Thirsty Topics podcast

Bears, Bans, And Butter Knives for 12/17/25

• Lawrence Elrod & Meryl Klemow

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We move from Bears rivalry banter to a serious look at Australia’s under‑16 social media ban, a farewell to Tokyo’s panda twins, a Florida plane landing on a highway car, a tragic Brown University shooting, a Michigan coaching scandal, and a viral mugging video that tests the protector instinct. Humor breaks the tension, but the core asks hard questions about safety, responsibility, and how policy meets personal choice.

• fandom energy and the Green Bay rivalry
• Australia’s social media ban and enforcement doubts
• social media harms, self‑esteem, and digital literacy
• panda diplomacy and soft‑power conservation
• emergency landing onto a moving car and insurance fallout
• Brown University shooting, desensitization risk
• gun control layers versus mental health roots
• Michigan coach scandal, power and boundaries
• viral mugging, protection, and partner trust
• upcoming comedy show announcement

Make sure you’re in Pasadena on Saturday, February 7 at the Ice House. It makes a great Valentine’s gift


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

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

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

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Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."

Please help support our show by following us and telling others about our show. New podcasts weekly.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Topics. I'm Lauren Sellrat.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm Meryl Climo.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey Meryl, how are you?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm so good. I'm really good. I just came back from visiting my parents in San Diego. So I had a one I'm full of uh things that they gave me and fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice, nice. My weekend was very eventful. Um we'll get to shortly. There's a lot of things that happened over the weekend and last week. But on a positive note, my Bears won yesterday.

SPEAKER_00:

Yay. I feel like they're doing really well, right? From what from the little football things that I hear.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, they're um they're in first place in the division and in the NFC. Okay. They won and Green Bay lost. So that was a nice little duel.

SPEAKER_00:

Ooh. Now, like, you guys have a fan name as if you're not like the cub. I mean, I guess you can't be the cubs because that that's another baseball team. That's a baseball team, but like you don't call yourself like the bear, the hibernators or something, right?

SPEAKER_01:

No, but you know, one thing that you hear bear fans say all the time is bear down.

SPEAKER_00:

That's oh okay, okay.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

See, that's so good. Because you know, like for c for college, I went to Syracuse and I'm like, I'm an orange, and that now it's back to orange woman or orange people, but I'm I'm feeling like I'll always be like an orange man. I'm like, they had to go and make everything too politically correct. I'm like, I'm happy with it just being orange men, but anyway, I digress.

SPEAKER_01:

They do say randomly always Green Bay sucks. Green Bay sucks. Really? Regardless of who they're playing, they always chant that. And then, of course, they say another thing too. I can't really say on the air. Um, black, black Green Bay, oh okay, okay. Figure out what that is.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Now, do people feel because like in baseball world, I have that feeling about I always tell like my Padres fans that it's kind or friends, you know, because I've lived in San Diego forever, but like I found it kind of cringy that the Padres are like so obsessed with the Dodgers that I feel like it it gives like little brother energy because it's like all they're fixated on is like beating the Dodgers a lot of times, and like I feel like they were so beat LA focused that I'm like, how about like you guys focus on winning and doing the best? Does any bears people feel like it's too much focus on Green Bay or not?

SPEAKER_01:

Or it's like you know what? I mean, obviously the Green Bay Chicago Chicago Bears rival has been there for decades. Yeah, but I do kind of admit that you know, I I get it with Green Bay and all that, but you know, some people do think that you know, maybe uh Bears fans are a little bit too focused in on Green Bay.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

Because right now, I mean, yesterday, um, again, they lost, and then also two of their key players went out, uh, got injured. So most likely they're probably gonna be out the rest of the season because it's only three or four games left in the season.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So, you know, obviously, you know, uh, as a fan in general, I you know, I don't like to see anyone get hurt. Um, but you know, again, um, of course, I hope they get slaughtered next week when they play us.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't want to see anyone injured, I just want to see them out.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly, exactly. So it's it's gonna be a good game. It's actually Saturday at 7 20 p.m. Central.

SPEAKER_00:

So oh cool, okay. Look at that, you're like a walking billboard. That's good for it. I even got the bears colors on today. Yeah, I know I like it. Also, fun fact also Syracuse colors happens to be too. So you're representing everyone. Yep, the blue and the orange, which is a good combo.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes. Well, talking about an interesting combo here. Now, we've always talked about how social media um is a little bit out of control, especially when it comes to teenagers. Well, Australia has become the first country to ban social media for anyone under 16.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

So Australia has become the first country to implement a nationwide ban on social media for children under 16, effective December 10th, 2025, which means it's already five days into uh being effective, aiming to protect kids from online harms like cyberbullying, predators, and harmful content. Social media companies may must block access or face hefty fines, but the ban uh faces challenges, including teams circumventing it and debates over privacy and free speech with other nations watching closely. I would love to get your take on this, Meryl.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, oh my gosh, I have so many takes because in in some ways I understand how it's harmful and we want kids to like play outside and be safe. And obviously, there's the whole thing of like catfishing and not talking to creeps and weirdos and everything. However, as someone that did grow up with like like the cusp of MySpace and an instant messenger, you know, we weren't really on social media, and thank goodness I didn't have like a phone that I was carrying around. But like I had so much fun as a young teen on MySpace and like just setting up away messages that I wish there was more of those types of like a little bit more innocent types of you know, social media because it is like a modern day thing and it is kind of fun for the kids that don't always want to be out and about or like like for me, I didn't really enjoy all the time sitting with my friends. I wanted to be like talking on the computer and you know, have a mix of things. So I think I think having social media like uh you know just for teens is a great idea, but I don't know how you really filter that out because we all know that the minute they set that up, somehow a bunch of creeps and weirdos would be able to like break their way in, you know, like people would be able to pretend, or like parents of kids that are weird would be able to. So like I don't know how kids are supposed to have their own thing nicely. It's kind of like that saying, like, this is why we can't have nice things. Like, you know, I feel like it would be sad that any sort of teen or childish related social media would be infiltrated by weirdos.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, I guess I have a number of different takes on it. Um, one, I do understand why they're doing what they're doing. Yeah, absolutely. Because the problem with social media is when you have a child um that is under 16 and you're not carefully monitoring what they're seeing, um, that whole social media thing can be take on a life of its own. In the extreme cases, you know, there are cyberbullying. Um, there are things of, you know, kids, especially young girls, taking a look and seeing these perfect, perfect women that they think are perfect girls and stuff out there. Then find out they're not perfect at all. Everything is airbrushed, and they're thinking that you have to live up to this standard, which is ridiculous. And again, everyone has their own inner beauty and their outer beauty. So I think there's a self-esteem issue when it comes to social media that hasn't been talked about enough. The cyberbullying issue. But on the flip side of it, you know, there are in some ways it's going to be kind of difficult to enforce this because kids are very creative. You'd be amazed at what they can figure out. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, unless you have some type of ID, government ID with facial recognition, how do you monitor this and how do you enforce it?

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Exactly. Because what if they get fake IDs? Yeah, they'll be able to figure it out, or like they'll use different paywalls, or they'll, you know, like pretend they're from the US or something, or like you know, I'm sure there's like some weird black market or dark market where like they are they're able to change their VPN and like, you know, say that they're from America. But exactly what you were saying is right too, where in the good way, I can see social media being a good thing for kids to like express themselves. And if they're into painting or art or like photography, that's a good place to do it. But on the other end of things, like I see some of my friends that have children, they have like teen daughters and sons, and like they'll post. I I watch these kids like post, you know, pictures that they're out at delis or out at like restaurants, and I was like, oh my god, I'd be so if I was a teen back then, and then you see like four of your friends out and about, and like you know, we didn't know all the time that our friends were hanging out with other people, and I feel like that that would just make me go crazy. So I'm so happy we didn't have that growing up.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, thank goodness for that. And then plus, too, one of the things that people don't talk about is as kids, you are gonna become adults one day. So let's say you want to work for a political office, yeah. Thank goodness for us growing up, yeah. Unless you talk to someone, you don't know what what we did and all that, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

Where these kids growing up a social media age, everything's out there, and what a lot of kids don't fail to realize is that you could put a post out there, you can delete the post, but once it's out there, you can't get it back.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Which I even wonder if Facebook became a thing like exactly when I was in college, and I would we would load up like a every night out got its own photo album of like 32 photos, and one my mom would call and she's like, Why are you drinking Jaegermeister? Like and but back then it was like Facebook was so new that it basically no one knew what was happening and it was no one was paying attention, but yeah, now it's like instant and it's such a big deal, and I feel like it probably contributes to a lot of kids feeling depressed or even more isolated, even though it's supposed to be a good thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and then you know, years ago, you know, people would say that you know your employer or potential employer may look you up on social media. Well, that that phrase has changed to they will look you up and take social media.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. If anything, like I think kids should be allowed to have social media, but now we should in schools and parents, like the same way we learned math and we learned cursive, now we should learn like good social media etiquette because I think that's something that kids are going to have to learn as adults anyway, and like you know, teaching them from a young age even how to have manners online or like what to do if you suspect someone is being creepy with you, or like I think instead of banning kids from it, why don't we treat them respectfully and like help them learn how to do it correctly, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

I agree, and and you know, the one thing that um we need to understand is that other countries, including the United States, are gonna be watching this to see how this is implemented, how so there's a possibility, though it may be a small possibility that it may be coming to uh, you know, except I feel like parents will freak out because their kids their kids are gonna be driving them crazy, and then the parents are gonna freak out.

SPEAKER_00:

I feel like politically, none of our leaders would do that because it would be such an unpopular move. Like Trump wouldn't do that just for the main point of people being so mad about it, you know, that he he wants to be like the cool guy that saves TikTok and everything. So we will see. We'll see. But yeah, I could just imagine I would if I was in Australia and I was 16, I'd probably move to Poland just so I could be on TikTok or something. Well, I thought this was so cute and so ridiculous. Um, Japan will be without a panda for the first time in 50 years after the twins leave Tokyo. So twin pandas at the um Tokyo zoo are set to return to China in late January, leaving Japan without a panda. So, you know, I don't 50 years. Um I don't remember, I mean, I'm not 50, but like I don't remember this completely. But the twins, um, I think it's Xiao Xiao, maybe, and his sister Leele were born at Tokyo's uh zoological gardens in 2021 and were made remained or raised, but they remain on loan from China and they have to be returned by February. Now I think that's like so crazy that countries and zoos like rent pandas.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's been going on for some time now, and um it's amazing that they don't just give them pandas, but yeah, it's it's this practice of lending um between countries. I never really understood that to be honest with you, because I've I haven't heard of any other animal they do that with.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. The last day of public viewing for the four-year-old twins will be January 25th. Um, you know, like Japan and China don't don't play about their pandas. I know like it's a it's like a very government thing. And you know, like I think a lot of those pandas are watched a lot. They have a lot of um I know uh I was reading an article that said that they uh it was helpful that it uh improved like public sentiment between Japan and China too, and that like they were they're hoping that the relationship can continue. And I was like, maybe that's such a beautiful thing, like maybe um kangaroo can be between like Russia and Ukraine, or you know, like I don't know, maybe we need like more coming together and just helping each other like with animals or just with like things that people want to see in different countries.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I definitely agree because um I know the way the way things are going right now, um uh it doesn't look good, you know. Yeah, we can use a smile on our face. I'm a big, big advocate of of laugh and smiling. I really am.

SPEAKER_00:

Me too. Well, then you'll love. I don't know if you've ever watched like panda videos, but they're just the funniest creatures of them like spinning around and like they really are like big toddlers with the if you know if someone tells them no, they have like the biggest temper tantrum ever.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, like I said, they they they they they they're living their life, they're having fun, relaxing. I know.

SPEAKER_00:

I wouldn't jump over the fence and give them a hug because they are I would if I got remembered though, like a like a year ago or something, a zoo got in trouble because it was just like at first, it was just a man dressed like a panda, and then that was a dog, and we're like you can see like that it's a dog or a person. It's so funny what people try to like pass over as pandas over the years.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I never understood that to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00:

I no, someone was like, We could actively see the dog wagging its tail. This is not a panda.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I guess that's the way of um filling the public need, I guess, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yep, totally.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, um this is an interesting uh topic here. In central Florida, a plane crashes into a car on the highway during an emergency landing. No, no, no. So uh in early December 2025, a small beach craft plane experienced engine trouble and crash-landed on Interstate 95 near Coco, Florida, unexpectedly landing on a moving Toyota camera, injuring the 57-year-old female driver slightly while the 27-year-old pilot and passenger were unharmed, with dramatic footage showing the plane striking the car as it attempted to land on the busy highway. And this happened on Monday, December 8th. Whoa, I mean, that's crazy, that's absolutely crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I just know I could just imagine being in the car, like bickering with my boyfriend, and then all of a sudden I'd be like, Great, now a plane's about to land on us. Like, because I feel like when you're in the car, I mean you could probably see it coming, but for the most part, I'm usually like zoned out, or I mean, I'm I'm paying attention to the road, but you know, usually when you're just driving, you're not thinking about a plane coming and landing on you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I would say that's probably the last thing I'll be thinking about.

SPEAKER_00:

But yeah, maybe maybe it's not one of the last things, but it's definitely one of the top like 50 things I'm not thinking about. Um, and talk about like just random blind luck or you know, unluck, pretty much, of just being all the cars on the road, and it it almost did it looked like it had a magnet on it between like the plane and the car.

SPEAKER_01:

It really did. And you know, may and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they had problems staring the planes, but it's like you know, obviously, there's a median in between that roadway, you couldn't hit the median, you know. It's like, yeah, so I'm thinking maybe they couldn't control it, but wow, wow, just to be able to even talk about that. It's like, hey, guess what happened to me? Uh plane crashed into Macara over the weekend.

SPEAKER_00:

Imagine calling your insurance company up and telling them exactly, and and I'm sure somehow I would have the insurance that just like dove doesn't cover that, knowing my crappy ass insurance, like maybe like, actually, sorry, that's like your fault somehow.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, and then of course you're on the phone, and then they're going, What? Yeah, okay, all right, yeah, okay. Stop playing games. What really happened? Exactly. The plane crashed into my car when I was done.

SPEAKER_00:

That's where the video footage is good. It's like you may have seen this on like CNN, Fox, ABC.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, because of course that agent or that person on the phone's like, you know what? This is not funny, okay. You need to tell me what really happened. Stop playing games here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, would you like if you if would you go after if you're the car, if you're the person driving, would you like try to just go as big as you can and like sue them back and try to get free flights forever? Or would you just be like, just buy me a new car and we're okay?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I wouldn't want free flights because it was one of those Cessna type planes. Um I've never been on a plane that small and uh probably never will. Uh yeah. Teach his own, teach his own, but yeah, not my cup of tea.

SPEAKER_00:

No, me neither.

SPEAKER_01:

But I I think um even if you don't go after uh the pilot and whoever owns the plane, um, I'm quite sure your insurance company will. So they're not gonna get off the hook that easily.

SPEAKER_00:

So funny. I wonder too if you're just like the pilot, imagine just going into a car and being like, hey, sorry about that. Like, whoopsies.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Oops, are you still there? Whoopsies. Oh, yeah. Cool. Well, I thought I think we'll uh I was gonna say we'll keep an eye on that, but definitely I will not be keeping any eye on those planes. Now I'm trying, like, I feel like there's so much airline stuff and I'm supposed to fly coming up soon. So whenever I hear a thing that's like plane crash, I'm like, nope, changing the channel.

SPEAKER_02:

There you go.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Um, okay, well, we're gonna switch into a series mode for this one, just because we do have a lot, sadly, a lot of shooting ones that we have to deal with, like I mean, you know, probably this week in general. Um as of now, by the time they're recording this, I'm sure it things will change. But right now, the police are still searching for the person of interest. Um, but there was a shooting at Brown University on last. Sunday night, they had a person of interest and they released that person, and then you know, and then they didn't identify any other subjects. So, you know, Brown University is in Rhode Island, it's a really good school. Um, at least two students were killed when a person entered a lecture hall and started shooting with the rifle. Another nine students were wounded, and as of now, one more is in critical condition at the hospital. So it's strange now, too, because we get all these like angles of things where I saw an angle of the children of the kids um like in hiding basically, and then they were waiting for the police people to release them, and they just looked in shock, and like, you know, of course, they've been through this sadly many times with a lot of uh like practice trills and everything. So I mean the good part is they kind of knew what to do, but it's crazy that they even have to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

It really is that I know the sadly, um there there's a handful of students that this is like you know, probably the second or third shooting that they've been involved with, you know, at other schools. And I think the scary thing, Merle, is that this stuff is happening so much is that we're starting to become desensitized to it. I know, I know. Because now instead of being this horrific, oh my god, type situation, it's more of like, wow, here we go again.

SPEAKER_00:

I know, and that's and then yeah, and I think so too. And I do think like I'm um of of course open to getting everyone's viewpoint and differing thoughts on this, but like the minute this happens, of course, then it goes into like a gun reform, gun control conversation, and then it becomes like politically divisive, and then now we've lost some people and stuff, which I like I agree. Obviously, guns should not be in the hands of like the you know, whoever did this, like obviously has giant mental issues and like should not have be able to get a gun. But I feel like the conversation should also be just as much about mental health and everything, because I still feel like even if guns are like way more controlled, it still feels like freakazoids like this are still gonna like go in with a knife or go in with a sword, or you know, like they're still going to want to have these impulses. They might not kill as many people like at first, you know, like we may slow them down. And like I'm I'm someone that's in favor of gun control, but I feel like it this immediately becoming like a public or like a political thing is kind of losing what we're trying to do here.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I agree. And and and like you, I totally believe in in gun control, you know, it's common sense gun gun legislation. Yeah, but the reason why the mental um the mental health aspect and maybe either other aspects are very important is until you start getting into the root reason of why people are doing this in the first place, exactly, you're you're basically like a fireman. You know, you're not fixing the problem, you're just putting out the problem when it keeps coming up.

SPEAKER_00:

Totally, exactly. Because it's it's that whole like like guns don't kill people, people kill people. And I understand a lot, there's lots of cases where it's like, nope, the gun actually did kill the people, or there's like I totally understand there's a lot of research into why it's like we absolutely need better gun stuff. But I would love to hear from people just like who are super, super on like both sides of this issue and just like learn a little bit more because to me it seems clear that like we need people just to not have not do this in the first place, and you know, like mental health and drugs and addiction and everything seem like it's at the forefront of what is more kind of important, but I don't know, but that's also dangerous to say, and then people get upset, blah blah blah, but who knows?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's true. And and you know, the thing is too, Merrill, is that you can have all the legislation in the world, but it's almost impossible to stop what you call a lone wolf. In other words, this person that has never been in trouble with the law, has never had any mental health issues. In other words, just a normal person that flies under the radar, and then all of a sudden they snap. Okay, exactly. It's pretty, it's you know, obviously you want to minimize the damage by having certain procedures and stuff in place, but the sad part is you may not get rid of it 100%, but you can minimize it.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, right. And that person like shouldn't have a rifle sitting like to eat to be easily accessed. But like, what if that person's dad it has the right to have a rifle? And then how are we gonna stop that person from grabbing it? And like, yeah, I just don't, I don't know. I feel like there's other things exactly. I feel like the route needs to be addressed rather than all of like the side talk around it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I totally agree.

SPEAKER_00:

And um but I mean that's really sad and ridiculous, and it's just like, I mean, I still don't know who knows. I guess we'll learn if this person was completely was someone that was like a student that felt wronged, or like another you know, someone from the university, or just a complete random. I guess we'll learn.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's true. That's true. We'll definitely pray for them. Yep. Well, my last topic um for this episode is um an interesting one as well. Um, fired Michigan football coach Sharone Moore was detained and eventually arrested by police. Well, um, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, former Michigan football coach Sharon Moore faces three criminal charges as his arraignment uh Friday. Which arraignment Friday, which I believe was last Friday, um, revealed details of his actions that led him to being arrested and jailed for hours after he was fired Wednesday. Um, just so people are aware of what's going on here. Um, this coach basically was fired after the school learned of an inappropriate relationship that he had with a staff member. Um prosecutors charged Moore with felony third-degree home invasion and two misdemeanors, stalking in a domestic relationship and breaking and entering. Moore was released from jail after meeting a$25,000 bond. The arraignment and charges offered a window into Moore's actions after he was fired for cause due to an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Oh my god. So basically, the story is that um he had a relationship with a staff member, and I guess the staff member and again this is allegedly, because you know this allegedly, yep. And I guess um things started getting creepy, and you know, she wanted to break it off, and he did not want to break off the relationship. And allegedly, after he posted Bond and got out of jail, he actually went over there, and you know, he was screaming and yelling, he was threatening to kill himself. He grabbed some butter knives and the scissors from the kitchen. Oh my gosh, threatening to take his own life. Um, I don't know about you, Merrill, but I personally don't think he was serious about this because if you think about the kitchen with all the sharp butcher knives and stuff like that, you chose butter knives. I don't think it was that serious. I could be wrong now, but yeah, I don't know. What do you think, Meryl?

SPEAKER_00:

I think you're gonna like he's gonna like spread someone to death. Like that's not really it. And as as we're talking about too, like we just talked about if people want to hurt people and there's like no guns, they're gonna find ways, even if it's like a weird butter knife situation, you know, you're gonna choose stuff as weapons. But um, I think that does sound like a scorned lover and someone that can't handle rejection, and that's always like that's really scary, you know, because it's like you hope that people can just take if someone cuts off some romantic relationship or friendship, you always just wanna let that person go grapesfully and not threaten violence or like act out in any way.

SPEAKER_01:

The crazy thing about it, he's married.

SPEAKER_00:

Imagine if like if I like if you're if if I'm the wife and I heard of someone threatening someone with like my man threatening a woman with a butter knife, I'd be like, I'd be like, I'm mad at you for like 10 different reasons.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's crazy. And you know, what's amazing to me is he has a job in in sports that most people would dream of having. Okay, yeah. He's making, you know, he he he was, I believe, into his first year of a six-year contract, uh, a six million dollar contract. So he's getting paid a million dollars a year. I mean, he's got his dream job, he you know, raised up through the ranks, and literally in an instant, you've destroyed your marriage, you've destroyed your career, and you've destroyed your relationship all in one swoop move.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, but just like why do you why why do you think that some guys do sleeper stuff like that? Um I I'd love to hear from a woman's perspective.

SPEAKER_00:

I I think not that much deep respect for women, you know, like that's one thing, like kind of viewing women as like possessions and ownership, and then almost if someone decides to go their own way or to break it off, feeling so like angry and rageful that they don't really view the other person as another separate human being. They view them as like something that they lost a possession, um, an ability to like process their own anger, and you know, they're probably angry about other things and taking it all out on this situation. And yeah, just like I think too, like I think men do have a lot of like anger stuff that we're not that people aren't allowed to show sometimes. And so I think it's so healthy for like women and men to get their anger out so we're not just like spewing it out in different ways, especially romantic ways.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's true. Um, it's just amazing that he would throw his career over some stupid. I know, and and and I know some people may say, Well, what if he's not in love with his wife anymore?

SPEAKER_00:

Then get a divorce, divorce her nicely. Yeah, that that's humiliating, and it's it's it's also like a waste of her time and energy because that's you're not valuing your wife even as a friend to be like, Hey, you why don't you go off and find someone else that deserves you or just be single, like you know, I think that's so mean to do to a person because you're wasting her time and energy.

SPEAKER_01:

That's true, that's true, and you know, to to to have, and I know most colleges, you cannot have a real a romantic relationship with people that work for you. That's a absolute you know what I mean. Yeah, so I mean, I just don't know what he was thinking. Um I just hope it was worth it for him because man, he's destroyed so many things all at once.

SPEAKER_00:

So don't you sometimes like with all these articles and things today, aren't you like, okay, I'm not doing this that bad? Where like sometimes I'm like, okay, like I might be a little bit emotionally immature, but like I'm actually not in the bottom part of society.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, sadly enough, as as we do some of these and we talk about them in my mind, I'm thinking, you know, maybe I'm not such a bad guy after all.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly, exactly. I might not be like the most morally upstanding, but I'm not tracing people around with a butter knife or like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That is true, that is so true.

SPEAKER_00:

Or like it just goes to show to me when, especially when you were saying like this man already had a wife and everything, like if you're not mature enough at any age to let your partner go, if you're interested in someone else, then that just shows me you're on like a total different planet that I'm not really interested in. And I know that everything has an excuse, but I'm like, nah, not really in 2025, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

That's true. That is so, so true.

SPEAKER_00:

We got a man and woman up in 2026. Well, I don't mean to completely uh dog on men this episode. I do love men, but my next story is um I'm gonna switch gears from my list of what you have uh and change it up a little bit, where there was a viral video and news story of a girl getting mugged in Colombia. Um, a couple was on a vacation a little uh, you know, for a little bit, and uh the woman had a backpack on and had some stuff on her person, and you could see someone else come up behind them and just start mugging this woman and trying to take stuff. She he tries to take her phone and her boyfriend, her man, a tall guy, went and hid behind a wall. And so this was in front of like this, all happened in front of a bank, and so you could see it happening, like the camera is right there. So it pretty much shows the whole thing. Now, if if people haven't looked at this video yet, it's definitely a good one to check out. If you just if you just search like guy hiding behind wall original video, you'll be able to see. And so, you know, they are able to see the strange man almost mug the girlfriend, and the man hides and doesn't even call for help.

SPEAKER_01:

This is his girlfriend.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, uh it's like a couple, you know, a couple's on vacation, and then a random guy comes up and tries to mug them, and then the the man in the couple go like hides and let it lets his girlfriend basically fight the mugger all by herself. And it takes another man, another random stranger man to step in and like save the day and help her. And then at the end, the boyfriend kind of comes up like, Did I miss anything?

SPEAKER_01:

You know, this this can't be real.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, it's real. The boyfriend was hiding, and so it was so funny too, because my my boyfriend sent this to me, and of course, like we never know how people are gonna act, but I can I could pretty much guarantee that if this happened, my boyfriend would like at least try to fight the other guy off, or like at least grab me, you know. Like he wouldn't just run away and hide, right?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, here's the thing about it now. If he has a weapon, you're not gonna leave my wife. I'm going to exactly and we both run now. If you don't have a weapon, oh, we're gonna throw some hands, that's a whole different situation. Yeah, I'm not gonna hide while my girlfriend, wife, or whatever is being mugged. Wow, that's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. It is to see the video, it's so funny. And I I can totally see, I'm not expecting this guy to like become Batman and like fly from the ceiling and like you know, kick the other guy in the face. Or I'm not expecting superhero moves, but at least try to grab your girlfriend out of the situation, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

If the guy got no weapon, you should be punching him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, or or screaming for help. It's like you can, but the guy wasn't it wasn't even doing that, because at least like then make a commotion or like you know, use your words and your voice and scream, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Because when you're in a relationship and someone disrespects someone you're with or tries to do something to them, most men get a warm feeling going through their body.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Oh, yeah. A lot of guys feel that way. And I gotta word this correctly so I don't get a lot of hate, you know, hate messages, but it's it's like, how do I explain it? It's like when someone is attacking your wife, your girlfriend, whatever, it's like they're attacking someone you care about, you love, that you want to protect. And you're most most most men are natural protectors. So when you try to hurt something that belongs to them, um, in fact, I've always said this, and it's true, is a a coward can turn into a killer if you decide to go against their family. Like if you decide to go against their their wife, their child, you can turn a coward into a killer at that point because their mindset changes differently. What kind of mindset this guy had, I have no idea. Oh, I know because uh that wouldn't even cross my mind.

SPEAKER_00:

I know, yeah, and you would think even if you're filled with adrenaline, you're right, even you would just scream or you would do something. You I wouldn't stand to the side. So I have to wonder like, if you're that girlfriend and that happens, how like are you dumping them immediately? Or are you they they went on some news shows and it seems like she's not as bothered by this as the internet is, and like it doesn't seem like she's dumping him, and it kind of seems like they're gonna stay together.

SPEAKER_01:

They deserve to be together, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Because like, if anything, I would just be so humiliated by it that I would be like, I need to break up with you right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, I'm gonna put you on the spot, Meryl. If you were that girl, would you be so forgiving and stay with this guy?

SPEAKER_00:

No, unless unless like he taught unless he had a great, great, great reason that I was like missed out on, which I don't understand, but no, I would I'd probably dump him not only because of like of what the internet said, but because it wouldn't make me feel safe. And you really see like to me that would be his true colors about what happened. It's like, okay, if I'm ever in trouble, you're just running away. Like that doesn't really bode well.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. And then after everything's over with, hey honey, you okay? Yeah. And then she grabs a brick, baby. Come here, let's talk.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Because it really shows, like, and like I said, I don't expect a person to like do a karate kick on them or like you know, bust out moves. But if someone's just running away and not even helping you out, that's just that's not good. Like that, I feel like that subconsciously shows like how he really does feel.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree, I agree, and um, like I said, I'm not gonna comment on a relationship, but uh yeah, I I think it's a safe bet that most women would not be with this guy after that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, talking about great things, what do you have coming up, Meryl? Oh, wait. Oh, witness. Yep, that was the last one. Okay. What do you have coming up?

SPEAKER_00:

I have um, I'm gonna choose a one that's kind of far away just in case people want to get tickets, but uh there's a show Saturday, February 7th at uh a wonderful venue called the Ice House in Pasadena, California. I love the Ice House so much. It's like a really big, you know, it's a lot of the major comedy people perform there, and it was one of my like dreams to perform there. So um I am there with a great show on Saturday, February 7th.

SPEAKER_01:

Perfect, perfect. So you got plenty of time to get tickets. Make sure you're if you're gonna be in the area now.

SPEAKER_00:

It makes a good Valentine's gift, unless you're that girl whose boyfriend left her when she was being mugged, and don't buy him anything. No Valentine's Day for him.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, no. Well, everyone, thank you again for watching and listening to us. Um, as always, um, we have a great time. We appreciate all the support. I'm Lauren Selrod.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm Meryl Climo.

SPEAKER_01:

Take care, everyone. Bye.

SPEAKER_00:

Bye bye.

Head Shot

Lawrence Elrod

Host
Head Shot

Meryl Klemow

Co-host