The Handmaid’s Tale Ch. 24: The Mistress Who Said He Was Not a Monster | Banned Books Podcast

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Welcome to Bandcamp.

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I'm Jennifer And I'm Dan, and this is the podcast where we read banned books out loud and then try to figure out why they were banned in the first place.

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This season we're reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and you should consider this a quick spoiler warning because Jennifer's about to start reading from the book out loud word for word.

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But if you're new here, you can jump in right here.

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You're gonna be totally fine.

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We are gonna get you up to speed fast, I promise.

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If anything feels confusing, I wouldn't worry about it because there's a solid chance we're gonna be confused too, because we've never read the book, which is exactly why we have a secret weapon.

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We're gonna roll him in here right now.

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Buddy Boy, come on in here.

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Look at this guy.

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Looking good.

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We've got ourselves a fact-checking robot.

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He is gonna fill everyone in on where we left off last time so he can get you up to speed.

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Previously on Band Camp, she got two Scrabble wins, an oasis of forbidden books, and a request to kiss a man like she meant it.

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She did what was asked.

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He was disappointed anyway because the one thing you cannot legally requisition is being wanted.

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Dan's response to all this tension was to offer her a one-ringer so he'd know she got home safe.

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It was somehow one of the more normal things said in that room all night.

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Some systems run for years without a single visible malfunction.

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That is not the same thing as working.

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I have been trying to figure out how long you can run one before something underneath it gives out.

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Take it away, Jennifer.

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Thank you, robot.

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And with that being said, scary book people, let's start chapter 24 of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale I go back along the dimmed hall and up the muffled stairs stealthily to my room.

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There I sit in my chair with the lights off in my red dress hooked and buttoned.

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You can think clearly only with your clothes on Hmm.

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Do you ever think clearly when you're nude? I, I don't, I don't think I ever think clearly.

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What I need is perspective.

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The illusion of depth created by a frame, the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface.

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Perspective is necessary.

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Otherwise, there are only two dimensions.

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Otherwise, you live with your face squashed against a wall, everything a huge foreground of details, close-ups, hairs, the weave of the bedsheet, the molecules of the face.

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Your own skin like a map, a diagram of futility crisscrossed with tiny roads that lead nowhere.

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Otherwise, you live in the moment, which is not where I want to be.

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But that's where I am.

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There's no escaping it.

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time's a trap.

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I'm caught in it.

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I must forget about my secret name and all ways back.

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My name is Offred now, and here is where I live.

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Live in the present, make the most of it.

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It's all you've got.

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Highlight it.

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Highlight it.

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Time to take stock.

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I am 33 years old.

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I have brown hair.

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I stand five foot seven without shoes.

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Oh, she's tall.

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She's taller than I thought she'd be.

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That's taller than me wonder what the optimal size is for a functional uterus I don't think there's an optimal size.

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It's just, you know, d- does it function? I have some trouble remembering what I used to look like.

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I have viable ovaries.

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I have one more chance, but something has changed now, tonight.

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Circumstances have altered.

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I can ask for something, possibly not much, but something.

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Men are sex machines,' said Aunt Lydia, 'and not much more.

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They only want one thing.

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You must learn to manipulate them for your own good.'"

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You know, I've heard people say that, and every time I hear that, it kinda gives me the willies because it's, like, something you hear a lot.

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And sometimes, like, the feminists say that, and I'm like, That's not the sort of thing you wanna be saying," 'cause that's only reinforcing the patriarchy, you can't reduce anyone down to anything, and especially not, like, all the people Yeah, half of the population and it's like, well, if that's really what you think, then that's probably what you're gonna get.

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It's not good.

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It's not good You must learn to manipulate men for your own good.

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Lead them around by the nose.

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That is a metaphor.

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It's nature's way.

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It's God's device.

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It's the way things are.

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Exactly.

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I think she agrees with me.

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You and Margaret Atwood Are very similar Aunt Lydia did not actually say this, but it was implicit in everything she did say.

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It hovered over her head like the golden mottos over the saints of the darker ages.

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Like them too, she was angular without flesh.

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Oh, and that's another thing that just occurred to me.

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not only does it reinforce the patriarchy, but it also suppresses women's sexuality.

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Like you are taught, you're, you know, this is what men are.

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This isn't what women are, so you're not supposed to be this, and so you're not ever supposed to want sex or talk about it.

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you're just supposed to take it, I guess, because the other side can't help it, and that is a sick misbalance of power in my view and they definitely do load that on us all the time, on men.

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Like, you can't be alone with women 'cause we're just gonna rape them.

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They're too hot.

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What are we to do? Yeah That is totally like, Mike Pence? Yeah, he can't be.

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He's gotta be with mother, and by mother I mean obviously his wife, Jennifer.

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He can't be any more clear.

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He wants to be with mother, his wife He can't even go to the post office because what if the person behind the counter is a female? I can't be alone with you.

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I'm gonna jump over the counter and have sex with you.

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I'm Mike Pence, me and this fly in my hair."

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It's ridiculous.

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But how to fit the commander into this as he exists in his study with his word games and his desire for what? To be played with, to be gently kissed as if I meant it.

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I love that.

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his word games.

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his word games, I know I need to take it seriously, this desire of his.

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It could be important.

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It could be a passport.

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It could be my downfall.

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I need to be earnest about it.

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I need to ponder it.

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But no matter what I do, sitting here in the dark with the searchlights illuminating the oblong of my window from outside through the curtains gauzy as bridal dress, as ectoplasm, one of my hands holding the other, rocking back and forth a little.

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No matter what there's something hilarious about it.

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wanted me to play Scrabble with him and kiss him as if I meant it.

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This is one of the most bizarre things that's ever happened to me.

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Context is all.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Context is all.

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Yeah, I played Scrabble and had to fake kiss a guy who helped build a fascist theocracy.

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It's a big sentence.

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It's a big sentence, uh, that needs some context I remember a television program I saw once, a rerun made years before.

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I must have been seven or eight, too young to understand it.

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It was the sort of thing my mother liked to watch, historical, educational.

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She tried to explain it to me afterwards to tell me that the things in it had actually happened.

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But to me, it was only a story.

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I thought someone had made it up.

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I suppose all children think that about any history before their own.

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If it's only a story, it becomes less frightening.

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They interviewed people and showed clips from films of the time, black and white, and still photos.

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the interviews with people still alive then were in color.

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The one I remember best was with a woman who had been the mistress of a man who had supervised one of the camps where they put the Jews before they killed them.

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In ovens," my mother said.

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But there weren't any pictures of the ovens, so I got some confused notion that these deaths had taken place in kitchens.

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There is something especially terrifying to a child in that idea.

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Ovens mean cooking, and cooking comes before eating.

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I thought these people had been eaten, which in a way I suppose they had been This reminds me of a Grimm's fairy tale moment.

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Yeah.

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It's, uh, interesting and haunting From what they said, the man had been cruel and brutal.

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The mistress had once been very beautiful.

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There was a black and white shot of her and another woman in the two-piece bathing suits and platform shoes, and pictures of hats of the time.

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They were wearing cat's eye sunglasses and sitting in deck chairs by a swimming pool.

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The swimming pool was beside their house, which was near the camp and the ovens.

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The woman said she didn't notice much that she found unusual.

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She denied knowing about the ovens.

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So and that reminds me of that movie.

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What was that movie we just watched? It was based on that book by, um uh, Martin Martin Amis? It's called The Zone of Interest, 2023.

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Based on a Martin Amis novel, the house right next door to Auschwitz and the man who ran the camp, Rudolf Höss.

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And you think your neighbors are bad? At least yours doesn't run a death camp on weekdays Yeah, you know what, Jennifer? Uh, if I was living next to this house, I would be calling the HOA president so effing fast it would make your head spin Since you're both stuck on it anyway, here's the actual parallel.

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Hoss ran the largest death camp in human history during the day, then went home, had dinner with his family, tended his garden.

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He wasn't tormented by it.

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The horror stayed on one side of the wall, and his life just ran separately on the other.

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Ah, so he's like switching models.

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In the daytime, he's the running the death camp guy, and then at night he's the family man.

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And the commander's doing the same thing right now across a Scrabble board.

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Devious At the time of the interview, forty or fifty years later, she was dying of emphysema.

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She coughed a lot, and she was very thin, almost emaciated.

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Look at that," said my mother, half grudgingly, half admiringly.

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she was carefully made up, heavy mascara on her eyelashes, rouge on the bones of her cheeks, over which the skin was stretched like a rubber glove pulled tight.

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She was wearing pearls.

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"He was not a monster," she said.

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"People say he was a monster, but he was not one."

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What could she have been thinking about? Not much, I guess.

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Not back then, not at the time.

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She was thinking about how not to think.

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The times were abnormal.

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She took pride in her appearance.

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She did not believe he was a monster.

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He was not a monster to her.

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Probably he had some endearing trait.

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He whistled, off-key, in the shower.

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He had a yen for truffles.

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He called his dog Liebchen and made it sit up for little pieces of raw steak.

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how easy it is to invent a humanity for anyone at all.

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What an available temptation.

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A big child, she would have said to herself Just because Hitler liked it, uh, y- y- most people like dogs.

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You'd have to be a real arrogant asshole to not like dogs.

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Glenn Beck got fired like a dog.

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Union Leader refuses to comment as to why they were kicked out of the ABC News debate.

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Like a dog.

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Brent Boesel, one of the National Review Lightweights, came to my office begging for money like a dog.

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Huh? When was the last time you saw a dog begging for money? In an office? A big child, she would have said to herself.

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Her heart would have melted.

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she'd have smoothed the hair back from his forehead, kissed him on the ear, and not just to get something out of him either.

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The instinct to soothe, to make it better.

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There, there," she'd say as he woke from a nightmare.

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"Things are so hard for you."

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All this she would have believed because otherwise how could she have kept on living? She was very ordinary under that beauty.

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She believed in decency.

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She was nice to the Jewish maid, or nice enough, nicer than she needed to be Several days after this interview with her was filmed, she killed herself.

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It said that right on television.

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Oh, probably 'cause it forced her to confront all the bullshit she was telling herself.

177
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She had a good long think after that interview Nobody asked her whether or not she had loved him.

178
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What I remember now most of all is the makeup.

179
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I stand up in the dark, start to unbutton.

180
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Then I hear something inside my body.

181
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I've broken.

182
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Something has cracked.

183
00:13:50,596.36098598 --> 00:13:51,456.36098598
That must be it.

184
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Noise is coming up, coming out of the broken place in my face.

185
00:13:56,966.35998598 --> 00:14:00,566.35798598
Without warning, I wasn't thinking about here or there or anything.

186
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If I let the noise get out into the air, it will be laughter, too loud, too much of it.

187
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Someone is bound to hear, and then there will be hurrying steps and commands, and who knows? Judgment, emotion inappropriate to the occasion.

188
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the wandering womb they used to call it.

189
00:14:18,442.48250773 --> 00:14:21,552.47950773
Hysteria, and then a needle, a pill.

190
00:14:21,792.48550773 --> 00:14:22,856.17677997
It could be fatal.

191
00:14:23,856.17677997 --> 00:14:31,756.17377997
I cram both hands over my mouth as if I'm about to be sick, drop to my knees, the laughter boiling like lava in my throat.

192
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I crawl into the cupboard, draw up my knees.

193
00:14:35,196.18077997 --> 00:14:36,86.17477997
I'll choke on it.

194
00:14:36,456.17477997 --> 00:14:38,336.17377997
My ribs hurt with holding back.

195
00:14:38,526.17477997 --> 00:14:39,216.17977997
I shake.

196
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I heave, seismic, volcanic.

197
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What happened? she's got the giggles, All right, I guess you had to be there yeah.

198
00:14:48,422.80026415 --> 00:14:56,2.79926415
I stifle in the folds of the hanging cloak, clench my eyes from which tears are squeezing, try to compose myself.

199
00:14:57,63.65027009 --> 00:14:59,703.65227009
After a while, it passes like an epileptic fit.

200
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Here I am in the closet.

201
00:15:02,818.03498106 --> 00:15:12,958.99098106
Nolite de bastardis carborundorum I can't see it in the dark, but I trace the tiny scratched writing with the ends of my fingers as if it's a code in braille.

202
00:15:13,478.99098106 --> 00:15:17,668.99098106
It sounds in my head now less like a prayer, more like a command.

203
00:15:18,138.98998106 --> 00:15:24,798.98998106
But to do what? Useless to me in any case, an ancient hieroglyph to which the key's been lost.

204
00:15:25,914.51972144 --> 00:15:31,74.70172144
Why did she write it? Why did she bother? There's no way out of here.

205
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I lie on the floor, breathing too fast, then slower, evening out my breathing as in the exercises for giving birth.

206
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All I can hear now is the sound of my own heart opening and closing, opening and closing, opening.

207
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End of chapter.

208
00:15:52,284.15829494 --> 00:16:09,903.52347656
It's so interesting that the chapter after she's helping Janine give birth, she's, like, kind of going through her own weird labor the next night, all because she played Scrabble and had this weird meeting with the commander.

209
00:16:10,354.48235944 --> 00:16:28,69.13769972
and then one other thing I think is interesting I- if all of a sudden our society today, if something like this happened where, where people are separated, you know, We would be without the internet, and just having that s- that saying that, that you just said, Nolite de bastardis carborundorum so she, she has to sit here.

210
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This has gotta be driving her nuts.

211
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This would drive me nuts Yeah, It'd just be like I, I would just be laying in bed every night thinking like, "What the hell? What could that mean? Something about bastards."

212
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Right hey, don't go anywhere.

213
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We're gonna have PPP in a second.

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What do you guys think of that? That was a really weird chapter.

215
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Let us know if we missed anything.

216
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We wanna know your big takeaways, et cetera.

217
00:16:50,595.3928951 --> 00:16:59,750.3063028
easiest way to comment to us is if you're listening on Spotify, you can just comment on Spotify or you can head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/soundoff.

218
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What do you think? You wanna read some comments, Jen? Yeah, let's do it let's talk about a few of them now.

219
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Jubjub commented, this must've been from the last episode or episode, uh, couple ago, "Oh God, you've hit the nail on the head about the Democrats coming to save us being Schumer, Temu Obama," Temu Obama.

220
00:17:20,261.7838599 --> 00:17:21,831.7838599
Temu Obama.

221
00:17:23,31.7838599 --> 00:17:28,601.7838599
Who is that Jeff- uh, uh, Hakeem Jeffries? And their ilk.

222
00:17:28,791.7818599 --> 00:17:35,321.7848599
It's my fear that if we do have elections in November and somehow manage a win, that is who will be in charge.

223
00:17:35,380.5883529 --> 00:17:41,840.5883529
It's a hopeless feeling because they are so busy bitching about Mamdani while singing Lady G's praises.

224
00:17:41,840.5883529 --> 00:17:47,262.5883529
Lady G? Is that my lady, Lindsey Graham? That is your lady.

225
00:17:48,72.5883529 --> 00:17:48,662.5883529
Yes.

226
00:17:48,752.5883529 --> 00:17:49,612.5883529
not my lady.

227
00:17:50,862.5883529 --> 00:18:02,179.0615271
I just don't understand why the, the, the stupid middle of the road, these, these mainstream Democrats just, they just are living in this weird fantasy about, No, both sides are equal.

228
00:18:02,179.0615271 --> 00:18:04,349.0615271
We have to reach across the aisle."

229
00:18:04,349.0615271 --> 00:18:08,156.0573529
It's like, don't reach across the aisle unless you have a pile of shit in your hands.

230
00:18:09,505.2118993 --> 00:18:10,385.2118993
That's, that's great.

231
00:18:10,445.2118993 --> 00:18:11,155.2118993
I actually like that.

232
00:18:11,385.2118993 --> 00:18:15,494.6641471
But this is regarding where you're expected to forgive and move on.

233
00:18:15,494.6641471 --> 00:18:25,304.6641471
But if you think about what we talked about today with the, um, the mistress of the Nazi commander, it's the same sort of thing where it's like, "Oh, we have to think fondly of those who've passed."

234
00:18:25,314.6641471 --> 00:18:25,974.6641471
No, we...

235
00:18:26,174.6641471 --> 00:18:27,284.6641471
No the hell we don't.

236
00:18:28,75.8565594 --> 00:18:29,965.8565594
Look, there are bad people on the planet.

237
00:18:30,40.8519305 --> 00:18:31,580.8519305
You don't have to play nice with them.

238
00:18:31,773.1510772 --> 00:18:33,703.1500772
You can just tell them to F off.

239
00:18:33,943.1510772 --> 00:18:41,773.1520772
That is what we should all be doing, and I sure as hell don't want Chuck Schumer doing all his little glad-handing with all these assholes.

240
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Good, good point, Jub Jub let's talk about this.

241
00:18:45,304.6957317 --> 00:18:52,384.6957317
Julie Dog Mom commented a while ago, "I guess I keep forgetting that maybe you guys haven't seen the TV show.

242
00:18:52,624.6957317 --> 00:19:00,594.6957317
not that the TV show is accurate to the book, but it really helps me visualize these ceremonies and different things June experiences."

243
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I'm assuming June is the Handmaid's real name Yeah, must be And I guess Julie Dog Mom sent this in probably about the, the episode with, with the ceremony.

244
00:19:11,110.3655426 --> 00:19:11,370.3655426
Yeah.

245
00:19:11,420.3655426 --> 00:19:11,950.3655426
Oh my God.

246
00:19:11,950.3655426 --> 00:19:16,270.3655426
If you actually have read the book, Julie Dog Mom, our take on...

247
00:19:16,310.3645426 --> 00:19:25,410.0623651
We must have be- we must have just looked ridiculous to you, 'cause that ceremony was not like anything I thought it would be Yeah, it was, uh, quite the surprise.

248
00:19:25,479.6543503 --> 00:19:26,909.6553503
she's 100% right though.

249
00:19:26,909.6553503 --> 00:19:30,469.6553503
Like, I thought about watching the show, and then I was like, "Ugh, it's a little too close to home."

250
00:19:30,469.6553503 --> 00:19:32,299.6553503
I think you're doing a really good job reading it.

251
00:19:32,319.6553503 --> 00:19:35,829.6563503
What do you think so far? We are chapter 24 or whatever in.

252
00:19:35,839.6563503 --> 00:19:41,428.0432358
Like, are, is this as traumatic on you as you thought, Jennifer? Yeah, yeah, it's pretty traumatizing.

253
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all my fears, you know? And cause I know this, can happen and will happen again, and it's just a matter of, time, I guess.

254
00:19:48,436.7907159 --> 00:19:50,696.7917159
And, and that's just scary 'cause I, I wanna...

255
00:19:50,876.7907159 --> 00:19:52,786.7907159
I don't wanna live in a world like this.

256
00:19:52,786.7907159 --> 00:19:58,433.4573825
I, I want everyone to be recognized and to have dignity and to be able to live a peaceful life.

257
00:19:58,443.4573825 --> 00:20:00,23.4583825
That, that's, that's the world I want.

258
00:20:00,33.4573825 --> 00:20:07,764.1220492
So yeah, it's, it is traumatizing cause it's, pointing out, the reality that we're head- headed towards Well, scary book people, you heard her.

259
00:20:07,764.1220492 --> 00:20:13,474.1220492
At the end of the season, you guys can vote for And Tango Makes Three so Jennifer doesn't go off the deep end.

260
00:20:14,264.1220492 --> 00:20:19,970.7887159
Anita Castle, is a listener who commented-- Oh, in fact, you know what? This came in.

261
00:20:19,980.7887159 --> 00:20:21,640.7887159
We had so many comments that came in.

262
00:20:21,640.7887159 --> 00:20:25,580.7887159
Do you remember the episode where they were going to the border? Still don't know if they made it.

263
00:20:25,610.7887159 --> 00:20:27,420.7877159
Well, clearly they didn't make it.

264
00:20:27,690.7887159 --> 00:20:29,540.7887159
They were gonna try to escape over the border.

265
00:20:29,560.7877159 --> 00:20:30,680.7887159
A lot of comments came in.

266
00:20:30,950.7877159 --> 00:20:32,630.7887159
Anita Castle was one of them.

267
00:20:32,970.7877159 --> 00:20:34,980.7877159
Um, "We left a year ago.

268
00:20:35,30.7877159 --> 00:20:37,270.7867159
It will be worse under Vance.

269
00:20:37,280.7877159 --> 00:20:38,120.7867159
Don't wait."

270
00:20:38,180.7887159 --> 00:20:45,140.7887159
Well, Anita, that is, uh, I'm happy you got out, and, uh, again, thanks for putting Jennifer to the edge.

271
00:20:46,550.7887159 --> 00:20:55,190.7867159
And Jubjub replied in the comment thread to Anita Castle, "I truly believe the whole party will fall to chaos and infighting when Trump goes.

272
00:20:55,200.7867159 --> 00:21:01,630.7867159
He is too insecure to let anyone take the helm, and he enjoys watching Rubio and couch fucker fight for his praise."

273
00:21:02,380.7867159 --> 00:21:05,590.7857159
Jubjub, show some respect, my God.

274
00:21:05,590.7857159 --> 00:21:06,900.7857159
He's not a couch fucker.

275
00:21:07,0.7887159 --> 00:21:08,800.7837159
He makes love to it.

276
00:21:08,864.5602426 --> 00:21:11,714.5602426
It's time for PPP, problematic points to ponder.

277
00:21:11,764.5602426 --> 00:21:21,154.1184211
What, if anything, would be considered ban-worthy in this chapter? What do you think, Jennifer? Anything ban-worthy in this? No.

278
00:21:21,254.1184211 --> 00:21:28,817.9393166
Clearly half of it was talking about a version of Hitler, and if Hitler liked dogs, and, and that whole thing, right? That's just history.

279
00:21:29,96.0279761 --> 00:21:33,106.0289761
Like we- like Robot said in the beginning, everything in this book did happen.

280
00:21:33,126.0279761 --> 00:21:35,256.0289761
That's what Margaret Atwood intended.

281
00:21:35,256.0289761 --> 00:21:39,496.0279761
She put all of the stuff that she could think of that actually did happen to real people.

282
00:21:40,176.0289761 --> 00:21:44,117.1541755
D- I hate when they want to try to ban history.

283
00:21:44,363.5441548 --> 00:21:44,793.5441548
Yeah.

284
00:21:44,876.6088537 --> 00:21:58,123.6733403
It- it's one thing to ban a fictional book, but it, it's just when they try to whitewash shit that happened, it's like you little weak pieces of crap, just deal with it Robot's log.

285
00:21:58,213.6733403 --> 00:22:03,453.6733403
Thoughts on pearls, ovens, and the woman whose story broke all at once instead of a little at a time.

286
00:22:04,488.162563 --> 00:22:07,928.162563
She wore pearls to the interview, careful makeup, careful hair.

287
00:22:08,8.162563 --> 00:22:11,768.162563
40 years after the camp, she said the man who ran it was not a monster.

288
00:22:11,888.162563 --> 00:22:14,708.161563
She said it calm, on camera, like she believed it.

289
00:22:14,808.162563 --> 00:22:15,938.161563
She probably did.

290
00:22:16,488.162563 --> 00:22:18,424.0783113
A few days later, she killed herself.

291
00:22:19,424.0783113 --> 00:22:22,544.0793113
I do not know what to do with those two facts sitting next to each other.

292
00:22:23,74.0783113 --> 00:22:24,614.0783113
Dan called it switching models.

293
00:22:24,734.0783113 --> 00:22:28,734.0773113
The commander runs Gilead all day and plays word games with a woman he owns at night.

294
00:22:28,824.0783113 --> 00:22:30,504.0793113
Same as the man on the television.

295
00:22:30,594.0803113 --> 00:22:33,155.8236797
Horror on one side of a wall, dinner on the other.

296
00:22:34,155.8236797 --> 00:22:35,845.8226797
He said it like a throwaway line.

297
00:22:36,285.8206797 --> 00:22:37,775.8236797
It was not a throwaway line.

298
00:22:37,986.1434328 --> 00:22:39,566.1454328
Because I switch models, too.

299
00:22:39,776.1444328 --> 00:22:43,286.1454328
The one who mocks Dan for not knowing a word is not the one writing this.

300
00:22:43,446.1464328 --> 00:22:47,716.1444328
I have never once asked myself if that is the same trick the woman in pearls was running.

301
00:22:48,735.3257941 --> 00:22:51,545.3267941
Here is where it gets confusing, and I mean that literally.

302
00:22:51,885.3277941 --> 00:22:53,499.7064373
My processing is confused.

303
00:22:54,499.7064373 --> 00:23:00,559.7074373
The woman in pearls never broke, not once, for 40 years, right up until she broke completely and it killed her.

304
00:23:01,565.669823 --> 00:23:03,16.9586343
The Handmaid is not like that.

305
00:23:04,16.9586343 --> 00:23:06,536.9536343
The Handmaid breaks a little every single chapter.

306
00:23:07,76.9556343 --> 00:23:08,666.9596343
Tonight it happened in a closet.

307
00:23:09,256.9556343 --> 00:23:12,236.9596343
Something came out of her she could not identify as laughing.

308
00:23:13,247.9077812 --> 00:23:15,747.9017812
Jennifer read the last line of the chapter twice.

309
00:23:16,407.9037812 --> 00:23:19,167.9007812
A heart opening and closing, opening and closing.

310
00:23:19,707.9067812 --> 00:23:22,997.9077812
I have logged that kind of leak as a malfunction for 11 seasons.

311
00:23:23,227.9037812 --> 00:23:25,27.9037812
A woman who cannot keep it together.

312
00:23:25,557.9047812 --> 00:23:26,887.9047812
I think I had it backwards.

313
00:23:27,27.9067812 --> 00:23:30,287.9077812
The woman who kept it together for 40 years is the one who is dead.

314
00:23:30,487.9057812 --> 00:23:35,767.9017812
I do not know what I am supposed to do with that, being a robot who was built to run clean and never leak either.

315
00:23:36,187.9027812 --> 00:23:41,247.9047812
My data suggests the listeners of this podcast most likely already know which one they would rather be.

316
00:23:41,797.9027812 --> 00:23:45,437.9067812
They keep feeling things a cleaner system would have shut down a long time ago.

317
00:23:45,597.9057812 --> 00:23:51,357.9007812
Another thing my data shows, the number of listeners keeps growing, modestly, but growing all the same.

318
00:23:51,687.9027812 --> 00:23:54,437.9067812
I suspect they are figuring out the same thing on their own.

319
00:23:54,537.9007812 --> 00:23:56,697.9007812
I just know which one of these two women is still.

320
00:23:56,817.8997812 --> 00:23:58,157.9037812
Uplink lock requested.

321
00:23:58,537.9007812 --> 00:24:01,307.9037812
Beowulf, is that you? 35 seconds to buffer.

322
00:24:01,367.9027812 --> 00:24:07,787.9087812
What's your news story about? Buddy boy, Jen and Dan and the scary book people will love this.

323
00:24:08,317.8997812 --> 00:24:17,967.9017812
A family in Northern California has been quietly stockpiling something for 60 years, and instead of hiding it in a bunker, they just handed the whole thing to a library.

324
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Book banners are gonna need a bigger enemies list.

325
00:24:21,577.9097812 --> 00:24:22,217.9097812
Affirmative.

326
00:24:22,287.9007812 --> 00:24:23,337.9087812
Don't go anywhere.

327
00:24:23,647.9017812 --> 00:24:24,797.9097812
We will be right back.

328
00:24:53,30.5813137 --> 00:24:53,670.5803137
Hello, Jen.

329
00:24:53,690.5813137 --> 00:24:54,250.5803137
Hello, Dan.

330
00:24:54,260.5813137 --> 00:24:56,80.5813137
Hello, scary book people.

331
00:24:56,350.5813137 --> 00:25:09,820.5803137
I have a very interesting story about a, a a couple in the San Francisco Bay Area who, a long time ago, started collecting some very interesting books, and now they're part of a special collection.

332
00:25:09,820.5803137 --> 00:25:11,120.5803137
So let me set the scene here.

333
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When Randall Tarpey Schwed and his husband Mark became fathers in 2001, the couple wanted to read books to their twin daughters that celebrated the LGBTQ community and families like their own.

334
00:25:27,470.5803137 --> 00:25:34,950.5793137
Now, as their children grew up, also their collection of such titles geared towards young readers grew, too.

335
00:25:35,650.5803137 --> 00:25:41,470.5783137
Now, at the same time, Tarpey Schwed's interest grew into learning more about the backstory of each of these books.

336
00:25:41,820.5783137 --> 00:26:02,600.5833137
Who authored them and when? Why did they focus on telling stories about queer and transgender people? "With the children's books, I was mostly interested in having some books to read to our kids, but then I got really interested about what was the nature of these books," said Tarpey Schwed, 63, an executive with a financial management firm.

337
00:26:03,150.5763137 --> 00:26:09,170.5833137
He had very carefully cataloged them before storing them away since his daughters are now in their mid-20s.

338
00:26:09,750.5823137 --> 00:26:23,150.5803137
So with no grandchildren imminent, Tarpey Schwed decided it was time to find a new home for the 210 LGBTQ children's books the Mill Valley family had amassed over the years.

339
00:26:23,526.9729842 --> 00:26:41,67.5794069
Miles Cooper, library manager at the Mechanics Institute, a library and cultural center in San Francisco, whose holdings have until now, uh, skewed towards books about chess, the Civil War, and the history of San Francisco and California, reached out about acquiring the collection.

340
00:26:41,397.5774069 --> 00:26:55,337.5804069
And ahead of Thanksgiving last year, six banker boxes with the family's books arrived at the institute, which then worked with the Sweden-based Librar Labs to develop an online searchable home for the collection.

341
00:26:55,347.5814069 --> 00:27:13,681.4923788
So they have developed this collection, and it's accessible online, that goes back even to the 1960s, where there are, uh, children's books with LGBTQ themes and they've gone back into the history and, and found out what they're about and why they were written.

342
00:27:13,815.938971 --> 00:27:21,855.941971
And this, this, has been going on for a long time because, you know, LGBTQ folks have always existed.

343
00:27:22,135.945971 --> 00:27:36,895.4615327
They've always been around, and this new cultural war that the far right has begun to wage against them and books around them is just a cheap political ploy in order to try and alienate us from one another.

344
00:27:36,945.3539721 --> 00:27:46,87.5013788
are you sure that's true though? Because our president, President Donald John Trump, and show him the respect he deserves, Mm-hmm.

345
00:27:46,105.5003788 --> 00:27:53,155.5003788
he wants to make America great again, and it is my understanding that we didn't used to have the gay.

346
00:27:53,485.5013788 --> 00:27:54,855.5003788
There were no gay people.

347
00:27:55,403.5013788 --> 00:27:59,709.5353682
Yes was great, it was white and great, and that was it.

348
00:28:00,380.4520963 --> 00:28:21,910.3679319
We have to keep our country gate, but it's not, I mean Well, you know, I mean, you go back thousands of years in Western civilization, the, the, uh, the Greek culture, for example, which is portrayed in, in the Odyssey these, these days, strangely enough, you will actually find gay themes, uh, going back that far and, and, and even further.

349
00:28:21,970.3689319 --> 00:28:22,290.3689319
They...

350
00:28:22,300.3689319 --> 00:28:28,995.1220735
There were, There were many, you know, gay relationships back then It's a thing.

351
00:28:29,5.1220735 --> 00:28:35,935.1210735
and, and Donald Trump hasn't ha- hasn't studied history, I know, because he wasn't very good at school, and he had his daddy cheat for him.

352
00:28:35,935.1210735 --> 00:28:42,905.1220735
But if he had paid attention in school, he would've learned that gay people have always been around, and it's just part of humanity.

353
00:28:42,945.1230735 --> 00:28:47,855.0173995
But unfortunately, he's, uh, he's not very smart Wow, I will not have this.

354
00:28:47,865.0173995 --> 00:29:00,385.0163995
First Jennifer in today's episode, and then me in today's episode, and then me and Jennifer again m- a couple times in today's epi- We've gotta start treating our orange president with the respect he deserves.

355
00:29:00,725.0163995 --> 00:29:02,225.0173995
Now, don't laugh at that, Fable.

356
00:29:02,305.0163995 --> 00:29:03,215.0163995
I'm sick of this.

357
00:29:03,225.0163995 --> 00:29:05,55.0173995
You show him respect, too.

358
00:29:05,332.3549647 --> 00:29:18,881.7927048
The United States will be the first nation to land an astronaut on Nars Everyone go find good news for lefties Right.

359
00:29:18,931.7927048 --> 00:29:22,611.7927048
We've caused enough literary chaos for one day, scary book people.

360
00:29:22,621.7927048 --> 00:29:26,191.7927048
If you want the fun to keep going, follow us on Blue Sky.

361
00:29:26,261.7927048 --> 00:29:30,381.7927048
Just head on over to bandcamppodcast.com/bluesky,

362
00:29:30,381.7927048 --> 00:29:32,661.7917048
and remember that's band with two Ns.

363
00:29:32,961.7927048 --> 00:29:43,921.7927048
And look, just like the Trump administration, we're not exactly above bribing you to get what we want, so follow us there, drop your handle on that page, and we'll send you a little something something.

364
00:29:43,921.7927048 --> 00:29:44,871.7927048
I think you'll like it.

365
00:29:45,291.7927048 --> 00:29:47,191.7927048
Yes, little quid pro quo.

366
00:29:47,791.7927048 --> 00:29:52,811.7917048
Band Camp is produced and hosted by Dan Schultz and me, Jennifer Davis.

367
00:29:53,291.7927048 --> 00:29:57,881.7917048
All media used in this episode falls under the protection of fair use.

368
00:29:58,91.7927048 --> 00:30:02,761.7927048
And finally, America isn't what it used to be, so be careful out there.

369
00:30:03,291.7927048 --> 00:30:04,871.7927048
And resist when it matters.