March 2, 2026 • 32 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time, time, luck and load. So
Michael Verie Show is on the air. I want to
(00:27):
be clearer because sometimes I run out of time and
I want to be clear that I'm accurate. I read
all the emails, and it was a lot of emails
related to your reactions to Iran and what's going on there.
I started with the minority of emails, which was opposition
to what's going on in Iran. The vast majority were
in favor, and I tried to give voice, although I
(00:50):
was in a bit of a rush, but I wanted
to be clear. It was probably twenty percent against eighty
percent in favor, and of those in favor, in general,
related to a number of things. Each person has a
different thing. One of them was the nineteen seventy nine
hostage taking. One of them was a we're going on
fifty years of Iran's saber rattling and terror causing a
(01:15):
number of folks noted the Irani involvement which was heavy
and consequential in Iraq, including family members of individuals and
individuals who served in Iraq and some who didn't come home,
and Iran's heavy involvement there, and a number of things
on that level, there was the sense by most people
(01:38):
that Trump gave them every opportunity to dial back what
is believed to be their nuclear capability, especially putting that
on a delivery system to make it like an ICBM
where it could do us harm on American Shore America Shores.
Is that true or not? I don't know. I don't
believe anything I'm told. Doesn't mean that everything's a loie.
I just don't believe any of it. I think it's
healthier not to believe of it. And anyway, so now
(02:03):
we get to your calls. I just wanted to be
fair in kind of synthesizing the results. I will be
getting to those emails in the coming days, maybe some
of them today, but I just wanted to be fair
as to where those numbers were coming out. All right, Robert,
you're up, Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So Michael, a little bit outside the box this time.
It's vastly different than what we experienced with the perception
of fear in having to fight against communism.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
That is not what this is.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
This is a fear of a hateful, religious, crazy bunch
of people who want us dead. And I, for one,
I'm over the age of seventy if you were added
up a bunch of us old red nick seventy year
olds and sent us over there, we'd just kill all
of them. So I say, no holds barred. They don't
(02:55):
negotiate in good faith, they never have, and they're likely
never to ever do it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
All right, Robert, thank you for the call.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Mike, you're up, Hey, sir, I am neither four against
the action. But what I really want to understand is
what's the strategic intent? What's the upside for the United
States on this? I just don't get that unless it's
a squeeze play on China and Russia to manipulate energy
prices and deny them Iranian oil.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But what do you say? I sound like a thoughtful
guy who doesn't jump to conclusions. What do you suspect?
I mean, maybe that's is that what you think is
an economic play.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It may be an economic and strategic play. It may
indeed be a portion of an Israel play. I don't know.
I don't get it, and until Trump or somebody in
the administration articulates it for me, I can't support it
or not support it. It's just like, what are we
doing there?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I'm just asking asking mode? So I'm not in any
way trying to advocate. Have you watched much of what
Trump said? Do you feel like he has laid out
the reasoning behind this or not?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
You don't have you watch right?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
No, I haven't watched much of it. I've read more
than i've watched. You know. I like to think I'm
a relatively smart guy when it comes to politics and geopolitics,
and having been in the energy energy industry, it's like,
what's the outside? What are we doing?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Why?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Okay, right, inkes nukes in the Middle East? Who cares?
As we always have nukes, Let them pop them off?
You know, it's it's not our play.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
But you wouldn't count yourself against this. You're just asking questions.
You're unclear.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
The question is why?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Why?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Why not? Why there?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah? No, it's it's interesting. I think one of the
theories would be that one of the theories, whether one
believes it or not, is that Iran is on the
cusp of a point at which you can't go back
because once they have a capability, you cannot disarm them
without considerable costs. Now you're free to believe that or not,
(04:59):
but that's one argument There is also the argument that
the economic argument, as you noted, that this absolutely cuts
China off at the knees. The I don't know if
I can lay my hands on it fast enough. Let
me see if I can. The percentage of China's oil
(05:21):
that they get from Iran is I believe thirty percent
of their total capacity. The percent that they okay Venezuela
is believed to be about four percent of Chinese estimated oil.
Imported oil, I'm sorry, Iran is estimated to be between
fifteen and twenty three percent, so you've got six times
(05:43):
as much. China was very concerned over Trump's involvement in Venezuela.
They have to be apoplectic over Iran. You're talking about
getting close to almost a third of their oil supplies.
Now Elon Musk has come in it, and he's very
big obviously in the electric space. But Elon has commented
(06:06):
sort of in their defense that may sound wrong, but
sort of in their defense, that China is increasing reliability
and production of electricity and getting away from oil, and
I believe that to be true. That's also why they're
spending so much money lobbying in the United States, using
green groups to reduce our oil capacity. We have oil
(06:29):
dominance in the world that is unquestioned. Whether we give
that up because the American left nags us and guilts
us to death funded by Chinese dollars will be a
political decision that we will fight for the next ten
to twenty years and we either win or lose badly
and bigly. But that is the economic factor here is
(06:51):
not to be overlooked. I do think we should note
that there has been a loss of American life. Three
US service members were killed, five others seriously wounded during
Operation Epic Fury, and those are not expendable casualties. Those
(07:14):
are Americans who were serving their country. And I think
in the midst of all of this, I understand that
there are lives lost at war, and I understand that
it might seem tough to say we expect that and
that because it wasn't your kid that didn't come home.
(07:36):
I think that the point at which you make that
seem acceptable and gloss over it. I think you send
a statement to everyone who serves in uniform. Yes, they're
prepared to die, but when they do, we grieve them,
we count them. They are seeing them as young people
like to say all right, your costs coming up seven one, three, nine, nine, nine,
(07:57):
one thousand. If you are concerned about a particular incumbent
losing who you think has overstayed, they're welcome, or a
particular candidate winning because you like what they stand for.
Don't underestimate your own influence. Post to your social media page.
(08:17):
Make it short, succinct, direct, don't wait for engagement. You
may follow accounts that get lots and lots and lots
of engagement, and you may not, but that's not the
reason you do it. You do it because you might
effect vote here and there, and if you drops in
the ocean after a period of time, add up to
(08:39):
be a real movement and a real difference. And remind
people to vote tomorrow seven eight to seven p and
feel comfortable saying these are your choices, and then turn
it off. You don't have to read the comments. People
take criticism far too personally, myself included. You don't have
to do that. And if someone responds to you in
(09:01):
a very nasty fashion, it is perfectly acceptable to block them.
You wouldn't let somebody walk into your office or your
kitchen while you're cooking and tell you what an idiot
you are for your opinion on this or that. You
wouldn't just stand there and tolerate that. You throw them out,
throw them out of your life. Get comfortable throwing them
out of your life. They're not your friend, regardless what
(09:22):
social media calls them. They're another person feeling real tough
behind the keyboard, and you're not required to listen to them.
If people go, ah, oh you block me, I damn
sure did? How do you know? Because if you say
I blocked you, I blocked you because I block people
because I don't need you in my life. You don't
matter to me. You are not important to me. Well,
(09:43):
but yeah, you said something stupid and I don't have
to listen to you. But you need it tough enough. Again,
you're telling me what I need to do. I don't
need to do that. I live my life. I go
to bed, I get up and live my life again.
You're not part of it, and you don't get to
be part of it because I don't want you in
(10:04):
my life. But no, no, that's just it. You don't understand.
You play by different rules than I do. What are
you You're gonna boycott me? Now? You can't. I blocked you.
I say things on the internet, I don't want to
hear what you have to say back. Do you see
the difference. I'm just not that into you, and you
(10:25):
shouldn't be into people who are negative in your life. Period,
end of story. And when you take back that level
of control in your life, you'll be shocked and how
much more productive you'll be. You be shocked at how
much less fatigued you are, how much you dread work less,
how much you dread going to this or that less.
(10:45):
When you learn to say no to negative influences in
your life, you'll be shocked what the weight of the
world is off your shoulders. Ashton, your thoughts on Iran
or other things related there too.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Hey, Michael, I just wanted to give some stark context
to thirty eight.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Okay, there were no Ashton's, and then all of a
sudden there were a bunch of Ashton's. And I don't
know why, if it was a movie or what happened,
but they just Ashton's everywhere.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Yeah, I know, I never never hear any other thing.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
It's like Jeremy, Josh and justin Like there was a
big convention. Women were like, we're gonna get drunk and
get pregate tonight and in nine months Wenn name of
our kids, Jeremy, Justin and Josh and it just happened right. Oh, anyway,
go ahead, Ashton thirty eight. What do you do?
Speaker 4 (11:35):
I actually I work at BUCkies?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Oh which one? Uh?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
It's one of the smaller ones.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Oh you don't want to say which one?
Speaker 4 (11:42):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I shouldn't have asked you that, because now I don't
feel as comfortable. That's on me. No, no, no, this
was not the question, Ashton, go ahead. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
So a little historic context to the whole Iran thing.
I used to be very conservative, but I learned a
lot more that a lot of the conservative foreign policy
is just based on lies. So everybody wants to go
back to nineteen seventy nine and talk about the taking
of the hostages, but they forget about nineteen fifty three
when the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected leader so that
(12:13):
British Patrolum could go back in there and take the oil.
And they had a dictatorship for twenty six years until
they were in and people said, we don't want a
dictator anymore. And then then they took the hostages.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
First of all, you're absolutely correct. It is something that
is not discussed very often. There is there is a
sense that Iran was in a good place in nineteen
seventy nine and the bad people took over. That is
not true. You're absolutely right about what happened in nineteen
(12:47):
fifty three, and there was Western involvement, the British really
leading the charge on this. There was Western involvement that
propped up a fellow that we could control, and that
was Shapaulavi, and I think it was Mohammed race of Paulavi,
and then his son would have originally would eventually ascend
(13:10):
to what was effectively a throne. Had quite a similar
thing happening in Syria at the time, yet a similar
thing happening in a Rock to a lesser extent. But
the Assads were a similar case in Syria as well.
And there was a growing, burning resentment toward Western, British
(13:36):
and American involvement in the region. And there is a
bitter resentment of our influence to this day, not because
of the radical Islamic that rose up out of that,
but because of our involvement in propping up individuals who
were not such good guys, and I think that is
(13:59):
underestimated here, and it is why you know iranis sentiment.
I do not believe the majority in Iranis sentiment was
for homony, the original homony to I like to put
a in my homony that the revolution in seventy nine.
(14:21):
But I do think they had enough public support because
Paulave was considered such a self dealing bastard, which he was.
So we're trying to tell the world now, oh, we
got Paulave out here, he's a really good guy, we
can bring him back. But that's not entirely true. He's
(14:45):
a guy that was willing to do what Western interests
wanted in exchange for getting to keep a lot of
money and all the power. He was a puppet and
he was not necessarily a good leader of Iran. The
older folks who've left would tolerate him going back. But
(15:08):
this is why young people in Iran who don't remember him,
who have only lived under homony and the horrible terror
of that regime, that's why they're excited for change and
don't care who it is. Just yet, Jean bon Jovi's
birthday to day, how old is he? Joe Ramon just
(15:29):
had to leave us. He's having an emergency colonoscopy? Is
it emergency?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Is it? No?
Speaker 1 (15:39):
He is having klonosophy? Isn't he what's he having done?
Speaker 4 (15:41):
You know? Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Okay, well he did have to go to a scheduled
medical appointment. Bon Jovi's only sixty four. Feels like he
should be older than that. Jerry, you're only Michael Berry show.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Go ahead, Jerry, Yeah, yeah, the greetings were NATO sixth country.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yes, sir, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
I think you need to those who don't learn from
history or doomed to repeat. It is a true statement,
and I would be shocked and disappointed if we hadn't
put feeders up to the Chinese saying or assure him,
then we're not going to check with their old supply.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Are you calling from love It?
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Okay, I'm on the tractor here. I'm going to hang
up at listen Victoria show.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
All right, thank you, Jerry. He got nervous. Maybe the
FEDS were on to him. I like a good conspiracy theorist,
old town farmer in a small town. It's my kind
of people right there. Yes, indeed, Lovebook Texas shall Paulavey
went to school in Lovebook Texas at Texas Tech. Interesting
little ted bit. So the question is going to be
(17:05):
after the strikes, what is Iran going to look like?
Is Iraq better for the fall of Hussein? Is Syria
better for the fall of Asad? Was Egypt better for
the fall of their leadership? What about Libya with Kadafi?
(17:26):
Was Cuba better? Although a little more complicated question is
how that overthrow went. You know, one criticism of Trump,
the Democrats have to criticize Trump afe cured cancer. They'd
figure out a way to say, you know that it's
(17:47):
going to increase unemployment at the cancer drug clinic. So
they're going to have to criticize him, whether fairly or not.
So what they're going to do now is you take
so that he may not be able to control that
you can campaign on and you use those to your advantage.
(18:08):
That's a natural trick. And one of those is going
to be the uncertainty over the future of Iran. And
you're talking about a major power militarily, you're talking about
a state run industry of considerable note, talking about a
(18:30):
very strategically geopolitically important country. So you've got a lot
of foreign interest. There is going to be an all
out battle. Questions who the forces are going to be
in it to take control of Iran, And there is
(18:51):
to be clear, there is a massive retinue of people
in this country who are in Trump's ear right now
for us to send your boys to be killed there,
and the way this kind of thing works out there
is a lot of red blooded, corn fat Americans. We're
(19:12):
gonna go over and whoop in my Iranian's ass in
the main, perhaps yes, on the whole, but we're going
to suffer casualties if that happens, and they're going to
be dramatic. We suffered a lot of casualties in Iraq
(19:32):
and for that matter, in Afghanistan at the hands of
the Iranis. This is not a lightweight uh fighting force.
Whatever that fighting force looks like, it can be Afghanistan
where it's balkanized into all sorts of different groups. But
these guys live for war. It's all they've ever done.
(19:53):
They may not be able to write their own name,
but they are worthy adversaries. And go ask the arcas
Latreill in your neighborhood what he thinks of those boys
in the Middle East. It's not a joke. And there
is a retinue of people. It is massive. Who is
ready to start sending MRIs and body bags and fuel
(20:18):
and everything else into Iran. I think it's going to
be easier to eliminate the government than to engage in
the latter phase of regime change. This is where regime
change becomes very dangerous, especially in an election year, because
(20:41):
Trump goes from the success perceived success in the public.
You've got Irani's in the streets of Tehran and basically
every major city is Fahan, you name it, doing the
Trump dance. You've got the pretty girls who've replaced the
pretty Swaling girls, and they're doing the Trump dance and
(21:02):
everyone loves it, loves it, and the people are cheering.
And you've got the Irani's here in la big Irani
community and they're cheering in the streets and in DC
and they're cheering in the streets, and most Americans are
looking around, going, damn, I don't realize there was somebody
y'all here and they're loving America and they're loving Trump,
(21:23):
and that bad guy is gone. Okay. That's easier than
phase two, which is where you talk about who's actually
going to leave the government whatever, Trump does, He's going
to catch hell for what his immediate reaction has been,
much like with Venezuela, is to take the reading of
(21:48):
who do we have the cell phone number for already
and we can have a conversation with to create some
level of stability. And then I'm already seeing New York
Times in Washington Post and these guys saying if they
were so bad that we had to destabilize them, why
would you allow any of them to remain? Not that
(22:11):
they would disagree if Obama did. Then I think Trump
recognizes what happened in Iraq, the complete elimination not just
of Saddam Hussein, but the entire Bath Party. His entire
government was wiped out. You don't simply overnight leave a
(22:32):
vacuum that is filled by good government reformers. If the
entire government is whacked, somebody is going to move in there.
It's sort of like expecting after Sheila Jackson Lee died
that now all of a sudden, the eighteenth Congressional district
(22:53):
deserves a good congressmaney oh oh, Sylvester Turner, Ah, I'm
not sure Sheila wasn't better than not. And then sylvestradize
who we're going to get now Christian Menefee, the guy
that Rodney Ellis groomed to be the congressman, or Al Green,
the guy he after dumping Menifee. So you've got this
(23:16):
guy that's eighty years old, caveman, you know, carrying signs
that say Blacks don't rent or blacks don't Yeah, blacks
don't rent apes or black's rent apes. I guess it
said because the a was covered. I'm not sure you're
getting any level of improvement from that. And the reason
is Iran does not have established institutions. This is where
(23:40):
the fall of America's institutions comes into play. If you're
looking for an analogy, Iran doesn't have universities and political
parties and a political culture for over fifty years that
could establish replacement that has developed a B team. They
don't have that waiting. I think there's going to be
(24:04):
a lot of ups and downs and developments in Iran
over the coming days and months. The overnight success of
this effort will be forgotten by summer. If there is
a civil war, and particularly if America is putting boots
(24:25):
on the ground, and there will be a pull from Iran.
An emotional plea to send our boys and there will
be a push in this country. Irani's living in this country,
of multiple generations, are a very influential group, very very
They are doctors to a lesser extent, lawyers, businessmen, activists, professors,
(24:54):
and there is a deep understandable desire by the way
every group of immigrants who comes to this country and
the generations after it, who identify with their homeland. When
I say that they should not be setting American foreign policy,
that is not to criticize them. That is to remind
(25:16):
you that America is America. It's not a country of
Jews from Israel or Saudis from Saudi Arabia or Lebanese
or Iranis, or Indians or Pakistanis, or Chinese or Japanese
or Vietnamese or Mexicans. That is to remind you that
(25:37):
there are people among us who have a loyalty to
another country, even if it's not a primary loyalty, and
that does not always put America's best interests first. And
one has to be careful of that because most Americans
are walking around without this deep connection to a foreign country.
(26:01):
There are Indians who live in this country whose primary
allegiance is to India, or at least enough of it.
Same is true of Pakistan, same is true of Israel.
The same is true of Ukraine. And we've seen what
kind of mess that can get us into, and you're
going to see that with Iran. The fall of Iran
in seventy nine was a precursor to a lot of
(26:26):
human and financial capital coming to Europe, but especially to
the United States. And they're very, very successful people, much
like the Cubans. A lot of the Cubans are game
in fact, probably more so per capita, and so those
individuals are now going to flex and and they're not
necessarily wrong. We just have to be careful to make
(26:48):
good decisions for this country. We have to we have
to make decisions that are in our best interest a nation.
And it is my favorite prayer that we not put
boots on the ground. That that would be a terrible
terrible thing, a terrible terrible thing, and that would hurt
(27:13):
Trump in the polls. It'll give him a boost and
then hurt him bad. Hey, it's ramon about independence.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
Webster defines independence as the fact or state of being independent,
freedom from control, influence, support, aid, or the like of others.
Let us celebrate today Independence Day. You no doubt know
the stories settlers on New Land, angry at their tyrannical
(27:43):
ruler ruling from far away, an active defiance, a declaration
of independence, fighting a bigger army with the rag tag squad,
a general who was quickly losing his troops to injury, disease, famine,
and an uncertainty from their troops who would wonder if
their leader one worth following. And of course you remember
the river crossing and the final battle that won the
(28:05):
war and changed the United States and her young history forever.
Nothing I can say now will give those heroes the
proper respect or those stories their proper contexts. Those words
are just beyond me. How must it have finally felt,
after losing battles, finally miraculously winning and becoming your own country,
(28:28):
gaining independence, able to govern your citizens as they see
fit and not by the hand of some distant ruler.
Monuments would be built so that generations would know these battles.
Statues erected so generations may be reminded of the soldier's greatness.
And the flag, a mighty flag whose existence represented defiance, pride,
(28:53):
and mostly its independence. And oh what a flag, the red,
the white, the blue, and its sloane star representing the
Republic of Texas. See the United States story of freedom
is a great and powerful story, arguably just as great
and powerful as the story of another band of ragtags
(29:14):
that fought and died for freedom. The general whose tactics
were doubted until that final victory, except this country would
be Texas. Sam Houston was losing his soldiers not just
to sickness and injury, but to doubt too. After retreating
past the Colorado River, many troops deserted. Finally, on April
twenty first, the Battle of San Deracino was fought and
won by the Texians in only eighteen minutes.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
When time came to bring.
Speaker 6 (29:37):
Texas into the United States, it entered as the twenty
eighth state in the Union. Given the US more push
west and upsetting Mexico so much that they declared war
on the United States. The US, with Texas now in tow,
won that war and added an additional five hundred and
twenty five thousand square miles to the United States territory,
including the land that makes up all or part of
(29:58):
present day Arizona in California and Colorado and Nevada and
New Mexico.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Utah and Wyoming.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
Our Declaration of Independence at Washington on the Brazas was
declared on March second, eighteen thirty six, one hundred and
fifty two days after the Battle of Gonzales, only four
days before the fall of the Alamo, in fifty days
before Texas ultimately won her independence. Cacinjasono declaring her independence
and taking her independence in one month and nineteen days later.
(30:28):
Anyone from Texas would expect nothing less from Texas.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Happy Independence Day, Texans.
Speaker 6 (30:35):
God certainly has blessed us and those of you not
lucky enough to live in Texas.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Bless Yell's hearts for Texas would never cross Austin.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Want stop it can.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
If it wasn't for Texas.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
It made me the man I am, thank God for
my whole stomping ground. Wouldn't be standing ride here.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
Riding now.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
If it wasn't for Texas, if it wasn't for Texas,
if it wasn't for Texas,
It's that time, time, time, time, luck and load. So
Michael Verie Show is on the air. I want to
(00:27):
be clearer because sometimes I run out of time and
I want to be clear that I'm accurate. I read
all the emails, and it was a lot of emails
related to your reactions to Iran and what's going on there.
I started with the minority of emails, which was opposition
to what's going on in Iran. The vast majority were
in favor, and I tried to give voice, although I
(00:50):
was in a bit of a rush, but I wanted
to be clear. It was probably twenty percent against eighty
percent in favor, and of those in favor, in general,
related to a number of things. Each person has a
different thing. One of them was the nineteen seventy nine
hostage taking. One of them was a we're going on
fifty years of Iran's saber rattling and terror causing a
(01:15):
number of folks noted the Irani involvement which was heavy
and consequential in Iraq, including family members of individuals and
individuals who served in Iraq and some who didn't come home,
and Iran's heavy involvement there, and a number of things
on that level, there was the sense by most people
(01:38):
that Trump gave them every opportunity to dial back what
is believed to be their nuclear capability, especially putting that
on a delivery system to make it like an ICBM
where it could do us harm on American Shore America Shores.
Is that true or not? I don't know. I don't
believe anything I'm told. Doesn't mean that everything's a loie.
I just don't believe any of it. I think it's
healthier not to believe of it. And anyway, so now
(02:03):
we get to your calls. I just wanted to be
fair in kind of synthesizing the results. I will be
getting to those emails in the coming days, maybe some
of them today, but I just wanted to be fair
as to where those numbers were coming out. All right, Robert,
you're up, Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So Michael, a little bit outside the box this time.
It's vastly different than what we experienced with the perception
of fear in having to fight against communism.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
That is not what this is.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
This is a fear of a hateful, religious, crazy bunch
of people who want us dead. And I, for one,
I'm over the age of seventy if you were added
up a bunch of us old red nick seventy year
olds and sent us over there, we'd just kill all
of them. So I say, no holds barred. They don't
(02:55):
negotiate in good faith, they never have, and they're likely
never to ever do it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
All right, Robert, thank you for the call.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Mike, you're up, Hey, sir, I am neither four against
the action. But what I really want to understand is
what's the strategic intent? What's the upside for the United
States on this? I just don't get that unless it's
a squeeze play on China and Russia to manipulate energy
prices and deny them Iranian oil.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But what do you say? I sound like a thoughtful
guy who doesn't jump to conclusions. What do you suspect?
I mean, maybe that's is that what you think is
an economic play.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It may be an economic and strategic play. It may
indeed be a portion of an Israel play. I don't know.
I don't get it, and until Trump or somebody in
the administration articulates it for me, I can't support it
or not support it. It's just like, what are we
doing there?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I'm just asking asking mode? So I'm not in any
way trying to advocate. Have you watched much of what
Trump said? Do you feel like he has laid out
the reasoning behind this or not?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
You don't have you watch right?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
No, I haven't watched much of it. I've read more
than i've watched. You know. I like to think I'm
a relatively smart guy when it comes to politics and geopolitics,
and having been in the energy energy industry, it's like,
what's the outside? What are we doing?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Why?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Okay, right, inkes nukes in the Middle East? Who cares?
As we always have nukes, Let them pop them off?
You know, it's it's not our play.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
But you wouldn't count yourself against this. You're just asking questions.
You're unclear.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
The question is why?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Why?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Why not? Why there?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah? No, it's it's interesting. I think one of the
theories would be that one of the theories, whether one
believes it or not, is that Iran is on the
cusp of a point at which you can't go back
because once they have a capability, you cannot disarm them
without considerable costs. Now you're free to believe that or not,
(04:59):
but that's one argument There is also the argument that
the economic argument, as you noted, that this absolutely cuts
China off at the knees. The I don't know if
I can lay my hands on it fast enough. Let
me see if I can. The percentage of China's oil
(05:21):
that they get from Iran is I believe thirty percent
of their total capacity. The percent that they okay Venezuela
is believed to be about four percent of Chinese estimated oil.
Imported oil, I'm sorry, Iran is estimated to be between
fifteen and twenty three percent, so you've got six times
(05:43):
as much. China was very concerned over Trump's involvement in Venezuela.
They have to be apoplectic over Iran. You're talking about
getting close to almost a third of their oil supplies.
Now Elon Musk has come in it, and he's very
big obviously in the electric space. But Elon has commented
(06:06):
sort of in their defense that may sound wrong, but
sort of in their defense, that China is increasing reliability
and production of electricity and getting away from oil, and
I believe that to be true. That's also why they're
spending so much money lobbying in the United States, using
green groups to reduce our oil capacity. We have oil
(06:29):
dominance in the world that is unquestioned. Whether we give
that up because the American left nags us and guilts
us to death funded by Chinese dollars will be a
political decision that we will fight for the next ten
to twenty years and we either win or lose badly
and bigly. But that is the economic factor here is
(06:51):
not to be overlooked. I do think we should note
that there has been a loss of American life. Three
US service members were killed, five others seriously wounded during
Operation Epic Fury, and those are not expendable casualties. Those
(07:14):
are Americans who were serving their country. And I think
in the midst of all of this, I understand that
there are lives lost at war, and I understand that
it might seem tough to say we expect that and
that because it wasn't your kid that didn't come home.
(07:36):
I think that the point at which you make that
seem acceptable and gloss over it. I think you send
a statement to everyone who serves in uniform. Yes, they're
prepared to die, but when they do, we grieve them,
we count them. They are seeing them as young people
like to say all right, your costs coming up seven one, three, nine, nine, nine,
(07:57):
one thousand. If you are concerned about a particular incumbent
losing who you think has overstayed, they're welcome, or a
particular candidate winning because you like what they stand for.
Don't underestimate your own influence. Post to your social media page.
(08:17):
Make it short, succinct, direct, don't wait for engagement. You
may follow accounts that get lots and lots and lots
of engagement, and you may not, but that's not the
reason you do it. You do it because you might
effect vote here and there, and if you drops in
the ocean after a period of time, add up to
(08:39):
be a real movement and a real difference. And remind
people to vote tomorrow seven eight to seven p and
feel comfortable saying these are your choices, and then turn
it off. You don't have to read the comments. People
take criticism far too personally, myself included. You don't have
to do that. And if someone responds to you in
(09:01):
a very nasty fashion, it is perfectly acceptable to block them.
You wouldn't let somebody walk into your office or your
kitchen while you're cooking and tell you what an idiot
you are for your opinion on this or that. You
wouldn't just stand there and tolerate that. You throw them out,
throw them out of your life. Get comfortable throwing them
out of your life. They're not your friend, regardless what
(09:22):
social media calls them. They're another person feeling real tough
behind the keyboard, and you're not required to listen to them.
If people go, ah, oh you block me, I damn
sure did? How do you know? Because if you say
I blocked you, I blocked you because I block people
because I don't need you in my life. You don't
matter to me. You are not important to me. Well,
(09:43):
but yeah, you said something stupid and I don't have
to listen to you. But you need it tough enough. Again,
you're telling me what I need to do. I don't
need to do that. I live my life. I go
to bed, I get up and live my life again.
You're not part of it, and you don't get to
be part of it because I don't want you in
(10:04):
my life. But no, no, that's just it. You don't understand.
You play by different rules than I do. What are
you You're gonna boycott me? Now? You can't. I blocked you.
I say things on the internet, I don't want to
hear what you have to say back. Do you see
the difference. I'm just not that into you, and you
(10:25):
shouldn't be into people who are negative in your life. Period,
end of story. And when you take back that level
of control in your life, you'll be shocked and how
much more productive you'll be. You be shocked at how
much less fatigued you are, how much you dread work less,
how much you dread going to this or that less.
(10:45):
When you learn to say no to negative influences in
your life, you'll be shocked what the weight of the
world is off your shoulders. Ashton, your thoughts on Iran
or other things related there too.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Hey, Michael, I just wanted to give some stark context
to thirty eight.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Okay, there were no Ashton's, and then all of a
sudden there were a bunch of Ashton's. And I don't
know why, if it was a movie or what happened,
but they just Ashton's everywhere.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Yeah, I know, I never never hear any other thing.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
It's like Jeremy, Josh and justin Like there was a
big convention. Women were like, we're gonna get drunk and
get pregate tonight and in nine months Wenn name of
our kids, Jeremy, Justin and Josh and it just happened right. Oh, anyway,
go ahead, Ashton thirty eight. What do you do?
Speaker 4 (11:35):
I actually I work at BUCkies?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Oh which one? Uh?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
It's one of the smaller ones.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Oh you don't want to say which one?
Speaker 4 (11:42):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I shouldn't have asked you that, because now I don't
feel as comfortable. That's on me. No, no, no, this
was not the question, Ashton, go ahead. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
So a little historic context to the whole Iran thing.
I used to be very conservative, but I learned a
lot more that a lot of the conservative foreign policy
is just based on lies. So everybody wants to go
back to nineteen seventy nine and talk about the taking
of the hostages, but they forget about nineteen fifty three
when the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected leader so that
(12:13):
British Patrolum could go back in there and take the oil.
And they had a dictatorship for twenty six years until
they were in and people said, we don't want a
dictator anymore. And then then they took the hostages.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
First of all, you're absolutely correct. It is something that
is not discussed very often. There is there is a
sense that Iran was in a good place in nineteen
seventy nine and the bad people took over. That is
not true. You're absolutely right about what happened in nineteen
(12:47):
fifty three, and there was Western involvement, the British really
leading the charge on this. There was Western involvement that
propped up a fellow that we could control, and that
was Shapaulavi, and I think it was Mohammed race of Paulavi,
and then his son would have originally would eventually ascend
(13:10):
to what was effectively a throne. Had quite a similar
thing happening in Syria at the time, yet a similar
thing happening in a Rock to a lesser extent. But
the Assads were a similar case in Syria as well.
And there was a growing, burning resentment toward Western, British
(13:36):
and American involvement in the region. And there is a
bitter resentment of our influence to this day, not because
of the radical Islamic that rose up out of that,
but because of our involvement in propping up individuals who
were not such good guys, and I think that is
(13:59):
underestimated here, and it is why you know iranis sentiment.
I do not believe the majority in Iranis sentiment was
for homony, the original homony to I like to put
a in my homony that the revolution in seventy nine.
(14:21):
But I do think they had enough public support because
Paulave was considered such a self dealing bastard, which he was.
So we're trying to tell the world now, oh, we
got Paulave out here, he's a really good guy, we
can bring him back. But that's not entirely true. He's
(14:45):
a guy that was willing to do what Western interests
wanted in exchange for getting to keep a lot of
money and all the power. He was a puppet and
he was not necessarily a good leader of Iran. The
older folks who've left would tolerate him going back. But
(15:08):
this is why young people in Iran who don't remember him,
who have only lived under homony and the horrible terror
of that regime, that's why they're excited for change and
don't care who it is. Just yet, Jean bon Jovi's
birthday to day, how old is he? Joe Ramon just
(15:29):
had to leave us. He's having an emergency colonoscopy? Is
it emergency?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Is it? No?
Speaker 1 (15:39):
He is having klonosophy? Isn't he what's he having done?
Speaker 4 (15:41):
You know? Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Okay, well he did have to go to a scheduled
medical appointment. Bon Jovi's only sixty four. Feels like he
should be older than that. Jerry, you're only Michael Berry show.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Go ahead, Jerry, Yeah, yeah, the greetings were NATO sixth country.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Yes, sir, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
I think you need to those who don't learn from
history or doomed to repeat. It is a true statement,
and I would be shocked and disappointed if we hadn't
put feeders up to the Chinese saying or assure him,
then we're not going to check with their old supply.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Are you calling from love It?
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Okay, I'm on the tractor here. I'm going to hang
up at listen Victoria show.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
All right, thank you, Jerry. He got nervous. Maybe the
FEDS were on to him. I like a good conspiracy theorist,
old town farmer in a small town. It's my kind
of people right there. Yes, indeed, Lovebook Texas shall Paulavey
went to school in Lovebook Texas at Texas Tech. Interesting
little ted bit. So the question is going to be
(17:05):
after the strikes, what is Iran going to look like?
Is Iraq better for the fall of Hussein? Is Syria
better for the fall of Asad? Was Egypt better for
the fall of their leadership? What about Libya with Kadafi?
(17:26):
Was Cuba better? Although a little more complicated question is
how that overthrow went. You know, one criticism of Trump,
the Democrats have to criticize Trump afe cured cancer. They'd
figure out a way to say, you know that it's
(17:47):
going to increase unemployment at the cancer drug clinic. So
they're going to have to criticize him, whether fairly or not.
So what they're going to do now is you take
so that he may not be able to control that
you can campaign on and you use those to your advantage.
(18:08):
That's a natural trick. And one of those is going
to be the uncertainty over the future of Iran. And
you're talking about a major power militarily, you're talking about
a state run industry of considerable note, talking about a
(18:30):
very strategically geopolitically important country. So you've got a lot
of foreign interest. There is going to be an all
out battle. Questions who the forces are going to be
in it to take control of Iran, And there is
(18:51):
to be clear, there is a massive retinue of people
in this country who are in Trump's ear right now
for us to send your boys to be killed there,
and the way this kind of thing works out there
is a lot of red blooded, corn fat Americans. We're
(19:12):
gonna go over and whoop in my Iranian's ass in
the main, perhaps yes, on the whole, but we're going
to suffer casualties if that happens, and they're going to
be dramatic. We suffered a lot of casualties in Iraq
(19:32):
and for that matter, in Afghanistan at the hands of
the Iranis. This is not a lightweight uh fighting force.
Whatever that fighting force looks like, it can be Afghanistan
where it's balkanized into all sorts of different groups. But
these guys live for war. It's all they've ever done.
(19:53):
They may not be able to write their own name,
but they are worthy adversaries. And go ask the arcas
Latreill in your neighborhood what he thinks of those boys
in the Middle East. It's not a joke. And there
is a retinue of people. It is massive. Who is
ready to start sending MRIs and body bags and fuel
(20:18):
and everything else into Iran. I think it's going to
be easier to eliminate the government than to engage in
the latter phase of regime change. This is where regime
change becomes very dangerous, especially in an election year, because
(20:41):
Trump goes from the success perceived success in the public.
You've got Irani's in the streets of Tehran and basically
every major city is Fahan, you name it, doing the
Trump dance. You've got the pretty girls who've replaced the
pretty Swaling girls, and they're doing the Trump dance and
(21:02):
everyone loves it, loves it, and the people are cheering.
And you've got the Irani's here in la big Irani
community and they're cheering in the streets and in DC
and they're cheering in the streets, and most Americans are
looking around, going, damn, I don't realize there was somebody
y'all here and they're loving America and they're loving Trump,
(21:23):
and that bad guy is gone. Okay. That's easier than
phase two, which is where you talk about who's actually
going to leave the government whatever, Trump does, He's going
to catch hell for what his immediate reaction has been,
much like with Venezuela, is to take the reading of
(21:48):
who do we have the cell phone number for already
and we can have a conversation with to create some
level of stability. And then I'm already seeing New York
Times in Washington Post and these guys saying if they
were so bad that we had to destabilize them, why
would you allow any of them to remain? Not that
(22:11):
they would disagree if Obama did. Then I think Trump
recognizes what happened in Iraq, the complete elimination not just
of Saddam Hussein, but the entire Bath Party. His entire
government was wiped out. You don't simply overnight leave a
(22:32):
vacuum that is filled by good government reformers. If the
entire government is whacked, somebody is going to move in there.
It's sort of like expecting after Sheila Jackson Lee died
that now all of a sudden, the eighteenth Congressional district
(22:53):
deserves a good congressmaney oh oh, Sylvester Turner, Ah, I'm
not sure Sheila wasn't better than not. And then sylvestradize
who we're going to get now Christian Menefee, the guy
that Rodney Ellis groomed to be the congressman, or Al Green,
the guy he after dumping Menifee. So you've got this
(23:16):
guy that's eighty years old, caveman, you know, carrying signs
that say Blacks don't rent or blacks don't Yeah, blacks
don't rent apes or black's rent apes. I guess it
said because the a was covered. I'm not sure you're
getting any level of improvement from that. And the reason
is Iran does not have established institutions. This is where
(23:40):
the fall of America's institutions comes into play. If you're
looking for an analogy, Iran doesn't have universities and political
parties and a political culture for over fifty years that
could establish replacement that has developed a B team. They
don't have that waiting. I think there's going to be
(24:04):
a lot of ups and downs and developments in Iran
over the coming days and months. The overnight success of
this effort will be forgotten by summer. If there is
a civil war, and particularly if America is putting boots
(24:25):
on the ground, and there will be a pull from Iran.
An emotional plea to send our boys and there will
be a push in this country. Irani's living in this country,
of multiple generations, are a very influential group, very very
They are doctors to a lesser extent, lawyers, businessmen, activists, professors,
(24:54):
and there is a deep understandable desire by the way
every group of immigrants who comes to this country and
the generations after it, who identify with their homeland. When
I say that they should not be setting American foreign policy,
that is not to criticize them. That is to remind
(25:16):
you that America is America. It's not a country of
Jews from Israel or Saudis from Saudi Arabia or Lebanese
or Iranis, or Indians or Pakistanis, or Chinese or Japanese
or Vietnamese or Mexicans. That is to remind you that
(25:37):
there are people among us who have a loyalty to
another country, even if it's not a primary loyalty, and
that does not always put America's best interests first. And
one has to be careful of that because most Americans
are walking around without this deep connection to a foreign country.
(26:01):
There are Indians who live in this country whose primary
allegiance is to India, or at least enough of it.
Same is true of Pakistan, same is true of Israel.
The same is true of Ukraine. And we've seen what
kind of mess that can get us into, and you're
going to see that with Iran. The fall of Iran
in seventy nine was a precursor to a lot of
(26:26):
human and financial capital coming to Europe, but especially to
the United States. And they're very, very successful people, much
like the Cubans. A lot of the Cubans are game
in fact, probably more so per capita, and so those
individuals are now going to flex and and they're not
necessarily wrong. We just have to be careful to make
(26:48):
good decisions for this country. We have to we have
to make decisions that are in our best interest a nation.
And it is my favorite prayer that we not put
boots on the ground. That that would be a terrible
terrible thing, a terrible terrible thing, and that would hurt
(27:13):
Trump in the polls. It'll give him a boost and
then hurt him bad. Hey, it's ramon about independence.
Speaker 6 (27:22):
Webster defines independence as the fact or state of being independent,
freedom from control, influence, support, aid, or the like of others.
Let us celebrate today Independence Day. You no doubt know
the stories settlers on New Land, angry at their tyrannical
(27:43):
ruler ruling from far away, an active defiance, a declaration
of independence, fighting a bigger army with the rag tag squad,
a general who was quickly losing his troops to injury, disease, famine,
and an uncertainty from their troops who would wonder if
their leader one worth following. And of course you remember
the river crossing and the final battle that won the
(28:05):
war and changed the United States and her young history forever.
Nothing I can say now will give those heroes the
proper respect or those stories their proper contexts. Those words
are just beyond me. How must it have finally felt,
after losing battles, finally miraculously winning and becoming your own country,
(28:28):
gaining independence, able to govern your citizens as they see
fit and not by the hand of some distant ruler.
Monuments would be built so that generations would know these battles.
Statues erected so generations may be reminded of the soldier's greatness.
And the flag, a mighty flag whose existence represented defiance, pride,
(28:53):
and mostly its independence. And oh what a flag, the red,
the white, the blue, and its sloane star representing the
Republic of Texas. See the United States story of freedom
is a great and powerful story, arguably just as great
and powerful as the story of another band of ragtags
(29:14):
that fought and died for freedom. The general whose tactics
were doubted until that final victory, except this country would
be Texas. Sam Houston was losing his soldiers not just
to sickness and injury, but to doubt too. After retreating
past the Colorado River, many troops deserted. Finally, on April
twenty first, the Battle of San Deracino was fought and
won by the Texians in only eighteen minutes.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
When time came to bring.
Speaker 6 (29:37):
Texas into the United States, it entered as the twenty
eighth state in the Union. Given the US more push
west and upsetting Mexico so much that they declared war
on the United States. The US, with Texas now in tow,
won that war and added an additional five hundred and
twenty five thousand square miles to the United States territory,
including the land that makes up all or part of
(29:58):
present day Arizona in California and Colorado and Nevada and
New Mexico.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Utah and Wyoming.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
Our Declaration of Independence at Washington on the Brazas was
declared on March second, eighteen thirty six, one hundred and
fifty two days after the Battle of Gonzales, only four
days before the fall of the Alamo, in fifty days
before Texas ultimately won her independence. Cacinjasono declaring her independence
and taking her independence in one month and nineteen days later.
(30:28):
Anyone from Texas would expect nothing less from Texas.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Happy Independence Day, Texans.
Speaker 6 (30:35):
God certainly has blessed us and those of you not
lucky enough to live in Texas.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Bless Yell's hearts for Texas would never cross Austin.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Want stop it can.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
If it wasn't for Texas.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
It made me the man I am, thank God for
my whole stomping ground. Wouldn't be standing ride here.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
Riding now.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
If it wasn't for Texas, if it wasn't for Texas,
if it wasn't for Texas,
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