06-06-24 FULL SHOW - Jimmy Sengenberger Fills in for Mandy

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Great to be with you on KOA. I am an investigative columnist at the
Denver Gazette, longtime host on anotherradio station in the past, and it
is great to be here filling infor Mandy on a beautiful Thursday. Although
a Rod, I have had quitean adventure today already, as you know,

(00:20):
just a little bit. Good lordman, I mean, radio gods
did not want you for some reason. You get out there to your car
and you see that you have aflat tire because something big is in the
tire, and you don't know whatto do for a second, and then
you're like, Okay, let mejust do uber and I'll get there.
And here I am, got therebefore the show, got to tease things

(00:41):
a little bit with Ross and checkingwith him, and here we are.
But yeah, bad luck with thecar this morning, although I tell you,
I have to tell you though notnearly as bad of luck as I
have had in the past with cars. You know, I'm a three time
auto theft victim or how many yearsover two years or two years, three
cars two thousand and twenty two cars, two different cars, three auto thefts

(01:06):
twenty twenty. It's the middle ofthe summer, actually, I think it's
June, so it might have beenthis month four years ago. And I
get out there from my apartment andmy cars not where I thought it was.
I frantically walk around. You don'tsee it anywhere, So of course
I realized, Okay, it's stolen, it's gone. And I was hosting
a web show in partnership with TheWashington Examiner at the time, so I

(01:29):
wanted to get to the studio thatI had set up, had my producer
come and get me, and Idid that, and then of course I
canceled everything I had planned for thatshow because it was absolute chaos handling what
was going on with this auto theft. And then it was picked up like
three weeks, three or four weekslater, So it took a long time
up north in Hudson, from Aurora, where I was living at the time,

(01:53):
up to Hudson. It was pickedup there and then taken to their
lot where it was for like aweek until insurance finally got it. Then
it went to the auto shop andlike a week later, Lo and Behold
his two guys show up at theauto body shop lot and they're looking at
my car at another car. Theowner goes out and says, hey,

(02:14):
what are you guys doing here?You shouldn't be out here. One of
them brandishes a gun at him,so he goes inside and calls the cops,
obviously not going to have anything todo with him. And then later
that night, at like two am, I kid you not, it's on
video a rode my car is burstingthrough the gates like something out of Breaking

(02:34):
Bad or a movie Gone Again.And you know why because there was meth
stuff down in the vents and theywanted to see if they could get it
out of there. So the samecar, while you're you haven't yet recovered
it from the first stolen, correctit was, I had not done anything
with it. It was going tobe totaled. Okay, But it's the
same car that was stolen the firsttime, literally stolen the second time from

(02:58):
the auto shop. You had notgotten this back. You had you had
since the first stolen. You hadnot had it, you had not seen
it. No, I'd stolen again. Yes, I mean, I guess
it kind of. It's as crazyas that sounds, it makes a little
sense because clearly there's a connection betweenthe person who stole it the first time.
Right if it's not the same people. And then there's clearly understanding what's
in that car, we need toget it. We're gonna have to steal

(03:19):
it to get it. Yeah.I don't know if they ever got who
was the second thief pair or what, but the thing that was striking about
it was that this is something theydo. They will take off the vent
covers and they will stuff meth orwhatever it is down there so they can
get high through the vents. Andthey wanted it back, or they wanted

(03:39):
it. If they didn't, weren'tthe guys from before, And they did
exactly that. And then, ofcourse two years after that, my car
that I got to replace, thatcar was stolen. I was at the
Rappaho Republican Party shindig for election twentytwenty two at the Stampede and Aurora and

(04:00):
it was stolen from there. Andthis one's crazy too because and this is
what thieves, they've gotten really craftywith this. They pulled up behind my
car, one of the guys gotout and the video, the surveillance footage
shows it lighting up. The carwas unlocked. Next thing you know,
he's in there and he's leaving withmy car. Now my keyfob was inside

(04:25):
the stampede with me, but theyhad copied the signal using this device,
this repeater device, so that theycould get in there and then use the
USB cord to take after taking apartthe key ignition to get the car going
with the USB cord and then itwas off after three three minutes literally on

(04:46):
the video. Well, the easiestfollow up here is and I'm here for
you. I'm gonna protect you,so I'm not gonna ask you to say
we'll car you out now. ButI assume you don't have either brand,
either model, magor model of thetwo cars you had press that were stolen,
because that one i'd love with thosemaking models, and two clearly those
are easier to steal. So thisis another educational lesson for folks who aren't

(05:08):
familiar with some of the craziness withthe thefts. You'd actually be incorrect.
With my third car, the newcar that I got last year to replace
the old one, all three wereHyundai's. Well this one I have now
in the old two ones, andI'll tell you why I still have a
Hunda here was because I had thelease for my previous car and they lock

(05:30):
you in and Hyundai know this.They lock you in where you have to
get your next car only from thedealership if you are returning your lease early,
which is what I wanted to do. Now this time, though,
I have a push button start,and I have this protection for one of
these RFID bags that you can puton your keyfob so that it protects and

(05:51):
shields the signal from thieves. Sowhat happens with traditional Hyundais that made them
so easy to be stolen is theydidn't have this ignition prevention mechanism. And
that was the problem for both ofmy cars before and I had no idea
about that actually until after the secondcar was stolen, that it was this

(06:13):
ignition thing. And so if youhave a push button start, it makes
it so you don't have to worryabout that problem. So I'm not so
worried about the car knock on wood. You never know what'll happen. But
yeah, it's another hunting. We'regonna say what I also would do in
your shoes. Having this happened threetimes, you have added protection in terms
of tracking, an air tag somethingelse. Okay, yes, all right,

(06:35):
so we're in business. That's whatyou need. You are not the
person to steal from or to attemptto. God, now you have the
research done, you know what you'redoing now. Hex fort CBS four did
a story on my second car beingstolen, like literally because it was an
election night party for a Republican eventwhere the party and I was just there

(06:56):
literally for forty minutes with my girlfriend. And of course Republicans have been all
about the crime wave that we haveseen in the Denver metro area and there
you go. I mean, it'sjust absolutely crazy. And I will just
say one last thing. When wewalked out of that stampede and my car
wasn't there, it literally took melike five minutes to accept that it wasn't

(07:18):
there. My girlfriend saying, Jimmy, it's gone, it's not here.
It's God. Even though I'm sayingthat can't have happened again, it happens
again. God forbid. You gottabuy a lottery ticket. Yeah, absolutely,
I mean that's the right thing todo. That's the only as.
There's no way, there's no waythe life plan that you have had laid

(07:38):
out three times got to be themax. Yeah, I think you're tapped
out. Yeah, And if anyoneout there is even thinking about it.
Just say, just listen to aRod, don't do it. Leave the
man alone, protect me at leastlook up, look up the vin look
up the license plate if it is, if is assigned to Jimmy, just
just go to the next one.If you really have to steal a car,
this man's already had to happen threetimes. Leave alone. I just

(08:00):
met you, a Rod, andI already like you. Thanks for looking
out here for you. I appreciateit. I know you are Jimmy saying
it Berger filling in for Mandy Connellthis afternoon, and I hope all turns
out well in that regard with vehiclesfor me and for you. I will
tell you auto theft continues and thecrime spree continues, which means you need

(08:20):
to have more enforcement of the law. And one of that the problems here
is having people in office who actuallyare willing to do what it takes to
enforce the law. Number one andnumber two. If there needs to be
strengthening of laws rather than weakening thoselaws, go ahead and do it.

(08:43):
Pass strong anti criminal laws to protectpeople, whether it is from thefts like
this situation with my auto thefts,or it is murder or it is drug
use or whatever. We have hada legislature that for years now has been

(09:05):
weakening criminal laws, doing the exactopposite, especially amid COVID. I remember
during my first auto theF situation,I got to know some different police officers
who were telling me about what theywere dealing with when it came to all
of these restrictions on jails. Youcould only have so many people in a

(09:28):
jail, so they would write somebodya ticket and the person would basically not
take them seriously and laugh it off. And that should have been a lesson
that we learned during COVID, Butinstead, lo and behold, the legislature
can't learn that lesson and instead goesahead and makes things worse and worse and

(09:50):
worse, which means the ship needsto be righted. But how do you
write the ship? Well, Abig part of that of is to change
the players of the game, tomake some headway in getting crime fighters or
advocates for crime fighters into elective office. But alas that means having a Republican

(10:15):
party that is coherent, that iscogent, and that has any interest in
actually addressing the real issues of theday, rather than simply going after their
own in the case in particular ofthe Republican Party, and the chairman of
the Colorado Republican Party running for thefifth Congressional district, of course, is

(10:41):
Dave Williams. Now Mandy told meon Twitter, Rex she said, I
hope you'll expose some of the corruptionof Dave Williams when you're filling in for
me this week. And look,you've heard a lot of this of what's
been going on with the chairman ofthe Colorado GOP running for Congress in the
fifth congressional district again against Jeff Crank. Of course, there was this email,

(11:05):
absolutely reprehensible where the subject from officialparty email said God hates pride and
then in the content of the emailsaid God hates flags. Had a picture
that appears to be like Jesus withlike red eyes and just the most important

(11:26):
message coming from the top and aRepublican party. And I was very pleased
to see that the Republican candidate,who was in the first Congressional district,
which is Denver, said no,I'm not going to accept the Republican Party's

(11:48):
endorsement. That's Valdemar Archeletta. Kudosto him. He's also president of the
log Cabin Republicans, the Gay RepublicanGroup held LGBT Republican Group. And that's
one abominable piece from the party thatshows hatred from the party, not from

(12:09):
God. What world does he livein where he said God hates this or
that. But that's just one littlepiece the tip of the iceberg. Maybe
last week Dave Williams profited off ofDonald Trump's verdict, and I happen,

(12:35):
actually I don't like using the termrigged. I happen to think that this
legal trial battle in New York Citywas rigged for a variety of reasons we
might get to later. But whenyou have the president, former President Donald
Trump get convicted in this verdict,and then you have a candidate who goes

(13:01):
ahead contra contravening, going against theorders from the party not to raise money
off of Trump's plight, and hedoes exactly that, you got a problem.
My column on Tuesday, right,Tuesdays and Fridays for the Denver Gazette,
entitled Dave Williams Defies Donald Trump ofall people, lays this out where

(13:24):
you had some Republicans who they mighthave split proceeds with the Trump campaign and
made that clear that they were doingthat, or they wouldn't raise money off
of Trump's plights even to start.But here you had Dave Williams running for
Congress. His candidacy for Congress raisesmoney off of this, and the Republican

(13:45):
Party raises money off of this,And as Politico reported, the co chairman
of the party, mister las Avitassaid, quote, Trump advisors have repeatedly
worn down ballot Republicans from this asPolitical's report from fundraising off the ex president

(14:09):
without their consent, and Chris lasSavita said the following, any Republican elected
official, candidate or party committee siphoningmoney for President Trump's donors are no better
than Judge Merchant's daughter. We're keepinga list, we'll be checking it twice,
and we aren't in the spirit ofChristmas. Now. That puts Dave

(14:31):
Williams on notice. And I haveheard since then rumblings from reliable sources close
into the campaign that the support thatDave might have wanted to get from the
campaign might not be coming as faras actionable things on his behalf and the

(14:52):
Colorado GOP. In fact, there'sa joint fundraising committee that National Republicans have
I think with the campaign and theRNC and so forth, and that committee
does not have Colorado GOP on thelist. That is, other state parties
on the list, but not theColorado Republican Party. And go figure why
they don't because you have an incompetentchairman who doesn't care about winning elections,

(15:18):
only appeasing the club that he's apart of, getting his people to say,
hey, we like you, welove you. Dave, keep on
going. And if you aren't partof that club, well you are right.
No, this isn't the first time, by the way, that Dave

(15:41):
Williams had disregarded the Trump campaign.In twenty twenty, his Colorado campaign cut
ties. Trump's campaign cut ties withWilliams because he invoked his role as a
Colorado surrogate for President Trump while personallyendorsing in a legislative primary polled support.

(16:02):
The list goes on and on andon for what Dave Williams has done to
line his own pockets to help andsupport himself. And I think the support
outside is crumbling for him, andhe's gonna find himself in a rude awakening.
Perhaps on June twenty fifth, whenthe primary results come to fruition.

(16:26):
Will he win? I'm not surewill the Trump campaign in fact hold Dave
Williams accountable for his blatant opportunism orare they going to let it slide going
against what the campaign has wished.We'll see more to cover on that as
well. When we come back.I'll be joined by retired Brigadier General Doug

(16:48):
Odie Slocom talking a little bit aboutD Day and more. He's a phenomenal
guest and look forward to chatting withhim here with you as I Jimmy Saying
and Berger fill in and for MandyConnell on KOA. Today is a somber
occasion, but one also for encouragementbecause it shows, as we remember eighty

(17:11):
years since the day the invasion ofNormandy, it shows us the courage and
sacrifice that so many brave men andwomen are capable of for their country.
Forty years ago today, Ronald Reaganwas in Normandy where Joe Biden is today,

(17:34):
and he began his speech this wayhere to mark that day in history
when the Allied Armies joined in battleto reclaim this continent to liberty. For
four long years, much of Europehad been under a terrible shadow. Free
nations had fallen. Jews cried outin the camps, Midians cried out for

(17:57):
liberation. Europe was enslaved, andthe world prayed for its rescue. Here
in Normandy, the rescue began.Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny
in a giant undertaking unparalleled in humanhistory. An amazing speech. At that
point in time, it was fortyyears since Normandy. I'm very pleased to

(18:21):
be joined on this d Day Junesixth, twenty twenty four, eighty years
since June sixth, nineteen forty fourby retired Brigadier General Doug slocom call Sign
Odie, who spent thirty five yearsin the Air Force, is a Fighter
Pilot EXTRAORDINAIIR and has just a tremendousrecord in the military, in addition to

(18:45):
being author of the book came outnot too long ago, Violent Positivity,
a Fighter Pilot's Journey and leadership Lessonsfor care on caring for people. General.
Welcome to Koa, Jimmy. It'sgreat to be with you today.
I hope everything's going well in Colorado. Absolutely. Now. I want to

(19:06):
jump right in because this is avery important day and it is a day
that must be remembered for many,many years to come. But unfortunately,
we're also recognizing that World War Twoveterans are leaving us in greater numbers,
all the more reason to highlight this. What are your top line big picture
reflections on this day? General slogemWow, And it is a great time

(19:30):
to reflect on a generation of peoplewho fought for our American ideals, that
were willing to put themselves in harm'sway because they knew they were doing the
right thing. They didn't necessarily knowwhat was going on, but they knew
they were doing the right thing.We're on the right side for the right
reasons. We owe a lot tothis generation. It's amazing what these young
men and women were able to do. The sacrifice from all of our men

(19:56):
and women in World War Two isextraordinary. But when we look at D
Day in particular, there's something thathas resonated for so many years since then
because what they did that day wasunparalleled in American history, and it was
an extraordinary feat that revolved around somuch sacrifice. Yes, it did,

(20:19):
I mean one, it was alogistical, unbelievable feat. I think the
term you used there simply how arewe going to do it? Yeah,
and then we have to have themen and women prepared, ready to go,
able to do what we needed themto do under the most difficult of
circumstances, whether it was weather,enemy fire, lack of whatever type of

(20:41):
thing they needed at the time.And yet they did it, and they
did it so well. Unfortunately,it cost us a lot of lives in
the process to be successful, beable to claim victory. When we look
at d Day, in the sacrificeof that day and what it set in
motion, how do you from amilitary strategist perspective general look at that day

(21:03):
and the extraordinary feeds that the Americanmilitary went through on that day and what
happened after well, dissecting it froma military standpoint, it explained to us
why it gives us an example ofwhy we need to be investing in,
for example, our ability to delveinto intelligence to get information about our adversaries,

(21:26):
because what hurt us, for example, a lot in Normandy was not
knowing where the enemy was. Andnowadays we have that ability, we have
all the technology available to us.There are ways that we could approach it
without necessarily having to put our youngmen women in harm's way. So I
think it was a lesson of thatwas what was necessary at the time.

(21:48):
People stepped up and did it.But I think it was a great lesson
on we can do things a lotsmarter as we look to make sure we
safeguard our liberties and this republic goingforward. The Army Rangers, of course
you're an Air Force guy. TheArmy Rangers and what they were doing and
climbing up those cliffs and more thatyou see video of that General Slocom And

(22:12):
I can't fathom being seventeen, eighteen, nineteen years old, frankly any age,
and having to go through that andthen get to the other side and
you're you're in the midst of battleand chaos is ensuing all around you.
You just got off the boat.How do you look at that sort of

(22:33):
mindset of the men there on thebeach at Normandy Well, And that is
a fantastic question, Jimmy, becauseI had the blessings a number of years
ago. I was back to theseventy fourth anniversary and I got to sit
at the top of the cliff,appoint to hook and look down with what
you know was the scenarios exactly asyou were just describing now, or even

(22:57):
to walk out on Omaha Beach andlook backwards at the vast expanse of sand
against this rising hill in the distance, you know, covered with vegetation,
where the enemy was hiding and shooting. What they went through, How they
were able to prevail? It musthave taken a great deal of courage.
I'm sure everybody was just full offear, and yet it didn't stop them

(23:21):
from doing what they needed to do. And we're talking with retired General Doug
Slocum, a general. As wethink back eighty years ago, in that
sacrifice of so many men who diedon a terrible occasion that was necessary,
how should the American people view thiseighty years ago? I mean, that's

(23:47):
something My grandfather's birthday is in acouple of days, and he's turning eighty.
How should we be looking at thisfrom back then and think, Okay,
here's how it's relevant to us today. Okay, that is a good
question. You know what is weare, of course losing that generation,
a lot of our World War Twoheroes here in Michigan. We were able

(24:11):
to honor them this last Christmas,but we've lost a number of them just
since that event, that we hadthese World War Two veterans, with what
they went through and being able tohear the stories directly from the people who
participated as leaving us, we reallyneeded to cherish that opportunity to hear firsthand
the testimony of some of these Americanheroes. The other thing that really struck

(24:33):
me was when I was back there, and I think the point of it
is working with our allies doing whatwe needed to do. I was able
to talk at one of the commemorationsthey had on the side of the road
there in Normandy, and as Iwas standing there, I had army rangers,
I had airborne troops, but theywere also German army, French army,

(24:56):
all of our allies now from NATOcountry standing in solidarity with us,
and I think it just goes toshow that the power of people, the
power of being able to care forone another, can overcome politics, that
can overcome military. We need toremember what ties us together way more than
what tears us apart. Of course, what we were doing in Europe was

(25:22):
pushing out the Nazis that had takenover France. In that case in Normandy,
that was the beginning of the liberationof France. But it all comes
down in that case to the Holocaustand what we saw in the most horrifying
acts of inhumanity, that of pureevil that you could imagine. And today

(25:48):
we are facing a rise in antiSemitism. We saw the most devastating attacks
since the Holocaust on Jews on Octoberseventh in Israel. What happened eighty years
ago has relevance. I think inthat regard as far as our lessons we
must learn today to general well,absolutely, you use the word humanity,

(26:11):
and that is certainly where that's theoptics in which we need to look.
But we also need to realize thereis evil in the world, and we
need to call evil out for whatit is, and we need to stand
up to evil, and we needto correct and get rid of when we
see things like that that are happening. And you know there are, like

(26:32):
you just said, there are casesof that going around the world. Israel
is one example, but we seeit numerous different places around the world.
And that's what We've always been knownfor, is that beacon of light,
to be that lighthouse of doing theright thing. And I think America needs
to keep our eyes on what itis that we stand for in the world.
General Silcom, could you actually stickaround for a few minutes On the
other side, I'd love to getyour reaction to something from back in nineteen

(26:56):
forty four on that day in Junesixthtastic. I'd be glad to and for
the rest of though I wasn't thereat that time to do a direct witness,
but would love to talk it withyou, of course, not absolutely.
General Doug Slocumb joining us, Jimsaying in Berger in for Mandy Connell.
Here on TOOA listener text coming inat five sixty six nine zeros shoot
us a text Steve saying, Iwould love to hear the morale building speeches

(27:22):
given by the military leaders of thetime to charge up these young heroes to
train for this mission, then stepon to those landing crafts, knowing they
were marching into hell and almost certaindeath and with our guests. Retired Brigadier
General Doug Slocum Callsign ODI's fighter pilotextraordinair thirty five years in the Air Force.

(27:44):
I want to listen to exactly that. General Dwight D. Eisenhower's remarks
rally the troops as best as youcan. On d Day, June sixth,
nineteen forty four, sailors and airmenof the Allied Expeditionary Force, you
are about to embark upon the greatcrusade toward which we have striven these many

(28:08):
months. The eyes of the worldare upon you. The hopes and prayers
of liberty loving people everywhere march withyou. In company with our brave allies
and brothers in arms on other fronts. You will bring about the destruction of
the German war machine, the eliminationof Nazi tyranny over the accussed peoples of

(28:29):
Europe, and security for ourselves ina free world. Your task will not
be an easy one. Your enemyis well trained, well equipped, and
battle hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year nineteen forty
four. Much has happened since theNazi triumphs of nineteen forty forty one.

(28:49):
The United Nations have inflicted upon theGermans great defeats in open battle. Man
demand. Our air offensive has seriouslyreduced their strength in the air and their
capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home front have given us an
overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions ofwar, and placed at our disposal great

(29:12):
reserves of trained fighting men. Thetide has turned. The freemen of the
world are marching together to victory.I have full confidence in your courage,
devotion to duty, and skill inbattle. We will accept nothing less than
full victory. Good luck, andlet us all be seeks the blessing of

(29:33):
Almighty God upon this great and nobleundertaking. General Slocum, you have led
men into battle. What is yourtake on those powerful words from General Dwight
D. Eisenhower eighty years ago?Today? You know, it's just inspirational.
When you listen to a very concisemessage with so many different elements to

(29:53):
it, it is absolutely masterful.And what great leadership were He talks about
this positive vision, here's what we'regoing to go do. Join me.
It gets people pumped up, readyto participate. It talks about the allies,
not just the ones fighting with you, but then the home front.
They're making sure that you're equipped,you know, rallying people towards the goal.

(30:18):
We did it in less than twominutes. I wish we could teach
our politicians how to talk like thisnowadays, but absolutely amazing great leadership and
people followed were inspired and off theywent. Is extraordinary and there have been
a confirmed from the Normandy landings,four four hundred and fourteen Allied soldiers,
airmen, sailors confirmed dead as Alliedcasualties at least ten thousand. General Doug

(30:45):
Slocombe really appreciate your time. Wegot to run. Thanks for joining us
in sticking around a little bit longeras we recognize and commemorate this important memory
of D Day. Thank you forthe opportunity to do just that with a
slow and respectful salute to the menand women who sacrificed so much. Thanks
Jimmy Amen brother, General Doug Slocumjoining us Jimmy Sangenberger filling in for Mandy

(31:07):
Connell. You're listening to koa beautifulsunny Thursday afternoon here on KOA. Live
Nation is the biggest concert promoter inthe country, probably the world, and
in a lawsuit filed by the FederalDepartment of Justice and joined by I think

(31:33):
thirty state attorneys general, including ourown Phil Wiser, in a lawsuit,
they claim that Live Nation controls sixtypercent of concert promotions at major venues,
that the owner controls sixty percent ofthe top amphitheaters, in the US,
and through Ticketmaster, they're able tocontrol at least eighty percent of the primary

(32:00):
ticketing for major venues concerts. Thislawsuit basically alleges that Live Nation has been
monopolizing the live entertainment industry, andtheir lawsuit hopes to restore competition in the
space and lower ticket prices for fansby breaking up the company. But will

(32:25):
it actually reduce your ticket prices makeit more affordable to go to concerts if
Ticketmaster is broken off from Live Nation. Let's dive into this with one of
the guys that knows everything there isto know about the music business. He's
been on all sides of it.From the business side, Jeff Crump has

(32:49):
been a tour manager, including fiveyears for Aerosmith, the tour managed run
DMC and Public Enemy. He wasa concert promoter working for over a decade
for the Barry Fay. He's donethe venue side where he's worked at Red
Rocks and helped run Red Rocks andother venues. And Jeff Crump joins me

(33:10):
now former VP. I should addI can't forget this former VP at Live
Nation. Good to be with you, Jeff. Welcome, Hey, welcome
to iHeart Jimmy. It's great tohear you, great to have you here.
How you doing, sir, I'mdoing well. So let's jump right
in here to your background first,so folks know they get an understanding.

(33:32):
This guy knows what he's talking about. You've done the venue side, the
promotional side, and you've been onthe side of the bands. You're one
of the few people in the countrywho can really say that you've done all
of those things and in prominent roles. I would agree with that. So
talk to us for a moment aboutsome of the experience that you've had that

(33:54):
leads you into getting an understanding ofhow this whole ticketation works, because we
have heard a lot of gripes andthis especially goes to Taylor Swift from a
couple of years ago when there wasa big breakdown on Ticketmaster about the ticketing
situation. What background and expertise doyou bring in that regard that is unique?

(34:16):
Well, when I first got intothe concert business, I was in
college up at CEU with the ProgramCouncil, and there really weren't computerized ticketing
then. Computers were just starting tocome onto the scene. So prior to
computerized tickets, you printed with preprinted hard tickets, and to keep them

(34:38):
from being counterfeited, a lot oftimes there were a rainbow of colored layers
of paper in the middle, soyou would when you tore the ticket,
it would tear on evenly and youcould see all the colors. It was
just white in the middle. Itwas a copy. So Tickettron was really
the first major nash you know,ticketing company to go with the computer.

(35:04):
But they didn't keep very good controlover their ticket stock, so it would
be a roll of planting ticket stockthat would disappear every now and then,
and that could be a ticket toanything. So that got tightened up.
Ticketmaster came along in well, theyfranchised it prior to taking it all back
into one entity, and I promotedthe first show the Ticketmaster did in Los

(35:30):
Angeles really nineteen eighty three US Festival, and they didn't have a computer system
set up, so that was ahard ticketing event and it had holograms on
it and the color stock in themiddle of the ticket. But that's when

(35:50):
Ticketmaster really started to make its moveacross the country. And I think Ticketmaster
has been good for the ticketing industryand good for the consumers. Well,
let's talk about that. Why doyou think so, especially since twenty ten
is when there was a merger Ticketmasterbecame part of Live Nation. Do they
merged together? They got an approvalfrom the federal government to go ahead and

(36:15):
do that, and there was someconsent degree that had been signed that allegedly
has been broken. But when wetalk about Ticketmaster, why do you actually
argue that they've been good for theticketing business? Well, I think it's
three more in the process quite abit. It's you don't have to go
find your local record store to tryto get a ticket to your favorite show

(36:38):
that you want to see, whetherit's Broadway or a concert or even a
sporting event. You can go toany place where there's a Ticketmaster outlet,
where you used to have to figureout which ticket outlet was going to have
the seat you wanted because they couldn'tall have front row seats, right,

(37:00):
So they can proportion the ticketing,They can allocate it to different parts of
the state, different regions of thecountry, different They can release seats since
they needed if the events isn't goingto sell completely out, maybe they don't
release the seats behind the stage untilthey need that inventory. So there's a

(37:22):
lot of different ways that computerized ticketinghas really helped. I mean anymore,
you don't even need a real ticketto get in the door. You set
plash your cell phone a ticket scannerand it'll register whether you've entered the venue
for your event or not. Nowthere is a claim, of course,

(37:42):
from the government and from politicians,that Ticketmaster is essentially a monopoly because of
the kind of dominance that they haveon the market. And as Elizabeth Warren,
the Senator from Massachusetts wrote in anib ed this week for Rolling Stone,
as DOJ Department of us as allegesit threatens Ticketmaster, that is,
venues that work with other ticket issuers, and blocks venues from using multiple ticket

(38:08):
sites, and it tells artists thatthey will be barred from using prime venues
unless they agree to use Live Nation'sown promotional services. And Warren ultimately concludes
that Ticketmaster is in a position tosqueeze everyone else in the live entertainment business

(38:29):
and that's exactly what they do,and it's because they're part of Live Nation.
What say you to those claims?Jeff crump Well, Aerosmith's a band
based in Boston where Elizabeth Warren is, and I'm sure Aerosmith is going to
be just fine without Elizabeth Warren's help. Rarely when the government gets involved in

(38:50):
private business, to the price tothe consumer go down. I think that's
categorically true almost in every circumstance.Maybe there are one and two one or
two otherwise. But how do youthink, though, if you have this
Ticketmaster beams that's part of Live Nation. The idea is you spend Ticketmaster off,
then they become part of a morecompetitive situation, and so they're going

(39:14):
to have to lower prices. Howdoes that not work out as a guarantee
in your book? Well, there'sstill going to be one huge ticket company,
whether it's controlled by Live Nation.Live Nation controls venues, and they
control artists, not just the ticketing, and they control the money and the
expenses of it. So making anarbitrary decision that Ticketmaster's too big and I

(39:38):
don't know what too big is andwho could sub make that decision. I'll
trust the bands and their management companiesto make that decision over a politician,
any politician. So that's fair.But these fees are outrageous, Jeff.
I mean, when you go toa concert and you have to spend two,
three, four, five hundred dollarsjust to get a decent seat,

(40:00):
let alone if you want a reallygood seat, and then you might be
paying high into the four figures togo to a concert and see Taylor Swift
or YouTube or somebody else. That'soutrageous. How do you get there?
What kind of solution could there beinstead? Well, I think I have
to work with the artists. Theartists have a lot to say about how

(40:21):
they're going to market their prominence.Gosh, thirty years ago or so,
there was kind of a punk upcomingpunk band named Point twenty eighty two,
and those of you that go tothe Avalanche games may know that van.
But they were They market themselves asteenage male humor, and that's who they
targeted. And their bands that wouldsay targeted young girls. That's where their

(40:45):
fan base was. Well, theyin the picture of their marketing plan.
They may want to keep their ticketprices low, or you take something like
a family show like Ringing Brothers ApartmentBailey Circus, it was important to the
people who manage the circus, andyou know some of them to keep ticket

(41:06):
prices low. You wanted to geta family in the collism or the arena
for under one hundred bucks, andyou were going to lose your core business
if ticket prices were allowed to goskyrocking, so only the rich could afford
to go to the circus. Soit's the same thing Barbar Streison doesn't care
how much her tickets sell for,so something like the Eagles, they look

(41:30):
at it and go if the ticket'sCalPERS, they don't add any tickets.
CalPERS add no value when when't gottenis scalping yet? But that's they don't
add any value to the product.They control the supply of the tickets and
that the artificially forces the price up. So I think the artists and the
promoter are more of a position todetermine the value of the ticket as opposed

(41:54):
to secondary market. How do thesefees ramp up? What elements go into
the costs of a ticket? Well, initially, when there was a ticket
tron and a couple other original computerizedticket companies, they decided to put the

(42:15):
service fees on top of the basevalue of the ticket to keep it out
of the mix. Where like yourother costs advertising or renting on the venue
or stage, hands or security,all those things were included in the in
the gross revenues from the concert,and they put these fees on the outside

(42:39):
covered the ticketing with the understanding thatoh, this is going to lower the
price because they won't be charging thepercentage of meet ticket companies used to charge
three, four, even five percentof the gross of the show to handle
the ticketing. When they moved itoutside the original computerized ticket companies went to

(43:00):
the promoters and venues and said,hey, we'll take this fee and put
it outside of the base price ofthe ticket and we'll split it with you.
So it originally started out a fiftycents or a dollar was being divvied
up and the promoters were giddy,and eventually the bands got involved, so
they were getting money outside of theconstraints of the looks like we lost Jeff

(43:28):
Crump again. Jeff Crump is alongtime veteran from the music business and he
has done it all on the venueside. Helped Ron Redrocks and other Denver
venues for several years. He tourmanaged the likes of Aerosmith, worked as
a concert promoter for Barry Faye andmore. I mean, it is extraordinary

(43:49):
when you think about the kinds ofthings that the music business entails, and
he's done three all three legs ofthe music business stool and when you look
as well at the Live Nation pieceand the background that goes into this.

(44:13):
Jeff was just talking about all thelegs to get to a point where you
have the tickets even set up theway that they are, there are a
lot of changes to the system andthe real question is always whether or not
this is going to result in lowerticket prices, and it doesn't seem like

(44:35):
that would be the case, inpart because you break off ticket Master from
Live Nation, somebody has to providethe capital for ticket Master, somebody has
to finance that, and then we'llwant a return on investment. We'll want
to get back that money and earna profit. And if they have the

(44:59):
cost, they have the system theway that it is, they bankrolled the
thing, then you are going tofind that maybe, just maybe, these
ticket prices aren't actually going to godown. And Jeff made an interesting point
I resonate with this very much,and that is that when you have ticket
or a government get involved in anythingincluding tickets and trying to do regulations or

(45:22):
what have you. It doesn't helpthe market, It doesn't make things actually
better for consumers. Sure, sometimesit may have some adjustments in the price,
but the service may go down.You may have other issues that come
about as a result of that.But the fact of the matter is that
when we look at something like LiveNation, this is a big company,

(45:45):
but it is a company that hasmany different facets. It's got the promoters,
it's got venues, it's got theticket management and ticket sales, all
of these different components to it,and that makes it so that they have
the ability to get some things done. Then if Ticketmaster were to be pulled

(46:09):
out of that system, pulled outof that ecosystem that is Live Nation,
it might not work so well becausethey don't have the same kind of assets,
connections, those kinds of things thatthey can do. What is it
going to mean for consumers in thatregard is a big question, and I

(46:30):
don't think it's going to help consumers. Now, that, of course,
is different from what the government isalleging in this case, pointing out,
as Elizabeth Warren summarizes, Ticketmaster's feesamount to almost a third of a ticket's
face value, and Live Nation sucksbillions more out of the live entertainment market

(46:52):
with its bundled services that venues andartists are forced to use. Well,
a lot of these artists that useLive Nation, that you whose ticket Master,
A lot of these artists have theability to throw their weight around a
little bit, have the ability tosay Nope, we're not going to go
in that direction. Taylor Swift coulddo it. Bruce Springsteen has always had

(47:15):
this sort of blue collar image thathe wants to maintain, where he essentially
says, I want this image,so keep the prices down, keep the
ticket prices down so that I cancontinue to have that sort of image that's
presented. And here's the other thingtoo, is you have the secondary market.

(47:35):
You go on to stub up orany of these other places, seek
geek, you name it, whereyou can find tickets in the secondary market,
and those are other options for peopleto choose from. And actually,
what that does the research shows,and this was what Jeff was getting out
a little bit with the scalping question, is that ticket scalpers actually provide an

(48:00):
opportunity for venues, ticket sellers,promoters to decide better how to price their
tickets because they can get more informationfrom the market on how to do that,
so we'd see what would happen inthis circumstance if they were to break

(48:20):
it up, and whether or notthat would change something. Few different texts
coming in text us at five sixsix nine zero. Competition always helps consumers,
absolutely, I agree with that,But is government breaking it up the
best way to make that happen?Would that make a big difference in this
particular kind of industry. Breaking upmo bail, another text says, seem

(48:43):
to work out well for consumers.Okay, that's a particular example in an
industry where it was a monopoly thatvery much was because of the government helping
to make that happen. And so, of course, at a certain point
point something like that and a formalmonopoly endorsed in essence by the government,

(49:07):
certainly breaking that up is going tobe a good idea if possible. In
this case, though, you're talkingabout a company that has revolutionized the ticket
industry, and I'm not so surethat having the government say we're going to
split you off because we want youto innovate more and to provide more competition

(49:27):
again is going to make that bigof a difference, because You're still going
to have Ticketmaster be a bamoth,be a massive company. And so it's
just a question of what happens whenyou have the financing there and how the
company or entity whoever is financing theventure capital from whatever it is who's financing

(49:49):
Ticketmaster. They have to get thatreturn on investment. One last text,
We'll go to a break. IfLive Nation and Ticketmaster didn't have the ability
to resell the tickets, that wouldopen up other resellers to take that portion.
You know, that's an interesting pointthat would be a separate issue potentially
to be addressed otherwise, as opposedto let's just break up the two companies.

(50:13):
I just don't know that that's goingto be such a good idea.
You're listening to Jimmy Sangenberger. I'mfilling in for Mandy Connell today here on
KOA. You know, earlier wetalked a little bit about good old Dave
Williams, the chairman of the ColoradoRepublican Party, and how he had defied

(50:35):
Donald Trump. The campaign says,don't raise money off of our plight,
off of the verdict of New YorkCity, where Trump was found guilty on
thirty four felony counts. And look, I don't use the term rig to
describe things, but this I thinkwas a rig trial. But Dave Williams
caught some flak from the Trump campaignfor doing this. And what I find

(51:00):
is interesting is the other things thathave happened in this no good, very
bad week for Williams, in partbecause there's some polling data for one of
the candidates that he is strongly backedand is endorsing, which is Ron Hanks.
He of course ran as in theUnited States Senate race in a primary

(51:22):
a couple of years ago, upagainst Joe O'Day, and now he's running
in the third congressional district seat vacatedby Lauren Bobert, who will be filling
in or, by the way,will be the guest of Ross Kaminski.
Tomorrow. He'll be joining her atten thirty. She'll be joining him.
I can't talk today, but here'sthe thing with regards to this third Congressional

(51:45):
District Republican primary, the data isnot looking so good for Ron Hanks.
Now he's got nine percent, he'sin second place five percent for Steven Verilla,
but in twenty seven percent. Withtwenty seven percent is Jeff Hurd,
an attorney and first time candidate,and you're seeing this polling data increasingly show

(52:12):
that he's in a very strong position, very likely to win there in the
third congressional district. Then you gotthe eighth congressional district, which is the
Republicans. They've got two candidates there, Janet Joshie, who's got the Dave
Williams Republican Party endorsement, and GaveEvans, who's got the Trump endorsement.

(52:37):
So the Republican Party and Dave Williamsviolate party by laws to endorse Janet Joshie,
a former state legislator and current statelegislator. Gabe Evans gets the Trump
endorsement. That ain't good. Williamsgoes out there and says, Janet Joshi

(52:58):
is the Maga guy. And thenwhat happens Trump, Mister Maga himself says
Nope, We're going for Gabe Evans. That's not a very good look for
him. Then you have in thefirst congressional district in Denver, in the
wake of Williams sending out this terribleemail from the state Party, horrible saying

(53:22):
God hates Pride, and in theemail with what this is like it's a
twisted picture of Jesus. It lookslike at least saying God hates flags.
And then it goes on with hisabsolute drivel in the email you've heard of
this, and the candidate for theRepublican Party in Denver, Valdemar Archiletta,

(53:50):
who's openly gay, president of thelog Cabin Republicans in Colorado, the LGBT
group for Republicans, he is thatI'm not accepting your endorsement, the state
party's endorsement, not after that email. And then Dave Williams is running himself
in the fifth Congressional District, andthe polling date is looking really good for

(54:19):
Jeff Crank in the fifth CD upagainst Dave Williams. I'm here in as
much as like twenty percentage points thatWilliams is losing by up against Jeff Crank,
even though Williams has the Trump endorsement, probably because people are getting wise
to the corruption, the incompetence andthe hatred that comes clearly and unequivocally from

(54:47):
Dave Williams. And he's losing,it seems, in the fifth Congressional District.
So not very good for his candidatesor himself in these various races.
I was talking to a friend who'svery well plugged in various stute politically,

(55:09):
and he was suggesting that maybe,just maybe Dave Williams ends up with five
ten percent of the Republican Party endorsedcandidates winning primaries, which would be absolutely
staggering. Now, Lauren Bolbert,if she wins, which looks very likely,
she's got a massive lead according tothe most recent polls. If Bobert

(55:32):
wins, that will have nothing todo with the state party endorsement, because
she's got her own reputation, she'sgot her own name recognition, she's got
her own strengths that she brings,as far as just the politics of it
all, setting aside what you mayor may not think of any of these

(55:52):
candidates, but then you look atthe first congressional district in Denver, the
third congressional district that Bobard is vacated, where Jeff Heard is totally creaming Ron
Hanks, and you have the fifthcongression district where Dave Williams himself may well

(56:14):
lose in that race, and thefirst I mean you just all of these
things aren't lining up, aren't verygood and I think that's because of the
Republican Party being inept and incapable offinding real leadership, and that is the

(56:34):
biggest problem that they're facing right now. And the best solution toss out Dave
Williams. He's got to go.Should not be chairman of the party,
should not be running for office whilebeing chairman of the party. But a
last alas here we are now gasprices they are on the rise, they

(56:58):
have been on the rise, andin particular it is because of the EPA
saying, look, you've got allof this pollution in the air that you
need to deal with, and you'renot dealing with it well enough. We
look at this very questionably what you'redoing. You're not regulating it hard enough.

(57:21):
So we need you to institute anew kind of makeup for your gasoline
so that it will emit less ofthese emissions. Now, never mind the
fact that most of the problem withour air quality is because of fires,
It is because of other states,other areas where it is flowing in and

(57:42):
then it gets caught in this cyclewith the air between the mountains and the
foothills, and there's nothing you canreally do about it. When most of
that pollution is coming from elsewhere anddamaging our air quality. Well, we've
already got a big problem there,but the environmental groups never want to miss

(58:05):
out on an opportunity to make thingseven worse. See Colorado's got one refinery,
the Suncore refinery in Commerce City,and as the Denver Post reports,
three environmental groups plan to sue SuncreEnergy because this Commerce City refinery has violated
the conditions of the company's federal airpollution permits more than one thousand times over

(58:30):
the past five years, and theysay governmental attempts to regulate the refinery are
failing. At the end of theday, it's about accountability, It's about
enforcement, said Lucy Molina, acommunity activist who lives near the sun Core
refinery and works with three p fiftyColorado, one of the groups that is

(58:50):
preparing to sue. We want cleanair. So there's been a notice of
intent to sue filed just yet yesterdaywith Suncore, the US Environmental Protection Agency
and the Colorado Department of Public Healthand environment. Earth Justice being a nonprofit
environmental group representing Green Latinos three fiftyColorado and the Sierra Club, they have

(59:17):
to give notice of their intent tosue, then they file it in sixty
days now. The Post reports thatthe Commerce City refinery processes about ninety eight
thousand barrels of crude oil daily tomake gasoline, diesel, jet fuel,
and asphalt. It has two federalair permits issued under the guidelines of the

(59:39):
Clean Air Act that dictate how muchpollution the facility is allowed to release at
any given time, and they've beengetting all the scrutiny with the air quality
issues. Here's the problem with allof this. Consumers are already I'm seeing
it as the prices are going up. They're expecting it to go up more,
especially in the summertime. This newmix of fuel going into effect consumers,

(01:00:05):
you and me, we are goingto see and experience and feel more
and more gas price increases. Andthat would only happen if they were to
succeed in this lawsuit. Because thisis the sole refinery. So you jack
up the costs for the refinery todo business, it gets passed on to

(01:00:30):
we, the consumers, and there'sno due consideration given for the other environmental
factors when it comes to the airquality issues in the Denver Metuary. This
is going back to the earlier discussionabout government getting on the way. If

(01:00:52):
a lawsuit triggers government involvement more,they ain't going to be good for you
and me. More and more problemswill come about, and it just gets
worse. And we know what it'slike, what the squeeze is like when
gas prices get way too high again. Jimmy Sangenberger filling in for Mandy Connell,

(01:01:14):
keep it right here text us atfive six six nine zero right here
on KOA. Today, of course, is the eightieth anniversary of D Day,
the invasion of Normandy on the beaches, and what a heart wrenching,
soul crushing day that was for somany, and yet it helped to lead

(01:01:38):
us in the direction of winning forthe Allies World War two. And today
again is the eightieth anniversary since Junesixth, nineteen forty four, and on
that day Franklin Delean R. Roosevelt, known for his radio addresses, using
this medium of radio so powerfully addressthe nation. I want to play an

(01:02:02):
excerpt from his speech How He Began, which was more than a speech.
It was a prayer at a timewhen they most needed it. My fellow
Americans. Last night, when Ispoke with you about the fall of Rome.
I knew at that moment the troopsof the United States and our allies

(01:02:27):
were crossing the channel in another andgreater operation. It has come to pass
with success thus far. And soin this poignant hour I asked you to
join with me in prayer. AlmightyGod, our sons, pride of our

(01:02:54):
nation, this day have set upona mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve
our republic, our religion, andour civilization, and to set free a
suffering humanity. Lead them straight andcrue Give strength to their arms, stoutness

(01:03:19):
to their hearts, steadfastness in theirfaith. They will need thy blessings.
Their role will be long and hard, for the enemy is strong. He
may hurl back our forces. Successmay not come with rushing speed, but

(01:03:40):
we shall return again and again.And we know that by Thy grace and
by the righteousness of our cause,our sons will triumph. Powerful words from
Franklin Eleanor Roosevelt on this faithful dayeighty years ago. A nation who,

(01:04:01):
of course didn't really know what wasgoing on overseas, but just knew that
their son, their grandson, theirneighbor, their friend, their nephew,
there's a very good chance that theywere over there in this battle that the

(01:04:21):
President was talking about, that theymight not come home. And of course
that day in Normandy was horrifyed onevery level. At the same time,
it also showed some of the mosttremendous courage that you would find anywhere,

(01:04:49):
that we would ever find in thehistory of this country, an extraordinary moment,
unlike anything that we had seen before, or likely, god willing,
will ever see. Sense, Andas we look ahead in our country's future,

(01:05:12):
we must look back at leaders likewe played earlier. General Dwight D.
Eisenhower his minute and a half orso addressed to the troops before they
landed at Normandy or here with FDR, and the leadership that he showed during
World War Two. These are thekind of people that we could only hope

(01:05:32):
to have in terms of leadership,in terms of that strength and fortitude for
our nation moving ahead. God blessall our men and women who gave so
much on that day. And senseand sense, I'm Jimmy Sangenberger filling in
for Mandy Connell. We've got onemore hour up ahead. At the bottom

(01:05:54):
of the hour, I will bejoined by Bill Huang. He is the
director General of Taiwan's off in Denver. An extraordinary situation always over in Taiwan.
We'll talk with him some fascinating thingsas the recognition of Tianum and Square
happened this week thirty five years sokeep it here. Lots to go one

(01:06:15):
more hour. Jimmy Sangenberger in formany Connell on Koa. Biden has finally
gotten tough on the southern border.Right, We'll get to that here in
just a moment, because well,somebody over on MSNBC just said the quiet
part out loud. But I didwant to get to a listener text because

(01:06:39):
it is D Day and we arerecognizing the eightieth anniversary of the bravery and
the sacrifice eighty years ago today andthat invasion of Normandy listener text, and
I appreciate the opening piece. Nicejob covering from Mandy. Glad you're enjoying
yourself today. Question regarding eightieth DDay anniversary. I watched Biden's speech,

(01:07:01):
curious what your thoughts are on hisspeech. Personally, I was shocked he
compared World War Two to the warin Ukraine. Seriously, Now he politicizes
this comparison to get more money forUkraine. What in Yeah, anyway,
he's not too happy with beat it. But with Biden's speech in that regard,

(01:07:24):
he or she fair enough, Okay, I understand what you're saying.
I caught different snippets of Biden's speechand get to watch the whole thing.
But I watched several parts, andI did see the part where he brought
up Ukraine, and honestly, Idon't have a problem with it. Quite
the opposite. I happened to thinkthat his comments fit well enough in the

(01:07:48):
sense that he was trying to tiemaybe I'm being generous, well, maybe
I'm being a little too generous towardBiden, but I think he was trying
to tie something historical and significant togetherwith what we're facing today on the global

(01:08:08):
stage, in the case of Ukraine, where NATO is certainly on alert.
He said in part, isolationism wasnot the answer eighty years ago, and
is not the answer today. Theprice of unchecked tyranny is the blood of
the young and the brave, theirgeneration and their hour of trial. The

(01:08:30):
Allied forces did their duty. Nowthe question for us is, in our
hour of trial, will we doours? By the way, what about
Israel. Just a quick note inour hour of trial. Our hour of
trial includes the Jewish state and theJewish people in Israel, and yet Biden

(01:09:00):
has turned his back on Israel clearlyand unequivocally, and our hour of trial.
Will we do ours good question?Answer it for yourself regarding Israel,
because I would say the answer isincreasingly know more and more. But when
it comes to Ukraine, he's talkingabout isolationism and this desire to pull back

(01:09:23):
from the world stage and the needto confront aggression and evil. And I
think that is legitimate. It's alegitimate point to raise. And I didn't
hear him mention anything about money forUkraine. It's a reminder as to why

(01:09:46):
the United States has involved there.And I'll be clear on this. I'm
a supporter of US backing for Ukraine. I think we should do our best
to try and track the money flowbetter than we have. It's tough,
but you need to do it better. However, I look at this Sweden,
Finland for two hundred years, theywere neutral throughout the Cold War,

(01:10:10):
they were not part of NATO,they were neutral countries. And then Lo
and Behold. Within the last yearor so, both Sweden and Finland have
dropped their neutrality and joined NATO becauseof Vladimir Putin, who considers himself a

(01:10:31):
twenty first century Peter the Great.He's not looking to bring back the Soviet
Union. He wants to bring backthe old Russian Tsarist Empire. And so
the United States needs to show supportfor Ukraine against the aggression, because why

(01:10:51):
would Sweden and Finland be concerned somuch to join NATO if there was nothing
there. Now they're concerned because theyknow what Putin has been saying for thirty
plus years, and they intend onpreventing it from happening to them. That's

(01:11:14):
why. Look, I was inspeaking of Taiwan. At bottom of the
hour, we'll be talking with theDirector General of Taiwan's office here in Denver
for this region. I was inTaiwan a couple of years ago on an
international press tour, and on thattour, I was one of three American
journalists. There were twenty five journaliststotal from around the world, and I

(01:11:38):
met journalists from Bulgaria and the CzechRepublic who at least for part of their
lives been behind the Iron Curtain.They knew what it was like to be
under the thumb of Russian tyranny theSoviet Union, and they were deeply,
deeply concerned about Russia and Putin's invasionand what would go what could happen if

(01:12:05):
Europe and the United States didn't standtogether in support of Ukraine. So I
consider all of those different factors andthe history of Putin and what he'd like
to do in the context of Ukraineand his expansionist goals as justifying you as
support for Ukraine. Text the show, if you disagree five sixty six nine

(01:12:27):
zero. I have to say,do you like this text? Did Biden
talk about his participation at D Day? Nice little singer? You would think
he might. You never know withhim. You'd never know with him.
I thought it was a decent enoughspeech. But listener text coming in.

(01:12:48):
Did you see the video of Bidenlooking way confused that Normandy even the Secret
Service look like, what do wedo? Yeah? I know it's a
concern. It's a genuine concern Biden'smental state and where he is as president.
I don't say that flippantly. It'sa genuine thing, and it's something
that voters are going to be consideringcome November in this election Now let's turn

(01:13:15):
though to something that Biden did thatwas different. Joe Biden issued an executive
order on the southern border this week. Finally about time. President Biden issued
this order Tuesday, reading from theNew York Times here, preventing migrants from
seeking asylum at the US Mexico borderwhen crossing surge a dramatic election year.

(01:13:43):
Moved to ease pressure on the immigrationsystem and address a major concern among voters.
We'll get to that second piece here. It just a moment, but
first Fox News had one of theirreporters down at the southern border. And
what's so striking is where people arecoming from. And when we come back,
we're going to get to that exactclip, because they're coming from the

(01:14:05):
Middle East, they're coming from Asia, they're coming from the Southern border,
of course, but they're coming fromall around the world. That's absolutely stunning
when you think about it. JimmySangenberger filling in for Mandy Connell right here
on KOA, Fox News catches MiddleEastern special interest aliens. They're calling them,

(01:14:27):
and have called those who come fromcountries that aren't typical down the southern
border. And these folks are particularlyfrom the Middle East. Jordan, Jordan,
why did you come to Egypt?Why'd you come to America for Joe
for a job? You know,it's illegal across the border like this,

(01:14:48):
right, yeah you okay, yes, hi guys. Where are you guys
from Egypt? Where are you from? What country? Okay? Turkey,
yeah, all Turkey. Yeah,it's just astonishing. Well, finally the
president of the United States has decidedto take the southern border seriously. And

(01:15:15):
Jensky over on MSNBC, well,she said yesterday, I think it was
yesterday, the quiet part out loud. They knew in that moment they had
to do something the border. Thereneeds to be something that's done. But
also politically, this is one ofthe biggest vulnerabilities. And regardless of who's
mad about the details of what's inhere and what isn't in here, it's

(01:15:35):
a political vulnerability for the president andhis campaign. They know that, they
knew they would have to do somethinglike an executive order before the election politically
as well, and that's what we'reseeing play it. It's a political vulnerability.
I mean, yeah, it sureis, because when you've allowed the

(01:15:58):
southern border to be so vulnerable,to be so porous to have millions crossing
illegally and the American people see it, and you're running for reelection and you
are catching flak for a bunch ofthings, including Biden, inflation, and
the astronomical cost of everything. Yeah, inflation may be slowing a little bit

(01:16:18):
in terms of the growth of prices, but we're still a lot more expensive
than we were when he took office. And then you add in the southern
border, and Trump is all aboutthe southern border. Of course, it's
a political vulnerability. So he suddenlywakes up, Oh, yes, indeed,
let's go ahead and address the southernborder. And we're gonna blame the

(01:16:40):
Republicans in Congress for not doing enoughand passing a bipartisan bill that really didn't
do enough. When Biden had alot of tools at his disposal and at
the disposal of Alejandro Majorcis, theSecretary of Homeland Security, they had the
means in the legal know how andcapability to address this crisis. Of course,

(01:17:04):
there is more funding that's needed,there's more security, but they didn't
even do the bare minimum up tothis point. So you better believe Jensaki
that this is a political vulnerability forJoe Biden. It has been for a
long time and now it's acute,and that's the only reason that he's finally
woken up from his slumber and istaking this remotely seriously as well. Pastime.

(01:17:30):
I on think it'll do much though, and people aren't going to really
recognize otherwise. So my goodness,here we are with the southern border finally
being taken seriously. We're going totake a break on the other side.
I'll be joined in studio by BillHuang from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office,

(01:17:53):
which represents Taiwan in Denver. Keepit right here, Jimmy Sangenberger in
for May Connell on k the eightiethanniversary of D Day, and it has
been great to be with you todayand back in the saddle as well tomorrow
as I will be covering for aMan to hear on Koa, so be

(01:18:15):
sure to tune in then from twelveto three. So this, as I
mentioned again, is a tremendously importantday for the United States when we think
about Normandy and the beaches of Normandyand the sacrifices of that day. The

(01:18:38):
fight for freedom was on the lineas never before, and of course the
United States and our allies triumphed,and we were able to evolve into really
being that, as Reagan said,shining city upon a hill. Well,
now there are other countries on theworld stage who need our support, other

(01:19:03):
peoples around the globe. Well,the United States needs to stand behind.
And one of those peoples is Taiwan. They're small island nation near China,
and they're profoundly important economically and nationalsecurity wise for the United States. And

(01:19:26):
not only that, there's a verysignificant anniversary relative to that whole region in
China, Taiwan. This notion offreedom that we all so dear, that's
so important. When thirty five yearsago this week, an unidentified unknown individual,
you know, Tenman Square and whathappened, what fell afterwards, devastating

(01:19:53):
a protest, remarkable symbol. Whenthis was teased on the other day,
just to tease that this was comingup, they shut down the signal of
CNN. The Chinese Communist Party didthat. Well, let's look back at
Tiannaman Square. Let's look at therelationship between the United States and Taiwan.

(01:20:14):
With Bill Huang. He is theDirector General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural
Office, which represents Taiwan in thisregion of the United States and is located
in Denver. Bill. It's goodto see you, sir, Thanks for
joining us. Thank you for havingme Jami. Always a pleasure, sir.
Let's look back thirty five years ago. Remind us what happened and why

(01:20:36):
was it so significant. Well,thirty five years ago, a group of
of pro democracy students were protesting outsideof the on the Tennana Square and then
on June fourth, actually the troopswere sent in by the Kamnist Party and

(01:20:57):
virtually crushed them over killing them.And the exact number of casualties up to
this day is still unknown because allthe news was shut down or something,
but thanks to international media at present, we get a glimpse of what happened
there. And I have to sayI have some personal feelings about this event
because back then I was a sophomoreat college, so I was witnessing students

(01:21:28):
at the same age sacrificing their livesfor democracy and they are not even armed.
So it's a tragic event. Butup to this day, I don't
think that it was talk about thatoften. But we shall never forget what
happened on that day and what itstands for because you know, there's a

(01:21:50):
very strict restrictions when it comes toa freedom expression in China, and so
they even use my than their technologylike those monetary and the management of the
Internet to really try to erase thatperiod of history from the world. And

(01:22:11):
hence, in recent years there's aterm. I don't know whether you heard
about that, it's co May thethirty fifth. Well, it's sounds illogical
because there's no May thirty fifth,right, but that's how that spread.
People in China tried to spread thenews around by using May thirty fifth to
represent June fourth. Remarkable. Well, when we look at the Tianman Square

(01:22:36):
massacre, so horrifying one of thesymbols. It's remarkable when you see that
man we don't know to this daywho he was, who stands in front
of the tanks, and then youwatch the video the tanks trying to get
around him. That's right, andCNN had to smuggle it out through tourists.

(01:22:58):
I didn't know this aspect until thisweek and to this day. Of
course, the Chinese Communist Party,as I said, drops the signal and
says, oh, nope, we'renot letting anybody see this that is a
strong dichotomy that we see from Taiwan. Yes, talk to us about the
freedom and liberty in Taiwan, especiallyin the as it has grown in the

(01:23:19):
past thirty years. Painted picture becausewhen I was there in November of two
thousand October November of twenty twenty two, it was remarkable to see this passion
for freedom that the Taiwanese people have, knowing what's right next door. Yeah,
if we look at Taiwan back innineteen eighteen nine, actually Taiwan was
fresh out of Marshall rule. Yeah, so it was it was a new

(01:23:45):
like a baby democracy. But lookthirty five years up to we have under
gone this will be a full peacefultransition of Paula either you know, but
between potis or in the same party. And it's a full fledged democracy with
a really very vibrant society and withlots of freedom expression. In fact,

(01:24:13):
you've been engaged in our media andyou know how aggressive they can be.
Right, So if you look atTaiwan from any aspect, and I dare
say, I'm not shamed to sayit is the most vibrant democracy and the
free is a society in East Asia, and so what Taiwan means for Asia

(01:24:38):
is that it stands out as abeacon of democracy to showcase that what the
theory that the democracy has no placein Asia is really unfounded. You just
look at Taiwan. You know thateven in the society heavily influenced by confucialism

(01:25:00):
can enjoy democracies, freedom of speechfor the people. Bill Huang represents the
Taiwanese government here in Denver and inthis region. What other states in addition
to Colorado do you cover? Okay, So I have noos in South Dakotas,
and I have Nebraska, Missouri,Kansas City and regionally. Our office

(01:25:21):
was founded in Kansas City, Missouri. But looking full, you know,
really adventure, adventure, business opportunities. We move here trying to doild more
business with the Rocky Mountain regions.And that actually is a point I wanted
to get to because in addition tothe democratic aspects and liberty and that common

(01:25:43):
bond that we share between our twopeoples, you also have the economic development
that has been extraordinary. When welook at microchips and other aspects of the
tech sector, the ties between theUnited States and Taiwan economically are very important.
If you Google news recently and youwill see that most of the majors,

(01:26:05):
the CEOs and major US companies werein Taiwan, you know, two
days ago and attending the computer textwhich is the worlds may be Psychologist computer
Show in the World. And whythey were there, entertaining the stakeholders there

(01:26:26):
and trying to do some pr workwith the Taiwanese people and even give Kino
speeches. I think they are lookingat the opportunities which present itself in the
new AI age because we are lookingat the new Industrial revolution and Taiwan,

(01:26:48):
to quote Jensen, one of nmedia, is at the epic center,
the pillar of this Ai driven revolution, and I think, you know,
when we are expecting great things tocome, it makes more sense for Taiwan
and the United States to work hardtogether, closer together, because we are

(01:27:11):
in the skin together, and Taiwanand the United States have enjoyed the trust
relations all the the past file sixdecades to an extent that you know,
we cannot do without each other.I want to get to the national security
issues in a moment VISV what's dubbedmainland China and particular what's controlled by the

(01:27:31):
Chinese Communist Party. But about thetopic of AI for just a moment.
It was interesting. I was tellingyou a bit earlier about how just before
I got to the studio I wasabout to leave and my car at a
flat tire low and behold, andthere was something. It was bigger than
a nail, and it was stuckin there. I couldn't get anywhere there,

(01:27:51):
so I was like, okay,I got to call an uber,
which managed to get me here withtime to spare. But on the Uber
ride, the driver and I weretalking and one of the things that came
up was AI. He had anengineer that had been in his car yesterday
and they're really concerned in the engineeringspace, at least that's what he was
reflecting about the growth of AI andwhat that might do for people. This

(01:28:15):
really is fascinating, and it's somethingwhere the United States needs to do whatever
it can to be ahead of thecurve on this over adversaries like the Chinese
Communist Party, and that means cooperation, working together with the likes of Taiwan.
I think, you know, peoplereally worry about innovations because in a
way people worry that you know,works are going to have jobs are going

(01:28:40):
to be sacrificed, and some peopleare to be left out. But look
at the United States, and asa career diplomatic, I came back to
the States every ten years, andso I've seen major changes, I mean
revolutionary changes with your society and thekind of what you work force enjoy.

(01:29:01):
I mean, technology really brings innew and more profitable job if you manage
to take care and train those whomay feel left behind and you know,
try to you know, really helpthem get more, more high paying job

(01:29:23):
and more high skilled job. Yeah, and in that sense, I think
Taiwan and the US have been workingvery closely together. I'll just take two
examples, the iPhones and the Teslaand those new two gadgets. When they
first came about, it was theTaiwanese. Those are hidden champions. Those

(01:29:45):
are smaller and so sme companies whichhelp them come up with all the components
inside, and the bigger system integratorslike Voska, which help them assemble them.
But the idea is American, thebrain names are American, So in
effect, you come up with theidea and then we help you materialize it.

(01:30:08):
But American society as well get abenefit because of the new economic input
which helped you know, create morereally a higher end, a higher skilled
and higher paying jobs. Yeah,and real quick, the Taiwan Straight that
is basically what separates Taiwan and China. Talk to us for just a moment

(01:30:30):
about the economic significance of that,because when we here in the United States
think about the importance of Taiwan asnational security issue, that's a big part
of it, that's right, that'swhy. So if we are just talking
about the sea line of transportation,actually the Taiwan Straight accounts for around fifty

(01:30:51):
to sixty percent of the shipping,depending on which season you're talking about.
But if we are looking only atthose bigger containerships or those large ships,
that's eighty percent, and most ofthe supplies Japan, Korea, even China

(01:31:14):
came through that area and they're exportto Europe and maybe to the United States
also have to translate from that area. So that means that part of the
world is really really vital for globaleconomy. Suppose there's a situation in Taiwan
Strait, not only Taipe one willget hurt, but also China, also

(01:31:38):
in the United States and Europe.In fact, it will be devastating for
global trade and economy, not tomention Taiwan's really dominant in the it especially
the semiconductor and the Ai server industry. So I don't think anyone would want
to envisage that kind of scenario.Not undoubtedly. We have Bill Huang here

(01:32:03):
in studio. I'm Jimmy Sangenberger fillingin for Andy Connell. Bill is the
Director General of the Taipei Economic andCultural Office, which represents Taiwan in Denver.
Listener questioned, said earlier, whenI teased that you were coming on,
please ask how many harpoon missiles wouldTaiwan like to have. What he

(01:32:24):
means by that is what I meanby this is what kind of support does
Taiwan need from the United States?Because here here's the reality. Yes,
that is we just talked about theeconomic times that are so significant. We
just talked about the democratic aspects thatTaiwan has beacon of democracy in East Asia.

(01:32:47):
And of course Taiwan is a theChinese Communist Party long long, he
said, its cites on Taiwan,and that's something where increasingly hearing chatter of
what would happen a possible invasion ofTaiwan. What have you a lot of
those circumstances. Yeah, in seriousness, what kind of support or the Taiwanese

(01:33:11):
people looking for? What do youappreciate from the United States. Let me
first says that we appreciate the USsupport, especially a security guarantee over the
past decades, but haven't say that. I have to say it was really
the Taiwanese. What are defending us? You know, the Taiwan itself.
We have been facing the Chinese threatfor over seventy years and so it's a

(01:33:38):
day by day kind of situation.Well, you may look, you know,
you went to Taiwan and you weremazed, you know, after speaking
Nancy Pelosi's visits that people look sorelaxed and focus on their work and they're
fun and stuff, but really belowthat surface, actually we've been vigilant.
We've been preparing ourselves and all themen at the age of eighteen are required

(01:34:03):
to do a conduct military service.It's it was a case for my father
and I, who both serve onthat afshore island called came in right,
So we've been preparing for it.But now Taiwan is an island, yes,
and if the Taiwan straight, it'sfive times the length of the British

(01:34:24):
Channel. So if China were toinvade Taiwan, you just imagine the kind
of mobilization and the kind of preparednessthey have to come up with, and
during that period of time, youknow, maybe they would long been destroyed
by our missiles or something. It'snot like we are not prepared for it.

(01:34:45):
But so I think a kind ofamphibious kind of invasion I think is
quite out of the question. Buthow about like a naval blockade. As
I said before, if they're they'regonna gonna impose and a blockade against Taiwan
to suffocate it, will they haveto sacrifice their own interest first because they

(01:35:08):
don't get this way. Well,they're going to get a supply from the
Arctic area, but I haven't saythat. You know, what I just
said are kind of rational kind ofreasoning, But when you're dealing with autocracy
with the leader you know, forhimself, then you have to really think
about the unimaginable. Like one day, if the leader goes crazy and want

(01:35:33):
to do something no matter what,in that kind of situation, I would
still think a kind of blockade oreconomic sension would be the least costly kind
of approach for them. But ifthings dragged on, Taiwan, MCAUS can
defend itself. But if things dragne, I think the whole world is going

(01:35:55):
to suffer. And that's when Taiwanreally needs a real, not just moral,
but substantive suppult from the whole world. Well, and that's why what
we have seen in terms of Ukrainehas been so important in my view the
world Europe. The United States standingbehind Ukraine against Russian aggression has been supported

(01:36:16):
because it sent a message early onto the Chinese communist parties Shiji Inping,
that the world is willing to standby a country like Ukraine, and the
Ukrainian people are willing. I meanpeople anticipated that they would be done within
a short span of time, thatRussia was supposed to win, and that

(01:36:38):
is not what happened. And herewe are still seeing that war and that
same kind of resolve is what Ithink the CCP is concerned about regarding a
potential invasion of Taiwan for exactly thereasons that you're talking about. That's right,
that's right. It's not only theTaiwanese who needs to show all result
to them. As demonstrated by therecent en of your speech by our president.

(01:37:02):
Basically, we don't want confrontation,we don't want an war with them,
but bear in mind, you know, we are prepared for it.
But you know, the whole worldalso needs to be unequivocal when it comes
to this kind of possible aggression fromChina. You must tell them that if

(01:37:24):
you do something stupid, you're gonnahurt yourself. And really we appreciate the
appreciate the US government's security guarantee bipartisantoo. Ah. You know, over
the several recent administrations, take theyou know, current admissiship for example,

(01:37:45):
President Biden, I don't know howmany times, maybe the fifth time he
has answered when when uh, wheninterviewed by media, he said that,
you know, US is gonna,you know, provide military supports for Taiwan.
And I think this recent time,most recent time, only a few
days ago, interviewed by Time magazines, it is even more clear that's shows

(01:38:11):
a message to the Chinese that don'tdo something to do and that's so important.
And that's why one of the reasonswhy earlier I was talking about that
I agree we need to continue tosupport Ukraine and that provides that sort of
message. Unfortunately, we're out oftime. You just flown by this whole
show. Bill Wong, representing Taiwanin Denver. Really appreciate you joining me
in studio. Thanks so much foryour time. Thank you, and we

(01:38:32):
will, God willing continue to standby the people of Taiwan. Thank you.
Without a doubt. I'm Jimmy SanyingBerger. That is it for me
today. Grateful for the opportunity tofill in for Mandy Connell. Great job
to a rod behind the glass,and I will be back in this saddle
tomorrow afternoon from twelve to three,once again filling in for Mandy right here

(01:38:54):
on Kowa. Have a great afternoon. God bless America.