Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Michael, I'm not sure if you've talked about this
yet or not, but I heard that Congress is trying
to opt themselves out of Obamacare. Why would they want
to opt themselves out of something that works so well?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, they're already opted out. They they they they're not
part of the exchange. They have their own health insurance plan.
I don't know, I don't know or recall who underwrites it,
but they have extensive benefits and access to the best
healthcare in the world. You're a member of Congress, you're
(00:40):
Nancy Pelosi, and you break a hip on a foreign trip,
you get air flighted at taxpayer expense on a military
aircraft to reinstad or some air base, and then the
you know, air Force or Navy or medical one of
(01:00):
her medical doctors did she did she have a hip
replacement replacement?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, she had a whole whole hip replacement.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
It broke due to a fall than which caused the replacement,
which I was skeptical of because I've I've have several
members of my family who's had multiple hip replacements. But
thanks to a good couple of goober Texters, a degenerative
hip replacement is much different than a broken hip replacement.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, anyway, you know, and at no cost to her.
So they're not a member of the exchange, they already
have benefits that you and I can only dream of. Uh,
you know, you get sick. First of all, there's the
capital physician, and then there are medical personnel in every
one of the houses, in the office buildings. And if
(01:47):
you get really sick, well it's just a hop, skip
and a ride up to Bethesda and you're in Walter
Reed Army Medical Center and you're getting some of the
best healthcare in the world. Must be nice. So, assuming
that you weren't listening to ABC News, here's the breaking
news from the bottom of the bottomless.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
We begin this hour with breaking news just into CNN.
The Georgia prosecutor leading the States election interference case against
President like Donald Trump is now disqualified.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
CNN's Kaitlin Polance is here with your Caitlin wiking.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
What was that, Like, couldn't hear better?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Tell us about this?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
This is just coming in in the last several minutes.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
This is a big development, a big development, and a
big development that Donald Trump has wanted for a long time.
That case against him in Georgia, the criminal case where
it's accusing him and several others of a racketeering conspiracy
related to the twenty twenty election. It's already been paused.
Now it's not even backburner. This is a case that
will be dead in the water because the Georgia Court
(02:56):
of Appeals is now saying that Fawnie Willis the leader
of the prosecution against Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You're such a mess, the.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
District attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, she should be disqualified
from being able to bring that case. The Georgia Court
of Appeals is saying that it's a significant appearance of
impropriety caused by the conduct of a public prosecutor, that
is Willis, how she behaved, how she was speaking about
the case about Trump publicly, about how she was having
(03:30):
a relationship with the top prosecutor that was concealed in
this a man named Nathan Wade.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
All of that.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Previously, the trial level judge had looked at and said,
Fannie Willis can stay on this case. We're not dismissing
the indictment.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
But the Court of Appeals.
Speaker 6 (03:44):
Is now taking another look and saying, no, the trial
judge was wrong. Fannie Willis should be disqualified from continuing
to lead this case. It would be a long process,
or it will be a long process to replace her,
which is why I say this case is head in
the water now without Fannie Willis, the person who was
needing this case against Donald Trump in Fulton County. And
(04:07):
just to keep tabs on how many cases there are
against Donald Trump criminally, the other two in federal court
January sixth and classified documents those are dismissed, and then
the additional case in New York City where he was
set to be sentenced, That sentencing is now not happening.
So as Donald Trump enters the presidency, each of these
(04:27):
courts that is handling a criminal case is essentially removing
that issue from him to have to deal with in
any period of time in the near future.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
All right, Calon Bolliance, Yeah, thanks for that added perspective.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Let me bring in and see it. Here's how the
New York Times reports, which I find interesting. In a
two to one decision, a three judge panel reversed the
trial judge who in March had allowed Fanny Willis, the
District Attorney of Fulton County, to keep the case despite
revelations about a romantic relationship she had with the lawyer
(05:01):
who was hired to manage the prosecution. Next paragraph, all
three of the appeals judges are Republican appointees. Well, so
what it was two to one? So one Republican appointee
happened to disagree. It continues while the decision is likely
(05:25):
to be appealed to the full court. If it stands,
it could do the entire case, which is the last
acting criminal prosecution involving charges against mister Trump. The way
it goes is this does not dismiss the case, but
(05:45):
it certainly in essence kills the case. The case will
have to be officially killed by somebody, which means some prosecutor.
So I don't know how it will work in Georgia,
but you know, a either the trial judge or the
(06:06):
appellate court, or maybe the Supreme Court. When he gets
the Supreme Court, the Georgia Supreme Court will appoint a
panel of das throughout Georgia to review the case, and
then they will make a decision whether or not to
dismiss it or proceed with it. This is why I
think the CNN reporter is basically saying it's dead. Nobody's
going to touch this case. Nobody. It's so clear that
(06:31):
this was a personal vendetta, and it is based on
such flimsy evidence that no decent, emphasized decent or qualified
a prosecutor was taking this case on. So so that
one is done, that one is dead. Dead is a doornail. Now,
(06:54):
let's go back to kind of the theme of what
we've been doing throughout the program, and that is this
kind of sea change that has happened that was epitomized
yesterday by Trump and Ramaswami, by Musk and quite frankly
(07:14):
by all of us screaming at our congressman and our
senators that this continuing resolution is dead. Well, if you're
an academic or an expert with no real experience in
combating our enemies, how would you deal with conflict? May
(07:37):
Orcus was on MSNBC and you know, the Secretary of
Homeland Security, and may Orcus happened to say, this.
Speaker 7 (07:47):
Kinda has in fact a hacked into our telecommunications providers.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
All right, So China has in fact hacked into our
telecom communications providers Verizon AT and T T Mobile, Salier
one team team being Ween whatever it is Comcast. I
mean all of our telecoms. They've hacked into all of them. Okay,
(08:15):
so what are you going to do?
Speaker 7 (08:16):
Some of them? And the extent of it is quite serious, uh,
And I should say that in response to that, we
have taken action. We in the federal government have stood
up a unified coordination group of multi agency response to
this hack. Just today are Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency AHA.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
The Cybersecurity, Infrastructure and Security Administration within DHS. The Ministry
of Truth is coordinating our response. So the people that
are trying to get that the big tech for the
comms portion, all of the private sector portion of that
(09:06):
ecosphere that we've talked about this morning, the cabal, they're
going to lead the effort to coordinate the response to
these attacks.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Published mobile communications best practices that everyone should read, especially
people in positions of responsibility in the United States government.
It's a very sophisticated hack. I can't speak publicly to
how it occurred, but the telecom providers are focused intensely
(09:35):
on it and they are working in partnership with us
to remediate it.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
But how long has this been going on?
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Months?
Speaker 7 (09:44):
It is not an overnight hack. This is a very
sophisticated one, and it is still going on, and it
is still going on, and China is very active in
this space.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So what are we going to do. We're gonna write
a memo. Yes, we're gonna list out what the best
practices are. I'm always fascinated by this that we reflexively
turn to the government, the Cybersecurity Infrastruction Security Administration. We're
gonna we're gonna agency, We're gonna turn to them to
(10:22):
put together a committee of private sector folks and government folks,
and we're going to have conferences and meetings, and we're
gonna write a memo, and we're gonna put together a
booklet of best practices, and then we're gonna share that
with everybody else. You don't think that Verizon already is
trying to fix this. You don't think that T Mobile
(10:43):
and anybody else is involved in the tele in telecommunications
industry isn't worried about this. They understand the threat, but
you're gonna have a bunch of bureaucrats put together best practices.
So by really not doing anything about it, you're all
most tacitly admitting you curely can't stop it. So do
(11:03):
you know it, mister secretary. I am fascinated about how
many times we turn to government to solve something that
the private sector is so much more capable of solving itself. Tomorrow,
I'm gonna I get on my list of things to
talk about tomorrow because I'm getting ready to fly. I
(11:24):
can't resist not talking about the TSA. Tam and I
just finished watching a movie. It was I think she
kind of liked. I thought it was kind of stupid.
It was. It was kind of a Diehard like movie
where you know, an airport gets attacked during I forget
whether it's actually during the holidays. It was during the holidays, yes,
it was Christmas evens I recall. But maybe the movie
(11:47):
was called carry On. I don't remember who streamed it,
but carry On. It was about somebody trying to get
nerve Gas onto a onto an airliner that had a
congressman on it because the very people within the deep
State were trying to send the signal that hey, listen,
we want you to hire us, and we want you
(12:09):
to hire all these companies because look, look look what
these terrorists can do when they themselves were the ones
behind it. But it showed I didn't really carry about it.
I didn't care much about the storyline. I was too
busy watching how they had infiltrated the TSA in order
to carry out their terrorist attack, and how just one
(12:31):
individual in TSA was able to stop it. Yeah, he
learned how to defuse a bomb containing a deadly nerve agent.
He was able to learn how to do that by
being talked through it on the phone. And then when
it when the terrorists got the bomb back, got it
(12:51):
onto the airplane, He jumped into the cargo compartment of
a plane and defused it. Again. That's the TSA right there. Yeah,
is somebody. Oh, it was the text message about how
hard that people work in Congress and they work so
(13:14):
many days. And now he has since sent me the
text message. They said he was being sarcastic, but it
peaked my curiosity about how many days was Congress off
just this past year, and not twenty twenty three, but
in twenty twenty four. In twenty twenty four, Congress was
(13:37):
scheduled to be in session for how many days are
there in a year? Dragon like two hundred and sixty
seven or something.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Oh no, just a mirror, three hundred and sixty five
if you do not count leap your day.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Okay, So three hundred and sixty five days in a year,
Congress was scheduled to be in session for one one
hundred and thirty eight days, which means they were off work.
For what I know, I'm not very good at math,
but three sixty five, one hundred and thirty eight that's
about two hundred and twenty seven days. Maybe, now, considering
(14:11):
that there are three hundred and sixty five days a year,
and that's not very much, is it now. The calculation
of two hundred and twenty seven days for which they
are scheduled does not account for holidays or potential unscheduled
days off, but it kind of gives you a general
over you based on the legislative calendar.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
And just as a comparison here, there are roughly two
hundred and sixty work days in a year, so.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
They're still working less than the average number of work
days in a year. But most importantly, that does not
consider because here's how they count days.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
You fly in.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
This is the general This doesn't happen every week. This
probably happens eighty to ninety percent of the time. You
go home for the weekend, so you fly out generally
on a Thursday because nothing is scheduled on a Friday.
So you go home. Now, remember you go home because
(15:13):
and you want to do some work so you can
have your travel paid for and collect a per diem.
So you fly home on Thursday night. That's why Reagan
is so busy on Thursdays. At most airports were busy
on Thursday, but particularly Reagan because they all run off
to Reagan and then they catch their flights home and
on Friday, they have a breakfast with a Chamber of Commerce.
(15:37):
Oh it's business. So they're working by having a seven
am breakfast with the Chamber of Commerce, and then they
take off the rest of day. Now you would think
like you fly back home Sunday, Well you don't do that.
You fly back in on Monday. They might gravel the
(15:58):
house in the Senate might not always, but they might
gabble it into session because they know they know the
flight schedules at say I pm six pm, so their
workday starts at six pm or five pm on Monday.
And then once they do a roll call, they have
(16:19):
a quorum and then they go into recess and they
start work on Tuesday morning, so you know, you show
up between five and six so that you can you know,
be present, and then you go to a dinner. You know,
some lobbyists is taking you to dinner or there's some
(16:41):
party to go to. And then you really start working
on Tuesday morning, and you work Tuesday, Wednesday and part
of Thursday, and then Thursday again. You leave on Thursday night.
Now Sundays they actually do stay until Friday, and they
have to because they got some bills to work on.
So they might actually cast a few votes on Friday morning,
but boy, they're done by noon because you got a cat.
So the flights to get back home, well, when I
(17:04):
would when I would try to sneak home for the weekend,
now those flights weren't paid for most of the time,
there might be some official business I'd have to do.
There would be times when, oh my, here do you
detail hated it. I would take the Red Eye back
(17:24):
to DC and land at Reagan or Dulles and get
picked up and just go straight into the office at
you know, six point thirty seven o'clock in the morning
and go to work to say that I worked harder
than Congress.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
Damn right, I did Michael, I heard you might have
some issue with someone listing their fitness achievements on their resume. Well,
I'm wondering just how big a boy are you, because
my fitness achievement is I'm able to open a fifty
five gallon drum of what pass with one hand, and
(17:58):
I'm sure as hell going to be listing out on
my resume.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Wow, I didn't know there was a female RD mercer.
I didn't you know?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Or maybe r D you know from beyond the grave
reincarnated has.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Reincarnated as a woman. Wow. And right here listening to us,
little o' us dragon are D's listening to us?
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Beautiful?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I'll take it, But don't you threaten me with the
candle whoop ass because I got a canon woop ass
out there on my desk.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Certainly do thank you goobers.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yep, I got a can of whoop ass that that
goober sent me because they needed I need. I think
they needed an extra candle whoop ass. So mister numbers
back there during the break starts like I think he's
cross examining me. Now one of those numbers you gave
me a game, couldn't how many days?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Well?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I know but at least you pay attention during the break,
So I consider that an accomplishment. There you go, Yeah,
it helps the breaks ratings, see to know that there's
at least one person listening during the breaks.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
So you want to share your Oh, you were saying
that they were that the Congress critters work two hundred.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
And thirty days a year to twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Close enough, And if I.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Did that, I get thirty text messages to talk backs,
and you it's two twenty seven, it's two thirty, which.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Is a blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
So two hundred and thirty days out of the year.
There are two hundred and sixty week days out of
the year. So if we do two hundred and sixty
week days, weekdays, Monday Friday, two hundred and sixty week
days through the year, So that would equate to six
weeks of vacation for those Capital critters.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Hmmm, six weeks of well you get you get eight
weeks of vacation.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Sure don't.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Kelly gets like eight weeks of vacation.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Sure it does.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, I get a mere four weeks of vacation, which
I totally screwed up this year, and I'm still trying
to cram it all in the next two weeks. I
think I'm still coming up to day short. What am
I doing here today or tomorrow? I know?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Right? Well, are we real? Are we going to be
here to day tomorrow?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Were we really here today at all? Nope, No, we
were not.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
But yeah, just as a comparison to the average person
who just started a brand new job where they only
give you two weeks of vacation, just know that those
Congress critters they get they get six six So if.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
You and if you're gonna bitch and moan about your benefits,
then get off your assmon for Congress, we might actually
vote for you. I'm not laughing because we might actually
vote for you. I'm laughing because you might actually win. Yeah,
what are you going to do? Then?
Speaker 7 (20:37):
Huh?
Speaker 2 (20:37):
What are you think about that? I hope I'm not
trying to put people in a bad mood, but I
just hope that I have revealed some truth to you
today and given you a little perspective today about why
this bill was killed and now that you know some
of the details of it, and I've explained to you
kind of the lifestyle, what would you do if you won? Seriously,
(21:03):
have you thought about that. You know, oftentimes people say, well, Michael,
once you run for governor, or Michael once you run
for Congress. Well, because I'm married, yes, and I'd like
to I'd like to die at natural death. I don't
want to die like, you know, a stab in the back,
or I don't want to I don't want to die
by a murder by the you know, the mass media.
So I'm I'm no, I'm not going to do that.
(21:26):
What would you do? What would you do about this vote?
Would you be would you be a Chip Roy? Would
you be standing up saying There's no way I want
to do this. Would you be uh like Thomas Massey,
who is a friend of the speaker. Would you be
willing to stand up and say, hey, you know what,
Mike Johnson and I have been friends for years, we
(21:47):
you know, work together forever, but I'm going to vote
against him for speaker. Would you do that? The Wall
Street Journal had a story that I found, Oh my gosh,
Luigi Mangione is is on his way to New York
after wave the extradition. Who could have seen that coming?
(22:07):
Huh wow? I am shocked. I am too. And CNN
is just covering why they got a picture. Oh that's
a nice plane. Huh that must be one of Agent
jed A's jets, because that's a nice that's a damn
looking plane. Uh. During So anyway, the Wall Street Journal
has a story. The headline is this how the White
(22:30):
House functioned with a diminished Biden in charge. The subhead says,
aides kept meetings short, controlled access, top advisors acted as
go betweens, and public interactions became scripted. The administration denied.
Biden has declined, Uh, Wall Street Journal, as as much
(22:59):
as I mean, you are the paper of record for me.
This is the newspaper that I religiously read every single day,
Not the New York Times, Leli Times, not even the
port Old Denver Gazette, which I do read all of them,
but not religiously. Why why now are you doing this?
(23:23):
You couldn't have done this, say, six months ago. You
couldn't have done it a year ago, maybe during the primaries,
maybe after that disastrous debate. When was that back in
April or something? It was like really early. Why couldn't
you have done this? Story? Then it even goes back
(23:44):
to twenty twenty. During the twenty twenty presidential primary, Jill
Biden campaigned so extensively across Iowa that Jill Biden held
events in more counties than her husband, a fact that
the First Lady's press secretary touted to a local reporter.
(24:07):
So I would even say to the local reporter, what
were your qu when the First Lady's press secretary came
up to you or you were at a press conference
and the press secretary said, you know, doctor Biden, Doctor
Jill Biden has campaigned in more counties than her husband,
(24:28):
the president who's running for reelection. Why is that? I mean,
I understand you would just take that imprint that as
a story, but why would you not add to your
story and ask the obvious question about why? Why not? Now?
His superior in the White House Communications Office chewed him
(24:52):
out for telling her that as the three road in
a minivan through the state's cornfields. Anthony Bernall and the
deputy campaign manager and chief of staff to Jill Biden,
pressed the ROSA to contact the reporter again and play
down any comparison in campaign appearances between Joe Biden, then
seventy seven, and his wife, who is eight years his junior.
(25:14):
Her energetic schedule only highlighted her husband's more plotting pace. Huh, well,
it seems the message was clear, the more you talk
her up, the more you make him look bad. There
was a small correction that foreshadowed how Biden's closest aids
(25:35):
and advisors would manage the limitations of the oldest president
in US history during his four years. And this is
where the subhead comes in. They write to adapt the
White House around the needs of a diminished leader. They
told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic
lawmakers and even some cabinet members, including the Secretary of
(25:58):
Defense and the Treasury Secretary, were infrequent, and then grew
even less frequent. Some legislative leaders actually had a hard
time getting the president's here at key moments, including ahead
of the disasters pull out from Afghanistan. So you mean
to tell me that Democrat leaders in the Congress were
(26:21):
worried about his plan to withdraw from Afghanistan, and the
staff wouldn't let those leaders get to see the president.
Now I've got questions for the leadership. Why didn't you
go publicans say we'd like to talk to the president
about his withdrawal plans before he actually executes them. The
(26:42):
point that you need to kind of bury into your
head is that while it's easy to criticize acts of comission,
it's much more difficult and just as insidious acts of
ole mission. You can't you hear Chuck Schumer and Nancy
(27:04):
Pelosi having tea together somewhere in their offices, you know,
bemoaning the fact that they can't get in as the
Senate majority leader and the Speaker of the House, number
two in line to succeed Biden. I can't get in
and see him. Oh I can't either. Maybe we should
say something. Press ages who compiled packages of newsclips for
(27:28):
Biden were told by senior staff to exclude negative stories.
The president wasn't talking to his own posters, as surveys
showed him trailing in the twenty twenty four race. Now,
I've only worked directly for one president, and he had gatekeepers.
(27:49):
He had Ashley k Supreme Court Justice Brett Kevinall's wife.
Ashley was a sweetheart. Absolutely, you know, well, I do
know how, and it was purposeful. I ingratiated myself with Ashley,
as I did with the chiefs of staff. There were
three chiefs of staff. Josh Bolton, Joe Hagen and Andy
(28:10):
cart and I made sure that I took care of
whatever they needed, so when I needed something, I could
get what I needed. It's kind of how DC works,
and that ingratiating and that cooperating with them gave me
(28:30):
unfettered access. Now, why when groups of aids, when congressional leaders,
when the press, when all of this, they're being stonewalled.
(28:50):
I am stand a gatekeeper. But as we heard that
person say earlier, Biden's the walls were, the controls were greater.
Even donors and aids that worked for him were excluded.
There were limits over who Biden spoke with, limits on
(29:12):
what they could say to him, limits around the sources
of information that he consumed. It's getting pretty close to
a Manchurian candidate. The White House operated this way that
general wrights even as the president and his aides pressed
forward with his re election bid, which unrivaled spectacularly. During
(29:33):
that debate with Trump, Vice President Harris replaced him on
the ticket was decisively defeated by Trump, leaving Democrats to
debate whether their chances were undercut by Biden's refusal to
yield earlier, If he was that bad Why didn't they
invoke the twenty fifth Amendment? Why didn't they expose why
(29:57):
didn't they drive him out of office? Had have gone to
Kamala Harris, they could have gone to the Secretary of Defense.
By the way, we heard from the Secretary of Homeland
Security today just now talking about the hacking of the
telecom industry. When's the last time you heard from the
Secretary of Defense. When's the last time I took a break?
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Michael?
Speaker 9 (30:18):
If we subtract how many minutes of advertising time we
listened to you in a given hour, I think he
only worked maybe twenty minutes an hour, thirty eight.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Thirty five to thirty eight, depending on how quickly we
can get through some of those spots, thirty.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Five to thirty eight. And that's standard all across the industry.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
It just thankfully we're not on the FM side.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh yes, you want to hear spots, go over to
the FM stations.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
You want to hear the DJ on the FM side,
you're getting five minutes.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah. Yeah. We talked yesterday a little bit about RTD
and how much money it was losing. Well, Dragon handed
me this this morning, RTD to ring in the new year.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Huh, knew that story would piss you off.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
RTD to ring in New Year with free rides. People
can ride Denvers transis system, which includes bus and rail service,
at no cost to celebrate December thirty first three January one.
I want to get on New Year's Eve. I want
to get on the light rail with a bunch of
drunken idiots. That's exactly what I want to do.
Hey, Michael, I'm not sure if you've talked about this
yet or not, but I heard that Congress is trying
to opt themselves out of Obamacare. Why would they want
to opt themselves out of something that works so well?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, they're already opted out. They they they they're not
part of the exchange. They have their own health insurance plan.
I don't know, I don't know or recall who underwrites it,
but they have extensive benefits and access to the best
healthcare in the world. You're a member of Congress, you're
(00:40):
Nancy Pelosi, and you break a hip on a foreign trip,
you get air flighted at taxpayer expense on a military
aircraft to reinstad or some air base, and then the
you know, air Force or Navy or medical one of
(01:00):
her medical doctors did she did she have a hip
replacement replacement?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, she had a whole whole hip replacement.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
It broke due to a fall than which caused the replacement,
which I was skeptical of because I've I've have several
members of my family who's had multiple hip replacements. But
thanks to a good couple of goober Texters, a degenerative
hip replacement is much different than a broken hip replacement.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, anyway, you know, and at no cost to her.
So they're not a member of the exchange, they already
have benefits that you and I can only dream of. Uh,
you know, you get sick. First of all, there's the
capital physician, and then there are medical personnel in every
one of the houses, in the office buildings. And if
(01:47):
you get really sick, well it's just a hop, skip
and a ride up to Bethesda and you're in Walter
Reed Army Medical Center and you're getting some of the
best healthcare in the world. Must be nice. So, assuming
that you weren't listening to ABC News, here's the breaking
news from the bottom of the bottomless.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
We begin this hour with breaking news just into CNN.
The Georgia prosecutor leading the States election interference case against
President like Donald Trump is now disqualified.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
CNN's Kaitlin Polance is here with your Caitlin wiking.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
What was that, Like, couldn't hear better?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Tell us about this?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
This is just coming in in the last several minutes.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
This is a big development, a big development, and a
big development that Donald Trump has wanted for a long time.
That case against him in Georgia, the criminal case where
it's accusing him and several others of a racketeering conspiracy
related to the twenty twenty election. It's already been paused.
Now it's not even backburner. This is a case that
will be dead in the water because the Georgia Court
(02:56):
of Appeals is now saying that Fawnie Willis the leader
of the prosecution against Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You're such a mess, the.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
District attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, she should be disqualified
from being able to bring that case. The Georgia Court
of Appeals is saying that it's a significant appearance of
impropriety caused by the conduct of a public prosecutor, that
is Willis, how she behaved, how she was speaking about
the case about Trump publicly, about how she was having
(03:30):
a relationship with the top prosecutor that was concealed in
this a man named Nathan Wade.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
All of that.
Speaker 6 (03:37):
Previously, the trial level judge had looked at and said,
Fannie Willis can stay on this case. We're not dismissing
the indictment.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
But the Court of Appeals.
Speaker 6 (03:44):
Is now taking another look and saying, no, the trial
judge was wrong. Fannie Willis should be disqualified from continuing
to lead this case. It would be a long process,
or it will be a long process to replace her,
which is why I say this case is head in
the water now without Fannie Willis, the person who was
needing this case against Donald Trump in Fulton County. And
(04:07):
just to keep tabs on how many cases there are
against Donald Trump criminally, the other two in federal court
January sixth and classified documents those are dismissed, and then
the additional case in New York City where he was
set to be sentenced, That sentencing is now not happening.
So as Donald Trump enters the presidency, each of these
(04:27):
courts that is handling a criminal case is essentially removing
that issue from him to have to deal with in
any period of time in the near future.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
All right, Calon Bolliance, Yeah, thanks for that added perspective.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Let me bring in and see it. Here's how the
New York Times reports, which I find interesting. In a
two to one decision, a three judge panel reversed the
trial judge who in March had allowed Fanny Willis, the
District Attorney of Fulton County, to keep the case despite
revelations about a romantic relationship she had with the lawyer
(05:01):
who was hired to manage the prosecution. Next paragraph, all
three of the appeals judges are Republican appointees. Well, so
what it was two to one? So one Republican appointee
happened to disagree. It continues while the decision is likely
(05:25):
to be appealed to the full court. If it stands,
it could do the entire case, which is the last
acting criminal prosecution involving charges against mister Trump. The way
it goes is this does not dismiss the case, but
(05:45):
it certainly in essence kills the case. The case will
have to be officially killed by somebody, which means some prosecutor.
So I don't know how it will work in Georgia,
but you know, a either the trial judge or the
(06:06):
appellate court, or maybe the Supreme Court. When he gets
the Supreme Court, the Georgia Supreme Court will appoint a
panel of das throughout Georgia to review the case, and
then they will make a decision whether or not to
dismiss it or proceed with it. This is why I
think the CNN reporter is basically saying it's dead. Nobody's
going to touch this case. Nobody. It's so clear that
(06:31):
this was a personal vendetta, and it is based on
such flimsy evidence that no decent, emphasized decent or qualified
a prosecutor was taking this case on. So so that
one is done, that one is dead. Dead is a doornail. Now,
(06:54):
let's go back to kind of the theme of what
we've been doing throughout the program, and that is this
kind of sea change that has happened that was epitomized
yesterday by Trump and Ramaswami, by Musk and quite frankly
(07:14):
by all of us screaming at our congressman and our
senators that this continuing resolution is dead. Well, if you're
an academic or an expert with no real experience in
combating our enemies, how would you deal with conflict? May
(07:37):
Orcus was on MSNBC and you know, the Secretary of
Homeland Security, and may Orcus happened to say, this.
Speaker 7 (07:47):
Kinda has in fact a hacked into our telecommunications providers.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
All right, So China has in fact hacked into our
telecom communications providers Verizon AT and T T Mobile, Salier
one team team being Ween whatever it is Comcast. I
mean all of our telecoms. They've hacked into all of them. Okay,
(08:15):
so what are you going to do?
Speaker 7 (08:16):
Some of them? And the extent of it is quite serious, uh,
And I should say that in response to that, we
have taken action. We in the federal government have stood
up a unified coordination group of multi agency response to
this hack. Just today are Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency AHA.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
The Cybersecurity, Infrastructure and Security Administration within DHS. The Ministry
of Truth is coordinating our response. So the people that
are trying to get that the big tech for the
comms portion, all of the private sector portion of that
(09:06):
ecosphere that we've talked about this morning, the cabal, they're
going to lead the effort to coordinate the response to
these attacks.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Published mobile communications best practices that everyone should read, especially
people in positions of responsibility in the United States government.
It's a very sophisticated hack. I can't speak publicly to
how it occurred, but the telecom providers are focused intensely
(09:35):
on it and they are working in partnership with us
to remediate it.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
But how long has this been going on?
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Months?
Speaker 7 (09:44):
It is not an overnight hack. This is a very
sophisticated one, and it is still going on, and it
is still going on, and China is very active in
this space.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So what are we going to do. We're gonna write
a memo. Yes, we're gonna list out what the best
practices are. I'm always fascinated by this that we reflexively
turn to the government, the Cybersecurity Infrastruction Security Administration. We're
gonna we're gonna agency, We're gonna turn to them to
(10:22):
put together a committee of private sector folks and government folks,
and we're going to have conferences and meetings, and we're
gonna write a memo, and we're gonna put together a
booklet of best practices, and then we're gonna share that
with everybody else. You don't think that Verizon already is
trying to fix this. You don't think that T Mobile
(10:43):
and anybody else is involved in the tele in telecommunications
industry isn't worried about this. They understand the threat, but
you're gonna have a bunch of bureaucrats put together best practices.
So by really not doing anything about it, you're all
most tacitly admitting you curely can't stop it. So do
(11:03):
you know it, mister secretary. I am fascinated about how
many times we turn to government to solve something that
the private sector is so much more capable of solving itself. Tomorrow,
I'm gonna I get on my list of things to
talk about tomorrow because I'm getting ready to fly. I
(11:24):
can't resist not talking about the TSA. Tam and I
just finished watching a movie. It was I think she
kind of liked. I thought it was kind of stupid.
It was. It was kind of a Diehard like movie
where you know, an airport gets attacked during I forget
whether it's actually during the holidays. It was during the holidays, yes,
it was Christmas evens I recall. But maybe the movie
(11:47):
was called carry On. I don't remember who streamed it,
but carry On. It was about somebody trying to get
nerve Gas onto a onto an airliner that had a
congressman on it because the very people within the deep
State were trying to send the signal that hey, listen,
we want you to hire us, and we want you
(12:09):
to hire all these companies because look, look look what
these terrorists can do when they themselves were the ones
behind it. But it showed I didn't really carry about it.
I didn't care much about the storyline. I was too
busy watching how they had infiltrated the TSA in order
to carry out their terrorist attack, and how just one
(12:31):
individual in TSA was able to stop it. Yeah, he
learned how to defuse a bomb containing a deadly nerve agent.
He was able to learn how to do that by
being talked through it on the phone. And then when
it when the terrorists got the bomb back, got it
(12:51):
onto the airplane, He jumped into the cargo compartment of
a plane and defused it. Again. That's the TSA right there. Yeah,
is somebody. Oh, it was the text message about how
hard that people work in Congress and they work so
(13:14):
many days. And now he has since sent me the
text message. They said he was being sarcastic, but it
peaked my curiosity about how many days was Congress off
just this past year, and not twenty twenty three, but
in twenty twenty four. In twenty twenty four, Congress was
(13:37):
scheduled to be in session for how many days are
there in a year? Dragon like two hundred and sixty
seven or something.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Oh no, just a mirror, three hundred and sixty five
if you do not count leap your day.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Okay, So three hundred and sixty five days in a year,
Congress was scheduled to be in session for one one
hundred and thirty eight days, which means they were off work.
For what I know, I'm not very good at math,
but three sixty five, one hundred and thirty eight that's
about two hundred and twenty seven days. Maybe, now, considering
(14:11):
that there are three hundred and sixty five days a year,
and that's not very much, is it now. The calculation
of two hundred and twenty seven days for which they
are scheduled does not account for holidays or potential unscheduled
days off, but it kind of gives you a general
over you based on the legislative calendar.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
And just as a comparison here, there are roughly two
hundred and sixty work days in a year, so.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
They're still working less than the average number of work
days in a year. But most importantly, that does not
consider because here's how they count days.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
You fly in.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
This is the general This doesn't happen every week. This
probably happens eighty to ninety percent of the time. You
go home for the weekend, so you fly out generally
on a Thursday because nothing is scheduled on a Friday.
So you go home. Now, remember you go home because
(15:13):
and you want to do some work so you can
have your travel paid for and collect a per diem.
So you fly home on Thursday night. That's why Reagan
is so busy on Thursdays. At most airports were busy
on Thursday, but particularly Reagan because they all run off
to Reagan and then they catch their flights home and
on Friday, they have a breakfast with a Chamber of Commerce.
(15:37):
Oh it's business. So they're working by having a seven
am breakfast with the Chamber of Commerce, and then they
take off the rest of day. Now you would think
like you fly back home Sunday, Well you don't do that.
You fly back in on Monday. They might gravel the
(15:58):
house in the Senate might not always, but they might
gabble it into session because they know they know the
flight schedules at say I pm six pm, so their
workday starts at six pm or five pm on Monday.
And then once they do a roll call, they have
(16:19):
a quorum and then they go into recess and they
start work on Tuesday morning, so you know, you show
up between five and six so that you can you know,
be present, and then you go to a dinner. You know,
some lobbyists is taking you to dinner or there's some
(16:41):
party to go to. And then you really start working
on Tuesday morning, and you work Tuesday, Wednesday and part
of Thursday, and then Thursday again. You leave on Thursday night.
Now Sundays they actually do stay until Friday, and they
have to because they got some bills to work on.
So they might actually cast a few votes on Friday morning,
but boy, they're done by noon because you got a cat.
So the flights to get back home, well, when I
(17:04):
would when I would try to sneak home for the weekend,
now those flights weren't paid for most of the time,
there might be some official business I'd have to do.
There would be times when, oh my, here do you
detail hated it. I would take the Red Eye back
(17:24):
to DC and land at Reagan or Dulles and get
picked up and just go straight into the office at
you know, six point thirty seven o'clock in the morning
and go to work to say that I worked harder
than Congress.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
Damn right, I did Michael, I heard you might have
some issue with someone listing their fitness achievements on their resume. Well,
I'm wondering just how big a boy are you, because
my fitness achievement is I'm able to open a fifty
five gallon drum of what pass with one hand, and
(17:58):
I'm sure as hell going to be listing out on
my resume.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Wow, I didn't know there was a female RD mercer.
I didn't you know?
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Or maybe r D you know from beyond the grave
reincarnated has.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Reincarnated as a woman. Wow. And right here listening to us,
little o' us dragon are D's listening to us?
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Beautiful?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I'll take it, But don't you threaten me with the
candle whoop ass because I got a canon woop ass
out there on my desk.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Certainly do thank you goobers.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yep, I got a can of whoop ass that that
goober sent me because they needed I need. I think
they needed an extra candle whoop ass. So mister numbers
back there during the break starts like I think he's
cross examining me. Now one of those numbers you gave
me a game, couldn't how many days?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Well?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I know but at least you pay attention during the break,
So I consider that an accomplishment. There you go, Yeah,
it helps the breaks ratings, see to know that there's
at least one person listening during the breaks.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
So you want to share your Oh, you were saying
that they were that the Congress critters work two hundred.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
And thirty days a year to twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Close enough, And if I.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Did that, I get thirty text messages to talk backs,
and you it's two twenty seven, it's two thirty, which.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Is a blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
So two hundred and thirty days out of the year.
There are two hundred and sixty week days out of
the year. So if we do two hundred and sixty
week days, weekdays, Monday Friday, two hundred and sixty week
days through the year, So that would equate to six
weeks of vacation for those Capital critters.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Hmmm, six weeks of well you get you get eight
weeks of vacation.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Sure don't.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Kelly gets like eight weeks of vacation.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Sure it does.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, I get a mere four weeks of vacation, which
I totally screwed up this year, and I'm still trying
to cram it all in the next two weeks. I
think I'm still coming up to day short. What am
I doing here today or tomorrow? I know?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Right? Well, are we real? Are we going to be
here to day tomorrow?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Were we really here today at all? Nope, No, we
were not.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
But yeah, just as a comparison to the average person
who just started a brand new job where they only
give you two weeks of vacation, just know that those
Congress critters they get they get six six So if.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
You and if you're gonna bitch and moan about your benefits,
then get off your assmon for Congress, we might actually
vote for you. I'm not laughing because we might actually
vote for you. I'm laughing because you might actually win. Yeah,
what are you going to do? Then?
Speaker 7 (20:37):
Huh?
Speaker 2 (20:37):
What are you think about that? I hope I'm not
trying to put people in a bad mood, but I
just hope that I have revealed some truth to you
today and given you a little perspective today about why
this bill was killed and now that you know some
of the details of it, and I've explained to you
kind of the lifestyle, what would you do if you won? Seriously,
(21:03):
have you thought about that. You know, oftentimes people say, well, Michael,
once you run for governor, or Michael once you run
for Congress. Well, because I'm married, yes, and I'd like
to I'd like to die at natural death. I don't
want to die like, you know, a stab in the back,
or I don't want to I don't want to die
by a murder by the you know, the mass media.
So I'm I'm no, I'm not going to do that.
(21:26):
What would you do? What would you do about this vote?
Would you be would you be a Chip Roy? Would
you be standing up saying There's no way I want
to do this. Would you be uh like Thomas Massey,
who is a friend of the speaker. Would you be
willing to stand up and say, hey, you know what,
Mike Johnson and I have been friends for years, we
(21:47):
you know, work together forever, but I'm going to vote
against him for speaker. Would you do that? The Wall
Street Journal had a story that I found, Oh my gosh,
Luigi Mangione is is on his way to New York
after wave the extradition. Who could have seen that coming?
(22:07):
Huh wow? I am shocked. I am too. And CNN
is just covering why they got a picture. Oh that's
a nice plane. Huh that must be one of Agent
jed A's jets, because that's a nice that's a damn
looking plane. Uh. During So anyway, the Wall Street Journal
has a story. The headline is this how the White
(22:30):
House functioned with a diminished Biden in charge. The subhead says,
aides kept meetings short, controlled access, top advisors acted as
go betweens, and public interactions became scripted. The administration denied.
Biden has declined, Uh, Wall Street Journal, as as much
(22:59):
as I mean, you are the paper of record for me.
This is the newspaper that I religiously read every single day,
Not the New York Times, Leli Times, not even the
port Old Denver Gazette, which I do read all of them,
but not religiously. Why why now are you doing this?
(23:23):
You couldn't have done this, say, six months ago. You
couldn't have done it a year ago, maybe during the primaries,
maybe after that disastrous debate. When was that back in
April or something? It was like really early. Why couldn't
you have done this? Story? Then it even goes back
(23:44):
to twenty twenty. During the twenty twenty presidential primary, Jill
Biden campaigned so extensively across Iowa that Jill Biden held
events in more counties than her husband, a fact that
the First Lady's press secretary touted to a local reporter.
(24:07):
So I would even say to the local reporter, what
were your qu when the First Lady's press secretary came
up to you or you were at a press conference
and the press secretary said, you know, doctor Biden, Doctor
Jill Biden has campaigned in more counties than her husband,
(24:28):
the president who's running for reelection. Why is that? I mean,
I understand you would just take that imprint that as
a story, but why would you not add to your
story and ask the obvious question about why? Why not? Now?
His superior in the White House Communications Office chewed him
(24:52):
out for telling her that as the three road in
a minivan through the state's cornfields. Anthony Bernall and the
deputy campaign manager and chief of staff to Jill Biden,
pressed the ROSA to contact the reporter again and play
down any comparison in campaign appearances between Joe Biden, then
seventy seven, and his wife, who is eight years his junior.
(25:14):
Her energetic schedule only highlighted her husband's more plotting pace. Huh, well,
it seems the message was clear, the more you talk
her up, the more you make him look bad. There
was a small correction that foreshadowed how Biden's closest aids
(25:35):
and advisors would manage the limitations of the oldest president
in US history during his four years. And this is
where the subhead comes in. They write to adapt the
White House around the needs of a diminished leader. They
told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic
lawmakers and even some cabinet members, including the Secretary of
(25:58):
Defense and the Treasury Secretary, were infrequent, and then grew
even less frequent. Some legislative leaders actually had a hard
time getting the president's here at key moments, including ahead
of the disasters pull out from Afghanistan. So you mean
to tell me that Democrat leaders in the Congress were
(26:21):
worried about his plan to withdraw from Afghanistan, and the
staff wouldn't let those leaders get to see the president.
Now I've got questions for the leadership. Why didn't you
go publicans say we'd like to talk to the president
about his withdrawal plans before he actually executes them. The
(26:42):
point that you need to kind of bury into your
head is that while it's easy to criticize acts of comission,
it's much more difficult and just as insidious acts of
ole mission. You can't you hear Chuck Schumer and Nancy
(27:04):
Pelosi having tea together somewhere in their offices, you know,
bemoaning the fact that they can't get in as the
Senate majority leader and the Speaker of the House, number
two in line to succeed Biden. I can't get in
and see him. Oh I can't either. Maybe we should
say something. Press ages who compiled packages of newsclips for
(27:28):
Biden were told by senior staff to exclude negative stories.
The president wasn't talking to his own posters, as surveys
showed him trailing in the twenty twenty four race. Now,
I've only worked directly for one president, and he had gatekeepers.
(27:49):
He had Ashley k Supreme Court Justice Brett Kevinall's wife.
Ashley was a sweetheart. Absolutely, you know, well, I do
know how, and it was purposeful. I ingratiated myself with Ashley,
as I did with the chiefs of staff. There were
three chiefs of staff. Josh Bolton, Joe Hagen and Andy
(28:10):
cart and I made sure that I took care of
whatever they needed, so when I needed something, I could
get what I needed. It's kind of how DC works,
and that ingratiating and that cooperating with them gave me
(28:30):
unfettered access. Now, why when groups of aids, when congressional leaders,
when the press, when all of this, they're being stonewalled.
(28:50):
I am stand a gatekeeper. But as we heard that
person say earlier, Biden's the walls were, the controls were greater.
Even donors and aids that worked for him were excluded.
There were limits over who Biden spoke with, limits on
(29:12):
what they could say to him, limits around the sources
of information that he consumed. It's getting pretty close to
a Manchurian candidate. The White House operated this way that
general wrights even as the president and his aides pressed
forward with his re election bid, which unrivaled spectacularly. During
(29:33):
that debate with Trump, Vice President Harris replaced him on
the ticket was decisively defeated by Trump, leaving Democrats to
debate whether their chances were undercut by Biden's refusal to
yield earlier, If he was that bad Why didn't they
invoke the twenty fifth Amendment? Why didn't they expose why
(29:57):
didn't they drive him out of office? Had have gone to
Kamala Harris, they could have gone to the Secretary of Defense.
By the way, we heard from the Secretary of Homeland
Security today just now talking about the hacking of the
telecom industry. When's the last time you heard from the
Secretary of Defense. When's the last time I took a break?
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Michael?
Speaker 9 (30:18):
If we subtract how many minutes of advertising time we
listened to you in a given hour, I think he
only worked maybe twenty minutes an hour, thirty eight.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Thirty five to thirty eight, depending on how quickly we
can get through some of those spots, thirty.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Five to thirty eight. And that's standard all across the industry.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
It just thankfully we're not on the FM side.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh yes, you want to hear spots, go over to
the FM stations.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
You want to hear the DJ on the FM side,
you're getting five minutes.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah. Yeah. We talked yesterday a little bit about RTD
and how much money it was losing. Well, Dragon handed
me this this morning, RTD to ring in the new year.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Huh, knew that story would piss you off.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
RTD to ring in New Year with free rides. People
can ride Denvers transis system, which includes bus and rail service,
at no cost to celebrate December thirty first three January one.
I want to get on New Year's Eve. I want
to get on the light rail with a bunch of
drunken idiots. That's exactly what I want to do.
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