12-26-25 FULL SHOW - Benjamin Allbright Fills In For Mandy

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to it Mandy Connall Show. Bet to what Albright
here filling in for Mandy Connall today and Monday. Today
will be a bit of a hybrid sports slash Mandy show.
Monday will be a normal Mandy type show. Hope you
guys had a great Christmas. We're having a great holiday
so far. A lot going on Denver. Broncos, of course,

(00:23):
played last night, beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas
Day on Thursday Night Football in a game that was
perhaps a little closer than comfort for a lot of
fans who expected a bit of a blowout. Bronco's winning
twenty to thirteen and proving to thirteen and three on
the season, dropping the already eliminated Kansas City Chiefs to

(00:43):
six and ten. Bo Nicks through thirty eight times for
a mere one hundred and eighty two yards. He had
one touchdown, one interception, took a sack as well.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
That touchdown pass was to RJ. Harvey.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
On the chief side of things, their third stream quarterback,
Chris Olanukan was the quarterback. He only dropped back twenty
two times, five of which were on the final drive,
managed only sixty six passing yards, did get a passing touchdown,
and that was to running back for Chards Smith, but
otherwise largely ineffective. The only reason in Kansas City was
even in that game was because the Denver Broncos had

(01:19):
gifted them two short fields, once on an offensive turnover
on an interception by Bo Nixon, then the other on
a special teams breakdown that allowed a larger return and
allowed them to get a few points out of that
as well. The Broncos and Broncos fans now have their
eyes on the Houston Texans playing the Los Angeles Chargers

(01:42):
this weekend. If the Texans were to win, the Broncos
would clinch the AFC West. If the Chargers win, then
the Broncos will play the Chargers next week here in
Denver in a brawl for it all to win the
AFC West and possibly the number one overall.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
So a lot on the.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Line if you're a Broncos fan or a football fan,
and we'll get into more of that as we go along.
Five six six nine Zero's the text line, Well, yeah,
you guys did over the holiday week? Did you did
you get everything you wanted? I've got to that age
where there's not anything I want you know, it's just
like there's anything I can I can go get at

(02:22):
myself if there's something I want, and I'm usually not
willing to If there's something I want, I'm not willing
to wait on it.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
So I'm not the kind of person that.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
He's gonna sit there and tell people, hey, I want
this for Christmas and then just wait on it for
a couple of months or any of that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
And I don't have, you know, a whole lot of family.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
You know, my my mother of course, is retired down
there in Lake of the Ozarks, and I got a
couple of brothers that are either in Saint Louis or
South Carolina, So you know, the family's fairly spread out
as far as that goes. We just don't have the
same Christmas get togethers that used to. And I think
I think for me, having been deployed back when I

(03:04):
was in the Army, I sort of adopted my own
Christmas traditions over the years. I kind of got used
to having Christmas by myself and kind of have my
own traditions now. That was fordhad yesterday since we had
to do coverage for the Broncos game. As the Broncos
were obviously playing last night on Christmas Day. But typically
I tend to, you know, I get up, make myself

(03:27):
a nice breakfast and just just be lazy and then
I'll eventually I'll in the afternoon go find a movie
and go watch that. Need some Chinese food for dinner,
And that's that's typically my Christmas arc as. It were
not big, but it's just my own tradition for myself.
And I didn't get to do any of that obviously yesterday,

(03:49):
so I will probably do it on Saturday, just to
do it. But I don't know what movie to go watch.
I barely know any of the movies that are out
right now. I know I saw a commercial for the
Timothy Shallow may Ping Pong movie.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
I don't know if that's any good.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
I need to ask my buddy, yea Christian total he
does the movie or reviews. I need to ask him
about that if that's worth my time or if I'm
gonna waste my.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Money on a lot of ticket doing that.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
But five six extenmes, I'd love to hear you guys
as Christmas traditions and how your Christmas is went. I
appreciate you guys being along for the ride here on KOA.
One person's Christmas traditions probably changed down there in Arkansas,
and those of you who know me know I spent
quite a bit of time down there in Arkansas' where
graduated high school. As the powerball jackpot was one Wednesday,

(04:38):
December twenty fourth power Bowl drawing. The balls were four
twenty five, thirty one, fifty two fifty nine and the
Red Power Bowl of nineteen. The total jackpot was one
point eight one seven billion dollars. Now you have two
options for that as a winner. You can take the
cash option, which is the upfront lump sum, which is

(05:00):
a mere eight hundred and thirty four point nine million.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
I don't even know if I could settle for that.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Shennon's back there looking like he could not live off
that kind of money.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
He's kind of a diva, I understand.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Or you could get the entire one point eight one
seven in a annuity option, which you get one immediate payment
and then twenty nine annual payments that increase by five
percent each year. Nationwide, eight tickets hit all five of

(05:32):
the white balls and the winning match. Five tickets that
got those were sold in California. Indiana, Michigan to them
in New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania and Virginia. And if
you get five of those, you get a million bucks.
Except in California, where they're their prize payouts are parimutual
and determined by sales number winners. They got all kinds
of stuff going on with that is California. Leave it

(05:52):
to California to be complicated. The drawing also produced one
hundred and fourteen tickets that won fifty thousand dollars prizes
and thirty one tickets that won one hundred thousand dollars prizes.
That is the forty seventh in the this current jackpot run,
which was a game record for most drawings in a
jackpot cycle before somebody won the big prize the previous

(06:16):
Powerball jackpot last time somebody won was September sixth and
it was two tickets Missouri and Texas and they split
one point seven eighty seven billion. I think about this
ticket which was sold in Cabot, Arkansas. I was sold
at the gas station I used to frequent.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
It's in the same.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Parking lot as my old bank. Just you know, one
of those things. It's in a small town at Arkansas.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Cabot.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
It's about ten minutes north of where I used to
live in Lono, but my friends, one of my best
friends and he still lives there to this day, lived
up there in Cabot. Broncos connection to that, Peyton hillis
the former running back here. Went to high school and
played as high school ball there in Cabot. But yeah,
it's funny because a lot of my high school friends

(07:02):
that I'm still in touch with and Facebook friends with
are all trying to guess who the winner is because
these are such small, tight knit communities that usually lord
gets out and so we're wondering if it's somebody that
doesn't actually reside there, and we're just happen to hit
the gas station which is right there on the edge
of the entrance trap to the highway if maybe if

(07:22):
somebody passed it that doesn't necessarily live there. And that's
how it's managed to remain secret for a few days.
Is this kind of stuff like somebody somebody coming into
somebody from cabint, Arkansas coming into one hundred thousand dollars
would be big news.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Coming into nearly two billion.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Dollars is almost unfathomable, and so It's one of those
things where and maybe that'svolding of interest to me, but
it's one of those things where it's fascinating to me
to see if somebody finally figures out if it was
somebody in the like I said, rather titaned community I
of Cabot, Arkansas that actually won this prize, or somebody
passing through not at any event, the ticket was sold

(08:00):
there in Arkansas. And it led to questions everybody speculating,
you know.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
What, you take the lump saw even though.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
It's a third, and then by the time you get
done with your taxes and everything else, you're probably winding
up with with about four hundred and eighty million, give
or take. Are you taking that or are you taking
the thirty years worth of payments? And I got to
talking to my broadcast partner, Nick Ferguson during the break yesterday,

(08:36):
and he was like, man, you know, I was wondering
if family members would try to murder you so that
the money would go to the estate, you know. And
it got me to think, and I mean, like, there's
there's so there's things you'd have to set up if
you won that kind of money. There's things you'd have
to do before you could tell anybody, right, I mean anybody,

(08:57):
because once you tell one person, they're gonna tell one person.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
It's out there. There's things you'd have to do, like
I would.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
For me, I would end up setting up some sort
of trust for the money where it would not go
to my family at all upon my death for like
fifty years. That way, nobody who's alive now could benefit
from murdering me, you know, like I would. They're happy
things you'd put in place to try to keep people

(09:27):
from from being incentivized to eliminate you to collect that money.
And I wonder how many complications winning a lottery introduces
into people's lives. I mean, obviously there's a tax headache,
but I mean you could just lump sum that upfront
with that kind of money, and then what to do
with the money, Like, what would you do with that

(09:50):
much money? I'm comfortable, but I'm not buy a mega
yacht wealthy you know, which is it? Would you would
you buy a yacht? I got to think about it, Like,
you know, I'd probably buy myself an island somewhere I
can get away from everybody, build it up, you know,

(10:13):
and and just something that I could have a getaway
place away from everything. But in terms of like day
to day stuff, I don't know, set up some kind
of charity that I can work through to advance causes
that I that I like, there's a soccer team for
sale in England, Swindon. They're the They're the fourth tier
of British soccer. Maybe I'd do that for funzies. I

(10:37):
don't really know what I would do with that. I've
never I've never sat around and really daydreamed about what
I would do with the Power Bowl winnings that I
have to be fair, I don't play.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
So what am I really going to do?

Speaker 1 (10:48):
But I've always thought that stuff was what's funny, And
I certainly thought when Nick was pointing out that you know,
family members or sudden incentivized to un alive view that
that that yeah, that presents its own said you have
to hire Do you need to hire security all of
a sudden?

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Do you need a food tester? My my immediate thought,
like I said.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Was to create a trust that would keep anybody currently
alive from being able to get the money. It would
create generational wealth for my family. But at the end
of the day, like you know, nobody alive would be
incentivized to do anything to me, And I don't know if.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
That would be enough.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
I find the taxes on in Arkansas, you can remain anonymous,
so we may never know, you know, who this is
without finding.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Out through back channels at the end of the day
who this person is.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
But I wonder if you would take the love sum
upfront or take the annuity.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
I've probably taken the annuity.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
I get that that's not depending on how you look
at the and you'll get people on both sides of this,
depending on how you look at investing the money and
the rate of return and all that kind of stuff.
It can be better to take the love sum, even
though it's a lesser of a dollar amount up front.
There are there are benefits to both. But I don't know.

(12:32):
I think I would. I think I would take the annuity.
I think I'm one of the rare people that would
take annuity, where most people wind up taking the love
Some the love sum payout at eight hundred and thirty
four point nine million dollars, you know, two hundred million
dollars in federal taxes.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Withheld.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
There's additional federal taxes you have to do amounting, you know,
the game prize, all that kind of stuff. At a
hundred and eight you look at it, three hundred and
eight million dollars in federal taxes, and since Arkansas state
taxes what it is, you got another thirty three and
a half million there. So your total take home on

(13:13):
the lump sum would be four hundred and ninety three
point five million, give or take, and for most people
that would be enough for a lifetime. For most people,
five hundred million dollars would be more than enough for
a lifetime. Five six six nine zeros text line I

(13:39):
got nine seven oh says buy the Rockies. I don't
know if that's enough money to buy the Rockies, even
the full one put to give you an idea of
how wealthy the wealthy people that own these things are
one point eight billion dollars. I don't think that's enough
money to buy the Rockies. First of all, they'd have
to be willing to sell. But the Rockies themselves, the

(14:02):
franchise is valued at like I think it's like one
point five billion, give or take. I've seen estimates from
one four eight to one six two. I asked around
about this a while back, like two years ago, just because,
like I was curious as to what Major League Baseball
franchise would go for, especially in light of you know,

(14:23):
the Broncos sale at the time and all that kind
of stuff. And I was told by people in the
know that that somewhere between one four and one six
and one six would be the over eager purchase price,
whereas one four would be the most realistic number.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
And I don't know that. I don't know that anybody
would do that.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
I mean, would you pay that just for the because
then you've got to turn around, you still got to
do payroll at all.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
It doesn't you know you're buying.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
That doesn't.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Mean everything is paid for. You still got to go
pay for everything. On top of that, you.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Pay for your leases, pay for your employees, pay for
your players. I don't know that I would buy the Rockies.
I don't know that i'd buy a baseball team if anything,
like I said I would, I would probably buy a
Tier four, Tier three English soccer team, because you have

(15:21):
the most upside if you put a little money into it,
get it promoted a couple of times, and get into
the Champions or the Premier League, and then all of
a sudden, you got something that started out as you know,
twenty million dollar purchase that's worth billions because of the
relegation and promotion systems, whereas you don't really, you know,
you don't have that.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
In American professional sports.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
You don't have there's not a relegation system or a
promotion system that would that would make that that kind
of investment. And that's not to say that you're automatically
going to get that. That's not to say that you're
going to get you know, you're gonna take your twenty
million and just turn it into billions of dollars. If
it were that easy, everybody would do it. But for

(16:05):
me looking at it, I'm forty five years old. To me,
that would if I were purchasing something in sports that
has the most upside to me, Even though I love
the game of American football. I like soccer, but I
don't love it. I love the game of American football,
the entry price is prohibitive and the upside is not.
As you know, at this point, it's just pretty tapped

(16:27):
out seven to one nine. A boat is a hold, Yeah,
a boat is a hole to throw money into. Yeah,
that's probably the I mean, like I'm not going to
go out there and buy a yacht or anything like that. Like,
I wouldn't do that. I sold my boat before I
came up here to Colorado. Was living in Tampa at

(16:47):
the time where I moved out here. And you know,
there's that old saying that the happiest the two happiest
day in a in a boat owner's life for the
day buys his boat the day he sells his boat.
They are a money pit. I will say that they
are an absolute money pip. I don't think that's the
direction I would. I would go the seven two bit,

(17:10):
and I thought lump sum was already taxed. That's why
it's less than half the total winnings. Where does all
that money go? No, it's not so you have the
option of it's because the prize itself is the annuity.
But they allow you to buy it out at a
lump sum up front or a cash option up front.
So you can either get one point eight one seven

(17:32):
billion over a thirty year annuity, or they will give
you eight hundred and thirty four point nine million cash
and a lump sum up front. Now that annuity, there's
different rules on that kind of stuff. I have to
double check because I believe if you if you pass
away the payment stop, you know, there'd have to be

(17:54):
some kind of language in there to direct it to
your survivors and the draw I would have to allow
that all that kind of stuff. So you know, you
get you get either the full number in a thirty
year annuity or you get eight hundred and thirty four
point nine million up front. Either way, you've got to
pay taxes on both of it. You know, whichever way
you do it, you got to pay the taxes. That's

(18:15):
on you. So no, that's not the tax is taken
out the eight hundred and thirty four million. If you
took that upfront, you would pay three to h eight
point the mathematter, three eight point seven in federal taxes.
The state of Arkansas, you'd pay thirty two and a
half million, give or take, and that would leave you.

(18:36):
If you took the cash option up front, your final
take home would be four hundred and ninety three point
close to five. You like four four seven, So four
ninety three point four to seven would be your total
take home. That that's you know, it's not the taxes
aren't taken out. They just they're trying to save themselves
money one way or the other, and that's that's how

(18:56):
they do it. Three says Hi Benjamin, glad you're on today.
I'll be seventy in a few days, so I would
take the lump sum completely understandable.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
I totally get that.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
I have no family, so anything I have left would
be going to various animal shelters. Kind of money would
make a very nice, much needy gift to animals and need.
They could name a room with the shelter after me.
I would love that. Well, if you're donating in the
hundreds of millions of dollars, I don't think they just
name a room after you. It would be the joke
anonymous shelter. At that point, I'd even name the whole

(19:29):
city block after you. Yeah, it'd be good though. I mean,
you know, for me, I think about it as a
three pronged kind of thing. Like the first thing I
would do, I would take all my family and pay
all their debt down to zero, whatever debt they have,
I you know, bring every penny that you owe and
pay their debt down to zero, and then probably give

(19:50):
me a million bucks to you know, to set them
up for life and then there you go. You know,
I've paid your debt down zero. Here's a million dollars.
You know, now you've got leap you money. Right now,
you can to do what you want with your life
from here. You don't have to do certain things to
make certain payments. Uh. Then I would set up a
trust to work the charities and the causes that matter

(20:11):
to me. And then you know, i'd do something fun
like I said, I did buy the soccer team or something.
You got to have some sort of recreation out of that.
And then the rest of it goes towards uh, like
a general like you know, like a a sovereign wealth
fund that that I would just draw off the interest
for the for the remainder of my life, and my
family would have generational wealth and be taken care forever.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
And then you know that kind of stuff that I mean,
that would be my plan, But everybody's got something different.
I'm sure that's.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Been Albright filling in for Mandy Condell here on KOA.
We gotta hit a break. We'll get back after this.
That's been all right, filling in for Mandy Connell today.
I'll be filling in Monday as well. You gotta be
back here, Shannon. You're gonna be producer on Monday, you
don't know, Yeah, fair enough? Five six six nine zero
is the text line. We just got through talking about

(20:58):
the power ball and a pot nine five two. The
boat stands for bust out another thousand, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
it definitely does. For those just just tuning in, we're
talking about the potential to purchase a boat and how
that's a horrible purchase.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Don't ever do that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
Again, the two happiest days in a boat owner's life
the day they buy their boat the day they sell
their boat. I will tell you it is a mine
was a money pit. And and mine wasn't appreciably. I
mean I wasn't dilapidated or anything about it new, but yeah, it.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
Was a money pit.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
It was. Uh, it's one of those things you buy.
And I was living at Tampa at the time. It's
one of those things you buy thinking, you know, yeah,
you know, we'll get a bunch of girls, we'll go
out on the weekends and you know, and all this
kind of stuff, and yeah, that that that happens. But
you are just i mean, hemorrhaging money on that thing
to get the fuel for it. Is is always insanely expensive, uh,

(21:58):
maintenance for it, everything else, there's always something that goes wrong.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
It was just my advice would be, don't buy a
boat if you can avoid it.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Seven two have been out wreck the twenty nineteen Ferrari
to ninety six gts. Yeah, that's a bit.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
From when I fill in for Ross.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
I don't remember the first time I brought it up,
but the first time I was filled in for Ross,
I was like, yeah, I'll do my best not direct
to Ferrari, and Ross was like, this, this show you've
wildly overestimated. This is not a Ferrari, to which listeners
then began texting in every dilapidated vehicle they could think
of to describe the show, before settling in I believe

(22:38):
on a nineteen seventy eight Dodge Dart, but I'm not.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
You know, we haven't. I don't know if that's one hundred, but.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
That was that was the thing that we got to
talking about the worst vehicles we ever had, which for me,
I think was my first vehicle. I'm a firm believer
that you know, kids need a character car first. If
you want to get your kids a car, don't ever
buy them a new car for they need a character car,

(23:05):
they need an embarrassing clunker that they're going to have
to fix and do stuff too. It builds character. Man,
it did for me. I say, it builds character. Maybe
not miserably, but yeah. I had a nineteen eighty one
Honda Civic hatchback, didn't have power steering trying to turn,
and that thing was a workout. It was. It was dilapidated.

(23:29):
There was a rust through the floor. You could see
the highway if you pulled the mats up. Somebody broke
in and installed the stereo. That's how bad it was.
But I'm a firm believer that character cars are a good thing.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
I saw that.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
I was talking to somebody who they were looking at
purchasing their daughter a car and daughter turned, you know, sixteen,
and they were looking at at some new vehicles and
I was sitting there and I was like, I was like,
you're buying your daughter a brand new car at sixteen.
I mean, that's it's kind of asking for it, isn't it.
Don't you want them to learn on something that's kind
of you don't mind if it gets some bumps and

(24:09):
bruises along the way and gets them to learn, like,
you know, to listen for things in their car. And
I don't know, just my two cents, I think character
cars are a good thing, though, I mean, and.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
It made me more appreciative.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
I mean, that car was mine and it was a
horrible piece of you know what, but I was appreciative
of it, and it maybe more appreciative of the vehicles
that I.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Would come to own later on. I didn't just view.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Them as disposable tools to get me a to B.
I think you take better care of something if you
have to invest more into it. But that's just me.
But again, don't buy a boat five six sixty nine
zeroes of textlane real quick. Here we had record breaking
hottest Christmas Day on record, seventy one degrees yesterday seventy

(25:01):
one degrees. Temperatures of course stand near records.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Today. It was bald, you know they're walking before doing
the shows. It was nice.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
But in true Denver fashion, that is supposed to change tomorrow.
Yet that strong cold front it's supposed to be coming
in and hit the mountains tomorrow and it should be
into here into Denver by late tomorrow into Sunday morning,
four to twelve inches of snow at the ski areas
Denver Proper expecting one to four inches of snow accumulation

(25:32):
between late Saturday and early Sunday. Front range temperatures should
be down through the twenties and into the teens and
into the single digits by Monday morning. I have lived
many a place and I have never had the extreme

(25:53):
weather swings that specifically Highland Island's Ranch gets.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, that was an upside down pineapple joke.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
I'm just saying, like the weather here just it's it's crazy.
It'll be you know, it'll be seventy degrees like yesterday
and today, and then we're gonna have single digits with
snow on Monday. Snow is starting late Saturday, single digit
temperatures on Monday. I've just never I've never seen those
kinds of extremes and weather. I've lived different places. I mean,
live Tornido, Ali for a long time, and I saw it,
you know, the down in Tampa, how it would be

(26:28):
blaring sunny and then like clockwork every day at five o'clock,
you'd get a thunderstorm. You know, you get the torrential
downpour for fifteen minutes and then you go back to
being blairing sunny. I've lived all kinds of places where
things like that, but I've never, excuse me, I've never
seen the way the weather swings here in Colorado like that.

(26:57):
I mean, certainly had a girlfriends whose temperatures have swung
that fast, hitting the depths of frigidity after after warmth.
I could have been a precursor to that, though I
don't control the weather here, so uh anyway, Yeah, I

(27:17):
get out there today tomorrow morning. That's really going to
be your best bets as far as uh enjoying the
probably the last of this really nice weather before it
gets just awful for a few months and then.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
Comes back.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
That's one thing about Colorado and coming out here. You know,
I talked about selling my boat, and I mean because
you know, there's nowhere to bring a boat out here.
But I really did not know that much about Colorado
before coming out here, and so my perception was that
this was always cold and it was basically Seattle with snow,
which of course is not what it is at all.

(27:52):
So I you know, I sold my bike before I
came out here too, because I was like, I'm never
gonna be able to ride.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
It's gonna be snowing all the time, and I felt
like an idiot.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
So now I'm back out there trying to look around,
see because I want another bike, Shannon shaking his head
at me. Oh, I've been asking Rick, because you know,
Rick Lewis are are our good buddy who works over
in the Fox and of course does the Colorados that
never Broncos and.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
He rides all the time.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
But he keeps trying to talk me into like bikes
that I'm like, Man, I'm looking. I'm looking more for
like a like a cafe e racer style and he
wants something to you know, he's The bikes.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
That he likes are a little I don't know. They
might not know. I went on the back of.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Them five six sixty nine Zeros. The text line, we
got to take a break, we'll be back. But when
O'Brien fill it in five six sixty nine zeros text
line except two, Ben, you paid for that car with
your own money, and it was paid for That's what.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Made it cool to you.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Oh so maybe I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
It was certainly not cool.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
That. Uh, I'm not sure Brad Pitt was getting action
in that car. It was it was not cool but
I always appreciated it, uh, and it made me appreciate
the things that I own.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
Like I said later on, i'd.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Sven no mention on. My first car was a sixteen
year old Volkswagen Rabbit. It was a piece of crap,
but I really loved it. It was all mine.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Now I drive a Toto Sequoia, which I appreciate so
very much. Is the best thing. I absolutely love it. Well,
you know, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
I think everybody, you know, I certainly have a sentimentality
attached to that first car.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
I couldn't drive that thing now. I was a I mean,
I take it back. It got great gas mileage. That
was one thing. It got great gas match.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
Of course, this is back in you know, in nineteen
ninety five when gas was I believe I was paying
about seventy cents a gallon, give or take at that
point in time, seventy five cents a gallon.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
I can remember.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
I remember being in school and having leftover lunch money
and using that to go get you know, at the
end of the week, you'd you know, you'd have fifty
cents left over every day, and then you go and
you get a couple of gallons of gas on Friday,
and that way you could drive around or whatever, and.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
It got great gas mileage.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
You know.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
I mean at that point in time, it didn't. That
wasn't as big a thing as it is I guess today.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, there's an appreciation that comes from paying for something yourself.
And you know, I'm going from there not just having
everything handed to you. So I want to get into
uh real quick here. President Trump is an executive order
on marijuana rescheduling. It could bring some immediate changes, but

(30:32):
a lot of that is going to take some time.
And everybody's seen his long anticipate executive order to loosen
US restrictions on marijuana, which promises to bring idiotly relief
for cannabis businesses, but only in some respects. Although rescheduling
is a lower risk drug, as touted, is opening a
new era for cannabis research, a lot of the experts

(30:53):
are saying it's not as simple as like flipping a
light switch. Tillian Shower, who's the executive director of the
non partisan Cannabis Regulators Association, says it's hard to see
the big headlines of marijuana reschedule to schedule three research
will flow because as of right now, those things are
not true. And that's because on its own, Trump's December

(31:16):
eighteenth order isn't enough to rewrite federal drug policy that's
stood for the last fifty years. The Controlled Substance Act
nineteen seventy doesn't grant any president the authority to univerlaterally
reschedule a drug now. Such changes are historically made through
either a rulemaking process or an Act of Congress, and

(31:36):
many of these details will shape how the administration enacts
Trump's order, and that will affect the timeline the scope
for the easing of restrictions. It won't automatically revoke federal laws.
Interstate commerce would remain illegal at this point.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Trump's order to.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
General Pam Bondi was to quote take all necessary steps
to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling marijuana to
Schedule three, and the directive evokes the process has started
under performer President Joe Biden. Under his administration, both Health
and Human Services and the Justice Department advanced or proposal

(32:21):
to reclassify pot from Schedule one, which, for those of
you who don't know, Schedule one means it has no
medical use. That's what it means, no medical use in
high potential for abuse to the lower risk Schedule three,
which currently includes things like kettymine, tail it all with codeine,
anamolic steroids, things like that. So the Trump administration could

(32:45):
resume the process that was already underway under Biden. But
the new executive orders mentioned of the Controlled Substance Act
Section eight eleven hints at a bit of a shortcut,
and that allows the Attorney General to move a drug
to whatever schedule they deem its best without going through
the usual steps that are needed to reschedule a drug.
And that streamline process was meant to ensure that the

(33:07):
United States could do things such as complying with international
Drug Treaty obligations, et cetera. But a historic president also
leaks it to cannabis. In twenty eighteen, it was used
to schedule CBD epilepsy drug epidiolics, months after it became
the first US authorized purified medicine derived from marijuana, and

(33:30):
it was placed in Schedule five, which is the least restrictive,
one of the most restrictive, five least restrictive, so it'll.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Be interesting to see what they do.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
There's several anti marijuana groups that are valuing to file
legal challenges to block rescheduling, and the DJ will have
to balance out Trump's call for expedience with the need
to be able to defend the action.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
To the court.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
But at this particular point in time, it looks like
we're finally getting marijuana to where it needs to be.
It's not a Schedule one drug, I mean, and I
think everybody within the side of my voice can certainly
agree with that, whatever your feelings are on.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
The use of berajuana.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
So it'll be interesting to see if they use this
this shortcut to circumvent a literal act of Congress needed
to reschedule a drug.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
More when we come back. Mandy Cottle Show, all right,
fill it in here.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
On all right, fill it in for Mandy contall Mandy
Cottle Show. But here kay five six six nine zero
is the text line, Mandy enjoying the holidays. Happy Holidays
to you and yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwan's, a Happy
Boxing Day to those.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
Who celebrate Share.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
I love it?

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Would you double take?

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Dude? I love it?

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Would you double take? It is the it is the best,
the best.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Look. Yeah, apparently today is the first day of Quon's
I didn't know that uh Boxing day for the Canadians.
I assume that it's not a festival celebrating Jake poul
five six six nine zeros a text line nine seven.
I'm so happy the Broncos finished off the Chiefs once
and for all at Arrowhead. What a Christmas present, I'll loujah.

(35:11):
Uh yeah. The Denver Broncos right here on Klee yesterday
last night VT Kansas City Chiefs twenty to thirteen on
Thursday Night Football. The Broncos were a thirteen and a
half point favors. Kansas City, with their third string quarterback,
did manage to cover, although they weren't very effective. The
Broncos had thirty eight passing attempts that only had netted

(35:32):
one hundred and eighty two yards one touchdown interception. The
Chiefs dropped back twenty two times, only got sixty six
passing yards in that one.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
They were pretty ineffective throughout the game.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
The only reason they really scored is they were gifted
two short fields won by the offense won by the
special teams. Otherwise it might have been a shutout. The
ball eyes in Denver now turned to the Los Angeles Chargers.
I'll be taking on the Houston Texans in LA. That
game is tomorrow and it will be at two thirty

(36:09):
pm kickoff on NFL Network. Chargers favored by two points
in that one. Broncos fans, for those of you listening,
would have a rooting interest in the Houston Texans in
that game, as if the Texans win, that would allow
the Broncos to clinch first place in the AFC West.
If the Chargers win, then that sets up a brawl

(36:32):
for it all next week between the Chargers and the
Broncos right here in Denver.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
And I believe now that game is not scheduled yet.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
It's part of the late season in NFL flexing and
all that kind of stuff, But I believe that game
is going to be Sunday, either to twenty five or
Sunday Night Football, and I suspect to twenty five for Sunday.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
So we'll see.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
We just don't have the finality on that yet, and
I'll let you guys.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Know as soon as we do. The Denver Broncos certainly
have surprised people this year.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Many pundits picked them to finish third in the AFC West.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
The sports books had them at roughly nine wins.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
And they continue to outpace expectation and have things break
their way thus far this year. Now you get a
roughly ten day rest before you'll take on the Los
Angeles Chargers and Week eighteen the Charges of course, like
I said, playing tomorrow, and we'll see when the Week

(37:43):
eighteen game gets scheduled. It is not officially scheduled yet
as far as that goes. The Justice Department said that
it may need a few more weeks to release all
of its records on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after
suddenly discovering more than a million potentially irrelevant documents, further

(38:04):
delaying compliance with last Friday's congressionally mandated deadline. Christmas Eve
announcement came hours after a dozen US Senators called on
the Justice Department watchdog to examine its failure to meet
the deadline. The group, which is eleven Democrats and a Republican,
told Acting Inspector General Don Berthume in a letter that

(38:27):
victims deserve full disclosure and peace.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Of mind, and an independent audit.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Justice Department said in a social media post that federal
prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI have quote uncovered over
a million more documents end quote that could be related
to the Epstein case, a stunning eleventh hour development after
Department officials suggested months ago they had undertaken a comprehensive
review that had accounted for the vast universe of Epstein
related materials. Back in March, Attorney General Pambondi had told

(39:03):
Fox News that a truckload of evidence had been produced
after she'd ordered the FBI to deliver the full and
complete Epstein files to my office. She issued the directive
after saying she learned from an undine offer source that
the FBI in New York was in possession of thousands
of pages of documents. And then back in July, the

(39:26):
FBI and Justice Department indicated that an unsigned memo that
they had undertaken an exhaustive review and determined that no
additional evidence should be released, which was an extraordinary about
face from the Trump administration, which four months had pledged
maximum transparency. Memo did not raise the possibility that additional
evidence existed that officials were unaware of or had not reviewed.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
Wednesday's post did not say when the.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Justice Department was informed of the newly uncovered files. In
a little last week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said
Manhattan federal prosecutors had already had more than three point
six million records from sex traffic investigations into Epstein is
longtime confident it lay Maxwell, though many were copies of materials.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
That have already been turned over the FBI.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
The Justice Department says that its lawyers are working around
the clock to review the documents from victims' names and
other identifying information as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act,
which is the law that was enacted last month that
requires the government to open its files on EPSTEIN on Maxwell.
The announcement came amid increasing scrutiny on the Justice Department's

(40:49):
staggered release of the EPSTEIN related records, including victims and
members of Congress. Republican Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky, who's
one of the chief authors of the law mandating the
document release, posted Wednesday on Twitter that the DOJ did

(41:10):
break the law by making illegal redactions and by missing
the deadline. One of the other architects of the law
is Representative Rocana democratic California, said he and Massy will
continue to keep the pressure on and noted the Justice
Department was releasing more documents after lawmakers threatened contempt.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Senate Minority Leader.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Chuck Schumer said that quote a Christmas even news dump
of a million more files only proves what we already know.
Trump's engaged in a massive cover up. The White House
on Wednesday defended the Justice Department's handling of the records,
saying President Trump has assembled the greatest cabinet in American history,
which includes Attorney General Pambondi and her team. We're doing

(41:56):
a great job implementing the President's agenda. After releasing an
initial wave of records on Friday, the Justice Department posted
more batches to its website over the weekend than on Tuesday.
They had not given any notice when more records might arrive.
Records that have been released include photographs, interview transcripts, call laws,

(42:19):
court records, other documents that were either already public or
heavily blacked out, many lacking necessary context. Records that hadn't
been seen before included transcripts a grand jury testimony from
FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls
and young women who described being paid to perform sex

(42:40):
acts for Epstein. Other records made public in recent days
include a note from a federal prosecutor from January twenty
twenty that said that Trump had flown on the financier's
private plane more than had previously been known, and emails
between Maxwell and someone who signs off with the initial A.
It contained other references that suggest that the author of

(43:03):
those emails are Britain's former Prince Andrew, and one A writes,
how's la have you found me some new inappropriate friends.
The Senator's call on Wednesday ford Inspector General Audit comes
days after Schumer introduced a resolution that it passed would

(43:25):
direct the Senate to file or join lawsuits and at
forcing the Justice Department to comply. In a statement, he
called the staggered, heavily redacted release a blatant cover up.
Republican Senator Lisa Rakowski in Alaska has joined Richard Blumenthal,
a Democrat, Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, and leading the call

(43:48):
for it Inspector General audit. Several others have signed on
to the letter. How do you guys feel about the
release so far the Epstein files? Do you feel that
there's be full transparency? Do you feel like this administration

(44:09):
is being honest? What do you feel has come out
of that? For me? Whatever you think of this administration,
the rollout of these files has been one giant mess
up after another, not properly redacting things to the point

(44:30):
where you could simply copy and paste into documents to
see what had been redacted, And honestly, I don't I mean,
I don't care what party you're a member of or
what your political leanings are.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Prosecute all these people, if.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
The illegal acts were occurred, enough with the sweetheart deals
for people that have money, enough with.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Enough with it getting away with it.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Out of one side of our mouths, we talk about
the rule of law and how we want to apply
that and hold people accountable, and then out of the
other we let the people who are doing these things
for years get sweetheart deals.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
I don't think there's anything.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
In these files to date thus far that's been released
that's a smoking gun or particularly jaw dropping if you've
paid attention to the story so far, Although many of
them may make you squeamishure uneasy.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
I don't care who it is.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
If they're guilty of doing this stuff, lock them up,
lock them all up, prosecute them the fullest extent of
the law enough with people getting away with it. That's
part of the reason I'm irritated with this administration's pardon spree.

(46:17):
We've had a string of controversial pardons commutations, and in
each of those cases over the course of this year,
a donation can directly be traced back prior to getting one.

(46:44):
Trevor Milton, a former CEO, was convicted of fraud back
in twenty twenty two. Milton was pardoned back in March
to e raising his conviction before the judge in his
case could issue an order for restitution. For those that

(47:07):
don't know, restitution is the official term for compensation to
victims for their losses. Milton had been repeatedly insisting he
did nothing wrong with the stroke of a pen, though,
any chance for Milton's defrauded investors from receiving anything, let

(47:27):
alone the six hundred and eighty million that prosecutors argued
should be paid back to the people who invested into
his former company, was completely erased. At least twenty people
so far have received clemency, cutting their set in short,
restoring their civil rights. Were also forgiven financial penalties, including

(47:51):
tens of millions of dollars. Now some of these parts
can be chalked up to a natural shift in policies
and priorities between administrations, a lack of focus on white
collar crime, and there is no constitutional limit on the

(48:17):
pardon power, which leaves the door open to corruption and
abuse if someone's properly motivated or improperly motivated, as it were.
But asked why he chose to forgive Chang Pang Zhao,
the convicted founder of the crypto exchange finance, Trump applied quote,

(48:40):
I don't know. He was recommended by a lot of people,
saying it must be noted help finance the Trump family's
stable coin startup. Would Asked specifically about Milton's pardon, Trump
gave no indication of knowing who he was, but offered
that an unnamed quote they had told the president that
Formertacle CEO had been treated unfairly, and then he went

(49:07):
on to tell a reporter that he supported Trump. He
liked Trump, and Milton did to the two of two
point five million dollars in campaign donations ahead of the
twenty twenty four election, to include nine hundred and twenty
thousand dollars to the Trump forty seven committee. Back in October,
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars in September to the

(49:28):
Robert F.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
Kennedy Maha Alliance Political Action Committee.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Those are, according to FEC records, he had never made
such large donations in any previous cycle. Milton denies that
he has asked for or received any special treatment, Although
he posted soon after his pardon the Trump himself had

(49:52):
called to say that clemency was coming. I'm just frustrated
with those two specific things. I've had my economic issues
with Donald Trump. Those are well known. Tariffs are an

(50:16):
economy killer, they just are. But these two, those two things,
the the Epstein thing which he campaigned on and then
and then didn't about face, and these ridiculous pay for
a pardon thing. We we've got to reign that presidential

(50:38):
power in. That's something that I don't think this administration
is going to do. But whatever the next administration, we've
got to we gotta stop like we can't. You can't
be financially incentivized or pardons shouldn't kick in until after.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
After the administration is over. It shouldn't shield.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
People who commit fraud from having to pay back the
people they defrauded. If we're gonna work for the American people.
We should be working for the American people. Five six

(51:20):
sixty nine zeros A text line. I hope you guys
are having a great holiday weekend. Merry Festivus to the
rest of US. Boxing Day today. Apparently I did not
know that, and to Chevon's chagrin, I did not know

(51:43):
about it being Day one of KWANSA. At some point
I'm gonna have to look up the origins of that.
I've never That's not something I've ever done. I hope
you guys had a great Christmas. Obviously, we got a
Broncos win on Christmas Night, so hopefully that capped off

(52:04):
a great Christmas for everyone. Broncos taking on the Chargers
next week, and as I noted before, all eyes here
in Denver are going to be on the Houston Texans
at the Chargers tomorrow. Game kicks off by two thirty Local.
The Houston Texans win than the Denver Broncos would clinch

(52:26):
the AFC West. If the Chargers win, that would set
up the as I keep calling it, brawl for it
All in Week eighteen here in Denver between the Chargers
and the Denver Broncos. Chargers have been a much maligned
team due to injury this season, but have found a

(52:47):
way to fight through. Houston Texans started slow but have
come out of late having one of the better defenses
in the league, including the number one scoring defense, allowing
only sixteen points six points per game. And that game
will kick off at two thirty tomorrow on NFL Network

(53:08):
and it is in Los Angeles. Five sixty sixty nine
zero is the text line. I want to get back
to you guys. Texts at plenty of those we'll get
to when we come back. We got to hit a break. Listen,
Maddy Collins show Benjamin all Right, fill it in here

(53:29):
on kiawe quite a few texts coming in. I want
to get back to appreciate all you guys text in
before I do that. White House Press Secretary Carolin Levitt
has announced she is expecting her second child in May. Lovitt,
who's twenty eight, she already has a son with her
husband Nicholas Ratio, who's sixty, revealed her pregnancy and a

(53:49):
post shared on her Instagram account. Lovett, who's twenty eight,
says the second child is doing may, so there you go.
Congratulations to them for that's one of their their second
child several of you talking about presidential pardons and Biden
and all stuff.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
I'll try to wait into some of this.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
I don't. I mean, let's start from the beginning. Presidential
pardons is the hill you want to stand on, that's
from the nine seven zero. I mean no, not necessarily.
I want to stop corruption, and paying for a pardon
is corruption, guys. I mean, that's it's just blaytont doesn't
matter who's doing it, no matter if it's it's Joe Biden,
Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton, or Donald Trump. If
you're if you get bribed to pardon people, come on,

(54:29):
we should be better than this. It's it's the the
principle of the matter. It's not a hill I want
to die of, and it's something I don't like. And
it's certainly topical as people who were defrauded, people who
were defrauded out of money can't get their money back
because they're the presidential pardons that are being bribed before

(54:50):
the judge can rule restitution orders. And if you don't
like that pointment, maybe pointing that out. I mean that
says more about you than it does about me. I'd
some of O S team files Democrats had control of
the executive legislative branches. Starting on January twenty, twenty one
hundred and seventeenth Congress pass many bills.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Never pursued the complete release. Why not? Why is that
a big thing?

Speaker 1 (55:13):
Now?

Speaker 2 (55:13):
Part of that was ongoing court cases.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
Part of that is increased public pressure because Trump ran
on releasing this stuff. You can't claim to be the
victim of something you drummed up. You know, you can't
play the victim. Now, why didn't they do this? Why
didn't they do that? In the end, that's in the past.
I mean, if you want to blame them for it, fine,

(55:38):
I have no problem with you blaming them for not
having done it before. Sure, cool, But that doesn't solve anything.
And I'm a person that's I pride myself. Phone.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
Let's let's find solutions, not whine about. You know what happened.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
At the end of the day. You can go back
and look, some of this stuff was sealed by the courts,
some of it was still under investigation, and some of
it was still in the court system.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
But we're through all that now. Maxwell's been convicted.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
So you know, the amounting public pressure from a campaign
Donald Trump ran on and now he's been clutching at
the pearls that people actually want him to follow through
on something. Don't get mad at me for holding somebody accountable.
Either get mad at the guy who said it, or
get mad at the guy who didn't do it.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Seven too.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Oh, you obviously think Biden rules that couldn't be further
from the truth. Just because I want to hold people
accountable who happened to be Republicans doesn't make me suddenly
a Democrat.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
And the reality is I'm a libertarian.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
I'm for the smallest amount of government that we need
to execute the mission. I'm for lower taxes, and I'm
for the government stayed out of my personal life.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
Nine seven oh.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
Biden residential pardons were signed by the mysterious autopen. Well,
there's nothing mysterious about an autopen. It's just something that
you know, so the president doesn't have to sign a
thousand documents. They replicated signature, put it in there, and
it does it for it. Every president has used the
autopen to include Donald Trump. Biden did not have a clue.
You couldn't phone a friend or buy a vowel if
ice cream was not involved. I don't know what that means.

(57:21):
But if you're suggesting to me that I that I
was not, that I was a Biden fan or something,
then you didn't read any of the things that I
posted about him needing to not run and to drop
out of of the race.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
I had a pretty scathing indictment after that disaster debate.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
He had.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
The autopen autopay.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
All it does is replicate your signature just the president
where doesn't where their arm out spending hours signing required documents.
Did the last administration abuse that? Probably they overuse it,
probably three oh three. I guess the last administration pardons
are okay.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
No, as a matter of fact, that they're speaking of scathing.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
I wrote a pretty pretty scathing piece when Joe Biden
went back on his word and pardon his son. Joe
Biden had promised that he was not going to pardon
his son, and then he went back on his word
and did it. So again. Just because I want to
hold people accountable does not mean that I have you know,

(58:42):
this is and this is the one that really chaps me, man,
because you get all these people on Twitter to Trump
derangement syndrome. Anytime you want to hold him accountable for anything,
Trump the arrangement.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Cindrome is not a real thing.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
It's just some empty thing people say whenever you criticize
the guy. I wrote Romney in this last election, I didn't,
I don't, and I make no bones about the fact
that I don't like Donald Trump. Donald Trump does not
meet almost any of the criterion that I want out

(59:17):
of somebody. I have friends that liked support it, and
voted for Donald Trump, and I can have a perfectly
rational conversation with them, or you know, be friendly with
them with their votes.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
I want the government out of my life.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
I don't want I don't want a president that's sitting
there talking about you know, I need to view your
Twitter account before I let you into the country.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
Get out of my life. I want free speech.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
I don't want somebody who's sitting there railing against late
night comedians because he didn't like they made fun of him.
Who cares If you don't like it, change a channel.
If enough people change a channel, they won't be on anymore.
I don't like the idea that the president thinks he's
my boss. I'm your boss. You work for me, We

(01:00:11):
sent you to govern. Go govern. We'll take care of Twitter.
And then you know, I disagree with him economically on
a bunch of things. But you know, I've got a
text in here talking about the economy three h three,
the economy was horrible. Also, it seems like you say
you don't pick up political side, but are all one sided.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
I'm really not. You just don't like what I'm criticizing.
It does go both ways.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Just because I'm against the proto communism that Donald Trump
has suddenly injected into the economy, I'm a free marketer.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
I don't want tariffs. I don't want the United.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
States owning a piece of businesses and picking winners or losers.
Let the free market take care of itself. That doesn't
mean I'm suddenly a Democrat. If anything, those policies are
democratic tariffs. We're the Democratic platform in the nineteen eighties.

(01:01:11):
If you support tariff's, congratulations, you're not a Ronald reaganite.
You're a tip O'Neal fan. It's frustrating to me. It's
frustrating me to see this stuff. Like you know, some
of these text messages you get in here are just weirdos.

(01:01:31):
So what's my solution. My solution is is that we
need to to which question if you're talking about presidential pardons.
I'd already said it. We need to reign in the
presidential pardon power. We've got to find a way to
where those pardons, those pardons are not up for sale
because the way that it is currently unlimited and available
that invites graft. And if you want to have a

(01:01:55):
conversation on that, we can in the next segment. But
I got a head a break right now, Manny Connins
show back after this five six six nine zeros A
text line, get to uh all you guys's complaints, Knights
of it O. Biden's autopen pardons pardoned a number of
special individuals from crimes that they had not even been

(01:02:15):
charged with, never been trying the court of law, never
been found guilty of before a jury of their fellow Americans.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
How exactly is that explained in our constitution?

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
It's not.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
I can tell you the thought process behind some of that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
It was to protect people that were investigating Trump from retribution.
Does that mean it's okay? You know, I don't have
the answer for that. The the pre pardon that was
that pre crime was that movie Minority Report pre crime?
The pre pardon, I don't know. I don't know if

(01:02:47):
that's that's acceptable or not. I could, I could tell
you the thought process behind it. That doesn't make it okay,
And that's not me trying to justify it. I just
tell you the thought process behind some of those, and no,
that doesn't like it all of them, because I'm sure
somebody's gonna find to be like, what about this one?
That's not you know, okay, that doesn't But there were
some in there that were genuinely to keep from Trump

(01:03:09):
trying some retribution, which, as we've seen throughout his administration,
he will definitely try.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
So I hope that's an answer for that. It's not
explained to the Constitution.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
But the beauty of the Constitution is when the founding
fathers created this, they realized that they weren't smart enough
to account for everything. It's a living document, and I
think at some point in the future we're going to
have to sit down and put a few amendments in there.
We've got issues coming up with advanced artificial intelligence. We're

(01:03:41):
going to have to figure out. We're already stumbling over
this this issue right here. Probably need to figure that out.
I don't like the shift that we've had towards consolidating
power in the executive branch. I like it when the
government has to trip over its own feet bureaucratically because
and you know, struggles to get more power because it's

(01:04:07):
distributed through three branches. I don't want the government being
that powerful. I don't trust it to you. And there's
certainly been a movement towards consolidation in the executive branch
over the last twenty five years. And it feels like
to me that that was largely a post nine to

(01:04:28):
eleven snowball, rolling downhill thing. But I'm sure there are
people that are more advanced in years than I that
would say that that started before that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
Five six six nine Zeros text line nine seven zero.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
Pick a libertarian question marks, pick a side, and hold
yourself accountable. I when have I ever not so easy
to throw stones and find fault. What do you plan
to vote for in twenty twenty six? Well, we don't
have a whole candidate field yet for twenty twenty six,
so I don't you know, I don't have a plan
to vote. What do you mean to I mean in

(01:05:06):
the midterms, you'd have to give me a specific issue.
I'm not I mean, I used to be a Republican.
I'm not anymore. I'm certainly not a Democrat, but I
don't I don't vote party line stuff. When I say
I'm libertarian, I'm libertarian in philosophy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
I'm also not a I'm not a slave to the dynamic.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
I'm not.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
I don't have to vote for libertarian party things. In
fact that I rarely have.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
I voted for Gary Johnson for president simply because I
you know, I grew up in Arkansas, and there's no
way I was touching the Clintons, and there was no
way I was voting for Donald Trump. I knew what
he was about. So you know, I voted for Gary Johnson.
There are people that say that's a wasted vote. You're
welcome to that opinion. But where am I not holding

(01:06:02):
myself accountable? I guess I'm a little confused by your premise.
The text goes on to say, you need to vote
for representation. Instead of simply complaining. I'm not complaining. I'm
pointing things out. That's what the nature of this medium is.
The nature of talk radio is criticism. I mean, that's

(01:06:25):
what it is. Opinion and criticism. The entire media thrives
on that, which is why right leaning shows tend to
have a spike in the ratings during democratic presidencies and
the lull in the ratings during Republican presidencies.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
They tend not to the same thing with left leaning shows.
It's but inverted.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
You tend not to criticize the thing that you support
right whereas I'm an equal opportunity offender.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
I criticize everything I feel like that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
You don't have to listen listen to I come across
the radios a thumb sucking cry baby.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
Well, I you are entitled to your opinion.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
If not wanting fraud and corruption or make me a
cry baby, then congratulations. You're pro fraud and corruption and
I'm a cry baby. That's entirely your prerogative. You are
totally welcome to be for those things. Something tells me
you're not, but you're willing to overlook it because somebody
you support it is in power. And that's really the

(01:07:35):
heart of the dynamic that I'm getting at Mandy com
show back after this, but fill it in. Shannon Scott
back there behind the glass, Yoda to my young Skywalker
even talks like knomskidd, I.

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
Love you, Shannon five, six, six times.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
There are always the text line, a lot of I
mean again, a lot of texts coming in just and
we this somebody's weird mas. Some'm I'm going to read
some of these and try to go through your thought
process because this doesn't make sense to me. The nine
seven er. So now your hell is fraud. Billions of
fraud in Minnesota last week? Question mark Colorado highway funds
provided by the federal government that were not applied to

(01:08:14):
Colorado roads. Is okay with you?

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
Where did I say any of that? I didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
Yes, I am against fraud, and the difference between you
and me is that I'm against fraud and you're against Democrats.
Prosecute them all, Investigate it all. Going back to the
Epstein conversation earlier. If Bill Clinton's in there, investigate him,
bring him upon charges. If Donald Trump's in there, investigate him,

(01:08:44):
bring him up on charges. I don't care what political
party is doing the wrong thing. We need to quit
excusing doing.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
The wrong thing because it's someone you supported. No fraud in.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
Minnister, so to not okay, Colorado highway funds not okay?
Investigate it. If there are charges to be brought, bring
them why pretend that I'm somehow okay with it simply
because I'm pointing out fraud in another situation.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
This is called what about ism.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
It's a common tactic people use online these days when
they don't like or are confronted with an uncomfortable reality
that's something they supported, did something wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
They initially go to, well, what about this other thing?

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
What about it? If someone did the wrong thing, bring
them up, bring them up. I'm here for it. I
don't care what political part personally. Political parties in the
bane of my existence. They exist solely to coll eated power.
They exist solely to keep themselves in power, and you're
keeping yourself in power to keep yourself financing it. I

(01:09:54):
hate the political party system. They're the unions of governance.

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
I hate it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
I am exactly the same on fraud in Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
Well, it doesn't affect me.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
I am as much against that or Colorado Highway Fund
fraud as I am in any other type of fraud.
So don't come sideways at me pretending that I'm okay
with something else because I'm talking about this other thing
in this particular moment. Now, it is my understanding that
the people of Minnesota have already undertaken that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
I've already undertaken that investigation in that fraud.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
Why would you suggest that simply because I'm against fraud
on somebody you like that, I'm not against fraud in
other places. I cannot, for the life of me wrap
my head around that thought process. Seven to zero What
left leaning radio shows? Air America died a slow death

(01:11:05):
in twenty ten. Entertaining progressive radio is an oxymoron. There
are still some shows out there, most of which is
on the podcast thing, but I think serious.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
Exam what channel is it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
I think it's one twenty seven is the progressive radio channel.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
If that's your thing, well I should listen to it.
So I couldn't. I couldn't tell you, But.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
Obviously there's as more and more people shift to the
podcasting format, that's where most of left wing talk is.
You get things like pod Save America, the Young Turks.
I think, I think Mattow has a podcast. I remember correctly.
I don't listen to a lot of this stuff, so

(01:11:48):
I couldn't tell you, but I'm pretty sure I'm correct
on that ratings for left wing shows go down when
there's a left wing president. Rating for right wing shows
go down when there's a right wing president. Why because

(01:12:09):
the instinct to criticize them, to criticize is tempered in
that particular moment.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
That was the point of what I was trying to
say with that, and me, I don't care.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
I legitimately do not care if your left wing, right wing,
north wing, south wing, eagle wing. For all I care.
I don't care if you're doing the wrong thing, you're
doing the wrong thing. I'm not gonna sit there and lump.
Some criticize political parties when it's more effectual to call

(01:12:48):
out the action. And I've always found, or at least
I've personally held myself to a hold your own accountable.
The rest they'll take care of itself, which leads people
to believe, or has led people to believe at times
that I am a big time lefty or whatever because

(01:13:10):
I tend to hold the right wing more accountable.

Speaker 2 (01:13:13):
I don't worry. I'm not a Democrat. What do I
care what they do? What do I care if.

Speaker 1 (01:13:18):
They don't have or if they have a funny nominating
process for Kamala Harris, why would I care? Put the candidate,
how whatever your process is for your party, put your
candidate out there, and then I'll determine if they're the
one I'm going to vote for or not.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
If you can't.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
If you find yourself, if you find yourself in a
position where you don't disagree with a single thing that
a political party does or a single issue, or you
find yourself with a president that you don't disagree with
a single thing that they did, you're not in a

(01:14:02):
political party. You're in a cult. Nobody agrees with somebody
on everything. That's just I mean, that's ludicrous. And I
disagree with this particular administration quite a bit, disagree with
the last administration quite a bit, disagree with the Obama

(01:14:22):
administration quite a bit, disagree with the Bush administration quite
a bit. I'm sure I would find things with the
Clinton administration that I disagreed with as well, although I
wasn't just actively involved in those kinds of things at
that point in time. One of the biggest issues to
come out of the Clinton administration that people now claim
they disagree with is NAFTA. NAFTA wasn't a bill Clinton think,

(01:14:45):
it was a George HW. Bush thing.

Speaker 2 (01:14:47):
Clinton merely signed it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
Pre trade is a Republican ideal, although now with the
political party's realigning, who knows, and the Donald Trump era,
what was traditionally democratic or traditionally republican has changed. Neo
conservatives aren't even almost considered conservative anymore. And I'm not

(01:15:14):
a fan of a lot of these things that have
arisen in this realignment. I'm certainly not a post liberal
and I'm not whatever. I'm not a populist at all,
which is what the current administration is. And populism doesn't
have any real discerning ideals. It just follows the whims

(01:15:35):
of whatever the leader is at the time, which is
how you get to the point where we've got Donald
Trump taking stakes in America, companies picking and choosing winners
and losers, slapping tariffs on products. And I don't relitigate
the tariff conversation. Have done that too many times. I
don't want to get into it. But it's all it

(01:15:56):
does is cost you at the register. It's not bringing
manufacturing back grrifs would have to be exorbitantly high to
do that. We're hemorrhaging jobs. I guess the one plus
out of that is we've gotten a bunch of rate
cuts simply because we've lost all these jobs. So the
Fatas cut rates so we're able to refinance debt long term.

(01:16:19):
You want me to pick on the Biden administration for something.
Financing debt at high interest rates is stupid. There you go,
two and four. God blessed Benjamin all Bright. I'm gonna
listen to Mandy Connell because you're on right now. As
I work out, you're a younger, smarter, more articular version
of me.

Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
Well, that's uh. I appreciate the compliment.

Speaker 1 (01:16:43):
Now, I'm just some guy. I've got some thoughts. If
you agree, agree, if you don't, you don't. If not,
let's talk them out. Now that's part of my philosophy.
Let's have a conversation about it. Change my mind.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
You know what I have looked tough? He knew what
I did there five six, six, nine zeros of text line.

Speaker 1 (01:17:07):
I just I don't understand not holding your own too
account And that seems to be a problem today across
the board, left, the right, in the middle of whoever
you are, it's just whatever you seem to align yourself with.
Everybody on earth can't take any criticisms of anything that
they ostensibly support. Well, guys, everything we support is gonna
have a plus and the eyes. There's nothing that's universally
good out there, right, I can't think of anything.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
I take that back. The music of Toto, it's universally good.
Fair point.

Speaker 1 (01:17:36):
Shannon Scott with the Hoggendas, which flavor? Though, you give
me some pistachio crap, I'm turning your mic off. I'm
okay with the chocolate? Okay? Is that your? I mean,
are you that your go to ice creams is basic
generic chocolate? Yeah? I mean know if there's anything wrong
with that, I'm just I'm just asked. Most people have
these days seem to have some sort of complicated flavor.

(01:17:56):
Yes for a coffee order anymore, you know, and it's
it's a it's like an NFL play call, trying to
get a coffee order out. I just want black coffee. Meanwhile,
you've got Trevor in front of you and flip flops
sitting there asking to put a pillow of whipped cream

(01:18:18):
on top of something that could charitably described as a
milkshake and not a coffee. And now I'm off in
a grind my Gears moment. Put a dome on it,
and pillow, put a dome on it. I just I

(01:18:39):
don't understand the idea. I don't understand the thought process
behind not wanting them to hold your own to account.
And we've lost that. We've gotten to this, we've gotten
this era now where we're in the post truth era.
We're in the troll era. The basic guard of civility

(01:19:01):
in political discourse either don't exist anymore or over a
mirage all along. The niivity in me wants to say
they don't exist anymore, and that they did.

Speaker 2 (01:19:17):
At some point.

Speaker 1 (01:19:23):
I miss the days when the worst arguments we were
having was quibbling over marginal tax rates, and instead everything
has to be a battle now.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
We gotta pick sides, we gotta be this.

Speaker 1 (01:19:36):
This, And it's funny because oftentimes these days those sides
start one way and then go another, and people will
do every bit of mental gymnastics to twist themselves into
a pretzel to stick with whatever their air quotes side
is on now, rather than the idea that they were
in in the first place. Donald Trump is the one

(01:19:58):
that rolled out the vaccines. We don't remember Operation Wharf Speed,
And at first the left was it I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
Not taking that mind controlled juice that Donald Trump's putting.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
Out, and it took what eight months for that for
both sides to have completely flipped on it. Yeah, you
had the right that all of a sudden is scared
to touch the thing and talking about uh oh, what
was it the shedding the proteins or whatever, I can't
even remember now. And you get the left who says

(01:20:32):
that you will take this or you won't get you
won't leave your house. It is funny to me how
how people they'll sit there and they'll be vitriolic in
their response on something that they had a one and
eighty degree different view on two months ago. Republicans used

(01:20:56):
to hate Terrask, We hated them. Ronald Rigg was famously
anti tariff, in fact, to the point where he got
on television and was upset that he had to temporarily
levy a tariff on electronics from Japan in order to
in order to reground the market on that where he

(01:21:18):
put out, there's a video out there and he's like
legitimately upset that that he had to levy tariffs on
this tariffs with the Democratic platform in the night, tip
O'Neal they wanted the tariffs pre trade was a Republican ideal.
George H. W.

Speaker 2 (01:21:36):
Bush is the one who came up with NAFTA.

Speaker 1 (01:21:38):
You would think it was Bill Clinton, but he only
signed it. In both of these sides, the screaming extremist left,
extremist right, when the reality is eighty ninety percent of
Americans are centrists. Bill Clinton was basically a centrist. He
wasn't a far left whack job. He was left. He

(01:22:02):
had plenty of issues, but he wasn't an extremist. He
wasn't a Marxist. Coklan was a centrist. Then George Agent
and George W. Bush comes along, and the project for
No American Century and dictating Paul Wolfe was Don Brums
all these guys, and we're sitting here on the other
side of it, and the left is now straight.

Speaker 2 (01:22:20):
These guys are extremists.

Speaker 1 (01:22:22):
They were neo cons and they were definitely hawks, but
they weren't fascists. The discourse in the rhetoric has gotten
so out of control that we sit here and say
that anybody that doesn't agree with exactly what it is
that I'm talking about in this moment is some sort
of extremist. Everybody's a Nazi. Now, if everybody's a Nazi,

(01:22:47):
nobody's a Nazi, then On the one hand, you've got
the left col and everything Nazi and I'm like, bro,
this is gonna get like you watered it down and
it's not gonna mean anything. You're using it in places
where it doesn't apply. And then you got the right

(01:23:08):
over here not distancing themselves from it. You can't lift
chunks from a speech from Goebbels and then out of
the other side of your mouth claiming, you know you're not.

Speaker 2 (01:23:22):
Look at you, Stephen Miller, we got to hit a break.

Speaker 1 (01:23:31):
We'll be back up to this bengemin Old rifleing in
true story Er Shannon, as you picked out Jet for
the bump Back Music, They're horrible band to see live.

Speaker 2 (01:23:40):
You would think that they would have a ton.

Speaker 1 (01:23:41):
Of energy because you listened to their album and it's
all like, you know, like rock and roll sound and upbeat. Yeah,
it was basically what I watched those guys. I went
to the show and uh, watch those guys basically do
karaoke on the stage for their entire set. Didn't nobody moved.
They it was literally like each person was in their
individual spot. They didn't move. And they were a headliner

(01:24:01):
for that show and it was it was two hours
of watching dudes karaoke their own album, and I was like, wow,
this is really bad. Stage presence. Might be the worst
show I ever went to. In terms of stage presence.
I mean their music, you know, it's it's it's okay,
it's fun. Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:24:18):
They got they got a couple. They had a couple
are what are the kids calling it? Bangers?

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
They had a couple of bangers. But yeah, Jet, that
was one of the worst shows I went to in
terms of just like all right, well I could of
got this from popping the CD on. They were it
was back to back I remember because it was down
in Dallas. We went down there to Dallas to watch
because it was back to back shows. The Jet was
headlined that night and then the next night it was

(01:24:45):
it was Oasis, and I hadn't seen Oasis yet and
it was like the height of their you know, this
is the height of their comeback, uh whatever, And so yeah,
I think the contrast between the two stage presents was
certainly something. I mean, Nolan, Liam, we're literally fighting on
the stage. Okay, oh my goodness, five six six nine

(01:25:10):
zeros a text line you have come down from my rap.
Thanks guys, Knights of it don't really enjoy when you
fill in the common sense voice.

Speaker 2 (01:25:17):
Thanks way, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:25:20):
The nine too, Toto, they crammed the words serengetti into
a line in the song Africa and added an additional
syllable to the.

Speaker 2 (01:25:28):
Line, messes up the song completely.

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
Is this like when the once great Billy Mack squeezes
the word if you really love Christmas, come on and
let it snow ouch And if you get that love
actually a reference more power to you. Yeah, the Toto
thing is kind of a bit. I mean, I like
Toto or whatever, but the Toto thing's been a bit
for a couple of years. It dates back to a
thing I did with Rick Lewis in the Morning one time,

(01:25:53):
and how we sort of.

Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
It started off.

Speaker 1 (01:25:56):
It started off as a Haul of Oats bit, and they,
like haul of Oats, started sueing each other, and so
we changed it to a Toto bit. I guess where
we just celebrated their entire catalog and pretended they were
the you know, the greatest singer songwriters of any generation.
But that's been, that's been how it goes. Three or three, Hello,

(01:26:19):
just checking you on your claim of being libertarian. If
so I can assume you are not legally married while
I'm not married. But I'm not like, as I tried
to state earlier, I'm libertary to my philosophy, or in
my underpinnings, I'm not. So I'm not such a hardcore
libertarian that I'm like, just legalize everything, although I probably
do think certain things should be legal more than you.

(01:26:42):
I'm probably I'm probably more on the permissive side than
you are. Who's answering the quest or asking the question here,
I'm I'm libertarian in my underpinnings. I tend to lean
toward what is the Is this prohibiting freedom of someone?
Is this prohibiting at the individual sense they're liberties? Is

(01:27:04):
this maximizing freedom for people? I tend to be fiscally
a bit more conservative. I'm a small government, you know,
the least whatever we need to do to get the
job done, but let's have that at the smallest size possible.
I do believe in free markets. I am I am

(01:27:24):
very pro free trade. So, however, you want to check
my bona fides, there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:27:34):
Seven to two.

Speaker 1 (01:27:34):
Oh. Weighing in on my coffee rant earlier that if
you ever tried Starbucks coffee black at taste. Part, Yeah,
that's because theyre's slow quality, mass produced beans. And then
everybody you know these days, they they re they reframe these.

Speaker 2 (01:27:52):
Things as uh.

Speaker 1 (01:27:55):
Dark roasts or or bold or whatever. That's just Burt coffee, dude,
It's it's not that's just that's just them trying to
church up the fact that they're using low quality beans
and burning them, because uh, that's what you've You've got
to like, if you've used like robusta, right, you need
dark roasting to even make it palatable. Like that's that's

(01:28:17):
the problem with with coffee here in the United States.
We use cheap, mass produced beans. Uh, we use watery
drip brews instead of like concentrated espresso. We use dark
roasting and and so, and we do a hot place
and it makes it stale and bitter. So that that's

(01:28:38):
why you get that. If you've ever traveled at all,
traveled the world and had coffee other places, you'll note
that coffee just tastes different elsewhere. And that's why there's
there's more of a focus on on quality than there
is on just churning it out. Because we Americans drink

(01:29:01):
it by the gallon. Well, I've quit.

Speaker 2 (01:29:05):
I haven't drank coffee in years.

Speaker 1 (01:29:07):
I really I kind of got off coffee once I
got out of the Uh, once I got out of
the army. I've been known to have an energy drink
now and again, you know, horrible for you, the red bulls,
the monsters, all that kind of stuff. I've been known
to do that stuff. But I tried to like the
mega caffeine, and I don't. I don't need the caffeine
to get up in the morning, like I just don't.

(01:29:27):
Once I'm up, I'm up. I don't need to. I
don't need the kick in the pants to get going.
My mother heavily reliant on caffeine in the morning.

Speaker 2 (01:29:38):
She's uh.

Speaker 1 (01:29:39):
But my mother famously would tell us, don't talk to
me until I've finished my first cup of coffee. And
there are quite a few people that do. And I've
had no judgment. I mean, if you need coffee to
get up, you need cofee to get up. I'm just
one of those people. Like when I'm awake, I'm up.
Once i'm up, i'm up, I don't. I can't go
back to sleep, and it's tough for me. Like I've

(01:29:59):
got that it's so it's tough for me to get
to sleep in the first place. But uh, coffee, Yeah,
I left.

Speaker 2 (01:30:05):
That behind when I uh, when I left the military.

Speaker 1 (01:30:08):
I just I was kind of on one for a
minute there and sort of on the rim. Three h three,
you're gonna get some hate from the righties today. I
agree with everything you're saying. We've lost civility. It wasn't
this way before. I mean, honestly, man, I don't know that.
And I've had a few people in here with somewhat
about asms early. But you know, I think most of
them understand, like it's not for me. It's not about

(01:30:30):
where you align politically. It's about is the thing that's
being done right or wrong? And if you filter everything
through that lens, I think you get them a better
and more nuanced perspective. And maybe, you know, maybe that's
a personal arrogance in me saying that I have a
better perspective, but it feels like I do. I never

(01:30:50):
feel like I'm I'm marching lockstep with any political party.
There are some things I agree with the left on,
some things I agree with the right on some things
I think they're both idiots on. That's just the way
it is that I'm always up for debate on any
of those things. You know, people on Twitter would say

(01:31:11):
I love to argue. I don't necessarily love to argue,
but I do love to debate things because, honestly, it
either reinforces my own position on something or cause me
to reevaluate it. There are times where you debate something
and you're like, you know what, I may not hold
an actionable position here.

Speaker 2 (01:31:27):
I may be in the wrong on this.

Speaker 1 (01:31:29):
And there are there are people that will will challenge
you when you do honest, good faith debate and not
just what about isms that will cause you to reevaluate
your position on things. And to me, I think that's
a side of intelligence, people who can evaluate their position
and understand with more information they may be wrong on something.

Speaker 2 (01:31:50):
I consider myself in that group.

Speaker 1 (01:31:52):
And again, objectively, that may be a bit arrogant and
the lump yourself in with something you just called the
intelligent position, but it's the only way I know how
to be. I'm not dogmatically anything. I'm not you know,
to the texter earlier who was talking about my bonafides
on being libertarian, I'm not dogmatically libertarian. I'm not an

(01:32:18):
evangelical libertarian. I'm just it's it's it's sort of a
guiding philosophy or an underpinning that I roll with, and
that's that's kind of how I go three h three.
You definitely favorite conservative values, you just don't want to
admit it. Name what conservatives are wrong on. I mean,

(01:32:39):
that is such a broad that's such a broad thing.
I don't even where to start. I'm not a social conservative.
So while I will support your right to practice your
religion or you know whatever, I find a lot of
what people say, would say are concerns of traditional conservative

(01:33:01):
values on the home front to be anachronistic or archaic
in a lot of ways. The being against here's something here.
I can't go with the marijuana issue. We talked about
it a little bit earlier, right, I am libertarian on that.
If you want to do marijuana, you want to smoke marijuana,
you want to do that's on you. If you want
to do that kind of stuff, that's a you decision.

(01:33:22):
That's not for a government. A government shouldn't be able
to tell you what you can or cannot put into
your body.

Speaker 2 (01:33:27):
It's your body.

Speaker 1 (01:33:33):
So conservatives that if long try to outlaw marijuana and
things like that. They're wrong in my opinion, I don't
believe a government can tell me that I can't take
a plant, put it inside a piece of paper, and
smoke it if I want to. I believe that conservatives
are wrong on prostitution. I don't believe a government can

(01:33:53):
tell you what you can or cannot do with your body.

Speaker 2 (01:33:56):
Do I understand? Do I necessarily want to do marijuana
or prostitution? Not necessarily. But I don't believe that the
government can tell me that I can or can't.

Speaker 1 (01:34:06):
I just don't.

Speaker 2 (01:34:09):
What gives them the right.

Speaker 1 (01:34:14):
It would show me where the government is empowered to
tell me what I can or cannot do with my
body as long as I am not physically causing anyone harm.
What happens between two consenting adult that doesn't cause anyone
else harm? Who are you to tell me what I
can or can't do?

Speaker 2 (01:34:30):
So I don't like that.

Speaker 1 (01:34:33):
There's sort of if you want me to. And again
to this texter who's saying that I can't name thing
conservatives are wrong on, I think that social conservatives are
largely wrong on those kinds of things. I tend to
be socially permissive. You do what you want as long
as you're not causing harm to anyone else. What's the
what is done between consenting adults behind closed doors or whatever? Else?

(01:34:55):
None of my business. I don't care. Don't care, Please,
don't care what I do. It's none of your business.
I'll handle me, you handle you five six six nine
zero three zero three. I like your centrism. So many
folks in the middle with no representation at all, and

(01:35:15):
that's that's really, I think a shame. So much of
what is out there in this medium is so polemic
and you almost have to though, Like even in the
sports side of things, which.

Speaker 2 (01:35:28):
I'm normally in, you have to be almost so extreme.

Speaker 1 (01:35:35):
In your opinion to get attention that that's where people gravitate.
It's difficult to find people in with a centrist opinion
that have a long running show because they don't go
viral with extreme wack adoodle opinions. They don't have to

(01:35:56):
run to the extreme pole of the left or extreme
pole of the right in order to get noticed. And
if you look and you look at today's attention economy,
attention is a currency.

Speaker 2 (01:36:08):
Look on social media.

Speaker 1 (01:36:10):
The social media success stories are the people that are
are the most ridiculous usually and most polemic in their
opinions five six six nine zeros A text line three

(01:36:32):
oh three doesn't appreciate it. Worst talk show I've ever heard.
Who cares about your opinion? It should be about the
collors C L L A R S I collars like
blue collar, white collar. Oh, callers should be about the callers.

(01:36:53):
I mean three or three seOne, three eighty five, eighty
five I think is the numbering call if you want.
I don't know if Mandy takes callers. I wasn't trying
to change the format of her show. If it were
my show, I would take callers. I enjoy talking to
the people. We had post election coverage here on KOA
that they, for whatever reason, allowed me to do. We

(01:37:14):
took callers the whole night, and aside from the one
guy that tried to fight me, I thought it was great.
And to that day, you know, buddy, you can meet
me in the parking lot. There's nothing but air, an
opportunity between us. I love Shannet's facial express. You guys
can't see it here. We gotta get cameras up in
this place.

Speaker 2 (01:37:32):
At some point.

Speaker 1 (01:37:35):
He's like, are you really you know what has occurred
in this building before. You probably don't need to invite that. Oh,
I appreciate you guys being along for the ride, even
the guys that you know, guys and gals that don't
like me, Fine, don't like me, It's fine. I'm okay
with that. I don't I don't need approval. But if

(01:37:56):
you want to do honest debate, if you believe I'm
in the errants on a position you want.

Speaker 2 (01:37:59):
To debate me on, I'm I'm happy to do so.

Speaker 1 (01:38:04):
Seven one to nine.

Speaker 2 (01:38:04):
Most people are closer to the middle.

Speaker 1 (01:38:06):
I'm an independent that lean more conservative, but like you,
I have liberal views when it comes to social issues.
Based on that, I'm considered a closeted Democrat by the
extreme right. Well, on the way out the door here,
I guess I'll let you in on something. The reason
Republican Party can't gain any traction in this state is
because the leading Republican figures in this state are considered
whack jobs by the centrists. Now, I'll get under some

(01:38:31):
people's skin for this, but if you're one of the
free Tina Peters, people resign immediately, because I promise you
you're the problem. Tina Peters is guilty. She's exactly where
she deserves to be, and there isn't insane person out
there that's sitting there trying to get her freed. You
either believe in the rule of law or you don't,

(01:38:52):
and you don't get to pick and choose simply because
who's in power and who's not. And if you don't,
you want to debate that. I'm happy to debate that
one with you. But that's the problem. That's the reason
the Republican Party here in Colorado can't get any traction.
That's the reason the Democrats keep having landslide wins is

(01:39:14):
the ineffective leadership that doesn't preach to the center. And
that's the problem. If you, most of you right here
are doing the same thing, You're saying the same things.
I'm in the center and I have no representation. Congrat
welcome to my world. I feel like I'm a centrist
with no representation. I could sit here for hours and
go over my bones to pick with Jared Polis. With

(01:39:34):
all due respect to the governorship and the leadership of
this state, I have a lot of problems with what
they've done. And you know what I happen to know
nothing's going to get done because you have ineffective leadership
on the Republican side of things in this state, and
it's never going to get anywhere in a state that
is mostly libertarian and centrist. This state is mostly libertarian
and centrists. When you ask people and take away voter

(01:39:57):
affiliation and just ask them about their beliefs and run
down list, there are multiple surveys out there. Colorado is
really a purple state, and yet it's dyed in the
wool blue right now because the Republican Party in the
state and the leading figures out there are considered whack

(01:40:17):
jobs by the Centrists. If you're a politician, your job
is to sell the voting populist on your vision. That's
your job, not to sit there and condemn them and
saying they're left wing whack jobs because they don't believe
everything you do. Five six six nine Zeros text line

(01:40:40):
ninety three. I agree with you on coffee, cannabis, and prostitution.
If you're not hurt anybody, mind your own damn business.
It's nice to hear somebody with an open mind on
the radio. Three or three year level approach is awesome.
Seven to two Ozho bleep that guy. You're amazing. Preach brother,
free speech.

Speaker 2 (01:41:00):
What else we got here?

Speaker 1 (01:41:01):
Three or three covered some great topics today, good show,
come back, I will be back. I'll be back on Monday,
filling in for Mandy so she can have a good holiday.
You guys, uh, drop some topics you want to talk about.
I'm happy, I'm happy to talk about you go. Maybe
Monday will open up the phone lines.

Speaker 2 (01:41:15):
How about that?

Speaker 1 (01:41:16):
Maybe Monday will open up the phone lines. That way
we can actually talk to each other. I love hearing
from you guys. I would rather talk about what you
want to talk about than come out here with a
pre planned agenda and just pre catch him for three hours,
seven to ollo. We're here to talk, which means disagree. Hey,
I'm with it. We're not going to agree on everything,

(01:41:37):
but change my mind. As someone better than me said,
change my mind. I'm so here for it. Let's do that.
Let's do it Monday, Monday, We'll open up the phone lines.
I'll have h I may have a guest. I've got
somebody lined up. My former boss. He's a former Secretary
of Defense HR McMaster. He's trying to get some free

(01:41:57):
time for us on on Monday, so hopefully I'll be
able to swing that. We'll see, but yeah, join me
here noon. I'm filling it for Mandy and Uh, We're
gonna have fun. We'll open up the phone lines, we'll talk,
we'll talk to each other. We'll not just do the
text line. I'd rather hear from you guys as well.
I appreciate you guys being along for the uh the
ride on this one. Kia Sports is next right here

(01:42:19):
on Kae