you know, senators, people to sign off on this. The Republican party wants to privatize everything. I am acknowledging that this could just be me being naive. So I'm not invalidating, but I like to bring that perspective in because I feel like everything that comes down the pipeline, I feel my heart rate spike a little bit.

And so I'm just trying to give that as a thought for people before going down to all the bad worst-case scenarios. Oh yeah, I think having a reasoned level head about every, because it's every day, it's gonna be something. And as we've seen, like, it's not always gonna pan out, but I, you know, he does wanna do a lot of this stuff and he's got a lot of more freaks in charge and he does have every branch of government at his whim and I

just it's just like don't like flip your lid about everything but also I don't know no but it's important to be aware of what's happening too I'm not saying like ignore this story I'm just bringing up the thought that whenever I read about it or talk about it, I come back around because again, I mean I have access to my mailbox, but everything about needing to go out of my way and wait in lines or you know, it gets confusing too because a lot of places don't ship to PO boxes

and I will be filling out something online or we have working with a sponsor and they'll say, I'm sorry, we can't ship it to a PO box, but I can't get your mail unless you ship it to my PO box. And so it's already even within a community which does its best to accommodate this and you slow down. I don't think that the reality of this is workable even. Well, the reality of it won't set in until it's done. Not necessarily with this, but like with a lot of this stuff

where like, you know, I had hope that people would hear mass deportations now and think about it and go, but then this, but then this, but then this, you're not gonna support that, but guess, you know, he's gonna be the president now. And like even the steps taking taken to do that seem to be already in the works. And with something like private office, the people like people being like, well, we can't actually do that. That's actually this is bad. It's inconvenient.

There are all these reasons. I feel like a lot of that stuff won't set in until it's done. Because right now, even related to this topic specifically, you have people again, like with like Elon Musk and all his little sycophants and all his cult members who are in charge of the government now or will be very soon. They're all like I saw a tweet today, boosted by Elon Musk. I just need to leave that internet forever. Being like, the one reason we only trust,

we love and only trust Donald Trump is because he's the only person who's never broken a promise to us. Something along those lines. And Elon's like, yes, yes, exactly. Like it is a fucked up stupid cult of weirdos who want to loot the government and do all these terrible things. And they're just gonna try to do them.

And maybe they won't be able to, but once they do them, that's when the effects will actually happen. And people will be like, oh, this sucks. But I don't think that there's enough resistance up top at the beginning yet to these ideas to stop them from actually being implemented because the Republican party generally wants

to privatize everything. They are just on board with that idea. So I just don't know if the pushback is gonna be enough. I don't know either, but I kind of feel that there will be a significant amount of pushback as if this conversation continues. I don't know if it will move the needle or stop it from happening, but that's kind of where because that's the hope. More and more people will start saying like, wait a minute, this isn't

people like me saying like, well, actually, I live in a community like XYZ. I don't see what happens if you do you can't close this. It'll be a problem. It will be, but also this is, I feel like I'm going a bit mad because like so many things he's saying too are like, yeah, you said that eight years ago. You said that seven years ago. Like this conversation about the value of the post office and like what the effect would be and like, well, it's going to do this, it's going to do this. And here's actually why it costs so much

and all these things that we're saying, deja vu happened years ago. So the idea of people coming around is like, but they didn't already, they already, you know? But there's a reason why this conversation didn't go anywhere also. True. Eight years ago. He's not a dictator yet, obviously.

Right. And even if he gets an obscene amount of power with help from the Supreme Court, he'll still have to choose his battles, at least initially. I believe this one in particular will be quite unpopular. And he's still got his postmaster general that he put in there anyway, who's by the way Done a whole like 10-year modernization plan Like they've already done this whole like we're gonna get more efficient. We're gonna cut unnecessary spending We're gonna modernize electric vehicles all that stuff. Yeah, we don't need surprise. Yeah, but but like

You know, he will be able to there's's a nine person governing board of the Postal Service. Three of those seats are vacant. Biden nominated three people for those seats and the Senate is just like not doing it, I guess, before Trump is inaugurated, even though don't they still have the Senate? Well, you gotta get that bald eagle legislation out there. You gotta get that quail out there. You've got to get that quail out there. So Trump will just put, you know, I don't know, I mean I won't know the names of the people he's putting in there, but he'll put some people in there who are definitely on

board with this kind of plan. But right, it's gonna, it's not gonna be the easiest thing. It's not gonna be an instant thing, it's not gonna be easy, it's not gonna be like, oh we did it, it's gonna be a slow, like so many of these things are going to be like a slow deterioration of these things. What's frustrating is that there are certainly improvements to be made and conversations to be had, you know, banking with post offices, you know, but that's not any of the conversations that we will be having.

Well, no, there are only two solutions to anything. It's either deregulation or privatization. Those are the things that they will be having. Well, no, there are only two solutions to anything. It's either deregulation or privatization. Those are the things that they want to do. That is a very frustrating element of this for sure. Guys, I think we need to wrap it up, though. I want to mention two quick stories that are going to develop in the next couple days. First is that the House Ethics Committee is going

to release the Matt Gaetz report. So enjoy that if you see it. Christmas going to release the Matt Gaetz report, so enjoy that if you see it. Christmas tree. By the time you hear this. And also Donald Trump just said that he didn't like the government funding plan that they had all agreed on in Congress. And so now a bunch of his allies in the House are going to not vote for it.

And so now they got to figure out a way to fund the government. Well they wanna wait until, they're like, wait until January, we'll be fine until then. One other thing. I have not watched this yet. But our editor Nick wanted to acknowledge that this was the 311th episode of this podcast. So I think I know what this is. I know exactly what this is. What is it?

I think I know exactly what this is. Oh, a surprise. And this is our last episode of the year, as it turns out. So we're just going to play this and then we can end the show. I promise. I have nothing else. Dear team, since you didn't celebrate reaching 300 episodes of even more news a few months ago, I wanted to make sure your next milestone is properly

acknowledged. Love, Nick. Nick, we love you. We love you. Hey, Katie, Cody, and Johnny. There he is. Oh, wait, I just finished reading that. What's up, it's me, Nick Hexum from 311,

coming to you from my studio here in Topanga. Love Topanga. And of course, I'm coming to you courtesy of the other Nick. And I loved reading about you guys, that you are rocking your 311th edition of your podcast. Even more news. Keep up the good work. And huge congratulations on reaching your 311th. Thank you.

How about a song reminding you guys to continue to trust your instincts? You've got to trust your instincts And let go of regret You've got to bet on yourself now, Katy, Cody, and Johnny Cause that's your best bet from Nick and me thank you 311 what a positive person wow wow what a treat um can we clip that out what a special treat thank you Nick that was really really really thank you Nick and Nick he's like yeah I got something for the for the episode.

I'm like, before he even finished the sentence, I'm like, I know exactly what this is. Exactly. I knew it. He's also the only person who calls me Johnny. So now Nick Hexum thinks I'm Johnny. Yeah, now you got two. He really did just kind of give you that nickname

and ran with it. Yeah. Don't do that. Here's Jon. You can't do that to me. But we're appreciative of the gift, Nick. We are appreciative of all of you guys and gals. Everybody listening, watching, supporting. It's beautiful. It's not a beautiful disaster.

It's a 311 reference. Oh, is it? Yeah, it's a song by 311. Well, I was specifically talking about our listeners at this point, but you know, it is a beautiful disaster. You guys are a beautiful disaster. I hope you take care of yourselves this holiday season, for real.

It can be hectic. It can be a lot. Drink water. Sure. I mean, that's always good advice. Every day. But most importantly, I wanna make sure you know that we love you very much.

See you in the new year. New year. For years, Tim Ballard has been championed as a modern-day superhero. The first time I saw one of the kids from the video, and it like changed my life. He was the face of Operation Underground Railroad, a movement that inspired hope around the world by rescuing children from human traffickers. However, Ballard's crusade to save innocent lives has always hidden a darker secret. Well, I think he's a pathological liar.

Beneath the accolades and the applause, a dark storm has been brewing. I mean, I can't find a time that he's told the truth about anything. Shocking allegations of sexual misconduct have surfaced, casting a shadow over his once unquestioned reputation. I am host Sarah James McLaughlin, and in this new season of The Opportunist, we explore the rise and the fall of Tim Ballard. Join us this October for Tim Ballard Unmasking a Hero. Subscribe to a new season of The Opportunist now, wherever you get your podcasts.