November 26, 2025 • 33 mins
The Democrats in the Senate were trolling the president when they released the clip telling military personnel they shouldn’t follow illegal orders. Trump has now said their seditious behavior is punishable by death, and now the senators are receiving death threats from the public. Is it illegal for military personnel to fire on someone who is perceived to be an enemy of the United States?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI. AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey there, Chris Merrill, I am six forty more stimulating
talk You guys are fun. You guys are a blast.
Some more people giving us talkbacks. By the way, I
do listen to all the talkbacks. They don't all make
it out of the air, but I do listen to
(00:30):
all of them. I will say this. There we were
a few people who were listening to the last segment
where Nicky was giving her thoughts on immigration as Carolyn
Livitt's nephews. Well, I guess it's her brother's baby, Mama,
it's been obtained by ice. She was a doctor recipient
from nineteen ninety eight, And so some other people were
(00:53):
They were not very kind to me because I was
pushing back on some of the things that Nicki said,
and then some people pushing back Nikki.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
But you gotta be nice. You gotta be nice to Nikki.
That's the rule. You can come at me, you can
come at me. You have to be nice to Nicky.
Where are we in society to exactly where?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
For me?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I'm a man, I'm a man. I think it's funny.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
What absolutely phenomenal you are. Funny you're intelligent, you're witty.
Don't listen to these awful people who call in or trolls.
I think you are very handsome too. I looked you up,
big Teddy Bear.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, it's your wife.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
No, thank you for being on the air. You're my favorite.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
That's right. It's not my wife. No, but I'm gonna
send that to my wife. Nothing makes her hotter than
thinking somebody.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Else likes me. Oh god, that is the best.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
That's how that works. Oh, it is so how it works.
Oh I love it so much. I'm gonna send it
to her.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Let me see. Hey, babe, she's like, yeah, like that.
Are you gonna play the talk back from my fan? No? No,
because they ever mean to you. I'm not gonna do it.
I think it's funny pull him out.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Nope, nope, No, we're not doxing anybody.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I am not doing that stuff. Come on, what's mad
with you? A doxing people?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
He called me, he called me britt, he called two
of them called me brit.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
And how does Olie feel about that? As the actual
British person? Yeah, like, how do you feel about that?
You should take that as a compliment. That's pretty that's
pretty funny. I kind of like that. All right, let's
move on. Speaking of trolls.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Uh So, the Democrats in the Senate were trolling the
President when they put out the video saying that you
can't you shouldn't follow illegal orders, which look duh, but
they knew it was going to bug the president and
then the rather than the President saying, yeah, I agree,
you shouldn't follow illegal orders, but on the Comander in chief,
(02:49):
I'm not giving you illegal orders. And these Democrats are
just trying to stir the pot, and it would have
been done, but he didn't. He took the bait, and
then he said the seditious behavior punishable by death of
these Democratic senators. And so then of course they started
getting death threats, and so we got the audio of
the death threats to the senators, and these people seem.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
I hope whoever mows your brains out records it, because
I would like to watch you speak what a loser
you are.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And Kerry and select Ken, I think it's Slotkin. I
think he mispronounced it. Hey, let's listen again, Select Ken.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, I'm pretty sure it's slot Can I think you
mispronounced that. Yeah, I think it's at least a slot kin.
Yeah what we called her the C word. Oh this
is better than being called a bread but still not great.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
You to die. I hope you all get murdered. I
hope you all get throat flashed.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
He just wow, he seems easily upset. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I bet there's nothing else going on in his life.
That's that's bothering him?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Is he single? Wow?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
She loves the red flags? Okay, next one. This, this
is a god fearing gentleman.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
You disgrace American and I'll pray you go and David,
not before your family does.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Wow. I pray you die today, but not before your
family does. He's probably just being hyperbolic. He probably is
not actually trying to invoke the wrath of God on
someone who simply said you should follow the law.
Speaker 6 (04:34):
I pray they die painful death.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Again, I'm sure it's hyperbolic that it's not that he's
not actually praying for someone's family to die of painful death. Hey,
a blessed day. Oh okay, Yeah, it's nice to see
people taking the high road like that.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
That's good. Okay, all right, Oh there's.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
More if they do that day, Yeah, rest to sure,
I'll be in church just someday, because.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I guess he was serious about invoking prayer to try
to do. But at least he wasn't swearing like the
last guy, right, I mean he wasn't. It wasn't like
calling people the sea word and and the F word
and everything else.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
You worthless play?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (05:17):
All right? Right, so did that? I got that going
for you? Well, Chris, this is a teaching moment. Those
are known as imprecatory prayers. Just if you want to
throw those around. Never heard that it's important to use
the right terminology when you're wishing someone ory, Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I love this. You did learn me something today. There
you go. Good.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
I have somebody kills you with your whole.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Family and regal alien. I hope they kill you and
your whole family. So you're letting them in a country,
you scummy American. You're a communist, you Jason Crow, you scummy.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Little Okay, So.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
That seems great, Yeah, all right, doesn't like communists unless
it's Bumdanni in the Oval office and then everything gets
along really well.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
So now the president has struck back as well.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I'm sure you're aware. And now it looks like we
are going to have an investigation. The FBI is now
asking to interview the Democrats that were in that video.
The President's asked the DOJ to investigate Senator Mark Kelly,
a former Navy pilot and astronaut, and then it could
be it could go so poorly for Mark Kelly that
(06:33):
they actually recall him to active duty so that he
can be court martialed. Secretary of Defense beat hegxith or
War Secretary if you use the current terminology, refer to
the video participants as the seditious six. Mark Kelly's being
singled out by the Department of Defense or Department of War,
depending on whether you want to be official or not,
(06:54):
because he's the only veteran of the group who falls
under Hegsith's jurisdiction. Secretary exists. Oh hang on, that was
his response. I gotta I gotta find this because I was.
According to some experts, they say that he didn't break
the law by stating that members of the military can
refuse illegal orders, which is actually just restating the law. Yeah,
(07:18):
here we go. According to the Department of War on
x I guess the official communication platform. A thorough review
of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions,
which may include recall to active duty for court martial
proceedings or administrative measures. So here's what I think is
really fascinating about all of us. I think none of
(07:40):
us believe that that there's going to be a court
martial when you have a sitting senator. By the way,
isn't there such a thing as senatorial immunity? I mean,
you have presidential immunity, right, can't you have like some
sort of a congressional immunity things that you say in
the process of doing your job. I'm pretty sure there's
(08:00):
a law about that. But anyway, just the same, you
have a freedom of speech. They didn't say anything that
was defamatory or wrong or insightful. I mean, it's pretty
well protected speech. So the investigation itself is is performative
(08:22):
as much as the original video was absolutely performative, and
it was meant to just sort of poke the bear.
President Trump had two ways that he could go on it,
and he took kind of the way that I think
we expected him to take, and that is that he
takes the bait and he goes, I'm gonna lash out.
You want to poke the bear? You're getting the bear right.
Don't mess with the bull son, you're going to get
the horns. And I think this could end up backfiring.
(08:47):
And I think there may be members of the GOP
strategic the party strategic group here that might be saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
this is starting to get out of control. I'm going
to tell you why this could protent eventually backfire. Well,
for all I know, we're in the upside down. All
I know, we end up hanging these guys out in
the public square. Although with Mark Kelly, I think probably
(09:08):
launching him into space without a spacesuit would be a
better way.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
To go, I mean fitting.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
So you'll find out why this political theater could end
up backfiring, and members of the GOP might be saying, whoa, whoa, whoa,
hang on here, we just we just we just grabbed
defeat from the jaws of victory. We'll find out why
that is.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Next. I'm Chris Merril.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
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Oh is that hang on? Turn that up?
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Oh?
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Right, I don't know what the rules are. But don't
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Speaker 2 (11:44):
Okay, So the the show voting in DC continues. You
had the Democratic senators that came out and they said
that the president.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Uh, they didn't say they said, you have.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
If you're in the military, you should ignore illegal orders.
Of course, that's not always so cut and dry. That
all came about because of the Nuremberg Trials when you
had Nazis And they said, why'd you do it? And
they said, I was just following orders. I'm not a
bad guy. I was just following orders. And basically they said, yeah,
that's not an excuse. You can't go gassing millions of
(12:17):
people and go I was just told to do it. Now,
you can't do that. But what is an illegal order?
And this is where things get a little bit tricky.
Now most people think that the video was about the
bombing of the boats in the Caribbean, and this is
becoming a little bit of international drama. And honestly, I
think most people were in a bit of in the
weeds on this because, Okay, were they narco terrorists? Were
(12:41):
they Narco boats? Was there evidence that they were trafficking drugs?
Is are we just simply executing people without due process?
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, all this other stuff, right,
And I know some of you are going to go there,
they're drug smugglers, they deserve to die and others of
you are going to go. We don't know unless there's
due process, and due process is a found fund of
everything that we hold deer. Now others will say there
(13:02):
is no due process. We're not in America. No others
will say, that's exactly why we shouldn't be killing other
people on foreign soil, especially without any sort of further information.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
That's all beside the point. What is legal, what is illegal?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
And basically, if you're getting an order, unless that order
is pull that child out in the middle of the
square and shoot.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Him in the head, you pretty much have to follow orders.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
The video wasn't cut so much for the pilots who
are executing these orders. The video is more for the officers,
and they're asking the officers to take a stand, and
I'm telling the officers to take a stand.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
They're saying, if it's an.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Illegal order, you feel it's an illegal order, you have
a duty to run it up the flagpole. Basically, now
you run it up the chain of command, what happens
You're going to be told shut up and do your job.
But then you make some sort of a note so
that at least if you are dragged out in the
public square. You can say, whoa, whoa, whoa. I voiced
my concerns and I was told it's fully legal. Right,
That's basically what they're saying. So is it illegal to
(14:06):
fire upon someone who's been deemed an enemy by the
United States even though you don't know who's in there?
Oh yeah, but what if there's what if there's a
a collateral damage? Okay, well there's collateral damage in Afghanistan?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Was that illegal? Right? Well?
Speaker 2 (14:24):
What if you're told that you need to go into
somebody's house and uh and and pull their family out.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
That's happening here in the United States.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And this is not a statement about immigration, But that's
not illegal, right, I mean, that's that's the problem. You
go into the house, you pull somebody out that's they're
suspected of being illegally, go make the arrest. Help please
do that all the time. We've got a warrant. Now
you might say, well, that's due process, but I mean
the action itself is perfectly legal. So if you are
someone who is a soldier or an airman or a seaman,
(14:56):
how are you supposed to know what is or is
not illegal. You're not a lawyer, You're certainly not a
judge advocate general, so just do what you're told. Anyway,
the Democratic Senators, they cut this video and it was
meant to poke the bear, and Donald Trump took the bait.
The GOP may be kicking themselves on this because what
he's basically done is raised the profile of Senator Mark Kelly.
(15:19):
Mark Kelly is not the most charismatic person you may
have noticed. I have a friend of mine who refers
to Mark Kelly as the potato because he basically is
just a spud. He doesn't do a whole lot vocally.
I mean, I mean, he's the senator. He's doing his job,
he's doing what he's supposed to be. But he's not
the bombastic guy who's on Fox one night, CNN the
(15:40):
next night.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
He's not that guy.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Now he's started get a little more press time, he's
started to get some some requests for interviews, but he's
he's not that guy that grabs all that attention.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
He's not very showman like.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And the President and Pete Hegsith, the Secretary of Defense,
has Secretary of War, whatever you want to call it,
have basically he lifted his profile in the national political scene.
Mark Kelly was thought of as a potential vice vice
presidential candidate for Kamala Harris, but she didn't choose him. Instead,
(16:13):
she ruined Tim Wall's career. So Mark Kelly is still
alive in the potential to be the Democratic nominee. Now,
if you're a Democrat in California, there may be some
things that Gavin Newsom did that you don't really like,
and you go, okay, look, he was the governor. I
was going to vote for the Democrat in California, but
I don't really like him. Who else is out there
(16:34):
that I might be able to look at in the primaries.
Mark Kelly might be a name that starts showing up
on a lot of radars all of a sudden, and
you've lifted his profile. Now he is getting those interview
requests on TV. And keep this in mind, it is
all performative. It is all political theater. Because nobody actually
believes that these elected officials, including the veterans, are going
(16:56):
to be dragged in front.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Of a military court. This is not viable. It's all
about the optics.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And so the goal from the administration is to project strength,
right decisiveness, crack down on these supposed traders continue this
narrative of the Democrats are anti American, but it's just
it's reality show politics. You take a you take a
normal disagreement, you inflate the danger the states. You throw
(17:24):
in hot button words like seditious, punishable by death, and
all of a sudden, you are, in Steve Bannon's words,
flooding the zone with crap. That's that's that's is part
of the fire hose of chaos. However, you did end
up raising the profile of a potential nominee who, if
(17:46):
facing off against JD. Vance or Marco Rubio, is going
to look pretty good. You may have just made things
more difficult for the next successor for the Republican Party.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That's my two cents on that one. I don't want
to do anymore. I'm done.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Instead, let's talk about who's watching you. You think you're
just cruising down the highway. Nope, it's a scanner, it's
a scorecard. It's a silent thumbs down on your route.
If suspicious now means whatever road you're driving on, are
we all under suspicion? You'll find out next Chris.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Merril, you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Chris Merril kfi am six forty more stimulating talk. Oh
I love that excess on one of the great Australian bands.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
British Australian. We're definitely Australian. Definitely Australian.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
Hey, guys a British.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Not British, Australian, get it right, guys love the show
all right. This is all in response if you're joining
us to people mistaking Nikki for being British. It's just
how far over the heads that it goes sometimes, Yeah,
that's just you know, way over, maybe way over. Meanwhile,
Ali actually British. Yeah, so I think it's really interesting
(19:11):
too that, uh you've had to You're just minding your
own business, doing your job, and you're just hearing everybody
bagging on the Brits, and it's like, what did you
ever do?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Right, poor guy? I didn't say anything. He's like, I
didn't say anything in the the Lake God oh Man
and England you're gonna fire him up all right.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Meanwhile, I'm back in the States. We've been talking a
little bit about immigration. There is something going on though
where you are being watched, and I'm concerned about this
to a degree.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
There was a study that was done.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
A story from the AP that says that Border Patrol
has built a the surveillance network and it scans plates
and algorithmically flags drivers for what they call suspicious travel,
and that expands from the border duty into the interior. Normally,
the Border Patrol is kind of like the first one
hundred miles inside the border, which actually encompasses a huge
(20:18):
amount of the population in the United States. But in
this case it's actually into the interior of the country
as well, so that stops and searches and detentions that
then follow if they think somebody is acting suspiciously, suspiciously could.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Be avoiding main roads.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Even this is from ABC seven the Bay Area.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
ABC seven, You know that the government.
Speaker 8 (20:38):
Is partnering with several surveillance companies and that includes Flock,
which is used right here in Oakland, also in San Jose.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
But here is what we do need.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Flock is the company. I don't know if you can
pick that up. She's got a lot of noise behind her.
Speaker 8 (20:50):
No about this program. The AP found that Border Patrol
is monitoring millions of Americans nationwide with a secretive program
that includes surveillance cameras.
Speaker 6 (20:59):
On our road.
Speaker 8 (21:00):
The report details that agents are using the cameras to
identify drivers with what they believe are suspicious travel patterns,
than drivers are being pulled over, in questioned, sometimes even detained.
This is happening along both the Mexico and Canadian borders,
along with states across the country, including California.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
The Border Patrol hus for you, did she ad a syllable?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Did she just say California including California.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Isn't that how it's said? No, California, California.
Speaker 8 (21:33):
There you go, including California.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, yeah, California. Oh my.
Speaker 8 (21:45):
The Border Patrol hus for years and in details.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Of its license anyway, she's kind of proceeding in California,
reporting live from Frisco.
Speaker 8 (21:53):
I'm Border Patrol has for years and in details of
its license play program trying to keep any mention of
the program out of court documents and police reports. And
US Customs and Border Protection, which is Border Patrol's parent agency,
said to the AP for national security reasons, we do
not detail the specific operational applications, adding that it is
(22:17):
legally allowed to operate anywhere in the US, and the
AP ton to aid former government officials with direct knowledge
of the program, as well as dozens of state, local,
and federal officials and privacy experts and lawyers. Love at
the Brave Bridgetual Plaza Gloria Rodriguez ABC seven News.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
So the Bay Bridge, they center out in the rain
next to the traffic and they we're like, don't get.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Hit, okay. So they're basically hiding cameras all over the place.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
In you might be driving by a construction barrel, right
and you're like, man, how long are they going to
leave that out? And you think that it was some
crew that forgot their construction barrel. No, it's actually a
construction barrel that has a.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Camera inside of it. It's sneaky hidden.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And so there may be some uh, some rights advocates
that are going, hold on, we don't want to become
a surveillance state like England. We want we still want
to have some sort of some sort of autonomy. Then
you have others that go in. Security of the country
is the most important, and border patrol is simply enforcing
the laws and they're they're tracking people who might be
(23:22):
acting suspiciously, and then they want to investigate further. I
am a little concerned though, because I always this is
this is sort of the foundation of my thinking.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
I I don't like it.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
When I'm being suspected of doing something wrong without any
evidence other than just simply my my normal behavior. Well,
your behavior seemed weird, and weird is suspicious, and suspicious
should be investigated.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
And I get it.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Look if if I'm if I'm hanging out in a
in a CD part of town and i'm and I
see a police car and I turn around and I
start walking the other way, I get it.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
That's suspicious. I get it.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
But if I'm simply avoiding the freeway and taking surface streets,
is that enough to be considered suspicious? If I'm traveling,
for instance, I lived in San Diego, And if I'm
traveling on the eight, which goes down you know, by
camp and who come to Hot Springs, and you're near
the border, or you continue on a little further and
(24:24):
you get near Mexicale Cawlexico area or Yuma. Even there
you are and you're near the border, and I gotta
tell you, I used to do that trip back and
forth twice a week.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
That would probably be considered suspicious, wouldn't it.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I mean, I'm driving back and forth from the border
city into a major city a couple times a week,
that would be suspicious. But the truth was, I was
driving between I had two jobs. I won in San
Diego and won in Phoenix, and I kept driving between
the two. My wife and daughter were in San Diego
while she graduated high school, and I was working in
Phoenix and in San Diego. I had a job. I
was doing two shows, so I was back and forth
(25:02):
all the time. I wasn't doing anything wrong. So why
is that considered suspicious? If you're a truck driver and
you're crossing the border constantly and maybe you find it.
You found an alternate route that allows you to avoid, say,
delays at a border checkpoint, and so you took that
hitting a quieter border checkpoint, for instance. Is that suspicious?
(25:26):
So that's where I'm a little bit concerned. I don't
like the idea of perfectly reasonable behavior considered to be suspicious. Anyway,
there's not a whole lot that either one of us
can do about it, but you need to be aware.
You just need to be aware of what's going on,
and you need to decide do I like the idea
that the government is watching me? Do I trust the government,
(25:50):
because even people say they never trust the government, all
of a sudden trust the government in certain scenarios, and
people that say that I trust the government implicitly, all
of a sudden don't trust the government, usually when that's
somebody from the other party that it's elected, that all
of a sudden they don't trust the government. Wasn't it
Reagan that said the most terrifying words are I'm here
from the government and I'm here to help, right paraphrasing,
(26:11):
probably slaughtered the quote, but you get the point. So
do you trust government implicitly or or are you a
little worried when they start collecting data and watching your
driving habits. You know what kind of car you drive,
they know how fast you drive, they know when you drive,
to pick up on your patterns, just feels very big
Brother to me.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Yes, scroll social media thinking the voices that you.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Hear your neighbors or your friends, and they're sharing real takes,
but they're not what you're really seeing could be far
more sinister, and they're treating you like you're dumb. But
are you that's next? Chris Merrill.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
You're listening to KFI AM sixty on demand.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And Chris Merril Am sixty on demand anytime in the
iHeart Radio app still to come. I'm uh some heartbreaking news.
We'll give you this coming up here on the nine
o'clock hour and really terrifying it. Being a celebrity doesn't
protect you from creeps. I'll tell you what to what's
going on there? My friends from the.
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Talkbacks, Hey Chris, Hey Scott, Hey Scott, your show is
so good that I don't know if you're a conservative
or liberal? And I like that. Thank you and keep
it up, man.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I like it all right there you go. Appreciate it,
my friend, It's very good. That's what I go for.
I go for political ambiguity. That's really what I'm down for. Yeah,
call it like you see it, you know, good, bad,
whatever it is. I get both sides of the arguments.
But here's the thing. If all of a sudden you
feel like somebody's out to get you, you've basically become
(27:53):
like a tool for your side, you know, like of
all of a sudden, you start adopting all that mob thing, Like,
wait a minute, are you thinking for yourself? If all
of a sudden you find you agree with everything, then
you have to wonder do I or is it that
someone else is telling me what I want to hear.
(28:14):
You know, that's why I don't trust any of the politicians.
I don't trust any of them, and I definitely don't
trust whoever I think he's the mob. Oh yeah, oh
they all agree with me. I know it because I
see all my friends online. Well, first of all, you've
been fed the algorithm. Second of all, who are these
friends online? According to two X, they're not who you
(28:38):
think they are.
Speaker 9 (28:38):
All right, there's a new feature on the social media
X that's causing some concern over the legitimacy of popular
political accounts. The update, called about this account allows users
to see where the account was created, where it's based,
and if the username has been shaned now after the future?
Speaker 3 (28:56):
All right, I get that that makes sense was rolled
out this weekend.
Speaker 9 (28:59):
Ex users, Many conservative and MAGA associated accounts with tens
of thousands of followers turned out to be based in
other countries.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
So let's bring in CBS News contributor. Now, I don't
want to do that. I don't want to.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
So the investigative reporting shows that the American style polarized
content has become a global side hustle. Now get this.
Here's where you put things together. How do we animate people?
And now the report that they just gave you from
CBS News, that is the MAGA accounts, and that's going
to be because it's on x okay. X has been
catering to the conservative minds for a long time. You
may find a similar situation a more liberal catering social media.
(29:40):
But investigative reporting shows that the American style polarized content
has become a global side hustle. So you've got creators
in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Russia and more, and they are
producing content that has aimed at US audiences. It is
not even necessarily part of some sort of a Russian.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Intelligence scheme. It might just be because.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Clicks in the US pay more, So they're gonna write
things that are gonna get clicked and retweeted, and they're
gonna do it in the country that pays the most
for clicks and retweets.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
So how do I do this?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
You elicit in emotional response, You fire somebody up, you
give them something that they want to share. I have
to spread this news. Truth be damned. I gotta spread
the news. The people who are creating this content don't
even care if it's factual as long as it gets
you fired up, because if you're fired up, you click
on it, and then the algorithm gets you, and then
their stuff continues to show up. The goal is in truth,
(30:44):
it's all about engagement and rage division. They all perform
better on the clicks in the retweets, and so the
monetization program is incentivizing.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
That behavior.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
So an account claiming to be a US America First
Voice was shown by X and theyre knew about this
account page to be based in a country like Bangladesh
or Thailand.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
This is from a business insider.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Platforms like X were built to reward the systems for
content that grabs attention quickly, often without regard for truth.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
And so we have monetized this outrage.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
And you might argue, look, talk radio has been monetizing
outrage for years. I'd be hard pressed to argue with
you on that. We're very good at it. We found
out a long time ago. It makes money in the
same way that nineteen nineties Morning Zoo Radio figured out
ways to monetize and get ears on people acting zany.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Right, it became pass but they were acting zany.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
So these different content creators online now found the next
the next avenue to do that. But there are any guardrails.
So is it a surprise. I don't think you can
say it's a surprise. I will add this one caveat
to it, though, is that I don't know how accurate
(32:10):
X's about this page account is. First, there have been
some there were some questions about even US government based pages,
and X had to come out and say, you know,
wait a minute, you know there were there are a
small number of the about this that got things wrong. Okay,
So that's the first thing. Second of all, if you
are a divisive author and you're using X as your avenue,
(32:34):
I would also say it's probably quite plausible that you
would be using a VPN because you don't want people
tracking your location, because you don't want to be docksed.
So before we jump to the conclusion that everything is
this bot farming, rage farming kind of thing, I do
want to make sure we add those caveats that there
may be a reason for it showing up somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
There's my disclosure. I don't want to talk about politics anymore. Mark,
Can I move off of politics?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
You're good?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
With that, I beg you to thank God. All right,
let's do this. Let's talk about people dying. Well, that's uplifting, right.
You turn on the music to feel something, and then
on the radio you hear a voice. It's a voice
you're never gonna forget. And now you get news at that,
you get news about that voice. It's gonna make your
day a little darker, little rainier, a little less sunshiny.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
It's next Chris
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Merril KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI. AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hey there, Chris Merrill, I am six forty more stimulating
talk You guys are fun. You guys are a blast.
Some more people giving us talkbacks. By the way, I
do listen to all the talkbacks. They don't all make
it out of the air, but I do listen to
(00:30):
all of them. I will say this. There we were
a few people who were listening to the last segment
where Nicky was giving her thoughts on immigration as Carolyn
Livitt's nephews. Well, I guess it's her brother's baby, Mama,
it's been obtained by ice. She was a doctor recipient
from nineteen ninety eight, And so some other people were
(00:53):
They were not very kind to me because I was
pushing back on some of the things that Nicki said,
and then some people pushing back Nikki.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
But you gotta be nice. You gotta be nice to Nikki.
That's the rule. You can come at me, you can
come at me. You have to be nice to Nicky.
Where are we in society to exactly where?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
For me?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I'm a man, I'm a man. I think it's funny.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
What absolutely phenomenal you are. Funny you're intelligent, you're witty.
Don't listen to these awful people who call in or trolls.
I think you are very handsome too. I looked you up,
big Teddy Bear.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, it's your wife.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
No, thank you for being on the air. You're my favorite.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
That's right. It's not my wife. No, but I'm gonna
send that to my wife. Nothing makes her hotter than
thinking somebody.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Else likes me. Oh god, that is the best.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
That's how that works. Oh, it is so how it works.
Oh I love it so much. I'm gonna send it
to her.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Let me see. Hey, babe, she's like, yeah, like that.
Are you gonna play the talk back from my fan? No? No,
because they ever mean to you. I'm not gonna do it.
I think it's funny pull him out.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Nope, nope, No, we're not doxing anybody.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I am not doing that stuff. Come on, what's mad
with you? A doxing people?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
He called me, he called me britt, he called two
of them called me brit.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
And how does Olie feel about that? As the actual
British person? Yeah, like, how do you feel about that?
You should take that as a compliment. That's pretty that's
pretty funny. I kind of like that. All right, let's
move on. Speaking of trolls.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Uh So, the Democrats in the Senate were trolling the
President when they put out the video saying that you
can't you shouldn't follow illegal orders, which look duh, but
they knew it was going to bug the president and
then the rather than the President saying, yeah, I agree,
you shouldn't follow illegal orders, but on the Comander in chief,
(02:49):
I'm not giving you illegal orders. And these Democrats are
just trying to stir the pot, and it would have
been done, but he didn't. He took the bait, and
then he said the seditious behavior punishable by death of
these Democratic senators. And so then of course they started
getting death threats, and so we got the audio of
the death threats to the senators, and these people seem.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
I hope whoever mows your brains out records it, because
I would like to watch you speak what a loser
you are.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
And Kerry and select Ken, I think it's Slotkin. I
think he mispronounced it. Hey, let's listen again, Select Ken.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, I'm pretty sure it's slot Can I think you
mispronounced that. Yeah, I think it's at least a slot kin.
Yeah what we called her the C word. Oh this
is better than being called a bread but still not great.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
You to die. I hope you all get murdered. I
hope you all get throat flashed.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
He just wow, he seems easily upset. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I bet there's nothing else going on in his life.
That's that's bothering him?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Is he single? Wow?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
She loves the red flags? Okay, next one. This, this
is a god fearing gentleman.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
You disgrace American and I'll pray you go and David,
not before your family does.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Wow. I pray you die today, but not before your
family does. He's probably just being hyperbolic. He probably is
not actually trying to invoke the wrath of God on
someone who simply said you should follow the law.
Speaker 6 (04:34):
I pray they die painful death.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Again, I'm sure it's hyperbolic that it's not that he's
not actually praying for someone's family to die of painful death. Hey,
a blessed day. Oh okay, Yeah, it's nice to see
people taking the high road like that.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
That's good. Okay, all right, Oh there's.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
More if they do that day, Yeah, rest to sure,
I'll be in church just someday, because.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I guess he was serious about invoking prayer to try
to do. But at least he wasn't swearing like the
last guy, right, I mean he wasn't. It wasn't like
calling people the sea word and and the F word
and everything else.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
You worthless play?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (05:17):
All right? Right, so did that? I got that going
for you? Well, Chris, this is a teaching moment. Those
are known as imprecatory prayers. Just if you want to
throw those around. Never heard that it's important to use
the right terminology when you're wishing someone ory, Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I love this. You did learn me something today. There
you go. Good.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
I have somebody kills you with your whole.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Family and regal alien. I hope they kill you and
your whole family. So you're letting them in a country,
you scummy American. You're a communist, you Jason Crow, you scummy.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Little Okay, So.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
That seems great, Yeah, all right, doesn't like communists unless
it's Bumdanni in the Oval office and then everything gets
along really well.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
So now the president has struck back as well.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I'm sure you're aware. And now it looks like we
are going to have an investigation. The FBI is now
asking to interview the Democrats that were in that video.
The President's asked the DOJ to investigate Senator Mark Kelly,
a former Navy pilot and astronaut, and then it could
be it could go so poorly for Mark Kelly that
(06:33):
they actually recall him to active duty so that he
can be court martialed. Secretary of Defense beat hegxith or
War Secretary if you use the current terminology, refer to
the video participants as the seditious six. Mark Kelly's being
singled out by the Department of Defense or Department of War,
depending on whether you want to be official or not,
(06:54):
because he's the only veteran of the group who falls
under Hegsith's jurisdiction. Secretary exists. Oh hang on, that was
his response. I gotta I gotta find this because I was.
According to some experts, they say that he didn't break
the law by stating that members of the military can
refuse illegal orders, which is actually just restating the law. Yeah,
(07:18):
here we go. According to the Department of War on
x I guess the official communication platform. A thorough review
of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions,
which may include recall to active duty for court martial
proceedings or administrative measures. So here's what I think is
really fascinating about all of us. I think none of
(07:40):
us believe that that there's going to be a court
martial when you have a sitting senator. By the way,
isn't there such a thing as senatorial immunity? I mean,
you have presidential immunity, right, can't you have like some
sort of a congressional immunity things that you say in
the process of doing your job. I'm pretty sure there's
(08:00):
a law about that. But anyway, just the same, you
have a freedom of speech. They didn't say anything that
was defamatory or wrong or insightful. I mean, it's pretty
well protected speech. So the investigation itself is is performative
(08:22):
as much as the original video was absolutely performative, and
it was meant to just sort of poke the bear.
President Trump had two ways that he could go on it,
and he took kind of the way that I think
we expected him to take, and that is that he
takes the bait and he goes, I'm gonna lash out.
You want to poke the bear? You're getting the bear right.
Don't mess with the bull son, you're going to get
the horns. And I think this could end up backfiring.
(08:47):
And I think there may be members of the GOP
strategic the party strategic group here that might be saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
this is starting to get out of control. I'm going
to tell you why this could protent eventually backfire. Well,
for all I know, we're in the upside down. All
I know, we end up hanging these guys out in
the public square. Although with Mark Kelly, I think probably
(09:08):
launching him into space without a spacesuit would be a
better way.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
To go, I mean fitting.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
So you'll find out why this political theater could end
up backfiring, and members of the GOP might be saying, whoa, whoa, whoa,
hang on here, we just we just we just grabbed
defeat from the jaws of victory. We'll find out why
that is.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Next. I'm Chris Merril.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Oh is that hang on? Turn that up?
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I love it is an easy fan maybe the best
British rock band ever, so British, best British band ever
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I mean not me.
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Speaker 3 (11:17):
Right, I don't know what the rules are. But don't
you have enough? Sir? Is this not enough for you?
I do? Yeah, give somebody else a chance for once.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Let's see Angel Martinez Naughty custom sandal kit her sandals
are great. That's a good idea. All right, that's good stuff.
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Speaker 3 (11:40):
Let's go to KFI AM six forty dot com slash Pastathon.
There we are.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Okay, So the the show voting in DC continues. You
had the Democratic senators that came out and they said
that the president.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Uh, they didn't say they said, you have.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
If you're in the military, you should ignore illegal orders.
Of course, that's not always so cut and dry. That
all came about because of the Nuremberg Trials when you
had Nazis And they said, why'd you do it? And
they said, I was just following orders. I'm not a
bad guy. I was just following orders. And basically they said, yeah,
that's not an excuse. You can't go gassing millions of
(12:17):
people and go I was just told to do it. Now,
you can't do that. But what is an illegal order?
And this is where things get a little bit tricky.
Now most people think that the video was about the
bombing of the boats in the Caribbean, and this is
becoming a little bit of international drama. And honestly, I
think most people were in a bit of in the
weeds on this because, Okay, were they narco terrorists? Were
(12:41):
they Narco boats? Was there evidence that they were trafficking drugs?
Is are we just simply executing people without due process?
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, all this other stuff, right,
And I know some of you are going to go there,
they're drug smugglers, they deserve to die and others of
you are going to go. We don't know unless there's
due process, and due process is a found fund of
everything that we hold deer. Now others will say there
(13:02):
is no due process. We're not in America. No others
will say, that's exactly why we shouldn't be killing other
people on foreign soil, especially without any sort of further information.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
That's all beside the point. What is legal, what is illegal?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
And basically, if you're getting an order, unless that order
is pull that child out in the middle of the
square and shoot.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Him in the head, you pretty much have to follow orders.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
The video wasn't cut so much for the pilots who
are executing these orders. The video is more for the officers,
and they're asking the officers to take a stand, and
I'm telling the officers to take a stand.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
They're saying, if it's an.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Illegal order, you feel it's an illegal order, you have
a duty to run it up the flagpole. Basically, now
you run it up the chain of command, what happens
You're going to be told shut up and do your job.
But then you make some sort of a note so
that at least if you are dragged out in the
public square. You can say, whoa, whoa, whoa. I voiced
my concerns and I was told it's fully legal. Right,
That's basically what they're saying. So is it illegal to
(14:06):
fire upon someone who's been deemed an enemy by the
United States even though you don't know who's in there?
Oh yeah, but what if there's what if there's a
a collateral damage? Okay, well there's collateral damage in Afghanistan?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Was that illegal? Right? Well?
Speaker 2 (14:24):
What if you're told that you need to go into
somebody's house and uh and and pull their family out.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
That's happening here in the United States.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And this is not a statement about immigration, But that's
not illegal, right, I mean, that's that's the problem. You
go into the house, you pull somebody out that's they're
suspected of being illegally, go make the arrest. Help please
do that all the time. We've got a warrant. Now
you might say, well, that's due process, but I mean
the action itself is perfectly legal. So if you are
someone who is a soldier or an airman or a seaman,
(14:56):
how are you supposed to know what is or is
not illegal. You're not a lawyer, You're certainly not a
judge advocate general, so just do what you're told. Anyway,
the Democratic Senators, they cut this video and it was
meant to poke the bear, and Donald Trump took the bait.
The GOP may be kicking themselves on this because what
he's basically done is raised the profile of Senator Mark Kelly.
(15:19):
Mark Kelly is not the most charismatic person you may
have noticed. I have a friend of mine who refers
to Mark Kelly as the potato because he basically is
just a spud. He doesn't do a whole lot vocally.
I mean, I mean, he's the senator. He's doing his job,
he's doing what he's supposed to be. But he's not
the bombastic guy who's on Fox one night, CNN the
(15:40):
next night.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
He's not that guy.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Now he's started get a little more press time, he's
started to get some some requests for interviews, but he's
he's not that guy that grabs all that attention.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
He's not very showman like.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And the President and Pete Hegsith, the Secretary of Defense,
has Secretary of War, whatever you want to call it,
have basically he lifted his profile in the national political scene.
Mark Kelly was thought of as a potential vice vice
presidential candidate for Kamala Harris, but she didn't choose him. Instead,
(16:13):
she ruined Tim Wall's career. So Mark Kelly is still
alive in the potential to be the Democratic nominee. Now,
if you're a Democrat in California, there may be some
things that Gavin Newsom did that you don't really like,
and you go, okay, look, he was the governor. I
was going to vote for the Democrat in California, but
I don't really like him. Who else is out there
(16:34):
that I might be able to look at in the primaries.
Mark Kelly might be a name that starts showing up
on a lot of radars all of a sudden, and
you've lifted his profile. Now he is getting those interview
requests on TV. And keep this in mind, it is
all performative. It is all political theater. Because nobody actually
believes that these elected officials, including the veterans, are going
(16:56):
to be dragged in front.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Of a military court. This is not viable. It's all
about the optics.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And so the goal from the administration is to project strength,
right decisiveness, crack down on these supposed traders continue this
narrative of the Democrats are anti American, but it's just
it's reality show politics. You take a you take a
normal disagreement, you inflate the danger the states. You throw
(17:24):
in hot button words like seditious, punishable by death, and
all of a sudden, you are, in Steve Bannon's words,
flooding the zone with crap. That's that's that's is part
of the fire hose of chaos. However, you did end
up raising the profile of a potential nominee who, if
(17:46):
facing off against JD. Vance or Marco Rubio, is going
to look pretty good. You may have just made things
more difficult for the next successor for the Republican Party.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That's my two cents on that one. I don't want
to do anymore. I'm done.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Instead, let's talk about who's watching you. You think you're
just cruising down the highway. Nope, it's a scanner, it's
a scorecard. It's a silent thumbs down on your route.
If suspicious now means whatever road you're driving on, are
we all under suspicion? You'll find out next Chris.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Merril, you're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Chris Merril kfi am six forty more stimulating talk. Oh
I love that excess on one of the great Australian bands.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
British Australian. We're definitely Australian. Definitely Australian.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
Hey, guys a British.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Not British, Australian, get it right, guys love the show
all right. This is all in response if you're joining
us to people mistaking Nikki for being British. It's just
how far over the heads that it goes sometimes, Yeah,
that's just you know, way over, maybe way over. Meanwhile,
Ali actually British. Yeah, so I think it's really interesting
(19:11):
too that, uh you've had to You're just minding your
own business, doing your job, and you're just hearing everybody
bagging on the Brits, and it's like, what did you
ever do?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Right, poor guy? I didn't say anything. He's like, I
didn't say anything in the the Lake God oh Man
and England you're gonna fire him up all right.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Meanwhile, I'm back in the States. We've been talking a
little bit about immigration. There is something going on though
where you are being watched, and I'm concerned about this
to a degree.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
There was a study that was done.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
A story from the AP that says that Border Patrol
has built a the surveillance network and it scans plates
and algorithmically flags drivers for what they call suspicious travel,
and that expands from the border duty into the interior. Normally,
the Border Patrol is kind of like the first one
hundred miles inside the border, which actually encompasses a huge
(20:18):
amount of the population in the United States. But in
this case it's actually into the interior of the country
as well, so that stops and searches and detentions that
then follow if they think somebody is acting suspiciously, suspiciously could.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Be avoiding main roads.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Even this is from ABC seven the Bay Area.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
ABC seven, You know that the government.
Speaker 8 (20:38):
Is partnering with several surveillance companies and that includes Flock,
which is used right here in Oakland, also in San Jose.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
But here is what we do need.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Flock is the company. I don't know if you can
pick that up. She's got a lot of noise behind her.
Speaker 8 (20:50):
No about this program. The AP found that Border Patrol
is monitoring millions of Americans nationwide with a secretive program
that includes surveillance cameras.
Speaker 6 (20:59):
On our road.
Speaker 8 (21:00):
The report details that agents are using the cameras to
identify drivers with what they believe are suspicious travel patterns,
than drivers are being pulled over, in questioned, sometimes even detained.
This is happening along both the Mexico and Canadian borders,
along with states across the country, including California.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
The Border Patrol hus for you, did she ad a syllable?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Did she just say California including California.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Isn't that how it's said? No, California, California.
Speaker 8 (21:33):
There you go, including California.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, yeah, California. Oh my.
Speaker 8 (21:45):
The Border Patrol hus for years and in details.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Of its license anyway, she's kind of proceeding in California,
reporting live from Frisco.
Speaker 8 (21:53):
I'm Border Patrol has for years and in details of
its license play program trying to keep any mention of
the program out of court documents and police reports. And
US Customs and Border Protection, which is Border Patrol's parent agency,
said to the AP for national security reasons, we do
not detail the specific operational applications, adding that it is
(22:17):
legally allowed to operate anywhere in the US, and the
AP ton to aid former government officials with direct knowledge
of the program, as well as dozens of state, local,
and federal officials and privacy experts and lawyers. Love at
the Brave Bridgetual Plaza Gloria Rodriguez ABC seven News.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
So the Bay Bridge, they center out in the rain
next to the traffic and they we're like, don't get.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Hit, okay. So they're basically hiding cameras all over the place.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
In you might be driving by a construction barrel, right
and you're like, man, how long are they going to
leave that out? And you think that it was some
crew that forgot their construction barrel. No, it's actually a
construction barrel that has a.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Camera inside of it. It's sneaky hidden.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And so there may be some uh, some rights advocates
that are going, hold on, we don't want to become
a surveillance state like England. We want we still want
to have some sort of some sort of autonomy. Then
you have others that go in. Security of the country
is the most important, and border patrol is simply enforcing
the laws and they're they're tracking people who might be
(23:22):
acting suspiciously, and then they want to investigate further. I
am a little concerned though, because I always this is
this is sort of the foundation of my thinking.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
I I don't like it.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
When I'm being suspected of doing something wrong without any
evidence other than just simply my my normal behavior. Well,
your behavior seemed weird, and weird is suspicious, and suspicious
should be investigated.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
And I get it.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Look if if I'm if I'm hanging out in a
in a CD part of town and i'm and I
see a police car and I turn around and I
start walking the other way, I get it.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
That's suspicious. I get it.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
But if I'm simply avoiding the freeway and taking surface streets,
is that enough to be considered suspicious? If I'm traveling,
for instance, I lived in San Diego, And if I'm
traveling on the eight, which goes down you know, by
camp and who come to Hot Springs, and you're near
the border, or you continue on a little further and
(24:24):
you get near Mexicale Cawlexico area or Yuma. Even there
you are and you're near the border, and I gotta
tell you, I used to do that trip back and
forth twice a week.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
That would probably be considered suspicious, wouldn't it.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I mean, I'm driving back and forth from the border
city into a major city a couple times a week,
that would be suspicious. But the truth was, I was
driving between I had two jobs. I won in San
Diego and won in Phoenix, and I kept driving between
the two. My wife and daughter were in San Diego
while she graduated high school, and I was working in
Phoenix and in San Diego. I had a job. I
was doing two shows, so I was back and forth
(25:02):
all the time. I wasn't doing anything wrong. So why
is that considered suspicious? If you're a truck driver and
you're crossing the border constantly and maybe you find it.
You found an alternate route that allows you to avoid, say,
delays at a border checkpoint, and so you took that
hitting a quieter border checkpoint, for instance. Is that suspicious?
(25:26):
So that's where I'm a little bit concerned. I don't
like the idea of perfectly reasonable behavior considered to be suspicious. Anyway,
there's not a whole lot that either one of us
can do about it, but you need to be aware.
You just need to be aware of what's going on,
and you need to decide do I like the idea
that the government is watching me? Do I trust the government,
(25:50):
because even people say they never trust the government, all
of a sudden trust the government in certain scenarios, and
people that say that I trust the government implicitly, all
of a sudden don't trust the government, usually when that's
somebody from the other party that it's elected, that all
of a sudden they don't trust the government. Wasn't it
Reagan that said the most terrifying words are I'm here
from the government and I'm here to help, right paraphrasing,
(26:11):
probably slaughtered the quote, but you get the point. So
do you trust government implicitly or or are you a
little worried when they start collecting data and watching your
driving habits. You know what kind of car you drive,
they know how fast you drive, they know when you drive,
to pick up on your patterns, just feels very big
Brother to me.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Yes, scroll social media thinking the voices that you.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Hear your neighbors or your friends, and they're sharing real takes,
but they're not what you're really seeing could be far
more sinister, and they're treating you like you're dumb. But
are you that's next? Chris Merrill.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
You're listening to KFI AM sixty on demand.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And Chris Merril Am sixty on demand anytime in the
iHeart Radio app still to come. I'm uh some heartbreaking news.
We'll give you this coming up here on the nine
o'clock hour and really terrifying it. Being a celebrity doesn't
protect you from creeps. I'll tell you what to what's
going on there? My friends from the.
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Talkbacks, Hey Chris, Hey Scott, Hey Scott, your show is
so good that I don't know if you're a conservative
or liberal? And I like that. Thank you and keep
it up, man.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I like it all right there you go. Appreciate it,
my friend, It's very good. That's what I go for.
I go for political ambiguity. That's really what I'm down for. Yeah,
call it like you see it, you know, good, bad,
whatever it is. I get both sides of the arguments.
But here's the thing. If all of a sudden you
feel like somebody's out to get you, you've basically become
(27:53):
like a tool for your side, you know, like of
all of a sudden, you start adopting all that mob thing, Like,
wait a minute, are you thinking for yourself? If all
of a sudden you find you agree with everything, then
you have to wonder do I or is it that
someone else is telling me what I want to hear.
(28:14):
You know, that's why I don't trust any of the politicians.
I don't trust any of them, and I definitely don't
trust whoever I think he's the mob. Oh yeah, oh
they all agree with me. I know it because I
see all my friends online. Well, first of all, you've
been fed the algorithm. Second of all, who are these
friends online? According to two X, they're not who you
(28:38):
think they are.
Speaker 9 (28:38):
All right, there's a new feature on the social media
X that's causing some concern over the legitimacy of popular
political accounts. The update, called about this account allows users
to see where the account was created, where it's based,
and if the username has been shaned now after the future?
Speaker 3 (28:56):
All right, I get that that makes sense was rolled
out this weekend.
Speaker 9 (28:59):
Ex users, Many conservative and MAGA associated accounts with tens
of thousands of followers turned out to be based in
other countries.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
So let's bring in CBS News contributor. Now, I don't
want to do that. I don't want to.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
So the investigative reporting shows that the American style polarized
content has become a global side hustle. Now get this.
Here's where you put things together. How do we animate people?
And now the report that they just gave you from
CBS News, that is the MAGA accounts, and that's going
to be because it's on x okay. X has been
catering to the conservative minds for a long time. You
may find a similar situation a more liberal catering social media.
(29:40):
But investigative reporting shows that the American style polarized content
has become a global side hustle. So you've got creators
in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Russia and more, and they are
producing content that has aimed at US audiences. It is
not even necessarily part of some sort of a Russian.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Intelligence scheme. It might just be because.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Clicks in the US pay more, So they're gonna write
things that are gonna get clicked and retweeted, and they're
gonna do it in the country that pays the most
for clicks and retweets.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
So how do I do this?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
You elicit in emotional response, You fire somebody up, you
give them something that they want to share. I have
to spread this news. Truth be damned. I gotta spread
the news. The people who are creating this content don't
even care if it's factual as long as it gets
you fired up, because if you're fired up, you click
on it, and then the algorithm gets you, and then
their stuff continues to show up. The goal is in truth,
(30:44):
it's all about engagement and rage division. They all perform
better on the clicks in the retweets, and so the
monetization program is incentivizing.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
That behavior.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
So an account claiming to be a US America First
Voice was shown by X and theyre knew about this
account page to be based in a country like Bangladesh
or Thailand.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
This is from a business insider.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Platforms like X were built to reward the systems for
content that grabs attention quickly, often without regard for truth.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
And so we have monetized this outrage.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
And you might argue, look, talk radio has been monetizing
outrage for years. I'd be hard pressed to argue with
you on that. We're very good at it. We found
out a long time ago. It makes money in the
same way that nineteen nineties Morning Zoo Radio figured out
ways to monetize and get ears on people acting zany.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Right, it became pass but they were acting zany.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
So these different content creators online now found the next
the next avenue to do that. But there are any guardrails.
So is it a surprise. I don't think you can
say it's a surprise. I will add this one caveat
to it, though, is that I don't know how accurate
(32:10):
X's about this page account is. First, there have been
some there were some questions about even US government based pages,
and X had to come out and say, you know,
wait a minute, you know there were there are a
small number of the about this that got things wrong. Okay,
So that's the first thing. Second of all, if you
are a divisive author and you're using X as your avenue,
(32:34):
I would also say it's probably quite plausible that you
would be using a VPN because you don't want people
tracking your location, because you don't want to be docksed.
So before we jump to the conclusion that everything is
this bot farming, rage farming kind of thing, I do
want to make sure we add those caveats that there
may be a reason for it showing up somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
There's my disclosure. I don't want to talk about politics anymore. Mark,
Can I move off of politics?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
You're good?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
With that, I beg you to thank God. All right,
let's do this. Let's talk about people dying. Well, that's uplifting, right.
You turn on the music to feel something, and then
on the radio you hear a voice. It's a voice
you're never gonna forget. And now you get news at that,
you get news about that voice. It's gonna make your
day a little darker, little rainier, a little less sunshiny.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
It's next Chris
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Merril KFI AM six forty on demand
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