TGIF Blogcast: Tom Martino beat cancer; Trump-Putin meeting; Expensive beef

Trump meets Putin in Alaska

President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska starting at about 1:30 PM MT today. We'll have a guest on the topic (more on that below) but for now I'm going to repeat what I put in the blog note yesterday because I think it was quite good...

It's truly impossible to predict with any confidence what will happen in the near-term as far as Trump trying to get Putin to agree to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Trump threatens 'severe consequences' if Putin blocks Ukraine peace | Reuters

Russia says its demands are unchanged: full Ukrainian withdrawal from regions that Moscow claims | Reuters

• Trump wants, and arguably deserves, a Nobel Peace Prize. Finding a way to end this war should (but given how so many in the world hate Trump, might not) ensure he gets the prize. I think that's his primary motivation but I also don't particularly care what his motivation is; I care what his goal is.
• Again, Putin doesn’t believe Ukraine should exist. Much as Trump wants his legacy to be a Nobel Peace Prize, Putin wants his own legacy to be the guy who reassembled Greater Russia by destroying Ukraine as an independent nation.
• It's unclear that Putin is afraid of any threat made by Trump and this is, by far, the most important question
• Russia has made gains in eastern Ukraine in recent days and Putin probably feels like he's well positioned right now
• It's unclear that Putin cares what weapons Europe might give Ukraine
• Still, Putin would like to avoid any more American action against him so he will likely offer something that he thinks Trump will think sounds reasonable, even though it won't be reasonable. Then the question will be: Will it fool Trump into backing off of pressure on Russia or will Trump continue to feel, as he's rightly felt for some months now, that Putin is stringing him along?
• It's unclear that Putin can be moved by anything that any country will threaten him with as long as China is willing to keep buying Russian oil and/or gas.
• The chances of China being "convinced" not to buy Russian energy is not more than 1%.
• War and international relations are chaotic and exceptionally difficult to predict. Just because it's extremely difficult to think of any reason that Putin would agree to stop the war doesn't mean it can't happen. But I'd be shocked if it happened anytime soon, at least as long as the US makes clear that we will not engage militarily -- and it seems unlikely that we would, other than just selling weapons to Europe and/or Ukraine. That said, the WSJ reports that in a video conference with European leaders and Ukrainian president Zelenskyy yesterday, "Trump signaled that the U.S. would be willing to play a role in future security guarantees with Europe." That, as they say, is "big, if true." We’ll see if Trump says it out loud.
• Trump is doing fine keeping expectations low for the meeting. He should. But the "severe consequences" thing mentioned above does, as this article notes, raise the stakes: Trump's ceasefire goal raises stakes of Putin summit

This is worth your time: Putin Wants to Destroy Ukraine. Can Trump Stop Him?

To have in mind going into the meeting...from the WSJ article above:

European leaders and Zelensky presented Trump with five succinct red lines to carry into the Alaska summit: a cease-fire as a prerequisite for further talks; any territorial discussions to start from the current front lines; binding Western security guarantees that Russia must accept; Ukraine’s participation in the talks; and support from both the U.S. and Europe, including Ukraine, for any deal..

Just One (Music) Thing: Remarkable interview of a young Ozzy Osbourne

Michael Harrison, proprietor of radio industry publication Talkers, interviewed Ozzy Osbourne back in 1983. Michael recently found the video and posted it on YouTube, probably the first time this interview has been seen for 40 years. It's quite remarkable. Enjoy and share!

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Today's Guests

Tom Martino hosts The Troubleshooter Show on our sister station KHOW (where I was the morning host for six years). He is currently the longest-running host of a radio talk show in the United States. And, he just beat cancer. We'll talk with Tom about his very difficult journey that appears to have reached a very happy conclusion.

Here's Tom's recent note on LinkedIn about getting back to living his life: Post | Feed | LinkedIn

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Kevin Cirilli is founder of mtf.tv’s meet the future, former Chief Washington Correspondent for Bloomberg TV & Bloomberg Radio, and one of the first journalists assigned to cover then-candidate Donald Trump in 2015. Cirilli was on the ground at the Trump–Putin Helsinki Summit in 2018, giving him a rare lens on how these encounters shape geopolitics.

We'll discuss today's Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska.

mtf.tv | meet the future | Kevin Cirilli | Substack

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Jordan Levi is CEO of Arcadia Asset Management which owns the largest cattle feeding operation in the world. We'll discuss why beef prices remain stubbornly high and whether and why we should expect prices go lower, higher, or stay around these levels.

Jordan Levi - College of Agricultural Sciences

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Romi Bean is CBS Colorado's lead sports anchor, the first woman ever to be a lead sports anchor in Denver. I got to know Romi a bit when she was doing radio on KOA while also a Denver Broncos cheerleader.

Tomorrow (Saturday) she's hosting the 2nd Annual "Girls in the Game" event, aiming to get girls more involved in any and every aspect of sports, in careers on and off the field. It's at DU and it's free, but you need to sign up.

Info and registration link here: Girls In The Game - CBS Colorado

Or here: Second Annual Girls in the Game Set for Saturday - University of Denver Athletics

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Other Stuff

Following up on the conversation yesterday about the national plunge in alcohol consumption. (The lowest rate since Gallup started asking the question in 1949 of people who say they ever drink alcohol.)

Denver embraces "soft clubbing" - Axios.com

New Gallup poll shows what Americans are thinking about alcohol

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We believe in honoring the voice of the people except when it doesn't suit our needs: California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces redistricting effort to counter Texas GOP - CBS News

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Kinda fun: 25 Real Colorado Locations Seen in South Park | Westword

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Love this (crazy) line about RTD: "Ridership is "just one metric used to assess the agency's performance,"

.RTD's ridership decline deepens - Axios Denver

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So....the guy who flung the sub sandwich at an ICE agent works (or worked) at the Dept of Justice. Justice Department fires employee accused of throwing sandwich at federal agent - syracuse.com

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WOW: Trump wants to use traffic stops to target undocumented immigrants

This order from the DC police chief is remarkable. Basically it says that the DC cops can't/won't share any immigration status information with the federal government about anyone in their custody but CAN share immigration information they might acquire during traffic stops. Holy cow. That's one way to scare all the illegal aliens out of DC. I bet the population of DC will not like this at all. It is, after all, perhaps the single most left-wing place in America, at least in voting patterns. But DC is basically under the control of the federal gov't and they may be trying to placate Trump.

MPD immigration ExecOrder Aug2025 | DocumentCloud

Again, wow...traffic stops to look for illegal aliens? DC police can now alert ICE during traffic stops under new order - Axios Washington D.C.

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I bet Zohran Mamdani would like this: Swiss Driver Draws Breathtaking $110K Fine

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I know it's not very romantic to say, but this isn't entirely crazy as long as you don't take it too far: Nearly half of Gen Z would pick money over love, survey finds

This gal wants love and a free but valuable engagement ring, and she'll have them both: New Yorker Unearths Diamond at State Park

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What the heck is that???

Watch: Mystery light over U.S. East Coast sparks UFO speculation online - UPI.com

Actually we know what it is.

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Seems like a good business idea. Just need to make darn sure the guests don't hurt the pups: Hotel in China lets guests rent out dogs to sleep with them - Dexerto

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Today's Video

Tech support hell