Season 5, Episode Thirteen July 16, 2023

Hello! Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube! I’m your host, Bob Woodley. I recently read a plastic bag that said, “To avoid danger of suffocation, keep away from babies and children. So that’s my plan! On this episode, we’ll hear about 18th century rock stardom, infallibility, a perfect 10, and cocaine in the White House….but first, (Not the Headlines)!

The lack of living spaces in America’s cities and the rising cost of rents and mortgages has created a homeless epidemic in many of them, including cities like Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Atlanta. So what’s driving up the cost? Well, if you’re a buyer, the higher interest rates right now are certainly a deterrent. The same thing effects a property manager who wants to invest in existing buildings or create new ones. Landlords have to raise rents to keep up with inflation. But is that all? Could there be some other reason there aren’t enough living spaces to go around? Maybe there is. A story in the Hill describes how more Americans are living alone than ever before. There are certainly many people on the street today who could live with a roof over their heads if they just has somebody with which to share the expenses of shelter. Personally, I’ve only had brief periods of living alone. I’ve either had family, other people in the dorm or barracks, roommates, or wives as the people in my immediate circle for most of my life, and sometimes I was lucky enough to also have a dog. So while many young Americans complain that they can’t earn enough money to move our of their parent’s house, they also seem unwilling to live in any condition other than alone. Maybe that’s why you can’t afford to move out. It seems not just Americans, but many humans around the world are opting to live alone in record numbers. Nearly thirty percent of American Households have just one person in them. That’s the highest percentage ever. We’re isolating ourselves. It’s not all young people’s fault, though. The lifestyles of older folks have also shifted. But this isn’t just an American trend. A sociologist quoted in the story wrote a book about it called Going Solo. He says this shift is the biggest demographic change in the last century. He also said we failed to recognize it (except for him, I guess) or take it seriously. Census data shows the decline of multiple-person households. The story says that in 1940, only eight percent of places were what was referred to as “solitaries.” By 1970, it was 18 percent, and last year, it was estimated to be 29 percent.

Humans have always found safety in numbers, so why are we becoming more solitary? Is it a matter of trust? Are the “haves” leaving the “have-not’s” behind to live in the streets while they dance around naked in their own apartments? Yes, it is fun to imagine! How is it that record numbers of us are living alone while so many have no place to live? Is it the cost of housing or our desire to isolate ourselves? Let’s face it, a lot of use are just tired of all the noise in the world today and retreat for purposes of retaining their sanity. They needed a safe space, and found one, and don’t want to let anybody else in. Their social life may be only the people they see at work. On the other hand, someone who lives alone could also have a rich social life and eat when they want whatever they want and go to bed when they want and burp out loud without have to excuse themselves. People who live alone can spend their money the way they want and take on debts without permission. Hell, I ask my wife for permission to buy a candy bar. But that’s the price I pay for not having to keep track of our finances. She could be plunging us into unfathomable debt, or we might be millionaires. It feels like we’re somewhere in between, and I’m okay with that. The point is, I trust her. If you’re going to live with somebody, even if they’re just a roommate, you have to be able to trust them. I’ve had a lot of roommates, and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to trust them all. Many of them became lifelong friends. Maybe trust is a significant factor in the rise of single-person households. We’ve become less trusting of each other. More suspicious of each other; of our motives. The media has found more and more ways to divide us, as has our government. Maybe we need to find ways to trust each other again. But young people choosing to live alone is just one facet of the phenomenon.

Older folks are the ones who are living alone more than any other age group. More than a quarter of Americans over the age of 65 live alone. Certainly, a contributing factor to that is having spouses that have passed away. The older you get, the more likely it is that you’re living alone. It’s hard to replace somebody with which you spent a large part of your life. The older you are, the more difficult it becomes. For example, both my wife and I are widowed, but our spouses passed away at relatively young ages. In their 40’s. That gave both my wife and I more time to find someone new. The older you get, the more difficult that becomes. But it’s not impossible. My 82-year-old mom just told me she has a boyfriend. But they’re not living together, and that’s what this is about! 

Research shows it’s easier to live alone in an urban area, because you’re still surrounded by people. Living alone in a rural community can feel like you’re the only person left on the face of the Earth.

So, if some of the reasons for living alone haven’t changed for generations, why are more of us living alone?

In urban areas, many of the living spaces are designed for one occupant. As our cities gain population by the influx of people who don’t know anybody else in town, more of us will be inclined to live alone at the start. Men tend to live alone more often at younger ages, while women tend to live alone at older ages. That’s partly because women often outlive their husbands. So, why do men often die before their wives? Because they want to! But even for the men who continue to live face another possibility that was unlikely in the past: divorce. It used to be that if you hung in there long enough, say 50, 60 years, you could go to bed at night confident that you’d still be married the next day. You got past the “point of no return” so to speak. That’s not true anymore. Thanks to excellent health care advances, we may not be living longer, but we’re experiencing a better quality of life than we once did. Sometimes I look at the calendar and can’t believe I still feel as good as I do, considering how my grandparents felt at my age, if they lived as long. There was a time when menopause was a sign that you’re usefulness was waning, and and old man’s ability to make love to a woman was intermittent. Today, menopause may mean a new lease on life, one less thing to worry about, and a man can buy a pill to continue to have an active life after she’s left him for some 50-year-old with a boat. Meanwhile, the old man is in demand, because old women outnumber old men, and they have to compete for what’s available, while the man has much of the leverage.

At any age, men are more obligated to build a nest, as a bird might do to attract a mate. It doesn’t always have to be a nice nest, it just can’t be the same nest as mom’s. Women have been living on their own more often since 1980, but they tend to stay at home longer than young men. Men and women are also marrying each other later in life than before, resulting in more single person living spaces. And as we’ve already discussed, people divorcing after the age of 50 has doubled since 1990.

There’s one thing the story didn’t take in to account: Politics. 

A Newsweek story from March of this year has some examples of how people from different political spectrums feel about each other. Although politics seems to be playing a larger role in people’s personal lives, the trend seems more pronounced in the United States and Brazil. In the U.S., the poll Newsweek cited showed more than 21 percent of us would not even date someone from the other side of the aisle, while in other countries, the average is less than 15 percent. In America, a similar survey from 1994 showed that 21 percent of Republicans had a very unfavorable view of Democrats, while 17 percent of Democrats had a very unfavorable view of Republicans. Today, those numbers have risen to 62 percent of Republicans not liking Democrats and 54 percent of Democrats not liking Republicans. 

The story was written in a slanted way, other than the statistics. The author took the time to list all the reasons why Democrats should hate Republicans, but didn’t mention any of the ways that Democrats don’t make Republicans happy. While the story said a relationship with a Republican would be “non-stop torture” for her, and listed a variety of reasons why, they only told us why a Republican would want to date another Republican, without listing any of the grievances they may have about a Democrat. In other words, the story listed a variety of reasons you should hate Republicans, and then listed more reasons, but in a way that made them look like reasons Republicans like other Republicans. I was another example of how the media tries to influence us. Instead of being nondescript about it, let me just tell you what it says. The reasons it gives for the Democrat to not want a relationship with a Republican uses words like, “hatred, bigotry, racism, extreme disinformation and dangerous.” When it came to why a Republican wouldn’t want to date a Democrat, it listed traditional family values and Christian beliefs, as if they’re the opposite of hatred and bigotry and racism. So, if politics are an ever-increasing reason for homosapians becoming less social, what’s the driving force behind it? Feel free to come to your own conclusion, but all the evidence I see points in one direction: The Media. The media will continue to drive wedges between us anywhere they can, and if it results in more of us living alone, even better. That way, there won’t be anybody else around to offer an alternative opinion. That way, there’ll be more people living on the streets because more of us are taking up available space for ourselves. The media doesn’t care about all the homeless people. They’re just people they don’t have to influence anymore. If they can divide the rest of us into smaller and smaller groups and convince each group that the opposition is out to get them, that keeps people watching and arguing and debating and spreading lies that the media may check or may not, depending upon their goals. 

More of us may be living alone because of the policies put in place by those who wish to divide and conquer us. The media is the tool to make us feel like it’s the right thing to do. When more of us live alone, more of us are alone in the echo chamber. Be careful to not stay in the same echo chamber for too long. Otherwise, you may end up being more lonely than you would by just living alone. That loneliness may end up causing heart disease and obesity, as well as depression and anxiety.

So, do yourself a favor! Welcome people into your life! Make an educated decision to move in with a roommate and cut your living expenses in half! Make room for another pair of roommates to find a place of their own! Become social again! The pandemic’s over! Start acting like it! And certainly, don’t shut somebody out of your life because they have different political beliefs than you. Instead of defending yourself from being poisoned by an opposing ideology, just let it go in one ear and out the other! While firmly grasping their buttocks…

Let’s go back liner

This week in 1717, rock stars were born when King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel’s Water Music is premiered. It’s not the last time British royalty recognized musical talent. The late Queen Elizabeth honored the Beatles as Members of the British Order, prompting many war veterans to return theirs.

It might be hard to imagine a King treating his subjects to a floating concert on the river through the city of London, but back then, the well-known composers were just as much rock star as they are today. Londoners gathered to hear the first-ever performance of the music, along the shore between Whitehall and Chelsea, according to widipedia. Other boats and barges covered the river, as was reported in the Daily Courant, the first British daily newspaper. Water Music wasn’t just played once, but several times while on the way up the river, and more times on the way back down the river. That’s how a king puts on a show! Let’s see if Great Britain’s new king, King Charles, can top that! 

1870

The First Vatican Council decrees the dogma of papal infallibility. I was raised Roman Catholic, but I’m not familiar with the dogma. By the way, don’t let your dogma get run over by a karma. I don’t know why papal infallibility wasn’t a focus of my Sunday School classes, but I feel kinda foolish just finding out about it now. If I knew the pope was infallible, I might be a priest by now. Don’t get me wrong, Papal Infallibilty doesn’t have any conditions. The Pope can’t just declare there’s only one Spiderman and ruin the whole franchise for everybody. First of all, you have to be the Pope. That’s a pretty select job description. When a puff of smoke signals to the world that you passed the audition, it’s a very important position. But in order to overcome the requirement to be infallible, what the Pope says also has to define a truth of faith or morals, and must bind all faithful to this truth, according to the Catholic Corner dot org. The article goes on to admit the third condition is subject to interpretation, and claim it’s misunderstood. Yes, it has to bind all faithful, but that doesn’t mean we all have to agree in order for it to be considered infallible. It only means that if the Pope says it, a baptised Christian is bound to believe it in order to attain salvation, But, you know, still optional. 

1929

The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words. Aye carumba! Fugicopesta! Eina Kleina what the hell? If you think Russians and Americans are nationalists, just imagine getting arrested for saying God Bless You, or calling somebody a sheiscoff. Sounds crazy, right? Imagine being in Italy and not being able to use the word “Appeteaser.” 

As I recall, there was a time back in the 1980’s when France decided to create french words to replace words of other languages that had seeped into the french language. English seemed to have had the most impact, because of American innovation. There weren’t really words for things like satellite dish in other languages yet. I once had a German woman tell me as much at the Burger King in Frankfurt by the former AFN Europe Headquarters. 

To try to prevent people from saying words of any kind is futile. Sure, there are certain words we shouldn’t say, and I’m against any law that prohibits free speech, but decorum also has a place in what we say. It might be harder to make a point without offending someone with your words, but the effort is worth it. At the same time, be happy to tell me how you really feel. If necessary, in a language that I don’t understand.

1944

World War II: Battle of Guam – American troops land on Guam starting the battle. It would end on August 10. My first duty station in the United States Air Force was on Guam. My job as a broadcaster was to provide information and entertainment to American troops overseas. We had an AM and an FM radio station called FEN Guam. FEN stood for Far East Network, which meant we were considered part of the group of radio and television stations in the region, including Japan and the Philippenes, but we didn’t get any support. We were as isolated as Guam looks on a map. Just a tiny dot in a vast ocean. But it was worth fighting for. It’s a strategic air command base, as far as I know, the only one outside of the continental United States. I’m proud to have served there, and getting to know the people of Guam, and having the pleasure of working with great people who got the mission done every day. Brady, Curt, Dave, Lisa, Steve, Mel, Charlie, our engineer Don Rouser. Rouser to the rescue! Just because I don’t remember your names right now, doesn’t mean I don’t remember you!

This week in history saw a number of achievements when it came to man’s quest to fly faster and farther. A twelve-year span of noteworthy flights began this week in...

1957, when United States Marine major John Glenn flies a F8U Crusader supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record. John Glenn would later become the first American to orbit the Earth, and the seventh man in space.

1963

Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres (347,800 feet). Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualified as a human spaceflight. In fact, any flight over 80 kilometers is considered space flight by the Federation aeronautique internationale. One-hundred kilometers straight up is considered outer space.

1969

Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. A few days later, Apollo 11 successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. About seven hours later, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on another world.

Sound bite

1976

Nadia Comăneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics. There was some confusion when the scoreboard lit up with Nadia’s final tally. It seems the scoreboard wasn’t designed to accommodate a perfect score, as it had never been done. Having the capacity of only three digits, the highest score it could display was a 9.99. Since all seven judges gave Nadia a perfect 10, the scoreboard showed it as 1.00. Even a novice could tell her performance was worthy of more than a score of 1, it soon sunk in among those in attendance had just witnessed the first perfect score in Olympic gymnastics history. 

1983

The world’s lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at -89.2 °C. Climate change! Said nobody. But with record high temperatures in the United States this week, you’ll be sure to hear it now. Is it climate change? Sure is. The climate’s been changing since the Earth was formed.

1990

The Parliament of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic declares state sovereignty over the territory of present day Ukraine, including the Crimea. The tyrant Putin took back the Crimea in 2014 without any resistance. For more than a year now, Putin has been trying to get the rest of Ukraine back. With the help of Western nations and others, the Ukrainian military has been able to deter the takeover, exposing weaknesses in the Russian military and equipment. The tyrant thought this would be an easy war to win, even expecting his soldiers to be greeted as heroes. There are very few options remaining for Putin. Part of the problem is, his people have been kept from the truth. Otherwise, we may have seen his countrymen demanding he retreat from a lost cause. 

Phone and email liner

Last week, I ended the program by saying that if the Biden Administration wants to be the most transparent administration ever, then they would have to tell us who brought cocaine into the White House. The Secret Service took eleven days to conclude that there wasn’t enough evidence for them to pinpoint a suspect. In testimony in front of a committee of the House of Representatives this week, the director of the FBI said the FBI offered its assistance to the Secret Service to help solve the mystery. So, you mean to tell me that the Secret Service, with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, can’t figure out who brought cocaine into the White House and let it there? Now, you might be thinking, “But Bob, it’s only cocaine. It’s not going to hurt anyone.” While that’s true, that’s really not the most important revelation exposed by the incident. That bag of white powder could have been something that could hurt you. It might have been anthrax or fentanyl. Even though it was cocaine, it’s alarming that somebody could smuggle it in to the White House.

A lot of the news reports about where the cocaine was found seem to narrow it down to the West Wing, near the Situation Room, but early reports were that it was found in the Library. Some say the Library wasn’t actually the White House Library, but that the word library was used as another term by the Secret Service. In any case, the cocaine was found on a Sunday night, and by Wednesday, news reports had the discovery in the West Wing. So, who goes in and out of that door? Well, a Reuters report from the that same Wednesday says Administration officials are able to offer tours of the West Wing to friends and family members. All of those people are required to put personal electronics into so-called coobie holes, where they are kept until the owner leaves. 

Here’s what probably happened: Over the weekend in question, somebody brought a group of buddies into the White House for a tour. By somebody, I mean somebody who had the authority to do so. I’m sure that’s an easily identifiable list of people. One of the friends had cocaine in his pocket, probably in a little plastic baggie with a zip-loc top about the size of a nickel, and when he or she pulled their cell phone out of their pocket, the coke stuck to it as the phone went into the coobie hole. When the party retrieved their electronics prior to leaving, the baggie was either left behind by accident, or perhaps on purpose. Not in a nefarious way, but in a panic, suddenly realizing they accidentally put their cocaine in there! Afraid to reclaim it fearing the Secret Service already knew it was in there, it was abandoned. But the Secret Service didn’t know it was there until Sunday night, when it was discovered in a routine sweep. My question would be, “How often do you do routine sweeps?” To which the reply would be, “We don’t discuss national security measures.” Touche. But just because I’m not allowed to know, doesn’t mean they don’t know. After all, it’s their routine. So, who came through between the routine sweep that discovered the cocaine and the routine sweep before it? That might narrow it down. Knowing who was there during that period would give investigators an opportunity to ask if any witnesses saw somebody with a white powder residue around their nostrils. If you ask the right questions, you might come across somebody who says, “Oh, yea. That guy. He once talked to me for 40 minutes straight even though I didn’t ask him anything…” And no, it wasn’t me! Maybe the Secret Service did all that, and just don’t have enough to pin it on one individual. Forensics came up empty as far as fingerprints or DNA. 

Some are calling for drug testing of all personnel who have access to that entrance. The government can’t force visitors to take a drug test in this situation. But, according to a story on fox news, a House of Representative member was quoted as saying the Secret Service conducted background checks for past drug use or convictions on over five-hundred people who came through that weekend. Those background checks produced no one of suspicion. I’m not surprised. In today’s America, it’s rather easy to use illegal drugs without having an arrest or even been suspected of being a drug user. It’s not foolish to consider that the person in the next cubicle may be a drug user. Maybe even cocaine. As long as they keep their cool, you might never find out. Some drug use is harder to hide than others. Some drug users are obvious. There’s that guy who’s like, “Hey, man...check out my new knife.” while they’re waving it in your face, and you’re like, “Oh, yea. That’s a nice one. You can...you can go ahead and put it away now.” 

I once met a woman in a bar who told me, very early in the conversation, that she did a lot of acid in college. Although I was surprised by her candor, she reassured me by following up with the fact that she doesn’t do acid anymore. Impressed by the way she seemed to reclaim her life, I asked her what she does now. “I’m a teacher.” she said.

“What do you teach?” I asked.

“Chemistry.” was her reply.

There’s no sense testing every employee, but you could test any who were there that weekend. Although the FBI assisted in the investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency hasn’t been asked to help. Nobody’s been asked to take a drug test, and nobody’s exhibited signs of drug use, so whomever did it is probably wiping the sweat from their brow right now. Whew! That was a close one! Remind me to never take cocaine with me if I ever go to the White House again. 

But I think we can all agree this is a bad look for the Secret Service. Unless the Secret Service is taking a bullet for someone other than the President. If they’re not, then it’s inexcusable that somebody could smuggle a package of white powder into the White House! Sure, there are other stories about drugs and the White House. Willie Nelson is said to have smoked a joint on the roof of the White House. Presumably because the snipers were facing the other way. But a story in grunge dot com claims the Secret Service was in on it because it was President Carter’s son who was up on the roof of the White House smoking a joint, and offered some to Willie, who was invited to spend the night. So Willie didn’t bring his own. But Willie’s was probably better than Chip Carter’s. So, while Willie Nelson is famous for smoking a joint on the roof of the White House, it was actually the President’s son who brought the weed into the building. I guess being able to bring illegal drugs into the White House is one of the privileges of being the President’s son. Plus, as far as the federal government is concerned, marijuana is just as bad as cocaine. If nothing happened then, why should anything happen now? Why is this such a big deal? It’s just cocaine. Probably not even enough to last the rest of the night. Honestly, I don’t even know why people do cocaine anymore. It’s not even cool to wear a coke spoon on a gold chain around your neck these days. But that’s not what’s important. Here’s what bother’s me: If a packet of white powder was smuggled into the White House, that’s a problem. If it was a lapse by the Secret Service, that’s a huge problem. In order for it to be a huge problem for the Secret Service, the person who brought the packet of white powder into the White House would have had to go through Secret Service scrutiny. For the Secret Service to say they don’t know who did it means they had a lapse in security at the White House. Not for something obvious, like a Samurai sword or a tank or a gun, but a small packet of white powder that, if it were something other than cocaine, could have changed the course of history. If it was anthrax or fentanyl or jen e se qua, our entire country, and the consequential effect on the rest of the world, could have erupted into chaos. 

On the other hand, if it was brought in by somebody who isn’t subjected to Secret Service scrutiny every time they come on to the property, then the Secret Service can wash their hands of responsibility for a lapse in security. If it was somebody, by virtue of their position, who is not given the once-over every time they enter, then the Secret Service really can’t be held accountable. The Secret Service can argue that if Joe says they can just walk right through, then they can just walk right through. It doesn’t matter if they’re bring in cocaine or a goat.

But this cocaine was found in a cubby that’s intended for electronic devices. Odds are, if you can bring in a goat, you don’t have to put your cell phone in a cubby. So the math is getting simpler. It was somebody who can get pretty far onto the grounds, but still can’t take their phone everywhere. If I can narrow it down to that, then I think the government can, too. So, either the administration gave clearance to somebody who would bring cocaine to work, or the Secret Service is taking a bullet. But it’s okay. Their job is to protect the President.

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly. Copyright 2023. Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube. Subscribe today. This is Episode Thirteen of Season 5, so I’ll be taking a little break before I begin Season 6! I’ll look forward to speaking with you again soon. I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.