Normally Podcast: Don Lemon Arrest Fallout, School Closures, and the True Cost of Convenience

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: "Normally Podcast: Don Lemon Arrest Fallout, School Closures, and the True Cost of Convenience"
Date: February 3, 2026
Hosts: Mary Katharine Ham and Carol Markowitz

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into three major themes: the fallout of Don Lemon’s arrest and the broader First Amendment debate, the dysfunction around school closures after snowstorms in blue cities, and an exploration of how convenience services like Uber Eats are reshaping American life (and budgets)—all with the show's signature sharp humor and pointed critique of progressive governance.

---

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Don Lemon Arrest: Speech vs. Action and Media Reaction

(Starts at 04:18)

• Background: Don Lemon, former CNN anchor, was recently arrested during an event at a church, sparking widespread debate about the boundaries of First Amendment protections for journalists.
• Key Issues Raised:
  • Distinction Between Speech and Conduct: The hosts underscore that Lemon’s arrest wasn't simply about speech—his non-speech (physical) behavior allegedly violated the rights of others and private property protocols.
    • Mary Katharine Ham (05:11): “If what's in the evidence… is correct, his non speech behavior collided with and violated other people's speech and First Amendment behavior right on private property.”
  • Journalists' Special Status: Disagreement that journalists should be immune to generally applicable laws. The Face Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) now applies to places of worship as well—a compromise implemented across party lines.
    • Mary Katharine Ham (07:02): “Journalists do not have a special license to break generally applicable laws.”
  • Media Double Standards: The hosts argue the media’s defense of Lemon contrasts sharply with their past approval of prosecuting right-leaning (or non-mainstream) journalists during January 6, raising concerns about equal application of the law.
    • Mary Katharine Ham (09:12): “We have to do this evenly… your journalism status does not protect you. Which is true.”
• Notable Quotes:
  • Carol Markowitz (06:46): “Don Lemon in this analogy is the guy going along with the Klan and filming as they fire bomb a church. Like, you're not the good guys.”
  • Mary Katharine Ham (10:41), referencing a CNN debate: “The question is, is he a protester or a journalist?”

Memorable Moment

• Discussion of a split at CNN, where misinformation about the indictment was publicly corrected on air, highlighting confusion even among news professionals about the facts of the case.
  • Carol Markowitz (10:59): “This is actually a quote from the indictment: that Lemon posted himself at the main door of the church where he confronted some congregants and physically obstructed them as they tried to exit…”

---

2. Identity Politics & Law Enforcement

(Starts at 13:03)

• Recent Event: The naming of Latino ICE and Homeland Security agents involved in a recent Minneapolis shooting sparked confusion among some progressive commenters expecting those agencies to lack minority representation.
• Hosts’ Perspective:
  • Many ICE and Homeland Security agents are, in fact, Hispanic—a reality at odds with progressive narrative assumptions.
    • Mary Katharine Ham (14:22): “If you ever have [interacted with working class minorities], you would know there's a bunch of people in local and federal law enforcement… particularly with border patrol… many of those officers are going to be Latino.”
  • Some online reaction even accused Latino agents of white supremacy, something hosts decry as evidence of ideological tunnel vision.
• Key Takeaway: The facts of a case don’t depend on the race of those involved, but identity politics often tries to oversimplify these issues.

---

3. School Closures, Urban Dysfunction, and the Power of Teachers’ Unions

(Starts at 18:49)

• Snowstorm Fallout: Weeks after a major snowstorm, schools in DC, Virginia, and New York remained closed—while the rest of city life (restaurants, businesses) carried on.
  • Carol Markowitz (19:49): “I understood [extraordinary event] during COVID too. What I don't understand is why schools are the only thing still closed. How come life goes on everywhere else?”
• Critique of Governance: Hosts argue that one-party rule, union power, and lack of accountability have created cities unable to manage basic functions.
  • Mary Katharine Ham (20:13): “The point is a bunch of people pay really high taxes to live in places that are not functioning right now.”
• Teachers’ Union Influence: The show traces persistent closures to union demands, even after roads are cleared, and criticizes Democratic leadership for prioritizing union interests over children and taxpayers.
  • Carol Markowitz (21:38): “This is what happens when you let a special interest group run your political party. And that's where the Democrats are, by the way.”
• Memorable Moment: The city rapidly dug out a blocked speed camera—but not public sidewalks or roads essential for schoolchildren—inviting ridicule for its priorities (22:28).
• Other Critiques:
  • Liberal activism often favors “signaling” over practical governance. (E.g., anti-ICE rides by affluent cyclists whom the plow actually serves more than workers.)

---

4. Competing Concepts of Compassion: Homelessness and Policy Failures

(Starts at 24:16)

• Freezing Deaths Among Homeless: NYC’s recent cold snap saw a tragic increase in deaths among the unhoused, exacerbated, the hosts argue, by “compassionate” but misguided policies restricting the city’s ability to move homeless people indoors.
  • Carol Markowitz (24:42): “None of this is compassionate. These people are supposed to be compassionate. This is not compassion. Letting people freeze to death because they're too mentally ill to realize that they need to find shelter is not compassion.”
• Policy Criticism: Mayoral policy changes limiting outreach are blamed for real-world harm.

---

5. The Convenience Trap: Uber Eats, Finances, and Lost Habits

(Starts at 29:48)

• NYT Article Discussion: Explores a New York Times story on food delivery’s explosion in popularity.
  • Carol Markowitz (29:48): “Almost three of every four restaurant orders in the US are ordered to eat at home... This article [was] bananas.”
• Personal Finance Impact: Many cases discussed of people of modest means spending thousands annually on delivery—at the expense of savings and, ironically, socialization.
  • Mary Katharine Ham (31:08): “From her... $50,000 annual salary... spends at least 200 to 300 a week on food delivery. Ordering in has eaten away at her savings. You think?”
  • Carol Markowitz (32:37): “There's a guy in this article who does Uber Eats delivery because he's in debt from all of his Uber Eats Delivery ordering. I'm so confused.”
• Pandemic Legacy: A decline in basic life skills like cooking; a loss of old, healthier habits.
  • Mary Katharine Ham (33:14): “This is a habit that people lost during the pandemic. They used to cook more. They used to go to restaurants more. The restaurants made a little bit of a deal with the devil during the pandemic... But then we get into this habit and, you know, we do more delivery than we used to pre-pandemic…”
• Societal Expectations and Social Media: Hosts bemoan a new normal among young adults of living beyond means (concerts on payment plans, constant takeout), conflating real adulthood with Instagram lifestyles.
  • Carol Markowitz (35:55): “It's not normal that people you're seeing on social media who are ordering Uber Eats and going to Coachella and whatever, that's not normal.”

---

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps and Attribution)

• Mary Katharine Ham (05:11):
  “His non speech behavior collided with and violated other people's speech and First Amendment behavior right on private property.”

• Carol Markowitz (06:46):
  “Don Lemon in this analogy is the guy going along with the Klan and filming as they fire bomb a church. Like, you're not the good guys.”

• Mary Katharine Ham (07:02):
  “Journalists do not have a special license to break generally applicable laws.”

• Carol Markowitz (19:49):
  “What I don't understand is why schools are the only thing still closed. How come life goes on everywhere else?”

• Mary Katharine Ham (31:08):
  “She [NYT subject] spends at least 200 to 300 a week on food delivery. Ordering in has eaten away at her savings. You think?”

• Carol Markowitz (32:37):
  “There's a guy in this article who does Uber Eats delivery because he's in debt from all of his Uber Eats Delivery ordering. I'm so confused.”

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Don Lemon Arrest Fallout & Media Debate: 04:18–13:03
• Identity Politics & Law Enforcement: 13:03–15:19
• School Closures, Urban Dysfunction, and Union Power: 18:49–24:16
• Homelessness and Compassion Policy Contradiction: 24:16–26:52
• Uber Eats, Lifestyle Creep, and Financial Responsibility: 29:48–38:09

---

Tone and Style

Throughout, the hosts speak with a blend of wit, exasperation, and incredulity, blending robust criticism of progressive policies with banter and real-world anecdotes. They keep the conversation lively and personal, riffing on both lived experiences and broader news events.

---

Key Takeaways

• Legal standards should apply equally, regardless of political sympathies or press credentials.
• Progressive urban governance often fails at basic service provision, especially where unions dominate policymaking.
• Society’s shift toward radical convenience—from Uber Eats to remote everything—has hidden societal and personal costs.
• A compassionate society requires practical, sometimes tough, interventions—merely signaling virtue doesn’t produce humane outcomes.
• The growing gap between performative activism and functional governance has real costs for everyday people.

---

For anyone new to the show, this episode offers a sharp, unsparing look at what happens when media narratives, union politics, and lifestyle consumerism drift too far from everyday realities. The hosts' approachable yet incisive style ensures you’ll leave both entertained and better informed about the week’s hottest controversies.

Transcript

[Mary Katharine Ham]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Guaranteed Human support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures [e-mail].

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

Hey, this is US Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis Woodhull and.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

I'm US Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

As athletes, our lives are about having a clear path and a team that.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

You can absolutely trust.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

So when it came to getting the.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Best mortgage, we chose PennyMac.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

PennyMac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Learn more at pennymac.com pennymac loan services llc/housing lender nmls id 35953 licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act. Conditions and restrictions may apply. Do you want to find a stress free way to buy your next car? Start at CarMax and shop your way. If you want to browse with confidence, get pre qualified online with no impact on your credit score and shop cars within your budget. From luxury cars to family rides, CarMax has options for almost every price range, including more than 25,000 cars priced under $25,000. So hey, want to get started? Just head to CarMax.com for details and get pre qualified today. Want to drive CarMax?

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. Stand still. Not a chance. You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we are here to help you keep going further. Capella University what can't you do? Visit capella. Edu to Learn more.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Hey, guys.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

We are back on normally, the show with normal ishtapes for when the news gets weird. I am Mary Cassie.

[Carol Markowitz]

Ha. And I'm Carol Markowitz. How was your weekend, Mary Kathryn? Let's banter.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

It's pretty good. Did a little adventure out in the country. I had a panel to do. The country. It's like 35 minutes from here in Leesburg, Virginia, but it is frigid here. I was like, maybe we could go ice skating. It's 14 degrees. No, we're not going ice skating.

[Carol Markowitz]

Does that happen, like, in the backyard?

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Yeah, possibly on any street in D.C. actually, yes.

[Carol Markowitz]

I actually have a friend in Virginia who posted a picture of her daughters ice skating in the backyard.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

So, yeah, it could be done. It could be.

[Carol Markowitz]

I went to Las Vegas. It was a very good time. A nice, necessary little break for a friend's birthday. Yeah, I saw wizard of Oz at the Sphere. My first time at the Sphere. Have you been?

[Mary Katharine Ham]

No, I have been near the Sphere, but not in the Sphere, and it is impressive, even from the outside.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, it was really cool. I mean, it was a really interesting experience. So, uh, yeah, Vegas. A little bit dead, though. A little bit dead. And I. I feel like I'm gonna maybe write something on it because I love Las Vegas, and I haven't been since 2019. And we used to go every single year, and they broke us by having the mask mandate a little too long, and I was just imagining myself in a casino with the mask on. And, like, I mean, let's be real, like, Covid's the least of your problems.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Like, we are in a vice place.

[Carol Markowitz]

Let us do it. Like, one time. They tested poker chips, and you cannot even IM the substances, like, on the chips.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

So.

[Carol Markowitz]

So, like, please, like, masking was unnecessary.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

It's all about risk analysis, you know, Imagine that.

[Carol Markowitz]

All right, we'll get some more. More on risk analysis and ongoing stupidity in the second topic. But for right now, over the weekend, or since our last episode, in any case, Don Lemon has been arrested, and he seems like he is having the time of his life. Has you. Have you seen this man happier since he's been arrested?

[Mary Katharine Ham]

I mean, look, the career has not been great since he was ejected and rejected by CNN for repeatedly being a problem on air, particularly with female co workers. And. And so, yeah, no, I. I think this is a moment where he's happy to become a martyr and we can discuss the legal issues here. But of course, his federal fellow journalists, even those who he mistreated at cnn, are happy to Jump in and say Trump is just after journalists here.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

But I, I think there's a real. I know that journalists don't observe the other part of the First Amendment, which is for, of course, freedom of religious practice. But the problem is that if what's in the indictment is cor. You know, if what's in the evidence they gave the grand jury that produced this indictment is correct, his non speech behavior collided with and violated other people's speech and First Amendment behavior right on private property.

[Carol Markowitz]

Not to mention that he may have.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Been asked to leave. I think he was asked to leave on camera by the preacher. So, so, like there's, there's this continued conflation, although I understand that there might be a risk here. I, for journalists, there's this continued conflation of non speech behavior and speech behavior. On the left, they're just like, we get to do things and you shut up.

[Carol Markowitz]

You just take it. Right? Yeah, it's, it's really unbelievable to hear some of the explanations for this. James Surawecki, who wrote a book called the Wisdom of Crowds and like, really has none of his own, tweeted, Are you seriously arguing that a journalist who embedded with civil rights protesters in the 1960s while they planned acts of civil disobedience and then accompan them to cover those acts of civil disobedience would be persecuted for doing so? And our friend Steve Miller, Red Stees, writes, Don Lemon in this analogy is the guy going along with the Klan and filming as they fire bomb a church. Like, you're not the good guys. You're not. You disrupted a church service. You're not the good guys.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Well, a couple things here. So this is under the, he's being charged under freedom of access to clinic entrances, the Face Act. And part of this, this law requires that you also adhere to these rules in places of worship. And this was kind of a deal between the left and right.

[Carol Markowitz]

Compromise, Right?

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Like, you want, you want this area clear. We want this area clear. Right. So it's, it's in the law. And then a lot of people on the left are saying, well, this law is probably unconstitutional. Well, that's interesting, because the Biden administration used it freely against people who were sitting outside abortion clinics, by the way, some of whom were black activists. So miss me with the this is racist Jamila Hill argument, which of course she deployed immediately. I am willing to look at this and go, okay, this could pose risks for journalists who are embedded. But here's the problem. If this is not prosecuted evenly on Both sides. Then you end up with not a standard at all for what journalists can do and whether they can step out of line. So in on January 6, several journalists whose video was used by the New York Times hbo were charged, nevertheless charged were given sentences. And it was largely because they were considered right of center independent journalists. So that didn't count. Or they were just very willing to say you crossed the line and therefore your journalism status does not protect you. Which is true. I mean, even fire, which is like the, you know, freedom of speech organizations like journalists do not have a special license to break generally applicable laws.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's right.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

When the pastor of City's church asked Lemon to leave, he no longer had the right to stay.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, that's, you know, like, forget about it being a church. It's private property. Like, you don't get to just invade someone's house and yell at their. In their face cause you don't like them. Like, it's just kind of not how the First Amendment works. Among other amazing commentary over the last few days, the CEO of the Atlantic tweeted, the statute under which Don Lemon was arrested may well be unconstitutional. It's also not clear that he even violated it. And if he did, his First Amendment rights still outweigh it. It's like the meme done in Twitter form. I mean, it's not happening. It's good that it's happening.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

All that.

[Carol Markowitz]

How do you tweet all that with a straight face?

[Mary Katharine Ham]

I just want to mention the guys from January 6th, cuz I think it's worth mentioning. And look, if, if it was determined that they went over a line again, they're. You're not protected from criminal activity. But it's like, we have to do this evenly. Stephen horn, President Biden's DOJ arrested him. He was sentenced to 12 months probation, a 2K fine and 90 hours community. Community service. The judge in the case did not allow his evidence that he was a journalist to be introduced because he said it was irrelevant to whether he had broken the law. And then there's another guy, Stephen Baker, who I think now works for the Blaze, but was a, an independent videographer and a blogger. And he, three years after it, was arrested and charged with several misdemeanors.

[Carol Markowitz]

Like, right. And they love that. They love that. They're like, could not get enough of that. And now it's like, you know, Don Lemon was at some event and he was like applauded and he stood up. And I'm telling you again, this guy's having the Time of his life. Like just his hands up and like, just like, yeah, you know, I'm fighting for all of us. Like, bro, like, seriously, can we play.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

A little bit actually from Abby Phillips show? Oh, yeah, cnn, where Lydia Moynihan, right leaning commentator, New York Post, has, you know, actual information about the indictment and is refuted by Philip, who actually doesn't know what's in the indictment. So let's hear a little bit of that. The question is, is he a protester or a journalist?

[Carol Markowitz]

And the indictment obviously suggested that he posted himself at the main door. He prevented people from exiting, but ultimately that.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

No, it does not say that. The indictment says that protesters did that. It names other people.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

It did not say that.

[Carol Markowitz]

I just want to respond because you.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

Accused me of mischaracterizing the indictment.

[Carol Markowitz]

This is actually a quote from the indictment that Lemon posted himself at the main door of the church where he confronted some congregants and physically obstructed them as they tried to exit, challenging them with facts about U.S. immigration policy. So that is what the indictment says. I'm not stating whether I agree with that, but that's what the indictment says.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

So, look, you know, they also characterized him as intimidating a pastor who he was calmly interviewing. So I think we also have to. The characterization of him conducting journalism is also something to be questioned. Even if you're right, you're not right. Yes, I got it wrong. Yes, I said you were messing it up. Yes, you corrected me. And yes, I'm still right.

[Carol Markowitz]

It's so amazing being a cnn.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Oh, my gosh. Also, it is worth considering again that this went through several levels and everybody says, oh, the magistrate judge rejected this. Then they went, but he said, you know, take it to appeals, they take it to appeals, which is the system we have, and then they take it to a grand jury. Yep. And it seems in several cases, everyone like the person involved. It says both Tapper and Stephanopoulos. This is report. Our friend Margot Cleveland reporting at the Federalist. Both Tapper and Stephanopoulos on their shows ignored the fact that a federal appellate judge found the government had already clearly established probable cause. And that was before prosecutors went to the grand jury, which was now available, where the jurors presumably saw for themselves what Limonez producer did. One of the strikes against Lemon is, of course, that whatever he did, he was filming himself doing it, and he was at times obstructing people. He was not leaving when asked. And he was before this, planning the operation with the protesters, which cuts against, as it did In. In the estimation of judges in some of these J6 cases against the idea that you were merely journalist.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Although I would note that another guy who was at the head of the pack on J6 who sold his stuff to the New Yorker and was left of center, magically he got a bunch of journalism awards.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Incredible.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. Odd how that happens.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Yeah.

[Carol Markowitz]

Also in the last few days since we're Talking about Minneapolis, ProPublica has named the agents involved. I find that a little questionable because obviously the agents are going to get some level of harassment. But what everybody's kind of pointing to is so interesting about it is that both of the agents involved in the shooting last week of Alex Preddy are both Latino. And for some reason that's like a surprise to a lot of people. As many people have pointed out on X, a high percentage of both ICE agents and Homeland Security agents are actually Hispanic.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

So, yes, I. A couple months ago, I think it was crystal ball saying that to Jennifer Welch, that they could not fathom minorities who work for these agencies. And I, both in 2020 and now I have thought it's very strange how happy liberal commenters are to admit that they have never interacted with working class minorities. Because if you ever have, you would know there's a bunch of people in local and federal law enforcement and particularly with border patrol, which operates a lot on the southern border, many of those officers are going to be Latino.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

And they don't know this or they pretend like Abby's doing. You don't inform yourself because it would prevent you from having your white supremacist view of ICE as a white supremacist organization. Right.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, yeah, that's it. They. They have a point of view and they don't want anything to ruin that point of view. So, yeah, take. Come down to South Florida. I'll introduce you to some members of various Spanish communities that do not believe what you believe.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

It's shocking. One lefty, by the way, I noticed last night was already doing the Hispanic officers or white supremacists. Hispanics executing whites in the name of racially purifying America. Welcome to hell. What? Oh, no. I don't know. But like, look, this is part of what. Yeah. My estimation of the facts of the case don't change based on the race of the those involved. Same.

[Carol Markowitz]

Same. Yeah.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

For identity politics. Leftist. What's happening here, guys? You do have to contend with these facts.

[Carol Markowitz]

That's right. And they don't want to, so they won't and nobody will make them. And that's where we are. We're going to take a short break and be right back with more on normally and school closures. Why do they happen? Mary Catherine we'll find out. Be right back.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures hey.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

This is US Olympic gold medalist Tara.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Davis Woodhull and I'm US Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

As athletes, our lives are about having a clear path and a team that.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

You can absolutely trust.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

So when it came to getting the.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Best mortgage, we chose PennyMac.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

PennyMac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Learn more at pennymac.com PennyMac Loan Services, LLC equal housing lender NMLS ID 35953 licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act. Conditions and restrictions may apply.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

Now I'd like to introduce you to Meaningful Beauty, the famed skincare brand created by iconic supermodel Cindy Crawford. It's her secret to absolutely gorgeous skin. Meaningful, beautiful beauty makes powerful and effective skin care simple and it's loved by millions of women. It's formulated for all ages and all skin tones and types and it's designed to work as a complete skin care system, leaving your skin feeling soft, smooth and nourished. I recommend starting with Cindy's full regimen which contains all five of her best selling products including the Amazing Youth Activating Melon Serum. This next generation serum has the power of melon leaf stem cell technology. It's melanin leave stem cells encapsulated for freshness and released onto the skin to support a visible reduction in the appearance of wrinkles. With thousands of glowing five star reviews, why not give it a try? Subscribe today and you can get the Amazing Meaningful Beauty system for just $49.95. That includes our introductory five piece system, free gifts, free shipping and a 60 day money back guarantee. All that [e-mail] travel smarter, not harder.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

At America's Best Value Inn by Sonesta with convenient locations from coast to co and value packed comfort at every turn. And when you're a Sinesta Travel Pass member, staying at America's Best Value in means earning points toward free nights, upgrades and more. Go to sinesta.com to book your stay and unlock the best rates with Sonesta Travel Pass here today, Rome tomorrow. Join [e-mail] Terms and conditions apply.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

All right, we are back on normally with some more news about how it turns out when you break these social habits and agreements about having functioning cities or schools or Vegas working without masks that a lot of people forget how to do these things. And the east coast is at least its major blue run cities and metropoli. Is that how you do Metropolis?

[Carol Markowitz]

We'll accept it.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

They are not operable right now because in the D.C. area and New York there was a snowstorm eight or nine days ago at this point, granted it was. There was sleet, there was ice. The complaint that many municipal services are making is, hey, this is forming this very icy snow crete that we cannot possibly remove without heavy machinery. But the point is a bunch of people pay really high taxes to live in places that are not functioning right now. They're just not functioning.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, and look, I understand the argument that this is an extraordinary event. I understood that argument during COVID too. What I don't understand is why schools are the only thing still closed. How come life goes on everywhere else? I mean, your restaurants are open, right? Businesses are open, Everybody's back to work. Only schools remain closed.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

And here's the thing. In D.C. they actually it's like pick your own dysfunction around here. So Virginia got the roads plowed for the most part. D.C. no, I mean it is frightful in the city, but D.C. did open schools for a couple days at the end of last week and ooh, the unions were so mad. And then we've got Maryland, which did neither.

[Carol Markowitz]

Maryland's like, we'll let you know so.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Here we are with again, these. Every single day of learning loss compounds what they lost during COVID Like, people have not reclaimed that. We're not starting from zero. We're starting from negative further in D.C. because the. All the sidewalks are iced over. Muriel Bowser, the mayor was just like, we're going to stop ticketing people for not clearing their walks. So anybody who abided by the rules, of course, is a sucker because now losers. Yeah, sorry about that. They started a pop up system for salt. Oh, this was so good.

[Carol Markowitz]

This is the Come get your bucket.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Because they're not doing it again. This is all sort of. It's a one party rule place. So everyone will probably survive it and move on to the next disaster where they once again deprive everyone of services that they pay for. But most importantly, schools.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah. And unions will of course continue to run the place. Jen Psaki, who was, you know, the spokesperson for the Biden administration, tweeted, wrapping my head around schools in Virginia being closed for another day when it hasn't snowed in a week. And this is what it was like making our way home to school growing up in the Northeast. And she posted this video of these people climbing a snowy mountain. I mean, my response to that was like, remember when Randy Weingarten was in the White House on day one of the Biden administration? This is related. And like this is what it is. It's this. The teachers unions controlled Democratic Party and they get whatever they want. And if there is a little bit of snow on the ground and life has returned back to normal for everybody else, they get to keep schools closed. And this is what happens when you let a special interest group run your political party. And that's where the Democrats are, by the way.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

There was one great account of a snowplow had made a snow mountain and the debris blocked a DC speed camera. And wouldn't you know it, public works got out there to dig that speed camera out.

[Carol Markowitz]

That was important to do, huh?

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Was important to do. But also like DC has a little bit more of an excuse because Mid Atlantic, less snow. What is New York doing?

[Carol Markowitz]

Right? What is going on in New York? And we gave that man, we gave mom Donnie some credit last week for clearing the snow. And then it got a little bit more snow and they completely lost the plot.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Yeah, and there's like mountains of trash because trash has not been picked up. Again, I do think this sort of the, the ice versus ice contrast. So the, the very big sort of groundswell among liberal activists against ice and Immigration enforcement, which by the way, is having public impact and we should acknowledge that. But you see it at the Grammys like everyone's speaking out about, about ice.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right, right.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Very, very dramatic signally display at the Grammys compared with how liberals actually govern and can produce results is just sort of in a nutshell, what liberalism or progressivism, I would say has become. And it doesn't serve people on a day to day basis. I also loved that a bunch of a whole group of cyclists did a big ride about, you know, an anti ice ride around D.C. and I thought to myself, huh, a bunch of really rich white people on very expensive bicycles taking up the half a lane that the D.C. government has managed to plow so that they can do their signaling and no one else could drive to work.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Amazing job, guys.

[Carol Markowitz]

The half lane, I really like that. Meanwhile, also in New York City, the death toll from freezing weather is now 16 homeless people, 13 of whom have died of hypothermia. This is from Mayor Mamdani directly. And as I'm reading this, I'm like, well, that's one way to end homelessness. So yes, this must be what he meant.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Just like Cuomo solved Covid with old people, man.

[Carol Markowitz]

Oof. We're really going to get in trouble for this one. Yeah. The thing is that, like, none of this is compassionate. These people are supposed to be compassionate. This is not compassion. Letting people freeze to death because they're too mentally ill to realize that they need to find shelter is not compassion. And that's why you need to force people indoors during times like this. You can't just let them die in the streets. And the idea that we need to be saying this is beyond. And you know who's having the greatest time about with all of this is ex Mayor Adams. He is tweeting at Mamdani regularly. He's like, I left you a surplus. I, you know, had set up the budget. I did all this stuff. I don't know why New Yorkers rejected that man. I really don't. I mean, he's not great. He's not. But he's the best by a mile of the whole field.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

And the record had gotten better. Like the results on the, on the ground had gotten better. I. I mean, I think he's right to point, especially about this one, that Mamdani's policy change on homeless encampments.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Was. Is directly related to these deaths.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yep.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Because they changed the rule. People were not going out and trying to get people to shelter. You are allowing this because you feel that it's compassionate. But as you note, Carol, it ends in death, which is not compassionate. I should also note, by the way, did you see that out of Seattle a couple years after the 2020 autonomous zone? If you recall that the activists took over part of Seattle, A young man was murdered there and Seattle was just sued for negligence by his family because you know, the police are supposed to police the streets and the government is supposed to have control over these things and it did not. They want a $2 million settlement. Now that just means that taxpayers in Seattle paid to not use the roads that are theirs and then also endured a tragic death and then also will pay for that negligence.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, it's a win for somebody, definitely.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

I just, I'm going to become a one issue voter. Unlike you, hippies don't own these streets. They belong to people who pay taxes and drive cars.

[Carol Markowitz]

Also read books. Two issue voter.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Two issue voter.

[Carol Markowitz]

Reading is good. Let's teach kids to read.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Yeah, we're going back to basics folks. Roads are for driving, schools are for reading books.

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah, and don't over order the UberEats. But we'll get into that in the next segment. Next we'll be right back with more on normally and how Uber eats. Maybe use it sparingly.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures hey.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

This is US Olympic gold medalist Tara.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Davis Woodhull and I'm US Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

As athletes, our lives are about having a clear path and a team that.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

You can absolutely trust.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

So when it came to getting the.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Best mortgage, we chose PennyMac.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

PennyMac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Learn more at pennymac.com PennyMac Loan Services, LLC equal housing lender NMLS ID 35953 licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act. Conditions and restrictions may apply.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty. Well, I don't know about you, but like, I never liked being told, oh wow, you look so good for your age. Like, why even bother saying that? Why don't you just say you look great at any age, every age. That's what Meaningful Beauty is all about. We create products that make you feel confident in your skin at the age you are now. Meaningful Beauty, Beautiful skin at every age. Learn [e-mail].

[Sponsor/Announcer]

From coast to coast Unlock adventure at Red Lion Hotel by Sonesta where restful sleep, friendly service and local knowledge await. Whether for business or pleasure, spend less and make more of every trip. When you sign up for Sonesta Travel Pass, you'll get the best rates instantly. Go to sonesta.com to book your stay and unlock the best rates with Sinesta Travel Pass here today, Rome tomorrow. Join [e-mail] terms and conditions apply.

[Carol Markowitz]

We are back on normally and a really crazy article in the New York Times a few days ago called Freedom with a side of Guilt, how food delivery is reshaping mealtime and how almost three of every four restaurant orders in the US are ordered to eat at home. I found this article top to bottom. Bananas. I mean it opens up with this there's pasta in the pantry and jarred sauce in the refrigerator. So what compels Keely Reedy to keep having spaghetti with marinara delivered from the restaurant down the street for several times the cost of cooking the dish herself? Bananas? What are you ordering? What? I I'm so confused. Look, I love to order and I am a big ordering in person, less since we moved to Florida because there just aren't as many options as there were in Brooklyn. I order my groceries. I get it. I treat it as a luxury because I am time constricted. Yesterday I ordered a full like instacart order on the plane delivered to my house when I got off. You know, when I got to my house after coming home from the airport, I had groceries. It was great but this ordering spaghetti with marinara from the local restaurant when you have a jar of sauce in the fridge. And marinara sauce is also like the easiest thing in the world to make. This does not compute for me at all.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

So the stats on this are crazy. From her own accounting, from her roughly $50,000 annual salary as a data processor in San Diego, Ms. Reedy, 34, grown woman. 34. This child, this is not a 21 year old. Okay. 34, spends at least 200 to 300 a week on food delivery. Ordering in has eaten away at her savings. You think?

[Carol Markowitz]

Yeah.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

And let her to socialize. Yes. Less. She tips generously, but worries that the delivery drivers are poorly paid. Okay, let's take the lower end. $200 a week is roughly $10,000 a year. And she makes 50k. In no universe should that be acceptable behavior that we, like, encourage or use. And I appreciated Mattia. Matt Iglesias, who is a left of grabbed this part and was like, we should probably admit that some of the affordability problem is that people just simply are living like this.

[Carol Markowitz]

Well, yeah, that's the whole thing, like you're not allowed to say that out loud, is that people spend in a way that they simply have never spent before. There's so many things that I just think are out of control about this kind of thing. There's a guy in this article who does Uber Eats delivery because he's in debt from all of his Uber Eats Delivering ordering.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

That's correct, Carol.

[Carol Markowitz]

I just. I'm so confused. He says. You know, he. He complains. It can certainly feel like I'm one of those robots and not an actual person who has to go to a restaurant, pick up the food, and drive it to your house. He says. But he keeps delivering because he likes the flexible hours. Another reason Mr. Lane stays at it is to pay off his debt from ordering too much food delivery. Like, if you're already gonna leave your house to go deliver food, like, just.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Pick up some food. You're like, that's like a black mirror episode. Right?

[Carol Markowitz]

What if you delivered it to yourself?

[Mary Katharine Ham]

I do think this is. Again, this is a habit that people lost during the pandemic. They used to cook more. They used to go to restaurants more. The restaurants made a little bit of a deal with the devil during the pandemic, saying, okay, well, they won't let it. The government won't let us do anything else. So we're going to deliver food. Never mind for the laptop class. The people who actually had to do the delivering just like all the essential workers during the pandemic. But then we get into this habit and, you know, we do more delivery than we used to pre pandemic, just as we do less going to movies. Another thing that suffered from this, just like, like people don't know how to make schools work. You know, like, these are, these are all habits we acquired and jettisoned the old ones, which it turns out were much healthier for pocketbooks and probably our souls. There's one person in here, granted, he probably makes more than the 50k check. He has two kids and he spends $700 a week to order in.

[Carol Markowitz]

I, like, I. It's just baffling to me. And again, I'm. I'm in for the, you know, saving the time and if you have the money to do it. But I prefer eating at home. I prefer cooking at home. It's easier, it's healthier, it's tastier. A lot of the time, like, all of that just is. It's better. And if you're gonna order in, like, maybe, yeah, go step out. Go see what the world is like out there. Go eat at the bar, at your favorite restaurant and see people in real life instead of just staring at your four walls.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Yeah, I do think, and I, you know, I don't. I try not to be too much of a Gen Z dumper honor. I mean, they get plenty of that. But, I mean, there's this one woman, a Yale sophomore, said there's almost always a delivery driver outside her dorm, even though undergraduates living on campus are required to pay for a meal plan.

[Carol Markowitz]

Oh, yeah.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

So you are paying twice to eat food in college, and then you're graduating with a bunch of debt, and then you're telling the rest of us we need to forgive that debt. They also, all these people have some light concerns about the environment.

[Carol Markowitz]

That was the funniest part, the treatment of workers.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

The trash that piles up from these deliveries. But they're still going to keep doing it, right?

[Carol Markowitz]

They're doing it in insane quantities and they're like feeling guilt about it. That's the other thing. Like, I, when I order food, I do not feel guilt about it. Like, just get over it. Like, if you're going to do something like that, just do it. Don't. Don't give us a whole story about it. There was an article in New York magazine back in. I don't know, even no one, a few months ago. I have it open on my screen, but it doesn't have a date. But it was about How a lot of people are paying for the Coachella concert with, like, a payment plan. And of course, this article gets into how expensive Coachella has gotten and how it's benefiting, you know, the richest people, the Coachella CEO is a conservative billionaire, blah, blah, blah. But like, the argument that maybe you shouldn't go to Coachella if it requires you getting on a payment plan for it never enters the scope here. And that's the thing. If you can't afford this kind of thing. And I've had many times in my life where I could not afford certain luxuries. I didn't do them, and I've been in debt. I've definitely had times in my life where things were really tough. You have to just get on a path where nobody needs to tell you, you don't need to live like this. This is not normal. That's the whole thing. It's not norma. That people you're seeing on social media who are ordering Uber eats and going to Coachella and whatever, that's not normal. That's not the way that young people lived. Um, and you need to be able to kind of put yourself first and not get yourself into debt over trying to emulate people who have a lot more money than you.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Also, I'm thankful for Caleb Hammer. Do you. Are you familiar with him?

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Oh, great.

[Carol Markowitz]

I've liked him for so long. Yeah.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

He does a YouTube show that's very popular called Financial Audit. He is the Dave Ramsey of our generation. And Lord, do we need one. Wow. Or not our generation. I guess he's younger than I.

[Carol Markowitz]

A generation or two under us. Mary Catherine. But that's okay.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

But he is. I'm between Ramsey and Hammer, but he is inevitably finding people who live like this who frankly do a lot of fraud for their benefits. And as a result, he has become. Because he's just a financial responsibility guy, sort of. Right. Coded. And he pushes. He pushes back on that. He's just like, I'm just trying to help these people. But I do think our willingness to say in public that living like this is not the expectation that 20 somethings should have.

[Carol Markowitz]

It's just not normal.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Yeah, no, it's. And it's not responsible.

[Carol Markowitz]

Right.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

And it cannot go on in perpetuity, particularly if I'm paying your bills.

[Carol Markowitz]

Exactly. Yeah. No more of this. No more Uber eats. Guys.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

Chill out, y'. All.

[Carol Markowitz]

Well, thanks for joining us on Normally. Normally, Everybody airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere. You get your podcasts. Get in touch with us@ normallythepodmail.com thanks for listening and when things get weird, act normally.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

From coast to coast. Unlock adventure at Red Lion Hotel by Sonesta, where restful sleep, friendly service and local knowledge await. Whether for business or pleasure, spend less and make more of every trip. When you sign up for Sonesta Travel Pass, you'll get the best rates instantly. Go to sonesta.com to book your stay and unlock the best rates with Sonesta Travel Pass here today, Rome tomorrow. Join [e-mail] terms and conditions apply.

[Tara Davis Woodhull]

Did you know that parents rank teaching financial literacy as the toughest life skill? That's where Green Light comes in the debit card and money app made for families with greenlight. You can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance, and track spending with real time notifications. Kids learn how to earn, save, and spend responsibly while parents have peace of mind knowing smart money habits are being built with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight Risk free [e-mail] iheart that's greenlight.com iheartra sometimes all we want is more of the same, like another round of golf played from a channel with 24. 7 coverage, another look at the garden and the deer as they pick their way through it, another Taco Tuesday followed by a Whatever's in the Fridge Wednesday. And to get more of the same, all we need is a little help with adaptable care plans from qualified, compassionate caregivers matched to your family's needs. Home Instead can help you and your passions stay home no matter what. What's on your horizon? Visit home instead online for a better what's next. You see it instantly. It's Coldwater Creek, the mark of exceptional workmanship and signature touches inspired by a Mountain west heritage. Distinctive styles created from quality fabrics, silhouettes perfected with just the right drape. Feel good fits offering ease of movement and thoughtful details to elevate your look. For a wardrobe you can count on season after season, visit coldwatercreek.com shop the new spring collection at 20% off $75 or more with code iheart20.

[Mary Katharine Ham]

This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.