Rotten Mango Review

This is my 43rd podcast. It is currently ranked number 34. The title of this episode was, "Everything Bill & Hillary Said in 8 Hour Long Epstein Deposition Tape." This episode was recorded March 22. This podcast had so much stuff. I was very interested the entire time and thought the host Stephanie Soo was very good at telling a massive amount of information in an engaging way. Mark Middleton, who worked for Bill Clinton allegedly killed himself in 2022 by shooting himself in the chest and hanging himself. The shotgun was found about 30 feet away from him. Pretty suspicious. Middleton dealt with Clinton's donors including Epstein. Epstein's prison guard Googled his name shortly before his death and she had some deposits to her bank account flagged for being suspicious. Soo mentions that Hillary keeps telling them to ask Bill with the questions about Epstein. Bill Clinton was asked if he had ever lied under oath during a deposition and he said no even though it is well documented that he lied under oath about Monica Lewinsky. Bill said he met Epstein through Larry Summers who told him Epstein gave Harvard $10 million toward brain research and Clinton was trying to raise money for the Clinton Foundation. Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick publicly stated that he had cut of Epstein in 2015 for being creepy but then the Epstein files show them meeting together after that. Soo criticizes Clinton for saying that he thought the young girls on Epstein's plane were flight attendants. Soo did not find that believable. Virginia Dufres, an Epstein victim who has since committed suicide wrote in her diary Bill Clinton was on the island two times with two girls. Bill Clinton denied this and asked if she said that in her book. The questioner didn't know about the book. Clinton said I think she ultimately reached a different conclusion although I had no contact with her. Soo thought this was suspicious and I agree. Saying he had no contact with her out of nowhere makes it sound like he really did and got her to change what she said in her diary to what she said in her book. She could easily have been threatened with lawsuits about her book. Virginia Dufres also said Bill Clinton told Vanity Fair not to write articles about his good friend Jeffrey Epstein. Soo then talks about Trump in the Epstein files. A 13 year old accused Donald Trump of rape. She goes over some other rape allegations against Trump. The FBI illegally withheld FBI interviews with a Trump accuser. I listened to this podcast a week ago while driving a car so my summary is rough. But I do know I really liked this podcast because it was very informative, entertaining, and this is an important issue. Soo did an excellent job. In all the podcasts I have listened to this year I don't think I have heard someone give so much information in an understandable way. She does use some profanity, so unfortunately per my rules I do have to minus one point for that. I give this podcast 4/5 though if there were a time I regret making me minus points for profanity it would be this one as this podcast was really good.

The Toast Review

This is my 42nd podcast. It is currently ranked number 27. The episode I listened to was titled, "Dishin' With Lish with Ben Soffer." It was recorded March 23. One of the hosts here was the husband of the regular host because she was out sick. They talked about Justin Timberlake's video of him getting a DWI. I am not a fan of hearing about all the bad stuff celebrities do. If someone is running for office or is in office, I think it is important, but for a celebrity, it's none of my business. That being said, these guys were way too soft on Justin Timberlake and made it sound like a DWI is not a big deal. The guy said something about how Justin Timberlake had no excuse because he has the money to get a driver, but a regular person may be stranded and need to drive to get home. Horrible thing to say on a podcast. First of all drinking is dumb, but if you do drink, you should have a plan to get home. You don't just get magically stranded. I get that Justin Timberlake has more of a means to easily get a driver, but it is dangerous to tell a large number of listeners that it's not that big of a deal if you drive drunk if you need to get home. Other thing that was annoying was just talking about the "Mormon Wives" show as that show bothers me even though I have never seen it. I am going to give this podcast 1/5. Low score for talking too much boring celebrity gossip and the bad takes on DWIs.

IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson Review

This is my 41st podcast. It is currently ranked number 31. The episode I listened to was titled, "There's a Right Way to Move Through Old Beefs with Monica." This episode was released March 18. I did not know until after I Googled Craig Robinson, but apparently he is Michelle Obama's older brother. I didn't know who the person they interviewed was but it says she was a part of the "legendary R&B duo Monica and Brandy. I was very vocally opposed to President Obama back when he was president. He made me angry often. Michelle Obama would bother me as well for being in the wrong side of the political world. But with our current president, you can see by comparison a baseline decency. I just mean that she has the decency of a normal person and the humanity of a normal person. That is something you don't get with anyone in Trump World. Not saying she doesn't support bad things ever, but when she speaks, she does not speak in a hateful way. Monica talked a lot about a musical career and some drama with those she worked with. She talked about having kids. She seemed to be religious and said in answer to someone wanting to have kids to journal and pray about it. I thought that was good advice. I did agree with her that people who don't want kids shouldn't have them. But, in my humble opinion, as someone who has kids, I think everyone should have kids if they can and they will make every person happier. It is all part of God's plan. I give this podcast 4/5. Minus one point for the times I thought it wasn't too interesting and for saying not everyone should have kids. Now I am all caught up. I wanted to catch up tonight as we are going to Bryce Canyon National Park for Spring Break so I expect plenty of podcast time in our travels. I've got my headphones for the drive.

The Last Podcast on the Left Review

This is my 40th podcast. It is currently ranked number 30. The episode title was, "Episode 656: The Dnepropetrovsk Maniaks Part I -Serial Spree." This podcast was released March 13. This was about two Ukrainian serial killers in 2007 who beat people savagely with hammers. Their killings appeared to be opportunistic. They attacked their victims when they were alone and by surprise. They videoed the killings and one of the killings videoes used in the trial was leaked to the internet. I think it is interesting to listen to serial killer stories but I really don't like how the story was told by these guys in such a light hearted way and full of jokes. This podcast is the kind of podcast a serial killer would want to listen to to learn about serial killers. I think it is wrong to treat this subject this way when it is a real story with real victims. If you want to be light hearted talk about something else. I was surprised that this podcast didn't have very much political content given the title. I give this podcast 1/5. 1 point because I thought it was interesting hearing the story about the killers but all the other points are gone because of the tone.

Baby, this is Keke Palmer Review

This is my 39th podcast. It is currently ranked number 40. The podcast episode I listened to was titled, "Durand Bernarr's Slow Burn to a Grammy Win." It aired on March 10. Keke Palmer is the main character in the new series The Burbs. Apparently, one thing these podcasts are trying to get me to do is watch the new The Burbs show since I loved the 1989 movie with Tom Hanks. The new show is on my shows to watch spreadsheet. I used to have the DVD of the original before someone stole my car back in 2012, then abandoned my car, but kept my awesome DVD collection. Random scene from the movie posted here. This is the first scene I thought of:

This guest Durand Bernarr talked about his musical career. He liked to talk about his gay identity but he won't say he is gay but says he is not straight because saying he is gay "exclusifies" him. Then he says straightness is gay because you are trying to impress other men. Kind of crazy to think that way. He seemed obsessed with identity, talking about gayness and criticizing straightness. This guy was annoying me. At the end of the podcast there was a part that made me laugh when Keke and Durand were taking turns singing various children's songs different styles of music. I thought it was funny because they did a good job with the improv and were so dramatic in their singing. I give this podcast 3/5. Minus some points for being annoying, but not too many because of the funny ending.

Pod Saves America Review

This is my 38th podcast. It is currently ranked number 29. The podcast I listened to was titled, "Trump Says War is Over, Vows to Keep Fighting." This episode was released on March 10. This was hosted by Jon Favreau, Jon LOvett, and Tommy Vietor. They talked a lot about how there was no strategic thinking for Trump's war with Iran. I agreed with many of their comments and think it is crazy that America just started a war with Iran with no discussion. I remember there was debate about the war against Iraq but I would not be surprised at all if many people in America would not even know there is a war in Iran. They talked about Trump's son's being involved with a drone company. It's definitely not good that a president who is corrupt enough to make over a billion dollars this year in his public crypto bribe business to have a son who can make money off of wars that Trump can unilaterally declare since apparently we don't have a Congress in charge of that anymore. I do have some criticisms of this podcast. First, one of them called the Department of Defense the Department of War. It is bad enough to hear those in the cult calling it the Department of War, it is even more annoying to hear critics of Trump acting as if Trump can change the name of the Department of Defense when this name is the name according to the law. It is just another example of lawlessness but I believe it is harmful that so many, supporters and critics alike, act as if there is no such thing as truth or objective reality. The legal reality is that it is called the Department of Defense. The second thing is they interviewed Congressman Ryan and praised him for not just making process arguments against the war but arguing against the war on the merits. They treated the fact that this war is unconstitutional as less important than it just being a dumb and immoral war to do. I strongly disagree with this. The Constitution is the most important thing here. The Constitution has safeguards and ignoring it because you think the merits are more important than process is some short term thinking as the process will apply to future wars as well. If we had a Congress that actually kept their oath to defend the Constitution, there would be no chance this war would have happened. I rate this podcast 3/5. I minus a point for profanity and minus another point for the criticisms I mentioned above.

The Ben Shapiro Show Review

This is my 37th podcast. This is currently ranked number 29. The episode I listened to was "Episode 2381-BOOTS on the GROUND in Iran." This episode was released March 5. Ben Shapiro started the show by calling Chuck Schumer a pathological liar which is an insane thing for a Trump supporter to say. He criticized Europeans saying "Leave it to the Europeans to whine" because they oppose the war in Iran. Labeling all opposition as "whining" is actually not an argument. He mentioned Spain criticizing the war and refusing to support it by mentioning Spain's GDP being low. As if that is an argument. It reminds me of Pam Bondi saying why would we care about the Epstein files when the DOW is over 50,000. Side note: Since she said that the DOW is now below 50,000 so I suppose we can care about the Epstein files. Similarly, if Spain can just get their GDP up, their argument against supporting war in Iran will have more merit according to Trumpian logic. Shapiro mentioned many possible outcomes to the Iran war and said the worst outcome would be a strengthened ayotollah regime and this is also the most unlikely. He did not elaborate on how it is the most unlikely outcome when Trump says this is going to be a short war and 86 year old Khamenei has been replaced by 56 year old Khamenei. Shapiro talked about arming the Kurds in Iran. He had a guest from the American Friends of Kurdistan. Shapiro did mention how the Kurds are pro-American but have been betrayed by the U.S. many times in the past including the 1st Gulf War and in Syria. Of course, when he mentioned how the Kurds were betrayed during the Gulf War he dared to mention that he was betrayed by George Bush. But when he mentioned Syria it was He Who Must Not Be Named who betrayed him. Shapiro is classic MAGA commentator who dares to criticize some thing Trump does but won't use his name so his audience won't know that it was Trump who did it. It seems even more relevant that Trump already betrayed the Kurds than the fact George Bush Sr. did when Trump is our current president. The Kurdish guest says the Kurds want to help the U.S. but they are trying to get some long term commitments first because they don't want to be betrayed. The Kurds got to do what they got to do but I hope they understand they will be betrayed, especially with this president. Any decision they make about the accept U.S. weapons or actions they take should be made in the context of understanding that any long term agreement they make with Trump will surely be violated. In 2019, the Kurds were doing the hard word of fighting ISIS on behalf of the U.S. and Trump made an agreement with Turkey to remove U.S. forces so Turkey could attack the Kurds. None of Shapiro's pro-Iran war commentary mentions how this is an illegal war that has not been declared by Congress. Shapiro treats Trump as a rational actor with strategic goals when there has never been any evidence of this. I give this podcast 0/5 for intellectual dishonesty.