Ally: All right.
Hey Seth.
Seth: Hey Allie.
Ally: So.
As we're kind of finding our voice and workshopping ideas, I thought we could,
we could try something new for a news segment, and we're gonna call it Seth
and Allie take a shot at the news.
So it's like, um, a triple entendre, which is, I mean, what's better than a
double entendre than a triple entendre?
So take a shot at the news first implies that we're going to try and
find new stories that are interesting to us and hopefully interesting to
our audience and stories that won't time out since there's a delay between
recording and when we actually go to air.
Uh, take a shot at the news is also.
Poking fun at the news, at the absurdity of our news cycle
because you know, everyone is constantly reporting breaking news.
We're always talking about breaking news, and it is stressful.
And so I think it feels good to kind of try and find levity in
some of these stories when we can.
And then the third take a shot at the news is we're gonna take
an actual shot at the news.
Because this news sucks y'all.
So hopefully, you know, one shot a week, we can get through these news stories
with some of our sanity still in check.
So cheers, Seth.
Seth: Cheers, Allie.
Ally: Let's take a shot at the news.
Woo.
Seth: Let's go baby.
Ally: Ooh, once a week.
Okay.
First story, and this is actually breaking, breaking news.
So President Trump has appointed Erica Kirk to serve on the US Air Force Academy
Board of Visitors taking the position.
Her late husband, Charlie, was slated to hold before he
was assassinated in September.
So Erica is joining this panel that oversees morale, discipline, curriculum,
and fiscal affairs at the academy.
I, I cannot, I
Seth: mean,
Ally: first of all, I
Seth: just
Ally: go ahead.
Seth: Just another, uh, appointee by Trump, who is unqualified to do their job.
Just another DEI holler from, you know, an just from another loyalist.
And, uh, I mean, what a, what a joke.
But it, it is just a, a running joke at this point.
A series of unfortunate events.
Ally: I, and I'm looking at like the, the description of the
role, so overseeing the morale.
I seem to recall that when this woman lost her husband.
She was immediately out there doing tours and remember that leaked call
with the turning point members?
Yep.
Where she was like, she was like, Hey, Charlie's dead.
And like, I know that's really a dark, but let's talk about all of that merch.
We sold the numbers and.
The numbers are so good.
You guys.
We got,
Seth: we got 150,000 views.
Like
Ally: I feel, I feel like she is a morale killer, a buzz killer.
I mean, it seemed like the people at Turning Point USA were more bereft
than Erica Kirk could seem to muster when she took over that company.
Seth: Yeah, and I mean, we just saw Christie Nome, somebody who
was also unqualified to do her job.
Ally: That's next.
That's number
Seth: two.
And after you got yanked off the stage like saying man, so, um, what do you
think is gonna happen with Erica?
Just more of the same from Donald Trump.
Ally: More of the same.
Another vanity project.
Alright.
Second story that caught my eye this week.
So number two.
Okay.
This is hilarious to me.
So first of all, this was put up by headquarters Newsroom.
Are you familiar with them, Seth?
Seth: Yeah.
Uh, that they, uh, they converted Kamala HQ into headquarters.
Ally: Nice.
Seth: So that is the new iteration of Kamala hq.
So, yeah, I love, we can forward this.
Ally: Love, love, love it.
They put out news stories all day long.
They make them interesting and funny.
Great graphics.
So she had all these geniuses, um, that worked on her social media strategy
when she was running for president, and now they are committing that time
to delivering headlines in a funny and unique way, and this is one of theirs.
Here's a list of Hollywood blockbusters that cost less to make
than Christie no's ad campaign.
Now Christie has been fired, right?
Yeah.
In real time.
Christie has been fired, but it's still hilarious to me the amount
of money that WA was wasted on her riding around on a horse.
So let's go through some of the movies that cost less, less
to make than that ad campaign.
Seth: Alright,
Ally: uh, Barbie, the Barbie movie.
Seth: Shut up.
Ally: Yes.
The Barb.
Wow.
Not just Barbie.
Oppenheimer, the two, the two black.
So Bar Inheimer Barer Heimer.
Yes.
Cost less to make No way than Kristy Nom riding around
Seth: the No, that's a, that's a Christopher Nolan film.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Seth: On top of Barbie, who, you know, not a cheap movie to make either.
I mean,
Ally: neither, neither of them.
Seth: But this is a great example of like just how much money was wasted.
Incredible.
She's out on her ass.
So great.
Jeff,
Ally: Mary Potter, deathly, deathly Hollows.
Part two, cost Less.
Top Gun Maverick.
Come on now, Seth.
I, I mean, yo, think about these films.
Think about the production.
Mm-hmm.
Cost of making these films, all of the special effects, the Hunger
Games, Seth, the Hunger Games.
Seth: I'm going away by the
Ally: ironic name,
Seth: by the way, you, you're telling me the final Harry Potter.
After that franchise produced untold billions of dollars, the
final movie had a lower budget than Christie No's DHS commercials.
Unbelievable.
Ally: Mm-hmm.
Um, how about Iron Man?
Iron Man, Seth?
Seth: Yo, you got a bigger budget than Disney.
Ally: The Matrix, Seth, the literal matrix.
Seth: Oh my God.
Ally: The Lord of the Rings, the return of the King.
It, it is absolutely insane, but it's not surprising because this
administration seems to be spending money like water, and that brings us.
To story number three.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
Ally: Again, a breaking story from today, but I think we're gonna be
talking about this a long time.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
Ally: Pentagon has been caught spending $93 billion in a single month.
That would've been the month of September, 2025.
And among just a couple of things were Alaskan King Crab
legs, a $98,000 Steinway piano.
I think I saw some kind of a. One of a kind Japanese violin.
Who, who's taking this stuff?
Is it real?
Seth: Yeah.
I mean,
Ally: we, we, who ate the crab legs?
Who's playing the piano?
Seth: I mean, it is a, it is a cartoonish number.
I mean, we're talking about $93 billion and they spent hundreds of
millions of dollars on king crab alone.
Like how in the world is Pete Hegseth to supposed to do all these pull-ups
when he is eating so much king crab?
Ally: It's insane.
I also saw that they spent a shit ton on, um.
A fruit basket stands.
Seth: Yeah.
Ally: What even is that?
I mean, I've been in corporate America for a long time, certainly
seen my share of fruit baskets.
I have never seen them presented to the world on a stand.
Do you even know what that I have no idea what a fruit basket stand is.
Seth: I've, I've never been running in rich enough circles,
I guess, to have seen a fruit
Ally: standard.
Me neither.
Clearly
Seth: this is, that's a new one on me.
But, uh, you gotta spend the 93 billion somehow.
Ally: Uh, and they found a way.
And I also wonder like, are these code names?
Could this be like money laundering?
Like I bought Alaskan King Crab, but that actually stands for something else.
Seth: It, it's actually stands for Bentley's.
Ally: Could you imagine?
Seth: Yeah.
I, I can't,
Ally: I actually, I can too.
It's just, it's absolutely.
Especially right now we are in war with Iran.
It is $1 billion a day.
It's costing us.
We have just not formally announced, but basically alluded to the
fact that there are going to be troops on the ground any day now.
Um, we're struggling financially.
Gas is up.
Cost of oil is.
You know, healthcare costs have gone, I mean, just economically as
a country, we are really hanging on by the skin of our teeth.
And when I see a number like this and I see a Pentagon using the budget, the,
the, the military budget, our taxpayer dollars as basically their own personal
piggy bank, it's really depressing.
Seth: Yeah.
I mean, when, when you, when you think about our military budget.
Where it is at $900 billion.
And so you're telling me you had to spend a 10th of that in a
use it or lose it kind of deal.
So you're telling me that you've been asking for all this money all
this time and you haven't even, and you ran out of ways to spend it.
Ally: Exactly.
Seth: Sounds like we never needed that in the first place.
Sounds like the budget is bloated.
Sounds like it's almost as if.
The Pentagon failing their audit year after year, after year, after year,
was trying to tell us something.
I don't know.
Ally: And you know, the thing is they didn't have to just spend all that money.
They could have reallocated it to a program that was running short.
Might need another one, right?
I mean, it's, it's just, it's really, um, it's just perverse to
see this kind of spending happening, especially right now in America.
But we have a couple of good news stories to end this segment on.
So let's go to our fourth news story of today.
You are gonna love this story.
So they have done some studies and deep dive research and discovered
that Costco is officially 21% cheaper than Walmart and Aldi.
Seth: Hell yeah.
Ally: Now, even though they, they are big box store, right?
The, the savings that they have packed in per unit.
The same way you would break down prices at the grocery store.
Um, they are finding that Costco is actually 21% cheaper than those
two well-known discount stores.
And we love Costco.
Seth: We do,
Ally: we do.
I mean, they pay a living wage to their employees.
Um, they provide health benefits and paid time off.
And not only that, they are suing the government for their tariff money
back and they have already pledged.
They're gonna give that money back to their customers, whether it be through
discounts or maybe discounted memberships.
They're gonna find a way to get that money back to us, but.
I know how much you love Costco.
We talk about this all the time, Seth, give the audience what they want.
Give them your love letter to Costco.
Seth: Like, look, y'all.
It is not that difficult to make money in the United States of America,
and people like Costco prove it.
Allie just told you about the living wage.
Uh, did I mention.
The stock price that's over a thousand dollars right now.
They're hurdling towards a stock split.
They have great numbers, they have great, uh, profit margins.
And so now to hear that they are 20% cheaper than Walmart and other
competing brands, and we're talking about, you know, all these things that
they're gonna do for their customers.
And while continuing, like I said, to make a bunch of money, you don't
have to be greedy in the United States of America to make money.
I mean, just 50, 60 years ago, we had a massive corporate, uh, tax bracket.
Why do you think that is?
Because we wanted to keep people's profits down.
No.
People were making money back then.
It's about the greed.
It's about the, the, the CEOs and the CFOs and the C class making outrageous sums
of money at the top levels while giving their, their, their employees nothing.
Ally: And, and to compare, right?
So the Costco, CEO, I believe makes $950,000 a year, while the Walmart, CEO
in contrast makes I believe 15 million plus stock options and, and bonuses.
So.
There is a way to be ethical and be, you know, abundant in a capitalist society.
We just, Costco is the template.
They are the gold standard.
I love Costco.
Can't say enough and they're cheaper.
Please go get a Costco membership.
Let's get Walmart outta here.
Seth: Yeah, seriously.
I mean, if you're taking, if you, especially if you've got a family, I mean,
this makes all the sense in the world.
You don't have to question yourself eth ethically.
And you're gonna make, and you're gonna save 20% as a family.
I think we can all agree right now that that's gonna come in clutch
in the next six months to a year as we go through this crisis in Iran.
Ally: Alright, so our final news story of the week, um, as you know,
I'm still getting over the fact that Jasmine Crockett lost her
bid for the primary, the Senate primary in Texas took that one hard.
Um, but James Haller Rico is the lead, is is the winner of that primary Jasmine.
So on brand, immediately conceded immediately called for Unity in the party.
She's such a class act.
Um, it's why we love her.
It's why we rooted for her, right, Seth?
I mean, we know Jasmine by this point.
Seth: Exactly.
And I mean, in our last episode, we, we, we were leaning tall Rico, uh,
in our predictions to win, uh, not necessarily who we wanted to win.
Uh, Jasmine is somebody who is uncompromising, who is
progressive, who is a young leader.
Uh, James is, is really all of those things except for we're
not sure about the compromise.
There are ties to Miriam Madison.
There are, uh, weird rumors swirling around him in terms of how he spoke
about Colin Allred and his race.
He addressed some of those in the Stephen Colbert interview, which
was heavily suppressed by the FCC, which you could blame right there.
That sent him skyrocketing.
You know, into the, into the public sphere and maybe won him that.
Ally: Right?
You said something right there, Seth.
You said something right there.
Seth: Yeah,
Ally: I, and I, and I don't, I, you know, I love Stephen Colbert.
I believe he is as uncompromised as you can get.
However, it wouldn't, I wouldn't put it past CBS to pull this shit, which
they have never done before to create a scandal where James Tyler Rico overnight
is a household name across America.
So the timing on that whole situation was very interesting to me.
But here we are.
Um, you know, we're gonna embrace James, Tyler Rico.
We're gonna hope the best for him and, and hope that he does not
end up being a wild card like John Federman or a cinema or mansion.
But in good news, it looks like he.
Leading both GOP candidates in the Senate race so far?
Seth: Yeah, the the, the
Ally: wild.
Seth: Even though we, we have to side eye James at this moment as a
party, certainly as progressives, we have to side eye him the bo the,
the, the, uh, advantages, right?
Are that he is a guy that can reach across the aisle.
He is a guy who looks like a lot.
Of centrist Republicans.
He is a guy who looks like a lot of Texans.
He also has the tall Rico name that obviously is a Latino name,
so he has that in his blood, so he is able to reach across the aisle,
and not that Jasmine isn't, but we know that America was and still is
largely not ready for women of color.
Women, period to lead this country in any major capacity.
And so that's a damn shame.
But at least we know that James can reach across the aisle and
lead in polls, guys like Cornin.
Uh, and, and we need that.
We desperately need that now because we need wins.
I still believe Jasmine would've won.
The polls were pointing in that direction.
She had the momentum, but you know.
If we have to look at a bright spot, we need, we understand that James Tallarico
because of what he looks like and the way that he presents, uh, Christianity,
uh, the way that he is progressive with Christianity and talks about Jesus and a
lot of his progressive views for back in the day, um, it certainly is not a bad.
Choice, a bad choice to throw up against somebody like a John Cornyn.
Uh, and, and Trump is already doing his damage there, right?
He's calling for the runoff to be canceled and for his chosen
candidate to be propped up there.
And Ken Paxton is not gonna deal with that.
Yeah, Ken Paxton is not dropping out, so, right.
You know, while James, while James Alico is able to load up for May, and the, and
the rest of the, of the midterm, John Cornyn and Ken Paxton are gonna have
to go through a swirl of mud slinging and fighting for Donald Trump's maga.
You know, uh, you know, his, his, his co-sign.
So I think all of that, uh, you know, despite.
Jasmine not winning is a, is a win for us overall.
Ally: Yeah, I know.
I know.
And, and like I said, we will embrace him.
Um, he is, he is our guy, right?
He is our candidate.
Um,
Seth: we need wins
Ally: and of course we want, we just
Seth: need wins Ally.
Like we need, we
Ally: need, of course we wanna see Texas.
Seth: We need to flip the Senate,
Ally: but
Seth: we gotta put
Ally: the
Seth: Senate.
Y'all like, I
Ally: get
Seth: it.
Like, let's understand.
Ally: I get it.
Seth: Yeah.
Like what's our goal?
Our goal is to flip the Senate.
We gotta do that.
Ally: Our goal is to flip the Senate.
And, um, I do think that he is a refreshing candidate
from a Democrat perspective.
He's not the typical, right?
So I, I can see him really.
Using his seminary experience and all of his biblical knowledge to push
back against some of these Christian nationalist people that have been Yes.
Entrenched into our government.
I think that would be really interesting to see.
Um, and PO and really effective in, in pushing back against that.
So we're gonna see how this race plays out.
I'd love to see that he's up in the polls already.
Um, yeah.
More to come on that one.
So that's it for the news this week.
And speaking of, you know, we need to win.
Don't forget to check out our last interview, uh, with Tim Suski.
We just wrapped another interview with somebody we're really excited about.
I'm not gonna tell you who it is.
You're gonna have to stay tuned for that, but it's somebody out in New York and
he's challenging somebody we all know.
So stay tuned for episode three and left out loud.
This has been fun.
Um, you know, cheers.
We'll be doing this again, for sure.
Seth: Oh, I'm, I'm down.
I'm, I'm feel, I'm feeling, I'm feeling frisky.
Ally: Let's go.
Let feeling loose, loosey goosey.
Alright, Seth.
I'll see you soon.
Seth: All right.
See you.