On this episode of Stand Up I open and ranted about conspiracy theories with 33 of my paid subscribers on a video chat. It was great seeing and hearing so many voices. Thank you so much to those who joined and if you don't have a subscription than what are you waiting for ?!

Then I welcomed my old friend Ali Velshi to the show. We talked about media, fox news, journalism and of course the latest on Covid 19

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What a show!?  I open the show with my best friends David and Lisa Campbell who live in Sydney Australia, then I interview Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney about the peril the Post Office is in. Next I wrap up the week with comedian Christian Finnegan and finally I welcome journalist and author Steve Levine to the show for the first time to talk about what he calls the biggest moment for the labor movement in decades David Campbell  & Lisa Campbell Rep Carolyn Maloney Christian Finnegan Steve Levine Support the podcast with a paid subscription Buy Stamps

Valerie Vendrame

Dr Ibram X Kendi website

Articles at The Atlantic

Kenneth C Davis website and books

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Finally got Bruce Bartlett on the show and we had a great chat about his article in the USA Today : Our lives depend on electing Joe Biden

His book is $5 on Amazon and its really great. Go buy it!

https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Matters-Citizens-Separating-Stopping/dp/0399581162/

I also had a great chat with listener / subscriber Karen Madison about how she is doing as a single person in the pandemic. 

Stand Up is has now gone daily. Please consider a paid subscription. Thanks xoxox

Yesterday the President declared he had authority over states and governors. He said over and over that this "Authority is Total"

The internet exploded and the president found very few who would support his declaration of power. I turned to legal analysts and friend's Professor Eric Segall and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner to help me understand this latest #TrumpMeltdown

Then I had a long chat with my friend Bill who you may know as Bill B in DC

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Dr Arthur Caplan

Prakash Gatta

Dan Harris 10% Happier

Sylvia Boorstein

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The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
— Jellaludin Rumi,

Christian Finnegan

Dr Aaron Carroll

Dr Jeff Sachs 

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What can I say about my friend and today's guest Tom Shadyac? Here is the opening of an article about him from The Guardian:

Tom Shadyac had it all and was living the dream. Or at least that is what people in Hollywood told him. He was a hugely successful movie director with a string of comedy hits. He had earned himself millions of dollars and had an A-list lifestyle with all the trappings of excess.

Then, in 2007, an already disillusioned Shadyac had a bike accident and became gripped by a profoundly non-showbiz desire: to give his wealth away. Several years later, he has swapped his luxury jetsetting for economy class and his 17,000-square ft mansion in Los Angeles for a trailer park in Malibu.

He has not, however, stopped making films – even if his new one couldn't be more different from the goofball comedies of his big box office days. I Am, coming out in the United States next month, is a documentary that explores not only Shadyac's remarkable journey from riches to rags but the world's ever-growing addiction to materialism.

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Watch his documentary

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Today's show open was taped with a live audience of subscribers

First I welcomed Noreen Springstead of Why Hunger and Rebecca Vallas of the Center for American Progress' Poverty to Prosperity program to talk about the most vulnerable Americans dealing with food insecurity. 

Then I welcomed the legal eagle Eric Segall to talk about the horror of Wisconsin forcing voters to risk their lives to vote. Read his piece on it here

Mike Davis is 76 year old writer, social commentator, urban theorist, historian, and political activist. He is best known for his investigations of power and social class in his native Southern California. He is the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the Lannan Literary Award. His next book, Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties, co-authored with Jon Wiener, comes out in April. He lives in San Diego.

I really enjoyed this talk with him

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