Baseball, Chain of Command, and Minecraft Mayhem: A Morning Reflection on Current Events

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The rain pours down in Alabama as I share my excitement about attending tonight's minor league baseball game – a rare late evening out that hopefully won't be dampened by the weather. But something more concerning than rain clouds is brewing in our military installations across the country.

Military leadership is experiencing a significant shake-up, with multiple commanders – notably women – being removed from their positions. Colonel Sheila Baez Ramirez's suspension from Fort McCoy highlights a peculiar pattern: official photographs of President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Defense Secretary Hegseth mysteriously absent from chain of command boards. What's particularly striking is how these empty frames were immediately filled following her suspension, suggesting potential resistance rather than administrative oversight. This pattern extends beyond Fort McCoy, with similar situations occurring at other installations and even in my own workplace, where leadership photographs remain conspicuously absent despite explicit communications about their installation.

Beyond military matters, we explore the troubling case of New Mexico Judge Joel Cano, who resigned after harboring an illegal Venezuelan gang member on his property, and the bizarre phenomenon of parents defending their children's destructive behavior in movie theaters during Minecraft screenings. The disrespect shown for public spaces raises important questions about parenting and accountability in our society. We also examine the case of German teenagers denied entry to the United States after border officials determined they planned to work illegally despite claiming tourist status. 

What's your take on these current events? And while we're sharing – what toppings do you prefer on your hot dog? I'm a fan of everything from mustard and ketchup to chili, cheese, onions, and even slaw! Join the conversation and let me know what you think about today's hot topics and hot dog preferences.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, good morning, happy Tuesday.
It is a rainy day here inAlabama.
It's supposed to taper off,though, throughout the day and
by six o'clock when we go to ourfirst ball game.
We got free tickets from workat six.
Hopefully it won't be raining,but you know what?
It's going to be late for ustoo, because we're in bed by
seven.
So, but it's free tickets,we're going to go.

(00:22):
The Gent has never been.
I have been once before, acouple of years ago, at our new
stadium here in North Alabama.
So it's made.
I mean, it's minor leaguebaseball, but you know it was
fun, I enjoyed it.
So hopefully the rain will goaway soon.
But so there's an article outabout somebody being fired for

(00:44):
not putting up the pictures ofthe president, the vice
president and Pete Hegseth.
Let me go get it.
It's on the New York Post, ofcourse, and I find it
interesting because I will tellyou why after I read the damn
thing.
Kenny, all right, so here we go.
A couple of things.
There's a lot of women beingfired in military leadership

(01:06):
roles Interesting.
Maybe they just happen to bewomen, I don't know.
Army suspends Colonel SheilaBaez Ramirez after Trump-Vance
Hegseth photos vanish from chainof command board.
When you're in a military baseor a federal building or
something like that.
You walk in, you're going tosee the pictures of the

(01:28):
president, vice president,secretary of defense, whatever
department you're in.
That head picture will be there, that kind of thing.
Well, the commander of fortmccoy was relieved of duty after
the uS Army base failed toinstall photos of President
Donald Trump, vice President JDVance and Defense Secretary Pete

(01:50):
Hegseth on a wall displayingtheir chain of command.
This is just standard operatingprocedures.
You're supposed to have thecurrent president and all that
chain of command pictures on thewall.
Okay, all right.
Colonel Sheila Baez Ramirez wassuspended as garrison commander
of Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.
This suspension is not relatedto any misconduct, the US Army

(02:13):
Reserve Command said in astatement.
We have no further details toprovide at this time while this
matter is under review.
However, pete Hexeth on Sundayposted on his ex claiming
commander of Fort McCoy, whosebase chain of command board was
missing, photos of Trump, vanceand Hegseth has been suspended.
So suspended different thanfired, we'll see.

(02:35):
Mainly, she's fired, she'sremoved.
It came after the DefenseDepartment of Defense announced
a probe into why a walldisplaying the chain of command
had been empty frames on thewall since the election, and a
new image they posted of thewall showed the frames had been

(02:56):
filled.
Imagine that, regarding the FortMcCoy chain of command wall
controversy, we fixed it Justlike that.
Isn't that wild?
Been empty for months?
That's all of a sudden, nowthat somebody is suspended, now
it's filled All of a sudden,just like that, overnight.
Huh Makes you wonder.
Also, an investigation hasbegun to figure out exactly what

(03:20):
happened.
I would like to know too,because here where I work, their
pictures are still not upeither.
Hello, we even got an emailfrom I can't say saying we're
waiting to, we're blah, blah.
I mean it was like big, boldletters, exclamation points.
You know, stop asking.

(03:41):
We're getting them done, uh-huh, sure, then why aren't they up?
This is bullshit.
It needs to be up.
I want to know what's happening.
But also, moving on, it saysthis move after firing Watson as
Sheila girl.
The move came after a series ofleadership shakeups across the
US military.
Earlier this month the Pentagonfired the base commander for I

(04:06):
can't pronounce the name PittUdall, pitt Pittle, fultiful, I
can't.
Whatever.
A space force command ingreenland after she undermined
vance.
I guess vance went.
Oh, she undermined him.
What do you mean?
After the vice president visit,colonel suzanna myers emailed
base personnel on march 31st,writing.

(04:27):
I do not presume to understandcurrent politics, but what I do
know is the concerns of the USadministration discussed by Vice
President Vance on Friday arenot reflective of this space
base.
Oh, and then she was removedfrom her position.
Good, good, I want the picturesup.

(04:47):
Okay, moving on, let's see.
Let's see, what time am I atright here?
Am I good on time?
All right?
All right, yes, we are good ontime.
There were so many other storiesI wanted to talk about.
Let's talk about the VictorGirls blog.
I wrote an article over hereJudge resigns after harboring
illegal gang member fromVenezuela.

(05:07):
Actually and I correct myselfin the article, of course, when
I write these things, I writewith a dry wit, so I hope you
understand the sarcasm, snarkand that kind of thing when I
write what kind of judge lets anillegal gang member live on his
property?
That's the question facing NewMexico Magistrate, judge Joel

(05:29):
Cano.
Magistrate, judge Joel Cano.
He just resigned after ICEarrested a suspected member of
Venezuela's brutal I can'tpronounce it gang at his home.
The man was also in the countryillegally.
Yes, so you know I call him agang, but then all throughout
the article, I'll correct myselfand say oh, I meant terrorist

(05:51):
group, because they have beendubbed as a terrorist group and
this man, this judge, thisAmerican judge, was letting him
live on his property.
Anyway, you can go read thatover there at the Victor Girls
blog.
I want to talk about thisMinecraft stuff too, switching
gears.
All of a sudden, these parentsare defending their children,
destroying movie theaters.
You've heard about this already.

(06:12):
I'm not sure what Minecraft is.
I guess it's some kind of videogame made into a movie.
I don't know.
But why do you want to?
Is there something in the videogame that you destroy stuff?
Why are you sitting in thetheater, destroying the theater,
watching the movie?
And the parents are defendingthese actions.
They've showed pictures of themovie theater and it's atrocious

(06:33):
, and these people have to comein and clean it up and take care
of it and maintain it.
It's costing them money and Ijust think it's wrong.
Now I understand you're goingto get popcorn on the.
I wouldn't.
They would be banned from themovie theater if I was in charge
.
Oh, it was horrible.

(06:53):
But the parents are defendingthese actions Now I guess
they're not out there smokingpot or doing drugs and robbing
people yet, but that's what it'sgoing to lead to If you keep
letting your children do this.
Okay, get a grip.
That's all I'm going to say,and yes, I'm going to stand by
that.
Call me a Victorian prude, Idon't care.

(07:16):
Okay, what else we got going onhere?
There was something else Iwanted to talk about.
Oh, what was it?
I already talked about that.
Oh, these, okay, real quick,let me see if I have the time.
Yeah, a little bit, a littlebit of time.
Oh, my gosh, sorry, I'm gettingthere.

(07:38):
German teens denied entry intoUS for traveling under false
pretenses and intended to workborder patrol.
This story has been coming upin front of my eyeballs online
for a while now.
I just I decided to ignore itfor a couple of days just to see
, but it keeps popping up, sowe're going to talk about it.
A pair of backpacking Germanteens, booted from the US, lied

(08:01):
about the purpose of their trip,customs and Border Patrol said.
But the women claim USofficials twisted their words to
trump up the allegations.
Words to trump up theallegations.
Maria lapierre and charlottepole, 18 and 19, arrived in
hawaii on march 18th and werewith short-term travel permits
ahead of weeks long us trip butwere detained by border patrol.

(08:24):
Okay, so they came here.
They came here with paperworkfor a short term.
They were going to travelwhatever.
These travelers were deniedentry after attempting to enter
the us under false pretenses oneused a visitor visa and the
other visa waiver program, cbpofficials said on the post, both

(08:44):
claimed they were touringcalifornia but later admitted
they instead they intended towork, something strictly
prohibited under the USimmigration laws for these.
So this is a different article.
The first article I read mainlyjust said they turned them away
.
They were suspicious of them.
They didn't have any hotelreservations.
They came to Hawaii with nohotel reservations anywhere.

(09:07):
I was going to give it a pass.
I was going to give that a passbecause young people these days
do things differently than weold people do.
If they wanted to come over andthink they were going to
backpack and camp around, okay,whatever.
But these women were planningto continue on to Los Angeles
and then Costa Rica.
After Hawaii Insisted, they wereinterrogated by CBP for hours,

(09:29):
but transcripts showed theirwords were twisted and outright
falsified.
I don't care.
Hopefully you'll find thisstory somewhere.
I need to keep this short.
We're coming up on 10 minutesand I need the question of the
day what goes on your hot dog?
What do you put on your hot dog?
I can do anything on my hot dog.

(09:50):
I like mustard ketchup, I likechili and onions and cheese.
I like slaw dogs, all of it.
Okay, what do you put on yourhot dogs?
Maybe when you go to thebaseball game?
Okay, gotta go, love you.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.