Morning News Roundup: Texts, Nudity, and Subway Art

TALK TO ME, TEXT IT

Ever been criticized for checking on your loved ones during an emergency? That's exactly what happened to Minnesota meteorologist Nick Jansen, who faced public backlash for texting his wife about their six-month-old baby's safety during severe weather coverage. The absurdity of prioritizing "professionalism" over family safety sparks a compelling conversation about our societal values and expectations.

The bizarre news continues with an encounter in Slovakia that defies explanation – a naked man wearing only a balaclava and carrying an explicit prop startled tourists near a historic castle. Rather than fleeing, the tourists engaged with him and even requested photographs, raising questions about how social media culture might be changing our responses to potentially threatening situations.

We also explore the fascinating world of art valuation through the story of a New York artist making thousands by simply writing messages on old subway maps. Is this genuine artistic expression or a commentary on how easily we assign value to simplicity? The discussion challenges conventional definitions of art and creativity in today's market.

The episode wraps up with a critique of Starbucks' decision to close many grab-and-go locations in favor of traditional cafés to restore "human connection." But is this what customers actually want? A practical suggestion emerges: dedicated drive-thru lanes for mobile orders would better serve efficiency-minded customers while maintaining the personal touch for those who seek it.

Before signing off, we pose a thought-provoking question: What folklore or legend would you want circulated about you after you're gone? It's a fascinating prompt that invites listeners to consider their legacy and how they wish to be remembered in stories long after they've departed. Share your answers and join the conversation!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, good morning, happy Wednesday.
Here we go with some storiesfrom the New York Post.
The first one up is Minnesotameteorologist Nick Jansen
blasted for texting his wifeduring severe weather report.
Alright, let's see what thishas to say about this guy.
I read briefly over it thismorning and it's not that big of

(00:21):
a deal.
I am on his side.
And it's not that big of a deal, I am on his side.
So a Minnesota meteorologist isbeing dragged by viewers over
his unprofessional behavior whenhe texted his wife live on air
during severe weather coverage.
Now, from what I've read ofthis so far, he wasn't even
reporting on the weather at thetime.
Somebody else was talking,talking about a power outage.

(00:45):
One of the news anchors wastalking.
You know how sometimes the newsanchors will butt in or not
interrupt, but kind of also talkduring a weather event, talking
about what is closed, whatpower outages happen, you know
anything like that.
And this is what was happening.
The news anchor was talking.
So off to the side the weatherman was making sure his wife and

(01:07):
baby were okay and takingshelter.
Kttc news chief meteorologistnick jansen was three hours into
his reporting on stormswalloping the rochester,
minnesota region on july 28th,when he was caught using his
phone to make sure his family,including his six-month-old
child, found shelter.

(01:28):
I received an email telling mehow unprofessional I was during
my coverage.
The quote that really struck methat he has to call his wife to
make sure she takes the baby tosafety.
Maybe some people think it'snoble or cute.
I don't.
This is what one of theemailers wrote in about.

(01:49):
That's what they said.
Jansen wrote on his Facebookwith now viral video of the
10-second clip.
I don't know how he hasmaintained his cool through all
this.
The caught-on-camera momenthappened when Jansen was in the
studio standing in front of theradar screen waiting for news
director Zach Fuller to wrap upa power outage update.

(02:11):
So he wasn't even talking it'snot like he was doing the
weather report and said hold on,I got to check on my wife and
baby.
No, he, oh these people.
I don't even know what's wrongwith people nowadays.
F you, whoever the emailerperson was, just get over
yourself.
All right, this next one.
I don't know what's wrong withpeople nowadays.
F you, whoever the emailerperson was, just get over
yourself.
All right, this next one.
I don't know what to thinkabout this.
My first reaction was OMG.

(02:33):
But then I read more into thestory and then I started
thinking maybe this was a setup.
I don't know.
It's really weird.
Here we go, naked man wearingonly balaclava, which I didn't
know what that was until I sawthe picture.
Yes, there's a picture, butit's a ski mask over his head

(02:54):
and carrying a sex toy on stick,terrifies European terrorists.
Well, they don't terrify himenough because they don't run
off.
They take a picture of him.
They ask him if they can take apicture of him.
So they weren't that terrified,okay, which makes me think it's
a setup.
Maybe this is one of thesepeople's husbands or something,
and they thought it would becute to hey, let's stage this.

(03:16):
You know everything is stagednowadays for clicks and whatever
, but this is from the New Yorkpost.
A naked man wearing nothing buta balaclava, ski mask and
plastic clogs and carrying a sextoy on a stick has been
startling tourists whilewandering around a historic
castle in Slovakia.

(03:37):
The unidentified intruder posedfor a picture carrying his
bizarre prop.
On Monday, near this castle, apopular hiking destination in
the country, the Slovak outletTV JOJ reported he reportedly
apologized to the two femalehikers who spotted him, claiming

(04:00):
that he thought no visitorswould be around on a Monday and
let them take his picture.
The outlet said okay, well,number one, I don't care if it's
Monday, tuesday, wednesday,thursday, friday, saturday,
sunday.
Stop walking around naked outin public.
I think that used to be againstthe law.
Now this isn't.
We're talking about a foreigncountry over here, we're not

(04:21):
talking about America.
But you know, he had abalaclavla, whatever, a ski mask
, a stick and a D-I-L-D-O stuckto the stick.
We were scared of him, but hetold us he was sorry, that he
didn't want to scare us.
So he asked us for directionsbecause he thought that since it

(04:42):
was Monday, he wouldn't meetanyone.
Why did he need directions?
See, this is all BS.
One of the tourists said.
And they have a picture of him.
Of course, everything's blurredout.
The male exhibitionist turnedand seemed to be leaving, before
he suddenly began following thewomen.
Then now I would be.

(05:02):
I mean, come on, I'm not goingto ask and stop the man to take
a picture of him.
If I see this, I'm running inthe opposite direction of
wherever he is.
When I turned around, he turnedand started following us.
I was terribly scared inside.
One of the tourists said, addingthat was when he they what what

(05:24):
, adding that that was when theyasked him for a picture.
Okay, wait what?
So you encountered him.
He said he was sorry.
You started to walk away.
Then he started to follow you.
Then you turned around andasked for a picture.
What in the hell?
I guess no one would havebelieved that we could meet
something like that in theforest, but he allowed us to

(05:46):
take a picture of him withoutany problem.
She said it was lucky thatthere were two of us.
I can't imagine what I wouldhave done if I had been alone.
Imagine what I would have doneif I had been alone.
He said this was relaxation forhim and that he often walks
naked in the woods like this.
The tourist said the incidentis now being investigated by

(06:07):
police in the nearby city ofNitra as a potential public
order defense.
The incident was reportedly thethird encounter that visitors
have had with a naked man in thesame stretch of woods since
2020.
It isn't known if the sameindividual was involved in all
three incidents.

(06:27):
Who knows?
Wow, that is some crazy stuff.
What do you think?
Do you think it was staged?
I don't know.
That's not the question of theday.
We're moving on, because Trumpsays JD Vance would probably be
favored for the 2028 Republicanpresidential nomination.
Well, I guess so, since he'sthe vice president.

(06:48):
Normally that's how it works,but if anything has proven us
over the last few years, nothingis done normally anymore.
Over the last few years,nothing is done normally anymore
.
Who knows what could happen.
I think he also praised MarcoRubio too.
So you can go.
You can go read that if you'dlike.
I don't want to get into that,that's just.
That's a long story.

(07:09):
That's out there on my X feed.
If you would like to read that,you can do so.
The next one up.
This is such BS.
This next one.
I can't even believe people arestupid like this.
Now, not to diminish this guy.
He's an artist, but he claimshe's an artist.
But his artwork?
You know what it is?
Do you know what his artwork is?

(07:29):
In New York City, he takes oldsubway maps and writes on them
in paint.
He puts messages on them.
All he does is write words on amap, on an old map, and then he
and he's making thousands ofdollars.
This is insane, and calling itart it's not art.
I could do that.
So everybody, get your oldatlases out and start scribbling

(07:51):
messages on them and thenframing them and selling them.
Meet the New York City artistturning Manhattan streets into
viral masterpieces.
A lot of people know me now.
For this artist, new York Cityis the only canvas big enough.
When Benny Cruz picked up apaintbrush for the first time,
he had no idea that his artwould catapult him into the

(08:12):
highest heights of social media.
I always wanted to be a painteruntil I reached a point where I
wasn't going anywhere with myart.
Well, it's not art.
That's why All you're doing ispainting words on a canvas.
Anybody can do that.
It's not art.
Oh, this was tough Then, andthere I started painting for

(08:32):
myself.
Cruz, also known as your localBenny on his social media,
discovered only later in lifethat his work spoke to millions,
many of them New Yorkers.
I saw that a lot of people whofollowed me were from New York
and they started buying my art.
He said on this popular subwaycollection pieces that sell for
hundreds to thousands of dollars.

(08:54):
They have pictures of him doingthis.
They have pictures of hisartwork.
I'm telling you it's not art.
I don't understand this.
So to think I felt I was goingnowhere with my work to now is a
big difference.
I started to get more and morerelevant.
I felt total darkness before,and New Yorkers brought the
light.
The Brooklyn artist who divideshis time between New York and

(09:15):
Sweden hint hint where hisfamily resides experienced a
boon to his career after pickingup MTA subway maps and
experimenting with text workover them.
Cruz, who also uses acrylicsand markers on sustainable paper
, has gained notice for hisManhattan street art in recent

(09:39):
months.
The pieces spotted on subwaycars across the Big Apple soon
reached every corner of socialmedia, with many gathering
thousands of likes, as well asNew Yorkers liking, sharing and
posting his work.
So yeah, it's so dumb, it's sodumb, I don't get it All right.
One last thing, and then we'lldo the question.

(09:59):
Well, I don't even want to goover this.
Starbucks scraps scores ofgrab-and-go locations.
Here's what that means formobile ordering.
Okay, we will get into this alittle bit.
I had no idea there were suchthings as grab-and-go locations.
I wish there was one here inHuntsville, but here's what's
happening.
Starbucks grab-and-go windowsare on their way out.

(10:21):
The coffee giant plans to closea good portion of its 80 to 90
locations that only offer mobileorder pickups during the 2026
fiscal year as part of its Backto Starbucks initiative.
As of now, starbucks hasn'tspecified which locations will
shutter or when.
The shift doesn't mean all ofthem will close.

(10:44):
A Starbucks spokespersonclarified when it makes sense,
we'll convert some intotraditional coffee houses with
seating to better serve ourcustomers and communities.
Starbucks CEO Brian Nickelannounced the news.
Okay, there's a here we go.
Okay, here we go.
He described the grab-and-gomodel as overly transactional

(11:09):
and lacking the warmth and humanconnection that defines our
brand Honey.
Luckily, here in the South wehave people that know how to
behave and act and interact withpeople.
Okay, but some of these peopleelsewhere, just because you have
a person serving you doesn'tmean they're warm and chatty and

(11:31):
lovely.
Okay, the lack of warmth andhuman connection.
Some of these people don't wantdon't even, they act like they
don't even want to be there.
I would much rather prefer agrab-and-go.
And here's another.
Here's another suggestion forStarbucks Please have a separate
drive-thru dedicated for yourmobile orders.

(11:53):
I do a mobile order all thetime and I pick it up through
the drive-thru and I know betterto do that, but I do it anyway.
But, and then we got peoplewaiting in line ordering all
kinds of shit, complicatedorders, and then that holds up
the line.
Look, if Chick-fil-A can havemultiple lines and McDonald's
can have multiple lines,starbucks can have multiple

(12:15):
drive-thru lines.
Make one dedicated for mobileorder pickups.
Please, I beg you, that is thesmartest thing you can do.
All right, we need, wedefinitely need to move on to
the question of the day now.
All right, I thought about thisyesterday.
It just popped in my head as aquestion of the day, thinking
sometimes my mind goes placesthat are weird.

(12:36):
What kind of folklore or legendwould you like to have
circulated about you after youare long gone from this earth?
That's the question of the day.
All right, I don't even knowyet what I would want mine to be
.
It's something I need to thinkabout.

(12:57):
Okay, I gotta go.
Love y'all Bye.