Lonely Monkey, Viral Hope, 5 Black Surgeons Make History for 2/25/26

We trace a viral baby monkey story to a larger conversation about belonging, then celebrate a historic leadership milestone at Johns Hopkins. From Colbert’s YouTube workaround to a courtroom grilling of Big Tech, we examine how platforms shape power, and why AI “companions” are a red flag for real connection. We close on the latest Prince Andrew developments and what institutional accountability should look like.

• Baby Punch’s rejection, social learning, and humane zoo intervention
• Why exotic pet buying spikes after viral moments
• Five Black surgical residents leading Halsted trauma at Johns Hopkins
• Representation as infrastructure for better care and ambition
• Colbert, equal‑time rules, and YouTube as a power lane
• Algorithms, teen harm, and the gap in platform accountability
• AI dating cafes versus the skills of human intimacy
• Prince Andrew, Epstein files, and the demand for daylight
• Upcoming live show details and listener feedback plans

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Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Transcript

Banter And Weekend Catch‑Up

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Hello everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Topics. How's it going, Meryl?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Really good.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

How about you? I am doing great. How was your weekend?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

It was awesome. We saw friends. We went out to a really good diner here. I feel like there's nothing like we you know, you can go to fancy restaurants, but there's nothing like a diner with friends.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Oh, nice, nice. What type of food did you guys have?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Um, well, it's really funny. We got it, it's called it was a place called Uncle Bernie's Deli in Encino. Um, if anyone's ever seen the movie Encino Man with Polly Shore, it's they show a lot of Encino in that movie. And it's funny because it's like they have a lot of old, old person Jewish food, which is you know, I'm Jewish, so I like it. But I I uh watched my friend eat chopped liver for the first time and he did not like it very much. So, you know, a lot of like the I got mozzaval soup and some of the more like Jewish type deli foods. Um, but it's always funny watching my friends like nicely, open-heartedly trying it for the first time and hating it.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

I have to admit, I've never had liver before in my life.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

So really I love it. Now there's you know, there's chopped liver, there's like liver as an organ, there's pate, there's there's definitely, but I feel like chopped liver to me is like the easiest, most palatable of all the livers, but many it's an acquired taste for sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

I don't know, I just have to get past the the knowledge of knowing it's a liver.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah, I know, I know. My friend, like it it looked like cat food and he was about to spit it out. Well it's a trying, right? Yeah. What what did you do this weekend?

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Um this weekend was um working on some new stuff, uh reaching out to some new potential people to collaborate with, and then um also thinking about um all the great things that's coming up. Um uh talking about bears and other things like that that'll be talking uh talking about in the future here, well in the near future, and then all the crazy stuff going on in politics. Oh my gosh. I know, I know. Yes, it's been a clown show to say the least.

Baby Punch The Monkey Goes Viral

SPEAKER_00 3:27

It has it really has. Well, we'll talk about the bears, but first up, I want to talk about a monkey. So, so my first topic this week is we have to go into it first because it's what everyone is talking about and thinking about. Uh, punch the monkey. Now, um, a baby monkey in Japan has captured hearts around the world after videos of him being bullied by other monkeys and rejected by his own mother went viral last week. Uh, Punch, a Japanese macaw, was born last July at a zoo in Japan. Um, he drew international attention after zookeepers gave him a stuffed orangutan toy after he was abandoned by his own mother. And then it was um, we got videos of him basically being tossed around by some of the other monkeys in his pen. Um, his mom was shunning him. And obviously, this was the saddest thing ever because little punch would go and like seek the comfort of his toy and watching this monkey get beat up and then running around and hugging his toy. And everyone on the internet were watching this happen, like, give him to me, give him to us, you know. Like, we'll take care of Punch. And so now the zoo heard us loud and clear, and now um Punch does have some friends, and we saw we now we have videos of him like getting hugged by other monkeys and being accepted in different social groups. And they were saying, like, immediately they didn't take him out because it was important for him as a baby to learn proper social structure, and like there may have been a reason that some of the monkeys were kind of taunting him or like, you know, rejecting him. And it's important for them to learn, like, okay, what will get me accepted? But I think it was getting to the point where it was becoming a little cruel and probably, you know, maybe even dangerous for Little Punch. So um, they did find him some friends. Now, people are worried that the monkeys that like him now are only liking him because he's famous. So you gotta you gotta watch out for the clout chasers. Um, but it was really interesting. I mean, if people are deeply interested in this, there's a lot of articles being written about like why mother animals will reject their babies in the wild, and like sometimes it's for a reason that we don't know, but it's meaningful, and other times it could it's just like very arbitrary. Um then I saw, of course, I saw IKEA selling the baby stuffed orangutan for like$19.95. So I just think this is the sweetest thing. Now, have you seen Baby Punch at all?

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Oh, yes, and I'm I'm actually very curious as to why so many of those monkeys um kind of basically pushed them off and why they didn't want to do anything with them. Uh, I'm quite sure there's some kind of reason. And then I know there are a lot of people who were saying that you know, maybe the zoo officials should have got involved earlier and this and that. But um, one person made a point, which is true, is that they can't really interfere too much because they want to try and make it as natural as possible. So there is a hierarchy when it comes to primates, you know, they want to kind of have that baby kind of fall in line as far as whatever they needed to do or the proper protocol. So I kind of understand that. Um, I would love to know what those little stuffed monkeys are orangutans are going for because you know they're not selling them for 19.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

That is gonna, yeah, that's gonna be like every every new gift, every baby gift. But like the videos that I saw too, he was being dragged in a circle, like super aggressively. And I, you know, I understand there's different behaviors, but it's like that's really scary, and I feel like that's very tra traumatizing. And like, of course, like we don't want to watch it, but also just for a baby to be like dragged around like that, it definitely um did bring out my maternal side, and I wanted to go in. I'm like, put me in the pen right now, and I'll mess up those other monkeys.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

I'm quite sure that the uh zookeepers were watching very, very closely too.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

If a certain line is crossed, okay, we need to intervene. So um, yeah, I doubt very seriously that um they the monkey was not being um not monitored uh while this was all going on.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Exactly. And I I I don't think our audience we have to worry about this or anything like that, but now they're also experts are more worried that this is going to up the sale of like exotic animals because people are gonna want their own punch. And you know, people a lot of times will buy monkeys in these more like exotic sales and then realize oh my gosh, now I have a wild animal in my house and I can't care for it, and then now these monkeys are all messed up because they're quasi-domesticated and you know not healthy and everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

That's true. I mean, people have to understand too that having these exotic pests in most places are illegal to begin with. Um, obviously, there are exceptions to the rules for everything, but in most places, having a um a wild monkey is illegal, so you have to take that into consideration, and also too, you know, when you look at animals at the zoo, um, the zookeepers are very specially trained to handle these animals and also the possible diseases and everything that may come with these animals as well. Too, so you know that's kind of something that you kind of overlook. So, um, you know, again, as cute as this monkey may be, please don't try and buy exotic illegal animals. It's really important. Don't do that, just buy the stuffed animal. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

It's too, but yeah, we can't handle it. We we need only good news. I think I think punch should be pushed with um or put in a pen with Moo Dang the hippo. Remember Moo Dang from like a few months back? We could just have a zoo of like famous viral animals.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Oh, there'll probably be buddies right now.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Yeah, exactly. That'd be so cute.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

I have another issue here. Um, and actually, this is a great one to start off with. Um, for the first time, five black surgeons leave John Hopkins Hospital.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Oh, I love that.

Ethics Of Zoos And Exotic Pets

SPEAKER_01 9:39

I've always been a great supporter of not only talking about history in the past, but also um current history as well. And this is one of those stories that I'm I'm I'm really excited to tell people about. Um, for the first time in history, five black surgical residents are leading the trauma and acute care surgery service at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore as of February 2026. The team including Drs Valentine S. Aliah, Lawrence B. Brown, Ivy Mana, Zachary Albina, Luma, and Ifaluma. Uh probably butcher their last name, but um they're taking charge of the Hostage Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Service, marking a historic milestone in medicine. Um, the milestone is that this is the first time that an all-black team of senior and specialized residents has led the Halsted Service. Um the significance is that it's recognized during Black History Month, um, and the achievement highlights increased representation in high-stakes specialized Medicare, uh, medicine, I'm sorry. Um, the impact is that the team's leadership is seen as a major inspiring step for diversity and academic medicine according to the GRIO. And I tell you, this is so important, Merle, is that I really strongly feel that um people who look like me, especially kids that look like me, they need to see representations. We tell them that you can be anything you want. In order for them to believe it, they have to see someone that looks like them. So what do you think, Merle?

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Oh my gosh, I love this. I feel like as a white person, if you're white and feel weird about this, then you're weird and you're the problem. So, like I can't imagine in this day and age feel in 2026 feeling like any type of way other than excited and happy about this. I would love to, if that was my hospital or you know, my doctor situation and I went to that and saw that. Um, I would absolutely love that. And I and those people are obviously brilliant and very capable. Um, and like you said, now it inspires a whole bunch of other young physicians or professionals, whatever they're going to do, just showing them that it is possible and that it's like it should not only be possible, it should just be like more of that and just normal. So um I think that's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

I agree. I agree. And uh, like I said, I tip my hat off to them. And you know, um, I I believe that this is only the first step to many great things that they're gonna be doing.

Historic All‑Black Surgical Team At Hopkins

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yep, right. I agree. I was like, I'm like, I want to go to that hospital now, but I'm like, I don't necessarily just want to go to a random hospital, but if I if I break my leg or need something, I'll I'll get the helicopter there. Um, well, mine is okay, so this is like uh a very interesting topic. So basically, um I don't know if you saw this, but Stephen Colbert uh had, you know, obviously the late Joe, and his his time is also uh ending soon, with I think, you know, I think in May Colbert will be off of the thing. And he's just like he's so funny with how he's just sticking it to the network and not caring. And even during the Colbert show, he showed like an advertisement, and it was, I forget, something that Kathy Bates is in and uh a TV show, and he's like, it's supposed to be an advertisement, and he's like, watch it or don't, I don't care, I'm leaving it made. So all that being said was that uh recently he was um he had an interview with James Tallerico that uh just was streamed on YouTube because basically the lawyers at CBS were telling him because of like the fair airtime rule, that if you air this with James Tallerico on your regular program, now we're going to have to have all the candidates on, you know, because of like the rule that says basically if you give one candidate some time on your show, now everyone's gonna need equal time. Um, so Colbert said, like, I I don't see that happening to basically more of the right-leaning programs. And in fact, like some of the talk radio and some of the stuff on Fox, like for whatever reason, which we all probably know that they don't have to go by that rule. So Colbert did what was really sneaky in a funny way and just aired that interview on his YouTube, which in turn gave skyrocketing numbers. Like a ton of people watched the interview with James Talarico, and that um ended up getting him, I think, almost$2 million more in his campaign, and overall just getting a whole bunch of more eyeballs on it than it would have. Um, no, it's we won't even go, we don't even need to go into this, but there's its own thing between the um between Jasmine Crockett and Dallas and James Talarico, and they have their own kind of quasi political beef going. And, you know, I'm sure people feel a certain way about every everyone feels a different way about whether you're rooting for Taller Rico or Crockett or something in the middle. My thing that I thought was so interesting just is the power of YouTube and streaming, and Colbert saying to people, hey, we can't stream this interview, or we can't show this interview on broadcast TV, but hop over to YouTube and we're gonna watch it there, and just how much of how much more of an impact YouTube has than traditional media.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Oh, yeah, you know, the big thing right now, Merrill, is that a lot of of big time journalists and entertainers and stuff like that are really hitting social media very hard. And it is a way to kind of circumvent the process a little bit. Um, because he's right. Every every broadcast, if you have one side on, you should have the other, but we know that's not true on certain exactly. So I love the fact that instead of getting angry, he's like, okay, no problem, I'll just have him on mine.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah, and I realize I didn't set it up in a great way, I was all over the place, but Talarico is a Democratic candidate for the uh Senate seat in Texas, and so he's now a state rep, but that's if anyone doesn't know, that's who he is.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

I mean, I I actually think it's pretty ingenious the way that he did it, and you know, yeah. So I can kind of understand why he feels the way he does, and exactly. I mean, what are you gonna do? I mean, um you've already canceled my show, it's ending very soon, so what the hell, you know? Yeah, and I get it. You know, what do you think, Marl?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Um, I think it's hilarious when like the lawyers, it's like he said, she said of like Colbert saying one thing, and then the lawyers being like, actually, we feel this way, and then the FAA. It's like it's it's so funny because it happened with the Kimmel thing too, where like the Disney lawyers put out a statement and they're always reacting and responding. And I feel like Colbert just speaks into the TV and says like exactly what is happening, you know, more truthfully. Um, so yeah, like to me, I believe that if Colbert says something happened or didn't happen, I tend to believe that more. Whether or not they were saying it to shut him down or just warning you, like, hey, this could get flagged. If you have this representative on, then it could get flagged, and now you need to have other candidates on, you know. But um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

That is true, that is totally true. Well, my next topic is very interesting, and I'm quite sure everyone has heard about it by now, but Mark Zuckerberg, um who is the head and owner of Facebook and Instagram, is on trial. Yeah, so Zuckerberg uh testifies at trial accusing social media firms of addicting kids to their platforms. So Mark Zuckerberg and opposing lawyers dueled at a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people's use of Instagram, his congestional uh congressional terror testimony, and internal advice he's received about being authentic and not robotic. Suckerbert's testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta's platforms deliberately addict and harm children. Attorneys represent the plaintiff, a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KJM, claimed her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta performs uh platforms and Google's YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled. Now, this is really interesting because I know we talked about it before, where the country that is banning social media for children under the age of 16. So I think this is another another step in the direction of trying to rein in these social media platforms.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

I I also heard during this trial that his team got in trouble for wearing the meta glasses, which is the most that's just a side note to this. But I heard that his team, of course, in the most like geeky reptilian way that they showed up wearing, like they they said, please take off your glasses. There was like actual videos and cameras inside of them. So that's just a side note. But that also just plays into support the foundation that we talked about, that things have gone a little bit too far, and that we're like literally wearing these things like on our eyes and our brain now. Um, so yeah, I do think it's very uh addictive and just the bullying comments and the tough thing. Like I understand, but how do we how do we separate what people say because then it becomes like a freedom of speech thing? But there's just so much like hate and negativity on social media now. It just becomes a very like toxic, kind of like depressing place. It doesn't like, I feel like anytime I spend a lot of time online versus like real life, real life is way calmer and just nicer to me, like in my mind.

Colbert, Equal Time Rules, And YouTube Power

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah, I agree. And you know, the thing is all this stuff is based on algorithms. I mean, you know, we've all looked up something, and then all of a sudden you get like 50 advertisements for what you just looked up. So we don't watching. And the thing is, is that and hopefully this has changed, but I know some time ago there was an issue where if someone was looking up suicide or or other things to harm themselves, they would get all these different posts and stuff related to that. So they can't control the algorithm. And I guess the thing we have to look at is, and we don't talk about this too much, is that there needs to be some common sense of what's being done. Okay. Yeah, you know, they say, well, it's hard to manage everything or whatever. And I can see that up to a certain point, but there are common sense terms that can be flagged. Okay, it's literally just a program, it's really that easy. I'm not saying you're gonna catch every little thing, but there's some common sense stuff that can be done. And the problem is right now is that the to me, the lawmakers are way behind the eight ball as far as what needs to be done, because I don't think a lot of them really understand social media themselves.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Exactly. And sites like uh like Instagram, X, Facebook, now it just seems like a lot of people complaining, or like you can pretty much guarantee that if something gets posted randomly, most of the comments are going to be like negative or weird. There's not a lot of just like positive support um on social media. There's some like Reddit groups that I'm in that people are just really nice, and it feels like more like like an actual community of just people talking and being nice. But now, like on Facebook, it's just a lot of I think a lot of us also are just getting bored and it's kind of like garbagey slop on on these sites, too, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Oh, yeah. I mean, I even see where even the advertisements to me are out of control. Well every few seconds, even if you click the X and click out of it, you get all these different advertisements, and the advertisements sometimes scroll back and forth. So where when you try to exit, you accidentally open it up and then you come back out, and it's it's really irritating.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Exactly. And then I'm like, I'm on some like supplement that I don't want or need. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

So yeah, I I um I think this is gonna be one to watch because I think that this trial is probably gonna lay the groundwork as far as how. Social media is going to be viewed in the near future when it comes to putting restrictions on what they do.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Yeah, I agree. Well, that actually falls perfectly into my next topic, which is now a step further, which I can see Zuckerberg doing if he wasn't married, is going to an AI dating cafe. So this article talked about how now AI dating cafes are emerging as a real-world extension of AI companion apps. This was just highlighted by a recent pop-up event in New York hosted by the app Eva AI. Guests went on quote unquote dates by sitting alone at candlelit tables while chatting with AI partners displayed on phones or tablets. Basically, it was a themed venue, and people brought in their AI companions and interacted with them through like, you know, text and video chat. Some people say that AI dating can feel safer and easier than traditional ghosting because if there's no rejection or ghosting or pressure, um I mean this to me is just sad and like the turning point of civilization. And I don't know. I mean, you have to be pretty weird. Not weird in a judgment, I mean, yes, in a judgmental way, I am judging, but like it says a lot about where someone would be like soul and connection-wise, I think, to be uh turning to these types of things. And I don't really like blame the person itself, I blame just kind of where we are as a society and we talked about like some people feel really rejected and hopeless, and they feel like a computer is you know more understanding. Um, I would not, I don't, I'm not gonna turn up in an AI event anytime soon, but yeah, I mean, um, I think it's pretty sad personally.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Um, yeah, I do too. Because the thing is that you're basically looking for companionship from a machine um instead of human contact. And and I know that um this kind of goes back to where we are now in society, where I remember when my son first went to high school and he wanted to ride the bus because in grammar in grade school we used to drop mom, pick them up. So I was like, okay, we could ride the bus. And all of a sudden, we're going to the bus stop, and I swear it was like about 100 kids. So I asked my son, like, where the hell does all these kids come from? Oh, dad, they live in the block. That's so-and-so, so-and-so. I'm like, and that kind of tells you where we're at right now, where you know, all these kids are, you know, they're on their tablet, you know, they're on their their game systems, whatever. I mean, I may be dating myself, but when I grew up, I played baseball, basketball, football. Yeah. I wanted to stay, we wanted to stay outside. We wrote our rights.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

We stayed out. We absolutely had to come in the house. Totally.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

And so my mom would yell dinner. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

So, and and also too, I think there's there is an argument to be made that it it hurts them as far as a human-to-human contact of being able to deal with another person and deal with issues. Um, because in the real world, you can't hide behind a Q computer keyboard, you have to show up to work and you have to deal with other people. And some of those people are nice, some are just flat-out assholes, but you have to know how to deal with people. Computers can't teach you that. You you have to learn that by doing. And maybe I'm oversimplifying it, maybe, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

No, I think so too. And especially in a place like New York, if you have people going and sitting down at a table with their computer, chances are there's someone next to you that's like also obviously wanting human companionship. And so it's just so weird to think of all these people like clocking into their jobs and then going and talking to a computer and they're probably going home and being on their phones feeling lonely. So and I I do like blame the companies. I think it's kind of gross to be running something like this.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Yeah, I mean, um like I said, I I I I I believe everyone, if you have a dream, follow it, but I don't think this is really good avenue personally. So do I think this is gonna catch on? I really I don't think so, but I could be wrong too.

Zuckerberg On Trial And Algorithm Harm

SPEAKER_00 28:07

I know. I mean, I don't know though. I really do think I've seen some uh videos of expos where like they have male or female looking like robots and everything. I just feel like it's gonna and I I just think as like girls get kind of fed up with like dating and men in general, and I think then men are gonna turn to like female robots. I think there will be a a sector of people that do that. But I think we're like old school in the way that even though dating is annoying, I still would choose like a normal, or yeah, I say normal in quotes, but an actual human biological person.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Yeah, I I I I definitely hear you. I definitely hear you. But um I guess this is what we're looking for as far as the future, I guess, huh? Well, my last topic is actually a very interesting topic. Again, I think this is something that everyone has heard about by now, but former Prince Andrew was arrested for misconduct while in office. So um the former um Prince Andrew, uh Mountbatten Mountbatten Windsor, a younger brother of King Charles III, has been released from custody and remains under investigation following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office, according to the UK police. King Charles III has expressed his deepest concern about the case and addressed as I'm sorry, and stressed that the law must take its course. Andrew, who spent a decade as UK trade envoy, is the first senior British royal to be arrested in nearly 400 years. Wow. So the former prince has denied all accusations against him and insisted he never witnessed or suspected any of the behavior of which the late Epstein is accused. He has not committed, uh commented publicly on these more recent allegations of misconduct in public office. And just to kind of bring people up to date, there's accusations that he shared um sensitive or even top secret documents with Epstein. So again, this is uh something that's playing its course right now, but I think this is one of many things that are are going to be the uh fallout from the Epstein files that's been released so far. And I think there's possibly more to come. What do you think, Merle?

SPEAKER_00 30:56

I do too. I feel like if we probably only knew five percent of the royal stuff that has happened, we would be like, whoa, because you know we think we know some stuff about the drama between, you know, whether it was like way back in the day with Charles or Diana or all your Harry now or William. But I think if we like knew a lot of the tea, we the real, real tea, we our minds would be blown. Um, and yeah, I can't believe this was the first royal that got arrested and that it actually happened because usually they try to cover up this type of stuff or spin it into something else. So it might be that the dynasty is fall. I mean, it had it's it's been falling for a while, but um, I don't know, very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

It's extremely interesting, and um something tells me that he's not going to be the only person that's going to be a casualty of this. Um, I mean, we've seen all kinds of CEOs and various different industries step down as a result of the names popping up on the Epstein files, and what's interesting too is this is only three million um files that was released. There's six million, they only release half. Oh my god. So it kind of makes you wonder okay, if this is what we're seeing now, what is it that we're not seeing?

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Yeah, I mean, I think a whole lot stuff that would probably go back for generations and make us really uh sick to our stomach if I had to guess.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

And you know, the thing too is that just because the name appears on it doesn't necessarily mean that they did something wrong. Right. Um, but you know, the thing is that I'm just wondering, and and I it's just me personally, but why are they fighting so hard to release information? That that I don't understand.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

I feel like we already know like a bulk of the names, and and yeah, nothing's really like happening in a giant way, but yeah, it's been it's crazy. And to have something that's a million files or six million files, it's like yeah, that's just so probably so much.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

I agree, and and you know the thing too is that you know, we kind of get caught into all of this, and I remember um when uh there was a hearing that we talked about um recently, in which the individual literally could not turn around to take a look at the victims, they would not, she would not turn her head, and it just makes you wonder what is really going on, because obviously there's some there's something bigger happening here for them to fight this hard, because one of the things that that America is is that we are incredibly divided politically. That's that's just a fact, unfortunately. There are certain things like um pedophiles, harming children, those things cross all political lines. No one no one accepts that. So when you have something that unifies the country in a way where they don't want this kind of nonsense, they want some kind of um some kind of justice for these women, it makes you wonder why they are fighting so hard not to give these women the justice. It just makes you wonder.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Exactly. Remember too when they were when Kate Middleton was going through her like um unfortunate health issues, which I don't even know if we like know the real truth of that, and they photoshopped her like over Easter, and and it was like happy with my family, and everyone's like, uh, her hand looks weird, and that's not even what she's wearing, and everything. And then they like messed up on Photoshop, and then they said, Oops, sorry, our bad. Like that kind of stuff is so weird. And the fact that we just all as a society move on from it, it is like we're just trained to like have these lies fed to us, and then uh, you know, then like just move on, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Yeah, I think part of the problem, Merle, is that there's so much stuff going on right now, not all positive, that every time you turn around, there's a new story, and yeah, it's almost like you get whiplash because it's so messed up, and sometimes there's so many things coming at you that you can't even, you know, you can't even understand or even comprehend everything just because it's so much, and it's yeah, not all good stuff, mostly not so good stuff, and you know, sometimes you get burnt out from it too.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

So exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

So I I just think that um I just think that no matter how hard they fight, I think the truth's gonna come out whether they like it or not. Is it gonna happen today or tomorrow? Probably not, but I think at some point it will.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Yep, I agree. I want to see everyone go down, down.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Wow, that was a lot. That was a lot. Well, Meryl, what do you have coming up?

AI Dating Cafes And Lost Human Touch

SPEAKER_00 36:02

You can see me flying to rescue Punch the Monkey. No. Um that's where I want to be, but where I will be is uh this Friday, February 27th. I will be doing, oh, this one is so funny. It's at I'm performing again in an actual mortuary, um, doing the horror nerd stuff, but it's in Pasadena and it's at it's called like the the Lamb Family. It doesn't do with Silence of the Lambs, but it's like called the Lamb Family Mortuary, and it's a real old furniture uh funeral home. And so we do a really funny and cool comedy show there, all about horror stuff, and there's a real like casket. No one's in the casket, but um, it's really cool. I don't know, it's a it's a good setting. So that's Friday, February 27th, and it's called Missing at the Mortuary, if you're in the Los Angeles area.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

So actually, if you're in the area, definitely make sure you come check it out. I believe you're gonna have a great time.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Exactly. Even though it's like a scary setting, it's very silly and like nice, innocent people and material. So we will not be doing any weird royal Masonic things.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Nice, nice. Well, everyone, thank you for watching us and listening to us. We really appreciate your support, and uh, I appreciate all of the comments that you guys are leaving on the social media page.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

You really are I'm scared again.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

They're good comments, they're good comments.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

What are people being mean about?

SPEAKER_01 37:32

No, they're not being mean. There's there's nothing being mean. Okay, okay. Some have difference of opinions, but very nice though. Nothing mean.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

Okay, that I I would I want to know. I I like really would love to hear it. We'll have to maybe like one day we'll have like a comment corner or something where we talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

You sure you want to do it? No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

I get it, I get it. I think they're probably being mean because my face looks really big, and I also I tell people I'm so I'm close up to the camera, so I understand if my face looks like a big pineapple.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

No, no, no, no, no. No, no messages like that. But yeah, actually, uh I will be doing it because we have been getting a lot of comments, which is good. That means people are responding, so that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Okay, well, we'll talk off air about what those are because I was so interested.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Well, everyone, uh, thank you again for your support. Please continue to watch and listen to us and tell people who we are. I'm Lauren Selrod.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

I'm Meryl Klimo.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Take care, everyone. Bye.