Firehose #171: Fifth Across America

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So much has transpired since last we ‘hosed! We dropped some dope episodes, I drove halfway across the country, there was that arena show, plus the more intimate/drunken Flappers perplex; and along the way we interviewed a big-city mayor and a big-time FOIA/T-shirt psycho…. All of which puts the “Thanks” squarely in our “Thanksgiving,” especially for all of you who help make it possible for us to do this weird & fun stuff. Hope you had the finest of turkey days!

About that house-ad that 99% of you just skipped over. We soft-launched our Pivot to Video on Sept. 4, inaugurating a new era of WAY more professionalized & timely audio editing (occasional momentary misclassifications of episode-types notwithstanding). Hard launch (on new YouTube channel) w/ Ol’ Whatsherface came Oct. 2, after which we have been shelling out surplus coin not only for the aforementioned internal upgrades, but also for a booking agency to help land previously hard-to-attain guests. During these 12 weeks of rather frenetic activity, we have posted 13 regular episodes and 14 Members Onlys (Onlies?), which is a not-insignificant increase in production pace. (At our prior metabolism since the beginning of ye olde Patreon days, a 12-week stretch produced on consistent average 23 episodes, not 27.) Oh, and another one’s on the way tomorrow.

Yes, we know that you sickos would like more than the mere 7 instances during that span where it’s the just the three of us jackassing around; so do we! That is one of many things that we are learning as we go along, while simultaneously trying to grow a new YouTube channel from scratch, and yes I hope you are taking the go-subscribe-for-free-now hint in good stride.

Anyhoo, all of which to say that: 1) message: we care; and 2) SURELY there has been one or two episodes during this run that you could use as a bait for a holiday gift subscription? Do I have to threaten you with pics of me & Gary Johnson?**

[**Yes, I do.]

* One week ago, we were the first guests on the penultimate stop of Megyn Kelly’s arena tour. The fireworks—which I mean literally—were spectacular. We talked about the Trump/Mamdani bromance, the then-fresh resignation of Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other news of the day. Our segment (including funny/generous video intro) goes from the 20-minute mark to 50 minutes sharp in the whole-show embed below:

* Moynihan’s Reporting last week included another sit-down with a right-of-center Meg, this time w/ fellow 2Wayer Meghan McCain, with whom he discussed “the surge of right-wing podcasts and personalities dominating the media landscape,” including … Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly!

* Also Reported was Tom Freston, author of the new Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu. The book, per the more-interesting-than-most description,

chronicles his life, from an eight-year stint in India and Afghanistan on the hippie trail where he was a businessman running a successful clothing empire (a venture eventually destroyed by Carter administration tariffs), to his pivotal role in creating global media powerhouses.

MTV, his defining legacy, was born in 1980 out of a desire to create a specialized “narrow caster” for music fans, reflecting a passionate, low-budget, no-experience culture similar to Vice Media’s early days. The channel became a culture leader for over two decades, achieving success despite initial resistance from cable operators and record companies, famously using the “I Want My MTV” campaign featuring stars like David Bowie and Mick Jagger.

This innovative spirit continued as MTV pioneered the reality TV boom with The Real World and when Freston’s team launched Comedy Central out of competitive brashness against HBO, nurturing future comedy icons. Freston’s career at the top of Viacom ended abruptly when Sumner Redstone fired him, famously for not buying MySpace, a moment that underscored the disruptive force of the digital revolution. Later, Freston got involved with Vice Media, drawn to its edgy, chaotic, and fun sky’s-the-limit culture, only to witness its struggle with growth, overspending, and a missed opportunity to be acquired by Disney.

* Reason last week posted a print-mag column of mine about presidential health-lying through the ages, pegged to the already forgotten moment a month or two back when people were doing the whole Paul-is-dead thing, except with Trump. Excerpt:

Grover Cleveland, for example, traded on his considerable reputation as “The Honest President” to not only deny the factual newspaper report that what had been billed as a four-day yachting vacation in 1893 was actually major oral surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on the roof of his mouth, but also to successfully disparage the reporter as a fabulist disgrace to journalism.

Edith Wilson, the Jill Biden of a century ago, cut off nearly all access to her husband Woodrow after his October 1919 stroke while he was president, making his final 17 months in office an unelected co-presidency at best. She and his complicit medical team (who took care to avoid the word stroke, preferring exhaustion) successfully pulled off a single, risky, stage-managed afternoon meeting with two suspicious senators, during which Woodrow Wilson’s paralyzed side was covered by a blanket. The president was able to rally enough to mollify (if on a secondhand basis) the 100 or so reporters waiting downstairs. […]

How was Franklin Delano Roosevelt able to conceal his debilitating congestive heart failure, diagnosed in March 1944—an election year that he (unlike Wilson in 1920) was still competing in? For one, he and his team had had 23 years’ worth of experience working with a mostly compliant and occasionally intimidated press to conceal and suppress visual evidence of his polio paralysis. For another, it was a war year, back long before our modern yearslong presidential election marathons. The actual campaign didn’t really begin until late September, and the president did manage to propel himself through a few vigorous days on the hustings.

It also helped that FDR’s personal physician, Vice Admiral Ross T. McIntire, was an extravagant liar.

* I will include more tour-pics & such in a special bonus Firehose on Monday, since I am currently on a beach with my children, whose ingratitude is only matched by their competitive need for attention.

* Comment of the Week, who I am frankly (Thanksgivingly?) privileging because he’s a dear old college friend (and degenerate hockey player) who I do not see nearly enough, comes from the one and only Max[well C.] Donnelly:

Wow. Wow. Wow. TFC is truly must listen (watch?) entertainment and education. What a great interview.

I do take issue with one thing Junger said: That there is no evolutionary explanation for the consistency of the near death experience featuring a comforting guide/presence to ease the transition into death. As humans evolved, we were small family “tribes”, often nomadic, or further back, living in the tree canopies. Fiercely social and familial bonds were very strong. Caring for an injured relative who was near death but fought the inevitable would endanger the entire tribe. A prolonged death could well bring death to the entire family, and probably did for the families who didn’t have the “go peacefully” gene. Thus, evolutionary selection for the gene.

Just the thought that occurred to me as I listened, rapt, to the entire “blessedly” long interview.

Keep ‘em coming!

* I’m sorry, did you think you could just gallivant past the Gift Subscription link above? Nope!

Walkoff is my absolute favorite from an absolute real one. RIP: