All About The Joy
All About The Joy is a weekly hang-out with friends in the neighborhood! We share insight, advice, funny-isms and we choose to always try and find the positive, the silver lining, the "light" in all of it. AATJ comes from the simple concept that at the end of the day we all want to have more JOY than not. So, this is a cool place to unwind, have a laugh and share some time with friends!
All About The Joy
Dignity vs. Spectacle: Why Contempt Is the New Political Brand
What if the real crisis isn’t left vs. right, but dignity vs. spectacle? We take a hard look at how performative nastiness - on camera and in hearings - rewards the loudest bad actors while starving institutions of trust. From Stephen Miller’s cultivated cruelty to a combative congressional appearance that dodged every question, we trace how contempt becomes a political brand, and why that brand reliably escalates toward harm when honest dialogue dies.
The conversation moves from national theater to street-level impact. We unpack the difference between firefighters’ rigorous, service-first training and the shorter pipeline that equips many police roles with power before maturity. Then we break down ICE’s internal split - investigative agents with higher requirements versus ERO officers hired with minimal credentials - and what that mismatch means for real people in tense encounters. One host shares early experiences that taught “don’t expect help,” followed by a recent, humane response to a stalking scare that shows what good policing can look like. The tension holds: people want effective law enforcement; we just don’t have enough of the right incentives to make it consistent.
We don’t stop at diagnosis. We outline actionable reforms: end qualified immunity, make misconduct financially local through pensions or insurance, require older and better-prepared recruits, lengthen training to center de-escalation and cultural literacy, and enforce peer-intervention norms that actually protect the public. Along the way, we question why power keeps delaying transparency on high-profile files and how procedural games feed cynicism. The throughline is simple: truth-telling must beat showmanship, or public safety and democracy both suffer.
If you’re ready for a politics that values candor over clout and a public safety model built on maturity, training, and accountability, this conversation is your map. Listen, share with a friend who’s tired of the noise, and leave a review with your top reform—what’s the first change you’d make?
Thank you for stopping by. Please visit our website: All About The Joy and add, like and share. You can also support us by shopping at our STORE - We'd appreciate that greatly. Also, if you want to find us anywhere on social media, please check out the link in bio page.
Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth
DISCLAIMER: As always, please do your own research and understand that the opinions in this podcast and livestream are meant for entertainment purposes only. States and other areas may have different rules and regulations governing certain aspects discussed in this podcast. Nothing in our podcast or livestream is meant to be medical or legal advice. Please use common sense, and when in doubt, ask a professional for advice, assistance, help and guidance.
Hey everyone. Welcome to All About the Joy. This is Culture and Consequence with Carmen and Andrea. Hey, what's up? How you doing, Ans? I'm good. Okay, cool. So, what do you want to talk about? I'm gonna leave it up to you. I mean, we have a list, but we have a list. We have a list. Um, what's bothering me today? Okay, I'll tell you what's bothering me today. Yeah, go for it. I am tired of the nastiness. Like, I I I know you want to talk about like racism, but I love to.
Andrea:Love to love it.
Carmen Lezeth:No, no, no, but here's the thing. You know what? Um, just watching, what's this woman's name? It's both of them. It's uh Stephen Miller, the deputy. I didn't realize he was just the deputy um chief of staff. I thought he was actually the chief of staff. I believe he's actually the president. True. He's also the um, let me see what he is, because I had to, I mean, he's an asshole, but he's also the homeland security advisor. But um, for people who don't know, I mean, why would anyone know this? I live in Santa Monica, California. I've been here 30 years. I think he's in his 30s. He grew up in this neighborhood, okay. That I and he was here part of the time when I was, he went to school here. I don't know him. Thank you, Lord. Jesus, thank you. But but maybe if I had, I could have, I don't know, melted his heart or something. I have no idea. I don't think so, girl. But I am shooketh at why he turned out to be such an evil human being. I mean, he's angry and nasty and mean and so. I'm sorry, what is that his family hates him? His family does. Oh, I actually have a quote from his cousin, Alyssa Casmar, publicly disowned him in 2025, calling him the face of evil due to his role in shaping the Trump administration's immigration policies. And her quote is, I am living with the deep pain of watching someone I once loved become the face of evil. I will never knowingly let evil into my life, no matter whose blood it carries, including my own. I mean, and she goes on and on, but his other family members have really a lot of them have like not said anything, like, which I think is also telling. You know what I mean? Um, but I'm I I literally the other day walked around where he went to school, walked around where I think he possibly lived. Like all these areas. I'm like, why? Um I think he got his ass kicked by some Latino kids. I do. I think he was bullied or something by some. I'm not blaming it on Latino kids. It's not what I mean. I'm just your fault. Latino kids. You reap what you sow. No, but he must have been bullied or something because he is weird.
Andrea:Yeah, I mean, like, I I I really am hesitant to go in the direction of like some people are just born evil. Um, yeah, me too. But I do think there may be like a slight predisposition, and if you know, facts on the ground, I guess, right after you're born, um, feed into that. You know, I don't know what his his actual like, you know, family situation was, what his parents are like, or any of those kinds of things. But um it does kind of point to maybe he was bullied in some way. Maybe he liked a girl who decided to go out with a hot Latin dude. I don't know.
Carmen Lezeth:It really because his family, he he has a Jewish background, which is the other part of this, like the the vitriol he has towards other people after you know your own history. I mean, I know look it.
Andrea:We're in the I'm just shooketh by I I also as I am hesitant to think that people are like born evil, sort of. Um I I do also think that a lot of the hate and the vitriol comes from some this is so like psychological, you know, psychological trauma? Well, no, like deep self-hatred. Like there's something that you just can't deal with when you look in the mirror. No offense. I just mean like I don't even mean like your attractiveness, but like there's something deep within you that you desperately don't like, and so you put it out into the world, you know what I mean? Um I feel like he needs a hug. Oh, he no, he needs a hard, hard slap. That's what he means.
Carmen Lezeth:There is the difference between me and Andreya. If you want to know, I'm willing to give him a slap. I mean, I'm willing to give him a hug. So you already have turned to me. I'm like, yes, a slap. No, we are not for violence ever. I'm not. I'm not. I do not speak on behalf of Andreel. I like so so this came up because then Pam Bondi, who I'm like, whoa, she's the United States Attorney General, and she was in front of Congress this week. And I don't care whether you agree with her or not, and clearly I don't agree with her at all because I'm not a fan. Her nastiness, like again, like this vitriol, this inability to have conversations, this inability, even if you don't want to answer questions, which she clearly she was not answering any questions whatsoever. She was just like totally, you know, whataboutism seems to be her thing. You know, somebody would ask her, is the sky blue? And she'd be like, I can't believe you would ask me a question after what you did at a rodeo five years ago. I mean, it was just random shit. It was random. And I was like, all this vitriol, all this angst. I mean, this is what I think is even more profound in our politics today, right? This inability to just have conversations.
Andrea:Well, and it's like, you know, not to use like a network television word, but like it's just so performative. You know what I mean? They're they're doing it so that Trump can see it and be like, yeah, you're fighting, you know, give them hell. And, you know, like that's his vibe. Sorry.
Carmen Lezeth:That's okay. Dogs are allowed. That's okay. We just have to let people know that that's not like me putting in a sound.
Andrea:That is probably a leaf blowing by that my dog didn't like.
Carmen Lezeth:Yeah. The victory all and the and the barking, I could hear it.
Andrea:He's like, yes, yeah, um Go ahead. You were saying No, I was just saying, like, there, you know, it's primarily, I believe, to well, I think it serves a couple of purposes. Number one, first and foremost, Trump wants to see fighters and he wants to see people who are tough and all of that because he's not, and you know, they're actually not, so they want to sort of perform toughness.
Carmen Lezeth:And they don't want to release the Epstein files. Okay, sorry.
Andrea:Yes, that as well. Um and then it also, I think, riles up a certain contingent of their base who are predisposed to like want to be that way. You know, like we sort of like it's sort of a joke, like, you know, Carmen's a hugger, I'm a slapper, you know. But like I'm I'm not necessarily like I think there are people who respond to that that they are trying to get to specifically, you know.
Carmen Lezeth:Right. Um, I totally get that, and I agree with you. I do think it's performative. I guess I just feel sad because like that, it was so not productive. And yet what was great, what was great was to watch her for me. Like I watched her, and I was like, this is exactly what people need to see. They need to see another person and that perfect blonde white woman, you know what I mean? Like exactly the package that we think is the perfect American or whatever, the other side thinks, or whatever, and see that kind of vitriol and that anger or whatever, and see how performative that is the perfect. Because I don't even think people, the same people, the same conservatives and Republicans were okay with all that. You know what I mean? Like it just seemed to, I think, flop badly. Um, because everybody saw what she was doing, everybody understood what she was doing. She was just, you know, performing for one person and not answering any questions whatsoever. And um and throwing cash patel under the bus, which was great as far as I'm concerned. Could care less about him too. So that was unbelievable. But yeah, I'm just tired of the nastiness. So, anyways.
Andrea:Yeah, I mean, that's I think that's uh as you pointed out, like the larger problem. How how do you how do we come back from this? I mean, there's like all of these hurdles that we have to get over in order to have any kind of um new normal, let's call it, that's looks better for most people, but it like it breeds more hate, right? It's like she does things like that, and then everyone's like, all of these people need to go to the hag, every single one of them needs to be in the like I I don't necessarily disagree, really, truly, but like it like where does it end? Right? You just keep like one upping like this and then this and then this. Like it's just like violence and nastiness, and then more violence and nastiness, and like there's how do you equalize it so that we can actually have conversations again?
Carmen Lezeth:Right. And I know you're not gonna like me saying this, but I mean it goes back to the Charlie Kirk thing as well. Like, no matter how you feel about Charlie Kirk, he did not deserve to uh be killed to be assassinated, and um, you know, we can kid around.
Andrea:I have a problem with the word assassinated, but go ahead. Okay, okay, all right.
Carmen Lezeth:Uh killed? Yes, killed is a nervous okay, whatever, whatever, whatever. Okay. I'm just saying that's where we end up going when we have all this vitriol, when we can't have actual competent people. And I am gonna say it that way because watching these people spew from a place of such anger and hate, like I may swear every once in a while, but it's not coming from a place of hate. You know what I mean? I guess not coming from a place where I want to do something bad to you. I want you to understand my point of view, but I would never intentionally hurt somebody, you know? And she was just going after, like, and the lies. I mean, what was great was all the senators were ready for it, right? So she would say, You did A, B, C, and D, and you took money from A, B, C, and D, and straight up, like, yeah. So that doesn't answer the question. The question again is, and I was like, Oh, see, I wouldn't have been able to hold back. I would have been like, that ain't true. That is not what happened. He did not sponsor me. Like, I would have reacted that way, but they were all so prepared and didn't fall for it, which made her look even worse, you know.
Andrea:But well, I mean, yeah, that's uh it's like violence is where you go when you have nothing left, right? When you can't have a conversation, when you can't actually sort of prove your point or say your piece and agree to disagree, or you know, whatever it is. That's it ratchets up until you get to violence, which is you know, that that's my worry. I mean, we're already there in many differences, but you know, that is my worry is like eventually we will need to pull back from this and like how do you do that? Um, you know, and there are other other societies and other countries have done it, um, but it just it's a it's a long process.
Carmen Lezeth:It's a long process, especially when you have a leader who gets excited by it. So, I mean, it always comes from the top, right? But when you have somebody who's, you know, I'm sorry for those of you who don't understand the bullshittery in that Portland is on fire and that war and like I'm convinced they're just putting pictures in front of his face of like, you know.
Andrea:Even okay, let's pretend.
Carmen Lezeth:Let's pretend Los Angeles is a hellfire where I live, by the way, and travel to and around all the time during that huge riot thing that was happening here. It was not happening. Let's pretend it was. How does a president normally handle something like that? They would go to the governor of the state and ask the governor, or the governor would call the president and say, we're in trouble. We need XYZ. It is not that that's how you know it's all bullshit because the governors are saying absolutely not, do not do this. Now he was able to do it in Washington because Washington, D.C. does not have the same representation that we do in other states. And if you don't understand, Washington is a district, it's District of Columbia, and I'll put down at the bottom why you should Google it. But that's why he was able to do what he did and continues to have military force in Washington, D.C. And all the violence, you know. Yeah, it's I am tired of Trump.
Andrea:I am tired of I know, but I'm only like not even 10 months in. Why do you think? I know, but it's every day. Don't you feel like that? Oh, this this honestly, like there are so many reasons, so many reasons why he should not have been elected, but just the sheer exhaustion of having to deal with this. Like, isn't everybody tired of this bullshit? Every day, it's some new bullshit. Think of all of the days when Biden was president that you didn't even hear his name, or didn't even think about him at all. Yeah, or George Bush, any other president, right? They're always like in your face with some kind of bullshit, and that's like he he needs that, he thrives off of that. I swear to god, it gives him some kind of superhuman energy. That's why he's still alive because he thrives off of this crazy drama.
Carmen Lezeth:But I look at I I said this the other day. I think you know, Trump wants so badly something he's never going to have, which is respect. Yeah, he's never he wants it so badly. He wants somehow to like he wants the Nobel Peace Prize, which is great, knock yourself out. But he wants it so badly because Obama has one, right? People who usually get the Nobel Peace Prize aren't looking for it. Like, you know what I mean? It's like tell me you love me, like forcing you to tell me that you love me is a very different thing when someone just says that they love you. You know what I mean? Like, and come, and I feel like for whatever reason, Trump can't figure out how to get what he really wants. Like, like he says now he hates all of Hollywood because he knows Hollywood has rejected him, but he's always wanted to be part of the Hollywood thingamajiggy, right? With the cool kids and hanging out or whatever. But he doesn't get that. He gets it from all the B artists, right? Because they're also not in with the Hollywood crowd. And it's like, I I know you're gonna laugh at me, but I feel bad for him. I feel bad for him because he's he's almost 80 years old, right? Isn't he in his 70s? He's like 79, yeah. And he's still craving something, and he's still incredibly jealous, incredibly hateful. He still hasn't come to a place in his life where he's like, you know what? I'm a man and I am going to be this kind of person, whatever. He's still running after shit that all of us were running after when we were like 11.
Andrea:And he literally was just gonna say, he's like an 11-year-old, like a 12-year-old. I mean, he just never actually matured into a normal human being. Um, and I don't feel sorry for him, not one single bit. And I said this last time, like we all have our shit, we all have some kind of something that happened to us when we were growing up where we didn't get something that we feel like we needed, and that we did need for that matter, right? And I don't know about most of us, but a lot of us went through the process of facing that, understanding that, dealing with it, and becoming mature functioning adults.
Carmen Lezeth:I know, but you're forgetting something that's really important, and I'm not making excuses for him. But the like if we're gonna get all psychological, and neither one of us are PhDs in this, this is just like normal understanding of human beings, okay? And my experience and your experience, like this is basic shit. Money. When you have money and you grow up with money, parents who are not good parents, I'm just gonna say it straight up, will turn around and try to save you from every consequence and ramification of behaviors that you are doing. And I, not being a parent, can easily see this sometimes with some of my friends, not anybody in the room included, but right because you you want to protect your children, and sometimes you need to let your kids fall so that they can learn the lesson. Donald Trump has never had to learn his lesson, never, not once. And he has built a life based on lie after lie after lie, and he got really good at using his name and his money and his prestige to get away with everything. Everything. Look at anything he's gone through. He continues to get away with it all the time. Even the Epstein files, and I'm not even trying to be funny right now. He now has a devout Christian House Speaker not bringing someone into Congress who won their Congress seat, right, in Arizona because he is he's afraid. Well, she would be the 216th signature to release the Epstein files. It's not even to release them, by the way, it's to have the conversation, right? Or whatever it is, but it's the next step. So, House Speaker, what's his name? Johnson, I think, right? Johnson, Johnson, who is a devout quote unquote Christian, though I question that with every day, with every single day. Right. It's a slur, frankly, at this point. It's a slur, that's actually that's actually true. Um, he will and and and people keep confronting him and asking him questions, and he's just lying about it. He's like, no, no, it's not that we don't want her to be get into Congress, blah, blah. It's because we like the other day, he said, I want it to be a ceremony for her, I want her to be able to have her family. And so the the person was like, So if she brings her family, will you then yeah? The lies. And so here is Trump again getting away with the Epstein files not being released, and he has other people doing his bidding. And honestly, why? When are you sacrificing your soul for money, for fame, for power to keep this bullshittery going on? Like, what is in the Epstein files that he's so afraid? By the way, none of us are gonna be surprised about nothing that's in them damn Epstein. I don't know what he's so afraid of. Honest to God. He's already money more than enough. I I don't understand what could possibly be in there that he's so afraid of, but it's not just him, it's all of his rich friends that's the problem.
Andrea:Well, yeah, I think that's more the issue is the other people that are in it who have money and you know, like fund it and fund him.
Carmen Lezeth:And I and I asked AI, and it was like it could have global ramifications. I'm like, what the bitch, please. I was like, what? So I I don't know. I honestly they're going to come out. It may not be today or tomorrow, but that shit's gonna come out. It's gonna come out. Yeah, so I feel bad for Trump. I know you don't, but I just uh okay, whatever. All right, we were gonna talk about well, wait, did you want to say something else? No, like all right, we were gonna talk about ice agents. I don't even know if I have the energy for this. I don't, I don't know if I do. It's the same shit. This anger and angst and and vitriol, but you know what I found out? I and I did do some research on this. So let me just say this part. So I lived in Beverly Hills for a small amount of time, worst experience of my life. But um, I think I lived there for like two years or something. Um, and my next door neighbor is a guy named Levi, and we became good friends. He could be my son, like, and I'd be so proud if he was. But he had come to Los Angeles, he's from Texas, and he was going through the process of becoming a fireman. And uh so I got to know him because we would go to lunch every once in a while, and he would tell me what he's going through. And so firemen go through a much more rigorous, longer process to become firemen than police officers do. So let me just, I'm gonna just tell you that to become a firefighter, uh firefighter in Los Angeles, okay? Um, there's a lot of requirements, but one of the first ones that's really important is you have to have an EMT license and be a uh CPAT person, which is candidate physical ability test. You have to pass that before you can even apply. Cops don't have that at all. So the rest of it is pretty thorough, whatever, but basically the estimated time frame to become a Los Angeles fire department person is 12 to 18 months. And in order to become a police officer carrying a gun, it's six to nine months. Okay, so that's just to start there. Now, an ice agent. Let me just find I have all my 15 pieces of paper here. Uh let me just see. I was gonna do research and then I just got it. But you don't you don't have to. It's not to, it's not about research. Um let me just see where my ice agent shit is. I mean, I love ice agents, it's so amazing and great. Don't come after me, bitch, because I'm Latina and brown skin. Okay, requirements to become an ice agent. You have to be a U.S. citizen. Duh. Okay, valid driver's license, eligible to carry a firearm, under 37 years old. And here's where I question this: you have to have a bachelor's degree with one of the following. I know, wait, wait, wait. You can't wait. Preferred background, criminal justice or law enforcement experience. Bullshit. Um, military service or prior federal employment, preferred. Um, you have to do drug screening, medical exam, physical fitness, background investigations could take up to three months. That's all lies. It's not lies. I'm gonna explain why. 22. Oh, and then training duties, you have to um you get paid training uh for 22 weeks, okay? So it sounds like ICE agents get a lot of, right? They get maybe even more than LAPD. But here's the difference, which is something I learned in my research because I questioned this, and I was like, there is no way. The same way Andrea was like, yeah, they don't got no bachelor's degree, these mofos. The difference is ERO agents are enforcement and removal operation agents, and they are hired with high school diplomas or equivalent, and everything else is bypassed. Those are the people that are on the street, those are the people who are on the street. That's why you see them clumsily hurting people and doing all this shit because they have no idea what the fuck they're doing. Right. Surprise, surprise. So there are ICE agents from back in the day, normal times, and then there are ERO agents, which is what we're seeing on the streets of our cities.
Andrea:I don't know what I actually should say.
Carmen Lezeth:Well, I was more curious because our last episode you talked about you have issues with cops, and we did get someone who asked why you would have they they wait, wait, wait. They understood why I would have issues with cops, but why would you, white woman Andrea, have issues with cops? So that's kind of where this is coming from.
Andrea:It's a personal experience thing. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. I don't want to get into like a whole autobiographical thing, but you know, from the time I was quite young, um my interactions with police were, I would say, overwhelmingly negative. Not that I had a lot of bad interactions, but but um, you know, you live in a working-class neighborhood, pretty diverse in terms of the racial mix, and you see things and you experience things. And I think I said somewhere on the show in one of the previous episodes, I grew up in a Mexican family. Meaning, like, you know, they're like Mexican-American, but like the people that I spent time with in my family were Mexican people. I was the odd personnel, right? I'm the one who looks different than the whole rest of my literally my entire family, pretty much.
Carmen Lezeth:You really do, even your brother looks more mexicano than you could ever.
Andrea:And so I could see the difference just in treatment, and that you know, I've I'm a very like uh you know, observant person and all of those things, but like I'll I'll tell you just a little story, little brief little autobiographical story to give you an a sense of you don't have to, but we're always well just a like so uh I grew up in the 70s, right? 70s kid, right? We were all like feral little kids. One day my cousin, my two cousins and my brother, we're all the same age. We're out doing what kids do in the summer, right? We're like walking around on a canal, literally. Um not hanging out with gang members, like literally just the four of us, like you know, I don't know why we were out there. I was very young, I was literally like five, six years old, no joke. Um I was like kindergarten to first grade. And these older kids who were probably like junior high just came and started messing with us, right? And that's this is the kind of stuff that happened back in the day. Like you were just out and there were like different people who would mess with you. You didn't know who they were or whatever. Um, and so they were like messing with us. And one of the boys grabbed me by my shirt and kissed me, like stuck his tongue down my throat, this big wet, nasty, slobbery kiss, whatever. I pushed him off of me. I ran home, you know. Call my mom, tell my mom. And meanwhile, you know, you you probably remember like being out and being kind of little feral kid, like you're probably doing stuff and going places you're not really supposed to go. Like, so it's like typical 70s kid. Do I tell my mom that we were out on the canal? Because we're not supposed to be out on the canal, whatever. Anyway, I did. She calls the cops, the cops come to our house. Oh no, which is you know, whatever. The cops come to our house. Again, this is I'm truly like kindergarten first grade. Cops come to our house. I can't remember what he asked me or anything like that. I remember like all the sounds of all of his equipment, and I remember where he sat and everything, and I remember very distinctly at some point during the conversation, thinking he thinks this is my fault. Like, I'm gonna get in trouble, or like my mom's gonna get in trouble because we were out there. Where why were we there? What were we doing? Why why weren't why wasn't someone watching us? Like, all like that whole vibe, right? And let me just say, this is this little white girl experience is absolutely nothing compared to the experience that a lot of other kids have with the police. But what it distinctly left me with is truly like an imprint of don't go to the cops, they're not gonna help you. Uh, they might blame you, you might get in trouble. So that was like my first interaction that I can remember with the police. And I have truly, since then, and I have had a fair amount of interactions with the police because I'm you know, I've got pulled over a lot in my teens and twenties. Uh, I have never had an interaction with the cops or seen an interaction with the cops that proved me different.
Carmen Lezeth:Wow. Wow. That's uh that's fascinating. Um I uh no no I look at I I think that kind of explains it too, and actually it's kind of in a way refreshing. I mean, I'm sorry you had that experience because look at it. Here's the thing too. I actually want to believe, I can't say I really believe this, but in my heart, I want to believe that people who become or want to be police officers go into it for the right reasons. And then sometimes I think, well, like I wish all police officers had to go to college first. And I'm not trying to say college is the thing. I'm not saying you have to be a four-degree, but I feel like that's part of the problem is like there's not enough maturity to be able to deal with de-escalation, dealing with kind of other issues that I think you learn. And if you're just like 18, 19 years old and you're given a gun and all this power and authority after, you know, six months of training, I feel like that's part of the problem.
Andrea:100%. I mean, look, in my socialist utopia, um we do we do abolish the police. And that, and and what I mean by that is I don't mean no law enforcement. I'm saying law enforcement as it exists in the United States today needs to be completely deconstructed and rebuilt, and there needs to be extensive, intensive, I would say, years-long training before you are given a weapon and put out on the streets. Uh, you know, while I'm at it, end qualified immunity. People need to have personal liability for harm doing, you know, for wrongdoing, doing harm to people, right? I saw something months ago. I remember on social media, someone said instead of having the cities or the municipalities pay for the lawsuits, take it out of their pensions. Yeah, right. Like that would change things right away. Create some actual self-policing, right? If if if your wrongdoing is coming out of my pension, I'm probably not gonna stand by and let you watch you hurt people, kick someone in the face while you arrest them. You know what I mean? Like it just needs to be rethought. And again, like I said, it's my socialist utopia. Obviously, it's never gonna happen, but you know, I it needs to look and be completely different than it does today for it to actually be a net good, right?
Carmen Lezeth:I I think one of the reasons why unfortunately people go into the police department is because it's easier, right? And it's uh you you do, you have this ability to make money. It's not a lot of money at the beginning, but you can make a good living as a cop eventually, and then you have all of these protections. And if you have even an ounce, which you kind of sort of have to, of power frenzy or kind of this weird control thing, or you like guns, it's such a bad place for you to be, you know. But um, you know, I don't know if I agree with you 100%, surprise, surprise. But I do think it needs to be reimagined for sure. And my whole thing is like, I don't want people who are 18, 19 years old becoming going to the police academy. I just don't. I want you to have to go do something for four years and become an actual adult who understands people, and it doesn't have to be collie, but it has to be something, you know? And the thing about firemen, not only do they want to help people, because let's say that's what police want to do too, but firemen actually are putting themselves on the line in order to learn to help people without a gun. And it's about teamwork and it's about trying to understand how to fix a situation. But cops are not being told that, they're not being taught that.
Andrea:Yeah, I I just I do want to say, like, uh, I believe you actually have to be 21 to be a police officer with LAPD. I could be wrong, but I know you could be right.
Carmen Lezeth:Let me just say you're absolutely right.
Andrea:We do a lot of recruitment and training in the high schools, so they get people sort of prepped and ready to go, but I think you have to be 21.
Carmen Lezeth:No, you do. Firefighter, my apologies, you were right. To be a Los Angeles fire department, the minimum age to start is 18. Police officer LAPD, 21 at time of hire. So I don't know if that means you can start training before him, but that's what you're talking about. They go into the schools and stuff like that, right? Yeah. So I still need them to do four years or something.
Andrea:I don't know. You know, again, like not that anyone believes in science anymore, but my understanding is that men in particular are do not even have fully formed brains at that age. Okay, we're gonna lose.
Carmen Lezeth:I think all men are beautiful, and you have you have fine ass brains.
Andrea:Neither do a lot of women. People's brains are not fully formed until they're in their mid-20s. Like, oh yeah.
Carmen Lezeth:I just I just wanted you to correct that. Come on, like you're just like men suck. Yeah, I'm just kidding. I'm just messing with you. I'm messing with you.
Andrea:Okay, they mature at a slower rate, and actually, like physically, physiologically, that their brains are not fully formed.
Carmen Lezeth:So, what age would you prefer? I would like to see cops in their 30s. Seriously, start the process. Old ass cops.
Andrea:Like, imagine you have like a ton of money and you have like a trust fund. Like, at what age do you want your child to be able to have access to that money and be responsible with it, right? At what age do we want these people to have a gun and be out on the streets and be responsible with it? I mean, you know, I don't know.
Carmen Lezeth:Yeah. But I do think something that's really interesting is uh uh I really am kind of over the cops being these buddy buddy people who never say a bad thing about somebody who's like killed someone. You know what I mean? Like and it just the constant inability for them to be individuals because then you have to hear not all cops. No, I'm sorry. Oh, you mean uh when someone else in on the plane when somebody I'm sorry, yeah, yeah. When somebody else hurts somebody and they don't, they don't they don't get angry about it. And even the cops that do, like and they'll do like social media posts or whatever, all of a sudden their their TikToks are gone.
Andrea:Yeah, well, I mean, we talked about this before, it's dangerous, you can't do that. Yeah, you know, these are like okay, everyone's gonna like these are publicly funded gangs. Like they just are, they truly are, especially LA series people. Like, you can Google that shit. It's definitely a public funded gang. I don't care.
Speaker 4:But then why we're gonna do it, like I'm trying to hold back.
Andrea:It's a brotherhood, we have to stick together. You can't say just that's what gangs do, that's what gangs do.
Carmen Lezeth:I'm mad because you you're putting a bad name on gangs. No, I'm just gonna say why are you doing that? I grew up in the hood, man. Like there's you know what's so weird in actual gangs, you do something wrong, your ass is kicked out of the gang after it being actually kicked and beaten up, you know what I mean?
Andrea:And yeah, self-policing.
Carmen Lezeth:They're very self-policing. This is a bad episode. I'm gonna have to cut all that out. We're advocating for gangs against police officers. I'm not, I've never thought of it. I've never, I will tell you this, I've never thought of it that way, Andrea. Never.
Andrea:Yeah, well, I have, and it's actually like maybe not the entire departments, maybe, but there are it's a known fact in in this area, and many, you know, uh like there are actual gangs in LA Sheriff's Department. It's known. We know this.
Carmen Lezeth:I have tattoos, they have tattoos, and they like you have to mean that LA and that the LAPD are gang affiliate. It just means that maybe former gang members have decided to become cops.
Andrea:Uh that's not what I'm saying. I'm that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying function like a gang.
Carmen Lezeth:No, no, I know what you're saying. I just want okay, so you're not okay, okay, okay. So you're saying that the police officers in the LADPD have a gang of their own and they have tattoos of their own. You're not talking about gang members.
Andrea:Yeah, that's sheriff's department, uh, not LAPD, but probably, but it's LA's. Okay, yeah, yeah.
Carmen Lezeth:I I don't want no gang members from Los Angeles coming after my ass.
Andrea:No, this is like I'm not afraid of the LAPD. They have gangs that they have created within the department.
Carmen Lezeth:I have heard that, but yeah. Okay. Yeah. I will say this, just to give it a look. I don't, I'm not gonna say I don't hate all cops, but I look it, I had a really bad situation that happened recently where I had a kind of sort of stalker. We've talked about this, you know, where I got a weird letter at work. Um somebody talking very specifically about my Honda. I told you about this, right? Did you not know about this? No. Yes, you do. Are you serious? I talked about it on the show. Oh my god, how did I not tell you? Well, because we don't usually talk anymore. See, we don't have the time.
Speaker 4:I know.
Carmen Lezeth:Okay, so um about four or five months ago, I got a letter at work, and the letter um was very specific about when I come to work, when I leave. It was there, it was a poem about my Honda and the goldenness of it, and it was really weird, but it was also and it was creepy. And in the letter, it said, This is not creepy, which is the sign. You're like, oh, okay, never mind then. I'm glad you said that. And here's the thing they didn't sign it, they didn't sign their name, right? Um, but they knew where I parked, and so I parked on the street, I parked in the parking lot, but they knew all that, and it was in this weird poem. I'll send you a copy of it. It was so freaky weird. So I, being someone as a young kid who was stalked when I was a performer, it really brought up some weird feelings, and I was so confused by the whole thing. Like, is this just charming? Is this just what I'm I don't know I was trying to? Am I overreacting? But it didn't matter, it was keeping me up at night, it was freaking out. And then I thought I had tags on my car. I mean, I was right because you could put yeah, like air tags. I was freaking out. So I actually went to the Santa Monica Police Department, which is part of the LAPD, but it's the Santa Monica uh whatever. And they were wonderful, they were wonderful. They were lovely and kind and helpful and calmed me down and showed me how to check for my car. And, you know, they also said they explained to me that there's nothing illegal. That like somebody could send you flowers, not illegal. Somebody could, you know, they're like they know it's uncomfortable for you, but it's not they haven't done anything. They haven't, there's nothing in here that says it's violent or whatever, they're just an admirer. And one of the officers said, um, you know, back in the day, this would have been thought of as charming. He's like, but in this day and age, with social media and with, you know, they shouldn't have done this, you know. So they then reached out to the LAPD to make sure that because where it happened was in a different area than where I live. And so, and I felt all of a sudden very protected for I will say for the first time in my life when it comes to police officers. He gave me his card. They were like, you know, don't try not to worry about it. It's gonna be fine, blah, blah, blah. And so I think about it in that sense. Like, I do want law enforcement, but what I want is good law enforcement. I want good cops like these cops who are trying to help the public good, you know. Um, and I want to believe that most cops are like that. Unfortunately, I don't see that. Like, I my heart wants to believe it, but I don't see that as evident all the time and all the things we always hear about, you know?
Andrea:Yeah, well, and to your point, right? It's uh it would be fantastic and amazing and and really affirming to have these good cops come out like en masse against some of the, you know, really disgusting and horrific and illegal things that uh their colleagues are doing, but they're uh either not allowed or very strongly discouraged or even threatened to not do that. And that's what perpetuates this perception.
Carmen Lezeth:And it would have been cleaned up so much quicker if the first time somebody had done something wrong on the force, that all of them were like, that was wrong, we don't believe in that, and they would have been dismissed out of the force, and there you go. We would be, you know, you would learn the lesson. But what ends up happening is you learn you can get away with whatever you want, and so people do whatever they want to do. So yeah. Well, that was an interesting conversation, my dear friend. And I you know what? I think it's okay. I sometimes I'm afraid because we get so personal, but I think it's all right.
Andrea:Uh look, I'm just a you know, white lady spouting off her shit.
Carmen Lezeth:I thought you're gonna say I'm just a girl looking for a boy. Looking for a good cop. Just looking for a good cop. Yeah, good people in government. Yeah, just a brandful. I'm just looking to, you know what I'm looking forward to someday, and I think this will happen. We will get back to a time, my prayer is that we can live our lives and not have to hear everything about what's happening in politics every single day. Yeah, that would be ideal, yes. So crossing our fingers. Anyway, everyone, thank you so much for um listening and hanging out with us. Please consider following us on YouTube and um on Substack. We really appreciate you. And remember, at the end of the day, it really is all about the joy. Thanks, everyone. Bye. Adios. Thanks for stopping by, all about the joy. Be better and stay beautiful, folks. Have a sweet day.
