IN THE NEWS: When the Air Pollution Control Board denied a permit for a pipeline compressor station in Chatham, some criticized the ability of a citizen-led board to issue permits. One of those people is Republican Senator Richard Stuart of King George County. Now he has a bill stripping the Air Pollution Control Board of deciding who gets a permit and who doesn't. The Senate has already approved Stuart's bill, and a House committee approved it Wednesday. So it's on its way to the House floor, where it's likely to get a welcome reception.

Virginia has some of the weakest public disclosure laws in the country for police files. Documents that are widely available in other states are not available in Virginia, even for closed cases. Last year, lawmakers approved a new bill that allowed for some access in closed cases. But now Gil Harrington says that law puts family members of crime victims in the crosshairs. She's the mother of Morgan Harrington, who was murdered in 2010. She's working with Republican Delegate Rob Bell to roll back the new public documents to prevent salacious material from appearing on a made-for-TV movie. But Megan Rhyne at the Virginia Coalition for Open Government says returning to the old system would harm public access. Lawmakers are trying to work out a compromise that would block access to photos and videos for now and send the rest of the bill to the FOIA Council to study for next year.

Senator Amanda Chase’s effort to spend $70 million of taxpayer money to conduct a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 election. It was denied, but it’s worth noting senators who failed to vote against it. Four Republican senators voted for it: Amanda Chase, Jen Kiggans, Mark Peake, Bryce Reeves

GUEST INTERVIEW: (Christopher) Goad Gadsby is a Richmond Twitter legend. The guy with the disco mustache, tweeter of extreme politics, and host of the radio show, “Richmond Cryptoids.” You may recognize him from his reporting during the Black Lives Matter protests in Richmond where he had a run-in with RPD. Goad endures hours of committee hearings, detailing them on Twitter so people who aren't there know what's happening. He discusses Republicans moving the "Overton window" and political arsonists setting fires with fake issues like "Critical Race Theory."

Find out more at http://linktr.ee/JacklegMedia.

Michael Pope

I'm Michael Pope.

Thomas Bowman

I'm Thomas Bowman.

Michael Pope

And this is Pod Virginia, the podcast that takes you inside Virginia politics.

Thomas Bowman

Later in the show, we're gonna hear from local Richmond Twitter legend, Goad Gatsby. He's been live tweeting the General Assembly this year, providing a window into the wild world of committee hearings. Michael, you got to do this interview without me, for once, and tell me a little about that, and how did it go? And you know, what makes this worth sticking around for?

Michael Pope

Well, from a personal standpoint, it was really fun to do an in person podcast interview, because, you know, like since this pandemic has been going on, this has been all virtual. And this is- I got to actually sit down, in person, with Goad Gatsby, who is kind of like a Twitter legend. And he explains, sort of, his philosophy of tweeting these...so these committee meetings are, I mean, they sound really boring, and most of the time they are, but if you follow his Twitter feed, he makes them come alive, in terms of, like he tweets about everything from Amanda Chase's gun case, to political arsonists, and people setting fires, to the extent that, you know, you're so busy putting out the fire, that you're constantly sort of chasing the fire that's currently happening, while your opponents are setting new fires. You know, he, sort of, came to everybody's radar during the BLM protests, which he live tweeted from the scene. And so now he shows up at all these committee meetings, and live tweets them to his many followers on Twitter, and it's a very entertaining twitter feed, as well. So like, like I said, he takes these, kind of, snoozer committee meetings, and really makes them come alive. And so you'll get a sense of that in the interview.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah, I was first exposed to him on Twitter during those Black Lives Matter protests in Richmond. And he just had fascinating coverage. And I think he got into something with the cops? Did he talk about that at all?

Michael Pope

Why yes, he did. You'll hear all about that in the interview.

Thomas Bowman

Fascinating.

Michael Pope

All right. Well, let's get to the news. When the Air Pollution Control Board denied a permit for a pipeline compressor station in Chatham, some criticized the ability of a citizen led board to issue permits. One of those people is Republican Senator Richard Stuart of King George County. Now, he has a bill stripping the Air Pollution Control Board of deciding who gets a permit and who doesn't.

Richard Stuart

You have a board who makes a decision, not necessarily due to the science, or the facts, as we have seen in the past, and they don't have to explain themselves. So this bill actually opens up the transparency of these decisions, in my opinions.

Michael Pope

The Air Pollution Control Board meets in public, and it votes in public. Although, sometimes, its members make controversial decisions. Now, Stuart's bill strips the permitting authority from that board, as well as the Water Control Board, giving permitting authority for air pollution, and water quality, to state officials. Former Water Control Board Chairman, Shelton Miles, says that's a mistake.

Shelton Miles

The State Water Control Board makes its decisions based upon public record, after full public input, public deliberation, which has been included, but also a public vote. All of that happens in transparency, in public. That's not going to happen if this bill is passed.

Michael Pope

And this bill is probably going to pass. The Senate has already approved Senator Stuart's bill, and a House Committee approved it last week. So it's on its way to the House floor, where it seems very likely to get a welcome reception. Now, Thomas, you may remember, a couple weeks ago, we had Mike Town, from the League of Conservation Voters on the podcast, and we talked about this particular effort, here, to strip the permitting authority from the Air Pollution Control Board and the State Water Board. This is going to happen, like the Air Pollution Control Board is very likely no longer going to have the ability to approve permits or deny permits. So that thing that happened back in December, when the Air Pollution Control Board denied that compressor station permit for Chatham, well, that's probably never going to happen again. And instead, you know, state officials from DEQ or whatever, like they're gonna have the permitting authority.

Thomas Bowman

The vote surprised me. What was it again? You said...

Michael Pope

On the Senate floor, it was 32 to eight. So that's a pretty lopsided victory on the Senate floor in favor of Senator Stuart's bill.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah, and the arguments in favor of this, as a spouse, seem quite dubious. There is a lot of utility in providing citizens with an outlet for input. And without this kind of permitting authority, being in a citizen led board, it's really a move backward, I think, in Virginia's style of governance, to one that is a lot more centrally planned. And that's interesting. And so it makes me wonder, with 32 senators voting for it, so that's 12 or 13 Democrats, that makes me wonder if they see something that the rest of us don't?

Michael Pope

The argument for doing this is that citizens might not have the technical expertise. And they might not be the best people to make decisions. And the folks at DEQ are professionals, and they do this every day. And they've got the technical expertise. And maybe the folks at DEQ are the people who should be deciding who gets a permit and who doesn't get a permit. And so that's the argument in favor of getting rid of all of this. Then on the other hand, you heard Shelton Miles there, the former Chairman of the Water Control Board, say, you know, this is a public decision making process here, like these boards meet in public, they deliberate in public, they make their decisions in public, they're accountable to the public. And also, it's worth noting, all of this discussion about stripping the permitting authority, came out of this decision from December in Chatham about the Air Pollution Control Board. It's interesting to me at some point, they said, "Okay, we're going to strip the Air Pollution Control Board of permitting authority. Hey, while we're at it, let's also strip the Water Board of its power to do permitting." So clearly, there is an effort to roll back some of this permitting authority that these citizen led boards have. And, as you heard Mike Town say, on our episode a couple of weeks ago, this dates back for many decades, lots of people have been wanting to strip these citizen led boards at these permitting authority for a very long time. And it looks to me like Youngkin is about to put his signature on that.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah, this is a fascinating development. And, it seems to me, like a smarter way to go about doing it, would be to increase the requirements to be qualified to serve on the board in the first place, so that we don't have anybody serving on it who doesn't understand the permitting process, or isn't an expert. Seems like probably a better way to go about it to me.

Michael Pope

Well, in another item in the news, Virginia has some of the weakest public disclosure laws in the country for police files. Thomas, you've heard me complain about this many, many times. Documents that are widely available in other states, guess what? They're not available in Virginia. That includes closed cases, cases that have been closed for many years, those documents are not available. Now, last year, lawmakers approved a new bill that allowed for public access in some closed cases. But now Jill Harrington says that law puts family members of crime victims in the crosshairs.

Jill Harrington

I'm concerned that free access to information would energize the murder groupies, folks who are titillated by violent acts, particularly against young women.

Michael Pope

Now she's the mother of Morgan Harrington, you may remember that name, Morgan Harrington was murdered in 2010. Now, the mother of Morgan Harrington, who you just heard in that sound clip, she's working with Republican Delegate Rob Bell to roll back the new public documents, to prevent salacious material from appearing on, like, made for TV movies. But Megan Rhyne, at the Virginia Coalition for Open Government says returning to the old system would harm public access.

Megan Rhyne

Essentially, we're going back to no access again, because we learned, prior to 2021, that if given the chance to withhold their file, they're going to be withheld.

Michael Pope

Now, lawmakers are trying to work out a compromise that would block access to photos and videos, for now, and send the rest of the bill to the FOIA Council for study next year. Now, Thomas, there's a lot to unpack here. But essentially, what's going on is, there is a particular documentary maker, like a television network, that did a FOIA request for, you know, photos and videos of one of these particular cases. And the family member doesn't want that to go out, but because of this new law that passed last year, which by the way, we talked about on this podcast, when we had Delegate Chris Hurst on, and he explained this bill, because of that law, that Chris Hurst introduced, and the Governor signed, those documents have to be released. That's the new law. And so now there's this effort to block access by rolling back that new public disclosure law, and returning Virginia to the dark days of no access to anything. Now what you heard Megan Rhyne say there is true. I've personally experienced this in my time as a journalist, law enforcement agencies, in Virginia, they've got discretion to either disclose documents, or withhold documents. And what you see happen is they employ that discretion 100% of the time, to withhold documents. They will never, ever, disclose documents. And so you have to force them to disclose documents. And that's what Chris Hurst was trying to do with this bill. Just- let's at least get me closed cases, documents in closed cases. But now it looks like you know, it's possible that they're gonna roll that back. And, you know, clearly when you've got the family members, giving their stories to lawmakers, that's a compelling case. And it was actually Senator Adam Ebbin that brokered this potential compromise, that lawmakers are going to talk about this week, where, okay, so let's stop the photos and documents from going to this particular Television Network. And then while we're doing that, we'll send the rest of the things of the FOIA Council for an actual discussion. So Thomas, you probably hear the frustration in my voice, because this is a wall that I beat my head against for years, and years, and years, because I just can't get access to police documents. You know, and I come from Florida, where you can get any document, and then I moved to Virginia, and then you can't get any document. They're all like, withheld. So like it's a it's very frustrating for journalists that we do not have access to public documents that are available in most states.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah, I can only imagine from your perspective, and I'm somebody who tends to err on the side of public disclosure is better. And I can see where the patron is coming from, especially in this specific instance, where the victim's family objects. Look, I think we need to take into account what's in the public interest, and sometimes what's in the public interest, is understanding the details of a crime, how it happened, not for the purposes of being salacious and titillating, but for the purposes of educating yourself, and learning how to defend against what happened, should you ever be in a similar situation. So, look, I don't agree with this effort one bit.

Michael Pope

You know, I also questioned this logic of, okay, so just because somebody might use this information in a way that's salacious or titillating, we're going to use that as the logic to withhold the document from ever being released to the public? I mean, like, that's, like saying, "You know, what, let's not have a FOIA at all, because the New York Post exists, you know, so like, let's not ever release anything, because it might end up on Fox News," or, you know, that's bad logic, right? I mean, on the other hand, you have to feel for these families, like if I was related to one of these crime victims, I, you know, would not like those documents being released. So there is a tension here. I'm not saying there's not a tension. And it's also really important to understand where these families are coming from, and really hear them, in terms of what they want the lawmakers to do. But I just, personally, side on public disclosure, because I feel like that's very important.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah, and there sounds like there might be another middle ground that isn't being discussed, where public agencies default option is to, to provide this data in a FOIA request. However, there could be some room for compromise, where the victim's family, especially depending upon the age of the victim, had an opportunity to weigh in, and veto the disclosure. A policy like that would allow the spirit of what this victim's family wants to accomplish, and still provide for what public disclosure should be used to accomplish.

Michael Pope

Yeah, well, actually, even in the new law, there are exemptions, much like the ones you just laid out. So I think that already kind of exists in the current law. But if you wanted to do a compromise, you could strengthen those, or sort of create new guardrails around those. And I think that's kind of what Adam Ebbins is trying to get at, like, let's stop this one particular documentary maker that's causing all of this problem. Let's stop that documentary maker, for now. Then send it to the FOIA Council and cooler heads will prevail. And, you know, hopefully, they'll have a reasonable discussion about all of this.

Thomas Bowman

Could be, but Michael, what else have you got for us?

Michael Pope

One more thing before we go. The Big Lie. Senator Amanda Chase's effort to spend $70 million of your taxpayer money to conduct a, quote, "full forensic audit of the 2020 election." That was a budget amendment that was denied. But it's worth noting, it's worth noting, Thomas, the senators who voted for this $70 million full forensic audit, I'm gonna repeat that number again. $70 million.

Thomas Bowman

It's a big chunk of change.

Michael Pope

Huge chunk of change here, especially considering like how many voters are there in Virginia, like 4 million or something? I mean, like this is a crazy amount of money to spend. So this is Amanda Chase's budget amendment. She clearly voted for this. Listen to who else voted for this thing. Jen Kiggans voted for the $70 million audit, Mark Peake voted for the $70 million audit, Bryce Reeves voted for the $70 million audit. Now, here's another thing, fascinating, about this budget amendment vote on the Senate floor. So many Republicans took a walk, right? They went into the cloak room or whatever, and they just didn't hit the button, Bill DeSteph, Siobhan Dunnavant, Travis Hackworth, Steve Newman, Mark Obenshain, Todd Pillion, Bill Stanley, Richard Stuart, Jill Vogel, none of those senators pressed the red button or the green button. They just didn't press a button at all, which is fascinating. Now, as long as we're naming names, Thomas, it's probably worth pointing out the six Republican senators who were brave enough to say no to the big lie. John Cosgrove, Emmett Hanger, Ryan McDougal, Tommy Norment, Frank Ruff, and David Suetterlein. So this discussion, of course, has happened in the wake of the 2020 election, and you have all of these people who are making these allegations about election integrity. And so now this is like, come to Virginia, and you've got Amanda Chase, wanting to spend two $70 million of taxpayer money for this forensic audit. It was denied, but it really is worth noting how these Republicans voted, or failed to vote, on this issue.

Thomas Bowman

Yeah. What's interesting is the nine Republicans who took a walk, on this particular vote, all represent very deep red Trump country. However, they are Republicans who are not firebrands, right, so they've been in longer than Trump has been a thing, for the most part. And they, my guess would be, know that this is complete BS, and are also afraid of their voters.

Michael Pope

You know, for some context here, the other recent example, where you saw a large number of elected officials take a walk, instead of voting on something, was on the other side of the issue. This is when Democrats were in the crosshairs for a bill that was actually introduced by Delegate Adam Ebbins, to repeal the Right to Work law. And lots of Democrats did not want to be on the record, one way or the other. And so you saw a huge number of House Democrats take a walk, instead of voting one way, or the other, on Right to Work. So like there is precedent for this. And this is the kind of stuff that happens in Richmond when people don't want to be on the record for stuff. So I mean, I think that's what's, you know, coming back to the Big Lie, I think that's what these people these, these nine, Senate Republicans, didn't want to be on the record, one way, or the other. And you don't have to vote, of course, I mean, like, you are elected to vote?

Thomas Bowman

Actually, Michael, there is no abstention in Virginia government, so they do have to vote. What happens, though, is that it moves so quickly, that sometimes people will have a strategically timed bathroom break, so they can avoid, or coffee break, or trip to the cloakroom, so they can avoid voting on a particular bill. Sometimes, and I've seen this done, when that member returns to the chamber, they will stop everything, and revote, so that person has to vote on the bill. So the only time they're allowed to abstain, is when something is deemed to fall under Rule 69. And that's when the member voting has a direct financial stake, and an interest in the policy, one way or another, that maybe would, maybe wouldn't, potentially sway their vote. That is the only time that abstentions are allowed under the Virginia rules.

Michael Pope

Well, maybe the prospect of having Amanda Chase stand up on the Senate floor, and present a budget amendment, really makes a lot of senators have to go to the bathroom like right away.

Thomas Bowman

I can see why so many people would just need to take a break after that. And speaking of, I think we should take a break after that, because when we come back, we're gonna be joined by Twitter legend, Goad Gatsby. He'll explain why sitting through a committee hearing, is way more interesting than it sounds. We'll be right back.

Michael Pope

And we're back on Pod Virginia. We're joined by a Twitter Legend, the guy with the disco mustache, tweeter of extreme politics, host of the radio show, “Richmond Cryptoids,” Goad Gatsby, thanks for joining us.

Goad Gatsby

Thank you. This is a- what a pleasure to be here.

Michael Pope

We are actually doing this in person, in the Pocahontas Press Room, which, I have to say, I have not done an in person podcast like this, since before the pandemic. So this is a rare treat for me. Thanks for joining us, Goad Gatsby. Now, you play a rarefied role in the General Assembly press corps, live tweeting these committee hearings with, I have to say, unyielding patience. Why do you spend so much time in these committee meetings?

Goad Gatsby

Well, spending a long amount of time, is really the key in understanding how government works. A good friend of mine, socialist dog mom, Molly Congar, also real Twitter legend, she has dedicated herself going through the entirety of Charlottesville City Hall, school board, civilian review boards, real estate boards, she goes through it all. And it's boring, and it feels like a curse. But if you're able to figure out how this all works together, how it connects, you can paint this picture of how the entire government works. So having that type of patience is very important. And also, I may just have some type of disorder that lets me just sit around for a while. And I don't know what happened. But that's also why I mean, I was able to save up a bunch of money during the pandemic. A lot of people don't know this, but I had been working full time in a restaurant while also following a large amount of protests. So I'm just able to take some time off work for a few months, and follow the legislative session. And I'm just going to be very thorough in doing so.

Michael Pope

You are very thorough, anyone that has followed you on Twitter will know this, and we will get to the BLM protest later. I want to start, though, with your Twitter bio. It says you are, "A tweeter of extreme politics." What's the latest in extreme politics for 2022?

Goad Gatsby

For extreme politics, it's been usurping this idea of the trucker convoy, to try to have this big, obscene, supposedly, like larger than life protests, but in reality, it's, at least in the U.S., it's less than 100 people, but it's consuming a large amount of attention in national media, in terms of the, you know, the sort of extreme right, and there's there's no cohesive thought, like, it's not not just about like vaccine mandates. It's combined in a total cultural war, that also includes connections to Proud Boys, being opposed to trans rights, for some reason, being opposed to Critical Race Theory. Like all of these, kind of, tie in together, and makes one unified far right ideology and a movement.

Michael Pope

So this year, you have described the Republicans as, "Moving the Overton Window." What does that mean, and why do you say that?

Goad Gatsby

So the Overton Window, I don't remember who came up with that term. Maybe it was the Duke of Overton, but it's the idea that there is a window that itself can shift, it can be more wide open, it can be closed. And that's that's what can go through, in what is an acceptable thought. So two years ago, the discussion wasn't about Critical Race Theory. If you asked anybody about Critical Race Theory, if it was being taught in schools, they would say, "I don't care, but it sounds pretty good. Maybe they should teach it." But after, you know, all this long time talking about how awful Critical Race Theory is, it's now moved to, "Well we don't even teach it." Not that Critical Race Theory is good or bad. It's like you're now seeding whether or not it's it's a good thing to discuss. And so you're now saying like, "Well, I don't do it." So you've now set yourself up in a position for them to invent what Critical Race Theory is, and throw it at you, and say that you're teaching that. That's how the Overton Window has shifted.

Michael Pope

You know, on the issue of Critical Race Theory, we, on this podcast, have, repeatedly pointed out, this is not taught in Virginia schools. And we got a one star review on Apple podcast from a listener who said that our repeatedly pointing that out, means that we could not be taken seriously. Goad Gatsby, why are people so willing to believe, wanting to believe, things that are just not true?

Goad Gatsby

Have you ever heard what a political arsonist is?

Michael Pope

Uh, no, I have not.

Goad Gatsby

That is somebody who goes around and starts fires, political fires, not not real ones, metaphorical ones. And it sets you in a position where you have to keep extinguishing these fires. So they have every incentive to keep starting these fires. So, knowing what they're saying is false, they're causing you to react, and put things out, so you're spending your time putting out fires, they're spending their time setting more fires. You can't do anything, because you're because you're up to your neck in fires. Meanwhile, there's other people that like see all this, and they're just looking for something that already agrees with their worldview, that conforms to how they see the world, and they have no desire to find anything beyond that. So these people, people like James Lindsay, who have made a career for themselves, selling this anti CRT movement, are really selling a worldview for somebody that that agrees with them already, that says it's not your fault. It's somebody else's fault. And it allows people to escape the, sort of, inward perspective.

Michael Pope

So we talked about political arsonists. Let's talk about medical arsonists. This General Assembly session, we've seen lots of discussion about using Ivermectin and Hydroxy- Chloroquine, as ways to treat COVID. You have been in many of these committee hearings, what were those hearings like?

Goad Gatsby

So, I've been around a lot of people, best described as anti vaxxers. But like, there's a combination of two feelings. There's people who are very angry at the world, that things have changed, that they're actually suffering the consequences of being anti vaccine, by seeing the people around them get hurt and suffer, because they've refused to take these medical precautions. And so they're eager to blame something, because they refuse to accept that their worldview is wrong. So it must be this hospital that's not prescribing me Ivermectin. It must be these politicians who have come up with this type of system that says I can't have Ivermectin. It must be these pharmaceutical companies who want me to get this vaccine, and not Ivermectin. And, yeah, it's it's anger, but it's also sorrow. And it's, again, it's something where they're unwilling to accept how the world is not how they see it.

Michael Pope

When you're in these committee meetings, how do you come to make a decision on what you're going to tweet, and not tweet? Like I've seen you, of course, tweet votes, but then also, about Louise Lucas's purse game, for example. What strikes your attention, in terms of, putting stuff on Twitter?

Goad Gatsby

By the way purse game, the Louise Lucas, I think you're you're thinking of Amanda Chase.

Michael Pope

I'm pretty sure you tweeted about Louise Lucas's purse game?

Goad Gatsby

Oh, man, I'm gonna have to go back and research. I'll believe you at this point. But um, sometimes I don't want to infer what's- or I don't want to directly say what's going on, and I just kind of hint at it. And so, with purses, it started with Amanda Chase, because she would begin to suggest that she had a gun in her purse. And so I began talking about other people's purses. You know, and I'm not saying like, Amanda Chase is walking in with her gun, because I don't know what's in that purse. But I know that bag is a bag you can buy a green top that's designed for holding guns. And it's also a very tacky American flag style bag. So, I don't think Senator Lucas is concealed carrying in her purse, I want to make that clear, but sometimes like there is, sort of, like this visual event that a politician is having. The one thing that's been really making me scratch my head, is a freshman Delegate Marie Marsh who wears...Last week she was wearing a bedazzled cowboy hat. You know, there's there's an intentional design that people are exuding from their clothing, that I think should be noted in this, is that in the same way if like, if you're wearing a shirt that says, "I'm for trans rights," you know, you would he would bring attention to that.

Michael Pope

Said, the man who has matched his yellow shoes with his yellow shirt, and his yellow tie. And hot dog socks. Very nice. So you came to a lot of people's attention during the BLM protests, which must have been a whirlwind experience. What was all that like?

Goad Gatsby

So I had...I'm a good marcher. I like to, I like to walk around and follow protests. And this was the time where I had decided that I wasn't going to be an organizer, I wasn't going to sit around and tell people what to do. I was just going to observe and talk about what people had been doing, as it happens, and focus on police violence, because I felt like that was the key issue of why the protests started, is because there's there were there was rampant, out of control, police violence directed at communities of color, and also protesters of police violence. And as this kept going, I kept seeing more police violence directed at protesters. And I wanted to spend, I wanted to do two things. I wanted to highlight how positive those events are, all the people that come out, and the messages they like to send out to each other. But I also wanted to have a big emphasis on what the police were doing. Because a lot of local media, and you know, there's a million examples of this, are eager to carry the press release that the police put out immediately. And you know, and this is this is a thing of police put out a press release, news stories also released that. And it's, it's a matter of trying to get your story out really fast. But because I'm out on the ground, and I can see things happen before the police have their press release, I already have something that would contradict the police press release as it's being released. And so there was one day, the police declared an unlawful assembly, said that everybody left without police using force. And at that point, I had already had collected a less lethal projectile rubber round, 35 millimeter rubber round, that was fired in my direction. And the state police had already said that they hadn't use force, and I had already collected evidence of them using force, I already had seen them with their weapons out. And it is, you know, it's- there needs to be some type of level of accountability. And I wish that there were other new sources that were able to, to copy me. I find that I would find that very flattering, that someone would be able to be able to see what I'm doing and replicate that. Because I think that that is an important way to adapt to how media is working, is that there's a much more rapid way of being able to confirm things as they happen.

Michael Pope

So I have to ask you about your radio show, "Richmond Cryptoids." This is a terrestrial radio show, once a week, live on the air, from 1am to 3am. Goad Gadsby, what's up with broadcasting during the witching hour?

Goad Gatsby

Well, that is when the veil between the other side is the thinnest. So if you're, if you want to get through to the supernatural forces, that would be the ideal time. I also find a time where I'm not going to be busy doing anything else. There's not going to- there's not going to be another march going on on a Wednesday at that hour. But I stayed up until 3:30am because of my radio show last night, I had a wonderful guest, Ray Picket from from Planned Parenthood came in, but then I had to get up at 6:30, get dressed, get in the committee room for health and education. So you know I'm working off with three hours sleep today, it's no big deal. But you know, and I was rewarded, because it was a packed room. I had to get in there early. And lo and behold, Governor Youngkin walks in, out of the blue. So you just never know what's gonna go on.

Michael Pope

One last question before we let you go. Goad Gatsby, is that your real name?

Goad Gatsby

It's half my real name. And I and I'm, you know you're doing these in person things, and I can go over, and I can look at your notes here, and you misspelled my name. So, I'm calling you out.

Michael Pope

This not for public consumption.

Goad Gatsby

You've you've made a huge mistake here. Yes, my name is Goad, but my first name is something different and Gatsby is not my name. And if you if you want to follow me on Twitter @GoadGatsby, that's Gatsby, you will see that my name is Christopher Goad, and you will see that there was a federal lawsuit filed against me, where I'm described as having a disco mustache. So that's where the term disco mustache comes from. It's when I was attacked in Charlottesville by Neo Nazi, Christopher Cantwell, and after filing charges against him, from a magistrate, that he then decided to sue me for false arrest. And, you know, having to hire lawyers, and go through the civil process, is quite annoying. But I like to keep that that civil complaint, you know, right in my heart, to remind me of who's out to get me, and what they say about me, and sometimes it's funny.

Michael Pope

Alright, well, the silver lining of doing this virtually is that people can't see my screwy notes where I misspell things. So thanks for pointing that out.

Goad Gatsby

You're just rusty.

Michael Pope

We have been joined by the Twitter legend, the guy who owns the disco mustache, the tweeter of extreme politics, the host of the show, the radio show, "Richmond Cryptoids," Goad Gatsby, thanks for joining us.

Goad Gatsby

Thanks for having me. Or whatever type of phrase you say when someone thanks you.

Michael Pope

Pod Virginia is a production of Jackleg Media. Our producer is Aaryan Balu. Our transcriptions are by Emily Cottrell and our satirical spots are by Steve Artley.

Thomas Bowman

Find us on Facebook or Twitter. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and, hey, write a review on Apple podcasts. It really helps people find the show.

Michael Pope

We'll be back next week with another episode of Pod Virginia.