Show Rewind 11-17-2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Jesus hell Yeah, America and Jery Hollin for one nation.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
And this is wrong.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher
Thompson on one O three point five FM and five
sixty AM w VOC.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
It's sixteen minutes after six o'clock in the morning. It's Monday,
November the seventeenth. Happy to have you with us. Weekend
done the week before Thanksgiving, coming in hot and heavy.
Morning to you. Appreciate you being along. I am Gary David.
Christopher Thompson is here. Good morning to you, sir, Good morning.
I was just checking my what do you call the device,

(00:51):
the active watch, like a smart watch. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
I didn't want to say the oh god, well the
actual name, but it talks. Okay, They're not pang you
to say it's true, You're fine, true.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
All right?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Checking my fit bid to see how yep last night? Yeah,
I feel like I slept like a rock and at
the same time I feel like I got no sleep
at all.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
So I just try to ignore what mine tells me.
I do like bother I already know not good. And
where do you get to be my age man? You know,
just could get a load of that well, regardless whether
you're you got all the sleep you need it or
you're sleep deprived.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Here we go, let's roll anyway, let's do it.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
And again it is the week before Thanksgiving week, how
about that? And it looks like it's going to be
a busy one on the news front and a lot
of other fronts too for that matter. So let's get
right right into it. The rundown Big Stories, hot topics
from Monday, November seventeen. Now Here at home. Got a
few things to get into this morning, at least the
headlines now, and some of these will will delve into

(01:50):
a little bit deeper later on. By all accounts, it
went as planned the execution of Stephen Bryant on Friday afternoon, well,
Friday evening, six o'clock.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
So he died. Yeah, he's dead, Okay, Ye, that that's
his plan.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
That that was his plan, right, And there seems to
be no no, no news that something didn't go right.
Remember the last execution by firing squad that we had.
They're still talking about that one. What happened to the
third bullet? Was there? Did all three bullets not make
their target? And so on and so forth? But you know,
that that guy.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Died too, So that guy was That guy had killed
a member of law enforcement, and the theory among his
attorneys was that they intentionally missed with at least one
bullet to cause him more agony.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Yeah, well, most of us don't care, right, honestly, we
got Richly One news to pass along this morning on
a couple of fronts. It's still in their fiscal caution
and they may have more issues to deal with now
Richland District one, an auditor is saying they may have
some purchasing issues. An anonymous tip apparently that too many

(03:03):
upper level managers committed unauthorized purchases for a fiscal year
twenty twenty four. Now, okay, meantime, it's the gift that
gives on giving or taking in this in this instance
for taxpayers in Richeland one. Now the the HOA and

(03:24):
a neighborhood that's next to the now defunct construction project
always going to be the early learning center. The HOA
now is suing for damage that has been caused that
neighborhood because of the you know, the clearing of all
that land and the failure to properly maintain stormwater runoff.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
So there have been a couple of neighbors who have
already sued, right because their houses have flooded.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
Yes, yeah, and now make it the the hoa suing
here the revolving door continues. In what is government of
the city of Casey. They're searching for a new attorney.
Now the case city attorney is bolting after less than
a year on the job. Don't know we know exactly why,
but a lot of turnover. As we've been talking about

(04:09):
this shooting on Friday over in Forest Acres, in a
parking lot outside planned parenthood. Local media doesn't have a
lot of detail here. I would tell you the Fitz
News has more detail than the locals outlets do on this.
They quote a source saying that this incident began when
a pro life protester who runs a sidewalk ministry was

(04:33):
accosted by an unknown individual and it was this protester
who eventually shot the man and what he calls an
act of self defense. That was Friday. Now we don't have,
again mainstream media anymore detail, but we'll get into what
that outlet is reporting on that. Another shooting at an Airbnb,

(04:53):
this time in the Earlwood neighborhood Columbia PD there and
they're looking at it. Now, gonna be a busy wee
a vote up on Capitol Hill in the House, I'm
releasing the Epstein files here. The twist now in the
last couple of days is that Trump now is urging
Republicans to vote to release these files, saying there's nothing

(05:17):
to hide here, and that the Democrats using this as
as a way to distract people from the accomplishments of
the Republican Party. Now that House vote is planned for tomorrow,
and in the midst of all this, Trump says he'll
order his Department of Justice to investigate Epstein's House to
ties that is to build Clinton and the major financial institution.

(05:41):
So the plot once again thickens now that the government
has reopened. Next item on the agenda when it comes
to the economy, of course, is what to do with
these subsidies for Obamacare. Doctor Oz, who is the administrator
for CMS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, yesterday said

(06:03):
the administration is holding discussions on extending subsidies under the
Affordable Care Act.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
That's not the fix we were looking for.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
No, certainly not in the long term and the short
term politically. It may be the only fix politically, at.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Least I get that it makes sense politically, but that
certainly doesn't fix the system.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
Oh no, huh no, no, no, no, no. Meantime, a Democrat
and a Republican in the House pitching there bipartisan subsea's
extinction proposal. Well, think a look at what that one is.
But I've been saying all along, at least I have that,
you know. My feeling was that the Republicans would extend
these in some way, shape or form for how long,

(06:46):
don't know, but political suicide. Some might argue for Republicans
to let those expire here at the end of the year. Well,
we're twenty two and a half minutes into return to
normalcy at the nation airports, the FAA lifting the flight
restrictions as of six am this morning. These after recommendations

(07:08):
from the FAA Safety Team. Suddenly the airwaves or waves rather,
are fine. That was quick. Now, we were told by
Sean Duffy that we lost a lot of controllers to
retirement during the government shutdown. I mean a bunch of them.
But it looks like staffing is pretty much back to normal,

(07:29):
whatever that is. Because remember we were below normal at
like ninety percent of our control towers before that was
before the shutdown ever started. But let's see how it goes.
The order has lived and lifted, so it's back to normal.
May still be a few delays today, just catching things up,
but we'll see. Up in the Queens City, Charlotte bort

(07:50):
up patrol agents in their first day of what they're
calling Operation Charlotte's Web. I kind of like that, arresting
eighty one people. That was day one. CBS get a
load of these numbers. CBS reporting that in Charlotte, one
in six people who live there are four and born
one and six.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
That seems high.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
I thought it did. Huh okay. The governor though of
North Carolina, the Democrat governor Josh Stein, saying, oh, this
is not making us safer. I don't know you took
any one people off the streets in day one. It's
got to make you a little bit safer, doesn't it.
And better prices at the grocery store. Trump announcing a

(08:33):
rollback on tariffs on grocery staples items like beef and coffee,
trying to get those back in line. And now, unless
you bought your ticket in Georgia. It didn't win a
single ticket sold in Georgia, just one winning the estimated
nine hundred and eighty million dollar Mega Million's jackpot Saturday night. Wow. Yep,

(08:55):
the eighth largest in history. Friday Night, I think was
it Friday? Yeah, it was announced Saturday. Friday Night was
a drawing. Yes, yeah, last time somebody took home a
prize of anywhere near That was back in December of
twenty twenty four, last year, when a player, a single
player in California won over one point two billion dollars.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
I know it was Friday because I worked Saturday. Otherwise
you would not I would.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
Have been gone. All right, we'll get to add more
coming up on this. It's the back added Monday edition
of Columbia's Morning News Fabulous to have you.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Here, Dumbfest king Cock coverage powered by uniquely Southern Cheerwine
Game Days on one O three point five FM and
five sixty am w VOC.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher
Thompson on one O three point five FM and five
sixty am w VOC.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Six forty one. Good morning and good to have you along.
From Monday, November the seventeenth. Just checking the big board
over Columbia Metro, looks like just one cancelation today. That
was an earlier flight that was supposed to have left
at six am. An American Airlines flight for New York
City that was a cast like a couple might have
been postponed a little bit better rescheduled. But that's that

(10:09):
seems to be it, at least for now for the
rest of the day. Everything else is scheduled and expected
to be on times to be able to check ahead
as well. Things are getting back to normal at our
airports and you're not that these the restrictions that we
saw last week directly impacted airports in South Carolina, but

(10:29):
they did because of well we're these flights left here
and headed to Now as of six am this morning,
all restrictions have been lifted by the FAA. They started
by rolling them back to a three percent reduction. They
announced that Saturday, so it was better over the weekend,
and now the FAA has determined that the skies are

(10:51):
safe to travel again and they've were taken away all
those restrictions. Okay, now, as the government reopened last Thursday,
I guess it was right on Friday, there were six
staffing shortages, eight on Saturday and just one yesterday, which

(11:15):
the FAA is and of course the control towers. FA
says that was consistent with the pre shutdown conditions. Okay,
so I'm curious. Sean Duffy told us during the shutdown
that there were what fifteen to twenty air traffic controllers
retiring every day during the shutdown? Was he was he

(11:36):
not telling us the truth?

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, that number doesn't jibe with what we're hearing now.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
No, if that many retired, then did How are we
pretty much fully staffed again this morning? Remember we were
short before the shutdown even occurred. Okay, well, so things
are back to normal, they tell us. Duffy now saying

(12:03):
that the FAA can now refocus on surgeon control or
hiring and building a brand new starty the ardent traffic
control systems. That part, UH is really stunning. The outdated
technology and these control towers, that's that's that's crazy. How
has that been allowed to happen to go all these years,

(12:26):
with all the advancements of technology, and can you think
of one place where it wasn't needed more than in
these these control towers, with the with tens of thousands
of people's lives on the line every day and every
control tower. How did we let that happen? And what's

(12:47):
it going to take to upgrade and bring those systems
to I'll make a bet here, because this is what
normally happens in government. It spent a lot of money
more than they need to, don't get the systems upgraded.
But by the time that finally happens, it'll be upgraded
to technology it was out. You know, well two three

(13:09):
four years ago, we've already gone gone by all that now, right,
we've got even better stuff. Now. That's kind of the
way it tends to happen. Okay, well, so things back
in normal at the airports, they tell us, Wow, there
were I guess during the height of this there were

(13:30):
back on November the eighth, there were eighty one vacancies
in these control towers across the country. Now we've got
a lot of control towers, okay, yeah, you know, every
every airport that has passenger planes coming in and out
has at least ground control controllers and the departure and

(13:53):
rival controllers. Then the while these flights were in the air,
that's typically the responsibly of other controls towers and other places,
and you take off from Columbia Metro and your first
hand off as they call it, normally goes to the
control center in Jacksonville. So it's kind of a you know,
it's a it's a web of different things. But anyway,
if the thoughts were back to normal, so let's let's

(14:14):
hope that we are, and more calls to privatize, uh
that that position these and these control towers. It's making
private companies responsible for I'm not I don't, I don't know. Yeah,
I guess I'm I'm all for that.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
I mean, we always hear there are more efficient ways
to do everything that the government does. Would it be safer?
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
Well, one thing we can you can bet your bottom
dollar on if it were to go that way and
there were to be issues and it was, you know,
a tragedy occurred, it was the result of an issue
in a control tower somewhere. Now you're talking about lawsuits, true,
and that could really complicate things. Yeah, I don't know.

(15:05):
Let's put it this way, if nothing else private, if
you if you privatize these control towers, that would would
would would certainly mean that the advancement of technology would
probably happen at a much quicker speed, right.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Everybody would want to be more innovative. Well, company is
always a private business always is more innovative than government, right,
because they've got profit reasons to do it.

Speaker 4 (15:28):
But are they can do things like, you know, artificial intelligence?
I'm not sure I'm comfortable that in a control tower. Yeah. Uh,
just saying, but that's just me. And then you'd have
to have some way, would you not? Of you just
can't say, hey, you know what, we're losing money here,
so we're out. I mean that somehow they have to
be regulated by the government to keep best sport of

(15:52):
things from happening. So yeah, anyway, a lot a lot
of questions there, including how we lit it get to
this point. To begin with, I'm gonna talk about the shutdown.
It was bad before the shutdown. How did that happen?
HU Stephen Federco took to the stage over the weekend
with a number of state officials. This father of Logan Federico,

(16:12):
who was murdered by a guy who should not have
been seen a light of day, as you know, Alexander Dickey,
the habitual offender thirty nine arrests, twenty nine felonies and
really less than a decade when you consider the time
he did spend behind bars. He was a busy guy
doing bad stuff. But there he was again, out on
the streets. Federico is not going away here. He was

(16:41):
there vowing to fight for judicial reform in our state.
This may become abortion aside, by the way, and there'll
be another vote tomorrow, I think in the committee at
least of what would be maybe the most restrictive abortion
legislation in the country if it come to pass. I
don't think it will, but we'll see. But asign from that,

(17:04):
this judicial reform is is gonna be front and center.
Certainly it was last session too, if you recall, and
there were some changes, but for a lot of people
those changes weren't near enough. So expect that to be
a hot topic when the State House reconvenes now in

(17:27):
less than two months.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
You're listening to Columbia's morning news on one oh three
point five FM and five sixty am WVOC. Once again,
here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 4 (17:41):
At sixteen minutes after seven o'clock at Mooring and welcome
in Columbia's Morning News for Monday, November the seventeen, using
Jeffrey Epstein as a deflection from the tremendous success that
we're having as a party plot twist. Oh, here we go.
We came on the air this morning talking about this week,
this week before Thanksgiving week, here was going to be

(18:03):
a very busy one. There's gonna be a lot of
news being made this week. And there's Trump talking about
the Democrats using Epstein as a distraction here's what we know.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Which they could because last week he was against any
of these files being released. But now he's suddenly taking
that weapon away.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah. Now, now the plot twist. So ahead of it
was expected to be a vote on the House floor
tomorrow on releasing the Epstein files, Trump says he wants
the House to vote, to the House to vote to
release them. Yeah, release them. So they got they got

(18:42):
nothing on me here, and at the same time ordering
the Justice Department to investigate Epstein's ties to Bill Clinton
and major financialist institutions. Okay, so where do we start
with this? Huh Yeah, last week it was you know Trump, Trump,

(19:05):
well specifically went to war with Uh. Well, he's been
at war for a long time with Thomas Massey, of course,
and Massey and Rocanna the Republican the Democrat were the
two behind this discharge petition to UH to force Speaker
Johnson's hand to take that full House floor vote tomorrow.
But he also went to war with Marjorie Taylor Green,

(19:27):
and we'll be talking about that probably a little bit
later on. UH had a phone call with Nancy Mace,
although we didn't get much of the detail of UH
that that that that that little disagreement has been a
little quieter and some of the other ones that Trump
has had over this. But then then suddenly, yeah, no, no,
I want you to release them all. There's nothing there.

(19:47):
And this has been our theory really all along. We've
called to this for months now. Mister Thompson did those
files in the possession of the Department of Justice all
this time, including all this time when Joe Biden was president,
and you you could bet your bottom dollar not only

(20:09):
even if the election of twenty twenty four were one
that was going to be a slam dunk for Democrats,
they still would have used this against Donald Trump considering
it was anything but considering all the turmoil inside that
that party when it came to a getting around to
a nominee with Biden dropping out and no primary and

(20:32):
Kamala Harris installed and everything else. What better time to
release information like this than that? Huh?

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, I know, it's I mean, and I'm not sure
why Trump suddenly turned on this, because you would think
he would be aware, And why was he fighting these
records for so long? You would think he would know
that they had nothing on him. I mean, he it
would have gotten leaked to him too. I mean, we

(20:58):
would have seen it all already. The Democrats, if they
had had anything on Trump, would have unveiled it before
that election.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
And Trump wouldn't know by now too. So why was
the original fight? You know, I don't understand, although I'm
glad he turned because you weren't. You weren't going to
be on the good side if you were on the
side of fighting to keep these files secret.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
No, huh, yes, yeah, I don't know. I'm curious as
anybody else's as to why why not originally this take
and and why now this take? But writing on truth
Social late last night, we have nothing to hide. It's
time to move on from this Democrat hoax. Perpetrated by
the radical left lunatics in order to defeat or deflect.

(21:44):
He says, the great success of the Republican Party. Uh. Now,
we talked about this last week, and it was thought
that there would certainly be enough votes on the House
floor to vote to release these files. That matter of fact,
at one point you had some talking about there could

(22:05):
be you know, one hundred or more Republicans voting to
releases files. And now with this degree from Trump, you'd
have to think it's going to be a lot more
than that, more than likely. Yeah, probably most of them. Yeah,
it needs to go to the Senate afterwards. I think,
did I not hear that Lindsey Graham is as far

(22:29):
as the Senate vote is concerned, He's yeah, let's let's
release all these.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
Well if Trump said to then yeah, yeah, back following
lockstep at this point, yeah, because Lindsey is going to
be reelected soon now.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
As of last week, late last week, as far as
the congressional delegation from our state, the Post and Courier
did a roll call, got pretty much from the Republicans
the same sort of an answer. Russell Fry's office said
that these reviewing the broader bill to release the files.

(23:04):
William Timmons up in the Upstate, who's on the Overside
Committee it's doing the review of the documents, declined comment.
Sherry Biggs said she felt like the Overside Committee members
needed to see their work through. Joe Wilson's office said
they believed it was time to refocus legislative efforts to

(23:26):
deliver the promises of Trump okay, and that he preferred
the Overside Committee letter approach as well. Remember, Ralph Norman
originally supported releasing the files, but did not sign on
to that discharge position of petition. His office wuldn't discussed

(23:47):
said any votes prior to acting. Of course, Cliburn is like, yeah,
let's get it out there. Nancy mays, we know her
stance on this. So but that was before Trump said, hey,
Republicans vote to release it all. So now again that vote,
if it's successful, would have to go to the Senate.
If it is successful there, then he goes to Trump

(24:09):
for the final okay, which now looks like you're gonna
get the final okay, right like it? Yeah? So but
again in the meantime, as we mentioned, uh, he says
he'll direct Pam Bondi to look at the Epstein connections
with Clinton, with other high profile Democrats and a range
of banks. So he's looking to turn the tables now

(24:34):
in the Democrat Party, same story, different party, different focus.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
And if there's anything there, look for the Democrats to
suddenly lose interest in.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
The art, right, Hey, can we take that vote back? Yeah,
we really want to release them. And who knows, maybe
this is maybe this is some kind of a play
now to try to get some Democrats to second think
their guests here. I mean, what a coup that would
be to get Republicans to say, yeah, release the files,
and for Democrats have suddenly back to Rack and say no,

(25:03):
don't I mean, that would be like.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
The perfect turn of events right there, wouldn't it For
the Republican Party. It's a shrewd political move using their
weapon against them.

Speaker 4 (25:14):
Maybe that's what all this is. Okay, well, brace yourselves.
It's going to be an interesting week. But on Capitol Hills.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
You better know there's nothing damaging about you in there
before you you use this tactic. And I would think
he probably does.

Speaker 4 (25:31):
You would think his president of the United States that
he knows exactly what's in there. But again that's that's
that's curious as to why. Up until the last couple
of days he was like, you know, no, that's not no, no,
But anyway, follow the bouncing ball, keeping you informed.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Dad's up to date now now more than.

Speaker 4 (25:50):
Ever like knowing what's happening in the world.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
One on three point five FM and five sixty AM
w VOC. This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David
and Christopher Thompson on one O three point five FM
and five sixty AM WVOC.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
It's seven forty Good morning. It's Monday, November the seventeenth.
Over the weekend, Doctor Oz no longer just hosts a
TV show member. He is the administrator for the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services on CNN State of the
Union saying there are discussions around extending the subsidies if

(26:33):
he says, we deal with the fraud, waste and abuse
that right now is paralyzing the system. So yeah, there
you have at the big sticking point in the forty
three day government shutdown, the extension of the subsidies for Obamacare.
Are they going to get extended after all?

Speaker 1 (26:50):
Is this the administration looking at the next possible shut
down coming in January and thinking got to be right,
we don't want to be on the wrong side of
that one.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
Well, between that and and quite honestly, again politically speaking,
number one, this is the whole thing is is is
a gigantic disaster, true, but gigantic disaster aside, you know,
the Republicans have to you know, play for their political
survival in twenty twenty six and the midterms, which remember,

(27:21):
historically speaking, anytime one party controls everything, it almost never
fails that in the ensuing midterms they lose something. So
you know, with that as as precedent, the Republicans need
to do everything they can to save every vote they

(27:42):
can save from November of twenty six. And if they're
saddled with the blame for allowing these subsidies to expire,
then it's gonna be very difficult. Let's just face it.
It's just that's just the pure poly ticks of it.

(28:02):
And quite honestly, as much of of the screaming and
crying and hollering that the Democrats are doing, really really,
in their heart of hearts and their political heart of hearts,
this is the best possible.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Things to happen, right, This is what they wanted.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
Yeah, let's let's not let these things go, and let's
let's be able to spend the entire year to get
to November of twenty twenty six blaming the Republicans for
why you can't afford health insurance right now. So the
Republican Party has to do something. Now, we are told
a week or two back, the idea was some sort
of a system similar to what we're doing right now,

(28:37):
but instead of these subsidies going you know, this money
going directly to these insurance companies, just have them go
directly to the policy oder.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
I haven't heard anyone explain that. No, I haven't either
coherent way yet. Yeah, nor have I. And quite honestly,
on the other side of on the back end of it,
it's the same thing. You're just setting the money here
instead of there. Right, Okay, it doesn't really change anything.
It's still a total disaster of that. But but remember
what Oz qualified, what he said, if we deal with

(29:09):
the fraud, waste, and abuse that right now is paralyzing
the system, all right, So they're going to doge the system.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
Well you better do it quick. I mean, we're uh
about six weeks or so away from these things expiring.
So are we looking at what my opinion has been
all along that in some way, shape or form, the

(29:38):
Republicans will we'll play the game here and they'll allow
for the extension of these benefits at least for some
period of time. Now, last week, well.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
How long who do you hamstring with this decision?

Speaker 4 (29:48):
Next time? Right? How long? Is exactly right? Democrats try
to force a discharge vote on the Senate floor on
whether or not to extend these benefits for three years. Actually,
that was a House floor that was yeah, the House floor.
That was Hakeem Jeffrey's idea to have them extend until yeah,

(30:10):
the end of twenty twenty eight, the next election, the
presidential election year. Yeah, right, exactly. Now, meantime, you got
a Democrat Tom Susie of New York and Republican Don
Bacon of Nebraska yesterday pitch why they're bipartisan subset extension

(30:31):
proposal is what needs to happen. Their plan, who they've
sat down with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle,
would extend these subsidies for the next two years. Okay, Now,
we heard from Chuck Schumer one year extension from Hakem
Jeffery's three year extensions. Both those put them in an
election year. This idea puts it in an off election,

(30:52):
a non election year two years from now. So I
you know, okay, they place an income cap on those
who are making between two hundred four hundred thousand dollars
a year. The Republican telling Margaret Brennan on facination, we
need a temporary extension of these tax credits. Keep the

(31:14):
prices down. Okay. What we do know is this, I mean,
all politics aside. Then, even taking the subsidies out of
the proposal, just the price is going up, and considerably.
For example, premiums for twenty twenty six on the lowest
cost Obamacare plan are projected to be fifty bucks a month.

(31:39):
That's an increase of about thirteen dollars versus what those
plans are this year. That's before you account for the
expiration of the subsidies. You've heard, you know, you've heard
the numbers banded about how much is it going to
go up if these subsidies aren't extended. And again, like
we said all along, there's no way, politically speaking, the

(32:02):
Republicans survive if they don't come up with something here.
There's not some sort of an agreement to extend these
for some period of time at some level. And let's
hope that that's what it is. And what doctor Ross
told Dana Bash, I'm sorry, it's Stana Bash. Isn't it
that somehow you deal with a fraud, waste and abuse

(32:23):
in the system. Unfortunately, we've heard that before.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
And I thought we I thought we were going to
have another plan, not just to you know, rubber stamp
what the Democrats did, but you know, take a scalpel
to it first and make sure we cut out all
the waste. But I thought there was going to be
a whole different Republican plan.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
There could have been.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
We've been promised that for years.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
But they played like you know, freshman in college, waiting
until the night before to starty cram for a for
a final. This is what you get. Charlotte Border Patrol
shows up ice and Border Patrol agents. Day one one
people arrested in Operation Charlotte's Web. They started Saturday morning

(33:08):
eighty one, the Commander Gregory Bovino saying eighty one, many
of whom had significant criminal and immigration history or off
the streets, so more detail would be would be released
on social media of who these people were. Now, this

(33:30):
is actually a bit of a different take here. This
is Charlotte's the first time now where Customs and Border
patrol are in charge of the enforcement efforts and they're
not coordinating with ICE in the same location, so they're
going on their own here on some of these So
this marks a different tact that they're taking. And yeah,

(33:51):
theo were those who showed up that were all you know,
did set against this. But again, eighty one people taking
off the streets. That was just day one, CBS reported.
And by the way, the state of North Carolina to
date has failed to honor more than fourteen hundred detainer requests. Yeah,
you got a democratic governor right in stein Charlotte reporting

(34:17):
that of the nine hundred some on thousand residents in Charlotte,
one hundred and fifty thousand or four born one in
six residents in the Queen City were not born in
this country. And DHS is blaming again sanctuary politicians like
the mayor, well, the mayor of Charlotte and the governor

(34:38):
North Carolina ful filling to honor all these detainer requests,
more than fourteen hundred of them. The governor by the
way Eastwiga statement saying that it's not making us safer
about what border patrol is doing here, I'm sorry you
take eighty one people off the streets. Who again, border
patrol says, have extensive criminal and immigration background histories, and

(35:04):
somehow the governor says it's not making a city safer. Well,
give it a give it a give it a week
or two and ask the people of Charlotte if it's
making the meals safer. Right exactly, Tom Homan, by the way, Friday,
the borders are saying more operations and more major cities
are coming. Get ready for more border patrol activity, although

(35:28):
there are reports that the administration is getting ready to
withdraw National Guard troops from Chicago and Portland. Different thing,
I know, but still so. It says whack a mole. Right,
sounds like whack a mole and so far as successful
in Charlotte.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
If you're listening to Columbia's morning news on one oh
three point five FM and five sixty am WVOC, once again,
here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 4 (35:59):
It is sixteen after eight, good morning. It is our
pleasure to have you with us Monday. No. Remember the seventeenth,
the week before Thanksgiving week? Can you believe it? Wow?

Speaker 1 (36:12):
And we'll blink our eyes and Christmas will be here,
all right.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
I think it's already here. Yeah, from what I've been
seeing the last couple of weeks, It's like everywhere.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Depends on what you see or where you go, or
what you're listening to.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
I was out walking neighborhood other day and I see
homes with Christmas trees up, and.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
I think that whole thing how and Halloween still outside?

Speaker 4 (36:31):
Still?

Speaker 1 (36:32):
I think that whole thing started during COVID, didn't it.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Oh? We did. We did, like Christmas in July during COVID.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
Yeah, remember that everybody was just looking for something to
lift their spirits.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
Yeah, I guess. So that's fine, you do.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
You There are people who spend a lot of money
on Christmas decorations and feel like they don't really get
their money's worth.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
Now, no, they go.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Putting them in a box for eleven months out of
the year.

Speaker 4 (36:54):
Good point Richland, won Oh you ever?

Speaker 1 (37:01):
All you need to hear, right Chachland School District one.
What they do now back in the news and for
all the wrong reasons.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
And we'll start with Remember this is a district that's
been in a fiscal caution now by the Department of
Education for a while, and they still are in a
fiscal caution. There may be some more issues though, with
the way they're buying stuff. Apparently the district received an
anonymous tip state payer reports asserting that too many upper

(37:30):
level managers committed unauthorized purchases in fiscal year twenty twenty four.
These are recorded documents that the paper obtained from the
internal auditor.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
How long have they been on the fiscal watch.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Twenty twenty three? I want to say, I know there
were issues going dating back to at least twenty twenty three,
twenty twenty two, December of twenty twenty two.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
So you know the boss is watching everything you do,
and yet you continue to make questionable spending purchases. That
just doesn't make any sense, right, I mean, that's inviting trouble.

Speaker 4 (38:17):
Yeah, to be to be exact, In December of twenty
twenty two, they're put on fiscal watch, which is just
kind of it's not a red flag, it's kind of
maybe a yellow flag. Okay, swim with caution. But then
in August of twenty twenty four, last August year ago
August they were put on fiscal caution, so they elevated
to the you know, the red flag, stay out of

(38:38):
the water. They ken't wait again, I guess, at least
according to an anonymous tip. Okay, so it's being investigated.
So at this point in time, we can't tell you. Yeah,
there's been something going on. It's it's under investigation. According
to the documents, an unauthorized procurement occurs when someone without

(39:01):
proper authority commits the district to an obligation by ordering
or receiving goods and services without the issues of a
purchase order. How in the world if that's happening, does
anybody think they can get away with that? I mean,
if government work, you've got to have a purchase order.

(39:23):
You just got to. And anybody that works inside of
any government, no matter what we're talking about, school district
or all the way up to the Feds, whatever, you
got to have a purchase order. And at least according
to this tip, there were too many high level managers
that were circumventing the system. Again for a district under

(39:48):
fiscal caution already. Wow, okay, bad news number one there.
Bad news number two. Well, we've known for a while now,
at least a couple home own in the vicinity of
the idea, the now defunct Early Learning Center, had sued
because of when they cleared that lot over there to

(40:13):
wind up building nothing, that the storm water runoff was
impacting homes negatively. There were already a couple of lawsuits
by homeowners well Now a nearby neighborhood, the Creek Side
in Reflections and their homeowners Association has also suing the
district for inverse condemnation and negligence. They claimed that again

(40:41):
the storm water runoff severely damaged several homes and infrastructure.
Nothing went right with this project, absolutely nothing, and it
is apparently going to cost even more than we originally
thought this what is now a hole in the ground.

(41:04):
Yeah yeah, uh. There are fifty one homes in that area,
most of those are retirees and members of the military.
To top it all off, goodness sakes, not only is

(41:25):
the storm water cause damage, lawsuits says, it's also brought
pests and excess frogs, snakes, mosquitoes, worms, you name it.
One residence say it's it's like we're living in biblical days.
This say, wow, So no locus yet not that they

(41:46):
have been spotted, but don't be surprised if they don't
show up. At least one home is described as being unlivable. Okay,
so uh to date, taxpayers in Richland one that had
been fleeced for nine point one million dollars and more

(42:08):
is coming and more's coming. Yeah, and the site they
went that case unless they win the case, right, who
knows how much this could could bring or cost taxpayers
in the district and over in Casey. The revolving door continues.
Now they're looking for a new attorney for the city.

(42:30):
The one they hired less than a year ago has
announced he's he's splitting. Wes Dillard, who was hired back
in January, says he'll depart after the city picked someone
to fill the spot. It's been confirmed by a city spokesperson.

(42:52):
I don't know. I don't know what's going on over there.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Well, you can't think anything good apparently not within him.
And maybe his departure has nothing to do with the chaos.
Maybe he's got a better job offer.

Speaker 4 (43:04):
Quite possibly, Yeah, but.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
On the face of it, it certainly doesn't look good.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
Well, you go back to July last year, you've had
two city managers, two police chiefs, a finance director, a
human resource director, and now the city attorney. All bolt
in less than a year and a half.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
And this is city council continues to fight amongst his
But you've got new blood coming, you know, you've got
a couple of new faces. Yeah, so maybe that will help.
Maybe so keeping you connected.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
I check in throughout the day twenty four to seven.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
I just like being informed, know what's happening.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
One on three point five FM and five sixty am
w VOC. This is Columbia's morning news with Gary David
and Christopher Thompson on one on three point five FM
and five sixty am double VOC.

Speaker 4 (43:58):
Is they thirty nine? The big stories today? We've been
talking about the return to normal. Fox just mentioned this
at our airports as those flight restrictions have been dropped
as of six am this morning, actually scaled them back
to like three percent on Saturday. But they're now back
back to normal. But still some delays not here as many.
Columbia Metro had. I think one early morning flight that

(44:21):
was canceled, and I do see two delays on the board,
one to Philly, wanted New York later on today. Now
that's actually related to these, you know, trying to get
things back to normal. I don't know for sure, but
I expect they probably are. But the FAA suddenly thinks
everything's good to go. Control towers are banned again and

(44:42):
then get back out there. Feel free to travel around
the country. Will people?

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Some people have to for work, but yeah, certainly a
lot more people will be traveling in the next couple
of weeks.

Speaker 4 (44:54):
Yeah. Again, can you imagine the disaster would have been
at distinct drug on into another week or so, and
so it's the week before Thanksgiving week now. I still
don't know, you know, I think somebody's asked Sean Duffy.
Though his comment about fifteen to twenty air traffic controllers
a day were retiring during the shutdown, it can't have
been accurate. You can't lose that many air traffic controllers

(45:17):
and have things backed and almost suddenly at the flip
of a switch. Pretty much. But I'll see again. It's
going to be a busy week up on Capitol Hill
and an interesting one to the House set to vote
tomorrow on whether or not to release the Epstein files
in full. This after Trump did about face over the
weekend and said yeah, Hey, Republicans vote to release these files,
get them out. There nothing in there that damages me.

(45:41):
At the same time directing the DOJA to investigate Epstein
ties between people like Larry Summers and Bill Clinton and
major financial institutions.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
I'm not sure why he fought it in the first place.
He wasn't going to win that battle anyway. No, very
very strange, and Republicans would have just looked like they
were covering up.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
Yeah. You got to think that Trump, of all people,
knows exactly what's in those files. He's the president of
the United States, you'd think you know. So that vote
to expected tomorrow, and he's trying to turn the tables
on the dims here. Make this a Democrat problem, not
a Republican problem. Let's see how this flies flows now.

(46:22):
You may have heard Thomas mentioned this a few minutes
ago on the update. We had mentioned in the rundown
this morning, that there's a measure, except for a second
hearing tomorrow over the State House, that would go further
than any bill that's been considered since Roe v. Wade
was overturned three years ago. This is a proposal that

(46:45):
would ban all abortions unless a woman's life is at risk.
That would be the only exception a woman who was
raped or an incest victim. It would eliminate those exceptions
up to twelve weeks, and it would go further than

(47:10):
any other state has gone. A woman who got an
abortion and anyone who helped her could face up to
thirty years in prison. It appears as though it appears
at least as though it would ban any contraception that
keeps a fertilized egg from implanning. It would ban iud's Wait, wait,

(47:34):
how do we go from saying no abortions to now
banning IUD contraceptive measures? I mean, that's just crazy. Man.
Well even that aside. Quite honestly, I don't see how

(47:59):
the state has any stomach to pass And again, you
know what I think about abortion. But even given that,
I cannot imagine the state House would would be able
to get through a bill like this. If they did,
the court challenges, it would be a slam dunk.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Is this a continuing battle between the House GOP caucus
and the Freedom consucus?

Speaker 4 (48:29):
Now, since we're on that topic, we'red that one man
was shot, another detained. It's happening in the parking lot
of the Planned Parenthood over on the Forest Drive.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
So are their protests there every day?

Speaker 4 (48:42):
Somebody there every day?

Speaker 1 (48:43):
Yeah, pretty much, because Friday wasn't, you know, no special
anniversary ropy lade or anything like that.

Speaker 4 (48:49):
You typically have at least wonderful or maybe a couple
of people out there. And while the mainstream media has
been scant on detail of FITZ news reporting, according to
a source that this all started when a guy who's
there on a regular basis, a Pro life protester, runs
a sidewalk ministry, was allegedly accosted by an unknown individual

(49:14):
outside the facility, and according to the witnesses, the pro
life protester tried to retreat but ultimately shot the man
in what witnesses say was an act of self defense.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
Well, it's all on video.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
It's all on video.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Yeah, I mean, he gets either maced or pepper sprayed.
I'm not sure what was sprayed in his face. And
then they run to another part of the parking lot
and winds up. I mean, they.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
Stands your ground.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
It sounds like well, I mean they go fist to
fist for a little while, and then all of a sudden,
guy pulls out a gun and just shoots him.

Speaker 4 (49:50):
Yeah. So there's that Trump announcing rollbacks on tariffs on
some very important grocery store items like beef. Yeah, thank you.
That's what's for dinner. That's what's for dinner. Less and
less these days for some and coffee, thank you. Although

(50:10):
tough could care less about that, trying to bring down
those those those prices. Okay, I'm fine with that.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
I mean, he's getting some heat because that was a
big battle cry in the leading leading up to the election,
is how I'm expensive things were under Joe Biden, and
then we've seen prices ticking back up again to.

Speaker 4 (50:32):
Turn them back around again. Now word is the Snap benefits,
which now are being paid back out again. We're talking
about forty two million Americans on Snap benefits. This is
a cost of about one hundred billion dollars a year,
and now the administration is talking about in order to
again ensure that fraud, waste, and abuse and brooke rawlins,

(50:56):
the ag Secretary announced that in anybody receiving food stamps
through Snap needs to reapply, So.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
They're going to examine every application again.

Speaker 4 (51:06):
Uh huh, saying that they have found one hundred and
eighty six thousand dead people collecting benefits. Well that's one
way to stop that, right, Yeah, get him to reaudible.
Well we could reapply. Yeah, okay, you're getting free stuff.
It's not too much of a sacrifice for to go
out and just reapply for him again.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
I mean, come on, if you deserve them, it's not
going to hurt you to fill out another application. If
you don't, and maybe your status has changed, you know,
it's worth knowing.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Then there's that, y'all. Remember the Maryland Man, right, kill
mar Abrigo Garcia. The Maryland Man now reports that, Well,
it turns out that the guy that the Democrats rushed
to defend, even visiting him while incarcerated in South America,
phone records show he called human smugglers at least five

(52:00):
hundred times. Yeah, the Maryland Man LA is going to
try to do what New York did. Looks like Democrat
socialist candidate Ray Hung has launched her campaign for mayor
to run against the Democrat incumbent Karen Bass. Not the

(52:23):
Karen Bass. Losing that seat would be a disaster. It
would be a great thing, But to lose it to
a Democrat.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Socialist, it's not going to help Gavin Newsom in he either.

Speaker 4 (52:32):
No, it's not because he.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Will face multiple questions about I mean, just like all
the New York Democrats have about whether you support this
guy or not.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
Yep, yep. Well, the Democrats socialists are all emboldened. They
want in New York. They won in Seattle. Honestly, I
don't see them winning in Los Angeles. I know it's
a liberal bastion and all that. But I San Francisco, yeah,
maybe Portland. I can see that. Minneapolis, they came close,

(53:05):
but they didn't win there. But La, I don't know.
I got a feeling that they don't. They don't. They
don't pull off La. I could be wrong. Well, but
then the game. By the time this mayoral campaign in
La rolls around, there have been some time to see
how the old Democrats socialist experiment in New York City
pans out. We'll find out. And uh, as mister Thompson

(53:30):
told us earlier, he was here Saturday with our best
game call coverage because he found out Friday night he
didn't win the Mega million one player one ticket nine
hundred and eighty million dollars, and it was close to
home that ticket sold in Georgia that could have been

(53:51):
a south went across the state lines to buy a ticket.
Who knows, do we know where in Georgia I had.
I don't know where in Georgia. Yah, just as in Georgia.
That's all I know. Sorry, nine and eighty million dollars.
Of course, you know the the cash payouts like four

(54:11):
fifty two. Oh you know, then did Uncle Sam in
the state of Georgia get their their share? You know?
And so, but when they're all done, you've you've had
a decent payday.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
It was noonon it was Nowton, right outside of Atlanta.

Speaker 4 (54:23):
Okay, so probably not a South Jronian across the state lines.