An Americanist
Welcome to An Americanist, your go-to solo podcast for a quick and snarky dive into the current events and politics shaping our nation! As a daily extension of the An Americanist blog, I’m here to break down the headlines that matter—Monday through Friday—without the fluff and filler.
In each bite-sized episode, I tackle the latest political news, dissect current events, and share my unfiltered thoughts, all with a sprinkle of humor and a touch of sass. From legislative shenanigans to social issues stirring the pot, I’ll keep you informed and entertained in just a few minutes each day.
Join me as we explore the stories that impact America and remind ourselves why an engaged citizenry is essential for our democracy. Whether you’re commuting, grabbing coffee, or taking a break, An Americanist Daily is the perfect way to stay in the loop without sacrificing your time or sense of humor.
Subscribe now and let’s navigate the complexities of today’s America—one short episode at a time. The. Go read the blog for a more in depth analysis. AnAmericanist.com
An Americanist
Monday Madness: The Stories That Make You Want to Hide Under a Rock
Exhaustion hits differently when it comes from the relentless barrage of disturbing news stories bombarding us daily. That familiar feeling of wanting to "turn everything off and stay in my own little world" battles against the civic duty to remain informed—a tension many of us struggle with in today's hyperconnected society.
Today's journey through recent headlines exemplifies why so many feel this emotional fatigue. We delve into truly disturbing stories that challenge our faith in humanity: from the Arkansas doctor who lost his medical license after being caught on surveillance footage parading naked through his office and performing inappropriate acts in front of employees, to the concerning state of East Harlem streets surrounding "safe injection sites" where public drug use and shocking behavior have become normalized. These stories represent the darker elements of modern America that leave many questioning the direction of our society.
Yet amid the darkness, we find a ray of hope through the remarkable story of four ordinary mothers who solved a brutal cold case that had stumped professional investigators for 15 years. Their journey, documented in "The Carpool Detectives," showcases how these women leveraged their unique interpersonal skills to gain trust and uncover crucial information that broke the case wide open. It's a powerful reminder that everyday people can make extraordinary differences when they channel their energy toward meaningful pursuits. As we reflect on our evolving relationship with media consumption and our earliest experiences with social platforms, we're left wondering: what was your first social media encounter? Share your digital origin story and join the conversation about navigating this complex information landscape while preserving our wellbeing.
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Oh, hello, good morning, happy Monday. I'm tired. I'm tired physically, emotionally, mentally, everything. Physically because, you know, we've been in Tunica, we've been off our schedule. Just got back in town yesterday, stayed up late last night too, watching a stupid cooking show the food race truck, the food truck race, whatever you call it. So I'm tired. I'm tired emotionally and mentally too, of what is happening in our world. I'm tired it's just so exhausting reading these stories, listening to these stories, watching these stories all over the news, all over the nation. And it's not. I'm not talking about worldwide, I'm talking about right here in America, y'all. I'm just, I'm tired. I'm tired of it.
Speaker 1:I just want to turn everything off and stay in my own little world. Now, would that be sticking my head in the sand world? Now would that be sticking my head in the sand? I don't know. I just want to tune everything out and just stay in my little universe. But then I think, well, you can't do that either. You have to pay attention to what's going on and what's happening. You got to stay informed. But dang y'all.
Speaker 1:This is just too much sometimes, especially the last few stories I've read recently. We have just become a depraved society. I don't even know what to do. Well, we're going to start with a couple of stories. We're going to start with the worst and then hopefully end with a lighter note.
Speaker 1:This doctor, this paraphiliac doctor, loses his license after being caught on tape stalking through office naked and performing sex act on employee. What in the hell? This is from the new york post. This is just one story I'm bringing you. There are several out there. There's my. I'll talk about another one here in a minute. This I don't. My mind and my brain can't even process this. So I'm going to read it to you. But I don't understand. I don't understand. Oh, a sex-crazed doctor in Arkansas had his license revoked a year after he was captured on security footage. A year after he was captured on security footage prancing through his office stark naked during work hours and performing a tawdry sex act in front of three female employees.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you something. If I'm at this job and this, my employer comes into the office where I am working, stark naked, and starts prancing around. Guess what I'm doing? I'm not even logging out of my computer. I'm finding my handbag and I am getting the F out of there immediately. I am not sticking around. What in the world, and I might kick him on the way out too. How about that? I don't understand. I don't understand how this guy thinks he could get away with this.
Speaker 1:David david define originally had his license suspended last year after arkansas state medical board was made aware of his tendency to let it all hang out in broad daylight while he forced his employees to watch and even entertain his nauseating behavior. It's more than nauseating behavior. Okay, the board opted to revoke Devine's license for five years. How about lifetime? How about lifetime and sticking his ass in prison? How about that? After extensive interviews with his employees, did they stick around? Did they come back to work the next day? Did they stay in the office while this was happening?
Speaker 1:What is wrong with people? What in the hell? I don't understand. I just don't understand. Do you need a job that bad? No, no, oh my God, okay, okay, let's read more. I can't.
Speaker 1:This guy, oh my gosh, these stupid freaking pop-up ads. Stop it. Oh, okay, this is getting ridiculous. Okay, I'm sorry y'all. Okay, you know what? I can't finish reading it. Maybe I'm not meant to finish reading it. Stupid pop-up ads everywhere. All right, let me see if I can figure all out. Here we go this guy.
Speaker 1:The perverse behavior leads to concerns about sexual compulsive disorder or paraphilia, which may, in fact, cross boundaries with his delivery of medical care. This, really, really this is what you're saying. Simply, the interaction with his office staff suggests an entanglement in his medical practice. You think, given these additional concerns, I would recommend that he have a more formal professional evaluation for safety to practice, how about yanking his license for a lifetime and throwing his ass in prison? Like I said before, this is just ridiculous.
Speaker 1:Um, in october 2024, define was caught on surveillance surveillance video parading through his office as nude as the day he was born, save for a lone baseball hat on his head and they have. They have still shots of this guy from the video footage in this story. So this is not a fake story. You would think it would be and I wish it was, but it's not. He shamelessly entered patients' rooms before skirting to the reception area where he decided to stretch before performing a sexual act in front of three women working there, including apparently I'm not going to say the word on one of the women who doubled as one of his own patients. So she sat there and watched him do this. Why are you not running out of the office screaming or calling 911 or calling the cops. Look, this mother comes in the office like that. I am kicking the crap out of him and getting out of there and calling the cops. Oh my gosh, I can't even believe this.
Speaker 1:An anonymous tipster, who first reported defines obscene workplace behavior, said that the disgraced doctor would use position of power, sexual grooming, salary increases to groom employees and patients into repulsive sexual acts. No, no, that is a hard pardon the pun. No, no, you cannot. No, I don't need a job that bad, I don't care, I would know I. Just I'm without speech. We're moving on.
Speaker 1:I can't, I can't, I don't even know. Y'all help me, help me. Help me make sense of this. No, no, I don't want to make sense of it. Help me to find the words. No, no, I don't want to make sense of it. Help me to find the words. Please put it on Twitter. Please put it on, please. I don't even know. All right, I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this, I'm just stunned. We're going to move on to my other story. Well, let's talk real quick. You can go read it about it on an Americanistcom.
Speaker 1:This other story, it's um, the new york city safe site injections that have made the streets of east harlem just ridiculously unsafe. I, when I read this article the other day too, I thought, oh my god, and there's pictures of it too. There are pictures of it so you can see it with your own eyes. And, and you know, you've seen these people who go, these addicts who are living pretty much on the streets. They go to these safe injection sites in air quotes. They get high, then they just stoop over, they just bend over in the middle of the street and they're just like dozing. It's just ridiculous.
Speaker 1:Go to YouTube and look up Kensington Avenue in Philly. The same thing. And it's all in these blue cities, right. Well, in East Harlem they've taken it to the next level. They have a picture of one of these drug addicts bent over in his drug stupor, unconsciousness or whatever, and there is a man behind him doing the deed right there on the street, right in broad daylight. Now they're having sex on the street with people walking by.
Speaker 1:I am, I don't even know. And then the other day I went to YouTube to look up Kensington Avenue and they have a live cam Y'all. There was a man sprawled out on the sidewalk, face up, just laying there Like it looked like he was dead and people were just walking by. What have we become? I don't even know. I don't even know.
Speaker 1:All right, we're moving on to my other story. We're going to try to end it like see, this is what I'm sick of, this is what I can't take anymore. This is what is exhausting. But we're going to try to tone it down. We're going to bring it down a little bit.
Speaker 1:Here we go how four moms solved a brutal cold case murder in their free time. This is from the New York Post. Look, I am shaking right now just talking about those two stories. It is very disturbing. I don't even there is something wrong. Okay, I'm going to try to switch gears as best I can.
Speaker 1:When four mothers in Southern California finally had their kids in school full-time, they didn't look to fill their hours with Pilates or pickleball. They decide not that there's anything wrong with that. I think of giblets, because I think he likes to play pickleball. All right, they decided to investigate a murder in the new book which I will probably get and listen to the Carpool Detectives a true story of four moms, two bodies and one mysterious cold case from Random House. Random House Writer Chuck Hogan details how a group of moms solved a 15-year-old gruesome double homicide that he had long eluded veteran law enforcement Sherlock's. Their ability as women to get people to trust and confide in them was their superpower in investigating and breaking this case, writes Hogan. Motherhood no longer defined them. It was one of the many hats they wore.
Speaker 1:The case involved a 2005 discovery of the bodies of a 60-something suburban businessman and his wife. The couple had vanished without a trace and was found near their wrecked SUV in a canyon in Los Angeles County. The family business had been shuttered and millions of dollars had gone unaccounted for, but there were no real leads and the story disappeared from the news. The leader of the moms I love that sentence the way it starts. The leader of the moms, marissa Pianco, learned about the case while taking a broadcast journalism class at UCLA in 2020. The professor showed some footage of the scene where the dead couple had been found and that piqued Marissa's interest. Was it simply a tragic accident, she wondered, or something more like murder? So you can go finish reading that. It's a. It's an interesting story. They did solve the case, I believe I want to go get this book.
Speaker 1:It's called the Carpool Detectives. I will get it after I finish listening to the current one I'm listening to now, which is taking me forever, called the Plaza. It's just the history of the plaza in New York City, there the hotel. So it's interesting. Go finish reading that story because I've got to go.
Speaker 1:I got to do the question of the day. I've gone over my time. Here we go. Question of the day. Okay, I know my listeners are my age, so I know that you've lived in a world before the internet and before cell phones. So my question, if I have one here when you got your here?
Speaker 1:When you got your first? Well, when you got your first smartphone, because I know most of us started off with these little flip phones or the Blackberries before Twitter and Facebook were even invented. But when you got your first smartphone and got on, did you get on Facebook first, twitter first? I mean, what was your first social media encounter? There you go. How about that? If you can remember, because I can't remember I know I signed up for Twitter when it first came out, signed up for Facebook first, didn't really know what Facebook was or what it was supposed to be about. So I was whatever and didn't really understand Twitter. Of course you don't understand them at first because they were brand new and I've had so many different Twitter handles over the years it's ridiculous, but I don't even remember my first one that I had.
Speaker 1:I remember my first blog that I had from Blogger, from Blogspot. Remember Blogspot? Oh my gosh, yes, I had my first blog with them when it first came out. I had my first blog before I had Facebook and then Facebook came along and ruined all the blogging because nobody wanted to. All everybody was on Facebook instead of reading blogs. Okay, anyway, moving on. All right, I gotta go. I'm just rambling, I don't even know. All right, thanks for listening. Bye.
