Talarico’s Flame Burns Bright for Lib voters, Will it Be Enough in Texas?

Summary

---

Ruthless Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Talarico’s Flame Burns Bright for Lib voters, Will it Be Enough in Texas?
Date: August 7, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Special Guests: Wolf, Sean Hannity, Louis Cobb (Phillies auction winner)

---

Overview

This “Fun Time Friday” edition of Ruthless departs from hard news to deliver the “purest distillation” of the podcast’s lighter side: a raucous, often irreverent, take on recent political gaffes, viral clips, and odd news stories. The crew dives into the ongoing struggles of various leftist candidates, cultural controversies in sports, and the oddities of progressive policies—all with the signature Ruthless edge, inside jokes, and relentless mockery.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Talarico's Blowtorch Blunder (00:00–08:00)

• The hosts ridicule a video of Texas Democrat James Talarico awkwardly posing with a blowtorch at a pipefitters' apprenticeship event (“laying pipe and blowing torch”), poking fun at his attempts to look like a blue-collar “everyman.”
  • “This is another example of him trying to be like the everyman… clearly not familiar with the use of any tools in this fashion.” – Michael Duncan [05:13]
  • “It must be like fire retardant or something. Right? Like, that’s the only reason you would be seen in public in that thing.” – John Ashbrook [06:00]
  • Lampoons extend to Talarico’s attire as a “homely art teacher” smock and fake “Texan” costume.

2. Culture Wars in Women’s Sports (08:00–12:43)

• A clip of Trump jokes about LeBron James playing for a hypothetical WNBA team, highlighting ongoing debates over trans athletes in women’s sports.
  • “If I were ever, I’d be the greatest women’s basketball coach… I’d say, LeBron, did you ever have any desire to be a woman?... Nobody will come within 70 points of this team.” – Donald Trump (via Sean Hannity) [09:43]
• Caitlin Clark’s WNBA stardom is discussed, as well as new attempts to launch women’s professional baseball.
• The hosts play a mangled National Anthem clip from a women’s baseball league and joke about a hot mic moment with demanding lead singers.

3. The Left’s Socialist Surge—and Their Duplicity (14:06–29:52)

• Ridicule ensues over Michigan’s William Lawrence, a DSA-aligned candidate who let his membership “lapse” after winning the primary.
  • “I let my membership lapse. My membership lapse. Dude, like, he’s got a gym card.” – Michael Duncan [16:17]
  • The panel mocks the idea of a “get out of jail free card” for communists just because dues aren’t up to date.
  • “It’s like being like, well, I don’t have my hood. It’s at the dry cleaner.” – John Ashbrook [18:59]
• Coverage of Michigan’s El-Sayed backtracking on “Defund the Police” with a CNN audio clip showing his shifting explanations.
  • “I let my membership lapse…because I want to make clear to my constituents that I’m here to represent them.” – William Lawrence (clip) [16:04]
  • Hosts note Democrats “lapse” memberships or try to erase radical stances when entering general elections.

4. Cancel Thanksgiving? Cancel Culture & the Lib Playbook (22:36–26:45)

• A DSA-supported candidate in Wisconsin, “Hong,” tries damage control after viral posts about canceling Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Fourth of July.
  • “My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Fucking hilarious. I don’t want to cancel it. I actually love it…” – Michael Duncan [23:45]
  • Hosts highlight how, once under scrutiny, leftist candidates feign mainstream views (“my favorite!”) to appeal to voters.

5. Kids as Political Pawns – The “Proxy Votes” Debacle (32:11–38:43)

• A viral clip from the New York Times is dissected: the suggestion that 18-year-olds should cast “proxy votes” for children, not parents, because “there is a divergence of interest.”
  • “I think it’s likelier that young people, not people who are raising families, will have the best insight into the interests of children.” – Samuel Moyn (clip) [33:26]
  • The crew finds the idea creepy, suggesting the proponent has a “strange perversion,” and jokes darkly about calling the authorities.
  • “There’s a very strange thing going on with this guy and a fascination with children and separating them from their parents.” – Michael Duncan [35:09]

6. Future Tech Follies: Centaur Robots and Tele-Operated Maids (41:52–47:58)

• Hosts revisit last week’s “Centaur robot” fascination and compare it with a new, awkward “router-headed” cleaning robot.
• Duncan details SF companies using human maids with hand-cams for cheap house cleaning to train AI; most hosts are hesitant, but Duncan and Ashbrook would jump at the $10 offer.
  • “If it’s just videoing their hands. Wave of the future. Wave of the future.” – Michael Duncan [47:58]

7. Lighthearted Moments & Listener Comments (49:43–62:31)

• The crew praises Louis Cobb, an untrained but shockingly great “Fan Auction” Phillies play-by-play announcer, for a stellar inning ("Dude, that is pretty good." – Michael Duncan [50:44]).
• Listener comments segment explores Instagram and TikTok oddities, including an AI critter singing “don’t put bananas in my butt.”
• Animal stories:
  • Coyotes “civilizing” an abandoned LA complex (hosts claim coyotes make better neighbors than the previous homeless squatters) [54:47–57:35].
  • Massive spaghetti recall over “metal concerns” spawns mafia jokes.
  • Hilarious scooter-wrecking “kamikaze rabbit” video: “Rabbits are like Italians – they can’t get concussions.” – Ashbrook [62:30].

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Talarico’s blue-collar cosplay:
  "This is another example of him trying to be like the everyman…clearly not familiar with the use of any tools in this fashion.” – Michael Duncan [05:13]

• On the left’s shifting tactics:
  “I let my membership lapse. My membership lapse. Dude, like, he’s got a gym card.” – Michael Duncan [16:17]

• On Candidates’ Reluctance to Own Radical Agendas:
  “Like, I may be a communist, but I am no longer a card-carrying communist.” – John Ashbrook [17:38]
  “Now say you like the turkey and they’re like, Thanksgiving’s great, let’s get you to November and then you can talk about…” – Michael Duncan [39:58]

• On “Proxy Votes” for Kids:
  “Does he look like the kind of guy who’d want to separate children from their parents? For what purpose? This is the most nefarious I’ve ever heard in my life.” – Michael Duncan [34:13]

• On robot cleaners:
  “You just cannot make it look weird. And two little googly eyes on it is not going to be like, ‘oh, all of a sudden it’s my friend.’ No, it still looks like a crazy ass little robot with shit sticking out of it.” – Michael Duncan [44:04]

• On animal news:
  “Coyotes seem like problem solvers…these aren’t like wild coyotes…They got rid of the homeless guys, now my kids don’t have to worry about some dude shooting fentanyl. Great. I support the coyotes.” – Michael Duncan [57:35]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Talarico Blowtorch Incident: 00:00–08:00
• WNBA/Trump Women’s Sports Clip: 08:00–12:43
• Michigan/DSA Socialists & “Membership Lapse”: 14:06–19:04
• Defund Police, Library Subterfuge: 26:45–32:11
• Proxy Votes Clip & Parental Rights: 32:11–38:43
• Fun Tech: Centaur & Robot Cleaners: 41:52–47:58
• Listener Comments & Social Media Algorithms: 52:18–54:39
• Coyote Invasion, Spaghetti Recall, “Attack Rabbit”: 54:39–62:31

---

Overall Tone

Casual, sarcastic, and relentless. The podcast excels in gleeful mockery, rapid-fire inside jokes, and irreverent analysis—the “four friends at the bar” energy with deep skepticism of progressive politics and performative activism.

---

Perfect for Listeners Who:

• Enjoy sharp, comedic right-of-center political banter
• Want a break from straight news and yearn for meme-laden political commentary
• Appreciate relentless ridicule of politicians’ foibles and left-wing overreach

---

“Stay ruthless.”

Transcript

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it turns out he's blowing torch.

[Michael Duncan]

This is a video clip of Talarico in the most awkward way, trying to look like he's doing something with a blowtorch. It's not usual approach. I imagine he would take to such activities. I mean, a lot of people, if you ask him in Texas, he's been described as a specialist when it comes to blowing things. But I don't know if this necessary.

[Josh Holmes]

Torch. This is a case of mistaken scheduling. This happens from time to time when you're running campaigns and things get chaotic and people want you in different parts of the state. You got to lock down constituencies. And they heard he was really good at giving torch.

[John Ashbrook]

You're telling me he was laying pipe and blowing torch?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, that's what happened.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

America has a powerful advantage. Abundant oil and natural gas right here at home. But energy security requires more than energy in the ground. It requires sustained production, resilient supply chains, and importantly, modern infrastructure like pipelines that move energy to the places it's needed to families, businesses and communities. Energy security is not just about what we produce. It's about whether we can deliver it safely, reliably and efficiently when people need it most. That's how America protects consumers, supports our economy, and leads from a position of energy strength. Learn [e-mail] paid for by the American Petroleum Institute.

[Josh Holmes]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Michael Duncan]

This program has become one of the most influential podcasts in America. I love the personality. You guys are killing it. I just saw your number one, so congratulations.

[Josh Holmes]

It's an honor and a pleasure to welcome the great Sean Hannity. Guys, I love you.

[Sean Hannity]

Congratulations on all your success.

[Michael Duncan]

This is why you listen to the Ruthless podcast, because nobody else would ask that question. The only political podcast worth listening to is the Ruthless podc. It's time for our main event, the

[Josh Holmes]

Ruthless Podcast Fun Time Friday. Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook. Left to right, across your radio dial, I feel the need to warn you, you, the listener and the viewer, this could be a disaster.

[Interviewer]

We have

[Josh Holmes]

what I would characterize as a windfall of hilarious things that have been set aside on the cutting room floor for Tuesday and Thursday's episode because there was real news and real discussion and, like, important stuff to discuss, but it doesn't mean that the hilarity stops. And so it didn't quite wedge itself into those previous episodes. And we had a pre show discussion, as we always do, 10, 15 minutes, where we kind of go over the things that we were talking about and everybody's like, fuck it, let's just, let's just play clips and laugh and have fun. So you're about to have an awful lot of fun along with us now. It could be a disaster, right, Smock?

[Michael Duncan]

It's not going to be. This is the purest distillation of Funtime Friday. This is this full spirit of Funtime Friday. You're going to have four friends who are going to have a great time. I mean, the content is incredible. The only problem we have with today's episode is there's a million hilarious things to discuss and we're going to do it as fast as possible.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, there's no question about that. And we, we have typically Wolf organizes things well and our only direction was disorganize.

[Wolf]

I think, I think you're underselling this a little bit because I do think there were multiple moments this week where each of us at different times were like, this needs to be saved for Friday. Yeah. So there. This is kind of hand picked.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I mean, listen, it's good. We have to start with Talarico, right? I mean, the plant or thing was so good for us for so long. And each and every week it almost seemed like every three days there was something.

[Michael Duncan]

It was like another news conference.

[John Ashbrook]

Correction.

[Michael Duncan]

This is another horrible thing.

[Josh Holmes]

I've sexually assaulted. You know, I mean, there was just like one after another. And the Talrico thing was kind of operating in a parallel track in a lot of ways. But because of like the socialists taking over, nobody's looking down in Texas to be like, what's that guy up to? Well, it turns out he's blowing torch.

[John Ashbrook]

Look at the jacket.

[Michael Duncan]

I didn't kill anybody.

[Wolf]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Hey, not bad for a politician. Is that right? Is that right? I'm just not sure that that's a visual I would have gone to.

[Michael Duncan]

And the funny thing is like. So for audio only listeners, this is a video clip of Talarico in the most awkward way trying to look like he's doing something with a blowtorch. It's not usual approach I imagine he would take to such activities. I mean, a lot of people, if you ask him in Texas, he's been described as a specialist when it comes to blowing things. But I don't know if this necessary torch. And that is a prime example of it. He's like so awkward trying to attempt. This is another example of him trying to be like the everyman. I'm, you know, I'm A real Texan. I can get in there. I can do things. And he's clearly not familiar with the use of any tools in this fashion. Right.

[Wolf]

He's. He's not welding something. He's literally doing a high school chemistry class experiment.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Wolf]

In a stupid frock.

[Josh Holmes]

So.

[John Ashbrook]

So high school chemistry is not what came to mind for me. Can we can pop that back up there? So this get up here? Yeah, it looks like the smock that the homely art teacher would wear in high school. And they'd make you put it on during art class, so you didn't get paint all over your clothes. It must be like fire retardant or something. Right? Like, that's the only reason you would be seen in public in that thing.

[Michael Duncan]

And I mean, it just embodies the fakeness of this guy where it's like that smock, his, like, safety gloves, safety goggles, but he still has to wear, like, jeans and boots because he's a real Texan. But it's, again, it's like you just see it and it's the fakest thing possible, top to bottom. It's.

[Guest Speaker]

Well, I think.

[Josh Holmes]

Look, I think that this is a case of mistaken scheduling. This happens from time to time when you're running campaigns and things get chaotic and people want you in different parts of the state. You got to lock down constituencies. And they heard he was really good at giving torch. They heard he was great at it.

[Michael Duncan]

And what he's been described as, like, flaming like. Well, this is up his alley. That's the rumors.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what they said. And so the UA Local 142, Plumbers and Pipe fitters.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God. Is that who it is?

[Wolf]

This is the pipe fitter?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, the pipe fitters. What they wanted to do is have him do an apprenticeship at a training center in San Antonio.

[John Ashbrook]

You're telling me he was laying pipe and blowing torch?

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's what they. Yeah, that's what happened.

[John Ashbrook]

Look, we're just reporting the news.

[Josh Holmes]

See how you can mistake these things, right? I mean, you're trying to do a scheduling, make sure that you.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, the awkwardness is surprising because again, we've heard from folks on the ground in Texas that he's a specialist at work in the pipe, but it didn't seem like it from this video clip. So I think a lot of people are confused.

[Wolf]

No, I took the opposite view. It looked to me like he was very, very comfortable with that arrangement. Smug, from the look of this video.

[Josh Holmes]

Is it the mounted torch he didn't like that one, the one that's pointed right at his face.

[Michael Duncan]

This guy's such a mortal.

[Sean Hannity]

I don't know.

[Wolf]

What an idiot.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but you can see how the, you know, I mean, like, people thought one thing, they got another. And it may not have been the best camping content that you could come up with. Well, anyway, that was out of the great state of Texas. It turns out there's a lot more going on. DONALD Trump president, UNITED STATES had some thoughts about this ongoing controversy that is happening within the wnba. Of course, Sophie Cunningham going over to, I think, play the Minnesota Lynx. It always has to be my people.

[Guest Speaker]

Fuck.

[Josh Holmes]

It just like, it sucks that I have to defend this and I'm not going to. But she was just doing what she does. She's expressed literally one opinion. No political views whatsoever. But she's like, I don't really think that men should play.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, women's basketball should be for women.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. That's it. But it has set up an uproar every city she goes to. It's like a traveling circus of leftists who I think is the kind of the base of the wnba. It is at some level. And so they had this huge problem and, like, the coach of the Lynx or whatever wore some trans thing.

[Michael Duncan]

Sure. Like, protect trans children. Like, that's a real thing, first off.

[Josh Holmes]

And like, the power forward for the team that she's playing has just kind of been associated with the other side. I mean, it's just so ridiculous. It's low class. It's ridiculous. And like, if you're a professional athlete, you're way beyond that, as Sophie Cunningham is. But apparently nobody else in the WNBA is. But leave it to our great president to sort of distill all that in clip four.

[Sean Hannity]

And I'll tell you what, if I were ever, I'd be the greatest women's basketball coach, because I don't like LeBron James. I like Michael Jordan much better.

[Interviewer]

He's right about that.

[Sean Hannity]

But I'd go up to LeBron James. It doesn't matter. I'd say, LeBron, did you ever have any desire to be a woman? Because what I'd love you to do is star on my team that I'm building up. I will have the greatest team in history. They'll never lose. Nobody will come within 70 points of this team.

[Wolf]

He's just hilarious. I mean, this guy, he's one of the greatest standup comedians of all time, and he is now our President of the United States.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, it's one of the reasons why when we have these Grandiose conversations about ideology and what comes next and how people form coalitions. There's no redoing this. Nobody's got to.

[Wolf]

You can't.

[Josh Holmes]

There's no redoing. You're never gonna see it again. Whether you love it or whether you hate it or whether you're somewhere in between, you like the policies, but you don't love what we just showed you. Like, you're.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, this is the president being like, if I had a WNBA team, I'd say LeBron James.

[Josh Holmes]

It's hysterical stuff, right? So. But the women weren't done in just the wnba. Now, recall that that is a. A league that operates under the NBA. Never made a dime until recent years. Basically, where it's, you know, now becoming. Because there is some.

[Michael Duncan]

But it's still not profitable. It's the thing. They're still dependent on the NBA for the money. Yeah, it's subsidized by the NBA. That's why it's inherently left wing and fake and bullshit. Is because they're just trying to prove a point of like, look, we'll have a women's league, even though it's completely subsidized by the actual NBA.

[Wolf]

And then for a couple of years, you get Caitlin Clark and a bunch of people are like, wow, this is actually inspiring for our kids out there. And they're like, no, no, we hate you. You can't. You can't be inspired by this. This doesn't belong to you. Hoping to play professional sports, every one

[John Ashbrook]

of my friends with daughters was like,

[Josh Holmes]

oh my gosh, I'm gonna take them to WNBA game. And they're like, no, we don't want. We hate you and we hate her. Well, that's a good business opportunity. Obviously there is, you know, a bunch of people who want to invest money and growth opportunities. Why not women's baseball just like a league of their own. Well, they kicked it all off this week with women's professional baseball league. Here's the opener and the anthem in clip nine.

[Michael Duncan]

And the rocky glare the bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night that I was still there.

[Josh Holmes]

What's not to love? Oh, what's not, though? That's like, that's the kind of high class entertainment that you would want to showcase. What you would imagine to be top tier.

[John Ashbrook]

My favorite part of the clip, clearly she's like at the wrong register. In her voice, everything is wrong. Is God bless those nice women who tried to find a way to harmonize with her.

[Josh Holmes]

I know, I thought the same thing.

[Michael Duncan]

And then she still couldn't hit the mark at the end. Still there, like three seconds.

[John Ashbrook]

Can we play because. Because these, these women are doing what, like your music teacher did when you were in school. Like, this is the up here. Let's play that from the top real quick again so you can catch it. Here we go. No, no, it's not working.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay, cut it.

[John Ashbrook]

You can cut it. You can cut it.

[Wolf]

I don't know if you guys saw this, but there was a video that went out on Twitter. It was a hot mic moment before this performance where that lady who was the main singer was given those two backup singers a hard time.

[Michael Duncan]

Are you serious?

[Wolf]

Before it happened, she was like, I'm not sure you're up for this.

[American Petroleum Institute Announcer]

No.

[Michael Duncan]

Hey, dude, that's incredible.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, are you serious?

[Wolf]

I'm not kidding you. They caught her on a hot mic. She was like losing her mind on these two other girls who were like, placed in this situation. And she's like, I'm famous.

[Michael Duncan]

Don't you understand?

[Josh Holmes]

Not everybody can stand on the big stage. Ladies, see if you can harmonize with this. Oh my God, what an outrage. All right, so the socialists obviously have been a huge topic of discussion on the Variety program and everywhere in the country because of Michigan and what's happening in Wisconsin. Basically everywhere. The Democratic Party. And we covered on Thursday, this guy, William Lawrence, who I found personally completely hilarious in that he was running against the former ambassador of Ukraine and a Navy seal, happened to be Barack Obama's like national security guy. Two like, well, credentialed people. Would I agree with them ideologically?

[Wolf]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

Would I think that they would make for very good Democratic candidates for Congress? Absolutely. But instead this like complete loser who operated the Sunrise movement.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Basically looks like a dick dictionary salesman who goes door to door and he wants to steal your gas powered car. That's his cat.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You would trust him for nothing.

[John Ashbrook]

He.

[Michael Duncan]

He beat a Navy SEAL and an ambassador to Ukraine.

[Sean Hannity]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

But one of the, the big controversies that is happening in Michigan now that they've reached the general election, they were more than happy to wear the DSA label in the primary.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But now that they're in the general, people are asking legitimate questions like, are you really a member of the dsa? And of course, Elsay Ad, the Democratic candidate for Senate is like,

[Michael Duncan]

we align.

[Josh Holmes]

But like, I'm not like a card count carrying member.

[Michael Duncan]

The wink wink, like, literally everyone on stage with me is like advocating for communism. And Hasan Piker's right there and Ilhan Omar is right there but me, you know, I don't know if you could

[Josh Holmes]

say that Lawrence invented a new way to handle that question in clip one.

[Interviewer]

So did you let that membership expire because of the general election?

[John Ashbrook]

No, it's just because I want to make clear to my constituents that I'm here to represent them.

[Interviewer]

When did you leave the Democratic Socialists of America?

[John Ashbrook]

It was within the last month.

[Michael Duncan]

I let my membership lapse. My membership lapse. Dude, like, he's got a gym card.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah,

[Political Candidate]

Laps.

[Michael Duncan]

This is a political organization.

[Josh Holmes]

This is not like, oh well, 60 bucks a month, then you come and use the dumbbells.

[Wolf]

Listen, I think people might be fooled. You know, they watch that interview on CNN and they hear him say that his card is not valid anymore. And they might think, well, maybe this guy isn't actually a communist.

[Michael Duncan]

Is it like Costco where they're like, your membership has lapsed. You're not allowed into the meeting. Like when you walk in the door at the dsa, first off, that they have a membership is wild to me. Why like a paying dues, many membership. Well, I let it lapse. Actually, I could pay.

[Josh Holmes]

Do we think that's a thing? Like, do we think what he's saying is actually a thing in that you can let a membership lap? Like, is there, is there a library building of socialists?

[Michael Duncan]

I guess you can like socialist.

[Josh Holmes]

You're like, oh, I've got this cigar room at the socialist Club this evening. And you know what, I did pay my dues this month and so I've got a reservation and it's all great.

[John Ashbrook]

I just love the idea that he thinks whether he has a current membership or not is like a get out of jail free card.

[Michael Duncan]

That is so funny.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, like, like I may be a communist, but I am no longer a card carrying communist.

[Josh Holmes]

Within the last month. And that's his excuse. That's well within the last month.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

No, I mean, I didn't pay the.

[Michael Duncan]

But also, I think it's funny, he let slip. He was like, yeah, well, I just wanted to let the people Michigan know, you know, I'm gonna represent them. Because they know, okay. In a general election, it's kind of scary for people to find out you're a communist. And he's like, so here's the loophole, right? I just didn't pay my dues.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Michael Duncan]

I didn't pay my bill last month.

[Josh Holmes]

But also just like level set. This is a actual majority making district that this man is running against. It's a plus two trump district. Whether the House is Republican or Democrat relies on that cat and he's no longer a member. Put the shoe on the other foot for a minute and someone's like, so you were a member of the Klan. Which, look, I don't want to draw false comparisons here, but one big platform for this whole operation is the elimination of Israel and Western civilization and the United States. Right. So like kind of is same, same in a lot of different ways. I mean, it's a different population that they're targeting, but it's kind of like, yeah, it's in the same category.

[John Ashbrook]

It's like, it's like being like, well, I don't have my hood. It's at the dry cleaner.

[Josh Holmes]

You're like, oh, you're a member of the clan. He's like, wow, my membership lapse.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, I left the outfit of the dry cleaners. I didn't pick it up.

[John Ashbrook]

Also, also very on brand for a communist to skip the bill.

[Sean Hannity]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

For over two decades, the Tunnels to Towers foundation has been there for our fallen and catastrophically injured first responders, military and Gold Star families born from the tragedy of 9 11. Tunnel to towers provides mortgage free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and build specifically adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. The foundation also offers scholarships for college, trade school programs and for children of Gold Star families, fallen first responders and catastrophically injured veterans. And Tunnel to Towers is committed to eradicating veteran homelessness and helping America Never forget September 11th. To learn more about the foundation's mission and their impact and how you can support the Nation's heroes, visit t2t.org no, no question about it. All right, so look, Trump had a little bit of more standup comedy. He's got this thing that he does with Japan. There's been some controversy about Japan's currency and where they're at in the global marketplace. And we've been involved and not everybody's followed this kind of thing.

[Wolf]

Yeah, Trump business news.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, but Trump's got to take clip

[Sean Hannity]

FOX we have a good relationship with Japan. We're very strong, very, very strong financially. And they are, you know, they have a weakening yen and they wanted a little bit of help. And we're always there for Japan. Japan's been very good to us with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor.

[Wolf]

It's, it's the exact same comment that somebody would make sitting around a table just like this, joking around with their buddies. And he does it. We will never under any circumstances get this back again in Our lifetimes or our children's lifetimes. This guy is so funny, and I don't want it to stop.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, dude.

[Michael Duncan]

I also. Can we run that back? The end of it is the best. Because he knows he dropped a great punchline.

[Wolf]

He did.

[Michael Duncan]

And he's like, you all got that right. Play the clip again.

[Sean Hannity]

They have a weakening yen and they wanted a little bit of help. And we're always there for Japan. Japan's been very good to us, with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor.

[Interviewer]

There it is.

[John Ashbrook]

Leads in. He leans in because he wants to get the reaction. Because Donald Trump does this sometimes to amuse himself. You can tell when he's working up to a line that he has talked to other people about or he's dropped some other times, and he's like, no, I'm going to roll it out again.

[Interviewer]

Oh, you.

[Wolf]

You could. You could see when it occurred to him. Yeah, it was during the buildup.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Wolf]

It was when he was like, the yen, the yen, the yen. And he's like, I'm taking exactly where I want to take it.

[Josh Holmes]

It's so good. All right, so earlier this week, we had covered this woman who's running for governor in Wisconsin, who has what appears to be an insurmountable lead, a DSA candidate named Hong, who I honestly, if you listen to, she sounds like a college sophomore.

[Wolf]

Right?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, She's. She's unwell.

[Wolf]

Hong.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, we prefer.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, Hong and you. Oh, my God.

[John Ashbrook]

What Fun time Friday.

[Josh Holmes]

Mrs. Duncan, again, we are so sorry. There's.

[Sean Hannity]

We.

[Josh Holmes]

We bring this out and then we take responsibility.

[Louis Cobb]

But.

[Josh Holmes]

But what she was wrapped around the axle about all week was this hilarious proposition about whether she's anti Thanksgiving because she put out a tweet. Can we put the tweet up first? Let's put the tweet up. So cancel Thanksgiving.

[Wolf]

Right, Right.

[Josh Holmes]

So this is all over Ferris. It was all. We covered it Tuesday before anybody else did. Like, we put it up there. Cancel Thanksgiving. And then she talks about all the pain associated with Thanksgiving. That's kind of her point of view. She also had conversations on Twitter about her hatred of Christmas and the Fourth of July and, like, Valentine's Day, whatever reason, Thanksgiving's really struck a nerve.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And she needs to try to get out from underneath all of this. Hong comes, tries to come back from some of this, and she's got. Do we have a clip this?

[Michael Duncan]

Clip 2. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Fucking hilarious. I don't want to cancel it. I actually love it. I love this so much. Is because Thanksgiving at this point is such a quintessential American holiday. And everyone except for, like, these wet blanket libs who for years are like, no, actually, that thing that you love is bad. Like, we're all over it. Americans are completely over that bs and she's now at the point where she's forced to be like, no, actually, it's my favorite. And you can see her face of, like, she's been owned so badly by everyone dunking on her, where she's like, no, actually, I'll say it. Thanksgiving. Good. All my. All my, like, consultants are saying that I'm getting owned nonstop. Like, look at the face she has to make because she's been getting owned nonstop. Because people love Thanksgiving. But it's also the same thing, is, like, they all realize the vast majority of people don't want this DSA communist bullshit, right? And all they want to spread is misery. And that's what the whole canceled Thanksgiving is about, is. It's miserable. People want to make other people miserable. And now everyone made her miserable for being an idiot. And so she has to come out and be like, actually, Thanksgiving good. It's wonderful.

[Wolf]

Right? And now that her membership card has

[Josh Holmes]

also lapsed on the Cancel Thanksgiving.

[Wolf]

Now she. Yeah, now she's running for office.

[Michael Duncan]

I want. I want her to get pressured into, like, eating turkey. Like, prove dude, you like Thanksgiving. And she's like a chef. I want you to cook a Thanksgiving meal live and then eat the turkey.

[Josh Holmes]

Somebody eat the stuffing.

[Wolf]

Hong. Somebody posted. Somebody posted an AI photo of her sitting at Trump's desk at Trump Tower. And instead of, like, the Mexican, it was a Thanksgiving plate in front of her.

[Michael Duncan]

People are Thanksgiving people.

[Wolf]

People are so funny.

[Josh Holmes]

They are so funny. But it's like, this is kind of. I mean, you got to this a little bit on Thursday's episode Dunks, where you're talking about how everything that they believe and everything that they say, they. They try to, like, now erase and hide underneath this, like, well, affordability and whatever, where there's an element of that. But generally speaking, like, you're talking about elite political talent with Mamdani or even somebody like El Sayed, Then you deal with somebody like Hong where they're like, cancel Thanksgiving. And they're like, what do you say? Like, you think we should cancel? Like, it's my favorite.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, it's my absolute favorite. I mean, it's like, maybe the lithium hit, you know, Suddenly she sought some professional help and took care of that situation with her personality, I guess.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know that's part of it. So Al Syed was at it again and he's kind of doing a version.

[Michael Duncan]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

It's not like I love Thanksgiving versus canceled Thanksgiving, but it's, it's a little bit more politically athletic move that he's trying to pull off when it deals with defunding the police and clips.

[Interviewer]

I want to ask you about some scrutiny you've gotten for past social media posts that you deleted, including about defunding the police. Now, you've said recently you never, never called for defunding the police, but our K File team here in CNN found interviews in the past where you did repeatedly back in 2020, including in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing. I want you to listen to your comments here.

[Political Candidate]

I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets. What if we were to invest in social services? What if we were to invest in public schools? What if we were to invest in public libraries? What would the world look like there? And I think that has to be the way we go. And that means both investing more in these services and it also means investing less in police.

[Interviewer]

So why did you say you never call for defunding the police when it sounded like you did in the past?

[Michael Duncan]

Amazing. CNN's asking.

[Political Candidate]

You know what's interesting about that comment is I go in as far as defining what I mean by that. You disagree with investing in libraries and public services and social services. War material that we made too much of during the war in Iraq.

[Louis Cobb]

Okay.

[Wolf]

What I heard is that his membership has also lapsed. Funny, they all lapse.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you've asked me about defunding police. I will ask you, sir, what is, what is wrong with a public library?

[John Ashbrook]

I call this the. I know you are, but what am I? Defendant. Yeah, you know, where you just flip it around on the person who asked the question. I also love in there. He's like, well, basically saying is you. Like you didn't, you didn't read it clearly enough. Because what I'm talking about is public library.

[Josh Holmes]

It was his voice.

[John Ashbrook]

And then he immediately perspectives proceeds to reference something that was not said in that statement. War material. That's what I actually meant.

[Michael Duncan]

War material.

[John Ashbrook]

Not the 45 seconds of audio we just played of you and your own voice. It's this other thing. It's just ridiculous.

[Josh Holmes]

Can somebody explain what is war material? Is that. Is that.

[Wolf]

It's like the press it's like, is that defense? It's like calling a press release a communique. You know, when you, when you plus it up to that level, it means it's more important.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, I got it.

[Michael Duncan]

I think it's like yellow cake uranium or something like that. Like war material material. Trying to find war material. Saddam might have some, so he's looking for it now. I don't understand what he was saying. The one thing I hate the most about that clip, and you'll see a lot of these lefties try to do this bullshit, is they want to be like, no, you don't understand. We have to take away the police and make the world more unsafe for you because we want to help kids. No, you don't want to help kids. Do you know how much funding schools get?

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Do you know how, like, they don't give a shit? There's more spent per student in New York City's public schools than college tuition in this country. And it's not helping them at all. Scores continue to get higher. All the money is getting eaten by almost like the unions get the money. So it's all patronage thing.

[Josh Holmes]

I always find this to be the most fascinating part about these leftist ideologies is that you can see an increase in funding for things that we all mutually agree on. Like, education for kids is super important. Important, right? Public schools, like, make sure every kid's got an education. Nobody's against that. And then you see, like, scores go down despite the, the. The 2x3x4x5x6x funding that you're doing. And it's like, at no point does it occur to somebody like this in their materials to ever sit back and be like, I don't know, maybe we should examine why it is that we're throwing more money at something that's not working. And maybe try to get something that is working and throw money at that.

[Michael Duncan]

Like they.

[John Ashbrook]

But the schools, the school's thing is even less offensive than the public library, right? It's like, well, you know, we're gonna get all these gang bangers to stop shooting each other. You know what? Book night, you know, right? It's like, it's such a preposterous thing.

[Michael Duncan]

No more midnight basketball, actually, just libraries.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like, Abdul, you know, something happened in the 90s and it has proliferated through the 2000s tens and now twenties, and it's called the Internet, right? And people are there, are there.

[John Ashbrook]

There are a million books on this device I carry around in my pocket, a cell phone. That I could read all day, every day. Everybody has access to this thing. The idea that we need a public library and that's somehow going to stop crime.

[Wolf]

If only you could show them a card catalog.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Wolf]

You know, they'll just like walk away from all that fun they're having.

[Josh Holmes]

Michael, I don't think you can properly classify anything on the phone as a material.

[John Ashbrook]

It's not a materiality.

[Josh Holmes]

You have to hold it and feel

[John Ashbrook]

it because it's in the cloud.

[Josh Holmes]

You have to put it in your. You got to feel it in your hands to be a material.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

It has to be hard paper. Okay. So the New York Times weighed in on something that Democrats. Underneath this socialist uprising that everybody's talking about and they're winning elections within democratic primaries is the true agenda.

[Wolf]

In part.

[Josh Holmes]

It pulls along with them in many ways. And one of those is a leftist that is proposing proxy votes for 18 year olds on behalf of children. So they don't actually have to vote. They just like.

[Michael Duncan]

It's on behalf of children.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. So people just. Well, 18, like you don't actually have to vote.

[Michael Duncan]

How does any of this.

[John Ashbrook]

I saw this clip. Dude, you got, you gotta just.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like lefty psychos. Just, just.

[Michael Duncan]

Is this like how the pod save guys are trying to push like voting for 16 year olds a couple years ago?

[Wolf]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

You guys remember that?

[Josh Holmes]

No, but it's a step further in that they don't actually have to vote. Somebody can vote for them.

[Guest Speaker]

I've gotten in some hot water for proposing we consider overweighting the votes of younger people or assigning the youngest eligible voters proxy votes for the unrepresented children of our country. So those are edgy. Why not assign them to those children's parents? Well, because there's a divergence of interest between parents and children. And I think it's likelier that young people, not people who are raising families, will have the best insight into the interests of children. Whereas you, if you were awarded five policy votes, I think it's absurd to imagine.

[Interviewer]

Thank you.

[Michael Duncan]

That's insane.

[Guest Speaker]

24 year old recent college graduate has a better assessment of the interests of my own children than I do.

[Michael Duncan]

And I say this with all Due

[Guest Speaker]

respect to 24 year old recent college graduates of whom I hope to be

[Michael Duncan]

the parent of in nine years or so.

[Guest Speaker]

I think parents generally confuse the interests of their family with the interests of their children.

[Sean Hannity]

Wow.

[Guest Speaker]

Our goal, I think as parents, but also as a society is trying to make sure that children aren't the hostages of their parents.

[Michael Duncan]

Hold up, kids.

[Louis Cobb]

What?

[John Ashbrook]

Don't.

[Michael Duncan]

Don't play the clip. Can we get a freeze frame? As I'm talking of just the dude who suggested this.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you take a look at that boy.

[Michael Duncan]

Does he look like the kind of guy who'd want to separate children from their parents? For what purpose? This is the most nefarious I've ever heard in my life.

[Josh Holmes]

He's like, maybe you bring him over to my house.

[Michael Duncan]

Maybe. Dude, where is Chris Hansen? Can Chris Hansen sit down with this guy instead of Ross? He used to be like, why don't you have a seat over there, buddy? So you said right here that, like, dude, that. That's the most disturbing shit. I hope to God this guy doesn't have any kids. I hope he's never allowed within like 300ft of a school. Because him being like, well, here's the thing is I don't think parents know what's best for the kid. Like, I would. I would not let that man out of the building without the FBI first interviewing him. Going through his hard drive. That's the most disturbing shit I've ever heard in my. He's like, no, I don't think. I think the problem is that parents don't have the best in mind for their children. Dude, by definition, your flesh and blood, there's literally nothing you care about more than your child. And to be like, I think we should give their votes to 18 year olds is, what are we doing here? This is the strangest, weirdest guy. Like, this is. I don't want to extrapolate. I feel like his political opinions are informed by a very strange perversion that he has. There's a very strange thing going on with this guy and a fascination with children and separating them from their parents. Because that seems like the whole thing is like, Well, I actually disagree. I think parents are, like, keeping their kids as hostages and you should let me have access to the children. It's like, what I'm shocked at Ross was like, okay, this shit's over, dude. I'm calling the cops. What I love about the strangest, weirdest guy who allowed this.

[John Ashbrook]

He. He knows. The guy knows it's controversial, but, like, the arrogance to say it into a microphone to Ross. Doubt that.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

New York Times studio.

[Wolf]

What?

[Josh Holmes]

Saying it straight to his face like, I want control of your children.

[Michael Duncan]

That's so weird.

[Josh Holmes]

Like that.

[Michael Duncan]

And his voice. Why do they.

[Wolf]

Why do the libs all have the glottal fry? What is that?

[John Ashbrook]

I don't know.

[Michael Duncan]

Why do they do that?

[Josh Holmes]

There must be A Like, I think maybe 10, 15 years from now, we'll get the science to know that there is some sort of. Of brain deficiency that is involved.

[Wolf]

It's got to be.

[John Ashbrook]

It might be from all the double masking.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Or like, you know, trauma or whatever it is. But when you go into the deep, dark recesses of the left, you also have a voice box similarity that, like, there's a cerebellum issue. I don't know. Because it is remarkable how many of them have this exact same.

[Sean Hannity]

They all have it.

[Josh Holmes]

And also they kind of look the same.

[Louis Cobb]

Throw that.

[Josh Holmes]

That photo thing back up.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, this guy's got to go to jail. He's basically got to go to jail, dude.

[Josh Holmes]

He's basically just a little bit of an older version of that William Lawrence guy that we just put up in the earlier thing. They're all the same. It's got.

[Michael Duncan]

Does anyone have that gentleman's name? I mean, it's the same thing, dude. It's the str. He's like a strange vegan from Brooklyn who's got a lot of bad ideas and a terrible history of failure.

[Josh Holmes]

His name is Samuel Moyn. Yale Law School.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, there it is.

[John Ashbrook]

Samuel Moyne.

[Michael Duncan]

That's a shame. That's a shame.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. We should ask Luke about that situation,

[Michael Duncan]

that whole Yale thing.

[John Ashbrook]

This guy needs to be jail.

[Michael Duncan]

Pull this photo up one last time, folks. If you see this man in the community, do not be afraid to call the authorities and be like, there's a very strange man. I don't know what he's doing on the plate around. He's trying to talk to children and he's saying it's for voter reg. I don't think it's.

[Josh Holmes]

We should ask some questions about Luke, about whether or not Samuel was something anywhere near where the swimsuit covers.

[Michael Duncan]

I'm. That's a dangerous man. I think he's an oddball. He should be in jail 100%.

[Josh Holmes]

Just.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the most disturbing I've heard.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude. It's just so weird. And that's the point. I think that's the, like, the bow that we tie in a bunch of this week make is that it's not enough to just be kind of a leftist and weird in terms of you thinking that America's society, our economy, our culture, or all this stuff is bad and that like, Middle Eastern, sub Saharan, Third world is preferable. Like, that's dumb. And we can argue about that. They also have this weird thing that's going underneath all of it that is just Unsettling.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. I mean, taking APART the family is 100 part of the agenda.

[Wolf]

It's just, they just all really want

[Michael Duncan]

to do that the same way that they want to make it, like at schools that like teachers aren't allowed to tell parents that your son or daughter is identifying as this gender.

[Wolf]

Like, you got to keep secrets.

[Michael Duncan]

The way that parents that California was like the state can now like seize your children.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Like, it's a fundamental thing. Is like breaking families apart. And that guy is a prime example.

[John Ashbrook]

It's important to remember that 25 years ago, when all of these arguments were made by conservatives about all the we wanted them to do, they were like, well, no, that's crazy. That is. But the slippery slope is real. This is how those people are. And I'm just so glad that we got to the point where they're saying it to us in public.

[Michael Duncan]

Because this.

[John Ashbrook]

They've always been this way.

[Josh Holmes]

They have always been this way.

[Michael Duncan]

And I hope to God they face the consequences.

[Guest Speaker]

And they.

[Josh Holmes]

But there's still like to the point that you made on Thursday, there's enough political acumen within the Democratic establishment that only cares about power and only cares about winning to grab ahold of the guys who are like, no, I want your kids and be like, you can't say that. No, you can't say that. We need to talk about housing costs.

[Michael Duncan]

No, what you say instead is your membership lapsed.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right, exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

Now say you like the turkey and they're like, thanksgiving's great, let's get you

[Josh Holmes]

to November and then you can talk about.

[Michael Duncan]

Exactly.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Get you an office and then you'd be a weirdo again.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, that's what's happening here. It's happening in real time. It's enough to make you want to drink.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

If you do, if you do, you're gonna want Zbionics. We swear by it here on the Ruthless Variety program. We have an awful lot of events coming up that we will announce in the next few weeks. And when we go on them, we're gonna take one thing and one thing exactly. Maybe not wolf, maybe not ATP, but we're gonna take the ZBiotics because it is a game changing pre alcohol drink, isn't it smug.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right. So here's the thing folks, is when you go out, you have a big night, you have a few drinks, you enjoy yourself, you come home and you think, oh, I better drink like four glasses of water or I better have some Gatorade or else I'm gonna feel Bad, but you still feel like trash in the morning. And it's because it's not about dehydration. See, what happens is when you drink alcohol, your stomach breaks it down and there's these toxic little byproducts, and that's what makes you feel bad. But Zbiotics knocks that right out.

[John Ashbrook]

That's right, smug. And when we travel, we keep a pretty full dance card. We got events, we got dinners, we've got after parties, and we gotta be up early the next day. So my first drink every night is Zebiotics.

[Michael Duncan]

That's right.

[John Ashbrook]

So the next day you don't feel bad.

[Michael Duncan]

100%.

[Wolf]

That's why we always say there's no tomorrow without Zebiotics today.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you're exactly right, smash. So if you go to zbiotics.com ruthless you can learn more and get 15% off your first order. When you use Ruthless at the checkout, ZBiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason at all, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to zbiotics.com ruthless and use the code ruthless at checkout for 15% off. All right, so I think this was last Funtime Friday. We talked about the centaur robot that

[Michael Duncan]

I fully support and the centaur company. Please reach out and send a couple of those.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And you were passionate.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

But one of the things that stuck all of us on the show that we'd never really thought about until you said it, this is like, you know, this is kind of why this works. You think about these things in a different way is that you were talking about how it doesn't have a router head.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

How it they put the antenna as

[Michael Duncan]

horn so now you've got another weapon for it to attack your intruders.

[Guest Speaker]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, well, there's a router head that has, we can see the other side. So you can measure it up against your centaur that you wanted in clip eight.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, God, it's terrifying.

[Michael Duncan]

Look at that guy. For audio only listeners, this, this robot has like a little swiffer and his head is an actual router. And they put, there's like two googly eyes on it.

[Josh Holmes]

It's real jerky, dude.

[Michael Duncan]

He's got a little bag.

[Interviewer]

Oh,

[Wolf]

You think people would just walk up to that and ask, sir, what's your password? I need WI fi here.

[Michael Duncan]

I, I, I'll just say, just as

[Josh Holmes]

like a personal note, this thing having, having watch. If we can play it on mute. If you can just play that so our video guys can get a little bit of what I'm saying. If. If my kids walked into the house, I got two boys. If they walked in the house and they saw this thing, like, dusting and walking around like this, it would be less than 15 seconds before one of them would do a flying freaking trick.

[Michael Duncan]

Your youngest would beat the hell out of this thing within minutes.

[Josh Holmes]

They would be like, how do I dust?

[Michael Duncan]

Here's also my guess. I think Duncan's oldest son would try to help him around. Like, he's like, I'm seeing you're having problems. Let me help you. I see you have a router head.

[Josh Holmes]

Maybe I can help you.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah. He'd be like, whoa, it seems like you're having some problems. I can help you out. He'd show him his dinosaur collection. But you could dust that off if it makes it feel better, I think. Here's the thing.

[John Ashbrook]

Joey is a very compassionate guy.

[Michael Duncan]

That's the thing. He's like a future Nobel Prize.

[John Ashbrook]

And you know what? When all these robots revolt against us and murder us, they're going to need. My family's going to be safe because my son is sweet.

[Josh Holmes]

He's gonna talk sense into it.

[Michael Duncan]

He's gonna talk about it. I'm talking. My centaurs will stand with me. But here's the thing is. Can you play the video in the background? Thank you. So I support this. I fully support this. I think right now. See, look, it looks like he's having a little bit of a stumble. He'll get over that. It'll get better. I fully support. I mean, like, look at this guy. He's trying his best. You gotta give it to him. He's a little short guy. I don't like the look of the router because that's reminding you of that. This is like a nefarious little robot. You gotta trick people into letting them into their homes, Right? Make it look less crazy. And I think you've got a winner. Because if you essentially have a robot all day long doing the stuff that you don't want to deal with, it's doing your laundry, it's doing your dishes, it's keep the place neat and you don't have to worry about it, I think that's a win. That's a huge win for everybody. You've got more time to spend with your kids doing what you want. You just cannot make it look weird. And. And two little googly eyes on it is not going to be like, oh, all of a sudden it's my friend. No, it still looks like a crazy ass little robot with shit sticking out of it.

[Wolf]

You know, you have to think if Ross Douth that had one of those, it might have prevented that creeper from walking into a studio. He might have stopped that guy.

[Michael Duncan]

You want the centaur? You want the centaur for that guy who he was interviewing, I definitely send the centaur after him.

[Josh Holmes]

You feel like my youngest would do some weird programming on that thing.

[Michael Duncan]

Well, you know what, you bring it up. I bet, I bet that little, this little robot could help with that creepy dude because he's got a router on his head and he could figure out what kind of websites that guy visits. Yeah, that might be helpful for the police.

[Josh Holmes]

It's tao, a humanoid robot. It's tele operated by a remote human operator. Okay, so it's not like fully audit, you know, but they're, they're trying this thing out in San Francisco, Mechanical Turk. It was launched at the end of last month and so they're just trying.

[Michael Duncan]

So I actually have heard about this company, so. So there's a bunch of this happening in San Francisco where. So this is the all in one thing of where they are. So it costs 30 an hour and they send this thing to clean your house. You pay $30 an hour for cleaning and it's teleoperated. And what they're trying to do is like get training data essentially of like, okay, different houses. Because not everyone has their dishwasher in the same place. Not everyone has a bookshelf or whatever in the same place for it to dust. So they're trying to give it as much training data. There's another company that sends human maids, right? And it's like $10 or even free for them to clean your place. But they all have like iPhones aiming down at their hands so that it's just collecting data on like how to wash dishes, how to put them in dishwashers. All different places.

[Louis Cobb]

Is.

[Michael Duncan]

Would you guys let in any of these companies in your house to get training data? If it's like 10 bucks for them to clean your entire house? No, no, not at all. 10 bucks cleaning your whole house. You're not letting in because they're human. They're human maids. They're just wearing cameras aiming just at their hands. So it's not even like looking around your house. They wear these hats. The camera's aimed at their hands so they only see hands.

[John Ashbrook]

Hands, huh?

[Wolf]

I, I need to hear more.

[Michael Duncan]

You know what's the Decision making process. What information is lacking here?

[Wolf]

Station.

[Michael Duncan]

It's a camera on their hands, buddy. Yes or no. $10 today.

[Wolf]

I would station a centaur out front and a. A centaur out back, guns in hand, just to deter anybody who thought the wrong thing.

[Michael Duncan]

So you're going to shoot the maids at the cent. That's one approach. Duncan, you're 10 bucks.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know these things, they're all around. They're all around San Francisco.

[John Ashbrook]

I don't want to. I don't want to beta test this thing. You know, when they get it really up to snuff.

[Michael Duncan]

Not the robot guy. I'm talking about the maids who are just taping. Recording their hands. I would do it. 10 bucks to clean my house and all you're doing is recording your hands. Yeah, done. If I get. That's a great deal.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah, I'll take that.

[Michael Duncan]

All day long.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm in.

[Michael Duncan]

All day long.

[Sean Hannity]

Really?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, 100%. If it's just videoing their hands. Wave of the future. Wave of the future.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, look, it's a compelling argument. Obviously anybody want their house compared to completely clean for $10. I just have some fear about all of it.

[Michael Duncan]

The maids are gonna. The maids are gonna do nefarious things. I think the router guy looks more nefarious than just like a human maid. Yeah, just like normal maid ladies. They're like, oh yeah, I'm just. I have a camera pointed at my hands. But everything else here is normal. As opposed to like this like drunk little robo. The router on his head. He's gonna break shit in the house. I'm not letting him in.

[Josh Holmes]

I'd send it on the Talarico campaign to go. Go blow torches for a while and see how it does with that and then figure it out from there anyway.

[Guest Speaker]

Geez.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so there are a couple of other things. There is one of the things that we, I think both Johnny and I, and to some extent you two have always sort of fantasized about, is being able to sports broadcast. And we've been in talks over the years about doing like congressional baseball games and things like that. It's never really worked out for us. Maybe it will in the future. But we think we know how to do that better than anybody ever has. We grew up with the cadences of Jack Buck and Vin Scully and all that kind of thing. So you know it when you see it, when something is just fantastic. Like somebody just gets it. They know how to broadcast the game. Turns out there was an auction like a Full open auction where a guy won the opportunity to broadcast a full inning at a Phillies game.

[Wolf]

Just an outstanding auction item. It's just, it's great creativity.

[Josh Holmes]

I'd pay money. I'd want to do it with you fellows though, if we did it. And this is how it came out in clip two. We are headed to the third inning. Phillies on top two to one. And we're pleased to welcome Lewis Cobb from Medford Lakes, New Jersey. He is our Phillies fantastic auction winner. He outbid the competition to spend an inning and do some play by play in the booth. And Louis, welcome. Glad to have you here.

[Louis Cobb]

Thank you, Scott. It's a thrill to be here. It's a lifelong dream to be in the Phillies broadcast booth. So here we go. Painter with the first pitch. Duarte. It's in there for strike one.

[Sean Hannity]

Call.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, my gosh.

[Louis Cobb]

Two at the bottom of the second to take the lead as we start the top of the third. Now Painter delivers. It's bounced foul towards the Phillies dugout. And they count one and one.

[Sean Hannity]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

So I listen to the whole inning.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude, that is pretty good.

[Josh Holmes]

It was perfection. And he also had some. Just little ad lib moments where you let. Let it breathe a little bit, let the color.

[Michael Duncan]

Is there a phone?

[Josh Holmes]

What he does professionally well, so apparently at some point he had done youth games.

[Wolf]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Holmes]

So he had a little bit of background on the play by play stuff, but he's never professional.

[Michael Duncan]

He's legit ready for the big league. I know that was impressive as like

[Josh Holmes]

you saw barstool and a whole bunch of people were like, can we get him on like our favorite team? Because that guy was so good.

[Michael Duncan]

Damn.

[Josh Holmes]

And like it's a little bit of a hobby horse here on the Ruthless Friday Pro. We want to highlight it because I like, I think we would do that.

[Michael Duncan]

Dude, you gotta recognize greatness. That guy did an incredible job.

[Josh Holmes]

Did an incredible job.

[Michael Duncan]

Good voice for you, dude. He settled right in too. Thanks for having me. Here we go.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly.

[Michael Duncan]

He was ready for it on the spot.

[Wolf]

He was ready for it.

[Michael Duncan]

What a pro.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you guys want to do some comments?

[John Ashbrook]

Sure.

[Michael Duncan]

Always.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, so when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program or read your comments on a question of the day and we get back to the very next episode. And to do that, we always do it with the voice. But our question is from Thursday's episode. What's in your Instagram algorithm Recall, we had a very good discussion about how El Sayed was complaining about the fact that he had nothing but Instagram only fans models. And we pointed out the obvious, which is like, it doesn't put it in there unless you ask for it. Like, that's the algorithm. That's basically what they do there.

[John Ashbrook]

The job is for you to stay on the site. That's what an algorithm does. So it's giving you what you want.

[Michael Duncan]

Yes.

[John Ashbrook]

What you've interacted with, what you've viewed for too long.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

And occasionally they'll come up in politics where somebody will complain about an Internet company, and they're like, I can't believe I'm being served this gay porn or something, you know?

[Michael Duncan]

And it's like, that's a tough moment for them.

[Josh Holmes]

And it's like, ah, I hate to tell you why you got that. And now we all know you've done

[John Ashbrook]

it to yourself,

[Josh Holmes]

but to get to your comments and all that, we always start with a voice.

[Wolf]

Okay, first one from Ozzy O. And I'm not sure if he typed this out right after singing Crazy Train, but he could have. Ozzy writes, fellas, I'm a single man in my 30s, which some might think would be the danger zone for the Instagram algorithm to pump only fans content directly into my feed. Not so.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh.

[Wolf]

I've built my feed brick by brick to show me sports highlights, vintage American muscle cars, sailboats, military flyovers, and, as of late, hype videos as we gear up for college football kickoff. Maybe if Abdul spent more time understanding how great the US Is and less time trying to destroy it, he too could get Big Ten content slandering the fbs.

[Josh Holmes]

That's really well done.

[John Ashbrook]

Good man, Ozzy.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, man. What do we got?

[John Ashbrook]

Comment 2 is from Trish Joseph. Trish writes, I don't do Instagram, but my TikTok is wild. I get lots of little AI critters singing, don't put bananas in my butt, and I'll leave it at that. All right, I don't want to know what that is, Trish.

[Josh Holmes]

I'm less familiar with that medium. I don't know how you got the bananas in the butt, but I do know that banana pools work, and the

[Wolf]

Internet is a big place.

[Josh Holmes]

All right, comment three, Smuggles.

[Michael Duncan]

Comment threes from John Griffin. John writes, pouring one out for my boy Sri this morning. His rug and rampant dishonesty shall be forever missed. I'm 99% sure was a dead beagle on his head. And, yeah, happy trails. Good riddance.

[Wolf]

He came close. I mean, he came a lot closer than anybody would have guessed. I mean, he almost won that thing. Guys, I would have never expected.

[Josh Holmes]

Now the hair alone. The hair alone. Okay. You guys want some animal news?

[Michael Duncan]

Always.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, we haven't done a ton of it that this week. I guess we had some. Do we have some gorilla monkey? Nope, that was last week, I think.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, no animal knees so far.

[Josh Holmes]

So we've got new stuff. A pack of coyotes take over an abandoned West Hollywood complex. Graphic 2 if you want to pop that thing up, look at this. Yeah, this is. According to the New York Post, what you have is a pack of coyotes have moved into an abandoned West Hollywood condo complex, forcing locals to live in fear while demand the city steps in. The complex is at Romaine street and North Spalding Avenue, which has been under construction and empty for years. It was first taken over by homeless squatters, as one does in California, and now it's been replaced by these wild animals. Quote, it's kind of interesting to walk to your apartment and look up and see a coyote looking at you. Sorley. This character that they've quoted here told CBSLA la shocking videos and pictures appear to show six coyotes roaming the empty building with each one taking up a different room.

[Michael Duncan]

So they've super civilized.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, like, you know, to be honest, in terms of la, I feel like they're. Well, this is good tenants.

[John Ashbrook]

This is. The thing is, like, I knew this story was about California because the homeless people shooting fentanyl in the place didn't get anyone's attention, but suddenly the coyotes roll in. They're like, now it's news.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, totally.

[Josh Holmes]

That' These aren't even shitting on the street.

[Michael Duncan]

This is a huge upgrade. This is a huge upgrade. I think there's a lesson here to be learned, is that, like, California has built this homeless NGO complex where they're like, what if we take billions of dollars and we give the homeless people needles and then we spend more money with NGOs and we study the problem, we throw more money at it and nothing gets done. Turns out you can just put coyotes there and they take care of the problem.

[Josh Holmes]

And look at that thing. Pop up the graphic one more time. Look at that thing.

[Michael Duncan]

These look like good coyotes.

[Josh Holmes]

That thing is solid animals. Hey, I'd be pleased.

[Michael Duncan]

You see? But instead of a homeless guy who's shitting or using heroin, I think this is an upgrade.

[Josh Holmes]

That guy's like, hey, you got my mail.

[Michael Duncan]

And this is. The thing is, it's like sometimes you hear these theories of what if you introduce a natural predator to the environment? There's places where deer are constantly running into the roads, jumping into cars, causing problems. And so they're like, oh, what if we introduce coyotes and they solve it? Coyotes seem like problem solvers if you've got a bunch of homeless. What if you bring in some coyotes to go after them and it seems like it solved the problem. I support this completely. And they seem like really good coyotes. Each has their own room. They're like super civilized about this business. These aren't like wild coyotes. It goes on in this article. It says that like hazing is one of the things to do if you encounter one of the back, which is hilarious. That's always my first solution to any problem. But it says here it involves, quote, being big and loud by waving your arms over your head, making loud noises, or squirting the coyote with water until the squirting it with water are you get out of here.

[Wolf]

Bring your super soaker.

[Michael Duncan]

But that's the thing is like apparently

[Josh Holmes]

worth the coyote with water.

[Michael Duncan]

But that's the thing is I guess like coyotes are kind of like, okay, fine, I kind of. This isn't like wolves. Like I have yet to meet a good wolf in my life. Every wolf, top to bottom, terrible. You don't want to deal with them. Coyotes seem like someone you can work with. You know, they're problem solvers. They're not a menace. You're not always like, oh, wolf at it again. It's like, oh, the coyotes, they got rid of the homeless guys. Now my kids don't have to worry about some dude shooting fat fentanyl. Great. I support the coyotes. I fully support the coyotes. I think all California community should introduce coyotes.

[Josh Holmes]

Solid take, solid take.

[Wolf]

Like it.

[Josh Holmes]

In other news, the New York Post also reports that a massive recall affects 23,000 pounds of spaghetti over metal concerns.

[Michael Duncan]

I knew that I was going to do that.

[Josh Holmes]

It's good, it's good.

[Michael Duncan]

Can we get the graphic of this? Look at this.

[Louis Cobb]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

So they found metal in there.

[Sean Hannity]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know even know what we're looking at.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean I know exactly what happened here.

[Josh Holmes]

But for casserole 23000 pounds of you crops, home style foods, baked spaghetti and chicken cobbler products being recalled over concerns that may be contaminated with metal silvers federal regulator said we know exactly what

[Michael Duncan]

happened here is you had Vinnie who was told, okay, I need you to get rid of this gun. And what does Vinny do with it? Like we've all seen Godfather where he was Godfather 2 where after he shoots was. It wasn't Joey's. I was the guy he Shoots the. The anyways, and then he's walking on the roof, and then he's walking on the rooftops, taking the gun apart, throwing them down little pipes. That's what Italians do. That's like, their way they do two things. They make spaghetti and they shoot people with the guns. And they, you know, it's intertwined. Now you got a gun you got to get rid of. What do you do?

[Louis Cobb]

Do?

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, I know this guy Vinnie at the spaghetti factory. Well, so he can get rid of it.

[John Ashbrook]

My mommy.

[Michael Duncan]

There you go.

[John Ashbrook]

My head went to a different yet similar place. So you got the spaghetti factory.

[Michael Duncan]

Get rid of the gun. Maybe.

[John Ashbrook]

Maybe there's an Italian on the inside at the spaghetti factory. He's getting a shiv into the spaghetti because it's destined for the clink, and one of their capos is on the inside. It needs to break out.

[Michael Duncan]

That's perfect example.

[Sean Hannity]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, the thing is that this is clearly an Italian problem. It's a dead giveaway, you know, you never hear about this thing of like, oh, you know, well, the bakery. The fine little bakery at the corner's got a problem. No, it's always like, the Italian restaurant, you know, they had somebody shot. The gun was behind the toilet. Shocker. Oh, no. That's my favorite. That's my favorite. That's of all of the things that

[Josh Holmes]

we have in the board.

[Michael Duncan]

That is my absolute. Oh, no. And what's the other one?

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, what?

[John Ashbrook]

That's so good.

[Michael Duncan]

When your spaghetti's got the metal shiv in it.

[Louis Cobb]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That's tough. That's tough stuff. All right, there's rabbit news. Back to the animals.

[Michael Duncan]

This clip is incredible.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

So let's play clip less 11. So this guy's on a bike.

[Wolf]

Oh, scooter. I think it's a scooter.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that what it is? And there's a.

[Michael Duncan]

He immediately.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude, there's so many funny things.

[Michael Duncan]

There's a billion funny things.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, first, that's what it was. It was a scooter.

[Wolf]

It's a scooter.

[Michael Duncan]

He's on this, like. Like, electric scooter or whatever going down this road. This is in Hungary.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Great freeze frame, by the way.

[Josh Holmes]

Way.

[Michael Duncan]

And this rabbit from the side of the road, this is pure suicidal Kamakazi move. Right? Takes him right out. Then you just hear Hungarian. Like, I wish there was subtitled Hungarian cussing.

[Josh Holmes]

He also, like, started Hungarian narrating the whole thing immediately.

[John Ashbrook]

I immediately knew it was Eastern European by the sight of his fatigues, you know?

[Sean Hannity]

Right.

[Wolf]

That's Just loungewear.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. Here we go.

[Michael Duncan]

Let's get a full reboot. Rabbit goes to intercept. Bro, like, look at that. Incredible timing with this thing. Do we need rabbits in the Strait of Hormuz?

[Wolf]

We might need them in the we might need of Washington D.C. have you seen how many scooters people are rolling around in the middle of the street?

[Michael Duncan]

That's a great take.

[Josh Holmes]

We should stock all of the parks, release the rabbit. Let's talk to Burgum about that. Maybe put some.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, that was just impressive. One last time. This is impressive. Look how the rabbit times it. And the angle of attack on this thing, dude. Patriot missile. Boom. You could use him again and again.

[Josh Holmes]

Also, no sign of the rabbit. Like, I'm not sure that it was hurt.

[Michael Duncan]

No, he took the man out, dude. A million rabbits to Hormuz immediately.

[Josh Holmes]

Immediately.

[John Ashbrook]

Rabbits. Rabbits are like Italians. They can't have concussions. Wow.

[Michael Duncan]

Oh, my God. Great take.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow, what a week, fellas. I mean, we've seen the rise of socialism. We've covered a whole bunch of different things. It's been a wild week here.

[Louis Cobb]

Sure has.

[Josh Holmes]

We did some serious stuff. And then you had fun time Friday. And like I said at the very beginning, I'm not sure what you're gonna get, but I think it worked out.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, it was great.

[Wolf]

Pretty good.

[Josh Holmes]

I think it worked out. This is a pretty fun show, fellas. I think we did it.

[Michael Duncan]

I think so. Absolute episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to our listeners. And remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube and hit that subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line, and own the lives. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay ruthless,

[Josh Holmes]

Sam.