5 GOP Senators Side with Dems in Rejecting Trump Emergency-Powers Trade Fight with Brazil 10/29/25

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh wow, what a mean. I'm I'm overwhelmed by this
wave of recorded agulation. Thank you very much everyone. We've
got a really terrific show for you. Yes, I am
repping the merch from my own show. I mean if
I don't rep it, who's gonna you know? So those
just listening and not seeing you're missing this beautiful uh

(00:22):
maroon Mark Thompson Show T shirt. And I'm encouraging all
to pick up some merch at Getmarkmarch dot com. I
welcome Kim to the show today. How are you hard
at work working all night and into the early morning hours.
She's just broken the story that the FED has dropped

(00:42):
the interest rates by zero point two five percent. Isn't
that right, Kim? Yeah, yes, Okay, seem too familiar with
the story, but anyway, that is our She's on top
of the bigger stories. Tony is here and he is
on top of everything. John Rothman joins us today, is

(01:03):
back from wherever he was. He was a I think
vacation has some kind of hiatus, and we have a
true champion of legislation that fought up against big money.
And you will meet someone who comes out of the
world of the veterinary medicine. Veterinary medicine is uh and

(01:25):
we can even chat with her about this, and very expensive,
but it's also got big money around it, and it
has lobbying power. And she fought that lobbying power to
stop a surgical procedure on cats that was maiming them

(01:45):
and it was done just for money. And that is
the d knuckling, the amputation of the ends of their
pause their hands. It's called declaw, but it's not actually
it actually would be like the taking of your knuckles,
like from your knuckles down. Maybe it's even from here down,

(02:07):
I don't know, but anyway, it's it'll be. It's a
full amputation. And the veterinary lobby is so strong, it
has such big money associated with it, that it fought her,
this veterinarian who is trying to and she is a
veterinary medicine expert worker physician for all sorts of animals,

(02:35):
and she handles big cats too, in addition to like
kind of residential cats. So like, for example, the wasn't
it the tiger in the hangover? Doesn't Mike Tyson have
a tiger? Tony? Isn't that right? Is it a tiger allion.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, is that right, Ken, She does veterinary medicine to
the she calls them the real stars, the animals and
the animals.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah so, But just to give you a little taste,
and just to mention what we'll be talking about, she fought,
I'm talking about, single handedly fought to get legislation on
the books banning this maiming of felines of cats, this
making declawing as they call it, illegal in California. And

(03:24):
it didn't just happen overnight. It was rebuffed and turned down,
and she was up against big money and she started
in a little community, and you'll hear. And the reason
I wanted to have her join today is not just
because I care about cats or it's an interesting story.
It's those things, of course, but because it's the power

(03:46):
of one person to fight up against big money and
big politics and win. And for that reason, I think
it's instructive for all of us. Now, how did she
do it? She put together this coalition slowly, and as

(04:07):
I say, they suffered defeats along the way. They had
to get legislators on board for this thing that just
you know, again seem like it's of no interest to them.
But in the end they got it passed, and in
California it is now illegal to declaw d knuckle maim

(04:27):
those creatures, those cats, And so that puts us by
the way in step with most of the world, and
most of the world already had that legislation on the books. Anyway,
she'll be here in our two and I just love
as we talk about change in America and as you
see things happen and you feel overwhelmed, I think it's

(04:51):
increasingly important to focus on some of these stories that
involve people who really were able to swim ups stream
against that current. A couple of weeks ago, we had
the lawyer Kim I forget the organization maybe you recall,
but they've got one hundred lawsuits against the Trump administration

(05:12):
right now.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh right, oh, I forget. She has joined us from Texas.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Around from Texas and she was terrific and we'll get
her back. Because again, that was a two things. That
was all the stuff that's going on in terms of
a legal remedy sought for a lot of the legislation
and a lot of the moves that aren't even legislator,
they are just moves on the part of the Trump administration.

(05:39):
But it's also the power of using the courts and
finding creative ways to push back against this authoritarian power.
So that's another reason we had her on and we'll
have her on again. So you know, these are things
that sort of fit into that world. And Belinda Weymouth
she joins us again with it's the place and it's

(06:00):
stupid in hour two and what is she focusing on today? Kim,
I saw a the world.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Missed a key climate goal. Oh like the it was
if you don't hit this goal by such and such
a date, the world is screwed while we missed it.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, we're going to talk a little bit about the best.
And that's from the U, the UN basically saying that
all right, So that's kind of an overview of what's happening.
We've got some big stuff to get to, some cracks
in the coalition involving the president and uh, the shutdown.
And this from Murphy rowan Wow, a fifty dollars super check,

(06:40):
big shout out and thank you, good morning, Mark, Kim
Tony the commission and all the remarkables. Wow. Nice, that
is a complete greeting. And Murphy writes this it is
my birthday fifty six. Thanks beautiful community trying to deserve
human rights and the planet. Going to treat myself to

(07:04):
a peacefully Resist shirt. I love that, Murphy Rowan. Jump
on get mark merch dot com and get yourself a
peacefully Resist shirt. I love the simplicity of the peacefully
Resist shirt. You know there it is. Yeah, it just
has those words on the front. Nothing else, no logo, nothing,

(07:26):
there is a logo of I think our show logo
is on the very back on the on the upper
sort of near the neck for those just listening. I
always thinking about the people like I'm just listening on Spotify
or something. Anyway, the shirt's a good one and happy birthday.
Very very cool that you get birthday greetings from everybody
in the chat right now too, which is you know, yeah,

(07:49):
happy birthday, sal the shoemaker of wishing you, Joe.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Fish Sell the shoemaker, Joe Box, and little Anthony Sell.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
The shoemaker is the only one who is still out
all these other guys of Anthony and Joe Box, they
are actually incarcerated anyway, Murphy Rowan, thank you and you
have our best wishes. Richard Telematter remember to ask Belinda
about her telecaster. Yeah, the guitar. Well, that's a Kim thing.
Please remind me, Kim. You have to remind me that

(08:18):
and that that's something we want to talk about. Oh,
that's right. What's the story behind your telecaster?

Speaker 4 (08:26):
I got one because I needed one because I didn't
have one.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Well, that's it.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
Have I have?

Speaker 2 (08:30):
I have to have every you know, it's it's kind
of one of those.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Things of you could stress up that story. Well, pick
all the guitars I have. All of them are different.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
So I didn't have a Telly because it Telly has
a very unique sound because that's sharp g on it.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Tony is one of the most I'm going to call
him like the renaissance man of the show. In a way,
he's a modern renaissance man, you know, technology, music, you know, uh,
pop culture. I feel like that's very I'm very impressed
with you. I mean, I don't have all of that

(09:08):
that breadth I feel.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Because you imagine that much more I would have if
I didn't work all the time.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, yeah, you'd be enjoying your life so much more.
But yeah, your your need to work is our is
our gain. So I appreciate being anyway, the telecaster will
follow up on so Mark Thompson show. I mentioned that
the the prime rate has dropped by a quarter percent.
We'll get to more of that and kind of factor

(09:35):
it into the conversation with John Rothman bottom of the hour.
There is a crack, you could say, in the coalition
of Republicans who are supporting the trumpe and shutdown of government.
And there are now five Senators who are saying, you know,

(10:00):
we I'm sorry, it's on the tariffs, isn't it. Excuse me,
I'm yeah, it's it's okay.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
There's a lot happening. There's a there. It was on
the fifty percent tariff on Brazil.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Right, I'm sorry, thank you, Yes, and there is not.
This is I'll tell you the reason I made that
mistake also because we did the story yesterday about how
the Democrats have cracks in the coalition when it comes
to the shutdown, and that's because of the union push.
There's a Bederal workers union that's pushing on the Democrats
and saying, hey, Democrats, you know you used to be

(10:33):
our friends, you are the friends of workers, but now
you've shut down the government and now we are hurting you.
Ought to reopen the government and then you can worry
about this other stuff later. Worry about anyway. So sorry,
that was the story we did yesterday Today. It's the
crack in the coalition around the tariffs. Essentially, the President's
been allowed to ride roughshod over the general restrictions on tariffs,

(10:55):
and I mean typically tariffs because it is a tax,
it's an import tax that would be imposed by some
kind of congressional mandate, and that is not the case.
You have the president out of fiat and having cooked
up this urgency associated with a concocted emergency, able to

(11:19):
invoke emergency powers and impose these tariffs. So now with Brazil,
there is a US Senate bill to block Trump's tariffs
on Brazil, and again this vote passes the Senate fifty

(11:42):
two forty eight. It is a bipartisan rebuking of Trump,
and it would terminate the sweeping tariffs on Brazilian imports,
you know, coffee, beef, other products. So you had precom
tell us Marolina McConnell, all.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
The you're going a little your your audio sounds a
little wonky to me for a second. Can you say
it again?

Speaker 1 (12:11):
They had five senators mentioning who they were, Uh, Paul
tell Us, McConnell and Murkowski all loading again the legit
the person for this letter to uh roll back. You're

(12:32):
losing coh me.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Yeah, you're going to have to go and come back. Unfortunately,
you're just kind of freezing up a little bit. But
I'll take the lead on that one, and let me
just say while Mark reconnects that it was a fifty
two to forty eight vote. Five Republicans on the side
of Democrats on this one. It was Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,

(12:55):
Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Tom Tillis
of North Carolina, and of course former Republican leader Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky that joined the Democrats to vote on
this tariff on Brazil, to not put fifty percent tariffs
on Brazil. What's interesting, though, I think, is that the

(13:18):
House is going to take this up next but the
House has already voted not to consider any tariff measures
until after the first of the year. So the Senate
votes for this were on hold because the House is,
you know, and will the House pass it anyway, We
don't know. But what's interesting is the Senate managed to
get something done together, I'm sorry, Well.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
The House won't pass it, and that's the sad part,
and that's why it doesn't matter on some level. But
I do think it's notable that the coalition that's typically
there and solid for Trump is beginning to melt away. Maybe,
but from a standpoint that is associated with just the
bottom line, which is Tariff's I just think that there

(13:59):
is sadly no way you'll get House participations. So it
doesn't really matter what's going to happen in the Senate
and what did happen in the Senate. Here is the
latest on the tragedy in Jamaica and the latest on
this hurricane, Tony. If you'll roll a little bit, we

(14:20):
can see. I mean, this is a brutal, devastating hurricane
that's taken many lives and now I think it's affecting Cuba.
So go for it, Tony, or don't.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
The whole page just refreshed, and that's playing. Give me
thirty seconds for a Now.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
I'm going to put on my credibility jacket.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah, this is my I need. Maybe it's the problem
I haven't. Let me get my credibility glasses on. I'm sorry,
I don't know I was wearing. These are credibility glasses.
Don't get me wrong, but these are the newest credibility glasses,
and they're really filled with a kind of incredible credibility.
Yeah there, let you go. It's my coffee noise show. Yeah,

(15:07):
absolutely show. I'll take it, Harry, Have we installed long
enough for you? Do you have it?

Speaker 5 (15:12):
Coman?

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Okay? All right, go for it, please sing.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Hurricane Melissa making another landfall, slamming into Cuba with driving
rain and wind, the island evacuating more than seven hundred
and thirty thousand people, while US personnel at Guantanamo Bay
told to take shelter ahead of the storm. It comes
just hours after Melissa's historic landfall in Jamaica. As a
catastrophic Category five hurricane with destructive one hundred and eighty

(15:36):
five mile an hour winds.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Oh infrastructures been severely.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Compromise Melissa unleashing raging floodwaters and a life threatening storm surge.
The big neighborhoods like Saint Elizabeth Parish completely underwater. This
was the terrifying scene outside a local hospital. Melyssa first
roared ashore midday on Jamaica's southwestern coasts before tearing across

(16:01):
the island. This was the reaction from the meteorologists at
NBC six in Miami as he received a live update
on the deadly storm's unbelievable power.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Oh my Jesus, christ Okay, all right, I'm going to
hold it together here.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
Visitors at this hotel forced to evacuate to the ballroom
where they wrote out the storm huddled together on the floor.
Christina and Tony Malchodi of Iowa are in Jamaica celebrating
their anniversary.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
How scary has this ordeal been?

Speaker 6 (16:30):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (16:31):
For me, it was terrific.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
It was absolutely terrifying.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Officials warning the damage assessment could take weeks and that
the recovery could be hampered by airports that remained closed.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah. Yeah, I can imagine that the clean up effort
is going to be very, very difficult with all of that.
So that's the latest on the deadly hurricane hit with
these insanely powerful wins supercharged by, of course, a warming ocean.
What's that game?

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I was still watching some video last night. I think
I sent it to you about the damage at the airport.
Is at the Montego Airport. Yeah, something like that, if
I got the name of this. Yeah, and then the airport,
part of the roof ripped off and the airport's flooding
inside and there's like wires hanging down.

Speaker 7 (17:24):
It looks bad.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah, it was completely trash, the airport full of water
and as Kim says, just everything strewn everywhere. Yeah, really
really rough. So that's the latest on the hurricane, the
destruction and sad loss of life associated with it. I
also wanted to mention that the Mark Thompson Show, the

(17:47):
shakeup at at the Department of Homeland Security is one
that's beginning to sort of come into clearer view. And
this is the ramping up of an accelerated, aggressive program

(18:07):
to deport many more people than are now being deported.
So the plan is through Christine nom who likes to,
as you know, dress up in camo carry around various
assault type weapons. She is shaking up the world of ice,

(18:32):
and she's doing it under the edict of President Trump
and his right hand man, Stephen Miller. And I'd suggest
that Stephen Miller is the real both architect of this
and the muscle behind it, because Trump is busy dancing
in Japan on his Asia trip, and I think he's

(18:52):
slowly kind of losing it, even more than he'd lost
it before. In any case, the plan is to install
border patrol officials for a more aggressive migrant crackdown. They've
approved a list of ICE leaders to be replaced by
border patrol officials in coming days, and they are saying

(19:14):
they want the arrest numbers to be much much higher
than they are. They've welcomed the aggressive tactics to get arrests,
and they've also, it seems, welcomed the high profile. I
would suggest performative nature of some of this, like the
Blackhawk helicopters and the repelling down, But this is stuff

(19:35):
that they like. The Trump administration likes the black Hawk helicopters.
They like the fact that the ICE agents are repelling
down from the helicopters and jumping into home depot, parking
lots and car washes, and they like this. No corner safe,
no apartment building will be secure. The Ice world is

(19:57):
our world. Now the world of ICE is going to change.
The mentality is that they're doing what they're told, and
the administration thinks ICE isn't getting the job done aggressively.

(20:18):
Enough so it'll be Border Patrol that will do it.
The White House is signed off on a list of
at least a dozen directors of Ice field officers who
are set to be reassigned in coming days. They said
that at least half of them would be replaced by

(20:38):
Border Patrol agents and officials, the who will be more aggressive.
That's the thing.

Speaker 8 (20:47):
The use.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
It's crazy because you see what's happening already and how
aggressive it it already is with the tackling of people
on the street and just the you know, the way
people are being taken into custody either being there waiting
outside the courtrooms and slamming people to the ground. How
could it be more aggressive? I'm wondering, and this is

(21:08):
not good.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
They want bigger numbers. And then there's this guy. There's
one particular guy, and you should Greg Bovino is his name,
and this guy Greg Bovino. In fact, I was just
reading a piece about him this morning because he's someone
who worked out of the El Centro division and he
is now being ordered to make daily court appearances in

(21:33):
Chicago because he's been so much, in the court's opinion,
in violation of protocol. He's a shoot first and ask
questions later. Kind of guy. He moved. I want to
say three hundred immigrants, at least three hundred that he
took from the Imperial Valley. I believe it was in California.

(21:56):
And he again, this is not his jurisdiction. He personally
administered their arrest. They are agricultural workers. Okay, just to
be clear who they are. They're they're not to you know,
what is it, am I the trend AGUA or MS
thirteen or whatever, you know, whatever, they're new. You know,

(22:19):
this is all bullshit anyway. But he's the Border Patrol Chief,
Greg Bovino, and he was at the Federal building in Chicago.
They've had eighteen hundred arrests and there are many complaints,
as Kim has noted, of excessive force.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, the judge, there's a judge that says, you guys
got to stop pepper spring people.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
You have to do it, and.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
They wouldn't and they didn't comply. And now she's got
the head of out of the CBP or ice that
has to meet with her every single day to go
over Okay, what happened, what's the use of force today?

Speaker 1 (23:01):
What is happening right now? With ice is completely outside
of the law. Said, I believe that that was the
judges quote. It's brutal, it's unjust, and it's unconstitutional, and
I think we all need to stand up and be heard.
That was I believe a protest or you may have
said that. I mean, no, it was the judge. Indeed,

(23:26):
here's a continuation of the quote from the judge in Chicago.
Kids dressed in halloween costumes walking to a parade do
not pose an immediate threat to law enforcement officers, and
you can't use riot control weapons against them. The judge
also said agents must wear badges and they are banned

(23:51):
from certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists.
And as Kim has noted, she's concerned that they weren't
following that order. She'd seen footage of them using tear
gas and also these other aggressive tactics. They must tell

(24:12):
people what they are going to do before they do it,
so people have the opportunity to comply. She said, That's
what I meant, and that's not what I've seen in
any of these videos. So, yeah, so she now requiring
them go ahead.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, So now Judge Sarah Ellis says Bovino, the man
which you have detailed, has to appear before her. He's
got to come on in and give her the rundown
of who they're using force against on a daily basis,
because they can't seem to listen to her ruling and
implement it.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
There is a true sense in this administration, and it
comes from the top down of don't pay any attention
to what the judge says, don't pay the attention to protocol,
don't pay attention to the law. We are the law.
This is the new way. And so this guy, Bovino,

(25:12):
keep an eye on him because he is sort of
the profile and model of what Trump and Miller want,
which is ignoring the law. Just bring me these people.
Just extend the dragnet as much as you have to.
These aren't criminal enterprises of any kind being broken up,
as we've talked about before. So again, and they note

(25:33):
here in this piece what I was telling you before.
Bovino is that guy who has created such havoc in
Los Angeles.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
Ila, the restraining order that limits the use.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
Of tax Yeah, he also led the immigration operation in
LA in recent months, leading to thousands of arrests. Agents
smashed car windows, blew open a door to a house
patrolled MacArthur Park on horseback, and in Chicago's similar border
patrol operations led to viral footage of tense confrontations with protesters.

(26:03):
So that's the situation with him. He'll be in court
in Chicago and they will keep an eye on that butt.
The bottom line is both he's being held accountable in
Chicago and ICE at the federal level is being rotated
now and a bunch of the top people are being

(26:24):
replaced by much more aggressive managing styles and administrative styles
when it comes to arrests. Look for those numbers to
go up of arrests, and also look for the brutality
I suspect to be amplified because that seems to be
the calling card of this crew. So that's the latest. Uh,

(26:47):
that's the latest one that I also wanted to I
wanted to give you something that's a little not Trump
and not Ice, and it involves your favorite. And then
I'll get to John Rothman, who I know is your
other favorite. And when I talk about your favorite, I'm
talking about doctor Phil. You know I know you love

(27:07):
your doctor Phil.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
I thought you said you weren't talking about isn't Doctor
Phil like on the ice ride along.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
This ice adjacent You're right, he's very very ice committed,
and he's you know, he's part of the ice publicity machine.
That's very very true. This is a man with anger.
This is a man that has resemment towards you. Doctor
Phil McGraw's media startup company, Merritt Street Media, has officially

(27:35):
been shut down by a federal judge What Why The
network must be liquidated under Chapter seven bankruptcy. The decision
comes after the judge described the failed attempt buy Doctor
Phil to shield close associates from financial losses while dodging

(27:59):
debts that were owed to major investors and partners. The
bankruptcy judge didn't hold back quote there is no hope
for rehabilitation, he wrote, accusing McGraw of lacking transparency and
deleting text messages that revealed a scheme to pay favored creditors.

(28:23):
One of those messages, uncovered through another person's phone, showed
McGraw promising to reimburse investor Jamie Ridman no matter how
the court ruled. What. The ruling ends a bitter standoff
between McGraw and Trinity Broadcasting Network and the Professional bull

(28:44):
Riders League because they were suing for a breach of contract.
It's a whole big lawsuit. They claimed they were sabotaged.
This is I'm talking about doctor Phil's crewe suing a
Trinity broad Casting Network. Broadcasting Network counter sues. But doctor Phil,

(29:06):
it would appear really actively and aggressively pursued a scheme.
And those are the words of the court to only
pay favored creditors. And I don't know what that means, Kim,
when my doctor Phil, this is a man that has

(29:29):
resent e. Where's the other Doctor Phil? What's a guilty pleasure?

Speaker 7 (29:34):
No?

Speaker 1 (29:34):
No, here's another I thought we had another Doctor Phil. Oh,
never mind, I am.

Speaker 9 (29:43):
So they gave me a lot of money for having attitude.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Doctor Phil under a court order now and his company
is going away, that media company. As Kim says, he's
got his career as an ice agent too.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
He does. He has his career as the American emissary
for religion, right, isn't he like the Holy Roller in charge?

Speaker 7 (30:07):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, that's Oh I didn't remember that.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, he's he's like on the Christian task Force.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
The Christian task Force.

Speaker 7 (30:14):
So the freedom of religion, the freedom.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
The freedom of one religion, the pay up. Before I
get to John Rothman, I just want to mention because
it's a sign of the times and you'll see a
lot more of this. You can you can can maybe
detail some of the layoffs at Amazon. I think you
mentioned them yesterday. There have been some big layoffs across
a lot of name companies, huge companies, but Paramount is

(30:41):
the one. You can add to that. They layoff one
thousand workers in their latest rounds of cuts. They are
planning on two billion dollars in expense cuts across the company.
That will affect these cuts CBS, CBS News, comedies sent
for and also other divisions like the film studio on

(31:03):
Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles or those are in LA.
Maybe you're familiar with that. The the cuts are real
and some of your favorite shows, you know, maybe you
watch The Daily Show, maybe you uh, well, across the
Paramount network, they are a bunch of them. They will
be affected, some of them. So I mean, I can
tell you that you know, South Park is not going

(31:24):
to be affected, but you know, I think some of
these other shows will you know they have MTV.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
I bet all the all the anti Trump shows will
be affected.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
Maybe you're right, Maybe you're right. This is the new
edict under the Ellison company, you know, Larry Ellison's son,
Skydance Media and these Redbird Capital partners. They said that
they would eliminate more than two billion dollars in expenses,
and now they workforce reduction and they'll be making further cuts.
So this is what they do. And looking now to

(31:57):
see what this is and.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
New Yes, hermout just gave one and a half billion
to south Park, So.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, it doesn't seem as though it would be the
kind of thing that they would, yeah, that they would
mess with too much. But that's the very latest layoffs
across that company and across other companies as well. But
they'll also be some cuts to some things that you
maybe like to watch or like to take in as
entertainment or information. They'll all be affected as well. So yeah,

(32:24):
that was part of that deal you know that Trump
approved for Larry Ellison, of course, and then Ellison will
take control, Ellison and his son of TikTok, they'll be
among those who are controlling that social media platform. And
as I've mentioned before, that to me is the sadness
of America now that unregulated and unabated. You just have

(32:45):
the acquisition and merging of all these companies, and so
you have ownership of media. And that means the ownership
of information in so few hands that you know it
threatens you getting any real information, any objective information. It
is though, you don't need a government news agency because
these other media companies take on the cast of kind

(33:08):
of a government news agency. All right, he's back from hiatus.
He is the scholar, researcher, author, a former KGO talk
show host, our colleague. He is a I would say,
a valued family member of this show. How about it
for John Roffman everyone, Thank you Mark.

Speaker 7 (33:30):
I think if I'm a family member, I met or
refer to you as Dad, right.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
I thought I might refer to you as Dad. Actually,
I well, I'm just glad to be I want you
to know. I was the Lyndon Johnson Library, the George HW.
Bush Library, the George W.

Speaker 7 (33:52):
Bush Library, and then we stopped at Daley Plaza to
see where Lee Harvey Osweald fired the fatal shot. And
so it was a very interesting trip. And I apologize
for not being with you last week, but I was
in a car traversing and it just wouldn't have work.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
So I'm here, what is your Before I get into
the heavy stuff of what's going on today? You were
in Deally Plaza. You suggested Lee Harvey Oswald firing the
fatal shot. You don't buy that there was any conspiracy
associated with that, and that might have been other people involved,
John Rothman.

Speaker 7 (34:24):
You have to separate two things. First, the shot was
fired from the fifth floor of the Texas school Book Depository,
There's no question about it. The rifle had Lee Harvey
Oswald's prints on it, no question about it. He fired
a shot. Was there a conspiracy, That's a whole other issue. So,
like so many things that we talk about historically, you

(34:47):
have to separate ideas. But I will tell you I
interviewed Gerald Posner when we were on KGO, and he
was the man who really believed there was a conspiracy.
And when I interviewed him, he was very clear. He said, John,
I've investigated everything, I've done, every aspect of research, and
I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald is the one who
killed Kennedy. So, uh, we'll leave it there because it

(35:08):
is an endless.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah, it's literally endless and you can talk to many
credible researchers to say, John, I've researched it and I've
left no stone unturned, and there is no way that
Lee har Ay Oswald was the sole perpetrator of this assassination.

Speaker 7 (35:26):
Your kicker. You just said the word soul perpetrator. The
question is did Oswald shoot?

Speaker 1 (35:35):
That's almost, that's almost. That's almost a technicality what I'm
suggesting it.

Speaker 7 (35:39):
Almost because there are people who say, no, there was
a shot fire from the grassy nilt.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Right, No, that's exactly, And that was saying that. What
I'm trying to say, What I'm trying to say to
you is that what you've done is you've separated out conspiracy,
and you've separated out multiple shooters, and you've separated out
did Harvey Lee Harvey Oswald fire the weapon? I see
what you're doing, John. I don't want you to think
that you're getting away with this without me seeing it.
So you're saying, you're saying Lee Harvey Oswald fired that

(36:07):
weapon on that we could have been Then you get
into might there have been another shoot and might there
then be a conspiracy to cover up some aspect of
what was this? More than one shooter involved in more
than one involved in this assassination of JKA.

Speaker 7 (36:25):
We could just debate that at some point, I personally
believe it was Lee Harvey Oswald. I believe he fired
from that perch in the school book depository. And whether
or not there were others involved, well, none of the hearings,
none of the investigations have proven anything conclusive. But I
will tell you what shocked me more than anything else,
and it sort of goes along with it. This is

(36:46):
my copy of the White House Guide. Now I'm showing
this to you because I know that this is on YouTube.
This copy of a White House Guide is signed by
free Presidents and seven first Ladies, and I want you
to be able to get a picture of that. Anyway,
what shocked me more than anything else on this trip

(37:07):
was the decision by the President unilaterally to destroy the
East Wing of the White House. And I want to
point out to everybody than anybody who's ever toured the
White House, that's how you enter the tour through the
East Wing. And I hope you are aware that because
there is no more East Wing, there are no more

(37:28):
tours of the White House. They have been stopped and
more shocking to me than anything than I mean, how
can you say that? Is that just yesterday the President
of the United States fired the six members of the
Fine Arts Committee, which theoretically supervises all of these things.
And all I can tell you is he is determined

(37:51):
to build what he's going to build, and not to mention,
which nobody really talks about, the triumphal arch that he
wants built in Washington DC, Washington, d C. I'm talking.
You're a home territory Mark, Yes, sir, This to me
is an abomination.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
And well, first of all, i'd like to just before
you continue with this and smearing my Lord and Savior
Donald Trump, I'd like to suggest to you that you
can still take a tour of the White House. You
say there are no more tours. If you've got twenty
five million dollars, you can go right in through another
door and you can get a tour of the White House.
In fact, are you writing a check for me?

Speaker 7 (38:28):
You know I'm show so I want to point out
if you're willing to write the check, I'm willing to go.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Everything is for sale in this White House. And one
of the things I'm concerned with, in addition to the
destruction of history, as you suggested, and this was and
I think it's worth spending just a beat on it
because it's not just destroying the White House. Okay, let's
be clear about this. It is that. And in that act,
as you said, John, he bypassed the normal ways in

(38:58):
which even there would be happen pushback on this plan.
I mean any sort of or pro forma approval of
the plan, that is to say, just through his functionaries,
the Trump appointments to whatever architectural committees and historic committees
typically have to give the stamp of approval on any

(39:20):
kind of architectural change to official buildings, et cetera. The
president does have control to offer these things, but it
does have to be signed off on. But even that
was eliminated. He just went right for the wrecking ball.
And these again plans that apparently architecturally are flawed as well.
So even from a purely architectural blueprint standpoint, there are

(39:46):
stairways that go into the side of a building, there
are windows that face each other. This is again another
slap together job and I would see this and this
is my real point after that lengthy preamble. I believe
that there is a kind of grift going on here,
and this is an administration filled with grift, and at

(40:08):
minimum you have this pay to play. I mean, who
is funding this ballroom? Google, Apple, Pall Andeer. I mean
these are tech companies that have business in front of
the US government. This is an absolute pay to play situation.
So in this deal, which was two hundred million, then
it became two hundred and fifty million, then it became
three hundred million, then it became three hundred and twenty

(40:30):
five million, I mean, what are they building it Is
it a ballroom or is it just a payoff pipeline.
I think it's the latter. And let me point out
to you if you just take a look at the
so called architectural design, it is completely out of proportion.
It d works the people's house. And so I'm only
pointing this out and.

Speaker 7 (40:50):
I wanted to raise it because I was away last
week to tell you this is a president who is
completely out of control. And the fact that he can
fire at will the six members of the Fine Arts Committee,
and the fact that he there's nothing to obstruct him
is to me an abomination. That's all I can say.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Also, this is a great point I mean, beginning this
kind of project with a Washington winter coming, I mean,
it's just absurd. Why doing this demolition and now you're
going to have winter in Washington the weather is unforgiving,
and you know because you live there. Yeah, there's an
absurdity to it. I also think this isn't a just

(41:30):
a ballroom. As I say, I think there's grift associated.
But I also think I don't know what else they're
building or they're modifying. There's a bunker you may know
underneath the White House, and.

Speaker 7 (41:40):
There is a bunker under the White House who was
put there when Franklin Roosevelt was president with World War Two.
You may recall that at the event of nine to
one one September eleventh, that that bunker was used. The
simple reality is he is going to build an underground fortress. Anyway, well,

(42:01):
let's leave this for a moment, because my outrage is.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
So anyway, I'm I'm glad you started with it, because
that's where I wanted to start as well, because I
think there's a lot wrapped up in it, both the symbolism,
the actual wrecking ball that was brought to the White House,
but also, as I say, the grift and corruption that's
on full display. Talk to me about the two hundred
and thirty million dollars that the President is demanding for
the pain and suffering that he endured as the witch

(42:26):
hunts and various legal cases ground on. I have no words.

Speaker 7 (42:32):
This man is the most corrupt president in American history.
And you call him a grifter. He may be all
of that, but I want you all to understand that
the destruction of history. And I am a historian, I've
written and studied and lived, this is to me so appalling.
I also want to say a word. You may know
that the House of Representatives has not been in session

(42:53):
for some weeks, but Speaker Johnson has refused to call
the House to order. Let me be clear about this.
That doesn't stop committees of the House from continuing to
attack Joe Biden. I have never seen such despicable action
by irresponsible members of the House of Representatives as I
have seen in these days. And you may know that

(43:15):
President Biden gave a talk just day before yesterday, first
talk since his cancer treatment, and he described it very simply.
He said, these are tough times, but we're going to
get through them. And I sure as hell hope. So
let me also, while I'm on a roll, let me
just tell you because I think it's important to point

(43:37):
out that the House of Representatives is not in session.
Speaker Johnson, by the way, did a good thing today.
He announced he would oppose a third term for Donald
Trump based on the Constitution of the United States. And
with that statement, Donald Trump sort of downplayed it as well.
He even said that he would not run for vice

(43:57):
president on a ticket as some people have suggested. And
I just want you to be through. The first person
who ever suggested this method of evading the twenty second
Amendment was David Broder, and David suggested that Barry Goldwater
take White Eisenhower as his running mate, and of course
it went nowhere, and the idea was to boost Goldwater's position,

(44:18):
but we also had the position when Joe Biden was
nominated for president, there was a talk of Obama being
added to the ticket in order to strengthen it. These
illusions are very clear. There is no third term available
to Donald Trump constitutionally.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
This is the way. I don't want to spend too
much time on this because I don't even think the guy.
I don't know how much I don't know how much
gas is still in the Trump tank the but how.

Speaker 7 (44:49):
About a ticket, how about a ticket of Vance and
his running mate Donald Trump Junior.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Well, I think Donald Trump Junior is relevant politically. I mean,
even as he griffs through this presidency. My god, the
way in which the Trump family is grifting off of
this presidency unprecedented. Of course, billions of dollars in the
crypto scheme. The crypto scheme is so simple, and they
have managed to create billions of dollars, billions with a

(45:17):
b dollars of wealth to the Trump family personally. Hunter
Biden was on the board of Barisma. Was that what
it was, the energy company and in Ukraine and there
was this you and cry from the GOP and I
think you know again that it was legal, but it
was you know again, he's not exactly this guy who

(45:38):
has steeped in an energy background. He got it because
his last last name was Biden and he was connected
to Joe Biden. That said, you never heard the end
of it. I mean, they're still on a jihat about
Biden and the Biden crime family.

Speaker 7 (45:52):
Going after Biden. Now over the whole question of auto
pen signatures, can I tell you, I have a book
on John F Knit these auto pen and how often
the Kennedy signatures were were given by autopen. It's a
fascinating compilation put together in the nineteen sixties. And all

(46:12):
I can tell you is for presidents to have these
automen machines, it's absolutely there. That's why if you want
to really examine a presidential autograph, you want to make
sure it's flat signed.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
But that's a whole other story. Yeah. So again just
to the point, the grift is on full display. And
so we get back to a tariffs, which I always felt,
and I've made this point repeatedly, are a system of patronage.
When you impose these tariffs, you've now across the board

(46:45):
created a situation in which countries have to come to
you and offer things to you to offset the tariffs,
to give them tariff relief, to give them tax relief
of one short or another. And I'm not talking about
giving America a break. I'm talking about things offered Trump.
You've seen it in the Middle East, you've seen it
in Asia. I wonder if you can give me your
take now on the situation with tariffs and on Trump's

(47:08):
efforts to sort of put Humpty Dumpty back together again
with both the Japanese and the Chinese.

Speaker 7 (47:13):
Well, I'm going to first make the statement about missing
an action. Who is missing in action on this tariffs?
The Supreme Court, which has been asked to rule on
the question of whether a president can impose tariffs. Let
me tell you the president doesn't have that right. That
is reserved of the Congress. And the Hoot's Smallly Act
nineteen thirty is the best example. So my answer to

(47:36):
you is we have a dysfunctional government. Not only is
the House of Representatives not in session, but the Supreme
Court is missing in action. And this is one of
the tremendous things. And you're right, these are apparent payoffs.
These are reciprocal, if you will, in the sense of
benefit and the you know, you and I had a

(48:00):
argument once and I regret to say you were right,
and that had to do with my belief in the
balance of power based on three co equal branches of government.
I commend you to listen to Anthony Kennedy, retired Justice
of the United States Supreme Court, who made the statement

(48:20):
that our entire democracy is at stake because the balance
of power these co equal branches of government are being shattered.
So may I tell you the big news for me
is to watch the Supreme Court and what it does
on the question of presidential power, on the question of tariffs,
on the question one other quick quick thing. I'm teaching

(48:42):
a course in the spring, rather in January on Edward R. Murrow,
and I am very concerned about the drift, if you will,
of news media. Barry Weiss has just been named the
person to be in charge of CBS News. This is
a absolutely disgrace. Not that Barry Weiss isn't very bright,

(49:03):
not that she isn't someone who is a very effective writer,
but can you imagine what Edward R. Murrow would be
thinking that Barry Weiss would be in charge of CBS News.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
You don't have to go back to Edward R. Murrow,
I mean just a decade, yeah, any of these people
who are this is a the Tiffany Network, which were
discussed referred to as such because of the high end
nature of everything from journalism to programs.

Speaker 7 (49:31):
Make one other comment, Well, we're at it. I mean,
I know that you like to ask me questions, and
I tend to run every which way because I have
so much to say in such a short time, and
that is, please take a look at what's happening in
the White House. In terms of the press room. There
is no more press court in Washington, DC. The White
House is effectively destroyed the ability for the press to

(49:52):
cover the White House. And I am also going to
say they have now extended that to the Department of Defense.
It's the Department of Defense, ladies and gentlemen, not.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
The War Department. There is no war department there. Will
John is talking about, of course, is the purging of
the press from the Pentagon unless they would sign a pledge.
We only use information that came from the Pentagon. So
you can't work any sources. You can only essentially become
readers of press releases that come out of the Pentagon.

(50:20):
So when you look at the history of the Pentagon
when it comes to information, there is more disinformation out
of that agency than I would suggest to at least
rivals any other institution in Washington. Look at what they
did in Vietnam, Look what they did in Afghanistan, look
at what they did in Iraq. I mean, you will
never get the straight story from the Pentagon. So the
idea somehow that you are going to sign a pledge

(50:42):
to only repeat what Pete Hegseth tells you to repeat.
It's absurd. And so they all pulled out. Only one
American news network, that is that's what they're called ann.
They continue there and with a bunch of other people
who are just excited to be at the Pentagon and
get clearance. It's again, it's again the fall of the

(51:02):
free press, and in America and in government. Don't you
need a free press, John, to essentially give the people
a window on what's happening with their government, the government
that they own.

Speaker 7 (51:18):
Of course, you let me make one other quick. I mean,
I love doing these comments, and I hate to be
so brief with you. But when I was in Texas,
we listened to talk radio. We drove distances in Texas.
It was all right wing radio. It was all the
same nonsense. And I sat with a couple in Dealey Plaza,

(51:39):
African American couple. We shared a bench to have lunch.
There are not a lot of benches there, there are
only two benches. We sat together and they were driving.
They and I talked to them and I said, tell
me what you think of what's happening and his answer was,
Donald Trump is my president. And I said, do you
have any mixed feelings? He said, look, he said, he's

(52:00):
the president. We've got to support him. And I was
so upset because I know that that's not what he
really feels in terms of policy. And that's the thing.
It is the stifling of policy, the stifling of dissent.
And I learned something else, and I say this very respectfully.
The destruction of KGO in San Francisco was not just

(52:24):
a tragedy for our community. It's a tragedy for the
country because what we did together was to have diversity
of opinion, and that is what we need in these days.
So I'm very disturbed about everything. And if you want,
I'll throw on one more thing, and that is, as
I told you some weeks ago, there is no peace

(52:44):
in the Middle East. The ceasefire is a fake and
a phony. And all you have to do is understand
the Israelis hit hard in Gaza yesterday. And what did
Donald Trump do. He said, Oh, that's okay, they can
do it. I mean Israeli response was great. Now we'll
go back to the ceasefire to tell you of the
absurdity of Donald Trump pretending to be someone who is

(53:08):
bringing peace is to me absolutely beyond comprehension.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
Well, I uh will then get in on this, John,
because I said, at the time, yet again, I'm right
about yet another thing. I'm telling you. I don't mean
to be peacocking, but I do you need to tell
you I'm a deal. I do think you are kind
of a big deal. I apply perhaps the appropriate cynicism
at the time, and now in all seriousness, I said,

(53:34):
I'm ready to give Trump who is the gangster, and
he is, He's a I think he's like mafia don politician.
I've told you what I think. Meeting with other mafia
don gangsters, and those are those rulers of the Middle East,
uae Qatar, the Saudis, the Egyptians. They are all in
the same category in my judgment. Again, there are differences.

(53:56):
Happy to talk about them another time, but just from
a bottom line standpoint, it took a gangster to meet
with the other gangsters and in a completely transactional moment
produce a cease fire and hostage release and prisoner exchange
on both sides. No, I felt, even as he deserved

(54:17):
credit for that, I was not ready to give him
the Nobel Prize or anything. The guys turning troops loose
on American cities. He's blowing Venezuela and fishermen out of
the water with these extra judicial killings. So I was
very tough on him from that standpoint, but I did
feel that he deserved credit for bringing that moment, stopping
the bleeding in that moment in the Middle East. This

(54:38):
is where this is where you and I disagreed, and
c C writes this, Please ask Grofman if he still
thinks Trump deserves the Nobel considering the peace deal was
all theater fighting continues in Gaza. I guess you had said,
I think I wasn't here that day, that he deserves
the Nobel Prize.

Speaker 7 (54:56):
My comment had to do with the release of the hostages,
the fact that the twenty surviving hostages held by Hamas
were released on our back in Israel. He deserves recognition
for that. Now, the motivations and all the rest, that's
a whole other issue. But in my mind, Donald Trump
is the biggest fraud to ever sit in the White House.

(55:19):
And of course he doesn't deserve the Nobel Peace Prize,
but he does deserve recognition, and if a prize were
given for a hostage release. Sure, then he deserves it.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Look the whole prize thing and Nobel thing, and they
gave no Bel prize. They gave the Peace Prize to
Barack Obama. He'd been in office like forty five minutes.
It was crazy. I mean even Obama was embarrassed about that.
So I don't know that the Nobel Peace Prize is.
You know, it's necessarily anything.

Speaker 7 (55:45):
But just just like Donald Trump's triumphal arch that he's
going to build in your hometown, it's all civil.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
By the way, we forgot.

Speaker 7 (55:54):
To mention, you know the name of the new ballroom.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
It'll be the Trump Ballroom. Yeah, I mean there is.
It should be called the Pallanteer Ballroom or the Google Ballroom.
Those are, by the way, the only awards that really
do still have any significance are these golden mic spine me.
Thank you everybody. I yeah, John, we appreciate you. I've

(56:18):
got to wrap up. Yeah, it should be cutting me
down again. It should be called the Epstein Memorial Ballroom,
says Stella Luna, exactly, Epstein. Everybody wants the Epstein Ballroom, Yeah, Jana,
same thing.

Speaker 7 (56:30):
No, No, then You've got to watch something, because I'm
now going to be very interested when the House reconvenes
and the representative elect from Arizona is seated and there
are two hundred and eighteen votes for the discharge resolution,
It's going to be very interesting because for some reason,
Trump and the Republicans do not want that to happen.
But I would be remiss if I didn't point out

(56:52):
again that you must support the Mark Thompson program. Please
do contribute, Please do a subscribe, and may I say
it is always a high honor and great personal privilege.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
We enjoy it as well. You can find John Rothman
the Voice of San Francisco. It's the Voice SF dot org.
His podcast is there and also around the political world
with John Rothman. We'll talk to you next Wednesday. Thank you,
John Rothman, Thank you, Bye bye, ladies and gentlemen. I'm
shadow Steveerson. This is the Mark Thompson Show. To yourself

(57:30):
right on, everyone, right on. Thank you for all the
ways that you participate, you share the show. You can
disagree with anything, not everything is something that you're going
to be cool with. I get it, but we embrace
the controversy and we embrace opinions of all sort. We

(57:54):
have some very funny comments in the YouTube live comment stream.
We are a live show to four in the East,
shut out to the East Coast, and we are eleven
to one on the West coast, shut out to the
West Coast. The Dodgers are the big team on the
West Coast and they're up against the Toronto Blue Jays

(58:16):
in the World series. That world series is all tied up.
I have to the Romania Animal Rescue people are big
supporters of this show, and I want to say thank you,
and I appreciate a twenty dollars supersticker today Romania Animal
Rescue in big shout, big shout out, and a thank

(58:36):
you so much, thank you so much. I do want
you to Romania Animal Rescue people. Listen to the next
segment because I have a true hero for the animal
Kingdom coming up. And it's not just somebody who talks
the talk, but she has actually gotten legislation on the books,

(58:58):
I mean revolutionary legislation on the books and fought up
against strong, strong political headwinds and financial headwinds that were
fighting her on basic humanitarian legislation. To me, her struggle
is the struggle of one person who builds a coalition

(59:21):
with others who are like minded and who actually can
affect change and ultimately win with that change. I'm talking
about the effort to stop the maiming of cats. The
maiming of cats, and it seems like such an innocent

(59:41):
effort was very much a part of veterinary medicine. They
call it declawing, but actually you're amputating the knuckles of
the creature. And these are you know, we know we
have cats at our home. These are sweet creatures who
deserve our care and protection right and all of a

(01:00:04):
sudden they end up in this place where they're getting
there part of their hands. If you will, they'll pause,
their feet removed, just to protect living room furniture or whatever.
So one person, a veterinarian, said this has to stop
in America. It's outlawed in most of the world. And

(01:00:26):
she is a graduate of UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine,
memember the American Veterinary Medicine Association, and the American Association
of Zoo Veterinarians, the European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians.
She's really an extraordinary veterinarian with a track record of

(01:00:47):
being an advocate for exploited creatures and, as I say,
for getting this landmark legislation through the legislature in California.
Please a warm welcome for doctor Jennifer Conne. Yeah, nice
to see you.

Speaker 8 (01:01:03):
Nice to see you too. Thanks for having me on
the show.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
Yeah, of course. I mean I sort of tried to
describe this thing that you were so incensed about. This,
this procedure that was going on in many veterinary offices
across California, continues to go on in some veterinary offices
across America, et cetera. I was trying to describe it.

(01:01:26):
It's really kind of an amputation. It's a cruel way
in which people deal with I guess the claws of
a cat, can you.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (01:01:35):
Absolutely, it should be called d knuckling because it's the
amputation of the last failings, the last bone in the
cat's pause. Because our nails grow from skin, but cat
claws grow from the bone. So in order to remove
the claw, you actually have to amputate the bone, which
is so cruel, and it's done on all their toes

(01:01:57):
and it maims them for life. It changes the way
they walk. It makes them not want to use the
litter box because they come home from the surgery, they
dig in the sand, it hurts, they don't want to
do it anymore. They don't want to use it anymore.
And then also it makes them more likely to bite,
because if they don't have that clause to protect themselves,
they have to use.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
Their t sure. Sure, yeah, it clearly affects their mood
and the way in which they interact with you and
with the rest of the creatures around them. So I
want to get into the politics a little bit of this,
because we do a lot of politics and news on
the show. And one of the things that really captured

(01:02:37):
me in the story. It was a humanitarian effort, but
a lot of humanitarian efforts when they go up against
big money and big lobbying, they just can't seem to
punch through. And you started this just as a person.
Now admittedly you're a vet, so you've seen it firsthand.
I mean, this cruel procedure went on for so long,

(01:02:57):
but you were outraged by it to the point that
you were trying to begin to cobble together some sort
of legislative push to stop this thing, right, Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:03:07):
It started with the fact that I was working with
big cats and there were so many of them getting
coming in and I had to try and revise their
pause so that they could walk again. And it dawned
on me that I would never ever catch up unless
we made it illegal. And that's where it all started.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
The big cats you talked about, you were the vet
handling the in the Hangover, wasn't it. Mike Tyson had
a tiger in that movie.

Speaker 8 (01:03:39):
Right, Yeah, those were my patients. But I was talking
about cats who actually big cats, who actually lost their
homes because they were crippled from declawing and then they
couldn't walk, and so they couldn't be used in the
movie industry. And it was those cats who inspired me
to try and give them some semblance of their lives

(01:04:01):
back by decreasing the pain.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
And the cats then that you see going in and
out of these various veterinary institutions. I mean, it's the
whole that world. If we have a second, we'll talk
about it. Because it's owned by you know, it's become corporatized. Now,
this was a this is kind of a this is

(01:04:26):
a routine procedure. It had become so routine, and yet
it is horribly destructive to the animal.

Speaker 8 (01:04:32):
It's true it's still done on about twenty five percent
of American cats, so one in four. The statistics are
between twenty and twenty five percent, but I think those
are actually low compared to what it really is, because
in the Midwest veterinarians will report that eighty or more
percent of their patients are declawed. And it was done

(01:04:57):
because this guy invented and he took it with the
support of the American Veterinary Medical Association. He took it
on a dog and pony show and said, hey, here's
a quick way to make cats not be able to
scratch in their houses. And it's a big money maker.

(01:05:17):
It's over a billion dollars a year business. And so
the veterinary medical associations, which are always the opposition to
any of the legislation we try, want it. They don't
want it illegal. It makes too much money, and their
members make so much money doing it that they the
medical associations are, which are trade organizations. I shouldn't even

(01:05:38):
give them the idea that they're actually medical associations, but
they know that they're members who pay dues. Won't support
them if they support a d claw ban, so that
we fight them all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
So this is perfect because he gets me to the fight,
so they fight a D claw ban. These institutions associate lobbying,
as you say, trade organizations associated with the veterinary world,
and you'd think that they are in the business of
treating animals, protecting animals, But in this case they are
fighting to maintain something which is a money maker for

(01:06:17):
veterinary practices, this declawing, this d knuckling. So you went
up against They had a lot of money, and they
had a lot of lobbying power, and you went up
against it. How did you do it? You've gotten this.
This legislation was signed by the governor. It's banned in California.
How do it took you twenty years or something to
get this done? I did.

Speaker 8 (01:06:37):
It took a long time. It took the fact that
we've been working consistently on educating people on what this
really is, that it should be called d noting, not
a euphemism of uh claw, Yeah, it's not that. And
it took the fact that we had an author this

(01:06:59):
year who actually cared. And the author was named Alex Lee.
He's an Assembly member up in Milpitas area, which is
the South Bay, and he cared and so he did
not accept the California VMA, saying, oh, what about the
little old lady with who has the cat, who you know,

(01:07:20):
we're worried about her and that she'll have to give
up her cat. Because the truth is, those de clock
cats bite, So you're actually jeopardizing the health of these people.
You're not helping, you're not saving lives. And you know,
de cloud cats are often in the pound. They've lost
their home because if someone's intolerant of a cat scratching

(01:07:41):
a couch, they're really intolerant of a cat peeing on
the couch or biting. So those cats lose their homes.
And here's an example, since it it matters to you
and me, we live in Los Angeles and they in
two thousand and nine we banned declining in Los Angeles. Well,
if we look at the number of cats who lost

(01:08:01):
their home before the ban the five years before and
the number of cats who lost their home after the ban,
it went down forty three percent. That's tens of thousands
of cats lives saved. And the head of LA Animal
Services says it's absolutely from the ban because we're not
getting those declawed cats losing their homes and we're not

(01:08:22):
having to kill those cats because they're unadoptable, because they're
not they don't use the box and they buy.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
So it made practical sense. But you're saying you needed
one legislator who you could connect with, who would push
the legislation for you. Prior to that, you're saying you
couldn't get any legislative buy in.

Speaker 8 (01:08:41):
No, it got legislative buy in. But what was unique
about Alex Lee was he is so committed to this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
He was so.

Speaker 8 (01:08:49):
Committed to it that he didn't let his uh the
other members of the legislature fall for the California VMA's
stupid excuses. He didn't let them. He kept saying, no,
here's the facts. Other legislators care, but he went he
went up against them. And also because I think we've

(01:09:12):
done enough. We've run this bill enough times. Legislators know
what it is and they know that the only reason
the California VMA wants to keep declining legal is for money.
They know it. And in fact, there's a new documentary
I think we've talked about it. American Cat's the good,

(01:09:32):
the Bad, and the Cuddy and one of the representatives
of the VMA says, it's it's an upsell. It's for money.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
I mean, it seems so clearly for money. There's no
rational explanation for it. There are two movies that I
liked on this. I love the Paw Project movie for
the focus. First of all, it really gives you a
sense of it straight up, like just the facts, ma'am
in a way. And also it is a bit of
what we're talking about, which is the legislative lift that

(01:10:04):
you had to have. You see how you get a
lawyer who you know is like minded, you get someone
who knows politics and can help squire this into a
legislative form. You get to see how you build the coalition.
I really like that movie for that because, as I say,
it's the power of one person. You, but you needed

(01:10:25):
these other people and this coalition, and you got them
because it's a righteous cause. People could see the cruelty
associated with it, and you actually got this legislation across
the finish line. So that's called the Paw Project. And
again Pawproject dot org is still there. It's a great
resource to find out about this. And then The Good,

(01:10:45):
the Bad, and the Cudley is the second. I alect,
I just love the title is the second. There's a
Tony's Got it Up now. Pawproject dot Org is a
second movie. And so there you are with so many
of the key players in getting this across the finish line.
But I'm so excited for two things, the elimination of

(01:11:10):
this cruel procedure and also the triumph of a righteous cause.
I think these days we're seeing so many righteous causes
just die on the vine or get bullied out of
the way by big money. And you took on big
money and won, and I congratulate you.

Speaker 8 (01:11:29):
Well, thanks Mark. I you know, we have passed the
legislation now that at California is the fifth state, so
we have been working at it. But fifth state means
in like ten percent of the United States, Whereas in
Canada when we started in twenty fifteen, the Canadians said,
oh no, we do something wrong. We better stop it.

(01:11:49):
And so we've been able to pass legislation in all
nine provinces to band decline. But I mean in nine
of the tent sorry, Ontario not yet past it. But
in the United States it's so much harder, so much
more money involved.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think I'm glad that you
remind us that like this wasn't just a California project.
You took this to the various places you needed to
to try to to make it happen, and you did
make it happen again. Paulproject dot org. Doctor at Jennifer Conrad.
I'm so excited for your victories. Keep it going, and
I encourage people to check out the movies. Go to

(01:12:27):
Paul Project dot org and there are you know, you
can find the avenues to these films and uh, just
great documentaries that kind of again document the effort. But
congrats again and thanks for spending a couple of minutes
with us. Thanks for having me Okay, talk soon. Really
great stuff. I love that. I love that effort. And

(01:12:48):
congratulations the Martin. Sorry Tony, I didn't hit my I
didn't I got out of my rhythm there. And at
the end the uh, we'll have a link to pop right,
excuse me for a second.

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
We'll have a link to pop Project dot org underneath
that video.

Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
That is exactly what I wanted to say. Yeah, Kim,
what else did I want to say?

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
You, sir, would like to say that coming up, it's
the planet stupid.

Speaker 1 (01:13:23):
Yeah, help us save.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
This wonderful earth. But before that, we have a little
bit of news.

Speaker 1 (01:13:28):
I very much wanted to make the point that my
distinguished colleague has made. So as you are somewhere at
the US airport waiting for your flight that may not
be taking off for a couple of days because of
the government shutdown, as the air traffic controllers are not
being paid. As you wait for some government service, and

(01:13:49):
you wait on hold for hours and hours and hours,
please enjoy instead of just the hold. Music are wonderful
Kim news and common terry. I'll wait you. This is
the Mark Thompson Show, The Mark Thompson Show.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
On the Mark Thompson Show, I'm Kim McAllister. This report
is sponsored by the Amazing Coachella Valleycoffee dot Com. The
Federal Reserve is lowering interest rates by a quarter percentage point,
marking the second straight interest rate cut. The benchmark rate
is now in range of three point seventy five percent

(01:14:35):
to four percent. Hurricane Melissa is making its way towards
the Bahamas now. The storm will move across the southeastern
or central Bahamas today Melissa brought devastating flooding to Cuba
after slamming Jamaica on Tuesday. Hurricane experts say Melissa is
the second strongest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history. She's a

(01:14:58):
big one. President Trump taking a victory lap after reaching
a trade deal with South Korea. It happened during a
meeting today between Trump and the South Korean president, when
afterwards Trump told reporters we did reach a deal South Korea,
reportedly agreeing to purchase American made planes and natural gas
and return for lower tariffs. Trump set to meet next

(01:15:20):
with China's president part of his multi day Asia trip.

Speaker 1 (01:15:24):
Is that gold crown that we're showing there on screen
going to be one of the things he's taking as
a gift from the next stop. Five crown before already
gave it to me. They gave it to me. I'm
not going to say no. They put it in a big,
beautiful plane. I'm not going to keep it. I'm going
to donate it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:42):
You may see that appearing in the ballroom, you know,
coming out.

Speaker 1 (01:15:45):
That's right, well, the gold.

Speaker 2 (01:15:48):
Yeah. The Senate approving a resolution aimed at blocking President
Trump's tariffs on Brazil. As Mark mentioned, Earlier yesterday, lawmakers
advancing this resolution that would Trump's use of his emergency
powers to implement this fifty percent tariff on Brazil. Five
GOP senators joined Democrats to pass that measure. Despite this,

(01:16:10):
the resolution can't be taken up in the House until
next year. Even if it's passed, which is unlikely, it
would be not be signed into law by President Trump.
So spinning our wheels on that one. But at least
someone's doing something right.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
It's a sign of maybe some pushback. But yeah, it
doesn't from bottom line standpoint, change anything.

Speaker 2 (01:16:29):
No end in sight for the government shut down as
it rolls into the twenty ninth day. A thirteenth effort
to end the impasse failing yesterday in the Senate. There's
no plan to vote on the measure today. The Trump
administration says the military will be paid, but thousands of
air traffic controllers missed their first full paycheck.

Speaker 1 (01:16:50):
Now, so, by the way, the myopic way in which
this administration handles things, they are, I mean, it's ridiculous.
I mean, we did the whole thing on the right
wing billionaire who supposedly is paying the military during this shutdown,
and it was one hundred and fifty million dollars I

(01:17:11):
think it was, or maybe it's one hundred and seventy million,
but it doesn't thirty I think, yeah, it doesn't actually
pay the military anymore than ninety dollars a person. I mean,
it's not you know, the military is an immense, immense machine.
Of course, probably two immens and I should not even
say probably it is two immense. But the reality is
that you've got such immensity there that you can't possibly

(01:17:33):
pay everybody with one hundred and thirty million. So, and
here's the myopic part, the thing that is going to
most affect people where they're going to notice the shutdown
Apart from snap and apart from you know, all this
food assistance. I mean, if you need government assistance, you
are really getting screwed. But apart from that, in the
day to day workings and travel of Americans, the air

(01:17:56):
traffic controllers are going to make you feel this pinch,
and so all travel which is already being dramatically affected
by this. I saw seven to ten thousand major flight
delays as a result of ATC not showing up or
they're being slow down in workforce. So you end up

(01:18:19):
with the transportation hubs in America that are related to
aviation being turned on their side during this government shutdown,
and it's going to get worse. So my point is,
if you really were smart, I mean fiendishly smart, which
is typically what they are. They're both ruthless and they're fiendish,

(01:18:41):
but they are not smart, the smart thing to do
would be to pay the air traffic controllers. I mean,
if you're looking to just pay someone, now, the whole
thing is illegal. I mean, you know, these are government
employees that they're supposed to be mandated to be paid
by the government. This isn't a private enterprise. The payment

(01:19:02):
of the military by some rich guy is not something
that is even allowable as I understand it. But everything
is getting done now in a way that is, you know,
what should we say off the record, or you know,
again against type. The old type was everything had to

(01:19:26):
be done within some sort of regulatory structure. The new
type is, we just do it and if we get sued,
we'll see you in court. But in any case, it
seems like a righteous effort to try to in some
way offset these government cutbacks. Now, I'd like to see
some of these rich people step up and offset the
cuts in government programs like snap. Why don't we see

(01:19:49):
some private and by the way, to be fair, there
are private philanthropic organizations that are trying to step up
and help some of these people who require government assistance.
I mean talking about essentially food kitchens times one hundred. Okay,
So there is that effort in the private sector. But

(01:20:09):
the idea somehow that you're going to let the air
traffic controllers be orphaned during all of this. But you're
going to talk about the military. Why because that's the
big flex and everybody's wearing camo and you're all there
with the fetishized world of the military. Hey, I love
the military and the veterans who are getting screwed by
this administration, love them all. But what I'm saying is
the air traffic controllers and the fact that there are

(01:20:30):
going to be more and more of them not showing up,
the work slowing down, and there'll be workstoppages of one
short or another that is going to ripple across the
transportation industry in America. And that is where you're really
going to feel it. So again, this administration myopic all
about the military, trying to get them money Meanwhile, those
guys in the control tower, the men and women who
fly and approve the flight paths for these various planes,

(01:20:56):
those are the ones you should be taken care of,
because that is going to be where you're going to
see huge pushback. I know you don't care about the
poor people. I know you don't care about the people
who need assistance. I know you don't care about the
people who are going to fall off from medical insurance roles.
I know you don't care about those who are going
to be withering under the costs associated with healthcare. I
know you and the Trump administration don't care about them.

(01:21:18):
But the air traffic controller people, you will care about
them because they are going to affect a lot of people,
and you're going to hear the pushback from constituencies that
you do care about.

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
A hearing starts today in a Portland federal court over
whether troops can be deployed to protect federal buildings. The
Trump administration arguing they don't have enough federal officers to
do the job and they need the support in Portland
of the National Guard. Oregon is argued there is no
rebellion and police are able to manage the demonstrations just fine.
Judge Karen Immergut previously issued temporary restraining orders that have

(01:21:53):
stopped the troops from being deployed. This hearing and the
court movement could last about three days before any decision
comes out. The Trump administration is removing ICE leadership in
several major cities, as Mark mentioned, including Los Angeles, some
of the San Diego as well. Some of the leaders
will reportedly be replaced with Customs and Border Protection officials.

(01:22:16):
The shake up happening at about a dozen ICE offices
across the nation. The La Times reports the Border Patrol's
aggressive tactics will be used in more interior cities to
achieve higher deportation numbers. White House has fired the Federal
Arts commissioners expected to advise on President Trump's new fancy ballroom.

(01:22:36):
A White House official said today yesterday rather that it
had fired all six members of the Commission of Fine
Arts and is preparing to appoint a whole new slate
of members who are more aligned with Trump's America First policies.
A group of Senate Democrats are calling for a complete accounting, meanwhile,
of all donations to the White House ballroom construction project.

(01:23:00):
The group is being led by Senator Adam Schiff, who
wrote a letter to the White House Chief of Staff
demanding the details, as well as information about any conditions
underlying those contributions. While the President has defended the project,
citing that it's being privately funded, the Democratic lawmakers warned
the identities of the individual and corporate donors is raising

(01:23:21):
troubling questions about the potential for influence peddling and other
forms of.

Speaker 1 (01:23:27):
Yes's absolute influence peddling. You know, Shiff is one hundred
percent right. I've talked about this and we'll continue to.
I mean, you have a ballroom built by Palanteer, Google, Apple,
and it's absurd. This is an absolute pay to play grift.
There is, of course no record that will be shared.

(01:23:48):
I mean maybe you'll get some kind of congressional uh
compelling of the White House to share some of the information,
but I promise you in this full transparency. This is
the Orwellian part. They use the words like full transparency,
and it's just the opposite. Right. The big beautiful bill

(01:24:08):
is this ugly piece of legislation that actually robs you
of many of the freedoms that you have. The associated
problems getting insurance support health insurance. The idea somehow that
he's going to and the Trump administration is going to

(01:24:29):
share with you the actual list of donors. I mean,
it seems as though it should be a chip shot.
I mean, isn't that the way things are done. There
should be transparency. By the way, this shouldn't be privately funded.
You should go to Congress if you feel the White
House needs to be modified in some way, like you
should any government building, and you should get congressional approval,

(01:24:51):
and in that way there will be a transparency. The
idea is, don't worry about it. I'm going to fund
it with all this money that's being donated by this
veryarious people and various entities. And so you have these
high tech barons moving in who have business before the government,
and they're going to pay for this. Well, this is
an outrage. That's not the way things are done. It's

(01:25:13):
an outrage that he would take a wrecking ball to
the White House without any kind of official approval. It's
another outrage that you're going to build some arch in Washington, DC.
Are you kidding me? Who approved that?

Speaker 8 (01:25:26):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:25:28):
I mean, it.

Speaker 2 (01:25:28):
Doesn't need he doesn't need approval because now apparently everybody
that is seated on this committee is going to be
appointed by him, And do you think they're going to
say no?

Speaker 1 (01:25:38):
Now?

Speaker 2 (01:25:38):
So he just moves forward.

Speaker 1 (01:25:41):
Sadly, that's exactly right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
He doesn't even want the criticism. He didn't even go
through the process of saying, hey, can I tear down
the East Wing?

Speaker 1 (01:25:48):
He just did it.

Speaker 2 (01:25:49):
He's that operates by the you know Act first, ask
for apologies later, but there's no apology ever coming.

Speaker 1 (01:25:56):
Well, the other thing I would just say is that, uh,
he promised that there would be no effect on the
existing structure. I'm not going to touch the existing structure,
is what he said. And he didn't touch it. He
erected it, just got rid of it.

Speaker 2 (01:26:16):
The lawmakers, by the way, are asking the White House
to respond by November fifth. That don't hold your breath
on that happening. Acting US Attorney for Central California Bill
Asie is commenting on a judge's ruling that he is
unlawfully serving in his role. Assale says he is not
planning on going anywhere. The Federal Public Defender's Office challenging

(01:26:37):
his legitimacy in three pending criminal cases. Now they argue
Assie improperly overstated his interim appointment, warranting his removal. The
ruling now means Assale is disqualified from participating in defendants prosecutions.
As acting US Attorney lost David casmore about that tomorrow.
Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee are convinced former

(01:27:00):
President Biden's FBI may have investigated more than one hundred
and sixty Republican lawmakers. The so called Arctic Frost Probe
looked into the twenty twenty presidential election interference allegations. And lastly,
a TV cameraman caught the Dodgers winning home run ball
that ended Monday night's eighteen inning World Series game.

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
You know this story, that's wild.

Speaker 2 (01:27:27):
Freelance cameraman Ze Hernandez was sitting on a golf cart
when Freddie Freeman's homer made it over the center field
ball and he managed to snag it. The cell phone
video captured the moment at the end of Game three.
Right after that, Hernandez and the rest of his crew
were on the field setting up for postgame interviews. He
says he's planning to get the ball authenticated because that

(01:27:49):
home run ended an historic eighteenth inning game, the ball
will likely be worth quite a bit of money.

Speaker 1 (01:27:55):
So wow, that is just a great story, really a
great story.

Speaker 2 (01:28:01):
Here's the question. If you were at work at the time,
does the ball belong to you or does it belong
to your employer?

Speaker 1 (01:28:09):
Oh, that's a great because you caught it. I'll bet
it'll be litigated.

Speaker 7 (01:28:14):
Bet work right.

Speaker 1 (01:28:16):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
I mean, I'm just you know, wondering.

Speaker 1 (01:28:19):
No, I bet that'll be litigated.

Speaker 4 (01:28:21):
I mean, it's how you was in that section to
even get the ball, right, Yeah, right, I would question.

Speaker 1 (01:28:26):
I wouldn't put that a question for David Katz. Put
it aside, and it's a question for David Kats.

Speaker 2 (01:28:32):
I'm sure that if I was there on behalf of
the Mark Thompson Show, The Mark Thompson Show would be
claiming any properties that I acquired on my trip.

Speaker 1 (01:28:40):
I'm sure that would be a fun fight with Kim,
and she wouldn't give it up for you kidding me, Jesus.

Speaker 2 (01:28:46):
This report sponsored by Coachella Valleycoffee dot Com.

Speaker 1 (01:28:50):
It is one put it in terms that I could understand. Yeah, yeah,
I'm already disappointed in Kim and she hasn't even caught
a ball. She even gone to the stadium died, She's
already keeping a ball that she didn't even catch.

Speaker 2 (01:29:02):
Pretty much haven't done much of anything except take a
sip of my Coachella Vale tea.

Speaker 1 (01:29:09):
Oh it's good, It's so good.

Speaker 2 (01:29:12):
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the coffee or the tea that's aligned with your personal taste.
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(01:29:35):
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tea to anyone, they're like, oh, now I get it. Yes,
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Speaker 1 (01:29:44):
Chella Valleycoffee dot Com. To these people drink Folgers coffee,
remember those spots. I do remember that Folders.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
Coffee to the they were trying, they were trying to
discern whether people could tell the difference between caffeinated and
decalf Oh, is that.

Speaker 1 (01:30:02):
What it was? Was that? What I thought it was
how they reacted to Folgers.

Speaker 10 (01:30:07):
And they couldn't tell the difference. Yeah, oh I didn't
know that. Okay, yeah, I don't know. Find the original spots.
You'll have a bit here to look if you want anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:30:18):
All right, Corchella Velly Coffee honestly best coffee I've ever tasted,
and I've been drinking. I've got three berg grinders. I
have coffee imported from all over the country, not on
the country, I should say the world. I mean, I
really a coffee hound. I've got a I've like the
Ferrari of coffee machines. The espresso machine I have is

(01:30:38):
this super expensive? I mean really like into it. I
mean I've had it for twenty years. I mean but
I'm all I can say is I'm a believer. Corcella
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Speaker 2 (01:31:02):
I'm Kim McAllister. This is the Mark Thumpson.

Speaker 1 (01:31:04):
Check the Mark Thompson Show.

Speaker 5 (01:31:15):
Mart with your iron rod. This is Mark Thompson, Hey,
which one to use?

Speaker 7 (01:31:24):
Mark Thompson?

Speaker 1 (01:31:26):
What is guy doing here?

Speaker 5 (01:31:27):
Is this situations?

Speaker 8 (01:31:35):
Ralph Pader just sent me a book? Did he send
you one too?

Speaker 10 (01:31:38):
I'll offer visitive ser apology to you today.

Speaker 5 (01:31:42):
Everything calling me a life? What you call.

Speaker 2 (01:31:48):
A lie?

Speaker 1 (01:31:51):
You are a cover up artist and you are whyre
liar your pants f fire told me? Let them.

Speaker 2 (01:32:10):
It was wrong, it was stupid, and I'm trying to.

Speaker 1 (01:32:12):
Be a better mer.

Speaker 2 (01:32:13):
No, no, no, what are the poor stars to doesn't
anybody been a wait mndy for some.

Speaker 6 (01:32:29):
Section talk about that.

Speaker 1 (01:32:40):
There is no defense for Mike. I got to.

Speaker 6 (01:32:48):
I misspoke and I stand corrective, and I wanted to
apologize to the Asians.

Speaker 11 (01:32:54):
Very suther efforts right right right, right right on, right on.

Speaker 1 (01:33:06):
Thank you for being here. Is the home stretch, thirty
minutes more of some of the best programming you are
going to find anywhere in audio or video. We're on Spotify,
We're on iHeartRadio. We're also in the world of Apple podcasts,
Google podcasts. You can take us in as a as

(01:33:28):
an audio offering and of course live on YouTube for
two hours and then you can check that out anytime
you want as well. Because we're here for you whenever
you want to take us in. Most people actually watch
the show in delay. Yeah. I wish I could do
the show in delay. It would be so much easier,
you know. I sadly I go live and then I think,

(01:33:51):
why couldn't I quite express myself during that one part? Yeah? Tony,
what is our situation? Belinda waiting? Yeah, Glinda? Isn't that?
And lobby care? Kim? Are you in your position? Are
you ready? I also found the Fultress commercial. Oh you did?
Let's see the fold. That's kind of what I was
getting at. Just see if you had that. So let's

(01:34:13):
let's see the Folger's commercial quickly.

Speaker 6 (01:34:14):
When it's morning in New Orleans, coffee lovers said for
Brennan's Restaurant for that all important first cup of the day.
This morning, we're secretly switching their fresh brood coffee with dark,
sparkling Folger's crystals.

Speaker 1 (01:34:25):
Can these people tell the difference?

Speaker 5 (01:34:26):
He's a monster before he has coffee in the morning.

Speaker 8 (01:34:29):
I'd like to be around while this was being brood an.

Speaker 9 (01:34:31):
Alley, wake me up the morn to the castle.

Speaker 8 (01:34:33):
This Foger's crystals in the morning.

Speaker 6 (01:34:38):
If I'd have a cover of this folder's crystals. Start
your day with the coffee rich enough to be served
in America's finest restaurants.

Speaker 1 (01:34:44):
Yeah, that's what they do. They substituted Folger's crystals for
all of these coffees in high end places. That was
the old thing, which now, I.

Speaker 2 (01:34:54):
Mean, now that we have Coachella Valley Coffee, Folger's crystal
seems laughable, doesn't it.

Speaker 1 (01:34:58):
Yeah, But I mean, and coffee kind of went out,
But I mean there was a time when they were
really pushing it, Sanka and Folgers. But yeah, I could
tell Aboli coffee this is a I mean, this is
a boutique roastary that we have turned you on to.
So everything's hand roasted, and you know, it's just much
much different. But I love those old commercials and I
love the fact that instant coffee was the thing. I
think I was raised on instant coffee. My mom used

(01:35:20):
to make sanka, which is so funny because you know,
as she got older and we all got older, she
would have a pot of coffee always ready to go,
And it was in these thermoses that you know, stayed
hot all day and all night. We were always drinking
coffee anyway. So that's the that's the coffee deal. And
thank you Tony for for finding that so good stuff.

(01:35:41):
Now Mars on Wednesdays, we like to talk about stuff
that's related to the environment and and this planet are
imperiled planet. There was something I wanted to mention and
I can mention it even you know what, I'll mention
it as a as Belinda comes on, because the news

(01:36:03):
out of the world of the environment is somewhat concerning.
The US liquefied natural gas terminals apparently have violated pollution
limits according to a new report their public records, coming
as the Trumpet administration aims to fast track approval of

(01:36:23):
the new liquid natural gas export terminals. So they did
an analysis of these public records and they find that
I mean LNG and the whole industry, and we've talked
about this portrays itself as environmentally friendly, but companies do
not consistently comply with air and water pollution control standards

(01:36:45):
and laws that they have to follow. This is a
new report from the Environmental Integrity Integrity Project. It's a
non profit and I think it's worth noting because you're
seeing more and more that the basic regulations about pollutants
in the air, water, and soil. They're just being ignored.

(01:37:06):
And this shows that even prior to Trump coming in office,
you were seeing the LNG industry ignoring a lot of
those standards. So that's one more story. Belinda has others
to focus on, and this is it's the planet stupid,
the planet Earth.

Speaker 10 (01:37:27):
Some call me nature.

Speaker 5 (01:37:28):
I am very passionate about the planet Earth, a.

Speaker 6 (01:37:32):
Living, breathing planet, capable of sustaining whatever life forms we
see fit to deposit on it.

Speaker 1 (01:37:37):
Judging by the pollution content of the atmosphere, I believe
we have her arms. It's the planet stupid. No, no, no,
it's the planet stupid. Here she is our guide for
it's the planet stupid. Belinda Weymouth, the eco journalist.

Speaker 5 (01:37:51):
Hello, Hello, the news is.

Speaker 1 (01:37:53):
Not good, can you hear? Oh yeah, you have one
stray one stray head. Yeah, school right, you make it
looks actually yeah, Now tell me the bad news.

Speaker 9 (01:38:06):
Oh man, So there's a lot this morning, and okay,
let's just start with Secretary General of the United Nations
Antonio Guterrees on Monday said that we are blowing. We've
flown through our one point five degrees celsius of allowable

(01:38:26):
heating in the atmosphere above pre industrial levels. That was
what was agreed at COPP Paris, cop that we needed
to stay within the one point five degrees celsius and
that that would keep us safe. And the world agree
to that. They said, yes, yes, yes, we're going to
do it, but we haven't done it. And one of

(01:38:49):
the things that he talked about on Monday are these
things called NDC, So they are nationally determined commitments and
so it's this really you know, there no one's being
held to it, but countries were supposed to say, this
is what our commitment is going to be to lowering emissions.
So out of one hundred and two nations, how many
do you think have said these are what our commitments

(01:39:12):
are out of one hundred and ninety two sixty two
sixty two countries out of one hundred and einety seven actually,
And so who are countries who are doing it? Well,
you know, China the biggest emitsial right now, they are
a notorious under committe and the EU has not said
what they're doing. And then we've got Trump who's pulled
us out of Paris, you know, not once, but twice,

(01:39:32):
so we're out of the Paris Climate cord. And the
other thing that Guterres said, which I think is really
important because COP thirty is about to happen next month
in Brazil. In the Amazon, they're going to have COP thirty,
and he said, you know, it's really important because also
the thing that with only sixty two countries that have
said this is what we're going to do, that only

(01:39:54):
represents ten percent emissions, and we need to be at
sixty to keep ourselves safe. And we can see right
now with Hurricane Melissa, we're not safe. So he's talking about,
you know, there has to be a dresstic Greek commitment
and that we also have to really be thinking about.
We have to really include indigenous people who have lived

(01:40:16):
sustainably for millennia on the planet. They have to be
included in the conversations. You know, how do we do it.
They have to have a place at the table, not
the oil and guest lobbyists who were the ones legions
of them were at the last two COPS which were
held in oil producing Middle Eastern countries. So it's really
good that it's going to be in the Amazon, and

(01:40:37):
it's really good that he's saying these things, and these
things really need to happen. But here's a problem that
we have in the world. And you know, we talk
about this quite often. You know, we're sort of talking
out one side of our mouth that yes, we're making
these commitments and we're doing things, and then on the
other side of our mouth, you know, we're doing something else.
Lula to Silvera is a case in point. So he
has just agreed. He's the president of Brazil and he

(01:40:59):
has been you know, I'm a champion, but he's just
agreed to allow oil exploration to happen near the mouth
of the Amazon River. Well, that doesn't sound smart to me.
But on the other hand, Brazil has an initiative. It
is called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility Initiative. It's going
to be really pushed at COP thirty. They want to

(01:41:21):
raise one hundred and twenty five billion dollars. They want
to give one fifth of that, so twenty five billion
dollars two indigenous people to help save the standing forests
of the world. But what gou Terriss was saying the
other day was blowing through this one point five degree
you know, goal that we had. We are endangering places

(01:41:42):
like the Amazon. The Amazon could become a savannah. You know,
we are endangering the Arctic, which is already heating up
twice as fast as the rest of the planet. The
western Antarctica. You know, those ice sheets are about to
just you know, carve off into the oceans coral reefs.
You know, we're in our fourth major global coral reef bleaching.
I mean this just read the other day. Elk and Staghorn,

(01:42:05):
which are the big tall corals in the Florida reefs,
they were functionally categorized as extinct. You know as of
this month. They can't hack how hot the water is.
They just can't do it. And they've been in that
coral reef for ten thousand years. They are like the sequoias.

(01:42:27):
They are tall, they're big. Stag and elkhorn, they're what
stop these storm surges when these really hot oceans, you know,
and storms and these hot ocean surges are coming towards
places like Jamaica. They're the things that slow them down,
as do you know the wetlands, marshes, seagrass, all those

(01:42:49):
things that we have had around coasts that we need.
So you know, here's imperiled coral. And what's really wild
is so coral science. They have been taking endangered coral.
They've been moving it to cooler parts of the ocean,
and in efforts to save it, they've been taking it
out of the ocean and putting it in tanks and aquariums,

(01:43:10):
in their homes and their garages. I mean, all these efforts.
They even took the elkhorn of Florida and they crossed
it with a more heat resistant elk corn species of
coral from Honduras, and that elkhorn is doing okay because
it can you know, survive in these hotter temperatures. But
we're really we're playing with fire. And this leads me

(01:43:36):
to this hurricane that we're seeing now, you know, the
hurricane of a century, do you know, Mark, I mean
you're a weather guy. Hurricane Melissa recorded the lowest barometric
pressure ever recorded since we've been recording weather. Melissa had
the lowest ever recorded barometric pressure. And what these hot

(01:44:00):
oceans and this hot atmosphere are doing their meaning they're
taking a category you know three hurricane and it could
you know double overnight. So Melissa, which was causing rain
and flooding and Haiti last week. It went from a
category three to a category five. Right before it hit Jamaica,
they said the winds could be anywhere from one hundred

(01:44:22):
and ninety to in some parts of the country possibly
two hundred and fifty miles per hour. Jamaica has a
population of two million people. You can't just, you know,
get five cruise ships to come in or you know,
I mean, obviously it would be more than five cruise ships.
But you know, you can't evacuate all those people. And
Jamaica is a low lying island. And then there's another factor.

(01:44:44):
So we already have sea level rise of ten centimeters.
Ten centimeters is four inches. Now that doesn't sound like
a lot, but just to put it in perspective, so
when Superstorm Sandy hit the East coast here, hit New York,
hit the coast of New Jersey, they have ten centimeters
of sea level rise there at that time. That amount

(01:45:08):
of sea level rise increased the damage done. This is
what research has shown by here's the final figure and
it's it's not a small one. So that four inches
of extra sea level I meant that the damage was
eight billion times more than it would have been without
that four inches of sea level rise, just to put

(01:45:28):
it in monetary.

Speaker 5 (01:45:29):
Perspective for everyone.

Speaker 1 (01:45:31):
Wow, wow, yep, it's pretty yeah, the you said so much.
And the supercharging of these storms and hurricanes and typhoons
as they're called over in Asia is related to the
heat in the water. There's no question about it. There's
a direct correlation. I mean, this is the biggest way

(01:45:51):
in which heat energy has moved from one hemisphere or
the other is through these tropical weather systems. So the
hotter the water, the warmer the water, the more you
get the air rising, right, And that rising air is
indeed the low pressure to which you referred, So when
you measure, that's because the warm water is creating the

(01:46:14):
super rising of that air, and of course that just
creates these bigger and bigger storms, and the lower pressure
produces the higher winds. So I mean, that's the way
the chain is all linked together. But at the beginning
of that chain is the way the ocean is so
very warm. I'm getting in the chat at least a

(01:46:35):
one question for you, and it's related, as you might imagine,
to what Bill Gates had said about climate change, because
he is one of those guys who has put a
lot of his money to work for climate issues, who
has been out in front on various issues that are
associated with the survival of humanity, pandemics among them, et cetera.

(01:46:59):
So he's kind of re characterizing the climate issue, and
I think it's being misconstrued what he said. But I
wonder if you can comment on his his basic notion
that his views on climate change and the risk to
humanity of climate change are evolving, and now he's going
to focus on helping address other risks to vulnerable populations worldwide.

(01:47:27):
Isn't that essentially what he was trying to say.

Speaker 9 (01:47:29):
Well, he sort of is. But you know what's really
interesting because yeah, I sort of I found his you know,
shift in the narrative slightly confusing because the biggest existential
threat that is facing you know, poor people, and you know,
he's done all this work on malaria and how you know,
making African countries more malaria resistant and you know, incredible

(01:47:51):
work on that, But the biggest existential threat that they
face right now is climate change because all the health
issues that they have a really exacerbated by climate change,
and and I think it's you know, I found it
a little bit confusing because you know, here's the thing.
You know, Jamaica is bearing the brunt of this storm,

(01:48:16):
and Jamaica you know as a you know, Haiti and Cube,
I don't want to, you know, in the Bahamas, I
don't want to you know, Negate all other countries. But
you know the storm is going to be way less,
you know when it hits ground there. It was really
bad in Jamaica. But Jamaica is responsible for one percent
of global emissions, only one and they're one of the
countries actually that ahead of Cop thirty have said we're

(01:48:37):
going to zero out our emissions by twenty sixty. That
you know, we we have an NDC here. It is
United Nations. This is what we're going to do. And
it's really the rich nations of the world that are
hammering it to.

Speaker 1 (01:48:51):
The poor.

Speaker 5 (01:48:51):
Yeah, that's that.

Speaker 9 (01:48:52):
You know what you're saying, Randy is right, He's talking
about this sort of the doomsday of it.

Speaker 1 (01:48:56):
You know, rand Gates argues a doomsday outlook distracts from
the most effective ways to help people and can have
negative consequences.

Speaker 9 (01:49:08):
Yeah, and that comes back to you know, what I
always want to do is tell people, these are all
the positive things that are happening, and you know, the
renewable energy, you know, transition revolution is happening. You know,
in spite of you know, Trump is doing everything he
can to you know, turn back the you know, the
hands of progress. But but yes, I don't think a
doomsday narrative is helpful. But I do think that I'll

(01:49:35):
tell you a narrative that I think is really interesting.
That's happening right now in politics where we're talking about
it's not left and right, it's not woke versus mega.
It's really about up versus down. It's that the rich
and distracting the poor and keeping them busy with all
these other issues, you know, where we're really divided to
keep the attention of what's actually happening, which is this

(01:49:57):
huge funneling of upwards, you know, money upwards to the
ris and this ties absolutely into climate change. I was
reading a thing yesterday that was saying that the point
one percent of the richest Americans, amidst their carbon emissions,
are four thousand times greater than the poorest ten percent
of the world's population. And if you look at it
in general terms against everyone on the planet, they're emitting

(01:50:19):
one hundred and three times more than you know, every
other person on the planet, our top point one percent
who are getting all these tax break tax biaks from
Trump who are now you know, giving them money for
his ballroom and are allowed to you know, you know,
giving these you know, drilling licenses, and you know public
lands those are you know, those are our lands. So

(01:50:40):
I really think we have to look at climate in
that way because you've got a country like Jamaica, only
responsible for one percent of emissions, has given it it's
NDC saying we're going to lower our missions to zero,
you know, by twenty sixty. And then you've got all
these rich countries. You know, China is an under commission

(01:51:01):
when it comes to the NDCs. You know, Europe hasn't
said anything. You know, we're not playing our part. Trump
has just done this thing. So there's been years of.

Speaker 5 (01:51:11):
Negotiations in the maritime shipping industry. Sorry, I'm a little
all over the place, but am am I making some
sense back?

Speaker 1 (01:51:17):
Yeah, but I'd like to double back to what you're
saying because of the sort of the haves and have
nots is a key part of all of this, and
you're sort of saying that the nation that are the haves.
The nations that are the haves, are they well eclipsed?
They have not nations if you put them all together.
And of course the haves are the ones who are
causing all of the lion's share of the fossil fuel

(01:51:42):
emissions and the global warming elements that we fight against.
I also think that, of course the poorest nations are
the ones most affected. You use Jamaica as an example,
there are a lot of examples across the Pacific, et cetera.
And Gates's comment, and just to get back to what

(01:52:02):
sort of God is going on this, Gates's comments were,
humanity is going to survive this for a long time,
is what he basically what he said. But we'll have
to change and modify and make allowances and it won't
be the same, but it will be survivable for a while. Okay,

(01:52:27):
And I'm just telling you what he said. And then
I want to go back and we can kind of
dismantle it. So I'm going to put my Gates Foundation money,
my Bill Gates fortune into addressing those things that I
think I can more directly have an effect on short term,
and those are the citizens of the world who live

(01:52:49):
below the poverty line who need a relief of all sorts.
It may be food, it may be subsidies of one
sort or another. When it comes to everything infrastructure to inoculations,
this is sort of where he has put a lot
of effort already, but he's saying he's going to pivot
toward more of that and less of the climate stuff.

(01:53:14):
I think he's wrong, just to state it again. He
states it so diplomatically that you could argue, well, he's
not actually saying that this isn't a clear present danger
to humanity. He's just saying it may be survivable for
a while. I'd say that you know, you're hastening the

(01:53:38):
end of all creatures. Witness the fact that just this year,
just right now, a bunch of creatures are going extinct
from changes to the climate. The ocean is being radically changed.
You detailed a couple of ways, and those are just
a couple. We've seen many species of fish and ammal

(01:54:00):
being destroyed by those changes to climate, and also pollutants
being dumped into those oceans, into the soil, into the air.
So to me, environment is a front and center issue,
and of course all of those citizens of the world
that are going to be affected, are going to continue
to be affected, but they'll be more dramatically affected because

(01:54:24):
we're kind of turning a blind eye to climate. And
then the last thing I'll say is because and this
is the reason we're turning a blind eye, because the
most powerful nation on Earth, the United States, has now
taken a posture that's very aggressive toward fossil fuel exploitation
and has taken a very aggressive posture toward ignoring any

(01:54:46):
kind of environmental damage. In fact, it's viewed as a
woke liberal effort that needs to be extinguished. We need
more exploitation of fossil fuels, and so that's where we sit.
And the last last thing I'll say is, I was
just reading a big piece about China and the fact

(01:55:08):
that they are fast tracking nuclear power. Now it suggested
that they are not so concerned with green energy. You
just said that they're the world's greatest polluter. But I
see how they are pursuing sustainable green energy alongside dirty
energy like coal production and nuclear power.

Speaker 6 (01:55:28):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:55:28):
They're an immense country with an immense population, so it's
no surprise that they're doing all of these things at once,
but they are fast tracking nukes in a big, big way.
Nuclear reactors are getting built quickly in China. It's both
alarming and impressive. Now I've said a lot, but please
go ahead.

Speaker 5 (01:55:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, No.

Speaker 9 (01:55:46):
Look, I found what he said, you know, kind of incomprehensible,
and you know, like why, And I also felt like
it was really not helpful. You know, he's a big
proponent of small nuclear and making you know, small nuclear
power plants available for you know, you know, you know
the communities that he's helping in Africa, all over the world, like,

(01:56:08):
you know, here's a machine that gives you clean drinking water.
You know, he's got those machines where you put swage
in one end and there are photographs of Bill Gates
at the other drinking the water coming out of it,
you know. So so I don't. It's just sort of
seemed weird. I have to say the thing that he
said the other day, and you are absolutely right, Mark
that the climate is the number one existential threat. You know,

(01:56:28):
I read this ghastly thing yesterday talking about how every
minute a person is dying from heat in the world.
And there was a story, I can't remember how long
ago it was, of the mother who was living with
her two kids in the car. She was thirty three
years old. This was in America. I can't remember which state.
The kids woke up in the morning, their mother was unresponsive.
She died of heat stroke in the car. I mean,

(01:56:49):
this is happening, and so this is the And if
you're poor, you have a lot less ways to escape
heat than you do if you're rich. And you know,
I'm sorry, but I with you know the I think
it was Randy and a few other people in the
comment section.

Speaker 5 (01:57:03):
You know, Bill Gates lives in a rarefied world. You know,
he lives in Richistan.

Speaker 9 (01:57:07):
And I know that he is on the ground in
these countries and seeing what people are facing.

Speaker 5 (01:57:12):
But but climate change is going to make all these
you know, Mosquito, you know, when mosquitos are the vector
for diseases, that only gets worse because hotter temperatures mean
that mosquitos can live in more places and they lived
in before and so that's malaria.

Speaker 9 (01:57:28):
You know, that's more, you know, dangy all these things.
So so I'm with you. I really think that climate
is the big one right now. And when I and
I and I gave the you know, you guys audient,
our audience today the numbers on the emissions of the rich,
because I think it's really important to know the sort

(01:57:48):
of numbers that are happening. You know, it's like the
money is going upwards. They're making more, you know, they're
creating more of the emissions. They're getting all these tax breaks,
you know, and getting richer and richer, and it really
is at the spence of the wages of the poor,
but also of the help of the poorer people.

Speaker 5 (01:58:05):
You know, eight billion million.

Speaker 9 (01:58:06):
People die every year from air pollution, and they're then
now making you know, these you know, air pollutant sensor machines,
you know, available to people in countries all over the world,
and in India and Delhi people are like, yeah, I
need one of those because I want to know what
days is it not safe for me to go outside. Well,

(01:58:26):
then you've got governmental regulators trying to stop people having
these sensors in their homes or you know, on their
balconies or whatever.

Speaker 5 (01:58:35):
Because they don't want them to know. But but when.

Speaker 9 (01:58:37):
People know, then they have the power to push their
governments to say, no, you have to do something about
the air pollution. You know in our city, you know,
this isn't healthy, this isn't you know, good for us,
and so you know, I I think that what Guterres
said the other day, you know, are you in Secretary General,

(01:58:59):
is that we have to bring you know, everyone has
to come to the table, but not the oil and
gas lobby. It's not the rich people. It has to
be the indigenous people and the front liners.

Speaker 5 (01:59:09):
And we really because it was.

Speaker 9 (01:59:11):
One of the other things is that in twenty twenty
two rich nations made a commitment to poorer nations in
the world. We will set up a fund that you
can use to help you get climate change resilient. And
of course that the rich nations aren't putting money into that. Well,
get some of that, you know offshore, you know money
that's been you know, put in Cayman Islands and other

(01:59:32):
offshore bank accounts so it doesn't have to pay taxes
in its country of origin. Get some of that money
and you know, use it to help these poorer nations.

Speaker 1 (01:59:41):
Yeah, some of that papers money. Yeah, make it, put
it to work. It's courageous and I do think it.
I mean, you'd love to see it. I mean, by
the way, just doesn't aside because you mentioned it and
I love that you mentioned it earlier. Initially, I like
that they're meeting in the Amazon, or they're meeting along
You know, this is different than the It was almost

(02:00:04):
cartoonish the way the last one went down. They have
all these private jets showing up to an oil producing
nation that is responsible in one way or another for
all of this fossil fuel production and all of this
destruction of the planet, and you have all these oil
lobbyists there as well. I mean, it was crazy. It's like,
where's the where's the righteousness in any of this? So

(02:00:27):
at least this has the look of something that seems
far more on brand. And it's interesting what Randy says here.
Let's be careful. We should shouldn't bash Gates as just
a rich, disconnected guy at this point. I agree, But
and I do think that there are a lot of
super rich people right now who are doing some pretty
nasty stuff, and honestly, they don't want to run a

(02:00:49):
foul of the new administration. They need things in America.
That's why I mentioned the most powerful nation on Earth,
the US has an extremely aggressive view towards both fossil
fuel exploitation and a negative view equally aggressive toward any
kind of environmental legislation or environmental what they call wokeness,

(02:01:10):
you know, environmentalism, sustainability. So I think part of Gates's
comments are designed to be tiptoeing politically around the new
administration in America. I mean, in their first year in America.
I really hate to say it, but otherwise I can't
understand why he would even make the comment.

Speaker 9 (02:01:31):
Well, yeah, but and it's like all those billionaires who
are cow towing to the Trump administration because they want
to make sure that they don't lose any of their.

Speaker 5 (02:01:39):
Pile of money.

Speaker 9 (02:01:40):
I mean, you know, and the first time he was
the president, they didn't do that. They actually said, this
is not okay. This goes against the grain of what
America stands for and who we are as a nation.
And now they're all getting in line, you know, and
that's what you do under an authoritarian leader, you know.
And so it's really it shows, you know, lack of
backbone and h and it's it's.

Speaker 5 (02:02:03):
So unfortunate because.

Speaker 9 (02:02:05):
This is this is a you know, I mean, it
always feels like it's a pivotal moment with the climate,
but this really is, you know, we've got you know,
we're we're going over the one point five degrees celsius.
It's called a tipping point for a reason. And we
are already seeing horrible environmental things happen because of it.

(02:02:25):
You know, deaths from heat, you know, our oceans are
not surviving. We've got these extinctions happening, We've got these
incredible superstorms happening. And if this if Hurricane Melissa was
hitting the Eastern Seaboard right now and it wasn't you know, down.

Speaker 5 (02:02:41):
On the Caribbean, I think it would be a different story.
There would be a lot more outrage about it.

Speaker 1 (02:02:45):
Than like, well there would be in there wouldn't be
I mean, I think there'd be a lot about the damage.
But look at what Florida did after Andrew. It didn't
make any kind of you know, you know, Florida is
a state. I think that really embodies sort of the
American posture toward this whole thing, which is just built
bigger sea walls. Do what you can, I mean, just
to you know, this is everything's sort of viewed as
a one off. We're very much in You're the one

(02:03:06):
who made this point I think quite some time ago
that you know, We're not good at seeing the train
coming down the tracks miles down. We're really only reacting
to the train when we can see it within like
one hundred feet of us, and that leave us in
a really tough spot. Spamlet says something good. I think
sounds like Gates is being resigned to the fact that
when I say good, I mean that it's I think

(02:03:27):
it's a good take. Is being resigned to the fact
that the rich are no longer going to allow the
world to be saved from climate so he is just
going to make poor the poor people more comfortable until
the end comes. I know that's grim, but I really
do think that is what he's saying. He's saying against

(02:03:47):
this political headwind in America and the rest of the world,
having not been able to adhere to the Paris Climate
Accord agreed upon cut back in fossil fuel. Against these headwinds,
I have to face the fact that my cause to

(02:04:08):
roll back this fossil fuel production is doomed, and on
some level I have to look at what relief I
can provide vulnerable populations. Now, I mean that's the it's
the grim reality that maybe Bill Gates is reflecting.

Speaker 9 (02:04:24):
Yeah, the subtext like, this is the best that I
can do right now, you know, with my money and
my resources.

Speaker 5 (02:04:28):
Yeah, yeah, maybe, I mean it would be really interesting.

Speaker 9 (02:04:31):
You know, to yeah, to know, you know, if that,
if that is how he's thinking, and and I mean
it's sort of you know, I mean, man, we don't
want him giving up, but I I just think that,
you know, obviously, the Trump administration is going to last

(02:04:51):
for as long as it does. But I do think
there is going to come a point where the American
people are going to go, Okay, you know, we can't
keep going in this direction.

Speaker 5 (02:05:02):
And you know, an interesting thing.

Speaker 9 (02:05:06):
Because obviously the whole of his administration is on the
same page. So you know, Hegseeth, a head of the Pentagon,
calls client equals it climate change crap, and the Pentagon
has for years known the climate change is a national
security risk, and they have been you know, how can
we make ourselves more resilient, how can we make ourselves ready?

Speaker 5 (02:05:26):
How can we help our you know, women and men
in uniform? And heg Seth is done away with all
of that.

Speaker 9 (02:05:32):
Well, that is not smart because you put those you know,
our soldiers in harm's way because they're they're going into
places where they can't cope with the heat, where their
machinery doesn't work because of the heat. You know, you're
that's not okay, But I mean, this is sort of

(02:05:52):
happening on every level, and hopefully eventually there are enough
sectors that are affected that, you know, the people do
rise up and say Okay, enough is enough.

Speaker 1 (02:06:04):
Yeah. Maybe, I mean I think that people will never
rise up on this, so I'm not I mean, I
love your optimism on that, but I think by the
time they rise, if they rise up, it'll be when
Rome is already way way way burning. CC writer says,
is it possible that Gates made this comment which sounds
like quote environmental gaslighting to appease MAGA pressure, but it's
still aligned with the pro climate change agenda? Yeah, of course,

(02:06:27):
that's exactly what I'm saying. That he was tiptoeing around
everything and trying to serve up something political so that
he wouldn't seem he doesn't have to have a lot
of interaction with the Trump administration to know that they
shouldn't run a foul of it. And so somebody like
Gates who has interests and even let's just say philanthropic interests.
He doesn't need the irs hassling him. He doesn't need

(02:06:49):
this new kind of bullying from the administration, governmental bullying.
He doesn't need it. So why not at least go
on the record with this. And it has the additional
versue of probably being true all of these countries he
is that pledge so much. None of them get their
environmental goals, none of them. And so we're in this
situation that Gates felt he would be best served, I think,

(02:07:12):
politically to address in the way he did. I'm way
out of time. Love that you spend time with us.
If you missed any of this video, we drop it
on the weekend. We drop Blinda's on the weekend so
that more people can be exposed to it. And we
love our time with you. Belinda. Thank you for being
Lindaway with everyone. That's it's the planet stupid.

Speaker 6 (02:07:34):
More's the planet stupid.

Speaker 1 (02:07:36):
No, no, no, it's the planet stupid.

Speaker 7 (02:07:38):
Next time only on the Mark Thompson Show.

Speaker 1 (02:07:44):
Thompson, I am away out of time quickly A note
to Richard Delamay to remember to ask Belinda about her telecaster.
What happened with that? Hold On a second, Belinda, what
is the telecaster behind you? Or there's a telecaster there,
there's a tele caster that Richard Delamator wants to know
the story behind you have a telecaster the guitar behind you?

Speaker 5 (02:08:06):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah it is. It's my daughter's all right,
it's the cool Yeah, there you go. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:08:16):
Yeah, it is a very cool thing, Richard. That is
the story on that. Why is Mark being so nice today?
Did you give Mark his time out yesterday? Kim, Happy
hump Day? Love your show, Kim. I mean Mark, lo
o L. I am offended by my dear friend the
chaplain friends. Yeah, yeah, I don't think I'm being nicer

(02:08:37):
than I normally am. I'm incredibly nice people. If you
knew what I'm up against, you would understand. Uh Ai,
Mark is taking over the show. Sky Net is coming.
Oh yeah, I believe it. It wouldn't surprise me. Uh
Trump be like say hello to my ice little friend.
Yeah exactly. With a new ice in town, it's going

(02:08:59):
to be even rougher. They're going to be more incidents.
And I told you about that one guy who's you know,
he's like a rough and tumble dude, and he's going
to be running a lot of what's happening. They want
lots and lots of arrests, and they want aggressive policies.
It's pretty brutal and offensive. But the East Wing ballroom

(02:09:23):
will end up like the graffiti towers in La says
Trevor Starr in Hollywood. That's that huge building that they
ran out of funding for and it's all graffitied out. Yeah,
it sure does seem like they were quick to demolish.
But now winter is coming and the White House is
going to be a mess. I mean, it is a
perfect physical manifestation of what's happening with the US government

(02:09:47):
under Trump. In my judgment, Luis says outrage that Moe
Kelly has been canceled The mo Kelly Show. KFI is
quickly becoming right wing wacko radio quote newsome evil, DEM's
mentally ill. Donald Trump is awesome radio. Just go sports
betting for degenerates and they'll have way more integrity, says

(02:10:10):
Louis caf.

Speaker 2 (02:10:11):
I isn't right wing, is it? I thought it?

Speaker 1 (02:10:13):
No, you'd have to listen because you as is. It's
complicated as usual right wing on certain issues. Sure, I
don't know what to say. I mean, I think most
of them hate newsome. You know, does that make them

(02:10:35):
right wing? I know many liberals hate newsom.

Speaker 2 (02:10:37):
Perhaps a g O used to have a variety of
shows where it would be like we'd start with news
in the morning, and then we'd go kind of middle
of the road in the middle of the day, and
as the day wore on, we'd get progressively more liberal,
and by the time that night fell, it was like, who.

Speaker 1 (02:10:54):
Boy, I didn't know that that was the that was
the pattern. Yeah, that was our pattern. Tom Graves says,
just remember that the first remodeling construction Trump did in
the White House was a back door for Russia. Uh. Yeah,

(02:11:16):
I you know, when you talk about a backdoor for Russia,
you remember in the first Trump administration with the Jared
Kushner and many of the others associated with the i'll
call it Transition team. Oh, there was no transition going
on the first and you should read the book by
Michael Lewis about that. But anyway, they wanted a communication
with Russia, and they wanted to use the Russian phone

(02:11:40):
lines because they knew that any phone lines that were
in and out of the White House would be monitored
by American intelligence agency. So this is a wild to
what are you talking about? So you're going to you
as an official the White House are going to go
to the Russian embassy and use the Russian phone. I mean,
look it up, it happened. I mean it really is
a sign of what do you guys just discussing that

(02:12:00):
American intelligence can't know about. But CC writers says Hunter
Biden's board role on Beisma was a snorefest. The GOP
investigated and then investigated a Hunter for five years, no
corruption charges for board role. Maga's Biden informant was a
Russian stooge and charged with lying. That is all true.

(02:12:21):
And again Hunter Biden's situation with a you know, a
father who is president or vice president is it's like
a kid's birthday party compared to the corruption that's going
on right now. With the Trump administration now actively pursuing

(02:12:41):
various business dealings from the Middle East to Asia while
their negotiations going along, Eric Trump or is a Don
jor Don Junior. I guess and Eric both they accompany
their father on many of these trips so they can
make these deals on the side. You saw it. Please

(02:13:02):
stop calling Trump's actions a grift. Let's use other more
accurate words theft, self dealing, extortion, pillage, rapacity, plunder.

Speaker 2 (02:13:12):
Isn't that what a grift is?

Speaker 1 (02:13:14):
Yeah, it's a small point, but I take his point.
Chris is saying he's outraged by it and he hates
to have it reduced to grift, but it is right.
It's a grift. Who is this? And Angela Silva my
new favorite person at the end of the show with
a twenty dollars super Chat big shout out. I love

(02:13:37):
the show. It's where I get my news. I've been
listening since KGO. I'm really enjoying the guest, the yesterday
guest of the Doctor and today the veterinarian. Good work, guys.
Thank you Angela silver so much. Thank you so much
for the twenty dollars note and super chat. Also just
for supporting the show. We really do need it. How

(02:13:58):
come they only give Trump goal, no mirth or frankinsense
as Jim Clinton. Yeah he's got he gets gold everywhere.
The Japanese UH Prime Minister gave him a gold ball,
a gold golf club. I think yeah. John Watson says
the s will really hit the fan if the air

(02:14:19):
traffic controllers are still not paid by the holidays. Well,
right now, it's it's looking pretty grim. Mark is always right,
except when Kim is right, says Nollafitian. Yeah, well that works.
I like it. Yeah. Uh, Mark is always right, except
when he's wrong, says Trevor Starr in Hollywood. That's so probably.

Speaker 2 (02:14:38):
Actually, I have to my bat. I'm sorry it because
I was wrong today about the full DERs commercial. I
thought it was about decap and it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (02:14:47):
Yeah, that's very very nice letting you know that you.
I do realize that I so many people they want
to make a big deal out of it, but I
knew what it was. And yet she said, no, no, no, no, no,
it's about dec Okay, but.

Speaker 2 (02:15:02):
You think you need to really make a big deal
of it.

Speaker 1 (02:15:04):
But I'm just saying I think, and I'm glad that
you brought it back up, and I'm glad Tony found
it because she never would have believed me.

Speaker 4 (02:15:11):
That it's not about this is the way it is.

Speaker 1 (02:15:14):
I'm gonna drink my good shallow so much better than
I'm loving the fact that tomorrow David Katz joins and
Sarah kensey Or joins tomorrow as well. I mean it's
gonna be strong man. You ought to be here tomorrow.
I ever occurred to you that instead of recommend, you're
running around. Given the nature of all this news, you know,

(02:15:38):
this could be a lot more on YouTube. I'll complex
will drop the video. Might not be just such a
simple you know. Yes, Tony will drop the videos and
you can check him out any time. Thank you for
sharing the show, subscribing, hitting the thumbs up. Kim's doing
the after party over in the after Party Live channel,

(02:15:58):
and I will see you tomorrow and until then, I'm
Sheriff of Stevens for the Mark Johnson Show. Bye bye.
We are out of time, all of time. Bye bye,
out of time, Bye bye.

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