2026 Is Already a Lot: Venezuela, ICE Shootings, Minnesota Fraud and Iran Uprising
2026 didn’t ease in gently. It kicked the door in. One minute we’re watching the Trump administration make a high-stakes move in Venezuela, the next we’re back in the middle of America’s immigration firestorm with ICE and the Minnesota fraud scandal, and then because apparently we can’t have one crisis at a time, we’re trying to make sense of an uprising in Iran through a media blackout. Three very different stories, one shared theme: power. Who has it, who abuses it, and who pays the price when governments decide to “act” (or don’t).
Venezuela: Strategy, Power, and the Cost of “Bold Moves”
Let’s start internationally, because Venezuela has become the kind of headline that instantly splits people into teams.
The Trump administration’s move to arrest Maduro has been framed as everything from long-overdue accountability to reckless geopolitical theatre. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a strategic play to disrupt China’s oil pipeline and reassert American influence… or it’s a dangerous escalation that could backfire in ways nobody can control.
Jolene sees the appeal of decisive action, especially if it’s aimed at weakening authoritarian regimes and limiting China’s leverage. She’s also not wrong to point out that “doing nothing” has consequences too. But I can’t ignore the whiplash factor: bold moves can be effective, and they can also be catastrophic. And the people who pay first are rarely the ones making the decisions.
The question we keep coming back to is simple: what’s the plan after the headline? Because “shock and awe” is not a foreign policy.
ICE, Minnesota, and the Way Immigration Becomes a Weapon
Back home, immigration is back in the center of the storm again, and it’s not just policy debates. It’s fear, anger, and the kind of rhetoric that turns human beings into symbols.
Between the ICE shootings and the Minnesota fraud scandal, we’re watching the same pattern play out: a real event happens, it gets flattened into a political weapon, and suddenly entire communities are being judged by the actions of a few. That’s not justice. That’s scapegoating with better branding.
Jolene’s point is that law enforcement exists for a reason, and that fraud and violence can’t be hand-waved away because the topic is politically sensitive. Fair. But my pushback is this: when enforcement becomes performative, when it feels like a power-play instead of public safety, it erodes trust and makes everything worse. You can’t build social stability by treating whole groups of people as suspicious by default.
So we’re left with the real tension: how do you enforce laws without losing your humanity? And how do you talk about immigration honestly without turning it into a morality play where one side is “pro-crime” and the other is “anti-cruelty”?
Iran: Courage in the Dark, and the World’s Awkward Silence
Then there’s Iran. Where people are risking everything to push back against oppression, while the rest of the world watches through a fog of censorship and fragmented reporting.
The recent media blackout makes it hard to know what’s happening in real time, but what we do know is this: the courage is real. The stakes are life and death. And the question for the outside world is as uncomfortable as it is unavoidable: what responsibility do we have when people are fighting for freedom and begging to be seen?
Jolene and I both feel the pull of that question. Because “intervention” can mean support, and it can also mean unintended consequences that haunt a region for decades. But “do nothing” has a moral weight too. Watching people suffer from the safety of your own country isn’t neutral—it’s a choice.
The Only Thing We’re Sure About
We’re living in a time where everything gets turned into a loyalty test.
If you question the Venezuela move, you’re “weak.”
If you support enforcement, you’re “heartless.”
If you want caution in Iran, you’re “complicit.”
If you want action, you’re “a warmonger.”
It’s exhausting. And it’s also why we keep doing this show.
Because somewhere under the noise is a more human question: where’s the line between standing your ground and extending an olive branch? Between strength and cruelty? Between compassion and naivety? Between action and arrogance?
We don’t have answers. But we do know this: the way we talk about these issues matters. If we can’t discuss hard topics without dehumanizing each other, we’re not going to solve anything. We’re just going to keep feeding the machine that profits from division.
So here’s our invitation: stay in the conversation. Ask better questions. Assume less. Listen longer than you want to. And if you’re feeling overwhelmed by 2026 already… same.
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Podcast:
Good for the Soul:
Yes Theory (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/yestheory/?hl=en
YouTube Video:https://youtu.be/Zw0c2fmv1RM?si=1aVkJiD8q0zYHjhG
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[00:00:00] nicole: She's a conservative and I'm liberal, and yet we've been friends for almost 40 years. Everyone says you shouldn't discuss politics, religion, or money. And we say, that's exactly what friends should be talking about. Join us as we tackle the conversations you're having in your head, but are too scared to say out loud. Hello, Jolene?
[00:00:23] Jolene: Hi, Nicole. Oh my gosh. Welcome to, we've got to Talk.
[00:00:27] and I would like to say if you're, if this is the first time joining us, thank you so much. You're starting off your new year in a great way because you've got two friends who are really, blessed and fortunate to be able to talk to each other the way that we do.
[00:00:40] And if you would like to be a part of this journey, please, like and subscribe on. You can find us on Apple and Spotify and YouTube and.
[00:00:52] nicole: you get your podcasts. Mm-hmm.
[00:00:53] Jolene: and yeah, you know, wherever we're all over the place. So we would love to hear your comments. Please, uh, feel free to comment on [00:01:00] our website. We've got to talk.com.
[00:01:02] And if you would like to be a sponsor of our show, we would love to have you. So please contact us on our website and leave us a, a comment and we'll get back to you. It'll be Nicole. I, I'm not lying. It's, it's not we, it's Nicole. Nicole will get back to you, but I, but if, but if you leave us a really good comment, she's gonna forward it to me and I'm
[00:01:20] nicole: That's right. That's right,
[00:01:22] Jolene: we want them to be a
[00:01:22] nicole: that's right. Um, yeah. So thank you guys. Uh, listen, Welcome to 2026 could you give us our money back? We gotta start over like, this has been absolutely bananas. We are recording. Just so y'all know, we are recording Sunday, January 11th.
[00:01:40] Here's the deal, y'all. We have this fabulous media team and editor and producer, and they live across the world in Brisbane, Australia. And they are sane. They take a month off to revitalize, to regroup, to play in the [00:02:00] sand. Yeah, right.
[00:02:01] Jolene: their
[00:02:02] nicole: Absolutely. They take a whole month, y'all. It is the most un-American thing you could possibly do, and they do it with grace and humor.
[00:02:10] And so while they've been on their like, rest, the world has fallen apart over here. And Jolene and I have been recording like a little bit broader, um, topics because we were like, we can't do anything right now. Well, now sweet. Brianna is back and we're ready to go. And we are going to tackle today, Venezuela, we are going to tackle, all things Minnesota, the fraud, the ice shootings, the ice shootings in Portland.
[00:02:42] We are going to tackle, the Iran uprisings. There's, is there anything else, Jolene, that we're gonna tackle? I, for, I've forgotten. I think that's, and whatever else comes up.
[00:02:50] Jolene: bomb Syria last night. Did you hear that? We bombed Syria last night, so
[00:02:56] nicole: I am not prepared for that.
[00:02:57] Jolene: I've not, I've,
[00:02:59] nicole: I'm not [00:03:00] prepared. Like it's there is so much and, and Brianna, God bless her. She's gonna rush this and it will air on Wednesday the 14th. So welcome
[00:03:12] Jolene: Yeah.
[00:03:13] nicole: to, we've got to talk and welcome to 2026. And I, I just wanna say Jolene, before we begin, listener and viewer, please give us some grace.
[00:03:23] 'cause this is huge and we are trying to keep up at lightning speed. and we're trying to look at what the left is saying, what the right is saying, what we're saying, how we feel. It's been quite a journey. And one, one thing I can say, Jolene, that has been kind of, um, in the spirit of we've got to talk that I am thrilled about is as we've been rushing to.
[00:03:47] Like find out as much information to be able to, to speak sort of, I don't, I don't wanna say with authority, but, um, to have a sense of what's going on in the world. [00:04:00] Right,
[00:04:00] Jolene: intelligently.
[00:04:01] nicole: exactly. That I have been always compelled to send you what I am seeing, versus there is no sense of, Ooh, I'm gonna get Jolene and I'm gonna arm
[00:04:13] Jolene: Mm.
[00:04:14] nicole: and I'm gonna make her look like a fool. and I'm gonna have my, all my armor ready to go to get her. I am like, Joe, this is what I'm seeing. Show me what you're seeing so that we can not necessarily. Agree completely. We're still Jolene and Nicole, we're still Democrat and Republican. We're still people with our own stories and our own experiences.
[00:04:41] Bringing that to this listener and viewer
[00:04:45] Jolene: But the thing that I think is different from. Over a year ago that we've been doing this is that my sources have changed
[00:04:53] nicole: as have mine.
[00:04:54] Jolene: you're gonna hold my, uh, you're gonna hold my feet to the fire and go, where'd you
[00:04:58] nicole: Yeah,
[00:04:59] Jolene: And I'd be [00:05:00] like, oh, I sought it on Twitter. So obviously it's
[00:05:02] nicole: right.
[00:05:03] Jolene: that's no longer part of the, um, of the, you know, conversations that we're having.
[00:05:09] And, and I try to go to sources that I know are either halfway unbiased or giving us a perspective that is, um, does not come from the left or the
[00:05:20] nicole: Yeah.
[00:05:20] Jolene: is truly trying to be, um, out front with
[00:05:23] nicole: Yeah. And it,
[00:05:24] Jolene: and then we can form our own opinions based on our own
[00:05:27] nicole: that's right.
[00:05:28] Jolene: uh, isn't that what we should be
[00:05:30] nicole: I mean that's, I think what has been so fascinating too, Joe, trying to, uh, culminate all of these different topics and now I having the knowledge of If I'm, look, if I'm listening to NPR up first, and I will hear, I will go, okay, I'm going in knowing that this is a left-leaning source, or, and, and now I'll find it fascinating versus being triggered or the right, or if I go to Fox [00:06:00] News, I will be like, well, I know where, what their agenda is too.
[00:06:03] And like I've, we've said before a thousand times that there, the, the most exciting thing that is happening in this space is that independent news media sources are happening. Tangle MO News, straight Arrow News. Uh, all these incredible sources that we can all share with each other and, and they're following the stories in a real way.
[00:06:26] And then you, they have the respect of our humanity and our brain to understand that we can make our own decisions and they don't need to push us one way or another. So let's dive into this. Let us talk about, in sort of order, sort of let's go to Venezuela. Let's talk about Venezuela. Everybody, here we go.
[00:06:48] Let's talk about Maduro being snatched up in the middle of the night.
[00:06:55] Jolene: Okay. Here's the other thing With this episode, we're gonna go rapid fire because we've got a lot to[00:07:00]
[00:07:00] nicole: yes,
[00:07:00] Jolene: and we don't wanna waste your time viewer and listener. number one,
[00:07:05] nicole: yes, yes, ma'am.
[00:07:06] Jolene: Madero being, um, arrested and taken into the United States custody overnight?
[00:07:12] nicole: I mean, okay, here's the deal. What I've really had trouble with, with the Trump administer the Trump administration from the very beginning is that there are things that he does that actually I could get behind and I could applaud, but I don't like the way he does it. And he does it too fast, and he does it without, uh, without checks.
[00:07:35] Like he doesn't check with Congress. He doesn't check with the, the Gang of eight, which I learned what the Gang of eight was. Did you know what the Gang of eight was? Okay.
[00:07:43] Jolene: Yes, because I have, yeah.
[00:07:45] nicole: Okay. So, so, um, so what I don't appreciate, listen, Maduro is a bad dude. This Maduro is a bad dude. He stole the election. He has co completely [00:08:00] bankrupted the country.
[00:08:01] It is super corrupt. Um, these poor as, uh, Venezuelan people are broke, hungry, exhausted, and they need help.
[00:08:12] Jolene: uh, how do you feel about us going in and getting him?
[00:08:14] nicole: I don't like it. I don't like that. That's how it happened. Is he a criminal? Yes. because everything is a show. Like we, we recently learned that there, the US soldiers were hurt. Like there was first this, like we got the guy and then they show pictures of him being blindfolded. It's like, I feel like I'm in a reality TV program versus the United States government.
[00:08:42] Jolene: Okay. Okay. But do you, so you don't think that we should have arrested him and taken him into custody?
[00:08:48] nicole: I would've preferred that Trump had, uh, let the gang of eight know that this was the plan that they [00:09:00] were gonna go get Maduro. I think it's all completely bananas. I think, uh, Machado is now like trying to give her peace prize away so that she could possibly be the leader.
[00:09:15] Um, and I also find this fascinating 'cause it was listening to a daily where Machado actually came from this upper class background. and, Delsey, who is currently the vice president or now running the country, actually was raised by a Marxist revolutionary who was killed in 1976 because he was behind, uh, this possible, uh, torturing and killing, uh, or no, no, no, I'm sorry, not killing, torturing and kidnapping of a, an executive that possible.
[00:09:48] CI, a agent, American agent. Um, but DCI has learned to be transactional and Machado is very idealistic and [00:10:00] so of, and so what I've heard is that, uh, Trump is feeling like he can work better with Dcy than he can with Machado. Am I, is it Machado? Am I pronouncing her name right. Okay.
[00:10:13] Jolene: I think so.
[00:10:14] nicole: And, and so, but then you've got the oil executives who are saying.
[00:10:20] Yo slow, slow your role. Like he's had these meetings with the oil executives. Like, listen, they owe us already tens of billions of dollars. Why are we gonna go back in there? Or, we have to. And that Trump came out and said, well, he can't look at the past. Uh, it was their mistakes. And, and there it was a different president.
[00:10:44] And I'm just thinking, oh boy, we're in for it. We're in for it. Do I like the methodology the way he did it? No. do I think that Maduro should be president?
[00:10:55] No. I personally think Machado should [00:11:00] be president because she was elected two years ago. Now you could have another. election, I suppose if, if that's the case. I'm so uncomfortable with the fact that there has been like interviews with Stephen Miller saying, yes, we're running Venezuela.
[00:11:17] Yes. We we are gonna run Venezuela for years. and Trump is like, yeah, that's what we're gonna do. And he was supposedly ran on America first and not being, and, and I, I happened to come across some, uh, so true social post, um, on Facebook this morning from Trump that was, uh, I guess yesterday saying that like, it's like his title now is like the Peace President.
[00:11:44] And I'm sort of like, this doesn't feel peaceful. None of this feels very peaceful. So I'm gonna stop talking and you tell me how you're feeling about Maduro and Machado and DCI and all the things and the oil execs.
[00:11:57] Jolene: Okay, so here, isn't it [00:12:00] interesting that I asked you a question? And you still couldn't answer the question, right? that, it's a really hard question, right? There's not a
[00:12:09] nicole: Meaning like how do I feel about him being kidnapped in the middle of the night?
[00:12:14] Jolene: we have, should we have take, arrested him and taken him into custody? That was the question.
[00:12:20] nicole: This is where I feel, Jolene, that I'm just naive because I'm, and doing this podcast, I'm learning because I'm curious whether this has been done just privately through the year, through all the years of the United States.
[00:12:44] Jolene: Hmm.
[00:12:44] nicole: And that the, that the people just don't know about it. What goes on that they just, and now Trump has just like, behind door number three, it's now the new channel is the United States.
[00:12:58] Like, watch it, [00:13:00] we're gonna show you what we do.
[00:13:01] Jolene: Right.
[00:13:02] nicole: Does that answer I,
[00:13:03] Jolene: agree. No, it still doesn't answer the question because it's a really hard question, right. There isn't like you want him to be gone, but you don't know that that the way
[00:13:12] nicole: yeah. I don't think, I, I don't, I don't. Yes. Uh, Jolene I am, I don't think it was right. where I think I have the most problem is because he didn't check with Congress or the gang of eight. This country, I want more checks and balances and there's very little right now.
[00:13:31] Jolene: I I completely, I I would get behind
[00:13:34] nicole: You would,
[00:13:35] Jolene: I think you're right. I would, I would agree with you there.
[00:13:37] nicole: sorry, I've been so long-winded
[00:13:39] Jolene: I, no, because I think that is ex I wanted you to say all the things that you just
[00:13:45] nicole: so you could trap me.
[00:13:46] Jolene: gonna Nope. It's not. I'm not trapping
[00:13:49] nicole: Okay.
[00:13:50] Jolene: your reaction, I think is, is probably the same as I, I don't know, 50% of, of
[00:13:58] nicole: Okay.
[00:13:59] Jolene: let's just say.
[00:13:59] I
[00:13:59] nicole: [00:14:00] and conservative and liberal.
[00:14:01] Jolene: Eh, I
[00:14:02] nicole: Okay. Okay.
[00:14:03] Jolene: No. Probably most, most
[00:14:04] nicole: Okay.
[00:14:05] Jolene: I'm
[00:14:05] nicole: Okay.
[00:14:06] Jolene: have nothing to back this up, but I'll tell you what, I am making this statement right now. I feel like actions that we've just taken absolutely will be the most important thing that President Trump will have ever done in his eight years in his presidency. It will go down in history as. A pivotal time in, in American history it's not about the drugs, it wasn't about the oil. it is simply about who Venezuela was giving their oil to, and it was China. And
[00:14:44] nicole: Russia too.
[00:14:45] Jolene: to, yes. And for us to be able to cut off that supply to China was absolutely a brilliant strategic move China buys 90% [00:15:00] of its oil from Venezuela. So the fact that we just stopped that, it, it was such a strategic move that he first had to have a reason to take, um, Maduro out.
[00:15:12] So we called him a narco terrorist, and then we had the, the, um, the authority to go in and arrest him over the, um, all of the charges that, um, that we indicted him on, he and his wife. the first thing that happened was we were shooting, um, the, the boats that were coming out of Venezuela, the drug boats, and that's, I know,
[00:15:34] nicole: controversial is.
[00:15:35] Jolene: and then we started, um, a military front in the Caribbean, outside of Venezuela. So, I mean, all of these things were leading up to, we're coming after you Venezuela, and, um, and trying to
[00:15:50] nicole: We're coming after you. Maduro
[00:15:52] Jolene: uh, yes, I mean, Venezuela administration, because they have absolutely done, you know, [00:16:00] horrible things to their people.
[00:16:01] The, you know, ironically the kind of the same things that we're seeing with Iran, like they've absolutely, you know, uh, punished their people for speaking out whole Machado thing. but if we can keep the reserves from going to China, we've now debilitated China's ability to go to Taiwan and take over Taiwan because they're not going to have the oil to, to fuel their, um, their military to take over Taiwan. We've also just stripped their ability to power all of the AI that we are in, you know, that we're competing against
[00:16:41] nicole: So.
[00:16:42] Jolene: of the Venezuelan oil was going to China. now they, where is China gonna go for their oil? They'll get some from Russia, but because the biggest reserve's, 300 billion barrels, $17 trillion worth of oil is sitting in [00:17:00] Venezuela. So then if you go back to the Monroe Doctrine, So, Monroe Monroe doctrine was from President James
[00:17:07] nicole: Yes,
[00:17:08] Jolene: 1823. And he basically was a, the Western Hemisphere is ours. It, it belongs to America. back in the 18 hundreds. we're basically saying is, Europe, you take care of Europe, United States is gonna take care of, of the Western Hemisphere. 1904, Theodore Roosevelt, had a, um, a right, uh, I'm sorry, I'm looking at my notes here and Latin America to stabilize the economy and prevent European involvement. So again, it, it kind of reared, its, um, its, its fundamentals again to say, um, again, we have the right to govern our neighbors because that is, again, Europe can't come in here and colonize and, and, um, have any control over this area of the world.
[00:17:59] I [00:18:00] mean, and that's, and I mean, that was basically it. Like, we'll take care of our neighborhood. You take care of yours,
[00:18:06] nicole: When does the neighborhood cha? When? Where does the neighborhood stop?
[00:18:10] Jolene: Well, the Western hemisphere, I mean the, the whole thing was talking about Western Hemisphere versus, uh, Eastern Hemisphere. So then this, so then this whole thing, and, and Trump taking this from Monroe Doctrine to the Don Road
[00:18:25] nicole: Ugh,
[00:18:26] Jolene: um,
[00:18:27] nicole: gross
[00:18:29] Jolene: was his way to invoke like a sense of history. Like he's not the first person to do this and to have this feeling and to have this protectionism that, that he is reverting, you know, is, is referring back to, you know, the 18 hundreds presidents in the 1900 presidents.
[00:18:47] That, that this isn't some, you know, obscure wacko thing that Trump is doing. We've been doing it for hundreds of years. here's what I think is interesting, and this is why then I agree with you on, [00:19:00] maybe he's overstepped his bounds though, is that the Senate voted. Um, this last week, 52 47, to bar the Trump administration from further military action and that the Republicans, there were five Republicans
[00:19:13] that sided with the Democrats going, okay, I get why we've done it, you can't just go in there,
[00:19:20] nicole: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
[00:19:22] Jolene: now,
[00:19:22] nicole: It was Josh Hawley from Missouri Rand Paul from Kentucky, Susan Collins from Maine. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, and Todd Young from Indiana. And the two that were the most, uh, surprising, sorry to interrupt you, was Josh Hawley and Todd Young, who normally have been fierce Trump supporters, and they're like, y'all slow your roll.
[00:19:46] You're crossing a line here. And, and Trump was really pissed. He basically came out and said that, um, that was an act of stupidity and should, and they should never be elected to office [00:20:00] again.
[00:20:01] Jolene: Yep. Yep. Oh, I'm sure. Because again, I think who was, whoever came up with this in this whole str, this Venezuelan strategy, and whether it was Trump or it was an advisor or, or a group of people, whatever, I think this was so well planned and well executed. That it, it was absolutely brilliant because no one, it again, we've talked about, so how many times that when something is happening, you are, we're looking at the shiny object, but the real thing is happening back here.
[00:20:31] So we all thought that we were going after him for the drugs, and this was the drug boats and the, and the no, that was, that was simply setting up a way for us to go in there and take Maduro out. But for the other reason of, of these oil reserves because they're in our back door, they're our neighbor to the south.
[00:20:50] We can't let Russia, and that was the thing. Russia and China and Iran are all coming in, had our, you know, big buddies with Venezuela. And for us to allow [00:21:00] that to happen, I mean, we go back to the, you know, the Cuban Missile Crisis. I mean, that's how close they are. They're in our backyard. When if we continued to allow this relationship to happen, we had to step into
[00:21:14] nicole: Okay, hold on. I, I, so, I don't disagree with you that I was very surprised and totally naive. 'cause I didn't know how much China and Russia, and I don't know about Iran, but I knew Russia and China were involved in Venezuela. And that seemed totally crazy to me, that that was just known. And it, and somehow the United States was cool with it.
[00:21:39] But there's a lot of contradictions about what China and Russia are involved in, that we are like, oh, that's fine, but that's not fine. Like, you know, there's another episode that we just recorded about surrogacy that we'll talk about that will air later that I can't believe that. It's okay, what China's doing and I guess it's [00:22:00] okay. I have a bunch of questions. Are you concerned that this, this act of going in and taking a leader in the middle of the night and not checking with the rest of the government, that other governments are gonna think that that's okay and that also, so if he was, if they made this plan, this Maduro plan that, okay, we're gonna set this up, we're gonna create a narrative, we're gonna kill all these people from the sky and say it's drugs without due process, which is. Crazy because they've said we're just supposed to take the Trump administration at its word that they are filled with drugs.
[00:22:46] And some might have been, some might not have been. I mean, they, they definitely killed a Colombian fishermen that was not like, there are people that were killed by accident that they won't admit that they were killed by [00:23:00] accident and
[00:23:00] Jolene: how do you know that?
[00:23:01] nicole: from research that I have done in the past.
[00:23:05] Jolene: I, I, and I would challenge that, I would say, who did that come from? I mean, was that the Venezuelan people who said that? I mean, I,
[00:23:12] nicole: but the, but Jolene, like, there is no due process. They're just shooting people from the sky.
[00:23:17] Jolene: is
[00:23:17] nicole: Okay. That like, let's just start there. They're shooting people from the sky. They're saying, don't worry about it. They're, they're, they're drug boats. And then we're kidnapping this guy who's a bad guy. and charging him for being a narco terrorist, that he's a drug pin.
[00:23:33] And yet now we're like, no, it's really not about that. Well then can we hold him on the charges that he's a drug Lord? And then like, uh, Trump has pardoned that Honduran drug dealer, uh, his name was Hernandez, I think, why are we pardoning him if you're so against the drugs that we're clearly [00:24:00] coming into this country? is it brilliant or is it manipulative? here's a deal, Joe. I'm not against, like, if I hear that, that China and Russia are deeply involved in Venezuela and they have this insane resource of oil and the United States is like, Hmm, this is a little too close for comfort here. But it's just, it's just the way he's doing all of it.
[00:24:27] It's like, it's like this, it's, and, and we'll get into it when it comes to Minneapolis and, and then the ice shootings, and there is this sense of like, y'all, the sky is green. The sky is green, the sky is green. And then we're like, no, no, no, the sky is blue. And he's like, no, the sky is green and we're just supposed to all go O.
[00:24:50] Okay.
[00:24:50] Jolene: O Okay. Okay. All right. So can I address
[00:24:53] nicole: Yes.
[00:24:53] Jolene: of all, the, the Chinese, I think what, what, what Trump is doing is putting himself [00:25:00] in, in a, um, the most positive position for negotiation with China. Now that we have cut out a such a major energy, and power supply for China, now we're in the power of, of we're in the driver's
[00:25:16] nicole: Can I ask you, Joe, where did you get those, um, those findings about the China getting cut off that, those numbers?
[00:25:23] Jolene: That was from,
[00:25:26] nicole: researching all, all kinds of things, so of course I can't.
[00:25:29] Jolene: that was I think from a Reuters, I've got two sources here. There was a Reuters report and a Washington Post
[00:25:36] nicole: Okay.
[00:25:36] And China doesn't have its own oil.
[00:25:38] Jolene: I think China does have some oil, I think the point being that Venezuela is the largest oil reserves
[00:25:45] nicole: You don't think that that China would be emboldened to take Taiwan because of this,
[00:25:50] Jolene: No, I don't think they can. If we, if we just cut off their power
[00:25:53] nicole: but, but they have, they have, they have huge solar and wind sources as well.
[00:25:58] Jolene: I don't think that's gonna power their [00:26:00] Navy ships.
[00:26:01] nicole: I was thinking, I'm sorry. I was thinking like the AI chips,
[00:26:03] Jolene: again, I think there's so much power between,
[00:26:05] nicole: excuse me,
[00:26:06] Jolene: wind and solar is not enough to to supply. Uh, I think, so I, I just think this puts us in a position where, where, um, China now is going to have to at least acquiesce to, to some of our demands.
[00:26:20] And whether that's tariffs, what if that, whoever
[00:26:24] nicole: also gonna find out if tariffs are even legal too, right? This year
[00:26:29] Jolene: uh,
[00:26:30] nicole: that's gonna be part of 2026.
[00:26:32] Jolene: was, but I will say, um, I just saw that our trade deficit, is back to like 2009 levels because of tariffs. But that's a whole nother
[00:26:40] nicole: That is a whole other episode. Because? Because the farmers are getting,
[00:26:44] Jolene: They are, but yes,
[00:26:46] nicole: yeah, it's another episode.
[00:26:47] Jolene: Colombian president, um, has now just as of
[00:26:51] nicole: Petro.
[00:26:51] Jolene: wants, wants to have a conversation with Trump. I, I,
[00:26:55] nicole: Well, he did.
[00:26:56] Jolene: again, this move has made us in [00:27:00] control and I think now other countries are seeing this and going, okay, don't mess with the United
[00:27:07] nicole: Okay. Hold on. Joe, are you, so, are you in favor of what happened? Maybe not in favor of the method of it. Ha of how it happened, but in favor of what the result is Like. What is your Okay.
[00:27:20] Jolene: absolutely. I think that this, we needed to do something, and again, I haven't given enough thought as much as whoever, you know, these advisors are. Obviously this is their jobs. Um, and this is, you know, what they think about night and day. But I think the fact it, it is a simple fact that Venezuela held so much. Oil reserves and that the 90% of it was going to China. That I feel like, um, that had to stop. And whatever method we had to, to use to get that to stop was critical. Now, I, I think with, with everything else that [00:28:00] Trump does, sometimes we think, God, why are you doing that in Minnesota? As we start to talk
[00:28:05] nicole: Yeah.
[00:28:06] Jolene: gonna be
[00:28:06] nicole: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:28:07] Jolene: that we just go, why?
[00:28:09] Ugh. You know, sometimes he's such an idiot. But this I think, was freaking brilliant. Uh, other thing you said about the drug, Lord, um, that Maduro being a drug Lord and all that he was, he was absolutely a drug Lord. And so, um, you know, again, going after him on these narco terrorism charges are, are still legit and they're still gonna stand and we're still gonna indict him on, you know, dealings and whether he was, you know, a drug pen, um, leader of, of one of the biggest, you know, cartels.
[00:28:42] I mean that's, that's all one other issue. was that the smoke and mirrors that we needed to go in and really stop this, this bigger, the bigger picture? Last thing you said, the Honduran president. still, Trump goes back and says that was something that the Biden administration did. Again, [00:29:00] you know how I'm gonna, what I'm gonna say about Trump. He's not, he, he just, he, he makes. Stupid comments and he says stupid things. Um,
[00:29:11] nicole: just didn't, he felt like he, he was pitted against, like, he had a similar story to Trump.
[00:29:17] Jolene: And Right. Exactly. And so he's gonna, you know, use this guy again, I, this, this doesn't have the, the, you know, the Columbian drug part and the Honduran drug part at this, the Venezuelan thing is not about drugs. Even though that that is, we will still pursue that. This
[00:29:34] nicole: It's about,
[00:29:35] Jolene: not about
[00:29:35] nicole: this is about money and power
[00:29:38] Jolene: It is absolutely about money
[00:29:40] nicole: power.
[00:29:41] Jolene: A
[00:29:42] nicole: How do you feel, though, and, we'll, we'll, we'll start to move on. Uh, how do you feel about the United States being involved now for years? Like, they're gonna have a presence. They're gonna, I mean, he's saying run the government, which I don't exact, none of us know what that means yet. Right. [00:30:00] But how does that just feel, how does that feel to you?
[00:30:03] Mm-hmm.
[00:30:03] Jolene: I feel like it's a threat. Um, you know, the, the, the message from the state department this morning, you know, as of Sunday morning was if you're an American, get out of Venezuela because they're mad and they're, you know, they're gonna go after you. I think, um, Trump trying to keep the, the VP in there and not working with Machado, I think, um, he did see a, again, now he's Trump's in control.
[00:30:27] United States is in control of Venezuela, and so now he can work with her and say. we can help you here, we can help get your country back on track and, uh, you know, start helping with the, with the, um, getting your oil. I mean, it's such an antiquated system, you know, all of the, the oil companies are going,
[00:30:46] nicole: yeah, there.
[00:30:47] Jolene: is gonna take years
[00:30:50] nicole: Billions of dollars.
[00:30:51] Jolene: to, to
[00:30:52] nicole: Yeah.
[00:30:53] Jolene: But again, because they sit on the largest oil reserves in the world, by far, not [00:31:00] like, oh, a little bit. By far it is absolutely worth their time. And the fact that we're going to give that revenue back to the Venezuela people to make that country great
[00:31:11] nicole: Oh God. Do you, don't, don't you dare say that. Don't you
[00:31:15] Jolene: Make
[00:31:16] nicole: I mean,
[00:31:19] Jolene: mva
[00:31:21] nicole: oh my God. You didn't, you didn't. You didn't. But this is okay. I know we, I know we have to move on 'cause I know there's so much to talk about. But when Trump says I can work with the Delsey administration, that's what I'm gonna call it. what work with, in quotes to me means bully, threaten. I mean, he's got him, he's got him.
[00:31:48] Jolene: mean, isn't it, isn't it the same thing that we're doing with, Is it the same thing we're doing with Iran or uh, um, with Israel? I mean, like, we're going to work with you. We're going to be a partner [00:32:00] with you. We're going to help you. How much foreign aid do we
[00:32:03] nicole: Yeah, but
[00:32:03] Jolene: across
[00:32:04] nicole: do you, but how are you?
[00:32:06] Jolene: you don't think that we're gonna do that to somebody who's in our
[00:32:08] nicole: But I'm, I'm not suggesting that, but I think this Venezuelan government, this, this Maduro now Delsey government is fucking corrupt. Sorry, Linda. It's corrupt. So the fact that he's quote unquote working with them, I think it's 'cause he is like, I've got you. I've got you.
[00:32:30] And I guess I'm uncomfortable. I'm just uncomfortable that like, oh, this is how our government is and this is politics. And maybe I didn't know that. Maybe I didn't know that.
[00:32:42] Jolene: so let me, okay, so let me ask you, would you rather have Chyna going in there and saying, we are going to
[00:32:48] nicole: Listen, you know, me and the Kumbaya, I wish China and I were China and, and just me. I wish China and the, and the United States were friends. I wish we could figure it out. I really do.
[00:32:59] Jolene: [00:33:00] I
[00:33:00] nicole: really do.
[00:33:00] Jolene: so
[00:33:01] nicole: I just want us all to get along. Uh,
[00:33:04] Jolene: do.
[00:33:05] nicole: listen, so yeah, I, I I don't have an answer for you. I don't
[00:33:09] Jolene: Because if it's not, I'm just telling you, if it's not us, it's China or it's
[00:33:13] nicole: listen. We
[00:33:14] Jolene: So do you want it to be us or do you want it to be China or Russia?
[00:33:17] nicole: Oh, you, you're doing it to me. You're putting me in the corner. Don't put baby in the corner.
[00:33:23] Jolene: to, I
[00:33:24] nicole: put baby in the corner.
[00:33:25] Jolene: I
[00:33:26] nicole: Listen,
[00:33:27] Jolene: it is. It's not a Kumbaya world that
[00:33:29] nicole: know it's not, and then I think that's what I'm realizing.
[00:33:32] Jolene: I
[00:33:32] nicole: I think that's what I'm realizing and. I'm disappointed. Y'all. Um, okay. Listen, We need to move forward and talk about how are we gonna do this. We're gonna talk about the Minnesota fraud plus the ice shootings of, Renee Good in, in Minnesota. And the, the couple who were shot and I guess are surviving in Portland, uh, before [00:34:00] we go to Iran, we're gonna start here. I was honestly focused on the ice shootings, 'cause I can't speak for your feed, but it was so overwhelming. The amount of video, the amount of vitriol on both sides. The, it was like. Up to my neck in yuck. And hate and anger in, I am right. You are wrong. He's a murderer. She's a, she's an evil person. I was like, so I don't know if we wanna, we can talk about the fraud first.
[00:34:36] We can talk about the shootings first. What would you like to talk about?
[00:34:39] Jolene: Well, I think we have to start with the fraud first because that's, I think where, where it started, because that's why we
[00:34:45] nicole: Uh
[00:34:46] Jolene: ICE agents. um,
[00:34:49] nicole: I see what you're, where you're going. I see where you're going. Okay.
[00:34:52] Jolene: Okay. Okay. So the fraud stemmed from, um, really stemmed from probably [00:35:00] 2020 during the pandemic. feeding Our Future, um, was an organization that was getting, uh, money, getting federal funding for, feeding kids.
[00:35:10] It was autism, it was, um, helping, uh, and therapists for autistic kids. There was some homeless shelter. It was a whole
[00:35:18] nicole: It was. It was food. It was food. Uh, and they did, there was like a Medica Medicaid scam for housing and daycare. Like they ran the gamut.
[00:35:31] Jolene: this was all under Walls as the governor, they went in and, and what a, a program that started at $2.4 million a year. All of a sudden went up to over a hundred million dollars a year in handing out, um, subsidies to all of these organizations. 92 people were charged. As of this time, 62 have been convicted. of them were from the Somali community. That's the [00:36:00] first thing that, I mean, those are all facts, right? We would agree on
[00:36:03] nicole: We would agree on that.
[00:36:04] Jolene: Okay. then as,
[00:36:06] nicole: did think that it started like way earlier in 2013. I read something though. That was the only thing.
[00:36:13] Jolene: well, here's what's funny too. As, as an Iowan there for some reason, I, Iowa and Minnesota, because Minnesota's just north
[00:36:21] nicole: Yeah.
[00:36:21] Jolene: And, um, there's always been this, um, rivalry and so as an Iowan, you all, I grew up. Thinking that Minnesota was corrupt and that their taxes were high. Yes. And that their taxes were high because they gave their money away.
[00:36:39] Like, I remember growing up, like as a kid, thinking that that was Minnesota, that they
[00:36:44] nicole: I.
[00:36:44] Jolene: um, uh, they were kind of a, because they have such a high Scandinavian
[00:36:49] nicole: yes,
[00:36:50] Jolene: that that's their, um, that's kind of, that's, and Scandinavia is very good about, you know, giving a lot of their money, very high [00:37:00] taxes, but
[00:37:00] nicole: yes,
[00:37:00] Jolene: really have a lot of social services,
[00:37:03] nicole: And really good social services as well.
[00:37:04] Jolene: yeah.
[00:37:05] nicole: and the research I did about this as well that was super fascinating is that, Minnesota has this very high Scandinavian culture of, of giving back. And, it's not a segue, but there's a podcast called City Cast and they have them all over in these small cities.
[00:37:22] There's one at City Cast Salt Lake. I highly recommend this podcast. if it's in your hood, and I was listening to a city cast Salt Lake episode recently, but it had all the hosts from all over the country, and one of them was Minneapolis this is before all the shootings.
[00:37:38] I mean, it was just sort of like, whoa. Uh, and this, uh, host was talking about the long history of racism in Min, in min in Minnesota. That that was part of the culture, that it was real, that they, they weren't surprised that the George Floyd, murder [00:38:00] happened in Minne Minneapolis. That this was, this is sort of like the, maybe to the United States.
[00:38:06] It was surprising, but not to Minnesotans. And so what I found interesting as I was diving into this fraud. Situation is that the fraud became rampant, as you said, during the pandemic. We were all, as the pandemic happened, we were all like, and couldn't believe this was happening to our world. And how can we, I think all of us liberal, conservative we're like, how do we help our brothers and sisters, right?
[00:38:32] Like, who, who needs help? And so here is the situation, and I don't know, uh, like this, I'm just, I'm just free, uh, free styling right now. But if you have a culture where you're aware that there's a lot of racism and then you have this Scandinavian culture that is also very giving and maybe some, let's throw some white guilt in there.
[00:38:58] I'm not really sure. That [00:39:00] is a, it is a perfect cocktail for, things to be taken advantage of. What, what I've.
[00:39:06] Jolene: think you're
[00:39:07] nicole: Right. And I think it's super sad because I know in my bones that most of the Somali community in Minnesota is honest and hardworking. And it's this, these, these, it happens with every, in every situation.
[00:39:26] It's the rotten few that ruin it for the rest of the people. But if then you have, uh, this culture where, and, and Tim Walls has even said like, they sort of turned a blind eye. And the fraud got worse and worse and worse. Where this is gets into really, really ugly, yucky waters is that kid, uh, Nick Shirley did this 45 minute YouTube video that was [00:40:00] edited and, and unsubstantiated, and he just threw it to the wall, like threw spaghetti at the wall.
[00:40:06] And as, as you and I have, were trading sources from CBS, the Minnesota Star Tribune, the, like, a bunch of different sources that some of it was right, but most of it was not. Right. And so, but
[00:40:24] Jolene: I would push
[00:40:25] nicole: you would, okay. Talk to me.
[00:40:28] Jolene: To say, well, to say, okay, wait, I, I wanna back up a little, because one of the things that happened when they, after the pandemic, when they realized that there was fraud, when the Minnesota State, um, auditors realized there was fraud going on, some of these Somalian communities accused the state of racial discrimination because they were Somalis.
[00:40:51] And so the state backed off because number one, they were a huge voting block for the Democrats. And they didn't wanna rile 'em [00:41:00] up. And again, was that part of white guilt? Was that part of, I mean that, so you're right, it was a powder keg. And they didn't wanna lose the votes and they didn't wanna lose the, you know, the, the support of the small community, so they didn't push back. So then, okay, so now we go to Nick Shirley. think that, that, um, you know, Republicans think that Nick Shirley, this YouTuber, um, was brilliant. You know, that he
[00:41:29] nicole: Well, he was in, he was in, oh, no, no, no. That's not true. That's not true. Jolene, he was working for the GOP Minnesota Caucus.
[00:41:36] Jolene: Well, no, but I'm saying, but he wasn't a
[00:41:38] nicole: No, no, no, no, no, no,
[00:41:40] Jolene: journalism that he was an independent journalist that was going and saying, okay, here's the reports that we have from, from, um, that here are the records that show how much money this learning center has been given over the year, uh, over the years. And he goes to them and they're not open Now [00:42:00] in that Minnesota state, here's what's interesting. This, the couple stories that I have read. you and I read the same one. So CBS and, uh, Minnesota Star Tribune. Um,
[00:42:09] nicole: New York Times and the Bulwark.
[00:42:11] Jolene: Oh, the New York James. Yeah.
[00:42:12] nicole: I,
[00:42:13] Jolene: Bulwark is a
[00:42:14] nicole: yes,
[00:42:15] Jolene: for me.
[00:42:15] nicole: I, I understand.
[00:42:16] Jolene: that one I took with a grain of salt. the fact that then the M star, Minnesota Star Tribune then went and
[00:42:25] nicole: Yes.
[00:42:26] Jolene: facilities that he did, they said that there were kids there.
[00:42:30] Well then the counter story to that was that, that they called all of their friends and said, uh, get your, get your kids. Um, we need to have a, because they had video of these kids, of of cars dropping off these kids and running into the daycares, and they're like. Who shot the video? I mean, who was, who was there to shoot this video showing kids actually going in that you think that wasn't a setup?
[00:42:53] I mean, I, I find that really convenient.
[00:42:55] nicole: don't know, Joe. Like, I think it's part of a bigger picture and it, I think it's [00:43:00] because we all have basically access to video cameras that are in our phone that all of a sudden we're all journalists and we're all filmmakers and we're all television hosts and we're all podcast hosts. And we're all, we're all, we're all, and that the, we, the distrust of the media is so like rampant that we're willing to be like, this kid has exposed this thing.
[00:43:22] And, and I watched, I didn't watch all 43 minutes of the Nick Shirley video. I couldn't stomach it. I did watch about 20 minutes I was like, okay, why is David only David the, his big source, that older white dude? I was like, does David have a last name? Like, who is this person? Right. And
[00:43:41] We love a good uncovering story. Like it, the way it was shot, all of it we're it, this comes to a bigger thing that we've talked about and we've got to talk, I don't know how many times that I really don't get it. Why, as a society we're not enraged that we [00:44:00] are being manipulated 24 7. 24 7. It doesn't matter if you're a liberal or, or a conservative.
[00:44:07] It, like we like and, and that we just, our brains can't, our nervous systems can't handle it. And we're just like, okay, I believe that that's the truth. That's the truth. And then we just defend that. And that's maybe what we can like, as a segue to talk about the shootings, like we have these access now to all of these videos.
[00:44:29] Right? for the Minnesota shooting, the Min Minnesota, it wasn't Minneapolis, it was in Minnesota. Min Yeah. And, and it was all these different angles and. We every news media source I've talked about the the Rorschach test that it basically is like whatever video you looked at, you now can then defend your position.
[00:44:50] And what I am struggling with, number one, is that, this was fucking horrible. This was horrible. I don't care if you're on the right or the left. This was [00:45:00] horrible. And, I am incredibly worried that we have become a society. And it's with all the administrations, I'm gonna say everybody right and left, but the, but the people in power.
[00:45:17] Immediately defended the ICE agent and said, and they said all these things about this woman, and they had no facts. They just, they're like, I'm in this camp and I hate you, and this person's right. And then the other one, the mayor of Minneapolis. I understand that he is so upset, and I'm a swearer. I love to say the word fuck.
[00:45:38] I love it, Linda. I love it. But I'm really trying not to say it so much. But then when Jacob fray immediately was like, get the F*@K out, I was like, oh no. There is now. Like we are, we are, we are the worst of ourselves. We are the worst of ourselves, and we're never going to move forward unless we rise above.
[00:45:59] [00:46:00] Rise above. Because one thing, as I was looking at it, Jo none of us were there. Most of us were not there. Okay, number one, number two. I kept thinking about the fight or flight response Like, I don't even know the context. 'cause what, what's her, what's her name? Kristie Noem is like, they're, they were trying to dig out of the snow and she attacks them.
[00:46:23] And I'm like, everyone's gonna see that this, she's just sitting there. Okay. So I am like, you're hearing on the video that some people are telling her to get, get away, go away, and some of her are telling her to get out of the car. And what would you do in that circumstance? We have no idea.
[00:46:40] We have no idea. then also, which I thought was fascinating, was on Mo News and I think I, I immediately texted you once I read that or heard that podcast, it was the first time I'd heard about. The guy that shot background, and that six months ago, last [00:47:00] June, he was, had stopped, uh, a person that was supposedly, an illegal, uh, migrant who was supposedly in a gang.
[00:47:12] He, he punched the window, which I wonder about that tactic, but he punched the window open, got his arm stuck, was dragged a hundred yards. That's what happened to that man. And then six months later, he's filming the woman, he's in front of the car, which again, seems a little like, why would you put yourself in front of the car and then. she turns the car and he shoots her in the head two more times. And the thing that I, I, I just think it's so tragic on all the levels from his standpoint, from her, her standpoint, I'm, this to me goes back to how are we [00:48:00] training police? Why are we shooting before we're chasing, why are we like, what, what is happening here?
[00:48:08] And we are not looking at any humanity, none. We're just like attacking each other and like, she's, she's part of the left radical left, maybe. I don't know.
[00:48:23] Jolene: so I, just to make the segue between the, the between Somali fraud and ice is then, Trump sends in 2000 ICE agents because he's so pissed off about this, um, fraud that he has. The, I think it's the knee jerk reaction of Let's go get those Somalis, let's go, let's go inundate, Minneapolis specifically, I don't, I, when we say Minnesota, I'm not so sure it's all of Minnesota.
[00:48:51] I think it's
[00:48:51] nicole: I'm not, I'm not really sure either. Okay. Yeah. I don't know.
[00:48:56] Jolene: Um, but, um, l let's go in there [00:49:00] and let's get rid of, again, it's, it's Tim Walls who was the vice presidential, you know, nominee with Kamala Harris
[00:49:07] nicole: Mm-hmm.
[00:49:08] Jolene: So, you know, it's Trump's way
[00:49:10] nicole: Yeah.
[00:49:11] Jolene: going in and, and, you know, playing the power card and going, we're, we are gonna go in and take care of this
[00:49:16] nicole: Yep.
[00:49:17] Jolene: is that, um, antagonistic? Probably. I mean,
[00:49:22] nicole: Yeah.
[00:49:23] Jolene: so then you've got, and again, we've talked about this, we've talked about this in the, in the context of, of my girls fighting with
[00:49:31] nicole: Right.
[00:49:31] Jolene: when they were little. Hell, even as they're older, uh, like, you know, I mean, when you know that you are gonna say something to someone. And they're instantly going to have their ire put up and they're going to get defensive. You are not going to have a conversation. You've already determined what the, the tenor of that conversation's going to be with that initial comment that you make. We talked about at the, at the Thanksgiving episode, you know, I mean, just that [00:50:00] and, and, and I feel like that's exactly what Trump did when he sent in the 2000 ice agents, I'm not sure.
[00:50:06] They were all ice federal agents of some sort, and then Tim Walls calls up the National Guard. You know, I mean, it was just this, it's, it's it, everybody's jockeying for position because we all know how they feel about each other. And what happened is it escalated to this, to
[00:50:24] nicole: We all knew that something was gonna happen, right? We all knew.
[00:50:27] Jolene: At
[00:50:27] nicole: Yeah.
[00:50:28] Jolene: Yep. Maybe it was Minneapolis, maybe it was Portland, maybe it was Chicago. It didn't, it doesn't matter. It it, we are in a time right now where. Um, I have never, and, and I guess I was talking to my girls about this and, and I said, I just, I, I can't imagine challenging a federal, a agent with a weapon like I, like, would you
[00:50:54] nicole: No, no,
[00:50:55] Jolene: Right.
[00:50:56] nicole: no.
[00:50:56] Jolene: as I like, that's unimaginable to me. And the girls go, [00:51:00] well, it's been happening for years. And I go, how? And they go, well, didn't they didn't in the civil rights, didn't we, didn't that happen in the civil rights movement? And maybe they're right. I mean, maybe this has been a, a thing, um,
[00:51:13] nicole: Sure.
[00:51:14] Jolene: those. A law enforcement officer though, I just, that I, I just have such a hard time with that. And I think then that is a, so this number one, the, the killing of Renee Goode, is horrible when a all life is valuable. And so, um, it doesn't, nothing else matters. Like she should not have lost her life.
[00:51:40] nicole: why can't this administration just be quiet, just let. Let the, like it was within moments that their name, their name calling and then,
[00:51:52] Jolene: I
[00:51:53] nicole: and you do thank you because I'm like,
[00:51:55] Jolene: No, I
[00:51:56] nicole: like
[00:51:56] Jolene: agree.
[00:51:56] nicole: they,
[00:51:57] Jolene: Noam's
[00:51:57] nicole: oh my God. She is, she [00:52:00] is so bananas, Jolene, I don't even know what to do with her.
[00:52:02] I and
[00:52:03] Jolene: like, just like let the, and, and you and I talked about this on the phone that here was Tom
[00:52:09] nicole: Oh, I know. Yes,
[00:52:11] Jolene: who's the, you know, the border
[00:52:12] nicole: yes,
[00:52:13] Jolene: and he's the one who said, can everybody just shut
[00:52:16] nicole: yes,
[00:52:17] Jolene: Everyone? Shut up and let this process take place and, and stop, you know, giving your te your, your knee jerk reactions on both sides for position to say this was wrong and this was right, because you're
[00:52:32] nicole: Yeah.
[00:52:33] Jolene: and you're not
[00:52:34] nicole: Yeah,
[00:52:34] Jolene: helping.
[00:52:34] nicole: I mean it's, we can get into it, but I don't even know. Think we need to get into it, you and I. About like what you saw, what I saw, because everyone else has been talking about it and so we will just be redundant.
[00:52:47] I love that we are in agreement about this, that it is, it's like we need to, it's horrific, and both Jolene and I are saying this is horrific. like, I want [00:53:00] us to get back and trust the system we need to have investigations.
[00:53:04] We need to check the facts, and we need to figure out what happened And that's the other thing, like now the FBI has taken has frozen out the local authorities it's called the BCA, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
[00:53:19] It's a inde, uh, independent Minnesota agency with the local authorities that were part of the investigation. That then, that, now the FBI has frozen out, which I can't speak to conservatives, but for liberals, it makes us think, well, they're gonna fix it.
[00:53:34] Jolene: What
[00:53:35] nicole: What are you hiding? Because I'm just gonna speak for myself, but I think we all would like to feel safe in this, uh, country and that we would like to trust, our government and law enforcement.
[00:53:48] And right now everything is feeling like we, there's all these videos and, and that the administration is just like, there's nothing to see here. And a [00:54:00] story.
[00:54:00] Jolene: Okay. So when you say though, because this is where I'm gonna push
[00:54:04] nicole: Okay.
[00:54:04] Jolene: When you say, we all wanna feel safe, you have to look at what is ICE's role? ICE is going after illegal, immigrants who are, uh, have a criminal history,
[00:54:19] nicole: Yeah, but they're not, they're, you know, that they're not just doing that
[00:54:23] Jolene: why are, are we, why are citizens, um, inhibiting them from doing their
[00:54:30] nicole: because they,
[00:54:31] Jolene: That
[00:54:32] nicole: Jolene, you.
[00:54:33] Jolene: gonna be the crux of this. Like, if you don't, like if you, Renee Goode, were so mad. That you were following ice around all morning and all of their stops trying to inhibit them from doing their job, and that it escalated to that point then that she and her wife got, you know, they had their video cameras, they were videotaping all of that. at what point do you say these are [00:55:00] federal investigators who are just doing their job and why do you have, uh, what gives you the, the right or even think that you have, um, the ability to get in their way?
[00:55:15] nicole: So I like, I don't know what the real story is because I've also heard stories that she had just dropped her 6-year-old off and that her wife was the one that says, let's go down to the protest. Or let, so I don't, I can't speak to, I don't think we actually know, like there's so many conflicting stories. the ICE thing, they aren't just going after people that have criminal records because they're trying to get quotas. I think the other thing that really upsets people and it upsets me, is that they're masked. I think I question the training at this point I'm gonna give people the benefit of the talent and I might get like some serious pushback for saying this, but I also can't imagine.
[00:55:59] [00:56:00] Being in that position as an ice person where you have all this hate coming towards you. There's so much trauma on either side. Like there's so much trauma and no, we're not, like, they're not having, so when the guy was like dragged, uh, a hundred yards last June, uh, for punching a window in which whatever, I don't, you know, but did he sit down and like have a counseling session after?
[00:56:25] Probably not. They are, there's,
[00:56:27] Jolene: You don't
[00:56:28] nicole: I don't,
[00:56:28] Jolene: You
[00:56:29] nicole: I do not know that. All I know is that, that they're going through a lot of trauma. And so are the people being the, the, the communities that are afraid of getting plucked out of their life,
[00:56:41] Jolene: okay, then, then stop then. Then
[00:56:44] nicole: and why are they masked? Why are they masked, Jolene?
[00:56:47] Jolene: oh my gosh. I, I, well, at first when I first saw that they were masked, I'm like, oh, gosh, that doesn't sound right. But now looking at the vitriol that is against, I mean, there are people that want them killed. Heck [00:57:00] yes. They need to be masked because they're going home to their families at the end of the night or at the end of the week, or the end of the month, whatever.
[00:57:06] However, the process is, I mean, these people are married and have children
[00:57:10] nicole: we're the people that are, so, are the people that cross the border, they're married with children. I mean, listen, I get, I,
[00:57:18] Jolene: do it
[00:57:18] nicole: I listen, I am, I do agree with you. Do it legally. I agree with you about this, but the system has been broken for so long and yes, quote unquote, Trump is doing something about it. But again, it's the tactics.
[00:57:34] It's so
[00:57:36] Jolene: yes, I agree,
[00:57:37] nicole: is a recipe for disaster on both sides and ev and no one's talking anymore. Right. You and I are talking, but like.
[00:57:44] Jolene: thing, border crossings are down 99%. How many, how many people cross the border illegally? Um, these
[00:57:52] nicole: Would you want to come to this country right now? No,
[00:57:55] Jolene: it is still the greatest country in the world. [00:58:00] So, uh, you're right, the tactics are questionable, but the results are we all wanted.
[00:58:07] Right? I remember doing a broadcast with you, an episode with you, and you said, if he can stop the immigrants
[00:58:12] nicole: God,
[00:58:13] Jolene: the border, I will give him credit. Remember,
[00:58:18] nicole: remember, but I don't think that that's you're, you're trapping me a lot today. I don't like this.
[00:58:23] Jolene: I don't
[00:58:23] nicole: I do, don't stop trapping me. Don't put baby in the corner and stop trapping me. Listen, I think we can agree that we don't like the tactics. Can we? We can agree.
[00:58:35] Jolene: Yes. Yep.
[00:58:36] nicole: You like the results? Me? Lemme so sure. I will give, there's one thing.
[00:58:44] There is one thing. No, there are two things that I will say that have been good in the last week and I don't wanna talk about it, but I'm gonna talk about it. But I will say it
[00:58:59] Jolene: That's [00:59:00] something Trump
[00:59:00] nicole: right. I don't wanna talk about it. because I really don't like a lot of the things that RFK does. I really don't like it.
[00:59:07] I'm not fan of pulling the vaccines, whatever, whatever. But I like that he is upturned the um. The food pyramid upside down and he's encouraging people to eat real food. That's a positive. And a second positive is Trump putting up an executive order about making sure that corporations can't buy housing.
[00:59:31] Jolene: Yeah.
[00:59:32] nicole: That was huge. And this is the problem, Mr. Trump, is that you do all this other crazy shit that we can't actually celebrate something good. And liberals are not supposed to te say like the fact that I'm saying this, I know I'm gonna get pushed back 'cause I'm supposed to hate him. And guess what? I pretty much do.
[00:59:53] But I am going to shout out some things that I think are good. I'm also gonna say, shout out [01:00:00] Josh Hawley and Todd Young for stepping up and being brave and saying, yo, this is too much. This is too much. Listen, Lisa Murkowski,
[01:00:11] Jolene: of you
[01:00:11] nicole: like Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Rand Paul. You always do your own thing.
[01:00:16] Jolene: Right? Yeah. Right.
[01:00:18] nicole: I'm gonna shout out to the two like Trump loyalists that are like, yo, we are done with this. We wanna be consulted.
[01:00:25] Jolene: Hawley that, um, that you said on election night,
[01:00:29] nicole: Oh, I was so mad.
[01:00:30] Jolene: that you were
[01:00:30] nicole: I was done. It was him and Ted Cruz. I was done, but I was like, whoa, I'm gonna listen. If it's the only way everybody that we're gonna start to heal, are we gonna talk about Iran? We have, so,
[01:00:46] Jolene: get to
[01:00:46] nicole: okay. Go, go.
[01:00:48] Jolene: Okay. Um, here's the thing. I don't, we don't know
[01:00:51] nicole: No, we don't
[01:00:52] Jolene: they
[01:00:53] nicole: because it's Iran.
[01:00:54] Jolene: all communication. So, uh, what we do know is that as of this morning, again, January
[01:00:59] nicole: [01:01:00] Mm-hmm.
[01:01:00] Jolene: that 538 people have now been killed.
[01:01:04] nicole: For protesting.
[01:01:05] Jolene: for protesting. 10,675 have been arrested, that we know of. this has been going on. This Islamic Republic regime has been going on for 47 years, since 1979. It was a hostile takeover. The, um, Ayatollah Khomeini, he has threatened to kill anybody, that is protesting. They will, he will put them in their place. 34 million people are in the streets. The this has all been precipitated on the absolutely dive in their economy. are the Iranian people I knew in an Iran, in an Iranian woman, Iranian woman when we lived in Albuquerque. And I remember thinking at the time, oh, I thought Iran was bad. And I got to know her. And she was such a lovely, sweet, smart, smart, smart lady. and she taught me so much about the people of Iran.
[01:01:57] And she's like, no, like we are really [01:02:00] smart. Like we are in, in, in the Middle East. Like we're the most, the women are the most educated in Iran. And I mean all, all that to say. the people are finally revolting. They've had enough. So, um, the, there are a total of 185 cities that are in this revolution right now. Um, there are more than a million people in the streets in, um, Massaad, which is a, um, the second largest city in Iran. And it's, if you, I'm sure you've seen the, the video. I mean, they're, they've had enough. They've had enough and they're trying to overthrow the government. the police are even laying down their weapons.
[01:02:37] Um, because, and, and protesting with the people, don't know what's gonna happen. And as of this recording, um, I think that there have been meetings that Trump has had some meetings with administration, with his administration about what they should do. Can they do anything? Uh, you know, Trump has said if you kill people, we're coming after you and they have [01:03:00] killed people.
[01:03:00] And I don't know if this is a red line for him. I, I don't know. Um, I would hope, you know, if, if, if we're gonna take this full circle and we're gonna come back to the Western hemisphere in Venezuela being in our backyard, Hey, guess what? Europe, this is your chance to, um, help in the Middle East and, and maybe do something. This is not, um, maybe this is not a battle that we have to take on our, our, by ourselves. go
[01:03:27] nicole: In the, when the Shah was, eradicated, what's the word I want taken, ousted. Um, there was a huge community of Iranians in that moved to California in the eighties and, uh, to escape. I am glad that you said what you said about meeting an Iranian woman and not knowing that they weren't bad.
[01:03:48] I think that's,
[01:03:49] Jolene: Hmm.
[01:03:49] nicole: it's, it's a problem that we all have as Americans and in the, and in the, the way we are taught about the propaganda of like our enemies. [01:04:00] And
[01:04:00] Jolene: Yeah,
[01:04:00] nicole: you know, Iranians are just like us. Like, and, and, and we are not our leaders. And I think sometimes we forget that. and the movies certainly, um,
[01:04:13] continue a narrative that they want us to believe. Right. So, your information is is, definitely more current because I knew that by last Thursday, 45 people had been killed that some of the protests were calling back. The family of the s Shah, uh, the Crown Prince is actually living in DC but they're, 'cause they don't know who's going to run the country, which obviously is an issue and. when the government is cutting off internet, internet access, that's obviously a problem. 'cause we have very limited, uh, views into what's going on here. but because people are incredibly savvy, there are workarounds, we are finding that, you know, this information is happening and they are killing, they're killing the protestors.
[01:04:58] Um, I think I am, I [01:05:00] have the exact same questions you do Jolene. Like when Vance says, we're gonna go after you, if you kill people, well, they're killing people and you're not going after them. and JD Vance, you seem to hate when we protest our own country, but you're fine with going after Iran that I also was like, oh, really?
[01:05:16] Jolene: love that you made that comment because where are all the free Palestine protestors now for
[01:05:23] nicole: Well, listen, I,
[01:05:24] Jolene: I mean, that
[01:05:25] nicole: I,
[01:05:26] Jolene: me crazy because,
[01:05:27] nicole: it drives me crazy.
[01:05:29] Jolene: not protesting against Israel. I,
[01:05:32] nicole: No, no, no. 'cause you're not protesting against antisemitism because it's about Jews. It's about Jews. I'm sorry. It's about Jews, everybody. So, yeah. So here's this. I look at these videos and I imagine that we might be in a complete agreement, the liberal and conservative. I look at these Iranians like fighting for their right, and I am like, go do it.
[01:05:58] Like you [01:06:00] need, you deserve to have a free, uh, society.
[01:06:06] Jolene: Yeah.
[01:06:07] nicole: happen? I don't know. They've had protests before. They've had uprisings before. I think it was in 2009 and I'm gonna forget the other date. Um, and then,
[01:06:17] Jolene: I don't think it was that long
[01:06:18] nicole: no, let me see. Let me see where. And then what has happened is that the current government doubles down and so many people die.
[01:06:27] Jolene: Yeah.
[01:06:28] nicole: So when you say, you know, Hey, you're up. You know, get behind it. This is where I'm going to as the liberal. If we're going to Venezuela, we better go take care of Iran. We need to help these people. That's what I think we need to help them. We need to help them it.
[01:06:48] Jolene: they're not in our backyard and it doesn't, it you know what it okay here, is a very liberal thing because you want to go help them from a humanitarian, um, crisis
[01:06:59] nicole: [01:07:00] also not naive, Jolene, because.
[01:07:01] Jolene: no power or
[01:07:03] nicole: Right. There's no power of money. And I also think I'm, I'm not naive. they have no plan. They just want freedom. And you've got, you know, thousands of years of a different way of living. So how does this work? How does this work?
[01:07:18] Jolene: the, the fact that, um, Iran has called in Iraqi and Lebanese government to come in and start killing people. I mean, that is there. That, that was a Reuters, um, uh, article that I looked at or it could have been NBC news, like, 'cause I have both of these on here. they don't wanna have to do the killings themselves. And so if they have Iraqi and Lebanese forces coming in here doing the actual killing, I mean, military machine
[01:07:45] nicole: who is, but who is the, they? Like is there, is there a leader? Is are there people that, oh, I'm sorry. I misunderstood. I misunderstood. I thought we, I thought you were saying Oh wow. I did not know that. [01:08:00] Okay. I thought you were meaning that the resistance was in, was talking to, um, Lebanon and Syria.
[01:08:08] Okay.
[01:08:09] Jolene: Um, here's the other thing. Leaders, uh, this was, this is from an NBC news article that leaders, um, Iranian, Iranian leaders are applying for visas to both, uh, France and Germany to get the heck out. They see the writing on the wall, they're applying for visas, and we are calling for France and Germany to go, no, you're not coming, we we're not going to grant you a visa.
[01:08:31] It'll be interesting to see what France and Germany do.
[01:08:34] nicole: Yes, it will. I would agree with that. No, you're not allowed to go. I mean, that's a way to like, you know, hold these, these leaders accountable. You act like an asshole. You don't get to come to our country.
[01:08:49] Jolene: yeah.
[01:08:50] nicole: Reap the consequences, guys. That's it.
[01:08:53] Jolene: Yeah.
[01:08:54] nicole: Reap what you sow. Isn't that a Bible thing?
[01:08:56] Jolene: Europe. Yeah, [01:09:00] absolutely. But I mean, it, it then this, but this goes back to, again, this is for full circle and goes back to the, the Venezuelan conversation, the, the Monroe Doctrine. You know, we'll take care of our hemisphere. Europe, you take care of yours.
[01:09:15] nicole: Don't we take all, take care of each other, all of us.
[01:09:18] Jolene: We all, yes, kumbaya my friend, we all need to take care of each other. But, we don't need to police the world. And Trump is an anti-war president. He really is. Yeah. He doesn't wanna get into a war.
[01:09:36] nicole: He is certainly creating a lot of, of, of drama that could instigate some wars.
[01:09:44] Jolene: but he's done it without, I mean, he didn't, the whole thing with, um, not asking for permission for going into Venezuela with the,
[01:09:54] nicole: Yeah. That's not good. Jolene.
[01:09:55] Jolene: the group of eight. I
[01:09:57] nicole: Okay.
[01:09:58] Jolene: he was also [01:10:00] worried that,
[01:10:00] nicole: say No,
[01:10:02] Jolene: well,
[01:10:03] nicole: he's one of those. There's
[01:10:05] Jolene: he was worried that Hakeem Jeffries would go and tell Maduro, Hey, guess what?
[01:10:10] They're
[01:10:10] nicole: no
[01:10:11] Jolene: after you.
[01:10:12] nicole: way that Hakeem Jeffries would tell Maduro.
[01:10:17] Jolene: I don't know. Maybe
[01:10:18] nicole: That would be like,
[01:10:19] Jolene: I,
[01:10:19] nicole: that's Benedict Arnold stuff.
[01:10:22] Jolene: yeah.
[01:10:24] nicole: But listen, we are in a divided country right now. If I, I, that's the thing that I, that I'm, I know that like, I really don't like how Trump is dealing with stuff, uh, liberals. we're Americans, everybody, we're on the same team.
[01:10:41] When are we gonna start acting like it?
[01:10:44] Jolene: Uh, listen, because as soon as Trump's out of office, he could find the cure to cancer and
[01:10:52] nicole: That would be good.
[01:10:53] Jolene: no, no, no. Liberals would say no. It's a conspiracy
[01:10:57] nicole: No,
[01:10:58] Jolene: um,
[01:10:59] nicole: I just, [01:11:00] I just gave him, I gave him two Two Happies. Right? Did
[01:11:03] Jolene: You
[01:11:03] nicole: I Did.
[01:11:04] Jolene: That's because you are you.
[01:11:05] nicole: ' cause,
[01:11:06] Jolene: on
[01:11:06] nicole: 'cause I'm trying. I'm trying to figure this thing out with you. I really am. I'm really trying.
[01:11:11] Jolene: agree. We
[01:11:12] nicole: Listen, listener and viewer, this has been quite a ride. It's a little bit longer, but I think this is important to welcome 2026 and all of its bananas, banana ness.
[01:11:24] Do you have a good for the soul? 'cause I really think we need some good for the souls today.
[01:11:35] Jolene: I have the best.
[01:11:37] nicole: Yes, girl. Yes, girl.
[01:11:39] Jolene: I saw this and I was gonna send it to you, and I go, Nope, I gotta
[01:11:42] nicole: Yes, you do.
[01:11:43] Jolene: is, um, CBS evening news, on the road with Steve
[01:11:48] nicole: okay.
[01:11:48] Jolene: it is a story in of a, community South Bend, Indiana, a, uh, a man who's got a, um, a dilapidated, [01:12:00] um, pickup truck.
[01:12:01] And what this community did, it's a great story, um, and you have to
[01:12:04] nicole: Okay. Okay, great.
[01:12:05] Jolene: So I'll
[01:12:06] nicole: Awesome.
[01:12:06] Jolene: it in
[01:12:07] nicole: And we'll put in the show. Yeah, we'll put in the show notes. mine is a, is an Instagram handle. It's at yes theory YES tt, H-E-O-R-Y. And, he describes his, uh, page as Life's greatest moments and deepest connections are outside of your comfort zone.
[01:12:30] Jolene: Oh.
[01:12:31] nicole: And the reason I actually found this person was because there is a good for the soul that's probably gonna actually air after this. Uh, which is that it's Soer, that Sam Wiener guy who is created the Kindness Army, and he does all these amazing, he finds stories all over the world and raises money for people.
[01:12:53] And he is just this incredible human. And he was inspired by this [01:13:00] creator. So it all is this like connected together, but like basically, this guy is, he stretches himself, puts him in situations that are out of his comfort zone for deeper growth. And, um, I think, I think you guys would like this, uh, Instagram page.
[01:13:22] So, yeah. Uh. Would you rather girl?
[01:13:31] I'm keeping it light, but I'm making it difficult 'cause I'm making it about food and that's your favorite thing in the world. All right, you ready?
[01:13:39] Jolene: Yep.
[01:13:40] nicole: Would you rather eat your favorite food every day for the rest of your life?
[01:13:49] Or never eat your favorite food again?
[01:13:54] Jolene: Wow. Um,
[01:13:59] nicole: is that favorite [01:14:00] food?
[01:14:01] Jolene: okay. So I was just going through my mind. Would it be, would it be a Cheeto, like do I get to eat a Cheeto every day for the rest of my life, or would it be a french fry, And that's the other thing, do, is it just one, like, is it just one Cheeto, do I have to eat a Cheeto
[01:14:16] nicole: a meal.
[01:14:17] Jolene: the rest of my life? Or is it like a plate of spaghetti? Like, do I have to eat spaghetti for the rest of my life? Because then if I didn't chew, if I chose to never eat it, could I have a variation of it?
[01:14:28] Could I have fried potatoes I have Cheeto puffs?
[01:14:33] nicole: God. Listen,
[01:14:35] Jolene: I've
[01:14:36] nicole: there's so much. Yeah. Clearly, clearly, clearly. Why don't, I'll do, I'll be generous and I'll let you decide what you want, and then you answer the question.
[01:14:46] Jolene: I'm gonna say that, um, I get to eat. No, I can't say that I want my favorite food for the rest of my life, because then I'll get
[01:14:55] nicole: That's right.
[01:14:57] Jolene: So I'm gonna say I never get to eat my favorite [01:15:00] food ever again.
[01:15:00] Then I will tell you that my favorite food is liver and onions, and I'd never have to eat it ever
[01:15:05] nicole: But you're lying.
[01:15:07] Jolene: But I'd be lying to
[01:15:08] nicole: Mm-hmm. Don't lie. Don't light to, no, we don't do that when we've got to talk, so you wouldn't get to eat said food.
[01:15:17] Jolene: Yeah. That's what I'm going
[01:15:18] nicole: Okay. I like it.
[01:15:20] Jolene: Would you rather be in Venezuela or Iran right now?
[01:15:32] nicole: Is horrible.
[01:15:34] Jolene: I know, and it was like so easy, like after doing all this research that I'm like, I gotta come up with, like, well, that's easy.
[01:15:41] nicole: my God. I feel like a fool. You are like a Would you rather rock star? I am a fool, everybody. I've let y'all down.
[01:15:53] Jolene: Mm, that is not
[01:15:54] nicole: Okay.
[01:15:55] Jolene: are very heartfelt because you are such a kind human being. You are a [01:16:00] kind, thoughtful, you want everyone to love each other and
[01:16:02] nicole: I do. I do.
[01:16:04] Jolene: am, I am more cynical and, very, uh, conspiracy
[01:16:09] nicole: Yeah.
[01:16:10] Jolene: driven.
[01:16:10] nicole: were.
[01:16:11] Jolene: so mine is more direct.
[01:16:13] nicole: at that.
[01:16:14] Jolene: white.
[01:16:14] nicole: Okay. Geez, Louise. I don't know.
[01:16:20] Jolene: You have to spend a week, you have to be one week. Is it Iran or is it Venezuela? I,
[01:16:25] nicole: I guess my first question is, do I get to live after that first week?
[01:16:30] Jolene: you don't know.
[01:16:32] nicole: I know this is a weird answer, but I think I'd wanna be in Iran
[01:16:39] Jolene: That's the one I want for you.
[01:16:41] nicole: because I think it would be a spectacular experience, like a real human, people believing in each other experience [01:17:00] that doesn't come usually in a lifetime. I am sure that there is. You see some horrors, horrors, horrors, horrors. But I would imagine you see some incredible, uh.
[01:17:18] Experiences of resilience and hope. So I think I that,
[01:17:25] Jolene: got so deep.
[01:17:26] nicole: I think that's what I would do.
[01:17:29] Jolene: I was choosing Iran for you because I feel like Venezuela is so dangerous as an American. I, you know, and they're giving, issuing the order this morning to get
[01:17:38] nicole: Do you think it's, I think Iran's pretty dangerous too.
[01:17:42] Jolene: I do, but I feel like Iran's big enough. It's such a huge
[01:17:45] nicole: Yeah,
[01:17:46] Jolene: you could go hide in the hills somewhere for a week and live out your week and then, and then get
[01:17:52] nicole: with my red hair and freckles for sure.
[01:17:55] Jolene: Oh yeah. You would really, you
[01:17:58] nicole: But I'm little, so I [01:18:00] could hide pretty well.
[01:18:00] Jolene: You could hide. That is true.
[01:18:02] nicole: I don't know. Oh my
[01:18:03] Jolene: hat on
[01:18:04] nicole: God. Okay. This was bananas. I, you know.
[01:18:12] Jolene: rest of this year's
[01:18:14] nicole: That's right. So, so listen, listener and viewer, thank you, thank you for being on this journey with us. Thank you for listening to a little bit longer of an episode. We just felt like it was really important to start to talk about all these things that have happened in the last two weeks of our maybe a little bit longer the, of our, uh, year.
[01:18:36] And, um, we're so grateful that you, we are in our second year and we are so grateful that you are here with us. If you're new to our podcast, thank you for being here. Please share this with a friend, um, or, or share this with someone you, um, are on opposite sides with. We are creating a community here because we know there are more of us that want a [01:19:00] different.
[01:19:01] Way to be. Uh, and we're gonna change this one person at a time, and I'm so grateful, Jolene, that we are on this ride together. I love you so much. please like, subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts. If you're interested in being a sponsor, uh, we would love to have you go to the, we've got to talk.com page and contact us, and we'd love to bring you on this ride with us.
[01:19:26] Jolene, do you have anything else you would like to say?
[01:19:29] Jolene: I was just gonna say, please leave us your comments. We'd love to hear from you. Um, we'd love to hear what your perspective is on all of these issues and what you wanna hear more of in 2026.
[01:19:39] nicole: Yes.
[01:19:40] Jolene: please, uh, let us know. We wanna
[01:19:42] nicole: Yes.
[01:19:43] Jolene: I love you, my
[01:19:43] nicole: I love you too. Thank you. Happy 2026, everybody. Let's make this a better year.
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