The Um, Sir Podcast

Emily Wicks (00:03.086)
Truth Social Alert! Trump's bringing back 2003 vibes, missiles, mayhem, and zero nostalgia. Meanwhile, abortion privacy died quietly in a Texas courtroom, and patients now have to ask, will I see my medical chart? And Hetero Awesome Fest flopped harder than a straight-to-DVD sequel. Tucker and MTG agree with us now? Cue. All that plus updates, outrage, and the kind of news that makes you laugh, cry, and scream into a tote bag. Let's dive into the shitstorm.

Okay, we're gonna introduce this. This TikTok of this woman who is all of us right now. Yeah, I kind of felt bad sending it to you because I thought, do I not care enough? No, I think we've just done that. We just don't have the energy to do that right now. Here it is. I got my period today. So I look in the mirror. Who's that? Who's that big fat ugly girl? Like, why is my brain? Why is this? This should not be legal. I freaking hate Ron. Boys.

Hate them all stinky and annoying and then I just started thinking about like bubby and real are gonna die like Within the next like five to ten years you joking me. I'm going to get my fucking new nails today and I just like was searching for some serotonin So I drive to this freaking at home store. It's so far away from my house because I live far away from everything Cuz you have

do you have chickens and shit and of course i have to have all these fucking animals and then i drive here because i'm like maybe i'll get my god i literally just thought that was like this evil client that i see all the time and i was like not right now bitch i am not fucking clocked in let's party so i'm at this halloween no i'm not i'm at at home it's called at home looking for those fucking halloween cups and then i swear to god if someone's like

Nothing is real anymore. Nothing is real. If you walk around this earth and whatever's going on right now and you're like, this is good, you're weird and scary and I don't wanna be friends with you because no, every day is fucking terrifying. For what reason? For why? Okay, we're all just trying to live our lives for the first time. Why do we have to fight with everybody? It's literally so annoying.

Emily Wicks (02:25.71)
And I know that because I started my period tomorrow, I'm to feel so much better. today, bitch, no crashing the fuck out. I love these, These ghost energies are so good. And then I started thinking about how, like, I can't have margaritas by the pool either because I'm fucking alcoholic. Cool. Sake. Oh, my God. But that sounds really bad. I wouldn't trade my sobriety for anything.

Someone literally take the internet away from me today. Goodbye. Love you. I'll be fine. I promise. Let's go to at home and find the new viral cup. You're weird and scary and I don't want to be friends with you. Honey, you don't need the viral cups. That's what I want to say. You don't need the viral don't know what they are. Wait until they end up at value village. When somebody gives them away, go buy them from them. That's the one thing I can't identify with. Well, she's all of us. felt.

I really felt that. Let's talk about the elephant in the room and by the elephant in the room, I literally mean like that the Republican Party and their elephants. Yeah. Yeah. The news is pretty bleak and I don't think anyone can understand it. Like I was playing some of the tick tock, not tick tocks, but like posts and stuff from Congress people. Emily Randall, Rick Larson, Elizabeth Warren and

James is just listening to what they were saying. He's like, what? Like, how, how did they do that? And my only answer is like, I don't know. Nobody understands how this is happening. Why and why people will just raise the deficit and take things away from millions of people and just deplete every organization doing anything to address any issues that we have. Yeah, it's insane.

I know there's going to be a quick update at this point because it's still going on. We'll have another update, but obviously this is about the big, beautiful bill. The Senate just passed Trump's one big, beautiful bill act by a razor thin 51 to 50 vote. The vice president and J.D. Vance breaking the tie. So now it's back to the house and it's not looking good. Yeah. And for those who don't understand, it goes back to the house so they can do concurrence. yeah, well, because the Senate

Emily Wicks (04:51.179)
Right. Change some things. And then they sent it back to the House to get approved. Right. Yeah. And they somehow made it even worse. Yeah. More cuts to Medicaid, even though they are saying Trump is saying Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is saying that there's no cuts to Medicaid. They're not cutting it. But everybody on the Congress floor is saying that. Yeah. So who is like he's literally lying to people. Yeah. And because I think they know most people don't

watch like C-SPAN. They're not watching what's going on in Congress. They're not paying attention to what they're saying there. But it's a moment that can be pulled out of C-SPAN and put into a video that is shown to people on Truth Social day after day. Yeah, exactly. It's effing crazy. I don't I. Yeah. And so but I don't have a good answer for James when I'm like, I don't know why are people bad? Why are people

bad. I don't know if you heard some of the coverage of this in the last few days before, but when it got to the Senate, they were trying to give handouts to the Senator from Maine, can't remember her name, silly, and to Lisa Murkowski, the Senator of Alaska. And I asked, cause I heard this in a briefing that I got. these the Republicans that are against like,

Trump and the big, beautiful bill. Yeah, we've talked about Lisa Murkowski a little bit, you know, and how she's like these cuts would be devastating, like on the federal land stuff and about a lot of different things. And like in Doge came in and was firing everybody. We heard from her and we were like, yeah, she's standing up. She's someone who might not vote for this. Right. She was given a bunch of things like, and I said, what kind of handouts to her? Like I was like clarifying in this briefing and they were like, your people won't lose snap benefits in Alaska. Just Alaskan people won't.

lose their SNAP benefits or we won't do this to you or we won't do that to you. That held them back because the parliamentarian who is a nonpartisan person that runs the rules of the Senate, we have them in all governments like state governments, too. They said those they were breaking rules because they couldn't do that. Basically, probably a uniformity thing like you can't give these handouts that's against it. So then they didn't have that leverage over her and the woman from Maine. But she still fucking voted for this. And I don't

Emily Wicks (07:13.334)
understand why. And that should just cause us all to be very concerned. Well, and even the Republican senators like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who voted for it the first time. And then she ran it back because when she read, we're not allowed to regulate AI for 10 years or something. And she didn't know that was in there. Like, yeah, because you didn't read the whole fucking thing. Like, obviously, like most of you. And there's been most of them who have come out and said, no, I didn't know this was in there before I signed it.

I was making a video for my client and in that process I had to, I was tagging Everett Motorsports. And so I was just going through, of trying to find if they had an upcoming event that I could promote for them and all that stuff. But then I saw they were advocating about the sales of public land. Like this group was like in, like I expect them to be like conservatives, not, you know, mega people, but they were like, call your congressperson. It was cool to see.

another group fighting. That's a little bit of a silver lining that there's a lot of people coming together on all of this. Realizing how detrimental this is going to be on this shitstorm. Yeah, this is not a done deal. I will be by the time we hear this. That's really shitty. But as some kind of action on this, I have donated to an organization. So text messages rarely, rarely work for me.

But I got a text message from an organization called Every State that said, did you hear what's happening today? It went through a series of questions, which I knew were going to lead to donating, but they were good questions and they were like, you had to actually read them and say like, yes, I agree with this. I agree with this or I disagree with this or whatever. Only three, like three or four questions.

And then it asked to donate. so I did start doing a monthly donation. I actually looked up the organization a little bit first because I wanted to see like who their biggest donors were. And one person that came up really high on their donor list, cause I think you have to like post your top five.

Emily Wicks (09:16.968)
is Nancy Nordhoff, who's a prolific Democratic donor and supports a lot of really great organizations. And I'm not trying to like make people call her for money, but no, yeah, she is very specific about where she gives and what meets her goals. And I appreciate that. So I was excited to see that on there. And I was like, yeah. And then I went and asked if it was like closely connected to the Democratic Party, like the D triple C, like and the campaign, you know, organizations working on that because

I do think if we're like breaking away from the Democratic Party right now, like that's a bad idea because that's where we had the rally around. And if the Democratic Party needs to look different, we can shape that. But it's still the strongest force that we need to work with. I did a monthly contribution. I'm going to call everyone to do that as well because unfortunately we do need money.

to run campaigns to pay people. the monthly contribution? Or how much is the lowest one, I guess? I think you can do $5. Oh, OK. Yeah, I did $25. I kind of went above what I would normally do. It's needed right now, I just think they need, in a monthly, you know you're going to get this $25 every month to do the work that you're doing and to pay people and for us to be able to rally around some things. So I just wanted to put that out there. can add that to the end if needed. There's a lot of things I want to do and I can't do and I'm going to try to do, but.

I can only do what we can. can give the money that I have to the people in the organizations doing stuff. So anyways, moving on. So this is what I'm worried about. This is the story of Lisa Murkowski and why she's what did I say? She sucks balls, balls. Yeah. Hi, Lisa Murkowski. I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I do think you have a lot of people who want to talk to you tonight. But I do have one question for you and that is

When you were thinking about whether or not to cave on this big beautiful bill, did you think about the fact that Alaska doesn't have a level one trauma center? In fact, when patients in Alaska need level one trauma care, one of the most frequent destinations for them to end up is Harborview Medical Center. Harborview is in Washington state. Now, Harborview is a public hospital and they often provide care to low income patients. This means that Harborview is heavily reliant on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to compensate for patient care.

Emily Wicks (11:27.426)
But if the Medicare and Medicaid cuts go through on the bill that you just voted yes on, that could ultimately result in a rise of uncompensated care at Harborview. And a rise in uncompensated care could result in financial strain, which ultimately could result in scale back of services at a hospital in which your state utilizes because your state doesn't have the resources. So no, Lisa, you didn't fight for your state and you actually screwed over another one in the process, one that provides services to your state. Congratulations.

As I heard in my briefing, the states that actually have access and have invested in Medicaid and social services and all that stuff, Washington, us, we will be the most impacted by Yeah, that's what I heard, Seattle Times, think, just so, yeah, when everybody sits there and says, we're safe here, fuck off. We're not. And it's stupid that you ever thought that. Sorry. Oops, sorry, not sorry. Sorry, not.

Sorry. right. Well, speaking of the switcheroo that we hope doesn't result in a Lisa Murkowski vote when that bill goes back to the House. Yeah. Here is. Yeah, let's play MTG first in Congress talking about the big, beautiful bill. About a clause that is in the one big, beautiful bill. This clause would take away state rights to make laws or regulate AI for 10 years.

I think federalism is something that we must always protect. And I warn against the dangers of protecting a tech industry where we have no idea the future of what this industry will hold. AI is rapidly developing. AI has developed quickly over the past few years. Imagine what it will be one year from now, five years from now, and 10 years from now. Here's a lesson for us all. No matter

What political party holds office and is in charge? We should all watch carefully the bills that we pass and we should be mindful about protecting not only state rights, but the rights of the American people. I just can't with her sometimes. I'm yeah, bitch, we know we've been saying this from the beginning. Yep. I can't. can't. right. Do we want to watch this next one? Yeah. It might be a long one. I'm not sure. just.

Emily Wicks (13:48.91)
had it on my We'll just pause when we need to like, We just get the gist of what they were saying and yeah, what side they're on all of a sudden, I guess. Republicans refuse to talk about economics, like actual economics, not bullshit economics, GDP and tax cuts, but actually like, it's too expensive for my kids to buy a house. What are you doing about that? Right. And the answer is absolutely nothing other than yelling, you're a socialist. I'm not insecure about being a socialist. I don't really care.

what people call me, but that is a much bigger problem than anything Iran is cooking up and at centrifuges, as far as I'm concerned. It's certainly a bigger problem for everyone I know. My kids can't buy a house, therefore they can't get married and have kids. Right. So think about this. Last week, our kids were just thinking about, can't afford to buy a house. Where am I going to get a good job? All my friends can't find a good job.

A lot of young women that are conservative are like, where am I going to find a good man? A lot of conservative young men are like, where can I find a decent young woman to marry? Okay, I'm done. Yeah, we're done with that. That's fine. That's fine. I'm good. But Tucker though, I'm like, what? Yeah. Also, it has to be a conservative young man and a, you know, and a...

good woman? Like what? Okay. Like liberal women aren't good women, I think is what she was trying to say. Basically. Yeah. Yeah. No, she lost me. I was like for a second, I was going to be like, you know what, girl, let's go vape together. You know, like, let's go. She wasn't the one who vaped in a movie theater, was she? No, that was, Beetlejuice. I just, I really just... that was her name. She's Beetlejuice or they were Beetlejuice? They were at Beetlejuice. that's what know.

my gosh, what is her name? Why can't I think of it? It doesn't matter. Yeah, who cares? I who you're talking about. Yeah, I can see your face. Anyways, no. But see, what I'm a little bit concerned with about this Tucker Carlson stuff and this Marjorie Taylor Greene stuff, like now that she's in it too, is the attempt to rebrand. Yes. And the conversations that Jessica Valencia is having. So stay where they are longer. About that event that was like for women and they were basically telling them to get Mrs. degrees. I don't.

Emily Wicks (16:03.33)
They talked about it on hysteria that they have created like a conservative Vogue. Like there is a messaging on that side. Like everything they're talking about. like, this is feminist. But then they're telling them like have babies. You can choose this. It's like, can choose to have babies. But you can't choose not to. Yeah. That's where it is. It's like they're trying to co-opt our fucking brand. Yeah. We just heard this from

a person locally too about brands being co-opt and like more to come on that later. And it's not even yeah. And it's not even just a brand thing. It's like literally riding on her back riding on your back. Yeah. my God. And so I worry a little bit about this and the answer is like they now agree with us. So I guess we should welcome them into the circle. Not Marjorie though. She like did not make me happy. But yeah. So the next one that we're going to listen to

I was so thrown off by it because it's just the straight video chopped up of the conversation Tucker Carlson had with- Just really like the best highlights, I feel like that came out of the conversation. Yeah. Yeah. With Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz. Senator of Texas, the one that left to Cancun when Texas was freezing over. Yeah. I'm watching this and being like, wait, don't I not?

This guy. Don't I not like Tucker? Well, and we hate Ted Cruz. We still do. And apparently, Tucker Carlson as well. He also hates Ted Cruz. I had no idea.

kind of relevant because you're calling for the overthrow of the government. am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran. You're a senator who's calling for of government. You're the one who claims they're not trying to murder Donald Trump. You're not calling for military strikes against them and retaliation. you really believe We're carrying out military strikes today. You said Israel was. Right, with our help. The council spokesman Alex Pfeiffer denied on behalf of Trump that we were acting on Israel's We're not bombing them. Israel's bombing them. You just said we were.

Emily Wicks (18:12.686)
I think you're a senator. you're saying the United States government is worth a run right now, people are listening. Yes, hi, I need some assistance. I'm a lot more to say. I just agreed with Tucker Carlson. please send someone quick. We're dying. I was like, as soon as that was happening, was like, oh, thank you for answering this question. Yeah, the next one, I think makes him more relatable, which I don't know if that's a good thing, but it's hilarious.

Yeah, this one was good. Hitmen, their hitmen are not very effective. do think... so they're hitmen, but not the bad kind, the efficient kind? No, they're just... What are you saying? They're a weak country who is on its knees, and I think we need to... Then why are we so afraid of them? Why are they the biggest threat if they're a weak country that's on its knees? Because they're trying... I'm trying to keep track. They're trying to develop... Be a little less snarky. I know, you're right. That is a problem that I have. I'm sorry.

So, but you're right. do have a problem with that. I'm So funny. actually want that as something to use. button we can use. Oh, I love it. We need that as a button. You're right. That's a problem that I have. I'm sorry. Now on to, guess all the shit that has happened with Iran and Trump and Israel and

possible World War III. don't know. in a bar in Spokane and chatting with a bunch of Democrats that, you know. Yeah. And someone's like, Trump just bombed Iran. Yeah. So early morning, June 22nd, the U.S. Trump launches airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites. Iran responds. They fire missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar. The attack was intercepted with no casualties. So that's good thing. June 23rd.

late night, Iran signals willingness to accept a ceasefire via Qatar's mediation. June 24th, Trump speaks directly to Israel prime minister. You know, I have a hard time saying his name. Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu. I said Netanyahu just now. I think it's when I see it, when I'm reading it, I'm like, oh, I don't know how to say it. I just can't put it together. Well, we also just learned like people have been saying I ran for Iran. Yeah.

Emily Wicks (20:26.53)
And it's Iran. Yeah. No, I'm just saying that now everyone's going to be confused. Now we've just confused everybody. era of pronouncing them I-ran and I-rack. Yeah. And that's not how they're pronounced. Yeah. And I told you I went to college with a girl from Iran and she's the one that told me how to say it correctly. So. Yeah. It's good. But you know what? It's OK. If you don't get it right, we're giving it to you the right way.

If you listen to more BBC and NPR, will, you probably say it right. Will be able to know how to say the words correctly. Yeah. And it's not like we never said it wrong because we used to as well. Yeah, we did. We wanted to put that out there. Yeah. We know better and we're doing better. Exactly. All right. Continue with the shit storm. Okay. So Trump speaks to Netanyahu and coordinates with US officials and Qatar's Emir to broker peace. So.

Right? Ceasefire at 3.30 AM. Trump announced ceasefire on True Social, claiming the 12 day war is over. He already gave it a name, which is also whatever. 7 AM, Iran halts military operations. The reports- gave it a name? Yeah, he gave it a name. The 12 day war, but he's calling it. So wait, is the 12 days over? I guess. don't, yeah. I don't know.

I don't know how his mind works. be more 2003 than... It really is, isn't it? This is the nostalgia we didn't need. Iran halts military operations. The report suggests strikes continued until last minute. Throughout the day, Israel remains publicly silent, but the U.S. officials credit American strikes for forcing diplomacy. This was the day, June 24th, sorry if I didn't say that before, that Trump famously said, they don't know what the fuck they're doing.

my God. This is this day. Great. Great quote. Love it. June 25th early morning despite the ceasefire. no it was this day. Israel accuses Iran of launching missiles and that kill four people in Beersheba. Iran retaliates. Iran claims casualties from Israel strikes near Tehran. Trump reacts frustrated. Trump urges both sides to honor the ceasefire posting Israel do not drop those bombs on true social.

Emily Wicks (22:43.554)
he's handling these things on true social. It's so professional. I mean, I had a friend that works in communications for a local government and she was like, they posted daddy's home like a picture. No, Fox News played the song while he was getting on the plane. I mean, it's all fucking ridiculous. This is a ridiculous. It's gross. I don't understand why we're not president.

Why we didn't just come in together. We both can be. I'm not kidding because like what they're offering is exactly what we do. Like pretty much. Wow. And we do it a lot better and like we're smarter and kinder. Yeah. And compassionate. Yeah. Weird. Well, the operation reportedly caused major damage, especially at for dough.

I think that's how you say that, I don't know. With collapsed tunnels and destroyed infrastructure, President Trump announced that the facilities were completely obliterated, though experts say Iran's nuclear capabilities might not be fully dismantled. They think that although it did slow them down, they didn't destroy them completely. You mean he told a non-truth? A non-truth social? Oh. Weird. Also, Israel and Iran have been doing this, having this conflict.

since 1979. Why are we even getting involved? Why the fuck did you involve us? I just... I don't know. I know. And as you said, he didn't need Congress approval to do this, does it? There's been many presidents who have done it without it. So that's not a safeguard we have. We don't have any safeguards, to be honest. really don't. We really don't. Monitoring the...

The situation. there's a ceasefire now in place again. So as far as I know, nothing's happened since. So now moving on Jessica Valenti, we love we read her every day. Texas federal judge struck down a Biden era rule meant to protect the privacy of people who get abortions or gender affirming care. The rule came from the Department of Health.

Emily Wicks (24:53.416)
Human Services in 2024 and it tried to stop states with bans from using medical records and investigations if the care happened in a state where it's legal. The judge to the government didn't have the authority under HIPAA to add special privacy protections for these types of medical procedures. His decision means states can now potentially access patient records to pursue legal action.

Even if the person followed the law where they received care, this ruling affects the whole country, not just Texas. And it's raising serious concerns about medical privacy and what patients can safely share with their doctors. So now these dangerous criminals are women who have had miscarriages? who having miscarriages. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or trans people who are getting hormone replacement therapy. Great. Yeah. It's pretty fucking disgusting. That one's rough.

Yeah, I'm really glad that Jessica does like one good thing because you need it. So the impacts for patients will be privacy, obviously is no longer guaranteed. So people who receive an abortion or gender affirming care, even in states where it's legal, that have their records access and law enforcement in states with bans. How is this helping? I don't know. Fear and confusion may rise. Patients will avoid going to get medical care because they're scared.

And it's not going to be covered. So that too is going to be even more expensive. Marginalized groups hit hardest LGBTQ plus individuals and those who are seeking abortion, especially vulnerable to scrutiny and discrimination. Also, this puts doctors in a very sticky situation. Yeah. And that's not fair because most, mean, I know there's there's bad doctors out there, but most of them are good and most of them are out there just to help people.

And they don't want to break the Hippocratic code. Yeah. And honestly, you're a good doctor, why would you want to do that to somebody anyways? That's your patient that you're trying to help. They deserve privacy. It's their choices that they're making. Well, now we probably can't sue doctors for malpractice. So that's probably coming too. So then we'll have more bad doctors. Why did I even say that? And then you agreed. Just kidding. I don't.

Emily Wicks (27:03.488)
No, I do actually. I know. I know. I mean, it's true. this is scary for everybody. And I honestly don't have any answers for you. What to do? How do we protect our own privacy? I don't know. Yeah, I don't know without like we have to be off social media. And here's the thing. Are people willing to fucking do that? Yeah, because I was talking to you about my plans like let's go, you know, and.

saying like, want to talk to people, I want to see what we can actually do to like be disruptors. And like, I need advice on that. You know, one person I thought would be a disruptor with me, their response was, you know, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing in my space because I think what I'm doing is good. And I don't discount what they're doing. I think what they're doing is good. But I'm like, but you're still like benefiting from the existing system. And now that you are profiting and you have money and you feel like you have time and

Now you're profiting off of that existing system and we're just going to sit there and watch that happen. So I had to sit back with like their response on that. And because there's somebody that kind of agrees with like, is this protest meaningful? And we've talked about like protesting a lot and it begs the question. Like when we become sellouts, like do we- will not become sellouts. No, we're just going to keep going down.

especially if we advocate for the things we're advocating for, like we'll be off of the news. If we're really advocating for what we're doing, and this is not even about sponsorship, if we're doing that, we are actually like, if we get off the internet, if we get off all of this stuff, if we stop using things that are actually truly infringing on our privacy, like the internet, chat, GTP. Then we won't be able to go any farther doing this. Then, I mean, in some sense, like these are requirements of the world in which we live.

That's where we're at, people. That's where we're at in 2025. Yeah. And like, we have a Supreme Court that is trying to, trying, is succeeding in running, you know, an originalist government in a phone culture, in this culture. Like, they're wearing, you know, powdered wigs. Like, 1776. Like, they're trying to... Well, and our legislation hasn't even caught up with just the internet.

Emily Wicks (29:26.262)
When the internet was I think the internet is actually 20 years behind. To be quite honest. mean, just like when the internet was created, there was no regulations on like what could be on there. And that's why we have so many sex trafficking cases that are brought up on the internet. Yeah. Backpage or whatever. There was no regulations in place and they there still are. Fucking Marjorie Taylor Greene, right. On that. On that. just that. Well, now we get into like better news, I think.

Oh, okay. Heterosome Fest. And now it completely flopped. I mean, the fact that it existed is bad news. I know, I know. But the runners of Heterosome Fest said 250 people showed up throughout the whole weekend. But as far as everybody else could tell, there's about 50. There was a fight too with like the person that was putting it on. Oh no. Yeah. And then there was a LGBTQ performer who got up there and they didn't know. And he was also an army ranger.

and he started performing. he pulled a Sasha Baron Cohen. He did. It was great. If you haven't watched it, it's great. I haven't seen this yet. my God. You got this edit to me. They also chased him off the stage, of course, but that's OK. He got a lot said before. Yeah, that's all. That happened to Sasha Baron Cohen, too. So it's fine. And he said, I've never feared for my life more, especially in Borat 2, the second one. Yeah, that was way worse than Borat.

And the show runner, I forget his name, whatever, don't really care about him, said that there probably would have been more people if the weather wasn't as bad. It was really nice. I saw the video. I looked up the weather on that day. It was sunny, dry and warm. Highs reached 89 degrees on Saturday and 91 on Sunday. Well, maybe it was too hot. For straight people.

too hot for straight people. I just want to say there was like 250,000 at Seattle Pride. And it was hot that day, but we all made it. And we got free water and everyone was so nice and kind. were dancing because we went out Saturday night. It was crowded. Don't get me wrong. Like bodies were on bodies while we were dancing. But every time like I'd step on somebody's toes or they would step on mine, like we're all like, oh, I'm so sorry.

Emily Wicks (31:42.538)
Yeah, it was was no fights. Nobody's mad. Everybody's there to have a good time. It only got weird. And I only got tin hatty when Unicorn Unicorn when the bar closed and I was like, OK, Emily, this is just they're used to this. The outdoor bar closed. Yeah. And it was just they're like, get inside. I felt like we were in a trap. Well, it was the security really that was not they were too serious. Yeah, I feel and they were too aggressive. Yeah. It was like the Cal Anderson Park feeling like where I'm like, I'm not doing anything to you like

Yeah. I know I'm annoying maybe because I've had a couple of drinks, like I also am just trying to bar everyone else is drunk too. Yeah. And sorry, but I got the white cloth stick. I I love it. Brought it home. White cloth. Will you be our sponsor? That's what we'd like to say. We're calling out to you. We are. When I saw that we got white cloth tattoos, that was worth it going to the first club. Yeah. I was like, white cloth. Yeah. We little tattoos. We got our little white cloth stick that lights up.

All right, you sent me something very appalling today. What did I write back to you? What in the absolute book? Yeah, and I the exact same thing when I read it. Yeah. So why don't you introduce it? OK, so it says Seattle Times, Ferguson selects Florida shipbuilder to build Washington fleet of electric ferries. Seven hundred and fourteen point five million dollars out of state to go green, end quotes, gutting our own shipyards. So tell me more about it.

What the fuck is happening? Why are we going to Florida? Okay, so I was like, okay, do they have an office in Florida? Like is the shipbuilder that didn't get the contract just trying to put a press release out that calls people under fire about this? like, I get it. It's a lobbyist tactic. It is a campaign tactic, you know? And so.

I did a little bit more research, but you're right. Yes, Washington governor Bob Ferguson has selected a Florida based Eastern shipbuilding group to build these three new hybrid electric ferries. So the contract is valued at 714.5 million. The reason for the selection, he stated that the Eastern shipbuilder group was selected because they offered the lowest bid and provided the best value for taxpayers. Their bid was 6 % lower than WSF's estimate and significantly lower than the other bidder.

Emily Wicks (34:06.542)
Which is also- was the other bidder though? Do we know? I do know. Oh, okay. also, okay, 6 % lower than what the Washington State Ferries estimated. 6 %? 6 % lower than what, so the state is actually making a transportation budget where they charge us gas tax. Oh, that's To meet a budget. Yep. And they're paying 6 % lower than the estimate that they even initially thought. I have more often than not had to

with the 529 project when I was in the legislature, that was in the 2016 transportation package. I wasn't in the legislature in 2016. We were one of the last projects to get done. The bids that were coming in were about 50 million over. Like this is what it was gonna cost people to do. He's like, we can't get a smaller bid. We're gonna need more money allocated to this in this budget. We're like, we will make it happen. We made this promise. You've invested in this transportation project, the city of Marysville.

other people were dependent on this project in the county. We're gonna make sure it goes through. We're gonna give you that money in this budget. So that's kind of weird. That's the answer. It's gonna be expected in 2029. that's like, they're gonna start building in 2029 or the three ferries will be delivered. I thought this was interesting. This is the first time in over 50 years that Washington state ferries will contract with an out of state shipyard for new vessels.

following a competitive bidding process. First time in 50 years. Yeah. How long have we had ferries? You're going to have to chat, GTP, that. I asked how long has Washington state had ferries? 70 years. And so I asked when was the first time Washington state went outside of the state to have new ferries built? And says, this is the first time.

So might not be the Washington State Ferry system, I wonder. That's a conversation for another day about, some research. So it is like literally the first time this has happened. Yeah. And I understand saving money for taxpayers. Appreciate it. I love that. Why Florida? We didn't have to save money for taxpayers because you didn't have to cut the budget the way you fucking did asshole. Or that. So no. So no. Just no.

Emily Wicks (36:21.046)
So this will modernize the fleet, restore service, that's what they're saying. And then, yeah, the local impact here is that the decision to award the contract to an out-of-state company that has drawn criticism from those who wanted the contract to go to a local shipyard. This goes back to like my original thought maybe to support the region's shipbuilding industry. This is a huge issue though. I actually went on a shipbuilding tour.

and toured the company that is kind of referenced as the one that could have been selected. The other bidder. Yeah. So rep Andrew Barkus, I worked with him on the transportation committee. He's a Republican. They were posting this in some conservative radio channel, My Northwest. local one. Yeah. Cairo. My Northwest. Whatever. They're kind of conservative. Yeah, they are. Andrew Barkus called the governor's decision disappointing both in process and in principle.

Also weird, I agree with you. It's deeply concerning that Nichols Brothers, which is the other one, a long established Washington company with decades of experience could not offer a competitive bid despite having home field advantage, Barkus said. Their proposal came in more than 350 million, higher than the winning bid from out of state.

Damn. That difference is staggering and should serve as a wake up call to the lawmakers who continue to passing laws that damage our state's competitiveness. So then he goes on a labor union challenge. is it more if they don't they don't even have to ship them over here from Florida if they're made here? So yeah, Nichols Brothers is in Freeland, Washington. Eastern Shipbuilding Group has offices in Panama City, Florida, Allentown and Allentown.

a small unincorporated community in Bay County, Florida. So that population is approximately 1200 people. damn. Yeah. So it's a small area. it means- of them working on the ferries? So I'm just saying probably, and yes, these jobs probably mean a lot to these Floridians. My other question as I was thinking about this is that does Washington have to go for the lowest bidder? That is actually kind of in law. it is. Okay. So I got clarification on that.

Emily Wicks (38:23.224)
So generally Washington state requires public agencies to award contracts to the lowest responsible bidder. Responsible bidder though? And so like I've been in other organizations or like we're picking this bid, it's the lowest. But you can't just pick it if it's not a responsible bid. Yeah. And the way that they define lowest responsible bidder is the bid with the lowest price that meets the criteria outlined in the relevant law.

A responsible bidder is a bidder who meets certain criteria demonstrating their ability, capacity, integrity, and efficiency to perform the contract successfully. The state also considers factors like compliance with relevant laws and life cycle costs. Responsive bid, the bid must be substantially technically compliant with the specifications and requirements outlined in the solicitation document. So whoever worked on either of these bids was trying to show like that they had a responsible bid. I mean, in theory. And then there are some

exceptions and nuances. So rejecting the lowest bid, an agency may choose to reject the lowest bid if the bidder has a history of poor performance, late projects, going over budget or not meeting specifications and cannot demonstrate improvement. In such cases, the agency might select the second lowest bidder if their bid is within 5 % of the lowest bid and meets the same criteria. they wouldn't be able to. Yeah. So it was much higher. Okay. Yeah. So that would make it really hard because as he pointed out, it was

substantially higher. Yeah, they both have very similar websites. And I mean, that in good way, like they both show like successful projects, all that stuff. It was kind of interesting. But yeah, I don't know. I don't really know the answer. And the other thing was that Marco Leas said Senator Marco Leas is a senator, also on the Transportation Committee in the Senate said, you know, there'll be other opportunities for them to submit, you know, applications for future.

For future bids. yeah, because of the budget, there'll be other ferries. This has been a big process for all of us to fix our aging ferries and build new ones and upgrade them and make them. they're not cheap. They're not cheap. It's not a cheap thing. No, and they shouldn't be. That's the thing. And we have a lot of ferries. Yeah, they should be very safe. And you've got to spend money to make things safe. You just have to. So, I mean, Republicans are going to go after Bob Ferguson for this. So I'm surprised, though, because

Emily Wicks (40:40.75)
He's going to a Republican state. Yeah. I mean, it's clear that like Rep. Barkus is also in on this and knows that he has to. So he's deferring it to like, we pay people a living wage here and like have unions. So therefore this little small podunk town where they're escaping like, and they're taking everything away from their people and they don't like, the rich get richer in Florida. You know what I mean? And the poor and the crazy stories get, you know, bigger and badder and crazier. Yeah.

Yeah, so that's what we're doing. you know, it all it all, guess, just evens out. Yeah. But I know a fun update. guess that wasn't in our intro, but that was just a little local update that we saw today that was just kind of breaking news. And it kind of affects us nationally, too. Like what happens on our transportation budgets and within our transportation like affects other places. And we have a unique.

you know, thing here where we have a lot of bridges and we have a lot of fucking ferries. So it's yeah. And we got to pay for them if we want to keep commuting places and we have wet weather, which means our roads experience different things. Different decay. Yeah. Different kind of OK, so in closing, though, I want to invite people to put on their calendar our podcast launch event for the Snohomish Podcast Network. It is on Friday, July 25th. There'll be more information. We're going to be there. We're going to have some fun.

activities, all of our other fun podcasts, friends that are also in the network are going to be there. yeah, so check us out. Yeah, there'll be drinks and fun and laughter and an opportunity to meet a lot of great people doing great things. Yeah. And one thing that I will add is that, you know, as we've been doing this podcast, one of the things that I've

guess I didn't realize, but now I realize this is just like how little people know about politics and government. Yeah. And I didn't realize that I had a level of knowledge that other people don't. Even though I've been telling you this since we met. I But I just needed seven people to tell me. Oh, OK. I didn't need that. So for the UmCivics segment, I am going to ask a question and I'm not going to give the answer. And this might be part of our launch event. OK.

Emily Wicks (42:57.588)
Yes. So here it goes. How many state representatives and senators does Washington state have? So that's the question. Not going to give the answer. your research. But try not to chat GTP or Google it. Like try to do some research. from like your knowledge and maybe talk to people. And if you do know the answer and you find it, however you got it, or if you cheated, you do not get to enter the raffle.

You're not allowed to enter the raffle. Yeah. So that's where we're going to be at. Love it. Yeah. What are you doing this weekend or this day? Fourth of July. No, does not exist. No, I'm just kidding. It does. No, we'll be there. We'll be in Port Ludlow all weekend. We're going to stay over at Eric's mom's house for fourth and then spend time with family. Nice. And I am also spending time with family in Boise. Yeah. I get to go see. That's where they had a hetero awesome fest. Yeah.

Yeah, we're going to use our new tools that you provided me about making sure that when we're out shopping, we have if we must, if we must buy more things, which we sometimes do, and I'm trying not to, by the way, that is a thing I'm trying to do. Yes. Or be just more conscious of what you're buying and consuming. Yeah. So you had mentioned that there was, you know, ways to, you know, suss things out when you're shopping. OK, so I saw a video on TikTok of a woman who went, I don't know what business she was at. She's in a drive through.

And she was asking them before I buy anything here, can I just ask you if you're giving up your employees to ICE or employees information to ICE? I was like, that's a great idea. And honestly, the person answering was great. He was like, I understand. It's a great question. Glad you asked it. No, we don't. So I just thought, okay, well, what's some good ways, polite ways to ask so you're not. Was she in a drive-through? Yeah. So she was just going to see that seems to work out.

just gonna drive through if they say, yeah, we do. Be like, okay. Okay, bye. Okay, bye. So yeah, you can start with a general inquiry. Hi, I'm trying to better understand how local businesses handle employee privacy. Can you tell me if your company shares any employee information with government agencies like ICE? Number two, be specific, but non-confrontational. Does your business ever provide employee records or I-9 forms to ICE voluntarily or only when legally required?

Emily Wicks (45:23.574)
ask about their policy. Do you have a written policy on how to respond to ICE audits or requests for information? Number four, if you're an employee or customer as someone who works here slash shops here, I'd like to know how you protect your staff's privacy and rights in case of ICE involvement. There's always like good ways to ask. So I'm definitely needing to get some river shoes or something for the river, which sounds like sounds like something I do want to have for the river.

And then I would also like to, I don't know what I did with my like swim top that has sleeves, but I would like one of those again. And so my option, cause we're going to leave at like 6 a.m. tomorrow is to probably do Amazon, Spokane, Boise, I mean tonight. Yeah, you're probably right. I wouldn't even get here in time. So I'm okay. Here's my dilemma here. The best time to ask this question would be as I'm checking out.

That would imply. think the best time to answer is before you even look at anything in there. Okay. Okay. Hear me out. Yeah. But I'm going to be followed and be maligned by my family if I go and do that with them. I see what you're saying. If they're with you. Yeah. Like I'm going and then I'm going to get followed because I know the answer is probably not going to be great. And the other thing is like, yes, I can ask like,

some places. Yeah, I would feel comfortable asking this question in Washington state. Then I know. Or Western Washington. Yeah, but I don't know how comfortable I feel because if I do that, then I will be followed. And then if I ask, which is what that lady did, she ordered. She didn't order first. Oh, she asked first before she ordered. OK. Yeah. She before I order, I want to make sure. OK, good. OK, so like I feel like that makes sense.

She's also in a getaway car. Which is helpful. I'm not going to lie. Yeah. So I'm just saying that I see a variety of scenarios that could occur. Yeah. And the place that I'm going to be going to get this swim top and river shoes will likely be a Cabela's or something worse. Yikes.

Emily Wicks (47:44.558)
I don't know if I've ever looked up Cabela's on Goods Unite Us, but I can guess. feel like I can guess, but sometimes I get really surprised by things on here. I'm like, maybe I don't know. I actually, okay. So I thought that Staples was Republican though. Oh really? And then, and I swear to God, I looked it up and I was like, I can't go to Staples. And the other day I was checking cause I was looking up Kinko's cause we were talking about like, if we're not going to go Union. Yeah, it's so red. % red.

Yeah, but I feel like staples switch sides all of a sudden. I was like, no. that's possible. I think a lot of companies are. Yeah. I think you were confused about staples. I just looked them up and they are 100 percent Democrat. But they were just bought out by Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm in 2017. Yeah. So I think when that happened, they might have. Yeah, Sycamore Partners is good. What else is under Sycamore Partners? Because there's a couple of other ones that I was like, clocked it, clocked it, clocked it.

Okay, yeah, Staples, Belk, Hot Topic. They own Hot Topic. Talbot's, don't know what that is, Torrid. I know what that is. Torrid and Talbot's, know. Talbot's is Old Lady. They also recently acquired Controlling Stake in Victoria's Secret. I know Victoria's Should we go back to Victoria's Secret now? I haven't been going there for so many years. I need better bras. Yeah, okay, well that's good to know. Good information. Great information. So anyways. with some depressing stuff.

Sorry. I will do as much research as I can as I am driving and figuring out where we can stop because I don't think I'm going to make it to, I mean, where am I? Where would I go tonight? I have to make dinner. Yeah. I have to pack. You don't have time. Okay. Yeah. You don't have time. Yeah. And that's okay. Sometimes like you just don't have time and you got to get something. And if I was going to order off Amazon, should have done it this morning. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Oh my God. Why would I even say that? Oh yeah. Jeff Bezos got married. Like a little fucker. fuck him. Fuck.

them. Fuck Lauren Sanchez. Fuck the Kardashians for fucking going. my god. assholes. Disgusting. Disgusting. Just like this is what you want people like when you're complaining about your health care getting lost and. Well they're not complaining. They're fine. No point the fingers at these fucking like wannabe oligarchs. You know what I mean? Like fuck them. And with that. Toodles. Bye.

Emily Wicks (50:11.714)
Thanks for listening. Support our therapy sessions and follow the UMSUR podcast on Instagram. Subscribe to our channel on your favorite platform and comment or leave us a review. The UMSUR podcast is a bossy LLC production with edits, production and content support from Trent of Red Trucks LLC and me, Sammy Blood. Special thanks to Brian Bradley for the UMSUR podcast theme song. Have the week you deserve.