Ep. 87 - White Privilege but only if you're over 5'8", Even The Super Bowl Can't Keep Us From Politics, California Senator Alex Padilla

OPEN:  Kind of a hodgepodge for you today, including the etymology of the word hodgepodge which is "a kind of stew, especially "one made with goose, herbs, spices, wine, and other ingredients." Earlier it was an Anglo-French legal term meaning "collection of property in a common 'pot' before dividing it equally" (late 13c.). Immediately that doesn't make sense to me.  So… first it was a legal term meaning a collection of property and then it became goose stew?  See how I can take a throw-away thing like a definition and turn it into a rabbit hole? Among other nonsense the Senator and I discuss briefly are:  White Privilege should not include males under 5'8" who are bald The Kansas City Chiefs name is racist and needs to be changed A Buccaneer is a racist term  Rape is okay if it's in the name of freedom Paul Revere was gay Superbowl Advertising Costs this year  SKD Knickerbocker is not a brand of pants at the GAP, it's a political consulting firm We start of with the Senator playing "Alone Again, Naturally" by Gilbert O'sullivan as if this is a great idea…. After that we mainly try to stay away from politics and talk about the Superbowl, which is obviously over now, but we keep going back to politics like a couple of moronic moths drawn to a flame.  No offense to any moths who may be listening.  About thirty minutes in the Senator goes off on a jag about Alex Padilla.  Alex Padilla is California's former Secretary of State- now Senator in Washington DC taking Kamala Harris' place.  Here is our Senator's beef with the newly appointed Senator Alex Padilla: During Padilla's time in office as S.O.S. he awarded a contract for $35 million dollars to an organization called SKD Knickerbocker which is  a public affairs and political consulting firm that specializes in working for Democratic Party politicians.   SKD Knickerbocker created a voter outreach campaign called Vote Safe California.  At least some of the funds to pay them came from the CARES Act which is the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Did the campaign cost $35M?  I don't know.  But guess who is  VERY closely tied to President-slash-Grandpa Joe?  SKD Knickerbocker.  In fact, Anita Dunn, who is one of the firm's partners and founding members was part of the Biden campaign and per the New York Times, was "elevated" during 2020 to essentially having "effective control of the campaign."  So, the Senator is  going to tell you later that California Secretary of State Alex Padilla paid SKD Knickerbocker $35M from their invoices by using local funds, which included federal money allocated through the Coronavirus CARES Act.  So one might make the claim that Coronavirus relief funds went indirectly to the Biden campaign.  I wouldn't make that claim, but there are a number of republicans in Washington (surprise!) who are asking about it and are not getting answers.  So that is what you will hear our senator get tee'd off about.  Here's what tee's me off about this story: when I went to research this… and we're talking moron research not journalism, I searched and searched and the only recognizable news source I could find was Fox News.  Of course Fox News is going to run a slanderous story on a democrat, and I'm not interested in that.  So I kept searching Alex Padilla plus… 35 MILLION DOLLARS, the Help America Vote Act, and finally… when I combined Alex with the CARES Act, I found a news story from Newsweek Magazine.  Hell, I even wrote to the journalist who wrote the goddamn article because, not surprisingly, both the offices of Mr. Padilla and Mr. Newsome did not have a response at the time of publication.  Will I hear back from the journalist?  I don't know… have you left this stupid podcast a good rating or made a comment?  There's your answer.   What pisses me off about this story is that the always accused liberal media… and most news sources are left leaning… it' a goddamn fact… they don't choose to cover a story when it's about a democrat.  And if you tack on that the democrat is a Latino who is the first Latino to represent  California in the Senate.  Mmmm… might not be worth the blowback.   So here for you is The Modern Moron's clunky episode with lots of Valentine's Love sent straight to you with a kiss… thank you for listening.   CLOSE:  Politics… is obviously about money and power.  And I do believe there are people who get into politics with the absolute best of intentions.  But it becomes obvious very quickly that you can do more good with more money.  And if you just cut a corner here or look the other way there, you can get some more money to do more good.  But things get cloudy and murky and the corner you cut to help your good cause might be damaging someone else's cause.  Gross… I don't see how they keep the energy to exist in that toxic environment.   I wonder what the egos are like in the Senate?  We know the Lindsay Grams and the Nancy Pelosi's and the Ted Cruz's have an elevated sense of themselves, they couch it in their religion or some other pretentious bullshit but the ego is there puffing up every day… how their message is more righteous and the other party's message is so damaging to the country.  What a happy note to end on… How about congratulations to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and let's not pay attention to the impeachment trial going on in DC with one side trying to keep a sociopath from holding public office ever again and the other side upholding the freedom of speech for a violence inciting sociopath who says in his speech to walk to the capital peacefully, that he's responsible for the violence.  Don't' get me wrong, I can't stand Trump as a president but how do you convict a guy for inciting violence when he literally says go peacefully.  He is so toxic to this country, but don't hate HIM because, once again, he covered his bases enough to elude conviction.  They don't call him The Teflon Don for nothing.  And with a rimshot… and a silly sound effect… we can all end with a chuckle… Thank you for listening to the Modern Moron and have a great week America.   The Bald Truth - Matt Dilliard - YouTube  Newly Appointed Calif. Senator Alex Padilla Faces GOP-Sought Probe Over State Contract - Newsweek Superhumans: The remarkable brain waves of high-level meditators | Daniel Goleman | Big Think - YouTube