S1: From Kerkow media. So what are you going to do about.
S2: So welcome to politics. Meet me in the middle. This
S2: is a weird show. Joey salvia producer, he's in charge
S2: the show. And I'm a bit nervous because. Well, well,
S2: he's in charge. And if you knew his sense of humor,
S2: you'd understand why I'm sitting here just kind of waiting
S2: to see what happens. So let me introduce our producer
S2: of politics. Meet me in the middle, Joey Salvia.
S1: Thank you, Bill. This episode is going to be a
S1: little different. We're going to focus on trending topics in
S1: the news and social media, mostly political Twitter, and then
S1: ask our host, who'll be playing against guest this episode,
S1: sort of about his thoughts, feelings and opinions on some
S1: of these topics. Plus, later, we'll do a get to
S1: know Bill a bit more with the producers Lightning Round. Oh, brother.
S1: Because we all love a good lightning round.
S2: I told you this was going to be a problem.
S1: And the bonus question that might help us understand how
S1: and why political belief systems change over time. Oh, this
S1: episode is not a test and our house has no
S1: idea what I'm going to ask them. It's a producer
S1: special of politics. Meet me in the middle. I'm not
S1: Bill Kurtis. OK, let's start the show.
S3: OK, Bill, what was the first
S1: platform that introduced you to social media?
S2: Probably early Facebook and
S3: I didn't know what
S2: I was doing and frankly, I'm not that good at it. Now,
S2: when when Facebook first started, it was it was something,
S2: as you know, associated with colleges. And it was fun
S2: back then. And, you know, now it's a little different.
S1: It was kind of fun because you were getting to
S1: find people that you hadn't seen in 20, 30 years. Right? Like, oh, wow,
S1: guess who I found on Facebook? You tell somebody. Right.
S2: Which is really weird
S3: because they don't
S2: look any better than I look now. So, you know,
S2: everybody is kind of gone to hell in a
S1: handbasket and so was Facebook, for that matter. Do you
S1: do
S2: Twitter? No, I'm mostly a LinkedIn guy.
S1: LinkedIn, the safe end of the pool. We're going to
S1: go deep here. The dangerous end of the pool, Twitter
S1: very polarizing. I'm going to read you some tweets and
S1: I'd like you to react to them, Bill. And we'll
S1: start with this one. It's a trending topic and it
S1: happens to be a political poll. While we're recording this
S1: on May 11, 20, 21,
S3: a recent AP poll shows that
S1: in the fourth month of his presidency, President Joe Biden's
S1: overall approval rating is 63 percent. The Biden
S3: covid-19 pandemic
S1: response has a 71 percent approval rating. This includes over
S1: 40 percent Republicans, 54 percent say the country's right on track,
S1: highest since 2017. What's your take on these numbers, Bill,
S1: and the evaluation of President Joe Biden's performance?
S2: Well, first of all, you know, what they
S3: say is that there are lies,
S2: there are damn lies and statistics. Mm hmm. I would
S2: have to ask really who were they really interviewing there?
S2: You know, we had a funny show a while back
S2: with Patrick Murray, who ran Monmouth polling. We got on
S2: him pretty heavy because of how they screwed up the
S2: second election in a row. And I'd have to say
S2: that the polling for me is all in question. But
S2: in general, I think people got tired of the melodrama
S2: of our last president. They're kind of excited at the
S2: idea that
S3: there's somebody who is
S2: presidential in the office. Certainly the effort in vaccinating people
S2: has been a
S3: success so far
S2: for the folks who are arguing against this president at
S2: this point. They were going to argue against him no
S2: matter what he did. Good point.
S1: On the economy, covid jobs and unemployment. Let's get your
S1: reaction to this statement. Biden says he doesn't see much
S1: evidence that covid unemployment benefits are keeping people from going
S1: back to
S3: work, quote,
S1: Americans want to work. I think that people who claim
S1: Americans won't work, even if they find a good and
S1: fair opportunity, underestimate the American people. From Joe Biden, your thoughts, Bill?
S2: Well, there is a reality that if you give people
S2: more money to not work, you're going to run into
S2: a jam. If you're asking people to come back to
S2: a job and they're making more money by staying home,
S2: many of them are going to decide to stay home.
S2: Some of them are going to go back to work.
S2: I've been listening to a lot of the pundits and
S3: how they feel
S2: we should take this to the next level. And as
S2: a matter of fact, we had a great show
S3: with Stephanie Kelton last week who had a
S2: concept called the Federal Job Guarantee, where anybody who was
S2: unemployed had a guaranteed job with the government. No more welfare,
S2: no more unemployment, just a guaranteed job that would be
S2: focused on whatever. You were good at it.
S3: Now, lots
S2: of people could sit back and say, well, that wouldn't
S2: work for the following reasons. And they'd come up
S3: with a concept why it wouldn't
S2: work. And of course, someone might be disabled or what
S2: have you. But in general, I sure liked that concept
S2: better
S3: than sending
S2: people checks for doing nothing, because, frankly, one of the
S2: things that is important, a. About the concept of helping
S2: people get a better life is to get them used
S2: to working, get them used to being productive, get them
S2: out in the marketplace because employers don't like hiring the unemployed, inevitably,
S2: they would prefer to hire someone from
S3: another company, a competitor
S2: or what have you, who is showing a trend of
S2: being employed. So the whole concept of if you're unemployed,
S2: you picked up by the government, you still hone your skills,
S2: you're still good at what you do, and you just
S2: happen to need some time to find a better situation.
S2: I loved that concept of the federal job guarantee much
S2: better than the idea. And during covid, I've got to say,
S2: one of the things that the government did that I'd
S2: have to say was wrong was they gave through the
S2: stimulus packages. They gave a 600 dollar per week bonus
S2: to the unemployed so that when someone wanted to hire
S2: their employee back, their employee was making 2400 dollars more
S2: per month than the employer could pay them. Right. And
S2: that was a problem.
S3: Right. And so you
S2: got to take into account motivation. We've got to make
S2: sure we're motivating everybody in the right direction. And I'm
S2: not sure that just giving people money without some kind
S2: of an obligation to get out there and learn something,
S2: do something, contribute to society, contribute to a company better yourself.
S2: I'm just not sure that without those things, it's really
S2: very productive.
S1: No, I like this idea of a federal jobs program,
S1: a chance to
S3: to gain self-worth at the same time
S1: as making ends meet in opportunity to be a value
S1: to your community.
S2: It's good stuff. You know, if someone is a good writer,
S2: we find them a good writing position. The argument against
S2: this concept of a federal job guarantee is that you
S2: then have to have people within the government organization that
S2: are sharp and can manage a situation. We're always afraid
S2: of that because
S3: who's the
S2: worst operator of organizations on the planet? Well, it's the U.S.
S3: government, like the post
S2: office know, like the post office, you know, I mean,
S2: look at FedEx and UPS compared to the post office. Absolutely.
S2: Efficiencies are night and day.
S1: Look at the space program at this point, Bill.
S2: Yeah, exactly. So one of Stephanie's ideas was that you
S2: actually provide people from the government to private organizations and
S2: you let them manage those people and you're basically just
S2: a placement service in the government. And I think that
S2: that might be a good solution.
S1: And we may be able to hire people to be
S1: part of an oversight committee to make sure the right
S1: people get the right jobs as well. Maybe not government
S2: employees. I'm sure in the government there would be an
S2: oversight committee, there would be an oversight of the oversight committee,
S2: and there'd be one that has oversight. That committee, the
S2: job czar.
S1: Exactly. OK, so we'll move on to World News and
S1: Foreign Affairs Bill. Now, this is a big hot trending
S1: topic on social media. And of course, me being a
S1: Twitter user, I see it all the time. The Biden,
S1: Putin vs. Trump, Putin dynamic. What do you what do
S1: you think about that? Any fears with our current president
S1: as opposed to our former president regarding that relationship?
S2: Well, this is a problem because our show is normally
S2: called Meet Me in the Middle. So I'm going to
S2: try to look at both sides for a second. First
S2: of all, what made me most afraid was Donald Trump
S2: in charge of anything. Second to that, shots fired is
S2: a concern that we're fanning
S3: flames from our current
S2: president. But isn't it somewhat refreshing that at least we're
S2: getting an honest answer when when Biden was asked, do
S2: you think that Putin is a killer? And of course,
S2: we know what they
S3: did to reporters
S2: and we also know what they did to Putin's
S3: nemesis. And he found
S2: himself full of a poison that is uniquely available to
S2: Putin
S3: and his group.
S2: So having a president that has the Stones, Gonyea's, Kohona, yeah,
S2: I've got to hand him some high grades for actually
S2: being honest, because one of the things that we want
S2: as an American society is an honest president.
S3: It's a refreshing
S2: change from the past four years. So I've got to
S2: say that I
S3: like Biden's
S2: intentions. I don't like the idea of bringing back a
S2: Cold War, saying I don't really want to fan the
S2: flames of that if we don't have to. But I
S2: sure trust this president in that relationship a whole lot
S2: more than one that appeared to be actually in the
S2: pocket of Putin himself.
S1: Yeah. All right. So we're moving to a very serious
S1: subject here.
S2: And this is that wasn't a serious subject.
S1: You see, you'd think that you'd gone to the lowest point.
S1: But till you get to the next tweet.
S2: Oh, I can go lower. I can go lower.
S1: Joey, this one's really this one hits hard. This tweet
S1: is not an opinion. It's more than just a factual
S1: statement from a friend of mine, political commentator. There were
S1: nine mass shootings this past weekend.
S3: Peter Daou, don't respond.
S1: Here's one from Ana Navarro from The View, CNN. Political
S1: pundit in the last 72 hours in America, over 400
S1: people have been shot, were killed, including little kids. We
S1: must continue to demand more of some of our politicians
S1: who have been bought and paid for by the NRA
S1: until they act to address this other epidemic, killing Americans.
S1: Ana Navarro. Bill, wow, you're right.
S2: You got darker on me.
S3: Let's back
S2: up for just a second,
S3: okay?
S2: 90 percent of the American people want some kind of
S2: reasonable gun regulation in this country. The only reason why
S2: we don't have it is because the NRA is one
S2: of the operations that funds the campaign coffers of many
S2: of the folks that we've elected to Congress. Michael Steele,
S2: I think, said it best because
S3: he said we keep
S2: on reelecting the people who don't give us what they
S2: promised us when we elected them to office. And one
S2: of those things is reforming the gun laws. And, you know,
S2: I've got to say that generally most American citizens realize
S2: that allowing for some kind of protection of yourself is
S2: inherent in our Constitution. So, OK, you should be able
S2: to bear arms. But what we've been asking for from
S2: our government is to present us with less ridiculous equipment
S2: that people can purchase or
S3: manufacture by going on the
S2: Internet and let's say buying two items such as these
S2: rapid fire automatic weapons. There's really no reason to have
S2: any of that. And the immediate response that we get
S2: from the NRA and anybody who is really concerned with
S2: not having any change in gun laws
S3: in this country is they're trying
S2: to take away our guns. Right. It's time for us
S2: as a society to stop letting people get away with
S2: whatever kind of rhetoric and nonsense they want to present
S2: to us that is really designed to make a subject
S2: go away when what they're saying is ridiculous. We're not
S2: trying to take away anybody's guns. You know, if you
S2: go into Montana, for example, there are people who go
S2: deer hunting, right? And if they don't, the deer population
S2: will overwhelm and it will be a problem. So, OK,
S2: you should be able to have some kind of rifle
S2: for deer hunting. You should be able to
S3: have some kind of gun to protect
S2: yourself. But we have to be much, much more diligent
S2: in making sure that we are checking the people who
S2: are sold guns. We have to be much, much more
S2: diligent in making sure that we're not selling guns where
S2: the only use for them is something that is clearly
S2: inappropriate for society. Nobody's going to walk into a forest
S2: and use an automatic weapon to hunt deer.
S3: Nobody's going to do that. Nobody's going to go
S2: out to their clay pigeon sport shooting range and use
S2: an automatic weapon to take out a clay pit.
S1: Hello.
S2: So what is the reason to have those on the market?
S2: The reason that why those still around the market is
S2: because any supposed regulation of gun purchasing in this country
S2: is immediately while they're trying to take away your guns.
S2: We've got to get to the point where we don't
S2: stand for that anymore and we shouldn't stand for politicians
S2: who react to that. We didn't elect them to react
S2: to that. We didn't elect them to fill their coffers
S2: full of election campaign money.
S3: We elected them for governance,
S2: not for politics. We elected them to govern us. And
S2: this is an area where our country has a bruise,
S2: a black spot here in this area with how we
S2: are treating gun laws in this country. Now, this is
S2: not the only problem. Let's be honest. If tomorrow we
S2: change the gun laws and made them more sensible, there
S2: are too many guns out there. I don't have an
S2: answer with what you do about that. And there are
S2: too many people who, frankly, should be diagnosed with a
S2: problem before they go out and create a mass shooting situation.
S2: And I'm not sure what the answer is to that either.
S2: One of Biden's plans with his health care proposal is
S2: that we get a little more serious
S3: about building
S2: the health care organization in this country, which includes mental health.
S2: And we have to figure out why there are people
S2: who go untreated, undiagnosed and untreated. And we've got to
S2: do something about that.
S3: We've got to spend the
S2: money that it takes to do it, because this is
S2: getting ridiculous with all these mass shootings. I mean, this
S2: is America, for goodness sakes.
S3: Why would we
S2: allow this to go on any longer than necessary?
S1: Well said, sir. Well said. Coming up, more tweets and
S1: trends and a bonus. We're going to find out a
S1: little bit about Bill's political journey.
S4: On medicine, we're still practicing join Dr. Stephen Tayback and
S4: Bill Kurtis for real conversations with the medical professionals who
S4: have their finger on the pulse of health care in
S4: the modern world available on all your favorite podcasting platforms
S4: produced by Kerkow media.
S1: We continue with political trending topics on social
S3: media with our
S1: show host in the guest chair today, Bill Kurtis. Former
S1: Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh is a Republican well known for
S1: openly discussing his regret for supporting Trump, saying Trump's entire
S1: life is a lie. He's also known for saying that
S1: the Republican Party is a cult. Here's a recent tweet
S1: from another well-known conservative voice on Twitter that the GOP
S1: isn't even toying with the idea of finding another candidate
S1: or two to run in 2004 and is instead totally
S1: satisfied with rerunning. The guy who lost the White House
S1: and Senate in one term tells you it's not a
S1: party anymore. It's a cult. From S.E. Cupp. Now, before
S1: you respond, Bill, I'd like you to also weave in
S1: a little bit of your political journey as a bonus.
S2: How much time you got?
S1: It's a podcast. We do what we want and go
S1: as long as we want. Go ahead, Joey.
S2: Yeah, I'm a long time Republican, but my view of
S2: what a Republican is or was is different than what
S2: we think of as Republican today. My view of Republican
S2: is fiscal responsibility, more reasonable discussion of social issues. And
S2: now what is thought of as Republican? Because I've got
S2: a lot of friends who are also confused, Republicans saying
S2: and once upon a time Republican was really about small government.
S2: It was about small taxes, trying to keep regulations at
S2: a minimum. And it slowly turned probably since Reagan. And
S2: it's turned into a party that is no longer about governance.
S2: It is all about politics.
S1: Now, I've heard you say that before, but please, for
S1: our listeners, a deeper dive, governance versus politics.
S2: Bill, everything you're hearing from the Republican Party today is politics.
S2: None of it is about governance. The people in the
S2: Republican Party who were thinking about governing, who were concerned
S2: with compromise on social issues and fiscal responsibility and how
S2: you spent the money, how you taxed people keeping government
S2: at a minimum, those people have left the people in
S2: Congress who were what you would call a centrist. They've
S2: left because they no longer see it as their party.
S2: We've had a bunch of people recently on
S3: our show between
S2: Bill Kristol and Michael Steele, Michael Steele, they were pretty
S2: staunch Republicans and they, too, have basically fled from the
S2: party because the party is no longer the Republican Party
S2: that we were familiar with. Now, I have to say
S2: that I've probably become somewhat of a social issue Democrat
S2: because I am convinced in my
S3: older age that it's
S2: time for our country to take care of itself and
S2: its people. Hamen, create opportunity for those who don't have
S2: any right, care for those who don't have any. And
S2: to be this wealthy, a nation and allow people to
S2: have no roof over their head or not. Enough food
S2: is pathetic. It's a shame. There are a lot of
S2: people who hear something like that and they say, oh,
S2: he's gone radical. No, I don't think that we should
S2: be taxing crazily in order to do that. I think
S2: there are other methods for us to accomplish those goals
S2: of taking care of each other. First of all, wouldn't
S2: it be nicer if we lived in a country where
S2: we actually took care of each other, where if you
S2: passed someone who is clearly homeless rather than saying, boy,
S2: they're making a mess of my my street here, if
S2: we were the kind of people who actually took care
S2: of them and found a way to help them rather
S2: than just want them to be farther away, I can't
S2: help but feel like we have problems that we could
S2: solve ourselves without government.
S1: I agree with everything you say and Bill. But but
S1: what exactly what do you think happened to the Republican Party?
S1: This is not the same party. I remember the
S2: people who are in charge of the Republican Party. It's
S2: not even a cult anymore. There are people who are
S2: doing whatever they can to fan the flames of a
S2: bonfire that they've created. Wow. They've created a bonfire with
S2: 74 million people in this country that believe that anything
S2: Democrat or liberal
S3: is a disease, is a problem
S2: waiting to happen, that it's communism or socialism or it's
S2: it's going to cause us terrible problems. When Michael Steele
S2: said to us that he knew Donald Trump was going
S2: to win in 2016, when a blue collar woman who
S2: cleaned hotel rooms for a living said to him, I'm
S2: voting for Donald Trump because he's just like
S1: me, outrageous.
S2: You got to wonder, how is a professed billionaire who
S2: paints everything
S3: gold, just like a
S2: woman who cleans hotel rooms for a living. And there
S2: is this crazy image where what prevails is the image.
S2: And kind of the rah rah rah, all the nonsense
S2: I know we're supposed to call it
S3: lies, but what it is,
S2: is creating a kind of an
S3: environment where
S2: it's not about specifics, it's not about reality. It is
S2: just about emotion. The Republican Party right now is more
S2: like the Tea Party. They're just about
S3: emotion. They're not paying
S2: attention to what it takes to govern the country. I see.
S2: And they're not actually thinking about what they can do.
S2: That is good. They're trying to think about what they
S2: can do, where they can become more of a pure culture.
S3: And the pure
S2: culture that they are accomplishing is, in fact, I'd have
S2: to say a lot like Germany in the 1930s.
S1: That's a scary thought.
S2: They are actually penalizing anyone who doesn't hop on board
S2: with whatever kind of nonsense they want to put forth.
S2: So right now, Trump is the kind of nonsense that
S2: they're putting forth.
S3: And if you're
S2: not on side, you are shunned. You're you're run out
S2: of town. And the Republicans at this point, they've lost
S2: their
S3: minds, which
S1: speaks directly to the whole Liz Cheney situation.
S3: I have to say, Joey, a lot of
S2: the Republican social issues just pissed me off at this point.
S2: Why they have determined that they need to meddle in
S2: women's lives and body is why they have determined
S3: that they need
S2: to control or actually push religion, which this country stands on.
S2: You're not supposed to push religion on anybody. They're supposed
S2: to make up their own minds and they're supposed to
S2: follow their own God. And all of a sudden in
S2: this in this country, we've gotten to the
S3: point where you have
S2: people who are very emotional about the concept of
S3: abortion and things like
S2: Planned Parenthood, where the organization does so much more than
S2: abortions and it's so much for the people that they serve.
S2: And the Republican Party has used them as a kind
S2: of a scapegoat to get people on side and argue
S2: with something that is actually good for our society. So
S2: I haven't seen a lot of moves by Republicans lately
S2: other than maybe Mitt. No, he
S1: took a beating.
S2: He took he took a bit of a beating
S3: because the Republican
S2: Party has lost itself. It isn't what it once was,
S2: which was a sensible thinking, organized group of people who
S2: wanted fiscal responsibilities and were willing to argue the points
S2: about social and they're concerned with a lot of social
S2: issues was more of what could be fiscally paid for
S2: and what couldn't.
S1: OK, it's meet me in the middle, as you usually say,
S1: in the middle of a podcast, no pun intended. But
S1: my question is,
S3: what about Joe Biden? Any issues with
S1: him at all?
S3: Well, yeah, the only
S2: place I think that he's making a mistake right now
S2: is how he's talking about taxes. Stephanie Kelton talked about
S2: something called modern monetary theory. The U.S. government is not
S2: like you and me, where we have to have a
S2: balanced budget. We have to earn a dollar to spend
S2: a dollar. She talked about how the U.S. government is
S2: a monetary issuer.
S3: When they wrote
S2: all these multitrillion dollar stimulus plans, they didn't go out
S2: there and take the money from anybody or borrow the
S2: money from anybody or tax anybody
S3: differently.
S2: They basically wrote it down in the ledger and spent
S2: the money because they issue currency. Then what they have
S2: to do is make sure that that doesn't result in
S2: too much money in the system that they feel creates inflation. Right.
S2: So there are other ways to create a hedge on
S2: inflation or there are other ways to prevent inflation. For example,
S2: you can create more competition, and if you create more competition,
S2: let more international competition come in for all things, make
S2: it easier for those who compete to operate.
S3: There are ways
S2: that you can keep inflation in check. So the idea
S2: of we're going to tax people for programs that this
S2: country sorely needs, because you've got to admit everything in
S2: his plan is a good idea. Right. But what people
S2: are worried about and a reason why it might not
S2: pass is because people are worried about the taxes. And
S2: when they say it's only going to hit people who
S2: make 400000 or more, it's only going to hit rich people.
S2: There's a reality. If you sell your house, your house
S2: is probably 400000 or more. So I got news for you.
S2: When you sell your house, if you have a total
S2: flow of a million dollars, then let's say your house
S2: was 607, seven or eight hundred thousand dollars and
S3: your job 200000
S2: dollars. Mm hmm. Guess what? You're not going to be
S2: able to have the capital gains that you planned your
S2: life around. So they want to change that
S3: to the point where you're paying
S2: basically 40 percent capital gains tax, thirty nine
S3: point eight percent plus
S2: you're going to pay Biden's health care three and a
S2: half percent tax. Plus, if you live in New York
S2: or California or a state like that, you're going to
S2: pay something between 10 and 12 or 13 percent tax.
S2: You're going to end up with 45 percent of your money.
S2: The problem with it? Is not how willing we are
S2: as a society, because this is a democratic, small D society,
S2: so the masses can vote
S3: that the smaller number
S2: of rich people pay the check. The reality, though, is
S2: the people who have the most influence in Washington who
S2: might prevent all these good things from happening. Joey, in
S2: this infrastructure plan that we sorely need, they're worried about
S2: the taxes.
S3: Yeah.
S2: So I certainly hope that people like Stephanie Kelton and
S2: all of these economists who have a better way to
S2: handle the monetary needs for something as productive as the
S2: infrastructure package. I hope that they get the ear of
S2: Congress and I hope they have an opportunity to talk
S2: to
S3: President Biden and
S2: talk about the other philosophies other than just taxing people
S2: like crazy. I've got to say that I'm concerned that
S2: these packages that we need might not go through because
S2: they involve such taxes. And I know that it's a
S2: small number of people that we're talking about taxing, but
S2: those are the people who have the most influence in Washington.
S1: Well, that just about covers it for today. But straight ahead,
S1: it's a producers' lightning round and Bill's in the hot seat.
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S1: OK, it's what we've been waiting for. Well, at least
S1: that's what I've been waiting for, to get Bill Kurtis
S1: in The Lightning Round, see, and here we go. Don't forget, Bill,
S1: like you tell your guest. Keep it quick. Keep it short.
S1: It's a lightning round. Here we go. Are you
S2: ready? I suppose a Joey. I got to go.
S1: Oh, you're not getting out of the hot seat. All right.
S1: So we're going to have some fun now because these
S1: were serious subjects and some just downright just said,
S2: OK, let me sit up and get ready. All right.
S1: So the lightning rod, this is not going to be
S1: that difficult. You're going to get through this with flying
S1: colors and take your time not to go too fast.
S2: Already hit me.
S1: Who was your favorite president in your lifetime and why?
S1: And so far, of course, Bill, you got years to go.
S2: Reagan I didn't completely understand all of what he stood
S2: for and what his policies were back then. I was
S2: a little ignorant in some of the things that he
S2: was doing at the time. I was very happy with
S2: what he was doing. And believe it or not, I
S2: got to add a runner up until he had a
S2: problem with his the fly on in his pants Clinton,
S2: because he was surprisingly an amazingly productive in a lot
S2: of his policies.
S3: He just
S2: had a problem with the zipper in his
S1: pants. It's funny how we accepted the problem with the
S1: zipper as the decades rolled on, though, right?
S2: Well, we don't care about that anymore, obviously.
S1: OK, who's your favorite historical figure? Wow, good question, or
S1: did I stump the master? Give me a minute. So
S1: much for the lightning round, folks. I like this lightning
S1: round because I'm picking a lot of stuff that I
S1: don't know about you and listeners don't know about you.
S1: And you get to see a little peek into your life.
S1: You got one
S2: for me, Socrates. Socrates would make any statement by realizing
S2: that the person that he was talking to, what they
S2: said was more important to themselves than what he said.
S3: He was always on
S2: trial, by the way. He was always in trouble. And
S2: he realized that the most powerful thing would be a question.
S2: The most powerful thing you could say would be a question,
S2: not an answer, that an answer was like a dead
S2: end road, and that a question was like a whole
S2: series of roads in front of you. And he was
S2: capable of out thinking his enemies and asking them questions
S2: such that he could almost make them say absolutely anything
S2: and he would defend himself through questions. He was absolutely
S2: brilliant that way. And so I would have to say, Socrates,
S2: favorite movie.
S1: Oh, Shawshank. Oh, great movie, The Shawshank.
S2: And then everything else.
S1: Good Taste 1994 to should have won the Academy Award
S1: for Best Picture, but it didn't. I believe it lost
S1: to Forrest Gump,
S3: Meirong, Forrest Gump. It's great.
S2: I mean, that was that was such an amazing
S3: movie about Stewart.
S2: It was Forrest Gump. It was Forrest Gump, Stewart, thank you.
S1: It also Pulp Fiction was on the same.
S2: Wow, tough year.
S1: That's a good year for movies, steak or lobster?
S2: Oh, both. You got to have both. Otherwise, it's just
S2: not it's just not right to have to choose
S1: favorite drink, beer, wine or bourbon.
S2: I would have to say I'm a I'm a Napa
S2: Cabernet guy. I like a
S3: big, loud,
S2: fruity cabernet.
S1: What songs, bands or artists would have been found on
S1: a 2004 version of Bill Curtis's iPod?
S2: Wow. First of all, I think the 2004 version of
S2: Bill Kurtis is iPod held 40 songs. I think that
S2: was it's that was his maximum capacity.
S3: There would have been probably a bunch
S2: of Billy Joel. They would have, of course, been the
S2: best song in the world, Stairway to Heaven. And there
S2: would have been a little bit of Elton John here
S2: and there, and there would have been
S3: Jonathan Edwards, lobster,
S1: steak, wine, Napa Valley, Billy Joel, Elton John, Jonathan Edwards.
S1: Good taste, Bill,
S2: pretty calm stuff. But you know what? There would have
S2: been a bunch of Jethro Tull. Oh, I love Tall,
S2: but you know who I think is the musician that
S2: probably is most ingrained in my soul as Harry Chapman.
S2: I grew up near Harry Chapman
S3: and probably went
S2: to, I don't know, 50 or 60 of his
S3: concerts. He was the
S2: storyteller. And I used to love those stories. And, you know,
S2: it was very sad that he had such a sudden
S2: and drastic moment leaving the Earth, but he left us
S2: with a lot of wonderful thoughts.
S1: Yeah. On his way to Eisenhower Park on the Long
S1: Island Expressway. Exactly. And going to do another free show.
S1: Social media, good or evil,
S3: reminds me of artificial
S2: intelligence, which starts out seeming like it's going to be
S2: really good and it can end up in the hands
S2: of human beings. It can end up being really evil
S2: and used for evil. I'm really worried about how we're
S2: just hurling ourselves forward in artificial intelligence and we just
S2: don't know what we're going to do when we get there.
S2: It's going to be like the dog that caught the
S2: car and, you know, we're going to have a mouthful
S2: of bumper and find ourselves. When you think of social
S2: media today and try to picture what it's going to
S2: be 30, 40 years from now, it stands to be
S2: pretty scary. And I don't think that we control ourselves
S2: real well. Some of our development isn't necessarily good for us.
S2: Email that's awesome. Abused, but I think that that saved
S2: our ass texting awesome smartphones. It would be nice if
S2: we put them away once
S3: in a while. Agreed.
S2: Anything where you can give a platform to the craziest
S2: people on the planet and the crazies actually get more
S2: attention because they're crazy. You know, the word profound doesn't
S2: necessarily mean that it's in a good way. It can
S2: be profound in a really bad way and it gets
S2: a lot of attention. That's like our politicians have realized
S2: that if you're just normal and you have clear thinking
S2: and you're a centrist and you listen to the other
S2: side and you make smart decisions, basically the world forgets
S2: you and the world. Right now, our country reacts mostly
S2: to the most outrageous, profound statement you can make, and
S2: then you get lots of press. And on social media, unfortunately,
S2: I think we find ourselves giving a platform to people
S2: who shouldn't have
S3: a platform and making an
S2: awful lot of noise where,
S3: you know, once upon a time, I know you're
S2: trying to end this and this is the lightning round,
S2: but I want to tell you one more story.
S1: Oh, no, not at all. I want you to continue
S1: because you're bringing us full circle right now. We started
S1: with social media. We ran with social media. One more
S1: story
S3: from Bill Kurtis, please.
S2: Many, many years ago, we had an event in Monaco.
S2: Our guest of honor was Walter Cronkite. In his later years,
S2: it was probably around 2007 maybe. And he sat with
S2: us and we asked him how he felt about where
S2: news was going. And he kind of looked down, had
S2: a very sad look on his face. And he said
S2: there is no news anymore. People don't know the difference
S2: between what is said with a megaphone, which he looked
S2: at as the beginning of these news networks and what
S2: have you. They don't know the difference between what is
S2: said by someone who has done a lot of research
S2: and reporting and who considers the news to be sacred
S2: and the person who's just basically running with opinion. He said,
S2: In my day we worked so hard to make sure
S2: that no one knew what we thought because no one
S2: was tuning in to know what we thought. They were
S2: tuning in to find out what happened. And he said,
S2: For all my time in the news, I was most
S2: proud of the fact that nobody tuned in to know
S2: my opinion. They tuned in to know that they would
S2: get the straight scoop. And of course, Walter Cronkite was
S2: considered the most honest man in American. For many years,
S2: and he was so sad by what had happened just
S2: with the concept of cable news, and now that social
S2: media has basically taken cable news to the next level
S2: and there are so many people who get their news
S2: from Twitter and from each other, that's why the concept
S2: of the big lie, the the lasers from space,
S3: the basement
S2: of the pizza
S3: restaurant, things
S2: like that can survive because in social media you have
S2: people with a very big megaphone and they know that
S2: the most outrageous statement gets the most followers and gets
S2: the most audience. And that's a terrible grade to give
S2: our society that that's what we react to.
S3: So I'm a little
S2: disappointed in where social media has gone, as you can tell, Joey.
S1: Oh, I can tell and I'm right with you, Bill,
S1: and great Walter Cronkite story, who, by the way, retired
S1: way too early. OK, let's go to the last topic.
S1: This one's the most polarizing
S3: thing on Twitter over the last
S1: couple of days. I mean, this is huge. This is
S1: about serious, as I'm going to get today. And I
S1: hate to do that at the very end of this episode.
S1: But Bennetta 2.0, yes or no, Jennifer Lopez and Ben
S1: Affleck are back together after many, many, many years. Is
S1: that something worth your own space in your head or. No.
S2: Not with me personally, but it's nice to end the
S2: show on a on an up note and nice that
S2: they got back together. I know a whole lot of
S2: people who I wish would get back together. So same here.
S2: Here to them, they live a long and happy life,
S2: at least for the next, I don't know, six, eight
S2: months maybe
S1: we'll do an overunder on the next episode. Bill, take
S1: us out. You were a great guest, Joey.
S2: I'm not really sure how to
S3: end the show other than to see whether or
S2: not I could burn the tape.
S1: I think you're going to be surprised, Bill. Good episode.
S1: A lot of fun, insightful for
S2: those of you who are listeners to this show. Thanks
S2: for listening. I sure had a good time. I hope
S2: you did. Thanks to Joey Salvia, our producer and the
S2: host of this show who pushed my butt against the
S2: wall a few times today.
S1: Big thanks to you, Bill and Stewart.
S2: Also thanks to Stuart Halpern, who's our executive producer for
S2: the show. Thanks for joining. This is politics. Meet me
S2: in the middle Joey's version. Come back and visit us again.
S2: Bye bye, everybody. We'll see you next week. Will be.
S1: From Kerkow media media for your mind.