Thirsty Topics podcast
If it is trending, Lawrence Elrod and Wander P. are already talking about it. But Thirsty Topics is not just a headlines show.
Each episode bounces through pop culture, social media buzz, celebrity news, and the week's wildest stories while asking the question underneath all of it: what does this actually mean for people? From reality TV fallout and AI in music to consumer scams, public accountability, and the occasional candy heist, Lawrence and Wander bring honest opinions, real debate, and the kind of perspective that makes you think twice about what you just scrolled past.
Thirsty Topics podcast
Big Tech, UFO Truth & The Rules We Live By
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
A court just hit Meta with a $567 million order tied to harm to children, and it raises a question we can’t dodge anymore: when an app is engineered to keep kids scrolling, who carries the responsibility when mental health suffers? We unpack what the ruling says about Facebook and Instagram design, how recommendation algorithms can drag young users toward darker content, and why schools and families are left trying to patch problems they didn’t create. We also get real about how hard it is to “just monitor your kids” when platforms evolve faster than most parents can keep up.
Then we switch gears to something that hits a different nerve: the military’s latest batch of declassified UAP or UFO records. We talk through what was released, what it could mean, and why so many people suspect the timing is not random. Is it transparency, a distraction, or preparation for a bigger public shift? We don’t pretend to have the final answer, but we do push for open-minded thinking without losing your grip on reality.
From there, the conversation turns urgent with the ongoing investigation into the death of Tassia Fortune in Jackson, Mississippi, and what it brings up about patterns, fear, and the need for truth over rumors. We also react to reports that ICE plans to purchase shock-enabled gloves meant to force compliance, digging into civil rights concerns and the risks of misuse when accountability is already in question. We end on a needed bright spot: more men entering nursing, why it’s happening, and how it helps address the nursing shortage while breaking outdated stigma. Follow Thirsty Topics on your favorite podcast platform, subscribe, share the episode, and join the conversation on social media. Which topic had you talking the most?
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."
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Welcome And What’s Ahead
SPEAKER_00Hello everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Topics. Hi, Wonder.
SPEAKER_01Hey, Lawrence, how are you, my friend?
SPEAKER_00I am doing great. How about you?
SPEAKER_01I'm great, man. Just been really, really busy in a good way, getting in some good trouble, as they say. So I've been doing some really good trouble stuff.
SPEAKER_00What about you? You know what? Same thing. It's been a very busy week. Uh today slowed down a little bit, but you know, like you, busy in a good way, so I cannot complain at all.
SPEAKER_01Oh my goodness. So we got a lot to talk about, you know, coming back to reality with these thirsty topics.
SPEAKER_00Yes, we do. And I'm gonna start off with a sizzling one here. Well, Meta was ordered to pay $567 million over harm to children. So a New Mexico judge has ruled that MENA helped fuel the state's youth mental health crisis through the design of Facebook and Instagram, finding that the company created a public nuisance and ordering it to pay $567 million for treatment and prevention programs. Now the judge goes on to say that those features contributed to higher rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorder, and suicide risk among young people. The court also found that the platform contributed to child sexual exploitation and put added pressure on schools, law
Meta Ordered To Pay For Harm
SPEAKER_00enforcement, and New Mexico's mental health system. Well, Wonder, what do you think?
SPEAKER_01You know what? When I first heard this about the them them being ordered to pay $567 million uh because of the harm to the children, and my first thought was it's about time. It's about time that somebody is holding these um uh these social media companies accountable because kids are vulnerable, you know, and and you making it easy. Almost can't remind me of cigarettes, you know, the warning, you know, uh about allowing uh the kids to be able to get to smoke the cigarettes. But yeah, this is really it goes deep because not only uh is this um causing everything you just read, the suicide, the depression, it's affecting them in school. Now, Prisker for Illinois, the governor, uh finally uh signed a bill, no phones. They did it back in Tennessee as well. So it's about time they're holding them accountable.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree. And you know, this up this issue with social media, especially men, has been talked about for a long time. Yeah, and I would not be surprised if other states started going after them as well, because we all know how powerful those algorithms are. And we've all been on social media. You look at something, and next thing you know, you get a thousand ads for what you're looking at, or if you look at a certain type of post, you get a whole bunch of more posts just like that. So it means that if they're looking at something that they shouldn't be, or something negative, they get probably, I'm assuming, a lot of that negative stuff coming back at them. So I think this is gonna be a good thing all around.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. And and and the fact I can remember uh moving back to Chicago for my daughter, and I remember my grandson watching uh, it was something on YouTube. She blocked him from even getting on YouTube. Well, after she passed away, her friend came over, and we were just sitting around just talking. It was a play date from my grandson and her son. They watching Mario, then all of a sudden, Mario says the F word. So you're right, but these algorithms, one video from another, from another, and before you know it, it starts off innocent, and then it goes into something. Oh my god. You know, that's true. Yeah, it's been going on for a long time. Yeah. Do you think I'm just glad the court is doing something about it? But go ahead, I didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00Something I was gonna ask, do you think that this ruling is going to lead to some changes on social media?
SPEAKER_01I don't know, but the mere fact that it's even brought up, it would a lot, and then a platform like ours and so many other platforms that are talking about it could definitely possibly, you know, you know, gear people up uh or make the parents more aware that this is going on because most people let their kids be babyset. These these uh media sites, and I remember a one-year-old baby, two year old, he was two years old, uh a grand a grandchild of this lady I knew, and the baby just sitting down two years old, scrolling, just scrolling. Two, yes, yes, and it's so many, and not just the children, you got people, you better be careful of the relationships up at midnight on these doggone computers. But for the children, it's really as an adult, they they are setting their ways. But as for children, man, they they are impressionable, uh, you know, easily swayed. And and what I have to tell my grandson, you better be careful of the people that you're talking to because they can track you. I've heard a situation where people have actually come to people's homes, they have picked up, they've kidnapped kids. They found them in a whole nother state. Yeah, so they need to be held accountable. Something I'm not exactly sure because I'm not the computer person, IT person, what can be done to prevent that? Because if if the parents aren't are at home and not watching the kids and they're in their room, the kids are in their room all day, they may come up for a little uh snack.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and you know the interesting thing, Wander, is that as a parent, it is very difficult to keep your children off certain sites because the minute you take them off one site, they find a way to get around it, or there's another one that pops up that the parent finds out after the fact. It's almost like this this unwinnable war where you you think you conquered this, and then the next thing you know, you're dealing with this over here. So, you know, growing up, obviously our parents didn't have to deal with social media because you know, growing up, it didn't exist when I grew up. So, and when I grew up, we were outside playing, you know. Right, we didn't want to be in the house. We're not instructed today, is the total opposite. It's like fighting to get them to go outside.
SPEAKER_01It's the total opposite, and you know, everything about the internet is not bad, right? It's about the power of choice and parental guidance and all that. Because I, as a former teacher, we had a student, I won't call this he's grown now, more likely he's grown, because this was many, many years ago. But he was we we were warned to be careful letting him because he was so innocent, right? Innocent looking. So we told that we were warned to be careful because he'll get on the computers. Well, he was in the library, you know. Most school libraries, you got rows, rows of um computers. So as a reward, he was able to go to the library. Well, he got banned out of the library because he was on porn sites. I don't even know how he broke, I don't even know how he broke the code because the school system has a code. He was just as smart to break the code, and but he wasn't wise enough to know that people could stand behind you and the computer he was on. Come on, the teachers, the librarian's desk was on the other side.
SPEAKER_00Well, here's another secret that most students don't know. They probably figured it out by now is there are people watching when you're on the internet at school. Um I remember that my son was in school. Uh, this is when he was in high school, and there was an incident happened where the police was involved because I guess there was an adult pretending to be a child trying to meet up with a student. And the way they found out was the IT got a hold of the police department and the rest of the person. So anything that you're doing on a school monitor is being watched. You know, they may not see it right then and there, but it is being watched.
SPEAKER_01Well, newsflash, we're on our computers. I remember when uh uh analog TVs were going out, and then they weren't you everybody throwing where they picture to the TV. And I remember getting a new TV. I was all excited. The guy said, Well, I'll tell you what, as soon as they switch over to this uh from the analog, I'm gonna throw a sheet over my TV. Because have you ever noticed your TV will pop back on by itself? I was going to bed one time. My TV, I took the remote and I hit off and it closed up just like that. I'm heading to the bedroom next to my living room, is illuminated again. The remote is over there. The TV came back on by itself. So so this can get real deep here, you know. For real, for real. But when he said that, he said, I put a I'm gonna put a sheet over my over my TV when I go to bed at night. I said, Oh my god. So, yeah, so it's very interesting what where we are with technology today.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it is, and uh that actually walks into our next subject. In fact, I have to admit, this is probably my best topic out of everything because I'm a big UFO buffer. Okay. On Friday, August 7th, the military released the fifth round of UFO videos. So the military released the fifth round, the fifth fifth batch of declassified uh unidentified anomalous phenomena, UAP files. The drop includes 41 new records featuring sensor videos, historical memos dating back to 1950, and FBI or artist renderings of witness accounts.
Declassified UFO Videos And Motives
SPEAKER_00So I guess my thing is um I wonder why all of a sudden they're releasing all this new video now. Because you know, it used to be a point where the government never talked about it. What do you think is going on, Wanda?
SPEAKER_01You know what? Pick a pick a situation, pick an answer. I don't. We we we really don't. And and it is so depressing when you are watching the news. Um I don't know, is it a distraction? Because as you said, they've been talking about stuff all is it a distraction. I don't know if it's a distraction, and it's really, really hard to to pinpoint what this government that we're in right now, the the the the heads of the of this government right now, who knows what's going on with them and and their reason is it to cover up because there's so much other stuff that's going on, and it is a very good point because they have been moms of word. They the the military, you don't see them talking about that all the time. Then if you do, you're crazy. You know, somebody talk about oh, I saw UFOs. Yeah, but what was you drinking? What was you smoking? You know, yeah, yeah. So on that, it's a little different. It's a little different.
SPEAKER_00It's a combination of both. I think one, you know, are they preparing us for something that's coming? That's the one thing. And secondly, I do agree that some of it may be as a distraction to other things that's going on in the world today. So I I I truly believe it's a combination of both. But I truly believe that even though we're in a crazy time right now, I think that the the country and and the world is ready to hear that we're not alone. I really do. I don't think we're that that is you. What do you think? You think we're ready for that conversation?
SPEAKER_01Oh, oh, oh, I definitely think it is. It's it's a never-ending. We can we can we could talk about this forever. I remember watching um uh what's that unsolved mysteries. Yes, they had a lot of stories about people seeing UFOs and and these aliens and all this other stuff. And that's when you the government was really hush-hush about uh what's going on uh scientifically. Um I certainly believe God is a God of the universe. And just like we earthlings, we're not, or just like certain people think that they are the only ones, religious people that certain religions think that they're gonna be the only ones to go to heaven. You got all these people that wanna uh say that I am the only one. This is a wide world. And remember the movie Aliens? That was a really I'm not even into science fiction, but that movie, I didn't look at it because of the monster, because I don't like to be scared, I don't like to be on edge like that. But when I watched that movie and saw how the earthlings were trying to go, and I forget what planet it was, because I really wasn't into it that much, but they were trying to find uh build uh uh life on these colonies. So they have to, you know, and I'm going like, oh my God, I would hear my mother talk about the conspiracy theories. The earth is gonna be blown up, the blah blah blah, man gonna mess it up so bad. That's why they're going up into the earth trying to figure out, you know, could you actually live up there? Because they're destroying the earth. But I just don't believe that the heaven and earth will pass away, you know, as I say, we'll pass away, but heaven and earth will never pass away. So no matter what human beings try to do, um, I definitely definitely believe the longer we are around, and we have to have an open mind. Nothing is absolute, no thing or nothing is absolute. So we don't just Christopher Columbus thought the world was flat. The world was America was here. He discovered America. America was already here. So, you know, so it goes like that about being open-minded and be willing to learn something different and maybe something that's out of the box.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think if you like aliens, I think you should see this movie as called Disclosure.
SPEAKER_01I don't like aliens. Oh I don't know how I went to that movie. Maybe it was a date. I don't know what it was.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know what? If you have an open mind, see the movie Disclosure. I don't know if this is Disclosure. Uh, it's actually a new movie that just came out recently. Uh, I watched it, I actually loved it. And it dives deep into the thing that you know everyone says and openly says we're not alone. And um, I don't want to give away too much and take, you know, because you haven't seen it, but I think you'll really like it. You you'll be you will be surprised you will like it. I think you will.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, I'm I'm at a point in my life that, you know, especially working with elderly people. Man, I love working with elderly people. I love learning, I love knowledge, and I love hearing live history before the dementia hits in, right? And I'm just I'm just in awe when I hear these people talk about like I like I have some uh clients that I've had, uh uh they're white, and they live on the south side of Chicago. I'm like, whoa. And I can just picture when they talk about 79th Street. It looks so different today. Uh, you know, night uh what's uh Longwood in that area. Uh one of the ladies I took care of, she was she was there, she went to Lady of uh the Catholic girls' school, uh our lady of academy or something like that. But she went to that school. I'm like, oh, one of my girlfriend, real good friends, uh, went to that school. She graduated from that school. So it's
Open Minds And Lifelong Learning
SPEAKER_01just amazing. I love hearing history and I love hearing it from the original person, and they could tell you about that's why we we can't put our elderly people away. And so when I I hear the the different stories, man, I just go like, oh my God, I want to be able, and that's why it's so important for what I do to leave a legacy, man, to let people know, you know, wow, this was so interesting. And you just learn something, you go like, oh wow, I never knew that. You could all, you're never too old to learn. And they're 80s and their 90s, so I still got some time left, you know, to learn some things. So I don't want to be closed-minded.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think once you get to the point where you stop learning, um, that's when I think you go downhill as a person. You always have to be learning. You know, just like people talk about, you know, physical health, you also have to have good mental health too. And you have to exercise your mind as well, too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that goes hand in hand. Like peanut butter and jelly. Yeah, so yeah, so you know, that's that's where that is with that subject. Oh god.
SPEAKER_00Well, um, my next subject here is really a troubling subject. Um and actually, uh, if you want, Wanda, I'll let you go ahead and start it off. This is about the 29-year-old in Mississippi.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay, yeah, let's do that. Wow. Yeah, that that when I read that, that was deep. That was really deep. Oh, wow. Yeah, brace yourself. Okay. Uh, this, like you said, it's a heartbreaking story uh about the death of a 29-year-old uh young lady, uh, Tassia Fortune, uh, has shaken people across the country. Tassia, a black woman and a mother of four, was found hanging from a tree behind a vacant home in Jackson, Mississippi on August 3rd. And I want to begin by saying that uh Tassia Fortune was more than just a headline. She was a daughter, she was a mother, a sister, a woman whose life mattered. Four children have lost their mother, and the family is now grieving while searching for answers. And at this time, we must be careful about you know repeating rumors, uh declaring uh exactly what happened before all the evidence is available. And an autopsy has been conducted, but authorities have not yet announced the official manner of the death, and the investigation remains open. Boy, you going back to the temperature in the atmosphere. What why? I know why. I kind of I kind of know why. Are we going backwards in time? That's a symbol and a signal of promise of things to come. We better
Mississippi Death Investigation And History
SPEAKER_01open our eyes up to I couldn't even imagine my daughter being hung, and whoever did that, God knows who did it, and whoever did that, oh my god. That that that this is just a tough subject to be in 2026, and somebody is hanging from a tree in Mississippi a week ago.
SPEAKER_00You know, the thing that's really troubling is that it would be one thing if this is a one off type story, but this has happened multiple times um in Mississippi. Um and then we talk about the the incident with the young man about. But maybe a couple weeks ago we talked about going out on a boat with his friends. And you know, I want to be careful, I don't want to make any accusations or anything, but this is very troubling that you're starting to see this pattern. And this is not a good pattern. And it can't be ignored. And something something has to be done, something needs to be looked at because um these things seem to be happening a lot in Mississippi. Again, I don't want to make any assumptions or anything, but you know, you can't really ignore what's going on either.
SPEAKER_01You know what? I want to say this too. Uh uh Tabitha, I mean, uh Taisha, is it Taisha? Taisha? Taisha, maybe it's Taisha, it's spelled a little different. Taisha's mother said firmly that she does not believe that her daughter took her own life. She described Taisha as a strong-minded, loving, full of laughter, and at peace. When they last saw her, her family, her family, uh, as they said when they last saw her. So her family said that she was in good spirits. She was a firm person. So this is a this is the other thing, like it's history repeating itself. What happened back in slavery when what they did during the Willie Lynch. You know about the Willie Lynch letter, and uh some of the racist um people uh would take, they say that he taught them this pattern. You take the bitch of the women, you tie her up with two horses opposite of each other, tar her down and put feathers on her, right? Then you beat the hell out of the horses and they just rip the body apart. You do this in front of the people so you can bring the fear. That's why remember back in the day, our mothers and grandmother, why don't you go outside? Don't don't don't don't be at the behavior, don't let the darkness catch you out there. It's fear, and that's what it appears to be now coming back. History is repeating itself with fear. And then you use then someone else leaves the narrative to say what happened to her because she can't speak for herself, just like uh the young man Nolan. Um uh what's Nolan? Well, we're reading about that boy out the uh just but you know, the guy Nolan was in Wells, I think. Nolan Wells, yeah, same state.
SPEAKER_00It's something same corridor, too. Wow, yeah, wow, again.
SPEAKER_01I tell you what, you know, brother, you know, there's a whole lot more I could say, man, but they yeah, something ain't right, and you know, I don't care how clean the house looks, if I smell a dead rat, something ain't right. No, no, no, something something's not right with that picture, and and I I I think what what's happening in society now is it's almost like the powers that be appear to um want to, like I say, bring back the past and then make every everything okay. There's something going on, there's some hiding going on, and just like what any other instigator, what an instigator would do, they would do things to distract the people. They would try to distract you. So there's a lot of distractions going on. Do they want us to be numb to this? We would never be numb to this. We are not our grandparents, we are not the people that were enslaved, we're just not. So it's not gonna be pretty. The outcome, if it continues to go this way, the outcome is not gonna be pretty. And there seems to be something that that somebody in the atmosphere wants to happen anyway, to continue to cover up corruption. But the God in heaven, Psalm 58 talks about that, he sees everything that's going on, and we gotta be patient. It's gonna be some sacrificial lambs. When I say sacrificial lambs, some innocent people are already dying. And we ain't seen nothing yet.
SPEAKER_00Now, you know, it also makes you wonder, too, that um when we started talking about police brutality, especially after the George Floyd incident, and people were asking, Well, is the brutality happening more now? And I was one to say, I don't think so. I think everyone has a camera now. Technology is different now. And I think the same thing is true for the incidents in Mississippi and and and other places where there's they're having these issues, is that now you have a lot more people on the internet, you have a lot more people that have, you know, everyone has a smartphone now, and a smartphone has a camera. So a lot more things are coming to light now. So it's it's really difficult to hide things like this because of the information highway and everything that we have going on. And I think that though this is sick and horrific, it needs to be told. So this way we not only bring it up. But we also keep it from happening again and again, and maybe even getting worse. So it's very important to talk about these stories because sometimes people just don't know what's going on. Because if you're in another part of the country, you may not hear what's going on over here. So I think it's important, not only for our platform, but even even other platforms, you know, when you see things like this, to talk about it, bring it to the light so everyone knows what's going on.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And you know, just to even take this a little further, and it's not all people, you know, because you you you got good and white, black, Asian, whatever color, male, females, you got good and bad and all of these uh uh uh ethnic backgrounds, right? One thing that I'm finding out, even going back to slavery, it took white people, it was certain white people that came and joined in to be able to see that it wasn't just us calling the race card. It wasn't just and and and not even that. There are more things that are happening now with these evil uh leaders that are out here, people that's in these high positions, they are doing the same taxes that they did on black people back in the day. They're doing it on white people now, so they're not even discriminating, and so therefore, more people who had never seen this type of behavior, we're not new to it. We we're you we we we we're we are aware we've been there. It's it's some people now they are flabbergasted that this type of thing can happen. We already knew it could happen. So, it in a way, it's really a good thing that more people are are are speaking out and speaking up. I'm watching the different uh national news stations, and the and and and a lot of white people are being interviewed, and they are jumping ship, they did not ask for what's going on in our society today. So it's not I want to make sure I say this because this is not a black and white platform, this is about what's right and wrong. I agree, I agree, wow, but yeah, that that's that I can't even imagine, you know, the things and all of the missing kids, uh African-American kids, that's you know, no one has ever talked about. And it takes a few to bring the bring to the light, like uh Nolan Wells, and then this young lady, you know, because I mean, whoa, it was another college student uh here in Illinois, that downstate. I I believe it was Lat 2 in 25. Uh I think they they uh he he was uh he was hung.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, so yeah, they so they know it was just kind of it's important to and what black let me stop.
SPEAKER_00Go ahead. No, no, I was just gonna say that uh it's important for platforms like ours and others to keep these stories on the forefront and talk about them when they come up.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, absolutely, brother, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Well, just when we thought there wasn't any more conversations about ice, wonder tell us what's new.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, oh my god, all right. Now it just in the news recently a day or two ago, ICE plans to spend ten to twenty million dollars on thousands of specialized gloves that can deliver a painful electrical shock when activated and pressed directly against someone's skin. The devices are called gloves. G-L-O-V-E is an acronym for that, mean oh, meaning generated low output voltage emitter. These gloves are intended to force compliance during physical confrontations. The proposal, no bid contract, could run through March 2027. Civil rights advocates are deeply concerned because the shock can be administered discreetly and potentially abused. Okay, and then the manufacturers warned that the gloves should not be used as punishment or against children, pregnant women, elderly people, or people with disabilities. So the accurate word is ICE is preparing to purchase and distribute them, but reports do not establish that ICE agents is already wearing them. So we don't even know if they're already wearing them. Talk about a bad atmosphere, talk about possibly starting another, starting the actual revolution. Do you think people are gonna sit
ICE Shock Gloves And Civil Unrest
SPEAKER_01there and then to do it discreetly? We already know the background and and the and the unscrupulous behavior that ICE has already displayed. So to put a toy in their hand, because it's a toy to them, to put a toy in their hands and to do to disarm somebody just by touching them with that glove, this is gonna start uh uh uh a real civil unrest. And I pray it doesn't happen. One thing I just believe that you you could talk all that you want to talk, because remember, this also goes into what we talked about a few weeks back with these uh these uh warehouses. Could you imagine them zapping people with these and and and throwing them in these these containers and never hear from them again? So this is going right in hand, or the plan of them putting these people, putting all kinds of people that is not in agreement with what's going on to throw them into and and and these these electronic shockers. Man, what if somebody have an accident? I mean, have a heart attack, go into a seizure, convulsion. You're putting this in, and then the other thing, you are talking about untrained individuals. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00But you know, what's interesting to me is how they're buying these gloves. They're the same organization that for whatever reason can't answer the question is why doesn't all ICE officers wear a camera?
SPEAKER_01And yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Same organization. So you can't get the cameras, but you can get these specialized gloves.
SPEAKER_01Because they got a plan. They're planning something. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00And I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see how this is not gonna be abused based on what we've seen in the past. Already. So I hope I'm wrong, but I think that this is gonna get abused pretty bad. And I think what's gonna happen, and again, I hope I'm really wrong, is when you look at a person, you don't know their medical history. No. No. So you zap them thinking you're doing something great, and the next thing you know, they're dead.
SPEAKER_01Who authorized it again? It just I don't even mean to cut you off because this this really when I first saw this, this took me to a whole, and I'm I'm a writer, I'm creative. That that it that's over a cliff. My thoughts, I couldn't even fathom. There's nothing about nothing about them getting electronic gloves, spending 20 million dollars when people can't even eat. Not to mention with all the other uh uh disservices, uh, the service is being cut, and you now you want to go and torture people because that's gonna be torture. And you know these men are not even trained properly.
SPEAKER_00No, and you know the crazy thing, Wanda, is you know, I'm really careful when I put topics on our show. Yeah, and for some people that hear this and go, this is crazy, this isn't no, it's real. It's real. No, it's real, and I did recently.
SPEAKER_01It's been verified, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It was on the world news, yes, it was. And the thing that's really surprising to me, and and I don't know if this is something we should be concerned about about American Americans, is that when you look at what iCE does, and again, I don't want to put every ice agent in this category, but there's a lot of questionable ICE agents, and you kind of wonder what kind of person are you to do this to another human being.
SPEAKER_01Look at what happened on January the 6th, that would never be erased. Look at the behavior, and then you look at the behavior of these people, especially when they were wearing masks.
SPEAKER_00True, true.
SPEAKER_01I remember the first time I saw them in my neighborhood, I was on my way to uh a meeting, uh right at that it was at the um holiday inn, and I had to stop at the stop sign, and all of a sudden a tree moved, and I looked, it was an ice agent. I said, Oh my god. It came and right away, that was a surreal moment for me. And then in my neighborhood, uh they they started wrestling the people up. So, no, so when you when you just look at the two Stevie One, uh oh um oh god, I keep forgetting. Okay, never mind. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00It's it's a very troubling subject. I think that if they move ahead with this, you're gonna see a lot of people screaming, a lot of because it's gonna be a lot of innocent people dying.
SPEAKER_01That's what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00What I noticed that when people get together, and there's a lot of people that protest, very, you know, very civil, they follow the rules, they follow a law, and so it may be hard. They have made changes, they have forced changes to what ice does. ICE is still ICE, they're still doing a lot of stuff. It may not get as much media attention because again, they're a little bit more, a little bit more indiscreet about what they do and how they do it. Um, there's nothing discreet about this club, nothing at all.
SPEAKER_01Let me throw this out here. Timing is everything. Timing is everything. Why all of a sudden, the closer we get to the election, the closer we get to the election, all of these wild hair schemes are being exposed. The closer is it fear? Is it fear? And what's gonna happen? Everybody ain't scared. I'm just gonna tell you that's true. Everybody is not scared. So they had better. Do you understand that there are military people who don't like what's going on? There are law enforcers from uh uh the from the police department, from uh FBI agents. There's a lot of people that ain't happy with what's happening. And not to mention the people that got concealing carriers, and the ones that you don't know got a carrier. So when you come out here, you better be willing to, whatever you're gonna put up with, you come and you you better be ready. You better be ready because there's a lot of people out here that is not happy with the circumstances that's around here. So while they're thinking that they're trying to extoke fear, fear is false evidence appearing real. That's what fear is, it's false evidence appearing real. So when you come, you better come. I think about the children of Israel, man, they were always outnumbered. But God on their side, who could be against you? Man, you said you bet you bet, you know, you better know what you do what you're up against, and all the people that's volunteering or think they're getting paid and all this other stuff. Because look at the look at the look at the the tornadoes and the earthquakes everywhere. The the atmosphere is upset, the temperature is hot, and so is the people. Look at the way people are driving. Oh God, don't get me on another subject, but yeah, so yeah, that that that's that's they better be careful with that. That's inhumane to to be, and they were using that for prison. So why are you you would be using that on protesters? Because that's what that's what it was said on the news that uh they they that ICE was was uh allegedly gonna be using these for protesting. We got the election coming up, and if you already lying and saying somebody drove their car towards you when several angles of a car showed it was never coming near you. So if you already got your excuses already ready, oh yeah, okay, you better be ready. That's all I gotta say. You better be ready.
SPEAKER_00It's true. Oh, I know we have some heavy topics, but we are going to end on a very, very positive note. Okay, so more men are entering nursing due to strong job stability, high earning potential with median salaries exceeding $90,000, and active recruitment by nursing schools. Men now comprise roughly 12 to 13 percent of registered nurses in the United States, a significant increase from past decades. What do you think about this one?
SPEAKER_01I think that's I believe that that's a great thing. You know, that careers should not have uh a gender on it. You know, you got women that are doing construction now, you got people in the army, women in the army now, uh in the military. You know, I think it I think this for many, many years, nursing was viewed mainly as a career for women. But if a man said he wanted to become a nurse, some people question his decision or assume that nursing was not a masculine thing, right? And then they only use them also because they can lift up a heavy body, you know, because their dead weight can be something. But men are just as talented as women. You got women doctors, you got men doctors. So what you know, and it's again, why are we allowing or uh allowing people to label us? If you can do it, do it. More power to you. I had a lady born, I she was so mean, she was so mean. She was uh elderly lady, just so mean. I had to tell her she it was a guy, nurse, administered her medicine. Oh, I hate him. I hate him. He just I said, you better be careful
More Men Enter Nursing Workforce
SPEAKER_01because when you're supposed to get a pink pill, you might get a blue one. So you better be careful. And he was so professional, and I looked at him to let him know that you know, I'm not. Down with what she's doing, you like this uh young man. And yeah, so if men, that that's a plus if they are able to help lift up the bodies and stuff like that. But to have that knowledge and know how to give administer medication, uh give shots and stuff like that, they more power to you. I hate needles.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, it's it's a huge shortage, so I think it's a great thing. Um, there's some key factors here that that are driving this job security, high earning potential, and growth, targeted recruitment. And this is actually a surprising one to me, but many men transitioning into nursing after services, serving as medics in the armed forces. Okay, see. I did not know that. Yeah. But, you know, the other thing too is um, you know, for some for some male patients, it it could give you a better uh patient rapport, uh workforce diversity, meaning a balanced workforce that helps address nationwide nursing shortages while bringing diverse perspective to patient outcomes. So I think that um I think it's great. I think it's long overdue. And I agree with you, we need to get rid of the stigmas, okay? Just like we have men doctors and women doctors, we should have men nurses just like we have women nurses. I don't see a big deal. If you love what you do and you're doing the job right, by all means you should be doing it.
SPEAKER_01Because, like you said, it's a shortage, and not only that, shout out to the ladies. Some of them ladies want to see a man coming in there. Not the guys always a thrill by having the pretty nurses coming in, giving them the sponge baths and all that. The ladies want a man to touch them too. What are you talking about? Sure. Shout out to the men. Come on, men nurses. And you know, the other thing is uh also some men may also be drawn to nursing because there's so many different career paths. A nurse can work in an emergency room, operating room, intensive care unit, mental hair health uh care facility, nursing homes, military hospitals, so on and so forth. So, yeah, that has nothing. It just kind of put me to the thing with the bathroom. Get that sand off the door. If it's got a toilet, let me use it. Because I'm sure I've been in a men's bathroom. If I gotta go in a women's bathroom around the corner, I'm going to the men's bathroom, hold the door, wash the door for me. You know, so stop all that. Stop all that, y'all.
SPEAKER_00That's true, that's true. Do you think it's gonna be a lot more men getting into the field?
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely it is, absolutely it is. I and I and I pray that they do, especially knowing that there's a shortage. So, yeah, kudos to the brothers, to the men. Kudos to the men out there, yeah, because we need them. Like I said, balance this thing out. Get it, get those old ladies or those ladies in the hospital something to smile about. Because the hospital could be depressing, right? And you get a somebody coming with a nice smile, and it's not necessarily a female for the for the female patients. You know, get them, get them a man, male nurse.
SPEAKER_00You know, there's a lot of people that like helping people, and maybe they don't want to spend 10 to 12 years in school doing it, you know, right. So I think this is a great happy medium where you're doing something that you love, you're helping people, and you're getting paid what you, you know, uh a good wage, a good career that stabilizes your family. So I think it's definitely a great thing all the way around.
SPEAKER_01And that's one thing about nurses, period. Man, I just named all the different places, but school nurses, I mean, nurses are everywhere. So you would probably never run out of a job uh seeking a job, you know, being a nurse.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. And then don't forget, there's a thing called traveling nurses, too. You know, yeah. You can travel, help people, and make money at the same time.
SPEAKER_01Oh, she made a lot of money. Yeah, she did really well with that. Yeah, so yeah, so that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00So we have some great topics today.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. Up and down. But uh what I love about this platform, as you said earlier, man, it gives us the opportunity, man, to really just express ourselves, not out of any anger. I don't want, you know, any hate mails. And I would love to hear what what what our audience uh would say about some of these topics that we talked about. I would love to, because we always respond, even after we're done, we always still respond uh to some of the comments that people talk about. I mean, the things we talked about.
SPEAKER_00Yes, definitely. Um, we probably need to have one or two episodes where we just because we get a lot of people comment a lot. And you know, like I said on previous on previous shows, I do read all of them. Okay, most are really good, positive, some are kind of out there, but you know, when you're dealing with the public, you get the good and the bad. So, you know what, that'd probably be a good episode one day to have just to talk about responses to certain uh shows that we've had.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and what's on your mind, what's on your mind, yeah. Wish I thought on this, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, everyone, we had a great time. Um, please don't be don't be shy if you have some suggestions or even comment on what we talked about. Go to all of our social media platforms or all the major ones. Let us know what you think. Also give us some ideas too, and tell people who we are.
SPEAKER_01All right, I'm Wanda P, uh the host of Rock, Restore Our Communities. And please check out my new website. Uh, go on that website and see the things that we're doing and the upcoming events that we have coming up. We'll talk more about that too, uh, with our mixer. I'm very excited. I have met so many people since we decided to do this mixer coming up. RSVP,
Listener Feedback And Closing
SPEAKER_01though.
SPEAKER_00And Wanda's gonna definitely share information as we get closer to it as well, too. Yes, yes. Well, everyone, thank you again for watching us and supporting us. I'm Lawrence Elrod. And I'm Wander P. Peace. Take care, everyone. Bye.
