Show Rewind 11-26-2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Jesus Hell, Yeah, America and Jerry Holland for regious. One
nation is wrong.

Speaker 2 (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 3 (00:29):
It is three minutes after six o'clock in the morning,
and welcome into what is the final edition of Columbia's
Morning News.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
You're going somewhere sounds ominous, doesn't Yeah, it does.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
We should explain if you haven't heard by now. No,
we're not going anywhere. We'll be here. We won't be
here tomorrow, we won't be here Friday. We'll be back
on Monday. But we're back as South Carolina's Morning News,
and that Monday is the day that we launch this
program in Charleston as well in the Low Country, so
we'll be serving both Columbia and Charleston and all points

(01:04):
in between.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Get ready, Charleston, here we come.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Lady. You get a load of this. So, if you've
been with us for a long time, like many of
you have in our over almost twenty five years of
doing this show, no worries. We're still here, still doing
the same thing we've always done. You've noticed probably this week.
We're doing it kind of differently in different spots in
the hour, which is I know I've thrown some of
you for a loop, including us, but everything else is

(01:29):
the same, and we look forward to inviting some new
folks into the family on our rest Sister Station ninety
four to three WSC and Charleston come Monday morning at
this very time.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
I kid about get ready for us. I mean, I
heard from a friend of mine yesterday who said, you
know that they're looking for something that's not mean spirited,
and I said, well, that's the last thing Geary and
I are. We can't well I don't know if people
say that about me necessarily, but can we be critical, Yes, absolutely.
We will hold certain people like politicians to the fire,

(02:01):
but we're not mean.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Spirit no, no, huh. So we look wayly forward to that.
We've got nothing belove right, okay. Uh traveling today, gosh,
I hope not leave before eleven. If you are, they
tell us. I mean, it was busy yesterday. I left
out of here all the time. It was yesterday afternoon,
but those around lunchtime, I guess, and uh, yeah, traffic

(02:24):
was already backed up on twenty six. Yeah, it's going
to be like that today. Over the airport, they're expecting
to to break last year's mark, which was one point
three million travelers over the Thanksgiving travel period. That's a
Columbia Metro.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
I had no idea that many people would travel to
that airport. And and and you know that short amount
of time gon't be busy there. But here's the reason
why it's so great to fly out to Columbia Metro.
Even with even given all this, they're telling us the
TSA wait times are anticipated to reach up to twelve
to fifteen minutes during peak hours.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
I gotta tell you. Yeah, I don't like standing line
more than anybody else, But twelve to fifteen minutes this
time of year at a TSA line of the airport
is nothing.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
That's not bad. Try Atlanta at this time.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Oh yeah, A couple years ago we said it on
a Monday morning in Charlotte. I thought we'd never get
through the TSA lines. Crazy.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
And by the way, Atlanta had some weather issues yesterday morning.
They had to evacuate the control town because of a
line of severe storms that went through there. Yeah, and
other parts again midwest northeast of northern tier states, blizzard
warnings in some spots, and not just getting to getting
to Thanksgiving, but getting back could be problems as well.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
So my wife said something last night, I wonder if
the roads will be even more crowded because of the shutdown,
And everyone said, you know what, I'm not going to
take any chances on flying. Let's just drive if it's
if it's possible, Oh.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
You can, you can bet your bottom dollar. At least
there's gonna be some some element of that. Yeah, it's
I'll be careful, be careful, thank you. Okay. On some
of the big stories we're following here. On this Wednesday
morn morning, November twenty sixth, the day before Thanksgiving, an
arrest and well, his attorney says he was surprised that
this even happened, but the guy who shot the other

(04:10):
guy outside the Planned Parenthood Center, what a wee could
go Friday? I guess it. Was arrested early yesterday morning,
booked into the Alvin ESK. Glynn Detention Center. He since
bonded out. He's charged with the salt and battery of
high and aggravated nature, in possession of a weapon during
a violent crime. So we'll be following that. Again, some
thought this looked like a standard ground thing. Others say, well,

(04:33):
he kind of egged it on from the get go,
so we'll be watching that. But again his attorney, Jim Griffin, saying,
we were shocked he was arrested to begin with the
State Supreme Court, the High Court has set a date
to hear the appeal of the Alex Murdoch murder convictions.
Brace yourself for that all over again. Nobody say he's

(04:55):
going to get another trial, but High Corp will hear
the arguments. We got good news on the education in
front is they can teaching positions in our state have
fallen to well close to what they were in before
the pandemic kicked in. So we're still short in the classrooms,
but nothing like we were and that's good news right there.
With time winding down extensions to Obamacare, the President says, well,

(05:19):
he'd rather not, but he did say it might be
necessary to come up with some kind of an agreement
here before they expire at the end of this year.
Are we closer to peace in the Ukraine with Russia
where it is CBS supporting the Ukraine has agreed to
a peace proposal with only minor details. Haven't heard from

(05:39):
the Ruskies on this yet. And consumer confidence heading into
the holiday season. I'm sorry, the Christmas season hitting against
the lowest points in April. Job concerns a big, a
big issue here. We'll get to that more coming up
on this. Thanks for joining us. The Wednesday morning edition
of Columbia's Morning News.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
This is co is Morning News with Gary David and
Christopher Thompson on one O three point five FM and
five sixty AM w vocit.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
A six thirteen. Good morning, and good to have you
here for Wednesday, November the twenty sixth, the day before Thanksgiving.
And well they have revised downward the temperature expectations for
this weekend for that game at Williams Bryce. Is our
game with Williams Bryce Saturday, Yeah, yes, a big and
so tomorrow fifty seven or so for the high for
Thanksgiving Day.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Good, okay. The Evans will be on. The house will
be filled with people. You don't want to get too hot.
You can crack a window if you need to.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
That's all right, or just end all the people outside
that too, get them out of your kitchen. No. I'll
be up on the back deck doing my kitchenlee duties. Tomorrow,
Friday fifty one is the high now game day, Carolina Clemson.
This is this is football weather right here. Okay, if
you're going to be one of the early tailgaters and

(06:57):
with a noon kickoff, till getting will happen early. Yeah
at overnight low Saturday morning below freezing at about twenty
seven to twenty eight.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Wow, it was thirty earlier this week.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, that changed. And the daytime high Saturday forty eight.
That's football weather November right there. Bro gonna be brisk
and it won't really warm up beautiful. Okay, but we're
not expecting any untoward weather. There's no rain on Saturday
or between now and then. No storms, no snow, no
nothing like that. We might have an earthquaker too, who knows.

(07:30):
We have those on a regular basis, but that should
be about it, all right, Okay, So here we go
headlong into the Christmas season. Well, I think we're already there, right,
but based on what I've seen around.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Everywhere, Yeah, Black Friday started a month ago.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, yeah, it starts early now. Coming up in just
a moment or two. Winthrop did a pole, not the
typical Winthrop pole, but they wanted to know what are
folks around South Kaina planning, at least especially lower and
middle income families. How much are they planning on spending?
Are they got a dial it back this year? This
song at the time when again, as we mentioned, consumer

(08:07):
confidence has at its lowest points since April. And then
we talked yesterday a lot about you know, it's the economy, stupid,
it's the economy, stupid. Republicans, get your act in order
here before these midterms roll around here in twenty twenty six,
which is just right around the old corner. So we'll
run down some of what that poll showed and what

(08:28):
consumers are feeling these days. Coming up in just minute.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher
Thompson on one O three point five FM and five
sixty AM w VOCs.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Twenty one six and a good Wednesday morning. Tell you
it's November twenty sixth, the day ahead of Thanksgiving. Hope
you're ready and don't look now. I just happened to
notice this. It is how many shopping days until Christmas?

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Oh? Twenty four, twenty five?

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Oh, okay, twenty nine, okay, but even that number to
be by surprise. So oh wow, I.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Had to look at the calendar to see what day
it was today, twenty sixth, all right.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Uber, twenty six Yeah, Thanksgiving is late this year, so yeah,
a compressed time frame between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So yeah,
just twenty nine shopping days left.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
All right, let's get through one holiday before we start
worrying about the next. We just don't do that anymore,
well we can. We just have to set the trend.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Well, I think because Thanksgiving is later this year that
that's kind of spurred a lot of folks on, you know,
to put Christmas up like in October. I don't know whatever,
but Winthrop just did a poll asking folks and mainly folks,
well on all folks. What they found was that when
it came to lower income and middle income families in
our state, that looks like we'll spend less at least.

(09:55):
You know, people will tell you that you do a poll.
If somebody calls you, you tell them one thing, and
how many times do you do another? We might say
that right now, but I wonder, when you really get
caught up in the fervor of the season, do you
really do that? Well, for some people it's they don't
have any choice. Fifty eight percent say they'll spend the

(10:18):
same or more. Actually, but when you break it down
to lower middle income families, they say they're going to
be cutting back. If you haven't noticed, it's not just
us talking about it, but the economy is taking center
stage right now. Oh yeah, it has been, but it
seems to be more of an issue in just the

(10:41):
last couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Well, I think we we always worry about it anyway,
during the holidays, because that is a time when we
spend a lot of our Oh no, we worry about
it in January. Well, that's right when that credit came out,
when the bill comes Yeah, but I think I think
the people who budget. I think people who the people
who do their shopping early, who plan it out, and

(11:04):
who are on amazons.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Okay, there you go, she starts in July.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Those people can control their budget. The people who do
shopping at the last minute. You take what you can get,
whatever's left at the store, and if you want.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
To, you're stepping on my toes over there.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Man. I'm just saying you're gonna spend what you spend.
You can't control it at that point. It's whatever they
have at whatever price they're offering it.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
It's like the Arnold Schwartzenegger movie. He was trying to
find the gift for his son, and he kept putting
it off and putting it off and forgetting about it.
Then last minute he's running around all over town on
Christmas Eve trying to buy that whatever that toy was,
and yeah, that's me, yepy, it's you too, I know
it is no, yeah, yeah, I mean it's a guy thing.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
You can't control what you're spending at that point.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Now, then you're at the mercy of got to get
whatever you can get for whatever price. Overall, though, the
newest consumer Confidence Confidence Index number that came out for
November I was showing up lowest, the lowest point since April.
We are souring on the economy. We're souring on our
prospects for the future.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
But there were good numbers that came out yesterday, right,
the Producer Price INDECKS, which was lower than expected.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yes, yes, which would tend you to believe that the
next inflation number will be lower than expected. And Wall
Street looks like starting to count on another rate cut
in December. You know, we got one more FED meeting
this year, and do we get our third straight rate
cut of the odds, at least on Wall Street, are that, well,
they're betting on it. Yeah, you mentioned the producer price

(12:38):
index was good. Unemployment while inching upwards a little bit. Still,
we added one hundred and nineteen thousand jobs heading into
the government shutdown. Those numbers were delayed, of course because
of the shutdown, But that number came out last Friday,
I think it was, and it was way better than expected. So,
you know, while we didn't spend as much much in September,

(13:00):
consumer spending missed expectations. Still Wall Street is betting that
really as a result of those things right there, you know,
lower consumer spending, slightly higher unemployment rate, Wall Street betting
on another, probably a twenty five basis point or a
quarter point rate cut. I don't know which one you're
supposed to say, is a quarter point or the twenty
five basis points? It means the same thing to me anyway,

(13:22):
I'm no economist, what do I know? But we may
get that cut come December, which, yeah, does a rate cut?
Does a quarter point rate cut really affect you? Well? Yeah,
I mean indirectly on mortgage rates, indirectly if you're looking
to buy a home. Nothing really makes a big difference
when it comes to the rate you're getting charged on

(13:44):
involving credit card, you know, balances. Yeah, they're just going
to hose you no matter what. But it don't hurt
and it certainly helps businesses and it could spur more
hiring and growth there.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
So all that good news trickles down to us of venture.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
Eventually it gets to us. Yeah, the bad news gets
to us quicker, as it always is the case, the
good news takes a little bit longer.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
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 3 (14:15):
I can want to tell you at six thirty four
now it's Wednesday, November twenty six, just so a live
shot at Columbia Metro the TSA checkpoints out there. It's
like nobody there.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
That's great. I love our airport. I do too, man
for its size. I think our airport is I mean
I don't fly out of there often, but it's a
great place and there are great people that work there
and it's easy to get in and out of it.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
I have gotten to the point now where And I
used to think, oh, I can go to Charlotte and
get a you know, you know, not pay quite as
much and oftentimes not all. That's not always the case actually,
but yeah, anymore, I'm like, you go over there, you
can park like you know, walk right across the street
there and be in the terminal. Ye, it's easy and

(15:02):
easy out. Yeah, I'm like you, I've I.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Just and there did a lot of work to it.
I mean, there are a lot more food options now.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The TSA line is I mean it's
like nobody's there, Like the place is empty. That's cool.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
I tell you. What will take you by surprise today
is how warm it is outside, because.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
Oh yeah, it's like sixty five degrees here the radio
ranch right now.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
Everybody's talking about how cold it's gonna get. But apparently
there's some warm araor ahead of the cold there. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, I mean we're going from seventy five today for
a hide to fifty seven for HI tomorrow. And I
mentioned forty eight on game day Williams Rice on Saturday.
We're by the way, you're mentioning. Shane Biemers got the
vote of confidence to be back in twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Six, twenty six, Yes, okay, which that's not a real surprise.
I mean it's it would have been a pretty expensive buyout.
And yeah, I think.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Those don't seem to matter much anymore, depending on the school,
like it depends on the market.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, but you know it's it's a tough job market
out there right now. There are so many high profile openings.
If you enter that market, you better be sure who
you're going to get. I mean, you've got two major
SEC schools, right three vuying for the same coach. Yeah, yeah,
and that'd be that guy, would old miss Lane Kiffin?

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Right? Correct? Did I hear that LSU was was dangling
like ninety million dollars?

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yes, that is good. That is eazy money, man. The
Yahoo Sports report ninety million, including a lot of incentive
money for the kids. Oh oh, which I'm not sure.
I don't even know I that that's legal or not.
But of course the NCAA rules are so muddled at
this point. Who knows what's legal.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
The UCUAA doesn't even know. Yeah, you're exactly right, I
mean that's ridiculous amounts of money. Ninety million dollars. Okay,
So it's Florida and LSU that are vuying for his
and sources and would almost like him to stay.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Yeah, right, yeah, can you blame him?

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Right?

Speaker 1 (16:53):
And they've they forced him to make a decision by Friday.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Well, we'll see what happens this weekend, because you know
the game can to pull off one over Clemson. You're
gonna hear from a lot of fans are like, and
Biemer's gonna be back for another year. Well, Bieber's been
talking a lot about twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yes, and he's apporting making changes and he's got more
changes to make, and that offensive coordinator higher will be
a big one.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah. Welltho a lot of people, we've contend that the
guy who's been doing it right now has been doing
a pretty good job of it.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
Well, let's see what they do against Clemson.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
We'll find out our best game. Got coverage on the
way at nine a m. Correct Saturday morning, when the
low will be about twenty seven degrees. Sure it is
a six thirty seven Yes, I'm cold, Eric coming our way.
Thanks for joining us. The Wednesday morning edition of Columbia's
Morning News.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher
Thompson on one on three point five FM and five
sixty AM w VOC.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
Six forty two. Good Morning, Wednesday, November twenty six. I
am Gary David. He is Christopher Thompson. And this is
one more day. This, this is it. After daying, Columbia's
Morning News exists no more. This is yeah, honestly, this
is our last program as Columbia's Morning News. Okay, no, yeah,

(18:21):
it is that. But as of Monday, you're gonna tune
in and you're gonna say, you'll hear her say, welcome
to South Carolina's Morning News. All right. The only thing
that's changing is kind of our and we call them the
broadcast is our clock the times that we do things,
So that's changed. We've done that all week long, hopefully
well none of us are used to that yet, but

(18:42):
we'll get used to it. So that has changed. But
that's it. I mean the fact that come Monday, our
friends in Charleston will join the family on ninety four
to three WSC, So that's the day when we debut
down there in the low country and this will be interesting.
But nothing else change. Okay, We're still We're still here.

(19:06):
We're still not artificial intelligence as far as we know, and.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
We'll still be talking about the issues that matter to
all of us.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yes, so we're very excited about this Monday, we debut
in the in the low Country as South Caroline's Morning News. Okay,
let's get that out of the way right now, what
dimension once or twice more before we get here this morning,
a little insight info. We're talking after the area that
oh the ear the other day that about the time

(19:33):
we get used to doing things, we're now doing it
this week. We're going to forget it over a four
day break and come back Monday. But what are we doing?

Speaker 1 (19:41):
But everybody does that?

Speaker 3 (19:44):
Yep, right, Yeah, Now we're going to spend some time
talking about this this morning. Trump yesterday, a board Air
Force one asked by reporters said he he would prefer
not not to extend Obamacare subsidies, but in the same

(20:04):
breath acknowledge that it just might be necessary to reach
agreement on healthcare legislation. This was always going to be
the case. It didn't have to be the case with
a little you know, pre planning by the Republicans to
come up with a viable option here. But since they

(20:24):
failed to do so, and the White House didn't do
it either. This is what you're left with. This is
a hold your nose moment. Friends. Now again, question is
is for how long? And are there any changes made?
We know the White House is working on a plan
which still has not been been released yet, and there's
still plenty of Republicans up on Capitol Hill that are saying, what,

(20:48):
wait a minute, this plan, what about the abortion restrictions
about states being able to you know, use federal dollars
to pay for abortions. And the White House is not
been divulging whether or not that's part of this plan
to to to stop that from happening. So, yeah, there's

(21:08):
been pushedback from Republicans, very influential Republicans on Capitol Hill
over this.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
I think we've seen several trial balloons put up by
the White House, but nothing official yet.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
You don't think this will you know, going into the
Thanksgiving break that we hear like later on today, you know,
not something of it. But don't be surprised that we
don't hear some kind of news on something. You know.
This is this is that holiday data dump. Funny how
you get that right before? You know, four day break
when people are not on their normal cycles and paying attention.
That's when though, that's when the bad news normally comes out.

(21:40):
We'll seep, we get some of that later on today
or to night. It seems to never fail.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
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 3 (21:57):
The Morning at six fifty two. Well, the date's been
set and it's right around the old proverbial corner here.
February the eleventh, nine to thirty am. The State Supreme
Court scheduled to hear oral arguments from the defense attorneys
for Yeah, Alec Murdoch. They want a new trial. I

(22:18):
was reading this in the state paper, John Monk. Of
course there's anything Murdoch. Monk's going to write it true.
And the article starts off by saying, Murdoch found guilty
of killing his wife and son. The trial's been over
for nearly three years. Has that been that long?

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Wow? Really it felt like it lasted that long. It's
been almost three years? Has that trial ended? And who
has the stomach for a second one?

Speaker 3 (22:43):
Yeah? Right, I'll be curious. Yeah, I don't you know
the entire nation was transfixed. It seemed like on that
first one, certainly we were around here. Yeah, I don't
think if there's another one that it'll draw the number
of eyeballs on it that the first one did.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
He'll be interest, but there won't be the bombshells that
we had the first time around, because we know everything now.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
Basically two things the defense is alleging here and why
they think this verdict should be tossed. Number one has
to do with Becky Hill, of course, and Miss Becky.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Gene Tole ruled on that, but they're appealing that ruling.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
I guess, yeah, yeah, did she improperly sway one or
more jurors to vote to vote guilty? Here? The defense
arguing that her intrusion infected the trial with unfairness, And
they might have a point there, but again, yeah, former
Chief Justice Jean Toll already ruled on that and said no.

(23:42):
And secondly, they argue that all the information about the
financial crimes that now retire Judge Clifton Newman allowed in
unfairly prejudiced the jury.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
He had not pled guilty to those crimes yet, not
Alec Murdoch. But I mean, I agree with the prosecution.
I mean, they show a desperate man and you know,
kind of lead you in the direction of Okay, he
might have been desperate enough to do this.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
It was an integral part of the case. This is
what got him to that point. I guess it has been.
It's been time for how many different docu series to
come out?

Speaker 1 (24:21):
Everybody's had one Lifetime.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
Netflix has got one now, yes, or one of them.
I don't know how many? How many can we do?
Go on? All right, it's six fifty four. We appreciate
you joining us. It's the Wednesday morning edition of Columbia's
Morning News.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
You're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one oh three
point five FM on five sixty am w VOC. Once again,
here's Gary David and Christopher Thomas.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
Seven o three and it's wonderful to have you with
us here the day before Thanksgiving working on that turkey
about this time tomorrow morning, though.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
And you'll need a coat if you're outside.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Yeah, yeah, well love what tomorrow morning in the upper thirties,
we'll be above freezing tomorrow morning.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Thanks that's gonna be a big shock to the system.
Think about how long we've enjoyed this abnormally warm weather.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
It has been abnormal.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
Yeah, And it's sixty four degrees here at the radio
station right now. So we're looking for a big change
by this time tomorrow morning. Yeah. And it's gonna be
a little breezy too, so we have a little bit
of a wind. She'll working.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Wind's gonna cut right through you. I don't know it.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
I'd rather Thanksgiving get to feel like that than to
be seventy five. Oh sure, you know, sure? Same with Christmas?
Oh absolutely, yeah, absolutely. Growing up as a kid, I
was an Air Force brat. We made a move from
Ohio to Louisiana. I don't know, I was maybe eight
nine years old, and that first Christmas in Louisiana was

(25:56):
the most bizarre thing.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
You're in shorts, it's swampy.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
In a minute, what is this? Yeah, a couple of
big stories we're following on this before Thanksgiving Wednesday morning.
Trump says he'd rather not extend these Affordable Care Act subsidies,
but may not have any choice.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
It's the politically expedient thing to do.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
It just is it just is. Let's just face it.
Are we closer to an agreement on ending this war
in Ukraine. Word is Ukraine's agreeing to this proposal. We
haven't heard from the Russians yet. Don't don't hold your breath.
Vladimir Putin's going to do something, you bet we mentioned

(26:43):
last hour. We'll talk about again later on. Consumer confidence
is waning here as we headed the Christmas season, and
here one of the stories we want to spend a
little bit of time talking about is the arrest yesterday
morning early on this anti abortion activist who shot and injured,
did not kill, but shot and injured a man a
week ago Friday outside the Planned Parenthood clinic over a

(27:07):
forest drive. Mark Bomgardner, who I think is the executive
director of the group A Moment of Hope.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
And it was making pretty good money as the executive.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Director, Yeah, north of one hundred and ten thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
And I guess his wife is also an officer.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah. Yeah. This is a group that there's been around
since about twenty six well at least in twenty sixteen,
they've raised close to two million dollars and as executive director, yeah,
his salary more than one hundred and ten thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
So I've got a question right off the bat, Why
did it take so long to arrest him.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
That's a good question. I mean, I mean we saw
the video, Yeah, pretty much within a day or so
of it happening, if not sooner than that. But the
video we saw, I guess was of h Gardner. He
was the one wearing the orange vest being involved in
altercation with the man, and then pepper sprang the guy

(28:09):
and the guy runs after him and knocks him to
the ground and they're wrestling, and then at that point
a bum guner pulls out a gun and shoes the guy.
So was it self defense? Was it standard ground or not?
Some of the witnesses apparently have said that he was
actually Bob Gardner who started the altercation when this guy

(28:32):
that he shot was in his car and had a
few words of some sort to say and challenge. You
got to get out of the car. The guy did.
But yeah, you're right, his bomb. Guverner's lawyer Jim Griffin,
by the way, yesterday at a press conference that he
was shocked that they had arrested his client. Did not

(28:54):
see that one coming.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
You would think conversations like this happen every day. I mean,
that's a tense situation. You are if you are heading
into one of those clinics and then you know you're
you're met with I mean, I don't know how hostile
it got, but apparently to the point where you know,
you had people getting out of the car and then

(29:17):
suddenly and are these people always armed, because apparently not
only Bumgardner had a gun, but a woman approached. She
was one of his I don't know, co workers, maybe
his wife, I don't know. You just see a woman
on the video and she's got a gun, which is
again totally legal in the state. I get it. But
still that's just a recipe for disaster, given you know

(29:39):
how hostile those confrontations can be.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah, this is a volable situation, and probably each and
every day there are vounerable situations that happened outside that
abortion clinic. I'll call it what it is. It is
an abortion clinic. It is right, it's what it is.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
And now you've got somebody who's quote unquote pro life,
who tried to take the life of someone else.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Yeah, it's not a good look by any stretch to
the imagination. Now he's been charged with assault and battery
of a high, high and aggravated nature and possession of
a weapon during a violent crime. He was booked yesterday
morning alban ESCLND Detention Center. He's since been granted bond.
Be interesting to watch what comes out of this one.

(30:20):
And you can bet your bottom dollar that Jim Griffin
will put up a standard ground defense.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
But you can support the cause without supporting the methods
he used there.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yeah, it certainly was not a it's not a good
optic for the group, certainly.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
This is Colombia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher
Thompson on one O three point five FM and five
sixty AM w VOCs seven fourteen.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
If you're on I twenty between Colombia's, hey, I guess
you might be hitting a little bit of rain right now.
We've had some rain pop up along that that corridor
election in the county. It's like maybe getting a little
bit in a few spots, So big care. And if
you're traveling today, Triple a's best advice leave before eight am. No,
I'm sorry, eleven am. No, you don't want to leave
at eight am. Not today though, but before eleven get

(31:13):
on the road earlier. I mentioned to start I was
on the road twelve thirty yesterday leaving the radio station.
You'd have thought it was Friday at well, no, not Friday,
any other day of the week at you know, five o'clock.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
You would want you wonder how many people are actually
working today and how many have half days?

Speaker 3 (31:28):
If they're working, good point, If they are working, are
they really working? Yeah, this is one of those days.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
CBS reporting that.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Ukraine's government has agreed to a peace deal broken by
the Trump administration. This has been going on now for
nearly four years. The CBS story a quoting a US
official saying that a common standing on a proposal, the

(32:01):
Trump twenty eight point piece plan, has been reached. Some
details still need to be hammered out. No word yet
from Vladimir Putin in Russia, who, if again history is
any guide, we'll do something to upend this process. But
it looks like this was all, you know, going Vladimir's
way here. Ukraine's got to give up some more territory

(32:21):
they'd already given up. They got to limit their own forces.
It's not all one sided, but you would think it's
exactly what Vladimir Putin wants. And the speech that Zelensky
gave to his nation last Friday in which he said.
You know, at first he was not in favor of this,

(32:42):
but the tone of that speech and the things he
had to say, I think what pretty much told you
that he's resigning his country to accepting this peace plan
and getting this thing over with.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
He can read the writing on the wall, and he
knows that support in America has waned for a while,
and he's not going to much more from Trump.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Yeah, the US Army secretary apparently inn Abu Dhabi to
meet with Russian officials was yesterday, So just waiting now
to hear what Putin will say. Trump has said he
will not meet with these two together until either this
deal is done or is close to being done. So
apparently still a little ways away from that, but this

(33:21):
would be again, at least on the on the on
the international stage, a big win for the Trump White House.
Here at home, it's a big story, but it's not
the story anymore. It takes a second or third or
maybe fourth seat to a bunch of other stories going
on right now. But News says we may be close

(33:42):
on this.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
You're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one oh three
point five FM on five sixty am w VOC once again.
Here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Seven to twenty two. Appreciate you joining us with this
day before Thanksgiving. It's Wednesday, the twenty sixth. Well, that's
another way too early presidential poll here, at least a
primary poll. I mean way too early. It is twenty
twenty five already. Okay, can I.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
Haven't even gotten through the midterms yet.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, but they you know, it's what's better than a good,
you know, way too early poll. Here sat Anslom College
Survey Center, the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. It's not
an if this poll would go to be if this
pole holds up for the next couple of years, this
is going to be uh zero uh. Wondering about who's

(34:36):
going to win the Republican nomination, Fifty seven percent in
this poll say it should be Jade Vans. It's Jade Vans,
and then you know everybody else. The next highest vote getter,
if you will, is uh Marco Ruby at nine percent.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
That's not a surprise. I mean they're that was not
two highest profile members of the current administration.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
I'm wondering if that's spread though, is a little surprising. Yeah,
I think it would be Marco Rubio seven percent. Let's
see DeSantis at four, Ramaswami at four, Nikki Haley at four.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
Yeah. Ted Cruz just one percent in the vote, as
is Glenn Younkin of the former well soon to be
former Virginia governor who many thought was going to be
the rising star here. But yeah, if the vote were
held today, it would be a landslide.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Let's see Vance and Rubio in particular. Let's see how
they behave after the midterms and whether they start to
separate themselves. I mean, they've been best friends within the administration.
They say they're the two you know, they get along
the best within the cabinet. Let's see if they start
to separate and differentiate themselves from the other and from

(36:05):
Trump for that matter.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
That'll be interesting to see, won't it.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Yeah. Now, Vance has been in lockstep with Trump. Rubio
is really you know, he's done his own thing. He's
standing behind Trump every time Trump makes a major foreign
policy announcement. But otherwise Rubio hasn't weighed in on the
same controversies that the Advance has had to.

Speaker 3 (36:25):
Well, that's one of the things about being Secretary of
State is sometimes you're out of sight, out of mind. Yeah,
you know, because we don't pay near as much attention
as we used to to international affairs. The focus is
really here at home now, And I agree with that. So, yeah,
somebody in that position not necessarily you know the name,
and you hear about it from time to time, but
you're not paying a whole lot of attention. It might

(36:46):
be easier for somebody like him to kind of disses
himself from Trump. True, But yeah, you're right after the midterms.
That's as soon as the midterms are over. This is
when this presidential race really begins. Yeah, I know it's
gonna be a long slog.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
That's a lot of names that we heard the last
time around.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
Yeah, and Nicki Haley at four percent. I don't know
this gets much better than that for Haley quite honestly.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
Unless she comes out and does something else, because right
now she's been pretty low key.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
She has been Yeah, like incognito, low profile. Where's Nicki?
Four percent? That's it for her. The other interesting thing
about this is that people are pretty sure about who
they vote for. There were two percent that said they
vote for somebody else, and only ten percent said they
weren't sure. People are making up their minds early on

(37:35):
this one. Now, a lot could change between now and then,
but at least for now, yeah, people are pretty solid
in their picks. It looks like.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
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 3 (37:56):
Seven thirty three. Good morning, Big stories today, We're following
Supreme courts, a date for the state spring cord, that is,
for well hearing on whether or not Alex Morornad gets
a new trial, consumer confidence waiting hearing or getting squeamish
as we head into the Christmas season. Following that this morning,

(38:16):
and vacant teaching jobs dropping the bum out of state.
Some good news on the education front, we'll be talking
about that here in just a little bit. And of course,
one of the big stories now in the last number
of weeks is well, the calendar is ticking ever closer
to the end of the year and the expiration of
the Obamacare enhanced subsidies. Latest on this yesterday, the President

(38:37):
on board Air Force one talking to reporters saying that
he would prefer not to extend these subsidies. That would
be his preference, but in the same breath acknowledged that
it might be necessary to come up with some sort
of an agreement on healthcare legislation. Spoiler alert, it unfortunately is,

(38:59):
and it will happen again. Uh, Trump reiterating that his
preference is to pass a bill that would give the
money directly to you know, you and me through our
HSA accounts, and then to let us use that money
to purchase our own health care plans. The President sees this,
and I think this is a populous topic. Okay, well

(39:21):
of you know, big insurance companies, and he's like, they're
already making money hand over fist anyway. They're they're they're
killing us here, And so he set the health insurance
companies up to be the big boogeyman, which, well, a
lot of people would agree with that they are. But
I don't see how this really changes the equation at all.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
I still don't understand how it would work. So they
give it to us, and then we turn around and
pay the healthcare companies.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yeah, and the healthcare company's still going to set whatever
rates they want to set. They're still gonna hose.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Us, which everything's going up again next.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
Year, right, Yeah, even subsidies aside, you're going to pay
more to be on Obamacare in twenty twenty six, or
any health care plan, you're paying more. So I don't
know that this keeps, you know, these big health insurance
companies from as some will say, you know, lining their pockets.

(40:11):
And it certainly doesn't fix the problem that Well, there's
a lot of people in this country that work hard
each and every day and are subsidizing others some who don't.
Not all, and only make this picture of people in Obamacare, No,
not at all. At a lot of conservative minded people
who are entrepreneurs, who are you know, gig economy workers,

(40:34):
who own their own businesses. This is their only form
of getting health coverage for themselves and their families, or
for their employees, or they own a small business. But
this is not fixing the problem. Okay, So while he
says again he'd rather not, he does acknowledge it's probably
going to have to. So he's opened up the door

(40:55):
here to extending these subsidies and the plan the White
House was apparently working on well getting a lot of
pushback still from others inside the Republican Party because well,
number one, they haven't really seen the plan the White
House is working on, and we just keep hearing rumors, right,
and the sticking point is they want to know about

(41:17):
the expansion of abortion restrictions. For many of the Republican Party,
this is a must have. It's a non starter unless
these restrictions get expanded under the Trump plan. Here again,
these are well, they're not supposed to. Lots of states
are using federal dollars to pay for abortions, and this

(41:42):
is a big problem for a lot of people, me included.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
I don't know, if you're a conservative, I don't. I
don't know that dragging abortion into it makes it any
more palatable anyway. I mean, conservatives are going to they're
not going to want to vote for this anyway. So
I think this is opening a bit an even bigger
can of worms. And I don't think I don't think
any former fashion Mike Johnson is going to be able
to push this bill through the House, well with the

(42:13):
President's support or not.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
See. I think it happens because I think, well, let's
put it this way, for Republicans and safe districts, they
can afford to say no to this, but for those
who aren't they can't. Not If they want to come
back to DC in twenty twenty seven, because this is

(42:36):
going to be a no vote on this if you're
a Republican, and if this doesn't happen, is going to
be a no vote for you come the midterms.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
Because you voted to jack up the costs of everyone
as healthcare insurance.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
Yeah, absolutely so. Yeah, politically speaking, again, the President sees this,
Mike Johnson sees this. How many Republicans will see this,
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
You're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one oh three
point five FM on five sixty AM WVOC. Once again,
here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
Happy day before Thanksgiving to you. Good morning. It's seven
forty three Wednesday, November the twenty sixth Tim Gary David,
that is Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
And you've got some good news coming our way. I do. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
We went through a period where it didn't look good
at all as far as the vacancies in our schools here,
not the kids, the adults, the teachers. Those numbers were skyrocketing.
Not anymore. We had gosh, what was the number, I
mean it was two years ago we had more than

(43:51):
sixteen hundred open teaching positions in our state.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
And this was post COVID.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
This was yeah, this was after COVID. That well, there
were a number of reasons why teachers just became dissatisfied
with their profession and it wasn't all about money. That
number went from sixteen hundred and thirteen two years ago

(44:17):
down to one thousand and forty three last school year,
and at the start of this year. Now the numbers
are out and there's still teacher vacancies, but that numbers
down to seven hundred and six, So that's less than
half of what we saw just two years ago.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
It's not all about money, but I think money helps
and the status really invested in teachers. Local districts have
made their case too, and it's not just the dollars,
it's feeling valued.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
Yeah, I mean, hats off to government. Master. This has
been a big effort. This has been one of his
big pushes is to raise these teacher salaries. I mean, listen,
prior to the pandemic and the last year we saw
numbers this low was well the year the pandemic started,
and it was back to the twenty twenty one school year,
there were just under seven hundred vacancies. Yeah, we're in

(45:09):
seven o six now there six ninety nine pre pandemic,
so we're right about back to that level again. But
prior to the pandemic, the minimum state wide pay for
teachers was thirty two thousand dollars. That was the minimum.
They not to say that that's what they were making.
That was the minimum. That's gone up now from thirty

(45:32):
two k to forty eight five hundred dollars. That's a
fifty one percent increase in pay.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
That's a big jump. So all we say it's not
all about.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
The money, Well, we got fewer than half the vacancies
we had just two years ago. Again, that's that's pretty
much entry level pay. The Governor's has been fighting, uh
to get this up to well the statewide minimum by

(46:02):
next year of fifty thousand dollars. Again, this is starting pay,
you know for first time teachers. So uh A kudos
to the governor for working on that. Regardless of what
we might think about public school education. And again we're
seeing more and more parents that are taking their kids
out of public schools and going to the charter schools

(46:23):
and they're there are there are more options. It seems
like every.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Day options are good.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Options aren't good, And let's hope that as a result
of that that you know, public schools will they'll they'll
get better at what they do. But I think it
was they have to they got competition nowt Yeah, it
wasn't just about pay either.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
I know, the state was, you know, trying to ease
the burden on some of these teachers who were you know,
working non style it was, and then at home during
their open period they were putting together, you know, plans
for the next day. And it's trying to relieve some
of those burdens too. Oh yeah, I know a number
of school teachers. It's it's it's crazy how busy they are.

(47:03):
So yeah, it's not just about the money, and they're
working to try to raise all these other issues as well.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
So good news there, that is good news.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
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 3 (47:21):
Seven fifty one. Speaking of schools, We've got a school
from the Palmetto State. They'll be marching in Thanksgiving Day
parade tomorrow morning. Really which one Kataba Ridge High School
marching band do I know when they're gonna be listened. Yeah,
between got a window here between eleven twenty two and
eleven fifty two tomorrow morning. This is that's this? This

(47:43):
Thanksgiving Day? Is that Macy's parade? This is weird. This
is one of these things that every year. I guess
it's just tradition in our house when we're getting things
prepared on Thanksgiving morning, it's always on. Sure, So it's
one of those things I always kind of look forward to,
but I never actually really watch it on in the background.
On the background. I may pay attention for a few

(48:04):
minutes here or there, but that's that's about it. I'll
put it this way. I watch more of that than
I do of the Roseball Parade. I don't know, but
it's every year. Look, I look forward to that, Oh wow, Thanksgiving. Yeah,
we'll have the parade on in the background, but I
never ever sit and spend the time watching it.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
And then the more recent tradition, the National Dog Shows
right after that, and.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
I never watched that. I got my own dog man.
Come on, Yeah, I'm sorry. I love dogs. I couldn't
sit there and spend all that. I know. I know
some of you I know, I know people are all
about Yeah, I'm just not that guy. I know plenty

(48:43):
who are, but a a may I always make sure
I'm around for the end of that Macy's parade because
you want to see Santa.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
Oh, you gotta see Santa. That's the traditional beginning to
Christmas right there.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
And I you know, I don't want to go to
the dark side here on this, but oh boy, yeah,
I don't know think for a second the links that
New York City has to go to secure. It's one
thing to secure one building, or you know, the President
comes into town. You've got secret service all over the

(49:15):
place or what have you. But I mean to secure
a parade route like that one that is well, they've
got experience. They do it for Times Square. Yeah, I'm
going to say that that doesn't the Times Square, the
New York the New Year's Eve, that's even bigger. So
kudos to those those brief souls who not only get
out there and uh and and keep everybody safe, but

(49:39):
that the manpower, the number of hours that goes into
making that happen unbelievable. Traveling today, Triple A says, hit
the road before eleven, I don't know what it looks
like right now, but about an hour ago we saw
a shot from Columbia Metro the TSA lines and there
was nobody in line. It looks like it looks like
the place was closed down. Actually, good news. That will change, Yeah,

(50:02):
that'll change. Yeah. What was the number we had? We've
mentioned this earlier. It was eleven. No, I'm sorry eleven.
They expect to surpass last year's total number of travelers
over not just one day, but over the Thanksgiving holiday
at Columbia Metro last year was one point three million people.
That number staggers me. Ay, Columbia Metro, that many people. Wow.

(50:28):
And they also warned folks that the TSA waight times
could be during peak hours at least as long as
twelve to fifteen minutes, which is laughable. If you've ever
set out a TSA weight line at Atlanta or shar.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Or some other big airport, that's a blink of the eye.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
That is nothing, man, nothing.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
I wonder how many soldiers from Fort Jackson among those there.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
The big exodus doesn't start until like the first week
or so of December, so that's yeah, that Operation Exodus
is still a week or two away. But that's always something. Yeah,
it's seven fifty four. We appreciate you joining us. It
is the Wednesday morning edition of Columbia's Morning News.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
You're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one O three
point five and a half half five sixty eight. I'm
WVOC once again. Here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
Got it cranked up, man morning.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
It is eight oh three.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Hey, appreciate you spending some time with us this morning.
Thank you as always, Today Wednesday, November twenty six, we'll
go down in the history books here at the radio
range as the final edition of Columbia's Morning News.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
I just came up with something to add to your list.
By the way, Oh oh, the listener is getting longer. Okay,
Uh no, it's yeah it is. It is the final
edition of Columbia's Morning News. What does that mean?

Speaker 3 (51:53):
Not much? Uh. The name change happens Monday. We will
be South Carolina's Morning News. And that's because well listen,
you know, like every other show, if you have on
the on iHeart radio stations, we're already worldwide. I mean
been that way for a long time with the iHeartRadio

(52:13):
app which if you don't have it doesn't cost you
anything at all. Give it as a gift this season.
You can, you know, pick us up. You set us
as the number one pre set on the app, and
wherever you go anywhere, you can pick us up. Okay,
but you know, if you want to listen to us
on the radio, which many of you prefer, you know,

(52:34):
here in Colombia it's one of three point five FM
and five sixty AM and that AM signal. AM signals
are weird. Sometimes they're really good and sometimes not, but
they go a long way. But we will starting Monday,
be heard also on ninety four to three WSC and Charleston.
So the Charleston radio market is getting ready to get

(52:56):
there their first taste. Welcome to the party, pals. So
we debut South Carolina's morning news come Monday. And if
you've been listening to all this week, you know we're
on kind of a different time schedule than we have
been in the past. This is the time schedule we'll
be on. You know, for example, in the if you
just joined us right now, a week ago, we were

(53:16):
doing you know, we weren't on until like, you know,
fifteen after the hour or whatever. So things have changed
as far as that's concerned the layout of the program,
but the antent of the program and the participants don't change.
So there you go. All right, it don't be surprised
Monday when you hear say South Carolina's Morning News and

(53:37):
we start mentioning some other radio station. What's that? No
big deal? Okay, big stories again we're falling today. Well
one of them is this that as we now embark,
I mean Black Fridays in two days. Well, truth of
the matter is Black Friday has been going on for
at least a month.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Right once these big box retail stores realized they could
start averaging. But I mean it started online. You know,
there were Black Friday deals you could only get online.
But then they realized, okay, why limit it to online purchases,
Let's just open up the store starting November one.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
Yeah, well they'll they'll be you know, these big box places,
they're going to be open, you know, early six o'clock
Friday morning.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Does anybody still do that?

Speaker 3 (54:25):
I suppose, I don't know, not like they used to.
I'm sure, but oh yeah, there's still gonna be gobs
of people out there. For some it's just it's just
a tradition. You know, I'd rather watch grass grow. It
would have to be a pretty good deal. Oh yeah, because.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
Most of these deals are available now anytime.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
Sure, but for some it's just the thrill of doing it.
So as we enter that season now went to the
decided to do a poll and ask us we're going
to spend this year? Now, we do have worries here
and the consumer a Confidence index for November dropped almost
seven points from October. This is the lowest reading in

(55:07):
the Consumer Confidence Index now since about April, The Board's
chief economist Dana Peterson saying that consumers are notably more
pessimistic about business conditions six months from now. Okay, number one,
what do we really know about that? You ask your

(55:28):
average you know, Joe or Jane, what do you think
the economy is going to be like in six months?

Speaker 1 (55:34):
Okay, we're just trying to pay this month's bills.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
See number one. We're starting with right now. Yeah, what
do we know about what business condition is going to
be like in six months? Quite honestly, that's a stupid statement.
That's a dumb question, but there it is. We saw
a good jobs number last Friday that came out way
exceeding market expectations. I number was of course delayed because

(56:01):
of the government shut down, so we would have got
it sooner than we did.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
But again that was good news.

Speaker 3 (56:07):
Wall Street is betting more and more and more on
another rate cut next month when the Feds meat for
the final time of twenty twenty five. If we get
another you know, say, quarter percent cut, that'll be the
third straight. It's it's to me, it's all and I
get it. I mean, I understand. There are you know,
you go to a grocery store. You know, the price

(56:28):
of beef has been higher than it's been, but the
price of you know, eggs and milk and things like
that have come down. I still I saw another story
this morning claiming that the price of turkeys was up.
I don't know where y' all buying your turkeys that
write these stories.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
There were a lot of deals to be had if
you especially if you bought early. Yeah, maybe they're talking
about last minute turkeys.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
Maybe. So again, we bought a twelve pound turkey for
three dollars in change. It's like nineth is less than
I guess twelve cents a pound. Well anyway, but the
point is is consumer confidence is waning. Second lowest level
of the year. And so Winthrop does a poll here

(57:10):
in the Palmetto State to see what we're thinking, and
we'll share some of those results coming up here in
just about four minutes on the Wednesday edition of Columbia's
Morning News.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher
Thompson on one O three point five FM and five
sixty AM.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
W VOC say thirteen, all right, so we're just talking
about consumer confidence waning here in November. Lewis since has
been back in April, and then winterro did a poll.
Usually Winter does a poll it's about politics, but I
guess you could bread through the lines on this one
say it's about politics too. Of course everything is when
it comes to the economy. What do we what do
we people in South Carolina? Are we going to spend

(57:57):
the same this this Christmas shopping season? More or less?
What have you? Now?

Speaker 1 (58:01):
That don't look now?

Speaker 3 (58:02):
But there are as of today, just twenty nine shopping
days before Santa arrives. WHOA, that's it? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (58:14):
When was this poll taken? Do you have the date?
Because I can think of a group of people, federal
workers who probably would have said less at that point.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
Yeah, it was November eighth through the sixteenth. Well, yeah, yeah, hello,
during the shutdown, during the shutdown. Okay, though, there's a
big problem with this poll right there. Yeah, and you
know this from first hand experience. Right, your wife, how
many pay checks.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Did she miss? I think it was just one?

Speaker 3 (58:40):
Just one?

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
Has she gotten her back pay yet?

Speaker 1 (58:42):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (58:42):
Okay, good party time and no.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
But I certainly on November eighth would not have said
we're going to spend more at Christmas.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
Right and in a state like South Carolina, with the
military presence we have here a number of federal workers,
that was a lot of people impacted. So yeah, there's
one problem with this poll right there. But what it
found even so, and I don't know this is editorial
slant or what from the Posting Courier, but the article

(59:11):
starts off by saying that a substantial number of South
Colinians say they're cutting back on presidents this season, according
to a new winter poll. Well, the result, fifty eight
percent they will say they'll spend the same or even
maybe even more money this year. So it's how are
we cutting back? Well, forty two percent say they'll spend less. Okay, Okay,

(59:41):
So the headline could have read majority of South Countians
to spend at least as much or more this Christmas,
but no, the slant was the other way around, that
a substantial number of South Conions will spend less and
as the headline screams, low middle income families to spend
less this year. Okay, Yeah, that's editor slant right there. Sure,

(01:00:04):
I get it. I bet if you took this poll
every year, you probably come up with the same results.
And as you pointed out, this bull was taken during
the government shutdown, So that's the problem right there. Okay.
Goes on to say, though here in South Carolina that
we are all in all slightly more positive about the

(01:00:24):
economy that America as a whole. That Gallup put out
a survey just recently saying that only fifteen percent of
Americans so they were better off financially. In South Carolina,
it's twenty percent of us who say we're better off
financially than we were, So, yeah, slightly more optimistic. Here

(01:00:45):
in little old South Carolina, a professor is freaking because
he's wondering where are all the young anti trumpsters out there? Yeah,
we'll tell you about this guy. Coming up here just
a few. It is eight seventeen. This is the Wednesday
morning edition. Sure feels like Friday of Columbia's Morning News.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
You're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one oh three
point five FM on five sixty am WVOC. Once again,
here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson's.

Speaker 3 (01:01:18):
Say twenty two And apparently someone the left are freaking
out that there's not enough people freaking out about Donald Trump.
Brendan Nihan, a professor of government at Dartmouth University, New
York Times essay that was published earlier this week lamenting
the uh the lack of young people protesting Trump's policies,

(01:01:42):
that Gen Z Americans have not taken to demonstrating against
Trump the way their liberal boomers are, and he said
this is a problem as Trump has been subverting the
rule of law and breaking constitutional constraints on his power.
That the absence of young people from convention protest is
both a problem and a warning. See, you can never

(01:02:06):
satisfy these people, and they are you know, the last
election showed us more and more young people were like, Okay,
enough of these liberal policies already.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
They don't want to live in mom and his dad's
basement forever, not forever.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
They got There is some hope for the younger generation.
And now whether or not they, you know, are maga
or are staunchly conservative or not, is beside the point
right now. They're they're not what their parents were. They're
not like Jimmy, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. You know, I
don't know about you, mister Thompson, but I'll be the

(01:02:46):
first to confess when I was, you know, eighteen nineteen
twenty years old, I won't say I was liberal, but
I wasn't conservative.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
You see the world differently until you start paying taxes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
Yeah, right, until you see that big old hunk taking
out of your paycheck every every couple of weeks, until
you first start making a mortgage payment, which these days
it's not like forty years old, but still, you know,
when you you get out from nder mom and dad
and you try to make it on your own, then
then a lot of a lot of folks kind of
like I was, you start to take it on more

(01:03:24):
conservative viewpoints. Well, we may be in luck here because
maybe this younger generations taking them on a little earlier now,
and this Dartmouth professor is beside himself about this. He
even talked about the No Kings protest. He said, you know,
the scale of protest is not as large as one
might expect given the severity of a threat.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Well that's not what we heard when those protests were
being held. It's not just about gimme, gimme, gimme too
it or it's about more than that. You know, these
that generation lives in a place where they want to
feel safe. So if you have a party that's screaming,

(01:04:06):
you know, defund the police. They don't want to live there.
They don't want to worry about crime every day. No,
so it taxes, it's crime, it's everything.

Speaker 3 (01:04:17):
And crime in and of itself. These my generation, our generation,
the Baby Boom generation, we didn't grow up worried about
that like this, right, I mean, it is at a
whole nother level right now. I mean when you got
people being you know, like the younger Ukrainian woman in
Charlotte getting stabbed on the light rail. When you've got

(01:04:39):
the woman in Chicago getting set on fire by a
guy by the way with again an extensive rap sheet
and a guy that was on the streets. Thanks to
Pritzker's no cash bail. Yeah, young people today got a
lot more worried about when it comes to crime than
we ever thought about. It was maybe at the last

(01:05:00):
thing on your mind growing up, but it wasn't forefront.
I think with today's kids, they're a lot more cognitan
of it. They have to be well, we all do.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
The only the way they're a little different, I think
is on some of the social issues. For example, these
you know, trans the old man versus woman in sports,
and you know, using different restrooms, et cetera. Because they've
they've encountered that their entire lives. At this point, it's
something you and I didn't encounter, but they've been through

(01:05:28):
it their entire lives. Now, they've been taught since day
one be tolerated everyone around you, even if they're different,
and they don't even blink an eye, you know, when
they go into a classroom and see one of these
kids dressed up as a furry a furry.

Speaker 3 (01:05:42):
Yeah. Well, the excuse, by the way, this guy gives
for why young people aren't demonstrating these days is he
says they're demoralized and demobilized due to many of the
previous year's mass protests getting a little done. There.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
You have it right there, Well, that's part of it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
Get out in the streets and holler all you want
to have you changed anything, no matter of fact, you
might have changed it the other way around, because people
are sick of hearing it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
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 3 (01:06:21):
Say thirty four, it is good to have you with
us here on this Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving is
the twenty sixth of November, twenty nine shopping days left
before Christmas. Time to start those reminders. Now the clock's
taking friends. We just got to get from the Trump administration.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
What do we get?

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
Well, I guess it's more like what we didn't get. Okay,
that's good. The Department of Interior releasing at least the
first draft of their National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and
Gas Leasing program. There are some folks that aren't happy
about this. There are thirty four new potential offshore drilling sites,
twenty one in the last Okay, I'm fine with that.

(01:07:04):
It's not like you're going to the beach in Alaska.
And you're going to be concerned that, Wow, look at
that offshore drilling thing out there in the water. That's hideous. Okay, Alaska,
this is not a problem, right, The problem is going
to be Yeah, if you if you drill trying to
get that that that oil from Alaska back down to

(01:07:28):
the cotton in the United States, because then the environmental
it's going to get involved. Right about twenty one in Alaska,
seven in the Gulf Coast, including Florida, and six off
the Golf Coast in California. I say, put them off
the coast of California. Well, I guess we have to
go where the oil is. Well, that's that's true. So

(01:07:48):
there's there are no locations off of our coastline, or
for that matter, the entire Atlantic coast. Yeah, Florida on
the Gulf Coast are they're they're they've come up with
some sites, but as far as the Atlantic seaboard is concerned, none.
I I you know, I get I don't want to
go down. I don't want to get to my favorite
beach in preous al of Palms, but and have to

(01:08:11):
look at that. Yeah, I get it. It's bad enough
to sit on the beach at atle of Palms and
see some of those big old you know tankers, those
cargo ships coming in and out. That's that's a little
it's a little mood spoiling. But hey, you know whatever,
it could be worse.

Speaker 1 (01:08:23):
Well, Trump lives on the East coast too. He doesn't
want to see it either.

Speaker 3 (01:08:26):
Probably that's probably exactly what this is all about, certainly
the governor's offices. And again I don't know what the
relationship is between the governor and the president of these days.
I don't think they they're not like you know, it's
not like Lindsay Graham and Trump. But you know, let's
face it, don't forget McMaster was the first state wide

(01:08:49):
politician in twenty fifteen to come out and endorse Donald Trump,
and I don't Again, I don't think Trump ever forgot that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:57):
And there's never been a break in their friendship. I mean,
Lindsey and Trump have been on and off for year, yes.

Speaker 3 (01:09:02):
Exactly, but not so a big master of Trump, So
that may have played into it. But then again, the
fact that there's not a single site up and down
the Atlantic coast, that's probably got really more to do
with it. But good news is and this could change,
I suppose, at least in the first draft. None of
that off our coast. This is the not my We
need this, but just not in my backyard.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
And as big as tourism is to our state, we don't.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
Need we don't need that in our backyard.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
You're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one oh three
point five FM on five sixty am w VOC. Once again,
here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Eight forty two reminders.

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
It's starting Monday, and you tune in, you'll be hearing
us say South Carolina's Morning News. Don't be shocked. You know,
what you see is what you get, right, I mean,
nothing is really changing as far as what we do here.
We're just we're adding a new station to our to
our family of stations, and that'll be ninety four to
three WSC and Charleston, one of my favorite places to

(01:10:05):
be outside of here. Of course, it's talking about about
Ala Pum Love Love head out of the pomps Man.
So we're looking forward to making a bunch of new
friends down in the low Country. That begins on Monday.
But we're not moving, No, we're not moving. We're still here.
In Columbia. We're still hanging out here with you every morning,
doing things we've always been doing for now for twenty
almost twenty five years. I don't know the exact date,

(01:10:27):
do you. I know it's January is our twenty fifth anniversary. Actually,
if you don't. We actually did a version of the
show in the late nineties. Again, we did a couple
of years. Yeah, so it's really been more than twenty five,
but still twenty five consecutive.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
I have a written down somewhere.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
I know you would.

Speaker 1 (01:10:42):
Yeah, I've got a calendar from those days.

Speaker 3 (01:10:45):
And the only reason I remember it what you what? Oh? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
What are you a Hoarderah? A little bit when it
comes to stuff like that. Yes, okay, I know you're
so sentimental. Man, Well all these years, I never do that.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
I did. Actually I only remember because that was you know,
two thousand and one.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
Oh right, right, it wasn't It was just September of
that year when the world changed.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
Yeah yeah, so uh yeah, come come Monday, you'll you'll
hear the show has a new name, but it's the
same faces face faces, well the voices that faces behind them. Okay,
we got a big football game this weekend. By the way,
if you're planning at the tailgate, bundle up and you

(01:11:35):
might want to consider warming your interage with hot chocolate
or coffee instead of liquor.

Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
Yeah, good luck with that message.

Speaker 3 (01:11:43):
Yeah, I know it's gonna be sub freezing Saturday morning
with that with a new kickoff, Yeah, tailgate is going
to start early.

Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
Spiked coffee will be yeah at a premium.

Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
Yeah. With the twenty eight or so twenty seven Saturday
morning and the high Saturday, it's gonna look beautiful, but
it'll only be forty eight to maybe fifty degrees tops.
That'll be the high temperature. So prepare yourself for all that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:09):
And we'll see how many of the college kids take
off their shirts for this one.

Speaker 3 (01:12:13):
That's the beginning of the thing that's that's become a thing.
Where did that start? I'm not sure where it started.
Suddenly they're all doing it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
But yeah, and Carolina fans there.

Speaker 3 (01:12:22):
Some of the students picked up on it, and some
of them really shouldn't be doing I mean, honestly, you know,
you get enough beers in them. What do they care? Right,
It's true, what do they care?

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
I'll they'll even care on Saturday if it's that cold,
We're not built for that around here.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
Yeah, but this is an opportunity to show your masculinity, right, Yeah,
I can dig and do it. No, yeah, go ahead,
go ahead, Shane Babers. You've been telling some other sports
back for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (01:12:49):
Yes, yeah, you got the state newspaper with the official
headline that he will return. Jeremiah Donati his new boss, remember,
do not he didn't hire him?

Speaker 3 (01:12:58):
Nope.

Speaker 1 (01:12:58):
So there were questions going into the season about what
Beemer needed to do, and obviously he hasn't met expectations.
But Beemer says better things are ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:13:08):
Does the timing? Is it timing doing it right before
the Clemson game? Is that intentional?

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Or well? It certainly that doesn't hurt recruiting.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
Yeah, I guess no. I kind of thought we'd wait
to hear something after the game. But depending on I
guess it. I guess it. Obviously didn't depend on the
outcome of the game.

Speaker 1 (01:13:25):
Well, and Shane's still out on the employment trail. I mean,
he's trying to hire people, and they they've got to
know that he's got the he's got the future to
hire them.

Speaker 3 (01:13:35):
Yeah, Well, this is going to upset some folk, I know,
a fewer than if this had news to come out
a week ago. Funny, what a landslide win over Well.
I don't mean to be derogatory here, but an inferior opponent,
a smaller school, a smaller school can do for the psyche.
But we'll we'll reconsider come Monday. Yeah, we'll see what

(01:13:59):
the results of the game weekend are because I uh
yeah that that big coastal win will fade into oblivion
quick if things don't go well for the game talks
this weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:14:08):
And then no matter what, because of the season, he's
going to be on every hot seat list. Oh sure,
going in his twenty twenties.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
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 3 (01:14:27):
Some time now for our final thoughts for Wednesday, number
twenty six, that is eight to fifty one. This is
maybe the ultimate. If you have to ask, you can't
afford it. A home on the battery in Charleston, Oh boy,
hitting the market asking price twenty eight million dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
Wow, well those don't come open every day, so that's
no that's a rear find anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:14:50):
But actually there have been several sold this year. It
was kind of unusual.

Speaker 1 (01:14:55):
It is.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
Back in February, a home on the East Battery sold
for eighteen point twenty five million dollars. Interestingly enough, that
home the listing agents, well, Scott Bessett and his listing
agents Casino Group. Yeah, that's God bess at the US
Treasury Secretary. Yeah, who's of course from the state. A

(01:15:18):
little less than a month ago, one sold for twenty
one million and some change. Now this one, the Drayton House,
twenty eight million dollars is asking price. But get a
load of this. The people that bought it, that own it,
they bought it in twenty twenty two, did they apparently
extensive renovation. They bought it for seven point one million dollars.

(01:15:42):
They're listening it for four times that amount. I hope
they put a lot into it. I hope they did
for that price tago. By the way, it comes fully furnished, well,
I would hope. So probably with a little bit of
history too. Yeah, the history is really the big thing.

Speaker 1 (01:15:55):
I was just comparing it. I guess the record price
around here nine point two five million for a Lake
Murray estate.

Speaker 3 (01:16:02):
Yes, a couple of months ago. So yeah, I couldn't
have quite swung that one either, I don't think so.
Don't think we had the story a couple of weeks
ago about an artificially an artificial intelligence generated song that
was toping the Billboard Country charts. Now there's Solomon Ray

(01:16:28):
top artist on the iTunes Top one hundred Christian and
Gospel album chart last week. Yeah, Solomonari doesn't exist either,
another artificially intelligenced generated everything, the music, the persona, everything,
all of it artificial. This though, is not Guns n'

(01:16:49):
Roses hitting the road. Wow, twenty twenty six world too.
I think the closest are coming to us is I
think gonna be in Atlanta. I want to say they're
going to be in Raleigh too. That's as close as
as we'll get throwback music. Yeah, and putting out two
new singles that apparently they actually wrote and performed themselves,
not artificially intelligence generated, I guess. And just in time

(01:17:10):
for Christmas comes this morning. Postal inspectors say that a
new scam involving counterfeit postage stamps could be problematic. Here's why,
because if their sensors detect that the stamp is counterfeit,
the package itself is destroyed.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
Ooh yeah, don't risk it.

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
How would you even know? Says If you go to
a website it talks about, you know, discount stamps, don't
you didn't get my present? No, oh, must have been
that counterfeit stamp thing that's going to do it for us.
We hope you have a terrific Thanksgiving, a good weekend,
and we'll see a Monday at South Carolina This Morning News.
See you then,