April 2, 2025 • 35 mins
This podcast edition of Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness features journalists Brandon Waltens and Holly Hansen. ( @KennethRWebster )
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Giganic government sucks. The suit of Happiness. Radio is dus.
Liberty and freedom will make you smile the fasuda happen
and us on your radio toile justice, cheeseburgers, a libery
rise at food.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Scientists have unearthed a buried city in Egypt. They're asking
for money to finish the excavation, when that technically make
it a pyramid scheme. Hi, I'm Kenny Webster. Thank you
so much for turning on your radio this afternoon. Today's
show is going to be all about Texas, well, mostly
about Texas. Brandon Waltons is at the Texas Capital right now.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Chinese land air ownership.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Should Chinese spies be able to buy land next to
military bases in the state of Texas.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The answer to that should be obvious.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We'll talk about that, among other things, and then Holly
Hanson's stopping by from the Texan. It's all Texas journalists
all day telling you about stuff going on in Harris
County and in of course Texas. There's another bill mandating
safety cameras on school buses and people are saying this
is controversial. We'll explain why they think that, and then
we'll pick apart whether they're right. So, because we'll tell
(01:10):
you how to feel on this radio show. But before
we get to any of that, let's talk about racism.
I don't like racism. I'm again, I'm taking a firm
stance against racism. That's the thing we're on this radio show.
We're bold enough to say no to racism. I know
other radio shows say yes to it. We're against it.
Breitbart dot Com today reporting on a race hoax. Another
(01:33):
race hoax has just been exposed. There is this urban
myth that black newborn babies get worse care from white doctors.
Is that true? Turns out no. Although the very idea
was absurd on its face, the claim that black newborns
are three times more likely to die under the care
of white doctors has been exposed as another leftist narrative
(01:56):
race hoax. Oh and naturally, this ridiculous study was repeated
without a hint of skepticism by fake news outlets like CNN.
Huh imagine that. Here's how CNN reported on the story.
It happened back in twenty ten. They did it without
even a hint of skepticism. There was a headline headline,
black newborns more likely to die when looked after by
(02:17):
white doctors. Black newborn babies in the United States are
more likely to survive childbirth if they're cared for by
black doctors, three times more likely to die when the
doctor's white. This is a real doozy. Listen to this
part quote. The mortality rate of black newborns in hospital
shrunk by thirty nine and fifty eight percent when black
(02:39):
physicians took charge of the birth, which laid bare how
shocking racial disparities in human health can affect even the
first hours of a person's life. End quote. CNN then
points out that white babies are never in danger from
black doctors. Now, this is morally and financially bankrupt. That's
why it was reported on by the Washington Post. They're
(03:00):
morally and financially bankrupt. Here's their headline. Mortality rate for
black babies cut dramatically when black doctors care for them.
And then they made the same point. Although black newborns
the three times more likely to die than white newborns
when the doctor's black, they're better off. I'm paraphrasing here,
but USA Today did it too. Black babies more likely
to survive when cared for by black doctors. Study finds.
(03:24):
Get a load of this. It turns out that a
disproportionately large number of black babies have very low birthrates
and those babies are attended by white physicians. Wait, that
changes the whole thing, doesn't it. The dei higher on
the Supreme Court Katanji Brown Jackson used a fake study
to make a point in the Supreme Court to support
(03:46):
racial segregation. She was talking about why we need those
safe spaces at college campuses like University of North Carolina,
and then she talked about this. But what they're actually
saying is when there's a baby that's born prematurely underweight,
more often than not, the doctor that cares for it
happens to be white. Circumstantial, but that's it, and those
(04:09):
babies happen to be less likely to survive it and
nothing to do with the doctor being white. So why
in the world would so called researchers exclude a scientific
control as important as disproportionate number of white doctors caring
for premature black newborns.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, we don't have to guess. We have the smoking gun.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
The study originally asserted that white babies died less frequently
with white doctors quote, White newborns experience eighty deaths per
one hundred thousand births more with a black physician than
a white physician, implying twenty two percent fatality reduction from
racial concordance. But the studies lead author brad and Greenwood
wrote in the margin quote, I'd rather not focus on this.
(04:46):
If we're telling the story from the perspective of saving
black infants, this undermines the narrative end quote. And with
that that particular data point was asked to ensure a
desired outcome. How could people be so evil as to
want to spread the libel that white doctors are responsible
for black baby's deaths. It's not true. Imagine the message
(05:06):
that sends to Black Americans. The point of the original
study was not to do good. It was to use
a lie to do evil, to spread hatred in the
black population against white people. Doctor's shopping based on skin
color actually only hurts the doctor shopper.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's a fake study.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
It's doing more harm to black people than anything else
right now, But that was the whole point, wasn't it.
The good news is that there is so little racism
in America they have to create fake studies. In order
to convince you it's actually bad out there.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
You're listening to Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness. Please, if
you're offended by anything you heard, to get a piece
of paper, write down a detailed description of what bothered you,
and fects it to one eight eight eight.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Nobody gives am all.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right, here's a question that's going to upset you, even
though you know the answer. We all know the answer.
Want to ask the question. You're not even gonna like
the question, but it's a question that needs.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
To be asked.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
The new boss, the old boss of the Texas House.
I'm talking about Austin, Texas.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
We all Dennis Bonden. We all remember what he was, right,
a phallic object in a suit, essentially, and then he
left and we got Dade Falen. Boy, Dade Falen and
Dennis Bonden seemed very similar. For those of you that
are new to the radio show, we're talking about Texas
rhinos who control the state legislature. Dennis Bonden sucked and
thanks to undercover journalism efforts from our friends at Texas
(06:34):
scorecard dot com, he left. We got a new guy
named Dade Falen. I don't even know where to start
with this guy. Dave Fallen was a nightmare as far
as Texas Republican leadership goes. So called Texas Republican leadership,
maybe I should say Texas so called Republican leadership. And
then he left and now we've got this guy, Dustin Burrows.
So here's the question, who was worse? Who was worse?
(06:58):
You know it's Steve Toath, stay Representative. Steve Toath, great guy,
was here just the other day talking about SB fourteen.
It's this law that basically says you can't mutilate the
genitals of little kids if you're a so called healthcare
worker in the state of Texas. No chemical castration, hysterectomiesmsectomies, adaddictamies.
None of that's okay. This seems like something everybody would
(07:19):
agree with. Polling data on this topic suggests nationally, seventy
nine eighty percent of people agree. Twenty percent of people
have a problem with that or are okay with it.
Is what I should say say. Now, that's on a
national level, that's considering California and New York and Illinois
and Massachusetts. What do you think it is in the
state of Texas. I don't have that polling data, but
(07:41):
I guarantee you most people would agree SB fourteen should
probably pass. Problem is we can't get a vote in
the Texas House right now. So again here's the question,
who's worse, Dade Failin or Dustin Burroughs. Say what you
will about Dade failing, but at least there would have
been a vote. Now, I mean evil, sure, but the
problem with Dustin Burrows is he's evil, Andy's incompetent. It's
(08:04):
both of those things together. I don't know, And then
you almost wonder, like, is that better? At least we
had a prayer's chance of passing things like SB fourteen
when we had Dated failing, because at least there would
have been a vote, even though he would have whipped
the votes to help out the Rhinos and the liberals.
I want to ask somebody that's at the Texas State
Capitol right now, Brandon Waltons. I know you're a journalist,
(08:25):
but like unlike some journalists, you're not afraid to admit
you have opinions, you have biases, as you should.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
You're a human. Who was worse Dad Failing or Dustin Burrows?
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Well?
Speaker 6 (08:37):
I think it's still, in my opinion, a little early
to tell. But here's the problem though with that, is
that we've heard all session long, you know, session start
in January d Dustin Burrows rather was elected in January,
and what we've been hearing from the pro Burrows crowd
has been just wait, Burrows is going to be much better.
(08:57):
We're going to get a lot of really great stuff done.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Just wait. Okay.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
I can understand that in the first few weeks of
the session. The issue is is that now we are
seventy nine days into the one hundred and forty day session,
the House is just starting to pass its first bills
and they don't exactly have long calendars. I mean, we've
seen the Senate here till late hours of the night
passing their priorities.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
The House will have.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
I think they had four bills on the calendar yesterday,
took them about thirty minutes maybe to get through. They've
got a similar schedule today. I don't even believe they
have anything scheduled for tomorrow. So none of the bills
that they're addressing right now, I mean they're very small,
sort of ticky TACKI things, none of them are None
of them are big priorities. None of them are anything
(09:44):
that people came to vote for us.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Hold on, hold on, Brandon, Hang on a second here
you say none of this stuff matters. I got a SoundBite.
We just passed an important bill the other day.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
You've heard the motion. Is there any objection? Chairs, none
of the rules are spended. Following resolution, the clerk will
read the resolution.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
HR thirty two by La Lani recognizing Pakistan Day at
the State Capitol. Yeah, there you go, Pakistani Day, Brandon,
that's true. We got what happens on Pakistani Day. We
don't use the indoor toilets or what exactly takes place there.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
I'm sure that's true.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
We got Pakistani Day. We did honor Beyonce, we did
do a Zoroastrianism resolution. Okay, so there has been a
lot of resolutions, but now we're just getting in the
first actual you know, actual bills or legislation. And like
I was saying, though, seriously, the problem for Speaker Bros
And his supporters right now is that, look, there is
(10:33):
time for some of this stuff to pass. There certainly
are several weeks, but that window right every day is closing.
As we approached the end of the session. I mean,
we're already halfway through the session and just now the
House is starting to actually move on this stuff. They're
going to have the budget on the floor next week.
There's certainly concerns and issues with that. But you know,
(10:56):
this is this is I think a growing, a growing
concern and growing problem among some of the people who
might have voted for Burroughs thinking that they'd be able
to go back home and say, Okay, we'll look at
all this conservative stuff we passed. At this point, they
haven't done it.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It's unbelievable how little got done. I mean SB fourteen,
that shouldn't be controversial. School choice, you're telling me, you're
telling me. We went out and we had the primaries
last year to get rid of all the rhinos. We
replaced him with people who agree that Ken Paxton should
be attorney general, who agree that we should you know,
that election should matter, that we should get school choice,
and it's still not happen. Even the governor. Even the
(11:35):
governor wanted school choice. What the hell is making that
take so long?
Speaker 6 (11:41):
You know, that's been an interesting thing because you have
a majority of House members that are signed on as
co authors the Speaker Boroughs has said even last week
he had a press conference I was at where he
said the House would pass it. I tend to think
that the House will pass something this session. But it
is sort of interesting that, you know, why haven't they
done it already. I'm not sure what exactly it is
taking so long. It's expected to be passed out a
(12:02):
committee tomorrow, so maybe we'll see it on the floor
in the next few weeks. But you know, this has
been a big priority for the governor and for others
for quite some time. You would think that a priority
bill like that would get priority treatment.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
All right.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I've criticized Dan Crenshaw because he's on a tirade to
shut down CBD stores or something. You know, he's blue
haired old ladies or sending him emails that they don't
like THHC shops in their towns, and so, s Patrick,
what did I say, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick? Did I say,
Dan Crenshaw? It's possible I did. Sorry, I've been awake
(12:37):
for a while. Thank you for correcting me, Dan Patrick.
Thank you, Brand, and Brand is a good friend. I'm
glad you said that, Dan Patrick. Okay, fine, But even
though that is a little silly that he's doing that.
At least the Senate, which is what he's in charge
of his passing things, they passed a proposal to mandate
counties to assist ice and verify citizenship to vote. This
seems like a no brainer to me. We just learned
(12:59):
there's over two two hundred and seventy thousand non citizens,
many of which are illegal aliens, who now have Social
Security numbers thanks to Joe Biden handing that stuff out
like free candy on Halloween. But this isn't going to
make it to the House. It's never going to pass.
This will never make it to Governor Abbot's desk, will it.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Well, you know, but I don't want to say there's
no chance of it. But I think that when you
look at what happened with border security legislation two years
ago in the House that would have empowered Texas authorities
to take a more active role on the southern border
at the height of the Biden administration failure there, that
bill was killed in the House. So it's probably got
(13:41):
an uphill road. We'll see what happens, but I'm glad
to see that the Senate acted on this and has
passed it out relatively early.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
All right, can you hang into another segment with us, Brandon,
because I feel like there's a lot going on right
now and you're actually at the Capitol. I want to
talk to you about Texas House Committee, Chinese land ownership vote.
That's interesting, Texas senators approving a religious freedom and transparency measures,
some new information about water bills in the city of Houston,
and taxpayer funded junk food. Did you have time for
(14:10):
one more segment or do you need to run?
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Yeah, we should do a quick segment for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Brandon Walton's Texas Scorecard dot Com. Hang around. We have
more coming up with you and him right after this.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
This is Kenny Webster's pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Dig it.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
We've been talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Texas politics, of course today, but another thing that is
on everyone's mind is Val Kilmer. Rest in peace. Val
Kilmer passed away. Val Kilmer actually spent a lot of
time filming movies in places like Texas, not surprisingly, and
traveled all over the country. And that well, I mean
that movie wasn't shot in Texas, but that is I
(14:50):
mean they had a song about Texas, right WASP I
believe is the name of the song The Doors had
a song about Texas radio and you're listening to Texas
Radio and Val Kilmer played Jim Morrison in a movie
and I rest in peace to him. Today they shot
part of Top Gun in Texas, which I always thought
was cool. Tombstone was shot in Texas. Song to song
(15:11):
was shot in Texas. Commanche Moon Brandon waltons, I know
it's not the point of this segment, but everybody's talking
about Val Kilmer today.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Did you have a favorite movie?
Speaker 6 (15:22):
I mean, I think Top Gun right is probably the
probably the go to there. So it was a surprised
to see that this morning waking up.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Are you too young to remember Tombstone?
Speaker 5 (15:33):
I'm gonna admit I have not seen it.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Oh, Brandon, No, it's I'm not mad at you. I
get it. You're you're a little younger than me. You
should watch that. It's really good.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
Brandon, I'm usually I think we have an occasion too,
so I think I will you have to pull it
up this weekend.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
And that's sad that people great actors and he's one
of the only people in Hollywood I always thought was cool.
I always liked Val Kilmer. Rest in peace to him.
But anyway, you're at the Texas State Capitol right now.
I know you got a lot going on, so I
want you to get back to it. But Texas senators
just approved what you guys are reporting on religious freedom
and transparency measures.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
What exactly does that mean?
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Well, the the.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Texas Senate has moved on a number of priorities over
the last several weeks, and so some I'm dealing with
religious freedom and schools, dealing with you know, allowing kids
to pray in schools, having the Ten Commandments, et cetera,
some of those priorities of Governor Abbitt. But also on
the transparency front, this is something really big. We just
(16:32):
passed out of the Senate now legislation that requires proof
of citizenship to register to vote, which you would think
would have like be like, what weren't we already doing?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, didn't we do that two years ago? I mean what?
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Right?
Speaker 6 (16:48):
And so it's sort of indirectly right because kay, you're
providing a driver's license and you need citizenship or resident
you know, to get a driver's license. But this would
require more directly proof of citizenship. This is actually part
of you know, if you recall I think a week
or two ago, President Trump's executive order to the States
talking about what kind of election security he wants to
(17:11):
see in order for state skip federal funding.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Proof of citizenship to register.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
But was actually a part of that, and so you know,
Texas was already moving on that front, and hopefully we'll
see other states do it as well.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Bro.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
It's whenever I hear news stories like this, I think, well,
it's good, it's good to what we're doing this. But
it almost makes me feel like a lawmaker just walked
into the Texas House and said, hey, why don't we
make it illegal to murder people? Shouldn't it be against
the law of rape? Like what, it's not already against
the law of rape? What the hell? How on earth
are non citizens vote? And of course, like we said,
(17:41):
two hundred and seventy thousand non citizens just got social
Security numbers from our boy Jose Baden, so don't be
too shocked about that. Hey, there's now this effort to
end taxpayer funded junk food, and there's a debate that
includes criticism of the American Heart Association, which testified against
the bill during a Senate committee hearing in Texas last month.
(18:02):
The question is should your food stamps be used for
things like coke? I don't mean cocaine, but I mean
I imagine that probably happens somewhere as well. But Coca
cola and pringles, and that's not food. If I have
to pay for your Medicaid or your Medicare, okay, maybe
i'd Medicare is for the elderly, right. If I have
(18:23):
to pay for your Medicaid, I don't care. What really
old people do? They already live there. We'll let them,
let them, let them get coke, I don't care. But Medicaid.
If you're on Medicaid, if you're an able bodied person
under the age of sixty, and you're getting free healthcare
that I have to pay for, and I also have
to pay for you to eat junk food, the no,
that's just a no for me.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
What's the latest on this. What's Senate Bill three seventy.
Speaker 6 (18:45):
Nine, Yeah, Center Bill three seventy nine actually deals with
snap those are, you know, kind of what we call
food stamps now the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and lays out, look,
you're not going to be able to use these funds
for soda keys, chips processed you know, crap basically junk
food stuff you you know, get at a gas station.
(19:08):
Mostly this is pretty common sense stuff. The shocking part
was that when this was hurt in committee last month,
the American Heart Association actually came and testified against it,
which just sort of raises some questions maybe about who's
behind the American Heart Association, who's pushing who's been propping
up some of these you know, so called pro health
(19:30):
organizations for the last several decades. After they were called
out on it, they actually went back and clarified quote
unquote the position. They no, actually they are for the bill.
They they're representative here missed both, which was very interesting
to see.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
The American Heart Association was against a bill that would
have allowed poor people to use their food stamps to
buy things that are not technically food, right like I
think pringles are made of old Korean newspapers, salt and ranch,
parmesan flavoring. And the American Heart Association was against that.
And then they did it one to eighty. They brandon
(20:07):
that sounds like a comedy bit.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Yes, yes, they were against it.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
They said the representative here said something along the lines of, well,
you know, any food is better than no food. So
we're against this bill.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Sort of surprising. I would say, to see.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
What if I told you we could use the food
stamps to buy real food and just not allow any
food is better than no?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
No, that's not true.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
If you sat around eating fried cheese all day, I
think that would be worse than fasting. And it's hard
to believe that the people at American Heart Association wouldn't
agree with that.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
But anyway, here we are. Hey, Okay, the big news.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
Today they say they do now, they say they do.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
So yeah, but something there's still something weird about, like
does that pass your smell test?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Forget?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
No, as a journalist, is he you know, you'd probably
if there's something that doesn't make any sense, it's because
there's something wrong going on, right, That's always the case.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
All right, Absolutely, let's talk about this.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Texas House Committee is hearing the Chinese land ownership cases today.
Can can Chinese? Can Americans buy land in China?
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Brandon Walton's they cannot?
Speaker 6 (21:16):
And uh, you know, for for quite some time now,
there's been legislation that's moving. The Senate already passed it
not only early the session, but they also passed it
last session and went nowhere in the House to prevent
hostile foreign countries like China, but also around North Korea, Russia.
But you know, we're mostly talking about China. North Korea
is not buying a lot of land in Texas. At
the moment, I would say, but you know, this should
(21:40):
be this should be common sense, because I think I
think what you point out is actually one of the
best arguments for it, right, which is that you or
I can't go to China and go build a factory.
When companies go there, they're not buying the land. They're
they're renting, right, They're they're getting leases, They're not buying it.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
This is the same exact argument I have with the
people that are criticizing Trump's tariffs.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Look, I'm a liberty Republican. I hate tariffs.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I've been talking about how much I don't like tariffs
for pretty much my entire adult life. And now all
of a sudden, every liberal Democrat just learned what a
tariff is and they claim to be against it. But
then when you ask this simple basic question, does the
trade partner have the same tariffs for us that we
have for them, they either don't have the answer or
(22:26):
they have some bs excuse for why it shouldn't be
fair and equal, and I don't understand that brand and
are these are these serious people?
Speaker 1 (22:36):
No?
Speaker 6 (22:36):
I mean I agree with that that as well. I mean,
you know, there's certain policies that would be very nice
in a vacuum, right if you know, take tariffs for example,
be very nice if nobody had tariffs and maybe we
just had free trail over the place. That's actually not
the way the global economy works right now. And I
do like that Trump has essentially said, look, if countries
(22:56):
take their tariffs off of our stuff, well we'll do
it the same. I think a reciprocal policy makes sense.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Brandon.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
The other day, I'm having a conversation with a young
woman on a dating app. And you know how, even
though you're into politics, I know Brandon off the air.
Brandon's personality doesn't revolve around politics. He has a real personality.
But Brandon, you know how, there's some people who their
politics are their whole personality. You know, you know the
type of people. I match with this woman and she
says to me, I'd like to go on a date
(23:23):
with you, but first I have to know how you
feel about tariffs and I was like, oh, man, she
is she just stepped in and she's I was like, really,
why do you want to know that? And she says, well,
I want to know you know how knowledgeable you are
about things that are going on in the world. And
I said, oh, well, I am happy to answer that question.
My favorite economists Sir Thomas Sewell, Ludwig von Mesais, and
(23:46):
I named my dog after Milton Friedman, so I'm sure
you could tell what the answer is. And she says, no,
how do you feel about tariffs?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I was like, what.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Now?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
I think you're not a serious person.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
And Brandy, that's what we're dealing with, people that just
learned what tariffs are. And the worst part about this,
Brandon is the people that are suddenly against tariffs are
the whole reason we have all these insane tariffs deals
in the first place.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
You see that, right, Oh, yes, absolutely, you know.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
It's just it's very funny to see everybody on the
lesson and become an expert on this stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Brandon.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I'm you're a smart journalist. I think you're a reasonable person. Obviously,
I know that because I know Brandon, But if I
wanted to follow you and keep up with your work.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Where would I go to do that at?
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Yeah, well we're at Texas Scorecard dot com. You can
follow me on x at B Walton's B W A
L T E N S.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
I already do that though.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Well then you're then you're you're ahead of the game.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
You've got Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness on KPRC nine
point fifty.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
We're doing a lot of Texas news stories today because
we're in the heat of the Texas legislature, so of
course the show has been focused on that, and I've
invited on a couple of my favorite Texas based journalists
to join us today. Brandon Waltons was just here from
Texas Scorecard. And if you never miss a minute of
the show, or if you join us in the middle
of a conversation and you wonder what you missed, it's
(25:15):
important for you to know that you can download the
Walton and Johnson smartphone app for free or which includes
Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness as part of the podcast
on the app. This show is included there. But then
also you can find this podcast anywhere on the internet
where podcasts are found Spotify, iHeartRadio, Apple, you name it,
(25:36):
we make it real easy to find. We do that,
you know, because we want you to stay informed. And
so we're grateful for that. Hundreds of thousands of people
download this podcast every day, not bad for a local
talk radio show. So I am grateful for that. Now,
right now, I got something else to be grateful for.
I'm a big fan of our next guest, and she
and I share a lot in common politically, ideology, theologically,
(25:59):
We're both Catholics, were both Texans, We're both conservatives.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I think we both supported the Tea Party movement.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
She's not as vocal about her biases as I am,
or even our last guest, Brandon Walton's. But Holly, I
bet we do have one thing in common. What's that Well,
there's a pretty big news story today that my generation
and your generation are affected by. This is culturally, this
is the end of an era for one of the
greatest who ever worked in Hollywood.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Holly,
you close your eyes anymore? Plain I kiss your lips.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Come on, Holly, singing with me, Holly, there's no senderness
right before your thing.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Good tips.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Come on, Holly Hanson, you remember the movie.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
You're trying hard not to show it. Come on, Holly,
take us on.
Speaker 7 (26:56):
Bab.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Baby, know you've lost that love and fee in the film.
What was the film, Holly? What was it? Come on?
Oh dear, what was your favorite?
Speaker 7 (27:14):
It's not what I expected in this interview, but hey,
you know it's beautiful. That was beautiful. I brought it
here to my eye. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
What was your favorite Val Kilmer movie? And why was it?
Top Gun?
Speaker 7 (27:27):
No? Pop Gun? No? Yeah, Val Kilmer, I'm kind of
a fan of Tombstone myself.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Oh my god, I loved Tombstone absolutely, the thing that
and of course The Doors was fantastic, real genius. Was
a hilarious movie, a little obscure but great. He might
have been the second best Batman in my humble opinion.
The thing that's confusing about Top Gun is that was
a great movie for men, but also it was his
gayest movie by far. The volleyball scene, you remember that.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
Oh yeah, There's been a lot of great scenes, great actor,
and uh yeah, it's the little hard to hear that he's.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Now left for those that listen to the morning show.
I'm sorry to make everybody listen to this again. But
I just want to point out the cast of the
movie True Romance. Listen to this, Holly, listen, this is crazy.
The cast of True Romance Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Gary Olman,
Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walkin, right, James Gandolfini, Michael Rappaport,
(28:29):
Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Sizemore, Jack Black, and then, amazingly, weirdly,
Val Kilmer as Elvis Presley.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I mean, come on, what a movie?
Speaker 7 (28:41):
What a movie?
Speaker 6 (28:42):
Right?
Speaker 7 (28:42):
Amazing, absolutely amazing?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
All right.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
If Val Kilmer was alive today, Holly, you and I
both know he would want you right now on this
radio show to explain to us why or why not
do you think we should be putting cameras on school buses?
This is a big a wait a song another song?
Are we going to sing again?
Speaker 1 (29:05):
No?
Speaker 7 (29:05):
Or not?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
But the headline today Texas bill mandating's safety cameras on
school buses trs controversy, It traws.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I hate when people draw controversy. Do they even use
a crayon? Holly?
Speaker 7 (29:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
They Yeah.
Speaker 7 (29:20):
Drawing controversy is something that happens a lot in Austen.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
So here we go, just dusted Burrows Like is he
drunk like Dad was?
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Or is he just incompetent? What's the deal?
Speaker 7 (29:31):
I don't think this has anything to do with Burrows
actually in this this case. So this is a little
more about this, this debate over whether or not we
want these cameras installed on school buses.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
I knew, I knew you were a Dusted Burrows defender.
I knew you were. But go ahead and explain it anyway.
Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (29:49):
I'm I'm a journalist, and it's not my job to
take sides in uh boo journalists.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Boo.
Speaker 7 (29:57):
Okay, that's terrible, right, I just I just want to
give you information and let you decide what you think
about it. Go So it's yeah, let's talk about these
school bus cameras. So you know, everybody is in favor
of enforcing the law that says you're not supposed to
pass the school bus when that stop arm is deployed.
But now you've got some folks who would like to
(30:19):
install cameras there that would snap a photo of any
car that allegedly illegally passed and generate basically an automatic
citation to that person. Now, the concern is that this
is something akin to those red light cameras that we
banned in Texas in twenty nineteen, as you know, unconstitutional
(30:41):
and the violation of your due process rights and right
to face your accuser. Now, some of the folks who
are against this camera system say that, you know, it's
overreached because in the past ten years thereabouts, there's only
been two fatalities in Texas related to a driver illegally
passing a school bus, and in both cases those were
(31:03):
adult victims. They were not children victims. So they're saying,
you know, this is a solution in search of a problem.
During a committee hearing last week, it got pretty interesting
because there's a rep out of Louisville, Texas by the
name of Mitch Little. He's kind of a rising star
in Texas politics. His name has been touted as a
possible replacement for Ken Paston as the AGA should Paxton
(31:28):
run for Senate or leave that office. So we see,
and it's kind of a rising star, very interesting person.
But he asked this head of this company a lot
of questions about what they've done in other parts of
the country. So they've installed these bus cameras in Florida
and New York, and other parts of the country. Unfortunately,
(31:49):
it seems that the allegation is there's been a lot
of improper citations issued. The company collects a bounty on
every single citation issued, and some of the estimates or
that they're taking in millions of dollars a month in
one jurisdiction. As soon as they implemented the cameras, they
(32:12):
generated eleven thousand and five hundred warning letters in just
a two week period, and a lot of the folks
who received those warning letters and sense of received citations
are saying they're not guilty, but they're finding it difficult
to fight these tickets. So it seems like it may
(32:34):
possibly be a burden on the residence and may in
fact be a solution in search of a problem.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
There's also been out that is such a good way
to explain it. It's a solution in search of a problem. Holly,
You know what it reminds me of There was a
Texas Supreme Court ruling on red light cameras in Harris
County and we deemed those to be unconstitutional. You can't
just set up a camera somewhere and wait for someone
to do a misdemeanor or or of something that's vaguely
(33:04):
a traffic law and then give them a fine for it,
but for some reason that's okay if it's on a bus.
Speaker 7 (33:11):
Yeah. Well, you know, I mean the justification that those
who are supporting it say that, well, you know, we
want to be deterring people from doing this, we want
to protect children. But then the data is that one
show that there's been you know, a whole lot of
fatalities with this, and it's another one of those issues
where we're trying to justify something in the name of
(33:32):
a so called public safety that there's all these constitutional
questions and then it looks like you've got some vendorors
that you don't going to make a pretty tidy profit
on this project or this product.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Right exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
It doesn't just generate money when people are driving past
the camera. It generates money when we the taxpayers, have
to pay for the camera. Holly, I'm gonna agree with you.
It's pretty frustrating. It's not as saying it doesn't anger
me as much as Val Kilmer dying, but still, you know,
it upsets me, you know what I mean.
Speaker 7 (34:05):
I understand. Yeah, loss of Val Kilmer is a big deal.
And sorry, I wasn't able to sing with you. That
was That was just a little bit unexpected for me.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
It's not too late, A one, a two, you know
what to ladies and gentlemen, Holly Hansen, go ahead sing
danger Zone by Kenny Loggins, The Floors Years, Holy, go ahead.
Speaker 7 (34:25):
I don't think so. I'm just gonna decline. You know,
maybe at a karaoke night or something like that, but
it's certainly not on the radio. Your readers would not
appreciate my singing listeners.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
They're called listeners. I'm surprised. I'm surprised. Do you think
this audience is literate? That is very generous of you. Hey,
Holly Hanson, I love her so much. Follow her on
ex Holly S.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Hanson. Check out her work. Go to the Texan News Today.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
It is a conservative news website, a good investment of
your time. Doesn't cost a lot of money to subscribe,
especially compared to the competitors like Dallas Morning Snooze and
The Houston Chronicle. I'm Kenny Webster. I love you all.
Thank you so much for tuning in today. I know
this was an odd show this afternoon, but it did
involve me singing the Righteous brothers and despite that, I
hope you'll come back tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Dude, you are listening to the Pursuit of Happy this radio.
Tell the government to kiss your ass when you listen
to this show.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Wow, well you know, Holly Hanson Sam a scene true romance.
Giganic government sucks. The suit of Happiness. Radio is dus.
Liberty and freedom will make you smile the fasuda happen
and us on your radio toile justice, cheeseburgers, a libery
rise at food.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Scientists have unearthed a buried city in Egypt. They're asking
for money to finish the excavation, when that technically make
it a pyramid scheme. Hi, I'm Kenny Webster. Thank you
so much for turning on your radio this afternoon. Today's
show is going to be all about Texas, well, mostly
about Texas. Brandon Waltons is at the Texas Capital right now.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Chinese land air ownership.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Should Chinese spies be able to buy land next to
military bases in the state of Texas.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The answer to that should be obvious.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We'll talk about that, among other things, and then Holly
Hanson's stopping by from the Texan. It's all Texas journalists
all day telling you about stuff going on in Harris
County and in of course Texas. There's another bill mandating
safety cameras on school buses and people are saying this
is controversial. We'll explain why they think that, and then
we'll pick apart whether they're right. So, because we'll tell
(01:10):
you how to feel on this radio show. But before
we get to any of that, let's talk about racism.
I don't like racism. I'm again, I'm taking a firm
stance against racism. That's the thing we're on this radio show.
We're bold enough to say no to racism. I know
other radio shows say yes to it. We're against it.
Breitbart dot Com today reporting on a race hoax. Another
(01:33):
race hoax has just been exposed. There is this urban
myth that black newborn babies get worse care from white doctors.
Is that true? Turns out no. Although the very idea
was absurd on its face, the claim that black newborns
are three times more likely to die under the care
of white doctors has been exposed as another leftist narrative
(01:56):
race hoax. Oh and naturally, this ridiculous study was repeated
without a hint of skepticism by fake news outlets like CNN.
Huh imagine that. Here's how CNN reported on the story.
It happened back in twenty ten. They did it without
even a hint of skepticism. There was a headline headline,
black newborns more likely to die when looked after by
(02:17):
white doctors. Black newborn babies in the United States are
more likely to survive childbirth if they're cared for by
black doctors, three times more likely to die when the
doctor's white. This is a real doozy. Listen to this
part quote. The mortality rate of black newborns in hospital
shrunk by thirty nine and fifty eight percent when black
(02:39):
physicians took charge of the birth, which laid bare how
shocking racial disparities in human health can affect even the
first hours of a person's life. End quote. CNN then
points out that white babies are never in danger from
black doctors. Now, this is morally and financially bankrupt. That's
why it was reported on by the Washington Post. They're
(03:00):
morally and financially bankrupt. Here's their headline. Mortality rate for
black babies cut dramatically when black doctors care for them.
And then they made the same point. Although black newborns
the three times more likely to die than white newborns
when the doctor's black, they're better off. I'm paraphrasing here,
but USA Today did it too. Black babies more likely
to survive when cared for by black doctors. Study finds.
(03:24):
Get a load of this. It turns out that a
disproportionately large number of black babies have very low birthrates
and those babies are attended by white physicians. Wait, that
changes the whole thing, doesn't it. The dei higher on
the Supreme Court Katanji Brown Jackson used a fake study
to make a point in the Supreme Court to support
(03:46):
racial segregation. She was talking about why we need those
safe spaces at college campuses like University of North Carolina,
and then she talked about this. But what they're actually
saying is when there's a baby that's born prematurely underweight,
more often than not, the doctor that cares for it
happens to be white. Circumstantial, but that's it, and those
(04:09):
babies happen to be less likely to survive it and
nothing to do with the doctor being white. So why
in the world would so called researchers exclude a scientific
control as important as disproportionate number of white doctors caring
for premature black newborns.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Well, we don't have to guess. We have the smoking gun.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
The study originally asserted that white babies died less frequently
with white doctors quote, White newborns experience eighty deaths per
one hundred thousand births more with a black physician than
a white physician, implying twenty two percent fatality reduction from
racial concordance. But the studies lead author brad and Greenwood
wrote in the margin quote, I'd rather not focus on this.
(04:46):
If we're telling the story from the perspective of saving
black infants, this undermines the narrative end quote. And with
that that particular data point was asked to ensure a
desired outcome. How could people be so evil as to
want to spread the libel that white doctors are responsible
for black baby's deaths. It's not true. Imagine the message
(05:06):
that sends to Black Americans. The point of the original
study was not to do good. It was to use
a lie to do evil, to spread hatred in the
black population against white people. Doctor's shopping based on skin
color actually only hurts the doctor shopper.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
It's a fake study.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
It's doing more harm to black people than anything else
right now, But that was the whole point, wasn't it.
The good news is that there is so little racism
in America they have to create fake studies. In order
to convince you it's actually bad out there.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
You're listening to Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness. Please, if
you're offended by anything you heard, to get a piece
of paper, write down a detailed description of what bothered you,
and fects it to one eight eight eight.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Nobody gives am all.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right, here's a question that's going to upset you, even
though you know the answer. We all know the answer.
Want to ask the question. You're not even gonna like
the question, but it's a question that needs.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
To be asked.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
The new boss, the old boss of the Texas House.
I'm talking about Austin, Texas.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
We all Dennis Bonden. We all remember what he was, right,
a phallic object in a suit, essentially, and then he
left and we got Dade Falen. Boy, Dade Falen and
Dennis Bonden seemed very similar. For those of you that
are new to the radio show, we're talking about Texas
rhinos who control the state legislature. Dennis Bonden sucked and
thanks to undercover journalism efforts from our friends at Texas
(06:34):
scorecard dot com, he left. We got a new guy
named Dade Falen. I don't even know where to start
with this guy. Dave Fallen was a nightmare as far
as Texas Republican leadership goes. So called Texas Republican leadership,
maybe I should say Texas so called Republican leadership. And
then he left and now we've got this guy, Dustin Burrows.
So here's the question, who was worse? Who was worse?
(06:58):
You know it's Steve Toath, stay Representative. Steve Toath, great guy,
was here just the other day talking about SB fourteen.
It's this law that basically says you can't mutilate the
genitals of little kids if you're a so called healthcare
worker in the state of Texas. No chemical castration, hysterectomiesmsectomies, adaddictamies.
None of that's okay. This seems like something everybody would
(07:19):
agree with. Polling data on this topic suggests nationally, seventy
nine eighty percent of people agree. Twenty percent of people
have a problem with that or are okay with it.
Is what I should say say. Now, that's on a
national level, that's considering California and New York and Illinois
and Massachusetts. What do you think it is in the
state of Texas. I don't have that polling data, but
(07:41):
I guarantee you most people would agree SB fourteen should
probably pass. Problem is we can't get a vote in
the Texas House right now. So again here's the question,
who's worse, Dade Failin or Dustin Burroughs. Say what you
will about Dade failing, but at least there would have
been a vote. Now, I mean evil, sure, but the
problem with Dustin Burrows is he's evil, Andy's incompetent. It's
(08:04):
both of those things together. I don't know, And then
you almost wonder, like, is that better? At least we
had a prayer's chance of passing things like SB fourteen
when we had Dated failing, because at least there would
have been a vote, even though he would have whipped
the votes to help out the Rhinos and the liberals.
I want to ask somebody that's at the Texas State
Capitol right now, Brandon Waltons. I know you're a journalist,
(08:25):
but like unlike some journalists, you're not afraid to admit
you have opinions, you have biases, as you should.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
You're a human. Who was worse Dad Failing or Dustin Burrows?
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Well?
Speaker 6 (08:37):
I think it's still, in my opinion, a little early
to tell. But here's the problem though with that, is
that we've heard all session long, you know, session start
in January d Dustin Burrows rather was elected in January,
and what we've been hearing from the pro Burrows crowd
has been just wait, Burrows is going to be much better.
(08:57):
We're going to get a lot of really great stuff done.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Just wait. Okay.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
I can understand that in the first few weeks of
the session. The issue is is that now we are
seventy nine days into the one hundred and forty day session,
the House is just starting to pass its first bills
and they don't exactly have long calendars. I mean, we've
seen the Senate here till late hours of the night
passing their priorities.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
The House will have.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
I think they had four bills on the calendar yesterday,
took them about thirty minutes maybe to get through. They've
got a similar schedule today. I don't even believe they
have anything scheduled for tomorrow. So none of the bills
that they're addressing right now, I mean they're very small,
sort of ticky TACKI things, none of them are None
of them are big priorities. None of them are anything
(09:44):
that people came to vote for us.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Hold on, hold on, Brandon, Hang on a second here
you say none of this stuff matters. I got a SoundBite.
We just passed an important bill the other day.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
You've heard the motion. Is there any objection? Chairs, none
of the rules are spended. Following resolution, the clerk will
read the resolution.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
HR thirty two by La Lani recognizing Pakistan Day at
the State Capitol. Yeah, there you go, Pakistani Day, Brandon,
that's true. We got what happens on Pakistani Day. We
don't use the indoor toilets or what exactly takes place there.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
I'm sure that's true.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
We got Pakistani Day. We did honor Beyonce, we did
do a Zoroastrianism resolution. Okay, so there has been a
lot of resolutions, but now we're just getting in the
first actual you know, actual bills or legislation. And like
I was saying, though, seriously, the problem for Speaker Bros
And his supporters right now is that, look, there is
(10:33):
time for some of this stuff to pass. There certainly
are several weeks, but that window right every day is closing.
As we approached the end of the session. I mean,
we're already halfway through the session and just now the
House is starting to actually move on this stuff. They're
going to have the budget on the floor next week.
There's certainly concerns and issues with that. But you know,
(10:56):
this is this is I think a growing, a growing
concern and growing problem among some of the people who
might have voted for Burroughs thinking that they'd be able
to go back home and say, Okay, we'll look at
all this conservative stuff we passed. At this point, they
haven't done it.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It's unbelievable how little got done. I mean SB fourteen,
that shouldn't be controversial. School choice, you're telling me, you're
telling me. We went out and we had the primaries
last year to get rid of all the rhinos. We
replaced him with people who agree that Ken Paxton should
be attorney general, who agree that we should you know,
that election should matter, that we should get school choice,
and it's still not happen. Even the governor. Even the
(11:35):
governor wanted school choice. What the hell is making that
take so long?
Speaker 6 (11:41):
You know, that's been an interesting thing because you have
a majority of House members that are signed on as
co authors the Speaker Boroughs has said even last week
he had a press conference I was at where he
said the House would pass it. I tend to think
that the House will pass something this session. But it
is sort of interesting that, you know, why haven't they
done it already. I'm not sure what exactly it is
taking so long. It's expected to be passed out a
(12:02):
committee tomorrow, so maybe we'll see it on the floor
in the next few weeks. But you know, this has
been a big priority for the governor and for others
for quite some time. You would think that a priority
bill like that would get priority treatment.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
All right.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I've criticized Dan Crenshaw because he's on a tirade to
shut down CBD stores or something. You know, he's blue
haired old ladies or sending him emails that they don't
like THHC shops in their towns, and so, s Patrick,
what did I say, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick? Did I say,
Dan Crenshaw? It's possible I did. Sorry, I've been awake
(12:37):
for a while. Thank you for correcting me, Dan Patrick.
Thank you, Brand, and Brand is a good friend. I'm
glad you said that, Dan Patrick. Okay, fine, But even
though that is a little silly that he's doing that.
At least the Senate, which is what he's in charge
of his passing things, they passed a proposal to mandate
counties to assist ice and verify citizenship to vote. This
seems like a no brainer to me. We just learned
(12:59):
there's over two two hundred and seventy thousand non citizens,
many of which are illegal aliens, who now have Social
Security numbers thanks to Joe Biden handing that stuff out
like free candy on Halloween. But this isn't going to
make it to the House. It's never going to pass.
This will never make it to Governor Abbot's desk, will it.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Well, you know, but I don't want to say there's
no chance of it. But I think that when you
look at what happened with border security legislation two years
ago in the House that would have empowered Texas authorities
to take a more active role on the southern border
at the height of the Biden administration failure there, that
bill was killed in the House. So it's probably got
(13:41):
an uphill road. We'll see what happens, but I'm glad
to see that the Senate acted on this and has
passed it out relatively early.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
All right, can you hang into another segment with us, Brandon,
because I feel like there's a lot going on right
now and you're actually at the Capitol. I want to
talk to you about Texas House Committee, Chinese land ownership vote.
That's interesting, Texas senators approving a religious freedom and transparency measures,
some new information about water bills in the city of Houston,
and taxpayer funded junk food. Did you have time for
(14:10):
one more segment or do you need to run?
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Yeah, we should do a quick segment for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Brandon Walton's Texas Scorecard dot Com. Hang around. We have
more coming up with you and him right after this.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
This is Kenny Webster's pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Dig it.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
We've been talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Texas politics, of course today, but another thing that is
on everyone's mind is Val Kilmer. Rest in peace. Val
Kilmer passed away. Val Kilmer actually spent a lot of
time filming movies in places like Texas, not surprisingly, and
traveled all over the country. And that well, I mean
that movie wasn't shot in Texas, but that is I
(14:50):
mean they had a song about Texas, right WASP I
believe is the name of the song The Doors had
a song about Texas radio and you're listening to Texas
Radio and Val Kilmer played Jim Morrison in a movie
and I rest in peace to him. Today they shot
part of Top Gun in Texas, which I always thought
was cool. Tombstone was shot in Texas. Song to song
(15:11):
was shot in Texas. Commanche Moon Brandon waltons, I know
it's not the point of this segment, but everybody's talking
about Val Kilmer today.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Did you have a favorite movie?
Speaker 6 (15:22):
I mean, I think Top Gun right is probably the
probably the go to there. So it was a surprised
to see that this morning waking up.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Are you too young to remember Tombstone?
Speaker 5 (15:33):
I'm gonna admit I have not seen it.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Oh, Brandon, No, it's I'm not mad at you. I
get it. You're you're a little younger than me. You
should watch that. It's really good.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
Brandon, I'm usually I think we have an occasion too,
so I think I will you have to pull it
up this weekend.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
And that's sad that people great actors and he's one
of the only people in Hollywood I always thought was cool.
I always liked Val Kilmer. Rest in peace to him.
But anyway, you're at the Texas State Capitol right now.
I know you got a lot going on, so I
want you to get back to it. But Texas senators
just approved what you guys are reporting on religious freedom
and transparency measures.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
What exactly does that mean?
Speaker 5 (16:09):
Well, the the.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Texas Senate has moved on a number of priorities over
the last several weeks, and so some I'm dealing with
religious freedom and schools, dealing with you know, allowing kids
to pray in schools, having the Ten Commandments, et cetera,
some of those priorities of Governor Abbitt. But also on
the transparency front, this is something really big. We just
(16:32):
passed out of the Senate now legislation that requires proof
of citizenship to register to vote, which you would think
would have like be like, what weren't we already doing?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, didn't we do that two years ago? I mean what?
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Right?
Speaker 6 (16:48):
And so it's sort of indirectly right because kay, you're
providing a driver's license and you need citizenship or resident
you know, to get a driver's license. But this would
require more directly proof of citizenship. This is actually part
of you know, if you recall I think a week
or two ago, President Trump's executive order to the States
talking about what kind of election security he wants to
(17:11):
see in order for state skip federal funding.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Proof of citizenship to register.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
But was actually a part of that, and so you know,
Texas was already moving on that front, and hopefully we'll
see other states do it as well.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Bro.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
It's whenever I hear news stories like this, I think, well,
it's good, it's good to what we're doing this. But
it almost makes me feel like a lawmaker just walked
into the Texas House and said, hey, why don't we
make it illegal to murder people? Shouldn't it be against
the law of rape? Like what, it's not already against
the law of rape? What the hell? How on earth
are non citizens vote? And of course, like we said,
(17:41):
two hundred and seventy thousand non citizens just got social
Security numbers from our boy Jose Baden, so don't be
too shocked about that. Hey, there's now this effort to
end taxpayer funded junk food, and there's a debate that
includes criticism of the American Heart Association, which testified against
the bill during a Senate committee hearing in Texas last month.
(18:02):
The question is should your food stamps be used for
things like coke? I don't mean cocaine, but I mean
I imagine that probably happens somewhere as well. But Coca
cola and pringles, and that's not food. If I have
to pay for your Medicaid or your Medicare, okay, maybe
i'd Medicare is for the elderly, right. If I have
(18:23):
to pay for your Medicaid, I don't care. What really
old people do? They already live there. We'll let them,
let them, let them get coke, I don't care. But Medicaid.
If you're on Medicaid, if you're an able bodied person
under the age of sixty, and you're getting free healthcare
that I have to pay for, and I also have
to pay for you to eat junk food, the no,
that's just a no for me.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
What's the latest on this. What's Senate Bill three seventy.
Speaker 6 (18:45):
Nine, Yeah, Center Bill three seventy nine actually deals with
snap those are, you know, kind of what we call
food stamps now the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and lays out, look,
you're not going to be able to use these funds
for soda keys, chips processed you know, crap basically junk
food stuff you you know, get at a gas station.
(19:08):
Mostly this is pretty common sense stuff. The shocking part
was that when this was hurt in committee last month,
the American Heart Association actually came and testified against it,
which just sort of raises some questions maybe about who's
behind the American Heart Association, who's pushing who's been propping
up some of these you know, so called pro health
(19:30):
organizations for the last several decades. After they were called
out on it, they actually went back and clarified quote
unquote the position. They no, actually they are for the bill.
They they're representative here missed both, which was very interesting
to see.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
The American Heart Association was against a bill that would
have allowed poor people to use their food stamps to
buy things that are not technically food, right like I
think pringles are made of old Korean newspapers, salt and ranch,
parmesan flavoring. And the American Heart Association was against that.
And then they did it one to eighty. They brandon
(20:07):
that sounds like a comedy bit.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Yes, yes, they were against it.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
They said the representative here said something along the lines of, well,
you know, any food is better than no food. So
we're against this bill.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Sort of surprising. I would say, to see.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
What if I told you we could use the food
stamps to buy real food and just not allow any
food is better than no?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
No, that's not true.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
If you sat around eating fried cheese all day, I
think that would be worse than fasting. And it's hard
to believe that the people at American Heart Association wouldn't
agree with that.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
But anyway, here we are. Hey, Okay, the big news.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
Today they say they do now, they say they do.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
So yeah, but something there's still something weird about, like
does that pass your smell test?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Forget?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
No, as a journalist, is he you know, you'd probably
if there's something that doesn't make any sense, it's because
there's something wrong going on, right, That's always the case.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
All right, Absolutely, let's talk about this.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Texas House Committee is hearing the Chinese land ownership cases today.
Can can Chinese? Can Americans buy land in China?
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Brandon Walton's they cannot?
Speaker 6 (21:16):
And uh, you know, for for quite some time now,
there's been legislation that's moving. The Senate already passed it
not only early the session, but they also passed it
last session and went nowhere in the House to prevent
hostile foreign countries like China, but also around North Korea, Russia.
But you know, we're mostly talking about China. North Korea
is not buying a lot of land in Texas. At
the moment, I would say, but you know, this should
(21:40):
be this should be common sense, because I think I
think what you point out is actually one of the
best arguments for it, right, which is that you or
I can't go to China and go build a factory.
When companies go there, they're not buying the land. They're
they're renting, right, They're they're getting leases, They're not buying it.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
This is the same exact argument I have with the
people that are criticizing Trump's tariffs.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Look, I'm a liberty Republican. I hate tariffs.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I've been talking about how much I don't like tariffs
for pretty much my entire adult life. And now all
of a sudden, every liberal Democrat just learned what a
tariff is and they claim to be against it. But
then when you ask this simple basic question, does the
trade partner have the same tariffs for us that we
have for them, they either don't have the answer or
(22:26):
they have some bs excuse for why it shouldn't be
fair and equal, and I don't understand that brand and
are these are these serious people?
Speaker 1 (22:36):
No?
Speaker 6 (22:36):
I mean I agree with that that as well. I mean,
you know, there's certain policies that would be very nice
in a vacuum, right if you know, take tariffs for example,
be very nice if nobody had tariffs and maybe we
just had free trail over the place. That's actually not
the way the global economy works right now. And I
do like that Trump has essentially said, look, if countries
(22:56):
take their tariffs off of our stuff, well we'll do
it the same. I think a reciprocal policy makes sense.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Brandon.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
The other day, I'm having a conversation with a young
woman on a dating app. And you know how, even
though you're into politics, I know Brandon off the air.
Brandon's personality doesn't revolve around politics. He has a real personality.
But Brandon, you know how, there's some people who their
politics are their whole personality. You know, you know the
type of people. I match with this woman and she
says to me, I'd like to go on a date
(23:23):
with you, but first I have to know how you
feel about tariffs and I was like, oh, man, she
is she just stepped in and she's I was like, really,
why do you want to know that? And she says, well,
I want to know you know how knowledgeable you are
about things that are going on in the world. And
I said, oh, well, I am happy to answer that question.
My favorite economists Sir Thomas Sewell, Ludwig von Mesais, and
(23:46):
I named my dog after Milton Friedman, so I'm sure
you could tell what the answer is. And she says, no,
how do you feel about tariffs?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I was like, what.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Now?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
I think you're not a serious person.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
And Brandy, that's what we're dealing with, people that just
learned what tariffs are. And the worst part about this,
Brandon is the people that are suddenly against tariffs are
the whole reason we have all these insane tariffs deals
in the first place.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
You see that, right, Oh, yes, absolutely, you know.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
It's just it's very funny to see everybody on the
lesson and become an expert on this stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Brandon.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
I'm you're a smart journalist. I think you're a reasonable person. Obviously,
I know that because I know Brandon, But if I
wanted to follow you and keep up with your work.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Where would I go to do that at?
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Yeah, well we're at Texas Scorecard dot com. You can
follow me on x at B Walton's B W A
L T E N S.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
I already do that though.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Well then you're then you're you're ahead of the game.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
You've got Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness on KPRC nine
point fifty.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
We're doing a lot of Texas news stories today because
we're in the heat of the Texas legislature, so of
course the show has been focused on that, and I've
invited on a couple of my favorite Texas based journalists
to join us today. Brandon Waltons was just here from
Texas Scorecard. And if you never miss a minute of
the show, or if you join us in the middle
of a conversation and you wonder what you missed, it's
(25:15):
important for you to know that you can download the
Walton and Johnson smartphone app for free or which includes
Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness as part of the podcast
on the app. This show is included there. But then
also you can find this podcast anywhere on the internet
where podcasts are found Spotify, iHeartRadio, Apple, you name it,
(25:36):
we make it real easy to find. We do that,
you know, because we want you to stay informed. And
so we're grateful for that. Hundreds of thousands of people
download this podcast every day, not bad for a local
talk radio show. So I am grateful for that. Now,
right now, I got something else to be grateful for.
I'm a big fan of our next guest, and she
and I share a lot in common politically, ideology, theologically,
(25:59):
We're both Catholics, were both Texans, We're both conservatives.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I think we both supported the Tea Party movement.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
She's not as vocal about her biases as I am,
or even our last guest, Brandon Walton's. But Holly, I
bet we do have one thing in common. What's that Well,
there's a pretty big news story today that my generation
and your generation are affected by. This is culturally, this
is the end of an era for one of the
greatest who ever worked in Hollywood.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Holly,
you close your eyes anymore? Plain I kiss your lips.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Come on, Holly, singing with me, Holly, there's no senderness
right before your thing.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Good tips.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Come on, Holly Hanson, you remember the movie.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
You're trying hard not to show it. Come on, Holly,
take us on.
Speaker 7 (26:56):
Bab.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Baby, know you've lost that love and fee in the film.
What was the film, Holly? What was it? Come on?
Oh dear, what was your favorite?
Speaker 7 (27:14):
It's not what I expected in this interview, but hey,
you know it's beautiful. That was beautiful. I brought it
here to my eye. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
What was your favorite Val Kilmer movie? And why was it?
Top Gun?
Speaker 7 (27:27):
No? Pop Gun? No? Yeah, Val Kilmer, I'm kind of
a fan of Tombstone myself.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Oh my god, I loved Tombstone absolutely, the thing that
and of course The Doors was fantastic, real genius. Was
a hilarious movie, a little obscure but great. He might
have been the second best Batman in my humble opinion.
The thing that's confusing about Top Gun is that was
a great movie for men, but also it was his
gayest movie by far. The volleyball scene, you remember that.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
Oh yeah, There's been a lot of great scenes, great actor,
and uh yeah, it's the little hard to hear that he's.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Now left for those that listen to the morning show.
I'm sorry to make everybody listen to this again. But
I just want to point out the cast of the
movie True Romance. Listen to this, Holly, listen, this is crazy.
The cast of True Romance Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Gary Olman,
Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walkin, right, James Gandolfini, Michael Rappaport,
(28:29):
Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Sizemore, Jack Black, and then, amazingly, weirdly,
Val Kilmer as Elvis Presley.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I mean, come on, what a movie?
Speaker 7 (28:41):
What a movie?
Speaker 6 (28:42):
Right?
Speaker 7 (28:42):
Amazing, absolutely amazing?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
All right.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
If Val Kilmer was alive today, Holly, you and I
both know he would want you right now on this
radio show to explain to us why or why not
do you think we should be putting cameras on school buses?
This is a big a wait a song another song?
Are we going to sing again?
Speaker 1 (29:05):
No?
Speaker 7 (29:05):
Or not?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
But the headline today Texas bill mandating's safety cameras on
school buses trs controversy, It traws.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I hate when people draw controversy. Do they even use
a crayon? Holly?
Speaker 7 (29:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
They Yeah.
Speaker 7 (29:20):
Drawing controversy is something that happens a lot in Austen.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
So here we go, just dusted Burrows Like is he
drunk like Dad was?
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Or is he just incompetent? What's the deal?
Speaker 7 (29:31):
I don't think this has anything to do with Burrows
actually in this this case. So this is a little
more about this, this debate over whether or not we
want these cameras installed on school buses.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
I knew, I knew you were a Dusted Burrows defender.
I knew you were. But go ahead and explain it anyway.
Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (29:49):
I'm I'm a journalist, and it's not my job to
take sides in uh boo journalists.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Boo.
Speaker 7 (29:57):
Okay, that's terrible, right, I just I just want to
give you information and let you decide what you think
about it. Go So it's yeah, let's talk about these
school bus cameras. So you know, everybody is in favor
of enforcing the law that says you're not supposed to
pass the school bus when that stop arm is deployed.
But now you've got some folks who would like to
(30:19):
install cameras there that would snap a photo of any
car that allegedly illegally passed and generate basically an automatic
citation to that person. Now, the concern is that this
is something akin to those red light cameras that we
banned in Texas in twenty nineteen, as you know, unconstitutional
(30:41):
and the violation of your due process rights and right
to face your accuser. Now, some of the folks who
are against this camera system say that, you know, it's
overreached because in the past ten years thereabouts, there's only
been two fatalities in Texas related to a driver illegally
passing a school bus, and in both cases those were
(31:03):
adult victims. They were not children victims. So they're saying,
you know, this is a solution in search of a problem.
During a committee hearing last week, it got pretty interesting
because there's a rep out of Louisville, Texas by the
name of Mitch Little. He's kind of a rising star
in Texas politics. His name has been touted as a
possible replacement for Ken Paston as the AGA should Paxton
(31:28):
run for Senate or leave that office. So we see,
and it's kind of a rising star, very interesting person.
But he asked this head of this company a lot
of questions about what they've done in other parts of
the country. So they've installed these bus cameras in Florida
and New York, and other parts of the country. Unfortunately,
(31:49):
it seems that the allegation is there's been a lot
of improper citations issued. The company collects a bounty on
every single citation issued, and some of the estimates or
that they're taking in millions of dollars a month in
one jurisdiction. As soon as they implemented the cameras, they
(32:12):
generated eleven thousand and five hundred warning letters in just
a two week period, and a lot of the folks
who received those warning letters and sense of received citations
are saying they're not guilty, but they're finding it difficult
to fight these tickets. So it seems like it may
(32:34):
possibly be a burden on the residence and may in
fact be a solution in search of a problem.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
There's also been out that is such a good way
to explain it. It's a solution in search of a problem. Holly,
You know what it reminds me of There was a
Texas Supreme Court ruling on red light cameras in Harris
County and we deemed those to be unconstitutional. You can't
just set up a camera somewhere and wait for someone
to do a misdemeanor or or of something that's vaguely
(33:04):
a traffic law and then give them a fine for it,
but for some reason that's okay if it's on a bus.
Speaker 7 (33:11):
Yeah. Well, you know, I mean the justification that those
who are supporting it say that, well, you know, we
want to be deterring people from doing this, we want
to protect children. But then the data is that one
show that there's been you know, a whole lot of
fatalities with this, and it's another one of those issues
where we're trying to justify something in the name of
(33:32):
a so called public safety that there's all these constitutional
questions and then it looks like you've got some vendorors
that you don't going to make a pretty tidy profit
on this project or this product.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Right exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
It doesn't just generate money when people are driving past
the camera. It generates money when we the taxpayers, have
to pay for the camera. Holly, I'm gonna agree with you.
It's pretty frustrating. It's not as saying it doesn't anger
me as much as Val Kilmer dying, but still, you know,
it upsets me, you know what I mean.
Speaker 7 (34:05):
I understand. Yeah, loss of Val Kilmer is a big deal.
And sorry, I wasn't able to sing with you. That
was That was just a little bit unexpected for me.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
It's not too late, A one, a two, you know
what to ladies and gentlemen, Holly Hansen, go ahead sing
danger Zone by Kenny Loggins, The Floors Years, Holy, go ahead.
Speaker 7 (34:25):
I don't think so. I'm just gonna decline. You know,
maybe at a karaoke night or something like that, but
it's certainly not on the radio. Your readers would not
appreciate my singing listeners.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
They're called listeners. I'm surprised. I'm surprised. Do you think
this audience is literate? That is very generous of you. Hey,
Holly Hanson, I love her so much. Follow her on
ex Holly S.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Hanson. Check out her work. Go to the Texan News Today.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
It is a conservative news website, a good investment of
your time. Doesn't cost a lot of money to subscribe,
especially compared to the competitors like Dallas Morning Snooze and
The Houston Chronicle. I'm Kenny Webster. I love you all.
Thank you so much for tuning in today. I know
this was an odd show this afternoon, but it did
involve me singing the Righteous brothers and despite that, I
hope you'll come back tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Dude, you are listening to the Pursuit of Happy this radio.
Tell the government to kiss your ass when you listen
to this show.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Wow, well you know, Holly Hanson Sam a scene true romance.
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