Pamela: 0:00

The table.

Josh: 0:00

She comes by like we're we're fully finished, and she was coming by to drop checks. And it's at this point, you know, when you're I have been a server and a bartender, it's at that point where you're trying to sort out like how is this getting divided up and stuff, and you don't want to make assumptions, but at the same time, you need some clarity. So she comes by, and this is exactly what she said. She walked up to the table and she goes, Okay, friends, lovers, I'm not sure. And I died, man. I could not stop laughing about that because And then we leaned all the way into it. Yeah, we made it so weird for her, and I thought it was hilarious.

Pamela: 0:40

Luckily, she was a good sport because we were leaning into it just like just to mess with her a little bit, but like like we were being nice about it. We were we were leaning into the You're listening to premeditated opinions because yes, we thought about it, and then we said it anyway. I'm Pamela.

Josh: 1:07

And I'm Josh, and we are two people who somehow share a brain and decided to weaponize our brains with microphones. Each week, we unpack anything from politics and religion to carpool dread and everything in between.

Pamela: 1:20

You know, it would really help us a lot if you followed us on Instagram and YouTube. Giving us a like and a follow is probably the best thing your thumbs will do today.

Josh: 1:28

We are not experts. We are just way too confident in our own opinions. With all that being said, let's get started. Well, hello there! We're at Pamela's house this time. Yep. Yeah, we're changing it up. You all you might also notice that we are we are going to look different this time. Um, we have to use a slightly different camera setup, and I'm just gonna call it what it is. We're using mobile devices, and it's not my thing. We normally use much better cameras than this. This is what we got. Roll with it. You know, it won't be very often. Um, and yeah, we'll we'll make it up to you somehow.

Pamela: 2:03

But you know what? We're still here this week, so that's where so sexy.

Josh: 2:07

We're so hot.

Pamela: 2:08

We should still sound the same.

Josh: 2:09

We do, yeah, we should sound the same for sure. We're using the same microphones and etc.

Pamela: 2:13

But uh you're just gonna see into my pores with your 4K iPad situation.

Josh: 2:23

Yeah, it'll be fine. But anyway, so thank you, thank you for joining us. Um, we are actually recording just after Valentine's Day, and uh yeah, we so Krista and I never really did much for Valentine's. Like that just it wasn't it wasn't on any sort of standard or principle or whatever, it was just like uh it was like just President's Day to you. Arbor Day, uh same thing.

Pamela: 2:53

You're all hung up on Arbor Day if you ever seen it.

Josh: 2:55

You know, it's it's a weird go-to punchline for me.

Pamela: 2:58

Um that's like from episode one.

Josh: 3:00

Yeah, yeah.

Pamela: 3:01

I'm not an Arborist, and you're like, I don't even know what that is.

Josh: 3:05

Yeah, yeah.

Pamela: 3:07

That was 25 episodes ago.

Josh: 3:10

God. So we've pretty amazing.

Pamela: 3:12

So that means technically next week is our like halfway through the year.

Josh: 3:19

Wow. Yeah, yeah.

Pamela: 3:20

So we so we technically started recording in August, but we released our first episodes early September, like the week of Labor Day or something. Um yeah, so September, October, November, December, January, February, six months in. Wow, yeah.

Josh: 3:37

Hey, we did something consistently. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

Pamela: 3:41

Six months. We're still here, y'all are still listening. Yeah, we still have great content dropping on Substack.

Josh: 3:49

Yeah, like some fresh Madeline stuff coming up soon. Um spicy.

Pamela: 3:55

Uh-huh.

Josh: 3:55

It is spicy. Um you're gonna want to listen to that with headphones. Like that's a professional recommendation.

Pamela: 4:04

That is not a listen to this in the car with the kids or or anybody, really.

Josh: 4:11

Unless it's actually Madeline.

Pamela: 4:13

It's like watching uh like a rated R film with your parents and like a love scene comes on. That's how you're gonna feel around others.

Josh: 4:22

So I have done a decent amount of work travel over the last 10 years and been on many, many airplanes, and uh the amount of times that I've been like watching a TV show or a movie that I'm not super familiar with, and then some big romantic scene comes on and it hangs around for a little while. And when I'm on my iPad, my go-to move is I'll just swipe down and dip my brightness all the way down as far as it'll go. Um, or I'll just like skip past it if I don't think that it's important, especially uh if I'm if I'm in public like that. I try and be a little bit mindful.

Pamela: 4:59

Yeah, well, uh Southwest movies I think cut that like a lot of that. Yeah, I think that's because they'll say it's like modified, and I think that there are times, and I can't I don't have an example, but I think I've noticed where they probably cut certain scenes so that way you're not awkwardly sitting next to in the middle between two people who are like Yeah, while you're watching Fifty Shades of Grey, like, oh, we're all real comfortable now.

Josh: 5:30

Yeah, I'm gonna need another drink to get through the rest of that. I I definitely am sensitive to those kinds of things. I I've been on flights before, especially international flights, where they have the TVs in the backs of the seats. Well, that's great, but when a spicy scene comes on and you're sitting next to kids going to Disney World. Yeah, and you're just like, well, I okay. Sorry, mom and dad. It's gonna get weird. Uh it's it's fine uh overall, but the other piece of it too is it's not just who you're sitting next to. If you have the screen in the in the back of the seat, it's everybody behind you that can see through the cracks in the seats, and so you can see all the different screens.

Pamela: 6:14

Anyway, like I have a whole I was like, we how did we get here from talking about Valentine's Day's Day?

Josh: 6:20

I don't know. So anyway, Valentine's Day. So um so we had a good time, but I know you and Josh have a fun like tradition. Yeah, so tell us about that.

Pamela: 6:30

Okay, so I don't know what started it. One year I just wanted to go out. Like we I don't know that I'd ever really gone out for Valentine's Day, had a nice dinner or any of that. So one year, this is probably over ten years ago, I was like, let's be those people. Like, let's let's go out to eat. Well, of course.

Josh: 6:55

I saw it coming five minutes later. Sorry, a dog messed up our our mobile device that we're recording. Yep.

Pamela: 7:04

Thanks, Tucker.

Josh: 7:05

It's high tech today, baby. Anyway, so you one year you were like, let's do the thing.

Pamela: 7:09

Yeah, so of course, I had this uh thought the day of Valentine's Day. And Louisville's a big foodie city, so of course, everything was booked. Um, a lot of the restaurants I wanted to try were booked. So we ended up um at this restaurant, it was it's not open anymore, but it's called Avalon.

Josh: 7:30

Okay.

Pamela: 7:31

And we happened to get in there, and they had chicken and waffles on the menu. And I was like, I'd never heard of that before. And I was like, wow, that sounds really good.

Josh: 7:42

Yeah.

Pamela: 7:42

And it was blueberry waffles, and then it was um the it was uh syrup, it was like a honey syrup with red pepper flakes in it, and it was so good. Yeah, it was so, so good. So I was like, this is now like my favorite meal. So the next year we were like, okay, next year, Valentine's Day, we'll go to Avalon, we'll get chicken and movbles. Them bitches took it off the menu, and then they acted like I was nuts for like they're like, we've never had that before.

Josh: 8:15

That's a bad idea, ladies and gentlemen. Do not gaslight this woman.

Pamela: 8:19

Yeah. I was like, okay, so we left. I was like, nope, F this. There's like so we left, and we're like, okay, well, what do we do now? So, you know, again, it's Valentine's Day, everything's booked up. We just left this restaurant. So we ended up at we walked down the street, and we ended up at this hookah bar called Cafe 360.

Josh: 8:48

Okay.

Pamela: 8:49

And it was divy and gross. It was like like like sticky, you know, like yeah, but it smelled really good because it was a hookah bar.

Josh: 8:59

Yeah.

Pamela: 9:00

No one was in there, not a soul. So crazy on Valentine's Day. So you know what they had?

Josh: 9:07

Chicken and waffles.

Pamela: 9:08

Chicken and waffles. So we ordered our chicken and waffles. It wasn't the Avalon chicken and waffles, but like we're like, okay, like we're having our chicken and waffles, and I was happy and and then it just started becoming a thing. So we went the next year specifically to Cafe 360 again and got the chicken and waffles. And I don't know, it was like a I don't know how many years we we did it like two or three, and then we invited our friends Scott and Amy to join us.

Josh: 9:43

Yeah.

Pamela: 9:43

So then it became a tradition of the four of us going specifically to Cafe 360 and getting chicken and waffles. Now, it's funny because three of us would order chicken and waffles like you're supposed to, and one of us would not. She shall remain nameless. But it was always like, right?

Josh: 10:06

Yeah.

Pamela: 10:07

Um, so anyway, and I mean, listen, this is not the best chicken and waffles you've ever had in your life, but it's just it's just a tradition at this point. So um and we in weather in early February in Louisville is trash, so it was always like treacherous anytime like we would go, we would either go on Valentine's Day or we go like the weekend closest to Valentine's Day. Um, but trust me, Cafe 360 was never busy.

Josh: 10:38

It didn't really matter.

Pamela: 10:39

Nope. And especially when the weather was bad. So a couple years go by, we're doing this every year. I think maybe there was one year that we skipped. I think it was because the weather was so bad. But we did it every year. So then when we moved down here to Dallas, we moved in November. And so, you know, Valentine's Days, a couple months later, and we were like, what are we gonna do? Like, what do we like how do we do this?

Josh: 11:09

So chicken and waffles near me in Google.

Pamela: 11:12

Pretty much. So we did, and I'll tell you, it is very hard to find a dive bar around here, let alone a dive bar that serves chicken and waffles.

Josh: 11:20

Yeah, yeah, especially in this area. In this area, too. This is not where the divey places.

Pamela: 11:25

No, and we really didn't want to go too far because we didn't know anything.

Josh: 11:31

Yeah, you've been here three months at that point. It's over, it's overwhelming.

Pamela: 11:34

Yeah, so we ended up at uh Whistlebridge's.

Josh: 11:37

Oh man, whistlebridge, that is a fine choice. Yeah, not divey, but delicious.

Pamela: 11:42

Yeah, so we went over there, the one in South Lake. We took the kids, so the kids were kind of a part of that year's tradition. Um, but the funny thing is, is that Amy had asked for some recent pictures of us. And I didn't, she's always crafty and she's always doing like really f thoughtful things. So I was like, what is what is she so I sent we sent her a picture of the two of us at a wedding that we were at that October. It was actually on my birthday. We were at a wedding on my birthday, and then we moved the next weekend.

Josh: 12:18

Wow.

Pamela: 12:19

So I sent her this picture of the two of us. Well, so on Valentine's Day, we're sitting there at Whistlebridge's and we get texts from Scott and Amy. They're at Cafe 360.

Josh: 12:30

Oh, that's awesome.

Pamela: 12:31

And they have a little frame picture of us at the table. So, like we're there celebrating with them. Well, I had never paid attention to the fact that I guess the owner of Cafe 360 would like serve us. Oh, wow. Or like he he remembered us over the years. Like, I just I never paid attention. He comes up to the table and he's like, Oh my god, what happened? And she's like, Oh, they moved. He goes, Oh, thank God. I thought they died.

Josh: 13:11

That is amazing. It's it's so thoughtful of Amy to do something like that. Like, I just love the whole idea behind it, and I totally see where this guy's coming from.

Pamela: 13:20

Uh-huh. And I was like, that's that's hilarious. That is amazing. Like, and the fact that like he cared, he was just like, What happened?

Josh: 13:28

Yeah.

Pamela: 13:30

So, yeah. So then, so we've we've stuck with the chicken and waffles on Valentine's Day last year. I wasn't feeling super great. So Josh made ego waffles and he cut them into hearts and with like chicken tenders or chicken nuggets. Um, so that was our chicken and waffles last year.

Josh: 13:48

Which is fun.

Pamela: 13:49

It's yeah, yeah. So I appreciated that. And then this year we were like, hey, like, why don't we hang out and go get chicken and waffles? And you're, I think I had said actually, I'd asked Chris, I'm like, so what do you guys do for Valentine's Day? And she's like, we don't, we don't really celebrate. And I was like, okay, well, we do. Um, I said we don't do gifts, like it's not a gift exchange thing, like any of that, but we do try and find a dive bar with chicken and waffles. So this year, um, because we thought about this pretty late for this area, yeah. Um, we found or you booked us a table at I declare. And I have to, yeah, at a I I always want to say I declare. I declare. I declare. I D A.

Josh: 14:45

And then Claire, C-L E. C-L-A-I-R-E.

Pamela: 14:47

Yeah, it's cute. Um, it's super cute place. It was great. So much fun. Um, but it was uh you and Krista, me and Josh, and we brought Hot Mess Madeline with us.

Josh: 15:00

And it was hilarious.

Pamela: 15:02

Yeah. First of all, their food is amazing.

Josh: 15:05

It really is fantastic and reasonably priced, which I don't have.

Pamela: 15:09

Yeah, it it's yes, for a restaurant in the Dallas area, it is very reasonably priced. The food is delicious. I have not had anything there that I was did not like.

Josh: 15:21

Well, and I even tried something there this last time uh because Madeline wanted one specific appetizer, and it's not normally something I would reach for, but she was raving about it when it came, and so I had a bite, and then I had a lot more bites.

Pamela: 15:34

It was a seafood fondue.

Josh: 15:36

Seafood fondue. Holy smokes, man. But yeah, so we I declare is a uh it's a go-to move of mine. Um I've taken many clients there.

Pamela: 15:44

How would you describe the atmosphere?

Josh: 15:46

Um, the atmosphere, that is that is tricky. It's kind of intentional southern kitschy. Like they're leaning into some southern stereotypes, but also it's kind of good vibe though.

Pamela: 16:02

Yeah, it's a good thing. It's got like uh it's got a very like modern like cool vibe to it, but it's got amazing southern food.

Josh: 16:14

Yes, yeah, the whole menu is like elevated southern cooking, yeah.

Pamela: 16:17

And it's just it's got kind of low lighting, but it's also very like there was a whole section of like gorgeous bird cages hanging from the ceiling, like like it's not cracker barrel, all right? No, no, not at all. But it's like upscale, like super upscale, better than cracker barrel.

Josh: 16:35

Like well, and one of my favorite parts of the whole night was okay, so we ended up being seated in this long booth, and and just uh I don't know, we kind of defaulted to this. I don't think any of us really thought about it, but we put all the we put the women on one side, so the three of you were sitting on one side of the booth, and me and Josh were sitting on the other. And so it was Madeline, Krista, and you and y'all look very cute, everyone was dressed very nice. Uh, we got a compliment from the floor manager at one point who stopped at the table and was like, I just want you guys to know that you're elevating the whole place and uh and I was like, Well, it's really strange.

Pamela: 17:14

I was like, Are we is that are we being loud? Like, is that what she means? What are we? Or maybe, maybe, yeah, we were just adding to the upscale vibe.

Josh: 17:23

I I think so. And uh but what was really fantastic is I could tell our server, who did a great job. She was so sweet. She came by the table towards the end of the night, and and it became obvious that she was really trying to figure out what the situation was at this table because like we're kind of sitting, you know, by gender, and you know, uh the the women are all kind of goofing around sometimes, and so you know, as as girls do, there's a little bits of affection happening and things like that. That was all very harmless, but also I could see where somebody would see that and be like, hmm, what's the situation?

Pamela: 18:08

So here's the thing, too. So, like you and Krista are married, me and Josh are married. I'm the only one though that wears the wedding ring.

Josh: 18:14

Right, yeah.

Pamela: 18:15

Now, Josh and I also have infinity symbols tattooed on our ring fingers, but he wasn't wearing his that night. So you've got one person with a wedding ring, four without, two guys on one side, three girls on another.

Josh: 18:29

Yeah.

Pamela: 18:30

And it's Valentine's Day.

Josh: 18:33

Yeah.

Pamela: 18:33

And this sweet server is like, I don't know how to address the table.

Josh: 18:38

She comes by like we're we're fully finished, and she was coming by to drop checks. And it's at this point, you know, when you're it I have been a server and a bartender. It's at that point where you're trying to sort out like how is this getting divided up and stuff, and you don't want to make assumptions, but at the same time, you need some clarity. So she comes by, and this is exactly what she said. She walked up to the table and she goes, Okay, friends, lovers, I'm not sure. And I died, man. I could not stop laughing about that because And then we leaned all the way into it. Yeah, we made it so weird for her, and I thought it was hilarious.

Pamela: 19:18

Luckily, she was a good sport because we were leaning into it just like just to mess with her a little bit, but like like we were being nice about it, but we were we were leaning into the hmm, how can we how can we really confuse the hell out of our yeah?

Josh: 19:35

I took some mercy on her at one point because she somebody made a comment about kids, and she goes, and she goes, Oh, how many kids do you have?

Pamela: 19:44

We're like seven.

Josh: 19:44

We're like, well, between all of us, seven. And then we just kind of let it sit for a second, and and she was like, Oh, wow, okay. Uh and then it was at this point where something in me decided to have mercy, and and I was like, Okay, so her and I are married, because Krista and I were sitting across from each other. So I said, her and I are married, and these two over here are married, and Madeline has three kids from uh a previous relationship, and uh she was like, Oh, okay. Um, but yeah, I I I just I don't know, I didn't want to just totally confuse her, but it was hilarious, and it was a great time.

Pamela: 20:24

And we oh no, no, no. Okay, so backing up to the beginning of the night, so you had made a reservation for five and so I so parking there can be a nightmare.

Josh: 20:36

Yeah.

Pamela: 20:36

So I dropped all y'all off because we were running a couple minutes late. So I dropped all y'all off, and then I went and parked the car, and Josh waited for me outside the restaurant um because our table wasn't ready. And so luckily I found a decent spot and I'm walking up, and he goes, You had you were checking in, and something like the hostess, you tell the story because I wasn't there.

Josh: 21:02

So so I I walk up and um and I was like, hey, uh we uh blah blah blah. Sorry, I can't words. So we were checking in and I walk up, do the usual spiel, hey Josh Miller, party of five, blah, blah, blah. And she looks down, and uh she she goes, Okay, so four, five, five, and that's exactly how she said it. She was she misread the number at first, and then she figured out she misread the number, and then out loud she was very confused and was just like, five, like that's an odd number on Valentine's Day. Like, everyone should be paired, you know. That's usually how this goes. It was really funny her reaction. Yeah, it was awesome, man. She was I enjoyed that confusion too.

Pamela: 21:52

Well, didn't Madeline say something?

Josh: 21:55

Oh, maybe.

Pamela: 21:56

Oh, okay.

Josh: 21:57

Uh yeah, that's completely possible.

Pamela: 21:58

Okay.

Josh: 22:00

Might have made a joke about being the fifth wheel or something. Yeah.

Pamela: 22:02

But but yeah, we we ended up going um well we were trying really hard not to make her feel like a fifth wheel too. Which is also why we kind of played into the whole with the with the waitress or the server. Yeah with the server of you know kind of well what is the situation here, you know.

Josh: 22:22

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Um and then we came back here and and kind of leaned into our our routine a little bit and busted out some games and oh yeah, we played card games and uh then eventually went to bed late and then I actually had something going on this morning, so I slept like two and a half hours, but it was fine.

Pamela: 22:41

I didn't realize that we were up that late.

Josh: 22:43

No, it's okay. Well, because I I okay, so the other thing that I did this weekend, uh dear gentle viewer, is uh I actually smoked a brisket, but we're having it for dinner, and I have to start it the night before. So we get done playing card games and all this stuff, and I was like, oh, I have to like cook. And so so I'm in the kitchen at like one in the morning trimming a brisket and stuff. And what's funny is when I actually had a good look at it um uh like later on in the day, I was like, oh, I did a lousy job trimming. No, it's fine, it's it's gonna be delicious, but anyway, anyway, that's not all that important. But we we had a great night, it was it was funny. That was I mean, without question, our favorite Valentine's Day ever. We just have not ever done anything, and and I don't even really have much of a reason other than I probably got really cynical at some point about how this is just a holiday for greeting cards, blah, blah. You know, I was probably back for legend.

Pamela: 23:38

Yeah, I was like that for a while. Like it was always just kind of nice to maybe like get some chocolates or you know, flowers or something on the day, just just to acknowledge it, I guess. But like I was never big on Valentine's Day until now, and now it's like we it's like a do or die.

Josh: 23:56

Right. Well, and and I'll tell you what has started to shift my whole perspective of it is you if you have a 10-year-old daughter, which I do, she is going to care about Valentine's Day. At least mine does.

Pamela: 24:11

Yours mine doesn't yeah.

Josh: 24:14

Well, mine decided that it's very important, yeah. And so uh, and she's a lovely little thing, and I love that about her, but man, she like there was we were gonna have to at least acknowledge it. And and so even though she wasn't with us at dinner or whatever, I made sure and made a fuss about it during the day. But uh anyway, that was that was a it was a great night. I had a lot of fun, and uh yeah, I guess we're doing chicken and waffles now.

Pamela: 24:38

I was open to like changing the tradition, but I'm kind of I don't know, it is a nod to back home too, because then we were saying we were taking pictures and sending them to Scott and Amy and back and forth, like they're like, we found a new spot. So Cafe 360 ended up closing. They somehow made it through COVID and the pandemic, and then I don't know, like uh it's probably two-ish years ago, maybe they closed down. Yeah, so that's sad. Like, I hate that like the areas that I grew up in are just falling apart.

Josh: 25:10

Like that's hard to watch. It is, yeah, I get that. And uh the the area of North Texas that I grew up in has had a lot of that same transition. And I was actually just driving through um, I don't remember why, but I was I was like in oh, it's because my daughter had a gymnastics meet in the city that I grew up in um on Friday, of all things. I won't go down that rabbit hole right now. That Pamela and Josh and Krista have heard me rant about this forever, but for whatever reason, her club gymnastics team decided to have a meet on Friday. I don't get it, it's fine. It's behind me now. So I was driving through that area and I was just noticing how much it had changed. So I'm I am definitely with you. Yeah. Um, and I think another reason that Valentine's Day felt like something fun to do is because it felt like the opposite of what was going on in so many current events right now.

Pamela: 25:57

Yeah, who wasn't our Valentine this year was Pam Bondi.

Josh: 26:02

Yeah. Uh God. Okay, so we don't know what cross-section of our listeners, viewers, etc., um keeps up with politics. Um I I I tend to make the assumption that I am more informed than the average person. Just and that's by design. I try to be more informed. It feels, at this phase of my life, it just feels responsible.

Pamela: 26:24

And so well, honestly, and in this climate, it feels, you know, just with social justice becoming, you know, very prominent in the last several years, you know, women's rights and all this, like all this stuff's kind of kicking back up again. Like you had it like in the 60s and 70s, and then you know, the 80s and 90s were pretty chill. And now it's like now we're fighting for rights again. Right. And it's like I feel a responsibility for sure more now. Yeah. You know, with with the current climate. And we do try to keep it light. Like, we want to keep the podcast light. We don't always want to talk doom and gloom and politics and this, that, and the other. Like, I don't think we like to talk about things just to cause an uproar or be a part of the echo chamber.

Josh: 27:18

Yeah. Like, you know.

Pamela: 27:19

But listen, that hearing, and I'm sure some of y'all have already seen all the TikToks, memes, all the things, Facebook, whatever about it. And if you haven't, count yourself lucky. Yeah. But I I don't have words. I watched that hearing. I I didn't watch the whole thing, but I got in to it fairly early. And there is just like rules of decorum. There are codes of conduct that you know most companies that we work for, employers, require that we uphold. Our kids in school have codes of conduct and you know, levels of respect that they are supposed to adhere to. I mean, I know it's debatable, but to see a grown woman in a congressional hearing talking to grown adults, the way that she was, I was like, what are we doing here?

Josh: 28:39

Yeah.

Pamela: 28:39

What what is going on? Like, how is this being allowed? And then what re what the icing on the cake for me was not just that she was completely deflecting, she was attacking anyone who was asking her about the Epstein files, which is why they were there. Yes. The complete disregard of the survivors, the victims of whatever, however you want to call them, survivors of these traffic rings. Yeah.

Josh: 29:15

But the DAO's above 50,000.

Pamela: 29:17

I don't.

Josh: 29:18

God.

Pamela: 29:19

Um the chairman was given her space to act like this. And it was just, it was re the whole thing was just a joke. And and I knew it was gonna be from the last hearing that she had on was it the same topic?

Josh: 29:39

I think so. I honestly I don't know off the top of my head. I don't want to speak too confidently, but I think so.

Pamela: 29:44

I don't know. She was in a hearing a couple months ago and she did the same thing. And then Trump called her weak. And so this time she doubled down. Um now there were some really good moments, I thought were good moments, where they were calling her out on her behavior, they were calling her out on the fact that she was not answering questions. They were calling her out on her burn book that she was using. She had aides there who were literally like pulling stuff from social senators' social media and and giving her index cards for okay, when they start asking you about Epstein, attack them with this.

Josh: 30:28

Yeah.

Pamela: 30:28

I'm like, what are we? I knew it was gonna be a shit show.

Josh: 30:33

Yeah.

Pamela: 30:36

I cannot believe that the chairman allowed that to continue.

Josh: 30:43

Yeah, yeah.

Pamela: 30:43

It's but the only thing I can think is that based on the president's current pardon history, that she basically is and or feels immune.

Josh: 30:59

Yeah. She's banking on that pardon.

Pamela: 31:01

Yeah, because like if they hold her in contempt, Trump's just gonna tell him to release her.

Josh: 31:06

Right.

Pamela: 31:06

So she she feels that she can just come in there and do and say whatever she wants, and yeah, she doesn't have to answer questions and she can lie and she can whatever. And if she gets held in contempt, well, he's just gonna Yeah, he's just gonna let me out. So I I'm like part of me was honestly frustrating the fact that we even bothered to hold a hearing and waste taxpayer money on it because we knew that this that she wasn't. I mean, she got away with not answering questions last time. Why would she not do the same this time?

Josh: 31:36

Right. It's theatrics to the core. I mean, it it's and I've I've made this accusation about this administration anyway, of like we're we're not really running a country right now as much as we're just producing television. Yes. That's a tremendous amount of what we're spending our time on. Yes, and and now and we're doing it in these congressional hearings and and we're paying for it. Yeah. And and what I'm starting to, and and I hope more people, and y'all we're not gonna stay on this super long, don't worry, but but I hope more people are beginning to realize that like we we've got to have serious people who take their positions seriously running the government that is managing our lives. Like we I don't want theatrics on either side of the aisle, including the people I vote for. I'm I do not want theatrics. And you know, we talked a little bit uh a while back about um the the debate between Talerico and um Crockett, Crockett, Jackson Crockett. And and you know, that to me, and again, I I didn't go back and watch it, and I should, but everything that I read about it, everything you told me about it was this is this is sort of two people who take their roles seriously, who are having a conversation, who are gonna have some differences of idea, but they respected each other and they were on the same team overall.

Pamela: 32:58

They acted like adults with decorum. Yeah, it's really not that hard. Like you are on a public platform, a public stage. I think one of the big concerns is like you've got teenagers, you've got young voters who are watching this. Yeah, you've got kids who could be, you know, mom and dad could have this on, you know, or whatever. Like, this is acceptable behavior.

Josh: 33:25

Yeah.

Pamela: 33:25

Like, I just it's so juvenile.

Josh: 33:28

Yes.

Pamela: 33:29

And they just get away with it. And I'm like, this is not this is not being revolutionary. This is not how you buck the system. This is literally idiocracy.

Josh: 33:44

Right. It's a it's a shocking, staggering waste of time.

Pamela: 33:48

And and the fact that my it's almost a point like, okay, well, um, if the administration, the government's not gonna have codes of conduct, then you know, maybe we shouldn't require it in the workplace. Like maybe we shouldn't require it in schools. Like if it does I mean, that's pretty much where we're at at this point, and it's embarrassing as a country, like, to see people acting like this and doubling down. And I just and the thing that I think one of the things that pisses me off the most, and this is the last thing I'm gonna say about it, it's just that um what do I want to say? They it's such a small percentage of supporters of these of this administration. Such a tiny percentage, but they are so loud.

Josh: 34:46

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Pamela: 34:48

They are so loud and they deflect and they they they just the mental gymnastics they go through.

Josh: 34:56

Yeah, the whataboutisms, yeah.

Pamela: 34:58

Yes, and just the conspiracy and all I'm just I'm like, what are we doing? What are we doing?

Josh: 35:06

Well, and and to that point with the conspiracy theories, you know, one of the most prolific conspiracy theories of the last decade is Pizzagate. And for the uninitiated, that was this whole idea that Hillary Clinton was running some sort of child sex trafficking ring out of a pizza restaurant in New York. And so a guy decided to liberate um the children, and he armed himself to the teeth and he stormed into this pizza restaurant, expecting to unearth this uh network uh infrastructure or whatever. Child laundering right, basically, and and that got all this media attention and all this like energy spent around it, and now we have the actual Epstein files that are actual documentation from an actual predator who was inviting some of the most powerful people on this planet to participate with him. And it's again the mental gymnastics, it's the deflecting, it's the like and it's it's the why like let's the the let's move on from the Epstein files.

Pamela: 36:11

And it's like, no, no, we're not gonna do that. That is not what you're doing. You are not holding child predators accountable, and you literally have those thousand victims who are sitting there, and it's it's that phrase of like, if we just believed women, we wouldn't be here.

Josh: 36:31

Uh-huh.

Pamela: 36:32

It but uh even a thousand, I mean, the me too movement took fewer people to take off. You have a thousand people, a thousand women who were children, who are coming out, and there were some guys, there were some there were some males.

Josh: 36:48

There was a guy at the congressional hearing.

Pamela: 36:49

There was one yeah, yeah. Who are standing up and saying this happened to me a thousand voices, and it's why are we still talking about the Epstein files?

Josh: 37:00

Right.

Pamela: 37:00

And I'm like, she's literally made me question if I want to change my name.

Josh: 37:06

Yeah.

Pamela: 37:06

Luckily, I don't go by my that nickname, so it's a little different. But I'm like, if if Pam becomes the new Karen, I might be going by my middle name.

Josh: 37:16

Yeah.

Pamela: 37:17

Because I'm just like, I mm-mm.

Josh: 37:19

I get it.

Pamela: 37:20

Don't put us in the same category, don't put us in the same room.

Josh: 37:23

I do wonder if it's starting to break through to a larger percentage of conservative voters who are now looking at the at this and going, well, this is kind of messed up. And I think it's starting on some level.

Pamela: 37:38

It is. So I follow Heather Cox Richardson.

Josh: 37:42

Yes, and you should too. You should too. Shameless plug for Heather Cox Richardson. Um, she posts on Instagram and Facebook, but her long form stuff she posts on Facebook.

Pamela: 37:50

Yeah. So I I've kind of done away with Facebook. It's taken me 20 years. Um, but I've kind of moved on from it. But we do have our premeditated opinions page. So I am subscribed to Heather Cox Richardson.

Josh: 38:05

Absolutely.

Pamela: 38:06

On so that's every morning I read. So what she does, yeah, she does a long form letter most mornings. You know, she'll take breaks every now and then, but it's basically she is a professor. Yes. She's she's in Portland, Maine. She's a professor. Um, she knows history like no one I've ever seen. But she she basically gives you a a diary detail of what what was going on that or the that day. So she writes these late at night.

Josh: 38:37

Yeah.

Pamela: 38:38

Um, and it's, you know, whatever was going on that day. Sometimes she'll even just do like history lessons, or you know, whatever happened that day is very reminiscent, or um, you know, there's a a parallel to a point in history. So she'll go through like, you know, on this date and 1788, da-da-da-da-da. And she'll tell stories she's done, like Abraham Lincoln, but she she's like, you know, one of her reasons for doing this, one, she even said the other day, she's like, this is not to create fear-mongering. It's like, it's not to be a downer. She's like, I actually do have hope that like we will get through this season, you know, and we'll be on the other side and things will be a lot better. Like, she is very optimistic because she's like, the the this isn't, these aren't necessarily things we haven't gone through before in this country. It's just these not anyone alive necessarily has kind of been through some of this stuff before. Um, so that always makes you feel a little bit better. It is just nice to have like almost like a diary of kind of what's going on in America right now.

Josh: 39:47

It really is. She's kind of uh that's a great way to put it, actually, because she the the way that she documents current events definitely could be read as sort of a timeline.

Pamela: 39:57

Yeah.

Josh: 39:58

And and she's really good about combing through and getting to the important stuff. And I'll plug one more account. So you need a father flood up. You need a father. That's uncomfortable. Uh so you need to follow Heather Cox Richardson. Um, and there's an Instagram account I follow, and I'll own that I have not looked for her on other platforms. She probably is on other platforms, but she's a former White House correspondent. Um, her name is Jessica Yellen, Y-E-L-L-I-N. And I have been a huge evangelist of hers over the last few years. She just does a great job, like Heather Cox Richardson, of cutting through the noise and be like, okay, yes, here are the big headlines, and it some of it feels big and scary. Here's what you need to know. And that it's so helpful to have those kinds of voices around. And, you know, I still watch some mainstream news for sure. I still listen to podcasts and and stuff like that. But having people that can do some interpretation is really helpful. And for it to come from, in the case of Richardson, a university professor, and in the case of Jessica Yellant, a former White House correspondent, yeah, like you've you've got some experience in the room that can help guide and shape what's happening. So, anyway, follow those two accounts. We don't have to talk about Pam Bondi anymore. No. Um, I hope we never have to ever get it.

Pamela: 41:20

One thing though I do like about Heather's accounts, though, is um on her Facebook post, she'll usually put a comment that's like, This is kind of big and heavy. Like, don't like read it in the morning.

Josh: 41:34

Yeah, she'll say, This one's not uh don't read this before bed.

Pamela: 41:37

Don't read this before bed, or she'll say, This one's okay, or this one's hopeful, or da-da-da-da-da. So I always I always appreciate that. Like, I'll sometimes just scroll to the comments and be like, Am I gonna have a good day or not?

Josh: 41:47

Right.

Pamela: 41:48

You know, like, but I mean, it's some of it is a little slant, like some of her takes are a little slanted, but I honestly think she comes from just a place of just common sense.

Josh: 41:59

Right.

Pamela: 41:59

And like what what is actually something to be concerned about, what is something not to be concerned about. A lot of times it's never what you quite think it is. So she she definitely doesn't lean into fear-mongering, which I am not here for. Like, I don't I don't want to be scared for nothing, but you know, she is definitely somebody like I think we've used the term bellwether before. Yes, as far as like, okay, if you know, how is Heather reacting to this? Like, is this something we should be concerned about, or is it just more noise?

Josh: 42:32

Yeah, well, and thankfully we have some of those bellwethers available to us because I I don't know what I would do if if the only sources I had for sort of news interpretation were just cable news networks or major broadcast TV or whatever. The White House, or the White House, God. Uh, but like the I I'm just not interested.

Pamela: 42:52

And I hate that. Okay. We need to be done, but I hate that the White House account is now a mockery. Yes, it is slop, it is trash, it is lies, it's misinterpretation, it's misinformation. Like, I hate that so many of these like prestigious institutions are now a joke.

Josh: 43:17

Yeah, yeah. We have we have just run it all the way into the ground. And what sucks is there's such an opportunity to for them to have risen above all of this and and to have sort of proven a lot of liberals wrong and been like, no, we know how to handle ourselves and we're we're we can handle this, we can handle things the right way, we can communicate well, we can be serious about the work that we're doing. But they just decided to produce television and and and all the social media accounts are just another element of that.

Pamela: 43:47

And they've just the the doubling down on it is what really I think grinds my gears. Um in the words of Peter Griffin.

Josh: 43:56

Um This is why we need things like vacations.

Pamela: 43:59

Um

Josh: 44:00

Uh-huh. And we have been talking about some vacations. And so I'm just going to put my hand on the wheel and turn us towards happier talk. Only because I know that you and I could sit here for the next four and a half hours.

Pamela: 44:12

I know I'm already thinking through, like, he's probably got about five minutes of stuff he's going to edit out.

Josh: 44:16

No. No, it'll be fine. I I I we will be totally fine. But we we had talked before we actually jumped on and started recording. And this is very common for us, we always kind of come in with a game plan, and we knew that we wanted to bring up the Pam Bondi stuff today. And so we literally had the conversation of okay, how do we offset this?

Pamela: 44:32

Yeah.

Josh: 44:33

And so recently we have been talking about vacations.

Pamela: 44:37

Yeah.

Josh: 44:37

Um and out of the country. Yeah. Yeah, out of the country. And potentially one in June in the country. And uh, yeah. So so our families get along to the point where it we actually can go out of town together and not kill each other, which is amazing. And so uh we have we've been kind of kicking around some ideas, and I was telling Pamela and and Josh about um this resort in Cancun that Krista and I have been to like five times called Excellence Playa Moharious. It's very famous. I'm sure some of you have been there. Um it's one of the highest-rated resorts in Cancun.

Pamela: 45:10

And if you've been there, let us know.

Josh: 45:12

Yeah, yeah, tips and tricks, please. I mean, I've been there a handful of times, but that doesn't mean I know everything.

Pamela: 45:17

Uh but it's it's or let us know if you're gonna be there in June.

Josh: 45:20

So are you so are you more of are you more of a like a beach vacation, a mountains vacation, or just a it doesn't matter vacation?

Pamela: 45:29

Um, it doesn't matter. It depends. Like, you know, I do tend to like to go to the mountains like in the fall. You know, I like I like a nice cozy cabin and a hot tub. Um in the summer and you know, spring, I do like more beach vacations, you know, because you it's like we've been you kind of get that cabin fever in the winter, so it's like, okay, now I want the sunshine and the ocean and the sand and um our most of our vacations are very low itinerary, unless it's like Disney World or you know, something like that. But um we like to chill on the beach. Josh, Josh will tell you he could lay on the beach with a book seven days straight, like probably like sleep on the beach.

Josh: 46:14

Like not even go to his room.

Pamela: 46:16

He loves the ocean and the sand and the sun. So um, yeah, I mean, we're we're pretty chill. Um, we do like um getting away for the weekends, so yeah, y'all have the RV.

Josh: 46:30

Yeah, yeah, we've got a 32-foot travel trailer. Um oh, that's right. I call it RV, but it's it's still, I mean, the the nomenclature all works, but but the the subcategory um we've got a 32-foot travel trailer. Um and uh for you RV nerds, it's a bumper pull, grand design, blah blah blah. Um but it's it's a loads of fun. We actually we bought it from some family. Um my my aunt and uncle in California, shout out to Scott and Creston.

Pamela: 46:59

I know he's know that.

Josh: 47:01

Yeah, yeah, we bought it from them. So it was funny. Well, I actually went to California. I try to go to California at least once a year. Um twice if I can swing it. My my last living grandparent is out there, and she's just the sweetest thing. And so um I try hard to get in little bits of time with her where I can, um, because she's awesome. And so uh she lives with my aunt and uncle. I had flown out there, I had a block of time available, I had flown out there, was hanging out with them, and I had chatted up my uncle about RV stuff because I knew they had owned several. And I was like, Well, hey, any advice for a rookie? You know, I I I'm um we're shopping, we're actively looking, what should we be looking for? And so he the conversation was going great, and he kind of made the joke at one point. He's like, Oh, maybe you should just buy ours from us. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. And I was like, Well, what do you have? And are you actually looking to sell it? And so that started this whole conversation of like uh what they owned. Then the next day, he actually took me out to see the trailer at the storage unit that they were using, and I took a video inside there and I sent it back to Kristen. I was like, um this works, this works really well. In fact, this is bigger and nicer than what we've been shopping for. Nice, and so um, yeah, they they were so generous to us uh in in the actual sales process. And what was handy was once I found a lender, because we did put some cash down, but then we took out a loan for the rest. When I found a lender, it was great because I I just put everybody on the same email thread, me, the lender, uh Krista, and my aunt and uncle was like, Hi, I am the buyer, they are the seller. Tell us what we need to do. And within 72 hours, it's done. Like it was so simple. So, yeah, so we ended up purchasing the RV and and we've we've had it now almost two years, and it's been awesome. Um, and we've we've we've done a lot of kind of longer form trips. We went to um well, I guess not a lot. We've done some longer form trips. Like last summer, we took it all the way up to Voyagers National Park in Minnesota. That was quite a drive. Um, but really between work schedules and kids and things like that, the best thing that we can do is kind of do like weekend or shorter form trips where we're not doing a ton of driving. And so um we we've discovered some spots around Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, even to some degree New Mexico, even though that's a longer drive. Um so like the Broken Boat area of Oklahoma, which is a southeast part of gorgeous. Um the but and then kind of so where Broken Boat is in the in that part of Oklahoma is actually the same forest. It's in what the Wachita National Forest that bleeds over into Arkansas and Lake Wachita State Park, which is a state park in Arkansas. Man, it is gorgeous. Like it's it's about a four-hour drive from where we live, it's no big deal, tons of cool stuff to do. Um, and you're actually like super close to hot springs there, and so you could just pop over to hot springs if you want to. There's the city, and then there's the actual hot springs.

Pamela: 50:10

Um you know what? I just thought we could go to the beach in the trailer.

Josh: 50:16

Yeah.

Pamela: 50:17

Like we could go to the golf. I mean, I wouldn't do the Texas Gulf.

Josh: 50:20

But so, okay, yes, and there's actually one spot we know of in Texas that I would totally take it. Um, it it's it's called Mustang Island. It's south of Corpus Christi.

Pamela: 50:31

Okay. Oh, okay.

Josh: 50:32

So it's a drive. It's down there. Yeah, it's down there, but it's really, really cool, but you have to make reservations like way in advance. It's it's a little tricky to get into because it's popular. The only tricky part about taking any sort of RV to the beach is boy, you get sand in every nook and cranny. And and it it just takes you months to get rid of it. But it's we've done it, it's fun. Uh I I really, really like it. So yeah, we'll we'll explore some of that for sure. Um, and then the trip that we have not done yet that I really want to do is we want to go to Big Bend National Park, uh, which is southwest Texas, um, on the border with Mexico, and it's just the the photos that I've seen from friends of mine who have been there, it just makes it look like you're on another planet. Like it's unbelievable. And so, yeah, I I want to go down there really bad. It's also a famous area. There's two cities down cities is very generous. Towns, uh Marfa and Turlingua. Um, they're both down in that area and they're incredible. Um it's a super artsy scene, it's a super big food scene. Um the park itself, though, once you get in, you are secluded. And so, you know, you're you're 45 minutes from a gas station, you know. Okay.

Pamela: 51:54

No, that sounds great. Like I'm down, like I'm ready to get out, and I I like you know, long weekend trips. Um and yeah, I love our I love camping and RVing and glamping.

Josh: 52:11

Yeah, yeah, it's it's awesome. So Krista has very clear um uh requirements um for being outside. One of them is plumbing. She's gonna need some variety of plumbing. That's just that's that's fair. Yeah. So she uh that's part of why we actually looked into the RV, is because I really love camping and didn't want to always go by myself. So um so yeah, we that was part of the motivation. But then also, you know, we live in the concrete jungle where we live in North Texas, and and I wanted to show our kids that hey, there's way more stuff out there, yeah, you know, and it's beautiful and it's accessible. Um there's all there's one more spot I meant to mention, um, Fredericksburg, which is the wine capital of Texas. Yeah. And uh we we have been down there before, but not in the RV. Uh we went down before we owned it. I would love to go back down there. Yes, that sounds fun. It it would be really, really great. That would be a great like grown-ups trip. It's it is kid friendly, don't get me wrong. Fredericksburg's very family friendly, but it it's you know, you you're down there for the wine, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You you kind of you you get roped up into the culture of smidge, and I, you know, I don't wouldn't want my parenting to suffer because of the wine. But uh yeah, it's that's a great spot too. But we'll we've got spring break coming up, and yeah, for the summer we're shipping the kids.

Pamela: 53:35

We just it just happens to be that our kids are all gonna be in Kentucky around the same time on different trips.

Josh: 53:42

Yep.

Pamela: 53:43

Which is interesting. So we're like, okay, where do we go? What do we do? Do we cruise? Do we go to SoCal? Do we do excellence? Do we RV somewhere? Like, what are we what are we doing?

Josh: 53:53

Yeah, which is awesome.

Pamela: 53:55

Yeah, so you guys are gonna get to hear about our our vacation shenanigans. Maybe we'll do some labs from some other places, like yeah, yeah, that'd be that'd be a lot of fun.

Josh: 54:06

Like, do some lives from the beach or do some lives. That's a great idea. We should do that.

Pamela: 54:10

Yeah.

Josh: 54:10

Um, yeah, we we've got we've got fun like adventures coming up that I'm looking forward to. It's gonna be a nice break from um just the the routine, yeah, and hopefully in the the chaos, yeah. Yes, yeah, and the and the pam bondi of it all. Um but yeah, we are we are thrilled that you decided to join us again this week. Um we're gonna continue trying to make content that makes you come back to us. Yeah, um, and it won't always be pam bondy. We solemnly swear. I think if you've listened to us for any length of time, you know that that's not the norm.

Pamela: 54:41

No, we just felt like just every now and then it's like listen.

Josh: 54:45

Yeah, this is getting ridiculous.

Pamela: 54:46

And so And I don't like to pile on to everything that's going on, but they are just sometimes it's like, okay, we can't ignore some of this. Like we are paying attention, we would probably talk about it a lot more, right? But we don't want to, like, we don't want this to be just a politics. I mean, you can get politics anywhere. You can get true crime anywhere.

Josh: 55:09

Yep.

Pamela: 55:09

We want to be different, right?

Josh: 55:11

So we play card games, which honestly, I think is a great idea.

Pamela: 55:14

Yeah, and let us know what you think about those episodes. Like, yeah, I think they're good like get to know us kind of things. So and kind of story time and and things like that. So and it's fun, it's fun.

Josh: 55:30

Yeah, we I I like that stuff a lot, and it it's just a different approach. I just don't know of anyone else who's doing it, and so that was a little bit of our motivation. Yeah, I think I think it's one of them for sure. But anyway, thank you so much for joining us. Um again, as usual. Please subscribe on YouTube, uh, find us on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. We're on all the things, and it's so helpful to us if you follow us on those things. Feel free to comment, leave thoughts, messages. We have emails listed. Like there's there are ways to reach us. We would love feedback. Um, yeah, let us know what you're enjoying.

Pamela: 56:04

Do you want us to do this for another 26 episodes?

Josh: 56:07

Right, because if you don't, then you know, we'll stop. But no, we won't. No, we probably won't.

Pamela: 56:15

We do this for us, not for y'all.

Josh: 56:17

Right. But anyway, this is our creative outlet that we invited you to, so you're welcome. But anyway, we're thankful, we're so grateful that you joined us. Thank you so much for the time spent in your ear holes, and we'll be right back at you next Tuesday with more.

Pamela: 56:31

Well, that's it for premeditated opinions, where the thoughts were fully baked and only mildly regrettable. If you enjoyed today's episode, congrats on having truly excellent taste in podcasting opinions. Following us on YouTube and Instagram is a quick and easy way to support us. So if you liked literally anything about today's episode, please like and subscribe.

Josh: 56:54

Also, send this to someone who needs to feel seen, dragged, or both. We'll be back next week with more unsolicited insight and emotionally responsible spiraling. And until then, please stay hydrated and behave yourself in the comments. But if you don't, at least make us laugh.