April 12, 2023
Season 5, Episode 9
Eric and Gil discuss hot topics such as trans rights, PrEP ruling in Texas, Tennessee, CMT awards
Support the show
The Adult Social Media
The Q Lounge Podcast
Music by Spell with Spellone Productions with Sound Lab Studios (Starting season 5)
Art by Diane with DemTees Designs (Starting Season 5)
Transcript
Welcome to the Q Lounge. The Q Lounge. Be our sugar Audi, the Q Lounge. Live your authenticity. Be our sugar down. Welcome to the Q Lounge. The Q Lounge Sugar down living.
Eric:Hello and welcome to the Q Lounge, a podcast where we like to discuss new stories and life situations as they relate to the lgbtqia a plus experience. I'm Eric, and I'm Gill, and thank you so much for joining us this week. How are you doing, Gil?
Gil:I am doing well so far. No complaint to my end. Rare. Yeah. But no. Nothing really to report right now. How are you
Eric:feeling? I'm stressed. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a bit stressed, but such as life. It's nothing too pressing and
Gil:manageable. I hope it
Eric:will be okay. I'm a little dramatic if our listeners don't know that. I'm sure they probably do. I'm a bit dramatic, anything that happens is like the end of the world to me. So I'm just there Right now. We're putting on a show. I'm always putting on a show.
Gil:Oh my goodness.
Eric:do wanna say though, we did get a a fan mail. I don't wanna say fan mail. We got an email from a listener. Ooh. Basically. So we're just shouting out, Melissa. Oh. don't have a last name that just said that they've missed us and to please keep them plugged in to what's going on. Oh, hello. Shout out. So thank you. Thank you so much for that. And I just wanted to say that we do appreciate people reaching out and talking to us. Yes. And yeah,
Gil:it keeps us going.
Eric:It lets us know we're not doing this all just to hear ourselves talk.
Gil:Oh my
Eric:goodness. Instead of preaching to a choir, we're just singing a duet
Gil:just to ourselves. Yes. But it's okay. It's free and don't worry.
Eric:Yeah, true.
Gil:This is coming out of our budget. It's okay. So let's go ahead and talk about Tennessee because they are in the news for all the wrong reasons again.
Eric:Yes, they are. Tennessee. Let's,
Gil:let's start with the T. Let's start with the T first. What's the fuck's going on?
Eric:We know that they've had a whole bunch of Legislation coming up. Yes. They just had the, a horrible shooting. Yes. And they've had a bunch of protests this week. Students. Literally walked out on Tuesday Yep. And stormed the capitol building, which is good for them. Great for them, because that is what it's all about. I know a judge just temporarily blocked their ridiculous drag ban.
Gil:Yes. So SB three was blocked. It's giving them, it's getting sent back to the lower courts for 14 days. Okay. To re-look at it because it's in by a clear violation of the First Amendment people. There's a First amendment,
Eric:yes. But honestly, there's only a Second amendment. The second amendment's the only one that matters. Yes, of course.
Gil:It's
Eric:bulletproof. Unless you want to bastardize freedom of religion for religious freedom. Yeah. So I have, my religion gives me the freedom to discriminate and be bigoted. Yes. Rather than what it actually means, the freedom of religion. So I don't have to be strapped down or confined to your religious belief. Correct. That's just my 34 cents. It's a little bit more than two.
Gil:Yeah. But it, it was just boiling down to that, it's essentially, the question is what is the government's role in all of this? Especially with, you're looking at the bill itself, it's extremely vague terminology,
Eric:and you totally correct me if I'm wrong. And I know you do. Do you think that they're using this as like a leverage, like a playbook leverage kind of thing? Strategically, I'm throwing out words just to make myself sound smarter right now. Like they did with the Dobbs case to get it up to a Supreme Court thing so that this conservative majority court, Supreme Court can be like, oh, drag is
Gil:wrong. I th I think to a point, yes, there, there're probably, like I said, it's trying to. How do you get it past? Kinda like what they could get away with. Uhhuh. And the irony is that the person who blocked is actually a Trump appointee. So that makes it That's
Eric:ironic. Yeah. Don't you think allowance with that?
Gil:But no. I think right now, because the, I mean let's be roll. Republicans are losing in the amount of voters who actually vote for them. They're losing an entire generation and a half that's gonna potentially go for them. So they're trying to figure out how to win without having the majority, right? So I think I do agree that it,
Eric:to a degree, they're trying to, so they're trying to silence everybody. Yeah. That's not
Gil:them. That's not them. Correct. So they're gonna pass whatever the capac with whatever majority they do have in certain states and then try to get away with it. They're trying to figure out what they can't get away with. Because then that's as precedence because then other people, other states look at that and be like, Hey, they passed air. Why can't we pass it here? Yeah. And it will ripple effect. Exactly. And I states do it. Democrats who, they're looking at each other to figure out who could get away with what. Yeah. So for instance when California during, during Covid shut down that everyone else and their mother started shutting down. They waited till the big one went. They was like, okay, we gotta
Eric:stop. I do think New Mexico shut down right over before,
Gil:yeah, they did. But it wasn't until we did then suddenly it was like a okay
Eric:then everyone else in the state did, or in the country and the country
Gil:started following, they had a follow suit. But I think the state did with Tennessee, we were in that weird space of they're going after everything that they created a moral dilemma for people. Yeah. And this is a cultural war that they created. This they did in the eighties. This is how they, with Reagan and all that, it's all this bullshit. You're creating something that doesn't exist. A fear that doesn't exist. What
Eric:was it, and I don't remember the name now. You might remember the name cuz I know you're more political. It was probably before your time, but you're just more politically savvy than I am. When was it George H. Bush? The first one. Created that whole false narrative against aka Yeah.
Gil:That is exactly what it is. I forgot exactly what it was,
Eric:I, I know it was like about some, like him setting some murderer free, but the person actually didn't exist. Yeah. I forgot the name. Now
Gil:this is the same thing. This has been Republican's Playbook and the Democrats tend to play into the hand. Because then we'd spend millions of dollars trying to battle something that doesn't exist. Yes. Let's be roll. That's how it has been. That's why when the Democrats started getting aggressive and going after the Republicans directly, what Newton's been doing in other other people, then it's suddenly putting them on their heels. Now they're actually taking legislation and actually going after what they're talking
Eric:about. And it's just weird to me too, cuz, and I wanna stay on Tennessee for a minute, but this is just a interesting story that kind of talks, plays into a little bit about that because of just how ridiculous these bans are and these new laws that they're trying to pass. All this legislation that like majority of people find that this is just political theater. I say all the time, but even majority of Republicans believe that the attack on the lgbtq plus rights is excessive political theater, which I actually found shocking. But I, this is according to gay times, but US voters across political spectrum, including Republicans, believe anti LGBTQ plus legislation to be excessive political theater designed to increase division according to findings from a new poll, which was conducted by Data for progress. 72% of Democrats, 65% of independents, and 55% of Republicans think there is too much legislation aimed at limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America. So I found that pretty interesting.
Gil:But then it's the same thing that the challenge is what are Republican, even though they know it's false. They know it's bullshit, but what are they gonna do about it? The voters? Yeah. Because that's my thing. I'd be pissed off if I was a Republican voter, right? And I have this guy sing in office and the entire fucking time we're paying him. To do a job to represent us, to get shit passed so that my area could be wonderful then green again. And all he's doing is focusing on attacking a minority group over and over again. Yeah, exactly. That's what I don't understand. That's the part I would be, as a voter, be like what the fuck are you really doing in office? Because are you getting other shit done, or are you, that's all you're focusing on. And I would be upset, grossly upset. Oh yeah,
Eric:absolutely. Like you said, they're making this culture war. They're creating this crisis that doesn't
Gil:exist. It doesn't exist. None. If this exists, they're creating one. They're, there literally is no reason. Yeah. Like this border thing that they're talking about. Same thing, era, we're talking about Republicans. It's, as if there's just like this I don't know if you've seen the movie, the, was it world War Z, the little zombie thing, where everyone's like jumping over the fucking wall. That's what they imagine. And these are from states that don't border it. There is no slew of you. Millions of people jumping the fucking thing. Yeah. There might be a few. Yes. Welcome. It's been like that. The border crossed them. Yes. Remember this? What's not English territory? This was under Spanish role in the Mexican role. That's why the West Coast speaks Spanish. Like I, just basic
Eric:geography, you mean that you mean this country wasn't white and then all of us people of color just decided to invade?
Gil:Oh my God. Yeah. It's just, when you start looking at certain things, like I said, it's all just, it's created these false narratives and that literally, I'm like, why don't we guys actually focus on getting shit done? We have, there's a school issue. Why are our teachers leaving? What are we doing about that? What, like from a funding standpoint?
Eric:A schools aren't funded. Exactly. Teachers aren't paid. Yep. School shootings is a very real thing. Guns, yeah. Guns are our savior. They're like, Jesus Christ. Yeah. They're like all shrouded. But yeah, so G School shootings is a very real issue. As we talked about in our la last podcast, they're wanting to build these little bomb shelters inside the classrooms, these bulletproof rooms. And they're still passing or floating. The ridiculous idea of we just need to arm the teachers. Okay. Okay. Let me just say this. You don't trust these teachers to teach. You don't trust them to have books that your kids can read. Correct. You don't trust them on their own syllabi. You do not put enough faith in them to actually be educators. Correct. Which is what their degree field is. But you're trusting them to fire guns and save. I saw this thing with this teacher, I don't know if it was in Tennessee, but I saw this video of this teacher was giving his resignation to the school board, and was saying that the fact that he had to go to a training and they said, oh if this kid is shot in the leg and this kid is shot in the chest, you have to let the kid that was shot in the chest bleed out and die because the other one has a better chance of surviving. The fact that I now have to make that decision and I have to tell this child, your life is less important than this child's life. What the fuck? Seriously, that's gross. What the fuck?
Gil:Yeah. They're educators.
Eric:Yes. And they don't get paid shit.
Gil:Yeah. And this is not new. This is what I remember hearing this as a kid in the nineties. I remember in elementary how multiple times our school went on strike because paid, they were underpaid then. This isn't new. No. I'm sure our listeners who are out there, who are, know, grew up in the eighties, grew up in the seventies, their teachers probably bitched about it then it's, this has not changed. No. The difference now is that they went from kids having to worry about, oh my God, a fucking Holocaust could happen because of the nuclear war. Like a breakout. Cause I remember practicing that. Yeah. Or we had mold going into the fucking building because God forbid us actually upgrading the buildings to someone sues the district. Now you have to worry about the guns. Yeah. But the guns are not new either because we had Columbine in the late nineties.
Eric:Yes. And nothing was done. Nothing happened. I posted a list and I believe it's on our Instagram at the Q Lounge. I believe I have a list on there of all the school shootings that have happened, and Columbine was the second one. So it was,
Gil:this is the new people. That's the part I just don't understand. I've never understood it because even I remember how traumatic that was.
Eric:It was horrible.
Gil:And I Because you were like, what, in elementary at the time when that happened?
Eric:Yeah, I was in high school. You're so sweet. And I lied. It's not on there, so I will try to find a way to put that list on there. No. Yeah, it I wanna say it happened my senior year in, hi, it happened my senior year or junior year in high school. I wanna say my senior year. It might have been my junior year, but it happened like on my birthday. Was it? I believe so. Oh, shit. Which is another sad thing. Yep. That happened on my birthday actually. I was in college. So I'm older than I,
Gil:1999. Yeah. April 20th, 1999. Holy hell. I was in middle school when that happened.
Eric:I am old.
Gil:Just a few years, a few years above me. Don't worry. It's not by
Eric:much. You were like, what, in sixth grade?
Gil:99? No, I was eighth. Eighth grade. Okay. Yeah. Cause I was a freshman in 2000. Cause I graduated oh four. Okay. Yeah. So I was in seventh grade technically, but it happened. But I was going to the eighth grade.
Eric:Damn. I am old. Cause I was, I had already graduated high school. I was two years post-graduate from high school.
Gil:At least I'm not Gen Z, where they would've still, I would not been bored.
Eric:True. But it was the year before. Yeah. Before Gen Z kicks off. Yeah. Damn.
Gil:But but
Eric:I remember it. Yeah, no, I remember it. Yeah. And,
Gil:but that's the thing. Our congress has failed us since. Yeah. This isn't new and you just keep another shooting. Another shooting.
Eric:It shouldn't have ha like it shouldn't, nothing should have continued. No. Past Columbine. That should have been it. And then you have Sandy Hook, and I know there was many more between Oh yeah. Wine and Sandy Hook. But Sandy Hook was like, when they first, like all these little kids were gunned
Gil:down. It was what, 20 something kids? Yeah. Or more. Might have been more, yeah. And the teachers included.
Eric:And teachers included. But you had What, five and six year olds. And nothing was done. Yeah. And it just, look at what happened in Uvalde. Yeah. Last
Gil:year they had armed police there.
Eric:Yes. Those good guys with good with guns didn't do shit. They were too scared Yeah. To go in there because of the assault weapon. And Yeah,
Gil:because it's, the thing is, if you're not gonna f you don't wanna put a ban on guns. There's no funding for the healthcare system with regarding to mental health. Mental health for me, was not really spoken about until we already entered the pandemic. That's very
Eric:real. I'll
Gil:be honest with you, I, no one spoke about it. No one asked about how you're doing, like in a genuine, how are you doing? What's go, know, what's going on in your mind? What do you, let's you know, I think there,
Eric:we can talk about it. There were rumbles of it, like bubbling under rumbles, uhhuh, pre pandemic, at least in my circles and spheres. But yeah, it didn't actually gain traction until the pandemic. Yeah. But the thing is, a lot of these things, like the Republicans always it's mental health. It's not the gun. It's mental health. It's mental health. We have fucking awful healthcare in this country. With no regards to mental health. Yeah. We have no ac we've talked about how I've been looking for a therapist and I think I said in the last episode, yeah. How like I've reached out to five or six therapists, two have responded. Yeah. And I'm on a waiting list. Yeah. So it's not like I am just like, oh, I want a therapist, but I'm not gonna seek one out. I know in the past I've been a little passively looking for one, but I've actually went into the active phase of looking for one. And now I'm just like, I'm gonna sit here and twiddle my thumbs because there's not one available. Yeah.
Gil:But Republicans and I do have insurance. No, you do. And a lot of us do. But there's a lot of restrictions that come with it. Absolutely. Going for
Eric:know, They dictate and they dictate what you can see and how many visits you can be seen for Uhhuh, what you're allowed to talk about, what you're diagnoses can be
Gil:uhhuh. And it's a lot out of pocket though. Yeah. Cause if you're like, just go you don't have to have insurance. Go ahead and pay for it. Do you know how much the shit costs? Yeah. Say dude, like with the sleeping studies. Yeah. For me to keep alive. I had to make sure I followed the right procedures. You're not diagnosed, you're not positive with it. If I can't get diagnosed positive, if I don't take a test to figure, if I really am. Am not.
Eric:You should ridiculous. Or you should see the hoops I have to jump through. Oh yeah. For labs, for conditions that I already have, like it is known that I have Graves disease. Correct. And I have to fight tooth and nail for them to run all the labs on my thyroid. Correct. And I'm like, I literally have a disease that attacks my thyroid. I don't have a thyroid anymore. So now I have to have tests to make sure that my medications are working and they won't let me run some of those tests.
Gil:It's mental. It really is. Yeah. It's, it doesn't make sense. And of course, like I said, Republicans will not be voting for it. They're gonna defund it. Yes. They voted against healthcare. The Obamacare even just have basic universal healthcare to some degree with the US they've, the big war on drugs, same thing. They heavily pr, they heavily voted for policing it, enforcing the the jail system and that corruption, that, that is, that's a shit show in itself. It's
Eric:a total shit show. Look at what you had in San Jose. You had the executive director of police of the police union was just charged with importing fentanyl,
Gil:isn't it? The Mexicans or just in fading us and bringing head over that barter.
Eric:Exactly. But the point is like that war on drugs,
Gil:It's a lies a farce. It's a all of farce. It's a minority thing. That's what that shit's about. But the same thing happened there. A lot of the people like cuz with the drugs and they always say, it's the homeless. Homeless are part of the drugs. There was a like, people weren't just on drugs. These were also people who needed mental help, who were on the streets. These were people who are just not choosing well, they're just lazy. No. There are people lazy who are working. I see them. I manage them. I can tell you right
Eric:now, the thing is, and I think we've talked about this too, we're all having to, not all of us, but a majority of us are literally li living to just survive. We have no type of opportunity. Or luxury. We are literally just. Surviving and we have to be thankful that, oh, I get to survive today.
Gil:It's this generation and Gen Z. We have the exact same amount of wealth, which has been proven on the studies that they have done. Compared to this time at the same age compared to Gen X, compared to boomers especially. Fuck them. It, we are not on the same wavelength. We're not on the same political power. We're not in the same financial standing, nothing. So when they ask us like, oh my God, you're spending extra money on that fucking added sugar or whatever, to your frapp of Frappuccino, yes. I'm going to take the fucking thing because this is the closest thing I have. We, none of us have this, oh, I have a trustee, or I have this extra savings account and I have another Roth and I have another thing infested in the stocks. There is no money. Whatcha you talking about? I started making money in my mid thirties, early mid thirties. I didn't have this booming job out of college. The bachelor's degree is diluted. We know that it has no substance.
Eric:It really doesn't. And the thing is now that you're strapped down with so much student debt that you can never break free from it. It's hard. And that's why there's a big move now of tell your kids they can go to a trade school or that school's not for everyone.
Gil:But you and I are from that generation where trade school was not looked up on No, exactly. Like we know that you and I know that there's Yeah. There's no way to oh, trade school. Good for trade. Are you fucking kidding me?
Eric:No, you and I had this conversation pre podd. Tonight. Cuz you're saying like you were in your like mid thirties before you started really making money or early to mid thirties when you started making money. I made decent money like late twenties into mid thirties. And then my job got re my department got restructured. Oh yeah. And I lost my job. That paid me Uhhuh. And I went from making 36, 30 $7 an hour, which was decent. Especially back in the early two thousands to a job that paid me like 15, 50 an hour. Yeah. I took a $21 pay cuts. Yeah. Which I was still living in a, in the job realm of at least high twenties to low thirties per hour. Correct. And my bills reflected that. Correct. And now I'm at a job, I'm at the same job, but luckily, it's now paying me a little bit more money than $15 an hour, but I don't make a whole lot of money now. I've gone back to school because, we have to go back to school and get that degree and pursue other things. Yeah. And that didn't work out for me. No. And I'm strapped with hella student debt. Yeah. That will never get paid off. And when they decide to write it off, I will be slapped with all the taxes that accrued from them writing it off. Yeah. So
Gil:It's such a terrible trickle effect. And just, and like I said, when you ask the stupid ass question, it's trickle down economics, and I always, I've heard that before, and that's the difference of why I, like I said, I'm not shocked at times with the gen our generation, just, there's this apathy. We don't care because literally there's no reason to, to what are we looking forward to? Nothing. I really, and to look at it as dim as it could possibly be. And I love the Gen Zs lighting a fucking fire and they're ready to burn the shit down like a, like the French are. And I admire the French right now. I'm good. Be very frank with you. I love what they're doing. They're getting pissed about a two year difference and Americans, yes, you should be. They're like they're 64 retiring. They're trying to push us 70. I couldn't imagine a 70 year old working to that age. Because you have
Eric:to, here's here. Yeah, exactly. I if you wanna be an older adult and working because you just want, if you wanna pass the time, it's something to cure your boredom. Awesome. Go for it. Hell yeah. I have at it. But you should not be having to work to make ends meet just to survive. Correct. When you have already worked. 30, 40, 50 years of your life. Correct. I'm so sick of this mentality of, oh, I have to work for 40 years, like hardcore, 45 years super hardcore, just so I can maybe enjoy five to 10, maybe 20 years of my older life where I can't run and do all this stuff that I wanted to do when I was in my twenties because I don't have the energy to climb the Caldera in Santorini or to go to Chu Picchu or whatever else.
Gil:Correct. That's why I'm traveling now, because I,
Eric:I can't afford to travel, so
Gil:I try to travel as much as I can now because I'm like, okay, I'm making the money. Let's go and enjoy, because I know when I'm 70 I'm looking at my family and I'm like, there's no fucking. I love them, God bless them. But them like 70, 80, it doesn't look, my outlook does not look pretty. So I'm just okay. Hopefully when I get to that point, I'm living in a decent, little cute, quite house. I'm, look at this, I'm not asking for a fucking mansion, just asking for a nice, simple little first floor house or flat. And I'm just hoping there's something simple near the water if I can't relatively near the water. Cuz I grew up in the, in the bay. I like to be somewhere nearby. But that's all I'm asking for. Because I don't wanna be having to work till 70. I'm sure by the time I get to 70, they probably moved to age to 79 to retire. And I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna be working to 70 I'll be very honest with you, I'll take 63. I don't want the full payout. Fuck it.
Eric:The thing is too, also I have, I don't know. It's like I have this, I have this beef with this mentality and I understand it, but I was like, you need to put money away for later. You need to put money away for later. I get that. For your retirement. But like tomorrow's not, is honestly not guaranteed and don't not, it sucks that I can't enjoy any of it right now. Correct. I should be able to enjoy some life. Correct. But that's not where we're at. Shoot, my coworker just sent me this thing the other day about Germany offers burnout pay. What the hell? If you need a break. Yeah. I'm like, girl. I have a friend. Don't tell me twice. I have a friend who. She's a teacher, she's an educator. Okay. And she was abroad. She taught in Turkey, Germany and Poland, I believe. Okay. And she's now back in this United States poor thing. And she was telling me, she's she didn't realize how not free the United States is until she lived abroad and like actually tasted freedom. Yeah. I was like,
Gil:huh? From the supposed third world states in countries. Yes, of course. There were just some things for us that I think we just need to reevaluate. Like it's a five day work week religion. The answer's no.
Eric:No. I work four days.
Gil:Oh my God. You're lucky.
Eric:I, I work five days, one, one week out of the month. Oh. Oh, Eric. But the thing is also I don't make a lot of money. Like I can't travel. Oh, I can't do a lot of shit. Yeah. Because I honestly work less than 30 hours a week, most weeks. Like it's a busy week if I work more than 30 hours. Got it. Okay. Okay. So there's that payoff. There's that trade not payoff. There's that trade. Yeah. You
Gil:get that extra day of rest,
Eric:but I'm getting an extra day of rest, but I can't really enjoy anything. But for me, like having that extra day of rest, having a little bit more time for my own health, especially like with everything that I've gone through, like I really value my health and my rest. Like not to bring it up again, but like one thing I've noticed, since having graves and having my thyroid removed, I require sleep. Yeah. Like I used to be the person who could go out and. Live on three to four hours of sleep, maybe five hours of sleep. I was good. I could party for the next six days and I was hella happy.
Gil:I remember, yes. I try to keep up and I could not keep up
Eric:and now like I require seven to nine hours of sleep. Yeah. I will still like, push myself out to 2, 3, 4 in the morning, but just know that I'm not gonna wake up till like noon or one.
Gil:Yes, I agree. I'm still, I'm a night owl. I've always been Me too. I just, I even when I, was in middle of college and doing my papers and, jamming, I'll be like, okay, time to rent. Do this real quick. Yeah. I always, at middle of the night I was doing my papers, if I said I was studying during the date, it was a lie. It was a complete lie. I was out and about. And
Eric:the thing is you were running your papers between two 30 and three o'clock in the morning, like when we got home from the club.
Gil:Eric? Yes, that's true. My mom was gonna hear it. She'll be like, oh my God. No, it's true. I, she knows I mentioned it a few times, it's like, it's,
Eric:I can't believe I let you hang out with him,
Gil:but no I did. It's just like I said, I just, I didn't study during the day. That was a lie. If I said, oh, I'm gonna go study. No, I was really going out with you today. That's all. We're going to lunch. We're gonna go coffee Thai. Yeah. No complete
Eric:lie. Or he was going to scam on all the boys,
Gil:maybe two
Eric:or 20.
Gil:No, but it just,
Eric:Gil with seven 11 for a minute.
Gil:Like I, I'm a married man now. I'm nice. And
Eric:you're a married man, or you're a
Gil:married man? I'm a married man. Male. No. But it's just like you start rethinking life and kind of the value, and especially since the pandemic. What, three years now? Since that happened. It's the same thing. It's just, I think it's just rethinking of quality. The what do we value? And I think as a generation now, or rethinking, we're not here to work to, we have to live to work kind of thing. It's we're trying to reverse it. Yeah. As best we can. And I think that's also, there was a fear of me about retirement because I would love to retire here. I'm born in this state, this is the state that I know, right? But then I know there's also the price value. Am I gonna get priced out of my own home state? That's an unfortunate, I know everyone's focused on, hating on my Californian and, oh, I, this is the most difficult financial state to live in the fucking planet. Let's be real. Let, our state is very expensive. More expensive.
Eric:Don't you guys, don't you guys have like the third largest economy in the world?
Gil:Or fourth? Fourth. Yeah. We knocked ge. No, not, we knocked Germany out of the fourth spot. Yeah. It's a difficult place and it sucks because I, and number three
Eric:is the United States. I'm just kidding. You take California out and then the United States is like 200. I'm just kidding. Sorry.
Gil:But you know what I'm, it's just, it sucks because I'm thinking like, okay, if I retire, I can't afford California. It's something I'm, this is the place that I grew up in. Yeah. I'm gonna get bumped out. I've lived elsewhere, granted, but I know I'll survive. But it's just, it sucks from that aspect versus everyone else. Yeah. Other people get to stay in their homes, stay born, raised, stay there, and they're, there's no challenge. I can't, I won't financially afford to live in this state, or I could live in the very northern rural part of the state, yeah. Know
Eric:where I'm from. But your husband's younger than you, so he can still be working.
Gil:Keep working. I'm like, keep going. Yeah. But I think I, I think we as people need to, as a society, need to figure out what are we asking our Congress people? I don't, I'm not hiring like these theatrics. I'm not asking for a theater or some kind of act or show to be put on. Like I need people to actually do shit. I, there's roads still not being paved. Maybe a lot of taxes. I'm paying a lot of my tolls and I'm like, why the fuck is this? Please ask. I'm questioning.
Eric:No, and then you have cuz we're talking about how this students protested and went to the capitol building. Yes. You have a Tennessee State representative William Lamberth. And you guys can add him on Twitter at William Lamberth, L a M B E R T H. Who fucking asked the students that were protesting gun violence because there was a shooting that just happened in Nashville where three nine year olds were killed and three teachers were K or three adults were killed who just asked them. What gun they would like for him to use to shoot them. His quote, if there's a firearm out there you're comfortable being shot with, please show me which one it is. End quote. Fucking
Gil:sick. What is that? I trash. Hey, that's the thing I want to know because like I said, they're passing these laws or going after the, the community or lack of, your people are right there protesting the situation. There's a voice right there. They're saying, nay, yet, what are you doing about it? That's why I'm challenging. Who are they asking for? Saying, oh, these are what my constituents are asking for, who, what, where, what poll? I wanna see exactly evidence. Show me the evidence that you're, this is the reason you're pushing for this. Because I'm. I didn't worry about Provo. Like here in California, I don't remember my Congress. People ever throwing some kind of poll in some kind of public thing or getting an email. How are they getting ahold of me? I'm curious as a voter. Yeah. And it's something I would like to challenge. And then you
Eric:go ahead.
Gil:No, because I mean they're passing this shit. Yeah. Oh, we wanna do, we wanna erase taxes on the For what? To fix the road. You guys didn't fix it the first time you raised the taxes. I would love to see this happen. Or even, I always get on roads cuz I drive a lot in, I pay a lot of money and commute. Just crossing the fucking bridge is $3,000 a year. Fyi. That's not going on the roads and get, that's another tax.
Eric:Yeah. And then you have to factor in gasoline, the
Gil:mileage, the gas. We pay $2 more than any of you guys pay just to get fucking gasoline that we refined on our fucking coast.
Eric:That's when you need an electric car. Yeah. And that's when we need to adopt Swedish. Yes. Engineering. Where Sweden is building a road that recharges electric vehicles that drive over it. That is fantastic. So just to throw that out there. But yeah, go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off with your
Gil:No. That's, that kind of stuff is like I said, I just wanna know.
Eric:Then and you're talking about like representatives not listening to their constituents. We've fucking elected you to represent, be our quote unquote voices. Yeah. And now you're just doing your own little thing. You had three people. At the state level in Tennessee. Who were there with their constituents, with God protests. You had representative Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Justin Jones of Nashville, and Justin Pearson of Memphis, who led protest, led protestors in the gallery in several Chans calling for gun reform. And those three Democrats are now being expelled by the G O P. That
Gil:is, that is crazy. Yeah. I couldn't believe it because I actually saw that the live videos on TikTok, they're trying to, explain the reasoning of what the hell's going on.
Eric:And they took their back the way and all
Gil:that other stuff they did, they were silenced. This is shit that they bitch about and oh my god, China's doing this. China, Iran. The US that and the US is doing it themselves. Yeah. These are all elected officials. You're silencing these groups. Why? Cuz they're the opposing party. Who would think they would've done this to? Members who, I don't know. Were at the insurrection on January 6th, but that's just a different situation. No,
Eric:of course. That, that was just daily tourists. Yes. Enjoying and basking into the halls of the capitol building. Of course there were talking, you look at tour, look, Tucker Carlson did that whole expose on how pleasant and sun beaming it was. How they were chanting kumbaya as they walked through.
Gil:Very true. I stand corrected.
Eric:Yeah. I saw this thing with Justin Jones and he was talking about for Tennessee, like adding a 0.1%. So one 10th of a percent increase. On taxes for the ultra wealthy in, I don't even know if it was the ultra wealthy. It was for corporations. Yeah. And all the Republicans were like no. You're wanting to raise taxes. You're gonna bankrupt the city. You're gonna chase away all of our corporations here. You're gonna get rid of all of our money. We are the blueprint for what every state wants to be. And they're like and then he brought up the point, most of the CEOs live like in the Cayman Islands or live elsewhere. And then one of 'em was like, no, the c e o of FedEx lives, I think it's in Memphis. He is and I was just at his house not that long ago. I'm like, oh, so you're doing this to save your buddy some money?
Gil:I don't think people like understand the basic math of when you're giving them tax cuts and you're taking away, that is money that is not, that could have been collected that you're not collecting. Yes. That's what, how it works. It doesn't mean that something, that company's gonna spend more money in your state to offset it. No, that's the fucking lie.
Eric:All that money's gonna go up to the c e o.
Gil:Yes. And but these still, but you have to remember, all the social programs still need to get paid. Yes. All this thing to pay your police and all the, your lovely fire department that still needs to get paid, that shit does not go away. That's all public money. So when you're not taxing these corporations, that extra percent, I'm gonna take it away from them, that where is that million, million sub dollars going to come from? Curiosity sake.
Eric:Cutting Medicare and social security Yes. Of the lower of the middle class and the poor. Taking away snap benefits from the illegal immigrants who don't even qualify for it anyways and don't get it. They don't?
Gil:Yes. The fucking stupid, my God, these people stress me out. I don't get it. Sometimes just maybe we are just talking to each other.
Eric:Maybe we are. Like I said, we're not really even singing to the choir. We're singing, we're having a duet here. Yeah. I did wanna note though Kelsey Ballerini, I don't know if you follow country, you don't really follow country too much. I think you follow it less than I do probably. And I don't follow it very much either. But I did have to stand this. And I did have to go download some of her music. So people, you should go download some of her music just for the fact that she was hosting the C M T awards, so the Country Music Television Awards. So she's in a huge country audience, which we know typically Yes. Where most of the country audience lies politically. Yes. And she not only used her monologue to address gun reform and the gun violence epidemic that's happening in this country, which is a big thing for her to use that platform with that audience. Yes. But when she performed, she brought four drag queens on stage with her. Oh shit. And this, I think this was the first time it wasn't in Nashville, Tennessee. It was actually in Austin, Texas. But, and I know Austin is a very liberal bubble in Texas, but it's still in Texas. And Abbott lives oddly, his, at least his office is in Austin. But yeah. So I give props and kudos to Kelsey Ballerini for doing that. She basically put her career on the line for, to stand up for something she believes in. Marin Morris has been doing that a lot too. And I think everyone should go download some of their music to a show appreciation for them, whether you listen to it or not. Yes, that's what an ally. That is literally what an ally is when we ask that question all the time. What do you think of allyship? What makes a good ally, that makes a good ally when you know you have a platform and you know you have a privilege. Yeah. And you still put yourself out there to use it and utilize it to better society and to be a voice for those who are often silenced, who are often othered. That's what an ally is.
Gil:And she is putting herself
Eric:at risk. Yeah. Because the country audience is not typically the most liberal.
Gil:No. It's a Martin of the dl. But that's a different story. Yes. So speaking of stuff like that
Eric:on the dl, yes. This was pretty interesting, especially coming because it's pertains to Florida, of course, but Grindr, I don't know if anyone knows what Grindr is.
Gil:The
Eric:right thing you Yeah, you just like you grade cheese or something. It's a grinder. If you guys the, what they call a dating app so that it can be on audios and the app store in the Google Play store, so you can actually get it, but it's actually just a fuck app or a hookup app. Grindr has said that they will start releasing the name of the legislators of Florida if they don't cut out that are on their app, if they don't stop with their ridiculous anti-trans and anti LGBTQ plus laws and legislation. Okay. I thought that was funny. I know we don't typically, I know we're pretty much Anti outing people before their time. But that, to me, in my opinion, this is just my opinion. It's not the opinion of the show, it's not Gil's opinion, it's my opinion. You lose that, right? When you have the power to write legislation that fucks over these communities and these groups of people and you use that status or that platform to fuck over the L G B T Q community you lose that, right? To keep yourself in the closet. Yeah. That's just my opinion.
Gil:I think I wanna have to second You want that one? So it's still, and so
Eric:it is the opinion of this show then,
Gil:but it is it really is because I'm the same ballpark as you. Once you start weaponizing your power and then especially against somebody. You're part of the community. You're fucking the
Eric:community. Yeah. Because you're, you wanna oh, if I put in so much of this legislation, then maybe I can cure myself by fucking over the rest of the world.
Gil:Yeah. No, we, that's not how shit works, sir.
Eric:Nope, not at all. Speaking of Florida, just Florida, really quickly, we don't, I don't know if we want to talk too in depth about Florida. We can though. No. DeSantis just signed into law that Floridians can now conceal, carry a gun without permits or training
Gil:that's gonna go well. Yes. Since every state has ever done it, there's been zero death, Eric, 0%. Zero death. Yeah. Not a single soul has been lost.
Eric:Nope. You want to hear, was it the 26 states that
Gil:Yeah, let's just list them how well they are doing.
Eric:Yeah. 26 states are now permitless, so that's over half the country. Oh,
Gil:wonderful. Yeah. They've all seen zero immediate decline.
Eric:Florida, Alabama, Mississippi Georgia, Tennessee was that West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire. Now Vermont. I was actually surprised by
Gil:There's eight people that live there. Huh? There's eight people who live in Vermont.
Eric:I know, but you have Bernie Sanders from there. That's true. The Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming. Idaho, Utah, which you we're gonna have to go on a Utah. Rabbit hole cuz they are like trying to ban all kinds of shit now. Yeah. Did we talk about how, I don't know if we talked about it, how they want to ban people under 18 from having social media
Gil:accounts? I think we briefly mentioned it, but let's revisit them as a whole. We'll give them their own time.
Eric:Okay. Arizona, Alaska, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas. You get the drift like most of those states I know I didn't name them all, but you don't need a permit in those states.
Gil:In all those states have experienced zero death since they went Yep. Permitless. Absolutely.
Eric:Yep. Wow. And then Florida is trying to expand their, don't say gay. Oh, of course. Let's see. They the, their House of Representatives approved the extension on a vote of 77 to 35. Shocking. Under the harmful bill sign in March of 2022. So this is the old one. Schools are barred from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students. So that's extremely vague. While the previous legislation only affected students between kindergarten and third grade, under the new bill, HB 1 0 69, conversation surrounding gender identity and sexual orientation would be banned up to eighth grade. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yep. Everyone's doing this whole. Hold my beer. Let me see how big of an asshole I can be.
Gil:Oh my God. It's okay. They'll get what they're coming for. They're literally like, what a hurricane away. It's like going underwater possibly. And Democrats, stop investing your fucking money there. We're not gonna win. This is gonna take an overhaul. Yeah.
Eric:And then in Texas? We just had, what was it? A Texas judge, a TE A can't talk. A Texas judge strikes down free access to prep under Obamacare on religious.
Gil:Oh, there's that first amendment.
Eric:Yes. A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the requirement to cover H I V prevention drug prep violates the religious rights of individuals and employers. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor, who was an appointee of President George W. Bush to the US District Courts of Northern District of Texas, has also thrown the requirement for insurances, insurance providers to cover a range of other preventative services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies under the Affordable Care Act and to doubt talking about our wonderful healthcare. Some more the healthcare.
Gil:Go ahead. But I was gonna say, but also when it's funny because there's suddenly they feel that the government, there's an infringement on religious rights. Yeah. But it's never the opposite where religion is clearly infringing on everyone's rights. Exactly. When it comes to making political law. Yeah. Is part I'm gonna read the First Amendment, just so everyone's hear it. Okay. If this is forbid. So the First Amendment provides that Congress makes no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It protects freedom of speech, the press assembly, and the right to petition the government protesting for a redress of grievances. So I just wanted to know right off the bat what the issue is here, because they love to scream wolf about it. I was infringing like, how are they not able to still do the religious beliefs if somebody was being provided prep?
Eric:Yeah. No, it's what I was talking about earlier. Yeah. I just thought they, they've altered religious freedom of religion to religious freedom. I, religion gives me the freedom to discriminate against you and to run your life in the way I believe.
Gil:If their church was suddenly struck down by a lightning bolt, it lit on fire in is public money for the fire department to put that shit out. So should I say I, since I am not religious, that my money should not be used for the fire department to put their shit out? Exactly. I could easily ask them. I could petition. I should petition.
Eric:Actually, we should petition it cuz guess what? All buildings matter.
Gil:Their religion is causing me distress. It's fringing on my right. As an American. Yeah.
Eric:The thing is too, with prep, like I know prep is, it's highly prevalent in the gay community. It is. I'm, yeah. Myself, I'm mom prep again. I'm on Divy, okay. But it's not just gay men who take it. Hetero men take it. Oh, I didn't know that. They, I mean they absolutely can. Yeah. It's h i v prevention. You can, yeah. You can get h i v from a woman. So it's just something to have in your toolbox. Yes. It's more prevalent in the gay community. Okay. But it's studied for people who were born male
Gil:It's, I just, I don't I don't under it's my, my, I've always had an issue with the government interfering with something that they're not educated on. I don't want them in my healthcare. It's not the fucking help provide one Absolut. But to tell me the specifics. Yeah. I think stay in your lane. Exactly. They don't do every single thing that our taxes do. For every single road construction. That's why they sell it out. They sell rights to it. Have bids from other companies for people who, what specialize in that. And these congress people, how many of them are actual profess, licensed doctors? I would love to hear that. The answer's almost less than a
Eric:percent. I'd say there might, it might be one or 2%. And that's being
Gil:generous. Yeah. A lot of them are what potential business owners doesn't mean you have to have a degree to have a business. Anyone can sign up for one. Yeah.
Eric:Like at Lauren Burber, Lauren on Bobert,
Gil:they signed up. There's nothing about smartness with that. Did you?
Eric:Did you? I just had Did you see her? Oh God, her thing on public urination. Yes. It was like super, like it was fucking comedy to yeah. Watch it. And it was rather entertaining, but it was also like embarrassing. Yeah. And it was actually quite frightening when you realize that she's in Congress and she has the ability to at least vote on or try to pass laws.
Gil:I, I feel so terrible because I remember like when Sarah Palin was the, considered the top of the crazy chain. And I remember oh my god, ha, what could ever anyone worse than this? And then we have had a slew of shit, including the president.
Eric:Who was just recently indicted.
Gil:Yes. 34 times. Yes. I, it's just, and he's still the
Eric:front runner, excuse me, of the GOs. Sorry. Not the front runner period, but the front runner of the GOs. Go ahead. Sorry. No.
Gil:It just, it's just funny because it, terrible because it's the same thing. It's, we've gave them a platform we shouldn't have ever gave them a platform. Just shut the shit down. And here we are shocked. Yes. So any who it's, this is comedy and I cannot wait for future generations to look down the line. It give us the just scorch asses about the situation. Because I want, just the same way we look back at the Civil War room, those people, then it's like, what fuck idiots, hypocrites. Yeah. And I want them to do the same, roast us. We deserve it. This is a
Eric:no. Absolutely. It's pretty sad. We're starting to see a little bit of turn, like you were talking about Gen Z, like they're pissing people off.
Gil:Oh yeah. And this generation is lit up.
Eric:Yeah. Which is great. I think it's great. Yeah. But I also think it's sad, like I saw this clip talking about, cuz like Gen Z is considered the fuck the what is it? Fuck around and find out generation. Yeah. They're saying, oh, they have nothing on generation alpha or the alpha generation. I saw this clip where elementary school kids were walking out in protest, like first graders, and they were like waving el like rainbow flags and.
Gil:Ooh. Ooh, that's gonna make Gen Z la like, Ooh.
Eric:I'm like, is that awesome? Yes, it is. Yeah. But they're kid, like they shouldn't have to be protesting. Yeah. Yes. I think it's awesome that you are that progressive and I love it. But I'm really sad that they have to give up their childhood to protest because adults have fucked around. And now we're gonna find out just how much we've fucked around. Correct. And screwed future generations. Yeah.
Gil:And the thing I don't understand, especially with the older, when you're thinking boomers, right? This is Vietnam. They're middle Vietnam war. They're the ones causing running a havoc. They're talking about the way that they treated the soldiers, which now of course they left military, pro-military. Granted, they were spitting on soldiers coming out of Vietnam. You had protesting left and right. Berkeley was burnt down pretty much. You had the smoking, anything that could be smoked during that time period. You had different kind of drugs in and out. Like it, it's just ironic because now they're older and they're like clutching their pearls. Yes. Just in awe. Like how dare these people, these youth? And I'm like, honey, do you remember the sixties, the seventies? Shit. I'm just saying. And these are the people now who are trying, that won't retire and are making still law in their seventies, eighties. Yeah.
Eric:Yeah. That are affecting the rest of the planet. And they're making laws to. Reflect the times in which they were young. Yeah. I don't know if you've watched any of the what is it, the hearings for TikTok?
Gil:I watched a few.
Eric:It's just embarrassing when you have like the level of questioning that these people who are not tech savvy, who know nothing, who know absolutely nothing about technology questioning. And you're like, did you literally just ask that question? I myself am not tech savvy too much. I know a little bit. And I'm just like, like I, I face palm all the time. I think
Gil:that my, the, and I agree with you. I totally agree with that because it's, my thing is if I was a congressperson and I'm like, I don't understand the technology, I would get an expert with me. To ask the question in a technical answer, I want to know this specific thing from it. Yes. I wouldn't ask because I don't know exactly what am I looking for. I wanna know from a security standpoint. Now, Bob a, can you please ex ask this TikTok person in specifics? I want to, can you explain this? Yeah. And what is the blah, blah, blah. And they're not, but they're not doing that. They're like what if those are, I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? Yeah. It's
Eric:shameful. And we talked a little bit this about on the pre podd as well and just so we're, I'm only gonna mention it, so please people go look it up because you'll be just as angry as we were about it. Like they're using all these are the people that are like trying to pass the restricted act.
Gil:Yes. Oh, the restrict act?
Eric:Yes. If you want, we can dive into it a little bit more, cuz you probably
Gil:know I know some, I don't know, like in the full detail, but it's the same thing of, it gives too much power to the department of Commerce as well as the executive branch is what it is to just deem this app or whatever, a security threat to the United States. That's what it comes down to. But the wording, it's extremely vague. Think Patriot Act posts nine 11. Absolutely. This is that same thing where it gives overarching no restriction. There's really minimal guidelines. So that's what it comes to. But it's the same issue of you're literally trying to ban an app. It's oh, the Chinese government ban apps, blah, blah, blah. Or not like them, but you're doing the exact fucking
Eric:thing. Yeah. And if you use a VPN n to access these apps, you can be put in jail for 20 years. Yes. And. The thing is that they're saying like, oh like you said, the Chinese are using this app to harvest our information, to harvest our data, blah, blah, blah. So is fucking meta's
Gil:doing it people, so that So is Twitter book, that's your Instagram, Twitter, yes. Any of them. That's why when I know I hear people, they've already, same thing. Oh my God, my privacy. My privacy. But the thing is, my privacy has been lost 22 years ago when I probably sent the first agreement that was like, take MySpace information away. MySpace on Apple. On any just click away. Agree, sure. Why not? Let me get on this face. Scam my information so far gone. And so the, I
Eric:fail myself. And so the thing is that like the government can come in and say, oh, I find Facebook to be inappropriate because X, Y, and Z. So now we're gonna put a ban on Facebook. Correct. Or we're gonna do that to Twitter, or we're gonna do that to WhatsApp, or we're gonna do that to a plethora of whatever. TikTok, in a lot of ways, I think is being singled out and they're using the Chinese angle because TikTok shows a lot of what's happening in real time. Yeah. So and someone pointed this out, if you go onto Instagram and you type in France, like a lot of like happy-go-lucky, beautiful photos. The Eiffel Tower, the locks on the bridge, like all kinds of like cutesy, romantic, lovely stuff. When you type in TikTok, when you type in France on TikTok, you see all these protests, you see all this movement of the people. They don't want you to see that. They don't want you, they don't want, they don't, they're doing what has happened in other countries where the young people have organized and said, you're gonna fuck around and find out. And now they're trying to cut that organization out.
Gil:Think of 2020 election, how much the impact of TikTok was versus the misinformation that was given the 2016 election on Facebook. Yes. I, that's what it comes down to. And that's why they don't understand why. Nope. But Facebook did not get the same scrutiny. They, yeah. They were challenging and reformatting and do it, it still never, ever matched to the same level of the, what they're trying to go after. TikTok. Yeah. A full ban. Could you imagine a full ban on Facebook? They're, they were spreading lies. Yeah. We know that there was e just beyond evidence. This is
Eric:documented. It's their religious freedom, though.
Gil:Of course. It's God bless America. It we know that swung the 2016 election. And then you wanna talk about Mean got other stuff, but Yeah.
Eric:Yeah. And I saw this thing, I think it was on, it was, I think it was on CNN N it might have been SN bbc, but I think it was cnn or they're, they were talking about who rigged, who honestly rigged the election 45 rigged the 2016 election with the fact that he paid hush money to Karen McDougal. He paid hush money to Stormy Daniels. He paid hush money to a doorman. All of this was like, not all of this, like Karen McDougle, I think was like earlier in the summer, but Stormy Daniels and the doorman were all like October-ish. Just before the election yeah.
Gil:This is Tali, this is gonna be some PhD students research. And I want to, I can't wait to see the shit that comes down the pipe later down the road. Yeah. Because we know it. And it's same thing. TikTok played a huge role in the 2020 election. We know that information was getting out all the lies. The report, I mean it was coming in the moment and you had Gen Z read eating that shit up. Us two millennials were like, oh my God, look at this. And it helped. And we know who you restrict this, that it's oh my God, what did we go? What's gonna happen? No, we'll find something else. But it's the same thing. You're putting a damper on democracy. You're putting a thing on freedom of expression and your first to meet, it's their first Amendment challenge. What involvement does the government surely have? Cuz if the hearings, I don't, I didn't hear anything that they had a legit thing. They have a concern. Yes. They have a concern. Concerned with the other companies
Eric:and like you. Exactly. And like you said in the precast, like when we actually side with Rand Paul and he's the one who has the objection. Yes. That tells you a whole hell of a lot. Like the fact that I'm even saying that I sided with him, I was like, what the fuck is happening here? This is a twilight zone shit.
Gil:Yeah. I, because he was speaking out correctly and I was simply like, yeah, absolutely. You have some sense on this. Finally, you have one thing that we agree on.
Eric:Yes. I was like in, I was like, is that really Rand Paul speaking? Am I in an alternate universe right now?
Gil:I know I had to keep her replying. I'm like, this is the onion dump this shit. Lemme check Yeah. Checking my sources. I'm like, no it's, he's really specific.
Eric:I'm this speech and all your other little speeches, like one of these things is not like the others.
Gil:Yeah. It's bad. Yeah. But God, it just ridiculous. It's ridiculous. We're talking about it. Craziness. But this is where we're at. Yeah. This is where we've been in this boat since 2016. People well race likely before that. There were some of the craziest were come the
Eric:Tea Party. Yeah. The Tea Party was crazy. It was crazy. But we didn't think it was, we thought that was
Gil:extreme. Yeah. They allowed it. That's the G o p's downfall. Yeah.
Eric:I have to say though, I'm super proud of Chicago. Why, what happened in, because Brandon Johnson was elected the new mayor, and he's a super progressive Democrat. Yay. And I am very proud of Wisconsin because they just flipped their Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years. Good. So they had a liberal judge elected to that. I want, I know we've talked a lot already about gen Z. But I have to give Gen Z props in the fact that Gen Z gets more joy from seeing their pets happy than their partner. And it says this is gen Z is also more likely than any other generation to invest saved money on their pet than use it on to go on a vacation. That's according to a survey of 2000 pet owners split evenly by generations that showed only 15% of Gen Z would rather buy an expensive concert ticker or go on a vacation. 30% with save cash, whereas 42 would prefer to save the money or for unexpected pet expenses. Gen Zers admit that they get more joy from seeing their pets happy than their partner. 36% versus 21% more than any other generation. I think that's adorable. It could be cuz I'm probably a Gen Z at heart because a, I don't have a partner and I have three dogs. And they are the light of my life. So I just thought that was super sweet. I'm
Gil:like, I have no pets. I have just the husbands. I'm like, yes.
Eric:I think that's super. Absolutely. I think that's super sweet. Just a couple other little things I wanted to talk about a. Good thing for Texas. Shocking that I'm saying those words. A federal judge has ordered public libraries in Yano County to return an array of previously banned lgbtq plus books. Okay, good. That's a good, that's a good thing. That's a good side.
Gil:Okay. Okay.
Eric:What's it called? Heart
Gil:Stopper. Is it called? Oh
Eric:yes. Heart Stop. Heart Stop. We love Heart Stopper on this podcast. I don't know, I don't know if anyone has seen the new pictures of Kit Connor. I know I sent them to Gil. He has definitely beefed up a lot, yes. He said that he did it for the role of Nick. Oh, kept from Heart Stopper because he was supposed to be like this big rugged Yeah. Rugby player and everyone just kept saying, oh, he's too skinny. He's too skinny. So he beeped up. I think he looks like a Marvel superhero now, but good on him, whatever he is doing. But the author, Alice Osmond has announced the release dates for Heart Soper Volume five, and says that volume six will be the final volume in the series. To my knowledge, I haven't read the graphic novels, but to my knowledge it's two volumes per season or that's how it ended up with the first season at least. Yeah, I think, and I think they said three and four were gonna be this second season that has already finished taping, but hasn't been released yet, and there's no release tape for the second season. But if that equates out to how everything is, Then that means we're gonna get three seasons of our gay show and then it's gonna get canceled just like all of our other shows.
Gil:God damn it.
Eric:But yeah love Victor. I love, I missed that show and I
Gil:can't myself, like Mino looks like he's doing
Eric:well. Yeah, he's in the new, he's in the last two episodes on the, of the new season of how I met your father. Oh, nice. Yeah, he beefed up too.
Gil:He beefed up him and Mason Gooding that's Mason Gooding also. Yeah.
Eric:Mason Gooding's always incredible. Cause they're always, yeah.
Gil:No, he,
Eric:I'm like, everyone slept on Andrew. Everyone slept on Andrew except for me. I don't wanted to sleep on Andrew, but Mason Gooding, not Andrew the character, but Mason Gooding. Yeah.
Gil:Mason Gooding's handsome.
Eric:He's gorgeous. I had a, I used to have a crush on his father too. That shows how old I am. It's
Gil:father's ha. Yeah. Who is the father? His
Eric:father, people Gooding Jr. I had a crush, I had a crush on Trey from Boys in the Hood. That's like my favorite movie. And he played Trey
Gil:Huh? Movie Poison in the Hood. Vhs.
Eric:Yeah,
Gil:on vhs. I know what it's I hooked up my VHS player. Did you really? I really did. I, we, I found it in our box and then I made my area, my kind of like gaming area, but I realized my games are very old and we're talking like 20 years ago. So I had my PS one available. I had my BHS player right. And a little external drive to play my rollercoaster tycoon from 9 99.
Eric:Look at you going all vintage.
Gil:I know. Now it's vintage for me. I'm like, I remember when it came out. I'm
Eric:like, vintage is the cool word.
Gil:It really is. I've officially had my license for 20 years as of April 4th.
Eric:Oh, really?
Gil:Yeah. I've been apparently legally driving for 20. Ah, that's weird. I, it's older than some of the people I have at work, so that's always fun.
Eric:Yeah. Wow. Thank you guys for listening to us talk, chew our Faces. Hopefully you got a little, had a little bit of fun listening to this duet in concert. And please feel free to follow us at the q lounge podcast.com or wherever you get your podcast, or literally on every single thing. Yeah. You can follow us on Facebook at the Q Lounge podcast, Twitter or Instagram at the Q Lounge, which I think I said earlier. You can DM us or send us messages if we do love to hear from you. Anything else we need to say, please subscribe, review five stars, and feel free to hit the donation button. Yes. And we get stuff done. Yes. And until next time, thank you so much and may you live in your authenticity.
Hello really quickly. It's Eric. I just wanted to make a couple little notes to address topics that we discussed earlier in the podcast. When we were discussing, Bush versus the caucus, it was Willie Horton, the commercial for Willie Horton. So if you want to look that up, you can also, we wanted to address that. After this episode was recorded. The Tennessee GOP led. House decided to expel two of the three. House members, they expelled both Justin Jones And Justin Pearson. The two black men, but they did keep Gloria Johnson, in the house, I'm sure. Gil and I will be discussing that a little bit more on the next episode, but we just wanted to give that quick update that we are aware that the expulsion did happen. The Q lounge. The Q lounge. Be sugar daddy. The Q lounge. The Q lounge. In your authenticity.
Get the latest updates and news for The Q Lounge as well as fun factoids
Listen On
Support On
