Is the Texas marijuana ban DOA?

This podcast edition of Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness features Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, State Rep Brisceo Cain, and Texas Youth Summit founder Christian Collins. ( @KennethRWebster )

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Giganic government sucks. Pursuit of happiness radio is dux
liberty and freedom will make you smile A suit of
happiness on your radio to hol just as cheese burgs
a liberty fries at.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
All?

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Right.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Apparently, apparently artificial sweeteners can age the human brain by
a year and a half. It just occurred to me.
I think Joe Biden's been eating and drinking artificial sweeteners
for that past eighty years. There's no other explanation for it.
You know, this does give me an idea for a
Netflix show, Soda Pop Brain Cell Hunters. That's the idea.

(00:50):
Would you do you think people would watch that? No,
that's stupid. Okay, well, if you think that's stupid, you're
gonna you're gonna hate today's show. No, today's show will
be good. Who's stopping by today? Bunch of people are
going to be here. Christian Collins from the Texas Youth
Summit's stopping by Webb County Judge Tanno Tia Jerina. I'm
sure I'm saying that name wrong. That's disrespectful. I didn't

(01:11):
even learn how to say the person's name. I've never
met the person before. But the Webb County judge is
going to be stopping by. We're going to talk Tanno.
I don't know anyway he's gonna be here, We're going
to talk to him. He's going to Primary Henry Quaar supposedly,
and Michael Quinn Sullivan is stopping by, and you know,
why don't we just go to a guest right now?
A lot of people had wondered this week what the

(01:32):
heck happened with marijuana's y'all remember that, y'all remember the
thing about marijuana. There was a lot of huffing and
puffing about how Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick was going to
outlaw marijuana, and that was all anybody could talk about
right up until it didn't happen. I believe it was
set a Bill six installed in the Texas House like
a pickup truck stuck in the mud. That's the second

(01:53):
time I told that joke this week. Well, I gave
you my take on it yesterday. I told you what
I thought about it, And rather than continuing to tell
you what I think is going on behind closed doors,
I reached out to somebody that actually knows. State Representative
Briscoe Kane is here. Brisco you are considered to be
one of the more libertarian members of the Texas State
Republican Party, and you're not a big fan of people

(02:15):
waving their finger and telling others what they can and
can't drink or eat or smoke, assuming that people are adults.
What exactly happened behind closed doors with Lieutenant Dan's attempt
to basically legislate morality.

Speaker 5 (02:31):
Well, Genny, no, I'd say I'm more of a conservative
that enjoys once to protect individual liberty, right, and that's
really what it is. Well, look, you know, ever since
the governor of course edoed it, and now I'm voted
against that ban, I was one of two Republicans, and
there was a lot of pressure, a lot of fear. Well,
we take Governor Patrick's a powerful man. I'll tell you

(02:52):
right now, I don't want to cross him either. But
the people have spoken that the numbers are just not there.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
In fact, the.

Speaker 5 (02:59):
Fascinating fascinating one to many is to realize the age
group that is for this. This is generally people over
sixty five years old. A lot of them are the
older lady that's sitting in the back of that church.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
To you, a church.

Speaker 5 (03:10):
Enjoys this hymp for going to sleep, and heck forgiving
her dog when it's acting a little crazy with fireworks.
And these people need to be a lot of access
to it. But sadly what's occurred is the status quo
still remains in effect. Nothing was done, and there are
things that need to be done, like raise the age,
we're sure that kids don't have easy access to this stuff,

(03:32):
and making sure that we're not having toxins put in it,
because I'm telling you right now, the dirty Little Secrets
Oklahoma tests their stuff, the stuff that sells their tests
up there, they send to Texas because we have a
completely unregulated climate.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
You know, it's an interesting question to be asked here
is you know what, why did they think that this
was going to benefit anyone? All they're doing is pumping
money back into the drug cartels. Back before legal marijuana
existed in virtually every state of the United States thanks
to Donald Trump signing the Farm Act, the Farm Bill
back in twenty eighteen. You know, even going back farther

(04:06):
than that, before Colorado and California and states like that
had recreational or even medical At one point during our lifetime,
Briscoe and you and I aren't that old marijuana was
something that was controlled by the cartels and street gangs,
and it was money that was being pumped right into
organized crime. I feel like by having a little bit

(04:27):
of regulation, letting a legal market handle this instead of
having criminals market it, we're all safer because of it.
Is that such a radical notion?

Speaker 5 (04:37):
Yeah, Well, that's the idea of doing you know, smart regulation. Okay,
And so we've seen other states do it wrong, and
that's one of the kind of great things about where
Texas is right now looking at regulating it. We're able
to look at what other states have done wrong and
hopefully try and get it right. Okay, you can overregulate
it essentially and invite the cartel in like California have

(04:59):
you can do it like Oklahoma. They thought they're gonna
do it right, and the Chinese cartel have bought it
up and they've since backed off. So I'm not kidding.
There's there's got to be the right way to do it.
One of the ones we proposed. Of course, it's gonna
be treated kind of like liquor or tobacco. In order
to get access to it, you have to go into
a store. They're gonna it's twenty one off and only
you have to check IDs that that gets rid of it.

(05:20):
Out of the gas stations and other things. We need
packaging that can't advertise the kids, and it needs to.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Be child proof.

Speaker 5 (05:28):
We else proposed that these things be located more than
a thousand feet from schools that you can go even
further schools, rehab centers, daycare parks, and things like that.
But also Texas a big state, there's a different personalities
depending where you are. And we else propose that we
allow cities and counties to let the people vote on
they don't want it there, then finally won't have it,
kind of like dry counties. You know, it may not

(05:50):
be everybody's favorite, but that's one way to get it done.
Sometimes you got to get to consensus.

Speaker 4 (05:54):
All right, this is purely speculation, right, We don't know,
You don't know, I don't know, but purely spec right.
We know. Here's what we do know. Ten point three
billion dollar industry in the state of Texas. We also
know there is pretty reasonably reliable polling data suggesting about
eighty percent of all voters and fifty five percent of
Republican voters want this in the state of Texas. What

(06:16):
do you think was more motivating? This is the speculation
part to the governor to not sign or to veto
the bill, the money thing, or the fact that it's
just an unpopular The band was clearly unpopular with everyone,
even members of his own party.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (06:32):
I don't think it's a neither or. I think this
is a governor who generally has his pulse on the
people of Texas and recognizes what's good for Texas. So
one he sees one that the income that it's going
to put people out of business and it's going to
kill some of these farmers. And two that the people.
And this is these aren't just kids. Were not kids.
You should say the word. These aren't young people. These

(06:53):
aren't twenty five year old. These are people who were
sixty five. These are your voting demographic. These are mature people.
I think generally people that should be trusted with making decisions.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
Yeah. I think you raised a lot of good points there,
Briscoe Caine. Apparent you're running for Congress now in the
latest district over there on the east side of Houston.
How's that going.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
Well, we are running to help ensure that the President's
promises are kept and fulfilled to the American people. That's
the new Congressional District nine. It used to be al
Green's seat, but now it's over here on the east
side of Harris County, and plus it includes the Liberty
County scenario. I've grown up in the last ten years.
I've represented more than twenty five percent of the population,

(07:36):
and I know them well. I'm afford to serving Congress.
I need you all self to do that. You can,
of course find me anywhere related to Briscoe Kane.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
It's pretty obvious. I think a Republican is going to
get elected in that district. What happens to Al Green?

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Do we know?

Speaker 4 (07:49):
Is he going to run in a different district? Because
now the area that was previously that district is something else?

Speaker 5 (07:54):
Right, It is rumored that mister Green will be trying
to run over in the eighteenth district. I cautioned anybody
doing that. I think that seat might be cursed left
the last few.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
I think it might be cursed to Brisco Prisco came
follow him on X Hello, my name is Pedro.

Speaker 6 (08:16):
My favorite things to do are smuggle drugs, pro create
like a rabbit, and listen to Pursuit of Happiness Radio
with producer Kini Peace STUPI.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
I could not have been I could not have been
a Republican twenty years ago. I just wouldn't have fit
in in the party. And there's a number of reasons why.
It's not that I was anti gun. I've always been
pro gun. I've always been pro low taxes. A lot
of the conservative policies and positions and talking points from
the last twenty years I think, at least I don't

(08:48):
know three fifths of them. Three fourths of them I
fervently get behind. I've always been adamant about free speech,
fiscal responsibility. But the Republican Party of twenty years years
ago did something I was absolutely grossed out by. Just
discussed it with what was taking place back in the
early two thousands involving our foreign policy. I could never

(09:11):
have been a George Bush Republican. I just couldn't have
done it. The neo cons not for me. Sorry. At
the time, you know, it wasn't that I didn't want
revenge or retribution or some kind of justice for nine
to eleven. I think most people did. But do you
remember at the time when nine to eleven took place
early on, they sold it to us the war in

(09:32):
Iraq and the war in Afghanistan as weapons of mass destruction,
this new access of evil, and a lot of people
just bought that hook line and sinker. They said, yeah,
we've got to go out and we got to go
out and fight Saddam Hussein because of nine to eleven.
There were actually people in my early twenties, as crazy
as it sounds, that thought that back in the day,
back in the early two thousands. Obviously a lot's changed

(09:55):
since then. We look back on that now and we
think it's silly. People look back at the Vietnam War,
they think it's now. I'm not a pacifist. I hope
none of you are either. We need a strong military,
We need a military that takes these problems seriously. Pete
Haig Sath, you know, say what you will about the guy.
I think he is probably the best Secretary of Defense

(10:16):
that we've had during my adult lifetime. You know, he's
not somebody from the military industrial complex, not some career general.
You ever noticed how generals teachers and doctors that have
that title in front of their name, and we always
just assume they're right about everything. Well, there are some
good teachers, there's some bad teachers. There are clearly some
bad doctors. You remember Fauci, And guess what, there's some

(10:38):
bad generals too. Pete Heg Sath made an awesome point recently.
We need to call it the Department of War. The
Department of War won World War One, the Department of
War won World War two. It is a department of war.
Nobody's attacking us calling it the Department of Defense. That's Orwellian,
that's nineteen eighty four. So petere hag Seth raised, there's

(11:00):
a lot of great points here. Today there's supposed to
be an executive order coming down. Trump is going to
sign an executive order renaming the Department of Defense in
the Department of War. And it's just a more honest
thing to do, doesn't it bother you? Knowing there's all
these people at VA hospitals all over the country with disabilities.
They're missing legs and limbs and they can't walk, and

(11:22):
you'll say, well, that happened to him at war. And
then there's always some guy, usually a liberal or a neocon.
They're saying, no, no, no, it wasn't war. It was military occupation.
It's disgusting. It's disgusting how we have to lie about
what we're doing. Put a better face on it. That's
what's Orwellian, I went off on a tangenteer, But I
have a great guest on hold, somebody that has gathered
together some of the smartest people in the right wing

(11:45):
populist movement. He does it every year. I mean, it's amazing.
This lineup of people that are going to be at
the Texas Youth Summit, who share the values and opinions
for the most part that I just expressed to all
of you, will be gathering together for the next event.
This is going to be really cool, the Texas Youth
Summit twenty twenty five coming up in just a couple
of weeks. Here, Ted Cruz, Ken Paxton, Wesley Hunt, Denish Desuza,

(12:08):
Christian Collins is the organizer, yours truly, and a whole
bunch of other people. I'd like to welcome to the show,
my good buddy Christian Collins, who, by the way, just
recently got engaged. Christian.

Speaker 7 (12:19):
How you doing, buddy, Kenny, Thank you so much for
having me on. Thank you for your voice around Houston,
the state of Texas. And you're really all around the
country now. So thank you for your voice, and we're
excited to have you at the Texas Youth Summit coming
up in a few weeks September nineteenth and twentieth. And
you're right, I just got engaged and I'm super excited
about that. Genzy and I are looking forward to the

(12:41):
future together.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
So it's fun.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
Christian, You're presumably, after you get married, probably hopefully going
to have some kids, and you're gonna have to raise
children in a war where a world where war has
always existed. It's nothing new, you know, is you know,
since the time of the Phoenicians and the Romans and
Napoleon and the Ottoman Empire, the war has always existed, right,
But doesn't it kind of bother you that during our
lifetime we've tried to put a new face on it.

(13:04):
Over the past fifty sixty years, they tried to change
it into something else. We're it's not war, We're just
the world police. It's very dishonest. Donald Trump is being
honest about what it actually is. I don't see why
that's controversial.

Speaker 7 (13:17):
What do you think, Well, I think it's a great
change to make this a little more honest, it's the
Department of War. And nobody wants war, by the way,
but it's important that we have a strong military. And
President Trump has that America First policy so that other
countries understand that we're not messing around. And you know,

(13:38):
recently you have India and Russia meeting with China, and
President Trump put out a statement today just saying that
this is very disappointing to see in summary, and he
called China a very very dark country, and so he
feels like we're losing our allies to China, and he's
very frustrated by this whole process. And I think this

(14:00):
Department of War is signaling to our enemies and adversaries
around the world that the United States is back or
not messing around. And frankly, this name used to be
in place for hundreds of years, but they changed it
right after World War Two, and I don't really know
that we've had a successful war since then. So world

(14:25):
War One, world War two it was the Department of War,
and since then we really have not had a successful war.
And so my point in saying that is he's bringing
back that warrior ethos. Secretary Hegseth is bringing back that
war Ethos, and it's exciting to see that America is
strong again under President Trump.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
You have assembled a incredible lineup here. Senator Ted Cruz,
I don't care what anyone says. I think he's the
best senator, certainly the best senator in the state of Texas,
one of the best we have, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz,
Ran Paul Those are my guys. Ken Paxton, the best
Attorney General in America. Congressman Wesley Hunt. Obviously I'm a
little biased. He's a friend. I think he's the most

(15:06):
pro Trump guy in the House of Representatives right now.
I mean, this is a great lineup. Anna Pauline A.
Luna is going to be there, Mayra Flores. The work
you guys do to put this lineup together, Christian, I mean,
you guys work on this all year.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
You know.

Speaker 7 (15:21):
We're really grateful for the blessings that we've received from
just so many people who support our mission, and we're
reaching young people in high school and college campuses. I
was just at Texas A and M Young American Foundations
chapter yesterday speaking to conservatives there, and they're all excited
to get to come to this event. And I'm going
to be speaking at sam Houston State University and the

(15:43):
University of Houston next week, and we're really getting the
word out so that young people know to get involved.
And we want young people not necessarily to work in politics.
I mean, I think it's great if you do. We've
had one, you know, superstar young lady. Her name was Coral.
She worked for Matt Gates leadersh Comistitute. Now she's working
for the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, DC.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
I mean, she's just taken off.

Speaker 7 (16:06):
But we've had another that has come to our conference
and you know, they've got married because they met someone
at the conference and now they have two children and
he's a precinct chair here in Montgomery County. So you know,
whatever it is your reason for coming, we want young
people this to be a hub where you come and

(16:26):
then it's like a spoke you go out of the
world and you take you know, charge, and you become
a responsible citizen. You're engaged in the political process, you
know what's going on. You can debate your ideas in
a friendly way, just.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Like Ronald Reagan.

Speaker 7 (16:40):
Did you know he was a happy warrior, and so
we want people to be able to debate their ideas
and communicate the conservative message with a vigor to them.
And we're excited about the great speakers we have on
her to have you there, Kenny, and it's just so
much fun putting on this event every year. Last year
it was stream on Box Nation and covered on Boxing Prints,

(17:02):
so we've gotten national notoriety.

Speaker 4 (17:04):
We have a lot of other speakers that I want
to mention.

Speaker 7 (17:06):
Alibet's Ducky, she's really a strong Christian advocate. And Chloe Cole,
she's only twenty one years old and she's a detransitioner.
She tells young people God created you to be a man,
you know, or he created you to be a woman.
There's only two sexes in other words, and she unfortunately,

(17:27):
you know, cut off her breasts because she was confused
and tricked into being a boy, into trying to be
a boy anyway, and she can communicate this message very clearly.
We've had Rightly Gains to be a speaker there.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
She talks about how.

Speaker 7 (17:41):
Important it is to keep men out of women's sports.
We have Yamni Park who's a defector from North Korea
and she can talk about how horrible communism is. We
have Pastor Andrew Sidra. He's a cocknit Christian pastor from
Australia and he's talking about how leftism and radical Islam
has cracked into these western countries like in Europe and
in Australia where he has a church and he speaks

(18:04):
this message, you know, clearly. And we have Abby Johnson
he's a pro life activist and she's a former playing
parenting director and now she's doing such great work with
her nonprofit and ministries. And Seth Gruber he's another pro
life activist. So many great speakers who communicate the Christian message.
And you're right, you know, our brand of conservatism is

(18:24):
more in the populist lane. And we have Marine and
Bannon and she's the daughter of Steve Bannon. She's going
to be there. I think we just got a stellar
wide up. Alex Bruswitz, he's a Trump advisor.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
Sure, Alex has been on the show many times. I
think Alex is a great guy. That's an incredible Chris Christian.
This must have been so much work getting all these
speakers together. I mean, how many hours did it take
to get everybody to agree to that? If you just
had to guess, I mean a thousand. This must have been.
This must have taken months. It takes a lot.

Speaker 7 (18:54):
I don't know, I don't count, but it's a lot
of work that goes into this, and it's a it's
it's takes that effort every year to make sure that
we put on a successful conference and just all the
attention to details, just the you know, the led wall
and the tyro technics, those are what was cult sparklers
that come up, and the smoke cannons and all the
you know, the synchrony of the music and the videography

(19:16):
and the lighting all going together. There's just so many
details that go into it. And then just you know,
to advertise a conference on social media and text messages
and you know, your your groups that you know support
your efforts and media. So it's it's it's a lot
of work, but it's worth it because I feel like
we're making a big difference and it's exciting to see Christian.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
I've always been proud of being your friend. You guys,
what you do here is so cool. I mean, if
people are excited about Sea Pack or Turning Point, USA,
I mean that's fine. But the Texas Youth Summit is
uniquely for the Lone Star state. It is some of
the brightest and best in the right wing populist movement,
whether they be MAGA or Liberty Republicans, usually both all
over the country coming together and then of course the

(19:59):
best and brightest from Texas all in one building, all
in one weekend. That is just a really cool thing
to do. If people want to get tickets to this,
go to Texas Youth Summit dot com. It's not hard
to do. They're still looking for sponsors. College kids in
high school kids always get in for free. Adults, it's
not expensive. If you want to go hear some of
the best speakers in the MAGA movement, in the right

(20:19):
wing populist movement, this is the place to do it. Christian,
thanks so much for giving us some time this afternoon.

Speaker 6 (20:27):
You are listening to the Pursuit of Happiness Radio. Pursuit
of Happiness. We don't have that in Mexico.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
All right.

Speaker 4 (20:37):
So, according to a new study I love new studies,
experts say dogs would benefit from a vegan diet, and
I think cats would benefit from an attitude adjustment. What
do we need cats for? I never understood it. Hi,
I'm Kenny Webster, Welcome back from break. I have a
we're live in studio. We're live streaming right now. I
have a guest here in the studio right now. You

(20:58):
are an ex Democrat. You are you don't look like
you were ever a Democrat. You are the current Web
County judge. For those that aren't from Texas, a county
judge's kind of like. You're kind of like the mayor
of the county. And your name is Tono tij Rena.
Did I say your name right?

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Perfect?

Speaker 4 (21:13):
Today?

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Good afternoon everybody.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
I find if I write it out phonetically, I do
better that way. It's not your fault, Tono, Yes, absolutely, yeah,
I discovered the Rosetta stone.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
I'm not.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
I barely speak English. That's my problem. Tono. You're so,
you're a big deal in Webb County. Web County is
a border district. It's a border community, and you've got
in your backyard some of the most hardened criminals coming through.
I mean they were before Trump was in office. How
long have you been in office for? How long have
you been running third term? I'm in my tenth year

(21:46):
right now. So I started in twenty fifteen, Yes, and
switching from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party. It's
not like it used to be. There was a time
in the nineties when all the two parties were really
arguing about was how much money should be spent on
public aid and that sort of thing. Now they're as
different as night and day. I mean, to go from
being a Republican do a Democrats, this is a pretty

(22:06):
big shift policy wise.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Well, absolutely from Democrats are Republican and so look, I mean,
for the last nine years, I've had an opportunity as
when I was a Democrat. You know, everybody peace understand
during it in South Texas especially pretty much a lot
of the Democrats. Most of the Democrats are very conservative Democrats,
and that's who we are. We're fasically conservative where you know,
there's a lot of things that still have whole to value,

(22:30):
and we're still very much family oriented, and we're still
very much you know, protecting the people. That's our number one.
But when you start seeing the Democratic Party going so woke,
so left, so cancel culture. I mean, so there a
certain point you just the Democrats party's losing everybody, and
that's exactly what happened. I've always known that I'm basically
a Republican I can honestly tell you, in order to

(22:54):
get do anything in Webb County, you had to do that.
And so look, we very conservative. The last ten years.
I've lowered the tax rate. This year we lowered the
tax rate five out of ten years. Very proud to
say that. Who does that? You know, it's very difficult,
but we have a great commissioner's court. The last ten
years we've worked really hard. Our budget they're in the
twenty When I first walked in as a budget we

(23:15):
had eighty seven minute dollar budget with fourteen million dollars
in the bank.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
I didn't know you when you were a Democrat, but
you don't look like a democrat.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Nobody said that.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
You got a cowboy hat on. You look like you left.
You got a across around you.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Now.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
Are you Catholic?

Speaker 2 (23:28):
No, I'm Christian, You're just a regular Christian. I'm following.
I'm Jesus christ Lovers. You're not Methodist?

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Are you?

Speaker 2 (23:34):
No? Oh?

Speaker 4 (23:35):
Thank god? I cannot stay on the Methodist.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
The worst I'll tell my dad you said that.

Speaker 4 (23:39):
Is he a Methodist? But seriously, though, you don't look
like you don't look like a Democrat at all. What
did when you were a Democrat county judge. What did
you have? Purple hair and a septum pier sing? What
did you look like?

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Then? No, just the same guy. And that's the thing
when I turned to Republic and nobody even no. Look,
it didn't missurprise anybody. I can honestly tell you that
it didn't surprise anybody.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
It was good, there was okay, so people, I was
doing a comedy show last night at where were We
were at the improv and the headliner was Nathaniel Amador.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
You haven't finished, by the way, you're still in a row.
What do you mean from last night?

Speaker 4 (24:13):
Like doing?

Speaker 2 (24:13):
What do you mean? Yeah? Improv?

Speaker 4 (24:15):
Oh right, oh, thank you. We were at the well,
we were at the improv. It's a corporate thing. I
don't know why they there's very little improvisation happening because
of you're you know, it's routines and stuff. But the
headliner last night was Nathaniel Amador. And he is a Democrat.
He's a good friend of mine. He happy.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Did you say his name? And you can't stay mine?

Speaker 4 (24:32):
Your name is a little more. I think it's the
chase that throw me at Nathaniel sounds Nathaniel sounds kind
of Anglo, doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah? But what about the last name? Amador? Is easy,
it's Amador. It's spelled the way it's actor.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
Yes, is that? And apparently that's down where you guys
are from. They claim to have invented nachos. Do you
they say they did? They claim it was one hundred
years ago. A guy named Nacho had to feed a
bunch of wives of military people. They came in. Have
you heard the story before?

Speaker 3 (25:02):
No?

Speaker 2 (25:02):
I do not, but I guess I'm going to right now.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
Well, that's most of the story.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
They came in.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
He didn't have any food to cook for him, so
he chopped up tortillas. He covered him with cheese and meat,
and he served it and called him nachos and wall off.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
It sounds like a cheap version of our soup, but
it works.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
What's the soup?

Speaker 2 (25:20):
I don't know, Just add more water?

Speaker 4 (25:21):
What's the what's that thing? What's the meat soup where
they dipped the tacos and the meat soup?

Speaker 2 (25:27):
That one's gestough?

Speaker 4 (25:29):
Dude, that stuff is good, It's delicious. Why why why
is it what am I eating that makes it so addictive?
It's the meat juice or what is that?

Speaker 2 (25:37):
It's there? You're good, Yeah, dude, this is it. Whereas
this is real Southeast Texas stuff. I've got chilula here
in the studio. I've also got Cajun seasoning.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
I could see that. It just depends on what kind
of see you work. Being in Southeast Texas is all
about the Cajun meets the tax max. It's the brisket
meets the gumbo. That's what it's all about. Here you
have HIV doing bacoa on Sundays. I mean, come on,
a GV. What do you think about that? It's pretty
damn good. I'm with Big Red. By the way, you
have to do a Big Red. You're in a border community.

(26:08):
How often do you go south of the border.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
I used to go quite often, but it's it's changed now.
I mean so, but yeah, there's how old are you?
Fifty one?

Speaker 4 (26:16):
When you were okay, you look young. When you were
a kid, people would drive down to me.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
You do not want to ask those questions.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
People don't do that anymore.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
You do not want to ask those questions.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
Well, I love asking questions. I can't ask the question
what changed.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
I'm going to tell you in high school? I want
to give you when I was in high school. In
high school, we literally would go across the river and
party at the clubs all the time. And that was
just part of it. It was a beautiful time. You
had all these the energy was there, like all this
what you see on TV and what you see on SOCIALO,
all the bopping, And that was the way it used
to be. I mean, you'd cross and then you'd cross back,

(26:49):
and you didn't remember how you cross back, you know,
if you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (26:54):
The way it was just a few tequilas at night, okay,
and that's the way. But isn't it a shame that
it's not like that anymore? I mean, do you think
under Trump it can go back to that, because now
Trump is actually congratulating Mexico for taking border security. Seriously,
I mean, for Trump, that's a tall order. That's a
pretty bald compliment. Will there be a time in the

(27:14):
next decade, in the next few years when we could
drive down to Mexico and just go hang out, go
of lunch down there.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Look, everything's the possibility, but it will take it will
take some time. Look, we're the number one in landport
in the Western Hemisphere. Sixty five percent of our goods
crossed through Webb County alone.

Speaker 4 (27:29):
Okay, I till list everybody. I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, I till list everybody. If you look at Texas
as a heart and the United States as a body,
we are the order. We are huge in that. So
one of these days, I think that was our number
one was tourism. Tourism. Tourism, tourism was huge. Unfortunately, when
all these cartels and the drug wars started, it literally
ceased to exist. And unfortunately, it is a beautiful country,

(27:52):
and I think both countries could once again have a
beautiful synergy that will work for everybody. I mean, we
used to get everybody. I used to go down there
and go across the river, my mother, my mother in laws.
My mother in law's white, my wife's obviously white. They
were born and raised in Laredo. My mother in law
by herself would go across the river. She would go

(28:12):
to her frame house. She would go and eat over there.
She drive back with no problems in her cadillact. Nobody
would out or anything. Can't do that nowadays, when you're
hanging out with your white mother in.

Speaker 4 (28:22):
Law, is it is it awkward? To have to pretend
that the food is good. I mean, what do you do?

Speaker 2 (28:27):
No, she knows what's up, she knows how to cook,
she knows what's happening.

Speaker 4 (28:30):
But growing up in a Hispanic Latino Latino family, I
don't understand that it's Hispanic in Nevada, it's Latino in Texas.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
I don't. Actually, it's the opposite. I am. I do
not like when somebody calls me Latino. I'm a Mexican American.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
I don't get it either. I don't understand why one.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
And especially with Latin X. I mean, it's like the worst.
That's the worst. It's like putting x muss. I can't
stand it. You had to christ Christmas? Hello?

Speaker 4 (28:53):
You didn't feel like white liberals needed to fix your
language for you?

Speaker 2 (28:58):
That wasn't that was that? So language now instead of
Council of Culture craziness.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
Okay. So, as the county judge for those that don't know,
and I know a lot of our listeners do because
we're on all over Texas. You're the mayor of the county,
you're the executive of the county. You look at crime
statistics all the time. Probably we do. Do you see
a difference since Trump took office.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Absolutely. Look, I was when when the last Biden administration.
I was that guy on Fox News, a Democratic judge
that would come out on Fox News bashing Biden and Harris,
Why where was our borders are? They had no idea
what was going on, and they were acting like nothing
was happening. We were actually the ones, so all of
the South Texas pretty much, we were the ones that

(29:38):
send there. They was the ones sending us all the
people there in Webb County. We were the ones that
are having to you know, the Feds were having to
go through their what do you call it, one goodness
the name escape me. We were the ones that were
bringing everybody in and having to report everybody okay. And
then once we got there, once we were at that point,

(30:00):
what happens then? So everybody was saying, hey, we're not
having any border problems, so what do we do? We
started sending buses up north. That way they could realize
what was going on.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Now, I've never had an issue with that. I know
that upset people at first. I always start sending illegal
immigrants to Martha's Vineyard was hilarious.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Well you're welcome, But that made people angry. We're welcome, right,
you played a role in that we were welcome. What
did you do load them on the buses? Well, I mean,
look when we worked with what do we what do
we do? What are we supposed to do at that
point in time when all of a sudden, and I'm
gonna use web County as an example, web County wasn't
as bad as Joe Real and in the Valley. I
can honestly tell you we were in the middle. They were.

(30:37):
They were at the book, you know, the end, the
end of the you know, the sides there. But I
could tell you the neighbors. But I could tell you
it was really really difficult. Uh, it was not easy.
We were that's the word processing. We were the processing center.
I couldnot get it. I'm sorry, Yeah, it was a problem.
We were the processing center and so everybody would come
to us. Okay, after they get processed, then we get

(30:59):
what they get the cell phone that was called a
the Obama phone.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
Right, Yeah, what Carlos Slim was involved in that. That
was a remarkable racket to go back in time and
invest in that. We figured out a way to trick
American taxpayers into paying for the cell phones of non
citizens and homeless people, and you know.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Sorry, but you're you're you're wrong. You have called tracking devices.
Well okay, well do you think that was the real
purpose of it, just to see where these people? That's
what they would tell us. They were saying, we got
them a tracking device. I'm like, you got them a
cell phone that most people can't pay for, but yeah,
we're giving them to them for free. Our people are
paying are you know? Our taxpayer daughters are going to
those phones and you're giving it to them and they

(31:38):
could use it.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
For wherever they want and we're paying for it. How
does that make sense? I will admit you just kind
of blew my mind. It never occurred to me before.
I always thought we were doing that because it was corporatism.
It's a way to make money off of we're making
the taxpayers pay for a product. But you're right, that's
a way to track non citizens.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Well, and it's just it was a bad situation, you know,
So the whole deal finally, just you going back to
your initial question, what's the difference? Humongous Trump has done
an incredible job on securing the border. I think now
it's you know, with everything that's going on. I applaud
him for everything, because I mean, we're right now. It's
it's pretty much. I mean it's non existent. I mean,

(32:16):
straight straight up.

Speaker 5 (32:17):
All right.

Speaker 4 (32:17):
I want to talk to you more about that. There's
also a rumor you might be challenging Henry Quaar in
just a little bit. I'm gonna I don't know if
that's true or not. I'm gonna let you answer that question. However,
you want quick break. If y'all are listening to the
radio right now, we'll be back in just a few
short moments. If you're watching us live streaming on social media,
we're not going anywhere. This will literally take second, So
hang on one second.

Speaker 7 (32:38):
Wow Live from Texas, broadcasting across the peoples weet topic
of America. This is precis of How it Is Radio
with Ken Webstern Jr.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
He Hey, producer, Kenny, keep it here, all right. I
can't believe this is a real person's name. The McDonald's executive,
Zoe Hamburger. Zoey Hamburger is leaving the country. There's an
executive at McDonald's name is Zoe Hamburger leaving the country.
Do not worry, though, there is good news Chipotle CEO

(33:09):
Frank Diarrhea is staying put. He's not going anywhere. He
is going to be sticking around. If you are just
joining us right now on the radio, thanks so much
for van here. Those are watching us on social media.
Tano is here, Web County Judge, Tano, ti Arena is here.
Just don't call me all right, Tano. You're a real
Mexican American. You're the real duale. You grew up on
the border. You are as but like as a guy

(33:31):
that grew up Mexican mom and dad living in Texas,
you're around Texmax, You're around Mexican food, You're around barbecue.
When you travel to Wisconsin and you see a Chili's
or a Taco Bell, what does that feel like? That's
like for me as an Italian kid, when I see
Olive Garden, you don't want people to know it, but
that's it. I actually secretly like Olive Garden, even though

(33:52):
my mom wouldn't let me eat it. Growing up, I
wasn't allowed to eat Domino's. We weren't allowed. I'd go
to other kids' houses, there'd be Little Caesar's pizza. My
mom would say, no, only Sergio's pizza. Never eat that secretly,
do you kind of like Taco Bell, don't lie secretly?

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Absolutely not.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
No no, And I'm.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Gonna hurt some people's feedings here, but that is a
big no, no, no no. And you know what I
find funny is that when I go around different places
around the United States and around the world, first thing
I asked is, Hey, where's a good place to eat?
And they want to send me to a Mexican restaurant
And I'm like, uh no, can we try something different, dude?

Speaker 4 (34:26):
East of the Mississippi. It's a no I find if
you're a no I find if you're in a big city,
like I'm from Chicago, right, we believe it or not,
we have We have Mexican food in Chicago. You could
find Mexican food in New York City.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Do they put cream on the tacos?

Speaker 4 (34:40):
It depends on the place depends only. Yeah, it depends
there are you know, because you find there's people, it's
things that are unique to Tijuana or whatever. You'll find
in Chicago. You we have a single text mex place
in Chicago. I think it's Uncle. It's Julio's of Dallas.
You ever had that before?

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Uncle does not sound very Mexican.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
It's also in Washington, d C. Ted cruz is I
made the point that it's the only it's the closest
thing they have. It's good enough, is the way he
describes it. Okay, well, what's not great? Obviously try it.
You are a guy that has been around the country, right,
you've traveled around a bit we have Are you ex military?
What's the deal? Did you play football?

Speaker 2 (35:14):
You? Well, you know you're I've played. I played actually Milwaukee.
Actually I was too small to play football. My parents
didn't let me play football, so I only played in
the eighth grade. How tall are you? Six three, two
fifty six. I'm but two fifty By the way, I'm
six three. I'm not tall enough for football. No, I
just didn't have any coordination. Okay, Well, I played basketball
and I played baseball, so I got to play with

(35:35):
the Milwaukee Brewers. I was drafted in nineteen ninety three
with the Malalken Brewers. I played in the minor league system,
and so I did not get my cup of coffee
in the big leagues. But that's okay.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
A Hispanic guy that plays baseball, you never see that.
You know that odd? You're Okay, so obviously you're athletic,
you worked out, you know, you got into politics. How
did that happen?

Speaker 2 (35:55):
To be honest, it was literally a conversation with my mom,
my dad, and my wife two thousand nine. I didn't
realize how much I was talking about it. So I
went from signing autographs. I went to working on the ranch.
One of my biggest loves are horses. I work a
lot with horses. I still team rope quite often. That's
why we go all around the United States and stuff,
and even in Texas yet rodeoing a lot of team roping,

(36:15):
so we're still part of it. I live in the ranch,
my wife and I and my kids. We grew up,
had five beautiful children, and one of them still rodeos
to this day, and so he's pretty hardcore edit and
going around. That's what we do.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
Do you know about this Bellahadide? Is this supermodel? She
moves to Fort Worth. This has nothing to do with
what we were going to talk about, but she is
now in a relation. She moved to Texas because she's
in a relationship with this famous rodeo guy. I'm trying
to look up his name right now. He's a hispanic. Dude,
you don't know this guy?

Speaker 7 (36:44):
Do?

Speaker 2 (36:44):
You? Must be a good looking guy.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
I mean, yeah, he's with Bellahadide, right, I can't figure
out his name. He's so famous that he's a footnote.
Here we go a don bona wlos. Do you know
who that is?

Speaker 2 (36:55):
Do you know?

Speaker 5 (36:56):
No?

Speaker 4 (36:56):
Well, I mean either, if it makes you feel any better,
he probably don't know who we are, that's okay, Yeah
we're good. But buckle bunnies is that what they're called?
The kind of chicks that go after rodeo guys.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
They're kind They get the imprints between the thighs. That's
kind of what they call them, book of bunnies.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
They get the imprints between them. What is the imprint?
I wouldn't even care about. I'm just I'm just I'm
just repeating what I hear. I don't know anything else,
all right, So you used to be a Democrat. Now
you you become a Republican for very obvious reasons. The
rumor is that you're going to primary Henry Quaar. Henry
Kraayar kind of a controversial Democrat. He's considered to be

(37:31):
kind of a conservative Democrat by Democrat standards, but he's
got all these legal issues. Do you think there's anything
to that. Some people think the only reason he has
those federal charges against him, kind of like Eric Adams,
is because he was challenging Joe Biden's positions on things.
Do you believe it?

Speaker 2 (37:46):
No, absolutely not. No. Henry Quaiett has his problems and
his challenges because of Henry Kuyet himself. And so look,
we've had him for twenty years.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
It's a long time.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Wonderful. Yeah, that's absolutely great, But it's going to take
somebody that understands. As I go around now the District
twenty eight, I have an exploratory committee, by the way,
and the reason why I have an exploratory committee because
there's a resigned to run clause in the state of Texas,
which I wish there wasn't one, but here in Texas
we still have it. So until December first, third, it's
the way it works is by the law it's written

(38:17):
is twelve months, twelve a year and one month, So
December first, I will be able to publicly come out
and without the exploratory But going back to Henry quiet,
look he's been doing it. It's so sad As District
twenty eight. You know, I just told you right now.
It's pretty much my backyard, and I team rope quite
a bit. Everybody says that he does everything for Webb County,
but in all reality, it's sad because he hasn't done

(38:39):
anything for us.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
I ran into him, I don't know, fourth of July,
summer of twenty twenty four. I just saw him walking
around in San Antonio, and it was right after all
the legal charges came out against him. I think he
was with his wife. He was just walking around and
I remember walking up and asking him about it, and
he didn't seem alarmed at the time. Why do politicians
never get scared when they're in legal trouble.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
I just think they've gotten to the point where they
just feel it's nothing's gonna happen to him. Look, when
you have four point five million pages, I'll say it again,
it's a lot. Four point five million pages and fourteen
terabytes of evidence against you. You have twelve counts at
equal two hundred and nine years. Come on now, I mean,
if you think you're gonna get away with it, NODJ

(39:22):
doesn't make mistakes like that.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
Do you think that's so much evidence that it's overwhelming
that something gets lost in translation, something gets overlooked, that
there won't be a conviction.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Well, I mean that's for them to decide. That's for
the courts to decide. But I will tell you right now,
I'm not running just because he's being because he's indictment.
I'm running because he's doing a poor job as a
congressman in all reality. Like I told you know, his brother,
I don't mind. I don't. I hope nothing happens to
him in a sense because I want to beat him outright,
And that's just the way it is.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
You know, it just occurred to me a minute agoy,
I said, you're going to primary him. You're a Republican. Now,
you wouldn't be primary. No, I'll be doing a general.
It would be in the general.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
I was gonna correct you, but.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
But yeah, I was on a roll there.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:59):
Well, I keep thinking, really good. I keep thinking you
were both Democrats that lean conservative, which is true. But
he never switched parties you did. Yes, that's correct, And
so do you think to some extent maybe that's something
that'll hurt him, Like, clearly your county's moving red, there's
no doubt about that.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Yes, organically it went from I mean, his district twenty
eight organically in the last four years went from a
D seven to an R three, and now with the redistrict,
thing is probably going to be like an R six.

Speaker 4 (40:26):
You're not the only prominent Democrat in the state that
switched parties.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
You're not.

Speaker 4 (40:30):
And you, you know, it sounds like you've been true
to your principles. I didn't know you before, but it
sounds like similar policies and principles didn't change much over
the years. We've been told over and over again that, oh,
this is the election when the Democrats are finally going
to win Texas. This is the one They're finally going
to replace John Cornyn with Beto O'Rourke. The Irish rows
of West Texas there finally, and then of course we

(40:51):
see all these Democrats switching parties. We had a lawmaker
right here in Southeast Texas. There was another one up
the mayor of Dallas switched parties, right, you know, But
prominent black Democrat became a black Republican. I it seems
like it's not happening. It feels like if people are
switching parties and becoming Republicans, it's not gonna flip blue.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
I don't. I don't see how, to be quite honestly,
I don't see how, especially with the Democrats as this
combobulated as they are right now, there's jointed. I mean,
it's just it looks, it looks really bad on them.
Give you an example, Web County alone, the Democratic Party
has four different parties. They split that again, they can't
even they can't even, you know, try to figure out
what's going on in web County. That's beside the point. Look,

(41:34):
the number one thing is I love what Trump is doing.
I think it's he's bringing a wrecking ball. I think
it's an opportunity. I think right now we have to
keep our pedal on the medal. And the reason why
is because if we don't stop, who's gonna take control.
We still have to control the House, we still have
to control the Senate and the White House, because God forbid,
who's gonna rebuild this country by I mean, Trump is

(41:55):
doing an incredible job and breaking it down, But who's
gonna I want to be there to rebuild it. And
I think that's what that's what the opportunities are going
to be able to do in the future, all.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
Right, What are you doing in Houston right now? What
were you doing out here?

Speaker 2 (42:07):
There was a National Republican the NRCC was having a
fundraiser last night, and I came over here and so
that's what we're doing.

Speaker 4 (42:13):
How did it work out for you?

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Isn't it great?

Speaker 4 (42:15):
You've met some allies, met some people.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
I met some absolutely some great people. I've been you know,
I've been to Washington quite a bit this year, so
it's just kind of just keeping that conversation going. So
that's been a real big blessing.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
All right, Let's say, hypothetically you replace Henry Quaar, can
Webb County get a BUCkies? Is that realistic that we
could do?

Speaker 2 (42:33):
You know what, I'm glad you said that because I
want to talk to the BUCkies owner, being the number
one and then important. We have sixteen eighteen thousand trucks.
You're giving me a segue here, sixteen to eighteen thousand
trucks every day that crossed thirty six thousand trucks alone
that are in Web County per day. Come on, BUCkies,
Come on, I gotta have big BUCkies.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
I do like BUCkies.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
The only thing I don't like about BUCkies and I
have to say this, do we have to put I mean, look,
the brisket is the The brisket sangwich is delicious, But
do we have to put all that stuff on it,
all that sauce. I just want a brisket sandwich by itself.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
It is a very Yankee thing to put too much
sauce on your brisket. I agree general, good barbecue shouldn't
require sauce.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
Amen of that.

Speaker 4 (43:12):
You could put barbecue sauce on bologney. It's gonna taste good.
It's not the point. It makes a lot of sense, right,
all right? What about this best place to get barbecue
in Web County? Where do you go?

Speaker 2 (43:21):
Ringos?

Speaker 4 (43:22):
Did you answer that? Usually politicians get awkward when I
ask him this because they either a don't actually eat
at the local places, or B they don't want to
upset someone, probably more likely, But you just came right
out and said, Ringos, Yeah, what's different about it?

Speaker 2 (43:35):
They have this hamburger that's to call it the Doc Holliday.
Oh my delicious, But I'll tell you what, it's a
manly burger.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Along the border, you'll find barbecue places that also do
tacos and stuff like that. And then the farther north
you go, those two things are widely divided. Does that
bother you? Yes, they should be together. Barbecue and textmax
don't have to be separate. They could be conjoined at
the hip if Yeah, I feel the same way.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
There's some great restaurants. We're foodies down there, so I
love our cuisine down there in Webb County. Anybody likes
to come down and try our cuisines. I mean it's beautiful,
sext Mexic, the tasting, all that good stuff. There's a
lot of great, great restaurants there in Web County.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
Here's what I don't understand is a guy who's a white,
pale faced gringo from up north who lived in Texas
most of my adult life.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
I go down to Mexico, so you either kind of
put a hawilena on the door on the door.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
I've never put a jalapeno on my door. No, no, no, no, Alina,
I don't know what that is. No, Hallleen, it's a
halloween what is that? Okay, we'll take my question.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
Is this?

Speaker 4 (44:37):
I forgot what I was going. Why is it when
you get south of Mexico the food's terrible. Mexico might
have the best food in the Western Hemisphere. You go
down to Guatemala, it's not any good. Nicaragua, nothing that
nobody wants to eat Chilean food. What happens south of Mexico.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
I think they start losing a little bit of the spicy.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
I think it gets a little bland. That's what you're probably,
That's what you're because.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
Look, I told you that Mike was a problem.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
It's not.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
It's a weird there's something wrong with that mic.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
It is.

Speaker 4 (45:02):
It is a placid mic. I just think it has
Mike needs allis it's a problematic mic.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
I'm gonna move back for the mic.

Speaker 4 (45:10):
Come on, you can't say objects. You can't say that
we went along on this anyway. We got to wrap
this up. So those of you that are listening live
right now, this guest is Web County Judge Tano ti
Arita Toano anything. I'm gonna let you get the last
regard remarks here. Anything you want people to know before
we go.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Well, just God bless you guys. Just keep fighting a fight,
and we got to keep the House, the Senate and
the White House.

Speaker 4 (45:33):
You think you have you have high hopes for the
primaries next year and of course for the midterms. Man,
I love it. I'm Kenny Webster. I want to thank
my guest, web County Judge Tono Tea Arena to the
rest of you. Don't forget to join us October fifth,
Operation Comedy Therapy, Bad Astronaut Brewing Company. Tickets available at
Wheelchairs for Warriors dot Org. I love you all. I
hope you have an awesome weekend. We'll be back bright

(45:53):
and early Monday morning for more of what you bought
a radio for.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
You are listening to the Pursuit of Happiness Radio. Tell
the government to kiss your ass when you listen to
the show.