Transcript of OA440: Rudy’s Literal Meltdown

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         [Singing] Hello Andrewww!  It’s episode 440!  Opening Arguments, A-440!  Music joke.  How’s it going?  It’s Opening Arguments, it’s episode 440, I’m Thomas, that’s Andrew, how’re you doing?

Andrew:         Was that a 4/4-time joke?

Thomas:         No, A-440 is used for tuning, it’s a reference note for tuning, but not all music is based on 440, I guess it would be Hz?  Sometimes people tune a little differently, they’ll tune A to something a little lower, a little higher.  But A-440!  If you’re tuning your guitar while listening [Sings] Dooooooo!  It’s something like that.  Okay.  Anyway, how’re you doing, Mr. Fantastic?

Andrew:         Well, I learned something here today, Thomas. 

Thomas:         Oh, that’s what the show’s for.

Andrew:         I’m doing even better than fantastic.

Thomas:         [Laughs] I’m not sure how I’m doing until you explain what’s happening.  That’s been true many weeks, I assume Trump’s still trying to steal the election?  I think they’re like – technically they’re like 1 for 30 or something on the lawsuits.  I actually don’t remember what the one is?  I wanna know, that’s gonna be my first question.  But we got more legal shenanigans to cover. 

Andrew:         We do.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA440: Rudy’s Literal Meltdown”

Transcript of OA439: The End of the Lemon Test?

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 439.  I’m Thomas, that’s Andrew.  How’re you doing, sir?

Andrew:         I’m fantastic, Thomas, how are you?

Thomas:         Are you fantastic because this is Trump Free Tuesday?

Andrew:         [Laughs] This is almost entirely Trump Free Tuesday.

Thomas:         Almost, I love it! [Laughs]

Andrew:         [Laughs] I blame you-

Thomas:         Hey!

Andrew:         -for not letting me record for two plus hours on Thursday’s show.

Thomas:         Yeah, and I blame you for putting in something like ten bullet points in a show-

Andrew:         It’s true.

Thomas:         Which I know!  I could’ve told you this, I could’ve spared you.  You’re not gonna get to more than five bullet points in a show like ever.

Andrew:         [Laughs] Well, we have five leftovers for us to cover in the A Segment.

Thomas:         [Laughs] So this is actually gonna turn into entirely a Trump episode?

Andrew:         [Laughing] No!

Thomas:         We’ll push off the other stuff.

Andrew:         No no no.  I really do wanna cover the case because it’s in the news and I think it’s really perfect.  It’s a classic “this is why we started OA.”

Continue reading “Transcript of OA439: The End of the Lemon Test?”

Transcript of OA438: This Coup Shall Pass

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 438 and it’s named for the amount of votes that Gore lost by in Florida in –

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         No, that’s deep, weird joke.  Anyway, how’s it going, Andrew?

Andrew:         I am so much happier after your deep weird joke!  I’m fantastic Thomas, how are you?

Thomas:         [Laughs] I bailed out halfway through it, didn’t even really make sense.

Andrew:         That’s okay.

Thomas:         I’m doin’ okay.  Not in love with how things have developed.  Your North Carolina optimism was euthanized [Laughing] pretty quickly right after you said it.

Andrew:         Yeah, we’re gonna talk about that.

Thomas:         Andrew was like hey maybe a good thing?  And the world was like, nah, sorry. [Laughs]

Andrew:         Nope!  [Laughs] Look, you know, we can no longer say definitively that we are in the worst possible timeline.

Thomas:         Oh, that’s true.  Yeah, we’re not in the wor- unless there’s some – hold on!  I’ll find a way! [Laughs]

Continue reading “Transcript of OA438: This Coup Shall Pass”

Transcript of OA436: It’s a Runoff!

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello hello hello hellooooooo!  And welcome to Opening Arguments, episode 436!

Andrew:         [Laughs] Well you sounded happy there.

Thomas:         Well I went really big because we have nothing to talk about, so it’s all downhill from there.

Andrew:         Yeah.  [Laughs]

Thomas:         How’re you doing, Andrew Torrez?

Andrew:         I am doing fantastic, Thomas, [Laughing] how are you?

Thomas:         Well, funny story, that.  Here’s what I will say: I had a rough election night, as anyone who follows me on social media and watched our livestream would see.  Not very happy.  I wasn’t all doom and gloom like we were gonna lose but, you know, as I just put it on social media, yes, we can maybe barely defeat a Nazi death cult.  Barely.  Like eke out a slight victory.  That’s my mood currently.  I’m glad things are going well currently but there was a grief period for me and, don’t worry, I’m getting to a point that I’m sure for many of our listeners who are not Mr. Fantastic himself, Andrew Torrez, always positive. 

Continue reading “Transcript of OA436: It’s a Runoff!”

Transcript of OA437: How to Play Hardball if We Don’t Win the Senate

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 437.  I am Thomas, that is Andrew.  How are you doing?

Andrew:         I am fantastic, Thomas, how are you?

Thomas:         Well … I don’t know.

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         This is a weird one to record ahead of time.

Andrew:         [Laughing] That’s right.

Thomas:         Look, this is what we do.  The cat’s out of the bag, you all know the magic behind the show, we record on Thursdays, we record the rapid response and then we record the Tuesday episode.  This one is a weird one to record early because we don’t know what’s gonna happen between Thursday and when you’re hearing this but this stuff, the stuff we’re talking about, still needs to be covered and I assume if anything absolutely crazy has happened we’ll do an emergency episode.  There you go, we’ve got a lot to talk about still and it’s time to play some hardball with … not Chris Matthews.

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         Hardball with Joe Biden, or us.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA437: How to Play Hardball if We Don’t Win the Senate”

Transcript of Bonus: Harris County Update, Good News!

Listen to the Episode and Read the Show Notes

Hotz v. Hollins Order

Andrew:         Hey everybody, this is Andrew.  We are not gonna have the opportunity to cover [Laughing] all of the late breaking cases as I record this at about 1 am on Tuesday, election day, November the 3rd.  This is also going to be completely unedited for the same reasons.  But I really really wanted to get a quick breakdown out for you guys in Hotze v. Hollins, which is the Harris County, Texas case that you might have seen in the news.  I’m gonna give you a quick recap on what’s happened because a lot of things broke over the weekend and very, very late Monday night.  I think this is highly illustrative of the kinds of tactics that we are seeing the Republican party in desperation trying to put into practice.

Continue reading “Transcript of Bonus: Harris County Update, Good News!”

Transcript of OA434: Kavanaugh’s Crooked Concurrence

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments this is episode 434, our last recording session before the election.

Andrew:         Yeah!

Thomas:         How’s it going, Andrew?

Andrew:         I’m nervous and anxious.  How are you, Thomas?

Thomas:         I am good.  Let’s talk about our democracy ending unless we save it! [Laughs]

Andrew:         Yeah, let’s talk – this episode is going to be about saving our democracy and I kinda want to reveal the overarching thesis here because we’re gonna get to the legal breakdown in the main segment.  Before I do that I wanna remind everybody we’re doing an election night livestream.

Thomas:         Oh yes, we are.  Cannot wait, it’s gonna be election night!  Whenever that is. [Laughs] Consult your local library to find out when that is.

Andrew:         Tuesday, November 3rd.

Thomas:         It’s gonna be from 5 Pacific Time to 7 Pacific Time, so that’s 8-10 important people time.  That’s gonna be the way we’re all coping.  My question, Listener Thomas S. wants to ask Andrew, is my diet going to survive this election night?  I don’t know if this is a legal question.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA434: Kavanaugh’s Crooked Concurrence”

Transcript of OA428: Govt. Caught Lying for Flynn

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 428.  I’m Thomas, and that over there is the birthday boy! 

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         Mr. Torrez, how’re you doing, sir?

Andrew:         I am doing fantastic!  Well, you know, a fly has settled in on me and is gonna live on my head for the balance of our recording, but other than that I’m doing great.

Thomas:         You’re the picture of vitality.

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         You’re not a rotting corpse like some people I could name.

Andrew:         Oh, yeah.

Thomas:         It’s already played out.

Andrew:         I know.

Thomas:         It’s been 12 hours, every fly joke and meme and Twitter account has been made, but still it’s funny.  I’m with you, it’s still funny.

Andrew:         Yeah.

Thomas:         But happy birthday!

Andrew:         Well thank you!

Continue reading “Transcript of OA428: Govt. Caught Lying for Flynn”

Transcript of OA427: Roe is Doomed, Contraceptives Next? Your Guide to Amy Coney Barrett

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 427.  I am Thomas, that is Andrew.  How’re you doing, Andrew?

Andrew:         I am fantastic, Thomas, how are you?

Thomas:         [Sighs] Just, I mean so – I’m … what timeline are we in?  I’m really happy about the Q&A we did right now, essentially.  [Laughs]

Andrew:         Indeed, yeah! 

Thomas:         I hope you enjoy-

Andrew:         There’s no better time than simultaneously.

Thomas:         Yeah, the live Q&A for patrons, it’s coming up on Monday, 4:30 Pacific/ 7:30 Eastern.  For normies it just happened, I hope you all came.  I bet it was great.  Other than that, I’m great.  How’re you doing?  Fantastic, as usual?

Andrew:         Yeah, as always!

Thomas:         Awesome.  We have so much more that we didn’t even get to last episode.  It’s just there’s too much, Andrew.  There’s too much news at all times.  Let’s see what we can do today!

Andrew:         Yeah!  [Laughs]

Thomas:         [Laughs]

Andrew:         I need an army of assistants, I’m telling you.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA427: Roe is Doomed, Contraceptives Next? Your Guide to Amy Coney Barrett”

Transcript of OA420: DoJ Defending Trump in Carroll Case?

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 420.  [Laughs] Nice.

Andrew:         Is that supposed to be a funny thing?  I’m a precious little cinnamon bun so I wouldn’t-

Thomas:         Oh sure! 

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         Last episode I seem to recall a certain cinnamon making plenty of jokes.

Andrew:         That’s true, that is true.

Thomas:         No, how’s it going, Andrew?

Andrew:         I’m doing fantastic, Thomas, how are you?

Thomas:         Oh, you know, just went back on fire again.  I felt like we had a day where the air was better and I assumed that meant that fires were better.  It’s just fires all the way down.

Andrew:         My sister in law sent me a picture of the Giants game, the San Francisco Giants game and it looks like it’s being played on the surface of Mars. 

Continue reading “Transcript of OA420: DoJ Defending Trump in Carroll Case?”