Note: The first episodes shown during the Fourth Quarter 2020 were reruns of #864 on September 21, 2020, and #210 on September 28, 2020.
Episode #872: Shut Up, Man
First Broadcast: 10/5/20
In between the end of the first (and last?) debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden of 2020, and the admission by President Trump that he had tested positive for COVID-19, we here at Free New York shared our reactions about how irritating, annoying, and downright abusive Trump was at the debate, interrupting Biden at almost every opportunity, giving a shout-out to white supremacists (much to their delight), and trying to gaslight anyone watching into thinking he was the victim who couldn't get a word in, somehow. We speculated on what measures the Commission on Presidential Debates might take to keep Trump in line in the future (Kim prefers the "isolation booth" approach), but now that the status of all future debates between Trump and Biden is in limbo, who knows what the outcome will be? Never a dull moment in 2020, is there?
Episode #873: The Facts Are Out There
First Broadcast: 10/12/20
We recorded this episode immediately after the end of the one and only debate between Vice Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Mike Pence (and one stray fly), and our exasperation shows. Senator Harris didn't exactly win us over with her emphasis on how Presidential candidate Joe Biden isn't in favor of the Green New Deal, and doesn't support a ban on fracking, but that wasn't nearly as offensive as Vice President Pence coolly lying about his & Trump's record whenever he wasn't just dodging the moderator's questions entirely. In case anyone needs reminding: Obama gave Iran its own money back; The richest people in America benefited the most from Trump's tax cuts; Trump allegedly "reveres" the military, but got five deferments to avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War; the Department of Justice concluded that the FBI did not spy on Trump's presidential campaign; and the Trump White House disbanded the pandemic response team that Obama established at the NSC, reduced the number of CDC personnel who were monitoring virus activity in China, and ignored the pandemic response manual that the Obama White House created just in case something like a new strain of coronavirus threatened the United States--three things that, if Trump hadn't done, might have prevented the deaths of over 210,000 Americans from COVID-19. Regardless, the debate only further added to the multitude of reasons why people should vote for Biden for President instead of Trump, and anyone still on Trump's side at this point needs to ask themselves why they're comfortable with a sociopathic racist criminal running the country for another four years. If you can, VOTE NOW! More to come, I'm sure.
Episode #874: No Reason
First Broadcast: 10/19/20
We had to submit this episode before the dueling town halls of Joe Biden and Donald Trump took place, so we couldn't comment on anything that was going to happen in those. Instead, we talked about the electoral college; the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact; how socialist Bernie Sanders is compared to other socialists; the third debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960, where they were located in different cities from each other; the dangers of COVID-19 transmission in restaurants (and at "sweet sixteen" parties); and the grim economic state of restaurants in New York City during the pandemic. Did Dr. Fauci provide us all with the best excuse to avoid Thanksgiving this year? Remember to VOTE!
Episode #875: Third Wave
First Broadcast: 10/26/20
We recorded this episode before the last debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, so we couldn't really comment on that (sensing a theme). Instead, we discussed the latest number of states from which travelers to New York will need to quarantine when they arrive (43), and how that number would also include New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania if circumstances were different. We also talk about coronavirus cases increasing in almost every state in the union; how badly the U.S. botched its response to COVID-19; how this has all led up to a "third wave" of COVID infections in this country; how New Zealand did such a good job in contrast; whether the "Goldwater rule" should still be respected when a malignant narcissist is President; how 2020 feels so damn exhausting; and Morticia Addams! What? You can't expect us to be serious all the time...
Episode #876: Please Show Up
First Broadcast: 11/2/20
In the first four days of early voting this year, 457,735 people "checked in" to vote in New York City, which was a higher number than the number of people who voted for the Republican candidate in the last mayoral election in 2017. By the time this episode aired, 1,119,056 people had checked in for early voting, which is more than the total number of people who voted for mayor in 2017. If you weren't one of the million-plus who already voted this year, don't despair! You can still vote old-school style, in person on Election Day! The polls will be open from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM in the city on Tuesday, November 3! Vote! And bring your friends to the polls so they can vote too! If you don't vote, how else are you going to get rid of a President who leads his followers to the middle of an airport, and then leaves them to succumb to the below-freezing cold of the Nebraska night? That, and several hundred other things. Don't be the reason the next four years end up being worse than the last four years! Don't even wonder if such a thing is possible! VOTE!!!
Episode #877: We All Know How That Turned Out
First Broadcast: 11/9/20
When we recorded this episode, the fate of the 2020 Presidential election was still uncertain, as no one had been projected to have the minimum 270 electoral votes needed to become the winner. Since the Associated Press had projected that Biden had only 264 electoral votes at the time, we were optimistic that the remaining vote counts were trending in his favor, and speculated that Nevada, with its 6 electoral votes, might be the state to cement Biden with the exact amount of votes needed for an electoral, as well as popular, victory. Well, as you probably already know, Pennsylvania ultimately put Biden over the top, and I've never been more pleased to see one of our episodes go out of date before it even aired. If you're still interested, you can watch us congratulate New York City on voting the way we hoped (over 72% in favor of Biden); make fun of Trump for his lies, and him & his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for their insane pseudo-legal arguments; and nervously hope that things turn out for the best in the end, despite the awful mess that still needs to be cleaned up. For once, it might actually be OK!
Episode #878: A Serving Suggestion
First Broadcast: 11/23/20
When we recorded this, it was more than 2 weeks after the 2020 Presidential election, and 11 days after various new organizations determined that Joe Biden had won enough states to clinch the electoral college. Yet, despite all this, and despite even more time elapsing between the recording and the episode premiere, outgoing President Donald Trump still hasn't conceded the election to Joe Biden, and General Services Administration Administrator Emily Murphy still refuses to "ascertain" that Biden will be the President-elect when the electors from each state (and Washington, D.C.) cast their votes for President in December--two obstructions that are actively preventing federal employees from helping Biden and his team transition into the White House, as well as preventing federal funds from being disbursed for that purpose. Aside from being petty and anti-democratic, Trump's active refusal to acknowledge his loss could hinder Biden's ability to rapidly deploy a coronavirus vaccine when he's in charge, and it could also repeat the same sort of vacuum in national security staff that made the 9/11 attacks possible. Nevertheless, Trump's various attorneys have filed over 30 lawsuits in an attempt to change the results of the election--and have lost almost all of them. Trump is also trying to persuade various state officials to ignore the votes in their states and have their electors vote for Trump anyway, but so far that idea is falling on deaf ears. Will Trump and his supporters eventually recognize reality and acknowledge that Trump lost and Biden won the election, just like how paleontologists recognized that birds might be the modern descendants of dinosaurs? (I forget how I got there; I was on a roll.) Or will the Secret Service have to drag Trump out of the White House as soon as Biden is inaugurated? We'll find out for sure in less than two months!
Episode #879: Room For Improvement
First Broadcast: 12/7/20
Repeated: 12/14/20
It's been over a month since the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden unquestionably won, and Donald Trump still hasn't conceded, refusing to admit that he lost. Instead, Trump insists that "massive fraud" took place in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (coincidentally, all states where he lost), despite losing almost every lawsuit his attorneys have filed to overturn the vote in those states due to lack of any evidence that fraud occurred, as well as the pure sloppiness of the lawsuits themselves. Egged on by Trump's delusional claims that he actually won the election, supporters of his are encouraging Trump to declare martial law, and sending death threats to public officials who had the temerity to acknowledge that Biden was the winner. Is Trump going to keep up this tantrum for the rest of his term, not inviting Biden to the White House, not attending Biden's inauguration, and announcing another run for the Presidency the second Biden is in office? I hope not, but Trump is such a bottomless pit of narcissism that I don't hope for much.