AM Show Hr 1 | Oh Happy Day

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time, luck and load. So Michael
Very Show is on the air.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Ah, yes, that means it's Friday. I must admit I
woke up thinking it was Thursday. Friday got here faster
than I expect. It is open lines. Let this wash
over you and then let us hear from you.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Heavy day, having day?

Speaker 4 (00:48):
When when it war?

Speaker 5 (00:56):
Whenos tree the way he loved?

Speaker 4 (01:06):
Habit or happy day? Happy? You're a happy day?

Speaker 6 (01:15):
Happy? Didn't Jesus wool many way and Jesus war.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
See the way he loved. It's a habit, a.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Happy day, happy day of.

Speaker 6 (02:18):
Whindred of bars, Oh many war, winds of war?

Speaker 5 (02:30):
Three a way of happy day.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Anything? Have a happy day? Oh happy day?

Speaker 4 (04:39):
Winter those walls waity world winter those war was the
way he didn't be the happy day.

Speaker 7 (05:19):
And with that, the phone lines are open seven one
three nine nine nine one thousand, seven one three nine
nine nine one thousand, seven one three nine nine nine
one thousand, and of course you can always email through
the website Michael Berryshow dot com. We learned so much
this week about what state government is not going to

(05:41):
do to help the people of Harris County, where Rodney
ellis Boss Tweed has become the overlord of the government.
We've watched him replace the district attorney that he hand
picked because she indicted him for his crimes. We've seen
the African Art Museum that he spent your tax dollars

(06:04):
on and personally gained, and yet every time the charge
is brought, somehow it is lost. He's living like a
king on your tax dollars with zero accountability. It would
probably actually, if you think about it, it would probably

(06:26):
actually make for a good movie.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
I mean, can you imagine.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
This fall?

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Hello, I'm riding the yells, I'm here to looking for
African painting.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
A disturbed man.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Oh, if anybody had an idea of how much tax
dollar they could stand for.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
That song of play.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
When I opened my starry Lena Hidalgo riding, I fell
of a webing at this point, here we go again?

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Can we go back to the guy Lena anybody's head.
You've got more problems A thousand thieves math lesson that
is frid and I necessary a public man.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
The time has come now to do some inventorial my
African painting with a private problem.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
Now, if you look right behind that lion's head.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
That looks like a fridge going over some troubled water.
That's a bridge. Let's build at to public work. He'll
think of anything.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Now This year is my favorite.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
I call it Matilda.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Now you look at it.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
This woman's got a funny face.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
But were we going to building it to certain apartments?

Speaker 5 (07:42):
Fuck?

Speaker 4 (07:42):
What's behind it?

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Looks like a park to me? Parks and recreation? We
got a billion Ellis Island.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Hello, riding a man is surrounded by troubled warm Erica call.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
You might remember my mom, Sheila Jackson.

Speaker 5 (08:03):
Oh damn, Ellis coming to that lace this fall.

Speaker 8 (08:15):
I have a.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Real American I hadn't the time.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Mastive dog pounds his name.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
The Michael Berry read a rain weather report this morning.
It said tropical downpours could cause isolated flooding this afternoon.
Increasing tropical moisture will bring widespread rain today and tomorrow.

(08:43):
Tropical moisture will spread into Southeast Texas as a disturbance
remains over the Gulf, and that will lead to scattered
tropical rain showers Friday that could flood streets where a
quick one to three inches of rain falls down. These
storms could also produce frequent life lighting and wind gusts
over forty miles an hour.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
This coming.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
The same week, we learned that the director of the
flood Control District at Harris County was taking an overpriced
eight thousand dollars trip to the Urban Land Institute to
probably swap resumes with other folks and have drinks and
go to shows and.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Do those sorts of things.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
When listener Bob Rehack pointed out that that whole trip
could have been done for about one thousand dollars, the
import of that is that if you would spend eight
thousand dollars on a trip you don't even need to
go to that could have been done very easily for
one thousand dollars, that means you're not a good steward
of our dollars, and you're probably not a good steward

(09:51):
of our dollars in any other way. And with Rodney
Ellis controlling everything, I can assure you there are some
folks getting mighty rich off flood control dollar expenditures that
do not help our community with flood control, and that
is that is not good. That is a real problem.

(10:18):
There's so many things that we ourselves can do for ourselves,
and we shouldn't expect government to do for us. But
there are a few things that we should expect government
to do for us because they require the community. Those
are things like the roads, for instance, the infrastructure, the

(10:39):
flooding mechanisms, and when that is not done, communities suffer.
But it's the sort of thing that nobody actually ever
talks about. You know, we get hit with Harvey, for instance,
and devastation, so many people lost so much, and at

(11:01):
the end of it, people begin to grumble about something
they didn't care so much about before. How come we
didn't do Why do we open the levees when we did?
What about this? And what about this? And then intuitively
people begin to understand. You know, used to an afternoon
sprinkle didn't cause the floodwaters to rise, but now they do.

(11:24):
So you don't have to be an engineer to know
there's something amiss, something is wrong, and yet nothing is
being done about it. You know, I was pondering, we
focus on the evening show much more about what's going
on in Washington, DC. The President today, by the way,
took off early this morning for Scotland Turnberry, where he

(11:46):
will tour his golf courses. While he is there. He
is scheduled to arrive at eight pm local time in
Scotland this evening, which won't be too many hours from now.
I think about what Tulsey Gabbard is doing exposing Brennan,

(12:06):
and who was it yesterday somebody said Brennan is the
most exposed of the group. He's like a thirty point
buck out in the wide open. That's a pretty good reference,
at least for Texas. On National TV, you've got Brennan
being exposed, Clapper being exposed, Hillary Clinton being exposed for
the tranquilizer she was on and the mood swings and
all the problems that we were having with her.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
We've had election fraud exposed. We've had.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Now Barack Obama exposed, Joe Biden exposed, Hunter Biden, all
of these things being laid bare. We have a president
who is slash and burning his way to exposing and
hopefully punishing the perpetrators who were the titans, the Democrat institutions,

(12:54):
the media institutions. He's knocked the media to their knees
with lawsuits. And yet what are we doing in Texas?
Our legislature only meets every two years. The one hundred
and forty days is up. What did they accomplish? What
is the highlight of this legislative session. So the governor says,

(13:18):
we're going to have a special session, okay, thirty days
of special session.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
And what does he put on the agenda?

Speaker 2 (13:25):
What is the very first thing they took up at
that special session? Marijuana at retail shops. Now you've been
reading about it, you've been hearing about it. Republicans want
to tell you it's a crisis. Was that a crisis
to you? If I were to ask you what you

(13:46):
would most want your state government in Texas to do?
Was it greater regulation of THHC shops. It's the most
anti veteran thing that Dan Patrick has ever done. He
should be ashamed. And they pulled poor old Charles Perry
out there, a name nobody knew this fellas a nineteen

(14:08):
fifties Republicans still salivating over the Salem witch trials and
wishing we could get back to decency and morality because
we got modern day we got modern day witches too.
It's embarrassing our government has the green light from the
Trump administration to root out the evil that has existed

(14:32):
for decades. And what do they squander all their political
capital on.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
THC shops.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Oh, they'll get it done because they bullied everyone and
this will be the last thing they do before redistricting,
I mean before the spring primaries. And most voters don't
pay close enough attention to what the state repped does
does dude, so they'll just watch for endorsements. A massive

(15:04):
opportunity is being squandered in Texas right before I seven.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
One three, nine nine, nine one thousand.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Do you ever, Mason that I get from the show
that I don't seem to get from other places.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
The Michael Barry Show. Oh?

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Nah, So I was reading about I did not realize
there's a pretty nasty lawsuit going on between current Astros
owner Jim Crane and former owner Drayton McLean.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
You may have known. I didn't.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
The headline was ex Astro's CEO says he fully trusted
owner during twenty eleven sale. Story is from a source
called law three sixty, so it's written more from a
legal mindset than a general journalism. A former Houston Astro
ceo testified Thursday in state court that the baseball team

(15:52):
fully trusted owner Drayton McLain Junior during his twenty eleven
sale of the team when he's said Comcast could deliver
on a plan estimated to be worth seven hundred million
dollars over eight years. Spoiler alert, it wasn't George Pastolis,
who served as the Houston Astros president and CEO from

(16:15):
twenty eleven to twenty thirteen. Some of you will remember
that he was running the Rockets before that for Less Alexander.
He was the first to testify in the decade long
litigation between Houston billionaires Drayton McLain and Jim Crane, who
has owned the team since the twenty eleven transaction. It

(16:37):
doesn't feel like he's owned the team that long, does it? Ramon?
Does it feel like that to you? It feels like
he's owned it half that time. Pastolos told jurors in
Harris County District Court that the team was repeatedly told
that Comcast was highly confident that it's planned to charge
cable distributors four dollars fifty cents per subscriber for the
right to stream Astros games would be profitable. Postola's testified,

(17:02):
if there's anybody you're going to bet on, it's Comcast.
They're on both sides. They're the cable company that's buying
from all these regional sports networks, and they also operate
eleven regional sports networks. In reality, the four dollars fifty
cents was not sustainable and was pushed for by mclin's company.
Postolas said, if it was the team's idea and not

(17:24):
Comcast's idea, that's not something that you can rely on.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
Postolas said, they.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Were saying it's not our plan, it's Comcast's plan, and
that wasn't true. The twelve year case stems from Crane's
six hundred and fifteen million dollar purchase of the team
in twenty eleven from McLean's company, McLain Champions LLC. As
part of the deal, Crane's company, Houston Baseball Partners LLC,

(17:49):
got a forty six point five percent interest in the
Houston Regional Sports Network, which was set to broadcast Houston
Astros in Houston Rockets games the following year. At the
time of the transaction, most professional baseball games were broadcast
on regional sports networks that viewers could watch by subscribing
to cable or satellite companies. To allow providers to stream games,

(18:15):
regional sports networks would charge providers tiered they they were
tiers to it levels per subscriber fees that were based
on customers geographic regions. The four dollars fifty cents fee
that Postolis reference Thursday was the highest of four tiers
agreed upon under McLain's cell and was charged to subscribers

(18:37):
closest to the Houston area. Houston Baseball Partners alleged in
his twenty thirteen lawsuit that's Jim Crane, the current owner,
that McClain and his company claimed that the Astros interest
in the network would be worth more than three hundred
million dollars and used that figure to sell a portion
of the network to Comcast for one hundred and fifty
seven million, ninety four and a half million of which

(18:59):
went to mcclaim. The McLain parties then used that same
figure to convince Houston Baseball Partners to pay six hundred
and fifteen million dollars for the team and their interest
in the network. The suit alleges Houston Baseball Partners That's
Crane claims that McLain, who bought the Astros in ninety
two for one hundred and seventeen million dollars, inflated the

(19:22):
price to cover up the fact that he had steered
the astros to the brink of financial ruin in the
previous two decades. McLain's plan was a way to generate
cash to offset his staggering debt load, according to Crane's company.
The lawsuit claims that after the deal closed, sports program
distributors refused to pay the fees for the right to

(19:43):
broadcast astros in Rockets games, sending the Houston Regional Sports
Network into bankruptcy. The company said it has lost more
than two hundred million dollars as a result of the
failed investment. Crane's company listed causes of actions of action
including fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of contract. McLain and

(20:04):
his company later filed counterclaims against Crane for fraudulent inducement
and breach of contract. Crane is not listed as a plaintiff.
Pastols testified Thursday that the idea behind the network was
to divert attention from the astros years long losing Street

(20:28):
kind of an interesting timeline because in twenty eleven the
astros were not what they are now.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
He testified at length.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
About what attorneys referred to as Crane's due diligence or
preparation and research ahead of his purchase of the Astros.
The line of questioning came after an insinuation by Defense
Council during opening statements that Crane had rushed the purchase.
We knew the Astros assets well, Pastolas testified. We knew

(20:56):
it as well as anyone could reasonably know it without
owning the team. According to Postola's Crane had long wanted
to own a sports team, and the two had spent
years looking into purchasing the San Diego Padres, Atlanta Hawks,
and Texas Rangers before twenty eleven. Pastola said that before
McClain's public sale announcement in twenty ten, McClain and Crane

(21:21):
had entered into negotiations for the possible sale of the
Astros as far back as two thousand and eight. Pastola
said Drayton changed the deal because he had the upper
hand in the negotiation.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
Over and over again.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
He drug it out and there was a final change
that was just too much and we couldn't put it
back together. The trial is expected to last two to
three weeks. Oh yes, since we're on news stories. State

(21:59):
Representative Ramon Alberto Salsado, husband of San Antonio Democrat Josie
Garcia was arrested near San Antonio Airport on allegations of
drug possession, paraphernalia and unlawful gun possession while he was
pulled over for a perceived traffic violation. Officers allegedly found

(22:20):
the prohibited items while searching the.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Vehicle at two forty five pm.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
This is a kind of arrest you expect at two
forty five AM.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
I know you're wondering what vehicle he was driving.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Was a black twenty thirteen Lexus gs. Soceta was charged
with possession of a controlled substance between four and four
hundred grams, a second degree felony, unlawfully carrying a weapon
a Class A misdemeanor, possession of marijuana under two ounces,
and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Then there's some Patrick jokes in the story out I'll say.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
This, this is the Michael Berry Show.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
The passing this week of.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Dutch rock band Golden, ear ring their guitarist George Coyman's
died at seventy seven. I realized this morning I didn't
know of what he had passed, and apparently it was a.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
LS now.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Well, anyway, I don't want to speculate there, but but
I noticed a recent als diagnosis. I don't know if
that ended up being the approximate cause of death or not.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
To the phone lines, we go.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Seven one, three, one thousand, Jackwagon, you are the first
caller of the week.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
Make it awesome, Go ahead, my man.

Speaker 8 (23:57):
Well, yes, Michael, I've happened to be stuck down in
that snowmageddon back in twenty one, twenty two whatever. But
the point is I was stuck for two and a
half days sub zero weather with only an outhouse to use.
And it all came down to the same people that
are running the California grid that killed hundreds of people

(24:22):
are running the Texas grid and they don't even live
in Texas. And I was sort of upset by that
because I had to deal with all that crap. And
I'm just saying I'm upset.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, No, let me go back. What was the North
Dakota connection to the story.

Speaker 8 (24:43):
Oh that's just where I live now. I used to
throw in cheese to Texas and oh it was good cheese.

Speaker 5 (24:52):
Man.

Speaker 8 (24:52):
We Uh. Some of the best Swiss you'll ever get
is that loose third brand out of out of Safewace.
The how much people in Ohio have won numerous awards
for their Swiss cheese.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
There interesting and why were you running cheese?

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (25:11):
Well, when the great Texans want want cheese. I am
not slow at hip hip hip and the way I go.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
In What capacity were you doing this?

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Were you wear anyone juized something emblazoned on the on
the automobile you were driving.

Speaker 8 (25:26):
Well, on the side of the truck it's Texas Paul
Terry Trucking Company and uh over forty pounds of cheese
going to uh shoot, I can't even remember the name
of the company. That company really ticked me off, but
they were ignorant.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
Were they a distributor? Yes, sir?

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Okay, so you would deliver to a distributor who would
then deliver presumably to the grocery.

Speaker 8 (25:52):
Stores, Yes, sir, but yeah I did them all I did, HGB, Safeway,
Trader Joe was all them, Caraveyers.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
And cheese was the only product you were delivering, yes, sir,
interest the power Yeah well not oh cheese.

Speaker 8 (26:13):
People love cheese.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
Man.

Speaker 8 (26:15):
You know what a day without cheese is like. It's
like a day without cheese, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
Well, you know.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
It's interesting because as you age, and I think this
is a newer phenomenon. People discover that they have we
can call them allergies, or it's incompatible with their DNA,
at least as everybody's developed. But I have watched people
who have to give up certain things, and I've sort

(26:44):
of cut back dramatically on certain things. But when people
can't do dairy, I just think to myself, I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
I could continue on.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
I certain I'm lactose intolerant, and yet I don't. I mean,
I reduce my airy content compared to what I grew
up doing, but dairy is at the heart of everything
I love. I'd give up steak before I give up dairy.

Speaker 8 (27:11):
You know, it's funny you bring that up, because I
feel the same way.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Deary, You're so brutal.

Speaker 8 (27:16):
But then you got uh oh shoot it just oh
oh dang it. Well, the people that have to give
off something uh no, no, oh well, peanuts is bad,

(27:36):
but oh danga it was. Anyway, I'm starting to get old.
My my mind ain't what it used to be.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
You know what I read Jack Wagon the reason for
Peanut Alliss today, this was this was a Robert F.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Kennedy thing.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
They've done studies that show that peanuts are now sprayed
as a as a agricultural product. It's not the peanut,
it is that they are sprayed with a particular product
or pesticide or whatever that fungus side, whatever that is,
and that that is what the allergy is too, and

(28:11):
that's what creates this sort of deadly reaction, which I
don't know if that's true or not, but I will
say this, I don't remember in the seventies, which is
my earliest recollection of anything, having been born in seventy,
I don't recall these massive peanut allergies. You go to
a restaurant now, when you sit down to eat, when
the waiter first comes out, the first question they all

(28:33):
ask across the board now is does anybody have any allergies?
And I just find this to be the most awkward
way to begin what used to be a wonderful experience.
But I guess folks are getting sued over it. I
guess it became such a big problem. But that is
the opening. It's not, you know, I imagine courtships in

(28:56):
the era of the Me Too movement, where a fella
couldn't walk up and say my goodness, you're beautiful. You
fell from the heavens. Could I possibly take you out
for dinner? You know, there was this idea that instead
you had to be politically correct. I just I find
that an odd way to begin what used to be wonderful.

(29:16):
I love to eat out. I love food. It's one
of the highlights. And the idea that allergies seemed to
trump even the overall experience, which was why we went
in the first place.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
I don't know. I haven't heard much from Robert F.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
Kennedy lately, although he just fired a bunch of his
senior staff, in fact, its chief of staff. When he
fired her yesterday the day before, as she was leaving,
she rammed her car into his car. So if he's
pissing off the establishment of the food industry and the
regulators who allowed him to run them up, and maybe
he's doing some good. I have high expectations for our

(29:58):
country sort of rededicating it self to eating pure, good, decent,
profitable foods that we enjoy, and the and the cane
syrup move would be a good first step. Seven one, three, nine, nine, nine,
one thousand,