Oh Lawd, They Comin’ for Gay Marriage Next

0:00Irreverence news talk opinion satire. It's Newsweek Radio. I'm Jesse Edwards. And every once in a while, I come across a piece of audio that just stops me in my tracks because it's hilarious. And it's a train wreck in the best possible ways imaginable. So let's just jump right in. It's Melania Trump talking somewhere. It doesn't really matter because her voice is ridiculous and hilarious. And yes, we're going to laugh at the first lady here for a minute. Hit it. Across the country today, women are finding unique ways to balance career ambition and family. Yes. We all know these incredible women.

0:32Yes, we do. They dominate America's workforce now more than ever before. They dominate America's fork force? They dominate America's fork workforce. Yeah, they say she speaks like 27 languages. I'm probably embellishing there a little bit, but I bet it just consists of hello in each one of them. And she doesn't do that very well either. Because her English ain't that great. I'm just saying. As a visionary, I know success is not born overnight. Why is she talking about herself? I could look it up, but I don't care. I almost prefer this without the context. Continue. But rather take shape after a long and sometimes challenging process.

1:15Often alone at the top, I follow my passion. Yes. Listen to my instinct. Reason. And always maintain a laser focus. In solitude, my creative mind dances Wait a second In solitude, my creative mind dances What the hell is this person talking about? I feel like I've got to hit off the laughing gas from this In solitude, my creative mind dances Yes, my mind is a raging torrent flooded with rivulets of thought cascading down a waterfall of creative alternatives Good old Blazing Saddles Try making that movie these days, good lord Let's continue with the First Lady, please. Filling my imagination with originality.

2:00Attention to detail, demanding schedules. Hey, can somebody shut that kid up in the background? Please, for the love of God, the First Lady is speaking. Continue. And multitasking, everyday realities when building towards success. What the hell are you talking about? The article resonates across all my roles as a mother, humanitarian, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. Hey, I got news for you, sweetheart. This isn't all about you. No, I'm just playing around here, of course. My creative mind dances. But this lady's voice has me sit over the edge today. It's ridiculous. Listen to this. As well as with my new film, where I shaped its creative direction, served as a producer, managed post-production and activated the marketing campaign.

2:49Yeah, I've seen films like this before. Not that I'm going to watch yours, but generally speaking, films that are produced and directed and starring the same person just kind of reeks of Tommy Wusso. You are tearing me apart, Lisa! In classics like The Room. I did not hit her. It's not true. It's bullshit. I did not hit her. I did not. Oh, hi, Mark. Oh, hey, Johnny. What's up? One of my favorite terrible movies of all time. Always maintain a laser focus. I still have no idea what she's talking about other than herself. She's got another 30 seconds here. Good Lord. Curiosity is a core value that keeps me ahead of the curve.

3:28Cat got your tongue? It's a core value that keeps me ahead of the curve. Curiosity begets knowledge, opening doors to ideas. What in God's holy name are you blathering about? otherwise overlooked. I'm not inspired. This unrestricted mindset has led me to build across very different sectors. God, that kid. Fashion, digital assets, publishing. Oh man, yes, we do have serious things to talk about today, but I just could not avoid the first lady rambling on about nothings about herself as if we don't have enough things in the world to talk about. She's going to sit up here in front of the world and hawk her own movie.

4:06Donald Trump's standing beside the whole time. I don't think I've ever seen him as bored, just standing there, rocking around on his heels, rolling his eyes, smelling his own breath. Good lord. My creative mind dances. On to business. Top headline in Newsweek today. List of states with proposals to undo Supreme Court gay marriage precedent. Lawmakers in at least nine states have introduced measures in asking the Supreme Court to overturn its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which granted same-sex couples nationwide the right to marry. The current court has a 6-3 conservative majority, greater than the 5-4 conservative majority the court had when same-sex marriage was legalized.

4:45A May of 25 Gallup poll found that 68 % of Americans support same-sex marriage. The poll also found that Republican support for same-sex marriage is at 41%, down 14 points from its peak of 55 % in 21. I think it's hilarious what we consider to be laws as human beings. I mean, just zooming out to the point where we're all just a bunch of little ants running around on a planet in a universe that we don't even understand. If something could be the law one day and against the law the next and then legal again the following week, you don't have laws. You have rules. And there's a big difference between laws and rules.

5:21Gravity pulling an apple to the ground, energy that can't be created or destroyed, or heat moving from hot to cold, the earth orbiting the sun, the speed of light never changing. Those are laws, and they don't change with elections or courts or public opinion. They just simply are. Yet somehow we've convinced ourselves that just because a group of people get together and call their list of rules the law doesn't make it true. Laws cannot be broken. Only rules can. Slavery once was legal. Segregation was legal. Plenty of things that horrify us today were once perfectly lawful. Which raises the uncomfortable possibility that legality has never been the same thing as truth or morality.

5:56Just imagine what's legal today that will be seen as barbaric in 200 years. Every generation looks back at the laws of the past with this sense of moral superiority, wondering how people could have tolerated something so cruel, so obvious in hindsight, yet here we are, just as confident in our own rulebooks, certain that we finally got it right. Look at industrial factory farming for one, where billions of animals live and die in cages covered in their own waste. Bombing campaigns that inevitably kill kids and civilians, but are justified as just the cost of doing war. How about the way we allow people to rot on the streets addicted and mentally ill where we give them needle exchange programs and free sandwiches like it's going to make a difference.

6:37Every generation thinks it's finally civilized itself. But history suggests that we're probably just as blind to the ones who came before us. What the hell do I care if gay people want to get married? I'm a libertarian and couldn't care less. Do whatever floats your boat as long as you're not hurting anybody or taking their stuff. Have fun. That's not good enough for right-wingers today. They're all about keeping the government out of the sanctity of people's homes unless it's a couple of gay dudes shacking up. They don't even really care that much when it's a lesbian couple because they all secretly think that's kind of hot.

7:08What really boils their brains is when you have a man who transitioned into a woman who meets a woman who transitioned into a man so technically they're a straight couple. I'm sure that's still somehow illegal to the puritanical right. But there is plenty of crazy to go around. Most gay folks that I know don't go around wearing their sexuality on their sleeves. But there are a loud bunch screaming from the far left constantly about gender and race and inequality and discrimination all day long like it's the only song they know how to sing. And it gets really old with regular folks really quick.

7:40You know, us troglodytes who are raised to believe that skin color is only superficial and that everybody, including boys and girls and everything in between, should always be treated equally. I'm talking about real Sunday school simple stuff that helps make the world a lot less scary than it actually is once you become an adult. But I am making the conscious decision to reject that mentality by embracing this kind of Sunday school simplicity when it comes to race and gender studies. I'm confident that this is where most well-balanced, friendly, and open-minded Americans sit when you strip away all the emotional propaganda that we're bombarded with on a daily basis.

8:16If we want to turn this country around, I think we need to collectively put down our phones once in a while and get together for an old-fashioned potluck like we used to after church back in the 80s down by the river. Sure, the old combination of food cultures usually raises hell on your old GI tract, but I'm sorry. But when was the last time you admitted to yourself that you were wrong about something in politics or the news? One of those aha moments where your perspective actually shifts and you start thinking in a different trajectory based on new information. Just asking myself that is really difficult because nothing is immediately coming to mind.

8:52Because I probably think that I'm generally right about everything I say, just like you. That doesn't mean I believe it, But that's not really the point. The point is to be aware of your own biases, and it's much easier said than done, so I don't even try. I know, I know, sorry, I know. I really crossed the line there, please. One of the best ways to reduce the power of bias is to fully embrace it, which is why I consider myself to be more gonzo than journalist. If you don't know what that is, go educate yourself, because at least when bias is out in the open, you know exactly what game is being played.

9:24And I appreciate that more than somebody pretending to be unbiased, because it doesn't really exist. Once you start looking at politics that way, the whole thing starts to make a little bit more sense. Which brings us back to the difference between laws and rules. Laws can't be broken. Gravity doesn't care what Congress thinks. And the speed of light doesn't change when the Supreme Court flip-flops back and forth every 20 or 30 years. What we call law in politics is really just rules written by whoever happens to be in power this time. Everybody becomes a states' rights absolutist, right up until the point where the other side starts calling the shots.

9:55Conservatives love states' rights until California passes gun laws, and progressives love federal power until a conservative court uses it. Because the reality is we're all just a bunch of children having a hard time adjusting to the endless technological power now sitting in the palms of our hands. The internet pulled back the curtain and exposed this shell game that grifters in government have always been playing. The only difference is now we can all see it, that the system is clearly rigged against the average player. And in response, the country has fractured into a cold civil war that's been simmering ever since politics turned toxic on September 11th, 2001.

10:31A day that was designed to divide us ended up doing exactly that. And the chaos of the Trump era is nothing but the foul, awful byproduct of that fracture. But we're out of time for today. So until we can do it again, it's Newsweek Radio. I'm Jesse Edwards. Catch you next time. Bye. And we say bye bye. Newsweek Radio is a member of the Trust Project. In solitude, my creative mind dances. filling my imagination with originality. My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.