Covet Or Leave It (Live from Asheville, NC!)
01:18:29 Share

Top reasons your career wants you to move to Ohio. So many amazing growth opportunities, high-paying jobs in technology, advanced manufacturing, engineering, life sciences, and more. You'll soar to new heights, just like the Wright brothers, John Glenn, even Neil Armstrong. Their careers all took off in Ohio, and yours can too. A job that can take you further and a place you can't wait to come home to. How?

Hello, Asheville. Wow. Hi, everybody. It's great to be back. All right, all right. Thank you. It's good to see you, too.

Welcome to Love It or Leave It, live from the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina. This is our third show of three, and like the Holy Trinity, I too feel like an old man, a gay guy, and a fruity little bird. I don't know if that's right. Tonight, T.S. Madison and I find out if we can match America's freak. Jeff Jackson goes the distance for North Carolina, and Justice Allison Riggs and I discuss judicial ethics.

And dear listener, we have a yacht to talk about. Also, Flip NC is here tonight. They're by the bar, so meet them after the show to sign up to knock some doors with us tomorrow. And if you're listening at home on the Tuesday that this comes out, you obviously can't be here with us to save democracy in North Carolina, but you can learn how to save it elsewhere by buying Democracy or Else, the book I wrote with John and Tommy that drops today. So now it's out.

So if you haven't bought it, today's the day to buy it. How many times do I have to ask? This podcast is free. Buy the book. But first, let's get into it. What a week! According to a profile in the New York Times, RFK Jr. has two wild ravens that he claims to keep as pets, summoning them and feeding them scraps of meat. Isn't Kennedy worried about parasites? I'd hate to see those ravens get sick.

Kennedy has apparently long been fascinated by birds and at one point had an emu named Toby that would attack his wife, Cheryl Hines. Cheryl, just say the word. I have a comfortable guest room, zero birds or anti-vaxxers in there. You can save for as long as you want. Head writer Hallie stayed for a few days after she ended her engagement and became a lesbian at the same time. We watched that Jonah Hill doc together before he was canceled. Cheryl, that could be you. That could be you.

Heinz told a reporter about one day when she stepped outside to take a call from a producer. She said, "I started telling him about the script and the emu starts chasing me as fast as he could." That's Hollywood for you. Tough town. Toby was eventually killed by a mountain lion. But that's Hollywood for you. It's a tough town. Also,

I've made this point before, but I know we've sorted RFK Jr. into evil maniac category, but I do think it's worth remembering that most of his stories are rich dilettante flavored. He had an emu? That's Richie Rich stuff. An emu named Toby? Gotta put a stop to that whole family. It's enough. It's enough. One guy runs liquor during Prohibition and we're still dealing with the repercussions.

President Biden won the CNN coin toss ahead of the first presidential debate on June 27th. He chose to receive, and then someone explained the rules again. As the winner, Biden was allowed to pick either the order of opening and closing statements in the debate or where he will stand on stage. Biden picked the right side of the stage. Joe Biden contains multitudes. Did you know that Joe Biden has a good side?

And he cares about it more than whether he or Donald Trump gets the last word in the most consequential presidential debate of our fucking lives? Fascinating. As a result, Donald Trump got to pick the debate order, choosing to go second, meaning his closing statement will be the last thing viewers hear at the end of the broadcast. Well, almost. The very last thing viewers hear will be Jake Tapper crunching through that false tooth containing a cyanide pill. I'm out. Tapper out.

In advance of the debate, the Biden campaign is going on the Grandpa Goof Defensive, posting a montage of Trump getting confused, lost, wandering off, and waving to nobody. You know, they say people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, but you don't need to see someone throw a stone from a glass house to know that throwing a stone at a glass house will break the house.

What if you lived in a glass house and your neighbor lived in a glass house and he's already throwing rocks at your house over and over and over again? Of course you'd pick up a rock. The rocks are coming no matter what. Did you think you'd make it to November with a standing glass house? Of course not. We'll all be standing in ruins on election day. So let's throw some goddamn stones. Throw those stones, Joe. Throw them like your childhood idol, Honus Wagner.

You're the Flying Dutchman now, Joe Biden. That's what they called Honus Wagner. And if you haven't been to Cooperstown, I recommend it. You'll learn a lot about baseball. Like how they called Honus Wagner the Flying Dutchman. We have a clip of the new Joe Biden video. Here we see Donald Trump not realizing he's supposed to walk away. Mike Pence, like, trying to urge him along. And then watch out, Trump doesn't. It's really strange. It's really strange.

Mike Pence approaches Trump in that moment, like when you're in line behind someone at Chipotle and they're on their phone. But also you're sick of how rude the world has become and so you're trying to model good behavior, but it's like, Jesus fucking Christ, go. Oh, here's another clip from that montage. So what happens in this clip is...

Trump is supposed to go to sit at the Resolute desk and sign something. Some, I'm sure, monstrous piece of paper. And instead he just leaves through the side door of the Oval to kind of his private study. And Mike Pence goes, "Oh, Mr. President, you're supposed to sign it." And you can see Trump say, "I'll sign it back here." Trump walks out of the Oval Office in that moment like his Uber is here. "Sorry, I gotta get out of here." He has nowhere to go. The schedule is built around him.

And famously, he's at both his house and office. Over in Congress, Senate Democrats have added language requiring women to sign up for the draft in a new defense spending bill, causing an uproar from Republicans. We're not going to force 18-year-old girls to commit their lives and bodies to something they don't want to do, Republicans said.

Senator Josh Hawley railed against the language, telling Fox News, there shouldn't be women in the draft. They shouldn't be forced to serve if they don't want to, as if we don't already force women to serve. They call ladies celebrities brave if they leave the house without concealer. Added Hawley, normal people are like, leave our daughters alone. What, said Matt Gaetz? What? What?

Also, I just do want to pause on this language that Republicans have been using. He says normal people are like, leave our daughters alone. The daughters aren't the people. The people have daughters. They're not addressing the women. They're addressing the parents. It's just interesting. But maybe that's just because their daughters have been saying that's that me espresso over and over again and nobody can understand them.

Obviously, millions of women have served in the military. Women today make up about 20% of the military. It's like none of these Republicans internalized the message of 1997's G.I. Jane. And the message is, I am gay, except for Demi Moore in 1997's G.I. Jane. LAUGHTER

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Trump-era tax on foreign corporate investments in a 7-2 vote. And I bet you can guess one of the two dissenters, and you can picture him in a captain's hat sitting on the lap of a billionaire, turning to his nut job of a wife and saying, look, I'm driving the boat. I'm driving the boat. The Supreme Court also upheld a federal ban that prevents alleged domestic abusers who have a restraining order against them from buying guns. Here we are in 2024, and men still can't have it all.

The ruling was 8-1 with, yep, you guessed it, Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting, arguing that historical tradition runs counter to this kind of law. After all, back in the time of the founders, there was no domestic abuse, just happy wives and liars who were also witches.

Anyway, I imagine it's a lot easier to make decisions with no consideration of what it will mean for Americans' lives when there's a fully-fueled private jet sitting on a runway ready to whisk you away to a private island with a guest cottage that has a cheeky plaque in front that says, Justice's Chambers. And inside, there's a stocked minibar with all of your favorite snacks, which are just raisins.

The court didn't rule on the two impending January 6th cases this week, including the immunity case, kicking the can to next week. I hate when the Supreme Court does a season finale. It's not necessary. Your show can't be canceled. Try as we might. Experts suspect the court will wait until after Thursday's presidential debate to drop the January 6th rulings, which means they'll have to crack open Biden and Trump's post-debate cryogenic tubes to tell them the news, which is so annoying. Once you get in that tube groove, you want to stay there. You know, that tube groove.

Leave them be. They're tubing. They're both old. On Wednesday, Louisiana became the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed on a poster in every public classroom. Sort of obviously not familiar with one through four. Don't like that. Gotta get that thing up in here. It's terrible news for Louisiana's first graders who had been planning to covet their neighbor's wives. Also, isn't it like it's a little surprising that Louisiana is first here?

You know, it seems like it should be like at least fourth. Like, what does Idaho have up there? Screen grabs at Yellowstone? All right. Groups like the ACLU and Freedom From Religion Foundation have vowed to challenge the law, a fight that Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry welcomes. Landry said at a GOP fundraiser on Saturday, I can't wait to be sued. And you won't. As he signed the bill into law, he said, if you want to respect the rule of law, you've got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses. Man, this guy really does want to be sued. Now he's going to have Hammurabi up his ass.

Mr. Governor, Hammurabi's lawyers are on the phone and you're not going to like what they want. Speaking of troubling collabs, okay, McDonald's has wrapped up its global partnership with IBM, which had been testing AI-powered drive-thrus at some locations since 2021. We don't need...

artificial intelligence at the drive-thru. The last thing I need is me ordering a McDonald's and a voice coming out to say, "I see you're back for the third time this week, John. I'd recognize those retinas anywhere."

McDonald's says it isn't ruling out incorporating AI in the future, saying, "Our work with IBM has given us the confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurant's future." How futuristic. Just picture it. A drive-thru where you can order food using only your voice. I do not want some fucking machine learning, large language model AI to know how disgusting I'm gonna be before I do.

Sometimes I go through the drive-thru and I'll make it to the other side with just a Diet Coke. Now imagine your smart fridge and your phone and your car all conspiring against you. And they know that your breakfast was loose cold cuts you ate out of the fridge and that your lunch was crying in the car. And even though you know you should have a salad, you're being driven to Taco Bell automatically. I'm kind of talking myself into it.

Speaking of imagined dystopias, Donald Sutherland, star of movies like Clute, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and the Hunger Games trilogy, died at the age of 88. In honor of Donald Sutherland, here's a clip of me pretending to know what movies Donald Sutherland was in, and everyone knowing I'm lying. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is awesome. That movie's great. If you've never seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I feel like it's very surprising when you find out that it's plant-based.

The actor was working right up until the end, appearing in Lawman Bass Reeves on Paramount+. Sadly, he was killed in an accident on set. Alec Baldwin just can't catch a break. A team of scientists have discovered the world's oldest wine at a Roman burial site in Carmona, Spain. But after seeing the price, the team of scientists opted instead for the world's second oldest wine. Margot Friedlander, a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor, will appear on the cover of the July-August issue of Vogue Germany.

I hate these manufactured publicity campaigns trying to shove some new it girl down our throats. A New York City man was bitten by a corn snake that he found in his bathtub while in the process of trying to flush it down the toilet. Said the snake, someone's in here. Weird, said the man. I don't remember eating corn snake. The man said he initially thought the snake was a worm of some sort. A common mistake. Gotta do a better job of teaching science in the schools.

A pair of beluga whales were successfully evacuated from an aquarium in Ukraine, which is under intensifying Russian bombardment. And I believe we have the footage. For those at home, it's footage of Free Willy, and it worked in the room. A boater in the Florida Keys found $1 million worth of cocaine in packages emblazoned with a bald eagle that were floating in the water. Or as it's more commonly known, a Florida 401k. And finally, it's time for a segment we're calling America's Least Wanted.

Since we're here in beautiful North Carolina, we thought we'd spotlight one of your hometown GOP circus booths, Republican Attorney General nominee Congressman Dan Bishop.

Dan Bishop is your standard bearer for all things MAGA. He votes lockstep with the other right-wing extremists in the House and is a big proponent of 2020 election conspiracy theories, MAGA classic, if you will. During his short time in Congress, Bishop voted against even the most no-brainer, guaranteed-to-be-popular legislation. He was one of only 26 to vote against the Stronger Workforce for America Act 2020.

That invests in job training, and he voted against it even though one of the bill's co-sponsors was another North Carolina Republican. Honestly, I kind of get this one. I also oppose other people developing skills. Because then I might look bad by comparison. That's why everyone on the Love It or Leave It team is strictly forbidden from any personal or professional growth. Bishop was also one of the only House members to vote against the Sea Turtle Rescue Act.

A grant program for rescuing marine turtles stranded on beaches. My guy, you're voting against rescuing beach sea turtles? What kind of absolute maniac watches Finding Nemo and goes, I would let Crush die screaming on a beach? You'd let Crush die. Bishop voted against certifying the 2020 election and has spread the big lie. He's now running for attorney general, a job which will give him enormous power over elections in this state. He was also a chief architect of the infamous trans bathroom bill, HB2, as a state senator.

And co-sponsored a national abortion ban as a member of Congress. Usually a bishop can move diagonally. This bishop only goes backwards. You guys heard that air horn? All right, good. So if you want to prevent this goon from determining voting rights and reproductive rights in North Carolina, go to votesaveamerica.com slash 2024 to learn more. And let's do everything we can between now and November to turn out the vote. And that was America's Least Wanted.

Coming up next, I demand justice. Allison Riggs, join me for a conversation. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

What a Weekday is brought to you by Bookshop.org. Reading a great book is one of the best ways to nourish both your mind and spirit, and it's important to support independent bookstores in return. When you shop for books on Bookshop.org, each purchase directly supports an independent bookstore of your choice. Bookshop.org makes it easy to support a bookstore that aligns with your values, such as a woman. That's not a value.

Oh, I see. Or an owned bookstore or a gay bookstore. They got women bookstores now. They got gay bookstores. And the thing is, in some of these gay bookstores, they'll let a straight author put a book on the shelves. So don't worry about that. You should go in. If you think they're not going to have, like, I don't know, Vonnegut or something, they might.

They might, but it's also a lot of gay stuff. And that's so important. The one you choose to donate to doesn't even have to be where you live. And bookshop.org has every book that you could want, whether you're searching for a hot thriller, steamy romance, or a book like Democracy or Else. Great book.

By me, John, and Tommy, bookshop.org has just the book you're looking for. Need some inspiration? Browse their list of bestsellers and 100 most anticipated books of 2024, like Democracy or Else. Use code LOVEIT to get 10% off your next order at bookshop.org slash crooked. Then the code is LOVEIT.

Bookshop.org slash crooked. Code love it.

They've got stripes and florals, new vintage-y colored rib socks. Those are great. And even a new pointelle sock with a frilly cuff for all you frill seekers out there. Bomba has a 100% happiness guarantee, so if the dryer or your dog eats a sock or you're unhappy with your purchase for virtually any reason, they'll do whatever they can to replace it or make it right. We love Bombas. They're so comfortable. You just got to try them. Plus, for every one you get, they do something good. Best socks in the biz. Hey, they'd be worth it even if they didn't help people.

Have you tried the merino wool one to get the moisture? It wicks it right off your feet. It wicks it right off your feet. Keep your feet cool. Get comfy this spring and give back with Bombas. Head over to bombas.com slash loveit. Use the code loveit for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash loveit and use the code loveit at checkout.

What a weekday is brought to you by Three Day Blinds. There's a better way to buy blinds and window treatments, and it's called Three Day Blinds. They are the leading manufacturer of custom window treatments in the US, and right now they are running a buy one, get one 50% off deal. Manufacturer. It's a hard word to say. Manufacturer.

Manufacturer. Manufacturer. Manufacturer. We can shop for almost anything at home. Why not shop for blinds at home too? Three Day Blinds has local, professionally trained design consultants who have an average of 10 plus years of experience that provide expert guidance on the right blinds for you in the comfort of your home. Just set up an appointment and you'll get a free, no obligation quote the same day. Corkett has Three Day Blinds in our office and they're great. I had Three Day Blinds installed in the first place I lived in LA. They were just wonderful service.

Right now, you can get three-day blinds. Buy one, get one, 50% off on custom blinds, shades, shutters, and drapery for a free, no charge, no obligation consultation. Just head to 3dayblinds.com slash loveit. That's buy one, get one, 50% off when you head to 3dayblinds.com slash loveit. One last time, that's the number three, D-A-Y, blinds.com slash loveit. And we're back. She's running for reelection to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Meanwhile, I can't even run for the bus. Well, I can, but...

Please pound your gavels for the incredible Judge Alison Riggs. Hi, thanks for being here. Right in the middle. Justice Riggs. John. Do you mind if I call you Justice Riggs? Yeah, you can call me whatever. Lady in orange. Let's throw away a few. Now, you're a defender of reproductive rights. Yeah. Leading with the kind of hardball questions I'm famous for. You must be exhausted.

It's a challenge, for sure. But just so you know, Congressman Jackson and I debated our opponents this morning, so we're really ready for tough conversations with you right now. You debated your opponent this morning? This morning. Did you win? The congressman thought so. All right. All right, Jackson. You'll have your turn. You'll get plenty of attention. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

But yes, my arms are tired. Your arms, yeah. Can you talk a little bit about

the stakes just in this race, given that you have such a kind of tilted Supreme Court right now that has gone so far to the kind of rightward extreme? Yeah, well, we've got two problems. One is that there are five Republicans and two Democrats on our North Carolina Supreme Court, and that's not going to change until 2028. But we're also facing a

a new world in this country where the US Supreme Court is rolling back rights and quote unquote, sending things back to the states, which means that ultimately when unconstitutional laws or laws that are being challenged are challenged, the last stop is the state Supreme Court. So you all know Monday is the two year anniversary of Dobbs when we lost Roe v. Wade.

We are the last bulwark against attacks on the ability of women like me to make choices about our own bodies. And just to get a little bit more granular, would you fly a Stop the Steal flag outside your personal residence and your beach house, or just one? I would neither fly it nor blame my husband for it. Follow-up.

If a billionaire offered to fly you and your spouse across the world for even one lavish vacation, let alone many lavish vacations, what would be your response? I would tell my husband, no. When I was appointed, he had some questions. When I made him spend hours and hours filling out detailed ethics disclosures, he said, I don't think Ginny Thomas needs to do this. Well, if Ginny Thomas jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge? No.

Just because Ginny Thomas is doing it doesn't mean it's acceptable. It's actually almost certainly the opposite. So the Supreme Court, 8 to 1, upheld a ban on allowing domestic abusers with restraining orders to buy guns. But even here, you had Clarence Thomas dissenting.

He has been consistently pointing to a pretty terrifying and extreme vision for what he would like to see constitutional interpretation to mean. And we see it here in North Carolina, I see it at the federal level, this extreme ideology that often goes hand in hand with a kind of tolerance for corruption and a kind of a belief that they don't need to be held accountable.

Can you just talk a bit about that relationship between kind of anti-democratic extreme policies and corruption, whether at the state or at the federal level? Yeah, I think, you know, there's a far right wing judicial philosophy, originalism, that allows...

someone who espouses that philosophy to discount the humanity of other people. And this isn't a surprise. We know where this is going. Justice Thomas has forecast that originalism would push him, in addition to allowing domestic abusers easy access to guns, would also...

lead him to roll back rights to contraception, to marriage equality. And I think ultimately the overlap is a lack of accountability. So when I started campaigning, I realized really quickly that part of the problem is, is that people think judges are untouchable. And some of that's by design, right? We want an independent judiciary that's the least political branch. But the flip side to that is,

Wizard of Oz, this is a problem. If you pull back, pull the curtain and no one gets to hold you accountable and see what you're doing, particularly when you're rolling back some other person's rights. It's a power trip. It feeds a lack of accountability. And it makes it hard for the citizens, the civically engaged people who are here in this room to make the change they want to see in this country. Justice Riggs.

Like you see right now a lot of cynicism around politics. There are people that wanted Joe Biden to do more. And sometimes Joe Biden is stopped because of actions by the court. I think the court, for all the reasons we talked about, can feel removed from people and they they don't totally understand how it affects their day to day lives. You've talked a bit about how your life experience is important while you're on the court. Can you just talk a little bit about about that and why people should care about this race?

So I grew up in West Virginia, in these mountains just up the road. I grew up with around folks who felt like the system hadn't served them, had left them behind and had real specific needs. And it's true that sometimes elected officials can't meet all of those needs in a moment. Maybe it's

you know, a recalcitrant Congress, or maybe it's the structural limitations of the court. But what I don't accept... So, yes, in politics, we're not going to make everyone happy all the time, and we may not be able to wave a magic wand and solve everyone's problems. But you know what we can't do is...

give up on the responsibility to listen, to explain, and to talk. So I go all over this state to festivals, you know, just where people are, and ask them what do they think about the courts.

And sometimes, you know, I get a really detailed answer that has a great solution, that I can propose a great solution. And sometimes it's like, well, dang, everyone I know just gets locked up when they go in there. And so, you know, you have to validate that experience if you ever want to build some trust or some faith. And there's a little education, too. I mean, there is...

an issue around public funding of public schools. I won't talk about it because there's a case in front of me, but I think we need to do some civics education as well and explain to folks...

Explain to folks, yes, there is a criminal justice system that has racial bias baked into it, and we have a lot of work to do on that. We need to examine systems of reparative and restorative justice rather than just punitive. But, you know, when you have a loved one who gets hurt in an accident, when you have a loved one who gets hurt in the workplace, that court can also be a place where you go to be made whole.

And so until we start talking about and showing people and being willing to be in authentic relationship about how government should work, not just how it does work, but pay division, we're going to be voting against a lot of things, I think, in November. There are some things to vote for, too. And I am...

I am excited about what this state can be. It can be restored to be the progressive beacon in the South, and I know that we can do it together. Justice Allison Riggs, thank you so much. That was great. Thank you very much. When we come back, T.S. Madison and I get our freak on. Please welcome to the stage the remarkable, the extraordinary, the singular T.S. Madison.

Hey, y'all. What's going on? Hello, hello. Oh, my God. We're back. Baby, it's full in here tonight, John. Love it. It's Friday, baby. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, do you love it or do you leave it? They love it, right? They love it. They love it. Oh, my goodness. I was having some of your good potato chips in the bag back there. So what's new? My hair. Ooh, looks nice. It looks nice. Thank you.

Have you been letting your freak flag fly this Pride? I'm always going to let my flag fly free. That was a tongue twister. Flag fly free. You know, I'm from the South, so, you know, there are things that twist my tongue up so bad when I'm trying to say it. Flag fly free. That's called the triple Fs. That's exactly what it's called. How do I let my freak flag fly more effectively?

Now you set me up for this, now Jesus. The way that you can let your flag fly free. And more effectively. Or free fly a flag. It's just, I think that you should have the ability to do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it within reason. Within reason. Within reason. Y'all can clap for that, you know?

You should be able to do what you'd like to do within reason. You know, as long as you're not killing anybody, as long as you're not hurting anyone, as long as, you know, you do it in the comfort of wherever your good space is, you should be able to let your flag... Your flag... Your flag fly free forever. Your flag fly free! I have a pitch. Okay. So, in Louisiana, they're hanging up the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Okay. And I feel like...

I feel like we need to take the Ten Commandments back. And I think the Ten Commandments should be put up in every gay bar, in every... The faggier the space, the bigger the poster. Wow. We put that thing up everywhere we could think of it. You should see the pride flag and the Ten Commandments. Together, yes. Side by side. Together. Everywhere. Yes. Everywhere. Everywhere.

And it needs to say, God loves flags. And because God loves flags. There's, there's as far as the picture right here. Hold on. There's I look, I have, you know, I don't remember all 10 off the top of my head. Thou shall not steal. That shall not kill. Yep. That shall not take your, what your neighbor's wife in vain. Yeah. That's, that's, I think that was a two for one. That was pretty close.

That was pretty close. But to my recollection, none of them are specifically anti-gay. None of them. So let's throw them up there.

I want to say this. I want to say this. Let me tell you something. Anytime that I get into a debate with people who talk to me about the Levitical law, I always tell them, sweetie, there's no way that you can tell me that anything that God told you, because when you go down there to Red Lobster and eat all that endless shrimp and crabs right after church, did you forget the part, honey, where it said that eating shellfish was an abomination? Right?

If you have not took on the Mosaic Law and talked about how thou shalt not lie, what are we doing on our taxes this season? Yeah, sure it was a business dinner. They're all business dinners, aren't they? A lot of business dinners on those fucking taxes. Oh yeah, it's a home office and you're all masturbating.

Oh, honey. And they're all masturbating in there. Wait, they're masturbating? Not right now, but I'm just saying. I always tell people this. I said, listen, if you're going to go by anything biblical, the only thing that God himself, according to the book, wrote was the Ten Commandments. If we're going to go by the book, because God took his big finger and wrote on those rocks on Mount Sinai.

And Moses came down and brought the law from what God wrote with his big finger. Everything else, see, I said finger because I'm from the south. Everything else that was written was written by man. But God wrote, right? Come on. God wrote, he wrote on those tablets. So I tell a motherfucker, don't you say a goddamn thing to me about what God said because he wrote that shit on the big rocks and not those little ones. And I thank you. That was lovely. Thank you.

That was lovely. And that's why at the manhole, we're putting up the Ten Commandments. That's why I want to see it on the wall at every gay bar in West Hollywood. Pride flag. Ten Commandments. Pride flag. Ten Commandments. And then, then I'll be like, hey, why'd they put that gay stuff up in all those Louisiana schools?

Just an idea. It's just an idea. I don't know. It came to me while we were here. It's just a pitch. It's just a pitch. The Ten Commandments already had a brand. It might be hard to rebrand it as gay stuff. I'm just, that's, you know, it's been around a long time. Like those people on TikTok that are like, like this video to make Jesus famous. And it's like, babe, Jesus is famous. Anyway, the news has been filled with freaks recently. Wait, you said F-R-E-A-K-S? F-R-E-A-K-S. Freaks. Freaks. Oh, okay. Okay.

The sexy kind and the walking nightmare kind. Oh, okay. And so we're going to talk about them. So you're from the South, too? In terms of my eating habits, yes. I'll have a moment where I'll realize, I'll just count backwards. I'll say, hey, John, when's the last time you had a vegetable? In a game we're calling... Wait a minute, so you don't get your vegetables when you're in the South? Well, I just... Honey, because we eat collard greens down here, baby. No, and...

And look, I don't want to get it. I didn't want to start something that I couldn't finish. But the thing is, I will get collard greens, but...

It doesn't feel like a vegetable. It just feels as though it's a vegetable technically, but it just seems like it's been put through a lot with a lot of, you know, it's just like, okay, you take the collard green and it starts out, it's a vegetable 100%. It is, it is. But then once it goes through the machinery of the American South, when it comes out the other side, there's bacon in there, there's fat in there. Yes. It's very salty. Yes, God, yes. Yes.

Sometimes it's just you don't know what there's just chunks of stuff. Yes. And you eat it all, honey. And I like it. Yes. I like it. But I don't think it's what Michelle Obama was talking about. You know, it wasn't. It wasn't. It's time for a game. We're going freak for yourself. All right. Wait a minute. I haven't been that fine since 99. And what a year it was.

99. Friend of the show. Did you think I said 69? I said 99. No, I thought I heard 99. I mean, I thought I heard 99. Friend of the show, George Sanchez, popped back up this week just in time for the launch. He launched something. What did he launch? Was something launched at him?

No, something was launched by him at all of us. What was it? What was it? Tell me so that we can talk about it. It was an OnlyFans. Oh! Ooh! Wait a minute. There's no S in that. It says M-R, Santos, N-Y. Where's the S? It's supposed to say Ms. Ms. Santos. It says the moment you've all been waiting for, only on OnlyFans, where you get the full behind the scenes and access to everything I'm working on.

What's he working on? Listen, according to those lips, he's working on something on OnlyFans, honey. Do you see those lips? Can we put that picture back? Do you see those lips? He's working on something behind the scenes on OnlyFans. I realized something, which is I don't care about the surrounding context.

Without exception, I love a glow up. It doesn't matter who it is. It doesn't matter how they got it. I'm in. You in it? I love a glow up. Every goddamn time. I don't care how bad they are. I don't care if they use stolen funding from an election fraud to get filler. I'm in. So that includes Lionel, your Texas too? Mm-hmm. Glow up. Glow up. Also this week, RFK Jr., a candidate for president and a man who says a worm ate part of his brain...

A snake. Well, your options are... B, anaconda. Yes, that is the only fake one.

That is correct. I told you, it was a snake. Listen, when you look, can I see the picture? Right? Because when you see a person like this, you know that... Look at those crows and stuff back there. A snake. Look at those. There's just something. There's just something. There's something about those eyes. They just...

When they've got crazy in the eyes, you can't hide it. You can't hide crazy in the eyes. The eyes always reveal the crazy. It's right there. You can just look at the eyes. You can smile. You can frown. You can try to go still, but the eyes don't lie. But the eyes are the windows to the soul. That's right. Yes. That's right. That's why I said a snake. Hmm.

Oh, I would say a briefcase. Oh!

He feeds them out of a greasy sack of meat? He has a sack of meat to feed the wild birds who land on his windowsill. What's in the sack of meat? Meat. It's meat. There's meat in that greasy sack of meat.

Normani, star of the upcoming film Freaky Tales, alongside Tom Hanks and Pedro Pascal, dropped her new album this week. What is the name of that album? Oh, God. Is it A, Serotonin, B, Dopamine, C, Endorphin, or D, Norepinephrine? It's B, Dopamine. It's B, Dopamine. Now, I do think that Normani is a, she's in the Beyonce era, area. Mm-hmm.

But Beyonce is in a Michael Jackson area. And finally. Okay. When told by a reporter that she was very brave to appear on a nude scene, actor Nicola Coughlin said she was very proud to do it as a member of what community? What community was she proud to be representative of when she was nude on the show Bridgerton? Non-binary? Incorrect. The answer is the perfect breast community. Oh.

- Yeah, exactly. - Can she do this? - Well, let's roll the clip. - Let's see. - You know it is hard, 'cause I think women with body type, women with perfect breasts. - Well, can she do this? - I mean, who can? Few can. The few and the proud. - Yes, right, I am the few and the proud. And that's why I let my flag fly free. - T.S. Madison, where can people find you? Where do you wanna send people?

Make sure you guys just find me. I'm T.S. Madison everywhere. Like, I'm not T.S. Madison over here or T.S. Madison over... I'm T.S. Madison everywhere. And make sure that you guys are tuned in to RuPaul's Drag Race. We have an amazing season coming. All Stars 9 is on Paramount Plus right now. I'm coming up. There's, like, there's an amazing thing that's coming. I cannot wait for you guys to see the Rusical. And has this been recorded? Yeah. Oh, okay.

T.S. Madison, everybody. Right. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

Each year, the International Rescue Committee's Emergency Watchlist Report assesses the 20 countries at greatest risk of new or worsening humanitarian emergencies. These countries are home to only 10.6% of the world's population, but carry a disproportionate burden of global humanitarian crisis. The civil war in Sudan has left over 24 million in need of humanitarian aid.

while armed conflicts and natural disasters have displaced 1.26 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And Gaza has become the deadliest place for civilians in the world. Donations help the IRC provide families affected by humanitarian crises with emergency supplies in the aftermath of a crisis,

and with the resources they need to recover and rebuild their lives for the long term. Just $14 can provide a temporary shelter for a displaced family, and $72 can provide two months' worth of emergency food for a child. Donate today by visiting rescue.org slash rebuild.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? Maybe you never skip leg day or your skincare routine or therapy day. I have to tell you, I am a creature of routine. And I walk pundit. I get the same quad espresso every morning from Starbucks. Oh, and I also do go to therapy, although I did cancel therapy last night to do Anderson Cooper. Ha ha ha!

Healthy, very healthy call. That's real. That's real. Sorry, Dr. Christie, I can't do therapy. I gotta go on Anderson Cooper. You can watch. I'll be saying the same things I'll be saying to you. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash love it to get 10% off your first month.

Obviously, you should not do what I did. You should all be in therapy and stick to it. And by the way, I also did Chris Hayes. So it's like therapy or Anderson Cooper plus Chris Hayes is a no-brainer. It's a no-brainer. As is you getting therapy, betterhelp.com slash L-O-V-E-T-T, betterhelp.com slash love it.

Hi, I'm Stacey Abrams, host of the brand new Crooked podcast, Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams. Each week, we'll work together to better understand one of those big issues that seems insurmountable. Whether it's the Electoral College, America's loneliness epidemic, or the future of Hollywood post-strikes, I'll challenge you to dig in and ask, how do we get here? What obstacles lie ahead? And what can we do to get good done? Are you in?

episodes of assembly required with stacy abrams are available starting august 15th head to your favorite audio platform and subscribe now so you never miss an episode and we're back republicans are so scared of our next guest they try to gerrymander a matter of existence but you can't gerrymander a statewide race please welcome your next attorney general congressman jeff jackson good to see you they love you hello congressman you were uh gerrymandered out of a house seat

True. That's got a sting. Saw it coming. Hey, remember when we went canvassing together and I made fun of an ugly house and you said that video wouldn't be useful? Some backstory. Our campaign gets a call when I'm running for Congress. John Leavitt would like to come and knock doors with you. That's a big deal for us. All right. That's a big get. I'm being schmoozed. And it fell out of the sky. You know, I didn't have to DM him or anything. They called us. I slid into his DMs.

So the day arrives and John arrives and he walks into the congressional campaign office and I shake his hand, meet him for the first time. John, it's so nice to meet you. He goes, great. What city is this? I said, welcome to Charlotte. We're so happy to have you. And he looked at his staff like, is this where we're supposed to be? And they're like, yes, that's not how you're at the right place. Paging a deeply inaccurate portrait. This sucks. You're a guest. I introduced myself as the candidate.

And he said, are we going to do this thing? I said, yes, we are. He said, do you have a street picked out? I said, yes, we do. I took him to one of our really, the core target areas where we were really trying to work on turnout. And we spent an hour and a half knocking doors together. And I would describe him and his contribution as net positive. Oh, man. I've been waiting a year and a half to talk about this. All right. Here's what it's like when he's not on stage.

I am the same. We're walking down. This show is net positive. First of all, we met a lot of very nice people, constituents, prospective constituents walking their dogs on the sidewalk. He spoke to zero people and every dog. We started knocking on doors and he did his insult comic routine. This is unbelievable. Did not endear himself to 100% of the electorate. There were some senior citizens who didn't know him.

and just thought I had the most abrasive volunteer. There were a couple people who did know him, and so that started well until he gave his very frank assessment of the architectural style of their home and then asked them a series of pointed questions about, do you think the neighbors are okay with what you've done with this? The use of the phrase McMansion was peppered through some of this.

And when we won, my first text message I got from him, he said, you're welcome. So obviously we have a big election coming up and I guess you want to be attorney general or some fuck. I don't know. I'm hearing good things about Dan Bishop. Hey, welcome. Good to see you. It's good to see you. So you're running for attorney general.

And I think a lot of people maybe get a lot of national news. They may even know how important a governor's race is. Just for people listening who maybe don't know or are going to be knocking on doors,

If you had to say to people, here's why the Attorney General matters, what's the answer? Here's why the Attorney General matters. Our state code has 25 pages of law that goes over all the things the Attorney General is supposed to do. But really, the Attorney General is supposed to be a shield to make sure you're not getting kicked around. That's the purpose of the Attorney General.

And we know because we know our state legislature very well. They're going to try and kick you around when it comes to voting rights. They're going to try and kick you around when it comes to reproductive rights. And it's gonna be my job to stand up to them and defend your rights. And you know what else was annoying about canvassing with this man? He never would ask anyone for their vote. He'd like knock on the door and they'd be like, hi, hi, I'm I'm your congressperson and I'm here to see if you need anything.

And then they'd say, oh, thanks. And, you know, I have this issue or that issue. And you say, oh, thanks for telling me. Have such a great day. Close the fucking deal. I've run for office a handful of times. I don't ask for people's vote. I ask for the opportunity to earn your vote. And I think if you give me that, that's a fair trade. That's what he said then, too. And I didn't make fun of the McMansion to the McMansion owners. Sure did. Sure did. 100% did.

I don't remember that. I feel like I did it the respectful way behind their backs. Real-time fact-checking. And also, I mean, it just was a fucking eyesore in the middle of that goddamn neighborhood. See? It was a year and a half ago. He still remembers. And look, the thing is, he wasn't wrong. Too big for the plot. It was too big for the plot. I don't like it when the houses are too big for the plot. Have some taste. What haven't a taste?

Aesthetically, he was right. Politically, he was wrong. That's all. I think some things are more important than politics. We disagree on that. So your opponent, serious topic. Back to serious. Show some respect. Your opponent recently compared Donald Trump's hush money trial to a trial of a black person and what they would face in the Jim Crow South. I feel like that's cool vibes for a person running to oversee the laws, wouldn't you say? Yeah.

Yeah, what he said was that the former president was treated as badly as a black person would have been treated in Alabama in the 1950s. So don't go to him for your African-American history. But look, that just scratches the surface with this guy. He said, we have a gangster government and a reckoning is coming. Obviously, he voted to decertify the last election and said that it was rigged, said that his election was rigged, even though he won.

First two endorsements out of Congress were Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz. We have, you and North Carolina, we all actually hold the Attorney General in very high regard because we have a history of seeing good performance from that position. We have high expectations for that position in particular.

We've never had a political extremist in that position. You have one political extremist out of 435. That's one thing. Attorney General is one of one. And if we have a political extremist in that role, it will be a disaster for the state like it was when he wrote HB2, the bathroom bill, and cost our state $4 billion, thousands of jobs, and took our reputation years to recover from the damage that he did. Woo!

So as Republicans have grown more extreme, they've not only tried to manipulate the districts to avoid accountability, but also to try to fight against corruption and transparency laws. What role does the attorney general play in making sure that even as a Republican legislature tries to block transparency, try to block laws to protect against corruption, to make sure that the people of the state can trust that the people they send to work for them are working for them?

The attorney general is supposed to be a nonpartisan job, really. The way you execute that job, it's supposed to be an independent voice. You're there to represent people, not a party. It can't be used as an instrument for culture war. It can't be used as an instrument for political anger. The only way that people develop trust in this position is if they see it being used in a way that's even-handed.

in a way that's just about doing the work. Y'all, we have a big fentanyl crisis in this state. We lose nine people a day. The Attorney General can play a very important role both on the supply side, identifying the distribution cells that operate within our state and breaking them apart, and on the demand side. The gold standard for treating addiction is medicated assisted treatment. People aren't using fentanyl to get high.

They haven't gotten high in a long time. They're using it to stave off withdrawal. The way you treat addiction is medicated assisted treatment to get them through that withdrawal. That's the type of thing your attorney general should be talking about. Now, Bishop was, as you said, someone who led the charge on HB2, a law to make transgender people hold it until they get home. That law was later struck down. But what does that tell you about what would that mean for the kind of attorney general he would be?

The Attorney General is supposed to be a shield to defend you.

I think the way he sees it is as a sword to use against some of you. We've never had that before. To have our top law enforcement officer think in aggressive terms against major communities within our state, that's an experiment we've never run before. They're running that experiment in a place like Texas where they have Ken Paxton. He regards Ken Paxton as the model for who he wants to emulate in our state. That is not our history at all.

All right. Before we let you go, in 2015, when you were a member of the North Carolina Senate, you made headlines by being the only legislator to show up for work during a particularly bad snowstorm. We like this story because it confirms that you're a huge nerd, you know? But also it shows, you know, it seems like you have some good qualities. People tell me, I don't see them. So it's time for a game we're calling, is there a mountain high enough? I'm going to give you a difficult scenario and you're going to tell me what you would do. Are you ready? Okay.

I own those shorts. Just... I have that whole outfit. I actually think it looks great on me. Photoshop is solid. I could give you a real picture, though. First scenario, there's a terrible snowstorm. And who pulls up in a snowmobile? It's Mark Robinson. And he'll take you to work, but only if you say one nice thing about him. Is he recording it? You don't know. Do you do it? Walking to work built character.

There's a terrible snowstorm and time is ticking on a critical issue. A snowmobile pulls up and it's Justin Timberlake. He says it was just one martini, but you're not so sure. What do you do? It's gonna be May. Interesting, interesting, interesting. It's so good to see all of you. I've really been looking forward to this. Isn't he great? There's a snowstorm and a snowmobile pulls up and it's me.

The Affordable Care Act, and whether it's constitutional, hangs in the balance. But I want to talk about video games the whole way. I want to talk about all the Souls games, and how challenging all the different parts of it can be, but how ultimately worthwhile it is. And I will spend a fair amount of time on the lore. You will know what the Erdtree is by the time we've reached the capital. You'll know all about the Tarnished, and you'll know the difference

Between a quality build, a dexterity build, a strength build, a mage build. Feels like I'm already on the snowmobile, honestly. Congressman Jackson, what can people do to help over the next few months to make sure that we elect you as attorney general in North Carolina and not a far right member of the House who would do a bad job?

You know what to do. Hit that website. Help us out. It's going to be a 1% race. Our current attorney general who's running for governor won his reelection by 0.2% of the vote. I've told him to his face. We're going to win by 0.3% of the vote. And y'all are going to help me do it. Thank you. Thank you so much. He'll be back. All right. And we're back. Please welcome our wonderful guests back to the stage. Justice Riggs.

Congressman Jackson, TS Madison, thank you for sicking around. Thanks for sicking around. Thank you for sicking around. Do we stand? We can sit. Let's sit. Okay, I like to sit, you know. I'm sick of ranting. I've been ranting for a decade. And what's that gotten me? It's gotten me a lot. Actually, a surprising amount. Best not think about it too much. But tonight, we wanted to do a twist on the rant wheel. Tonight, it's the want wheel. Here's how it works.

We spin the want wheel wherever it lands. We talk about something we want. Let's spin the wheel. Justice Riggs, what's something that you want? I want the opportunity to try to start my family, to have a child, but do so in peace and safely. And all the rescue dogs. That's great. I love dogs. It's been pointed out recently that I like them even more than people. Let's spin it again. Well, what's something that you want?

I really want people to wake up and understand how bad Project 2025 is. I really, really, really want that. And I really want the people from my community, the black community, the trans community, any minority community, understand that these people that are rallying for Trump do not have their best interests at heart at all. And I want them to look past that stimulus check that they got

And like this person and these agendas are not good for our country coming. Like November is so important and I really want people to take that serious. All right. I agree with that. And I also want to play Audrey too in whatever movie comes out of. I like that. That's a good idea. You think I could play Audrey too? Yeah. You do? Yeah. He knows your life of crime. Yeah.

I think it's supper time. This must happen. This must happen. I used to love the Little Shop of Horrors, but we did not have a pristine, official version of Little Shop of Horrors. We had a version of Little Shop of Horrors, which I think involves my mother going, Little Shop of Horrors is on. Tape in, hit record. And so it started a few minutes in.

And I didn't see the beginning till I was an adult. But the context, you get it with the context. I do. Let's spin it again. Congressman, what do you want? Jupiter has about 100 moons. Several hundred years ago, Galileo spotted the four biggest. Europa.

is the best chance for life outside of Earth anywhere in the solar system because it has more water than Earth and a lot of it's liquid water. It's under this ice, but we know there's a lot of liquid water there. So 10 years ago, Congress passed a law telling NASA they had to go explore Europa.

So the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been busy at work building the Europa Clipper. And when it launches, it's going to take five years to travel 1.8 billion miles to this moon of Jupiter. When it gets there, it's going to fly through one of the plumes of frozen water that it shoots out into space. It's going to be able to collect the water and analyze it and tell us more about what's going on. This Europa Clipper launches in October. And what I want...

is for you to give you something to look forward to between now and the election. And it is the Europa Clipper launching. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Follow-up question. Is Pluto a planet? Neil deGrasse Tyson would say no. And I'm going to def... Am I going to lose the election right now? Yeah, hell yeah, it's a planet. It's called pandering, John. I'm not proud. Let's spin it again. Here's what I want. I want people to accept that Pluto is not a planet.

And I want that for two reasons. The first being because it simply isn't one. It's not a planet. The planets are here, Pluto's up here, going in a totally different fucking thing. As Neil deGrasse Tyson would say, it's tiny. It's actually orbiting another, it's moon, which is really just another, they're very much the same size. I don't remember the details. I didn't plan for this.

They're all the, it's in there, you know, you know, the gist. The Kuiper belt. What's it called? The Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt. That's where Pluto is. The Pluto is, Pluto deserves its plaudits. Not because it's the smallest planet, but because it's a very big version of something that's not a planet.

Pluto could either for us be the worst planet or the best big-ass rock that's out there. But the second reason I want us all to... You know what it is? It's not that I want people to accept Pluto not being a planet. I want people to want to accept the fact that Pluto is not a planet because I want to live in a world where we can change.

Where we don't have to accept the received wisdom of a person looking up basically between two fucking beer bottles and saying, ah, I found another one. So Pluto's not a planet? It's not. I want to live in a world where we all come together and look at the facts.

And when the facts tell us, despite what we learned from our favorite science teacher when we were kids, despite what the pictures on our childhood bedroom ceiling said, despite what the documentaries on PBS we watched because nobody wanted to hang out with us after speech and debate, that you were friends when you were on the trip, but that was it.

That despite all of that, that nostalgia, that we don't make decisions just based on nostalgia, because we understand that nostalgia binds us looking backwards, that we don't need to make the skies great again. The skies were already great. That's what I want. Thank you. And even more than that, I want everyone in this room to do everything they can to elect Justice Alison Rinks...

to elect Jeff Jackson, your next Attorney General, to come canvas with me and flip North Carolina tomorrow, and to sign up for VoteSaveAmerica.com because, listen, he thinks he can win by 0.3%. I feel like we can get that thing up to 0.4%. I think it's possible. And that's the want wheel. When we come back, we'll end on a high note. And we're back. Before we go tonight...

It's time for some high notes. Let's bring the lights up. Kendra's there for the high notes. If you could line out behind Kendra. Hi, what's your name and what's your high note? Hi, my name is Melina Coogan. I live in Woodfin, North Carolina. And my high note today... We met earlier today. Yes, we did. My high note was I was so terrified to canvas and it was my first time, but a guy named Bob came with me and totally put me at ease and everyone was so nice and I canvassed for Lindsay Prather and she's awesome. Nice. Nice.

Hi, I'm Dan from Raleigh, North Carolina. And this is a bit of our farewell to North Carolina because my wife just actually got her dream job helping people get healthcare coverage across the country. We are set to go west and we're just very excited to be able to have a chance. She is so excited. She's the kind of person who actually has a tattoo of Medicaid on her body. That is a secret that I'm kind of letting out tonight. I'm sorry. Hold on a second. You have a Medicaid tattoo?

And it was, until now, a secret. Now, is it a secret that it's about Medicaid? So that's interesting. So you love Medicaid. That we got. That's not the part we're thinking about. Where? Near your heart. Wow. When you say near my heart, you go, ah. When you say on my boob, it's a little bit different. Interesting.

Interesting. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? My name is David. I live in Raleigh, North Carolina. My high note is that I'm here with a couple of the Friends of the Pod Discord mods. Hell yeah. And giving a shout out. Our mods are in the trenches. Yes. All right. Get it done. The news isn't, you know, it's not all fucking Met Gala and

Justin Timberlake DWIs. There's some heavy shit that goes on. And the mods get in there, pull up their galoshes, put on their big gloves, and they get in there and they fucking moderate. I want to give a shout out. One of them has a birthday on Sunday. There's another mod who's not here whose birthday is tomorrow. And my wife's birthday is today? Yeah. I think that's a high note. I think it's my high note there. Could have led with that. Everybody has a birthday. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Where are the mods?

Shout out to the Mods, the Mod Squad. Hi, guys. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name is Cece, and four years ago today, I decided to take a semester off college and become a field organizer in Georgia for the Biden campaign. I am now a public school teacher here in North Carolina, and my partner actually just, thank you, just got a job with the coordinated campaign for the Democratic Party in Michigan. So that's my high note. That's great.

Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, I'm Winnie. I'm a 16-year-old, and I had civics class this year and learned how little people my age know about how important it is to engage in your local government. My high note is that tomorrow I'm going canvassing for the first time with my mom. That's great. That's fun. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, my name's Anna. I'm from Asheville. Woo-hoo!

My dad is a really big fan of Pod Save America and we love it. And he wasn't able to be here because he had a surgery. But my high note is that he's healing well and shout out. He'll listen on Tuesday. - Oh great, shout out to your dad. And I hope he's recovering from his BBL.

Hi, my name is Sarah. I'm from Charlotte. First, I want to say thank you for the crooked bag. But also, I'm a social worker and I've been working with kids and adults struggling with mental illness and addiction. And honestly, a lot of days it sucks working in a system that feels like it's built to work against the people I'm trying to help.

And I listen to your pod and Pod Save America a lot of days to and from work. And it gives me a lot of hope for the future that for the people that I work with. So thank you. Thanks. Hi, what's your name? What's your high note? Hi, I'm Joey. I'm from Durham, North Carolina. Happy Pride, everybody. I'm here with my boyfriend, Andrew. Love you. And my high note is that my manager got fired this week.

Yeah, look at how... It was such a company-wide sigh of relief. So we're just all very excited about it. I'm glad that happened to him. It was a her, yeah. It's 2024 and women can be terrible managers. That was very presumptuous of you. I would say that's the first high note I think we've ever had that it's like some bitch got fired. Never, haven't had that before. It just, at first...

Hey, so I'm a Jackson as well. And it was so much fun being able to break the chain of a very conservative Republican Jackson dynasty in my family to come out here and see Jeff Jackson here at Love It or Leave It. So that's what I got. A good Jackson. We're changing Jacksons. Yeah, we're taking it back.

What's your name? What's your high note? I love it. My name is Andrew. I'm originally from Richmond, Virginia. My high note is that after a really long and difficult career in mental health as a psychiatrist in community mental health, my mom is finally retiring at the end of next week, which is very exciting. She works extremely difficult, so it's really exciting to see her be able to retire. And if you're listening to this, mom, happy retirement to you. That's very sweet. What a nice place to leave it.

What's your name? What's your high note? My name is Alex Krug and my high note is a C sharp. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. That's pretty good.

Thank you to everybody that shared a high note tonight. Thank you all for being here. If you want to leave us a high note, you can email us or you can leave it in our Discord, in the Love It or Leave It Discord as part of Friends of the Pod. That is our show. Thank you so much to Justin Allison Riggs, T.S. Madison, and Congressman and soon to be your next Attorney General, Jeff Jackson. Thank you, Asheville. Thank you.

Thank you to everybody at the Orange Peel. Such a blast to come back. So glad we got to do these two shows. There are 134 days until the 2024 elections. Have a great night and see you all. See you next time. And I'll be signing books over there.

Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, and Lee Eisenberg. Kendra James is our executive producer. Chris Lord is our producer. And Kennedy Hill is our associate producer. Hallie Kiefer is our head writer. Sarah Lazarus and Jocelyn Kaufman, Peter Miller, Alan Pierre, Will Miles, and Mahana Del Shiki are our writers. Evan Sutton is our editor. Kyle Seglin and Charlotte Landis provide audio support. Stephen Colon is our audio engineer. And we're going to be talking about

And Milo Kim is our videographer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designer, Bernardo Serna, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast. And to our digital producers, David Toles, Claudia Shang, Mia Kelman, and Matt DeGroat for filming and editing video each week so you can. ♪♪♪

You may get a little excited when you shop at Burlington. Burlington saves you up to 60% off other retailers prices every

Will it be the low prices or the great brands? You'll love the deals. You'll love Burlington. I told you so. Styles and selections vary by store.