Not So Civil "Seditious Behavior" | 12.02.25

In this episode of 'The Civil Union' podcast, the hosts return from a long Thanksgiving break, sharing humorous and authentic stories about their holiday experiences, family drama, and weather woes. The discussion transitions into a political discourse, addressing the influence of politics on family dynamics and the importance of effective communication. Key political topics covered include a controversial video by Democratic lawmakers, Missouri political candidates challenging Ann Wagner, and intriguing local news stories. The episode wraps up with personal reflections and positivity inspired by Mel Robbins' advice.

00:00 Introduction to the Civil Union Podcast

00:24 Post-Thanksgiving Catch-Up

02:00 Family Dynamics and Communication

17:02 Snowy Weekend and Italian Dinner

20:07 Political Tensions and Trump's Response

26:44 Local News

30:37 Missouri's Congressional Race

38:21 Mel Robbins' Healthy Habits

Transcript

0:07

Welcome to the Civil Union, the podcast where politics and everyday life collide. Two Midwest husbands breaking down politics with humor, receipts, and real life contexts that you won't hear from the coasts. If you're ready to stay informed and connect with your community, you've come to the right place. Well, hello everyone. we are back after a very long Thanksgiving break. The weekend is over. It's Monday and I'm so happy to be back into the routine, the normal routine of things. Um, yeah. How about you, Alex? Yeah, I'm excited. Well, I'm not excited to get back to work, but it was a long, busy weekend. I feel like we had so much to do. We did. How was your weekend though? It was good. It was busy and I enjoy this. It's snowing right now, currently, even while we're talking, it's snowing and I'm loving it. I'm ready for winter weather. Yeah, I am absolutely not ready for winter weather. I hate the snow. I don't like the snow. I want it gone. I want summer and spring back. Ugh. But anyway, so I'll, I'll just start with our weekend. So Wednesday. SK giving is what everyone calls it. Alex had to work, so I just like prepped my stuffing and uh, it seemed to be Everyone in our neighborhood had parties or had people over, like our two like introverted neighbors next to us. They're like single young guys and they all had people over. And then they all like got, I literally watched them all get lifts and they all like went out and partied that night. And I'm just sitting here by myself all alone because. Alex had to work. It was, it was so weird that that was happening. I think if I wasn't working, we would've gone out. But I, and I, I'm jealous because I, I hated going into work knowing that everyone was going out.'cause I worked, I think Wednesday night in the Central Weston, so it was really busy. but yeah, I would've loved to have gone out that night. yeah, so it was, it was overall a good night though. I got all my stuffing prepped and all the food prepped, and we, uh, went over to my mom's on Thanksgiving. So I woke up on Thursday and, you know, Oprah, I guess Oprah has like a. Podcast or something, and I don't know if it was like planned for it to be like on Thanksgiving, but it was about how there's like this trend out there where. People are like choosing their own families and like there's kids that will not talk to parents anymore. And then there's parents who won't talk to kids anymore and it's this weird trend that she had, all these people meet up into one room and they all have their own stories on, you know, why they don't talk to. Their parents or why the parents don't talk to their kids anymore. And some of, some of it has to do with politics and other, you know, just other reasonings. But she had three therapists there, like interviewing and helping these people sort through, their decisions and whether it was the right decision or if it is the right decision. And why, why this is becoming more of a. trend now lately, I think it's because people are just really bad at communicating right now. I mean, I don't think, I think it would take a lot for something to come up that would cause someone in my family just to break off. Like, I don't know what it would take. And I know there's been times where we've maybe stopped talking or people in my family have stopped talking, but they always come back on the holidays or they always come back on birthdays like, or special events or whatever, or terrible events like you always come back. I don't. Stand how people can go like years without talking to family. It's just very strange to me. They just don't talk it out. Yeah, it was just so, it was so interesting and it was funny that I was on Thanksgiving, like I literally had time to kill that day because you had to sleep at least some part of the day. I think you were waking up at like one 30, so I was like watching it and you know what, I actually, I was hungry and I was gonna get some lunch somewhere and so I got in the car and I was like, I'm gonna go to McDonald's and get like a small fry or something, just. Something to hold me over. Um, you're rolling your eyes.'cause you know, I wasn't gonna get a small fry. I was gonna like chicken nuggets, you know, and all that, but, the McDonald's buyer house was closed and so I'm like, okay. And so I drove all the way down to Elm. Everything's closed. I drove from Elm to Big Bend. Everything's closed, big Bend all the way up to Highway 40, everything is closed. Then I took Highway 40 all the way to Hampton and 40. And then I took Hampton all the way down to Gvo, made a right turn to Gvo. I mean, the only thing open was Starbucks. It was so, I mean, great. I'm so glad. it wasn't like that five years ago, by the way, until COVID hit. I think that's when things started closing more often. But it was so weird, like I couldn't get a bite to eat. I just didn't wanna go get like Starbucks or something. But I ended up going to the new Starbucks. There's a new Starbucks that just opened right by our house actually. Over on, uh, Watson and Cleed. Yeah, I passed it when I passed it the other day, or like a week ago or whatever. It wasn't open yet and it looked smaller, but when you went, you said it looked nice, like it was bigger. Yeah, it was nice. It was bigger, you know, or whatever. And so there, it was so weird because it looked like there was like a district manager and like the store manager, I, I don't know who they were but they were doing an interview too. It was so weird. I like on Thanksgiving, like who would. Say yes to an interview on Thanksgiving. So it's funny how there's certain stores closed on Thanksgiving and then there's another Starbucks is interviewing people. Like, that's, that doesn't surprise me. Ugh. I, you know, it's a conundrum. I, I agree that people shouldn't work on holidays. Like obviously it's so bad, but at the same time, it is an inconvenience to me because I like when things are open and you have. Options. Or you know what? If you forgot something and during dinner at Thanksgiving or you're cooking and you're like, oh crap, I forgot this. You could go back to the grocery store if it was open, or you know, go to a Denny's or whatever for milk if you needed to like something. But like when everything is closed, you're SOL, and again, Good for people. Like, definitely good for people, but not good for me. Yeah, and it's such an inconvenience. So anyway, so speaking of Thanksgiving and families and all that and that Oprah thing, Jimmy Kimmel's wife, you know Jimmy Kimmel? Yes. I had no idea. His wife is Froms. St. Louis, Missouri had no idea. I didn't know that either. I was very surprised. And so she was like, they were recently like on a podcast and I guess they were talking about all that, that shit storm that went down between Trump and him trying to get him canceled off of a, B, C or whatever. And she was actually talking about how she has had issues with family members and growing up here in St. Louis with a conservative family and how, what. She doesn't really conversate with those MAGA loving people. And here's like a little sound bit from that podcast. Yeah, isn't that crazy? I get where she's coming from, like I completely do and I respect it. You know, I have people in my family that I think everyone has people in their family that voted for Trump, but you kind of just have to, they're still family to me, and so we still talk, but I get it. Like I, especially around the holidays. Yeah. You know, I also saw a quote like populate or come on across my logarithm the other day and it says, I didn't sell out my loved ones for cheaper groceries, and that like really stuck with me. I'm like, yeah, you know what? There are people out there that have voted for this administration three times. Three times, and it's gotten worse. I mean, the first time, okay. The second time it was crazy and we fucking won and I was so happy for that. But I was like a conundrum. It was like Black Lives Matters movement. We were in a pandemic. It was a wild, wild time. And then 24 comes and the right, just got absolutely. More crazier Do. Now she's essay something that I found really interesting. She says, when people vote for a certain way this time around, it's almost like they're voting against her husband. But there could it be an argument. And I know there is one on the other side that says the same thing. I mean, where. You know, with the police or with people who are in those offices, like they feel same way, which is why they voted for Trump. And when people don't vote for Trump, they don't understand it either. They think it's a vote against them as well. So it's like, how do we find this place to where it's like middle ground where you don't. Feel like that because her saying that, I've heard that from people on the other side, the same exact thing. So it's like it's, but I, I don't understand the whole police thing because Kamala was like an attorney general. I mean, she prosecuted people like, like that was her job, you know? Well, and I think a lot of it too is, you know, when you're voting, when we were voting for. Kamala, you're voting for many people's rights and things. It wasn't just a one issue vote. And I think voting for the other way, those people are only thinking about either their military or voting about PO police, which was all fed a lie to them. Now we know this. But they were voting and they weren't taking the whole world into account or, you know, environment. So, I don't know, it's just I found that interesting when she said that. I'm like, I've heard this before, but, um, yeah. So anyway, so you wake up, we get into the car, you got everything packed. It was so great. Like, I had a whole list out that I, I probably should have had everything together, but you got up and you were just like a. A robot. You got everything in. We got the dogs. We went to my mom's house, which is about 45 minutes away, and I mean, the first. Five minutes of Thanksgiving was like a hot freaking mess. Like I walk in and my mom has all the Christmas, the Christmas tree up and all the decorations, and she's like, and my dogs go wild. Like they know that they're going to grandma's house. Like right when we turn into the neighborhood, they know exactly where they are. And she goes, what did she say? She's like, he better not lift his leg and pee on my tree like she was saying, saying about the border collie.'cause the border colleague. Has a history of peeing on my mom's artificial tree, making his mark. I don't know why. And I'm like, yeah, he better not do that. And then I'll be damned. He lifts his leg and pees on the tree, so she yells at him. He comes into the kitchen, I swat his butt. Yes, I'm sorry guys. I swatted his butt. He goes outside, he barks at me, yells at me for swatting his butt. And then I'm sitting there, I'm like, I got my Brussels sprouts and I got my Raspberry G and I pull up the Raspberry gm and it was a. Raspberry vinegarette. It was not the raspberry jam from the fridge. And so I had like three situations go down and I looked at Alex, I'm like, Alex, you forgot my raspberry jam. So everyone was ignoring me, or, uh, what did you, did you yell at me? I don't know. You don't really yell. You kind of just no to yourself. I just kept to myself and I'm like, well, I'm leaving. And that's what I did. I left and I drove 45 minutes. Back home to get the Raspberry GM for the Brussels sprouts. Turned back around. Drove all the way back 45 minutes. To have the raspberry jam on the Brussels sprouts. So, um, I call those, uh, oopsy sies. And so now I have this new terminology that when Alex makes an Oopsy dosie, I call it out and say, Alex, that was an Oopsy dossie. You know, I don't think Thanksgiving would be Thanksgiving without family drama or family fight or argument. I'd be really curious. I wish that we could have a poll and see how many people have had. Family arguments on Thanksgiving. Oopsy Dosie, oopsy Dossie, oopsie dosie on Thanksgiving. So I ran with that little terminology all week long. But you know, while you were gone it was quiet. Me and your mom watched a Macy's day parade that she recorded for me'cause she's really nice. And we just chilled on the couch watching Macy's Thanksgiving parade till you came back. It was nice. That's absolutely fascinating. Yeah, I was, yeah. frazzled, frazzled, driving all the way to O'Fallon, say, or all the way back home. Say to turn around, drive back to O'Fallon. I, I will say you'll brussel sprouts with a raspberry jam. Were delicious. They were so delicious. We had them in Monterey, California as I flipped my non-existent hair behind my head and it was, they were so good. We had'em in Monterey and it's like a Brussels sprout, like appetizer and they put raspberry jam on it. And, not even eating them lately for like my meal prep and everything. They're so good. So anyways, the rest of Thanksgiving, it was great. It was so good. Um, the Turkey was delicious and yeah, it was a good day. We ended up going back home. Right after, I mean, it was a one and done thing. It was like real quick. It was a couple of hours we left'cause my mom was tired and we had a hockey game the next day. And so, uh, we went back home. We watched the movie Baby Boom, which was Ryan's choice. Yeah. And it was good. I mean, when it's unlike TTBS and things, it's like actually like really good and more like. Quick with the scenes, these scenes were so like long, look, I love Diane Keaton, but the whole premise of the movie was basically she can't be a business woman and raise a baby. So instead she drops her career and moves out to the country and has a baby. And it's like, well, this was a. Commentary, isn't it? But now it's like women can have a business career and a baby and all that, and I think towards the end, no she doesn't. Towards the end, she's offered, millions of dollars to go back to work and they make a statement and she says, no, and she moves to the country and makes jam. I'm like, what the hell is speaking of adopting babies? Didn't I ask you to, uh, you know, make a baby with me, babe. Let's, uh, let's, uh, look at adoption agencies. Hey, in today's world, women can do both. And you know, when it comes to that, I think, Ryan, you know, here's the deal. I, let's look in, you look up a Dodge agency, you look into it, you research if this is what you wanna do, but I don't know. I don't think you could do it. I was really into it until we went to the movie Zootopia too, on Sunday afternoon, and it was filled with. Children everywhere filled. And I was like, um, yeah. I look over at Ryan and I'm like, you want this? You want this right here? Hey, you like that daddy sitting in front of you though? You know, he was, it was dark. You like guys with mustaches. It was dark. Is that all you're gonna say? That's it. Yeah. So anyways, it was a, it was a great Thanksgiving overall. Friday came around, it was Friday, uh, afternoon. We went to the the Blues hockey game and Andy Cohen was in town. He's from St. Louis, and they had a Bravo themed. Hockey games. So the, all the trivia was Bravo themed, like Real Housewives things. And who else? Some, some guy from West, uh, summer House. We, his name's Wesley or West. He's from Summer House. Yeah. I mean, I told Ryan this was my first Blues Home game, and it was so funny that out of all the games, it was a. Bravo game.'cause if you know me, I'm like a bravo holic. Everyone knows that. I watch every single show on that channel. this is now the second time we ran into Andy Cohen, like at a sporting event. And I knew exactly who West was. There was Bravo trivia. I got every question right, and it was amazing. It was like my perfect dream come true. Yeah, and the blues won. You know, they have this like game, this thing going on this season where they tie the game and they always end up losing it. And so like, they tied the game, I guess two or three times, uh, at the game that we were at. And we actually won. We won the game. It was so, it was, it was a fun time. We gotta make that a tradition, actually. Like going to a blues hockey game, Thanksgiving weekend or something. That would be a lot of fun. You know, I went in with low expectations'cause they had been losing. So it was really fun that they won. I had a blast. I can't wait for next. We really had a good time. Yeah. And so, uh, who were your favorite players there? What numbers? Number 25. I can't know his name. And, um, who was the other one? What was his name? I knew it. I don't know. 71 though, I think is his. Oh, 71? Yeah. Mm-hmm. We always pick our players depending on how cute they're, um, and how good they are. 25. That 25 has always been mine, though. 25 is good, but 71 is tall anyway, so anyway, so Friday night, um, late Friday night. Into Saturday morning it started to snow. It's the first snowfall of the season and the forecast had like two to four inches, but it was gonna like melt and not be anywhere. it was just gonna melt and just turn over to rain. It did not melt it was just like there was snow everywhere, clearly outside. So as it's snowing right now, we've had two days of inches worth of snow and it's just really annoying to me. But Saturday was a great day'cause we got it to take a nap and just chill out. And we got, um, what is it? I think it was six inches of snow. And then we went to Zas, which is like one of our favorite Italian restaurants on the hill. And I, we've talked about it before. We love Zas. Had a great time there. And it was my friend Mandy's 40th birthday. And so we were just gonna hop from Zas down the street, a mile and a half to this bar called The Famous Bar. And it's just like this dark, dive bar. And it, they make their theme is like specialty, specialty cocktails. And they were, they were so good. I mean, I had, the first one I had was The X mint, um, teeny, teeny, the x mint, teeny. And so it was a seasonal drink. It was good. It was all right. It didn't come with the candy cane. There were supposed to be candy cane with it. I think they ran outta candy canes. Right. But I was very upset about that. And so, and then I went back for a second cocktail and I saw that they had cosmopolitans, cosmopolitans. I haven't had a cosmopolitan in probably. 15 years. I mean, literally the last time I had a Cosmopolitan was probably, I was underage at a gay bar called the complex, 19 years old, having a Cosmopolitan because I was all about sex in a city. You know, it was like a thing, and I forgot all about. Cosmopolitans and so I had one and it was, it was so good. I really wanna go back and have another one. I don't, obviously I don't drink now. I'm at like 500 days right now, by the way. But I feel like great when it, it comes to martinis, cosmos are like the, always, always a good choice because martinis can either be too strong or too, too much ver moose or too dry or whatever it is. Cosmos, you can't, it's hard to screw those up. They're usually pretty strong and like pretty good always. They're really, that's a good choice. It's a good martini choice. Cosmo, thank you. Which is why SJP always likes it. I know, you know, I really wanted to do the espresso martini there too, because I hear that's like their um, signature cocktail there. But, I couldn't do that because it was, it was gonna keep me up all night and I wanted to like sleep that night. I don't know what is going on with Espresso martinis. Everyone raves about them. They are a generational Gen Z drink. I think because they are all over below Deck. The current seasons, they're all over Vanderpump rules. They're all over. I mean, any reality show you watch all the young kids. Espresso martini please. Like everyone orders espresso martinis. It is the weirdest thing. You know, I remember watching some of the blow decks'cause during COVID and we would have like a fire pit in our backyard'cause there was nothing else to do. And so I made an espresso martini with, um, a laur called Grpa. Do you remember that wrap? I do. It wasn't that good, It was strong. Not with bre. Yeah, it's not good. I didn't like it. I guess in Europe they do. Yeah. Anyways, so, let's transition over to the politic sides of things here going on. So Trump is after a group of six Democratic lawmakers who made a video reminding members of the military that they are not supposed to obey illegal orders. The video was organized by Michigan Senator Elisa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who served in Iraq. Let's listen to that video here. Okay. Yeah, so very innocent. You know, you knew their plan was going to light the fire underneath the Republican party. Of course, they're gonna be pissed about this, especially the president. So after the video was posted, Trump called it Sacious behavior. Punishable. Punishable by death. He then shared a different post written by another person said that said quote, hang them, George Washington would end quote, all members that were a part of this video have formerly served in either the military or in some form of the intelligence community. Sarah Haynes from The View, let's listen to what she had to say about it. it's true. I mean it should be talked about. I mean, this is a. it's not normal times and that's for sure it's not normal times, but it's important to say because we're at a, we're at a moment in time where he is trying to bring the national Guard in the cities and, you know, some people are having to be part of ICE that maybe weren't supposed to be in the beginning, and there just, there's a lot of gray lines. And so there needs to be pol politicians out there that aren't afraid to say these things because they need to know. These military members need to know that it's okay to say no if it is an illegal act. And a lot of what he has. Doing is on that boundary. So I don't see anything wrong with what they did, and I agree with what she said. Well, they didn't even like break the law or whatever. So The FBI is now investigating the six members. They said the Bureau has contacted the House and the Senate sergeant at Arms requesting interviews with them. Though it's unclear if any laws were even broken. Trump is basically using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass these members who. Created this video. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, sent a letter addressed to the Department of the Navy requesting a briefing status of the inquiry into Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, who was also featured in the video on, he Wants that. Letter or that inquiry done by December 10th. So I think there's more that's gonna come with the story. Uh, do you have anything else to add to this? No, I think it's just important to note, I think Sarah, with that little sound bit, she did mention it, but they're all, they're all service members or they have had experience in that. And so even Mark what? Mark Kelly? Mm-hmm. He was so, it's just, I don't understand why he's going after these people. I don't know. I just doesn't make any sense. It's crazy. So here's a, here's a fun story for us. So a new study suggests city raccoons are showing early signs of domestication evidenced by their shorter snouts, which is a signature trait called domestication syndrome. This change is likely driven by urban environments where less fearful and less aggressive raccoons are more successful at getting. Food from human trash. So maybe in like a hundred years we'll have like pet raccoons. Would you get a pet raccoon? I would be on board immediately. I think they're so cute. They're little faces. How could you say no? Aren't they called like trash pandas? Is that the street name? Trash pandas. And I would call name it Rocket because just like Guardians of Galaxy, that was the name of the raccoon on there. Do you remember those like big ass raccoons that were going were like dumpster diving at in the trash can over in the icon. We went there. They were huge. They were huge. Didn't you have a name for her? Yeah, Dolores. Dolores and I think one was named Ophelia. I know no. Yeah. Huh? Swear. I've always wanted a baby named Ophelia. Okay, back to that subject. Here we go. Alright, so, uh, here's another story. So this is local. So a guy in St. Charles County broke into a Circle K where he, um, said he needed to use the bathroom, but while he was there, he ate some beef jerkies and drink a sweet tea. And when they asked him what happened, He said, I know you think I'm going to sound crazy, but there is an AI int intelligence speaker in my neck. The voices told me to kick in the door because it was locked. Isn't that interesting? Did they tell him to eat the beef jerky too? It's so weird. Isn't that interesting? It's a Perial Fallon. It is. It wasn't a Fallon. It was in St. Charles County. Enough. Well, and here's, here's another story. This is from St. Charles County in O'Fallon, by the way. Oh, here we go. Here we go. A house party like got out of control. Here's the KSDK story. Okay, so social media site where you find local parties. Did you hear that in the story? I did. So, uh, what do you, what do you think this is? What's the social media site? I don't know. I'm curious. Did you find anything? Well, I was kind of looking it up and I found something called Meet Up, it's called Meetup. And apparently I, I created a profile like when we lived in Oklahoma Yeah. To, to make friends. Yeah. So it kind of like. Linked up to my old profile. Still said I lived in Norman or whatever, but, yeah, there were some interesting like little local things going on. You have to pay to be part of it. Maybe there's a different thing going on. I don't know. But anyways, you have to like, but I got some like free, events. that popped up and one of them is. A book club, an online virtual book club this Saturday, discussing Mel Robbins let them theory and I was like, oh my God, you should go. You're like obsessed with her right now. There's like 300 people going, I'm not gonna go. But I was like, interesting. This is definitely my vibe. So, you know, here's the thing with that stupid house party story thing, I don't really believe it was. Not out of their hands. Like this is the thing. Those kind of parties are trendy. Just saying, when Project X came out, which was the movie about the big house party that goes outta control. It was a famous party, I think in la. I can be wrong, but it was an actual true story. Since then, anytime a party does this, it makes news waves and I think maybe it wasn't their intention to invite all these people, but I do think there was a mole on the inside that. Ratted out their party and it got outta hand, I don't think, and it's becoming trendy to make a party go crazy'cause then you make the news. I don't know. I think it was a little bit fabricated. I do think it happened, but I think it was pushed purposely well, yeah, it was a story. It did happen. Yeah. I mean, it happened there. There was video evidence. Are they questioning a news story, Alex? No. Their counters were ruined. I don't think they would've done that on purpose, but I do think it was pushed purposely. Anyways. Anyways, here's, here's another local story, is that, uh, Missouri State rep Justin Sparks, a Republican whose district includes the city of Wildwood, has resigned to take a job with the Trump administration through the Department of Homeland Security. I mean, are people really still resigning to help this administration? Sounds like it's a career killer. So I have two words, Saka. Speaking of Missouri elected officials, Missouri's Congressional District two, which is the district we live in, Anne Wagner's now has four Missouri Democratic candidates vying for Anne Wagner's seat. Yes. Anne Wagner, who has failed to host a town hall since taking to her seat in 2012, and she has just strong MAGA extremism, like support or whatever. So Ann Wagner. By the way, has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act so she doesn't think you deserve healthcare. She has contested the certification of the 2020 election results, and in September of 2025, Wagner. Was targeted by a public pressure campaign to sign a discharge position to release the Epstein files she described Jeffrey. She has described Jeffrey Epstein as evil and pointed to previous support for transparency, but. Would not commit to signing the petition or voting in favor of releasing the files. here are the four candidates. I had Alex do some research on this, so, I'm gonna do what I have found and then maybe you can add to it. So these are the candidates. I'll go through their names. So there's Fred Wellman, Nick Vivio. Chuck Summers and Joan Vandross. And so Fred Wellman. He is a podcast host who has dedicated 22 years of serving our nation in the army. Wellman says he's running for Congress because people of the second district deserve a representative who puts service above self and delivers what matters most, like lowering costs. Better access to healthcare. What did you find, babe? No, I found his social media. Yeah, I mean, he looks like he has a pretty good footprint on social media, which I think will be a strong point. He does have a podcast, which means he has a network of people already in hand and pocket. I mean, so I will be very curious how successful he is just because of his, he is, when we say podcast hosts, he's on, um, Midas network. So he has a pretty popular podcast. I mean, he has. 14,000 followers on Instagram. He's done very well for himself for coming out of Missouri. So, um, I'm surprised I've never heard of him before, but yeah, I mean, he has a good footprint. Interesting. So why don't we have 14,000 followers? Because we are not on Midas Touch Network and that's gonna get us 14,000 followers. Absolutely. That is a huge podcast network, political podcast network. They, I don't know how they choose podcasts to put on their network. Hello? Hi. We're here. But they've, they've done his, and he's been on like. Actual news channels, I believe, to speak on commentary. So like he's, he had a name for himself. It's very interesting. Started. I've never heard of him started. He started years ago, supposedly, like he's been doing this for a minute. But yeah, like the podcast, I've never heard of him either. Yeah, podcast and commentary, news commentary, political commentary on certain other podcasts. Okay. And so then there's also Nick Vio. Nick's main issue is medical debt, which he believes reveals America's broken healthcare system. The only thing that is a red flag for me with this, this younger guy, is that he doesn't even live in the district. He lives like a mile outside of the district, so he wants to run for, which I don't think is fair. I didn't know that either. I just looked at what he was like, his statement of why he was running and he seems very like blue collar. I think he's very probably the most normal candidate that out of the four that are running. I really liked him. But I think he's also running on everyday issues, like grocery prices and things, which is very. You know, admirable. We need someone like that to push. We were just talking about how we need someone every day that will push for those things, and I think he is that everyday person. He's not fancy, he's wearing normal clothes and all his photos, but yeah, I, I didn't know he lived outside the district. I wonder how that would work. Do that. It shouldn't work. It shouldn't work, huh. But, yeah. Interesting. I wonder what would make him want to run if he knew that. Like, I wonder who got in his ear was like, oh, you can still, so obviously it has to be allowed if he, well, he has knowledge on it apparently. Yeah. So, and then there's Chuck Summers, he is a union plumber for. Over 30 years. and he is a fighter for the working class. He believes in fair taxes and that the working people shouldn't be footing the bill. He also has a focus on kitchen table economics and wants to send relief to working families of Missouri. What did you find, did you find anything else? I, the main thing I found about him, and he's, he's going to pool weight. For all the union people. He's gonna be the speaker for them, I think because he is a plumber for a long time and he's older. He looks like he's more in his fifties or sixties, which to me, I don't know. I think we need people that are younger, but he seems like a good option when it comes to union. Um, push so, well, I think one of our friends is actually running his campaign as well, which is interesting. Really? Okay. Interesting. So anyway, so, and then we have a Joan, the only female. Joan VRAs. She is a professional educator and teaches American history. She believes in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As a representative, she will be an active, accessible advocate. She says. Yeah, she, you know, her and Nick are probably my top two when it comes to like everyday people. She seems very down to earth. She is a teacher. She seems very like, connected to what she's wanting to run for. She's from Clayton, but she doesn't look like she's from Clayton. Like she looks, she's seems. Could candidate. I don't, I think she lives in Baldwin though now, doesn't she? Oh, does she? I don't know where she currently lives. On her website. She says from Clayton, but I don't know. but she between Are you mixing the two?'cause I think Nick is from Clayton. No, Joan is from I, yeah. From re resident of Clayton community. Yeah. Joan Bondra. But I don't know, I like, I like Joan and Nick. I think they seem more like the everyday people that could get things done, but. If she's a resident of Clayton, then she doesn't live in the district either. Well, I swear she's in Baldwin. Maybe she currently is, but she's definitely, maybe she taught in Clayton, then she's running with that. I don't know. But it says elementary school teacher and current resident of the Clayton community uses her knitting talents to, oh, no. You know what? She probably used to live in Clayton because this article was about how she used to knit. Pussy hats, the pink ones. She was a big, she's been very active in the political community for a long time, I guess. And she used to be a big knitter and she made the news. This article was probably when she was living in Clayton, so she probably currently resides in where you're thinking. Yeah, but I like both her and Nick. I think Joan and Nick are top contenders. Yeah. The only thing I've really found, if there's like a common theme across all of these four candidates is that they wanna lower the prices and it seems that healthcare is their top priority. Which, which it should be. I mean. You know, I have spent my whole life listening to people complain about how Democrats send money to other countries across the seas, across the pond, yet we're sending money to bomb Venezuela and the Hondo. You know, it's just, it's crazy to me. So it's just funny how we're doing that. The Republicans are doing that right now, and it's like, well, healthcare should be the prop priority for everyone right now. We should be putting focus on this country and fixing our issues. So anyways, do you have any other points to make? No, I think we covered'em all. I think I'll be really curious how these people do, because I do think they're pushing for everyday issues that people are currently struggling with. So I think if people are truly struggling with these things, they'll vote a certain way. So we'll see. Yeah, we'll see. And it'll be interesting, especially coming into 26. So, hey, if you made it this far into this podcast, I wanna say thank you to everyone. And as everyone knows, I've been listening to Mel Robbins and here are three healthiest habits that everyone should learn in order to improve their lives. Okay? Number one, being grateful for the little things. Okay. Number two, noticing when your nervous system is overwhelmed and respond by saying no to anything new that will consume your energy. I am thriving off of that one right now. And number three is don't hide your love. Let your friends and family know how much you care about them. So family, if you're listening, I love you, friends. I love you. Listeners. I love you. I love you, Alec. and I love our baby when we get one. Oh God, what have you done with my husband? Who? Oh my God. Okay guys. So anyway, so if you haven't, uh, by the way, make sure you give us a follow. We need, uh, 14,000 followers, on Instagram and on TikTok, and my husband runs that. So we will see how many followers we get between now and the next podcast. do you have anything else to say babe? No, I think those are good points. I loved all your positivity. I am very positive today, even with all this horrible snow outside. Alright, bye guys. Thanks. Bye guys. Be safe.