AM Show Hr 2 | Talarico Polls, Gator Hunts & the Data Center Debate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time. Lock and load.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
The Michael Varey Show is on the air.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
For the mayor of New York City and Chicago, President
Trump made it clear two weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
We're going double down and triple down on sanctuary cities.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
ICE will now have a larger budget than all but
15 of the world's militaries. Its four-year total is more
than every military except for the United States and China.
This is a direct assault on the civil liberties of
all Americans and will fundamentally undermine our rights.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
It's not a direct assault on my civil liberties. Your
presence here is a Direct assault on my civil liberties.

(01:08):
It's a day like today. I want folks to know
we have your back and we'll.

Speaker 5 (01:15):
Continue to come back and do what we can To
protect our diverse communities. To protect the spirit that defines
the best of this city and our state.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
And to push back against this cruelty.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
To push back against this cruelty that is being perpetuated
by the President of the United States.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
But I'm so afraid of losing you again.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
What you see in those pictures, is it making America safer? No,
it's terrorizing Americans, our friends and neighbors, otherwise known as immigrants,
many of them.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
But these are folks who, they go to our churches,
they work at.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Our grocery stores, they work on construction sites, they work
in childcare, they work in many jobs that would not
be filled had they not done it. And I also
just sit back and ask, Who asked for this? Americans
were told that the most violent individuals would be deported,
and we're now seeing in the numbers that that is
a very small percentage of who is being targeted.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
We're not helpless.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
You should meet their chaos with chaos.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
I have been asked by writers, talkers, you name it,
across the country about the Texas election, for the U.S.
Senate particularly. And People are seeing polling numbers that say
that Talafrico is beating Paxton. And I have no reason

(02:51):
to doubt those polling numbers. I am amazed. If COVID
comes back tomorrow, there will be people who've said that
they would never take the shot again, that will rush
down and take the shot, not knowing what's in it,
knowing what it did to other people. There are people

(03:12):
in a Groundhog Day way who can be duped on
our side. It happens. I've got an article, I'll pull
it up, that has Beto beating Ted Cruz a matter
of weeks before the election in Texas in 2018. And

(03:34):
beating him roundly, four or five percentage points, outside the
margin of error. And I can tell you based on
phone calls I was having, that was consistent with the
internal polling. Beto was winning. If the election was held
that day, Beto would win. But here's what happens. The

(03:57):
media pushes a candidate out. Do you remember Chris Matthews
and his thrill up the leg at the Beto campaign?
And Keith Olbermann had to be the rational voice of
all people. Keith Olbermann said, steady, steady. Chris Matthews was

(04:20):
talking about when Beto ran for president two years later
in 20. Do you see the way that Annie Leibovitz
shot this photo of him? There is the blue sky
behind him, and the sun is kissing his cheek. That's
a sign of a man on the rise. That is
the next John F. Kennedy. Well, this is how Beto

(04:43):
was shown to people. Here's Beto at Whataburger. My goodness,
he's just like us. Here's Beto on a skateboard. Well,
that's odd, but the kids love him. Beto was in
a band. They didn't tell you he was dressed as
a girl wearing makeup, but hey, Beto isn't even his
real name. His real name is Francis. His daddy called

(05:05):
him Beto. I think he's Hispanic. Yeah, yeah, we need
a Hispanic. Well, Cruz is Hispanic. Oh, he's Cuban Hispanic.
We don't like that kind because they vote Republican and
don't want welfare because they've lived under socialism. Talafrico is
getting the same. By the way, Beto wasn't Hispanic. His

(05:27):
dad was the county judge. And He started calling Roberto Beto,
or Robert Beto, as a Mexican nickname because he said,
and talk about how prescient he was, what level of
foresight did this man have? He said, Mexican Americans will

(05:49):
make up the majority of Texas by the time you're
an adult. And having the nickname Beto will ingratiate you
with them. It worked. When they first brought him out,
A number of Hispanics believed he was Mexican-American, and that's
the largest Hispanic group in Texas. He was Beto. He's

(06:09):
good looking. Don't tell me he's not.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
He is.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
He is.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
You don't.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
Okay. All right. I can take some fat ass Republican
whose politics you like. You'll tell me they're the most
beautiful or handsome person in the world. Beto was attractive
to voters. Stop telling me he's not. And I'll rattle
off some more to you if you irritate me. So
he's got his Mexican-American name. He's not. But he could
pass off, right? He's got personal wealth, so he doesn't

(06:37):
have to worry about taking money anywhere. His father-in-law's a billionaire.
He's energetic. He's cool. He's hip. The young people like that.
He's not an old fuddy-dud like Mike Pence, right? And
he's progressive, but not too progressive. And remember they had
the blind squirrel? Oh, California loved him, so they funded him.

(07:01):
He was the perfect Trojan horse to roll in and
fool you. We've got audio. We may not get to
it today. Hopefully we will, but if not, later. Of
Barack Obama running for office in 2008. And Barack Obama
was an unknown senator. The only thing he'd done is
speak at the convention when they set him up in
2004 because they wanted to launch him eventually. Nobody knew

(07:23):
it would be that fast. And Barack Obama is talking
about things that J.D. Vance is talking about this week,
like American jobs should go to American workers. If you
don't belong here, we need to remove you. If you're
born here and your parents are illegal, we should remove you.
Harry Reid said that as well. So Beto did that

(07:45):
and came within a whisker of winning. But why didn't
he win? For the same reason we can beat Tallarico.
Because as voters stopped listening to the hype by the
Houston Chronicle, good grief have they no shame, by the
Dallas paper, the San Antonio paper, the Austin paper, because
he's an Austin white liberal, he is perfect for them.

(08:06):
As voters started paying attention, and as the Republican candidacy
finally had enough money to spend to combat them and
define him, they realized, this guy's a freak, he's a weirdo.
We're going to talk about alligators and anawaks. Coming up.
Just go ahead and say it.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Sorry.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
The Michael Perry Show. Ramon, you know what you call
an alligator that sneaks up and bites you from behind?
A tailgater. All right, full disclosure. I was asked to

(08:45):
voice a spot. It's not a traditional endorsement over a
long period of time. We require a one-year commitment. If
I tell you that I like something, then I need
to have tried it and we've been with it for
a while and on and on and on. So I
was asked to speak for or to just voice some
spots because I have a soft spot for Anoac and

(09:09):
the Golden Triangle, which I consider still the Golden Triangle.
I said, sure. It's called the Marshmaster Classic. I looked
it up. It's family activity. I thought it was a
great idea. And I was asked, hey, I don't do
pay-for-play interviews ever. And they said, hey, if you want
to talk to somebody from there, we can get you somebody.
And I said, I looked it up again, looked at

(09:32):
the activities, and I said, yeah, because people are looking
for wholesome things to do, and it's cool, and I'd
like to talk about alligators. It just so happened that
the day we planned the interview is the same day
that we finally got the guy, Ralph Fisher, who we've
been trying to get since Frank Beard passed. I was
told that the guy who was the handler of all

(09:53):
the animals on the ZZ Top quote-unquote national tour across Texas,
that he was available.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
Anyway.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Those two are stacked back-to-back. So today is a lot
of animal talk, and I'm looking forward to that. Casey
Hedges is with the Marshmaster Classic at Fort Anoak Park
in Anoak, Texas, which will be September 11th and 12th.
Welcome to the program, Casey. Hey, Michael.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Have we met before, or have we spoken before?

Speaker 2 (10:32):
I know me and Chris Conrad are close, and I
don't know if we got to meet. I think I
barely missed you maybe at one of their events.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Okay, that's why your name is. Are you the one
he does the gator hunt, and then they make your
boots out of it?

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yes, sir. The shoot your boot package, yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Do you know when that's coming up? I know it's
very limited. It may already be sold out, but that's
a cool deal.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
We've got, I think we have, I believe, right around
70 of those packages sold this year. We have a
little bit of availability during the week for that just
because it's only a 20-day season. So weekends book up
pretty quick. Starts on the 10th and ends on the 30th.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
And how does that work? Do you show up that
morning in Anahuac or give me the day?

Speaker 2 (11:17):
So what happens is typically, and I would say 95%
of the time, the hunters, it's like a four-person group
or four people to a group. And it could be
six or seven or whatever, but they go to Republic.
They get sized. They measure their feet. They add on
anything that they want to add on, initials or whatever.
They do that the day before, and then they show

(11:39):
up at Porter's Processing. And Cold-Blooded Outfitters, which is me
and my partner, we take them on the hunt.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
Where is Porter's Processing?

Speaker 2 (11:49):
In Anilac. Okay. In Anilac. It started in 86, and
then I bought this business in 2020. So we've been
doing it. This will be our seventh season, I believe.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Are you married?

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah. I am married.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
I've been married for— What's her name?

Speaker 2 (12:07):
17 years. Lindsay. Lindsay Hedges.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
Okay, I think she reached out to me when you
bought that business. This is all coming back to me.
I think she reached out to me to say, we
bought this if you ever want to talk to Casey.
All right, so anyway, so you show up out there.
You've already gone to Republic Boot Company to get measured
and all that. You show up out there at Porter's
Processing in Anahuac, and then what happens?

Speaker 2 (12:28):
We get together, and we hit the road normally. We
hunt anywhere from Bridge City to– Smith point. So we've
got several different properties, depending on the size of the group, whatever. And, uh,
sometimes we'll be on a buggy. Lots of times we're
in a boat might be in both depending. Uh, and
then we start go, go shooting, you know, it's a,

(12:49):
it's a fun event. You get, you get, uh, you
get the full experience. You get to go out there,
harvest the animal. We ended up probably rebaiting putting different,
you know, seeing a lot of gators, uh, It's one-of-a-kind thing,
and what a story to tell if you're actually wearing
the alligator on your feet that you got to take.
So it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Do you know Stephen Woodard? He's a state DPS trooper.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
I know a bunch of them, but if they're not
close around here, I might not.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Well, he's a black fella. There's not a lot of
them that are black fellas, and he's in front of
the television all the time. He's kind of the face
of the department. Oh, I've seen him.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, yeah, I've seen him.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
He used to be fat, but now he's real skinny.
I think he's on a peptide, but I don't know.
He just sent a picture of him out there in
the cool state trooper vehicle in his cool uniform. This
is before he's as skinny as he is now. And
he's got a gator there, so I'm guessing he must
have come out to visit y'all. That would be my suspicion.

(13:46):
One other fun thing about him, his stepson is D.J.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Hicks.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Who is number five for the Texas A & M Aggies,
and he's like their nose guard. He was a star
player in Katy, and he's a redshirt. I guess he's
a redshirt sophomore by now, but they're expecting this is
his breakout season. So even if you're a longhorn, a cougar,
a horned frog, a bear, you have to root for
number five for the Texas A & M Aggies because

(14:13):
he's a great, great kid, and his dad's a great guy.
All right, so the Marshmaster Classic is, which you can
find at marshmasterclassic.com. Are you the one that puts that on?
Who actually does this?

Speaker 2 (14:26):
So just a little bit of backstory. So we started
the Marshmaster Classic, I believe, four seasons ago, and we
started it off as a, you know, I had the guides,
because a lot of these are, I mean, 99% of
these hunts are run by guides and they're guided hunts.
So we started a little competition, and then it kind
of got stale, and then we decided and finally landed

(14:49):
on the, we give out $ 250 a day here at
Porter's Processing for the Marshmaster Classic. That's the biggest gator
of the day. That's length times weight. And then, you know,
when the Gator Fest got canceled, we decided to start
the 501C3 and it's, the name is actually the Marshmaster Roundup.

(15:09):
The Roundup At the Gator Fest, since it started in 87,
it was called the Alligator Roundup. That's where all the
alligators are brought in so people can see the alligators
that people had harvested. They just called it the Roundup.
So to preserve some tradition, we took the new Marshmaster
and we just added the old Roundup to it.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
But what's cool about this is it's not just a
gator hunt. This is a full-on family event, and I
get emails all the time, and I never have the
answer because I don't go out very much. On stuff
you can do with your family. And there is such
an appetite for that post-COVID. If people want to get out,
get their kids out, talk if you would. We may
be up against a break. But talk if you would

(15:53):
about the family aspect of this. We are up against
a break. Hold with me. Casey Hedges is with the MarshMasterClassic.com.
If you're new to Houston, Anahuac's just down the road
on I-10 East. If you've been to Beaumont, you've been
past Anahuac. It's just up the road. It's a whole
lot of fun, and there's a lot of gators there.
They're nationally known for gators. That's the one.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
You know what you call an alligator who loves watering
his plants? An irrigator. You know what you call an
alligator who's holding a compass? A navigator. Egyptians claim there

(16:45):
are no crocodiles in Egypt. I think they're in denial.
Did you know that alligators can grow up to 15 feet?
But they usually just have four. I could go for
a while. I got a good list here. You want... No? Okay.

(17:07):
Casey Hedges is our guest. Marshmasterclassic.com is next weekend at
Fort Anahuac Park. You know, I've been getting out and
about more, Ramon. Nandita's been planning more stuff, and we've
been getting out and about. And I don't know if
people are getting on my nerves less. It's because I
wear these earplugs, so loud noises don't bother me as much.

(17:27):
But I love... I love family activities. We took our
kids to all sorts of fun stuff like this. The
MarshmasterClassic.com next weekend, the 11th and 12th, the Friday and
Saturday at Fort Anahuac Park in Anahuac, Texas, just down
the road from Houston. Casey Hedges is our guest. So
I went to the website and I saw one of
the things that you can do. This is a family fun,

(17:49):
family friendly activity is the airboat rides, which I can't
find it now. I think they're 15 bucks, which in
and of itself is already cool. Are those American airboats
made out of orange? Casey, do you know?

Speaker 2 (18:02):
So we hired a company named Wetlands, and I believe so.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
It's either that or Patriot.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
I'm not sure, to be honest, which ones are going
to be running.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Well, American is right there on 10. When you're driving
through orange at Simmons Drive on the right, on the
left right there, if you blink, you'll miss it because
they're not screaming that they're there. But I think that's
the largest airboat manufacturer in America. I'm not positive on that.
We had the woman on that owns it. Her dad
was the one that started the whole thing. But that's cool,
the airboat rides. I'm looking at the video of it. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
If you've never been on an airboat, you need to.
It's fun. It's just one of those things that you
don't get to do a lot. And if you get
an opportunity to do it, you need to do it.
It's a fun trip. Where we're doing it at, I mean,
if you've never been to Fort Anahuac Park in Anahuac,
there's really no other park like it. It's for sure
in Chambers County, but, I mean, finding one like it,

(18:57):
I mean, it's on the water. The stage will be
on the water. Obviously, the airboats will be down there.
It's really a neat place to be.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
And then there's a barbecue cook-off Friday night. The tickets
are $ 10. That's it? Well, so, yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
We're having two bands play that night. Friday night it's
going to be the Blue Bonnet Bastards and Moe Cotton,
which are both very, very good. And we'll just charge
a wristband to come in and enjoy the show. But
it is a BYOB event as well, so you can bring.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
Your cooler with whatever you want to drink. I actually
would prefer a BYOB. I'll be completely honest. I'd rather
bring my own booze and my own stuff. and sit
there and not have to, and it makes it a
lot easier for you because then you're not selling the
booze yourself. What else is going on? Fishing, duck calling,

(19:52):
family fun, demonstrations, cook-off, and outdoor experiences for all ages.
I love this. I'm fond of that area. My brother,
when you said Chris Conrad, I thought you were going
to say Chris Berry, my brother, because he was very
involved over there and he knew a lot of the
folks in the Gator community. He was a Jefferson County
Sheriff's Deputy, but But he was very fond of that
area and the people there. And I think the whole
country's gotten to know a lot more about the gator

(20:13):
culture of Anahuac because of the reality TV shows and
all of that, which I think is great.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, this event is– we started putting this event on
not too long ago. I mean, I say we because
it's a big team of us that are doing this.
But it's different than anything else that I've ever been
a part of because– It's truly a community event. Anahuac
is removed from ITN, which is a suburban community. And

(20:45):
so like our youth sports organizations and our volunteer fire
departments and the class of 2029 and all that, they're
all going to be there. selling something of some sort
to raise money for their cause, whatever that is. Like
the NYU Sports Organization, instead of having a carnival, they're
going to have like 11 or 12 bounce houses, like
a rock climbing wall, and they take all their money. So, like,

(21:08):
that keeps the money here instead of the money coming
in and leaving. It's something to really spruce up or
just help our local organizations. Sure.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
Something I'm proud of.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
We're all proud of.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Well, after this storm we just had and the mental
effects of that, I think a lot of people in
southeast Texas are going to be eager to get out
and about and congregate and hug each other and check
on how people are doing. Enjoy some music. Enjoy some barbecue.
Ride on an airboat. I think it's great. I love
stuff like this. Casey, thanks for being with us, my man.

(21:42):
It's MarshMasterClassic.com. MarshMasterClassic.com. Ramon, you ought to take the boys
over there. You ever had alligator meat?

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Huh?

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Have you ever had alligator meat? So my brother couldn't leave.
I don't know if this was Rita. I don't remember
what the storm was. It was a big storm. There
was a big storm that had hit the Golden Triangle.
And so we moved my mom, my dad, my brother's wife,

(22:17):
and his two kids up to Burton, Texas, near Brenham.
And it was the neatest thing for my niece and
nephew because they felt like they were in a foreign country.
It was so different. And they went to the little
school in Burton. And they were evacuees from Orange because
they couldn't stay in the house because it was flooded.
They were evacuees, but I think they thought they were refugees.

(22:43):
They were no more refugees than the asylum seekers who
illegally come to this country and then claim they're here.
So they weren't refugees, but they thought they were. And
they went to the little school there. And they were
treated so nicely, Braden and Bailey. They were treated so nicely.
My mom and dad loved the little town of Burton.

(23:06):
And we would go up on the weekend and my
wife would go up during the week and spend evenings
with them. And we rented a little house there. And
it was the most fun time. But my brother had
to stay back because your deputies have to stay on
duty to keep stuff from being looted by Democrats. And
so one day he's driving down the road. And there's

(23:27):
a wounded gator that someone ran over. Well, the statute
has passed and he's passed as well, so I'll tell
it now. I'm not sure he didn't run the gator
over himself. But apparently you're not supposed to do that.
So the gator has been run over. This is his
story by someone else. So he gets out, walks up
on his half alive, puts a bullet in his brain.
Cuts the whole thing down, takes it to the fire

(23:48):
department and says, hey guys, you can have the gator
if I get some of the meat. And they ate
on that for weeks. It's the best story ever. So
the two things I'm getting the most emails on these days,
outside of traditional political campaigns, is flock cameras and data centers.

(24:15):
Flock cameras are the cameras that have been placed by cities, counties,
private companies on public streets and on private property. And
I think part of the problem is that much of
this was done in a clandestine fashion. I have heard

(24:37):
from people, hey, Michael, what's that camera on, name the spot,
on a public road? Or what are those? I didn't know.
And truthfully, I didn't care much. I started digging and
I found out they're flock cameras. Now, law enforcement will
tell you, without a doubt, you solve more crimes and

(24:58):
catch more bad guys. There is no doubt about that.
And that's important. Civil libertarians will tell you, I don't
want to be spied on. Statists will say, well, you
have no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place.

Speaker 4 (25:14):
Um.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
I don't know how many people feel that that's fair
or accurate or ideal. This is a very, very interesting question.
And some people get angry over questions like this. I don't.
I find it fascinating. In the same way that I
don't root for this or that team in a ballgame,
I find the sport itself, the technique, the strategy, the
performance to be interesting. So I realize this is not

(25:39):
for everybody, but I find the discussion interesting. Same with
data centers. So I came across something, and I cut
and pasted it because I didn't have a subscription, and
I didn't want them to lock me out when I
wanted to read it to you. I later realized I
didn't get the source. So this was printed in USA Today,
which is not exactly a reputable paper to start with,
but I don't know if it's an editorial or not.

(26:02):
So assume it's an editorial in favor of data centers
because it may be, and I'm not sure. All right,
so let me read this to you, and then I
want to read you some very interesting polling data that
just came out. Americans across both political parties have grown
increasingly wary of technological change. Data centers, the infrastructure that
powers artificial intelligence, have become one of the hottest issues

(26:25):
in American politics. Americans are right to wonder whether this
period of rapid innovation will lead us. What's truly worrying
is that these sentiments are, to some extent, being engineered
by our enemies. Alright, so this is an argument they're making.
The debates over data centers, AI development, and other looming

(26:45):
technological innovations have serious consequences. China is hoping we fall
behind because we're scared of growth when we should be
embracing it instead. China is our chief rival in the
AI race, and it has been exploiting Americans' real fears
about technological growth to advance its own agenda. In June,

(27:06):
OpenAI found two clusters of Chinese origin accounts using ChatGPT
to generate social media posts, comments, and images criticizing data
centers and tariffs on China. In August, X uncovered a
bot farm of more than 200,000 accounts, 200 of which
were manipulating American debate over data center policy with memes,

(27:28):
news articles, and other critiques of data center construction. China
isn't the only country trying to undermine American AI ambitions. RT,
the Russian state media outlet, that broadcasts outside Russia, has
been elevating clips from Tucker Carlson and other Americans criticizing
data centers for their power use and the fears they
raise about AI. Foreign nations have grown increasingly savvy at

(27:53):
steering American opinion in recent years. Russia used social media
ads and fake accounts to influence the 2016 election. Now
China is borrowing that same playbook to hold America back
in the AI race, not by undermining a candidate, but
by spreading policy positions meant to slow American growth in AI.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked the FBI

(28:15):
and the White House to brief lawmakers on foreign influence
campaigns targeting AI development and data center construction. Quote, investigations
by the Bitcoin Policy Institute and Power the Future are
have exposed new information regarding how foreign influence campaigns, many
originating from China, have engaged in a coordinated effort to

(28:37):
slow U.S. growth in AI development and the building of
infrastructure supporting AI data centers, the letter states. Pew Research
Center has found that 52% of Americans are, quote, more
concerned than excited, end quote, about artificial intelligence, while 9%
say they are more excited than concerned. A recent Gallup

(29:00):
poll found that seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction
of data centers, the infrastructure that powers AI in their
own area. Debates about the pace and scale of technological
change are natural. They happen every time society faces something
radically new. Americans worried about how the telephone, the internet

(29:20):
and the automobile would reshape their lives just as they
worry about AI today. The biggest innovations tend to unsettle
people first Lately, that unease has turned into policy. New
York passed a moratorium on new data center construction, and
15 other states are considering it. similar bills. Congressman Alexandria

(29:43):
Ocasio-Cortez of New York has floated a national moratorium, citing
the need to review, quote, the economic, environmental, and safety
impacts of artificial intelligence. Thankfully, a federal measure seems unlikely
to survive a Trump veto, let alone a Senate filibuster.
President Trump posted, China could not be happier with this

(30:04):
anti-data center movement. Actually, they can't believe it's happening. China
has every reason to be thrilled with how these debates
are unfolding, regardless of how much of the sentiment can
be traced back to its own influence campaign. The AI
race is no trivial matter. Whichever nation leads in artificial
intelligence will hold the advantage economically and militarily for a generation.

(30:27):
A dominant China would tighten its grip over nations already
dependent on its technology and weaken America's ability to steer
the world toward liberalism rather than authoritarianism. I don't know.
It's interesting. That is clearly an opinion piece. So I

(30:47):
don't mean to suggest that that is someone who is
trying to steer your opinion in a particular manner. I
came across this information. A new poll from Overton Insights,
commissioned by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, okay, so
this is people with presumably their own perspective, is set

(31:09):
to be released later today. It was fielded a week ago.
But here's what it says, this is the top line.
Only 28% of respondents indicated some level of support for
automated license plate readers. Republicans support ALPRs at a 38%
to about 16% for Democrats and independents. Majority of people

(31:33):
do not support these. Data centers fare only slightly better
with 55% of respondents saying they support bans on data
centers in their communities. When safeguards are included, I'll have
to get to that drilling down. Here was the one
that interested me. Women outpace men in their opposition to
data centers. even with safeguards, by 20%, with women opposing

(31:59):
data centers in their neighborhoods at 64%, to men at 44%.
There's a lot more to this data that we'll get
to later. But first, we're going to talk to the
animal handler who handled ZZ Top's animals during the national tour.