April 17, 2026 • 44 mins
I think the media is making too much out of Trump and Pope Leo. Looks like Kamala is trying again, Why aren't we hearing more about the increased tax returns and Mamdani promised to tax the rich. Well done New York.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
That Jay Webber Podcast is presented by Creative Planet, helping
clients simplify their journey to financial wellness, one personalized plan
at a time. That j Weber Podcast is a production
of iHeartRadio Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good day everyone, it is Friday. Welcome to the j
Webber Podcast. It feels like it was a quick week,
a tough week, at least for those of us in
the Upper Midwest. You're dealing with mending rounds of thunderstorms
and tornadoes. My producer, Gregory John is here, of course.
Did you and yours make it through without any damage?
Donal Creek?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
We the basement was fine, but you know, Oak Creek
is a low lying area, so all the roads are
the waters right up to the roads on Pute, So.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You just got to manage that. The little rivers and
creeks that are normally pretty sedentary around here are all
flowing like crazy too. You know, I had a few trees,
I lose branches. I had one pine that snapped in half.
But I feel lucky. Many of my neighbors got hit
much worse. We had some sheds down, and you know,
they the National Weather Service looks for straight line wins
(01:03):
if the trees all fall one way, and everything falls
one way. It's kind of straight line wins as well.
My neighbors also have their trees fall in every which way.
So I think we might have had a little bit
of a tornadic activity over us here. But yeah, I'm
glad everyone got shot up, everyone listening got through it, okay.
And this is of course the sort of thing that
we see every spring, you know, these unsettled weather patterns,
(01:23):
heavy rains, high winds, hail. Here in Wisconsin, we have
a good trail primary going on and one of the
Democrat candidates is she's a useless pretender of women anyway.
Her name is Sarah Godluski. She's the secretary of State
running for governor now, but she's got national attention for
a meltdown she had on social media over Hale. Here's
what it sounded like. Republicans say, we don't have climate change,
(01:45):
but this is all guys, hail in my front yard.
This is not normal, and we can't keep ignoring our environment.
Greg is she blaming Republicans for Hale.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I had to have a roof redownieing redone just two
years ago because of Gulf sized hail. The deep water system.
What was that thirty forty years ago. Yeah, it's not
climate change.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well no, and the content of her rent is wrong,
of course, and that's one of the reasons that went viral.
She's stand out on her porch and you can hear
the sirens going off and the hail is falling. But
the weather isn't unique for April, so she gets that wrong.
Even golf ball sized hail isn't unique. It does happen occasionally.
I mean, we all remember as kids instances in which
the adults in the news reports were talking about golf
(02:31):
ball sized hail. We all probably know at least one
or two people who's actually lost a car to gulf
ball sized hail. It was all digged up. So this
isn't something we're only seeing now in the twenty first
century due to climate change. But Greg, what tickled me
the most about this video of Sarah Godluski melting down
and blaming the right for Mother Nature was that she
was standing on her porch and we could see the
(02:52):
hail behind her. It's lying on the grass and it's
on her portrail. You can see it's about rock salt
sized hail, which is not out of the ordinary. So
she's even lying about the size of the hail.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And did you notice that she was wearing a Wisconsin sweatshirt.
I mean it was it was obviously promotional video for.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Her, right right. You know, she thought it was obviously
going to launch her to her campaign. I'm wondering if
god Lusky's little meltdown here didn't put the final dagger
into her primary campaign. So you know, she wasn't gonna
win it anyway, But if this were a big move
to go from one percent support to the top of
the Democrat heap, I think it failed. So we can
(03:31):
put that aside. That's about all I have to say
on that. On the podcast today, we'll talk about the
polpe's class with President Trump, zororon Mamdannie's government run grocery
stores are incredibly unfair income tax system, Kamala getting shived
by her own side of the eye on now, and
Columbia's finally moving to deal do something with their cocaine hippos.
I mean, how's that for a tease.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Before you go into your commercial, I just want to
congratulate you. You debuted at number thirty nine on the
top one hundred of not bill Board but of iHeartRadio podcast. Congratulations,
Thank you so much. It's a very good start to
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too was very heart and thank you to those that
(04:13):
are listening to the podcast to have us launch in
that strong a manner.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I do appreciate that. Yes, our wonderful sponsor. Have you
heard about Creative Planning. They're the nation's largest independent wealth
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Is your introductory meeting. That's Creative Planning dot Com. Your
team awaits paid for by Creative Planning and SEC registered
investment advisor. The speaker's statements are not an endorsement of
the firm, So my take on this little verbal war
between Pope Leo and President Trump is quite frankly a
(05:00):
big yawn in the grand scheme of things. Who cares?
And I say that because it isn't surprising that a
pope feels like he needs to weigh in on a
war or on a moral question, especially after the President
of the United States has put out an all advised
tweet that seemed to have him threatening to wipe out
an entire country. I understand why Leo felt he needed
to pipe in here. I also understand why President Trump
(05:21):
would be frustrated that, yet again, we have another pope
who only seems to be interested in defending the most
backward and evil regimes on the planet under the guise
of mercy and peace and understanding. If I was President Trump,
I'd be frustrated too that I'm taking care of a
fifty year threat to the enlightened Western world. I'm standing
against tyranny and brutality that's been so extreme over the
(05:42):
decades that it can be categorized as evil. The evils
that the Iranian Mullas have committed against their fellow man
over the last forty five years are immeasurable and horrific
and abhorrened. Hell. Right before the pope chimed in to
defend the Iranian side of this equation, Iran's Mullah's had
just concluded an effort to cat kill forty thousand of
their own people in an effort to keep control of
(06:03):
their brutal regime. For those not following along, the evil
Mullahs who run Iran are engaged in a campaign of
extermination currently this is ongoing. They're trying to imprison or
kill any Iranian who might oppose them or publicly voice
dissent or threaten in any way their hold on power.
They had just gotten done with the extermination of about
(06:23):
forty thousand of their own countrymen when Leo chimed in
here and felt the need to speak for the regime
and happen on the wrong side of the moral equation.
And that's the thing, you know. Pope Leo has chimed
in on the wrong side of a much larger moral
argument here. And Trump never should have sent the tweet
that suggested he'd wipe out an higher country. That was dumb, dumb, dumb.
(06:44):
But Pope Leo seemed to be favoring the evil Muslims
in this equation even before that moment, and he used
the tweet as a chance to speak in favor of
some moral clarity or some such thing. When he and
the Catholic Church have largely refused to speak up for
or get involved with all sorts of other moral arguments,
especially those related to the evils of the Islamist extremists.
(07:07):
What Aronzmulas have done to their own people over forty
years has been a moral abomin nation. Have we ever
seen a pope so morally exercised about that that he
puts out global declarations of peace and denounces the evil
and keeps it up for a week or so. No,
not that I can recall, is the Catholic Church waging
a moral war against the organized and horrific slaughter of
(07:30):
Christians and Jews and any non Muslim in any of
these African and Middle Eastern countries where it's occurring. No,
and that violence against Christians has been ongoing. Apparently Leo
doesn't really have much of a say to say about that. Instead,
it's a social media post from the president who's leading
a military effort to bring about a larger global peace
(07:50):
that really sets him off. Good grief. I'm a Catholic myself,
and I have no particular problem with Pope Leo. I
think he's younger and more energetic and more willing to
do the outreach work to grow the church than the
last three tired and sickly old popes were. I think
Leo's been a real breath of fresh air for the
Catholic Church. And it's a bonus that he's an American, certainly,
(08:10):
but that also means he's going to chime in on
America's issues more often. And it could also mean that
Pope Leo, when he was just a cardinal there living
in Chicago, was a liberal cardinal living in Chicago with
maybe a touch of TDS. When he was a liberal
living in Chicago and elevated to pope, I and some
others said, don't think this guy is a conservative. Don't
(08:32):
think he's going to be a more moderate or conservative
pope than Francis was. And so far, every time the
Pope has shown us his political side, he's been supporting
the activist left. I'm not shocked at this, and you
shouldn't be either. But in this latest dust up with Trump,
Leo the man seems to have gone too far in
his attempt to announce any war as unjust and any
(08:54):
warrior is unjust, and he's even gone so far as
to misinterpret scripture. And hey, I'm certainly no Theolo but
those who are say that the pope quoting Isaiah one
point fifteen is a real stretch. Pope Leo suggested that basically,
no war is just and no one fighting a war
can be heard by God. God doesn't hear their prayers.
This is basically what the Pope said in response to
(09:15):
Trump and his war quote. Even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.
That's from Isaiah. But Isaiah's context was in reference to
the corruption and injustices of the Judeans, and it makes
no sense when applied to Trump and the Iranian war.
According to these theologians, Leo is claiming God doesn't listen
to the prayers of those who fight or wage war
(09:37):
because Jesus preached his love and mercy. But Jesus didn't
preach pacifism, nor did he suggest that there was no
such thing as a just war, or a just cause
or a just reaction that might include violence. Leo made
it sound as if no war can be a just
war or a just cause against evil, when they certainly
can be. Trump says it's not so prising that President
(10:00):
Trump thinks Pope Leo should be preaching against the evils
of Iran's leaders and those evils that they'd done to
their fellow man over the last forty five years. Instead
of being worried about Trump saying, LEO should be denouncing
the recent slaughter of forty thousand Iranian people. You'd think
Trump's reaction doesn't surprise me, But it is surprising that
a new PULP doesn't think there's such a thing as
a just war, or that God won't listen to anyone
(10:22):
resorting to violence. Trump and the US military here are
resorting to violence in an effort to deal with a
longtime evil and bring about a more peaceful globe. LEO
really can't see that. Well, here's a good litmus test
for the PULP. When the Iranian Mullahs are rushing to
praise you, you're probably on the wrong side. When you've
got radical Islam all excited about your comments and your reaction,
(10:46):
you might be standing on the wrong side of the cloud.
Iran's radical president ran I mean, he rushed to praise
Poplo after he denounced President Trump and this war action.
The same POLP that's been absolutely silent on the atrocities
committed by the radical imams, and that Iranian regime can
suddenly find his voice when it comes to criticizing Trump
for not being gentle enough or diplomatic enough. It really
(11:09):
is farcical this new evil fan of Leo's. The Iranian
president said, his holiness, Pope Leo, I condemned the insult
of your excellency on behalf of the great nation of Iran,
and declare that the desecration of Jesus, the prophet of
peace and brotherhood, is not acceptable to any free person.
I wish you glory by a law. I love the
(11:29):
reference to the free person. But this is the same
man who would crucify Christ all over again if Christ
was walking the earth today. As one pundit put it,
this is the same regime that has driven thousands of
Christians out of Iran, persecuted them, imprisoned them, denying them
the ability to worship freely, and in some cases subjecting
them to torture or death. Now that same regime wants
(11:50):
to posture as a defender of Christianity and weigh in
on church matters. Yeah, and Pope Leo's apparently okay with
being used by them as they do it. These attacks
on Trump had been morally confused at best, and for
the record, anyone insisting that we Catholics have got to
agree with the Pope on this are incorrect. Catholics are
not required to agree with the Pope at all times.
(12:11):
The Second Vatican Council even made this clear quote. The
Church claims no special divine competence in reaching political conclusions,
and so no, you don't have to feel guilty about this.
You do not, as a Catholic, have to agree with
Pope Leo on this or feel guilty that you don't.
In fact, here's a shocker. According to a new poll,
six and ten Catholics are with Trump on the Iranian question,
(12:34):
with only four and ten being more like Leo. I guess.
The poll found that church going Catholics found a fifty
eight percent job appropriating for Trump and fifty percent approve
of Trump taking the military action against Iran that he
is so among Catholics who actually practice the faith, six
and ten approve of Trump's presidency and at least a
slight majority of them approve of how he's handling Iran. Look,
(12:56):
if a pope didn't chime in on the morality of war,
et cetera, he wouldn't be doing his job.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
But Pope Leo's need to chime in on the wrong
side of the moral equation is what's interesting, and it's
somewhere between interesting and indefensible when you consider how much
both he and the Church have been ignoring the ongoing
slaughter of Christians and Catholics in the Middle East and
certain African nations for a long long time. Now it's
as if our new Pope doesn't see the genuine evil
(13:22):
and inhumanity that's playing out around the globe and instead
just wants to nitpick on political matters, which brings us
to why Leo is choosing to take on Trump. Several
voices at the Vatican are now explaining it this way.
They say Leo sees the global disorder of the day
as an opportunity to boost the profile of the Catholic
Church and repair its global standing after the sexual abuse scandals, etc.
(13:44):
Which were also global. By the way, this wasn't just
an American priest thing, if you don't know, but this
is the claim. Leo is seeing the global disorder as
a blessing and an opportunity. Quote, this is just a
huge blessing. It's wonderful for the church all over the
world that he's the guy who can stand up to Trump.
They point out Leo is also considerably more popular in
the US than Trump, so that works to their advantage.
(14:05):
They point out that Leo is considerably more popular in
the US than Trump. They like this. He enjoys a
thirty four percentage point net positive rating compared with a
twelve percentage point net negative rating for Trump. They're also
still annoyed that six and ten Catholics supported Trump in
twenty twenty four, and they hope Leo's scolding gets them
back in line. Catholics make up about one fifth of
(14:28):
all US voters, by the way, and historically they split
almost evenly between the parties. It's almost fifty to fifty.
So even that slight bump in Catholic support for Trump
was definitive in twenty twenty four, and the lefty Catholics
are still stewing over it. But the conservative Catholics remain
loyal to Trump, and if that CBS poll is correct,
fifty eight percent of Catholics overall approve of the President
(14:50):
and nearly that many approve of his actions in Iran.
I don't see how Leo's really helping himself or the
church out here. If that's the case. Vice President Vance
is a Catholic, and he was asked about polpe Leo
injecting himself into the morality of this war. Here. Here's
what he had to say.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
So, Number one, when the Pope says that God is
never on the side of those who willed the sword,
there is a thousand year, more than a thousand year
tradition of just war theory.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Now, we can, of course have disagreements about whether this
or that conflict is just. But I think that it's important.
In the same way that it's important for the Vice
President of the United States to be careful when I
talk about matters of public policy, I think it's very
very important for the Pope to be careful when he
talks about matters of theology. But I think one of
the issues here is that if you're going to opine
(15:40):
on matters of theology, you've got to be careful. You've
got to make sure it's anchored in the truth. And
that's one of the things that I try to do,
and it's certainly something I would expect from the clergy,
whether they're Catholic or Protestant.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, Van's concluded that by saying, I certainly think that
in some cases it would be best for the Vatican
to stick to matters of morality, stick to matters of
what's going on in the Catholic Church, and let the
President of the United States stick to dictating public policy.
In general, that's good advice, but if you are Catholic,
you know that the tenets of our faith often have
implications for public policy. Our stances against abortion, the death penalty,
(16:14):
our stances on poverty and charity, etc. They all intersect
in the political plane. Obviously, I don't think a pope
needs to quote stay out of politics, but I do
think that when a pope chimes in, it should be
only after careful thought and with moral clarity. In our
rather new pope failed to do that in this instance.
(16:36):
I did a segment on the last podcast related to
Kamala Harris and how the left wing accomplices in the
mainstream media are going to spend the next three years
trying to force her onto the voters of this country
as a lost opportunity in twenty twenty four. They are
trying hard to convince voters that not electing Kamala in
twenty twenty four was a mistake, and I was saying,
the American people can believe they made a mistake with
(16:56):
Donald Trump if they do and still not believe that
Kamala Harris would have been the answer, And that, of
course is the case. We know it wasn't a mistake.
Kamala Harris ran in twenty twenty and was so thoroughly
rejected as the answer for her party she was forced
to drop out before the voting even started in Iowa
in twenty twenty four. Of course, after four years as veep,
the Bidens forced her onto the party leadership because they
(17:18):
were forcing Joe Biden out. If you remember, Nancy Pelosi,
Barack Obama and others wanted to have a quickie mini
primary because they didn't want Kamala to be the standard
bearer in twenty twenty four, the Bidens, as punishment for
daring to push Joe out, turned around and forced Kamala
onto the ticket. They engineered her candidacy, and of course
(17:39):
she lost terribly. We saw how that ended. More importantly, though,
we saw in technicolor during that stretch that the American
people simply don't want or like Kamala Harris in public
office and so it isn't terribly surprising that at least
some segment of the Democrat base doesn't want to make
this mistake again in twenty twenty eight, and they're going
to push back against this mainstream media attempt to make
(17:59):
her the nominee. I'm not surprised that some factions of
the left side of the aisle are reacting to this
latest attempt to relaunch Kamala negatively. But the Huffington Post, Okay,
that's interesting. The Huffington Post published a piece this week
from one of their columnists named Kevin Robillard, and it
was brutal. And this is another reason that this is noteworthy.
(18:20):
The tone of this piece easily could have been softer,
more subtle, less direct, not so harsh, not so mocking.
Realized they made a choice here over at the Huffington Post.
The socialist progressive editors at the Huffington Post could have
chosen to take a far less harsh tone and still
gotten their point across if they wanted to criticize a
(18:41):
fellow Democrat. Instead, they chose to go heavy. This is
evidence of what I was saying on Tuesday, Kamala Harris
will not be the Democrat nominee in twenty twenty eight,
and try as they might, the mainstream leftist news media
is not going to be able to successfully force her
onto the voters of this country or that party. Huff
Post headline, Kamala Harris twenty twenty eight, question mark Democratic
(19:03):
operatives and donors hope not. Here's just a sample of
what this guy wrote, and I think you'll agree it's
kind of dead on, he says. Harris is like this
drunk buddy of mine from way back when, and not
because of the drunk part, well not entirely because of
the drunk part. So he even hints Kamala as a
quiet drunk, as some of us on the right have,
because sometimes she appears or sounds drunk. He continues, this
(19:26):
friend of his would have exactly one cocktail too many.
He wouldn't be stumbling drunk or slurring drunk, but just
drunk enough to make things embarrassingly awkward. He'd approach a woman,
or even an entire table full of women, completely unaware
that nobody was interested. He had zero ability to take
a not so subtle hint, read body language, detect, tone, nothing,
The author says, somebody, usually me, would have to ride
(19:47):
to the rescue. It's not going to happen, buddy, Come
on back to the table. We got another picture. That
gentle reader is Kamala Harrison the White House. This guy says,
He continues, the only reason Joe Biden picked Harris as
his running mate is that he'd public talked himself into
promising a black female running mate, and the only choices
were Harris or Stacy Abrams, and Abrams was busy costplaying
as governor of Georgia. He says. Harris, not to put
(20:09):
too fine a point on it was the highest ranking
diversity higher of all time. If she succeeded at a
single job that Biden gave her, yeah, there is no
If he reconsiders, he says she failed all of them,
from Borders R to National Security point person. By all appearances,
Harris seems to think she earned the nomination in twenty
twenty four, even though the big names like Barack Obama
and Nancy Pelosi wanted to hold a mini primary. Precisely
(20:32):
to Kneecapper, diversity hires always think they earned it. But
even a cursory glance at Harris's performance as VEEP and
every cringe inducing day of her comically inept but mercifully
brief presidential campaign showed a woman with no qualifications aside
from a blive persistence. The job requires so much more
than word salads and boxed wines. This is just brutal.
(20:54):
And it's not some evil conservative or right wing pundit
trashing er. It's a staff columnist at the Huffington Post.
Kamala will not be the Democrats twenty twenty eight nominee.
I've been flat out guaranteeing that since she lost in
twenty twenty four. All right, next item on Tuesday's podcast,
I asked our Americans even going to know that their
tax refund is larger this year because President Trump and
(21:17):
the Republican Congress helped them out with some tax breaks
in the Big Beautiful Bill. This is the filing deadline
now in which no taxes on tips are overtime and
no income tax on Social Security, new tax breaks for
car buyers all kick in. The IRS says just based
on the early returns that they've handled, the average tax
return is three hundred and fifty dollars larger than it
otherwise would have been. This as the Trump White House
(21:39):
predicts that the overall average return could turn out to
be about one thousand dollars more than expected. And so
we've got all this great news related to our overall
level of federal taxation and our tax returns this year,
and is anyone going to hear about it? I've been asking.
I am firmly blaming the mainstream news media for refusing
to report on any story that might reflect positively on
President Trump and the publican party. Here, these major news
(22:02):
outlets have turned into genuine left wing propaganda machines rather
than news operations. And if you know anything about propaganda,
you know that it's not just about hyping and spinning
and lying in order to make yourself and your side
of the aisle look great. It's also about taking every
opportunity to trash, malign, and step on your opponents and
your enemies. And given that our major media outlets are
now enemies of the truth and the American right, well
(22:25):
there is no way in their minds that they can
be expected to honestly report on the merits of the
big beautiful Bill or the wins that it's bringing to
the American people. It is therefore not surprising to run
across this headline from the left wing political website. Tax
Day arrives with Republicans struggling to sell their cuts. So
we finally do find a so called news outlet that's
(22:45):
going to report on this blackout of coverage on tax relief,
and they spin it as though it's the Republican's fault.
And I hope you noticed they portrayed the tax relief
as cuts, as in, this isn't a win for taxpayers,
it's cuts that took something away from somebody. I mean,
it's just despicable political claims. Republicans hope that last year's
tax cuts would offer giant political benefits with taxpayers receiving
(23:08):
supersized refunds and then rewarding them at the ballot box.
That doesn't look like it's going to happen. Refunds haven't
jumped as much as Republicans had hoped. See how they
choose to spin it. Already, with only the first waves
of tax returns being processed, the average refund is saving
American workers three hundred and fifty dollars. But you know,
we get this spin. It's a failure. It's a failure,
(23:28):
not as much as expected. It's just pathetic. Then they
go on to pretend as if it's the Republican's fault
that their win isn't getting any attention. It's the Republicans
quote struggling to get their message out, and it is not.
I tell you, it's just it's not the refusal of
the major meat news outlets to report the story. But
this is the typical sort of ingrained and overt media
(23:49):
bias we've come to simply expect in the country. I
guess they say. That's one reason why Republicans are still
doing everything they can to keep last year's tax cuts
top of mind this tax Day, even as they also
be guilty of over promising on the refunds. Republican officials
also have another problem. Any benefits they might get from
talking up the tax cuts are running headlong into the
war in Iran and surging gas prices associated with it,
(24:11):
making their goal of holding Congress more daunting. Meanwhile, they report,
the Bipartisan Policy Center found in a poll of its
own last week that barely a quarter of taxpayers who
filed their returns believed the tax law had helped them.
Only a third of those who'd taken advantage of the
no tax on tips or no tax on income provisions
thought they'd gotten a boost, potentially even more troublesome sign
(24:32):
for the Republicans. Well, the result of this poll is
because the news media hasn't done its job or reported
on the facts of these tax cuts to the American people.
The folks at political cannot possibly be this subtuse. The
left wing media has put a blackout on any positive
news related to these tax breaks, and then Politico pretends
it's surprising that most Americans haven't heard about the tax
(24:53):
breaks and don't think they were helped by them. Folks.
According to the IRS, twenty million Americans took advantage of
the no taxes on tips or overtime provision, twenty million
working people. Please ask them if they don't think it
helped them, or if they'd like to go back to
having their tips and they're overtime taxed. What do you
think they'd say? Fifty one million seniors are benefiting from
(25:15):
the no taxes on Social Security provision. Please ask those
seniors if they've noticed the change, and if they haven't,
asked them if we should just go back to taxing
those Social Security benefits. Hey, I mean, if you don't
notice the difference, why not just go back to taxing
your tips and your overtime and your social security. Right,
I'd love to see the political and the mainstream outlets
try to square those circles. Fifty one million seniors just
(25:38):
got to keep more of their own money due to
the Trump GOP tax cuts, and the accomplished news media
refuses to tell them about it or admit that it's
a win for them. It's just abhorrent how far our
so called news media has fallen over the last twenty
five years. But hey, in twenty twenty eight, when these
tax changes are set to expire, watch how loudly these
same media outlet's howl if the next Congress doesn't renew them.
(26:02):
They don't exist today if you're a lefty activist pretending
to be a reporter. But they'll be the most important
taxpayers ever given to the American people if the next
Congress doesn't renew them, or if this is if Republicans
are in control of Congress. Of course, I mean fast
forward two years. If these accomplice leftists in the media
can portray the Republicans as wanting to punish seniors, you
know they will. That then will be the spin and
(26:25):
the news media will have done a complete one to
eighty on the importance of these tax provisions. But you
know what, if they're popular and the American people want
to keep them and Democrats control the Congress, well, if
the Democrats control Congress in twenty twenty eight and want
to let these tax cuts expire, well then you can
write the alternative spin. If a Democrat con told Congress
wants these to expire, well, renewing them amounts to continuing
(26:47):
tax breaks for the rich. Right, today's left is so
transparent you can predict the sort of scumbaggery that they're
going to pull years from now. Past Democrat congresses and
presidents have already been destroying this country with their completely
unfair and one sided taxation, and it's like today's leftists
are just getting started. The most major of all major
(27:07):
themes in this Democrat Party right now is tax the rich,
Tax the rich, tax the rich. Well, the truth is
that the so called rich in the upper middle class
are already paying virtually all the federal bills in this country.
We've been through these stants before on the radio show,
but they're right from the irs, and yet most Americans
never hear them. This is another failure of the mainstream media.
(27:28):
The top one percent of wage earners pay forty percent
of all of our federal bills. They pay forty percent
of all income taxes. The top ten percent of earners
in this country pay seventy two percent of federal government's bills.
The top fifty percent of earners. This is just among
We know that half of the country doesn't even have
a job, but of the half of the country that's working,
(27:50):
half of those people, the top fifty percent pay ninety
seven percent of our federal bills. As it is, many
households in America pay no income taxes at all, and
the bottom twenty percent actually get benefits from the tax
system that they never paid into. That's right. It's now
two in five Americans who are getting some amount of
welfare through the IRS. They get a so called tax
(28:13):
return even though they never paid into the system. And
you know, some of those payments are sizable, they're many
thousands of dollars. This is the true farce and screwed
job that's going on as Democrats and their activists lie
to the American people, and amongst those who do know
how much they're getting screwed. The flight from the Democrat
cities and the states has been measurable. I tell you,
if Americans really knew how much they were being screwed,
(28:36):
they would be furious with the Democrat Party and a
Democrat would never win another election. Historians are going to
look back at the Democrats forced and extended lockdowns during
COVID as a decision that majorly backfired on the liberal
left as well. It gave all sorts of CEOs and
major income earners finally gave them a chance to pause
and reflect and look at how much they were being
(28:57):
robbed by the federal government. It gave them a chance
to see how much they were getting screwed under blue
state tax laws as well. It also gave them a
chance to understand just how much today's left hates them
and wants to repeatedly punish them just for being successful.
The pandemic lockdowns had tens of thousands of professionals and
high tax states moving to low tax states, and had hundreds,
(29:18):
if not thousands, of CEOs and major business owners deciding
to move entire companies or large portions of them from
high tax states to low tax states. The Democrats and
their activists and the Blue state leaders did great harm
to themselves and their communities by giving the American people
time to pause and reflect on how much they were
getting screwed by their respective governments. And we aren't even
(29:40):
talking about the silent attacks that have been going on
against the middle class in this country as well, especially
in these Democrat states. The Wall Street Journal editors correctly
point out in these blue states, even as their leaders
chant tax the tax the rich, they're also hammering down
on the middle class with more taxation. Bernie aoc these
other minds a dimwits want to insist we don't have
(30:02):
to tax the middle class if we tax the rich.
The truth is, even as these blue states have taxed
the rich more, they've also been taxing the middle class more. Quote.
The dirty little secret of progressive states is that they
tax their rich and middle classes more. They also wallop
small businesses, which typically pay tax at their state's individual rate.
(30:22):
The more businesses pay in tax, the less they can
invest in higher YEP. That's the other side effect of
the pandemic that historians will see more clearly. The pandemic
ended with a flurry of new taxes on the Blue states,
and its suppressed a lot of new business activity and
growth across the country. And to come full circle, is
any of that reported or reported on honestly by the
(30:43):
corporate news media, No, of course not. Here's a fun
little story you probably won't hear elsewhere. Columbia's leaders have
finally decided to do something about Pablo Escobar's hippos. Some
of you are going to know the basic story here.
Notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar had all sorts of exotic
(31:03):
animals when he was atop the Colombian drug trade, and
among them were four hippos that he'd apparently bought from
a private breeder in Texas. Well. They grew huge, of course,
and when Escobar was killed in nineteen ninety three and
his drug empire was crumbling, the leaders of Colombia didn't
quite know what to do with these four massive hippos,
so they decided to just leave them be. They didn't
(31:23):
want to euthanize them, and didn't really know what to
do with a five thousand pound hippo, and yeah, they
weigh that much. Hippos generally ranged somewhere between three thousand
and seven thousand pounds, So rather than deal with them,
Colombia's leaders just let the hippos roam around free and
live in a stretch of river in a little area
that they felt comfortable and the climate, of course was
(31:44):
perfect for them, and so they just left them, even
as they sold off and shipped off or euthanized the
other exotic animals that Escobar had. Well, thirty years later
and four hippos has turned into one hundred and seventy hippos.
Colombia now has a hit a population of one hundred
and seventy and if they're going to do anything about
them as an invasive species, g now is the time,
(32:07):
isn't it so? Colombia's environmental minister says the country's approved
a plan to euthanize at least eighty of them. The
Colombian government says they're an invasive species according to one story,
and they're a threat to humans and they're damaging local ecosystems.
Obviously they're very disruptive. This environmental minister says, if we
don't do this, we will not be able to control
the population. She also said that they've resorted to inbreeding
(32:30):
and have visible genetic damage due to it. Well, there
aren't any reports that the animals actually killed her seriously
injured people. They are threatening people in local towns. They
say they're causing traffic and boating accidents. They've killed crops
and livestock. So the Colombian government has been looking for
an alternative way to stop this population boom for years
and they haven't been able to find it. They tried
(32:51):
sterilization and relocation, but those things are expensive, obviously and
haven't worked out. As Jeff Goldbloom's character told us in
Jurassic Park, nature finds a way. I find it interesting
and wrong that they're only going to cull the herd now,
because it's not going to take care of the problem
as harsh as it is. Those hippos need to be euthanized.
(33:11):
If there are issues with the gene pool, you can't
even move them, right, I mean you shouldn't even move
them around and relocate them at this point. Why would
you mix those genes with some African hippo gene pool
and transfer some of the genetic problems. They just need
to be euthanized, and in short order, our Colombia is
going to have a runaway hippo population, just like Florida
has a runaway Boa constrictor and monkey population. You can't
(33:33):
hem in nature and expect to keep a population of
wild animals contained to just a few. All right, that's
a fun item. Let's get to the next item. So
it's going to take at least three years and thirty
or forty million dollars in order for Zoran Mamdani to
prove that socialism doesn't work and that big government cannot
run grocery stores more efficiently or competently than the private sector.
(33:53):
This should be obvious by now, but this is the
bottom line when it comes to this Nitwitz grand idea
of government run grocery stores. Mom Donnie ran on this
promise of government running stores during his campaign, if you remember,
and unlike the free buses and most of the new
freebe's he was promising the voters of New York, this
is one he insists he can move forward with. So
this week Mom Donnie announced the first government grocery store
(34:17):
is going to cost thirty million dollars to get up
and running. And you know that price is going to
rise significantly before the project is completed, because it always does.
That's always the case with public works projects. And come on,
this is a New York public works project. They're not
going to build it and get it up and running
for thirty million dollars. That cost will probably double before
the doors ever open. Trust me, that's a guarantee. And
(34:38):
by the way, the experts in the grocery store industry
say a private grocer could do this for about half
the cost. This is just to put up the building
and get it going. As things now stand, New York
grocery CEOs say the project should cost about fifteen or
twenty million and that's it. So Mom Donnie has already
lost to the private sector on that front. One expert says, quote,
thirty million dollars for one store is exceptionally high, considering
(35:00):
land prices are a significant part of the capital costs
of new construction, and the city has announced that it
rents will be waived, so they're already getting a break
on the land. And they're still going to run this
type of cost, and that's just building it. They also say, quote,
the grocery industry is low margin, so heavy subsidies will
be needed to counteract these inherent inefficiencies. They say, yeah,
(35:21):
government brings in efficiency, and that's a long time tenant
of any government and any bureaucracy. They can never, ever,
never do better than the private sector, and I mean anything.
The Post Office can't seem to make a profit. They're
eternally in debt. Yet Ups and Amazon and other private
courier services can make a profit. Why is that the
government's been patently unable to run a railroad for decades?
(35:44):
Amtrak is so heavily subsidized it's crazy. But government run
grocery stores are going to be the very model of
efficiency and force lower grocery prices into the private sector.
I mean bullplop. Government run grocery stores are only going
to heap even more runaway expenses and subsidies onto the
backs of the taxpayers as they try to pay for
their own groceries out of their own pocket. This is
(36:06):
a farce before it ever gets underway. This week on
x zoron Mam, Donnie posted I was elected as a
Democratic socialist and will continue to govern as a Democratic socialist.
One hundred days in and we're just getting started. I
read that, and I felt the need to respond. I said,
please keep making this known, Zorn, Please keep making it
known that you're a democrat socialist. Say it often so
(36:27):
there can be no mistake. You're a democratic socialist as
New York spirals downward on virtually every front under your watch.
And I mean that I wasn't being snarky. I do
hope that mom Donnie and his supporters spend the next
four years making sure everyone knows that this is what
democratic socialism looks like, because it's going to be a
costly disaster at every turn. And I know that America's
(36:49):
leftists think that they're softening the blow, they're softening the
word socialism when they put democratic in front of it,
and to the dim witted, I don't doubt that this works.
I don't doubt that this works on the naive young
idealists and the perpetual older dimwitz. But democratic socialism is socialism,
and it's failed always and repeatedly around the globe, and
it's not going to work here in no matter how
(37:10):
the activists left in the Democratic Party package it. Mom
Donnie wants to start with one government or grocery store
in each of the New York's five boroughs. He claims
the total cost to this is going to be seventy
million dollars. Well, that can't possibly be true if the
first one is going to cost thirty million dollars on
its own. This is going to be more like one
hundred and fifty or two hundred million dollars in order
(37:30):
to realize this five borrowed dream. And I'm going to
predict right now that the first store will already be
deemed an expensive disaster before the fifth store ever opens
and borrow number five, you know what I mean. I'm
going to predict now that there will be questions as
to whether New York should even move ahead with stores
number four and five because stores one in two will
(37:51):
have turned out to be such an obvious disappointment. And
that's just something to watch for. And for the record,
this government run grocery store concept has been tried in
a few other cities, like Kansas City, and it's quickly failed.
I don't see Mom Donnie or New York socialists being
any more successful with it, do you. If these stores
don't work in the more rural communities with smaller populations
(38:13):
and where shoplifting isn't even an issue, how can they
possibly work in New York City, where the population is
massive and where shoplifting is a massive problem. I'll ask
it now, how do Mom, Donnie and the leftists plan
to keep food on the shelves when everyone knows that
it's a store run by bleeding hearts who are accountable
to no one. These are people who will view shoplifting
(38:34):
as stealing from government. That makes it especially okay rights.
It seems to be okay for most of these people
to steal from the private sector grocery store. It'll be
seem even more logical to steal from government to them.
I'll also predict now that the theft is going to
be the ultimate and never ending nightmare for these government
run grocery stores. If they think bodegas and privately run
(38:55):
stores have a problem with shoplifting in New York right now,
just wait until these socialist groceries are open. The shelves
are going to look as bare as the photos that
we've seen of Cuba and Soviet grocery stores over the decades.
There won't be any food on them. Another fun twist,
the owners of the bodegas and the smaller grocery stores
that do already serve these neighborhoods are certain that Mamdanie's
(39:17):
government run operation is going to put them out of business.
You know, these are the men and the women who
are already grinding out a living by running a bodega
or a small grocery in the crappiest parts of New
York City. Now government's going to come in and add
to the competition. What a gut punch to these people,
right quote, It's going to affect us real hard, said
(39:38):
Victor Vasquez, thirty three, manager at the City Fresh Market.
Our prices might have to go up. I assume they will. Yes,
you know. The Washington Examiner editors put the so perfectly,
I'm just going to steal a few paragraphs for them.
They say the supermarket business is inherently low margin and
intensely competitive. Walmart and Amazon, with its whole food stores,
compete aggressively on price and delivery. One key to the
(40:01):
success of these two giants of the American economy is
their laser focus on distribution costs. At their core, Walmart
and Amazon are logistics companies, private sectory grocery chains succeed
or fail based on their ability to manage costs, negotiate
with suppliers, and respond to demand in that manner. They say,
a city run market, by contrast, would operate under political
(40:22):
rather than economic incentives. Decisions about pricing, hiring, product selection,
and location would inevitably be influenced by political considerations, union pressures,
and bureaucratic constraints rather than the discipline of profit and loss.
It's true, they continued, that disconnect matters. Without the pressure
to turn a profit, a government owned supermarket has little
(40:42):
incentive to control costs. Over time, what begins as a
pilot program could easily become a permanent fiscal burden. They
conclude by saying, advocates of Mamdani's supermarkets argue that the
food deserts justify government intervention, but the reality is that
throughout the city a consumer can find a grocery store
with an attendant of walk. If grocery access is limited
in certain areas, the causes are complex, including crime, zoning restrictions,
(41:07):
high operating costs. They say, a city on supermarket does
nothing to address those underlying issues. In fact, it may
exacerbate them. I agree with that the private marketplace works,
and when it comes to food, groceries and feeding America,
the private marketplace has worked miracles over time. It's our
model in America that's responsible for the fact that there
(41:27):
is such a high standard of living globally. Nowhere else
in the world other countries quote poor people suffering from
an obesity epidemic that is uniquely America. We know how
to feed ourselves and our people. And so not only
will Mam Donni's government run grocery stoes not work, but
they're not needed. They really aren't. And let's acknowledge that
(41:48):
Zoran thinks he has this all worked out too. I
think this is going to be important as well. Let's
acknowledge that Mom Donnie and his team think they finally
have this figured out. Their government run grocery store is
going to work because it's going to be run by
people who got their experience running private sector grocery stores.
This too, It just tickles me. City Hall officials said
they'll identify third party expert grocery operators to run Mom
(42:11):
Donnie's public groceries. Operators will be required to directly pass
along any in kind or direct subsidies to consumers in
the form of reduced prices. Those operators will also be
under strict pricing, affordability, labor, operating and reporting requirements. They say,
So let's step back, am in. Mom Donnie's going to
prove that socialism can work if private sector experts run it. Well,
(42:33):
If a country goes socialist, where do the private sector
experts come from to run the operation? After a generation
or two? You're really going to be screwed, folks. If
socialism only works if private sector experts run it, how
long can that last? Everything about this is farcical and fraudulent,
and it just it frustrates me. There's a perpetual ignorance
(42:57):
that comes along with socialism and with every new generation
of naive, well meaning young person. For some reason, the
catastrophic failures of socialism and communism over time, over generations
never seems to be learned. It's never internalized and then
dismissed as a false hope. Socialism and communism are full
of false hopes and false promises. I mean, if we
(43:19):
can state anything at this point about socialism and communism
based on our shared human existence on this planet, we
can state that socialism and communism are the path to
economic and social ruin period. These are disastrous ideologies that
each new generation thinks they can figure out, and they
can't because it's a falsehood. The underlying premises of socialism
(43:41):
and communism are falsehoods. The famous cliche from the left is, well,
we just haven't done it right yet, but that doesn't
mean we can't do it right yet. Does in part
because you're all nit wits, but also in part the
more serious response is, it's the ideologies that are based
on false definitions of fairness and false premises related to
(44:01):
human nature, and that's why they fail.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
The Jweber Podcast is a production of iHeartRadio podcasts, produced
and engineered by Gregory John. The Jyweber Podcast is presented
by Creative Planning, helping clients simplify their journey to financial wellness,
one personalized plan at a time. Listen to all of
Jayweber's podcasts, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(44:27):
wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
That Jay Webber Podcast is presented by Creative Planet, helping
clients simplify their journey to financial wellness, one personalized plan
at a time. That j Weber Podcast is a production
of iHeartRadio Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good day everyone, it is Friday. Welcome to the j
Webber Podcast. It feels like it was a quick week,
a tough week, at least for those of us in
the Upper Midwest. You're dealing with mending rounds of thunderstorms
and tornadoes. My producer, Gregory John is here, of course.
Did you and yours make it through without any damage?
Donal Creek?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
We the basement was fine, but you know, Oak Creek
is a low lying area, so all the roads are
the waters right up to the roads on Pute, So.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You just got to manage that. The little rivers and
creeks that are normally pretty sedentary around here are all
flowing like crazy too. You know, I had a few trees,
I lose branches. I had one pine that snapped in half.
But I feel lucky. Many of my neighbors got hit
much worse. We had some sheds down, and you know,
they the National Weather Service looks for straight line wins
(01:03):
if the trees all fall one way, and everything falls
one way. It's kind of straight line wins as well.
My neighbors also have their trees fall in every which way.
So I think we might have had a little bit
of a tornadic activity over us here. But yeah, I'm
glad everyone got shot up, everyone listening got through it, okay.
And this is of course the sort of thing that
we see every spring, you know, these unsettled weather patterns,
(01:23):
heavy rains, high winds, hail. Here in Wisconsin, we have
a good trail primary going on and one of the
Democrat candidates is she's a useless pretender of women anyway.
Her name is Sarah Godluski. She's the secretary of State
running for governor now, but she's got national attention for
a meltdown she had on social media over Hale. Here's
what it sounded like. Republicans say, we don't have climate change,
(01:45):
but this is all guys, hail in my front yard.
This is not normal, and we can't keep ignoring our environment.
Greg is she blaming Republicans for Hale.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I had to have a roof redownieing redone just two
years ago because of Gulf sized hail. The deep water system.
What was that thirty forty years ago. Yeah, it's not
climate change.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well no, and the content of her rent is wrong,
of course, and that's one of the reasons that went viral.
She's stand out on her porch and you can hear
the sirens going off and the hail is falling. But
the weather isn't unique for April, so she gets that wrong.
Even golf ball sized hail isn't unique. It does happen occasionally.
I mean, we all remember as kids instances in which
the adults in the news reports were talking about golf
(02:31):
ball sized hail. We all probably know at least one
or two people who's actually lost a car to gulf
ball sized hail. It was all digged up. So this
isn't something we're only seeing now in the twenty first
century due to climate change. But Greg, what tickled me
the most about this video of Sarah Godluski melting down
and blaming the right for Mother Nature was that she
was standing on her porch and we could see the
(02:52):
hail behind her. It's lying on the grass and it's
on her portrail. You can see it's about rock salt
sized hail, which is not out of the ordinary. So
she's even lying about the size of the hail.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And did you notice that she was wearing a Wisconsin sweatshirt.
I mean it was it was obviously promotional video for.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Her, right right. You know, she thought it was obviously
going to launch her to her campaign. I'm wondering if
god Lusky's little meltdown here didn't put the final dagger
into her primary campaign. So you know, she wasn't gonna
win it anyway, But if this were a big move
to go from one percent support to the top of
the Democrat heap, I think it failed. So we can
(03:31):
put that aside. That's about all I have to say
on that. On the podcast today, we'll talk about the
polpe's class with President Trump, zororon Mamdannie's government run grocery
stores are incredibly unfair income tax system, Kamala getting shived
by her own side of the eye on now, and
Columbia's finally moving to deal do something with their cocaine hippos.
I mean, how's that for a tease.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Before you go into your commercial, I just want to
congratulate you. You debuted at number thirty nine on the
top one hundred of not bill Board but of iHeartRadio podcast. Congratulations,
Thank you so much. It's a very good start to
the podcast. This is the fourth episode for a verse
four episodes in hope to grow that. But yes, I
too was very heart and thank you to those that
(04:13):
are listening to the podcast to have us launch in
that strong a manner.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I do appreciate that. Yes, our wonderful sponsor. Have you
heard about Creative Planning. They're the nation's largest independent wealth
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every piece of your financial life. Visit Creative Planning dot com.
Is your introductory meeting. That's Creative Planning dot Com. Your
team awaits paid for by Creative Planning and SEC registered
investment advisor. The speaker's statements are not an endorsement of
the firm, So my take on this little verbal war
between Pope Leo and President Trump is quite frankly a
(05:00):
big yawn in the grand scheme of things. Who cares?
And I say that because it isn't surprising that a
pope feels like he needs to weigh in on a
war or on a moral question, especially after the President
of the United States has put out an all advised
tweet that seemed to have him threatening to wipe out
an entire country. I understand why Leo felt he needed
to pipe in here. I also understand why President Trump
(05:21):
would be frustrated that, yet again, we have another pope
who only seems to be interested in defending the most
backward and evil regimes on the planet under the guise
of mercy and peace and understanding. If I was President Trump,
I'd be frustrated too that I'm taking care of a
fifty year threat to the enlightened Western world. I'm standing
against tyranny and brutality that's been so extreme over the
(05:42):
decades that it can be categorized as evil. The evils
that the Iranian Mullas have committed against their fellow man
over the last forty five years are immeasurable and horrific
and abhorrened. Hell. Right before the pope chimed in to
defend the Iranian side of this equation, Iran's Mullah's had
just concluded an effort to cat kill forty thousand of
their own people in an effort to keep control of
(06:03):
their brutal regime. For those not following along, the evil
Mullahs who run Iran are engaged in a campaign of
extermination currently this is ongoing. They're trying to imprison or
kill any Iranian who might oppose them or publicly voice
dissent or threaten in any way their hold on power.
They had just gotten done with the extermination of about
(06:23):
forty thousand of their own countrymen when Leo chimed in
here and felt the need to speak for the regime
and happen on the wrong side of the moral equation.
And that's the thing, you know. Pope Leo has chimed
in on the wrong side of a much larger moral
argument here. And Trump never should have sent the tweet
that suggested he'd wipe out an higher country. That was dumb, dumb, dumb.
(06:44):
But Pope Leo seemed to be favoring the evil Muslims
in this equation even before that moment, and he used
the tweet as a chance to speak in favor of
some moral clarity or some such thing. When he and
the Catholic Church have largely refused to speak up for
or get involved with all sorts of other moral arguments,
especially those related to the evils of the Islamist extremists.
(07:07):
What Aronzmulas have done to their own people over forty
years has been a moral abomin nation. Have we ever
seen a pope so morally exercised about that that he
puts out global declarations of peace and denounces the evil
and keeps it up for a week or so. No,
not that I can recall, is the Catholic Church waging
a moral war against the organized and horrific slaughter of
(07:30):
Christians and Jews and any non Muslim in any of
these African and Middle Eastern countries where it's occurring. No,
and that violence against Christians has been ongoing. Apparently Leo
doesn't really have much of a say to say about that. Instead,
it's a social media post from the president who's leading
a military effort to bring about a larger global peace
(07:50):
that really sets him off. Good grief. I'm a Catholic myself,
and I have no particular problem with Pope Leo. I
think he's younger and more energetic and more willing to
do the outreach work to grow the church than the
last three tired and sickly old popes were. I think
Leo's been a real breath of fresh air for the
Catholic Church. And it's a bonus that he's an American, certainly,
(08:10):
but that also means he's going to chime in on
America's issues more often. And it could also mean that
Pope Leo, when he was just a cardinal there living
in Chicago, was a liberal cardinal living in Chicago with
maybe a touch of TDS. When he was a liberal
living in Chicago and elevated to pope, I and some
others said, don't think this guy is a conservative. Don't
(08:32):
think he's going to be a more moderate or conservative
pope than Francis was. And so far, every time the
Pope has shown us his political side, he's been supporting
the activist left. I'm not shocked at this, and you
shouldn't be either. But in this latest dust up with Trump,
Leo the man seems to have gone too far in
his attempt to announce any war as unjust and any
(08:54):
warrior is unjust, and he's even gone so far as
to misinterpret scripture. And hey, I'm certainly no Theolo but
those who are say that the pope quoting Isaiah one
point fifteen is a real stretch. Pope Leo suggested that basically,
no war is just and no one fighting a war
can be heard by God. God doesn't hear their prayers.
This is basically what the Pope said in response to
(09:15):
Trump and his war quote. Even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.
That's from Isaiah. But Isaiah's context was in reference to
the corruption and injustices of the Judeans, and it makes
no sense when applied to Trump and the Iranian war.
According to these theologians, Leo is claiming God doesn't listen
to the prayers of those who fight or wage war
(09:37):
because Jesus preached his love and mercy. But Jesus didn't
preach pacifism, nor did he suggest that there was no
such thing as a just war, or a just cause
or a just reaction that might include violence. Leo made
it sound as if no war can be a just
war or a just cause against evil, when they certainly
can be. Trump says it's not so prising that President
(10:00):
Trump thinks Pope Leo should be preaching against the evils
of Iran's leaders and those evils that they'd done to
their fellow man over the last forty five years. Instead
of being worried about Trump saying, LEO should be denouncing
the recent slaughter of forty thousand Iranian people. You'd think
Trump's reaction doesn't surprise me, But it is surprising that
a new PULP doesn't think there's such a thing as
a just war, or that God won't listen to anyone
(10:22):
resorting to violence. Trump and the US military here are
resorting to violence in an effort to deal with a
longtime evil and bring about a more peaceful globe. LEO
really can't see that. Well, here's a good litmus test
for the PULP. When the Iranian Mullahs are rushing to
praise you, you're probably on the wrong side. When you've
got radical Islam all excited about your comments and your reaction,
(10:46):
you might be standing on the wrong side of the cloud.
Iran's radical president ran I mean, he rushed to praise
Poplo after he denounced President Trump and this war action.
The same POLP that's been absolutely silent on the atrocities
committed by the radical imams, and that Iranian regime can
suddenly find his voice when it comes to criticizing Trump
for not being gentle enough or diplomatic enough. It really
(11:09):
is farcical this new evil fan of Leo's. The Iranian
president said, his holiness, Pope Leo, I condemned the insult
of your excellency on behalf of the great nation of Iran,
and declare that the desecration of Jesus, the prophet of
peace and brotherhood, is not acceptable to any free person.
I wish you glory by a law. I love the
(11:29):
reference to the free person. But this is the same
man who would crucify Christ all over again if Christ
was walking the earth today. As one pundit put it,
this is the same regime that has driven thousands of
Christians out of Iran, persecuted them, imprisoned them, denying them
the ability to worship freely, and in some cases subjecting
them to torture or death. Now that same regime wants
(11:50):
to posture as a defender of Christianity and weigh in
on church matters. Yeah, and Pope Leo's apparently okay with
being used by them as they do it. These attacks
on Trump had been morally confused at best, and for
the record, anyone insisting that we Catholics have got to
agree with the Pope on this are incorrect. Catholics are
not required to agree with the Pope at all times.
(12:11):
The Second Vatican Council even made this clear quote. The
Church claims no special divine competence in reaching political conclusions,
and so no, you don't have to feel guilty about this.
You do not, as a Catholic, have to agree with
Pope Leo on this or feel guilty that you don't.
In fact, here's a shocker. According to a new poll,
six and ten Catholics are with Trump on the Iranian question,
(12:34):
with only four and ten being more like Leo. I guess.
The poll found that church going Catholics found a fifty
eight percent job appropriating for Trump and fifty percent approve
of Trump taking the military action against Iran that he
is so among Catholics who actually practice the faith, six
and ten approve of Trump's presidency and at least a
slight majority of them approve of how he's handling Iran. Look,
(12:56):
if a pope didn't chime in on the morality of war,
et cetera, he wouldn't be doing his job.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
But Pope Leo's need to chime in on the wrong
side of the moral equation is what's interesting, and it's
somewhere between interesting and indefensible when you consider how much
both he and the Church have been ignoring the ongoing
slaughter of Christians and Catholics in the Middle East and
certain African nations for a long long time. Now it's
as if our new Pope doesn't see the genuine evil
(13:22):
and inhumanity that's playing out around the globe and instead
just wants to nitpick on political matters, which brings us
to why Leo is choosing to take on Trump. Several
voices at the Vatican are now explaining it this way.
They say Leo sees the global disorder of the day
as an opportunity to boost the profile of the Catholic
Church and repair its global standing after the sexual abuse scandals, etc.
(13:44):
Which were also global. By the way, this wasn't just
an American priest thing, if you don't know, but this
is the claim. Leo is seeing the global disorder as
a blessing and an opportunity. Quote, this is just a
huge blessing. It's wonderful for the church all over the
world that he's the guy who can stand up to Trump.
They point out Leo is also considerably more popular in
the US than Trump, so that works to their advantage.
(14:05):
They point out that Leo is considerably more popular in
the US than Trump. They like this. He enjoys a
thirty four percentage point net positive rating compared with a
twelve percentage point net negative rating for Trump. They're also
still annoyed that six and ten Catholics supported Trump in
twenty twenty four, and they hope Leo's scolding gets them
back in line. Catholics make up about one fifth of
(14:28):
all US voters, by the way, and historically they split
almost evenly between the parties. It's almost fifty to fifty.
So even that slight bump in Catholic support for Trump
was definitive in twenty twenty four, and the lefty Catholics
are still stewing over it. But the conservative Catholics remain
loyal to Trump, and if that CBS poll is correct,
fifty eight percent of Catholics overall approve of the President
(14:50):
and nearly that many approve of his actions in Iran.
I don't see how Leo's really helping himself or the
church out here. If that's the case. Vice President Vance
is a Catholic, and he was asked about polpe Leo
injecting himself into the morality of this war. Here. Here's
what he had to say.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
So, Number one, when the Pope says that God is
never on the side of those who willed the sword,
there is a thousand year, more than a thousand year
tradition of just war theory.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Now, we can, of course have disagreements about whether this
or that conflict is just. But I think that it's important.
In the same way that it's important for the Vice
President of the United States to be careful when I
talk about matters of public policy, I think it's very
very important for the Pope to be careful when he
talks about matters of theology. But I think one of
the issues here is that if you're going to opine
(15:40):
on matters of theology, you've got to be careful. You've
got to make sure it's anchored in the truth. And
that's one of the things that I try to do,
and it's certainly something I would expect from the clergy,
whether they're Catholic or Protestant.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, Van's concluded that by saying, I certainly think that
in some cases it would be best for the Vatican
to stick to matters of morality, stick to matters of
what's going on in the Catholic Church, and let the
President of the United States stick to dictating public policy.
In general, that's good advice, but if you are Catholic,
you know that the tenets of our faith often have
implications for public policy. Our stances against abortion, the death penalty,
(16:14):
our stances on poverty and charity, etc. They all intersect
in the political plane. Obviously, I don't think a pope
needs to quote stay out of politics, but I do
think that when a pope chimes in, it should be
only after careful thought and with moral clarity. In our
rather new pope failed to do that in this instance.
(16:36):
I did a segment on the last podcast related to
Kamala Harris and how the left wing accomplices in the
mainstream media are going to spend the next three years
trying to force her onto the voters of this country
as a lost opportunity in twenty twenty four. They are
trying hard to convince voters that not electing Kamala in
twenty twenty four was a mistake, and I was saying,
the American people can believe they made a mistake with
(16:56):
Donald Trump if they do and still not believe that
Kamala Harris would have been the answer, And that, of
course is the case. We know it wasn't a mistake.
Kamala Harris ran in twenty twenty and was so thoroughly
rejected as the answer for her party she was forced
to drop out before the voting even started in Iowa
in twenty twenty four. Of course, after four years as veep,
the Bidens forced her onto the party leadership because they
(17:18):
were forcing Joe Biden out. If you remember, Nancy Pelosi,
Barack Obama and others wanted to have a quickie mini
primary because they didn't want Kamala to be the standard
bearer in twenty twenty four, the Bidens, as punishment for
daring to push Joe out, turned around and forced Kamala
onto the ticket. They engineered her candidacy, and of course
(17:39):
she lost terribly. We saw how that ended. More importantly, though,
we saw in technicolor during that stretch that the American
people simply don't want or like Kamala Harris in public
office and so it isn't terribly surprising that at least
some segment of the Democrat base doesn't want to make
this mistake again in twenty twenty eight, and they're going
to push back against this mainstream media attempt to make
(17:59):
her the nominee. I'm not surprised that some factions of
the left side of the aisle are reacting to this
latest attempt to relaunch Kamala negatively. But the Huffington Post, Okay,
that's interesting. The Huffington Post published a piece this week
from one of their columnists named Kevin Robillard, and it
was brutal. And this is another reason that this is noteworthy.
(18:20):
The tone of this piece easily could have been softer,
more subtle, less direct, not so harsh, not so mocking.
Realized they made a choice here over at the Huffington Post.
The socialist progressive editors at the Huffington Post could have
chosen to take a far less harsh tone and still
gotten their point across if they wanted to criticize a
(18:41):
fellow Democrat. Instead, they chose to go heavy. This is
evidence of what I was saying on Tuesday, Kamala Harris
will not be the Democrat nominee in twenty twenty eight,
and try as they might, the mainstream leftist news media
is not going to be able to successfully force her
onto the voters of this country or that party. Huff
Post headline, Kamala Harris twenty twenty eight, question mark Democratic
(19:03):
operatives and donors hope not. Here's just a sample of
what this guy wrote, and I think you'll agree it's
kind of dead on, he says. Harris is like this
drunk buddy of mine from way back when, and not
because of the drunk part, well not entirely because of
the drunk part. So he even hints Kamala as a
quiet drunk, as some of us on the right have,
because sometimes she appears or sounds drunk. He continues, this
(19:26):
friend of his would have exactly one cocktail too many.
He wouldn't be stumbling drunk or slurring drunk, but just
drunk enough to make things embarrassingly awkward. He'd approach a woman,
or even an entire table full of women, completely unaware
that nobody was interested. He had zero ability to take
a not so subtle hint, read body language, detect, tone, nothing,
The author says, somebody, usually me, would have to ride
(19:47):
to the rescue. It's not going to happen, buddy, Come
on back to the table. We got another picture. That
gentle reader is Kamala Harrison the White House. This guy says,
He continues, the only reason Joe Biden picked Harris as
his running mate is that he'd public talked himself into
promising a black female running mate, and the only choices
were Harris or Stacy Abrams, and Abrams was busy costplaying
as governor of Georgia. He says. Harris, not to put
(20:09):
too fine a point on it was the highest ranking
diversity higher of all time. If she succeeded at a
single job that Biden gave her, yeah, there is no
If he reconsiders, he says she failed all of them,
from Borders R to National Security point person. By all appearances,
Harris seems to think she earned the nomination in twenty
twenty four, even though the big names like Barack Obama
and Nancy Pelosi wanted to hold a mini primary. Precisely
(20:32):
to Kneecapper, diversity hires always think they earned it. But
even a cursory glance at Harris's performance as VEEP and
every cringe inducing day of her comically inept but mercifully
brief presidential campaign showed a woman with no qualifications aside
from a blive persistence. The job requires so much more
than word salads and boxed wines. This is just brutal.
(20:54):
And it's not some evil conservative or right wing pundit
trashing er. It's a staff columnist at the Huffington Post.
Kamala will not be the Democrats twenty twenty eight nominee.
I've been flat out guaranteeing that since she lost in
twenty twenty four. All right, next item on Tuesday's podcast,
I asked our Americans even going to know that their
tax refund is larger this year because President Trump and
(21:17):
the Republican Congress helped them out with some tax breaks
in the Big Beautiful Bill. This is the filing deadline
now in which no taxes on tips are overtime and
no income tax on Social Security, new tax breaks for
car buyers all kick in. The IRS says just based
on the early returns that they've handled, the average tax
return is three hundred and fifty dollars larger than it
otherwise would have been. This as the Trump White House
(21:39):
predicts that the overall average return could turn out to
be about one thousand dollars more than expected. And so
we've got all this great news related to our overall
level of federal taxation and our tax returns this year,
and is anyone going to hear about it? I've been asking.
I am firmly blaming the mainstream news media for refusing
to report on any story that might reflect positively on
President Trump and the publican party. Here, these major news
(22:02):
outlets have turned into genuine left wing propaganda machines rather
than news operations. And if you know anything about propaganda,
you know that it's not just about hyping and spinning
and lying in order to make yourself and your side
of the aisle look great. It's also about taking every
opportunity to trash, malign, and step on your opponents and
your enemies. And given that our major media outlets are
now enemies of the truth and the American right, well
(22:25):
there is no way in their minds that they can
be expected to honestly report on the merits of the
big beautiful Bill or the wins that it's bringing to
the American people. It is therefore not surprising to run
across this headline from the left wing political website. Tax
Day arrives with Republicans struggling to sell their cuts. So
we finally do find a so called news outlet that's
(22:45):
going to report on this blackout of coverage on tax relief,
and they spin it as though it's the Republican's fault.
And I hope you noticed they portrayed the tax relief
as cuts, as in, this isn't a win for taxpayers,
it's cuts that took something away from somebody. I mean,
it's just despicable political claims. Republicans hope that last year's
tax cuts would offer giant political benefits with taxpayers receiving
(23:08):
supersized refunds and then rewarding them at the ballot box.
That doesn't look like it's going to happen. Refunds haven't
jumped as much as Republicans had hoped. See how they
choose to spin it. Already, with only the first waves
of tax returns being processed, the average refund is saving
American workers three hundred and fifty dollars. But you know,
we get this spin. It's a failure. It's a failure,
(23:28):
not as much as expected. It's just pathetic. Then they
go on to pretend as if it's the Republican's fault
that their win isn't getting any attention. It's the Republicans
quote struggling to get their message out, and it is not.
I tell you, it's just it's not the refusal of
the major meat news outlets to report the story. But
this is the typical sort of ingrained and overt media
(23:49):
bias we've come to simply expect in the country. I
guess they say. That's one reason why Republicans are still
doing everything they can to keep last year's tax cuts
top of mind this tax Day, even as they also
be guilty of over promising on the refunds. Republican officials
also have another problem. Any benefits they might get from
talking up the tax cuts are running headlong into the
war in Iran and surging gas prices associated with it,
(24:11):
making their goal of holding Congress more daunting. Meanwhile, they report,
the Bipartisan Policy Center found in a poll of its
own last week that barely a quarter of taxpayers who
filed their returns believed the tax law had helped them.
Only a third of those who'd taken advantage of the
no tax on tips or no tax on income provisions
thought they'd gotten a boost, potentially even more troublesome sign
(24:32):
for the Republicans. Well, the result of this poll is
because the news media hasn't done its job or reported
on the facts of these tax cuts to the American people.
The folks at political cannot possibly be this subtuse. The
left wing media has put a blackout on any positive
news related to these tax breaks, and then Politico pretends
it's surprising that most Americans haven't heard about the tax
(24:53):
breaks and don't think they were helped by them. Folks.
According to the IRS, twenty million Americans took advantage of
the no taxes on tips or overtime provision, twenty million
working people. Please ask them if they don't think it
helped them, or if they'd like to go back to
having their tips and they're overtime taxed. What do you
think they'd say? Fifty one million seniors are benefiting from
(25:15):
the no taxes on Social Security provision. Please ask those
seniors if they've noticed the change, and if they haven't,
asked them if we should just go back to taxing
those Social Security benefits. Hey, I mean, if you don't
notice the difference, why not just go back to taxing
your tips and your overtime and your social security. Right,
I'd love to see the political and the mainstream outlets
try to square those circles. Fifty one million seniors just
(25:38):
got to keep more of their own money due to
the Trump GOP tax cuts, and the accomplished news media
refuses to tell them about it or admit that it's
a win for them. It's just abhorrent how far our
so called news media has fallen over the last twenty
five years. But hey, in twenty twenty eight, when these
tax changes are set to expire, watch how loudly these
same media outlet's howl if the next Congress doesn't renew them.
(26:02):
They don't exist today if you're a lefty activist pretending
to be a reporter. But they'll be the most important
taxpayers ever given to the American people if the next
Congress doesn't renew them, or if this is if Republicans
are in control of Congress. Of course, I mean fast
forward two years. If these accomplice leftists in the media
can portray the Republicans as wanting to punish seniors, you
know they will. That then will be the spin and
(26:25):
the news media will have done a complete one to
eighty on the importance of these tax provisions. But you
know what, if they're popular and the American people want
to keep them and Democrats control the Congress, well, if
the Democrats control Congress in twenty twenty eight and want
to let these tax cuts expire, well then you can
write the alternative spin. If a Democrat con told Congress
wants these to expire, well, renewing them amounts to continuing
(26:47):
tax breaks for the rich. Right, today's left is so
transparent you can predict the sort of scumbaggery that they're
going to pull years from now. Past Democrat congresses and
presidents have already been destroying this country with their completely
unfair and one sided taxation, and it's like today's leftists
are just getting started. The most major of all major
(27:07):
themes in this Democrat Party right now is tax the rich,
Tax the rich, tax the rich. Well, the truth is
that the so called rich in the upper middle class
are already paying virtually all the federal bills in this country.
We've been through these stants before on the radio show,
but they're right from the irs, and yet most Americans
never hear them. This is another failure of the mainstream media.
(27:28):
The top one percent of wage earners pay forty percent
of all of our federal bills. They pay forty percent
of all income taxes. The top ten percent of earners
in this country pay seventy two percent of federal government's bills.
The top fifty percent of earners. This is just among
We know that half of the country doesn't even have
a job, but of the half of the country that's working,
(27:50):
half of those people, the top fifty percent pay ninety
seven percent of our federal bills. As it is, many
households in America pay no income taxes at all, and
the bottom twenty percent actually get benefits from the tax
system that they never paid into. That's right. It's now
two in five Americans who are getting some amount of
welfare through the IRS. They get a so called tax
(28:13):
return even though they never paid into the system. And
you know, some of those payments are sizable, they're many
thousands of dollars. This is the true farce and screwed
job that's going on as Democrats and their activists lie
to the American people, and amongst those who do know
how much they're getting screwed. The flight from the Democrat
cities and the states has been measurable. I tell you,
if Americans really knew how much they were being screwed,
(28:36):
they would be furious with the Democrat Party and a
Democrat would never win another election. Historians are going to
look back at the Democrats forced and extended lockdowns during
COVID as a decision that majorly backfired on the liberal
left as well. It gave all sorts of CEOs and
major income earners finally gave them a chance to pause
and reflect and look at how much they were being
(28:57):
robbed by the federal government. It gave them a chance
to see how much they were getting screwed under blue
state tax laws as well. It also gave them a
chance to understand just how much today's left hates them
and wants to repeatedly punish them just for being successful.
The pandemic lockdowns had tens of thousands of professionals and
high tax states moving to low tax states, and had hundreds,
(29:18):
if not thousands, of CEOs and major business owners deciding
to move entire companies or large portions of them from
high tax states to low tax states. The Democrats and
their activists and the Blue state leaders did great harm
to themselves and their communities by giving the American people
time to pause and reflect on how much they were
getting screwed by their respective governments. And we aren't even
(29:40):
talking about the silent attacks that have been going on
against the middle class in this country as well, especially
in these Democrat states. The Wall Street Journal editors correctly
point out in these blue states, even as their leaders
chant tax the tax the rich, they're also hammering down
on the middle class with more taxation. Bernie aoc these
other minds a dimwits want to insist we don't have
(30:02):
to tax the middle class if we tax the rich.
The truth is, even as these blue states have taxed
the rich more, they've also been taxing the middle class more. Quote.
The dirty little secret of progressive states is that they
tax their rich and middle classes more. They also wallop
small businesses, which typically pay tax at their state's individual rate.
(30:22):
The more businesses pay in tax, the less they can
invest in higher YEP. That's the other side effect of
the pandemic that historians will see more clearly. The pandemic
ended with a flurry of new taxes on the Blue states,
and its suppressed a lot of new business activity and
growth across the country. And to come full circle, is
any of that reported or reported on honestly by the
(30:43):
corporate news media, No, of course not. Here's a fun
little story you probably won't hear elsewhere. Columbia's leaders have
finally decided to do something about Pablo Escobar's hippos. Some
of you are going to know the basic story here.
Notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar had all sorts of exotic
(31:03):
animals when he was atop the Colombian drug trade, and
among them were four hippos that he'd apparently bought from
a private breeder in Texas. Well. They grew huge, of course,
and when Escobar was killed in nineteen ninety three and
his drug empire was crumbling, the leaders of Colombia didn't
quite know what to do with these four massive hippos,
so they decided to just leave them be. They didn't
(31:23):
want to euthanize them, and didn't really know what to
do with a five thousand pound hippo, and yeah, they
weigh that much. Hippos generally ranged somewhere between three thousand
and seven thousand pounds, So rather than deal with them,
Colombia's leaders just let the hippos roam around free and
live in a stretch of river in a little area
that they felt comfortable and the climate, of course was
(31:44):
perfect for them, and so they just left them, even
as they sold off and shipped off or euthanized the
other exotic animals that Escobar had. Well, thirty years later
and four hippos has turned into one hundred and seventy hippos.
Colombia now has a hit a population of one hundred
and seventy and if they're going to do anything about
them as an invasive species, g now is the time,
(32:07):
isn't it so? Colombia's environmental minister says the country's approved
a plan to euthanize at least eighty of them. The
Colombian government says they're an invasive species according to one story,
and they're a threat to humans and they're damaging local ecosystems.
Obviously they're very disruptive. This environmental minister says, if we
don't do this, we will not be able to control
the population. She also said that they've resorted to inbreeding
(32:30):
and have visible genetic damage due to it. Well, there
aren't any reports that the animals actually killed her seriously
injured people. They are threatening people in local towns. They
say they're causing traffic and boating accidents. They've killed crops
and livestock. So the Colombian government has been looking for
an alternative way to stop this population boom for years
and they haven't been able to find it. They tried
(32:51):
sterilization and relocation, but those things are expensive, obviously and
haven't worked out. As Jeff Goldbloom's character told us in
Jurassic Park, nature finds a way. I find it interesting
and wrong that they're only going to cull the herd now,
because it's not going to take care of the problem
as harsh as it is. Those hippos need to be euthanized.
(33:11):
If there are issues with the gene pool, you can't
even move them, right, I mean you shouldn't even move
them around and relocate them at this point. Why would
you mix those genes with some African hippo gene pool
and transfer some of the genetic problems. They just need
to be euthanized, and in short order, our Colombia is
going to have a runaway hippo population, just like Florida
has a runaway Boa constrictor and monkey population. You can't
(33:33):
hem in nature and expect to keep a population of
wild animals contained to just a few. All right, that's
a fun item. Let's get to the next item. So
it's going to take at least three years and thirty
or forty million dollars in order for Zoran Mamdani to
prove that socialism doesn't work and that big government cannot
run grocery stores more efficiently or competently than the private sector.
(33:53):
This should be obvious by now, but this is the
bottom line when it comes to this Nitwitz grand idea
of government run grocery stores. Mom Donnie ran on this
promise of government running stores during his campaign, if you remember,
and unlike the free buses and most of the new
freebe's he was promising the voters of New York, this
is one he insists he can move forward with. So
this week Mom Donnie announced the first government grocery store
(34:17):
is going to cost thirty million dollars to get up
and running. And you know that price is going to
rise significantly before the project is completed, because it always does.
That's always the case with public works projects. And come on,
this is a New York public works project. They're not
going to build it and get it up and running
for thirty million dollars. That cost will probably double before
the doors ever open. Trust me, that's a guarantee. And
(34:38):
by the way, the experts in the grocery store industry
say a private grocer could do this for about half
the cost. This is just to put up the building
and get it going. As things now stand, New York
grocery CEOs say the project should cost about fifteen or
twenty million and that's it. So Mom Donnie has already
lost to the private sector on that front. One expert says, quote,
thirty million dollars for one store is exceptionally high, considering
(35:00):
land prices are a significant part of the capital costs
of new construction, and the city has announced that it
rents will be waived, so they're already getting a break
on the land. And they're still going to run this
type of cost, and that's just building it. They also say, quote,
the grocery industry is low margin, so heavy subsidies will
be needed to counteract these inherent inefficiencies. They say, yeah,
(35:21):
government brings in efficiency, and that's a long time tenant
of any government and any bureaucracy. They can never, ever,
never do better than the private sector, and I mean anything.
The Post Office can't seem to make a profit. They're
eternally in debt. Yet Ups and Amazon and other private
courier services can make a profit. Why is that the
government's been patently unable to run a railroad for decades?
(35:44):
Amtrak is so heavily subsidized it's crazy. But government run
grocery stores are going to be the very model of
efficiency and force lower grocery prices into the private sector.
I mean bullplop. Government run grocery stores are only going
to heap even more runaway expenses and subsidies onto the
backs of the taxpayers as they try to pay for
their own groceries out of their own pocket. This is
(36:06):
a farce before it ever gets underway. This week on
x zoron Mam, Donnie posted I was elected as a
Democratic socialist and will continue to govern as a Democratic socialist.
One hundred days in and we're just getting started. I
read that, and I felt the need to respond. I said,
please keep making this known, Zorn, Please keep making it
known that you're a democrat socialist. Say it often so
(36:27):
there can be no mistake. You're a democratic socialist as
New York spirals downward on virtually every front under your watch.
And I mean that I wasn't being snarky. I do
hope that mom Donnie and his supporters spend the next
four years making sure everyone knows that this is what
democratic socialism looks like, because it's going to be a
costly disaster at every turn. And I know that America's
(36:49):
leftists think that they're softening the blow, they're softening the
word socialism when they put democratic in front of it,
and to the dim witted, I don't doubt that this works.
I don't doubt that this works on the naive young
idealists and the perpetual older dimwitz. But democratic socialism is socialism,
and it's failed always and repeatedly around the globe, and
it's not going to work here in no matter how
(37:10):
the activists left in the Democratic Party package it. Mom
Donnie wants to start with one government or grocery store
in each of the New York's five boroughs. He claims
the total cost to this is going to be seventy
million dollars. Well, that can't possibly be true if the
first one is going to cost thirty million dollars on
its own. This is going to be more like one
hundred and fifty or two hundred million dollars in order
(37:30):
to realize this five borrowed dream. And I'm going to
predict right now that the first store will already be
deemed an expensive disaster before the fifth store ever opens
and borrow number five, you know what I mean. I'm
going to predict now that there will be questions as
to whether New York should even move ahead with stores
number four and five because stores one in two will
(37:51):
have turned out to be such an obvious disappointment. And
that's just something to watch for. And for the record,
this government run grocery store concept has been tried in
a few other cities, like Kansas City, and it's quickly failed.
I don't see Mom Donnie or New York socialists being
any more successful with it, do you. If these stores
don't work in the more rural communities with smaller populations
(38:13):
and where shoplifting isn't even an issue, how can they
possibly work in New York City, where the population is
massive and where shoplifting is a massive problem. I'll ask
it now, how do Mom, Donnie and the leftists plan
to keep food on the shelves when everyone knows that
it's a store run by bleeding hearts who are accountable
to no one. These are people who will view shoplifting
(38:34):
as stealing from government. That makes it especially okay rights.
It seems to be okay for most of these people
to steal from the private sector grocery store. It'll be
seem even more logical to steal from government to them.
I'll also predict now that the theft is going to
be the ultimate and never ending nightmare for these government
run grocery stores. If they think bodegas and privately run
(38:55):
stores have a problem with shoplifting in New York right now,
just wait until these socialist groceries are open. The shelves
are going to look as bare as the photos that
we've seen of Cuba and Soviet grocery stores over the decades.
There won't be any food on them. Another fun twist,
the owners of the bodegas and the smaller grocery stores
that do already serve these neighborhoods are certain that Mamdanie's
(39:17):
government run operation is going to put them out of business.
You know, these are the men and the women who
are already grinding out a living by running a bodega
or a small grocery in the crappiest parts of New
York City. Now government's going to come in and add
to the competition. What a gut punch to these people,
right quote, It's going to affect us real hard, said
(39:38):
Victor Vasquez, thirty three, manager at the City Fresh Market.
Our prices might have to go up. I assume they will. Yes,
you know. The Washington Examiner editors put the so perfectly,
I'm just going to steal a few paragraphs for them.
They say the supermarket business is inherently low margin and
intensely competitive. Walmart and Amazon, with its whole food stores,
compete aggressively on price and delivery. One key to the
(40:01):
success of these two giants of the American economy is
their laser focus on distribution costs. At their core, Walmart
and Amazon are logistics companies, private sectory grocery chains succeed
or fail based on their ability to manage costs, negotiate
with suppliers, and respond to demand in that manner. They say,
a city run market, by contrast, would operate under political
(40:22):
rather than economic incentives. Decisions about pricing, hiring, product selection,
and location would inevitably be influenced by political considerations, union pressures,
and bureaucratic constraints rather than the discipline of profit and loss.
It's true, they continued, that disconnect matters. Without the pressure
to turn a profit, a government owned supermarket has little
(40:42):
incentive to control costs. Over time, what begins as a
pilot program could easily become a permanent fiscal burden. They
conclude by saying, advocates of Mamdani's supermarkets argue that the
food deserts justify government intervention, but the reality is that
throughout the city a consumer can find a grocery store
with an attendant of walk. If grocery access is limited
in certain areas, the causes are complex, including crime, zoning restrictions,
(41:07):
high operating costs. They say, a city on supermarket does
nothing to address those underlying issues. In fact, it may
exacerbate them. I agree with that the private marketplace works,
and when it comes to food, groceries and feeding America,
the private marketplace has worked miracles over time. It's our
model in America that's responsible for the fact that there
(41:27):
is such a high standard of living globally. Nowhere else
in the world other countries quote poor people suffering from
an obesity epidemic that is uniquely America. We know how
to feed ourselves and our people. And so not only
will Mam Donni's government run grocery stoes not work, but
they're not needed. They really aren't. And let's acknowledge that
(41:48):
Zoran thinks he has this all worked out too. I
think this is going to be important as well. Let's
acknowledge that Mom Donnie and his team think they finally
have this figured out. Their government run grocery store is
going to work because it's going to be run by
people who got their experience running private sector grocery stores.
This too, It just tickles me. City Hall officials said
they'll identify third party expert grocery operators to run Mom
(42:11):
Donnie's public groceries. Operators will be required to directly pass
along any in kind or direct subsidies to consumers in
the form of reduced prices. Those operators will also be
under strict pricing, affordability, labor, operating and reporting requirements. They say,
So let's step back, am in. Mom Donnie's going to
prove that socialism can work if private sector experts run it. Well,
(42:33):
If a country goes socialist, where do the private sector
experts come from to run the operation? After a generation
or two? You're really going to be screwed, folks. If
socialism only works if private sector experts run it, how
long can that last? Everything about this is farcical and fraudulent,
and it just it frustrates me. There's a perpetual ignorance
(42:57):
that comes along with socialism and with every new generation
of naive, well meaning young person. For some reason, the
catastrophic failures of socialism and communism over time, over generations
never seems to be learned. It's never internalized and then
dismissed as a false hope. Socialism and communism are full
of false hopes and false promises. I mean, if we
(43:19):
can state anything at this point about socialism and communism
based on our shared human existence on this planet, we
can state that socialism and communism are the path to
economic and social ruin period. These are disastrous ideologies that
each new generation thinks they can figure out, and they
can't because it's a falsehood. The underlying premises of socialism
(43:41):
and communism are falsehoods. The famous cliche from the left is, well,
we just haven't done it right yet, but that doesn't
mean we can't do it right yet. Does in part
because you're all nit wits, but also in part the
more serious response is, it's the ideologies that are based
on false definitions of fairness and false premises related to
(44:01):
human nature, and that's why they fail.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
The Jweber Podcast is a production of iHeartRadio podcasts, produced
and engineered by Gregory John. The Jyweber Podcast is presented
by Creative Planning, helping clients simplify their journey to financial wellness,
one personalized plan at a time. Listen to all of
Jayweber's podcasts, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(44:27):
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