MELANIA JUST BROUGHT EPSTEIN ROARING BACK / FENTONS AREN'T HOLDING BACK!

MELANIA JUST BROUGHT EPSTEIN ROARING BACK... AND THE FENTONS ARE NOT HOLDING BACK!

Plate & Ponder: Empty-Nesting with Jen & Chris Fenton just dropped their most explosive episode yet — and it’s the kind of kitchen-table chaos that’s about to flood your feed. 

Empty-nest power couple Jen and Chris are back, plates in hand, diving fork-first into the week’s wildest headlines:

• Melania Trump’s bombshell statement that just reignited the entire Epstein saga (yes, it’s back, baby — and the tin-foil hats are officially ON ) 
• Iran tensions hitting DEFCON levels (missiles, oil, and “what happens next?”) 
• The massive LAUSD strike about to shut down LA schools — and what it really means for families 
• That jaw-dropping “Company Retreat” story that had them laughing (and you will too) 
• Plus all the unfiltered empty-nesting realness, nostalgia, and “how are we even navigating this world?” vibes only Jen & Chris deliver

No scripts. No filter. Just two sharp, hilarious empty-nesters saying what everyone else is thinking over dinner.

This one’s already blowing up because it’s raw, timely, and actually fun to listen to. If you love podcasts that feel like eavesdropping on the smartest (and funniest) couple you know… this is your episode.

Hit play. Share it. Argue about it in the comments. 

Plate & Ponder: Empty-Nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton — where the food’s good and the takes are better. 

Who else is obsessed with these two? Drop a  if you’re tuning in right now! #PlateAndPonder #MelaniaEpstein #TinHatsOn #Iran #LAUSDStrike #EmptyNesting #PodcastGold

PS:  Let's tag the GREATNESS from "Company Retreat":

TWITTER:

• Anthony Norman (The "Hero"/Participant): @anthony_norman
• Alex Bonifer (Dougie Womack Jr.): @alexbonifer
• Blair Beeken (Marjorie Lee): @blair.beeken
• Emily Pendergast (Amy Patterson): @ependergast
• Erica Hernandez (Kate Martinez): @erica.herndz
• Jerry Hauck (Doug Womack): @realjerryhauck
• Jim Woods (Jimmy Weber): @thejimmywoods
• LaNisa Renee Frederick (Jackie Griffin): @lanisafrederick
• Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur (PJ Green): @marcsullysaintfleur
• Rachel Kaly (Claire Coleman): @rachel.kaly
• Rob Lathan (Other Anthony): @rob.lathan
• Ryan Perez (Kevin Gomez): @ryguyperez
• Stephanie Hodge (Helen Schaffer): @stephaniehodge68
• Warren Burke (Steve Mosley): @warrenslburke
• Wendy Braun (Elizabeth Prescott): @mswendybraun

INSTAGRAM:

• Anthony Norman (plays "Other Anthony"): @anthony_norman
• Alex Bonifer (plays Dougie Jr.): @alexbonifer
• LaNisa Renee Frederick (plays Tiffani): @lanisafrederick
• Emily Pendergast (plays Sarah): @ependergast
• Rob Lathan (plays Dave): @rob.lathan
• Marc Sully Saint-Fleur (plays Mark): @marcsullysaintfleur
• Real Jerry Hauck (plays Jerry): @realjerryhauck
• Jim Woods (plays Jim): @thejimmywoods
• Ryan Perez (plays Ryan): @ryguyperez
• Stephanie Hodge (plays Barb): @stephaniehodge68
• Erica Hernandez (plays Erica): @erica.herndz
• Rachel Kaly (plays Rachel): @rachel.kaly
• Wendy Braun (plays Elizabeth): @mswendybraun
• Warren Burke (plays Coach P): @warrenslburke
• Blair Beeken (plays Blair): @blair.beeken

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Oh yeah. It's Plate and Ponder Empty Nesting Time with Jen and Chris Fenton. Yes, we do have Jen Fenton yet again. Jen Fenton Part duh. And I know from all the listeners, they love having her on.

SPEAKER_04 0:19

I love how surprised you sound. I do live here.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

You do live here, but sometimes it's hard to get you to plate and ponder.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

I know, because sometimes you ask at the most inopportune times. Like I'm walking in the door with all these groceries in my hand, and I've got my work bag, and you're like, hey, you wanna you want a podcast right now? No, I don't freaking want a podcast. I want to put the eggs away.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Alright, well, what I am gonna say is a couple things. Number one is we really appreciate everybody tuning in, following, downloading, engaging. Um, even some of the comments have been fantastic, so uh thank you. Number two is we went from I think it was 55 countries to 62 since the last time we talked to you. Bam. Like honestly, it's the most incredible thing, and I'm trying to figure out what are the new ones, but I can tell you for sure Chile, Lebanon, Nepal, Cambodia, Jordan, Iraq, and Perd Peru.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Well, Peru, weren't we talking about that on the last one as a place we wanted to vacate?

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Which is interesting because we're what I mean, maybe that's how the algorithms work. They find the transcript and they somehow promote the thing in Peru. I don't know. I I don't know why Iraq became one. We didn't talk about Jordan or Cambodia. We definitely didn't talk about Nepal. Did we talk about anybody climbing Mount Everest? I don't think we did.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Uh, I feel like maybe. Did we? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Well, maybe a listener can help us. Uh, you can always DM me because I'm the one that doesn't have private accounts. Apparently, Jen is super private.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

I thought you were gonna say because I'm the one who does everything.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

No, I don't do everything. You do a lot. Um, in fact, you do most. Uh, and I am along for the ride because I am a plus one. As I found, even in terms of plate and ponder, people love you. They really do.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

Guess what? Amazon loves me because it just delivered my package.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 2:21

That's what the that's what the notification was that you just got. Yay!

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Oh, that's what the ring notice was for?

SPEAKER_04 2:27

Yes, they were supposed to deliver it yesterday. Does that bother anybody else? Like you they say they're gonna deliver it either next day or by 10 a.m. And then all of a sudden at like 3 p.m. when you're looking for your package, thinking that somebody stole it, you get the email saying that there's been a delivery update.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Oh, ooh, so Dylan's texting. Dylan. Dylan is texting. I'm gonna have to turn this off because we're distracted by our children. I'm sorry. I I have um Dylan just texted.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

Wait, wait, I want to tell you what Dylan texted because he just said big. Big, but it was in reference to all the countries that we've just gained. So I feel like we are solidifying the demographic of the 19-year-old male.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

That's interesting. Well, Canada is a massive uh hub for us, so Canada is a massive hub for the McGill Redbirds that are listening to us up there. But they should have a separate category for Quebec versus the rest of Canada because Quebec would like to secede from Canada. And Alberta, I think, actually wants to be a part of the United States. So um still now?

SPEAKER_04 3:34

I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Alberta is pretty excited about being a part of the United States, and then um the rest of Canada is not, and I think Quebec would like to be more French. So anyway, we'll see how it plays out. There's a lot going on in the world. There's a lot, and we talked about like we sort of uh did the escapism version of Plate and Ponder, where we just talked about this amazing Europe trip that we had, but like what do you want to talk about today?

SPEAKER_04 4:00

I was gonna ask you that question. Do you want to talk about Jeffrey Epstein? Because that's your favorite topic.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Oh my god. Melania, I love you.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

And how did that come about?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Well, can I just say that first of all, I never really thought much about Melania at all. Except for Brett Ratnard of Rush Hour Fame, who's been Me Too'd, but a lot of us know him, and obviously he's been sort of pushed to the outer skirts of society, but he he came back and he's and he started talking with uh Trump about doing something about Belania and he did a documentary for Amazon. Yes, he did, which I forced you to watch. That costs like a hundred million dollars to make, too.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

I did not know that, and I will tell you, I don't know why I decided to press play when there's a million other things on Netflix to watch. So I I will say that, but for some reason I was intrigued. And we watched how many? I think there were three episodes. Uh we watched one of those.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Was it just one long thing?

SPEAKER_04 5:09

I I thought it was pretty good. Am I?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

One long thing without much of a point.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

No, there were well, no, there was a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Other than showing her getting out of private jets and limos with really fancy shoes.

SPEAKER_04 5:21

She does have a lot of shoes. She has amazing shoes. But that's not true. There that wasn't a point. I actually saw a side of her that I didn't know existed. Now I'm not friends with her, I'm not running in the same circle as her. I really have no basis to have any knowledge about her other than sort of what you know the press has made her out to be and what you see uh on the news or or in the magazines. So I really had no concept about her. She's actually very smart. She's actually a very strong woman. Family is number one.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

What do you mean by very smart though? Like, what does that mean? Like, like I you're talking about. I don't know what her IQ is, but she's she's just self-aware. Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_04 6:03

Well, she is self-aware, but even when she was planning the inauguration ball, and this probably sounds so surface, but she was involved in every single one of the decisions from you know, from soup to nuts.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Honestly, she really But isn't that what every bride does with a wedding?

SPEAKER_04 6:20

No, usually you have a planner, and yes, she did have a planner, and she had like 17 planners.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

She does have a lot of value.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

She has an opinion and she has a voice, and she's not she's not afraid to express it. And maybe that's something I was shocked to see too. She actually stood up to Donald Trump.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

But isn't that what every bride does during a wedding?

SPEAKER_04 6:40

But I don't know. She is made to seem like a back, like a backdoor character, like somebody who's in the shadow. And that's that's the way the media has portrayed her. And perhaps that's how she's kept some anonymity to some to some point. I mean, look, weren't there rumors going around after the inauguration that they altered the prena because she's like, I don't want to do a second term. And I Oh, is that true? I don't even know. Yeah, I thought I had heard something like that.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

I mean, she's gorgeous gorgeous. How old is she? She's 50? Is she 50?

SPEAKER_04 7:13

Oh, I think she's in her 50s. Okay. Yeah, I think.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

She is hot. Like, there's no doubt. Like, she, you can tell, supermodel status, all that kind of stuff. It's pretty much she's 55 years old.

SPEAKER_04 7:24

Uh this year. She's my age. So in April, April 26, she will be 55.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Oh, she's literally.

SPEAKER_04 7:32

Oh, sorry. She'll be twenty she'll be fifty-six. She turned 55 on April 26th, 2025.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Mind explosion, mind explosion. She looks amazing. She's older than me.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

She is older than you, yes. Um, but she has a voice, and I was so impressed to see her use it as opposed to being just sort of this mesekite character. She told Donald Trump what she thought. She told Donald Trump what she needed. It was interesting to see their relationship too, because I do think she has more power than has ever been sort of portrayed in the public. So I'll say that. Um after the inauguration, it was really interesting because he goes off in his separate quarter and she's with the staff. It definitely seems like a lonely life, I will tell you that much. She she seems sad. There was a sense of I don't know, like I'm all alone.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Melancholy.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

There was like she's she's always alone, but she's with people, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

But she's not with people. She is.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

Well, she's always with whether she's with people on the payroll. The people on the payroll, but it just you could sense the sadness.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Like her friends tended to be people that were like getting paid to hang out with her and getting paid to tell her whatever she wanted.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

They didn't really talk friends. They showed her with her assistance to the city.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

No, didn't she say, Oh, this is my fashion designer. She has he has been with me since the the beginning of time. Okay, fine, sure. And then it was like, Oh, this is my friend from the B, and he is uh, oh, he also polishes my shoes or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 9:12

You know what else was interesting? When she met with other leaders, wives across the world.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Because there's a few places the Jordan uh Jordan Prime Minister, I think it was.

SPEAKER_04 9:24

Princess, maybe?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Maybe it was a princess. It might have been the leader. I don't know those countries that well. I should because Playton Ponders in Jordan.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

Yeah, you should.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Oh my god, we gotta get up.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

What do you think of the documentary?

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Well, I thought uh I was thinking to myself, like, how much could you actually spend on a documentary? Because uh Gay the Gabe Polski, who's a fantastic writer director, was involved with my book as we were pitching it as a potential documentary, and we wanted as much as like two and a half, three million dollars to make it. But this movie apparently cost $75 million, which I don't even know where it was. There was no explosions unless the 50 million went to them, and maybe 25 million, Brett or Outner used. And uh, there's a lot of private jets, there's a lot of luxury automobiles and things, and lots of uh hanger-ons and plus ones.

SPEAKER_04 10:20

So I disagree. But I will tell you, pause. I disagree. There's not a lot of hanger-ons, there's just a lot of people around her. Her security detail isn't just one, it seems like it's four. Her designers are.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

You gotta drive into like separate freight things everywhere they go. It's sort of crazy.

SPEAKER_04 10:37

It is crazy if that was your life. Like you sometimes fantasize and you're like, oh, it'd be so cool to go out to dinner and have security and CIA watching you with an earpiece, and they're like, Okay, they just had their salad as they talk into their as they talk into their wrist, right? And they're listening in their earpiece. But if that was your life and it totally consumes your house, every place you went, I I mean, I don't know. I think that'd be a little much.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Well, there was a moment in the documentary. I mean, I'm trying to think about there was a moment in the documentary where she and Donald Trump, I think Trump wanted to get outside of the car during the procession to his inauguration speech. And the Secret Service, and I don't know if this was stage or trying to create drama or whatever, who knows? Like there was a lot of propaganda in this thing, I'm sure. But anyway, let's let's take it for what it is. And they were still telling her that it's really dangerous to get out of the car because there are all kinds of death threats going on right now. If you get out of the car, there's a good chance somebody tries to shoot at you. Now, keep in mind that was after Butler, Pennsylvania, six months earlier, where the Secret Service didn't even say anything about a problem, and some dude on a rooftop a hundred yards away shot and killed a couple people in the audience and almost killed Trump. And then on top of it, he was playing.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

Allegedly.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Allegedly. Uh oh allegedly. You mean staged?

SPEAKER_04 12:09

Right, because you see the photos where you've got the Secret Service is surrounding him. He's covering his ear. That that maybe and then the people behind him, so audience members from this rally are sitting there as if it's a glorious Tuesday afternoon at 10 o'clock with nothing going on. I mean, the president who is standing before you making a speech just had an attempted assassination, and you're smiling sitting upright as if nothing else has gone on. That's a little weird. I you know the photo I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

I think what you're doing right now is totally proving to me the problem that we have in society right now, which is a breakdown in trust in society because uh of the systems that are governing us. Because if anybody wears the tinfoil hat in our house, it's not you totally, but you've seen the picture. I Okay, so no, no, no, let's go into it. Like, why what I mean? The fact that no, I I I'm not gonna di discount what you're saying because quite frankly, I think it a little bit too at times. Because why hasn't he like investigated who tried to kill him? Like it it it literally has disappeared off the face of the earth, the whole thing. By the way, we don't even know what's going on with Charlie Kirk's assassin. Like what happened to that guy? Is he in a Utah jail? There's been no news.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

I don't listen to I don't listen to Candace Owens, so perhaps she has talked about it in many episodes since his death. I don't know, but that certainly news cycle has passed. Let me bring up another. But even that news cycle, it used to be the top of the hour every hour.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

But it's weird because his the husband was affiliated with Bill Clinton and he was gonna testify in the Epstein thing and blah blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_04 13:57

Speaking of Epstein, didn't we all suspect that Epstein or that the war was to distract America's attention, kind of like shiny new car from the Epstein files? It was like look over there. Yes, exactly. Shiny new toy. Okay, so that's what we all suspected, yet she did a press conference where she brought it back to the forefront of everybody's attention. WTF. Can you I I don't understand. Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Well, first of all, I'm gonna pull up, I'm gonna pull it back from the tinfoil hat thing because I do agree with you that if you a conspiracy theory would be like, oh, geez, this Epstein thing's getting out of control. How do I deflect? Let me go to war with Iran. Now, I will also argue that for almost 50 years, Iran has been persona non-grata, has done terrible things to the United States of America, has also been decimating through various proxies, uh, Israel, which is a major ally of ours. You could uh take Epstein out of the equation, you could see how um there's various organizations and or divisions in the government to go to war with Iran. And I love how you keep waving me along. Am I that slow?

SPEAKER_04 15:12

I feel like there's I feel like you're talking less than 1.0 speed today.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Well, we'll speed it up then. But I I did have a sh a little shot to enough to pop. I know, I saw the bottle.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

I saw.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah, so um anyway, the yeah, so go on. So keep with that.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

So I don't I I'm just confused as to the impetus. Like, do you think she sat down with her people? Do you think that Trump knew about it? I mean, I it's hard to believe that he didn't know about it, but I think I shared with you on the walk last night that she's actually stronger than the public and the press give her credit for. So I do wonder what that conversation was. I applaud her for saying, you know what, screw you, press. Stop bringing my name in the mud, right? I I applaud that. I appreciate her maybe honesty. Again, I don't know her for saying, look, I never knew uh who Epstein was. The reply emails and correspondence that you are referring to is merely like a gratitude, like so nice to meet you. Thank you. It's like the obligatory reply, right? It wasn't a deep conversation, it wasn't come to my house for tea on Tuesday. So I I mean, I I appreciate sort of that transparency. I just want to know what the purpose was.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Well, there's a bunch of so there's a bunch of theories, right? Like, so um, but let's let's take it, let's take what I what I'm watching just in terms of like trying to not to go into the rabbit hole into conspiracy theory land. Like, there's one gauge that I looked at, which is this guy, Michael Tracy, who has taken the opposite point of view that that this whole Jeffrey Epstein thing is just nonsense, and everybody's trying to tie together this one guy who is like sort of involved with a handful of things, and you know, there's enough of a like uh circumstantial evidence to like tie him to this and tie him to that, and everybody's just sort of going crazy over it, and then he also claims that there's a victim, you know, sort of uh taking advantage of the system thing where like they're suing all these banks and all that. Stop. I don't even want to go there, that it's not cool. No, stop, but I'm I'm gonna be protective of that. But let me finish my thought. This guy who has taken a side where I'm just like, dude, you're bought off your compromise. Like, where are you coming from with all this stuff? He suddenly, after the Melania thing, goes, What the heck is going on? And he has been tweeting up a storm going, Wait a minute, this could be a lot deeper than we thought. This is crazy. Like, what was she doing? How did this happen? Did Trump know it was gonna occur?

SPEAKER_04 17:46

Again, all the questions that I just said 30 seconds ago.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Right. So, so a theory could be that she's Melania or um uh uh um Melinda Gatesine. Like she's protecting she's starting to protect her situation.

SPEAKER_04 17:59

So I think that there's probably something ironclad in that prenup. I would think that he is smart enough that there's you know, you can't say anything disparaging, you can't go. You might be right. Right. Otherwise, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

I mean, I am number two is the Iran war could be going so bad they're trying to deflect it with the Epstein.

SPEAKER_04 18:17

Like that could be something bonkers, is that well, that's a crazy I mean that that is as tinfoil hat, although you could be right, but it's just ludicrous that that that would be the reality we're in.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Now, another another theory is uh that um oh gosh, what was the theory? There were keep going, go, go you have brain fog tonight. What is going on? No, I that's the first time I've had it, but I want to take a picture because it's magic out.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

I feel like you have you're like, did you take your EDD, Chris? Did you take your medicine today?

SPEAKER_01 18:48

I did.

SPEAKER_04 18:48

Are you sure? Because I feel like you're all over the place.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

I'm right here by your side.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

I I mean physically, but I feel like mentally you are like boundary.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Well, first of all, I'm looking at the Palos Verdes Peninsula and it and we um we do have fancy.

SPEAKER_04 19:03

People wanted to do the podcast at this time. Focus, focus. I'm focused. Come back to Melania. Come back to Melania. Tell me what the other theories are about this.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

One theory is awesome.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

It would actually be theory number three because we've already done one and two.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Trump knows he's in major the Republicans have a major problem in the midterms coming up, which are right around the corner. I mean, you got inflation, you got the economy, you got war. War. A lot of things are not going the right way. So what could he do to fix it? Well, maybe, maybe he has decided that he's got something on the Dems that is involved with the Epstein thing. So he has Melania go out there to get it back into the news cycle. Now that's sort of interesting because he is the king of all news cycles. Like he knows how to flood the zone.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

This is something, I mean, he's he's the the Wrigley leader, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Right. So you could argue that that could be a a theory that works. I don't know. What are you writing down? A note to you. Wait, you're not writing a note to me. You can't write the note.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Yes, I can. I'm passing you a note.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

So, what other theories could it be? Tell me. What like what's another theory?

SPEAKER_04 20:11

No, because I'm not watching it. You're the one who's deep in these Twitter channels.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

I love well, I do love the whole Epstein situation, and I'm glad it's coming back because I will tell you what's absolutely unbelievable is how much I wanted to be in the Epstein sort of news cycle, and then suddenly this irene.

SPEAKER_04 20:35

What do you mean you want it to be? Like, let's let's be real clear. What do you mean you want to be able to do it?

SPEAKER_01 20:39

I wanted I wanted the Epstein news cycle to continue and to be going on.

SPEAKER_04 20:43

So you could impose Epstein in every family photo we've ever taken.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Oh my god, it's so funny. I love that. Um, no, it's not funny. I've done a couple good ones today. No, the I just think there's a lot of system rot, and he's sort of symbolic of a lot of that, and there's all kinds of weird stuff that has occurred, and there's compromised individuals, and blah, blah, blah. So when it got taken out of the news cycle by the Iran war, it was interesting because, yeah, there's the theory that the Iran war was to take it out of the news cycle. I don't know if I believe that, but I will say it did a really good job of taking it out of my mind.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

At least was like the Iran War. I was like, what's going on with Iran War? Like, what's happening?

SPEAKER_04 21:23

So because Savannah Guthrie's news cycle has run its course.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Well, that one definitely ran out because she's back and well, no, Savannah's back.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

Her mom is still missing, which is very sad. I don't know. It is so bizarre. Like, did the FBI screw up the case that badly? Right? Because weren't they on the case and you had local law enforcement? I would I would hope. And prove it.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

It was Cash Patel.

SPEAKER_04 21:47

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Who's hanging out with a country music star? Okay, well, like we don't take political sides here, we're just calling balls and strikes.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

That's exactly like that's where we're calling it out.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Calling balls and strikes. And I will Say we kept the door open tonight because it's so beautiful. It's really beautiful. Here, like literally, it's super clear. I it looks like it's post-rainfall, but it didn't rain here. It is like one of those days where you're just going, Oh my god, I live in LA, and how great is it? Now, I'm gonna bring it to another topic because I think we've killed, we beat the Epstein Melania horse.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

Well, maybe that horse, but I have a feeling Epstein will come up again. That horse does not go to the glue factory in this house.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

You're right. You're right. Um, and I will say, if anybody is interested in watching something just to watch the spectacle, watch Melania. I'm gonna give it a shot.

SPEAKER_04 22:40

Oh, I thought you were gonna say watch another show. You were gonna talk about company retreat.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Oh my god, company. No, but I I want to take it from how, oh my god, we're gonna see the green flash. It's about to be a green flash. Folks, but here's here's the thing. We are in California. It is gorgeous right now, and Los Angeles is losing more people than any other metropolitan area in the country because it's so poorly managed.

SPEAKER_04 23:03

And how about the fact that we have a an appending strike for LA Unified School District? I think that there were several unions that joined forces that's supposed to occur on Tuesday, April 14th. And Gavin Newsom, who is running this lovely state of ours and who's responsible for school funding, you could arguably say he's got a hand in this strike. So do you realize LAU will be on strike? That means you're going to have tons of employees where their kids have nowhere to go because they would have dropped them off at school, right? You've got kids who aren't getting breakfast and lunch because they would have gotten that at school.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

I did see they're doing some sort of breakfast lunch program, I guess, even with Okay. First of all, this whole thing is ridiculous. Right.

SPEAKER_04 23:51

And then they're proposing, I mean, the the amount, the incremental amount that they want, I think the first year was a fixed, I want to say 3%. I could be wrong on this. But then the next year was Inflationary. The next year was like 13% increase. Come on. Yes, but and that, so if you're not familiar with uh school funding and educ and you know educational finance, there's something called a step and column. And I'm sure other industries have a step and column.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Step and column.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

A step and column, exactly, or a salary scale. So you come in at a certain year with a certain experience and you get X amount. And you can look at a pre-established step in, you know, step and column or salary scale, whatever the district calls it, and you can see the growth in your compensation year after year. Because there's obviously some increases that occur with cola or if the district uh, you know, negotiates a contract with their union and some of those percentages change. But you understand your increase. And maybe you go to you go to graduate school and you get a master's, and that sort of changes your scale, but you understand. So what happens is if you have a 15% increase, let's say, right? And maybe that's over two years, maybe it's a 2% one year and a 13% the other, but that carries forward every year. I mean, it's not a 13 over 13 over 13 compounded, but you're still paying that increase. So the increase is do you get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 25:16

It's not a compounded interest, like it doesn't take the 3% and then add another 3%? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:22

Well, it depends on what was negotiated. But that still goes forward. So you're you're getting raises every single year just by nature of your step and collect.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

And then how is the budget overall every year? Does it go up the same amount automatically, or no? There is like how do we make the difference?

SPEAKER_04 25:37

No, and you have to show solvency for three years out. So that's why you hear of districts doing pink slips, uh, because you have to show whether or not you're gonna bring back these uh you know employees. You got to show that you can close your books and make ends meet, otherwise the state takes over the school district. That happened to Inglewood several years ago, and it still hasn't recovered. They're still not operating.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

But is that also why the charter schools started to pop up in the Inglewood area?

SPEAKER_04 26:07

No, no, charter schools had been around for a while. Um, but you're that's what happened in the Inglewood School District. So that they're under like a conserv conservatorship, a conservatorship.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Well, and and what's really interesting is that uh so the public school system here in in in California in general, there's a handful of great schools up in in uh Northern California, probably in central California, et cetera.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

There's great schools all over the state. There's good school districts all over the state.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

But if you look at LA County, right? Which is huge. I think if you go, where is where are you know in Connecticut, you could say there's like, I don't know, 50 school districts that are are or world class where you have a chance to go anywhere for college and do anything, right? In LA County, you're probably talking about, right? You're you're talking about San Marino, Beverly Hills, uh La Cañata, uh Calabasas, and Manhattan Beach, Redondo, uh maybe El Segundo. I mean, you're you're maybe down to eight, nine school districts, right? Yeah. And LA Unified is not one of them. No. LA Unified is great. There's great zip codes that might have great elementary schools. Absolutely. Are there any that have great middle schools?

SPEAKER_04 27:23

I think so. I do. I I look, I don't I don't know every school. But it is hard. But I'm gonna tell you that the total budget for LA Unified School District this year.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Wait, wait, wait, let me guess. Is it it's is it a billion?

SPEAKER_04 27:38

Uh a billion?

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Like a billion dollars.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

Just one billion?

SPEAKER_01 27:41

Yeah, one billion.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

No, how about multiply that times 18?

SPEAKER_01 27:45

It's 18 billion dollars.

SPEAKER_04 27:47

Total budget. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

There's gotta be state budgets that are 18 billion.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

How what do you think the student enrollment is? Like how many kids do you think there are?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Oh, that's hard. So what it what it's uh Manhattan Beach School District is what, like 6,500, something like that.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

No, it's not that high anymore. So I mean uh 5,900, sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Okay. Uh LA Unified figure. I'm gonna go with there's like maybe well, it's not LA County. Is it LA County? Well, I guess it is LA County that has LA Unified. I'm gonna say it's 10 million, so you're gonna go with one fifth of that. I'm gonna go two million.

SPEAKER_04 28:21

Uh no, you're high. It's only 520,000. Oh, okay, okay. And that's K through 12, though. So that doesn't take into account the little ones who are starting, you know, those pre-K programs.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Wait, so to educate 500,000, you gotta spend 18 billion a year.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

Well, let's let's be real here and let's dissect the budget just a little more than that, is it's not just the cost to educate a human, it's your, you know, your benefits and it's your maintenance and it's your purrs and stirs, which is your retirement, and it's all your subcontracts, and it could be some of your special education expenses, and it could be programmatic expenses. I mean, it's not just the cost to educate your students, but in most districts, a majority of the budget is usually spent on staff salaries and benefits, the people. That is that is what a majority of the budget is usually delegated to in any district.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Okay, so $18 billion divided by $500,000 is $36,000 a kid. I thought it would have if it was outlandish, I would have thought it would have been higher. If I thought it was efficient, I would have thought it had been $20,000.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Okay, but that's what I will also say is that's assuming every student is alike in every single grade, because what it costs to educate a kindergartner is very different than what it costs to educate a junior with your APs and your, you know, master schedules and your electives and the this is and that's, right? So there's there's different costs and there's different variables there. And also all students are not alike. I mean, I I don't, again, I don't know LAUSD the way I know the charter that I work for or Manhattan Beach Unified. Um, but they're, you know, students, there's personalized learning and you want this individualized instruction. And a lot of schools do that, and that costs money, whether it's through manipulatives, whether whether it's through tutoring sessions or interventions, things like that, it costs money. So to just blanketly say it costs $36,000 to educate a child, there's so many factors that you're not taking into consideration.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Well, no, I'm gonna I'm gonna throw a couple factors out, right? So I would argue that if it's $18 billion, you're talking about um pensions and obligations that are owed post-retirement that are probably the equivalent of double that.

SPEAKER_04 30:38

And if the pension fund is not growing fast enough, you could argue Well, the pension fund is growing, but the amount that the union members have to pay as well as the district, primarily the district, is astronomical. I mean, it jumped over, I think, 15 points in one year. That's crazy. Yeah, no, that would bankrupt anybody.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Well, I bet you there's very, very um, there's a very, very good chance that those pension obligations are not properly funded. So you could argue that that 18 billion is way lower than it should be. Um, yeah, it's uh it's fascinating to think about what hidden problems there are. There are and then on top of it, the litigation of the new lawsuit, um, right? Isn't there a new statutory uh statute of limitations that has been changed?

SPEAKER_04 31:31

Uh we talked about it briefly, but uh anybody who has had an incident of sexual assault or molestation uh by way of school or school responsibility, the statute of limitation has been increased and it goes way back. We're not talking about the nineties, we're not talking about the eighties, we're not talking about the seventies. I mean, we are talking way back. So that's been problematic, and I know that there's consortiums and pools coming together because you know, if somebody from the 80s sues a district and if it's a really bad, bad case, that could be several million dollars that they're responsible for that should go into funding for your students or your teachers.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Well, and of course, like everything, they're finding yes, there's people that should be suing that are getting something, but then they're suing people that weren't even involved with what was going on, but it's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 32:17

Oh, and sometimes you don't even have records, and you have to go based on somebody's testimony because you sit there saying, Wow, if I bring this to a jury, it's certainly not gonna sound sympathetic that the district that you know I wasn't even a part of doesn't matter. I'm representing them, did X, Y, or Z or neglected to do A, B, and C.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Well, and it wasn't long ago when uh when when we saw that the AD of what maybe it was LA County or one of these um municipal areas said they have found so much uh scamming and fraud in these claims that they actually were asking people to come forward and voluntarily say that they were trying to commit fraud by making these claims and that they would be.

SPEAKER_04 32:59

But okay, stop for a second. I th uh I don't know if I I I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Oh yeah, no, well, I can pull that up while we're talking about it. Really?

SPEAKER_04 33:06

So there's people that are lying people that are lying about uh about you know a sexual abuse just to collect money.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 33:15

What is wrong with this world? Honestly, I want to talk about something good. Can we talk about something good? Because this world is really preparing.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

I think we should talk about company retreat.

SPEAKER_04 33:24

That's exactly what I would talk about. So, company retreat, if you haven't watched it, I would highly recommend it. It's not salacious, it's not dramatic, it's not, you know, intense. It's really funny and it's clean, and I think you'll love it. It's on Amazon Prime, and here's the premise it was put together by the jury duty people. So that was how many years ago?

SPEAKER_01 33:48

Um, I would say it was like three or four years ago, but really quick, just um uh on to go back to this issue. So it was Nathan Hockman who came out and said false reporting of sexual abuse undermines the entire judicial system and is grave disservice to actual victims, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. My office is taking the allegation seriously that some individuals were paid cash to have law firms to file false sexual abuse claims against the county. This criminal conduct abuses the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And then he talks about how if anybody comes forward and says that they're a part of these frauds, he will have leniency on their sentences or forgive them. So they're trying to discount these claims. Okay, boom, company retreat, go back.

SPEAKER_04 34:35

I'm gonna go back to jury duty, which is the setup to company retreat. So jury duty was, I guess, set up with was it set up by James Marsden?

SPEAKER_01 34:45

No, it was uh Stubinski and it's two showrunners uh in the comedy world.

SPEAKER_04 34:51

Okay, and so you've got James Marsden, who I guess was the celebrity draw, so people would initially start watching the the series. And the idea is it's a jury, and they actually are going through trial, and you've got a judge, and you've got a bailiff, and you've got your attorneys and witnesses, etc. And everybody, I mean everybody, down to the security guard, is an actor, but for one person. And crazy things happen, and this one person you're watching him take it all in, and you see the best in humanity, right? Because this guy is so freaking good, and he's he really wants to get this jury right.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

And I'm not gonna give it away, but at the end, it's incredible if anybody's been on jury duty, right?

SPEAKER_04 35:35

But at the end, they expose that everybody is an actor and he is the one person. Right. And uh his name in the first season was Ronald Gladman, and I think he he got some money after he won.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

He did, I think he got it. I I think he his career, he had a bit of a career out of it.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

So cut to now the second season of this series, and it's called Company Retreat by the Jury Duty People. And the premise is a small mom and pop hot sauce shop takes its employees, and there's like a handful of employees.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

It's called like grandma's rocking sauce.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

Grandma's rock and hot sauce, exactly. And maybe there's 20 employees and they go away on a week for a retreat, like at an OHI or something like that. It definitely wasn't that nice. Oh, what who's Flynn barking at?

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Flynn, get over here. All right, so go on.

SPEAKER_04 36:22

He's making an appearance. Oh boy, do you want to go?

SPEAKER_01 36:24

I'm gonna I'm gonna come and down.

SPEAKER_04 36:26

Keep talking. So the premise they go on this company retreat, and it's a week, and they all have their own rooms, and you get to see the personalities of your coworkers. And again, like jury duty, everybody but one person is an actor. And this one guy who's been hired as a temporary assistant to work the company retreat, and you watch him in all of these situations become friends with the employees, console the employees, talk about business deals with the employees. Like he is so ingratiated. And then at the end, he finds out that he is the only person who's not an actor, and his mind is blown. I started to cry, I started to tear up.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

He literally took every stressful situation, everything that was thrown at him, and handled it like the most good and faithful, yes, secure.

SPEAKER_04 37:18

Do you know how old he is?

SPEAKER_01 37:19

No, I thought he was like 25.

SPEAKER_04 37:21

Yes, he's like 26. But he's like a father.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

He's a father, right?

SPEAKER_04 37:24

He did they did mention that he's a father, but there were, you know, really no any information about that.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

From like Nashville, Tennessee or something. Apparently they auditioned or interviewed 10,000 people.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

But how do you pick this one guy that you know? I mean, I'm sure there's total like psychological tests that go involved with this, but how do you pick this one guy that you know is just gonna step into every, like you said, stressful situation and handle it with such grace and kindness?

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Oh, he was uh he was the most selfless person I've ever seen. I I was talking to somebody the other day who had lost. But he wasn't but he wasn't a wimp. He was just selfless. Like he was a human. He was what was good about humanity. I hope he's listening. I don't know where he is. We're gonna tag him. But I'm telling you right now, um, I was with somebody the other day who was very depressed in a way about where the world was going, and I told them about this show and about you gotta watch it because this guy will make you believe in humanity again. Like that's how crazy it was. The actors, who by the way, are used to having people tell them no and treat them like douches, you know, like just douchebags in Hollywood, right? Like they loved him, they wanted to be one of them wanted to be his mom.

SPEAKER_04 38:40

I know like I had a son at the end. She said, if I had a son, I'd want it to be you. It was just it's amazing. Just please watch it. It will make you feel good when there's so much wrong in the world. Please watch it.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

I will tell you, and I know I don't want to spoil it, but they gave him 150,000. You know what? Which I don't think they were supposed to give the money, but they were just like, this guy made the show and he makes humanity. Again, like it's just great.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

It's called Company Retreat, and it's on uh out it's on Apple, right? Amazon Prime.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Amazon Prime, not Apple. Sorry, Amazon Prime is different.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

This is why we always have problems finding the show because apparently I don't know. Okay, Company Retreat, uh, Amazon Prime, watch it. You will be so happy. You could watch jury duty first, you could watch it second. It's not necessarily sequential order, but I would recommend Company Retreat because you do you get to see some good things and it makes you smile.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Okay. Uh you know what? On that note, we gotta we're gonna end it on like a high note. I love that. And I want to Because we did a lot of like the Melania, the Epstein, the Iran conflict, and and you know, people scamming for these abuse claims. Like, that's not good.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

Okay, I want to go open my Amazon box. So you you sign us out and uh I'll do another one. Okay. A little bit, another point. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

All right, guys. Um I'm gonna keep it solo. Um, but no, Plate and Ponder, Empty Nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. We're now in 62 countries around the world. Please uh follow us, download us, uh be entertained, review, and DM us with some good ideas for shows because we're gonna do guests and we're gonna do all kinds of different concepts, and we really appreciate it. So have a fantastic weekend. It's a master's weekend. Go, Rory, and talk to you later.