11-11-25 - 9am - Veterans Day and The Longest Shutdown

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Michael, I've never heard you quite so insightful as
you are today. I'm assuming you're putting your best foot
forward for your new audience. But since your extra sharp today,
I have a question for you. Do you believe that
mom Dommy is a true believer? Usually when the socialists
are running for office, I figure they're like Bernie, they

(00:22):
know better, they just want that leadership position.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Quick frame of reference.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
That talkback was left just after we finished the show yesterday,
so that's always talking about today.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Okay, well, I don't hear yet. If you'll remind me,
if you have the brain cells to remind me later,
I may address that later in the program. But because
it's Veterans Day, I want to start that with Veterans
Day because it's obviously a for me anyway, not having served.
It's a really important day because the members of my

(00:55):
family who served, the people who are currently serving. I
even hate to bring it up, but people like girl Dad,
who is you know, he goes from the Pentagon to Anchorage.
So we don't know yet what he did wrong, right,
but he did something wrong, and we're dying to know
what he did wrong. At least we know he's still

(01:16):
employed by the United States military, but we're not quite
sure in what capacity. You know, maybe he's peeling potatoes
or something. Could be girl mom because well could be
girl mom mom. Maybe I just trema feeling the girl
dad got in trouble because you just you don't go
from the Pentagon to Anchorage. Yeah, yeah, So either that
over on the brink of World War three, somehow he's

(01:38):
involved in it, and that scares the you know what, right,
that's just a scary too. World War one was no. Oh,
before I start that, let me just remind everybody once again.
I have to keep reminding you until you're sick of it.
And then once you're sick of it, then then I'll
feel happy about it. The text line is three three

(01:59):
one zero three three three one zero three. Keyword Mike
or Michael, how me anything? Ask me anything? And talkbacks
are the other way that you can engage with the program. Now,
let's get started. So World War One, known at the
time as the Great War, it officially ended when the
Treaty of Versailles was signed on June twenty eight, nineteen nineteen,

(02:22):
Signed in the Palace of Versailles. Do you ever get
to if you ever get there. You should really go
visit the Palace of Versailles. It's really quite an amazing,
amazing place. But most people don't realize the fighting has ceased,
had ceased seven months earlier, when an armistice or a
temporary cessation of hostilities between the Allies and Germany went

(02:46):
into effect on what you know as the eleventh hour
of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and just
as a quick little footnote and armistice deal. There's still
an ongoing war between North and Side Korea. Yes, that
war is still going on. There's just an armistice in
place that has kept the peace, in their quotes going on.

(03:10):
So for that reason, because of the eleventh hour of
the eleventh day of the eleventh month, November eleventh, nineteen
eighteen is generally regarded as the end of the war
to end all wars, and Veterans Day continues to be
observed on November eleventh, regardless of what day of the
week in which it falls. Now, that was not always

(03:32):
the case. There was a time when the muckety MUCKs,
which are really not muckety MUCKs, although they just think
they are, in DC decided that you know what, let's
do these federal holidays. Let's do them all on the Mondays,
so people can have a three day weekend, and we'll
put Veterans Day in that group of holidays. Also, well,

(03:52):
that fell flat on its face. Veterans groups, members of
the military, active duty, members of the military, communities around
the country, old farts that had served, you know, at
the time in World War One, who were you know,
hanging on to life at the time, decided that no,
we're going to revolt and we're not going to do that.

(04:15):
So in I forget exactly what year it was, I
had up my notes somewhere. It was nineteen thirty eight,
was the original statute, and then it got changed. I
can't find that my notes anywhere. But anyway, in nineteen
seventy one, nineteen seventy two, I think is it was

(04:36):
apparent that the commemoration was a matter of true historic
and patriotic significance to a great number of people. So
that's when they decided we're going to do it on
the eleventh day, the eleventh hour, eleventh month. And so
that's why we celebrate Veterans Day. And I think it's

(04:58):
important that we do and that we take moment out
to recognize all who have served. And look, there is
a huge difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. You're
going to hear in a minute from Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan,
the speech you're going to hear was delivered on Veterans Day.
But at Arlington National Cemetery, this is the day where

(05:22):
we look around and you know, I would encourage you
to do this. I've told the story before, I'll tell
it again of being at a restaurant. I forget what
it was. We were at some you know, is probably
a chain somewhere. For some reason, it seems like we
were down in Parker, So maybe we were over at

(05:43):
the Salt Grass or we were somewhere, but we were
in some restaurant and we were sitting in A family
came in and they had a World War II veteran
with him, and he must have been one hundred years old.
This story is now three or four years old. Must
have been one hundred years old at the time. And
I I watched the family gather around put him if
they put him in the center of the long table,

(06:06):
and everybody sat down, and fortunately he was facing me,
and so I watched him, and I watched the interaction
as the family just you know, the family chit chat
and they laughed and they were having a great time,
and they were going on and on and on, and
he just sat there and all I could think about
was everything that he saw, everything that he dealt with.

(06:30):
And I don't remember whether he had a navy cap
on an army cap on marines. It doesn't make any difference.
But I sat and I thought, here he is having
witnessed probably some of the most horrific things that he
still probably suffers from on that day, and his family

(06:51):
is gathered around and they're celebrating Veterans Day because it
was Veterans Day. And finally, as we were getting ready
to leave, it was obvious his daughter was sitting to
his right. So I walked around the table behind her
and whispered in her ear, do you mind if I

(07:13):
speak to your father? Do you mind if I just
tell him how much I appreciate everything that he's done.
And she kind of flipped her head around and looked
at me and said he would love that. He would
absolutely love that. And his name was Harold, I think,
And so I reached around and I said, Harold Hi,
my name's Michael Brown, and I just want you to

(07:35):
know how lucky I feel that guys like you did
the things that you did and you save the world
from tyranny. And I hope you have a great day
with your family. You've got a beautiful family. And I
just wanted you to know. I don't know you, you
don't know me, but I want you to know how
much I appreciate what you did. And he stood up.

(08:00):
He stood up, and he looked at me and just
simply said thank you. I turned and walked away. And
I turned and walked away because that's all I needed.
That's all he needed is I needed to express my
appreciation for what he had done. And he needed to
know that somebody, with all the cacophony of his family

(08:21):
and everybody else, somebody that he had never met would
never meet again, knew what he had done, or at
least understood what he had done. Reagan goes to a
wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery November eleventh, nineteen
eighty five, and delivers this.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
Reverend, Clergy and ladies and gentlemen. A few moments ago,
I placed a wreath at the tomb of the unknown Soldier,
And as I stepped back and stood during the moment
of silence that followed, I said a small prayer. And
it occurred to me that each of my predecessors has

(09:07):
had a similar moment, and I wondered if our prayers
weren't very much the same.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
If not identical.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
We celebrate Veterans Day on the anniversary of the armistice
that ended World War One, the armistice that began on
the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
And I wonder, in fact, if all America's prayers aren't
the same as those I mentioned a moment ago. The

(09:35):
timing of this holiday is quite deliberate in terms of
historical fact, but somehow it always seems quite fitting to
me that this day comes deep in autumn, when the
colors are muted and the days seem to invite contemplation.
We are gathered at the National Cemetery, which provides a
final resting place for the heroes who have defended our

(09:58):
country since the Civil War. This amphitheater, this place for speeches,
is more central to the Cemetery than a first might
seem apparent. For all we can ever do for our
heroes is remember them and remember what they did, and
memories are transmitted through words.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Sometime back I received, in the name.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
Of our country the bodies of four Marines who had
died while on active duty. I said then that there
is a special sadness that accompanies the death of a serviceman,
for we're never and white good enough to them. Not really,
we can't be, because what they gave us is beyond

(10:45):
our powers to repay. And so when a serviceman dies,
it's a tear in the fabric, a break in the hole,
and all we can do is remember it is in
a way, and to honor those who died in defense
of our country, in defense of us in wars far away.

(11:08):
The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in
our minds as old and wise. We see them as
something like the founding Fathers, grave and gray haired. But
most of them were boys when they died, and they
gave up two lives, the one they were living and
the one they would have lived.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
It's so so appropriate, and so for every soldier serving
in the military, in whatever branch, doesn't make any difference,
this is the day that we honor you. So while
we may laugh at girl Dad and make fun of him,

(11:51):
we truly honor a service. We honor all of them
living in Dad, the young men and women throughout the
history of this cory that have served us when so
many others are unwilling to do. The other thing that
Reagan said that I think was important is that this
is one day when we could all have a communal prayer,

(12:14):
that we could say a prayer of thanksgiving for those
who are willing to step up and who are willing
to serve in whatever capacity they do. My father rose
to the rank of a command sergeant major retired from
the Army of Reserves before he passed away, and he
was so proud of his service in Korea and then

(12:35):
in the reserves. And I remember at his funeral as
the honor guard would fold the flag, that it's such
a monumental occasion. Yet in their lives and everything that
they've done, what we do to honor them is sometimes

(12:59):
we fail to say something while they're still alive. So
what I want to make certain that I do today
is that I say to everyone within the sound of
my voice, whether you're listening live or podcast, or you're
streaming however, you listen to me, is that if you have,

(13:20):
or you are, or you're a family member of someone
who has and they have since passed, or they died
in combat, or they died while in service, that this
one individual thanks you, truly, thanks you for stepping up

(13:40):
and doing what so many Americans take for granted, because
on that eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the
eleventh month, tyranny could have taken over the world. And
we face that in World War Two, we face it
in all subsequent wars, we face it every time we

(14:01):
go to defend this nation, and that we go to
defend everything that this nation stands for. And so that
we can just take one moment on one day and
say thank you, then we should. And I want to
say one other thing to make sure that we understand
this now. When there's a lapse in appropriations like we've

(14:24):
had with the government shut down, the Department of Defense,
the Department of War stops all non accepted community relations
activities that would require federal fund or resources. Well what
does that mean. Well, things like flyovers, bans, color guards,
parade formations, official speeches, travel per diem to events. And

(14:45):
that's because of the shutdown law and the Department of
War guidance, not because of a statute targeting veterans or
anything like that, but high visibility events that rely on
federal assets, service ban ceremonial units, flyovers, those are suspended,
and those are canceled. But what is allowed. DLD is
clarified that troops are not categorically barred from wearing their

(15:07):
uniforms at a Veteran Day event. Local participation in uniform
can occur when it does not require federal spending. Example,
for example, there's no federal funding funded travel, there's no
official outreach tasks. This reverse a lot of earlier misinterpreted
emails suggesting some sort of stricter band communities, veterans groups.

(15:29):
You can still hold your ceremonies. Many, indeed are proceeding
with some adjustments relying on volunteers and veterans and omitting
all the federal assets because of the shutdown, because that
blocks federally funded official participation. So don't be confused or
don't be misled to think that perhaps today you know,

(15:50):
somebody can't have a parade. You can. You just won't
get a flyover, You may not get a piece of equipment,
in the parade, and for those veteran who still want
to wear their uniform today, you can do that. And
I would encourage all of you whatever opportunity you have.
You know, I once talked to my previous producer who

(16:13):
served in the military, Angie. Many of you may remember Angie,
and I asked her one time we talked about it
on air, you know, what do you think about when
people walk up and say thank you for your service?
And she says, sometimes it becomes trite. Sometimes it becomes like, okay,
thank you and whatever. And I said, well, so what
should we do? And she said, for her, and I've

(16:34):
taken this to heart, is a simple thank you. They
know it's for their service, they know why you're saying
thank you to them. Sometimes it's just a nod, a
wink and a nod yes, yes, I know what you do,
and thank you for doing it. Happy Veterans Day to
all the veterans out there.

Speaker 5 (16:55):
Well, it looks like at least a couple of givers
figured out how to switch station and adjust for the time,
and you didn't crash and burn yesterday. Just want to
wish every day who served in our military, Happy Veterans Day.
Thank you for your service. Really appreciate it, and it's
one of the reasons I love this country.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Well, that did ended up being a really nice talk back,
but it started out kind of let's just say a
little passive aggressing. At least you didn't crash and burn yesterday. Really,
at least I didn't crash and burn. It's early, come on,
give me time this early, but it's not early. Well
it's early in the run of business strow program, yes,

(17:40):
but not.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Early for you because you actually got an extra forty
five minutes to sleep.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
I did, and I walked two and a half miles
again with the dogs this morning. And the schedule is
just let's say the schedule is to the old part
of the old boomers liking. Cat me just agree that
it's to my liking. I would be remiss if I
didn't mentioned that. There are a lot of places that
are doing, you know, special things for veterans today, and

(18:06):
one in particular is a place that I've eaten that
several times. That's Oliver's Italian, which is over on Yosemite.
It's at like it's on Yosemite, off Bellevue in Greenwood Village.
Oliver's Italian and they're providing a one free entree up
to a thirty dollars value and one unfortunately non alcoholic

(18:27):
beverage per person. But you know, don't do any day
drinking today. Just wait, you know, maybe in the evening
and then buy your own drink. But anyway, Oliver's is
one of those places that's doing something special for veterans today.
So if you got a hankering for some good Italian food,
as I like to call it, then head over to
Oliver's over on Yosemite in Bellevue. And then if you're

(18:48):
an active duty or retired, just bring your ID and
enjoy a meal over there. So the government shutdown is
coming to an end. It's it's like everything else in government. Hey,
we're going to vote reopen the government, and everybody just
expects that BAM is going to be open. No no, no, no,

(19:09):
no no no. It is now the longest government shut
down in US history. And guess what, Like my mama
always tries to tell me, try to find the silver lining,
and guess what, this longest government shut down in US
history has indeed yielded some unexpected revelations. Now I know
many of you are going to go, huh uh, you're

(19:31):
going to face palm your forehead and go gee, Michael's
Master of the obvious. Today, Well, here's some unexpected revelations.
Our federal workforce is probably a lot larger than what
our daily functioning of the federal government requires. For weeks, now,
weeks nearly half of all federal employees were told don't

(19:54):
come to work. Yet the planes continued to fly, albeit
maybe a little convoluted, and you know, maybe sometimes not
as many planes as usual, but the flane the planes
did continue to fly. The junk mail. Oh, I get
carriers get really mad at me when I say that,
the bulk mail that got delivered, and we endured the

(20:17):
weeks of a shutdown with what I would consider to
be mild inconveniences. I look back on the past several weeks,
I'm not really sure I noticed anything. I truthfully, I've
thought about it. I don't think I noticed anything.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Now.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
I'm not gonna and I'm not trying to downplay the
hardship that was experienced by the families that were missing paychecks.
I understand that. I also understand, in fact, there were
credit unions around this state that were offering no interest
loans to cover your expenses until you got paid. As
I've said, for a year after year after year, when
we've had these government shutdowns, we seem to have this

(20:55):
conversation over and over again, you're going to get paid.
And I know if I Heart came to me, and
I'm not sure whether I heart would have the credit
standing that the US government has with a particular credit union.
But if I went to one of my banks or
some place and said, hey, listen, my heart said that,
you know, the checks may bounce this week, can you
wait until next week to cash it, I might well, one,

(21:17):
I might be able to survive, but I might be
able to get you know, some sort of deal too.
So I'm not trying to downplay people going without a paycheck,
but instead I want to confront a deeper truth about
how many federal positions are probably superfluous. When six hundred

(21:41):
and seventy thousand workers can be furloughed while seven hundred
and thirty thousand others continue operating all the essential machinery
of the government, then you have to ask the question,
the question that transcends partisan lines, what are we paying for?
Can you answer that, I'll give you time, send me

(22:03):
a text three three one zero three keyword Michael, Michael,
what are we paying for? The term non essential is
not just a political label, It is actually a government
classification OPM. The Office of Personnel Management. Office of Personnel
Management has a classification of non essential. So when there's
a funding lapse, every single agency and department distinguishes between

(22:28):
what must continue and what can we pause. Air traffic controllers,
the ATC, border patrol, military personnel, they all keep working.
An office that issues grants, or an office that reviews
environmental paperwork, or that manages social media accounts they do not.

(22:48):
And somehow, without somebody at the Department of Commerce running
the Facebook page or posting on TikTok or doing whatever
the crap they do, somehow the Republic manages to endure.
So this was kind of an empirical test. It was
like an unplanned experiment. And you know how people like
to live minimallest lives. This was an experiment in minimalist government.

(23:13):
And it suggests, at least to me, that there's is
kind of a mismatch between the size of the federal
payroll and the scope of what I would describe as
truly critical functions, you know, in the private sector, and
we experience it right here, right and I often joke
and laugh about you know, we've got these two floors,

(23:35):
and well we got the basement too, and it would
not behoove us to immediately need an engineer. We might
have to go running to find an engineer. People double up,
as everywhere in the private sector happens. Well, Michael, guess what,
we're going to change your job description and there's not

(23:55):
a page bridge just coming with it. But you're gonna
do X, y and Z now, and then you're gonna
do x.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Y and z.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Oh. And by the way, you're going to do A
and B. Also. It happens all the time in the
private sector. So the lesson that we ought to learn
is not all those furload jobs are useless. They're not useless,
but that our expectations of indispensability is probably in our

(24:21):
minds overstated, because a government can operate for a month
or even more with half the workforce idle, I would
venture to say, can almost certainly operate permanently with fewer
employees and more efficient structures. And if there were shareholders,
which there is, but you don't consider yourself a shareholder,

(24:44):
you're a taxpayer. If taxpayers acted like shareholders, we would
be demanding that Hey, listen, you just showed us that
you can actually get by with less and do the same.
Or maybe you need to maybe not do without all
the less that we did, but a lot of it
and still do the same. News outlets instead picture all

(25:07):
the furloughed employees an effort to elicit sympathy, they try
to pound your heart into unbearable sadness. I'll be right back,
Michael Dragon. For all the bowl feces I give you,
I just want to say, thanks man. It's truly my

(25:28):
honor and privilege.

Speaker 4 (25:30):
God bless America, God bless the Constitution.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
We didn't get a text message a little before you do. No,
I get it. It's my show, your name's on it.
That's all that really matters here, I know. But that
really that really hit me because Dragon's a about to
explain to you who girl dad is. That was girl dad,
and uh, he just texted me and said, by the way,

(25:59):
I'm in Fairs. I'm not in that crap hole place Anchorage. Well,
I got I hate to tell your girl dad, but
I've been in both and I don't really want to
live in either one of them. So call me, like
into December and tell me how your daylight's going, tell
me how that's working. But that was very that was

(26:22):
that was very kind of you, and we really do
appreciate your service.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
And we do forget sometimes that the inside jokes that
we had across the hall won't get easily translated over here.
We've got a new audience, plus some of the old
Goober's in here too. So there was a text from
Goober number fifty six eighty four just playing old asking Michael,
who is girl Dad. Well, that's the talkback that was
just played. That is girl Dad. And he got that

(26:50):
name because with talkbacks he would have girl like.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
I says, go here, got co that's his daughter. Leave talkbacks. Yeah,
so he became came and his hitt. And he has
a history with this company because as I said yesterday,
which I know we have to repeat sometime for if
we get through your skulls, that he is a He
was an intern air quote I think when they actually

(27:18):
paid interns. So that's like, you know, five hundred years ago.
So he and he worked I think on Rosen Show
for a little Yeah. So he's he's been in this studio,
although the studio has actually been truly remodeled. I have lights,
I have blinds that work. I have I mean, it's
it's like it's clean. It's amazing. I can see the
sky is wonderful. How's your second monitor over there? Though?

(27:40):
That's well, they're they're all backwards up there at the
other host stand. So the folks in Los Angeles at
premiere we're listening yesterday, and one of them jokes and
sent me a text program director, Hey, congratulations on taking
a breaking time. So I took that is a good sign.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
And just so everybody knows that last break was all Michael.
I didn't have to remind him or anything, all on
his own.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
I'm learning. I'm twenty years later, you'll finally get it. Yeah,
I will. It will twenty years when they finally kicked
me out the door, I'll be well, wait a minute,
I understand the clock. Now I got the breaks on time.
He anyway, Los Angeles also was laughing because I said
the thing I am having a little difficult time with.
I even told Temper this. The one thing I'm having

(28:31):
a little difficult time is that the design of the
studio is back assword. Yeah, it's just it is. You
kept telling me that, but until you sit here and
do it, you don't realize that what nine people are
right handed and one hundred percent of studios have everything
on the right side at an angle, so you can
just easily reach not have to like do a you know,

(28:53):
a some sort of square arm move. So I'm having
a little bit of a difficult time adjusting to the layout,
and in fact, I may just have to come in
here some evening this kind of reader.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
I'm still surprised that with the years that this studio
has been set up this way, that not as much
equipment has fallen through that.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Massive hole in the countertop. I know that the hole
is larger than your monitor. It is, I mean, which
begs the question you could have two monitors here a bit.
You know, I'm not gonna say anything about that. I
would never say I would, you know, I would. Dragon,
I'm just turning over new leaf and I'm gonna stop complaining.

(29:36):
And that's about as long as it'll last. So in
the little bit of time I have left, I'm gonna
I'm gonna continue this story about the human dimension involved
in the shutdown because the Cabal. And again for my
new listeners, the Cabal is this unholy alliance between the
ruling elite, particularly in DC, but it also includes liking

(29:59):
color or your state. It includes the media. And by
the media, I mean you know, the dominant mainstream media
plus the cable news channels. And then you have the
tech giants. And I used to include x formly Twitter,
I kind of take that out now, but Facebook and
tech talk and the rest of them, the big tech giants.

(30:23):
In fact, to some degree now the artificial intelligence platforms
all connive and they all collude to deliver you particular stories.
I mean sometimes if you want to, you ought to,
you got to sit in a room like I do,
with three or four monitors and have all the monitors
onto ABC, NBC, and CBS, the three major networks, the

(30:46):
three only networks really, and you'll watch and you'll see
that while they're rundown, their presentation of stories may differ chronologically,
the substance of the stories remains pretty much the same.
So that for people that are absorbing that through osmosis,
that news from what I call the cabal, you're getting

(31:07):
one side, totally one side. So more about what's the
human reaction to or the human aspect of the shutdown? Next,