Will Joe suspend his campaign?

This podcast edition of Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness features astronaut Clayton Anderson and journalist Holly Hansen.  ( @KennethRWebster )

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Jack ganon government sucks. Suit ofHappiness radio is DeLux. Liberty and freedom
will make you smile. The forSuit of Happiness on your radio tole just
as Jeezburgers living it fries at forsood. Fifty million people watch Thursday Night's

(00:25):
debate. S's true Americans really dolove shows about zombies. Hi. I'm
Kenny Webster, and thanks so muchfor turning on your radio big show this
afternoon. It's Monday. First ofall, I know I was not here
much last week in the afternoon.I apologize for that. I was getting
over a nasty cold. I wasstill doing the morning show, but I
just you know, it's it's along day, twelve hour day. The

(00:46):
morning show in the afternoon show arenot anywhere near each other in proximity,
So anyway, excuses excuses. I'mback this week and thank you for being
here. A very important week.It is fourth of July week. We
will be bringing it to you allweek long, or at least until the
fourth of July. And a lotof guests on today's show. And when
I say a lot, I meantoo two guests Holly Hansen stopping by in

(01:07):
the next segment. You know thisguy Adrian Garcia on the Harris County Commissioner's
Court. The guy makes one hundredand eighty thousand dollars a year. You
pay that salary to him, bythe way, at least you do if
you're a Harris County taxpayer. Butapparently he has another job, and there's
a law in Texas that says oughtnot you can't hold two elected positions at
the same time, or two influentialpolitical positions at once. So there's a

(01:30):
lawsuit that's now been filed against him. We're going to talk about that.
Lots of scandals involving Lena Hidalgo willgive you all the details, and if
you'll stick around to the end ofthe show, astronaut Clayton Anderson is stopping
by. We're going to talk aboutall the latest, this purported scandal involving
Boeing, a Chinese rocket just launchedand exploded. He'll give you all the

(01:51):
details. He's an actual astronaut.He's going to be here to let you
in on some of the latest withthat. Now, big news story of
the day, let's start off withthis guy breaking news. Scotus no,
not scrotum. Scotis has ruled onTrump's immunity from prosecution. You know,
there's this guy named Donald Trump.You've heard about him. President of the
United States, forty fifth president,maybe the forty seventh as well, not

(02:14):
the forty six. That job goesto Joe Biden. At least that's what
they claim. And the guy that'sin charge right now, and a lot
of his political allies are trying toprosecute Donald Trump for a lot of things
that don't even really seem like they'reillegal. Some of them don't even seem
like their crimes, which begs thequestion, shouldn't a president have immunity against

(02:38):
criminal prosecution for things that he didwhile he was president, especially official acts
as president. Turns out, theSupreme Court agrees, yes, the president
does have some immunity from criminal prosecution. They agreed six to three, citing
Article two of the US Constitution thatformer President Donald Trump, in his official
capacity and more broadly, the officeof the president, has absolute immunity from

(03:02):
criminal prosecution. Chief Justice John Robertswrote the majority opinion. He was joined
by Justices Gorsic Brat, Kavanaugh,Amy Coney, Barrett, Clarence Thomas,
and Samuel Alito. Basically, alist of the conservatives on the court,
and justices Kagan Katanji, Brown Jackson, and Sonya Sodemeyer dissented. Apparently the

(03:23):
liberals don't want anything good happening toDonald Trump. So here's what we learn.
The opinion states the following. Itsays, quote, it is in
these enduring principles that guide our decisions. In this case, the president enjoys
no immunity for his unofficial acts,and not everything the president does is official.
The president is not above the law, but Congress may not criminalize the

(03:44):
president's conduct in carrying out the responsibilitiesof the executive branch under the Constitution,
and the system of separated powers designatedby the Framers has always demanded an energetic,
independent executive. The President therefore maynot be prosecuted for exercise his core
constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive

(04:04):
immunity from prosecution for all his officialacts. That immunity applies equally to all
occupants of the oval office, regardlessof politics, policy, or party.
The opinion continues, under our constitutionalstructure of separated powers, the nature of
presidential power entitles a former president toabsolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within

(04:28):
his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,and he is entitled to at least presumptive
immunity from prosecution for all official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.
Okay, I think you guys getwhat this means, right. You
remember during the Clinton era, I'lluse Bell Clinton as an example. Bill
Clinton was in a lot of troublewhen he was president for lying about what

(04:49):
he may or may not have doneto his intern Remember the launching of a
cigar into the nether regions of oneintern. We were tal that that was
the thing that happened. That waswhat they said. Well, as it
turns out, in order to distracteverybody from the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Do
you guys remember this, our olderlisteners certainly will. Bill Clinton suddenly launched

(05:12):
a bunch of rockets at Iraq.It was a great way to shift the
focus, change the narrative away fromwhat he was doing in his oval office
to a war that a lot ofpeople had forgotten about. Operation what was
it? Iraqi Freedom? Or no? What was it? Operation what do
they call it? Originally before itwas Iraq Operation Iraqi Freedom? It was
Operation Golf Storm. That's it.It was Operation Golf Storm. And at

(05:34):
the time, a lot of peoplethought that golf war was over. We
were done talking about that, right, Iraq, Kuwait, the Persian golf
nobody was And then all of asudden, right George H. W.
Bush leaves, Bill Clinton shows up, The Monica Lewinsky thing happens. A
couple of years pass, and thenboom bam, we were right back to
that Iraq War again. What's thepoint am I talking about this? Well,

(05:57):
it probably seems obvious to most ofyou. Launching the right, it's
we're an official act of being president. But the thing he did with the
cigar was not lying about what hedid with the cigar was really not an
official act of president. So theSupreme Court did not define what an official
or unofficial act is. They sentthat question back to the lower courts.

(06:19):
Every individual case needs to be decidedby the lower courts, which means,
and I'm sure you already know this, since our judicial system moves at the
speed of a glacier, probably noneof these cases are going to get solved.
Before the November election, Trump tookto social media and reacted saying,
this is a big win for ourconstitution and democracy. Proud to be an

(06:41):
American. By the way, youknow who the biggest winner is of the
Trump immunity decision. Joe Biden.Now think about it. He can't be
charged in the murders of people likeJoscelyn or Lake and Riley the hundreds of
other Americans killed by border crossers duringhis presidency, even if he is the
one who led him into the country. So congratulations, Joe, stop it,

(07:08):
government, get out of my life. You're listening to the Pursuit of
Happiness Radio. Very exciting news fromthe land down under Lena Hidalgo. Lena
Hidalgo has gone international. The HarrisCounty judge, the child bride, socialist

(07:28):
who apparently has a pill popping addictionand mental health issues, lies about where
she goes, takes off months ofwork at a time, is an international
news story. I know, it'shard to believe. She's not just guys.
This isn't just a state news story, It's not just a national news
story. Lena Hidalgo has made thenews. I'm not kidding. In Australia.

(07:53):
Australian TV news reporting on Lena Hidalgo. That's time for lift, he's
losing it. And here is howBara's County judge and an incoherent lifting losing
it. Her name is Lena Hidalgo, and here she demands that no one
politicizes the murder of a twelve yearold Texan child allegedly tortured and murdered by

(08:15):
illegal immigrants. And she makes thisdemand while blaming Donald Trump for Biden's border
crisis. Astonishing. It hurts evenmore that they're being used as pawns in
this fight over immigration that doesn't evenexist because Biden and McConnell agree, it's
just that Trump won't let them moveit forward. I'll due respect, judge,

(08:39):
you said this issue shouldn't be politicized, But by pointing the finger at
former President Trump and Republicans in Congress, aren't you politicizing it? I think
I answered that. I think Ianswered the question so well, yeah,
I mean, this is about Jocelyn, this is about her family and if

(09:01):
we want to talk about immigration.Didn't answer the question, are you politicizing
this by pointing the finger at Republicansand saying it's their fault, not the
fault of the Biden administration that liftedthe remain in Mexico policies. Again,
the Biden administration reached an agreement withLeader McConnell to address this. But this

(09:22):
is not about immigration. I'm notgoing to feed into that that woman who
can barely string a sentence together withoutcontradicting herself and looking like a confused simpleton,
is the head of the governing bodythat oversees Harris County with a budget
of over four billion, four billiondollars. Boy, Holly Hansen of the

(09:46):
Texan News, they really love LenaHidalgo in hang On Australia. That's pretty
amazing. I didn't realize that ithit international news. Of course, you
and I have been talking about HarrisCounty government for several years now, and
Lena Hidalgo has been in office sinceshe was elected in twenty eighteen. We've

(10:07):
seen a lot of interesting press conferences. But yes, this one really went
viral this week with the reporter GregGruger Grugan, who is a friend of
mine, asking her those questions thathere in the audio file. But yeah,
it was very interesting. You know, we were all reeling about the
murder of that twelve year old girlhere and then of course finding out that

(10:30):
the two suspects that are being chargedand the murder are Venezuelan nationals who had
been apprehended near the border after crossingillegally, apprehended and then released the same
day with ankle monitors without any vettingor any understanding of who they are,
what they're here for, what theircriminal history may or may not be.

(10:50):
And you know, now we havea dead girl in the city of Houston,
and you know, I mean,it's pretty directly correlated to immigration policy.
But I think that Lena Hidalgo wasfeeling the heat on that, and
so she tried to kind of turnit around and on one the one hand,
say don't politicize it. On theother hand, she blamed Donald Trump

(11:13):
in the same sentence. And youand I know we've we've been watching her
for quite some time. She hasa difficulty in i don't know, presenting
herself well in these press conferences andmake some interesting statements. And as you
mentioned at the beginning of this segment, she didn't have to take a leave
for several months last year for inhouse the rehabilitation depression treatment, mental health

(11:39):
treatment. So you know, weknow that there are some issues with this
particular judge, and I'm sure she'sfeeling the heat because she has been very
pro immigrant. Harris County does havea taxpayer funded defense service for immigrants who
are facing deportation, and so youknow they are getting some not welcome scrute

(12:00):
me over this matter, and soI think that's why you saw her her
trying to push back, but obviouslynot in a logically consistent way. All
right. Also interesting last at theend of last week, Lena Hedalgo hops
on social media and she posts somethingthat I don't know if a lot of
people have read this, but itreads the following. Judge Hidalgo issues the

(12:20):
following statement quote. At a pressconference last November, I responded to false
allegations against my office as it ispart of my job to defend the integrity
of my office. The Commission askedfor a five hundred dollars penalty after recognizing
the situation was a minimal issue.I am confident that everything I did and
said was appropriate, But rather thanspending many thousands of dollars in precious time,

(12:43):
we agreed to minimal settlement so thatI could focus my energy on the
needs of Harris County. I lovehow she issued an official statement without even
explaining what she's been accused of orpunished for. She doesn't even explain what
she's in trouble for. She justsays, look, I think we all
agree I did nothing wrong, butI'm going to pay a five hundred dollars
penalty anyway for whatever it is Idid wrong. Nobody knows how great is

(13:05):
this. I mean, it's it'svery funny. That was a pretty incredible
statement. And just for your listenerswho aren't aware what happened that day,
I was covering that press conference.She was on county property using county resources
to endorse a Democratic primary candidate whowas running against the district attorney. So

(13:26):
it was a you know, she'sendorsing one Democrat over another. That is
the violation of the law. Andnot only is there this complaint before the
Texas esex Commission, which they've determinedthat yes, she did break the law
here, but all they could dois issued these signs, and they're usually
pretty minimal like this, it isnot unusual. But there's also a criminal

(13:46):
complaint that was sent over to theTexas Rangers about the matter. I believe
it's been combined with the other investigationsthat is still ongoing, even though three
of we Hidolgos staffers have been indictedon felony charges related to that COVID nineteen

(14:07):
vaccine outreach contract that went to whatappears to be a highly connected political friend
of Lena Hidalgo's. I can't help, but notice, I know it's not
supposed to matter, but I alwaysread the comments. I like to know
what people are saying. And Iread Lena Hidalgo's post and I read the
comments, and then I looked atthe Houston Chronicle article about this, and
I read the comments on the HoustonChronicle social media accounts, and in both

(14:30):
places I saw something very similar.It's people saying, I don't understand why
Lena Hidalgo was fined five hundred dollarsand Donald Trump isn't in any trouble at
all, And I just I cannothelp, But wonder do these people vote
like how? For one thing,he was never Harris County judge and he
was never accused of doing what shedid wrong. Right do we have to

(14:52):
compare everything to everything? Yeah?I think that's a pretty common strategy,
Right, is when you're person thatyou're I don't know, promoting politically is
in trouble. Instead of addressing directlywhat the issue is, say well what
about that other guy? And itdoesn't matter who it is, you know.
I mean half the time when there'ssomething yet another negative news story about

(15:18):
Lena Hidalgo, people say, butTed Cruz did this, or you know,
or just you know, they're tryingto point to someone else other than
the person. What's interesting for LenaHidalgo is she's part of a kind of
a what we might call him internecinewar and the Democratic Party here in Harris
County because they are very much atodds with each other. She sides with

(15:41):
the group that you know she inDorset, that candidate challenging the incumbent district
attorney successfully, I might add.And so she's part of one faction,
the Democrat Party here, and onthe other side you tend to have,
you know, the mayor of Houston, John Windmeyer, the former or the
outgoing district attorney. You know,they tend to be a little more moderate

(16:03):
on some issues, particularly on criminaljustice reform and public safety. All right,
I'm curious where you think Adrian Garciafalls into that feud. There is
now a lawsuit claiming Harris County CommissionerAdrian Garcia is illegally holding two public offices
at once. I got to tellyou, I've read the report. It
sounds an awful lot like he isdoing that. It really does. You

(16:27):
know, a lot of people wereskeptical about the possibility of this lawsuit going
anywhere, but I did interview theattorney who filed the lawsuit last week.
Very interesting and what happened is,you know, Adrian Garcia was elected at
the same time Lena Hidalgo was.He is a Democrat county commissioner, a

(16:47):
very powerful county commissioner. But theCommissioner's court also appointed him to this newly
formed Gulf Coast Protection District Board.And this is a new entity that's supposed
to build this coastal spine to protectHouston and the surrounding area from a storm
sturge. But the problem is thisboard has taxing authority as well as Harris

(17:12):
County, and it appears that inTexas law you cannot hold those the two
positions simultaneously. And a lot ofpeople ask me, well, is the
Gulf Coast Protection District Board position paid? And it's not from what I understand,
but that's not the issue whether ornot they're both paid positions. It's

(17:33):
the fact that both of those boardshave the ability to tax the same people.
And yeah, so I've talked toa couple of other people. We've
also seen Attorney General Ken Paxton andhis predecessors came out with rulings saying that
no, under Texas law, youcannot hold these two positions simultaneously. Now,

(17:56):
this was filed in Harris County courts. My guess is the local district
judge will probably not to be verysympathetic to this argument. But my guess
is we're going to see some appeals. This could end up before the Supreme
Court of Texas because it is animportant legal issue that needs to be resolved.
Yeah, and I mean, atthe end of the day, the

(18:17):
salary is irrelevant. None of theseelected officials in the state of Texas,
on a state or municipal level,almost none of them are making a lot
of money. That's not why theytake these positions. State lawmakers make what
several thousand dollars a year, That'snot why they take that job. They're
all wealthy lawyers. They don't carewhat the salary is because it affords them
the ability to have power, andwith power, they're able to make money

(18:40):
in a lot of other ways.I'm sure Adrian Garcia, a lifelong Democrat
politician, has figured that out betterthan anyone. Holly Hansonthetaxant News follow her
on social media. Check out theirwebsite, Pursuit of Happiness. Radio insiders
are calling for President Biden to stepdown, and apparently those calls are falling

(19:03):
on deaf ears, mostly because JoeBiden hasn't been wearing his hearing aids lately.
It's hard for him to he doesn'tknow. Democrats are scrambling after Biden's
horrible debate performance. Some have evensuggested hiring Christinom to put him down.
That's not don't laugh at that.That's not funny, you guys. Okay,
maybe it's a little funny, butstill it's mean. Mean is usually

(19:26):
very funny, isn't it. Now. All that being said, several newspapers
are calling on Biden to drop out. Here's the problem. If he actually
does step down, he may shatterhis hip. That's what I'm worried about.
But look at some of these newspapers, The New York Times, the
New Yorker, The Economist, theChicago Tribune, the Atlanta Journal Constitution have

(19:47):
all maken a hard stance saying theseare look, say what you will.
These are major newspapers, guys.The Chicago Tribune is the biggest newspaper in
the Midwest. It's the biggest newsoutlet in an entire region of the country.
And they're begging him to drop out. A lot of major donors are
asking Joe Biden a horse sounding Bidenstruggled to finish sentence during his debate with

(20:14):
President Donald Trump, as the USAToday put it, and now apparently people
that spend a lot of money.Betty Cotton of New York, for example,
said it was hard to watch.It was a disaster. He should
seriously think about stepping down a lotof She's not the only one, a
lot of these very wealthy donors.One former Obama administration official who served on

(20:36):
Obama's reelection committee and raised funds forBiden, said they woke up to multiple
text chains of current donors and formeradministrative officials both Biden and Obama all freaking
out. Wow, yeah, Iget it, But then who replaces them?
Guys. Gretchen Whitmer Gavin Newsom,Pete Booty Jig. You think,

(20:56):
peep, you think Pete Booty Jig'sthe guy. I don't think so.
I think that is very unlikely.The real scandal I gotta think is what
is happening right now in the firstfamily. You know what they're doing to
this poor guy. You know who'sactually running the country right now. The

(21:18):
two people that are actually running thecountry right now are Joe Biden and Hunter.
I wish that wasn't true. Itis very much no, it's very
much a fact. Look at thisreport from the Federalist. Where did I
put this article? Here we go? Biden family privately criticizes top advisors and
pushes for their firing at Camp Davidmeeting. The Biden family is blaming Biden's

(21:44):
top advisors, demanding they be fired. They're blaming CNN, They're blaming the
makeup artists. Biden's son and wifeare doing everything in their power to prove
they are the ones actually running things. The entire family very brand for the
Bidens. I'm surprised they haven't blamedRussia. Doesn't that seem like the most

(22:06):
likely thing? Next kind of doesyou know? Miranda Devine made a recent
point about this very interesting point.Jill Biden thinks she could save this candidacy,
Jill Biden by standing on stage whileJoe looks confused and lost. Jill

(22:26):
Biden is excited and energetic, andall she's doing is creating an image that
makes him look more slow, moretired, more feeble. She's up there,
fired up, bouncing all over theplace. Joe looks like he doesn't
know where he is. In theaftermath of Joe's debate debacle, there is
one constant doctor, Jill's delusional selfbelief that she could save the day.

(22:52):
Poor guy. This is what elderabuse looks like. Jill is the keeper
of Biden's delusion. You could seethe emergence of Jill's rival court in recent
months as Joe faded and she embarkedon a round of solo campaigning, running

(23:14):
out telling everyone she she's working forher husband. She was there at Hunter's
gun trial in Wilmington in her finestdesigner dress even for the jury selection.
That was a little odd, wasn'tit. Joe just babbling on, never

(23:37):
really knows where he is, neverknows what he's doing, But there's Jill
dragging him around these days, Joeis always playing second fiddle to Jill.
Jill makes it clear she has moreimportant things to do than play nursemaid to
her daughtering husband. She was inFrance, she left a disoriented Joe to

(23:59):
the mercy. She's of her reluctantEmmanuel Macran. You remember that she's hanging
out with She was, actually Jillwas hanging out with Emmanuel Macran, and
she left Joe with what is it, Bridget Macran, the wife. And
then you saw it over the weekendwhen she was having the time of her
life hobnobbing with the rich and famousin East Hampton, Well, Joe's face

(24:23):
seemed locked in some grimace, likehe didn't know where he was or what
he was doing. Naturally, JoeBiden spoke at the fundraiser one hundred and
forty seven million dollar mansion of ahedge fund billionaire, where reporters were instructed
to wear shoe covers. The problemis that the reality of doctor Jill doesn't

(24:45):
measure up to her delusions of grandois. She will never be the candidate,
no matter how many upbeat polls welook at, no matter how popular she
is with suburban women, She's notreally helping Joe right now. In fact,
she's increasingly being blamed for Joe's decisionto run for reelection, his refusal

(25:08):
to step aside. There's all thesestories circulating around the Beltway about the iron
control she has over Joe. Verydelusional to think that this guy still has
a chance. Supposedly they met upyesterday, the family that is, the

(25:30):
Bidens at Camp David. The bigrumor over the weekend was that he was
going to drop out. It didn'tend up happening. So you have to
ask why Jill and the rest oftheir little family, who all know Joe
best, why they chose a ninepm debate time and left him on stage
without any notes. They must haveknown that guy couldn't sustain himself for ninety

(25:55):
minutes. You remember when he flewto the G seven summit and Georgi Maroni
is that her name, the ItalianPrime Minister had to go escored him over.
Georgio Maloney had to escort him overto have a photo because he was
wandering off from the group. Andwhile everybody was reacting to that saying no,

(26:19):
that's not what it looks like.It's just a right wing talking point.
It's a cheap fake, it's amisleading video. As soon as that
happens, they put him on aplane and they fly him off to Hollywood
where he meets up with who BarackObama and Jimmy Kimmel for a big fundraiser.
And it happened again. This timeit wasn't Georgio Maloney that was escorting

(26:44):
him around looking confused and bewildered.It was Barack Obama. Now, Barack
Obama is a master of stagecraft.Say what you will about Obama. You
may not like him, you maynot like the way he led the nation,
that's fine, But he's very goodat visuals, he's very good at
optics, he's very good at beinga politician. You think he didn't know

(27:04):
how bad it looked to escort Joeoff stage, grab Joe by the wrist,
and walk him off stage like that, Joe looking confused on a stage
with Jimmy Kimmel and Barack Obama,And rather than go over and whisper in
his ear and say something to wakehim up, Barack Obama walks him off
stage like a dementia patient, becausethat's what he is. The same people

(27:29):
who have lied to us for fouryears that Joe is sharp and on his
game twenty four to seven. Nowadmit he exhibits signs of sundowning, a
very common symptom of dementia. Twoweeks ago, they dismissed it all his
cheap fix, just videos showing Joeacting disoriented. But instead of being chagrined

(27:51):
when their lie was exposed to theworld Thursday night, they are busy weaving
new lies now, they claims andburned in the debate because Donald Trump is
a liar and Joe is so honest. Oh and he had a cold too,
that was part of it. They'retrying to portray Joe a pathological liar
as a truth teller. A guywho just a couple of weeks ago told

(28:15):
us his uncle was eaten by cannibals. A guy who claimed he was arrested
by Nelson Mandela. A guy whosays he grew up in Jewish synagogues.
Yeah, I think I know whothe liar is. Guys. The problem
is, it's very hard to bea serial liar when you have dementia,
and Joe Biden is both of thosethings. Till the government started listening to

(28:37):
the Jews, Proceeds of Happiness Radiowith Kenya Webstergitio aka producer Kenny. We
are not done yet. We stillgot one more segment to go. I
always like to use this last segmentof the show to talk about something less
political, if you know what Imean. Unfortunately everything's political these days.
But there is one place you cango to avoid politics, or can you?

(29:04):
Outer space, the last frontier.Apparently even outer space is filled with
controversy these days. Or is themedia just trying to make it seem like
it is. You've heard about Boeingand all the problems that they're having with
whistleblowers and airplane parts falling from thesky doors flying off. That sort of
thing not a good look. Well, apparently even space is. Maybe Boeing

(29:29):
isn't as great at space exploration aswe had hoped. Boeing and NASA recently
teamed up to do a little workup at the ISS and now two NASA
astronauts who traveled at the start ofJune to the International Space Station were originally
scheduled to return home a couple ofweeks ago. They were completing a test
flight on Boeing's Starline or spacecraft,but Butch Willmore and Sunny Williams will remain

(29:55):
on the station for several weeks longeras NASA and Boeing engineers continue to study
misbehavior having thrusters on the vehicle.Now, we've been told that they're stuck
in space. That's not exactly accurate. Instead of asking, you know,
public officials or government contractors what theythink, I reached out to an actual
astronaut, a friend of the show. You've heard him on this radio show

(30:15):
before, a long time resident ofSoutheast Texas. I heard he actually moved
somewhere else now, but that's notimportant. Clayton Anderson, an actual astronaut,
is on the line this afternoon.Good afternoon, Clayton. Hey,
how you doing, sir? Iam great. How many space aliens have
you had to pulverize with laser cannonsthis week? Clayton? Oh, zero

(30:37):
this week. But it's a regularpart of your life, right, Yeah,
you know you always have to bealert, always alert. Okay,
let's start off with this. Arepeople over exaggerating what happened? I don't
think they understand what's going on.Anytime NASA does a test flight like this,
it's exactly that, right, it'sa test. So in order to

(31:00):
understand as much as they can aboutthe vehicle that they've built and that they're
operating, your best to do thosetests in the environment where it's supposed to
operate, which is outer space.And so for them to be extending the
mission just gives them more chance togather more information, more data that will

(31:21):
help them when the vehicle returns backto Earth. I don't think people understand
that the Starliner's got a couple bigparts to it. It's got a service
module where the fuel tanks and thepressureization tanks and all the business end of
the vehicle are, and then theyhave the crew compartment. So that service

(31:45):
module is going to get jettisoned inthe atmosphere and burn up, so they're
never going to be able to seethat again or get information from that again.
So it's very important that while they'reon the space station and attached safely
where Butcher and Sonny can have outand live and work and help, that
they can gather as much data aspossible. Okay, So I think part

(32:07):
of the reason why the media ismaking a big hoopla about this is because
Boeing is at the moment at thecenter of a great deal of controversy,
and as far as public relations goes, well, this isn't as bad as
people are making it sound. Itcertainly isn't helping the case for Boeing,
is it. No. You know, we're in a world today where it's
all about clicks, and we're ina world where it's all about, hey,

(32:30):
put something partial on tweet or aheadline so that we want people to
dig into our article. And Iget that part, but sometimes it's a
little disingenuous because folks simply don't.They don't dig into the article. They
just read that excuse me, readthat headline and then head off and say,

(32:52):
hey, you know, Boeing's introuble. Hey, the crews in
trouble. Hey, you know,it's just kind of oh, I don't
know, sensationalism. I guess sure, yeah, I get that. That
makes perfect sense. All right.So one of the things that Boeing is
getting criticized for right now is theirDEI initiatives, their diversity, equity and
Inclusion initiatives, and some people havepointed out that this isn't really helping the

(33:15):
organization. All it's doing is,you know, it seems good, but
at the same time, some peopleare suggesting it's a cause of a lot
of their problems. As a middleaged white guy, do you have any
thoughts about that? Yeah, I'mmiddle aged, six foot white guy.
I think you know, in myexperience, most people want to hire the

(33:36):
best person they can hire. Andyou know, if you get ten applicants
and five of them are equal andabove the other five, you know,
looking at this DEI thing is probablyimportant, but you still want to hire
the best person to do the jobthat you need to get done. So

(33:59):
I try not to look at itthrough that lens. I think it's just
important to hire the best, andI think I would hope that you know,
Boeing works to hire the best aswell. Yeah, I hope so
too. In the meantime, oneorganization that is very critical of DEI initiatives
is SpaceX, and now it isbeing claimed SpaceX, a company that competes

(34:22):
with Boeing for these government contracts,might actually have to step in and fly
up there and help out with thesituation right now at the ISS, Have
you heard anything about that? Areyou optimistic about that? I think that's
more hype again now, I don'thave any data, but I think that
that Boeing and the Starliner are doingjust fine. I think that SpaceX has

(34:46):
shown that he knows what he's doing. If he needs to help, I'm
sure he'll be ready to help,because that would be good for everyone.
But right now, I'm not surethat it's going to be required, if
I can say it that way,right exactly. Yeah, over the weekend,

(35:07):
let's see SpaceX launching Falcon nine rocketfrom southern California. This stuff happens
so frequently now. A lot ofpeople don't realize how often it's taking place.
But SpaceX has really made some hugeprogress with commercializing the space industry,
and it's happening so frequently now it'snot even necessarily a top news story every

(35:28):
day when it happens. Yeah,that's a complacency we all get into.
And we did that with the Shuttleright where shuttles were launching with some amount
of regularity, and people said,oh, yeah, just another Shuttle launch,
everything's fine, buck, And thenwe had Challenger, and then we
had Columbia, right, So wealways have to be vigilant with respect to

(35:49):
this. Spaceflight is hard, it'svery complex, it's very difficult and dangerous,
and there will come a time statisticallywhen something bad happens, and that's
when we have to be ready andunderstand that measures must be taken to figure
out what happened right. And that'swhere we'll see how dedicated or serious Elon

(36:14):
is with all this. I thinkhe will go after it and he'll figure
out the problem and he'll make itright and he'll solve it. But that's
something that's on the horizon. Statistically, there will be an accident somewhere.
When you compare all the companies thatare now involved in commercial space exploration,
I mean, it just seems tome. I mean, I'm a layman.

(36:36):
I don't know, but it seemsto me like SpaceX is just leaps
and bounds of what everyone else,ahead of what everyone else is doing.
Well, he takes a slightly differentapproach, right, He's very aggressive.
He's got a lot of dedicated,smart people that work very tirelessly for him,
which is a little counter into itinto the government NASA program. But

(36:57):
I think he has a lot ofconfidence, he has a lot of smarts,
He has a lot of dedicated folkswho are trying to do the right
thing and you can see his resultsare paying off, and I hope that
he is continually successful in that regard. All Right, you've actually been up
on the International Space Station right likeyou've been on the ISS. You don't

(37:17):
think any of those guys are nervousup there right now, considering that they've
been delayed on their trip home.No, I think they're loving the extra
time and space. Right. Everyday that stunny flies again, she's accumulating
records, and every day but flieshe's accumulating records. So you know,
living and working in space is afun place to live and work. And

(37:40):
a short term stint like that whereyou don't have to be there a year,
you don't have to be there sixto nine months. Those guys are
going to be there for I don'tknow, a couple of months. I
think that's in my mind, that'soptimal. That would be the great A
great way for me to go back, for example, is to spend a
couple of months. I don't wantto spend six months. I don't want
to spend a year. Been there, done that, But it would be

(38:02):
really cool to go back and liveand work and eat and play in micro
gravity for a couple months and Ithink that's where Sonny and Butcher are right
now, not to mention the factthat they're an extra set of hands for
the crew that's already there. Allright. You were kind of you made
headlines when you were on the ISSbecause you used to play song clips for
the ground control team back on Earth, including playing the song Everything I Do,

(38:25):
I Do It for You by BrianAdams for your wife on her birthday.
If you were up on that spaceshipright now, what song would you
be playing for people back on Earth? Clayton, Oh, so that was
my kiss radio DJ. You knowwhat, I really don't have a specific

(38:46):
one off the top of my head, but what I would try to do
is I would try to pick asong and focus it on a group of
people that I could say thank youwith respect to that song. So obviously
my wife and an hour song forher birthday was one thing. But you
know, I played those magnificent menin their flying machines for all the folks

(39:07):
at Ellington that helped train me inthe T thirty eight. And I played
Butterfly Kisses on Father's Day for allthe dads down there, and so it
was a significant thing for me.I had some good teammates on the ground
that helped me find the right songsfor the right group. And none of
that was random, right, Itwas all with intent. So I had

(39:30):
a really great time doing that forpeople, and I hope they understood that
I was trying to say thank you. That is so cool, Clayton,
you are also write books in additionto being an astronaut that speaks to the
media and publicly communicates with people onsocial media. You are an author and
you put out a book a littleless than a year ago, So you

(39:51):
want to be an astronaut. Youwrite books for kids and adults, but
this one's for kids, right,right, And it's a pretty fun book,
and it talks about traits that astronautshave or are supposed to have,
that we should also be emulating inour youngsters these days, right, Like
trust and honesty and hard work andthose sort of things. So check it

(40:13):
out. You can find it atAmazon, you can find it at astroclay
dot com. You can possibly findit in the Barnes and Noble near you,
but it's out there. A coupleof years back, they made you
president and CEO of the Strategic AirCommand and Aerospace Museum in your hometown of
Ashland, Nebraska. Is that stillgoing strong? What's the latest on that?

(40:37):
So we're making strides. I'm inmy third I've started my third year
in May. Things are looking upand we're moving forward and we have a
lot of big plans that we're workingon the horizon. So if you're in
the area, come to the StrategicAir Command and Aerospace Museum and Ashland,
Nebraska Exit four two six on Interstateeighty between Omaha on Lincoln and you might

(41:00):
even meet an astronaut. That isso cool. Clayton my man, thank
you so much for doing the radioshow today. If you guys are not
following him on social media, wellwhy aren't you? You ought to be
hop on social media. On Twitter, he is Astro Underscore Clay. That's
Astro Underscore Clay, and he frequentlytalks about what's going on in the space

(41:21):
industry and space exploration. She's agreat follow and very non political too.
I've followed him for a long time. His tweets are friendly and polite and
very informative, and I'm a bigfan of them. To the rest of
you, I'm a big fan ofall of you. I hope you guys
have an awesome afternoon drive safe outthere. I appreciate you so much.
We'll be back bright and early tomorrowmorning for more of what you bought a
radio for. Dude, you arelistening to the Pursuit of Happiness Radio.

(41:51):
Tell the government to kiss You're aswhen you listen to this show.