May 9, 2025 • 36 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Buy from Higher top Monroe Center in downtown Grand Rapids.
We're talking about what matters most to you when West
Michigan joined the conversation. Now at six one six seven
seven four twenty four twenty four. At six one six
seven seven four twenty four twenty four, it's West Michigan
Live with Justin Barklay on Wood Radio Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome in. It's a beautiful day here in West Michigan.
The Mother's Day weekend high a top downtown ground Rapids
with it. Runners will be racing through the streets this
weekend as well. What a fantastic weekend to be in
West Michigan.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Home.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, I would have spent some time here of the
new Pope right at least excited about that, folks. I'll
get into that story and all the biggest headlines and
more coming out. But Tariff's working so well. Yeah, even
the new Pope is an use.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Weather and traffic. His stories of the day. We are
talking about what matters most in West Michigan and beyond.
This is the big three now speak three.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
The stories of Mademost. You'll be talking about these around
the water cool at dinner table. Now are where you are,
Our good friend Dave got Away of the team at
Hartlett Home Mortgage, ready to help you buy refy home
equity line of credit HHM lending dot com. They've they've
done this for us in so many different ways. Always
a pleasure working with them. Faster, quicker, better than the
big banks. HHM lending dot Com is the way to
(01:40):
go again. The pope is named. Yes, you're knowing that
smoke came pouring out of the chimney yar at the
Sisti and Chaplains. We got a new pope, Cardinal Robert
Privas chosen yesterday. But the conclave of cardinals white smoke
(02:03):
coming out, and then he appeared in front of the
masses there. Originally from Chicago, ties to West Michigan, spent
some time here and did a seminary here, and I
believe a high school as well. He spent some time
in the area throughout West Michigan. But what kind of
pope will he be? We have some indication and there
is some there is some criticism. Some of that may
(02:23):
be fair, But at the end of the day, I
think only time will tell. Because he's also got some things.
He looks like he might be strong on too, so
We can break some of that dat a little bit
later on today. But the big news, the headlined folks
are giddy of her. Arff's working so well. Even the
new Pope is made in America. It's a pretty hey
(02:49):
and it looks like it's working out great for us. Anyway,
we got more to cover here. Story number two, another
big one. Oh no, a's that order. Judge Janine gets
called up to the big legs. She's been named the
interim US Attorney in DC. This is what happens when
you fool around and find out Tom tellis Senator there.
(03:13):
Republican said he didn't want to move forward with Ed
Martin Trump's original pick, and so he gets Judge Janine.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Here are some other headlines tonight breaking. Just minutes ago,
one of the co hosts of The Five, Judge Janine Piro,
will be appointed interim United States Attorney for the District
of Columbia. President Trump announced that on Truth Social just
moments ago. Janine was assistant Restrict Attorney for Westchester County,
New York, and then went on to serve as county
judge and District Attorney, where she was the first woman
(03:44):
ever to be elected to those positions. She will be
leaving Fox to take this position.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I will tell you it was really interesting. I latched
President Trump's demeanor and his response when they asked him
about what do you think about this? Senator Tom Tillis
isn't moving forward with this. There are a lot of outrage,
there's a lot of frustration online for folks. No, we
got a primary. These soks. We got to you know,
And I get it because these people standing away at
(04:09):
President Trump's agenda, they they ought to feel the consequences.
We've elected him to get things done and if they're
standing in his way, then they're gonna get bulldozed over.
And I think that might be evident. His demeanor was
just so calm. Oh, that's too bad. Ed Martin's a
great guy, he said, you know, but I understand they've
(04:30):
got to have you know, they've got to have their
their pick. And so then he says introim Judge janay
mbercing here, well, we saw that coming. Speaking of which,
quite have been the back and forth on this over
the last few days. In the last weeks, we've been
watching the judge of the trial of former Grand Rapids
(04:51):
Police Department officer Christopher Sure declaring a mistrial. Yesterday, the
jury remained deadlocked. Again. We told you about this, We
were following all the way through, and it was to me,
I thought very interesting, the entire the entire trial, following
it rather closely. In fact, I say, we kind of
(05:13):
thought that this, we'd heard, you know, the deadlock earlier
this week, kind of thought that this was coming. Didn't
think there was going to be a guilty in there
at all. They were unable to come to that unanimous.
To to when I'm hearing a one or two holdouts,
what it means the prosecution could choose to retry the case.
Ports say, the jury was overwhelmingly in favor of acquittal,
(05:33):
only two maybe one or two holdouts all together. And
they weren't out yesterday because it was like nobody at
the courthouse when this verdict came down during our show yesterday.
But they were protesting and marching in the streets last
night through three Grand Rapids down to the police department.
(05:55):
Nobody out there this morning, as you can imagine, it's
a little too early. It's a little too early for
all of that, it sounds like anyway, for those for
those that do that sort of thing, protesting Black lives man,
don't know that other stuff. All right, folks, it's free
for all Friday, so we give you a chance to
(06:17):
jump in on a conversation today too. You can do
just that the iHeartRadio app. Couple of ways to do it,
suggest using that playback feature the little microphone next to
the play button, hit it and rent. Or you can
jump on the phone this morning.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Call Justin now at six one, six seven seven four
twenty four at six one, six seven seven twenty four
twenty four, West Michigan Live with Justin Barclay on News
Radio Wood thirteen hundred and one oh six nine a
f M.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Is another tree for you. We had coverage during this
trial for the local television stations, but I think some
of the best coverage came from a man who's got
a shell that he does online. He said, attorney called
the Law of Self Defense is his website and his
name is Andrew Brink. In fact, had a chance to
catch up with him yesterday. It's a full podcast that'll
come out this weekend, and he breaks down the trial
(07:10):
in some great depth. But I wanted you to hear
a little bit about what he had to say about it.
All of self defense, Andrew Brenka. If you've been watching
this trial, Officer Christopher sure the former Grand Rapids Police
Department officer. Lots of folks here in West Michigan and
I'll cross the country really have been watching this trial.
And I found the most fascinating way to watch it
(07:33):
personally is with Andrew, who is an expert in the
field and offering a really great commentary. Feeld All, Andrew,
thank you so much the attorney here taking a time
to be here with us today.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
It's my pleasure, happy to do it anytime.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So you do this quite a bit. You've got a
book that you've written. You're helping people walk people through there.
It is, by the way, we're going to get into
that and let people because you get the book for free,
we'll tell.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
You how to do.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
But the thing is, you're doing this not just with
this trial. You're doing this with a lot of trials,
and you you've got a lot of folks watching and
listening online. But that the thing that we've mostly recently
discovered you is because this trial has been such a
hot button issue here in our our areas. So I
want to start with this and then come maybe you
can like walk us through who you are, how you
(08:21):
get to what you're doing, and and and and maybe
you can walk us through this trial. But I just
want to start with this piece. I don't think this
guy ever should have been charged. I don't think Officer
Sure ever should have been charged. I you know, listening
to what you're saying, and it's everything is very reasonable.
And I from what I'm hearing now, it looks like
much of the jury felt the same way.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I'm hearing the same thing about the jury. Now, this
this case should never have been brought. There's literally zero
evidence in this case inconsistent with self defense. In a
case where the prosecution knows full well going into it
that it's his burden to disprove self defense, not just
this prove it, but disprove it beyond any reasonable doubt.
(09:04):
That was impossible on the law and facts in this case. Now,
that said, anytime you're in front of a jury, there's
at least a ten percent chance to get convicted, no
matter how innocent you are. Innocent people get convicted. That's
just noise in the system. So there was always a
possibility Christopher Sure could be convicted here, but it would
not have been on the law and the facts. It
(09:24):
would have been because of a biased jury or people
not understanding what the law was supposed to because of
some of this judge's rulings, some of her rulings on
evidence really biased this trial against this poor defendant who
did nothing wrong.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Let's start. Let's let's just start with that. You know,
some of the major things that stood out to you,
you know, in maybe through the trial that because as
we know now we've got a hung jury, so we
got a mistrial. That means this thing, as we now
know as it it could be reached tried. What are
(10:01):
the odds of that? A lot of speculation question about that,
and political motives in the climate, et cetera surrounding that.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Well, I mean, the prosecution was always politically motivated. It
was not based on law and facts that the prosecutor
had to know unless he's incompetent, that he didn't have
a real prospect of getting a conviction here on the
legal merit. So the only reason to bring the case
is political, and unfortunately prosecutors are elected officials. It is political.
If the population in Grand Rapids is trending more progressive,
(10:31):
he's going to have to move with that trend or
he won't be reelected. George Soros will drop a couple
hundred grand on somebody to oppose him, and he'll be
out of a job. So, if you're a political officer,
and that's what this prosecutor is, you have to kind
of follow the political trends of your community. Now, if
it were me, I have to be honest, I would
quit before I would bring a prosecution like this. But
(10:52):
some people they really want to keep their job.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So if in fact this is retried, there are a
lot of issues throughout the trial. Okay, so we know
the defense is raised. Is the situation of the judge
making different facial expressions, rolling her eyes at a certain times,
especially when Officer sure was on the stand. Are these
(11:18):
good things going to play into the next trial and
are they going to have some ability to bring this
up Before that happens.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
They'll have a chance to bring it up. I mean
they filed formal emotions to have the judge basically recuse
herself from the case. Normally, what would happen if there
is a retrial, and that's entirely up to the prosecutor.
No one else makes that decision. If there is a retrial,
it would normally come back to the same judge who
tried it the first time, So there would have to
be some exception to the norm to prevent the second
(11:45):
trial from being in front of this same judge, who
is horrible. By the way, She's just a bad judge.
Her rulings are not well reasoned. There's clear bias here.
She excluded evidence that was absolutely relevant to the defense,
just waving her hand and saying it's not relevant. And
I'm hearing that she was changing the jury instructions on
the lawyers. Both says the lawyers changing the jury instructions
(12:06):
up to hours before the jury was to be instructed.
How is the defense supposed to prepare defense if they
don't even know what the instructions are going to be,
that the jury is going to get. Just a bad judge.
She shouldn't be. She shouldn't be overseeing any cases, much
less a case where a man is looking at life
in prison and she apparently has a clear bias against
(12:27):
that defendants interest. The judge is supposed to be the
impartial referee, and for a judge to be doing things
from the bench that can suggest to the jury that
they should arrive at one verdict or another is just
grossly ethically wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, I know you mentioned there were a couple of
things throughout your streaming that you brought up, and I
thought those were worth taking a look at. So let's
start with and maybe you walk us through. But just
like from the very beginning, you know those things that
you said that she wouldn't allow in, which I thought
(13:01):
was kind of fascinating, the opening statements, and through what
you know, walk us through what went wrong and where,
because I thought it was interesting. You weren't just critical
of the prosecution, you were also critical of the defense.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
They were awful. I'm sorry. I may meet these lawyers someday,
and if I do, I'm sorry. I just I don't
know what you're like. In other cases, they have a
good reputation, and if you look at your BAIO, it's
very impressive, but I can only judge them by what
I saw in this trial, and it was awful. It
was absolutely terrible. We can circle back to that though,
I mean your first question was about the judge. So
(13:36):
the judge allowed in evidence that was irrelevant and very prejudicial,
and then refused to allow in counter evidence from the defense.
So I'll give you an example. The only evidence that
should matter here that's relevant is evidence at the moment
the officer had to make the decision whether or not
to use deadly defensive force, the moment of crisis, when
(13:57):
Patrick Leeya has put that caser in his dominant hand,
gripped it like a pistol as turning to apply it
to the officer. That's what matters in terms of the
officer's decision in self defense. Not stuff that happened minutes earlier,
Not when he chose to do the foot pursuit, when
he chose to tackle Patrick Leya, when he chose to
(14:18):
deploy his taser in self defense earlier in the fight,
the moment when Patrick Lillia grabbed the taser and never
let go of it for the rest of his life.
All that earlier stuff is irrelevant to a proper legal
analysis of this use of force decision. But the state
argued that, oh no, we have to consider all that
stuff as if an officer engaging in a foot pursuit
(14:40):
should not have the right to self defense if that
suspect tries to kill him later in the confrontation, that
is insane. So the judge should never have allowed that argument,
and that the foot pursuit was unreasonable and therefore the
use of force later on was unreasonable when the officer's
life was at stake. But once having let that evidence
by the prosecution about the foot pursuit being unreasonable in,
(15:02):
she then denied the defense the opportunity to introduce evidence
to show that the foot pursuit was not only reasonable,
but this officer had previously received a commendation for engaging
in exactly the same kind of foot pursuit. She said,
that was irrelevant. That is egregious. If you're gonna let
in the bad argument from the prosecution, at the very
least you have to allow in the counter argument from
(15:24):
the defense.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
This just scratches, barely scratches the surface the conversation with
Attorney Andrew Branko Jink. It just really is a fantastic
job of breaking it all down.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
It's available for Locals members right now, which is free
to watch at justin barklay dot com slash Locals. The
podcast will drop this weekend, so you'll be able to
see it any end everywhere, as it'll stream live and
dropp into our podcast feed the iHeartRadio appor wherever you
download your podcast, you'll be able to get it this weekend. Again.
That is attorney Andrew Brinka with Law of Self Defense
(15:59):
dot COM's Law of Self Defense dot Com. He's got
a great book. He wrote the book on it, in fact,
the Law of Self Defense Book, which he offers for
free to get it into the hands of people. It's
just at the pace shipping and handling to get educated
so that you already no matter what comes your way.
(16:20):
Fantastic conversation, and he was doing, like I said, one
of the best jobs streaming the trial, the commentary during
all of the testimony, the opening and closing statements, judging
everything else. Uh, fantastic time talking with him. And again
I think you're really going to enjoy that conversation. We
pulled back to Curt. Do you think that this guy,
(16:42):
the prosecuted Becker, is gonna Do you think he's gonna
he's gonna try and retry this, this trial, get get
hit this go on once again? Are we out of
the woods? He weighs in all that and so much
more on this week's podcast episode. Again just a limited
time the morning. Wanted to make sure you heard some
of it at least back with one of the headlines.
(17:04):
You won't hear anyone else the conversation. You certainly won't
James Dixon down I seventy five. It joins us next
after this nine thirty five.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Focused on what matters to you. It's West Michigan Live
with Justin Barclay on News Radio one thirteen hundred and
one oh six nine a f a. And on demand
anytime on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (17:29):
Here are your headlines from the Midwesterner this Friday, May ninth,
iime Robin Hoffman, It's a Midwesterner. Dot News original story
She's on the move again. Turns out Governor Whitmer and
her crew spending over two hundred thousand dollars on a
spring trip to Europe while she was away. Unemployment here
in Michigan climbing a five point five percent, the second
(17:51):
highest rate in the country. Former Westchester County, New York
District Attorney Jeanine Piro, who has spent the past fourteen
years at Fox News, picked by President Trump to serve
as interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia. At
the Vatican, Pope Leo celebrates his first Mass as pontiff
(18:11):
the sixty nine year old was born in Chicago and
will be the first pope from the United States. For
these stories and more, visit The Midwesterner at the Midwesterner
dot news.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Oh free for all Friday rolling rod along. We've got
big breaking news, uh and the latest. Yesterday we picked
a new pope. We got the a jury returning deadlocked
hung here in Grand Ropins the trial of Officer Sure
(18:48):
and a question now is will Prosecutor Chris Becker reached
Friday the case. There's been a lot of back and forth.
In fact, you just started Attorney Andrew Brankott talk about
that as legal experts on it and great podcast episode
be dropped this week and you're gonna want to check
out too. But on the phone with us right now
is our good friend James Dixon down I seventy five
(19:11):
over on Twitter x and the Michigan Enjoy podcast that
you probably enjoy if you haven't had a chance to
check out yet, Welcome in. I saw you made it
into the fray James on this this week, which I
thought was kind of interesting. Dana Nessels speaking out on
this and in mentioning.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
You absolutely you know, we were talking about the Christopher surecase.
And I noted on Twitter that the only reason this
thing happened in the first place is because Dana Nussel,
our attorney General, wanted her own George Floyd moment. She
wanted to be able to prosecute such a case. And
you know that the pressure, the times, everything in combination
(19:54):
and the prosecutor being a guy with his own political
future led to charges in the case. Vana Nessel came
at me with the argument, well, I didn't charge him.
A Republican did. But then our boy j Murray at
the enjoyer, Jay z Deloorian, I call this guy rookie
of the year in Michigan journalism. Justin I mean, I've
never I've been in this field since two thousand and
(20:17):
seven on the paid side, I've never had something. I've
never seen someone come in and dominate in their first
year like I have Jay z Delorian And it's just
incredible to watch. And so he goes back through the
news record and all the public statements. Sanesssell was absolutely
angling for this case, and her pressure played a role
(20:37):
in the charge of being filed, as I claim.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
You know, it's interesting, I remember that conversation I had
to go back last week, we were looking at this
and as the trial started again, you know, James I
thought the same. I was saying, why did this?
Speaker 5 (20:52):
God?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Why did this? Even God can't remember why? There was
something about the prosecution. Why did he charge it? I thought,
wait a minute, was this because there were theories about that.
And one of the theories that that acknowledged Becker charging
this case was was because the theory was is that
if he didn't, nessl would and so to make sure
(21:14):
it didn't become a circus and a political nightmare, not
just not just for you know, politics and elections, but
also for the city. Remember we had Grand Rapids you know,
burned in uh in twenty the wake of George Floyd
and and we've got all of that tension and what
(21:34):
not built up, and so one of the ideas was, well,
maybe he'll take it and then we can sort of
work through this reasonably. And whether you agree with that
or not, I think that did play. I think the
political climate at the time and the radical sort of
ideology and circus at Dana Nessels, the Attorney General of
the State of Michigan, would have brought to this would
(21:56):
have been a whole other level.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Could you imagine if at law that's the case, that
would be just another failure. Uh. And when you look
at her record as Attorney General, the whole thing has
been a record of failure.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
The the I was just talking on the Enjoyer podcast
with Rep. Angelo Rigas from Out Your Way, and you
know she chairs the Weaponization Committee. They've demanded documents. It's
been you know, it's going to be eight weeks by
the time the documents arrived. They've demanded a detailed accounting
of exactly what Dana and Nessels spent on the Flint
(22:33):
Water crisis prosecution to deliver us a goose egg, to
deliver us a zero no justice. No one ever spent
the day in jail, and so this would have been
just another failure. There is no record of success. Dana
Nessil's entire career in politics owes solely to Gretchen Whipper's coattails.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Down. I seventy five over on Twitter acts by the
way down if those are not co tells you want
to be tied to today, by the way. So we're
watching some of the really bad news come out of Lansing.
In fact, she's experiencing I think one of the fourth
worst maybe of unemployment results here in the nation. Right now,
(23:18):
Michigan having some dismal numbers popping up. She spent over
two hundred and four thousand dollars on a spring trip
to Europe. As we now have decided to fiund out.
The numbers are in. Yeah, unemployment claims jumped one hundred
and twenty eight point three four percent last week. Go
one paces for the highest rate in the nation. Whitmer
pushes business tax increases, state grows increasingly unfriendly to job creators.
(23:41):
And again this ties in to what we were talking
about this morning with Dan and Essel as well. Business
does not want to come into a state where the
kids are running though the inmates are running the aside.
They want the adults in the room. They want an
environment set. And as President Trump has at the table
went to terras and the trade talk and all of
(24:03):
these things that are happening, We're starting to see reinvestment
here in the United States, and Michigan's going to miss
out if we continue to let these clowns run the circus.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Doesn't It makes me so sad, you know, normally, like
like when when Jim Blanchard, you know, rans for governor
and won it. In the eighties he had Reagan in
the White House. It is rare that you have Whitmer,
you know, with Trump, it is rare that you have
a friend in the White House in Michigan who would
connect with the governor. And you know, if a Republican
(24:32):
were to win next year, that could be the situation
for those last years. But right now we are so
out of position to take advantage. This is the first
time since I've been alive that we've had a president
talking about wanting to reindustrialize America, which in any other
circumstance you would think, oh, man, Michigan's going to clean up.
(24:53):
But not necessarily. In those last thirty years, the southern
US have gotten a lot more industrial. Yeah, companies are
extremely comfortable going there, and they have the right to
work there. You don't necessarily have to deal with the
UAW or a guy like Sean Fain their president, Whereas
in Michigan we tied our workers to the neck of
(25:14):
Seawan Fain. And so we will rise and fall with
the guy who wants to plan a global general strike
in twenty twenty eight. This is not furious, but the
consequences that are coming. Couldn't be more serious.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
That's absolutely right, and that's a problem here at Michigan
because we have a short amount of time, and obviously
I think that underscores how important the twenty twenty four
election was and how important things will be in twenty
six and beyond to get to stay back on track,
which we've shown that it's possible. You see that we
can do it. The question is will we? And obviously,
(25:50):
as timing is of the essence here, what do you
I just got to I know this is not really
something we plan on talking about, but how about this
tariff's working so well? Even the new Pope is made
in America. I'm not a I'm not a Catholic James,
but I do I think it's interesting. I find you know,
I love I love the fact that this is this
(26:11):
show's I think it's kind prophetic really if you think
about the resurgence of America on the world stage and
the good that it can do. Now the Pope has
an opportunity here and now there's a lot of back
and forth. In fact, we'll probably go through some of
this during the after show about what his past comments are,
who he is a guy from Chicago, spent a lot
(26:33):
of time here in Michigan, in fact, in West Michigan,
in seminary and high school and whatnot, before he got
out into the world stage as a cardinal and beyond.
So there's some interesting things there. We don't really know
what he's going to do yet. There are some traditional pieces,
but there are some also political things that make us
wonder at scratcher Head. But at the end of the day,
(26:54):
what's your reaction to this? And you know, I mean,
is there something about having an American pope out there?
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Yeah, it's incredible. I mean, we all thought Trump was
going to bring jobs back. I don't think anyone ever
expected him to create new jobs that had never existed before.
Of the first ever American pope. I mean, when you
have a position that's been around two thousand years, we've
been around two hundred and fifty years, two hundred and
forty nine right now, and to be here to witness history. Now. Unfortunately,
(27:28):
this guy grew up in the you know, came up
in the Chicago dioces at a time of Barack Obama.
So he's probably not what you're gonna want. He's probably
not a guy you would share a ballot with But
I think a lot of people, even yesterday before it happened,
would have said, couldn't imagine an American pope, just not
(27:51):
something that's ever going to happen in our lifetime.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
We got to witness this history.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
It really is interesting. And again I'm going to reserve
judgment to see what he actually does. I think it's
hard to know one way or the other how exactly
he's going to come out. We do have a lot
of pieces from the past, but I'll break that down
a little bit later because there are some interesting and
I saw this report the other day and I thought, well, okay,
(28:17):
this is kind of fascinating because if you go back now,
everybody is scrubbing the internet to figure out who he is,
what he's done. And there were some things that he tweeted,
there were some things that he'd said, you know, and
all of that should be scrutinized, all of that should
be brought up. Those are those are important pieces, right,
we want to know, we want to know who this
guy is and what he's all about. But I found
(28:40):
it really kind of interesting. One of the guys that
did some research on this had a pretty good detailed
list of some of those things and what exactly they were,
and I found them to be very very interesting. Some
of the things he'd said about, you know, immigration, for
one thing, leads you believe he might be a little woke.
But there were some things that he said about, you know,
(29:01):
homosexuality or women and the being involved. It was kind
of lived him a little bit more of a traditionalist.
So who knows. Time will tell. And at the end
of the day, we have an American pope. The only
other thing that I'm just very excited about. It didn't
work this time. Judge Bosburg was unable to issue a
(29:25):
temporary restraining order against the Vatican prohibiting him from naming
a new pot Now. He tried, he tried, but it didn't.
Speaker 8 (29:33):
Think.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
I think the Judge is learning how little power he
has these days.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
James Dixon always a pleasure my friend. Of course. The
conversation continues over on ax Down Ice seventy five in
a podcast you'll want to check out this week. It
sounds like a doozy.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Oh, we had two bangers, John Engler and then Angela
Reguez talking about weaponizations. Can't mess either.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Got to go check him out. Always a pleasure, my friend.
Thank you for taking the time to be here with
us as always, Thank you, Justin, you got it. My
pleasure Backlimore, I want to hear from you. It is
a free for all Friday. After all at conversation rolls on,
we get to the phone lines, maybe some talkbacks as well.
Speaker 9 (30:15):
Right after this, wherever you are, stream us on your
smart folks, West Michigan Live with Justin Barklay on News
Radio Wood thirteen hundred and one oh six nine a
f m.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
Here are your headlines from the Midwesterner this Friday, May nine,
Thim Robin Hoffman. It's a Midwesterner News original story. She's
totally out of touch and appears to be lacking ideas
as to how to turn Michigan's economy around.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
This as we.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
Learn Governor Whitmer and her crew spending over two hundred
thousand dollars on a spring trip to Europe while she
was away, Unemployment here in Michigan climbing a five point
five percent, the second highest rate in the country. Michigan
Democrats still not serious about securing elections here in our state.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Their Election and.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Security Bill will not close loopholes and doesn't address non
citizens voting. Their plan still does not require proof of
citizenship to register. And former Westchester County DA Janine Piro,
who has spent the past fourteen years at Fox News,
tapped by President Trump to serve as interim US Attorney
(31:20):
for the District of Columbia. For these stories and more,
visit the Midwesterner at the Midwesterner dot news.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So much news yesterday that we didn't even to barely
scratch the surface on this big one.
Speaker 10 (31:32):
Is it increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture,
dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol, and virtually all
of the products produced by our great farmers and our
secretary as you know of agricultures here Brook, thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Very much being here. President Trump announcing yesterday in the
Oval Office that deal with the UK that trade till
the first of many. By the way, Trump may slash
China tear us as early as next week, according to report.
We'll talk about that in the after show and so
much more. Break down some more of the story on
the pulp and then some of the stories that we
just haven't had a chance to get to all coming up.
(32:13):
But first I want to jump on the line. We
got free for all funding gains. Some vocals there try
and squeeze in one or two here because we got
I believe Bill online too. First up this morning, Bill,
welcome in on West Michigan line.
Speaker 7 (32:29):
Hey, thanks for taking my callege justin my pleasure. I'm
really thinking that the prosecuting attorney went out retry this
this hearing. I think this is an easy out for
him in regards to appeasing the black community. If he
wouldn't have taken the case, they would have ride it
because he's racist. And since he did take the case
(32:49):
and to hun jewelry, it's an easy out for him.
And why beat a dead horse a jury of our
peers had brought it to a stealemate. I think he's
not going to do it.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
I hope that, I hope that that you're right. My
question was, and I asked in fact that conversation I
had with Attorney Andrew Brinka from Los Self Defense when
I did the podcast yesterday and again that's up online.
You can go watch that this weekend. But I asked,
if he doesn't quote Attorney General Dana Nessel, bring it
up and retry it. Interesting answer you're gonna hear that
(33:23):
this weekend. Thank you for the closer. I appreciate it,
I don't. I don't agree, though, I think he's going
to bring it. I think if he did, he's got
to got another chance to do it. I think a
lot of the same things that we're in now. Some
of the climate has changed, I give you that, but
I think a lot of it's still there. Hopefully he doesn't.
(33:44):
But John N. Hudsonville, how are you welcome in wes
Michigan Live?
Speaker 10 (33:49):
Do it good?
Speaker 8 (33:49):
Justin? How are you buddy?
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Fantastic?
Speaker 10 (33:52):
Hey?
Speaker 8 (33:52):
First of all, I don't care if you're Asian, I
don't care if you're white, Black. We need to stop
protecting these criminals, these cops. Why would you even want
to be a cop today? Nobody stands behind him or
protects him or anything. Officers sure had every right to
(34:12):
do what he did. First of all, every one of
these people in the last five years that have died
from cops, it's because you will not comply, you resist.
If you stop resisting, every one of them would be
alive today.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Bye. By the way, And to your point, John, in
the case of Patrick Leoya, it wasn't that he was resisting.
That's not what killed him. What got him killed was
the fact that he fought Officer Christopher Sure and had
his hand on his dominant hand. Wait a minute, Wait
a minute, he had his hand, dominant hand on the
dangerous weapon that taser at the time, that had the
(34:50):
ability to incapacitate officers. Sure and quot led to his death.
And Sure was afraid for his life. He had every
right to use deadly force against Patrick.
Speaker 8 (35:00):
Right, But what I'm saying is he's still resisted. If
you did what you were told to do, you would
you would be alive today.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Well, you make you make it. You make a great
but John, thank you so much for Unfortunately we're just
at the end of the show here, so but but
you make a great point. It listn't I said this,
and I hate to say, but we've got to bring
accountability back. And what that means is accountability with ourselves
and and and that goes for our kids out on
the streets. Though wherever you are, you've got to make
sure that you know that there are consequences for your
(35:32):
actions and you're gonna have to live with those or
die from them.
Speaker 7 (35:35):
And that.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
That is important. Now, if there's someone an authority that
abuses that authority, I want to see them pay the
price still on accountability for that as well, and we
ought to see that day come too. But this this
case I think is shut and dry, and it's it's
obvious to everyone looking most folks. Anyway, Hey, we got
an after show jam pack. We're gonna try and get
to that as well coming up and some of the
(35:58):
stories that we miss justin Barkleay dot time. You can
stream it live, Facebook, Twitter, Ectro will get her at
the iHeartRadio app wherever you download your podcast. Our conversation
with Tourny Andrew brink In all of the details we
didn't get the chance to get to you today. You'll
be able to hear that in the podcasts online this
weekend as well. Megan, a great one, folks, wishing you
the best. God bless
Buy from Higher top Monroe Center in downtown Grand Rapids.
We're talking about what matters most to you when West
Michigan joined the conversation. Now at six one six seven
seven four twenty four twenty four. At six one six
seven seven four twenty four twenty four, it's West Michigan
Live with Justin Barklay on Wood Radio Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome in. It's a beautiful day here in West Michigan.
The Mother's Day weekend high a top downtown ground Rapids
with it. Runners will be racing through the streets this
weekend as well. What a fantastic weekend to be in
West Michigan.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Home.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, I would have spent some time here of the
new Pope right at least excited about that, folks. I'll
get into that story and all the biggest headlines and
more coming out. But Tariff's working so well. Yeah, even
the new Pope is an use.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Weather and traffic. His stories of the day. We are
talking about what matters most in West Michigan and beyond.
This is the big three now speak three.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
The stories of Mademost. You'll be talking about these around
the water cool at dinner table. Now are where you are,
Our good friend Dave got Away of the team at
Hartlett Home Mortgage, ready to help you buy refy home
equity line of credit HHM lending dot com. They've they've
done this for us in so many different ways. Always
a pleasure working with them. Faster, quicker, better than the
big banks. HHM lending dot Com is the way to
(01:40):
go again. The pope is named. Yes, you're knowing that
smoke came pouring out of the chimney yar at the
Sisti and Chaplains. We got a new pope, Cardinal Robert
Privas chosen yesterday. But the conclave of cardinals white smoke
(02:03):
coming out, and then he appeared in front of the
masses there. Originally from Chicago, ties to West Michigan, spent
some time here and did a seminary here, and I
believe a high school as well. He spent some time
in the area throughout West Michigan. But what kind of
pope will he be? We have some indication and there
is some there is some criticism. Some of that may
(02:23):
be fair, But at the end of the day, I
think only time will tell. Because he's also got some things.
He looks like he might be strong on too, so
We can break some of that dat a little bit
later on today. But the big news, the headlined folks
are giddy of her. Arff's working so well. Even the
new Pope is made in America. It's a pretty hey
(02:49):
and it looks like it's working out great for us. Anyway,
we got more to cover here. Story number two, another
big one. Oh no, a's that order. Judge Janine gets
called up to the big legs. She's been named the
interim US Attorney in DC. This is what happens when
you fool around and find out Tom tellis Senator there.
(03:13):
Republican said he didn't want to move forward with Ed
Martin Trump's original pick, and so he gets Judge Janine.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Here are some other headlines tonight breaking. Just minutes ago,
one of the co hosts of The Five, Judge Janine Piro,
will be appointed interim United States Attorney for the District
of Columbia. President Trump announced that on Truth Social just
moments ago. Janine was assistant Restrict Attorney for Westchester County,
New York, and then went on to serve as county
judge and District Attorney, where she was the first woman
(03:44):
ever to be elected to those positions. She will be
leaving Fox to take this position.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I will tell you it was really interesting. I latched
President Trump's demeanor and his response when they asked him
about what do you think about this? Senator Tom Tillis
isn't moving forward with this. There are a lot of outrage,
there's a lot of frustration online for folks. No, we
got a primary. These soks. We got to you know,
And I get it because these people standing away at
(04:09):
President Trump's agenda, they they ought to feel the consequences.
We've elected him to get things done and if they're
standing in his way, then they're gonna get bulldozed over.
And I think that might be evident. His demeanor was
just so calm. Oh, that's too bad. Ed Martin's a
great guy, he said, you know, but I understand they've
(04:30):
got to have you know, they've got to have their
their pick. And so then he says introim Judge janay
mbercing here, well, we saw that coming. Speaking of which,
quite have been the back and forth on this over
the last few days. In the last weeks, we've been
watching the judge of the trial of former Grand Rapids
(04:51):
Police Department officer Christopher Sure declaring a mistrial. Yesterday, the
jury remained deadlocked. Again. We told you about this, We
were following all the way through, and it was to me,
I thought very interesting, the entire the entire trial, following
it rather closely. In fact, I say, we kind of
(05:13):
thought that this, we'd heard, you know, the deadlock earlier
this week, kind of thought that this was coming. Didn't
think there was going to be a guilty in there
at all. They were unable to come to that unanimous.
To to when I'm hearing a one or two holdouts,
what it means the prosecution could choose to retry the case.
Ports say, the jury was overwhelmingly in favor of acquittal,
(05:33):
only two maybe one or two holdouts all together. And
they weren't out yesterday because it was like nobody at
the courthouse when this verdict came down during our show yesterday.
But they were protesting and marching in the streets last
night through three Grand Rapids down to the police department.
(05:55):
Nobody out there this morning, as you can imagine, it's
a little too early. It's a little too early for
all of that, it sounds like anyway, for those for
those that do that sort of thing, protesting Black lives man,
don't know that other stuff. All right, folks, it's free
for all Friday, so we give you a chance to
(06:17):
jump in on a conversation today too. You can do
just that the iHeartRadio app. Couple of ways to do it,
suggest using that playback feature the little microphone next to
the play button, hit it and rent. Or you can
jump on the phone this morning.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Call Justin now at six one, six seven seven four
twenty four at six one, six seven seven twenty four
twenty four, West Michigan Live with Justin Barclay on News
Radio Wood thirteen hundred and one oh six nine a
f M.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Is another tree for you. We had coverage during this
trial for the local television stations, but I think some
of the best coverage came from a man who's got
a shell that he does online. He said, attorney called
the Law of Self Defense is his website and his
name is Andrew Brink. In fact, had a chance to
catch up with him yesterday. It's a full podcast that'll
come out this weekend, and he breaks down the trial
(07:10):
in some great depth. But I wanted you to hear
a little bit about what he had to say about it.
All of self defense, Andrew Brenka. If you've been watching
this trial, Officer Christopher sure the former Grand Rapids Police
Department officer. Lots of folks here in West Michigan and
I'll cross the country really have been watching this trial.
And I found the most fascinating way to watch it
(07:33):
personally is with Andrew, who is an expert in the
field and offering a really great commentary. Feeld All, Andrew,
thank you so much the attorney here taking a time
to be here with us today.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
It's my pleasure, happy to do it anytime.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So you do this quite a bit. You've got a
book that you've written. You're helping people walk people through there.
It is, by the way, we're going to get into
that and let people because you get the book for free,
we'll tell.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
You how to do.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
But the thing is, you're doing this not just with
this trial. You're doing this with a lot of trials,
and you you've got a lot of folks watching and
listening online. But that the thing that we've mostly recently
discovered you is because this trial has been such a
hot button issue here in our our areas. So I
want to start with this and then come maybe you
can like walk us through who you are, how you
(08:21):
get to what you're doing, and and and and maybe
you can walk us through this trial. But I just
want to start with this piece. I don't think this
guy ever should have been charged. I don't think Officer
Sure ever should have been charged. I you know, listening
to what you're saying, and it's everything is very reasonable.
And I from what I'm hearing now, it looks like
much of the jury felt the same way.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I'm hearing the same thing about the jury. Now, this
this case should never have been brought. There's literally zero
evidence in this case inconsistent with self defense. In a
case where the prosecution knows full well going into it
that it's his burden to disprove self defense, not just
this prove it, but disprove it beyond any reasonable doubt.
(09:04):
That was impossible on the law and facts in this case. Now,
that said, anytime you're in front of a jury, there's
at least a ten percent chance to get convicted, no
matter how innocent you are. Innocent people get convicted. That's
just noise in the system. So there was always a
possibility Christopher Sure could be convicted here, but it would
not have been on the law and the facts. It
(09:24):
would have been because of a biased jury or people
not understanding what the law was supposed to because of
some of this judge's rulings, some of her rulings on
evidence really biased this trial against this poor defendant who
did nothing wrong.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Let's start. Let's let's just start with that. You know,
some of the major things that stood out to you,
you know, in maybe through the trial that because as
we know now we've got a hung jury, so we
got a mistrial. That means this thing, as we now
know as it it could be reached tried. What are
(10:01):
the odds of that? A lot of speculation question about that,
and political motives in the climate, et cetera surrounding that.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Well, I mean, the prosecution was always politically motivated. It
was not based on law and facts that the prosecutor
had to know unless he's incompetent, that he didn't have
a real prospect of getting a conviction here on the
legal merit. So the only reason to bring the case
is political, and unfortunately prosecutors are elected officials. It is political.
If the population in Grand Rapids is trending more progressive,
(10:31):
he's going to have to move with that trend or
he won't be reelected. George Soros will drop a couple
hundred grand on somebody to oppose him, and he'll be
out of a job. So, if you're a political officer,
and that's what this prosecutor is, you have to kind
of follow the political trends of your community. Now, if
it were me, I have to be honest, I would
quit before I would bring a prosecution like this. But
(10:52):
some people they really want to keep their job.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So if in fact this is retried, there are a
lot of issues throughout the trial. Okay, so we know
the defense is raised. Is the situation of the judge
making different facial expressions, rolling her eyes at a certain times,
especially when Officer sure was on the stand. Are these
(11:18):
good things going to play into the next trial and
are they going to have some ability to bring this
up Before that happens.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
They'll have a chance to bring it up. I mean
they filed formal emotions to have the judge basically recuse
herself from the case. Normally, what would happen if there
is a retrial, and that's entirely up to the prosecutor.
No one else makes that decision. If there is a retrial,
it would normally come back to the same judge who
tried it the first time, So there would have to
be some exception to the norm to prevent the second
(11:45):
trial from being in front of this same judge, who
is horrible. By the way, She's just a bad judge.
Her rulings are not well reasoned. There's clear bias here.
She excluded evidence that was absolutely relevant to the defense,
just waving her hand and saying it's not relevant. And
I'm hearing that she was changing the jury instructions on
the lawyers. Both says the lawyers changing the jury instructions
(12:06):
up to hours before the jury was to be instructed.
How is the defense supposed to prepare defense if they
don't even know what the instructions are going to be,
that the jury is going to get. Just a bad judge.
She shouldn't be. She shouldn't be overseeing any cases, much
less a case where a man is looking at life
in prison and she apparently has a clear bias against
(12:27):
that defendants interest. The judge is supposed to be the
impartial referee, and for a judge to be doing things
from the bench that can suggest to the jury that
they should arrive at one verdict or another is just
grossly ethically wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, I know you mentioned there were a couple of
things throughout your streaming that you brought up, and I
thought those were worth taking a look at. So let's
start with and maybe you walk us through. But just
like from the very beginning, you know those things that
you said that she wouldn't allow in, which I thought
(13:01):
was kind of fascinating, the opening statements, and through what
you know, walk us through what went wrong and where,
because I thought it was interesting. You weren't just critical
of the prosecution, you were also critical of the defense.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
They were awful. I'm sorry. I may meet these lawyers someday,
and if I do, I'm sorry. I just I don't
know what you're like. In other cases, they have a
good reputation, and if you look at your BAIO, it's
very impressive, but I can only judge them by what
I saw in this trial, and it was awful. It
was absolutely terrible. We can circle back to that though,
I mean your first question was about the judge. So
(13:36):
the judge allowed in evidence that was irrelevant and very prejudicial,
and then refused to allow in counter evidence from the defense.
So I'll give you an example. The only evidence that
should matter here that's relevant is evidence at the moment
the officer had to make the decision whether or not
to use deadly defensive force, the moment of crisis, when
(13:57):
Patrick Leeya has put that caser in his dominant hand,
gripped it like a pistol as turning to apply it
to the officer. That's what matters in terms of the
officer's decision in self defense. Not stuff that happened minutes earlier,
Not when he chose to do the foot pursuit, when
he chose to tackle Patrick Leya, when he chose to
(14:18):
deploy his taser in self defense earlier in the fight,
the moment when Patrick Lillia grabbed the taser and never
let go of it for the rest of his life.
All that earlier stuff is irrelevant to a proper legal
analysis of this use of force decision. But the state
argued that, oh no, we have to consider all that
stuff as if an officer engaging in a foot pursuit
(14:40):
should not have the right to self defense if that
suspect tries to kill him later in the confrontation, that
is insane. So the judge should never have allowed that argument,
and that the foot pursuit was unreasonable and therefore the
use of force later on was unreasonable when the officer's
life was at stake. But once having let that evidence
by the prosecution about the foot pursuit being unreasonable in,
(15:02):
she then denied the defense the opportunity to introduce evidence
to show that the foot pursuit was not only reasonable,
but this officer had previously received a commendation for engaging
in exactly the same kind of foot pursuit. She said,
that was irrelevant. That is egregious. If you're gonna let
in the bad argument from the prosecution, at the very
least you have to allow in the counter argument from
(15:24):
the defense.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
This just scratches, barely scratches the surface the conversation with
Attorney Andrew Branko Jink. It just really is a fantastic
job of breaking it all down.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
It's available for Locals members right now, which is free
to watch at justin barklay dot com slash Locals. The
podcast will drop this weekend, so you'll be able to
see it any end everywhere, as it'll stream live and
dropp into our podcast feed the iHeartRadio appor wherever you
download your podcast, you'll be able to get it this weekend. Again.
That is attorney Andrew Brinka with Law of Self Defense
(15:59):
dot COM's Law of Self Defense dot Com. He's got
a great book. He wrote the book on it, in fact,
the Law of Self Defense Book, which he offers for
free to get it into the hands of people. It's
just at the pace shipping and handling to get educated
so that you already no matter what comes your way.
(16:20):
Fantastic conversation, and he was doing, like I said, one
of the best jobs streaming the trial, the commentary during
all of the testimony, the opening and closing statements, judging
everything else. Uh, fantastic time talking with him. And again
I think you're really going to enjoy that conversation. We
pulled back to Curt. Do you think that this guy,
(16:42):
the prosecuted Becker, is gonna Do you think he's gonna
he's gonna try and retry this, this trial, get get
hit this go on once again? Are we out of
the woods? He weighs in all that and so much
more on this week's podcast episode. Again just a limited
time the morning. Wanted to make sure you heard some
of it at least back with one of the headlines.
(17:04):
You won't hear anyone else the conversation. You certainly won't
James Dixon down I seventy five. It joins us next
after this nine thirty five.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Focused on what matters to you. It's West Michigan Live
with Justin Barclay on News Radio one thirteen hundred and
one oh six nine a f a. And on demand
anytime on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 6 (17:29):
Here are your headlines from the Midwesterner this Friday, May ninth,
iime Robin Hoffman, It's a Midwesterner. Dot News original story
She's on the move again. Turns out Governor Whitmer and
her crew spending over two hundred thousand dollars on a
spring trip to Europe while she was away. Unemployment here
in Michigan climbing a five point five percent, the second
(17:51):
highest rate in the country. Former Westchester County, New York
District Attorney Jeanine Piro, who has spent the past fourteen
years at Fox News, picked by President Trump to serve
as interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia. At
the Vatican, Pope Leo celebrates his first Mass as pontiff
(18:11):
the sixty nine year old was born in Chicago and
will be the first pope from the United States. For
these stories and more, visit The Midwesterner at the Midwesterner
dot news.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Oh free for all Friday rolling rod along. We've got
big breaking news, uh and the latest. Yesterday we picked
a new pope. We got the a jury returning deadlocked
hung here in Grand Ropins the trial of Officer Sure
(18:48):
and a question now is will Prosecutor Chris Becker reached
Friday the case. There's been a lot of back and forth.
In fact, you just started Attorney Andrew Brankott talk about
that as legal experts on it and great podcast episode
be dropped this week and you're gonna want to check
out too. But on the phone with us right now
is our good friend James Dixon down I seventy five
(19:11):
over on Twitter x and the Michigan Enjoy podcast that
you probably enjoy if you haven't had a chance to
check out yet, Welcome in. I saw you made it
into the fray James on this this week, which I
thought was kind of interesting. Dana Nessels speaking out on
this and in mentioning.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
You absolutely you know, we were talking about the Christopher surecase.
And I noted on Twitter that the only reason this
thing happened in the first place is because Dana Nussel,
our attorney General, wanted her own George Floyd moment. She
wanted to be able to prosecute such a case. And
you know that the pressure, the times, everything in combination
(19:54):
and the prosecutor being a guy with his own political
future led to charges in the case. Vana Nessel came
at me with the argument, well, I didn't charge him.
A Republican did. But then our boy j Murray at
the enjoyer, Jay z Deloorian, I call this guy rookie
of the year in Michigan journalism. Justin I mean, I've
never I've been in this field since two thousand and
(20:17):
seven on the paid side, I've never had something. I've
never seen someone come in and dominate in their first
year like I have Jay z Delorian And it's just
incredible to watch. And so he goes back through the
news record and all the public statements. Sanesssell was absolutely
angling for this case, and her pressure played a role
(20:37):
in the charge of being filed, as I claim.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
You know, it's interesting, I remember that conversation I had
to go back last week, we were looking at this
and as the trial started again, you know, James I
thought the same. I was saying, why did this?
Speaker 5 (20:52):
God?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Why did this? Even God can't remember why? There was
something about the prosecution. Why did he charge it? I thought,
wait a minute, was this because there were theories about that.
And one of the theories that that acknowledged Becker charging
this case was was because the theory was is that
if he didn't, nessl would and so to make sure
(21:14):
it didn't become a circus and a political nightmare, not
just not just for you know, politics and elections, but
also for the city. Remember we had Grand Rapids you know,
burned in uh in twenty the wake of George Floyd
and and we've got all of that tension and what
(21:34):
not built up, and so one of the ideas was, well,
maybe he'll take it and then we can sort of
work through this reasonably. And whether you agree with that
or not, I think that did play. I think the
political climate at the time and the radical sort of
ideology and circus at Dana Nessels, the Attorney General of
the State of Michigan, would have brought to this would
(21:56):
have been a whole other level.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Could you imagine if at law that's the case, that
would be just another failure. Uh. And when you look
at her record as Attorney General, the whole thing has
been a record of failure.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
The the I was just talking on the Enjoyer podcast
with Rep. Angelo Rigas from Out Your Way, and you
know she chairs the Weaponization Committee. They've demanded documents. It's
been you know, it's going to be eight weeks by
the time the documents arrived. They've demanded a detailed accounting
of exactly what Dana and Nessels spent on the Flint
(22:33):
Water crisis prosecution to deliver us a goose egg, to
deliver us a zero no justice. No one ever spent
the day in jail, and so this would have been
just another failure. There is no record of success. Dana
Nessil's entire career in politics owes solely to Gretchen Whipper's coattails.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Down. I seventy five over on Twitter acts by the
way down if those are not co tells you want
to be tied to today, by the way. So we're
watching some of the really bad news come out of Lansing.
In fact, she's experiencing I think one of the fourth
worst maybe of unemployment results here in the nation. Right now,
(23:18):
Michigan having some dismal numbers popping up. She spent over
two hundred and four thousand dollars on a spring trip
to Europe. As we now have decided to fiund out.
The numbers are in. Yeah, unemployment claims jumped one hundred
and twenty eight point three four percent last week. Go
one paces for the highest rate in the nation. Whitmer
pushes business tax increases, state grows increasingly unfriendly to job creators.
(23:41):
And again this ties in to what we were talking
about this morning with Dan and Essel as well. Business
does not want to come into a state where the
kids are running though the inmates are running the aside.
They want the adults in the room. They want an
environment set. And as President Trump has at the table
went to terras and the trade talk and all of
(24:03):
these things that are happening, We're starting to see reinvestment
here in the United States, and Michigan's going to miss
out if we continue to let these clowns run the circus.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Doesn't It makes me so sad, you know, normally, like
like when when Jim Blanchard, you know, rans for governor
and won it. In the eighties he had Reagan in
the White House. It is rare that you have Whitmer,
you know, with Trump, it is rare that you have
a friend in the White House in Michigan who would
connect with the governor. And you know, if a Republican
(24:32):
were to win next year, that could be the situation
for those last years. But right now we are so
out of position to take advantage. This is the first
time since I've been alive that we've had a president
talking about wanting to reindustrialize America, which in any other
circumstance you would think, oh, man, Michigan's going to clean up.
(24:53):
But not necessarily. In those last thirty years, the southern
US have gotten a lot more industrial. Yeah, companies are
extremely comfortable going there, and they have the right to
work there. You don't necessarily have to deal with the
UAW or a guy like Sean Fain their president, Whereas
in Michigan we tied our workers to the neck of
(25:14):
Seawan Fain. And so we will rise and fall with
the guy who wants to plan a global general strike
in twenty twenty eight. This is not furious, but the
consequences that are coming. Couldn't be more serious.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
That's absolutely right, and that's a problem here at Michigan
because we have a short amount of time, and obviously
I think that underscores how important the twenty twenty four
election was and how important things will be in twenty
six and beyond to get to stay back on track,
which we've shown that it's possible. You see that we
can do it. The question is will we? And obviously,
(25:50):
as timing is of the essence here, what do you
I just got to I know this is not really
something we plan on talking about, but how about this
tariff's working so well? Even the new Pope is made
in America. I'm not a I'm not a Catholic James,
but I do I think it's interesting. I find you know,
I love I love the fact that this is this
(26:11):
show's I think it's kind prophetic really if you think
about the resurgence of America on the world stage and
the good that it can do. Now the Pope has
an opportunity here and now there's a lot of back
and forth. In fact, we'll probably go through some of
this during the after show about what his past comments are,
who he is a guy from Chicago, spent a lot
(26:33):
of time here in Michigan, in fact, in West Michigan,
in seminary and high school and whatnot, before he got
out into the world stage as a cardinal and beyond.
So there's some interesting things there. We don't really know
what he's going to do yet. There are some traditional pieces,
but there are some also political things that make us
wonder at scratcher Head. But at the end of the day,
(26:54):
what's your reaction to this? And you know, I mean,
is there something about having an American pope out there?
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Yeah, it's incredible. I mean, we all thought Trump was
going to bring jobs back. I don't think anyone ever
expected him to create new jobs that had never existed before.
Of the first ever American pope. I mean, when you
have a position that's been around two thousand years, we've
been around two hundred and fifty years, two hundred and
forty nine right now, and to be here to witness history. Now. Unfortunately,
(27:28):
this guy grew up in the you know, came up
in the Chicago dioces at a time of Barack Obama.
So he's probably not what you're gonna want. He's probably
not a guy you would share a ballot with But
I think a lot of people, even yesterday before it happened,
would have said, couldn't imagine an American pope, just not
(27:51):
something that's ever going to happen in our lifetime.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
We got to witness this history.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
It really is interesting. And again I'm going to reserve
judgment to see what he actually does. I think it's
hard to know one way or the other how exactly
he's going to come out. We do have a lot
of pieces from the past, but I'll break that down
a little bit later because there are some interesting and
I saw this report the other day and I thought, well, okay,
(28:17):
this is kind of fascinating because if you go back now,
everybody is scrubbing the internet to figure out who he is,
what he's done. And there were some things that he tweeted,
there were some things that he'd said, you know, and
all of that should be scrutinized, all of that should
be brought up. Those are those are important pieces, right,
we want to know, we want to know who this
guy is and what he's all about. But I found
(28:40):
it really kind of interesting. One of the guys that
did some research on this had a pretty good detailed
list of some of those things and what exactly they were,
and I found them to be very very interesting. Some
of the things he'd said about, you know, immigration, for
one thing, leads you believe he might be a little woke.
But there were some things that he said about, you know,
(29:01):
homosexuality or women and the being involved. It was kind
of lived him a little bit more of a traditionalist.
So who knows. Time will tell. And at the end
of the day, we have an American pope. The only
other thing that I'm just very excited about. It didn't
work this time. Judge Bosburg was unable to issue a
(29:25):
temporary restraining order against the Vatican prohibiting him from naming
a new pot Now. He tried, he tried, but it didn't.
Speaker 8 (29:33):
Think.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
I think the Judge is learning how little power he
has these days.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
James Dixon always a pleasure my friend. Of course. The
conversation continues over on ax Down Ice seventy five in
a podcast you'll want to check out this week. It
sounds like a doozy.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Oh, we had two bangers, John Engler and then Angela
Reguez talking about weaponizations. Can't mess either.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Got to go check him out. Always a pleasure, my friend.
Thank you for taking the time to be here with
us as always, Thank you, Justin, you got it. My
pleasure Backlimore, I want to hear from you. It is
a free for all Friday. After all at conversation rolls on,
we get to the phone lines, maybe some talkbacks as well.
Speaker 9 (30:15):
Right after this, wherever you are, stream us on your
smart folks, West Michigan Live with Justin Barklay on News
Radio Wood thirteen hundred and one oh six nine a
f m.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
Here are your headlines from the Midwesterner this Friday, May nine,
Thim Robin Hoffman. It's a Midwesterner News original story. She's
totally out of touch and appears to be lacking ideas
as to how to turn Michigan's economy around.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
This as we.
Speaker 6 (30:41):
Learn Governor Whitmer and her crew spending over two hundred
thousand dollars on a spring trip to Europe while she
was away, Unemployment here in Michigan climbing a five point
five percent, the second highest rate in the country. Michigan
Democrats still not serious about securing elections here in our state.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Their Election and.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Security Bill will not close loopholes and doesn't address non
citizens voting. Their plan still does not require proof of
citizenship to register. And former Westchester County DA Janine Piro,
who has spent the past fourteen years at Fox News,
tapped by President Trump to serve as interim US Attorney
(31:20):
for the District of Columbia. For these stories and more,
visit the Midwesterner at the Midwesterner dot news.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So much news yesterday that we didn't even to barely
scratch the surface on this big one.
Speaker 10 (31:32):
Is it increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture,
dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol, and virtually all
of the products produced by our great farmers and our
secretary as you know of agricultures here Brook, thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Very much being here. President Trump announcing yesterday in the
Oval Office that deal with the UK that trade till
the first of many. By the way, Trump may slash
China tear us as early as next week, according to report.
We'll talk about that in the after show and so
much more. Break down some more of the story on
the pulp and then some of the stories that we
just haven't had a chance to get to all coming up.
(32:13):
But first I want to jump on the line. We
got free for all funding gains. Some vocals there try
and squeeze in one or two here because we got
I believe Bill online too. First up this morning, Bill,
welcome in on West Michigan line.
Speaker 7 (32:29):
Hey, thanks for taking my callege justin my pleasure. I'm
really thinking that the prosecuting attorney went out retry this
this hearing. I think this is an easy out for
him in regards to appeasing the black community. If he
wouldn't have taken the case, they would have ride it
because he's racist. And since he did take the case
(32:49):
and to hun jewelry, it's an easy out for him.
And why beat a dead horse a jury of our
peers had brought it to a stealemate. I think he's
not going to do it.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
I hope that, I hope that that you're right. My
question was, and I asked in fact that conversation I
had with Attorney Andrew Brinka from Los Self Defense when
I did the podcast yesterday and again that's up online.
You can go watch that this weekend. But I asked,
if he doesn't quote Attorney General Dana Nessel, bring it
up and retry it. Interesting answer you're gonna hear that
(33:23):
this weekend. Thank you for the closer. I appreciate it,
I don't. I don't agree, though, I think he's going
to bring it. I think if he did, he's got
to got another chance to do it. I think a
lot of the same things that we're in now. Some
of the climate has changed, I give you that, but
I think a lot of it's still there. Hopefully he doesn't.
(33:44):
But John N. Hudsonville, how are you welcome in wes
Michigan Live?
Speaker 10 (33:49):
Do it good?
Speaker 8 (33:49):
Justin? How are you buddy?
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Fantastic?
Speaker 10 (33:52):
Hey?
Speaker 8 (33:52):
First of all, I don't care if you're Asian, I
don't care if you're white, Black. We need to stop
protecting these criminals, these cops. Why would you even want
to be a cop today? Nobody stands behind him or
protects him or anything. Officers sure had every right to
(34:12):
do what he did. First of all, every one of
these people in the last five years that have died
from cops, it's because you will not comply, you resist.
If you stop resisting, every one of them would be
alive today.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Bye. By the way, And to your point, John, in
the case of Patrick Leoya, it wasn't that he was resisting.
That's not what killed him. What got him killed was
the fact that he fought Officer Christopher Sure and had
his hand on his dominant hand. Wait a minute, Wait
a minute, he had his hand, dominant hand on the
dangerous weapon that taser at the time, that had the
(34:50):
ability to incapacitate officers. Sure and quot led to his death.
And Sure was afraid for his life. He had every
right to use deadly force against Patrick.
Speaker 8 (35:00):
Right, But what I'm saying is he's still resisted. If
you did what you were told to do, you would
you would be alive today.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Well, you make you make it. You make a great
but John, thank you so much for Unfortunately we're just
at the end of the show here, so but but
you make a great point. It listn't I said this,
and I hate to say, but we've got to bring
accountability back. And what that means is accountability with ourselves
and and and that goes for our kids out on
the streets. Though wherever you are, you've got to make
sure that you know that there are consequences for your
(35:32):
actions and you're gonna have to live with those or
die from them.
Speaker 7 (35:35):
And that.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
That is important. Now, if there's someone an authority that
abuses that authority, I want to see them pay the
price still on accountability for that as well, and we
ought to see that day come too. But this this
case I think is shut and dry, and it's it's
obvious to everyone looking most folks. Anyway, Hey, we got
an after show jam pack. We're gonna try and get
to that as well coming up and some of the
(35:58):
stories that we miss justin Barkleay dot time. You can
stream it live, Facebook, Twitter, Ectro will get her at
the iHeartRadio app wherever you download your podcast. Our conversation
with Tourny Andrew brink In all of the details we
didn't get the chance to get to you today. You'll
be able to hear that in the podcasts online this
weekend as well. Megan, a great one, folks, wishing you
the best. God bless
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