Virginia Elections and Government Shutdown w/ Chris West

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A rushing phenom closing in on 2,000 yards, a shutdown standoff threatening family budgets, and a city weighing a casino to fund growth—tonight’s conversation connects local pride to statewide power with zero fluff. We kick off with Skyline’s surge and Zaydon’s historic pace, then widen the lens with policy strategist Chris West to unpack why Virginia never sleeps on elections and how turnout waves can crash like a wrecking ball.

From there, we tackle the core of Washington’s gridlock: the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit that kept exchange plans affordable and now sits on the chopping block. Chris explains how a “clean” continuing resolution collided with expiring subsidies, why open enrollment is producing sticker shock, and what that means for TSA lines, SNAP benefits, and workers waiting on back pay. It’s not politics-as-sport; it’s the price of coverage, groceries, and travel during the busiest season of the year.

We also look ahead to what’s coming in Richmond. Expect a serious push to legalize full cannabis retail with hundreds of licenses—an economic lever that could formalize an already active market and raise stable revenue, especially after restrictive hemp rules squeezed farmers. On energy, data centers and population growth are outpacing the grid, forcing hard choices on generation, transmission, and storage. A potential utility deregulation bill could reshape the market and your monthly bill, for better or worse, depending on the rules.

And then there’s Winchester’s crossroads. With limited land, a large share of tax-exempt property, and a fast-growing population, the city is exploring a casino to relieve pressure on homeowners and fund schools, roads, and public safety. It’s a plain tradeoff: higher property taxes or new commercial revenue. Whether you care most about the scoreboard, your insurance premium, or your power bill, this conversation ties it all together—who shows up, who pays, and what kind of growth we want.

Enjoyed the episode? Follow and subscribe, share it with a friend who loves sports and policy, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show. What should lawmakers fix first—premiums, power, or paychecks? Tell us.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
I think we are I can't see myself.
I I don't know why it it did itto me last time.
But if you can see me, I guess Iguess we're good.
So introduce us, Chris.
Hit it off, set it off.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02):
They know what time it is, man.
It's your boy Tony and Tuck,man.
We back here with you Thursday.
It's uh early in November, butbefore you know it, it'll be
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and NewYear's, man.
Time goes by fast.
And uh we're gonna get rightinto it tonight with local
sports, of course, talking aboutthe Hanley James Wood game,
Skyline, Zaydan over there goingfor 2,000 plus yards and uh

(01:23):
everything else in between fromSirando, Millbrook, Warren
County, Clark County, andStrasbourg.
So we'll get right into it,ladies and gentlemen.
And later on, actually, in about10 minutes, we're gonna have a
special guest over from Arizona,Mr.
Chris West.
You know, he does a lot for thecommunity, both over there in
California, even um down inWinchester.

SPEAKER_05 (01:45):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (01:45):
And uh he's on the go, he's on the move, and uh
we'll let him talk about himselfwhen he jumps on.
But in the meantime, Tony, goahead and run this shit like
Zadan.
Let's get it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
All right, all right, uh guys.
Uh local scores from last weekin our area.
Skyline defeated Meridian 43 to33.
Hanley defeated.
And what's Zaden do in thatgame?
Rush for like 400 and some yardsor something crazy like that.
Yeah.
Go shout him out.
We'll get there.

(02:13):
Let me run through this.
Uh Hanley defeated James Wood 35to 23.
Kettle, of course, won byforfeit because we all know
Banana threw in their season.
Uh forfeit.
Uh County 42 to nothing.
Stralsburg destroyed MadisonCounty 55 to 13.

(02:35):
Uh, Clark County lost to Larae36 to 13.
And Central beat Page County 41to 12.
On to West Virginia.
We don't want to forget aboutour friends over there.
Muslim defeated Washington 44 tonothing.
Hedgesville beat Dominion 21 to13, and Springmill uh beat

(02:57):
Pendleton County, I believe iswho that is.
I didn't look at it.
I I might have to fact checkthat.
But uh then East Hardy lost 8 to7.
And who else we got?
Oh no, oh shoot, I forgotLiberty and uh Millbrook.
They because they played onwell, I think Millbrook and

(03:19):
Liberty played Saturday.
They say it was Thursday night,but Liberty beat Millbrook 28-7,
which to me is a shocker.
And Sharando beat Falkier 55 to7.
So on to this week's games, andwe'll shout out Zaytan because I
know you you're all about that.
But Skyline plays Ward Countythis week.

(03:40):
Jameswood plays Falkier.
Uh Liberty goes to Sharando.
Brentsfield plays Kettle Run.
And Haley plays Millbrook.
You know, of course, onSaturday.
And tonight there's actually agame, Madison County and Clark
County.
There's a game tonight.
Nice.

(04:00):
And then uh West Virginia, yougot Hedgesville plays Spring
Mills, Jefferson playsWashington, Musselman plays
Morgantown.
And then uh what's funny isMartinsburg plays on Saturday as
well at home against Hurricane.
So there's your local scores.
Games.
Shout out to Zaydon.
He's about to beat the staterecord.
He's like what?

(04:20):
Number two in the state, maybenumber one right now.
I haven't looked at it.

SPEAKER_02 (04:23):
He's number two in the state in total rushing
yards.
Mm-hmm.
And that's the whole state.
Doesn't matter if the single,double, triple, all the way to
68.

SPEAKER_01 (04:31):
Right.
So he's going into he's he's attwo.
Is he at 2,000 yards?
He's just under it.
He's he's about 18 something.

SPEAKER_02 (04:39):
He's almost at 1900.
So he'll probably get over 100yards in the first quarter of
this game coming up againstWarren County.

SPEAKER_01 (04:46):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 (04:47):
But he he has a chance to finish in the top 10
of all time, a single seasonrushing record for uh the state.
Marcus Vick is like numberseven.
There's some good players onthat list, but right.
Yeah, man.
You know, we we had Zaydan ongoing into his freshman year,
and here he is in his junioryear, and he's living what we
said.
He's gonna be the best.
But uh yeah, I wish him well,man.

(05:08):
I hope he crushes it.
And they're they started outbad, right?
And they've won six in a row,dude, and they're they're going
to the playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 (05:17):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (05:18):
Big Dre and all of them, they've been over their
ball, and Haley at quarterback.
Yeah, Skyline's been since theylost to Haley damn near, they've
played well.

SPEAKER_01 (05:25):
Mm-hmm.
Correct, correct.
Yep.

SPEAKER_02 (05:28):
So man And then Haley, Haneley's playing against
Millbrook.
And Millbrook is the only losingrecord that's ranked in the top
ten in the state.

SPEAKER_01 (05:36):
Right.
Or in the in the well, not inthe not in the state, like the
region or whatever, however,they do it.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Because let me go to thoseright.
I think I saved those rankings.
Because you got let me find herewe go.
Haley at one, because this isthe region 4D.

(05:57):
Then Danville, GeorgeWashington, Danville's two,
Jefferson Forest, third, thenSherando, Jameswood, Liberty,
Milbert, Blacksburg.

SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
And then it cuts off because the rest of the team
will be.

SPEAKER_01 (06:08):
That's who will make the playoffs.
Yeah.
So as of now, yeah, Milburgwould make it as a three and six
team in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_02 (06:14):
Which is crazy because all the other teams have
winning records.

SPEAKER_01 (06:17):
Which I don't get.
But it's whatever.
So without further ado, let'sget this man on.
He probably wants to watch thegame tonight.
Ready to get Chris West on.
We're going to talk governmentshutdown, elections, all that
good stuff.
Whatever we get into, you knowhow we do it.
So let's welcome Chris West ontothe show.

(06:39):
Chris, you hear us?
Uh oh.
Hold on.
You're muted.
There we go.
There you are.
There you are.
That was probably my fault.

SPEAKER_03 (06:52):
Great setup you guys have, man.
I like being in the uh backstagein the green room here.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (06:57):
Oh, you like that?
You like we're like Jimmy Kimmelor something waiting in the
grid, you waiting in the greenroom to get Chris.
Welcome, welcome all you know,back on the show.
This is your second time.
You was on what, a year ago orsomething?
Like three years ago, man.
Sounds like that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (07:18):
Like Starting Night Live, you know, you gotta start
counting the number ofappearances that we get.

SPEAKER_01 (07:23):
Well, we appreciate we appreciate you, man, because
you're you're a big supporter ofever since we started.
You were like one of the firstones to reach out and say you
listened and you know loved theshow and everything.
I I love it, man.
But yeah, that's it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So speak on yourself, Chris.
What you know, you're on here atyour platform now, you're our
guest.

(07:44):
So talk with toot your horn alittle bit, what you do.
It's it's pretty interesting,you know, your background and
what you do right now.

SPEAKER_03 (07:51):
So yeah, so let's see.
I uh graduated Hanley in uh 97,uh, went off to George Mason
University for a year, then wentout to uh University of Arizona
for a year, then went to ArizonaState my junior and senior year.
So kudos uh to the Sun Devilsfor winning the Big 12
championship last year andactually having a pretty good
team here this year despite anumber of injuries.
Um back to Winchester, worked uhin the Winchester Circuit Court

(08:14):
uh for a couple of years, andwent down to Richmond, worked in
the junior attorney general'soffice, went to Washington, D.C.
and worked before Dallin as aUnited States Senator uh for
about two years.
And then after that, I kind ofgot out uh on my own, started
doing government relations work,public affairs work, and have
been doing that now at a firm Ihelped uh uh co-found uh back in
2008, 2009.

(08:35):
So I guess I'm 16, 17 years intothis firm here.
So um we do three main areas offocus.
We do local governmentrelations, so uh controversial
local land use decisions, allthe stuff that nobody wants in
their backyard, cell towers,transmission lines, data centers
right now, power plants, uh allthat sort of fun stuff.
Uh we help uh developers getthose over the finish line and

(08:56):
get them entitled, get their gettheir zoning entitlements for
them at the local level.
We direct state governmentlobbying, and then we do federal
public affairs for speaking outinto congressional districts and
uh help connect um individuals,business owners, chambers of
commerce associations,organizations, nonprofits, put
their uh elected leaders inCongress to help set up meetings
between them and staff membersin DC, sometimes climbing to DC

(09:19):
for meetings, uh engaging onissues that impact them
personally or the or theirbusiness or their families, um,
either negatively or positively.
We're on both sides of issues.
So um, yeah, it's it's fun.
Never the same thing twice.
Um, my uh my parents both inWinchester worked the same job,
same time clock, same door forover 40 years.

(09:39):
So uh my life's a little bit uha little bit more hectic, a
little bit more different thanuh than that generation.
So um yeah, happy to be here anduh happy to talk about the
election.

SPEAKER_01 (09:54):
Well, Chris, what do you what do you want to start
over with the uh election?
Well, see, I got two Chris'shere.
So I might have been likeTucker.
So uh let's let's just jump intothe because the results came
out.
We were supposed to talk aboutthis last week before the
results.
So uh in Virginia, everyoneknows uh Spamberger won for

(10:14):
governor, and everybody's all upin arms about that.

SPEAKER_02 (10:18):
And only two states voted for governor, right,
Chris?

SPEAKER_03 (10:22):
Right, right, right.
So Virginia is uh it's kind ofan oddball across the country,
Virginia and New Jersey, theonly states that hold elections
each and every year.
So in Virginia, you never have aNovember where you are not going
and voting at your at your localprecinct.
So in years like this, we hadthe three statewide races, the
governor will take governor,attorney general, and we had all
100 members of our house ofdelegates up.

(10:43):
Um next year, in the eveningyears, you'll have uh our 11
congressmen in Virginia up, aswell as Senator Warren, who will
also be on the ballot.
And then if you jump ahead to2027, all 100 members of the
House of Delegates will be backup again, plus the Virginia
State Senate will also be up.
You have 40 members in theVirginia State Senate, plus
again, you'll have a number oflocal elections, your board of

(11:04):
supervisors, a lot of yourconstitutional officers, your
electoral dog catchers will blowenough to the vote level.
And then two, you know, 2028,we'll be right back vote for
president again, and and another100 members of Congress, um uh
and and senators across thecountry as well.
So it's never a never a dullelectoral moment um in Virginia.
And we certainly had a bigelection um here a couple here a

(11:25):
couple days ago.
So uh I you know as I've toldfolks, there's political
pendulums.
Virginia is a purple state, mostfolks think it's pretty bright
blue right now for sure.
Most of that you have apolitical pendulum sort of swing
back and forth, but I think thatwas more of a political wrecking
ball that uh that came throughVirginia on Tuesday because
Democrats just absolutely uhdominated uh Republicans uh up

(11:47):
and down the ticket, even at anumber of uh local elections in
the state.
You saw localities that uh thathaven't voted um you know for um
a Democrat governor in 40 years,50 years, 60 years term.
So I changing in the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
Right.
And and I think it's great,obviously, because finally uh I
mean you touched on this, Chris,when we talked on the phone
about how it just depends onwhat's on the ballot you know,
for people to write, you know,what to vote on and how people
show up and turn out, which tome you should vote regardless,
whatever's on the bat, you know,because then shit like this

(12:24):
happens really like the way thethe position we're in right now,
right now, in my opinion.
But like you said, everybodyturned out this, you know, that
I saw the poll, like some ofthem it was like just dominant,
like record numbers, I get, youknow, a landslide almost pretty
much, you know, a lot of thisfor governator rates, yes.

SPEAKER_03 (12:45):
Um, you know, it's typically the the highest
turnout rates are always goingto be your presidential years.
I mean, that's uh most parteverybody's pretty good about
showing up and voting when thepresident and vice president are
on the ballot.
And then of course that year,you know, downticking out in the
United States set race, Russianraces.
That that really is the ultimatedriver.
You see a lot of states tryingto sync up their gubernatorial

(13:08):
elections with presidentialelections, and that's
intentional, again, because theyknow they're getting more votes
to turn out for the polls.
Therefore, you've got a highernumber of people within your
state that are also showing upto vote in gubernatorial
elections.
You have an election, you know,election cycles like you do in
Virginia each and every year, itdefinitely adds and flowers up.
So if you look at you know theturnout numbers compared to what
McCrump and Harris got, I thinkHarris got uh 2.3 million votes

(13:33):
um in 2024 for the presidentialelection.
Well, if you saw AbigailSpamberger absolutely dominated
our election here on Tuesday,she only got 129 million votes.
So if you had 500,000 Virginiansthat came out and voted for
Commodore Harris that didn'tcome out and vote for Abigail
Spanberger.
And again, you kind of scratchyour head like, well, gosh, why
wouldn't he just come out andvote in this election as well?

(13:55):
But that that's kind of thedrop-off that you get for these
elections.
That also trickles down to youknow your local supervisors,
cities, county councils, andsheriff commissioner revenue,
and you know, all those sort ofraces as well, really dictates
what's at the top of the ticketis that big driver for turnout.

SPEAKER_01 (14:12):
Right.
And and my thing is, and youknow this, both of you, like the
local level is the mostimportant.
And people don't turn it, likeyou said, it's like, well, the
president, it's time to vote forthe president, but all it's
steps, so your local levelstarts at your local level
everywhere.
And people don't realize thatthat's the most important.
If you want to go into that, youknow, a little bit, you know,

(14:32):
being on the local level.

SPEAKER_03 (14:34):
I would say that's that's where I think it's really
changed over the past 10 years.
They say all politics is local,but certainly isn't reflective
in other turnouts.
But yeah, I think just issuesright now, everything,
everyone's just hypersensitive,hyper-emotional over just about
everything.
You see uh the activity at thelocal level is absolutely uh
exploded exponentially,especially over the past decade.

(14:56):
And that might be a couple ofthings.
One, that might be the DonaldTrump effect, right?
I mean, he seems to geteverybody on both sides of the
aisle sort of you know pissedoff or engaged.
It's also probably a product ofsocial media.
Um, you know, news travels aheck of a lot faster now.
It disseminates out to a heck ofa lot more people now quicker.
So folks can organize much morequickly around um even the most

(15:18):
hyper-local issues.
You know, things that typicallymove through a board of
supervisors in just a matter ofweeks, whereas stuff in Congress
takes years to get through,right?
I mean, uh they're slow as hellat the federal level.
So you've got but at the locallevel, things move a lot faster.
Products of social media spendfolks that they want to
organize.
You've got you know apps likeNextdoor, right?
That get people together in aparticular neighborhood or a

(15:40):
particular community toorganize.
Obviously, you've got Facebookand all that it brings to the
table as well.
You've got X and Instagram andall those uh TikTok, all of
those things now that areconnecting us in more ways than
we've ever been connected.
And we really see um you knowvoter participation and not just
after polls, but throughout theyears, the controversial, you
know, uh decisions that arebeing made at the local level.

(16:01):
I mean, you guys are bothinvolved in sports.
I mean, you know, you know,right now the the whole debate
over you know, boys in girls'locker rooms and boys, girls
participating, you know, boysparticipating in girls' sports,
right?
Like that's that's really alocal issue, a local level uh uh
issue for the most part, uh,decide at the school board
level, board level.
But it's got folks emotionallycharged, right?

(16:22):
And they're they're out andthey're talking about it,
they're they're marching ontheir local board of supervisors
or their local school boardmeetings.
We never used to see people showup at a school board, school
board meetings.
They couldn't even tell you whowas on the school board.
And I'll tell you, I mean,there's the big political fights
right now are electing thosepeople to be school boards all
across the country because ofissues, you know, like that.

(16:43):
We see what happened in EricBatch County, uh, you know, the
school administrators have beenaccused of, I think, you know,
setting up a student you knowgetting an abortion without her
parents knowing.
I mean, all that stuff againjust drives really the
hyper-local activity, um, notjust here in Virginia, but but
certainly across the across thecountry, right?
So right.

SPEAKER_01 (17:02):
And it and then also what I saw is that a lot of
young younger voters went out aswell.
This election, like they said,the demographic was like, yeah,
very uh, you know, 19 uh 39 orwhat they consider young, you
know.

SPEAKER_03 (17:19):
Yeah.
You look at uh the breakdown inage bracket and other
participation, it absolutelyskews the older voters.
And why is that?
Well, when you're older, you gotmore to lose, right?
You're more engaged and you'remore involved.
Uh versus when you're young,you're not you're not really
thinking about you know youryour income tax rate, you know,
you're not really thinking aboutlocal stuff issues, you're not

(17:40):
really thinking about whateverthe next business regulation or
piece of legislation that'sgoing through your state
legislature or the federalgovernment, those things are on
your mind.
You're worried about you know,where are you heading out to
this Friday night?
You know, you know, you know,you know, are you gonna work
overtime this week or whateverit might be?
Or you do you have a test, youknow, in class, you know.
So um, yeah, prioritiescertainly change as you get

(18:01):
older, but it's great to see andwhether that's you know the
effect of you know, maybementioning it Charlie Kirk
effect, right?
You know, and the engagementthat he had and some of the
stuff that he was doing at thecollegiate level and high school
level.
Um, but it is just great to seegenerally across the board,
young people getting gettingmore involved and paying more
attention.
It's all right, right.

SPEAKER_02 (18:20):
It's because, like you said, social media is a huge
factor.
I think they didn't realize thepeople that control it, as great
as it is, they didn't realizehow much it would backfire on
them for all of us to be able tosee and share information so
quickly, and they can say whatthey want about it not being
true.
It's right there in front of oureyes, and these young kids are

(18:42):
seeing it.
And then with the schools andthe graduations and everybody,
especially a lot of the biguniversity, but just in college
in general, they're getting introuble and getting arrested,
right, for speaking their mindand and whether it's overseas
things and with Gaza andeverything else, right?
But these kids can seeeverything and they're all
uniting together.
So even up here in New York,they crushed with Mam Dani.

(19:04):
But it it I don't even think itwas going to be a question as
far as that part that he wasgonna win.
Because you're going against awhole young generation and
population, and what's happeningin this country right now,
Chris, is is very different thanwhat we grew up on with ice and
everything else, like right infront of our faces.

unknown (19:19):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (19:20):
The young generation is really about the revolution.

SPEAKER_03 (19:23):
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
They're seeing it now you knowmore firsthand than than
necessarily through the eyes oftheir parents, right?
Or through the issues that theirparents might be.
Now they're seeing it you knowmore directly and more firsthand
these younger generations.
So yeah, it's it's it's a Ithink it's a great thing that
they're getting involved.

SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, that's the thing, isthey're they're being directly
affected now.

SPEAKER_02 (19:46):
Because they were born late and see now, so now
that they can talk and speak outtheir issues together, right or
wrong, but just try tounderstand and learn.
Now, like Chris said, you canstart committees and and
whatever you need to in your ownneighborhood and the whole city
and and whatever, the whole damncountry can do it, right?
No King's Days or whatever elsethey're doing, but that's
because of social media, and nowthe young people can all see

(20:08):
what's really happening.

SPEAKER_03 (20:10):
Yeah, you don't need a million dollars to join, you
know, to form a coalition.
You basically need a Facebookaccount.
So it's really leveled, youknow, sort of the competition,
if you will, out there amongcompeting coalitions and
competing groups.
So um it's given really a lot ofa lot of power, you know, at the
hands of just any individual whopretty much just has the time to
sort of put uh put a Facebookpage together or put a page

(20:31):
together or an Instagram pagetogether or um you know start a
TikTok or like you guys, right?
Starting a podcast podcast ishuge right now.
So um that's uh yes, Josh, justI don't know about your all's
Facebook feed, but in myFacebook feed, I mean I get 30
or 40 every single day topodcast updates, you know, new
podcasts, new podcasts.
So it's a great outlook forfolks uh you know to find other

(20:52):
individuals and uh you knowshare their share their
position, share their outlook.
Um great way to get a bigfollowing really quick.

SPEAKER_01 (20:59):
Right, right.
So Chris, who uh one and I Ihaven't looked it up.
That's my fault, and I'm sure uhChris didn't either the attorney
general and uh lieutenantgeneral in Virginia.

SPEAKER_02 (21:12):
Yes, it's we didn't vote for that here.
Like you said, that's Jersey andVirginia, right?

SPEAKER_03 (21:18):
Right, yeah, Virginia New Jersey.
Yeah, the Democrats won on thosetwo races as well.
Um uh so uh uh at the uhattorney general level, it was
uh general name of Jay Jones.
He's been introduced quite a bitover the past uh couple of
weeks.
Um, you know, there was talkingabout an October surprise.
Um now it's more or less aSeptember surprise here in

(21:40):
Virginia, early voting inVirginia, which starts in
September.
So usually um, you know, wheneveryone voted in November, uh,
you know, the opposing campaignwould wait until the middle of
October, right?
That last week about October candrop the best dirt they had
against you know theircandidate, right?
And that would that would givestick and there wouldn't be
enough time for the candidate torespond.

(22:00):
And that's what everyone wouldthink about when they go in and
vote in November.
Well, now you've got earlyvoting in in Virginia, and uh we
start voting in the middle ofSeptember.
So now they move up that allthat uh break dirt they find on
folks at the beginning of theyear.
So Jay Jones had some dirt comeout on him about you know a
couple of texts that he sent acouple of years ago about
wanting to kill the Speaker ofthe House in Virginia and kill
his children and have his wifewatch his his children die.

(22:23):
And yeah, it was it was somepretty pretty out there stuff,
but you know, had uh had alittle impact.
So he certainly didn't get asmany votes as uh as Abigail
Spamberger did, but Abigail wonby such a massive total at the
top of the ticket um that he wasable to sort of ride those
coattails and defeat JC Mearers,who's the current uh current
attorney general um uh here inVirginia.

(22:44):
And then uh State SenatorHashby, uh, who chaired the
education committee in the statesenate, she won the lieutenant
governor's race.
That's really uh you know kindof a non-tunnel race, too.
You sort of want for the ride Lrace.
LG and Virginia for the mostpart is a ceremonial position,
other than the fact that theyget to break tie breaking votes
in the state senate.
Aside from that, they reallyhave a real responsibility.

(23:05):
Very small staff, don't get paidhardly anything at all.
Uh, it's kind of what Virginia'sfour votes again, other than
breaking tie breaks uh in thestate senate.
There's there's there's reallyno authority or power that the
intended governor is gonna holdhere in the state.
So AG and and governor certainlyare the big figures.

SPEAKER_01 (23:21):
See, man, I love it.
See, you got all this info, man.
Like I'm learning a lot of stuffright now.
He's just like, it's just atitle, that's it.
They got no power.

SPEAKER_03 (23:31):
And it is back uh back when I was working at 30
general years ago, 25 years ago.
I think the tenant governormakes like 30 grand a year.
He only had like a two-personstaff.
So you know if you pair thatwith the governor who's making
six figures, and he's appointingyou know half a dozen folks to
cabinet positions who are alsomaking you know mid-six figures,
and you know, and then they'vegot 50 people underneath of each

(23:54):
one of them, and they'reoverseeing departments with
hundreds or even thousands ofemployees, that's where the
that's where the powers at.
And the attorney general'soffice is about five, six
hundred um attorneys in Virginiaas well and supports that, too.
So again, you got a basicVirginia's biggest law firm for
the most part.
So again, it's a really powerfulposition there uh in the
attorney general's office.
And Lieutenant Governor is themost part's a stepping stone.

(24:14):
You're Lieutenant Governor, youwon, you're statewide, you're
technically seconding chargetechnically, and that sort of
sets her up in Virginia to runin four years for governor.
Uh as you probably know inVirginia, we can't have uh a
governor re-elected.
They're they're they'reconstitutionally um uh
restricted to simply one term,so that's why you never had a
two-term governor in Virginia.

(24:35):
So you'll you'll see you knowthat Century Hatching will I
guess her and and Jay Jones,they're gonna have to battle it
out to see who goes and finishnext for governor.

SPEAKER_01 (24:44):
Now, are we the only state that does that?
You can't run again, you know,it's one term, or does is Jersey
the same?

SPEAKER_03 (24:52):
No, Jersey's not the same way.
I think Chris Christie served atleast, I think, two terms up
there as governor, didn't he?

SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
Chris, you might he stuck, but he did.

SPEAKER_03 (25:00):
Yeah, right.
Yeah, I uh I I that's a greatquestion, Tony.
I I would I would are I wouldguess that we are the only one.
Maybe there is a second or thirdone out there, but it is very
unique um that we need not uh weneed not permit our governor to
want to reelection.

SPEAKER_01 (25:17):
Yeah, I mean I get in a good it's good in a way, I
guess.
Yeah, so yeah, that's that'sdifferent.

SPEAKER_03 (25:25):
Yeah, you know, in my experience in in in state
government, I mean I'll say whatthe there is sort of a negative
aspect to it.
Um you got two kinds of people,you know, in my opinion, that
that work for the state.
You've got folks that arepolitical appointees, right,
that that are in there at themost for four years.
Most of them come in six monthsinto administration or start the

(25:45):
administration, and then theykind of leave around year three.
That they're certainly gone, youknow, by the middle of year
three, because they know thatthey're about to sit around in
year four or five.
Right.
Um so you've got those folks inthere, and what do they, you
know, they don't get a wholebunch of stuff accomplished,
right?
Because they kind of know thattheir time's limited.
But then you have you know stateemployees that that also don't
do a whole heck of a lot, uh,you know, either, uh a lot of

(26:06):
them in my experience.
And uh I you know they they sortof know that they've got a job
for life and um uh and they'relikely not going to get uh you
know fired.
Government's not gonna shrink,and you know, all combined
you've got you know two groupsof people that don't accomplish
really a whole lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (26:21):
So I love it.
You're just being so kid.
You're just like, dude, theydon't do nothing.
I love it.

SPEAKER_03 (26:27):
They do, but most of them government could be um an
unall government, uh local,state, and federal could be a
hell of a lot more efficient uhthan it is, but but it's just
they it just simply is it's it'sa beast sort of up of its in and
of its own.

SPEAKER_01 (26:40):
So oh okay, thank you.
Uh one of our fans just uh letus know that Connecticut, Idaho,
Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts,Minnesota, New Hampshire, New
York, Texas, Utah, Vermont,Washington, and Wisconsin.
Is one term.

SPEAKER_03 (27:00):
I know Texas, yeah, because uh Governor Abbott's
been there for a couple of termsin Texas.
So I know Texas for sure is uhis not a single sales thing.
But uh yeah, it says uh notnecessarily one term though.
Yeah, not necessarily limited tothree terms.
A lot of things might be limitedto two or maybe three.

(27:20):
Um but one ask a lot of checkyou can keep it.

SPEAKER_01 (27:26):
But it's like you say, adding on it, it's a good
and a bad thing.
It's like you say, you know, ifsomebody's working on something,
whatever they're trying to putto implement some of the law or
do anything, it's like you saythey give up after three, like
because they know they're gonnabe out.
But if they knew they wererunning for another term, I
guess, and everybody loved themor hated them, however it goes,
but yeah, they just they juststopped caring, I guess, in a

(27:48):
way.

SPEAKER_03 (27:49):
So, you know, it's another you know, Virginia we
run on a two-year budget cycle,right?
Um, so Abigail Spamberger justgot elected.
Um, so every other year inVirginia, we have what's called
a long, long session, and wehave a short session.
So this upcoming legislativesession, we're gonna quote a
long session because uh we'regonna be discussing the budget,
the the two-year budget thatthey'll pass.

(28:10):
Well, Abigail Spamberger justgot elected two days ago, and
our general state generalassembly is gonna convene the
second Wednesday in January, andshe's gonna have to present a
budget between now and then.
Um, so here she is, a brand newgovernor just got elected, and
and or she's already headingliterally her first day in
office.
She's gonna get inaugurated andturn around and have a general
assembly session where herpriorities as governor, right,

(28:33):
um are gonna have to uh you knowbe lobbied for uh amongst the
general assembly that we I meanyou mentioned you have 13 new
members, you've got 65, 35 nowdemocratic adjoining uh in the
House of Delegates, uh 2119Democratic adjoining state.
But just again, to your point,Tony, it's it's really tough.
Uh, you know, one of thedetriments of having a

(28:55):
single-term governor, you don'thave much time to kind of put
your stamp on sort of you knowdoing what you want to do and
and your priorities and getthose things through because
again, you're coming inimmediately, you're going into a
budget year, really only get twobudgets um during your four-year
term.
So it's just difficult to sortof leave your mark, if you will,
on the common wealth and secondelection.

SPEAKER_01 (29:16):
Right, right.
Yeah.
So, Chris, you got anyquestions?
Or Tucker, I'm talking to, yougot any more questions about
these local elections?
Because Chris Tucker don't vote.
He doesn't believe in it, Chris,at all.
He he doesn't vote, he's he'sit's all rigged according to
him.

SPEAKER_02 (29:33):
Local things to me could matter somewhat, but to
me, overall, it doesn't matter.
So, like, yes, all these thingskind of do matter to a certain
extent, but what we've alwayssaid, and it's way before Donald
was in the office of president,whatever, but I've got the Trump
card, I've got the Trump card.
Where now the country reallydoes have the Trump card, and
Trump is gonna trump anythingthat these people think they're

(29:55):
gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 (29:56):
But Chris, I try to tell you like to me, this
election here, Virginia is.
In New Jersey, on you know, thegovernor that proves to me, you
know, power and numbers, right?
New York does what people didn'tvote.
Yeah, no, not New York, but I'mjust saying, you know, you get
out and vote it.
To me, it makes a difference.
I mean, I know some of usprobably set up, you know,

(30:18):
whatever.
I don't know, Chris Way, you canspeak on that.

SPEAKER_02 (30:22):
I think our political office is ran by
Israel.
So at the end of the day, a lotof people don't understand or
realize what I'm saying aboutthat, but we we don't control a
lot, they're controlling us.

SPEAKER_05 (30:33):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (30:35):
What do you think about that?
Because even Tony probablydoesn't understand all of it.
But do you have any thoughts onwhat I just said?

SPEAKER_03 (30:41):
I mean, I'll tell you that that is that is um that
is uh covering things on that,Tucker.
I mean, I mean, one, um, a fewpeople were talking about that.
More people are now startingstarting to talk about that now.
Um, that was really something Ithink for a long period here um
in the country, and really upuntil maybe this past year,
even, um, as a topic is weren'tsupposed to talk about.

(31:04):
But um, there are certainly anumber of theories out there
right now, and there are a lotof folks that think very similar
to you, and and they're becomingmore vocal about it.
And see, and there's a there's abig increase.
Um, you know, as soon as youbring something like that up, of
course, you're your label, youknow, phonetic or a certain
individual.
Right, right, right, yeah.

(31:26):
So it's uh it's certainly adebate now that's coming a lot
more towards to the forefront.
People are actually starting totalk about it, which which
again, they they have not talkedabout that.
It was uh you know, you see onthe Republican side, uh you
know, Marjorie Taylor Green issomeone that's now speaking out
a lot about that, you know, halfthe Republican Party or all the
Republican Party, you know, theIsrael goal, you know, and they

(31:47):
all just do whatever Israeltells them to do.
And why are we giving you 30billion dollars every single
year to this?
Yeah, with APAC.
And look, what do you think?

SPEAKER_02 (31:55):
Here's the thing I'll say too, Chris, is there's
a right wing and a left wing.
So I don't care about the redand the blue and all that.
To me, it's a bigger version ofuh so-called bloods and crips,
red and blue.
And earlier you said earlier youmentioned the color of purple,
which is my favorite color, butI do know that if you mix red
and blue, you get purple.
Now, did you say that for acertain reason, or why did you

(32:16):
say purple?

SPEAKER_03 (32:17):
Well, they're called purple states, those states that
they kind of swing back andforth that you really don't know
if it's definitively aRepublican state or a democracy.
I mean California, right, is ablue state.
They're never gonna elect aRepublican again to a statewide
office.
New York, you know, it's more orless a blue state.
Yeah, blue state.
Virginia's a swing state.
So Virginia's a swing state.
So all your swing stakes, youknow, referred to as as just

(32:40):
purple states, right?
Uh that's just it's a meld ofthose two of those two colors.

SPEAKER_02 (32:44):
Yeah, so my whole thing though is red or blue, if
you put your arms up, you have aright wing, a left wing, but
they connect to the same bird.

SPEAKER_05 (32:55):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (32:59):
So they really work together at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_05 (33:02):
Yep.

SPEAKER_02 (33:03):
And I think they give a lot of people an illusion
of what to believe and whatthey're gonna do, but end of the
day, red or blue, whatever, theyhaven't really so much helped
any of us, and they just keepdividing us and make people
fight, and that's what I don'tlike.

SPEAKER_01 (33:17):
Well, that well, that leads into the the
government shutdown.
The the thing is they just can'tget along and see eye to eye.
So, yeah, and why are we in agovernment shutdown right now?
And you're and I did not knowthis, that this is the third
time the government is shut downwith Trump in office.

SPEAKER_02 (33:34):
But it happened like 20 times with Reagan.
Jimmy Carter had happened to hisown.

SPEAKER_01 (33:41):
Yeah, this is the longest, of course, but of
course it happened with Trump'sfirst term, you know, in 2018
and jet for three days, and then2018-19 for 35 days.

SPEAKER_02 (33:52):
Obama had a shutdown.
And then now we're Bush had ashutdown, like yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (33:56):
Yeah, they they've all done the and Chris, you can
you know, West, you can speak onthis because you know, why we're
shut down for and so peopleunderstand.

SPEAKER_03 (34:07):
Um, so I mean, what you have is an is an impasse
right now really over twoissues.
It really boils down for themost part to two issues.
So Republicans, then this thisgoes back, you know, what do we
have?
We have day like 38 or 40 orsomething like that.
So, you know, 40 days ago or so,uh, you basically have budget
conference, right?
You have a budget staff and youhave budget conference.

(34:28):
Republicans say, hey, these areour priorities, these are the
things we want in the budget, oror these are the things we want
cut from the budget, typicallywhat Republicans will come
forward with.
Democrats saying, you know, hey,these are the things that we
want we want in the budget, ormaybe we want to cut the budget
too.
The conference all come togetherand it's sort of so back 40 days
ago, or however many days ago,to go basically a budget needed

(34:49):
to be passed.
And Republicans said, you know,let's pass a continuing
resolution.
What continuing resolution doesit simply fund government?
Everything's funded at the exactrate um that it that it was
funded at the previous year,just sort of continues all that
funding at the same level, noincrease, no decrease.
And they said, let's just pass aclean CR or a clean uh uh

(35:09):
continuing resolution that willgive those budget conferees an
extra six weeks up untilNovember the 15th to kind of
figure out this budget thing anduh and see if we can come to
some agreement and ultimatelyyou know November 16th we'll
we'll pass something andeverything will go back to
normal.
Well, Democrats kind of dug inon one particular issue, and
that one issue is called theECTC's enhanced tax the

(35:31):
insurance, sorry, the enhancedpremium tax credit, which is an
insurance tax credit that folksget to purchase uh health care
on the health exchanges.
So you have Obamacare, which isthe federal health exchange, but
then each state has their ownindividual health care exchange,
too.
At least most states do.
I think 35 or 50 do.
And what this premium was, thispremium was passed back at the

(35:54):
beginning of COVID.
Um it was passed only byDemocrats, not a single
Republican voted for it.
And when they passed it, theypassed it, I think it was a
three and a half year lifespan.
And at the end of that three anda half years, that tax credit
was supposed to expire.
And that's exactly what'shappened.
That that tax credit isexpiring.
And because it's expiring, whatfolks solve on November 1st when

(36:15):
uh premium reinview is to comeout.
So basically, if you buy healthinsurance off of your state
exchange, you get to shop forplans.
You can have, you know, the goldplan, the bronze plan, plan, you
know, whatever plan you want foryou, or you and your wife, or
you and your wife is.
And that tax credit wasbasically uh uh uh uh given to
folks that were 400% overpoverty, basically income up to

(36:38):
400 percent over what they callFPL level poverty level, so
federal poverty level.
Right.
So without that tax credit now,what folks are seeing is that
their insurance premiums aregoing up 20%, 40%, 60%, 75%.
So figure, you know, a family offour that was paying out of
pocket each month 700 bucks fortheir you know health insurance

(36:59):
policy.
Now they're paying 1800 bucks,2,000 bucks a month, which they
can't afford, right?
I mean, it's right.
So what are they gonna do aboutit?
So Democrats are saying we'vegot to extend this this health
care tax credit.
Republicans are saying we nevervoted for the tax credit, and we
weren't the ones who created itand and made it Indian three and
a half years.
That was also Democrats of yourown doing.

(37:19):
We didn't support this thing,you know, four years ago.
We're not gonna support thisthing again.
Let's just pass this cleancontinuing resolution, let's
just talk about the budget.
Maybe we'll negotiate a one-termextension, one year extension or
three-year extension.
Democrats pretty much want uh uha never-ending extension of that
tax credit.
And and Democrats just refuse tosay, nope, we're digging in.

(37:40):
This is it, unless thiscontinuing resolution you know
includes uh an extension of thistax credit, we're not even gonna
talk to you.
We're not even gonna talk to youabout a clean bill or a
continuing resolution.
So it's really those two thingsuh that that are really have the
two at uh have the two atloggerheads.
I mean, the the real issue withregard to the EPTC, it's it's
the cost of health care guys,the cost of health care does way

(38:02):
too much.
I mean, it's just it's just itshouldn't cost as as much as it
does.
Health insurance shouldn't costwhat it does, and health care
shouldn't cost what what itdoes.

SPEAKER_01 (38:12):
Um hey, I'm one that should be free.
That's just how I feel, andother countries do it, and but
to get people on board for that,I don't want to pay for somebody
else, but you're getting taxedfor other shit, you bitch about,
you know.
So, what would you rather gettaxed?
Your health care come out, youknow what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 (38:33):
Or bring that up because of course health care
should be free for everybody, nomatter what land we live on,
because that's the one biggestnecessity besides food and
water, right?
Right, and then if we're talkingabout the government shutdown,
Chris, it's the government's notshut down.
Because if it was shut down, wewould not still be getting

(38:55):
taxed.
But we are somebody just said,then it's not all the way shut
down.
So that's my biggest thing.
Like it's shut down to a certainextent, but there's way they
keep it open for what they wantto keep it open for.
Is that correct?

SPEAKER_03 (39:07):
Um, there's there's certainly subcommittees and
committees and commissions thatare also meeting.
There are still our people goingto work.
But I mean, I I take the pointof you know, the government's
been shut down for what is it,40 days now, and has your life
really been impacted if youreally has anything changed?
I mean, you still yeah, you'reright, you're right.
There's they are because thosefolks are still gonna be paid,
you know, back pay.

(39:27):
There were still, you know, youthink about the airports, right?
All those TSA workers have stillbeen coming to work every single
day for the past 38 days.

SPEAKER_05 (39:34):
I know when Chris are calling out sick.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (39:39):
That I mean, I I don't know if everybody's going
to get paid because Trump donecame out, said he's gonna pick
and choose who he's gonna pay.

SPEAKER_03 (39:47):
Yeah, but Trump is using it as an opportunity to
shrink the size of government.
Um, no, no doubt about it.
But yeah, you think if we'remilitary, right?
I mean, all those guys are gonnaget you know they're back
paying.
So that's why taxes are are forthe most part being collected.
Not to say, and again, you know,I'm certainly one that thinks
the the size of the federalgovernment can be absolutely
reduced.

(40:07):
Um, you know, uh I was a fan ofwhat doge was was was doing some
of the stuff that they were.

SPEAKER_02 (40:14):
What about the US government supposed shutdown
having something to do with 10%of the the 40 biggest airports
in the world today uh cancelingflights and having to change
everything else up with theirflights?

SPEAKER_03 (40:27):
Well, again, that's because you've got you've got
you know you've got people thathave been coming to work, like
air traffic controllers and TSAagents that are no longer coming
because they're not gettingpaid.
Well, they're not getting paid.
So it's like, man, I got rentcoming due, right?
I'm gonna go drive an Uber untilthe government track in and I
know my paycheck's coming.
I've got to do something where Ican earn money to pay my bills.
My bills aren't gonna stopcoming, my mortgage isn't gonna

(40:49):
stop being due.
So yeah, they're they're in aposition now where they've
probably exhausted what savingsthey had in the bank.
You know, most folks don't don'tkeep too much in the bank that
could cover them for a month orsix weeks or two months if all
of a sudden they they lost theirjob or weren't getting paid.
It's kind of the worst of bothworlds.
You still have your job andyou're still going to work every
day, but you're not getting paidfor it.
Which is terrible.

(41:10):
Um, but yeah, yeah, I mean,that's absolutely so uh yeah,
that that's why it's reallygonna cramp.
And my gosh, man, if this thingextends into Thanksgiving,
imagine the nightmare thatweek's gonna be from a travelist
temple once I'm anywhere in thiscountry.

SPEAKER_02 (41:27):
And I'm thinking the government shutdown cause uh
martial law eventually.

SPEAKER_03 (41:34):
I mean, it I don't think things will will get that
bad.
I mean, you've got pretty muchonly the federal employees for
the most part are the ones thatare that are truly being
directly impacted, not to saythe rest of us are indirect.
I don't think no.
I think you're gonna see martiallaw there you know here in this
something.

SPEAKER_02 (41:52):
Well, that's also a good reason that the judge or
whatever blocked him stoppingsnap and and and all these like
you know things for the lessunderprivileged people to have,
and they needed their benefits,so to speak.
The judge blocked it, or itwould have stopped on the first.
And that could have causedchaos, especially around the
holidays towards the end of theyear at each end of the month

(42:12):
when there's nobody to havebills or food.
But obviously, the judge blockedit.
But this could all also lead tome, I'm thinking, Chris, is to
there will be no presidentialelection in 2028 if Trump can
continue to go the way he reallywould like it to go.

SPEAKER_03 (42:29):
No, I know I don't I I think there would probably be
as many, if not more, on the GOPside that would that would uh uh
rise up uh against that uh thanthere than there would be even
on the end side.
So yeah, there's gonna be athird term.
I he would lose whatever legacyhe had with you know those two

(42:49):
people in the Republican Partythat's still supporting and
following kind of blindly.
Uh, I think if he tried to dothat, that would just be a
really not to say he wouldn't dothat, right?

SPEAKER_05 (42:57):
I mean that's he doesn't want to leave office,
yeah.
Yeah, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_01 (43:03):
He's gonna do the same thing I'm calling it.
And my dad uh my dad recipe, buthe called it his first term.
He told me months before, he'slike, that guy's not gonna leave
the White House.
And there with January, and he'sgonna do the same thing.
He's not gonna leave.
He's gonna refuse to leave thefucking White House.
Let's keep it real.
We know this.

SPEAKER_03 (43:25):
Yeah, I think JD Vance would have to say about
that.
I'm sure he's the presidenthimself.
So yeah, I mean, uh look, Imean, you can't put anything
past uh, you know, Donald, nodoubt.
But um, I I think uh I don'tthink there's any way Stick
form, I think, you know, gosh,you want to bring that right
wing and left wing together andform that same bird, let Trump
attempt that you're gonna see alot of Republicans push back

(43:46):
against that.

SPEAKER_01 (43:48):
Well, I I mean I surely hope so.
You know, but we'll we'll seewhen that time comes.
But I'm sure you heard it herefirst.
It's gonna be an instant replay,if not worse.

SPEAKER_02 (44:01):
You know, it's the next project that you got coming
up, Chris, that you're workingon.

SPEAKER_03 (44:08):
Oh gosh, I mean, uh I mean, we got all kinds of uh
fun projects um that we'reworking on.
We're doing a lot of stuff inhealthcare.
One I'll I'll share with you allmy, you know, might uh might
find of any interest to to toyour listeners here.
Um so I think even before theresult of Tuesday's election, I
think that you're gonna see oneof the one of the bigger pieces
of legislation that's gonna comeout of Virginia's next

(44:29):
legislative session, which againstarts in January and runs
through March of 2026, is Ithink you're gonna see uh
Virginia finally pass uhfull-scale uh marijuana
legalization.
So I think we're gonna see umthat officially passed.
We'll no no more be limited toto just uh you know for
medicinal purposes and really avery specific medicinal purpose
um like we have here now.

(44:50):
I think you're gonna see fullretail.
Um, I think it'll be uhinteresting to see how many
licenses uh they ultimatelyissue.
Uh from what I hear, it's gonnabe somewhere around, you know,
Virginia's a control state,right, from a liquor stand.
So you know how you can buy beerand wine in the grocery store,
but you got to go to an ABCstore, right, to buy liquor.
Well, similar to that, um,you're gonna see uh I kind of

(45:12):
look at CBD and him as sort oflike the beer and wine and you
know, marijuana as go to theliquor, you're gonna see uh
probably a similar number oflicenses to the number of ABC
stores we have in Virginia,which is around 400, 420, I
think unattended, um, uh numberof licenses uh issued here in
Virginia.
I just see you know, cannabisstores on you know pretty much

(45:32):
not every corner, but at leastone doors in these cities.

SPEAKER_02 (45:37):
It boomed this economy.
It's been legal here for likefour years.
Well that the the economy hassuper jumped.

SPEAKER_01 (45:46):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (45:46):
Yeah, yeah.
Like where it used to be so manyrestaurants and stores now,
especially in Manhattan, oncethey close down for whatever
reason from the pandemic and allthe way to just, you know,
things are expensive.
It's been a lot of C B D C andso-called THC and weed stores
open up, and the economy hasreally done and third, they've
flourished because of it.

SPEAKER_03 (46:07):
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think yeah, I think you'llsee that uh uh here in Virginia
now too.
Virginia, it's it's kind of odd.
Our our our marijuana policy, wewe have a uh a very um, you
know, the federal government, aswe all know, like right, like
thinks marijuana is you knowshould be totally and completely
legal, and it is in the eyes ofthe federal government.
In Virginia, it's somewhat laxbecause we do have you know uh a

(46:29):
medical marijuana up here inVirginia.
We've got you know basicallyfive licenses, five dispensaries
geographically dispersed aroundthe state.
But on hemp, on the hemp frontin Virginia, hemp and C BD,
we've got some prettyrestrictive laws here in
Virginia.
As a matter of fact, the ratiouh of CBD and hemp products that
we can sell in Virginia areunlike anywhere else in the
country.
So it makes it very hard forhemp manufacturers, hemp farmers

(46:53):
uh here in Virginia uh to reallystruggle.
We we've lost over a thousandhemp farmers here in the state
over the past couple of yearsbecause of law that passed back
in back in 2023.
So Virginia's kind of completelyfoot marked, right?
The federal government thinksyou know hemp and C BD is
completely fine, um, but yetVirginia really chose to crack
down on hemp and C BD, whichdoesn't make any sense.
And the federal governmentthinks that marijuana is to be

(47:14):
only illegal, but Virginia'slike, oh, we can have you know
some some legal marijuana herein Virginia through the display.
Again, I think that's all gonnachange, just see a little bit
more of a line of hemp and C BDfront next year.
And then you're gonna see uhagain a full retail market here
in Virginia.
So that will pass next year.
Um likely will go in effecteither July 1 or January 1,

(47:35):
probably of 2027.
You'll see it getting about 400licenses probably issue.
Um, and and you know, again,you'll see a full retail market.
Obviously, there's there's youknow right taxes for that.
Um be taxed, and hopefully thatwill get rid of some of the
black market, probably create alittle bit of a great market, if
you will, here.

SPEAKER_01 (47:53):
Um so one of our guests is saying a spam burger
for retail sales.
I guess you probably answeredthat question.

SPEAKER_03 (48:04):
Yeah, I think she'll be supportive of it.
I mean, Democrats will certainlybe supportive of it, I think.
And there's even a number ofRepublicans that are support uh
marijuana legalization.
So yeah, I think there's gonnabe plenty of support to get um
at least one bill will probablybe five or six, seven, eight
different versions of a bill uhsubmitted next year, and I'm
sure one of those will pass, ortwo or three of those will

(48:25):
emerge, and also form the uh thethe the full retail legislation
here in Virginia.
So that's certainly gonna changeVirginia, I think, uh uh on
quite a bit.
I think it's 28 other statesright now, 30 other states right
now that have that have retailmarkets.

SPEAKER_01 (48:40):
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah, that'll that'll definitelyhelp the state, is all I gotta
say.
It'll definitely help.
Yeah, so that'll be big.

SPEAKER_03 (48:49):
Energy is gonna be another big one.
Um, you know, Virginia rightnow, we import about 40% of our
power.
Um, we'll force it because we'renext to West Virginia who
exports about 40% of theirs.
Um with the data center room,you know, in Northern Virginia,
um a big gap between uh demandfor energy here in the state and
what we supply here internallyin the state.

(49:10):
So you're gonna see probably alot of uh energy probably next
year uh hub as well.

SPEAKER_01 (49:16):
Um you speak energy, right?
So does that mean the electricalcompany will have competition?

SPEAKER_03 (49:23):
Since funny you mentioned that.
So yeah, there is a deregulationbill that's gonna probably come
up next year, which which willbe interesting to see.
So right now, Virginia for themost part is dominated by
Dominion Power.
They've got a couple independentpower producers in your
commonwealth, but the rates areset by the State Corporation
Commission that basically sayyou know, Dominion can only
charge X, and that X includes,you know, obviously a little bit

(49:45):
of money for them to make aprofit each and every year.
There's the bill that's gonnaderegulate Virginia, which will
allow pretty much uh what Ithink is going to be very, very
similar to like a Texas stylederegulation bill, which we're
gonna create just a ton ofmiddlemen.
Um you'll you've got a hundreddifferent power companies in the
state of Texas.
None of them really producepower.

(50:05):
Again, they're just kind of thatmiddleman between the consumer
and the power, the powergenerators themselves.
It's probably what's gonna besomething similar to that uh
here in Virginia.
Power is certainly a big issue.
Um, demand is a big issue,transmission right now is a big
issue, generation is an evenbigger issue.
Um we need to uh uh we need todevelop you know more more

(50:27):
generation.
What's that gonna be?
It's not gonna be coal firedplants, right?
It's gonna be natural gas fireplants, maybe small nuclear
reactors.
Um it's really tough right nowat the local level to get um you
know wind or solar um approvedbattery storage is on the rise.
I think here in Virginia, that'ssort of a good um sort of middle
solution, if you will.

(50:47):
Start taking some of the powderthat we already have that you
know in the hours of the daythat we're not using it, like
when you're asleep, right?
You're not running your AC andyour oven and your washer and
your dryer, right?
There's this extra power outthere on the grid so that we can
store that in batteries.
So the next morning when we allwake up and all turn the lights
on and all start cookingbreakfast and they all start
getting ready for work, right?

(51:08):
And then to pump that pump thatsoled energy back into the grid.
So batteries are grown rightnow, but that's gonna be another
big issue, I think, uh, thisyear and the upcoming uh I I
just want a cheaper bill.

SPEAKER_01 (51:19):
That's it.
Period.
Way cheaper.

SPEAKER_03 (51:24):
Yeah, well, more competition, right?
Competition should drive shoulddrive down the cost.

SPEAKER_01 (51:28):
Yeah, that's that's what I was thinking because like
they got a monopoly basically onthis you know, Senator Valley
electronic.

SPEAKER_03 (51:36):
You're competing for the same electrons that you know
Amazon is and Facebook is, youknow, with their data centers up
in northern Virginia.
It's that's what we like to tellfolks, especially like in
Frederick County right now.
Frederick County, you've got alot of uh uh a lot of
transmission projects that arebeing proposed.
Folks think that, oh my gosh,you know, all the transmission
is coming in so we can feedLoudon County, right?

(51:57):
So we can feed Prince WilliamFairfax County with more energy.
Electrons aren't earmarked,there's not a name tag on an
electron.
It doesn't say that, hey, youknow, electron coming from the
power plant in Pennsylvania,I've got to go to Tony Dinch's
house, and I'm gonna wait untilTony Ding's puts that light
switch on to power that lightbulb, right?
Electron immediately to whomeveris requesting them, the closest

(52:20):
and most immediate.
They don't just stay up thereand wait for someone 300 miles
down the line to request thatelectron.
So it's it's a great for forVirginia.
It strengthens the grid uh uhhere in Treasure County, I
think.
Uh and it's a good thing from aneconomic development standpoint,
allows potentially Winchesterand Treasure County to bring in
some more high-energy intensiveuses, unlike advanced

(52:41):
manufacturing, which is a greatpaying jobs to the data centers
themselves, which is the printrevenue for all these standpoint
to keep your property taxes low,uh your car tax uh low there in
the county, um, which wouldcertainly be a good thing to
help you know renovate schools,would help build growth, um, you
know, help pay your publicsafety folks more money, um, you
know, all that all that goodstuff can come from additional

(53:03):
revenue stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (53:04):
Right.
So, Chris, I don't know if youwant to mention it, but do you
want to mention the casinoWinchester is proposing?

SPEAKER_03 (53:10):
Uh there was down there uh on October the 20th in
Richmond.
Um folks from Winchester did didpropose a uh uh uh exploring the
idea of of a casino in the cityof Frederick.
So uh again, it comes back to umWinchester and Frederick County
are the fastest growing areas inthe Commonwealth, Virginia for

(53:31):
five years straight.
Um you've got a lot of peoplemoving in, you've got a lot of
homes that are being built byright, you've got a lot of homes
that were approved a decade agothat are now being built.
You have more people moving intoyour locality.
That is a larger stress on yourpublic safety, right?
Your police, fire, and rescueranswering more calls.
It's a bigger stress on youreducation system, you got more

(53:53):
kids in classrooms now, right?
It's a bigger stress on their onyour road infrastructure, you
got more cars on the road, whichmeans you've got to fix roads,
you've got to widen roads,you've got to build new roads.
So money's got to come somewhereuh to um uh to provide for you
know those renovations tofacilities, or you know, you saw
Frederick County just approvedand you're building a fourth
high school.

(54:13):
That money's got to come fromsomewhere.
Now it's gonna come from one oftwo sources, either gonna come
from property taxes, which isyou, the individual, paying more
money, or it's gonna come fromyour commercial and industrial
sectors paying paying businesstaxes.
And so so business needs to growin in Frederick County and in
the city of Winchester.
In the city of Winchester'scase, they're landlords, right?
You don't have these big greenpastures of fields out there

(54:36):
that you know just waiting forthe next craft or the next brown
cork and seal or the next hooddairy to come and develop.
City of Winchester doesn't havethat.
The city of Winchester has nogreen fields left.
Uh the city of Winchester alsohas um, I believe it's a
quarter, 25% of the property inthe city of Winchester is owned
by non-tax paying entities.
So that's that's ShenandoahUniversity, that's Valley Health

(54:58):
System, that's nonprofits.
Think of all the churches in thecity of Winchester, they don't
pay property taxes, right?
So all of a sudden you're losing25% of your tax base there.
And just think there's no majorindustry in the city of
Winchester.
You used to have Abex, that'sgone.
Still got O.
Sullivan that's there, NationalFruits there to a smaller
effect.
It's it's I'm sure that thatthat business is growing.

(55:19):
But you used to have a couple ofmajor employers within the city
limit, you don't really havethat anymore.
So all those things combine youknow to create a situation where
the city has to do something,right, to create revenue.
Because if it's not creatingrevenue through commercial or
industrial means, it's gonna becoming to every resident,
increasing your property taxes.
They've got to pay the bills.

(55:39):
Winchester's going vertical now,right?
You've seen a lot of apartmentcomplexes get approved recently,
um, three-story, four-story.
Um more residents that aremoving in there.
Frederick County is explodingfrom a population standpoint.
Um, they've got to do somethingtoo.
Um again, where's the revenuegonna come from?
You know, people don't likechange.

(56:01):
I'm I'm getting to that age now,man, where I don't like it
either, right?
Right.
I come, you know, I'm I'm intown and I'm driving around, and
I remember you know, somethingused to be there 20 years ago,
30 years ago, and now it'ssomething that's new and ugly
and modern.
I'm like, oh man, it's a fitnesstown that doesn't go there.
But you know, change isinevitable.
Change happens, and you know,folks have to realize again,

(56:22):
you've got one of only twoplaces where revenue is going to
come from.
It's either your pocket or it'sbusiness and industry's pocket.
So so you're either gonnasupport if you're there saying,
you know, hey, I don't wantwhatever it might be.
Maybe it's a casino, maybe it'suh convention center, you know,
maybe it's uh who knows, topball.
You know, it could be anythingcoming to town.
Right.
You don't think that fits youknow the mold of Winchester, and

(56:44):
we want to keep it this way oldhistoric town, then you better
be prepared to pay more inproperty taxes.
That that's that's for twochoices.
So right.

SPEAKER_01 (56:53):
Well, Chris, I guess I guess we'll wrap this up, man.
It was good to have you.
We we dang we're going on anhour now.
But it's great having you on andbeing in safe, and we'll have
you back on again, you know, tospeak on that casino in the
future, because I know in otherplans in Winchester, because
obviously you're the man to goto on every change.

SPEAKER_03 (57:14):
Yeah, it's fun just as fun.
Again, it's it's it's a growingarea, and there's no lot of
change.
There's a lot of growth.

SPEAKER_01 (57:21):
Now, one thing that comes up to is uh uh would
Winchester ever build anotherhigh school?
Since you broke another highschool, no, yeah, yeah.
Because you say, you know,there's no land or anything to
put anything in if we keepgrowing, right?
We're going up more population.

(57:43):
Just in Europe, would there beanother high school?

SPEAKER_03 (57:48):
I think you're just gonna see another extension, you
know, another extension probablyhandling, you know, back up
there on the hill or or orsomething.
And again, you know, Winchester,Winchester is landlocked.
Um, and that's a good thing anda bad thing.
It's a good thing in thatpopulation can only increase so
much.
Um, so much area for which it'sbeing redeveloped.

(58:09):
I mean what you've seen with thenew apartments, where where have
they come?
You've got them coming fromMontgomery Ward Plaza, right?
So Montgomery Ward hadn't beenanything for 20 years, so that's
been redeveloped.
It was out there zero pack,right?
I mean, zero pack sat vacant forwhat two decades.
So that's been redeveloped.
Um, you've got the Apex propertyin town, that could certainly
become some sort of mixed-usedevelopment, potentially,

(58:32):
although there's someenvironmental issues on that, on
that parcel.
You've got after Blossom Mall.
Something's got to happen outthere.
I mean, that mall is in front ofthe mirrors, right?
So that can turn into a bunch ofapartments, I guess, I guess as
well, potentially.
But for the most part, thecity's the city's landlocked.
The other thing that's just anational phenomenon, when that
just goes to you know thecountry as a whole, um, you

(58:55):
know, student body increases aredecreasing pretty much
everywhere.
So you're seeing a lot oflocalities, especially larger
localities, are closing schoolsright now.
They're not building schools.
Now, Frederick County iscertainly in a unique position
because they've got so much roomto grow.
They got plenty of makers,plenty of farms out there that
are being bought up.
Um, again, a lot of I think thenumber, last number I heard was

(59:16):
around 14,000.
So, you know, today 14,000 homescould be built in Frederick
County with without any of ushaving any input whatsoever.
They've either already beenapproved or they could be built
by right.
Well, 14,000 homes, that'sanother 25,000, 30,000 people up
in county tomorrow.
And again, you know, where's themoney going to come from to

(59:37):
support the additional teachers?
You know, 30,000 people probablyhave 5,000 extra kids, right?
There's another high school oranother elementary school.
Um, that's another couplehundred sheriff's deputies, you
know, and a couple other EMSpeople, and a couple other
couple hundred quartz.
And uh, so you know, again,growth costs money and and the
tools that uh that they haveavailable, um Especially, you

(01:00:01):
know, Winchester, FrederickCounty is more or less a
somewhat Republican leadingarea, and you've got a
Democrat-controlled statelegislature.
You think they're gonna come toWinchester's rescue or Frederick
County's rescue?

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:11):
Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:13):
So again, you've got to find a way to do it on your
own.
And now you can put a lot ofpressure on the economic
development folks in the city ofWinchester and Frederick County
to come up with solutions to toto again keep property taxes low
and but yet still grow thatstill grow the revenue side of
the ledger there from the countySan Francisco.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:33):
So hey man, Chris, I appreciate you having on.
Very insightful.
Very insightful.
So I I appreciate you coming on,supporting us.
And you're welcome anytime tojump back on.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:45):
Sounds good, man.
I appreciate it, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:49):
Wish you the best, my man.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:52):
Yeah, good luck up there, man.
And uh good luck telling youwith uh been loving watching
Christian man, loving you forposting all those videos.
Thank you.
You know, he reminds me of uh ofuh I remember when I was a gosh
in middle school.
We used to uh what was the guy'sname?

(01:01:12):
Uh Morgan.
Clarence Morgan.
Clarence Morgan.
Morgan, he was like the only guythat he got.
He reminds me of him and justthe ease at which he could throw
that thing down, man.
It's just crazy the the amountof just pure talent now that's
coming through on all sportsfootball, baseball, basketball

(01:01:33):
for Hamley right now.
It used to be, you know, onceevery 10 years you got some kid
that would break through, and itseems like you got 10 kids every
year now.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:40):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:41):
We gotta shout out Stephen Daly.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:44):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:44):
Stephen Daly, number two country team in the country,
Indiana, man.
He went to Haley just a fewyears ago, played with Tony's
son, Chris Quincy.
Man, Chris, no lie.
He might go in the first threerounds in the NFL draft this
year.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:58):
That's crazy.
That that would be awesome.
That would be great.
Yeah, but Jay Chris, hey man, Iappreciate the love, you know,
for my son and everything.
And I'll send you a schedule,come out to some basketball
games.
Sounds good, man.
Sounds good.
Let me play his agent, man.
I'll be his agent.
Well, we'll see.
You never know.
All right, Chris, enjoy that,man.

(01:02:20):
Enjoy your night.
Thank you all.
All right, talk to you later.
All right, everyone.
That was Chris West.
You know, glad he could join us,man.
He's very man, that dude knowseverything.
In and out, which is so.
But let's give a few shout-outs.
Chris, we'll jump on here offhere.
You know, we got Thursday nightfootball.

(01:02:41):
But uh shout out again to ZaidenBurks doing his thing.
Hopefully he gets 2,000 yardsrushing this year.
Well, I think he'll easily getit.
And maybe leave this leave thestate and what you said be top
10 all time.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:53):
He could have one of the top 10 regular season
rushing yards, uh, regularseasons of all time, and he's
close, so yeah.
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:00):
So we just shouted out Stephen Daly.
He's doing big things at IndianaUniversity, a Hanley alum.
So uh, and then also I want Idon't want to forget J Von
Briscoe.
Congrats, you know, committed toPotomac State for basketball.
Yep, so hey man.
So everyone, hey, thanks forjoining in.
And you know, subscribe to ourYouTube channel.

(01:03:21):
We're on all platforms.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:23):
Man, they played.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:24):
Oh, UVA killing it, baby.
Hopefully, we make the playoffs.
We'll see.
It's gonna we'll see.
They're gonna probably win theACC championship to copy, you
know, to make it to get inthere.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:35):
But just like, hey, when it comes to college
basketball, I mean, I would lovefor all y'all to like my school,
but don't y'all start riding usnow because Kyan Anthony's over
there.

SPEAKER_05 (01:03:43):
That's right.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:44):
Y'all didn't like us, y'all stick with Michigan
and Georgetown and whoever y'alllike, man.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:49):
Yes, but yeah, excited to have Kyle, man.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:52):
His dad won us our only national championship for
basketball.
So that's exciting.
But yeah, man, your UVA Wahoosis playing ball, man.
They might make the 12 playoffteam along with Steven and
Indiana.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:03):
Right.
But all right, everybody.
Hey, we're gonna get off ofhere.
We'll see everybody next week.
And I'm not sure who we're gonnahave on next week.
We'll find somebody.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:12):
Yeah, we got we got them, but we ain't gonna tell
them right now.
Yeah, we got him, but we'regonna let them know next Tuesday
or Wednesday, man.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:17):
Yeah, all right, Chris.
I'll talk to you in a littlebit.
But everybody, thanks for tuningin.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:25):
Television, they know good in private.
Not knowledge to the ignorant,ain't never been blitzed.
Stand up the beat, earth.
We didn't know active.
But it's with opinions that theycome over.
You know communication, you musthave voice before.
We are like it, but it's been aweek, but then we like the