On the Eve of History

A radical look at the eve of a potential Russia-Ukraine Peace Treaty and its implications. Plus obervations of the following topics

- Ourtageous Consumer Fees

- Male Cheerleaders and Trans in Womena's spaces

- Why DC residents are very happy

- Trump may legalize weed (and Big Pharma won't let him)

- Jim Comey is a very sick, sick man

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Great, Did. Is there another kind?
You see, the useful idiots that the Soviet Union that Lenin put
into America are now the useful idiots from the Chinese.
They're coming down in America like Batman eating a supper
alive. They're.
Acting more as propagandists. You know the Pac-Man game.
Think of a Pac-Man game, out of control, sucking away at the
foundation of America. If Russia pursues its

(00:21):
aggression, it will face the massive consequences.
Because if they don't want you to believe something and they
can cast. Doubt.
Sometimes confusion can actuallybe.
The goal, the goal, the goal. And as we've said all along,
confusion can actually be the goal.
Trump had done it a game. Have you seen the latest videos

(00:43):
of DC? The sidewalks are spotless, no
trash on the streets, no crowds of people stumbling around.
It is peaceful, clean, and honestly it is refreshing.
The locals seem happy. So far I haven't seen a single
video of a resident complaining.The only ones upset are people

(01:06):
who don't even live there and just hate Trump.
That's true, and they did move on rather quickly.
Welcome to another edition of America Today.
I am your host, Jim Watkins. We've got a full week of news.
You know it's not going to stop and it shouldn't surprise
anyone. Don't assume for a moment that
the members of the European leadership want this war to end.

(01:28):
If you operate under the assumption that everybody wants
peace, you're off the mark. The only one that wants peace,
probably the only two people that want peace is Putin and
Trump. And the people who back that,
you know, people that want peacebecause they're tired of, of
war. They're they understand that the
industrial military complex is alive and well.

(01:50):
And you know, some would even argue it's part of the
depopulation plan by the globalists.
Who knows? I don't know if I subscribe to
that at all, but it is worth noting.
I thought it interesting that Ursula von der Leyden and
Mccrone, not exactly the best chums of Trump, would rush

(02:11):
quickly because they don't have any faith in Zelensky.
Zelensky appears to be a puppet Zelensky.
Zelensky just wants to make it out alive.
He's hoping he can have some saving face because will he be
re elected? The first thing that will happen
if the war does come to an end is that there will have to be

(02:31):
elections because that's unsettled business.
Zelensky canceled the elections because of the war, and now it's
going on what, over a year sinceelections should have been held.
So that will be the first order of business.
The 2nd order of business will be who will replace Olinsky
because I don't think anyone, certainly in the United States,
I don't think Trump wants Olinsky there.

(02:54):
So all of this is going to play out.
It's playing out as we speak. The European leaders are here.
They've they've, they're a little nervous, I think, because
Trump could pull this off. It seems to appear, based on the
latest evidence, that Trump is telling Zelensky you're not
going to be able to keep Crimea because Russia wants a port

(03:14):
city. And also that you're going to
have to give up a little bit of Donetsk, which is the southern
eastern region of Ukraine, whichis ethnically Russian.
And it's hard to make the argument that that they're
already infiltrated there. And if that's all that Putin has

(03:37):
to give up or or Zelensky has toacquiesce, we got a deal.
And Trump goes down in history as helping.
What is this, his fourth war that he's ended if he can, if he
can pull through Now, what we don't know is how powerful the
people behind the scenes are. That's really where we're at.

(03:57):
We don't know. And, and many of the people who
are behind the scenes are not really that obfuscated really.
I mean, it's, it's actually moreapparent than you believe when
you listen to the interchange between Rubio and Raddatz.
Martha Raddatz, who is anti Trump, blue and blue through and
through. She is about as blue as you can

(04:20):
get. She is part of the
establishment. She is a part of the military
industrial. She has a $6 million mansion and
she so she shows up as the resident wise experienced
journalist who is part of the the globalist agenda to keep
wars going. I mean, listen, if it bleeds, it
leads, right, Martha. Anyway, here's Rubio and Martha

(04:42):
on their interchange on Sunday. Critics of President Trump will
say the pomp and circumstances, the pomp and circumstance, the
red carpet, the warm handshake that President Trump simply
lost, that that Putin gained there just by being on the world
stage and knocking down a red carpet with the president.
Your reaction to that? Well.

(05:03):
I mean, critics of President Trump are always going to find
something to criticize. You don't even pay attention to
it anymore. But I will tell you this, Putin
is already on the world stage. He's already on the world stage.
The guy's conducting a full scale war in Ukraine.
He's already on the world stage.He has the world's largest
tactical nuclear arsenal in the world and the second largest
strategic nuclear arsenal in theworld.
He's already on the world stage.When I hear people say that it

(05:24):
elevates them. Well, all we do is talk about
Putin all the time. All the media has done is talk
about Putin. All the time for the last four
or five years. That doesn't mean he's right
about the war. That doesn't mean he's justified
about the war. Put all that aside.
It means you're not going to have a peace agreement without
between Russia and Ukraine. You're not going to end a war
between Russia and Ukraine without dealing with Putin.
That's not. That's just common sense.

(05:45):
I shouldn't have to say it. All right, so after calls with
Zelensky and European leaders onSunday, Trump posted that quote.
It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific
war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace
agreement which would end the war and not a mere ceasefire
agreement, which often times do not hold up.
In a statement after the Trump call, the European leaders did

(06:07):
not address whether a peace dealwas preferable to a ceasefire,
saying they, quote, welcome President Trump's effort to stop
the killing in Ukraine and end Russia's war of aggression and
it and achieve just and lasting peace.
However, and this is my observation, that's not what
they want. And, and maybe they want, maybe

(06:29):
that's the issue is because fromwhat I'm reading from people
from alternative media, it's Zelensky's out.
They don't want him there. They don't trust him.
And, and, and on the other hand,he serves a great purpose to
NATO because they very desperately want to minimize and

(06:50):
marginalized Russia. Their end game is to defuse
Russia so that it's no longer the the force that it is,
especially with all the nuclear weapons that they possess.
Now, how they expect that to ever get achieved, I'm not sure.
But what I do know is Zelensky is instrumental to the NATO
alliance because he will do their bidding.

(07:12):
And if they say keep this war going a little bit longer, so be
it. So once he has no options here
other than to decide who he wants to, you know, basically
saddle up with what is Trump offering him?
That's the interesting question.We don't hear much about that.
We know that based on my conversations with Michael Letts
and others, that Zelensky could just get out of this and retire

(07:37):
and go off into the sunset and spend his millions.
And maybe he should. But pride is, you know, a
powerful motivator. And in his mind, he wants to
walk out of this with his head held high, being a hero.
And so by the end of the day of Monday, not much will be
revealed. But there'll be a lot of

(07:58):
discussions and there'll be someback and forth.
And we're not going to, we're not going to bear out the fruits
of this one until probably midweek, later in the week.
And in the meantime, Americans are dealing with hot weather.
We've got this hurricane, which is just barely close enough to
make people like me nervous. I believe the weather people get

(08:19):
it right about 60 to 70% of the time.
And, and, and believe me, I livein an area in Southwest Florida
where we didn't think we were going to get hit and we did.
And, and it sometimes it can be a matter of it being that close.
Right now, it's tearing through the tail end of Puerto Rico.
It's supposed to turn right about 300 miles off the coast of

(08:42):
Cape Hatteras, but they've issued warnings there in North
Carolina. Watch out for flooding, possible
high surf. That's obvious that that's a
result Bahamas is in the crosshairs Bermuda.
So we'll see how this thing plays out.
But man, it was pretty scary on Saturday.
It kicked up to a CAT5 almost overnight and that and that

(09:05):
concerns me. On the other hand, you know, I'm
I'm breathing a sigh of relief because it is making a right
turn. So anyway, another thing that
kind of popped up over the weekend and, and I have to say
I'm not happy about it. Maybe we should save it.
Yeah, let's save her for the next break.
What the hell is going on with the NFL?
It's unbelievable what they're doing out there.
They're gouging fans like criminals, like Barrett's in it.

(09:29):
And frankly, I'm, I'm wondering whether I should invest any more
time into football. We'll we'll talk about that.
Plus male cheerleaders. What's going on with that?
The econic economics, talking about house pricing.
What's going on there? The Federal Reserve is meeting
in Jackson Hole this week to discuss how they want to
continue to further manipulate the American consumer.

(09:52):
All of that more coming up. You're listening to America
TODAY. Before you get freaked out by

(10:16):
these new male cheerleaders thatthe Minnesota Vikings have
taking the field today, just remember that in Minnesota, this
is pretty much how all guys act.Case in point, the governor of
Minnesota, Tim Walz. Which one of them did it better?
You've got this new male cheerleader from Minnesota, but
then you've got the OG male cheerleader from Minnesota,
Governor Tim Walz. I wonder if the Minnesota

(10:37):
Vikings put tampons in the locker room.
You know, I, I thought we alwayshad, there was always that one
dude in high school and I'm going back a ways, but there was
always that one dude who wanted to be a cheerleader.
He knew he wasn't going to make it being a football player
because he was too effeminate and he probably liked hanging
out with a girl. See, that's how I always

(10:57):
thought. It's like, oh, that guy, I know
what he's after. He's he's got him fooled.
He thinks he's gay, but he's not.
He's just trying to hang out with the hot chicks.
You know, I didn't give it much thought.
What I was a little bit concerned about was the
transgender cheerleader. And a lot of women are upset

(11:18):
about that because, well, let's face it, you know, women's faces
being invaded again. That's what happens here.
This is what, you know, the left, they, they push it too
far. There's, you know, absolutely.
Look, I, you know, we all have to be careful, right?
You don't want to be the one that says something that goes
viral and the next thing you know, you're sitting in the

(11:41):
unemployment line. And I'm not too, too worried
about that. I have my opinion about adults
who choose certain lifestyle behaviors.
Fine, whatever, To each his own.You know, that's my American in
me. But you know, when you want to
start hanging out, and I mean, Ijust can't.
Do you have any self-awareness whatsoever that you got?

(12:04):
You know, 100 guys out there allweigh in 210 pounds, 250 lbs of
pure muscle. They're out there taking the
hits, taking the bashes, taking it as hard as they can take it.
I watched this great film over the weekend.
I don't know what happened, but on Instagram they have a lot of
Tom Brady videos that are playing constantly.

(12:25):
You know, every other video memeis, is a Tom Brady classic
moment. Or he's giving some advice to
youngsters, which by the way, weneed more of those kind of
people because they talk about how hard it is to get to where
you got to be and, and how much grit you have to have and, and
how many times you have to get up at 6:00 in the morning on a
summer morning and go out there and hit the gridiron.

(12:49):
It's tough and it's tough to be a man.
And then you got this trans guy over there and you're looking at
him and you're, you got to be staring at him and go, what the
hell does this guy want so bad that he has to first of all doll
himself up like a woman? He ain't fooling anybody.
Then he jumps on the on the field in front of 50,000 people.

(13:12):
This guy is all about attention and and what he's willing to do
to get it, as opposed to being like the other guy who gets up
every morning at 6:00 in the morning, goes and works out in
the summer while the rest of hisfriends are heading off to the
beach. So you tell me, which one do you
think has better character? The one with the lipstick or the

(13:34):
one with the helmet? It's about character, not about
attention getting. And that's what it appears to be
with his whole movement is aboutme, about me, my I mean mine.
I mean mine. I mean mine.
Just like George Harrison sayingwe should use that a bump as a
bumper piece. But that's not the only thing
that NFL fans are upset about. And, and I, you know, you could

(13:59):
talk about the legitimacy of theformer, but let me tell you
about this one. NFL I know the bottom line.
I know the bottom line is the money.
Y'all greedy? Y'all gluttonous?
Y'all want the billions on top of billions but it should not be
this hard to watch a game. I feel like if we on all these

(14:20):
streaming platforms, the people that's dumb enough to to to buy
all the the platforms, nothing should be blacked out nothing.
You know what y'all going to payfor this NFL?
Your day coming. It's getting ridiculous with
everything. I mean, I was fortunate this
weekend. I was able to see my two teams
play and I got through about a maybe half.

(14:44):
Then I got somewhat disinterested, but you know,
he's right. Like I have to travel and where
I'm going, I'm not going to be able to see my teams play
because I'll be in the wrong. Or if I want to see the Dodgers
play because, you know, they're my team and and I'm assuming
they're probably going to get tothe playoffs.
I don't know, though. But I can't watch it wherever I

(15:05):
want to. I got to subscribe.
I got to subscribe to this. I got let me give you a rundown
of what it costs. OK, if you want to get the NFL
plus package, it's 4999 a year. OK, that's 50 bucks a year.
It's OK, it's not bad. 7 bucks amonth.
It includes live and local primetime out of market pre season.

(15:26):
But then there's the NFL premium, which is $100 a year
and you got to get that. If you want to get the NFL red
zone, the NFL Pro, the replays. Now they're charging you to
watch replays. OK, what else?
The NFL Sunday Ticket, which is YouTube which is horribly

(15:46):
expensive. Just the standard alone is $276
a year. Or you can make 4 or 8 easy
payments of 3450 a month. That's ridiculous.
Then you have the YouTube TV plus the NFL Sunday Ticket,
which is 3450 a month, and then another if you want the plus

(16:11):
plus package, it's 59 a month. And then of course you've got
that's just for the first two months.
Then it kicks up to 8299. Then you've got the ESPN package
which is 3990 a month. Then you've got the DTC
unlimited package from ESPN which is $30.00 a month for the

(16:34):
first year and then it kicks up.Then you got Sling, which is 45.
You see what's going on here? You see how they have nickeled
and dimed us and oh, Comcast has$70.00 a month where you can get
all of the NFL games in an NBANHL if you're a real sports
fan. Comcast, right, $70.00 a month.

(16:57):
But look, man, it used to be free.
I mean, we used to watch all the, I'll tell you what I think
it is. It's partly the salaries.
I'm pretty sure it's partly the salaries when you consider some
of these guys are making, you know, money that I've never seen
before. It's also, I think the
technicians, the unions, maybe it's the advertising has dropped

(17:20):
off quite a bit because there's so much media and there's so
many places for advertisers to put their marketing dollars.
It could be a whole host of things.
But at the end of the day, the person who's paying for it is
you and me. Because if you want to go to a
game, that alone will cost you at least a minimum of $150.00 a

(17:41):
ticket. Now my sons and I are going to
go see another ball game this year.
It's not going to be a playoff game.
It's just going to be a regular game.
That alone for four people to go, it's going to run me.
If you factor in the food, the parking, throwing the gas,
you're looking at an easy 1000 bucks for four people.
That's $250 per person just to sit in stands with 50,000 other

(18:04):
rude people in those tiny metallic seats that hurt your
ass. And you got to stand up and then
the guy behind you screaming at you, it's, it's not even fun
anymore. I mean, unless you watch the
basics and you might get the game you want to watch and thank
God for that. But then you got to sit through
all the commercials, and, boy, they're really, you know,

(18:27):
another inserting. I mean, look, I'm from old
school. But if I'm sitting there
watching a football game, I don't want to see a commercial
with two guys kissing. I'm sorry.
It's just not where I'm at. You know, to each his own.
But I don't have to watch it if I don't want to.
But you got to because you got no other choice.
And so what's happening here is that the American consumer is

(18:48):
being nickeled and dimed to death.
And I wonder how long we'll put up with it.
I really don't know. I do know that I read this
online so it must be true. But this is the problem.
Jeff Bezos is offering a billiondollar contract to Sydney
Sweeney to push some clothing line that he's involved with A

(19:10):
billion dollar package. Should human beings even be
allowed to make that much money just for being cute?
It's, it's unbelievable. It's like money is becoming
like, you know, the old picture,you know when you saw the
Romans, the image in your mind of them wheelbarrowing around
gold coins. And no, they can't afford

(19:32):
anything. That's what it seems like every
single day. And I even I haven't even
touched Apple Music or these online media conglomerates.
I mean, ladies and gentlemen, weare being nickeled and dime to
death and I don't like it. This segment of America Today
brought to you by Southwest Florida, dreamhome.com.

(19:55):
Let the journey begin. Southwest Florida,
dreamhome.com. Oh, man, I'm so starving for
great music. This is Mark Knopfler, who is
the lead singer and guitarist for the Dire Straits.

(20:24):
Yeah, there's such a sense of great musical ability with these
people. That's why when I heard that
James Comedy, you know, the former FBI directorate that sold
out his country, the one that lied to the American people
because of somebody he didn't like that somebody who was took
his writ. He, I'm sure that Comedy raised
his right hand, had his other hand on the Bible at one point

(20:46):
and and said probably swore allegiance and loyalty to the
Constitution of the United States, that James Comedy did
that and he was sworn in at somepoint in his life.
He has a memory of it. His family was probably there,
his children, his wife, relatives, who knows, maybe even
his mom and dad, very proud of their son as he stood there and

(21:08):
swore an oath to God that he would serve his country with
utmost loyalty, courage, faithfulness to the Constitution
that guarantees the right of every citizen in this country to
live unfettered and not have to worry about the criminal,
criminal justice system being weaponized against you because

(21:29):
you desire to serve your people.That's what James Comedy did.
He did it all. He did it with love in his
heart. He did it.
And now he's saying that he loves Taylor Swift because it
reminds him of how much he hatesDonald Trump.
He said that and he's going to go to jail one day, I believe.

(21:50):
I believe he will go to jail. He should go to jail.
And if he doesn't go to jail, heshould go to hell.
You know, to me, it's like the most egregious thing you can do.
And by the way, I don't wish that on a lot of people, but the
most egregious thing you can do.And I think we learned that the
lesson of this from a man who walked this earth 2000 years

(22:11):
ago. I mean he took a bullet and he
took 2 nails to his hands out ofthe loyalty to his fellow man.
So when James Comedy stands up there and talks about how much
he loves Taylor Swift, who is the most vacuous, untalented
human being, she knows three chords.

(22:33):
Now listen, I know by the way, nobody mentioned it but Elvis
Presley, August 17th I believe is the day that he he died back
in 1977. We all remember that.
That was also the first time I got a kiss, which was kind of
interesting. But anyway, I was only 16 at the
time. But here we go.
You know, comedy, sticking his head out there trying to make

(22:56):
the news. And this man swore on an oath of
Bible with his hand on a Bible that he would be loyal to his
fellow countrymen and serve the Constitution, uphold the
Constitution. And he violated all of it.
And he has no sense of remorse. He's completely in his own mind,
justified to me that that's the definition of insanity.

(23:17):
When you believe something that you know is wrong, I guess it's
like George Costanza once said, if you believe it's true, then
it must be true. Here's also something else
that's true. We remember the the other day.
Well, OK, we have two cases of vigilantism, which is horribly
wrong. And there's no justification
ever. But it, it, it is a symptom of

(23:39):
something that is egregiously wrong and our our society and
our, you know, earlier today, let me play that, that I already
dump it in that what? Here, let me play this again,
because it's not just sports. It's not just sports.
NFL I know the bottom line is the money.
Y'all greedy, y'all gluttonous, y'all want the billions on top

(24:02):
of billions. But it should not be this hard
to watch a game. I feel like we on all these
streaming platforms, the people that's dumb enough to to to buy
all the the platforms, nothing should be blacked out, nothing.
And, and it's the same way for alot of things, insurance,
healthcare, I mean, we were promised something that we would

(24:22):
continue to get great healthcare.
And, and you see these people that are out taking shots, you
know that guy that took out BlackRock, OK, BlackRock owns
about half the real estate in the country.
People are pissed because they can't afford a home and they
can't even afford to rent. The average place to rent when I
was young, it wasn't that long ago was maybe 3-4 hundred bucks

(24:44):
you could get a studio. Now it's 2003 thousand.
People are pissed. And then health insurance, A lot
of people don't go to see their doctor because the deductibles
and they're worried about going bankrupt at the first sound of
the first sight of a white cell.So there's a lot of stuff that's

(25:04):
being driven by this insane, insatiable, non remitting desire
for extreme profits. And I'm a capitalist, but my
God, do they have to nickel and dime us to death.
And you got this, this situation.
Remember, a lot of people got injured by COVID, both the virus

(25:26):
that was developed in the lab byin part by our own NHNIH, and
then the damn vaccine that was rushed to market without tests
on efficacy or adverse reactionscompletely.
Fauci's another guy. But the point is, is that a lot
of people got injured and nobodyseems to want to deal with it.

(25:47):
So last week when that when thatguy took out those people and he
claimed that he was neurologically damaged by COVID,
the the press, which is bought and paid for by pharma, they
were quick to denote that guy and and dismiss him.
There's no there there. I mean, people are pissed.
They feel like they can't even complain when the system is

(26:10):
doing them wrong. And here's a good case of this.
This is Kevin Lloyd's wife. President Trump, Vice President
Vance and VA Secretary Collins. This is Sergeant Kevin Lee Lloyd
of the United States Marine Corps.
He has stage 4 colorectal cancerthat has spread to his brain.
He is currently sitting waiting to be able to begin his

(26:31):
chemotherapy. We've been waiting since Monday
when it has been cleared and sitting at the pharmacy.
But because the VA has declined to pay for the $30,000 treatment
that he needs, he will die. We have three children and we
are begging you to show us that his life is worth more than
$30,000. Now before I go off into my

(26:52):
tirade, Kevin Lloyd has a GoFundMe page and a lot of
people apparently give a lot of money to go GoFundMe on the most
inane things, including the GoFundMe page set up for the
attorney for Kohlberger, the guythat killed 4 people and people
were giving money to it. Kevin Lloyd GoFundMe.

(27:14):
My God, this guy has served his country and and insurance won't
pay for his medicine, which is probably overpriced to begin
with because usually that's whatthey do Big pharma.
Again, it's no different from the guy trying to watch the NFL
games. Do you have to nickel and dime?

(27:35):
Aren't you making enough profits?
I mean, I, you know, it's for our shareholders.
These guys live on ivory towers.They're so disconnected.
Who do you think's renting all or buying all that property on
the 50th floor or the 70th floorof all these high rises?
People who are making tons of money on, on other people's

(27:57):
suffering. And it's it's pathetic.
And we wonder why there are these egregious insane people
that go out there. They're just, we need some, we
need Superman. And let that be a metaphor for
good leadership. We need somebody who actually
cares about the people and not just about making a dime.

(28:19):
But the good news is that the people end up saving the day
anyway. So go to the GoFundMe if you're
hearing my voice. This man is literally days away
from dying. And I saw it over the week.
And I said, if I don't say something about this, I have no
soul because that could be me. And and frankly, with what I've
talked and who I've talked to these last few months, it might

(28:40):
just very well be me in another month.
You never know. But the people are are good.
The people always come to the rescue.
That's one thing I have learned,you know.
So anyway, Kevin Lloyd, his wifemaking a plea for his life.
All right, so I'm going to end this segment on a on a good
note. Tomorrow.

(29:01):
We're going to have Michael let's on the program.
He's going to be here for the next couple of days.
He's going to unravel. He's a national security expert,
top cop for the state of South Carolina, Special Forces Green
Beret. He has met face to face with
some of the most powerful peoplein this world, and we're humbled
and excited to have him on tomorrow.

(29:21):
So he's going to break down the whole peace talk and everything
that happens over the next 24 hours.
So we'll have Michael on the program.
Join me. If you miss it, I'll post it on
my website, [e-mail].
jimwatkins.org. Because we are in Oregon.
We're we're in Oregon. We're an Oregon in the body of

(29:42):
America trying to make a difference.
Let's get peace back. Like John Lennon said, let's
give peace a chance. I hope the fires out in

(30:15):
California are starting to abate.
I haven't been hearing a lot about it.
I know that they're still there.The firefighters are doing what
they can. But this is that time of year,
you know, and it's, you know, all we can do is is pray for the
firefighters and hope that Mother Nature gets distracted.
It's it's always interesting to watch.
And, you know, we, we know we'rekind of at the end stage of this

(30:38):
hurricane season. And it's strange because, you
know, there's different elementsnow with the Sahara dust, which
is having an impact. It's unusual to go this long on
the East Coast without a hurricane.
And we haven't, frankly, we haven't seen much on the West
Coast either. And so you ask yourself, will
Mother Nature unfurl her fury inthese final days?

(31:03):
It's hard to know. Of course, we want to just tell
you it's going to be an interesting chain of events.
Everybody has got their eyes focused on what's happening with
Solinsky. I know today it's a big Newsday
and you're going to be distracted by a lot of it.
But it is unbelievable that Hillary Clinton this past

(31:25):
weekend actually said, and I'm, I'm shocked.
Maybe she's a part of me thoughtmaybe she's trying to kiss up a
little bit because she came out on Saturday and said if Trump
can pull this off and he can geta a deal and Witkoff and Marco
Rubio, who is shining like a diamond right now, she said if

(31:47):
he can pull this off, I would vote for him to get a Nobel
Peace Prize. That is unbelievable.
This is a woman who single handedly was responsible for
eight years of living hell for this man.
And, and strangely, but the Bushes are very quiet about
this. So it's, it is going to be

(32:07):
historical nevertheless. And I think I honestly believe
this. I think Putin knows, you know,
I've been hearing a lot about people dying.
And I don't know if you've, you've experienced this.
I had two people I know tell me over the weekend that they
either knew somebody or they themselves could be dying within

(32:30):
a matter of months. It's shocking.
And I've been hearing this, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.
If you think I'm wrong, go onto my website, jimwatkins.org and
there's a comment. Just click a comment and you can
leave a message or send me an e-mail jimwatkins.org.
But it just seems like, or it's because of, of age.

(32:52):
As you get older, the, the days get shorter, the weeks get
shorter, the, the perception of time changes.
And I, and I realized the other day I said I've got 1/7 of my
life left, one 7th if I'm lucky.And so, you know, maybe Putin is
coming to the end and he wants to go out like a hero, somebody

(33:17):
who brings back the integrity and the respect of Russia.
Maybe. I mean, we, we are, we all
operate, whether we like it or not, over the same basic needs,
desires, pride, envy, the the characteristics of, of human
beings are quite common and we are all driven primarily by our,

(33:40):
our love, our hate, our fear andour passions.
And maybe he wants to go out like a soldier.
You know, it's like that line from Apocalypse now, not like
some, you know, wuss ass. Maybe he he thinks he could earn
a rightful page in the the annals of history by doing

(34:00):
something right. And you know, another thing that
didn't get played a lot this weekend.
And I thought I had saved it. And I don't know where it is,
but Melania Trump wrote a wonderful letter to Putin.
And it got little play. And it was not even a very big
letter. It was maybe 300 pages, 300
words. And she talks a lot about the

(34:23):
children of Ukraine and in Russia who deserve to grow up in
peace. She said This is your
opportunity to do the right thing.
And you know, the the the way that she articulated her points
to him. You could be the coldest son of
a bitch on the planet. And and there you could not

(34:45):
possibly read that letter and not be moved by, I don't know,
the insight. And she got no credit for that.
And that really upset me becauseI was reading it on Saturday
morning and I kept thinking, oh,somebody's going to mention it.
And I watch all the network newsand I didn't hear a damn thing.
So maybe this is about end of life and coming to reflections

(35:08):
about what really matters. And I think Melania Trump
deserves great credit. And I wish that, you know, even
I don't even I had I don't watchFox News and all those on the
weekend. I take a break from all that.
But she really deserves. Another thing that's kind of
popping up, which is sort of unexpected, is that President
Trump may be considering down grading the federal ban on

(35:30):
marijuana and Canada stocks skyrocketed by 40% on the news.
The pot industry had hoped that Joe Biden would make this pro
marijuana change during his presidency, but they never
expected it from the Republican side.
And and last N3 Republican states defeated heavily funded

(35:51):
ballot initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana.
So, you know, it's not somethinganybody was expecting from
Trump. It wasn't part of his promise on
his on his tour. But someone may be nudging Trump
towards the idea and, and part of it.
It probably has to do with moneyand, and I've out long

(36:12):
suspected. This is my own opinion, but I
believe that the reason marijuana is not legal today is
because of pharmacies. Pharmaceutical companies do not
want marijuana legal because if they did, probably 3/4 of the
drugs that they prescribed wouldbe pointless.
Think of all the pain relief that they you know, and, and,

(36:34):
and marijuana in its medicinal form offers a lot of benefits.
It's it's nature's it's one of them, probably the one of one
drug that has the least amount of side effects.
But people will argue it has mercury and it can cause late,
late term dementia, but that remains to be seen because they
haven't really done a whole lot of studying on it that I'm aware

(36:56):
of. But what I do know is that Trump
is considering lowering it so that it becomes legal so that
banks can do business with distributors and sellers and
clinics. And frankly, I don't understand
why it's not already available at pharmacies.
If you can go in and get a potent, mind altering
psychotropic drug that that makes you unable to function

(37:22):
normally in society, why the hell can't you go get a
marijuana gel? You know, it makes no sense to
me. And it's always been that way
anyway. So be on the lookout for that
because that could happen. And it it might happen sooner
than you think. Certainly.
He's got three years. What else is going on in the
news today? So we've got, oh, here it is.

(37:42):
OK. So you want to know why the
economy is stuttering? It's because people can't afford
a house. And the reason they can't afford
a house is for a number of reasons. 1 is that interest
rates are 5% and the Fed refusesto lower the interest rate.
Now, maybe they'll make a different decision come this
week out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where they're meeting,

(38:04):
but we don't know. But current, currently, just to
give you a few numbers, 27% of homes listed on Zillow have had
price cuts, giving buyers more negotiating power than they've
enjoyed in years. But the advantage depends on a
couple of things. Number one, confidence in your
work and confidence in your money.
And these are the two issues because homeowners themselves

(38:27):
are taking it in the shins with higher taxes, property taxes,
and certainly in areas prone to disaster, which is everywhere
from insurance. Insurance is really killing
many. Homeowners in Florida, just at
the edge of the precipice of thefinal phase of the hurricane
season, have been told that their insurance companies are

(38:49):
leaving the state. And you've got 30 days to figure
out something else isn't that atrocious.
So it's it's taxes from propertyto pay for local services, which
is going up. And then we also have the
increase in, in insurance rates and a high interest rate and
lack of confidence. So that's what's happening in

(39:11):
the economy right now. Now, much of this is a fallout
from, believe it or not, post COVID.
We haven't completely and a lot of it has to do.
And I have to say this with the insurity of all the tariffs,
it's it's done a real number on supply chains, but those things
can be fixed in a relatively short period of time.
The feds need to decide to lowerthe interest rates down to about

(39:33):
3.5%. They do that that'll kick
throughout the economy and you can quote me on it.