November 12, 2025 • 41 mins
In Hour 2 of the show Jeff O’Brien joins the show to talk about the THC Rules in Minnesota.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Our two Twin Cities News Talk Am eleven thirty one
oh three five FM from the sixty five to one carpet,
Next Day, install studios, flight disruptions. I'm looking at the
Fox News ticker right now. Continue shutdowns not over yet.
The House should vote this evening. Republicans, as you were
hearing at the top of the hour, News, can stand
(00:34):
to lose two votes in the House to get the
government open again. On the show, we've been talking about
a number of different proposals that Trump has put forward
that's causing a lot of Trump supporters to freak out
a bit. Earlier this week, we had the two thousand
dollars tariff dividend checks fifty your mortgages. We'll get to
(00:55):
more of your comments on that here in just a moment.
The H one B visa issue, especially relating to comments
that President Donald Trump had last night with Laura Ingram
in a back and forth exchange, and it was an
interesting flip flop of what you typically hear. Trump was
adding specificity to Laura Ingram more generalizing on the issue
(01:18):
of H one B visas, taking a thirty thousand foot
view on all of these issues. The tariff dividend checks
ends up pushing back on the narratives of Democrats relating
to Trump being cruel over snap benefits for those that
go and buy into it. Fifty year mortgages pushes back
(01:40):
on the democrats continued push for affordable housing dealing with
the housing crisis that we have in the country right
now and the H one B visa, and Trump being
positive about bringing in skill to immigrant labor certainly pushes
back on the continued narratives by Democrats to paint Trap
(02:01):
as a xenophobic racist. We can work out the details
on these later on, and there's pros and cons either way.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I'm just surprised to see the number of.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Individuals that are playing the role of PanicIn in all
of this.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I mean, this is what Trump does, and.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
It's a good opportunity for Republicans to go and when
they have the opportunity to push back on those individuals
online in places now that have become the town square
like x win, those on the left whant to irrationally
go and make all those arguments that I just laid
out herein you have ammunition to push back going. Yeah,
but he's doing ABC and D, which would run completely
contrary to your criticism of the president. Let's get back
(02:41):
to more of your thoughts on the iHeartRadio app Talkbacks
brought to you by Lyndahl Realty.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I'm very familiar with real estate. A fifty year mortgage
would be phenomenal because it will at least get people
into the entry to buy a home right now with rent,
you can't rent a piece of junk for under fifty hundred,
and it would help people get into a home. They
can always pay extra on their mortgage with all the penalty,
(03:06):
so it's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Morean John. Hey, everybody that's commentay on this sounds like
an angry homeowner. I think I'm just going to stick
to rentin for a while.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Have a good.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
One giving people the option to get into a home
and then maybe refinanced later down the road.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Is that such a bad idea?
Speaker 5 (03:33):
Good morning, John, This is Zach again. I'm an IT
and what companies want is they want cheap labor, just
like any other company. And it's not that we have
a lack of skilled IT workers in this country. Companies
don't want to pay what those skilled workers cost, and
each one workers have always driven salaries down in IT
so that's where I really disagree with him on that.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well, and as I mentioned before, that's fine, but nothing's
really changed.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I mean Trump was just simply sharing his view.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
He's already increased the fee to one hundred thousand dollars
for those companies that want to bring in skilled immigrant labor.
I mean all of this is steming from the back and
forth that he had with Laura Ingram on Fox News
last night.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
Republicans have to talk about it, lat.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And does that mean the H one B visa thing
will not be a big.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Priority for your administration?
Speaker 7 (04:28):
Because if you want to raise wages for American workers,
you can't flood the country with tens of thousands, hundreds
of hours.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
And we also do have to bring in talent when
we got.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Many of talent and you know, you don't know, you
don't we don't have.
Speaker 6 (04:40):
Talent in no, you don't have you don't have certain talents,
and you have to people have to learn. You can't
take people off an unimploiment like an unemployment line and
say I'm going to put you into a factory who
we're going to make missiles or I'm going to put.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
How do we ever do it? Before well, you and I.
I'll give you an example.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
In Georgia, they rated because they wanted illegal immigrants. They
had people from South Korea that need batteries all their lives.
You know, making batteries are very complicated. It's not an
easy thing and very dangerous, a lot of explosions, a
lot of problems. They had like five or six hundred
people early stages to make batteries and to teach people how.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
To do it. Well, they wanted them.
Speaker 6 (05:21):
To get out of the country.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You're going to need that, Laura.
Speaker 6 (05:23):
I mean, I know you and I disagree on this.
You can't just say a country's coming in, going to
invest ten billion dollars to build a plant and going
to take people off an unemployment line who haven't worked
in five years, and they're going to start making their missiles.
It doesn't work that well.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Let me come at this clip from Fox News from
another angle relating to my thirty thousand foot view of
all of these different issues. Another takeaway here, and I
made this point earlier, but I really want to drive
it home. Is Trump defending the value of skilled immigrant labor.
(06:02):
It's a really good example of how ridiculous it is
of Democrats and leftists who continue to go and criticize
Trump as being this xenophobic, racist, authoritarian dictator. We'll get
into the latest regarding the Snap benefits here in just
(06:23):
a moment. One of the points that I was going
to make in talking about this is the fact that
the administration went along with two rulings on October thirty
first by judges who said the government must provide at
least partial funding for SNAP. They pushed back on that
because we didn't have a roadmap to deal with SNAP
benefit the benefits being cut off via a shutdown as
(06:46):
long as we had to endure because of Democrats. The
Trump administration didn't ignore the court rulings. They moved forward
and did temporarily until the Supreme Court went and pulled
it back. Did what was required of those judges. That
certainly runs counter to the continued leftist narrative of Trump
(07:09):
again being an authoritarian tyrant, as do all of these
various proposals that Trump has put forward.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And there was another one that I missed.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I got to thank the talkback for reminding me it's
an issue that Trump has brought up that we haven't
even had a chance to cover on the show.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
President Trump floated out another idea. I think four hundred
billion dollars in sub states were supposed to go to
the health insurance companies. Democrats stop that because Democrats receive
a lot of campaign donations from health insurance companies. President
Trump said, why don't we give that to the American
people in the form of health insurance plants that they
(07:48):
can choose. I don't know why that idea isn't out
there anymore.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And again it's Trump.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's Trump doing what Trump does, and that is looking
at things from a business perspective. Democrats even use that
against him when they do the Trump always caves on
or always chickens out the taco Trump always chickens out. No,
it's Trump putting forward ideas, listening to people around him,
(08:14):
and then adjusting accordingly. I've been holding onto this particular
clip for a while. Now it seems appropriate to play
it here. We'll get back to more of your comments
from the iHeartRadio app here in just a moment. I
want to mention too, that we will be talking about
a little bit about the latest regarding snap including here
in Minnesota, just how much grocery stores, especially your rural
(08:38):
areas are dependent on individuals being on snap.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's kind of disturbing.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
We'll also have lawyer extraordinair Jeff O'Brien joining us in
the studio at seven point thirty to get into the
federal shutdown deal that could kill Minnesota's derived A THHC market.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
But let me share this with you. This is actually
from a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I believe Donald Trump of the Oval Office, if I'm
not mistaken, he might have been holding a press conference,
but he shared his views on meritocracy, and I just
really appreciated what the President had to say in this moment.
And again, I think it's appropriate with the conversation that
we're having right now with all of these different proposals
that Trump has been putting forward. They may not all
be the best ideas, but most of the time they're
(09:21):
just starting points, and ultimately Trump is negotiating and suggesting
these particular measures and initiatives from a very genuine place.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
Five six, seven months and many people were shot. And
then the governor gets up and he says, well, we
can handle it. They can't handle it. They don't know
what they're doing. The mayor is grossly incompetent. He's at
a four percent approval rating. In Chicago, he's at a
four percent lowest approval rating, lower than even Deblasio had,
which is hard to believe.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
In New York.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
I thought Deblasio would always maintain that record. But the
Chicago guy is even lower. So I think that we
want safe cities. If you look at d C, you
would right now, Mark, you could go out, take your
family out to dinner. You could walk right down the
middle of the city. There is no crime in DC.
(10:15):
When I got here, this place was a raging hell
hole where people would come from Canada. People would come
from other places and end up getting shot. Nobody's being shot.
The National guardsmen unbelievable. I mean, they are the strong,
tough guys.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You know.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
We want something at the Supreme Court, which is a
big deal. Merit Everything now in this country is merit base.
I didn't think i'd ever see it again. And we
have our soldiers in merit base too, and they're central
casting and they walk through that town and I'll tell
you what, this place is safe. It's beautiful. Now we're
in Memphis and the same thing's happening. You're getting the
(10:52):
reports the bad guys is say, we don't want anything
to do with this, and we're removing many people in DC.
We took out seventeen one thousand, seven hundred career criminals
and sent them back to the countries from which they came,
mostly let out by Biden and his people that had
open border and open border policy. And you know, Canada,
(11:15):
you suffered because of that too, because they come here
and they'd go into Canada also, So we're like a
buffer for that in terms of they Canada suffered greatly
by Biden and the open border, the policy of open
border totally unchecked, totally unvetted, and these people were you know,
if you got five percent, two percent, now you were
(11:36):
getting a lot of bad people. And we now have
a closed the border. You've done well. We have a
closed border, and it's a really closed border. In fact,
for four months, I don't even know if this is possible,
but they this is the figures were released. Zero people
were able to come into the United States from the
southern border.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I wanted to play that because of the comments that
he made regard uarding the merit and meritocracy and as
something that was lost during the Biden administration. We're slowly
getting back to that. The removal of DEI has been
a big part of that. But it also is a
good example and underscores where Trump is coming from when
(12:19):
it comes to so many of the suggestions that he
is putting forward. They're not all going to be great,
not all of them should be implemented, but they're coming
from a very genuine place, and it certainly runs counter
to the typical liberal narratives that you hear about President
Donald Trump as they suffer from their Trump derangement syndrome.
(12:39):
Lack of Snap benefits impacts some small town grocery stores
already on the brink. I'll tell you what percentage of
sales is actually made up of individuals on Snap and
how it's had an impact in some of our rural communities. Also,
Target makes another move on top of their ten to
four plan relating to customer service. I'll let you know
(13:00):
they have planned and what you can expect if you
are shopping at Target. It's all coming up on Twin
City's News Talk Am eleven thirty and one oh three
five FM.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Twin City's News Talk.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Am eleven thirty one O three five FM.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Glad you're with the show this morning.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Are a few more talkbacks regarding a number of different issues.
H one b Visa's Trump's controversial statements. At least you'd
buy some on Laura Ingram last night, the possibilities.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Are all just ideas of fifty.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Year mortgages, tariff dividend checks. Again, I'm going to get
to a few more of your comments from the iHeartRadio app.
Talkbacks to you by Lyndall Realty.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Great morning to you.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
John Trump is merely defending the skilled immigrants that come in,
which quite nicely contrasts the Democrats who thinks that the
immigrant labor coming in is only worth picking raspberries and
changing your hotel sheets.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
As we've heard over the past six.
Speaker 7 (14:21):
Months from the left, you hit the point right on
the head with that analysis.
Speaker 8 (14:27):
On that fifty year mortgage. It's not like people buy
one house and stay in it forever. It's an opportunity
to get into a house and then they can turn
around either a refinance it or be sell it in
ten years. So maybe they didn't get as much equity,
but they've probably got a better financial situation in their
life and they'll move on to their next house.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
People need to chill. Jeez. Thank you Alta for the
talk back. Very much appreciated. All right.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended in order blocking the
SNAP payments amid signals the government shutdown could soon end
and food aid payments resume. The justices did take essentially
the path of least resistance on the issue.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
They ended up.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Side stepping a full legal ruling instead betting that the
federal shutdown woulds and is coming to an end.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
The move lets them avoid weighing.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
In on whether the lower courts were right to keep
the SNAP benefits flowing during the lapse. And again you
had the administration going along with two rulings on Halloween
by judges who said the government must provide at least
partial funding for SNAP, eventually going so far as to
say that recipients would get sixty five percent of regular
SNAP benefits. But it did push back last week when
(15:45):
one of the judges said they must fully fund SNAP
in November, even if that means digging into funds the
government said would be needed and had to be maintained
in in case of emergencies elsewhere. The Supreme Court agreed
to pause that order, and like I said, the system
just isn't designed for a shutdown forcing a situation that
(16:06):
doesn't have a pathway to be created, in this case,
a government shutdown that went on as long as it
did and ended up just creating chaos. And these judges
did this intentionally to create this chaos. Regarding the Snap benefits,
this game as a surprise to me, although once you
read it, you go that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Not good though.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
University of Minnesota research shows that some stores have thin
profit margins as it is, we know this could further
be exacerbated and were by customers not shopping there if
they didn't have Snap benefits.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
One individual who.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Runs the Glen's Supervalue in Winstead, Minnesota, said that his
name is Jordan said, we're kind of curious just how
it would affect our business, you know, since a lot
of people do rely on those benefits. His parents bought
the grocery store more than thirty years ago.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Snap recipients make up ten percent of its sales.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Federal data shows that nearly two thousand people in mccloyd
County alone are Snap recipients. So what happens when people
get off SNAP? I mean, I suppose you would still
have them shopping there potentially, right. It's just sad in
my view that the stores are also so reliant on welfare,
but then again, that may be by design. The University
(17:34):
of Minnesota says that there are two hundred and fifty
rural grocery stores like Glenn's Supervalue across the state. Meanwhile,
the owner of this particular one says they'll continue to
serve the community while the confusion continues in Washington, d C.
And hopefully that ends soon. Speaking of food prices, though,
we'll go to this briefly. We'll talk with lawyer Extraordinator
(17:56):
Jeff O'Brien as he joins me in studio gets himself comfort.
Yesterday we were talking about Target employees and their new
ten four plan. At first I thought the ten four
stood four like ten four like thumbs up. But no,
ten four means if you are an employee and you're
within ten feet of somebody, you have to.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Smile or wave.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
The fore stands for is that if you're in four
feet of somebody, you need to go and ask if
they need any help. I'm just sad that we actually
have to go and put in feet with this at all.
This all should be a given for those working there.
On top of this, though, Target continues to look for
(18:37):
ways to bring customers back to their stores, and they
have announced new price cuts on thousands of products this
month to help families stretch their budgets through the holiday season.
They're lowering prices on some three thousand food, beverage, and
household essential items, from pantry staples to baby products to
make everything everyday shopping more affordable. I don't know about
(19:05):
you might be enough to have me go shop the Target.
If anything, I just want to see if the ten
to four plan actually is working and people are actually
going and doing that. Jeff O'Brien's just staring at me.
Good morning, Jeff, Good morning. How you doing this morning?
Speaker 9 (19:18):
But I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
You got a Target often occasionally on occasion, Okay, maybe
you not should go after the show is over and
we can test it out. You go four feet away
from an employee, I'll go ten and see if we
get a smile in a wave and you see if
anybody asks you for help. Speaking of needing help, some
of our businesses might need help depending on the federal
shutdown deal and what it may or may not do
(19:39):
to Minnesota's hemp derived THHC market. This is why we
have lawyer extraordinator Jeff O'Brien in studio. The spending bill
passed by the Senate that now sits in the House
and should be voted on this evening, according to the
story that I have here from the Minnesota Star Tribune,
would essentially ban hemput base to THCHC products nationally, which
(20:00):
would potentially have in the future a big impact on
this industry. Jeff O'Brien, our lawyer extraordinaire, is going to
help us break all of that down that next If
you have any questions, get your talkbacks into the iHeartRadio
app and we'll play those coming up on Twinsday's news
Talk Am eleven thirty and one oh three five FM.
Speaker 10 (20:22):
It amazes me here every day on every talk show
in the country, we talked about how the government is
screwing a sober but yet we're willing to go along with.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
A fifty year mortgage.
Speaker 10 (20:35):
The people that move in on a fifty year mortgage
or people that can't afford the house in the first place,
and I'll just run it down.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Let me stop here. That's an over generalization.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
And I don't want to pick on any one talkback
regarding this issue. But as far as I know, the
whole fifty year mortgage plan has just been an idea
that Trump has put out there. He's talked about it
some people. There is nothing said in stone yet. Welcome
back to Win City's News Talk Am eleven thirty one
oh three five FM from the six five to one
(21:08):
Carpet Next Day Install Studios. Just backing a bit, backing
up a bit, And this is kind of what I've
been doing with all these various issues.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Just Republicans.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Sometimes we just can't get out of our own way.
It drives me a little, It drives me a little nuts.
I understand everybody's entitled to their opinion. I don't want
to push back on any of that. But again, all
of these issues and suggestions that Trump has had have
just been that. They've just been suggestions while he looks
at ways to go and improve the country and get
(21:37):
us back on track. And clearly the idea of a
fifty year mortgage has ruffled a lot of individuals. Feathers
lawyer Extraordinair, Jeff O'Brien, you want to weigh on the
fifty year mortgage.
Speaker 11 (21:48):
I'll say a couple things. The h you know, if
you want to make people will afford homes. You know,
if you look at in history where the era where
people had big, beautiful homes, there was an income tax.
Speaker 9 (22:01):
So just pointing that out.
Speaker 11 (22:02):
Second of all, if you're going to have some sort
of mortgage reform rather than a fifty year mortgage, let's
let's make assumable mortgages more accepted, so that if I
want to sell my house with my three point eight
seven five interest rate, someone can buy it and stay
at a three point eight seven five interest rate versus
a fifty year mortgage at a seven or eight percent
(22:24):
interest rate. I think that will do much more to
stimulate the housing market if people can buy houses that
have very low interest rates already locked in.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Just the thought everybody's just so so amped up.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
You know, people needed a partake, and we'll maybe some
more THHC products, although if things move forward, you may
not be able to do that. So Lyric Short and
Air Jeff O'Brien has joined us in studio. This broke yesterday.
Every single news outlet has a story on this. So
Minnesota's pioneering THC industry, according to the to the Star
(23:03):
Tribune could collapse if a provision included in the deal
to end the federal government shutdown becomes law. Let's just
say this upfront, and they do say this in the
third paragraph here. The federal measure, if passed, would take
effect one year after enactment.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
So, I guess my first question for.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
You is is there a lot of unnecessary freak out
going on regarding this given that there's a year window,
or is this because it would have such a dramatic
impact it would take a year for these businesses to
get their affairs in order.
Speaker 11 (23:34):
Well, I think it's good that there's some level of
freak out about it, so that the consumers that use
these products contact their elected officials in Washington and demand
that they do something about this overall in the next
year and just and you know, this is one of
(23:55):
those areas, probably one of the rare areas where Minnesota
actually got something right ahead of other states. And Minnesota
has been the model for this of regulating these these
hemp derived THHC products similar to what you would do
with cannabis. And so for those that maybe don't track
(24:16):
this as closely as those of us that are working
with folks in the industry. There are states that don't
have that type of system, and so some of what
the reasoning behind closing this loophole, and it's referred to
as a loophole, it was it was the twenty eighteen
Farm Bill exempted out these products from the definition of cannabis,
(24:38):
which you know it was originally it was Senator McConnell
that was that was spurring this on to get an
industrial the industrial hemp industry in his state boosted, you know,
to be able to take off without being considered making
illegal products. It led to this market and ironically it's
(24:58):
Senator McConnell that slips this provision into the reopen bill
to basically close this loophole.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, so this is what this is how it breaks down.
So the bill that passed the Senate on Monday, the
House is going to vote on it tonight and includes
language that would effectively ban hemp products containing more than
zero point four milligrams of THC. That's the psychoactive ingredient
in cannabis. It's different from your CBD. The limit with
(25:31):
outlaw intoxicating hemp based products in Minnesota, which allows edibles
containing up to five milligrams of THHD per serving and
beverages containing up to ten milligrams. And so for those
that aren't aware, there have been shops where you can
go smoke shops and otherwise and you call them headshops whatever,
(25:53):
where you can go and buy various tobacco products and
bongs and you know who goes and things of that nature.
But they also sold these these gummies and products that
have specifically Delta eight and Delta nine. These are the
things that were regulated differently apart from your more straightforward marijuana.
It's a less potent version of what you'd get in
(26:15):
regular in regular marijuana products and therefore hadn't been hadn't
gone through the process of the legalization.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Right, this is completely separate from the legalizations correct of marijuana.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
So you already have businesses out there that have been
selling these products for a very long time. This bill
would essentially do what to those businesses that aren't currently
selling your more legalized recreational marijuana.
Speaker 11 (26:39):
For those that are, let's take a Minnesota example, we
just closed the license application window for what we call
low potency hemp edible licenses manufacturing wholesale and retail. And
so you know, a couple of years ago, when these
products were made legal in Minnesota, a business that was
(27:01):
making them or selling them had to register with the
state to inform to put them on notice that they
were making or selling these products, so that the state
had a chance to you know, inspect their premises or
inspect their products and you know, ensure that they were
in compliance with the law. The light when the license
window opened, those that were registered that applied for a
(27:24):
license could continue to sell while their license application is pending.
If you stop, if you didn't apply for a license,
you have to stop selling.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Products. Right when did that?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So the license the licensing on those particular products just started.
And these are the these were the secondary to recreational
marijuana now and just to reiterate that was a part
of the legalization of recreational marijuana was that was the
bringing those particular products.
Speaker 11 (27:53):
Well, there was one statute that previously allowed the sale
of the legal hemp products, the adult use can. This
law brought them all under one would ultimately created a
path put everything under one system, have it regulated by
the Office of Cannabis Management. And there is a type
of cannabis business license, the micro business that does allow
(28:15):
anabi like a retail cannabis dispensary to also sell hemp products.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
And they're the same way.
Speaker 11 (28:20):
While their license, while their final approval is pending, they
if they were registered, they can continue to sell these products.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
So and just to make sure everybody's aware those products
prior to the legalization of recreational marijuana, those were available
and could only be purchased by those that were over
twenty one.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
That was already correct.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
So was there any attempt to keep them separated, to
keep the recreational marijuana separate from these other products, in
which case those that are currently selling them didn't have
to bother getting a license since they were already selling
these products.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It seems like.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
We were creating more of a burden on those businesses
that had already shown to be reputable businesses and selling
these products by including them with recreational marijuana.
Speaker 11 (29:04):
Well, it's it's it's a recognition that it is. It's
the hemp products are they're they're kind of a hybrid
and and you know, at our firm, we we we
kind of treat them as kind of this this standalone
thing because you want to say that it's a close
cousin to cannabis, but you also have all these uh,
you know, small breweries making the hemp beverages, right, and
(29:26):
so they it really kind of spans these two regulated industries,
and and and and there's and AND's and and there's
differenting opinions. Like the fight that we're having at the
federal level, you have it's it's it's largely you have
the cannabis industry and the alcohol beverage industry questioning why
they have to be so heavily regulated, but this these
(29:49):
hemp products and and like I said, for those in Minnesota,
it's it's you're probably questioning what the heck is going
on because you there, we do have this regular tory system.
Texas has adopted something similar to US. Minnesota has become
the model for this at the state level that are
adopting a regulatory system and a licensing system. But there
(30:12):
are states where that's not the case. And that's what
the concern or the opposition has been is why do
they get to run around being completely unregulated where we
have to jump through all these hoops and have to
deal with all these other issues as part of our business.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
So with the change in this law, and let's discuss
this from an angle of instead of a year from now.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Let's just say it starts on Monday. Okay, So if.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
This ban's products that contain more than zero point four
milligrams of THC, what happens to those businesses that are
already selling these products that contain the five milligrams per
serving or ten milig and beverages. How would they go
about to continue to sell those products? Would they then
(31:05):
have to get a recreational license to do so?
Speaker 11 (31:09):
Not in Minnesota, because Minnesota has carved out these low
potency HEMP cedible licenses. What happens, though, is from the
it curtails this, you know, the selling and distribution of
these products into other states. Because if it's if those
products that are say five and ten milligrams are now
illegal under federal law, right now, you have the same
(31:32):
interstate commerce issues that cannabis does. So here, you know,
in Minnesota legalizing adult used cannabis, it means that it's large,
it's going to be sold within the state of Minnesota.
Right you can't sell, you can't transport cannabis across state
lines into Wisconsin or Iowa or any other state because
it's illegal under federal law, it's a crime to do that.
(31:55):
It's not a crime if it's if it's if it's
moved around here in Minnesota, which is its legal life
and has a licensing system. So what it does, and
it also there's a nasty tax effect from this. Where
you know a cannabis business, there's a code section called
two ADE which doesn't allow cannabis businesses to deduct a
lot of costs and expenses from their revenue.
Speaker 9 (32:16):
So they get hit with a nasty tax.
Speaker 11 (32:19):
If at the federal level they're treating these five and
ten milligram products the same as cannabis right now, those
businesses will similarly be hit. So these these the problem
we have here, John, is there's businesses that have invested
a lot of capital in equipment and labor and everything else,
knowing that they can scale these this this these businesses
(32:41):
up and sell into other states, and this is now
they're going to curtail their sales by doing this.
Speaker 12 (32:48):
Now, aren't we already by legalizing recreational marijuana here in Minnesota,
aren't we in that case also pushing back against.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
The federal law. Yes, so technically they should still be
able to sell.
Speaker 11 (33:08):
Yeah, for the for the Minnesota consumer, this shouldn't affect
your ability to obtain those products. But for if the
business is struggling financially because of all these other constraints
that have now put on it, they may not be
able to produce and sell these products.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
So okay, So how would it end up killing And
I know we're going I'm just trying to break it
all down because this seems really confusing. How would it
ultimately end up killing these businesses if they're now pushing
back against federal law, but we are also pushing back
against federal law by selling recreational marijuana products, in which
case I would just argue that, well, if we're already
(33:45):
selling them over here, we already have it established, then
we can continue to push back against federal law in
selling these hemp derived products that aren't technically your recreational marijuana.
Speaker 9 (33:56):
Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 11 (33:58):
The issue is you have these these businesses that were
you know, started predicated on these products being legal. Okay,
and there's certain you know, you know you can they
may have been able to obtain financing a bank loan,
you know they aren't. They're they're having bank accounts, all
(34:21):
these things you know e said the tax issue and
those things all go away when it's now a business
that's prohibited by federal laws. So in terms of killing
the industry, it's in theory. Yeah, the products may still
be here, but the the but for the fact that
those that are making it are going to be in
(34:43):
a lot of it's going to create financial issues for
the businesses and and and threaten their existence.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Why is it not creating those financial Why is it
not creating those same issues for those that are going
to are going to go and open up, say, recordtional
marijuana dispensary.
Speaker 11 (35:01):
Because the people going into the marijuana business already know
what the parameters and restrictions are going in and their
business model they're financing. Everything that they're doing is taking
that into account. Where with the hemp industry, it's almost
like the rug's been pulled out from Katham.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
All right, let's go to this question here from the
iHeartRadio app talking with lawyer extraordinair Jeff O'Brien this morning.
Speaker 13 (35:26):
Hi, John, could you ask if this change will affect
the food products that are derived from hemp non THHC,
like hemp seeds and oils and that sort of thing.
Speaker 11 (35:45):
There's always been some portions of the hemp plant that
have been allowed for various things. So as long as
there's if it's if it's not, if the THHC content is,
if it's non THCHC, this provision shouldn't affect them.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Party John.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
On the marijuana, it's hard to hear.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Let me read, let me read the talk back here
they say on marijuana, the selling aspect of this. Everybody's
growing their own, they say, I haven't. But I haven't
seen or heard a single friend or anybody who's going
to a dispensary. Obviously you can't get anything anyways. But
everyone's either growing their own or is everyone's getting their
own or growing their own. The market's never going to
(36:27):
take off. Let me just back up here real quick.
I completely disagree with that. There are I can I
can name three different businesses within a two mile radius
of my home that sells these derived to products and
people go and purchase them, purchase them all the time.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
I mean, this is they've been a big business.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
They've been big business.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (36:47):
If the point that the caller was making about the
cannabis businesses that are now opening up, that that's not
going to be the demand there.
Speaker 9 (36:56):
Well, we don't know yet. The time will tell.
Speaker 11 (36:58):
They're they're only now being you know, being approved and
coming online and being.
Speaker 9 (37:02):
Able to sell product.
Speaker 11 (37:03):
So this is the first time that we've had you know,
full spectrum cannabis products being available to Minnesota consumers. So
I guess the jury still out as to or this
is all going to break down between hemp derived THHC
and cannabis.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
But there are certainly plenty of people that are going
and purchasing these secondary products. For lack of a better
way to describe them, I mean, and you go into
there was actually a quote from Top ten Liquors in here,
which is near my house, and they sell these the
beverages that have these products.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Let's go here to this talk about We've.
Speaker 14 (37:34):
Asked mister O'Brien if he knows if and when the
federal government will change the scheduling of THC so that
consumers like myself with safety sensitive jobs don't have to
fear of losing their jobs or having to go through
the SAP process.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, that's another aspect of as we haven't talked about yet,
and that is potentially what Trump could actually do relating
to marijuana.
Speaker 11 (37:55):
I will say this, I think there's a growing push
to allow the states to regulate these industries, and industry
is being both cannabis and hemp. I saw the night
of the vote in the Senate. I saw Ted Cruz
put out a post on x saying we should follow
the lead of my home state and regulate.
Speaker 9 (38:14):
Let the states regulate this and get the federal government
out of it.
Speaker 11 (38:17):
I saw Dan Congressman Dan Crenshaw say something similar. It'll
be interesting to see the House vote today. I was
talking with a colleague of mine who is like the
foremost expert on the hemp beverage laws in the country.
Speaker 9 (38:29):
She thinks it might.
Speaker 11 (38:30):
She said, I'd put the chances at ten percent that
somehow this there's a hiccup in the House and the
approval of the cr over this issue. My guess would be,
if anybody's going to start going to light the fire,
it's going to be Thomas Massey, being he's from Kentucky
too and kind of a kindred spirit with Rand Paul
that he may be the one to to you know,
force some sort of a you know, a vote or
(38:53):
something in the House on on this.
Speaker 9 (38:56):
But you know, it's in terms of the risk scheduling.
Speaker 11 (39:00):
I've said this many times publicly, and I'll say it
on the air here. I believe that the President has
made the decision to move it to Schedule three. That's
all the reports I hear, and that it's sometime between
now in the midterms, and he's simply waiting for when
it will incur maximum political benefit to make the change.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Yeah, And whether or not this particular issue was I
kind of doubt that this is particularly the issue or
go and do it.
Speaker 11 (39:26):
I think I think that, you know, I think there's
some some talk about, you know, trying to read the vote,
you know, the who was voting for what here. I
think there's a push to get this, this cr this
continuing resolution through before the Democrats in the Senate get
cold feet because of the revolt that's happening from their
(39:47):
party right now on what they agreed to. Right so,
there's a push to get this quickly done. The fact
that they put the one year deferment in there is
giving a window for a further negotiations, further policy making
at the federal level to have some sort of regulatory
(40:07):
system or some way of dealing with this other than
this outright ban.
Speaker 9 (40:13):
And I think they're going to revisit.
Speaker 11 (40:15):
And you know, we were talking actually in preparation of this,
and I was joking that because the reason, the reason
McConnell is for this, you know, Mitch McConnell is retiring.
He and I was told he has a library at
at the University of Louisville.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
I'll tell you what. Hold on, Okay, hold that thought.
All right, Yeah, I want you to hang out here
for just a moment because I want you to tell
the story. Okay, And looking at the clock, we have
a few more comments and questions that come in and
I actually have one too, and I definitely want.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Everyone to hear this story.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
So Lawyer Sterner, Jeff O'Brien joins this in studio, is
gonna hang out a little bit longer as we continue
to break this down. And again this is because it
kind of came as a shock to everybody that this
federal shutdown bill could end up having a major impact
on a lot of businesses here in Minnesota. And these
businesses are really concerned about whether or not they're going
(41:01):
to be able to stay in business if this particular
provision passes the bill.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
We'll get into more of this coming up.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Any comments or questions that you have, get those into
the iHeartRadio app Talkbacks. It's win City's News Talk AM
eleven thirty and one oh three five FM.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Good morning, and I love your show.
Our two Twin Cities News Talk Am eleven thirty one
oh three five FM from the sixty five to one carpet,
Next Day, install studios, flight disruptions. I'm looking at the
Fox News ticker right now. Continue shutdowns not over yet.
The House should vote this evening. Republicans, as you were
hearing at the top of the hour, News, can stand
(00:34):
to lose two votes in the House to get the
government open again. On the show, we've been talking about
a number of different proposals that Trump has put forward
that's causing a lot of Trump supporters to freak out
a bit. Earlier this week, we had the two thousand
dollars tariff dividend checks fifty your mortgages. We'll get to
(00:55):
more of your comments on that here in just a moment.
The H one B visa issue, especially relating to comments
that President Donald Trump had last night with Laura Ingram
in a back and forth exchange, and it was an
interesting flip flop of what you typically hear. Trump was
adding specificity to Laura Ingram more generalizing on the issue
(01:18):
of H one B visas, taking a thirty thousand foot
view on all of these issues. The tariff dividend checks
ends up pushing back on the narratives of Democrats relating
to Trump being cruel over snap benefits for those that
go and buy into it. Fifty year mortgages pushes back
(01:40):
on the democrats continued push for affordable housing dealing with
the housing crisis that we have in the country right
now and the H one B visa, and Trump being
positive about bringing in skill to immigrant labor certainly pushes
back on the continued narratives by Democrats to paint Trap
(02:01):
as a xenophobic racist. We can work out the details
on these later on, and there's pros and cons either way.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I'm just surprised to see the number of.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Individuals that are playing the role of PanicIn in all
of this.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I mean, this is what Trump does, and.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
It's a good opportunity for Republicans to go and when
they have the opportunity to push back on those individuals
online in places now that have become the town square
like x win, those on the left whant to irrationally
go and make all those arguments that I just laid
out herein you have ammunition to push back going. Yeah,
but he's doing ABC and D, which would run completely
contrary to your criticism of the president. Let's get back
(02:41):
to more of your thoughts on the iHeartRadio app Talkbacks
brought to you by Lyndahl Realty.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I'm very familiar with real estate. A fifty year mortgage
would be phenomenal because it will at least get people
into the entry to buy a home right now with rent,
you can't rent a piece of junk for under fifty hundred,
and it would help people get into a home. They
can always pay extra on their mortgage with all the penalty,
(03:06):
so it's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Morean John. Hey, everybody that's commentay on this sounds like
an angry homeowner. I think I'm just going to stick
to rentin for a while.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Have a good.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
One giving people the option to get into a home
and then maybe refinanced later down the road.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Is that such a bad idea?
Speaker 5 (03:33):
Good morning, John, This is Zach again. I'm an IT
and what companies want is they want cheap labor, just
like any other company. And it's not that we have
a lack of skilled IT workers in this country. Companies
don't want to pay what those skilled workers cost, and
each one workers have always driven salaries down in IT
so that's where I really disagree with him on that.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well, and as I mentioned before, that's fine, but nothing's
really changed.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I mean Trump was just simply sharing his view.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
He's already increased the fee to one hundred thousand dollars
for those companies that want to bring in skilled immigrant labor.
I mean all of this is steming from the back and
forth that he had with Laura Ingram on Fox News
last night.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
Republicans have to talk about it, lat.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And does that mean the H one B visa thing
will not be a big.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Priority for your administration?
Speaker 7 (04:28):
Because if you want to raise wages for American workers,
you can't flood the country with tens of thousands, hundreds
of hours.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
And we also do have to bring in talent when
we got.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Many of talent and you know, you don't know, you
don't we don't have.
Speaker 6 (04:40):
Talent in no, you don't have you don't have certain talents,
and you have to people have to learn. You can't
take people off an unimploiment like an unemployment line and
say I'm going to put you into a factory who
we're going to make missiles or I'm going to put.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
How do we ever do it? Before well, you and I.
I'll give you an example.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
In Georgia, they rated because they wanted illegal immigrants. They
had people from South Korea that need batteries all their lives.
You know, making batteries are very complicated. It's not an
easy thing and very dangerous, a lot of explosions, a
lot of problems. They had like five or six hundred
people early stages to make batteries and to teach people how.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
To do it. Well, they wanted them.
Speaker 6 (05:21):
To get out of the country.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
You're going to need that, Laura.
Speaker 6 (05:23):
I mean, I know you and I disagree on this.
You can't just say a country's coming in, going to
invest ten billion dollars to build a plant and going
to take people off an unemployment line who haven't worked
in five years, and they're going to start making their missiles.
It doesn't work that well.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Let me come at this clip from Fox News from
another angle relating to my thirty thousand foot view of
all of these different issues. Another takeaway here, and I
made this point earlier, but I really want to drive
it home. Is Trump defending the value of skilled immigrant labor.
(06:02):
It's a really good example of how ridiculous it is
of Democrats and leftists who continue to go and criticize
Trump as being this xenophobic, racist, authoritarian dictator. We'll get
into the latest regarding the Snap benefits here in just
(06:23):
a moment. One of the points that I was going
to make in talking about this is the fact that
the administration went along with two rulings on October thirty
first by judges who said the government must provide at
least partial funding for SNAP. They pushed back on that
because we didn't have a roadmap to deal with SNAP
benefit the benefits being cut off via a shutdown as
(06:46):
long as we had to endure because of Democrats. The
Trump administration didn't ignore the court rulings. They moved forward
and did temporarily until the Supreme Court went and pulled
it back. Did what was required of those judges. That
certainly runs counter to the continued leftist narrative of Trump
(07:09):
again being an authoritarian tyrant, as do all of these
various proposals that Trump has put forward.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And there was another one that I missed.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I got to thank the talkback for reminding me it's
an issue that Trump has brought up that we haven't
even had a chance to cover on the show.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
President Trump floated out another idea. I think four hundred
billion dollars in sub states were supposed to go to
the health insurance companies. Democrats stop that because Democrats receive
a lot of campaign donations from health insurance companies. President
Trump said, why don't we give that to the American
people in the form of health insurance plants that they
(07:48):
can choose. I don't know why that idea isn't out
there anymore.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And again it's Trump.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's Trump doing what Trump does, and that is looking
at things from a business perspective. Democrats even use that
against him when they do the Trump always caves on
or always chickens out the taco Trump always chickens out. No,
it's Trump putting forward ideas, listening to people around him,
(08:14):
and then adjusting accordingly. I've been holding onto this particular
clip for a while. Now it seems appropriate to play
it here. We'll get back to more of your comments
from the iHeartRadio app here in just a moment. I
want to mention too, that we will be talking about
a little bit about the latest regarding snap including here
in Minnesota, just how much grocery stores, especially your rural
(08:38):
areas are dependent on individuals being on snap.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's kind of disturbing.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
We'll also have lawyer extraordinair Jeff O'Brien joining us in
the studio at seven point thirty to get into the
federal shutdown deal that could kill Minnesota's derived A THHC market.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
But let me share this with you. This is actually
from a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I believe Donald Trump of the Oval Office, if I'm
not mistaken, he might have been holding a press conference,
but he shared his views on meritocracy, and I just
really appreciated what the President had to say in this moment.
And again, I think it's appropriate with the conversation that
we're having right now with all of these different proposals
that Trump has been putting forward. They may not all
be the best ideas, but most of the time they're
(09:21):
just starting points, and ultimately Trump is negotiating and suggesting
these particular measures and initiatives from a very genuine place.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
Five six, seven months and many people were shot. And
then the governor gets up and he says, well, we
can handle it. They can't handle it. They don't know
what they're doing. The mayor is grossly incompetent. He's at
a four percent approval rating. In Chicago, he's at a
four percent lowest approval rating, lower than even Deblasio had,
which is hard to believe.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
In New York.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
I thought Deblasio would always maintain that record. But the
Chicago guy is even lower. So I think that we
want safe cities. If you look at d C, you
would right now, Mark, you could go out, take your
family out to dinner. You could walk right down the
middle of the city. There is no crime in DC.
(10:15):
When I got here, this place was a raging hell
hole where people would come from Canada. People would come
from other places and end up getting shot. Nobody's being shot.
The National guardsmen unbelievable. I mean, they are the strong,
tough guys.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You know.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
We want something at the Supreme Court, which is a
big deal. Merit Everything now in this country is merit base.
I didn't think i'd ever see it again. And we
have our soldiers in merit base too, and they're central
casting and they walk through that town and I'll tell
you what, this place is safe. It's beautiful. Now we're
in Memphis and the same thing's happening. You're getting the
(10:52):
reports the bad guys is say, we don't want anything
to do with this, and we're removing many people in DC.
We took out seventeen one thousand, seven hundred career criminals
and sent them back to the countries from which they came,
mostly let out by Biden and his people that had
open border and open border policy. And you know, Canada,
(11:15):
you suffered because of that too, because they come here
and they'd go into Canada also, So we're like a
buffer for that in terms of they Canada suffered greatly
by Biden and the open border, the policy of open
border totally unchecked, totally unvetted, and these people were you know,
if you got five percent, two percent, now you were
(11:36):
getting a lot of bad people. And we now have
a closed the border. You've done well. We have a
closed border, and it's a really closed border. In fact,
for four months, I don't even know if this is possible,
but they this is the figures were released. Zero people
were able to come into the United States from the
southern border.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I wanted to play that because of the comments that
he made regard uarding the merit and meritocracy and as
something that was lost during the Biden administration. We're slowly
getting back to that. The removal of DEI has been
a big part of that. But it also is a
good example and underscores where Trump is coming from when
(12:19):
it comes to so many of the suggestions that he
is putting forward. They're not all going to be great,
not all of them should be implemented, but they're coming
from a very genuine place, and it certainly runs counter
to the typical liberal narratives that you hear about President
Donald Trump as they suffer from their Trump derangement syndrome.
(12:39):
Lack of Snap benefits impacts some small town grocery stores
already on the brink. I'll tell you what percentage of
sales is actually made up of individuals on Snap and
how it's had an impact in some of our rural communities. Also,
Target makes another move on top of their ten to
four plan relating to customer service. I'll let you know
(13:00):
they have planned and what you can expect if you
are shopping at Target. It's all coming up on Twin
City's News Talk Am eleven thirty and one oh three
five FM.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Twin City's News Talk.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Am eleven thirty one O three five FM.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Glad you're with the show this morning.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Are a few more talkbacks regarding a number of different issues.
H one b Visa's Trump's controversial statements. At least you'd
buy some on Laura Ingram last night, the possibilities.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Are all just ideas of fifty.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Year mortgages, tariff dividend checks. Again, I'm going to get
to a few more of your comments from the iHeartRadio app.
Talkbacks to you by Lyndall Realty.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Great morning to you.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
John Trump is merely defending the skilled immigrants that come in,
which quite nicely contrasts the Democrats who thinks that the
immigrant labor coming in is only worth picking raspberries and
changing your hotel sheets.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
As we've heard over the past six.
Speaker 7 (14:21):
Months from the left, you hit the point right on
the head with that analysis.
Speaker 8 (14:27):
On that fifty year mortgage. It's not like people buy
one house and stay in it forever. It's an opportunity
to get into a house and then they can turn
around either a refinance it or be sell it in
ten years. So maybe they didn't get as much equity,
but they've probably got a better financial situation in their
life and they'll move on to their next house.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
People need to chill. Jeez. Thank you Alta for the
talk back. Very much appreciated. All right.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended in order blocking the
SNAP payments amid signals the government shutdown could soon end
and food aid payments resume. The justices did take essentially
the path of least resistance on the issue.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
They ended up.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Side stepping a full legal ruling instead betting that the
federal shutdown woulds and is coming to an end.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
The move lets them avoid weighing.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
In on whether the lower courts were right to keep
the SNAP benefits flowing during the lapse. And again you
had the administration going along with two rulings on Halloween
by judges who said the government must provide at least
partial funding for SNAP, eventually going so far as to
say that recipients would get sixty five percent of regular
SNAP benefits. But it did push back last week when
(15:45):
one of the judges said they must fully fund SNAP
in November, even if that means digging into funds the
government said would be needed and had to be maintained
in in case of emergencies elsewhere. The Supreme Court agreed
to pause that order, and like I said, the system
just isn't designed for a shutdown forcing a situation that
(16:06):
doesn't have a pathway to be created, in this case,
a government shutdown that went on as long as it
did and ended up just creating chaos. And these judges
did this intentionally to create this chaos. Regarding the Snap benefits,
this game as a surprise to me, although once you
read it, you go that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Not good though.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
University of Minnesota research shows that some stores have thin
profit margins as it is, we know this could further
be exacerbated and were by customers not shopping there if
they didn't have Snap benefits.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
One individual who.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Runs the Glen's Supervalue in Winstead, Minnesota, said that his
name is Jordan said, we're kind of curious just how
it would affect our business, you know, since a lot
of people do rely on those benefits. His parents bought
the grocery store more than thirty years ago.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Snap recipients make up ten percent of its sales.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Federal data shows that nearly two thousand people in mccloyd
County alone are Snap recipients. So what happens when people
get off SNAP? I mean, I suppose you would still
have them shopping there potentially, right. It's just sad in
my view that the stores are also so reliant on welfare,
but then again, that may be by design. The University
(17:34):
of Minnesota says that there are two hundred and fifty
rural grocery stores like Glenn's Supervalue across the state. Meanwhile,
the owner of this particular one says they'll continue to
serve the community while the confusion continues in Washington, d C.
And hopefully that ends soon. Speaking of food prices, though,
we'll go to this briefly. We'll talk with lawyer Extraordinator
(17:56):
Jeff O'Brien as he joins me in studio gets himself comfort.
Yesterday we were talking about Target employees and their new
ten four plan. At first I thought the ten four
stood four like ten four like thumbs up. But no,
ten four means if you are an employee and you're
within ten feet of somebody, you have to.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Smile or wave.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
The fore stands for is that if you're in four
feet of somebody, you need to go and ask if
they need any help. I'm just sad that we actually
have to go and put in feet with this at all.
This all should be a given for those working there.
On top of this, though, Target continues to look for
(18:37):
ways to bring customers back to their stores, and they
have announced new price cuts on thousands of products this
month to help families stretch their budgets through the holiday season.
They're lowering prices on some three thousand food, beverage, and
household essential items, from pantry staples to baby products to
make everything everyday shopping more affordable. I don't know about
(19:05):
you might be enough to have me go shop the Target.
If anything, I just want to see if the ten
to four plan actually is working and people are actually
going and doing that. Jeff O'Brien's just staring at me.
Good morning, Jeff, Good morning. How you doing this morning?
Speaker 9 (19:18):
But I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
You got a Target often occasionally on occasion, Okay, maybe
you not should go after the show is over and
we can test it out. You go four feet away
from an employee, I'll go ten and see if we
get a smile in a wave and you see if
anybody asks you for help. Speaking of needing help, some
of our businesses might need help depending on the federal
shutdown deal and what it may or may not do
(19:39):
to Minnesota's hemp derived THHC market. This is why we
have lawyer extraordinator Jeff O'Brien in studio. The spending bill
passed by the Senate that now sits in the House
and should be voted on this evening, according to the
story that I have here from the Minnesota Star Tribune,
would essentially ban hemput base to THCHC products nationally, which
(20:00):
would potentially have in the future a big impact on
this industry. Jeff O'Brien, our lawyer extraordinaire, is going to
help us break all of that down that next If
you have any questions, get your talkbacks into the iHeartRadio
app and we'll play those coming up on Twinsday's news
Talk Am eleven thirty and one oh three five FM.
Speaker 10 (20:22):
It amazes me here every day on every talk show
in the country, we talked about how the government is
screwing a sober but yet we're willing to go along with.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
A fifty year mortgage.
Speaker 10 (20:35):
The people that move in on a fifty year mortgage
or people that can't afford the house in the first place,
and I'll just run it down.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Let me stop here. That's an over generalization.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
And I don't want to pick on any one talkback
regarding this issue. But as far as I know, the
whole fifty year mortgage plan has just been an idea
that Trump has put out there. He's talked about it
some people. There is nothing said in stone yet. Welcome
back to Win City's News Talk Am eleven thirty one
oh three five FM from the six five to one
(21:08):
Carpet Next Day Install Studios. Just backing a bit, backing
up a bit, And this is kind of what I've
been doing with all these various issues.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Just Republicans.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Sometimes we just can't get out of our own way.
It drives me a little, It drives me a little nuts.
I understand everybody's entitled to their opinion. I don't want
to push back on any of that. But again, all
of these issues and suggestions that Trump has had have
just been that. They've just been suggestions while he looks
at ways to go and improve the country and get
(21:37):
us back on track. And clearly the idea of a
fifty year mortgage has ruffled a lot of individuals. Feathers
lawyer Extraordinair, Jeff O'Brien, you want to weigh on the
fifty year mortgage.
Speaker 11 (21:48):
I'll say a couple things. The h you know, if
you want to make people will afford homes. You know,
if you look at in history where the era where
people had big, beautiful homes, there was an income tax.
Speaker 9 (22:01):
So just pointing that out.
Speaker 11 (22:02):
Second of all, if you're going to have some sort
of mortgage reform rather than a fifty year mortgage, let's
let's make assumable mortgages more accepted, so that if I
want to sell my house with my three point eight
seven five interest rate, someone can buy it and stay
at a three point eight seven five interest rate versus
a fifty year mortgage at a seven or eight percent
(22:24):
interest rate. I think that will do much more to
stimulate the housing market if people can buy houses that
have very low interest rates already locked in.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Just the thought everybody's just so so amped up.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
You know, people needed a partake, and we'll maybe some
more THHC products, although if things move forward, you may
not be able to do that. So Lyric Short and
Air Jeff O'Brien has joined us in studio. This broke yesterday.
Every single news outlet has a story on this. So
Minnesota's pioneering THC industry, according to the to the Star
(23:03):
Tribune could collapse if a provision included in the deal
to end the federal government shutdown becomes law. Let's just
say this upfront, and they do say this in the
third paragraph here. The federal measure, if passed, would take
effect one year after enactment.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
So, I guess my first question for.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
You is is there a lot of unnecessary freak out
going on regarding this given that there's a year window,
or is this because it would have such a dramatic
impact it would take a year for these businesses to
get their affairs in order.
Speaker 11 (23:34):
Well, I think it's good that there's some level of
freak out about it, so that the consumers that use
these products contact their elected officials in Washington and demand
that they do something about this overall in the next
year and just and you know, this is one of
(23:55):
those areas, probably one of the rare areas where Minnesota
actually got something right ahead of other states. And Minnesota
has been the model for this of regulating these these
hemp derived THHC products similar to what you would do
with cannabis. And so for those that maybe don't track
(24:16):
this as closely as those of us that are working
with folks in the industry. There are states that don't
have that type of system, and so some of what
the reasoning behind closing this loophole, and it's referred to
as a loophole, it was it was the twenty eighteen
Farm Bill exempted out these products from the definition of cannabis,
(24:38):
which you know it was originally it was Senator McConnell
that was that was spurring this on to get an
industrial the industrial hemp industry in his state boosted, you know,
to be able to take off without being considered making
illegal products. It led to this market and ironically it's
(24:58):
Senator McConnell that slips this provision into the reopen bill
to basically close this loophole.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, so this is what this is how it breaks down.
So the bill that passed the Senate on Monday, the
House is going to vote on it tonight and includes
language that would effectively ban hemp products containing more than
zero point four milligrams of THC. That's the psychoactive ingredient
in cannabis. It's different from your CBD. The limit with
(25:31):
outlaw intoxicating hemp based products in Minnesota, which allows edibles
containing up to five milligrams of THHD per serving and
beverages containing up to ten milligrams. And so for those
that aren't aware, there have been shops where you can
go smoke shops and otherwise and you call them headshops whatever,
(25:53):
where you can go and buy various tobacco products and
bongs and you know who goes and things of that nature.
But they also sold these these gummies and products that
have specifically Delta eight and Delta nine. These are the
things that were regulated differently apart from your more straightforward marijuana.
It's a less potent version of what you'd get in
(26:15):
regular in regular marijuana products and therefore hadn't been hadn't
gone through the process of the legalization.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Right, this is completely separate from the legalizations correct of marijuana.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
So you already have businesses out there that have been
selling these products for a very long time. This bill
would essentially do what to those businesses that aren't currently
selling your more legalized recreational marijuana.
Speaker 11 (26:39):
For those that are, let's take a Minnesota example, we
just closed the license application window for what we call
low potency hemp edible licenses manufacturing wholesale and retail. And
so you know, a couple of years ago, when these
products were made legal in Minnesota, a business that was
(27:01):
making them or selling them had to register with the
state to inform to put them on notice that they
were making or selling these products, so that the state
had a chance to you know, inspect their premises or
inspect their products and you know, ensure that they were
in compliance with the law. The light when the license
window opened, those that were registered that applied for a
(27:24):
license could continue to sell while their license application is pending.
If you stop, if you didn't apply for a license,
you have to stop selling.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Products. Right when did that?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So the license the licensing on those particular products just started.
And these are the these were the secondary to recreational
marijuana now and just to reiterate that was a part
of the legalization of recreational marijuana was that was the
bringing those particular products.
Speaker 11 (27:53):
Well, there was one statute that previously allowed the sale
of the legal hemp products, the adult use can. This
law brought them all under one would ultimately created a
path put everything under one system, have it regulated by
the Office of Cannabis Management. And there is a type
of cannabis business license, the micro business that does allow
(28:15):
anabi like a retail cannabis dispensary to also sell hemp products.
Speaker 9 (28:19):
And they're the same way.
Speaker 11 (28:20):
While their license, while their final approval is pending, they
if they were registered, they can continue to sell these products.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
So and just to make sure everybody's aware those products
prior to the legalization of recreational marijuana, those were available
and could only be purchased by those that were over
twenty one.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
That was already correct.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
So was there any attempt to keep them separated, to
keep the recreational marijuana separate from these other products, in
which case those that are currently selling them didn't have
to bother getting a license since they were already selling
these products.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It seems like.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
We were creating more of a burden on those businesses
that had already shown to be reputable businesses and selling
these products by including them with recreational marijuana.
Speaker 11 (29:04):
Well, it's it's it's a recognition that it is. It's
the hemp products are they're they're kind of a hybrid
and and you know, at our firm, we we we
kind of treat them as kind of this this standalone
thing because you want to say that it's a close
cousin to cannabis, but you also have all these uh,
you know, small breweries making the hemp beverages, right, and
(29:26):
so they it really kind of spans these two regulated industries,
and and and and there's and AND's and and there's
differenting opinions. Like the fight that we're having at the
federal level, you have it's it's it's largely you have
the cannabis industry and the alcohol beverage industry questioning why
they have to be so heavily regulated, but this these
(29:49):
hemp products and and like I said, for those in Minnesota,
it's it's you're probably questioning what the heck is going
on because you there, we do have this regular tory system.
Texas has adopted something similar to US. Minnesota has become
the model for this at the state level that are
adopting a regulatory system and a licensing system. But there
(30:12):
are states where that's not the case. And that's what
the concern or the opposition has been is why do
they get to run around being completely unregulated where we
have to jump through all these hoops and have to
deal with all these other issues as part of our business.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
So with the change in this law, and let's discuss
this from an angle of instead of a year from now.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Let's just say it starts on Monday. Okay, So if.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
This ban's products that contain more than zero point four
milligrams of THC, what happens to those businesses that are
already selling these products that contain the five milligrams per
serving or ten milig and beverages. How would they go
about to continue to sell those products? Would they then
(31:05):
have to get a recreational license to do so?
Speaker 11 (31:09):
Not in Minnesota, because Minnesota has carved out these low
potency HEMP cedible licenses. What happens, though, is from the
it curtails this, you know, the selling and distribution of
these products into other states. Because if it's if those
products that are say five and ten milligrams are now
illegal under federal law, right now, you have the same
(31:32):
interstate commerce issues that cannabis does. So here, you know,
in Minnesota legalizing adult used cannabis, it means that it's large,
it's going to be sold within the state of Minnesota.
Right you can't sell, you can't transport cannabis across state
lines into Wisconsin or Iowa or any other state because
it's illegal under federal law, it's a crime to do that.
(31:55):
It's not a crime if it's if it's if it's
moved around here in Minnesota, which is its legal life
and has a licensing system. So what it does, and
it also there's a nasty tax effect from this. Where
you know a cannabis business, there's a code section called
two ADE which doesn't allow cannabis businesses to deduct a
lot of costs and expenses from their revenue.
Speaker 9 (32:16):
So they get hit with a nasty tax.
Speaker 11 (32:19):
If at the federal level they're treating these five and
ten milligram products the same as cannabis right now, those
businesses will similarly be hit. So these these the problem
we have here, John, is there's businesses that have invested
a lot of capital in equipment and labor and everything else,
knowing that they can scale these this this these businesses
(32:41):
up and sell into other states, and this is now
they're going to curtail their sales by doing this.
Speaker 12 (32:48):
Now, aren't we already by legalizing recreational marijuana here in Minnesota,
aren't we in that case also pushing back against.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
The federal law. Yes, so technically they should still be
able to sell.
Speaker 11 (33:08):
Yeah, for the for the Minnesota consumer, this shouldn't affect
your ability to obtain those products. But for if the
business is struggling financially because of all these other constraints
that have now put on it, they may not be
able to produce and sell these products.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
So okay, So how would it end up killing And
I know we're going I'm just trying to break it
all down because this seems really confusing. How would it
ultimately end up killing these businesses if they're now pushing
back against federal law, but we are also pushing back
against federal law by selling recreational marijuana products, in which
case I would just argue that, well, if we're already
(33:45):
selling them over here, we already have it established, then
we can continue to push back against federal law in
selling these hemp derived products that aren't technically your recreational marijuana.
Speaker 9 (33:56):
Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 11 (33:58):
The issue is you have these these businesses that were
you know, started predicated on these products being legal. Okay,
and there's certain you know, you know you can they
may have been able to obtain financing a bank loan,
you know they aren't. They're they're having bank accounts, all
(34:21):
these things you know e said the tax issue and
those things all go away when it's now a business
that's prohibited by federal laws. So in terms of killing
the industry, it's in theory. Yeah, the products may still
be here, but the the but for the fact that
those that are making it are going to be in
(34:43):
a lot of it's going to create financial issues for
the businesses and and and threaten their existence.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Why is it not creating those financial Why is it
not creating those same issues for those that are going
to are going to go and open up, say, recordtional
marijuana dispensary.
Speaker 11 (35:01):
Because the people going into the marijuana business already know
what the parameters and restrictions are going in and their
business model they're financing. Everything that they're doing is taking
that into account. Where with the hemp industry, it's almost
like the rug's been pulled out from Katham.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
All right, let's go to this question here from the
iHeartRadio app talking with lawyer extraordinair Jeff O'Brien this morning.
Speaker 13 (35:26):
Hi, John, could you ask if this change will affect
the food products that are derived from hemp non THHC,
like hemp seeds and oils and that sort of thing.
Speaker 11 (35:45):
There's always been some portions of the hemp plant that
have been allowed for various things. So as long as
there's if it's if it's not, if the THHC content is,
if it's non THCHC, this provision shouldn't affect them.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Party John.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
On the marijuana, it's hard to hear.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Let me read, let me read the talk back here
they say on marijuana, the selling aspect of this. Everybody's
growing their own, they say, I haven't. But I haven't
seen or heard a single friend or anybody who's going
to a dispensary. Obviously you can't get anything anyways. But
everyone's either growing their own or is everyone's getting their
own or growing their own. The market's never going to
(36:27):
take off. Let me just back up here real quick.
I completely disagree with that. There are I can I
can name three different businesses within a two mile radius
of my home that sells these derived to products and
people go and purchase them, purchase them all the time.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
I mean, this is they've been a big business.
Speaker 9 (36:46):
They've been big business.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (36:47):
If the point that the caller was making about the
cannabis businesses that are now opening up, that that's not
going to be the demand there.
Speaker 9 (36:56):
Well, we don't know yet. The time will tell.
Speaker 11 (36:58):
They're they're only now being you know, being approved and
coming online and being.
Speaker 9 (37:02):
Able to sell product.
Speaker 11 (37:03):
So this is the first time that we've had you know,
full spectrum cannabis products being available to Minnesota consumers. So
I guess the jury still out as to or this
is all going to break down between hemp derived THHC
and cannabis.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
But there are certainly plenty of people that are going
and purchasing these secondary products. For lack of a better
way to describe them, I mean, and you go into
there was actually a quote from Top ten Liquors in here,
which is near my house, and they sell these the
beverages that have these products.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Let's go here to this talk about We've.
Speaker 14 (37:34):
Asked mister O'Brien if he knows if and when the
federal government will change the scheduling of THC so that
consumers like myself with safety sensitive jobs don't have to
fear of losing their jobs or having to go through
the SAP process.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, that's another aspect of as we haven't talked about yet,
and that is potentially what Trump could actually do relating
to marijuana.
Speaker 11 (37:55):
I will say this, I think there's a growing push
to allow the states to regulate these industries, and industry
is being both cannabis and hemp. I saw the night
of the vote in the Senate. I saw Ted Cruz
put out a post on x saying we should follow
the lead of my home state and regulate.
Speaker 9 (38:14):
Let the states regulate this and get the federal government
out of it.
Speaker 11 (38:17):
I saw Dan Congressman Dan Crenshaw say something similar. It'll
be interesting to see the House vote today. I was
talking with a colleague of mine who is like the
foremost expert on the hemp beverage laws in the country.
Speaker 9 (38:29):
She thinks it might.
Speaker 11 (38:30):
She said, I'd put the chances at ten percent that
somehow this there's a hiccup in the House and the
approval of the cr over this issue. My guess would be,
if anybody's going to start going to light the fire,
it's going to be Thomas Massey, being he's from Kentucky
too and kind of a kindred spirit with Rand Paul
that he may be the one to to you know,
force some sort of a you know, a vote or
(38:53):
something in the House on on this.
Speaker 9 (38:56):
But you know, it's in terms of the risk scheduling.
Speaker 11 (39:00):
I've said this many times publicly, and I'll say it
on the air here. I believe that the President has
made the decision to move it to Schedule three. That's
all the reports I hear, and that it's sometime between
now in the midterms, and he's simply waiting for when
it will incur maximum political benefit to make the change.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
Yeah, And whether or not this particular issue was I
kind of doubt that this is particularly the issue or
go and do it.
Speaker 11 (39:26):
I think I think that, you know, I think there's
some some talk about, you know, trying to read the vote,
you know, the who was voting for what here. I
think there's a push to get this, this cr this
continuing resolution through before the Democrats in the Senate get
cold feet because of the revolt that's happening from their
(39:47):
party right now on what they agreed to. Right so,
there's a push to get this quickly done. The fact
that they put the one year deferment in there is
giving a window for a further negotiations, further policy making
at the federal level to have some sort of regulatory
(40:07):
system or some way of dealing with this other than
this outright ban.
Speaker 9 (40:13):
And I think they're going to revisit.
Speaker 11 (40:15):
And you know, we were talking actually in preparation of this,
and I was joking that because the reason, the reason
McConnell is for this, you know, Mitch McConnell is retiring.
He and I was told he has a library at
at the University of Louisville.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
I'll tell you what. Hold on, Okay, hold that thought.
All right, Yeah, I want you to hang out here
for just a moment because I want you to tell
the story. Okay, And looking at the clock, we have
a few more comments and questions that come in and
I actually have one too, and I definitely want.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Everyone to hear this story.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
So Lawyer Sterner, Jeff O'Brien joins this in studio, is
gonna hang out a little bit longer as we continue
to break this down. And again this is because it
kind of came as a shock to everybody that this
federal shutdown bill could end up having a major impact
on a lot of businesses here in Minnesota. And these
businesses are really concerned about whether or not they're going
(41:01):
to be able to stay in business if this particular
provision passes the bill.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
We'll get into more of this coming up.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Any comments or questions that you have, get those into
the iHeartRadio app Talkbacks. It's win City's News Talk AM
eleven thirty and one oh three five FM.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Good morning, and I love your show.
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