November 19, 2025 • 29 mins
Gary kicks off with #SwampWatch as he breaks down the day’s political shake-ups, including a major DOJ admission that the full Comey indictment wasn’t even shown to the grand jury, a move that could blow up the case entirely.
He then dives into Ted Cruz’s skyrocketing podcast, now pulling in over 2 million downloads per month and positioning him as a real 2028 contender.
NASA enters the chat with new 3I/ATLAS updates after a Harvard astronomer flagged 12 strange anomalies, and Gary wraps the hour questioning whether the $1.50 Costco hot dog is becoming America’s new “happy meal” as McDonald’s prices leave families behind.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
On this Wednesday, November nineteenth. Shannon's on vacation today. NYPD
Commissioner Jessica Tish has decided that she is going to
stay in her job under Mayor elect Zoron Mamdanni. He'll
be sworn in the first week of January. New York
Post says that she sent an email out department wide
(00:31):
insisted that she was confident she could still lead the
department honorably going forward, based on a bunch of recent
meetings that she says she has had with Mom Donnie
before she agreed to stay on. Somebody finally came down
with H five and one Washington State resident is now
hospitalized and said to be severely ill with a strain
of virus that has never before been confirmed in humans.
(00:55):
They said that this is an older person underlying conditions
out in Gray's Harbor County along the coast there in
Washington State. They were being treated for high fever, confusion,
severe breathing difficulties and then we're transferred out of the
coast and we're sent back towards a hospital to a
hospital back in the Seattle area. So Wall Street waiting
(01:18):
for a couple of big reports that are coming up,
and Video is expected to release its earnings report today
after the Dow or after Wall Street closes, but also
tomorrow we're expecting to see the jobs report that was
supposed to come out for September, but it's slated to
drop tomorrow morning, delayed because of the government shutdown. So
(01:39):
it's been kind of an up and down day on
Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up just
about seven eight points right now, so mostly flat. S
and P five hundred and NASDAC are also up, but
just barely well. At eleven o'clock, we dive into the
world of d C, which is a swamp and that's
why we call it swamp Watch. I'm a politician, which
means I'm a cheat and a liar. When I'm not
(02:00):
kissing babies, I'm stealing that lolliybox here we got.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
The real problem is that our leaders are done.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
The other side never quits, so what I'm not going anywhere?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So that now you train the.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Squaw, I can imagine what can be and be unburdened
by what has been You know, Americans have always been
gone at President. They're not stupid. A political flunder is
when a politician actually tells the truth. Why have the
people voted for you were na swap watch? They're all
count of on So the big deal. We do expect
the president to sign the Epstein Files Transparency Acts, passed
(02:34):
by both the House and the Senate yesterday with only
one no vote. I was one guy out of Louisiana.
So this goes to the President's desk for signing. The
President made his opposition a promotion of the bill on Sunday,
decided that he was going to reverse course because it
became pretty clear that this was going to pass anyway,
(02:56):
and then that gave other Republicans the finger quotes permission
to vote in favor of it. So that's why it
passed the House at least forty seven to one. Congressman
Tom Massey who was one of the sponsors, the Republican
sponsor of this bill along with Rocana, the Democrat. He's
raised some concerns that the Department of Justice is going
(03:17):
to slow roll this thing, and there are a couple
rules that are written into this legislation. It's not law
yet because the President has to sign it to make
it a law. But there is a series of rules
that have been written into this. One of them is
a thirty day timeline that it makes a forces I
(03:38):
should say, Pam BONDI to release the files the appropriate
files within thirty days to make publicly available in a
searchable and downloadable format. Classified records, documents, communications, investigative materials
in the possession of the DOJ, including the FBI, US
attorney's offices that relate to Epstein, everything, investigation, prosecutions, custodial matters,
(04:03):
all of it. That means it's got to be in
a thirty day timeline. The other thing is any immunity deals,
any non prosecution agreements, plea bargain, sealed settlements provided to
Epstein or others must be released by the Justice Department.
Any internal documents related to the decision to charge, to
not to charge, to investigate, to decline to investigate, etc.
(04:26):
All of those. Here's where it gets a little crazy.
The legislation does give the Attorney General the ability to
withhold or redact information that would personally identify victims. And
we've talked about that that's not a problem. I don't
know anybody who's concerned about that, or I'm sorry anybody
who would disagree with that. It allows them to redact
(04:47):
physical abuse, images of abuse, injury of any person, or
document that would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution.
That's the catch. Thomas Massey, House Leader Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries.
They have said that last part is the part that
may force the Department of Justice to slow roll this thing,
(05:09):
or give them the ability to because remember President Trump
recently ordered the DOJ to investigate high profile democrats, democratic donors, etc.
To be investigated when it comes to these Epstein files.
And if if the Department of Justice can say that's
(05:30):
part of an active federal investigation, they can withhold those documents.
That is a possibility. Also in DC, the Department of
Justice did admit that the operative indictment against former FBI
Director James Callmey was never actually presented to a full
grand juror grand jury. I should say that is a
(05:50):
procedural error, but it's an error that they say should
be overlooked. Now, the defense attorneys for the former director
of the FBI say that's egregious that should disqualify any
sort of prosecution. En kush Kardori is a former prosecutor
a writer for Politico. Now he explains what they're arguing.
(06:12):
You could expect.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
I think the focus of the questioning and the judges
interested to be on the motion that Comy's lawyers have
filed alleging that he is the victim of selective and
vindictive prosecution at the hands of the Trump administration. Two
slightly different arguments, but effectively that Comy was singled out
as a result of animists on the part of the administration,
(06:34):
and also that he is being treated differently from other
similarly situated people, and he's being charged for something that
other people wouldn't necessarily be charged with.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Okay, so this don't forget is all about, as he said,
the vindictive and selective prosecution. US attorney Lindsay Halligan interim
US attorney, by the way, was questioned by the judge
in this case. She said she gave the grand jury's
four person an updated version, though it was not seen
(07:05):
by the other grand jurors to sign. The judge asked
the government several times whether he understood correctly that the
operative indictment was never shown to the entire panel. That's
my understanding, said the assistant US attorney. So then the
interim US attorney, Linda Halligan's gets called up and the
judge starts with am I correct? And she interrupts him
(07:26):
and says, no, you're not, she said. The grand jury
four person and a second grand juror were present in
the magistrate's courtroom. The judge said he was familiar with
all that directed her to sit down. We will see
where this goes. There is a possibility, and based on
the way the judge was questioning both sides today, there
is a possibility he throws out this indictment because of
(07:49):
errors that were made by the Department of Justice in
putting it together and the way the defense described it.
I haven't seen it, so I'm not certain, but they
said it was riddled with typographical air? How does that happen?
In twenty twenty five New three I at LIS News,
(08:11):
Gary and Shannon will continue.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Some of the big stories Conway mentioned there big storm
rolling in again tomorrow, not quite as big as we
saw last weekend. But still half an inch to an
inch of precipitation. Most of the places around the valleys
in lond empireates there are maybe one or two inches
in some of the mountains and the hills. Singer David
has been identified as a suspect in connection with the
(08:42):
death of fifteen year old Celeste Reevas. Of course, she
was the young girl whose remains were found in September
in a car. It was in a tow yard in
la The source told Channel four that the twenty year
old has not been cooperative with the investigation and that
the death likely occurred last spring, that David likely had
(09:02):
help in dismembering and disposing of the body. The Trump
administration has been working on some sort of new draft
plan to end the war in Ukraine. US and Russian
officials have confirmed to Axios there's a twenty eight point
plan inspired by President Trump's push for a deal in Gaza.
Top Russian official told Axios that he is optimistic about
(09:25):
all of this, but it's not yet clear how Ukraine
and Europe would feel about it. This twenty eight points
they fall into four different general areas, peace in Ukraine,
security guarantees, security in Europe, and then future relations with
Russia and Ukraine as well. Now, it's not necessarily politics
(09:48):
the same way that swamp Watch is, but there is
a new player when it comes to the world of podcasting.
He just happens to be a politician. Ted Kruz best
known as the leader of the pre Donald Trump right
wing of the party. It was actually the runner up
(10:09):
if you remember, back in the day, to Donald Trump
in twenty sixteen. More shocking is that his show Verdict
with Ted Cruz, his podcast is the most popular podcast
by far of any sitting politician within the United States.
That's striking to me considering there are a lot of younger,
(10:33):
more hip, more in tune with culture podcast available politicians
than Ted Cruz, but he is Ted Cruz. Two million
downloads a month syndicated by our company, by our iHeartRadio
puts him on solid ground in the event that he
(10:53):
ever never that, in the event that he ever wants
to quit the Senate, he could be a podcast host.
But also it puts him well ahead of any of
the other potential people running for president in twenty twenty eight. Now,
I'll use the example of Gavin Newsom because he's younger,
because he tends to be more culturally relevant than Ted
(11:15):
Cruz in many cases, but he has almost three and
a half times as many downloads as Gavin Newsom's podcast does.
Part of it is it's been around longer, that's true,
but Gavin Newsom is in second place, a distant second place.
Or again, the category it's not huge, but the category
(11:36):
of podcasts hosted by current politicians. Now, this is when
this is coming at a time when the people who
have those platforms, influencers, if you will, They have what
we refer to now as the parasocial relationships. That's kind
of a story in and of itself. We haven't really
(11:57):
gotten to that whole story because the word parasocial and
what it means, but it's basically a fake relationship or
a relationship that you believe is there because you've been
following somebody for so long. And the podcast gives Ted
Cruz a bigger platform than most politicians would receive. If
(12:17):
he's the senator in Texas or one of the senators
in Texas. Why do we see him so often? Well,
part of it is because he's found a way to
get himself interviewed on all these TV shows, but also
he performs some of the interviews when he has guests
on his podcast. He started this thing six years ago
(12:37):
during the first impeachment trial of President Trump, and it
was a moment where his experience as a constitutional lawyer
was an important aspect of what was going on in
the news, and he absolutely struck while the iron was hot.
It was not a lot of opportunities for him to
go deep into the weeds. If he's being interviewed on
(12:58):
CNN or ABC or something like that, they're not going
to give him all the time that he needs to
explain some of the constitutional intricacies about the impeachment of
a sitting president. It's funny because this article in Politico
says will Fox News is willing to air all sorts
of unconventional things, but it's not big on mentions of
(13:21):
the eighteenth century impeachment trial of Warren Hastings by the
British House of Lords, which is something that Ted Cruz
can talk about every night after the Senate had gabbled
out for the day. Again, this is during the impeachment,
he would go to a nearby studio and explain to
listeners the events of the day and weigh in not
(13:41):
just on the allegations against Trump, but on the points
of law, the occasional gossip that was going on on
the floor of the Senate at the time that the
case was being presented, and it was an immediate hit.
And again it was the absolute perfect timing. It was
his Baileywick. He knew what he was talking about when
it came to cons institutional law. And as of right
(14:01):
now again he is the number one politicians podcast, and
I wonder if that's enough to catapult him into front
runner status when it comes to whoever is going to
succeed Donald Trump as the head of the Republican Party.
He has a co host, a guy named Ben Ferguson,
and they go through a bunch of different topics that
(14:24):
are selected by his staff. They pick out their favorites,
they work out a rough running order, and then just
start chit chatting and the result of the conversation is
usually posted every day or so. Again, it is on
the iHeart app if you want to go check it
out the Ted Cruz podcast. The verdict with Ted Cruz
is what it's called, all right, we're getting closer, Well,
(14:46):
I should say it's getting closer. Three I Atlas is
getting closer to the Earth. It's about to get as
close as it's ever going to be. That maybe the
time that they bored our planet and take us over
or share some incredible technology and we never have to
worry about energy again. Something like that.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on Demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
A bunch of stories that are going on today. Of course,
the President is expected to sign the law that will
force the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
That is expected today. Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary
former president of Harvard, has resigned for the board of
Open Ai, the company behind chatchipt, because of his ties
(15:37):
to Jeffrey Epstein. Those actually, those ties came out in
some documents that were released last week by the House
Oversight Government Reform Committee showed that this guy was still
asking for dating advice from Jeffrey Epstein even after he
had spent time in jail for sex trafficking and had
been charged by the FEDS for sex trafficking. New candidate
(16:00):
when it comes to the race for governor in California.
San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer, sixty eight years old, probably
not very well known to very many people, but he
could fund his own campaign that could change a lot
of it. He did run for president in twenty twenty
and poured enough money in there that he finished third
(16:22):
in South Carolina's Democratic primary, behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
So we've talked before about three I Atlas, and a
little bit later today, just about twenty or thirty minutes
from now, NASA has announced that it's going to unveil
a bunch of three I Atlas imagery that's been captured
over the course of the last couple of weeks. And
(16:44):
this is both instruments here on Earth but also on
up in orbit in space. The impending photo dump comes today,
more than three months since NASA first released a high
resolution image that captured that captured whatever three I Atlas is.
We believe it's a comet, but Hubble Space telescope was
(17:06):
able to take that one, so we'll get some more.
But since then, anticipation has been mounting because it's become
a source of public obsession. There's a lot of weird
stuff going on with whatever this is, and the world's
astronomers do agree it's a comet, but there is this
sliver of the astronomical world that believes that this could
(17:27):
be something else, alien spaceship or just not a comet.
I mean, I don't even know if there is a
room between those two definitions. Is there something that's not
a comet but is not quite an alien spacecraft. We've
talked before many times about Avi Lobe, this professor at
(17:49):
Harvard who has consistently proposed that this might be something
that is not a comet. Again, he doesn't necessarily go
so far as to say it's an alien mothership. He
just says it could be. And they had twelve outlined
anomalies about this thing and why we should be concerned
about this as it comes closer to us. By the way,
(18:12):
I think it's December nineteenth that will be at its
closest point to Earth, so it's getting closer. First of all,
Avi Lobe says, the retrograde trajectory is aligned to within
five degrees of the ecliptic plane of the planets that
orbit around the Sun. It's designed to be fit into
(18:34):
our solar system. The object displayed a sunword jet during
the summer, which is unlike familiar comets. The nucleus is
about a million times larger than the first recorded interstellar
object to pass through space, and moves a lot faster.
The arrival time was fine tuned to bring it within
tens of millions of kilometers of Mars, Venus and Jupiter,
(18:57):
so they hit the exact right window, is what he's suggesting.
According to Ovulobe, the gas plume of three i at
List contains much more nickel than iron that would be
found in industrial produced sneezing. Should have left the mic on.
That was a good one, and now I need a towel.
(19:21):
The object's gas plume contains only four percent water by mass,
despite water being a primary constituent of familiar comets. Another thing,
three iat list displays extreme negative polarization, which is something
that is not known is not seen for all of
the known comets that have passed through our Solar system.
It also arrived from a direct coincident with the radio
(19:44):
WOW signal to within nine degrees. Remember we talked about
that a couple of weeks ago. The Wow signal was
a signal that we got from somewhere out in the space,
and it was amazing because it appeared to be not
just randomly organized letters and numbers, but it came across
(20:05):
that way. That's why they say, wow, that was apparently
the scientists reaction when he saw it, and this object
comes from that same direction. Three I Atlas also brightened
faster than any known comet is right now, bluer than
the sun. It exhibits sunward and antisolar jets, which require
(20:27):
an unreasonably large surface area in order to absorb enough
sunlight to need it to sublimate enough ice to feed
the mass flux of those jets. The object displays non
gravitational acceleration. They said it does not break up like
comets do when they travel through space, and that its
jets can maintain orientation across a million kilometers in multiple directions,
despite the fact this thing is rotating. Now, all of
(20:53):
these twelve anomalies, these are weird things. AVI Lobe again
says these are not like the normal characteristics we would
see in a comet, or at least the ones that
we know about so far. So does NASA give us
any new information today, It's not clear, but they said
(21:14):
that they're going to host a live event coming up
at noon our time to release some never before images
of three I Atlas Again. Space Ground telescopes as well
as spacecraft that are orbiting other planets in our Solar system.
They're going to take place at the Goddard Space Flight
Center in Maryland and also stream live online. I don't
(21:35):
think they're going to tell us that the aliens are coming.
Just a guess, Just a wild, wild guess. You know
what our new happy meal is. We just did the
story a couple of days ago about how we have
seen McDonald's sort of price itself out when it comes
to poorer people in the in the United States. How
about Costco? Costco is going to be your next happy meal.
(21:58):
We'll talk about that when we come back. Gary and
and will continue.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
The Holidays are here at the Disneyland Resort. KFI is
going to give you a chance to enjoy an unbelievable
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at Disney's Festival of Holidays, the Incredible night Time Spectacular,
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at Disneyland Park, you can rediscover holiday classics like the
(22:32):
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a bunch more. Just keep listening to KFI, we will
give you a chance to win a four pack of
one day one park tickets to Disneyland Park or Disney
California Adventure Park coming up soon. So holiday offerings available
now through January seventh. Offering subject to restrictions and to
(22:53):
change without notice. Also a reminder that our fifteenth annual
KFI Pastathon is coming so. Chef Bruno's charity, Katerina's Club,
We've told you for years now provides thousands and thousands
of meals every week to kids in southern California, and
your generosity is what makes it all happen. We will
be broadcasting our pastathon on Giving Tuesday, which is December two,
(23:17):
five am to eight pm at the Anaheim White House
Restaurant on South Anaheim Boulevard, easy to get to any
of parking, and in fact we'll be doing the pasta
and sauce drop off there that day. But you can
also donate anytime when you go to kfiam six forty
dot com slash Pastathon. You can donate on the line
online there or find other pasta and sauce drop off
(23:38):
locations that are close to you. Go to any Smart
and Final store. Any amount donated at checkout goes to
Katerina's Club, even in Arizona, Nevada, any Wendy's restaurant in
southern California. When you donate five dollars or more to
Katerina's Club, you'll get a coupon book. Ninety five percent
of that donation is going to go to Caterina's Club.
And then if you're at Yamavah, do you like Yamavah,
(24:00):
go out play the slots at Yamavah Resort and Casino.
When you cash your winning ticket at the Kiosk, it'll
ask you if you want to donate your change, and
you can pick Katerina's Club to be the place that
you donate your change. Upcoming live broadcast include Conway Live
Friday at the Smart and Final in Your but Linda
coming up Friday afternoon. The first two hundred and fifty
(24:22):
people to show up, we're going to get special gift
bags from Smart and Final. And then on Saturday, Neil
Savagro is broadcasting The Fork Report live from the Wendy's
in Mission Viejo there on Alisha Parkway. So again all
that information and more is up on the website when
you go to KFI AM six forty dot com. Slash
pasta thought, Mikey Mikey. Nike has always had the swoosh.
(24:47):
Everybody knows the brand, the image that's associated with it.
Walt Disney, Disneyland has always had the Castle. McDonald's has
always had its golden arches. There is an iconic thing
that has developed over the last couple of decades. As
long as Costco's been in business, They've had their dollar
fifty hot dog and soda deal, and the combo has
(25:10):
never been more popular than on its fortieth anniversary. So
this fiscal year twenty twenty five, Costco set a new record.
Costco sold two hundred and forty five million hot dog combos.
I was just talking with my sister and my nephew
just a couple of days ago regarding food at the
(25:32):
Costco food court, and we're talking about the chicken bake,
We're talking about the pizza that's available, and all of
that has gone up in price, but not the hot
dog soda deal of a dollar fifty, I mean a
hot dog and soda at Costco is about the same
as a few servings of rice and beans, which is probably,
(25:56):
you know, the cheapest big amount of food that you're
going to be able to cook at home. For example,
and for a YouTuber, a guy named Kinsley goes by
sur yacht on YouTube. He always said and his videos,
please do not try this at home. He's gone to
(26:18):
all fifty state capitals in thirty days, but he has
done this many food challenges and he says this is
absolutely the best deal on earth. He spent more on
gas getting to Costco than he did eating the Costco
hot talk. And what makes it unique is that Costco
hasn't raised the price on this thing since the eighties,
(26:40):
even though we've seen the price of grab and go
meals just skyrocketing because of inflation. We just did the
story the other day about how McDonald's is now out
of a lot of people's price ranges down at the
lower end of the income scale. If you were to
keep up with inflation, a Costco hot doog and soda
(27:02):
combo would be about five bucks today, and it would
still be a relative bargain. If it was five bucks
for a hot dog in a soda considering Trader Joe's
nineteen cent bananas have seen pressure from the outside market forces.
(27:23):
Annalys said the hot dog smell that comes from a
Costco food court is a constant reminder to people, Oh yeah,
they still sell buck fifty hot dogs and sodas here.
The hot dog combo has been a pretty savvy move
for Costco. You can see the profit margins widen because
(27:46):
you are going to go to Costco and spend two
or four or six hundred dollars without thinking about it,
and if you could. There's a a YouTube video called Maxonomics,
a full channel, i should say called Maxonomics, that calculates
(28:06):
that Costco's members spend an average of a dollar seventy
five a minute when they shop in a Costco warehouse.
Costco clears in all of the United States, about a
half a million in sales every single minute in the
United States, and that the hot dog deal of buck fifty,
(28:27):
even if you don't eat it, some people go every time.
Some people grab a hot dog or repeazza every single
time they're in Costco. I've had one, I believe in
my life. Not to say I don't like it, but
it is almost unbelievable that they are able to keep
it that way, and it drives people back because there's
(28:48):
an assumption that will, gosh, if they can keep a
hot dog in a soda at a buck fifty, maybe
they're keeping their other prices low as well, which isn't
always the case, obviously, but it is something that can
creep into people's minds that if you believe that Costco
likes you and wants to keep you there for your
buck fifty dog and soda, then you may think that
(29:09):
they'll also be keeping you there with other low prices too.
Huge twelve o'clock hours coming up. It is Wednesday, so
let us know what you're watching. Send us a talk
back on the app. When you're listening on the app,
there's a little button. It's a red button, white microphone.
Tell us which shows you've been watching or which ones
you are looking forward to. We'll do all of that
(29:29):
when we come back to Gary and Shannon. You've been
listening to the Gary and Shannon Show. You can always
hear us live on KFI AM six forty nine am
to one pm every Monday through Friday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app
This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI
AM six forty the Gary and Shannon Show on demand
on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
On this Wednesday, November nineteenth. Shannon's on vacation today. NYPD
Commissioner Jessica Tish has decided that she is going to
stay in her job under Mayor elect Zoron Mamdanni. He'll
be sworn in the first week of January. New York
Post says that she sent an email out department wide
(00:31):
insisted that she was confident she could still lead the
department honorably going forward, based on a bunch of recent
meetings that she says she has had with Mom Donnie
before she agreed to stay on. Somebody finally came down
with H five and one Washington State resident is now
hospitalized and said to be severely ill with a strain
of virus that has never before been confirmed in humans.
(00:55):
They said that this is an older person underlying conditions
out in Gray's Harbor County along the coast there in
Washington State. They were being treated for high fever, confusion,
severe breathing difficulties and then we're transferred out of the
coast and we're sent back towards a hospital to a
hospital back in the Seattle area. So Wall Street waiting
(01:18):
for a couple of big reports that are coming up,
and Video is expected to release its earnings report today
after the Dow or after Wall Street closes, but also
tomorrow we're expecting to see the jobs report that was
supposed to come out for September, but it's slated to
drop tomorrow morning, delayed because of the government shutdown. So
(01:39):
it's been kind of an up and down day on
Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up just
about seven eight points right now, so mostly flat. S
and P five hundred and NASDAC are also up, but
just barely well. At eleven o'clock, we dive into the
world of d C, which is a swamp and that's
why we call it swamp Watch. I'm a politician, which
means I'm a cheat and a liar. When I'm not
(02:00):
kissing babies, I'm stealing that lolliybox here we got.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
The real problem is that our leaders are done.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
The other side never quits, so what I'm not going anywhere?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So that now you train the.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Squaw, I can imagine what can be and be unburdened
by what has been You know, Americans have always been
gone at President. They're not stupid. A political flunder is
when a politician actually tells the truth. Why have the
people voted for you were na swap watch? They're all
count of on So the big deal. We do expect
the president to sign the Epstein Files Transparency Acts, passed
(02:34):
by both the House and the Senate yesterday with only
one no vote. I was one guy out of Louisiana.
So this goes to the President's desk for signing. The
President made his opposition a promotion of the bill on Sunday,
decided that he was going to reverse course because it
became pretty clear that this was going to pass anyway,
(02:56):
and then that gave other Republicans the finger quotes permission
to vote in favor of it. So that's why it
passed the House at least forty seven to one. Congressman
Tom Massey who was one of the sponsors, the Republican
sponsor of this bill along with Rocana, the Democrat. He's
raised some concerns that the Department of Justice is going
(03:17):
to slow roll this thing, and there are a couple
rules that are written into this legislation. It's not law
yet because the President has to sign it to make
it a law. But there is a series of rules
that have been written into this. One of them is
a thirty day timeline that it makes a forces I
(03:38):
should say, Pam BONDI to release the files the appropriate
files within thirty days to make publicly available in a
searchable and downloadable format. Classified records, documents, communications, investigative materials
in the possession of the DOJ, including the FBI, US
attorney's offices that relate to Epstein, everything, investigation, prosecutions, custodial matters,
(04:03):
all of it. That means it's got to be in
a thirty day timeline. The other thing is any immunity deals,
any non prosecution agreements, plea bargain, sealed settlements provided to
Epstein or others must be released by the Justice Department.
Any internal documents related to the decision to charge, to
not to charge, to investigate, to decline to investigate, etc.
(04:26):
All of those. Here's where it gets a little crazy.
The legislation does give the Attorney General the ability to
withhold or redact information that would personally identify victims. And
we've talked about that that's not a problem. I don't
know anybody who's concerned about that, or I'm sorry anybody
who would disagree with that. It allows them to redact
(04:47):
physical abuse, images of abuse, injury of any person, or
document that would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution.
That's the catch. Thomas Massey, House Leader Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries.
They have said that last part is the part that
may force the Department of Justice to slow roll this thing,
(05:09):
or give them the ability to because remember President Trump
recently ordered the DOJ to investigate high profile democrats, democratic donors, etc.
To be investigated when it comes to these Epstein files.
And if if the Department of Justice can say that's
(05:30):
part of an active federal investigation, they can withhold those documents.
That is a possibility. Also in DC, the Department of
Justice did admit that the operative indictment against former FBI
Director James Callmey was never actually presented to a full
grand juror grand jury. I should say that is a
(05:50):
procedural error, but it's an error that they say should
be overlooked. Now, the defense attorneys for the former director
of the FBI say that's egregious that should disqualify any
sort of prosecution. En kush Kardori is a former prosecutor
a writer for Politico. Now he explains what they're arguing.
(06:12):
You could expect.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
I think the focus of the questioning and the judges
interested to be on the motion that Comy's lawyers have
filed alleging that he is the victim of selective and
vindictive prosecution at the hands of the Trump administration. Two
slightly different arguments, but effectively that Comy was singled out
as a result of animists on the part of the administration,
(06:34):
and also that he is being treated differently from other
similarly situated people, and he's being charged for something that
other people wouldn't necessarily be charged with.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Okay, so this don't forget is all about, as he said,
the vindictive and selective prosecution. US attorney Lindsay Halligan interim
US attorney, by the way, was questioned by the judge
in this case. She said she gave the grand jury's
four person an updated version, though it was not seen
(07:05):
by the other grand jurors to sign. The judge asked
the government several times whether he understood correctly that the
operative indictment was never shown to the entire panel. That's
my understanding, said the assistant US attorney. So then the
interim US attorney, Linda Halligan's gets called up and the
judge starts with am I correct? And she interrupts him
(07:26):
and says, no, you're not, she said. The grand jury
four person and a second grand juror were present in
the magistrate's courtroom. The judge said he was familiar with
all that directed her to sit down. We will see
where this goes. There is a possibility, and based on
the way the judge was questioning both sides today, there
is a possibility he throws out this indictment because of
(07:49):
errors that were made by the Department of Justice in
putting it together and the way the defense described it.
I haven't seen it, so I'm not certain, but they
said it was riddled with typographical air? How does that happen?
In twenty twenty five New three I at LIS News,
(08:11):
Gary and Shannon will continue.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Some of the big stories Conway mentioned there big storm
rolling in again tomorrow, not quite as big as we
saw last weekend. But still half an inch to an
inch of precipitation. Most of the places around the valleys
in lond empireates there are maybe one or two inches
in some of the mountains and the hills. Singer David
has been identified as a suspect in connection with the
(08:42):
death of fifteen year old Celeste Reevas. Of course, she
was the young girl whose remains were found in September
in a car. It was in a tow yard in
la The source told Channel four that the twenty year
old has not been cooperative with the investigation and that
the death likely occurred last spring, that David likely had
(09:02):
help in dismembering and disposing of the body. The Trump
administration has been working on some sort of new draft
plan to end the war in Ukraine. US and Russian
officials have confirmed to Axios there's a twenty eight point
plan inspired by President Trump's push for a deal in Gaza.
Top Russian official told Axios that he is optimistic about
(09:25):
all of this, but it's not yet clear how Ukraine
and Europe would feel about it. This twenty eight points
they fall into four different general areas, peace in Ukraine,
security guarantees, security in Europe, and then future relations with
Russia and Ukraine as well. Now, it's not necessarily politics
(09:48):
the same way that swamp Watch is, but there is
a new player when it comes to the world of podcasting.
He just happens to be a politician. Ted Kruz best
known as the leader of the pre Donald Trump right
wing of the party. It was actually the runner up
(10:09):
if you remember, back in the day, to Donald Trump
in twenty sixteen. More shocking is that his show Verdict
with Ted Cruz, his podcast is the most popular podcast
by far of any sitting politician within the United States.
That's striking to me considering there are a lot of younger,
(10:33):
more hip, more in tune with culture podcast available politicians
than Ted Cruz, but he is Ted Cruz. Two million
downloads a month syndicated by our company, by our iHeartRadio
puts him on solid ground in the event that he
(10:53):
ever never that, in the event that he ever wants
to quit the Senate, he could be a podcast host.
But also it puts him well ahead of any of
the other potential people running for president in twenty twenty eight. Now,
I'll use the example of Gavin Newsom because he's younger,
because he tends to be more culturally relevant than Ted
(11:15):
Cruz in many cases, but he has almost three and
a half times as many downloads as Gavin Newsom's podcast does.
Part of it is it's been around longer, that's true,
but Gavin Newsom is in second place, a distant second place.
Or again, the category it's not huge, but the category
(11:36):
of podcasts hosted by current politicians. Now, this is when
this is coming at a time when the people who
have those platforms, influencers, if you will, They have what
we refer to now as the parasocial relationships. That's kind
of a story in and of itself. We haven't really
(11:57):
gotten to that whole story because the word parasocial and
what it means, but it's basically a fake relationship or
a relationship that you believe is there because you've been
following somebody for so long. And the podcast gives Ted
Cruz a bigger platform than most politicians would receive. If
(12:17):
he's the senator in Texas or one of the senators
in Texas. Why do we see him so often? Well,
part of it is because he's found a way to
get himself interviewed on all these TV shows, but also
he performs some of the interviews when he has guests
on his podcast. He started this thing six years ago
(12:37):
during the first impeachment trial of President Trump, and it
was a moment where his experience as a constitutional lawyer
was an important aspect of what was going on in
the news, and he absolutely struck while the iron was hot.
It was not a lot of opportunities for him to
go deep into the weeds. If he's being interviewed on
(12:58):
CNN or ABC or something like that, they're not going
to give him all the time that he needs to
explain some of the constitutional intricacies about the impeachment of
a sitting president. It's funny because this article in Politico
says will Fox News is willing to air all sorts
of unconventional things, but it's not big on mentions of
(13:21):
the eighteenth century impeachment trial of Warren Hastings by the
British House of Lords, which is something that Ted Cruz
can talk about every night after the Senate had gabbled
out for the day. Again, this is during the impeachment,
he would go to a nearby studio and explain to
listeners the events of the day and weigh in not
(13:41):
just on the allegations against Trump, but on the points
of law, the occasional gossip that was going on on
the floor of the Senate at the time that the
case was being presented, and it was an immediate hit.
And again it was the absolute perfect timing. It was
his Baileywick. He knew what he was talking about when
it came to cons institutional law. And as of right
(14:01):
now again he is the number one politicians podcast, and
I wonder if that's enough to catapult him into front
runner status when it comes to whoever is going to
succeed Donald Trump as the head of the Republican Party.
He has a co host, a guy named Ben Ferguson,
and they go through a bunch of different topics that
(14:24):
are selected by his staff. They pick out their favorites,
they work out a rough running order, and then just
start chit chatting and the result of the conversation is
usually posted every day or so. Again, it is on
the iHeart app if you want to go check it
out the Ted Cruz podcast. The verdict with Ted Cruz
is what it's called, all right, we're getting closer, Well,
(14:46):
I should say it's getting closer. Three I Atlas is
getting closer to the Earth. It's about to get as
close as it's ever going to be. That maybe the
time that they bored our planet and take us over
or share some incredible technology and we never have to
worry about energy again. Something like that.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on Demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
A bunch of stories that are going on today. Of course,
the President is expected to sign the law that will
force the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
That is expected today. Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary
former president of Harvard, has resigned for the board of
Open Ai, the company behind chatchipt, because of his ties
(15:37):
to Jeffrey Epstein. Those actually, those ties came out in
some documents that were released last week by the House
Oversight Government Reform Committee showed that this guy was still
asking for dating advice from Jeffrey Epstein even after he
had spent time in jail for sex trafficking and had
been charged by the FEDS for sex trafficking. New candidate
(16:00):
when it comes to the race for governor in California.
San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer, sixty eight years old, probably
not very well known to very many people, but he
could fund his own campaign that could change a lot
of it. He did run for president in twenty twenty
and poured enough money in there that he finished third
(16:22):
in South Carolina's Democratic primary, behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
So we've talked before about three I Atlas, and a
little bit later today, just about twenty or thirty minutes
from now, NASA has announced that it's going to unveil
a bunch of three I Atlas imagery that's been captured
over the course of the last couple of weeks. And
(16:44):
this is both instruments here on Earth but also on
up in orbit in space. The impending photo dump comes today,
more than three months since NASA first released a high
resolution image that captured that captured whatever three I Atlas is.
We believe it's a comet, but Hubble Space telescope was
(17:06):
able to take that one, so we'll get some more.
But since then, anticipation has been mounting because it's become
a source of public obsession. There's a lot of weird
stuff going on with whatever this is, and the world's
astronomers do agree it's a comet, but there is this
sliver of the astronomical world that believes that this could
(17:27):
be something else, alien spaceship or just not a comet.
I mean, I don't even know if there is a
room between those two definitions. Is there something that's not
a comet but is not quite an alien spacecraft. We've
talked before many times about Avi Lobe, this professor at
(17:49):
Harvard who has consistently proposed that this might be something
that is not a comet. Again, he doesn't necessarily go
so far as to say it's an alien mothership. He
just says it could be. And they had twelve outlined
anomalies about this thing and why we should be concerned
about this as it comes closer to us. By the way,
(18:12):
I think it's December nineteenth that will be at its
closest point to Earth, so it's getting closer. First of all,
Avi Lobe says, the retrograde trajectory is aligned to within
five degrees of the ecliptic plane of the planets that
orbit around the Sun. It's designed to be fit into
(18:34):
our solar system. The object displayed a sunword jet during
the summer, which is unlike familiar comets. The nucleus is
about a million times larger than the first recorded interstellar
object to pass through space, and moves a lot faster.
The arrival time was fine tuned to bring it within
tens of millions of kilometers of Mars, Venus and Jupiter,
(18:57):
so they hit the exact right window, is what he's suggesting.
According to Ovulobe, the gas plume of three i at
List contains much more nickel than iron that would be
found in industrial produced sneezing. Should have left the mic on.
That was a good one, and now I need a towel.
(19:21):
The object's gas plume contains only four percent water by mass,
despite water being a primary constituent of familiar comets. Another thing,
three iat list displays extreme negative polarization, which is something
that is not known is not seen for all of
the known comets that have passed through our Solar system.
It also arrived from a direct coincident with the radio
(19:44):
WOW signal to within nine degrees. Remember we talked about
that a couple of weeks ago. The Wow signal was
a signal that we got from somewhere out in the space,
and it was amazing because it appeared to be not
just randomly organized letters and numbers, but it came across
(20:05):
that way. That's why they say, wow, that was apparently
the scientists reaction when he saw it, and this object
comes from that same direction. Three I Atlas also brightened
faster than any known comet is right now, bluer than
the sun. It exhibits sunward and antisolar jets, which require
(20:27):
an unreasonably large surface area in order to absorb enough
sunlight to need it to sublimate enough ice to feed
the mass flux of those jets. The object displays non
gravitational acceleration. They said it does not break up like
comets do when they travel through space, and that its
jets can maintain orientation across a million kilometers in multiple directions,
despite the fact this thing is rotating. Now, all of
(20:53):
these twelve anomalies, these are weird things. AVI Lobe again
says these are not like the normal characteristics we would
see in a comet, or at least the ones that
we know about so far. So does NASA give us
any new information today, It's not clear, but they said
(21:14):
that they're going to host a live event coming up
at noon our time to release some never before images
of three I Atlas Again. Space Ground telescopes as well
as spacecraft that are orbiting other planets in our Solar system.
They're going to take place at the Goddard Space Flight
Center in Maryland and also stream live online. I don't
(21:35):
think they're going to tell us that the aliens are coming.
Just a guess, Just a wild, wild guess. You know
what our new happy meal is. We just did the
story a couple of days ago about how we have
seen McDonald's sort of price itself out when it comes
to poorer people in the in the United States. How
about Costco? Costco is going to be your next happy meal.
(21:58):
We'll talk about that when we come back. Gary and
and will continue.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
The Holidays are here at the Disneyland Resort. KFI is
going to give you a chance to enjoy an unbelievable
season during the Disneyland Resort seventieth Celebration. Experienced seasonal celebrations
at Disney's Festival of Holidays, the Incredible night Time Spectacular,
World of Color Happiness at Disney California Adventure Park. Over
at Disneyland Park, you can rediscover holiday classics like the
(22:32):
Fireworks Spectacular, Believe in Holiday Magic, Christmas Fantasy Parade, and
a bunch more. Just keep listening to KFI, we will
give you a chance to win a four pack of
one day one park tickets to Disneyland Park or Disney
California Adventure Park coming up soon. So holiday offerings available
now through January seventh. Offering subject to restrictions and to
(22:53):
change without notice. Also a reminder that our fifteenth annual
KFI Pastathon is coming so. Chef Bruno's charity, Katerina's Club,
We've told you for years now provides thousands and thousands
of meals every week to kids in southern California, and
your generosity is what makes it all happen. We will
be broadcasting our pastathon on Giving Tuesday, which is December two,
(23:17):
five am to eight pm at the Anaheim White House
Restaurant on South Anaheim Boulevard, easy to get to any
of parking, and in fact we'll be doing the pasta
and sauce drop off there that day. But you can
also donate anytime when you go to kfiam six forty
dot com slash Pastathon. You can donate on the line
online there or find other pasta and sauce drop off
(23:38):
locations that are close to you. Go to any Smart
and Final store. Any amount donated at checkout goes to
Katerina's Club, even in Arizona, Nevada, any Wendy's restaurant in
southern California. When you donate five dollars or more to
Katerina's Club, you'll get a coupon book. Ninety five percent
of that donation is going to go to Caterina's Club.
And then if you're at Yamavah, do you like Yamavah,
(24:00):
go out play the slots at Yamavah Resort and Casino.
When you cash your winning ticket at the Kiosk, it'll
ask you if you want to donate your change, and
you can pick Katerina's Club to be the place that
you donate your change. Upcoming live broadcast include Conway Live
Friday at the Smart and Final in Your but Linda
coming up Friday afternoon. The first two hundred and fifty
(24:22):
people to show up, we're going to get special gift
bags from Smart and Final. And then on Saturday, Neil
Savagro is broadcasting The Fork Report live from the Wendy's
in Mission Viejo there on Alisha Parkway. So again all
that information and more is up on the website when
you go to KFI AM six forty dot com. Slash
pasta thought, Mikey Mikey. Nike has always had the swoosh.
(24:47):
Everybody knows the brand, the image that's associated with it.
Walt Disney, Disneyland has always had the Castle. McDonald's has
always had its golden arches. There is an iconic thing
that has developed over the last couple of decades. As
long as Costco's been in business, They've had their dollar
fifty hot dog and soda deal, and the combo has
(25:10):
never been more popular than on its fortieth anniversary. So
this fiscal year twenty twenty five, Costco set a new record.
Costco sold two hundred and forty five million hot dog combos.
I was just talking with my sister and my nephew
just a couple of days ago regarding food at the
(25:32):
Costco food court, and we're talking about the chicken bake,
We're talking about the pizza that's available, and all of
that has gone up in price, but not the hot
dog soda deal of a dollar fifty, I mean a
hot dog and soda at Costco is about the same
as a few servings of rice and beans, which is probably,
(25:56):
you know, the cheapest big amount of food that you're
going to be able to cook at home. For example,
and for a YouTuber, a guy named Kinsley goes by
sur yacht on YouTube. He always said and his videos,
please do not try this at home. He's gone to
(26:18):
all fifty state capitals in thirty days, but he has
done this many food challenges and he says this is
absolutely the best deal on earth. He spent more on
gas getting to Costco than he did eating the Costco
hot talk. And what makes it unique is that Costco
hasn't raised the price on this thing since the eighties,
(26:40):
even though we've seen the price of grab and go
meals just skyrocketing because of inflation. We just did the
story the other day about how McDonald's is now out
of a lot of people's price ranges down at the
lower end of the income scale. If you were to
keep up with inflation, a Costco hot doog and soda
(27:02):
combo would be about five bucks today, and it would
still be a relative bargain. If it was five bucks
for a hot dog in a soda considering Trader Joe's
nineteen cent bananas have seen pressure from the outside market forces.
(27:23):
Annalys said the hot dog smell that comes from a
Costco food court is a constant reminder to people, Oh yeah,
they still sell buck fifty hot dogs and sodas here.
The hot dog combo has been a pretty savvy move
for Costco. You can see the profit margins widen because
(27:46):
you are going to go to Costco and spend two
or four or six hundred dollars without thinking about it,
and if you could. There's a a YouTube video called Maxonomics,
a full channel, i should say called Maxonomics, that calculates
(28:06):
that Costco's members spend an average of a dollar seventy
five a minute when they shop in a Costco warehouse.
Costco clears in all of the United States, about a
half a million in sales every single minute in the
United States, and that the hot dog deal of buck fifty,
(28:27):
even if you don't eat it, some people go every time.
Some people grab a hot dog or repeazza every single
time they're in Costco. I've had one, I believe in
my life. Not to say I don't like it, but
it is almost unbelievable that they are able to keep
it that way, and it drives people back because there's
(28:48):
an assumption that will, gosh, if they can keep a
hot dog in a soda at a buck fifty, maybe
they're keeping their other prices low as well, which isn't
always the case, obviously, but it is something that can
creep into people's minds that if you believe that Costco
likes you and wants to keep you there for your
buck fifty dog and soda, then you may think that
(29:09):
they'll also be keeping you there with other low prices too.
Huge twelve o'clock hours coming up. It is Wednesday, so
let us know what you're watching. Send us a talk
back on the app. When you're listening on the app,
there's a little button. It's a red button, white microphone.
Tell us which shows you've been watching or which ones
you are looking forward to. We'll do all of that
(29:29):
when we come back to Gary and Shannon. You've been
listening to the Gary and Shannon Show. You can always
hear us live on KFI AM six forty nine am
to one pm every Monday through Friday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app
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