Built Ford Tough

That moment when you hit play expecting Lizzie Borden and end up watching a completely different show? Yeah, we went there. We break down why the new Netflix Lizzie Borden series feels so off for true crime fans: the loose relationship with facts, the chaotic story choices, and the bigger problem of streaming “true crime” leaning on famous names while wandering miles away from the real case. If you care about true crime accuracy, this one will either validate you or fire you up.

Then we shift into pure Gen X reality: watching our icons get older, feeling weird about time, and admitting the money side of aging is no joke. We talk retirement anxiety, paycheck-to-paycheck life, and that Gen X habit of still feeling like we’re 18 at a bonfire even when the calendar says otherwise.

From there we dig into history with Gerald Ford and Betty Ford. We walk through Ford’s unusual rise to president after Watergate, the Nixon pardon that defined his legacy, and the way politics used to allow disagreement without total dehumanization. And we give Betty Ford the credit she deserves: her public honesty about breast cancer, her outspoken views on Roe v Wade and the Equal Rights Amendment, and how her experience with prescription drug addiction helped lead to the Betty Ford Center and a lasting impact on addiction recovery.

We also get into AI fears and a surprising assistive technology bright spot with Meta glasses, then end with Philadelphia true crime headlines and a reminder that one person stepping in can change everything. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves history and true crime, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

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Welcome And Quick Catch Up

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Two best friends fucking fast for mixing to our case we're having a blast seeing these dreams thinking on screens it was all bad like you know like whatever together forever every chair we're going forever we'll say you bad like whatever welcome to like whatever a podcast for by and about gen X i'm Nicole and this is my BFFF Heather Hello All right so we have to start talking by start talking about this Lizzie Borden show on

Lizzie Borden Netflix Rant

SPEAKER_03 0:47

Netflix.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Did you finish it? Nope. Me neither. So Heather texts me this weekend that the Lizzie Borden show was off the rails. And I was like tremendously. I didn't even realize it was on. Like, I'll go watch it. And I forced myself to watch like three or four episodes. It's about how far I got. And then it was bedtime, and the next day I was like, it's not worth it. It was terrible. It's awful. Like I understand that it's like a recreation of a story, but firstly, it was all about the maid. Yes. It just happened to be the maid story with a character named Lizzie Borden in it. And Netflix loves to throw random lesbian relationships in all over the place. They're always very seem out of place and awkward. Yeah. They've been doing that for years.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Okay. Here's the thing. The story's a great story to begin with. Yes. Like it's just on its own. Yes. If you just went with what was factual. And I think literally the only factual items in this thing is the two people got murdered and everyone's names. That's it. Correct. That's like basically the end of the truth in the Netflix series. And I I just I don't understand. I mean, I I get you want to make a story and you're gonna get creative, but how about we then just on its own?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Make it its own make another story about this maid. Yes. And then another thing I didn't get about her, if you're so worldly and traveled and knowledgeable, why are you being abused by the woman of the house and sexually abused by the dad? Like, why are you there? Like I if you have all these other cool places to go and see and do, why are you there?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

And um here's where I just okay. I could I could get with the the maid saying, fine, we'll roll with that if that's the angle you want to take, because obviously it is an unsolved homicide still, and blah blah blah. That's the way you want to take it, fine. Why are we throwing other serial killers in there? Like, what is up with that? She didn't know about Elizabeth of Balfour. What's was up with the Eileen Warno's thing? That's where I was done.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

The Eileen Warno's thing. No. Right. We're done now. I can't with that. Like you're just now you're just being insane. Like that's just crazy to throw. And she's in there wait. Why is she in so much? Just make the Eileen Warno's one. Right. You could have just done that. That is what you tried to make Lizzie Borden. Just do Eileen. You already had it.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

And and and okay, so maybe and maybe you could throw Elizabeth Balfour in there. That's a great story, too. And could make its own, like should probably be its own because she was a monster. I love that one. I love that one. So do that. But why are you making the Lizzie Borden the Eileen Warno story?

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Yes. Yes. There was nothing about the Lizzie Borden story. No, nothing. No. It was just there were X's in it. I mean, I guess that's kind of close. I don't know. Yeah, it was really, really bad. Like, really bad. Like, I really considered writing Netflix, like going on their page or something.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

If you were a fancy of true crime, this one is not for you.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

It is not. Although someone texted me um a couple of nights ago. Uh and it was a friend of mine, and she was like, Oh my god, have you seen the Lizzie Borden? Or have you started or watched the Lizzie Borden show on Netflix? And I was like, Oh my god, she likes it. So I write back, just I'm just not even gonna mince words with her. I was like, Yes, I watched about three episodes. I hated it, I'm not gonna finish it. Oh my god, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Like there's zero truth in it.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, and even without that, it was just a dumb story. It's and it's not good. It's not no, it was a really dumb story. It felt like just a whole bunch of random things were happening all over the place, and there was no cohesion to it, and it didn't make any sense. Yeah, it was it was not, it was really bad.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

It was really bad. I I refused to watch. I I think I got three, maybe four episodes, and then I was like, That's where I had my kindergarten.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

I know I watched three, I might have watched four.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I ended with Eileen being at the Lizzie Borden house. I was like, okay. Because first of all, you couldn't even stay at the Lizzie Borden house until the late 90s. Eileen was already dead. Right. Yeah. I don't think I got that far. You must have watched four and I watched three. I I got that far, and then I was like, okay. Okay. Now, now we're just not even pretending.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Well, it's so funny too, because when I was watching it, because you had already said it was off the rails, like something happened a little way in, and I'm like, oh, I wonder if that's what she's talking about. And then something else. I was like, oh, I bet that's what she and then I was like, oh, if she wasn't talking about it yet, it was definitely that. Like it just kept getting dumber and dumber. Dumber.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Just the more you get into it, you're like, this is just this. No.

unknown 6:17

No.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

And the problem is, is they've progressively gotten more, we'll say, creative with the truth in these. Like the Dahlmer one was pretty close to reality. That one wasn't bad. Yeah. The Menendez Brothers was a little more fabricated, but still the Edgein was yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

I remember you weren't really satisfied with that.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Yeah, the whole Nazi thing, which the maid was in the Edgeen one. She was the Nazi. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

I knew she looked familiar.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

I just couldn't play.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah. So like now we're just just throwing in the truth to the wind, and we're like, fuck that.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

But like you said, the Lizzie Bourne story is such a good story. Like, why didn't you make a show about that? There is a new um documentary coming out on I want to say the ID channel about Eileen.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Um I can never hear her last name. That specifically now made me hate Eileen. And I don't ever want to know anymore about her. Like I don't, I'm done with that one now. Like now I don't even want to, I don't even want to care.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

All right, so we're talking about the woman that was monster, that movie Monster. Yes. Yes. Okay. I cannot remember her last name, so I'm making sure we're on the same page here. But yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

That that Lizzie Borden thing made me want to not care anymore about Eileen.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

I don't think I can do that. I freaking love Eileen.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Uh I don't even want to, I don't even want to know. I'm done with her now. And it was not even her fault. I mean, it is because she's a serial killer, but you know what I mean? Like no. Boop. She's been cut off from my true crime. She's out of the rotation.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Well, my favorite thing about true crime is the psychology. And she, I feel like by far has the most severe mental illness. Like a lot of male serial killers live very normal lives and just do a little killing on the side. But she was just like living for it. She was open and out, and she'd tell anybody that wanted to hear her that yeah, I fucking killed him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Well, she's out of my rotation now. She's been banned. Dang it. I'm sorry. Damn Netflix.

Aging Icons And Getting Older

SPEAKER_00 8:32

I also wanted to send uh thoughts and prayers out for Lionel. He had heart surgery. Yeah. I can't even. They're not saying specifically. They say he had AFib, but they're not saying specifically what I don't I can't live without my Lionel.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah. It's gonna be sad. Well they caught it. And he got his own. I know, but I mean, let's be real. I mean, everything's gonna die. So I just it's it's I don't know. I've been having like a weird uh because you know, they put all these actors like William Shatner is in his 90s and all the and it's like he's like 95. I know and it's like man, they're all gonna go, they're all gonna start going now.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

And it's just I start to feel that like when we have like two or three go in a row, I'm like, oh man, this it's all just downhill from here. Yeah, like we're like, oh my gosh, we're so shocked, and it's just gonna be like every other week now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

It's just it's just crazy, it's you know, and and that's just the way it goes. I mean, I suppose you know, our parents had that when but but not really because these are their stars. So yeah, like they they love, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

We love them because our parents never paying attention.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

I don't know. I'm not really I'm not, it's a weird, it's a weird spot to be in. It is, it is getting old is not for the faint of heart. It's really not uncomfortable.

Gen X Money And Retirement Anxiety

SPEAKER_01 9:54

My work friend and I were discussing um how different things are now from like maybe the 80s and 90s, and you know how he's a millennial, but at the very end of being a millennial. So whatever as after millennial, he's kind of in that he's 30.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

So I think it's alpha, isn't it? Gen alpha.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

No, I think it's the one before. I think Gen Alpha is the one coming up now. Oh I can't keep track. Gen Z? Gen Z.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Yeah. He's a Zennial. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

No, that's X and Millennial. Whatever is millennial and Gen Z.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

No, I think Gen Z and Millennial, because Xennial would be. I thought it was Xennial with an X. No, I think you're right. Anyway, anywho. I already said I can't keep track of them all.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

You know, they do have it hard, right? You know, it's hard to buy a house. It's you can't, it's hard to get off the ground, it's hard to get a job, it's hard all that, blah, blah, blah. So we're talking about it, and I think uh my point was Gen X, I have decided that the personal embodiment of Gen X is John Daly. I mean, just look at him. Like he's I think overall, because I do belong to a lot of these Gen X groups and stuff like that, and you know, a question will come up are have you anybody starting their retirement, blah blah blah, and everybody's like, What's retirement? I don't have enough money to get through today, and who else is living paycheck to paycheck? And da-da-da. And then I think the problem is is our generation just never moved past being teenagers. Like, I think we had to be grown-ups, and then we hit teens, and we were like, fuck it, we're this is where we're gonna live. And we're just irresponsible, and we're just like, I don't know, I'm just gonna work. We didn't think we're gonna live this long. So we're just like throwing. We live in the moment. Yeah, we live in the moment. I think that's what exactly like we just can't get our shit together. And then the his age group kids are like so focused on retirement, like they have to get their shit together now, and they have to have this job, and it's gonna get them.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

And nobody taught us that. And and then it's like we were expected to just know.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

And then I think we just we just didn't get our shit. I think we can't get our shit together. I think that's the problem with Gen X. We just are just like too busy being 18. Right. And just not really giving a fuck. We're we're we're still 18 in the middle of a field by a bonfire drinking Boone's farm. I think that's the problem with that. Except for the Boons farm, I wish.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

I was scared to say I wish, but ooh, thought of Boons Farm.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

And green alcohol. You know, I think that's what we are. I think that's who we are. I think we never left that stage, and so we just can't get our shit together. Now, not of course, that's a generalization. I'm not saying all of us, because of course we have the the Elon Musks and the people who have made a million billion dollars. They're all well and good, they got their shit together.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

There's always outlaw here.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

But I think probably the majority of us are just like, I I don't even, uh, I can't even get over the fact. I think that's the other problem. Like, we can't even get over the fact that we're in our 50s. We're all just like, wow, how?

SPEAKER_00 13:07

It's so weird.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

It's a weird, it's weird.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

You know what's weird too, being like trying to tell somebody, like I was in the store the other day, and this older lady, blah, blah, blah, and she's probably my age or maybe five years older than me.

unknown 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

But to me, she's an old lady. Yeah, I'm not an old lady. No, she's an old lady.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

I just dyed my hair purple and green. So I then I think that's it. I think we just refuse to I think we were Toys R Us kids, and we just looked at the heart. Like that was our motto, and we're not doing it. You can't make us. Yeah. Unfortunately, Jeffree's gone. So now we're all left with no leader. We don't know what to do. Didn't work out for Jeffrey, it's not gonna work out for us.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

And it's too late for us. So it is too late, and that's just it. And then we all know what we can do now. We're like, I don't know, it's too late.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

But my friend came up, did say he was like, Well, a lot of the problem is is you know, he was like, Yes, I think about that and retirement and all that. And he was like, But I kind of envy you guys. And he was like, Because what if I don't make it to that age? He was like, You guys already had all your fun. And I was like, We did have a good time. We did, we had a lot of fun, we did, we did a lot of things we shouldn't have done, tons of great memories, yes, and that's and but we have but now we're you know it's time to pay the paper, and here we are, we're all working until we drop dead.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

And and honestly, like kids these days, they don't get to have the fun we had. They have cell phones and trackers, and yeah, their parents know where they are every second of every day. And if they don't see you, somebody else will and will get you in trouble. Like, yeah, yeah, it's you can't just wander off and be gone and nobody knows where you are. Those were the good old days. Those were all you had to do was say, I'm going to so-and-so's house. No one ever cared. Literally fly to the moon, and your parents would have no idea. You could have. I think I might have a couple times. I think you did too.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

I'm back now. Paying for that also.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Yeah, it's funny. I was looking, um, I was really str I I had serious writers blocked this week. I I I could not come up with a topic. Um, but I did. Um, but one of the things I was doing to try to think of something was just like Gen X News, like just throw that in there and see if anything's come out lately. And almost every article was about how we're not gonna retire.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

We just and it's our own fault. It is. I mean, I think I'm gonna retire. I've worked very, very hard to put myself in that position. But yeah, I mean, I didn't do it the easy way for sure. Yeah. I mean I waited till I was in my 30s to get my college degrees, and I started my career in my 40s, so I will have the minimum when it's time to retire, and hopefully that will be enough.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

I thought I had set myself up. With I mean, I didn't do it until I was in my 40s, so with this job, but I mean, at this point, it's my job's not really a as a hot topic right now. So who knows what's gonna happen with that? Who knows if I'm gonna be able to retire from this job? They're not matching our retirement anymore. And yeah, so we'll see. But you know, I'm making good money now.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

I guess living in the moment, living at all.

Gerald And Betty Ford Setup

SPEAKER_00 16:43

All right, before we get started, like, share, rate, review. Please find us where you listen to podcasts, all the places. Uh-huh. Follow us on all the socials at like whatever pod. Yes. We are uh we have a website. We do. It's likewhateverpod.com. And you can email us at likekwhateverpod at gmail.com. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Do it.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Let's fuck around and find out about Gerald and Betty Ford. I'm excited. Yeah. So yeah, uh with my writer's block, this is where I ended up.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

I did text her last night. I was like, damn, you just love their presidents, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 17:23

I do. I do. But so I mean, I was desperate. I was checking every website on this day in history, on this day in Gen X history, on this day in pop culture history.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

It's a weird time of the year, I think, is the problem because movies generally come out either in the summer way ahead, and then now they're gearing up to put stuff out for Christmas. So it's like a a weird lap.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Yeah, it was so random. And I went down through, I was going through September, and September 22nd, which was yesterday while I was looking. Yes, was the second assassination attempt on Gerald Ford. Yeah. And then I was like, hmm. So I was reading that, and then I was like, Benny Ford and Betty Ford Clinic. We heard about that all the time as a kid, but we didn't know really. I mean, we did, but we didn't know what that meant. And we haven't had a good history lesson here on uh history. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

History. Can I just interject one thing? You can I was debating on whether or not I was gonna do it, but the email came through today. And so I'm I'm I'm on a new little business venture. Oh speaking of retirement. Okay, so stay tuned because we might have a new uh sponsor, aka me. Oh damn. I don't even know anything about yes, you do. I told you.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

I sent it to you.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Yeah.

unknown 18:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

All right. I got all my information this week from britannica.com because they just had it so good. They just had it.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

And here we are.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Gerald Ford was born July 14th, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska. And he died on December 26, 2006, in Rancho Mirage, California. He was the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977, who, as 40th president, had succeeded to the presidency on the resignation of President Richard Nixon under the process decreed by the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, and thereby became the country's only chief executive who had not been elected either president or vice president. Which is a little fun fact there for you. It is a fun fact. While Jeremy While Gerald Ford was still an infant, his parents were divorced, and his mother moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she married Gerald R. Ford Sr., who adopted the boy and gave him his name. Jeez, he was adopted. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Is he the only adopted president, I wonder? That's on you to find out.

unknown 19:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1935, where he was a star football player, Ford worked as an assistant coach while he earned a law degree from Yale University. He joined the Navy during World War II and served in the South Pacific, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander and nearly losing his life in 1944 during a deadly typhoon that killed hundreds. In 1948, the year he won his first elective office as Republican congressman from Michigan, he married Elizabeth Ann Bloomer, aka Betty Ford, with whom he had four children, three sons, Michael, John, and Stephen, and a daughter, Susan.

Betty Ford Fame And Addiction

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Betty Ford was born April 8th, 1918, in Chicago, Illinois, and she died on July 8th, 19, or 2011, also in Rancho Mirage, California. She was an American First Lady, the wife of Gerald Ford, the founder of the Betty Ford Center. Hence the name. That was the Betty Ford Clinic. But this is center.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

That's probably gonna go as a Mandela effect. We probably jumped timelines at some point. You're probably so right.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

All right. Um, a facility dedicated to helping people recover from drug and alcohol dependence. She was noted for her strong opinions on public issues and her candor regarding intimate matters. Do you know why she opened the Betty Fork Party? Do you know anything really about her?

SPEAKER_01 21:23

I don't know anything about her.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Okay, well, you're gonna find out.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

I'm excited. I love history history days. I know.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Betty Bloomer was the only daughter of William Bloomer, a salesman, and Hortense. I love that name.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

I don't give a shit. Hortense is one of my favorite names. I don't care. That's old school. It is. That's like Hazel. I like, I like, I like them both. Yeah, I like old, old lady names. Me too.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Uh when she was two years old, the family, including her two older brothers, moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she attended public schools. At age eight, she started dance lessons, reflecting. An interest that she would maintain throughout her life. To earn spending money, she taught dance to other children. After graduating from high school in 1936, she spent two summers pursuing a dance career on the East Coast. East Coast. Bloomer studied at Bennington College in Vermont, where she came under the influence of the legendary modern dance dancer, teacher, and choreographer Martha Graham. As she later wrote, Graham more than anyone else shaped my life. When Graham accepted her into her New York City troupe, Bloomer uh moved to Manhattan's West Side. I'm so jealous. That's the life I wanted. I wanted to live in New York City and be a dancer.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

That's a much better life than I wanted to move to Philadelphia and live in a row home and ride the bus. So I'm not really all that far off my dream. We're being honest.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

I'm just not a boxer or related to the book. Speaking of which, Philly in boxing, um, we talked about the Rocky statue and it got moved inside. Yes. And they put Joe Frazier in his place at the top of the steps. And I haven't been following enough to know if this was always the plan, but on the news yesterday, Rocky was getting moved back outside. Of course, but to the bottom of the steps.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

See, now that's crazy. Why would you put him at the bottom of the steps?

SPEAKER_00 23:24

But he said he's Sylvester Stallone said he's fine with Joe Frazier, haven't they?

SPEAKER_01 23:28

I think Sylvester Stallone could care less about what happens to his stupid statue, but you know, the rest of us.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Well, apparently he has one because he loaned one to the Well, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

If I was Sylvester Stallone, I also would have a Rocky statue.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

I think they had to repair theirs, so he loaned them his while they were doing it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy the movie Rocky?

SPEAKER_00 23:50

That's a movie I haven't seen in a long time. Ugh, I watch it like once a month.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Yeah. It's the only movie I can sit through at that point.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Uh, let's see. To augment her meager earnings as a dancer, she modeled with the John Robert Powers agency. Although she never became a principal dancer, Bloomer performed as one of Graham's auxiliaries and delighted in the modern dance technique that had become Graham's trademark. At her mother's insistence, Bloomer left the Graham troupe and returned to live in Grand Rapids, where she worked as a fashion consultant and taught dance to handicapped children, disabled children. Um in 1942, she met and married William Warren. Divorcey. Scandal. A scandal. Details of the marriage are hazy, as Bloomer later insisted that she could remember very little about it. After five years, she divorced him. If you don't remember much about it.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

I don't even know who he is.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Soon after her divorce, Bloomer met Gerald R. Ford, a local lawyer and partner in the law firm of Butterfield, Kenny, and Amberg. Uh the two became engaged in February 1948, but they delayed the ceremony so that he could devote more time to his campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives. Gerald Ford arrived for the wedding on October 15, 1948, after a morning of greeting voters. His victory in November sent the young couple to Washington, D.C., where they lived for the next three decades. From 1950 to 1957, Betty Ford gave birth to four children. Because Gerald Ford was away campaigning or speaking to Republican groups much of the time. Betty Ford couldn't remember that, Mary Jesus. No, I'm just kidding. Um, the responsibilities of parenting fell mostly to Betty Ford. She sometimes joked that the family car went to the emergency room so often that it could make the trip on its own. In the mid-1960s, when she developed a pinch nerve and spinal arthritis, doctors prescribed pain medicine.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

I see where we're going, though.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

I see how we're moving to the to which she became addicted as she later admitted. Her own physical discomfort combined with the stress of raising young children prompted her to seek psychiatric treatment, which she later described as enormously helpful. Preach sister.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

It is it is a mental health awareness month. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Or something. Oh, I know it's disability awareness month, but isn't mental health in like I don't know. I think it's a talking after ass.

unknown 26:33

Yep. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Do I ever know what the Well we never promised to tell the truth? No, never, not even one time. Has this ever been like, hey, we're telling the truth? Yeah. So don't go to work tomorrow with somebody a happy mental illness month because uh I'm pretty sure it is.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

I'll find out the truth.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Okay. Betty Lord, Betty Lord. Betty Ford. Uh Betty Ford's life as an inconspicuous wife of a congressman ended in October 1973 when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned and President Richard Nixon named Gerald Ford to the job. The first time that the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which permitted the president to fill a vacancy in the office of vice president, subject to confirmation by a majority vote of both houses of Congress.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

It's Suicide Awareness Month.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Oh mental health is May. I thought it was either March or May.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

March.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

I don't know. It's not September. It's suicide awareness.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

All right. So it what was your oh adopted. Okay, never mind. On August 9th. No, he wasn't. He wasn't the only one adopted. I didn't figure. I feel like people got adopted a lot back then.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

No, just one other president. Bill Clinton. My stepfather.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

I probably knew that at some point. It is really windy here today. It is. We have a nor'easter going on here on the East Coast. We do. Good times. Yeah. Super windy.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

My job's been great.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Male flying everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

It's been a nightmare the last three days. And we're also entering into our windy season. Yes. So it will be like this until June. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Um on August 9th, 1974, after Nixon resigned over his involvement in the Watergate affair, Gerald Ford became the first president who had never been elected president or vice president. As I said earlier. Ford always had a reputation for candor. Um that we're talking about Betty again now. Uh, but she later said that the circumstances under which she became first lady underscored that predile predelection. Oh, yep.

unknown 28:52

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

She understood that in the wake of Watergate, Americans demanded more honesty from their public officials. Her commitment. Yeah, we say how good that's gone. We just drove right over that. Yeah, yeah, we totally fixed it. That's gone. Yeah. Her commitment to openness was soon tested on September 28th, 1974, just weeks after. I know. Literally the day of it is. I didn't realize the year was the same, too. Speaking of which, Heather's birthday is September 28th.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Which is Monday, I've been told. It is. Um I just I did not know it was Monday. I know I no longer, no, somebody had to tell me.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah, but you get to work on your birthday.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Oh, I do. My friend told me. He was like, when is your birthday? And I was like, I don't know, next week sometime. But he was like, what day? I said the 28th. And he was like, that's Monday. And I was like, sure.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Could be. Unlike me, starting in like January. I'm like, my birthday is 68 days away. I I used to love my birthday.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

I have reasons. I know. Not just because I'm old.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

No.

Betty Ford Candor And Politics

SPEAKER_00 30:07

All right. On September 28th, 1974, the day that we were blessed with the birth of Heather. The worst day in history. Just weeks after she moved into the White House, her doctors performed a mastectomy, removing her cancerous right breast. Previous presidents' wives had concealed their illnesses, especially those peculiar to women. Of course. No period talk here. Nope. But she and her husband decided to disclose the facts.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Good for them.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Moved by her example, women all across the nation went to their physicians for examinations. Ford said it was then that she recognized the first lady's enormous power to make a difference. Although chemotherapy followed, she continued to perform her duties as first lady.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Can you imagine how god-awful chemotherapy was in the 70s? Ugh. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

It was probably straight poison. I imagine. Yeah. Ford sometimes said that she admired Bess Truman for her down-to-earth style and Eleanor Roosevelt for her independence, and she sought to emulate both. Only days after moving into the White House, she met with reporters and surprised them by announcing that some of their view, some of her views, including her support for Roe versus Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, well, it was legal, um, resembled those of liberal Republicans more than those of her husband. She also vigorously supported the Equal Rights Amendment, then up for ratification in several state legislatures, uh, lobbying wavering representatives in phone calls and meetings.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Good for her.

unknown 31:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

The amendment failed, however, when the requisite number of states failed to ratify it in the time allotted. Her critics objected that she should not have intervened, though her supporters praised her involvement. Sit down, woman. Yep. Get your ass back in the kitchen. Yep. Um just sit there and look pretty. Yeah, yeah. Uh Betty Ford gained national attention for her appearance on the television news program 60 Minutes in August 1975. When asked about her views on premarital sex, she said that she would not be surprised to learn that her 18-year-old daughter had had an affair. Uh, she said that as a mother, she would counsel her daughter and try to find out something about the young man. Good for her. Yep. When the program aired, the print media quoted her out of context, making her sound different than she did in the interview. Gerald Ford said uh that when he viewed the program, he calculated that it would cost him 10 million votes, but he doubled the he doubled the damage when he read the printed version. His pessimism was unwarranted, however. Betty Ford's popularity soared because women were like, fuck yeah. I had had it. And Time magazine later named her Woman of the Year.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Good.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

Buttons appeared that promoted her candidacy for national office, although she gave no support to such efforts. Now that that pissed Gerald Ford off. After Gerald Ford narrowly lost the election of 1976 to Jimmy Carter, the Fords retired to Rancho Mirage, California, uh, where Betty Ford's dependence on prescription drugs continued. In early 1978, under pressure from her family, she agreed to enter a treatment center in Long Beach. After her successful treatment there, she co-founded the Betty Ford Center, and I still say clinic, in 1982 to help treat others with similar addictions and chaired the board of directors until 2005. The center became popular and attracted clients from all walks of life. In 1991, she was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George H.W. Bush for her efforts to promote public awareness and treatment of alcohol and drug addictions. See, back in the day, they used to give Medal of Honors to people who deserved it. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

That and um we as people who vote were like, I'm not talking about I'm specifically talking about George W. Because after that, you know, watching all the September 11th stuff, yeah. Um I remembered that, you know, how we were like, this is just awful, like he's terrible. He's so and now, now where are we all? Wishing we could have W back.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

And if I was W, I'd be like, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Just because me, you know, me and Michelle are in love. I don't want to hear it. I want to hear it. You were bad mouthing me then. And I was a terrible president, but but now look.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Yeah. Yeah. I the big joke used to be I don't remember if it was um Letterman that did it or Jay Leno, maybe Saturday Night Live. But they all of the above. Yeah, but they had specifically like a segment, I think it was Letterman, where it would be the dumb word he said that day. Like it was happening so frequently.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

And here's the thing about let's just take I know it's about Gerald Ford and not W. No, we're supposed to converse, but I did feel bad for W on September 11th. That was a tough fucking spot. There was no winning on that one. There's no and the conspiracy theory started immediately.

SPEAKER_00 35:42

Remember when everybody said when they whispered in his ear the look on his face, you could tell he already knew it was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

I was like, No, he looked like how the fuck am I gonna get out of this room?

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Yeah, why am I sitting in a room full of children being told this? Like we're under attack.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

And and I imagine, and I have heard him say, like, hoping they're not gonna yank me out like in front of all these children.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

And yes, like I yes, I admire him for staying calm and not making a big deal because that would have been terrify that would have traumatized those kids forever.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Let's all be honest. If it wasn't inside government conspiracy, blah, blah, blah, we all have opinions on September 11th and how they knew it was coming, and I'm sure that they did, not specific to that day or what was happening, but we all know that they knew something bad was coming down the pike at that. Do any of us honestly think that W had anything to do with it?

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Had anywhere really had any inkling.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

I think we all know that was Dick Cheney. Yes. So let's be clear there. Second, I'm sorry, but I love W and Michelle Obama's relationship. I love it. It's cute, it's adorable, it is adorable. And whatever. Let's just remember back in the day when opponents just disagreed on policy and not on literally everything. Everything and not on how horrible of a human being. Like let's remember that it used to just stick. Let's just remember the days when we thought it was bad. And now it's not.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Yeah, yeah. It it used to be much different. I even remember because when um when W took us to war, I was at work that night, I was working at the casino, and I remember watching on the TV um the coverage of the bombing. And I lifelong Democrat, and my supervisor was a Republican, and he came to me and he's like, So what do you think of George Bush now with this? And I was like, Well, I don't agree with going to war, but I do respect the president and I respect his decision. Turned out to not be a great one. No, but um, no, but that was how I felt, and I do not feel that way now. No, and I miss feeling that way. I don't want to feel like the enemy, yeah. I want to have a respect for the office, yeah, and that's gone.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Impossible. It is impossible because oh, we're now on the heels, in case you're listening to this in you know, five years and you're like, oh, it got much better. I hope for your sake that it does. Don't worry, that's just a blip. But you know, throwing the press out, and finally, Fox News steps up on something that has because they know, hey, whoa, this isn't cool. Yeah, this now you've gone too far because if you do this, then they can do this to us. And whatever you're uh just coming It's literally like the biggest thing about our country is that you have no freeder one amendment numero uno above literally anything else. It was what our founding fathers decided was the most important thing.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yes, that's why they all came here to create a new world. That's just uh I don't even know. We could talk about this for next year. We could. Let's go back to poor Gerald Ford. All right, we're done with Betty. She was a pretty badass woman. I would like to learn more about her, actually, too.

SPEAKER_04 39:20

Let's do your oh because I repeat your life, well I can through her teenage blank.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

All right, we are uh gonna read from Nicole's diary now. We are on April 11th, 1986. This is the smallest diary that spans over the most amount of time. Like four years I kept this bad boy. I'm not even halfway through it yet. I know I would never have been able to keep that. By the way, April 11th, uh 1986 was a Friday, in case you were wondering. Okay, so you needed to know. Is that a need to know situation? Yes, no. Okay, um today we had show and tell in Spanish, and mom brought Killer in. Killer was my um main coon cat. He he was short-haired, though. I think. No, he was short-haired, but I don't know if he was a main coon, but he was huge like a main coon, and he had markings like one. Right. Um, of course he had to live outside. Yeah, yeah. Um it was fun for me and the class, but killer hated it. I can't imagine. I can't imagine why. Snatch him up from the outside. Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Drag him into a bunch of children wanting to touch him. I can't imagine. A worse thing for a poor.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

It is so me though that we have show and tell, and I'm like, mom, I gotta take my cat in.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

Like I w I didn't know that you could bring animals in for show and tell. It's too late. I don't know that we ever had show and tell, to be honest. I don't ever remember having show and tell. I remember having it. I don't know what I would have shown. I certainly wouldn't have told. No. So I don't imagine I would have maybe we did have it, and I was just like, yeah, no. Not a thing Heather participates in. Thank you, though.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

All right, now back to Gerald Ford.

Gerald Ford Takes The Presidency

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Ford served in Congress for 25 years, well liked and ideologically flexible. He won the role of House Minority Leader in 1965 and held this position until Nixon named him vice president in 1973. During this time, during his time in Congress, he had developed a reputation for honesty and openness. When Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew, was forced to resign from office in disgrace, the president had no choice but to nominate the only Republican whom the Democratic leadership of Congress would approve. So, Ford. In 1974, when it became clear that Nixon would face criminal charges for his role in the Watergate scandal, Ford said, fuck. No. Rotro. What have I got myself into? No. And three articles of impeachment had been passed by the House Judiciary Committee. Nixon resigned effective August 9th. On that day, Ford took the oath of office and became president, stating, Our long national nightmare is over. He retained the foreign and domestic policy staffs of the Nixon administration, including Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. I know there were so many names I remembered from like my childhood reading through this. I was like, whoa, because they had all of his staff listed. I didn't print that out or put include that in here, but I was like, oh, yep, yep. Uh one of Ford's early acts as president was the announcement of a conditional amnesty program for those who had evaded the draft or deserted during the Vietnam War. The most attention-getting act of his years in office and the move that for many destroyed his credibility followed in the next month on September 8, 1974, declaring that in the end, it is not the ultimate fate of Richard Nixon that most concerns me, but rather the immediate future of this great country. Ford pardoned Nixon for all offenses against the United States that he had committed or may have committed while in office. Tistisk. Well, Jerry. Yeah. At the time, the pardon was enormously unpopular with the American public, and some speculated that it was a result of a quid pro quo between Nixon and Ford. That is, that Ford promised Nixon a pardon in exchange for the presidency. Although, would Nixon have had say and no. Ford voluntarily appeared uh before a subcommittee of the House. Of Representatives on October 17th to explain his reasoning. It's my sister's birthday.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Not 1974, though. Man, that would be weird.

SPEAKER_00 44:09

All kinds of connected to Gerald Ford. Uh, the first time a standing president had formally testified before a committee of Congress. In subsequent years, allegations of a deal have been dismissed both by the former Watergate prosecutors and by Ben Bradley, the editor of the Washington Post during Watergate, who offered that Ford's pardon of Nixon was the act of a compulsively decent man.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

Yeah, I think it probably was just to move on. Yeah. Exactly. Let's put this behind us and move on. Cause I imagine you would have had to have trials and that would it would gum up the works for you know more importantly. I mean, then and that's you know, it is what it is. So I guess uh it's probably better to just stop, you know, the just if you want shit done, if you want to get shit done as president, then you're gonna have to get past this and right exactly Nixon just write off into the sunset and move on.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

Move on.org. And another startling move, Ford annoyed members of his own party by naming Nelson A. Rockefeller, both a party liberal and a representative of the so-called Eastern establishment, as his vice president. Because that's what you're supposed to do in our government is bring together different sides and different opinions.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Isn't that funny? Because Obama did that with Biden. That is why he chose Biden, because Biden was more a centrist and had a long-standing uh ability to uh work with this work with both sides, reach across the aisle. He was well respected with both parties, and we know I think that that was why Obama chose Biden as his running mate for all this. It makes it makes sense. It does. And and I know um one thing Biden did say that he took from his time with Obama was Obama appointed people that were not yes men, that he did uh he appointed Republicans and Democrats to cabinet positions and stuff, and Biden did the same because he wanted I don't want everybody to just agree with me. I want, you know, the best person for the fucking job, which oh I don't know, is in a Fox News host. Or a human version of an owl.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

Ford's administration attempted to cope with the high rate of inflation which he inherited from the Nixon administration by slowing down the

Pardon Fallout And A Rough Economy

SPEAKER_00 46:58

economy. The result was a very severe recession in 1974 to 1975, which succeeded in lowering inflation, but at the cost of an unemployment rate that rose to nearly 9%. That's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

Uh, despite his whip inflation now program, he could do little to stop the country's economic problems. Ford's relations with the Democrat Democrat-controlled Congress were perhaps type by this more than 50 votes of legislation by the end of 1976. More than 40 were sustained, legislative gridlock set in. During the first days of the Vietnam War in March 1975, Ford ordered an airlift of some 237,000 anti-communist Vietnamese refugees from Daonang, most of whom were taken to the United States. Two months later, after the seizure of by Cambodia of the American cargo ship Maya Guez, uh, Ford declared the event an act of piracy and sent the Marines to seize the ship. They succeeded, but the rescue operation to save the 39 crew, 39 member crew resulted in the loss of 41 American lives and the wounding of 50 others. Moreover, U.S. relations with Thailand became strained because the U.S. strike had been launched from a base in Thailand against the wishes of the Thai government. Tisk tusk. Shouldn't do that. Nope. Twice in September 1975, Ford was the target of assassination attempts. One on September 5th, and the next, just 17 days later, on September 22nd. In the first instance, uh Secret Service agents intervened because shots were fired. In the second, the would-be assassin fired one shot at Ford but missed by several feet. In October, he ended up. Did it hit him in the ear and did it magically heal itself? Killing a firefighter in the meantime, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:03

Stunned. Political. Stunt.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

Um in October, he initially refused to consider loans to the city of New York, then on the brink of financial collapse, and thereby prompted the newspaper headline Ford to City Drop Dead. As the larger implications became clear, he retreated from his earlier position. In a close contest at the Republican convention in August 1976, Ford won his party's nomination despite a serious challenge by Ronald Reagan, the former governor of California. That fall, Ford became the first incumbent president to agree to public debates with a challenger, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic nominee.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

I think we all know that we did an episode on Jimmy Carter was what would Jimmy do?

SPEAKER_00 49:52

Yeah. Very, very early in our so we have to go way down the list to find back. Or you can look for the most popular one we've ever done. Yeah, that one is. And that's that's our yeah, and rock the votes right behind it. Um Ford ran substantially behind from the beginning of the campaign, owing a large part to negative fallout from the Nixon pardon, but also to the general public's perception of his ineptitude.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

I think he probably didn't have a chance anyway because of the Nixon and you know that yeah, I think I think Yeah, yeah, it was a long shot.

SPEAKER_00 50:30

Uh his decisions in office had often seemed to be those of Kissinger and the others left over from the Nixon administration, sometimes as those made during the Mayagaz accident, they seemed simply ill considered. He misspoke on many occasions, notably declaring a debate in a declaring in a debate with Jimmy Carter, there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and I don't believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union, which journalist William F. Buckley Jr. called the ultimate Polish joke. Even his physical pratfalls, uh such as hitting his head while deplaning, were well documented for the public. He was another George W.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

You know, that's the thing. Remember the days when they could have gaffs and laugh at themselves and didn't, I don't know, bomb a whole country because And it was an honor to be made fun of on SNL because that's what they do with everybody. And remember they would do war the correspondence dinner, which by the way, back to W, they asked him. I guess he's been doing the circuit again because of the September 11th stuff. But um they asked him how he felt about the correspondence dinners, and he said he loved them. That was his favorite thing. And I know Obama would crush it at the Oh yeah. I'm just saying Obama crushed everything. Yeah. How can how do you not have any kind of sense of humor about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 52:06

I know.

SPEAKER_01 52:07

Like none.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

Did you also see that South Park renamed itself South America? Yes. They are having so much fun with this.

SPEAKER_01 52:16

Somebody, somebody should be. One of my um one of my podcasts just did like this huge Epstein file thing. And you know, I I don't know. I don't know, but I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but some of this shit I was like, mm-hmm. I I don't know. Now they're talking about aliens.

SPEAKER_00 52:51

Uh, as journalist John Osborne summarized the situation, Ford was seen as a loser, a bumbler, a misfit president who, for some reason or other, was prone to slip on airplane ramps, bump his head on helicopter entrances, entangle himself in the leashes of his family dogs, and fall from skis in front of television cameras that showed him a spa in snow. And that's just it.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Like, this is what makes these people human. They're human beings. Exactly. And they fuck up. Yes. Just like the rest of us. I mean, I can't even tell you how many times this fucking week the dog has tried to kill me.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

And I can't tell you how many times I've bumped my head getting into my car. I do it all the time. I don't know why. It pisses me off. Whether it's driver's side or passenger side, I've done it my whole entire life. I've gotten in our cars thousands of times. Bump your head. All the time. No. All the time. I don't know why we have to make fun of these poor people over this. Ford was defeated in the November 1976 election by a popular vote of 40.8 million to 39.1 million, and an electoral vote of 297 to 240, which again, why we don't. Uh after leaving the White House, Ford happily retired from public life, golfed and skied at his leisure, and ultimately joined the boards of directors of numerous corporations. During the race that ultimately ousted President Carter in 1980, he was offered the vice presidential role by candidate Ronald Reagan, whom Ford held responsible for dissipating Republican support for his 1976 campaign, and he refused. He said, Fuck that shit. Yep. His autobiography, A Time to Heal, was published in 1979. And that's Gerald and Betty Ford. Lovely. Yeah, that was fun. That was fun. Nice little history lesson. Yeah, we we hadn't had some history in a while. We needed some history in our life.

SPEAKER_02 54:46

Yeah.

Ford Gaffes And Life After Office

SPEAKER_01 54:48

We could sure use to remember the history. Yeah. Because Lord knows. Yeah. AI is gonna kill us by you know four years from now.

AI Fears And Meta Glasses Upside

SPEAKER_01 54:58

Oh Lord, this AI stuff is too much. All of it is too much. It's just too much.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

I did find out today though, like I'm very I'm very anti-new tech anyway. I'm just very old. Yeah. Um, so the metaglasses freak me out being able to video people in the bathrooms and all kinds of stuff. Like, it's not cool. And they're like, well, we put a light on them so you can see it's recording. But guess what? We just put a little piece of black tape over the light, so now you don't know that I'm recording. But today I was at um, we did a tour, uh, it's called D A T I and it's Delaware Assistive Technology Institute. So it's assistive technology for people with um disabilities, and we got to play with lots of cool toys and learn about what they do there and stuff. But they have meta glasses, and a kind of an unexpected positive out of it is people with vision issues. And these things, like the guy, he said, you can say, Meta, I just dropped a pill on the floor and it will direct you to where that pill is so that you can pick it up. So it's huge for them. Meta's donating um the glasses to all blind veterans. There's a program, so if you know someone who is a blind veteran or you are a blind veteran, look into it. I Googled it real quick today to tell a co-worker about it, and right there it was.

SPEAKER_01 56:22

So I have seen uh stuff about the metaglasses with helping people with vision impairment. And you know, with everything, there is good and bad with technology. There just is. AI is no different. There is good and bad with it. And the problem is humans. Well, yeah. Um the problem with it is much like what have we already have that was fought. You know, we probably uh we don't need a phone in our pocket, we don't need to carry it around with us everywhere, we don't need this, we don't need that. And now we have it, and we're like, well, now I can't live without it, and you know, everything. And my thing about the job loss is yes, there will be robots will replace people in certain places. Unfortunately, it's gonna be a lot of the entry-level jobs, and but that happened before when you know um when factories became automated, jobs were lost, and you know, new industry popped up because now you gotta repair them, and you know, so typically there is a when one when one door closes, another one opens.

SPEAKER_00 57:37

If we're getting struck by lightning. I know, blown away.

SPEAKER_01 57:42

Um the wind blew in my optimism. I'm just fucking happy it's not 900 degrees outside. Um so I think you know, we adapt. Will it suck for a little while? Yeah, did it suck back then for a little while? Yeah. I just think we have to decide much with anything else, and I say this all the time about people who don't want to take medications for whatever because of this side effect and that side effect and whatever, you know, you it's picking your poison. Like, what would you rather live with, you know? Yep. And it's not going away. The technology's not going away. It's going to they're going to push it to the limit and it's going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

And we're in a race, so it's not gonna slow down.

SPEAKER_01 58:31

It's not um many countries are well ahead of us in in a lot of different areas, unfortunately. And I think we have to remember that with the good comes to the bad, and with the bad comes the good. So maybe if we look at AI as yeah, it's it's it's insane.

SPEAKER_00 58:55

But yeah, and but if you think about it when Gen X for kids, we were sure we were all gonna die from a nuclear bomb. Yeah, it's true. And we still might. We haven't been there.

SPEAKER_01 59:05

That's the table this far.

unknown 59:07

It's true.

SPEAKER_01 59:08

That is not an option that has not been removed from the table. Unlike quicksand, that one has been removed.

SPEAKER_00 59:16

Maybe AI will find its way through its little whatever it goes through to the red button. Right. And then AI will push the button and blow the world. And then what do we die from? AI or the nuclear bomb? It's it's potato potato.

SPEAKER_01 59:31

I mean, do you want your face melted off or ripped off by a robot?

SPEAKER_00 59:36

I don't know. Whichever's quickest, every space. Either way.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

I just wanted to be fast.

SPEAKER_00 59:41

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 59:42

So I don't know. I just I I know I'm also a tech, I like tech. You do. I don't know how it works any of it, but I like the habit.

SPEAKER_00 59:51

And I think Yeah, you should have seen my boss with those meta glasses. He can't, he was like drooling like any guy in his any guy I've ever known, they get so excited and he's like, ooh, and they're only like 400 bucks a pair. I was thinking they'd be like cell phone costs and um and they're Ray Bans. And the case is the charger. Yeah, it yeah, it they were pretty, pretty cool. It I they are gonna be helpful. And I'm help it they'll be helpful to me when I go blind because yeah, they will be helpful to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:21

They will be helpful, they'd be helpful if you went to another country and you needed to be able to read things and you need to have, you know, uh even interpret, you can hear them.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:30

Yes, it's the speaker is like right above your ear and it kind of comes up.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:35

My earbuds will um interpret. Translate, yeah. I mean it's it and that kind of stuff, that's good. That's good stuff that AI can do. So again, like, yes, could it potentially kill all of us? Yes. Could it also help us before it kills us?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:54

Which is it benevolent, is it mean? We don't know yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:58

I mean, the one I use is pretty nice, and it's pretty it's a pretty big cheerleader for me. So, you know, no one else believes in me. I a AI does.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:08

And that's just on a like minimal scale. Like, that's the very basics of AI. There's so much shit going on that we don't even know about and that we could never possibly understand. And it's gonna keep building like that. Yeah. And you won't even know. Yeah, you'll just one day wake up to robots in your bedroom murdering you. Yeah. That's just it. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:31

That's that's maybe it'll be sooner than later. We don't know. We can't know that right now. It's just but you know what? If it does happen, there's nothing we can do about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:40

You can't fight a robot. That used to be my thing with my first husband and all his survival shit, and can't fight a robot. I'm just like, if it does, like if it's coming, why are we having like we were going to meetings and meeting other people and making plans? I'm like, why? Like, there's nothing you can do if it happens.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:00

That's why I don't want to be around, because I don't want to be around those people who are constantly saying, see, we told you. Yeah, I don't want to be around. And killing each other with AK 47 just because they try to steal a potato.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:14

Yeah, you're gonna come interested. Steal this couch out of my front yard and blow your brains out.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:18

I don't wanna I don't wanna live in that. I don't want to live in Mad Max. I don't want to be in beyond the thunder. I don't want to I'm not tough.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:26

I I'm not tough.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:27

I'm I got a lot of anger, but I don't I'm lazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

That's just it. I'm lazy. And that's AI is for laziness. I mean, I can be tough if I need to be tough. I have to, but I don't really want to anymore. It I'm on my patch, it's doing its job. I'm just trying to not lift my arm above my head.

Neighborhood Drama And Bystanders

SPEAKER_00 1:02:49

I thought I was gonna witness a murder in my backyard the other day. It was so exciting. So I live in a neighborhood with a bunch of little houses, and we all have little yard fenced-in yards, and there's alleys that run between the houses. So I was in my backyard, and the people directly behind me have a white fence that goes privacy fence, and but when they open it, like all these kids come out, and all these people, and they play in the alley. It's cute, like the kids ride bikes, and the guys sit out there on chairs and drink beers, and you know, they play music at night, they set out fireworks, that's fun. Um, so I'm elder. And I hear a truck come by, and I hear the one neighbor guy yell, There's fucking kids in this road, slow down. And I hear the guy in the truck go, I don't give a fuck about your kids. And then the dude pulled right in the yard right next to him, and I was like, So I ran the house and got my phone in case I needed to call in a murder. I was so excited. And by the time I got in and got my phone and got back outside, they're just standing there with their arms crossed, like old men just stand there talking to each other. They were friends, they were just fucking with each other. That's very disappointing. Man, fuck them kids. I know I was so bummed. My bad. I at least wanted a fight, right? I wouldn't have called it in if it was a fight, but somebody got murdered.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:09

Number one witness going on the stand, sign me up.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:13

Although, way too many times I've been watching these shows, and the person that calls in ends up a suspect.

unknown 1:04:18

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:22

Like this one poor guy, he looked out his window and literally saw a man slit a woman's throat and called it in. And then he went to jail for like some months while they were trying to figure out if he did.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:32

He's like, I just call mind my own business from yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:37

If you see something, say something, fuck that. Yeah, fuck them kids. Although I will say, this lady in Philly, she just reminded me, or I just reminded

Philadelphia Serial Killer Case Updates

SPEAKER_00 1:04:44

myself of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:44

Man, speaking, sorry, that serial killer in Philadelphia thing has really gone off the rails now.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:52

It's so exciting. Man, all right. You talk about that first and then I'll tell my story. This guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:58

Wow. Like, was it the father and son both doing? I think it was just the father. I don't know. Okay, I shouldn't say that. I don't know. Okay. They're real sketchy on details, but now there's coming out that there was a crematorium involved. What the fuck? This is gonna be my one podcast started, and they were like, you know what? This is gonna be a whole episode on its own when this all shakes out. Like, this is something that we are in the middle of it. And the the serial killer's dead, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:27

Yes. Okay, I thought so. By his own next son's in jail for it, right? Because he was living in the house.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:34

Well, yes. Well, so I don't know if we talked about it, but the um the son it's a father and son. The father was a photographer. Mm hmm. That's an All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:48

I didn't know that part because I kept hearing that this woman went to his house and then she never came home. I'm like, why are women going to this person's house?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

So he was a photographer.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:58

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:59

Um He looks crazy as fuck. Like, if that guy approached you and was like, hey, you want to be a model? Like, how are you doing? Do you want to come to my house by yourself? That's a hard no. Looking at this guy, that would be a hard no. Like full stop. Even if you were so fucked up on drugs, like turn and look at me be like, that's gonna be a no for me. I'm sorry. I don't care what drugs you got going on.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:24

Dude, I'm really sorry, but you look like a serial killer. You are a serial killer.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

Period. Look, you're never gonna get away with it. That is you. So his father was a photographer. So what happened was the son was in, I don't remember what park it was, arguing with his girlfriend. And a park ranger overheard the whole thing and came over to intervene. And I guess a fight ensued. Uh but the the park ranger got hurt. But when that all shook out, he got the ID of the girlfriend and the bro and the the son. And the ID that the girlfriend had was the ID of one of the missing women. Gotcha. Because she had warrants. So she'd been using this ID.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:18

Yes. All right. So they didn't not know anything. No. Why were these licenses just randomly around the house?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:24

So then they were like the the ranger was like, Rutro. I'm gonna need some backups. And then they went into the house where they found. I have heard the latest I heard was one million, one million pieces of evidence of photos and videos. They have identified 56 women, five of which they have positively identified as no longer being alive, and in the photos are in various states of unconsciousness and death in the videos and the the photos. So I think now what they're trying to parse out is what the fuck. What the fuck? I think then I saw today, was it today, that apparently a nine-year-old girl had reported the father as trying to lure her away and nothing was ever done about it. Surprise, surprise. Yeah, because where they are in Philadelphia is Kensington, and Kensington Kilsington is terrible.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:47

What they call it. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:48

Yes. I'm pretty I think Kensington is in West Philadelphia, born and raised. Yeah, it's like death capital. Which Philip was sent away from. And it's not great. So now I think they're just trying to figure out who what is happening here. If it was both of them, if it was just the father, if what happened.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:14

They haven't found any bodies there though, right? No. Okay, that's what I thought.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:18

But I believe they found chemicals.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:21

Yes. Like lime.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:23

Like chemicals. And I think they have now there's this connection to a crematorium who had a another had its own issues with bodies disappearing.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:38

That happens a lot with crematoriums.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:40

Yes. And some shady shit happening with this crematorium. So there is a very good chance that he didn't need chemicals if he was in cahoots with this crematorium. And uh so this this is gonna be this story is going to end up being on every true crime podcast and TV show. And this thing is shaking out to be insanity.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:06

It's but I don't remember when the father the father's been dead for a while now. Um but yeah, this thing is this is a big five positively that they know have we're missing women that have that were in the videos that were in various states of unconsciousness and dead. So I at I guess as of right now it's 56 or five five confirmed. And I guess they're having to piece through one million. And they have I imagine if you have that much, you have to track down each person to make sure they're still alive.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:45

And it's Kensington. So yeah, I imagine a lot of these people were not in the best states to be so damn. I guess we're gonna see how this shakes out, but it's insane.

A Bicyclist Fights Back

SPEAKER_00 1:11:03

Yeah. But on a high note, we'll end on a high note with this really cool lady I saw in the Philly News yesterday. Um, a man was sexually assaulting, I think she was 63. 63-year-old woman at 4 30 in the afternoon on the Philly high on a Philly street, uh bicycler, which I don't care for bicyclers, but this lady bicycler, saw it, took her helmet, went over there and started beating the guy with it, and then um started taking a bunch of pictures of him as he was trying to run off. Oh, nice. Like she totally intervened. She said she started like, and she was so she was only like probably in her 30s. She's like, I just saw it, and I was like, I'm not just gonna let this happen. Yeah. So she goes up, she's like, the woman looked terrified. I started hitting him, he started running. She was like, and I was chasing after him, and then I was like, you're putting yourself in a really dangerous situation here. Maybe let's rethink this. But I thought she was so badass, and I just admire her, and I hope that's how uh what I would do if I were in that situation, which I think I would because I have stuck up for people in public before.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:12

So I'm pretty sure if I saw an old lady, you know, 63, whole 10 years older than me being sexually assaulted on the street, I would do something.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:21

Yeah.

unknown 1:12:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:22

At least scream or, you know, get what the yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:26

Yeah. I mean, how could you not? But I bet a lot of people don't.

unknown 1:12:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:30

I mean, it's always been that way. There's that classic story they teach you in psychology and or psychiatry psychology in college. I think it was back in like the 40s. This lady was she lived in one of those areas where it was like a square building with like a I know which one you're talking about with a courtyard, and she was being raped and murdered, and nobody everybody heard it. Somebody else has been involved. Yep. Nobody wants to get involved.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:59

Yeah. The problem we have around here, the rural mess, is focks sound exactly like someone being murdered. They do. Yes, they really do.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:09

Fox are the most terrifying sound.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:12

Yeah. Oh. Did you also I don't know. Maybe we should just end this and we'll talk this off there. But it has been all over the the news about the guy shooting the lady in the field, the hunter. So that pissed me off. That's been all over everywhere. Anyhow, let's

Wrap Up And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_01 1:13:30

end this. Uh thanks for listening. Thank you. On this true crime ending. We just totally railroaded the Fords just now. Yeah. Anyhow. Uh like, share, rate, review. Please. Find us where you find the podcastes. Uh, you can check out our website. You can send us an email about whether or not it is the Benny Ford Clinic or the Benny Ford Center. Excellent. And see what what timeline you're on. Or don't like oh no, I didn't say it. Don't say that. Okay. You can send us an email about whether or not you think it is the Betty Ford Clinic or the Benny Ford Center to see what timeline you're on. To like whatever pod at gmail.com or don't like whatever. Whatever. Bye.