September 8, 2026 • 31 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time. Lock and load. The Michael Varey Show
is on the air. Well, it is a great day
(00:49):
to be alive, but it's Tuesday. You had a nice,
long weekend. We will, as always at this time of year,
dive into the campaigns that are brewing as we race
to Election Day. But I will tell you that the
(01:10):
highlight of the show today will be a conversation in
exactly one hour with former Texas A & M coach,
and I would argue the face of Texas A &
M football, R.C. Slocum. And he was honored with a
(01:30):
statue at the university over the weekend. The reason... This
is much more than a Texas A & M story.
I hope Aggies will be delighted to hear Aggie talk,
and I'm not an Aggie, but he is, that Aggies
are taking front and center during that conversation is because
(01:53):
it's not really just an Aggie story. Anybody that ever
talks about R.C. Slocum will, before they talk about football,
they talk about being a father to your players. And
they talk about raising young men and the lessons you
(02:15):
teach them and teaching them to be honorable and good.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And I.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Think that is a lost art for most coaches. And
I think there is something to be learned from every
one of us. whether you are a father to boys
and girls, whether you are a boss of employees, whether
you're coaching in sports, you're a Sunday school teacher. I
(02:44):
think that, you know, Russell Ibarra's business card doesn't say
CEO of Gringos and Jimmy Chongas. It says Master Enchilada Roller.
And the idea, tongue in cheek, is that I'm here
like everybody else. This is what we're doing. And I
(03:05):
think that if everyone took their God-given talents and their
God-directed purpose and executed on that and understood that whatever
you think is your business, your job, your skill, your
responsibility is actually secondary to to these sorts of things,
(03:27):
you'd solve a lot of our problems in this country.
So it will be a treat to talk to Coach R.C.
Slocum on Saturday on the occasion of the statue in
his honor. I am very much looking forward to that.
I also want you to be thinking about something. I
don't know if we'll get to it today or not.
(03:49):
Maybe we will. Depends on how everything else unfolds. But
I had a conversation with the head of the police
officer's union named Ray Hunt. And we were talking about
things that happen that mean something to you that the
(04:10):
person may not realize how much it meant to you.
And it may not have been the biggest gesture in
the grand scheme of things, but it meant something to
you at that time. He was talking about when his
father died, and there was a Vietnamese store clerk at
(04:32):
the little shop where Ray, at the time, was an
on-duty officer. Obviously, he's head of the police officer's union now,
so he works in an office and does things on
behalf of the officers, but at the time, he was
out on the streets on patrol, and they would stop in,
and get donuts. No, I'm just kidding. They would stop
(04:53):
in and get their coffee every night at this little
convenience store. And the clerk, he wasn't the owner. He's
just some guy that works there. He would, you know,
they got to know each other. You get friendly. It's,
you know, two o'clock in the morning and you're the
only ones in the store and you're the officer. So
you make the clerk feel safe. So one night his
(05:16):
work buddy they were a patrol of two, shows up
at the convenience store. And the clerk says, you know,
where's Mr.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Ray?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
He's not here. And his buddy said, well, his dad died.
And he's off tonight because the funeral's in the morning.
And the clerk said, oh, where is it? And so
at 10 o'clock in the morning, Ray sees the little
clerk come walking through the door. And he had stayed
(05:49):
at his job when he got off at 6 in
the morning. He had stayed until 9.30. Stayed up because
he'd been up all night. And instead of going home
and going to bed, he came to the funeral home.
And Ray was saying, you know, people don't think it matters.
You know, doesn't matter how I go to that funeral
(06:09):
because so-and-so is not going to see me there anyway.
They're not alive anymore. Yeah, but somebody does. And he
was talking about how much that gesture has meant to
him all these many years later. And it's interesting. I
was telling some little gestures and things people did for
(06:32):
me at the time that you never forget about years
and years later. So I want you to be thinking
about that. Don't call now. I want you to be
thinking about that if we have time before the show
is over. I would like to hear that not somebody
gave you a billion dollars, but a little gesture somebody did,
(06:57):
something they did that has stuck with you over all
these years. And if you know the name of the person,
then give that as well because they may be out there.
And how nice would it be if you're driving to
work or out working or cooking or whatever you're doing, driving,
and you hear your name mentioned as somebody who made
(07:20):
a difference in the life of somebody else, because this
is what really matters in the grand scheme of things,
you are free to take a moment and send me
a brief email because if we do get to it
today and we don't have to wait until tomorrow, I'll
read some of those as well. And if we have time,
I'll tell you, well, now is that time, but be
(07:41):
thinking about how you would tell that story as quickly
as possible. And if that story begins with, well, no,
this is going to take a minute, then don't, don't
do that. Um, discipline yourself to tell the story quickly,
which I apparently have never learned the art of and
get right to the point. But I got to thinking
that that would be a, a, um, a good thing
(08:04):
to do. Russell at bar posted over the weekend that, um,
Nine years ago on Labor Day, his father had died,
which was appropriate because his father taught him the value
of hard work. And that's what labor is. Socialism is
about being lazy and getting paid for it. But purpose
(08:25):
and labor, yeah, that's definitely worth honoring. The Butterfly.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Mr. Michael Berry.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
They're all Duncans, and you know Duncan means yo-yo. President
Trump's super PAC has finally weighed in. The super PAC
is called MAGA Inc. They've made a $ 10 million TV
and digital ad buy, but I've been advised it's actually
(08:51):
a $ 15 million drop for a $ 10 million purchase. Five
more will be allocated or deployed shortly, but it's there.
The spokesman says high-tax Tallarico wants to take money out
of Texans' pockets. MAGA Inc. is going to ensure Texas
knows about Tallarico's radical policies and elects Ken Paxton in
(09:14):
the United States Senate. The story from Fox News.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The president making it clear that he is not taking
Texas for granted, his political operation pouring $ 10 million into
the Senate race here in a state that Republicans have
dominated for decades. So all of this comes after weeks
of Republicans pressuring President Trump to start spending some of
MAGA Inc's massive war chest with Democrat James Tallarico holding
(09:40):
a slight edge in most recent polls in a neck
and neck race with Republican Ken Paxton. A new FEC
filing shows the pro-Trump super PAC dropping $ 5 million to
boost Paxton and another five million to go after talarico
two new ads already posted.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Online talarico higher taxes paxton lower taxes a clear choice.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Maga inc sharing this with fox quote high tax talarico
wants to take money out of texans pockets maga inc
is going to ensure texas knows about talarico's radical policies
and elects ken paxton to the u.s.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Senate Tallarico, over the weekend, along with John Ossoff from Georgia,
were in Hollywood. And while in Hollywood, of all the things,
while in Hollywood, he talked about his campaign being a
campaign of the people, by the people, for the people.
(10:39):
Only if the people live in Hollywood, you're running to
represent Baytown and And Beaumont, you're running to represent the
Panhandle in West Texas and East Texas and the Piney
Woods in South Texas. And your money is coming over
(11:00):
half of it from outside the state. Almost all of
that from California. What exactly is that? How exactly does
that represent the people of Texas? And the people of Texas.
Would laugh at the values of the people that are
(11:22):
writing you checks. And why did they write you a check?
When James Tallarico declared that his campaign was to be
the first vegan campaign several years ago, in the cattle state, cattle, ranching,
(11:44):
for you to do that in the state of Texas,
You know you had a safe district, which he does,
the People's Republic of Austin. He's in the freaky white
liberal portion. Actually, his mother is in the freaky white
liberal portion. He doesn't actually live in his district, which
is voter fraud. Now, you might say, well, Michael, I
(12:06):
don't think you have to live in the district you serve.
That's actually true for the U.S. Congress. You don't have
to live in the district that you represent in the U.S. Congress.
But in the state house, you do. So he claims
he lives with his mother. But apparently, that is not
where he lives. He does share a joint banking account
(12:29):
with her at 37 years old. And as you dig
into this fellow, who's bought and paid for by California.
And by the way, I'm not mad at California. What
a brilliant thing. Can you imagine? If Texas could get
a third Senate seat and take one from California, that's
exactly what they're doing. And they don't do it on
the basis of, hey, here's this freak that will represent
(12:53):
our interests and do what we want in the U.S. Senate,
and he's absolutely going to infuriate Texans with the things
he's going to say and do. So that's why we're
telling you now what he has said and done. A
number of people have told me, Paxton needs to step
it up.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Sure, sure.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
He beat a four-term U.S. senator, leaving him bone dry
in the account. That's almost never done. People tell me
all the time that we have to have term limits.
And I say, we have term limits. They're called elections.
It's hard to beat an incumbent. It's ugly. People don't
like it. And you know why it's hard to beat
(13:34):
an incumbent? Not because the people love them. Because the
establishment owns them. And once they get somebody good and
paid for, they do not want to have to train
a new person. They like the one they've got. So
what did the establishment do? They spent, by all accounts,
well over $ 100 million. I've been told by several accounts
(13:56):
that including dark money that came in, it was $ 225 million.
That's an insane amount of money. They far outspent Ken Paxton.
But the voters didn't want John Cornyn anymore. And in
a three-way, then a two-way race with a runoff, Paxton
ran and won. The people voted for him. Over 60%
(14:17):
of the people against an incumbent that had almost a
quarter million dollars spent on his behalf and has been
in office for 24 years. Paxton was clearly the choice.
But when you go against the unit party, when you
go against the establishment, we're in that situation now. where
(14:38):
the Karl Rove-led establishment, the Mitch McConnells, are saying Texas
can win that on their own if they won't. In fact,
John Cornyn and George W. Bush are raising money for
candidates outside of Texas. Which candidates? Susan Collins, the Republican
(14:59):
who votes Democrat more often than anyone would imagine. Lisa
Murkowski in Alaska. Squish Republican who could not win her
own primary. Her daddy put her in in the general.
So the Democrats voted for her alongside some Republicans, a
minority of them, to keep a good Republican from winning. Yeah,
(15:23):
we're at the moment now where it all matters. But
people say to me, Paxton's not doing enough. Paxton's not
doing enough. Paxton's not doing enough. They say it three
times from home. And I said, what do you want
him to do? He needs to be up on TV
the way Tallarico is. He didn't have the money. He's
starting to come in. But why be on TV so
more people hear the message? Well, here's the message right here.
(15:46):
It's on my Facebook page. Do me a favor. Retweet it.
That's all you're asking to do anyway. Let's do our part.
We check in now with men for Tallarico. Real men
standing for real change. Let's see what the men are
up to.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay, so you cannot just smash them. Everyone smashes them.
You lay the bloom face down. You open the petals
with your little pinky. The pinky, not your thumb. The
thumb is aggressive. And then parchment, then cardboard, then wait.
I'm using a hardcover of braiding sweetgrass and the collected
poems of Mary Oliver because I want the pressure to
(16:28):
be gentle but informed. These are for my walk. Buttonbush,
a little wild petunia, and one clover I'm honestly not
ready to talk about yet. I'm doing a lavender oat
crotato situation right now. It's from that place on Montrose
with a kitty cat.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
And it's just.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
It's holding me because I needed something soft today. I
went through the Starbucks drive-thru I ordered and the young
man in the headset said.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Anything else for you, sir? I didn't correct him. I
just pulled forward.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I took my drink with two hands and I said
thank you because I refuse to become hardened.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
You know they have cameras.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
They have it. It's on there. I would die for
James Tallarico. Men for Tallarico. Real men, real change.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
But I guess There is a video that has emerged
this morning of James Talacripo on the floor of the
state legislature. And he is waving what they call a
(17:33):
transgender flag. Like a pom-pom. I guess he represents transgenderistan.
It is the weirdest thing ever. Why do these things matter?
(17:57):
Because you don't come into the world thinking, I need
to make sure that boys who want to be girls
and girls who want to be boys, but let's be honest,
it's mostly boys who want to be girls, I need
to make sure that everybody gets out of the way
and that whatever is given to women is given to
(18:19):
them because they can be pregnant, you know, and you
know they can have a period. And I need to
make sure that every boy who wants to go in
the girls' restroom can go there, and I need to
make sure that The boys can compete against the girls
because historically we've never allowed that for obvious reasons and
(18:40):
everyone understands why. And we need to make sure we
have birth control for birthing people. You don't come into
the world believing this. You're not taught this as a child.
These are not natural. Mankind has never believed these sorts
of things. You start talking about these things rather than
(19:07):
the things that Texas families care about. Not because Texas
families will say, you know, we need one weirdo in
the group. Make sure you know that transgenderistan is here.
We need one dude to wave the transgender flag. Who
comes up with their own flag? I mean, but whatever.
(19:30):
that makes sure the transgender flag is waved like a
pom-pom on the floor of the legislature. Is Mitch Little
supposed to look over and go, oh, why, that's quite
a fetching wave of the transgender flag you have there.
I change my vote. Mr. Speaker, I change my vote.
(19:55):
What is the point? What are you doing? It's performative.
But transgenders make up the tiniest percentage base of the
voting populace. The reason these things, the vegan stuff, this,
the reason all the weird things matter is because those
are not vote winners. Those are how you tell the
(20:20):
California big money boys that you're going to play ball
in Texas. You're their Trojan horse. You're going to go
to D.C. because what a hoot that's going to be.
The senator from Texas lecturing us on how we shouldn't
(20:40):
eat meat, we're awful. The senator from Texas who over
the weekend was angry a bill didn't pass that would
effectively kill the oil and gas industry. That accounts for
somewhere between 620,000 and 1.4 million Texas jobs on Labor Day,
no less. Yeah, we all have to do our part.
(21:04):
To end global warming. He's the last Democrat still out
there talking about it. Because the Chinese and the Californians
want that. That would work out just fine. So if
you ever catch yourself saying, well, what does it matter
if he said this or he said that? Understand why
he said that. He says that because he's telling the
(21:25):
overlords exactly what he's willing to do. And that is
extremely important. There is a story. Let me see if
I have enough time. Yeah, we do. The Harris County government,
other than Tom Ramsey, commissioners are expected to vote on
a nearly 8% property tax rate increase, the second largest
(21:50):
in county history, coming after the largest, which was in 2024.
It will increase their budget by 12% or another $ 327 million.
Listen to this, ABC 13. You're paying 30% more in
(22:12):
your property taxes than you were three years ago. Point
to one thing in your life. the county is made better.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
The county is in a deficit, $ 181 million. One of
the factors the county's budget director blames is quote, historic
increases in employee health care costs. The county currently has
46,000 people on its health care plan that includes current employees,
family members and retirees.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
The benefits are the sacred promise that we have made
to team members who have joined Harris County.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
One plan offered by the county costs employees $ 0 for
their own premiums. Now, they can opt into higher plans
that come with a cost, but they're still on the
lower end as it compares to other major counties. This
graph published by the county shows the comparison. The next
closest cost the employees $ 34. Then comes Harris County's higher
(23:06):
plan at $ 79, which is still a ways off from
the city of Houston at $ 190. The county saying it
spends $ 1. 2 million daily on employee and retiree health care,
which is about double what they were spending 10 years ago.
And yet the budget says the county has absorbed nearly
all of the cost growth for the last 10 years.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I asked the viewers, how many of you ended up
paying more for your health insurance last year? And I
would get, it's going to be almost anybody.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
If they don't make the change to benefits or employee
retiree premiums, the budget officer says the county would need
to increase its health care contributions by $ 110.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Million a year.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Commissioners did discuss potential changes to employee health care at
a recent meeting, potentially grandfathering in current employees into the
current plan and new employees would have to pay a premium.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
One of the greatest moments in your life is Michael
Berry's formal wear. We have all your formal wear needs,
from morning suits to coordinating accessories. I was walking through
a restaurant in Austin yesterday, and this song was playing
very lightly. But they were playing sort of an adult
(24:25):
contemporary playlist. So I didn't pay that much attention to it.
It wasn't very loud. But I could hear it clearly enough.
And I thought, you know, we don't talk enough about
Atlanta Rhythm Section. They are a really, really, really good band.
(24:50):
But they were formed in 1970, so their heyday, you know,
I'll tell you another band we don't talk enough about, Ramone.
Steve Miller Band, their body of work. There are so
many bands of that era that just between Skinner, the
(25:12):
greatest band of all time, the Eagles, probably the most
commercially successful. Would they be the most commercially successful band, Ramone,
would you say? Probably, yeah. So you have the greatest band, Skinner.
You have the greatest band, Skinner. You have the most
commercially successful and certainly most ubiquitous band. I don't need
(25:32):
to qualify this as an American band. I said what
I said. So anyway, you have Skinner, and then you've
got the Eagles, and then you've got Aerosmith, and then
you just got so many bands, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils,
throwing in some great, I mean, just one after the other,
after the other, after the other. It's easy to get
(25:54):
lost in that mire. It is very easy to get
lost in the mire of all of that because of
the era in which they played. I do have to
tell you a quick story, and we'll talk to R.C.
Slocum coming up in just a few moments. And I
don't want to hear from a single person that you're
that you're a Longhorn, you don't like the Aggies, because
(26:16):
I will tell you this, when R.C. Slocum, when he
needed help for Hodgkin's lymphoma through MD Anderson, it was
his UT connections that got him in to save the day.
And the respect that R.C. and Coach Daryl K. Royal
(26:39):
had for each other, I have a great photo of
the two of them, Look, I get it. It's football season.
People like to be silly. You know, somebody dies who's
an Aggie. I can't cry because I'm a horn or
vice versa. The rivalries are fun. Yes, they're great. But
at the end of the day, what matters is dignity, decency, honor, patriotism,
(27:06):
love of family, what you leave behind. And I can
only tolerate that stuff so long. In any case, R.C.
Slocum will be our guest in a few minutes to
talk about the importance for a coach of being a
father figure, for an individual, man or woman, of taking
care of the people around you. And that doesn't mean
(27:26):
cleaning their butt and feeding them and spoiling them. That
is helping them grow into functional, functioning, successful, independent individuals.
And I think that's what R.C. Slocum, more than anything else,
will be known for. the father-husband, father-figure, community member, ambassador
(27:47):
of the sport and the school and decency that he was.
He made a big deal out of telling the parents,
I'm not going to take your boy and shake him.
I didn't want that done to me. We're not going
to do that to him. And he was very clear
to his coaches and anyone who ever played for him
will tell you. And I've talked to a number of them.
(28:08):
Bucky Richardson just sent me a text so that I
could read it before he goes on, or I could
read it when he comes on, that said, Bucky didn't
play for him, but that said, you know, coach was
known for the fact that he didn't have to hit you,
throw something at you, you know, sling you around. He
didn't let any of his coaches do that. You know,
I heard this podcast interview with Vaughn Miller, one of
(28:33):
the greatest to ever play the game. Vaughn Miller, of course,
went to Texas A & M, If you saw him
over the weekend, he's got his chicken company in it
on his shirt. He still looks great. He's still busting
out of that T-shirt. The only other person that I
know who looks so noticeably good in a tucked-in, skin-tight
T-shirt and who wears it is Ramon. And part of
(28:54):
that is because you're still thinking of Ramon as 389,
and as of today, he weighs, are you ready for this?
202 pounds. 202 pounds. That is not peptides. There's nothing
wrong with peptides. If you've not been able to lose weight,
knock yourself out, please. That's not the GLP-1, 2, or 3.
(29:17):
That is hardcore fasting. That is hardcore controlling what you
eat and getting up early every morning and going for
a good walk. But I heard Von Miller in this discussion,
this podcast discussion, And, you know, Hall of Fame career,
you remember him with the Denver Broncos and winning this.
(29:40):
Bowl with Kubiak and, of course, Wade Phillips. And he
was talking about quitting college, quitting the team. And Coach
Sherman had got on him. And he'd had enough because
a young man can think they can make better decisions.
And he stormed out went to his room, packed his stuff,
(30:03):
went to his truck, and was headed home. And he
called his dad. His dad said, what are you doing?
He said, I'm headed home. Middle of the season, practice day,
why are you headed home? Coach is an idiot, doesn't
know what he's doing. He's yelling at me, he's picking
on me. He said, you will stop that truck, you
(30:25):
will turn it around, and you will go back. And
Von Miller said, where would I be if I didn't
stop that truck, turn around, and go back? How would
my life be different? Well, if Von Miller didn't have
a father, he would have gone home and mama would
have made his favorite meal. And where would he have been?
(30:47):
Where would he have been within days? And how many
times have we seen that happen? It's not just football
coaches with young men playing football. You've got young people,
men and women, in your workplace, in your classroom, in
your home. And they need a mother and they need
a father. And sometimes they need discipline. And sometimes they
(31:09):
need tough love. A lot of times. And I'll bet
if you're honest, you are where you are because a coach,
a teacher, a pastor, a parent, an uncle, a grandparent
did that for you. Coach R.C. Slocum will be our
guest tonight.
It's that time. Lock and load. The Michael Varey Show
is on the air. Well, it is a great day
(00:49):
to be alive, but it's Tuesday. You had a nice,
long weekend. We will, as always at this time of year,
dive into the campaigns that are brewing as we race
to Election Day. But I will tell you that the
(01:10):
highlight of the show today will be a conversation in
exactly one hour with former Texas A & M coach,
and I would argue the face of Texas A &
M football, R.C. Slocum. And he was honored with a
(01:30):
statue at the university over the weekend. The reason... This
is much more than a Texas A & M story.
I hope Aggies will be delighted to hear Aggie talk,
and I'm not an Aggie, but he is, that Aggies
are taking front and center during that conversation is because
(01:53):
it's not really just an Aggie story. Anybody that ever
talks about R.C. Slocum will, before they talk about football,
they talk about being a father to your players. And
they talk about raising young men and the lessons you
(02:15):
teach them and teaching them to be honorable and good.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And I.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Think that is a lost art for most coaches. And
I think there is something to be learned from every
one of us. whether you are a father to boys
and girls, whether you are a boss of employees, whether
you're coaching in sports, you're a Sunday school teacher. I
(02:44):
think that, you know, Russell Ibarra's business card doesn't say
CEO of Gringos and Jimmy Chongas. It says Master Enchilada Roller.
And the idea, tongue in cheek, is that I'm here
like everybody else. This is what we're doing. And I
(03:05):
think that if everyone took their God-given talents and their
God-directed purpose and executed on that and understood that whatever
you think is your business, your job, your skill, your
responsibility is actually secondary to to these sorts of things,
(03:27):
you'd solve a lot of our problems in this country.
So it will be a treat to talk to Coach R.C.
Slocum on Saturday on the occasion of the statue in
his honor. I am very much looking forward to that.
I also want you to be thinking about something. I
don't know if we'll get to it today or not.
(03:49):
Maybe we will. Depends on how everything else unfolds. But
I had a conversation with the head of the police
officer's union named Ray Hunt. And we were talking about
things that happen that mean something to you that the
(04:10):
person may not realize how much it meant to you.
And it may not have been the biggest gesture in
the grand scheme of things, but it meant something to
you at that time. He was talking about when his
father died, and there was a Vietnamese store clerk at
(04:32):
the little shop where Ray, at the time, was an
on-duty officer. Obviously, he's head of the police officer's union now,
so he works in an office and does things on
behalf of the officers, but at the time, he was
out on the streets on patrol, and they would stop in,
and get donuts. No, I'm just kidding. They would stop
(04:53):
in and get their coffee every night at this little
convenience store. And the clerk, he wasn't the owner. He's
just some guy that works there. He would, you know,
they got to know each other. You get friendly. It's,
you know, two o'clock in the morning and you're the
only ones in the store and you're the officer. So
you make the clerk feel safe. So one night his
(05:16):
work buddy they were a patrol of two, shows up
at the convenience store. And the clerk says, you know,
where's Mr.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Ray?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
He's not here. And his buddy said, well, his dad died.
And he's off tonight because the funeral's in the morning.
And the clerk said, oh, where is it? And so
at 10 o'clock in the morning, Ray sees the little
clerk come walking through the door. And he had stayed
(05:49):
at his job when he got off at 6 in
the morning. He had stayed until 9.30. Stayed up because
he'd been up all night. And instead of going home
and going to bed, he came to the funeral home.
And Ray was saying, you know, people don't think it matters.
You know, doesn't matter how I go to that funeral
(06:09):
because so-and-so is not going to see me there anyway.
They're not alive anymore. Yeah, but somebody does. And he
was talking about how much that gesture has meant to
him all these many years later. And it's interesting. I
was telling some little gestures and things people did for
(06:32):
me at the time that you never forget about years
and years later. So I want you to be thinking
about that. Don't call now. I want you to be
thinking about that if we have time before the show
is over. I would like to hear that not somebody
gave you a billion dollars, but a little gesture somebody did,
(06:57):
something they did that has stuck with you over all
these years. And if you know the name of the person,
then give that as well because they may be out there.
And how nice would it be if you're driving to
work or out working or cooking or whatever you're doing, driving,
and you hear your name mentioned as somebody who made
(07:20):
a difference in the life of somebody else, because this
is what really matters in the grand scheme of things,
you are free to take a moment and send me
a brief email because if we do get to it
today and we don't have to wait until tomorrow, I'll
read some of those as well. And if we have time,
I'll tell you, well, now is that time, but be
(07:41):
thinking about how you would tell that story as quickly
as possible. And if that story begins with, well, no,
this is going to take a minute, then don't, don't
do that. Um, discipline yourself to tell the story quickly,
which I apparently have never learned the art of and
get right to the point. But I got to thinking
that that would be a, a, um, a good thing
(08:04):
to do. Russell at bar posted over the weekend that, um,
Nine years ago on Labor Day, his father had died,
which was appropriate because his father taught him the value
of hard work. And that's what labor is. Socialism is
about being lazy and getting paid for it. But purpose
(08:25):
and labor, yeah, that's definitely worth honoring. The Butterfly.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Mr. Michael Berry.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
They're all Duncans, and you know Duncan means yo-yo. President
Trump's super PAC has finally weighed in. The super PAC
is called MAGA Inc. They've made a $ 10 million TV
and digital ad buy, but I've been advised it's actually
(08:51):
a $ 15 million drop for a $ 10 million purchase. Five
more will be allocated or deployed shortly, but it's there.
The spokesman says high-tax Tallarico wants to take money out
of Texans' pockets. MAGA Inc. is going to ensure Texas
knows about Tallarico's radical policies and elects Ken Paxton in
(09:14):
the United States Senate. The story from Fox News.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The president making it clear that he is not taking
Texas for granted, his political operation pouring $ 10 million into
the Senate race here in a state that Republicans have
dominated for decades. So all of this comes after weeks
of Republicans pressuring President Trump to start spending some of
MAGA Inc's massive war chest with Democrat James Tallarico holding
(09:40):
a slight edge in most recent polls in a neck
and neck race with Republican Ken Paxton. A new FEC
filing shows the pro-Trump super PAC dropping $ 5 million to
boost Paxton and another five million to go after talarico
two new ads already posted.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Online talarico higher taxes paxton lower taxes a clear choice.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Maga inc sharing this with fox quote high tax talarico
wants to take money out of texans pockets maga inc
is going to ensure texas knows about talarico's radical policies
and elects ken paxton to the u.s.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Senate Tallarico, over the weekend, along with John Ossoff from Georgia,
were in Hollywood. And while in Hollywood, of all the things,
while in Hollywood, he talked about his campaign being a
campaign of the people, by the people, for the people.
(10:39):
Only if the people live in Hollywood, you're running to
represent Baytown and And Beaumont, you're running to represent the
Panhandle in West Texas and East Texas and the Piney
Woods in South Texas. And your money is coming over
(11:00):
half of it from outside the state. Almost all of
that from California. What exactly is that? How exactly does
that represent the people of Texas? And the people of Texas.
Would laugh at the values of the people that are
(11:22):
writing you checks. And why did they write you a check?
When James Tallarico declared that his campaign was to be
the first vegan campaign several years ago, in the cattle state, cattle, ranching,
(11:44):
for you to do that in the state of Texas,
You know you had a safe district, which he does,
the People's Republic of Austin. He's in the freaky white
liberal portion. Actually, his mother is in the freaky white
liberal portion. He doesn't actually live in his district, which
is voter fraud. Now, you might say, well, Michael, I
(12:06):
don't think you have to live in the district you serve.
That's actually true for the U.S. Congress. You don't have
to live in the district that you represent in the U.S. Congress.
But in the state house, you do. So he claims
he lives with his mother. But apparently, that is not
where he lives. He does share a joint banking account
(12:29):
with her at 37 years old. And as you dig
into this fellow, who's bought and paid for by California.
And by the way, I'm not mad at California. What
a brilliant thing. Can you imagine? If Texas could get
a third Senate seat and take one from California, that's
exactly what they're doing. And they don't do it on
the basis of, hey, here's this freak that will represent
(12:53):
our interests and do what we want in the U.S. Senate,
and he's absolutely going to infuriate Texans with the things
he's going to say and do. So that's why we're
telling you now what he has said and done. A
number of people have told me, Paxton needs to step
it up.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Sure, sure.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
He beat a four-term U.S. senator, leaving him bone dry
in the account. That's almost never done. People tell me
all the time that we have to have term limits.
And I say, we have term limits. They're called elections.
It's hard to beat an incumbent. It's ugly. People don't
like it. And you know why it's hard to beat
(13:34):
an incumbent? Not because the people love them. Because the
establishment owns them. And once they get somebody good and
paid for, they do not want to have to train
a new person. They like the one they've got. So
what did the establishment do? They spent, by all accounts,
well over $ 100 million. I've been told by several accounts
(13:56):
that including dark money that came in, it was $ 225 million.
That's an insane amount of money. They far outspent Ken Paxton.
But the voters didn't want John Cornyn anymore. And in
a three-way, then a two-way race with a runoff, Paxton
ran and won. The people voted for him. Over 60%
(14:17):
of the people against an incumbent that had almost a
quarter million dollars spent on his behalf and has been
in office for 24 years. Paxton was clearly the choice.
But when you go against the unit party, when you
go against the establishment, we're in that situation now. where
(14:38):
the Karl Rove-led establishment, the Mitch McConnells, are saying Texas
can win that on their own if they won't. In fact,
John Cornyn and George W. Bush are raising money for
candidates outside of Texas. Which candidates? Susan Collins, the Republican
(14:59):
who votes Democrat more often than anyone would imagine. Lisa
Murkowski in Alaska. Squish Republican who could not win her
own primary. Her daddy put her in in the general.
So the Democrats voted for her alongside some Republicans, a
minority of them, to keep a good Republican from winning. Yeah,
(15:23):
we're at the moment now where it all matters. But
people say to me, Paxton's not doing enough. Paxton's not
doing enough. Paxton's not doing enough. They say it three
times from home. And I said, what do you want
him to do? He needs to be up on TV
the way Tallarico is. He didn't have the money. He's
starting to come in. But why be on TV so
more people hear the message? Well, here's the message right here.
(15:46):
It's on my Facebook page. Do me a favor. Retweet it.
That's all you're asking to do anyway. Let's do our part.
We check in now with men for Tallarico. Real men
standing for real change. Let's see what the men are
up to.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay, so you cannot just smash them. Everyone smashes them.
You lay the bloom face down. You open the petals
with your little pinky. The pinky, not your thumb. The
thumb is aggressive. And then parchment, then cardboard, then wait.
I'm using a hardcover of braiding sweetgrass and the collected
poems of Mary Oliver because I want the pressure to
(16:28):
be gentle but informed. These are for my walk. Buttonbush,
a little wild petunia, and one clover I'm honestly not
ready to talk about yet. I'm doing a lavender oat
crotato situation right now. It's from that place on Montrose
with a kitty cat.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
And it's just.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
It's holding me because I needed something soft today. I
went through the Starbucks drive-thru I ordered and the young
man in the headset said.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Anything else for you, sir? I didn't correct him. I
just pulled forward.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I took my drink with two hands and I said
thank you because I refuse to become hardened.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
You know they have cameras.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
They have it. It's on there. I would die for
James Tallarico. Men for Tallarico. Real men, real change.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
But I guess There is a video that has emerged
this morning of James Talacripo on the floor of the
state legislature. And he is waving what they call a
(17:33):
transgender flag. Like a pom-pom. I guess he represents transgenderistan.
It is the weirdest thing ever. Why do these things matter?
(17:57):
Because you don't come into the world thinking, I need
to make sure that boys who want to be girls
and girls who want to be boys, but let's be honest,
it's mostly boys who want to be girls, I need
to make sure that everybody gets out of the way
and that whatever is given to women is given to
(18:19):
them because they can be pregnant, you know, and you
know they can have a period. And I need to
make sure that every boy who wants to go in
the girls' restroom can go there, and I need to
make sure that The boys can compete against the girls
because historically we've never allowed that for obvious reasons and
(18:40):
everyone understands why. And we need to make sure we
have birth control for birthing people. You don't come into
the world believing this. You're not taught this as a child.
These are not natural. Mankind has never believed these sorts
of things. You start talking about these things rather than
(19:07):
the things that Texas families care about. Not because Texas
families will say, you know, we need one weirdo in
the group. Make sure you know that transgenderistan is here.
We need one dude to wave the transgender flag. Who
comes up with their own flag? I mean, but whatever.
(19:30):
that makes sure the transgender flag is waved like a
pom-pom on the floor of the legislature. Is Mitch Little
supposed to look over and go, oh, why, that's quite
a fetching wave of the transgender flag you have there.
I change my vote. Mr. Speaker, I change my vote.
(19:55):
What is the point? What are you doing? It's performative.
But transgenders make up the tiniest percentage base of the
voting populace. The reason these things, the vegan stuff, this,
the reason all the weird things matter is because those
are not vote winners. Those are how you tell the
(20:20):
California big money boys that you're going to play ball
in Texas. You're their Trojan horse. You're going to go
to D.C. because what a hoot that's going to be.
The senator from Texas lecturing us on how we shouldn't
(20:40):
eat meat, we're awful. The senator from Texas who over
the weekend was angry a bill didn't pass that would
effectively kill the oil and gas industry. That accounts for
somewhere between 620,000 and 1.4 million Texas jobs on Labor Day,
no less. Yeah, we all have to do our part.
(21:04):
To end global warming. He's the last Democrat still out
there talking about it. Because the Chinese and the Californians
want that. That would work out just fine. So if
you ever catch yourself saying, well, what does it matter
if he said this or he said that? Understand why
he said that. He says that because he's telling the
(21:25):
overlords exactly what he's willing to do. And that is
extremely important. There is a story. Let me see if
I have enough time. Yeah, we do. The Harris County government,
other than Tom Ramsey, commissioners are expected to vote on
a nearly 8% property tax rate increase, the second largest
(21:50):
in county history, coming after the largest, which was in 2024.
It will increase their budget by 12% or another $ 327 million.
Listen to this, ABC 13. You're paying 30% more in
(22:12):
your property taxes than you were three years ago. Point
to one thing in your life. the county is made better.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
The county is in a deficit, $ 181 million. One of
the factors the county's budget director blames is quote, historic
increases in employee health care costs. The county currently has
46,000 people on its health care plan that includes current employees,
family members and retirees.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
The benefits are the sacred promise that we have made
to team members who have joined Harris County.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
One plan offered by the county costs employees $ 0 for
their own premiums. Now, they can opt into higher plans
that come with a cost, but they're still on the
lower end as it compares to other major counties. This
graph published by the county shows the comparison. The next
closest cost the employees $ 34. Then comes Harris County's higher
(23:06):
plan at $ 79, which is still a ways off from
the city of Houston at $ 190. The county saying it
spends $ 1. 2 million daily on employee and retiree health care,
which is about double what they were spending 10 years ago.
And yet the budget says the county has absorbed nearly
all of the cost growth for the last 10 years.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I asked the viewers, how many of you ended up
paying more for your health insurance last year? And I
would get, it's going to be almost anybody.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
If they don't make the change to benefits or employee
retiree premiums, the budget officer says the county would need
to increase its health care contributions by $ 110.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Million a year.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Commissioners did discuss potential changes to employee health care at
a recent meeting, potentially grandfathering in current employees into the
current plan and new employees would have to pay a premium.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
One of the greatest moments in your life is Michael
Berry's formal wear. We have all your formal wear needs,
from morning suits to coordinating accessories. I was walking through
a restaurant in Austin yesterday, and this song was playing
very lightly. But they were playing sort of an adult
(24:25):
contemporary playlist. So I didn't pay that much attention to it.
It wasn't very loud. But I could hear it clearly enough.
And I thought, you know, we don't talk enough about
Atlanta Rhythm Section. They are a really, really, really good band.
(24:50):
But they were formed in 1970, so their heyday, you know,
I'll tell you another band we don't talk enough about, Ramone.
Steve Miller Band, their body of work. There are so
many bands of that era that just between Skinner, the
(25:12):
greatest band of all time, the Eagles, probably the most
commercially successful. Would they be the most commercially successful band, Ramone,
would you say? Probably, yeah. So you have the greatest band, Skinner.
You have the greatest band, Skinner. You have the most
commercially successful and certainly most ubiquitous band. I don't need
(25:32):
to qualify this as an American band. I said what
I said. So anyway, you have Skinner, and then you've
got the Eagles, and then you've got Aerosmith, and then
you just got so many bands, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils,
throwing in some great, I mean, just one after the other,
after the other, after the other. It's easy to get
(25:54):
lost in that mire. It is very easy to get
lost in the mire of all of that because of
the era in which they played. I do have to
tell you a quick story, and we'll talk to R.C.
Slocum coming up in just a few moments. And I
don't want to hear from a single person that you're
that you're a Longhorn, you don't like the Aggies, because
(26:16):
I will tell you this, when R.C. Slocum, when he
needed help for Hodgkin's lymphoma through MD Anderson, it was
his UT connections that got him in to save the day.
And the respect that R.C. and Coach Daryl K. Royal
(26:39):
had for each other, I have a great photo of
the two of them, Look, I get it. It's football season.
People like to be silly. You know, somebody dies who's
an Aggie. I can't cry because I'm a horn or
vice versa. The rivalries are fun. Yes, they're great. But
at the end of the day, what matters is dignity, decency, honor, patriotism,
(27:06):
love of family, what you leave behind. And I can
only tolerate that stuff so long. In any case, R.C.
Slocum will be our guest in a few minutes to
talk about the importance for a coach of being a
father figure, for an individual, man or woman, of taking
care of the people around you. And that doesn't mean
(27:26):
cleaning their butt and feeding them and spoiling them. That
is helping them grow into functional, functioning, successful, independent individuals.
And I think that's what R.C. Slocum, more than anything else,
will be known for. the father-husband, father-figure, community member, ambassador
(27:47):
of the sport and the school and decency that he was.
He made a big deal out of telling the parents,
I'm not going to take your boy and shake him.
I didn't want that done to me. We're not going
to do that to him. And he was very clear
to his coaches and anyone who ever played for him
will tell you. And I've talked to a number of them.
(28:08):
Bucky Richardson just sent me a text so that I
could read it before he goes on, or I could
read it when he comes on, that said, Bucky didn't
play for him, but that said, you know, coach was
known for the fact that he didn't have to hit you,
throw something at you, you know, sling you around. He
didn't let any of his coaches do that. You know,
I heard this podcast interview with Vaughn Miller, one of
(28:33):
the greatest to ever play the game. Vaughn Miller, of course,
went to Texas A & M, If you saw him
over the weekend, he's got his chicken company in it
on his shirt. He still looks great. He's still busting
out of that T-shirt. The only other person that I
know who looks so noticeably good in a tucked-in, skin-tight
T-shirt and who wears it is Ramon. And part of
(28:54):
that is because you're still thinking of Ramon as 389,
and as of today, he weighs, are you ready for this?
202 pounds. 202 pounds. That is not peptides. There's nothing
wrong with peptides. If you've not been able to lose weight,
knock yourself out, please. That's not the GLP-1, 2, or 3.
(29:17):
That is hardcore fasting. That is hardcore controlling what you
eat and getting up early every morning and going for
a good walk. But I heard Von Miller in this discussion,
this podcast discussion, And, you know, Hall of Fame career,
you remember him with the Denver Broncos and winning this.
(29:40):
Bowl with Kubiak and, of course, Wade Phillips. And he
was talking about quitting college, quitting the team. And Coach
Sherman had got on him. And he'd had enough because
a young man can think they can make better decisions.
And he stormed out went to his room, packed his stuff,
(30:03):
went to his truck, and was headed home. And he
called his dad. His dad said, what are you doing?
He said, I'm headed home. Middle of the season, practice day,
why are you headed home? Coach is an idiot, doesn't
know what he's doing. He's yelling at me, he's picking
on me. He said, you will stop that truck, you
(30:25):
will turn it around, and you will go back. And
Von Miller said, where would I be if I didn't
stop that truck, turn around, and go back? How would
my life be different? Well, if Von Miller didn't have
a father, he would have gone home and mama would
have made his favorite meal. And where would he have been?
(30:47):
Where would he have been within days? And how many
times have we seen that happen? It's not just football
coaches with young men playing football. You've got young people,
men and women, in your workplace, in your classroom, in
your home. And they need a mother and they need
a father. And sometimes they need discipline. And sometimes they
(31:09):
need tough love. A lot of times. And I'll bet
if you're honest, you are where you are because a coach,
a teacher, a pastor, a parent, an uncle, a grandparent
did that for you. Coach R.C. Slocum will be our
guest tonight.
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