Hey, everybody. We got a great one today, you know, for a change. And you know it's great

because Washington Post writer Aaron Blake is returning for his second appearance, now on the

podcast, not appearing visually, but through this audio medium,

which in many ways is more powerful than a merely visual presentation without the audio,

which would be just ridiculous for a podcast, a mime podcast, I suppose, hey, that's an idea,

you know, for YouTube.

Aaron and I discuss a number of issues that are currently before the Senate,

specifically the confirmation of President-elect Trump's nominees for his administration.

Trump has now agreed to allow the FBI to do thorough background checks on his nominees

because you never know if a nominee has

been accused of womanizing an alcohol abuse like John Tower, the late Texas senator, who was the

first cabinet nominee of a new president, in this case it was George H.W. Bush, be rejected

by the Senate. Now, I'm recording this on Thursday afternoon

to be dropped on Sunday because I'm going to Washington, D.C., to take part in the Kennedy Center honors.

My friends, the grateful dead, are among the honorees this year, and I will be speaking on their

behalf at a dinner the night before.

I'll start by quoting the late Jerry Garcia, the Dead's iconic lead guitarist, who said,

Our audience is like people who like licorice.

Not everybody likes licorice, but people who like licorice really like licorice.

And I really like licorice. Anyway I really like licorice.

Anyway, it's my honor to do that.

I don't know if you've been paying much attention to the news of late.

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